book report - january

* christina diaz gonzalez' the red umbrella is about a pre-teen girl and her young brother living in castro's cuba at the beginning of the revolution. now, i know about the revolution and that castro and che were NOT good people (communism = boo), but this wasn't a subject that was taught in-depth in my high school. plus, it's hard to fathom some of the things that happened because i haven't been involved first-hand in anything like a revolution or communist government. brother against brother, mother against daughter, families fighting and turning in each other in hopes that castro would notice them in a good way...it's just plain nuts to me. but, that's exactly what happened. this book made me angry and sad and happy and increased my faith in humanity. i think you'd like it, maybe even love it like i did.
* julia stuart's the tower, the zoo, and the tortoise is one of my new favorite books. i had noticed this book for the last few months every time we went to barnes & noble, and i am very happy i found it on the shelf at the library a week or so ago. set in present(ish) day london, it follows the lives of the tower of london residents, mainly balthazar jones, his wife hebe and their famous pet tortoise mrs cook, and the queen's animal menagerie that is transferred from london zoo to the tower to boost tourism. i love the way each character is always referred to by their first and last names, and the story of balthazar and hebe's love is so true and honest. the only thing i didn't totally like is that you have no idea how their son milo died until the very end. (no spoiler there; you know pretty much from the beginning that he is dead. however, there is a reason behind not knowing until the end, so i shouldn't complain about it too much.) it seemed a bit slow-going at times but not slow enough to put it down. i think you'll be pleasantly surprised with this tender, endearing story.

(yowza, if i have any hopes of outdoing last year's book total, i need to pick up the pace! this is what happens when three of your previously unoccupied weekdays are filled with babysitting a squirrely 7mo old.)