Kate's Books

Review of Caleb's Crossing

2011-08-08T15:28:00.001-07:00

I received Caleb's Crossing as part of my gift package for being a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding this past July. It was perfect timing because I was about to head to Cape Cod a few weeks later, and was looking for a good summer read. What is more, Caleb's Crossing is set on Martha's Vineyard in the late 1600's, a 40 minute drive + ferry from where I would be staying.

Caleb's Crossing tells the story of Bethia Mayfield, one of the first European inhabitants of Martha's Vineyard. Bethia is the daughter of the island's minister, who is working to convert the island's native people to Christianity. Although Bethia's character is a product of fiction, the Wopanaak boy she befriends, Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, is not. Caleb was one of the first Native Americans to matriculate from Harvard University in 1665. Caleb and Bethia meet by accident when they are teenagers. She is rebelling from the constraints of being a girl in Pilgrim New England, and he is walking on his lands as they are quickly being encroached upon by settlers. They form a close friendship and teach each other their respective languages and beliefs. As a result of several tragedies both find themselves in Cambridge, Caleb to study at Harvard and Bethia to work off an indentured servitude. In the end, they both make it back to Martha's Vineyard, but only one survives to live out their life.

I was captivated by the story and struck by Brooks' ability to write in the 'old' English style in a way that wasn't overly affected. The story was compelling enough, but not riveting. I enjoyed the book as a mediocre work of fiction that was perfect for reading in the evenings once Tessa was asleep and I had a moment to relax and appreciate the warm summer Cape Cod breeze. But Caleb's Crossing was nothing particularly special.

MY RATING: 5/10.

Review of In Arabian Nights

2011-08-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

This book was a gift, and I am so lucky to have received it; It is the kind of book that I never would have chosen to read, and it affected me profoundly. Tahir Shah is the son of Idries Shah, a highly esteemed writer, philosopher, and scholar of eastern writings and traditions. As a child, Tahir spent months in Morocco traveling with his family, and when he had a family of his own he decided to move them to a crumbling estate on the outskirts of a slum in Casablanca. The trials and tribulations of buying and restoring that house are described in The Caliph's House, a book published prior to In Arabian Nights and one which I plan to read soon.

In Arabian Nights is the story of Shah's quest to find the story in his heart. Supposedly, everyone has a story in their heart, and it can take a minute or a lifetime to find it, but once you do, it stays with you forever. In his quest to find his story, Shah travels throughout Morocco and meets all sorts of characters with wonderful stories of their own. This is not a book of short stories, but instead a description of a journey that is woven with wonderful tales and folk stories. Shah is a gifted writer, and transports us not only to his life and experience living and traveling throughout Morocco, but one step further into all of the stories that he tells throughout the book. And there are some GREAT stories.

I plan to read this book again and mark all of the pages where he tells wonderful tales so that I can learn them and tell them to Tessa when she's a bit older. One of my fondest memories as a child is sitting with my own grandfather on a window seat overlooking Madison Avenue. As we looked out of the window of my grandparents' apartment he would tell me story after story, some completely made up, others about his childhood, and still others that had been told to him. I was always entranced, and realize that nothing can replace moments like those. In Arabian Nights is about the value of those moments.

MY RATING: 9/10

Review of The Hunger Games Trilogy

2011-08-08T11:58:00.001-07:00

I'm cheating a little with this book review because I'm combining three separate books into one review. But it is a trilogy, so I'm going to try and get away with it.

My friend Tara recommended The Hunger Games to me when I said I was looking for a fun, easy read. The first book was perfect for a mindless summer read (helps that it falls in the YA (Young Adult) category)). It was also addictive in the same odd way that Twilight was. And just like the Twilight series, the next books in the series got progressively worse, but I still read them in the span of about 10 days.

The Hunger Games is about a girl named Katniss who lives in one of 13 districts throughout Panem (previously North America) sometime in the future after a huge battle when the districts tried to gain independence from the Capitol. They lost. And now every year one boy and one girl from each district are forced to compete to the death in a televised competition known as the Hunger Games.

Interestingly, the plot is structured in a somewhat similar manner to Twilight where a love triangle is quickly established between Katniss, her 'best friend' Gale, and Peeta, her co-competitor from her district in the Hunger Games.

I don't want to ruin the plot in case anyone decides to give these a read, so I'll just stick to a quick review from here:

The first book was great. Strong plot, interesting characters, and great action once the Hunger Games begin. Catching Fire was so-so. It was a bit repetitive because we're taken through a second Hunger Games, and the love triangle gets a bit too much play. By the time I read Mockingjay it was really because I just wanted to see how everything ends, and I had very little patience for Katniss and her bitchy attitude and consistent petulance. Everything was wrapped up pretty quickly and conveniently too. But if I were a teenager, I don't think I'd mind too much.

MY REVIEW (of the series): 5/10
If it were just the Hunger Games alone: 7/10

Multiple Reviews

2011-07-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have failed miserably at staying on top of my book reviews this year. I guess when you only get 2-3 hours of time to yourself a day that has to be shared with showering, cooking, staying in touch with family and friends (i.e. emailing and talking on the phone), and generally having some down-time, book blogging hasn't been high on the list. But I HAVE been reading. So, even though this is totally lame, here's my speed-review:

Full disclosure: I only read 150 pages of this book. It was for my book club and it was not easy to get into, even though I had such high hopes. This is considered a classic in Brazil -- it's required reading in high school -- but it was sloooooooooow. Perhaps there's a translator to blame somewhere? But because I didn't finish it I don't think it's fair to rate it, so alas, this just falls in the category of "not so impressed after 150 pages."

This was another pick for book club, and it proved to be a great book for a group discussion. It follows the lives of four women who have chosen (for various reasons) not to return to work after having children. I found most of the characters extremely unlikable but also quite 'real' in their dysfunction (which was probably why I didn't like them). MY RATING: 6/10.

This book was a lot of fun. It was easy and captivating and a good old fashioned spy novel (of which I have read very few). As I read I felt like I was almost watching a movie (and it turns out one is in the works with George Clooney). Nothing amazing about the book, but entertaining. MY RATING: 8/10.

Bow Grip was a pick for book club so that we could read some queer literature AND some Canadian fiction. It follows a small-down man a year after he has been left by his wife for a woman, and how he is dealing (or not dealing) given his repressed and shy nature. It was a nice story - well written and easy to follow - but the ending was way too tidy and convenient. I felt let-down. MY RATING: 5/10.

Now this book was amazing. Ever heard of netsuke? I hadn't, learning about them was one of many new things I learned from this book. It was heartbreaking to read about how the magnificent collections of so many Jewish families were dismantled and stolen during and after WWII, and De Waal did an amazing job of consolidating years of research and minute detail into a readable and compelling book. MY RATING: 10/10.

If any of you reading this are still eating Chilean sea bass...shame. Shame on you. Please don't buy the "but this is eco-certified and from the non-endangered stock" line that fish mongers will tell you at Whole Foods and other 'reputable' markets. Hooked is a fascinating history of the rise and fall of Chilean sea bass interwoven with the story of a recent high-seas pursuit of pirates trying to catch and sell the fish illegally. MY RATING: 8/10.

Oy vey. This was a recent book club pick, and I hated it. And I mean really disliked it, which is opposite to almost everyone I know who has read this book. I found it cliched and overwritten. The villains were caricatures, and the heroine was a bit too naive and good-to-be-true. BUT...it was easy to get into and the kind of book you can't put down, so it wasn't a complete failure. MY RATING: 4/10.

Review of Three Day Road

2011-02-02T16:28:00.001-08:00

Coming off of a disappointing read, I decided to go for Three Day Road, a book that I'd only heard good things about. And it was great. I tried to get my book club to read it, but they were not into "any war books that are depressing." So that definitely ruled this one out. The thing is, I actually expected it to be more dark and depressing than it was. Yes, when your subject matter is World War I and oppressed First Nations people during the first half of the last century, it's not going to be a lighthearted read. But the strength and spirit of the characters really overpowered the dark stuff in a good way so that the book felt really balanced in its depiction of events.

Once again, Boyden uses male and female voices as his narrators throughout the book in alternating chapters. Niska is one of the last Cree Indians in northern Ontario who has not given up the traditional way of living off the land in a nomadic lifestyle. She raises her nephew, Xavier, after rescuing him from residential school when he was five years old (her sister, Xavier's mother, was lost to alcoholism). Niska teaches Xavier the traditional ways of hunting and surviving in the bush, along with her gifts for reading bones and interpreting dreams. Xavier's best friend from residential school is Elijah. Elijah is outgoing and gregarious, with a gift for the English language and an ability to mimic accents. Elijah spends his summers with Niska and Xavier, and they teach him how to hunt and shoot and live in the bush as well. It is Elijah who decides that he and Xavier need to enlist and fight in the war, and they journey and fight in Belgium together for three torturous years.

The book begins with Xavier's return to Ontario after the war, missing a leg and trapped by a morphine addiction. Niska is there to greet him, and both of their stories unfold on the three day canoe paddle back home. We learn of Niska's youth and alienation from other Cree once her father was jailed and killed by Canadians. We learn of her fits of epilepsy and resulting visions that lead her to her nephew so that she can take him away from the residential school. We learn of Xavier's friendship with Elijah, their feats on the battlefield as expert snipers, and why Xavier returns from war and Elijah does not.

Boyden once again did a masterful job of bringing the reader into small-town northern Ontario. The best way to describe his writing is that it is graceful. He is able to bring voices and people to the surface without being cliched or forced, and create incredibly clear images of completely different geographies. The reader is transported from the remote wilderness of northern Ontario in the dead of winter to the depraved and pock-marked mud fields of no-man's-land in the Somme.

Someone told me that Three Day Road was the first book in a trilogy. I hope that they were right, because it means I have one more wonderful story to look forward to.

MY RATING: 9/10

Review of Secret Daughter

2011-02-02T13:35:00.000-08:00

Secret Daughter was not a good start to 2011. I knew within the first couple of chapters that I was not going to like this book, but because I have such a hard time putting books down, I didn't.

Secret Daughter is about two families, one in India and the other in San Francisco. Kavita is from an impoverished town in the countryside of India and has given her daughter Usha up for adoption to prevent her from being killed at birth because of her gender (this is her second baby, her first, also a girl, was taken away by her brother-in-law, never to be seen again). She makes the trip to Mumbai the day after Usha's birth to save her by putting her up for adoption. She is adopted by Somer and Krishnan, a couple in California who cannot have children, and rename her Asha. (BTW, what the hell kind of name is Somer? That was also extremely irritating for me). But I digress... The plot is pretty predictable from here. Kavita goes on to have a son, who grows up to be a degenerate drug dealer, and she always wonders what happened to Usha. Asha grows up to resent her parents, fantasizing about her birth parents, and goes to India when she is in college to try and find them.

What bothered me about Secret Daughter was not the storyline (although I did not find it to be all that original), but Shilpi Somaya Gowda's writing - it was not very good. I found myself extremely annoyed by her writing style to the point that I had to stop and ask myself why it was bothering me so much. And what I realized is that Gowda writes how I write, which is fine. But it's not great. Or what I consider good enough to publish a novel, let alone the #1 bestseller in Canada. If I hadn't just read Through Black Spruce, I would have gone on some rant about how Canada's standards for good writing are not as high as they should be, blah blah blah. But Boyden did a masterful job, and Canadians recognized as much. So what's the deal? Why has Secret Daughter been such a success? My guess is that it appeals to the Oprah-watching 30 to 60 year-old demographic who just want an easy read with a plot that is simple to follow and somewhat compelling. And that's what this book was.

MY RATING: 4/10

2011 Books

2011-02-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

I'm six reviews behind for my 2010 books, but I'm going to try and catch up and stay current in 2011. 'Try' is the key word.

1. Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda
2. Three Day Road - Joseph Boyden
3. Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon - Jorge Amado
4. The Ten-Year Nap - Meg Wolitzer
5. The Tourist - Olen Steinhauer
6. Bow Grip - Ivan Coyote
7. The Hare With Amber Eyes - Edmund De Waal
8. Hooked: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish - G. Bruce Knecht
9. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
10. The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
11. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
12. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
13. In Arabian Nights - Tahir Shah
14. Caleb's Crossing - Geraldine Brooks
15. Lamb - Christopher Moore
16. To End All Wars - Adam Hochschild

2010 Write Off (I mean Wrap Up)

2011-02-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

Well folks, I'm writing this in February of 2011, so that should say it all! 2010 was a big year for me in terms of pregnancy and baby, and therefore not so much in terms of books and blogging. However, I did manage to review all 15 books that I read (I'm not counting the dozen or so pregnancy and baby books that were thrown into my mix). And looking back, it was a pretty good year for me in terms of quality and enjoyment. I manage to have read at least one book a month since Tessa arrived, which I am proud of. I've never been into the whole 50 books thing, but I do hope that I can start to read a bit more now that she's sleeping better (for now), and napping more consistently (for now).

Review of The Red Tent

2010-12-27T12:51:00.000-08:00

I first read The Red Tent ten years ago when it was first published, and remember absolutely loving it. As a Jewish woman who knows very little about Judaism, the Bible, and the history and stories associated with both, I found The Rent Tent extremely educational at the time. So when my book club of smart, beautiful and intelligent women decided to read it for our next book, I was looking forward to seeing whether my perspective would have changed so many years later.

The Red Tent follows the tribe of Jacob, his four wives, and their many many children, all of whom are sons except for Dinah, the only daughter born to Leah. Dinah is the narrator and tells the story of Jacob through the eyes of a young girl living with him and his family (families) in a camp of sorts in the Israeli desert (long long long before it was Israel, of course). Dinah grows up hearing the stories of her mothers, and sitting with them in the red tent during the 4 days that they're menstruating. Those four days are their days of rest, when they all sit together on straw mats and eat good food and don't have to cook and clean for the men of the camp. Sounds kind of nice, no? As for the plot, well, I'm not going to summarize it beyond this description -- y'all can read the Bible for that (although in fairness, Anita Diamant focused on Dinah and fleshed out her story because in the Bible she is only mentioned briefly, and we never really learn much about her or her life).

I still enjoyed The Red Tent the second time around, and realized that there was much of the plot that I had forgotten. Reading it as a mother in her early 30s compared to a bright-eyed graduate student in her early 20s meant that the parts about childbirth and motherhood resonated much more strongly for me. And it's the perfect book club book for a bunch of 30-something women. Having said that, there was something about it that was kind of annoying, like it was trying too hard to be this perfect feminist novel. I felt like Anita Diamant was writing it as much for her audience as to tell the story.

MY RATING: 6/10

Review of Cutting for Stone

2010-12-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

When I told my aunt that I had just read a really interesting book about Ethiopia, she told me that I HAD to read Cutting for Stone - that it was one of the best novels of the decade. While I definitely enjoyed reading it, I think my aunt was laying on the hyperbole a bit thick.

Cutting for Stone is the story of Marion and Shiva Stone, identical twin brothers born to a nun who dies in childbirth in a Catholic hospital in Addis Ababa, and the doctors and nurses who care for them. The author, Abraham Verghese, is a physician, so the book is chock full of medical references and descriptions of maladies written so that the layperson can understand. The boys' biological father, Thomas Stone, was the head surgeon at the hospital and leaves upon their birth (and the nun's death), never to be seen again until much later in the book.

The book also takes place just prior to and after the deposition of Haile Selassie, and was an interesting counterpoint to Sweetness in the Belly, as the narrator (Marion) is very male and a doctor (whereas Lilly was female and a nurse). Religion has very little presence in this book compared to Sweetness, and the descriptions of medical procedures conducted in the hospital are riveting.

The mystery of the book is how Marion and Shiva's mother conceived them. It is clear that Dr. Stone is their father, but he seems just as surprised when she goes into labor as everyone else in the hospital, none of whom knew she was pregnant. All is revealed by the end, and the bulk of the book is rich and interesting. But it was not close to being the best book of the past decade.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of Through Black Spruce

2010-12-26T16:44:00.000-08:00

I walked into the used bookstore on Commercial Drive and said to the woman behind the counter that I was looking for a book that would hook me immediately. I explained that I had a 4-month old baby and that I couldn't deal with anything too cerebral. She recommended Through Black Spruce. She said it was one of the best books she had read all year, and that the story was engaging from the first page. She wasn't lying.

Through Black Spruce alternates chapters between Annie and Will, two Cree from a small town in northern Ontario. Will is an old bush pilot, and Annie is his niece. Will's narration is from his hospital bed, where he lies in a coma from an accident that the reader does not find the origins to until the end of the book. Annie sits by his bed and talks to him every night, and through her conversation we find out that her younger sister Suzanne is missing, having disappeared in New York City where she had gone to model. Annie went to the city to look for her, and in doing so she is forced to come to terms with her own jealousies and insecurities related to her sister, and in her life generally. Will describes his own battles throughout his life, remembering old family feuds and experiences in residential school that contributed to his alcoholism and tragedies throughout his life. But the story is far from being doom and gloom. Instead, it is actually a very inspiring read. And beautiful - Boyden has a real gift for bringing the reader into the bitter cold of a northern Ontario winter, hearing the crunch of snow underfoot, holding your breath just before the trigger is pulled during a goose hunt.

I really enjoyed this book. It was not like anything I have ever read before from a subject-matter point-of-view, and I was impressed by Boyden's ability to capture both male and female voices in the narration. I also felt that Boyden really nailed the way that First Nations people speak in terms of cadence and timing, even though you can't actually hear them talking. There is a rhythm to the way many First Nations people speak and tell stories, and that really came through. I learned only after I was done that this was the second book in a series. I have since read Three Day Road, and only hope that Boyden continues to write more so that I can have those to look forward to as well.

MY RATING: 8/10

Review of Half Broke Horses

2010-12-26T14:23:00.000-08:00

I was ready for a light-hearted, easy read when I picked up Half Broke Horses on the ferry ride home from Nanaimo in October. And it did not disappoint. Jeannette Walls has a gift for writing memoirs -- The Glass Castle was one of my favorite books of the past decade.

In Half Broke Horses Walls tells the story of her grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, in Lily's voice. Lily was one tough cookie from the time she was a little girl. She grew up on a ranch in some of the driest parts of Texas and Arizona. As the oldest of three children she was expected to take care of her siblings and help with the running of the ranch.

Lily lived through a lot - droughts, flash floods, the Depression, WWII, and all sorts of trials and tribulations. They are described in a straightforward, no nonsense and humorous tone that is at times both unbelievable and endearing. This book took me only three days to read, and was the perfect light read.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of Sweetness in the Belly

2010-12-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

I wasn't too excited about reading this book when I started - it was chosen for my book club and the back cover was not too compelling. But I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting I found the narrative and how thought-provoking its content was.

Sweetness in the Belly follows Lilly, an Englishwoman orphaned in Morocco as a little girl and raised by a Muslim Sufi called the Great Abdal. The book switches between the present tense (1980s London where Lilly is a nurse working to reunite displaced Ethiopians) and the past (1960s Ethiopia in the years leading up to Haile Selassie's deposition). Lilly becomes highly educated in the Qu'ran under the tutelage of the Great Abdal, and when she is a teenager he sends her on a pilgrimage to Ethiopia. However, upon arriving in the ancient walled city of Harar she is banished by the head sheikh to live with Nouria, the impoverished sister of one of his wives. While living with Nouria and her two young daughters, Lilly becomes the de facto teacher of the slum, educating both boys and girls in the Qu'ran's teachings. She also witnesses the barbarity of female circumcision, and falls in love with the doctor who treats a little girl dying from a resulting infection.

What I found most interesting about this book was that it opened my eyes to my own ignorance about Islam and how easy it is to stereotype Muslim women. Lilly was as devout as they come and extremely educated in Islam when she lived in Ethiopia, but knew very little of the outside world. She adhered to the role that she was expected to play as a Muslim woman, but because she was English I found myself surprised by her devoutness and passivity. Had she been Ethiopian I don't think I would have had the inherent expectations that I found myself having for her as an Englishwoman, and this realization forced me to accept that I was stereotyping the women in this book based on their origins, regardless of how they had been raised.

Camilla Gibb did a nice job weaving the history of Haile Selassie's reign and deposition, and the takeover by the Dergue into the story in a way that educated the reader but didn't take over. I learned a lot from this novel, and my interest in Ethiopia and its history was piqued.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of The Seduction of Silence

2010-12-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

I started The Seduction of Silence a week before going into labor, and it was the perfect book to read at the end of my pregnancy and then with a newborn. The story follows four generations of Indian women, the last being the daughter of a midwife, and pregnant herself. Bem Le Hunte does a beautiful job telling the stories of these women through the generations, and her imagery of India is rich and compelling. It would take too long to try and summarize the different stories of each generation here, but suffice it to say that each woman has her own challenges and victories, and loves and losses. The Seduction of Silence was the kind of book you just want to curl up with on a rainy day with a cup of tea, or a sunny day with a warm breeze - it just feels good.

MY RATING: 8/10

Review of Post Captain

2010-12-26T09:35:00.000-08:00

Oh Jesus. I really don't remember much about Post Captain except that I really enjoyed reading it. There's something about reading Patrick O'Brian in July that just works for me. What I do remember is this:

- Jack Aubrey is back in England enjoying the fruits of his prize from the last book when he learns that he's been cheated and is completely broke.
- He is desperate for a commission (or any boat) so that he can earn some money back, but the admiralty has too many captains and not enough boats to go around, so he is stuck on land, sneaking around to avoid his creditors (and jail).
- While on land he falls in love but there are twists and turns that prevent an engagement from going forward until the very end of the book.
- He finally gets a boat to captain that is terrible in the water, but in true Jack Aubrey style he makes it work, and by the end of the book has been promoted to Post Captain.
- And we find out that Stephen Maturin is a spy.

Sorry folks, I know this is lame, but I was 9 months pregnant when I read this and have since lost many brain cells due to sleep deprivation.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of Stoner

2010-12-25T16:35:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am again. It's December and I am so far behind in my book reviews that I'm going to have to dig deep into the recesses of my brain to remember books I read in July before I had our baby. So bear with me if the next few reviews aren't the greatest.

My Dad recommended Stoner to me because he thought it was such an interesting and well written book. It was. But it was also kind of a downer.

William Stoner grew up poor on a farm in the midwest in the early part of the 20th Century. He was an only child and his parents saved everything they earned to send him to college to study agriculture. But instead he falls in love with the classics and studies literature, going on to become a professor at the university he attended.

Stoner is about as repressed as they come, marrying the first woman he is ever attracted to, which of course is a complete disaster (we could have all told him that, right?). His career is stymied by a venal colleague who keeps Stoner from advancing due to a disagreement, and his life is generally depressing (except for a passionate affair he has with a student which ends sadly).

While I appreciated the caliber of John Williams' writing, Stoner was not the light summer read I had been looking for.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of The Little Stranger

2010-07-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Little Stranger is a ghost story, and like all good ghost stories, it was perfectly creepy. It was even scary enough at one point that I put the book down for the night and decided to read the rest of the chapter in the light of day. Usually I don't like mysteries or thrillers because I always want to know who dunnit and don't have the patience to read through the whole book to find out. But The Little Stranger isn't your typical mystery. There is no major crime or murder that takes place at the beginning, but instead a slow build of misery and torment that subtly takes over the lives of the main characters.

The story is set in post-war small-town England. Dr. Faraday (we never learn his first name) is a country doctor who has managed to cobble together a small practice that keeps him busy and in business. He is from a poor family, and although he managed to become a doctor, he is still of the 'other' class, not in the same echelon as the Ayers family. The Ayers own Hundreds Hall, a huge estate out in the country that has been in their family since the 1700s. Dr. Faraday's mother was once a servant there, and he has vivid memories of visiting Hundreds as a little boy and marveling at the grandeur and beauty of the mansion, so much so that he once secretly pried a little piece of molding off the wall to keep as his own. But in 1947, Hundreds is on the decline. Mr. Ayers has died, leaving Mrs. Ayers and their two grown children, Roderick and Caroline, to care for the estate. When Dr. Faraday arrives at the house in response to a medical call, he is shocked by its decline and dilapidated state. In many ways, he takes it personally, even though he has no reason to, as his connection to the estate is far removed. In the coming year he establishes a close relationship with the family as their doctor, and it is during this time that strange things start to occur at Hundreds. The events start off small -- changes in behaviors of Hundreds' inhabitants, bizarre sounds and noises, smudges on the walls that weren't there before. But as the year progresses, the house takes a more serious toll on everyone who lives there, with tragic consequences for both the Ayers family and Dr. Faraday.

What I enjoyed most about The Little Stranger was the subtle progression of drama, fear and creepiness that, as a reader, you don't necessarily realize you're in the midst of until you find yourself glued to the pages and getting a little jumpy at sudden noises. Except for a couple of dramatic events (a fire and an inexplicably locked door), nothing in the book is absolutely terrifying, but instead it's the combination of all the little things that make the story scary. Waters also manages to weave in other themes of class and money that were (and are?) so much a part English life, and these play into how the characters deal with the strange events unfolding around them.

The story is told from Dr. Faraday's perspective, and as we get to the end of the book, several things are thrown into question, most notably Dr. Faraday's narration of the story itself. He is the epitome of the 'unreliable narrator', and this made the last chapter quite riveting, because the reveal is not what you expect.

MY RATING: 8/10

Review of Olive Kitteridge

2010-07-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

I had high hopes for Olive Kitteridge when I picked it up. I'd heard about it for a while (although I'm not sure where or from whom), and had this idea that it was going to just blow me away (it won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for fiction). It didn't, and there's probably a take-away lesson here about how I should ignore the 'winner' stickers on book covers.

Olive Kitteridge is actually a collection of 13 short stories bound together by the title character, who appears in each one. Olive is a larger-than-life character, with a strong, loud, and pushy personality. Like most abrasive people though, she uses her bravado to mask deep insecurities and repressed emotions. She is not at all sophisticated from either a physical or emotional perspective, and resents those who she doesn't understand or feels threatened by. But she cares deeply for people, and that is her one redeeming characteristic.

I understand why the book was so well-received: Strout is a very good writer who is able to capture the subtleties of emotion in her characters and the complexities of relationships. But there was always something at the end of each story that left me wanting -- perhaps this was Strout's intention -- the stories are all raw (and even bleak) in an attempt to realistically portray life in small-town Maine. But there was rarely any closure, and the emotional frustration or repressed anger was always still lingering when the story was over, which made it difficult for me to actually enjoy the experience of reading the book.

MY RATING: 6/10

Review of Little Bee

2010-07-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

I picked up Little Bee when I was at the airport and looking for a new book. I had no idea what I was buying, and selected it because of its cover (both the artwork and a positive quote from the New York Times Book Review got me (I'm a sucker for those 'winner of this-or-that book award' stickers too)). I figured that it couldn't be a terrible read and would get me through the flight to New York. And I was right.

Little Bee was a totally decent read. Little Bee is the adopted name of a teenage girl who has fled her native Nigeria after witnessing the illegal destruction of her home and the murder of her family by an oil company so they can access vast reserves located under the site of her village. The only reason she is still alive is because of a chance encounter with a British couple who were stupidly vacationing in Nigeria at the time she escaped her village. They are able to bargain for her survival, but at a cost to the couple, both physically and emotionally. Upon their return to the UK, their marriage is falling apart, and the horror of what they witnessed in Nigeria results in the husband's suicide. Little Bee is able to flee to the UK illegally, but is held in a detention center for two years. Upon her release, she contacts the only people she knows (the couple), and the sequence of events that follow are both dramatic and touching.

My brief synopsis is quite linear, but the story is written in flashbacks and from both the perspective of Little Bee and Sarah (the wife of the British couple). And it is very well written - the voices of both characters are genuine and unforced. The story itself has a very nice arc, with a build-up to finding out what the horrible event was that brought Little Bee and Sarah together on the beach in Nigeria, and how Little Bee was able to survive. We don't find out what happened after they parted or how Little Bee made it to the UK until late in the story, after we've already read about the emotional toll that the trauma on the beach took on Sarah and her husband.

In addition to the good writing, the story confronts the larger issues of environmental destruction and immigration, but not in an overwhelming or preachy way. It's the kind of story that would make a great movie. If you're looking for a quick summer read that isn't your typical novel, try this.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of the Time Traveler's Wife

2010-07-23T20:58:00.001-07:00

I don't even know why I decided to read this book. A friend gave it to me as she was moving from Vancouver, and I knew enough from the movie previews to know that it wasn't going to be a great read. But I picked it up in March as we were in the midst of packing our old apartment and getting ready to move to our new one, and it was the perfect, mindless novel that I needed to keep me distracted from the stress of moving. But it wasn't very good.

The premise is that Henry DeTamble can travel through time, mostly backwards, but forwards too. It comes on suddenly, and he disappears from the present to appear naked in some other time. Where he'll land is purely up to chance, but he happens to land in the field next to Clare Abshire's house in Michigan quite frequently. He meets her when she is quite young, but has traveled from a different time, when they are married and have a family. All of this he has to keep from her until time catches up with them. Similarly, the first time Clare meets Henry (when he has time traveled and landed in her field) he is already in his 30s, therefore, when they meet in 'real time', and both of them are in their 20s, she knows exactly who he is, but he's never met her before. Confused? I was a little bit at times, but decided that it was too much effort to try and ensure that all of the time traveling stuff added up and made sense, so I just went with it.

The problem with this book was that even though it's a love story, and definitely has a twist (the time traveling), it wasn't all that interesting. There was nothing particularly gripping about the characters, and because you know something tragic has to happen in order for it to have an arc or climax, that was the only thing that kept me reading. But, it was an easy read, and fairly mindless, and therefore perfect for the stressful time of packing and moving.

MY RATING: 4/10

Review of Kafka on the Shore

2010-07-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

So this was a crazy book, but also really really great. I've been wanting to read Murakami for a long time, but was always a bit intimidated for some reason. Then last year my Dad asked me to buy him some books before going on a 3 week trip to Europe, so I picked this one for him. He couldn't stop talking about it upon his return, so I suggested it for my book club this past spring. Unfortunately, only three of us read it, so not everyone could participate in the conversation, and there was so much to talk about!

I'm not going to even try to recap the story because it's so full of wackiness, mystical realism, travel into other worlds and slugs falling from the sky that it would a) take too long and b) take away from the story if I tried to explain. And really, what I think this book was about was just the opposite of trying to tell a story in a linear fashion. It was about relationships, and forgiveness, and patience, and finding out who you are, and being ok with not knowing who you are, or where you come from. It was about accepting that we all have parts of ourselves that are good and that are evil, and that sometimes you have to just believe that the universe will lead you in the right direction, even if you don't know exactly where you're going. It was about accepting that sometimes you need to toss your maps and compasses and be willing to get lost in the woods, because you don't know what you will find - it may be scary, but chances are you will learn something from it. And it was about love and death, and how they both open up to new worlds, although they both can cause pain.

This is the kind of book that when you've read the last word on the last page you think, "What I really should do is get a cup of tea and start all over again, because there is likely to be so much that I missed the first time around."

MY RATING: 9/10

Review of Jane Eyre

2010-07-23T17:48:00.001-07:00

Jane Eyre was a book club pick way back in January, and the cold, rainy Vancouver weather provided the perfect backdrop for reading it. I actually read Jane Eyre in 9th grade, but remembered absolutely nothing about it except for the "big reveal" which I will not reveal here lest I spoil it for someone else. But there is so much more to the story than this climax, and as I read it for the second time (20 years later), I realized how much I had missed at 13.

Jane Eyre tells the story of...Jane Eyre, an orphan who is cruelly treated and unloved by a sadistic aunt and sent away to a school for girls which, although harsh and spartan, enables her to form friendships and relationships and grow into an educated woman. After teaching at the school for a few years, she takes a job as a governess at an estate of a single man, Mr. Rochester, and his ward, the young daughter of an old lover (but not his own child). Mysterious things happen in the house, which are ultimately explained by the "big reveal" I mention above, resulting in Jane leaving in a rush and setting out on her own with no money and nowhere to go. She finds herself in the company of generous strangers in a completely different part of the country, and amazing connections are revealed (but again, not by me here -- I don't want to ruin it).

Because I had already read the book and didn't recall liking it very much, I was pleasantly surprised by how easily I was engaged by the story and how easy it was to read. It had been a real slog when I was 13, and having read it again now I feel that I was just too young to really appreciate it the first time around. This is the kind of book where you have to have 'lived' a little to really appreciate it -- to have experienced challenges in life, heartbreak, conflicts. And although I'm sure that all 13 year-old's, if questioned, would say they have experienced all of those things, I'm going to be completely condescending and say that...well...they haven't.

My only criticism comes at the end of the story, where things just seem to fall into place a bit too conveniently. I didn't buy some of the major coincidences that enable Jane to come into family and fortune within the span of a few months. But overall, it was a very enjoyable book, and one that I will recommend to my daughter...when she is in her 20s, at least. :)

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of Shadow Country

2010-07-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

I've been remiss in writing my book reviews this year, and while I don't have a great excuse, I'm still going to use the fact that I've been plagued by morning sickness throughout my entire pregnancy as a semi-excuse. Feeling like barfing all the time just hasn't been conducive to writing. But I digress...I'm here now, on maternity leave, finally feeling better (at week 39), so it's now or never to catch up on my reviews before the baby arrives.

I started Shadow Country before U.S. Thanksgiving way back in 2009, but at 892 pages it took me until the end of January to finish. Shadow Country is actually three books combined into one. This was the Peter Matthiessen's original intent when he first wrote the novel, but was forced by his publisher to publish as three separate books. Now that he is an accomplished writer, he received his publisher's blessing to rework the three books into the one he had originally conceived, and it masterful.

The book is divided into three parts, all of which center around the notorious E.J. Watson. Watson was a sugar planter in the Florida Everglades at the turn of the 20th Century, and huge legends surrounded him from the time he moved there, thanks to his somewhat notorious past out west. He was rumored to have killed a prostitute, Belle Starr, in a fit of passion, which he always denied. But this led to several other rumors surrounding murdered acquaintances, most of which became attributed to Watson as his legend grew.

The first book opens with Watson's murder on the first page, so you know at the beginning that he his killed by a mob following a devastating hurricane in the Gulf Coast of Florida. But what you don't know is how it came to be, or why. The next 800 pages contain an incredible story that unravels the how and why, and by the end, you realize that there isn't a clear answer, and that everyone has their own interpretation or rationale or story to help explain.

The first book is told from the perspective of everyone in Watson's life but Watson himself, with alternating chapters and distinct voices and dialects (difficult to read at times). The second book is told from his son Lucious' perspective years after his father's death as he tries to piece together fact vs. fiction and what exactly happened on that fateful day after the hurricane. The final book is told by E.J. Watson himself, and we are let into the infamous man's mind and learn the "truth" about all of the stories and legends that surround him.

Shadow Country was not an easy read, but it was an immensely satisfying one, particularly because Matthiessen is a master at putting the reader smack into the middle of the scene. His descriptions of the Everglades at the turn of the last Century are incredible, and for the first time in my life I have a real interest in visiting that part of the country and exploring the area. If you're looking for an epic summer read, I highly recommend this book.

MY RATING: 9/10

2010 Books

2010-04-05T18:56:00.001-07:00

1. Shadow Country - Peter Mathiessen
2. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
3. Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
4. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
5. Little Bee - Chris Cleave
6. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
7. The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
8. Stoner - John Williams
9. Post Captain - Patrick O'Brian
10. The Seduction of Silence - Bem Le Hunte
11. Sweetness in the Belly - Camilla Gibb
12. Half Broke Horses - Jeannette Walls
13. Through Black Spruce - Joseph Boyden
14. Cutting For Stone - Abraham Verghese
15. The Red Tent - Anita Diamant

Review of Kitchen Confidential

2009-12-12T09:19:00.001-08:00

This was the latest read for my book club, and while it didn't spur any especially intellectual conversations, it was fun to talk about, because it's a fun book. Kitchen Confidential is a sort of memoir by Anthony Bourdain, a famous NYC chef, who describes the ins and outs of his life in professional kitchens. I've always known that working in restaurants is kind of like an extension of college -- drugs, heirarchy, gossip, cattiness, sex, and general debauchery -- but reading about some of the antics in Anthony Bourdain's life really seared the images into my brain (pun intended).

There are some useful lessons to be learned about food consumption by reading this book that are fairly obvious when you think about them, but good to reiterate nonetheless:

- Don't order seafood on Mondays
- Don't eat mussels unless you really trust the establishment
- Never eat hollandaise sauce unless you make it yourself
- (and while not a food-to-avoid), it's more than likely that someone had sex on the sacks of rice or flour somewhere in a walk-in storage unit.

Bourdain is a pretty good writer in terms of getting his story and the images associated with it across. His voice is strong, and he has a good sense of humor that made me laugh out loud at times. However, I got the sense that he writes how he talks, and his use of exessive italacs got really annoying by the end of the book.

Overall, this is a fun read for anyone who likes food and is interested in learning more about what it takes to prepare your meal when you go out to dinner.

MY RATING: 6/10

Review of Wicked

2009-10-06T22:34:00.001-07:00

Have you ever wondered what made the Wicked Witch of the West so wicked? I hadn't either. But when I heard that Gregory Maguire's book explored this very question, I was intrigued. Although I had never contemplated the witch's story, once I knew that a story existed, I wanted to know what it was.

Wicked is the story of how a green girl in the land of Oz grows up to be the Wicked Witch of the West. The story begins with the birth of Elphaba (the witch) to Melena, an heir to a powerful family from Munchkinland (FYI - not all Munchkinlanders are small). Melena's husband, Frex, is a zealous minister often away preaching in faraway towns, and Melena is not 100% sure who Elphaba's father actually is. Elphaba is born with green skin, a full set of razor sharp teeth, and a strong aversion to water. Although not inititally affectionate, she grows up to be willful and smart.

The Oz in Wicked is not the Oz we are familiar with. The Wizard is a cruel dictator, issuing laws and edicts from on high that limit the rights of humans and Animals (animals who speak, think, and integrate with society), making life in Oz more and more difficult for those who do not support his rule. There are guards who roam the streets, jailing people who dare to speak against the Wizard, creating a miliary State in and around the Emerald City, where Elphaba is sent to attend boarding school. Elphaba starts school at a time when the Wizard is starting to clamp down on human and Animal rights, and she is outraged. Her roommate, Galinda (one day to be known as Glinda), is a snooty girl from the north who initially couldn't care less about anything other than her social status, but as the girls get to know each other they become friends over a shared desire to make Oz a better place. And it all goes down hill from there.

Wicked spans about 40 years, and in that time we learn why Elphaba turns into the Wicked Witch of the West...kind of. Although I really enjoyed reading this story - it was creative, fun, and different - I felt that Maguire was not able to aptly explain why Elphaba actually became so wicked. Yes, she was frustrated, short of temper, and racked with guilt over the death of a lover, but by the end of the book I did not see the wickedness from the witch in the movie in the character of Elphaba. Perhaps this was Maguire's intention -- when you actually know and understand someone, they are not as evil or scary as they might seem at the surface. Perhaps the Wicked Witch of the West that we are all familiar with wasn't actually that wicked at all - just misunderstood.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of When a Crocodile Eats the Sun

2009-09-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Heartbreaking. If there is one word to try and capture this book, that is the one. Tragic and infuriating are close behind.

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun is a memoir by Peter Godwin, a successful journalist who hails from Zimbabwe but presently lives in New York City. It begins in the late 1990's when some of the first signs of Mugabe's inane policies regarding land-reform started to emerge, and ends in 2004, when the destruction and tragedy were all but a done-deal and broadcast around the world. Godwin is an excellent writer, and he deftly tells his family's story while weaving Zimbabwe's history and more recent events into the tale. Godwin's elderly parents are all that remains of his family in Zimbabwe; His younger sister has been forced to leave due to her affiliation with the Opposition, and his older sister is dead, killed years before by friendly fire in the civil war. Several of their friends have emigrated or been killed, and Godwin is unsuccessful in convincing them to leave. Godwin's parents are virtual prisioners in their own house in Harare, a city that is quickly descending into chaos. His parents' failing health presents an additional challenge, and Godwin struggles to help from a distance.

Godwin manages to travel back to Harare frequently by taking on assignments, and it is on one of his trips that his father tells him a secret that he had kept from everyone except Godwin's mother for over 40 years. It would ruin the story to divulge it here, but suffice to say that it changes Godwin's entire image of himself, and allows him to weave a whole new chapter around WWII into the story.

I cried a lot reading this book (and I rarely cry when I read). I cried with anger at what Mugabe has done to this incredible country, I cried with a deep sadness for Godwin's family, and the millions of other innocent people who have had their lives all but taken away from them, but I also cried with love and respect for his parents, whose spirit and perseverence was something that we should all aspire to. As heartbreaking at this book is, it is a book that needs to be read far and wide, and I highly recommend it.

MY RATING: 9/10

Review of Persuasion

2009-09-14T09:02:00.001-07:00

One of the things you've got to love (or hate) about Jane Austen is that, for the most part, you know what you're going to get when you pick up one of her books. Sometimes there's something to be said for predictability with authors -- it's like a kind comfort food. It's nice to know that there is something out there that will make you feel good, fill you up, and leave you with a smile on your face when you're done, even if it's not the most delicious meal you've ever had. For some, that's macaroni and cheese, for me, it's Jane Austen.

Persuasion is the story of Anne Elliot, the oldest of three sisters who is teetering on the edge of spinsterhood at the ripe old age of 26. Anne was once engaged to marry Captain Frederick Wentworth, but her friend and confident, Lady Russell, persuaded her that he was not the right match and the agreement was ended. Eight years later, Anne is still unmarried and wondering if she made the wrong choice when Captain Wentworth comes back into her life.

And the rest is typical Jane Austen: for several chapters there are miscommunications, misunderstandings, and a few dramatic moments when it looks like Anne will end up with the wrong guy and Captain Wentworth will end up with the wrong gal, but then...ta da! All ends well and everyone ends up with the person they were supposed to be with. That being said, Persuasion was actually my favorite Austen read so far - I found the characters to be more interesting and multi-faceted then usual (despite the predicably facile younger sisters and absurdly vain father) - and there were a couple of twists and turns that did leave me guessing. I was transported back to early 19th Century English society, and found myself smiling from start to finish.

Ah...felt so good, just like mac n' cheese.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of Master & Commander

2009-08-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

Master & Commander by Patrick O’Brian is the first in a series of twenty books that is well regarded as the best nautical literature ever written (if not some of the best literature ever written). I picked up the first in the series, Master & Commander, on my way to Cape Cod for a two week vacation. It took me the full two weeks to read the book, partly because I found that I could not completely get into the story with as much fervour as I had expected. What I did not realize when I started reading was that the first book is as much about introducing us to Jack Aubrey, newly appointed to rank of Captain, and Stephen Maturin, an erudite Irishman/Catalonian who becomes the surgeon on Jack’s ship, the Sophie, as it is about telling us the story.

The first third of the book consists of establishing their characters and ensuing relationship, along with an esoteric introduction to the Sophie and all of her crew, rigging, sails, decks, etc. Once Jack’s cruise gets underway we quickly come to realize that he is an extremely able seaman: strategic, fearless, and cunning. He is also in it for the money, much to the chagrin of his Lieutenant, James Dillon, another Irishman and once-member of a resistance group (along with Stephen Maturin). The second third of the book follows Jack on his cruise as he takes several French and Spanish ‘prizes’ during various battles, and earns himself and his crew quite a bit of cash and a reputation for being lucky. Along the way Jack continues to have an affair with a woman married to his superior, who, by the final third of the book, has taken out his anger on Jack by cutting his cruise short and relegating him to convoy. Along the way he is beaten in battle, and the close of the book is the court-martial where Jack is found not-guilty of any wrong doing.

Perhaps it is because I was expecting so much in the way of non-stop action and adventure that I was somewhat disappointed by my first Patrick O’Brian experience. However, I am not giving up, as I have been told that the books only get better and more exciting, and there is no way that a 20-book series as beloved as this can disappoint.

MY RATING: 6/10 (but mostly due to raised expectations)

Review of Three Junes

2009-07-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

Three Junes has been on my “to read” bookshelf for at least four years. I bought it because I am a sucker for the gold or silver stickers denoting some major book award, and Julia Glass won the National Book Award for Three Junes in 2002. I started the book soon after I bought it, and could not get into it, so it rested on my bookshelf until early summer when I decided that I needed to space out my Twlight Saga obsession with some actual literature. I did in fact start Three Junes after Twilight, but was quick to put it down when the other three books of the saga came into my possession. Miraculously, I always picked Three Junes back up in between each book for a chapter or two, and then finally finished it about a month after I had first started it.

The book is actually three distinct stories, with no overlap in characters except for one or two degrees of separation between the protagonists in each story. The first follows Paul on a guided tour to Greece following the death of his wife. The second follows Fenno, Paul’s gay bookstore owning son in New York and Scotland (the provenance of Paul and Fenno), and the third follows Fern, a widow five months pregnant from her Greek boyfriend. Each story consists of several flashbacks to periods in the character’s lives, and the present day is different for each one. Glass does an impressive job of weaving back story and present day for each character to create in-depth portraits of individuals in various stages of their lives. For Paul, it’s his ‘sunset’ years, for Fenno, it’s his mid-life/early 40’s, and for Fern, it’s her ‘grown-up’ phase, following graduate school and starting her career (and family).

Although I was not blown away by the book while I was reading it, once I finished I was happy to have given it my time (a month, in this case). Glass is a skilled writer, and she was not afraid to delve deeply into her characters’ psyches (and psychoses). None of the characters was lovable, but they were all likeable in their own ways, mostly because anyone reading the book would be able to relate to at least some of the challenges one or all of the characters were confronting. Three Junes was woven together by the themes of transition, of letting go of control, and what it means to be born and to die, whether you’re ready for it or not.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of Eclipse and Breaking Dawn

2009-07-25T21:26:00.000-07:00

Beemused was right. It was impossible to not read the Twlight Series back to back. Although I was successful in reading at least one book in between, that was the extent of my ability to pace myself. Unfortunately, the rest of the series continued to falter, and neither Eclipse nor Breaking Dawn were as good as Twilight. However, despite their faults, I was still unable to put them down.

I finished both books over a month ago, and I am finding it difficult to recall the major plots points, twists and turns of each of them, not to mention distinguishing between the two. I think the Twilight Series is less about the plot itself and more about the experience of reading them. There is nothing quite like it when you find a book that completely takes you in and builds a metaphoric wall that separates you from the outside world. That is what happens when you read this series. This is not to say that any of the books are quality literature - they are not. In fact, as the series progresses it gets quite trashy.

Warning: spoiler alert if you read on.

Eclipse and Breaking Dawn center around Bella's desire to 1) have sex with Edward and 2) become a vampire. With a few battles against evil vampires thrown in between, she succeeds in both. However, I actually laughed out loud when I read about the birth of Bella and Edward's vampire-human hybrid baby. What annoyed me most wasn't the fact that they conceived and had a child, but that the name chosen was a combination of Bella's mother's (Renee) and Edward's mother's (Esme) names - Reneesme. Yes, Reneesme is the name of their child. Need I say more?

I'll close by saying that despite the downturns in plot, I had fun reading the books, and am glad that I experienced this latest phenomenon of popular culture.

MY RATING - ECLIPSE: 5/10
MY RATING - BREAKING DAWN 4/10

Review of New Moon

2009-07-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess the honeymoon had to end sometime, and better sooner rather than later. This is not to say that I won't be reading the rest of the series - I will, but I am not expecting much in the way of plotlines. New Moon is the second book in the Twilight series. It picks up a few months after the end of Twilight, with Bella and Edward hopelessly in love, happy in their human-vampire relationship. The town of Forks is still completely oblivious to the vampires in their midst, and life is seemingly perfect for Bella. Until she gets a paper cut. That sets off a sequence of events that lead to Edward leaving, Bella going headlong into months of despair, and subjecting the reader to endless descriptions of crying into pillows, holes of pain in stomachs, and doldrums that seem to go on for hundreds of pages.

What is frustrating is that the book is still mind-numbingly addictive. The sexual tension that held up the first book isn't existent in New Moon, but I still found myself staying up way past my bedtime to read just one more chapter. The second book revolves around Bella's friendship with Jacob (who, by the way, turns out to be a werewolf), one of the Quileute Indians we were briefly introduced to in Twilight. Jacob distracts Bella from her longing for Edward, who has disappeared, along with the rest of his family in the hope that Bella will forget about him and move on with the rest of her life. Of course, she is too head over heels in love with him for this to happen, hence the misery I described earlier.

Even though I just finished this book a little over a week ago, I'm struggling to recollect the major plot points, because the story dragged on quite a bit. The first third consists of Bella's pain and longing for Edward, the second third is her friendship with Jacob, and the final third is her reunion with Edward and the introduction of the Volturi (the super ancient and powerful vampires who live in Italy). The scenes in Italy were definitely the best part of the book, with some great descriptions of vampire horror and carnage. But the rest of the book pretty much left me cold (I could make some vampire joke here since, according to the books, they're all cold as marble).

Anyway, I know that I will read the others, but I'm not holding my breath for the thrill that wove its way through Twilight.

MY RATING: 5/10

Review of The Glass Castle

2009-06-17T18:58:00.001-07:00

Reading an excellent memoir is perhaps a little more satisfying than reading an excellent novel because when you put the book down you can say "holy shit, this actually happened." (Unless the memoir was written by James Frey). Although I thought I couldn't read a better memoir than Don't Let's Go To the Dogs Tonight, I was wrong. The Glass Castle is the best memoir I have ever read.

When you read about the childhood that Jeannette Walls survived, it creates new meaning for the word "resilient". Her parents never should have had children, but they had four. Her father was a raging, but brilliant, alcoholic. Her mother was a selfish (and I think manic-depressive, although that is never discussed) woman who could not see beyond her own needs and challenges. At the age of 3 Jeannette is badly burned while cooking hotdogs for herself and her older sister so they could have something to eat for dinner, and neither of her parents show any remorse or shame for the position they put their child in by not providing enough food for her. This is consistent throughout her childhood as her parents move from one small town to another, letting their children fend for themselves, narrowly escaping abuse (both physical and sexual) from neighbors, strangers, and even grandparents and uncles. Only through the bond and protectivness of the siblings are the children able to survive and escape to New York City when they are old enough to live on their own.

What I found most moving about this book was the fact that Walls was able to write so openly and honestly about such horrific events in her childhood, but in a way where she was not asking the reader for pity or sympathy. Her life just was what it was, and the events that she survived were heart wrenching, but also freeing and deeply moving. Ultimately, this is a book about family, and the ties that keep us bound to each other whether we like it or not. It is definitely worth reading.

MY RATING: 10/10

Review of Twilight

2009-06-04T19:23:00.001-07:00

I have to admit, Twilight was a great read. I picked it up at the airport on my way home and started reading in the waiting area. By the time we boarded I was on page 55. When we reached cruising altitude I was on page 92. Then I had to restrain myself from reading on the flight because I had work to do. And that was no easy feat. The book is addictive. The last time I picked up a book that hooked me like Twilight did was when I read The Da Vinci Code (yes, I read it. And yes, I enjoyed it). Now don't get me wrong -- I am not saying that either of these books is an example of good writing. In fact, they're both really bad in many many ways, trashy almost. But Stephenie Meyer is a master at capturing teenage angst, awkwardness and frustration, not to mention the imagination of the reader. It's as though the story is crafted in a way to hit all of the same nerve endings that cocaine does, creating a rush (while you're reading), comedown (when you put the book down), desire for more (several minutes after you've put the book down), and then withdrawal (when you finish the book). (BTW, I've actually never done cocaine, so if I got my metaphoric drug-addled phases wrong, forgive me).

I have always said that I do not have an addictive personality, however, I find myself thinking about Bella and Edward at various times throughout the day, wondering what happens in the next book. I have created a rule for myself that I will not read all 4 books in a row, but instead space them with at least a book in between. If I have to make rules its a sure sign that I have a problem, and I guess I can't pride myself on not having an addictive personality anymore.

I'm not going to summarize the story -- Meezly did an excellent job of that, so there's really nothing more to say except that, for what it is, Twilight is a lot of fun.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of The Cellist of Sarajevo

2009-05-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

Set during the Siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s, The Cellist of Sarajevo follows three individuals over a period of about three weeks as they try to live their lives in the chaos that is war. Although it is a novel, the story used the factual story of a reknowned cellist who sat amongst the rubble of shelled buildings day after day playing at the site of a massacre of innocent people waiting to buy bread.

The story follows Arrow, Kenan, and Dragan, all strangers whose paths do not cross throughout the book. Arrow is a sniper who has been tasked with protecting the cellist from enemy fire. Kenan is a family man who is responsible for making the trek across the city to get water for his family. And Dragan is a baker whose family has left the city for safety in Italy. They all have their respective 'targets' as the story progresses: Arrow is targeting the sniper who has been sent by the enemy to assassinate the cellist; Kenan is targeting the brewery where he will be able to find fresh water; and Dragan is targeting the bakery where he hopes to buy some fresh bread.

I found this book to be quite contrived. I did not believe in any of the characters because Galloway never let us get to know them. Perhaps this was intentional -- how well can you know someone who is living through the insanity of war? -- but it resulted in the characters not feeling fully formed (which in several instances became confusing and I often found myself confusing Dragan's and Kenan's storylines). I also did not like Galloway's writing style -- every sentence seemed overly crafted, as though each word was intentionally placed after the next, making several parts of the book feel affected and, as I said earlier, contrived. Which is too bad, because I think the concept for the novel was unique and could have been the basis of a much better story had it been written somewhat more skillfully.

MY RATING: 4/10

Review of The Ghost Road

2009-05-09T17:32:00.001-07:00

The Ghost Road is the third and final book in Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy. It is set during the closing months of World War I, and centers around Dr. William Rivers, a psychologist treating mentally and physically injured patients from the front.

Unlike Regeneration where the story focused on Dr. Rivers as he treated patients, The Ghost Road picks up where The Eye in the Door left off. Billy Prior, one of Dr. River's more interesting patients is heading back to the front despite his asthma and potential for split personalities in highly stressful situations. Rivers continues to treat patients returning from the war with shell shock and psychological trauma back in England. However, the story also consists of several flashbacks to River's time as a missionary doctor in Melanesia.

As the final book in the trilogy (and winner of the Booker Prize), I had high hopes for The Ghost Road. Unfortunately, it didn't compare to the other two books. I found the flashbacks to River's time in Melanesia distracting from the arc of the storyline following the war and Prior's return to the front. This was the first time in the series when the reader is actually taken to the war itself as we follow Prior to France and experience the battles through him. Although the horrors of the war are terrifying to read about, it's as though, as a reader, the time has come to experience it alongside him -- having read two entire books describing the horrors through the psychological havoc it has inflicted on the men fighting, the reader is ready to "see" what could have created such damage. Although difficult to read about, the parts of the book that took place in France were the most riveting.

My guess is that Barker won the Booker prize for this third book as a nod to the trilogy itself (similar to Peter Jackson's Oscar win for 'The Return of the King', even though it was nowhere near the best film of the three). It's worth the read to bring Rivers' and Prior's stories to a close, just don't expect it to be the best one.

MY RATING: 6/10

Review of The Eye In The Door

2009-04-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

The Eye In The Door is the second book in the Regeneration Trilogy . Unlike the first book which centered mostly around Dr. Rivers, The Eye in the Door is split between Dr. Rivers' continued work with patients suffering from 'shell shock', and Billy Prior, one of Dr. Rivers' patients who was introduced in Regeneration.

The Eye in the Door takes place in the Spring of 1918, when the war was dragging on and defeat by Germany seemed possible. In England, politicians were distracting the public by targeting homosexuals, and the historical events of the time play a central role in the book. In fact, I've had a very difficult time writing this review because the story is so complex and nuanced with plot turns peppered by historical events, not to mention psychological food for thought. This is the type of book where each chapter could be a study of its own, either of history or psychology, yet there is a story that weaves its way through all of them and ties the book together.

Barker is an expert at conveying the emotions of a scene through dialogue. It's as though each chapter has it's own emotional theme (repression, fear, anger, sadness, love), and you feel it with the characters as you read. With the myriad emotions and politics surrounding homosexuality in England during this time set as the backdrop, Barker creates a tense but riveting story that is part history, part novel, part mystery, and part psychological study. Written by a lesser writer, this would probably have devolved into a chaotic and unsatisying read. But Barker manages to pull it off and I couldn't put it down. I didn't love it as much as Regeneration, but it doesn't fall far behind.

MY RATING: 9/10

Review of Regeneration

2009-04-23T19:09:00.000-07:00

Another fantastic read for 2009. I'm on a roll! After reading Birdsong last year for my book club, I became quite interested in WWI, and my father suggested that I read the series by Pat Barker.

Regeneration centers around Dr. William Rivers, a psychiatrist at the Craiglockhart War Hospital who is treating officers returning from the front. One of his patients is Siegried Sassoon, a noted poet of the day, who has be sent to Craiglockhart not because of war trauma, but because of an anti-war manifesto he wrote that was published in the newpaper. As Dr. Rivers works with Sassoon and many others, the scale of death and destruction, and seemingly endless stream of traumatized soldiers, starts to take its toll. Rivers is forced to confront his own demons and decide if and how he wants his career to proceed.

What makes this book so brilliant is how Barker is able to address so many themes in a 250 page book that consists of a lot of dialogue. These themes range from homosexuality (admitted and repressed) to supressed anger to the insanity of war. I loved her writing style as well - clear and to the point, but also full of imagery and feeling. No book review can do it justice.

The icing on the cake is that several of the characters in 'Regeneration' were real people, and Barker has based the story on actual events that occured at the time. This made the story that much more moving, and I am already into the next book in the trilogy.

MY RATING: 10/10

Review of Dreams From My Father

2009-04-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's a great feeling to read a good book that is well-written, heartfelt, and educational. But it's an even more wonderful feeling when the smart, articulate, honest, and inspiring writer happens to be your President.

I've been meaning to read this book for a while, but it took picking it for our book club to actually get me to pick it up. I have to admit, there was something that felt oddly voyeuristic about reading such a personal memoir by Barack Obama. But it was also incredibly satisfying -- I loved learning about his childhood and his pathway to community organizing and law school. It was also nice to finally have the sequence of his moves to various states and countries explained, not to mention his family history.

I could tell that he wrote it at a time when he wasn't considering a political career, because he was honest about emotions, family relationships, struggles and weaknesses in a way that someone aspiring to become President of the United States would edit much more substantially. For that reason, it was a refreshing read. I loved that he shared his struggles and confusion with respect to his identity as a black boy growing up with a white mother and grandparents. It is not easy to write about race, but Obama wrote eloquently and honestly, and I learned a lot. My only criticism of the book is that, at times, I felt like some of the chapters dragged on a bit. Whereas the chapters from his childhood raced by, the sections on his time in Chicago and Kenya were not as riveting to me.

I could go into more detail discussing the complexity of Obama's father, his relationship with his other family members, and his time in Chicago, but I feel that you need to read the book instead, because it's worth it.

I will end the review by saying that reading this book reminded me again of what a fucking idiot George Bush is, and I question how we all actually managed to survive 8 years of his presidency. Thank God he's gone, and Hail to the Chief.

MY RATING: 8/10

Review of The Book Thief

2009-04-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

This book was a gift from my friend Kristin. I visited her in Germany last September, and as we were walking throughout the picturesque streets of Frieberg I found myself struggling with the same sequence of thoughts I had struggled with during my previous (and first) trip to Germany in 1996. The sequence goes something like this: 1) As I am walking along I see an elderly person, somewhere in their 80s or 90s. 2) I think, "Damn, they're old! I wonder how old they are?" 3) Then I think, "If they're 85, that means they were in their 20s during WWII." And then I jump straight to 4) "I wonder if they were Nazis during the war...did they fight? Did they collaborate? Did they resist? What did they DO (or not do)?" And then I feel somewhat guilty for having those thoughts until I see the next elderly person and think them all over again...I can't seem to help myself. I shared this with Kristin at one point, and she told me to read "The Book Thief". "It will change the way you think about many of the Germans who lived through the war," she said. And then she bought it for me for Christmas.

The Book Thief is the story of Liesel, a skinny, hungry, and illiterate girl who is taken to live with the Hubermann's, a foster family in a small town close to Munich in 1939. The story follows Liesel through the war as she and her foster family resist the Nazis in the small ways that they can on the surface (such as Hans Hubermann refusing to join the Nazi party and paying the social price for it), and the big ways hidden below the surface (such as hiding a Jewish man in their basement).

I absolutely loved this book. In fact, it goes into my top 10. Part of the reason is because I haven't ever read anything like it. It is written in a unique style, but unlike other books that have dealt with serious subject matter by taking a unique approach to story telling which I hated because I felt they were so contrived (i.e. The History of Love or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), there is no posturing with the writing in the Book Thief, and instead I found myself wanting to dive deeper into the story with every page that I read.

I realized very quickly why Kristin had recommended this story to me -- it is a partial answer to the question I was asking when I walked the streets of Frieberg in September -- it is the story of what people who were not Jewish and not fighting DID during the war. And it is told without judgment, but instead through writing and imagery that is honest, touching, and beautiful to read.

MY RATING: 10/10

Review of From Beirut to Jerusalem

2009-03-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

I saw this book on my friend Elie's night table when I was visiting her in San Francisco at the end of January, and was inspired to pick it up. I found a copy in the SF airport and got through the first 100 pages on my flight to Vancouver. It took me until last week to get through the remaining 470, not because the book wasn't good, but because I made sure to read it slowly enough to maximize my comprehension.

From Beirut to Jerusalem is Thomas Friedman's "take" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He worked as a reporter in Beirut from 1979-1984 and then moved to Jerusalem, where he worked from 1984-1989. The book is written in two parts corresponding to these times and locations.

As someone who really did not know any of the history (except in broad brushstrokes), this book was a fantastic read. He describes the history, relationships, and personalities of all of the major players in the conflict, and for the first time I found myself understanding more than just the basics of this very complicated issue. It's a very well-written book, and the combination of historical facts peppered by his personal experiences and relationships because of his time living there kept it from being dull or too hard to understand.

For the most part, I don't agree with Thomas Friedman's views, especially on Iraq or the economy -- he always seems like too much of a Hawk to me. But his take on the conflict in the Middle East as he writes it in this book was something I found myself nodding my head to. Not only was he more 'dovish' than 'hawkish', but his sense of compassion really comes through.

There were several passages that resonated for me in this book, but I am going to end the review with the one that I liked the most:

"The Austrian-born philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once remarked that if you ask a man how much is 2 plus 2 and he tells you 5, that is a mistake. But if you ask a man how much is 2 plus 2 and he tells you 97, that is no longer a mistake. The man you are talking with is operating with a wholly different logic from your own."

MY RATING: 9/10

2009 Books

2009-01-09T23:12:00.001-08:00

1. Half of a Yellow Sun - Ngozi Adichie
2. From Beirut to Jerusalem - Thomas Friedman
3. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
4. Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama
5. Regeneration - Pat Barker
6. The Eye In The Door - Pat Barker
7. The Ghost Road - Pat Barker
8. The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
9. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
10. The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
11. New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
12. Eclipse - Stephenie Meyer
13. Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer
14. Three Junes - Julia Glass
15. Master & Commander - Patrick O'Brian
16. Persuasion - Jane Austen
17. When A Crocodile Eats the Sun - Peter Godwin
18. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
19. Kitchen Confidential
~~~~~~~~
I started 'War and Peace' while on vacation in Mexico and I'm about 500 pages into it (with another 900 to go). I've decided to finish it when I'm on vacation this summer - it's just not the kind of book you can read during the work year.

Review of Half of a Yellow Sun

2009-01-09T22:51:00.000-08:00

This book was recommended by a friend who has spent several years working and living in various countries in Africa. I was excited to try something completely new. It tells the story of a wealthy Nigerian woman, Olanna, in the years leading up to and during the Nigerian-Biafra war, a time and place that I knew absolutely nothing about prior to picking up the book. The story follows Olanna and her intellectual academic husband as the war surrounds them and then takes over their lives.

Adichie is a good writer, and her scenes are described so clearly that it's as though you're there, standing in the corner of the room watching as the drama unfolds. But the book never really grabbed me. I kept waiting for it to pick up, turning the page thinking, 'now' it's going to really start getting interesting. But that climax never came.

When I put down the book and thought about writing this review, I had to think for a while about what it was that didn't make me love this book (even though I did indeed like it). And this is what I came up with: although her writing is clear and descriptive, she never really delves into any emotional depth of the characters. Although she writes about their feelings and emotions, they are always only skin deep, and never enough to give a real sense of who the character is - she only scratched the surface with each of them, and therefore I never really got a sense of who any of them really were.

But it's an interesting piece of history that shaped the country and its people, and I'm glad that I read the book.

MY RATING: 6/10

Review of My Father's Secret War

2008-12-07T18:14:00.001-08:00

My Father's Secret War, by Lucinda Franks, held so much promise. I was intrigued by the book jacket describing how in her memoir she discovers that "the remote, troubled father she grew up with was in fact a spy -- a secret agent who worked behind enemy lines during WWII." Unfortunately, Franks spends her memoir talking more about herself than her father, which is what I realize I should have been expecting given that it is a memoir. So this is probably as much a case as poor management of expectations on my part as it is of her failing to deliver on her part.

I was fascinated by the story of her father, but we only really get to learn about what happened to him during WWII at the very end of the book. Instead, the majority of the book is a description of her struggles with her secretive and aging father, and her laborious attempts to pull out information from him (which was just as frustrating for the reader to read about as it was for her to experience).

The best part of the book was learning about how many covert operations occurred throughout the war, and how little is known about them, even today. The government is still incredibly secretive about the undercover work that they sponsored, even over 60 years later. It made me realize how many different layers there were to WWII -- from the battles being fought in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, to the undercover battles occurring around the world.

MY RATING: 4/10

Review of Fifth Business

2008-11-14T20:41:00.000-08:00

I thoroughly enjoyed my first Robertson Davies experience. My book club decided that we needed to get over our fear of Canadian authors, so this book was suggested by one of the two Canadians in the club. Considered a classic, Fifth Business tells the story of Dunstable 'Dunstan' Ramsey, following him from his small-town Ontario town through WWI and his career as a school teacher.

Fifth Business was a terrific book, not only because Robertson Davies is such a good writer, but also because the characters are so rich and well defined. Davies created dynamic and complex characters, without over-writing them, and for the most part, his story arc was very engaging. There was only one part about half-way through where I felt the story lagged, but it was momentary and picked back up within 40 pages or so.

Davies is known for his interest in Freud and Jung, and his familiarity with analytical concepts emerges throughout the novel, particularly with respect to characters' relationships with their mothers. I found this refreshing, and was impressed by his ability to write about emotions and behaviors of individual characters in a way that was not forced.

What I liked most about this book was the 'voice' of the novel - it was honest, often funny, but mostly sincere.

MY RATING: 9/10

Review of The Memory Keeper's Daughter

2008-11-09T12:59:00.000-08:00

I picked up this book at the airport in Amsterdam because I wasn't feeling very well and wanted something light and easy to read as a distraction. The Memory Keeper's Daughter was not a very good book, but it was not so horrible that I put it down (although you should know that I rarely put a book down -- it has to be REALLY bad). Anyway, this book was neither written nor edited particularly well. She also couldn't stop describing everyone as 'angry' -- but then everyone was so damn repressed (which I guess can go hand-in-hand with being angry). To her credit, the story was compelling enough that I wanted to find out what happened at the end. But I skimmed my way through most of the second half.

MY RATING: 3/10

2008 Books

2008-09-13T16:01:00.000-07:00

1. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See
2. The Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
3. Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
4. Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
5. Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
6. The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
7. A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah
8. Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen
9. The Emporer's Children - Claire Messud
10. The Secret Life of Lobsters - Trevor Corson
11. Under the Net - Iris Murdoch
12. Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
13. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
14. The Known World - Edward P. Jones
15. Snow - Orhan Pamuk
16. The Book of Negroes - Lawrence Hill
17. Fishing With John - Edith Iglauer
18. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
19. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon
20. The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards
21. Fifth Business - Robertson Davies
22. My Father's Secret War - Lucinda Franks
23. Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

2007 Books

2008-09-13T15:47:00.000-07:00

1. The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
2. The Island at the Center of the World - Russell Shorto
3. The In-Between World of Vikram Lall - M.G. Vassanji
4. A Bend in the River - V.S. Nailpaul
5. Eat the Document - Dana Spiotta
6. Pride and Predudice - Jane Austen
7. The Sweet Hereafter - Russell Banks
8. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
9. The Shipwrecked Men - Cabeza de Vaca
10. In the Skin of a Lion - Michael Ondatje
11. Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels
12. Little America - Henry Bromell
13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
14. Atonement - Ian McEwan
15. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
16. The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million - Daniel Mendelsohn
17. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts