Elevation by Stephen King

This is a collection of two novelettes.  In the first Scott is both worried about his health, and feeling better than he has in years.  He calls a retired doctor friend, Dr. Bob, to consult with him.  The issue is his weight.  Not only is he losing weight a a tremendous rate, he also has the power to make anything he touches lighter as well. What's more, his body doesn't look like it is losing weight. He still has the spare tire he accumulated after his divorce.  At first he enjoys the added stamina and agility of his lighter body, but as he continues to lose, he wonders what will happen if the trend continues.  As he realizes his days are numbered, he decides to try to help some neighbors who have been ostracized because they are lesbian and married.  

The second story is about a recently widowed older gentleman.  His bossy older sister decides he needs a pet, so she buys him a puppy.  At first he doesn't want it, but with time the old man and the puppy grow close.  It is a super sweet story until the penultimate chapter, but that is all I will say.

After reading two kid's issue books in the row, I decided it was time to bounce back to an adult title.  I had never read anything by Stephen King before, so I decided that this slim volume was a good place to start.  I am surprised that I enjoyed the books as much as I did.  There was some swearing, to be sure, but both stories were actually sweet tales of people facing the twilight of life.  Of course, being Stephen King, the author added some pretty bizarre elements into each story, but mostly I liked them because of the sensitive characterization and sweet interpersonal relationships. I wonder if his longer thrillers have as much attention to character as these do.  If they do, I can see why he is such a publishing superstar. (2018, 146 p.)

Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling

Aven Green was born without arms and adopted by a loving couple when she was two.  Her parents have always pushed her to figure out ways to do daily tasks, even without arms.  Aven has lived in the same town her whole life, so kids at her school are used to her and how she eats her lunch and does many other common tasks with her feet. Then, one day, her father, who has been out of work, is offered a job in Arizona managing a cowboy theme park.  Aven is nervous about going to a new school where she know everyone will be staring at her and wondering what happened to her arms.  The first weeks of school don't go well, but then she meets Conner, who has Tourette's syndrome.  They bond over their struggles with disabilities, and soon try to discover why no-one ever sees the mysterious owner of the themed park.  

I was a little hesitant to read this one right after the George one.  I mean, how many social issues can you tackle in one week?  But, to my surprise, I ended up liking this one pretty much.  Aven has a really perky personality, and lives in an incredibly loving and supportive home.  Her kindness and resilience helps life two other kids out of social isolation.  I also found it interesting that, as the story unfolded, I began to see how life with Tourette's (which I had previously seen as only a minor disability) could, in some ways, be more difficult than living without arms.  Both disabilities will get you stared at by strangers, but you are much more likely to be feared and misunderstood if you have Tourettes, whereas people without limbs are just pitied.  I think a lot of kids who liked Wonder, and Fish in a Tree, would like this book. (262 p., 2017)

Rick by Alex Gino

Add caption

Rick has been best friends with Jeff all during grade school.  Jeff is nice to Rick, even restarting a game with Rick comes over so they can play together.  But when both boys start middle school Rick starts to see that Jeff sometimes acts like a jerk to other kids, especially kids from the Rainbow Spectrum club.  What Jeff doesn't know is that Rick kind of likes several of the kids in the club. As Rick gets closer to his new friends, maintaining his old friendship with Jeff gets more difficult.  

This is a sequel, of sorts, to Gino's book, George.  George, now Melissa, is one of the Rainbow Spectrum friends in this story.  In some ways I liked this story because is models how a kid who is not LBGTQ can interact in positive ways with kids who are.  There is even a discussion about preferred pronouns both in the narrative and at the end of the book.  The book also explains different ways the LBGTQ community members describe themselves; gay, lesbian, bi, poly, etc.  There were a couple of things I didn't like about the book.  It was pretty over simplified.  Jeff is the big bad homophobe, and the Spectrum kids are kind, self-assured, and inclusive.  In the end, (spoiler allert) when George decides to tell on Jeff, there is no discussion about repercussions, though in real life, if you squeal on a friend (or former friend) you are likely to be ostracized or even beat up in a back ally later. So, in a way, this felt a little more like a wish fulfillment rather than a real life story. Lastly, I don't think many kids who are 12 or 13 are as sure of their sexual identity as the Spectrum kids are.  Can you really be so sure you are bi or poly even before puberty? (223 p. 2020)

True to You by Becky Wade

Nora Bradford works hard at her job as the director of a historical site and genealogical library.  She tells herself that her work makes up for the pain from a messy breakup years before, and that she is very happy in her singleness. Then she meet ex-Navy Seal John Lawson.  He makes her heart race, and she is ridiculously pleased when he asks her to help him find his birth parents. Then she discovers that he has a girlfriend, and tries desperately to keep their relationship purely platonic. John has tragic secrets that he tries to hide from the perky redheaded Nora, but as they delve deeper into his family's past, those dark secrets threaten to ruin the budding romance between them.

After reading (most of) Pan's Labyrinth and The Giver of Stars, I was ready for another super light escapist Christian romance.  This one fit the bill.  I am finding that Becky Wade likes to use the most extreme examples of manliness for her love interest men.  In the last one I read it was a NFL quarterback, and in this one a Navy Seal.  It makes me wonder what next? (actually, I just checked, and found a hockey player, a champion bull rider, and a famous author, ha ha). She is clearly going for wish fulfillment appeal here.  Still, it was the absolutely clean, feel good story break I needed, so now I am ready to jump back into something a little less cotton-candy. (599 p. 2017)

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

 Alice never fit into proper English society, so she is easily swept off her feet by the handsome American.  They marry quickly and she travels with him back to Kentucky, feeling like the heroine of a romantic novel. She is a little dismayed to find she is living in a big house in a small town with her father-in-law, a controlling mining mogul.  Her handsome husband turns out to be rather unaffectionate, and she is soon so lonely, that she volunteers to help deliver books as part of a new traveling librarian initiative proposed by Eleanor Roosevelt.  That is how she meets Margaret O'Hare, an independent and unconventional mountain woman who soon becomes her mentor and friend.  Other women join the group and they gradually develop a sisterhood that supports each of them through their trials.

This is a really hot title on Overdrive right now, is a national best seller and is optioned to make a major motion picture. The writing is lovely, but rather soulful and melancholy.  I must admit, I almost gave up on it half way through.  I just am not handling anything that is angsty very well right now. But I set the play back to 1.25 speed and stuck with it. The ending, though a bit improbable, was redeeming, and made the book worth the effort.  If you like atmospheric historical fiction with a lot of relationship and emotional struggle, this is the book for you.  (2019, 400 p.)

Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro

Ofelia and her pregnant mother, Carmen, go to live with Ofelia's new stepfather, a cruel military leader in Franco's Spain.  On the way, Ofelia finds a stone statue that is missing an eye.  She finds the missing piece on the ground and replaces it in the statue.  When she does, she awakens an underground world of fairies and other magical creatures, who have slumbered since their princess was taken away from them centuries before.  

This is one of the rare novels that was written based on a movie.  I didn't know that when I started reading it.  I mostly picked it up because the co-author is Cornelia Funke.  When my son heard I was reading it he was surprised because the movie it was based on was rated R for violence.  I continued reading, but he was right.  It is really really violent and the descriptions of the atrocities of war finally got the best of me.  I wasn't able to finish it.  The writing is good, and the plot is gripping, but it is very dark, the stuff of nightmares.  The cover looks like it is written for middle grades, but don't give this to a kid. An angsty teen might like it. (256 p. 2019)

Head in the Clouds by Karen Witemeyer

Adelaide Proctor goes to Fort Worth Texas in 1883 hoping to rekindle a relationship with a traveling salesman that had frequented her home town. When that doesn't work out, she finds herself stranded in a strange city with no job and no prospects.  She applies for a position as a governess on a sprawling sheep ranch owned by the son of a British lord.  She finds her new charge, a little girl, deeply traumatized by the recent death of her mother. Has the Lord brought her to this place and job to do his will, or is she chasing yet another romantic fantasy like the ones in the romantic novels she loves so much?

Ok, can you tell I had a super stressful week?  I just can't handle anything heavy when I am under pressure.  This one was pretty much like the other Witemeyer book I read recently.  It is heavily "Christian" with Bible verses everywhere, and both sweet and innocent.  It has a little more drama that the Tailor-Made Bride, but still pretty G, or at least PG rated.  Hooray!  It really was just what I needed this week.  (2010, 366 p)