Tag: liked it

The Selection

I admit that I read this because (a) it was on lots of bestseller lists and (b) I liked the dress on the girls on the cover. I mean, I wouldn’t wear it, but it looked cool.

The story was as beautiful as the dress, with a great, spunky main character who is kind, socially aware, and more honest than is good for her. I couldn’t help rooting for her all through this, and though the story has significantly less closure than I prefer, I would heartily recommend it for anyone who likes Cinderella stories.

Story of a Girl

This is a story about Deanna, a small town girl whose dad caught her in the back seat of an older boy’s car three years prior to the story’s start.  Her life (mostly unfairly) has been defined by that moment ever since, but this is the summer where she begins to move forward, forgiving (sort of) herself and those who hurt her.

It’s well written, with sparkling dialogue, and though I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending, there’s enough hope there that I don’t hate it.  Well worth reading.

Thanks, Mom.  You were right–it is a good book.

 

 

The Left Hand of Darkness

This book immersed me in a world of cold and ice, where devious politics threatened to overwhelm me–and the androgyny of the people seemed among the most normal things about them.

As Le Guin says in her introduction,

Yes, indeed the people in it are androgynous, but that doesn’t mean that I’m predicting that in a millennium or so we will all be androgynous, or announcing that I think we damned well ought to be androgynous.  I’m merely observing, in the peculiar, devious, and thought-experimental manner proper to science fiction, that if you look at us at certain odd times of day in certain weathers, we already are.

It’s a testament to the power of Le Guin’s words that I actually read the introduction. Normally I skip such things.  But once started on this one, I couldn’t stop.  The book was lovely, but the introduction has given me food for thought for days.

Thank you, Craig.  Great gift.

Shanghai Girls

A beautifully-written book about two sisters who are chased from their beautiful life in 1930s Shanghai to the US by their father’s gambling debts and the Japanese invasion.  The characters and setting are very well drawn, and the plot is both enlightening and heartbreaking.  Immigration to this country has never been easy, especially for those who have to deal with racism on top of the trauma of leaving their homeland.

The ending doesn’t give me as much closure as I prefer, but I still found this a very, very good book.

Circle of Gold

Recommended to me by K, this is a beautiful tale about a young girl whose family is weighed down by grief, and the lengths that girl will go to to show her mother love and earn her mother’s approval.  It’s more serious than K’s usual fare, and that’s all to the good.  (There’s nothing wrong with cotton candy, but I don’t think it should become a staple of our diet.)  At any rate, this is a good story, well told.  Definitely worth reading (and it takes no time at all if you’re used to adult-length novels).

Murder by Misrule

I think it’s tricky to have true historical figures in a novel, and even more so when said figure is a main character–and the main plot is not historical.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed this mystery with Francis Bacon as the leader of a group of amateur sleuths.   The characters are well-drawn; the details enlightening, and the mystery itself intriguing.

The Apple of My Eye

In this story of love and loss, Brea Cass must learn who her husband really was in order to deal with his death and move forward in her life.  It’s a little bit love story, little bit mystery, little bit tale of friendship and finding oneself.  The characters are interesting, and the story fairly well told.  Worth reading for sure.

The Mage and the Magpie

A nice little fantasy with interesting characters and some great description.  I thoroughly enjoyed it up until close to the end.  Then I got a bit weirded out by the bizarre religious rituals and the suggestion that thirteen is old enough to be a mother–of any kind.

Still, a fun read, that traditional fantasy lovers would probably like.