whako jacko

book: on michael jackson

author: margo jefferson

completion date: 18/10/10

Method: purchased

This is another pop culture book. As in another book I had to read for class. I don't know if it left me with any more knowledge about Michael Jackson though. He remains a compelling character. I don't know if it is possible to learn more about his life, because he was such a mysterious person. In her book, jefferson touches on his family life, and how he is not the most bizarre one in the family, he is just the most public.
What I find difficult about Jackson is that he was almost doomed to fail. He was severely abused as a child and began his life in showbiz so young that if he had turned out to be happy and healthy it would have been truly shocking. What I find tragic about him is that he was so set up to fail and to end up a freak of showbiz and we all just waited for his failure.
She mentioned something about jackson's transformation that I had never thug of before- that jackson's transformation was for us. He disfigured himself so that he became more what we wanted from him. He dangled prince Michael over the balcony for us. Because we, the mob were calling for blood. I don't know if there is a way to see what was going on to Michael or what happened to him and I don't feel that I know any more about Jackson than I did, I just feel worse about what happened to him.
xo- ellebee

naughty leap 2: my first venture into harlequin

book: honeymoon with the boss

author: jessica hart

completion date: 18/10/10

method: stolen from work where it had been abandoned.

we found this book in a drawer at work. from what we could tell, it didn't belong to anyone who worked there, but that could have been because no one wanted to take ownership of this harlequin romance. so i decided to adopt it and see what these books were like. i don't know why i was disappointed in it, i think i expected too much...

the main problem with this novel in my eyes was the complete and utter implausibility of the plot. i found myself actually getting angry at the idiotic premise. i shouldn't be angry at this, i knew that the plot was going to be contrived, but i was hoping for more. maybe a plot that was semi believable. the whole point was to get these characters to fall for each other. thats great. totally what we want from one of these novels, but i wanted at least some reality.

the boss character, successful and not traditionally handsom tom claims to not have noticed imogen, his frizzy haired betty of a PA before he decided to invite her on the honeymoon he was going to take with his wife before she left him for her best friend. problem a) tom is a workaholic. he didn't like the idea of taking more than 1 week off work, never mind 3

problem b) if you were a young woman, would you go to an island (where you would be totally alone for 3 weeks) with your boss who you barely knew?

problem c) although tom is rolling in the coin, the island was very, very expensive and he probably could have got some money back. some, not all.

problem d) why would he take his PA? he didn't even like her that much

sorry, i feel like this is futile. the story was everything i expected it to be, and i can't help but feel that i'm not being totally fair. it was a harlequin romance. i don't think i'll be going there again.

xo-ellebee

naughty leap

book: sappho's leap

author: erica jong

completion date: 15/10/10

method: borrowed (mum)

now, i was a little shocked by this novel. i was expecting this book to actually be a little bit dry, but was hoping that it might be filled with sappho's poetry. however, i was shocked at how sexual it was. the entire novel was about sappho's sexual conquests. which i was surprised by. i mean i know that almost every greek story is about sex, and lots of times it is inappropriate (oedipus anyone?), but this seemed a little excessive. it was filled with more sex than that harlequin romance i just read (review to follow).

i did enjoy leaning more about her life and reading her poetry, which was beautiful. i don't have a ton of experience with her poetry. however, the great love story within it, i don't know if i believed it, for the same reason i had problems with the disappeared. sappho, although she did not remain loyal, she remained in love with alcaeus for her whole journey and was always thrilled to reunite with him. now i did like that she didn't just go along with everything he wanted. she was not a useless heroine at all. she did what she wanted to do and i respected that, but it was so up and down. i enjoyed this novel, but i didn't love it. it was a but like a trashy beach novel with legs actually. how do i put this, it as a beach novel in disguise as a great greek novel.

xo-ellebee

Wha..... Why?

Book: alias grace
Author: Margaret Atwood
Completion date: 03/10/10
Method: borrowed (debbie)

I don't really understand why this book was written. When I finished it and read Atwood's research at the end and what was true about grace and what might have been fabricated i didn't really get it. Grace as a figure of Canadian history wasn't really a compelling character, especially not enough for a book of this size or length.
Now I understand a little, after hunting humans, our fascination with serial killers and murderers and I even understand the desire to fictionalize and romanticize their lives. We make them into romantic, tragic figures-especially women, when in reality they are just killers. Just like the men. This book seemed to want to be a biopic of sorts, similar to the josephine boneparte books, but grace is not a figure I would ever consider or think about. I had never even heard of her prior to reading this novel, and haven't really thought about her afterwards, either.
Now normally I love Atwood. I have found her writing in the past to be compelling, frightening and very witty at times too. I enjoyed most of her books, but is one just felt lazy to me. Grace was boring as a character, the wasn't enough to her, the doctor who attempted to understand her was likable and interesting, but his storyline is all but abandoned and we never hear from him again.
I feel like one of the main problems with this book is it count decide whether it wanted to be more fiction or more fact. I know that most, if not all of Atwoods books are exhaustingly researched but this one was too much of both. It was too real and at the same time not real enough. The further I get from it the less I liked it.


Xo-ellebee

Finally

Book: the kite runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
completion date: 08/10/10
Method: borrowed (Debbie) recommended (joss)

Now this is the first time I have credited two people in one entry, because when i was first getting going, this book was highly recommended to me by my landlady. I never grabbed it from the library, but when it came in the latest pile of books from Debbie, I felt it deserved two mentions.
Now I read and finished this book on the greyhound to London and the trip took four bloody hours. Now this was irritating and frustrating, but it mention that I got a chance to talk to the man next to me. Now there are very few books that people have felt the desire to talk to me about when I've been reading in public places. Kite runner was one of them evidently, although I feel that this was a bit of a special case. This man told me that not only was he born and raised in Afghanistan, but he ran kites as a child. He told me all about building his own kite, fighting them and the sheer glory to be had if you captured the winners kite. It was so wonderful and fascinating to talk to someone who lived a similar life the the man in the novel. He was born and raised there, immigrated with his family and faced the difficulties of parents who could not adjust to Canadian life.
I see why so many people lend this book and suggest it to people. It is compelling and sad but very beautiful at the same time. It is a completely cyclical story that allows for the possibility of redemption. It's very sad and tragic and takes you on an emotional roller coaster, but there are very few books that can allow for such a complete circle without feeling too cheesy. I did find moments slightly far fetched, but not impossible. I just found that i really enjoyed myself the entire way.





Xo-ellebee

Poker Face

Book: pokerface- the rise and rise of lady gaga
Author: Maureen Callahan
Completion date: 05/10/10
Method: purchased

This is another book I had to read for my popular culture class. There are currently a surprising number of books on lady gaga and her career (which is relatively young). I found this one to be quite compelling in all honesty.
Gaga is an enigma. She is the biggest thing in pop music and also the strangest. We know she can sing (her acoustic versions of pokerface, speechless and paparazzi) and play the piano pretty well, but we don't know what she is really like under everything.
Gaga has always promoted herself as a freak. She never fit in, she was always an oddball. Much of her work is demonstrating how painful it can be to you on the outside and the inside when you try to fit in and just don't or can't. Her costumes are always bizarre and at times painful. So the discussion I always seem to have is this: is she a carefully manipulation creation of the record industry, or is she the next great performance artist who lives her artwork.
In the novel, the author mentions that gaga was told early on in her career that the didn't think she was pretty enough. She was no great beauty and thus wasn't a guarantee. She was directly told this, and then decided to use and exploit her creativity and began creating gaga as we know her.
What I really enjoyed about this book is it didn't feel like a fan piece. The author is unraveling the mystery of gaga, which it turns out is a compelling one.
The only thing I really feel like I learned about gaga is that she is a perfectionist, and knew from the get go that marketing 'stephanie' was not going to cut it. What we needed was a goddess, not a mortal and this is what she has succeeded in creating. All celebrities are larger than life, and gaga is larger than them.


Xo-ellebee

sometimes i wish i could erase my mind

book: hunting humans

author: Elliott Leyton

completion date: 27/09/10

method: purchased

reading this book reminded me of reading helter skelter. I wanted to read that book so badly and i wished for it and asked for it for so long, and finally when i got it and when i read it i wished i hadn't. i really really want to forget a lot of what i read in that book, and its similar for this one. reading very graphic descriptions of what ted bundy or david berkowitz did to their victims.

this book was another book for school, and really works to combine the celebrity and the serial killer. leyton writes about the frenzy people feel around serial killers. especially how some of them exploit this frenzy. getting caught is another part of the rush. they killers get to relive every kill, every rape. it allows them to relive their heyday so to speak.

what i could have done without in this book is the graphic descriptions that leyton wrote. he was very graphic, almost totally overly. i did skip a number of pages... sometimes i got to the point when i just had to put down that book and pick up another, less horrible, novel. however, i kept reading. because just like everyone else (albeit not as intense as that woman that had ted bundy's baby) i have that sick fascination with serial killers. there is no way to know why this happens to people. or what will make a killer. this book was terrifying to me because of this reason. it doesn't have anything to do with having a shitty childhood or an abusive spouse. these things don't help, but many people recover from these abuses, or horrible traumas, so there is no reason why some people could recover and others decide to kill white, pretty college girls and leave them in a ditch.

hey. way to start a day.

xo-ellebee

i love finishing a series

book: dead in the family

author: charlaine harris

completion date: 26/09/10

method: libraried

i feel sort of funny writing about this book for the same reason i felt strange about writing about the first 9. theres not much to them is the problem. they are trash and a good thing to go to when you need something light. and it was a good relief too from reading about serial killers...

i have to say that this one really let me down. it felt like all she was doing was re-telling the previous books over and over. i was frustrated by it actually. and was really glad that i didn't pay for it in hardcover.

i feel like the series might be stagnating. it needs a serious change and doesn't seem to be moving on. i just wanted this series to stay sexy and fun, and i'm afraid that it might start taking itself too seriously.

xo-ellebee

Cash only from now on

Book: the handmaids tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Completion date:19/09/10
Method: borrowed (baby Ali)

I became a really big Atwood fan this summer. I love the way she writes and how well she tells her stories. However, compared to year of the flood and oryx and crake or even the penelopiade I feel this book fell short. I enjoyed it very much, but I found I was really frustrated with how she resolved this novel. The book (which up to this point I had been unable to put down) ends with a professor lecturing about gilead and what happened and who the handmaid might be. This is by far the most boring part of the book. It was so boring i almost just forgot about reading it. I felt that the book had no resolution at all and that there would be a much better way to end this novel.
What is always so terrifying about Atwood's apocalypse is how they all have a ring of truth to them. At one point in the book, Offred explains that it only could have happened because the nation had almost entirely stopped using cash and they were able to shut down any account that had a f beside gender. They had totally control over everyones finances because everyone used their cards and never cash. Also terrifying is how quickly her husband adjusted to the fact that she had no access to their money and she became a part of his estate. I suppose you could argue that it only made sense to go along with this regime but I would hope that people I knew would fight this and not just allow ourselves to be overtaken and forced into slavery.
One of the major issues I have with this novel is it never really explains why people are infertile and what happened outside the walls of gilead. I felt that this was really integral to how much I enjoyed the book at the end. I felt abandoned and let down, which is not how you want to feel after reading a novel.
I only hope that alias grace will restore my faith, because I really love Atwood, and I don't want to lose her.

Xo-ellebee

Nowhere to go but down

Book: valley of the dolls
Author: jacquline susanne
Completion date: 17/09/10
Method: purchased

I bought this book for school and decided to get some advanced reading done while I still had time on my hands. This was right about the time that I was wrapping up the last of the sookie stackhouse novels so I was ready to read something with a little more substance. I wasn't quite ready for this book in all honesty.
According to my professor, this book marks the beginning of 'chick lit' and what she called the modern novel. Now, the chick lit I have read mainly concerns women wearing fashionable clothing and worrying about what kind of underpants they are wearing on their date with some cute man, not surviving entirely on pills and staggering about with a bottle of bourbon shouting that 'he's no fag and I'm just the woman to prove it'. In all honesty, this book terrified me. Neely, Jennifer and Anne seem to have so much hope and promise and such a strong relationship, only to watch each of their lives slowly fall apart.
Neely was the most interesting and terrifying of the trio. I have never seen a character forget herself and her friends so fast. She is so self destructive, and every time she is destroyed by her own success. It drove her mad. The more successful she became, the worse she forgot herself and her family. Especially how much she despises Anne, the same woman that pulled all the right strings to give Neely her shot in showbiz.
There are also a number of very very compelling supporting characters that bring this world and time to life. Like old iron sides, Helen Lawson. The true diva. A woman that worked her whole life to stay on top, only to be betrayed by everyone.
Susanne paints a very depressing view of humanity and the relationships between men and woman. Every character is betrayed and betrays with almost no second thought. It makes me wonder about susanne's life how much this novel reflects her view on what people are actually like, because everything certainly isn't sunshine, rainbows and true love for susanne.
Xo-ellebee

the sookie stackhouse novels, vol 1-9

books: the sookie stackhouse novels volumes 1-9

author: charlaine harris

method: purchased

i bypassed the completion date on this one because there were just too many to write about each of them, and lets face it- there isn't a lot to them. i think i'm addicted to them, actually. i read all 9 of the books available in paperback over the course of the last week.

i have this thing with true blood. i don't like it, but i want it to be really good. i keep hoping for it to be better. i keep coming back (maybe because of alexander skarsgard....). i have just found it infuriating, especially lately, because they keep changing the rules. anyways i am not here to talk about true blood, only the books that inspired them. now the books were exactly what i was hoping for. they are trashy and witty. sookie is no longer a whiner but strong and independent. she doesn't take crap, and actually kicks some serious butt. bill is still kinda whiny, but she isn't totally hung up on him, instead she focuses on eric, who is so much more awesome than bill. some of the supporting characters i loved so much are absent but still i totally enjoyed them. they were fun and sexy and everything i was hoping true blood to be. its bloody and awesome. all the vampires are actually scary and there weres are real wolves not puppies. everyone is so much more raw and scary. it makes so much more sense, because vampires are not friendly or cute and they make terrible life partners. they are trashy but the best kind of trashy.

i can't wait for more!!

xo-ellebee

thank god for hugh

book: when you are engulfed in flames

author: david sedaris

completion date: 03/09/10

method: purchased

i remember listening to this book on a family trip to detriot. there were moments of brilliance that i remembered but i slept through most of it because we were driving so late and i had probably not slept very much previous to it.

its difficult to me not to compare this collection of stories to the collection compiled by david foster wallace i had read previously. the two authors are both similar personalities but have extremely different writing styles. they are both hopelessly maladjusted misanthropes who are also slightly agoraphobic. in one of his stories, sedaris talks about how his boyfriend is always walking so far ahead of him and getting lost and whenever he is searching for hugh, he makes up his mind that he's going to end the relationship, only to realize that without hugh he's have nowhere to live, and be completely un able to live on his own because he needs hugh so much. he and wallace don't seem to have much in common on the surface but i felt like they were connected.

sedaris tends to skip around in his stories. he begins in one place and ends in a completely different place (quitting smoking then beating a woman with downs at the y. at swimming... not physically). but you never feel like he loses you. his transitions are all very smooth.

what i wonder about his stories is how true they are. they all feel like they are very truthful but it seems like a lot happens to him for someone who hate being around most people (similar to wallace who describes it as mild agoraphobia). i feel like they are all based on something that happened to him or a friend of his and are richly embellished. however that doesn't at all detract from the joy of reading this novel.

xo-ellebee

the other side of the apocalypse

novel: year of the flood

author: margret atwood

completion date: 01/09/10

method: libraried

i really loved oryx and crake. i thought it was a fabulous post-apocalyptic novel because we weren't just flung into the apocalypse, we were warmed up to it because the past and the present were mashed up. in year of the flood we have more of a linear story, but following the paths of two woman as they join and separate.

i loved how this novel was really just another perspective on the apocalypse. it didn't take place before or after but it made me really really want to read oryx and crake again because the two are so perfectly interwoven. also it totally stands on its own as a novel. the connections are there because they are based around the same characters but it doesn't feel entirely like a companion novel. you could read oryx and crake afterwards and be happy about it. the connections are really well thought out, almost in a way that points out what a small world it is that ren could be amanda's best friend and they both could have dated jimmy. of course thats possible and the way that atwood writes it makes sense. it doesn't feel outlandish at all.

one of my favourite additions was the cult that ren and toby came from and the poetry that divides each of the chapters. the gardeners are waiting for the waterless flood. and we never know if the adams and eves survived but it seems possible. the adams and eves were prepared. but could they have been prepared for this? does a virus count as a waterless flood?

i need to read oryx and crake again, but now i'm afraid that after i read it i'll want to read this again...

xo-ellebee

the finale

book: the girl who kicked the hornets nest

author: stieg larsson

completion date: 29/08/10

method: libraried

i don't know why i did this a thrid time. i should know better. i don't know what i was expecting, but the 2nd was a cliff hanger, and i just wanted to know what happened. it was exactly the same. the idea was solid but it was executed so poorly. i'm sure that the movies in this case are better. it was frustrating. again, no action happened until the very end, by the end i was more than done with this book and... actually you know what, i don't want to even bother. you get the point- read the wiki in this case.

xo- ellebee

p.s. the title of the first book made sense, as lisbeth has a dragon tattoo. but there was no playing with fire in the second, and not even a bee sting in the third book.

a definitely fun thing that i would love to do again

book: a supposedly fun thing that i'll never do again

author: david foster wallace

completion date: 26/08/10

method: purchased

i had never read anything by david foster wallace before this. to be frank i found the description of his work intimidating. i had heard from people who had read infinite jest that there were moments of totally genius and then moments of confusion followed by frustration. i didn't think i was ready for that, so instead i chose a book of essays. now what amazed me is how observant he is as a writer, but it never hampers your enjoyment. there are moments when he crosses the line and gets so absorbed in what he's talking about that its easy to forget what he's talking about if you let your attention drift. i don't foresee myself being able to handle it during total thesis madness, but you never know. i may give it a shot, but i think it might be too much.

now there are a number of essays in this book, all of which shine, but the title piece made me laugh out loud number of times on the bus which afforded me some bizarre looks, but i was enjoying myself too much to care. the supposedly fun thing that he'll never do again is going on a cruise ship. now, this has never really appealed to me, but it appeals even less to me after he writes about it. some of his lines are just so poignant and smart i don't even understand how someone can write like that. i wanted to write down some of his lines to remember them later, many of which occurred in the foot notes. there is one in which he describes the people who are at his dining table (apparently you are assigned a table and sit at it for the entirety of your cruise). his table seems varied between some old cruise veterans and spoiled brats. he is the only one who is a cruise virgin. for everyone else this is just a routine. something that they always do. it isn't special- they deserve it. now on another note, i don't think that wallace knows what a short footnote is- some of them are a page and a half in about size 8 font. maybe less. now i loved reading all the stories. i loved reading it, but i found by towards the end of each story i was waiting for it to be over. i felt that it just dragged on a bit too long at times.

i also felt hampered because i have never seen a david lynch movie.... and i don't know much about tennis. but! it made me want to change both of those things.

xo-ellebee

helping me helping you

book: the camel bookmobile

author: masha hamilton

completion date: 23/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

this year i took a course disguised as a world literature class but which was actually an african literature book. now i didn't have any objections to this until about the 5th class when we were still asking the question 'what the fuck is african literature'. now this book is not written by an african author, but it does take place in africa and is about the clashing of two cultures- us and them.

this book is all written from the 3rd person, but the perspective switches very elegantly and feels very unforced. because of the extremely different views each of the characters possess it is nice to see the world from over their shoulder.

this book was great. it was well written and engaging and interesting. there was however one major issue with it: when the camel bookmobile (the travelling library) turns out to be unsuccessful i didn't understand why Fiona is surprised. her idea is that they should bring books to the semi nomadic tribes of africa. they will promote literacy and curiosity among the people, but the problem is many of the books don't connect with the people and they don't understand why these stories are important. and fi never understands why her project inevitably will fail with each tribe. it is sad that she is totally blinded by what is important to her and forgets that that isn't what everyone needs.

i'm sorry if this is a little short, but i spent all day today entertaining, feeding and cleaning up after about 5 very demanding children and am amazed that i could even write this.

xo-ellebee

crazy disappointing

book: girl crazy

author: russell smith

completion date: 18/08/10

mehtod: purchased

i was so looking forward to this novel. i love reading russell smith's column in the globe and mail. he's snappy and witty and a bit of a dick. so i thought this would translate into a funny and sharp novel. i was wrong. i was so wrong that i'm kind of put off with myself. even thought there's no way i could have known i feel like i should have. it was so much more of a let down having thought that it was going to be at least an ok book because he is obviously a good writer.

one of the main problems is justin himself. justing being the protagonist. justin is a dick and actually kind of a pervert. his entire life revolves around wanting to have sex with this really messed up girl, jenna. one of the reviews on the back said 'this is a man who clearly understands and loves women' but it feels like someone who doesn't like or understand men. justin starts out as this totally square guy and then thru jenna he gets into this world of pit bulls and drugs and guns. it just seems too far fetched. the only likeable thing about jenna is that she is beautiful (according to justin, but she sounds more trashy). she's one of those bitchy stupid people that blames all her problems on everyone else, can't hold a job because she thinks everyone is against her, everybody is mean to her and she shouldn't have to answer to anybody. instead of making a badass character, these features amount to just making a whiny bitch that i was really sick of about halfway through the novel. and without liking either of them i didn't know how to relate to the book. i had no reason to care about these dumb, selfish people.

the sex scenes that he writes are also terrifying. they are just upsetting and really weirdly written. they made me feel so uncomfortable and i ended up just skipping them after a bit because there were WAY to many of them.

russel smith just disappointed me so much in this book, but the one thing that was neat about it is it almost reads like an homage to toronto. i am familiar with the area where justing lives, and where they hang out, they mention restaurants i have either walked by or eaten at, which was really cool because it gave me a reason to be absorbed in the novel. but i just hated the characters so much that even with this degree of relatability i still hated it.

xo-ellebee

precious

book: push

author: sapphire

completion date: 16/08/10

method: purchased

i was overwhelmed by this book. i thought after some of the things i had read i could handle anything, but this stretched my limit. i couldn't stand to put it down, but i wanted to. it just kicks you in the teeth over and over. part of what makes it so gripping is not the subject matter but that it is narrated by precious herself in precious's own dialect (i'm not quite sure what else to call it) spelling mistakes and all. it feels like you are reading a book that precious herself has written. example 'what' is spelled 'wut' there are very few pronouns or pluralizations. but as precious learns to read her narration improves. but sapphire writes it so well that it happens gradually. this book is crazy authentic. you hear her voice and feel so deeply for her plight.

the subject matter is terrifying as well. precious is a product of her terrible environment. abusive and uneducated mother and father. sexual abuse that began essentially when precious was born. being 18 and infected with HIV. everything just keeps piling up and there is almost no escape for her, except in school and the hope that she will get her GED and be able to go to college. and to have abetter life to give to her baby. her family even in a way abused her younger daughter who was born with downs syndrome. her grandmother just pretty much left her in a room. didn't sing to her, read to her or teach her anything. meaning that this disadvantaged child was given no assistance. its just tragic.

sometimes it makes me wonder how you write a book like this. how do you do the research? and where do these stories come from.

one of the most astounding part of this book is the final few pages. they are stories and poems written by the girls in precious's special class. all the girls are illiterate and learning to read and at the end they write stories and poems about their lives and families. its so devastating, but so beautiful. again, this is a hard book to recommend because it is so intense but i did enjoy it and i couldn't put it down.

xo-ellebee

life is too short to read books you don't love

book: pilgrim

author:timothy findley

abandoned: 16/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

i kept waiting for this book to get going. and waiting and waiting. and i just never got into it. it isn't that it's a badly written book by any stretch. i just never cared about any of the characters. their lives seemed so hollow and pointless and i didn't look forward to reading it, so i let it go. no hard feelings, findley, but you just didn't do it for me.

xo-ellebee

be a filter

book: the perks of being a wallflower

author: stephen chbosky

completion date: 11/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

i loved this book. i loved it so much that i couldn't put it down. jake came home from work and i essentially said 'hi. how was your day? this book is really good so i'll talk to you when its done'. it was all i could think about.

this novel really reminded me of the curious incident of the dog in the night time', because it is told from the perspective of a very non trustworthy narrator. the narrator hold back on his knowledge until the end. charlie is a bit of an enigma. he has a very strong, almost fierce sense of right and wrong and he will defend his principles to the bitter end.

he disguises himself as honest, but what he really is is insanely observant. he watches and barely participates in life. i feel that even his resolution at the end to 'participate' is hollow. charlie is a wallflower to the core. he is more comfortable watching and i was disappointed that he didn't realize there is life on the sidelines.

every character is so well fleshed out in this book too. even the minor characters that we only meet at parties. i found myself wanting to get to know every character even more. i did however find the romance between the gay friend and the football star a little contrived. i feel like this story has been told before and this is just a re imagining. but that's ok. a coming of age story is always needed, and few are executed this brilliantly.

xo-ellebee

loyalty and betrayal

book: the story of edgar sawtelle

author: david wroblewski

completion date: 11/08/10

method: borrowed (dad)

the last time i saw my father he asked if i had gotten around to this book yet. and in all honesty, i hadn't even read the back yet. i didn't have any idea what it was about, only that it was pretty thick. and it may have usurped let the great world spin for my favourite book of the summer. maybe.

this book just feels so sad. filled with struggle, but the good kind (at least for the first half of the book). its the kind of struggle that makes you glad because there's something to struggle for. edgar's struggle comes from when he was born, because he is mute. not deaf, just mute. living on a farm with noone for miles except his parents. raising and training dogs. and let me say, i want a sawtelle dog.

the sawtelle's have been raising a very special type of breed of dog. they do not bread to create a german shepherd or a doberman, but the most intelligent, perfect dog they can. they do not sell puppies. they only sell adult dogs, because they believe that it is only once a dog is taught and trained in this special way that the sawtelles can tell what kind of dog they have and where would be a good home to 'place' it. and i wanted one of these dogs so badly, because they sound like exactly what i want a dog to be- a trained companion. one who stays because it wants to for you, not because you have commanded it. as a child and young teen, edgar's job is to train some of the pups and to name them.

i'm actually having trouble writing about this book because the main events aren't things that you want to give away to someone who might read this book (which i hope everyone does, because it is beautiful). what i have to say is that i don't understand the major betrayal in the book. i understand that it is complicated and happened out of a long born hatred, but i have a hard time seeing how someone could do that.

this book is mainly told by a 3rd person narrator from edgar's perspective, but slips behind different characters when appropriate. my favourite sequences were the ones that were told from edgar's main dog, almondine's perspective. dogs see the world so differently and see people so differently, and since the dogs are such an important part of this novel it was wonderful to see trudy and edgar and gar from the dog's point of view.

i loved this book. and so should you.

xo-ellebee

napoleon complex pt 3

book: the last great dance on earth

author: sandra gulland

completion date: 07/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

this is one time where i would not want to live. it seems like no matter who you are you are either being betrayed or betraying. in this final novel, you see how few friends the bonepartes had.

when napoleon was an emperor, he was revered. adored. going out became a hindrance to him and josephine because they were so adored by there people, if they went to the theatre they were accosted with so many cheers and bouquets. but once he was fallen its like no one cared about him anymore. he was forgotten and rejected. the people who once loved him forgot him. and that just made me so sad.

i mentioned before how horribly the boneparte family treated josephine. i think its because they were a pack of spoiled brats who recognized how wonderful and kind josephine and her children were and resented it (at least thats the skewed view we get from gulland). the people of france called josephine napoleon's good luck charm and it feels true. while they were together he was almost immortal. once he separated from her, he lost. he lost his power over the people and his battles. however napoleon feels like a brat compared to his angel of mercy. along with his family, who quite frankly sucked. hard. they were bratty and snotty and a bunch of dirty turncoats. harumph.

i was sad when this series was over though. i wanted more more more. i couldn't chew through these books fast enough and was hungry for more about josephine after they were finished. i'm going to have to see what else gulland has in her arsenal.

josephine went threw menopause when she was 30 because of the terrible things that she underwent during the terror, and thus when she married napoleon she was unable to have any more children. and this is what drove them apart, because it was all her fault. napoleon sent her to spa after spa and she underwent some horrific treatments for him with the hope of reigniting her system (so to speak). and because infertility is the female's fault, she had to pay for all of it.

vive la revolution!

napoleon complex pt. 2

book: tales of passion, tales of woe
author: sandra gulland
completion date: 05/08/10
method: borrowed (debbie)

i really found myself absorbed by these books. when the third one was over i wanted more- i even wanted to buy another bio fiction book just to keep going, but i know it wouldn't be the same. this book, like most middle books, was my least favourite in the series. i always like the beginning and middle the most, whereas the middle book in a trilogy seems to be the most stagnant. you can't advance too far, but you don't want nothing to happen at all. we have to be engaged so that we want to keep reading, but it can't be the peak of the story.
what i love about bio fiction is that it feels like you're doing research. i feel that i could talk intelligently about josephine's life but its all really drivel. caroline boneparte is portrayed as a selfish bitch but i don't actually know what she was like. however as in the last novel this book is very well researched, an many events are made stronger by the addition of footnotes that either quote writings or history books. it may not all be true, but it feels so real.
its rough to read about how difficult this time was for everyone. the people don't seem to know who to love or trust because the french kept executing all their leaders. and this is what makes josephine such a sympathetic character- she is not a tyrant. she doesn't lust after power or wealth, she seeks to live within her means. she is happiest surrounded by her children and friends. the french people called her the angel of mercy and she feels like one. her attempt to win over bonaparte's mother is adorable, because madam has little love to give to anyone who is not blood. all the bonepartes call josephine the old woman (josephine was 32 when they married) and plot to get rid of her, and still she treats them with love and affection. her grace is never faltered, even to her rash husband.
boneparte seems like such an ass in these novels as well, but because this is only a part 2 i don't want to give everything away!
xo-ellebee

napoleon complex pt 1

book: the many lives and secret sorrows of josephine b

author: sandra gulland

completion date: 05/08/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

let me preface this with the fact that i am a HUGE sucker for biofiction. i loved philippa gregory's novels and really any other novel based on a real person but is a fictional account of their lives (as a girl there was this royal diaries series i was into about cleopatra and elisabeth and mary). i think i just love when some things have a spark of reality to them, because it feels like you're reading non fiction but its a bit more fun. i also like knowing whats going to happen to the main character at the end of the book without asking anyone.

what i like about this trilogy so far after the first instalment is that it focuses on the lessor of the two heros. many books have been written and stories told about napoleon and his conquests, but gulland focuses on his wife, josephine, who is fascinating. this instalment starts when josephine is a young girl on the island trois-olets, martinique, almost 20 years before she is married to napoleon. something that i didn't know about josephine is that she led an extremely hard life before napoleon and becoming the empress (although i'm sure it wasn't a cakewalk). her fist marriage was miserable. she was married to someone who did not love her and who kept trophies of his conquests both before and after their wedding. luckily for josephine though, his family was kind and loving, and after his death they still helped and supported her as much as they could.

i don't know a lot about the french revolution. i know that it was very messy and very bloody and pretty horrifying to be anyone. peasants had no money (and the revolution didn't really help this) aristocrats couldn't hold onto their heads long enough to style their hair, and no one could be trusted. i also know that the revolution was just followed by an emperor which i think is the last thing everyone wanted.

something about gulland's books that i am totally amazed by so far: they are impeccably researched. they feel so authentic and are backed by an impressive bibliography. there is of course lots and lots of padding (it is fiction after all) but it is so convincing and well put together that it feels like josephine's true account of her life.

its funny to hear a description of napoleon from someone who grew to love him. a tiny man with short little legs and long, stringy hair. exactly the person you'd want after you'd married a gorgeous letch.

xo-ellebee

no. 1 is right

book: the no. 1 ladies detective agency

author: alexander mccall smith

completion date: 27/07/10

method: borrowed (debbie)

this is one of those books i remember seeing everywhere. we gave it away as a gift to a few people, and i always saw people reading it on the bus and all over. it was a book you saw on desks, but i never read it. i never even really gave it a second thought to be totally truthful. but i am so glad that debbie lent this to me. it was so enjoyable and light and it really made me want to go to africa. the way precious describes her country with such love and vibrance makes it seem like a beautiful place to be (well, that and the way matt and my father described it).

the phrase satisfaction guaranteed for all parties isn't that far off. the book is pretty light, and i would never describe it as challenging, but it is something you would take to the beach, or on the bus in my case, and finish that day thinking 'wow i'm really glad i read that' as opposed to most beach reads which you think 'wow i can't believe i read that whole book'.

i don't really have a ton to say on this one, i may beef up this post later, but i really like this book. its a little shallow, but was really enjoyable!

xo-ellebee

a pivotal moment

book: franny and zooey

author: j. d. salinger

completion date: 26/07/10

method: borrowed (mum)

there is something that i love about the physicality of salinger's books. for one, they are the perfect size to hold in your hand and they don't weigh down your bag. the covers are simple and almost always one colour with maybe a couple of stripes. i always think this is a silly thing to talk about but at the same time its so important.

salinger has this incredible talent for making his main character pretty unlikeable but totally relatable. i remember the first time i read catcher in the rye i really didn't like the main boy until the end. zooey is kind of an ass, but he has good reason to be one. he feels at first like a pompous prick and franny seems to be unnecessarily hysterical over something and in typical salinger fashion, it isn't until the very end that there is resolution. in this book it seems to come so late too, there isn't any sense of resolution until the very last paragraph.

this book is so wonderful because it all takes place over a matter of hours. almost what would be a moment. the beginning (the franny part) is like a preface, or really the inciting incident and the zooey part is the reaction. its such a simple way of structuring a really beautifully executed novel. i found that i didn't want to put this one down at all because i figured: if the book takes place in only a couple of hours then i should be able to follow along in read time. maybe unreasonable, but i loved every moment and found myself wanting more and more

xo-ellebee

a review in four parts

book: the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

author: douglas adams

completion date: 22/07/10

method: gift (jake)

forever jake has been asking me and asking me to read these books, and i'm glad i finally did. they're witty and clever and i really adored them. sometimes they got a weee bit confusing but it was like a clockwork orange- you just had to keep reading.

part 1: the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

for the first book i kind of knew what was going to happen, because jake, alex and i watched the first couple episodes on dvd. what i didn't realize is that the british tv show used almost every line from the book. what was awesome about this is i could pretend that stephen fry was reading the book to me. which coincidentally made it feel like someone was licking my eardrum.

the first book was what i thought was going to be my favourite. i loved it. aurthur dent is the perfect fish out of water for this absurd world that the books introduce us to. without aurthur to relate to i would have been totally lost. what i really like are the little entries from the book within the book: the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. i feel that douglas adams really fleshed out the world before he wrote these books, which gave the novel incredible depth.

part 2: the restaurant at the end of the universe

first off let me preface with: i love this idea. that the universe is always expanding we can witness the end of it but then go back to right before the moment happened and make it entertaining. i'm a little confused about a couple of the details between the first three so forgive me if some things don't belong in one of the books or whatever.

all adams's aliens are so interesting and the history behind the language and the currency. it all seems to boil down to the world (or universe) is too big and too difficult to understand completely, but we do our best. which is really all anyone can ask us to do.

oh and i've forgotten about marvin. oooh marvin. parking cars for centuries and his only meaningful conversation was with a toaster millions of years ago. a robot that is too intelligent to be of any use. douglas adams, way to go.

part 3: life, the universe and everything

i almost disliked this book. i found it so confusing and nonsensical. the other books seemed to have some distant roots in reason, but this one just seemed confusing and unfocused. they talked about saving the universe but i never really understood that it was in danger, and the kricket aliens wanted to blow everything up (?) i think. oh no, they were robots because how they were thwarted was brilliant- marvin plugged himself into their computer and made the robots all too depressed to try and blow up anything anymore.

part 4: so long, and thanks for all the fish

this one was my favourite by far. i know that the first 2 are the best ones, but there were just so many moments in part 4 that i loved so much. i feel that his writing was clearer (or maybe its because i was reading it after universe) and i was able to fall back into enjoying being slightly confused without feeling lost. and its really hard to resist not trying to take the weight off both feet. especially the moment when aurthur and fenchurch make love in the air. these books have many hilarious moments, but very few absolutely beautiful ones, and this was just so beautiful. so simple but fabulously executed.

i liked that these 4 seemed cyclical. aurthur and fenchurch reunite with ford to continue hitchhiking and most likely will have to save the universe again.

i should note that i abandoned mostly harmless. i found that by the time i got there i needed to get my feet back on solid ground. i may read it later on, but it didn't really grab me like the others. i needed something real at the end of it all.

xo-ellebee

kind of a downer

book: prozac nation

author: elizabeth wurtzel

completion date: 19/07/10

method: borrowed (mum)

the problem with a memoir about being depressed is it isn't fun to read about. i don't mean i didn't enjoy the book- i really liked it actually. it was engaging and well written but fucking hard to read about. i found that often i wanted to just put the book down for a few minutes and liven up a little.

wurtzel is however, a fabulous writer. she really manages to tell her downer story without whining. you really feel for her, because she doesn't know why she is so sad and has been for so long. she is constantly fighting this battle with herself as to why she is depressed. and its one of those horrible catch 22s because she doesn't know why she's depressed so she's depressed but she doesn't know why she was originally depressed because she's been depressed for so long and so she's depressed... and on and on.

the issue with memoirs is i always feel that they're embellished and re imagined- which is fine. we all live our lives with a healthy dose of fiction added, but its tough to know what is totally real and what is totally false. but i guess all that matters is whether or not you enjoyed reading it, right?

xo-ellebee

editors are valuable people

book: the girl who played with fire

author: stieg larsson

completion date: 18/07/10

method: borrowed (mum)

lindsay went to the cottage this weekend. she packed her brown bikini, one tank top and a couple pairs of underware. her bag wasn't that heavy, so she was ok for the majority of the trip. she checked in online on her 27 inch imac and printed out her ticket on her boyfriend's hp2500 series printer. she flew porter so she only had to catch the shuttle from the royal york hotel on front street. on the ferry to the island she thought are we actually moving? it feels like the ferry isn't going anywhere. in the airport she had one cappuccino, one late a couple of walker's shortbread cookies and packed an orange juice in her bag for flight. when the gate was called, she quickly skirried to the front so she could get on the plane before everyone else. on the plane she read the last few chapters of the book she brought with her. the flight attendant brought around cookies, chips and drinks. lindsay had a bag of terra chips and an apple juice. when the plane began its decent, a young child was crying because her ears hurt and lindsay though i know how you feel kid, but unlike you i can't scream about it. when she landed, she was picked up by her brother and his girlfriend. on the drive they picked up half-a dozen persians and some wild blueberries for the weekend. when they arrived at the cottage on loon lake, they immediatly changed into their swim suits and drank coronas on the floating dock. their parents arrived a few hours later, bringing with them a car full of clothes and her mother's 15" macbook pro. her mother had brought lindsay a stack of new books, including stieg larsson's second novel in the millenium trilogy, the girl who played with fire. while reading it, lindsay thought what i wouldn't give for a red pen- I DON'T THING THIS BOOK WAS EVER EDITED!. she even found that there were a number of sections with gramatical errors, or where the word used was incorrect. overall she found it better than the previous novel, but it seemed to read like a grocery list. she spend a number of hours reading the book over the weekend, finishing it at 3 on sunday. overall she found it more enjoyable than the previous novel by stieg larsson, but lack luster.

xo-ellebee

sisterly love

book: i see you everywhere
author: julia glass
completion date: 16/07/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i could have sworn that this book was written about my aunt and my mother. it was almost eerie how similar the main characters were- a bookish, serious older sister and the wild and impulsive younger shadow who have a very difficult, overbearing mother. also the fact that lou (the elder) spent a good amount of their childhood trying to control clem until clem got to be too strong and willful to be controlled.
for the fist half this book was so biographical (except for the failed marriages part) about my mum and her first sister. the way that lou and clem talked to each other, and how they fought and forgave was just so perfectly sisterly. i have a feeling that glass has at least one sister, because she understands what it's like to hate someone sometimes but not be able to live without them.
the book is narrated by both sisters at the same time, and i feel that this is where the book really falls apart, because unlike let the great world spin, both sisters have the same voice. often i found that i couldn't tell who was speaking until they mentioned the other. this book really could have been excellent if it weren't for the fact that you couldn't tell the narrators apart. it was a real downfall in my opinion.
i really got attached to both sisters though. they are both very strong characters who are living very different lives. because they're sisters, everything they do relates back to the other. perhaps that's the downfall of having a sibling- everything you do is compared to what they did. glass also deals with something interesting- the fact that the younger sister is clearly the favourite, meaning that everything lou does, however brilliant it is, she is never good enough. she is always haunted by this, because how do you deal with the fact that your mother loves your sister so much more. and where does that leave you when your sister is gone?
xo-ellebee

the time to change is now

book: galapogos
author: kurt vonnegut
completion date:14/07/10
method: gift (jake)

i think that vonnegut and attwood have similar sympathies towards the human race: neither of them think that we are particularly well adjusted to live in this world. which i have to say i agree with. we are not very good natural hunters, our bodies don't fare well in the climates we live in (we have no fur and pretty thin skin). currently we cannot eat local plants (i mean grass, leaves). but maybe thats because we have evolved to live in the world we live in now...or the world we have created has stalled our evolution.
i feel that i've found my new chuck in vonnegut. he has a similar nihilistic style, but he has a much smoother, interesting method. his characters are different and interesting. then again, this is the first vonnegut book i've ever read so i don't know for sure if he just keeps rewriting the same characters but based on his history i would assume that he has a more varied cast.
the narrator confused me in this book. i was really throw off guard when i realized that the narration was in first person- told from the point of view of a ghost haunting this ship. i really was not expecting that but it made for an interesting perspective. the ghost remembers what civilization was and explains the change that humans went through when they had to start over. it is very similar to what happens in oryx and crake only a little less terrifying. this disaster was not a virus created to wipe out the dirty pleb people by some psychotic genius but world war three. however, we never really know what happened to everyone, because our narrator doesn't know. if anything it feels more like a side not that this disaster happened. although it is integral to the plot it doesn't feel that monumental.
i wonder how some authors don't become attatched to their characters tho. vonnegut just seems to let whatever may happen happen to them. maybe thats a silly critisism...
this really made me want to read more vonnegut though. he has such an easy way of writing and i feel like i could get lost in his books easily. it isn't the kind of world i would want to be trapped in though. everything just seems so chaotic.
xo-ellebee

see paul haggis- THIS IS HOW YOU DO IT!

book: let the great world spin

author: colum mccann

completion date: 12/07/10

method: borrowed (mum)

ok hands up if you remember that awful movie written by paul haggis. you know the one about how racism exists in all of us and how we're all really really racist s.o.b.'s? i do. remember how it won an oscar instead of being laughed out of theatres? I DO. paul haggis was trying to create a sequence of characters that worked together to create a story that happens over a period of a few days to these few people. it didn't work because they were all shallow stock characters that you felt nothing for at all. mccann does exactly what haggis tried to do, and he executes it brilliantly.

i think that the key difference is that everything in let the great world spin circles around one event- philippe petit's walk across the twin towers. this decision is fabulous because of two things: fist that this was a real event. petit strung a wire across the top of the world trade centre towers and walked, ran and lay down on it. watch man on a wire. its great. beautiful really. the event is so intense and surreal that it makes everything that happens to the characters monumental.

second- that this book was published after the fall of the towers. this event was just so devastating to us that to have a current (the book was published 2009) novel revolve around such an intense moment for these towers it really personalizes the novel even though it is set shortly after the vietnam war.

what this novel does so well is it fleshes out each of its narrators. each narrator has a distinct voice which speaks to mccann's skill as an author. he creates these voices with ease and distinction. i can see why this was mum's favourite book of the year, and why this american life has been suggesting it as an audio book. it was just such a perfectly constructed novel, i want to leave it on people's doorsteps so they can read and love it too.

xo-ellebee

love, still, is not enough

book: the disappeared

author: kim echlin

completion date: 09/08/10

method: borrowed (mum)

i don't know what it is about these love stories. i just don't feel them lately. mainly because i do believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder but the heart is a fickle and forgetful muscle. it does not remember after so many years that there is someone out there who might love it back, it is more interested in love as a whole. but maybe i am defeatist and a downer. maybe these stories are true but i have a hard time believing in this extreme dedication. maybe it can happen, but i feel like its an easy thing to fictionalize. funny to think about love being romanticized...

i felt like a dummy reading this book because i didn't know about this horrifying massacre that happened in cambodia. and it seems like the kind of thing that is so monumental you would hear about it. there were sides to this story that i wanted the author to pursue, but they focused too much on the dreamy love element. the narrator, anne, is more focused on finding her love than she is witnessing what is going on around her in this country. i wish that her lover had included her, but she is an outsider so he never really explains anything to her. he just lets her believe whatever she wants without making her see what is really happening.

i was glad i read this book however. i was glad that i learned about something that i didn't know about otherwise and it will be something that i research because i don't understand how i could be so oblivious to such a horrifying massacre, but i feel like the focus was too much on this unreal love story and not enough on what happens to the survivors of these situations.

however i have to add that i loved the way this book was narrated. it is written as almost a love letter to serey, anne's lover and this does help build her character, but i feel like she is built as an accessory to him. serey is a strong character, who faces incredible trials and suffering, and anne is very weak in comparison. but i don't know maybe it makes him seem stronger because she romanticized and idealizes him.

xo-ellebee

oh stephen

book: lisey's story

author: stephen king

completion date: 08/07/10

method: borrowed (mum)

the only other stephen king novel i've ever read was the shining and i have to say i loved the movie and i liked the book. i think stephen is a strong idea man but he creates the most bizarre twists and i never really can under stand where they come from. i feel like he wanted to be a fantasy writer once upon a time but settled for what he does now which isn't really fantasy or horror is just kind of 'bizarro'.

let me get something straight- i liked lisey's story. i felt that the character of lisey was strong and interesting. stephen captured the sibling relationship to a tee. he seemed to know exactly how they play off eachother without making it tacky or contrived. they are all strong characters. what i wanted was for there to be no fantasy. the idea is there is this world (boo'ya moon) that people can access and things and people can be left there). we are introduced to this story perifially in the beginning but it soon becomes a major element of the plot. what i wanted is for this world to not exist. i wanted lisey's husband, scott, to actually be totally insane and to have invented this world which he used to escape his horrifyingly abusive childhood. basically i wanted there to be a twist, but there wasn't one. no twist. everything was real and thats what i didn't want.

one thing i loved in this novel though was 'the bad-gunky'. i'm not sure what to classify it as (depression, self mutilation, escapism) but it seems to be all the bad feelings we have that get so bottled up we go insane with them. and i loved this because this made sense. totally. and i believe i have felt something at least similar to scott's 'bad gunky' but i might just be projecting.

i am really at a loss as to why stephen king is such a popular writer, because i don't really thing he's very good at what he does, but then again 'twilight' has sold almost as many copies as the bible.

xo-ellebee

mercilessly good.

book: mister pip

author: lloyd jones

completion date: 05/07/10

method: borrowed (mum)

normally when someone lends you an upsetting book they warn you. they hand it to you (just like my father did with engleby) and say, "now it gets upsetting at the end- just so you know". so you know. you know that everything win't always be coming up roses. this book came with no such disclaimer, but it needed one. more than any of the other books i have read, this book needs to come with a major warning label. i was also on the bus so i couldn't have the breakdown i thought needed. this one deserved an ugly cry.

the worst part about it is that it comes so unexpectedly. the story up until this point is so beautiful and heartfelt. i couldn't really figure out a time period, but i have a feeling its around the 70's or 80's. it is the story of a small village torn apart by the wealth of the soil (paraphrasing seriously) and how the children of this village are entranced by a man (the only white man in the village) reading them the story of great expectations. i'm actually having trouble writing about this one, because what happened at the end was just not something i was able to handle. i am not going to be able to read this book again, however i really recommend it. it was beautiful, but it just grabbed your heart, ripped it out and fed it to you.

i don't know how many of these stories of trials and tribulations suffered by young children i can keep reading. they have really been getting to me in my dreams and i just need to read something a little more light hearted so i can get out of bed in the morning.

xo-ellebee

love is not enough

book: love invents us

author: amy bloom

completion date: 04/07/10

method: borrowed (mum)

i think that this book was meant to be an incredible love story. a story of love through time or maybe even the true missed connection. it seems to embrace the idea that although we may have many partners, there is only one person for us and no love will be the same as the love we feel for this person. this is something that i just can't believe. i believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder to a point. after a while, the heart can be forgetful and stop filling in the blanks.

i just didn't feel the love between these two kids. i feel like i missed the chemistry. or maybe they just didn't have it. i felt like they were just two teenage lovers who never completed their relationship so they always thought 'what if'. they never had any resolution or closure so they blamed every failed relationship on their unrequited love for each other.

and i have to say i was very confused by elizabeth's commitment to her old teacher who sexually abused her. at one point he compares himself to humbert humbert and it couldn't be more accurate. as she matures sexually and moves to other relationships, he seems to cling to the little girl she was. i don't understand why she would have any loyalty to him in his death, because he was her abuser. he uses every excuse in the book to make it 'ok' - he never refers to her as a child, she is a 'young woman'. he convinces himself he would love her as much as a grown woman, but you know it isn't true. she seems to have this guilty attachment to him, like its her fault he's dying.

i just never felt the connection here. lets just say i didn't feel the love

xo-ellebee

nature vs nurture

book: engleby
author: sebastian faulks

completion date: 02/07/10

method: borrowed (dad)

i had a really hard time getting into this book. it didn't seem to grab me in the beginning, but i persevered. i know with a lot of mystery type novels it takes a little longer for the story to get established. my problem was that mike engleby wasn't very likeable (something that is frequently mentioned in the second half of the novel). but i felt so sorry for him. he seemed like someone who was just simply ostracized by his piers early on and this detaches him for the rest of his life.

a monster is a scary thing because you never know who created it. was it always there just lurking below the surface? or was it created through a detached upbringing? and is 'monster' the best word if it was created by society and the 'monster's piers? i could spend all day thinking about this and still not have an answer.

what i found about this book is that it has one of the most upsetting twists and i never saw it coming. i was afraid of the character (this is the infuriating thing about books with twists, is i don't want to ruin it for any future readers). mainly because he lacked remorse or sadness. he was rational and that is what made him terrifying. i felt like i was just humming along great in this novel and then all of a sudden- BOOM everything goes to shit.

part of this is because of the narration. the narrator (the title character) skips around through time, so you get bits and pieces of the stories. once i learned what happened i wanted to go back to the beginning and read the whole thing again. it was so unexpected that i feel like i must have missed some clue.

the problem with this book is i can't tell you for sure whether or not i liked it. i read it and was affected by it... but i don't know if i would describe what i went through as enjoyment

xo-ellebee

apocalypse please

book: oryx and crake

author: margret atwood

completion date: 29/06/10

method: borrowed (andrew)

the apocalypse seems to be a pretty common thread for authors. what i like about them is that they all follow similar threads (war, famine or infection... i feel like we're missing one here) but each one is unique. also there is the automatic contrast implied: this is how the world was this is how the world is now this is how humanity survives. this was the hand we were dealt this time and this is how we played it.

i started this book totally blind ( which i don't really enjoy doing on the regular). there was no summary on the back or within the first few pages. all i knew was that it is a post apocalyptic novel and margret atwood wrote it. that was it. all i knew. mum also told me that you never know what happens until the end.

i am really happy that writers like atwood exist. she so often shows such strength in her novels and i love her for it. this quickly could become one of my favourite post apocalyptic novels because of the crakers. all i can say is: way to go. she really addresses what happens when we go to far. when we make something that looks human and sounds human but has no humanity. the crakers are blank shells. they aren't even animalistic. i would argue that even animals show jealousy and sexual preference. the crakers feel like an experiment gone wrong. everything about them is false. except for the purring. i can't remember if it was jocelyn howard or meg or kate atkinson that told me about a book where a scientist created a perfect being and it could purr because purring is one of the most soothing sounds and has healing tendencies. if any of you remember please tell me. it reminded me of when you have a stomach ache and your cat comes and purrs right beside you.

crake terrified me. he had no limitation. no top, no regard for humanity. jimmy's arguments about art and society seem to fall flat against crake's argument for perfection. but it seems that crake was a product of his society. the scientist were pushing the boundaries which meant that crake could justify his actions. he wasn't doing anything worse then his predecessors, he was just doing more.

atwood just created such a unique apocalyptica, its hard to see what the book that apparently i'm being set up to read will show me.

xo-ellebee

the white man's burden

book: the book of negros

author: lawrence hill

completion date: 27/06/10

method: borrowed (mum)

i wasn't ready for this book. mum warned me that it was upsetting but i figured i could handle anything. this was beyond what i could take. but i loved it. this book just grabs you by the heart (and occasionally the guilt) and doesn't let go. the story is so moving and heartbreaking.

let me just say i wasn't expecting for this to be a 'feel good' book. i understood that with the premise it was unlikely that it was going to be anything other than upsetting. what i loved is that you are pushed to the edge and then redeemed so you never feel like all is lost and aminata's struggle is useless. her fight is the most important. it is how unrelenting the human spirit can be that makes this book inspirational.

i mentioned the guilt earlier. this is not a book that makes you feel awful to be a white person. also i believe that if we live in the past we can never move forward. i don't mean forget in any way, i mean if we allow ourselves to become consumed with guilt then we will never learn from our mistakes. what i mean is we sometimes feel so awful about things our ancestors did that we have no control over and this book is a perfect example. the white man's perspective is the fascinating one. a) that rebels fought against themselves being slaves to the british, but didn't acknowledge that they were in full violation of the golden rule. b) that slavery was better then barbary. by nature africans were savages and we were liberating them into our society. we were allowing them to be our slaves, to live in our country. the first point is what really intrigued me. the american rebels demanding their freedom and saying that they deserve nothing less. yet they wander through the black village chaining up other humans to use for this same purpose.

if only everyone abided by the golden rule, but then we'd all be equals.

xo-ellebee

in layman's terms

book: ladies and gentlemen, the bible

author: jonathan goldstein

completion date: 24/06/10

method: borrowed (andrew)

i grabbed this book in a rush this morning, knowing that i'd finish less than zero in minutes and i wanted something that would last the long commute today. it seemed like a good sized book, and i was totally disappointed by the fact that the book is about 6x9 but the type only takes up about 4x4.5. and at only 218 pages i whizzed through it so much faster than expected. on this respect i was not impressed.

however i found that the interior of the book to be very funny. it really did feel like the bible in layman's terms. the stories were direct and simple and much more relatable than i found them in the real thing. noah was a miserable old coot whose children didn't appreciate him (but then again what children do appreciate their parents lawl). and david just wanted to be loved. actually most of the stories had to do a lot with rejection and the need to be accepted by our peers. although it wasn't really a deep book, i found this regard touching.

i was not raised with religion of any sort and have never read the bible. in all likely hood, this is the closed i'm going to get unless somehow a copy slips into my ever growing stack of books to read. i found i really enjoyed these stories. especially the one about cain and abel. i never knew this story, other than cain was the first asshole and abel was selfless (and really kind of boring). also don't ever name a character cain in any tv series because they don't tend to do very well. it felt that cain's murder of his brother was more out of some screwed up curiosity as opposed to ill will. cain did not understand death in human terms, and abel was the perfect target.

i liked that all these stories focused on sibling rivalries, because it makes them way more real and relatable. none of the siblings get along and are constantly pitted against each other by their parents and god.

this book does however make a number of bible heros both human and douchy. after all, how do you think joe reacted to the 'immaculate conception'.

xo-ellebee

poor little rich boy

book: less than zero

author: bret easton ellis

completion date: 24/06/10

method: borrowed (james)

i can see how robert downy junior would be the star of the movie version of this book. more like, this book is what happened to r.d.j before he went to rehab and prison and the like. its a limitless world for those who have the means.

i can't imagine reading this book when i was 18 or 19 or however old these kids are. its terrifying to think that there are people who live like this who have more money and no limits. one of the characters says at one point he doesn't have everything because he doesn't have anything to loose. what i loved about this book is how intense it got out of nowhere. i almost thought i was going to hate it in the beginning because all these characters are just so rich and don't give a fuck about anything. you watch as they search for something that pushes them over the edge but nothing seems to do it. being totally coked out all the time has to totally fuck with you too.

as he comes out of his haze it seems that clay starts to notice that things are wrong in their beverly hills paradise of cocaine, sex, unlimited parties and money. but even still clay only just leaves when he realizes that the way he and his friends live is wrong and totally fucked up. it reached a point that i had to re-read sentences because i didn't believe what i had just read.

i think it all chalks up to bad parenting.

xo-ellebee

sorry for the language.

pretty solid.

book: life sentences

author: laura lippman

completion date: 23/06/10

method: borrowed (dad)

i have been greatly let down by thriller mystery novels i've read so far this summer, but then again they were ian rankin books (apart from shutter island which was AWESOME). i guess this isn't really a thriller, but it has the air of mystery about it. all of the characters know more than they're telling you, but i didn't mind being left in the dark.

i like books that can centre around an asshole. something about when the main character isn't totally relatable, but totally human makes for a really compelling character. cassandra was so headstrong and right all the time, but not in an omnipotent narrator way- she's just the kind of person who has always had the answers. she was a liar and very self involved and as annoying as she could be, it made her feel more real. after all, she's a writer who's success has come through writing memoirs. that has to make you feel very self involved.

i really liked how lippman included samples of cassandra's most successful novel throughout the book. not only did it it make for really awesome characterization, but it let us see how cassandra thought.

i did find i wanted more mystery though. mainly because i enjoy the suspense and have been starved for it in my recent readings, and when i really think about it i don't know how much a car chase would have suited the pace of this book. it was a great one to read while commuting because it was totally engrossing and exciting and well written, but i don't think i'd read it again. it definitely felt like the kind of book you buy in an airport bookstore and leave on the plane when you finish it.

xo- ellebee

you've lost me chuck

book: lullaby
author: chuck palahniuk
completion date: 22/06/10
method: borrowed (emma)

i feel that i should have left good enough alone. we were doing so well. we were over our rocky patch and were deeply in love again. now i feel a nagging doubt in the back of my mind- something is not right. maybe we're just waining because i don't believe that the connection can be gone for good forever. but lullaby has shaken my faith.
my brother said in the car yesterday that he feels he's too old for chuck and i have to say now i agree with him. it could be because i'm over tyler durden. also because i am sick of the supporting characters- the prophet, the know it all, the dreamer and the saviour. i know them all so well, they're just dressed up in different costumes. tyler always knows more than he cares to tell us and this time when i found out i didn't really care.
i want the romance back, chuck. i want the feeling that i don't know whats going to come next. maybe i just know you too well. we've drifted apart- gone stale. i still love you, but i don't know if i'm in love with you anymore.
xo- ellebee

i am well aware that i sound like a crazy stalker.

the deptford trilogy pt3

book: world of wonders
author: roberston davies
completion date: 21/06/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i felt that this was by far the weakest link in the trilogy. i found myself not really enjoying it or seeing its purpose and almost didn't finish it. fifth business seemed to stand head and shoulders above the manticore and world of wonders.
this novel focused on the story of the illusionist that young paul dempster became (i don't have his name here... i have already returned the book.... plus i could never pronounce it). and the main problem was that he is totally unlikable. he is unpleasant and spoilt despite his rough childhood. i found that i was totally unsympathetic to his plight because of who he had become through it.
up until half way through i really was liking this book too. but then i just couldn't get into it. i totally lost interest. i feel that this is not a trilogy in the traditional sense at all. they are 3 loosely connected novels.
even though this novel is narrated again by ramsay, we don't have the benefit of his intelligence or poetry because the story is dempster's retelling of his life story as observed by ramsay. as a character ramsay is one of the strongest (rivaled by boy stanton and lisel) characters and has the most fascinating insights but he is totally useless in this novel. i was disappointed but i feel that it was partially my fault- it isn't the type of trilogy you read in succession.
xo-ellebee

the deptford trilogy pt 2

book: the manticore
author: robertson davies
completion date: 18/06/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i have to say that this is not a typical trilogy. each book appears to stand on its own entierly. if anything world of wonders seems like a more appropriate second book at the moment, but i'm also only about 100 pgs in.
now i understand why davies illustrates each of the minor characters in such an careful way. the trilogy is connected by these characters entirely. the manticore is narrated by davey, the son of the wealthy percy boy stanton just a while after his fathers death. in fifth business we are introduced to boy stanton's children, but they aren't of any great consequence to ramsay, and thus they are pushed aside more or less. however, in the manticore we witness their struggles and how they are truly a product of how they were raised. davey is a depressed miser who is lost after the death of his father. he has sought his fathers approval his entire life and now, his father has died without ever approving of davey. even in the will davey feels the disapproval of his father.
davey's sister is quite the piece though. in the manticore you are given a terrifying view of the boy stanton household. caroline is spoiled rotten, but she is also the most manipulative woman in the novel. you get a sense that caroline is holding all the strings and is completely in charge. it isn't that she isn't loving or sensitive to her brother, she was just raised to believe fully that she is the MOST beautiful the MOST talented the MOST intelligent and as a result is vain and a brat. she believes the world worships at the caroline alter and so they should.
my favourite character was netty, though. the boy stanton family house keeper and keeper of secrets. netty has been with the family since davey was born (he is now a middle aged man and she is still responsible for him). netty knows everything and is fiercely loyal to percy- caroline suggests its because she is in love with him. however i think percy was more her father that her unrequited lover. you get the impression that although netty doesn't have any education to speak of, she is very intelligent and knows that whatever she may feel percy boy stanton would never return anything above mutual respect.
i keep loving each of these books more and more, it makes me wonder what the next one could bring

the deptford trilogy trilogy pt 1

book: fifth buisness

author: robertson davies

completion date: 16/06/10

method: borrowed (mum)

every time i have asked my mother for a book recommendation, she has pushed this trilogy on me. she told me this is her second set of these books, because the first ones weren't up to the number of times they were to be read. fifth business is the first in the trilogy named for the town the story starts.

i loved this novel. i loved the writing. the narrator is so likable but so complex. i find often with first person narrators, the narrator is simply an observer and isn't participating in a lot of the action. however dunstan is so intriguing and seems to focus as much on what is going on inside him as much as what is going on around him.

my favourite part of the novel is the relationship between dunstan and his best friend/ chief rival percy boy(d) stanton. percy seems to not so much enjoy dunstan as much as he likes using him as a reference point. they were friends from boyhood and percy has experienced a very rapid climb to success. they have always been in competition and percy seems to keep dunny around as someone he has beaten. dunny on the other hand enjoys percy's company because of the monetary success it affords him. the two enjoy a complex relationship both giving and taking from each other because each is integral to the other's enjoyment of life.

davies creates characters with such depth. even the smaller characters who play only a minor roll in this part of the trilogy have such depth which i have to assume is because they are featured in each book.

it is difficult to review this book because i feel even though i've been told each book can stand on its own i still think that in order to absorb everything in each book without reading the others. because otherwise there wouldn't have been a reason to write a trilogy.

xo-ellebee

paul is human

book: paul's case
author: lynn crosbie
completion date: 15/06/10
method: borrowed (mum)

i have immense respect for lynn crosbie. i have adored her since taking a class of hers last summer. she has always struck me as a woman who has the female equivalent of balls (having strong ovaries doesn't seem to have the same feeling). she commands respect and i have always hoped i could grow up to be a woman like lynn. after reading this novel my opinion of her has solidified.
this book was terrifying. i don't know how else to put it. it lay so much on the table, and i see why crosbie came under such fierce scrutiny for it. in my experience, books about serial killers are meant to make the killers even more monstrous in the eyes of their audience than they were before. these people cannot be human beings like us decent citizens. they are living horrors who should be locked away and never considered again. crosbie seems to humanize paul in a way. humanize is the wrong word i think but she makes him into a human being. he is not sympathetic, just human and it is karla who is revealed as the real monster.
paul bernardo stares out at you from the cover. his gaze is confrontational and his lips are parted as if he is about to speak to you. the image is grainy and full of noise. as i said before whoever said 'never judge a book by its cover' never picked up a book. as soon as you pick up the novel, paul's fierce blue eyes stare at you as if to say 'i am a monster. but i am not a demon'.
at times crosbie's narrative is confusing. the voice of the letters seems to change even within each letter. however, her writing is so raw and passionate if feels as if the author is 'the woman' (for i don't know what else to call her). the subject matter of the novel is often horrifying. i hesitate to recommend this book because of some of the more graphic letters, but crosbie writes so fucking brilliantly i believe that everyone should read it. if anything for the sheer boldness and beauty of the prose.
paul bernardo has always given me chills, but after this novel the person i am most afraid of is karla. it terrifies me that anyone could do what these 2 did together, and that only one is locked away. in a few years, karla can apply to change her name and her crimes be forgotten. how long until she finds another paul? after all, misery loves company.
xo-ellebee

the man with the mediocre book

book: the girl with the dragon tattoo
author: stieg larsson
completion date: 14/06/10
method: borrowed (mum and dad)

i actually picked this book up in chapters and carried it around with me for a while, but found something that i was more interested in and abandoned this book. i was glad that i read it. at moments i thought it showed signs of promise and for the last few pages i couldn't put it down (the bus driver laughed at me). but i was disappointed at the end. well, the last few pages at least. where i thought the book should have ended was about 20pages in from this page.
this book felt like a first draft to me. the idea was strong and the characters had potential but it was all too shallow for my liking. Mikael, the male lead, is likable enough but seems to passive to be this hard hitting journalist. he seems too soft, not nearly ambitious enough but maybe that would make him too much of a stock character.
and lisbeth. oh lisbeth. writing a maladjusted, unlikable character is difficult. she just seems too unreal and angry. but then again this is just the opinion of a relatively well adjusted girl of about the same age. my father actually wrote a pretty accurate critique of it on his blog here: http://beebee-lovehastornusapart.blogspot.com/2010/06/tattoos-are-not-enough.html which sums it up a lot better than i can.
unlike dad i probably will at least give the second novel a try once mother finishes with it, but then again my recommendations list has reached epic proportions...
maybe i'll just wait for the movie
xo-ellebee

goodbye rankin

book: exit music

author: ian rankin

completion date: 11/06/10

method: borrowed (tom)

i was terribly disappointed by this book. after doors open i was ready and willing to give rankin another go. i had liked his work in the past and one mediocre book wasn't about to put me off an author for good. however i found this novel unforgivable.

here is the thing about mystery/detective/thrillers: they have to be totally engrossing. the book has to be all you can think about. the end is so close, but you don't want the novel to end because you are loving it so much and are so engaged. you'll stay up all night and the next morning to finish it if necessary. i found there were nothing but distractions from this book on the bus. everything else was so much more interesting. i was always checking my phone or eavesdropping on my neighbours... thinking what to do with my hair... should i have washed it...etc.

now this novel, unlike doors open was a 'rebus' novel. like many crime authors, rankin has his DETECTIVE who stars in most of the books. now we are supposed to care about this DETECTIVE and not find him frustrating and or irritating. he should be endearing and charming. old and wizened but still passing on his infinite wisdom to the young, eager cadets surrounding him. i was so bored by rebus's antics and the crime itself seemed stupid and poorly thought out.

what i found in doors open i found here too- the detectives are too suspicious based on nothing. i know that it's their job to be suspicious but they also have to follow the facts... unless they've already read the last page and know whats going to happen. the detectives get no leads whatsoever (physically and very little people wise) but they still manage to find people to call on. there was no mystery here to figure out, just a laying out of what happened. and the 'twist' if you can call it that was shallow and poorly played. on the bus home to london i was looking for drama and excitement (and maybe a little blood shed) but got none of this. all i detected was disappointment. (bad bad joke)

xo-ellebee

the most beautiful book yet

book: the bedside book of beasts
author: graeme gibson
completion date: june 10/06/10
method: purchase

i bought this book for school at the beginning of the winter semester. my mum showed it to me and i thought it had to be the best book ever. it is an anthology collected by the author of stories and poems about 'beasts'. i loved this book because it is totally littered with some of the most fabulous animal art... as in art about animals and of animals. i found it so inspiring and beautiful.
i was hoping there would be more fables and myths featured in the book like the just so stories but perhaps gibson wanted to keep the human voice present. it feels that this book is about observing beasts and imitating their behaviors and not stories about them. i was so deeply influenced by so many fables as a child and loved how intensely animals were featured in greek and norse mythology. however i obviously have a very different idea of what i would compile in my animal anthology (currently not in progress.... laaawwl). it felt that gibson was comparing our behaviours to animals and trying to demonstrate that we had lost our connections to nature and the natural order. which i agree with. we have drifted- some further than others.

i found it very facinating as well that a story featured very predominantly in beatrice and virgil is featured in this novel- the particular part that the taxidermist highlighted most vigorously. the tale itself is haunting and uncomfortable. it tells the story of a voracious hunter who slaughters any and all in his sight. up until this story the bedside book of beasts had been very peaceful and soothing. they were all tales of love and remembrance up until the story of this hunter. even though i had already read it, it left me shaken.

gibson mentions that our behaviours are similar to animal, especially hunter animal, behaviours. with this conclusion i would love to see his bedside book of birds if only to see the connection.
xo-ellebee