Two Challenges Completed!!

I just realized that I've been finished with Dana's Chunkster Challenge for a while now. Oops! :) I switched out one of my original books, but since it was for a longer book I don't feel bad. This challenge is great because I tend to read shorter books because I can read more of them. I keep saying I'll finish with my current challenges, not join any more, then just read my big fat chunksters the rest of the year. Probably not going to happen...bleh! I really enjoyed all of these books:

The Book Thief (my favorite of the group)
The Other Boleyn Girl
Snow Crash
The Robber Bride
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I also finished Annie's What's in a Name Challenge. I loved this creative idea and would definitely be eager to join again next year (hint hint Annie!). :) Honestly, I'm not sure what my favorite or least favorite was for this challenge because all the books were so incredibly different.

For this challenge we had to read six books with a different element in each title: weather, color, animal, first name, place, and flower:

Snow Crash
Mother of Pearl
All the Pretty Horses
Angela's Ashes
Salem Falls
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood

Title: The Robber Bride
Author: Margaret Atwood
Date Finished: April 12, 2008
Yearly Count: 19
Pages: 466
Rating: 3.75/5

I feel a little sheepish writing this review after I JUST commented on someone's blog that the only less than favorable reviews I've read of Atwood have been for Oryx and Crake and The Penelopiad. Don't get me wrong, I still liked this book...some parts a lot...but not as much as the others I've read. I guess that happens.

In October 1990, when the first Gulf War is brewing, the Soviet Bloc is crumbling, and Canada is in a resession, Zenia comes back from the dead. A group of three women, Tony, Roz, and Charis are having lunch together at a trendy restaurant, The Toxique, when Zenia is first sighted--alive. She was killed in a bombing in Beirut; the three women saw her ashes, attended her funeral. The catchy thing about this book is that things aren't always what they seem.

What I love about Atwood is her careful characterization. The novel gives the stories of each of the women whose common thread is Zenia--who lets face it, is a cold manipulative um...I'd like to type the word, really I would, but I won't...you get the point. :) While I found some similarities in each woman, namely their ability to be duped again and again by Zenia, they were each so different, and Atwood is able to tease out these subtleties in each woman's section. Not as obvious as Barbara Kingsolver's narratives in The Poisonwood Bible, but each woman had a very distinct voice and personality (well, and each section is written from third person narrative--not first, which also makes a big difference).

What I could have done without: What is it with this book and mothers?? With each woman's story comes an explanation of her childhood and her relationship with her mother. Are the mothers to blame for the negative qualities each woman possesses? What do the mothers have to do with Zenia? Honestly, I didn't get the connection and because of that I got bored during these sections (which is a big part in the lower rating). I wanted the meat of the story--the Zenia story. And I got it, but there was too much in the middle.

All in all The Robber Bride is an engaging story. Atwood's writing is beautiful as always and she always leaves just enough bait dangling to keep the pages turning. She's never a "quick" read for me, but I don't mind--remember that "lit-ra-chur" question going around a few weeks ago? Atwood falls into that category for me. I would recommend it, but I would recommend The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin first. This one was reminiscient of Cat's Eye with its focus on female relationships, but it still very different. I think Atwood is trying to tell us that women are not to be messed with! Ha!

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Title: Snow Crash
Author: Neal Stephenson
Date Finished: March 30, 2008
Yearly Count: 16
Pages: 468
Rating: 4.5/5

I was assigned this book a few years ago for a Post-Modern grad course, but I wasn't able to finish due to strange circumstances. So, I had a little taste of what this book contained--and I can't believe I waited so long to finish this one!

Hiro Protagonist (you guessed it: the lead character) is a pizza delivery boy in Reality, but when he plugs into the Metaverse (think of a primative version of Second Life) he is a champion swordsman and revered hacker. One day when Hiro is in the Metaverse, one of his hacker friends, Da5id, is infected with a type of drug/virus that has not only affected his avatar in the Metaverse but also in Reality. Hiro thus begins his search for answers about the drug/virus, Snow Crash, and a pursuit to stop the virus from spreading and creating mass chaos.

Fast-paced, in your face, action packed, this book is a rollarcoaster! Set in the near future where America has shrunk in size and what has taken its place are small business-like franchise-cities such as Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong. There are no laws, Kouriers on skateboards harpoon cars like parasites, and the only difference between the Metaverse and Reality is a set of goggles. There is a name for this type of science fiction: cyberpunk. (Originally published in 1992)

Although I sometimes had a difficult time figuring out the time-frame and whether something was happening in Reality or in the Metaverse, I was hooked to this book. It is strange and humorous and interesting and it even made my brain hurt with thinking. Not only is it about technology, but Stephenson discusses theories on linguistics and mythology and religion and pulls it all together into a suspenseful thriller. At the end, I have to admit that my attention waned a little. There was a strange relationship between Hiro's sometime partner, Y.T., and the psychokiller Raven. Also, with every action scene with helicopter and car and boat chases, my mind wanders and I get bored. What? I know!

It is one that I could certainly read again in a few years and pick up so much that I missed. If this sounds like your type of book, I recommend it! You're certainly in for a thrilling ride.

The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory

I logged onto my Google Reader this morning while eating breakfast and almost choked on my Special K. 177 posts? Seriously? I’ve taken a little bit of a break from blogging first because of a trip to Salt Lake last weekend where I was Internet-less at Grandma and Grandpa’s and second because I haven’t felt like blogging lately. I’m reading a fabulous book right now [Snow Crash], though, so I think my funk might be coming to an end (not that reading less than fabulous books was responsible for my funk). I try try try to be a good blogger and keep up with everyone’s posts, but I can’t. So, I’ll do what I can to try and make up for my lost time. :)

Title: The Other Boleyn Girl
Author: Philippa Gregory
Date Finished: March 23, 2008
Yearly Count: 15
Pages: 661
Rating: 3.75/5

I read this book because I enjoy the time period (can't wait for Tudors to come back on this weekend!), but also because my sister was reading it. I don't belong to a IRL book club, but it's fun to be able to call Brooke up and talk to her about what's happening in the book. This time it was a lot of fun because we were both reading it together in Salt Lake last weekend.

Mary, a naive thirteen-year-old, is introduced into Henry's court as a lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon. But, her ever scheming and social-climbing family pushes her into a different role when she catches the eye of Henry--the role of his mistress. With the help of her sister Anne and brother George, Mary wins the heart of the King of England. But can she maintain the King's desire? We all know the story of Anne of Boleyn, so I'll leave my summary at that. !!

I won't lie--thick books scare me. I think it is because of my fear that one day I will run out of time to read all of the books that I want to read, so by reading some of the shorter books I will be able to get to more of them. Silly, I know. So, I have a whole stack of long books (long for me is 400+ pgs) haunting me everytime I look at my bookshelf. A more reasonable fear would be that my bookshelf topples over from the weight of all those big books and crushes me. Oh well.

But this book held my attention all the way through. Maybe because I wanted to finish it while in Utah so I was reading it rather quickly. I don't know. Gregory certainly puts enough detail in this book to paint a rather vivid picture of the goings-on in Henry's court. I enjoyed most of it, but sometimes the details were redundant and I felt as if I were reading the same thing over and over. Probably a good 100+ pages could have been cut out of the book with no significant loss.

I enjoyed reading about the relationships of the different characters and getting a glimpse into their minds and motivations. Gregory's thesis is an interesting one that I had not heard before, but the whole subject of Henry VIII has always fascinated me. I can remember visiting the Tower of London several years ago--I simply can't imagine the atrocious things that happened there at one point in time. But, I guess atrocious things happen all over the place--even today.

Well, my thoughts are all over the place and I don't feel up to editing, so off to the gym I go. I'll simply say that if you are interested in this time period, the book should be a delight--or even if you aren't interested I still think it's a fun read. Some sex talk that I didn't care for, but I guess it was all part of character development. I've been keeping my eye open for a second-hand copy of The Boleyn Inheritance and I own a few other Gregory novels that I look forward to reading. But, I have no interest in the movie. If you saw it, I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts. I don't believe Natalie Portman as Anne--she just seems too meek. Ok...I'm through!

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Date Finished: Jan 19,2008
Yearly Count: 4
Pages: 550
Rating: 5/5

I've been putting off this post for a while because I'm not quite sure how to approach this book. So many have read it and reviewed it, but for whatever reason I haven't been able to get ahold of my thoughts. But...times a tickin' so its time to get on with it.

The Book Thief is the story of a young girl, Liesel, in Nazi Germany told through Death’s narration. Yes, Death personified. Death becomes interested in Liesel’s story when he comes to pick up her brother after he dies; Death, against his better judgment, goes to the funeral and sees little Liesel picking up a book from the snow—her first act of book thievery. Shortly after Liesel’s brother dies, her mother moves her to a foster home on Himmel Street where her world is quickly turned upside down. Her world and everyone else’s. (While I don’t think I can possibly cut this short, I will not give spoilers).

Liesel’s new living situation is not easy. Her new Mama is slightly abusive and walks all over her and her new Papa. Papa, though, takes Liesel under his wing as he comforts her during her nightmares and teaches her to read her stolen book. Liesel also finds sanctuary when chumming around with her new friend Rudy as well as in the mayor’s wife’s library where she retreats after she delivers and picks up the laundry for Mama.

But everything changes when one day a strange man shows up at the house looking for Liesel’s Papa. Max is a Jew. He has left his family, gone into hiding, and is barely surviving. Papa has made a promise to help Max, so it is agreed that Max can live in the basement. At first Liesel is a little frightened of Max, but soon they grow to be good friends—especially when Liesel realizes that Max also has nightmares. But, keeping a Jew in the basement is dangerous. Just as giving bread to Jews as they march to the concentration camp, as Papa does, is dangerous. Everything in Nazi Germany has its consequences.

After reading stellar reviews about this book in the blogosphere for the past six months, I was finally able to get my hands on a copy. I devoured the 550 pages in a few short days (don’t let the label of YA fool you—this is a rich novel). While sometimes I flew through the chapters, there were others where I was so overcome by emotion that every word took effort to absorb. But what I found so fitting in this novel, so perfect, was that it is about words. The power of words and what we are with them—and without them. How words can bring an unlikely person into power and consequently change the world as we know it.

This is a beautiful book and it will stick with me for a long time. I loved Death’s narration; his style is effortlessly engaging—sometimes witty, sometimes unbearably true. And while I’m not quite sure what I will do with what I took away from this book, I will continue to pass this book on to others. I hope you’ll read it, too.