Book Reviews

[Niusity]

Divergent by Veronica Roth
I'm still not sure if it deserves 4 or 5 stars.

Even though it was a great read, I was still confused when it came to rating it. So many people keep comparing this book to Hunger Games but it was different, though if I compare them, Divergent loses points. First of all I liked the action and the dynamics in the book. I liked that the writing style was not very sophisticated but better than in other YA books. Four's description blew me away, what a hottie. There are some things which made me uncertain. First of all, the main character who was a bit annoying at parts, especially the parts with the kind of action I would describe as 'Terminator meets Katniss' and the fact that the author accorded so much attention to things which were not relevant and killed important characters within a sentence is a bit weird.
Anyway, I liked the book and I think it deserves all its positive comments and if you like dystopian books you should definitely read it. Despite everything I've really enjoyed the it.

 

[Belowen]

Ten by Gretchen McNeil 4/10 – This was an easy read, I think I managed to get through it over the course of one weekend. Not an amazing book, but good for what it was – a fairly basic young adult thriller.

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell 5/10 – I had high hopes for this book, and enjoyed how it started out but wasn’t that impressed with where it ended up. Another fairly easy read although I slowed down a little bit towards the end because I just wasn’t that interested in picking it up.


The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 8/10 – I read this because I wanted to have it fresh in my mind before seeing the film when it came out this year. I love this story, and it’s nice and short so it was easy to devour in a few sittings. I found that while I was reading it I was imagining the characters as the actors playing them in the new film, which was interesting.


Red Dragon by Thomas Harris 7/10 – I’m in love with the new Hannibal TV series that started up recently, and I’m now inspired to read the books that the show is based on. I started at the beginning of the series with Red Dragon. I enjoyed this, it was another easy read and I devoured it (lol) pretty quickly.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

WIRED: The Short Life & Fast Times of John Belushi - by Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward is, of course, one of the men who reported on the Watergate scandal all those years ago, so he's mainly known as a journalist.

Anyhow - onto Wired.

I love biographies and I've taught a course on biographies as well, so when my husband brought home this book from a free bin at the local pool I picked it up for some light reading. I remember John Belushi from when I was growing up - mostly from SNL reruns and the Blues Brothers, which was popular with my older brothers.

I found when I started this book, I couldn't get into it. It was all about drugs. There was nothing on John's childhood and nothing about his parents or siblings - except for a few anecdotes about Jim Belushi, his actor brother. There was some reference to high school, and when Woodward started to discuss John's breakthrough at Second City I started to get more interested.

But all the way through I felt like something was missing. I finished the book last night. And while the ending should've been tremendously sad because of the loss of a great comedic talent, it felt more sad because ... it wasn't that sad! Weird.

This caused me to google search John, Dan, Cathy (the woman who administered John's fatal dose), Judy, etc. I wanted to know more and yet I'd just read over 400 pages about Belushi!

Basically there is a sort of cold tone to this biography, and a lack of "reasons" for why things happened as they did. It seems to me that Woodward lacks the psychological sensitivity that I think any biographer needs. Maybe his work in Washington is fine because it's just digging up facts/reporting, although that in itself is debatable, but it doesn't work that way when you're dealing with a human being. I feel like Wired doesn't do John Belushi justice.

What's interesting is that in my google search this morning I found a recent article in SLATE that basically vindicates all the reactions I had toward this book! It's a fascinating read - this article - because it really demonstrates, I think, how incredibly difficult it is to EVER capture a human being / reality via any medium: words, film, whatever. But it's basically impossible without at least some understanding of human psychology and a strong sense of empathy.

Here's the link to the Slate article; I recommend it! As for Wired, I would give it 4 out of 10 stars. There are some interesting details and it's clearly well researched, but it left me sad because I felt no sense of really understanding what drove Belushi over the edge.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/..._book_can_tell.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_4

 

[Niusity]

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
I decided to write a little review because it seems like this book is very popular nowadays.


First of all it took me so long to read it! (20 days to be exact)

Finally I made it and I must say that I don't understand what all the hype is about. I mean, I've never read Harry Potter or any other of Mrs. Rowling's books and I was very excited to read this one. Unfortunately, it made me even more skeptical about both, Harry Potter and The Casual Vacancy. Since everyone has been saying that this book is way better and easier to read than The Casual Vacancy I picked it first which I now kind of regret because I'd bought Casual Vacancy back in November and now it is hidden in the back of my shelf probably until I decide to read Harry Potter.

I think the whole pseudonym thing made people more excited than the content. Even if J.K. Rowling wrote it, it doesn't mean the book is right off the greatest detective in the world.

It was an acceptable book and I admit that it made me sit at the edge of my chair at times. At the same time it was very boring and sometimes repetitive. We're given way to many details which become ridiculous at parts and which annoyed me so much that I had to take like two day breaks from reading (in the middle of a chapter) and I even considered dropping it a few times.


I gave it three stars at goodreads because of the plot and the whole story.There was a wonderful idea out there and it would make a great TV series. I just wasn't impressed by the writing though I like author's language.

 

[YoninahAliza]

^I'd really like to give the book a read at some point, I grew up reading Harry Potter and I liked The Casual Vacancy for the most part, so I find it interesting to read her work. Thanks for your perspective on it! From what I've found from reading HP and The Casual Vacancy is that J.K. Rowling does have her own unique voice, you can just tell it's her, regardless of the story. So I'm quite curious to see if that's the same with this book as well. I'm not normally a mystery lit fan but I'm curious to see J.K.'s take on it. I'm glad though that she decided to donate the profits from the book to charity though, seems like she knew word would get out at some point and increase sales (whether it is totally deserved or not). Honestly though, I think you should read Harry Potter at some point... maybe it's because I grew up with them so my view is a bit skewed, but I do think it's a great series. The first ones are a bit more childish in writing in someways but as the series goes on, the writing gets fine tuned too. And as for The Casual Vacancy, if you like more complex, 'grown up' plot lines, and don't mind despising yet relating to particular characters at times, then give that one a go too! Personally, it's one of the few books where I really disliked a fair amount of the characters and didn't mind that I did, but thought that J.K. Rowling did a brilliant job with writing them, they were so complex.

 

[Niusity]

^ Thanks so much for your comment! I think I'll take a little break before reading her other books but I for sure will read the casual vacancy one day, because I have it and I was eager to read it at one point, so all this excitement will for sure come back to me. And of course I'll will read Harry Potter. I mean, it's impossible to live in a world where everyone have read that and I didn't. I think I was expecting something different and that's where all my disappointment comes from. I suggest giving it a shot, especially if you like J. K. Rowling's writing style because in perspective of the idea it was a wonderful book. Like I said, it kept me on the edge of my seat sometimes. Maybe I just didn't link with the characters.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

When I went to the bookstore to buy Gone Girl (yes, I still like my books in paper) they had only the hardcover, so I decided to read the whole Flynn cannon first and then buy Gone Girl when it's out in softcover (December), or I can read it digitally on my iPad.

ANYhow, WOW! Now I get the hype. I read this book in basically a 24 hour period. It's fabulous. I love dark narratives as a rule, and there are definite shades of Stephen King (Misery) and V.C. Andrews (Flowers in the Attic) in this book. But Sharp Objects is also a classic detective/mystery thriller too. And yet, it's also very, very female. Kind of like Mo Hayder's work, though she often has a male protagonist. Here, we are hooked to Camille throughout - for several reasons. She's a great character!

This is a fantastic book - can't wait to read her others. I'll give it 10/10 because it's her first book, it's not over-wrought (comes in at a tidy 250 pages), and it's utterly compelling; I, personally, could not put it down (as cliche as that sounds), except when I was literally falling asleep with it in my hands. And when I awoke, i began reading it again immediately.

 

[Niusity]

^thanks so much for your review!! I've been considering to read all Gillian Flynn novels. But I've only read Gone Girl and then I was so disppointed with its ending that I decided to take a pause. It's been 9 months and I still didn't pick up either Sharp Objects or Dark Places.

 

[ChristyLeReveur]

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

I was quite skeptical about this as I first heard of it. I love Khaled Hosseini and I have his other books: The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Since this book contains stories of different people from different backgrounds (although they are all eventually have something to do with Afghanistan), I wasn't sure and was worried that the storyline could be extremely messy and confusing.

Still, I bought the book as the reviews online are good and Hosseini is really good writer... and I was not disapointed. The story contains a lot of people/families, but it's not messy at all. Every one is related to every one in all chapters. The stories are heartwarming and thought-provoking family stories. And of course, there's always a tone of "survivor's guilt" in these stories--a trademark style of Khaled Hosseini.

It's a good read as I couldn't put it down and finished it in 2 days!

 

[Belowen]

And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini 9/10 – When I saw that Khaled Hosseini was releasing a new book I pre-ordered it immediately and I knew that as soon as it arrived it would jump to the top of my reading pile. This was another beautiful story from one of my favourite authors, and although it didn’t quite reach the emotionally crippling levels of his previous books (at least for me); it was still an incredibly touching read.

Columbine by Dave Cullen 7/10 – I have a kind of morbid fascination with school shootings. I find the psychological element of it utterly fascinating, and as soon as I saw this book pop up on a friend’s Goodreads page I knew that I wanted to read it. This book gives a fascinating insight into the events of ‘Columbine’, before the event, the day of the shootings, and the aftermath. This is an amazing book. It’s not particularly well written, but the subject matter is incredible.


The Magicians by Lev Grossman 3/10 – There were so many things wrong with this book I don’t really know where to start. First of all, the protagonist was a major prick. I had absolutely no interest in his character, and I somehow managed to make it halfway through the book without being able to remember what his name was. Time progressed too quickly, the world wasn’t developed properly, and I was glad when it ended. Ugh.

 

[lucy92]

Columbine by Dave Cullen 7/10 – I have a kind of morbid fascination with school shootings. I find the psychological element of it utterly fascinating, and as soon as I saw this book pop up on a friend’s Goodreads page I knew that I wanted to read it. This book gives a fascinating insight into the events of ‘Columbine’, before the event, the day of the shootings, and the aftermath. This is an amazing book. It’s not particularly well written, but the subject matter is incredible.

i would recommend "we need to talk about kevin", its a novel about a family that deals with a school massacre. page turner for sure and it is uplifting!

 

[Belowen]

i would recommend "we need to talk about kevin", its a novel about a family that deals with a school massacre. page turner for sure and it is uplifting!

I read that last year, it's one of my favourite books!

 

[adorefaith]

^Agreed....kevin is an amazing book. definitely worth reading.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I thought We Need to Talk about Kevin was great too (as was the movie) but lucy92 are you serious about uplifting? I remember feeling quite depressed while reading it, and even after. SO sad.

 

[ChristyLeReveur]

Anyone read the Crossfire series by Sylvia Day?

I heard that it's like another 50 shades kind of book, although a more well-written one. I read a few lines from the book by reading reviews online. They sound kinda of silly and pretentious to me.

 

[TanyaKiller]

The Summer I turned Pretty by Jenny Han ****



Such a bittersweet pageturner! There are some beautiful intense moments regarding the angst of adolescence. It's about those precious moments of life that won't last forever and one day will just be gone, how life is in constant movement. The romance in it is really enjoyable since the 3 romantic interests are all equally lovely and charming. Overall, I wasn't disappointed because it's a fun lighthearted read with touching tasteful aspects to it. I'd say it's a bit more sophisticated than the typical chick lit.

source : dreamingofbooks

 

[TanyaKiller]

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey **



Such a disappointment. It seems this book was really hyped on the internet and I just don't know why. I could barely finish it. The story took ages to finally begin. The characters were boring and the romance was cheesy a la Twilight. I had a big issue with the change of point of view that happened all the time and interrupted the flow of the story. Nothing actually happened. There was no story. Ugh, just horrible. A nay-nay.

source: theyoungfolks

 

[TanyaKiller]

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart *****



This was certainly the most fun I could get this year and this is because I have a real issue trying to get through the pages of a work of fiction. I don't know why. When I do though, it's delightful. I loved this series. It has incredibly likeable and captivating characters. Each of them with a particular set of qualities that are considered equally intelligent and valuable in the book. Reynie solves puzzles, Sticky has an incredible memory, Kate is athletic and Constance is just as gifted as you'll discover in the other books. What is so cool is how it displays intelligence as the major way of solving problems and fighting evil unlike, say Harry Potter or Twilight. It's a real bummer that the third installment of the series was so weak, which spoiled the fun in part. Still, I was really glad I read it, the puzzles are fun and the books were educational.

source: picareads

 

[Fantomette]

I've been asked about 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and I finished the book 1 (in my edition it contains the first 24 chapters).

For those hesitant because of the length of the book:
The chapters are 25 pages at max, focusing alternately on one of the 2 main protagonists. The style is elegant , simple and clear (there is never the need to read the same sentence over and over again to get what the narrator says).
In my opinion the length of the novel is not pointless or pretentious. If the story had been shorter I feel it would have been less effective. The book is captivating because Murakami takes the time to tell the story in a clever and well-crafted way. Now I understand why he is considered a great author.

It was different form anything I'd ever read. There are fantastic elements but also comical, historical or dramatic elements and it would be silly to try to label it a particular genre. One thing that makes it stand out to me is that it's the kind of book that, once finished, still makes you think after a while. Little and big thoughts on life and human nature.

Even though I liked the book I agree with Belowen that it doesn't feel like a novel but "only" like the beginning of a novel. I think if you read the first 13 chapters (at that point things start to fall into places) and are not hooked then maybe it's not for you. I'll definitely read the second book. I trust the author that, in one way or another, it will be worth it.

 

[Belowen]

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides 9/10 – I loved this book. Jeffrey Eugenides has officially cemented his place as one of my favourite authors (one of his other books, Middlesex, is one of my all-time favourites). I remember watching the film quite a while ago, but it didn’t affect me as much as the book did. The story of the Lisbon sisters is sad and beautiful and it lingered with me for quite a while after I’d finished reading the book.

Along Came A Spider by James Patterson 4/10 – I was in the mood for an easy read so I scanned through my list of Kindle books and selected this. It was basically just another run-of-the-mill crime novel, but it was exactly what I wanted at the time and I enjoyed it.


The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach 8/10 – For some reason it took me a really long time to read this book. It wasn’t because I didn’t like it or that I wasn’t enjoying the story, it just took a while for me to pick it up and get stuck into it. I was glad once I did because this was one of the best books I’ve read all year.


Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 7/10 – I was craving something quick and easy after my struggle to get going with The Art Of Fielding, so I picked this up. The subject matter is disturbing, but the story is good and Gillian Flynn’s style of writing is a breeze to read.



Goat Mountain by David Vann (6/10) – I saw this book sitting on the shelf at a book store and couldn’t resist the beautiful cover art. The blurb compared David Vann’s writing style to Cormac McCarthy, so of course I was sold. The writing in this book is beautiful, but I couldn’t stomach the subject matter. I’m not sure what it was but I was not in the right frame of mind to read this book. At one point I had to stop reading it while I was eating my lunch at work because it made me feel physically ill. Despite this little hiccup, the book was so beautifully written that I’d still recommend it.


White Horse by Alex Adams (5/10) – This book had so much promise: a strong female protagonist, a post-apocalyptic plot, beautiful cover art (heh), but it still fell short of my expectations. I wasn’t a fan of the overly wordy style of writing, and I’m still I’m still tossing up whether I’m going to read the other books in the series.