Well Played Pullman. I think we can all agree that “His Dark Materials” was pretty fantastic. So I grabbed this because a) I enjoyed that series and bWell Played Pullman. I think we can all agree that “His Dark Materials” was pretty fantastic. So I grabbed this because a) I enjoyed that series and b) I genuinely like books that touch on what life was like for Jesus – and I’m an Agnostic Jew (yes. We can do that). The problem is, that while I’m fully on team “Well Played Pullman” I fumble in that I didn’t actually really enjoy this book. I had trouble getting through it for absolutely no good reason. It’s well written in an easy clearly laid out way. It’s not too long or too short and it’s a clever idea. So yes. “This is a story” as Pullman says, and Pullman is without a doubt a masterful storyteller. I like the slant he took, I like the mischief, I like how it held fairly true to the written gospels and I liked the Humanistic aspect the story took.
But I didn’t love it. I’m not quite sure why. ...more
I love historical fiction. Love, love, love. Ariana Franklin's Mistress in the Art of Death is one of my favourite series, brilliantly written with a I love historical fiction. Love, love, love. Ariana Franklin's Mistress in the Art of Death is one of my favourite series, brilliantly written with a fantastic plot. I've been looking for something to fill the void, and so was excited to get sent this ARC. I also admit, I'm one of those people who generally guesses if I'll like books based on the publisher, and while I admittedly haven't read much of Minotaur, I love St. Martin's Press (no they didn't pay me to say that, I get nothing for it. I mean, feel free to send me books, but really, I won't, and I just generally like them as a publisher).
Anyways, so I was sent A Murder at Rosamund's Gate, and lo, I had my holiday reading. Except I read it before the holidays. Oops.
I think first off I'm guessing they're setting this up as a series, though I could very easily be off in guessing that because the book stands pretty solidly as a stand-alone. Generally I really loved the books. The characters are endearing and well written - Lucy Campion is fun heroine because she's not really a heroine. The other characters aren't just there as props, you get drawn into the class politics that permeated 17th century England (A topic I admittedly can always get behind) and the story itself rather cleverly brings together a murder mystery, socio-economic politics, religious drama (The Quakers are coming!) and the looming of the plague. Calkins does so in a way that doesn't make it seem like she's just throwing it all in because she has to, but really makes it into a wonderful story that doesn't feel at all crammed together. Calkins also clearly is a excellent storyteller with a knack for character writing.
I'd wholeheartedly recommend this book to a pretty wide variety of people - personally I loved it and it both met, and exceeded my expectations of what I wanted from it.
*** I won this book through Goodreads - all opinions are my own....more
I am putting this out there right off: I am unsure how I feel about this book. I've been sitting on this review a little, hoping I would figure it outI am putting this out there right off: I am unsure how I feel about this book. I've been sitting on this review a little, hoping I would figure it out, but no dice, so here's what you get. First off, since I picked this book up I had A Change is Gonna Come pretty much stuck in my head. So you're welcome for that. But really, the like "It's been too hard living, but I'm afraid to die" probably sums up where this book is at pretty well.
So here's the thing, I ditzed out when I first requested the book, and somehow I missed that this was a Christian novel. So I was being me, and updating my status on GoodReads to having it as 'read' and lo, I saw that it was a Christian > Inspirational book. So that kind of changed my framing of how I read the book because at the same time it makes more and less sense. So again, full disclaimer, I am not Christian, and didn't realize it WAS a Christian book. So basically my take away is this book can either be read as an adventure story, or an inspirational story. I read it as the former.
This book was... emotional. For lack of a better term. There were a lot of highs and lows and even though it was a bit of a slow read, I don't mean that in any negative way. The River makes a lot of promises that it will change your worldview and it fell a bit short on that to me. It was a good book, that draws you in and you don't want to stop reading it - even when you are a bit frustrated with the writing. Basically, I think what I'm saying is I see why people loved the book, and I see why people were totally apathetic to it. This is probably a horrible review, but it's actually not because I've recommended this book a few times, and I would recommend it again.
**I received a free copy of the e-book from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I heard about this book a while ago, and have meant to grab a copy for a while. I don't know what took me so long (I know, a month after publication. I heard about this book a while ago, and have meant to grab a copy for a while. I don't know what took me so long (I know, a month after publication. Slacker.). The premise sounded fabulous - based on the true story of a dead prostitute's frozen body found propped up at city hall when suffrage was in it's height, Casanova chose to tell the story through a fictional 16 year old daughter. The basic premise is that 16 year old Sadie Rose lost the ability to speak after her mother died 11 years ago. She was taken in by a senator, and Sadie feels pressure to be who they want her to be, even if she isn't quite sure who she is. When she finds pictures of her mother, it unlocks memories and helps her find her voice. That's as much summary as you get, because other better people write other better summaries.
The thing about this book is that I found it... pensive. That's almost the right word, but maybe quiet works better? It's not an action packed book, full of adventure and unpredictability, it's a coming of age story that more slowly takes you on a journey. But that's also not right because that makes the book sound boring, and it isn't. Casanova does a great job with the historical setting and the resulting social details - Google tells me Casanova wrote for American girls and I find that not at all surprising. Clearly historical fiction is an area she enjoys writing about. Frankly, that's one of the problems - I wonder if Casanova is writing a touch out of her comfort zone in terms of age bracket, because the plot at times is a bit awkward, and some of the secondary characters are a little too shallow. That being said, Sadie Rose is a great character, pitched pretty spot on to her 13-17 age range (though I admittedly would lean more to 12-15 age range for recommendations, personally).
Casanova is generally a fantastic writer - the book is beautifully written and the premise is solid. I liked this book, I just didn't love it. But that's not a bad thing, because I will 100% suggest this book to some of the teens at my library. I think younger readers will find something very appealing about Sadie's rather rapid transformation - the identifiable nature of feeling the need to figure out who you are. All this being said, it was a quick read and an enjoyable one.
*** Review is based on an advance copy from NetGalley. Blah Blah this didn't affect my review. Promise....more
I did it. In one full day binge I finally finished this damn book. It took more focus than I knew I had, and I wouldn't wish reading 600+ pages of thiI did it. In one full day binge I finally finished this damn book. It took more focus than I knew I had, and I wouldn't wish reading 600+ pages of this in two days on anyone. That said, it was a wonderful book, written by someone far smarter than I am. Maybe don't binge finish it in two days though....more
This book hits a lot of boxes for me - Historical Fiction, specifically Celtic History, Fantasy, Magic, Witches and more importantly, latent Witches. This book hits a lot of boxes for me - Historical Fiction, specifically Celtic History, Fantasy, Magic, Witches and more importantly, latent Witches. A part of life that anyone from that culture gets. It's also a YA book, and recently I'm loving them - part work related, part they're just plain good. I love the 500 Kingdom's books, and it wasn't until after I read them I found out they were a) YA books and b) put out by Harlequins' teen branch. I've touched on this before. Still baffled. Either way, so YA books. I like them.
So here's the good - I read a lot of Historical Fiction, I got my undergrad degree in it so I have a general at least latent knowledge of history and I like it. The book was spot on for where a historical fiction book should be - it was written in a way that didn't make it seem like Brackston was throwing in historical facts just because, the details were woven in beautifully and as a HF book, it was very well done. Morgana was a lovely character, with depth and excellent character development. Cai was also well done and gave a fascinating prospective. The writing itself was also generally solid, and it was a very readable book.
The less good is that I actually didn't love the book. The characters other than Morgana and Cai were slightly on dimensional and it felt like some of the details were a bit thrown together. I delayed writing this review because I wasn't entirely sure why the book didn't grip me and I think it's because (this kills me to say because I hate trilogies) but I kind of wonder if this should have been book one of a trilogy. Brackckston is clearly a fantastic writer, with creative lovely ideas and fantasic plots. I think if there had been a bit more character development for the other characters, and a little more time given to the ending it would have been an amazing read.
*** I won this book through Goodreads - all opinions are my own.
Born Weird is... Weird. I know, I know I'm ridiculously original with saying that. So clever, people should pay me to write this stuff. So I knew nothBorn Weird is... Weird. I know, I know I'm ridiculously original with saying that. So clever, people should pay me to write this stuff. So I knew nothing about Kaufman, other than I had heard about him vaguely at the only Toronto literary thing I've been to literally in 3 years when someone told me he was funny.
The thing is, everyone's family is weird. We all say that, right? I'm pretty sure we all also say "ha ha you think your family is weird, but compared to mine they're normal". Well folks, we're basically all mad here, and that's kind of the core of Born Weird. Kaufman drags a family who was blessing/cursed/blursed by The Shark (aka Grandma, and really, who's Grandma wasn't a shark?) so they could survive being raised by their too young kind of crazy parents. Grandma Weird (ok, so to clarify, really, their last name is Weird) decided the blessings-turned-curses need to go, and says she'll get rid of them on the day she dies and her (youngest?) grandchild Angie proceeds to go on a mildly mad-cap journey across Canada and randomly Upliffta (it's a thing. If I explain why it's a thing, I'll ruin the thing, so I'm not ging to explain the thing) to gather her siblings so they will no longer be cursed. Obviously, they all show up, or the curses don't get lifted. It's a fairy tale guys.
So also hilariously, Goodreads has this on the Fantasy shelf. That confuses me a little, but it does have a princess so I guess I'm ok with it. The book is strange, quirky and full of family drama. It's a quick read, and admittedly adorable (though I kind of feel the author will hate I called it adorable) even if it is a little confusing.
*** I won this book through Goodreads - all opinions are my own....more
I received this book as an ARC, sent to me by the publisher as a Goodreads First Reads.
This will be a bit of an odd review (but really, most of mine hI received this book as an ARC, sent to me by the publisher as a Goodreads First Reads.
This will be a bit of an odd review (but really, most of mine have been recently). I think what's holding me back is I always want to write a review that lets people know what I felt about the book, and if I think they would enjoy it. I keep coming up empty, because all I can think is that this book was just lovely. In the best possible way, I don't quite know what to make of this book. The book is a soft tale of 20th Century Colonialism, something that's rare in almost all other books related to that topic. It felt real - lives lived and impacted but it wasn't the focus of the book - it was there, it was history and it was life, but it wasn't what the book was about.
The details of what the book is about you can see in other places, but to me the book was about regret, longing and memory. It struck a chord because a recurring feeling the protagonist had was that he didn't know where he belonged, and he never truly felt a part of something. It's about finding your identity through finding the past
The book was brilliantly written but Vassanji is a brilliant writer, one I have loved for a while. His brilliance lies in the subtleties of what he writes, the characters that he builds and where he takes the story - and above all I've always thought Vassanji is a storyteller. In all honesty I enjoyed this book more than I've enjoyed a book in a while. I broke my trashy Urban Fantasy kick to read this, and I'm incredibly glad I did. Absolutely go grab a copy, you won't regret it. It will leave you thinking and dreaming, and a feeling nostalgic for things you may have never known.
Full Disclosure: I won this as an ARC copy from the Goodreads giveaway. I was pretty excited to have won this one - generally I'm thrilled to win a boFull Disclosure: I won this as an ARC copy from the Goodreads giveaway. I was pretty excited to have won this one - generally I'm thrilled to win a book, but I really do love Europa as a publisher. No, they didn't tell me to say that. Yes, I actually really do think have favourite publishers. I'm a librarian guys.
Lazarus raising from the dead is the last, and arguably most famous of Jesus's public miracles resulting in two of the most famous Biblical quotes: "I am the resurrection and the life" and "Jesus Wept". The thing is only John mentions Lazarus - and that was written about 100 years after the other Gospels, and the problem with John, as well all know (do we all know this? My uncle used to be a Benedictine monk. Maybe this isn't common knowledge) John is... less dependable. Beard himself says it hilariously well "Mark is considered the most factually accurate. Matthew and Luke base their accounts on Mark, while John is closer to the kind of writing known today as creative non-fiction." So yes. Creative non-fiction. Historical Fact. Whatever.
Anyways. Beard's novel focus around the detail that Lazarus is described as Jesus' friend - something Jesus has few of. Why is it Lazarus' death that causes Jesus to weep? Why did the first three gospel writers omit Lazarus from their version of historical record? Beard traces the history of Jesus' friendship with Lazarus, then their more adult lives. I don't really want to get into much detail here (because you know. Spoilers) so I'm going to tell you what I think about the book.
In the best possible way, I don't actually know what to make of the book. Stylistically, Beard is close to perfect, flippant but never trivial, and enough probability is added to the core of Lazarus's story to make you care about his eventual fate (or you know, one of the two options that Beard gives. Which is true? Who knows). But about the book itself I don't actually know quite what to make of it. It bounces between speculative fiction and more realistic textual analysis. It's a made up (or not) (but maybe?) (but really, too complex a debate for Goodreads) Biography of the man who was arguably Jesus' only friend. Complicated, I know. When you read it you'll understand.
Lazarus is Dead is arguably the most unusual and original book I've read in a while and I read a lot of odd books. Call it speculative fiction, or whatever you want, and go get a copy when it comes out. It's very very much well worth a read. You'll probably put it down and be a little confused and fairly thoughtful about what is fiction, what is fact and the stories none of us know, but wish we did.
You can't even imagine how much I wanted to like this book. The awkward thing is I say that EVERY time I pick up a new Rankin Book. The thing is when You can't even imagine how much I wanted to like this book. The awkward thing is I say that EVERY time I pick up a new Rankin Book. The thing is when Rankin is good, he's really shut the front door good. Funny, strange, ridiculous break the fourth wall hilarious, mildly eccentric blah blah. When he's bad though (and please please cult following don't hurt me) he's basically unreadable. This one oddly fell smack dab in the middle for me. I was almost embarrassingly apathetic about this book. I started reading this APRIL TENTH. That's 5 months ago. It doesn't take me 5 months to ready ANY book. I just kept picking it up, reading half a chapter and then getting distracted. When I read it, I could kind of get into it, but it didn't grab onto me, and by the time I finished it I was just left... apathetic.
I was mildly annoyed (and it's been echo'd on other reviews) that there were too many loose ends and that there was a little too much of the book aimed at people who've read every one of Rankin's other books. I've read a few (ok, more than a few) but apparently not enough because there were times I was left a little too confused... I don't even know.
I think it bothers me because I want to love all of Rankin's books. Like, I really really want to. I love the idea of the world he's built, with paradoxes, time travel, witches (non-existant, but still kinda there. I guess). I dunno. This is a terrible review. I don't even know.
Oh Christopher Moore. I adore you. I didn't always adore you, but I promise, I was wrong. I think I didn't always adore you because I first read PractOh Christopher Moore. I adore you. I didn't always adore you, but I promise, I was wrong. I think I didn't always adore you because I first read Practical Demonkeeping when I was a little too young. Just a little. ok, I was 12 when I picked it up. Maybe wasn't the best call. I'm sorry.
It wasn't until I met my boyfriend and he was BLOWN AWAY I hadn't read Lamb that he pretty much gave me no option but to read it. This was 5, almost 6 years ago. So, hey. Long time coming. Apologies. I feel justified about writing this review now, because I have read Lamb since on almost a yearly basis. Yes, really. I've also since read everything Moore has written and loved it. Even Practical Demonkeeping. In particular, Fluke, A Dirty Job and The Stupidest Angel. But I digress. We're talking about Lamb. Focus.Lamb is pretty much brilliant.
I don't care if you're an Atheist, Jewish, Christian, FSM, you'll probably like it. Moore writes Comic Fantasy - Do not take him seriously. His novels usually involve conflicted everyman characters struggling through extraordinary circumstances - in this case, some poor schmuck who has the good (bad?) fortune of being Chirst's Childhood Best Friend. I know right?!
The book is the parts of Joshua Bar Joseph's life that didn't make it into the bible. It starts with him constantly bringing a lizard back to life, moves on to his trying to figure out Sin (and hey, lucky Biff is the Guinea Pig) and moves onward and upward to why Jews eat Chinese food for Christmas (my mom was thrilled to finally have a rationalization).
Look, if you take your religion very conservatively, you probably shouldn't read this book. It's speculative fiction, re-interprets the life of Jesus, speculates on the gaps in the gospels and discusses the possibility of other religions being vital to the formation of Christianity.
Moore starts the book with the quote "God is a comedian playing to an audience that is afraid to laugh" (Voltaire). He's not wrong....more
I was lucky enough to have won this book in a Goodreads contest. To be totally upfront, I probably would not have bought it on my own. That's not a faI was lucky enough to have won this book in a Goodreads contest. To be totally upfront, I probably would not have bought it on my own. That's not a fact though - I love anything historical (well documented) and have a weird love for Constantinople - or at least the romance of what I imagine Constantinople was. There are a few cities that I feel that way about - Marrakesh, Constantinople, Vienna... cities I would love to visit just because I've built them up in my mind. People always tell me I'll be disappointed, but I wasn't dissappointed when I finally got to Beijing, Florence and Barcelona, so whatever people. Whatever.
Regardless, I was excited to have won this book, and was thrilled when it finally came. I did, however make the mistake of bringing it with me when I went to visit my mom, and since I was "reading too many other books" she promptly stole it and read it first. Traitor. I finally got it back from her, and I devoured it - as much as this book can be devoured. This book is a love-letter to Constantinople, and it's written exactly how I wish I could write to the cities I love. Golna brings the city to life, you feel like you are there, seeing the people, drinking the Turkish coffee and seeing everything Constantinople was at the turn of the century.
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