Posts tagged ‘books’

Jan 26

Non 1001 Book Review: Not If I See You First Eric Lindstrom

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom
Published in: 2015
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: ★★★
Find it here: Not If I See You First

This ARC was provided by Harper Collins UK (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:
The Rules: Don’t deceive me. Ever. Especially using my blindness. Especially in public.

Don’t help me unless I ask. Otherwise you’re just getting in my way or bothering me.

Don’t be weird. Seriously, other than having my eyes closed all the time, I’m just like you only smarter.

Parker Grant doesn’t need 20/20 vision to see right through you. That’s why she created the Rules: Don’t treat her any differently just because she’s blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. Just ask Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart.

When Scott suddenly reappears in her life after being gone for years, Parker knows there’s only one way to react—shun him so hard it hurts. She has enough on her mind already, like trying out for the track team (that’s right, her eyes don’t work but her legs still do), doling out tough-love advice to her painfully naive classmates, and giving herself gold stars for every day she hasn’t cried since her dad’s death three months ago. But avoiding her past quickly proves impossible, and the more Parker learns about what really happened—both with Scott, and her dad—the more she starts to question if things are always as they seem. Maybe, just maybe, some Rules are meant to be broken.

Combining a fiercely engaging voice with true heart, debut author Erid Lindstrom’s Not If I See You First illuminates those blind spots that we all have in life, whether visually impaired or not.

Book Worm’s Thoughts: I have given this book a solid 3 stars. It is a good read, but for me it lacked that extra something that makes a good read great.

Parker, the narrator, is blind and she makes it into her trademark rather than letting it hold her back. Being blind is both good and bad for Parker. On the one hand she can speak her mind without having to worry about what people think because she can’t see how they react. However the lack of visual information also puts a barrier between herself and others and allows her to live in an enclosed world. As Parker is not aware of the subtle visual clues that we all take for granted. She decides how to interpret everything she cannot see and sometimes her interpretation is entirely wrong — something she is just beginning to realize.

I enjoyed the dynamic between Parker and her friends and I liked seeing how things would work for her at school, especially how the school buddy system allowed her to maintain her independence. I really liked the section where she starts running track and the solutions for how to allow this to happen, and her method of shopping to avoid being ripped off. I also appreciated the fact that Parker could be and often was a bitch.

This is probably my favourite moment in the whole book as I could just visualize it and it would be hilarious;

“The show begins. For the next eleven hours it’s the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Descriptive Audio turned on. It’s hilarious. Listening to the narrator quickly and dispassionately give deadpan descriptions of Frodo’s weepy expressions, arrows penetrating eye sockets, Arwen’s soulful looks of immortal love and the decapitations of countless orcs have us roaring with laughter one moment and shushing each other the next”

So who would enjoy this book? This is a young adult book and I think the target audience will really enjoy it. Among those of us who left school several years ago it will appeal to readers who like a good tear jerker. It doesn’t meet the weepy standard set by The Fault in Our Stars but there were a few moments when I felt myself tearing up. It will also appeal to those who like strong female characters, friendships-focused books and romantics who love a happy ending.

Added Bonus – This fulfills my scavenger hunt item #21: a book with no images on the cover.

Want to try it for yourself? You can find a copy here: Not If I See You First

We want to hear from you! Do you think this book is for you and do you plan to read it? Why or why not?

Jan 22

20 Comments

What to expect from The Reader’s Room in 2016

piktochart

It’s official. It has been one year since we started this blog! We want to give a sincere thank all of you for following us and participating in our challenges. We’ve loved hearing your thoughts on books and discovering all of your creative choices for our challenges. We hope you stay with us through the second year of the blog and we look forward to welcoming new readers!

For our one-year anniversary, we’ve been thinking about ways to improve and expand on the blog. We want to share some of our plans for 2016 and we’d love to get your feedback on the things you like most and least about your experiences here. Without further ado, here are some of our plans: Read more

Jan 21

6 Comments

Non 1001 Book Review: My Name is Lucy Barton

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
Published: January 2016
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: 4 Stars
Find it here: My Name Is Lucy Barton

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

Synopsis from Goodreads; A new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout is cause for celebration. Her bestselling novels, including Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys, have illuminated our most tender relationships. Now, in My Name Is Lucy Barton, this extraordinary writer shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all—the one between mother and daughter.

Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.

Book Worm’s Review: This is a book about family relationships and how even when estranged for many years, family will be there when needed.

While in the hospital, Lucy is visited by her estranged mother, while Lucy wants definitive answers about her childhood, her mother is only prepared to reveal details about their life through stories about other people.

Lucy is a complicated character. She is trying to get her head around the idea that despite her childhood poverty she is lovable. While she questions if she can be loved, she has no problem with loving others. In fact, she loves most people she meets, including her doctor. She loves in all the different ways that love can be shown, and yes sometimes her declarations of “I love him” can get annoying.

Although Lucy is only in hospital for 9 weeks, those weeks have a profound impact on how she sees her past and ultimately how her future turns out. While these weeks bring her closer to her mother, her own relationship with her children suffers through her absence.

This is a first person narrative so its really important that you like the narrator and I had no problem liking Lucy. She is human. She bettered herself at the cost of her family relationships, but she still did it and succeeded. She is self-conscious. She has questions about her life, about what she thinks she remembers, and about her present and why things turn out the way they do.

Lucy is the reason I enjoyed this book. In some ways she reminded me of a Steinbeck character. Even when describing her impoverished childhood, Lucy doesn’t ask the reader to sympathize. She just tells you how it was.

I would recommend this to those who enjoy slow moving, subtle, character driven books.

Some of my favourite quotes;

“She was as beautiful as her face, I thought, and I loved New York for this gift of endless encounters.”

“But once in a while I see a child crying with the deepest of desperation, and I think it is one of the truest sounds a child can make. I feel almost, then, that I can hear within me the sound of my own heart breaking, the way you could hear outside in the open air- when the conditions were exactly right- the corn growing in the fields of my youth”

“I fell silently, absolutely, immediately in love with this man. I have no idea where he is, if he is still alive, but I still love this man”

“I stopped listening. It was the sound of my mother’s voice I most wanted; what she said didn’t matter”

“Both my parents loathed the act of crying, and it’s difficult for a child who is crying to stop, knowing if she doesn’t stop everything will be made worse. This is not an easy position for any child. And my mother-that night in the hospital room-was the mother I had all my life, no matter how different she seemed with her urgent quiet voice, her softer face. What I mean is I tried not to cry. In the dark I felt she was awake”

“Sarah Payne, the day she told us to go to the page without judgement, reminded us that we never knew, and never would know, what it would be like to understand another person fully”

“This is not the story of my marriage. I cannot tell that story: I cannot take hold of, or lay out for anyone, the many swamps and grasses and pockets of fresh air and dank air that have gone over us”

“But this is my story. This one. And my name is Lucy Barton”

As an added bonus this counts towards my scavenger hunt. It fits clue #31: read a book published during our challenge months.

Want to try it for yourself? You can purchase your copy here: My Name Is Lucy Barton

We want to hear from you! Have you read this book? Do you plan on reading it? What do you think of Elizabeth Strout’s books?

Jan 19

8 Comments

Featured Author: Julian Barnes

It’s been a crazy week for our blog and our reading lives. Our beloved Shelfari is shutting down and we both spent the week scrambling with group administrators to move our 1001 discussion group over to Goodreads and to transfer years of data over to GR and LibraryThing. Add that to the insane amount of traffic our last post generated — a post I wrote largely in the heat of the moment when I was angry — and our regular posting schedule ground to a halt.

So we are happy to get back to normal (albeit a little late) with our Featured Author post.

January’s featured author turns 70 today and will be releasing one of the most anticipated books of 2016. Read more

Jan 11

6 Comments

Page to Screen: Movie Adaptations in 2016

Miss-Peregrine-Home-Peculiar-Children-Ransom-Riggs

If you are like me and need to read the book before the movie, you’ll need to do a lot of reading to keep up with all the movie adaptations coming out this year. 2016 will be a big year for book to screen adaptations although much heavier on the YA genre and relatively little in terms of literary fiction. Here are some of the most talked about upcoming movie adaptations due out in 2016: Read more

Jan 8

5 Comments

Read Around the World: Finland

We are going to depart from the UK and head onto Finland for the next stop in our world tour or reading! Join us as we explore some of what Finland has to offer in terms of literature and find out which book we selected. We hope you help us to add to the list of recommended reading for Finland!

Jan 5

9 Comments

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

I’ve been fairly slow to make progress in our own winter scavenger hunt reading challenge (read about that and join us here). Part of the blame for that is the book I chose for Item #6 (read a book with a number in the title). I chose Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings. To be fair, I started this book in November (prior to the start of our challenge) but only read 1-2 chapters and then dropped it while I read a few other books. I just didn’t have it in me to read it then. I picked it back up in early December for the challenge. Was it worth it? Here’s what I thought… Read more

Jan 4

6 Comments

The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra

I have started 2016 on a good note with the completion of my first 2016 read: The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra. Find out why it was so good and let us know how the start of your reading year is going. Read more

Jan 1

2 Comments

It’s 2016! Time to sign up for our winter reading scavenger hunt!

As many of you know, we are hosting a winter reading challenge. It’s fairly low key with the chance to win prizes. The majority of prizes and all hidden prize items will be awarded at the end of March. However, for those of you who want to take your time, we’ll be awarding a final prize at the end of the year to a randomly selected person who completes all items by end of year. All our items have been posted so it’s the perfect time to sign up and pick which books you want to read. We have close to 30 people participating currently. I’ve only completed 2 items thus far so you are not too late to start. You can read the instructions on our challenge page.

If you do want to participate, make sure you check out Item 25 ASAP because you will need to do something prior to Jan 7! You can read about that here.

I’ve compiled a checklist so those of you who want to keep track of your goals can print it out. You’ll need to read the full instructions for each item (since some won’t make sense unless you read the expanded details) on our challenge page or Wikia page. If you want it in word doc format, send me your email address and I’ll send you the document.

Dec 31

4 Comments

December Monthly Recap

It’s time for our final monthly recap of 2015! Find out which books were favorites, which were duds, and which ones we are most looking forward to in 2016. We’ll end our wrap up with a calendar of book-related events/facts from the month of December and we’ll highlight our January content. We’ve also added a list of upcoming book releases for January 2016 (scroll to the end for the list).

One randomly selected follower (email or wordpress follower) will win a $10 amazon gift card. Scroll down to see if you are the winner. The prize is only awarded if you contact us with your email address so make sure to check these monthly recaps each month to see if you won! We also want to hear from you so let us know what you read in December and what you look forward to reading in January. Read more