Thursday, October 31, 2013

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

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Title: Reading Lolita in Tehran
Author: Azar Nafisi 
Genre: Biography, Memoir
Length: 347 pages
Published: 2003
Publisher: Random House
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the girls in Azar Nafisi's living room risked removing their veils and immersed themselves in the worlds of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. In this extraordinary memoir, their stories become intertwined with the ones they are reading. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.

My Review:
I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This was a very good memoir. Azar Nafisi is a married literature professor living in her home country of Iran. After she leaves her job, she finds her time spent reading English literature and eventually decides to start up a class with some of the female students she had previously taught. She kept this class for two years before finally deciding to leave Iran with her family and move to the U.S. to avoid the heavy handed Islamic regime and the laws which basically treated women like they were nothing. 

There was a lot of very interesting information about her experiences in Iran through the 1980s and 1990s and how people had to live in fear of their own government. Drawing on her literary background, she uses quotes and specific books to help make her opinions to her students known and to help the reader understand why she did many of the things she did. 

The main thing I did not like was that the story almost seemed out of order and it was hard to follow the correct timeline of events. She breaks her memoir out into four different parts, detailing classes she gave about certain authors and their works, so it was definitely hard to completely follow when certain things happened.

You can purchase Reading Lolita in Tehran through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Reading Lolita in Tehran? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

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Title: Zone One
Author: Colson Whitehead
Genre: Horror
Length: 259 pages
Published: 2011
Publisher: Doubleday
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) In this wry take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a pandemic has devastated the planet. The plague has sorted humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead.

Now the plague is receding, and Americans are busy rebuild­ing civilization under orders from the provisional govern­ment based in Buffalo. Their top mission: the resettlement of Manhattan. Armed forces have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street—aka Zone One—but pockets of plague-ridden squatters remain. While the army has eliminated the most dangerous of the infected, teams of civilian volunteers are tasked with clearing out a more innocuous variety—the “malfunctioning” stragglers, who exist in a catatonic state, transfixed by their former lives.

Mark Spitz is a member of one of the civilian teams work­ing in lower Manhattan. Alternating between flashbacks of Spitz’s desperate fight for survival during the worst of the outbreak and his present narrative, the novel unfolds over three surreal days, as it depicts the mundane mission of straggler removal, the rigors of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder, and the impossible job of coming to grips with the fallen world.

And then things start to go wrong.

Both spine chilling and playfully cerebral, Zone One bril­liantly subverts the genre’s conventions and deconstructs the zombie myth for the twenty-first century.

My Review:
I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

I very nearly gave this a 3. But when the action picked up and I was caught up in it, I decided I needed to bump it to a 4. 

Zone One takes place over three days, and so the book is set up in three parts: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday made me want to fall asleep. When I pick up a book or watch a movie about zombies (which are by far some of my favorite books/movies), I expect action. Lots and lots of action. The first part was dull. There was only one zombie encounter (referred to in the novel as "skels") and it wasn't even terribly exciting. 

The other thing that bothered me the most about the book as a whole was that the author put a lot of flashbacks into the story. A LOT of flashbacks. And they weren't always easily determined to be such until a couple paragraphs into that section. Which made it confusing. These insertions got easier to identify later on in the book and I got used to them. But in the first 100 or so pages (which is how long "Friday" is), I found them distracting. 

I also did not care about the main character, Mark Spitz, until much later in the novel. There was just nothing that made me even remotely interested in him. 

"Saturday", the second part, was much more action packed, and the final part was even MORE packed with action. Those second two parts made my decision change from a 3 star to a 4 star rating. They redeemed the book in my eyes. The first part feels like it was designed to lull the reader into a sense of safety and then BAM! here come the skels. 

All in all the concept of the novel is great, though. The plague has taken out most of humanity. The humans left are now under orders to go through and clear out a section of Manhattan labeled "Zone One". The marines have already come through and cleared most of the hordes, and now the civilian sweepers are coming through to take out the stragglers (skels who don't move) and other random skels that have been missed. Even the sweepers and the military have been lulled into a false sense of security much like the reader. So all in all, I think it ended up being a pretty brilliant way to write a post-apocalyptic zombie novel. Definitely worth the read as a zombie or post-apocalyptic aficionado if you can manage to make it through the first frustratingly slow 100 pages.

You can purchase Zone One through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Zone One? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello

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Title: Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho
Author: Stephen Rebello
Genre: Biography / History
Length: 224 pages
Published: 2010
Publisher: Open Road Media
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) First released in June 1960, Psycho altered the landscape of horror films forever. But just as compelling as the movie itself is the story behind it, which has been adapted as a movie starring Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock, Helen Mirren as his wife Alma Reville, and Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh.

Stephen Rebello brings to life the creation of one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, from the story of Wisconsin murderer Ed Gein, the real-life inspiration for the character of Norman Bates, to Hitchcock’s groundbreaking achievements in cinematography, sound, editing, and promotion. Packed with captivating insights from the film’s stars, writers, and crew members, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho is a riveting and definitive history of a signature Hitchcock cinematic masterpiece.

My Review:
I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This was a random book I found while perusing Amazon. It was fairly cheap so I was definitely intrigued and picked it up (the kindle version). All in all it wasn't too bad. It gave a lot of great information about how Hitchcock came across the story of Psycho (a novel by Robert Bloch), how the censors of the 1950s worked with movies, and how he directed this cult classic. 

There were a lot of references to other films, actors, directors, etc. and that made for some of the information to be a little distracting, but I can see why those references were necessary. I loved reading about Hitchcock's quirks. He was definitely a brilliant filmmaker. It was sad to see how he struggled after the success of Psycho. 

Definitely a must read for fans of the movie!

You can purchase Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Boleyn Deceit (#2) by Laura Andersen

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Title: The Boleyn Deceit
Author: Laura Andersen
Series: The Boleyn Trilogy (Book #2)
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Length: 368 pages
Published: 2013
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Henry IX, known as William, is the son of Anne Boleyn and now the leader of England, his regency period finally at an end. His newfound power, however, comes with the looming specter of war with the other major powers of Europe, with strategic alliances that must be forged on both the battlefield and in the bedroom, and with a court, severed by religion, rife with plots to take over the throne. Will trusts only three people: his older sister, Elizabeth; his best friend and loyal counselor, Dominic; and Minuette, a young orphan raised as a royal ward by Anne Boleyn. But as the pressure rises alongside the threat to his life, even they William must begin to question-and to fear....

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Let me preface this that I read an advanced, uncorrected proof of this novel that I won through a Goodreads giveaway. 

I really loved the first book in this trilogy, so when I won the sequel as well, I was super excited. And I was NOT disappointed. I could not put this book down. I felt sadness, grief, anger, disappointment, and joy throughout the whole book. There were some very real "oh my gosh!!!" moments, especially towards the end of the novel. 

If you've read the first book (The Boleyn King) and enjoyed it, definitely pick this up and read it. It comes out November 5th, and you can pre-order it through Amazon (as well as other bookshops).

You can purchase The Boleyn Deceit through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Boleyn Deceit? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway

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Title: The Little Locksmith
Author: Katharine Butler Hathaway
Genre: Biography/Memoir
Length: 237 pages
Published: 1943
Publisher: Coward-McCann Inc, NY
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) The Little Locksmith, Katharine Butler Hathaway's luminous memoir of disability, faith, and transformation, is a critically acclaimed but largely forgotten literary classic brought back into print for the first time in thirty years. The Little Locksmith begins in 1895 when a specialist straps five-year-old Katharine, then suffering from spinal tuberculosis, to a board with halters and pulleys in a failed attempt to prevent her being a "hunchback." Her mother says that she should be thankful that her parents are able to have her cared for by a famous surgeon; otherwise, she would grow up to be like the "little locksmith," who does jobs at their home; he has a "strange, awful peak in his back." Forced to endure "a horizontal life of night and day," Katharine remains immobile until age fifteen, only to find that she, too, has a hunched back and is "no larger than a ten-year-old child." The Little Locksmith charts Katharine's struggle to transcend physical limitations and embrace her life, her body and herself in the face of debilitating bouts of frustration and shame. Her spirit and courage prevail, and she succeeds in expanding her world far beyond the boundaries prescribed by her family and society: she attends Radcliffe College, forms deep friendships, begins to write, and in 1921, purchases a house of her own in Castine, Maine. There she creates her home, room by room, fashioning it as a space for guests, lovers, and artists. The Little Locksmith stands as a testimony to Katharine's aspirations and desires-for independence, for love, and for the pursuit of her art. We tend to forget nowadays that there is more than one variety of hero (and heroine). Katharine Butler Hathaway, who died last Christmas Eve, was the kind of heroine whose deeds are rarely chronicled. They were not spectacular and no medal would have been appropriate for her. All she did was to take a life which fate had cast in the mold of a frightful tragedy and redesign it into a quiet, modest work of art. The life was her own.

My Review:
I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

This is a touching memoir about a woman who was afflicted with spinal tuberculosis as a young child. In order to prevent her back from having a horrible hump, she was strapped to a board for 10 years of her life. She still ended up with a deformity, but probably not as severe as what she would have had without this treatment. 

Her time as an invalid taught her to enjoy all of the little things around her, things that most people take for granted. This story tells how she rose above her deformity and became the woman she thinks she was meant to be. I found the writing to be a bit flowery and perhaps overly descriptive in some aspects, but as she spent her childhood and young adulthood writing poetry, I suppose this is to be expected. This is truly a touching tale and definitely worth the read!

You can purchase The Little Locksmith through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Little Locksmith? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Monsters of Men (#3) by Patrick Ness

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Title: Monsters of Men
Author: Patrick Ness
Series: Chaos Walking (Book #3)
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Length: 603 pages
Published: 2010
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) "War," says the Mayor. "At last." Three armies march on New Prentisstown, each one intent on destroying the others. Todd and Viola are caught in the middle, with no chance of escape. As the battles commence, how can they hope to stop the fighting? How can there ever be peace when they're so hopelessly outnumbered? And if war makes monsters of men, what terrible choices await? But then a third voice breaks into the battle, one bent on revenge - the electrifying finale to the award-winning "Chaos Walking" trilogy, Monsters of Men is a heart-stopping novel about power, survival, and the devastating realities of war.

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This was an amazing conclusion to the trilogy. You really get to see the way the Mayor has evolved throughout the story, as this super-villain that's supposedly turning good. Viola is, of course, completely unconvinced, but Todd thinks he's really making a change in the Mayor. And he has. 

Whether it's for the better or not, you will have to see for yourself in this harrowing conclusion.

You can purchase Monsters of Men through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Monsters of Men? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Nightmares in the Sky by f-stop Fitzgerald, Stephen King, & Mark Pollard

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Title: Nightmares in the Sky
Author: f-stop Fitzgerald (Photography), Stephen King (Text), & Mark Pollard (Design)
Genre: Architectural Reference
Length: 128 pages
Published: 1988
Publisher: Viking Books
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) This book will be a collection of fantastic and horrifying photographs of gargoyles taken by avant-garde photographer f-stop Fitzgerald (yes, that's his name and the spelling is correct), with a wonderful text by none other than the master of horror, Stephen King. F-stop has captured gargoyles in all manner of poses, made all the more striking by the design by Mark Pollard. Through the use of gatefolds and full-bleed illustrations, these awesome creatures will seem practically to leap off the page.

My Review:
I give this book a 4 out of 5. 

Stephen King was probably the best person to write the essay for this coffee-table book. Gargoyles are truly grotesque and frightening works of art. The images in this book are haunting. The text is short, so most of the book is filled with the photographs of these grotesque gargoyles. There are some truly haunting images. The only downfall to the book (and why it got 4 stars instead of 5) is that there is no real historical information beyond a few brief mentions by King as to things he thinks he knows about gargoyles. This would have been even better if there had been some real information on the origins of gargoyles and why they were created to appear so grotesquely.

So if you want a quick book to scan through and don't mind being left with the thought that these creatures are always watching you even if you don't see them, definitely pick this up. 

You can purchase Nightmares in the Sky through Amazon in hard copy format. 

Have you read Nightmares in the Sky? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Friday, October 18, 2013

The Ask and the Answer (#2) by Patrick Ness

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Title: The Ask and the Answer
Author: Patrick Ness
Series: Chaos Walking (Book #2)
Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Length: 519 pages
Published: 2009
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Reaching the end of their tense and desperate flight in THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO, Todd and Viola did not find healing and hope in Haven. They found instead their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss, waiting to welcome them to New Prentisstown. There they are forced into separate lives: Todd to prison, and Viola to a house of healing where her wounds are treated. Soon Viola is swept into the ruthless activities of the Answer, aimed at overthrowing the tyrannical government. Todd, meanwhile, faces impossible choices when forced to join the mayor’s oppressive new regime. In alternating narratives — Todd’s gritty and volatile; Viola’s calmer but equally stubborn — the two struggle to reconcile their own dubious actions with their deepest beliefs. Torn by confusion and compromise, suspicion and betrayal, can their trust in each other possibly survive?

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

This was a great follow up to The Knife of Never Letting Go. Todd and Viola are separated and held in different locations. The Mayor spends his days using them to get what he wants. We get to read the story in both Todd's and Viola's voices. The plot thickens, lies are told, lies are revealed, and both Todd and Viola do things they don't wish to do - all in the name of trying to get back to each other. 

Everything comes to a head after they are reunited. Todd learns things about himself that he never knew were possible. If you read the first book in this trilogy, definitely keep going. The action seriously does not stop.

You can purchase The Ask and the Answer through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Ask and the Answer? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

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Title: The Namesake
Author: Jhumpa Lahiri
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 291 pages
Published: 2004
Publisher: Mariner Books
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies established this young writer as one the most brilliant of her generation. Her stories are one of the very few debut works -- and only a handful of collections -- to have won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Among the many other awards and honors it received were the New Yorker Debut of the Year award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the highest critical praise for its grace, acuity, and compassion in detailing lives transported from India to America. In The Namesake, Lahiri enriches the themes that made her collection an international bestseller: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, and, most poignantly, the tangled ties between generations. Here again Lahiri displays her deft touch for the perfect detail -- the fleeting moment, the turn of phrase -- that opens whole worlds of emotion. 

The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of their arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An engineer by training, Ashoke adapts far less warily than his wife, who resists all things American and pines for her family. When their son is born, the task of naming him betrays the vexed results of bringing old ways to the new world. Named for a Russian writer by his Indian parents in memory of a catastrophe years before, Gogol Ganguli knows only that he suffers the burden of his heritage as well as his odd, antic name. Lahiri brings great empathy to Gogol as he stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs. With penetrating insight, she reveals not only the defining power of the names and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents, but also the means by which we slowly, sometimes painfully, come to define ourselves. The New York Times has praised Lahiri as "a writer of uncommon elegance and poise." The Namesake is a fine-tuned, intimate, and deeply felt novel of identity.

My Review:
I give this book a 3 out of 5. 

First off, I liked the story. The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading. I enjoyed reading about the early struggles of Ashima and Ashoke when they first married and first immigrated to the U.S. The culture shock, the grief of being thousands of miles from everything you know and the people you love: these were all very realistic and compelling. As time goes on, they meet other Bengali couples, and band together for all major occasions. They don't spend much time interacting with the Americans around them except as needed. This remains the same throughout the whole book; as their children (Gogol and Sonali) grow, nearly every Saturday is spent at another family's home for a birthday party, or just a get-together. 

Most of the book is in Gogol's point of view, as he struggles against his parents in his teens and early twenties. He never understands his father or the reason for the odd name "Gogol". Not until the night his father tells him the real reason they chose the name Gogol. And even then, he still seems to resent his parents and their culture; as they just float through life in their tight circle of Bengali friends and never branch out or seem to enjoy things. 

As I said, the story was interesting enough to keep me going. It was the writing the style got me. To me, this book read more like a history of their lives, than a novel. That is the only reason I had to bump this down to 3 stars. You may pick this up and find that the author's writing style is more your cup of tea than it was mine.

You can purchase The Namesake through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Namesake? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Monday, October 14, 2013

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

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Title: The Handmaid's Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Science Fiction
Length: 311 pages
Published: 1998
Publisher: Anchor Books
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

I kept hearing how great this book was, so I finally picked it up to read. Holy cow! They were right! It was excellent! The story is told by Offred, and intermingles remembrances from her past before everything changed and the present day. 

The story unfolded slowly about Offred's past and how the world came to change, through small glimpses. I loved how you got just enough at just the right times to tell you what you needed to know to keep reading. It was definitely like listening to someone tell a story, divulging just enough, skipping around to other matters. That was one of my favorite things about the novel. 

At several points Offred mentions that "this is a reconstruction" about a particular scene, leading the reader to believe that she's telling this later on, after the fact - but just to whom is unknown. She inserts her desires of what happened into the narrative, as well as what actually happened. You find yourself hoping she can find some way to get out of her situation. 

I definitely recommend you pick this up. And when you do, make sure you read the "Historical Notes" section after the narrative ends. This is really important to read to help understand the story.

You can purchase The Handmaid's Tale through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Handmaid's Tale? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Friday, October 11, 2013

The Knife of Never Letting Go (#1) by Patrick Ness

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Title: The Knife of Never Letting Go
Author: Patrick Ness
Series: Chaos Walking (Book #1)
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Length: 478 pages
Published: 2008
Publisher: Walker
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Once the action started (a few chapters in), it really never stopped. First, Todd finds some mysterious silence in the swamp outside of town: an oddity in a world where everyone hears everyone else's thoughts and there's no way to turn it off. Then, he finds he must flee town sooner than anticipated: as quickly as he can. He soon finds out that the silence he encountered is a girl roughly the same age as he is. Together, with his dog Manchee, the pair take off into the wilderness fleeing from the men of his town. 

Everything Todd knows is a lie, as he finds out soon enough. As they flee the advancing army, the pair end up relying on each other to keep safe. Through loss, surprise re-appearances of old friends, re-appearances of old enemies, and friendship, the trio make their way to Haven, a town that Todd never knew existed; armed with nothing but their own innocence, hope, and luck.

The ending is a bit of a surprise, but almost not too much of one, if you look back at all of Todd and Viola's adventures. 

This is really an amazing tale. I'm eager to get started on the sequel and will definitely be letting you all know whether or not it's any good. It's a fast, action packed read, despite being nearly 500 pages long. Definitely pick up a copy of this soon!

You can purchase The Knife of Never Letting Go through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read The Knife of Never Letting Go? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall

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Title: A Quiet Storm
Author: Rachel Howzell Hall
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 256 pages
Published:  2002
Publisher: Touchstone
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) In this vividly written, suspense-driven novel, the secrets shared between two sisters erupt in tragedy.

Rikki Moore was always the star of the family, easily outshining her younger sister, Stacy, at every turn. Smart, kind, and beautiful, it was no surprise when Rikki met and married the perfect man -- pediatrician Matt Dresden. Her students at 59th Street Elementary School adored her, the church matrons solicited her help on every committee, and everyone wanted the golden couple to put in an appearance at their parties. Stacy? She was just the overweight little sister who couldn't get her love life together.

But the world didn't know about the storms that rippled just beneath the surface of Rikki's image of perfection. Ever since she was a teenager there were emotional breakdowns and obsessive behaviors -- secrets that Stacy was left to bear alone. Folks whispered, but they didn't know. When Rikki's husband, Matt, mysteriously disappears, however, the Moore family's carefully constructed image comes crashing down.

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

Mental illness is often overlooked by those close to the person involved. The author does an amazing job of showing this, as well as showing just how awful and draining a mental illness can be: on the person with the illness, as well as her family and friends. 

The story is told in the voice of Anastasia (Stacy), the younger sister. Though by the way she had to grow up and take care of her older sister since their childhood, she definitely seems much older. Their parents fight a lot, but always make up. Their mother is in denial that Rikki has a problem. Both parents are - until the day she tries to kill herself. Then their mother keeps denying everything, even to the point of not sending her daughter to a therapist (what will the neighbors think? is pretty much the way their mother handles everything), while their father starts staying away for longer periods of time because he can't handle things.

Rikki stabilizes once their father dies and she goes away to college, where she secretly sees a therapist and starts taking lithium on a regular basis. When Stacy joins her at school, Stacy begins to see all of her ups and downs and often is the only one that can calm her sister or break her out of her depression. 


The story continues with the girls' marriages to handsome doctors, and the continuance of Rikki's highs and lows - with Stacy there to save her every single time. Stacy's life only seems to be better when Rikki is not around. 

I won't go further with any more details from the story, as you really should pick up this book and give it a try. I really enjoyed this one (could not put it down!). It read easily and while some of the stories of Rikkis highs and lows seemed repetitive, it only helped to really show the depth of her mental illness.

You can purchase A Quiet Storm through Amazon in hard copy format. 

Have you read A Quiet Storm? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

A Death in the Family by James Agee

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Title: A Death in the Family
Author: James Agee
Genre: Classic Literature
Length: 320 pages
Published: original: 1955; version I read: 1998
Publisher: Vintage
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) On a sultry summer night in 1915, Jay Follet leaves his house in Knoxville, Tennessee, to tend to his father, whom he believes is dying. The summons turns out to be a false alarm, but on his way back to his family, Jay has a car accident and is killed instantly. Dancing back and forth in time and braiding the viewpoints of Jay's wife, brother, and young son, Rufus, Agee creates an overwhelmingly powerful novel of innocence, tenderness, and loss that should be read aloud for the sheer music of its prose.

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

When I first started reading this book, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. A few pages in and I was in a "couldn't put it down" captivated trance. This novel is about grief and how it strikes the various members of a family, both immediate and extended, when a good man dies unexpectedly. 

I particularly enjoyed reading things from the perspective of the children: both so young and neither fully understanding what has happened. Agee intertwines the various perspectives, as well as flashbacks to the past, in an expert way, making the novel easy to read and easy to enjoy. All of the characters are easy to relate to, as well, which always helps in connecting with a book.

Grief affects everyone differently, and Agee definitely manages to show that difference to his readers. Sadly, the author never got to see his book in print, as it was published after his own unexpected death.

You can purchase A Death in the Family through Amazon in or Kindle format. 

Have you read A Death in the Family? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Cartwheel by Jennifer Dubois

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Title: Cartwheel
Author: Jennifer Dubois
Genre: Mystery
Length: 384 pages
Published: 2013
Publisher: Random House
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) When Lily Hayes arrives in Buenos Aires for her semester abroad, she is enchanted by everything she encounters: the colorful buildings, the street food, the handsome, elusive man next door. Her studious roommate Katy is a bit of a bore, but Lily didn’t come to Argentina to hang out with other Americans.

Five weeks later, Katy is found brutally murdered in their shared home, and Lily is the prime suspect. But who is Lily Hayes? It depends on who’s asking. As the case takes shape—revealing deceptions, secrets, and suspicious DNA—Lily appears alternately sinister and guileless through the eyes of those around her: the media, her family, the man who loves her and the man who seeks her conviction. With mordant wit and keen emotional insight, Cartwheel offers a prismatic investigation of the ways we decide what to see—and to believe—in one another and ourselves.

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

I read an ARC copy of this novel that I won on Goodreads. The story starts out following Andrew Hayes, Lily's father, as he arrives in Buenos Aires after her arrest with her sister, Anna. After a few chapters, the story jumps back a month to when Lily first came to Buenos Aires and begins to follow her. You get to see from a variety of different people how they view Lily, including how she views herself. Absent from these point of views is Katy, the victim. I'm sure this is meant intentionally as the story is really not about the murder, but how people view each other and themselves. 

This was really a great novel. And at the end you're still left with the question of "Did Lily really kill Katy?". The reader is left with making that decision for him or herself. If you love a good character study: you'll love this book.

You can purchase Cartwheel through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Cartwheel? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Candide by Voltaire

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Title: Candide
Author: Voltaire
Genre: Classic Literature, Satire
Length: 122 pages
Published: 1981 (originally 1759)
Publisher: Bantam Books
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Brought up in the household of a powerful Baron, Candide is an open-minded young man, whose tutor, Pangloss, has instilled in him the belief that 'all is for the best'. But when his love for the Baron's rosy-cheeked daughter is discovered, Candide is cast out to make his own way in the world.

And so he and his various companions begin a breathless tour of Europe, South America and Asia, as an outrageous series of disasters befall them - earthquakes, syphilis, a brush with the Inquisition, murder - sorely testing the young hero's optimism.

My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5. 

I've always found that older classic novels are harder to read - mostly because of the vernacular used, the way language/slang/etc have changed in the last couple hundred years, etc.; so I wasn't really sure what to expect when I picked up Candide. When I saw the length, I was like, OK this has promise to be a very easy, quick read. And it was. I literally read it in a couple hours. 

I've always heard people mention Voltaire and thought that his writing would be dull. But that was not the case! This book was witty, humorous, philosophical, and definitely not the dry literature I thought it would be. Definitely pick this up if you want a quick, witty read!

You can purchase Candide through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format. 

Have you read Candide? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! 

Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Monthly Update - October 2013

September has been busy for me so I did not read nearly as many books as I was hoping to read. We've been doing a lot of miscellaneous household projects this month, and it was my son's third birthday, so reading was not really a priority. Aside from that I also did a beta read of c3 by Sherrie Cronin and that took a little over a week to read and critique. I'm very excited about having gotten that preview! I have read x0, the first book in the series, and but have not yet read y1 or z2. c3 is book number four. It should be out in December if her timeline stays correct and I'm excited to be able to go through and read the final product and review it for you guys! I will probably be readying y1 and z2 very soon, maybe even this month. ;) 

Currently Reading: 
  • Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (I'm making an effort, up to 21% from the 13% I've been at since July! Maybe I'll get close to finishing this month!)
  • Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello
  • Cartwheel: A Novel by Jennifer Dubois
Coming Up Next:   
  • The Boleyn Deceit by Laura Andersen (I will be reading this as soon as I receive the giveaway copy I won!)
  • The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
  • The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
  • Candide by Voltaire
  • A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
  • A Death in the Family by James Agee
  • The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness
  • The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking #2) by Patrick Ness
  • Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking #3) by Patrick Ness
  • y1 by Sherrie Cronin
  • z2 by Sherrie Cronin