Nose in a Book

Firewing by Kenneth Oppel

Griffin Silverwing has heard all the stories about his famous father’s adventures and feels he will never match up to him. So when his friends dare him to steal fire he does it. Unfortunately, it results in one of his friends dying and Griffin being sucked into the underworld during an earthquake. When his father, Shade, finds out what has happened he follows Griffin into the underworld where they must make a pilgrimage in order to return home. And of course, Goth is back causing all kinds of mischief.

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first two, if not more. This one was definitely darker and was written with older audiences in mind. I don’t know if this was intentional but there seemed to be a lot of religious symbolism which added some depth to the novel.

As with the previous two stories, the novel was full of adventure and although it followed a well established pattern for adventure stories, it was completely unique because of the nature of the adventures. I don’t want to say too much more because to do so would give away the story but trust me when I say that the adventure never stops and it’s really quite a captivating novel.

Once again, I can’t find enough good to say about Oppel as an author.  Not only does he tell a fascinating story but he writes it beautifully as well. I’ve found that reading books aloud to my son (as I did this one) has given me a greater appreciation for they way a novel is written. Some books are much harder to read aloud than others but never Oppel’s. His words just flow off the page and are a great pleasure to read out loud.

My son and I both enjoyed this book. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“I liked that the book was about bats. I liked everything about the book. Griffin was my favourite character because he was brave and he saved his friends. I would give this book a 10/10.”

Room by Emma Donoghue

Room is the story of Jack, five, and his mother who have been living in a single room for as long as Jack can remember (and in fact he was born in Room, and his mother has been imprisoned there for seven years.) Although Jack and his mother are confined in an 11×11 room, Jack is actually pretty happy. He knows nothing else and his mother has gone to a lot of trouble to make his life as fulfilling as possible under the circumstances.

The novel is told from Jack’s point of view and that took some getting used to. However, that was one of the best parts of the book, for me. Once I got used to the five-year old narrator, I thought the book had great potential. I was was really enjoying it. But at some point it just came unglued. I was expecting a lot from this book because of it’s being included on the short list for the Man Booker prize, and I just didn’t feel like it delivered.

But first, let me say what I did like about the book. I thought it was well written and the story was engaging, the characters were likable and realistic. The story had the potential to be depressing but it wasn’t. It was really quite amazing to read about how hard Jack’s mother had worked to make his life as normal as she possibly could.

What I didn’t like about the book was the second half. It ruined the whole book for me. I can’t really say why without spoilers so I’ll just say that the tone of the book changed. Instead of being a literary piece is became more main stream. It became just another “issue” book, just another book written about the bad things that happen to people without really saying anything worthwhile. It was just really disappointing.

I know lots of people have enjoyed this book and didn’t find anything lacking in the second half so I’m probably just being picky. And, that being said, I did still enjoy the book – I’m just not sure it deserved that Booker nomination.

Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel

Those who read my blog regularly will already know this, but I love Kenneth Oppel.  He’s definitely one of my favourite juvenile authors.

In this novel, a companion to Silverwing, Shade Silverwing is still longing to find his father.  He begins by travelling to the human building with a few other silverwings and his brightwing friend, Marina.  And that’s when the adventure begins and doesn’t stop until the very last page.  I can’t do much more than that for a summary without giving away some major plot details!

I don’t know how many more of Oppel’s books I can review because I find myself saying the same things over and over but I do love his writing.  I read this one out loud to my son and I always find that to be a really good test for the writing.  Sometimes I read books aloud to my son and I find the wording trips me up and doesn’t seem to flow but not with Oppel, and this book was no exception.  It was so fun and exciting to read and even though this one took us quite a while to get through (because we haven’t had much time for reading, not because it was boring) we never lost the momentum of the story.  Every time we picked the book up again after a long break, we were both swept up into the story again within seconds.

And even though the story was packed with action and adventure, it never seemed like too much.  It was just fun and entertaining.  My son and I loved this book and we can’t wait to read the next one!

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

Shade is a silverwing bat.  It’s nearing the end of the summer and it’s time for Shade and his colony to travel to Hibernaculum where they will spend the winter hibernating.  Unfortunately for Shade, he is swept out to sea during a storm and separated from his mother and the rest of the silverwings.  Shade is lucky that his mother sang him the colony’s sound map before he was separated and he and a brightwing bat named Marina undertake to find Shade’s colony.   Of course there are obstacles along the way the biggest ones being two vampire bats named Goth and Throbb who plan to follow them to the colony and eat the silverwings over the winter.

Now, I know what you’re thinking because it’s exactly what I thought before I read it the first time – “Who wants to read a book about bats?  It’s so weird!”  But actually the book is amazing.  As anyone who regularly reads this blog will know, I think Kenneth Oppel is brilliant.  His stories are always captivating and well written.  And this one is no exception.  It’s definitely intended for a younger audience than anything else of his that I’ve reviewed on this blog but that did not affect the quality of the novel at all.  I remember loving this book when I first read it (as an adult) and I loved it again.  I read it to my seven year old (who is already a huge fan of Oppel’s) and he liked it too.

The other thing I like about Oppel’s books is his ability to write to different age levels.  As I mentioned before, this one was aimed at a younger audience and the language reflected that.  But it wasn’t unreadable for an adult either.  The same goes for the story.  The target audience is children but it’s still an enjoyable read for adults.

A book with a bat as the main character could very easily be a difficult one to get into and feel a part of but not with Silverwing.  I felt just like I was there with Shade, soaring way up above the forests or roosting in the giant tree they called home.  It was simple things like measuring distance in wingbeats or the imagery of echo vision that made me forget that I was human for short periods of time.  My son and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, Sunwing.

Ape House by Sara Gruen

Read for: Canadian Book Challenge 4

John Thigpen, a journalist, is fresh off a visit to the Great Ape Language Lab when he hears that the lab has been bombed, one of the scientists seriously injured, and the apes sold off in secret.  Isabel Duncan, the injured scientist, has made this project her life’s work and considers the apes to be family.  When she is sufficiently recovered from her injuries she is devastated to find out about the disappearance of the apes.  She does everything she can to find out what has happened to them or who is responsible for the bombing but finds nothing, until she sees the ads for a new reality tv show.  All of the apes are being recorded and broadcast around the clock.  The television show becomes the latest big story and John Thigpen is sent to get the story.  Isabel also heads to the site of the taping to try and protect her apes and hopefully get them back.

I really enjoyed this book for the most part.  The main story was entertaining, thought provoking and well written.  What bothered me were the sub plots.  Actually just one sub plot in particular.  John and his wife were having some issues that seemed unrelated to the rest of the novel and detracted from the story.  Also, John got involved in some weirdness that came out of left field and didn’t work in the flow of the story.  He also befriended some strippers that lived in the hotel he was staying in and while I can see where Gruen was trying to go with that relationship it just didn’t seem realistic.

Other than those small details though, I loved the book.  My favourite was reading about the apes and their interaction with each other and the humans in the book.  It was so interesting.  In the Author’s Note at the end of the book Gruen says that she was able to meet with the apes at the Great Ape Trust in Des Moines, Iowa and many of the portions of the book that dealt with the apes were based on that experience.   She also says that most of the ape-human interactions in the book are based on actual conversations with great apes.  This book and Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel (which I reviewed just last week) have educated me and made me very interested in learning more about our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.

The novel also got me thinking a lot more about animal testing.  This is something that I don’t normally think about but both Ape House and Half Brother are about the morality of using animals for testing drugs or in the entertainment industry.  My eyes were certainly opened when reading about the conditions that the animals are subjected to.  These issues are things I don’t know enough about to comment on but it’s definitely something I’d like to learn more about.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and it gave me a lot to think about.

Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge

Oh, how I love Kenneth Oppel.  I was unsure about this one to start, but I should not have doubted!

Ben’s dad, a behavioural psychologist, has just transfered from the University of Toronto to Victoria to start a new, exciting research project.  The plan is to raise a chimp as part of the family and see if they can teach him ASL.  At first, Ben wasn’t too thrilled about having a new little brother or being that weird family with the chimp.  But very quickly, Zan (the baby chimp) became very important to him and he to Zan.  (I feel like this is a bit of a spoiler but it’s right there on the book jacket so here goes…)  Eventually, Ben’s dad decides that the project isn’t going as well as he had hoped and he decides to shut it down.  Of course, the question now becomes, what will happen to Zan?

I loved pretty much everything about this book.  First, I loved the characters – they were so real.  I’ve never been a teenage boy so I can’t say for sure, but Ben seemed pretty typical to me.  There were parallels between Zan and Ben that were so fun and at times funny to read about.  With Ben starting at a new school he decides that in order to survive, he’ll have to become the alpha male.  And it actually seems to work for him.

Ben’s dad was also a strong character.  For the most part, he was pretty unlikeable but that was the point.  He had a hard time relating to his son and that was made even harder by the fact that after telling Ben that Zan was going to be a member of the family, he proceeded to treat him as nothing more than an experiment while Ben was busily bonding with him.  When they shut down the project, for reasons that Ben couldn’t understand, he was extremely unsympathetic to Ben’s protests and alienated him even more.  I can’t say whether or not they worked that out without any spoilers but I’ll just say that it was real.

This story was about so much more than just a chimp living with a human family (which, really, could be a pretty interesting story right there).  It’s about relationships, Ben’s relationship with his parents, his friends, Zan.  It’s a coming of age for Ben and for Zan.  It’s about the issue of animal testing and where to draw the line.

I just have to address one more issue.  The book takes place in 1973 and I read a review in the Globe and Mail that stated that the book may be inaccessible to teens because of the absence of cell phones and facebook.  First off, I don’t think that gives teens enough credit.  It’s pretty lame to say that they might not be interested in the book because there are no cell phones in it.  But more importantly, I hardly noticed.  The time period really wasn’t all that important to the story.  There was only once that I thought “Why don’t they just use their cell phones?”  and then remembered that they didn’t have cell phones in the seventies.

Overall, this was a great read, of the quality I’ve come to expect from Kenneth Oppel.

Practical Jean by Trevor Cole

Read for: Canadian Book Challenge, 2010 Green Books Campaign

This review is part of the Green Books Campaign.  Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.

The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on “green” books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

Practical Jean is printed on paper that is 100% recycled.

Jean is your average, middle-aged woman living in a small town.  She’s obsessed with leaves and devotes her time to sculpting them into pieces that are almost guaranteed to crumble.  After three months of caring for her dying mother, she tells her husband she wishes she had just ended it near the beginning and spared her mother all that pain.  A few days after the funeral she plans an evening with her closest friends and it is as she sits there with them that she gets her idea – a way to help protect them from ever growing old and suffering.

Jean was such a fun character.  You know right from the beginning as you are introduced to her love of leaves and her devotion to sculpting them (even in the face of multiple failures) that she’s just a little off.  But as you continue reading you begin to realize just how off she really is.  And even though she’s truly crazy, she’s still lovable.  After all, everything she does is because she loves her friends.

Even though the book was slightly morbid, it was funny and I could understand the motive behind Jean’s actions (not that I would agree with her actions – just to reassure all my friends out there!)  And the story and the characters were so believable.  Jean’s logic was just so logical!  I could totally imagine someone deciding that this is the best course of action to follow!  And just to be clear, in case any of my friends are considering this – I’m happy to live a long life and grow old, thanks.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Read for: Book Club, Global Reading Challenge – Africa

Marion Stone, a siamese twin, was the son of an Indian nun and an English surgeon at a hospital in Ethiopia.  His mother died in childbirth and his father got scared and took off so Marion and his brother were raised by two Indian doctors who also worked at the hospital.  The story covers a fifty year span and a lot of stuff happens.  I can’t really say much more about the story without spoilers.  The story is about the relationship between the twins, the political history of Ethiopia and medicine.

The book started out a little slow.  It’s a long book and the first 100 or so pages could have been condensed a lot.   That’s about how long it took for the twins to be born but after that the book just took off and didn’t stop.  I loved the writing style in this book.  There were quite a few stories to be told and some flashbacks were necessary but instead of having the book jump all over the place like some do, Verghese just put the flashback in when it was pertinent and didn’t use it as a device to try and build suspense.  (I hate it when I’m reading a story and just when I start to get involved with the characters, the author drops the reader into another story. )

I also really liked reading about Ethiopia and the life they lived there.  I’ve always had a certain vision of Ethiopia and reading this book made me realize how wrong I’ve been.  It was also very interesting to read the experience of Marion when he first came to North America.  I’ve read lots of books about people coming to America but the way Verghese described it seemed so real.

I also liked the story.  It took an unexpected turn but it worked.  There was a lot of technical language (at least to me) but it never seemed overwhelming and it never took away from the story.  I look forward to reading more from Verghese.

Player One by Douglas Coupland

Read for: Canadian Books Challenge 4

First of all…this is totally unrelated to the book but my biggest pet peeve is when the library puts the bar code right over the title or the author of the book.  My library copy of this book has the sticker right over the title.  Why do they do that?  There are lots of other good places on this cover for the bar code that wouldn’t hide the title of the book.  Another book I have from the library has the sticker right over the author’s last name.  What’s up with that?  Anyway, rant over.

This book was really weird, and not just normal Coupland weird, but really out there weird.  It’s a good thing it was short because otherwise I might not have finished it.  It’s about these four people who are in a hotel lounge when the world goes insane after the price of a barrel of oil hits $350.  (I have to admit, as an Albertan whose husband works in the oilsands, my first thought on that was “Woohoo!”)  They barricade themselves inside the lounge and basically just talk and kill time.  Other than that, there’s not much to the book (as I said, it was short).

I guess I’ll start with what I liked.  I like Coupland’s writing.  Even when he is writing about serious stuff, he still has a little bit of irreverence in his writing that somehow makes Coupland’s version of the apocalypse easier to read about and even laugh about.  I actually also really liked his characters.  They all seemed a little lame and sad at the beginning but as I read the book I came to like them all and see the good in them.

Now for the rest.  I can’t say I didn’t like this book, I just didn’t get it.  I needed more time with it but it has to go back to the library so that’s not going to happen.  I feel like this is a pretty lame review but I just have nothing to say about the book.  If you like Coupland and you have the time to dedicate to reading it, you’ll probably enjoy it.

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Read for: CBC 4

15-year-old Ned is in Provence, missing the last two months of school, while his father, a super famous photographer shoots photos for a new book.  The first morning he is wandering around an old cathedral, while his dad shoots outside.  While in the church he meets Kate, a young exchange student from New York.  As she is showing him around the church they catch a man climbing out of a tunnel he shouldn’t be in.  Over the next few days, Ned runs into the mysterious man several more times.  But it is on the evening of Beltaine when Ned and Kate are in a place they shouldn’t be, when the story truly begins.  Ned calls his father’s assistant, Melanie, for help and when she arrives she is swept into an ancient story that has been replaying itself over and over for 2500 years.  Ned and Kate and a few others must enter the world of the mysterious man to rescue Melanie before she’s lost forever.

I had a hard time getting into the book.  At times I really liked it and would be totally absorbed but as soon as I put it down that all went away.  I never had that feeling of the book calling me, needing to be read.  Because of that I had a hard time finishing it.  It also seemed to move really slowly.  I actually didn’t really like this book that much.  The only reason I ended up finishing it and not abandoning it is because I wanted to review it for the Canadian Book Challenge.  I honestly can’t say why I didn’t like this book.  The writing was good, the story was interesting, the characters were likable and well developed – there’s isn’t any one specific thing I can pinpoint that made me dislike this novel.  I think perhaps it was mostly a timing thing.  Maybe if I’d had more time to devote to reading it I would have been more caught up in the story and enjoyed it more?  Who knows.

The one thing I can pick out that I really liked was the dialogue.  The characters were comfortable with each other and had a witty dialogue going on that had me laughing out loud several times.  Although I didn’t love this book, I will definitely be giving Guy Gavriel Kay another chance.  I’ve heard plenty about him and it’s all been good.