10 Hot Summer Reads

Stopping by to post my Christmas Gift List for this month's book club. The lovely Renee from Memoirs of a Mother is hosting...

I don't know about you, but if I'm picking a summer read I don't want anything too heavy, I want entertainment and escapism. Something to devour on the beach or beside the Christmas tree. Save the heavy stuff for winter. ;)

So here are a couple of my favorite page turners and beach reads in a mix of genres and in no particular order:


1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

This book still tops the Young Adult list in my opinion. You will have it read in an afternoon.

It is a freaky concept: a televised battle to the death for the entertainment of upper class citizens in a dystopian world. Think, a futuristic Gladiator but with teenagers and an assortment of heavy weapons. Twisted, but it works. Here's the trailer for the upcoming movie, it'll give you a bit more of an idea...

2. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

Not everyone's cup of tea but if you enjoy fantasy then you need to read this book. It is long. It is set in an epic scale world. It is full of some of the most unique ideas in current fantasy writing. The first book in a planned series of ten...I am waiting desperately for the release of part two next year.


3. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

A brand new book by Laini Taylor full of twists and turns and unique ideas: think wishes traded for teeth. See my review here for more.


4. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin.

I am currently reading the second book in this seven book series (and counting) and loving it. I actually picked it up before I'd discovered the new HBO tv series. So it's a great time to start reading if you enjoy seeing books come to life on screen. See my review here. This is a fantasy series that is low on magic, high on political intrigue.


5. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

A witty, bizarre and completely fantastical book about London's 'underworld' by the brilliant Neil Gaiman.


6. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

Cute and funny. You'll finish it in a couple of hours. One of the best current books in the YA genre.


7. The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning.

Don't expect to eat, shower or speak to anyone for three days straight if you pick up this series.  Definitely not for everyone but if you're interested see my review here. Top tip: If you're heading away on holiday pack all five or you'll be kicking yourself.


8. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.

The best book if you enjoy sobbing. Puffy-eyed, hiccuping sobbing. This book is brilliant. YA (my fav) Australian author (often a good time) and, ok so it's not a light fluffy read but it's beautifully moving. Highly highly recommended.


9. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart.

Funny and clever. A girl, Frankie, masterminding the pranks behind an all male secret society.


10. Divergent by Veronica Roth.

The latest good thing on the YA dystopia scene. If you enjoyed The Hunger Games you'll like this one. My (very short) review here.


Would love to check out your summer/christmas reads. Join the book club and link up here!

emily perkins and 'novel about my wife'

I know it's supposed to be day 30 but it has been one of those days. There was no way on God's earth that I would have been able to take a self portrait today. So there you have it. June is over but the challenge has yet to be completed for me. And it has to be soon, I would be too irritated with myself to drop it here...

I have managed, just, to spill my thoughts about this book all over the keyboard. Novel About My Wife, by Emily Perkins. For Mrs Readalot's Bookclub. (I really need to get used to writing my review the night before so that I can actually post it at the same time as everyone else...)

Well, first impressions: damn the girl can write.

I knew this already. Emily Perkins tutored me in the sixth form. Ok, not actually (that would have been too cool) but through her work she most definitely did. Mum had been studying Not Her Real Name at the time (Perkin's debut--a collection of short stories). To my sixteen year old 'blank slate' of a self, fresh off the bat from reading Go Ask Alice and those awful (truly awful) Flowers in the Attic books, Perkin's stories, her writing, was exactly the inspiration I craved. There was a particular one, written entirely in second person present tense (not easy to do) that I emulated in style in a short story of my own. So Emily helped me rock my sixth form portfolio with the highest possible marks (ecstatic young me and ecstatic teachers who were left puzzled as to who had taught me second person present tense). You know, these defining moments in your young life that set you up for your future--my love for literature and writing may well, in part, be due to this little marker. One of many along the way.

So, I 'know' Emily. ;)

And while eager to read this book I was also a little apprehensive. I knew it would be worthy of selection for one of my 'Women's Writers' papers: gritty, far from 'feel good', character driven, packed with symbolism, things unsaid and focussed on the human reaction. I knew it was going to make me work to read it. Which I'm not opposed to (far from it at times) I just need to be in the right frame of mind.

So in a way I was pleasantly surprised. The pacing never lagged and, from the get go, I fell right in to the world of Tom. I now have a love/hate relationship with the man. I didn't love him but the way he was written made me giddy. I had to put the book down and take a breath at times, or laugh out loud whilst shaking my head at the brilliance of Perkins. Tom is truly alive on the page. Every sad little self absorbed inch of him. I could 'read' Tom over and over just to delight in how perfectly executed he is.

Perkins is a master of the human reaction. I could feel and see my own reaction in so many of her descriptions. She has a truly remarkable way with words. It's hard to explain without examples. I was tempted to highlight or fold over the pages of some of my favourite lines but I never did and now I don't have the energy to flip back through the book looking for them. Note to self for next time.

I am confused about exactly what happened to Ann. But so was Tom and I am, after all, reading his book. I am content with my own guesses. Maybe it's just that I was never reading this book for the plot in the first place, I was too swept up in the characters. I looove a good action packed page flipping saga (believe me) but I knew from the outset that this wasn't going to be one. And I can say that I love this book for what it was. And what was that? I don't know. An engaging, shocking, beautifully constructed glimpse into the life of a 'real' person.

I don't love this book in the way that I love my old favourites. But I give it four stars for the way it moved me through both prose and content. [Note: I can count on one hand the number of people I would recommend this baby to, so if it doesn't sound like your cup of tea I suggest you don't even go there.]

And while I would like to pick up another of Perkin's novels it will not be any time soon. I am in need of something completely different. In fact this book's polar opposite (in trilogy form, no less) is sitting up on my bedside table right now. And the thought of that is making me itchy to get this mumblejumbled review finished and head upstairs with a cup of tea.

So that's exactly what I'm going to do! :) Linking in at lovely Helen's for:

Love you all my favourite bloggy friends!

:)

x

Water for Elephants

Well I'll start with the photos. Day 23 of this challenge: Sunflare.

I am amazed to have a photo with some sunflare in it to be honest. Given the pouring rain I woke to this morning I had suspected that this would be the first day that I would have to postpone. With no sun it's pretty hard to get flare! But it popped out in the afternoon, right as Sophia felt it was time to water the garden. So there we have it. Nothing spectacular, but SUNFLARE!

These two may be a little photoshopped. I say 'enhancing' not 'cheating'. The flare was definitely there, it's just a bit bolder now! ;)

The red flare in this bottom left pic (around the shoes) was truly that bright.

So there you have it. Day 23...tick!

And now for Water for Elephants...Firstly, how's this for a photo? Shot for Vogue by Peter Lindbergh and sourced from here. Gorgeous.

[Disclaimer: I'm nervous about what to say about this book because I don't want anyone to hate me. I tend to have pretty strong opinions about books that I read, and I tend to be pretty honest about what I feel about them. This (reviewing literature) is one place in life where I can generally feel free to say what I think, upright, and I love the sense of freedom that that brings for me. So, I have decided that I am just going to assume the best of my lovely, fellow bloggers (as I am sure they would do for me) and trust that no one is going to be offended if my opinion differs from theirs. We're not all the same so why pretend to be, right? It's super fun to agree, but it's no fun at all to not agree but pretend to. Or as Joe Fox puts it (aka Tom Hanks): It's not personal, it's business. *sheepish grin*]

I'll start with more photos (from the same source) because they are lovely.

I finished this evening and I was whelmed. Not overwhelmed or underwhelmed. No earth shattering emotions surfaced. I didn't love it or hate it. It just...was. The title of this book comes to mind...thus, I feel relatively neutral about Water for Elephants. My reaction was a shug. Meh.

[Don't hate me...]

I'll begin with a few of the things I enjoyed:

1. I love the obvious enthusiasm that Sara Gruen (author) has for this time, place and setting: the traveling/train circus during the depression and the prohibition. An author's note at the end of the book lists some of the more bizarre 'facts' about the 1930s circus world that Gruen garnered from her research. Interesting. Her enthusiasm rubbed off on me there, to the point where I would have been happy to read a long chapter's worth of highlights from her research alone.

2. The old Jacob Jankowski. The ninety-something year old lead protagonist and rest home 'inmate'. He narrates the story, in a way, through his flash backs. I have never before read a story from the perspective of an elderly person in full time care. These little scenes with Jacob are some of my favorites and I was actually quite moved by them. I felt his frustrations at being trapped inside his decrepit body and at the loss of independence that comes with old age...being bathed by a young woman when you are a modest old man...having decisions made for you daily...a diet of bland food...medication you do not want or understand...the occasional overwhelming visits by family who you hardly know any more...yet the same 'young man' inside this old body. Old Jacob is a sad and touching character, but he is written with spunk and a sense of humor at the same time. Quite well done there I thought.

3. Walter. (AKA Kinko.) The clown and 'dwarf' who was sold to the circus by his mother as a teenager. At once bitter, troubled, angry, yet loyal and somehow soft despite it all. In my opinion this character shows the most development over the course of the novel and is the second most well-written and believable bar the old Jacob. Would have liked more of him.

4. The prewar era (20s-30s). I have a thing for it. From The Great Gatsby to Rebecca to champagne and jazz bands and foxtrots and rumbas and the suburbs of Napier...I love it all. So one big fat star for the time period this book is set in alone.

Not so keen on...

1. The hasty way that the book ended. This is one of the most common ways that I feel let down by a book. Where the author spends so long carefully creating their tension and then just seems to decide 'it's time to wrap it up' and whips all the strings together in a few short chapters. Build...build...deflate. It must be a very hard thing to do--finish a book well--which is why I am just over the moon when I read a novel that does just that and I try not to be too harsh when it doesn't. Just feel a bit meh about it.

2. Uncle Al. A caricature, in my opinion. He felt like a cartoon character to me.

3. The characterization in general. Jacob and Marlena were a bit interesting but I didn't feel them. I didn't believe it when Jacob ditched everything and jumped on a circus train. This whole premise just didn't seem fitting to me. Rather, it seemed convenient. I didn't really get Marlena. Is she feisty and smart and modern thinking? Or is she demure and scared and a bit too dim witted to see what everyone else sees so clearly. Not sure. Maybe it's just that her character develops from one to the other over the course of the novel and I'm being too harsh. I just didn't really buy her. I thought August was a bit of a caricature 'villian' also, although not as weak and static as Uncle Al. And Rosie? Damn she sure was one smaaart elephant! ;) Sorry. I wanted to like the characters, I really did, they just fell a little too flat.

That sounds harsher than I intend it too. I really didn't hate it at all, I was just a little indifferent. Which, I guess, is never a compliment when in comes to fiction. The setting really did have something going for it, I just wanted more out of this book than I felt I got. I felt that Sara Gruen's obvious passion for the concept and thorough research was not matched in quality by her storytelling. :(

In saying all that I DON'T regret reading it and I DO want to watch the movie. It was packed with action and drama and, at points, had me flicking pages furiously.

So...I will give it 3.5 stars which, makes it a pretty OK book by my standards. If it sounds intriguing to you I recommend that you grab a copy. For sure!


:)

x


Linking up here:

Thanks so much SIMONEY for this FUN FUN FUN bookclub situation. I just love it and I sincerely hope that I am allowed back!

1984

★ ★ ★ .5

Note: review contains spoilers

This is the first book I've read that made me feel so queasy I had to lie down or risk fainting. Must be getting soft. I'll blame it on pregnancy. But seriously, Part III needed to cut me some slack. It was more than just the physical torture, it was the fact that it went ON and ON, getting more and more grungy and depressing, and then ending at a point of total hopelessness. I was glad to finally close it.

Much like Animal Farm, 1984 is a piece of political writing. It's not a particularly good novel as far and plot and characters (and even writing) are concerned (although it's better than Brave New World in this sense). However, Orwell does an excellent job at making his message clear: a lot of power in the hands of a few = not a lot of anything good.

I was really into it to start with. The following quote by Julia to Winston about halfway through the book made me hopeful: 'It's the one thing they can't do. They can make you say anything--anything--but they can't make you believe it. They can't get inside you.' I was hoping that Winston would, in the end, prove that quote to be true. It reminded me of Viktor Frankl, jewish concentration camp inmate during Nazi Germany. In his 1946 book Man's Search for Meaning he writes the following: 'everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.' Making a statement like that, after what he must have been through, is really saying something. And yet, despite my hopes, we're left with...

'He loved Big Brother.

The End.'

Haha. Awesome. Orwell wins the prize for hammering his point home to the last. Big Brother and INGSOC--so out of control (or in control) that there is just no chance of anyone overcoming them, ever. That's some serious power. Hardly realistic, but it is a work of fiction. I think that Orwell's appeal for human freedom is clear and genuine, and I am a big fan of anything that speaks out against control and manipulation in any form that it may take. So, despite the fact that this book is insanely black and gritty, and didn't quite meet my expectations, I give it 4 stars for 'anti-control factor' and 'founding-giant of political dystopia status'. I do think I preferred Animal Farm though, so maybe 3.5.

gone with the wind

★ ★ ★ ★

**note: review contains spoilers**

This was definitely the right book to pick after struggling through Shirley. Engaging, interesting from an historical perspective, and drama drama drama.

Gone With the Wind is long but worth it. Even though the ending is frustratingly unsatisfying. I'm pretty sure I watched the film as a child because, although I don't remember much about it, I do remember the slightly gutted feeling I was left with afterwards. And I have a vague recollection of being incredibly irritated by Scarlett, even at a young age. She is potentially one of the most irritating fictional characters of all time. You just want to shake her. However, she's somehow endearing nonetheless, and as a reader you do want the best for her. I know it would probably cheesify the book but couldn't there just have been a few more chapters that showed Scarlett succeeding in her new quest? That gave a little more hope for her relationship than merely 'tomorrow is another day'? It's this leaving it wide open that I find hard to handle. Need some positive closure. ;)

I was fascinated to learn more about the American Civil War. I think that, in many ways, Rhett's political views (and to some degree Ashley's) must have been Margaret Mitchell's. I love the way his character almost stands out of time, giving perspective and revealing prejudice and folly. The book is, however, undeniably un-politically correct. Rhett somehow gets away with his atrocious behaviour and we are left to view everything as Scarlett's fault. If written today the book would also be shockingly racist, however, for the 1930s it was potentially progressive. Mammy and Melenie are the two characters who could most accurately be described as good people--the authentic moral highground--and respected as so by the two main protagonists and the author. You do have to cringe through chunks of it though, especially the early scenes where Prissy features.

On a more amusing note, I do recall that Gone With the Wind (or the film version at least) did break some ground in film censorship. My grandmother used to tell me that her mother didn't let her watch the movie when it first came out purely because of the scene where Rhett carries Scarlett up the stairs. So scandalous--funny! And didn't the producers have to pay a large sum to the censorship board to get the word damn in? 'Frankly my dear, I don't care' doesn't have quite the same ring to it. :)

I can see why this book has been so highly acclaimed. A thoroughly enjoyable early 20th century classic.

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again...'

★ ★ ★ ★

Reading Rebecca was fun--it was like a postmodern Bronte novel. It actually felt like a combination of The Great Gatsby, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights: The Great Gatsby for the Art Deco element--characters in Jazz Age attire, smoking cigarettes, ordering cold lunches and throwing parties on the terraces of grand estates. Jane Eyre for the shy young bride factor. And the big old house aspect. And the being haunted by the dead wife of your older husband thing. Wuthering Heights for the disturbing turn the plot takes towards the end (I won't give anything away, but there's a definite Heathcliff sort of twistedness to it).

It's hard to say much about the story without spoiling it for prospective readers (there are a few twists I don't want to risk giving away). But I loved du Maurier's evocative writing. I'm not normally a fan of long setting descriptions and overly flowery language, but I was actually quite captivated by the scenes described in this book. I felt almost as if I were on the grounds of Manderley. Eerie and haunting and beautiful. I also loved the attention she gave to detailing food. You'll want to read this book while eating a boiled egg and cold shaved ham with a pot of coffee on the side.

Recommended if you love haunting romantic fiction. (It is a little disturbing though, just to say I warned you.) I might have to get my hands on the film version--apparently it was Alfred Hitchcock's first.

i ♥ atticus finch

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

I can't believe it has taken me this long to finally pick up To Kill a Mockingbird. It seems to be a popular choice in American high schools, but not so much in New Zealand. I thought Harper Lee was a man. (Was stoked to find the opposite as I generally prefer the writing of female authors.) And I knew it had something to do with racial issues in the south, but the rest was a surprise to me.

I will try not to give anything away for prospective readers, but I just want to list a few of the things that I love about this book:

1. Atticus Finch. My new favourite protagonist. It's all about him really, isn't it. The model father. The model of character. The model mercy giver in spite of the faults of the people he is granting it to. The epitome of courage. Harper Lee must have had some amazing man in her life to write Atticus. I don't think he is too perfect because he reminds me of a couple of people I know in real life. It is not often that a fictional character makes me want reread the story purely to soak up more of them.

2. Scout Finch. A very endearing protagonist. I loved seeing her world from her perspective. I think it was a clever move by Harper Lee to write about such heavy themes from Scout's point of view. There is something untainted about the mind of a child and seeing life through their eyes can strip away baggage and provide a fresh perspective (as well as allowing for a little more humor).

3. It surprised me. I think I must have been expecting a literary version of A Time To Kill or something--plot driven and with a heavy focus on racial issues and the court case--so at first I was wondering where the story was headed. The case doesn't begin until over half way through and was far from the sole focus of the story. The book is much more about life in small town Alabama in the 30s. It is about people and prejudice. It dips in to the themes of politics, justice, law, religion, class systems, racism, gender, parenting, child abuse, the state school system, societal pressure and the right to personal freedom (among many) yet, as a reader, I did not feel particularly weighed down or preached at. I love Boo Radley and Maudie Atkinson, both of which Lee uses to touch on the theme of personal freedom amidst societal pressure. Both Boo and Maudie are fantastic characters.

There is more to this book than I expected and I love it for it. Want to reread.

A couple of quotes:

'You are too young to understand it ... but sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whiskey bottle in the hand of--oh, of your father.' Maudie Atkinson

'I hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness ... I just hope that Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listening to the town. I hope they trust me enough.' Atticus Finch

'It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.' Scout Finch

'A mob's always made up of people, no matter what.' Atticus Finch

And the last quote sounds cliche but it is so true and I love that throughout the novel Atticus does this with any character despite their being sympathetic, misunderstood or purely wretched:

'You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view--until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.' Atticus Finch