Wednesday, April 30, 2008

On... The Way of Women by Lauraine Snelling

I don't know quite what to think about Lauraine Snelling. I enjoy her books but so many times throughout the books I stumble across something that jars me out of the world surrounding, in this case, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens twenty-eight years ago.

I think that the biggest problem I have with her stand alone novels is the number of characters whose lives she tries to weave together. While I appreciate an author that can weave together seemingly disparate lives of characters there comes a point where the number has to stop increasing.

At the beginning of this book I had to flip back a couple of pages on a few different occasions to figure out whose life i was looking at. Snelling did bring things together in the end...albeit in a somewhat stretching manner. I felt haunted by the tie that Snelling left dangling. That touch makes this book a book I thoroughly enjoyed.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

On.. From Dust to Ashes by Karen Hesse

Wow... what a book. I knew nothing about this book before I picked it up and started reading. I'm not usually a big fan of poetry but the free verse Hesse utilized tore at my heart. I felt so much for the young girl's heart ache, her terrible pain, the daily heartache she had to endure with the weather, with the loss of her mother.

I can't imagine a more powerful book. I want to add this book to my personal library as soon as I can. I am so in love with this book... so much so that I can't put together a coherent review. :D

Saturday, April 26, 2008

On Betrayed by Jeanette Windle

I absolutely love Jeanette Windle's books. I eagerly anticipate the next book never knowing when she'll come out with another one. I didn't even know that this book had been published until I found some reviews of it while I was on a book purchasing spree. :D

Windle utilizes her background as a missionary kid growing up in Latin America as an excellent base for her novels. I have such a heart for Latin America that I took to her books as soon as I read Firestorm I knew nothing about her when I picked up that book from the shelf but the cover looked great and the synopsis on the back set my mouth to watering.

I held my breath, figuratively, while I read this book because one of the reviews of Betrayed stated that the book was good even if it had a few plot turns that stretch the imagination... or believability. I kept on the look out for them and even though I found a couple things that seem like really big coincidences nothing that Windle used in this book seemed unusual for her style. I kind of like those seeming implausibilities and for Windle they certainly seem to work.

I have to admit that read the last page and kept wondering how things would work out to achieve that ending (which I wanted of course :D) and found myself very pleased with the way things unfolded. I hope that Windle uses the opening she created to write a sequel of some sort for this one. I like the characters and would like to see a little more romance between the Vicki and her man which shall remain nameless for those who want to read the book. (Giving away his name kind of ruins the plot twist... granted, it didn't for me but...)

I highly recommend this book. Two thumbs up!

On ... Kingscote by Linda Lee Chaikin

I have always loved Chaikin's books and have yet to be disappointed. This is the third book in the series of which unfortunately I have not read the first. I picked up the second book at a used book sale for less than a dollar and while it took me a little while to get all of the characters and their relationships straightened out I still enjoyed the book.

When I started reading this book and connected it to the above book I ran upstairs to make sure that I wasn't reading a book I had already read before. That's happened twice so far during this challenge and may happen again. :D (One of the books I just picked up from the library I have the distinct feeling that I've already read before).

Even though Chaikin does things in her books that turn me off to other writers (namely Gilbert Morris) like have multiple characters and weaving from pov to pov I still enjoy her books. The plots are absolutely crazy but so insanely cool and romantic (not in the lovey dovey sense but...) that I want to go back to India during the time of British colonialism just so I'll have a character like Jace Buckley sweep me off my feet. :D

In the end, all of the plot twists that stretch the imagination work and Chaikin manages to weave into the story a very strong witness for Christ... not just yelling preaching fire and brimstone. (read... Gilbert Morris)

This book definitely receives a solid thumbs up from me.

Friday, April 25, 2008

On Seeds of Hope by Kristiana Gregory

I have never been disappointed with any of the books in the Dear America series. I love the idea of reading someone's journal and getting a glimpse into someone's life. Though these journals are not probably what would have been written... much more storytelling has to be done than is usually done in a journal.
Now I'll admit... sometimes on trips my journal entries will approach story telling but these books always make me want to pick up my journal and start writing similar things (though about my life) in there.
This book told the story of Susanna Fairchild as life takes a terrible turn when on their way to Oregon her mother is swept overboard and her father, a doctor, succumbs to a touch of the gold rush fever. Susanna, at age 15 and then 16 is a little older than some of the characters portrayed in other Dear America books so perhaps the idea of her falling in love is not so unusual. :D I thought it was at first but I kind of wanted it to happen anyway. :D

Thursday, April 24, 2008

On... The Giver by Lois Lowry and The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

I finally got around to reading The Giver after my sister's raving reviews. If I remember correctly, this is her favorite book. I can see why. Lowry crafts a hypothetical world designed to protect people from every possible worry or care but in the end place all of that pain on one person so that they (the rest of the people) won't have to bear it.

I enjoyed the story and the hypothetical presented. I won't go so far as to say that it's my favorite book but I did like it.

In most cases I wish that I had read the book before I saw the movie based on it but in this case I am glad that I saw the movie first. I don't think that I would have wanted to watch the movie if I had known about the major twist that I caught only one allusion before hand too in the book. (I caught this only because I already knew what was coming).

While I don't agree with Paterson's worldview the book is excellent.

(On a completely side note... that last sentence took me quite a while to get right because of the motorcycle revving up the road right beside the house. I don't think that I like motorcycles.)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

On... Halos by Kristen Heitzmann

I absolutely loved this book. I couldn't help flipping pages away from the end to see how certain things would turn out. I know that technically one is not supposed to do that but I can't help it. With good books I always sneak a peek to the end to see how things will turn out in the end. :D

Alessi is such a believable character. I fell in love with her and with Steve as well.

I can't come up with a decent review because I love the book so much!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

On... Flyboys by James Bradley

When I started reading this book I thought that the Flyboys Bradley referred to were the Flyboys of WWI... like the movie. No, the Flyboys Bradley describes in this book are those of WWII.

Bradley begins the book with a brief overview of the history of the relationship between Japan and the United States. I treated the book with skepticism at the beginning wondering when Bradley would get around to talking about the Flyboys. I understood the background Bradley explained in his first book, Flags of Our Fathers. After all, he was talking about his father, along with several other men of course. The background Bradley gives his readers in this book while connected to the main story did seem somewhat extraneous though.

As I progressed through the book I became amazed with how objectively Bradley dealt with the facts of the war. He described the worst and the best of the Americans as well as the best and the worst of the Japanese. it's hard to hold sympathy with either side when both treat the others as if they weren't even human.

I am not an active anti-war campaigner but after reading about the atrocities of war committed by both sides I can easily see how a person can become such. So many people perished because of the egos and foolishness of a men.

I could hardly put the book down when it ended. Bradley spent many pages talking about the horrible deaths suffered by many of the Flyboys held as POWs by the Japanese after the fall of Iwo Jima. One compassionate Japanese officer when he learned that this Flyboy, Warren Earl, under his care had been ordered to be executed in such a brutal inhumane way, protected him as much as he could up until the moment of his death. Bradley alluded to something that this officer planned to do to remember this Flyboys memory but Bradley did not say then what it would be. Instead Bradley kept this precious bit of information until the very last sentences.

Bradley called this officer, Iwatake, first in his search for the Chichi Jima Flyboys. These are the words that Bradley heard. "Hello, this is Warren."

On The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

I added this book to my list due to the recommendation of one of my favorite authors, Angela Hunt.

I found myself utterly fascinated by this book. Fforde weaves together the worlds of all of these different books and a changed "what-if" history. I have always wanted to be part of the stories that I read and Fforde opens a door with a brilliant idea that I never even conceived.

I found myself confused at points but that confusion could have been averted most likely by slowing down and reading slower but I was so into the book that I didn't want to. I loved how Fforde weaved in all of these classics from literature, books that most people probably don't even know exist. I absolutely love how big of a crime plagiarism becomes.

The only downside to the book was the, in my opinion, inappropriate naming of one of the characters a curse word spelled with just two letters differently but pronounced the same. A few other curse words were sprinkled throughout the book but nothing that I couldn't deal with.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

On... Stoner's Crossing by Judith Pella

Growing up I thoroughly enjoyed Judith Pella's books, specifically those she cowrote with Michael Phillips... the Stonewycke series and also another of her series which shall remain nameless because I can't remember the name off the top of my head.

I knowo better than to judge a book by its cover because I have been proven wrong in the past but just looking at the cover brought up memories of Gilbert Morris' books and while this book did not approach this level in the least I did find myself disappointed. I'm finding that a lot with authors that I loved as a kid and return to other books of theirs years later.

Another fact that worked against me was the fact that this book is the sequel to another book and many of the relationships I didn't understand. Pella included enough twists and turns to keep me interested in the book.

I wouldn't recommend the book though but there's nothing to make me slam the book. I'm pretty neutral on it.

Friday, April 18, 2008

On... American Sphinx by Joseph J. Ellis

This book focused on the character, the words of Thomas Jefferson. I absolutely love history and found this book right up my alley. Sometimes historiographers fill their books with boring facts told in boring ways but Ellis is not like that.

My last semester of college I took a class on the Early National Era of America and obviously Jefferson played a big role in that class. I also wrote my paper on his writings and views about education so I had to read a lot about Jefferson and familiarize myself with the scholarly authors so it was quite a "thrill" to be reading along and come across a familiar name.

The only downside I could find about Ellis' style really wasn't all that big of a deal. He structured the chapters to deal with different time periods of Jefferson's life and usually began with a summary that focused on the end of the time period and then back tracked. I got a little confused but it was easily sorted out.

I loved the book and would recommend it to anyone who loves history.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

On Choosing not to read books

Of the latest batch of books that I picked up from the library I have already put two books on the bench to be returned without reading more than twenty pages.

The first of those books was East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I pushed through reading Grapes of Wrath several years ago and found myself greatly disappointed in all of the foul and unnecessary language. In addition, the whole tone of the book depressed me. When I started reading East of Eden and found some of those same foul words within the first few pages and the same depressing tone clearly evident I chose not to read the book. I didn't feel like wasting precious hours of my time reading something so morally depressing.

The second book I wrestled with the decision to put the book away for good. I picked up A Million Little Pieces by James Frey not knowing what I would find in the book. I knew that Frey's writing was good enough to earn Oprah's seal of approval and then to have that seal revoked because of how much he lied. As I started reading the book I gained a sense of appreciation for Frey's writing style. Unfortunately, I had to keep myself on guard because on almost every single page some sort of disgusting curse word and sometimes four or five times on one page. I couldn't take it. I hate those words. They stay in my mind for a very long time with absolutely disgusting pictures. I finally made the decision about thirty pages into the book that I just couldn't keep going. Instead I chose not to fill my mind with those ugly words.

I hate to take those books off my list. I want to expand my horizons somewhat and read books that I wouldn't otherwise have read in order to be able to discuss things and open doors to witness to other people. Unfortunately, I have to draw the line somewhere. Here comes that nasty little in but not of the word idea.

On... Be my neat-heart by Judy Baer

I enjoyed this book. There were a few detractors, a few cliche moments but in the end I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to see how Baer brought the characters to the end that I skipped to read ahead of time. :D

On... Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

As I read this book I couldn't help but think of the movie. I wish I had read the book before I watched the movie because I think I would have perceived the book differently.

I loved the book. I loved Levine's twist on the Cinderella story even though that parallel didn't become clear until the end of the book. I kept looking for aspects of the movie that didn't appear in the book and that kind of built up into a let down even though the book was wonderful.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

On... In Search of Eden by Linda Nichols

It's amazing how an opinion of a book can change just depending on the books read before.

In my ranking of favorite authors Linda Nichols would definitely rank somewhere below Ann Tatlock. When I first started reading In Search of Eden I compared it to Every Secret Thing and found myself disappointed. I had had a higher opinion of Nichols and couldn't keep from focusing on the negatives about her writing.

I found myself distracted by the multiple points of view. Sometimes when an author tries to tell the whole story, the main focus of the plot can get lost in the transitions between characters. That's what I felt happened with In Search of Eden. The only other thing that distracted me was Nichols frequent use of the had + verb construction as well as a few too many be verbs.

Then came yesterday when I "had to" read almost all of the Gilbert Morris books on my list. Those books rank at the absolute bottom of my list.

I came back to In Search of Eden with a whole new view. Yes I still noticed the minor detractions mentioned above but at least these characters had real development and believable spiritual changes.

I really enjoyed this book and even felt a twinge of disappointment when I turned that last page.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

On... The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien

I found this book immensely interesting. I absolutely love Lord of the Rings and have always wanted to know more about the man who wrote that absolutely amazing story such as his writing process and what influenced his different decisions.

I definitely discovered things I didn't know about Tolkien before. He was a very bright man with a pleasant outlook during his younger years. As he grew older his outlook on life because increasingly bitter. I grew to pity him towards the end of the book.

I really enjoyed reading these letters and reading about the creation of one of the most magnificent stories ever created.

Friday, April 04, 2008

On... The Poems of Emily Dickinson

I'm not much of a poetry fam. Sure, good poetry appeals to me and I appreciate good imagery.

Dickinson is very good poet. Unfortunately, 1800 poems all read in succession (not at one time of course) can be a bit overwhelming for the casual poetry reader.

If you like poetry then this is the book for you. If not then...

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

On... Every Secret Thing by Ann Tatlock

Ann Tatlock continues to be one of my absolute favorite authors. If she publishes a new book I will buy the book even without knowing what the book is about.

This book chronicles a time in the life of an English teacher at a prep school in Delaware. Beth loves books, even more than I do. I totally identified with her. I also identified with the really normal pace of the story and the completely believable pacing in the story.

Ann Tatlock weaves together Beth's memories, one of her student's writing and interweaving stories in the present time concerning Beth's search to understand why a favorite teacher would try to commit suicide and her favorite student's desire to be loved.

While some may say that the pacing is too slow I considered the pacing appropriate for the nature of the story. A true book lover will become absolutely infatuated with this book.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

On... Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

I am so glad that I didn't give up on Gregory Maguire after the extremely disappointing turn with Wicked. I approached Wicked with high albeit guarded expectations about the story only to be extremely disappointed.

Because Gregory Maguire's other books were already on my list I determined to read them anyway. With very low expectations I came to Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. Wow. What a wonderfully written book, terribly sad and so unlike the classic fairy tale.

Maguire doesn't delve into the world of the supernatural in this book although the supernatural makes a pronounced appearance in the book. Maguire plays on the superstitions ever present among the people of Europe during the days of the Plague. The characters are so real, so un-mythical.

I absolutely loved the book although I wish that the few disgusting words had been left out. Unfortunatley the mind locks onto those words.