The Book Review Club (February 2018)

Welcome to the Feb 2018 edition of The Book Review Club. THIS MONTH MARKS OUR NINE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY! Sorry. I couldn't help but yell. That's a lot of reading and reviewing! Click below my post for links to good reviews of good books! And Happy Belated Groundhog Day!

THE GIRL WITH SEVEN NAMES 
by Hyeonseo Lee (memoir, North Korea)

I gravitate toward books about North Korea. I visited the DMZ and looked across into North Korea. One of my sisters has traveled twice to North Korea to help with food aid. I always wonder if our daughter, adopted as a baby from South Korea, might have relatives in the North.

The Girl with Seven Names is Hyeonsea Lee's memoir of her escape from North Korea to China. She eventually made her way to a life in South Korea. Lee left N. Korea as a seventeen year old!

This book is divided into three sections: Lee's childhood in North Korea, Lee's escape to China and South Korea, Lee's efforts to get her brother and mother to defect to South Korea. Each section is equally riveting.

Lee talks of witnessing her first public execution at age seven. She describes the weekly "life purification sessions" where "everyone took turns to stand up, accuse someone and confess something." She talks about the racism and isolation she faced as an illegal North Korean in China. She bribed officials with the little money she had. She worried constantly about being turned in and then repatriated. She feared for the family she left behind.

Lee had to come to grips with the North Korean propaganda she grew up with. Think of all the unlearning. She fell in love with an American despite the well-known North Korean saying: "Just as a jackal cannot become a lamb, so American imperialists cannot change their rapacious nature."

You may have seen Lee's Ted Talk. Millions have watched it. The link is ... here.

I like the Ted talk. It's 12 or 13 minutes. But the book has so much detail. And it's all those big and little details I love. Such as: "I wanted to be an accordionist. It's a popular instrument in North Korea and a woman who could play it well had no difficulty making a living." A woman can earn a living playing the accordion in North Korea. Who knew?!

I'lll end with this: "People are probably asking themselves why a country such as mine still exists in the world. Perhaps it would be even harder for them to understand that I still love my country and miss it very much. I miss its snowy mountains in winter, the smell of kerosene and burning coal. I miss my childhood there...I should be comfortable with my new life, but I'm still the girl from Hyesan who longs to eat noodles with her family at their favorite restaurant."

(Dear FCC: Keeping it short and sweet: Bought for Kindle)

And now....onto the rest of our reviews. Please click through. You won't want to miss a single one!

MIDDLE GRADE FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

Jody Feldman: THE PURLOINING OF PRINCE OLEOMARGARINE
                         by Mark Twain and Philip Stead with Illustrations by Erin Stead


ADULT FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

Margy Lutz: ARTEMIS by Andy Weird (sci fi)

Ray Potthoff: FRONT by John Sanford (mystery/thriller)

Sarah Laurence: PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee (historical)


NONFICTION REVIEWS

Jenn Jilks of Cottage Country: FANTASYLAND: HOW AMERICA WENT HAYWIRE
                                                  by Kurt Andersen (social commentary)

Lucy Sartain of Ranting and Raving: THE ELEPHANT WHISPERER by Lawrence Anthony
                                                             with Graham Spence (memoir)

Stacy of the Cat's Meow: JUST MERCY by Bryan Stevenson (memoir)



Note to Reviewers: Any errors (broken link, missed review, etc), just shoot me an email or leave a comment. Thank you so much for your reviews!

The Book Review Club (February 2010)

Welcome one and all to the lucky THIRTEENTH meeting of The Book Review Club! Sorry to be starting a little late today. It's all due to small bumps in the road of life: a child with some tough math homework (fractions, ugh!), a little teen drama, an unfortunate run-in with the delete key. But, we're here and happy and ready to talk books!

First off, Happy Belated Ground Hog Day! Yesterday, on Gobbler's Knob in Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. However, many groundhogs around the country did not. Which means we're either in for another six weeks of winter. Or... we're not.

In either case, your life will be that much more interesting and fun with some books lying around, just waiting to be read. And that's where we come in. :)

A few weeks ago, Child #2 and I were riding in the car. I tuned the radio to NPR where an author interview was underway. Barbara Demick, Beijing bureau chief of the Los Angeles times, was talking about her December 2009 release, NOTHING TO ENVY (ORDINARY LIVES IN NORTH KOREA).

Barbara's book chronicles the lives of six North Koreans over a period of 15 years. These people are all from Chongjin, a very poor industrial town in northern North Korea. Chongjin was particularly hard hit during the famine of the 1990s when its factories shut down due to lack of energy and raw materials. In NOTHING TO ENVY, the six North Korean citizens (a pediatrician, a widow, the widow's daughter, a college student, an orphan and a kindergarten teacher) "fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we experience the moments when they realize that their government has betrayed them." (amazon.com) And we experience how they each decide to defect to Seoul, South Korea.

By the end of the radio interview, Child #2 (a 16 year old boy) and I knew we wanted to read NOTHING TO ENVY.

I don't read a lot of adult nonfiction. But I can say NOTHING TO ENVY is one of the best book I've read in the last six months. Not one of the easiest, mind you, because the subject matter tugs at your heart strings. But well, well worth it.

The title, NOTHING TO ENVY, comes from a patriotic song North Korean children learn, much the way our children learn "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

On a personal note, I find anything to do with Korea fascinating. Child #4 is adopted from South Korea. From the guarded bridge at the DMZ (demilitarized zone, I have looked out over a little corner of North Korean. One of my sisters has visited North Korea twice with food-aid groups. She returned with details similar to many of the details in NOTHING TO ENVY. Even without these connections, though, this book is excellent.

Please click on the links below for amazing reviews from amazing reviewers!


MIDDLE GRADE/YOUNG ADULT BOOK REVIEWS


Stacy Nyikos: THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie (young adult)

Thao of Serene Hours: THE NAUGHTY CLUB by Suzanne Young (young adult)

Sarah Laurence: BEAUTIFUL CREATURES by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl (young adult)

Alyssa Goodnight of the Writers' Road Less Traveled: PETRONELLA SAVES NEARLY EVERYONE: THE ENTOMOLOGICAL TALES OF AUGUSTUS T. PERCIVAL by Dene Low (middle grade)

Linda McLaughlin: THE SHAKESPEARE STEALER by Gary Blackwood (middle grade)

ADULT BOOK REVIEWS

Ellen Booraem of Freelance Ne'er-do-well: WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel (historical)

Kaye of the Book Review Forum: THE LOST QUILTER by Jennifer Chiaverini (historical)

Scott Parker: THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Patti Abbott: CROSSROAD BLUES by Ace Atkins (crime fiction)

Prairie Rose of Prairie Rose's Garden: HARDBALL by Sara Paretsky (mystery, V.I. Warshawski series)

Beth Yarnall: DEEPER THAN THE DEAD by Tami Hoag (suspense)

Staci of Life in the Thumb: THE TIME OF MY LIFE by Patrick Swayze & Lisa Niemi (memoir, audio)

Stacy of The Cat's Meow: THE ANGELS GAME by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

NONFICTION REVIEWS

Beth of From the Desk of Bee Drunken: NO IMPACT MAN by Colin Beavan

Jenn Jilks of My Reflections: WORDS TO RHYME WITH: A RHYMING DICTIONARY by W.R. Espry, 3rd edition

Sarahlynn of Yeah, but Houdini didn't have these hips: WRITER MAMA: HOW TO RAISE A WRITING CAREER ALONGSIDE YOUR KIDS by Christina Katz

Jody Feldman: 101 PLACES YOU GOTTA SEE BEFORE YOU'RE 12 by Joanne O'Sullivan



**Exceptional previous reviews are only a click away.**




Note to Reviewers: You know the drill.:) If I missed you, leave me a comment and I'll rectify the situation straight away. And award myself one less cookie today!