Do you have a book you read in school that you swore was the worst book ever? Have you ever thought that maybe your teachers weren't out to torture you, and there may have been a method to their madness after all? Then the July Challenge is for you!

Details on the challenge can be found here...check it out, and join us!

Haha I totally started this journal as a sort of book blog and I have been totally shirking my duties here. I have read a couple of books and I haven't posted reviews on either of them *smacks self* So here are those long lost reviews!



Confucius Lives Next Door: What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West by T.R. Reid

Summary:Anyone who has heard his weekly commentary on NPR knows that T. R. Reid is trenchant, funny, and deeply knowledgeable reporter and now he brings this erudition and humor to the five years he spent in Japan--where he served as The Washington Post's Tokyo bureau chief. He provides unique insights into the country and its 2,500-year-old Confucian tradition, a powerful ethical system that has played an integral role in the continent's "postwar miracle."
Whether describing his neighbor calmly asserting that his son's loud bass playing brings disrepute on the neighborhood, or the Japanese custom of having students clean the schools, Reid inspires us to consider the many benefits of the Asian Way--as well as its drawbacks--and to use this to come to a greater understanding of both Japanese culture and America.

My Thoughts: ( Read more... )



Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

Summary: (I feel wrong posting this, it is imo impossible to summarize Murakami's books) With Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami gives us a novel every bit as ambitious and expansive as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which has been acclaimed both here and around the world for its uncommon ambition and achievement, and whose still-growing popularity suggests that it will be read and admired for decades to come.

This magnificent new novel has a similarly extraordinary scope and the same capacity to amaze, entertain, and bewitch the reader. A tour de force of metaphysical reality, it is powered by two remarkable characters: a teenage boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home either to escape a gruesome oedipal prophecy or to search for his long-missing mother and sister; and an aging simpleton called Nakata, who never recovered from a wartime affliction and now is drawn toward Kafka for reasons that, like the most basic activities of daily life, he cannot fathom. Their odyssey, as mysterious to them as it is to us, is enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerizing events. Cats and people carry on conversations, a ghostlike pimp employs a Hegel-quoting prostitute, a forest harbors soldiers apparently unaged since World War II, and rainstorms of fish (and worse) fall from the sky. There is a brutal murder, with the identity of both victim and perpetrator a riddle–yet this, along with everything else, is eventually answered, just as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually revealed, with one escaping his fate entirely and the other given a fresh start on his own.

Extravagant in its accomplishment, Kafka on the Shore displays one of the world’s truly great storytellers at the height of his powers.

My Thoughts ( Read more... )
I am about halfway through The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde and that is going really good so far so a review should be up of that soon enough :D

74. Gossamer Lois Lowry (4/5)

Littlest One and her teacher, Thin Elderly, are tiny creatures whose job it is to touch beloved objects and then piece the bits of memory and emotion therein into dreams for humans. It is a wonderful vocation, but not without its dangers: there are also the Sinisteeds, terrible creatures that plague people with nightmares. Perhaps most frightening of all, dream-givers like Littlest One and Thin Elderly can become Sinisteeds if they don't do their work carefully.

Littlest One and Thin Elderly are in charge of giving dreams to a kind old woman, a fairly simple task. But when the woman takes in John, a foster child, his anger and troubled past leave him open to torment by the Sinisteeds, and the dream-givers must find a way to counteract this.

This is a short novel, but Lowry is adept at sketching out a tantalizing and fascinating story in so few pages. Her use of launguage is lovely, and I was utterly absorbed.

75. Trick of a Tale: A Collection of Trickster Tales John and Caitlin Matthews (4/5)

This is a beautifully illustrated book of trickster folktales from all over the world. The stories are short enough to make good read-alouds, and there's also a good range of stories, from simpler ones that will appeal to the very young, to more thought-provoking stories for older children and adults. I would definitely recommend it to librarians, storytellers, or just anyone who enjoys a beautifully executed collection of tales.

76. The World of the Druids Miranda J. Green (5/5)

This is a comprehensive, copiously illustrated volume that is sufficiently academically rigorous for the well-informed layperson, but straightforward and sufficiently full of eye candy for the neophyte. Green covers what we actually know about the Druids (not a lot, really), their place in myth and legend, and the Neo-Pagan Druidic movement.

77. Tales of Soldiers and Civilians and Other Stories Ambrose Bierce (4/5)

This is a selection of Ambrose Bierce's short stories, taken from several collections that were published during his life.

I read this book pretty much straight through, but if I were to read it again, I would probably jump around in the collection more instead of reading it from cover to cover. The first section of the book is all Civil War stories, many of which are excellent, but reading them all in a row is a little bit tiring.

On the whole, I somewhat preferred Bierce's later works, many of which are ghost stories, wickedly funny, or both. "My Favorite Murder" and "Oil of Dog" are both so awful and so funny that one feels vaguely guilty for laughing so hard.

78. Jack of Fables, Vol. 1: The (Nearly) Great Escape Bill Willingham (4/5)

Fans of the Fables series of comics will enjoy this spin-off, which follows the adventures of Jack (you know, THAT Jack, as in "the Giant-Killer," etc.). Folks who haven't read Fables might be pretty confused, though.

79. The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath (4/5)

I hadn't read this autobiographical novel since high school, so I figured maybe it was time to re-read it. It was actually quite different from what I'd remembered; I'd forgotten that more than half of the book takes place BEFORE Esther goes to the hospital. I'd also forgotten -- or just hadn't picked up before -- how mordantly funny the book is. Esther's observations about the people around her and her reactions to them are incredibly witty, and even her description of a depressive's twisted thinking is tinged with the humor of someone looking back wryly. The book is sad and serious as well, but since I had missed the humor before, that was what I ended up concentrating on.

There was much that I found confusing the first time I read this book. Plath's description of the slow slide into depression and the incredible inertia involved is SO spot-on, but I think in some ways it would be confusing and somewhat incomprehensible to someone who doesn't have more intimate knowledge of the experience. I could be wrong, though; it may just be that it resonated much more deeply this time around than it did when I first read the book.

31. The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, by David W. Anthony. 466 pages. (2007)

Grade: B

All about the Indo-Europeans.

Interesting theory, and both the first chapters and the last chapters I got through without too much problem. The middle, however, is a bit boggy, and I LIKE reading about archaeology.

The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuscinski, 1998, 325 pages. Translation from the Polish copyright 2001 by Klara Glowczewska.

Genre: non-fiction, travel, journalism, africa, anthropology

Basic Overview: Ryszard Kapuscinski was Poland's press correspondent to Africa; he remained there for nearly fifty years but never lost the feeling of being a foreigner in a strange continent; the white man viewing but not acting, only reporting. He did, however, feel a great passion for the 53 countries which now make up Africa, and discredited the notion that Africa could be viewed as a whole: "the continent is too large to describe. It is a veritable ocean, a separate planet, a varied, immensely rich cosmos...in reality, except as a geographical entity, Africa does not exist".

Kapuscinski arrived in Africa in 1957, and stayed almost until his death in 2007. When he first set foot on the continent, he was just in time to watch the end of colonial rule, and to witness the violence that so often ensued upon liberation.

The Shadow of the Sun is a series of vignettes and articles. Many of them are deeply informative, and intended to be so. I read a fascinating chapter on the childhood, despotic rule, and the aftermath of Uganda's Idi Amin, and a no less fascinating, but more grisly chapter on the backdrop to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In other stories, the subject matter focuses on Kapuscinski himself, to begin with, but always with a view to explaining something interesting, unusual, or incomprehensible that he has found out about Africa or its people. In such a way, I read about Kapuscinski's bouts of malaria, his near-death from thirst in the Mauritanian corner of the Sahara desert, the near-constant burglary that plagued him and his apartment when he lived in Nigeria, and the difficulties of covering for the press a coup d'etat in Zanzibar.

Personal Opinion: If it had not been for the fact that new books had arrived in the mail this past Friday, I would have found parting with Kapuscinski's book much, much harder. As it was, I read it slowly, savouring each drop, wishing that I, too, could travel with Bedouins, spend the nights in tribal villages in Ethiopia, and so on, and so forth. For me, things are different. I am not a press correspondent, I am not male, and I do not have 50 years left in which to have a love affair with a continent. *deep sigh*

The book is beautiful. From opening scenes in Ghana, where a newly-arrived Kapuscinski rides a bus in rural Ghana, in wonderment about the people, their knowledge of unseen paths through the forests, and the colourful nature of everything around him, to the end, in Ethiopia, where he reflects on what he has learned after his decades in the continent, I was captured by both the subject matter and the writing. Good-natured, curious, never afraid to express his emotions on the page, Kapuscinski uncovers so much of what is beautiful about Africa, and so much about what is wrong in Africa. For me, the starkest thing is the hunger, and the knowledge that most black Africans subsist on one meal of porridge made of manioc* or mealies** a day, and are almost always hungry, will gnaw at me until I figure out how I can help.

I will put this book on my list of all-time favourites, and recommend it to anyone with an interest in Africa.

*manioc - a tuberous root, also called cassava, also refers to its flour, usually made by pounding it, made into porridge by mixing with water.
**mealies - corn, when pounded into flour it is called 'mealie meal', usually made into porridge by mixing with water.

10.  1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann.  378 pages.  (2006)

Grade: B

This book examines the changes in interpretation of the Pre-Columbian Americas since about 1970.  It takes a look at everything from agriculture (maize and cotton, principally) to population (high or low), to how they got here (probably NOT by Alaskan ice bridge). 

The grade would have been higher if the focus had been better.  It was a bit scattershot, moving from the Inca in one paragraph to the Iroquois in the next, for example.  Still very interesting.

 

I am really behind, with little hope of achieving 50 by mid-April, but I will try my best!

Behind the cut, ( a bunch of stuff, a couple sans reviews as it has been so long.. Sandman, fun with forensics and a mammoth Marion Zimmer Bradley tome.. )

Next up: Eat Pray Love, Lady of Avalon, Sandman: The Dream Hunters, Glastonbury: Avalon of the Heart

177. Talking to Depression: Simple Ways to Connect When Someone In Your Life is Depressed Claudia J. Strauss (4.5/5)

I read this after a friend of mine read it and said she thought it was excellent. This ia a layperson's guide to depression. It's designed to provide useful, concrete advice for those times when you're afraid that what you say might be misconstrued, or might make things worse rather than better. I think it succeeds admirably in this; I have been severely depressed several times, and there was nothing here that made me roll my eyes or say, "Oh, no WAY would I want to hear that!" Of course, that doesn't mean that everything in the book's going to help specific situations, but it's a good foundation, I think. I do wish that there had been slightly more information about various methods of treatment. Medication and other forms of treatment are often a difficult topic of conversation for depressed people and their loved ones, and some more discussion of the whys and wherefores of that would have been helpful. Overall though, highly recommended.

178. Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Potraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles, 1910-1939 Katie Roiphe (3/5)

This is about the experiments that members of the Bloomsbury group and other eminent writers and artists undertook in their personal lives, comitted as many of them were to creating new ways of looking at love, marriage, and friendship. The subject matter is highly interesting, but Roiphe's writing is frequently very pedestrian; at times, I felt that I was reading someone's senior thesis. Roiphe has done a great service by bringing together so much information from diaries, letters, and literature in order to cast light on these relationships, but I do wish she was a better prose stylist. The book ends up being interesting in spite of her failings as a writer -- but I do wonder what a better writer might have accomplished with the material.

179. The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History Jeffrey Burton Russell (4/5)

Russell has previously written four in-depth works on the concept of Satan and ultimate evil: The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity, Satan: The Early Christian Tradition, Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages, and Mephisopheles: The Devil in the Modern World. This book is apparently meant to be a synthesis and abridgement of these four books. I can't speak to how well Russell succeeds in this, not having read the previous four books, but I certainly found this book to be fascinating. His approach is more tightly focused and less lighthearted than that of Gerald Messadie's A History of the Devil; Russell keeps things very much focused on the Christian tradition, by and large ignoring other religions' views of evil. What is most puzzling about this book is the subtitle; there is certainly a lot of discussion of "radical evil" in the text, but I'm not sure where the "power of good" came in, really.

I have been lucky enough now to read six good books in a row. Here are the most recent three: 

In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson, 2000. 
Bill Bryson is a favourite writer of mine, but this book exceeded all my hopes, and has become one of my most-enjoyed books of the year. Undoubtedly it is Bryson's deep and exuberant love of Australia which give his book about his travels through it its buoyant, humorous, and wildly informative flavour. There are things about Australia that I simply did not know and was staggered to find out: that Captain Cook was not the first white man to travel to Australia [he was the first white man to travel to the east side of it, however]; that in one remote corner there exist earthworms twelve feet long and six inches in diameter, that there exists lichen in Australia that has been there for over 12 million years, and that most Australians are very friendly and like their beer cold and in quantity [as does the author]. What separates me from Bill Bryson is that I know how Australian Rules Football ["footie"] is scored, as my husband is a huge fan and once went to Australia for three months with the express purpose of watching the sport.  In a Sunburned Country was a delightful read, one which I will purchase, and which I can envision myself enjoying again and again. 

King of Shadows by Susan B. Cooper, 1999.
I was introduced to Susan B. Cooper by my husband, who adored her Dark is Rising fantasy series as a boy; I have come to love them as well. Someone else in the 50 Book Challenge read this book and I seized on the opportunity to read more by this beloved writer. This young adult novel features Nat, a modern-day child actor, whose trip to England to perform at the new Globe Theatre - restored to the way it was in Shakespeare's day - leads him to a mysterious trip through time - and I will say no more. Susan B. Cooper's research, as always, is great, and slipped in with such subtelty that one is not beaten over the head with historical detail as can happen in some books. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to young adults without reservation, and to all adults who enjoy reading young adult fiction. 

Jungle Child by Sabine Kuegler, 2005.  [translated from the German by Christian Kuegler, the author's brother.]
I definitely felt disappointment when I first got this book after a waiting period at the library: I had hoped that it would be by a child raised by wolves or something like it, anyway. But the reality of it soon melted my disappointment. Sabine Kuegler, her older sister and younger brother, were the children of missionaries and linguists, and raised first in Nepal, and then for most of Sabine's living memory, in the remote jungles of West Papua, with a tribe whose name I have forgotten! [Book upstairs.] A warlike tribe, the Kueglers were the first white people the tribe had ever seen, and the Kueglers were viewed with both awe and terror. Their promise to bring peace and love to the tribe was accepted by the tribe, which lived in fear of death by arrows or curses, and the family was accepted into the community. The story of the children's life in remote Indonesia [West Papua is the other half of the island that contains Papua New Guinea, and is Indonesian territory], is utterly fascinating. I cannot imagine bringing up my children in a place with so many dangers, so many insects, and letting them run as wild as did the Kueglers, but on the other hand, I found myself envying the natural growth of their childhood, so maybe I am not as adverse as I think. Also interesting is the story of Sabine's re-integration into Western society - a boarding school in the Swiss Alps of all places! This was an enjoyable and decidedly unusual book which I am glad I have read. 

122 / 200 books. 61% done!

Five month review! It's almost been half a year, anyway.

Books I have read this year (In alphabetical order, based on author's surname) Those from my reading list are underlined:


( Read more... )


Manga
(I'm counting one volume as one book)

( Read more... )

That means I've read 52 of 100!

If manga doesn't count for the 50 book challenge: 29/50.

26 Written, or co-written by women
27 Written, or co-written by men
22 Non-fiction
30 Fiction
5 Items from my reading list

29 Books
23 Manga Volumes

12 Shoujo
8 Shounen
3 Seinen


Reviews at my journal:

River of Gods (slightly spoilery, but not much more so than the blurb)

Air (major spoilers)

Coming Soon:
Susanna Clarke: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

I'll post some more reviews when my exams are over.

Wooh! 4 more books down.
( Previous 20 )
27. Through a Window: My Thirty Years With the Chimpanzees of Gombe - Jane Goodall 268p
I had to read it for my Primate Evolution class, but it was interesting. The family relationships among the chimpanzees were complicated, but it was interesting to see the way others handled their children and how they turned out. It had amazing implications to how we raise our children as well.

28. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer 498p
Okay, now I am hoping to not be mobbed by crazy Edward fans, but, as I usually tend to do, I think I really liked Jasper and want to learn more about him. You have to love the tragic hero, but I was intrigued by the background characters. It was that good. But I love it and I am reading New Moon now and gosh darn it why can't my people just be happy?

29. Trickster's Queen - Tamora Pierce 467p
I can only say that this book fulfilled my hopes completely. I was sad about the deaths, but the twists and turns that it took to try to get the Raka Queen were what I wanted and more. And, yet again, I think I fell in love with the new and more background character of Taybar Sibigat. Can I have his babies? Please?

30. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 264p
A classic I have been meaning to get around to. A wonderful piece about overconsumtion, complacency and the loss of meaning in life for the "comforts" of safety and happiness.

Books:

24 / 50 (48.0%)

Pages:

8,080 / 15,000 (53.9%)

Currently Reading:
The Children of Men - P.D. James (I don't know if I can make it through it ><)
Labyrinth - Kate Mosse
New Moon - Stephenie Meyer
Uglies - Scott Westerfield

Anyone read this? Tell me what you think of it. I'm very interested in anthropology and pragmaticism.


And also, don't you love freebies on the internet? I know I do.
The short story Guts By Chuck Palahniuk (from the collection Haunted) Warning: Very disturbing

A fascinating true story from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wonderful World of Odd. It's so mysterious and creepy. I loved it.

And I can't remember if I posted: De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

Can you tell I'm super glad that summer is here? I'm all caught up, average of 4 per month wise, but I know that once school starts I'll not be able to read like this, so it's time to get ahead :D
( Previous 18 )
19. Prince Caspian - C. S. Lewis
Still getting through all of these. I really like tht they're engaging, but such a lighter read compaired to all of the other stuff I'm reading. I don't know why I never read this series before.
20. Trickster's choice - Tamora Pierce
I have seen this woman's books in my library but never looked at her stuff. I love this book a ton. The characters are amazing and the intrigue is not so much to make you get lost in the names and currents, but you still care. Plus who doesn't love a Trickster god? I can't wait to get the next one.
21. Sebastian - Anne Bishop
As a loyal Anne Bishop fan I felt I needed to read it. It's a rather confusing plot line with the idea of bridges and differnt planes and things, but once you're about 1/2way through it becomes easier to understand. I still don't really understand the concept of Belladona needing Lee for a bridge, and the character development is a little light for me. I still care for the major ones, but it's the sort of background characters I like more. I need to read the second one and then I hope she does what she did with the Black Jewels trilogy and does a collection of short stories to get to know the characters better. That way, on a reread you feel more invested.
22. The Truth-Teller's tale - Sharon Shinn
I cute story on the lines of The Safe-Keeper's Secret. If you want something fantasy/romance with plot twists that is a quick read, it took me less than 3 hours, this is wonderful stuff.
23. Archangel - Sharon Shinn
This is about the same thing, but in a trilogy and so much more. Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Romance, but on a grander scale. It takes some of it's leanings from the Bible and makes it into a wonderful story about angels, mortals and the importance of Love for healing. It is one of the best books I have read for this challenge. I would recomend this trilogy to everyone.
24. Jovah's angel - Sharon Shinn
Here is where things get interesting and lean more Sci-Fi. The ArchAngel is injured during her reign and a nobody is picked to take her place. The angels are not being heard by Jovah, their god, but she, Alleluia, is the only one Jovah can hear. Why can't the god hear the angels? It is an answer that will change everything she believes.
25. The Alleluia Files - Sharon Shinn
The last in the trilogy. 100 years after Alleluia meets Jovah and speaks to him a cultist group of athiest are being slaughtered as they try and say that Jovah isn't real and that Alleluia recorded the truth about their god. Finally, the truth must come out, to help save the land from tearing itself apart. But how can the people handle the truth? And was not knowing better than knowing? A fabulous end to a work that explores the themes of religion, why people do and do not believe, and whether or not it is neccessary to do so. Everyone read these!
26. Demonic Males - Dale Peterson and Richard Wrangham
A nerd book I had to read part of for school but I finished for fun. It looks at whether or not violence is a male perpitrated action and the different types of violence in the varrious primates. Let's just put it this way. Males are more violent, and it doesn't matter what primate you are. Save for the bonobos. Everyone in that group is super cheery because of sex. *thumbs up* Needless to say I thought it would be boring, but it was facinating. Could just be because I'm an anthro major though.

20 / 50 (40.0%)

Word Count

6,373 / 15,000 (42.5%)

Currently Reading:
The Children of Men - P.D. James
Labyrinth - Kate Mosse
Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

I thought I should update on the 50 Book Challenge, since I've been offline for a few months. I'll just list them in the order I remember them.




I'm sure there are more but I can't remember them. It's amazing how much reading you can do when you don't have access to fanfic.

I finally finished Deja Dead, book 4/50. It was a really awesome book.

( Thoughts )

Next up is The Princess Diaries.

4 / 50 (8.0%)

5. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt (excellent!)
True story of Jim Williams and the murder of his young lover. If you like nonfiction books that go down as well as any fiction tale, you'll like this book. (Of course, just about everyone in the history of the universe has read this except me . . . )

6. The Serpent and the Rainbow - Wade Davis (excellent!)
Another terrific nonfiction book about Haiti culture and how voudouism plays a role. The author, an anthropologist and ethnobotanist, weaves an eerie tale of his search for the biological foundation of the occurances of zombies in Haiti. Soon he is caught up in finding out not only how these zombies are created, but why. Includes Haitian secret societies!

On a nonfiction kick.

6 / 50 words. 12% done!