Little List of Reviews #1

- Meg 1 Comment

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Little List of Reviews #1Title: The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
Published by Harper
Published: February 11th 2014
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 304
Format: Trade Paper
Source: Library
Goodreads

I liked the premise of it, but like I mentioned in my Goodreads review, I thought the narrator made Bartholomew a bit slower than I probably would have imagined the character if I had read it instead of listened to it. It can be discerned from the story sometimes that the social awkwardness and social anxiety may place Bartholomew on the autism scale, but sometimes people who care for their overbearing, needy mothers in the way he did do end up being more socially reserved than others and not on the autism scale at all. I felt a lot of the story was too trite and stereotypical in a way that didn’t sit well with me. I don’t mind language, but one of the characters cannot speak two words before interjecting “fuck,” and the overuse of the word “retard” by the main character to describe himself got old and frustrating by the second time he used it. By about a quarter of the way through, I kept asking myself why I was still listening to it, and realized it was sort of like watching a train wreck. You don’t want to stop watching in case something better happens. Halfway through, I realized nothing better would happen and let it go.

Little List of Reviews #1Title: The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham
Published: August 11th 2015
Pages: 288
Format: Trade Paper
Source: Library
Goodreads

The premise sounded so interesting! It’s going to be made into a movie! I don’t read many books about Australia! Unfortunately for me, the characters fell flat, there wasn’t any connection among all of the characters introduced by the time I was halfway through the novel, and I didn’t feel like I cared about any of the characters or what happened to them. I might give the movie a go if it ever comes to Netflix because sometimes these kinds of stories work better on film.

Little List of Reviews #1Title: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
Published: September 30th 1999
Pages: 162
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

I can’t believe this was released in 1999. I remember when it first came out, and it makes me feel a little bit old. I read this last year in hopes of reading all thirteen by the end of 2015, but that didn’t happen. With the announcement of Neil Patrick Harris’ casting in the role as Count Olaf in the new Netflix series, I decided that in 2016 I am going to read all of them. For whatever reason, I’ve never read the last three, so I’m excited to discover how this story ends. These are great books for everyone who likes a good deal of dark humor, word play, and shenanigans that play on popular tropes, so if you haven’t read them, do give them a go!

Little List of Reviews #1Title: The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories by Michel Faber
Published: September 7th 2006
Pages: 199
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Goodreads

Faber apparently wrote these to appease himself and his fans who wanted to know what happened after The Crimson Petal and the White ended. To me, they read as deleted scenes of sorts. Good in their own right, but not good enough in the context of the novel. I liked the story with Sophie the most because it offered a peek into a relationship arrangement that would be considered scandalous even today by some people, but it didn’t offer the sense of completion I was hoping for. C’est la vie.

Little List of Reviews #1Title: The Night Manager by John le Carré
Published: November 7th 2013
Pages: 473
Format: Trade Paper
Source: Purchased
Goodreads

The things I do for Tom Hiddleston? I liked Tinker, Sailor, Solider, Spy, which admittedly I read after seeing the film and enjoying Gary Oldman’s and Benedict Cumberbatch’s roles in the film. I really don’t know why I took so long to read this (literally from March 2015 to February 2016), but I think I attribute it to the fact that I read it before I went to bed/fell asleep, so my brain got in the habit of wanting to fall asleep soon after picking it up again. It got really good in the last quarter of it, and the amount of building up that it took to get to that point might be why I let it linger for so long. I’m looking forward to the BBC/AMC mini-series, and I think it will translate nicely to screen as le Carré’s works tend to do.

I think I might make this a regular feature. Here’s a little list of reviews for books I’ve read up until now. Some of them are rereads, some of them are books that I didn’t devote enough time outside of reading to devote a whole review post (like write down my favorite parts, keep notes in a notebook, etc.), some of them are books I didn’t finish. I’m going to start with the ones I didn’t finish, just because I’d rather get the not-so-great out of the way.

BOOK REVIEW: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

- Meg 1 Comment

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BOOK REVIEW: The Nightingale by Kristin HannahTitle: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Published by St. Martin's Press
Published: February 3rd 2015
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Pages: 440
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library
Buy: Bookshop(afflilate link)
Goodreads

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France...but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When France is overrun, Vianne is forced to take an enemy into her house, and suddenly her every move is watched; her life and her child’s life is at constant risk. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates around her, she must make one terrible choice after another.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets the compelling and mysterious Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can...completely. When he betrays her, Isabelle races headlong into danger and joins the Resistance, never looking back or giving a thought to the real--and deadly--consequences.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah takes her talented pen to the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

Men tell stories. Women get on with it. For us it was a shadow war. There were no parades for us when it was over, no medals or mentions in history books. We did what we had to during the war, and when it was over, we picked up the pieces and started our lives over.

I’d heard a lot about this book from various people, publications, and my old job at the bookstore. It kept showing up everywhere, so I finally decided to reserve it at the library and give it a go. We usually hear about the stories of men in wars, a man’s heroic actions, and a man’s role in the war, but we hardly hear of what women went through during any war. Not in popular commercial fiction, anyway. I’ll be the first to admit that I was hesitant on picking it up because Hannah’s other works aren’t titles of interest to me, but I’m all about expanding my horizons this year. I’m glad I did for this one.

In The Nightingale, Hannah explores the relationship between two French sisters during World War II. It started out slow, a bit cliche at times, but by the time I got through a third of the book, I couldn’t put it down. I read straight on from about eight-thirty in the morning to noon. I wanted to read more of Isabelle’s story, and I can certainly see from this interview why Hannah wrote about a young woman leading hundreds of soldiers to freedom. I don’t recall reading anything even remotely similar to that in my history books, nor are the actions of women often spoken about in reference to the war. The Nightingale shows two women fighting their own battles during the war in their own ways, sometimes through being outspoken and daring, and sometimes through hardship and resilience.

Even though the story seemed too tidy and too happily-ever-after in its resolution, I really enjoyed reading it, and it makes me want to read more about the women who played such pivotal roles in World War II.

Monthly Rewind: January

- Meg

rewind

January was a weird and busy month! I moved back in with best friends in their new house, I am on the hunt for an additional job to support myself while I finish out this semester as an adjunct English professor, and I’m seriously loving that I can see the library from my front door. I did manage to read six books (and didn’t finish one). Now that I feel more established, I think I’ll be posting these once a month, and next month’s will hopefully be less sparse. So here’s January’s recap!

GENERAL BLOG UPDATES

Even though I technically implemented it in February, the blog has a little bit of a facelift! It was looking a little plain and impersonal, so it was time for a change. There’s a main blog header, and three headers for the three main styles of posts I’ll be writing. I might get fancier later.

BOOKS READ 

I’ve posted a review for one of these, I want to write a proper review for Truthwitch, and I think I’ll post a mini-review recap in a few days for the rest of them.

  • The Crimson Petal and the White – Michel Faber (owned)
  • The Bad Beginning – Lemony Snicket (owned)
  • The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight – Jennifer E. Smith (Netgalley)
  • Moth and Spark – Anne Leonard (owned)
  • The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories – Michel Faber (library)
  • Truthwitch – Susan Dennard (library)

DNF

I usually try to finish all of the books I read, but this one I had to stop about 60% of the way through. I’ll post more about it in that mini-review recap.

  • The Good Luck of Right Now – Matthew Quick

BOOKS ACQUIRED

I am trying to curb my acquisitions, spend less, use my library more, and read what I own, so I’m pleased with this list. I’m still waiting on the two giveaways I won from Goodreads, so if those don’t arrive by this weekend, I’m going to drop both a line!

  • 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas – Marie-Helene Bertino (Blogging for Books)
  • The Apple: New Crimson Petal Stories – Michel Faber (library)
  • Truthwitch – Susan Dennard (library)
  • The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah (library)
  • The Dressmaker – Rosalie Ham (library)
  • Eleanor – Jason Gurley (library)
  • We That Are Left – Clare Clark (library)
  • Far From the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy (purchased)
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Alan Dean Foster (purchased)

That’s all for this month. I’m planning on making this short, leap-yeared February a full one!

 

Top Ten Tuesday; My Favorite Settings

- Meg 3 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) features our favorite settings we like to see in the books we read! Here I’ve listed my favorite settings, and I tend to gravitate toward books with these themes, too. I love reading about day-to-day experiences of characters, right down to the nitty gritty, so the more “realistic” it is, the more I’m engaged with it. In essence, if it’s set in New York City, Paris, or London, I’m immediately drawn to it no matter what the time period, but these are my absolute favorites.

  1. England, and especially London, before, during, and after World War I. Even before Downton Abbey’s cultural popularity, I’ve loved this period. Edwardian Era? Check. WWI? Check. The Lost Generation? Check.
  2. The Tudor Era. Or basically anything to do with the kings and queens of England from The Wars of the Roses until Elizabeth I.
  3. Victorian England. If it’s got prostitutes and/or detectives, even better. Gothic themes and ghosts? Hell yes.
  4. The Middle Ages, anything from the Medieval times to the Renaissance. The influx of knowledge we gained over those hundred years is astounding, and old medical practices gross me out and intrigue me at the same time.
  5. Space, the final frontier. I love a good space opera or a space western, especially those that go to strange new worlds and engage with new, alien cultures.
  6. 19th century France. Something about Paris and the French countryside before the industrial revolution seems so romantic.
  7. Classical Greece, Rome, Ancient Egypt, and Biblical eras. I’m not religious, but the mythologies surrounding ancient cultures and religions are fascinating. I especially love reading about women in these times.
  8. Late 19th-early 20th century New York, right as the city begins to come to life during the industrial revolution.
  9. Time travel. I haven’t really come across many books lately that delve into traveling through time, but I’m so excited to read Passenger!
  10. Fairy tales, especially ones with princesses, princes, kings, queens, fairies, magic, and sprawling, lush kingdoms.

Which are your favorite settings?

BOOK REVIEW: 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas, by Marie Helene Bertino

- Meg 2 Comments

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BOOK REVIEW: 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas, by Marie Helene BertinoTitle: 2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino
Published by Broadway Books
Published: October 27th 2015
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 288
Format: Trade Paper
Source: Blogging for Books
Buy: Bookshop(afflilate link)
Goodreads

An enchanting and staggeringly original debut novel about one day in the lives of three unforgettable characters  Madeleine Altimari is a smart-mouthed, rebellious nine-year-old who also happens to be an aspiring jazz singer. Still mourning the recent death of her mother, and caring for her grief-stricken father, she doesn’t realize that on the eve of Christmas Eve she is about to have the most extraordinary day—and night—of her life. After bravely facing down mean-spirited classmates and rejection at school, Madeleine doggedly searches for Philadelphia's legendary jazz club The Cat's Pajamas, where she’s determined to make her on-stage debut. On the same day, her fifth grade teacher Sarina Greene, who’s just moved back to Philly after a divorce, is nervously looking forward to a dinner party that will reunite her with an old high school crush, afraid to hope that sparks might fly again. And across town at The Cat's Pajamas, club owner Lorca discovers that his beloved haunt may have to close forever, unless someone can find a way to quickly raise the $30,000 that would save it.   As these three lost souls search for love, music and hope on the snow-covered streets of Philadelphia, together they will discover life’s endless possibilities over the course of one magical night. A vivacious, charming and moving debut, 2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas will capture your heart and have you laughing out loud.

If you are anything other than humbled in the presence of love, you are not in the presence of love.

Marie-Helene Bertino’s writing is incredibly fresh and free-flowing, almost like jazz itself. It feels timeless it the sense that this story could have happened in the fifties or sixties or in contemporary times. There are very few details that suggest that this novel happens in the 2010s (I think there is only one mention of a touch screen phone). Because of that timelessness, the novel reads like a dream sequence. It’s effective and transporting.

This novel takes place over the span of a single day, from seven in the morning of Christmas Eve eve to seven in the morning of Christmas Eve. It follows a handful of interconnected characters, but it seemed to lack a deeper focus in characterization. When it ended, I wanted to know more about who these characters are and what happens in the coming year. I wanted to read more about Madeleine, the nine year old girl who doesn’t take shit from anybody. I’d really like to read about who she becomes when she grows up, because I think it would be a fascinating companion piece.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It’s a great novel about what happens between ends and new beginnings, and sometimes that’s exactly the novel we need to read.

A copy of this book was provided for review by Blogging For Books. All opinions are my own.