May Booklist

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

X-posted to boksnoken,


Shatterglass - Tamora Pierce*, 8/10, 293 pages
The last book in the Circle Opens quartet and the only one I'd only read once before. I really enjoyed reading of how Tris had to teach others to control their magic, but was infuriated to read how the citizens of Tharios treat those without caste.

Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott*, 10/10, Audiobook
"Eight Cousins" (in fact, the entire Rose series) is an adorable story. It doesn't suffer from the same moral anecdotes as "Jack and Jill" and deserves to be quite as well known as "Little Women" because IMHO it's just as charming. It clearly describes the love and friendship between Rose, her seven cousins and her many aunts and uncles. One of those wonderfully old-fashioned "feel good" novels.

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver, 7/10, 614 pages
Writing a review of this book is really difficult, because I honestly don't know what I thought of it - it was interesting, yet really slow, impossible to put down, yet boring. I think the best word for it is intriguing and I was really glad to learn more about Congo. One thing struck me though, if Barbara Kingsolver's research is accurate I'd have to agree with those who say that Africa was better off without us (I write 'us' because if it hadn't been the Americans, it'd have been another Western country taking advantage of them). Disgusting really.
I'd recommend it, but be warned that it's a slow read. Took me almost a month to get through.

Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen, 9/10, 334 pages
I was a bit wary of it at first, because I had such high expectations that I was afraid of getting disappointed. Especially after just having read The Poisonwood Bible where I had even higher expectations and WAS disappointed. Fortunately, all my fears were unfounded and I loved the book. It's a charming story and as somebody who's always been fascinated by the circus-life - extremely interesting. Fortunately the ending was very satisfactory too so all in all it's a book I'm glad to have read and will happily recommend to others :-)

Nine Unlikely Tales for Children - Edith Nesbit, 9/10, Audiobook
Really sweet short stories, and while they proclaim to be "unlikely tales", there are also some traditional fairy-tales included - and those happened to be my favourites of the lot. Especially "The Prince, Two Mice, and Some Kitchen-Maids" which was recommended to me by a friend many, many, many years ago, but which I'd forgotten all about, and didn't even know was written by Edith Nesbit until I suddenly heard it here. I'll be telling these to my kids once I get some.

The Five Love Languages - Gary Chapman*, 10/10, 148 pages
I read The Five Love Languages before I got married, and really liked it. Now that I've been married 5 years I decided to read it again, and appreciated it a LOT more. Being in love, you never think you'll feel in need of getting your 'love bucket' filled more than it already is, but once marriage becomes more 'routine', it's more obvious how important it is to speak each other's love language.

My Name is Will - Jess Winfield, 8/10, 285 pages
Meet Willie Shakespeare Greenberg - a struggling thesis-writer, small scale drug-user and future scholar. Meet also William Shakespeare - a womanising youth, closeted Catholic and future bard. Two men, 300 years apart in time, but joined by name and history.
The novel is subtitled "A Novel of Sex, Drugs and Shakepeare" for a good reason. It is not very reverent, and Shakespeare-lovers who are easily offended should probably stay clear of the book. However, I appreciated seeing even a fictionalized human side of the legendary bard. It is perhaps not a very scholarly read, but definitely a very enjoyable one.

The Ordinary Princess - M.M. Kaye*, 9/10, 123 pages
Two of the stories in Edith Nesbit's "9 Unlikely Tales for Children" reminded me of this one and made me want to reread it. It was first read aloud to me when we were in France in 1986 and my dad would translate from English to Danish 'on the fly' while reading. But even without the nostalgic element, it is still a sweet fairy-tale, and one where it is a huge shame that so few people know it.

Rose In Bloom - L.M. Alcott*, 9/10, Ebook
Both Rose and her cousins are almost too good to be true, but that doesn't matter, because one doesn't read LMA to get realism, but rather to escape real life for awhile and disappear into a world where people are just generally kind, and if not it's because of lack of thought rather than any real ill intent.
Rose in Bloom was a lot better than I remembered it, and has one of the sweetest love-making (of the old-fashioned type) chapters I've ever read. Sure to make any hopeless romantic sigh and wish for that kind of love in their own lives.

Wild Swans - Jung Chang, 9/10, 618 pages
An absolutely fascinating book. Just like most other people in the Western world I know far too little about the history and culture of China and as such was at the same time totally fascinated and appalled by what I read here. Allegedly Mao caused more deaths than Hitler and Stalin put together, yet hardly any time is spent on him in history classes. I wonder why?
Wild Swans is long and heavy but not at all boring and I'm glad to finally have read it... if for no other reason, then to realize how incredible fortunate I am to live in a country like Denmark. It is a book that is just as important to read as the devastating accounts of World War 2, yet unfortunately more often neglected.

Life of Pi - Yann Martel, 10/10, 326 pages
I started this book several years ago, but never finished it. My book club decided to read it, so I picked it up again, and finished in 24 hours. I do not understand why I couldn't get through it last, because this time around I loved it. Absolutely fascinating and captivating. I've always enjoyed Robinson Crusoe'ish stories and this was no exception. I was doubtful at first but have to admit it fully deserves the recognition it's gotten.

No Compromise - Melody Green*, 8/10, 330 pages
When I was 12-13 my uncle introduced me to Keith Green's music. I was completely blown away by it, and still consider it some of the best Christian music I've ever heard. It wasn't until several years later though, that I found this book and read about his fascinating, but unfortunately much too short, life. The title of the book is "No Compromise" and Keith really didn't make any compromises regarding what he believed. I don't always agree with his way of acting, but I can't help respect and being impressed by him.

Infidel - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, 9/10, 414 pages
The biography of Ayaan Hirsi Ali - born and raised as a Muslim in Somalia with all that that entails of girl circumcision, arranged marriages etc. Fleeing from an arranged marriage she ended up in Holland where she became a very vocal politician who wanted to make lives better for Muslim women everywhere. She's the woman who wrote the script to "Submission 1" - the movie that got Theo van Gogh killed a couple of years ago.
It's a very powerful and disturbing book. I have to admit I was appalled to read it. I know it's hardly unbiased, but probably more so than most other accounts you'd find. It's a very interesting book and one I would highly recommend to everybody as I think the book touches on some important topics where it's necessary to raise an awareness.

The Host - Stephenie Meyer, 10/10, Audiobook
Stephenie Meyer did it again. She really knows how to write books I can't put down. The book starts out very confusingly as you're dropped right into the action, but once you make sense of what's going on, it grabs you, and if you're anything like me, you'll find yourself totally sucked in and unable to leave it. I was very pleasantly surprised and loved it.

Mercy Street - Mariah Stewart, 8/10, 303 pages
A captivating book that's hard to put down, but it would have benefitted from having an editor check the pacing. Especially the romantic sub-plot seemed rather rushed and therefore less believable than it deserved. Still, that minor nit-pick aside I found it a very entertaining and recommendable crime novel.

Across the Miles - L.M. Montgomery*, 9/10, 254 pages
I think this is my favourite of LMM's short story collections. It's all about letters, diaries or other 'written things' being the main part of the story. I love reading books made up of letters or diaries, so this is right up my alley :) Also, there are a lot of really sweet and romantic stories in there as well.

The Truth Seeker - Dee Henderson, 7/10, 330 pages
Unfortunately definitely the weakest of the O'Malley series so far. Yes ruthette for once I agree with you ;). I really enjoyed the first two and especially the prequel, but it was more difficult to get properly into this one, and the evangalisation seemed a lot more heavy-handed... but perhaps that's just because I had a harder time relating to the main character this time. It was still good, but I'm in no rush to read the rest of the series.


Book of the month: The Host
Most recommendable: Life of Pi
Biggest disappointment: The Poisonwood Bible