The Wager, Donna Jo Napoli

Don Giovanni looked out the castle window over the strait that separated the island of Sicily from the mainland. He fingered the fine silk of his shirtsleeves and smiled. "The sea is bluer because it's mine." "Don't be absurd." He turned. A maidservant carried a tray into the room. The scent of honey and sheep's milk ricotta promised such sweet satisfaction that his smile lingered, despite her words. 


Hmm, I seem to be reading a lot of Donna Jo Napoli lately, even though I don't particularly like her writing. But her stories always sound so interesting.


This story is based loosely on the story of Don Giovanni de la Fortuna. Don Giovanni (no relationship to the Don Giovanni Mozart wrote his opera about) is a wealthy and handsome young man in Sicily. But when a earthquake and tsunami destroys everything he owns, he must wander as a beggar. He still has his good looks, but winter is coming, and he has nowhere to go. When a stranger offers him as much money as he wants if he doesn't wash for three years, three months, and three days, he agrees, though he knows he shouldn't accept. And if he loses, he will lose his soul. This was definitely my favorite Donna Jo Napoli book that I've read so far.

I wasn't familiar with the original myth, which you can find here. However, this was an engaging and interesting tale.

Read The Wager:

• if you like Donna Jo Napoli
• if you enjoy retellings of myths and fairy tales 

259 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Ice Land, Betsy Tobin

When I was sixteen, I was given a cloak made entirely of feathers. It was made from pale grey falcon wings, unthinkably soft, with no more weight than a handful of ash. 


It is 1000 AD in Iceland. Freya, the goddess of love, goes on a dangerous journey to find a gold necklace that supposedly can alter history. Meanwhile, the country is on the brink of war as a new religion, Christianity, threatens the old ways of the Icelandic people. Tangled amid it is Fulla, a girl who falls in love with someone who her family is determined to tear her apart from. I loved the way that Tobin combined the Norse gods and goddesses with regular Icelandic people (she alternates between Freya and Fulla's narrative, as well as other characters.) This book has a really great plot, and describes the world of Iceland very well. This is a book full of magic and love. It sort of reminded me of The Sea of Trolls, in that it is set in the same general area and time period, where the old faith is colliding with the new.

Read Ice Land:

• if you are interested in Norse mythology
• if you like fantasy 

350 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Blood Red Road, Moira Young

The day's hot. So hot an so dry that all I can taste in my mouth is dust. The kinda white heat day when you can hear th'earth crack. We ain't had a drop of rain fer near six months now. Even the spring that feeds the lake's startin to run dry. You gotta walk some ways out now to fill a bucket. Pretty soon, there won't be no point in calling it by its name. Silverlake. 


Saba lives in a sheltered world with her family, but it is shattered when her twin brother, Lugh is captured by four cloaked horsemen. Saba sets off into a lawless, wasted landscape left behind by the "Wreckers" (us), along with her younger sister, Emmi (who she blames for their mother's death) to try and rescue her brother. She teams up with a boy named Jack and a gang of girl warriors called the Free Hawks. She's off to save her brother- and possibly her whole world from evil. I really liked the characters of the Free Hawks- they were brave and roguish.This was a deeply disturbing book, which I think was kind of the point, so in that respect, the author succeeded very well.Young's writing style is interesting; as you can see from the opening paragraph, Saba narrates her story in a colloquial, ungrammatical way. I like the idea of this, but it was kind of difficult to get through the book- at first. But it worked well and sounded genuine. This book was sort of similar to The Hunger Games. I did really enjoy this book, once I got used to the writing style. This book actually grew on me as I went on, because the book had really great suspense and buildup. I actually changed my rating from 4.25 to 4.5, to 4.75, to finally, 5 stars.

Read Blood Red Road:

• if you like science fiction and are looking for a great sci-fi read
• if you like female heroines

459 pages.

 

Outstanding Book That Will Stay On My Bookshelf For Rereading (jf I own it)!

Paula: A Memoir, Isabel Allende

Listen, Paula. I am going to tell you a story, so that when you wake up you will not feel so lost. 


This is a really hearbreaking and great work. Allende wrote this book in a hospital in Madrid, when her daughter Paula fell into a coma. It's sort of like a letter to Paula, telling her about the Allende family, and Isabel's own childhood and life. This was such a moving book, especially since Paula never woke up from her coma. It sort of has the feel of The House of the Spirits, because Allende accepts magical and spiritual worlds as a matter of course. I just love Allende's writing, and I really felt for her throughout this book. It was more immediate; it was her own daughter. (Though I did find out that The House of the Spirits was written as a tribute to her grandfather.) Her writing just feels to real and true; it's just wonderful. You really must read at least one of her books.

Read Paula:

• if you like emotional memoirs
• if you like Isabel Allende

330 pages.

 

Outstanding Book That Will Stay On My Bookshelf For Rereading (jf I own it)!

B For Buster, Iain Lawrence

I left a town where fewer than a thousand people lived. I traveled half the world, in the middle of a war, to get away from there...but the first thing I saw when I walked through the door of the sergeants' mess was a guy I knew from home. 

Sixteen year old Kak is underage when he enlists in the Canadian Air Force during World War II. He wants to see action, and finds himself in England. But the world of war that he enters isn't anything like the comic book adventures he loves. Of course not. He realizes that he and his six crewmates on B for Buster, their bomber could be killed at any time. Kak is terrified, naturally. But in Bert, the keeper of the homing pigeons, Kak finds an unlikely friend. Bert seems to understand things that the other men don't talk about. Kak also bonds with the pigeons, one named Percy in particular. This wasn't the greatest book; the writing wasn't that impressive, nor was the plot. But it was okay. I did like the descriptions of the pigeons.

Read B For Buster:

• if you like books about war and the army
• if you like books about finding your true self

305 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

Dracula, Bram Stoker

Left Munich at 8:35 PM on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late.


Dracula is the original vampire story. I'm sure most of you have heard of the story of Dracula and maybe seen the film with Bela Lugosi, but have you ever read the original book? If you read Twilight and such things, you should read its predecessor, Dracula. The original book is told in the form of diary entries from various characters and letters. It is quite an interesting style of narration, especially for a horror book. You would expect the narration to be different, but I enjoyed the way diary entries were used; you got to see the perspectives of the various characters. Also, the way Stoker built up suspense, mystery, and dread was really great. As a horror story, it was quite effective. The story didn't start out that scarily, but gradually, ever so gradually, the horror creeped up on you and caught by surprise, until finally, you were totally chilled to the bone by the dreadfulness of it. Though I'm not generally a fan of horror, this book kept me engaged and I liked it. If you like scary horror stories, this is definitely the book for you.

Read Dracula:

• if you like vampire stories
• if you like horror in general 

400 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!

The Great Indian Novel, Shashi Tharoor

They tell me India is an underdeveloped country. They attend seminars, appear on television, even com to see me, creasing their eight-hundred-rupee suits and clutching their moulded plastic briefcases, to announce in tones of infinite understanding that India has to yet to develop. Stuff and nonsense, of course. These are the kind of fellows who couldn't tell their kundalini from a decomposing earthworm, and I don't hesitate to tell them so. 

I don't know if this really is the great Indian novel, but it was a good one. I think the title is a bit presumptuous, though. I liked the story-line of this sometimes humorous novel, but it was also a work of satire, and Tharoor directed his satire as  much against Indian foibles, failings, and quirks, as against the bumblings of British colonist rulers. Tharoor recast the epic the Mahabharata with fictionalized- but very recognizable- events and characters from 20th century Indian politics. For example, Gandhi is recast as similar character named Gangaji. Even though I don't know that much about Indian history (only the basics) I still enjoyed reading this book. It is narrated by Ved Vyas, who supposedly spent time with "Gangaji" and is dictating his memoir. I really liked the format of the book. Ved Vyas is dictating his memoir to someone named Ganapathi, and thus it is humorous, because he sometimes argues with Ganapathi, and it is included in the memoir. If that makes any sense.

Read The Great Indian Novel:

• if you are interested in Indian history
• if you like satire

418 pages.

Very Good! I would recommend this book!