The Manny Files by Christian Burch

Original.

There are varying degrees of funny books. Some are just a little funny and one corner of your mouth curls up once in a while. Some books are moderately funny and you find yourself snickering once in a while - mostly with a hard breath out your nose. Some books you actually chuckle at. And very rarely do you find a book where you actually laugh out loud. The Manny Files was one of those books. I actually laughed out loud, like, 2 times! The rest of the time I was definitely chuckling. Funny stuff...

Keats Dalinger is a completely forgettable third-grader (according to himself). His oldest sister, Lulu, is great at everything. Keats' teacher even keeps a closet full of her projects to use as examples. His second sister India, is a young fashionista. Everyone loves her sense of style. And his baby sister Belly (full name Mirabelle) is crazy, in the cute way. Keats isn't good at anything, is the shortest in his class, and gets teased by the popular boy in his class. The bright spot in Keats' life is the manny (the male nanny). The manny does fun and exciting things and wears cashmere socks! When Keats' parents go to Mexico for their anniversary the manny hangs pinatas from each kids' ceiling and wears a sombrero. When Keats' Grandmother breaks her hip and comes to stay with the family, she quickly befriends the Manny. Every day when Grandma watches her soap operas, the Manny dresses her up as a different character and they reenact the plots. The conflict comes when Lulu decides she hates the manny and keeps a notebook called "The Manny Files" to write down all the crazy things he does. Keats has to learn to stick up for himself and the manny to save him. Although, I wouldn't call that the main plot. I think this book is mainly about Keats learning to find himself.

One of my favorite parts of this story happens after Keats' class goes on a field trip to the local swimming pool. While Keats is swimming the kid that bullies him steals his Scooby Doo underwear. On their way back to school, the bully wears the underpants on his head - and of course Keats' mother has written him name on them in big black letters so everyone can see whose they are. (Of course I thought this was disgusting. Doesn't that kid realize those are DIRTY underpants? Gross!) That night Keats tells the manny everything that happened and of course the manny makes everything better:

"When I walked through the living room, Grandma's bed was empty and her wheelchair was gone. She was in the dining room with everyone else. They screamed, "Surprise!!!" when I walked in. Everybody was sitting around the dining-room table. Grandma was wheeled up next to Lulu.

They all had underwear on their heads.

Even Lulu, who hates the word underwear.

Mom had on a pair of Dad's boxers.

Dad had one of Mom's bras.

Lulu had a pair of India's flowered panties.

India had Lulu's Tuesday underwear.

Belly had DecapiTina's little white ones hanging off one ear.

Grandma had on one of Belly's nighttime pull-up diapers.

The manny had a pair of boxer briefs.

And Uncle Max was wearing a pair of Grandma's big lacy ones, the ones that my sisters had held up and laughed at when they unpacked Grandma's suitcase.

The manny handed me a pair of my own Scooby Doo underwear to wear on my head.

We ate the entire dinner that way. Dad even answered the door with Mom's bra on his head. It was Lucy, our next-door neighbor, selling Girl Scout Cookies.

He bought four boxes of Thin Mints."

I love it! And there are lots more laughable moments.

But even though it was funny, in the end, I'm not sure I can say I loved this book. There is suspicion through the whole book (for the reader, not Keats) that the manny is gay. Which - fine, whatever, but for a conservative like me, it almost seemed like the point of the book was to say that it's okay to be gay - gay people are more interesting. And I almost think the author was trying to show Keats as a little homosexual. I am not going to go into a discussion about it being okay to be gay, I just didn't like the attempt to persuade young readers. That is mom and dad's job, right?

So I would say, if you're looking for a good laugh, read The Manny Files. Just don't let your kids read it until you're ready for a conversation on homosexuality. :)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Classic.

I assume you all know the story. Mary is a 9 year old girl who grew up in India. Her parents didn't care for her so she was given everything she wanted by her ayah to keep her quiet. So she grew up a strong willed and sour child. At the beginning of the story Mary's parents die of Cholera and she is sent to Yorkshire, England to live with her uncle. In her new home, Mary learns of a garden that has been walled up and locked. She makes it her goal to find the garden and bring it back to life, which she does with the help of Dickon (her first friend ever). Mary makes another discovery in her melancholy house - Colin, her cousin, who is sick and bed-ridden and just as sour and strong willed as Mary. This story is about how the garden changes Mary and Colin both physically and mentally.

I remember when I was young watching a movie of The Secret Garden. It's the one done by Hallmark with Colin Firth playing the grown up Colin. It always kind of creeped me out. Especially the scene when Mary discovers her dead parents in her house. And then the creepy crying she hears in Misselthwaite Manor. The book isn't nearly as creepy, which I was glad of. But then again, I don't think it was as compelling either.

Reading this book made me so excited for spring. I want to plant a flower garden myself! I loved reading about all the flowers the children plant and how they took care of them. Just one question: how did these two recluse children ever know how to take care of a garden? I know they had Dickon, but before Dickon comes along, Mary somehow knows what to do. I dunno...But I loved the characters. I loved reading about Mary changing and growing - becoming more kind and understanding. And Dickon is the kind of boy we'd all like to know. I have to admit, I did get annoyed with Colin, but I could look past that because the other characters were so good. Martha, Mrs. Medlock, Ben Wetherstaff...all so real.

Because this is a children's book, it was a quick and easy read. I don't know how many out there enjoy reading children's literature as much as I do, but I would recommend this one anyway because it's a classic! How can you consider yourself well read and not have read this one!

Interesting note: I always thought that The Secret Garden and The Little Princess were very similar, but I didn't realize that Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote them both. So there you go. I guess I'll have to read The Little Princess next.

Bottom line: read it. Enjoy it. Dream about a flower garden in this dreary January weather.

The Princess Diaries, by Meg Cabot

Does 3 weeks count as soon?

Cute.

You've seen the movie right? The Disney one with Anne Hathaway? Well even if you've seen the movie, this book is worth reading. There are some key differences between the two. You know how sometimes you read a book then see the movie and are ALWAYS disappointed? Or maybe you'll see the movie first and then read the book and are once again disappointed? Well I must say that this was the first time that I wasn't disappointed. I saw both movies years ago when they were first released and they're cute and fun. The book is cute and fun too, but a little more edgy (a really little because after all, the book was written for young girls.)

Mia Thermopolis is a high school freshman that just wants to blend in. She doesn't want to be really popular, or really dorky, just somewhere in the middle. Her parents have long been divorced, her father living in Europe. So when she finds out her father is actually a prince, and she a princess and heir to the throne of Genovia, she's embarrassed. At first she hides this from everyone but later learns to embrace it and find herself in the process. A slightly more glamorous than usual coming of age story. The book I read was a collection of the first three books - I think there are like 9 or something...and ends with Mia on her way to Genovia for the first time as princess.

In the book, Mia's father is still alive. He has just survived testicular cancer and cannot have any more children, so Mia officially becomes the heir. Also, the book takes place in New York City, which I think adds a fun element. One other major difference, Mia's mother is dating Mia's algebra teacher and quickly becomes pregnant, so there's that horror for Mia to deal with too. Also, I thought the grandmother in the book was much more of a horror than Julie Andrews was in the movie, but seriously, how can Julie help but be anything but charming? And remember that part in the movie where Mia forgets to show up for her best friend Lily's cable show? Well that doesn't happen in the books. At least not in the first three books. The conflict comes in when Lily finds out through other sources that Mia is a princess. Mia never can bring herself to tell Lily.

My favorite thing about this book was how frank Mia's character is (at least in her diary) which makes the book really funny. I found myself chuckling out loud a number of times. If Mia were a teenager in 2010 she'd have a princess blog and be the toast of blog town with at least 50 followers! :)

All in all, I'd say this was a fun, easy read. I would definitely recommend this one - although not to anyone under 11 or so (Mia talks a bit about making out and sex), but it was still pretty clean. Just not as squeaky as the Disney movie. If you do decide to read this one, make sure you have at least all three to begin with. I was totally shocked when the first book ended, it just didn't feel like an ending. I would have been TOTALLY disappointed if it had ended there.

So, if you're looking for a good, clean, easy and humorous read check this one out!

Slacker!

So, I did finish the Princess Diaries. A long time ago...and I've even finished my next book club book, but with the holidays and fairy parties and everything, I haven't had time to review it! But I am going to. Soon. And now I have to because I've published that. Soon...

The Book Thief

Powerful.
I loved this book, which I must say is odd for me because I typically only enjoy more light-hearted books (life is hard enough - why add more misery?). But The Book Thief was compelling, heart wrenching, intriguing, thought provoking, even life changing.

Liesel Meminger is a foster child living in World War II Germany. From the very first book she steals, The Gravedigger's Handbook, she is intrigued by words. "I have hated the words and I have loved them..." Her world is impacted by words.
Leisel begins living with the Hubermanns at age nine. Though coarse and gruff, they grow to love each other as much as a real family. Leisel's view of the world is expanded when the Hubermanns begin hiding a Jew (Max) in their basement and the two become friends. The story begins in 1939 and takes you to the end of the war.
One of the most unconventional parts of this book is that Death is the narrator. Not a dark and scary Death, but rather a tired and sickened Death (disgusted by the horrors humans inflict on each other). Death tells the story to prove to himself that humans are worth it (as Markus Zusak explained in an interview included at the end of the book). I loved how every so often Death would interrupt the story with a special "bulletin" to clarify or emphasize a point. Death's last bulletin was my favorite: "I am haunted by humans."

I loved the language in this book; the way Zusak paints a picture with words - not just a picture, but an emotion. I have never read anything like it, so I am including a portion of the book so you can understand what I mean.

From pages 252 to 253

Evidently the mayor's wife was shocked when she saw her again. Her fluffy hair was slightly wet and the wrinkles widened when she noticed the obvious fury on Liesel's usually pallid face. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, which was handy, really, for it was Liesel who possessed the talking.
"You think," she said, "you can buy me off with this book?" Her voice, though shaken hooked at the woman's throat. The glittering anger was thick and unnerving, but she toiled through it. She worked herself up even further, to the point where she needed to wipe the tears from her eyes. "You give me this Saumensch of a book and think it'll make everything good when I go and tell my mama that we've just lost our last one? While you sit here in your mansion?"
The mayor's wife's arms.
They hung.
Her face slipped.
Liesel, however, did not buckle. She sprayed her words directly into the woman's eyes.
"You and your husband. Sitting up here." Now she became spiteful. More spiteful and evil than she thought herself capable.
The injury of words.
Yes, the brutality of words.
She summoned them from someplace she only now recognized and hurled them at Ilsa Hermann...
..."This book," she went on..."I don't want it." The words were quiter now, but still just as hot. She threw The Whistler at the woman's slippered feet, hearing the clack of it as it landed on the cement. "I don't want your miserable book..."
Now she managed it. She fell silent.
Her throat was barren now. No words for miles.
After a miscarriaged pause, the mayor's wife edged forward and picked up the book. She was battered and beaten up, and not from smiling this time. Liesel could see it on her face. Blood leaked from her nose and licked at her lips. Her eyes had blackened. Cuts had opened up and a series of wounds were rising to the surface of her skin. All from the words. From Liesel's words.

My recommendation: READ IT! So good. So worth it.

The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale

Disappointing. I LOVE Shannon Hale's books! But not this one.

I've been thinking...(yes, I do that occasionally) maybe I was expecting too much. I am so not a fan of modern romances (clean or dirty). I don't even watch romantic movies (except the occasional romantic comedy). The Notebook? No way!!! So not my thing. I much prefer the incredibly polite and socially correct romances of Jane Austen or Elizabeth Gaskell. So maybe this is just a typical romance book and therefore, not my thing.

Becky Jack is a Mormon housewife who happens to meet mega-hot movie star Felix Callahan. They quickly become best friends. For a while I felt like the book was just a collection of witty conversations between Becky and Felix. It took a while to get to the meat of the story. Every one tells Becky to avoid even the appearance of evil and stay away from befriending a member of the opposite sex - in fact Becky has this same conversation with every character for the first 2/3 of the book. And then - SPOILER ALERT - her husband dies (which made me SOB! and I never cry at books - just too close to home) and she is confronted with an opportunity to be more than friends with Felix. I won't tell you what happens at the very end, but I was really disappointed.

I don't see how this book would appeal to a non-Mormon audience. There is an underlying theme of God's guidance throughout the book and lots of Mormon vocabulary. It was a quick, easy read, and I did find myself laughing out oud quite a bit, but overall - I would give it a thumbs down.

If modern romances are your thing - read it. If not, skip this one and read Jane Austen instead.

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Can I just say that the first 600 pages were tedious? I mean it wasn't awful, but definitely not compelling. In fact I had to watch the movie first to get into the story at all (great movie by the way - love that Rufus Sewell). But the last 200 pages were SO WORTH IT! I can't believe I hung in there that long, but I am so glad I did. I loved this book.

Middlemarch reminds me a lot of The Way We Live Now, by Anthony Trollope. It starts out with lots of characters' individual stories and you don't really see what they have to do with each other except that they all live in the same town (Middlemarch). But at the end, all of their stories twist together and you see how they are all connected. The plot was way too complicated to summarize but the gist is: two of the main characters (Dorothea and Dr. Lydgate) make imprudent marriages and they either overcome or give in to this challenge.

My sister recommended Middlemarch to me and told me that Dorothea reminded her of me. What a compliment!!! I love Dorothea and wish I could be more like her. At the beginning of the book I was annoyed with her for choosing to marry such an icky man, but I think it served her well, in spite of the hardship. She became even more charitable and selfless as a result. I have to say that I feel genuinely inspired by her. She was always looking for ways to help others, even when everyone else told her it would be unwise. In the end, she was the only person to stand up and help Dr. Lydgate, even though doing so would help the person (Lydgate's wife - the self-centered Rosamond) who had hurt her most.

My favorite characters were Dorothea (because I want to be just like her), Will Ladislaw (because he continually placed his good character above an easy life), Caleb Garth (because he had more sense than the entire town of Middlemarch), and Fred Vincy (because he changed the most to deserve the woman he loved).

My least favorite characters were Mr. Brooke (because he was annoying, you know), and Mr. Bulstrode (because he was the biggest hypocrite ever written).

In all I give this book two big thumbs up! If you choose to read this, watch the movie first, skip the long political statements, and hang in there! The last is SO worth it!!!

The Lesson I came away with:

"...the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs." (what a great ending line.)