Nose in a Book

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

Read for: Global Reading Challenge 2010 – US, North America (I chose to include this as one of my NA books because I haven’t read that many books about the South and that seems to be a major theme in this novel.) Reviews by Lola’s review

Cecelia (CeeCee) Honeycutt has a crappy life.  Her mother suffers from psychosis and her father has pretty much washed his hands of the whole situation when her mother is killed by a car while crossing the street.   Her great-aunt Tootie shows up to rescue her.  She takes her to live with her in Savannah, Georgia.

First, what I liked about the book.  I really enjoyed the writing.  Hoffman can write!  I actually felt like I was sitting in the lush gardens and beautiful homes with the CeeCee.  The way she describes the scenery was amazing.  Every time I opened the book I felt like I’d been scooped up and plunked down right in the middle of Savannah.

I also enjoyed the story.  It was a light, cute coming of age story about a sweet young girl who really deserved a better life.  And here’s where I talk about the things I didn’t like.  At times I  found the story to be too sweet and even bordering on cheesy.  I also felt that certain parts lacked depth.  I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly but at times I found myself hoping for more, you know?  I also found some of the characters (and some of the traits of the characters) to be a little unbelievable.  Once again, I can’t exactly pinpoint specifics – I just had a vague feeling of dissatisfaction with some of the characters.  I think the biggest offender was CeeCee.  I found her to be really inconsistent.  Likable, but just a teeny bit unbelievable.

However, my biggest complaint about the book was really not related to the story at all.  There were some major editing issues.  Misspelled words, incorrect punctuation and sentences that were missing words or had extra words.  I know this is not a problem for some readers but it really bothers me when a book has this many errors.  I hope they can get that fixed for future editions.

Overall, I really did enjoy the book.  I know it sounds like I had lots of complaints but really these things were just minor distractions for me.  It definitely wasn’t a book that I couldn’t put down, but I think that goes in hand with the type of book it is.  It has a lilting, lyrical feel to it that just calmed and soothed me whenever I picked it up.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Read for: Newbery Honour Book 2010, Global Reading Challenge – China, Asia

This is the third in my quest to read all the Newbery Honour Books and the Newbery winner from 2010.  To be honest, I don’t think this one is at the same level as the other two I’ve read.  I enjoyed it, but it just doesn’t compare to the first two.

This one reads like a fairy tale or a fable (I should sign up for Once Upon a Time – this would be a perfect read!) but it also contains other tales within the text.  I believe that most of these are based on traditional chinese folktales.  Minli, a young girl who loves stories, lives in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain – a mountain that will allow nothing to grow.  Of course there is a story to explain the fruitlessness of the mountain!  Minli’s mother is unhappy with their fortunes and isn’t afraid to let it be known.  So Minli decides to go in search of the Old Man of the Moon to ask him to improve their fortunes.  As she journeys she meets many people who all have lessons to teach her.

I actually did enjoy the story and the lessons contained within it but I’m not sure it’s all that great for children.  I don’t know if it’s just because I read it over a longer period than I normally read a book or if I was just distracted this week, but I found the tales within the story caused confusion.  I’m just not sure a child would be able to follow and make the connections between the tales and the main storyline.

I did love the illustrations though.  You can see that the cover is beautiful and there were several colour illustrations in the book that are gorgeous.  Over all, I liked the book but I’m not sure I agree with it’s being included as a Newbery Honour Book this year.

So, I just checked my feedburner and I have THIRTY-THREE subscribers!  Yay.  I know that doesn’t seem like a lot but for me, it’s tons!!  Thanks to all of you.  My blogiversary (1 year) is quickly approaching.  Should I do a giveaway for all you loyal subscribers?  Speak now, or forever hold your peace!

I first read this book last June and reviewed it here.  I chose it for my book club this month and as I am hosting/leading the discussion I thought I’d better reread it.  I enjoyed it the first time around but this time I loved it!  I reread my review of the book and wanted to change some of the things I said but I decided that just isn’t fair so I’ve decided to link to this and just write some of my new thoughts about the book.

First of all – I love, love, love Oskar.  He’s so believable and likable.  He brings the story down to a personal level.  Even though I was deeply effected by 9/11 it was still something that happened to someone else (especially because I’m not American).  But this book personalizes it.  It’s now something that happened to Oskar – someone who I like and sympathize with.  I love that Foer never explained to the reader about Oskar – he just was Oskar.  I really felt like I knew him, like I know him.  There was no character development, because it wasn’t needed, Oskar just exists.

The last time I read this novel, I mentioned that I found the letters written by his grandparents to be distracting and unrelated.  This time around I found the letters actually added to the story and really flowed.   The story is about how 3 different people dealt with the loss of loved ones in different ways.  I found this time that I was more interested in the grandparents story – possibly because I was less confused.  I’m always the last person to get the “aha” feeling in these kind of books, so with previous knowledge of the back story I think I was better able to enjoy what it added to the novel.

Foer also does some interesting things with pictures and even with the text.  I have to admit, the first time around I found it to be a little annoying and just sort of a marketing ploy, but this time I actually liked it and found it to add to the whole experience of the novel.  It allowed me to feel more involved, like I was actually part of the story rather than just an outsider reading the story.

I have a feeling this is going to be one of my favourite books this year!  I know I’m gushing a little but this book really spoke to me this time.  I’ve discussed this with other readers and heard other book bloggers say it, but I think that a lot of what we feel about books really depends on when we read them and how our life in that present time frames what we read.  I think this was just the perfect time for me to reread this book. Are there books like that for you?  What about books that you’ve loved at one time and didn’t  really once you reread them?

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith

Read for: Global Reading Challenge – Scotland

This is the 5th book in the 44 Scotland Street novels, which were originally written as a serial in The Scotsman newspaper.  I absolutely love these books.  I love the short little chapters and I love the characters.  They are so entertaining to read about.  I wouldn’t recommend reading this book before reading the first four though.  It’s not that you’d have a hard time following the plot, but there is so much character development that goes on in the previous novels that you’d just be missing out on so much of the fun!

My favourite character is still Bertie – a six-year-old with an extremely overbearing and slightly crazy mother.  He is constantly baffled by her behaviour but because she is his mother, he goes along with her strange ideas.  But there are other familiar faces as well – Bruce, the narcissist, Domenica and Angus who begin to realize they are lonely, Matthew – newly married and Big Lou with her Jacobite boyfriend.

The book is, as always. light and fun and the characters get themselves into some pretty entertaining circumstances.  Anyone who has enjoyed the previous four books will definitely like this one.

Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with books, not bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson

Many people have read Three Cups of Tea and are familiar with Mortenson’s mission to build schools in Pakistan.  In this book Mortenson continues to build schools in Pakistan (with some new challenges) and begins to to build schools in post 9/11 Afghanistan.

As you can imagine, building schools in Afghanistan after 9/11 is no easy task.  And after the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, Mortenson and the CAI had to change the way they built schools in Pakistan.  Add to all that that the CAI’s policy is to build schools in the most remote areas first and then work their way towards the more populated regions.  Mortenson has some amazing people working for him that don’t seem to ever let anything get in their way when it comes to moving forward with these schools.  It’s really inspiring to read about the school building process and the people in the villages where the schools are being built.  (Above: Sitara School, Afghanistan)

I was very impressed with the writing and the way the story was told.  It’s entertaining and engaging and Mortenson told the story that was cohesive and had good flow.  The only complaint I have is that there were some editing problems, missing or wrong words, and some typos.  But the book contains events from as late as September of 2009 and the book was published in early December 2009 so I’ll cut them some slack in the editing department!  If you enjoyed Three Cups of Tea, you will definitely enjoy this one.  If you haven’t read Three Cups of Tea you should probably start there before picking up this one.  I think both books are definitely worth reading.

All images courtesy Central Asia Institute.

This weeks topic:

• Tell your readers what is it about “an” author that you are most passionate about, that have you coming back for more from them, following their every blog post – literally blackmailing people to read their books?

• Who are some of your all time favourite authors?

• And what is it about them that makes you keep going back for more?

I have several authors that I really enjoy.  I think my favourite though is Alexander McCall Smith.  I love his writing style, I love his stories and I love his characters.  Back when I first started this blog I actually did an author review of McCall Smith.  Check it out.  I think it pretty much covers all of the questions for weekly geeks except the other authors I enjoy.  Some other authors I like are Maeve Binchy, Orson Scott Card, and Margaret Atwood.

Make sure you check out the other weekly geekers!

Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza

Read for: Global Reading Challenge

Wow, was this one ever intense!  Immaculée was a university student who had travelled home for easter in 1994 when the Rwandan genocide began.  As a Tutsi, she and her entire family were in danger.  She managed to make it to a neighbour’s house where he hid her and several other women in a tiny bathroom for over 100 days while the country literally went insane killing over a million Tutsi people.

I had heard of the Rwandan genocide before but I didn’t really know anything about it.  As I was reading this book, not only was I disgusted by the attitudes of the people responsible for the genocide, I was amazed by how quickly the general population adopted those same attitudes and joined in on the killing.  I am astonished by the capability of human beings to act in this manner, to be so cruel to each other.  In many cases, Tutsis were hunted and murdered by people who had been their neighbours and close friends.  And what they did to children?  Unforgivable.

I think what bothers me the most about the whole thing though is that we, the so-called civilized nations just sat back and allowed this to go on.  We knew what was happening but it took over three months before anyone was willing to enter to country to try and stop the slaughter.

This book made me so angry and sad.  It’s especially saddening to know that this is not a unique circumstance.  It happens all the time.  Why do we as humans feel the need to divide ourselves along racial lines?  Why do we have to feel superior to other races, sexes, religions?  And why does that feeling of superiority give us permission to imprison, enslave, torture and kill those we view as inferior?

I think this book (and others like it) are so important for us to read so we can take steps to prevent these kinds of things from occurring.  What struck me most was that Immaculée’s father was so confident that nothing was going to happen.  On the eve of the genocide, his children tried to convince him that they should leave but he wouldn’t believe that anything could go wrong.  How often do we think that way about where we live?  How often to we read books about the terrible things that go on in the world and think “That could never happen here.”?  “It’s ok for me to be a little bit racist because that could never happen here.”  These are the kind of attitudes and thoughts that eventually lead to hate crimes.

The subtitle for this book is “Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust”.  I think this is a little misleading because Immaculée was already very religious before the genocide began.  There is definitely a lot of religion in the book as she is a very devout Catholic but it never bothered me.  It wasn’t preachy or in your face religion.  It’s just what got her through this difficult time in her life.  Because she was able to forgive the killers (which I am astounded at – I can’t even forgive them and it didn’t happen to me!)  she was able to move on and get past this terrible thing that happened to her.  She was able to be happy again.  Amazing.

This is a book I think everyone should read although you may not enjoy it!