Room

by Emma Donoghue
published: Little Brown and Company, 2010
pages: 321

Jack and Ma have always been in Room.  They eat and play and work and watch TV in Room.  Jack has all he needs and all there is is Room.  Occasionally Old Nick will come at night, but Jack has never seen him because Ma won't let him.  Then one day Ma and Jack have a chance to escape, but will they escape and what will happen if they do.

I've been on the fence about reading this book for ages, and I picked it up because it was my book club book for the month.  I was overwhelmed by it.

This book covers a very sensitive and traumatic topic.  Never in a million years would I wish kidnapping on anyone, and hearing the events of the story from a 5-year-olds point of view make me that much more uncomfortable.  He literally knows nothing but the room he was born in and he has trouble comprehending the world outside.  He doesn't understand why his mother would want to leave the room either.  It's heartbreaking and increasingly troubling to read.  Frankly, it got a bit annoying and irritating as well.

One thing I did enjoy about the book is that it deals with the aftermath of captivity.  Very rarely does a book talk about what happens after the escape/rescue/tragedy/loss.  Half of this book is devoted to that, to the reentry of the characters into the world and how the world responds to them.  Ma and Jack aren't normal, they don't come from a normal situation but to be treated as celebrities because of something terrible is strange.  There is so much insight to dealing with life after and the healing process for both Jack and his Ma.

If this hadn't been my book club book for the month, I probably wouldn't have finished this book.  I wanted to like this book.  I wanted to be moved by this book, but I just wasn't. The movie adaptation is coming out fairly soon, but honestly, I'm not sure I want to see it.

Stars: 2/5

Praise:

"Talented, versatile Donoghue relates a searing tale of survival and recovery, in the voice of a five-year-old boy..."
     -Kirkus Review

"The stars are in perfect alignment for Emma Donoghue's new novel, Room....And the topic couldn't be more provacative."
     -USA Today

"...little has been written about the pain of re-entry, and Donoghue's bravado in investigating that potentially terrifying transformation grants the novel a frightening resonance that will keep readers rapt."
     -Publisher's Weekly

A 2015 Full House Challenge book. 
An Ultimate Teen Reads Challenge book.

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline
published: Broadway Books, 2011
pages: 372

When the creator of the worldwide virtual reality gaming system, OASIS, dies, he leaves his fortune hidden in an egg somewhere in his digital world.  People all over the world have been searching ever since.  Wade Wilson stumbles across the first clue that leads him closer to the ultimate prize.  However, time is not on his side; Wade must beat a slue of other competitors including some that are willing to kill.  There's only one way to survive: to win.

This book was a bit of a rollercoaster.  There's so much action packed into the story.  It had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happens next.  I loved all the plot twists and the big reveal; you never know who to trust when everything is online.

There was a bit of a lull in the story about halfway through.  We had some character development, but other than that not much seems to happen.  I found myself skimming the page every once in a while, waiting for the next moment of high action.

The vast amount of 70s and 80s references were incredibly entertaining.  I grew up on that kind of pop culture thanks to my dad, so I knew most of the references on the spot.  It was so much fun to geek out while reading this book.  I thoroughly enjoyed slipping in and out of OASIS with Wade.

OASIS is a virtual reality that I would love to visit.  The world is so intensely huge, there something for everyone.  Each planet is described with such vivid details that it feels like you are right there with all the avatars.  We only got a small peak into the virtual world.  There is some much left unexplored that it's incredibly enticing.  I  would love to explore it, I wouldn't be very good at the MMO (massive multiplayer online) parts of OASIS but it would definitely super cool to experience it.

Ernest Cline creates an amazing world with an intense adventure challenge to complete.  I definitely enjoyed reading this book.


Stars: 3.5/5

Praise:

"As one adventure leads expertly to the next, time simple evaporates."
      --Entertainment Weekly

"An action-packed, highly entertaining, nostalgic thrill ride through the past combined with the danger and excitement of a not-too-distant future."
      --New York Journal of Books

"An adrenaline shot of uncut geekdom... [featuring] the perfect lovable/unlikely hero."
      --Publishers Weekly

A Full House Reading Challenge 2015 book.
A 2015 TBR Pile Challenge book. 
An Alphabet Soup Challenge book.
A 2015 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge book. 

Jurassic Park

by Michael Crichton
published: Ballentine Books, 2012 (originally 1990)
pages: 448

John Hammond had a vision and he made his vision a reality.  Now he needs Dr. Alan Grant along with Ellie Sattler to make sure everything on his special island is functioning correctly.  The mysterious vision in question, live dinosaurs.  Mr. Hammond has found a way to recreate the extinct.  His Jurassic Park is meant to be an exhilarating experience for families, but when his own grandchildren come to test it out, a couple little mishaps occur.  It's up to the people on the island to take back control and prevent the worst case scenario: dinosaur takeover.

This book is crazy.  I mean, I can't imagine reading this when it first came out.  We know a lot about dinosaurs now, but in 1990 dinosaur knowledge wasn't so common.  In fact, I can't decide if knowing about dinosaurs makes this book more or less frightening.  The storytelling was quite good.  I liked that there was a understandable technical side to the story.  The chaos theory thrown into the plot and explained by a character throughout the book, makes this story more plausible and destructive.

I usually devote my review time to characters I loved in the book, but it needs to be said.  Mr. Hammond is a deplorable character.  Everything about him is greedy and self-serving and he puts his park before everyone, including his grandchildren.  One would think that he would be protective of his own flesh and blood, but when it comes down to it Dr. Grant does most of the protecting.  And thank God for that because those kids would have been dead a hundred times over otherwise.

Aside from the time I spent being incredibly angry at Mr. Hammond, I spent quite a bit of time tense and scared for the characters.  There are some intense scenes with those dinosaurs.  I mean, they're dinosaurs so it's going to be scary, but I always forget how powerful words can be on a page.  I've seen the movie a dozen times and this book is right on par when fear is involved.  I put the book down a couple of times because I didn't want to know what came next.

Michael Crichton created a complex world in which the morals of humans were questioned and personified through terrifying dinosaurs that were as dangerous as they were beautiful.  I can safely say that I would never visit an island of dinosaurs, but I would definitely marvel from afar.

Stars: 4/5

Praise:

"Frighteningly real...compelling...It'll keep you riveted."
     --The Detroit News

"Crichton is a master at explaining complex concepts in simple terms."
     --Library Journal

"one of the great storytellers of our age...The best Michael Crichton novels are...edifying reads, whose gripping plots contain real ideas."
     --Newsday

An Alphabet Soup Challenge book. 

Little Bee

by Chris Cleave
published: Simon and Schuster 2010 (originally 2008)
pages: 266

 Little Bee, a Nigerian refugee, has just been released from a British immigration detention center where she spent two years of her life.  She has now made it her mission to find the only people she knows on the island, Sarah and Andrew.  Sarah is a well to-do young mother who has a son who won't take off his batman costume.  These two women met once upon a time on a Nigerian beach and now two years later their lives cross again. They will finally have a moment to bring closure to the horrific events that happened that fateful day.

This book was quite a slow read for me.  It took me a very long time to actually get into the story and to care about the characters. Frankly, I ended up not liking most of them anyway.  I'm not sure how people can like some of these characters, though maybe the point is that you're not supposed to like them.  Not all of them were despicable but they were all broken in their own ways, some by their own choices and some by the choices of others.

This book is definitely character driven and I usually like character driven novels, but I didn't connect with any of the characters.  Little Bee is by far my favorite character, to say she is probably the only character I liked in this book, well her and the 4-year-old boy, Charlie.

One of the things I actually liked was the way grief was portrayed in this book.  Each character grieved in their own way, whether is was refusing to take off a batman costume, going to a new country, becoming guilt-ridden over secrets, or pulling away from family.  Grief was palpable throughout the story.  If anything this book shows the reader that there isn't one specific and acceptable way to grieve.  There was ways to grieve and not hurt others, which is ideal, but not always how grief takes form.

I enjoyed the ending of this book as well.  It was very open ended; anything could have happened after we leave the characters.  Most the time I don't like not knowing what's going to happen next, but it fit this book really well.  The lack of closure is a consistent theme through out this book, so I was glad that the book ended the way it did.

This book is very well written, but it just wasn't really my cup of tea.

Stars: 2.5/5 


Praise:

"Ambitious and fearless...Cleave immerses the reader in the worlds of his characters with an unshakable confidence."
     --THe Guardian (UK)

"Little Bee will blow you away.... Both surprising and inevitable, thoroughly satisfying if also heartrending."
     --The Washington Post

"One of the most vividly memorable and provocative characters in recent contemporary fiction.... Cleave paces the story beautifully, lacing it with wit, compassion, and, even at the darkest moments, a searing ray of hope."
     --The Boston Globe

An Alphabet Soup Challenge 2015 book. 

Code Name Verity

by Elizabeth Wein
published: Hyperion, 2013 (originally 2012)
pages: 339

 When a British spy plane crashes in Nazi occupied France, two women (and best friends) are left to fend for themselves.  Only one has a chance at survival; one has been captured by the Gestapo and has been given the choice: reveal her plan or face execution.  She's been given as much paper as necessary to write down her confession and any pertinent information about the British war front.  With each word she writes, she discovers more about herself and her best friend Maddie.  Will the information she gives be enough to save her from the enemy?

Holy crap this book through me for a loop.   It was so cleverly written and masterfully deceitful I couldn't always tell what was fact and what was fiction.   It is a beautiful tale of friendship, war, tragedy, and sacrifice.  The writing was simply amazing!

I loved that there were two strong well rounded female characters telling the story.  Not often do you get a WWII novel where the main characters are women fighting in the war.  Juliet and Maddie are very different but they complemented each other incredibly well and gave a compelling documentation of what was happening.  They felt incredibly real, like I had just met and become friends with them.  They quite literally jumped off the page.

Usually when there are multiple voices telling the story, they alternate in some fashion, but this book was segmented.  The first half, one girl and the second half, the other.  I'd never read a book organized like this before and I was pleased that it didn't throw me off like I thought it would.  I got used to one voice, but because of the nature of the book, it felt like we already knew the other voice before she became the main storyteller.

Elizabeth Wein has created a novel that rivals that of Markus Zusak's The Book Thief.  Both story of WWII and both compelling and completely engrossing.  Code Name Verity is an excellent read.  I cannot wait to pick up more of Wein's work.

Stars: 4/5 


Praise:

"A carefully researched, precisely written tour de force; unforgettable and wrenching."
     --Kirkus Reviews

"This book is written in a brilliant way.... Elizabeth Wein makes it always be believable and realistic as it is from the point of view of a young woman.... Everyone should read this incredible and heart wrenching story of two girls."
     --The Guardian (UK)

"Between this and her follow-up, Rose Under Fire, Wein is revealing herself to be a new master of young adult historical fiction....Filled with twists and turns, Code Name Verity is not for the faint of heart."
     --Rolling Stone

An Eclectic Reader Challenge 2015 Book. 
A Full House Reading Challenge 2015 Book.
The 2015 TBR Pile Challenge Book
An Alphabet Soup Challenge Book.

The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins
published: Riverhead Books, 2015
pages: 336

Rachel takes the same train everyday and she passes by the same nice suburban houses and families.  She's even given names to some of the people she see regularly.  They remind her of the life she once had.  But what happens when those people become more than just passing glances in her life?  Rachel see something shocking and decides to go to the police with the information.  But in her attempt to do good could she possibly be making things worse not only for them, but for her as well?

One of the reasons this book is so suspenseful is that the narrators are all unreliable.  You never know if what they are telling you is true or how that truth is distorted.  None of them have the whole truth.  The reader gets the whole truth only because we are allowed to draw conclusions from three different points of view.  I loved that you couldn't trust anyone.  That's one of my favorite things about this book.

It was, however, a relatively slow read for me.  I felt like there was a quite a bit of slog before the action really hit.  For about two thirds of the book I was wondering when we would hit the main action of the book.  This was the biggest let down for me.  I would have liked to see the action hit a bit sooner in the story.  I love slow burn novels and tension building but it was almost too slow.  I was hooked just enough to need to finish to find out "who done it".

The characters kept me going.  I really enjoyed the different character perspectives and learning information through their perspectives.  I loved not being told specific characteristics about the characters but rather figuring out aspects of their life based on their actions and interactions with other people.  There's nothing more satisfying when the gears start to click in place and you realize that one of the characters has a problem and another isn't being honest with themselves. (This is really vague because I didn't want to give out specific examples.  That would ruin the fun for others.)

Overall, Paula Hawkins has an incredibly suspenseful novel that will capture the attention of those that love a good psychological thriller.

Stars: 3.5/5

Praise:

"Like the train, the story blasts through the stagnation of these lives in suburban London and the reader cannot help but turn pages."
     --The Boston Globe

"The Girl on the Train has more fun with unreliable narration than any chiller since Gone Girl... [It] is liable to draw a large, bedazzled readership."
     --The New York Times

"Gone Girl fans will devour this psychological thriller."
     --People

Orphan Train

by Christina Baker Kline
published: William Morrow, 2013
pages: 278

Molly is nearly 18-years-old and has pushed all the button in the foster care system.  She's on her last chance when she meet Vivian, a 91-year-old with spunk and a secretive past.  When Vivian agrees to help Molly with her community service hours, neither of them realize that their lives might not be as different as they first expect or that they would become friends.

At the beginning of the book, I found myself caring more about Molly's story in 2011 than the Niamh's story in 1929.  However, somewhere in the middle I the pace picked up and I started caring more about what happened to Niamh.  I found myself flipping through the book to find more Niamh chapters before continuing.

Part of that interest lies in the history behind the orphan trains.  I didn't know that these existed in American history and frankly it's sad.  Those in charge thought that they were helping children find a new home.  It might have made sense then, but it's a very flawed system that makes my heart ache for the kids.  That seems like a parallel was trying to be drawn from the orphan trains to the current foster care system and how they may not be as different as they would seem.

The writing isn't the best quality, but the story was engaging enough so that I didn't bother me much.  One thing I did like about the writing style was the use of different points of view. Molly's story is being told it's in third person and Niamh's story is being told it's in first person.  Just that little almost unnoticeable difference let's you know whose story is really being told.

Christina Baker Kline weaves a story of two women with similar pasts into an engaging story that left me feeling emotional and teary eyed.  Thank you for this book.

Stars: 3/5

Praise:

"Kline draws a dramatic, emotional story from a neglected corner of American history."
     --Kirkus Reviews

"A compelling story about loss, adaptability, and courage... With compassion and delicacy Kline presents a little-known chapter of American history and draws comparisons with the modern-day foster care system."
     --Library Journal

"Absorbing...a heartfelt page-turner about two women finding a sense of home...Kline lets us live the characters' experiences vividly through their skin...The growth from instinct to conscious understanding to partnership between the two is the foundation for a moving tale."
     --Publishers Weekly

Orange is the New Black

by Piper Kerman
published: Spiegel and Grau, 2010
pages: 298

When Piper was 22-years-old, she was young, reckless and in love and that's what got her into trouble.  Ten years later, with a boyfriend, a career and a loving family, her past caught up to her.   Piper was named in a drug ring bust and sentenced to 15 months in prison.  With this true story, we get a look into the lives of women in prison, why they're locked up and what happens to them.

The social commentary about prisons in general, but specifically women's prisons in America.  I really have no knowledge of how prisons work other than what I see in movies and fictional books, which is really nothing to go on.  This is my first real insight the prison system and it was not pretty.  I obviously didn't think it was going to be peaches and cream but what I learned about prisons astonished me.  There are so many systematic problems about the prisons in the United States that come to light in this book.

The cast of characters in this book are great.  The humor and whit of these women is amazing, especially for their circumstances. The most interesting part is that they are all in real people, some of the defining traits different but they are most definitely real.  I love that Piper dedicated her book to one of the women she met in prison.

I think about all those women who are in prison because of one decision and how society as a whole seems to forget that they are people with families and lives.  It's appalling, and very uncomfortable to read.  It makes me want to know how to help these women find a voice, show importance.  In the back of some editions of the book, there are different opportunities to get involved.  I have plans to make good on those resources.

Stars: 3/5

Praise:

"Fascinating...The true subject of this unforgettable book is female bonding and the ties that even bars can't unbind."
     --People 

"Moving...transcends the memoir genre's usual self-centeredness to explore how human beings can always surprise you."
     --USA Today

"It's a compelling awakening, and a harrowing one-both for the reader and for Kerman."
     --Newsweek.com

An Alphabet Soup Book.

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls

by David Sedaris
published: Little Brown and Company, 2013
pages: 275

David Sedaris writes about his life in narratives from childhood into adulthood.  He explores his life and what it means to be a part of a family, to love and be loved in return.  Also, owls.

Most of these stories are his, however, there are a couple that he has written from someone else's point of view.  It's rather confusing because I sometimes couldn't tell which ones were his stories and which ones he was making up.  He did warn us at the beginning of the book, but I kind of wish he hadn't included those stories.

There is a great deal of humor in this book, some that I even appreciate, but it was much darker than I anticipated it.  I had people tell me that Sedaris books are great and that I should read them.  Maybe I just chose the wrong Sedaris book.

Some of the narratives in this book are insanely interesting, if not a little morbid.  I enjoyed reading the one about the Kookaburra and the one about the passport was interesting too.  However, I found myself skimming stories near the end of the book because I just wanted to be done reading.

There is no denying this book is well written.  It's vivid, entertaining and the humor is evident.  However, I just did not get into this book as much as I wanted to.  It's not to say that someone else shouldn't read it.  I would gladly recommend this book to someone who has similar humor to David Sedaris writing style, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Stars: 2/5

Praise:

"Wickedly deadpan prose.... Even the most mundane experience is described through the skewed prism of Sedaris's unusual sensibility."
     ---Sarah Lyall, New York Times

"Sedaris is still the funniest guy around, hilarious enough to make you want to call your friends, book in hand, and read pieces out loud."
     --Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press

"Sedaris ain't the preeminent humorist of his generation by accident, and his reluctant charm and talent for observing every inch of the human condition remain intact."
     --Whitney Pastorek, Entertainment Weekly

Silver Linings Playbook

by Matthew Quick
published: Sarah Crichton, 2008
pages: 289

Pat Peeples believes that life is actually a movie produced and directed by God and when bad things happen to him, he knows that God is punishing him.  However, silver linings are what he lives for and the silver lining to his life is that God will provide Pat's happy ending and all he needs to do is get physically fit and emotionally literate so that his wife, Nikki, will love him again.  Now after several years in a mental facility, he has returned home to his parents and begins to build his life once more, but is he ready for the stress and is involved the real world.

This story tracks Pat who has a pretty serious mental illness, which includes amnesia of the incident that required him to go to "the bad place".  There is quite a lot of insight into the mind of someone who has a mental illness because we see everything from Pat's point of view.  He's got a fixation with Nikki and making himself better for her.  Pat's way of thinking is skewed, which makes for a very interesting and unintentionally funny read.  At the beginning, it feels as though a 10-year-old boy is telling the story, but as we get to see more of Pat, there's an understanding of how he thinks about and copes with the world.

The relationships between the characters in this novel are key to understand them.   Each character in this book tells their own story, we see them from Pat's point of view.  He tends to categorize people by their marriages and how he perceives them.  For instance, Ronnie and Veronica's marriage seems to be okay, except for the fact that Veronica controls Ronnie all the time.   And his parents have a dysfunctional relationship, but he sees everything because he lives with them.  Pat's entire goal in life is to be a better husband, so he looks at the marriages around him for examples of how to or how not to act.   He works hard at being kind, not right and he's practicing on the people in his life so when "apart time" ends he will be an expert for Nikki.

There is a chapter in this book called "My Movie Montage" and it's quite possibly my favorite chapter of the entire book.  As the title suggests, it's a movie montage but in written form: enough said.

Matthew Quick proves again to be an excellent story teller, crafting intriguing characters and following them on a journey of self-discovery.  I am eager read more his work in the future.

Stars: 5/5

Praise:

"Matthew Quick has created quite the heartbreaker of a novel in The Silver Linings Playbook."
      --Kirkus Review

"You don't have to be a Philadelphia Eagles' fan to appreciate talented newcomer Matthew Quick's page-turning paean to the power of hope over experience - the belief that this will all work out somehow, despite the long odds that life deals us.  Tender, soulful, hilarious, and true, The Silver Linings Playbook is a wonderful debut."
     --Justin Cronin, PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author of Mary and O'Neil

Eclectic Reader Challenge 2014 book.