Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Hà has only known Saigon.  The sights and smells of the markets, her own papaya tree.  This is her home but the Vietnam War is encroaching upon her life quickly.  It’s already taken her father away to fight and it has come for her home.  Despite reservations of leaving, not knowing how their father will find them, Hà’s family is forced to escape the North Vietnamese army.  They board a ship, not knowing where their future lies.  Cramped on a stalled ship after several days at sea they are rescued and the refugees are taken to the US.  Hà’s family is sent to live in Alabama a strange world with no papaya tree  Hà can call her own.  Together, Hà’s family become accustomed to their new life, learning the language, the customs, religion, all while enduring the teasing and distrust from their new neighbors, but never forgetting who they are or where they came from.

The cover alone is enough to make someone stop and pick this book up.  Add a well written verse, that is beautiful, at times heartbreaking, and you almost have a perfect book that you will never forget.  With just a few carefully selected words, Thanhha Lai makes you feel what Hà feels, which means keep the tissues close.  But she will also make you smile.

I can’t imagine what it was really like evacuating Saigon during that time.  I’ve only known moving across the country but to a new state with a shared language and coworkers who I had previously met.  To leave in a rush of panic and confusion with no idea what will become of you; it takes a brave person to experience all that and all throughout this book I kept wondering if I could be as brave and resourceful as Hà and her family.  I really hope so if such a situation ever arises and I admire anyone who has had to bravely leave their home not knowing what the future will be.

Hà is wonderful.  She’s a very real little girl with hopes and dreams.  You feel her frustration as she attends school in the United States, as well as her triumph when she outwits a bully.  She’s defiant and refuses to let the fact she’s the youngest or a girl let anything stop her.  She is also very brave.  With very little complaint she endured the hardships her family faced when they evacuated Saigon and then suffered the cramped living spaces of the ship they escaped on with little food, space or privacy.  She is someone to be admired and I think all little girls should read her story.

Labor Day Catch-All

I have a couple of updates for reading challenges and other miscellaneous happenings, so I’m going to write about it all in this one post so hold on tight as I switch gears often!

First, Venessa and I have been enjoying the newly renovated Lake Jackson Library Branch.  We had been looking forward to this all summer and it was worth the wait.  The renovated building is larger, well lit and includes more shelf space, a lot more computer terminals and seating.  The children’s section has the best spot near the windows making it bright and cheery, the YA section has some comfy reading nooks and my favorite spot is the reading room.

On our first visit Venessa checked out the movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and has watched it nearly every day (we recently renewed it for another week because she couldn’t part with it).  I think it’s cute because I recently discovered The Black Stallion and The Black Stallion Returns is streaming on Netflix.  I grew up with both of those movies and watched them constantly, especially The Black Stallion Returns.  And do you know how I watched them so much?  By checking them out from the library!

Doctor Who: Asylum of the Daleks

Season 7 of Doctor Who premiered on September 1st, did you see it?  I bought it through Amazon and I think it’s an okay start.  Daleks are Daleks and I feel like we’ve been there done that with them and I’m more excited about next weeks episode with dinosaurs on a spaceship.  But if this season continues with more stand alone type adventures, I’m all in.  I’m also very curious how the new companion will work out because SPOILER ALERT she was a human turned into a Dalek who was destroyed in this episode.  How does she go from destroyed human-Dalek to companion?  We’ll see!  And another thing, am I the only one not on board this Amy-Rory divorce because Amy can’t have any more children?  This seemed odd considering Amy is smarter than that and should know Rory by now and remember that he did wait 2,000 years for her.  And I know they didn’t get to raise River but she’s still around, she’s still their daughter and it felt like she was forgotten in this episode.  They did make up but there's probably more challenges to come for those two so I guess we’ll see how this works out.  END SPOILER ALERT 

On the reading front, the Summer In Discworld reading challenge hosted by Tales of the Marvelous has ended and I was pathetic.  I only read two Discworld books which I don’t find as very impressive stats but of course, they were great reads and I know I can always count on Discworld to lift me out of a reading funk.  Check out the review site for the Summer In Discworld challenge to see what others thought of Discworld: http://www.blenza.com/linkies/links.php?owner=MarvelousTales&postid=27May2012a&meme=9886

And here are my two reviews:

Guards! Guards! (Discworld #8)
Night Watch (Discworld #29)

With the end of summer and Halloween just around the corner you know what that means... the R.I.P. VII reading challenge!

Yes, it’s back and this will be the second time I will be participating.  I think Carl can see my bookshelves from his part of the country.  Last year I participated in the group read of Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman because I happened to have a copy.  This year there will be a group read of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and I also happen to have a copy too.  I’m hoping Venessa will finally let me read it aloud to her.  She says it’s scary but this is the same little girl who would cover her eyes while watching Doctor Who  but would then sneak out of bed to watch over my shoulder.  So, back to the R.I.P. Challenge which runs from September 1st through October 31st.  This challenge, or rather, experience, has different levels to participate and can include any book/short story/movie/TV show that fits within these categories:

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Dark Fantasy
Gothic
Horror
Supernatural

Visit Stainless Steel Droppings for more details.  I’m not going to commit to a level this year.  I’ll just see what I read and watch.  I’ve already started reading The Orphan’s Tales: In The Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente which fits in nicely as a Dark Fantasy and it is absolutely wonderful so far.  Other books I have on my shelf that I’d like to read for R.I.P. are:

World War Z by Max Brooks

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (for the group read)

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Hell by Robert Olen Butler

The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

The Orphan's Tales: In The Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente (Currently reading)

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson (I asked for this book because it was a group read last year)

We’ll see what movies I’ll watch.  I’m going to try and get a viewing of Army of Darkness in and Evil Dead 2.  I’ve also been watching Dark Shadows off and on over the last three months so I’ll probably watch some more.  So if you want to see all the action here’s a link to the review site: http://ripviireviewsite.blogspot.com/ and blog or not, everyone is welcome to participate.

So that’s it!  Hope everyone has been enjoying their three day weekend!

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #29)

Commander Sam Vimes is about to be a father.  But he has been forbidden from his wife’s side.  What’s a good copper to do besides wear a hole in the carpet pacing?  Catch bad guys!  And Carcer, known murderer, bad guy extraordinaire, has been spotted and the Watch has him surrounded.  Joining the hunt is the best thing Sam can think of to keep him occupied.  But a harrowing encounter with Carcer atop the Unseen University Library during a freak magical storm sends Vimes and Carcer back in time.  Their presence alone disrupts the thread of time but when Carcer murders John Keel, the man who mentored a young Sam Vimes, the older Vimes must assume Keel’s identity and mentor himself if he is to be the Sam Vimes that he is.  Even if time has been disrupted certain events must take place: teaching a young Sam how to be a copper, being the face of a revolution and grabbing hold of Carcer to bring him to justice and back to the timeline they belong in.  If Sam fails, the life he knows, will never be or have been.

Oh time travel what a tangled web you weave and Pratchett handles it wonderfully though there were moments that confused me but I think that’s just the nature of time travel and this is Discworld after all.  Night Watch is also quite dark and gritty, and I’m often surprised by this at times because the humor and fantasy elements are hilarious and outrageous.  Pratchett doesn’t shy away from violence and the truth and motivations behind the mob mentality, rebellions and class warfare.  There’s also plenty of light moments and comedy.  I don’t know how Pratchett is able to balance everything out but he does.  There are moments that make you cringe, nod your head in agreement, stifle a laugh; his books are very engaging.

I really loved seeing the younger versions of Sam, Colon, Nobby and Vetineri.  A skinny, street urchin, pickpocket Nobby is the cutest, filthiest thing ever and Vetineri is just as sly and smart as an assasin just as he will be a sly, two-steps-ahead-of-you patrician.  And of course, Sam is Sam, always the copper, always determined to do what is right and he has become one of my favorite characters, not just from Discworld, but also from the fantasy genre altogether.

Summer Reading 2012

I wasn’t really planning on writing up anything about what books I plan to read this summer.  But Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings put up a Mr. Linky and I thought, why not, backlinks are never a bad thing.  This will also give me a reason to brag about Venessa.


Barnes and Noble has a summer reading program going on.  Read any eight books, record them in the reading journal provided by B&N, bring it it and get a free book.  Well, Venessa has already read eight books and is on to her second reading journal with two already added to that!  I’m so proud of her.  The free book she picked out was Half Magic by Edward Eager.  The library also has a summer reading program so she’s been keeping track of her books in the journal they provided.  The library gives out stickers each week to mark their progress.  She’s reading a mix of graphic novels like the Avatar series and Babymouse, along with some chapter books like the Ivy & Bean series.  I also have her read aloud to me.  Last week she read Father Bear Comes Home and Little Bear’s Friend to me.  These were books I grew up reading and I’ve handed down my battered copies to Venessa.  If you’re curious what books make for good reading for an eight year old, I created a shelf on Goodreads with the books Venessa has read so far this summer: http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/6116848?shelf=venessa-s-summer-reading-2012


As for me, this summer I plan to read Night Watch and Thud! by Terry Pratchett.  They are part of the Discworld series so they’ll be read for the Summer In Discworld reading challenge.  Currently I’m almost done with Redshirts by John Scalzi.  I’m hoping to get to The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson, The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma and A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton.  The other day me and a friend were bashing 50 Shades of Grey and it somehow led to how much the Anita Blake books disappointed me.  My friend suggested the Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton.  He said it’s completely crazy and trashy but no matter how nuts it was he couldn’t stop reading so I will see how that goes with the first book.  I will also try to squeeze in The Thief by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott and The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett.  The Clive Cussler book has a cover that caught my eye so when I saw it at the library it was an impulse grab.  I’ve never read any Cussler so we’ll see how that goes as well.


We’ll see how any of this goes since I’m a mood reader and right now I’ve been feeling like I’m in a reading slump.  I haven’t been blown away with my latest reads and it’s been disappointing.


So now it's your turn.  Tell me what you will be reading this summer.