Room

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I don't really know how to review this book, so lets just start by saying that this book left me FEELING ALL THE EMOTIONS!  I mean it people, I cried, I cheered, I wanted to punch some of the characters in the face, I felt inspired by motherly love, and in awe of this brave little boy, and frustrated, and amused, and totally heartbroken, and then impressed that this talented author could so astutely tell this story even though she hadn't lived it.  I felt all these things in a very quick and easy 342 pages, so after I reached the back cover I had to digest this book like I have never done with any other novel, and I couldn't figure out why {yes the story was disturbing but I am rarely shocked or bothered}.  Emma Donoghue knows how to reach down into your emotional well and pump it dry.  Maybe it was the content {think Jaycee Dugard}, though we hear stories of this sort all the time on the nightly news {sadly}.  Or maybe it was the fact that this emotional roller-coaster was through the eyes of a 5 year old boy named Jack, or maybe now that I am a mother I could understand the deep love Jack's mother had for him and I could put myself in her shoes {or more than likely it was the whole package}.  Whatever the reason for my uneasy feeling and long digestion period to this book I came to a couple conclusions.  The story was unbelievably well written, and though the topic was a rough one to read, I think Room was a story that needed to be told.   

So as I said before, this book was written through the eyes of a very special little boy named Jack.  Jack is blissfully unaware that there is anything out of the ordinary with his life.  He lives in Room {everything in Jack's life while he is in captivity is a proper noun by the way}, he has his mother to himself 24/7, he has food, he has a very scheduled life that includes learning, and playing, he is happy and content.  Until one day he sees a jet stream out of the only window to the outside world {a skylight}, and as his Mom tries to explain what he is seeing she realizes that they really need to try and get out of their captivity, Jack is just getting too old and she can't pretend that their captivity in normal any longer.  So Jack's Mom starts to plan their escape...  

The first half of this book is all about life in Room.  The second half of this book is about life outside of Room.  Could you imagine living your entire life in an 11x11 space, always thinking that it's normal, not knowing there is anything else out there, only to be thrust into society, with loud noises, big wide open spaces, bright sunlight, temperature changes, etc.?  It would be a little like being born and remembering every detail.  The way Donoghue writes this story through Jack's eyes, you feel his confusion, and his pain, and emotions.  It really is heartbreaking.  The worst part is that as he is getting acclimated to this new big, bright, loud, world, the other characters think that he should just be able to jump into life with two feet, they don't realize that he has all the anxiety and fear.  I just wanted to strangle these characters, scream at them for not understanding, because they weren't in Room with Jack; and I {as the reader} was!!!  

The book can be discussed to death from a psychological point of view, from a mothers point of view, from just a casual readers point of view, and because of that it would be an interesting discussion for a book club or maybe even a high school/collage level psych class.  The topic was fascinating to say the least, and the point of view was unique.  I would recommend reading this when you want something of substance.  The writing was beautiful and rich but the topic was grim.  This is going into my rare 5 Star rating, one of the best books I have come across in a long time.

RATING: 5 Stars

3 more reviews on this book:

The New Dork Review of Books

Leeswammes' Blog

Stacking Books

Room: A Novel by Emma Donoghue

{Purchased on Amazon.com for my Kindle}

ISBN B004QIZ7EQ

Pages 342

If you liked Room by Emma Donoghue you might also enjoy Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer.

The Passage

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Wow.  November 13th was my last post...  I am so sorry for all of you that have followed my blog.  I did not die, I had a baby {a healthy 6lb 9oz adorable baby boy}!  Yep, from November - February I was reading TONS of "preparing for baby" books and no fiction what-so-ever.  Then after he was born in March I never had any time between poopy diapers, spit up, and learning to be a Mommy {along with running my business, and being a wife}.  Now that we are settling into a routine I have some more time to read and now I am just finding time to blog.  I have read quite a few books in the last few months.  I bought a Kindle so reading is much easier now that I have to have one arm to hold the little guy.  Luckily most of the books I have read recently have all be spectacular {only one FAIL among them}. So in the next few days I'll try and crank out some reviews so you can read and discuss!  First on the agenda is The Passage by Justin Cronin...

Oh. My. Goodness.  This book knocked my socks off!!!  Dystopia, vampires {not the sexy glittery kind, but the terrifying bat like kind that suck you dry or turn you into a monster}, survival, adventure; I was riveted from page one.  The book starts off with a series of emails between two scientists discussing a trip to the Amazon {I believe}, then the emails take a turn as one of the scientists heads out on this trip and bad things start to happen and everyone dies or nearly dies {death by bats - the flying kind not the Louisville Slugger kind}.   Then the book jumps to a private investigator that is commissioned to finding death row inmates and giving them the option to die by the needle or to be used in a military experiment.  Then you jump to a chapter in the eyes of a little girl that is left in a convent.  Then finally the P.I. and the girl cross paths because the P.I. gets the job of picking up this orphaned little girl at the convent so the military could do the same experiments on a child {newly orphaned, no paper trail, very shady, you get the picture}.  Then we jump to the military base where these experiments are taking place and we learn that the scientist from the beginning of the book is helping the military create an indestructible soldier, however the experiment has gone totally bad and the inmates/bat people {i.e. vampires, kinda} break out of their labs and start killing everyone or at least changing them into the vampire-beast things too.  Well it doesn't take to long before the United States is infested with these beasts like the plague and then the Nuclear Bombs drop.

OK now we jump 100 years into the future after the Nuclear fallout to this little settlement of survivors.  They have created this little settlement and have been happy and well for years but as always there is the question "is there anyone else out there?", plus lights what were created to keep the vampires out are starting to fail, so they have to head out into the wilderness in search of help or a new power source.  Well that is the rest of the story.  They set off to find the answer in this vampire-beast infested world.  And let me tell you it makes for an amazing read!  And even though this book is nearly around 800 pages you just want more when the last page is finished, but have no fear this is the beginning of a TRILOGY!!  Woot woot!!

Something else I have to mention is that the writing is out of this world.  The wording, the details, the cadence of the whole book is perfection.  There were times that I got so caught up in the flow of the writing that I had to go back and read it again to get the content.  And characters are very fleshed out, the prose are deep, and the mix of everything makes this one of the best books I have read in the last couple years.  This book has landed on my top 5 books of all times.

I don't think this book is for everyone though.  There is a lot of scary bits where I had to stop reading and wait for the day to come to read some more.  And there is a religious undertone that was very interesting that some may not get or very much like {but I enjoyed}.  I really really want my book club to read this so I can discuss it with someone because there is a lot to discuss in this book.  So if you want to chat with me about the book in the comment section please do!  Just let people know in the beginning of your post if you are including a spoiler.

All in all this is a must read if you are into scary, thriller, dystopia kind of stuff.  If you are more of a light hearted, fluffy, unicorn kind of person steer clear of this one it may just scare the dickens out of you. 

RATING: 5 Stars

3 more reviews of The Passage:

books i done read

Lovely Little Shelf

Charlotte Chase

The Passage by Justin Cronin

{Purchased on Amazon.com for my Kindle}

ISBN 0345504968

Pages 784

If you liked The Passage by Justin Cronin than read The Road by Cormic McCarthy

 

Mockingjay

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Oh my.  This one is a long time coming for sure.  After my obsession with Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins last year I just could not wait for Mockingjay.  So on the day it came out I rushed out before work and bought it (even though I couldn't read a word of it until after work).  And guess what?  I was NOT disappointed people!!  I may be one of the rare readers that didn't have a problem with this book at all!  I thought that every thing that happened needed to happen.  Every death, every match made, every battle, every thing.  I was shocked in the appropriate places, outraged in the correct spots, and at the edge of my seat during the right parts.  Now saying all that; Mockingjay was not my favorite book of the Hunger Games Trilogy.  I liked them in the order they were released for sure.  I felt like Hunger Games even though it was politically charged it was pure adventure and action.  Catching Fire again was full of adventure and action but it dealt with even heavier issues than the first book.  Now with Mockingjay it is complete and total political propaganda and the characters seem a little jaded and lost (but that is what makes the book feel so real), if you were going though what these young people were going though you would not be yourself anymore either.  Don't get me wrong, there is enough action and adventure in Mockingjay to go around, it is just deeper and a little more mature than the other two books.


I am going to write this synopsis with out any spoilers to Mockingjay but be warned that there is going to have to be some spoilers from the first two installments (don't say I didn't warn you, and if you haven't read any of the trilogy I would recommend you turn back now and go get the books).  Anyway, in Mockingjay you are brought back to Panem after Katniss has been rescued from her second time in the arena by the survivors of district 13.  She is kind of an empty shell of the Katniss we know but who can blame her.  Peeta has been taken by the Capitol, and her District has been blown to smithereens and she is just totally lost and doesn't know who to trust.  The Districts are in full scale rebellion now, and the Capitol is losing it's foot hold of power.  District 13 know that the rebellion needs a leader or "mascot" and of course Katniss is the obvious choice.  And because Katniss now has a death wish and just doesn't care anymore she decides to become the Mockingjay, the face of the rebellion.  Something I thought was interesting was that Collins opted to not tie everything up in a pretty little bow.  She left a few strands and she left some messy strands, but in a situation like this one you can't have everything hunky dory on the end.

I have read a lot of reviews about Mockingjay and most of them have something negative to say about Katniss's character in this book.  She isn't the go getter she was in the first two books, but after the beat down she has received in the first two stories you can't really blame her, after all she is only 17 years old, and has already spent 2 years fighting for her life, and the 5 years before keeping her family alive.  When I read books like Twilight and Hunger Games I have to remind myself that the characters are teenagers, so their fickleness and their feelings, and their drama, and selfcenteredness come with the hormonal territory.  When you think of it like that you start to like the characters a little  more.

I am sad to see this series come to an end but I am glad that Collins didn't drag it out to the point of annoyingness to make a few more dollars.  She kept it to the point and a perfect length in my opinion.  I am anxious to see what the movie will be like next  year and that they cast it correctly.  I'm up for the job if Lionsgate wants me!!

Rating: 5 Stars

3 More reviews:
Books i Done Read
Lovely Little Self
Forever Young

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
{Purchased at Target}
ISBN 0439023513
Pages 400

If you liked Mockingjay then you need to read: Tomorrow when the War Began by John Marsden

Lullaby

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Have you ever been a room where someone is watching TV, and someone is playing a computer game, and someone else is talking to someone else, and the phone is ringing, and the dog is barking, and micro-wave is dinging, and a baby is crying, and you just want to stand on a chair and scream at the top of you lungs to just "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP"!  Well that is how Lullaby is but in literary form.  And the funny thing is...  I kinda loved it!!  I mean the big kind of love where you can't stop talking about it, you wanna buy it in hardback, you want to sleep with it under your pillow, and you want everyone else to love it just as hard as you do.  I just have to say, Chuck Palahniuk, where have you been all my life??  I think most of us would recognize Chuck Palahniuk's work from Fight Club which is one of my favorite movies of all time (though I haven't read the book yet), and if you can picture the darkness of Fight Club you can understand the darkness of Lullaby.  The humor is DARK, and DRY, and the story is DISTURBING, and the prose are GRUESOME, but even so this book is hysterical (even though sometimes you feel like it is inappropriate to laugh, and you might feel the need to take a shower after reading it), and it really gets you thinking about life and death.  If you have a weak stomach move on, you won't want to digest this book.  But if you are up for some mind Olympics, and some amazing writing dive right in please!

So in this book we meet Carl Streator, investigative journalist extraodinaire.  He prides himself on not missing the details when he is on an assignment and that is how he gets himself into the mess in this story.  Carl is assigned a 5 part article on SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), he heads out to a families house that sadly have just lost their little one to this strange Syndrome.  While Carl is looking over the nursery he notes a library book on the bedside table opened to a nursery rhyme (a culling song) on page 27.  On the second house call to a victim of SIDS he notices the same library book, and on and on it goes.  So he reads the rhyme on the page and recites it to his editor who dies.  Now Carl is off on a wild goose chase through the U.S. (with 2 Wiccans {Mona & Oyster}, and an eccentric real estate agent that sells haunted houses{Helen Hoover Boyle}) to find the remaining copies of this book and destroy them.  The only thing is, that every time Carl recites the Culling Song (even in his head) someone dies.  That is all I'm gonna say.  There is SOOOOOOO much more to this book than the little bit I have just mentioned.  There is Carl's story, Helen's Story, Mona and Oysters story, the characters fight for power, twists, turns, dead ends, death, carnage, cell phone calls, talking cows, flying Virgins, more twists, more turns, more dead ends, and can you tell why I gave the loud room analogy earlier?

Like I mentioned before, don't read this book if you are easily sick or if you are easily offended.  There is gore and offensiveness a plenty.  But do pick this book up if you want something SUPER different to read.  Or if you want to laugh out loud.  Or if you want to discuss the heck out of it with me!  The only regret I have is that I didn't actually read this book but listened to the Audiobook.  Though the reader Richard Poe was FANTASTIC!  You won't regret reading this little gem, unless of course you do regret it, and then I warned you about the gore.

BOOK vs. MOVIE: There has been some interest in this book for a movie adaption by the director of Fight Club.  There is also a rumor that a Swedish director may pick up the project.  All I can say is that if it is done as well as Fight Club (and remember I haven't read that book yet, so don't judge me for a comparison yet), I would be at the theater to see it.

RATING: 5 Stars

3 more reviews of Lullaby:

I'm A Book Worm

MegaLung

Smitten

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk {Audo Book}

ISBN 1402524978

6 Disc {3 Hours 29 Minutes}

Read by Richard Poe

If you liked Lullaby then you should read: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

The Road

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Holy Cow.  Seriously.  This book blew my mind.  My mind is officially blown.  Whoo.  I don't really even have words.  I have been sitting on this review for a few days so that I could digest this book and think about everything that I had just finished reading and then I went back and reread quite a bit of the book again.  And after the second reading I had to redigest what I read again.  Now I am exhausted and I hope that the apocalypse doesn't happen tonight because I am emotionally spent after reading The Road.  On top of all the darkness that is The Road, Cormac McCarthy has written a beautiful piece of work, the imagery and depth of feeling in this book is remarkable.  Seriously y'all.  My mind is blown.  Thank you thank you Greg (over at The New Dork Review of Books) for putting this book on my radar.  I owe you a good book suggestion now!

The Road is a story of survival, dystopia, the love between a parent and their child, and also a little bit about hope.  It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where vegetation and animals are extinct, the sun doesn't shine through the fall out ash, and the few people that are left roaming the land are DANGEROUS.  You follow the story of father and son that are headed south on The Road hoping that when they get to their undetermined destination something will be at the other end.  All the while they are trying to survive and "carry the fire" (the phrase that symbolizes goodness through out the book) even though the odds aren't in their favor.  Food is scarce, roving gangs of cannibals are everywhere, and the climate is HARSH.  The end of this crazy story is AMAZING!!!!  I was freaking the heck out when I read the last few pages, and I think that is when I can pin point when my mind became blown.

Something that I though was so appropriate was the fact that McCarthy didn't name his characters.  They were simply referred to as the man and the boy.  In a time where identity isn't important anymore it just fit perfectly.  I don't know that another story could be told with out character names.  At least not as well as The Road was.  In most reviews on this book you will read about how the landscape was a character in this book and I have to agree.  McCarthy painted a pretty bleak picture of what a post-apocalyptic world would look like.  I don't really know if you could have anything BUT a bleak picture of a post-apocalyptic world but McCarthy executes it superbly.  I devour dystopic and post-apocalyptic survival stories but The Road is by far the cream of the crop when it comes to this genera.  It won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 and it surely deserved it.

There is so much I would love to discuss about this book but I can't do that with out giving away some spoilers so I am letting you know if you are reading and don't want the book to be spoiled stop reading this next paragraph.  I am going to just run through my mind blowing thought and then I am going to stop.  So don't read further if you don't want to know about then end....

OK, so at the end when the man dies and the boy steps out on the road and sees the man in the yellow parka.  The yellow parka man mentions that his group had been watching the man and the boy for a while.  It killed me that the whole time the boy and the man had been headed south to find "the good guys" and "the good guys" were behind them the entire time.  I don't know why this blew my mind, the irony in that just killed me.  After all that happened why couldn't they have figured that out before.  Then I was thinking that when the man and the boy were in the town where the boy saw the other little boy and he wanted to go back and make sure that the other little boy wasn't lost and scared, could that have been the same group?  The yellow parka man mentions that he has a little boy and a little girl.  Also something else that intrigued me was the way the boy was somewhat religious though religion was all but gone by the time he was born.  "Carrying the Fire" to me was kind of an ichthys symbol of "the good" or of God.  There are so many other little questions I would like a second opinion on.  Geez.

BOOK vs. MOVIE:  There is a movie of The Road that has fairly new and I have't had the chance to see it yet.  Actually I can't find it anywhere.  But I can't wait to get my hands on it because I am sure it is more intense than the book.  The book was intense but if you could see the pictures unfold in front of your eyes I would believe that it would be an edge of your seat kinda movie.  I'll review the movie when I finally find a copy to watch.

RATING: 5 Stars

3 More Reviews on The Road:

The New Dork Review of Books 

{Insert Suitably Snappy Title Here}

About Writing

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

ISBN 0307476316

Pages: 304

If you liked The Road you should try: The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Monstrumologist

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I didn't know what to expect with The Monstrumologist but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised!  Rick Yancy certainly told a fabulous action packed story from cover to cover with this one!  I was captivated with it from the first line and then I read greedily until the last line.  There are a few things that I found interesting about this book the first of witch was the fact that this is considered YA Fiction.  I have never experienced YA quite like this before and I want to point out that this is YA at it's finest in my opinion.  No vampire romances, no sorcery schools, no prom nights, no fighting with your best friend over a boy friend, actually no high school at all, and where I do enjoy an occasional trip down Twilight Lane I think sometimes YA Fiction gets pigeonholed when it comes to content.  The Monstrumologist is just so different from anything I have read in YA that it was certainly a nice surprise.    Another thing that I found very interesting was the amount of words I had to look up.  In the first few chapters I had already made a list of 20 or so words that I needed to look up.  I love a book that challenges the mind like that!  And being YA, this book would be great to read right before SAT's because it will stretch your vocabulary for sure!  

The Monstrumologist starts out in modern time, when a nursing home director stumbles across a big bundle of leather bound journals in a recently deceased patients room.  When the patient arrived at the nursing home a few years before he only identified himself as William Henry and told everyone that he was over 130 years old.  Because Will Henry had no living relatives there was no way to confirm or deny his identity but the coordinator was certain that he couldn't 130 year old.  When he starts to read the journals he thinks what he is reading is a work or fiction but is it?  Then the book flips over to a time in the late 1800s when Will Henry is only a boy of 12.  Will Henry's parents had passed away a year before in a fire and he went to live with his fathers employer Dr. Pellinore Warthrop.  Dr. Warthrop is a very strange man who's profession is Monstrumology (the study of Monsters).  And when a graver robber arrives at the Doctors door step one dark and stormy night with evidence that proves that the small New England town has an infestation of Anthropophagi, (a large beast with razor sharp teeth, deadly claws, and no heads) Will Henry is thrown into the horrible adventure!  The story gives some answers to not only what the beast is but also a clue to who Jack the Ripper might be, as well as an explanation to the longevity of Will Henry.

As I mentioned before I loved this book from cover to cover and I would recommend it to anyone that loves adventure, horror, and drama.  I would not recommend this to anyone that is easily scared or has a weak stomach as some of the book is a bit gory.  The story ends with a little bit of a cliff hanger, or at least an open ended invitation for another book to come, and when I was checking out Rick Yancy's website earlier I noticed that the saga continues in September 2010!  So I am excited to see what the next journal of Will Henry holds.  I sure hope it is as riveting of an adventure as the Anthropophagi brought! 

BOOK vs. MOVIE:  I think this is a rare case where the movie could outshine the book.  As far as I know there is no plans so far to turn this into a screen play but seriously people!  Snap to!!!!  Get it done!  I wanna see an Anthropophagus!!!!  

RATING: 5 Stars

3 More reviews of The Monstrumologist:

Opinionated? Me?

The Book Smugglers

A Book Dork

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancy

ISBN 9781416984481

Pages: 448

If you liked The Monstrumologist then read: Monster by Frank Peretti

Son of a Witch

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Oh Gregory Maguire how you make me want to put my house on the market and move to Oz.  I am SO intrigued by what goes on between Maguires ears when he writes about a place so real to me now, that I want to look for real estate.  I can not even fathom how he has created such a vivid world with a religious, political, and cultural structure so fictional yet so believable.  I marvel at how he has created a world that the reader is already familiar with and expound on it so drastically giving answers to questions such as: What the heck is the Yellow Brick Road?  Why are there flying monkeys?  Why do lions (or might I say Lions) talk?  In our childhood stories of Oz we have the Wizard, the Wicked Witch of the West, Glenda the good Witch, and the Wicked Witch of the East.  These characters were all part of a fairy tale, but in Maguires Oz they are politicians, and extremists. The citizens of Oz are all of different political minds (some like the Wizard, some like Glenda, some like the Emperor Apostle, some like Elphaba - the Wicked Witch of the West).  All are unhappy with the unrest of their world.  They belong to different religions (Tick-Tockism, The Pleasure Faith, Unionism, Lorleanists).  They belong to different cultures (The Scrow, Yunimata, and Arjikis, Quadlings, Munchkins, and Animals).  Maguire threads together a world so complex that it can only be compared to our own society.  There is nothing flat about Maguires tales of Oz, they are so 3 dimensional, the story lines and the society are so deep and intricate that you feel like you are reading a history book (albeit a very entertaining one). 

In Son of a Witch you return to Oz a few minutes after Elphaba has melted into a big green puddle.  Elphaba's son Liir, Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow head out of Kiamo Ko and start the long trek to the Emerald City.  When Liir gets to the Emerald City he starts off on his quest to find his lost childhood friend Nor, find out his origins (he doesn't know for sure if he is Elphaba's Son), and just generally trying to find his place in life.  Along the way he gets mixed up in the politics of Oz, falls in love with a girl and falls in love with a guy.  Tries to live up to Elphaba's legend, rids Oz of dragons, joins the Oz military, and maybe fathers a child (not necessarily all in that order).

Something I LOVE about Gregory Maguire's Oz stories is the language.  He has created such great words for the places and people in his stories.  Kiamo Ko, the Vinkas, Liir, Elphaba, Princess Nastoya, Yackle, Iskinarry.  The list can go on and on.  The names of places and people joined with Maguires fantastic word choices make all his writing poetic.  Can you tell that I heart Gregory Maguire's Oz?

Something that I have to say negative about my experience with Son of a Witch was that I didn't enjoy the audio book version.  The story was read by the author himself and I have to stay that he should stick with writing.  I just didn't love his voices and every few minutes he would take a HUGE intake of breath and it was rather distracting because I would wait for it. 

MOVIE vs. BOOK: I would love to see a movie of Wicked and Son of a Witch.  Not a musical like the play but a dramatic version of both Wicked and Son of a Witch.  I think they would be extremely interesting and entertaining.

RATING: 5 Stars

3 More reviews of Son of a Witch: (none very positive)

Cucullus non Facit Monachum

The Melbury Gentlemen's Club

The Literate Housewife

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire {Audio Book}

ISBN 9781419362743

12 Discs {14 hours 15 minutes}

Narrated by Gregory Maguire

If you like this book you would enjoy: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

The Book Thief

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First, before I review The Book Thief (and oh how I can't wait to review The Book Thief), I wanted to apologize to anyone that has been following my blog from the beginning.  It seems that about 3 months ago I lost my voice.  Not my literal voice (obviously) but my blogging voice.  I have been in a little ginormous writing rut the last few months and I feel like with the new year I was granted a fountain of renewed inspiration to write again.  I am apologizing because I know that my reviews have been a little dry, but I am back and ready to blog.  So... With out further ado...  The Book Thief...

Heavens, where do I even begin!?  There were so many elements to this book and I want to discuss them all so that you all feel the need to stop what your doing (after you leave a comment of course), and run sprint to your nearest book shop and pick up a copy or two of The Book Thief.  (Can you tell I enjoyed this book?  Maybe... Just a little...).  Mark Zusak hit the ball out of the park and across the street with this little gem of a novel.  His writing is beautiful and he paints a beautiful picture with his words.  To describe The Book Thief to someone without summarizing the story I would say that it is a tribute to reading, set in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death.  Then if you were still not interested in reading The Book Thief I may resort to hitting you upside the head with volume and calling you a Saumench (OK so probably I wouldn't resort to violence, but I would probably still call you a Saumench, since it is my new favorite word thanks to this book).

So the plot is very simple and goes like this...  Liesel Meminger is a young German girl that is being taken to live with a new foster family in Molching Germany during WWII.  On the way to Molching her little brother passes away and when they bury him she steals her first book.  When she arrives at her new home alone, confused, and afraid, her new Papa Hans Hubermann, teaches Liesel to read using her stolen book.  Thus begins Liesel's fascination with words, reading, and stealing books.  Through out the story Liesel encounters a great group of characters such as her best fiend Rudy who is obsessed with American Track star Jessie Owens.  Max, the Jewish man that is hiding in her basement.  Rosa, her foul mouthed foster mother.  And of course in a round about way Death.  Death sums up the plot of this book perfectly when he says in the beginning:

"It's just a small story really, about, among other things:

*A Girl

*Some words

*An accordionist

*Some fanatical Germans

*A Jewish fist fighter

*And quite a lot of thievery"

Anyway, if you couldn't tell, The Book Thief really it is one of the best books I have experienced in quite a while, I have been on a roll of bad books lately, so I am really excited about finally finding a good piece of literature.  The plot line was unique, the writing style was unique, the point of view was unique, and the characters were developed really well.  Thank you Markus Zusak for getting me out of my reading (and writing) rut!!

BOOK vs. MOVIE:  I am sure this movie will need to be watched with a hand full of tissue.  I see that 2010 is supposed to be the release year for this movie but I don't see a production house or a cast list anywhere so it probably is just a rumor at this point.  I hope they do the book justice though, because I am sure it would make a good film adaption.

RATING: 5 Stars

3 More review on The Book Thief:

• A Reader's Respite
• Jackets and Covers
• Books I Liked, Loved or Hated

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

ISBN 9780375842207

Pages 560

If you liked this book try: Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

The Time Travlers Wife

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Okay.  I think it is finally time...  I have been waiting for just the right moment to review my #1 favorite book on my book shelf.  It is the book that changed reading for me forever.  I put books into two categories, before Time Travelers Wife, and after Time Travelers Wife.  Before The Time Travelers Wife I didn't really know how much I could actually LOVE and appreciate a book.  After Time Travelers Wife I have found other books that rival this one in either writing or plot (but never really both).  The reason it has taken me this long to write my review is because I just didn't know how to put my love into words.  I am still not sure I am up to the task but I think I am going to finally give it a whirl.  The first thing I want to say is that when you pick up The Time Travelers Wife you have to clear your mind of any expectations you may have for this story and start completely fresh.  I have read this book multiple times and every time I flip open the cover I have to forget what I already know.  I have to pretend I have never met Clare or Henry before, that I don't know about their unique love story, that I don't know the fate of these two characters, I have to start fresh Every. Single. Time.  And every time I read this brilliant piece of writing by Audrey Niffenegger, I laugh at the funny parts, and I cry at the sad ones, and even though I know all of them by heart, I fall in love again.

Bear with me and try to wrap your head around this creative plot...  When Clare meets Henry for the first time, Clare is a very little girl and Henry is a middle aged man, and Henry at the time of Clare's first meeting is married to Clare in the future.  When Henry meets Clare for the first time, Clare is in her early twenties and Henry is on the brink of thirty, but Clare has known Henry for her entire life and Henry is just meeting her for the first time.  Henry has a genetic disorder that hurls him (unwillingly) back and forth through time so a meeting like this can be possible. We follow Henry and Clare through their unique lives, through both of the first meetings, through their marriage, their family, and life as a Time Traveler.  And there is no way in heck you are going to pry more information out of me about this story.  You will just have to read it yourself to find out more about this amazing love story that takes place in the past, present, and future.

I know the plot sounds complicated but Niffenegger has penned a tale that is so easy to follow yet so intricate in nature that you are instantly drawn into the story.  Every time I read this book I am flabbergasted that someones brain works the way that Audrey Niffenegger's does.  She is a genius to be able to come up with a story line so complicated, and yet so beautifully written that you can follow it so well.  I only wish I could have her brain for an hour or two so I could experience how it works.

Book vs. Movie: Sadly (like always) the movie did no justice to this story.  If you have seen this movie please don't judge book.  There is so much information packed into the pages of the novel that it would be nearly impossible to put it into a 2 hour movie.  When we went to see the movie my husband (who has not read the book) leaned over to me and said "this is a great movie".  I turned to him and looked at him like he was crazy.  I was so disappointed.  At least he enjoyed the show but if he ever reads the book (highly unlikely) I am sure he would agree that there is not even the slightest comparison.  

The Time Travelers Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger

If you liked this book read: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Help {Book Club Read}

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I am on a roll with AMAZING books!  I read this book for our December Book Club and I couldn't put it down!!!  I truthfully wasn't really excited to read the book at first but that's what book clubs are for, branching out your reading list, right?  Anyway, I bought the book, took it home, read the first chapter and it was all over from that point.  I was hooked big time with the writing, again for me, most of the time, it is about OUT OF THIS WORLD writing, and this book has it as well as a wonderful story.  This debut novel by Kathryn Stockett held me captive with the amazing dialect she used with each character.  She really new how to develop her characters and it made the book so enjoyable.  Each chapter of the book was written in one of the characters points of view, and that kept the story fresh and exciting with every turn of the page.

The story takes place in Jackson Mississippi during the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.  The Society ladies run the town of Jackson, and their houses are ran by their "colored" hired help.  The ladies trust the raising of their children to their maids but they don't trust them to polish their silver (a line from the book jacket that has stuck with me).  It is a horrible time of segregation, racism, and cruelty in Jackson and three women take it upon themselves to try and change things.  The story follows these three women Skeeter (a society lady that thinks things need to change), Aibileen (a black lady that works as a maid for one of Skeeters best friends), and Minny (Aibileen's best friend and also a maid for another crazy rich lady in town).  Skeeter is troubled by the way her friends treat their maids and decides that she is going to write a book about the relationships between the maids and the ladies that employ them, from the maids point of view.  This is a dangerous project that could end up getting Aibileen and Minny killed, as severe beatings are common in Jackson at this point in time for people that speak out against segregation and civil rights.  When the book becomes a best seller things get out of control in Jackson as accusations fly, friends ships are broken, and the maids are terrified of loosing their jobs (or their lives).

While I read this book I felt a profound sense of sadness.  I can't believe that there was ever a time of such hatred and cruelty.  And then after that I felt ashamed with the realization that a lot of people still think this way.  I give great applause to Kathryn Stockett for treading a thin line to write this story.  There is a lesson in her words and I am a better person for reading The Help.  I have already started recommending this book to anyone that will listen, so if you haven't go out and buy this book ASAP!!

Book vs. Movie: I would absolutely watch a movie based on The Help.  The writing is so well done that I could actually see this story unfolding before my eyes, so to really see it on the screen would be amazing.  I am sure that a screenplay will be in the works real soon.

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett


If you like this book than read: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Catching Fire

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Oh.  My.  Gosh.  If Suzanne Collins was sitting next to me right now I would give her a big ol' kiss on the lips!!!  Not only did she hit it out of the park with Hunger Games but then she out did her self with this little gem.  I was so excited to see what was going on with Katniss and Peeta that I feel like I flew through this book and really didn't have time to digest it.  I even had to go back and skim back through chapters to pick up some details that I flew past the first time on my anxious pursuit to see what was going to happen next!

In this second installment of Suzanne Collins Hunger Game trilogy we start out back in District 12 after Katniss and Peeta have survived the Hunger Games.  After they come back home and readjust to life in District 12 they have to head out on their mandatory winners tour of the districts, unfortunately President Snow is oh-so-angry about their little rebellious move in the Hunger Games arena and he is out to make an example out of Katniss and Peeta.  With rebellion rumors bubbling up in the some of the districts and the "Quarter Quell" just around the corner, we are right back in the thick of things with Katniss and Peeta.  You don't really know what is going on until about page 175 but when you get there you are like OH MY GOSH, HOLY MOLY, I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED, WHAT THE HECK!!!!!

I think that this book may even top the Hunger Games if you can believe it!  I LOVED the ride that Suzanne Collins took me on with this one.  The only 2 things I can complain about is that I can't wait a whole year for the final story to be told and I still don't know if I am Team Peeta or Team Gale!!

Book vs. Movie:  Yes please!  Hurry!!

Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins
ISBN-13: 9780439023498


If you liked this book please read: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

The Handmaid's Tale - Book Club Read

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So this evening I finished The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.  I have read this book before but I suppose I had forgotten the details because I felt like I was reading it for the first time.  I could only sort of remember what was going to happen next so when the story unfolded it was like reading it anew!  I had to read this one for my book club and I am sure that it will encourage a lot of discussion because of the controversial nature of this story (I will post the outcome of the discussion next week after our meeting).  I kind of have a love/hate relationship with Margaret Atwood.  I feel that she is a very important writer in literary history and I went through a time when I owned all her novels (even her collections of short stories) but I started to really dislike her writing style after reading about 6 or so of her novels.  Sometimes she would capture my attention and her writing (The Blind Assassin)was organized and easy to read and other times I felt she rambled and there was no point to the story she was trying to tell (The Robber Bride).  The Handmaid's Tale was one of the stories that I could fallow without boredom and while the ending isn't really satisfying, the story as a whole does make sense.

In The Handmaid's Tale we are introduced to a society that has taken hold after the fall of The United States.  A new government takes power and they are totally and staunchly biblically based.  Women loose all their rights including the right to read the written word, and they are kept as possessions of the men either as Wives, Handmaids (birthing machines), or Marthas (servants).  This book is the story of one Handmaid named Offred (a name given to her meaning possession Of Fred), it is told from her point of view, and it is the story of her life as a first generation Handmaid in the new land of Gilead.  Because she is a first generation Handmaid she remembers life as it was before the fall of the U.S. so it makes it much harder for her to adjust to her new life as a Handmaid her "Commanders" house.

I remember enjoying this book a lot when I read it the first time and I feel the same about it now.  It really is interesting to see a glimpse into society once life as we know it is over. Could these things really happen?  Would we as a society let them?  Maybe stories like The Hunger Games, The Handmaids Tale, and The Giver are a warning to us all.

Book vs. Movie:  There is a movie version of The Handmaid's Tale but judging by the pictures I have seen online it looks like a movie I am going to miss.  It was made in the early 90s and it doesn't look too promising.  If someone were to make a newer version of this movie I would absolutely go see it, just for a more visual idea of what Gilead and the Handmaid's looked like.  There is also an Opera about The Handmaid's Tale and I think that would be very interesting!

The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
ISBN: 978-0-385-49081-8


If you liked this book than read:  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Other Boleyn Girl

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The Other Boleyn Girl (TOBG) is one of my absolutely favorite books of all times.  After reading this book by Philippa Gregory I went through a little period of obsession with King Henry VIII and his time of power.  I devoured every morsel I could find on this brute and everything I read just made my obsession more acute.  I mean his reign was the stuff of Fairy Tales, medieval castles, knights, princesses, jousting, extreme riches and even more extreme poverty, the whims of a pampered prince and then of a selfish king.  Everything I read about King Henry and his six wives was not only history but a novel to me!  I read The Other Boleyn Girl and the other King Henry books by Philippa Gregory in very quick succession and I plan on blogging about all of them but right now I am just going to focus on TOBG.

If you have watched The Tudors on Showtime or have ever studied the reign of King Henry VIII then you know the general idea of the story/history.  This book focuses on Henry's relationship with the infamous Anne Boleyn, starting with her families obsession to gain power in Court and ending (no spoilers here hopefully) at the chopping block.  Philippa Gregory takes historical fact and fills in the shady bits with fiction; on her website she says "By and large the fiction fills in the gaps of the known historical record and brings it to life".  So the fiction part is what makes the story so interesting, spicy, and new.  In TOBG you are hearing the tale of Anne through the eyes of her sister Mary.  Mary is little known in history but she is said to have born one or two of Henry's bastard children (a son no less), and she was quite in love with Henry for a short time until his eyes drifted to her sister Anne.  Then Mary has to play a key roll in Anne's climb to be the Queen of England and then to keep her there while Henry's ever roaming eyes wander to a multitude of other ladies at Court.

Gregory's writing is amazing.  This lady has a way with words (this is why she is my most favorite author), everything that Gregory writes is a true work of art.  I almost always recommend one of her works to anyone that asks me for a good read.

Book vs. Movie: I do have to say though that TOBG movie was quite disappointing (as are most books turned movie).  It was fun to see the beautiful clothes and riches but the screen play fell extremely short of the actual book.

The Other Boleyn Girl 

By Philippa Gregory
ISBN: 0-7432-2744-1 

If you enjoyed this book, please read:  The Wideacre Trilogy by Philippa Gregory

The Hunger Games

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Wow. I truly enjoyed every page of this book. When I wasn't reading it I was starving for what was going to happen next (I was lucky that I had some air plane traveling to do this week so I could read to keep my mind off the flying part). I have always enjoyed stories about what life is like after society as we know it collapses and this one was THE BEST I have read with that post apocalyptic theme. I had to keep reminding myself that this was a YA book because the story was pretty heavy with a lot of political undertones and a lot of propaganda.

In this story we see what life is like after the United States has collapsed and a new society, Panem, has taken hold. Once a year every boy and girl between the ages of 12 to 18 are put into a lottery and one unlucky boy and one unlucky girl are chosen from each district (12 districts in all). Then these 24 teens are thrown into a huge arena where they fight to the death. The citizens of Panem are required to watch the fight on TV each night in sort of "reality TV" show fashion, and they bet on who will win and who will die. All the while the players have to watch their backs, stay alive, and charm the audience so they can recieve sponsors that can buy them things that will keep them alive in the arena. In the end the winner will receive riches and fame beyond anything they can comprehend considering that most people live in poverty in this new communistic society. The story follows the two teens chosen from District 12, Katniss and Peeta, and how they try and survive their time in the arena, knowing in the end there can only be one winner of The Hunger Games.

I really couldn't put this book down. I just ate up every word. I feel like I want to read it over right away to see if there is anything I missed. I think the concept of The Hunger Games is so imaginative and I feel like we aren't too far from a society that would find this kind of "entertainment" amusing. There are a few points in the book where I had tears in my eyes and a few times that I was outright shocked that people could be so gruesome to each other; but the whole time I was cheering on my favorite contestants of The Hunger Games, just like the country of Panem was doing. I just can't wait to get my hands on the next book in this series Catching Fire. I hope I'm not disappointed, but I can't imagine that it could be any better than this one.  Cheers to Suzanne Collins for penning such a magnificent story!

P.S. This would make an EXCELLENT movie, and it sounds like we won’t have to wait that long as Lionsgate has picked up distributing rights!!

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

If you liked this book also read:  The Giver by Lois Lowry

Ladies of the Night

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Every time I think about The Crimson Petal and the White I get goose bumps. I am not all together sure where those goose bumps come from but I get them all the same and that is how I know that this is in my short list for "Geeb's Favorite Books of All Times". It is a long book (895 pages) but from the very beginning you are into it deep. I love the way it starts:

"Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them. This city I am bringing you to is vast and intricate, and you have not been here before. You may imagine, from other stories you've read, that you know it well, but those stories flattered you, welcoming you as a friend, treating you as if you belonged. The truth is that you are an alien from another time and place altogether."

I feel like in this book Michel Faber became a modern day Dickens. He depicts a dark side of Victorian London with crazy characters that are up to no good and that you both love to hate and hate to love at the same time. Whores and their men; Mistresses and their servants; Masters and their Wives; Children and their Governesses. They all have an agenda here in this book and they are all using each other to get what they want.

The meat and potatoes of this store is about Sugar a lowly nasty lady of the night that catches the eye of William Rackham. Using her womanly ways she seduces William and starts to manipulate her way up the social ladder and right into William's house where he lives with his wife and daughter. I don't even want to ruin a minute of this book for you so I am not really going to expand on the plot line other than these few words.

This book is shocking, hateful, and very very sexy. Be prepared to be offended (if you are the kind that is offended even moderately), and be prepared to not be able to stop reading once you start.

P.S. I was walking through the book shop the other day and I noticed a book called The Apple by Michel Faber. It is a little hardback volume that looks like a novelty book but the back says that it is a collection of other Crimson Petal stories. I am not sure what that means but I will let you all know as soon as I read it!

The Crimson Petal and the White
by Michel Faber

If you like this book check out: I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

They Call Me.... Una... Ahab's Wife

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I wanted my first official book post to be one of my favorite stories of all times, so it was easy to choose this book to start my blog off right. When I was in high school I saw the pastor of my Church reading this book. Rev. Lynn Lindsey always enchanted me because he had an office and a house full of dark wooden book cases packed to the gills with amazing literature. So when I saw him reading Ahab's Wife and then telling me how much he was enjoying it I knew I just had to get my hands on this book! Well it did not disappoint, I have read this book many times and every time I find something else to admire in the writing. Sena Jeter Naslund has done an amazing job drawing the reader in and entertaining them with the pictures she draws with her words.

Even though this story about Captain Ahab doesn't start with the famous line "They call me Ishmael" it still has all the makings of a classic novel, just like it's muse Moby Dick. This story is about Una (Ahab's wife as the title suggests) and her journey through life as a young girl, to an adventurous young woman, to Ahab's wife, and later as his widow. I don't know what exactly got me hooked but from the moment the bounty hunting dwarf dressed in wolf skin barged into Una's home searching for a runaway slave girl, all the while Una is groaning in the pains of labor I was in it for the long haul (how's that for a little tidbit to peak your curiosity). Like I said before, Naslund paints such a vivid picture of the rural wilderness of Kentucky, to the quaint town of Nantucket, (and of course the beautiful but unforgiving sea). I could see every moment of this story while it unfolded as if I were watching a movie (and I do so hope they make a movie)!

Ahab's Wife (or Star-Gazer)
by Sena Jeter Naslund