Publisher: Simon & Schuster Page Count: 266 Fiction Genre: Historical, Book Club, African Lit. Dates Read: October 31-November 2, 2015 Reading Challenge: Mega Reading Challenge Topic: #100: A classic from a culture different than your own. Series: N/A Summary Little Bee is a 16 year old Nigerian refugee who has spent the past two years living in a detainee facility hoping that one day she will be granted asylum. One magical morning, Little Bee's wish is granted and she is released into rural London, with only her few belongings and a voucher for a taxi. Little Bee only knows the names of two people, Andrew and Sarah, whom she briefly met on a beach in Nigeria, and has shared a life long secret with. Now is the time to seek them out. Review This book started off so great. There was so much mystery around the shared connection between Little Bee, Sarah, and Andrew, as well as Andrews sudden departure. This mystery or excitement did not last long. Once the story of the big mystery was revealed in the first 25% of the book, it all went down hill from there. I found Sarah to be whiny and unlikable, while Andrew was a self-loathing, selfish jerk, and Little Bee was just so fake. I had troubles finding any sincerity in the character or what she was saying. Maybe it is better to say that she was an underdeveloped character who had more potential than she was given. I held on to nearly the end believing that there would be some redeeming quality in this book, but I was let down in the long run. Cleave is a great writer and can weave a very descriptive story. The areas he is lacking in the most is character development, and keeping the story from falling into a pit of dullness. Given everything that is going on right now with the Syrian refuges this book is very relevant and in some aspects takes a good look at what an experience might be like for a foreigner who can't go home and who is desperately seeking asylum. How accurate of a portrayal this is, I cannot say, but it did give me a lot to think about and to realize I have some research to do. Ratings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 6 Pace - 3 Plot Development - 3 Characters - 2 Enjoyability - 4 Insightfulness - 4 Ease of Reading - 5 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Rating - 2 out of 5 stars
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Publisher: Speak Page Count: 180 Fiction Genre: Academic, YA, Realistic Dates Read: October 31, 2015 Reading Challenge: ATW Reading Challenge Topic: #337: A Book Set in Oklahoma Series: N/A Summary Ponyboy, yes, that's actually his name, is an outcast. A teenager from the wrong side of the tracks. His older brothers are in just as bad of shape as he is. Ponyboy believes there is more to his life, but he has a lot of battles to fight to get there. Review My high school literature class experience was very nontraditional. There are a lot of books that I probably should have read in high school that I never did, and never took the initiative to do. The Outsiders is one of those books I should have read years ago while I was still a teenager. I've noticed a lot of people love this book. A majority of these people read this book when they were teenagers. All of that being said, I HATED this book. I really do think a lot of my disdain for this book came from reading it several years outside of high school. To start, this is basically a written version of the musical West Side Story, and even that wasn't outstanding. Hinton's writing style is very basic, uses very simple language, and has very weak plot and character development. It is very impressive that Hinton wrote this when she was on 16 years old; very few people can say they've accomplished something so great at such a young age. Overall, this book left me irritated, bored, and frustrated. I fell like The Outsiders and I had a huge miscommunication that happened because I was no longer 14 years old. I can see how this book would be appealing to someone as a teenager, but all the appeal was gone for me. Ratings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 4 Pace - 5 Plot Development - 3 Characters - 3 Enjoyability - 1 Insightfulness - 2 Ease of Reading - 6 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Rating - 2 out of 5 stars Publisher: Penguin Books Page Count: 487 Fiction Genre: Historical, Mystery, Fantasy, Gothic, Books About Books Dates Read: October 23-31, 2015 Reading Challenge: Mega Reading Challenge Topic: #71: A Translated Novella Series: Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Book 1 Summary In 1945 Barcelona, a young boy named Daniel is mourning the loss of his mother. His father, a local bookseller, decides that it is now time to introduce Daniel to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. While traversing the numerous winding stacks in the cemetery, Daniel discovers The Shadow of The Wind. Unbeknownst to him at the time, this book has a profound effect on his life for many years to come. Daniel spends his childhood trying to uncover the mystery of who the author, Julian Carax is and what happened to him, and more importantly, why is the man who smells like burned books is so desperate to get his hands on The Shadow of The Wind. Review Before I dig into the nitty-gritty of this book, I must confess that the first thing that drew me into this book was the cover. Just look at that cover, it's so beautiful, and says so much while saying nothing at all. *drools* I admit it, I judge a book by its cover; sometimes that is my only basis for interest or disinterest in a book. I make no apologize for this. Admittedly, this book was a bit of a roller coaster for me. I fell in love with this book immediately. However, towards the middle I started asking myself what was going on and found myself questioning if I should continue on with the book. Yes, I actually considered giving up on the book. I struggled trying to understand how a book that started off so great could fall into this pit of boring self-loathing. Somehow I kept plodding along. I kept hoping that things would get better. Thankfully I hung in there, because things got better, and boy, did they get better. When I started this book I though it would center around The Cemetery, but it didn't. The key focus of this book is the book, The Shadow of The Wind, that Daniel discovers while in The Cemetery. This book drives the story. Though I found the ending a tad on the predictable side, I loved the path Zafon paved getting to it. There are a lot of characters and at times the timeline can get a bit muddled as the story switches between timelines. Given all of the flaws this book has, I cannot overlook how great it is. Zafon has great prose and weaves a very magical story. Originally written in Spanish, the translation is smooth, and essential words are kept in Spanish to emphasize special points. Getting to the end of the book left me grateful that I didn't give up on this one. I'm grateful because as crummy as the middle part of this book was, the beginning and ending were well worth that struggle. I have been recommending this book to everyone Ratings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 9 Pace - 6 Plot Development - 6 Characters - 8 Enjoyability - 9 Insightfulness - 7 Ease of Reading - 7 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Rating - 5 out of 5 stars So, you may have noticed that I have a slight obsession with books. Okay, obsession might be a light term here, but let's run with it. This blog has been overrun with book reviews *SorryNotSorry*. I have finished the first reading challenge (2015 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge); I actually finished it back on September 24, 2015. I conquered 63 books (#Overachiever), and 20,506 pages. I have to say I love and loathe what it has done to me. On the positive side, the challenges have challenged me; forced me to read things I normally would, or things that I avoid (ie: romance novels). I have discovered some really great books and authors that I probably would not have found otherwise, and I'm never unsure of what to read next, because there is always a list of books in waiting. On the negative side, it has pushed me to read every chance I get. Which to be honest, I would do anyway, but in the past I would never push through slumps. I would just ride it out, and pick a book back up when I felt the slump had passed. This means I watch less TV and movies (good), but I struggle to socialize (bad). I've always been an introvert at heart, but my new obsessive reading hobby is making more of a homebody. What concerns me about that is how much I enjoy that, and how I worry that I will loose friendships/relationships because of it. Maybe it's just me getting older and the party scene isn't my thing anymore. Maybe it's moving to Alaska where I feel more of a homebody because of the long winters, I don't know. I just know that I socialize less, and I don't feel bad about it, but I don't want to become a shut-in either. I jokingly told a friend in a text message #BooksBeforeBoys, in a response to my recent lack-luster dating life. While I realize that there are other reasons I've put dating on the back burner, I also acknowledged that I blew a guy off because he was interrupting my reading time. #Oops I still maintain that if GoodReads started a dating site from their main site, they would make bank. Another point that makes me cringe about the reading challenge is how I have made 8 additional reading challenges (with no official end date), plus I'm working on the GR group 2016 Reading Challenge. I'm not sure I will ever get through them all, but it's something to work towards, and at least it's not meth. Not including my side reads, the 2016 Challenge, the Choices Challenge, or the books I've already read/am reading, I have a book waiting list of 863 and counting. Now that the official 2015 challenge is complete for me, I can focus more on the Mega Challenge, my side reads, and random books from other lists. Ideally I would still like to meet my goal of 300 books before the end of July 2016, but I'm not sure I'll quiet make it. July, August, and most of September were light months for me and I fell behind. As of today's date (October 26) I am only at 145 books. To put me at my target I will need to read 55 books in the next two months. It's not impossible to do, but not the easiest either. If I stretch out to reading 150 books in the next 9 months (November - July) I will need to average 16 books a month. That is more realistic for my speed and patterns. I feel like I have started a game that I can never finish, because my TBR pile (challenge or no challenge) will always be growing. When I heard the latest "panic" of the world is ending soon my first thought was I still had so many books I have not read yet. It was a joke, but there was some truth behind that. I feel like this post has gotten pretty negative, and I hope you're not taking this that way, because I know this has been more of a positive influence in my life than a negative one. I've meet some pretty great people all over the world because of these challenges, have had great discussions about our reads and finds, and found new books because of them. A few of them have even become great friends. Publisher: Classical Comics Page Count: 144 Fiction Genre: Graphic Novels, Horror, Sci-Fi, Classics, YA Dates Read: October 25, 2015 Summary Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein is retold (original text) in a graphic novel. Dr. Frankenstein has created a creature. THE creature. Now it is loose, and Frankenstein is on the hunt for it before it can kill again. Review I'm a huge fan of Shelley's original work. I'm also a huge fan of graphic novels. I was excited and a bit skeptical when I found this in a used book store recently. I am really happy that I took a chance on this. The fact that Shelley's original text was used, put me at ease. Though you can get a "quick" (read: modern) text version as well. Cobley only added to a favorite classic by putting it in GN form with beautiful illustrations. The tundra climate Shelley had described in her book, and that I had created in my mind, looked nearly identical to the one Cobley created in this novel. Very well done. I am so happy I found this. Ratings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 8 Pace - 7 Plot Development - 8 Characters - 7 Enjoyability - 9 Insightfulness - 5 Ease of Reading - 8 Photos/Illustrations - 9 Overall Rating - 4 out of 5 stars Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics Page Count: 105 Fiction Genre: Poetry, American Lit, Classics Dates Read: October 22, 2015 Summary A collection of poetry by Sylvia Plath. Review My love for poetry is not as deep as it used to be, but I still found enjoyment and peace reading Plath's work. There seems to be a lot of pain behind Plath's words, and it hurts to see the kind of pain Plath must have been in. Ratings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 8 Pace - 5 Plot Development - N/A Characters - N/A Enjoyability - 7 Insightfulness - 7 Ease of Reading - 7 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Rating - 3 out of 5 stars Publisher: Pocket Books Page Count: 389 Fiction Genre: Horror, Mystery, YA, Drama, Thriller, Classic Dates Read: October 20-22, 2015 Summary The Dollangangers were a happy family, but then the patriarch, Christopher, dies. He leaves behind his wife, Corrine, and 4 young children, Chris (15), Cathy (12), and twins Cory and Carrie (5). The family is deep in debt, so Corrine must contact her parents, who angrily disowned over because of her marriage, and hope to earn back their love. This is a long and tragic story of greed before children. How secrets can destroy those you love most. Review When I was in middle and secondary school I read a LOT of V.C. Andrews. Flowers in The Attic was one of my favorite series, but boy, is it fucked up. There are themes in this book that make me really uncomfortable, even years later and after many reads. However, that is what has made FITA such a lasting and classic series. I'm looking forward to rereading the entire series. Ratings (based on a 10 point scale) Quality of Writing - 8 Pace - 7 Plot Development - 6 Characters - 8 Enjoyability - 8 Insightfulness - 5 Ease of Reading - 8 Photos/Illustrations - N/A Overall Rating - 4 out of 5 stars |
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