Tag: books and reading

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books and reading

The Nightingale

Two birds with one stone here!! A friend recommended this one, and it is on the NY Times Bestseller list for the book challenge. And wow! What a fabulous read! Not necessarily the most uplifting of books, but absolutely beautiful.

Two sisters, one older and responsible, one younger and impetuous. But both strong in their own stubborn way. Set in France during WWII, the stories follows both of them, sometimes living together, oftentimes apart and you see their struggles for survival during the worst period of the last century. You get small glimpses of present day, learning that one of the sisters has survived, but which isn’t revealed until the end.

I have shed tears at three books: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (ugly cried. twice.), the Book Thief (just a couple tears. twice) and now The Nightingale. I’m not a crier, so this should tell you something. I refuse to reveal whether they are happy tears or sad tears or a combination of both, but know that this book hit me hard.

I gave it 4 stars because I thought it could have been edited down a bit, but that’s just my personal preference. Overall, I loved the characters and felt their motivations were authentic. Even though WWII is always hard to read about, I feel it’s important to be frequently reminded of the time period, and books like this do an excellent job at doing so.

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books and reading

Where the River Ends

A few months ago, I asked some Facebook friends for book recommendations, and I vowed to read every book mentioned. One thing I love about doing the book challenge is that I get exposure to new authors. So, asking my friends for feedback seems like the next step in broadening my horizons. And one recommended author Charles Martin. I selected one of his books at random from the library, and in all honesty, I HATED this book. One star. I finished it only so I could write an accurate review.

I used to tell my students that hating a book was sometimes better than loving a book because you end up having so much more to say. For the first half of the book, I merely disliked it. The writing is atrocious and trite. The characters are stale and predictable. The plot was mediocre. Then came the sexist comments. Did you know that from birth, there are two things a woman wants: To be pursued and to know she is beautiful. Are you fucking kidding me? How about “to be strong,” “to be equal,” “to be treated fairly”? I would take every one of those things over the very shallow ideas of pursuit and beauty. This is where the book lost me. The hatred grew. By the end I was almost to the point of throwing the book across the room.

I’m giving the author the benefit of the doubt and assume he isn’t sexist, however, there are dozens of male writers who write strong female characters. The main female character in this is strong, but she is also selfish and reckless, putting her needs above the safety (and potential jail time) of her husband. I have no tolerance for this. The author’s twitter handle is “storiedcareer.” Seriously? Isn’t that self glorification? Barf.

I will not be reading another one of his books and I certainly suggest that you don’t either. I rolled my eyes at least every other page at how terrible, cliched, and downright sexist this book was.

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books and reading

Movie Game

I’m new to Netgalley and this was my first book that I was approved for. I was quickly intrigued by premise of a teenager obsessed with movies, a mystery surrounding his father, a tragedy from his younger days, but this book just didn’t work for me.

Our main character, Joe, is just a terrible person. He cares about his sister, but only to keep her from interfering in his life. We are never given any indication they have a relationship, and they simply co-exist alone. Their mother is living with her boyfriend and has abandoned her children. Their father is MIA. No idea where he, a marine biologist, has gone. Do marine biologists often disappear for their job? Seems like a job that doesn’t have much intrigue behind it.

Joe and his friends play the “Movie Game” which involves someone saying an actor, next person says a movie the actor was in, next has to name another actor in that movie (I think, I’m not good with these kinds of games) and Joe frequently wins. But to have this be the title of the book is baffling to me. It was the most minor of subplots. I suppose Joe’s obsession with movies was to illustrate his escape from his tragedy where his girlfriend died. They were 14 and it was young love. Of course, anyone who loses a loved one when they are freshmen, has two awful parents will be a giant mess of a person, but I just wasn’t sold on Joe. He was too thin, too much of a stereotype.

There was an absolutely ridiculous plot involving the girl next door that didn’t fit at all. I felt like the author needed certain things to happen (Joe needed to learn about movies from the ’70s, he needed to have a place to escape, he needed someone to help him craft absurd lies, etc) and the author thought, “How can I get all these things to happen?” and he created this neighbor plot. There’s another plot involving a couple limo drivers and a scheme that didn’t work either. Again, it felt forced and wedged into the plot to make a couple events happen.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this book. The author made attempts at using figurative language and I rolled my eyes at how bad it was. The mystery surrounding Joe’s father was ludicrous, and I didn’t care at all about Joe. His sister was so much more intriguing, but we didn’t spend much time with her at all.

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books and reading

Morning Star

My gosh. This series. Let me preface by saying I bought Morning Star one year ago. The minute I finished Golden Son, I knew I would be finishing the series. Waiting a year was torture, but absolutely worth it.

This book broke my heart a couple times, made me tear up a couple times (which says something for someone who doesn’t cry at books, ever) and I couldn’t wait to see what happened. The bad thing is that this series is complex, and unique, and full of characters that I couldn’t keep straight one book to another because I had to wait so long in between them. I should have done a reread of the first two. I remembered the general idea, but there are a lot of characters that ran together. Not only that, this book reads like a Russian novel. Characters are referred to by multiple names. First, last, war names, nicknames, and keeping them straight is often difficult. However, with a reread, or for someone who gets to read them 3 in a row, this won’t be a problem.

These are young adult books, but are definitely rated R for language and violence. I have no issues with this. Kids can handle a lot more than we give them credit for. And the violence isn’t one that’s realistic (unless our children are going to battle for Mars anytime soon). And I like that the story is complex and uses high vocabulary. As an adult, I was frequently looking up words on my Kindle. And I recently read that there will be another Red Rising trilogy. I can’t wait.

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books and reading

Saturn Run

When I walked into my local Barnes & Noble (sorry, indie bookstores. I would visit you if there were one within a 25 mile radius of my house) to find my “first book you see in a bookstore” challenge book. I blocked my peripheral vision so I didn’t end up with a cookbook or an origami book or a how to draw cars book. My only rule was that the first book I saw couldn’t be the book in the middle of a series, and it couldn’t be a book that I had already read. And there on the bottom shelf was Saturn Run. A science fiction book. I hate science fiction. Hate. Ugh.

And rather than spending $20 on a book I did not want to read, I put it on hold at the library. There were a few people ahead of me, so after several weeks, I got the email that this book was ready for download. And because there were people behind me on the reserve list, I got the book for 2 weeks only. It was happening. I had to read it. So, I set myself a 10% daily goal so I would have a little wiggle room. And I was so sucked into the book that I finished my daily goals with no problem. This was an excellent book.

The author, John Sandford, writes thrilllers, namely the Prey series. I had never heard of this guy until I picked up Saturn Run. But he apparently writes pretty decent books. On his twitter page, Stephen King is quoted saying “If you haven’t read Sandford, you’re missing one of the great summer-read novelists of all time.” This sounds like a back handed compliment to me, but if Sandford has it on his homepage, I guess he appreciated it. I believe he has 22 Prey books out.

So, for an author who normally writes thrillers, to delve into science fiction, there must be a little carryover of the original genre. And thankfully for this sci-fi disliking reader, there was. Imagine this book to be a fair combo of both. The story lagged in the middle for me, but once they got to Saturn (I don’t think it’s a spoiler, given the title) the plot picked up the pace. The characters were pretty thin, but with good female roles, so I can’t complain. Finding the “alien race” is one of my least favorite plots in any genre of book, but this book was really not about that as much as the science of getting to and from Saturn (assuming they do…. 😉 ).

I was pleasantly surprised by this one and will be checking out the Prey series at some point. It might take me a few years to read them all, but I am willing to bet they make great audio reads.

 

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books and reading

Atonement

For my book challenge, I had to select a book that takes place in the summer. A quick Goodreads search lead me to Atonement, yet another book I own but have never read. And I have seen the movie, but the only thing I remember about it was that I just did not want to see it at all. But my best friend twisted my arm. And once I finished the book, the movie’s ending all came back to me. I had completely blanked on the entire plot, which is a good thing given the nice little twist at the end.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I really didn’t know what to expect, and when a book gets rave reviews, I’m usually hesitant to jump on board. But this one holds up. I am not a Hemingway fan, really, but I kept thinking about A Farewell to Arms while reading this one. Don’t let that sway you, though. McEwan’s writing style is much more palatable than Hemingway’s short prose. I was completely sucked into this story, and not solely because of the plot. The descriptions and language are beautiful.

I had to give this one five stars, mostly because of the writing, but also, in part, because it really was a captivating story. I kept wondering if Cecilia and Robbie would end up together after all. I wanted to hate Briony, but I mostly felt sorry for her. Being 13 just sucks. She should have known better, but this poor girl was so neglected, that I had to pity her just a bit.

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books and reading

Wizard and Glass

….And 6 months later, I’m finished! I really don’t know why it took me so long to get through this one. I just kept putting it aside. It’s a 700 page book with tiny font, so I just kept dreading it, even though it’s in the middle of a series that I’m invested in. And I should be kicking myself for not finishing it sooner.

The Dark Tower series is arguably some of Stephen King’s best writing. Taking decades between books must have been infuriating for fans, however, some of us are fortunate enough to start the series once it has been finished. This book is mostly a flashback of young Roland and his love, Susan. Susan has been noticeably mentioned, but absent from the first three books of the series, so you know they are separated somehow. And learning the backstory is fantastic. You get to see a side of Roland that you just never expected. And he even cracks a joke in this book. Yep, just one. But it’s progress.

Randall Flagg is back as the Man in Black. The plague from The Stand is mentioned, as well. The Stand is my favorite SK book, by far. And I plan on rereading it again this year. I will be heartbroken if it doesn’t hold up against my memories. But, I have a feeling that it will be just as great as I remember.

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books and reading

Save Queen of Sheba

In my online book club, we have been having some great book discussions. One was about books from our childhood that we remember, had an impact, reread, etc. Mine were Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume books, RL Stine, Christopher Pike, Sweet Valley High, and VC Andrews. There were a few standout books like Autumn Street (still in my top 10 of all time), Dead Birds Singing, and Save Queen of Sheba. I didn’t really hit more mature reading until college.

I had completely forgotten about this book until our discussion and another member brought it up. So, I went to my local library and somehow they had a copy, complete with an old style checkout card and everything. I took my time and read slowly, given it’s 116 pages, I could have read it in an hour. But even looking at the cover, I was completely taken back to middle school. I must have read this book half a dozen times. And all I remembered with scalping.

It’s not a very politically correct book, but I read it in the 80s in Oklahoma, so I think it wasn’t meant to be for the time period. Indians AKA Native Americans are the bad guys in this book, killing at will, scalping everyone, and the poor innocent white people suffer. The Native American involuntary relocation isn’t really an issue. This book is definitely on the fiction side of historical fiction. But, I enjoyed it nonetheless. King David is a great character, suffering tremendously, doing all he can to stay alive. Queen of Sheba, being a 6 year old, is completely insufferable, but her behavior makes you appreciate KD even more for putting up with her.

This might not be the most spectacular book ever written, but it kept my attention as a kid enough that I wanted to read it multiple times. I’m not even sure if it is still in print, or how hard it is to find, but it would be great for young readers to learn how the world worked long ago.

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books and reading

Cinder

For my book challenge, I have to read a book based on a fairy tale, and I’ve been meaning to read this series for awhile, so now that all the books are out, it’s a great time to read them. I also have to read a book and it’s prequel, so I’m using book 3.5 and book 4 for this category. So, I win all around!

Cinder is pretty obvious as a modern retelling of Cinderella. She is a mechanic and a cyborg with a hidden secret. Unfortunately, her secret was so obvious to me that once it was revealed, I wasn’t surprised in the least. And this is rare for me. I almost never predict what’s going to happen, mostly because I have no desire to. But this one (and it’s a two part secret, neither one a surprise) wasn’t well hidden at all.

I was also a bit disappointed to read the plot tactic of “I can’t be honest because people won’t understand me” in this book. I hate this in books. And it’s almost exclusive to YA books. This strategy never seems authentic to me. Mostly because the end result is always the same. Whoever the secret is being hidden from never actually cares what the secret is, and if the secret keeper had been honest from the beginning, big giant messes could have been avoided. It’s just sloppy storytelling.

I did appreciate the creativity of the story and strength Cinder had. Strong female main characters are becoming more popular, which is great. And I do look forward to the rest of the series and seeing what other fairy tales have been reimagined. I absolutely recommend this book. My pickiness over the plot shouldn’t deter anyone else from reading it.

 

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books and reading

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

I have owned this book for a few years and never got around to reading it. Which is sad, because it was wonderful! I knew nothing about it, other than the odd photo on the front, so I was surprised when it started out not at all peculiar with just a regular kid’s story. That didn’t last long, however.

It seems like most YA books are written for a younger crowd, understandably, but this book felt different. Definitely still YA, but there was an element of maturity to it. Maybe it was the darker subject matter, the time period, or the vocabulary, but I didn’t roll my eyes at the cheesiness at all. I think it helps that the main character is a boy, and one with a serious mind and an important task in front of him. He’s flawed and needs help, but isn’t afraid to admit it.

Jacob gets caught up in a world he doesn’t understand, nor do the readers, and we are all lead down the path of understanding together. Revelations come slowly and naturally rather than all at once and indecipherable. I’m not sure if Ransom Riggs (what a fantastic name, btw) has written any other books, but I definitely look forward to the next two installments in this series.