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 Being the best friend of the most popular girl in high school means a lot, and for years Regina has held that coveted position. She and Anna have played a leading role in the game of high school popularity for years, naming and shaming at will. One evening, however, changes everything; Anna’s boyfriend nearly rapes Regina and she goes to the wrong person for help. Kara advises Regina to keep quiet and promises that she’ll keep the attempted rape a secret. Kara has always wanted to be Anna’s best friend, so what better way to achieve that than telling Anna that Regina slept with him instead? With that one stroke Regina’s popularity is destroyed and she becomes an instant outcast. Full of rage, Regina strikes back at her former friends, but in the process realizes she has quite a bit to learn about the type of person she wants to be and life beyond high school cliques.
I bought this book right away after reading Fall for Anything, which completely swept me away. I was not at all disappointed in Some Girls Are, which transported me instantly back to that peculiar high school world, so unlike real life, so incredibly unimportant after it’s over, but absolutely critical while you’re living in it. My own high school was not nearly this vicious, thankfully, but it did have its share of socially segregated people, and there were always rumors floating around about someone or other. It’s a world I wouldn’t like to return to and so I genuinely felt for Regina when her world started to tip on its axis, especially after the horror that happened to her with the attempted rape.
For me, the book was all the more affecting because Regina herself is definitely a mean girl. She has formerly made other girls feel bad about themselves, even leading to a suicide attempt. While she does occasionally feel guilty over it, she’s more concerned with her own situation. It sounds like she’s easy to hate, but she surprisingly isn’t, and I’d definitely chalk this up to Summers’s writing skills. Regina knows she’s been awful, and as she gets to know the people she’s been awful to, she regrets it. Her choices are to destroy someone else or be destroyed – and knowing how terrible that destruction is, her choices start to make a sick sort of sense. As a result, I felt very sympathetic towards her despite her behavior, and I genuinely felt hopeful for her by the end of the book. She starts to realize that she cares about people and that they matter more to her than her reputation or the horrible things her former friends do to her.
Some Girls Are was another fantastic read from Courtney Summers. I now can’t wait to read her first book, Cracked Up to Be, and I will be eagerly waiting for future releases. Highly recommended.
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 The state of publicly reported science in our world is, according to Ben Goldacre, very grim indeed. With the details of newspaper reporters who aren’t trained scientists misinterpreting releases, pharmaceutical companies funding and rigging studies, and widely lauded ‘experts’ who are anything but, Goldacre works to put power back into the hands of his readers. Explaining carefully and patiently what’s gone wrong and how to judge whether or not we should believe what we hear on the news (short answer: no), he clearly and often humorously elucidates the problems facing modern science and the many injustices continually perpetuated on the public by those who are aiming for money and fame, rather than the welfare of human beings.
Unquestionably, my favorite part of this book is the fact that Goldacre is honestly showing us how to judge the science reported to us. He takes science down off its pedestal and displays it for everyone to learn about. As a child in an American school, I did learn about the scientific method, and I have performed experiments and examined the results of them myself. Unfortunately it’s been so many years since I did so that I’d forgotten nearly everything (which is something they don’t teach in school!). Goldacre’s book served as an entirely welcome reminder, especially in the world of constant health scares that we live in. Every other day, something else is discovered to raise your risk of cancer or make you magically healthy. He brings us a hearty dose of skepticism and several ways to measure results for ourselves.
Health is probably the biggest issue covered in the book, largely because Goldacre is himself a doctor and can most clearly talk about this issue. He doesn’t shy away from the big ones, either, targeting everything from the absurd things children are taught in school right up to the big MMR scare and the many ways people in Africa are misled about treatments that can genuinely save their lives. He does name people in the industry who practice bad science, but throughout he makes it clear that we can escape this ourselves. He doesn’t villainize any particular person so much as the entire industries that have grown on false studies. He does, however, target humanities graduates a little too enthusiastically at times for me. Since I am one of them who is trying to understand better (why else would I be reading this book?), I wasn’t entirely thrilled to find myself so obviously stereotyped. But the rest of the book was worth it.
There is so much covered in this book that I can hardly scrape the surface. It occurred to me, as I was reading, that this book actually would go quite well with In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, especially given that the latter discusses some bad science in the nutrition industry too. Both authors encourage their readers to use reason, not to blindly trust in the media or people who are trying to make money off of our problems, even non-existent ones. Goldacre advises against the medicalization of society, this idea that we can take a pill and be cured of ills which would otherwise require an attitude change. Pollan does the same thing, but in terms of food; why rely on supplements and unproven nutritional vitamins when you can just vary your diet and achieve greater benefits? Questioning the world around us and making up our own minds is, in my opinion, one of the best things we can do, and both of these authors give us back the power to do precisely that.
Bad Science is a book I’d highly recommend to anyone, particularly those who like me have forgotten the little science they knew to start with. It’s informative, empowering, and well worth the time spent reading it.
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 The first of my epic rereads of 2011 is Anne of Green Gables. Rather than going for a stricter review format, I thought it would be more fun and more likely to succeed if I just wrote my thoughts down. Luckily, this book fits that perfectly and has had my little brain working since I finished it. I can also completely spoil the suspense by telling you right now that I adored this book, one of my ultimate childhood favorites, just as much as an adult.
Almost every little girl who loved to read knows this story; orphan red-headed Anne is sent to Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert by accident. They wanted a boy to help out on the farm, but found themselves with a talkative, dreamy wisp of a child instead. After a day’s acquaintance, and knowing Anne’s dim future prospects, neither Marilla nor Matthew can bear to send her back, so they decide to keep her, leaving Marilla, an old maid, to raise a girl child on her own.
I must have read this book countless times as a child. It’s always been one of my favorites, but I haven’t read it in at least ten years. The number just went up and up as I got older. I’m not sure what drove me away from reading this one as a teenager; I suspect it may have been my early high school love affair with romance novels. Regardless, it was certainly high time for a reread, and the combination of my new Kindle and the excellent Gutenberg project meant I could have the entire series at my disposal whenever I wanted. I never owned the whole series as a kid, though I always longed to, and it’s nice to finally have that sense of completion. Since I don’t have to haul the entire series over the pond to read it, this is much more convenient for me.
Anyway, on to the book. As I mentioned earlier, I completely and unreservedly adored it all over again. There are so many reasons to love it, but naturally the foremost is Anne herself. Vivacious, dreamy, and incredibly intelligent, I think every little girl can see something of themselves in her. She is not only all of us, but she becomes all that we’d like to be, something I never really picked up on reading the book as a kid. She may not be beautiful, she may make mistakes, she may use big over-dramatic words, but she is incredibly loveable and no one can resist her copious amounts of charm. I know I wished to have so many friends at that age; I had some, but never the situation where my best friend was right next door and available to play every day. Anne is so very girlish, longing to have lovely dark hair, dresses with puffed sleeves, and an absence of freckles. She’s easy to relate to because most of us feel like ugly ducklings at 12 and 13; they are such awkward ages. Anne’s trials can help young girls who are similarly not allowed to wear the latest fashions accept that this is a simple reality, and that such rewards will come in time.
What was most interesting was how I remembered the book. I knew some of the big events that were going to happen, but I managed to mix up part of this one with the next, so I kept expecting a few things to happen only to find that they didn’t! Obviously I read Anne of Avonlea more than I thought I did. But even as I remembered where the story was going and what pitfalls were along the way, I also rediscovered so many things and found myself enjoying the journey far more than I would have expected. The entire book is something of an idyll and gives the reader a feeling that the past was a wonderful place. Even though, as I mentioned, Anne has her faults and makes mistakes that cause her to suffer bitterly, most of the book has a rosy glow about it. Life has issues, but they are never insurmountable so long as one is good and honest and does her best. There are always friends, and dreams, and hard work can make these dreams come true. Even that irritating boy you thought you’d always hate can turn out to be a friend. In this respect, it really is the perfect book for a little girl, and I know if I ever have one of my own, my own paper copy will be hers to hopefully cherish as much as I did.
 Fans of the Pink Carnation series will recognize Turnip Fitzhugh, the well-meaning but very dim – and very rich – member of society. Miss Arabella Dempsey, however, is a wallflower, so much so that I barely remembered her appearances in earlier books. In this installment, she’s taken up a job as a schoolteacher, intent on making life a little easier for her sisters. But her plans go awry when the elder brother of one of her charges, Turnip, gets involved in her life, with the very clever intervention of a Christmas pudding. Arabella never imagined she’d earn the attentions of such a man, much less that she’d get involved in a spy plot like something out of a novel, but she’s about to find that her teaching career will not be the plain sailing she’d planned on.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that the Pink Carnation series is one of my shameless pleasures. I can’t at all resist a great historical cross between romance and mystery, mixed in with an ongoing contemporary story, topped off with Willig’s witty and light style. They’re just perfect for winter evenings, which is when I read this particular book. It’s actually missing the contemporary story, but this one by itself was so enchanting that I genuinely didn’t notice. Turnip has been a recurring character throughout the books. I never managed him as a romantic hero, but his bumbling sweetness just made the entire book that much more delightful. He’s so well-meaning and well-intentioned that his lack of intelligence doesn’t make a difference. In fact, he reminded me most of Bertie Wooster here, and I did wonder if Willig used that character as inspiration.
The book itself is something of a flip flop from The Temptation of the Night Jasmine, which I reviewed back when it came out two years ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long). As such, a lot of the events are somewhat repeated, but in reverse, when it comes to a Christmas party Arabella and Turnip, along with some other Pink Carnation veterans, attend. We know what’s going on with Charlotte and Henrietta, but the focus is solely on Arabella and Turnip. It’s very light-hearted, like much of the series, but the Christmas theme has really been taken to heart here. The mystery takes very, very little priority and the focus is solely on the romance. Without the frame story, it’s clear that a romance is exactly what this book is; while some of the previous ones have felt heavier on the historical fiction, this is certainly not one of them. So if you’re going in with that frame of mind, you may not enjoy this quite as much as I did. It feels like a treat for me, because I do enjoy the series very much, but I would recommend reading the others before getting to this one.
If you’re looking for a light, frothy fun read, especially in the winter, The Mischief of the Mistletoe is definitely it. Highly recommended – especially to other fans of the series!
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 Isabelle is leaving her husband. She’s found out that he’s been cheating on her and she can’t wait to get away. Three hours from home in Cape Cod, she sees a car stopped in the middle of the road, facing the wrong direction. It’s so foggy that she doesn’t see the car until it’s too late, and she’s struck it, killing the woman inside. Her young son survived, too far out from the wreck, but his and his father Charlie’s lives are irrevocably changed. Isabelle can’t help running into them when they both return to their lives in Cape Cod, and she finds herself drawn to this widower and his adorable, asthmatic son Sam, despite the role she’s played in their grief.
I am so glad my Skype book club chose this for our February read because I would never have read it otherwise – and I truly enjoyed it, finding that it surpassed my expectations by far. Before I even got into the story, I found that the writing instantly swept me away, evoking perfectly Isabelle’s feelings as she fled her husband and then encountered April’s car in the midst of the fog. I was drawn instantly in and looked forward to returning to it whenever I had to go do something else.
One of the most interesting parts of the novel was actually April’s backstory. Though she dies in the first few pages of the novel, she is one of the most compelling characters. Clearly mentally ill in some way, she is the classic overprotective mother in some respects but incredibly negligent in others. She needs someone else to need her and this seems to motivate almost all of her choices in life. Meanwhile, her husband Charlie has always been desperately in love with her. Discovering that she may have been leaving him – with their son in tow – is devastating for him, and he is obsessed with finding out why.
Sam’s relationship with Isabelle is another really well-done aspect of the novel. Having caught just a glimpse of her at the accident scene, Sam believes that Isabelle is an angel, and when he seeks something to hold onto in the absence of his mother, she turns into it. Isabelle herself is looking to refresh her life, away from her ex-husband and his girlfriend’s baby, but no longer has a place in the community where she’s ostracised as the woman who killed a young mother. Her desire to recover lead to some very difficult choices, but I felt she always handles them in an appropriate way.
The only unrealistic aspect of the novel, in my view, was the way Isabelle was treated after the accident. How could she be ostracised so completely for an accident which really wasn’t her fault? I don’t think any woman would experience this kind of backlash when she ran into another car, facing the wrong direction, lights off, in a thick fog. The rest of the novel drew me in so much that I managed to ignore this but it did strike the single odd note.
My book club really enjoyed this book and found tons to discuss in it, only some of which I have touched on here. This would be a great selection for other book clubs too – there is a lot to pull out of this one and talk about!
Pictures of You was a sparkling read, chock full of interesting, multi faceted characters, strong relationship development, and beautiful prose. The mystery within it. about just why April ran, made a strong book that much more appealing. Highly recommended.
I am an Amazon Associate. I bought this book.
 The Lady Most Likely…, Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway
While masquerading as a full novel, this is really three novellas combined into one house party. Happily married Carolyn throws a house party for her brother, Hugh, a duke, to find his bride, but many other couples find themselves thrown together as well. It was cute and sweet, as I’d come to expect, but nothing particularly special despite having two of my favorite romance authors (Julia Quinn and Eloisa James) writing for it. Great for an afternoon’s diversion, but probably only if you can get it out of the library.
 Tempt Me at Twilight, Lisa Kleypas
Harry Rutledge is a real romance novel hero; a rugged man who could easily be cast as a villain, but who really has a heart of gold. He’s been treated so badly throughout his life that he believes he’s lost the ability to love. Poppy Hathaway is just the girl to set him straight, from the minute she chases her sister Beatrix’s ferret into his office and has no idea who he is. Poppy has her heart set on Michael Bayning, but Harry is determined to win her for himself.
In part, I liked this book, and in part, I didn’t. Harry is too ruthless of a man for me, plus he’s quite a stereotype. He goes out of his way to ‘win’ Poppy without any consideration for her feelings. This made the beginning of the book very difficult to appreciate. (It didn’t help that I was on a plane and not particularly well!) When I picked the book up again later, though, things started to fall into place, especially when Harry realized he did care what Poppy felt about him. Of course, the novel proceeds to go the route of little-abandoned-boy-becomes-man-who-cannot-love-but-can-be-redeemed. At least it was done well, and when I finished I eagerly went on to the next in the series, which follows right below this one.
 Married by Morning, Lisa Kleypas
Leo Hathaway has seemingly recovered – as much as possible anyway – from the death of his fiancee several years ago. He’s cut a rakish path through society since then, more or less aimlessly and full of humor, with few people getting under his skin. The exception is his sisters’ governess, Miss Catherine Marks, with whom he shares a mutual hatred. They regularly mock one another but can’t seem to stay away, and naturally that sexual tension explodes. But Catherine has a few skeletons in her closet and Leo must relinquish his devil-may-care armor before they can truly fall in love.
Like most other people who have read and enjoyed this series, I have been waiting for Leo’s story since book 1. He’s the tortured soul that we all managed to fall in love with even when he was making life difficult for Amelia – who can’t adore a man who is so devastated over the loss of his fiancee? I think we all just wanted Leo to be happy. When Catherine Marks appeared, it was obvious that she was the one (as I’m sure Kleypas planned it!) This tied nicely into the last book and made them perfect follow-ups to one another. I felt this was stronger all around – stronger romance, better plot (though still a romance novel one), and sparkling interactions between all of the characters. For a book I’ve anticipated for a couple of years, Married by Morning didn’t let me down, and that was a nice feeling.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased all of these books.
 Space travel is something that has fascinated people the world over, even before it was an actual scientific possibility. Now that it is, and has been, Mary Roach takes her approach into the funny, hidden side of traveling to the moon and the impending tests for a trip to Mars. She doesn’t skimp on the details, from astronauts’ diapers to disgusting dried meals to whether or not any astronauts have joined the “three dolphin club”, the equivalent to the “mile high club” for airplanes. At the same time, she acknowledges both the wonder and the terror of space flight and delves deep into the history of the men, women, and animals who have dared to go where no others had gone before.
I’ve previously read one book by Mary Roach, Bonk, but I knew immediately upon reading it that I wanted to read more by her. Packing for Mars just seemed like an excellent choice; highly rated by many people I know and covering fascinating subject matter, I couldn’t resist. It’s science in a way anyone can consume it, even people who normally dislike science like me, mixed in with a healthy dose of humor and those anecdotes which other authors probably wouldn’t share, let alone investigate. Things like a freezer full of astronaut poos and the earlier-mentioned “three dolphin club” – I certainly didn’t expect to find those in this book, but I probably should have. There is plenty of history here as well as current experiments going on for future missions.
I also really appreciated the fact that Roach doesn’t limit herself to American astronauts. She also heads to Russia, and though fewer of her stories are about the cosmonauts, she certainly includes the country’s important role in space exploration and travel. Laika, the first dog in space, and her two followers who actually managed to survive the trip are mentioned right along with the monkeys that Americans used for their tests. I’ve spent a fair amount of time studying the Russian efforts into space, so I was happy to see a representation of both countries.
For me, this book was the perfect mix of facts and humor. I never felt bogged down by facts because the rest of the book was just so funny and informative. It’s great to learn and be entertained at the same time, and this is just what Roach delivers – providing a hilarious entry into the history and current situation of space travel. She doesn’t shy away from the dangers or the messy parts, and she experiences everything she can herself, from parabolic flights to going in a space travel toilet. Highly recommended.
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 On the eve of moving his family from England to his native US, Bill Bryson decides to take one last trip around the country he’s lived in for nearly two decades. He journeys from the south of England up to John O’Groat’s in Scotland, exploring a myriad of historic and modern cities and landmarks along the way. He does so entirely on public transport, making an effort to disprove the complaints of Brits everywhere when they protest their trains and buses – which, to an American who has to drive just to get to a bus stop, are pretty exciting – and makes quite a few observations on British character along the way.
I’ve been enjoying Bryson’s memoirs for a few months now, but I think this one has been my favorite. It’s pretty easy to see why; like Bryson, I am also an American living in England. While I can laugh at the many absurdities of English people, as Bryson does, it’s pretty clear that both of us just absolutely love the country. Criticisms abound, but they are the criticisms you make of someone you love dearly – you can see faults, but that doesn’t diminish how you feel overall.
What’s really funny about this book is how accurate it is. The part about multi-storey car parks made me laugh so hard I actually cried (which amused my British husband to no end as well), because it was just so true. They do, in fact, always smell of urine in the stairwells, no matter how nice the place you’re visiting is. So many of his observations – even years on, when British Rail no longer exists – are still completely accurate. British people will unfailingly line up in neat queues without being told where to go. They do apologize to you before they complain about something that’s completely within their rights to have. They have a complete disregard for historic buildings because they have so many of them, something which has only lately begun to change. It’s all very true, in case you wonder as you read this.
Because you should read it if you are an Anglophile, and especially if you’re an American. There is much to love about the British isles and Bryson is far from immune to their charms, at least those of England, Scotland, and Wales. In addition to exploring the England of today, he looks back at older Englands, visiting towns affected by mining, commercialism, and even Milton Keynes, which was constructed after the world wars. One of the most moving passages in the book was his trip to one northern town, where the miners formed an art society. The art produced by these men wasn’t the best, but it was remarkably good and showed more the fact that they wanted to transcend life in the mine, even if it absorbed every minute of their scant leisure time. Even sadder was the fact that the club closed; not only did the mine close but modern life and the television set began to appeal more than spending time with a paintbrush and easel.
Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island is a love letter to England; it’s a careful look at what makes the people distinctive, the sense of history pervasive, and a hilarious take on modern life. If you’re an Anglophile like me, I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
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 On one cold winter in Wisconsin, 1907, Ralph Truitt awaits his mail-order bride at the train station. All he has are a photo, of a plain innocent-looking woman, and letters from her. The woman who steps off the train is too beautiful, instantly causing Ralph to be suspicious, but he’s been unloved for far too long, and in any case has a mission for his new wife. He wants Catherine Land to persuade his son, Antonio, to return to him, for a final chance at forgiveness. But he has no idea how complex the ties are truly between him and his new wife, nor the conspiracies which soon crop up amongst these three very different people.
This book, while bleak, is surprisingly addictive. Goolrick’s tone throughout is contemplative, which perfectly fits the winter atmosphere and the secret, devious plots that the characters harbor and then keep from each other. It’s well-paced, with everything revealed at just the right moment, enough to keep me stuck to the page while I waited for the next revelation, the next step in the plan. I couldn’t say I liked any of the characters, but I did appreciate the story itself very much.
One important warning; if you’re a bit squeamish about sex, this is not the book for you. The characters are very explicit in their thoughts and actions and much of their relationships are actually based on sex. I’d argue that it’s got more in there than many romance novels I’ve read, and certainly more than the ones I prefer. The whole book is charged through with it. It’s a dark gothic romance without any little details actually left out, and in my opinion it’s best approached that way. But the beauty of the story is truly that both characters learn that sex and desire aren’t love, that marriage isn’t easy, and without so much emphasis on the physical side of things, I’m not sure it would have the same impact.
To make it all that much better, Catherine, despite being a prostitute and very uneducated, adores books and knowledge, and her time spent in the library is some of the happiest of her life. Though I never really cared all that much about the characters, this one little thing did help quite a bit towards making me like her. It’s just one of those little signs that she hasn’t let the circumstances of her life destroy her spirit, and as a result I kept hoping for a good chance for her and a bit of redemption by the end.
A Reliable Wife was an intoxicating read; suspenseful plot, moving emotions, and fantastic setting. It may be a little bit too racy for some, and I never quite fell in love with the characters, so I can’t recommend it whole-heartedly, but it was nevertheless for me an excellent book.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
 Miles has lived a fairly lonely life throughout school when he decides to go to the same boarding school his dad went to, Culver Creek, to finish out his high school years. Rather than spending all of his time researching the last words of dead people, Miles wants to live, to experience his “Great Perhaps”. And on arrival, he almost immediately starts to, as his roommate instantly befriends him and introduces him to a friend, Alaska Young. Miles has never met a girl like Alaska – a clever, funny, beautiful girl, always living on the edge and taking risks. Starting out on a countdown to a mysterious event, Looking For Alaska is suspenseful, heart-breaking, and completely real.
John Green is famous around the blogosphere for writing real teenagers with real emotions, and I found nothing less than that in this book. At the very beginning, I found myself immediately drawn in; we start off at Miles’s going-away party, which no one but his parents and two awkward acquaintances attend. How could I not relate to a geeky boy that loves history and struggles to make friends? He’s pragmatic, clever, and funny, and when he met people at his new school right away, I was already his enthusiastic cheerleader.
The story only got better. I’m a big fan of boarding school and even house party stories. When you get lots of characters living together at once, fireworks happen, and they quite literally do so here. There are so many interesting dynamics going on, from pranks to friendships to the traditional high school hierarchy. Each character was quirky and distinct in some way, so I never lost Miles’s friends amongst the crowds. Miles is speedily renamed “Pudgy”, which quite effectively marks his separation as a kid with only adults for friends and a kid who is ready to be a teenager.
And now we get to the point where we talk about spoilers, albeit vaguely, so look away if you haven’t read this book. This is one that I believe is given away on the American cover, but not on my British one. I have one notable incident later in the book that struck me as incredibly true to life and, I think, illustrates very well why John Green is so beloved for writing real teenagers. After a death occurs, a peripheral character comes to Miles, convinced that she’s had “a sign” from said person. Miles doesn’t want to hear it. This character had never related to the one who died in real life, and while he was really suffering, he just wasn’t interested. Instead, he’s annoyed.
This is something which has always bothered me about other people’s reactions to my brother’s death. People who wouldn’t have given him the time of day in real life were torn up about his death, and it’s always bugged me that it wasn’t him they were upset about, it was the confrontation of their own mortality. I always felt that they should have shown something when he was alive. And here John Green has illustrated precisely this. The other characters don’t care about the person who died. They’ve just realized that they themselves will die, and are reaching out for signs that it’s not so bad. What a uniquely teenage experience this is, that realization of death, and what a magnificent job Green did depicting it.
Anyway, to sum up, Looking For Alaska was a fantastic contemporary YA read, a true look at what it feels like to be a teenager, with a suspenseful, emotional plot. Highly recommended, and I’m looking forward to reading more.
I am an Amazon Associate. I purchased this book.
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