I’ve been circling around this book for a while and when I was confronted with a three-hour train ride, I decided on buying it. Seriously… I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres is what people will read if they only get to watch youtube clips of her show because it isn’t broadcast in their country.
I’ve experienced a lot the last few years and I have a lot to share. So I hope that you’ll take a moment to sit back, relax and enjoy the words I’ve put together for you in this book. I think you’ll find I’ve left no stone unturned, no door unopened, no window unbroken, no rug unvacuumed, no ivories untickled. What I’m saying is, let us begin, shall we?
My Thoughts:
In Seriously… I’m Kidding, Ellen takes us on a journey through her world in the spotlight and her innermost weird thoughts. She describes situations that are too strange to be true and more than once makes us laugh out very (!) loud. So be careful if you are in public. Let’s just hope you don’t read on an e-reader or listen to the audiobook. 😉 People can’t see what you’re reading, you know.
Unfortunately, there are chapters in this book that are less fun and, to be honest, quite boring. I had the feeling that those chapters were just there to fill up the pages. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather read a book that’s short and fun than long and boring.
As you can see, I have mixed feelings about Seriously… I’m Kidding. But as this book isn’t a novel, you could just skip the boring chapters as soon as you notice they get boring. I did read them all though. I’d say Seriously… I’m Kidding is a book for the quick laugh on a train, in the bathroom, or waiting for your doctor’s appointment. It’ll be like Ellen is right there with you, if you want to listen to her stories, or not.
It’s the weekend again and I hope you’re enjoying it! In January, I got to read a shocking novel by Italian writer Marina Mander called The First True Lie (Italian title: La Prima Vera Bugia). It will be released in five days, on February 6, 2014. Canongate provided me with an ARC.
‘They always tell you that you shouldn’t tell lies, but without lies I’d already be in an orphanage. This, in any case, is my first true lie’
Luca and his mum are like two peas in a pod in their special, fragile world.
Then, one winter morning his mother doesn’t wake up. Luca suddenly finds himself alone for the first time. Terrified of what telling the truth might bring, he decides to keep the biggest secret of his life. Luca goes along to school every day, pretending everything is as it always has been. But he returns home every night to a cold, dark house. So he begins to build a protective bubble with the memories of his mother, the words and stories he so loves – and his cat Blue – against the truth on the other side of the bedroom door.
My Thoughts:
The First True Lie leads us into Luca’s world which, from the start of the novel, mainly consists of the apartment he lives in. Marina Mander created a dull place for Luca’s story to take place. You have the feeling that as days go by, the walls are closing in on the little boy and his cat, the air becomes thicker, the light fades. The author skilfully sets the scene for this horrific plot.
Luca is the main character of The First True Lie. The novel is written from the little boy’s perspective and this is where its weakness lies. It’s written in an interior monologue and Luca’s thoughts often sound too grown-up to be a child’s. While the interplay of feelings like fear, stubbornness, strength and resignation is what makes Luca believable and lovable, certain thoughts leave the reader puzzled.
The First True Lie is a dramatic novel. It’s like a spiral that goes down. The plot is actually quite simple, but the book as a whole has maximum effect. Even though I had some credibility issues with Luca’s character, this haunting novel works out. The First True Lie left me shocked and thinking.
I’ve recently finished a wonderful book, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. I heard about it a few months ago and thought that I might read it some time and as soon as I started reading, I regretted that I didn’t pick it up earlier ;). Warning: This isn’t just a novel with magical elements in it, it’s a great take on late 19th century immigration to the U.S.!
Helene Wecker’s dazzling debut novel tells the story of two supernatural creatures who appear mysteriously in 1899 New York. Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a strange man who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York Harbor. Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian Desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop.
Struggling to make their way in this strange new place, the Golem and the Jinni try to fit in with their neighbors while masking their true natures. Surrounding them is a community of immigrants: the coffeehouse owner Maryam Faddoul, a pillar of wisdom and support for her Syrian neighbors; the solitary ice cream maker Saleh, a damaged man cursed by tragedy; the kind and caring Rabbi Meyer and his beleaguered nephew, Michael, whose Sheltering House receives newly arrived Jewish men; the adventurous young socialite Sophia Winston; and the enigmatic Joseph Schall, a dangerous man driven by ferocious ambition and esoteric wisdom.
Meeting by chance, the two creatures become unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures, until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful menace will soon bring the Golem and the Jinni together again, threatening their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.
My Thoughts:
Helene Wecker’s novel about two unusual immigrants is mainly set in New York City around 1900 and she takes you right there. In The Golem and the Jinni, you’ll visit cramped, stuffy tenements as well as stately, airy mansions. You will explore a city that you’ve probably never seen before. Ms. Wecker has a gift for setting. I only wished there would have been a map somewhere in the book to place all the streets and to get a feeling for the distances the characters traveled.
The novel follows the two main characters, a female golem and a male jinni, on their search for freedom and happiness. Chava, the golem, is new to life. She learns fast and adapts to the Jewish immigrant society quickly. Her greatest fear is to hurt someone and so Chava stays wary. Ahmad, the jinni, was free to do whatever he wanted and now he is trapped in human form. His self-conscious and impatient character makes him roam New York City night after night. While Chava wants to be like anyone else, Ahmad only wants to be free again to return home to Syria.
In my opinion, these two main characters are the archetypal immigrants. They are very different from the rest of the people already living in the U.S.. Chava comes to stay and to make a living. She wants to fit in and still has to learn everything to survive. Ahmad is in the U.S. with the goal to return to Syria as soon as he is free again. He resembles those immigrants who came to America to work and make money just to return home again, although lots of them stayed in the end.
As you can see, The Golem and the Jinni is a novel about immigration and different cultures in New York City around 1900, but this book has even more to offer. It is a book about friendship and trust and it’s a riveting read.
I hope you’re enjoying Sunday! Today I’ve got a review of Alice Munro’s short story collection Dear Life for you. Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 and this is the first time I’ve read something she has written. I have to thank Random House UK for this copy. I got it to discuss it with other readers on Lovelybooks and to write a review.
Alice Munro captures the essence of life in her brilliant new collection of stories. Moments of change, chance encounters, the twist of fate that leads a person to a new way of thinking or being: the stories in Dear Life build to form a radiant, indelible portrait of just how dangerous and strange ordinary life can be.
My Thoughts:
Dear Life is divided into two parts. The first one consists of ten short stories, the second of four autobiographical pieces. I’ll only review the short stories. As far as I can remember, all of them are set in Canada, many in the 20th century. Of course, Alice Munro knows her trade. She understands how to set the scene and how to transfer atmosphere.
In Dear Life, Alice Munro’s characters often seem to share similarities. The oppressed woman, the confused man and sometimes a child to tell us all about their problems. What struck me most, was how Mrs. Munro told stories from a child’s perspective. Especially in “Gravel”. You really think you are a child experiencing what the narrator experienced.
Unfortunately, technique isn’t everything. Don’t get me wrong, “To Reach Japan” was perfect! I also enjoyed “Amundsen” and “In Sight Of The Lake”. But the remaining seven short stories didn’t do the trick. They were okay, but I really expected more than just “okay”. While “To Reach Japan” was captivating and left me thinking, “Dolly” for example, left me indifferent.
As Alice Munro has won the Nobel Prize, I’m sure there are better short story collections out there. If life is like it is shown in Dear Life, it’s mostly dull, gray and tedious.
I still got some books I read in December that I didn’t write a review for. One of them is Left Neglected by Lisa Genova. I found it in a local bookstore that sometimes has great bargains and I thought “Wow, this book sounds like a must-read.” So here’s what I’ve got to say about it.
One typical morning, Sarah Nickerson, a woman in her mid-thirties, is late for work, racing in her car after dropping her kids off at school and daycare. She tries to phone in to a meeting she should already be at when she takes her eye off the road for a second too long. In that blink of an eye, all the rapidly moving parts of her over-scheduled life come to a screeching halt.
Sarah suffers a traumatic head injury. Her memory and intellect are intact, but she has lost all interest in, and the ability to perceive, information coming from the left side of space. The left side of her world has gone. Sarah only eats the food from the right side of her plate. She can’t see her watch, or her engagement diamond or her wedding ring. She tries to use a wheel chair but can only spin in circles as her left arm dangles by her side.
My Thoughts:
Set in present-day Boston and Vermont, Left Neglected leads you into the world of a business woman who only perceives the right side of everything, including herself. I think it is quite challenging for an author to make the reader see through such a person’s eyes, but Ms. Genova succeeded. In my mind, I was constantly trying to look beyond that grayish area to see that left hand, or that ring, let alone that watch to read the time.
Sarah, the main character of the book, is a business woman and as you can imagine, she is struggling hard to cope with her new situation. I never doubted this character for a second and understood her trains of thought, her fears and her decisions. There are other important characters in Left Neglected, but telling you about them would be a spoiler. They each have their own little story to tell.
As I already knew that an accident was about to happen, I was rushing through the first couple of chapters to finally get there. I’m really impatient when it comes to things like that. So I perceived the beginning of Left Neglected as a little too slow. But from the accident onwards, I was spellbound and didn’t want to stop reading. I actually read the book within two days. I can fully recommend this gripping and moving story to anyone who needs a timeout, wants to broaden their horizon, or just wants to read a good book.
Today, I have a review of John Green‘s The Fault in Our Stars for you. A book I’ve been dying to read for quite a while now. I got it as a Halloween present from Wolfgang 🙂 Thanks again.
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazels story is about to be completely rewritten.
My Thoughts:
The Fault in Our Stars is mainly set in present-day Indianapolis. While most of the time, the setting doesn’t seem to be that important, there is one scene, a dinner scene, that is breathtakingly beautiful.
The main characters in The Fault in Our Stars are Hazel and Augustus. Both are teenagers. We follow the story from Hazel’s perspective. With this book, the characters’ believability is my main problem. Of course Hazel and Augustus might be more grown up than other people their age. But still, they act, talk and think like adults and they do this all the time. Both Hazel and Augustus (especially Augustus) aren’t believable in their roles as teenagers. At least for me.
I did like the plot though. I needed a little time to get going, but I enjoyed what I read, even if it was predictable. I’d really like to know what a whole classroom of teenagers would think of The Fault in Our Stars. If they don’t have a problem with the characters’ believability, then I’d recommend this book to teenagers, or adults who really don’t mind as the central topics of friendship and illness are important. However, I think that The Fault in Our Stars might be a bit overhyped.
Today I’ve got another book review for you (to be honest, I’ve still got two more to write). Lovelybooks and btb (Random House) provided me with the German Edition of Touch by Alexi Zentner called Das Flüstern des Schnees. I read it in a Lovelybooks reading group where we also got the chance to ask Mr. Zentner questions. If you’re interested in them, just head over there. They are in English :).
On the eve of his mother’s funeral, Stephen, a middle-aged priest, sits down to write her eulogy. But as the evening creeps into night, he is haunted by memories from his childhood: birthday trips to the cuts with his father; the moment his sister slipped under the thick winter ice forever; and the memorable day his grandfather, Jeannot, came home after a thirty-year absence with a bundle of bones in his pocket and a mission to raise the dead.
Masterfully weaving the stories from three generations of one family, Touch tells the founding tale of Sawgamet – originally a gold-mining village – where deep in the forest reign golden caribou drinking from a honey-sweet river. Yet also in the forest lurk malevolent shapeshifters disguising themselves as friends, storms raging against foolhardy settlers, and the forest taking back the land for itself, branch by branch and root by root. Touch is a singular, startling debut as enchanting as it is unnerving. In this darkly sinister fairy tale Alexi Zentner builds a magical world as distinctive as a grown-up Narnia, and marks himself out as a real talent to watch.
My Thoughts:
Touch is set in the fictional town of Sawgamet somewhere deep in the woods of Canada. The book spans the life of three generations of a family living there from the second half of the 19th century onwards. I am fascinated by the world that Mr. Zentner created in Touch! You can feel the chilly ice and snow, you can see it glitter. You fear the dark woods but you are also fascinated by how vast they are. And while you walk through them, you can even see your breath against the light shining through the trees.
I’d say there are two important characters in Touch, the first one being the narrator, Stephen. The second is his grandfather Jeannot. The reader accompanies Jeannot through many years of his life. He is a tough and fearless man. But it seems like almost all men who come to Sawgamet are tough and fearless. I can’t really remember a feature that would distinguish Jeannot from any of the secondary characters. The same happens with the women in Touch. They are all quite similar. I’d guess this could be interpreted as a means of showing that the characters in the book could be exchanged for anyone.
The plot of Touch is very fascinating as it leaves room for interpretation. It is a work of magical realism after all. My theory is that Jeannot fights nature itself, as he came into the woods and took from them. Touch isn’t a book you’ll quickly read and put back on the shelf, it is a book that will make you go back and think about it.
First I’d like to thank you all for your patience and that you didn’t run away. 🙂 You are great! Things are looking up and I’m getting back on track. I hope to post my first Frankfurt Book Fair interview in the upcoming weeks. I finally managed to transcribe the interviews, but of course I won’t publish them without giving my interviewees a look at the transcriptions first. 😉
Meanwhile, I have another book review for you. I wanted to read Elizabeth Gilbert‘s The Signature of All Things since I first laid eyes on the UK edition and its synopsis. That was about a month before the publication in October. So I had to wait patiently. I told myself that I’d see how much money I’d need in Frankfurt and that I’d buy the book afterwards. But I didn’t need to. At my interview with Thérèse Coen from Bloomsbury we also talked about The Signature of All Things. And after our interview, she asked me if I already had a copy. Well, I didn’t have one, so she gave one to me! I was the happiest girl ever. That totally made my day! The surprise came about three hours later on the bus ride home. I had time to leaf through the book and only then noticed that the book was signed! You can probably imagine my face! 😀 Thank you so much Thérèse!
Well, even without the signature, this book would be a gem. This edition is so beautiful. I’m in love with it.
At the beginning of a new century, Alma Whittaker is born into a perfect Philadelphia winter. Her father, Henry Whittaker, is a bold and charismatic botanical explorer whose vast fortune belies his lowly beginnings as a vagrant in Sir Joseph Banks’s Kew Gardens and as a deck hand on Captain Cook’s HMS Resolution. Alma’s mother, a strict woman from an esteemed Dutch family, has a knowledge of botany equal to any man’s.
It is not long before Alma, an independent girl with a thirst for knowledge, comes into her own within the world of plants and science. But as her careful studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man she comes to love draws her in the opposite direction. The Signature of All Things is a big novel, about a big century. It soars across the globe from London, to Peru, to Philadelphia, to Tahiti, to Amsterdam. Peopled with extraordinary characters – missionaries, abolitionists, adventurers, astronomers, sea captains, geniuses and the quite mad –above all it has an unforgettable heroine in Alma Whittaker, a woman of the Enlightened Age who stands defiantly on the cusp of the modern.
My Thoughts:
The Signature of All Things is mainly set in the 19th century. Its numerous settings include places in Europe, North America and French Polynesia. Even though I have never visited most of the book’s settings, I was able to visualize all of them and Ms. Gilbert’s descriptions are great because when I googled one of the settings, it looked exactly like I imagined it.
The main character, Alma Whittaker, grows up to be a reasonable, intelligent, extremely well-read and well-taught woman. It is remarkable to see the world through her eyes. Alma grows up in a wealthy household and still lives a life so different to other wealthy young women. I felt how uncomfortable she felt in regard to having friends and doing things that didn’t fulfil any purpose. I also relaxed when Alma relaxed, sitting at the table, being surrounded by scholars and scientists. The secondary characters in The Signature of All Things are beautifully crafted. Each has their own story to tell and would be interesting enough to write a novel about.
The book’s plot spans Alma’s, plus a quick version of her father’s life. It is very detailed. You will learn much about botany (but I guess you figured that by reading the synopsis) but there are also long conversations about spirituality. Even though I really liked the overall story, The Signature of All Things has many passages that felt drawn-out. It was as if everything written had to stay in the book. My reading pace was an interplay of quick and slow. Nevertheless, I think you should read this book if you like the synopsis. The Signature of All Things might be drawn-out at times, but it is also absorbing, surprising, adventurous and different.
Things are still quite weird around here but it’s getting better. There’s lots of work that needs my attention and still, I do have a review for you. 🙂 (I also haven’t forgotten about those Frankfurt articles, but they take time to compile and write and I have to sort out other matters right now, so please be patient. Thanks 🙂 )
A few weeks ago, I received an awesome Bridget Jones Blogger Package from Random House UK and Lovelybooks. I’ve already told you how much I love their cooperations! The package included a signed hardcover copy of Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy (published by Jonathan Cape), tissues, Galaxy chocolate (that one was super yummy), tea (I love tea!), a scented candle, a facial mask and a Bridget Jones t-shirt! Now ain’t that great? The perfect equipment for a perfect weekend full of Bridget Jones. (We were supposed to read the book in a Lovelybooks reading group on one weekend) Well, thanks to our postal services it wasn’t really a weekend because the package arrived on Tuesday as far as I remember. Too late for the weekend. The chocolate was gone by then ;). Nevertheless, I’m still super happy about this lovely package. Thanks again. And here’s what I think about Fielding’s third installment in the Bridget Jones series.
Image provided by Random House UK¹The Bridget Jones Blogger Package I got from Random House UK and Lovelybooks
What do you do when a girlfriend’s 60th birthday party is the same day as your boyfriend’s 30th?
Is it wrong to lie about your age when online dating?
Is it morally wrong to have a blow-dry when one of your children has head lice?
Does the Dalai Lama actually tweet or is it his assistant?
Is technology now the fifth element? Or is that wood?
Is sleeping with someone after 2 dates and 6 weeks of texting the same as getting married after 2 meetings and 6 months of letter writing in Jane Austen’s day?
Pondering these, and other modern dilemmas, Bridget Jones stumbles through the challenges of single-motherhood, tweeting, texting and redisovering her sexuality in what SOME people rudely and outdatedly call ‘middle age’.
My Thoughts:
Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy is set in present-day London but this book really isn’t much about the setting.
The main character in Bridget Jones is, of course, Bridget Jones. In this book she is just over 50 and she still is rather clumsy and awfully fun. As by reading this book, you also read Bridget’s diary, you’ll always know what’s going on inside her head. Although there were some people in the Lovelybooks book group that thought Bridget acted quite immature for a 50+-year-old, I think it’s still her and as this is her diary, we get to know all her thoughts and this is not necessarily what the people around her get to see. So why can’t people over 50 have crazy thoughts? I think this made her likable.
The plot is based on changes that happened in the past 15 years of Bridget’s life. I think that the story was nice. I wish I knew how people of Bridget’s age would see this. I’m far younger, but I can imagine women acting just as Bridget does. Her problems seem very realistic to me. Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy also contains many fun passages but you got to have a special kind of humor to find jokes about farts and things like that funny. I think they were hilarious :D. Other members of the book group were bothered by these passages.
Overall, Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy was a light and fun read, but I can understand why it might upset hardcore Bridget Jones fans.
I hope you’re all having a great weekend. It was sunny over here the whole day long. And on this beautiful autumn day, I have a review of M. L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans for you. This is such a wonderful book. I finished reading just before I went to Frankfurt.
A boat washes up on the shore of a remote lighthouse keeper’s island. It holds a dead man – and a crying baby. The only two islanders, Tom and his wife Izzy, are about to make a devastating decision.
They break the rules and follow their hearts. What happens next will break yours.
My Thoughts:
The main setting for The Light Between Oceans are the fictitious town of Point Partageuse on the west coast of Australia and Janus Rock, a small, and also fictitious, lighthouse island. The story is set in the first half of the 20th century. Through her descriptions, M. L. Stedman is able to make beautiful scenes come to life. I soon felt at home in this world accompanied by the constant sound of the sea.
The main characters are the married couple Isabel and Tom, and Hannah, who is of importance later in the novel. It is remarkable how each character’s feelings are transplanted into the reader’s heart and soul. It’s not surprising that in the course of the book, you will change your mind about a character that you have liked, or not liked before. You can feel the happiness, the pain, the grief. M. L. Stedman truly knows how to craft characters.
I really enjoyed the unique plot of The Light Between Oceans. Every time you think the story might get predictable something unexpected happens that turns things around. Stedman has thought about many details that, like in real life, can have a big impact when they interact. The Light Between Oceans is like a glimpse into the main characters’ souls. A deeply touching novel that will lead you into a world full of yearning and hope.
All That Magic 