adventures of a tired coder

I don’t really make New Years Resolutions, preferring to stick to shorter term goals, but reading is an exception to the rule. It’s been pretty cool to see my yearly reading grow through GoodReads reading challenges. After reading 45 new books in 2013, I decided to take my new book goal down to 40 and focusing instead on what I was reading. (I do want to do a goal of 50 one of these years, then 52… but it doesn’t feel right yet)

40 seems to be a good number. I’m not having to intentionally pad my reading with “easy stuff,” but I still need to be reading pretty regularly to keep up. 40 only includes new books, so my actual count is higher because of rereads. (1) My 2015 goal is to read 40 new books.

Revisiting Old Goals

In writing my post about my 2014 reading goals, I saw where I succeeded or failed, and I also saw that some goals were better than others for improving the quality of my reading.

1. Publication year. I didn’t do a great job at reading older books, but I’m not sure I would have enjoyed my yearly reading more if I did. I’ll revisit this at one point, particularly for reading “the classics,” but for this year, the main thing I want to ensure is that I don’t read as many books published in 2015! There’s too much good stuff from 2010-2014 that I haven’t read.

2. Non-fiction. I really, really want to do more of this, but I’m finding that putting a numerical goal just encourages me to read non-fiction that is easier for me to finish, like memoirs. So I will not have a yearly goal for non-fiction this year, just general intent. And I will probably take up some sort of month-long non-fiction challenge at some point.

3. Recommendations. Failed at this one and I don’t have a strong urge to pursue it again this year.

4. Books that I already own. This, and more of this. I have so many good books on my shelves that I haven’t read. In addition to setting a numerical goal for this, I’m also going to put a “tripwire” in – I have to have read certain numbers of books I own by specific checkpoints through the year, or I can’t read anything else until the number is met. This should help me be less tempted by the 2015 releases. (2) My 2015 goal is to read 24 books that I already own (rereads count). 2 by the end of January, 4 by the end of February, etc.

5. Rereads. This is great and I want to do more of it. Tripwires for this one as well. (3) My 2015 goal is to reread 10 books. 3 by the end of April, and 3 by the end of August.

New Goals

I think that even the subset of my old goals is a pretty good focus for me. But I’m bringing in some casual new goals just to see how it goes. Definitely less of a priority.

1. Indie publisher. I read so much mainstream, and I like it. But sometimes it all starts to blend together. At the end of this year, I picked up a copy of Does Not Love by James Tadd Adcox based on a blog review, and it was refreshing to read something written in such a different style. (4) My 2015 goal is to read 3 books published by an independent publisher.

2. Ignore the reviews. Goodreads is fantastic, but what happened to spontaneity? I used to pick out random stuff that sounded interesting at the bookstore and the library without consulting the voices of the Internet, and now I find myself reluctant to read anything with reviews much lower than a 4. (5) My 2015 goal is to read 3 books that I haven’t seen reviews for and haven’t previously heard of.

Do you have any reading goals for 2015? Here’s to an enlightening, entertaining new year of reading!

It’s the end of the year, time for all that “year in review” stuff and time to look at setting goals for 2015. For reading, I didn’t want to dive into 2015 goals before first examining how things went with the 2014 goals. And I decided to put together a somewhat lame viz to show how things went. (I just don’t have the energy to make it better right now)

All of this will lead into how I choose my goals for 2015, which will hopefully be my next post (unless I somehow get on a viz kick and churn out a hiking year-end summary post first). But I’ve got two more books to read in the meantime…

Mozart's Last Aria by Matt Rees

Genre: Historical Fiction, Thriller
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Recommended for: Dan Brown fans, music lovers
Received ARC copy through a GoodReads giveaway.

Back-cover summary:
The news arrives in a letter to his sister, Nannerl, in December 1791. But the message carries more than word of Nannerl’s brother’s demise. Two months earlier, Mozart confided to his wife that his life was rapidly drawing to a close… and that he knew he had been poisoned.

In Vienna to pay her final respects, Nannerl soon finds herself ensnared in a web of suspicion and intrigue—as the actions of jealous lovers, sinister creditors, rival composers, and Mozart’s Masonic brothers suggest that dark secrets hastened the genius to his grave. As Nannerl digs deeper into the mystery surrounding her brother’s passing, Mozart’s black fate threatens to overtake her as well.

My review:
Beautiful cover, intriguing premise… maybe this was too much for this book to live up to. My main issue was that there’s way too much fiction in this historical fiction novel, so much that I spent a lot of my reading time thinking that there was no way this story could be true. This probably wouldn’t have been as much of a problem if it wasn’t about someone as famous as Mozart, but I’m not sure I would have been as interested in that case. It’s a no-win situation, I guess.

Nannerl receives word of her brother Mozart’s death and the suggestion that it might have been a murder. She rushes off to Austria to investigate Mozart’s connections with politics and the Masons that might have led to his death. Along the way, she rediscovers her own talent and love for music. While the Mason stuff screamed “conspiracy theory” to me, Nannerl’s personal journey was more interesting, and the book would have been a better read for me if it had focused more on this part than on solving the mystery.

Defy by Sara B. Larson

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: Fans of Kristin Cashore
Received ARC copy through NetGalley.

Back-cover summary:
Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king's army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince's guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can't prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.

The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she's sworn to protect?

My review:
Book reviewers seem to be having a field day skewering this one, and while thinking about what to write for this review, I have to admit that it’s easy to come up with things to criticize. However, despite my slight predisposition to dislike this novel and its very apparent flaws, I still found myself enjoying it. There’s plenty of action, and Alexa and Damian are characters that I wanted to cheer for. It’s probably better for potential readers to skip all the overanalysis and criticism and just dive into the book.

There are two criticisms that keep my rating of this book from being higher. The first is the love triangle. I don’t understand why it was included because it is the lamest love triangle ever. It doesn’t destroy the book or anything, but it just feels unnecessary. However, I’m seeing that there is a sequel planned, and I suspect that the triangle will be drawn out further in that book. That’s too bad. I think Defy was good as a standalone novel, and I don’t think adding more to the saga will improve it.

That takes me to the second criticism – usually the reason why fantasy series work well is because the world is built up so well that you want to see more out of it. Well, this world is not built well. There’s not a whole lot of background on the history, politics, races, etc. of this world. It’s forgivable for a light YA read, but it makes some of the aspects not hit as hard as they could. I think this is also why the “breeding houses” seem like such a harsh and random inclusion.

Many people seem to expect Defy to be some sort of feminism poster child, but I disagree. Alexa is a teenage girl and acts like one. So she has silly thoughts about boys. I don’t feel like that takes away from her actions and experiences. In fact, it’s probably more realistic and relatable that she has these struggles in her mind while trying to save the world.

The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber

Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Recommended for: foodies

Book 15 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
Diana Abu-Jaber weaves the story of her life in upstate New York and in Jordan around vividly remembered meals: everything from Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts with her Arab-American cousins to goat stew feasts under a Bedouin tent in the desert. These sensuously evoked meals in turn illuminate the two cultures of Diana’s childhood–American and Jordanian–and the richness and difficulty of straddling both. They also bring her wonderfully eccentric family to life, most memorably her imperious American grandmother and her impractical, hotheaded, displaced immigrant father, who, like many an immigrant before him, cooked to remember the place he came from and to pass that connection on to his children.

My review:
It took me a really long time to finish reading this… so long (almost 6 months) that I thought I might never finish. Even though I really liked what I was reading, I ended up getting hit by the same force that often makes me not finish other non-fiction books – without the hook of a continuous narrative, I drift away and it takes awhile to come back. There is exactly one e-book copy of this book available in the entire Puget Sound area and a few people on the waiting list each time, so I’d read for three weeks, wait a month and a half, then get back to it again.

But it’s worth it. Maybe another reason I couldn’t read continuously was that the writing made me so hungry that I’d put the book down and get something to eat! Not only are the chapters full of mouthwatering descriptions of food, there are also actual recipes of food that are related to the stories, for example: Bud’s Special Rice for Special Company, Barbaric Lamb Kofta, and Garlic-Stuffed Roasted Luxurious Leg of Lamb. This book is a food lover’s dream.

While food is surely the star here, the characters fight for attention, too. The reader really gets the feel of how it is to be a part of the author’s family. Bud (the father) is unforgettable with his boisterous manner. As a child of immigrant parents myself, I could relate to many of the experiences that the author described (though I think she got to eat yummier food!).

The Dervish by Frances Kazan

Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Recommended for: people interested in learning more about Turkey and historical events
Received ARC copy through NetGalley.

Book 14 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
The first Arab Spring: revolution and passion seethe and erupt in this action-packed romance during the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. Kazan's novel takes us intimately behind the veil, to see and experience the Ottoman world, to let us view, from the "other" side, how the cultural and political antagonisms between the Occident and the Orient of the past century look. There are no easy villains or heroes in this story. Only ardent, unforgettable characters. An American war widow seeks emotional asylum with her sister at the American Consulate in Constantinople during the Allied occupation in 1919. Through a cross-stitched pattern of synchronicity Kazan's heroine becomes a vital thread in the fate of Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk) and his battle for his country's freedom. Based on firsthand accounts of the Turkish nationalist resistance, The Dervish details the extraordinary events that culminated in 1923 with the creation of the Republic of Turkey.

My review:
The Dervish tells of events leading up to the creation of the Republic of Turkey through the eyes of a Western artist named Mary Di Benedetti. There are a lot of historical details mentioned in the book. Having recently taken an online course on world history, it was interesting to me to see names I recognized from my class appear as characters in this novel. The descriptions of various places in the Ottoman Empire made the setting come alive for me.

Despite this (or perhaps in a way because of it), I didn’t fully connect to the characters and plot. There’s a lot of action and suspense, as Mary is intimately involved in pivotal events and constantly in danger. Some of it had me eager to find out what happened next, but sometimes the pace lagged and I got lost in the details. Mary has love and grief to deal with. I felt like the grief was handled well, but the love could have been left out and the story might have been stronger.

The Third Son by Julie Wu

Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: fans of Lisa See
Received ARC copy through NetGalley.

Book 13 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
It’s 1943. As air-raid sirens blare in Japanese-occupied Taiwan, eight-year-old Saburo walks through the peach forests of Taoyuan. The least favored son of a Taiwanese politician, Saburo is in no hurry to get home to the taunting and abuse he suffers at the hands of his parents and older brother. In the forest he meets Yoshiko, whose descriptions of her loving family are to Saburo like a glimpse of paradise. Meeting her is a moment he will remember forever, and for years he will try to find her again. When he finally does, she is by the side of his oldest brother and greatest rival. Set in a tumultuous and violent period of Taiwanese history—as the Chinese Nationalist Army lays claim to the island and one autocracy replaces another—The Third Son tells the story of lives governed by the inheritance of family and the legacy of culture, and of a young man determined to free himself from both.

My review:
It seems common in Chinese historical fiction for a female main character to go through a great amount of suffering. I suppose it was a “nice” change in this piece of Taiwanese historical fiction for a man to have the suffering instead. And he certainly had to face a lot of difficult challenges in this novel!

I really enjoyed the setting of this novel, much of it taking place in a Taiwan that many people in American don’t know about. I showed a friend the description of the book, and she remarked, “Saburo doesn’t sound like a very Chinese name to me.” The Japanese occupation of Taiwan isn’t often studied in schools here, but it’s important because the influences remain very strong in the country to this day. I enjoyed reading about the Taiwan of the Japanese, followed by what happened when the Chinese Nationalists took over.

Another bright spot in The Third Son is the main character of Saburo. He is an untraditional scholar, a hands-on self-learner instead of a proper student. He is rebellious and speaks his mind, and he is forced to aim for success in unconventional ways. It brought a smile to my face each time his true intelligence managed to win over politics or trickery. His character is one that is very different from the Asian male stereotype.

Though I was constantly rooting for Saburo to succeed, I didn’t feel a strong emotional connection, especially in relation to the love story between him and Yoshiko. This was the main thing that kept the book from being one that I absolutely loved. However, I still enjoyed it a lot, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: Epic historical fiction fans

Book 12 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
The majestic and haunting beauty of the Italian Alps is the setting of the first meeting of Enza, a practical beauty, and Ciro, a strapping mountain boy, who meet as teenagers, despite growing up in villages just a few miles apart. At the turn of the last century, when Ciro catches the local priest in a scandal, he is banished from his village and sent to hide in America as an apprentice to a shoemaker in Little Italy. Without explanation, he leaves a bereft Enza behind. Soon, Enza's family faces disaster and she, too, is forced to go to America with her father to secure their future.

Unbeknownst to one another, they both build fledgling lives in America, Ciro masters shoemaking and Enza takes a factory job in Hoboken until fate intervenes and reunites them. But it is too late: Ciro has volunteered to serve in World War I and Enza, determined to forge a life without him, begins her impressive career as a seamstress at the Metropolitan Opera House that will sweep her into the glamorous salons of Manhattan and into the life of the international singing sensation, Enrico Caruso.

From the stately mansions of Carnegie Hill, to the cobblestone streets of Little Italy, over the perilous cliffs of northern Italy, to the white-capped lakes of northern Minnesota, these star-crossed lovers meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever.

My review:
I was craving an epic story when I picked up The Shoemaker’s Wife for book club, and I didn’t even realize it until the end. I loved the stories of Ciro, Enza, and their families and friends, weaving in and out of each other’s lives. I loved how the saga moved from location to location, sweeping me into a different world each time.

My favorite parts of the book were the parts set in the Italian Alps (what a beautiful setting!) and New York City. When the setting switched to Minnesota, the story was less enchanting, and the pace seemed to speed up at that point.

At book club, I found myself saying, “I don’t know why they called it The Shoemaker’s Daughter. That wasn’t even a big part of the book.” Fortunately, the rest of my book club was paying attention and corrected my misreading of the title. Still, I feel like the title didn’t properly sum up the book. While I’m glad the title gave Enza the credit as the main focus, she was so much more than a shoemaker’s wife, and her story was bigger than that, too.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense
Rating: ****1/5 (out of 5)
Recommended for: people who enjoy psychological thrillers, anyone looking for a page-turner

Back-cover summary:
Marriage can be a real killer.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn’t do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

My review:
I’m not generally a thriller reader. It’s not that I dislike the genre as a whole, but I’m the type of reader who won’t be satisfied with a good plot if I have no interest in the characters. Too many of the thrillers I read end up with flat characters. Not this one. This is a psychological thriller – a lot of the mystery is who to trust, what the motives and personalities of the characters really are. Perfect type of book for me.

It seems like half of the world has read this book by now, but I managed to go into it with no preconceptions or spoilers. I read no reviews, only looked at overall ratings. This definitely made the reading experience better. So this review will be vague and short because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone else by being specific about what I liked. It’s masterful how everything unfolds.

This book totally deserves to be as popular as it is. C’mon, book industry… more psychological thrillers, fewer vampire teen romances, okay?

The Affair by Colette Freedman

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Chick Lit
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Recommended for: fans of Emily Giffin, people looking for chick lit that deals with serious issues

Back-cover summary:
After eighteen years of marriage, Kathy Walker has settled into a pattern of comfortable routines—ferrying her two teenagers between soccer practice and piano lessons, running a film production business with her husband, Robert, and taking care of the beautiful Boston home they share. Then one day, Kathy discovers a suspicious number on her husband’s phone. Six years before, Kathy accused Robert of infidelity—a charge he vehemently denied—and almost destroyed their marriage in the process.

Now Kathy must decide whether to follow her suspicions at the risk of losing everything, or trust the man with whom she’s entwined her past, present, and future. As she grapples with that choice, she is confronted with surprising truths not just about her relationship, but about her friends, family, and her own motivations.

My review:
This book tells the story of an affair -- or more specifically, a crucial week of an affair -- from the perspectives of the wife, the husband, and the mistress. It doesn't break any new ground, but the storytelling is still very satisfying to read. The different perspectives are believable and realistic, and I enjoyed seeing how things that would seem so clear from one perspective ended up being completely different from another. There are no true heroes or villains in this story, only people who love and hurt each other as years of choices reach a point where they can no longer be ignored.

P.S. Don't have an affair.

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: People who enjoy magical realism and fairy tale retellings, lovers of Shakespeare and poetry

Back-cover summary:
In the ancient Scottish ballad "Tam Lin," headstrong Janet defies Tam Lin to walk in her own land of Carterhaugh . . . and then must battle the Queen of Faery for possession of her lover’s body and soul. In this version of "Tam Lin," masterfully crafted by Pamela Dean, Janet is a college student, "Carterhaugh" is Carter Hall at the university where her father teaches, and Tam Lin is a boy named Thomas Lane.

My review:
This month, I’m reading books that other people have recommended to me as their favorites. It is definitely taking me out of my reading comfort zone, but it’s an enjoyable change. Tam Lin is one of those books. Genre and description wise, it isn’t too far from my standard reading, but the writing style did end up being a departure from the norm.

It took me awhile to warm to the author’s writing style. From the description and genre, it seems like it would be a fast read, but it ended up not being the case for me. At over 400 pages, it was a thick book, and I didn’t read through them quickly. It seemed like some things dragged on slowly, but other times, I found myself having to reread passages because I didn’t quite follow where a transition happened. The most common example would be in conversation where suddenly it would mention that someone was furious, but I couldn’t understand from the dialogue when it went from normal conversation to anger. This and other character reactions that I didn’t understand showed some amount of emotional disconnect between me and the author.

If you’ve ever dreamed of being enrolled in an elite liberal arts college and having a group of well-read friends to have sophisticated intellectual conversations with, this could be a great book for you. It’s hard not to be immersed into the setting, and I enjoyed feeling like I was sitting with Janet and her roommates in their dorm room or listening to lectures in English class. The conversations constantly make references to works of Shakespeare, Keats, and more. Enough of the references are clarified so that you won’t be completely lost if you don’t recognize them. However, a reader with absolutely no interest in English literature might find all of this extremely boring or possibly even pretentiously annoying.

I enjoyed the mystical elements of the story, especially the ghost who threw books out of the window, the tradition of the piper, and the horse riders. The action of the fairy tale retelling was a little odd, but I felt that way about the traditional version of the fairy tale, too. Overall, I felt like the fairy tale was a good way to wrap up the story and also helped set the mood for the novel, but the other interactions between the characters were more prominent. This is one of eight in a Fairy Tale Series. I read Snow White and Rose Red as a teen, and now this has me interested to read some of the others.

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Recommended for: people who like stories about parent-child bonds

Book 11 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.
Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

My review:
I enjoyed the writing, I enjoyed the immersive setting, and I enjoyed how emotionally invested the characters had me, but it’s hard for me to say that I enjoyed the book (in the same way that it’s hard to “enjoy” a book about the Holocaust). The whole thing is pretty consistently and oppressively dark in mood from start to finish, with only a few points of light, all of which occur near the beginning. This shouldn’t be that much of a surprise to anyone who reads the description, but somehow it did feel heavier than I expected, especially since I read most of the second half in one sitting.

I found the emotions in the story to be powerful, but it would probably affect a reader even more if he or she identified with the strong bond between parent and child, the horror of losing a child, or an intense longing to have a baby. As someone who has no children and has not (yet) experienced the need to have them, I didn’t personally connect with those sentiments, which also made me feel more distant from Isabel, who changes drastically because of them.

There is a lot in the characters’ actions to discuss. Was it right? Can you understand why? What should have been done instead? Great for book club. Ultimately, the idea I thought was consistently illustrated was that when it comes to great tragedy, people will go to extremes to protect their self-interest or the interest of those closest to them, even when it results in horrible behavior towards others who do not deserve it. When you’ve got a bunch of people behaving in this way, it’s not hard to see why the book ends up being so dark.

These things may seem like they are negative things, but I think they actually give a strong recommendation for reading the book. Tragedy is more complex than pure happiness, and these characters are ones that will stick in my mind longer than most.

The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran

Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Recommended for: Philippa Gregory fans, people who like historical fiction, beach read

Book 10 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty’s royal family–with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl’s deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharaoh’s aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.

Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the Crown Prince, and despite her family’s history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful Pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.

My review:
The Heretic Queen is considered book #2 in a series, but I read it before reading the first one (Nefertiti) because I had a copy of it. Not a problem. The book gives enough of Nefertiti’s story for it to stand on its own, but I am interested to read Nefertiti to see if there are parallels that can be drawn.

This book tells the story from the perspective of Nefertari, who begins as a young girl in a royal court where she is adored by the Pharaoh Seti and his son Ramesses but disliked and distrusted by others because of her relation to the previous dynasty, one now branded as heretical. In many ways, I was reminded of The Other Boleyn Girl. It’s fun to read about women scheming against each other while the man who thinks he has all the power is actually just a pawn in the game. The politics could have benefited from more nuance, though, rather than having the characters be pretty black-and-white with their motives. Still, I enjoyed watching Nefertari grow into her position and deal with her adversaries with grace and intelligence. The plot moved quickly and kept me interested in what was happening.

The book description indicates that the Jewish exodus from Egypt will play a large role in the story. The event did make an appearance, with Moses as “Ahmoses” petitioning for the “Habiru” to be freed. However, the plagues and dramatic exodus did not occur, and it seems like all references to that could have been removed from the book without affecting anything.

With historical fiction like this, I do wonder how much of it is faithful to the known facts. I’d probably be less thrilled with the novel if I found out later that a lot of it was inaccurate, but on first read, I found it to be a light, pleasant way to experience a bit of Egyptian history.

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron

Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Recommended for: runners, people who read about social issues, anyone who does not know about the Rwandan Genocide

Book 9 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
Imagine that a man who was once friendly suddenly spewed hatred. That a girl who flirted with you in the lunchroom refused to look at you. That neighbors who shared meals with your family could turn on them and hunt them down. Jean Patrick Nkuba is a gifted Tutsi boy who dreams of becoming Rwanda's first Olympic medal contender in track. When the killing begins, he is forced to flee, leaving behind the woman, the family, and the country he loves. Finding them again is the race of his life.

Spanning ten years during which a small nation was undone by ethnic tension and Africa's worst genocide in modern times, this novel explores the causes and effects of Rwanda's great tragedy from Nkuba's point of view. His struggles teach us that the power of love and the resilience of the human spirit can keep us going and ultimately lead to triumph.

My review:
This is one of those books where the setting is probably more important than the characters and plot. It’s why I picked up the book in the first place, and I was not disappointed in the portrayal of Rwanda during the time of the genocide. I never watched Hotel Rwanda or learned about any of this in school. It wasn’t until an unrelated documentary I saw at SIFF mentioned the Hutus and Tutsis and the part the Belgians played in their relationship that I started reading about this.

Running the Rift wasn’t on my original list for the Around the World challenge since it was published after I put my list together, but once I saw it mentioned on GoodReads, I knew I needed to add it. I’m still hoping to read a book for this challenge that doesn’t portray Africa as a violent, war-torn place, though! This book didn’t go into a lot of the history behind the genocide, but it did show the way things led up to it and the attitudes of the people. It was interesting to see how things went from the bullying of Tutsis to outright genocide. Having read this, I have become more interested in learning about the history and facts, and I purchased the very cheerfully titled We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories From Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch to read soon.

The premise of the novel is a good one: an aspiring runner trains for his Olympic bid in the midst of the racial tensions in Rwanda. It’s definitely a book for adults, but it reads like a young adult novel, with a quick-moving plot and not a lot of description or character details. I also felt like the very end wrapped things up pretty abruptly. To me, these things are not deal breakers, and I still found it to be a very good read. I had enough investment in the characters that the losses were strongly felt. I was angry for Jean Patrick when he was mistreated, happy for him when he succeeded, and afraid for him when he faced unknown dangers.

Definitely recommended, especially for people (like I was) who are unfamiliar with the Rwandan Genocide.

The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: people who enjoy magical realism

Book 8 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
Late in the summer of 1877, a flock of purple-and-white hoopoes suddenly appears over the town of Constanta on the Black Sea, and Eleonora Cohen is ushered into the world by a mysterious pair of Tartar midwives who arrive just minutes before her birth. "They had read the signs, they said: a sea of horses, a conference of birds, the North Star in alignment with the moon. It was a prophecy that their last king had given on his deathwatch." But joy is mixed with tragedy, for Eleonora's mother dies soon after the birth.

Raised by her doting father, Yakob, a carpet merchant, and her stern, resentful stepmother, Ruxandra, Eleonora spends her early years daydreaming and doing housework—until the moment she teaches herself to read, and her father recognizes that she is an extraordinarily gifted child, a prodigy.

When Yakob sets off by boat for Stamboul on business, eight-year-old Eleonora, unable to bear the separation, stows away in one of his trunks. On the shores of the Bosporus, in the house of her father's business partner, Moncef Bey, a new life awaits. Books, backgammon, beautiful dresses and shoes, markets swarming with color and life—the imperial capital overflows with elegance, and mystery. For in the narrow streets of Stamboul—a city at the crossroads of the world—intrigue and gossip are currency, and people are not always what they seem. Eleonora's tutor, an American minister and educator, may be a spy. The kindly though elusive Moncef Bey has a past history of secret societies and political maneuvering. And what is to be made of the eccentric, charming Sultan Abdulhamid II himself, beleaguered by friend and foe alike as his unwieldy, multiethnic empire crumbles?

My review:
My opinion goes with the majority on this novel. I wanted to love the novel, but I only ended up liking it. Michael David Lukas is an excellent writer, and he sets a mystical mood with his beautiful descriptions of the city of Stamboul and little touches of magic that fit into the world perfectly. The pacing is pretty slow, but it felt right to me, and the characters were interesting enough.

Many people complained that “nothing happens,” which I agree with. This wouldn’t have been so bad in another book, but with this one, it seemed like something should happen. The advertised description of the novel is “An elegantly crafted, utterly enchanting debut novel set in a mystical, exotic world, in which a gifted young girl charms a sultan and changes the course of an empire's history.” So there’s this incredible little girl in an amazing city dealing with powerful people. The plot should be epic. But there is absolutely nothing epic about it. In fact, as I saw that I was getting near the end of the book, I was puzzled because this was the point where it seemed like a big adventure should be starting. There could have been another 400 pages of story, and I probably would have liked that more than the ending the book got instead.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Genre: Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Recommended for: fans of character-based books

Book 6 of 52 in the “Around the World” Challenge

Back-cover summary:
Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before.  Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable.  As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

My review:
There are books I want to review and books that I don’t want to review. This one falls into the latter category, and I’m writing one because it’s a book for the Around the World challenge. I liked the book, but I don’t have anything interesting to say about it. I saw the movie before reading the book, and the beautiful visuals left me with a stronger impression than the text, even though the film had clear flaws.

There are cultures that I feel an instant kinship with and cultures that I struggle to understand. The ones I struggle with aren’t necessarily the ones that are the most visibly different, but the behaviors and sense of humor just don’t quite mesh with my own. This is, of course, a massive generalization based on low exposure, and the Around the World challenge provides an opportunity for me to change that.

The Japanese culture is one of those “weird” ones to me. And reading this book, a bestseller in Japan, doesn’t change that. The characters are weird, especially in the sexual sense. Maybe they’re weird in Japan, too? Either way, it doesn’t clear things up in my mind. Weird characters are interesting to read about, but I felt distant from the characters and unable to really connect with them. The exception to this was Naoko’s retreat from the world into a a sanatorium. This was probably my favorite part of the book, and I felt like I wanted to be all sad and hidden away from the world, too. Ah, returning to the teenage mindset!

Murakami is a beautiful writer, and I’d like to read more of his books. I also think that rereading this one would bring out things I didn’t get in a first reading, and I hope to do a reread soon. One quote remained with me from the film, and it is the same quote (in a more verbose wording) that stands out in the book:

“It’s not that I don’t believe in contemporary literature, but I don’t want to waste valuable time reading any book that has not had the baptism of time. Life is too short.”

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

Genre: Memoir
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Recommended for: Fans of Eat, Pray, Love, book clubs

Back-cover summary:
A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.

Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

My review:
Lots of hype around this one. I expected this book to be two things:

1. A hike journal
2. A wise memoir of a life-changing experience

I found this book to be neither one of these things, and the disappointment colored my reading experience.

Let's go with the hike thing first. She set the tone with me when the first scene in the book had her throwing a boot into the wilderness. Yeah, okay, she's freeing herself from her shackles or whatever, but I'm sorry, what I see is someone littering in the forest. The account of the actual hiking part wasn't nearly as much of the book as I expected. Sure, in depth trail descriptions probably wouldn't have been that interesting to most readers, but there still could have been a lot more than what was there. She gave numbers for the miles she hiked, but that's not extremely meaningful for people who have never backpacked before. I never really felt the length of a day. I did like her description of Crater Lake, but Crater Lake wasn't the only big, beautiful thing on the trail. Why didn't the Three Sisters get the same treatment? Or the other lakes she passed? The towns definitely got more description than the natural features, and the men she met probably got more page time than the towns!

That's fine. I was half expecting Eat, Pray, Love with some hiking, anyway. But the problem is that I didn't connect with Cheryl Strayed's problems at all. It's also unclear exactly how she changed on her hike. Obviously, between the beginning of the book and now, she matured into someone who has successfully married and had kids and has learned to stay away from heroin. But I couldn't see how she learned any of that through her experience on the PCT. I know the author is just being brutally honest when she recounts her past behavior, but it's still hard to suppress the "How could you be so stupid???" thought that came to my mind way too frequently.

Criticism aside, there were some good parts of the book. It was easy to read. When she actually wrote about hiking, I liked it. There's a scene with a horse that is disturbing and powerful. And I think the book might be good for some readers, getting them to think about breaking their dependence on others and attempting their own solo adventure, big or small.

Extra:
I haven’t done any long distance hiking, but I did a short backpack on part of the PCT in Washington last year. Maybe a longer segment will happen next year? Solo? We’ll see!

EDIT: I found a Youtube documentary about a novice backpacker’s trip on the John Muir Trail. Though in video form, this is the sort of thing I had originally hoped for in Wild. Definitely worth watching! This is part 1/3.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathon Safran Foer

Genre: Contemporary Fiction (can I add a genre called “weird”?)
Rating: *** (out of 5)
Recommended for: People looking for a unique book, fans of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Back-cover summary:
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.

My review:
This is another one of those books written in the voice of an interesting kid. Earlier this year, I read Room, written in the simple voice of a 5-year-old trapped in a room with his mother. And of course, there was the autistic teenager solving a mystery in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. In this book, the narrator was Oskar, a 9-year-old boy who thinks like no 9-year-old I've ever met. I initially thought that he sounded like the autistic teenager, with his quirky ideas for inventions and how he would talk about giving himself bruises when he couldn't deal with what was going on. Others have described him as "precocious," but I don't think that really explains his unique voice.

Despite finding Oskar's voice and perceptions to be interesting, I never really was completely engaged in the book, which made it very difficult to finish. Oskar's quest around New York City just didn't hook me. The sudden switches to the grandparents' stories were confusing, and I thought they were just plain weird, with nothing that I could connect to. I read this on the Kindle, and all of the illustrations and graphics were probably less powerful than they would have been in a physical book. I liked some of them, but some of them didn't really add much to my experience.

Seems like a lot of people really loved this book, and some people really hated it. I can't get onboard with either group. To me, it was just okay.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 5)
Recommended for: Historical romance fans, book clubs

Back-cover summary:
In the opening pages of Jamie Ford's stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry's world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While "scholarshipping" at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship - and innocent love - that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel's dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice - words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

My review:
I know I am giving extra points because of personal bias towards the subject matter. It was a pretty good read. I liked the setting the most -- 1940's in Seattle's International District and jazz clubs. It's also nice that the book shines a light on race relations at the time: Chinese vs. Japanese, the treatment of Japanese during the war, general Caucasian attitudes towards Asians, and attempted Asian assimilation into American culture. Reading the book motivated me to do some reading to find out more about Seattle's jazz history and the Japanese internment camps.

There was definitely a lot going on with the characters that was entirely too convenient, and some of the minor characters were pretty bland. The two characters that stood out to me the most were Sheldon and Mrs. Beatty. The author mentions in the interview at the end that they were his favorites, and that definitely comes through. (I didn't realize until the interview that the author was a man!) I also liked the challenges of the main character's relationship with his father. The father's behavior makes up probably the only moral ambiguity in the novel. Other than that, the good guys mostly do good things and the bad guys mostly do bad things.

Given the weight of the subject matter, it would be easy to pick up this book, have certain expectations about its substance, and be greatly disappointed. However, I enjoyed it as a very readable story set in a very interesting time and place.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Genre: Literary Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: **** (out of 5)
Recommended for: People who enjoy beautiful language and mood creation, literary fiction fans
Received ARC copy through NetGalley.

Back-cover summary:
Luminous, haunting, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles is a stunning fiction debut by a superb new writer, a story about coming of age during extraordinary times, about people going on with their lives in an era of profound uncertainty.

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life—the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.

With spare, graceful prose and the emotional wisdom of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker has created a singular narrator in Julia, a resilient and insightful young girl, and a moving portrait of family life set against the backdrop of an utterly altered world.

My review:
The Age of Miracles is a beautiful novel. My overall impression while reading was that this was a book form of the type of arthouse movie I love to watch. In my head, I was drawing connections to Melancholia. Though the characters are totally different, I saw similarities in the obvious fact that both are end-of-the-world stories, the excellent way they created an atmosphere of uncertainty, and the way they dealt with how different types of people respond to disaster. I loved the style of writing, the details in the description, and the pacing (though I wouldn’t have minded if it moved slightly faster).

I classify this both as literary fiction and young adult. The combination of these two genres appeals to me strongly because the young narrative voice removes a lot of the complication and density that can be challenging to the reader in many works of adult literary fiction. The pacing is restrained, slowly revealing symptom after symptom of the slowing and the effect on general society and the main character’s world. The juxtaposition of the uncertainty of adolescence against the uncertainty of an apocalyptic world adeptly shows how both the “small” personal challenges and the “large” world problems affect Julia’s life. Under the backdrop of world disaster, some problems become trivial, and some remain important.