Showing posts with label 2008 TBR Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2008 TBR Challenge. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Forever Odd


Forever Odd by Dean Koontz

Finished June 18th, 2008

Rating: 4/10

2008 To Be Read (TBR) Challenge Book #3



Barnes & Noble Synopsis
We're all a little odd beneath the surface. He's the most unlikely hero you'll ever meet-an ordinary guy with a modest job you might never look at twice. But there's so much more to any of us than meets the eye-and that goes triple for Odd Thomas. For Odd lives always between two worlds in the small desert town of Pico Mundo, where the heroic and the harrowing are everyday events. Odd never asked to communicate with the dead-it's something that just happened. But as the unofficial goodwill ambassador between our world and theirs, he's got a duty to do the right thing. That's the way Odd sees it and that's why he's won hearts on both sides of the divide between life and death.

A childhood friend of Odd's has disappeared. The worst is feared. But as Odd applies his unique talents to the task of finding the missing person, he discovers something worse than a dead body, encounters an enemy of exceptional cunning, and spirals into a vortex of terror. Once again Odd will stand against our worst fears. Around him will gather new allies and old, some living and some not. For in the battle to come, there can be no innocent bystanders, and every sacrifice can tip the balance between despair and hope.



It had been a while since I have read a Koontz book and I was pretty excited to read this one since I really liked "Odd Thomas". However I was extremely disappointed in this book. The plot was very weak and I didn't feel there was any additional development of Odd's character.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Peony in Love


Peony in Love by Lisa See

Finished May 23rd, 2008

Rating: 7/10

2008 To Be Read (TBR) Challenge #2



From the Publisher
For young Peony, betrothed to a suitor she has never met, these lyrics from The Peony Pavilion mirror her own longings. In the garden of the Chen Family Villa, amid the scent of ginger, green tea, and jasmine, a small theatrical troupe is performing scenes from this epic opera, a live spectacle few females have ever seen. Like the heroine in the drama, Peony is the cloistered daughter of a wealthy family, trapped like a good-luck cricket in a bamboo-and-lacquer cage. Though raised to be obedient, Peony has dreams of her own.

Peony’s mother is against her daughter’s attending the production: “Unmarried girls should not be seen in public.” But Peony’s father assures his wife that proprieties will be maintained, and that the women will watch the opera from behind a screen. Yet through its cracks, Peony catches sight of an elegant, handsome man with hair as black as a cave–and is immediately overcome with emotion.

So begins Peony’s unforgettable journey of love and destiny, desire and sorrow–as Lisa See’s haunting new novel, based on actual historical events, takes readers back to seventeenth-century China, after the Manchus seize power and the Ming dynasty is crushed.



The story took a turn I was not expecting at all and at first I really didn't like the turn it took. As the story progesses I started to appreciate where the author takes the story. The book is rich in Chinese traditions and customs which I found fascinating. While it isn't as good as Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, it is still a solid book and I rated it as good.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

The Birth House



The Birth House by Ami McKay

Finished May 3rd, 2008

Rating: 9/10

2008 To Be Read (TBR) Challenge #1





Barnes & Noble Synopsis
The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in five generations of Rares. As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing. Dora becomes Miss B.’s apprentice, and together they help the women of Scots Bay through infertility, difficult labours, breech births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling sex lives. Filled with details as compelling as they are surprising, The Birth House is an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.


I was drawn to this book after I had my baby, as I was interested in reading more about midwifery. I thought the book was excellent. I really enjoyed the plot and writing style of the author, I especially liked how the author used different means to tell the story such as newspaper articles and ads, etc.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

2008 To Be Read Challenge




I have decided to not sign up for many challenges for 2008 as I am expecting my first child in February so figure I will not have as much time to read as I normally have in the past. However I couldn't resist signing up for this one.

There is a blog set up for this challenge at http://tbrchallenge.blogspot.com/ and the general rules are as follows:

(1) Pick 12 books - one for each month of 2008 - that you've been wanting to read (that have been on your "To Be Read" list) but haven't gotten around to.

(2) The challenge runs from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008.

(3) Your Alternates list can only be 12 books long.

The books I have selected for this challenge are:

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Divide by Nicholas Evans
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Gone by Jonathan Kellerman
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Forever Odd by Dean Koontz
The Husband by Dean Koontz
The Birth House by Ami Mckay
Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult
Peony in Love by Lisa See
Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks

Alternatives
Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult
Capital Crimes by Jonathan Kellerman
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Daddy's Little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark