Review: Dogtown

Dogtown is an uplifting collection of profiles of both the dogs and trainers at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary's revolutionary Dogtown facility. The facility offers top notch training and medical care for homeless dogs, and it is no-kill, which means that any dogs who are not or cannot be adopted can live out their lives at Dogtown. I loved that pictures are included in the book of all the dogs and trainers mentioned; the pictures allow the reader to feel much more connected to the stories. Dogtown is a companion book to the National Geographic Channel TV series of the same name, and I would be curious to see if there are repetitive, or if the book and series cover different material.

It's almost impossible to read this book without wanting to volunteer for or help Best Friends and Dogtown in some way; click here to learn more!

Review: The Dress Lodger

If I didn't appreciate great writing, I probably wouldn't have made it through Sheri Holman's The Dress Lodger, which revolves around the intertwined experiences of a doctor and a prostitute during the first outbreak of cholera in 19th century England. It is grim, sad, and a bit too gritty for my taste, although this is purely a matter of personal preference rather than a problem with the quality of the novel. The Dress Lodger is redeemed, though, by Holman's masterful way with words. Her writing is exquisite and surprising, as throughout the novel she continues to find new ways to describe her characters' experiences and tell their story.

Holman does not shrink from the reality of life for the poor and diseased in 19th century England, and as such The Dress Lodger is not for the faint of heart. However, readers who are able to work through the harsher elements of the novel's plot will be richly rewarded by Holman's hauntingly beautiful writing.

Review: Garden Spells

Sarah Addison Allen's quietly lovely debut novel Garden Spells is simply enchanting. It revolves around two sisters whose membership in a family known for having "gifted" women first drives them apart but ultimately brings them back together. It is magical realism at its finest, and Allen's plot and pacing evoke a dreamy mood that allows the reader to become lost in her story. There are notable similarities to Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic and Joanne Harris's Chocolat, but they are not so overt that they make Garden Spells seem unoriginal; rather, Allen's novel feels like a continuation of a wonderful tradition.

I look forward to reading Allen's other two novels, The Sugar Queen and The Girl Who Chased the Moon. I only hope that they live up to the precedent set by her first.

Review: You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up

Written alternately from his perspective and then hers, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up is Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn's memoir of their marriage. Partially due to its relatively narrow perspective, focusing on the authors' marriage rather than their entire lives, this book is much more entertaining than the average memoir.

Gurwitch and Kahn's marriage has been significantly tested in the thirteen years since their wedding, most notably by their son's major birth defects and subsequent health problems. However, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up is never maudlin. Instead, Gurwitch and Kahn use their impressive comedic gifts to deliver an occasionally crude but always hilarious view into the inner workings of their marriage and, by extension, marriage itself. It's well worth reading.

Review: Jane Bites Back

The tagline on the cover of Jane Bites Back reads, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is still alive today... as a vampire." That is the premise of this silly but mildly entertaining novel by Michael Thomas Ford. I simply wasn't able to bring myself to read the popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, so I thought I would try Ford's similar offering instead.

While I wasn't disappointed by Jane Bites Back per se, this was largely due to my low expectations. The story requires a significant suspension of disbelief, but the plot and characterization simply aren't strong enough to compensate for the reader's effort. I would suggest that readers seeking novels inspired by Austen try Shannon Hale's delightful Austenland instead.

Reader Stereotypes

Some authors hold special appeal for certain types of readers. Lauren Leto has expanded upon this concept with her piece "Readers By Author: Stereotyping People By Their Favorite Author." While I may not agree with all of her stereotypes, (Shakespeare = people who like bondage? huh?) the list is undeniably entertaining, and many of the stereotypes ring true (J.K. Rowling = smart geeks).

Check out the entire list here.

Review: The Queen's Governess

I had a great deal of difficulty becoming emotionally invested in or attached to any of the characters in Karen Harper's The Queen's Governess, which tells the story of lowborn Kat Ashley and the way in which her life comes to revolve around the Tudor family, particularly Queen Elizabeth I. This might have been because of Tudor overload; The Queen's Governess is the third novel about the Tudors I've read in the past year, and I am also currently watching the latest season of Showtime's hit TV series The Tudors. Or, my difficulty connecting with the characters might have been because this novel is largely narrative and, in my opinion, suffers from a lack of dialogue.

Regardless of the reason, this distance between reader and characters made it impossible for me to enjoy The Queen's Governess as much as I had anticipated, despite its exciting plot, which is based largely on historical fact. I felt as if Harper couldn't make up her mind whether she was writing fiction or non-fiction and was therefore not quite successful at either.