2016 Books

1. The Best Laid Plans - Terry Fallis
2. The Good Girls Revolt - Lynn Povich
3. American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld
4. My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante

3.5 Years of Books

I managed to update my book blog just before Ivy was born, and since then...nothing!  What can I say?  Having two kids is a lot of work.  But, here I am, three and a half years later, and I want to get back on the blogging train.  I can't promise that I will be reviewing every book I read like I did before, but I do want to keep track again, as it's been frustrating not being able to recall which books I read last year (not to mention last month).  I'm pretty sure a few have slipped through the cracks, but this is what I've been able to piece together by looking at my bookshelf and the Kindle.

2015 Books
1. The Girl on the Train
2. The Book of Fires - Jane Borodale
3. The House at Tyneford - Natasha Solomons
4. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
5. The Girl Who Played With Fire - Stieg Larsson
6. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson
7. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

2014 Books
1. The Orenda - Joseph Boyden
2. The Professor and the Madman - Simon Winchester
3. Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan
4. The Secret Keeper - Kate Morton
5. Orphan Train - Christina Baker Kline
6. The End of the Point - Elizabeth Graver

2013 Books
1. The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach
2. A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki
3. The Sisters Brothers - Patrick Dewitt
4. And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini
5. Dear Life - Alice Munro

Review of In the Garden of Beasts

One of my all-time favorite non-fiction books is Isaac's Storm, the story of the great hurricane that obliterated Galveston, Texas in a single night in September 1900, written by Erik Larson.  I also enjoyed The Devil in the White City, and generally find Larson's writing engaging and readable.  He writes nonfiction in the same way Jon Krakauer does - you feel like you're reading a novel and are immediately taken to the place where events are unfolding.  So when I was looking for my next book, I searched to see if Larson had written anything new, and found In the Garden of Beasts.  Although it wasn't something that seemed highly compelling from a subject-matter perspective, I trusted that I would still find it interesting and engaging.  And I did.

Larson tells the story of the Dodd family from 1933-1937, when William E. Dodd left his life as a professor at the University of Chicago to become the U.S. Ambassador to Germany in the years leading up to WWII.  His wife, grown daughter and son move with him, and the book follows the family's (namely his daughter's) exploits and challenges as Hitler grew ever stronger and his maniacal hold on Germany and oppression of Jews grew.

This is a difficult book to review because of the numerous threads that run throughout the story.  First there is Dodd, a frugal, Depression-era man who is acutely aware of the insidiousness of Hitler and his regime, yet unable to gain any traction or respect from within the State Department, and who harbors his own kind of antisemitism.   Then there is his daughter, Martha, his daughter, who is 'taken' by the Nazi lifestyle and enraptured by the power and influence of the many high-ranking officers she brushes elbows with (and more - turns out she slept with quite a few of them too).  And then there are all of the players that weave their way in and out of Ambassador Dodd and Martha's lives as Germany continues to advance towards war while the rest of the world watches. 

I think this last thread was what I actually found most interesting about the book, and where I learned the most: for years the world looked on as Hitler lined up his country and prepared for war, all the while continuing to repress and make his intentions towards Jews very clear.  Yet no one acted.  Dodd saw the writing on the wall and tried, in vain, to get his country to be more proactive.  But even his efforts were weak, at best.  No one thought Hitler would remain in power - he was too crazy, too uneducated, too fascist.  But he did, and he managed to bring almost an entire country and population with him under using oppression, fear, and lawlessness.  By the time the rest of the world finally took notice, it was too late, and WWII was upon them.

Overall, Larson didn't disappoint - I was engaged and interested to learn about the Dodds and their experience, and how their actions and roles impacted the events unfolding at the time (and ultimately, history).

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of The Weird Sisters

I'm now on maternity leave with three weeks until my due date, Tessa is in day care, and I have this eery feeling of having too much time on my hands.  I therefore have no good excuse for not updating my book blog.

Jason picked up The Weird Sisters somewhat randomly when he went looking for books for me.  It's probably not one I would have chosen from the back cover, so I was eager to give it a shot.  And it was OK.  Not great, but not terrible.  Set in a small-town Ohio, it tells the story of three sisters who have all come home at difficult times in their lives.  Their mother is sick, and their quirky Shakespeare-professor father is struggling to care for her on his own.  Rosalind (Rose), the eldest, is an uptight control freak. Bianca (Bean) is the wild middle child, bucking the rules to set herself apart.  And Cordelia (Cordy), is the babied youngest, irresponsible and a bit flighty.

Bean returns home under the auspices of wanting to help care for her mother, but really because she is fleeing New York City after having bilked the law firm for whom she worked out of several thousand dollars to cover her expensive NYC lifestyle.  Cordy shows up in the middle of the night not having showered for days from her Deadhead/roaming the country/sleeping with random men lifestyle, pregnant and scared.  Rose, who has never left town (although she no longer lives at home), is missing her fiance, who has taken a temporary professorship in Oxford.  Needless to say, no one is happy, and that sets the tone for the entire book.

The sisters are not close, and they never have been.  What unfolds is a bit of a reckoning for all of them -- with their own demons, with the reality of their lives and where they all find themselves, with their long-held resentments and frustrations with one another, and ultimately, with themselves.  I found the self-reflection and examination that each sister is forced to conduct in the face of the other sisters and their mother's illness quite interesting, if not somewhat predictable.  It was difficult to 'like' anyone, which I always find difficult, as it's hard to really enjoy a book when you can't truly empathize with the characters because they're so unlikeable.  But I did want things to work out for each of them, and was therefore willing to read to the end and see how things unfolded.  Overall, this isn't a book I would recommend to someone, but it wasn't one that I would fling across a room either.

MY RATING: 5/10

Review of The Forgotten Garden

My lovely husband bought this book for me because I kept forgetting to pick up something new to read. It sounded compelling enough from the back page, and was easy to get into. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great book. The story begins with a mystery in 1913 - a little girl is found alone on a pier in Australia after a ship from England has arrived and unloaded. She doesn't know her name and no one claims her, so the harbour master and his wife take her in and they raise her as their own. They name the girl Nell, and when she is 21 her father spills the beans and tells her that she is not their biological daughter. The story jumps back and forth between 1913, 1975, and 2005 as the mystery of Nell's provenance is revealed through her own travels to England and then her granddaughters efforts after Nell's death. Although it was fun to read about England circa 1913, there was nothing especially interesting or compelling about the storyline or any of the characters other than wanting to know whose Nell's parents were and why she had been given up. If I had to find one word to describe it, I'd use 'blah'.

MY RATING: 4/10.

Review of State of Wonder

I was one of the few people I know who didn't absolutely love Bel Canto, so I was a little unsure about picking up State of Wonder. All I knew was that I'd been playing online Scrabble and Words With Friends way too much before bed, and I needed a new, good novel. And State of Wonder was fun. Marina is a medical doctor-turned-pharmacologist who is sent by her pharmaceutical company to find a rogue scientist, Dr. Annick Swenson, in the heart of the Amazon. Dr. Swenson has been working to synthesize a fertility drug from the bark of trees that results in prolonged fertility in a unique indigenous tribe deep in the Amazon. The company has not heard from Dr. Swenson in months save a recent letter informing the company that Marina's colleague, Dr. Anders Eckmann, who was sent prior to Marina to follow up on Dr. Swenson's progress, has died of fever. And you'll have to read the book to find out the rest.

Although not a feat of literary genius, State of Wonder quickly transports the reader into the hot, humid, and complex world of the city of Manaus, Brazil's gateway to the Amazon, and then the insect-ridden, snake-infested, malarial-haunted forests of the Amazon. The mystery surrounding Dr. Eckmann's death and the odd behavior of Dr. Swenson make for a good plot, and the creativity of the fertility sub-theme and everything that goes with it is what makes this book better than average. This is the perfect vacation-on-the-beach book, and one I would recommend if you're looking for a different kind of story.

MY RATING: 7/10

Review of The Tiger's Wife

I think this book was on every single "Best Book of 2011" list, so it was inevitable that I would read it (I'm a sucker for prize-winning books). And it did not disappoint. Although I found it a little hard to get into, once I was in, I was in. The story follows Natalia, a most likely Serbian medical doctor in what is most likely post-war Bosnia (all of the geographic location named have been fictionalized). She and her colleague and friend have gone to a small town to immunize orphans at a local church. Prior to their departure, Natalia learns that her grandfather has died in a small town not too far from their destination, and she goes in search of his belongings and closure. Woven throughout is the story of Natalia's grandfather, growing up in a small remote town in the mountains, and the winter when an escaped tiger from the city zoo made his home in the surrounding countryside.

Obreht weaves multiple layers into one novel in a way that is not forced or overwhelming, but just complex enough to keep the reader interested and involved. There is the relationship and complex dynamic between Natalia and her grandfather; the sad story of the tiger and the townspeople he terrified or befriended; the story of the 'deathless man'; the gypsies who search for their loved ones in long-overgrown fields; and Natalia's own story of medical school in war-torn Serbia (or thereabouts). All of these seemingly disparate narratives are woven together by good, solid writing and strong character development. I can see why the book as received as many accolades as it did.

MY RATING: 8/10

Review of How to Talk So Your Kids Will Listen and Listen So Your Kids Will Talk

Ah, my first foray into parenting books. And I'm so glad I took the plunge. Upon learning that our second baby is due in July, a friend recommended a sister-book by the same authors about sibling rivalry, and I decided to pick up both. And I'm so glad I did. How to Talk... is relevant not only to parents hoping to communicate well with their children, but people wanting to communicate well with anyone in their lives. The basic tenets of their philosophy is to learn how to express anger and frustration without being hurtful, setting realistic limits while not having your children hate you, resolving conflicts peacefully, and learning how to cope with your children's negative feelings. The fact is - these are skills everyone could use learning, whether you're dealing with children OR adults. And the amusing thing is, not only have I started using some of the skills with Tessa, but I've also found myself using them at work during difficult meetings or instances where resolution was required but some people were acting 'childlike'.

To put some learning into real terms, here's an example of how the book helped: Tessa and I were in her room. She wanted a puzzle that was underneath a book, so she took the book and flung it onto the floor, thereby giving her access to the puzzle. "Tessa, please pick the book up," I asked after ducking out of the way of the oncoming book. "No," she said looking straight at me. Hmmmm...how to handle this? So I reached into my new bag of tricks - instead of asking her again and pushing the point, I switched tactics to describe the situation and how it could be resolved. "Tessa, books don't belong on the floor, they belong on your shelf," I said. And without fanfare or complaint, she simply reached down, picked up the book, and put it on her shelf. Voila! Conflict averted; lesson learned. I've used this approach countless times since: "Tessa, the water has completely drained in your tub and you're still sitting in it," and out she gets. "Tessa, you have a toothbrush in your hand and not in your mouth," and into the mouth it goes.

This is not to say that putting all of the tips into practice is easy. It's not. And I find myself having to peek at the book often. But I'll take that any day over tantrums and pulling my hair out (which will, of course, still happen).

MY RATING: 9/10 (only because some of the drawings are a little gay)

Review of Suite Francaise

Thanks Jason. Suite Francaise was a Christmas present and it was just what I needed after the last book of 2011. What a beautiful book. Nemirovsky wrote it frantically from the unoccupied zone of France in 1941. In 1942 the Nazis invaded, and she was deported to Auschwitz, where she was killed. Although she was a well-known and celebrated author of her time, this book was lost until 64 years later, when it was discovered and published. When you know this before even turning a page, it influences your perspective. What kind of conditions was she writing under, having been forced to flee her home, friends and family in Paris? She must have been acutely aware of the impending danger and overwhelmed by the events in her life. Whatever she was feeling was channeled into an incredible novel that follows several families as they flee the Nazi invasion of Paris into the French countryside in June 1940, and the year that follows in a small Nazi-occupied town.

Nemirovsky was a beautiful writer, capturing emotions and human interactions (both tender and cruel) in a realistic and unpretentious way. But what struck me most about the book was her focus on the environment. The countryside of France is really the antagonist of this book, beautiful, fresh, fragrant and lush in spring; hot, sticky and oppressing in summer; and volatile, unrelenting, and overwhelming in fall and winter. Nemirovsky's love for her country and its beauty is obvious with every description of a storm, flower, wind or garden, and this love for life and the world around was often heartbreaking to read, knowing that for her it ended all to short. Suite Francaise must have been Nemirovsky's escape from what was going on around her; I only wish she had truly escaped...and survived.

MY RATING: 9/10.

2012 Books

1. Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky
2. How To Talk So Your Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Your Kids Will Talk - Adele Faber & Elaine Mazlish
3. The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht
4. State of Wonder - Ann Patchett 
5. The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton
6. The Weird Sisters - Eleanor Brown
7. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin - Erik Larson
8. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand

Multiple Reviews

Well, it's happened again. Months have gone by and I've been terrible at updating my book blog. I'm home sick in bed, so what better to do than take some time to make things current. Even though we're well into 2012, I'm dating this December 31, 2011, because these are all books I finished last year. My next post will catch things up from January through April 2012.

I wasn't super excited about this pick for my last book club meeting. I've read only one Christopher Moore book before (Fluke), and while it had started out strong, it quickly deteriorated into a ridiculous and annoying mess. I also didn't appreciate having to put down the incredible book about WWI that I was reading so that I could finish Lamb in time for our next meeting. But I sucked it up, and, in the end, it wasn't so bad. It was written in the same zany style Moore seems to use for all of his books, and was certainly an interesting interpretation of Jesus's life and early years (as told from the perspective of his best friend Biff). But there were definitely some laugh-out-loud moments, and I appreciated the knowledge and understanding of the Bible that Moore clearly needed to have in order to write such a book. That said, I don't think I'll be recommending it over other books I've read, unless someone is looking for something Biblical that will also make you laugh. MY RATING: 5/10

So, it's official: I have become a WWI buff. I'm not quite sure how it happened, and I'm by no means a true historical devotee, but now that I've finished off a 500 page work of non-fiction, in addition to the several other novels (see 1, 2, 3, and 4) I've read on the subject, I'm putting myself into the 'buff' category. This was an incredible piece of work. Hochschild manages to give us a history of the Great War from a unique perspective while keeping the reader riveted and disgusted at the same time. The war is framed in the context of conflict between a huge anti-war contingency and fight for women's suffrage that was occurring in England at the time the war broke out, and throughout its duration. Activists who had worked together for years to get women the right to vote were divided, and this division had significant implications for the twists and turns throughout the war, particularly as it related to the top British generals' strategic (or not so strategic decisions). The ineptitude of those in charge, and the devastating results and completely unnecessary loss of lives, was maddening to read about (one general judged the success of battles based on the number of fatalities - anything under 10,000 was a battle lost). Hochschild packed an incredible amount of information into a relatively short work of non-fiction, and I always wanted to turn the page. MY RATING: 9/10

A colleague at work recommended this book, and it was a perfect autumn read. The plot centers around a murder mystery - a Hudson Bay Company man is murdered in his cabin in a frontier town in northern Ontario. His neighbour, a shy teenage boy is also missing, and is therefore a prime suspect. It is 1867, and the small town is shaken to its core by the turn of events, especially because it is reminded of the unsolved disappearance of two teenage sisters several years before. As both mysteries are unraveled, the reader is taken on an adventure through the wintery boreal forest to Scandinavian utopian communities, derelict Company outposts, and remote hunting cabins. The complexity of First Nations exploitation by the Hudson Bay Company, resulting poverty and, and loss of culture and identity is explored, all without being in-your-face or taking over the plot. Stef Penney had an uncanny ability of bringing the reader into the surroundings completely, to the point where I often needed a blanket around my shoulders when I was reading. My only criticism is that certain plot points fell into place a bit conveniently at the end, so everything seemed too neat and tidy. But it is a forgivable flaw given the caliber of the storytelling and imagery. MY RATING: 7/10.

Another fun read by Tahir Shah. The Caliph's House is actually the book Shah wrote prior to In Arabian Nights, and I wish I had read it first because it provides a lot of context and back-story that would have been useful to know before picking up the next one. Oh well, not to worry. Both do well as stand-alone books, and his unassuming style and ability to talk about his life, family, and the trials and tribulations of buying an renovating a crumbling mansion are endearing. If you're entertaining any romantic notions about buying a house in a third world country steeped in tradition, I recommend reading this book first. MY RATING: 7/10.

I'm updating this blog post a couple weeks after I first posted it because I completely forgot that I read this book last year. This is not because it was a terrible book - it wasn't. But it wasn't an amazing book, and it was quite upsetting. Mira Bartok and her sister grew up with a mother who was truly psychotic (multiple voices, multiple personalities, dangerous, violent, you name it), and suffered throughout her life because of it. Reading about all of the terrible things she lived through and had to cope with as a child was truly heartbreaking, but I found myself constantly wanting to put down the book, not continue reading to find out how she emerged. MY RATING: 6/10.

My friends at book club picked this book during a meeting I couldn't attend. Who knows if I would have gone for it at the time, but it was not the kind of book I wanted to end the year on. I hate to say it, because one wants to be congratulatory and charitable of someone who overcame the atrocities of war-torn Liberia, spousal abuse, and rapid procreation (4 kids in almost as many years) to rise to a position of influence within the post-war government. And I am impressed by Gbowee's strength and determination. But the book sucked. I wonder seriously who the editor was, or if there even was an editor, because it was practically unreadable. I could only read the first third, and then I put it down, so perhaps it improved (although my book club friends told me it did not), so I won't give a rating. If you're looking for an inspirational story about overcoming the hardships of war, there are better ones out there.

Review of Caleb's Crossing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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
17. The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney
18. The Caliph's House - Tahir Shah
19. The Memory Palace - Mira Bartok
20. Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War

2010 Write Off (I mean Wrap Up)

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

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