book review
Series Review: May Bird Trilogy
May Bird and the Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
In this book May Bird is whisked off to the land of the dead, called Ever After, and adventures her way across the land, searching for a way home. She makes some ghostly friends, and some enemies, in her quest to find the Book of the Dead which holds the answers to every question.
The writing is excellent, and there are many good characters. I just don’t like ghost stories. All the Halloween-style world building was not to my taste, but I think other people would enjoy that kind of setting.
The story takes a little while to finally get going, and then I really liked it! I loved May’s character. She is spunky and weird and brave! The people she meets are interesting and crazy and hilarious. So many wild characters! Continue reading
Recent Reads: Biography, Graphic Novel, Fantasy
Book Review: Far from the Madding Crowd
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This classic tells the story of Bathsheba Everdene, a young farm owner, and the three men who are in love with her. She has to make some difficult choices, some of which bring tragedy to her life, but ultimately she finds true love.
As with most classics, there is a lot of setup in the first chapters, but once the story gets going, it really moves along! Towards the middle and end, I was gasping and crying and laughing my head off. It’s definitely a wild story at times, and so brilliantly written.
Hardy has a reputation for writing depressing stuff, and there were some terrible depressing scenes that had me crying and horrified. But the ending is happy, so I was buoyed up again. Continue reading
Book Review: The Jewel of the Kalderash
The Jewel of the Kalderash by Marie Rutkoski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved this last book in the trilogy so much! The plot really surprised me, and I loved the new characters and old.
In this book, Petra is still on a quest to save her father from the evil Prince of Bohemia, and naturally Tomik and Neel are along for the ride.
My favorite character is still Astrophil, the tin spider with a big brain and an even bigger heart.
Once again, John Dee makes an appearance, and of course intrigue and spying and political machinations follow in his wake.
The stakes are definitely higher in this book, with assassinations going on all over the place and various thrones of various countries up for grabs. Petra has some tough choices to make, not only in her personal friendships, but also in deciding how much she is really willing to sacrifice to achieve peace for her country and the people she loves. Continue reading
Book Review: The Winter’s Tale
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This story is all over the place, but I loved the random plot and the clueless characters! I can’t figure out if it’s a hilarious tragedy or a dark comedy, but I was certainly never bored.
In this play, King Leontes is suddenly struck with the erroneous belief that his wife, Hermione, is cheating on him with his childhood friend, King Polixenes. He descends into a form of madness, trying to assassinate his friend, publicly accusing his wife of being unfaithful, and sentencing his actual child (who he believes to be illegitimate) to death by exposure in the wilderness. And of course, all sorts of trouble ensues, because he has angered the god Apollo, who predicts that he will never have an heir to his throne until he finds his lost daughter again, who did not die of exposure. Continue reading
Book Review: The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum
The Real Wizard of Oz: The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum by Rebecca Loncraine
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book was too long-winded for me, and every little thing seemed to be drawn out unnecessarily. Some bits about Baum’s history and his writing career were interesting, but mostly I skimmed a lot of a descriptive passages. There was a lot about the history of the times that had nothing to do with Baum, but I guess it was nice to see the historic events and trends that shaped his world. It just made the book longer though. Continue reading
Book Review: Sanditon
Sanditon: A Novel by Jane Austen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am so pleased with this uncompleted last novel of Jane Austen’s that was finished by “another lady”. It tells the story of Charlotte Heywood who is visiting friends in a seaside town called Sanditon. Charlotte meets all the respectable society of Sanditon, and spends most of her time observing their characters and deciding if she should laugh at them, pity them, befriend them, or scorn them. She herself is very unassuming and sensible, but when the charming Mr. Sidney Parker comes on the scene, her self-possession begins to slip and Charlotte finds herself wrapped up in intrigue, deceit, and gossip of the worst kind.
I couldn’t even tell where Jane Austen’s original work left off and Marie Dobbs writing began! I’m usually very skeptical about other authors trying to recreate or imitate someone else’s work, but wow! She perfectly captures the sweet laughing mockery of Austen’s writing. Austen made fun of everybody with little biting remarks, but also forgave them their faults in the next sentence. This writing style, the wording, the dialogue, and even the descriptions are perfectly blended together throughout the book in Austen’s own way. I could have sworn she wrote the whole thing! (And I am very picky and critical about all things Austen, let me tell you.) Continue reading
Book Review: Confessions of a Church Kid: Honest Thoughts on Finding God and Becoming Myself
Confessions of a Church Kid: Honest Thoughts on Finding God and Becoming Myself by Elyse Murphy
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is a cute little book, but I DNF’d it. The blurb say it’s a “cheeky memoir” about this girls experiences growing up as a church kid, and while I appreciate her basic concepts and moral lessons about being yourself and relying on God, it was a little too “cheeky” for me. Whatever that means.
It was cliche. It was a little shallow. No new or deep ideas about Christianity or what it means to part of a church. There’s all these cutesy little aside comments to the reader that got on my nerves. Continue reading
Book Review: The Sculptor
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
When David Smith makes a deal with Death, he gains power over stone and metal to create his sculptures, but the deal involves more than he knows, and his artistic talent is the only thing he has left to carry him through. As he comes to grips with his own art, his friendships and relationships begin to suffer and he has to lose everything to find himself.
This is the most depressing thing I’ve read all year. Ugh. I can’t deny that it’s very powerful, but I didn’t like the way it made me feel. And I didn’t like the smatterings of profanity. At least the profanity wasn’t on every page, so I was able to mostly ignore it and read through the entire book. And then there was some nudity towards the end that got on my nerves, so yeah. bleh.
The thing is… it’s really very well-written and the artwork is so incredible! The story line, the characters, the relationships, and dialogue, and mood and tone and everything… it’s genius! But I didn’t LIKE it. I didn’t like how it made me feel. I thought it was depressing and grotesque and hopeless. The art is so beautiful, but it depicts such ugly things. It made me uncomfortable. Continue reading
Luminous Libro 