Introverted Reader

Reading As Escape? Booking Through Thursday

Suggested by Janet: I’ve seen this quotation in several places lately. It’s from Sven Birkerts’ ‘The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age’: “To read, when one does so of one’s own free will, is to make a volitional statement, to cast a vote; it is to posit an elsewhere and set off toward it. And like any traveling, reading is at once a movement and a comment of sorts about the place one has left. To open a book voluntarily is at some level to remark the insufficiency either of one’s life or one’s orientation toward it.” To what extent does this describe you? I can't say that I'm crazy about the wording of the quote because it makes readers sound like losers desperate to escape from their own lives. I'm very happy with my life, but it is nice to get out of my own head and into someone else's for a little while in the pages of a book. I can't actually know what it's like to live in Tudor England or what it's like to grow up on the streets or even to travel as much as I would like. Reading makes it possible for me to vicariously experience all of this and more. I know my own stories, and I'm generally happy to tell them to anyone who will listen. Reading lets me share in other people's stories. I would say that it's curiosity and a healthy imagination that let's me know there's more to Life than my small part of it. I want to find out how others live. Even fictional characters have something to teach us if we just let them. What do you think?

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February 25, 2010

Persuasion by Jane Austen: Book Review

5 Stars. My favorite Austen! Captain Wentworth! *sigh* Or is it *swoon*? This was a nice blend of Austen's pointed social commentary and a (bitter)sweet romance. Anne's family is just awful. They are silly, vain and entirely too class-conscious. They insist on their "inferiors" showing them the proper amount of deference and [...]

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Sheila at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books wants to know what we're reading this week. I posted my review of World Without End last week. I finished and reviewed Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garci and Margaret Stohl. I loved it! I finished Persuasion by Jane Austen. My review isn't up yet, but I loved this one too! I'm currently reading Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson. I'll probably get to Life of Pi by Yann Martel next. A co-worker loaned it to me and I need to return it. What are you reading?

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February 22, 2010

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia: Book Review

Sixteen-year-old Ethan Wate has been having nightmares for months. In his dreams, he's unsuccessfully trying to save a girl. Then Lena Duchannes, the first new girl to move into his small South Carolina town in years, shows up. He recognizes her as the girl from his dreams, and things only get more complicated from there. Wow. That's probably the most coherent, non-spoilery thing I have to say about this. I was intrigued at first, wondering what was going on, but about a hundred pages in, this hooked me and didn't let go. It was kind of like going down the rabbit hole. The more I found out, the more questions I had and the more I needed to get answers. Sometimes that kind of thing can feel a little like the author is cheating, withholding information for the sole purpose of making you read more against your will, but Garcia and Stohl got it right. Ethan tells the story, and he's just as clueless as the reader, so the way the story unfolds felt very natural. Lena was a fantastic character! I am loving these strong female characters that I'm finding in YA lately. She's stressed out, she's outcast, she never fits in, but she never gives up. It would be easy for her to wall herself off from the world, but she keeps going out there and opening herself up for more hurt, trying to have a life. She's not at all an average girl, but I think a lot of girls will relate to her. Unfortunately. We can't all be Miss Popularity at school. I also loved Link, Ethan's best friend, and Macon, Lena's eccentric uncle. Link is unquestioningly loyal to Ethan and accepting of Lena, when it would be a lot easier to drop both of them…

Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith: Book Review

I'm an Appalachian mountain girl. I felt like I knew Ivy from the first sentence. She truly seemed to come to life on the pages. I came along a few generations after her time, but I felt like she could be one of my grandmothers. She talked the way I probably still talk :-) Education was important to her, and she was very smart, but she never really got a chance. I guess, really, I felt like I could have been reading family history. That says a lot about a novel. Re-read June 28, 2009 There's not all that much to add. This is a book that touches my heart and it's hard for me to write about those. Ivy Rowe is this book. She's spunky, she makes mistakes, she loves, she lives, she's stubborn, she's wrong sometimes; in short, she just feels real to me in a way that very few characters do. Oh, I write fairly often about how I love this or that character, but Ivy feels like someone I know. The novel is written in a series of letters that Ivy writes to others. You get inside her head and stay there. You follow Ivy from the time she's about 10 years old on. There's a whole progression of wide-eyed optimism to teenage carelessness and invincibility to repentance to more carelessness to acceptance and reflection. I live a whole other lifetime when I read this book. Lee Smith chose to have Ivy write in our southern Appalachian dialect and she gets it just absolutely perfect. I literally "hear" Ivy with my grandmother's voice, and I hear the the preacher Sam Russell Sage as my uncle. Ivy's sister Silvaney doesn't really speak, but she reminds me of my grandmother's sister, Sue. Do you see the connection I…

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane: Book Review

Shutter Island is off the coast of Massachusetts, housing an asylum for the criminally insane. As a nasty summer storm brews up, U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule cross over to the island to search for an escaped inmate. But Teddy knows that things are not as they seem on Shutter Island. Ho-lee crap. It's been a while since a book has messed with my head this much. Just as I thought I knew what was going on, a new revelation would come along and knock all my theories out from under me. It all ultimately made sense and brought me deeper into this world, and I have to say that I loved it. I didn't really know what was going on until the very last few pages, and I find that even after I finished it, I'm sitting here thinking, "Well, maybe it still really wasn't what it seemed..." You'll see. I bet almost everyone is surprised by this ending. The twists and turns were the big draw of this book for me, but I loved Lehane's style. This is the first book I've read of his, but it won't be my last. Shutter Island is set in 1954, and I love the way these marshals speak to each other and so quickly establish common ground through The War. Their speech, their mannerisms, it all fit together to make them feel like real people. If I say anymore, I'll give something away, so I'll leave it at that. I highly, highly recommend this if you like your thrillers gritty and unpredictable. The movie comes out today, and I think it will have to be fantastic. Great original material, great cast, great director--what's not to love?

Personal Stories

Winter Olympics: Booking Through Thursday

You may have noticed–the Winter Olympics are going on. Is that affecting your reading time? Have you read any Olympics-themed books? What do you think about the Olympics in general? Here’s your chance to discuss! I am not a sports fan, but I do enjoy watching the Olympics. My husband and I are ready to visit Vancouver! The scenery NBC keeps showing is just breath-taking. I really enjoyed the opening ceremonies. China will probably always stand out for their awesome show, but Canada did go a different direction and it was very well done. And I really need to find k.d. lang's version of "Hallelujah." It was much better than the version I have now. She gave me goosebumps! I was saddened by the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili and would like to say that my thoughts and prayers are with his family and teammates. What a terrible thing to happen at such a proud time in his life. I get most of my reading done during my downtime at work, so I can't say that watching the Olympics has cut into that. I have no idea how anyone is doing in the medal count, so I'll have to catch up while I'm off this weekend. I don't recall ever reading an Olympic-themed book--unless you count Percy Jackson and the Olympians. ;-) Those don't really sound like something I would enjoy, but I'm very open to suggestions. Does anyone have any? Share your answers here and at Booking Through Thursday.

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February 18, 2010

World Without End by Ken Follett: Book Review

Set a couple of hundred years after The Pillars of the Earth, World Without End picks up the story of the town of Kingsbridge. I don't want to say too much about the twists and turns the plot follows, so I'll just say that the book is the story of a generation of townspeople and what life in the mid-14th century might have been like. Had I read this on its own, or even after the 20 years between the publication of Pillars and World, I would probably have enjoyed it more. As it is, I did honestly enjoy it, but coming only a year after reading Pillars, the stories and characters were too similar for me to feel like rating it higher. Most of the main characters felt like the same people from Pillars with their names changed. I feel like I could seriously make a list of characters from each book and match most of them to their equivalents in the other. I will say that there's no equivalent to Prior Philip in this book, and I missed him. One thing I did like better in World is that the violence has been toned down a lot. I almost had to put Pillars down because it got so violent, and I don't think of myself as being particularly squeamish about that kind of thing. The brutality is still present in this second book, but Follett chose to set the scene and then fade to black rather than making us read on in horror. This book focused quite a bit on one character, Caris, who becomes something of a healer. I enjoyed reading about "health care" in the 14th century, weird as that sounds. I just read and shook my head and felt thankful that I live today, and…

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett: Book Review

I have my review of World Without End by Ken Follett written and ready to post. I refer so much to The Pillars of the Earth that I should probably post that review first. Here it is. To be very simplistic, The Pillars of the Earth is about building a cathedral in the twelfth century in England. But to say that would be doing this book a huge disservice. The building of the cathedral serves as a cornerstone to explore the lives of an intriguing cast of characters and how life was lived at that point in history. I wasn't too sure what to expect going into this. I just had a vague idea that it was about building a cathedral, and let's face it: to a dedicated reader of fiction that sounds pretty dry and boring. But I kept hearing how good it was from people whose opinions I respect, so I decided to give it a shot. I was mostly pleasantly surprised. I'll get to the "mostly" bit in a minute. What made the book for me was the characters. Even the protagonists had flaws that were believable. They persevered despite their flaws and in some cases even tried to overcome them. But each character revealed something of twelfth century life. There was the monk, the young woman, the builder, the earl, and minor roles for figures from history that I've even heard of: think Thomas a Becket and King Henry II. They all added something to the story, and they each felt like a real person. Now for what kept me from giving this five stars. The bad guy was way too bad for my taste. The fact that I despised this character should probably mean that I give the author points, but I got so disgusted…

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Sheila at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books. Finished: World Without End by Ken Follett. Finally! Review to come. It was pretty good, but a little too similar to Pillars of the Earth. Currently Reading: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl--Thanks to Teddyree at The Eclectic Reader for sending this one my way! Up Next: Persuasion by Jane Austen--I think Misty might come find me if I don't get to this one next! :-) Nothing too exciting here this past week, I'm just glad to be finished with that chunkster! What are you reading this week?

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February 15, 2010