What Would MacGyver Do?

What Would MacGyver Do?: True Stories of Improvised Genius in Everyday Life

by Brendan Vaughan

Oh how I love MacGyver movies.  This petite book contains anecdotes by laymen and journalists alike about their solutions to diverse problems.  Almost Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul-esque, you can read in short doses about predicaments strange and silly, solutions genius and obvious.  I think my two favorites are the guy who fixed the clutch mechanism with a knitting needle on an 8-hour drive and the guy who forgot his anniversary and pulled a present out of thin air that was better than most guys do with a month and 100 bucks.  Or the handy guy whose name is pronounced… MacGyver.

This is quick read, great to pick up for a laugh.

Cirque du Freak

by Darren Shan

Part of the “Vampire Blood Trilogy”, which comprises the first three of the 12 book saga.  This is a very quick read but I found it very creepy and violent yet juvenile.

On the good side, the description of the freak show was intense and well constructed.  Good writing through most of the book even though it’s in a jejune light.  I would not recommend it.

{From Wikipedia.com: “Darren Shan was fascinated by spiders from an early age. His best friend, Steve “Leopard” Leonard grew up reading horror comics and stories of the Wolfman and vampires.

One day, their friend comes across a flyer advertising the “Cirque Du Freak.”  Darren and Steve are mesmerized by the fantastic and disturbing show, especially by the act of the mysterious Mr. Crepsley and his giant spider Madam Octa. After the show, Steve declares that he knows that Crepsley is a vampire, and Darren sets his sight on Madam Octa, planning to steal her and use his knowledge of Crepsley’s true nature to his advantage as a sort of blackmail.

After a few weeks of training Madam Octa, he is fully comfortable with the spider. During this time, he grows detached from Steve due to overhearing Mr. Crepsley calling him evil and deeming him unsuitable to become a vampire’s assistant. Steve figures out that Darren lied to him and was eavesdropping after the show, but still chooses to be friends with him.

One day while Steve is at Darren’s house playing with Madam Octa, Darren’s younger sister Annie barges in, causing him to drop the flute and lose control over the spider, which bites and fatally wounds Steve.

Steve’s only hope for survival is if Darren makes a deal with Crepsley to become his assistant and pay off the cost of the spider antidote. Steve lives, but Darren is turned into a half-vampire and is thrust into the dark world of the vampires.  Mr. Crepsley helps his to-be apprentice fake his own death by numbing Darren’s entire body, breaking his neck, and throwing him out of his bedroom window, perfectly simulating a fatal fall.  Unbeknownst to Crepsley, however, Steve tries to kill Darren, but fails, instead swearing revenge on Darren for stealing his rightful place of being Mr. Crepsley’s vampire assistant.}

Made into a movie to be released October 23, 2009.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

by Avi

A good book.  ”While written for a young audience, the book is well liked by many adults as well.”

“In this fast-paced and suspense-filled novel, 13-year-old Charlotte Doyle describes a remarkable sea voyage that changes her life forever. In 1832, Charlotte crosses the Atlantic aboard the Seahawk, departing from England to join her family in Rhode Island.  Raised to be a proper young lady, she is surprised to learn that she is the only passenger and only female aboard the ship. Frightened by a mysterious crew, at first she trusts only Jaggery, the captain, but soon discovers that he is cruel and slightly mad. She then joins ranks with the mutinous crew but must convince them of her loyalty by tackling death-defying feats unfamiliar to most females of her era. Charlotte is befriended along the way by the old black cook, Zachariah, who eventually helps save her life. When the vengeful captain accuses her of murder, Charlotte is tried and found guilty. She escapes punishment in a life-and-death struggle with Jaggery and is finally reunited with her family. Charlotte misses the Seahawk, however, and, in an unusual twist of the plot, casts aside the comforts of home for the life of a seafarer.” (Summary from McDougal Littell Classzone)

Avi has written a lot of books.  According to his website, Avi got the idea for this one from writing The Man Who Was Poe.  It’s working title was The Seahawk, “but as I [Avi] worked on the story I came to care more and more about Charlotte–and who she was–so that it became her book.”

Just Ella

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Pretty good, but not my favorite.  Enjoyable, but not satisfying.

A good plot summary and character write-ups from Wikipedia:  ”This story is a retelling of Cinderella with a feminist twist and is a different version of happily-ever-after.”

Haddix has a lot of good ideas and topics in the story, like her new conjectures about the myth, Ella’s time in the dungeon, and statements about happiness:  ”Happiness was like beauty–in the eye of the beholder.”  I also liked how Ella had a can-do attitude and did not limit herself in her options.  When she was still at her stepmother’s house she planned to run away and become a tutor, a smart solution.

But I found some parts of the book underdeveloped, such as the relationships between the characters, the conflicts in and outside of the castle, and the day to day actions of life for Ella.  It didn’t seem like a true portrayal of castle life.  Maybe I’m being too harsh, it is after all a fairy tale and thus the details are up to interpretation.

The love between Jed and Ella is temperate at best.  The reader can tell from the start that they will end up together, but we miss the important details of how their love becomes a reality.  One good romantic line uttered by Jed, ‘A moment passed before he admitted softly, “I couldn’t stand to call you ‘Princess’ or hear anyone else refer to you as ‘Princess,’ because that reminded me you would never be mine.  So in my mind you were always just Ella.”‘

I have read other books by Haddix (the Among the Hidden series) and had the same feeling.  With some juvenile fiction books it’s almost as if the author is dumbing down the story to appeal to juveniles.  I believe that anyone can understand good writing.