I realized too late that this would just be one page, so here is a link to my book review blog. Below that are some older book reviews that I wrote.
http://easyreaderbookreviewer.blogspot.com/
Here are some books that I have read and what I think about them.
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
I recently finished reading "The Call of the Wild" by Jack
London. I had read this book as a child and remember it with a great
sadness. Re-reading it, I realized that I had remembered the beginning
fairly well, but the ending wasn't quite the way I remembered it. I
think I was confusing the ending with "White Fang" and somehow fusing
the two books together. My reason for choosing this book was simply the
National Endowment for the Arts had been promoting this at several of
my local libraries as the summer read for 2009. Despite the depressing
nature of the book, it is really a very short and easy read with only
seven chapters. It is beautifully written and captures so much of the
spirit of the place and time. I found in the re-reading that it is not
only the story of the struggle of survival, but really is more tragic in
that it is the story of love and love lost. In that vein, I think it
is a story that everyone can relate to even when the main character of
the story is a dog. Find below the discussion questions from the
National Endowment for the Arts website:
The Call of the Wild
Discussion Questions
1. When news of the Klondike Gold Rush reached San Francisco in 1897,
thousands of men (and some women) left their homes and families to
search for gold with no certainty that they would be successful. Would
you have made a treacherous journey on such a hope?
2. The Call of
the Wild has an unnamed narrator, who tells the story entirely from the
perspective of Buck-a St. Bernard/Scotch Shepherd dog. How effective is
Jack London's ability to sustain the story from a dog's point of view?
What other stories have been told from an animal's viewpoint?
3.
Describe "the law of club and fang" that Buck learns from the "man with
the red sweater." Is this lesson relevant for the survival of humans
today?
4. How does Buck respond when he is "suddenly jerked from the
heart of civilization and flung into the heart of things primordial"?
Why does the narrator believe his "imagination" is his greatest
attribute?
5. How does Buck's first theft prove he will survive his
new, hostile environment? What happens to his "moral consideration"
after this transforming experience?
6. One of the novel's most
important scenes is the fight between Buck and his rival, Spitz. Who
initiates this fight? Does it have to end the way it does? Why or why
not?
7. Buck begins to hear a mysterious, mournful song only after he
is removed from his life as a domesticated pet and taken to the harsh
natural environment of the Klondike. Why couldn't he hear this "call" in
California?
8. Are Hal, Charles, and Mercedes the novel's primary
antagonists? What does London suggest by including humans who seek gold
at the expense of their own well-being?
9. How does John Thornton differ from Buck's previous masters? Why does Buck respond to Thornton with such devotion?
10.
Ultimately, John Thornton discovers gold "like yellow butter." How does
Buck respond to this new lifestyle, compared to the other dogs? Why
does the "strain of the primitive" remain "alive and active" in Buck?
11.
The Call of the Wild begins with the opening lines of "Atavism," a poem
by John Myers O'Hara published in 1902. Although Jack London didn't
know the full poem at the time, he felt these four lines perfectly
summarized his novel. Do you agree?
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
*************This discussion may contain SPOILERS!!!!**************************
Hi all,
I'm not sure what I want to write yet, so I put 'spoilers' at the
top, in case you are like me and don't want to know anything about a
book before you read it. It's funny, but it actually talks about this
in The Kite Runner. The character mentions how Afghans are different
from Americans in that as soon as you see a movie they will ask you how
it ended, but Americans get angry if you give the ending away before
they have seen it. I won't get angry, but if I know what's going to
happen I keep waiting for that shoe to drop, so to speak, and it takes
away from enjoying the rest of the movie or book. There is a turning
point in the book that really bothered me. I had trouble sleeping...
It might just be me... I'm very visual... But after that the rest of
the things in the book, some of which were not pleasant either, didn't
bother me as much. I really liked this book (despite that one bit). I
thought the author did a great job of foreshadowing. He also did a
great job of giving you a feeling that you were really there seeing and
feeling the things he was writing about. It was well worth the read.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Here is my review of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson.
I really enjoyed "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I thought it
was particularly interesting how the intrigue revolves around corporate
financial investigation. While there are several brutally violent
scenes in the book, the tone of the book is not mired with it.
The book is well written and quickly paced, even though it takes
place in a period of over a year. I think this pace is helped by having
sections of the book labeled by time period, so you know time is
passing without the author blatantly saying so.
I had a hard time putting this book down, all the way through to the end. I highly recommend this book.
Well Read and Dead
I just finished reading Well Read and Dead by Catherine
O'Connell. This is another of the library staff choice picks, which are
the eye-candy next to the library check out stand. The cover is eye
catching with a catchy title as well. I have to say that this is
intelligent and well written. So many of these pocket mystery books are
not. I did somewhat like the main character, Pauline Cook. Touted as
"A High Society Mystery", this book does revolve around the high society
circles, but it also reveals a darker, burnt side of the upper crust.
On one hand I feel a connection to Pauline's quick intelligence, which
often jumps to the wrong conclusion, and her all too human failings, but
I also feel very alienated by her callous treatment of others in her
relentless pursuit of money, reputation, and designer labels. This is
the second book in the series, the first being, "Well Bred and Dead". I
had not read the first book and there did not seem to be any loss in
continuity of the story because of it. While there were a few
references to the first book, they seemed more of an aside. The mystery
itself is well thought out and moves at a good pace with only the
ending seeming to be too quick to wrap itself up. So if the words,
"Louis Vuitton" and "Gucci" don't make you squeamish, this might be the
perfect mystery read for you.
Maureen Ash - Templar Knight series
I read The first book in the Templar Knight series by Maureen Ash:
1. The Alehouse Murders (2007)
2. Death of a Squire (2008)
3. A Plague of Poison (2009)
I found it enjoyable, though the ending seemed a bit forced. The
characters I liked, but seemed to be drawn with a fairly heavy feminine
view. Bascot de Marins is the main character with one eye and a bad
leg. He is a very honorable and likeable character. I enjoyed the
mystery and especially the historical references to the village and how
it is run. She has definitely done her homework in getting the setting
down correctly. I have just started Death of a Squire and I am enjoying
it quite a bit. If you are interested in English history and the
historical setting (King John, Sherwood Forest, etc.), you might give
these books a try.
Janet Evanovich
I really like
Janet Evanovich's
Stephanie Plum Novels. I think I am on about the 12th one. Though I
should know for sure as they are all numbered. I really liked the first
book so much I couldn't put it down and finished it in 3 days (which
would have normally taken me 1 or 2 months!) They are funny, romantic,
thrillers. I highly recommend these for light reading!
Dead Over Heels (and now for something completely different...)
Hello all,
This is summer and I have children and I have been reading way
too many "heavy" books. So I started reading these books that the
library has been putting by the checkout counter. (That in itself is
weird, because it is a lot like having candy at the grocery store
checkout.) Did you know there is a whole genre of fiction out there
that is like some thing you do (plug in here) put a mystery around it
(murder, typically) throw in some romance (some more than others) and
that is a new series... For example, during Christmas I read a "Crime
of Fashion" series novel about a fashion news columnist who solves
murders based on fashion clues. In this case the victim was killed
wearing a flashy Christmas sweater. So the latest in these trashy
novels that I've taken to reading is called "Dead Over Heals" by Mary
Janice Davidson. This book is a collection of three stories that are
each part of their own series. The first short story is about a Vampire
Queen that solves mysteries, the second is about a Mermaid, and the
fourth is about a Werewolf. You might say to yourself, "Why in the
world would you read such trash?" (I know I did, but I was curious.)
But apparently a lot of people are reading such things, as the cover
says, "New York Times Bestselling Author". I liked parts of the book.
She writes her action scenes really well, but I have to say, there was
way too much swearing in the book, which I find lowers the book another
level. To me, if you swear a lot, it means you don't have the
vocabulary to express yourself any better. Also, the language used in
the book was just not something that I would used. I just can't picture
a time when I would ever call a friend "Miss Thang!" (unless her last
name actually was Thang!) The first story was a mix between Buffy, Sex
and the City, and a Harlequin romance. I have to say that except for
the action scenes, I really didn't care for this story very much. The
second story about the mermaid, I liked better, but it had the same
language issues as well. The werewolf story was okay. I guess the
whole supernatural thing is really popular these days. Probably due a
lot to the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So in conclusion, if
you are looking for something different, you might try looking for one
of these series books. (Currently reading a "Gourmet Girl Mystery"
complete with recipes and have just checked out a cleaning mystery
complete with household cleaning tips. Hmmm....)
Robert Rankin causes Rancor
Long time no discussion....
So, some of you may consider this cheating, but I get a lot of books
on tape (CD). Let me know your take on audio books. Do you think that
you get the same benefit from reading a book as you do to listening to a
book on tape? I like to do both, but it's nice to have the audio books
when I am doing something else like cooking or driving or if I am too
tired to read like just before bed. Anyhow, I have gotten two audio
books by Robert Rankin. The first book was "Nostrodamus Ate My
Hamster". It was hilarious, witty, surreal, and irreverent. Cullen
even enjoyed it. It had many twists and turns and you never knew what
was going to happen next. The premise was "what if Hitler had a time
machine and was making a movie." I loved the ending, but I won't give
it away. In fact, I may actually have to read it or hear it again, just
to figure it out... hmmm. So, we enjoyed that book so much, that I got
another audio book from the library, "The Fandom of the Operator".
This one is about a telephone operator who wants to talk to his dead
favorite mystery author. We are only on the second CD, but it is
absolutely hilarious, esp. the joke about the guy with the big green
head. So, if you are looking for something a little bit quirky and very
funny, you should check out Robert Rankin. Click below for the fan
website and you can read the welcome message from the author that will
give you a taste of what his books are like.
My latest discovery - Patricia Briggs
Okay, so I've been grabbing books off the library check out
line, most of which have been a bit fluffy, though enjoyable. I picked
up "Iron Kissed" by Patricia Briggs, thinking it was another mystery
book, only about a half-Indian auto mechanic. This was in fact the
third Mercy Thompson book and it had a lot of fantasy elements in it,
like vampires and werewolves. However, I have to say this book was very
good and much less fluffy than some of the other books I picked up.
Now I'm going to have to go back and read the first two books in the
series. The action sequences were very well done and the mystery was
good as well. I would recommend this book if you are into any fantasy
books. You can check out more about her here:
http://www.patriciabriggs.com/index.shtml
The Outsiders and other books you may have read in high school
So I did finish The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton for the Kirkland
Library Summer Reading Challenge. I really enjoyed the book, but
probably would have loved it even more in high school. I thought it was
a little slow to begin with, but picked up pace a lot about halfway
through. I was completely surprised to find out that S.E. Hinton was a
woman/girl. The book was published in 1967 and she was 16 when she
wrote it. It's very obvious by her writing that she was a very well
read 16 year old.
Some of the books that I loved in high school were Deenie by Judy
Bloom, and Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene. This was later
made into a movie with Kristi McNichol. Both great books that I think
would still interest teens today.
Let me know if there were other books that you read in high school that you loved and would love to share.
Happy Thanksgiving!
The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie
I think this might be the next book I read after I finish the
stack of books I have on my bed stand. I really like Sherman Alexie,
although, I must confess that I haven't actually read anything that he
has written, but I have seen "Smoke Signals" and "The Business of Fancy
Dancing". "Smoke Signals" is a great movie, if you haven't seen it
already, you might try renting this if you can find it. I have seen
several interviews with him and he has really impressed me with his
insight, humor, and humility. He will be in Redmond on September 25th
giving a book reading. If you love books and haven't attended a book
reading, I highly suggest it. They are so much fun. I find that people
that write a good story, also tell a good story and have always enjoyed
every book reading that I've attended. Below is a little about his
latest book, which I believe is semi-autobiographical.
"Junior is a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian
reservation." "Born with a variety of medical problems, he is picked on
by everyone but his best friend. Determined to receive a good education,
Junior leaves the rez to attend an all-white school in the neighboring
farm town where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Despite
being condemned as a traitor to his people and enduring great tragedies,
Junior attacks life with wit and humor and discovers a strength inside
of himself that he never knew existed. Written by Sherman Alexie, The
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, his first novel for young
adults, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one unlucky boy
trying to rise above the life everyone expects him to live"--Book
jacket.
You can check out more about Sherman Alexie on his website:
http://www.fallsapart.com/
The Subtle Knife - 2nd book in His Dark Materials trilogy ****THIS TEXT CONTAINS SPOILERS*******
So I read "The Golden Compass" and I enjoyed it. I think you
could go into it in great depth and find all kinds of things to have a
debate about with this book, but on the whole, I don't think it's that
bad and the plot and characters of the book are enjoyable. I just
finished reading "The Subtle Knife". I find that the plot of this book
is much more blatant about it's religious themes and frankly I was
surprised that this book did not show up on the banned book list that I
found on-line. I could see where many people would find objection to
this book over the first book. I can't honestly tell you if I liked the
book or not. It definitely left me feeling very peevish. I don't like
the ending, it doesn't really end at all, but probably a lot of second
books in trilogies have this problem. I'm not sure if I like the
direction that this book is going. I don't think that I could say if I
like this book until I read the third book and see where the whole thing
ends. Right now, I don't really feel inclined to finish the trilogy,
but maybe next year I will be more motivated to find out what happens.
(I put off reading the last Harry Potter book for months, because I knew
that it was going to be dark. But I finally had to do it, because
Cullen was bugging me to discuss the book and I didn't want to find out
the ending from someone before I had read it.) I have to admit I like
Philip Pullman's writing quite a bit and we checked out "The Scarecrow
and his Servant" on audio tape from the library. I highly recommend
that story. It is very funny and speaks volumes about human nature. To
see more about Philip Pullman's books you can check out his website.
http://www.philip-pullman.com
In the interest of diversity---NonFiction! Three Cups of Tea
I finished reading Three Cups of Tea. This was a fairly long book, but a
very interesting read. It took me awhile as I had to check it out of
the library twice. (I'm a fairly slow reader and I only read in the
evenings before bed.) Anyhow, the book is written by a journalist,
David Oliver Relin and therefore reads like an article, rather than a
story, although it is mostly chronological. He has interviewed many
people and includes their viewpoint as well as Greg Mortenson's, whom
the book is about. The book has many elements in it; adventure,
romance, politics, and geography, mixed in with a good dose of
humanitarian effort. It was really interesting to find out about
Afghanistan and the politics of the area. The end of the book talks
quite extensively about terrorism and its prevention through the
empowering of women and girls through education. It is really an
interesting and enlightening read.
Are You Somebody? By Nuala O'Faolain Book Review **********Contains Spoilers*****************************
So, I just finished reading Are You Somebody? By Nuala
O'Faolain. Did I say end of January? I meant end of February! ;)
This is the memoir of an Irish woman who grew up in the 50's ~ish time.
It talks about her family life growing up, her hopes and dreams,
schooling, work and social life. Her prose writes like poetry, a very
dark and depressing sort of poetry. The way she describes the landscape
and people does really remind me more of poetry. Nuala talks about her
family life growing up with two alcoholic and unfaithful parents, who
didn't (or couldn't) care enough about their children to even send them
to school on-time or properly dressed. She says that they were poor and
blames a lot of her parents troubles on the environment and social
norms of Ireland at the time. The pain of her family life and her
longing for love are palpable in the book. Most of it is something that
I really can't relate to not having been in that situation. She admits
to feeling like a failure that she never got married or had children,
but confesses that she would not have made a good mother in her earlier
years. I think the book is a coming to terms with who she has become
and her trying to justify herself. She was fairly successful in her
work. She was an English teacher at a college and drops Irish and
English poets, authors, and essayists names very frequently as people
that she loved reading or met through the course of her life. I must
say that I am not as well read and only recognized a few of the names.
She later went on to direct shows for the BBC and after that for an
Irish TV station and then an editorial column in an Irish newspaper.
Even though she was so accomplished and instrumental in bringing a
female voice to Irish media, she tells readers about all her anxieties
over talking to people and having meetings. I can relate to one part of
the book where she talks about her love of reading, which is very
prevelant through all the book. At one point she says something like
even reading a bad books was better than doing just about anything
else. I loved that idea! So, I finished the book and my heart went out
to the poor girl that came out of this highly disfunctional family. I
read that she died recently, and I felt sorry that I think she never got
over this pain. I can't say exactly that I liked this book or not.
I'm not sure, but it was well written and gives a fairly good insight
into her view of Ireland in that time period.
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