The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
A mysterious circus travels the world and arrives in various locations without warning. This magical, unique circus with several black and white tents filled with wondrous sights and experiences is only open from dusk ’til dawn.
Unbeknownst to the circus patrons, two illusionists, Celia and Marco, are embroiled in a fierce competition and the circus is the battleground. As the circus continues to travel, Celia and Marco come up with more and more magical feats, trying to top each other. They have both been trained for this contest since childhood but neither one realizes how high the stakes actually are. The stakes become even higher when they fall in love with each other.
The Night Circus was filled with lush descriptions and beautiful prose. Morgenstern does a wonderful job of creating a magical, fantastical world that has an eerie darkness to it as well. The novel weaves back and forth through time – I had a little trouble following the timeline at first. Luckily, each chapter begins with a heading with the date and it didn’t take me long to get the story straight. I loved the world of The Night Circus and I felt like I was a part of that world while reading it. I was delighted to learn that Summit Entertainment has bought the film rights – this book will make a great movie.
The Night Circus was Morgenstern’s first novel – I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
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February 22nd, 2012 in
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All the Flowers in Shanghai LP by Duncan Jepson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In 1930s Shanghai, women didn’t have much control over their lives. When 18 year old Feng’s parents arrange for her to marry into the Sang family, it doesn’t even occur to her to object. She must do what is expected of her. Unfortunately, Feng is very naive and doesn’t have any idea what her wifely duties will entail. Being visited by her new husband night after night wears her down and turns her bitter. She comes up with a terrible plan to exact revenge on her husband and his family.
All the Flowers in Shanghai is definitely not a feel good book. Feng makes hard choices that I didn’t agree with and she really isn’t even all that likeable, especially in the middle of the book. I did enjoy Feng’s relationship with her handmaiden Yan. I would love it if the author wrote a follow-up about what Yan’s private life was like. In spite of my issues with the main character, I found the story interesting and engaging. I appreciated learning what life in China was like, especially for women, in the early 20th century. Learning about all the ritual and ceremony that was part of the culture then was fascinating.
I’m glad I read this book. I’d like to read more books about China to learn even more about the history and culture there.
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(I received this book courtesy of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)
February 16th, 2012 in
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Last week I reviewed Ira Levin’s A Kiss Before Dying. This book has been made into a movie twice – once in 1956 and once in 1991. Today I’m going to review the 1956 movie starring Robert Wagner and Joanne Woodward.
A Kiss Before Dying is a very hard book to adapt to the screen. A good portion of the book’s suspense is due to the fact that the reader doesn’t know the identity of the killer, since the reader cannot see the killer’s face and his name is not mentioned. In the movie, the viewer knows who the killer is from the beginning so there is no surprise reveal later on. This movie version leaves out the character of Marion all together. I think if Ellen would have had the same fate as in the book and Marion was in the movie, that the killer would have been shown to be more calculating and sociopathic.
Since this is a 1950s film noir, the score is almost obnoxious. There were so many screechingly dramatic musical sound effects that it was almost comical. I can’t really fault this individual movie for that as I think that was the common practice of the time.
Overall, I thought this was a good movie in and of itself but I didn’t think it was a great adaptation of the book.
Speed Shrinking by Susan Shapiro
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Speed Shrinking is the story of self-help author Julia Goodman. Julia’s addictive personality is under control until her best friend gets married and moves away, her therapist also moves away, and her husband goes out of town for an extended period for work. Julia falls apart and goes on several cupcake binges. Now she might look fat when she goes on tour for her latest book, which is about overcoming food addiction. Julia decides she needs a new therapist to fix her up.
I read this book for my book club. The woman in my book club who picked it chose it because it had several blurbs on the back promising that it was a “laugh-out-loud delight” and “hilarious”. None of us in book club found this book even mildly amusing, let alone laugh-out-loud funny. Julia is so self-absorbed and obsessive that she is completely unlikeable. Her interactions with her therapists are repetitive and get her (and the reader) nowhere. She never really learns to dig deeper and end her superficial obsession with the numbers on the scale.
This book is the first work of fiction by Susan Shapiro, who has written several self-help books herself. It reads like a memoir and I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s autobiographical. If that’s the case, I wish the author would have just written a memoir instead of trying to present this book as a lighthearted, funny chick-lit book. Cause that it ain’t.
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February 14th, 2012 in
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A Kiss Before Dying by Ira Levin
Narrator: Mauro Hantman
Length:8 hours and 44 minutes
Publisher: AudioGO
Release Date: October 11, 2011
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A young college man is dating Dorothy, the daughter of a wealthy copper tycoon, hoping to marry her and eventually inherit her father’s money. His plan hits a roadblock when Dorothy tells him that she’s pregnant and they must marry right away. Not only that but her father will disown her for getting pregnant out of wedlock – that means no money for the young man. The only way the man can get out of this predicament is to kill Dorothy. If only that was the end of his problems…
A Kiss Before Dying, first published in 1953, is Ira Levin’s debut novel. It won the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Levin is a master of suspense and this novel does not disappoint. He does not reveal the identity of Dorothy’s boyfriend in the first part of the book, referring to him only with pronouns. When Dorothy’s sister Ellen goes hunting for her murderer, the reader is right alongside her discovering clues and trying to figure out who the killer is. I was on the edge of my seat and as confused as Ellen about who was the murderer. Even after the identity of the killer is discovered the suspense continues right up until the very end.
I listened to the audio version of this book. I thought the narrator, Mauro Hantman, did an excellent job. He was able to convincingly voice all of the characters – from tough as nails Leo Kingship to soft spoken naive Dorothy. I especially loved the voice he gave Gordon Gant.
I highly recommend A Kiss Before Dying.
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(I received this audio book courtesy of the Solid Gold Reviewers program at Audio Jukebox.)
February 10th, 2012 in
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The first month of 2012 has passed and I am actually keeping up with my intention to be more pro-active about this year’s challenges. Let’s check my progress so far:
Here’s the list for 2012:
1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title
2. A book with something you’d see in the sky in the title – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title
4. A book with a type of house in the title
5. A book with something you’d carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title
6. A book with something you’d find on a calendar in the title
One of my favorite challenges is S. Krishna’s Books South Asian Challenge. The year there aren’t different levels of number of books to read – everyone sets his or her own goal. I’m setting my goal at six books.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The Global Reading Challenge 2012 is a challenge to read one fiction book from each of the seven continents:
Africa
Asia – All the Flowers In Shanghai by Duncan Jepson (review coming soon)
Australia
Europe
North America
South America (please include Central America where it is most convenient for you)
The Seventh Continent (here you can either choose Antarctica or your own ´seventh´ setting, eg the sea, the space, a supernatural/paranormal world, history, the future – you name it).
The Off the Shelf 2012 challenge is to read books that are on your shelves as of December 31, 2011. I need this challenge in a major way – I have so many books in my TBR pile! I’m signing up for the Trying level which is 15 books.
1. Lover Awakened by JR Ward
2. My Life As a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland
3. Poison Study by Maria Snyder
4. The Discovery of Jeanne Baret by Glynis Ridley
5. Come In and Cover Me by Gin Phillips
6. Modelland by Tyra Banks
7. All the Flowers In Shanghai by Duncan Jepson
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15.
February 1st, 2012 in
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I have a feeling that my reading and reviewing is going to slow down a bit for a while. We accepted the placement of an 18-month old little girl on Friday. Since she’s a foster child, I can’t post any pictures or identifying information. You’ll just have to trust me that Little Miss is super cute and really smart. It’s been an adjustment having a toddler around here again but I love it. Cash and West love her because she thinks they are hilarious and will imitate anything they do. Eighteen months is such a fun age – the calm before the storm of the terrible twos and threes.
Countdown by Mira Grant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Countdown is a short prequel to the Newsflesh series. I have previously reviewed the first two books in the series: Feed and Deadline. I read the Kindle version of Countdown so it didn’t have page numbers but I think it probably has only about 65 pages. It’s a detailed account of the days in 2014 leading up to The Rising.
Mira Grant is an excellent world builder. Adding more details to the story of how the Kellis-Amberlee virus was created and spread only made the possibility that something like that could really happen seem even more believable to me. There wasn’t any brand new information in this book but it was a nice dose of the Newsflesh world to help tide me over until the final book, Blackout, is released this summer. I highly recommend Countdown for fans of the Newsflesh series.
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January 26th, 2012 in
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Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Lover Awakened is the third book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I have previously reviewed Dark Lover and Lover Eternal. This review may contain spoilers for the first two books in the series so proceed with caution.
Lover Awakened is Zsadist’s story. Zsadist was kidnapped from his birth family as an infant and served as a blood slave for years until rescued by his twin brother Phury. He has never gotten over the abuse he suffered as a slave and lives a life full of anger and intimidation. When he rescues vampire Bella from the evil Lessening Society, she is drawn to his strength and intrigued by his angry aloofness. Will Bella be able to help Zsadist overcome his past and heal enough to love another being?
I loved Bella and Zsadist’s story. I appreciated the fact that it was actually fairly realistic (as far as smutty vampire novels go anyway) in portraying how the abuse Z suffered effects his interactions with everyone, especially women. And he wasn’t just magically healed after having sex with a woman who cared about him – it took time and patience on Bella’s part. I’m a sucker for a book where a seemingly impenetrable tough guy ends up showing his vulnerable side, formulaic as it may be.
I read the print version and listened to the audio of this book. The audio book is narrated by Jim Frangione, who narrated the first two books as well. He did a fine job once again.
Fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series will not be disappointed with Lover Awakened. I highly recommend it for fans of smutty vampire books everywhere.
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January 25th, 2012 in
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Modelland by Tyra Banks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Tookie De La Crème is a Forgetta-Girl – no one notices her. With frizzy hair, a huge forehead and spindly body, she can literally lay in the middle of the hallway at school and everyone just walks on by. In spite of all that, Tookie finds herself selected on The Day of Discovery to be a student at the magical Modelland. Of the hundred or more girls chosen on The Day of Discovery, only seven extraordinary, fabulous girls graduate Modelland each year to become Intoxibellas – the most worshipped and influential women in all the world. Tookie can’t figure out why she was chosen to go to Modelland instead of her beautiful younger sister Myrracle.
Tyra Banks, former supermodel and host of America’s Next Top Model, wrote this book. It was exactly like Tyra herself – crazy, manic, and over the top. The book is set in a future, dystopian society where the standards of beauty are the law of the land. Everyone is a superficial consumer. Even though every girl dreams of going to Modelland, it has a sinister element. Rumors of girls not good enough to become Intoxibellas being tortured abound. Girls who aren’t selected make pilgrimages there, never to be heard from again. And once you’re a student at Modelland, trying to escape has dire consequences.
Knowing Tyra Banks wrote this book, I expected it to campy. She definitely went above and beyond my expectations in that department. I don’t think the word subtle is in Tyra’s vocabulary. I was expecting this book to be similar to the Uglies series – filled with metaphor and symbolic lessons about judging people by their appearance,etc. This book was more like a hammer, hitting you over the head with that message. And there were no metaphors. Everything was straight up as it appeared. For example, in the health clinic at Modelland, the head purse (nurse) is Purse Drestookill and her outfit is described as, “an elaborate sage-green cape made of multiple types of pistols, knives, nooses, and razors, with a hat shaped like a guillotine.”* Get it?? She’s literally “dressed to kill”! Get it?? And then there’s Guru Applaussez, who’s head is shaped like a third hand – all the better for him to clap with my dear.
It may sound like I didn’t like this book at all, but actually I was strangely drawn in. I should probably disclose that I’m a big fan of America’s Next Top Model – it gives me a chance to rest my brain and watch the madness that is Tyra and Company. And this book has little inside jokes for ANTM fans. For instance, the BellaDonna, head master at Modelland, hates actresses and says disparaging things about them. Tyra also holds actresses in low esteem, compared to models; and says disparaging things about them on ANTM. I felt much the same way while I was reading this book as I do watching ANTM, although I did feel like the pacing of the book was too frantic. A different science fiction effect was around every corner and almost none were repeats – it was overwhelming. This book is the first of a planned trilogy – I don’t know if I’m invested enough in what happens to Tookie to keep reading the series but I did have fun reading this first book.
*This quote is from an advance reader’s copy – the final version of the book may differ.
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(I received this book courtesy of the Amazon Vine program.)
January 24th, 2012 in
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