Kiwiria's October Reads

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

Posting this a bit early this month for obvious reasons ;) I may finish more books before the end of the month, but I'll just tack those on to November's list instead. Thanks to the read-a-thon, I made it to 20 books this month!


The Sound of Music Family Scrapbook - Fred Bronson, 4/5, 160 pages
I grew up with "The Sound of Music" and it's always been one of my favourite movies, so when I heard of this scrapbook, I knew I had to have it! "Behind the scenes" information has always been of great interest to me :)

Fortunately, this book totally lived up to my expectations, and I breezed through it in one day. While I was perhaps less interested in the "where are they now" chapters, I loved the insights given and enjoyed all the fun anecdotes. The book was co-written by the people who played the seven von Trapp children, so I did miss a few more anecdotes about Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer but oh well. I did find it awesome that the seven 'children' still stick together :-)

A great book to water my enduring adoration of this movie :)

First Test - Tamora Pierce*, 4.5/5, 240 pages
Page - Tamora Pierce*, 4.5/5, 288 pages
Squire - Tamora Pierce*, 4.5/5, 432 pages
Recommended these to my brother-in-law and immediately felt the need to reread them myself. Am still missing the last one, but that'll have to wait until next month.


S. - J.J. Abrams & Doug Dorst, 4.5/5, 456 pages
I don't usually post photos in my reviews, but the charm of this book is best explained via visual aids.


The minute I saw this book, I knew I had to have it. I adore books that play with the media ("Lost in a Good Book" and "The City of Dreaming Books" spring to mind as other books that do this really well), so when I realized that half the plot in this book was told via the book "Ship of Theseus" and the other half was told through comments in the margin of said book as well as clippings, photos etc. inserted throughout the book - I was sold. What an altogether brilliant idea! I almost didn't care about the plot itself.

And the book didn't disappoint. I loved getting to know Eric and Jen through the comments in the margin - trying to figure out the timeline as they jumped back and forth to have conversations and follow up on things. I cared less about the story of SOT, but I don't think we were really supposed to, as it was mostly a means to an end. The main problem with the book - and the only reason it didn't make a straight 5 star rating - is that it was almost too realistic in Eric and Jen's way of communicating, so some things were just implied or understood, as they were referring to events they obviously both knew the outcome of. This also made the ending slightly abrupt, and left me with a few unanswered questions.

Nothing major though, and at the end of the day, the charm of the book won through. Definitely the most unusual book I have ever read.


Stray - Andrea K. Höst, 4.5/5, 273 pages
I've wanted to read this for ages - pretty much ever since I read and loved "And All The Stars" which I picked up 3 years ago.

Fortunately it completely lived up to my expectations. I loved the world building and how the entire universe was set up. I adored reading about Cass' struggles with learning the language, and even found myself thinking in her disjointed sentences at times. I enjoyed seeing the friendships grow despite Cass being a 'Stray' and was totally fascinated by her coping mechanisms.

It's the first book in a series, so there's no real resolution. On the other hand, there's no real cliff-hanger either, so I thought the book nicely contained, even if the main arc wasn't resolved.

But still - with a 4.5 star rating, you can bet I logged on to Amazon right away to get hold of the rest of the series!


Cancer Vixen - Marisa Acocella Marchetto, 5/5, 222 pages
I bought this book specifically for the Read-a-thon, after it came very highly recommended on a "Best graphic novels ever" list, as I figured it'd make perfect late-night reading. I wasn't disappointed - neither by the late-night reading quality, nor by the memoir itself. The story of Marisa's bout with cancer is engaging, the drawings are gorgeous, and Marisa Machetto did a great job of making the reader relate to her situation. I teared up more than once, and couldn't put it down.

Awesome book that I highly recommend.


Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho, 3.5/5, 210 pages
I've only read two Paulo Coelho books so far, but my impression of "Veronika Decides to Die" is much the same as my impression of "The Alchemist": I'm not entirely sure what I think of it, but it's so well written that I'm glad I've read it all the same. The writing style is so subtly captivating that I found myself devouring the book without really being able to make up my mind whether or not I actually like it.

"Veronika Decides to Die" had the option of being a really depressing book, but instead turned out to be life-affirming and optimistic.

I don't think it's a book I'll ever reread, and I'm no closer to rushing out and reading more of Coelho's books than I was prior to reading this - but I'm glad I've read it all the same, and would recommend it in a heartbeat.


Destiny's Song - Audrey Faye, 4.5/5, 223 pages
In my opinion, the best work Audrey Faye has published under this pseudonym.

While I've greatly enjoyed the Lesbian Assassin series, this first book in a new sci-fi series showed me a strong return of the talented author I've come to know and love. The story is nicely polished, and though the first in a series, still seemed complete within its own universe.

Audrey Faye's strongest suit has always been in building her characters, and this book is no exception. I especially loved Tameka and Janelle, as I've always adored feisty female characters.

In atmosphere, the book had definite shades of "Crystal Singer" by Anne McCaffrey, which isn't a bad thing at all.

Can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series!


Auggie & Me - R.J. Palacio, 4.5/5, 380 pages
It didn't blow me away the way "Wonder" did, but I still really, really, really liked it.

I've wanted to read this ever since I finished "Wonder" two months ago, and thanks to an exceptionally well timed birthday present, I was able to read it for my October read-a-thon. It totally lived up to my expectations, and I'd be hard pressed to say which short story I liked the best. It was good to see things from Julian, Chris and Charlotte's point of view, and I liked that Auggie was just a minor characters in these stories.


Penny Wise - Neta & Dave Jackson, 3/5, 313 pages
I think it's time for me to take a break from Neta Jackson. As much as I wanted to love this book, it just wasn't very good (compared to her usual standards, that is). First of all, it took AGES to get started. Secondly, I got increasingly frustrated by the main characters continuing to make bad decisions. Thirdly, Neta Jackson painted her clues with a far too heavy brush almost from the very start. And fourthly - and most importantly, as I could forgive this other sins otherwise - it just lacked the poignancy and spirituality (for want of better word) that I've come to love and expect from Neta Jackson's books.

I'll probably still read the last two books in this series eventually, but I think I'll return to some of her older books first, to get my head back on straight.


One Wizard Place - D.M. Paul, Audiobook ~6hrs, 3/5
A sweet and short story. There wasn't much to it, but I liked it well enough. In style it reminded me a lot of "The Last Dragonslayer" by Jasper Fforde, which isn't a bad thing at all.

I'd probably have liked it even more if I'd read it as a book-book instead of an audiobook, as I kept getting distracted (through no fault of the book) and probably missed details.


De dunkle butikkers gade - Patrick Modiano, 2.5/5, 224 pages
(Missing Person)
Difficult book to review, as it's SO different from the books I usually read, and therefore using the same criteria wouldn't be totally fair. For that reason, I've decided to give it 2.5 stars - an average rating for an average book. It wasn't badly written, but at the same time I don't really think it amazing enough for the author to deserve the Nobel prize in literature (granted, it might have been 'in spite' instead of 'because' of this book).

All in all, the writing style didn't work for me, and I doubt I'd have finished it, if it hadn't been so short. Besides, I found it frustrating that the blurb revealed the last few pages of the book, and that the story just ended abruptly without any real conclusion.

So with that in mind, a 2.5 rating was rather generous.


Everything, Everything - Nicola Yoon, 4/5, 320 pages
This book blew me away, yet I hardly know what to write about it. It hurt my heart to read, and I was totally emotionally exhausted after finishing it.

The book covers topics not often seen in YA, and thus gave an interesting take on the usual "girl meets boy" formula. However, while I loved most of it (even if it did break my heart), I thought the ending too abrupt, and leaving too many questions behind. I didn't feel like there was any proper closure - not for Madeline, and consequently, not for the reader either.

That's my only complaint about the book though. I loved the plot, loved the characters and I loved the illustrations throughout the book - they really added to its charms.


Bad Girls of the Bible - Liz Curtis Higgs, 2.5/5, 256 pages
Unfortunately I wasn't terribly impressed by this book. It wasn't bad, just only okay. However, that was mostly because I a) didn't care much for Liz Higgs' writing style. b) already knew most of the points she made. I think for people who don't mind her writing style, and especially for new Christians who might not be familiar with all these bad girls of the Bible, it'll be a lot more appealing.

One thing I did like was the modern day retellings at the start of each chapter. I'd originally worried that they'd come off too cutsey, but with one or two exceptions, that wasn't the case at all. I especially loved the very last one about the woman with the alabaster jar. Very sweet and poignant.


The Circle - Dave Eggers, 4/5, 504 pages
Fascinating, thought-provoking and chilling book. I can too easily see the reality of this book come true.

It's hard to review this book without getting into a debate about the pros and cons of social media, and I actually find it rather fitting and ironic at the same time that I am sharing this review on social media. It's the kind of book that will leave you questioning how much we share online, or - if you're already questioning - will make you want to shut down your FB profile for good.

Interestingly enough, there's no real plot to speak of. The book is definitely character-driven and atmosphere-driven. That doesn't always work for me, but here it really did, and though a bit slow to start, from about the halfway mark I had serious problems putting it down.


Mindspeak - Heather Sunseri, 2/5, 396 pages
The stereotype of the first book in a series, and unfortunately not in a good way. It took forever for the action to really take off, and once it did, there was only about 20 pages left of the book, and not nearly enough time to wrap up even some of the plotlines.

Not to mention that a sudden twist was thrown at the reader 2 pages before the end of the book, and it all ended up resulting in a book that cannot stand on its own, but only serves as a prequel to the next book in the series.

And unfortunately the writing wasn't good enough, nor the plot interesting enough to make me want to pick up the next one. It wasn't bad, and I did like the majority of the book well enough (until it became apparent that nothing was going to happen), it just didn't manage to make me care about neither the characters nor the plot.

Scraps - Audrey Faye, 3/5, 34 pages
Not entirely sure whether this was a short story collection or an essay collection, which made for an interesting read ;)

The Undercover Cook - Katie Fforde, 3/5, 34 pages
Couldn't sleep last night, so I picked this up for a quick and light read. It fit the bill perfectly, and while totally predictable and not at all realistic I liked it well enough. It's the first thing I've read by Katie Fforde, but I might look into more books by her, for when I'm in the mood for some fluff.

Book of the Month: S. - perhaps not the best book I read this month (although close to it), but definitely the most fascinating.
Biggest Disappointment: De dunkle butikkers gade - didn't work for me at all.