What am I reading?
This week I’m reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I have a feeling I’m going to be reading it for the rest of the week because, in case you aren’t aware, it’s a massive tome!! If I happen to finish this one any time soon, I plan on reading Moonstone by Wilkie Collins or Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs.
La’s Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
Normally I love McCall Smith, but this book was entirely different and not at all what I was expecting from him. Once I got past that I actually enjoyed the book, but you know how it is when you love everything an author does because of a certain style that you’ve come to expect and then they come up with something entirely unique and you’re just a little shocked? (Holy, run-on sentence, Batman!) Well, that’s how it was for this book. And it was a lot slower than I was used to.
It starts with two mysterious brothers, visiting an English village that they were once familiar with. No names are mentioned, except La’s and then suddenly the book jumps right into her story. That was a little abrupt and unexpected and through out the rest of the novel I kept wondering who the heck those two brothers were? But, actually it works. It all makes sense in the last few pages of the novel, which is the best way to wrap things up right? It was a surprise ending, but not a crazy surprise, just a nice pleasant one.
Anyway, La’s orchestra (the one that saves the world) doesn’t actually appear until about halfway through the book (I told you it was slow!). La somehow finds herself living alone in a small English village during WWII. And really nothing happens, except that she makes some friends and starts an orchestra. The main event (the saving of the world) seriously happens in the last few pages of the book.
Now, I know I haven’t made this book sound all the interesting, but I actually really liked it. It was slow and sweet and had that lightness that I’ve come to expect from McCall Smith (one of the only ways it was typical of his other works). It lacked the humour of his other novels, but it didn’t fit in with the theme of the book. This was definitely a good book, just not full of adventure and excitement.
My very first Friday Finds! I’m so excited! Friday Finds is a weekly event hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading in which bloggers share need books they’ve found over the week.
I only have a few this week so here goes:
The first is Wicked Plants by Amy Stewart. It was reviewed by Chris at book-a-rama. Here’s what caught my eye:
The list of nasty weeds, houseplants, trees, and plants is large. Stewart puts them in alphabetical order, everything from invasive to deadly. Some are super scary like Poison Hemlock and Strychnine Tree. The stuff they can do to a person is ugly. Then there are the ones that are just gross like Stinking Cabbage and Slobber Weed. Yes, Slobber Weed. Don’t. Ask. There are the intoxicating which can kill you and the illegal which don’t. Even the stuff in your fridge can harm you if not prepared correctly, like Red Kidney Beans.
One of my favourites classes (and most difficult) in university was called Drug Plants of the World. I think this book will be an interesting continuation/refresher of that course.
My second find was courtesy of Bella at A Bibliophile’s Bookshelf. She reviewed The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview. I have yet to read any of the Austen sequels, prequels or tribute novels. Bella’s review convinced me that this might be the book to start with. Here are the parts of her review that pulled me in:
Monica Fairview has taken on the task of writing about one of the most despised characters in Pride & Prejudice, the haughty, snobbish Caroline Bingley. The very one that tried to stop her brother from marrying Jane Bennett. The very one that wanted Mr Darcy for herself.
Robert Darcy is the “other Mr Darcy” and he is the opposite of the Mr Darcy we all love in every possible way. He is American and brash, funny, charismatic and wears his emotions on his sleeve. Oh, and just so adorable. Reading this story I couldn’t help but fall in love with him and all his attempts to win over Caroline, and help her discover the person she really is.
Together Robert Darcy and Caroline Bingley prove to be very interesting characters, with a lot of depth to them that one wouldn’t first imagine. They each made the story a delight, and left me hanging on to every page to see what was in store for these two that are clearly meant to be together.
Doesn’t that sounds entertaining, and interesting, and maybe even impossible? Make a reader interested in the villian of a loved novel? That’s quite a task! I can’t wait to get to this one.
Next, Bethany posted about Plants Don’t Drink Coffee at her blog, Dreadlock Girl Reads. Plants Don’t Drink Coffee by Unai Elorriaga sounded interesting mostly because I know I can include it in my Orbis Terrarum Challenge. Also this:
This book for me was a complete success. Unai did everything right in his writing and the translation was incredible as well (by Amaia Gabantxo). It was one of those books where you feel the need to keep reading it through the chapter breaks, and every time you sit down you want to lap it up. Reading about the Basque culture was very interesting to me, as it is a people group that intrigues me in their strength and resourcefulness.
Not to mention that Bethany gave it her ‘Can’t cluck enough’ Chicken Award!
Lastly, Nymeth over at things mean a lot, posted about Mortal Love by Elizabeth Hand. She raved about the book, saying we should all read it right now, but this is the part that really sucked me in:
…there’s plenty to love here: the lovely writing, the wonderful atmosphere, the subtle and tasteful eroticism, all the references to art history, the characters, the exciting plot, and the very universal themes it deals with: love, obsession and its dangers, passion and longing, losing something or someone and learning how to let go, and the relationship between beauty and mortality and art.
That was fun! I can’t wait to participate next Friday! Although, that might not happen, as I’m moving next Friday.
Read for: Orbis Terrarum Challenge – Ireland
Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer, read by Nathaniel Parker.
The first five books of this series were read by Nathaniel Parker and I really enjoyed them. Parker did an excellent job reading these books. He did all different voice and accents for each character (even minor characters got their own accents). I don’t know how he kept all the accents straight but he did, consistently, through all five books. I loved listening to these books.
Artemis Fowl begins the series as an extremely intelligent 12 (?) year old boy whose father has gone missing. The family fortunes are in ruins so Artemis cooks up a scheme to make some serious cash so the family can go one living in the manner to which they are accustomed. Artemis has discovered the existence of a complete society of magical being, just below the surface of the earth. He’s also discovered a way to extort money from this society. He kidnaps a fairy named Holly Short, a captain in the LEP, the underground police organization. As the story continues, we are introduced to all kinds of magical creatures, Foaly, Commander Root and Mulch Diggums. Each of these characters and many more return for the following five books.
These books were fun and entertaining and full of suspense. I also really liked the characters. Sometimes a book can be interesting but the characters aren’t well developed or all that likable (even the ones that are supposed to be) but that is not the case in these books. Even the villians were fun to read about!
I got the sixth audiobook out of the library and started to listen to it, but there had been a change in the reader. I’m not sure why this happened, but I didn’t like the new guy. He tried to do accents too but he got them all mixed up (in relation to the accents Parker had used for each character) and it was confusing for me. I only listened to a short part of it before giving up on the audiobook. The book happened to be at the library the last time I was there so I picked it up. I have to say that I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as listening to the books. I found that the cheesiness of the previous books, that I’d been able to overlook was not as easy to ignore. These books were definitely made for a younger reading audience than me, but when I was listening to the books, I was able to forget that. I still enjoyed the book though, it was full of the same adventure and suspense as the first five and once I got over the disappointment of not being able to listen to it, I really enjoyed it, almost as much as the previous books.
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
Read for: RIP IV Challenge
This is the third (and I believe final) book in The Mortal Instruments series. (The first two book are called City of Bones and City of Ashes.)
I can’t say I enjoyed this one as much as the first two. Clary is still trying to revive her mother and Valentine is still on the loose. The group plans to head to Idris to find a warlock who has the key to saving Clary’s mom and to chat with the Clave about what needs to be done to stop Valentine. The foreshadowing about Jace and Clary not actually being siblings gets stronger and stronger and eventually the truth is out. I won’t give away anything more than that but more readers will have realized long ago that they weren’t actually related. And of course, through much trial and tribulation, Valentine is defeated as well and everybody lives happily ever after. We all knew it had to end that way right? The interesting part is how it all gets resolved.
It definitely took me a lot longer to get involved in the story this time. I found certain parts of the beginning of the novel infuriating. Jace and Clary both are quite annoying with all their angsty selfishness. But then the plot gets rolling and you can almost forget about their more irritating qualities. Somehow, parts of this book seemed more rushed too (even though it’s the longest of the three at almost 600 pages) and some of the plot lines were slightly less believable (even though it’s about vampires and werewolves and such) than the previous two books. I just sort of felt like maybe the deadline was approaching and Clare didn’t get as much time as she needed to polish some of the storylines as much as was required.
That being said though, I still found it to be entertaining and well written and definitely a good gothic type read if that kind of thing interests you.
Let’s talk about that book you know, the one you discovered only because you read about it on a book blog and then you realized you couldn’t live without it! And then you read it and you loved it so hard! Tell us about it and about the blogger (or bloggers!) that introduced the book to you!
First of all, I just want to say that there are so, so many books that I never would have read it I hadn’t discovered them on another book blog. And many of these books have been great books.
That being said there are two books in particular that stick out the most for me. The first is The Hunger Games. I read tons of reviews of this book before I finally decided to pick it up. The reason I was so reluctant to read it in the first place? The cover really turned me off. Something about that cover made me think that it was not the type of book I would enjoy. Boy was I wrong! This book in definitely one of the best I’ve read so far this year and I am so glad that I finally got over my dislike of the cover and read it. And I’m grateful to all of you that blogged about how amazing it was so that I was finally convinced I needed to read it!
The second book I thought of, I can attribute to one specific blogger. This blogger was one of the first I stumbled across when I made the transition from sometimes blogging about books to starting a whole separate blog to review the books I read. This was Raych at books I done read. Her blog is probably my favourite book blog. I love the way she reviews books and just tells it like it is! She reviewed To Say Nothing of the Dog and I knew that I just had to read it. (Yes, I realize that my review is totally lame, you probably shouldn’t follow that link. But definitely go check out hers. It’s 1000 times better than mine!) Anyway, I loved this book and I haven’t gotten a chance to read anymore books by Connie Willis but I definitely plan on it!
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
I’m sure most people are aware of what this book is about so I’ll make my summary brief. Greg Mortenson was coming off the mountain after failing to summit K2 (his failure wasn’t really a failure, he wasn’t really given the opportunity to even attempt the summit when he used up all his strength saving a friend’s life). Anyway, he was separated from his guide and stumbled upon a village in Pakistan called Korphe. The people of Korphe were very hospitable and sheltered and fed him for the night until his guide could come and retrieve him. In the short time that Mortenson spent in the village, he realized what every one before him had failed to see. The village desperately needed, and deserved, a school. And Mortenson decided that he was the right man for the job. And so begins the process that will result in several schools and become Mortenson’s life work.
I loved this book. It was so inspiring. It was amazing to me the things that Mortenson went through, without giving up! When he first began, he wrote 580 letters – mostly by typewriter in 1993 because no one had ever let him in on a little thing called computers! He got one response to those initial letters – resulting in $100, but he still didn’t give up! And this was just the beginning. There were language barriers, funding issues, unfamiliar customs, dishonest dealers, kidnappings, the Taliban and hatred of Americans, and he just kept going! This man just never let anything get in his way of accomplishing what he set out to do.
I also love the way the book portrays the majority of the people in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the post 9/11 world, I think we tend to see extremists carrying AK-47s when we picture the people in that part of the world, but this books shows that although that exists, it seems to be a minority. The people that Mortenson grew to love were well-deserving people just trying to do what was best for their family and their village. These are deeply religious people who are caring and kind. Most of the major players in Mortenson’s organization sound like people I would like to meet.
This one is a must read. Anyone who hasn’t already should really pick this one up.
Today’s it’s all about the creativity. We have this fabulous reading meme for you below and all you have to do? Pick ONE or answer them all in as few words as possible! Be creative, have fun, stand out! That’s all!
Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Sometimes, juice and chocolate
Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? Usually not.
How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open? Bookmark
Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? Both
Hard copy or audiobooks? Hardcopy
Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? Any point
If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? Doesn’t happen very often, but no, I hardly ever do that.
What are you currently reading? City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
What is the last book you bought? Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? On at a time
Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? Anytime I have, anywhere I can. I alway have to read before going to bed though.
Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? I like them equally.
Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?) By genre and then author’s last name.
Well, I meant to sign up to interview another blogger, but I didn’t. I kept thinking, I should get signed up for that, but I just never did so I decided to interview myself! Silly, I know, but I think it might be at least half as fun as having someone else interview me and getting to interview them. And since it would be NO fun to just not participate at all, here goes!
Interview Lahni: So blogger Lahni, how long have you been blogging for?
Blogger Lahni: Well, I’ve been blogging for almost 5 years (Oct 20 will be my anniversary) but that is at my personal blog. I started joining book challenges and posting book reviews and noticed that my regular commenters were ignoring those posts. I decided that I needed to start a book blog. I started up on April 1, 2009. My very first review that was only posted on this blog can be found here.
Interview Lahni: Why don’t you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?
Blogger Lahni: Well, I live in Alberta, Canada in a town near Calgary. I am a true Alberta girl. I love everything about this province including the winter (and I haven’t always lived in southern Alberta – I have experienced a few Edmonton winters). Ever heard this song? I love it. That could be me singing (except that it wouldn’t sound that good!). I have two boys and one more on the way (thankfully a girl this time). I used to teach high school chemistry and biology but I’m taking some time off because I found working with two kids a little too stressful.
Interview Lahni: Well, now that we know a little bit more about you, what is your favourite genre to read?
Blogger Lahni: I don’t really have a favourite genre. I like to read all kinds of books. I love me some good chick lit, but I also like to read can lit as well, which for those of you who aren’t aware, actually is it’s own genre. I also enjoy science fiction and literary fiction. I also like to read non-fiction books from time to time. I’ll pretty much read anything.
Interview Lahni: So, if you’ll read most anything, what’s the last book you couldn’t finish?
Blogger Lahni: Weeeelll, this is going to surprise a few people, but I couldn’t make it through Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. I made it about halfway through and then I got sick and I was really sick for 6 weeks. (Nothing serious, just a parasite, the kind that takes 9 months to grow and then in an extremely painful manner is expelled from the body). Somehow I associated that pukey, vomity time with the book and just couldn’t pick it up again. I plan to go back to it sometime.’
Interview Lahni: So, how long have you enjoyed reading?
Blogger Lahni: As long as I can remember. My mom taught me to read before I went to kindergarten and I’ve never stopped. I’ve learned how to do many, many things and read at the same time. I have a picture of me when I was about 10, reading a book and feeding my baby brother a bottle.
Interview Lahni: What else do you like to do besides reading and blogging?
Reader Lahni: I like to scrapbook and I’m trying to learn how to quilt. I also enjoy spending time with my family.
Interview Lahni: What is your favourite book of the year so far?
Blogger Lahni: That’s a toughie….how about top three? I read The Hunger Games in August and absolutely loved it. I still haven’t read Catching Fire, even though I own it and it’s just sitting there calling me. I don’t want to read it because if I do, then it will be over! In June I read The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (titled Someone Knows My Name elsewhere in the world) and really enjoyed it. And also in August I read Airborn by Kenneth Oppel and found it very captivating.
Interview Lahni: Ok, I think one last question will do. What are your top five favourite books of all time?
Blogger Lahni: Ooooh, that might be tough. I’d have to say Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.
What book blogs mean something to you? Who are your most trusted sources for recommendations, your greatest help, the blogger you turn to for a laugh or to vent? Whose writing do you admire or who introduced you to a whole new genre you didn’t know about? We want to hear all about them…because we want to know them too! Please share about the blogs we haven’t had a chance to meet via BBAW and let the party begin!
I had a really hard time with this one, narrowing it down! There are so many great blogs out there!
