Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller

The author and I are the same age, which interests me, as I can compare her young life with mine. And, while, this is more a biography of the author's mother, it made me contemplate how our history through our own eyes is a different history than through our parent's scope. How much do I understand of my own mother's history?
There is no question that the background of Alexandra Fuller's life was exotic by our standards, and her mother's just so. Africa. "Nicola Fuller of Central Africa" is how her mother introduces herself.
I was learning the rules of flashlight tag, the magic of Halloween (you really knock on strangers doors and they give you candy?) and how to identify jewel weed- the natural antidote for poison ivy- by pushing a leaf of the plant under the creek it grows near and watching the leaf become a weaving silver infinity of moonlight. I was trying to stay up past my bedtime in the summer, and perfect my hula-hooping.
Alexandra Fuller, daughter of Nicola Fuller of Central Africa, was living through the Rhodesian Civil War, learning how to kill puff adders and riding around in the back of a bomb-proofed Landrover dressed as an insecticide drum. Three siblings were lost before the age of two, and with it went an awful lot of Nicola Fuller of Central Africa's sanity. Understandable enough as a mother. Confusing as a child.
So, how can this book be humorous? Hopeful? Well, it just is. I laughed out loud and feel like Alexandra is an old friend.
This is a book you can share with your teens. Older teens, certainly, and younger teens as well. I feel so triumphant when a worthy book can be handed over to the kids. It will enlarge their imaginations in ways that romances about vampires never can.
And, I would truly enjoy joining the Fuller family for cocktails under the Tree of Forgetfulness.

Iron King, Iron Daughter, Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

I dove into this series late this summer. My beautiful gothic library has now created a "teen reads" section. Ripe for plucking out books and taking them in first...
This is a new series, not a trilogy, as the next installment is due out next year. Tailored for the teen adventure/romance/sci-fi crowd, Kagawa delivers, albeit with an essentially annoying heroine. Clueless, self absorbed whiner was my initial assesment. Didn't change much in books one through three, although she does indeed mature in some ways. How many teen readers will just identify with her, instead of identify the flaws?
Also, it is a romance (as stated above)... but romance is? She falls in love with a guy who treats her terribly, is moody and violent. But, as it turns out, it is just a facade, for her deeply loves her and forsakes his heritage in order to be with her. GAG.
Really? This is what we need to feed our girls? Even if he's a total, complete jerk, deep down he's really Prince Charming.
Really.
And, they make some sort of devotion declaration that bonds them blahblahblah, so now they are "married" and it's okey dokey to have sex.
If you are truly waiting to have sex until you're married, that is a pastor, justice of the piece, family, "I do", "I do" and public, legal recognition that you are now hitched. Publish the banns, or don't give me some "we're as good as" trash.
So...although it is readable, and full of swashbuckling adventure, sword play, moments of triumph and failure, and on the surface "teen appropriate", I have to say the reality of the books was trite and disappointing and continues to send messages to girls that we've been trying to combat for generations. Not to mention the message to boys who might venture into the realm of girl-centric teen reads. If your teen does read this book, do her, or him a favor and have a sit down discussion about the themes of the book, open their eyes to see past the surface.

The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan

Oh, my.
First off, since this is a blog about the appropriateness of books for teens and young readers, DO NOT PUT THIS ON YOUR CHILD'S CHRISTMAS LIST.
Or, any other list. Do not let them take it out from the library, or buy it at a garage sale. This is NOT a book for children.
Yet...
Despite the modern (read ; profane) language and the excruciatingly detailed devouring of flesh (both literal and sexual) the prose is darkly lyrical, hypnotising in it's juxtaposition of passion and ennui. This is not a skimming tale, but puts you in the trenches with our hero? Jake Marlowe.
Werewulf.
Somehow you're rooting for him, even though he's the evil. And, no, there isn't much redeeming about him except his own thoughts and self disgust. Much like the popular Twilight series, there is a lovestory in this book, but not muddled up with a cross species spectacle. It is a fairly tidy book, lengthwise (there were some rather untidy bits within) but quite readable, and not a "horror tale" to give you nightmares. I'm not a horror fan. Recommended for the adult (read- over 25...35?) reader.

The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain

This is a novel, not a history lesson, but, still... when you kind of know how it ends, kind of heartbreaking to hear how it might have begun. The Paris Wife is the story of the first marriage of Ernest Hemingway to Hadley Richardson told from Hadley's point of view- mostly. There are some short bits written in Ernest's voice. Because it is fiction, you wish the author would make it a different, happy ending. The couple would defy the odds of his flaws and stay a happy, healthy couple. Nope. And, watching the implosion of a marriage is too close, too raw. Sets you on edge and makes you want to slap someone. (Mainly Ernest, but maybe others, too.)
I don't think this is a book for children. The facts are enough, and they'll hear them, too, when they have to read "The Sun Also Rises" or "Old Man and the Sea" for English class. Ernest Hemingway was a hard drinking, hypermasculine womanizer who eventually shot himself.
But, Paula Mclain dares to imagine beyond the facts and see him through the eyes of a woman who loved him, and whom he loved. Not that it saved him from himself. She also doesn't cast the "other woman" in typical fashion either... but anyone would hear the warning bells! Full of names we know that seemed less real before I read The Paris Wife; Stein, Fitzgerald, Pound. They all come to life on the page.
It is a riveting story, and just like watching a train wreck you just keep on reading despite yourself.