Masterpiece
Excellent
Good
Just okay
Not for me
Definitely not for me'g' authors
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008Review: Water for Elephants
Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants tells a great story. I loved the story, and I loved the characters. I loved Rosie the elephant. I did not love the explicit scenes, particularly when I had to hear it on an audio CD. I was relieved to find that Natasha from Maw Books felt the exact same way. I think there is a strong minority of readers who are getting fed up with this type of content in books. I know I am. But, as I said, I wanted to continue hearing the story because other than those parts, it was very compelling.
Jacob Jankowski is the vet (with an asterix) for a second-rate circus. His services and presence aren’t always wanted by the circus regulars. The book is told in flashbacks to great effect. I really enjoyed that format for this particular story. The readers for the audio CD were David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones. They both were good, but whoever did Jacob Jankowski as an old man was brilliant. I thoroughly loved those sections.
Water for Elephants is not only a love story; it’s also about finding ‘family’ with those around you. I just wish I could have ‘redlighted’ a few parts.
2006, 350 pp.
Rating: 
Popularity: 11% [?]
Friday, May 2nd, 2008Review: The Forgery of Venus
Chaz Wilmot is (by choice) an unsuccessful painter doing primarily commercial work. He obviously has more talent than what he’s using, and this fact is a constant source of frustration for his ex-wife and others around him. As part of a medical study, Chaz starts taking Salvinorin A, a drug being tested for its effects on artists’ creativity. 
Chaz is strangely affected by the drug; it not only increases his creativity, it makes him have the memories and abilities of the famous Spanish artist, Diego Valazquez. Is Chaz crazy, or is the drug truly giving him these actual memories and abilities?
Salvinorin A is a real drug, reportedly having real, similar effects as the ones occurring in this book. If you like art and psychological suspense, you may enjoy this book by Michael Gruber. It was a little too graphic for my tastes, but I did enjoy the basic story.
2008, 318 pp.
Rating: 3.5/5
Have you reviewed this book? If you’d like, enter your link in Mr. Linky below.
Popularity: 49% [?]
Sunday, April 27th, 2008Review: The Cellist of Sarajevo
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway is a moving story based on fact. It chronicles the few days in Sarajevo during 1992 when the real “Cellist of Sarajevo,” Vedran Smailovic, played his cello for 22 days in the exact spot where 22 people had been killed while waiting in line for bread.
In the novel, a counter-sniper, Arrow, is assigned to keep the cellist from getting shot and killed. Arrow is the best at what she does but still wrestles with the moral dilemma of having to take another’s life. She wonders if she is any better than the men in the hills trying to destroy her city.
We also meet Kenan, a man on his way to fetch water for his family, and we follow his life-threatening journey as well as his thoughts, fears, and hopes for the future. Another character, Dragan, misses his family, whom he helped to get out of the country. All of them are waiting. Waiting for help that never comes.
Told in a simple but unforgettable style, Galloway captures this unfortunate moment in history in a way that will break your heart for all victims of war.
This book will be released on May 15 from Riverhead Books.
2008, 231 pp.
Rating:
Popularity: 70% [?]
Monday, December 31st, 2007Queen of the Tambourine
Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam is an epistolary novel about 51 year old Eliza Peabody. All the letters are from Eliza to Joan, a woman from across the street who has disappeared. She writes to Joan just telling her the ordinary things going on about her days. No one will talk to Eliza about Joan, though, and it seems everyone is worried about Eliza. Her husband Henry has just left her, and she’s having a difficult time dealing with it.
This novel explores one woman’s condition when she’s on the edge of madness. The beginning and the ending were strong, but I had a difficult time knowing what was going on in the middle of the book until it became clearer in the end. There were many funny parts to it, too, but overall it was just an okay read.
1991, 226 pp.
Rating: 3.5
Popularity: 18% [?]
Thursday, December 27th, 2007Complete Tales of Nikolai Gogol Vol. 1
I read this quite awhile ago, and I did review most of the stories. I’ll add the rest of the stories in the next few days, but I wanted to get this post up because I have completed 18 decades in the Decades Challenge, and I am ecstatic about it. I’m very proud of myself for that accomplishment. All the stories in this book were published in the 1830’s.
Here are the stories I’ve reviewed so far, and I’ll add the rest later:
“The Fair at Sorochintsy,” a story from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
A peasant goes with his wife and daughter to a fair to sell wheat. What’s so scary about that? Well, for starters there’s a haunted barn, a devil on a quest for his lost red jacket, and other evil happenings. I wasn’t frightened much at all (actually, I like it that way–I’m a wimp), but it was still a very entertaining story.
“Saint John’s Eve” and “A May Night, or the Drowned Maiden,” stories from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
All three of Gogol’s stories so far have contained the devil in human form. It seems that Gogol’s mother warned him repeatedly about the evil one’s devilish schemes. I think the stories must have scared him to death when he was a youngster! They definitely had an impact on his imagination.
“Saint John’s Eve” is decidedly creepier than the “The Fair at Sorochintsy,” which was the first story in Evenings. Boy loves girl and uses the devil to obtain her. What the devil requires as payment is a heavy price to pay, but when the deed is done, boy doesn’t remember what he did to obtain girl. After they marry, he knows there is something he should remember, and he is obsessed with trying to figure out what it is and doesn’t even enjoy life with his wife. Does he ever remember? Read it and find out.
I didn’t like “A May Night, or the Drowned Maiden” as well as the first two. I had a little bit of a hard time following the story, and it was also longer than the other two. It is another tale of boy wants girl, but in this one, the father of the boy also wants the girl. Once again, the devil plays into it, as well as a witch with drowned maidens in a pond by a haunted cabin. This story wasn’t that scary, and it even had some funny parts in it.
“The Lost Letter“, “Christmas Eve”, and “A Terrible Vengeance,” stories from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
Of these three, “The Lost Letter” is the weakest. Grandfather must take a letter to the Czarina. He stops by a tavern, gets side-tracked, and loses the letter. The tavern owner tells him how to get the letter back by going into a certain area of the forest. When he gets there, he has to play a card game with some witches and win the game to get the letter. Impossible task, or maybe not. I wonder who outwits whom. . .
“Christmas Eve” once again has the devil in human form being used to get a girl. This time, though, it is the most pious man in the village “using” (outwitting) the devil to do it. Another witch is involved, as well as a snowstorm, and the Czarina’s slippers. Oh, yeah, and some sacks full of other “devils,” too.
“A Terrible Vengeance” was the creepiest of the three stories. A Cossack and his wife try to fend off the wife’s father, a sorcerer. What the father wants to do is the creepy part, along with some scary cemetery imagery.
1830’s for all stories, 259 pp.
Rating: 4
Popularity: 22% [?]
Friday, July 20th, 2007Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Stardust
by Neil Gaiman
1999, 248 pp.
Rating: 4/5
I was excited to read this after absolutely loving Coraline earlier this year. I also wanted to read it before the movie comes out in August. I did like the book quite a bit, but I didn’t love it, and I wanted to love it. I’m not sure what happened–maybe I just expected too much.
Tristan lives in a village where there is a hole in the wall. It’s guarded by the villagers because it leads into a fairy land. No one is allowed through. Once every 9 years, however, there is a festival where the fairy people and villagers do mingle.
Tristan is in love with the prettiest girl in the village, and wants to prove his love for her by getting her a star that they both see fall in the night sky. However, it has fallen in fairy land. His adventures in trying to obtain the star are magical, to say the least. We meet some very interesting characters from fairy land as well. Does he get the star and/or the girl? Read the book or see the movie to find out. Caution: Parents should read the book first as it’s not for children. I wouldn’t recommend it for under 16. These sections were few and far between, though.
Claire Danes plays one of the leads in the movie, and I knew this going into the book. She was TOTALLY right for this part. I could just imagine her saying her lines from the book.
I’ll probably see the movie in the first night or two. Can’t wait!
1. kookiejar - July 20, 2007[Edit]
I’ll see it in the first couple of days of its release as well. I must read it first though.
2. Stephanie - July 21, 2007[Edit]
I’m sorry you didn’t love it! I really did. I thought it was just a magical, beautiful little story!
I’ll definitely see the movie!!
3. Debi - July 21, 2007[Edit]
I, too, loved Coraline. The only Gaiman I’ve read to this point. I can’t count how many times I’ve picked up Stardust at the bookstore, only to set it back down. I have bought M is for Magic and American Gods, neither of which I’ve had a chance to read yet. I know sooner or later I won’t be able to resist Stardust any longer.
4. Nabeel - July 22, 2007[Edit]
hmm, I hope it’s good. Lately, Robert Deniro has been doing movies that have failed.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Monday, July 2nd, 2007Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Coraline
by Neil Gaiman
2006, 163 pp.
Rating: 4.5
I listened to this on CD with my kids. It was narrated by the author, and I must say he did a fantastic job. I will definitely be reading more by Gaiman. I hope to read Stardust before the movie comes out.
Coraline is an only child who lives in an apartment with her work-at-home parents. She’s a bit bored and is always looking for something to do. One day she unlocks a door that has a brick wall behind it–only the brick wall isn’t there anymore. She goes through the door and finds what looks like an exact replica of her apartment–including her parents. I will stop here because I don’t want to spoil the plot. Let’s just say I highly recommend it! Thanks to those in the Once Upon a Time Challenge who recommended it as well.
- 1. Petunia - July 2, 2007
- Gaiman did a perfect job of telling his story. We all really loved it too.
- 2. Joy - July 3, 2007
- I’ve been wondering where to start with a Gaiman book. This may be a good place. Thanks.
- 3. Debi - July 5, 2007
- I simply adored this book! I’ve had Stardust in my hand the last two times I’ve been in the bookstore, but opted for American Gods and then M is for Magic. I’m guessing the third time will be the charm. Of course, I really to need to read the ones I did buy at some point, huh?
Popularity: 9% [?]
Saturday, May 5th, 2007Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Eat, Pray, Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert
2006, 352 pp.
Rating: 3.5 (Edit: I changed it from a 4)
Caveat! I didn’t like the book much. I’m giving it a ‘4′ because of the brilliant writing.
Subtitled One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, Elizabeth Gilbert’s book about “finding herself” after a divorce is, well, interesting to say the least. She is frank, candid, brutally honest, and bares all in this travel memoir. I do give her this: she is a brilliant writer and narrator (I listened to the audio CD). The problem was, though, that after finishing the book, I found I really didn’t like it much. It is an easy read/listen, with a little ‘too much information’ sometimes, if you know what I mean. I also didn’t agree with almost any of her decisions or with her conclusions about God and spirituality, though I’m sure she’s not asking me to, either! Still, I rated it a ‘4′ because I want to recognize her writing talents.
She goes through a messy divorce and travels through the three “I” countries listed above. She learns Italian and eats a lot of pasta in Italy (the Eat in the title), she “finds God” in India (the Pray), and she finds love (the Love in the title) in Indonesia. She makes it all very interesting, that’s for sure. I do recommend this book because it is always fascinating to take a peak at other women’s lives and their viewpoints, and as I said, the writing is excellent. In some ways, though, books like these always reinforce my own beliefs and viewspoints as well.
- Lisa - May 5, 2007
- I am sad that you didn’t like this! I loved it so much. It was so easy to read and just flowed for me. I am dying to go to Italy, so that may be part of my love.
- Bybee - May 30, 2007
- I’m going to try this book because I really enjoyed her first one, The Last American Man.
Popularity: 25% [?]
Friday, April 13th, 2007Grendel by John Gardner
Grendel
by John Gardner
1971
174 pp.
Rating: 2
I didn’t like this book. AT ALL. I absolutely love Beowulf, and I highly recommend reading or listening to Seamus Heaney’s version. Whereas Beowulf could almost be considered a Christian work, Grendel is nihilistic. Enough said.
- booklogged - April 13, 2007
- Thanks for the warning, 3M. Every once in awhile it’s refreshing to come across a review that doesn’t compel me to add the book to my list. Just sorry you had to waste your time reading it.
- Carl V. - April 13, 2007
- So….you didn’t like it then?
I like the cover, at least. - Daphne - April 14, 2007
- What is that on the cover??
- Quixotic - April 18, 2007
- I have this on my list of things to read. I too love Beowulf, and Seamus Heaney’s version is excellent. I guess I’ll have to see what I make of Grendel!
Popularity: 15% [?]