Posts tagged ‘book reviews’

Jul 6

Love it or Hate it? Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein

Have you ever noticed how some books seem to drive a wedge between people? You check the reviews and find almost no middle-of-the-road ratings. Instead people either seem to love it or hate it. Well, welcome to the Love it or Hate it post category! Each month, we’ll pick one book to review and two contributors will battle it out to convince you to pick it up or throw it out. Last month we discussed The Twilight Saga. The votes were closer than I thought. 42% loved it and 35% hated it. Everyone else fell into the “haven’t read it but I’ll pass” category. Many thanks to our Love it reviewer, Nicole R! I (Jen) was the Hate it reviewer.

This month’s selection is on Boxall’s 1001 List of Books to Read before you Die and is considered to be one of the most influential science fiction books ever written. It is also considered to be a highly controversial book for many reasons. So the question is… do you Love it or Hate it? Continue reading to find see our two reviews. Make sure to vote in our poll at the bottom of the post even if you haven’t read it. Read more

Jul 3

3 Comments

Non-1001 Book Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

First published: 1993
Awards: Newbery Medal in 1995
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by: Jen
Find it/Buy it here: The Giver

I realize that this will be an unpopular post because everyone I know loves this book with a passion. I’m fully prepared for all your comments to prove me wrong about this book!

The Giver is a young adult/children’s dystopian novel that was published in the early 1990s. It follows the story of a young boy, Jonas, who is living in what initially appears to be a utopian society. When Jonas is selected to become the new “Receiver of Memory” he has to reconcile his new knowledge of how things used to be with the current state of his surroundings. The Receiver of Memory is the one person in the community who must contain all the past memories (painful and joyous) of what life was like prior to their current community. Jonas learns that his utopian society exists exclusively because all emotion, color, memories, and individuality have been eradicated.

I find it hard to rate books that are so clearly intended toward children because the elements I dislike (simplicity of plot) are elements that are needed to appeal to, or be understandable for children. The book is probably perfect for children ages 9-12. The problem is that as an adult, I felt bored. The story was just too simplistic for my adult tastes although I think as a child I would have loved the story. There’s little in the way of emotional or character development and the whole thing is just a little too cutesy for my tastes. Although young Jonas faces some difficult and heart-wrenching decisions, those decisions never really felt genuinely difficult or heart-wrenching the way it did in other young adult books I’ve read. For example, authors can write about characters feeling pain (emotional or physical) but to truly experience the pain with the characters, the author needs to do more than just say “it was painful.”

Another thing that bothers me is that nothing is ever explained. There are no details about why things are the way they are in this “utopia” or about how the people in charge (whoever they are) are able to control everything. As readers we simply have to take the author’s word for granted many times. Half the time I was shouting “why? why? it doesn’t make sense!”

Like I said earlier, I’m sure I’ll get some push-back for this review since everyone raves about this book. Lots of adults have read it and have encouraged me to read it. Unfortunately, I can’t rave about this book. I think it is a great book for young children because it raises interesting moral issues in a way that may be easy for them to understand. But, I don’t see the appeal of this book for adults. It was entertaining enough, but the lack of complexity drove me crazy. For adults at least, there are many superior books that cover the issues raised in this book in a more interesting and complex manner.

I do highly recommend this book for children. You can find it here: The Giver

Okay, so now it’s your turn to tell me why I’m wrong! What did you think about the book? Did you love it, like it, or dislike it? Why am I wrong?

Jun 26

11 Comments

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
Published in: 2010
Literary Awards: Man Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2010)
Reviewed by Jen
Rating: 3.5 stars
Find it here: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

After reading Cloud Atlas, I avoided all other Mitchell books for many years for fear of being disappointed. Cloud Atlas is one of the books that made it into my list of favorite books which is no small feat. I have over 600 books on my Shelfari bookshelf and only 10 of those books have made it onto my list of favorites. Typically when I love an author, I seek out all their books but I felt differently about my first experience with Mitchell. Cloud Atlas was one of those books that was notable for me because it was unlike anything I had ever read. It was intelligent but in an unpretentious and highly accessible manner. While Cloud Atlas was a great and engaging story, it was the unique way that Mitchell played around with narrative structure, timeline, and genre that made the reading experience so wonderful for me. So when I turned to read The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, it was under the shadow of unrealistically high expectations. Read more

Jun 24

5 Comments

Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont

Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont
Release Date: July 7, 2015
Reviewed by: Jen
Rating: 4 stars
Pre-order your copy here:Among the Ten Thousand Things

Among Ten Thousand Things is about the events, big and small, that lead to the eventual breakdown of a family. When Jack Shanley’s mistress tries to expose their affair to his wife by mailing her a package with their sexually explicit correspondence, his young daughter intercepts the package and both children read it. The remainder of the book centers around what happens to all members of the family after this event. Each member of the family responds in their own way leading to the eventual breakdown of their family unit. Read more

Jun 18

9 Comments

Non 1001 Book Review: After Dark Haruki Murakami

After Dark by Haruki Murakami
Published in: 2004
Translated from Japanese by Jay Rubin
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: 4 stars
Find it here: After Dark

Synopsis: (from the Back Cover): Eyes mark the shape of the city

The midnight hour approaches in an almost-empty diner. Mari sips her coffee and reads a book, but soon her solitude is disturbed: a girl has been beaten up at the Alphaville hotel, and needs Mari’s help.

Meanwhile Mari’s beautiful sister Eri lies in a deep, heavy sleep that is ‘too perfect, too pure’ to be normal; it has lasted for two months. But tonight as the digital clock displays 00:00, a hint of life flickers across the television screen, even though it’s plug has been pulled out.

Strange nocturnal happenings, or a trick of the night?

Review: If you read our featured author post you will know that I love Murakami’s writing and this book was no exception. From the moment I read the back cover, I had a happy warm feeling in my tummy. I knew this was going to be a good read. The front cover just calls out to you “read me, read me.” The only problem with this book is that it is short. I could have stayed wandering around Tokyo at night much longer than the time Murakami allowed me.

From the opening lines of the book we, the readers, are told that we are voyeurs. We can watch what happens in the city. We can zoom in on bits that interest us, but we cannot get involved. We cannot influence anything. We cannot be heard and we are entirely neutral.

The book is set on a midwinter’s night between the hours of 11:56pm and 6:52am in Tokyo. It revolves around 3 central characters: the beautiful Eri who has decided to sleep and not wake up; her intelligent sister Mari who cannot sleep; and Takahashi a young musician who provides a link between the 2 sisters.

While Eri sleeps her beautiful sleep, Mari stays awake in the city where she encounters Takahashi in a Denny’s restaurant. Their meeting leads her to be pulled into the life of the “Night People.” Night people are those who are more at home after the sun has gone down — the insomniacs, prostitutes, and others who prefer the night.

While there is some action in this book, it’s more about feelings and perceptions than about plot development. There is violence and vengeance, and in true Murakami style there are mystical and magical moments and cats!! How do you know you are reading a Murakami? Because there are always cats.

This is a stylized book and I can easily see it being made into a noir film as the story really lends itself to the visual.

For those who like a proper ending with all the loose ends tied up, this is not the book for you (nor is any other Murakami book). There are several mysterious events that are not explained and are just left dangling when the sun rises. Murakami has created a place that exists only after dark and so until the next time the sun sets the mysteries will have to stay mysteries.

Want to try if for yourself? You can find it here: After Dark

We want to hear from you. Have you read this book? What did you think? Do you like Murakami’s books?

Jun 17

1001 Book Review: Transit Anna Seghers

Transit by Anna Seghers
Published in: 1944
Reviewed by Jen & Book Worm
Find it here:Transit (New York Review Books Classics)

Synopsis (from Amazon): Anna Seghers’s Transit is an existential, political, literary thriller that explores the agonies of boredom, the vitality of storytelling, and the plight of the exile with extraordinary compassion and insight.
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Jun 10

11 Comments

The Color of Our Sky by Amita Trasi

The Color of Our Sky by Amita Trasi
Publisher: Bloomhill Books
Release Date: June 30, 2015
Reviewed by: Jen
Rating: 4 stars
Pre-Order the book here: The Color of our Sky

This ARC was provided by Bloomhill Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

The Color of Our Sky is a beautifully rendered and emotionally powerful book. Set primarily in Mumbai, India, the novel tells the stories of Tara and Mukta, two childhood friends from vastly different social backgrounds whose lives are forever changed by a series of tragic events in their childhood. Mukta is a lower caste girl, the daughter of a temple prostitute, who is destined to the same fate as her mother. When her mother dies, Tara’s father rescues her from her fate by bringing her home to live with his family. The two girls become close until tragedy strikes again and Mukta is stolen from their house and seemingly lost forever. Tara and her father move to America and she grows up believing that Mukta is dead, carrying guilt for her role Mukta’s abduction. After her father’s death, Tara discovers that her father had lied to her about Mukta. Vowing to return to India and find Mukta, Tara embarks on a journey that takes her deep into the world of human sex trafficking.

The novel is told from the alternating perspectives of Tara and Mukta and the narratives weave back and forth in time spanning from the 1980s through present day. As the stories shift back and forth, we learn the fate of Mukta and the truth about the events that led up to her abduction. Heart-breaking but also inspiring, the novel highlights the resilience of the human spirit and the strength of human connection (friendship and family) to overcome unspeakable adversity.
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Jun 8

8 Comments

Read Around the World: Czech Republic

The next stop on our world tour of reading is the Czech Republic! This month’s choice was inspired by my recent trip to Prague along with my recent bout of reading Czech authors. Prague was one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. I was also fortunate enough to have time to visit a few locations outside of Prague including Český Krumlov in the Southern Bohemian Region and Terezín, the sad location of a concentration camp. I hope you enjoy some of my photos (at the bottom of this post). Next week, I’ll continue the Czech theme with our featured author post: Kafka.

Jun 5

1001 Book Review: Shroud John Banville

Shroud by John Banville
Published in: 2002
Awards: Man Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2002)
Reviewed by: Book Worm and Jen
Find it here:Shroud

Synopsis (from Amazon): One part Nietzsche, one part Humbert Humbert, and a soupcon of Milton’s Lucifer, Axel Vander, the dizzyingly unreliable narrator of John Banville’s masterful new novel, is very old, recently widowed, and the bearer of a fearsome reputation as a literary dandy and bully. A product of the Old World, he is also an escapee from its conflagrations, with the wounds to prove it. And everything about him is a lie.

Now those lies have been unraveled by a mysterious young woman whom Vander calls “Miss Nemesis.” They are to meet in Turin, a city best known for its enigmatic shroud. Is her purpose to destroy Vander or to save him—or simply to show him what lies beneath the shroud in which he has wrapped his life? A splendidly moving exploration of identity, duplicity, and desire, Shroud is Banville’s most rapturous performance to date.

Jun 3

6 Comments

The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman

I finally did it! I finished Lev Grossman’s Magician’s Trilogy. Unfortunately, I feel sort of ambivalent about the series. I disliked the first book, loved the second book, and felt lukewarm about the final book. I should preface this review by making clear that I read the first book and listened to the final two books as audibles. I truly hated the audio and this may have colored my view of the entire series.

The Magicians Trilogy is one of those series that people seem to either love or hate. The critics generally love these books but if you look at goodreads or amazons, the ratings seem split. The trilogy is comprised of The Magicians (2009), The Magician King (2011), and The Magician’s Land (2014). The books follow the story of Quentin Coldwater, a young man who is accepted into an exclusive school for magicians. Over the course of the books, Quentin discovers that a magical land from a fictional series is real. He and his friends become rulers of this land, go on quests, and face the potential destruction of the land. With nods to Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and the Chronicles of Narnia, Grossman reworks the stories of these books into a fantasy series for adults that blends gritty reality and fantasy. Here are my reviews for each of the books in the series:
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