Category: Fiction

February & March Book Roundup 2020

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, Lists, Miscellaneous, NonfictionLeave a comment

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I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced two months quite like February and March of this year. The world has changed so quickly, and now it feels like my normal life has come to a stop. Finding my new normal has been a challenge, but I’m grateful because if managing a new routine is my worst problem then I’m a very lucky person. In the spirit of staying positive, one of the best things that has come of this for me is that I have much more time to spend reading, so here’s a breakdown of everything I’ve read since January.

The Red Daughter by John Burnham Schwartz

This is a fictionalized account of Svetlana Alliluyeva’s life. Stalin’s youngest child and only daughter, she defected to the US in 1967. This narrative covers her experiences as she tries to find her way in a new country while also trying to maintain a connection with her past and the children she left behind in the Soviet Union. Spanning decades, the novel follows her relationship with the lawyer who helped to navigate her initial escape. I enjoyed this novel but I didn’t love it; at times it felt like it dragged on. I also didn’t like the way Svetlana’s character was portrayed which made it hard to love.

From Russia With Blood by Heidi Blake

Another Russia focused book! This one was a riveting nonfiction read. It covered a series of state-ordered attacks on Russian enemies in foreign countries, focusing mainly on Great Britain. These murders were committed via stealthy poisons that made deaths look accidental or health related. Despite mounting evidence that showed Russia (and the Kremlin) was behind the attacks, the UK and US governments refused to acknowledge the deaths as murder which eventually led to their own civilians being potentially harmed. This was an eye-opening book on recent history and foreign politics; it was both thrilling and terrifying to read.

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn

Patsy is a single mother in Jamaica who dreams of living in the United Sates. Led on and encouraged by her best childhood friend, she leaves behind her daughter to move to New York in hopes of a better life. Once there, she faces the cruel reality of life as an undocumented immigrant and the realization that her friendship isn’t what she imagined it would be. The novel follows both Patsy and her daughter as they grapple with her decision and the impact it has on both of their lives. I enjoyed this novel, but I did feel that there were some side plots that weren’t fully explored. These plots took time away from the main story, and I would have preferred to explore the main story in more depth.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

I’ve had this book on hold from the library since its publication date in November and I was happy to finally get a chance to read it. Many of my bookish friends were disappointed with this one, so I went into it expecting it to be subpar. I’m not sure if we just have different tastes or if having low expectations allowed me to enjoy it more, but I liked this book. There were many different storylines and characters to keep track of, which sometimes was hard to do, but I liked the mystery of piecing everything together. It was a fantasy novel set in a world of books, what could be better?

The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates

“Our call is to lift women up – and when we come together in this cause, we are the lift.” In this book, Melinda Gates shares the lessons and stories she’s learned from people around the world whom she’s met as part of her work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In an effort to find solutions for the world’s most vulnerable populations, Melinda (and the foundation) began to see that empowering women is the key to improving societies and has the power to change the world. She shares data and statistics alongside inspiring and heartbreaking stories, and even includes details from her personal experiences as a woman, wife, and mother. While some of the stories were devastating to read, the overall message of empowerment carried through. This book opened my eyes in some ways and broadened my understanding in other areas. It was both an uplifting take on how far we’ve come but also a stark reality on how far we still have to go.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Sometime during the past few years I’ve realized that I haven’t read much classic literature. AP English could only cover so much, and I was a business major in university so there’s a lot of recommended reading that I’ve missed out on. In an effort to correct that I’ve tried to include a few classics in my yearly book lists, and The Count of Monte Cristo was the most recent. In my last post I shared more details about how much I loved this novel, so here I’ll just say it was one of the best things I’ve read in a long time.

 

Next up…

I’m so excited about the books I have coming up in my to-read pile! Travel might be impossible due to current events but books will be taking me to Spain, Chile, Costa Rica, Russia, and different regions in the US. I can’t wait to share more details!

 

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction1 Comment

I purchased The Count of Monte Cristo on my last visit to Powell’s. I have no idea when I’ll be able to browse through a whole city block of books again, so for that reason alone it was worth cherishing. Then I started reading and suddenly I was in love.

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I’ve always hated the question “What’s your favorite book?” I read so much, and I enjoy such a wide variety of genres that it’s hard to nail down a top five, let alone a single favorite. My reading tastes often depend on my mood, interests, or daily experiences; I don’t know if I’ve ever answered this question the same way twice. In the past I could fall back on the Harry Potter series, but I think I’ve reached a point in my life where I can’t claim that my favorite books are a young adult series. Harry Potter is ageless and can be enjoyed by all generations, but I’ve matured over time and so should my favorite things. In the past few years when I’ve been asked what my favorite book is I respond with a few titles that I’ve read recently. But now, ten days and 1,078 pages later, I can say without a doubt that The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite book.

For a long time I’ve been familiar with the basic plot: a young man is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit; years later he escapes and finds a vast treasure which he uses to seek revenge on the people responsible for his imprisonment. Reviews promised a book packed with action and adventure, romance and revenge. I was excited to finally read this classic.

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Arc de Triomphe in 2009- more cars than carriages compared to 1838

I got all the action I could possibly want- from the middle to the end I could hardly put the book down because I absolutely needed to know what happened. There were moments when I literally was sitting on the edge of my seat, and there were a few times when I audibly gasped and clutched my heart (who clutches their heart in the 21st century?). I was wholly invested; I’ve had a few nights of little sleep in the past week because I needed to read as much as possible. The most monotonous section were the chapters covering the Carnival in Rome, but it’s easy for me to forgive any tediousness there. I studied abroad for a semester in Rome, so I too was once young and drunk running around the Eternal City. The Corso, Piazza del Popolo, the Spanish Steps, St. Peter’s, the Colosseum- these places are all familiar to me, and I found myself looking at old pictures and maps to test if my memories were accurate.

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Piazza del Popolo, Rome

Beyond the action, though, I was most drawn to the character development of Edmond Dantes. From the optimistic and joyful young man to the depressed prisoner to the vengeful manipulator, then finally to the man who comes to terms with all his past; it was a beautiful cycle to follow. The Count of Monte Cristo is known for being a story of revenge, but it’s also very much a story about love and the power it holds over us. Love is the thing that saves us, and patience and hope are the things that get us through. My mind and heart are still processing what I’ve read but I can tell that this one will sit with me for a while. After all, The Count of Monte Cristo is my favorite book.

January 2020 Book Roundup

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, Historical Fiction, Lists, Memoirs, Nonfiction, RomanceLeave a comment

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The beginning of the year is always a time to reflect on the previous year and set intentions for the new year, but as usual I’m a little late to that party. I do know how many books I read in 2019 (38) and that only a fraction of them were nonfiction (25%), and both of those numbers mean that I missed my targets (40 and 50% respectively). But the fun thing about reading is that it’s a hobby so it doesn’t matter at all what those numbers are! The only downside to reading fewer books is that my to-read list has grown exponentially faster than the number of books I’m capable of finishing; my list spreadsheet is currently sitting at 351. Oops.

On the upside, I started off strong in January and finished 5 books! This is thanks in part to being sick over a weekend and spending a solid chunk of time on airplanes last month, but I’ll take the win. On top of that, three of them were nonfiction, so if I keep up this trend then I will surpass my goals from last year. I guess we’ll see how long this momentum lasts…

Anyway, my first book of 2020 was In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. Larson has a special place in my bookworm heart because his The Devil in the White City was the first nonfiction book that I absolutely loved. Thanks to him I had the courage to step out of the familiar literature section of the bookstore, and it’s been an amazing journey ever since. Unfortunately, I didn’t love Beasts as much as White City, but I found it an interesting albeit dark read. It follows a year of events in Berlin starting in 1933, with the focus centered on the US ambassador to Germany and his adult daughter. From a history perspective, it provided more details on specific events and attitudes of various people in the beginning of Hitler’s rise to power. It was eerie to read some of the accounts when I knew what hell and horror awaited the world over the next ten years, but that dark edge is what I enjoyed most in the book. What I didn’t like was that a lot of the source material was based on journals, letters, and unfinished manuscripts, so I felt like I had to read everything with a critical eye and that there might be more to the story that I was missing. Maybe that’s just a byproduct of living in the fake news era, or maybe that just means I’ve grown to be a more critical reader. Also, I didn’t care for the ambassador’s daughter. Had I been alive in 1933 I’m pretty sure we would not have been friends.

Moving on to (fictional) people that I would want to be friends with, my second book of the year was The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. I really enjoyed this book, which was surprising to me because I was expecting it to be a bit of a dud after all the press it received ahead of publication. It follows a small group of women who run a mobile library in the backwoods of Kentucky, despite facing personal hardships and ire from many of the people in their community. The plotline was a bit much (it covered everything from marital problems and illegitimate children to natural disasters and racy courtroom trials) but the characters at its heart made it worthwhile. I think each of the women, but especially Alice and Margery, were very well flushed-out and felt like they could be real people. I felt connected to their challenges and was totally invested in wanting to know how their stories ended.

Third on my list was Call Them by Their True Names by Rebecca Solnit. This collection of essays fell a little flat for me, but I think that was based more on my attitude and interest rather than the quality of writing. I had been so looking forward to reading this in December, but by the time I started it in January I wasn’t as into it. I enjoyed how Solnit presented her views; she discusses the linguistics of the Trump era and challenges incorrect uses of language to highlight problems in our current society. However, I found myself skimming some of the essays rather than really reading them. I just didn’t feel drawn to what I was reading in the way I thought I would. I think I’ll pick this collection up again at some point in the future, I want to give it a fair shot when I’m more in the mood for this type of content.

Next up on my reading list was How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, which was a little out of left field for me. This is one of those rare books that magically appeared in my life without ever landing on my epic to-read list. I found it in the laundry room in my apartment building. There’s an area where people sometimes leave unwanted items (pots, fans, old Christmas decorations, etc.) and one day I saw a book on the pile. I grabbed it without really looking at it, and it’s been sitting on my shelf for months. When I was sick for a few days I wanted to read something light and fluffy, so I picked it up again. It’s about a man who ages incredibly slowly- he was born in the 1500’s but looks to be about 40 in the 21st century. He’s part of a society of people like him, and their purpose seems to be to live, keep their lives secret, and limit interactions with regular humans. The novel covers his growing disillusionment with the society, his inner conflict about a potential love, and his desperate attempt to find his daughter from his first marriage in the late 16th century. It was a fun sci-fi/romance/history hybrid and was the perfect light read for a sick day.

The last book I read in January was anything but light, but it was easily the best that I read last month and might be my best book of 2020 (yeah, I’m calling it early). The book was Know My Name by Chanel Miller, and damn did I feel things. Chanel was the woman who was sexually assaulted while unconscious by Brock Turner- you know, the piece-of-shit former Stanford student who was found guilty and convicted of sexual assault yet was only sentenced to 6 months in prison because apparently his skin color, wealth status, swimming accomplishments, and male gender made him more important than minimum recommended sentences for sexual assault felons. Chanel, known at the time only as Emily Doe, wrote a profound victim impact statement that was published on Buzzfeed and instantly went viral. I can remember reading it in my office at my old job and feeling like I was punched in the gut. She held nothing back. In many ways her book is an expansion on that original statement. My physical reactions were just as intense; I couldn’t read more than a chapter at a time because I had to get up and move around, try to let out the rage and despair that she had to experience this, that she’s not alone, that 1 of 6 American women are victims of rape or attempted rape, that there are millions of people right now at this very moment grappling with the same reality, and that again and again and again our society says that if you are a white male your life and future opportunities and value as a human being are worth infinitely more than a woman’s. It is impossible for me to accurately describe the undercurrent of fury buzzing through my veins, but Chanel does an amazing job of capturing her emotions and walking us step-by-step through her experience. I could probably go on forever about this book and how much it made me feel and how important her message is, but instead I’ll just end my rant and say that this should be required reading. It’s a fierce criticism of our society and the systems and processes that are designed to protect us but often fail, yet it’s also a personal and eye-opening account of triumph and hope.

Looking forward to February, there are a few Russia-related books on my radar, a novel about immigration and motherhood, a book on feminism and equality, and possibly a classic adventure novel if I’m able to maintain my current momentum. Cheers to 2020, it’s been off to a great start!

 

Favorite Books in 2019 (so far!)

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, Lists, Memoirs, Miscellaneous, Nonfiction, Our Shared Shelf, TravelLeave a comment

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Somehow it’s autumn, and I don’t know where 2019 went. Or rather, I know where it went, I just don’t want to believe it’s almost over. This year has passed by in a montage of airplane windows, mountain views, sunset walks, 6am meetings, indulgent dinners, countless beers, and yes- a number of books enjoyed from my couch, a park bench, and hotel rooms all over the world. But now it’s fall- my favorite season full of all the best things in life: cozy sweaters, apple cider, pumpkin beer, ankle boots, colorful leaves, and red wine. Keeping in the spirit of all my favorite things, I’m sharing the top ten books that I’ve read so far in 2019 (and a few honorable mentions because I’m incapable of limiting myself).

  1. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

This book was on my radar for a long time, and I finally read it in July. Months later, I still feel haunted by this novel. The story and characters have stayed with me, I can’t shake them from my head. Much of this book took place in the confines of one hotel in Moscow, but the themes and emotions it inspired go far beyond building walls and the pages that contained them.

  1. Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

On a rainy Friday night in March I treated myself to a Bradley Cooper movie marathon, and Silver Linings Playbook was part of the lineup. Watching the movie again reminded me of how much I enjoyed the book, and so I decided to reread it. It’s a beautiful story that explores relationships and mental illness; it’s equal parts endearing, heart-wrenching, and at times comical. Pat, the main character, is so engaging that you can’t help but root for him to succeed, even if you know what he’s doing is ill-fated. (And, of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a certain attractive, blue-eyed actor as the mental image of the main character.)

  1. Red Notice by Bill Browder

Another book that haunted me, but this one is a true story. It’s a combination of high-stakes business, international law, Russian politics, and ultimately the global fight for justice for a man wrongfully imprisoned and killed. The events in this memoir read like a James Bond novel, and it was sobering to remember that it was all real. This was also one of the first nonfiction books that I’ve read that has mainly taken place during my lifetime, and it was disturbing to picture where I was and what I was doing at the time of some of the more horrific events in the book.

  1. Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig

This book started out slow for me, but once I was hooked I couldn’t put it down. After an embarrassing first encounter with a crippled girl, a young lieutenant takes pity on her and begins a friendship. She misinterprets his interest as romance, and he plays along to keep her happy and in good health. His actions are kindhearted in intent but cruel in practice, and they get worse as he finds himself more and more entangled with her family. This was a brilliant exploration of compassion and human nature set against the backdrop of pre-World War I Austria-Hungary.

  1. Butterfly by Yusra Mardini

This was a moving memoir, beautiful in its simple and direct style but heartbreaking in the events described. Yusra tells the story of her childhood in Syria, and her dreams of becoming an Olympic swimmer. As she enters her teens she describes the gradual yet devastating way that war took over her normal life, and how her family made the unimaginable decision to flee to Germany. Their journey was difficult, terrifying, exhausting, and very nearly fatal. As Yusra goes on to eventually compete in the 2016 Olympics on the refugee team, she reflects on what it means to be a refugee and have that word thrust upon you by a world that seems determined to use it against you.

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Rereading To Kill a Mockingbird always feels a little bit like going home. I love Scout as a character, she reminds me a little of myself when I was younger. The story is so familiar to me yet it never seems to bore me. Scout’s innocent perspective of a very mature and traumatizing situation not only makes Tom Robinson’s trial more “palatable” to read but it brings out the true injustice and unfairness of the case.

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Blomkvist’s apartment overlooking Gamla Stan in Stockholm
  1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

I’ve loved this book since I first read it in 2012, and this year I had the wonderful experience of rereading it while in Stockholm, staying in an Airbnb just a few streets away from Blomkvist’s address! Never having been to Stockholm before I didn’t realize how much of the city makes it into the books, but within a few hours of walking around Södermalm all I wanted to do was read this book and find the real-life locations mentioned throughout. Thanks to my local library and the Libby library app I was able to satisfy this craving and virtually borrow the book from nearly 5000 miles away- technology is great!

  1. In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

This is the better, real-life version of Moby Dick. It’s more exciting, less wordy, and based on the disaster of the whale ship Essex that inspired the novel. It’s an amazing tale of survival, and an interesting piece on early American history. I expected it to be dry and boring, but I was captivated. It had my book club talking for months!

  1. Educated by Tara Westover

This was an eye-opening memoir that made me feel truly grateful for my own family, upbringing, and opportunities for education. Growing up off the grid in rural Idaho, Tara Westover didn’t set foot in a classroom until she was seventeen. It was amazing to read of how she came to grips with her family and the unconventional way that she grew up while also accepting that she has every right to the education and accomplishments she has earned thus far in her life.

  1. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

This is unofficial required reading for anyone interested in mountaineering and travel. This is Krakauer’s account of the 1996 disaster on Mt. Everest that claimed eight lives, and until 2014 was the deadliest year on the mountain. I think it’s brilliant how he captured the essence and personalities of his fellow climbers while also showcasing the physical, mental, and emotional toll that summiting Everest entails. It was clear that he was still reeling from the disaster as he wrote the book, and I appreciated his honesty in admitting his mistakes and regrets.

Honorable mentions…

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

This is Angie Kim’s debut novel, and I was very impressed with it. She really brought the characters to life and made them real people with believable thoughts and actions. I can’t say I’m happy with how the novel ended, but I loved the way the story was told.

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick

This was another eye-opener for me. Despite all the CNN that my mom watched when I was a teen, I’m disappointed to admit that I didn’t know a lot of what was discussed in this book. Warrick researches the people and events that led to the founding of ISIS. He highlights decisions and mistakes that were made for the sake of politics- in both the US and Middle East. It’s sad to look at the state of things today and wonder if the situation could be any better if only a few different choices were made.

 

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Nine Perfect Strangers was published in November of 2018.  Sometime before Christmas I placed a hold for the book at my local library.  Four months after that I nearly missed the email notification that a copy was finally available for me to borrow.  In the months since I placed the hold, I had veered away from mainstream new releases in fiction (I was tired of being led astray by good reviews only to be disappointed in writing quality and style) and instead was focusing on more nonfiction books, and returning to timeless old favorites in between.  I had forgotten what the book was supposed to be about, but a quick skim of the summary brought it back: nine strangers spend 10 days at a health retreat and face unexpected challenges.

In a lot of ways, this book is what I associate with typical Liane Moriarty: some kind of bizarre mystery, a dash of ridiculousness, a touch of humor, and a range of characters that are frustrating and endearing and sometimes one-dimensional.  Just like Big Little Lies, Three Wishes, and Truly Madly Guilty, I blasted through the book, determined to see what happened as fast as possible.  Moriarty knows how to hook me; a health retreat is just about the last setting in the world that I would want to delve into, but there I was on my lunch break, extending my time just so I could finish one chapter.  And the next, and the next one after that…  Beginning with the unfair confiscation of wine and chocolate and moving on to LSD smoothies and fire safety awareness, the health retreat went from annoying to sinister in just a few days.  I can honestly say I wasn’t prepared for the strange turn of events, so I have to hand it to Moriarty on a job well done of keeping me entertained.

However, the biggest thing I struggled with is something I’ve experienced while reading some of her other novels: there are just too many characters for me to feel a connection with.  Obviously in this book the writer Frances Pelty was intended to be the main protagonist, but there were eight other guests and three employees at the retreat that had histories and personalities of their own.  While the book explored all of them in some detail, it was hard to be deeply invested in any of their narratives.  The Marconi family experience and Masha’s backstory were probably explored the most other than Frances, but I would have loved to read more about Carmel’s evolution from businesswoman to mother (and caretaker and volunteer) and Lars’ family life, among others.  The most annoying characters by far were puppy-dog Yao and the Kardashian-wannabe Jessica; I would have loved to trade their plotlines for more details on ANY of the other characters.  I didn’t understand Yao’s character development at all, and Jessica’s was entirely unbelievable because I couldn’t understand how someone hadn’t slapped her in the face at any point in her life.

I also felt that some of the loose ends weren’t tied up in the last chapters.  While there was a general sense of ending (I don’t want to give away any spoilers here) it seemed like some characters had more detailed “epilogues.”  There were a few points mentioned in the last chapters that alluded to certain things happening, but there were several possible interpretations and I wasn’t sure which one was the intended plotline.

Even so, I did enjoy reading this.  It’s a fun book with twists and turns, and I was captivated until the end.  It had just the right balance of comedy and I was genuinely entertained.  I’m happy to say that Moriarty has yet to write a book that I dislike, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

 

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction1 Comment

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“Never Let Me Go” has been on my reading list for a long time. I remember adding it to my list back when I still kept track of books that I wanted to read on the Notes app on my iPhone. But somehow, over the years, it kept slipping further and further down my list, and it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I decided to read it on a whim.

On the night that I bought it, I had plans to meet a friend for dinner after work. But dinner reservations were for that awkward time that would make me too early by going straight from the office, but not really worth it if I went home first. So naturally I stopped at a bookstore on the way to kill some time. I’m participating in a book exchange that one of my friends started, so I needed to stop there anyway to pick up a copy of “The Alchemist” to send off. I remember wandering around the bookstore aimlessly, going from the fiction section to biographies to business books, trying to find something for myself. And then I noticed “Never Let Me Go,” and I remembered how long I’ve been wanting to read it, so I grabbed it and left.

I’m rambling a little bit about why I bought it because I don’t want to go into too much detail about the book itself. The basic summary of the book is this: Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy grew up together at an exclusive boarding school in the English countryside. Now they’re adults and have reentered each others’ lives, and Kathy finds herself reflecting on and trying to understand everything about their past. That’s not much of a description, but I feel like that’s all I really knew when I started reading the book. And I think I enjoyed it so much because I didn’t know too much about it- which is why I’m trying to avoid talking about the plot here. This is one of those novels that doesn’t really have an introductory scene, it just picks up with one of the characters going about their day. You don’t really know what’s going on, or why they’re doing what they’re doing, or to some extent what they’re talking about. But you figure it out as you keep reading, and everything settles into place.

Another thing that took some getting used to was the conversational tone of the book. It’s written in Kathy’s point of view, and it’s as if she’s sitting with you and telling you a story. But it’s just like any story that a friend or family member tries to tell you; sometimes she backtracks to explain other details before starting on one topic, and at other times it feels like she’s getting ahead of herself and talking about things you don’t understand yet. But once I got used to her tone, it almost made the book seem more intimate. I felt more connected with the characters, and to everything that happened to them.

Once I started to understand the characters, and what the premise of the novel was about, it became more and more heartbreaking. And it wasn’t sad in the sense that I was crying over any particular scene (there were no tears shed, I’m not much of a crier when it comes to books). It was more of a growing sense of pity and compassion for the characters. But I don’t want to say too much about it, because I think not knowing is part of the beauty of the novel.

This book is one that I’m really trying to encourage my friends to read, mainly because I want to talk about it! But I also think it would be great for a book club; there are a lot of topics presented that would make a good discussion. When it comes to enjoying books I think some are meant to be consumed all at once, and the thrill is in reading the story as it happens. For other books, I think the pleasure is in the way they sit with you after you finished reading them. “Never Let Me Go” is definitely one of the latter, at least for me. I’m so happy that I finally decided to read it, and I can’t wait to hear what other people think.

Faithful by Alice Hoffman

On By onehappybookwormIn Coming of Age, FictionLeave a comment
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Faithful- the latest novel by Alice Hoffman

A few weeks ago my friend and I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by author Alice Hoffman.  (This is the same friend who recommended Girl Underwater this past spring).  Our local library regularly hosts authors for lectures, but I had never attended one before.  Though I hadn’t read any of Alice Hoffman’s books I thought it would be something different to do, and an interesting experience as well.  And it was- I took a lot away from the hour that I spent there.

She talked about how books have had an impact on her life, both as a reader and a writer.  She referenced books that were significant to her throughout her childhood and young adulthood.  One of the most memorable things that Ms. Hoffman said was that she feels that books you read in your middle school and early teenage years stay with you throughout your life, and become a part of who you are.  This is something that I completely agree with, though I’ve never thought about it before.  Looking forward, I think this is a topic that I’ll elaborate more on in a later blog post.

Much of the lecture was about Hoffman’s development as a writer, and how she came to be a successful author.  As someone who has wanted to be a writer since the time I could read and write, I enjoyed this part of the discussion.  It inspired me to focus more on my writing (which is partly why I’ve been slacking on my reading list and blog updates).

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My signed copy!

Before opening up the discussion for questions, Alice read aloud an excerpt from her latest book, Faithful.  From reading the book jacket of the signed copy I had purchased, I knew that the story was about a young woman who was struggling to move on with her life following an accident that involved her best friend.  The section that Alice read aloud from was a scene in which the main character’s mother visited her on her birthday.  It was also the first time she saw her daughter’s apartment in New York City.  The main character, Shelby, was worried about the state of her apartment and what her mom would think of her life in the city.  She had tried putting off the visit, but her mother insisted.  I almost laughed aloud; I’ve lived out this scene a number of times in my own life.  For that scene alone, I couldn’t wait to start reading the book.

The novel begins post-accident, at the height of Shelby’s depression.  It spans about ten years, mostly centering on Shelby’s personal development.  But it also examines her relationships with the important people in her life: her mother, her boyfriend, her friends.  As someone who has felt a little bit lost at different points in life, I appreciated the way that Faithful presented Shelby’s mental health.  She wasn’t perceived as whiney or ungrateful, which I’ve experienced in reading other books about young women going through a tough time.  The novel never shied away from the fact that she was in a dark place, and it provided a pretty accurate depiction of someone trying to put their life back together without having any real idea of how or what to do.  It was realistic in showing that not everything comes together all at once, and sometimes moving forward means you have to backtrack a little bit first.

I enjoyed reading about Shelby’s journey in Faithful.  It was a welcome surprise coming from a lecture that I originally signed up for just because I wanted something different to do.  And as an added bonus, it opened me up to another author whose books I plan on adding to my (ever-growing) reading list.  I’m looking forward to reading more from Alice Hoffman someday soon.

 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, TravelLeave a comment

I love Harry Potter. I really do.  I could probably go into detail and devote a whole post to why it’s my favorite and what it’s meant to me over the past 17ish years, but instead I’ll try to stick to just one topic: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

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I first heard of the play during what I would consider an emotionally charged time. It was almost a year ago, and I had just gotten back from a spontaneous trip to Germany for Oktoberfest.  I was still coming to terms with a rough break-up (the reason why I booked said spontaneous trip to Germany), I had recently moved to a new neighborhood and was still adjusting, and I was dealing with some serious post-travel blues.  To me, traveling is a double-edged sword.  The feeling I get when I’m experiencing something new in a place I’ve never been is exhilarating, it’s addicting.  But each vacation exposes me to people and places that inspire even more trips, and I end up coming home with a bucket list that’s much longer than when I left.  It can feel a bit discouraging when you start thinking about time and work and money, and how you’ll probably never cross off everything on your list.  So that was my state of mind when I saw a post on Facebook that J.K. Rowling had co-written a play that was a sequel to the Harry Potter series, and it was going to premiere in London the following summer.  I talked to my friend Michelle who I hadn’t seen in a while, she jumped on board to go with me, and then all of a sudden I was waking up at 5:00 AM eastern time to participate in the pre-sale, and then I got the email confirmation for the tickets and that was how the base of our London & Iceland trip was planned.

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On the way to the Hogwarts Express!

 

Flash forward ten months to about one month ago, and we were on our way to London! We had planned the trip so that the play was on our last day, so we had lots of time to explore the city.  There’s a lot to do and see in London, and I think we checked off pretty much all of the major stuff.  We saw the Tower of London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Platform 9 ¾, Abbey Road, the Globe Theatre, and a lot more.  We even managed to squeeze in a day trip to Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Oxford.  There is so much history in London (and in England in general), and I’ve added quite a few books to my reading list.  Since the trip I’ve been binge-watching The Tudors on Netflix, but I want to read about that time period too.  I’m also interested in the British monarchy in general.  And after this trip, I definitely want to clear the dust off my Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes collections.

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Palace Theatre

But then came the day of the play! I was super excited to see it.  I had bought the book when it came out, but I had decided not to read it until after watching the play.  My theory was that it was created to be watched, not read.  And since we ended up spending a lot of money on the tickets and trip, I wanted to experience it in the element it was intended to be.  We picked up the tickets in the morning, and there was an almost-crisis when I didn’t realize the tickets had fallen out of my bag.  Thankfully there was a very kind woman who saw it happen and picked them up for us so we were in the clear (Dear God, please bless this woman and her family).  We ate lunch in Chinatown (where I successfully ate fried rice with chopsticks) and then it was play time!

I’m not going to give anything away here, but I have to say that the play was amazing! The special effects alone were incredible; I honestly don’t know how they did it.  The music was perfect, too, it helped to really create the right atmosphere.  If you’ve read the book, you know that there is at least one scene with dementors, and I have to admit that I was legitimately (though only slightly) afraid during that part.  But overall I thought the acting was incredible, and that’s what really brought the story together.  The cast was so talented, and they did a great job of bringing these much-loved and well-known characters to life in a different format.  For me personally, the star of the show wasn’t Jamie Parker or Sam Clemmett (who play Harry and Albus respectively), but it was Anthony Boyle (who played Scorpius) that stole my heart.  He brought a lot of personality to the role, and looking back on the experience I have to say that he helped to make Scorpius my favorite character in Cursed Child.

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When it comes to the book itself, most of my friends had read it as soon as it was released, so they knew the story before I did. When I talked to a few of them about it, the general consensus was one of slight disappointment.  Some of the best things about the original Harry Potter series are the background descriptions and character insights, things that are lost in a screenplay.  I think they felt that it was hard to really get into the story because for the most part they were only reading the dialogue.  I read the book after I got back from my trip, and I have to admit I understand where they’re coming from.  I found myself drawing on my memories of the play when I needed help visualizing a scene, and I could see how it would be difficult to become absorbed in the story without having seen it performed first.

Regardless, I loved Cursed Child, though in a different way from the original Harry Potter series. It’s bittersweet to admit it, but I think it was a fitting end to the Harry Potter story.  Mostly, though, I’m just grateful that I had the opportunity to see the play performed live.  It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience, and it formed the base of what is now one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.  This is definitely something that I’ll be talking about for years to come.

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Including this because it’s one of my favorite pictures ever!

 

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

On By onehappybookwormIn FictionLeave a comment

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I always feel recharged after a Stephen King novel, sort of like the mental version of the way your body feels after a good, hard workout. Stephen King novels are long and intense, full cover to cover of drama, love, fear, wit, mystery, and much more. The plotlines are addictive, and for me that means pushing aside daily activities so I can finish the book as fast as possible in epic, marathon reading sessions. Bag of Bones was no different.

My friend recommended this to me a few weeks ago after we were discussing the pros and cons of Girl on the Train. With my vacation in mind, I decided that Bag of Bones would be a good book to add to my iPad and read on the plane. I mostly prefer to read physical books, but I own both a Kindle and an iPad (both were Christmas gifts). I mostly use the Kindle when I’m in the mood for a “fluff” read and don’t want to spend extra money on a physical copy, and I really only use the iPad when traveling. The added benefit of the iPad is that it allows me to read in the dark without turning on the lights (yes, I know that is terrible for your eyes).

Anyway, I started Bag of Bones somewhere near the end of my flight from London to Reykjavik, but I didn’t become addicted until my flight back to the States from Iceland, when I actually was able to get past the first few chapters. Three days later I was so hooked that I was reading online on the Kindle Cloud Reader at work (another benefit of the Kindle). I would not recommend reading at work, but in my own defense it was the Friday before a holiday weekend and by the time I started most people had already left for the day. I finished the book later that night, while decidedly ignoring messages from my friends who wanted to celebrate the long weekend and hear about my trip (sorry friends!).

Bag of Bones is about an author who suffers from severe writer’s block and is also struggling to come to terms with his wife’s death four years prior. He moves to his old lake house in rural Maine, and begins having delusions and encounters paranormal activity within the house, and also becomes involved in a custody battle over a charming, three-year-old girl in town. The plotlines seem tangled and separate in the beginning, but I love the way Stephen King brings them together in the end. Everything is connected in some way, and I feel like there was no detail that was insignificant or didn’t matter. It’s hard to go into detail without giving too much away, so I’ll just say that this book got my heart rate pumping at times. There were a few instances where I was extremely happy to be reading in the safety of a crowded airplane and brightness of my office rather than alone in my apartment at night.

Also, I loved when King went into detail about the “writing zone,” and how it feels when you’re completely absorbed in what you’re writing. I love to write, and if I could do one thing only that’s what it would be. Over the past few years it’s been difficult to find time, and there have been many moments where I’ve been discouraged and felt like I lost the talent I used to have. But that zone, that feeling, that complete unawareness of reality- I understand it. I can still get there, and in a weird way I felt encouraged when I read those scenes.

Bag of Bones was the perfect plane read, it brought me back from my trip and now I’m ready to tackle my fall reading list. If you’re a Stephen King fan you’ve probably already read it, but if you haven’t you should go for it. Though I would recommend reading during the daytime- I at least found that comforting!

The Saga of the Volsungs

On By onehappybookwormIn Fiction, Travel1 Comment

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It’s amazing how time can get away from you! It seems like just yesterday I sat down to create my summer reading list, but it also feels as if it’s been much longer than two months since my last post! There has been a lot going on in my life, and I’m kind of amazed at how much I’ve packed into these last two months. I’ve been on a trip to Philadelphia to visit a friend, a trip to Cleveland for work, two separate trips to visit my brother in upstate New York, I’ve celebrated the 4th of July here at home, celebrated a friend’s birthday, celebrated the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup, started rowing practice again, I sprained my wrist while hiking, attended a few retirement parties, watched as my company sold the division that I work in, congratulated three different couples on their pregnancy announcements, planned my own birthday celebration (taking place later today!), and throughout it all I’ve been finalizing details for my upcoming trip to London and Iceland. So, yeah, life has been a little crazy lately. I’ve definitely been feeling a little overwhelmed, but looking at my calendar things should slow down after my vacation, which is only two weeks away!

This trip has been in the works for almost a year, so there’s a lot of pent up excitement. I’ll be traveling with a friend to London for five days, and then to Iceland for five days. It’s funny thinking about it now, because a year ago today I was making an impromptu decision to go to Oktoberfest in Munich by myself, and that trip set the ball rolling for this upcoming vacation. Basically, I came back from Munich in the beginning of October last year and was feeling the inevitable post-travel blues. Soon after I got back, the announcement about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child came out, and since I was missing Europe like crazy I came up with the idea to see the play live in London. I enlisted my friend, Michelle, to join me, even though it had been a year since we had seen each other. She also loves to travel, and is a huge Harry Potter fan too. We bought the play tickets last October, and suddenly our “just a few days in London” turned into traveling around more and deciding to go to Iceland because it’s off the beaten track and neither of us have been there. Ten months later, here we are.

In Iceland, we’ll be renting a car and driving along the southern coast of the island. Since we know next to nothing about tourism there, I bought a guidebook a few months ago to figure out a general plan of where we should stay, what we should do, and all that fun stuff. I bought the Rough Guides to Iceland, and I think it has been generally helpful in planning, but we can’t really put it to the test until we get there. As I was flipping through the book, though, I noticed a section at the very end called “Books and Sagas.” As a reader, my interest was piqued. It provided reading recommendations for books on Icelandic history, modern literature, travel and wildlife, and the sagas.

I’ve never heard of the Icelandic sagas before. According to my guidebook, they were written anonymously between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. They cover a wide range of subjects; some are biographies of individuals, others serve as histories of the early Commonwealth, and often contain elements of folklore, Norse kings, and Viking-era adventures. In preparation for my upcoming trip, I decided to read two or three of these sagas to try to get a flavor of the culture and history of the country I’ll be visiting.

I started with The Saga of the Volsungs. According to my guidebook, this saga is said to have inspired The Lord of the Rings (which I’m a fan of) and Wagner’s Ring Cycle (which I don’t think I’ve ever heard). The description said that it more or less follows the adventures of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, and contains elements of unrequited love, greed, and vengeance. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to read this.

To be honest, I’ve never read anything quite like this before. The beginning of the saga describes Sigurd’s genealogy. He was a descendant of Odin, the Norse god of war and wisdom, and the first few chapters describe the battles and adventures of his forefathers. Then the saga goes into Sigurd’s own brave adventures: how he avenged his father’s death, slayed the dragon Fafnir, and obtained more treasure than any other man. Following this section, the saga becomes less mythical as it describes the marriages and alliances (and ultimate betrayal) of Sigurd, his wife, Gudrun, her brothers, and Brynhild, a wise and beautiful queen.

One of the things that struck me about The Saga of the Volsungs was that the prose was straight to the point. There weren’t many metaphors or overly poetic lines, and the scenes describing battles were very blunt. I realize that part of this could be due to the translation into English, but I think the overall bluntness is just one of the aspects of the sagas. While I was reading, in my mind I kept picturing Viking-era men sitting around a fire and telling this story aloud. I like that image, and if the prose was different I don’t think I would get the same picture.

Throughout the saga, I definitely picked up on elements that could have inspired Tolkien. The most obvious was a cursed ring that would bring doom to all who had it. Some names also looked familiar, and I wonder if some of the characters in The Lord of the Rings were inspired in part by Sigurd and his contemporaries. There were also a few things that reminded me of A Song of Ice and Fire, and I would be willing to bet that George R.R. Martin has read this saga as well. Namely, a pair of incestuous twins brought Jaime and Cersei Lannister to mind. Also, Iceland is often referred to as the land of ice and fire, and that was in the back of my mind as well. Overall, the themes and battles described in this saga were similar The Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire, and I’m tempted to re-read both series (even though that would set me way back on my reading list).

This was my first saga reading experience, and I’m glad I managed to fit it in before my trip. I’m hoping to finish a second one (Laxdaela Saga) as well, but I don’t know if I’ll have enough time. I’m glad I got a taste of the sagas, though, and the parallels between this and other fantasy series are obvious. I would recommend this to anyone who is into those types of books, or anyone who is interested in Norse mythology or Viking-era tales in general.