Thursday, February 28, 2008

TBR Thursday


I have been bad, I confess, in writing up my reviews at the time that I've read the books in the last month. So here comes a whole bunch...shorter than I would have liked but giving my 2 cents worth nevertheless!


Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Rating: Unexpected enjoyment
Genre: Award-winning, Pulitzer
Number of pages: 287
Finished: 1-30-08
Challenges: A to Z Title (R); Notable Books; Pulitzer Project; TBR 2008; 101 Books in 1,001 Days

I have to confess that I almost put this book down and went on to the next book in my TBR stack. It reminded me of The Brief History of the Dead, which I found one of the best reads last year. But then I started to notice little touches in the writing and execution of the story like the way that the sparse prose was laid out on the page, and the overwhelming feeling that everything in this new world is black, white, and grey. Here's a brief rundown of the story line...a father and son are on a journey down a road after the world, as we know it, has been destroyed but for a very small number of people. Details of the who, what, where, and when are few and far between and this fact makes the story even more stark. In the end, I found this a great read but in a different way than Brief History...the two books would make quite an interesting comp lit discussion.


Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini
Rating: Thoroughly enjoyed
Genre: Literary fiction
Number of pages: 384
Finished: 2-3-08
Challenges:A to Z Authors (H); Book Around the World; TBR 2008; 101 Books in 1,001 Days

After devouring the story, characters, and prose of The Kite Runner, I was a bit hesitant to read Hosseini's second novel. Friends told me not to worry that A Thousand Splendid Suns was the equal of Kite Runner and in some ways better, and I have to agree. This novel delves into the plight of women in the Middle East during the time of the Afghanistan War and beyond. The author makes you angry, sad and happy in the course of a few pages if not sentences. Where Kite Runner revolves around two boys growing into men, A Thousand Splendid Suns takes you on a feminine journey. Hate to say it twice but these 2 books would also be wonderful for a comp lit discussion.



Title: A Sliver of Truth
Author: Lisa Unger
Rating: Page-turner
Genre: Thriller, suspense
Number of pages: 368
Finished: 2-7-08
Challenges: A to Z Authors (U); TBR 2008; 101 Books in 1,001 Days

This book is the sequel to Lisa Unger's Beautiful Lies and I believe that to maximize the enjoyment of the storyline you need to read the books back to back (without a span of several months in between). Sliver picks up where Lies left off and the heroine, Ridley Smith is beset with a whole new set of dilemmas, intrigue, and drama. The story is fast-paced and I really enjoy the author's quirky technique of addressing the reader directly in conversation as she discovers information or reflects on the past or expresses comments that foreshadow the future. Quick and enjoyable for lovers of mystery and thrill.


Title: The Night Watch
Author: Sarah Waters
Rating: Disappointing
Genre: Period piece
Number of pages: 544
Finished: 2-18-08
Challenges: Chunkster; A to Z Authors (W); Themed Challenge; 101 Books in 1,001 Days

Our reading group chose this book as one of our selections for 2008 based on (from what everyone could remember) the fact that the author has won numerous awards for her writing in England. So with that said, my expectation was high. The novel starts out in post-World War II England and with each section goes back in time. So in essence you know how the story ends at the beginning but it is the discovering of how the characters arrived there that makes for an interesting book. Other than this technique...I did not care for the book...I had no interest in the characters at all except for maybe Kay who was the most redeemable and interesting...a masculine lesbian who was a paramedic during the war. If this book wasn't to be read for reading group, I would have not finished it.


Title: The Bluest Eye
Author: Toni Morrison
Rating: Thought-provoking
Genre: Literary fiction
Number of pages: 224
Finished: 2-123-08
Challenges:My Year of Reading Dangerously; A to Z Authors (M); 101 Books in 1,001 Days

This is award-winning writer Toni Morrison's first novel and my edition had an interesting afterward by her dated 30 years after she first wrote the book. It was a thought-provoking reflection on how she viewed what she tried to accomplish then and relative to now. The story is told, for the most part, from the point of view of a pre-teen girl and cleverly divided into seasons. I originally read the book when it was one of Oprah's selections about 8 or 9 years ago so I always find it interesting to re-read a book at a different stage in life. However, both times I felt anger that the adults allowed Pecola Breedlove to endure what she did in her life. She was made to feel 'ugly' inside and out and the only way that she thought that she could get her life back in order was the simple wish for the unnatural blue eyes. And now I have to head over to My Year of Reading Dangerously to comment on some of the posted questions.

And I am currently reading an advance reader copy of a book called The Sister by Poppy Adams that I received via the B&N's First Look group and utterly enjoying the storytelling of the author (first novel but she has been a BBC documentary writer/producer until now).

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Burning Bright and Mini's


Here's my review of Burning Bright and some Mini news:
Title: Burning Bright
Author: Tracy Chevalier
Rating: Ambivalent
Genre: Historical fiction
Number of pages: 311
Finished: 1-9-08
Challenges: A to Z Title Challenge (B); Themed Challenge; Back to History Challenge; Book Around the World (England); 101 books in 1,001 days (#3)

After thoroughly enjoying Girl with Pearl Earring, I was looking forward to a second go at reading a Tracy Chevalier novel. There are some definite highlights to this book but then some low points as well. The development of the atmosphere and climate of l790s England is truly amazing. I could close my eyes and feel as though I was on the streets of London near Haymarket in a heartbeat. The characters are well-defined from main to secondary in a few short sentences the reader "gets" what they are all about. Where I find Burning Bright falls short is in the plot. Throughout the book, I keeping wondering where the story was going...meandered a bit off track three-quarters of the way through but neatly tied up at the end. Here are the basics of the story...family of four moves from the English countryside to big bad London after the untimely death of the favorite son and the fact that the owner of the circus that came to town off-handedly offered the father a job making Windsor chairs. Another family of four...Londoners born and bred are neighbors...fatefully befriend the newcomers (nice contrast of opposites which plays a big role in some of Blake's theories). Add to the mix the famous essayist William Blake as another neighbor and you have a story. I have to confess that at the end of the book I did want to learn more of the behind the scenes of William Blake's life as his character in the book fascinated me along with the owner of the circus Phillip Astley (who I had believed all along throughout was a fabricated character). In the end, this book is a fast read and gave me insight to a time in history that had previously been dark.

Mini-challenges completed to date:
#5. Give a book away: On January 8, 2008, I gave Shopaholic and Baby by Sophie Kinsella away to a friend and now co-worker, Gina, who originally hails from London. I had previously given her the other 'Shopaholic' books to read as I thought it would be fun to hear how someone who wasn't American by birth felt about the shenanigans of the heroine. All these books are fun to read...Beach reading genre and a total escape from reality.

#6. Read two articles from any one magazine: Today, January 10, I chose two articles from Vegetarian Times ( a portion of my holiday gift from Will...another friend and co-worker...and family). This is a new magazine to me and I started by thumbing through and being pleasantly surprised. I was then drawn to the interview with Alice Walker (fatefully chosen as one of my Pulitzer authors to read in this year's challenge. Walker is a vegetarian and arrived at this life choice early on in life. She grew up on a dairy farm and discovered that becoming attached to a specific cow, Suki, made her swear off beef. She has an extensive garden and is quite passionate about championing the rights of animals.
The other article I read and will review is one entitled "Put the Veg back in vegetarian," which at the end features some very yummy recipes by Mollie Katzen of Moosewood Cookbook fame. I have most of her earlier cookbooks and was glad to discover a new one that I'll take a gander at the next time I'm at Borders...The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without. Great article to read to get the desire and wherewithall going to try to start the new year making the conscientious decision to eat more veggies and get healthy. The statistics used in the article were startling and frightening...back in 2003/2004, the estimate was that 66% of American adults are overweight and that 60% don't eat fruits and veggies as recommended. Great easy tips to change behavior...one being that instead of making 2 cups of pasta at 420 calories, make one cup and add a cup of zucchini and that's 250 calories.

#12. Book discussion: On January 7, 2008, I went to the first meeting of my Women's Reading Group for 2008 (we only read female authors). And in fact, the selection was one that I had put forth "Seduction of Water" by Carol Goodman...a literary mystery that I had discovered and read in November 2007. Everyone agreed that the book was written beautifully and the descriptions of the Catskills in New York made you feel as though you were there. Everyone who reads mysteries on a regular basis figured out the mystery and twist early on but that it did not distract from the joy of reading the story. We did get off topic a bit when we started a discussion on folk stories that we were told growing up as folk/fairy tales played an important role in the book. Most of us recalled having stories read to us...the usual fair of Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, but no one had a parent make up any bedtime stories. Having read all of Carol Goodman's books to date, I did share the fact that she has developed as a writer after this her second book with The Sonnet Lover being her best in my opinion. Next up for us is The Night Watch by Sarah Waters...and no one could remember who had suggested it (we pick out all of our books in early November for the next year).

Next blog post will definitely be about knitting!

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