The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Finished April 28th, 2007

Rating: 9/10

Dystopian Challenge Book #1




This is the first book I read for the Dystopian Challenge and I am so glad I signed up for this Challenge or I probably would never have come across this book.

I won't go into too many details as there are a number of people who will be reading this book for this challenge. The book is about a utopian society but as the book progesses the reader quickly learns that although there is no hunger, pain or war the matter of choice is missing. Every aspect of these people's lives are planned, from what jobs they will be assigned to who their spouses will be to the number of children they will be given.

It was a very easy read and I think the author did a good job of explaining the good and the bad of the utopian society in this book, such as the climate is controlled so one does not need to worry about getting too cold or too hot or have to deal with the rain. However at the same time they miss out on the good things that come with the weather such as the ability to make a snowman, the warmth of the sunshine on our faces or the pleasure of curling up inside a house and listening to the pitter patter of the rain.

This book makes a great choice for a book club as there are so many topics within it to explore and discuss. I am looking forward to reading more from this author.

Shopaholic & Baby

Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella

Finished April 24th, 2007

Rating: 6/10

I have read all of Sophie Kinsella's books and I was skeptical as to whether I would enjoy this one as I didn't really enjoy the last book in the Shopaholic series.

The book is about the main character Becky from the Shopaholic series who is preparing to have a baby, that about sums it up.

While I found Becky to be endearing and loveable in the first 3 Shopaholic books I just find her downright annoying now. She never seems to learn from her mistakes and she takes materialism to an extreme. The lack of communication between her and her husband in this book boggles my mind.

While the ending did redeem the book for me I think it is time for this series to be put to rest.

I own all of Kinsella's books however decided to get this one from the library and I am glad I did and didn't spend money on it.

Nineteen Minutes

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Finished April 21st, 2007

Rating: 8/10

I have read several books by Jodi Picoult and have always enjoyed them and this book was no exception.

Simply put by the editors at Barnes & Noble "Nineteen Minutes recounts a deadly high school shooting rampage, its causes, and its aftermath."

There is one point in the book that is especially poignant for me as the story flashes back to a day when a young boy aged 5 gets up at 4:30am and wakes his parents up because he is so excited about his first day of kindergarten only to have his excitement dashed by bullies. Twelve years later this is the same boy that goes on a shooting spree at his high school. The book flips between past and present which allows the reader to experience the different sides of this story.

The reader is aware throughout the book that there is going to be a twist at the end however I believe the twist was unrealistic and unnecessary and made what could have been an excellent book into just a very good book.

I believe this book will stay with me for a very long time.

Love in the Time of Cholera

Love in the Time of Cholera
by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Finished April 14th, 2007
Rating: 6/10
Decades Challenge Book #3 (1980s)




My favourite romantic movie is Serendipity starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. The book Love in the Time of Cholera plays a central role in the movie and my husband bought me this book and gave it to me on our Wedding Day last year since I love the movie so much. I added it as one of my books for the Decades Challenge so it would give me some motivation to read it since I hadn't yet gotten around to reading it. To be honest I was a little scared to read it as I didn't think I would enjoy it and I really wanted to like it.

The book takes place in South America and tells the story of a young couple in love which then turns to an unrequited love when Fermina Daza chooses to marry another man. Florentino Ariza is left patiently waiting for her to return his love during her marriage and must wait over 50 years until he can finally declare his love again for her.

There were parts that I really enjoyed and other parts not so much. I know there are many people out there that love Marquez's writing style however I find that there is just not enough dialogue for me. I could not read this book for long stretches at a time as I would find myself losing my concentration so it took me a bit longer to finish it than normal.

All in all I did enjoy it and I appreciated the love story and I am glad I read it however I had to dock points for the parts where I lost interest.

Dystopian Challenge

I have signed up for my third challenge over at Lisa's blog at Books. Lists. Life called the Dystopian Challenge. The rules are as follows:

1. Pick any number of books you wish to read that fall into the Utopia/Dystopia genre.
2. They do not have to be books you've never read, but hopefully they aren't books you read last week.
3. Challenge opened March 31st and will last until November 6th.
   

Lisa provides a list of examples of books in her blog that would fall into each genre which makes it easy to pick books for the challenge. I am very excited about this challenge as I love this genre for movies but haven't really read this genre before.

The books I have chosen for this challenge are:

1. 1984 by George Orwell [completed May 18th, 2007]
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
3. The Giver by Lois Lowry [completed April 28th, 2007]
4. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
5. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Open House

Open House by Elizabeth Berg
Finished April 5th, 2007
Rating: 7/10






I decided to give this book a try as it is an Oprah Book Club pick and I have never read any books by this author before and find that for the most part I enjoy Oprah's picks.

You can't help but love the main character Samantha who is going through a divorce and all the emotions that come with it. I found the author portrayed Samantha's emotions very honestly as she trys to find herself.

This book made me laugh out loud a couple of times and it was easy to put yourself in Sam's shoes and identify with her.

I really enjoyed Berg's writing style as it wasn't overly descriptive and was direct and to the point, I found it to be quite an easy and enjoyable read and will be reading more from this author.

March Reads

I read 6 books in March and 2 of them for the Decades Challenge:

12. For One More Day by Mitch Albom - Rating: 6

13. Eragon: Inheritance, Book I by Christopher Paolini - Rating: 7

14. The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls - Rating: 9 [Decades Challenge]

15. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich - Rating: 4

16. The Loop by Nicholas Evans - Rating: 5 [Decades Challende]

17. Velocity by Dean Koontz - Rating: 4

New Authors Read: 3

Male Authors: 4

Female Authors: 2

Velocity

Velocity by Dean Koontz

Finished March 31st, 2007

Rating: 4/10

I was really excited to read this book as I am a Dean Koontz fan and the premise behind the book sounded like a winner however I ended up being disappointed with this book.

The main character, Billy finds a note on his car that reads:

If you don’t take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have four hours to decide. The choice is yours.

This note sets off a number of difficult decisions that Billy will need to make as he tries to figure out who is behind these notes.

I was disappointed in the lack of development of the main character as I have found in past Koontz novels that the characters are interesting and you really care about them however I just never connected with Billy.

The book lacked suspense for me and I can't in good conscience recommend this book to others as there are much better Koontz books out there.

The Loop

The Loop by Nicholas Evans
Finished March 27th, 2007
Rating: 5/10
Decades Challenge Book #2 (1990s)





I am not really sure what to say about this book as it didn't invoke a feeling of like or dislike in me, it was completely average.

The book takes place in Montana where a pack of wolves have been attacking the cattle of the ranchers in the area and it pits the ranchers against a biologist who has come to save them. The book started off pretty slow for me and didn't pick up until about the last 100 pages. There are some touching moments in the book for those animal lovers out there as the story is sometimes told from the perspective of the wolves.

I read the Horse Whisperer about 10 years ago and really liked that book but this book just wasn't up to the same standards as the Horse Whisperer.

One for the Money

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Finished March 20th, 2007

Rating: 4/10

I have never read any books by Janet Evanovich and wanted a lighter read so decided to give this book a try. This is the first book in a series of books featuring the character Stephanie Plum.

Stephanie's character plays a down on her luck woman and ends up working for her cousin as a Bounty hunter, a job which she is not particularly very good at.

I had heard a lot of great things about this series of books but I didn't care much for the character and didn't find her to be funny and instead found her to be quite irritating.

I may give this author another shot and try to read the second book in the series as I am hoping that perhaps the series gets better and the character develops.