Review: On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307386175
Pages: 203
Format: Trade Paperback
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Read in: July 2011

Just a joy to read. First , it is a good quick read. Definitely a beach read. It is beautifully written and simply "breathtaking". I love the purity of it all and the simple messages it holds. You would have to read it to completely agree. I love the line at the end "This is how the entire course of a life can be changed - by doing nothing." I thought it summed up the whole book and I thought it was a genius way to wrap up the book.

This is such a simple book that carries so much meaning. I really recommend it.

Cheers to a New Year!

Happy 2011 and may it be a good one!!!

I decided to do my 2011 book challenge as just to complete my A-Z Title Challenge and to tackle some of my bookshelf. I have so many unread books and I just keep buying but yet I still borrow and go to the library. I would hate not to go to the library but I think I will simply take out the books that are from my two book clubs. I have one at work and another on Goodreads - Every ones Choice.

In 2010, I did not complete my destined 60+ Challenge but my excuse is valid. I did a 38 pages thesis! If I counted the books I did read for that, then sure I surpassed it, but I didn't feel that was fair. I don't know why but that's how I feel! So I decided not to pick any particular numbers of books but just to read what I have (or will have because I am sure there will be some good book sales in the future).

Hats off to a new year and I I wish everyone happiness and heath!!!!

The Wishing Trees - John Shors

Genre: Fiction

Format: Trade Paperback

Source: Won an autographerd copy from TNBBC & author

ISBN: 9780451231130

Rating 4/5 Stars

I would love to have given this book more stars but I was held off by it's sadness. This novel is beautifully written and brought many tears to my eyes but it was also very hard to read at some points.

This story is about a father and his young daughter, Mattie going to many different parts of the world as a request from their recently deceased Wife/Mother. She sands them to these places where, Ian, the dad, and her has been before their child Mattie was born. She wants them to connect and grow together. She gives them each letters to open whenever they get to each country. In these letters she writes so sad and it was hard to read.

I love how Mattie and Ian grow together and of how she is an artist and he a simple man. They grow together in such a beautiful way. Mattie is such a Strong girl and forced to grow up so fast due to the dealings of her mother's death. I really could go on about this book but I really would like to thank John Shors, the author for giving away his great novel and to chatting with us as we read along. I truly believe he is such a great person and well as a gifted writer.

The reason why I gave this book such a rating was, not only the sadness. but because it was very touching to read such writing coming from a male. I can only explain it by telling others to read it and they will totally get it.

Little Bee - Chris Cleave

Genre: Fiction

Format: Trade Paperback

ISBN: 9781416589648

Rating: 4/5 Stars

I struggled to rate this book. I wanted to give it 3.5 stars but decided it was best to give it 4 rather than 3. I really did enjoy this book. It was very intense and emotional. I really liked how normal lives can get so tangled and change so much from one instant. Charlie had to be my favorite because him being Batman throughout the whole thing made me feel better about their lives. I think he was a metaphor for the whole story. Little Bee was great. She was so strong and at times I just couldn't believe her character but I kept going back to her at the detention center. Her learning the Queen's English made sense. I kept thinking she speaks so well but with all that time, I guess anyone can learn something.

Sarah was hard for me to believe too. I guess I am not like her so I can't relate. She seemed too aggressive and too high maintenance. She is just hard to explain and I guess that's where I just felt no connection to her.

I am glad that Andrew was explained better. I was wondering about him since he did play a large role. I wanted to feel connected to him and I thought that wouldn't happen and then it did and I felt better. It was hard to read but at least I got a better picture of him.

I think t ended well because I don't think I wanted to know what happens next and if I did, i could paint my own picture and I would be satisfied.

Overall, I really did enjoy the book. I just felt something just wasn't right and I just don't l know what. I will probably think about it at a later point in which I guess I will just have to update me review.

After - Amy Efaw

Genre: Young Adult

Format: Hardcover / Library

Pages: 350

ISBN: 9780670011834

Rating: 4/5 Stars

This was truly hard to read yet seemed necessary. It is about a 16 years old girl who was pregnant and delivered her baby on her bathroom floor and then throw the baby in the dumpster outside her house. This is how the book starts so I am not really giving anything away. The story is really about what she was thinking and the events leading to her court hearing as well as her actual court hearing.

There were a lot of unanswered questions but I really don't want to dwell on that. My main focus was on Devon (the girl). Her Mother was never around and when she was it really didn't seem like she was really even there. She was so concerned about herself and never really about her daughter, Devon which leads a lot of people to do things that they normally would not do. I do stick up for Devon for why she did it but I still hate that she did it. I kept wanting her to see the baby and to actually come to terms with having the baby. She denied the whole thing. She kept telling herself that she was not pregnant and that the baby wasn't real. She kept referring the baby as IT. I know many people put the blame on her but I always think that people act the way they were raised to a certain degree. Parents mold their children so I start blaming the Mother then I move on to putting blame on her.

I do like the ending but as I said before there are unanswered questions that I would like to know but you know I hate to do spoilers so I will keep my mouth shut! But I do think that this book is good for young adults because it shows them the consequences and it also shows them that things are real even if you don't want to believe it, you still have to come to terms with your reality.

Wedlock - Wendy Moore

Genre: Historical non-ficiton

Format: Hardcover / Library

Pages: 324 (not including awknowledgments, notes, and bibliography)

ISBN: 9780307383365

Rating 3.5/5 stars

It took me some time to read this book for 3 reasons:

1- It didn't grab me in the very beginning

2- It's summer. I am always tired and lazy

3- I was reading 4 books at once.

After all that I started to get into it and dedicated more time into reading it. I feel that it was a good read and a nice change. It shows you had it really was in the 1700's. I just couldn't believe the maddness and the choas it all became. Stoney was just an unbearable human being and he was such a conniving A-hole! But I am glad that Mary was so smart and it may have taken some time but she got to help herself from going truly insane! I just love that it was a true story, I mean I wasn't happy to find out that people (especially women) were treated as such, but I did like how the author tied in facts and dug deep to gain more insight to the truths and she did a very good job. She writes beautifully and sophisticativly. I wish that there were pictures but it may have been a copyrighted issue but she explained it to where you could see it in your head.

I was never really into reading about the 18th Century but I do enjoy watching films based on this time period so when reading this I played it all in my head. I searched Wikipedia and Google to gain images and to compare notes and I found it all fascinating.

Here is the link to the Wikipedia pages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Eleanor_Bowes,_Countess_of_Strathmore_and_Kinghorne

Here are some images:

Mary Eleanor Bowes Andrew Robinson Stoney Bowes

Poison Study - Maria V. Snyder

Genre: SiFy/Fiction/Fantasy/YA?

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Pages: 427

ISBN: 9780373802579

Rating: 3/5 Stars

I nominated this book for one of my group reads. I did it based on the monthly genre pick. I picked it based on what I read in the synopsis and thought it seemed interesting but not so much. I felt that the main character, Yelena really didn't have much of a personality. I understand all the traumas and really serious craziness that no person, or people for that matter, should ever endure but still I just felt her as a little flat. There was so much going on that I can understand that there is so much you can fit into a story but I just felt like I needed a little more form her. Even Valek. I wanted to love him but there were times when I was like "who is that?" and maybe that is good rather than bad. Mysteries are almost always fun.

I did like the story. It is not so much my style reading but I gave it a chance and I think it receive a high score on the 5 star scale. It is not the best story but it kept my interest enough for me to push forward and finish the book. As for the series? I probably would get to it just to see what happens to the main characters but I will probably wait a bit to get to it for I have so good books on my list to come.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Okay, I put this book off for a while and without reason but now that we were to read it for my work book club I picked it up and read it in two days! I loved it. I was very endearing and heartfelt. I gave it 4/5 stars because something was holding me back from giving it a total of 5 and I am not truly sure why. I loved all the characters, especially Isola. She was great! I loved how she just simply spoke her mind and didn't care about anything! She was never afraid. I loved how she came right out and asked questions and in the 1940's it really wasn't common for women to do such things. Which brought me to the only flaw: Since the story was based on a series of letters, it was supposed to be written in the language of the 1940's but I didn't feel that it was. I was guessing that it was made for use to understand better but I just felt that the authors didn't quite grasp it, even though one of them lived through that time (and sadly died in 2008) it just didn't seem right but then again what do I know I was born 35 years later!

All in all I love to read World War II books. Even though it was a horrible time, it still brings to light the truth, the sad truth, but the truth to be told! This book definitely brought both sadness of the events and happiness and I caught myself smiling and also had moments where my heart literally sank in my chest and if you read it I am sure you know which parts exactly.

Name Challege

So I found another blog that is doing a NAME challenge and I thought it would be interesting. So the books I picked for this challenge also coincide with my ABC title Challenge. I am only on my third, almost fourth, book and I feel I am not going at such a fast pace. School also starts in February so my time would even be more limited so I just basically added an N book.

D - The Desert Rose - Larry McNurty

O - One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

N - The Name of the Rose - Eco Umberto

N - Noah's Compass - Anne Tyler

A - The Angel's Game - Carlos Ruix Safon

I guess I am not going in order!

The Crossing Places - Elly Griffiths

So I won this book from www.goodreads.com and I liked it. I gave it 3/5 stars only because at points things were just to coincidental, which worked out at the end but it was frustrating in the beginning and the middle. I am sure i have mentioned before but I love archaeology and this was pretty cool to read about it. Although it wasn't too much in details regarding archaeology but it made sense not to go into too much detail because the average reader might go crazy with the terms and may not find it as interesting as those who love it.

Elly is a English writer and it always took me a minute to think about what certain words meant. I didn't have to look them up I just had to let it register more. Some things were a little predictable while others were completely surprising. I don't like to write spoilers so you would just have to read it to see what I mean. I liked how the main character, Ruth Galloway, was not young, beautiful and a size 2. It made things more real and I like the relationship between her and Henry (who just so happens to be my favorite character).

I am aware that this is Elly's first mystery and I think she just may be on the right path and although I haven't read her other books I would like to just for comparison.

Book Challenge for the New Year!

Well hello! My goal for the New Year will be to read 60+ books from Jan. to Dec. 2010. I am also doing an ABC title Challenge with the books below. I am going to add in ones that I will be reading for other book clubs as well as ones that I simply with to read. I will keep track of the books on the right sidebar entitled "Book Challenge 2010". Last year I did 63 books from November 2008 until December 2009. I am going to try my hardest which will not be easy because I am taking two classes in the Spring semester.

Wish me luck and check back often to see what I have read.

These are to be read randomly but have to be read within the year.

# - 1984*
A - The Angel's Game*
B- The Book of Lost Things*
C- City of Bones*
D- The Desert Rose*
E- Eat, Pray, Love*
F- Fidali's Way*
G- Grundish and Askew*
H- Hunger Games*
I- Ines of my Soul*
J- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell*
K- The Kingdom of Ohio
L- Last Night in the Twisted River*
M- Murder at the Library of Congress
N- The Name of the Rose*
O- One Hundred Years of Solitude*
P- The Pillars of the Earth*
Q- Q Road R- Rebel Angels*
S- Shogun*
T- Touching Earth*
U- Until I Find You*
V- Vile Bodies*
W- World War Z*
X- Xiblaba Gate: A Novel of the Ancient Maya
Y- The Yellow Lighted Book Shop
Z- Zipped

* books I already own