Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1) by Madeleine L'Engle
Published by Square Fish on November 7, 2017
Pages: 218
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
five-stars

It was a dark and stormy night.
Out of this wild night, a strange visitor comes to the Murry house and beckons Meg, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe on a most dangerous and extraordinary adventure—one that will threaten their lives and our universe.
Winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal, A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L'Engle's classic Time Quintet.

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?”

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

11 / 28 / 178 / 21 / 20

Boxers (Boxers & Saints, #1) by Gene Luen Yang
Published by First Second on September 10, 2013
Pages: 328
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
four-stars

China, 1898. Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants.
Little Bao has had enough. Harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers—commoners trained in kung fu—who fight to free China from "foreign devils."
Against all odds, this grass-roots rebellion is violently successful. But nothing is simple. Little Bao is fighting for the glory of China, but at what cost? So many are dying, including thousands of "secondary devils"—Chinese citizens who have converted to Christianity.

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.

Love Warrior

11 / 27 / 175 / 25 / 20

Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton, Glennon Doyle
on September 6, 2016
Pages: 272
Goodreads
two-stars

The highly anticipated new memoir by bestselling author Glennon Doyle Melton tells the story of her journey of self-discovery after the implosion of her marriage.
Just when Glennon Doyle Melton was beginning to feel she had it all figured out—three happy children, a doting spouse, and a writing career so successful that her first book catapulted to the top of the New York Times bestseller list—her husband revealed his infidelity and she was forced to realize that nothing was as it seemed. A recovering alcoholic and bulimic, Glennon found that rock bottom was a familiar place. In the midst of crisis, she knew to hold on to what she discovered in recovery: that her deepest pain has always held within it an invitation to a richer life.
Love Warrior is the story of one marriage, but it is also the story of the healing that is possible for any of us when we refuse to settle for good enough and begin to face pain and love head-on. This astonishing memoir reveals how our ideals of masculinity and femininity can make it impossible for a man and a woman to truly know one another - and it captures the beauty that unfolds when one couple commits to unlearning everything they’ve been taught so that they can finally, after thirteen years of marriage, fall in love.
Love Warrior is a gorgeous and inspiring account of how we are born to be warriors: strong, powerful, and brave; able to confront the pain and claim the love that exists for us all. This chronicle of a beautiful, brutal journey speaks to anyone who yearns for deeper, truer relationships and a more abundant, authentic life.

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.

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

11 / 11 / 1710 / 14 / 18

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!

Hunt for the Bamboo Rat

11 / 7 / 1712 / 1 / 19

by Graham Salisbury
Published by Wendy Lamb Books

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.