Month: April 2015

The House of Spirits Read-Along: Week 1 Recap

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House

My book for the Classics Club Spin #9 is The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende, and as with the last Spin, I’m doing a read-along.  You don’t have to be a member of the Classics Club, but if you are, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your list!  Below is the chapter breakdown that will take us all the way to May 15th.  Each week I’ll do a recap, in which I will clearly mark any spoilers, and at the end I’ll do an overall review of the book.  If you’d like to join me, please add yourself to the linky!

  • April 6th – 12th: Chapters 1 and 2
  • Apr. 13th – 19th: Chapters 3, 4, and 5
  • Apr. 20th – 26th: Chapters 6 and 7
  • Apr. 27th – May 3rd: Chapters 8 and 9
  • May 4th – 10th: Chapters 10, 11, and 12
  • May 11th – 15th: Chapter 13 to the end of the book

This week’s recap is for Chapters 1 and 2.  I’ve read other books by Isabel Allende, and since I enjoyed them, I added The House of Spirits to my Classics Club list.  As I started reading, I started to doubt whether or not that was such a great decision.  However, since I also made the decision to do this read-along, I feel I should stick with the book, no matter what.

The story was confusing at first.  I don’t know why, but I had the impression that Barrabás was a man, the narrator was a woman, and Nana was the grandmother.  I was completely wrong about all three, but it took several pages to find that out.  On top of that, there’s a bit of magical realism, which is a literary style I’ve never enjoyed.  I don’t remember any of Isabel Allende’s other books having magical realism in them, but it’s possible that it was so subtle, my pre-college brain missed it.  One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez is a completely different story, however, and that’s a book I willingly threw across the room with great force.  So, I groaned internally when I started seeing it in this book.  I like Clara and Barrabás, though.  I can’t stand Férula or Estaban, but I still want to find out what happens next.

What do you think of the story and the characters so far?  Do you enjoy or detest magical realism, and, if you can’t stand it, will that affect whether or not you continue reading?  I hope you stick with me in continuing to read, but all comments about the book are welcome.

Review: Ender’s Game

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Ender

  • Author: Orson Scott Card
  • Genre: Science Fiction

I purchased this book.*

I don’t own or read a whole lot of Sci-Fi.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it.  It just takes a lot more to catch my interest with Sci-Fi than with Fantasy, and most of my Sci-Fi favorites are TV shows, such as Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.  I love Doctor Who so much that I’ve bought quite a few of the mass market books that I’ve come across in used bookstores, but they’re still sitting on my bookshelves, along with, up until about a week ago, Ender’s Game.  So, when I started listening to the audiobook version that I also own, while I waited for podiobook suggestions, it was only because the only other audiobook I own (Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White) wasn’t something I was in the mood for at the time.  I’m glad I finally got around to finding out just how good Ender’s Game is.

Had I read this book about a decade ago, I’m not sure if I would have taken away as much from it as I did reading it now.  After having served in the military, there were a lot of Ender’s thoughts and emotions that I could directly relate to, since I had many of the same ones throughout my career as a soldier, though the experiences that brought them about were vastly different, of course.  I’m not knocking the military, nor am I saying that you have to be a veteran in order to understand this book.  I’m only saying that my personal experiences brought this book to life a little bit more, and caused some of Ender’s experiences to hit a bit closer to home.  One part that didn’t have anything to do with my adult life, but struck a chord with me to the point that I had some flashbacks to my childhood, was the bullying Ender experiences.  I know first hand that sometimes you have to defend yourself with your fists.  Sometimes it’s the only thing you can do to insure your survival, and it’s sad that anyone has to learn that lesson at such a young age.

This book is likely to bring up emotions for anyone who has been bullied, forced into a fight, felt like everyone but themselves had control over what happened to them, had to grow up too soon, or has had any kind of military training.  There’s also the shock that all of the events in the story are happening to or are done by children, many of whom are barely teenagers.  With the way that Ender and the other kids think, that can be easy to forget at times, and so the reminders cause that initial shock to be repeated at various points throughout the book.  Last but not least, there’s the overall message of the book, but I won’t spoil that for you.  If you haven’t read this one already, I highly recommend giving it a try.

*While I do believe that the personal is political, I don’t believe in censoring my reading because of an author’s beliefs.  Everyone is entitled to his or her own beliefs, regardless of what they might be, and if I refused to read every book who’s author had beliefs I disagreed with, I’d be missing out on quite a lot of great reading.

Classics Club: Little Women

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Little Women

  • Author: Louisa May Alcott

I purchased this book.

The first time I read Little Women, I was just a child.  Over the years, I forgot most of the story, but there were a few distinct scenes that have always stayed with me.  My favorite of the sisters is Jo, but Beth stole my heart.  I think she steals everyone’s heart.  I was surprised at how emotional I got, considering I already knew what was going to happen.  I suppose that with excellent writing, it doesn’t matter if you already know the story.  A great story will elicit a response no matter how many times you read it.

The only issue I took with the story was some of the motherly advice that emphasized striving towards a type of perfection that kept women stuck in the narrow roles handed down to them from a society that didn’t consider them to be equal human beings.  My forgiveness of that comes from an understanding of the times in which Louisa May Alcott was writing, and I think it’s a fair representation of American women living during that time.

One piece of advice that I didn’t have a problem with, though at first I was ready to rage, was to Mary concerning her marriage after she complained to her mother that John was spending all his time away from home as if he was no longer interested in spending time with her.  My initial thought was that it was going to be the type of advice that placed all of the fault on Mary and demanded she do everything on her own, or accused her of not being the perfect mother and wife by not being able to handle it all.  Instead, the advice was that she should stop putting every bit of her time and energy into the children and keeping herself shut up in the house trying to do everything and allow for some help so that she would have more time to give to her husband as well as to herself.  After I got to the end of that reasonable guidance, I thought it was something that any mother with two infants could appreciate, if they know of someone who is willing to help.  That’s not always the case, of course, especially today.

Overall, Little Women is a good story for girls and women of all ages, especially if it is read side by side with a book on women’s history.

Mini-Review: The Prince of Hazel and Oak

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Prince

  • Author: John Lenahan
  • ISBN: 9780007425594
  • Publisher: The Friday Project
  • Genre: Fantasy

The information above is for the paperback and ebook edition.  I listened to the free “podiobook” version from podiobooks.com.  Since this is the 2nd book in the Shadowmagic series by John Lenahan, I’m keeping this review short, as I will do for any books after the 1st in a series.

There isn’t anything different to say about The Prince of Hazel and Oak that I’ve already said about Shadowmagic.  I’m still a huge fan of John Lenahan and his books, and the “podiobook” format.  The third book in the Shadowmagic series, The Sons of Macha, isn’t available as a “podiobook”, and I haven’t seen it offered as an audiobook anywhere, either, so I was a little sad when The Prince of Hazel and Oak came to an end.  My next audiobook has some fierce competition.

If you’ve already taken my recommendation to listen to Shadowmagic, then listen to the “podiobook” version of this book as well.  You won’t be disappointed.  I’ve already got The Sons of Macha as an ebook, and I can’t wait to find the time to read it.

 

Blogiversary Survey!

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Online Survey - Craig Taylor
Image: Craig Taylor

 

As promised in my Sunday’s Sundries post, I’ve created a Survey.  I’d greatly appreciate it if all of you could take a couple minutes to answer the survey questions.  Thank you in advance!  I’m looking forward to making this the best book blog it can be. 🙂

On a side note, I wanted to let all of you know what my current blog schedule is:

  • Monday’s Minutes – Weekly
  • Tuesday’s Tunes – Monthly
  • Wednesday’s Words – Monthly
  • Thursday’s Things – Monthly
  • Friday’s Fairy Tales – Monthly
  • Saturday’s Sit Down – Whenever I have author interviews.  I’m thinking about changing this to add blogger guest posts, so if you’re interested in doing a guest post, send me a message through the Contact The Reading Wench page with your idea!
  • Sunday’s Sundries – Whenever I have something to write that doesn’t fit into one of the other features.
  • #FitReaders Check-Ins – Weekly, usually on Tuesdays.
  • On the “off” days throughout the month, except Sundays, I’ll post reviews.  Sunday’s Sundries will be suspended during read-alongs.

Read-Along: The House of Spirits

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House

My book for the Classics Club Spin #9 is The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende, and as with the last Spin, I’m doing a read-along.  You don’t have to be a member of the Classics Club, but if you are, feel free to leave a comment with a link to your list!  Below is the chapter breakdown that will take us all the way to May 15th.  Each week, I’ll do a recap, and at the end I’ll do an overall review of the book.  If you’d like to join me, please add yourself to the linky!

  • April 6th – 12th: Chapters 1 and 2
  • Apr. 13th – 19th: Chapters 3, 4, and 5
  • Apr. 20th – 26th: Chapters 6 and 7
  • Apr. 27th – May 3rd: Chapters 8 and 9
  • May 4th – 10th: Chapters 10, 11, and 12
  • May 11th – 15th: Chapter 13 to the end of the book

#FitReaders Check-In #14

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Geeky Bloggers Book Blog
  • This check-in is for March 30th – April 5th.  My back is mostly back to normal, but to get it there, I didn’t push myself on getting my steps.  I walked to and from my car on campus instead of taking the bus, and I took the stairs instead of the elevator whenever I could, but I didn’t go on any extra walks.
  • I did considerably better than last week, but I didn’t meet my goal of 8K steps.  My schedule has changed slightly, now that I’m done with one of the two research papers for this semester, so I’m not sure how that’s going to affect my step count.  I’m still going to try to meet my goal this week.
  • If you’d like to add me as a friend on FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Steps: 40,563
  • Distance: 16.66 miles
  • Stairs climbed: 86

 

The Classics Club Spin #9: Drum Roll Please….

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classicsclub

The Classics Spin is a “lottery” game in which each participant makes a list of 20 books from their Classics Club reading list, and the book that corresponds with the randomly chosen number on that list is the one that has to be read by a certain date.  In this Spin, the number is 2, and the book has to be read by May 15th.  Below is my Spin list, with a link to Goodreads for the book I’ll be reading.  As with the last Spin, I’m going to do a read-along.  For now, if you’d like to join in, leave a comment, and I’ll get a linky up before the end of the week, along with all the details of the read-along.

1. Albee, Edward: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2. Allende, Isabel: The House of the Spirits
3. Barrie, J.M.: Peter Pan
4. Baum, L. Frank: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
5. Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo
6. Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front
7. Smith, Betty: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
8. Fitzgerald, F. Scott: Tender is the Night
9. Burnett, Frances Hodgson: The Secret Garden
10. Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Tarzan of the Apes
11. Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland
12. Yeats, William Butler: Irish Faerie Tales
13. Golding, William: Lord of the Flies
14. Wells, H.G.: The Time Machine
15. Heller, Joseph: Catch-22
16. Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms
17. Cooper, James Fenimore: The Last of the Mohicans
18. Crane, Stephen: Red Badge of Courage
19. de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: The Little Prince
20. Tan, Amy: The Joy Luck Club

Monday’s Minutes #14

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Currently Reading: The Dream Lover by Elizabeth Berg, a review book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, The Essential Feminist Reader, and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

Dream Sparrow Fiery   Feminist   Ender

Finished: The Prince of Hazel and Oak by John Lenahan and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  I’ll be reviewing both some time this week.

Prince  Little Women

Challenges:

S&S Bingo2update7

Total pages read for the week: 474

Total number of books for the year: 18.  I’m behind on my review books again, mostly due to school.  I had an exam and one of my two 20 page research papers to finish.  I’m also still looking for a part-time job, but I took a much needed break to relax.  The strange part is that my relaxation included catching up on emails, chores, and errands, in addition to reading.  After finishing The Prince of Hazel and Oak, I started another podiobook on my way to school, but it was horrible.  The narrator sounded like he was reading an instructional manual and his character voices sounded like amateur Renaissance fair actors.  It was so bad that I’m not even going to mention the title, because the book might be decent enough to read for some.  I just couldn’t handle the podiobook version.  I asked the world of Twitter for suggestions, but while I waited, and since I already had Ender’s Game on my phone, I decided to listen to it instead of continuing to suffer.  I also have a physical copy of the book, so I’m going to try alternating back and forth between listening and reading.

Top Commenters: This week, my Top Commenters were Berls at Fantasy is More Fun, and Shaina at Shaina Reads.

What are you reading this week?

Sunday’s Sundries: One Year Blogiversary!

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Sundries - Dominic Hartnett
Image: Dominic Hartnett

 

Yesterday, April 4th, was my 1st blogiversary.  It’s hard to believe that a blog I started so I could participate in a read-a-thon has turned into a blog that has so much more than read-a-thon updates.  I really had no plan.  All I knew was that I wanted a way, other than Goodreads or Facebook, to get socially involved in an activity that, up to that point, had been a solo venture.  However, someone read one of my updates and was interested in what I had to say about a book I was reading.  In the spirit of socializing, I wrote a review for that book, and then I realized how much I enjoyed writing about what I had read.

After that, I started learning more about the book blogging community, as well as how to improve my blog.  I liked the idea that people were reading what I had to say.  I was also a little surprised.  There are so many book blogs out there to choose from, so I’m grateful for every single one of my readers, and I want to continue giving you what you come here to see.  I’m constantly thinking about or writing new content that I think most of you would be interested in, and that hasn’t been easy with all the day to day stuff I have to do outside of blogging.

Any of you who have read my “Monday’s Minutes” posts know that I’m a full-time student with only a couple semesters left to go before I graduate.  Senior courses are the most difficult and matter the most when it comes to grad school, but they’re at a time when the average student just wants it all to be over with already.  I’m not the average student, but I’m still ready to move on with my life.  I want to be making real money again, and have a job that I’m happy about going to on most days, if not every day.  I still want to go to grad school, but I need a couple years to breath before I take another plunge into the world of academia.

With all of that being said, I’m going to do the best I can to keep this blog going.  The rest of this year is going to be tough.  I’m taking courses over the Summer, looking for a part-time job to get me through to graduation, and I’ll be spending the Fall semester looking for a full-time job for after I graduate.  However, no matter how busy I get, I will write and publish at least one post every week, even if it’s just to check in with all of you and tell you how swamped I am, and I had no time to read, and OMG I’m going insane.  I hope it won’t ever get that bad.

To help me keep this blog filled with content you want, I’m working on a survey that will hopefully be up within the next week, and I’m open to any ideas or suggestions you have.  Feel free to comment below, or send me a message through the Contact the Reading Wench page.