Book 10/15, "Off the Shelf" Challenge

Yesterday I was looking at my book shelves and my husband came up to me and asked me what I was doing.  I told him that I was trying to figure out which book I should read next for my "Off the Shelf" Challenge, since I only have 4 months left to finish and I still needed to read 6 more books.  I told him that I wanted it to be kind of small, because I have a lot of other books that I want to read soon.  He randomly grabbed a book from the shelf and held it out.  It was small (120 pages), and it happened to be a book that qualifies for the challenge.

It was Night, by Elie Wiesel.  I grimaced and said, "But that's just depressing."  Handing it to me, my husband said, "Oh, just get it over with."  So I did.  I started it last night and finished it today, which isn't something that happens very often with me.  I have gotten faster with my reading in the past few years, but it still takes me a few days to read even the smallest of books, or even the quickest-paced, most engulfing reads (like Glow). 


For those of you who don't know, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he, along with his family, was forced into concentration camps during the Holocaust.  Night is his first-hand account of all that he went through during that time.  Not the happiest of stories.  I knew that it was a true story going in, thus the "But that's just depressing" comment above.  But since I read so much fiction, I realized once I was a few pages into this book that I was treating it like it was fiction.  My subconscious was taking in these characters, scenes, and events and making me think that they were part of a fictional tale.  I knew it was a true story, but I flew through it, almost pretending that it wasn't true.  


I'm not sure if I'm articulating this well.  Let me just say that, while this book is not explicitly graphic, there are a lot of horrendous (and I mean horrendous) events mentioned throughout.  Some of which dealt with small children.  Actually, the first horrible event that is told in this story has to do with atrocious things happening to small children.  And my brain just kind of clicked, tricking myself into temporarily pretending that this was all a tale of fiction.  Occasionally something would happen and I would stop and think, "Whoa, that person was actually real.  And he actually did and said that."  But my mind would kind of shake away the thought and go back into novel-mode.


I'm sure my psychologist friends would say this was a kind of coping mechanism or something.  Something to keep me from thinking too hard about such a depressing subject.  I agree.  That's totally what happened.  I couldn't think too deeply about these things that he described, because I would unravel and then I wouldn't have been able to finish this wonderful book.


Now, here, I want to clarify something.  The fact that I couldn't think too hard about the events in this book in no way means that I think that this book was fiction.  I know it was what actually happened to the author.  I know that all of these horrible things (and countless others) actually happened to millions of people.  I think the people who deny the Holocaust or say that it was a hoax have got to be the most ignorant people in the entire world.  And obviously, it goes without saying that Hitler, and the Nazis, were some of the most evil, messed-up people in the entire history of the human race.


I also want to say that, although I am not Jewish and I do not have any direct link to people who were killed or persecuted during the Holocaust, the way I read this book was in no way trying to belittle what happened to them.  I will never know their pain, but I feel for them as strongly as anyone else.  I also do not wish to go against Mr. Wiesel's impetus for writing this book:  so that we don't forget, and so that it never happens again.  The fact that I couldn't think too deeply about the events in this book as I read it does not mean that I will forget what happened, or that I will ever tolerate anything similar.  The Holocaust goes against everything that I stand for as a person.  


And even though I couldn't bring myself to think about the events in the book too deeply, I always knew that it was a true story, and that it was a story that needed to be told, and one that I needed to read.  One that everyone needs to read.

Book 9/15, "Off the Shelf" Challenge

Book Cover Photo courtesy of illiterarty.com

The ninth book I read for the "Off the Shelf" Challenge was Lullaby, by Chuck Palahniuk.  This book has been sitting on my shelf for a long, long time.  I saw Fight Club in theaters when it came out in 1999, and soon after, I purchased the book that it was based on.  I loved the movie, and enjoyed the book as well, and so a few years later, when I saw Lullaby on the shelf, I bought it as well.  But I didn't read very much back then, and when I actually tried to read it I just couldn't get into it.


Then a few years later I tried reading it again, but I still couldn't get into it.  I tried reading it just a couple years ago, but I was either pregnant at the time, or had just had my son, and so the fact that there are a lot of babies dying in the book made me put it down again.


So the other day, when I realized I only had 4 1/2 months to read 7 more books for this challenge, I remembered this book was sitting on the shelf.  I had just re-watched Fight Club for a post I wrote over at Reviewsin5.com (Top 5 David Fincher Movies), and I thought, "Yeah, I should finally read that."


So the beginning was hard, because, like I said before, several babies die in the first part of the book.  Now, it's not graphic but it's still hard to read when you're a parent, especially a parent of a young child.  Here's a little background about the book before I go any further:  Carl Streator is a journalist who has been assigned a story about SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), but while investigating, he notices that most of the crime scenes include a book open to the same page.  On the page is an African culling song, a lullaby that was traditionally read to the terminally ill, in hopes that they would die a peaceful death.  So Streator goes hunting for all the books, along with a few other odd-ball characters, trying to destroy them all before the lullaby kills too many people.  The problem is, he's got the lullaby in his head, and is inadvertantly killing people, simply by thinking the words to himself.


So the plot line, I think, is pretty cool.  A lullaby that, said aloud (or even thought), can kill?  And luckily the dead babies only appear at the beginning and at the very end, so once I got in the meat of the book I really enjoyed it. However, a lot of creepy stuff happens here and there, and the end is pretty messed up.  I wish that some of the gross stuff had been left out, because I really don't think the story needed most of it.  Although, I guess it wouldn't be Chuck Palahniuk without it.


Another thing I noticed when reading the book, is that there is a very strong voice throughout.  Palahniuk's phrasing of sentences, his informal style, is such that, if I were to open one of his books without knowing the author, I would realize it was his work right from the beginning.  I mean, that could be a good or a bad thing.  He's got his own style, which sets him apart from others. But unfortunately, it could limit his writing.  If all of his books sound the same, if they have the same voice, then that voice becomes Palahniuk's voice, not the voice of his characters.  Which means that either all his characters end up sounding the same, or the voice sounds weird on certain characters.  Does this make any sense?  It makes sense to me, but it's hard for me to articulate. 


I'm really glad I finally got through this book.  I mean, it's been sitting on my shelf for at least 6 years.  But overall, I have to give this a 3/5, a medium ranking.  While some of the story is great, I really didn't like certain parts.  I would reccomend this book to others, but only to people who have read and loved other books by Chuck Palahniuk.

Pottermore, Glow, Writing, and More...

Wow, how long has it been since I've written a post?  The beginning of June?  Jeez.  Well, we've been pretty busy over at reviewsin5.com, so writing on my own blog which really has no major theme has fallen by the wayside...


So, what has been happening?  Well, if you've been under a rock you've missed the whole awesomeness that is Pottermore!  Basically it's an interactive website that allows Harry Potter fans (like me!) to explore the books and material in a new way.  Highlights:  you get to be sorted into a Hogwarts house and get a wand, both of which J.K. Rowling created the processes herself!  Now I'll finally get to officially see if I'm a Hufflepuff like I think I am...


So Pottermore opens to all in October, but recently there was this thing called The Magical Quill challenge, where fans could solve clues to gain early access to the site.  I was one of the lucky few to gain this early access (as were several of my friends)!  Now we just have to wait until we get our Welcome email that will let us know that we can go ahead and get onto the site.  Man, I try to be a very patient person, but it's proving to be quite hard waiting for that email!


I've also been doing A LOT of reading.  So far this year I've read 45 books!  Granted, 17 of those were Sweet Valley High books, which are only around 150 pages each.  But some of the other books have been pretty hefty!  My original goal was to read 35 books this year, and I reached that number in May!  Woohoo!  Unfortunately, my other reading goal was to complete the 2011 Off the Shelf Challenge by reading 15 books that have been sitting on my shelf for a while, waiting to be read.  So far I've only read 8 for that challenge.  But I still have 4 1/2 months to reach that goal!

Photo copyright St. Martin's Press

I'm super excited about one of the books I read recently.  It's called Glow, by Amy Kathleen Ryan.  I received an ARC through a giveaway on Goodreads, and the book will be released in late September.  Glow is a young adult novel set in the future, where two spaceships are on course to "New Earth," where they hope to preserve the human race.  The story revolves around two teenagers, Waverly and Kieran, who are poised to be the next leaders of their ship, the Empyrean.  But when the inhabitants of their sister ship, the New Horizon, invade the Empyrean and kidnap some of the children, the ships' course changes and an impending battle thrusts Waverly and Kieran into those leadership roles earlier than they expected.


Here's my review from Goodreads:  

WOW! I LOVED this book! There is so much action and suspense throughout the whole novel that it was really hard for me to put it down, so I only stopped reading when I absolutely had to!  

The characters are very complex; just when you think you have a character figured out, Amy Kathleen Ryan throws a wrench in your theory. I really found myself liking a lot of the characters, and even having sympathy for the antagonists.  

There are a lot of themes going on in this book, the obvious ones being one's duty to their community, and morality vs. faith or lack thereof. The religion aspect gets a bit heavy near the end of the book, but I think Ryan did a good job with showing the advantages and disadvantages of both organized religion and atheism/agnosticism.  

The only problem I really had with the book is that it's not even published yet, and the ending is left wide open for sequels, which means fans will most likely have a LONG time to wait for the second book in the series.  

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA books, especially those who also love Science Fiction!


Also, I just (finally!) started editing my 2010 NaNoWriMo novel.  I'm really excited about this book and I hope to have this 2nd draft ready for beta readers within the next few months.  But I really have no idea how long it will take me to get this draft done...


Other than that I've been taking care of my nearly two-year-old son and working hard on Reviews in 5.  The site has been live for about 4 1/2 months now, and so far it's going great!  Please visit the site and be sure to "like" us on Facebook!  


That's all for now.  Hopefully my next post won't be two months from now!

Book 8/15, "Off the Shelf" Challenge

Photo courtesy of pandora.ca

In honor of Towel Day a week and a half ago, I decided that for my next book in the "Off the Shelf" Challenge, I would read the next book in the Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.

I didn't like this one as much as I liked the first two in the series, and I guess it was about as good as the third.  I still love Douglas Adams and his humor, but I just think the plots aren't quite up to par with the first two stories.

I really, really enjoyed the part about the sandwiches in British pubs being horrible.  I mean, seriously, this is just great:  "There is a feeling which persists in England that making a sandwich interesting, attractive, or in any way pleasant to eat is something sinful that only foreigners do." Hilarious!  And then, couple paragraphs later:  

It is by eating sandwiches in pubs at Saturday lunchtime that the British seek to atone for whatever their national sins have been.  They're not altogether clear what those sins are, and don't want to know either.  Sins are not the sort of things one wants to know about.  But whatever sins there are are amply atoned for by the sandwiches they make themselves eat.

This man really is a comedic genius, as well as a writing genius!  I also really enjoyed the story that Arthur told Fenchurch about the time a man ate his biscuits.

Image from my shirt - courtesy of snorgtees.com

All in all, I still love these books and the stories and characters in them, but this one, along with Life, the Universe and Everything, just weren't as good as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.  I do, however, have a shirt with this book's title on it - I bought it after seeing the 2005 movie version of Hitchhiker's Guide, and since I love that movie so much, I couldn't not buy the shirt when I saw it.  Unfortunately, I've gained some weight since then and my goal is to get back into that shirt!

Book 7/15, "Off the Shelf" Challenge

The seventh book I read for the "Off the Shelf" Challenge was The Time Machine by H.G. Wells.  


I don't really have much to say about this book, other than I enjoyed it, and I wanted to watch the movie version with Guy Pearce as soon as I finished it, but it isn't available to view instantly on Netflix, so I'll have to wait a while.


I really enjoy Science Fiction novels and movies (or are they called SF now?), and although I don't know the history of novels focusing on time travel, I would have to say that this must be one of the most influential, if not one of the first of its kind.  It's a simple story, and I was kind of left wanting more - wanting the narrator to join the Time Traveller on a trip to some other point in time, just so that I could read about it.  I think that's why I enjoy Doctor Who - The Doctor and his companions are always going to a different time, to a different place, with each one being more wondrous than the one before.


Overall, I enjoyed the book and, in reading it, realized just how much I want to read more about time travel.

Book 6/15, "Off the Shelf" Challenge

Book cover courtesy of reader2.com

The next book I chose to read for the "Off the Shelf" Challenge was The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks.


Let me just start by saying that for me, liking a book like this is a bit weird.  Yes, I am a bit of a hippie and I believe in things like love and equality and such.  Yes, I am madly in love with my husband, and I believe him to be my soul mate.  But, other than that, books like this - cheesy romance novels, I guess you could say - I normally don't want to read.  Don't get me wrong - I love a good love story, and I think that most stories have to have some type of love included, whether it be romantic love, friendship love, love between parents and children, whatever.  But most of the time I cringe when I see something too sappy.


Oh, who am I kidding?  I loved this movie, and I really liked the book.  It wasn't the best writing in the world, and while the author tries to give you a bit of mystery, you know what's going to happen in the end, who she's going to end up with.  I've only read one other Nicholas Sparks book - The Last Song - which was a book club pick, and I really didn't like that book at all.  But I don't know what it is exactly with this story (The Notebook) that makes my heart feel like it's going to burst and makes me worry that I'll start crying and never stop.  I think, though, when I first watched the movie, it was simply the love story that did it to me, and the pain of watching your love slip away with Alzheimer's.  But this time around, as I read it, I think I also had strong emotions towards the details about them watching their children grow, which makes sense because now I am a mother myself.


Anyway, you might call me a hopeless romantic or whatever, but I'll always love this movie and I really liked the book as well.

Book 5/15, "Off the Shelf" Challenge

Book cover courtesy of illiterarty.com

For my 5th selection for the "Off the Shelf" Challenge, I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  This was another book that I should have read in high school, but I don't think I ever finished.  Looking back, I'm really not sure how I passed some of the tests I took in school.  I must have skimmed over it and found out the major details, or maybe used Cliffs Notes.


So, reading this book now, it took me a while to get into it.  But I think that was partly because of the writing style, and partly because the book just didn't get interesting until about two-thirds of the way in.  Therefore I ended up liking the book more than I thought I was going to, but I think I really only enjoyed the last third of the book.


I'm interested in seeing the film now, especially since a new adaptation is set to come out in 2012, and is starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, and possibly Ben Affleck.  Overall, though, I think I still have to give this book a medium rating, like a 3 out of 5, because, even though it's considered a major classic, it doesn't rank up there with my favorites.