Blogger Hop

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books.  This the place to peruse other blogs and discover great new blogs or maybe some ones that have been around awhile you've missed out on.  Every week BBH asks a question.  This week's question is:

What’s the ONE GENRE that you wish you could get into, but just can’t?


95% of what I read is historical fiction.  A lot of historicals have a romance in them which is fine with me because with what I read there tends to be a lot more focus on the historical aspect or plot than there is on the romantic relationship. For some reason I cannot seem to cross that line and read what is considered historical romance or romance of any kind really.  I've tried.  I really have.  Unfortunately the ones that I have picked up previously have too many scenes and descriptions that make me go eeewww instead of oooh like the author intends (I know, so mature for someone who is almost 30, right?).  I admit it.  I am somewhat of a prude.  No romance for me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Suddenly Sunday

Suddenly Sunday is hosted by Svea at The Muse in the Fog Book Review.

It has been a busy reading week for me!  I am in the habit of always carrying the current book I'm reading with me wherever I go because you never know when you may be stuck somewhere and may be able to squeeze in a chapter or two.  Well, lucky me one of my bosses no longer has a computer so every time he needs to borrow mine its been reading time.  Yay!

This past week I posted reviews on:

• Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
• Bound by Sally Gunning
• Honolulu by Alan Brennert

This coming week will be reviews on:

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• In a Treacherous Court by Michelle Diener

Today I am interrupting my regularly scheduling reading program to go see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with my son. Can't wait!  He is participating in the Summer Reading Program at the local library so I've been taking him to check out some books every Saturday.  He gets a stamp for every 20 minutes of reading and when he fills up an entry form with six stamps he gets to put it in a drawing for one of the prize packages.  He is kicking butt!  In addition to reading on his own, we've been reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster together.  I had forgotten how many big words were in that book and was worried that at six he wouldn't get it but he seems to be really liking it.  That makes me happy because it's one of my favorites from when I was younger. Okay, enough of my rambling.  Hope everyone has a lovely Sunday!

REVIEW: Bound by Sally Gunning

 Alice Cole's family is bound for a new life in America but when tragedy strikes during the voyage, Alice's father sells her as an indentured servant for 11 years and abandons her to her fate.  Alice becomes part of the household of the amiable Mr. Morton and grows up the companion of his daughter Nabby.  When Nabby reaches marriageable age she weds and takes 15 year old Alice with her to her new home.  Alice soon realizes she has been taken from a safe and secure home and thrust into a dangerous and abusive one.  She flees to Boston and stows away on a ship to Satucket, determined to forget her past and start over.  Alice is fortunate enough to be taken in by the Widow Berry but soon realizes leaving her secrets and past life behind may not be as easy as she thought.

This is actually the second of Sally Gunning's Satucket novels (the first being The Widow's War and the third The Rebellion of Jane Clarke).  I did not realize this until after I finished reading Bound.  Bound covers the period of Alice's life starting as a seven year old girl in 1754 and ending as an 18 year old in 1765.  Although there are many historical fiction novels written about slavery during this period, this novel gives us the often overlooked perspective of an indentured servant through Alice's eyes.

I really felt for her at the beginning of the book, being sold as at the young age of seven to serve until she turned eighteen.  At first Alice's situation is not that bad and she is quite content with Mr. Morton and his daughter.  It is when Nabby marries and becomes Mrs. Verley that things take a nightmarish turn for Alice as she is subjected to many unspeakable abuses by Nabby's new husband. Alice flees and is taken in and looked after by the Widow Berry and her boarder Mr. Eben Freeman.  I really liked the goodness of these two characters and the liberal, no nonsense Widow Berry.  It seems they want the best for Alice.  Even though Alice has fled from Verley, she finds herself to still be in dire circumstances.  She refuses to trust the Widow and Mr. Freeman who are her only two allies. Gunning makes it clear that life as an indentured servant was no picnic as any infraction could add time onto the contract and with the courts being so disinclined to take the side of a servant, it was really difficult to get justice for those servants who were wronged.

Alice's refusal to trust anyone was the one thing about the book that frustrated me to no end.  Alice has many secrets about her past she does not wish to reveal to the Widow or Mr. Freeman but even when trusting these two people is the key to her very survival she resolves to keep the truth from them at her own peril.  I found myself thinking "Just tell them the truth already!  Things could not possibly get worse than they already are even if you tell them!"  Her choosing to remain silent just seemed so irrational to me at times.

I enjoyed the picture that Gunning painted of the political upheaval and the social conventions of the time.  The book takes place when the unrest among the citizens of the colonies due to the unfair taxation by England really starts to heat up and it was interesting to see the politics of the time played out through the characters.  Except for wanting to occasionally slap some sense into Alice I really enjoyed this book.  I wish I would have started with The Widow's War though because Widow Berry was my favorite character in this one.  I will be reading that one shortly and most likely continuing on with the third novel.

 

This book is from my own personal library

ARC Giveaway-June Winner!

The winner of the ARC/Galley Giveaway for June is...............

JULIE from Knitting and Sundries!!!

Entries are now open for July so if you'd like to win the giveaway for July leave your email address in the comments just like last month.  Winner for July will be posted on 1 August.

Since we celebrate Independence Day in 3 days, this month I am going to focus my reading on books set in the US which I tend to pass over in favor of all those juicy historicals set in Europe. So, stay tuned for lots of (hopefully) awesome reads set in the good ol' USA :)

REVIEW: Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith

In medieval England marriages are arranged for the advancement of families-love is the last consideration. Yet the moment Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and ward to Richard Neville sets eyes on young Cecily Neville after she nearly runs him down with her horse, a strong bond forms that deepens and their arranged marriage becomes one of love and devotion. Queen by Right tells Cecily's story-her childhood and marriage to Richard where they endure triumph, tragedy, and political intrigue as their family grows and Richard decides whether to be content supporting the pious and weak King Henry VI or assert his own (and more legitimate) claim to the throne of England.

Cecily Neville may be mother to two kings (Edward IV and Richard III) and ancestor to every monarch to the present day but so little historical fiction has been devoted to her and I am so glad Anne Easter Smith decided to give her her due! The story starts off as the now widowed Cecily works through her grief by recalling the happy life she led with her beloved Richard. So starts the telling of Cecily's life beginning as a young eight year old girl. Cis (as she is known throughout the book) is a spunky child who has a hard time learning to be a demure duchess. I liked her right off the bat and she seemed very genuine to me. When she meets Richard they become fast friends which blossoms into true love as they grow up together. Cis endures Richard going off to war in France and must learn to live with the lonely times as well as the cherished ones she spends with him.

Although Richard has a much closer claim to the throne than the present monarch Henry VI, he is happy to be a loyal servant of the King. However, he makes a powerful enemy of the Queen Margaret of Anjou who sees him as a threat to her son succeeding to the throne after her husband. In this portrayal Margaret of Anjou was a viscous and manipulative creature-you definitely wouldn't want to be on her bad side! Because he is hated by the Queen, Richard is rebuffed at every point and constantly overlooked or cast aside even though he should occupy a prominent place beside the king because of his rank. Through out it all Cecily stands by her Duke and matches wits with the ambitious Queen Margaret on more than one occasion. A lot has been written on the War of the Roses but in addition to the beautiful love story between Cecily and Richard, this book gives a fascinating look at how the war between the Yorkists and Lancastrians began.

The author does take a few liberties-namely an encounter between Cecily and Jeane d'Arc (Joan of Arc) in Rouen that influences her at several points in the book. I actually liked this addition to Cecily's story though. I had read the author's first book, A Rose for the Crown, which told the story of Richard III"s mistress and mother of his illegitimate children but I have to say I liked this one a little better because I felt more of a connection with the characters. For those not so familiar with the Neville and Plantagenet family there family trees at the beginning of the book which proved extremely helpful as well as a list of characters. Even though this book clocks in at nearly 500 pages (definitely not a light read!) I found myself completely absorbed with Cecily's story and was sad to part ways with her when the book ended.


I received this via Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at The Printed Page. MM is now on tour and this month's host is Laura from I'm Booking It.

Last week I went through my wish list and reminder list at PBS and removed everything I could get from the library here. I thought this would slow down the number of wishes granted but this week the Wishlist Gods have been favoring me.

From PBS:

• The Sixth Surrender by Hana Samek Norton
• Poison by Sara Poole
• The Barefoot Girl by Catherine Monroe
• The Concubine's Daughter by Pai Kit Fai
• A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain by Robert Olen Butler
  

And this one sent to me by the author for review which I am really excited about:

• To Be Queen by Christy English
  

That's it for this week. I have two 13 hour car rides in my near future and am so glad I have plenty of goodies to read. Hope everyone else had a fabulous mailbox!

Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves. I generally tend to enjoy most of what I read. There are however a few things that occur in books that have me gnashing my teeth in frustration. In no uncertain order they are:

1. Giving away crucial plot points or the fate of the main character while doing a forward. This happened to me when I was reading The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I had no clue what this book was about before I picked it up. I made the mistake of reading the foreword where one of the very first paragraphs just out and told what happened to the main character. I still read the book but there was really no point in me doing so as it was completely ruined for me.

2. Character catch phrases that are used ad-nauseum. A couple of years ago I read a book I really liked except for the fact that the main character exclaimed "God's Nightgown!" about 5o times. It got really annoying after awhile. Even Scarlett can can have one fiddle dee dee too many.

3. Sopranos like endings. Books that fade into nothingness and never tell you how anything resolves itself are ones I tend to not end up loving. A book can be great but an ending like that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I honestly don't know what an author is trying to accomplish with this other than an excuse to write a sequel. I really liked The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber but I loathed the ending for this reason.

4. Characters with no flaws. The heroine is smart, beautiful, and knows how to do absolutely everything. The hero is the strong, brawny epitome of perfection and has a way with the ladies. There is nothing these type of characters can't overcome. Characters need to have flaws to make the story interesting and so readers can actually relate. Too perfect characters get old really quick. I'm look at you Aylah and Jondalar. Even Superman could be brought down by Kryptonite.

5. Too much creative license in historical fiction novels. I am not one of those readers that has to have every historical detail match up to get enjoyment out of a book. I don't begrudge those who are, its just not absolutely necessary for me personally. Fudging the history just a bit to make the story flow? A-OK with me. Giving history a literary bitch slap throughout the story? Not ok with me. I have enjoyed several books where the storyline was probably not what did happen in real life but had me considering if it could have. Having Queen Elizabeth defeat the Spanish Armada by riding to the rescue on a purple Pegasus with flaming sword in hand is NOT going to win any five star reviews from me.

6. Poor transition between points of view. I get confused enough on my own. When I am reading and the point of view shifts and I realize I have no idea who is talking it really makes me an unhappy camper. I hate having to go back to the beginning of a chapter figure things out. There should be a clear indication of which character is speaking. Same thing goes for books that switch from the past to the present. There needs to be some type of transition in there. It is too jarring without one.

7. Books that are much longer than they need to be. I understand wanting to be detailed but if you can shave about 300 pages off a book and really not miss anything then maybe there is a problem there. I probably would have liked Anna Karenina a lot more if it wasn't so dern long!

8. Mash up books. I know these have become wildly popular over the last year or two and some of the titles are hilarious but don't mess with my classics man! Pride and Prejudice and Zombies came out and then the market was flooded with similar concept books trying to cash in. Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter? Shakespeare Undead? Little Women and Werewolves? No, No and No. Someone make this awful trend stop and SOON!

9. See through plots and obvious characters. It takes all the fun out of things when the plot is so obvious the reader can figure it out half way through the book. The books I love the most are the ones where I think a book is leaning in a certain direction and I am proven wrong five times over before it ends. Also I don't like to be beat over the head with how "good" or "evil" a character is. You don't have to have the villain doing asinine things like pushing old ladies down flights of stairs and stealing candy from babies just to prove how villainous they are. Give the reader more credit than that. We are smart enough to figure out who the protagonist and antagonist are without all the extra "help".

10. Books that read like they have never crossed the desk of an editor. This is more than just a book being too long. I loath poor grammar, spelling mistakes, and poor sentence construction. My own writing is nowhere near perfect but I am not getting paid for it either. If what I am reading is the final product all this stuff should be fixed at this point. I mean, isn't that what an editor does? I know books don't make it to bookstores without going through edits so why do some of them read like they have? I'll admit it. I kinda liked the Twilight books but every single one of them needed some serious editing. Some of the sentences in those books and the grammar usage was atrocious.

I'm sure I could think of even more things that bug me about books but those are the big ones. I feel kind of bad about focusing on the negative things about books. Now I feel the need to do a "things authors do that I love" list!

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at the Printed Page. MM is currently on tour. This month it is being hosted by Laura @ I'm Booking It.

For a couple weeks I didn't get much of anything in my mailbox. Then this week rolled around and I got all kinds of goodies :)

Morland Dynasty lot won on EBay:

• The Winter Journey by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
• The Victory by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
• The Regency by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
• The Poison Tree by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
• The Mirage by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
  
• The Homecoming by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
  
• The Campaigners by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
  
• The Abyss by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
  

From PBS:

• Grail by Stephen R. Lawhead
• Pendragon by Stephen R. Lawhead
• Eve: A Novel of the First Woman by Elissa Elliott
• The Widow's War by Mary Mackey
• The Tudor Secret by C.W. Gortner
• A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans by Michael Farquhar
• The Queen's Mistake by Diane Haeger
  

Bought from B&N:

• The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
• The Second Duchess by Elizabeth Loupas
  

Ordered from Alibris:

• A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin
  

That's it! Hope everyone else had a fabulous mailbox!

REVIEW: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Road by Cormac McCarthy follows an unnamed man and his son as they journey through a not too distant post-apocalyptic America. Their goal-survival and a vague plan of escaping their desolate surroundings by reaching the coast. What will they find there? They don't know but they're hoping it is something better than the existence they are living now. We follow them on their journey through the unforgiving terrain as they battle for their existence.

When I first put The Road down, I could not quite put my thoughts into words. I have stewed on it for a week and if I had to describe this novel it would be as follows:

THE WRITING:

Sparse, Intense

McCarthy's style has been described as minimalist. The sentence structure is very simplistic- even without flowery description and tons of time spent setting the scene he does a brilliant job of managing to convey the levity of the situation in which these characters find themselves. It still manages to be rather deep written this way. Readers may potentially be annoyed by his lack of quotation marks in conversations and other missing punctuation but it is a unique writing style and one I felt did not distract from the story too much. An example:

"He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it."

THE SETTING:

Bleak, Harsh

Out of the post apocalyptic themed books I have read and movies I have watched this setting most closely resembles what I think earth would be like if a major catastrophe occurred. The earth is dying in this novel. Animals are gone, vegetation is slowly dying off, burnt out shells of buildings and completely abandoned towns are what remain. The world is a cold empty place. It was rather depressing but it felt realistic to me. I appreciated that the focus was on the man and boy and the landscape was in the background. It always kind of annoys me in books and movies when the destruction of major landmarks are used to try to pump up the story. McCarthy didn't bother to tell how the earth came to be this way or have the characters wandering past a pile of rubble that used to be the White House. He just let the man and boy react to the barrenness of it all. As a reader I felt I related more because this could have been any road in America they were headed down while travelling toward the sea.

THE CHARACTERS:

Valiant, Desperate

They aren't given names. They are just the man and the boy. Even after this disaster the man's number one priority is the child. Everything he does is in the best interest of the son. There is a lot of love in this book even if the overall theme is the hopelessness of it all. He is still invested in teaching his son values and "carrying the fire" because they're the "good guys". I found it sad that the man loses his compassion for his fellow man in some parts and a few of his actions show he is by no means perfect but he is balanced pretty well by the innocence of the boy. You can feel the anguish of the father because he has a clear picture of what he is up against. I liked that the man and the boy and kept hoping even through all the despair that there would be a happy ending for them. I often thought of how I would react if I were in a similar situation and don't know if I would be able to keep the faith. I can't even imagine how I would answer if my child asked me if he was going to die from starvation. This book was heartbreaking at times.

EMOTIONS EVOKED:

Horror, Sadness, Anxiety

There are some pretty gruesome scenes in this book. I think the author's intent wasn't to gross anyone out but to make the point that if faced with a situation like this it will change people and humans will do what they need to to survive.....WHATEVER they need to. This was a depressing read. There is no light at the end of the tunnel here. You know things aren't suddenly going to be sunshine and rainbows. This book was upsetting to me because a) I formed an attachment to the father and son and wanted a happy ending even though I knew it wouldn't happen and b) this scenario could really happen. God forbid it could even happen in my lifetime and the end of the world as we know it is not something I want to dwell on but this book definitely had me thinking about it. This is where the anxiety comes in. I really hope I'm long dead before something like this really does happen.

I can't say I enjoyed this novel as it would not be the right word given the subject matter. I can say I appreciated it. I thought it was well written and it is one that will stay with me for awhile. Some may not be partial to his writing style but Mr. McCarthy has a new fan in me.

I also wanted to mention this just in case I really wasn't the last person on the planet to read this book- it was made into a movie in 2009 starring Viggo Mortenson. I saw the movie before I read the book and it was excellent, one of those few that defies the "the book is always better than the movie" affirmation. The movie was just as good. If you don't believe me watch the trailer below :)


This book is from my own personal library