Wednesday, November 28, 2012

The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence

For my second read in November I read, The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin De Becker.  This is a non-fiction book written by an expert on predicting violent behavior.  The Gift of Fear discusses many real life examples of violence in our culture and how being able to listen to your own intuition can help you recognize when you or someone you know are in real danger.

I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this book, but I did enjoy reading it.  Much like The Sociopath Next Door, it had thorough research, statistics and case studies (my favorite part!).  De Becker is apparently very well known and has worked with many high profile clients over the years, so his real life examples were really intriguing.

You might be thinking you aren't worried about learning "survival signals", however I bet you will find some of the information in this book to be very useful.  It discusses how to recognize people/situations that would pose a real threat to you, but what I really gained from it was how to understand my own intuition.  If you have "just had a feeling about someone" or had something frighten you but you "didn't know why", after reading this book you'll realize if you look back a little harder, the signs for why you felt that way were there. 

I would definitely recommend reading this book.  It is interesting, informative and I believe can help you better understand some of your own feelings of fear, worry and anxiety.  The only thing I didn't care for was the author is a little self promoting (since like I mentioned he is a well known expert and he currently has a firm who advises people on possible violent threats) but it can be overlooked since his book is well worth reading.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

The House of the Scorpion

For my first read in November I read, The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.  The story is about Matteo Alcatran, a boy who is the clone of a powerful drug lord called El Patron.  As Matt grows up, he learns about his origins and what his purpose is in life, both from El Patron's perspective and his own.

A facebook friend recommended this book and it was quite an interesting read.  The characters are well developed and the overall plot is interesting.  I have always found the topic of cloning to be an intriguing one and I enjoyed reading about it.  You really get to see how the different characters react to Matt and who/what he is, really getting a sense of how people's moral compasses can be so different.  At various points in the book you feel angry, frustrated and happy for Matt so clearly the author writes in a way that brings out emotions.

I did feel the book was a little long, it starts from his birth and moves fairly quickly through time until he is about 14 but there were some portions that I didn't think really brought much to the story or things that were repeated but could have been left out.  I also think that Matt was written a bit more naively than a real boy would be in his teen years, but I still enjoyed the book.  Also should note it is a "youth fiction novel" and I wouldn't recommend it for readers under age 12.  Overall, I would recommend it to readers though.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Await Your Reply

For my second read in October I read, Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon.  The story is about three different characters: Ryan is a young college kid who gets some surprising news and changes his life in a drastic way.  Lucy is a recent high school graduate who takes off with her former teacher boyfriend.  Miles is a man who has spent the majority of his adult life searching for his twin brother.  The three of them are interconnected in unexpected ways and some of these connections have dire consequences.

It took me quite a while to work my way through this book.  (Thus me barely finishing it by the end of the month!).  It had multiple perspectives, which I normally love, but in this case not so much.  It goes back and forth between characters each chapter, but some of the characters are more interesting than others, which left me wishing for certain chapters to go by faster.  It also goes back and forth in time, but not in a smooth way.  It goes back and forth in time nearly every chapter, sometimes multiple times.  The bouncing back and forth got frustrating and made sections of reading feel choppy.  A lot of the trips back in time were for back story, but honestly I would have enjoyed less back story and more time spent with what the characters were up to now.

I don't think I would recommend this book.  It was a slow read for me and I just didn't really enjoy it.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Dark Places

For my first read in October I read, Dark Places by Gillian Flynn.  I really enjoyed reading Gone Girl a few months back, so I found one of Flynn's earlier books to check out.

Again, Flynn writes in a way that captures your attention and keeps it throughout.  The beginning is slower moving as it sets the stage, but I appreciated it's character development.

The book is about a family who are the victims of a horrific crime.  The story follows Libby Day, the lone survivor of a murder spree that killed her mother and two sisters.  Her brother, Ben, was convicted of the crime and put in jail thanks to Libby's testimony when she was just a child.

The story goes back and forth in time (present day and day of the murders) and also person to person (Libby, Ben and Patty, their mom).  I loved seeing the events of that day from various perspectives.  It was a very engaging read to try to deduce who the murderer was and to try to put the pieces together as each chapter uncovered new information.  I definitely recommend reading this book!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

For my second read in September I read, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.  The story begins when nine year old Rose Edelstein discovers she has a secret gift (or curse?) of being able to taste people's feelings in the food they cook.  This secret allows her to learn much more about her family, friends and world than she really wants to know.

I'm giving this book a bit of a mixed review.  I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either.  It's a bit of fantasy mixed with realism, which made it hard for me to really enjoy.  Rose deals with real life issues, but the way in which she discovers them is strange.  Her family while seeming normal is quite flawed, which is never really addressed and I found frustrating.  Her brother is a main character whom we don't really get a sense of until the book is nearly finished.  Parts of the story felt undone to me and there was a lack of character development.

I'm also going to have to go all punctuation police and point out there are no quotation marks on any of the dialogue.  Sometimes whole conversations feel wrapped confusingly into a paragraph that you have to re-read to figure out what was said and what was thought.

I did like the character of Rose, she is interesting and despite her gift, often relatable.  We follow her character from age nine to twenty-two, so it's kind of neat to grow up with her and see what happens to her character over time.

Overall, I don't think I would have read this book had I known it's style before hand.  It just wasn't my cup of tea.  However, if you like fantasy mixed with realism and dash of bummer you might like it.

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Murakami


OK, I"m implementing a moratorium on murakami for the next year.  This one was good.  It wasn't great, and the genera wasn't quite me.  I like science fiction, but this was a little to much more me.  INKlings living under the city, muting all sound, encrypting information by running it through your subconscious... all a little extreme.

The story is fairly straight forward.  It seems to be two separate stories being told in alternating chapters, but it's really the mans conscious and subconscious self living simultaneously.  The main character is written well, but all supporting characters lack any depth at all.  His girlfriend, the scientists he works for, the daughter of the scientists (yes, yet ANOTHER underage object of desire... oh Murakami...), all have only one purpose to the story.  They fill that role well, but there is nothing more to them as people living in the same world.  

And, the ending was a bit disappointing.  You're told how the story will end maybe 100 pages from the end, and there are no more surprises.  It ends exactly how you expect it to.  This is why it took me two months to read just the end... yawn.

So yes, Murakami is a good writer, and I generally like his plot lines.  This one was just a bit off for me and a break is needed.     

~Kelly

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Language of Flowers

For my first read in September I read, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh.  An old college facebook friend recommended this book and I'm so glad she did.  The story is about a girl named Victoria Jones.  Victoria grows up in the foster care system and finds herself at eighteen "aging out".  She is alone except for the comfort she finds in flowers and their secret meanings.  She bumps into a person from her past and starts to question her life and what it is missing.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end.  Victoria is a character you love, despise, want to shake and want to hug.  Her personality is so difficult, yet you want the best for her and you want to see how her life turns out.  All of the main characters in this book have seen so much sadness but also so much joy, I became invested in each one.

The really fun thing about this book is what it's title refers to, the language of flowers.  You'll learn a lot about the meanings of flowers and the messages they can convey.  It left me wanting to find out what my favorite flowers meant and to get some bouquets of the ones whose meanings I particularly liked.

The book goes back and forth in time (from Victoria in the present and Victoria at age ten) but it does so seamlessly and you may be be like me, longing for the next section in each respective time period.  I highly recommend this book, especially to all the lady readers out there.