Awakening to the Details

2006: Book 1--Inkheart

2006-01-04T18:30:39Z

My first book of the year was "Inkheart," a young-adult book by Cornelia Funke. I guess the book was written in German, and translated into English. I checked it out from the library.

This book has a great premise: what would happen if you could "read" a character right out of a story into reality? However, there were a few problems with it.

The book is an awkward size and there are many, many chapters. It wasn't hard to keep the characters in mind, but there was as lot of going back and forth from village to village, which was probably unnecessary. Also, the book starts out in from a little girl's point of view and several chapters in, it switches abruptly to a secondary character's POV. I wasn't expecting that.

Apparently, the reader is to believe that the story takes place in Northern Italy, but it is actually quite unclear. The great-aunt of the girl is supposedly a native of the area, but her name is English (Elinor Loredan). The girl and her father have decidedly English names also. *shrugs*

I thought this adventure story would be a quick read, but it took me two weeks to complete it. I would say read it only if you like YA books.

Next up, "Inkspell," the sequel to this book.

Embodiment

2006-01-02T18:31:05Z

I wrote 1,760 pages in 8 paper journals in 2005. This is a record for me. The journals varied in size; most of them were 5x7-size blank bound books. However, the 8th journal, which took me four months to finish, was 384 pages of 8-1/2 x 11-size pages.

Today, while surfing randomly, I found this LJ community, Embodiment. Although I don't have trouble keeping a paper journal (I've been journaling consistently for eleven years, with 57 journals to my credit), my goal is to CHANGE my journal from being a constant list of depressive episodes into something more narrative and interesting.

Wish me luck.

2005 50-Book Challenge Total

2006-01-02T17:28:47Z

Well, I know I read more than 50 books. There were some that I never got around to updating here on the blog. As for the page-count challenge, I will have to go back and add up to see if I made that or not, but I'm sure I did. I read quite a bit this year. Rediscovering the pleasure of the local library helped.

I plan to keep this challenge going for myself. Otherwise, I forget to spend time reading. Right now I'm reading "Inkheart," by Cornelia Funke. Afte that, it's "Inkspell." Both of those are library books that I've been renewing since Oct. 29. Oops. Need to get them finished.

Yesterday (Jan. 1), I finished a nonfiction book called "Journalution" by Sandy Grason. It is a great book to help journalers find ways to make their journals something than just complaints. It can help a person find healing, new goals, dreams, etc. I highly recommend it.

So that will be my first book of the year. :)

Books 44-48

2005-12-05T18:48:44Z

Book 44

Knitting by Anne Bartlett (272 pages)

This book is about two women of different backgrounds, both suffering from their own grief, who meet by chance one day and become friends from their common interest in knitting. The one woman is a professor of textiles. She is walking down the sidewalk one day when she comes upon an older woman trying to help a man who has passed out on the sidewalk. Later, the professor decides to mount a retrospective of homespun items, and she enlists the help of the older woman. However, the older woman becomes overwhelmed with the amount of work the professor expects her to do. Both of the women learn a lesson, and forgive one another and themselves in the process.

This book was a quick read. It takes place in Australia and I would have liked to have more description of the places in the story.

Book 45

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (254 pages)

This book was written in 1974, and it received critical acclaim. It is a book that has been on the banned book list for years. I had read it years ago, when I was still in high school, just for fun, and recently, I picked it up from the library, because I had totally forgotten about the plot.

The story is about a boys' Catholic school, and the corruption that occurs within. Jerry is one of the main characters. He is a freshman who just wants to be the quarterback of the football team. He is chosen by the members of the secret order, the Vigils, to participate in an "assignment." The assignments are humiliations or pranks. Archie is the member who comes up with the assignments. To maintain control over him, there is a black box. If Archie draws a white stone, then the assignee has to do the assignment. If he draws a black stone, then Archie has to do the assignment. Anyway, Jerry's assignment is to refuse to sell chocolates for ten days, then accept them on the eleventh day. The boys are to sell chocolates to help earn money for the school. Brother Leon, the acting school headmaster, overextended himself by accepting 20,000 boxes instead of the 10,000 boxes they sold the year before. But he is corrupt. (It is inferred that he is doing things on the sly.) So, all is going according to plan until the eleventh day. Jerry refuses to take the chocolates.

This causes consternation among the students, some of whom give up selling, as well as annoyance with Brother Leon because he needs to get all the boxes sold or owe a lot of money.

Archie thinks he has it all figured out: how to get Jerry to "sell" his chocolates and to screw over the administration. The book ends on a down note, which was disappointing, but realistic.

This book was excellent! It was a quick read, taking me only a couple of hours.

Book 46

The Borning Room by Paul Fleischman (101 pages)

This book is a young adult lit book about a girl who is born, watches births, and gives birth herself in a particular room of a house. It takes place during the 1850s and thereafter. But being a short book, it does not go into major detail about the Civil War or anything like that. Basically, the book emphasizes family and familial traditions. Another quick read, I saw this book on the shelf at the library and read it in probably an hour or so.

Book 47

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill (228 pages)

Ugh. This book was a monster, in spite of it being a slim volume. Alison, the main character, is a model, now in her middle age, struggling with hepatitis and old injuries from an accident. The story is told in flashbacks, from the first person point of view. the majority of the action takes place in the 1970s and early 1980s. Alison tells the reader how she ran away from home at a young age, met a photographer who told her she could be a model, and how she decided to do it. She ends up in Paris, becoming a model and the mistress of her agent. Later on, she ends up back home, practically broke. She goes to community college, then to New York, where she goes to work for a temp agency. She gets a job as a proofreader, and that is where she meets Veronica. Veronica is a middle-aged woman, who has a bisexual boyfriend. The boyfriend contracts HIV, which develops into AIDS, and he dies (in the background). Veronica also comes down with the disease. Alison goes to California and tries modeling in music videos. All the while, Veronica struggles with AIDS. Although they are hardly more than acquaintances, Alison tries to help Veronica. But I think that Alison thought, "there but for the grace of God go I." Alison could have ended up like Veronica. She did in a way, with her own demons and illnesses. But she also helped Veronica, by being a friend until the end, and therefore was able to find forgiveness.

I say this book was a monster because in spite of its shortness, it took me several nights to read. I guess I didn't really care for its meandering memoir-ish style.

Book 48

The Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg (206 pages)

Betta is a recent widow. She decides on a whim to move to the midwest from Boston. Once there, she meets a variety of people, and struggles with her grief. She finds little slips of paper that her husband made notes on--things they always wanted to do but didn't do, or things she loved. She makes new friends, and reconnects with old ones from college. She decides to open a store that will cater to women who like frivolous, yet necessary and beautiful, things. The book ends with her finding something that she thought was lost to her, and with her realizing that there is no one way to mourn.

I like Berg's books. She always seems to pack a huge story into a slim volume.

Book 43--Your Creative Power

2005-09-27T01:54:00Z

I was looking through the books on a particular shelf at the library this past weekend and stumbled upon this book, a 1948 original edition. Alex Osborn is the O in the famed BBDO advertising agency. Throughout the book, he talks of "geniuses" such as Henry Ford, Eli Whitney, among others. Of course, this book being written in a particular era, it is rather disparaging to women. For instance, he mentions that women were quite creative during the war, but seems to imply that once they are back in the home, they have no more need to be creative. However, he does say that most women are creative at managing households. *shrugs*

I enjoyed reading the examples in this book, and I think that it could be useful for anyone who is trying to harness his or her own creative energies. Just take it with a grain of salt, because a lot has changed since 1948!

375 pages

Book 42--The Mineral Palace

2005-09-13T01:19:30Z

I picked up The Mineral Palace by Heidi Julavits at the local discount bookstore. In the Great Depression, a family of three move to Pueblo, Colorado to start over. The wife, Bena, has just given birth to their son, and the husband is a philandering doctor. Their marriage is falling apart. Something seems to be wrong with their son, but the husband keeps the truth from Bena. She gets a job at the local newspaper and meets some interesting people, including a man who becomes her lover. She has a thing for dates and numbers, using them as omens.

Secrets abound in this book. I found it to be a riveting read, and I could identify with Bena. In the end, we learn that the masks we wear in public are just as artificial as the once-beautiful town showpiece of the Mineral Palace. We may appear to be all smiles on the outside, but underneath is a rotting core.

Bena and her husband have much to deal with by the end of the novel. Bena seems to be stronger and has come to grips with her past; however, the reader is left to wonder at her acts and whether or not she'll stay with her husband.

(368 pages)

Book 41--A Canticle for Leibowitz

2005-09-13T01:09:28Z

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr., is the (confusing) story of monks, who have taken it upon themselves to preserve the past--the past after a nuclear holocaust, that is.

The underlying question is, if everything were destroyed and the knowledge preserved and then somehow relearned, would we make the same mistakes again? According to this book, the answer to that question is yes.

I did not like this book at all. I normally enjoy reading post-apocalyptic fiction, but this book was just dull. It took too long to get into, and just when I was used to the first character(s), the plot changed to focus on a group of future characters.

This book is often recommended, but I say pass. Maybe I just didn't get it.

(368 pages)

Book 40--Banewreaker

2005-09-13T01:00:46Z

I was pleasantly surprised by Banewreaker. This Jacqueline Carey novel is the start of (hopefully) another great series. In a fantasy world similar to JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, seven gods have fought a war. Only one of the gods rebelled--the god who gave his gift of procreation (sex) to humankind. The other 5 followed their oldest brother's lead, because they were afraid of his wrath. A flood came and separated the world from the gods. Now a prophecy has been foretold and it seems to be coming true. Banewreaker is the nickname of the god Satoris, third-born.

The most interesting character was Tanaros, the kingslayer. He has just enough characterization to make me wonder if he will turn on his lord in the end...

For diehard Carey fans only, because there are just too many rehashed plots.

(512 pages)

Book 39--Life Expectancy

2005-09-13T00:50:35Z

Life Expectancy by Dean R. Koontz is a book about a prophecy, a twist of fate (which was incredulous), and a switched-at-birth story. A man predicts the exact minute of his grandson's birth, and warns his son of five days that will be terrible in the grandson's life, then promptly dies.

The five days occur, and bad things do happen. A few good things happen, too.

I did not like the way a certain character seemed to keep coming back into the life of the baker (the prophesied child). When it was all explained, it seemed like a deus ex machina, and I hate those types of endings. I also felt the ending was hurried.

Read it only if you're a DRK fan.

(416 pages)

Book 38--Prodigal Son

2005-09-13T00:43:08Z

Prodigal Son by Dean R. Koontz is a new take on the Frankenstein story. In the preface, he writes that this book was intended to be a tv series, but the idea ended up getting shelved. He is developing a book series around it, however.

I really enjoyed this book. Lately, DRK's books have been "out there"; his existential crisis is quite evident in books like "One Door away from Heaven," "The Taking," and "Life Expectancy." But this book was different. This seemed to be classic DRK, in the tradition of "Phantoms" and "Whispers." He has a mysterious element, but also a horrific element.

I'm awaiting anxiously for the next book in the series.

(470 pages)

Books 31-37--The Chronicles of Narnia

2005-09-13T00:38:57Z

Although these seven books were in one volume, I'm counting each one as a separate book. The impending release of the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia" caused me to buy this book when I saw it in a bookstore. The cover is fantastic, with a golden lion's head set on a brown-black background.

Narnia (by C.S. Lewis) is composed of seven books: "The Magician's Nephew," "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," "The Horse and His Boy," "Prince Caspian," "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," "The Silver Chair," and "The Last Battle." I enjoyed the first two and the last book the best. The story begins with the magician's nephew unleashing a powerful evil Queen into the land of Narnia. The reader sees how Narnia begins (and eventually ends, by the seventh book). The human children of the second book have to defeat the Queen. The middle books have a few ties to these four human children, and I didn't really enjoy them all that much. I wanted to get to the final story, to see how it was all going to end.

When I was a preteen, I tried to read "TLW&W," but I found it difficult to muddle through. I still found most of these books difficult to muddle through. However, the ending was uplifting. I suppose if I appreciated all the Christian symbolism, perhaps I would have enjoyed the series more than I did. The ending of the series was uplifting, so it ended on a good note.

Read this only if you like fantasy.

(767 pages)

Book 30--A Thread of Grace

2005-09-13T00:26:05Z

A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell tells the story of a group of Jewish refugees, who fled into northern Italy from France, right after the fall of Mussolini. The book has several characters, and the reader sees through the eyes of both the Jews who sought refuge and the Italian partisans who helped hide them.

Alas, the book has a very depressing ending, but it was an interesting fictional look at a group of people who helped the helpless. I highly recommend it.

(430 pages)

Book 29--The Disobedience of Water

2005-09-13T00:21:51Z

The Disobedience of Water is a book of short stories by Sena Jeter Naslund. (I read this a couple of months ago, so forgive me if this review is brief.) All the stories were interesting. It was a quick read. I remember liking this book, but unfortunately, the actual stories didn't stick with me.

(213 pages)

Page update

2005-08-10T16:45:00Z

11,321 pages read; 28 books read

Book 28--The Historian

2005-08-10T16:43:49Z

The only reason this book is popular is because of the marketing machine.

"The Historian," a bloated corpse of a novel at 656 pages, is the debut novel of Elizabeth Kostova. She weaves the historical Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler, ruler of Wallachia), Cold-War Bulgaria and Romania, Turkey, France, and Amsterdam into something that never should have seen the light of day.

She uses the plot device of letters: the protagonist happens upon a mysterious book, then her father tells her the story of his mysterious book and the mysterious book of his mentor, who had disappeared mysteriously. Then her father goes on a quest to find her mother, who the daughter had thought dead all these years. Then the daughter reads all these supposed letters her father left for her to find. She follows him on his journey. Then there's an anticlimactic climax, with a happy ending. I hoped Vlad would kill them all by the time I finished reading.

The characters were flat and lifeless; even the scenic descriptions were not very scenic.

I found this book to be boring and predictable and insulting. Perhaps I already knew so much about the historical Vlad that I thought it was dull. Don't waste your time buying this book. Check it out at the library instead.

Books 23, 24, 25, 26, & 27--YA Literature

2005-08-10T16:37:16Z

Recently, I started going to the library and I checked out some books that I had always wanted to read.

"The Slave Dancer" by Paula Fox (176 pp.) tells the story of a boy who was kidnapped in New Orleans to play the fife on a slave ship. This harrowing story describes in detail the conditions on a slave ship in the mid-19th century. However, I didn't like the ending, when the author seems to use a Deus ex Machina, making the slave ship a victim to a storm.

"Gathering Blue" (215 pp.) and "Messenger" (168 pp.) both by Lois Lowry, tell of a not-so-far-off future in which the weak and disabled are less useful members of society. They are sequels of a sort to "The Giver." I enjoyed "GB" more than "M," but both are well-told tales.

"Hitty" (207 pp.) by Rachel Field is the story of a carved mountain ash doll. I had read this one before when I was a kid. The doll tells the story of her adventures on a whaling ship, getting lost in India, wending her way back to the United States, and ending up in an antique shop. It's a cute book, and little girls who like dolls should really enjoy this story.

"Ginger Pye" (250 pp.) by Eleanor Estes is a book about a dog. A little boy saves his money and gets a dog, but then the dog goes missing. The kids spend the majority of the book looking for the dog. I thought this book was a little draggy, but enjoyable.

All these books were read in about two hours or less each. (Total pages: 1016)

Book 22: The Kiss

2005-08-10T16:29:41Z

"The Kiss" by Kathryn Harrison is a strange little book. It is about her own sexual relationship with her father. She started having that "affair" when she in her late teens. She had grown up without him, and with a distant mother and overbearing grandparents. He kissed her on the mouth one day as they were saying goodbye at the airport, and she knew that it was more than just a kiss. I could hardly suspend my disbelief that she would enter into a (seemingly consensual) sexual relationship with her father.

I have to say that I didn't like reading this book, but couldn't stop myself. I like Harrison's other books ("The Binding Chair," "Poison") and she is a good writer.

224 pages

Book 21: Down Came the Rain

2005-07-05T15:19:06Z

"Down Came the Rain" is the story of Brooke Shields's battle with postpartum depression. As I read through her story, I could see that I myself had suffered from some of the same symptoms. Recently, Tom Cruise attacked her in an interview, saying that she didn't need the medication she was taking to help her. But, she did. If you read her story, you'll see that she needed help. Of course, I don't believe that it all stemmed from the PPD. PPD just made her aware that she needed therapy.

Unlike Brooke, I didn't enjoy any part of pregnancy. Brooke reveled in her soon-to-be motherhood, because it had taken her so long to become pregnant. She had visions of a happy birth and her perfect little angel. But she had a c-section, and a somewhat traumatic birth experience. As an actress and model, she wondered if she'd ever look the same way again. She felt ugly and hideous. Her friends encouraged her to get a baby nurse. I thought to myself, "yeah, well what about the rest of us who can't afford a baby nurse?"

And it wasn't just a case of "feel sorry for me because I had surgery." Through therapy, Brooke realized she had some expectations and when it didn't turn out that way, she was disappointed and angry, but unable to express it.

Families fixate on the new baby. They forget about the moms entirely. Some of the reviews on Amazon are hostile, but what people fail to realize is that no one talks about the realities of birth. All you see on tv is the happy stuff: mom smiling at cooing baby, happy family, baby nursing, etc. What about the torn perineum that needs time to heal, or the c-section incision that you wonder will ever feel normal again, or how in the hospital your husband has to help you use the bathroom because the nurses are too busy? Nobody ever talks about that. Nobody wants to know.

240 pages

Book 20: True to Form

2005-07-05T15:11:43Z

"True to Form" by Elizabeth Berg is a novel about a young girl who lost her mother and had to move to a different state with her father and new stepmother. It is a sequel to Berg's other books ("Durable Goods" and "Joy School"). The girl, Katie, believes she is a loser, and only wants to be popular. She gets in with a group of other girls, betrays her best friend, and then has to pick up the pieces.

What I loved about this book was the way Berg describes everyday objects. Katie has a special drawer where she keeps her "treasures," and the description was so clear and vibrant that I could see every object. I highly recommend this book for the writing alone, even if the story is somewhat predictable.

224 pages.

Book 19--The Book of Shadows

2005-07-05T15:07:14Z

"The Book of Shadows" by James Reese is a book about a woman who doesn't realize she's a witch, until one night when... a witch, a succubus and an incubus rescue her from certain death at the hands of crazed convent nuns and townspeople.

However, Herculine, the girl, has secret. She's not like other girls, exactly.

The first half of this book was the best part. Herculine tells her story of living among the nuns, up until that fateful night. The second half, of Herculine meeting her rescuers and what they need her for, is kind of boring. And of course, the book is open-ended, setting up for a sequel. (Be aware: there is some explicit sex in the book.)

480 pages.

Page update

2005-06-28T02:56:51Z

19 books read; 8481 pages.

Book 19--A Paper Life

2005-06-28T02:55:28Z

"A Paper Life " by Tatum O'Neal is an autobiography by the youngest actor to ever win an Oscar. Her upbringing was practically nonexistent, with her addicted mother being unable to deal with Tatum and her brother, finally settling in with her father and acting. However, his jealous rages broke her down at every turn. She, too, became an addict. Then she married John MacEnroe, cleaning herself up and becoming a mom. But all dreams come to an end sometime, and the divorce was bitter and ugly. She sank into a well of depression and addiction, becoming a heroin junkie (I think; that was kind of glossed over)--finally emerging sober on the other side.

I do think that some of her story was the "I'm a victim" syndrome: she claims to have been molested by a family friend, and her father's public abuse. Also, she feels that her addiction problems were inherited. But she was able to clean herself up to have kids. She could do whatever she put her mind to. If you like reading about celebrities, you will like this book. Now I'm curious to read MacEnroe's book, because O'Neal really slams him in her book.

304 pages

Book 18--Codependent No More

2005-06-28T02:45:13Z

"Codependent No More" by Melody Beattie is the now-classic book about addicts and their relationships with the people around them. I am not an addict, nor am I in a relationship with an addict (or have friends or family members that are addicts), but I found some of the advice useful anyway. She describes the signs as:

"If you find yourself caretaking all the time, ie: thinking or feeling responsible for other people, feel it is your responsiblity to help other people solve their problems, feel needy people are always attracted to you, and feeling unappreciated or used; or you have weak boundaries with the people in your life; you have dependency issues; poor communication; and low self-worth--you are codependent."

I got this book at a library sale, and I had been wanting to read it for awhile. Beattie uses actual people's stories and her own personal struggle with addiction to make the clinical stuff easier to understand.

264 pages

Book 17--The Blessing Stone

2005-06-06T16:24:03Z

"The Blessing Stone" by Barbara Wood tells the story of humans' history with the object of a mysterious stone that came from a meteorite. Starting out with proto-humans, the stone is passed down through the ages to the present day. Scandinavia, Israel, Africa, Britain, the American West, and even the fabled Xanadu all figure prominently in the stone's travels.

But the story is not really about the stone. It is about how humans have found the strength within themselves to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles through their own creativity and resilience.

I really liked this book and read it in two days. Hehe. (I had a lot of free time that week.)

464 pages

Book 16--Life of Pi

2005-06-06T16:18:22Z

"Life of Pi" by Yann Martel tells the story of an Indian boy stuck at sea with a tiger.

Or does it?

I was totally hooked into this book. The chapters are short and easily read. In fact, if I had had more time, I could have finished it in a day. I wanted to see if Pi was going to survive his ordeal. At the end of the book, you realize there are two survival stories. It's up to you to decide which one is true. The description and details really make this book come alive. I felt like I was Pi, dying of thirst, suffering from hunger, with the relentless sun roasting me.

Check this book out. You won't be disappointed!

420 pages