Missing reviews

I want to tidy things up before the end of the year, so here are some quick thoughts on the last few books I read... and never reviewed.

Misconceptions: Truth, Lies and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood by Naomi Woolf

I was looking for something about the misconceptions about pregnancy and early motherhood, since I was finding pregnancy so different from what I expected. This book is more about the American health industry though so, although interesting, didn't do that much for me. (***)

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

This is ine of those books that I thank the blogosphere for - if I hadn't needed a U author for the A-Z challenge I would have never picked this up in the used bookstore and would have really missed out on a gem. It's a beautifully written heartbreaking story of the realities on life in India - many of you enjoy world literature, seriously, if you haven't read this, put it on your list for 2010. (*****)

Fables volume 1 - Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham

Between Nymeth and Kailana's raving, I couldn't not read this at some point. Charming and original, can't wait to continue the series. Have you watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit, by the way? :-) (*****)

A Break With Charity by Ann Rinaldi

A non-fiction book for teens, I picked this up when we were in Boston earlier this year. It's a story of the Salem witch trials - it had the same characters as The Crucible so I looked things up and it turns out that those characters actually existed! Fascinating. This book isn't exactly well-known and I recommend it for its simplicity and historical interest. (*****)

Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis

The second in the mystery series set in ancient Rome. I like the idea of this series but to be honest I thought that the first book was only mediocre and I couldn't even finish this one... I'm told that it starts getting really good by about book 4. Apparently the historical aspect of ancient Rome is really well-researched and that's very attractive to me so I think I'll persevere... (**)

The Friday Night Knitting Club

This was another recommendation, which unfortunately I was expecting much more from. Kate Jacobs' book was ok, but I found it only that, I wanted to enjoy it more than I did.

The premise is great - Georgia owns a  wool shop and loves to knit. With time, several women become regular customers and end up spending Friday night together, some knitting, some learning to knit. They share and grow and generally have a good time. It works, although they are of different ages and backgrounds and have very different problems.

What was the problem for me? I didn't care enough about the characters... I suppose they didn't jump off the page for me. It's a nice enough light book to relax with, but that's about it. I did love the knitting focus though, so who knows if I won't be reading about the characters' further knitting adventures!

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge, A-Z Challenge

A Study in Scarlet

I'd never read any of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle and when I saw that they were available on The Literature Network I figured it was high time. When I started to read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, however, there were immediate references to A Study in Scarlet, which is how I learned that this one actually came first. I love bits of information like this!

A Study in Scarlet was published in 1887 and is the first of the Sherlock Holmes stories. It is also the first of Arthur Conan Doyle's books to be published. It is the book where Holmes and Watson meet and describes the first crime that Watson witnesses Holmes solving.

I loved the detective part of the story as much as I loved the recent Agatha Christie I read. I loved following clue by clue and seeing how Sherlock Holmes solved the crime. But I got bored with the bit in the middle, where the story went to a Mormon community in the US and where we saw how the victim and the murderer met and what happened between them. I wanted more of Watson and Sherlock!

Nevertheless, I will certainly be following this up with The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Classics Challenge, Decades Challenge, Suspense & Thriller Challenge

Salem Falls

The answer I've been waiting for will arrive tomorrow night, so I am still distracted and not really into blogging and commenting... sorry about that and I hope to be back to my normal involved self real soon.

In the meantime, my thoughts about Jodi Picoult's Salem Falls. Basically, it was ok. This was my second book by this author, the first being My Sister's Keeper, which I thought was much, much better, probably because the subject matter was more original and therefore interesting.

Salem Falls are about residents of a small New England town and how a new arrival, Jack, a man who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a minor, changes their lives. A group of local teenage girls, who are witches by the way, accuse him of rape and he ends up the target of a witch hunt, which is what the author of course intended, as she wanted to write an updated version of The Crucible.

Jack's only support comes from newly-found love Addie, but even she finds it difficult at times. She certainly come through in the end though!

The book ends with a long court scene, which I enjoyed. It made me remember that I used to like reading courtroom dramas - maybe I should track some good ones down again.

The book reads like a soap opera, but nothing more. Pleasant no-brain reading, but that's pretty much it. I'm intrigued by some other Jodi Picoult books - are there any that you think are worth reading?

Challenges: 2nds Challenge, Celebrate the Author, Chick Lit 2, Countdown Challenge, Romance Reading Challenge,

Story of a Girl and The Stork Club

After a week of very difficult personal life stuff, here I am, back again, and with only two reviews! I am working on a couple other books - including The Book of Lost Things, which I'm finding quite slow... am I abnormal?

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr is one of those young adult books that today's teenagers should be thankful are out there. I'm sure they're not, but they should be. I don't recall ever being able to read about such serious issues when I was an early teen. The book's heroine and narrator is Deanna, who makes some bad choices a few years ago (when she's thirteen) and is branded the school slut. No matter what she does, she can't get away from her reputation. Even her Dad can no longer look her in the eye. Deanna tries to cope but it's too hard for her when she feels that no one wants/loves her, that she doesn't belong to anyone - which are the same emotions that landed her in this mess in the first place.

Story of a Girl is very, very realistic. I could identify with a lot of Deanna's thoughts and feelings, I actually remember feeling that lost when I was her age. I hope that this book is of comfort to today's young women as they struggle with belonging, love and sexuality.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Countdown Challenge, New Authors, YA Challenge, Dewey's Books

And the other book I read this week - The Stork Club by Imogen Edwards-Jones. Another memoir of a woman with fertility problems trying to have a baby. It was honest and sometimes brutal, but I still preferred Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orrenstein. It's worth reading if this is an area that interests you though!

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Countdown Challenge, Every Month is a Holiday, In Their Shoes, Non-Fiction Five

A is for Alibi

I've been wanting to read Sue Grafton's alphabet series, but the first book, A is for Alibi, has been checked out from the library for ages! I finally got my hands on it and it made for some very pleasant on-the-bus reading.

The books in the series center around private investigator Kinsey Millhone - she's 32, she's divorced, now single and she lives her job. I liked the way the character was set up - you can tell that she has loads of personal issues that can be fleshed out and hopefully worked through as the series progresses. She's a likeable character and I enjoyed the way she went about solving her case. I'm one of those people who never tries to solve the mystery before I finish reading so the ending was a nice and neat conclusion for me.

I'll definitely continue with B is for Burglar . Any other mystery series like this one that I should consider?

Challenges: 1st in a series, Celebrate the Author, New Authors, Support Your Local Library, Suspense and Thriller Challenge

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes... But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes

These two books were written by Anita Loos, the first was published in 1925 and the second in 1927. They are both diaries written by Lorelei Lee, a pretty flapper living it up in the 1920s. The subtitle of the first book is 'Diary of a Professional Lady', so I'm sure you get the idea.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is Lorelei's diary about her day-to-day life, her relationships with various men, her trip to Europe and her getting married. She is hilarious - she is striving for intellectual knowledge and loves to learn things. She thinks she is educated and fairly high-class, which makes her social gaffes even funnier. She is very likable. I enjoyed listening to her adventures and her interpretation of how the world works and what men are for.

But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes is in Lorelei's voice once again, but tells the story of her friend. I thought this was much, much weaker... kind of more of the same.

Apparently, Anita Loos got the idea to write these books when she noticed that all the men around her were falling over the blonde in the room and paying no attention to her, a brunette, even though she was pretty and intelligent. I liked that bit of information, I like knowing where an author is coming from.

These books are the pre-cursors of chick-lit - all about men and going out and getting jewellery - entertaining and fluffy.

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, Audiobook Challenge, Classics Challenge, Decades Challenge

I'm back... and a couple quick reviews

I'm back! With internet access and everything! My life stuff is going smoothly so far, let's hope it continues like this. Thanks for your comments, they were so sweet and much appreciated!

As I said, I wasn't doing that much reading in March, but I did want to finish two last books and I managed so I'm happy.

For the Every Month is a Holiday challenge, I read Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken. It's a book about Ireland in the 1600s and I thought it would be appropraite since St. Patrick's Day was in March. The book is the first in a trilogy that is standard reading for Irish pre-teens, from what I've been told. It does indeed read like a 'classic' school-assigned kind of book. It deals with the English occupation of Ireland and how people coped with the horrors of it. Very depressing. I enjoyed the historical aspect of it, but I didn't care for the characters much. I thought they were slightly two-dimensional... I definitely preferred Joseph O'Connor's Star of the Sea and would recommend it over this one in a second.

Challenges: Every Month is a Holiday, 999 Challenge, 1st in a series, Orbis Terrarum

The other book I wanted to finish in March was The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, which I was reading for the Celebrate the Author challenge, since the author's birthday was on March 8. It was a cute book about a group of animals who become friends and help each other through tough times. I liked all the characters and really liked how 'human' they were. The writing was very English - dry and witty. I enjoyed it, but I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I'd known it in childhood?

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Celebrate the Author, Decades 2009

Sorry for the very short reviews (if you can even call them that) but this is what happens when you play catch-up and I want to finish March, finally!!

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

Aesop's Fables

I really enjoyed my audio version of this. The narrator was great and even did some of the animal voices! :-) A nice and quick listen.

I knew that Aesop lived in Ancient Greece (around 620-560 BC) but I didn't know that he was a slave. Apparently there isn't much information on him except that he was freed at some point and that he died in Delphi. Although some scholars claim that he never existed, he is refered to by both Aristophanes and Plato in some of their works. So I guess he did exist after all.

Fables are short tales involving animals, each with a moral at the end. The morals concern lots of areas of life - how to behave, how to relate to people, how to survive, how to be nice and good. I like that animals and plants and ancient Greek Gods are used to illustrate lessons.

There were many that made me smile as I was listening, but of course I can't remember any right now. :-) But I'll give you another interesting piece of information that I read on Wikipedia - the first printed English version came out in 1484.

I will also say that I was surprised that some of the concepts that we all know today actually come from Aesop - like The Boy who Cried Wolf and the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. Many others are also recognisable.

Anyway, these simple life truths are definitely worth listening to, if you haven't done so already.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Audiobook Challenge, Casual Classics Challenge, Centuries Challenge, Lost in Translation, What an Animal

The Witch of Portobello

Organising my thoughts about this book isn't easy. Let me first say that I've read several Paolo Coelho books in my life. Some of them I loved - like The Alchemist and Veronika Decides to Die. Some of them were only ok. After reading The Devil and Miss Prym last year, I pretty much decided that I would stop at that. But my Mom had read The Witch of Portobello and said that it made her think of me and that I'd really like it. So I read it.

I should have liked it a lot more than I did. The main character of Athena is someone I would have really identified with when I was younger. Many facets of her behavior and belief system still appeal to me and yet I didn't find her as fascinating as she could have been. I didn't want to jump into the book and follow her. But that's what I wanted to want, which made me feel let down in the end.

Coelho is known for inspirational books, for themes like spirituality, destiny and finding one's path. The Witch of Portobello was no different here - Athena was a quest to discover herself and to spread teachings ruled by love and by nature. I love those themes and believe a lot of the same myself. That we are all part of one, that we can each reach a 'higher' level, that nature and earth is what we come from, that worshipping is being part of, etc. I won't bore you with details. :-)

But somehow the writing disappointed me - I didn't feel inspired. Although I did get something out of reading this. It made me think of some of the things I used to think about and forgot as I got older. One of them is that filling my life with stuff and tasks and activities doesn't do me and my development any favors. I've forgotten how important it is to just be. Just sit and do nothing, connect with myself and my surroundings. This is very difficult for me, so maybe I intentionally forgot! But it's something that I think is a good thing to work at, so I'll try.

The other issue I used to think about and now don't is awareness and how that developes intuition. I always believed that I knew the answers to all my questions somewhere deep down, that I knew which path to take, which decision is the right one for me. But my intuition was never developed enough to completely trust it - outside influences like wishes and thoughts played too big a part in there. One of the excercises used to develop intution is working at being aware of one's surroundings. Like when you walk down a street, you should practice noticing everything around you. I'm the opposite - I tend to get lost in my thoughts (or more recently my audiobook!) and ignore what's around me. This is something I'd like to get back to.

Reading The Witch of Portobello also made me want to read about Gypsy beliefs. Anyone know of any good books on this subject?

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, 999 Challenge, Latin American Reading Challenge, Lost in Translation, Spiritually Speaking

SeinLanguage

I needed a happy book, so my friend Elaine brought me SeinLanguage by Jerry Seinfeld. It's a short book, but it sure made me laugh! I really needed that while I was waiting in our cold apartment for someone to come and fix the heating!

I love Jerry Seinfeld - I've recently started renting Seinfeld on DVD and it's still SO funny. His books reads very easily - you can picture him actually saying everything live, my brain was doing accents on certain words and everything.

Here are a few passages that cracked me up:

Or, you ever move a TV set in the back of your car? Then you've got to leave the car in the street for a couple of minutes, you put a sweater over the TV. "It's a couple of sweaters, that's all. One of them happens to be square with an antenna coming out of it."

This one is also great:

According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that seem right? That means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy."

And this one totally cracked me up, probably because I'm preparing to move and this is exactly how I feel!

When you're moving, your whole world is boxes. That's all you think about. "Boxes, where are the boxes?" You just wander down the street going in and out of stores, "Are there any boxes here? Have you seen any boxes?" It's all you think about. You can't even talk to people, you can't concentrate. "Will you shut up? I'm looking for boxes!"

If you don't know Jerry Seinfeld, you should really check him out, he's one of my favorite comedians.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge

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.

Code to Zero

My first book of the year was a Ken Follett - Code to Zero. I picked it up while at my parent's place at the end of 2008, but since I only finished it this year, it counts for 2009.

I think I've read a few of the older Ken Follett books - most of which I enjoyed as great fast-paced thrillers. I then read Pillars of the Earth, which was completely different and fantastic. I still have to get World Without End...

Reading Code to Zero meant back to thrillers for me... I can't remember the last time I read anything in the genre, which is strange, since I remember always liking thrillers. This one was good, action-packed and with a human side, which I like. Basically, a man woke up in a train station and couldn't remember who he was. He started on a quest to find out the truth and found a lot more than he bargained for - including the FBI and an interest and involvement in the space race. He eventually found out the truth about his life, of course.

What I liked most about this book is that as the main character was finding out more and more about the life he led, he often couldn't understand the choices he made. As soon as he was no longer emotionally involved and did not remember any of the baggage, life and the important things in it looked completely different. And looking at things differently helped him make decisions that were better for him and which made him happier.

Oh, and I read it in Polish. :-)

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, 999 Challenge, Genre Challenge, Numbers Challenge, Suspense and Thriller Challenge