Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone can be a very polarizing book. You have the people who will tout it's greatness and marvel at one book's ability to get children to read; and then you have another group of people who will do nothing but bad-mouth this book, stating that it is nothing more than a tool to teach children the art of witchcraft. The second group has probably never read this book, or any children's books of any merit, for that matter. If they did, they would see the wonder that lives in these stories. Most children do not want to read. It is a skill that is mastered slowly; and honestly, most children are too impatient to really get there. That's why books like this are so wonderful. The story is one that (almost) every child can relate to.

Harry has his eleventh birthday and finds out something wonderful about himself. He really is special and his family really is just the most boringest of the boring families ever. What child doesn't want this? He gets to leave his boring life of being picked on by bigger kids and ignored by his family and enters this fascinating world of magic and wizards and mail-delivering owls and chocolate frogs that actually jump. He makes new friends rather quickly, despite being one of the most famous wizards of his time.

But Harry's new life is not without bullies and bad stuff here. There is Draco Malfoy, whose only goal in life seems to be making Harry Potter miserable. Professor Snape also has a dislike for Harry that would almost be understandable, if Snape didn't try to hard to make it obvious that he hates Harry.

Harry Potter lives through a lot of the trials that normal children face every day. Mean teachers, bullies, super hard exams, and learning new sports. Just because he does it while at a school for magic doesn't make it any less real for children. If anything, children are more willing to believe in Harry's trials and tribulations despite the magic. It almost makes it harder for him. Not only does he have to get through all the same things they are dealing with, he has to learn how to be a wizard on top of it all. And someone is out to get him.

Book Review: Geek Love

This book took me FOREVER to read. I did not enjoy it, at all. I found myself reading the same paragraphs over and over again, lost in my thoughts that were no way related to the story. The characters were unlikable and I didn't care about them. The narrator, Olympia, was passive and never did anything because SHE wanted to. She did what other people around her TOLD her to do. No thank you.

Update Time

I'm behind on my reading, again. I am finding it very hard to really get into the book I'm reading at the moment. It's not a terrible book, I just don't care about any of the characters the way I normally do. But I'll keep on trudging through it.

In other news: tomorrow I'm getting a haircut. My first one in almost a year. I'm terrified. Of haircuts. It's true. They scare the bejeezus out of me. I know I'll feel better once it happens, but I'm going to work myself into a frenzy just thinking about it until then.

Book Review: Labyrinth

I thought I did the review for this one already, but apparently not. Well, it's Friday at work and that means Jeans Day! and I really don't have much else to keep me occupied. So, I'm going to catch up all my book reviews/thoughts from the last few I've read. I'll start here.

Labyrinth was disappointing. It had such great potential. I thought it would be an archaeological mystery where someone stumbles into an old important historic site, finds something of importance and the mystery surrounding that item or site would come out, detractors would also find themselves out in the open and maybe even a love story would blossom. But No. This was not what I got out of this book at all. It was more of a historical fiction than anything else, and I don't really like historical fiction. Especially not books that focus on the Crusades and the lack of importance that women had and the importance of religious persecution.  I'm not saying that those aren't important topics, but they were not handled well within the constraints of this story.

It started off fine, but quickly devolved into a sort of mock-feminist escapade that lost its luster quickly. There were too many story lines that started at roughly the same time and when the story would jump back and forth between the present and the past, I found it very hard to keep up with what era we were currently experiencing. Especially considering the characters names were disturbingly similar. I never knew what was going on 100 percent of the time. I think I just fumbled through this book hoping it would end much more quickly than it did.

 2 stars. No more.

Book Review: Inkheart

I am not ashamed to admit that my Mom was the first person to tell me about this book. We often trade books because we tend to like the same things in our literature: fantasy, magic, other realms, time travel, etc., so this book was perfect for us to share.

Meggie and Mo are both book lovers and they have such an endearing relationship that I can't help but squee internally every time they are on the page together. Dustfinger, as much as he plays a minor villain, is also lovable, in a discrete fashion. You could never tell Dustfinger that he was your favorite character, but he would appreciate it just the same.

The novel feels like it is one long prologue, honestly. As much as I loved the book overall, it took far too long to really get into the "meat" of the story.

It is really a story for and about book lovers. And anyone who has ever wished they could live inside their favorite novel. Or even those people who want to bring their favorite characters to life. This book serves a kind of warning about what would happen if you could. It also takes you on an interesting ride along the way.

Book Review In Progress: Franny And Zooey

They say "goddam" too much in this novel.

Bret Easton Ellis must have read this book obsessively in preparation for American Psycho. There are lots of superfluous lists of thing in the house, in the cabinets, in the bookshelves, the kinds of furniture they had, how many empty birdcages were present in the living room with the exact number of comfortable chairs AND uncomfortable chairs.

I wish I had read this when I was 15 and not 28. I don't think I "get" it like I'm supposed to. I don't dislike Salinger by any means, I just don't enjoy his stuff the same way my nihilistic younger self would have.

I think this is my 40th official book of the year.

Edit on 08/24/12:

Well, I've given myself a few months to "ruminate" on this book. I still don't get it.  This puts me at odd with all my friends who LOVE Salinger. I just can't get into it. I also can't get into Bukowski, which is another thing I guess I'll just have to accept. If this makes me a terrible person, so be it.

Book Review In Progress: Her Fearful Symmetry

Okay, so I'm not quite done with this book yet. I just wanted to jot down some quick thoughts.

I find the two main twin characters to be incredibly pompous. Julia is overbearing and needy. Valentina is meek and fearful. Julia calls Valentina "Mouse", which I find rather insulting. Is it meant to be diminutive? Is she trying to put her sister down all the time? The answer is probably.

So far I think Martin is my favorite character. He seems the least cringe-worthy in personality. Which is an odd thing to say about a man living with a crippling case of OCD.

Robert is a timid man-child who deserves to be slapped on the side of the head. He cannot fathom life without Elspeth and somehow thinks that Valentina will be a good substitute. It just feels so wrong and gross.

I am finding it really hard to like this book. It had so much potential. But the characters are all irritating and droll.

UPDATE: Do not like this book. No no no. Predictable and infuriating. This will not be getting a permanent place on my bookshelf.

Book Review: American Gods

I don't really know where to start with this one. I love Neil Gaiman. I love this book. But the first time I read it, several years ago... I'm thinking sometime around 2003/2004-ish.. I didn't really GET this novel.

But things have changed. Oh yes.

It is filled with allusions to most of Norse pantheon and mythology and several other pantheons as well. Mr. Nancy being the first one I can think of off the top of my already-too-full head. Mr. Wednesday is one of the great characters in this novel. He embodies the trickster archetype, which I find hard to fit into my world-view of this book. I don't know.

My brain is too full of mush and pancake batter to really suss through all my thoughts right now.

It's a good book. Read it. Enjoy it. Learn from it.
It really helps if you have a slight mythology/folklore background too. It helped clarify a lot of the allusions that I definitely missed the first time through. 

Book Review: The Girl Who Played With Fire

I'm still behind on all my reviewing, but I'll be caught up soon I promise. I read this book a while ago. 3 books ago, maybe.

Like the first book in the series, this novel is not exactly classics material. It is not that well written, but I don't think anyone minds. The story is compelling and lush and a bunch of other words I can't really think of right now.

This book was more enjoyable than The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was for me, at least as far as the main mystery/driving force of the novel was concerned. As much as the last book centered on Mikael, this book is almost solely about Lisbeth. And it is Lisbeth that we all want to know about. At least I do. She is an interesting character. An antisocial outcast with possible Aspergers who is incredibly good with math, computers and blending into a crowd. Yes, please.

I especially liked the cliffhanger at the end of the novel. I find that this happens a lot in the second part of trilogies. Catching Fire is another book that did that. I need to know what happens next! Cannot wait! Instant gratification! Now now now!

My only complaint with this book is how easily confused I was by all the new characters. There were so many important people added so quickly that I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information presented in such a short time. Who is doing what again? What's going on? Is this person good or bad or do we know them yet? I was constantly asking this. But the end more than makes up for the lack of cohesion throughout the rest of the book. 

And yet, I do not own the third book in this series. And I probably won't for a very long time. Unless I find it for a dollar again.

Book Review: Dearly Devoted Dexter

Okay. Dexter book number two. Review time.

Dearly Devoted Dexter is a much better novel than the first in this series. I've already expressed my dislike for book-Deb. Well, she doesn't really get much better in this novel, but I can stand her presence more here.

This book flows much better, to me. It seems like Lindsey planned the storyline out a little better than he did the first one. It was more of a mystery, despite the ever-present "who-dunnit" feel to the entire thing.

We also get to know Sgt. Doakes's back story a little better in this novel, something I don't believe is ever revealed in the TV show. Rita and the kids become bigger parts of Dexter's life here too, especially Cody.

A good book overall. But don't look to this book for any clues as to where the TV show progresses in the second season. It is a loose relationship the two mediums have with each other. One is drawing on the other for inspiration and that is it. 

Book Review: Darkly Dreaming Dexter

Sigh.

It's been a while since I've read this book, but it's been an even longer while since I've wanted to really post anything. I feel old and jaded.

But here it is. My review of Darkly Dreaming Dexter.

First things first. I hate the book version of Deb. I might be biased simply because I adore Jennifer Carpenter, but the Deb in the book is a brainless bimbo whose only asset is her chest size. Just no.

I also really dislike the book LaGuerta, but I can see why this is a necessary plot device for the novel to work. Again, I might be partially biased because I do greatly enjoy the Showtime drama for what it's worth.

The story is slow and I really had a hard time "getting sucked in". This was actually the second time I'd attempted to read the novel and only the first that I managed to finish it. Some of the things felt a little too coincidental and while coincidences are good plot devices to get the main character INTO trouble, they should never be used to get one OUT of trouble. Herein lies my main problem with the entire flow of the novel. Dexter relies on coincidences entirely too much. He also relies on his charms and his good luck and quite possibly the stupidity of the people around him.

Overall, I did enjoy the book. I probably would have given it 3.5 stars if half stars were an option, but alas, they are not. So I erred on the upside.

Fans of the TV show should not hold this books shortcomings against it. It is a good story on it's own. It is not something to judge the TV show against, however. Do not read it for that merit alone. I personally feel that the Showtime version is a lot stronger and more dramatic. The novel is a quick, throwaway beach read.

Book Review: The Testament

Let me preface this by saying that I don't normally read John Grisham novels. Not that they are bad, or anything. I just don't much care for the subject matter he deals with. I am not a fan of legal thriller/mystery novels. The only legal dramas I enjoy involve Agent Gibbs and are usually more interesting. But I have read my share of Grisham novels in the past. This is partially my mother's fault. She had a small collection started and one day decided she didn't want to keep them any longer. I am not one to get rid of books that I haven't read, so I added them to the ever-expanding to-read list. I think this was the last of them.

The Testament is not a typical Grisham novel though. It doesn't deal with lawyers in a court room, or fleeing from murder charges, or helping someone get out of their impending murder charges. It's a lost-and-found scenario, more or less. Involving a lawyer. Who gets to venture deep into the jungle of South America to find a woman. A very important woman. The lawyer is also an ex-alcoholic/drug addict.

The premise of this book struck me as stupid. It is a harsh word to use, but really, this books seems preposterous and over-wrought. And it was.

Despite the fact that I think I liked it the best out of all the Grisham novels I've read thus far, it was a complete waste of time. I'll stick to watching NCIS in the future.

Book Review: I Know This Much Is True

Okay, so I'm a little behind on posting reviews and posting in general. I think it's been about two weeks since I've said anything here at all. Oops.

The good news is that I've only read 4 books since then. The bad news is that I've only read 4 books since then.

I Know This Much Is True is another one of those books that has been floating around my bookshelf for far too long. I think I've started it more than once only to put it down a few pages in. I know precisely why, too. It's the self-mutilation scene in the library. That's what gets me, every time. Now, you might think that I've just ruined a major part of the story for you, and yes, I probably have. But, this happens so early in the story that I'm pretty sure you'd read it in your first sitting. And promptly be disturbed and put off by it. Just like me.

But don't be. Push through the hand-removing and keep reading. It gets better. And by better, I don't mean he removes more of his appendages, because that never happens. The story progresses neatly and logically, as much as a story about a schizophrenic man who cuts off his own hand in a library can.

And how many times can I mention the hand removing? Because that's what sticks out the most from this novel. It does have an integral role in the storyline. It serves to keep the plot moving and is something no one can forget about, especially not Dominick, our protagonist.

The novel itself is very well written. Much better than the godawful She's Come Undone, which holds the distinction of being one of only two books I've hated enough to give away. I Know This Much Is True, in my unprofessional opinion, accurately portrays schizophrenia. It shows just how hard it is to be schizophrenic and how hard it is for loved ones to deal with a schizophrenic.

The story never gets boring, right until the very end, when things end a little too neatly and succinctly for me. But life is never neat. Life is messy and that's the one thing this novel forgets about. Things don't work out the way you want them to, no matter how much you hope.

Overall, I've given this book 5 stars, forgiving the indiscretion of the ending, of course. The overall course of the book was amazing and the characterization was phenomenal. 

Book Review: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

If any of you remember, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was THE popular book a few years ago. It really was everywhere for a short time there. I don't think it left the NY Times Bestseller list for weeks. And there's probably a good reason for this. Well, I worked in a book store at the height of it's popularity and I avoided it like the plague. I mean, all these housewife-y moms with their brat children running around would ask for the book and overly make-upped grandmothers would also come in looking for it and NO ONE would be able to find it, despite being displayed prominently on the Bestsellers wall right at the front of the store. It was practically the first thing you would see when you walked in, that is, if you paid attention to what you were doing and where you were going, rather than lumbering into the store and heading straight for the first person wearing a name tag. That brings back memories. And is precisely the reason I never read the book until now.

A books core audience tends to influence my opinion and willingness to read the book itself. I know, that's probably the wrong way to look at something that has great potential that I personally know nothing about. But we all do it. With clothes, with music, with stores in the mall. If you do not like the people that shop there, you will not shop there. And I did NOT like the people coming in to find this book.

But, almost three years later, I found a copy of the book at a used book store for a dollar. And I'm not one to leave a dollar book behind, no matter how much I disliked it's buyers from my book store days.

So I gave it a chance.

It starts out slow. The characters feel a little flat and misguided. But I can see how bored housewives would find this book compelling. The story is full of twists and turns and reminds me just a little bit of The Westing Game. It takes about a hundred pages to really get its story-teeth into you and by that point, it's more of an effort to put the book down than to keep reading.

I did not dislike the book, but I would never rank it as one of my favorites. I doubt it would even make my top ten list. But the story was compelling. And forgiving all the gratuitous sex (there isn't much, just enough to feel unnecessary) I will probably read the sequels. As soon as I find them for a dollar.

Book Review In Progress: The Witching Hour

This is the first time I've ever been compelled to write a review before I've even finished the book.

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice is the longest book I've tackled this year. It's taken me several weeks to get halfway through it. And I've decided to come clean about why.

This book is rubbish.

The reviews on the back state that it is: "[A] huge and sprawling tale of horror" courtesy the NY Times Book Review; "Vintage Rice.. lush prose, dense atmosphere, steamy sex, gothic tension" from the San Francisco Chronicle; and the only review that comes close to capturing this monstrosity in a few words is via The Washington Post Book World "Extraordinary... Marvelous... Anne Rice offers more than just a story; she creates a myth."

These reviews are slightly misleading. There is no steamy sex. There are incestuous relationships. There is no horror; there is a story about a family with psychic abilities and a tall, dark man that happens to follow their heir apparent around, even in childhood.

Rice is not SHOWING us a story at all. (From a phrase that many writers will recognize: Don't TELL, SHOW.) She is telling us the very long, very convoluted history of the Mayfair family.

I was interested in the story at the beginning of the novel, but once we ventured back to New Orleans to read the Chronicles of the Mayfair family as collected through several centuries, I was done.

I am tired of skipping characters, I am tired of the phrases: "history from this point forward", "from this point in the story", and "we will deal with... at the proper time."

I am just tired of this book.

EDIT: UPDATE: I finished this god-awful book. A fucking month later. If you're not a fan of cursing, then I suggest you not read the rest of this review. Or any review of Anne Rice I ever write. Because Holy FuckBalls. That was the longest, most drawn out, convoluted book I've managed to read this year.

I honestly skimmed over the last 400 pages or so today at work. I couldn't tell you what the entire point of that book was and I'm not quite sure that Anne Rice could either.

Jesus. I'm glad it's over though. I won't read it again. And honestly, I cannot tell you why I keep reading Anne Rice's books at all. They are never as good as I want them to be. I think I keep reading them because they are there. And that's just generally how I work.

Book Review: The Thirteenth Tale

Well, I'm officially at one of my halfway points with this book. This is the 25th book I've read this year; and while that puts me 12 books behind on MY goal, I am ahead on the Blog Challenge as issued by Zim.

Lots of my friends on Goodreads have marked this book To-Read. And while I think they should give it a chance, I wouldn't necessarily say that this book is the greatest thing to hit bookstores in a few good years. If anything this book had potential that it failed to live up to.

The blurb on the back cover leads you to believe that this novel will be a ghost-story-mystery for book lovers. That's not exactly true. It flows quickly but it has a very meta feel to it. It is a book about the writing of a book. A biography, actually. And there in lies the "ghost-story" aspect of it. All histories can be considered ghost-stories in some way, and this book is the history of a family. A dysfunctional yet wealthy family, but really, aren't they all?

There are some interesting plot twists, but the ending feels a little contrived. Instead of the ending you were expecting, the author throws in a "Just Kidding! This is what REALLY happened because I forgot to reveal some things to you along the way." That really irritated me. Or maybe I'm honestly just not a close enough reader to have caught all the little hints. I don't know. It feels like I'm being underestimated as a reader though. And I don't like that.

Despite my inability to catch everything during a first read through, the story is set up to grab your attention and keep you trapped. I didn't really care for the story but I couldn't stop reading. I needed to know what happened. It's on that same level of interest that Soap Operas have to me. I don't know why I'm watching it but I can't stop looking.

All in all, not a terrible book but not great either.

Book Review: The Westing Game

I must have attended a terrible public school system because we were never forced to read anything good in any of my English classes. I think we had to read parts of The Canterbury Tales one year, but that was junior year of high school. Far too late for me to really get anything educational out of it. I remember hating it.

I didn't get to read The Westing Game in school like lots of other people have, but I knew about it as a school book, just the same.

Having owned this book for several years before actually reading it, I can say that with complete honesty that it is very short and doesn't take up much shelf space. What I can't say is why I haven't read it until now. Laziness? Probably.

I read this book in a single sitting at work. I should probably stop reading at work, but what else am I going to do. And how else am I going to hit my goal of 100 this year. I'm already behind by 11 books at this point. Add in the two gigantic tomes I'm reading through now, I'll surely sink even further behind than that.

It is a quick read but very involved and detailed. You can't skip a single thing or you will lose the game. I was definitely intrigued by all the subtle details of the game and its clues. I couldn't figure it out though. I think that's sort of the point, really.

I did really enjoy this book. It'll go back on the bookshelf to be revisited in a few years time. I guess this whole "read a book, get rid of a book" thing I've been attempting is not working out too well. Oh well. At least I'm reading through what I've owned for far too long.

If you have a day to spend with a book, I'd highly recommend this one. Especially if you are at all interested in murder mysteries and word plays. Oops. I may have just said too much.

Book Review: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

I had this book forced on me by a drunken friend who told me that I should read this book, that I would really enjoy it. I'm pretty sure the words "right up your alley" came out of his mouth. So I shoved the book in my purse and continued my drunken book talk. I think we talked about Michael Pollan after that. Who knows. Anyways, I made it home with the book in tow and promptly forgot about it. But after a few days of reading The Witching Hour, I was ready for a change.

I read this book in about 4 hours, at work one really slow day. I am not joking. I read this book at work, which I probably shouldn't admit to, but oh well.

It was not bad. It read quickly, the story line flows with ease and there weren't too many heavy historical anecdotes that required my full attention. To me, this book was very fluffy. Reading this was kind of like having a long day at work and then going home to sit on the couch and watch 90210. It doesn't require much actual thought and serves to clean your brain of anything too messy.

I feel like this book was playing with the vampire craze of late a little too hard though. It felt very much like it was riding on the coat tails of a greater trend and trying to bank on the bank-ability of anything remotely fangy and horror-ish.

It was a good story though. I did enjoy it, for what it was. 3 stars.

Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

Okay, I'm stealing this list from here. It is the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge, and anyone that knows Gilmore Girls knows that Rory is a reader.
And I am bored at work. So I'm going to see which of these books I have read and which I have not. I can already tell you that the "have not" section of this list will be MUCH longer than the already read portion.
(The ones with the line through them are the ones I HAVE read.)

1984 by George Orwell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
Archidamian War by Donald Kagan
The Art of Fiction by Henry James
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Babe by Dick King-Smith
Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney
The Bhagava Gita
The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel
A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner
Candide by Voltaire
The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Children’s Hour by Lillian Hellman
Christine by Stephen King
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
The Collected Short Stories by Eudora Welty
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty
A Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Complete Novels by Dawn Powell
The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton (While I may not have read this in it's entirety, I have read most of them.)
Complete Stories by Dorothy Parker
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas père
Cousin Bette by Honor’e de Balzac
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Cujo by Stephen King
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
David and Lisa by Dr Theodore Issac Rubin M.D
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Da Vinci -Code by Dan Brown
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Deenie by Judy Blume
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx
The Divine Comedy by Dante
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
Don Quijote by Cervantes
Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhrv
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
Eleanor Roosevelt by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Eloise by Kay Thompson
Emily the Strange by Roger Reger
Emma by Jane Austen
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
Ethics by Spinoza
Europe through the Back Door, 2003 by Rick Steves
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Extravagance by Gary Krist
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan
Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1 of The Lord of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce
Fletch by Gregory McDonald
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (maybe.. I can't remember honestly)
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
George W. Bushism: The Slate Book of the Accidental Wit and Wisdom of our 43rd President by Jacob Weisberg
Gidget by Fredrick Kohner
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Alvin Granowsky
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford
The Gospel According to Judy Bloom
The Graduate by Charles Webb
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
The Group by Mary McCarthy
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry
Henry IV, part I by William Shakespeare
Henry IV, part II by William Shakespeare
Henry V by William Shakespeare
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland
Howl by Allen Gingsburg
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
The Iliad by Homer
I’m with the Band by Pamela des Barres
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Inferno by Dante
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Iron Weed by William J. Kennedy
It Takes a Village by Hillary Clinton
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Jumping Frog by Mark Twain
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Lady Chatterleys’ Lover by D. H. Lawrence
The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
The Little Locksmith by Katharine Butler Hathaway
The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Love Story by Erich Segal
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
The Manticore by Robertson Davies
Marathon Man by William Goldman
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (attempted)
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir
Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
Mencken’s Chrestomathy by H. R. Mencken
The Merry Wives of Windsro by William Shakespeare
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion by Jim Irvin
Moliere: A Biography by Hobart Chatfield Taylor
A Monetary History of the United States by Milton Friedman
Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret
A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall
My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and It’s Aftermath by Seymour M. Hersh
My Life as Author and Editor by H. R. Mencken
My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 by Myra Waldo
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich
Night by Elie Wiesel
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism by William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John P. McGowan
Novels 1930-1942: Dance Night/Come Back to Sorrento, Turn, Magic Wheel/Angels on Toast/A Time to be Born by Dawn Powell
Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski (attempted. gave up)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Old School by Tobias Wolff
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
Oracle Night by Paul Auster
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Othello by Shakespeare
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
Out of Africa by Isac Dineson
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
The Portable Nietzche by Fredrich Nietzche
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill by Ron Suskind
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Property by Valerie Martin
Pushkin: A Biography by T. J. Binyon
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
Quattrocento by James Mckean
A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
Rapunzel by Grimm Brothers
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
The Return of the King: The Lord of the Rings Book 3 by J. R. R. Tolkien
R Is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton
Rita Hayworth by Stephen King
Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry Robert
Roman Holiday by Edith Wharton
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
A Room with a View by E. M. Forster
Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
The Rough Guide to Europe, 2003 Edition
Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
Sanctuary by William Faulkner
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
Say Goodbye to Daisy Miller by Henry James
The Scarecrow of Oz by Frank L. Baum
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman
Selected Hotels of Europe
Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Several Biographies of Winston Churchill
Sexus by Henry Miller
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Shane by Jack Shaefer
The Shining by Stephen King
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton
Slaughter-house Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Small Island by Andrea Levy
Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
Snow White and Rose Red by Grimm Brothers
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World by Barrington Moore
The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
Songbook by Nick Hornby
The Sonnets by William Shakespeare
Sonnets from the Portuegese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
A Streetcar Named Desiree by Tennessee Williams
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Swimming with Giants: My Encounters with Whales, Dolphins and Seals by Anne Collett
Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Term of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
Time and Again by Jack Finney
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath 1950-1962 by Sylvia Plath
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Unless by Carol Shields
Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyers
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Velvet Underground’s The Velvet Underground and Nico (Thirty Three and a Third series) by Joe Harvard
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Walt Disney’s Bambi by Felix Salten
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
We Owe You Nothing – Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews edited by Daniel Sinker
What Colour is Your Parachute? 2005 by Richard Nelson Bolles
What Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire
The Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Book Review: The Poisonwood Bible

I finished this book a week ago, I think. Now that I've had time to really think about everything that happened within the book, it's time for the review.

(Okay. This turned into more a character synopsis than a review. Forgive me. I need to work on being more cohesive in these things.)

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Set in the 1960's, a young missionary and his family move to the Congo to help spread the great gospel and learn more about themselves than they ever thought possible.

That sentence is very brief and explains absolutely nothing that actually happens in the book, but it is the best sentence I could come up with to act as an adequate synopsis of the storyline.

There are five narrators in the novel. They each have their own distinct voice, as narrators do; and they all exist for each other, and often in spite of each other, it seems.

Orelanna, the mother, says the least out of all the narrators. Her back story is revealed to us casually. We learn that she married Nathan, the missionary, not out of love really, but because she had a distinct lack of other choices. She does not regret her decisions but she understands that they cause her children pain. She is also incapable of defying her husband, at first. She is, to me, the strongest of all the characters at the end of the story. She fights to get everyone out of the village and once they are back on American soil, goes to live her own life in her own way. She never apologizes for her actions; she exists and lives and moves on.

The other narrators of the story are her daughters: Rachel, Adah, Leah, and Ruth May. They are very much their own people with distinct personalities and ideas about the world.

Rachel is a teenager when they move to the Congo. She sneaks Betty Crocker cake mix under her clothes so she can have a "real" sweet-sixteen party when her birthday comes. She dreams of mohair twin sets and pearl necklaces. She is the daughter that throws herself into the hope chest project with the most fervor. She makes the most stuff for her future marriages; which is a noted parallel to her many marriages, "quantity over quality."

Rachel is the daughter that ends the novel in a better place than most of the characters, it seems. She is happy with her inn. She makes good money. She enjoys her life and lifestyle. She is in charge of something she loves, which she would have never thought possible as a teenager in the Congo or even Georgia. She is in a position of control, which is all she ever wanted. While she may not have children, like Leah; or be researching how to cure the world of malaria, like Adah; Rachel is exactly where she wants to be. She doesn't have to answer to anyone anymore, just the way she likes it.

Leah, the tomboy daughter, starts out the novel with the most promise. She is the strongest. She is the one willing to go help their father in the garden and learns about the village they are staying in. She is the most likely candidate to escape the Congo. Yet, it is Leah that falls in love with the teacher of the village and stays there to have many children and watch the Congo falter under many leaders and dictators. She witnesses her husband go to jail for several years because of his involvement with the rebellion. She raises three children while her husband is off helping to improve the Congo and thus getting arrested for his efforts. Leah is the glue that holds the family together at the beginning but quickly gets herself stuck there. She is the one who first learns of their father's ultimate death at the hands of the natives he so blindly tried to save.

Nathan Price is a hard man to like. He does not get to narrate the story the same way the women do, and for good reason. He is not a father I would want to have, or a father I would want to give my children. He is broken. His spirit was wounded in a war he never talks about and he cannot forgive himself for sins he committed decades ago. His family suffers because of his actions and inability to move forward with his life. He thinks he is healing the world by preaching to the natives in the Congo, but he is punishing himself and his family for his incredulousness. He makes the decision to stay in the Congo long after the Belgians have pulled out and stopped all the funding to the family for their missionary work. He puts them all in danger and doesn't see the error of his ways.

Adah is Leah's twin, and like many twins, they are nothing alike. Adah is the mute. She never talks, not because she can't. It's simply because she thinks no one will listen to her. She does not partake in the hope chest project their mother puts forth. She draws black ex's all over her things, predicting her marriage future in an instant. She goes to medical school when they return to the states and becomes a prominent researcher in diseases. She takes her experiences in the Congo and turns them into a profitable career.

Ruth May, exempt from the hope chest project because she was too young is forever exempt from the world of marriage. She is the baby of the family and the least likely to take her malaria pills. This is not what kills her, but she spends a majority of the novel sick in bed with the illness. She is delusional for most of the novel. Her parts are short and riddled with confusion. She sees things as a five year old would, sometimes providing much needed clarity and other times she is merely a mimic of the things spoken around her.

And last but not least, Methusulah, the parrot. I loved this little addition into the story. Methusulah was there before the Price family. He was Brother Fowles' pet and learned to mimic, like parrots will. The plot line can almost be completely summed up by what happens to Methusulah. He is an internal mirror of the story at hand, especially Nathan's. Nathan lets Methusulah free because he cannot stand what the parrot has learned to say, yet the years he's spent inside a cage, dependent on others for his meals keeps him around. Nathan is the very much the same. Once he is free from his family, he is still dependent on his "congregation" for his sustenance. He doesn't know any other way to live. They are both killed by their inability to move on, to let go.

Those who cannot adapt eventually die. This rings true throughout the entire novel. The background of the war and rebellion in the Congo provided both a good background and a good catalyst for the fighting and rebellion within the family.

Overall, a decent book. A little long for my liking and slow in some places, but well written.