Title of Book: The Dead Zone
Author: Stephen King
Pages: 402
Grade: C+
Buyability: 4/10
Status: Owned, but gave away in a book drive
Review: Ahhh another book for pop lit down, another day. The thing about Stephen King books, and many of the same genre, is they fail to really challenge the reader other than to try and retain certain clues and hints as to what might happen in the future of the plot. Why are we being introduced to a lightning rod salesman? Why do we see a blue and yellow filter in a vision? What is the significance of the main character's interest in meeting politicians?
Well for the most part, the big hints were pretty easy to pick up on in this wide-sprawling tale of a man who has a 'gift' for predicting the future when he touches someone. The gift remains dormant for most of his life until a near-fatal car crash puts him into a coma for four and a half years. When he wakes up he finds most of his old life - and his old self - has wasted away, except for this newfound gift that continually astounds people, but more importantly freaks them out.
I guess my beef with the book was how much of it felt like filler and fluff. Even the more exciting parts of the book didn't reallllly contribute to the so-called climax of the story. I guess in reflection the story is a lot about checks and balances - ironic since a good deal of it deals with politics. An eye for an eye and all that..the big twist kind of falls in line with other elements of the plot but I can't say it was a BIG twist like say, in Secret Window. The characters fell flat, the descriptions were tideous to get through (and were often skipped), and good portions of the book failed to ignite tension, while others forced it.
I know this is classic Stephen King and I'm sure for the time it was quite a remarkable, exciting book...but other pop lit books I have read, like Peyton place or Valley of the dolls, have really inspired me as a writer and a reader...but King's book just didn't. It felt flat and pulpy. Sorry dude.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Book #23: Valley of the Dolls
Title of Book: Valley of the Dolls
Author: Jacqueline Susann
Pages: 440-ish?
Grade: A
Buyability: 9/10
Status: Bought, owned & lent out to virtually everyone I know
Review: Another book for pop lit and probably my favourite to date, although I did enjoy Peyton Place this was just so much more crushing! Basically it follows the rise to fame for 3 young women in New York, from about age 20 to 40 and all the trials that befall them along the way. The book I think, is a satire on fame and feminism, given it gives the 3 girls a taste of pure joy but repeatedly crashes it down by punishing the girls with what they value (or are valued for) most...looks, personality, determination/wealth. The very things that get the girls to the top are the same things taht drag them to the 'valley of the dolls' - dolls being uppers and downers that play a significant role in the story.
I won't say too much about the plot, other than it has a lot of repetition...but for interesting reasons. The first time these repetitive storylines are introduced, you feel a ton of sympathy for the female characters. The second time, perhaps moreso, but it also shows how the cycle of fame is quite fickle and just that - a cycle. A neverending one.
What I liked (and simultaneously hated) about this book the best was the ending. There is no easy exit for these women from the lives they've created for themselves. I also loved how much the book shed light on celebrity - many of the patterns and commentary in this book is some of the same stories I've heard today! It really got me thinking about the celebrity world a lot more. Although the book isn't particularly...forceful...in its suspense, the very idea of how much bigger or how much worse or how much better can it be is what makes you keep on turning the pages.
Overall this is a great book - but the A- grade comes from the fact some of it is kind of dippy and fluffy and really unnecessary. The book is quite staggeringly long for its genre, but despite its pop lit/fluff motif, it also has some hard hitting lessons and commentary about women's power. If you want to borrow it, get in line, I'm shoving it down the throats of all my friends....the power of fame = deadly!
Author: Jacqueline Susann
Pages: 440-ish?
Grade: A
Buyability: 9/10
Status: Bought, owned & lent out to virtually everyone I know
Review: Another book for pop lit and probably my favourite to date, although I did enjoy Peyton Place this was just so much more crushing! Basically it follows the rise to fame for 3 young women in New York, from about age 20 to 40 and all the trials that befall them along the way. The book I think, is a satire on fame and feminism, given it gives the 3 girls a taste of pure joy but repeatedly crashes it down by punishing the girls with what they value (or are valued for) most...looks, personality, determination/wealth. The very things that get the girls to the top are the same things taht drag them to the 'valley of the dolls' - dolls being uppers and downers that play a significant role in the story.
I won't say too much about the plot, other than it has a lot of repetition...but for interesting reasons. The first time these repetitive storylines are introduced, you feel a ton of sympathy for the female characters. The second time, perhaps moreso, but it also shows how the cycle of fame is quite fickle and just that - a cycle. A neverending one.
What I liked (and simultaneously hated) about this book the best was the ending. There is no easy exit for these women from the lives they've created for themselves. I also loved how much the book shed light on celebrity - many of the patterns and commentary in this book is some of the same stories I've heard today! It really got me thinking about the celebrity world a lot more. Although the book isn't particularly...forceful...in its suspense, the very idea of how much bigger or how much worse or how much better can it be is what makes you keep on turning the pages.
Overall this is a great book - but the A- grade comes from the fact some of it is kind of dippy and fluffy and really unnecessary. The book is quite staggeringly long for its genre, but despite its pop lit/fluff motif, it also has some hard hitting lessons and commentary about women's power. If you want to borrow it, get in line, I'm shoving it down the throats of all my friends....the power of fame = deadly!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Book #22: Weetzie Bat
Book #22: Weetzie Bat
Author: Francesca Lia Block
Pages: 107
Grade: C
Buyability: 3/10
Status: Owned, but I think I donated it to a book drive recently
Review: I remember wanting to read Block's books when I was a kid...they are really airy, poetic stories, often retellings of fairy tales or myths or this or that, but set against the backdrop of new york or venice beach or something crazy. I never did read one of her bookst ill now, and this was for class - fairy tales - as its supposedly related to Cinderella. I made one note of them mentioning Cinderella but otherwise I didn't get it. I read this book in approximately 30 minutes it was so short - big type! Yay.
Regardless, the story is about a girl named Weetzie who befriends a gay guy, gets 3 wishes from a genie that give her and her friend lovers and a house. Eventually she decides she wants a baby so the two gay guys and her boyfriend all sort of try to impregnate her and one of them does - not sure who - and her boyfriend leaves when he realizes what's happened so the gay guys help her raise her kid and then the boyfriend comes back...the end is sort of abstract and weird but that is the gist.
The point of Block's books though, clearly, aren't the plot because there really isn't any. She manipulates words in a way that paints a world that I'd picture if you could permanently take hold of the feeling of a happy drug - like ectasy or something. Everything is pink and bubbly and floaty and indie and sparkling, yet everything is so realistic at the same time. Her writing is beautiful, but shrouds any hope of 'understanding' the books she writes (i've read a short story of hers for class as well so I get the gist of how she writes).
I can't say I 'reccomend' the book persay because it's so...airy. But if you're into an extremely quick read fantastical long-form poem, then pick it up.
Author: Francesca Lia Block
Pages: 107
Grade: C
Buyability: 3/10
Status: Owned, but I think I donated it to a book drive recently
Review: I remember wanting to read Block's books when I was a kid...they are really airy, poetic stories, often retellings of fairy tales or myths or this or that, but set against the backdrop of new york or venice beach or something crazy. I never did read one of her bookst ill now, and this was for class - fairy tales - as its supposedly related to Cinderella. I made one note of them mentioning Cinderella but otherwise I didn't get it. I read this book in approximately 30 minutes it was so short - big type! Yay.
Regardless, the story is about a girl named Weetzie who befriends a gay guy, gets 3 wishes from a genie that give her and her friend lovers and a house. Eventually she decides she wants a baby so the two gay guys and her boyfriend all sort of try to impregnate her and one of them does - not sure who - and her boyfriend leaves when he realizes what's happened so the gay guys help her raise her kid and then the boyfriend comes back...the end is sort of abstract and weird but that is the gist.
The point of Block's books though, clearly, aren't the plot because there really isn't any. She manipulates words in a way that paints a world that I'd picture if you could permanently take hold of the feeling of a happy drug - like ectasy or something. Everything is pink and bubbly and floaty and indie and sparkling, yet everything is so realistic at the same time. Her writing is beautiful, but shrouds any hope of 'understanding' the books she writes (i've read a short story of hers for class as well so I get the gist of how she writes).
I can't say I 'reccomend' the book persay because it's so...airy. But if you're into an extremely quick read fantastical long-form poem, then pick it up.
Book #21: Peyton Place
Book #21: Peyton Place
Author: Grace Metalious
Pages: 372
Grade: A
Buyability: 7/10 (probably in the library, but good enough to own)
Status: My sister got this for HER pop lit class, but I have absorbed it into my own collection
Review: This is a really famous book I read for pop lit class and I devoured it despite the fact it's a bit tough to read here and there cause it's so packed with information! Peyton Place (PP) is actually the basis for modern soap operas in a lot of ways...it really would have been a shocking book for its time so I get the appeal and shock value back then. Did you know the character of "Peyton" on One Tree Hill and the title of Melrose PLACE are both tributes to PP? Yep.
To sum up, it's the story of the inhabitants of a small New England town called Peyton Place, named after a black guy who managed to get a ton of $$$, build a castle, which attracted other people to the area, and then the castle looms over the place forever...the people in the town are BIG on gossip and there happens to be a lot of it to go around. It takes place over 3 sections of time - when the younger characters (Allison, Selena, Norman, Rodney etc.) are at the cusp of high school at 14, when they are just about graduated at 17, and a couple of years after that.
I can't really say much more about the plot cause it's SO interwoven. Nearly every character has a plot arc, some have several. Overall though this book is fabulous, definitely not just another 'school book' for sure! I loved the way it wove between stories so effortlessly, you never sat and read too much about one person or family and you were never bored, especially because you were always surprised. This was a GREAT book! Read it.
Author: Grace Metalious
Pages: 372
Grade: A
Buyability: 7/10 (probably in the library, but good enough to own)
Status: My sister got this for HER pop lit class, but I have absorbed it into my own collection
Review: This is a really famous book I read for pop lit class and I devoured it despite the fact it's a bit tough to read here and there cause it's so packed with information! Peyton Place (PP) is actually the basis for modern soap operas in a lot of ways...it really would have been a shocking book for its time so I get the appeal and shock value back then. Did you know the character of "Peyton" on One Tree Hill and the title of Melrose PLACE are both tributes to PP? Yep.
To sum up, it's the story of the inhabitants of a small New England town called Peyton Place, named after a black guy who managed to get a ton of $$$, build a castle, which attracted other people to the area, and then the castle looms over the place forever...the people in the town are BIG on gossip and there happens to be a lot of it to go around. It takes place over 3 sections of time - when the younger characters (Allison, Selena, Norman, Rodney etc.) are at the cusp of high school at 14, when they are just about graduated at 17, and a couple of years after that.
I can't really say much more about the plot cause it's SO interwoven. Nearly every character has a plot arc, some have several. Overall though this book is fabulous, definitely not just another 'school book' for sure! I loved the way it wove between stories so effortlessly, you never sat and read too much about one person or family and you were never bored, especially because you were always surprised. This was a GREAT book! Read it.
Book #20: Ella Enchanted
Book #20: Ella Enchanted
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Pages: 200-ish
Grade: A
Buyability: 7/10
Status: Bought & owned
Review: This is one of the books I read for my fairy tales class as it's a short novel that retells the Cinderella story in the form of a full-length story about a young girl cursed with the duty of being obedient. She goes on adventures to try to break her curse but eventually is reduced to slavery by her stepfamily until the curse is finally broken...a prince, glass slipper, and a happily ever after are involved.
I really liked this book! Even though the Cinderella story is so tired for me after this class, I found Ella Enchanted strangely amusing and cute - the romance was well done, Ella was a good Cinderella role model as opposed to traditional versions, and the world created in the story was quite lovely. I could have done without some of the magic/ogre languages and so on, but overall it was a cool modern redo of the story where the fact they made it fantastical actually made it quite realistic.
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Pages: 200-ish
Grade: A
Buyability: 7/10
Status: Bought & owned
Review: This is one of the books I read for my fairy tales class as it's a short novel that retells the Cinderella story in the form of a full-length story about a young girl cursed with the duty of being obedient. She goes on adventures to try to break her curse but eventually is reduced to slavery by her stepfamily until the curse is finally broken...a prince, glass slipper, and a happily ever after are involved.
I really liked this book! Even though the Cinderella story is so tired for me after this class, I found Ella Enchanted strangely amusing and cute - the romance was well done, Ella was a good Cinderella role model as opposed to traditional versions, and the world created in the story was quite lovely. I could have done without some of the magic/ogre languages and so on, but overall it was a cool modern redo of the story where the fact they made it fantastical actually made it quite realistic.
Book #19: How to Win Friends & Influence People
Book #19: How to Win Friends & Influence People
Author: Dale Carneigie
Pages: 250 I think
Grade: C-
Buyability: 4/10 (because if you're actually going to follow the advice of this book, you'll want to keep it on hand)
Status: I think this was in my mom's collection of books, and it probably still resides there.
Review: I do not need a self-help book folks, this was for pop lit. It was interesting to read cause it is quite famous and was written in 1936 believe it or not...which is crazy cause a fair bit of the advice is still relevant, but a lot of it was annoying and manipulative. I tried out a few of the techniques and found it a bit exhausting to always be this person that Carnegie is suggesting you should be...attentive, ask lots of questions, make people feel happy to talk to you etc.
It was an easy read though - I got through it quite quickly. I'd say if anything you should read the beginning of each chapter, the end, and a couple of examples in between and you'll get the gist. Every example simply reillustrates the point of the chapter! There were some good tips though - say it with a smile, remember people's names, be courteous...stuff that is simple but is nicely reinforced in the book. But definitely not the type of self-help book I'd recommend to someone that needs some help!
Author: Dale Carneigie
Pages: 250 I think
Grade: C-
Buyability: 4/10 (because if you're actually going to follow the advice of this book, you'll want to keep it on hand)
Status: I think this was in my mom's collection of books, and it probably still resides there.
Review: I do not need a self-help book folks, this was for pop lit. It was interesting to read cause it is quite famous and was written in 1936 believe it or not...which is crazy cause a fair bit of the advice is still relevant, but a lot of it was annoying and manipulative. I tried out a few of the techniques and found it a bit exhausting to always be this person that Carnegie is suggesting you should be...attentive, ask lots of questions, make people feel happy to talk to you etc.
It was an easy read though - I got through it quite quickly. I'd say if anything you should read the beginning of each chapter, the end, and a couple of examples in between and you'll get the gist. Every example simply reillustrates the point of the chapter! There were some good tips though - say it with a smile, remember people's names, be courteous...stuff that is simple but is nicely reinforced in the book. But definitely not the type of self-help book I'd recommend to someone that needs some help!
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Book #18: All Quiet on the Western Front
Book Title: All Quiet on the Western Front
Author: Erich Maria Remarque
Pages: 295
Final Grade: B
Buyability: 2/10 (it's in the library, trust me!)
Status: Bought, and I still own it I think
Review:
I read this book for my pop lit class - it is truly the first 'war' novel as we know it today. And is it ever. This book is LITERALLY dead-on been copied by a book I read in my can lit class in first year (it was a third year class) entitled No Man's Land. Yet NML is the Canadian perspective of a battle in WW1, while AQOTWF (hereby AQ) is written, quite interestingly, from the perspective of a German solider during WW1. What I liked about the book is the ultimate message that Remarque was fighting to get out there - that fighting one another is insanity, that men of the same generation are driven to this place by men far older, less wiser, shrouded in lies to get their way.
I guess when I read it I didn't absorb as much as I could have - given I've already read NML, and I was speed reading this so I could have it done for Monday. There were some main images of interest to me, mostly Remarque's interest in boyhood and manhood and how there would likely be no place for these 'men' once they returned to their 'boy' lives. I also enjoyed the fact the book was written from a German perspective and found it astonishing how similar it was to NML - but then it supported my beliefs that war is quite stupid. It really painted a picture of the rawness of death and seperation and what it meant to the protagonist, Paul.
Finally, the best part of this book was the end. In one short paragraph Remarque manages to leave the most unsettling finish to a book I have encountered in some time - although I believe the same ending occured in NML, once again. But yes, after the amount of time you spend with Paul, in his head, in his actions, the more devastatingly interesting the ending is. A good read, although not my type of book, and not well received given I felt like I'd read it before (which is not Remarque's fault I don't think).
Author: Erich Maria Remarque
Pages: 295
Final Grade: B
Buyability: 2/10 (it's in the library, trust me!)
Status: Bought, and I still own it I think
Review:
I read this book for my pop lit class - it is truly the first 'war' novel as we know it today. And is it ever. This book is LITERALLY dead-on been copied by a book I read in my can lit class in first year (it was a third year class) entitled No Man's Land. Yet NML is the Canadian perspective of a battle in WW1, while AQOTWF (hereby AQ) is written, quite interestingly, from the perspective of a German solider during WW1. What I liked about the book is the ultimate message that Remarque was fighting to get out there - that fighting one another is insanity, that men of the same generation are driven to this place by men far older, less wiser, shrouded in lies to get their way.
I guess when I read it I didn't absorb as much as I could have - given I've already read NML, and I was speed reading this so I could have it done for Monday. There were some main images of interest to me, mostly Remarque's interest in boyhood and manhood and how there would likely be no place for these 'men' once they returned to their 'boy' lives. I also enjoyed the fact the book was written from a German perspective and found it astonishing how similar it was to NML - but then it supported my beliefs that war is quite stupid. It really painted a picture of the rawness of death and seperation and what it meant to the protagonist, Paul.
Finally, the best part of this book was the end. In one short paragraph Remarque manages to leave the most unsettling finish to a book I have encountered in some time - although I believe the same ending occured in NML, once again. But yes, after the amount of time you spend with Paul, in his head, in his actions, the more devastatingly interesting the ending is. A good read, although not my type of book, and not well received given I felt like I'd read it before (which is not Remarque's fault I don't think).
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Book #17: Shopaholic & Baby
Title of Book: Shopaholic and Baby
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Pages: About 350
Grade: A-
Buyability: 6/10
Status: Bought & owned
Hmm so I'll probably have another book review by tonight the way I'm ploughing through. This is also probably my last bit of pleasure reading for awhile. And pleasurable it was indeed! This is the latest (and quite delayed imo) installment of the shopaholic series, starring the plucky Becky Bloomwood as she prepares for motherhood. For those of you not familiar with the series, I believe this is the 5th book, which features Becky, a woman with a bit of a shopping problem and a lot of imagination. Each book usually features a bit of financial mayhem, shopping glory, and relationship problems between her and her family, friends, and now husband, Luke Brandon.
The focus here is not as obvious as one might think - of course Becky goes haywire shopping for baby stuff here and there, but the bigger issue is Luke's suddenly mysterious behaviour once they go to a new celebrity obstetrician, Venetia Carter...who happens to be Luke's gorgeous ex! Of course many other issues swim about throughout the book, including Becky's failing career destination, Suze's war with her so-called friend Lulu, Jess' new love interests etc.
I liked this book because I had forgotten a fair bit about the shopaholic series. I mean I remembered the characters, the motifs, how the plot would break down, but I remembered Becky being out of control and insane, and after a discussion with friends about who was the more annoying character - Becky Bloomwood or Bridget Jones, I faithfully stood by Becky and was well rewarded. Perhaps she has been toned down a bit in this book but I found her behaviour to be slightly less flightly, although still quite humorous, ridiculous, and unfounded at times.
What I didn't like so much, was how much the book's formats have changed for this one and the previous one. Call me a fellow shopaholic but I wanted more drama with the shopping! Then again. I probably would have bitched had they included another book on Becky's overspending woes. I guess the twist in this book was just relatively predictable, so the big dramatic scenes were kind of like...it's about time. The ending was interesting though, if they were to create another shopaholic book, my money is on it being about moving into a new house and living on a budget. A binary opposition for most - the move in means a move out of cash from your pockets.
We'll see if I'm right! In the meantime, pick up a copy of S & Baby - you won't be disappointed (I wasn't) if you are looking for a breezy, fun read that isn't annoyingly flightly, and manages to keep you on the edge of your seat (well sort of) throughout. A fun read that I couldn't put down for school books! Shocker...haha.
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Pages: About 350
Grade: A-
Buyability: 6/10
Status: Bought & owned
Hmm so I'll probably have another book review by tonight the way I'm ploughing through. This is also probably my last bit of pleasure reading for awhile. And pleasurable it was indeed! This is the latest (and quite delayed imo) installment of the shopaholic series, starring the plucky Becky Bloomwood as she prepares for motherhood. For those of you not familiar with the series, I believe this is the 5th book, which features Becky, a woman with a bit of a shopping problem and a lot of imagination. Each book usually features a bit of financial mayhem, shopping glory, and relationship problems between her and her family, friends, and now husband, Luke Brandon.
The focus here is not as obvious as one might think - of course Becky goes haywire shopping for baby stuff here and there, but the bigger issue is Luke's suddenly mysterious behaviour once they go to a new celebrity obstetrician, Venetia Carter...who happens to be Luke's gorgeous ex! Of course many other issues swim about throughout the book, including Becky's failing career destination, Suze's war with her so-called friend Lulu, Jess' new love interests etc.
I liked this book because I had forgotten a fair bit about the shopaholic series. I mean I remembered the characters, the motifs, how the plot would break down, but I remembered Becky being out of control and insane, and after a discussion with friends about who was the more annoying character - Becky Bloomwood or Bridget Jones, I faithfully stood by Becky and was well rewarded. Perhaps she has been toned down a bit in this book but I found her behaviour to be slightly less flightly, although still quite humorous, ridiculous, and unfounded at times.
What I didn't like so much, was how much the book's formats have changed for this one and the previous one. Call me a fellow shopaholic but I wanted more drama with the shopping! Then again. I probably would have bitched had they included another book on Becky's overspending woes. I guess the twist in this book was just relatively predictable, so the big dramatic scenes were kind of like...it's about time. The ending was interesting though, if they were to create another shopaholic book, my money is on it being about moving into a new house and living on a budget. A binary opposition for most - the move in means a move out of cash from your pockets.
We'll see if I'm right! In the meantime, pick up a copy of S & Baby - you won't be disappointed (I wasn't) if you are looking for a breezy, fun read that isn't annoyingly flightly, and manages to keep you on the edge of your seat (well sort of) throughout. A fun read that I couldn't put down for school books! Shocker...haha.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Book #16: The Yiddish Policemen's Union
TItle of Book: The Yiddish Policemen's Union
Author: Michael Chabon
Pages: I think 400 or so?
Grade: B
Buyability: 4/10
Status: Owned (freebie)
Well I've been ranting and raving over how awesome Mr. Chabon is in here for ages. And yet I gave him a B? How can this "be"? The truth of the matter is, getting through this book was hard, as it dealt quite lightly with death and family and I have been going through stuff with death and family lately - so reading the book made me be like...oh. Really?
Anyway the other problem was I am a massive fan of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (hereby known as K&C) his first book, a pulitzer prize winner, and therefore no book can ever measure up to. None. Especially not one by the same author. So yeah, I kept on comparing the two.
With that in mind, I *heart* Chabon's writing. It never fails to capture me - and I liked that he had shorter chapters this go-round. The endings of each chapter were brilliant, as they left you at a movie style cliffhanger that you just had to turn the page to read on about. I've tried to figure out what makes Chabon's writing so likable - he uses a lot of unique metaphors, he keeps the language simple, his characters have 'true' voices...but he's got that Rowling-esque something special, that author's voice that urges you to stay engaged and keep on keeping on.
The story in this book is probably what prevented the book from taking off. It follows a down-and-out policeman living in the district of Sitka, part of the Alaskan 'Israel' if you will - that was once a proposal by Roosevelt instead of giving the Jews Palestine post-WW2. Sitka and all of Alaska is on the brink of termination as a protected area, soon to be taken over by the resident natives once again. In the midst of all this, Detective Meyer Landsman is woken up one night to investigate a mysterious execution-style murder of one of the hotel's other occupants. The rest of the book is a fast-paced hunt by Landsman and his unwilling companions, including his new boss and former wife, BIna, as he tries to discover why this man was murdered...before he is murdered himself by the foes behind the whole thing.
The book combined so many elements - lots of Jewish mythology and culture - that I wasn't familiar with, but interested in. Yet unlike masters of the history-meets-action novel (cough Dan Brown), Chabon fails to clarify, or at least make it easy to follow and build up knowledge on, the history that is driving the seedy action throughout the story. The billions of characters don't make it any easier. What i did like was the fact, like a good movie, all of the little details came back to haunt or help Landsman in the latter half of the book. His dead sister, his fear of entering the tunnels, the string collection...every time I thought "okay why was that in there again?" within a chapter or two, as if Chabon had timed our conciousness to awaken at a particular time, all of a sudden that plot element would come back into play.
The Yiddish Policeman's Union is not flawed, so much as dense. It packs a lot in, much as K&C did, but it is rooted very heavily in Jewish culture, which I'm not familiar with. Still, I enjoyed reading it, and you will to - but if you're debating between this and K&C, the latter owns. Big time.
Author: Michael Chabon
Pages: I think 400 or so?
Grade: B
Buyability: 4/10
Status: Owned (freebie)
Well I've been ranting and raving over how awesome Mr. Chabon is in here for ages. And yet I gave him a B? How can this "be"? The truth of the matter is, getting through this book was hard, as it dealt quite lightly with death and family and I have been going through stuff with death and family lately - so reading the book made me be like...oh. Really?
Anyway the other problem was I am a massive fan of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (hereby known as K&C) his first book, a pulitzer prize winner, and therefore no book can ever measure up to. None. Especially not one by the same author. So yeah, I kept on comparing the two.
With that in mind, I *heart* Chabon's writing. It never fails to capture me - and I liked that he had shorter chapters this go-round. The endings of each chapter were brilliant, as they left you at a movie style cliffhanger that you just had to turn the page to read on about. I've tried to figure out what makes Chabon's writing so likable - he uses a lot of unique metaphors, he keeps the language simple, his characters have 'true' voices...but he's got that Rowling-esque something special, that author's voice that urges you to stay engaged and keep on keeping on.
The story in this book is probably what prevented the book from taking off. It follows a down-and-out policeman living in the district of Sitka, part of the Alaskan 'Israel' if you will - that was once a proposal by Roosevelt instead of giving the Jews Palestine post-WW2. Sitka and all of Alaska is on the brink of termination as a protected area, soon to be taken over by the resident natives once again. In the midst of all this, Detective Meyer Landsman is woken up one night to investigate a mysterious execution-style murder of one of the hotel's other occupants. The rest of the book is a fast-paced hunt by Landsman and his unwilling companions, including his new boss and former wife, BIna, as he tries to discover why this man was murdered...before he is murdered himself by the foes behind the whole thing.
The book combined so many elements - lots of Jewish mythology and culture - that I wasn't familiar with, but interested in. Yet unlike masters of the history-meets-action novel (cough Dan Brown), Chabon fails to clarify, or at least make it easy to follow and build up knowledge on, the history that is driving the seedy action throughout the story. The billions of characters don't make it any easier. What i did like was the fact, like a good movie, all of the little details came back to haunt or help Landsman in the latter half of the book. His dead sister, his fear of entering the tunnels, the string collection...every time I thought "okay why was that in there again?" within a chapter or two, as if Chabon had timed our conciousness to awaken at a particular time, all of a sudden that plot element would come back into play.
The Yiddish Policeman's Union is not flawed, so much as dense. It packs a lot in, much as K&C did, but it is rooted very heavily in Jewish culture, which I'm not familiar with. Still, I enjoyed reading it, and you will to - but if you're debating between this and K&C, the latter owns. Big time.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Book #15 The Line Painter
Title: The Line Painter
Author: Claire Cameron
Pages: About 220
Final Grade: C+
Buyability: 3/10
Status: Owned (freebie) but since given away to charity
Review: Hmm well I just wrote my Harper Collins review for this (another freebie yes) and I had mixed feelings that mostly slanted towards negative on this book. I didn't hate it, so a C+ feels like a bad grade, but it wasn't a particularly good book, it had no WOW factor for me. Basically it's a short book, with short tense chapters to try and build suspense in what I felt was a rather unsuspensful novel.
The main character is named Carrie and she is reeling from the fairly recent death of her boyfriend - or perhaps moreso the guilt she feels at their last exchanges prior to his accidental death. She jets off on a road trip and her car breaks down when a mysterious stranger offers to help her out on an all-night excursion to the nearest town, made slower by the man's job of painting the lines on the highways. What happens from there is a comedy of errors I suppose - Carrie finds the town she ends up in totally bizarre, as are the people and has encounters with bears, police officers, hotel clerks, and the man that drove her to town in the first place. It's only when she finally finds an escape from town does she realize what she's been escaping grief-wise, and what she's been missing that's right in front of her face.
I guess all throughout the book I was like okay...where the hell is the suspense part of the suspense novel? Seriously. After the first 20 (very short - some a few paragraphs long) chapters I was kind of like, okay it's misrepresented, she's obviously in good hands. While I can't say that is true, and therefore the book kept me guessing as to whether or not any drama *would* show up (and it does, but it's kind of ho hum). If anything I was more interested in the grief sub-plot than what was happening in the present day thrill-seeking events of Carrie's road trip.
I can't say I recommend this book, but it was a fun reading experience. I actually finished this book over the weekend in about two days because it was quite well-paced and speedy to get through. Just not my cup of tea because it lacked that something extra.
Author: Claire Cameron
Pages: About 220
Final Grade: C+
Buyability: 3/10
Status: Owned (freebie) but since given away to charity
Review: Hmm well I just wrote my Harper Collins review for this (another freebie yes) and I had mixed feelings that mostly slanted towards negative on this book. I didn't hate it, so a C+ feels like a bad grade, but it wasn't a particularly good book, it had no WOW factor for me. Basically it's a short book, with short tense chapters to try and build suspense in what I felt was a rather unsuspensful novel.
The main character is named Carrie and she is reeling from the fairly recent death of her boyfriend - or perhaps moreso the guilt she feels at their last exchanges prior to his accidental death. She jets off on a road trip and her car breaks down when a mysterious stranger offers to help her out on an all-night excursion to the nearest town, made slower by the man's job of painting the lines on the highways. What happens from there is a comedy of errors I suppose - Carrie finds the town she ends up in totally bizarre, as are the people and has encounters with bears, police officers, hotel clerks, and the man that drove her to town in the first place. It's only when she finally finds an escape from town does she realize what she's been escaping grief-wise, and what she's been missing that's right in front of her face.
I guess all throughout the book I was like okay...where the hell is the suspense part of the suspense novel? Seriously. After the first 20 (very short - some a few paragraphs long) chapters I was kind of like, okay it's misrepresented, she's obviously in good hands. While I can't say that is true, and therefore the book kept me guessing as to whether or not any drama *would* show up (and it does, but it's kind of ho hum). If anything I was more interested in the grief sub-plot than what was happening in the present day thrill-seeking events of Carrie's road trip.
I can't say I recommend this book, but it was a fun reading experience. I actually finished this book over the weekend in about two days because it was quite well-paced and speedy to get through. Just not my cup of tea because it lacked that something extra.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Book #14: When The World Was Young
Book #14: When the World Was Young
Author: Tony Romano
Pages: about 310
Final Grade: B+
Buyability: 3/10
Status: Owned (freebie) but since given away to charity
Review: This is yet another First Look book, meaning it won't be out for a few months. The story is set in Chicago's Italian sector in 1957 and follows the life of an immigrant family (well the parents anyway, the kids are first-gen Americans and the culture gap is massive) as they undergo and try to make sense of a series of tragic events that are only curtailed by deception and unspoken agreements.
Agostino & his wife Angela Rosa are trapped in a relatively loveless, once arranged marriage - Agostino is prone to giving into his desire for other women while Angela Rosa's life is wrapped up in being a mother, not a wife. Their children are a different story altogether - focusing primarily on the two eldest, the just and determined Santo, and the wild and rambunctious Victoria. I can't pinpoint the main focus of the story without giving away too much, but basically the two children and their parent's affairs are inextricably linked through a series of unfortunate events (Lemony Snickit what?) where a series of lies is woven to keep the family structure together, particularly after a tragic event early on.
The plot weaves between a few 'future flashes' from the other three son's perceptions in 1977/78, twenty years after the story's main events take place. Although at first I was confused at this - the other son's stories give away a good deal of what happens in the 57 chapters - I found they provided a valuable way of puzzling together the plot, culminating in what I call 'lightbulb moments' where all of a sudden I'd be like "OH that makes so much more sense now". Because the three youngest siblings are the ones telling their perspective of what happened in the 50's, it makes the story far more interesting because they were far less informed than the four main characters.
Overall this was a pretty enjoyable book - the prose was a bit drawn out and stuffy at times, but I found I could easily breeze through the 300-odd pages quite quickly. I think I would have liked for *more* to happen, at least more often, rather than inexplicably stated in flash forwards or flash backs, but looking back the book does pack a LOT into it. A decent read if you're interested in family drama and the irony of deception.
Author: Tony Romano
Pages: about 310
Final Grade: B+
Buyability: 3/10
Status: Owned (freebie) but since given away to charity
Review: This is yet another First Look book, meaning it won't be out for a few months. The story is set in Chicago's Italian sector in 1957 and follows the life of an immigrant family (well the parents anyway, the kids are first-gen Americans and the culture gap is massive) as they undergo and try to make sense of a series of tragic events that are only curtailed by deception and unspoken agreements.
Agostino & his wife Angela Rosa are trapped in a relatively loveless, once arranged marriage - Agostino is prone to giving into his desire for other women while Angela Rosa's life is wrapped up in being a mother, not a wife. Their children are a different story altogether - focusing primarily on the two eldest, the just and determined Santo, and the wild and rambunctious Victoria. I can't pinpoint the main focus of the story without giving away too much, but basically the two children and their parent's affairs are inextricably linked through a series of unfortunate events (Lemony Snickit what?) where a series of lies is woven to keep the family structure together, particularly after a tragic event early on.
The plot weaves between a few 'future flashes' from the other three son's perceptions in 1977/78, twenty years after the story's main events take place. Although at first I was confused at this - the other son's stories give away a good deal of what happens in the 57 chapters - I found they provided a valuable way of puzzling together the plot, culminating in what I call 'lightbulb moments' where all of a sudden I'd be like "OH that makes so much more sense now". Because the three youngest siblings are the ones telling their perspective of what happened in the 50's, it makes the story far more interesting because they were far less informed than the four main characters.
Overall this was a pretty enjoyable book - the prose was a bit drawn out and stuffy at times, but I found I could easily breeze through the 300-odd pages quite quickly. I think I would have liked for *more* to happen, at least more often, rather than inexplicably stated in flash forwards or flash backs, but looking back the book does pack a LOT into it. A decent read if you're interested in family drama and the irony of deception.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Book #13: Moondust
Book Title: Moondust
Author: Andrew Smith
Pages: about 350
Final Grade: A
Buyability: 8/10
Status: Owned (bought)
Review: Man oh man. As I noted in an earlier entry, I have a fascination with space and our existence. I'm not one to look at the sky particularly passively. When I worked at the BBC last year on work placement I heard about this non-fiction book because it had been picked for Richard & Judy's book club (similar to Oprah's club but bigger if you can imagine) and the BBC happened to be releasing it on audiobook - so I wrote a news release for it. I finally bought it several months ago and sat down to read it a few days ago and was quite impressed.
The book documents Andrew Smith's journey as he tracks down the nine remaining (of 12) men who walked on the moon - and along the way he recounts insider information and other interviews from every facet of the 1960's space era that you can imagine; historical data, societal commentary, presidental scoop, NASA gossip, hoax theories...everything comes into play, not the least of which includes Andrew Smith's own take on everything including his emotional reactions to the interviews he undertakes.
One of the main critiques of the book from other reviews I've read is Smith includes himself too much in the story...but as someone who doesn't particularly like non-fiction, I thought Smith's descriptions and feelings were what gave the story its life, and its purpose. The ending was essentially a big summary/recap/understanding for Smith and what this journey meant to him, which I suppose is a tad bit of a letdown...but at the same time, I really found myself relating to him as a *writer* in that I would have finished my book off the same way he does, with a sense of growth and reflection.
Overall I thought this was a fantastic book, really well-written, interesting etc. My only complaint would be that sometimes it leaps all over the place so you can lose track of who he is talking about or what each chapter is supposed to focus on (each chapter is more or less about a different astronaut but there is sooooooo much more included as well). Still I thought the book did an excellent job tackling a very complex, rich subject by trying to address as many facets of the Apollo program as possible. The emotions Smith was feeling and the questions he was asking were very realistic and matched what I would expect myself to feel in the prescence of someone who has left our humble planet.
If you have any interest in the space program of the 1960's, then do yourself a favoura nd read this fantastic book! I loved it and would highly reccomend it. Also - funny that this is book #13 as one of my fave movies ever (tom hanks yes!) is Apollo 13.
Author: Andrew Smith
Pages: about 350
Final Grade: A
Buyability: 8/10
Status: Owned (bought)
Review: Man oh man. As I noted in an earlier entry, I have a fascination with space and our existence. I'm not one to look at the sky particularly passively. When I worked at the BBC last year on work placement I heard about this non-fiction book because it had been picked for Richard & Judy's book club (similar to Oprah's club but bigger if you can imagine) and the BBC happened to be releasing it on audiobook - so I wrote a news release for it. I finally bought it several months ago and sat down to read it a few days ago and was quite impressed.
The book documents Andrew Smith's journey as he tracks down the nine remaining (of 12) men who walked on the moon - and along the way he recounts insider information and other interviews from every facet of the 1960's space era that you can imagine; historical data, societal commentary, presidental scoop, NASA gossip, hoax theories...everything comes into play, not the least of which includes Andrew Smith's own take on everything including his emotional reactions to the interviews he undertakes.
One of the main critiques of the book from other reviews I've read is Smith includes himself too much in the story...but as someone who doesn't particularly like non-fiction, I thought Smith's descriptions and feelings were what gave the story its life, and its purpose. The ending was essentially a big summary/recap/understanding for Smith and what this journey meant to him, which I suppose is a tad bit of a letdown...but at the same time, I really found myself relating to him as a *writer* in that I would have finished my book off the same way he does, with a sense of growth and reflection.
Overall I thought this was a fantastic book, really well-written, interesting etc. My only complaint would be that sometimes it leaps all over the place so you can lose track of who he is talking about or what each chapter is supposed to focus on (each chapter is more or less about a different astronaut but there is sooooooo much more included as well). Still I thought the book did an excellent job tackling a very complex, rich subject by trying to address as many facets of the Apollo program as possible. The emotions Smith was feeling and the questions he was asking were very realistic and matched what I would expect myself to feel in the prescence of someone who has left our humble planet.
If you have any interest in the space program of the 1960's, then do yourself a favoura nd read this fantastic book! I loved it and would highly reccomend it. Also - funny that this is book #13 as one of my fave movies ever (tom hanks yes!) is Apollo 13.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Book #12: Two For The Dough
Book Title: Two for the Dough
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages: About 320
Grade: B-
Buyability: 4/10
Status: Owned (bought)
Summary: After reading a fair bit of high-brow and chick lit lately I decided to finally read the second book in the quite popular (By my records) Stephanie Plum series. I surprisingly liked the first one, about a New Jersey thirty-something turned bounty hunter who is dealing with a flirty cop/childhood menace Joe Morelli, a crazy traditional family, and a bucket full of weird cases. Anyway this led me to pick up the second book and I was appalled by how awful a lot of the writing was! That being said, I'm still a fan of the series - they are fast-paced and interesting, just the kind of junk novel that passes by in a few hours.
I think the reason why I didn't like this book quite as much as the first was well for one, you have a better idea of what'll happen and when...the first book I'm like "bounty hunter eh?" and had no idea what was happening. This one I had a better idea of how to pick up clues and so on, but even then the story was kind of broken up and jarring, and there was a ridiculous amount of grossness in this book given a big portion of it revolved around a funeral home. Still the story was interesting, the relationship between Morelli and Stephanie was very well written, and the ending was exciting. All the good makings of a fluffy read for spring (and soon summer) days! Will I buy another one? Hmm only if I can find them for super cheap. Otherwise it's library time for me.
Author: Janet Evanovich
Pages: About 320
Grade: B-
Buyability: 4/10
Status: Owned (bought)
Summary: After reading a fair bit of high-brow and chick lit lately I decided to finally read the second book in the quite popular (By my records) Stephanie Plum series. I surprisingly liked the first one, about a New Jersey thirty-something turned bounty hunter who is dealing with a flirty cop/childhood menace Joe Morelli, a crazy traditional family, and a bucket full of weird cases. Anyway this led me to pick up the second book and I was appalled by how awful a lot of the writing was! That being said, I'm still a fan of the series - they are fast-paced and interesting, just the kind of junk novel that passes by in a few hours.
I think the reason why I didn't like this book quite as much as the first was well for one, you have a better idea of what'll happen and when...the first book I'm like "bounty hunter eh?" and had no idea what was happening. This one I had a better idea of how to pick up clues and so on, but even then the story was kind of broken up and jarring, and there was a ridiculous amount of grossness in this book given a big portion of it revolved around a funeral home. Still the story was interesting, the relationship between Morelli and Stephanie was very well written, and the ending was exciting. All the good makings of a fluffy read for spring (and soon summer) days! Will I buy another one? Hmm only if I can find them for super cheap. Otherwise it's library time for me.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Book #11: The Perfect Manhattan
Book #11: The Perfect Manhattan
Authors: Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey
Pages: About 445
Final Grade: A-
Buyability: 5/10
Status: Borrowed
First I'd like to preface this by saying this book earned its grade because I was surprised at how good it was. I'm using good as a relative term - no this was not Chaucer or Proust, hell it wasn't even Sophie Kinsella (whose writing style incidentally drives some people batty) but what it was an excellent, light, but gritty and fascinating portrayal of the under belly of the 'good' life and the 'night' life.
The story follows a recent college grad of Columbia who is saddled with debt and a slightly useless creative writing degree (perhaps why I relate?) named Cassie, who decides to enroll in bartending school, ultimately fails, but manages to lie and smile her way to the 'top' of the bartending scene, and indirectly, the social scene of Hampton's once she lands a gig at a hot club. Of course she deals with a romantic relationship with an extremely well-to-do Hamptonite, and it's quite obvious throughout the book how things will turn out in Cassie's love life...but I have to give the writers credit for the romantic conclusions they draw between Cassie and her boy James' love lives....they handled the relationship between them in a fairly realistic manner throughout, not the least of which was found in the end of the book.
But forget the love story or the 'thrill' of getting an insiders guide to Hampton's bar life - the thing I found most interesting about this book was the extremely graphic and somewhat digusting description of what it means to be a bartender. From the opposite side of the counter, suddenly all of the things Cassie internally dwells on rung true, whether exploring misogyny, sex, or wealth I always found Cassie to be exceptionally insightful - which gave this book the depth it needed to earn it an A- grade! I recognized the trappings of what I've heard from bartending (and waitressing) friends, and it also reminded me of an IPP presentation for the girls in the year above me in cre com who did a documentary on how working at a restaurant such as Earls encourages alcoholism. I found the lifestyles of the main characters in this book so insanely bizarre (getting home at 7 am and being up and at em a few hours later? hungover? ICK!) that it just drew me in regardless of the somewhat 'flat' characters throughout. As I said, the insights of Cassie probably came more from the two girls who wrote this book, former bartenders and likely aspiring writers at the time, and as such I found this a very valuable book in learning to tip and be a bit more polite at bars! A good read for anyone interested in a fun story that more than makes up for its lack of concrete plot in its insider look at the service industry.
Authors: Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey
Pages: About 445
Final Grade: A-
Buyability: 5/10
Status: Borrowed
First I'd like to preface this by saying this book earned its grade because I was surprised at how good it was. I'm using good as a relative term - no this was not Chaucer or Proust, hell it wasn't even Sophie Kinsella (whose writing style incidentally drives some people batty) but what it was an excellent, light, but gritty and fascinating portrayal of the under belly of the 'good' life and the 'night' life.
The story follows a recent college grad of Columbia who is saddled with debt and a slightly useless creative writing degree (perhaps why I relate?) named Cassie, who decides to enroll in bartending school, ultimately fails, but manages to lie and smile her way to the 'top' of the bartending scene, and indirectly, the social scene of Hampton's once she lands a gig at a hot club. Of course she deals with a romantic relationship with an extremely well-to-do Hamptonite, and it's quite obvious throughout the book how things will turn out in Cassie's love life...but I have to give the writers credit for the romantic conclusions they draw between Cassie and her boy James' love lives....they handled the relationship between them in a fairly realistic manner throughout, not the least of which was found in the end of the book.
But forget the love story or the 'thrill' of getting an insiders guide to Hampton's bar life - the thing I found most interesting about this book was the extremely graphic and somewhat digusting description of what it means to be a bartender. From the opposite side of the counter, suddenly all of the things Cassie internally dwells on rung true, whether exploring misogyny, sex, or wealth I always found Cassie to be exceptionally insightful - which gave this book the depth it needed to earn it an A- grade! I recognized the trappings of what I've heard from bartending (and waitressing) friends, and it also reminded me of an IPP presentation for the girls in the year above me in cre com who did a documentary on how working at a restaurant such as Earls encourages alcoholism. I found the lifestyles of the main characters in this book so insanely bizarre (getting home at 7 am and being up and at em a few hours later? hungover? ICK!) that it just drew me in regardless of the somewhat 'flat' characters throughout. As I said, the insights of Cassie probably came more from the two girls who wrote this book, former bartenders and likely aspiring writers at the time, and as such I found this a very valuable book in learning to tip and be a bit more polite at bars! A good read for anyone interested in a fun story that more than makes up for its lack of concrete plot in its insider look at the service industry.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Book #10: The Book of Air & Shadows
Book #10
Title: The Book Of Air & Shadows
Author: Michael Gruber
Pages: 464
Grade: A
Buyability: 7/10
Status: Owned (freebie)
Well at first glance, at least by the book's description, you might think, as I did, that this book is a Da Vinci code rip-off with a literary focus. And yes it's in the same wave - an intricately woven novel of suspense, mystery, and history mixing up a lost Shakespearean play with the stories of two men trying to get their lives on track. But Gruber refuses to fall into the that trap by creating fully realized, dynamic characters, using a lot less user friendly but more literary prose, and designing a book that doesn't read like a movie, but like a book.
The story alternates between the first-person perspective of Jake Mishkin, a sexaholic corporate lawyer whose background is in copyright law, and the third-person perspective of Al Crosetti, a late-twenties slacker who is stuck in a basement cataloguing antique books while he dreams of moving out of his parents house and going to film school. The two men's lives become intertwined upon the discovery of a set of letters from the 1600's that unlock some secrets to William Shakespeare's life - including the potential whereabouts of a hand-written Shakespeare play that was never produced. The twist? Well everyone and their mom (including Crosetti's mom) appears to want to grab a hold of the letters and subsequently the play - including the Russian mafia, the Jewish mafia, a number of professors including one who is tortured to death, librarians, historians, cryptographers and many many more!
Although I was at first overwhelmed by certain elements of the book - Mishkin's overbearing persona, the olde englysh (ha) of the Bracegirdle letters which mark the end of each chapter and the rather complicated act of encrypting the text - I eventually just got drawn in. The lengths of the chapters are appropriately spaced so reading one feels like a good bout of information, you can take a break, mull it over, and then come back. It was rare that I wanted to stop a chapter midway, and rare that I was able to consume more than 2 at a time.
I liked the massive number of questions that popped up as well - the book was not solely about the hunt for this manuscript, but a million other things as well. The payoff, as such, as not just about whether or not they found the manuscript and whether or not it was authentic either. The characters all had their own intriguing storylines and sub-plots that compelled me to read along - minor or major. I also liked the fact the book took style cues from a variety of genres - such as old mystery novels with last names, action books like The Da Vinci Code, literary fiction and so on...
My only warnings would be to be prepared to involve yourself a lot more heavily than you would have to with something written by Dan Brown. This is not exactly a book of light reading, but one of rewarding and enjoyable reading. The story manages to flow lightly and feeds you clues to the puzzle throughout making for an enchanting story that I quite literally could not put down last night just to finish it! My only other complaint would be the last three or four chapters seemed a bit rushed. There was so much slow boiling to the climax that it felt cramped with action of the movie variety.
All in all a great book and I look forward to seeing the response it receives from the reading community - Gruber is one to watch, that's for certain.
Title: The Book Of Air & Shadows
Author: Michael Gruber
Pages: 464
Grade: A
Buyability: 7/10
Status: Owned (freebie)
Well at first glance, at least by the book's description, you might think, as I did, that this book is a Da Vinci code rip-off with a literary focus. And yes it's in the same wave - an intricately woven novel of suspense, mystery, and history mixing up a lost Shakespearean play with the stories of two men trying to get their lives on track. But Gruber refuses to fall into the that trap by creating fully realized, dynamic characters, using a lot less user friendly but more literary prose, and designing a book that doesn't read like a movie, but like a book.
The story alternates between the first-person perspective of Jake Mishkin, a sexaholic corporate lawyer whose background is in copyright law, and the third-person perspective of Al Crosetti, a late-twenties slacker who is stuck in a basement cataloguing antique books while he dreams of moving out of his parents house and going to film school. The two men's lives become intertwined upon the discovery of a set of letters from the 1600's that unlock some secrets to William Shakespeare's life - including the potential whereabouts of a hand-written Shakespeare play that was never produced. The twist? Well everyone and their mom (including Crosetti's mom) appears to want to grab a hold of the letters and subsequently the play - including the Russian mafia, the Jewish mafia, a number of professors including one who is tortured to death, librarians, historians, cryptographers and many many more!
Although I was at first overwhelmed by certain elements of the book - Mishkin's overbearing persona, the olde englysh (ha) of the Bracegirdle letters which mark the end of each chapter and the rather complicated act of encrypting the text - I eventually just got drawn in. The lengths of the chapters are appropriately spaced so reading one feels like a good bout of information, you can take a break, mull it over, and then come back. It was rare that I wanted to stop a chapter midway, and rare that I was able to consume more than 2 at a time.
I liked the massive number of questions that popped up as well - the book was not solely about the hunt for this manuscript, but a million other things as well. The payoff, as such, as not just about whether or not they found the manuscript and whether or not it was authentic either. The characters all had their own intriguing storylines and sub-plots that compelled me to read along - minor or major. I also liked the fact the book took style cues from a variety of genres - such as old mystery novels with last names, action books like The Da Vinci Code, literary fiction and so on...
My only warnings would be to be prepared to involve yourself a lot more heavily than you would have to with something written by Dan Brown. This is not exactly a book of light reading, but one of rewarding and enjoyable reading. The story manages to flow lightly and feeds you clues to the puzzle throughout making for an enchanting story that I quite literally could not put down last night just to finish it! My only other complaint would be the last three or four chapters seemed a bit rushed. There was so much slow boiling to the climax that it felt cramped with action of the movie variety.
All in all a great book and I look forward to seeing the response it receives from the reading community - Gruber is one to watch, that's for certain.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Book #9: Little Altars Everywhere
Book #9
Title: Little Altars Everywhere
Author: Rebecca Wells
Pages: 200
Grade: A
Buyability: 7/10
Status: Borrowed
This isn't *really* my kind of book - it reminded me eerily of something like Margaret Laurence's "A Bird In The House", given it is a collection of interwoven short stories told from the perspectives of different members of a small-town Louisiana family, most notably from the character of Siddalee. So how did it get an A? Well there wasn't anything I didn't like about it. I found the prose easy to get through and imaginative. The stories for the most part were captivating and enchanting. The characters were well developed and familiar despite our polar opposite lives. The plot moved enough from section to section to keep me interested. I can't justfiy giving it a lower grade just because it's not my preferred style (ie: novel over short stories) or preferred subject matter (ie: modern day as opposed to the past).
The stories revolve around two points in the character's lives - their childhoods in the 1960's and their relatively young adulthood in the early 1990's. Vivi is their eccentric, perhaps dangerously so, mother who also features in the ya ya sisterhood book I'm assuming. Interestingly enough this book was written before (and publicized after) the ya ya sisterhood - yet there are frequent mentions of the ya ya's and some dark secret they share and so on...so I'm guessing that book was simultaneously in the works as this one. Big Shep is Vivi's husband, a working class man who makes a few poor choices that make him forget how to love. Their children include the eldest daughter Siddalee, who is probably the most identifiable as the main character in the book. Sidda goes through several phases of independence/autonomy and relying on her family for guidance. Her younger brother Lil Shep doesn't feature much in the book other than his desire to be freed from the nasty secrets his family is keeping. I can't remember the next siblings name, I think it's Lulu, stars in my favourite story in the book about petty thieves and liars. Finally there is Baylor, the youngest, who lives in a dream both as a child and an adult.
Overall I can't say I recommend or don't recommend this book. I enjoyed it yes, but I wasn't floored to be gushing about it. A nice read for winter days.
Title: Little Altars Everywhere
Author: Rebecca Wells
Pages: 200
Grade: A
Buyability: 7/10
Status: Borrowed
This isn't *really* my kind of book - it reminded me eerily of something like Margaret Laurence's "A Bird In The House", given it is a collection of interwoven short stories told from the perspectives of different members of a small-town Louisiana family, most notably from the character of Siddalee. So how did it get an A? Well there wasn't anything I didn't like about it. I found the prose easy to get through and imaginative. The stories for the most part were captivating and enchanting. The characters were well developed and familiar despite our polar opposite lives. The plot moved enough from section to section to keep me interested. I can't justfiy giving it a lower grade just because it's not my preferred style (ie: novel over short stories) or preferred subject matter (ie: modern day as opposed to the past).
The stories revolve around two points in the character's lives - their childhoods in the 1960's and their relatively young adulthood in the early 1990's. Vivi is their eccentric, perhaps dangerously so, mother who also features in the ya ya sisterhood book I'm assuming. Interestingly enough this book was written before (and publicized after) the ya ya sisterhood - yet there are frequent mentions of the ya ya's and some dark secret they share and so on...so I'm guessing that book was simultaneously in the works as this one. Big Shep is Vivi's husband, a working class man who makes a few poor choices that make him forget how to love. Their children include the eldest daughter Siddalee, who is probably the most identifiable as the main character in the book. Sidda goes through several phases of independence/autonomy and relying on her family for guidance. Her younger brother Lil Shep doesn't feature much in the book other than his desire to be freed from the nasty secrets his family is keeping. I can't remember the next siblings name, I think it's Lulu, stars in my favourite story in the book about petty thieves and liars. Finally there is Baylor, the youngest, who lives in a dream both as a child and an adult.
Overall I can't say I recommend or don't recommend this book. I enjoyed it yes, but I wasn't floored to be gushing about it. A nice read for winter days.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Book #8: Forever In Blue
Book #8
Title: Forever In Blue
Author: Ann Brashares
Pages: 260
Grade: A-
Buyability: 8/10
Status: Owned (bought)
There isn't too much to say about this book, in part because if you haven't read the series this review'll mean nothing to you! This is the fourth and (supposedly) final chapter of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series - which detail the summers four best friends spend, sometimes apart, sometimes together. They are of course, as per the legend, bonded together by a pair of 'magical' pants that give them the strength of the love they feel as friends even when they aren't together.
In all fairness I read the third book quite some time ago so reading the new fourth one was a bit of a cognitive leap - I could barely remember a lot of what happened in the past! Anyway in this one the girls are bridging the gap between their first and second year of university. They've actually shared the pants year-round this time because they have spent the year at different colleges etc. That should be your first clue something is up - the girls are very very much so a lot more individual characters this time around, which was both refreshing and problematic. Of the latter, it was good because I was sick and tired of how cheesy and overemphasized their relationship was - although some sappy moments still exist towards the end, they are certainly toned down. But in the abscence of their friendship it almost defeated the purpose of the book, and the pants of course.
This time around the girls spend most of their summer apart. Tibby is still in New York working and taking a summer class and wondering whether she has made the right choices when it comes to her relationship with Brian. Bee (my fave as always) is in Turkey getting back to basics on an archeological dig site and wondering whether the best alternative to missing her boyfriend is not missing a single thing her hot professor does. Carmen has surprisingly shrunk into her shell over the last year, and fallen under the wing of a supposedly protective, glorious friend, who turns out to be anything but as their summer continues. Lena is at art school and enraptured with a guy, shockingly this time, not the love of her life, Kostos.
This book definitely took on a more mature tone than the others - most of it dealt with sex and relationships and very little of it focused on friendship and personal self-growth - although most of the storylines evolve to give the girls those moments of epiphany. Although I enjoyed the storylines a lot more this time it almost felt like the characters were under-used and less developed because there was far less crossover opportunities given their summer was spent so far apart emotionally and physically. Brashares does a good job wrapping up the series though - I realized why she decided to do a fourth (i completely assumed the third would be the last) as each book is kind of meant to represent each of the four girls.
All in all a fitting conclusion to the series that represented, quite honestly, the realities of growing up and moving away when it comes to those true blue friends you thought you'd never forget, and those true blue jeans you thought you'd never lose.
Title: Forever In Blue
Author: Ann Brashares
Pages: 260
Grade: A-
Buyability: 8/10
Status: Owned (bought)
There isn't too much to say about this book, in part because if you haven't read the series this review'll mean nothing to you! This is the fourth and (supposedly) final chapter of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants series - which detail the summers four best friends spend, sometimes apart, sometimes together. They are of course, as per the legend, bonded together by a pair of 'magical' pants that give them the strength of the love they feel as friends even when they aren't together.
In all fairness I read the third book quite some time ago so reading the new fourth one was a bit of a cognitive leap - I could barely remember a lot of what happened in the past! Anyway in this one the girls are bridging the gap between their first and second year of university. They've actually shared the pants year-round this time because they have spent the year at different colleges etc. That should be your first clue something is up - the girls are very very much so a lot more individual characters this time around, which was both refreshing and problematic. Of the latter, it was good because I was sick and tired of how cheesy and overemphasized their relationship was - although some sappy moments still exist towards the end, they are certainly toned down. But in the abscence of their friendship it almost defeated the purpose of the book, and the pants of course.
This time around the girls spend most of their summer apart. Tibby is still in New York working and taking a summer class and wondering whether she has made the right choices when it comes to her relationship with Brian. Bee (my fave as always) is in Turkey getting back to basics on an archeological dig site and wondering whether the best alternative to missing her boyfriend is not missing a single thing her hot professor does. Carmen has surprisingly shrunk into her shell over the last year, and fallen under the wing of a supposedly protective, glorious friend, who turns out to be anything but as their summer continues. Lena is at art school and enraptured with a guy, shockingly this time, not the love of her life, Kostos.
This book definitely took on a more mature tone than the others - most of it dealt with sex and relationships and very little of it focused on friendship and personal self-growth - although most of the storylines evolve to give the girls those moments of epiphany. Although I enjoyed the storylines a lot more this time it almost felt like the characters were under-used and less developed because there was far less crossover opportunities given their summer was spent so far apart emotionally and physically. Brashares does a good job wrapping up the series though - I realized why she decided to do a fourth (i completely assumed the third would be the last) as each book is kind of meant to represent each of the four girls.
All in all a fitting conclusion to the series that represented, quite honestly, the realities of growing up and moving away when it comes to those true blue friends you thought you'd never forget, and those true blue jeans you thought you'd never lose.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Book #7: Lipstick Jungle
Book #7
Title: Lipstick Jungle
Author: Candace Bushnell
Pages: 430
Grade: A
Buyability: 6/10
Status: Owned (bought)
I had mixed feelings going into this book to be honest with you. On one hand, Candace Bushnell has skyrocketed to fame as the author of Sex and the City, and rumours had been abuzz that LJ (not LiveJournal - Lipstick Jungle) had been optioned for a TV Show on NBC or something. On the flip side though, I really didn't like "Four Blondes" - Bushnell's collection of novellas, and I hadn't heard the greatest things about Trading Up, which my sis owns but I have yet to read (FYI - there is a crossover mention of the character of Janey from 4B & TU in this book). Regardless, I was kind of excited when this book came up in my reading roulette because the last two I read were pretty dense.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story - I devoured it in three short days! The book is about three women in their early 40's - Victory, Wendy, and Nico, who are corporate magnates in their glamorous fields, fashion design, executive movie producer, and magazine editor respectively. Being powerful women doesn't come without its challenges though as these women deal with the boys in a messy corporate sandbox filled with gender expectations and rules that the women are both striving to break and afraid to. Victory is negotiating her financial stability between business obligations and relationships as she tries to blossom into a huge-name designer. Wendy is trying to deal with intense pressure at work and intense problems at home when her stay-at-home husband gets fed up with her. Nico is trying stuck in two games where she is trying to KO the other person before they KO her. Their storylines interweave with the fact they are best friends (although missing the camaraderie one would expect from Carrie Bradshaw's creator) and they have a ton of mutual people in common among the society set.
The things I liked about this book were the fun, fantastical lifestyles of the women and the light easy prose of the book that felt neither flaky nor overdone, it still managed to stay fresh. I also enjoyed the girl power aspect that shed some harsh and some enlightening light on what it's like to be a corporate top gun as a woman. The ending was a bit - wow, okay it's done? - but left plenty open for further exploration in say, a TV show? My one concern with reading this book is the slightly skewed nature of the girl power aspect. While these woman are powerful and manage to work things out in very creative and strong ways, they can really only afford to do so with money. Although the money aspect of the story definitely adds to the interest level, it also is a bit disheartening that you can only solve problems with oodles of dough at your fingertips.
Still a great, fun read and one I would surely reccomend - by far the best of anything I've read by Bushnell.
Title: Lipstick Jungle
Author: Candace Bushnell
Pages: 430
Grade: A
Buyability: 6/10
Status: Owned (bought)
I had mixed feelings going into this book to be honest with you. On one hand, Candace Bushnell has skyrocketed to fame as the author of Sex and the City, and rumours had been abuzz that LJ (not LiveJournal - Lipstick Jungle) had been optioned for a TV Show on NBC or something. On the flip side though, I really didn't like "Four Blondes" - Bushnell's collection of novellas, and I hadn't heard the greatest things about Trading Up, which my sis owns but I have yet to read (FYI - there is a crossover mention of the character of Janey from 4B & TU in this book). Regardless, I was kind of excited when this book came up in my reading roulette because the last two I read were pretty dense.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story - I devoured it in three short days! The book is about three women in their early 40's - Victory, Wendy, and Nico, who are corporate magnates in their glamorous fields, fashion design, executive movie producer, and magazine editor respectively. Being powerful women doesn't come without its challenges though as these women deal with the boys in a messy corporate sandbox filled with gender expectations and rules that the women are both striving to break and afraid to. Victory is negotiating her financial stability between business obligations and relationships as she tries to blossom into a huge-name designer. Wendy is trying to deal with intense pressure at work and intense problems at home when her stay-at-home husband gets fed up with her. Nico is trying stuck in two games where she is trying to KO the other person before they KO her. Their storylines interweave with the fact they are best friends (although missing the camaraderie one would expect from Carrie Bradshaw's creator) and they have a ton of mutual people in common among the society set.
The things I liked about this book were the fun, fantastical lifestyles of the women and the light easy prose of the book that felt neither flaky nor overdone, it still managed to stay fresh. I also enjoyed the girl power aspect that shed some harsh and some enlightening light on what it's like to be a corporate top gun as a woman. The ending was a bit - wow, okay it's done? - but left plenty open for further exploration in say, a TV show? My one concern with reading this book is the slightly skewed nature of the girl power aspect. While these woman are powerful and manage to work things out in very creative and strong ways, they can really only afford to do so with money. Although the money aspect of the story definitely adds to the interest level, it also is a bit disheartening that you can only solve problems with oodles of dough at your fingertips.
Still a great, fun read and one I would surely reccomend - by far the best of anything I've read by Bushnell.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Book #6: Three Nights In Havana
Book #6
Title: Three Nights In Havana
Author: Robert Wright
Pages: 296
Grade: C-
Buyability: 2/10
Status: Owned (freebie)
This is another book I got through Harper Collins' First Look program. As noted below, I'm not a non-fiction reader so this one took a bit longer for me to trudge through. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great.
This book was a bit of a paradox for me - meaning I'm still not entirely sure what I thought about it. At times I was bored, at others I was enchanted and interested. To be perfectly honest, I'm not a 'non-fiction' reader in general, unless you count biographies, but I was curious to read Wright's tale of Fidel & Pierre -a relationship I hardly knew existed.
Well after reading this book I am still not sure it really existed. There were many questions I kept on asking myself as I read it:
- I have minimal background on a lot of the events leading up to Trudeau's visit to Cuba - but would the average reader picking up this book really want to trudge through the extensive historical background provided in the book (assuming they DO know more about the political climate of the era)?
- Is the book really about Fidel & Pierre or is it about Cuba & Canada (and to a degree the US)?
- Why would you write a book on the premise of Trudeau's visit causing so many shockwaves both personally and politically if the evidence to support either claim is relatively flimsy and speculative?
Ultimately I had to question what Wright's ultimate purpose was in writing this book, and although I applaud his research and the ability to put things in perspective - in particular Trudeau's critiqued foreign policy with Cuba in contrast with the US' policy during that time and since - I found it almost chore-like to make my way through the book at some points.
Overall I think this book has some merit if you are particularly interested in either one of the politicians or the cold war that is detailed in this book. That being said, Wright almost tries to cover too many things at once and therefore doesn't cover anything completely enough to satisfy what I would presume to be a typical reader of his book.
Title: Three Nights In Havana
Author: Robert Wright
Pages: 296
Grade: C-
Buyability: 2/10
Status: Owned (freebie)
This is another book I got through Harper Collins' First Look program. As noted below, I'm not a non-fiction reader so this one took a bit longer for me to trudge through. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great.
This book was a bit of a paradox for me - meaning I'm still not entirely sure what I thought about it. At times I was bored, at others I was enchanted and interested. To be perfectly honest, I'm not a 'non-fiction' reader in general, unless you count biographies, but I was curious to read Wright's tale of Fidel & Pierre -a relationship I hardly knew existed.
Well after reading this book I am still not sure it really existed. There were many questions I kept on asking myself as I read it:
- I have minimal background on a lot of the events leading up to Trudeau's visit to Cuba - but would the average reader picking up this book really want to trudge through the extensive historical background provided in the book (assuming they DO know more about the political climate of the era)?
- Is the book really about Fidel & Pierre or is it about Cuba & Canada (and to a degree the US)?
- Why would you write a book on the premise of Trudeau's visit causing so many shockwaves both personally and politically if the evidence to support either claim is relatively flimsy and speculative?
Ultimately I had to question what Wright's ultimate purpose was in writing this book, and although I applaud his research and the ability to put things in perspective - in particular Trudeau's critiqued foreign policy with Cuba in contrast with the US' policy during that time and since - I found it almost chore-like to make my way through the book at some points.
Overall I think this book has some merit if you are particularly interested in either one of the politicians or the cold war that is detailed in this book. That being said, Wright almost tries to cover too many things at once and therefore doesn't cover anything completely enough to satisfy what I would presume to be a typical reader of his book.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Book #5: Survival of the Sickest by Dr. Sharon Moalem
Book #5
Title: Survival of the Sickest
Author: Dr. Sharon Moalem
Pages: 288
Grade: A
Buyability: 6/10
Status: Owned (freebie)
Do you ever look at your body and wonder how it works? Did you ever stop and think about the connection between body fat, tanning, and sunglasses? How about the links between cryogenics, tree frogs, the ice age and diabetes? Chances are you at least asked yourself the first of those questions, and if so, this book is an excellent (albeit a tad scary) look into just how complex your body really is.
Dr. Sharon Moalem is an expert in an emerging field known as evolutionary medicine - in short, how our bodies have adapted to the environment around us through natural selection and instinct.
The best thing about the book is its constant awareness of the reader. Although Survival of the Sickest could easily be enjoyed by any medical maven, it's just as easily read and loved by an average Jill like myself. The diction is very reader-friendly, with on exception. The chapter "Jump Into the Gene Pool" really turned me off - its style didn't seem to flow as well, perhaps because the subject matter was that much more complicated, but it really stuck out as a difficult to get through section of the book.
One of the ways Moalem makes the book readable is by adapting scientific and medical phenomena to pop culture or layman's terms. This has a mixed effect - in some cases I found it extremely helpful! In others, I found the writing to be cornball, hokey, and distracting. Overall though, Moalem does an excellent job of making the book readable.
Each chapter starts out with one large medical phenomena - either something common such as diabetes or death, or with something not-so-clear-cut which is explained through an anecdote, for example the blood disease hemochromatosis that the author himself is afflicted with. After that the story goes in several different directions, some which you question - where is this going - before wrapping it all up in a big flourishy bow at the end of each section. The book almost functions as a series of mini-medical movies it ties things together so well, at times in a very climactic way that makes you want to keep reading so you can figure out just what ice wine and tree frogs have in common with us. That's not to say the book shouldn't be read in chronological order - Moalem constantly refers back to past topics.
Finally, one thing I really enjoyed about the book was not only the fact it covered such huge topic areas (often combining ancient history with modern medicine in one fell swoop) but it also gave you some practical tips that could help on a day-to-day basis. Among them, limiting iron intake, being wary of sunglasses while tanning, and eating healthy while you are pregnant. These little tips are sprinkled throughout the book, although not explicity stated - which could actually help the reader, perhaps with a list at the end of what you can do NOW. Or it could be posted on Moalem's website for the book.
I was pretty excited to read Survival of the Sickest even prior to being chosen to review it. I'm not a medical person at all, and get kinda squeamish at most medical phenonmena (including a few in here...Guinea worms?) but for whatever reason the book intrigued me. I'm glad to say it continued to captivate me from cover to cover, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone!
Title: Survival of the Sickest
Author: Dr. Sharon Moalem
Pages: 288
Grade: A
Buyability: 6/10
Status: Owned (freebie)
Do you ever look at your body and wonder how it works? Did you ever stop and think about the connection between body fat, tanning, and sunglasses? How about the links between cryogenics, tree frogs, the ice age and diabetes? Chances are you at least asked yourself the first of those questions, and if so, this book is an excellent (albeit a tad scary) look into just how complex your body really is.
Dr. Sharon Moalem is an expert in an emerging field known as evolutionary medicine - in short, how our bodies have adapted to the environment around us through natural selection and instinct.
The best thing about the book is its constant awareness of the reader. Although Survival of the Sickest could easily be enjoyed by any medical maven, it's just as easily read and loved by an average Jill like myself. The diction is very reader-friendly, with on exception. The chapter "Jump Into the Gene Pool" really turned me off - its style didn't seem to flow as well, perhaps because the subject matter was that much more complicated, but it really stuck out as a difficult to get through section of the book.
One of the ways Moalem makes the book readable is by adapting scientific and medical phenomena to pop culture or layman's terms. This has a mixed effect - in some cases I found it extremely helpful! In others, I found the writing to be cornball, hokey, and distracting. Overall though, Moalem does an excellent job of making the book readable.
Each chapter starts out with one large medical phenomena - either something common such as diabetes or death, or with something not-so-clear-cut which is explained through an anecdote, for example the blood disease hemochromatosis that the author himself is afflicted with. After that the story goes in several different directions, some which you question - where is this going - before wrapping it all up in a big flourishy bow at the end of each section. The book almost functions as a series of mini-medical movies it ties things together so well, at times in a very climactic way that makes you want to keep reading so you can figure out just what ice wine and tree frogs have in common with us. That's not to say the book shouldn't be read in chronological order - Moalem constantly refers back to past topics.
Finally, one thing I really enjoyed about the book was not only the fact it covered such huge topic areas (often combining ancient history with modern medicine in one fell swoop) but it also gave you some practical tips that could help on a day-to-day basis. Among them, limiting iron intake, being wary of sunglasses while tanning, and eating healthy while you are pregnant. These little tips are sprinkled throughout the book, although not explicity stated - which could actually help the reader, perhaps with a list at the end of what you can do NOW. Or it could be posted on Moalem's website for the book.
I was pretty excited to read Survival of the Sickest even prior to being chosen to review it. I'm not a medical person at all, and get kinda squeamish at most medical phenonmena (including a few in here...Guinea worms?) but for whatever reason the book intrigued me. I'm glad to say it continued to captivate me from cover to cover, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone!
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Book #4: The Bitch Posse by Martha O'Connor
Book #4
Title: The Bitch Posse
Author: Martha O'Connor
Pages: 341
Grade: A-
Buyability: 5/10
Status: Owned (gift)
This book made my skin crawl, my spine tingle, and most importantly - my heart break. Marth O'Connors debut into the literary world is a well-paced, interwoven story of three young women at two points in their life, shortly before graduating high school, and some tweleve years later as adults, no longer friends, but bound and tormented by a secret held between them all.
Each character is written with a lot of heart and empathy from O'Connor - there is a reason why the girls get into the trouble that they do. Rennie (Wren) Taylor is an honour student wanting to break out of her shell, and later on, a single teacher caught up in a dangerous pattern of sexual depravity. Cherry lives with her drug-addled mom and is forced to be both the adult and the best friend, and eventually she ends up in a mental institution, unsure of whether she belongs there. Amy Linnet is Little Miss Popular who breaks free from her life as a cheerleader to escape from the facade her alcoholic parents put on, ironically later on she is the one putting on the same facade in her troubled marriage.
The book follows an interesting pattern of narrative that rotates between the characters, the time period, and the point of view. Rennie might kick off the book in the present tense using third-person narrative, but the next section Cherry might jump in as a troubled high school senior writing in first person, followed by Amy as an adult in third person and so on...instead of creating a jarring effect, the swapping narratives helps contextualize the two periods of time in the girls lives. There is a certain amount of naivete that comes through in the first-person teenage viewpoint, and a certain amount of wiseness in the third person.
I can't reveal too much about the plot other than to say these girls are hitting hard stages in their lives at both ends of the spectrum - as teenagers and as adults. Each section offers a delicious climax that invites you to read on, to find out what will happen to each girl within each time period in their lives, but also to fill in the puzzle pieces about their deep, dark shared secret.
That's not to say the book is perfect. Quite frankly I'm afraid of Martha O'Connor. I felt like the prose and the characters were directly derived from her own opinions, that she felt as though everyone that reads the book would judge it like the characters in the book are judged. I also didn't care much for the character of Cherry - until the big secret is revealed. She is underwritten emotionally and there is a few disconnects in her plot line, again until you find out what the big secret is - however by the time you find out what the secret is, the book abruptly (and understandably) ends, leaving the reading to fill in the pieces.
Overall I enjoyed this book. I was a bit put off by the first couple of chapters, and I'd definitely say heed the opening warnings about how dark the story is - but if you're willing to keep an open mind and just enjoy some excellent, heartfelt, entrancing writing then you'll like this book.
Title: The Bitch Posse
Author: Martha O'Connor
Pages: 341
Grade: A-
Buyability: 5/10
Status: Owned (gift)
This book made my skin crawl, my spine tingle, and most importantly - my heart break. Marth O'Connors debut into the literary world is a well-paced, interwoven story of three young women at two points in their life, shortly before graduating high school, and some tweleve years later as adults, no longer friends, but bound and tormented by a secret held between them all.
Each character is written with a lot of heart and empathy from O'Connor - there is a reason why the girls get into the trouble that they do. Rennie (Wren) Taylor is an honour student wanting to break out of her shell, and later on, a single teacher caught up in a dangerous pattern of sexual depravity. Cherry lives with her drug-addled mom and is forced to be both the adult and the best friend, and eventually she ends up in a mental institution, unsure of whether she belongs there. Amy Linnet is Little Miss Popular who breaks free from her life as a cheerleader to escape from the facade her alcoholic parents put on, ironically later on she is the one putting on the same facade in her troubled marriage.
The book follows an interesting pattern of narrative that rotates between the characters, the time period, and the point of view. Rennie might kick off the book in the present tense using third-person narrative, but the next section Cherry might jump in as a troubled high school senior writing in first person, followed by Amy as an adult in third person and so on...instead of creating a jarring effect, the swapping narratives helps contextualize the two periods of time in the girls lives. There is a certain amount of naivete that comes through in the first-person teenage viewpoint, and a certain amount of wiseness in the third person.
I can't reveal too much about the plot other than to say these girls are hitting hard stages in their lives at both ends of the spectrum - as teenagers and as adults. Each section offers a delicious climax that invites you to read on, to find out what will happen to each girl within each time period in their lives, but also to fill in the puzzle pieces about their deep, dark shared secret.
That's not to say the book is perfect. Quite frankly I'm afraid of Martha O'Connor. I felt like the prose and the characters were directly derived from her own opinions, that she felt as though everyone that reads the book would judge it like the characters in the book are judged. I also didn't care much for the character of Cherry - until the big secret is revealed. She is underwritten emotionally and there is a few disconnects in her plot line, again until you find out what the big secret is - however by the time you find out what the secret is, the book abruptly (and understandably) ends, leaving the reading to fill in the pieces.
Overall I enjoyed this book. I was a bit put off by the first couple of chapters, and I'd definitely say heed the opening warnings about how dark the story is - but if you're willing to keep an open mind and just enjoy some excellent, heartfelt, entrancing writing then you'll like this book.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Book #3: The Bachelorette Party by Karen McCullah Lutz
Book #3
Title: The Bachelorette Party
Author: Karen McCullah Lutz
Pages: 300
Grade: B+
Buyability: 3.5/10
Status: Owned (gift)
Given I am planning my friend Sarah's bachelorette party, this was a cute Christmas gift from Robyn. The story is fairly self-explanatory. About two-thirds of it centre around one crazy all-day and eventually all-night bachelorette party where the uptight, prim bride lets loose - the bride happens to be the cousin of Zadie, the main character, who is best friends with the husband-to-be. Needless to say Zadie is busy dealing with several things in the book, among them jealousy of her perfect cousin, annoyance with the fact her best friend and Miss Perfect are getting married when her own wedding ended up as a bust several months earlier, trying to control her cousin as she gets wilder throughout the night, coming to terms with her feelings for a male student of hers, and dealing with the mixed bag of characters also in attendance at the party.
The good things about this book are plentiful - the prose is light, fluffy, and easy-to-read, with a healthy dose of sarcasm that you find yourself shaking your head in agreement with. The characters, particularly what I would call the supporting ones in the Bachelorette party, are really fun and distinct from one another. The entire bachelorette party part of the book is really interesting and funny, and you, just like the characters in the book, almost don't want it to end. The writer also does a good job resolving some things in the story - namely the situation between Zadie and her student Trevor, and what ends up happening between Helen (the cousin) and Grey (the best friend of Zadie).
There are also some bads in the book. The main one being I had a hard time distinguishing the narrator's voice from the main character Zadie's voice. Which sounds like it shouldn't be a concern or something, but the book is written in third person, yet it feels like it should be written in first person from Zadie's point of view. As a result, there is sometimes a jarring effect where Zadie's thoughts seem really out of place with the narration or vice-versa. Going with that, there is a ridiculous amount of sexual talk in here. I understand a lot of these chick lit books have that, trust me I've come across it before, but a lot of it centres around Zadie's thoughts (or the narrator's) about Zadie taking care of herself...and it's not really something you want to read about. I also found the first section and last section of the book a bit draggy. After the big fun party scene(s) you have to endure an extra 80 pages that cram a lot of stuff into them, a lot of which didn't need to be there.
Overall I enjoyed this book. I started it last weekend and finished it last night - it was a good bit of fun that made me think about some aspects of weddings and marriages a bit differently. I have a tendency to think of books in terms of how they would translate onto film and this book *would* be good at it - particularly the party part, as sort of an Ocean's 11 meets girl's night out - except for the beginning and end would need to be seriously revamped.
Title: The Bachelorette Party
Author: Karen McCullah Lutz
Pages: 300
Grade: B+
Buyability: 3.5/10
Status: Owned (gift)
Given I am planning my friend Sarah's bachelorette party, this was a cute Christmas gift from Robyn. The story is fairly self-explanatory. About two-thirds of it centre around one crazy all-day and eventually all-night bachelorette party where the uptight, prim bride lets loose - the bride happens to be the cousin of Zadie, the main character, who is best friends with the husband-to-be. Needless to say Zadie is busy dealing with several things in the book, among them jealousy of her perfect cousin, annoyance with the fact her best friend and Miss Perfect are getting married when her own wedding ended up as a bust several months earlier, trying to control her cousin as she gets wilder throughout the night, coming to terms with her feelings for a male student of hers, and dealing with the mixed bag of characters also in attendance at the party.
The good things about this book are plentiful - the prose is light, fluffy, and easy-to-read, with a healthy dose of sarcasm that you find yourself shaking your head in agreement with. The characters, particularly what I would call the supporting ones in the Bachelorette party, are really fun and distinct from one another. The entire bachelorette party part of the book is really interesting and funny, and you, just like the characters in the book, almost don't want it to end. The writer also does a good job resolving some things in the story - namely the situation between Zadie and her student Trevor, and what ends up happening between Helen (the cousin) and Grey (the best friend of Zadie).
There are also some bads in the book. The main one being I had a hard time distinguishing the narrator's voice from the main character Zadie's voice. Which sounds like it shouldn't be a concern or something, but the book is written in third person, yet it feels like it should be written in first person from Zadie's point of view. As a result, there is sometimes a jarring effect where Zadie's thoughts seem really out of place with the narration or vice-versa. Going with that, there is a ridiculous amount of sexual talk in here. I understand a lot of these chick lit books have that, trust me I've come across it before, but a lot of it centres around Zadie's thoughts (or the narrator's) about Zadie taking care of herself...and it's not really something you want to read about. I also found the first section and last section of the book a bit draggy. After the big fun party scene(s) you have to endure an extra 80 pages that cram a lot of stuff into them, a lot of which didn't need to be there.
Overall I enjoyed this book. I started it last weekend and finished it last night - it was a good bit of fun that made me think about some aspects of weddings and marriages a bit differently. I have a tendency to think of books in terms of how they would translate onto film and this book *would* be good at it - particularly the party part, as sort of an Ocean's 11 meets girl's night out - except for the beginning and end would need to be seriously revamped.
Book #2: Yankee Doodle Dead by Carolyn Hart
Book #2
Title: Yankee Doodle Dead
Author: Carolyn Hart
Pages: 300
Grade: D
Buyability: 0/10
Status: Owned (gift) - giving away
I know I should not be allowed to judge a book based on its cover, its age, or the fact its part of a mystery series I've never read. But this book was just awful. I went into it not that excited, it was an uncorrected proof that somehow ended up being my book that I got on Xmas eve this year. I have a hunch my mom snagged it from the Winnipeg Public Library book sale - no wonder it was on sale is all I have to say.
The story essentially follows a sleuthing couple with no credentials to be detectives - the girl, Annie I think?, owns a murder mystery book shop (um yeah, cause that would fly on a small tourist island), and her husband Max helps people 'find stuff' or 'figure out stuff'. I can't even put into words how many cliches popped up in this book. I'm not a massive mystery fan, but I appreciate a good one and this story didn't have any good twists. Essentially a much-disliked newcomer to the town is murdered on the fourth of July and a young, well-liked teenager accidentally finds the gun in the woods, fingering him as the suspect. Annie & Max and a small ring of help band together to interview one of 10 key suspects - but that is a whole lotta suspects and none of their motives were particularly strong or interesting. So needless to say a secret twist does happen...but it's a genuinely stupid one.
I don't really have much else to report on this book. I found it confusing, clunky, and utterly hard to get through. Perhaps you are a fan of the series (I can't think of the author's name right now) but I definitely don't plan to read another book by this author. So turned off of mysteries right now. The only thing this book did was give me inspiration for a certain style of a short, short story I had to write this week where it is 26 sentences long and each sentence begins with the next letter of the alphabet (ex: sentence one begins with the letter A, sentence two with B and so on). And even I wrote it better.
Title: Yankee Doodle Dead
Author: Carolyn Hart
Pages: 300
Grade: D
Buyability: 0/10
Status: Owned (gift) - giving away
I know I should not be allowed to judge a book based on its cover, its age, or the fact its part of a mystery series I've never read. But this book was just awful. I went into it not that excited, it was an uncorrected proof that somehow ended up being my book that I got on Xmas eve this year. I have a hunch my mom snagged it from the Winnipeg Public Library book sale - no wonder it was on sale is all I have to say.
The story essentially follows a sleuthing couple with no credentials to be detectives - the girl, Annie I think?, owns a murder mystery book shop (um yeah, cause that would fly on a small tourist island), and her husband Max helps people 'find stuff' or 'figure out stuff'. I can't even put into words how many cliches popped up in this book. I'm not a massive mystery fan, but I appreciate a good one and this story didn't have any good twists. Essentially a much-disliked newcomer to the town is murdered on the fourth of July and a young, well-liked teenager accidentally finds the gun in the woods, fingering him as the suspect. Annie & Max and a small ring of help band together to interview one of 10 key suspects - but that is a whole lotta suspects and none of their motives were particularly strong or interesting. So needless to say a secret twist does happen...but it's a genuinely stupid one.
I don't really have much else to report on this book. I found it confusing, clunky, and utterly hard to get through. Perhaps you are a fan of the series (I can't think of the author's name right now) but I definitely don't plan to read another book by this author. So turned off of mysteries right now. The only thing this book did was give me inspiration for a certain style of a short, short story I had to write this week where it is 26 sentences long and each sentence begins with the next letter of the alphabet (ex: sentence one begins with the letter A, sentence two with B and so on). And even I wrote it better.
Book #1: Sixteen - Edited by Megan McCafferty
Book #1
Title: Sixteen
Author: Edited by Megan McCafferty (et al)
Pages: 300-ish
Grade: A-
Buyability: 6.5/10
Status: Owned (gift)
Megan McCafferty's edited collection of short stories entitled "Sixteen" (A Bday Gift) is quite aptly, sixteen stories about being or turning sixteen.
If you aren't familiar with Megan McCafferty - she is the author of the wildly popular 'Jessica Darling' series, if you can call it that. Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, and Charmed Thirds (a fourth is on its way) are three books that cover a young woman's journey through most of high school and college. There is in fact a short story on Jessica Darling about the last 15 minutes she spends before her best friend Hope leaves town (which is in fact where the series picks up from).
The other fifteen stories in the book are all extremely varied, but the majority of them are quite good. I'm not a short story fan by any means, but unfortunately have to tackle the task of writing one this term - and this book was so well-compiled and written it inspired me quite a bit. Some of my fave stories were probably "Infinity", "The Many Lives of Emily Milty", and "The Perfect Kiss" - most of them were really good, a couple were not my fave as they seemed to really stray from the subject and style of the book, but it's hard to judge what makes a good short story to everyone.
The one critique I do give to the authors of these short stories is there was a consistent theme of either - kissing (specifically first kisses or momentous kisses) or discovering/experimenting with being gay. Not all sixteen year olds are that confused about their sexuality - yet at least half of the stories in the book dealt with that topic, I guess to provoke some more intense emotions or meaning.
Title: Sixteen
Author: Edited by Megan McCafferty (et al)
Pages: 300-ish
Grade: A-
Buyability: 6.5/10
Status: Owned (gift)
Megan McCafferty's edited collection of short stories entitled "Sixteen" (A Bday Gift) is quite aptly, sixteen stories about being or turning sixteen.
If you aren't familiar with Megan McCafferty - she is the author of the wildly popular 'Jessica Darling' series, if you can call it that. Sloppy Firsts, Second Helpings, and Charmed Thirds (a fourth is on its way) are three books that cover a young woman's journey through most of high school and college. There is in fact a short story on Jessica Darling about the last 15 minutes she spends before her best friend Hope leaves town (which is in fact where the series picks up from).
The other fifteen stories in the book are all extremely varied, but the majority of them are quite good. I'm not a short story fan by any means, but unfortunately have to tackle the task of writing one this term - and this book was so well-compiled and written it inspired me quite a bit. Some of my fave stories were probably "Infinity", "The Many Lives of Emily Milty", and "The Perfect Kiss" - most of them were really good, a couple were not my fave as they seemed to really stray from the subject and style of the book, but it's hard to judge what makes a good short story to everyone.
The one critique I do give to the authors of these short stories is there was a consistent theme of either - kissing (specifically first kisses or momentous kisses) or discovering/experimenting with being gay. Not all sixteen year olds are that confused about their sexuality - yet at least half of the stories in the book dealt with that topic, I guess to provoke some more intense emotions or meaning.
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