Orbis Terrarum wrap-up

This was my first time participating in Orbis Terrarum, and I loved being a part of this fascinating and diverse challenge!  I’m thrilled to say that I’ve finished the challenge in only eight months instead of ten.  Here is the final list:

1.  Slave – Mende Nazar and Damien Lewis (Sudan) review

2.  Sonata for Miriam – Linda Olsson (Sweden) review

3.  Everything Asian – Sung J. Woo (South Korea) review

4.  The Good Women of China – Xinran (China) review

5.  The Complete Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi (Iran) review

6.  Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta (Australia) review

7.  Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) review

8.  Blindness – Jose Saramago (Portugal) review

9.  A Disobedient Girl – Ru Freeman (Sri Lanka) review

10.  Haunting Bombay – Shilpa Agarwal (India) review

The best book: Hmm… Blindness takes the cake on this one, I think.  With The Complete Persepolis a close second.
Any new authors? All of them, actually!  I’ve been reading quite a few new authors this year, which I love!
Least favorite of the bunch: Jellicoe Road.  I just did not get this book at all.
What did I learn from this challenge? I should be reading more literature from around the world, because what I read, I usually end up loving.  It’s always good to expand my reading horizons, so I definitely appreciate that this challenge allowed me to do that!

RIP Challenge wrap-up

R.I.P. IV was every bit as awesome as I was expecting it to be.  I surprised myself by reading six books instead of the two I had planned on reading.  Here’s my completed list:

1. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins review

2.  Blindness – Jose Saramago review

3.  In the Woods – Tana French review

4. Sworn to Silence – Linda Castillo review

5.  Haunting Bombay – Shilpa Agarwal review

6.  The Likeness – Tana French

I haven’t exactly finished The Likeness yet, but I’m going to go ahead and count it since I only have 50 pages left and I plan to finish it before midnight tonight.  So it counts.

The best book: They were almost all amazing, but I think if I had to choose I’d say Blindness.  It truly blew me away, to a degree that none of the others were able to do.
Any new authors? Yes, they were all new-to-me authors, obviously except for the second book by Tana French.
Least favorite of the bunch: Haunting Bombay.  I liked it, came nowhere near loving it.
What did I learn from this challenge? I like these genres more than I thought!  And I have plenty more on my TBR list where these came from, which excites me.

A small apology (and I’m back!)

Well, a week has come and gone since I last posted and let me tell you, it’s been a long week.  As most of you know, I was in Los Angeles since the 21st for work.  I had really high hopes of reading a ton of books poolside, and staying up late every night to blog about them for all of you.  Well…. let’s just say I had to spend more hours working than I had anticipated.  A LOT more hours.  AND I ended up visiting with two family members who both moved out to L.A. within the past few years (separately, they are opposite sides of the family).

In addition, the “free” Wi-Fi in my hotel was complete crap.  Was it free?  Yes.  Did it actually connect me to the internet?  Most of the time, no it did not.  So generally speaking, I wasn’t able to read your blogs, I wasn’t able to catch up on twitter, I could only check my email on my Blackberry, and I certainly wasn’t able to do any blogging.

Grrr.  So I’m unhappy about the week I spent away from all of you, and I apologize for my absence.  That being said, I’m glad to be back and I have several posts I need to write this week, as well as TONS of reading to catch up on, so expect to see lots more of me soon!

Oh, and one more thing, I really wanted to get together with some book bloggers, and I spoke specifically to Amy about a time we could meet up, so I do need to sincerely apologize for not being able to make that happen.  I simply did not have the time I expected to have to do anything besides work and the small amount of time I did have with family.  I’m so very sorry I didn’t get a chance to meet any of you, and to Amy especially – so sorry I basically flaked on you!  The trip just didn’t work out the way I wanted it to!

Willow by Julia Hoban

Title:  Willow

Author:  Julia Hoban

Release date:  April 2, 2009

Publisher:  Dial

Pages:  336

Genre:  Young Adult Fiction

Source:  Library

One rainy night, sixteen-year-old Willow was out to dinner with her parents in what she thought was just a regular evening.  When they realized they’d had too much to drink, they asked Willow to drive home – on a learner’s permit.  Unfortunately, Willow wasn’t prepared to drive in the rainy weather they were having, and she ended up crashing the car – killing both of her parents.  The book starts out seven months later, with Willow living with her older brother, his wife, and their baby girl, trying to make sense of her life now that her parents are gone.  Because she blames herself for their deaths, and because her brother is so deep in his own grief he can’t seem to comfort her at all, she resorts to cutting herself to deal with her pain.  One day Willow meets Guy – someone she, inexplicably, trusts with her secret, and they form an extremely strong bond because of that.  But Willow isn’t prepared for Guy’s acceptance, or the fact that he insists she figures out a way to heal.  Willow needs to get healthy, and to do that she needs to not only deal with her pain, but reach out to her brother, and accept the love that Guy is willing to give.

Willow is an extremely powerful, emotional read.  Willow is in so much pain, it is just palpable – you can actually feel her pain as you’re reading her story.  I wanted so desperately to crawl inside the book and give her a big hug and tell her that what happened to her parents was not her fault.  She had so much shame for what happened, so much self-hate that the only thing she could do with all those feelings was to physically harm herself.  And it just made  me so sad, but so hopeful at the same time that at some point throughout the story she would stop.

I really, really liked Guy.  Typically I hate when YA books give the message that all a girl will need is the right guy and all of her problems, no matter how big or small, will go away.  While Willow does sort have that feel, and I was fearful of that exact scenario happening, Guy really isn’t the answer to all of her issues.  He’s simply the catalyst that allows her to start to look for answers within herself.  He pushes her to get better, while at the same time he never stops caring for her despite her imperfections.  In an uncertain world where Willow truly feels alone, he is her rock, the only person she can depend upon.  It’s difficult for me to believe that there are any teen boys as sweet and genuine and loving as Guy, but for the sake of my future daughter(s), I certainly hope there are.

There were so many scenes in this book that resonated with me.  I never cut myself as a teen, but I had plenty of difficult moments and plenty of times when I honestly hated myself and couldn’t imagine ever feeling better.  I never had an experience nearly as traumatic as Willow’s, but I did a few things that, at the time, I thought were just horrible and caused me to be the worst person alive.  And I was a “good” kid!  But that just goes to show you that anyone who’s ever been a teen can relate to Willow.  The teenage years are difficult if you’re a “normal” kid, but they must be a million times worse for anyone with extraordinarily rough circumstances like Willow’s.  The one scene in particular that was especially poignant was the part with the anorexic girl – it was just such a pivotal moment for Willow, when she finally started to see herself as others see her, and consequently she started to want to get better.

With Willow, Julia Hoban has written an unbelievably powerful book that everyone can appreciate.  This novel is not just about cutting – it is about the meaning of family, the importance of friends, and most of all about having faith and belief in yourself, enough to get through the worst kinds of tragedies.  Willow was an amazing character that really came alive for me in the novel.  I just can’t say enough about this wonderful book!

On why I won’t be participating in the Read-a-thon :(

Confession:  I have never fully participated in a Read-a-thon.

This statement makes me sad, it really does.  I have to say, I’ve always watched from the sidelines, faithfully reading all of your updates, vlogs, and commenting as much as possible.  But I unfortunately have a job that requires me to work on Saturdays, and it’s nearly impossible to get a day off on a Saturday.  Last year, I tried to be a Cheerleader late in the day, but we also had a wedding to go to that night so it ended up being a very busy, non-read-a-thon day.

For this weekend’s Read-a-thon, I actually took a personal day for Saturday the 24th.  I was so excited that I would FINALLY be able to participate in this awesome event.  Fate had another idea in store for me, though….

You see, I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Los Angeles, CA – keep in mind that I live in Chicago.  I was asked to take a spur-of-the moment business trip to LA last week, as a replacement for someone else, and the trip obviously includes this weekend.  The kicker is that I’ll be working 8-10 hour days on both Saturday and Sunday, so my dream of participating in the Read-a-thon is out the window.

I will be reading this week, however.  I brought 8 books with me on an eight-day trip, lol.  I’m thinking I won’t get them all read, but I definitely have high hopes!

So, anyways, I want to throw this last thing out there:  I know everyone is going to be participating in the RAT this weekend, but I think there are a few book bloggers in California.  If any of you live in the LA area and want to meet up, email me! I don’t know how much extra time I will have this week, but I would certainly like to meet any of you that I possibly can!

Haunting Bombay by Shilpa Agarwal

Title:  Haunting Bombay

Author:  Shilpa Agarwal

Release Date: April 1, 2009

Publisher:  Soho Press

Pages:  382

Genre:  Fiction, Mystery

Source:  Publisher, TLC Book Tours

Haunting Bombay revolves around Pinky Mittal, a thirteen-year-old Indian girl, who after being orphaned as a baby, was raised by her strong and loving grandmother Maji, and the two of them live with her aunt, uncle, and three cousins.  Her aunt, Savita, truly dislikes Pinky for no reason that Pinky can understand, though other than conflicts with Savita Pinky lives a mostly normal life.  Except for the fact that there’s always been the question of why Savita insists the bathroom door always be bolted at night, a question that Pinky can’t seem to let go.  One night, Pinky’s curiosity gets the best of her and she opens the door, unleashing the ghost of a baby girl who died in the house more than a decade ago, and with the ghost comes shameful family secrets that Pinky can only attempt to understand… secrets which must be uncovered in order for the ghost to cease her haunting of this family.

There is a lot to love about Haunting Bombay.  Agarwal’s writing is really very beautiful.  I got the impression that she meticulously selected each and every word she used in the novel to create the best possible language for the reader to enjoy.  Also, she does a tremendous job drawing these characters – they were all complex, interesting, and so distinctive from one another.  I really enjoyed getting to know all of them, but I have to say that my favorite was definitely Pinky.  There was just such an innocence about her, which was so lovely, yet also a hardness because of her life circumstances.  It must be difficult to know that your aunt despises you, and Agarwal expertly created this reality in Pinky’s character.

I also enjoyed the ghost story in this book, at least to the point where I wanted to learn what the truth about these family secrets were, and why exactly this ghost was so set on haunting this family.  The mystery was pretty well crafted, enough so that I really didn’t know how it would turn out until everything was revealed in the end.

I do have to agree with Natasha that perhaps the ghost part was a bit too much for my liking – I,too, would probably have preferred more of a suggestion of a ghost rather than how much we actually heard from the ghost.  It would have been creepier, I think, to not know so much about the ghost – but it was still a really interesting aspect of the novel overall.

I have to be honest, though, that when all is said and done I didn’t connect with Haunting Bombay to the extent that I would have liked to.  I definitely liked the novel, and I appreciate Agarwal’s beautiful writing within, but overall there was just something missing for me.  And when I say this, I truly mean for ME – somehow I was just not connecting emotionally with the characters.  I’m not sure why that is, but I have to admit that it hampered my enjoyment of the novel to an extent, so the book ended up less than perfect for me.

All that being said, overall Haunting Bombay is a strong novel that I think readers of literary fiction, multicultural fiction, and mysteries/ghost stories will really love.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

Title:  Wicked Lovely

Author:  Melissa Marr

Release Date:  June 12, 2007

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Pages:  352

Genre:  Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy

Source:  library

I decided to read Wicked Lovely because I feel as though I’m the last person on earth to have read this series, and I felt like it was time I tried it out.  In case you’re like me and haven’t read the book yet, here’s a brief summary:  Aislinn is just a regular teenager, living a regular life, except for the fact that she can see faeries most people cannot.  And despite the fact that she’s spent her entire life avoiding them, ensuring that they don’t know she can see them, and being utterly terrified of their presence in her life, suddenly a few of the faeries are stalking her.  One in particular, Keenan, seems to be particularly drawn to Aislinn, and as she learns more about him, it seems that he wants her for himself, to be his Summer Queen, at any cost.

I had, unfortunately, very high expectations for Wicked Lovely.  I was expecting a truly amazing book.  My first reaction when I was reading this novel was something along the lines of, “that’s it?”  Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book and I’m glad I read it.  But I think it was just a tad too hyped up for what it actually delivered.  Let me see if I can explain this better… I was expecting some amazing journey, something magical and emotional and completely different from anything I’ve read before.  I don’t quite know why I thought it was going to be all those things, but that’s the impression I guess I had from all the reviews I had read of this one.  The story was interesting, the characters were pretty well-drawn, and I found myself getting involved with the story, but it definitely didn’t sweep me away like I thought it would.

The moral of the story, for me, is not to have expectations for books.  Sometimes it’s hard, though, and in my case I almost always have a preconceived notion of what a book will be.  But I definitely need to work on this, because Wicked Lovely is a lesson to me that just because a book isn’t everything you thought it would be, it can still be an enjoyable experience.  Because that’s what this read was for me:  an enjoyable experience.  And by the end of the novel, I cared about Aislinn enough that I’ll most likely read the rest of the series.

The bottom line is that I liked this one, I didn’t love it, and I’m glad I read it to see what all the fuss is about.

For more reviews of Wicked Lovely (most of which are better than this one), please visit the Book Blogger Search Engine.

Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo

Title: Sworn to Silence

Author:  Linda Castillo

Release Date:  June 23, 2009

Publisher:  Minotaur Books

Page Count:  336

Genres:  Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Source:  LibraryThing Early Reviewer’s

I don’t read a lot of thrillers these days.  When I was in middle school, I read tons of Mary Higgins Clark and James Patterson, but I haven’t read too much in the way of thrillers since.  I did think that Sworn to Silence sounded kind of interesting, so when I won it from LibraryThing, I realized it would be a perfect one to read this time of year – don’t we all love reading scary books in October?

The novel revolves around Kate Burkholder, chief of police in a town called Painters Mill, a small town with a prominent Amish population.  Kate’s family is all Amish, and in fact she was Amish herself until her late teens, when she survived an encounter with the Slaughterhouse Killer, which made her realize that she no longer believed in the Amish values and way of life she grew up with.  When the book begins, Kate is called to a crime scene – a young woman’s mutilated body was dumped by the side of the road, and upon further investigation the murderer is looking like it could very well be the Slaughterhouse Killer.  Kate has to not only solve the crime, but also possibly expose a terrifying family secret that she’s been hiding for years.

I was actually pretty surprised by how much I enjoyed Sworn to Silence.  I was swept away by the mystery from the very beginning, and I could have easily read the book in one or two sittings – I really didn’t want to put it down.  I also felt drawn to Kate Burkholder, and I believed her as a character.  I think she’s really someone readers can relate to; she is tough and soft all at once and super intelligent but makes mistakes just like anyone else.  The romance that unfolded in the novel was very enjoyable to me – it was a cute side story that I truly didn’t see coming and really added to the believability of the novel.

I truly liked this novel and I’m very glad I read it, even though Sworn to Silence isn’t my typical fare.  I’ve heard that the book is going to be a series starring Kate Burkholder, and I really hope that’s true because I’ll definitely read more from Linda Castillo in the future.

Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary

Title:  Dear Mr. Henshaw

Author:  Beverly Cleary

Published:  August 1983

Pages:  144

Publisher:  HarperCollins

Genre:  Fiction, Children’s 9-12

Source:  personal copy

Dear Mr. Henshaw was one of my favorite books when I was a kid.  I can’t even tell you how many times I read this book – SO many.  Something inspired me to read the book again recently, and I’m so glad that I did because it was like a little trip down memory lane.  It was such a comfortable book and I loved every minute I spent with Dear Mr. Henshaw this time around.

The book is written in letters, from the main character, eleven-year-old Leigh Botts to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw.  Actually, Leigh writes his first letter when he is in second grade, but the majority of the book takes place in his sixth grade year.  Leigh tells Mr. Henshaw about a lot that happens in his life – his parents’ divorce, his issues with other kids at school, and how much he misses his dog.  Through these letters to the author, and later a journal of unsent letters, Leigh forms a close friendship with the author (albeit a tad one-sided) and grows up quite a bit as well.

One of the things I like about this book so much, now that I’m an adult and can look at it from a different perspective, is how average Leigh Botts is.  Of course every kid wishes that they could be smarter, stronger, better than the other kids – but most kids realize that they simply aren’t.  I think that as a kid I related to Leigh because I also saw myself as he did, “in the middle”.  So many main characters of books do something extraordinary or have something extreme happen to them – Leigh Botts just lived an ordinary life like a regular kid.

The other thing that stands out to me about Dear Mr. Henshaw is the talk about Leigh’s parents’ divorce.  Leigh talks about his fears and insecurities regarding the situation with his parents, and I think so many kids who go through that feel the same emotions Lee displays.  Every kid wonders what they could have done differently to keep their parents together, they think that their father or mother (whichever parent has to move out) doesn’t love them enough, that their parents couldn’t possibly meet new people to date, etc.  Leigh deals with all of these confusing thoughts just like any kid would when going through a divorce.

I’m a huge fan of Dear Mr. Henshaw, I always have been, and reading it as an adult just reminded me of that even more.  I would absolutely recommend this book to children of all ages.

Sunday Salon

It is a cold, COLD Sunday here in Chicago.  Yesterday it didn’t get past 45 degrees (and it was cloudy and windy all day too) and I think today we will be lucky if we hit the upper 40′s.  I’ve mentioned before that I hate winter, and although I am okay with fall, I don’t like when it is this chilly this early in the season.  Yesterday morning I had to scrape ice off my car before going to work!  Probably my least favorite way to start a morning.

Even with the cold weather, I am going to Six Flags Great America today!  Husband and I live 10 minutes from the theme park, so we have season passes this year, and my mom and her boyfriend are going to drive up today and go with us (they live about an hour and a half away from us – we are in the far north suburbs, they are in the southwest suburbs).  It is Fright Fest there the entire month of October, so there’s tons of scary, creepy stuff to entertain us in addition to the roller coasters.  And when I say scary, I mean it – the place seriously freaks me out.  Good thing I’ll have my mommy today to protect me from all the ghosts and goblins, werewolves and clowns, trolls and vampires.

In reading news, I managed to post four reviews this week.  That’s pretty good for me, lately, so I’m quite proud.  First I reviewed The Promised World, which I really loved.  Then I posted a review for the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook, which turned out to be an extremely informative and excellent cookbook, one I would absolutely recommend.  I reviewed a perfect RIP book, In the Woods, which was just as awesome as everyone was telling me it would be, and finally I reviewed Deogratias, A Tale of Rwanda, which was difficult to read but very worth it, in my opinion.  I also participated in Weekly Geeks yesterday, where I listed some of my favorite books and also asked for recommendations, so pop on over if you haven’t already.

I currently have four unreviewed books for this week, so as long as I can actually get the reviews written, I’m pretty good for posts this week.  That makes me VERY happy.

And here’s what I’m in the middle of reading right now:

I have been reading No One You Know as my purse-book, and I’m always tempted to take it out and read it at home because I’m really enjoying it.  But I’ve been getting some good reading done on my half hour lunch breaks at work this week, so I’m thinking I’ll finish this one in a few days.  I decided to start Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because I decided that I wanted to finish my reread of the series before the end of the year.  I am going to try and take the book slowly this time, so that I will pick up on all the little details I missed when I was reading it like a maniac the first time around.  I just started Dracula is Dead last night – it is okay so far (from the first few chapters, at least).  And Haunting Bombay is for a blog tour later this month, I am almost halfway through this book and enjoying it so far.

So what are you up today?