Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Ha ha, very funny book, a lovely way to spend a relaxed Saturday afternoon.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid tells of the adventures of Greg and his best friend(s) as they try to survive middle school. Greg is a great character and I can imagine that he's convinced many young boys to read his diary, writing which, as Greg will tell you on the first pages, was definitely not his idea!

This a graphic novel with a difference. Really fun, genuine and endearing, I'm looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

And I'm happy to be discovering books that my son will be interested in when he's older - much older, as he's 6 months today, but still. I always imagined I'd have a daughter and I had tons of stuff in mind for her to read when the time came. I thought I'd be at a loss with a boy and so discovering great books like this one makes me extra happy!

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge, Graphic Novels Challenge

On chick lit

If I don't sit down and write and actual review I'll end up with quite a backlog at the end of the year!!! Since Shane arrived I've had so little time for reading and even less time for blogging... Actually the blogging part isn't so much a time problem as a concentration problem. I've had completely different things on my mind and I don't always feel like exploring my feelings about what I just read. Plus I tend to think that if I magically get a half hour I should be reading rather than blogging.

But I miss you! I miss the community. I miss all the good stuff. And after reading Trish's post I started thinking that maybe my blogging self needs to be reinvented. Maybe I should be blogging about all sorts of things on here, not just books. I don't read enough to post regularly anyway. Something to think about in any case, I'll work it out.

In the meantime, here I am catching up.

When I have too much on my mind I crave chick lit. Not just romance but chick lit, stories about women just like me who had loads of stuff happen in their lives but who ended up with their happy ending. I don't know too much about the genre, because I'm too wary of most of the books out there. I like intelligent chick lit and I'm always afraid of ending up with something too fluffy, so I stick to my favorite authors.

One author I always thought I'd like but didn't is Candace Bushnell who wrote the book that tv's Sex and the City is based on. I love the show but really didn't love the book - I didn't find the characters real enough. Yet, when I saw that Candace Bushnell wrote  the introduction to Mary McCarthy's The Group, I thought it was a great selling point. McCarthy's book is marketed as Sex and the City in the 1930s - a group of New York women go to college together and then try to come to grips with what being a woman in the 1930s actually means. I love the idea, since I love that time period and anything to do with the challenges of being female (not that it's more challenging than being a man, I mean the specificities of being a woman)... but I didn't like the characters at all. First of all there were too many of them and I couldn't keep them straight. Maybe that's because Baby Shane needed something every 5 minutes and I had to keep putting the book down, I don't know. I also didn't actually care for the characters though. I thought they were over-written and flat. I confess that I didn't bother finishing the book, so perhaps it got better. With such limited reading time though I preferred to just move on to the next one on my list.

Since my craving for chick lit had not been satisfied, the next one on my list was Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella. Now this one I loved. Kinsella is my favorite chick lit author - her books are thoughtful and funny and entertaining. This one was no different and I enjoyed it immensely. Great idea too - a girl has an accident and ends up with partial amnesia. She doesn't remember the last three years of her life, which is apparently when she changed from an ugly duckling to a rich bitch living the good life. But , alas, things aren't always what they seem... Defintely recommended, as are all Kinsella books.

That's it for now - I enjoyed writing this post! :-)

P.S. I wanted to include pictures of the book covers but I have a new Mac and I have no idea what the equivalent of 'right-click-and-save-as' is... :-)

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

This is one of those books that everyone in the blogosphere seemed to be reading a while back - I only got to it in January and managed to finish it a few days before going into labor - thankfully, as it would have taken me weeks to get back to it and I would have forgotten the story by then. And since it's a mystery the story is kinda important.

Actually the mystery isn't the most important aspect of this book; for me it was the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell that mattered. I loved how they needed each other and I loved how their relationship developed over time. Oh and for those of you who don't know about this book, it takes place in 1915 and features a retired Holmes living as a recluse in the English countryside. What a great idea.

I really enjoyed the classic Sherlock Holmes case-solving, as both he and Mary figured things out based on the tiniest clues.

Anyway, I had a great time reading this. And The Beekeeper's Apprentice is the start of a series and the next book is already on my list.

Sorry for the disjointed review - baby Shane doesn't allow me much writing time in one go, but if I didn't at least start bloggin again now I'm afraid I'd never come back, so here I am, horrible writing and all! :-)

Into Thin Air

I thought my friend Elaine had recommended this to me, but in fact she recommened Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild - I ended up getting Into Thin Air. It's not the sort of book I would normally pick up, but I did need an adventure book for the Genre Challenge and I thought it might be interesting. I now feel like I learned a bit more about the world, a feeling I love.

Into Thin Air is Krakauer's account of the disaster that struck his and several other expeditions while they were climbing Mount Everest in 1996. Krakauer is a journalist and was doing a piece for a magazine - although he'd always been into mountain climbing so couldn't refuse the chance to climb Everest anyway. He joined one of the commercial expeditions and off he went. Thankfully, he also came back to tell the tale, although it's a story of eight climbers dying and many others only barely surviving...

First of all, I didn't know that there were commercial expeditions! I didn't know that people, sometimes people with very little climbing experience, would pay thousands upon thousands of dollars to companies that would take them up Everest with guides. It's a business and like all business, sometimes loses that feeling for the individual...which unfortunately makes disasters more likely to happen.

I also didn't know how physically taxing and outright dangerous climbing is. That's not correct - I guess I knew, I just never really thought about it. Those who climb mountains have to survive in terrible conditions and with little oxygen, meaning that they are mostly incapable of coherent thinking while up on a mountain...

And I didn't know that there is a whole people - the Sherpas - part of whose livelihood is dependent on climbing. They live in the mountains anyway and act as guides and carriers for the commercial expeditions. Often this is the job the pays most of anything that is available to them.

All in all, fascinating stuff. I'm very glad that I decided to read something so way out of my comfort zone, I am richer for it.

Krakauer insists that the story, told as truthfully as could be, needed to be told. I agree and I applaud his courage and his honesty. Parts of the story are not pretty - including bits about the author's own behavior and choices and the remorse he now feels. I'm sure this wasn't an easy story for him to tell and I thank him for deciding to put it out there.

Challenges: Genre Challenge, Dewey Decimal Challenge

Odd Thomas

I'm back! :-) Well, I'm not that happy about my vacation being over, but I have another mini one coming up in a week and a half so it's not too bad. I hope that I can get my blogging motivation back up again too. I'll have more time come September, as I'll be working part-time due to some pregancy related stuff - nothing serious, just annoying.

So, Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas... this was a July read for me, I've just been away from a computer since then. I can't say that I loved it, although I wanted to. I liked Odd, but I wasn't completely engrossed by the story, which is what I expected. Odd can see dead people and this ability helps him solve certain crimes. It also obviously seriously influences the kind of life he leads, not always for the better. But he accepts his destiny and tries to make the best of it. In this particular book, he uses his gift to stop an evil man from committing his planned crimes. It works of course, but not without consequences.

I found the idea for the story better than the story itself, for some reason. The only time that I was remotely excited about the book is at the end, after a twist in the story line that I totally wasn't expecting. That part is still on my mind.

I'm kind of curious about the next book in the series, but I'm not sure it's worth it. What do you think?

Challenges: 1st in a series, Celebrate the Author, Suspense and Thriller Challenge

Two more reviews for April

I can't believe that April is over! I don't where this year is going, time feels like it's going really fast...

I've been busy for the past few days, so no blogging, but I'm back with two reviews of great books I want to tell you about.

First - Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein. The subtitle is 'The True Story of One Couple's Quest to Have a Baby', but I think that it would interest those of you not really into fertility/motherhood issues. Anyone who likes reading memoirs would enjoy reading about Peggy's story. The author asks a lot of questions about the choices women make and whether you can say that they are right or wrong. She also asks a lot of questions about how much women are willing to sacrifice in order to have a biological child - I found a section on whether it was pregnancy or motherhood that was the goal especially thought-provoking.

It's not all about babies either - Peggy tries to go on with her life in the meantime, which, among other things includes some fascinating glimpses of 'parasite singles' in Tokyo and survivors of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

Aside from the ideas and questions, which I thought were fascinating and incredibly pertinent to today's world, I absolutely loved the author's writing and voice. So honest and thoughtful and real. I truly identified. Especially with sentences like: "I had just turned thirty-five. I was beginning to realize what it meant to be a grown-up." :-)

Seriously, I can't recommend this book enough - it's certainly not just fluff.

Since April is the month of the pre-Easter pagan holiday Ostara, which is all about fertility, this book is my April book for the Every Month is a Holiday challenge.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Countdown Challenge, Every Month is a Holiday, In their Shoes, New Authors, Themed Reading Challenge,

And speaking of fluff, the other book I finished yesterday is Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic and Baby. After finding Shopaholic and Sister only ok, I'm happy to report that I absolutely loved this. Becky is a great character - I know she bugs some people but I don't care because I'm very much like her. :-) If you're looking for some light reading that's a notch above most of the chick-lit that's on the market, give this series a try.

Challenges: Chick Lit 2, Countdown Challenge

The Metamorphosis

I'm sure I read Kafka's The Metamorphosis at school, but I couldn't remember much, so when I noticed it on DailyLit I subscribed.

It's the story of Gregor, a man who one day wakes up to find that he is a giant insect. His first thoughts about this situation relate to work and not being able to show up on time. He works for some very strict people and although he hates it, he does it so that he can support his family who have financial problems. He loses his job quickly of course and the family have to fend for themselves. They take care of Gregor to a certain basic extent - they clean his room and bring him food - but they are disgusted by him and wish he were gone. When he does go, they are relieved that their hardship is over.

There is alot of analysis of this story on the internet, but apprently scholars can't agree on what it really means. I guess what struck me was that Gregor sacrificed his life for his family, to be able to support them, and they didn't really appreciate it. I know that when I'm in situations that seem very hard, I end up wishing I could just give up, even if logically I know I can't. I tend to wish that something would happen to change the situation, something I can't even think of.This is what happened to Gregor, I think. Something happened to get him out of the unsatisfying situation he was in and he could just give up.

I also though a lot about being different and alienated while I was reading this. OK granted, turning into a bug is an extreme example and I'm sure I wouldn't treat Gregor in the same way if I was there, but still... you have to wonder if his family would have taken care of him if he was unable to work for other reasons. He became something different and was no longer needed.

He must have been really lonely too, not to really mind turning into a bug. He didn't seem too concerned with his new state...

I guess the point of my rambling is that I don't really know what I'm talking about. :-) I enjoyed reading Kafka's novella and I can see how it touches on a whole variety of issues, but I don't really see the big picture. I feel better about this knowing that scholars haven't really figured it out either.

Kafka is an interesting person though, Czech but living under German-speaking rule in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and I'd like to read some of this other works.

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, 999 Challenge, Decades Challenge, Jewish Literature (Kafka was Jewish!), Orbis Terrarum, What an Animal

Out

I'm a few days too late to count Natsuo Kirino's Out for the Japanese Literature Challenge, which means that I didn't finish that one. Oh well, I have so much life stuff going on that I don't get as much reading done as I'd like. More on that some other time.

What a book! I don't usually read crime novels so this was way out of my comfort zone, but I really enjoyed it. I do love Japanese literature though so maybe that was part of it. It was suspenseful and gruesome at times, but it also had odd moments of clarity about human beings.

The story is basically about a group of women who work the night shift at a factory - they're all different but they all have difficult things they have to deal with and escape from. Then, one of them kills her husband. The others decide to help their friend get rid of the body and this unleashes a whole chain of events and gets a whole string of people involved. Mostly people you'd want to stay away from.

It's also a psychological study of the darkness in human beings. How far into the dark would you go? What would be capable of pushing you there? And what happens when you cross that moral line for the first time? I'm not sure I like the answers... I mean I know that we all have a dark side, but I also hope that it never comes to the surface in most of us. Well, in all of us actually, but that's wishful thinking.

The book read like a thriller - parts were even like watching a thriller. My brain kept saying 'no, don't go there, don't do it, nooooo' during some passages. That's got to be a sign of good writing!

There is one thing that I really didn't like at the end, but I don't want to spoil the book for anyone. Let's just say that I'd hope that hatred is easier to hang on to and that giving in to the dark side isn't that obvious.

I'd definitely recommend this one, whether you like Japanese literature or quality crime writing. Apparently Natsuo Kirino won a prize for another of her books, Soft Cheeks. I now see that it hasn't been translated into English (hopefully yet), but others have. More to choose from, yay!

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Countdown Challenge, Genre Challenge, Lost in Translation, Naming Conventions, New Authors, Suspense and Thriller Challenge, Well-Seasoned Reader

My holiday reading

I'm back! Boston was amazing, I loved it! I bought loads of books of course, a post just on that is coming up. For now I just wanted to get a couple of reviews in. I didn't get to do a lot of reading, which is good because it means I was actually doing Boston-stuff. I thought I'd read a lot on the plane, but with the personalised entertainment that they have now being pretty cool, I watched movies instead. :-)

I read two girly books during my trip - Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella and The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot. I'm also about a quarter into On Beauty by Zadie Smith. I'm not sure I like it yet... so far I seem to be avoiding it, which is why it didn't get read on holiday.

Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella was fun. Becky is now married to Luke and trying to get used to post-honeymoon married life. Which is nothing like what she thought it would be. When she finds out she has a long-lost sister, she's determined to become best friends with her. Only it turns out that her sister is nothing like her and getting along is very difficult.

I really like the Shopaholic series. It's fun but not brainless. I love Becky - perhaps because I'm kind of like her. But with less money. :-) She makes me cringe sometimes, also because I'm kind of like her. Especially her logic resembles mine, it's funny. Some of her thought processes are exactly like mine, which is pretty scary since she's a character created to make people laugh. :-)

Challenges: A-Z, Chick Lit 2, What's in a Name 2

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot was also really fun. I've been wanting to read it since I saw the movie, which I really liked. Plus I bought parts 2 and 3 in by mistake when I was in Dublin in November, so when I saw the first part in a great bookstore in Salem, I had to take it! I think most of you know the story so I won't repeat it. If you like girly YA fiction then this one's for you! It was perfect for airports, because it didn't reaquire much thinking or concentration...

Challenges: A-Z, Young Adult Challenge, 999 Challenge, 1st in a series, 2nds Challenge




And here's a photo of the boookstore in Salem I mentioned. Heaven.

The Vanishing

I was looking for scary books for the R.I.P. III challenge and found a translation of Tim Krabbe's The Vanishing at the library. I'd never read anything by a Dutch author and I'd heard so much about this story so I was really excited.

It's a short book and reads very quickly. It's the story of a Dutch couple going on holiday to France and the girl disappearing while they're there. She simply vanishes and her boyfriend is left with no clues, nothing. The impact of the book isn't in the story but in the way it's told. The language is so simple that you almost can't believe that it can be used to describe such terrible things.

Krabbe creates a psychopath who is really chilling, mostly because he is so aware and calculating. I wasn't terrified while I was reading the book, but every time I think about it and its conclusion I get the chills.

Tim Krabbe is one of Holland's most famous writers so it's interesting to read this from that point of view as well. And his story has inspired not only a Dutch movie but a Hollywood one as well.

Challenges: A-Z Reading Challenge, Book to Movie Challenge, Orbis Terrarum, R.I.P.III

Under the Duvet

Marian Keyes' is a well-known Irish writer of women's fiction. I'm sure I've read something of hers in the past and I have something else waiting on the shelf for when I feel like something light. This book, Under the Duvet, is something different though, it's a collection of some short pieces of writing, mostly journalistic in style. Over the years, Marian Keyes had been asked to contribute to all kinds of Irish newspapers and magazines on all sorts of topics. Some of the pieces included in this book are such assignments and others are previously unpublished.

I enjoyed reading it - it's the sort of book you can dip into and out of easily, the pieces are short enough to sit down for a few minutes, read one and then move on to something else. I'd been reading it in bed, actually. Keyes' style is light and chatty - and very, very Irish. I am partial to the Irish style though, I find it funny and real, and it helps that I have it at home every day since my partner is Irish.

Anyway, I'd recommend the book for some light amusing reading and insight into the Irish mind. 4 stars from me and I hope to remember to read one of her novels at some point soon.