2012 reading: Catch-up (Part 5)

In an effort to catch up on my reading, I'm writing short reviews of the books I've read so far this year.

Title and author: Divergent - Veronica Roth
Source: Library
Rating: 9 out of 10

Can I just say that I'm loving the dystopian trend? I've always been a sucker for a good dystopian novel, and Roth has created a really interesting world and has peopled it with characters that you actually want to watch. I couldn't stop reading this book (Or, as you'll see in a moment, its sequel) until I had completely finished. I wanted to know what happened, and I really cared about what happened to the characters.

Title and author: Insurgent - Veronica Roth
Source: Kindle
Rating: 9 out of 10

It's hard, for me, to separate this book from its predecessor since I went straight from one into the other. They kind of exist all as one story in my mind, so a lot of my feelings about Insurgent mirror those of Divergent. I did like that Roth began to more fully flesh out the world she created and to give the reader little hints of what may come in the third installment.

Title and author: Forever - Maggie Stiefvater
Source: Library
Rating: 7 out of 10

Last books in series always seem kind of rushed to me. You've had a couple books to really lay out a good story, then you have to wrap it all up in one book. In this case, there really wasn't a lot to "wrap up," but all that wrapping happened in such a small portion of the book that I kind of wondered why I'd read the whole thing. Not to mention that the characters we've seen develop in the last two books are just kind of blah. Grace is suddenly all rebellious and angry toward her parents in a confrontational way; Isabel just existed to answer the phone; and Sam, oh, Sam. Once the hallmark of everything I loved about these books, he turned into a Bella-from-New Moon stand-in -- "Oh, my love is away so I'll just totally fall apart and not sleep and go all emo." Yeah, no thanks.

Title and author: Silence - Becca Fitzpatrick

Source: Library

Rating: 6 out of 10

In a way, I liked the concept of this third book in the series: (SPOILER ALERT) Nora loses her memory right after learning all kinds of interesting tidbits about the fallen angels and the Nephilim, then has to gain it back. Unfortunately, the concept would have worked much better if this were a stand-alone book or the first book in the series. We already know all the stuff Nora needs to find out, so it just makes the entire book kind of boring.

2012 reading: Catch-up (Part 3)

 In an effort to catch up on my reviewing, I'm doing short reviews of every book I've read this year. I'm so far behind!

Title and author: Discardia - Dinah Sanders

Source: Kindle

Rating: 9 out of 10

I'm on a minimalist kick lately. Many minimalism books/blogs are focused on the major things in life: Minimizing your impact on the planet, minimizing your debt, etc. While Discardia does touch on some of that, Sanders also gives a lot of real, down-to-earth advice for those looking to get rid of the crap in their homes. I have yet to actually celebrate a Discardia, but I've put some of her tips into practice in my home.

Title and author: Miss Minimalist: Inspiration to Downsize, Declutter and Simplify - Francine Jay

Source: Kindle

Rating: 8 out of 10

I really liked this collection of short essays on everything from practical decluttering tips to how much of one thing is too much. Jay has an easy-to-read, conversational style of writing that made this a breeze to get through. I would recommend this to anyone considering a life of simplicity.

Title and author: Guest House - Barbara K. Richardson

Source: Author

Rating: 7 out of 10

This was a nice, easy read. At times, I wasn't a big fan of the way the parents were characterized (I really dislike negligent parents as characters), but I realize it was necessary for the plot to pan out the way it did.

Title and author: The Stranger - Albert Camus
Source: Personal library
Rating: 7 out of 10

First, creepy cover, right? I liked this book well enough, but I didn't love it as much as I loved another Camus work (The Plague), so I think that colored my view of this novel. It was a quick, easy read, even though I didn't care for the protagonist at all. While this is held up as Camus's greatest novel, I think The Plague is much more complex and philosophical.

2012 reading: Catch-up (Part 2)

 In an effort to catch up on my reviewing for this year, I'm writing a series of short review posts for every book I've read this year. I'm so far behind!

Title and author: 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
Source: Library
Rating: 7 out of 10

Whew! This was a slog, but a good one. I wasn't sure, for most of the book, where the story was going, but I think that can be the mark of a good novel. Murakami certainly is a master of the craft. here was something ephemeral, though, that made this difficult to really get behind. I liked it well enough to finish and say that, generally, I enjoyed this book, but not enough that I would read it again.

Title and author: Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things - Randy Frost
Source: Kindle
Rating: 8 out of 10

I find hoarders equal parts fascinating and disturbing, so I read this book with a mixture of curiosity and horror. I liked that Frost was able to really get into the heads of some of his subjects and pull out the reasons behind their hoarding, yet others remained enigmas. This was an easy, interesting read that I powered through in a few sittings.

Title and author: Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal - Conor Grennan
Source: Publisher for review
Rating: 9 out of 10

I'm not usually one for memoirs, or nonfiction for that matter, but this year has been the year of really good nonfiction, and this book is just one of that group. Grennan has not only a talent for writing, and writing well, but also an obvious love for the children he met while volunteering in an orphanage in Nepal. I found myself wanting to meet each of the children and cheering along with Grennan when he had a small victory in his quest. Highly, highly recommended!

Title and author: The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less - Barry Schwartz
Source: Kindle
Rating: 4 out of 10

I really liked the concept behind this book: That having more choices in our everyday lives actually creates much more stress. Unfortunately, that's about as far as this book went. It seemed to repeat all the ways we have choice (OK, I get it. There are TONS of different products in a grocery store! I don't need a whole chapter listing numbers of brands of breakfast cereals) over and over again without really drawing any useful conclusions. It just seemed to me that someone read an academic article on having too much choice, thought it would make a great book and didn't really look at the finished product.

2012 reading: Catch-up (Part 1)

I have been such a slacker with reviewing books since my son was born ... uh ... more than a year ago. I've actually managed to get a decent amount of reading done so far this year, partially thanks to my Christmas gift of a Kindle (Yes, I finally jumped on the digital train), so I'll try to catch up on reviewing what I've read in a series of short reviews.

Title and author: The Help - Kathryn Stockett
Source: Library
Rating: 7 out of 10

I put off reading this book for a long time because I just tend to not read really popular books, but I decided to read it after seeing the movie. I thought the book was really well-written and had a great concept. It showed a side of pre-civil rights life that not everyone thinks about. That being said, I think I would have liked this book more if I had read it before seeing the movie. I just didn't feel the connection with Skeeter that I felt I should have as she was the main protagonist.

Title and author: Room - Emma Donoghue
Source: Library
Rating: 10 out of 10

This is one of those books you hate to love due to its subject matter. Kidnapping and imprisoning a woman, impregnating her and then keeping her and the child locked in a room for five years isn't exactly a feel-good, happy topic, but Donoghue's choice to tell the story through the eyes of Jack was a brilliant one because he had an innocence about the whole topic so the reader didn't feel beaten over the head by the negative subject. I adored Jack. He is probably on my list of Top 5 Favorite Protagonists Ever. I want a 5-year-old just like him (Minus the fact that he's been locked in one room his whole life). Donoghue manages a feat not often mastered: She employs a young, innocent narrator but his narration is not annoying or difficult to read, and I never felt talked-down-to. Jack is just Jack, and he absolutely makes this story. Highly, highly recommended book!

Title and author: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Source: Library
Rating: 8 out of 10

The thing that intrigued me the most about this book was the vintage photographs which inspired the story scattered throughout the text. I kept looking back at the photos! Though I didn't really feel a particular connection to any of the characters (I'm not sure why), I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It had a unique concept, it was well-written and made an easy, fun read.

Title and author: The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness in the Fair that Changed America - Erik Larson
Source: Kindle edition
Rating: 8 out of 10

I'm not usually one for non-fiction, but a serial killer during the World's Fair in Chicago? Sign me up! Larson actually helped me to like non-fiction because his writing isn't dry. This book read more like a novel than history. My usual Kindle-reading time is when putting my son to bed at night, and I found myself sitting long after he was asleep, reading this book because I wanted to find out what happened. I would recommend this to anyone who is wary of non-fiction. This may just be a gateway book!

Review: 13, rue Therese by Elena Mauli Shapiro

Title: 13, rue Therese

Author: Elena Mauli Shapiro

Pages: 268 (I have an ARC, so page numbers in finished copies may differ)

Source: Publisher for review

Rating: 7/10

Summary (From back of book):

American academic Trevor Stratton discovers a box full of artifacts as he settles into his new office in Paris. The pictures, letters, and objects in the box relate to the life of Louise Brunet, a Frenchwoman who lived through both world wars.

Trevor begins to piece together the story of Louise's life: her love for a cousin who died in the war, her marriage to a man who works for her father, and her attraction to a neighbor in her building at 13, rue Therese. As Trevor becomes enamored of the charming, feisty Louise of his imagination, he notices another alluring Frenchwoman: his clerk, Josianne, who planted the mysterious box in his office and with whom he finds he is falling in love.

My Two Cents:

The story of how this book came to be and the concept around which Shapiro builds her novel is really interesting. The author acquired a box of artifacts -- letters, pressed flowers, gloves -- that belonged to an upstairs neighbor when she lived in Paris. It is around these real-life things that she builds this book and from which she imagines the life of the real Louise Brunet. She then takes those artifacts and frames them within the story of Trevor, an American who finds the box in his new office in Paris. I think the framework and the real-life story behind all the things we see scanned into the book is what I liked best about this book.

Due to the framework of the novel, I found it difficult to actually get to know Trevor as a character. This was kind of disappointing to me, as I would have liked to know him more since he basically is the one telling the story.

We do, however, get to know Louise very well. I honestly wasn't sure what to think of Louise. There were times when I liked her and times when I did not like her one bit. She was very much a Scarlett O'Hara to me, without the extended periods of complete and total loathing. Overall, though, I think she was a really interesting main character and I enjoyed the fact that, even though she likely was nothing like the real Louise Brunet, she was based somewhat on a real person.

This is an enjoyable, easy read that I would recommend to anyone looking for a fun little mystery to figure out along with their reading.

Review: City of Dreams by William Martin

Title: City of Dreams

Author: William Martin

Pages: 447

Source: Publisher for review

Rating: 7/10

Summary (From book flap):

"Can I interest you in saving America?"

That's the text message Peter Fallon receives from a Wall Street bigwig. It's not a challenge he can turn down, especially since the country is in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The stock market is wobbling. The Chinese have stopped buying our T-bills. If we don't get control of our deficit, our economic future looks grim.

But all may not be lost. Hidden somewhere in New York City is a box of 1780s bonds with a face value of ten thousand dollars, part of a series of bonds called New Emission Money. The Supreme Court is about to decide if these bonds still have value. If the decision is yes, those ten thousand dollars, at 5 percent interest, will be worth a very pretty penny. A lot of very pretty pennies.

Peter Fallon and his girlfriend, Evangeline Carrington, must find the box -- and fast. Suddenly, their race against time becomes a race through time as Peter and Evangeline track the stories of New Yorkers whose lives have been changed by the bonds. They'll confront frightened booksellers, heartless businessmen, former flames, renegade treasury agents, and the Russian mafia ... and all while they'll unravel the thrilling and inspiring origins of the City of Dreams.

My Two Cents:

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I'm not normally one to enjoy the whole suspense/thriller genre, but I do like a book that has a good historical story. So, I gave it a try.

The best thing about this book, in my mind, was how Martin traces the bonds in question through time and how he is able to bring each time in history -- 1770s, 1890s, 1920s, 1980s and present day -- to life. It was also interesting to see that, since these bonds were basically lost in the New York City, each time period's action was centered in New York. As a result, the reader really got to see how the city changed from its earliest roots to what it is today. The whole historical background was most interesting to me.

I did find some of the action and events, especially those in present day, a little hard to believe. I have a hard time believing, for example, that a building could be blown up and a man shot in the middle of the street nearly unnoticed by police. But, although the somewhat outlandish events contributed to the suspense feel of the book, it did not take anything away from my enjoyment of the book or my desire to find out what happened next.

I also found that I really could not connect to any of the characters. They all seemed very one-dimensional. And while that did bother me some, again, it did not cause me to dislike the book or to make me want to put it down.

If you like historical novels or history in general, give this book a try.

Review: Mr. Toppit by Charles Elton

Title: Mr. Toppit

Author: Charles Elton

Pages: 387 (I have an ARC, so page numbers in finished copies may differ)

Source: Publisher for review

Rating: 7/10

Summary (From back of book):

When Arthur Hayman, an unsuccessful screenwriter turned children's book author, is accidentally hit by a cement truck in London, his dying moments are spent with a passing American tourist, Laurie Clow, who is fated to bring posthumous fame to his obscure series, The Hayseed Chronicles, and the enigmatic and sinister Mr. Toppit who is at the center of the books. While Arthur doesn't live to reap the benefits of his books' success, his legacy falls to his widow, Martha, and their children -- the fragile Rachel, and Luke, reluctantly immortalized as the fictional Luke Hayseed, hero of his father's books. But others want their share of the Hayseed phenomenon, particularly Laurie, who has a mysterious agenda of her own that changes all their lives as Martha, Rachel, and Luke begin to crumble under the heavy burden of their inheritance.

My Two Cents:

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I thought Elton's writing had a great flow to it and made this book really easy to read. I also thought he created some really solid, vivid characters, especially Laurie and Rachel. Also, he created a really interesting concept with The Hayseed Chronicles. It was so intriguing that I actually found myself often wishing that the series really existed so I could read it.

My big hang-up with this book, though, is that it just didn't seem to feel very cohesive. Sure, all the scenes orbited around Luke and the fame of his father's books, along with the downfall of his family, but it just seemed as if there were episodes thrown in for shock factor alone. The section where Luke is visiting Laurie in Los Angeles is full of these non sequiturs, and the whole portion just kind of hangs together limply. I think maybe it's because we really don't get to know Luke outside of the fact that he really dislikes all the attention paid to him because he is the iconic main character of his father's books. I couldn't tell if things that he did and said while at Laurie's house really were in or out of character for him, so they all just kind of seemed to come out of nowhere.

Generally, though, I did enjoy this book. 

Review: Proust's Overcoat by Lorenza Foschini

Title: Proust's Overcoat: The True Story of One Man's Passion for All Things Proust

Author: Lorenza Foschini

Pages: 120

Source: Publisher for review

Rating: 7/10

Summary (From Amazon):

Jacques GuÉrin was a prominent businessman at the head of his family's successful perfume company, but his real passion was for rare books and literary manuscripts. From the time he was a young man, he frequented the antiquarian bookshops of Paris in search of lost, forgotten treasures. The ultimate prize? Anything from the hands of Marcel Proust.
GuÉrin identified with Proust more deeply than with any other writer, and when illness brought him by chance under the care of Marcel's brother, Dr. Robert Proust, he saw it as a remarkable opportunity. Shamed by Marcel's extravagant writings, embarrassed by his homosexuality, and offended by his disregard for bourgeois respectability, his family had begun to deliberately destroy and sell their inheritance of his notebooks, letters, manuscripts, furni-ture, and personal effects. Horrified by the destruction, and consumed with desire, GuÉrin ingratiated himself with Marcel's heirs, placating them with cash and kindness in exchange for the writer's priceless, rare material remains. After years of relentless persuasion, GuÉrin was at last rewarded with a highly personal prize, one he had never dreamed of possessing, a relic he treasured to the end of his long life: Proust's overcoat.
Proust's Overcoat introduces a cast of intriguing and unforgettable characters, each inspired and tormented by Marcel, his writing, and his orphaned objects. Together they reveal a curious and compelling tale of lost and found, of common things and uncommon desires.

My Two Cents:

I don't read a whole lot of non-fiction, so my expectations for this spare book were pretty low. I was pleasantly surprised by how much this book read like a novel instead of a piece of non-fiction. It moved at a quick pace (Of course, at 120 pages, it's hard not to move quickly) and kept me interested.

Foschini does a great job of painting Jacques Guerin, who you could theoretically call her main character. Sure, he was a real person, but his obsession with Proust and his quest to collect pieces of the author's life. I found Guerin a fascinating person, and could see the source of his eccentricities.

My main problem with this book, however, is that there was so much emphasis placed on Guerin's collection of things such as Proust's manuscripts and his bed that there was very little time left for his overcoat, the title object. Foschini's entire introduction is dedicated to her viewing of the coat, yet the coat only really comes into play for about 20 pages of the book. I would have liked to hear a lot more about the coat, if possible, and think it would have added to this book.

If you like non-fiction about authors and their legacies, or you like reading about people who collect things, you may want to check out this book. 

Review: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Title: Robinson Crusoe

Author: Daniel Defoe

Pages: 273 (I have an abridged version)

Source: Personal library

Rating: 7/10

Summary (From back of book):

After surviving a terrible shipwreck, Robinson Crusoe discovers he is the only human on an island far from any shipping routes or rescue. At first he is devastated, but slowly, with patience and imagination, he transforms his island into a tropical paradise. For twenty-four years he lives with no human companionship -- until one fateful day, when he discovers he is not alone...


My Two Cents:

I can see why this book is considered a classic. It's got a story that, though fairly rooted in a particular time period, allows people in every generation to relate to it. Defoe's writing is also elegant enough and indicative of his time period that it serves as an example of the way books were written for future generations.

The one thing I'm not so sure of, though, is why this book is looked to as an example of the creation of a utopian society. Crusoe's island is utopian for him, sure, because he has ultimate rule and there is no discord unless introduced from the outside. However, with the introduction of Friday, the native who becomes Crusoe's slave (In a way), that utopia is only a utopia for Crusoe. True, Friday willingly puts himself into Crusoe's service for his saving Friday's life, and Crusoe is a fairly benevolent master, but the moment Friday enters the scene, there's disparity and inequality. Crusoe ceases to do a lot of work simply because Friday is there to do it. He becomes an island version of a man of leisure and allows Friday to take everything on his back. This, to me, is not a utopian society.

Short of the small issue with this book being classified as showing a utopian society and my general dislike of Crusoe for allowing Friday to become his servant (He easily could've said no!), I did enjoy this book. I thought it was a great example of how man can survive when he needs to, even if he doesn't seem to have a lot of skill from the outset.

Review: Warped by Maurissa Guibord

Title: Warped

Author: Maurissa Guibord

Pages: 337

Source: Personal library

Challenges: Debut Author Challenge

Rating: 7/10

Summary (From book flap):

Tessa Brody doesn't believe in magic. Or fate.

But there's definitely something weird about the dusty unicorn tapestry that she discovers in a box of old books. The wild, handsome creature enchants Tessa, and frightens her too.

Soon after the tapestry comes into her possession, strange things begin to happen. Tessa experiences vivid dreams of the past filled with images from a brutal hunt -- one that she herself may have played a part in.

When Tessa pulls a loose thread from the tapestry, she releases a terrible secret. She also meets William de Chaucy, a young sixteenth-century nobleman with gorgeous eyes, an odd accent, and haughty attitude to spare. Will's fate is as inextricably tied to the tapestry as Tessa's is. And although Will might be hard to get along with, he's equally hard to resist.

Together, Tessa and Will must correct the wrongs of the past. But time is running out. The Norn sisters, also known as the Fates, have stepped in and begun to make a tangled mess of Tessa's life. Unless she does their bidding and defeats a cruel and crafty ancient enemy, everything, and everyone, she loves will be destroyed.

My Two Cents:

I struggled a bit with how to review this book. Overall, I liked it, but I had some pretty fundamental problems with the book and its characters, so I couldn't give it a really glowing review.

Guibord's writing flows nicely and the concept she chose for her book is very interesting. It weaves together a lot of legend with modern times, and she didn't choose just any legend. She chose a pretty obscure legend surrounding unicorns. The concept definitely intrigued me and kept me in this book.

Tessa was a character on whom my opinion wavered back and forth. At times, I liked her because she just seemed different from the usual teen protagonist. However, there were times when she was just so... typical ... that I wanted to strangle her. I guess I just didn't have a lot of patience for her throwing fits over her father's girlfriend when there were more important things going on.

My biggest problem with this book, and with a lot of young adult literature, is how quickly Tessa and William "fell in love." Guibord gives a background that they've known one another in a legendary way for centuries, so that's supposed to make their "getting-to-know-you" period a little shorter, but still. I guess I just get a little skeeved out by young adult literature modeling these lightning-fast courtships and head-over-heels loves to girls when that's not really the way a lot of the world works. I just feel as if it sets expectations too high and allows girls to get into the mindset that anything short of perfect, immediate love is not enough for them.