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... (**)

Two graphic novels

I've been missing in action again, dealing with personal stuff and another period of pregnancy exhaustion. I've also developed pregnancy related carpel tunnel syndrome, just to add to my list of woes, so sitting at the computer is not my favorite thing to do... I apologise, as I know I've been a terrible blogger and haven't visited anyone in ages. I shudder to think how many unread posts my reader has! I promise to catch up a bit in the next few days though.

I have been reading some, although not as much as I'd have liked to. Graphic novels have been somewhat easier to manage and I have now added an extra two to my list.

The first, The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, was about a girl named Jane, whose family moves from a big city to suburbia following a terrorist attack. Jane misses the city though and finds it hard to adjust to her new life, with its limitations imposed by her terrified and paranoid mother. She makes some friends at school and as a group they start using art to pass on express themselves - which is seen as beautiful by some and as defacing public property by others. I liked the art and the message of The Plain Janes and can certainly recommend it.

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge

The second graphic novel I recently read was American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. Now this one I absolutely loved. It consists of three seemingly separate stories that come together nicely in the end and is about Chinese young people growing up in the US and trying to fit into the American way of life. It's about identity and roots and how hard it is to come to terms with some of the labels that define you. A beautifully illustrated book with a very smart message, this will end up on my list of favorites for the year, I think.

Challenges: A-Z Challenge, 2010 Countdown Challenge, Graphic Novels Challenge

The Tales of Beetle the Bard

What fun! :-) Reading this short book of stories by J.K. Rowling was just as pleasant and absorbing as reading the Harry Potter books was for me. As in I was totally inside the story world and didn't care about anything else. It's nice when books do that, isn't it?

There are five fairy tales in this collection, each followed by some notes and commentary by Albus Dumbledore. I enjoyed this analysis and 'historical' information just as much as I did the stories themselves.

I won't say more, as it's a short book and you should read it. Unless you hate Harry Potter, in which case it's probably not for you! :-)

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge, 999 Challenge

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, volume 1

What can I say, besides 'Buffy rules!'? :-) After watching the show a million times, I have now discovered the associated comics - not only the new Season 8 ones, but also these, older, ones.

Volume 1 of the Omnibus gathers together several comics with stories that happen before Season 1 of Buffy starts. One is about Spike and Drusilla, one is more about Dawn and the others are about Buffy's beginnings as the slayer. I loved every minute of every one. And I'm amazed at the art work - just wow.

There's nothing more I can add, except that I love Buffy on so many levels. As most of you know because I keep going on about it. If you haven't seen the show, watch it. And if you have and you want more, this series is perfect for you.

Challenges: 2010 Countdown Challenge, Graphic Novels Challenge, My Year of Reading Dangerously, R.I.P. IV

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

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I literally just finished reading this and had an urge to write about it before my emotions died down. The book has been sitting on my shelf for years, as I couldn't imagine it being as good as Khaled Hosseini's first one, The Kite Runner. I'm happy to report that A Thousand Splendid Suns is just as good, if not better!

The two main female characters are beautiful. I loved Mariam and Laila from the first pages of reading about them and continued to do so until the end. Their strength in the face of unimaginable hardship was amazing, especially so since I imagine that they represent a whole generation of women. We, living in countries where there is peace and equality, don't know how lucky we are. I admit that I take so very much for granted, all my freedoms included. I have nothing but admiration for the women who lived through Afghanistan's troubled years and the Taliban's rule. I cannot imagine going through it myself.

A Thousand Splendid Suns gives us a glimpse into the history of what seems to be a beautiful country (I've never been) and one which definitely has a rich culture and past. This history is shown to us through regular human beings in everyday situations. There can't be anything that we can identify with more.

If it wasn't for authors like Khaled Hosseini, we would never have the chance to experience Afghanistan and to be made aware of what the news we watch on tv means to the people there, how it affects them. I for one feel richer having read A Thousand Splendid Suns and am extremely grateful to the author for affecting my life in this way.

Challenges: 2nds Challenge, 999 Challenge, Every Month is a Holiday, Orbis Terrarum, Whitcoulls Challenge

Garden Spells

I absolutely adored this book. Whenever I sat down to read it, I felt so relaxed and transported into a magical world. Beautiful feeling. The tone and atmosphere is kind of a cross between Alice Hoffman and Joanne Harris - lots of food and culinary magic. I love that kind of thing and wish I knew more about it myself.

The story is about two sisters in a small southern town, trying to overcome their fears and find happiness. The storyline is actually very simple, I guess it's the style that makes the book special. I was worried that it would be too much like Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, but the similarities in the two stories didn't bother me at all.

What I love about such everyday magic books is the underlying commentary on human nature - to use food to influence people you have to understand how people work. That psychological aspect really appeals to me, even if it is a tad simplified.

The story also deals with the 'gifts' that your family leaves you - what happens if you don't want to be a part of the legacy?

Plus, the cover is so so so very beautiful. It has glitter! What more is there to say? ;-)

Challenges: Southern Reading Challenge, Chick Lit 2, Romance Reading Challenge

My News

Well. It sure has been a tough year so far - and you all know it too, what with my constant complaining about being tired, stressed out or simply in a bad place. My concentration has been on and off, I can't seem to keep my mind on reading like I used to. And I have a good reason. I'm pregnant.

It feels so amazing to finally be able to write that. I've been waiting until after the infamous 12-week scan and here I am, at 14 weeks now, able to finally announce it to the world. :-)

Why were things so hard? I won't bore you with details, but the gist of it is that we did an IVF cycle pretty much right after moving house. So basically we had all the stress we could possibly have had at once. It was a horribly diffcult time and I don't particularly want to think about it. But we survived and hey, it worked!

I am thrilled and looking forward to what these next months will bring. I don't expect any huge improvements in concentration, but hopefully things will settle down a bit at least.

I do have thoughts on a pregnancy-related book too, I hope they count because as you can imagine with my addiction I bought pretty much every book I could find.

I now finished reading The Best Friends' Guide to Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine. The subtitle says 'Or everything you doctor won't tell you' and it lives up to the expectation. This book tells you how things will actually feel, not just what will happen to you. It's a funny take on the experience and after reading so many clinical books (which are also important) I totally needed this. I definitely this is one to read when pregnant.

It fits into a couple challenges too! :-)

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Non-Fiction Five challenge, A-Z Challenge

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

It's very fitting that my first post after the one about giving up on 2009 books is my thoughts on a 2009 book. :-)

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is a book by Helen Grant, an English woman living in Brussels, which is where I live. The book was on display in our local bookstore and I loved the idea of finally getting to read a local author, since I don't read French or Dutch, so I bought it immediately. The story sounded good too, something about girls vanishing in a small German town. Spooky.

I wasn't expecting it to be a page-turner. But it was. I don't want to talk about the plot too much, not to give anything away, but it held my interest all the way through. The story is told by Pia, daughter of a German father and an English expat mother. Pia is around 17 when she tells the story but the events themselves take place when she is 10 years old and she and her family are living in a small picturesque German town.

The only thing I will say is that the book had me pretty scared, scared enough not to want to read it in the evenings if I was alone, because I tend to get nightmares... just because it's about a 10-year-old is it really a YA book??

Being an expat myself, I really liked that aspect of the story too - the way the English mother is portrayed as she tries to fit into German society, with the different customs and everything. There aren't many books that deal with this.

Anyway, I would totally recommend this one to you. I read it in no time and loved it - it's definitely going on my list of faves at the end of the year. Plus you'll be reading something that is probably not very well-known (yet) where you live, which makes things interesting too!

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Suspense and Thriller Challenge

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate

What can I say about volume 3 of these Buffy Season 8 comics, except that they're fabulous? I think this was my favorite installment so far - maybe I'm getting used to the comic format? I did find I was naturally reading the dialogue in order rather than reading it like I would a normal book!

I really can't say anything about the plot or the characters without giving some of it away, so I won't. Anyway, you'll probably never read these unless you're a Buffy fan already and if you are a Buffy fan already then I don't need to go on and on about what a genius Joss Whedon is.

Challenges: Graphic Novels Challenge, Countdown Challenge, 999 Challenge, My Year of Reading Dangerously

Girlfriend in a Coma

I think that Douglas Coupland may well become one of my favorite authors. I've heard so much about him over the years but never got around to reading anything. When my good friend Amy recently moved away and was getting rid of a bunch of books, I snagged a copy of Girlfriend in a Coma and here I am, beginning my Coupland adventure

The girlfriend in the title is Karen, girlfriend to Richard. Karen and Richard have first-time sex one December evening and later that night Karen loses consciousness and goes into a coma that lasts 17 years. She eventually wakes up to a world she hardly recognises and tries to continue on as normal, until a strange sleeping disease kills all of the population except her and her circle of friends. Strange? Definitely. But oh so original and gripping!

It's hard to talk about the story without giving too much away, but let me tell you that every time I thought I knew what was going on, something even stranger happened. I was expecting a different kind of story, but I was not expecting a commentary on modern life. I loved how Karen perceived the new modern world when she woke up - with all the advances and technological improvements making things more efficient, but with the world's inhabitants more empty than ever, with no goals and no soul.

Lots of commentary on the meaning of time and what happens when we don't slow down and appreciate it too...

Are all of Coupland's books like this, I wonder? I can't wait to find out!

Challenges: Every Month is a Holiday (Canada Day!), What's in a Name

The Little Prince

I read this (or re-read it actually) by accident, because I still didn't have anything read for the Celebrate the Author challenge and today, June 29, is the birthday of Antoine De Saint-Exupery. I read it online here and although I know that it's much nicer to read it in book format and probably also in the original French, it was still as delightful as I remembered it to be.

The Little Prince is one of those children's books with a simple story and a magical message that appeals to adults as well. If it doesn't appeal then you've left it too long between re-readings. :-)

Basically, a little prince ends up on Earth and encounters an airman whose plane has crashed in the desert. They start an unlikely friendship and the airman gets to hear about the little prince's adventures on his own planet and on the planets he visited on his way to Earth.

The messages about children and how much of the beauty of childhood we lose when we become adults are wonderful. Only children understand certain things, see certain things. As adults we forget to look with our hearts, for example. We forget what's really important.

I'm sure you've all read this at some point, but if you haven't then you must.

Oh and the illustrations are fantastic. Really a part of the story.

I feel all young and innocent now! :-)

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Celebrate the Author, Classics Challenge, Orbis Terrarum

Anne of Avonlea

Ah, what can I say about the lovely Anne with an 'e'? I loved the Anne books when I was a child and am re-reading the whole series now - it's still just as good!

In the second book, Anne of Avonlea, we get more of life in Green Gables and its surroundings, this time with the addition of Davy and Dora, twins who are now under Marilla and Anne's care. Anne has started teaching and is trying out her methods, with mixed success. By the end of the book she's quite the young woman and off to college - can't wait to start the next one now.

I love Anne. There is no limit to how many times I can say that on this blog. She's a beautiful character and the books are simply magical. Oh and the films made by Canadian tv are amazing too. If you still haven't discovered this series, it's time! :-)

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Centuries Challenge, Childhood Favorites

Anatomy of a Boyfriend

Boy, did this bring me back! Daria Snadowsky's coming-of-age book caught all the emotions on paper so well, that I couldn't help but reminisce to that time in my own life... That's always a sign of a good book!

Dominique is 17 and doesn't really have much experience with boys - until she meets Wes. They start dating and then fooling around. Their time together has many firsts for them both and the I thought that the author described them to a T. The strength of Dominique's emotions was so apparent and so raw, it hurt to remember that intensity sometimes.

Snadowsky also added an extra dimension to the story - choosing a college and going off to college - without your high school boyfriend. So hard when you think that your high school boyfriend is all that there is to life.

This book has been comopared to Judy Blume's Forever and Judy Blume liked it herself - can you get better praise than that?

If you like teen literature then I highly recommend this. But be warned, it'll probably take you back to when you were young (and stupid) too! :-)

Challenges: YA Romance, Young Adult Challenge

The Handmaid's Tale

I love Margaret Atwood. She's seriously one of the best writers around. I haven't read all her books yet and I'm glad for that, because I have so much to still look forward to. The one I just finished, The Handmaid's Tale, was so powerful that I even had dreams about it!

It's the story of Offred, told from her own perspective, in a kind of diary format. Offred lives sometime in the future, after we've ruined the environment to a disastrous extent and have to live with nuclear explosions and contamination. Offred's world forms in order to try and make things better than they were before - but as Offred herself says at some point, 'better' always means 'worse' for someone.

Offred's only purpose in the new world order is to breed. There is a whole class of girls like her, girls who make children for those who can't and are of higher societal (moral) standing. She lives pretty much in isolation, with only her thoughts and memories for company. Memories of the husband and child that were taken away from her.

All women are compartmentalised in this world. They are either there for breed or to be wives or to clean houses or to be prostitutes. Shades of grey don't exist. It's terrifying.

The Handmaid's Tale is a creepy book. It's a frightening book, all the more so because I think it could happen. The fanatics who control the new world exist in ours too, they just don't have as much power. Yet? Let's hope that the fact that such books are written and read (and there seem to be more and more of them in YA literature) will teach the younger generations respect for the environment and for humankind and thus help us avoid realities like the one in Atwood's book.

If you haven't read this yet, you must. That's all there is to it really.

Challenges: 1% Well-Read Challenge, 999 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Banned Book Challenge, Classics Challenge, Eco Reading Challenge, It's the End of the World, Orbis Terrarum

Kindred

The first (and only) time I heard about Kindred by Octavia E. Butler was from Dewey's blog. I can't believe I'd never come across this book before, especially since I loved it so much that it might be my favorite read this year... Certainly one of my favorites anyway.

Kindred is the story of Dana, a black woman living in the 1970s, who on her 26th birthday somehow time travels to the antebellum South, with plantations, slaves, precursors to tje Ku-Klux Klan and everything. She eventually understands why this is happening to her and what her role is, but that knowledge doesn't make it any easier for a modern woman to take being treated like a slave, complete with whippings. It doesn't do wonders for her marriage to a white man either.

The story is original and beautifully written, plus the historical aspect is more than interesting. The author also asks some difficult questions about how easily we adapt to new places and circumstances... even if they are unthinkable to us at first.

Another one of those books that everyone should read!

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Dewey's Books, New Authors, Orbis Terrarum, Support your Local Library

P.S. The news I was waiting for is positive so I'm in a much better place. Thank you for all the warm words and wishes!

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Wow. What a book. I certainly wasn't expecting Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee to be a page turner, but it was. Joseph O'Connor, whose Star of the Sea was one my favorite reads last year, says it's a page-turner on the front cover - who knew that you could sometimes trust these testimonials?

We first meet Pippa when she's in her 50s, living in a retirement community with her much-older husband. She basically starts wondering how she ended up where she was and we start getting glimpses from her past. She is certainly not the woman you'd think she is - she not 'just' a wife, mother, neighbour etc. She had a colorful, wild life and she misses it. Her past is told in the first person, while her present is told in the third person. That sure says a lot.

The book says so much about identity. About living your life how you want to live it, about being true to yourself, but also about how important security turns out to be. I guess that most of us struggle with these questions sometimes, we think about trade-offs in life. So most of us will find a piece of ourselves in Pippa Lee.

The author's style is brilliant - the simple and effective writing kind of reminded me of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. Although this isn't a graphic novel, the writing is so vivid that I could see everything anyway.

One not to be missed.

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Countdown Challenge, New Authors, Support Your Local Library, Themed Reading Challenge

The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Yay, I finally got around to reading my first Agatha Christie novel! And it's the first one featuring Hercule Poirot to boot! I can't believe that I managed to avoid these charming mysteries my whole life, but there you are, thanks to it being available on The Literature Network, I finally got my chance.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is the perfect mystery. It has plenty of conflict and emotion, it has loads of little clues and hints and it has Poirot, who I found to be delightful. One of his lines that I just had to jot down is what he said about using insomnia as an explanation for ones actions:

"Which is a very good, or a very bad explanation" remarked Poirot. "It covers everything, and explains nothing."

Ha ha ha. The book is full of these one-liners. :-)

I was fooled till the end and kept suspecting everyone in turn, as I suppose I was meant to. What more could I want? I'll definitely read more Agatha Christie in the future!

Challenges: Genre Challenge, New Authors, Suspense and Thriller, Classics Challenge

Sleeping Beauty and Other Stories

This beautifully illustrated collection of fairy tales was given to me when I was 9 or 10 and I loved it. I haven't read it since, but recently found it again and here we are.

The book includes 10 stories, most of which are apparently by a Frenchman called Charles Perrault, who lived in the 17th century. His stories were published in the 1680s and 90s and have been translated, adapted and retold frequently since then.

The stories are retold here by Susie Saunders and the edition is illustrated by Monique Gorde.

I had one big shock when re-reading this collection - it concerned the ending to Sleeping Beauty. I remember the ending as the prince kissing the sleeping princess and her waking up. Have I been wrong all these years? I was very disturbed to read on and find that the prince's mother came from a family of ogres and that she'd go on to try and eat the princess and her children! Did anyone else know about this??

Aside from this, I greatly enjoyed getting a bedtime story again. :-)

Challenges: Centuries Challenge, Childhood Favorites, Once upon a Time III

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

This beautiful book by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is definitely one of favorite books of the year. I wondered about it because it's received so many fantastic reviews and I hate when there's that much hype about a book and then I hate it... but this one is beautiful and touching and interesting and really, really deserves all the praise.

The story is told through letters between the various characters. There are in fact two stories - one of Juliet who is living in London in 1946 trying to come up with an idea for a novel and one is about some inhabitants of Guernsey and what German occupation looked like for them during the war. The two come together because one of the Guernsey men finds a book that had once belonged to Juliet and writes to her.

As the stories of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society unfold, Juliet starts to care about the people involved and begins to realise something about what's important in others and in life. The stories are wonderful, the characters are engaging, the writing is charming.

The way the occupation is described reminds me of the second part of Suite Francaise - the Germans and the locals start to get to know each other and it turns out that they are all human beings who don't want to be in that situation. It doesn't seem to matter who started it...

Here are a few of my favorite quotes - there were way too many good ones to write down though!

Juliet on her old flat being destroyed in a bombing:

"I know that I am fortunate to have any place at all to live in London, but I much prefer whining to counting my blessings."

Juliet on not being able to buy new shoes to go with her new dress:

"...doesn't it seem shocking to hqve more stringent rationing after the war than during the war? I realise that hundreds of thousands of people all over Europe must be fed, housed and clothed, but privately I resent it that so many of them are Germans."

Juliet on finding out more about the German occupation of Guernsey:

"I want to talk to people like him (...) and hear about their war, because that's what I'd like to read, instead of statistics about grain."

The comments on the back cover say that you won't want it to end and it's true. I now want to visit Guernsey and I will be very, very disappointed if the characters from this book don't live there!

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Countdown Challenge, War through the Generations