Reading Challenge - Book 17

Wow.

I was telling my husband, I think I've learned more about history from historical fiction than from real history classes. Facts and figures don't have nearly as much staying power as 'real' characters do for me. Which leads me to the next great book I ready this year.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah tells the story of Vianne during World War II. Vianne was a French woman in a small rural town with (originally) a very useful airstrip. When France surrenders to Germany, Vianne is left to negotiate German occupation as a single mom, a sister, a friend, and a daughter - with several roles meaning something different than she ever dreamed.

We also hear the viewpoint of Vianne's sister, Isabelle. A rebel all her life, the war gives Isabelle a true purpose, and a focus for all her fighting.

I would definitely recommend this book, but be ready to cry as you hear how the experience of war and living through the war influenced and changed Vianne, her neighbors and children, Isobelle and those she worked with, the girls' father, and so many others. It's a book about the war, but even more about how the characters lived through it, or died trying.

Reading Challenge - Book 16

So... the heck with the challenge. LOL I don't see any category I haven't finished already where this book will fit. But I loved it, so I read it, and I'm writing about it.

Having grown up in the 70s and 80s, how could I resist a Judy Blume book?? It turns out this one has been in the works for quite a while. See, it's based on some factual events from when Blume was in eighth grade in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Luckily, this is all covered in the notes at the end of the book, but I'd already done some of my own research when I found the story events unfolding intriguing.

Judy Blume's 'In the Unlikely Event' is mostly a flashback to the narrator's junior high days. The narrator, and all those around her, are touched closely by tragedy, repeatedly. And the events themselves weren't the only tragedy - the effects it had on everyone were definitely life-changing, and we really have no idea where any of them would have ended up without this unavoidable influence.

If you like books that are really all about the characters in them, this book is for you. I knew the writing style would flow for me, but the actual story was a shocker for me. I can't say much more without spoiling that for you, but I can say I definitely recommend this book.

Reading Challenge - Book 15

So the PopSugar Reading Challenge for 2016 is wrapping up. I was much less strict with my categories this time around, but the list itself definitely gave me some inspiration and kept me reading.

The 15th book I read this year was Annie's Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg. It didn't really fit in any of the categories I had left, so I just wrote it down as 'an autobiography,' when it was really more of a memoir or biography of sorts.

In Annie's Ghosts, Steve Luxenberg and his family get a huge surprise shortly before his mother dies, and he begins to research what his mother has revealed after her death.

While his mother, Beth (Cohen) Luxenberg always told people she was an only child, her family finds out she actually had a sister who lived with Beth and her parents until she was 21-years-old. The sister had a deformed leg, and mental issues.

What led me to read this book was that it was somewhat local to me. The sister was a resident of Eloise for 31 years. Eloise was a huge institution for Wayne County, Michigan, that housed all sorts of residents over its lifetime. I found it fascinating to read the changing numbers of homeless, mentally ill, and others found to be wards during its existence. I liked reading about Michigan history in and around Eloise, the now-closed Northville Hospital, and where the family lived and knew people in Detroit. Since his family was Jewish, there was also history of Jewish migration out of Russia and into different popular US areas.

While a non-fiction book can sometimes be dry reading, Luxenberg brought the members of his family to life in Annie's Ghosts, and I kept reading to see where everyone would end up, or where they came from. If this sounds interesting to you, and especially if you're local to these areas, I think you could really enjoy this book and learn more about the area and the people and times in it.

Reading Challenge - Book 14

This.
Book.

OMG

I think the only reason I picked this book at my library was because I wanted a good read, and knew I'd get it from Jodi Picoult. This late in the year, I know I'm not going to finish all 40 categories on the PopSugar 2016 Reading Challenge, so I'll just list this one for 'a book that takes place during summer.' There were scenes involving riding a bike, and lots of outdoors stuff. I think it was summer. Hahaha...

Anyway, I've struggled with writing any sort of review for Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult because of the revelation toward the end of the book. I don't want to give anything away.

Straight from the Amazon site:

For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe she was abandoned, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.

Desperate to find the truth, Jenna enlists two unlikely allies in her quest: Serenity Jones, a psychic who rose to fame finding missing persons, only to later doubt her gifts, and Virgil Stanhope, the jaded private detective who’d originally investigated Alice’s case along with the strange, possibly linked death of one of her colleagues. As the three work together to uncover what happened to Alice, they realize that in asking hard questions, they’ll have to face even harder answers. 

As Jenna’s memories dovetail with the events in her mother’s journals, the story races to a mesmerizing finish. A deeply moving, gripping, and intelligent page-turner, Leaving Time is Jodi Picoult at the height of her powers.

You should TOTALLY read this book. Everyone I know should read this book so I have someone who knows why I'm blown away, and we can talk about it.
It was available through my local library's Kindle collection, so you may be able to get it to read right now - go on!!

Reading Challenge - Book 13

The 13th book I've read this year fits category 29 of the PopSugar Reading Challenge - a dystopian novel.

It turns out this category is one I'm really enjoying, and a few more on my 'to be read' list could fall here as well. I read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and now I'm planning to watch the movie again (I saw it years ago, but now I want to watch and compare while the book is fresh in my memory). It seems a lot of parts of the book was just in the narrator's head and won't translate easily into a movie, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they handled it all.

Offred still remembers parts of what her life was like before she was assigned to just be a handmaid. They've taught her at the Red Center that things are better this way, but she's frequently not so sure. She wonders what happened to the people from her life before, and is never sure who she can trust with anything besides her conditioned responses. Can the whole civilization she knew have disappeared, and can it stay gone forever?

I thought this was a more well-known book than apparently it is, at least among the people I see on a regular basis. I was excited to talk about it, but no one else I've seen while reading it knew about it. Hopefully in a few days hubby and I will get a chance to watch the movie and I can babble at him.

I recommend this book. It's definitely not cheerful, but it will certainly get you thinking.

Reading Challenge - Book 12

Believe it or not, this is the book I was so excited to finish the last one for. And then life got in the way and it's taken me this long to write about it :)

While I'm so happy to be seeing books I want to read instead of searching by the reading list, it means this book gets the rather boring categorization of 'book with a blue cover.' But I read it on the Kindle, so it really didn't have a cover at all that I could see.

When someone told me one of my favorite movies was first a book, I had to check it out. Now I love them both! Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman was a great book, although I pictured the main characters as they were played in the movie, since I saw it first. There were just a few major differences between the book and the movie.

As I've read up and studied magic in the past, I really appreciated the time they spent in the movie really talking about defining magic and symbols, using the sheriff's badge (a star) as an example. The book focused much more on the actual 'haunting,' which was somewhat subtle and would have been hard to make clear in the movie. I think they met a fantastic compromise in keeping the story true to its meaning, while making it more enjoyable on the big screen.

Overall, I'm so glad I read this book! I think the differences between the book and the movie were totally justified for the presentation, and I don't think it made a difference in my reading that I saw the movie first (by years and years!). I'd recommend both the book and the movie (starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman) in either order.

Reading Challenge - Book 11

The 11th book I read this year satisfies #37 on the PopSugar Reading Challenge - a book about a culture with which you're unfamiliar.

The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds by Selina Siak Chin Yoke was (I think?) an Amazon Prime Kindle freebie for October. I chose it pretty blindly from an email list, but I'm so glad I did.

This very engaging book was about the life of Chye Hoon, a Malayan-Chinese woman. Through her life, she teaches us everything she thinks is important about being Nyonya (the name for the Malayan-Chinese mixed culture). I find it fascinating to read about the world at that time (the late 1800s into the early 1900s), and how she differentiates her culture from the Malayan world around her in her adult life. Her love for her culture is obvious, as well as how much she wants her 10 children to love and respect it as well.

Everything is discussed in this book, including her daily life, friendships, marriage customs, food, and the role of women in all of it. So much of the relationship struggles she dealt with were truly a story of, 'the more things change, the more they stay the same,' and I loved her strong spirit through everything.

I would love to see this book turned into a movie, to discover how much my vision of it matched or contrasted with what the author was really trying to say. I would definitely recommend this book.

Reading Challenge - Book 10

I finally finished reading Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs!

I read the first two books in the trilogy of Miss Peregrine's peculiar children last year, and I was SO EXCITED to read the third. So the first time it got to my turn through my library's online borrowing, I was in Florida visiting my parents. And I accidentally checked it out to my MOM's kindle account. Whoops. I did not have time to read it on her device while we were there, so I just got back on the borrowing list.
A few months went by, and I got another turn! But I was so busy right then (I don't even remember why), I never even got so far as to put it on my kindle.
The third time was indeed a charm, and I finally got to read it, more than six months after first trying! LOL

I have to say, it was worth the wait. I'd grown attached to the children in the first two books, and was really happy to find out how it all ended. Well, mostly happy. Of course it couldn't have a happy ending for everyone.

It's hard to say much about this book without giving away spoilers for it, or for one of the first two books (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and Hollow City). They are sort of an alternative universe/sci-fi sort of story, but if you're open to that sort of book, they are really great. I'm also excited to see the movie made from the first book in the trilogy.

The ending of Library of Souls, though, was almost too perfect. But I do love a happy ending, so I certainly can't recommend against it based on that.

Oh, while this book could have fit in several categories of the PopSugar reading challenge, I am listing it as the eighth category, a book set in Europe. I'm pretty sure that's where most of it takes place (but of course an alternative part of Europe...).

Reading Challenge - Book Nine

I finished a good book I won in a giveaway from Books I Think You Should Read earlier this week.

Absalom's Daughters by Suzanne Feldman was an interesting book which also satisfied the 23rd category on my reading challenge this year - a book that is published in 2016.

Absalom's Daughters is about Cassie and Judith, both daughters of the same man, but not raised as sisters. He impregnated Cassie's mother for reasons not entirely known  by either of them, and was briefly settled down with Judith's mother and other siblings.

By the time this book takes place, however, it's all about catching up with him again. The sisters' joint road trip ends up less about their father, and more about getting to know themselves and each other.

For the reader, it's also learning about the U.S. and racial disparity in the 1950s. By the end, their social status based on their appearances wasn't entirely about race. People are different all over, and this great story showed the good and the bad in many of the characters. It was a really enjoyable read that truly made you feel like you were there with them.

I'd recommend this book. As I've said before, reading for me really is about escapism and seeing the world through the characters' eyes. This book gave plenty of that, as I tried to imagine just where I'd fit in the 1950s.

Reading Challenge - Book Eight

Well, I really wandered off this time, didn't I? :P

But I'm back from a trip to Chicago for Perfectly Posh, a primary election (loonngg day of work), and a trip to New Jersey for a wonderful visit with my best friend.

And before I even left on all this, I finished my eighth book this year. It satisfied the 11th category on the PopSugar Reading Challenge - it's a book that's becoming a movie this year. While I hadn't even heard of it before, I'm excited to see it now.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a fabulous fantasy about real magic, although most of the characters prefer other words, like enchantment.

The premise is indeed fascinating, where two old illusionists pit their protege against each other, in a battle that potentially lasts forever. They create not only their skill-sets, but also the arena for the competition, with little concern of innocent bystanders involved.

I'd definitely recommend this book, if you're all right with things not being easily proven and believable in your 'real' life. I can't wait to see the fabulousness on the big screen.

Reading Challenge - Book Seven

Well, I finally finished my seventh book read this year. Barely one per month? Ouch. I used to read a few books each week (besides Dr Seuss and picture books, too!).

Somehow, I really don't think I read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne in high school, but I'm counting it as the 4th spot on my challenge list - a book you haven't read since high school. See, I really didn't recognize the story line. I mean, everyone knows the general gist of it, but I never realized they name her husband and her baby-daddy. LOL Where have I been?

I did like the way Hester Prynne used her ostracism and independence for good. While I felt bad for little Pearl, I was impressed that Hester just busied herself with helping those who could use her assistance (even if they didn't want it), and took care of herself and her daughter by making a few bucks with her exquisite stitching. While I think it was supposed to be more sad that she couldn't be in a traditional relationship, Hester just being Hester with her kind heart and gentle ways was beautiful.

True confessions: What have you been called out on - by yourself or someone else - as being expected to know, but you didn't. It could be a book EVERYONE read, or a movie everyone else saw, for example. I do feel like I've accomplished something by finally pushing through this book that everyone else seemed to have read in high school, and assumed I did too...

Reading Challenge - Book 6

First of all, did I just go almost two months without finishing a book? Yikes!! I have actually been reading this most of the time, but my focus has been pretty split with work and life.

I read The Lake, The River, & The Other Lake by Steve Amick as a book to fit the fifth category on the challenge list - a book set in your home state.

Despite my rather pitiful pace, I really did enjoy this book when I had some time to pick it up and read it. I actually finished most of the second half over the course of the holiday weekend, and this morning.

The characters were very engaging in the little fictional town of Weneshkeen, Michigan. It was easy to picture the setting as any little tourist town on the west coast of Michigan. The book covered one summer, complete with the ongoing drama of the year-round residents, and the added complications of the fudgies, just in town for the summer.

While it didn't strike me while I was reading, one enraged reviewer on Amazon pointed out that part of the book is a rather explicit description of one character's descent into pedophilia. I only mention it to say that I'd definitely consider this book for a more mature audience.

The set up may have been a little slow, or I may have had an exceptionally busy spring. But once I was getting to know everyone in the book, I wanted to keep reading and see whose story the next chapter was about. I could imagine them all as real people, in exactly the roles they were cast.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and wouldn't mind reading more about these particular people.

Reading Challenge - Book 5

After a long, thinking book last time, this book - satisfying the third category on the list (a YA bestseller) - was perfect to get my 'read' on and just enjoy.

I read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. It was wonderful, and I'm talking my daughter into reading the whole series when she's done with what she's reading.

While I'm not sure if I'm the only one who wasn't already familiar with the premise of the Olympians series, they're about kids who are demi-gods. In this one, Percy Jackson has no idea that he's the son of a god, just that odd things seem to happen to him. The Kindly Ones (monsters, mostly) usually start sniffing out the demi-gods when they are around sixth-grade age. If the kids are lucky, someone shows up to help them get safely to Camp Half Blood, where they're generally safe.

Not long after Percy's arrival at Camp Half Blood, they discover who his father is, and things start to get really interesting. He learns even more about the gods, and remembers the mythology he has learned from his under-cover teacher, on the quest he is chosen to take on with the help of two of his not-quite-human friends.

I'd definitely recommend this book for young adults or adults. I hope to make other books fit into categories on the reading list so I can read more about the Olympians.

Reading Challenge - Book 4

For the first item on the reading challenge list - a book based on a fairy tale - I read Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire.

I really enjoyed it, as I expected to. I'm afraid I'm not quite giving a fair shake, as my initial review would have been much more glowing. But my computer was down for a week or so, and I read another book that I loved in a different way in the meantime.

As I said, I did always expect to like this book. I read Wicked years ago, and have since seen the musical as well. I'd love to see it again anytime! Both Wicked and Son of a Witch were great reads, but not easy. Parts of it were a little more detailed than I needed, but I still got sucked into it on a regular basis and was eager to find out what happened next. Despite having finished the book more than a week ago, I still vividly remember the ending, and will probably read the next book someday, as I want to hear more!

Although Liir seemed to think he was never an important character in anything, but through his careful recounting of a bit part of his life, you saw how much influence he truly had as more than just possibly the witch's son. He was endearing as usually an average sort of guy.

Have you read this book, or any of the series after this? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Reading Challenge - Book 3

The third book I finished this year satisified the 13th category on the reading challenge list - a self-improvement book. I sincerely wanted to be improved by this book. I was on the library waiting list for probably a couple months before I received this book as a gift. It was not all I hoped it would be.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo mostly sounded just ridiculous to me. I wanted to like it. I wanted that 'aha' moment when I would suddenly throw down the book and run to start tidying. I got as far as my shoes, which are primarily mixed with the rest of my family's shoes. I got rid of a lot of my old shoes that didn't bring me joy. I got rid of my children's shoes that didn't bring me joy. But I didn't feel right doing anything with hubby's shoes, so the ones that didn't have a match in the shoe closet ended up in the clothes closet, and his sandals are still in the shoe closet with everyone else's winter boots.

See, the author is obviously single. Tidying just my stuff? Sounds like fun, actually. Tidying four people's stuff, because if I just tidy mine nothing will look any different? No, thanks.

My real laughing started in chapter four - "Storing your things to make your life shine." She recommends that you 'Empty your bag everyday.' Yeah. Like come home (usually five minutes later than I'm supposed to be leaving on my next errand) and take out your identification, your bus pass, your company identification, and put them in a special box. Then put your bag away as well so it can rest. Huh?

Later on the same page, she says it's all right if you can't empty your bag sometimes, and admits, "...there have been times when I came home and fell asleep on the floor without even changing my clothes." Seriously? My bag may only get emptied once a year or so (to get the receipts out of the bottom for tax time..), but I sleep in a bed every night.

Sorry, I digress. Anyway, this book was obviously not for me. I know it was very popular when it came out, and I've heard people swear by her methods, but I just really couldn't take it seriously. She'd probably say it's some defensive flaw deep in my psyche, but I'm okay with that.

If you read this book and didn't enjoy it, let me know I'm not alone! If you sincerely did like this book, please let me know what your favorite positive take-away was. :)

Reading Challenge - Book 2

I chose to read this book as my 'National Book Award winner,' number two on the reading challenge list. It won the National Book Award in 2012.

The Round House by Louise Erdrich was definitely a powerful book. It is told from the perspective of Joe, a 13-year-old Native American boy whose mother is viciously attacked. The adults on the reservation understandably don't want Joe to hear about the details of the attack, and most of them just don't want to speak out loud of the horrible act. His mother survives, but life is never the same.

What really struck me was the clarifications in the afterword of how many laws about activity in or around the reservation impeded the capture and punishment of the monster who committed the crime. The reservation could not charge a non-Native American for the crime if it was committed on the reservation. What?!?

The moral dilemmas throughout the story can still be pondered more than a week after finishing the book.  I would definitely recommend this book both as a captivating story, and a commentary on an aspect of social justice.

Reading Challenge - Book 1

I'm actually a little late getting into the swing of things again. I finished my first book for the 2016 PopSugar Reading Challenge last week.

The first book I finished is being listed as satisfying the 34th category - a book from the library. I kind of feel like that's cheating, as I get a vast majority of my books from the library. But that's the first category I came across on the list where this book fit.

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman was a very entertaining book. It's about a very intelligent intern, Dr. Alice Thrift, who is more than a little bit lacking in social grace and good judgment of people. When a man decides to woo our endearing Dr Swift, she really doesn't know what she's in for.

The characters were very engaging and quirky, and they do thankfully fall into a happy ending. I almost wish there was another book to follow-up. I will look again at other books by this author to see if something else appeals to me, as I enjoyed her writing style.

2016 PopSugar Reading Challenge

It's time for the new PopSugar Reading Challenge! I had people questioning where I got my list for my reading challenge I kept posting about last year - this is it! Not sure how long they've been doing it, but this is my second year for the PopSugar version of an Ultimate Reading Challenge.

I will be reading to try and fit these interesting categories again this year, although I did have to type the list out myself and then numbered it for my own convenience. There's only 40 items this year (instead of 50 in 2015), but since I barely finished half last year, I should still have plenty to choose from in 2016.

The biggest benefit to the challenge, for me, is that it really keeps me reading. One of the weird challenges in my life is deciding what to read next. With the list, I go search my local library's digital download options. I'll frequently cross-reference that with the GoodReads results for a particular category (cuz really, searching for the category on Google gives you people's GoodReads lists anyway).

Overall, I just remember that there are no real rules, and this is truly just a guideline to keep me reading. I did accidentally read a few books last year that I could not make fit in any of the categories I had left, but I figured I was still reading, and that really was the big goal.

Will you be attempting the 2016 PopSugar Reading Challenge?