Month: October 2015

Monday’s Minutes #41

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“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

  • The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan – for the read-along.
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling – for the HP re-read.
  • Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
  • The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

Joy Goblet Eleanor and Park Witching 

Finished: Doll Bones by Holly Black and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  I’ll review both of these before the end of the month.

Doll Bones Frankenstein

DNF: The Magic Shop by Justin Swapp.  I tried.  I did.  I’ll write a DNF review before the end of the month.

Magic Shop

Challenges:

S&S Bingo2update13

Total pages read: 644

Total # of books for the year: 69. Though I’m not counting it towards any of my reading challenges, or even my total number of books read for the year, I’m reading the short story, “The Wendigo” by Algernon Blackwood.  I found out about the story from Litha Nelle’s Mini Macabre Review Monday post.  I knew that Wendigos originated from Native American folklore, and I’ve seen the episode about the frightening creature on “Supernatural”, but I had no idea there was also a Classic short story about it.  I’m also adding Pet Sematary by Stephen King to my wishlist since the creature shows up in the one famous King book I’ve never read.  I doubt I’ll get to it this year, but I hope to read it next October.

What are you reading this week?

The Joy Luck Club Read-Along: Week 5 Recap

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Joy

Welcome to the 5th weekly recap of The Joy Luck Club read-along!  Below is the schedule.  Each Saturday I’ll post a recap (with clearly marked spoilers for those who get a little behind).  The final review of the book will be on Saturday, October 24th.

This week, we read three chapters, each about one of the daughters.  So many feelings.  I’m not exactly sure where to start…

[Spoilers] So I’ll begin with Waverly Jong and her mom, Lindo.  “You don’t know my mother,” I said.  She never thinks anybody is good enough for anything.”  I was right there with Waverly until she and Lindo come to some bizarre understanding of each other.  I feel that, had I read this a few years ago, I would have believed that my mom and I had had one of those moments, and everything was better afterward.  We didn’t and it wasn’t, and so I’m skeptical about Waverly and Lindo having a better mother-daughter relationship.  I don’t think that much emotional damage and negativity can be fixed so easily.  I’m happy that Rose is finally taking back control of her life.  I know what it’s like to be in a relationship in which one person slowly gives up control of the decisions little bit by little bit until the other person is making all the choices.  My Ex came to see it as his right to decide on things without consulting me.  When I finally woke up to reality, my life was in shambles, and I don’t even know when he stopped caring.  It was a long process to put everything back together again, but, like Rose, it was exhilarating to be back in the driver’s seat.  I think Jing-mei has a long way to go before she comes into her own and gains back her self-esteem.  The hurtful words that come out of Waverly’s mouth during the Chinese New Year dinner make me like her a little less, but I can’t help think she learned her spitefulness from her mother.  [End Spoilers]

What do you think?  Comment away!  Just be sure to mark clearly any spoilers 🙂

Classics Club: Mary Poppins

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Mary Poppins

  • Author: P.L. Travers

I checked out the audiobook edition from my university’s library.  I had wanted to read Mary Poppins for years.  I thought it would become a new favorite since I loved the Disney adaptation so much.  What happened is that my belief in Disney’s inability to stick to the original story has been reaffirmed.  Mary Poppins is not the sweetheart she is portrayed to be by Julie Andrews.  She’s often cranky, taciturn, extremely vain, and sometimes downright mean to the children in her care.

Mary Poppins isn’t the only character that gave me pause.  There is a scene where a mother and owner of a bakery literally breaks off her fingers to give to Jane and Micheal’s younger siblings to chew.  While it turns out her fingers are a different baked good each time, I couldn’t get over the creepiness of it.  She’s also emotionally abusive towards her two daughters and I’m not sure how her screaming at them about every little thing was supposed to be amusing.

Each chapter of the book brought a new level of bizarre to my ears.  I was repeatedly shocked that this was, and still is, considered to be one of the best children’s stories of all time.  While it certainly wasn’t the worst book I’ve read, I won’t be bothering to read any more of the series.  I’ll stick with the Disney film, thank you.

Mini-Review: Onyx Webb Book 1 (Episodes 1-3)

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Onyx Webb

  • Authors: Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz
  • ISBN: 9780990751816
  • Genre: Paranormal Suspense

I received this book from the authors in exchange for an honest review.

I decided to make this a mini-review due to already having written a review for the first episode, “The Story Begins”.  Also, even though this new edition includes the first three episodes, I don’t have much more to say than what I said in that review.  There’s more story, but it still didn’t get anywhere, and it took me less than a day to read it.  I’m left with lots of questions, and looking at the release schedule in the copy I received, I’m not sure if I want to invest that much time or money in getting those questions answered.  Perhaps if the episodes were condensed down into fewer books, I would be more interested.

I guess I was expecting the story to be like a tv show; perhaps slow at first, but intriguing, and each successive episode drawing me further into the story.  However, the setup for what happened to Onyx and how all the other characters tie into her story is taking too long.  All the way through to the end of episode 3, new characters are introduced with no way of telling if they’re important or not.  Most of my reading notes consist of a long list of names, just in case I would meet them again and need to remind myself who they are.  Despite giving the first episode four stars on Goodreads, I don’t feel there’s enough story in the remainder of this book to give it any more than three.

Review: Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy

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Ophelia

  • Author: Karen Foxlee
  • ISBN: 9780385753548
  • Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

The above ISBN is for the hardcover edition, but I listened to the audiobook I purchased.

Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy is a perfect example of how to write a modern Middle-Grade fairy tale.  Ophelia isn’t sure of herself and doesn’t feel that she’s anyone special, yet she finds herself with the task of saving a boy from the Snow Queen.  Oh, and by the way, Ophelia, could you save the world in the process?  I loved every moment!  Every event made sense, whether it was fantastical or not, and no character, not even Ophelia, was suddenly capable of doing anything they weren’t already equipped to accomplish.  At the same time, the world of the story is full of magic, despite Ophelia’s belief that there is no such thing.

The Snow Queen is truly scary and wholly evil.  While she is not exactly the same as the White Witch in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, my thoughts turned to her the more I found out about the Snow Queen.  What I liked even more than that childhood favorite was the lack of religious allegory.  It also doesn’t head in the opposite direction as did the “His Dark Materials” trilogy by Philip Pullman.  The only point I found, besides being a beautiful story for its own sake, was that ordinary people can sometimes do seemingly extraordinary things, even if they have asthma and aren’t good at running.

Though the narrator, Jayne Entwistle, did a wonderful job, I know I would have loved the story just as much had I read the book instead of listening to it.  I know that sometimes makes a difference, but not this time.  I can safely recommend Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy in any format, especially if you’re a fan of Middle-Grade Fantasy, or you love the “Narnia” series.

#FitReaders Check-In #40

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Geeky Bloggers Book Blog
  • This check-in is for September 28th – October 4th.
  • Even though I didn’t meet my goal of averaging 9K steps per day, I managed to get more steps than I did during the previous week.
  • If you’d like to add me as a friend on FitBit, you can find me HERE.
  • Yoga Workouts: 0/5
  • Steps: 41,939/63,000
  • Miles: 17.23/21
  • Flights of stairs: 89/70
  • Active Minutes: 182/210
  • Total Money Donated: $26.68

Monday’s Minutes #40

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“Monday’s Minutes” is a weekly post in which I track my bookish life.  All book covers are linked to Goodreads unless otherwise noted.

  • The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan – for the read-along.
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling – for the HP re-read.
  • Doll Bones by Holly Black
  • The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
  • The Magic Shop by Justin Swapp – a review book.
  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Joy Goblet Doll Bones Witching Magic Shop Frankenstein

Finished: Human Cargo by Caroline Moorehead, which I read for one of my classes.  I had to write a detailed critical review of it, so I might post it at some point.  I also finished Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers.  I’ll do a Classics Club review for it before the end of the month.  Awhile back I reviewed Onyx Webb: Episode 1.  The authors, Richards Fenton and Andrea Waltz, re-released the first six episodes in two books and asked me to review Book 1.  I’ll be posting it sometime next week.

Human Cargo Mary Poppins Onyx Webb

Challenges:

S&S Bingo2update13

Total pages read: 1,262

Total # of books for the year: 67.  I’ve finally broken my audiobook slump!  First, I listened to Mary Poppins, and now I’m making my way through Doll Bones, both of which I checked out from my university’s library.  I removed The Portable Dorothy Parker from my current reads because I know I’m not going to get back to reading it until January at the earliest, and I haven’t touched it in over a month.

What are you reading this week?

The Joy Luck Club Read-Along: Week 4 Recap

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Joy

Welcome to the 4th weekly recap of The Joy Luck Club read-along!  Below is the schedule.  Each Saturday I’ll post a recap (with clearly marked spoilers for those who get a little behind).  The final review of the book will be on Saturday, October 24th.

This week, we read two chapters, each about one of the daughters.  I’m feeling a mixture of anger and sadness; anger towards the mothers, and sadness for the daughters.

[Spoilers] This week’s chapters brought up a lot of memories from my childhood, and also some troubling impressions of Chinese culture.  First, with Jing-mei, all I could think of was how I felt growing up and believing that I was never good enough in my Mom’s eyes.  The following quote says it all: “In all of my imaginings, I was filled with a sense that I would soon become perfect.  My mother and father would adore me.  I would be beyond reproach.  I would never feel the need to sulk for anything.  But sometimes the prodigy in me became impatient.  ‘If you don’t hurry up and get me out of here, I’m disappearing for good, ‘ it warned.  ‘And then you’ll always be nothing.'”   And how many times did I hear my Mom say what Jing-mei’s says: “So ungrateful.”?  As far as culture goes, what I’ve noticed, but couldn’t put into words prior to this, is that it seems like everything is expressed in negative terms.  The mothers brag about their children by complaining, and, in the next chapter, Lena’s Mom only ever predicts things that will go wrong.  I get that bragging and pridefulness aren’t good, but only thinking of things in terms of what is missing is no way to live.  [End Spoilers]

What do you think?  Comment away!  Just be sure to mark clearly any spoilers 🙂

Thursday’s Things #10: Banned Books Edition

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1001 Things
Original Image: Viktor Hertz

Since it’s Banned Books Week, all of this “Thursday’s Things” are related to banned books.  I’ve also updated the Banned Books page to remove broken links so check it out for even more information about banned books.  Sometime during this month, I’ll do a second “Thursday’s Things” in celebration of all things Halloween.