Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo (William Joyce)

Hardcover

Surreal, delightful, and marvelously illustrated.

The interesting and adventuresome Lazardos pick up the most agreeable of dinos while on safari with their stoic bodyguard Jumbu.  Back home, everyone falls in love with Bob -- except the Mayor's wife, that is.

One of those picture books that transcend the genre as appropriate not just for the accepting minds of children but for the adults reading them aloud (or to themselves, as was the case with me).  Smiles all around.

A

After Dinner Games (Jenny Lynch)

Hardcover

I've owned this book for fifteen or so years, and it's been an invaluable resource for dozens of parties.  We've used the games in here successfully at gatherings of work friends, church friends, teenagers, and kids.  There's truly something in here for everyone.

It's got some classics (like charades) and rules to others I've not seen elsewhere -- and having grown up in a church with youth parties and group games every couple of weeks, that's saying something.

A-
Non-fiction #8

Chosen (Denise Grover Swank)

Kindle Edition

Emma is on the run with her young son Jake from "the bad men" her son can sense before they arrive.  She's gotten pretty good at making do, but she's getting tired and the boy's sense doesn't give them the lead time they used to have.  Enter Will, a good samaritan in their most recent motel, who Jake insists they need...and proves himself to be pretty handy in a tight spot.  Thing is, Will's got an agenda of his own when it comes to Emma and it ain't just sexy-time.

Emma and Will bicker like they're in a rom-com while the stakes get higher, the boy gets freakier, and the bad men bear down.  This basically boils down to one long chase.  It's not incompetent, but it's familiar and there's just way too much bicker before the inevitable melting takes place.  It's decently written, but I've both read and seen it before.  Like, a lot.

It's the first in a planned trilogy and it doesn't so much wrap up as it leaves you hanging.  Unfortunately, I'd rather just drop off the cliff than to waste time with the rest of the set.

C

All My Friends Are Still Dead. (Avery Monsen & Jory John)

Hardcover

Charming follow-up, but....really.  I'm a little worried that this could get a bit "God's Little Instruction Book for the Aspiring Actress/Dog Walker" if they make more than two.  This should be it and, if it is, they've gone out on only a slightly less high note than the delightful original.

B+

The Beginner's Goodbye (Anne Tyler)

Audiobook

Aaron loses his wife Dorothy in a freak accident that almost destroys his house.  Despite his efforts to keep the well-wishers at bay, he finds he does need some help: from his sister (for a place to stay), a contractor (to help put his world back together), his work mates (to give him a sense of purpose and normalcy), and from his wife, who visits for a few minutes here and there.

Aaron isn't particularly likable.  Because one arm is weak and the hand tends to curl and one leg needs a brace, he's never wanted to be "taken care of," and that translates as a huge chip on his shoulder.  Dorothy isn't particularly likable either, she's socially inept and seemed to hide from relationships by being "doctor" at all times rather than "woman."

Because I didn't particularly care for the people at the center of the story, it took quite a bit of time before I started to put my dislike for them aside and begin to care about the story itself.  It does come together to mean more -- to feel larger than these two lives.  I guess it's a kind of triumph that these very real characters were pulled into service as central figures, warts and all.

B-

Dead End in Norvelt (Jack Gantos)

Hardcover

Jack Gantos is grounded for the summer of 1962.  He's allowed out of his room to do chores and to go help old arthritic Mrs. Volker when she needs him, which is often.

I really didn't get this book.  The author's name is Jack Gantos and so is the the main character's -- but there's no way this story is true as it involves the remaining "original Norvelters" mysteriously dying off much more quickly than they ought, an infestation of Hells Angels, a nose that bleeds so often that it should land its owner in the hospital, and so much other ridiculata that it tips into "ugh.  enough" territory.

I didn't think it was funny, interesting, or anything really -- it read a bit like a NaNoWriMo effort: just throw all the words out there and we'll fix it later.  Only they gave it an award rather than an editor.

D+

Zombie Spaceship Wasteland (Patton Oswalt)

Audiobook

I have no idea how to categorize this book.  It seemed to go back and forth between enhanced autobiography and flat-out made up stuff.

I laughed a lot while listening, but I doubt it would've been nearly as funny if I'd been reading it from a page.  Oswalt's delivery is surely to be credited for all of the bits I found funny -- especially his chapter describing different wines.  Could that have POSSIBLY elicited even a chuckle without his over-exaggerated pronunciations, from bona fide hick to snooty sommelier?  I doubt it.

Some chapters fell completely flat, but most worked, at the very least on a surreal level.  I came away a bigger fan.

B