by Cassandra Clare
This is the first book in a YA series. After reading the Book Thief, which blew me away, this book was very disappointing. It was a boy loves girl, girl ignores boy because she falls for a guy she can't have, all wrapped up in a tale of demons, werewolfs, etc. I finished it, but I didn't really find it interesting. Enough said.... on to a new and hopefully good book.
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Monday, 19 August 2013
Where'd you go Bernadette
By Maria Semple
This book was hilarious and entertaining. It is set in Seattle and features a female architect who is suffering depression and possibly agoraphobia. She is using an Internet Online Assistant to conduct all her basic activities including ordering food. They live in a house that is being consumed by blackberry bushes and rot.
The woman rants about Seattle, people in Seattle, Microsoft, where her husband works; parents of children at her child's school (who hate her) and Canadians.
The woman's daughter is a star pupil at a yuppie school and calls in her parents promise to take her to Antarctica if she gets good grade. This of course presents a problem for the mother who is terrified of having to be in close proximity to people on a ship and the dangerous ocean they will be travelling through.
She pretends to go along with the trip but really plans to get out of going.
In the meantime she is having a fued with a neighbour, whose son attends her daughter's school The woman insists she remove the blackberry bushes as they are affecting her yard, when the Architects hires the man the woman recommends disaster occurs. While she is having a party for parents of prospective students for the school, in the hope of raising money for the school, the hill on which the Architect's house sits collapses in a big rainstorm and falls into the neighbours house, almost destroying the house. Needless to say the neighbour goes ballistic.
While all this is happening the architect's husband is being wooed by his Admin Assistant who also has her children at the same school and who is also conspiring against the architect along with the architect's woman. The neighbour ends up having a breakdown and finding out her son is a drug addict.
After the husband hears about the property damage and that the "assistant" his wife was using is acutally someone from the Russian mafia who want to steal their identity and money, he tries to get his wife institutionalized to get help. The architect's neighbour has a change of heart and helps the architect escape.
They later learn that his wife went on the antarctic trip but that she disappeared from the ship. The admin wastes no time making a move on the husband and becomes pregnant. The husband says he will look after her but refuses to move in with her.
The daughter receives a package outlining notes and emails sent by the neighbour woman , it includes notes and emails sent by the neighbour, the father, her mother, and a psychiatrist. It helps the daughter piece together what had happened to her mother and why. She tells her Dad that they should go on the Antarctica trip for "closure". But she really wanting to go to find her mother whom she is sure is there somewhere. She is right, the mother had sneaked off the ship and is working in Antarctica. She hopes to get a job designing a new building in the Antarctic. The family is reunited. It looks like the future for them will be good, not sure and don't care what happens to the admin.
This was a funny book, the author did a great job of presenting a really kooky story and portraying the snobbery and obsessiveness of the social climbers/yupppie parents. It was nice that things seemed to work out for the best in the end.
This book was hilarious and entertaining. It is set in Seattle and features a female architect who is suffering depression and possibly agoraphobia. She is using an Internet Online Assistant to conduct all her basic activities including ordering food. They live in a house that is being consumed by blackberry bushes and rot.
The woman rants about Seattle, people in Seattle, Microsoft, where her husband works; parents of children at her child's school (who hate her) and Canadians.
The woman's daughter is a star pupil at a yuppie school and calls in her parents promise to take her to Antarctica if she gets good grade. This of course presents a problem for the mother who is terrified of having to be in close proximity to people on a ship and the dangerous ocean they will be travelling through.
She pretends to go along with the trip but really plans to get out of going.
In the meantime she is having a fued with a neighbour, whose son attends her daughter's school The woman insists she remove the blackberry bushes as they are affecting her yard, when the Architects hires the man the woman recommends disaster occurs. While she is having a party for parents of prospective students for the school, in the hope of raising money for the school, the hill on which the Architect's house sits collapses in a big rainstorm and falls into the neighbours house, almost destroying the house. Needless to say the neighbour goes ballistic.
While all this is happening the architect's husband is being wooed by his Admin Assistant who also has her children at the same school and who is also conspiring against the architect along with the architect's woman. The neighbour ends up having a breakdown and finding out her son is a drug addict.
After the husband hears about the property damage and that the "assistant" his wife was using is acutally someone from the Russian mafia who want to steal their identity and money, he tries to get his wife institutionalized to get help. The architect's neighbour has a change of heart and helps the architect escape.
They later learn that his wife went on the antarctic trip but that she disappeared from the ship. The admin wastes no time making a move on the husband and becomes pregnant. The husband says he will look after her but refuses to move in with her.
The daughter receives a package outlining notes and emails sent by the neighbour woman , it includes notes and emails sent by the neighbour, the father, her mother, and a psychiatrist. It helps the daughter piece together what had happened to her mother and why. She tells her Dad that they should go on the Antarctica trip for "closure". But she really wanting to go to find her mother whom she is sure is there somewhere. She is right, the mother had sneaked off the ship and is working in Antarctica. She hopes to get a job designing a new building in the Antarctic. The family is reunited. It looks like the future for them will be good, not sure and don't care what happens to the admin.
This was a funny book, the author did a great job of presenting a really kooky story and portraying the snobbery and obsessiveness of the social climbers/yupppie parents. It was nice that things seemed to work out for the best in the end.
Saturday, 17 August 2013
Pearl of China
by Anchee Min
This is the fictional story of a friendship between Pearl Buck and a chinese girl. It starts when both girls are very young. Pearl's father is a fanatical missionary based in China. He has patience, love and persistence to try to convert the chinese people he meets but he has little time and love, it seems for his fiery daughter and his sad and neglected wife. His wife is sad because she has buried four of her sons who were born in China and she misses the U.S.
Pearl initially doesn't like Willow because Willow is a thief, she steals so that she can buy food to have something to eat. However, gradually they become the best of friends and this frienship supposedly lasts their entire lives, even though Pearl eventually returns to the U.S. where she becomes famous for her writing, even wining the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Willow's father thinks it will be expedient to get baptized by Pearl's father, at least then he can get some food when he goes to Church. Willow and her grandmother know he is being deceitful. But, eventually he does become a devoted disciple and is put in charge fo the local church while Pearl's father is travelling farther afield to seek converts.
Eventually the political climate, with the appearance of Mao, becomes dangerous for foreigners. Pearl and her family try to stay but when their lives are threatened they decide to leave. Pearl's father however decides to stay in China despite the danger.
The book then goes on to tell of the difficult conditions in China, Willow is imprisoned because of her ongoing contact with Pearl Buck and her refusal to renounce her. Willow's husband is a close advisor to Mao and manages to stay out of trouble but eventually he to is sent to a prison where he dies.
The book does a great job of portraying the lives of and the relationship between Pearl and Willow.
It was a very engaging book, did a great job of portraying the passionate missionaries and the trials and tribulatons peasants suffered under Mao.
Pearl Buck really missed China and hoped to return to visit when Nixon visited China but she is vilified in China and is denied a visa.
Willow eventually gets permission to travel to the U.S. after Pearl's death. She wants to see her house and spinkle dirt from Pearl's mother's grave on Pearl's grave. She is amazed at the beautiful Chinese like garden that Pearl had created, this makes her realize truly how much Pearl missed China.
This is the fictional story of a friendship between Pearl Buck and a chinese girl. It starts when both girls are very young. Pearl's father is a fanatical missionary based in China. He has patience, love and persistence to try to convert the chinese people he meets but he has little time and love, it seems for his fiery daughter and his sad and neglected wife. His wife is sad because she has buried four of her sons who were born in China and she misses the U.S.
Pearl initially doesn't like Willow because Willow is a thief, she steals so that she can buy food to have something to eat. However, gradually they become the best of friends and this frienship supposedly lasts their entire lives, even though Pearl eventually returns to the U.S. where she becomes famous for her writing, even wining the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Willow's father thinks it will be expedient to get baptized by Pearl's father, at least then he can get some food when he goes to Church. Willow and her grandmother know he is being deceitful. But, eventually he does become a devoted disciple and is put in charge fo the local church while Pearl's father is travelling farther afield to seek converts.
Eventually the political climate, with the appearance of Mao, becomes dangerous for foreigners. Pearl and her family try to stay but when their lives are threatened they decide to leave. Pearl's father however decides to stay in China despite the danger.
The book then goes on to tell of the difficult conditions in China, Willow is imprisoned because of her ongoing contact with Pearl Buck and her refusal to renounce her. Willow's husband is a close advisor to Mao and manages to stay out of trouble but eventually he to is sent to a prison where he dies.
The book does a great job of portraying the lives of and the relationship between Pearl and Willow.
It was a very engaging book, did a great job of portraying the passionate missionaries and the trials and tribulatons peasants suffered under Mao.
Pearl Buck really missed China and hoped to return to visit when Nixon visited China but she is vilified in China and is denied a visa.
Willow eventually gets permission to travel to the U.S. after Pearl's death. She wants to see her house and spinkle dirt from Pearl's mother's grave on Pearl's grave. She is amazed at the beautiful Chinese like garden that Pearl had created, this makes her realize truly how much Pearl missed China.
Friday, 9 August 2013
The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak
Wow!!!!!
This will go down as one of my all time "favourite" books. The story takes place in Germany, during the second world war, so the times are of course very disturbing, and many of the things that occur in the book.
However, I was totally captivated by this imaginative story. It was so sensitive, so affectionate, and so powerful that while I wanted to know what would happen, I didn't want it to end.
The narrator of the story is the "Grim Reaper", the main character is a little girl who has lost her father and brother and whose mother surrenders her to a foster family and then disappears. The mother in the foster family is a loud, abusive women who is also loving. Her humble husband, a painter is kind and loving to the young girl. He helps her escape some of the foster mother's wrath, takes the time to work with her to help her learn how to read. He is so kind he paints blackout paint on people's windows even those who cannot afford to pay for the cost of a shared cigarette. He honour's a promise to a world war I colleague, he hides the Jewish man's son in his house when the young man arrives on his doorstep asking for assistance. The war colleague had taught the Foster Father how to play the accordion and the family gave him one of the man's accordions after his death. Hiding the Jew of course puts the family in great danger but none of them regret the decision to help him. Even the grumpy foster mother looks after him as best they can in their poverty.
The girl likes to spend time with the man, she gives him gifts, tells him about her life, about what the weather is like outside.
The girl is a book thief, her first acquisition is a grave digger's guide she finds in a cemetery when they are burying her brother, her next book is a book she pulls from a pyre the Nazis have built to burn books and other Jewish property. The Mayor's wife, a depressed woman unable to recover from the death of her child, witnessed the girl steal the burning book and invites the girl into her house and her library. The girl spends time reading books there and eventually steals a few books (with the unspoken cooperation of the Mayor's wife). Near the end of the book the Mayor's wife give the girl a blank book so that she can write stories. She documents her life, the high and low points, also to document the reality and atrocities.
When there are air raids the girl reads to the people gathered in a local basement that has been designated as an air raid shelter. The jew writes two book for the girl as presents for her reflecting the present situation.
The girl is obviously captivated by words and books, but in contrast to the beauty of words and the ability to transport people there is the contrast of the Hitler and the Nazi propaganda. How can we love and worship words when they can also do so much harm. At the end of her book the girl says "I have hated the words, and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right".
The girl has a young male friend who is her partner in crime and who loves her and keeps asking her for a kiss. Sadly she never gives him one when he is alive.
The narration by the Grim Reaper, in relating the tale, in giving us hints of things to come, etc. was an ingenious aspect of the book The book gives a very detailed description of life in Nazi Germany and the risks to those who did not tow the party line. To me the best part was the beautiful way that the author portrays the relationships between the main characters, particularly the girl, her family, the Jew , the young boy and the strange affection of the Mayor's wife.. The story was told with such poignancy and there was so much affection, it was touching and lovely. When the father is sent into the army for giving a crust of bread to a Jew being marched through the town the mother sits up at night hugging his accordion and falls asleep in that position. Despite the terrible times there were aspects of gentle humour too, the young boy paints himself black and runs around a race track saying he is Jessie Owens, the black athlete, whcih of course doesn't go over well at all. The mother poors a bucket of cold water on her husband after he gets drunk.
"A last note from Your Narrator.... I am haunted by human's". This is a book that will linger in my thoughts.
Wow!!!!!
This will go down as one of my all time "favourite" books. The story takes place in Germany, during the second world war, so the times are of course very disturbing, and many of the things that occur in the book.
However, I was totally captivated by this imaginative story. It was so sensitive, so affectionate, and so powerful that while I wanted to know what would happen, I didn't want it to end.
The narrator of the story is the "Grim Reaper", the main character is a little girl who has lost her father and brother and whose mother surrenders her to a foster family and then disappears. The mother in the foster family is a loud, abusive women who is also loving. Her humble husband, a painter is kind and loving to the young girl. He helps her escape some of the foster mother's wrath, takes the time to work with her to help her learn how to read. He is so kind he paints blackout paint on people's windows even those who cannot afford to pay for the cost of a shared cigarette. He honour's a promise to a world war I colleague, he hides the Jewish man's son in his house when the young man arrives on his doorstep asking for assistance. The war colleague had taught the Foster Father how to play the accordion and the family gave him one of the man's accordions after his death. Hiding the Jew of course puts the family in great danger but none of them regret the decision to help him. Even the grumpy foster mother looks after him as best they can in their poverty.
The girl likes to spend time with the man, she gives him gifts, tells him about her life, about what the weather is like outside.
The girl is a book thief, her first acquisition is a grave digger's guide she finds in a cemetery when they are burying her brother, her next book is a book she pulls from a pyre the Nazis have built to burn books and other Jewish property. The Mayor's wife, a depressed woman unable to recover from the death of her child, witnessed the girl steal the burning book and invites the girl into her house and her library. The girl spends time reading books there and eventually steals a few books (with the unspoken cooperation of the Mayor's wife). Near the end of the book the Mayor's wife give the girl a blank book so that she can write stories. She documents her life, the high and low points, also to document the reality and atrocities.
When there are air raids the girl reads to the people gathered in a local basement that has been designated as an air raid shelter. The jew writes two book for the girl as presents for her reflecting the present situation.
The girl is obviously captivated by words and books, but in contrast to the beauty of words and the ability to transport people there is the contrast of the Hitler and the Nazi propaganda. How can we love and worship words when they can also do so much harm. At the end of her book the girl says "I have hated the words, and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right".
The girl has a young male friend who is her partner in crime and who loves her and keeps asking her for a kiss. Sadly she never gives him one when he is alive.
The narration by the Grim Reaper, in relating the tale, in giving us hints of things to come, etc. was an ingenious aspect of the book The book gives a very detailed description of life in Nazi Germany and the risks to those who did not tow the party line. To me the best part was the beautiful way that the author portrays the relationships between the main characters, particularly the girl, her family, the Jew , the young boy and the strange affection of the Mayor's wife.. The story was told with such poignancy and there was so much affection, it was touching and lovely. When the father is sent into the army for giving a crust of bread to a Jew being marched through the town the mother sits up at night hugging his accordion and falls asleep in that position. Despite the terrible times there were aspects of gentle humour too, the young boy paints himself black and runs around a race track saying he is Jessie Owens, the black athlete, whcih of course doesn't go over well at all. The mother poors a bucket of cold water on her husband after he gets drunk.
"A last note from Your Narrator.... I am haunted by human's". This is a book that will linger in my thoughts.
Monday, 5 August 2013
Knots and Crosses
By Ian Rankin
This is the first book in Rankin's Rebus series. It introduces us to Rebus a divorced, lonely police detective who is involved with trying to catch a serial killer.While he is investigating the crimes Rebus is getting some strange mail with cryptic messages and knotted threads and matches tied into the shape of a cross. Rebus cannot seem to figure out who is sending the messages. Then a tip from the piblic points out that the murdered girl's names spell Samantha, Rebus' s daughter's name.
His wife is injured , his daughter is kidnapped. But it is only when his brother hypnotizes him that Rebus recalls his partner in various rigourous SAS training. Rebus sees that his partner might have a grudge against him. With help from a fellow officer Rebus is able to find the murderer and his daughter is saved.
The story was interesting. However I think it was pretty lame that Rebus didn't figure out who was sending him the clues. Plus, Rankin threw too much into this story-- Rebus's divorce, vicious army training, his brother being a drug dealer, a reporter eager for a scoop and a new love interest for Rebus.
This is the first book in Rankin's Rebus series. It introduces us to Rebus a divorced, lonely police detective who is involved with trying to catch a serial killer.While he is investigating the crimes Rebus is getting some strange mail with cryptic messages and knotted threads and matches tied into the shape of a cross. Rebus cannot seem to figure out who is sending the messages. Then a tip from the piblic points out that the murdered girl's names spell Samantha, Rebus' s daughter's name.
His wife is injured , his daughter is kidnapped. But it is only when his brother hypnotizes him that Rebus recalls his partner in various rigourous SAS training. Rebus sees that his partner might have a grudge against him. With help from a fellow officer Rebus is able to find the murderer and his daughter is saved.
The story was interesting. However I think it was pretty lame that Rebus didn't figure out who was sending him the clues. Plus, Rankin threw too much into this story-- Rebus's divorce, vicious army training, his brother being a drug dealer, a reporter eager for a scoop and a new love interest for Rebus.
Lyrics Alley
by Leila Aboulela
This book is set primarily in Sudan, but also in Cairo in the 1950's. It is the story of a business man and the conflicts and challenges in his family. The man has an illiterate Sudanese family, with whom he has had two sons. He has a second wife, from Egypt, with whom he has had a son and a daughter. He spends most of his time with his second wife who is more modern and beautiful but when he becomes ill it is his first wife who comes to soothe and comfort him.
As the story commences there is turmoiil in Sudan as it tries to establish its independence from the influences of England and Egypt. The man Mahoummed Bey is trying to extend his business and his connections. He is disappointed by his oldest son who is an alcoholic and party animal. He has pinned his hopes on his young son -- he wants to send him for a good education in England and have him take over the family business. The young man would really like to be a poet but his family has dismissed this aspiration, so he is following his father's wishes. However, the young son is paralyzed in a swimming accident.
When the injured son is returned to Sudan, after medical treatment in England which was not successful, the tension in the family grows. The man starts spending more time in his first wifes part of the family compound. His second wife gets jealous and angry about this, and she is outraged when his first wife "kidnaps" her daughter and has a female circumcison performed on her. She insists the man divorce his first wife, when he refuses she takes her children and returns to Egypt.
While this drama is going on there are a couple side stories, the paralyzed son had a girl friend he planned to marry, eventually the engagement is called off due to his incapacity. He is devastated by this. He wants to die, but eventually finds some relief in composing poetry again. His poetry is picked up by a singer and he becomes famouns, even a cult figure. The father is at first mortified that his son is gaining fame in this way but later comes to accept it and realize that it is a good outlet for the son.
Another story is about a tutor who had been tutoring children in the family. He and his family and old father are living in a tiny apartment, he hopes to get a newer, bigger home in one of Mohammed Bey's new modern buildings. He is forced to accept a relative as a guest, while the person is looking for work. He eventually gets him a job as a nurse for the invalid. The relative ends up stealing the gold jewellery of the first wife of the Bey family and the tutor is arrested because the stolen items are found in his home. Evenutally the guilty party is caught and the man is exonerated but it takes a long time until he can show his face in the Bey family home. He had been working as a volunteer tutor/mentor for the invalid since his accident, enccouraging him with his writing.
The fiancee of the invalid has had her own challenges, she wants to progress in school and have a career but she has poor eyesight. Some family members get her glasses but she has to hide them from her father. When her father sees her wearing them he is furious with her and makes her stay home for awhile instead of going to school. Initially she is distraught at the engagement being called off, she keeps hoping her fiance will improve but he doesn't. However, eventually she does realize that being married to him would not give her the modern life she wants so she marries a friend of his. She didn't strike me as the kind of person who would want to devote herself to caring for an invalid. The invalid eventually comes to realize that her decision is for the best for her.
The second wife tries to get her husband to meet her demands but he does not give in, eventually she comes to recall some of the good things about life in Sudan and she returns.
It is interesting to read stories about places I am not familiar with. The description of life in Sudan and Egypt, the political climate, the social conventions were very interesting to learn about. I think that the way she portrayed the various characters kept you interested. I was relieved that the stories all seemed to resolve themselves in a positive way. Most stories today seem to end badly. It was refreshing to see people learn from their experiences and make positive choices (except for the alchoholic brother -- he didn't seem to change). The story reflected the tension between tradition and progress too.
However, with all the turmoil in Sudan one wonders how this family would have coped with all the national conflict in the future. I don't know if it would have affected the main cities.
This book is set primarily in Sudan, but also in Cairo in the 1950's. It is the story of a business man and the conflicts and challenges in his family. The man has an illiterate Sudanese family, with whom he has had two sons. He has a second wife, from Egypt, with whom he has had a son and a daughter. He spends most of his time with his second wife who is more modern and beautiful but when he becomes ill it is his first wife who comes to soothe and comfort him.
As the story commences there is turmoiil in Sudan as it tries to establish its independence from the influences of England and Egypt. The man Mahoummed Bey is trying to extend his business and his connections. He is disappointed by his oldest son who is an alcoholic and party animal. He has pinned his hopes on his young son -- he wants to send him for a good education in England and have him take over the family business. The young man would really like to be a poet but his family has dismissed this aspiration, so he is following his father's wishes. However, the young son is paralyzed in a swimming accident.
When the injured son is returned to Sudan, after medical treatment in England which was not successful, the tension in the family grows. The man starts spending more time in his first wifes part of the family compound. His second wife gets jealous and angry about this, and she is outraged when his first wife "kidnaps" her daughter and has a female circumcison performed on her. She insists the man divorce his first wife, when he refuses she takes her children and returns to Egypt.
While this drama is going on there are a couple side stories, the paralyzed son had a girl friend he planned to marry, eventually the engagement is called off due to his incapacity. He is devastated by this. He wants to die, but eventually finds some relief in composing poetry again. His poetry is picked up by a singer and he becomes famouns, even a cult figure. The father is at first mortified that his son is gaining fame in this way but later comes to accept it and realize that it is a good outlet for the son.
Another story is about a tutor who had been tutoring children in the family. He and his family and old father are living in a tiny apartment, he hopes to get a newer, bigger home in one of Mohammed Bey's new modern buildings. He is forced to accept a relative as a guest, while the person is looking for work. He eventually gets him a job as a nurse for the invalid. The relative ends up stealing the gold jewellery of the first wife of the Bey family and the tutor is arrested because the stolen items are found in his home. Evenutally the guilty party is caught and the man is exonerated but it takes a long time until he can show his face in the Bey family home. He had been working as a volunteer tutor/mentor for the invalid since his accident, enccouraging him with his writing.
The fiancee of the invalid has had her own challenges, she wants to progress in school and have a career but she has poor eyesight. Some family members get her glasses but she has to hide them from her father. When her father sees her wearing them he is furious with her and makes her stay home for awhile instead of going to school. Initially she is distraught at the engagement being called off, she keeps hoping her fiance will improve but he doesn't. However, eventually she does realize that being married to him would not give her the modern life she wants so she marries a friend of his. She didn't strike me as the kind of person who would want to devote herself to caring for an invalid. The invalid eventually comes to realize that her decision is for the best for her.
The second wife tries to get her husband to meet her demands but he does not give in, eventually she comes to recall some of the good things about life in Sudan and she returns.
It is interesting to read stories about places I am not familiar with. The description of life in Sudan and Egypt, the political climate, the social conventions were very interesting to learn about. I think that the way she portrayed the various characters kept you interested. I was relieved that the stories all seemed to resolve themselves in a positive way. Most stories today seem to end badly. It was refreshing to see people learn from their experiences and make positive choices (except for the alchoholic brother -- he didn't seem to change). The story reflected the tension between tradition and progress too.
However, with all the turmoil in Sudan one wonders how this family would have coped with all the national conflict in the future. I don't know if it would have affected the main cities.
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