REVIEW: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches
Deborah Harkness
Hardcover edition (borrowed from my mom)

Goodreads synopsis: Deep in the stacks of Oxford’s Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

I’ve read mixed reviews on this, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I finally borrowed this from my mom.  I’m pretty sure I once took it from her when she first got it, but then I never got around to it, so I gave it back.  I didn’t really know anything about it, actually – no idea who the main characters would be (male/female), what time period it would take place in, or where.  So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was a woman a few years older than me in present-day England (for the most part).

The characters were decent, and I liked them, including Diana’s aunts’ house – it was very fun and interesting with all its rooms, magical things and ghosts. The one thing that I felt was slightly off was the fact that Matthew kept saying that vampires are so dangerous and that Diana shouldn’t romanticize them, but I felt like they were still kind of romanticized anyway.  The whole love story was predictable, but it is what it is.

I thought the science/DNA aspect of the story was interesting – not many of these books try to give scientific explanation for why witches/vampires/daemons exist, but it seems the characters are trying to figure it out.  And I guess when you’re 1500 years old, what else have you got but time to study this stuff?

I thought the book was longer than it needed to be, especially for the first book in a trilogy. I’m sure there were some things that could have been cut (all the time in the library, eating, some of the time spent at Matthew’s house with his mother, etc.).  But I’m really just looking at the book as entertainment and not trying to dissect it.

I just got the second book from my mom a week or two ago, so I’ll get around to it.  I want to know what’s going on with Ashmole 782, the alchemical manuscript mentioned in the synopsis above.

REVIEW: Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

Mary Poppins
P. L. Travers
Kindle edition (borrowed from library)

Most people should know the story of Mary Poppins (whether from this book or the Disney movie version).  You know, the magical Nanny who takes care of some kids in England?  They have some silly adventures and have ridiculous parents?

Anyway, let me start by saying Disney’s Mary Poppins is my favorite non-animated Disney movie.  I love the music and Mary Poppins and the funny things she does.  Having said that, I was surprised that the book and movie were so very different.  Of course,  I expected differences (the movies are never the exact same!), but I was not prepared for the significant differences such as: Jane and Michael having twin siblings, the different adventures within the book and most importantly, Mary Poppins herself.

Quite frankly, I didn’t think she was a very likable character at all, and Julie Andrews’ Mary Poppins is so endearing and everyone loves her (“It’s a jolly holiday with Mary”… right?).  She was very vain and not very nice at all in the book.  I tried very hard to rid myself of the Disney version of the character and after a short time, it was easy enough to do considering the different personalities of these two women with the same name.  But I had a hard time trying not to compare certain scenes and wondering when a beloved scene from the movie would appear in the story only to never find it.

In the movie, the kids and parents (or at least the father), all learn a lesson and have a better relationship and Mary Poppins really does care for the children; in the book, I didn’t get that feeling at all on either of these points.

I’m glad I read this just to see the inspiration for the movie, but I’ll stick with Julie Andrews, thanks!  I don’t plan to read any of the other books in the series.

REVIEW: For I Have Sinned by Darynda Jones

For I Have Sinned
Author: Darynda Jones
Kindle Edition

Goodreads synopsis: Darynda Jones revisits the sexy, suspenseful world of supernatural shenanigans she created in her Grave series with For I Have Sinned.  In this Charley Davidson story, Charley helps a woman find out how she died and gives her the closure she needs to pass through to the other side.

So I think I read the first book in this series, but a long time ago, so I don’t really remember it.  I also thought this was a full story and was really surprised when it was done in just a few pages.  Kind of a pointless story (it is labeled as #1.5 in the series).  Maybe it’s pointless to me because I don’t remember the first book, but I will probably re-read it at some point and make a better decision then.  Like I said, I think I was most surprised by how short it was.  Even if it was called a novella, I still would have expected it to be longer.  My kindle shows it as locations and not pages numbers, but some reviews on Amazon noted that it was only ~20 pages.

REVIEW: Spells & Stitches by Barbara Bretton

Spells & Stitches
Author: Barbara Bretton
Paperback

Goodreads Synopsis: In the latest novel from the USA Today bestselling author, raising a baby is hard, but raising one with magical powers is even harder… 
Sugar Maple, Vermont, knitting store owner Chloe Hobbs couldn’t be happier about her pregnancy. But with the arrival of the town’s newest resident, things are about to get a lot more magical.
Baby Laria is six pounds, eleven ounces of perfect, and Chloe and Luke are over the moon. But when they learn that Laria takes after her mom in the sorcery department, it becomes clear that their baby might have more power than even a pro like Chloe can handle…

This is the 4th installment of the Sugar Maple series.  These books are a fun, quick read.  My mom was the one who found them and always passes them along to me once she’s finished.  These are great books to read if you’re in the middle of a long one and need a break.  I read this over a 2-day period, but it was probably about 6-7 hours of reading total.

The characters are great.   I really enjoy the whole knitting part of it; mainly because I knit.  One thing I enjoy about these books is the patterns listed at the back of the book.  (Similar to other books involving knitting or cooking, some type of recipe is always included, right?)

Anyway, I don’t have much of a review, though I will say I didn’t really care for the baby’s name (pronounced so it rhymes with Mariah).  Other than that, like I said: it’s a fun, quick read.

I’m able to use this book toward my 50 States challenge.

REVIEW: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern

Goodreads Synopsis: In this mesmerizing debut, a competition between two magicians becomes a star-crossed love story.

The circus arrives at night, without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within nocturnal black and white striped tents awaits a unique experience, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stand awestruck as a tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and gaze in wonderment at an illusionist performing impossible feats of magic. 

Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves. Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is underway–a contest between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in “a game,” in which each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. Unbeknownst to them, this game is a duel to the death, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.

I’ve written about it in a few different posts, but just to recap:  I bought it on my Kindle back on November 20 (fun fact: that’s my birthday, I had just gotten an Amazon Kindle gift card. hehe), but I had it in my Amazon wish list for a few months before that.  I’m not sure what took me so long to buy it, and then again what took me so long to finally read it once I bought it.  So I think I have the Mount TBR Challenge to thank for finally picking it up!

Onward to my review —->

I absolutely LOVED this book!  It took me a bit longer to read than anticipated due to starting a new job this week, but I ended up staying up until 1 this morning to finish it.  Toward the end I was getting a little confused as to the timeline because it moves back and forth to see the same time points from different character points of view, but I think that was more to do with the fact that it was after midnight than because of the writing (I figured it out, though!)

Anyway, I thought it was well written and had really great, vivid descriptions.  I read some other reviews, and I think it had been on Goodreads where I found one that complained about the extent of the description.  When I saw that, I got a bit nervous because too much description can really turn me off, but I thought no such thing at any point in the novel.

It is such a unique and new concept for a story line (to me, at least) and I thought it was so interesting.  The characters were all great and you can really grow to like/dislike/pity/etc. them.

There was one particular chapter that I actually really loved and it was about the Rêveurs (“Dreamers” in French).  The actual name of the circus is Le Cirque des Rêves (Circus of Dreams), so the rêveurs are the “followers” of the Circus.  I think this was one of the best chapters because it steps away from the circus itself and shows how it has affected people all over the world.  It shows how these people are connected and how they create more than just a “fan club” for the circus.  It gives them a sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves.  I thought there were some beautifully written passages about them:

“They are enthusiasts, devotees. Addicts. Something about the circus stirs their souls, and they ache for it when it is absent.” (p 143, Kindle edition)

“They seek each other out, these people of such specific like mind. They tell of how they found the circus, how those first few steps were like magic. … When they depart, they shake hands and embrace like old friends, even if they have only just met, and as they go their separate ways they feel less alone than they had before.” (p. 143, Kindle edition)

This was just such a wonderful story with so many vibrant characters,  I strongly urge everyone to read this!

REVIEW: Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Peter Pan
Author: J. M. Barrie

Goodreads Synopsis: It was Friday night. Mr and Mrs Darling were dining out. Nana had been tied up in the backyard. The poor dog was barking, for she could smell danger. And she was right – this was the night that Peter Pan would take the Darling children on the most breath-taking adventure of their lives, to a place called Neverland, a strange country where the lost boys live and never grow up, a land with mermaids, fairies and pirates – and of course the terrible, evil, Captain Hook. Peter Pan is undoubtedly one of the most famous and best-loved stories for children, an unforgettable, magical fantasy which has been enjoyed by generations.

The old favorite, newly repackaged-Wendy, John, and Michael Darling’s adventures in Never-Never Land with Peter Pan, the boy who would not grow up. (This one sentence was the whole synopsis for the version of the book I have, so I decided to find a better synopsis for a different version posted on Goodreads, which is what you read above).
Let me preface by saying that Peter Pan is my most favorite animated Disney movie.  I’m not sure why, but I just love the idea of having such a grand adventure.  Part of it may have stemmed from when my 5th grade class got to put on the play (I was the narrator).  We had so much fun preparing for it.  Another reason could be all the different movie versions I’ve seen.  I would be lying if I said my friend Krista and I had never acted out scenes from Hook before (during our sophomore year of college…just sayin’).

I took my niece to see the Theatre 360′s performance of Peter Pan, which was truer to the book than the Disney movie we all know and love, last year for her birthday when it came to Boston last fall.  Unfortunately, the crocodile scared her so we left at intermission.  (Also, Captain Hook did slit a guy’s throat right on stage, which was followed by “what just happened?” courtesy of the 6-year-old boy sitting behind me… I wish I could convey the tone of voice he used because it was hysterical).

So it took me two days to read this (but it could definitely be done in a day if you have the time!).  Anyway,  Disney definitely took some liberties/used artistic license when creating the cartoon.  I feel that Disney made Peter Pan more likeable than he was in the book.  As an adult reading about him, he seemed like a cocky little know-it-all (even though he didn’t know much).  The book was still very enjoyable, though.  There was more in the book than in the movie versions, though there were elements from the book in Hook. For example, in the book the lost boys pretty much forgot their parents and Wendy, John and Michael had begun to forget them.  In Hook, Peter’s son Jack has trouble remembering his parents the longer he stays in Neverland.  Also, the make believe meals were also the same in the book and Hook.   (and I definitely pictured Dustin Hoffman every time Hook appeared).

I enjoyed the narrator though, and how he described the lifestyle.  Especially, Nana.  To me, it seemed that Nana was described as a human in dog form, what with her abilities to take care of the children, etc.

The (half) play that I saw by Theatre 360 was definitely more in line with the book than with any of the movies.

Peter Pan is a fanciful story that I still enjoyed nonetheless.  I think it is one that everyone should read because, let’s face it, we’ve all had that moment (or two) where we wished we wouldn’t grow up.

REVIEW: The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma

Title: Map Of Time
Author: Felix J. Palma
Translated by:  Nick Caistor

Goodreads Synopsis: Set in Victorian London with characters real and imagined, The Map of Time is a page-turner that boasts a triple play of intertwined plots in which a skeptical H. G. Wells is called upon to investigate purported incidents of time travel and to save lives and literary classics, including Dracula and The Time Machine, from being wiped from existence. What happens if we change history? Felix J. Palma explores this question in The Map of Time, weaving a historical fantasy as imaginative as it is exciting–a story full of love and adventure that transports readers to a haunting setting in Victorian London for their own taste of time travel.

I bought this book on my Kindle months and months ago.  I saw it on Amazon and thought it sounded good. Then I never got around to it.  First, until I looked it up on Goodreads,  I didn’t even realize it was a translation.  But let me tell you, it’s a wonderful translation.  I didn’t really notice any odd phrases or parts that sounded as if they had been translated.  It was beautifully done.

Next, I should probably tell you that I love the concept of time travel.  It’s one of those things that piques my curiosity.  I’ve read non-fiction books by Michio Kaku (a prominent string theorist) in which he discusses the possibilities of time travel.  Obviously (but unfortunately) I’ll never see it in my lifetime, but it’s an amazing thought that maybe someday it could happen…

The narrator of the novel was a great character separate from the main characters.  He (or she…but I tended to think of it as male) addressed the reader and made it more of an actual storytelling than just a narration, if that makes sense.  By addressing the reader, I feel that the narrator pulled the reader further into the novel.

Normally, a lot of description in a novel can bore me, but I really enjoyed it all, and I think that was due to the narrator.  Yes, there may have been tangents, and yes those usually bother me as well, but it didn’t.  Strange.  Maybe mixing historical fiction with science fiction is the ultimate genre for me. hehe  Historical novels tend to keep me more entertained, even when the descriptions get long.  I love learning about the past, even though I was never a huge fan of history class.

I can’t say much about the plot (aside from what you see in the synopsis above) without giving certain things away.  There were definitely quite a few twists, and at certain parts I was waiting for some sort of  revelation, and there was a final twist at the end.

Each part could stand alone as its own story, but some characters spill over into the other parts and really give a full wonderful version that really intertwines the lives of people who may never even realize it.  I love that it twists and turns, yet is all connected.  It’s really wonderfully written.

I May Have a Problem

Friday I took the train home from work.  Normally I carpool with my boyfriend’s mom (we work together) but I stayed a little late in anticipation of a potential meeting (more on that later).  Anyway, I realized I left my Kindle at home that day (assuming that I would be riding in a car and not on a train) and my iPod battery was dead.  Conundrum!  What was I supposed to do for the 35 minute train ride?

So of course I decided to stop at the Coop (remember when I discovered it?) to see if I could find something to read. (duh, you should have seen that one coming).  So after browsing for about 20 minutes (good thing I take the regular T and not the commuter rail) I finally decided on Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie.  I think it’s supposed to be a young adult novel, but so far so good.  I’m about 30 pages into it.

Though I think that this is sort of a sideways sequel from other novels he’s written for another character.  I have other novels of his in my goodreads queue so I’ll have to check them out.

So many books!

 

Have you read books by Salman Rushdie before?  Thoughts?

REVIEW: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

Title: The Eyre Affaird (Thursday Next #1)
Author: Jasper Fford

Goodreads Synopsis: Surreal and hilariously funny, this alternate history, the debut novel of British author Jasper Fforde, will appeal to lovers of zany genre work (think Douglas Adams) and lovers of classic literature alike. The scene: Great Britain circa 1985, but a Great Britain where literature has a prominent place in everyday life. For pennies, corner Will-Speakmachines will quote Shakespeare; Richard III is performed with audience participation … a la Rocky Horror and children swap Henry Fielding bubble-gum cards. In this world where high lit matters, Special Operative Thursday Next (literary detective) seeks to retrieve the stolen manuscript of Dickens’s Martin Chuzzlewit. The evil Acheron Hades has plans for it: after kidnapping Next’s mad-scientist uncle, Mycroft, and commandeering Mycroft’s invention, the Prose Portal, which enables people to cross into a literary text, he sends a minion into Chuzzlewit to seize and kill a minor character, thus forever changing the novel. Worse is to come. When the manuscript of Jane Eyre, Next’s favorite novel, disappears, and Jane herself is spirited out of the book, Next must pursue Hades inside Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece. The plethora of oddly named characters can be confusing, and the story’s episodic nature means that the action moves forward in fits and starts. The cartoonish characters are either all good or all bad, but the villain’s comeuppance is still satisfying. Witty and clever, this literate romp heralds a fun new series set in a wonderfully original world.

This is technically a re-read for me (I first read it back in 2005/2006), but I barely remembered it.  As I was reading there were maybe 2 vague scenes that I remembered but otherwise it was practically like a first read for me.  (I think I also read the second and maybe the third books in this series).

Anyway, I think it is an enjoyable and light read.  Certainly not a scholarly work or anything like that, but still fun.  The concept is quite original. Being able to jump into works of fiction (or have the fictional characters come into the real world) is intriguing. Fforde’s version of time travel is also a novel one, and by the way this first installment ended, it will probably be a theme we will continue to see in the next books.

The idea of historical events happening differently than how we know them to be in the real world is pretty interesting too. I think we’ll see a lot of changes as we see more of the ChronoGuard and their time travel and time disruption.

The majority of the novel was told in the first person but there were a few spots where the narrative kind of went into the third person, but I didn’t think it was deal breaker for the book.  There were some chapters where Thursday was not present and a third-person narrator took over; I am not talking about these parts. There were parts right in the middle of the first person narrative that all of a sudden switched.

I didn’t really care either way that there was a romantic story line in the books; it was pretty predictable but once again, not a deal breaker.

I read a few rather scathing reviews on goodreads and was surprised especially when they said they stopped very early in the book, but to each his own. (if you click on the image of the book, you will be taken to its goodreads page, as with all other book images in my other reviews). I do feel that to give a full, comprehensive review you should read the entire novel.  Stopping after chapter 4 doesn’t necessarily give you good insight into the rest of the story.  However, I can still understand after really giving a book a try it can still be difficult to get past certain points.

I thought the bookworms were a clever addition to the novel, especially when they were releasing commas, hyphens, and apostrophes.

I definitely plan to continue reading the books (I always enjoy reading series).

Have you read any of these books?  Or anything else by this author?  Thoughts?

With My Reading Buddy #2

I just realized as I set up the draft for this post that it is the last day of the month and I did the same for my first reading buddy post…completely unintentional.  But now that it has happened twice, well I guess I’ll have to keep doing it that way.

Since January 31, A and I have only read one book.  It took a few sessions, plus we did not meet last week due to school vacation.  We finished this book within the first few minutes of the reading session this week.

Magic Tree House #8: Midnight on the Moon, Mary Pope Osborne

As you can see, A wanted to stick with the Magic Tree House series.

I mentioned before that I’m on contract at my current job.  The contract ends at the end of March.  Is it wrong that I am sometimes more concerned about whether I’d be able to finish the reading program than the fact that I may not have a job?  But, some good news: I spoke with the program coordinator and she said that it would be great if I could continue with the program even after my contract is over.  I wasn’t sure if it was something that would be allowed since I would no longer be a part of the company, but she said it wouldn’t be a problem.

And other potential good news: I did find a job at the company (a full-time permanent employee position) and applied for it.  I have had a few interviews and I’m waiting for a response.  So fingers crossed for that!

That’s pretty much it as far as my reading buddy goes this month.  We don’t have a session next week because it is Super Tuesday (March 6) and the school is used as a voting station for the city.

With My Reading Buddy #1

I mentioned in my very first post that I participate in a volunteer program through my work.  Once a week, we visit a local elementary school and meet with a reading buddy.  It’s a one-on-one meeting where they get to eat their lunch and we read to them.

I wanted to talk about the books I’ve read with my buddy, whom I’ll call A.  He is in second grade and a real cute kid.  He likes to talk about video games and his siblings, but I think he enjoys the one-on-one time we have.  He has a few older siblings and I get the feeling that he probably doesn’t read too much at home.  January is/was National Mentor Month (or something like that) and the program coordinator had the students color thank you cards for us and write a little message inside.  A wrote “Thank you for letting me choose my own books.”  At least, that’s what I think he wrote, it was a little hard to read his writing.

I let A pick a book to read and then we go to our assigned room to sit down so I can read and he can eat.  Because we only have a half hour to read, the books we read usually carry over at least into the next week, though we have had a few last 3 weeks (and some are read in one meeting or less).

Since the beginning of the year, which, if I recall correctly was sometime in October, we have read about a half-dozen books together.  He seems to really enjoy the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne.  Here are the books we’ve read (in the order we’ve read them).

      

     

        

I’m a stickler for order and whatnot, but A doesn’t seem to mind reading the Magic Tree House books out-of-order.  It bugged me slightly in the beginning, and I asked if he wanted to start with the first one, but he said no.  I think he said he had read it before.  (I hadn’t though ! hehe… and there is a theme that runs through them, they’re all connected, but oh well…it’s what A wants to do!)

This is the first year I’m participating in this program (because I wasn’t working at the company at the start of the previous school year).  This is also A’s first year in the program.  A few weeks ago he told me that he wanted to tell his mom he wanted to sign up for it again next year.  He also said “Wouldn’t it be funny if it was the next school year – like, the summer went by and it’s September again – and we got paired up with the same reading buddies?…They probably don’t do that.”  (in fact, they DO try to keep pairs together if both are participating the following year…however, I am a contractor at the company and my contract ends soon,  so unless my contract is extended or I get hired, I won’t be doing the program again.)

What are some books you liked as a child or read to your children?

Do you have any suggestions for books I can read with an 8-year-old boy?

REVIEW: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Told from the point of view of Jim Hawkins, Treasure Island is about sailing on the high seas in search of buried treasure.  Jim recounts the tale of meeting an old pirate, Billy Bones, who stayed at his parents’ inn and getting dragged into pirate affairs.  When Billy Bones dies, Jim is sent on a quest to go after treasure left on an undisclosed island which  Jim refers to as the “Isle of Treasure” and “Treasure Island”.  The crew selected for the expedition turns out to be an unsavory bunch of characters who have other ideas for this treasure hunt.

The reader follows Jim along for a pirate adventure rife with mutiny, battles, and treasure hunting.

This is the first book by Robert Louis Stevenson that I’ve read. I enjoyed it for the most part. There were times where the language and pirate-speak kind of made me zone out but overall I thought it was a good story.   It was fast-paced.  The description wasn’t overly done but there was enough to help me see the events unfolding.  (Though I do tend to have problems with imaging spaces and sizes, so I probably didn’t image the Hispaniola in its appropriate size.)  I tend to prefer description like this where there is more action to follow.  I find that if there is too much description in a novel, especially when there is an event happening in a very short amount of time, the story slows down too much.  I would definitely read another book by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Have any of you read this or any other books by Robert Louis Stevenson?  What are your thoughts?