Introverted Reader

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie: Book Review

Two young men, children of parents that the Communist government in China deems enemies of the state, are basically exiled to a remote mountain for "re-education." Their parents' "crimes" don't even warrant the word; they're basically just too educated for the government's comfort. The teens find a harsh life waiting for them on the mountain. They must plow fields and dig in mines and haul human waste around. If the local party leader is upset with them, he makes their lives even more miserable. They eventually meet a local tailor's daughter. The little seamstress, as she's known, is the most beautiful girl on the mountain. One of the teens of course tries to win her heart. He takes a novel approach and starts telling her stories out of Western literature, in an effort to make her better company for himself. And so time passes as the boys wait to see if their period of "re-education" will ever end. This is so hard for me to review! I had some issues with the boys throughout. Luo, the one who tries to win the girl, is basically a nice guy but--c'mon. He's trying to "improve" the little seamstress? So she'll be a better girlfriend? Who does he think he is? I was listening to this so maybe I misunderstood something, but I really don't think so. But then--I got to the ending. And I loved it. And that's all I can say. I also loved B. D. Wong's narration. He has a nice voice and a nice delivery. If my library has any more audio books that he's narrated, I'll gladly give them a try. I enjoyed the imagery in the book as well. It was very short, maybe 4 hours, and enough happened to keep my attention, but at the same…

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins: Book Review

Walter Hartright finds a woman, all in white, wandering down the road to London in the middle of the night. As they talk and walk, she mentions that her happiest times were spent at Limmeridge House as a child. By coincidence, Walter is leaving to become a drawing teacher at this house the very next day. In talking this over, it's revealed that the woman in white has been badly mistreated and there are many more secrets surrounding her. I find it hard to judge a book by how it would have been received in its time. I can only judge by my modern-day standards. That being said, I was disappointed in this book. I really expected more. I found the mystery to be mostly predictable. There were a few twists and turns that honestly surprised me, but I saw the big picture from pretty far out. I know this book was supposed to be one of the first mystery novels and should receive a lot of respect for that. But my problem is that I found a lot of the elements to have become cliches. I realize that this isn't being fair to this particular book, but there you go. It hasn't weathered that well for me, personally. The way that Collins wrote about women drove me crazy. He has one very strong, very intelligent female character who is always spouting off about how "we women can't be quiet" and stuff like that. Having a woman say it doesn't make it okay. I know this might have been pretty standard fare for the time period, but I didn't care for it. It doesn't help me feel any better when we realize that the smart woman is ugly and mostly overlooked as a romantic prospect, while her boring, weak but…

The Child Thief by Brom: Book Review

In this very, very dark telling of Peter Pan, Peter is abused and unwelcome everywhere he wanders until he stumbles onto the island of Avalon. There, he finally carves out a home for himself, although not without a certain amount of danger. As conditions on the island deteriorate, Peter recruits children from the world of men to come live on his island and help fight the battle to save Avalon and his Lady. I haven't read Peter Pan and I only have vague memories of the Disney movie, which I didn't care for. So I can't say anything about how this compares to the original source. I can say that it worked for me. Peter's mother is a human and we only get a vague hint that his father is some sort of forest spirit. He lives up to that lineage admirably. He can be serious, playful, deadly dangerous, funny, loyal, and unforgiving in the space of a few heartbeats. His temperament can only be described as mercurial. As such, I was never entirely sure whether I should be rooting for him to succeed or not. I could tell he definitely had an ulterior motive or three but I didn't know if I should sort him out to be a hero or a villain. It was nice to be kept on my toes! Honestly, I still don't know what to think of him. I guess he's more like a force of nature--he just is. The children he recruits to come to Avalon call themselves Devils. They were heart-breaking. The first chapter is very disturbing, with Peter saving a little girl from another night of being molested by her father. Holy cow. That was not what I expected from Peter Pan! But once I thought about it, those are exactly the…

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: Nothing. Where does all my time go? Read: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. This was a re-read for my book club. I won't review it again but you can find my original review here. (Hint: It's one of my favorite books.) Currently Reading: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, translated by Ina Rilke, read by B. D. Wong The Trivia Lover's Guide to the World: Geography for the Lost and Found by Gary Fuller Sanctus by Simon Toyne (I know some of you are waiting to see what I think of this but I only read it while I'm at the gym. It's good so far and I only have about 75 pages left. It's still going to take a little while though.) Up Next: I haven't even opened Grave Peril yet so I don't think I'll get to anything new. I do have Sweet Nothings by Janis Thomas and This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash waiting in the wings though. Happy early Thanksgiving to everyone! What are you reading this week? I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in beautiful downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site. My opinions are completely my own.

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November 25, 2013

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, read by Rebecca Soler--4 Stars Read: The Child Thief by Brom Currently Reading: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly--Re-read for book club. This is one of my favorite books! The Trivia Lover's Guide to the World: Geography for the Lost and Found by Gary Fuller Sanctus by Simon Toyne Up Next: I still need to choose an audiobook. I couldn't get signed onto my library's site when I tried last week. Other than that, I'll have to wait and see. What are you reading this week?

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November 18, 2013

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Book Review

4 Stars. I didn't like this quite as much as Cinder but I definitely still enjoyed it. By introducing Scarlet, Marissa Meyer managed to avoid my common complaint that the second book in a series is just filler. Had she stayed exclusively with Cinder's story, I'd probably be complaining. By shifting the focus, she fills in a lot [...]

Bookish Miscellany

Weekly Update for November 11, 2013

Welcome to my weekly update for November 11, 2013! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Twice in a row! This must be a posting record for me! Posted: Southwest National Park Vacation Report Review: One Child by Torey Hayden--5 Stars Review: The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes [...]

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November 11, 2013

Personal Stories

Southwest National Park Vacation Report

Suey at It's All About Books asked for a vacation report. Since she and a few more of you were kind enough to suggest alternates when the government shutdown threatened to shutdown my National Park Vacation as well, I owe you all an update. Note: I didn't share any of our pictures, I just linked to other sites. When the shutdown was announced, we initially thought, "Oh, we have 12 days for them to resolve this. We don't have to worry about it." And then days kept passing by. We went back and forth a lot, trying to decide what to do. We finally decided to just go for it as planned. The state parks in the area still looked great and if the National Parks did reopen while we were on vacation, we would be in place to take advantage of it. What a relief to have that decision made! The very next day (I believe), Utah announced they would open the National Parks on the state budget! Woohoo! That took care of Zion and Bryce Canyon, our first two stops! A day or two later, Arizona announced they were opening the Grand Canyon for a few days, including the first two days we planned to be there! We were pretty much set! We flew into Las Vegas the first day. We were kind of exhausted but we did go over to the MGM Grand to see Cirque du Soleil's Ka show. Holy cow. We were blown away! Neither of us has seen a Cirque show before and this one was awesome. A ship sunk, the stage was tilting every which way and the performers were swinging out over the audience. We loved it! The next day we drove to Zion National Park. We loved seeing the desert landscape…

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November 11, 2013

One Child by Torey Hayden: Book Review

Torey Hayden is what I can only call a special ed teacher. At some less-politically-correct point in her career, she agreed to teach the "garbage class" (her words, not mine) that consisted of the abused, unteachable, unreachable kids. The class of eight students, a teacher's aide who lacked even a high school diploma, a high school student volunteer, and Torey made it through the first semester in decent shape. But in January, little Sheila joined them. She seemed to be more troubled and harder to reach than most and she set the class on its ears. But Torey made the effort to try to help this six-year-old child. What a heart breaker. The five stars reflect the importance of the subject rather than the quality of the writing. The story is told in a straightforward manner and is very readable in and of itself, but it's really nothing special.* But this little girl. Oh my gosh, little Sheila. What a survivor. I work in a hospital that has one floor dedicated to psychiatric patients. It has always blown my mind that we have an area in there dedicated to pediatric (as in not-a-teenager) patients. The few times I've been called to do a test there, I've left wondering how such a young child can get so broken. Is it just a bad hand, genetically? Or has someone made the effort to break them? What could break these young children? I always stop my thinking there, not really wanting to know, wanting to stay safe in my middle-class sheltered existence. But One Child showed me what can happen to these kids. It was not by any means an emotionally easy read. It's left me quite disturbed. But it's so important. We're losing too many kids this way, and they all have…

The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey: Book Review

In the Five Hundred Kingdoms, a force called the Tradition tries to fit likely young men and women down the well-trod paths of fairy tale characters. Now it's trying to work its magic on Princess Rosamund but Godmother Lily is doing her best to thwart it. The Queen has just died and Lily sees the Tradition building, trying to force Rosmund into the role of Snow White. Lily consults with the King and they agree that Lily should secretly fulfill the role of "evil stepmother." Someone else is trying to play off the Tradition's magic though and a huntsman really does make off with Rosamund. After a rescue in which not one but two Prince/Hero types play a part, Rosa and Lily join forces to help Rosa choose her own destiny and ensure the safety of their small but wealthy kingdom once and for all. The title of this one is a little misleading. There is actually more of Snow White or Rapunzel than Sleeping Beauty here. Still, I enjoy this series for the way the traditional stories are turned upside down and this mish-mash works for me. Rosa and Lily are very likable characters. They very much set their own courses. Rosa has learned how to cook and sew, just in case she finds herself in a setting where Tradition would require those skills. She's learned diplomacy and common sense from her mother, a commoner who married the King for love. Lily is a powerful Godmother who manages a particularly difficult kingdom alone and with ingenious solutions. Her arc is secondary, but I really liked it. I definitely liked Siegfried. He's the descendant of-- let's call them Norse gods. He's become aware of the Tradition's power as well and he's doing his best to avoid an Oedipus-like fate that…