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: Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot

Pants on Fire
Meg Cabot
eBook Edition

Goodreads synopsis: Katie Ellison is not a liar.  But she can’t exactly tell the truth, either–not when she’s juggling two boyfriends, secretly hating the high school football team everyone else worships, and trying to have the best summer ever. At least Katie has it all under control (sort of). Her biggest secret, what really happened the night Tommy Sullivan is a freak was spray-painted on the junior high gymnasium wall, is safe. That is, until Tommy comes back to town. Katie is sure he’s going to ruin all her plans, and she’ll do anything to hang on to her perfect existence. Even if it means telling more lies. Even if, now that Tommy’s around, she’s actually–truthfully–having the time of her life.

Honestly, I chose this book pretty much based on the title.  One of the categories for the What’s in a Name Challenge required a title to have “fire” or the equivalent (such as flames, smoke, etc.).   I scoured Goodreads searching these terms and this seemed to be an OK one (most of the books with those words in the title tended to have covers that looked like romance novels that I’m just not into).  I also recognized the author’s name, but couldn’t remember if I had read anything by her.

Anyway, this wasn’t very good.  The main character was annoying.  She’s supposed to be at the top of her class, yet the writing isn’t all that sophisticated (using “like” a lot, and saying stuff such as “so my mom was all like…” rather than “and my mom said”).

We don’t find out until way late in the book what was written about Tommy on the junior high gym, but the synopsis tells us right away.  The book had this build up to what it actually said and who wrote it, but when they synopsis gives away what it says, why is there such a build up?  I thought the whole situation was pretty extreme.  I didn’t care about any of the characters.   The only good part about the story was the speech Katie made at the end, which would be in line with the character Tommy knows and loves, but not with the one we read about throughout the book.

I just did a search on Goodreads for Meg Cabot and I know why her name is familiar: she wrote The Princess Diaries.  I thought the Disney move was cute, and marked the book to read a while back.  I’ll give that one a chance, but if it’s anything like this, I’ll probably give up early on.  And if this is an indication of how the rest of her work is, I’m all set.

You know, I hate giving bad reviews, especially if I see others have enjoyed the book.  If I happen to see a number of good reviews, I try to think back and see if there is anything I did enjoy about it and try to soften my review, but that usually doesn’t happen.

I’ve been reading some reviews on Goodreads and still feel the same way: nothing for me to soften my review (in fact, I’ve seen some pretty scathing stuff!) and I agree with the few 1 & 2 star reviews I’ve read, but I’m dumbfounded when I see that some people gave this 4 or 5 stars!  I just don’t see the quality in it to give more than 2 (and I think that’s being generous).  SEMI-SPOILER: There was one review that made a really good point: how is it that Tommy was run out of town for exposing a lie, yet the main character goes around with lie after lie and all her cheating?  No type of punishment for Katie at all.

REVIEW: Downward Dog, Upward Fog by Meryl Davids Landau

Downward Dog, Upward Fog
Meryl Davids Landau
Kindle edition

Lorna Crawford is a 33-year-old event coordinator in the marketing department of an ice cream company.  She has her usual group of friends, a successful boyfriend, a caring sister and a belittling mother.  She’s been feeling “off” about her life: where she is and where she’s going.  She thinks meditating and yoga may be a way to help her out of her funk.  (Click the image to be taken to the Goodreads page).

All in all, I didn’t really care for this book.  This is disappointing because it’s been on my to read list for AGES, and I’ve enjoyed other books that had yoga as a theme, and because I actually bought the Kindle version since I couldn’t find it at the library.  Waste of $4. There may be some spoilers in my review.

Anyway, I felt Lorna was pretty whiny and didn’t act like a 33-year-old.  She constantly talked about how she would normally act or react in certain situations (negatively), so her transformation in a matter of months – when people who practice for years before they reach the point she does – is rather far-fetched and unrelatable. She is constantly filled with self-doubt, which is surprising considering the successful job and whatnot. I was just kind of annoyed by Lorna’s character.  She goes from commenting how she would think a snide remark to gushing to complete strangers.

I felt it was kind of like a research paper where there were lots of quotes and references to books and authors and yogis, etc.  I read a review on Goodreads that does a better job of explaining how I felt about it.

REVIEW: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson

The Pox Party (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation #1)
M. T. Anderson
Kindle Edition (borrowed from library)

Goodreads synopsis: It sounds like a fairy tale. He is a boy dressed in silks and white wigs and given the finest of classical educations. Raised by a group of rational philosophers known only by numbers, the boy and his mother — a princess in exile from a faraway land — are the only persons in their household assigned names. As the boy’s regal mother, Cassiopeia, entertains the house scholars with her beauty and wit, young Octavian begins to question the purpose behind his guardians’ fanatical studies. Only after he dares to open a forbidden door does he learn the hideous nature of their experiments — and his own chilling role in them. Set against the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston, M. T. Anderson’s extraordinary novel takes place at a time when American Patriots rioted and battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they would never claim. The first of two parts, this deeply provocative novel reimagines the past as an eerie place that has startling resonance for readers today.

I tried hard to get into this book.  In fact, I read over 40% of it.  But I just couldn’t do it.  I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. At first I thought it was weird that some people were called by numbers, but as their leader explained, they’re just the background, it doesn’t matter what their names are, and after that explanation, it actually made sense: they are conducting the experiment, their names do not matter, only the subjects matter.

In one part of the book they talk about weighing Octavian’s poop (they measure everything, the weight of what he ate and then the weight of his poop to see how much waste there was).  It reminded me of Augusten Burroughs’s Running With Scissors (a book I didn’t enjoy).

Octavian is a gifted violinist.  But they way he describes how he plays just didn’t make sense to me:

The second movement, a more lively one as written by Signor Tartini, somewhat a dance, I played like the kicking of a turtle-headed spawn in a woman’s womb.

What?

The language was kind of weird, as if the author was trying too hard to be the language of the time. “Spake” (spoke) and “sate” (sat) were used a lot.  There was a lot of description, some of it unnecessary (reminiscent of Moby Dick, though I don’t know how accurate my comparison can be since I’ve only read the first 100 pages of Moby Dick…)

So, all in all, this was a disappointment, but I have two other Kindle books that are available from the library that I’m very excited to read.

REVIEW: Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage by Elizabeth Gilbert

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage
Elizabeth Gilbert
Kindle edition (borrowed from library)

I was expecting this to be more like Eat, Pray, Love but right from the get-go Gilbert tells us it won’t be the same.  Where EPL was more about her inward journey (even though she was literally traveling), Committed was more focused on her research about marriage and her particular situation.

I first started reading this book in November 2012, and got 25% through it before my Kindle (keyboard edition) crapped out on me.  I borrowed this from the library, so I had to return it via Amazon and didn’t get a new Kindle until the Paperwhite as a Christmas gift (I love it!).  Fortunately, I was able to pick up around the 25% mark with a fairly decent memory of the beginning.

There were some interesting facts in there and you can tell that when she researches something she really goes all out.  She discusses the history of marriage, all of its incarnations, all of its ups and downs, the fights, the need for it, the reason for it, the social perceptions, and everything in between.  She does talk about her fear of marriage and perhaps she was either hoping to confirm her fears or expel them.

One thing I like about her is that she really wants and likes to learn.  She’ll seek out information anywhere and in any way she can; I admire that.

If you want a general history of marriage, go ahead and read it.  If you’re looking for something similar to EPL, you won’t find it here.

REVIEW: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
Kindle edition (borrowed from library)

Brief synopsis: It’s 1946 and World War II has just ended.  Juliet Ashton wrote a column for a local newspaper to help people get through the War; making them chuckle (or even outright laugh) during a time that no one thought any happy emotions would survive. When Juliet is offered a 3-installment “article” for the paper about the effect reading has on people, she is stumped what to write about.  Then she receives a letter in the mail from Dawsey Adams, a man from Guernsey who reached out to her when he found her name and address in a book he bought.  From there they begin a correspondence and she learns much about him and his friends on the island.  Moreover, she learns about their “literary society” and  she discovers a strong and close-knit group of people who survived the Occupation.  She travels to Guernsey to meet these people, wanting to learn more about them, and along the way learns more about herself.

What a charming and delightful cast of characters!  All were so well written and full realized.  I didn’t think any of them were flat.  Witty and smart Juliet, shy and caring Dawsey, loopy and eccentric Isola, sweet and sincere little Kit, lovely Amelia and the rest of the cast were just terrific characters.

The book is written through letters, which can be difficult, but it works here. After reading this, I want a pen pal again! (I had one around the time I started high school.  She was from Zimbabwe and we wrote back and forth for almost 5 years, sending each other little trinkets: pictures, puzzles, etc. I bet I still have all of her letters somewhere…

These people are so sincere and care a great deal for each other.  The story can be quite humorous (I almost always had a little smile on my face when I read a letter from Isola, or a scene in which she appeared.  For example, she got a book on phrenology and started “reading” the lumps and bumps on people’s heads. After reading Juliet’s head, she wrote a letter to Juliet’s dear friend – and publisher - and told him: “I told her it was a wonder she wasn’t married, with such great mounds.” – I don’t think she even realized what she was saying..)  But there were also some very serious, and very sad parts (I won’t lie, I may have teared up in a few places), when talking about the Occupation and how it affected people: parents sending their children to England and being separated for 5 years, deaths, concentration camps, starving, being kicked out of their homes by the German soldiers.. the list could go on.  Despite all of that against them, the members of the Literary Society persevered, stayed together and helped each other through this tough time when they had absolutely no contact with the world beyond their island.

Their Society introduced reading to an audience who hadn’t read books beyond school, or rarely did so.  It brought them distraction in the best sense of the word. They learned to love certain stories, authors, genres and loved to talk and argue and discuss things with each other.  People who had been merely neighbors became good, lifelong friends.

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it.  It’s a quick read (I think that’s due in part to the letter format but also because of the story).  The ending is a bit predictable (maybe not how it gets there, though), but that didn’t take away from the story for me.

 

2013 Challenges – Take 2

You can find my sign up pages under the 2013 tab above, or follow the links below:

What’s in a Name 6 Challenge

Historical Fiction Challenge

2013 Challenges

So I know I did a pretty crappy job with my reading challenges this past year.  This was something new for me, so I’m just chalking it up to a learning experience.

I’ve decided to sign up for two challenges and create my own personal challenge (aside from my year reading goal of 75).

First, my personal reading challenge is to read the first 15 books added to my Goodreads ”to read” queue.  You can see my page on that here.

I’ve decided to sign up for two of the challenges that I participated in last year: What’s In a Name & The Historical Fiction Challenge.

What’s In a Name is still hosted by Beth Fish Reads and it requires 6 books (6 different categories) to complete the challenge.

The Historical Fiction challenge is once again hosted by Historical Tapestry (by the way, have you seen their layout?  I haven’t been on there in a while so I don’t know how long it’s looked like it does, but it looks great!).  Anyway, they created different levels and I’ve chosen the Renaissance Level, which is 10 books to be completed throughout the year.

Right now, I think those are good enough for me to do.  I won’t feel as pressured and I’m sure I’ll find books that overlap (though I’ll have to double check the rules to see if they allow overlaps, but I think they did last year, so I’m sure it’s the same for 2013).

You can see the buttons for these challenges to the right.  I’ll be posting the challenge sign-up posts during this week.

I also plan to do more non-book posts in 2013 (be on the lookout for some sewing things!)

REVIEW: The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey

The House on Fortune Street
Author: Margot Livesey
Kindle edition

Goodreads Synopsis: It seems like mutual good luck for Abigail Taylor and Dara MacLeod when they meet at St. Andrews University and, despite their differences, become fast friends. Years later they remain an unlikely pair. Abigail, an actress who confidently uses her charms both on- and offstage, believes herself immune to love. Dara, a counselor, is convinced that everyone is inescapably marked by childhood; she throws herself into romantic relationships with frightening intensity. Yet now each seems to have found “true love”—another stroke of luck?—Abigail with her academic boyfriend, Sean, and Dara with a tall, dark violinist named Edward, who literally falls at her feet. But soon after Dara moves into Abigail’s downstairs apartment, trouble threatens both relationships, and their friendship.

For Abigail it comes in the form of an anonymous letter to Sean claiming that she’s been unfaithful; for Dara, a reconciliation with her distant father, Cameron, who left the family when Dara was ten, reawakens complicated feelings. Through four ingeniously interlocking narratives—Sean’s, Cameron’s, Dara’s, and Abigail’s—we gradually understand how these characters’ lives are shaped by both chance and determination. Whatever the source, there is no mistaking the tragedy that strikes the house on Fortune Street.

“Everyone,” claims Abigail, “has a book or a writer who’s the key to their life.” As this statement reverberates through each of the narratives, Margot Livesey skillfully reveals how luck—good and bad—plays a vital role in our lives, and how the search for truth can prove a dangerous undertaking. Written with her characteristic elegance and wit, The House on Fortune Street offers a surprisingly provocative detective story of the heart.

I don’t remember where I heard about this book, but I added it to my Goodreads to-read list a couple of months ago and figured I could use for the What’s In A Name? Challenge.  Anyway, I think this synopsis is misleading because I definitely didn’t think this was about Dara and Abigail when it began; the first point of view is Sean’s (he’s Dara’s boyfriend). It moved to Dara’s father Cameron next, then Dara and finally Abigail.

Each POV is unique and tells a story about that particular person but there are definite overlaps between each story.  Generally, they cover similar timelines.  At one point all but Dara’s POV cover the same situation. Each POV is definitely focused on him or herself yet they are all tied together in someway, with Dara being the common denominator.

I feel like Sean’s POV is probably more of a look from the outside.  We meet Abigail and Dara through Sean and see that he’s a decent guy, but he has his own problems and worries.  I actually expected something to happen between him and Dara, and probably would have welcomed it.  The end of Sean’s POV is what threw me off and made me realize the book was hitting more serious topics that I didn’t know would happen.  Even though Sean was Abigail’s boyfriend, I still think of Dara as the theme in each POV.  (I don’t want to give anything away, so please excuse my vague writing).

Cameron’s POV was interesting but also slightly uncomfortable to read.

Dara’s POV was interesting since I got to understand the person tying these other people together.  But I still feel that someone should have picked up on the clues.

Even after learning more about Abigail through her own POV at the end, I really didn’t like her character. Granted, I saw her through Sean and Dara’s POVs before I read hers so I had a negative opinion of her going into it, but she really didn’t redeem herself in my eyes.  Also, the statement mentioned in the synopsis was never claimed by Abigail; her grandfather said it, she just repeated it to someone.

I’m disappointed in the situation that I alluded to earlier and even more disappointed in the main characters that were so wrapped up in their own lives that they didn’t see the warning signs.  But then again, I suppose that’s how it happens in life too.

I kind of expected a lighter read, and was surprised at a few of the deep, serious issues that were showcased.  Maybe I only added this to my Goodreads list because I needed a book that had a type of house in the title for the challenge.  (I think I need to start keeping a record of where I pick up titles to remind me why I added it to my list!).  In any case, I’ve read this and I’m left wondering exactly how I should feel about it.

Have you read this?  Please share your thoughts!

REVIEW: Plague of Coins by Aiden James

Plague of Coins
Author: Aiden James
Kindle edition

Goodreads Synopsis: William Barrow carries a dark secret. A very dark secret.
An archivist for the Smithsonian Institute and also a part-time operative for the CIA, no one would ever suspect the handsome ‘thirty-ish’ William is in fact the most reviled human being to ever walk the earth. His infectious warmth and sense of humor make such an assertion especially hard to believe.
But long ago, William Barrow had another name…one that is synonymous with shame and betrayal: Judas Iscariot.
Forced to walk the earth as a cursed immortal, William/Judas is on a quest to reclaim the thirty silver shekels paid to him in exchange for Jesus Christ. Twenty-one coins have now been recovered—thanks in large part to the help from his latest son, the esteemed Georgetown University history professor, Alistair Barrow. 
Ever hopeful the complete coin collection will buy him a full pardon from God and end his banishment from heaven, William plans a visit to a remote village deep within Iran’s Alborz Mountains to retrieve ‘silver coin number twenty-two’. But the CIA has a different objective for this trip, one that pits both father and son against an unscrupulous Russian billionaire searching for something else that’s just as precious within the ancient mountains of Iran…something that threatens peace in the modern world if William and Alistair fail to reach it first.

Long synopsis, I know, but a somewhat decent idea, right?

The title of the book and this synopsis make it sound as if the primary plot is about finding a coin, but it’s not.  It’s more about the “CIA objective” mentioned in the synopsis. In fact, the coins are mentioned prior to the CIA entrance (though that was pretty early on) and then almost as an afterthought after the whole CIA situation is resolved.  Though, the coin plot ties in ever so neatly with the CIA portion of the story.

The writing was definitely not the best.  In fact, on three separate occasions the author wrote “Alistair and me” when it should have said “Alistair and I”.  Here’s one of those examples:

“Even if it were just for a day while Alistair and me were in Iran,…” (location 498)

Seriously, I’m pretty sure I learned in elementary school that if I was unsure of whether to use “I” or “me” I should remove the other name and say the sentence again.  By that logic, it would turn into “…while me was in Iran.”  Really?  (please correct me if I’m wrong)

In the beginning (no pun intended), the main character Judas talks to the reader almost like a lecture (“I’m sure that many of you have questions about this, and I’ll get around to explaining more about it all.” location 159).  I felt that was kind of unnatural, considering it doesn’t really happen anywhere else.  Okay, one other spot where after we know from the beginning that he is Judas and though he looks in his 30s and his son is in his 60s he feels the need to explain that all over again in case it’s hard to keep it all straight (location 992)….Not really…considering we’re set up with this information in the synopsis, never mind the story itself!

His description of himself was rather cocky and also seemed unnatural:

No doubt he enjoyed my face flush from rising indignation fed by my impatience. It’s a trait that women have often told me sets off my handsomeness. Something about my blue eyes becoming sapphire chips of icy fire.  I believe it’s the quality that once made the fairer gender compare me to Errol Flynn back in the 1920s and more recently Pierce Brosnan.  Not to mention my infectious charm and toned physique have never hurt my allure to women or me. (location 209)

Overall he seems really cocky and full of himself.  He’s also kind of creepy when discussing women. When he’s talking about his therapist she goes from being disinterested to blushing and being attracted to him to winking at him in a naughty way all in a matter of minutes during a brief conversation. He also constantly describes the main female character in a leery way, almost. Commenting often on how beautiful she is and how she smiles or looks, like he can’t keep it in his pants.  But he’s like 2000 years old and she’s in her late 20s. (Granted, he looks like he’s in his early 30s, but still).

A discussion with his son recapping something they had done prior to the start of the book was also somewhat unnatural because some of the details given wouldn’t happen in a conversation with the person who shared the experience.  He should have just talked about it separately to the readers as he had already addressed them earlier.

There were a lot of repeats in the book, among them was a lot of grinning (particularly a “shit-eating grin”), and some female characters were described as coy or acting coyly.  Use a thesaurus. One time he even called a smirk sheepish…I don’t really know how a smirk is sheepish.  But whatever.

Okay, onto the story itself.  It was whatever.  It kind of moved quickly, though I didn’t find it to be a real page-turner.  I really didn’t care for the Judas character (could you tell?) so that didn’t really motivate me to read as fast as I could.  But as I got closer to the end, I tried to push myself to read faster, just to finish it.  (I stuck with it mainly because I’d be able to use it for the What’s In a Name Challenge. ha)

There is at least one sequel but I’m not compelled to go out and get it.

Have you read this or anything else by this author?

(Photo from Goodreads.com)

REVIEW: MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche

Title: MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend
Author: Rachel Bertsche
Genre: Memoir/Non-Fiction

Goodreads Synopsis: When Rachel Bertsche first moves to Chicago, she’s thrilled to finally share a zip code with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, she realizes that her new life is missing one thing: friends. Sure, she has plenty of BFFs—in New York and San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C. Still, in her adopted hometown, there’s no one to call at the last minute for girl talk over brunch or a reality-TV marathon over a bottle of wine. Taking matters into her own hands, Bertsche develops a plan: Meeting people everywhere from improv class to friend rental websites, she’ll go on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend Forever.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book!  It was refreshing that someone shared a friending experience like this one.  Rachel set aside embarrassment and awkwardness in order to share her experience at finding new friends.   She adds tidbits of research at certain points throughout the book and then relates an experience that is a perfect example of the research.  I could really see her growth over the course of the year, just in her actions – and reactions – to the different situations presented to her.  If I lived in Chicago, or if she lived here, I would absolutely have taken her up on a girl-date!  In the middle of reading the book, I decided to jump online to find Rachel’s blog.  Imagine my surprise when I found out it was here on WordPress. Sweet, now I can follow her right here, so easy! Check her blog out.

Rachel’s book truly inspired me to consider my friendships.  I have different groups of friends that get together…most of my friends are from college, but they are different groups that I hung out with on campus that rarely saw each other.  (I think living with different people every school year really helped me meet many different people).  Some of the friends are the girls I met/lived with my freshman year (and while I may not have necessarily share that tiny room with all of them, they lived next door and that’s close enough to say we lived together), and others are from the sorority I joined while in school.  And obviously within those groups, I’m closer with some more than others.  Of course, there are the others that moved back home to different states and that makes it THAT much harder to see each other.  And I have the random “outlier” friends that I will always say hello to  and do a quick catch-up with when I happen to bump into them, but nothing beyond that happens (maybe a “we should get together sometime…”).

While reading this, I’ve noticed that one of us will say “We need to do this again for real.  Not just talk about doing it again” and while the others agree, it ends up being a lot longer until the next time.  Maybe it’s the lack of follow through?  I think I should will start working on that.  Granted, we are all very busy with work, family, furthering education and other obligations and schedules it makes it that much harder to plan.  But we need to try, right?

Recently, my cousins (from my dad’s side of the family), my sister and I have decided to make plans once a month. But no pressure: if you can make it, great!; if not, no worries, there’s always the next month.  At first, we started talking about just doing dinners.  We had our first one a couple of weeks ago and it was a really great time.   My eldest cousin suggested that we should always plan the next month at the end of the current get together, that way everyone will be on the same page and we don’t need to send a million emails to try to narrow down a date…it took us 2 months to get this first dinner planned!  We all thought this was a great idea and (since we’re in the digital age) we all pulled out our fancy shmancy phones and added it to our calendars.  We started discussing new ideas other than just dinner.  As long as we at least schedule the next date, then we can work from there.  We have “penciled in” the next gathering and can decide what to do.  Maybe we want to catch a movie, a Red Sox game, or a Blue Man Group Show… who knows?  But now that we’re establishing something and we all want to do it, we can make it work.

That is something I want to start trying with my friends, too.  Like I said, we always say “let’s do this again, but without so much time passing…” so I want to am going to reach out to them and start with another get together.  I love them all so much and really miss not seeing them as often as I used to…and I certainly don’t want to lose them!

So now that I’ve digressed from my book review, excuse me while I go send messages/emails to my friends.

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?

Challenges, Challenges

I’m big on details.  A lot of people might call me too detail-oriented (I can manage to make a 5 minute story 15 minutes long…I like details, so I assume others will too….see, I just did it again!)  I like lists and order.

I’m taking part in 3 challenges: Back to the Classics, What’s In a Name?, and 50 States Challenge. Each challenge has a list of categories.

Let’s go back to my earlier statement about lists.   My goal was to read the books in the order of the categories. As I joined more challenges, I decided that I would read one book from each challenge (obviously, the first category for each challenge, and then go to the 2nd category…but I didn’t need to tell you that, did I?)

HOWEVER, I’m currently reading Moby Dick and it is taking longer to read than I thought…much longer.  Because I set the goal above, I also feel like the book is dragging even more since there are other books waiting for me to finish Moby Dick and I am excited to start them.

Then comes my issue with the 50 States Challenge: I haven’t found a book for each state yet. My personal goal of reading all new books (aka first reads for me) makes it harder for me to find books for these categories as well. How am I supposed to start reading for that challenge without books for the first few categories?!  Ahhhhhhhhhh!

So, I’m throwing out my OCD for details, lists, and order and I’m going to read multiple books at the same time (which is what I normally do when not reading for a challenge) and I’m just going to start with the first state for which I have already chosen a book.  <gulp>

This post alone should be a testament to my detail craziness.   Do I need to explain the way I’m reading for these challenges? Nope.  But I feel like I have to.