15. Worst-Case Collin

Worst-Case Collin. Rebecca Caprara. 2021. [September] 256 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: I used to dream about normal stuff like making the swim team, acing my social studies quiz, getting revenge on Liam for pranking me all the time. These days my main goal is to prevent disaster from striking again. Or, at the very least, to be better prepared. Which is harder than it sounds when you're in middle school and calamities of various sorts occur daily.

Premise/plot: Collin, our twelve-year-old protagonist, is a worrier carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. It wasn't always like this. There was a Before. But he's been living in the After for almost two years now. Life without his mom is barely life. Collin has some great friends--Liam and Georgia--who are clueless about the secrets he's been keeping from them. There's a good reason he hasn't invited them inside his house--ever, ever, ever. But keeping secrets and hiding out can only take you so far...

Worst-Case Collin is a coming of age novel--with a school setting, with a strong theme of friendship--written in verse. It's also what you might call a problem novel. (That is one reason why I am reviewing it here at Becky's Book Reviews instead of Young Readers.)

My thoughts: I have many thoughts. On the one hand, WHAT A STORY. I loved meeting Collin and his friends, Liam and Georgia. I thought his two friends continually offered a ray of hope and happiness. Collin and the reader needed that hope. (I also thought Liam's mom was superb!!! It was so nice to see a good parenting role model.) On the other hand, IT IS HEAVY AND INTENSE. I think it is good heavy and good intense. But also potentially triggering--depending on the reader's home environment. 

Collin is juggling many, many, many emotions: sadness, worry, fear, frustration, anger, regret, bitterness, anxiety, hopelessness, grief, and SHAME. Collin only has a tiny amount of places where he feels safe. On the one hand, he wants to tell someone--anyone--what is going on at home and how things are different since his mom died. On the other hand, he fears what might happen if anyone ever learns the truth. He struggles daily with this dilemma. Can I go on living like this? Will it ever get better? 

Quotes:

Gravity might always win,
but I've got a choice:
fall
or
dive.
I choose to dive.
She bends her knees.
Preferably with style!
She leaps, twists, splashes.

Georgia says
there is space inside
the human heart
for infinite love
and infinite sadness
and all the messiness
in between.

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

14. An Ideal Husband

An Ideal Husband. Oscar Wilde. 1893. 78 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence:

Mrs. Marchmont. Going on to the Hartlocks’ to-night, Margaret?

Lady Basildon. I suppose so. Are you?

Mrs. Marchmont. Yes. Horribly tedious parties they give, don’t they?

Premise/plot: An Ideal Husband is a play by Oscar Wilde originally published in 1893. It opens with a party of sorts. Mrs. Cheveley finds a way to get an invitation so that she can blackmail Sir Robert Chiltern, an under-secretary for foreign affairs. She has a letter from his past--they had a mutual friends years ago--that could do him major damage politically if it's brought to light. She wants him to change his mind and more importantly change his speech and public stance on a matter. (She'll benefit financially from this change of opinion). He wants to say NO, NO, NEVER...but the idea of losing his wife's good opinion not to mention the good opinion of society at large and the government...well...he's tempted to give in. He confides in his oldest friend, Lord Goring; Goring's advice NEVER GIVE IN, NEVER SURRENDER. He wants a chance to find a different solution to this problem. But can he outwit Mrs. Cheveley? 

Of course there are a few more under stories going on that make this one a wee bit more complex than my summary. (Like Mabel Chiltern (Robert's sister) courtship with Lord Goring).

My thoughts: I am really enjoying reading Wilde's plays! This one has to do with discretion/indiscretion, public opinion, morality, and relationships. And POLITICS. It was really such a treat to read this one.

Quotes:

Mabel Chiltern. [Coming up to Lord Caversham.] Why do you call Lord Goring good-for-nothing?
Lord Caversham. Because he leads such an idle life.
Mabel Chiltern. How can you say such a thing? Why, he rides in the Row at ten o’clock in the morning, goes to the Opera three times a week, changes his clothes at least five times a day, and dines out every night of the season. You don’t call that leading an idle life, do you?

Sir Robert Chiltern. What an appalling philosophy that sounds! To attempt to classify you, Mrs. Cheveley, would be an impertinence. But may I ask, at heart, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Those seem to be the only two fashionable religions left to us nowadays.
Mrs. Cheveley. Oh, I’m neither. Optimism begins in a broad grin, and Pessimism ends with blue spectacles. Besides, they are both of them merely poses.
Sir Robert Chiltern. You prefer to be natural?
Mrs. Cheveley. Sometimes. But it is such a very difficult pose to keep up.

 Mrs. Cheveley. Ah! the strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analysed, women . . . merely adored.

Mrs. Cheveley. Questions are never indiscreet. Answers sometimes are.

Mabel Chiltern. What an absurd reason!
Lord Goring. All reasons are absurd.

Lord Goring. I love talking about nothing, father. It is the only thing I know anything about.
Lord Caversham. You seem to me to be living entirely for pleasure.
Lord Goring. What else is there to live for, father? Nothing ages like happiness.

Lord Goring. I adore political parties. They are the only place left to us where people don’t talk politics.
Lady Basildon. I delight in talking politics. I talk them all day long. But I can’t bear listening to them. I don’t know how the unfortunate men in the House stand these long debates.
Lord Goring. By never listening.
Lady Basildon. Really?
Lord Goring. [In his most serious manner.] Of course. You see, it is a very dangerous thing to listen. If one listens one may be convinced; and a man who allows himself to be convinced by an argument is a thoroughly unreasonable person.

Lord Goring. You should go to bed, Miss Mabel.
Mabel Chiltern. Lord Goring!
Lord Goring. My father told me to go to bed an hour ago. I don’t see why I shouldn’t give you the same advice. I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

Lord Goring. Life is never fair, Robert. And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

Lord Goring. [Turning round.] Well, she wore far too much rouge last night, and not quite enough clothes. That is always a sign of despair in a woman.

Lord Goring. It is always worth while asking a question, though it is not always worth while answering one.

Lord Goring. [After a long pause.] Nobody is incapable of doing a foolish thing. Nobody is incapable of doing a wrong thing.

Lord Goring. [Rising.] No, Lady Chiltern, I am not a Pessimist. Indeed I am not sure that I quite know what Pessimism really means. All I do know is that life cannot be understood without much charity, cannot be lived without much charity. It is love, and not German philosophy, that is the true explanation of this world, whatever may be the explanation of the next. And if you are ever in trouble, Lady Chiltern, trust me absolutely, and I will help you in every way I can. If you ever want me, come to me for my assistance, and you shall have it. Come at once to me.

Mabel Chiltern. Well, Tommy has proposed to me again. Tommy really does nothing but propose to me. He proposed to me last night in the music-room, when I was quite unprotected, as there was an elaborate trio going on. I didn’t dare to make the smallest repartee, I need hardly tell you. If I had, it would have stopped the music at once. Musical people are so absurdly unreasonable. They always want one to be perfectly dumb at the very moment when one is longing to be absolutely deaf. Then he proposed to me in broad daylight this morning, in front of that dreadful statue of Achilles. Really, the things that go on in front of that work of art are quite appalling. The police should interfere. At luncheon I saw by the glare in his eye that he was going to propose again, and I just managed to check him in time by assuring him that I was a bimetallist. Fortunately I don’t know what bimetallism means. And I don’t believe anybody else does either. But the observation crushed Tommy for ten minutes. He looked quite shocked. And then Tommy is so annoying in the way he proposes. If he proposed at the top of his voice, I should not mind so much. That might produce some effect on the public. But he does it in a horrid confidential way. When Tommy wants to be romantic he talks to one just like a doctor. I am very fond of Tommy, but his methods of proposing are quite out of date. I wish, Gertrude, you would speak to him, and tell him that once a week is quite often enough to propose to any one, and that it should always be done in a manner that attracts some attention.

Lady Markby. [Reflecting.] You are remarkably modern, Mabel. A little too modern, perhaps. Nothing is so dangerous as being too modern. One is apt to grow old-fashioned quite suddenly. I have known many instances of it.

Lord Goring. Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself.
Phipps. Yes, my lord.
Lord Goring. To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance, Phipps.

Lord Goring. I am glad you have called. I am going to give you some good advice.
Mrs. Cheveley. Oh! pray don’t. One should never give a woman anything that she can’t wear in the evening.

 

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

13. Lady Windermere's Fan

Lady Windermere's Fan. Oscar Wilde. 1893. 70 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence:

Parker.  Is your ladyship at home this afternoon?

Lady Windermere.  Yes—who has called?

Parker.  Lord Darlington, my lady.

Lady Windermere.  [Hesitates for a moment.]  Show him up—and I’m at home to any one who calls.

Parker.  Yes, my lady.

 Premise/plot: Lady Windermere's Fan is a play by Oscar Wilde. Lady Winderemere (Margaret) learns on her birthday that her husband has been keeping company with a 'bad woman' with a past. They've just been married two years, and she's always thought he was most trustworthy. But when one person strongly hints and another out and out tells her that her husband has been paying to keep another woman, well, she's shaken. She confronts her husband, and he insists that she invites her to her birthday party--or birthday ball as the case may be. She's insulted, upset, adamant. She will NOT put up with such treatment! But a card and invitation is sent out--and she comes, Mrs. Erlynne comes. 

 Meanwhile while this 'bad woman' is dancing and charming the men at the party, one man in particular is trying to charm Lady Windermere. Lord Darlington is professing his love; he truly, madly, deeply loves, loves, loves her. Won't she run away with him? After all who could blame her?! Her husband is inviting THAT WOMAN to her birthday party, and openly socializing with her!!! Surely a good woman would be justified in leaving her husband for another man? Even if she does have a baby with her husband...

Will Lady Windermere say YES to Lord Darlington? Will Lady Windermere forgive her husband? What would a good woman do under the circumstances?

My thoughts:  I really enjoyed this one!!! I am thinking this one might be less well known--as opposed to The Importance of Being Earnest--so I won't spoil the secrets of Lady Windermere's Fan...but it's a GOOD read. In some ways it reminds me of HIGH SOCIETY which is one of my most favorite, favorite, favorite musicals. (Although Wilde's play doesn't have Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Louis Armstrong.) 

I definitely enjoyed the writing and the characters.

Quotes: 

Lord Darlington.  [Still seated L.C.]  Oh, nowadays so many conceited people go about Society pretending to be good, that I think it shows rather a sweet and modest disposition to pretend to be bad.  Besides, there is this to be said.  If you pretend to be good, the world takes you very seriously.  If you pretend to be bad, it doesn’t.  Such is the astounding stupidity of optimism.

Lady Windermere.  [Leaning back on the sofa.]  You look on me as being behind the age.—Well, I am!  I should be sorry to be on the same level as an age like this.
Lord Darlington.  You think the age very bad?
Lady Windermere.  Yes.  Nowadays people seem to look on life as a speculation.  It is not a speculation.  It is a sacrament.  Its ideal is Love.  Its purification is sacrifice.
Lord Darlington.  [Smiling.]  Oh, anything is better than being sacrificed!
Lady Windermere.  [Leaning forward.]  Don’t say that.

 Lord Darlington.  Do you know I am afraid that good people do a great deal of harm in this world.  Certainly the greatest harm they do is that they make badness of such extraordinary importance.  It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.  People are either charming or tedious.  I take the side of the charming, and you, Lady Windermere, can’t help belonging to them.

Lady Windermere.  Why do you talk so trivially about life, then?
Lord Darlington.  Because I think that life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it. 

Duchess of Berwick.  That’s quite right, dear.  Crying is the refuge of plain women but the ruin of pretty ones.   

Lord Darlington.  My life—my whole life.  Take it, and do with it what you will. . . . I love you—love you as I have never loved any living thing.  From the moment I met you I loved you, loved you blindly, adoringly, madly!  You did not know it then—you know it now!  Leave this house to-night.  I won’t tell you that the world matters nothing, or the world’s voice, or the voice of society.  They matter a great deal.  They matter far too much.  But there are moments when one has to choose between living one’s own life, fully, entirely, completely—or dragging out some false, shallow, degrading existence that the world in its hypocrisy demands.  You have that moment now.  Choose!  Oh, my love, choose.

Cecil Graham.  My own business always bores me to death.  I prefer other people’s.

Cecil Graham.  [Coming towards him L.C.]  My dear Arthur, I never talk scandal.  I only talk gossip.
Lord Windermere.  What is the difference between scandal and gossip?
Cecil Graham.  Oh! gossip is charming!  History is merely gossip.  But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.  Now, I never moralise.  A man who moralises is usually a hypocrite, and a woman who moralises is invariably plain.  There is nothing in the whole world so unbecoming to a woman as a Nonconformist conscience.  And most women know it, I’m glad to say.

Dumby.  I congratulate you, my dear fellow.  In this world there are only two tragedies.  One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.  The last is much the worst; the last is a real tragedy!  But I am interested to hear she does not love you.

Cecil Graham.  What is a cynic?  [Sitting on the back of the sofa.]
Lord Darlington.  A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Cecil Graham.  And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market price of any single thing.
Lord Darlington.  You always amuse me, Cecil.  You talk as if you were a man of experience.
Cecil Graham.  I am.  [Moves up to front off fireplace.]
Lord Darlington.  You are far too young!
Cecil Graham.  That is a great error.  Experience is a question of instinct about life.  I have got it.  Tuppy hasn’t.  Experience is the name Tuppy gives to his mistakes.  That is all.  [Lord Augustus looks round indignantly.]
Dumby.  Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes.

Dumby.  It’s no use talking to Tuppy.  You might just as well talk to a brick wall.
Cecil Graham.  But I like talking to a brick wall—it’s the only thing in the world that never contradicts me!  Tuppy!

Lady Windermere.  We all have ideals in life.  At least we all should have.  Mine is my mother.
Mrs. Erlynne.  Ideals are dangerous things.  Realities are better.  They wound, but they’re better.
Lady Windermere.  [Shaking her head.]  If I lost my ideals, I should lose everything.
Mrs. Erlynne.  Everything?

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

12. My Remarkable Journey

My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir. Katherine Johnson, Joylette Hylick, and Katherine G. Moore. 2021. [May] 224 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: The serious look in Daddy’s eyes told me his words were important: “You’re as good as anyone in this town,” he said, peering down at my curious little face. “But you’re no better.”

Premise/plot: My Remarkable Journey is Katherine Johnson's autobiography. Katherine Johnson is a name you've likely become familiar with over the past six to seven years. Hidden Figures, the book, was published circa 2016 and the movie, Hidden Figures, followed. But this is her story in her own words--I believe the coauthors are her daughters. (Her daughters are named Joylette and Katherine, so I'm inferring here, for better or worse.) 

While the memoir covers her career at NASA, it covers so much more than that. She was a daughter, sister, student, friend, teacher, volunteer, mathematician, career woman, wife, mother, and grandmother. The memoir highlights relationships--not just events. 

Another thing worth mentioning is the focus on context, context, context. Her memoir is rooted in the times in which she lived. She goes out of her way to share deeper contexts and elaborate on the times. For example, she provides great detail about race relations, segregation, desegregation, the civil rights movement, the cold war, the space race, etc. If there's a theme of the memoir it would be education, education, education.

My thoughts: I loved this memoir. I found it fascinating, informative, and well crafted. I loved her writing style. I loved learning more about her family--her parents, siblings, husbands, children--and her private life. It was just an absorbing read. 

Journey is a good fit for the title. The book isn't so much about the destination--though, of course, her years at NASA are a fascinating destination--but about the journey. It is about the people who helped her along every step of the way, who helped shape her into the amazing woman she was.

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

11. Max and the Spice Thieves

Max and the Spice Thieves. (Secrets of the Twilight Djinn #1) John Peragine. 2021. [April] 274 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: “Max,” Mom said, gently stroking my arm. “Come on, Little Bear, it’s time to get up.” I cracked one eye open—it was still dark. I sighed loud and long. “It’s too early. The sun isn’t even up. Besides, what’s the point?”

Premise/plot: Max and the Spice Thieves is a middle grade fantasy novel by John Peragine. Max, our unlikely hero, stars in this coming-of-age fantasy novel. His father is missing, believed, dead; his mother is missing, possibly dead. All he knows has been turned upside down and shaken. He's keeping company with Captain Cinn, a spice pirate (not to be confused with a space pirate) and his crew...but not for long. Because Cinn is a wanted man. What he didn't expect is that he's WANTED to. But why? Who were his parents? Who is he? How much has been kept secret from him? 

Max and the Spice Thieves has plenty of action, magic, and, well, fantasy. It stars plenty of supernatural beings. It might have more than its fair share of coincidences. 

My thoughts: This one gets a definite three stars for me. It requires a certain suspension of disbelief. (Which isn't all that unusual for a fantasy novel--children's or adult). 

Essentially what you see is what you get. Expect a children's fantasy novel starring a child who meets an assorted and varied cast of helpmates who set out on a mission/quest together. The mission/quest is challenging, as all quests are in fantasy, but the fate of the world depends on it. Fortunately the hero is stronger and smarter and braver than he knows. 

If that kind of formula works for you--as an adult or as a child--this book may prove satisfying. I do think children have probably read less fantasy than adults so perhaps they never come across books that feel formulaic? Or maybe the secret is that they just don't care or even love that about a book? 

I think we all as individual readers have our own favorite formulas that we just love and adore and can't get enough of. (Mine might be historical romances with marriages of convenience where the husband and wife fall in love after saying I do.)

 

© 2021 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews