4 stars Archives - Page 28 of 39

The Color Purple by Alice Walker: Book Review

Celie is only a young teen when her stepfather marries her off to their widowed acquaintance, Albert. Celie is little more than a slave to the family. Albert has several spoiled children who terrorize her and he regularly beats her himself. Celie just puts her head down, writes letters to God, and tries to go unnoticed. As time goes by, Celie loses contact with her beloved sister, Nettie. She starts writing letters to Nettie as well, but she never hears back. Then Albert moves his ailing lover, blues singer Shug Avery, into the house and expects Celie to take care of her. Far from feeling jealous of Shug, Celie is relieved that someone is there to deflect Albert's attention from her. The women become friends and Celie realizes how much more there is to life than what she's getting out of it. I read this in order to have a review ready for Banned Books Week. I'm not sure what on earth possessed me to buy it at a library book sale. I've always been a little afraid of it, ever since hearing my grandmother talk about the movie years ago: "Oprah wasn't going to let that man beat on her." Wife abuse. Not exactly my cup of tea. I was surprised to find myself loving the book. I was taken aback in the very first pages, I'll admit. Rape and beatings and killing babies, and all of this happening to a 14-year-old girl. I didn't know if I was going to be able to finish it. I'm so glad I stuck with it. You see, Celie is not obviously a strong person. She is a survivor, but she doesn't really thrive. She just gets by. Watching her come into her own and become a woman to be reckoned with…

Heir to the Shadows by Anne Bishop: Book Review

Definite spoilers for Daughter of the Blood. At the end of the first book, Jaenelle is broken and Daemon isn't in much better shape. Jaenelle has to heal in this book and come to terms with what she is. Luckily, she's surrounded by caring friends who are willing to protect her and push her as needed. I truly wanted to give this one 5 stars. Again, it grabbed me and just did not let go. But there were a few more things that I couldn't overlook. To start with, I was a little more aware in this book that the writing could have been more polished. I can't think of an example, so you'll just have to take my word for it. Also, this one felt more like a young adult book. The focus of the first book was mostly Daemon, a grown man. The focus of this one is a teenage Jaenelle, so the tone has gone backwards a little bit. As happens sometimes in trilogies, this second book felt like filler. The author wrapped up a few threads from the first book and set up the conflict for the third book, but there wasn't a whole lot of actual new, necessary stuff going on in this book. The big thing was that the book felt very episodic. There wasn't a great flow. I would finish one chapter/story, and in the next chapter, two years had passed and another little story was being told. It would take me a page or two to figure out when the story was happening. That was the bad stuff, but there was still lots of good things going on. I love these main characters. Daemon wasn't seen as much in this one, but we did get to see more of Lucivar. I do…

Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs: Book Review

**Possible spoilers for Moon Called** Mercedes Thompson is a mechanic who just happens to walk in two worlds. There's the mundane world where she spends her time fixing VWs, and there's the supernatural world that she was born into. See, Mercy is a walker. She can shift into coyote form at will. She's not as physically strong as a werewolf, but she has other strengths to make up for it. So when local vampire Stefan needs some unobtrusive help in sniffing out a new vampire in town who is poaching on his seethe's turf, he asks Mercy to shift and go with him. They both get more than they bargained for. This vampire is unknown, and so must be fairly young, but his strength is unimaginable. He is wreaking havoc in the Tri-cities, and it's going to take more than one vampire and a shifter to bring him down. I like Mercy a lot. (And I loathe these covers. Loathe them, I tell you.) It would be very, very easy to fall in with the local werewolf pack and start to lose her independence. She has fought hard to gain that independence and she fights hard to keep it. It's just so hard to keep fighting when the werewolves are so damn sexy. I would purr if that were appropriate when talking about werewolves. Adam is hot and a great alpha. He doesn't just throw his weight around and beat on those who are submissive to him. He cares for them and tries to be is a true leader. Samuel is a little outside the local pack, for some very complicated reasons, but he is every bit as dominant as Adam is. And he's Mercy's roommate. And they have a history. *Arching of the eyebrow here.* *Shakes head* Anyway. Enough…

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

A man leaves his wife and daughter behind to go establish a new life for them in another place. He must learn the ways his of strange new home. I'm so glad Aths recommended this book. I would never have found it on my own. Without writing one word, Shaun Tan tells a detailed story about the fears and hopes of going in search of a better life. He has the mood perfectly set within two pages. His decision to illustrate the new city with unbelievable buildings, conveyances, and creatures helps the reader understand how overwhelmed The Arrival must be feeling. He shows scenes of confusion and despair, then kindness and hope. I felt that I knew what it was to be an immigrant, if only for a moment. I really like that he shows immigration to be a sort of cycle. There's the initial confusion, the kindness of strangers, the fitting-in, and then showing kindness to the next new person. This was shelved in the juvenile section at my local library. I don't know about that. There's nothing graphic or scary, I'm just not sure that a not-teen would understand what was being conveyed. If nothing else, though, it would lead to great discussions between parents and children. The illustrations are just gorgeous. Sepia-tinted like old photographs, they lend a note of authenticity to the story. It starts to look like something that really happened, despite the fantasy animals. I love the endpapers, with all the beautiful, multi-cultural faces. I highly recommend this lovely book. "Read" an excerpt. Find author/illustrator Shaun Tan on his website. Buy The Arrival at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small…

Just After Sunset by Stephen King: Book Review

Warning! This review will be incredibly long because I find it impossible to review a collection of short stories without reviewing each story. Feel free to move along. Overall, this was not a typical Stephen King short story collection. His short stories generally give me nightmares. There were a few horror stories in here, but really he was exploring the post-9/11 world, grief, loss, and the afterlife. Some of his efforts were more successful than others, but the ones that worked really worked for me. "Willa"--3 stars--A young couple on their way to San Francisco are waiting at a train depot for another train after theirs derails. This story was just sort of eerie. King is so great at setting a mood that you realize right away that something's not quite right, but mostly this story just felt like page filler. "The Gingerbread Girl"--5 stars--A young woman runs to escape her grief, and then a nightmare. This one was straight-up suspense. I found my shoulders tensed and my body hunched over as I read this one. It's amazing to me that an author can do that in so few pages. "Harvey's Dream"--3 stars--A man on the brink of retirement tells his wife about a terrible dream he had the night before. It was well-written, but I just didn't care. "Rest Stop"--4 stars--A mild mystery writer overhears a disturbing argument at a rest stop late one night and must decide what to do about it. This one left me wondering what I would do in his shoes. There's some exploration of the hidden depths we carry around inside that we hope we never tap into. A good "makes-you-think" story. "Stationary Bike"--A man creates more than he thinks when he paints himself a picture to help pass the time as he rides…

Fool Moon by Jim Butcher: Book Review

4 Stars. I have to admit that this book spooked me a little. Not too bad, but I wasn't expecting to be spooked at all. There are, I believe, four different kinds of werewolves running around Chicago, each scarier than the last. And holy cow. The worst is just--man. He's a monster. So after finding myself out [...]

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa: Book Review

The Professor is a brilliant mathematician who suffered some brain damage in an automobile accident years ago. He can remember his entire life up until the accident, but afterwards, he only has a memory of the past 80 minutes. Luckily, his sister-in-law steps in to help care for him. She hires housekeepers to come in to his little cottage and cook his meals. Needless to say, the Professor scares off many of these women. But then The Housekeeper comes along. She's something of a specialist in difficult cases. She is patient with the Professor and introduces herself to him every morning, respects the days when he is thinking, and generally wins him over again every day. This is an elegantly-written novel. There aren't any wasted words, but it is still beautifully written. Every word seems to be chosen with care. I can't say that a lot happens in the story itself. There's no big, romantic love, no adventure, no heartbreak. But the story is beautiful too. These are characters that I learned to care about. The Professor is overwhelmed by the world and seeks solace in his orderly numbers. He obviously has a huge heart. He adores the Housekeeper's son, and really all children in general. The Housekeeper is a single mom doing the best she can and finding the time to care for and about this slightly damaged man. They are both lonely and they find each other and they form their own unique kind of family. It's a beautiful story and I loved it. Quite a bit of the book revolves around mathematics. Don't let that put you off. The Housekeeper tells the story, and she is not a mathematician. None of that is overwhelming. I wouldn't change a thing about the book, but I do have to…

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR SHIVER** You have got to be kidding me. This is where it ends? Beck has made some new wolves to care for the pack now that the older members are not shifting into humans anymore. One of the new wolves is Cole St. Clair, a gorgeous rock star. It's not exactly easy for him to blend into the crowd, especially when his body just won't stay in the shape of a wolf. Sam feels that he has to watch Cole to make sure that he doesn't take the pack with him in one of his self-destructive moods. And then there's Grace. Something's just not right. She's running a fever, she's got a headaches, she aches all over, but doctors can't find anything wrong with her. Confession: I have been walking around with that "Linger" song by The Cranberries circling, maddeningly, through my head. It just dawned on me yesterday that it's because of this book. Doh. Anyway. This hooked me. There is some teen angst in here, which generally irritates me, but these teens have issues to be genuinely angsty about. I would be more irritated if they were happy and perky. Grace and Sam--hmm. I really am rooting for them, and I really do like reading about them as a couple, but neither really grabs me as an individual. Grace is the center of a lot of things, but it doesn't seem like she actually does a whole lot. I think I liked Sam slightly more in this book than I did in Shiver. He's not quite as Sensitive. In other words, he's starting to grow a spine. I do love Cole and Isabel. I didn't really know that I still had a thing for rock stars, but apparently I do. Cole, even with his sarcasm,…

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull

Kendra and Seth have been shipped off to stay with their dad's parents, the grandparents they barely know. Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson rarely show up for visits and they never invite the family for a visit. But when there's no one else to turn to, they reluctantly agree to let Kendra and Seth stay with them for about three weeks. They find out that things are not quite what they seem at their grandparents' house. They've been forbidden to enter the woods. Insects gather in droves around a mirror left outside. Seth finds a crazy old witch living in a shack when he decides to explore the woods on his own. And Grandma Sorenson is nowhere to be found. Just what is going on at Fablehaven? I loved this book. It seems like it's been a while since a book grabbed me so hard. I just wanted everything else to be put on hold so I could finish reading. I love the whole concept of havens for fairy tale creatures. Of course their lives would be getting hard in our quickly-shrinking world. And of course there would be people who want to offer them all--good and bad--sanctuary. What a cool place to visit! What a fun idea to read about! I liked Kendra and related to her a lot. I would not have been venturing into the forest after I was told not to. I would have been frustrated with my fearless younger brother. And speaking of younger brothers--Seth irritated the heck out of me. He was too much of a rule-breaker. At first, it was just sort of "Oh, my gosh, how irritating. Glad he's not my younger brother!" Then, after he should have learned his lesson in a very hard way and he's still breaking rules, I had…

Deception Point by Dan Brown: Book Review

NASA, a hot-button topic in a contentious presidential election, has made the discovery of a lifetime in the Arctic Circle. The organization calls in civilian scientists to confirm the validity of their findings. The President is ready to announce the discovery and virtually assure his victory in the election. But then questions arise and the civilians--Rachel, Michael, Corky, and Norah--are required to brave the Arctic elements to perform one last test. That's where the adventure begins. Overall, this was a fun book with likeable characters. I really liked Rachel and Micheal, and even quirky Corky. The pace was a little bit slow for me at the beginning, but that's probably because I was expecting to get sucked into this book the way I have in other Dan Brown novels. About a third of the way in, the action finally took off and I couldn't stop reading. I noticed that the writing was a little awkward in this one. I know other people have had that complaint about Dan Brown since he burst onto the scene, but I honestly never noticed until now. The foreshadowing was very heavy-handed. "Oh, Rachel fell through the ice as a kid? That's going to fit in somewhere." It really was pretty bad. Also, I never understood why Rachel was in the Arctic in the first place. The explanation was pretty weak and I was left feeling like she was there as an excuse for the scientists to explain what was going on to us non-scientist readers through dialog. Dialog's always better for me than description, but give me a plausible reason for it. The technical explanations also verged on being too much for me. They never quite crossed that line, but, please, I'm not a weapons expert. I'm happy just knowing that a secret helicopter…