6:120 Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

It's summer between Aristotle's junior and senior year and he can't figure out what to do with himself.  He's bored so decides to head to the swimming pool even though he can't swim.  There he meets Dante who volunteers to teach him to swim. Dante who seems to be the complete opposite of himself. Dante who is self-assured, calm, has a great relationship with his parents, saves animals, hates shoes, thinks deep thoughts, draws, and reads poetry. Aristotle does none of these things being withdrawn, taciturn, and thinking mostly of his imprisoned brother whom nobody talks about except to tell him not to end up like that.

Then Dante happens and Aristotle finds himself with a best friend without ever really knowing how it happened.  When Dante leaves for the school year with his parents, Aristotle is left trying to figure out his life without Dante and realizing it doesn't really add up.  He finds his voice in some respects but it isn't until Dante comes back that he truly learns some of the secrets of the universe.

A lovely tale of growing up and discovery.  Simple written but more powerful for that as we are in the mind of an angry and disillusioned teenager struggling to know himself and his place in the universe.


Page count: 359p/2,267p ytd/252,562p lifetime

113:120 Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Set in the early 19th century in Mexico we follow the story of Tita, the third and youngest daughter born to a well-off family who cried so much while in the womb as her mother chopped onions that she was born early right there in the kitchen.  As the youngest, it is her lot to never marry and instead spend her life taking care of her mother.  When she falls in love as a young teenager, her mother in a fit of spite marries the oldest daughter off to Tita's love in stead and forces Tita to make the wedding cake.  Tita makes a beautiful cake, infused with her tears which when eaten at the wedding causes all the guests to turn to melancholy thoughts of old loves and sends everyone out of the hall in tears.  As Tita's life continues, she continues to perfect her cooking and the cake is not the last meal she serves that imparts her emotions to those that partake of it.  She spends many years pining after that which she can't have and any happiness she finds stripped away from her by her mother but in the end, she can finally say that she has found what she always longed for.

I think I picked this one up from a Freecycle book lot or something because it is not something that I would normally have just bought.  The story itself borders on tragic almost the whole way through with only brief pauses as Tita finds happiness briefly before it is lost again.  Her mother seems to be a sadistic and cruel person who delights in making Tita's life as miserable as possible and you can't help but hate her completely.  Each month/chapter starts with a recipe which look interesting although I doubt I would ever make any of them but it was a nice twist to include since food and cooking is such a huge part of Tita's life.  I want to say that I enjoyed this book but I can't, it was just too depressing to actually enjoy.  It was good, simple but well written, but definitely not something uplifting or joyful.  Think more along the lines of Romeo and Juliet.

Page count: 246p/31,667p ytd/212,705p lifetime

112:120 Hinges of Destiny by Goranson

***Disclaimer***
This book is not yet out in publication.  I was paid to read it and fill out a survey with my thoughts on it.  Therefore, this will be very brief since I have no idea how much, if any, the book will change before being published (if it ever is).

Elizabeth Stewart has been terrified of flying ever since her husband and son were killed in a crash 6 years ago.  She wouldn't be in the airport now if the meeting with this client (and thus her possible promotion) depend on it.  Unfortunately, she got there early enough to scrutinize everything.  Why were those suits looking at something on the wing?  Are the service crew taking longer repairing something?  Why is the pilot coming off the plane looking so distraught?  The last one is something she could follow up on and so she did and what she heard did nothing to reassure her and in fact disturbed her even further.  She sat in the waiting area pondering what to do all through the time when the plane left and then she went to see if she could get on another flight only to learn that shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed.  Was it due to the pilot?  Should she have said something to someone?

Now she is the only person from the flight who might have answers but she also has her own inner battles to fight as well.


So this book is not in my usual genre so I'm not sure who typical it was of it's genre.  I found it hard to relate to the main character who kept weighing her options and always picked what seemed like the stupidest thing to do in any given situation to make her own situation worse.  There were several awkward transitions and many of the "plot twists" were predictable and/or very contrived.

Page count: 383p/31,421p ytd/212,459p lifetime