Weekly Review

Book Review: His Haven by Harper A. Brooks – 3 of 5

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Ashley Lauren

His Haven by Harper A. Brooks

hishaven

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Debut author alert! This is such a great start – I fully intend to continue with the series when the next one is released.

In this book, the world revolves around Haven and Avrum, and their worlds revolve around each other. Sure, there are some other things going on along the way but that is the true meat-and-potatoes of it. Their eyes catch at the beginning of the novel and that’s the end of it. Though there are some wrenches thrown into the plot as a whole, we more-or-less know what’s going to happen at the end. This isn’t a bad thing in the least, after all, that’s why we have genre labels.

I love how human the vampires are in this book. It’s not easy to write a book that contains vampires after the Twilight rise (and then horrific crash and burn). Brooks’ vampires are different, though. Sure, they have an aversion to sunlight and a pretty intense lust for human blood but, other than that, they are just a like (and as variable) as you and me. I like that. I like that the vampires still breathe and sweat in addition to rapid healing and speed. It makes them “more-than-human” instead of different creatures overall and this makes the attraction between Haven and Avrum feel very natural.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. Brooks is showing herself as a great blooming author. Her story is fresh and, though some of the wording and scenes are a bit clunky, others are overall brilliant. I liked the addition of little subplots, though sometimes they were a bit of a distraction or not entirely resolved (I thought the whole Henri seeing Haven as Linna part would have more oomph to it). Also, some of the book moved dizzying fast from one part to the next.

Overall, though, this is a quick and enjoyable read. Great start, Harper!

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Book Review: Earth Abides by George Stewart – 1 of 5

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Ashley Lauren


Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

earthabides

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

UGH.

Normally I make it a point to keep my reviews free of spoilers, but with this I just couldn’t.  There were too many going-ons that need to be revealed.  Even if you haven’t read the book, I think you should still read this review – I don’t really care if I spoil it. I don’t wish this book upon anyone.

Call me an uncultured swine but I think this book is dirt. It’s one of those stories where the main character has too much damn self-knowledge. We as readers just sit there and watch as the main dude knows everything about himself and everyone else. The reader doesn’t get to figure out anything on her/her own. Instead we have to watch Ish-the-Magnificent watch everything around him. This, in theory, may be interesting except the man never changes. He just thinks the same obnoxious things over and over again.

I kept trying to speed the audiobook up to x2 so I could get through it faster but the narrator sounded so silly I had to turn back down. I never felt anything and was,therefore, bored. Society goes to pieces and I calmly read on. I don’t care because the protagonist doesn’t care.  He’s so stoic and thinks through everything without a shred of emotion. For crying out loud, Ish’s parents are dead, Ish’s KID dies, there’s a massive plague that wipes out his favorite son and other UNNAMED CHILDREN, and he just doesn’t care. It’s insane and infuriating.

Even with that aside, let’s just say that’s just how the main character is. I thought I was going to rip out my hair on two main points…

1) The Society (or lack-thereof) – What is this insistence that everyone else is stupid and that no one in his little tribe would care about anything, ever? The idea that this group of people would raise a whole family of children and only Ish, over the course of 21 years, would have the idea to teach them anything at all is stupid and offensive. No one thought learning to read was a good idea? You don’t have to be a magnificent scholar believe in education and history and society. The concept that this group of people could just lie around for years and years and do NOTHING – no hunting, no planting, no improvements, nothing is the most unrealistic thing I have ever heard.

I know this sounds dramatic but, according to the protagonist, he is the only person out of a group of about 30 or so people who think that reading and writing are valuable.

Dumb. Just dumb.

2) Just Die Already – The last however-many pages where Ish is an old man by myself? I was listening by audiobook and I swear for the last half hour of the book I was certain he was going to kick off and he never did. It was agony. I just didn’t care.

There was about 50 pages near the end where I thought maybe, just maybe this book would earn two stars. But the ending dissolved that completely.

I think I should probably stop here – I have so much I can rant about (somehow these supposedly uber-lazy people managed to train dog teams to drive sleds around the city? I just- I can’t- just no.  The impossibility of such a thing is straight up laughable).

My final word? Unless you’re just aching for some faux, boring as all hell philosophy just stay far away from this book.

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Book Review: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind – 3 of 5 stars

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Ashley Lauren

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba

wind

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finished reading this book while sitting on my couch, stuffing my face with Starburst jelly beans (side note; best candy ever). Needless to say, I don’t have any freaking clue what Kamkwamba’s life was like growing up. Or now, for that matter. I have no real concept of how hard farming in Malawi is. I don’t know how hot the sun gets or what it’s like to not have light after dark. I don’t know what it means to be hungry even for a day – much less an entire country being hungry in a famine. I don’t know what it feels like to have no money for school, to teach myself science, or to build something great.

What I’m trying say is, Kamkwamba and I don’t have a lot in common. I therefore feel like a D for not rating his book 5 stars. Oh well, it is what it is.

I certainly am glad I read it. There were many parts I won’t forget – particularly how he describe the famine in his country. It was incredible and he did such a great job at pointing out the parts of being hungry that became normal life. It made even a well-fed lady like myself feel cold all over. But that all fell away to the great joy I felt when he spoke about his first TED conference. Kamkwamba’s memoir does a great job at highlighting the highs and lows of his life.

Still, I don’t think this book is for everyone. If you like memoirs, you’ll enjoy it. If you’re not a huge memoir fan, you might want to pass. I found the beginning cumbersome with the stories of his family and the belief in magic in Malawi. I also found many of his descriptions of his learning and actual building of the windmill to be too detailed (probably because I didn’t understand it). I think they were valuable parts to write about and helped to round out the story, but it didn’t make for action-packed reading.

Regardless of the number of stars, I finished this book feeling inspired. I feel humbled and encouraged by the fact that there are people out there doing great things. Even though I know I will never achieve that kind of greatness myself, I hope I help a little just by hearing his story.

Categories: Travel, Weekly Review | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: The Handmaid’s Tale – 5 of 5

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Ashley Lauren

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

handmaid

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Confession: I have a total lady crush on Margaret Atwood. I’m not ashamed.

Even though I wasn’t in love with Oryx and Crake I still think Atwood is a genius. While I still love The Blind Assassin the most of all the Atwood I have read, my 2014 re-read of this book has rekindled my lady-love.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The plot is incredibly gripping – instead of revealing it in chronological order, the reader is slowly taken through the mind of a Handmaid. Atwood gives such a perfect balance of the character’s remembrance and current activities. The truth is told to us is plausible pieces – the memories of Offred rise to the surface naturally.

My absolute favorite part of the book is when we get to the “how it happened” moment. The day that the funds were frozen, that the jobs were lost. Reading that caused a chill to run through me. It’s so simple and horrifyingly possible… it made me want to keep a stash of cash in the house just in case.

The plot line was fantastic and the writing in of itself was amazing. She personified characters who we never met and managed to integrate the boredom of the Handmaid (the words, the details, the line of thought) into a meaningful and forward moving story.

I found it intriguing and well done. Exceptional read. My re-read popped it to a 5.

(P.S. – on my first read through, I totally didn’t even know there was an epilogue. Mind. Blown. Also, I kind of liked it better without the epilogue… but I’m always one for ambiguity.)

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Book Review: The Lost Girls – 3 of 5 stars

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Ashley Lauren

The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World. by Jennifer Bagget

lost

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There a lot about this book that I love – there is so much to be jealous of. These girls found the time and dedication to travel for an entire year. It’s something I would love to do and it’s also something I know I will never do. It’s just not my life. So living vicariously was exactly why I picked up the book. These girls traveled to places I have never been and say such amazing things. I really loved reading about it.

Still, I just can’t rave about the book. There’s nothing wrong with it, per se, it’s just a little bland. Vanilla. I can tell these girls are used to a very journalistic writing. Their prose all sounds exactly the same and, with names like Jennifer, Holly, and Amanda, I found it impossible to keep them straight. I was constantly mixing up who was who. I feel like the book would have really benefited if they could have figure out a way to develop different writing styles. Some visual aides could have really helped – you know they took a million pictures. I would have loved to have seen the beat-up van, Esther, the yoga retreat, etc.

Despite the adventures and nice mixture of this-is-what-I-saw and this-is-what-I-felt, it took me a really long time to get through this book. This is something I should be devoured. Besides the lack of voice, I’m not sure what was missing – other people maybe? One of my favorite memoirs is Somebody’s Heart Is Burning: A Woman Wanderer in Africa because of the author’s incredible ability to observe others and bring them into the story. This memoir is firmly on these three girls and, despite being a young white woman traveler myself, I just couldn’t quite get invested.

Still, it’s certainly not bad, and it’s a great thing to read if you’re itching for a trip of your own but can’t get away. There are nice tid-bits along the way, too, that give some good perspective.

“After all my searching for something to believe in, what if taking the journey itself were the highest act of faith? Traveling anywhere that was foreign inevitably meant I’d have to rely on the kindness of strangers. To venture out in the world, I had to have faith in the goodness of people – and to be open to the lessons that every new person might bring.

Amen, Holly. Or was that Amanda who wrote that? Jennifer?

Oh, who cares. Amen, sister.

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Book Review: Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing by Steven Luna – 5 of 5

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Ashley Lauren

Songs from the Phenomenal Nothing by Steven Luna

phenomenal

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I sat down to read a chapter or two, just for a bit, and now I’m done. Devoured. That’s what happened with this book. Five, five, five stars.

This one had me from the get-go. Within about thirty seconds of reading you know Tyler Mills. He’s a teenage kid pissed off about something and is blaming it on his Dad for being a different person than him. At first you want to say “boo-hoo, kid” and kick off, but in the next thirty seconds you realize his Mom, his true connection, his source of inspiration, is dead. And then you feel bad about judging him for being all emo – and then you’re hooked.

What is it about Tyler that worked so well? It’s hard to pin-point. Maybe because he acted like a total teenager but his mind recognized how stupid he was being. Maybe because he was obviously smart and wanted to make good decisions but his fear and sadness was getting the best of him. If that isn’t a good representation of the young adult mind, I don’t know what is. The story was predictable but it moved quickly. The further it gets, in fact, the more cliché, but that didn’t detract at all. I loved it. I loved how I knew what was going to happen, I loved that Tyler did what I ultimately wanted him to do, and I love how it ended. Maybe I like clichés. I’m a firm believer that there are really only so many plotlines in the world, but there are never two personalities that are the same. It’s up to the writer to see an old situation from new eyes, and Luna nails it.

Love Perks of Being a Wallflower?  Love angst? Love teenagers figuring out their shizz? How about if you just love good books? I don’t really care what you love – you’ll love this one.

This book was provided to me as part of the Author Alliance.

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Book Review: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood – 3 of 5

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Ashley Lauren

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

oryx

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Let me first preface this review with this: it took me forever to read this book. It was really no fault of the book itself. Somehow this became my bed stand book that I only picked up in the few minutes that the hubster and I were getting ready for bed. Because of this, I don’t think it’s fair for me to say the book was “slow” or “uninteresting” or even “confusing” because any book that you only read 4 or 5 pages at a time with isn’t going to have time to catch your interest.

That being said, the first adjectives that come to mind when I think about this book is slow, uninteresting, and confusing. Maybe I’m just not fair.

But I love Atwood. She wow’d me with The Handmaid’s Tale but I truly fell in love with The Blind Assassin. The woman is a genius and even with my sludge-y read, by the end of this book I felt awed. She’s got this post-apocalyptic thing down. What starts off as something bizarre and strange pulls together into something that makes sense (in a horrifying, I wish-I-didn’t-understand-as-well-as-I-did kind of way). Still, even with that, the wrap-up of the book just wasn’t what I wanted to would find. I always do my best to keep out spoilers, so let’s just say I had hoped to get more from the characters we were promised we would meet. I wanted some good interaction but it wasn’t there.

I also have a huge qualm with trilogies that are trilogies just to be trilogies. I feel like the three books should stand alone. When you get the end you’ll realize that this doesn’t stand alone in the least. It could be the most heart-stopping cliff-hanger ending ever. Yes, even more than the season finale of season 4 of The X-Files.

So, at this point, I can’t say if it’s a pick-up or a put-down. I think the rest of the trilogy will tell. In truth, if this were by a different author I wouldn’t even go on, but I trust Atwood and I’m willing to make my way to the The Year of the Flood to see what happens.

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Book Review: Bridget Jones – Mad About the Boy – 3.5 of 5

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Ashley Lauren

Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

bridget

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I heard there would be a third Bridget Jones book, all I could think was – amazgog.

I didn’t know a single thing about this nook prior to picking it up – I just jumped right in. I’m glad I went in blind because I’m not sure if I would have picked it up on the premise alone. Fifty-one year old Bridget Jones, widow, mother of two, dating a 30 year old? That sounds like all of these Hollywood movies coming out nowadays with the aging actors whose entire movie is about aging – booooring.

The thing is that 51 year old Bridget doesn’t sound like a 50 year old (nor, apparently, look like a 50 year old). She’s definitely the old Bridget with her ridiculous quirky attitude – she’s hysterically scatterbrained and makes any woman who reads Bridget’s diary feel better about herself. (Except for maybe my own mother, 99% of women are more put together than Jonesey here.)

There are some really wonderful things about this book. Her kids are freaking adorable and her mourning is intermittent (after all, it’s 4 or 5 years later) but still there and realistically touching. I loved her Twitter experience – Bridget Jones style of writing is practically made for Twitter. It made for a lot of giggles. And the part at the birthday party where she throws the dog in the pool – I might have piddled a little I was giggling so hard.

Overall, though, as much as I enjoyed the reading process I couldn’t quite get this book to 4 stars. There’s just too much about this book that felt a bit off.

1) I felt the ending was far too obvious and then came too quickly – we as readers didn’t get to fall in love with the right man.

2) Bridget’s weight issue was resolved so miraculously and then never gained back – the woman ate entire bags of shredded cheese every day and more or less kept her weight down? Whhaaaa?

3) No Darcy. It’s just not Bridget Jones without him.

4) HOW did she get so many damn Twitter followers?! (Okay, maybe that last bit is my own personal issue.)

There’s more but it’s a bit spoilery. Still, none of it makes the book unreadable. It’s a quick read overall and it’s still cute Bridget Jones. One and 2 might be better than 3, but it’s well worth the read.

Categories: Pick Ups, Weekly Review | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

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