Tag: 2017

Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time

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Hey!
I’m back again with yet another book review and this is one that I had to share with you. You know how Hollywood has completely run out of really original ideas and yet is still happen to make incredible movies, some of which include books from your childhood? Yes, this is one of those books. Unfortunately though since I was too busy as a young child reading Baby-Sitters Club, Paddington Bear and other fluffy books that haven’t quite stood the test of time, I had to read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle now. You can stop criticizing now because at least I’m reading this part before the movie comes out in March and I also plan to read the rest of the main series in the coming year.

For those who haven’t  read A Wrinkle in Time before here’s a quick run down. This 1962 novel written by Madeline L’Engle became a 1963 Newbery Award Winner that brought science and fantasy together. The book starts out in the most generic way possible “It was a dark and stormy night” (Did anyone else think of Snoppy sitting on his house attempting to write his novel?” It continues on to where you meet the Murray family first beginning with Margaret, who is very attached to her father, who is mostly referred to as Mr. Murray thoughout the book. Her father has been gone for nearly a year and her mother won’t tell her where he is. Her closest sibling is her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, who was only an infant when her father disappeared. Charles Wallace also has an uncanny knack for figuring out Margaret and consoling her. Charles Wallace and Margaret venture off from their house one day to meet their neighbor Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Who all of whom tell the duo that they have found their father. The strange trio ask an acquaintance of Margaret’s to join them on this journey, it is with that the siblings and the acquaintance journey to rescue Mr. Murray.

I honestly can’t tell you much more than that because some of the science is a bit confusing to me. You’ll get the gist when you read the book though. Overall, I loved the book with its crazy understanding of science brought down to a more human level and the fantasy part also intrigued my imagination. I can’t wait to see the movie and if you need more convincing the trailer is below. I wanted to include one last note , my movie edition of A Wrinkle in Time  included words from the director. Here’s something that I wanted to quote:

A Wrinkle in Time offers a glimpse of eternity. In A Ring of Endless Light, Ms. L’Engle quoted the seventeenth century poet Henry Vaughn: “I saw eternity the other night, like a great ring of pure and endless light, all calm as it was bright, and round beneath it, Time, in hours, days, years, driven by the spheres.” This glimpse of eternity’s endless light is what we know as hope and joy and love . Small words for some of the most powerful forces in the universe. Forces that connect us to the spaces between the stars. And to the best part of ourselves.


I will be back soon with more posts. If you have read A Wrinkle in Time or any of Madeline L’Engle’s other books let me know what you thought.

Book Review: Boxers & Saints

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Hey!

I’m back once again with yet another book review. There will be more real posts coming soon, I think. This was yet another book that I read for the Creating & Co RIP Readathon. This was my read in a format that you don’t normally read in. This book set is the story of the Boxer Rebellion told from both sides, one being Saints and the other side being Boxers. This story is written in a manga style, which is definitely a format that I don’t read in very often if at all.

In this review, I will tell you a bit about both books and then summarize the whole story. In the first book that I finished was Saints. This story follows a girl named Four-girl, who is later known as Vibiana in the book and her life becoming a Christian. In the process of becoming a Christian, Vibiana seems to have delusions that Joan of Arc appears to her several times throughout her life. In the end Vibiana and her cousin Chung meet up again, but end up on different sides of the rebellion.

In the second book, Boxers it is told from the perspective of a little boy named Little Bao who growing up in China encounters the foreigners, Christians, early on in his childhood. It is also from a distance that he lusts after Vibiana before meeting Mei-wen who continues to stay with him for a long time. Mei-wen even trains with Little Bao before he kicks her out and then she forms her own army called the Red  Lanterns.

I won’t spoil the ending for you, but you can do your own research on the Boxer Rebellion to see how that ended to get a bit more perspective on the manga. It’s a little sad the ending of the book, but I like how the Boxer Rebellion is told from two different perspectives and from two people who only have a chance meeting in life.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I’ll be back soon with another post and possibly a more interesting one.

Book Review: Love Warrior

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Hey!

I’m back once again with yet another book review. I swear there will be more real posts coming soon, I think. This is yet another book that was part of the Paper&Glam book club selections. It took me a while to get around to reading this book, but here’s the review on Love Warrior.

In the book Glennon Doyle Melton writes a narrative about her life and her marriage to her husband Craig. Through out the book is woven bits of her life that includes overcoming an eating disorder, being a drug addict, and having an abortion. The reader is able to journey with Glennon from the days before she got the eating disorder to meeting Craig and into part of their marriage. If you like a wandering narrative book this is one for you. However, I was less than impressed with this book. This is my first Glennon Doyle Melton book and I have never followed her blog Momastery. But like many of several of the book chatters in the Paper & Glam book club. I found the book almost annoying to read. It felt as if I was reading someone’s wordy diary. I felt in someways mocked that she continually felt that she couldn’t be her real self in life and had to hide.

If you follow the news at all you will know that Glennon Doyle Melton’s marriage to Craig was dissolved close to the release of the book. I’m glad that Glennon was able to work through her difficulties and manage to make a life for their children and finally be her true self.

I hope to have more posts coming soon. Please stay tuned. Let me know if you have read this book and what you thought of it.

Book Review: The Help

Hey!

So I’m back again with yet another book review, I know I should be getting you more real posts , but I have been so caught up with life lately, that I can’t be bothered to write. Maybe, I’ll write a post about this later. This review is on a book that I finished while I was away for a bit, although you might not have noticed…this book is The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

The book was especially hyped  since there was a movie that came out with the same name. I think it was based on the book, but I could be wrong. I also haven’t seen it, but I may watch it in the future so then you’ll find a post on it then.
We are just two people. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as mush as I’d thought.
I thought that I should start this review off with my favorite quote from the book which also happens to be Kathryn Stockett’s favorite quote also.  This book is told from three perspectives: Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter. Each of these people create a wonderful whole story that tels what life in Mississippi in the 1960s might have been like. Aibileen is a maid for Miss Leefort and has mostly cared for children all her life. Minny has also been a maid all her life, but because she has such a mouth on her that often causes her to get fired. Minny also comes from a bad family situation. Skeeter is a white woman who feels like just doesn’t fit in, in Mississippi  anymore and would rather be anywhere but here.
The book delves into their lives and the writing of the book, by the same title, you find yourself rooting for Skeeter to find a place where she belongs and answers to all the questions in her head. You hope for the best for Minny and are comforted and warmed by the thoughts and prayers of Aibileen. While reading the book, you also get to see from a black woman’s perspective what it might have been like to live in the South during that time.
I thought this book was an incredible read and kind of wished that I had read it earlier. I would definitely recommend this book if you haven’t read it. Let me know if you have read this book and what you thought of it, or if you  watched the movie and would recommend that I see it. I hope to see you soon with another post!

Book Review: Hunt for the Bamboo Rat

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Hey!

I’m back with yet another book review, but these are all books that I read in October before I started posting Scaretober posts. This is yet another book that I read for the Creating & Co RIP Readathon challenge, but it took me longer than the readathon lasted to finish.

This review is on Graham Salisbury’s Hunt for the Bamboo Rat. This is the fourth book in what he is now calling the Prisoners of the Empire series, other books from this series include Under the Blood Red Sun, Eyes of the Emperor, and House of the Red Fish. I have read the rest of the books in the series at various times throughout my life and if you would like me to review the series overall I can.

Spoiler alert! I actually am partially in love with this series by Graham Salisbury, so this review might be a bit biased. In this book, we meet Zenji Watanabe a recent high school graduate and Japanese American who is recruited by the US army to help with spy and then translate for them on a mission to the Philippines. Zenji’s job for the US Army is to keep tabs on the Japanese in the Philippines and report back to base, he is given the name Bamboo Rat as a code name. Zenji often has a hard time in the Philippines because many people assume due to his looks that he is from Japan, so he often has to clarify. Zenji is picked up and brought in by the US military days after Pearl Harbor is bombed, but he continues to work for the military even risking his life.

I won’t spoil the book for you entirely, I would highly recommend it. It is a fairly fast and intense read once the story really gets going. Like many of the other books in this series, this is based on a true story of someone’s life and pieces of other people’s lives. I hope to read more about the characters in this series and am excited to meet new ones.

Hopefully I’ll be back soon with another post. Let me know what you have been reading lately.