Category Archives: reading

Books I Gave Up On

Posted on by
12

Books:

Flowers for Algernon … I tried reading it twice, and both times I couldn’t persuade myself to finish.  I think it’s Charlie’s changing personality.  I just lose interest in the book at the same point.  I’m not sure if I’m going to give it a third try or not.

The Forgotten Garden … just could not get into it.  Slow-going on the front end.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius … I was super into this one at the very beginning; in fact, I was full of writer’s envy, even though Eggers is maybe a tad pretentious.  But in the end, I just let this one fade for me, didn’t find time to finish it.  It has been on my nightstand for about 2-3 years now.  Should I start over?

Series:

Hush, Hush series … just didn’t seem grounded enough, didn’t know the characters well enough.

The Hunger Games … the author didn’t use “who” and “whom” properly, which drove me crazy, and I just wasn’t interested in the premise of the stories.

Shiver series … I actually kind of liked the first book of this series, but I didn’t feel like I got to know the characters well enough, and the holes in the premise of the heat/cold changing the werewolves were too gaping.

What do you think?  Am I missing out?  Are there books to which you think I need to give a second (or third) chance?

 

books books books

Posted on by
5

Just finished …

The Narnian by Alan Jacobs | This is a biography of the life and creativity of C.S. Lewis (my favorite!), and while it didn’t have as much Narnia in it as the title would suggest, it was still a fascinating read.  It was interesting to hear the timeline of the books– I have read quite a lot of Jack Lewis’s books, but I guess I’ve never really thought about at what time of his life they were written.  Did you know the Narnia series came much later on, toward his life’s end?  Those seven books have so deeply influenced my spiritual life; I couldn’t quit thinking about what would have happened if he’d died before they were written.  I mean, of course, we would have never known.  But it gave me this strange existential feeling to wonder what other books haven’t been finished because of early deaths, etc.  Sigh.  I trust God’s will.  Anyway, the other thing that was interesting to hear about was the answer to a question I have had for a long time about Jack’s marriage to Joy.  She was a divorced woman, and I always wondered what Lewis thought of that, as a man of the Word.  Interestingly, since Joy was divorced from a man who had previously been divorced, Lewis didn’t consider that Joy’s marriage had been legitimate (and therefore, her divorce had been null too).  What a fascinating man.  I loved him even more after reading this book.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman | This YA book was absolutely fascinating and thought-provoking in a GREAT way.  The novel takes place in the future, after the Heartland War, a fictional war between pro-lifers and pro-choicers.  After the Heartland War, it was determined that abortion was illegal, but instead, children would be raised, and between ages 13-18, parents could choose if they wanted to have the child “unwound”– their bodies dissected and ALL organs given for transplant (so, technically, the child never died, since no body part died).  This story is about three unwinds– Connor, a troublesome kid whose parents are fed up; Risa, a ward of the state who didn’t show enough talent; and Lev, a tithe, the tenth child of a religious family.  The author did a great job of making you think of both sides of the debate.  It was fascinating, shocking, and gruesome.  In fact, it included the most disturbing scene I’d read since A Clockwork Orange.  Loved this book, which is the first in a series that I intend to pursue.

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta | My most-anticipated book of 2012!  I was so eager to read this book (the final book of the Lumatere Chronicles trilogy) that I ordered an Aussie copy rather than wait for the March 2013 US release date.  I loved it– but not as much as the first two books (Finnikin of the Rock and Froi of the Exiles).  The writing was masterful (as always), and I deeply cared for the characters, who are real and flawed and passionate.  The thing that was hard for me was that I really enjoyed the interactions in book #2 between Froi and Quintana, and in this third book, they are separated, so I missed that.  A lot.  Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book, plowing through it.  As far as I’m concerned, Marchetta can’t write a bad book.  I’m already thrilled for her to put something else out.  Patience, grasshoppah.

Meditations by Rene Descartes | As research for my YA book, Truest, I have been researching Descartes and his dream argument, reading from biographies and books that summarize his positions/thoughts, but– although I was understanding things– I still felt outside of his ideas.  I decided to just bite the bullet and climb inside of them.  Reading Meditations reminded me of my writing theory and ethics class in college, where I would just try to catch the thesis amidst all the verbiage.  I can tell that I’m growing because this book was easier for me to understand.  I will say that I am not used to having to re-read something to understand it; it was a long-forgotten experience from undergrad that I had to dig up while reading this.  All said, it is fascinating.  It is essentially Descartes’s proof that God exists, so … no small task.

A few late reviews …

The Time-Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger | I decided to read this after I’d read and enjoyed Her Fearful Symmetry, and I wasn’t disappointed.  Niffenegger manages to weave an incredible tale of time travel (which is pretty much always interesting, if done well), love, and romance.  I can see why she was offered a ton of money for a second book after this one, which is essentially the love story betweeen Clare and Henry– Henry, who hops back and forth from real time to the past and to the future.

Stolen by Lucy Christopher | A super interesting book about 16-year-old Gemma, who is abducted at the airport– but whose abductor is kind, gentle, loving, although kinda crazy.  It’s an interesting twist on the kidnapping story: what happens when the kidnapper is not exactly the bad guy?

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick | First book in a series that I didn’t continue.  This is the story of a fallen angel loving a regular teenaged girl.  To me, it was average paranormal romance (which is not exactly my favorite genre in the first place).

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater | Another paranormal romance, another series I discontinued after book one.  This time the regular teenaged girl is in love with a werewolf named Sam.  (What does it mean if a book makes you think that Twilight is good and original?)

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac | Wow.  Wowowowow.  This is Kerouac’s account of his time spent at a cabin in Big Sur, where he is deteriorating mentally and physically from alcohol.  This was maybe the scariest account of alcoholism I’ve ever read … also fascinating.  Eye-opening.  A very good read.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy | When my former co-worker Kyle read this book four times in a row, I figured I’d better get my own copy.  A riveting but horrifying story about a father and son in post-apocolyptic America.

Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko | An interesting children’s story about a family growing up on Alcatraz Island.  The sister has autism, but the story is set in a time when very, very little was known about the autism spectrum.  Very interesting, very well-written children’s book!

Currently reading …
The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma
The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (yes, again— I’ve decided that, starting January 1st, I’m going to track my Narnia reading for a year!)

Up next …
The Casual Vacancy by Jo Rowling
Everyday by David Levithan

Any suggestions?  I also recently purchased Divergent by Veronica Roth but haven’t brought myself to start it yet.

Nine Names

Posted on by
37

She dreamed often of a lion, tawny gold and glorious, with light that scattered from his mane as if it were born inside of him.  In her dreams, she stood beside him, staring east across a vibrant sea, and when she woke, it was always with the refrain, He has nine names.

She hated to wake.  The sea in her sleep was alive but behaved, and in the days since the accident, her days were a horror.  She was in a stupor, flummoxed with loss.  How can I be the only one left?  The mornings were darker than her dreams.

Her aunt and uncle had planned the funeral, which, she realized, was perhaps not the best choice, but she herself was of no use to anyone.  Then again, no one expected much of her at a time like this.  And when that dreaded service came, with the nine closed coffins at the front of the sanctuary, she could not greet the guests or be consoled but instead fled to the solace of the church nursery, where she sat in a chair meant for a small child, her arms wrapped tight about her body, rocking back and forth as if the motion itself would somehow comfort her.  There is no one left.

On the wall was a mural of Noah’s Ark—painted in the friendly, child-safe version that curtailed the dreadful details.  Instead, there was a large boat with a smiling man on board, surrounded by animals, and above them stretched a rainbow in the primary colors of youth.  Two giraffes poked their heads from the roof of the ark; a dove carried an olive branch back to the man; pairs of smiling anthropomorphic animals stood together on the deck.  Two elephants, two horses, two monkeys, two zebras.  One lion.

The lion.  He has nine names. 

She grimaced as she brushed away thoughts of her dream.

“Susan?” Aunt Alberta said, leaning her head inside the nursery door.  “Oh, there you are.  The service—it’s about to start.”

She nodded.  “I’ll be there in a moment.”

No tears had come yet, although she was certain that they would—and when those floodgates opened, she wondered if they would ever close again.  Her mother and father, her brothers, her sister, her cousin, and three friends—all gone, leaving her life as shredded as the railway tracks that day.  She had seen the bodies before they’d closed the coffins.  Nine plastic faces smiling serenely, as if they were all in on a secret she did not know.

Her throat caught as she stood to her feet for the service.  She wanted to blame someone, but whom would she blame?  She glanced again at the mural on the wall, all those happy animals looking as if they were talking beasts.  She frowned; it was as if—as if—it was like a moment of déjà vu.  Stop it, she told herself.  Just get through the service, through the burial.  Just hold together for a few more hours.

And yet, as she walked back toward the sanctuary, now full of mourning guests, it happened again.  This time an image burned in her mind as if it were a memory from another life: a stone table, cracked in two, empty of life or death, but full of meaning and magic.  And when she opened the door to the sanctuary, she uttered a loud gasp when she saw the crucifix at the front of the room.  The guests turned to look.

He has nine names.  And now she knew two.

my favorite non-human characters in literature

Posted on by
6

In no particular order …

* Richard Parker, the tiger in Life of Pi … by the end of that long boatride, RP feels like your reason to live

* Mr. Tumnus, the faun from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe … I mean, OF COURSE.  He is Lucy’s oldest Narnian friend.  Who can forget that image of him with the scarf, umbrella, and parcels beneath the lamp-post?

* Hedwig, Harry Potter’s owl, who has so much personality and spunk

* Hwin, the mare from The Horse and His Boy … “You may eat me, if you’d like.  I’d sooner be eaten by you than fed by anyone else.”  How could you not love her?!

* Puddleglum, the marshwiggle, as he put his webbed foot into the fire and declared he was on Aslan’s side even if Aslan didn’t exist

* Jewel, the unicorn of The Last Battle, who was just as rash and passionate as his bestie, King Tirian

* Beatrice and Virgil, the howler monkey and donkey featured in Yann Martel’s fascinating book … your heart goes out to them as they detail the “Horrors”

* Lady Amalthea, or rather Lady Amalthea-bef0re-she-was-a-woman

* Magnus Bane … do warlocks count?  “Even the Inquisitor’s eyebrows shot up when Magnus strode through the gate.  The High Warlock was wearing black leather pants, a belt with a buckle in the shape of a jeweled M, and a cobalt-blue Prussian military jacket open over a white lace shirt.”

* Reepicheep, so valiant, so martial!

* The Skin Horse, from The Velveteen Rabbit

* Old Yeller, Old Dan, and Little Ann, best dogs in the whole world

* Winnie-the-Pooh

* the Wild Things

* Cinnamon, Stargirl’s sweet little rat

and last but certainly not least …

* Charlotte A. Cavatica, a good friend and a good writer, the most incredible spider ever

Top 10 Literary Boyfriends

Posted on by
10

Oh, come on, be honest now … if you’re a reader, you have them too. 🙂

10. Marco Alisdair from The Night Circus | A handsome young magician with creativity exploding out of him?  Yes please.  “What did you wish for?” Bailey asks. Marco leans forward and whispers in Bailey’s ear. “I wished for her.”

9. Will Trombal from Saving Francesca | Confused, sweet, smart, willing-to-be-humbled student leader at an Aussie high school, eventually Will figured out just what he wanted.  “Do you think people have noticed that I’m around?”
“I notice when you’re not. Does that count?”

8. Jace Wayland/Morgenstern/Herondale/Lightwood from The Mortal Instruments series | You know, I wouldn’t mind having a stunningly gorgeous boyfriend who was acerbically hilarious and could kick anyone’s ass, even if he was conceited as all get-out.  Too bad something is always going majorly wrong with his world.  “Not everything is about you,” Clary said furiously.  “Possibly,” Jace said, “but you do have to admit that the majority of things are.”

7. Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere | His smile alone completely won me over.  Joe is sincerely and deeply in love with life.  “And then he smiles, and in all the places around the globe where it’s night, day breaks.”

6. Prince Char from Ella Enchanted | He is so real, so sincere, so sweet, so honest, so straightforward: “That’s funny, you’re funny. I like you, I’m quite taken by you.”

5. Finnikin from Finnikin of the Rock | Once he realizes what he truly wants, he is a die-hard.  His loyalty and dedication won over my heart.  “This hand says you spend the rest of your life with me,” he said, holding out his left hand, “and this one says I spend the rest of my life with you. Choose.”

4. Max Vandenburg from The Book Thief | Okay, so I don’t think readers are supposed to fall for Max, but I couldn’t help it.  He writes books for her.  Swoon.  ‘Such a brilliant German day and its attentive crowd. He let his mouth kiss her palm. “Yes, Liesel, it’s me,” and he held the girl’s hand in his face and cried onto her fingers.’

3. Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road | A young, passionate cadet who will fight with you but also do anything to defend you, Griggs is one of my all-time favorite literary boyfriends!  He’s hilarious and smart and hot and cares so deeply, even though he keeps up a tough facade.  “I think it would cause a riot.”  “Well, you know me,” he says, lowering his head towards me. “Causing a riot is what I do best.”

2. Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables series | Gilbert is one of the most wonderful men ever written about, period.  From the time he was about thirteen, he has wanted one thing: Anne Shirley’s love.  He is most girls’ idea of “the perfect man,” one who waited for her for years.  He’s so funny and SMART and sweet and handsome.  Love him.  “Gilbert wisely said nothing more; but in his silence he read the history of the next four years in the light of Anne’s remembered blush. Four years of earnest, happy work … and then the guerdon of a useful knowledge gained and a sweet heart won.”

1. Augustus Waters of The Fault in Our Stars | I just cannot get over this guy.  He’s smart, hilarious, gorgeous, a deep thinker, a reader, intense and honest and fun.  “Oh, I wouldn’t mind, Hazel Grace.  It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.”

Honorable mentions:
Ron Weasley of Harry Potter series
Cal Trask of East of Eden
Dickon of The Secret Garden

How about you– who are your favorite literary boyfriends?

writer’s envy

Posted on by
4

I have it pretty bad.  It’s the dichotomy of being a writer who reads great literature– it is feeding your work but also fueling your envy and self-loathing.

At least, this is true for me.

So, my question is how do you turn envy into motivation?

Bonus points: how many of these (my favorite writers) can you identify?

some snarky book reviews

Posted on by
1

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire | I am actually sorry to give this book a poor review because it started off SO GOOD.  I honestly loved it for maybe the first half, this story about bad boy Travis Maddox, underground fighter, campus’s walking one-night stand, who falls hard for Abby Abernathy, who is trying to steer clear from Travis and everything he represents.  The book starts off fun and sexy and sweet, and you get wrapped up in Travis … and then … the book kinda falls apart.  At least for me.  Suddenly it involved mobsters and Las Vegas and Travis becomes a boy who is too whipped, and I wanted to be like, Please stop acting like that.  I read the entire book in one day, starting on my lunch break and finishing around 1 am.  Then I lay in bed thinking how annoyed I was with the second half, which felt like reading the rough and dirty version of that one movie where Drew Barrymore cries a lot (Mad Love?) mixed with A Walk to Remember (please no!) minus the cancer.  It was volatile, and I had the impression that the author wrote it in one night during which she got progressively more wasted.  Bummer.

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare | Demon-hunting teenagers who interact with vampires, werewolves, faeries, and warlocks in the Brooklyn streets?  I was skeptical, but I’d read so many quotes from this series that I had grown intrigued enough to give it a go.  It was not the most well-written story I’d ever read, but it still sucked me in, which– as usual– was because I fell in love with one of the characters.  Jace Wayland, this arrogant, hilarious Shadowhunter.  I cared enough about Jace to read …

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare | The second book of what was originally supposed to be a trilogy but has since grown to include five books, with a sixth on its way.  This one was an improvement on the first, perhaps because by now I had gotten over the fact that I was reading books about demon-hunting teenagers, or maybe because now I knew the main characters better.  The tension in this book is palpable, so of course I read …

City of Glass by Cassandra Clare | The final book of the original trilogy, in which the stakes are even higher.  I realize that I haven’t really said anything about what these books are about, have I?  There are so many twists and turns in these books that I can’t really explain the subsequent books without putting in spoilers.  Anyway, the whole point of reading these books was Jace anyway.  Third book was the best of the three.  Intense, dark, scary, excellent twists.  Again, these books are never going to be classics, but they are fun and fast reads.  I feel a little guilty for liking them as  much as I did. 🙂  (Yes, my guilty pleasures post was about these books.)

I will probably start book four, City of Fallen Angels tomorrow.  What is wrong with me?

permission to NOT write

Posted on by
4

Last week I had coffee with Stacey, a fresh college grad and newlywed.  She has a degree in English from my alma mater, and we talked about how she hasn’t had any energy to write lately.  Faced with student loans for an English degree, she feels like she should be writing, but she is just so completely burnt out from her senior project.

I told her the same thing happened to me after college.  I was so exhausted in pretty much every possible way that I didn’t write for three years, I told her.  But I didn’t waste my time either: I read like crazy, tons and tons of great literature, which was essentially like planting seeds into the field of my mind.  I began to harvest years later.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with this.

It is still productive to the writing life to take a break from writing.

Quick clarification: I do believe that– in an appropriate season– it is important to force oneself to write through issues.  This is different than being in a season of rest.  I am in a harvesting season right now, and so I sometimes force myself to write, even when I don’t necessarily feel inspired.

It is the difference between the days of rest/no exertion after an injury and the days of rehab that follow.

I have never regretted my three-year hiatus from writing after college graduation.  It allowed me time to read like a maniac, immerse myself in fantastic literature, build up life experiences, and mature before I later dove into novel writing.

What are your thoughts on this?

literature, time, and other thoughts

Posted on by
2

They were drawing me.  The books.

It was like my car was on autopilot– I thought I was headed to Dunn Bros, but when I drove past it, I wasn’t surprised.  Instead, I just let my car take me to Barnes and Noble.

It’s been a little while since I have been here.  Now that I have a membership and have free shipping, I’ve been buying most of my books online.  Today it wasn’t enough.  I had to be with them, surrounded by them, which is why I am drinking a banana chocolate smoothie, typing on my laptop alone, but feeling like I am in the company of friends– or future friends.

To be honest, I feel a little overwhelmed.  There are so many books I want to read, I don’t know when I’m going to find time to get to them all.  I perused the “Summer Reading” table and found more that intrigued me.  From where I sit, I can see the “New Fiction” shelves, and I wonder if I’ll ever have a book there.

I feel pulled so many ways.  I want to readreadREAD, but I am trying to balance that out with plenty of time for writing, which I love even more.  But my writing is informed and inspired by what I read, so I have to keep fueling that fire.  Those two activities alone could keep me busy until I die, I think, and yet– I have even more important things in my life than these.

People.  God.

I know everyone gets 24 hours a day, but I wish I could have more.  How am I supposed to be a loving, caring daughter and friend while working fulltime and writing a novel and feeding an obsessive reading habit– all while never neglecting my true love Jesus Christ and his church?

Praise God that OCD is no longer demanding so much of my attention.  How did I manage?  It feels like a different lifetime.

And yet, I have friends who do all this and take care of a spouse and children.  It boggles my mind.

I want my life to matter, want to leave a mark.  It seems difficult to do when my interests are so spread– I worry that my efforts in each area will be lacking because I didn’t have enough time invested into each one.

I think that one of the reasons I decided to keep a list of books I have read and reviewed (click THE READER tab above) was to try to organize at least one part of my life.  When I sit here in the bookstore, surrounded by all this brilliance, I know that there will be corners I never explore.  Somehow maybe this will help me keep better control of the labyrinth I’m in.

And what a beautiful labyrinth.

guilty pleasures

Posted on by
4

One week ago, I read a book that was not exactly well-written, but I was still pretty fascinated and tore through it (and requested the next two books in the series from the library).  I announced to Facebook that I felt split in two, my reader-self warring with my writer-self.

I generally don’t read poorly-written books.

I know that’s a bold statement, but I figure that I have so many wonderful books on my list to read that I just won’t waste time with a book that doesn’t hold my interest or isn’t written well.

There are a few exceptions.  If I hear from enough people that I have to read a book which I have deemed as sub-par, then I have been known to cave to peer pressure just so that I can come back and tell them that I read it and still didn’t like it (since I am a literature snob.  I know, I know.).  The other exception would be if I have read an incredible book by an author in the past, then I will give the not-as-good book by the same author the benefit of the doubt, reading to the end, hoping for the author to redeem himself.  I feel I owe it to the author since he/she has already graced the literary world at one point.

But then there are these strange guilty pleasure books that I don’t even like to admit I read and enjoyed.  There aren’t a lot.  In fact, I feel like the last time I indulged in such a way was back in high school during the Left Behind series.  But last weekend I read a book about demon-hunting teenagers whose lives are full of killing, blood, and sexual tension.  I guess I will call it a guilty pleasure.

What are yours?