68 posts tagged “book review”

Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)

Suzanne Collins

Read because: It's the second in the Hunger Games series. My review of Hunger Games.

Purchased from: Costco, along with Hunger Games. I couldn't help it. The covers are hot.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Synopsis: Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.

My review: I'd heard mixed reviews about the second book in Collins's Hunger Games trilogy. After utterly devouring the first in the series a few months ago, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into Catching Fire. Luckily, I wasn't disappointed. A few reviewers thought it had a bit of a sophomore slump feel to it, but I thought it was still fresh and intriguing and followed up Hunger Games very solidly. I think most readers would agree with me. The dynamics between the characters (including a few new characters that were woven in without seeming forced—see the TV show Lost for poor examples of this) were just as good as in the first book, and the relative ethics were still pervasive, which I loved. I didn't think the love triangle was as in-your-face as some might have—I think the triangle between Katniss, Peeta, and Gale was realistic and a good part of the plot. I thought it did drag just a little around the 2/3 mark (it got a little deja vu-ish), but picked right back up and ended with a bang. A big fat grumblecakes for having to wait another year until book three is released. (Finished 9/25/90)

Read for: TheOOZE Viral Bloggers

Received from: TheOOZE Viral Bloggers

Rating: 7 out of 10

Synopsis: In this panoramic view of two millennia of Christian history, Butler Bass (Christianity for the Rest of Us) attempts to give contemporary progressive (the author prefers the term "generative") Christians a sense of their family history, refracted through little known as well as famous men and women whose work within and outside the institutional church fueled sometimes "alternative" practices as they tried to follow Jesus the Prophet. "Without a sense of history, progressive Christianity remains unmoored," argues Butler Bass, a former columnist for the New York Times syndicate. Organized chronologically, each section of the book includes a chapter on religious observance and one on social justice, illuminating the author's conviction that authentic Christianity can be discovered in the practice of loving God and neighbor. Laced with stories from the author's own life and with contemporary examples of "generative Christianity," Butler Bass's version of Christian history includes familiar figures like the fourth-century church father Gregory of Nyssa and lesser-known individuals like the 19th century American abolitionist Maria Stewart. Is this truly "the other side of the story," as the subtitle proclaims? It's definitely a start.

My review: I haven't read Howard Zinn's bestselling novel A People's History of the United States, although it is on my to-read list (along with 487 other books -- I'd better get crackin'). I really like the idea, however, of re-telling history through the eyes of the people who lived it -- both those who were powerful, and those who stood up to the powerful. A lot of times contemporary Christians want to throw out all of church history, labeling it old-fashioned and irrelevant. Butler Bass makes the wonderful point that there is so much to learn from the people who came before us, and throwing out this history is detrimental to Christians in 2009.

Butler Bass's history of Christianity was a great overview of many of the people who influenced modern-day Christianity. Having studied for four years at a Christian college, not to mention having read more Christian books than I can count, I had heard of most of the people she covered in the book. But it was fascinating to learn how those people, through their writing and actions, shaped the face of Christianity. She skirts around the Big "C" Christianity -- Christ, Constantine, Christendom, Crusades, Calvin, Christian America -- and instead focuses on different people who spoke out against things they felt were wrong with the church at that time. I was especially moved by the early church's call to hospitality and social justice -- it's something that we've lost in our current Christian culture and I think it would do us well to learn from our predecessors in this area. Butler Bass notes that hospitality (opening up your home to those in need) was the highest morality -- I don't think it even registers on anyone's radar anymore. Which, to me, is incredibly sad. How could we have lost this particular part of our faith? 

My only gripe is that sometimes she seemed to hit people who made me a little nervous, doctrinally -- Thomas Jefferson for instance, who cut out all of the supernatural elements of his Bible (she didn't mention this in her book, though). He did have some interesting thoughts on science and religion, but if you're deleting God from the equation, what are you left with? Still, I would definitely recommend this book to people who already know most of the Big "C" Christianity history. It's a great supplement for those who want to know more about why the Church looks and behaves like it does today. (Finished 9/8/09)    

Read because: David Sedaris is a funny, observant guy.

Borrowed from: the Sacramento Library

Rating: 6 out of 10

Synopsis: The 27 essays here (many previously published in Esquire, G.Q. or the New Yorker, or broadcast on PRI's This American Life) include his best and funniest writing yet. Here is Sedaris's family in all its odd glory. Here is his father dragging his mortified son over to the home of one of the most popular boys in school, a boy possessed of "an uncanny ability to please people," demanding that the boy's parents pay for the root canal that Sedaris underwent after the boy hit him in the mouth with a rock. Here is his oldest sister, Lisa, imploring him to keep her beloved Amazon parrot out of a proposed movie based on his writing. ("'Will I have to be fat in the movie?' she asked.") Here is his mother, his muse, locking the kids out of the house after one snow day too many, playing the wry, brilliant commentator on his life until her untimely death from cancer. His mother emerges as one of the most poignant and original female characters in contemporary literature. He does what she says and then some, and what emerges is the deepest kind of humor, the human comedy.

My review: For some reason, I didn't like this one as much as I thought I was going to. Me Talk Pretty One Day was my favorite of his so far, and I didn't feel like this one was quite as funny, although it had more poignant moments with his family. I liked getting to know his family evening more, and especially enjoyed the chapter about the parrot (mentioned in the synopsis above) I was a little bored in parts, which is unusual for his writing. Maybe I wasn't in the right place for this one, considering how acclaimed it is by critics and readers. Hmm. It sort of "meh." But not in anyway bad enough for me to say I didn't like it.  

Recommended by: Hillary has been recommending Sarah Vowell in general for years.

Borrowed from: the Sacramento Library

Rating: 6 out of 10

Synopsis: Essayist and public radio regular Vowell (Assassination Vacation) revisits America's Puritan roots in this witty exploration of the ways in which our country's present predicaments are inextricably tied to its past. In a style less colloquial than her previous books, Vowell traces the 1630 journey of several key English colonists and members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Foremost among these men was John Winthrop, who would become governor of Massachusetts. While the Puritans who had earlier sailed to Plymouth on the Mayflower were separatists, Winthrop's followers remained loyal to England, spurred on by Puritan Reverend John Cotton's proclamation that they were God's chosen people. Vowell underscores that the seemingly minute differences between the Plymouth Puritans and the Massachusetts Puritans were as meaningful as the current Sunni/Shia Muslim rift. Gracefully interspersing her history lesson with personal anecdotes, Vowell offers reflections that are both amusing (colonial history lesson via The Brady Bunch) and tender (watching New Yorkers patiently waiting in line to donate blood after 9/11)

My review: I'm really glad I listened to this on audio book. Vowell has a very distinctive voice (she shows up on NPR sometimes) and her sarcasm was well played in her reading. Then again, it would have been easier for me to understand the huge cast of Puritans and Indians she talked about if I'd been able to page back through the book to see where we'd met before. I liked the book quite a bit, but Vowell's politics got a little snarky and I though that some of the connections she used to make points were a little far-stretched. I would have preferred if she'd stayed in the past instead of trying to link with current events (heck, pretty much anything can be connected to anything else with a little effort). It was also intersting to learn about how Christianity (or, that form of it, at least -- so much for "love your neighbor"!) played out among the Puritans. Definitely a very interesting history lesson, but I'll prepare most of my more conservative-leaning friends that they might find the book a little aggravating. (Finished 8/4/09)

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

Recommended by: my friends Brittney and Esther

Borrowed from: the Sacramento Library

Rating: 8 out of 10

Synopsis: In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss's young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district's female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

My review: Woah. I don't read a lot of young adult fiction so I was a bit surprised with this one. It was really very engrossing and mildly terrifying. The idea of locking up 24 kids in a giant Bio-Dome style arena in a death match is disturbing. I thought that Collins handled the material deftly and made the characters very real. Their behavior (kill or be killed) was intense. I felt invested in the characters and hurt for them and cheered them on. The only thing I wish she'd delved more deeply into is the psychology of murder -- some of the kills came so easily, and I can't imagine this doesn't mess up these kids for life. Then again, there are two more books in this series (the next, Catching Fire, is still "on order" from the library -- come on! It was released a week ago!) so perhaps she'll tackle those issues more in the later books. This was an intense book, but I definitely recommend it. (Finished 8/2/09)  

(Note: I am soooo far behind on book reviews. I'm hoping to crank out a bunch today. Prepare for your neighborhood feed to be clogged with reviews!)

(Note #2: Vox is being dumb and won't let me upload the book cover. *grumblecakes*)

Read because: I read and loved the Shadow of the Wind earlier this year.

Purchased from: Costco!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Synopsis: From master storyteller Carlos Ruiz Zafón, author of the international phenomenon The Shadow of the Wind, comes The Angel’s Game--a dazzling new page-turner about the perilous nature of obsession, in literature and in love. In an abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, a young man, David Martín, makes his living by writing sensationalist novels under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque tales about the city’s underworld. But perhaps his dark imaginings are not as strange as they seem, for in a locked room deep within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner.Like a slow poison, the history of the place seeps into his bones as he struggles with an impossible love. Close to despair, David receives a letter from a reclusive French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him the offer of a lifetime. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed--a book with the power to change hearts and minds. In return, he will receive a fortune, and perhaps more. But as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.

My review: As I was reading this, I kept sighing and wishing I could write like Ruiz Zafon. I also kept thinking, "This is a great book, but it isn't the Shadow of the Wind. Still, I thought it was an excellent read, although I will admit *mini spoiler alert* that the number of deaths in this book might top Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell, my all-time winner of the "Holy Crap A Lot Of People Die In This Book Award." It took me far too long to realize that it was a prequel to the Shadow of the Wind -- for a large part of the book I thought they were running concurrently because some of the characters overlap. The Angel's Game also has a supernatural element that I'm not sure I quite understood. I'll be interested to see what the third book in this series offers in the way of the supernatural. Altogether it was a great, albeit dark and disturbing read that I highly recommend. (Finished 7/30/09) 

Good Omens

Terry Pratchett

Recommended by: Brittney (sort of)

Purchased from: Time Tested Books

Rating: 7 out of 10

Synopsis (from Publishers Weekly): Pratchett (of Discworld fame) and Gaiman (of Sandman fame) may seem an unlikely combination, but the topic (Armageddon) of this fast-paced novel is old hat to both. Pratchett's wackiness collaborates with Gaiman's morbid humor; the result is a humanist delight to be savored and reread again and again. You see, there was a bit of a mixup when the Antichrist was born, due in part to the machinations of Crowley, who did not so much fall as saunter downwards, and in part to the mysterious ways as manifested in the form of a part-time rare book dealer, an angel named Aziraphale. Like top agents everywhere, they've long had more in common with each other than the sides they represent, or the conflict they are nominally engaged in. The only person who knows how it will all end is Agnes Nutter, a witch whose prophecies all come true, if one can only manage to decipher them.

My Review: Brittney has been trying to get me to read Terry Pratchett for a while now, and when I came across Good Omens in a bookstore a while back, I picked it up off the shelf (and laughed out loud at the blurb on the back). I read nearly the whole thing while in San Diego a few weeks ago -- it was a perfect beach read. The characters and plot were hilarious and there was not one thing Gaiman and Pratchett could have done to make this more British-y. Sort of a combination of Douglas Adams and maybe Carl Hiassen. Dry and witty and outrageous, it was such a fun book to read. And since we're going through Revelation at church, everything felt strangely applicable. My biggest gripe is that sometimes I felt like I couldn't keep up (lots of characters, unfamiliar settings, and ludicrous plot twists), but there's a good chance that it was because my brain was in vacation mode. (Finished 7/30/09.) 

Snobs

Julian Fellowes

Read because: I kept pick it up off shelves and finally decided to give it a go.

Borrowed from: the Sacramento Library

Rating: 8 out of 10

Synopsis (from Publishers Weekly): Our nameless protagonist, a jovial, perceptive sort of 30-something fellow hanging affably about the fringes of society, introduces his middle-class but sleek and beautiful friend Edith Lavery to the earnest but dull Lord Charles Broughton. Much to the dismay of "civilized" society, Charles falls in love and proposes to the social-climbing but largely indifferent Edith. Even after she is married, Edith is snubbed and humiliated at every turn, until she moves out in a huff with her married lover, Simon Russell, an actor/ego-on-legs who is eating up the publicity that comes with being seen with a countess and eager for this entrée into society. To Edith's consternation, the glittering world of theater turns out to be just as small-minded and dull as that of society, with the added disadvantage of it not involving much money.

My Review: This was like modern, much more dark PG Wodehouse. Much like Wodehouse, it was a romp by the rich in the English countryside, but it took on much darker themes (divorce, adultery, wealth, class, etc.). I liked it a lot. I thought the writing was wry, sharp, and humorous, and although I am nowhere near the English upper class, I felt like Fellowes' portrayal was fairly accurate. I liked the writing convention of the unnamed narrator, who I found very likable. Everyone, even selfish Edith, was somewhat likeable. I felt, though, it was meant to be a satire and everyone came off quite well in the end. It didn't seem to pack the punch that I was expecting. But I still relished in the gosspiy storyline and excellent characters (Googie, Edith's mother-in-law, in particular). I also think this would make an excellent movie. Get on that, Hollywood. (Finished 7/28/09)

Outliers: The Story of Success

Malcolm Gladwell

Read because: I enjoyed Blink and liked the premise of the book.

Borrowed from: the Sacramento library

Rating: 7 out of 10

Synopsis: Gladwell, author and journalist, sets out to provide an understanding of success using outliers, men and women with skills, talent, and drive who do things out of the ordinary. He contends that we must look beyond the merits of a successful individual to understand his culture, where he comes from, his friends and family, and the community values he inherits and shares. We learn that society’s rules play a large role in who makes it and who does not. Success is a gift, and when opportunities are presented, some people have the strength and presence of mind to seize them, exhibiting qualities such as persistence and doggedness. Successful people are the products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy, and success ultimately is not exceptional or unattainable, nor does it depend upon innate ability. It is an attitude of willingness to try without regard for the sacrifice required.

My Review: I think that Gladwell has a knack for finding interesting little stories that make you go "cool." In Outliers, he writes about a number of different people who have been able to acheive things out of the ordinary -- Bill Gates, Mozarts, Asians (when it comes to math and school), Michael Jordan, Jewish doctors, etc. He really tears down the notion of the "self-made man" and instead posits that it is circumstances, a proclivity to try really, really, really hard, and a little talent combined. He also shows people who should have been stars but circumstances stopped them. His anecdotes are fascinating, especially when he was writing about Korean Airlines -- I found that particularly interesting. Sometimes I feel like he was stretching a bit in places -- sometimes things felt forced. But overall it was both educational and inspiring, and I think that Gladwell does a good job of giving us a new perspective about people we admire. (Finished 7/10/09.)