Blood and Ice July 5, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy.Tags: Antarctica, Blood and Ice, Horror, Robert Masello, Science Fiction/Fantasy
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—3.5—
On a hot summer day picking up Blood and Ice by Robert Masello may make you thankful for the heat. Set in Antarctica, this science fiction/horror thriller chills the reader in more way than one. Two stories ultimately converge within this novel. The first is the story of Eleanor and Sinclair, and soldier and a nurse tossed aside a ship near Antarctica in 1856. The second is of Michael Wilde, a journalist for an eco-travel magazine, who is escaping personal tragedy for the opportunity of a life-time in Antarctica. Sent to document and photograph the harsh conditions and the scientists that make the extreme continent their home, Michael uncovers more than he bargained for, and more than the secluded community may be able to handle.
For a horror novel, the ending was strangely both positive and satisfying. The character Michael has been written as someone anyone would like to count as their friend. He is intelligent and strong, level-headed but compassionate. On the other hand, the book does have its spooky moments! Antarctica is such a terrifying setting because of the deadliness of the climate and the impossibility of escape. In addition, the combination of the past and present stories is done remarkably well.
There were a few points where I wished the story would progress a little faster. I found some of the passages tedious. I don’t know if that was meant to reflect on the setting, but I was often waiting for something else to happen. But overall this was a good read for hot summer days.
3.5/5
The Hunger Games July 2, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction, Young-Adult Fiction.Tags: Catching Fire, Fiction, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, Young-Adult Fiction
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—5—
I find it maddening that I struggle to right reviews for the books I enjoy the most. I read Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games MONTHS ago, and I loved it, and I never wrote a review because I could never express how great I thought it was, or put into words the reasons why I felt it was so great. And so I remain idle, and everyone else publishes their review of The Hunger Games and now my task seems even greater because WHAT COULD BE LEFT TO SAY? But by now everyone knows of this book, and most are anxiously awaiting the sequel Catching Fire, so I can just give a quick summary and once again say that this book is wonderful, and then we can all move on.
So here’s the summary.
Katniss is a teen in post-apocalyptic America, trying to hunt and forage enough to keep her mother and younger sister alive. As if that is not enough of a task for a young women, the leaders of land demand that 2 children between the ages of 12 and 18 be taken from their homes in each of the 12 Districts. These young-adults are then forced to participate in reality-tv gone terribly wrong, a fight to the death in which only one will survive. Katniss and a boy her age, Peeta, are sent to The Games, but their chances look grim since they are from the poorest district and have not trained for this as other children have. Their strategy? Peeta and Katniss have to convince the audience that they have feelings for each other in order to win funds that pay for the supplies they need while in the arena. But Peeta is not acting, and Katniss is dense, and Gale, her best friend from home, may be in love with her as well. And all the while children are being massacred!
See what I mean about not being able to convey well books that I loved. It sounds like a trite teen romance plus some gore, but it is not! It is one of the most intelligent YA reads I’ve read in a long time. You are forced to wonder how you would fare in the arena, what your weaknesses would be, and your strengths. Would you lose your humanity in a struggle to survive?
And Katniss is such an excellent and strong female protagonist that she makes you wish you were a little more like her as a teen. And it is breathtaking the way the different Districts are described, some so abundant and wealthly and others in which their citizens barely survive day to day. This is definately an allegory for the United States of the present, and it is chilling and believable.
And just because everyone now compares every teen read to the Twilight series, I will make my obligatory comment. I think Katniss is ten-times the role-model of Bella, and the book is throughougly PG even with the violent storyline.
But, you all know all this because everyone has already read it. And if you haven’t PICK IT UP!
5/5
Upcoming Book Reviews July 1, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Randomness.add a comment
Since I have been reading but cannot seem to get up the energy to write reviews, I will hereby list the Book Reviews that are forthcoming upon my next surge of motivation:
1) The Hunger Games
2) Mating Rituals of the North American WASP
3) Standing Still
4) Survival of the Sickest
5) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
6) A Great and Terrible Beauty
7) The Masque of the Black Tulip
8 ) Blood and Ice
And now that I have listed them, my lack of effort seems embarrassing.
The Memorist June 27, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Fiction, The Reincarnationist, M.J. Rose, Reincarnation, The Memorist
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—3.5—
I read the follow-up to M.J. Rose’s The Reincarnationist, entitled The Memorist, and I may have liked it just a bit better than the first. It follows Meer, a young woman haunted by what her father believes are past-life memories, a view she vehemently disagrees with. When the reincarnationist association’s leader, Malachai, gives Meer a catalogue previewing a gaming-box once in the possession of Beethoven Meer begins a journey which forces her to confront who she was in another lifetime. An ancient song played on an ancient flute holds the key to unlocking the mysteries of past-lives, and Malachai needs it to validate his life’s work and Meer needs it to validate her present life.
Like The Reincarnationist, The Memorist is a little convoluted and complicated. But I suppose a novel occurring in several eras in which each character is (or was) several people would become fairly complex. I liked Meer a lot, and I feel that is what pulled me through this book faster than the first. I also loved the portions that occurred in 18th (early 19th?) century Vienna, with the eccentric and genius Beethoven. This novel only has one character carried over from The Reincarnationist, and while the first story is alluded to, I do believe this could be read as a stand-alone. I still don’t believe Rose captured the suspense that she was trying for in her writing and plot, but The Memorist was still a compelling read.
3.5/5
The Reincarnationist June 17, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Fiction, M.J. Rose, Reincarnation, The Reincarnationist
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—3.5—
Ridiculous title aside, M.J. Rose’s The Reincarnationist is a fairly entertaining thriller, in the style of Dan Brown. This story follows photojournalist Josh Ryder, months after he began having past life experiences come through to his present. These occurrences have lost him his wife, and have caused him to seek out help from the Phoenix Foundation, a group who researches reincarnation. A tomb has been recently bee opened in Rome, and so Josh goes to explore the site’s significance to past-life research, soon finding he has a personal past-life connection to Rome and this tomb. Inside the tomb are stones that may prove the existence of reincarnation and threaten the foundations of the church. So sets off a plot of murder and thievery, kidnapping and exploration, past and present. The story is told as Josh falls in and out of his past life as Julius, an pagan priest. There is a little romance thrown in for good measure as well.
I enjoyed the premise of the book. While not a believer in reincarnation myself, the book was sufficiently suspenseful for me to ignore my disbelief. However, besides Josh, I did not feel attached to the characters. I thought their decisions too predictable, and that they were overall a bit two-dimensional. I also didn’t feel as propelled through the story as I have with Dan Brown novels, the chapters here are longer and more meandering. Finally, I didn’t feel there was a strong resolution to the story, with our questions answered and the “bad guys” revealed. But perhaps that is were the sequel comes in, Rose’s The Memorist.
3.5/5
And on a side note, Fox has decided to turn The Reincarnationist premise into a TV show, I think beginning next fall!
Wake June 15, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction, Young-Adult Fiction.Tags: Fade, Fiction, Lisa McMann, Wake, Young-Adult Fiction
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—4—
There wasn’t much to Wake by Lisa McMann, as was evident by my reading the whole book in one sitting. And yet, I really enjoyed it, perhaps due to its simplicity. This is a YA novel in all definitions of the genre, but it had enough substance and uniqueness to keep myself satisfactorily entertained.
Janie is 17, but she has more problems than even the average 17 year old. When people around her fall asleep, she is pulled into their dreams. And it’s getting old. She hates study hall, she can’t escape her fellow classmates weird fears and cliche fantasies. And of course she can’t divulge her secret “affliction”; people would think she was nuts. So she goes along counting down the day until she can disappear to college (although I’d like to point out that more people fall asleep in college courses than in high school).
Everything changes for Janie when she falls into a terrible nightmare of one of her classmates, Caleb. But this boy realizes what Jamie can see, and so they forge a new relationship over Janie’s strange “talent”. Janie learns that she can help people in their dreams, and so a new course is set.
I thought the premise of this story was pretty interesting. Janie’s character really struggles to control what is practically uncontrollable, and must do a lot to avoid the slumbering of the world. And Caleb is a bit of a mystery himself. The book jacket has made this book seem much spookier and darker than it really is. A quick read, but entertaining.
4/5
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation June 13, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Espionage, Fiction, Historical Romance, Lauren Willig, The Masque of the Black Tulip, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
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—3—
Before I start in on the real review, may I first say, who in the world is attracted to books with ridiculous covers like this?! I am super sick of book covers featuring porcelain-skinned ladies from another century. Even when the plot sounds mildly interesting, covers like this make me think “I’m going to be embarrassed reading this in public!” I would have preferred a nice carnation instead.
But I digress…
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig begins with Harvard graduate student, Eloise, pursuing a subject for her dissertation in England. Recently separated from a cheating boyfriend, she seeks refuge in trying to find the true identity of an early 19th century spy, the Pink Carnation, of whom she has been secretly fantasizing about in her post-break-up haze. The Pink Carnation is famous for infiltrating Napoleon’s court and in order to discover his name Eloise tracks down the records of another famous spy, the Purple Gentian.
A new novel thus begins within this one, as we become voyeurs (almost literally) to Amy Balcourt and her hunt for the Purple Gentian. Amy and her cousin Jane have been enraptured with espionage since childhood, and now are off to France to do some spying of their own. On their way Amy meets a young man who, unbeknown to her, is the Purple Gentian, and so sets off a strange love triangle between two people.
Along the way we break back into Eloise story, as the documents owner’s nephew Colin tries to stop Amy from discovering the family secret of the Pink Carnation. And of course Colin is as equally attractive as he is maddening.
Eloise took FOREVER to figure out who the Pink Carnation was. Isn’t a Harvard scholar supposed to be brighter than this? Despite that fact, I actually enjoyed the character Eloise more than 19th century Amy, who is much too flighty to have a whole story built around. There was a little to much “romance” (read: bodice-ripping ridiculousness) and not enough adventure, excitiment, and intrigue! Although, what should I have expected with a cover like that…
3/5
A Thousand Splendid Suns June 10, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Best Sellers, Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: A Thousand Splendid Suns, Afghanistan, Best Sellers, Fiction, Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
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—4.5—
I received Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns TWO CHRISTMASES AGO from my lovely little friend Kristen. I want to say a belated THANKS KRISTEN, because I finally read it and I wish I had read it sooner. I can’t really explain my hesitation; my only thought is that perhaps I was worried it wouldn’t compare to The Kite Runner, which was absolutely stunning. It must have been really intimidating for Hosseini to have to follow-up on that huge success. But what a job he did! I was incredibly moved by A Thousand Splendid Suns. It was as uplifting as much as it was tragic.
I think one of the reasons I enjoyed this novel was that Hosseini turned his storytelling to several generations of women: growing, learning, and loving during the past 30 years of Afghanistan history. This country in turmoil is an excellent backdrop to examine what makes each of us alike and each of us human. The struggle these women had to go through to find happiness, and the surprising places they found it, made A Thousand Splendid Suns remarkably profound.
I usually give a clearer plot summary, but I don’t think I could do this book justice, and I think you should just read it yourself!
4.5/5
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down June 9, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, Nonfiction.Tags: Anne Faidman, Epilepsy, Medical Ethics, Nonfiction, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
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—3.5—
My physician assistant class read Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down for our Professional Seminar course, its purpose to help us examine cultural competency in medicine. Since then I have found out that this book is required reading for many university ethics classes, medical ethics courses, and various medical practioner schools such as ours. With good reason. The Spirit Catches You is the true story of young Lia Lee, born to US immigrants of the Hmong culture. Lia had epilepsy, which her parents saw as a gift and a sign that she was divine. Doctors in their California community didn’t see it that way, however, because epilepsy is serious and dangerous. And so sets off a clash of cultures, traditional vs. western medicine. Each side is trying to do what is best for Lia, resulting in disaster.
Faidman describes Lia’s situation from both the family’s perspective and the doctors’. This story is truly frustrating. You want to shout at her parents for not understanding, or trying; you want to shout at the medical team for not listening, or trying! Yet everyone is trying! So you’re even more frustrated. I tried to put myself in the case while reading the book, attempting to see where and when I would have done something different to avoid the outcome, but time and time again I felt like people made the decisions they had to make, on both sides. I guess that’s why we read it for class though, so we see medicine as not always black and white, and understand the importance of patient values in their own care.
There were a few chapters inserted into the story to provide character development and background on the Hmong culture that I felt were a little extraneous. I wanted them to stick to Lia’s medical story. But, now that I write that, I guess that is again westernized medicine poking it’s head in. It’s hard to ignore what you’ve learned and how you’ve been raised.
3.5/5
The House on Tradd Street June 5, 2009
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Fiction, Ghost Stories, House on Tradd Street, Karen White
3 comments
—4—
I saw some reviews of The House on Tradd Street by Karen White throughout the book blogging world and decided to pick it up from Amazon when it was selling for $3.99. I love good books at cheap prices! I was pleasantly surprised by this book and often found that I couldn’t put it down or wanted to read just one more chapter before bed.
Melanie Middleton is a woman who sticks to the rules and lives life pretty conservatively. She is a real estate agent that specializes in historic homes in Charleston, S.C. The funny thing is, Melanie hates old homes. She prefers stark modern architecture and brand-new condos to old houses with rotting porches filled with antiques. For one thing, she thinks older homes suck way too much money for repairs and upkeep. But the biggest reason, which she doesn’t reveal to anyone, is that she can see ghosts- Sixth Sense style. When Melanie inherits a historic home from an almost-stranger, she is forced to confront a mystery that has been buried for a generation. The inheritance stipulates that she must live in the house for a year, and provides her the money to do renovations. A journalist, Jack Trenholm, decides that the house’s mystery would be perfect for his next book, and so comes to stay and work on the house. Other, more sinister people are also interested in the house, and Melanie must solve the secrets of the home before she or someone else gets hurt.
Now, I am a huge scaredy-cat. And my number one fear is ghosts. So at first I thought this was probably a bad choice of books for me. At first, reading alone at night, I was a little spooked, but after a while the book become more fun and less frightening. The characters were well-developed with past-histories that propelled their actions and made them very real. There is a great dynamic between Melanie and Jack, as well as Melanie and her hippie best-friend. And the beautiful home almost becomes a character itself. It seems to breathe and grow and feel, with the help of some ethereal beings. I love the ambiance of Charleston too, it reminded me of the way Savannah was described in The Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The book wasn’t profound, but it was definitely fun, unique, and a little spooky. This is apparently the first in a series by White, and I look forward to the next Melanie Middleton story.
4/5
