Category Archives: books

wednesday reads: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time (mark haddon)

wednesday reads: the curious incident of the dog in the night-time (mark haddon)
Posted on March 14, 2012 by vicentine
Posted in books, reading Tagged , , , , , ,

Seeing that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was first released in 2003, I am officially WAY behind in reading prize winning books that deserve to be read. I’m okay with that though. One of these days, I will either catch up or just give up, when the pile of books has simply grown too high. Let’s face it, with a reading habit like mine, it’s just never going to happen. I am far too roller coaster for lofty reading goals.

Shameful. Totally shameful.

I didn’t know a whole lot about The Curious when I finally got around to picking it up. It was one of those books that I had always looked at (when, you know, it was still really popular and on the “books to read” shelves in the book store), but never really looked into. I could only recall hearing great things about it and since it seemed so highly recommended, threw it onto my must read one day list.

Enter the ever wonderful university book sale and bam, the book finally finds itself on my bookshelves.

After finishing up The Future of Us, I decided I wanted to venture back into the realm of adult fiction, rather than diving headfirst into yet another YA book. I picked out The Curious as my next book, not realising, somehow, that it was written from the perspective of Christopher, an autistic 15 year old boy, and so, wasn’t venturing very far away from the easy read young adult novels.

It was a neat perspective to read, however, and yet, it was also a perspective that made me feel guilty at times for feeling frustrated with Christopher’s choices, actions and decisions.

It was, also, the first book that compelled me to dog ear a page and highlight a passage. I haven’t done this in a book since, oh, 2009? As much as I may have enjoyed the novels I’ve been reading, they just haven’t been moving me enough to want to highlight them.

Then again, I’m mostly big on noting observances or statements about life, who we are, and how we deal. That kind of thing hasn’t been in most of the books I’ve been reading.

Prime numbers are what is left when you have taken all the patterns away. I think prime numbers are like life. They are very logical but you could never work out the rules, even if you spent all your time thinking about them. (p.12)

It was nice returning to a book that was real. Rather than reading about magic, time travel, super powers, werewolves or alternate realities, I read about “real life,” so to speak. Every once in a while, that’s a nice change. Keeps things fresh.

Christopher’s character really helped draw the story telling down many paths, which is something that I’ve always enjoyed in books. I like when characters have tangents and discuss ideas or theories they have, rather than simply narrating a sequence of events. I like seeing their personality. I like seeing the way their brains work. I like diving into concepts about things, no matter how abstract. Christopher was just enough random and just enough structure to make it work.

I’m not really surprised that it won awards.

I’m surprised that it took me so long to get to it.

People believe in God because the world is very complicated and they think it is very unlikely that anything as complicated as a flying squirrel or a the human eye or a brain could happen by chance. But they should think logically and if they thought logically they would see that they can only ask this question because it has already happened and they exist. And there are billions of planets where there is no life, but there is no one on those planets with brains to notice. And it is like if everyone in the world was tossing coins eventually someone would get 5,698 heads in a row and they would think they were very special. But they wouldn’t be because there would be millions of people who didn’t get 5,698 heads.

[...]

And people who believe in God think God has put human beings on the earth because they think human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just an animal and they will evolve into another animal, and that animal will be cleverer and it will put human beings into a zoo, like we put chimpanzees and gorillas into a zoo. Or human beings will all catch a disease and die out or they will make too much pollution and kill themselves, and then there will only be insects in the world and they will be the best animal. (p.164-165)

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wednesday reads: the future of us (jay asher, carolyn mackler)

wednesday reads: the future of us (jay asher, carolyn mackler)
Posted on March 7, 2012 by vicentine
Posted in books, reading Tagged , , , , , , , ,

I started off 2012 so well in the reading department. Within the first seven days of the year, I was onto my third book and positively glowing. Every book choice I made resulted in sheer attachment and desperate need to read through the pages as quickly as possible. I devoured three books like you’d devour supper after not having eaten all day.

Then, I hit a brick wall.

I stopped reading entirely.

I ran into one of those books that is making it next to impossible to finish my dinner, choking down each bite.

That’s a whole other story, for an entirely different blog post, but, let me say that this rut I’m in is awfully disappointing because the book I’m currently stuck on was one that I was incredibly excited to read for months and months and months.

Having said all that, let’s retrace our steps and go back to that wonderful week in January where I read Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler’s recent novel, The Future of Us.

I first discovered Asher via Thirteen Reasons Why a few years ago. How I came across that book, I still can’t remember. It was most likely online somewhere or within a publishing magazine that I first saw it publicized. When I went to actually buy the book, however, I discovered that this new book was out of print, for one reason or another.

A few months later, on a shopping trip to the US with a friend, we walked into the now defunct Borders, and I immediately beelined for the clearance racks. What did I find there? Thirteen Reasons Why, just waiting for me. Whatever happened with the publishing and distribution of these, I’ll never know, but I got my hot, little hands on a copy while it was still technically listed as temporarily “out of print.”

I raced through that book. As much as it slightly disappointed me in one or two tiny areas, it was a book you could easily fall into, always wanting to know more about each person’s connection to the untimely suicide of the “main” character.

Then, when I found out that Asher was releasing another book (finally!) I was instantly pumped. Like John Green, Asher felt like one of those YA male writers who would pump out a book that I had no ability to hate, despite any quirks or plot pitfalls.

So far, that’s ringing true.

The basic concept behind The Future Of Us intrigued me. As much as I hate when books date themselves too much – in this case, the book is entirely about Facebook – it’s a book perfectly suited for the present and sure, may never become a classic, but is definitely a great here and now kind of story.

The idea of what you do in the present affecting your future, however, is a classic concept, and so, I was interested to read Asher and Mackler’s rendition of that concept with modern day ideas.

Sure, some of it felt silly reading, but I’m not going to say that’s because the book is YA or plainly not good. I think I was having a personality conflict with Emma that was getting in the way of me feeling any sort of sympathy for her. I’m a firm believer in that internet cliche of, face your problems, don’t Facebook them, and so, I was having a hard time with Emma’s future self posting so many personal, intimate details as status updates.

At some points throughout the book, I caught myself rolling my eyes and feeling genuinely irked by Emma’s inability to keep her mouth shut and/or to deal with the problems in her lives rather than simply posting about them on a social networking site. Maybe it’s because I don’t associate with people who publicly air their dirty laundry or because I just don’t see the point to it myself, but I was having a hard time believing that someone would so blatantly post about their husband being MIA, not coming home one night, or any other similarly themed statement.

(I know that people do actually post stuff like this out there. I don’t understand it. I don’t think I ever will.)

That was, however, my biggest beef with the novel, for what it was.

I got sucked into it, and regardless of my beef with Emma, wanted to see what the changes in her present made to her future. I wanted, much like her, to see if her decisions today made tomorrow better or worse. After all, I think that’s probably something we all think about in one way or another at some point in time, whether it be obsessively or rarely.

Who wouldn’t wonder what laying in bed on a windy, cold Saturday afternoon could do to your future that going out into the wind couldn’t?

I mean, I could go outside and get whacked in the head by a falling tree. That’s certainly not the type of near future I want. Then again, staying indoors and laying around in bed could result in the cat laying on my face and suffocating me. That’s also not a near future experience I’d like to have.

Decisions. Decisions.

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wednesday reads: miss peregrine’s home for peculiar children (ransom riggs)

wednesday reads: miss peregrine's home for peculiar children (ransom riggs)
Posted on January 11, 2012 by vicentine
Posted in books, reading Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

At one point over the summer, I found myself having to kill some time at an Indigo. Not surprisingly, I found myself perusing the Young Adult section, horrifying myself with the quantity of vampire love stories, while hunting out the more interesting looking releases.

Then, I spotted the black and white cover of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. The vintage photograph image of the creepy, little girl peaked my interest, because, seriously, how can old, creepy photos NOT peak your interest, right?

I picked up the novel and started flipping through it. The old photographs sprinkled throughout the book pretty much sealed the deal for me right there, despite not having a single clue what the book was about. I don’t know what it is about me and those photographs, but, it seems that you can sell me on anything if you throw them in. It’s like an extra interest bonus or something.

Hey Vic, want to rob a bank? I’ll give you these really neat creepy, old photographs. SOLD.

Hey Vic, want to burn all of your clothes? I’ll give you these really old, creepy photographs. SOLD.

It’s like the icing on the cake, guys! ICING ON THE CAKE.

Anyway, I digress.

I picked a random spot in the book and started reading a little snippit in order to get a feel for the writer’s style. I do this with every single book. It may only be a paragraph, or it may be a full page, but I always read a small, random section of each book to see how I feel about the style it’s been written in. I can no longer remember where I picked this habit up from. All I can remember is that I recall reading the suggestion to do so somewhere, a long time ago.

The style seemed good, the photos were spot on, and I loved the fact that the book had colour throughout. I’m always intrigued by books that have a print style slightly different from the norm. Miss Peregrine’s has a neat maroon filigree along the bottom of each page, as well as patterned chapter pages which add to the whole feel of the book, as silly as that may be.

I fell right into the story rather easily. It’s written smoothly and carries you along like a perfect wave from start to finish. It does feel jumpy, though, I suppose, at the beginning where the pace is quicker, moving almost… too fast? I understand that this is what gets the ball rolling, but it felt really quick and didn’t overly develop the one relationship between the main character and his grandfather.

The further I got into it, the more it reminded me of X-Men. The fact that the novel revolves around a group of gifted children isolated in a secluded historical home with a headmistress who cares for and helps them to develop and hone their talents is very similar indeed. Sure, that may be where the comparison’s end, but the premise is there.

Even though I found the book enjoyable and devoured it in only a couple of days, I found myself frustrated with the ending. Why? This book is obviously the first in what will one day be a series. I was blindsided, and I didn’t like it. I had no idea this was going to be s story involving more than one book, and so, expected a novel that would tie up its loose ends and complete properly. Instead, I closed it up, having one small plot point resolved, and a much larger, more vague adventure on the horizon… THAT I CAN’T EVEN READ ABOUT UNTIL WHO KNOWS WHEN!

I’m the type who delays reading a (popular) series until it’s a bit more developed as I prefer reading as much of the story as possible in one go. Injecting gaps between books only requires you to read the preceding novel before the newest, which, let’s face it, never happens. Then, I find myself confused in the newest book’s plot unless the author does a decent job of recapping what’s happened before, which, at the same time, can become irritating, I suppose, if you’re reading through them all at once.

So hard to please, I am.

Miss Peregrine was good. Heck, I may even say it was great. It had all the elements of interesting and fun with just the slightest bit of suspense and a dose of intrigue. It also had just the right amount of creep factor for others like me who just can’t handle books and movies that are too heavy on the creep.

Seriously.

Don’t read this novel late at night when the house is dark and quiet and you’re right at the point of the novel where they’re discussing Wights and you have to look at the accompanying photos and then decide, “Do I venture out of the bedroom, into the dark house, to use the washroom? Or do I stay here safe and warm?”

Getting up to go to the bathroom was the hardest thing I did that night.

Silly Miss Peregrine.
Silly Wights.

Silly Vic.

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wednesday reads: never let me go (kazuo ishiguro)

wednesday reads: never let me go (kazuo ishiguro)
Posted on January 4, 2012 by vicentine
Posted in books, reading Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When I first caught wind of Never Let Me Go, the film version, I was intrigued. I’m subscribed to receive e-blasts from one of the local independent movie theatres, which is where I first stumbled across the synopsis. I didn’t even watch the trailer before deciding that this was one of those flicks that required placement on my Watch This One Day list. You know the list, right? It’s the one you scribble onto lazily, or the one you keep on your phone, but it’s the one that you have NOT A SINGLE CLUE what any of the movies are about once you go to choose one because it’s been so bloody long since you last referenced it.

Anyway. Boom. It was added.

Then, a friend of mine went to see it. I only know this because she posted it on Facebook, but according to that status update of hers, it was dreadfully depressing and yet, also amazing.

Flash forward a few months to the Trinity College book sale where I stumbled upon a book entitled, Never Let Me Go. I picked it up, read the synopsis and thought to myself, “It’s a book! The movie is based on a book!”

Yes. I am ashamed to admit that I had no idea the movie was based on a novel. Heck. The movie was based on a novel that was deemed to be the best novel of 2005. It was based on a Man Booker Prize short listed novel. It was based on a novel with so much buzz that I just couldn’t hear it!

So. Yeah. You can imagine that my plans to watch the movie were immediately pushed back in favour of reading the book first. I am not a movie before book kind of gal.

Then, I started reading it, and, of all things, I was… bored.

It was a really odd combination of feelings I had towards the novel at first. I was intrigued because Ishiguro doesn’t give away the premise right away. The story is built up slowly, with pieces being revealed to you, bit by bit. As a result, I was somewhat hooked, and yet, not hooked enough to devour the words any faster than a few pages a day.

That is, I wasn’t hooked enough to read it quickly through, oh, say, the first half of the book. Then, something clicked, and I raced through the last half five times faster than the first. However, I think that may have happened because by the middle of the novel, you’re aware of what the characters are and what their sole purpose is in life. It may be around the middle of the book that you start to connect and feel for the characters, wrapping yourself around them like a warm, cozy, “there, there, it’s going to be okay,” kind of blanket.

Except it won’t be okay.

It won’t be okay at all.

As soon as I finished the book, I sat down to watch the movie. Well, it wasn’t immediate. It’s not like I finished reading the last page and right away dived into the movie. There were a few days in between, but I figured sitting down to watch the movie right after completing the book was a good move if I wanted an accurate comparison of the two versions.

It should be made clear that I hardly ever, ever, ever see a movie about a book so soon after completing the book. It always ends up being one of those situations where I read a novel and then months or years later, someone decides to make a movie version and I never bother re-reading the book before seeing the film. I find this strategy tends to lead to less anger and frustrations.

And oh boy, was I was angry and frustrated watching the film adaptation. The details just weren’t there. So much of the character development, individually and as a threesome, was lost. Things happened unlike they did in the book. I had to bite my tongue numerous times to keep from saying, “But that’s not how it happened!”

In the end, I didn’t particularly find either the book or the movie all that sad and depressing. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m cold and callous or because, ultimately, I didn’t connect enough with Ruth, Tommy and Kathy, but I wasn’t left feeling much emotion at all. I found myself feeling pretty indifferent as I read the final few pages, which, I suppose, is kind of how Kathy ends up feeling by the end herself. Sure, there’s a sadness to the lives they lead, but there’s also a level of acceptance about the whole thing. You live the cards you’re dealt. You do with them what you can.

It was an interesting read and not blatantly science fiction, not that that would have been a problem. It is a nice change, however, for those who aren’t typically fond of the genre. It’s much like a soft introduction to the idea without being too overwhelming about it. The book is more or less about the characters, focusing heavily on their lives and emotions, rather than the sci fi elements of their being.

Otherwise, it may start slow, if the pace of the novel isn’t what you’re used to, but by the end, it’s worth it. Every word.

 

 

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wednesday reads: secret santa visits!

wednesday reads: secret santa visits!
Posted on December 14, 2011 by vicentine
Posted in books, reading Tagged , , , , , , , ,

I was upstairs in the office getting some Etsy orders ready when I noticed the mailman walking away from our house and across the street. Excited, I ran downstairs, flung open the door, and reached into the mailbox where I retrieved a Royal Mail envelope. Success Number One: the dress I ordered from sparklyeyes on Etsy had finally arrived! I bought it for the cocktail party last week, but it failed to show up on time, which I half expected anyway, and so, was just as excited to see it today.

Once inside, I noticed there was a delivery card in the pile of flyers, saying that a package too large for our mailbox had been left at the door. I was perplexed for a second, since I hadn’t noticed a package when I stepped out to grab the mail.

I checked again, and sure enough, there it was, tucked neatly between the flower pot and wall. Oops. Blinders strike again.

I grabbed the large bubble envelope and excitedly skipped back into the house where I properly looked at the label and saw that it was from my Broke and Bookish Secret Santa! Success Number Two! I was holding my first Secret Santa package of the year!

And what a lovely, generous Secret Santa she was!

I cut open the envelope and discovered this super adorable wrapped box inside. I’m pretty sure I began talking to myself at this point, rambling on about how cute the box was.

Well, that’s a bit of a lie. It’s not like I was alone in the room. Daisy was snoozing on my chair and so, I threw the ribbons at her to play with when I started ripping into the box. She wasn’t really thrilled with my offering unfortunately. I’m sure Beatrice would have appreciated the gesture a lot more had she been there.

After unwrapping the exterior paper, I was met with an appropriately coloured storage box and wrapped lid. How incredibly useful post gift removal (I love storage boxes too much. Seriously.)! As thrilled as I was, I began to feel more and more awful about my own Secret Santa gift. I really gotta step it up next year and bring some funk into the mix. Sorry, Amy!

I popped off the lid and I’m pretty sure this is where I started blubbering all over myself at how cute, neat and put together this whole package was. I read the enclosed card before unwrapping the presents and then excitedly tore into them, wondering which of the books on the wish list I included with my Secret Santa submission were selected.

The winners? Like Water for Chocolate (Laura Esquirel) which was recommended to me by a co-worker/client about a year and a bit ago, but I had failed to pick up for myself, over and over and over again, and Miss Peregine’s Home for Peculliar Children (Ransom Riggs) which had me loudly exclaiming, “No! She didn’t!” because, for some reason, I’m really excited to read a book with photos of scary children in it. For real. I’m not kidding.

Yes. I, too, am worried about my ability to sleep after diving into that whole escapade.

Included, also, were some lipglosses, facial masks, chocolates, which Randy has already claimed as his own (hah!), and an eyeshadow palette specifically for green eyes. I’m not sure how she knew, since I don’t recall mentioning my green eyes anywhere, and so, I’m just going to say she’s magical.

The mysterious Secret Santa in question? Jackie from Jackies Bookbytes! Thank you so much, Jackie! Too lovely! This was entirely too lovely and I can’t wait to do it all again next year … thrice as good. Pinkie swear.

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