The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie fulfills my YA best seller category on my 2016 Reading Challenge List. I also was interested in this book since it was added to some banned books lists when it first came out.
This is the story of Arthur aka Junior who is a teenager living on the Spokane Indian reservation. Junior is talks about being born with a condition called hydrocephalus, which means too much fluid around the brain. At a young age he had a surgery that he was not expected to live through, but he did.
We skip ahead to when Junior is started high school. He is sick of life on the rez; the teasing from other kids, the alcohol problems the poverty, etc. He decided that his only way at becoming successful in life is to go to school at the "white" kids school and have more opportunities available.
Junior tells us about this struggles at the new school and on the rez as a "traitor" to his tribe. There is so much more in this book than just his problems as a teenager. His life has so much hardship, but Alexie writes it in a beautiful way. I kind of saw it as a mixture of Wimpy Kid meets Me and Earl and the Dying Girl for writing style.
Other all a pretty good story. I am looking forward to reading more by Sherman Alexie.
Up Next: And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Sunday, January 17, 2016
#3: The Sirens of Titan
One of the books on my 2016 Reading Challenge is a satirical novel. I mentioned this to Levi and he suggested I try another Kurt Vonnegut book. After looking at every book we own by Vonnegut, I was debating between Breakfast of Champions and The Sirens of Titan. Levi told me The Sirens of Titan is one of his favorites and Mason also said it was good, so I chose it.
The Sirens of Titan is a book about space travel, time travel, aliens, relationships, and religion. The main characters in the book are Malachi Constant/Unk and Winston Niles Rumfoord. Throughout the book we learn about Malachi's life; parents, money, troubles, etc. We first introduced to Malachi and Winston very early in the book. Winston has the power to see into the future, read people's minds, and materialize between Earth, Mars, and other places in space. Winston tells Malachi that he sees him living on Titan in the future. He does not give any other details about how Malachi will end up on Titan.
Malachi has a lot of hardships on Earth and is known as a greedy money hungry womanizer (or something like that). We are later introduced to him as Unk on Mars. His life on Mars is much different than his life on Earth. He has even more troubles as Unk.
It's hard to really describe the rest of this story without giving out too many spoilers. I did feel sorry for the character of Malachi/Unk throughout the book. The character of Winston was hard for me. I was torn between whether he was supposed to be a bad guy or good guy. I guess I still am after reading the book.
This book was better than the other Vonnegut books I read, but still isn't really my type of book. I'm sure for people who like this kind of book it is great. I give it 3 1/2 stars.
Up Next: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The Sirens of Titan is a book about space travel, time travel, aliens, relationships, and religion. The main characters in the book are Malachi Constant/Unk and Winston Niles Rumfoord. Throughout the book we learn about Malachi's life; parents, money, troubles, etc. We first introduced to Malachi and Winston very early in the book. Winston has the power to see into the future, read people's minds, and materialize between Earth, Mars, and other places in space. Winston tells Malachi that he sees him living on Titan in the future. He does not give any other details about how Malachi will end up on Titan.
Malachi has a lot of hardships on Earth and is known as a greedy money hungry womanizer (or something like that). We are later introduced to him as Unk on Mars. His life on Mars is much different than his life on Earth. He has even more troubles as Unk.
It's hard to really describe the rest of this story without giving out too many spoilers. I did feel sorry for the character of Malachi/Unk throughout the book. The character of Winston was hard for me. I was torn between whether he was supposed to be a bad guy or good guy. I guess I still am after reading the book.
This book was better than the other Vonnegut books I read, but still isn't really my type of book. I'm sure for people who like this kind of book it is great. I give it 3 1/2 stars.
Up Next: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Saturday, January 9, 2016
#2: Robinson Crusoe
Levi told me to read Robinson Crusoe for a more "tropical" book. The version we had on the book shelves was a Great Illustrated Classic. I thought there would only be a few pictures, but there was a picture every couple pages.
If I could describe this book in one word it would be "boring". I'm not sure if this book was a summary of the real story, or if this is how the real book is too. I just felt like it was a time line and didn't really give any details. Robinson landed on the island and learned to farm. He farmed 4 years, then he decided to make bread. 7 yrs later some cannibals came, they fought. 15 yrs later more people came. And so on and on and on. Nothing really descriptive about how he learned to do everything or anything about exploring the island.
I would say this is more of a survival story than an adventure story. The only things described in any details were the fight scenes.
Also, I don't like how he made Friday call him "Master".
Not my favorite book, but like I said, maybe this wasn't the real version.
Up Next: The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut for my satirical novel
If I could describe this book in one word it would be "boring". I'm not sure if this book was a summary of the real story, or if this is how the real book is too. I just felt like it was a time line and didn't really give any details. Robinson landed on the island and learned to farm. He farmed 4 years, then he decided to make bread. 7 yrs later some cannibals came, they fought. 15 yrs later more people came. And so on and on and on. Nothing really descriptive about how he learned to do everything or anything about exploring the island.
I would say this is more of a survival story than an adventure story. The only things described in any details were the fight scenes.
Also, I don't like how he made Friday call him "Master".
Not my favorite book, but like I said, maybe this wasn't the real version.
Up Next: The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut for my satirical novel
Sunday, January 3, 2016
#1: Summer Island
Okay. So our theme for book club this month is "tropical". I was going to read a book suggested by my sister in law, but the copy was checked out from the library. So I searched some books while at the library and found one called Summer Island by Kristin Hannah. It said it's set in the San Juan Islands, so I was thinking it would fit my tropical theme, but who knew the San Juan Islands are cold islands off the coast of Washington?
Summer Island follows the story of a radio show/advice column celebrity named Nora Bridge. She is famous for giving advice about families, marriage, and commitment. At the beginning of the book, someone leaks a photo of her having an affair while she was married and threatens to show everyone if she doesn't pay. The photo gets leaked to her bosses and the world and she has to go into hiding at her old house on Summer Island.
We learn that she hasn't had a relationship with her daughters in 11 yrs and start to learn all kinds of secrets about her past. This is were we are introduced to the character of her daughters, neighbors, parents, ex husband, etc.
This book was good, but not great. Way to predictable for me. But I was still drawn into the story and wanted Nora's daughters to have happiness. And it had a very sad ending that me in tears. Classic chic-lit, or as others said on goodreads, "the making of a Lifetime movie".
Up Next: starting my 1 year Bible challenge and maybe searching the book shelves for a quick tropical read :)
Summer Island follows the story of a radio show/advice column celebrity named Nora Bridge. She is famous for giving advice about families, marriage, and commitment. At the beginning of the book, someone leaks a photo of her having an affair while she was married and threatens to show everyone if she doesn't pay. The photo gets leaked to her bosses and the world and she has to go into hiding at her old house on Summer Island.
We learn that she hasn't had a relationship with her daughters in 11 yrs and start to learn all kinds of secrets about her past. This is were we are introduced to the character of her daughters, neighbors, parents, ex husband, etc.
This book was good, but not great. Way to predictable for me. But I was still drawn into the story and wanted Nora's daughters to have happiness. And it had a very sad ending that me in tears. Classic chic-lit, or as others said on goodreads, "the making of a Lifetime movie".
Up Next: starting my 1 year Bible challenge and maybe searching the book shelves for a quick tropical read :)
Friday, January 1, 2016
A New Reading Challenge
Well, 2015 is over and I didn't make it to 50 books. I am happy that I read or listened to 46 books during this time. This has been a great reading year for me. I had some books I enjoyed more than others, but lots of new reading adventures.
1) Audio Books: While I am still not an audio book fan, I like the idea of listening to books together as a family. This was something new we started this year on our road trips as a family. It gives us something to talk about and everyone thinks it made the car rides go faster.
2) Book Club: I've been super annoyed with my book club in the past. I decided to start a night time one and instead of all reading the same book, we do book themes. This way we all read different books and discuss them. Even though it's most of the same people who used to come to the other book club, they actually read the books this time. I think being able to have flexibility in choosing the book actually helps people to show more interest in reading. And our themes are pretty lax, so you can really make any book work. Loving my new book club!
3) Giving Up: For so long I have thought you shouldn't give up on books. I would try to get to a certain page or finish just to finish. But this year I decided it's ok to give up. I used to only give up if I thought a book was awful, but now I stop for other reasons. One book I read this year was really slow moving. It was interesting, but I just couldn't get into it. It would have taken me months to finish it, so I decided to give it up and maybe pick it up again some other day.
4) Challenges: I like having a reading goal. I haven't quite made it to 50 books the last couple years, but I have been really close. This year I am going to do a Reading Challenge suggested by our library. It has about 40 book suggestions on the list. I think I might have the whole family try the challenge and see how many we each read off the list. http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-Challenge-2016-
In addition to that list, I will also be trying to read the Bible in 1 year. I am doing this challenge with a friend to hold myself more accountable. We are using a reading plan instead of going in Chronological order.
Happy Reading in 2016!
1) Audio Books: While I am still not an audio book fan, I like the idea of listening to books together as a family. This was something new we started this year on our road trips as a family. It gives us something to talk about and everyone thinks it made the car rides go faster.
2) Book Club: I've been super annoyed with my book club in the past. I decided to start a night time one and instead of all reading the same book, we do book themes. This way we all read different books and discuss them. Even though it's most of the same people who used to come to the other book club, they actually read the books this time. I think being able to have flexibility in choosing the book actually helps people to show more interest in reading. And our themes are pretty lax, so you can really make any book work. Loving my new book club!
3) Giving Up: For so long I have thought you shouldn't give up on books. I would try to get to a certain page or finish just to finish. But this year I decided it's ok to give up. I used to only give up if I thought a book was awful, but now I stop for other reasons. One book I read this year was really slow moving. It was interesting, but I just couldn't get into it. It would have taken me months to finish it, so I decided to give it up and maybe pick it up again some other day.
4) Challenges: I like having a reading goal. I haven't quite made it to 50 books the last couple years, but I have been really close. This year I am going to do a Reading Challenge suggested by our library. It has about 40 book suggestions on the list. I think I might have the whole family try the challenge and see how many we each read off the list. http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-Challenge-2016-
In addition to that list, I will also be trying to read the Bible in 1 year. I am doing this challenge with a friend to hold myself more accountable. We are using a reading plan instead of going in Chronological order.
Happy Reading in 2016!
#46: The Japanese Lover
The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende was the last book I read in 2015. I had to finish the last 30 pages this morning as I fell asleep reading it last night.
This book was great. It started out a little slow, but once I got started I was addicted to finishing it. It's the story of a woman named Alma Mendel. She grew up in Poland, but had to move to California with her aunt and uncle to get away from the war. The book tells about her life from 8 yrs old up to her death. Throughout the book we learn about her different relationships with her cousin, brother, assistants, family members, son, and her Japanese lover.
There is also an underlying story of a girl named Irina who comes to help Alma around the house. Alma's grandson ends up falling in love with Irina and has her help discover the mysteries of his grandmother's past to be close to her.
This book was both happy and sad. It was filled with stories of unconditional love. There were also lots of secrets hidden in the lives of the characters that were interesting to tie the whole story together. This was a great book to finish out my 2015 reading list.
This book was great. It started out a little slow, but once I got started I was addicted to finishing it. It's the story of a woman named Alma Mendel. She grew up in Poland, but had to move to California with her aunt and uncle to get away from the war. The book tells about her life from 8 yrs old up to her death. Throughout the book we learn about her different relationships with her cousin, brother, assistants, family members, son, and her Japanese lover.
There is also an underlying story of a girl named Irina who comes to help Alma around the house. Alma's grandson ends up falling in love with Irina and has her help discover the mysteries of his grandmother's past to be close to her.
This book was both happy and sad. It was filled with stories of unconditional love. There were also lots of secrets hidden in the lives of the characters that were interesting to tie the whole story together. This was a great book to finish out my 2015 reading list.
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