christianreader | Kiwiria's Books for July

Sweater Quest - Adrienne Martini, 3/5, 218 pages
Okay book, but unfortunately not as good as I had hoped. It was described as "Julie and Julia for knitters", which is selling J&J way short. It's as if Adrienne Martini couldn't quite decide what kind of book she wanted to write, and it ended up being a lot more about knitting as a whole, and what makes people knit, than about the process of knitting a Mary Tudor sweater specifically.

It's a quick and entertaining read regardless, but if you expect details about knitting Fair Isle or the Mary Tudor pattern, you will very likely be disappointed.

The Geography of Bliss - Eric Weiner, 3.5/5, 345 pages
Part happiness project, part travel memoir. I really liked reading about Eric's experiences and have to agree with him that Tolstoy got it all wrong - people are happy for all kinds of different reasons, and what works for some won't necessarily work for others. It's an incredibly quotable book, and I've jotted down a number of quotes in my little notebook :)

I liked that he limited himself to 10 countries, and then spent quite a lot of both physical time and page time on each, so the reader got the impression that he'd really done his research and gotten a true picture of the country.

An Echo in the Bone - Diana Gabaldon, 4/5, 824 pages
Long book is LONG! Worth it though. I'd have to say that this is probably better than both book 5 and 6. Wasn't quite as heart wrenching, and for once Gabaldon gave her characters a bit of a break. Not much though... otherwise it wouldn't be her!

One of the weaknesses of the later books is that Gabaldon tries to tell the story from too many different characters' viewpoint, and the reader will invariably be more interested in some story lines than others. Personally I loved Claire, Jamie and Ian's, liked Brianna and Roger's and only cared slightly for Lord John Grey's and William's. I did warm up to the latter though, and loved the way they all connected in the end.

I did think that this book ended with quite the cliffhanger... more than any of the others. Can't wait to read the next one, which I think I've heard may also be the last one? Can anybody confirm or deny this?

The Kitchen God's Wife - Amy Tan, 2/5, Audiobook ~16hrs
I think I must accept that I'm just not into Amy Tan's books. I read "The Joy Luck Club" a couple of years ago and was bored by it, but figured she deserved an extra chance. She got that with "The Kitchen God's Wife", but unfortunately didn't manage to change my opinion of her work.

One thing that threw me for a loop in TKGW was that the main character wasn't who you thought it was going to be. In fact, it turned out to be a person who'd been described rather unsympathetically in the first few chapters, so I wasn't inclined to like her, and really didn't care about what happened to her -- which kind of defeated the purpose of reading the book, as all but the final two chapters was about her! I seem to recall Amy Tan doing something similar in TJLC, so it's apparently her way of writing - which just confirms that I won't be reading any more of her work.

13 Little Blue Envelopes - Maureen Johnson, 3/5, 336 pages
A fun idea for a plot, even if rather unlikely, and most of it was pretty well executed. However, it really annoyed me that Maureen Johnson referred to the "midnight sun of Copenhagen" no less than three times. Such a thing doesn't exist, and it made me seriously wonder where else she had skipped out on doing her research.

But putting that aside, I found it a fun YA novel, although very unrealistic at times.

Ultraviolet - R.J. Anderson, 4.5/5, 410 pages
I've been wanting to read this for literally years, and fortunately it did not disappoint. I liked that the supernatural elements were fewer and less overwhelming than I'd originally expected, so that Alison's synesthesia is allowed to take center stage in the novel. As somebody who has a mild version of synesthesia herself, I always find it incredibly interesting to read about other people's experiences, and this was no exception.

But R.J. Anderson still managed not to let Alison's synesthesia overrule everything and lets her have a personality aside from her condition (for want of better word).

A fascinating book, and an even better 'universe' than that of her "Knife" series, so I hope she ends up prioritizing this possible series heigher.

The Dinner Club - Saskia Noort, 1.5/5, 236 pages
I pretty much only finished this book because it was short and - despite a bad plot - an easy read. Not exactly sure how that works other than perhaps Saskia Noort is a good writer who's just not terribly good at thinking up plots?

It's a very dark book which isn't bad in and of itself, but when things keep going from bad to worse, people are mean to each other for no apparent reason, and no believable explanation is given for the ultimate outcome... well, it all combines to a book that really isn't worth reading.

I seldom give this low a rating to anything that I actually finished, but unfortunately it wasn't even Okay.

Cherry Ames, Senior Nurse - Helen Wells*, 2.5/5, 217 pages
Unfortunately only okay. It wasn't very engagingly written, so took me ages to read, despite the fact that it's really very short. I had originally planned to read more of the series, but now I'm not so sure... Hopefully it'll improve as she becomes an army nurse.

Bumped - Megan McCafferty, 2.5/5, 323 pages
A huge disappointment unfortunately. I'm usually a great fan of dystopian books, so had expected to love this one, but it just fell flat. Too much time was spent on setting the stage, so by the time anything actually started happening, the book was almost over, and we have to wait for the sequel to get the resolution! But unfortunately even the cliffhanger wasn't interesting enough to keep me hooked, so I have a feeling this is the end of Bumped for me.

A shame, because I loved the premise... Guess it's time for another reread of Third.

Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer*, 833 pages, 5/5
I was in the mood for a book I could disappear completely into and decided to go with a reread to get something I was SURE I'd enjoy. I ended up finishing it in 48 hours, so I'd say I reached my goal.

Linger - Maggie Stiefvater, 3/5, 368 pages
Definitely not as great as the first book in the series. The first book I couldn't put down, this one was still good, but it pretty much seemed like nothing happened, except Grace kept getting sicker and sicker. And as for the twist... well, I hadn't seen it coming, so I'll give her that, but in one fell swoop Maggie Stiefvater pretty much negated most of the resolution of the first book.

It'll be interesting to see whether or not she'll be able to bring everything properly together in the final book.

I really liked both Cole and Isabel though, and was very pleased to see Grace finally stand up to her parents!

10 BSC books a total of 1500 pages
Yes, my interest in BSC books is having a revival ;) Actually, I LOVED "Stacey the Math Whiz" - proof of my geekiness I guess :-D

Book of the Month: Ultraviolet.
Biggest Disappointment: The Dinner Club.