The Lost Island of Tamarind Nadia Aguiar

from goodreads

4 stars

Well summer is definitely winding down. The weather this week has been cooler, summer outings are becoming less frequent, and the back to school craziness has begun. The kids are also beginning to be a bit restless. I think they are ready to go back to school and make some awesome scholarly discoveries there.

I am also looking forward to the change in season reading wise. I seem to change the types of books I read with the seasons. Summer I prefer something light and fun. Winter I prefer to read more heavy books (literally and figuratively). Not that I am a purist in that regard. It just seems to be how things work out.

My to read in 2015 list is starting to dwindle down. I only have 12 left and three of those are book club reads. I have been reading a lot of books not on the list but I am excited to have made such a significant dent in books I have wanted to read for a long time and now am finally getting to. I am not sure if I will make a list for 2016. Maybe I will, I don't know. Do you ever make lists for a year or do you just read whatever seems to tickle your fancy in the moment?

Synopsis

Maya lives on a boat with her marine biologist parents and her brother Simon and little sister Penny. Maya desperately wants to be a normal teenager, go to a normal school and have friends instead of being on a boat floating around the Caribbean. When a storm comes and settles Maya and her siblings on a strange island Maya has the adventure of her life as she tries to figure out the islands secrets and find her parents again.

My Thoughts

This is one of those book that I just picked up on a whim at the library. The cover kind of intrigued me and I thought why not. I am so glad that I picked it up.

This is a great adventure story. The characters are believable and I even liked them. The island was a great mix of reality and whimsy. The adventures and predicaments the children found themselves in seemed plausible and not so utterly fantastic. It was just a great story.

At first when I found out that Penny, who is like a year old, was going with them on the adventure I was like, man, how are they going to deal with this in a realistic way? Sometimes authors add these elements but then the story goes in a direction where the kids seem almost forgotten and neglected making it not very realistic to life. This author got it bang on. Penny was always part of the mix, was not lost or forgotten and the author showed how they had to deal with the realities of diaper changing and food foraging for her. It was thought out and I really appreciated that.

I think of the older kids and tweens in the crowd who read this will love the sense of adventure, will love the different locations through the island, and will love how the kids are truly the heros and are not just waiting for the adults to come around and save them.

The only thing that prevented me from giving it a full five stars is the flat ending. Not all the questions were answered and it just felt incomplete. Also it was hard for me to figure out if the island was really primitive or had industries. Also, I relied on the map in the front of the book a lot, sometimes things weren't located where I thought they would be on the map and the story and the map didn't always make sense when it came to the distance or sense of things.

There is a second book that I think I will take out and read at some point. Perhaps some of my questions will be answered then.

This book would be great for kids 10 and up. It is just a great adventure.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

from goodreads

5 stars

I am going through a bit of a reading frustration this week. I read one book that totally hit me at just the right time. I read it in a day, staying up to the wee hours of the morning to finish it. I usually don't do that as I have kids to look after in the morning but I could not put it down. It was a light enjoyable read. Now I have descended from that reading high and finding it hard to settle down into my next literary conquest.

Does that ever happen to you? You read a book that has fit into your life so well and then when you try to move on every other book is kind of a let down? Hopefully this phase will be over soon and I will find a book that I can fall right into. Until then I will just have to keep persevering.

Synopsis

Eddie is an old lonely man who feels he has had a wasted life. When he dies in an accident Eddie arrives in Heaven where he encounters five different people who help him see his life in a new light.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book.

While Albom's version of heaven isn't exactly how I picture it, it does make you think about what it will be like. Perhaps this isn't too far off.

I like the idea of being able to get a chance to see how our lives have affected others, hopefully positively. Sometimes I think we all feel that our lives have been wasted or we have failed in someway. But, when we actually stop to think of friends, teachers and family that surround us we realize that our sphere of influence is greater than we think. A simple or boring life does not mean that life has been a failure.

I like how Albom shows he interconnectedness of us all. It was interesting to see how certain parts or problems of Eddie's life all seemed to be connected somehow. Coincidence? I don't know.

I think the take away from this is that sometimes the everyday mundane things we do have the most impact on others. We are greater than what we think. No life is a wasted life. We are all of value.

If you haven't read this book before I urge you too. If you are looking for a great pick me up this is the book for you.

Summer Reading With the Kids

from goodreads

from goodreads

from goodreads

Summer reading. It is a fun time to read to the kids. I find we are actually better able to read a chapter book at night and get engrossed in a story in the summer than during the school year. 

During the school year by the time you have done their home reading, helped them with any other homework, done after school activities such as swimming lessons, church groups and brownies it is time for a prompt bedtime. During the summer there are not nearly as many activities and there are no school commitments and bedtime is not as strictly enforced.

These are the books that we have enjoyed reading together this summer. Charlotte's Web and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe were audio books that I downloaded and we listened to on our long road trip. The girls loved listening to the stories and would ask for them after again and again. It made for a nice peaceful drive through Illinois and Iowa. It was such a nice relaxing time in the car.

Pippi Longstocking was a fun read and I will have to get the other books in the series. The girls liked the silly goings on of Pippi. They like the knowledge that Pippi knows and how fearless she was. Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder: the magical fruit was more a book that I wanted to read and forced on them, but they are liking it. They like how Nilly gets into funny situations. They really liked the card game he played. With Pippi and Fart Powder I think the kids might get more out of it if they were older and reading it themselves. There are a few play on words that the kids might understand better once they have mastered more of the language and saw the words on the page. As it is they still enjoy the stories, but might not get the full joy from them.

Maybe this will be the year that we continue with chapter books into the school year. We will see. As for now, I'm happy with this years summer chapter book reading selections.

City of Thieves by David Benioff

from goodreads

4 stars

Well here is my last post for the week. My to post review list has gotten smaller. Unfortunately my reading pile has gotten bigger and I fear my to post review list will get big once again. Oh well, I'm sure that isn't the worst problem to have.

While my husband sometimes think I have a reading addiction, and perhaps I do, it is more than just some mindless need to read. I read because there are stories out there that need to be read and not forgotten. There are stories out there that will help change my life for the better and make me a better more thoughtful person. There are stories out there that will challenge my thoughts and beliefs so I can be more secure in who I am and what I think. There are stories out there that I need to amuse me when I am feeling blue. There are stories out there to help me get lost in a beautiful world of enchantment and wonder. There are stories... and we need stories.

Why do you like to read?

Synopsis

Lev and Koyla are spared execution in Leningrad (during the WWII seige) to go on a quest to find a dozen eggs for the Colonel's daughter's wedding.

My Thoughts

I loved this story. For a WWII book set in Russia this was a fun entertaining and at times light read. Through the ridiculous you get to see the darker side of being in a city and area that is cut off and feeling desperate.

In this book you get a deeper appreciation for life. How it can be good and yet fleeting. There are always haves and have nots. There are different kinds of power at work. During tough times everyone has different ways of coping. All these concepts were brought out in a way that didn't make you have to go too deep. It was nice.

Some of the banter between Lev and Koyla got a bit grating at times. I think it might have been because I really didn't care about Koyla's sexcipades. It just isn't my thing. If it is your thing than you probably would love it.

This story had a sort of Forrest Gump quality in the sense that if it was happening in and around Leningrad at the time they managed to find their way into it. I liked that we were able to see all these aspects of the war, but it was a bit hokey how everything happened to happen when they were there.

All in all I really loved this story. I liked the characters. I liked the whole premise of having to find eggs. I just really really liked this book. It is definitely a must read.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

from goodreads

2.5 stars

It is interesting how when you are forced to read a book, like in high school, you either love it and it expands your world or you hate it and it closes off your world a little bit. There is usually no middle ground. The loves and the hates are very intense. I liked most of the books I had to read in high school. I really enjoyed Lord of the Flies. I really disliked The Stone Angel. A friend of mine was required to read Wuthering Heights at her high school and she did not appreciate it at all. When I read it in university (for pleasure) I really liked it and couldn't understand why she hated it so viscerally.

The Handmaid's Tale falls into this kind of category. Many have read it as part of their high schooling. People either love it or hate it. I had a small inkling of what it was going to be about going into it but had no idea how the tale was told. I mostly read it to see what all the fuss was about and try to figure out why it made such a stir with those who read it in school.

Do you have books like that from your required reading days?

Synopsis

Through the eyes of Offred we learn of an America that has been turned on its head. Women who have viable ovaries are now "handmaids" who live in the houses of high ranking officials in their society. Their only purpose is to breed.

My Thoughts

Well to me this was kind of a blah book. While it is well written, and at the time was rather avant garde, it just didn't do it for me. I found it rather slow and boring until near the end.

I guess it needed to be slow and boring so we could understand what Offred was going through, how boring her days were. How alone she really was. I just wished there was some sort of action or more questions explained. And the jumping between timelines was sometimes confusing.

It was interesting to think of what a religious state would look like in the United States. How totally conservative it would become and how people would need to start changing their ways. What I thought was really interesting was how there were tourists that would come around the town. Its like the U.S. went back in time with the way they were dressed and did things, yet the rest of the world was still modern and progressive. It was an interesting juxtaposition.

The ending was kind of weird. You kind of wanted to know more about what happened to her. Did she ever find her family? Was she able to escape and be happy? What about the others?

So this book just wasn't for me. I can understand why people like it but I just couldn't get my head space there to fully appreciate it.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

from goodreads

5 stars

There are some books that quite frankly I am embarrassed I haven't read yet. Many are books from my tween years that never seemed to have made it onto my stacks. Number the Stars is one of those books. I can't believe it has taken me over two decades to finally read it. I love The Giver and have read the rest of the books in that series, but for some reason I never made this one a priority.

When I made my books-I-want-to-read list for the year I made sure I put it on. I was not about to go through another year without reading it. What books do you have on your list that is like this. Are there any other books that you feel guilty or embarrassed about not reading yet?

Synopsis

Annemarie lives in Denmark. When her best friend's family need to hide she and her family need to be brave to help save them from the Nazis.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this book. It is a quick yet powerful read.

This is a great book to use as an introduction to the Holocaust and WWII. Much of the writings about WWII are either about France or Russia or Poland and the occupations that happened there. It always intrigues me and makes me want to do more research when I read a book that is set in a different/less popular occupied country such as Denmark. It is interesting to learn about how each of the occupied countries had different ways in which they dealt with the occupation. None of them are better or worse just different. Each country seemed to be dealt different cards and had to figure out what to do with them.

While it doesn't go in depth you still feel the stress of the situation, the confusion of the situation and the hope that things will get better and work out.

If you haven't read this in a while or haven't read it yet I encourage you to do so. It is always good to reflect. This book would be good for kids 10 and up.

Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

from goodreads

4 stars

Every year at the end of April I wait with bated breath to find out what will be the One Book One Community read for Waterloo Region. Sometimes the books are excellent. Sometimes they make me wonder what the selection committee was thinking. All in all I know it will be a book that I will read and that will give me something to think about.

I wonder what it is about reading a book that lots of other people are reading. There is a kind of excitement about it. Will they like it the same way you do? Even if you never discuss it with the community at large it still feels unifying knowing that you are participating in something that is larger than just you.

Well this year Station Eleven was the pick, which was great since it was already on my book club list. (That's right my book club is cutting edge ;)

Synopsis

This is a hard book to sum up in my own words so I am taking the first paragraph from the synopsis on goodreads.

"An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization's collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be saviour, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity."

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed this. It turned out not to be anything like I thought it was going to be. All I knew was that it was sort of a kind of post-apocalyptical tale and so I guess I was expecting more violence and I guess it being sort of zombiesque without the zombies. 

What I got instead was a really interesting tale with interwoven story lines and timelines all with a central character who is really only part of the main tale for the first few pages. 

It was interesting to see how different groups dealt with the decline in population and society. Some people built their own communities and were quite happy with their life. Others took on a more vigil-anti approach and caused terror and fear. The same circumstances but vastly different results. 

I loved the story line of the comic book. I almost hope the author finishes its story and does a graphic novel because it has piqued my interest and I would love to find out what happened.

There was only one thing that bugged me about the book and this is what made me not give it 5 stars. So the population is decimated and there are not enough people to keep different services going like the electrical systems etc. But, you would think that with books still around they would have been able to figure out how to get these things working a little faster. It's like 15 years or so later and they still don't have electricity and they have to scavenge for any goods they get? Wouldn't there be some sort of industry. It just seemed a bit slow for me and just bugged me that no one who was still living had the curiosity and the tenacity to get the lights on again. I know it is a silly thing to get hung up on but it bugged me all the way through. Perhaps she is talking to our dependence on technology and google and that when it goes we may not know what to do. But still, it was irksome.

So if you like multiple story lines and differing timelines this is definitely the book for you. If it's not your cup of tea, you may want to pass but then again, it may be worth the effort.

The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

from goodreads

4.5 stars

Well for the past two weeks I have been on hiatus. My family and I were on a long road trip going to Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Thunder Bay and then back home. It was fun the kids had a great time and I think even us parents had a great time. There was a little bit of everything for everyone which made us all happy and satisfied.

While it was fun to be on vacation it is nice to be home and relax back into our ways. For this week since I have a bunch of books waiting for me to review I will be posting a review a day so I can feel caught up and motivated to read even more. Next week I will return to the regular schedule.

Synopsis

This is a tale of love, regret, guilt and redemption.

My Thoughts

This was a beautifully crafted story. I loved the realism and the complexity of emotions that was shown in this book.

This book deals with the complexities of what is right and wrong. The gray areas in life. It deals with not confronting our guilt and how we feel about things. It deals with feeling stuck between the traditions of your family and culture to wanting to break out and trying something new.

I really enjoyed learning about the Afghanistan that existed before it became super popular on the news channels of the early 2000s. It truly is a land that has had turmoil for the past 30 years or so and that is so sad.

I like how this shows that class and rascism is not just a North American phenomenon but that these kind of prejudices exist everywhere. It doesn't make it okay, but it makes it a world wide problem that we all need to work on. The Us vs Them conundrum really is what causes most of the conflict and devastation in the world. Not just in wars, but in broken hearts and hurt feelings as well.

While this story helped bring to the forefront some of these complex issues to think about, the story itself is beautiful in its simplicity.

I just really loved it, and I would love to see a kite battle someday. That sounds really amazing.