Recent Reads: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 
Series: The Roots of Chaos #1
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date:  February 26, 2019

 

Format: Ebook and Audible Audiobook
Source: Bought/ Own

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

Review: 

There is so much hype surrounding this book... and I bought into it but it also sounded wonderful. I feel like I heard so much about this book and how great it was but also nothing really about it... The plot for a while was a mystery to me. Priory is a fantasy about a world where dragons exist and are gods, where the various cultures are divided by religion and cuture, and there is doom on the horizon for them all. 

The book is told in by alternating between the East and the West, and then within those realms, we get two POVs from each - Tane and Roos from the East, and Ead and Arteloth in the West. I fully expected far more dragons, but they came in waves and sparingly for the most part. However, the intertwining of Eastern Chinese style dragons and the more lizard-esq fantasy dragons was really well done, and it was cool to see them all co-exist. 

Dragons aside, the overall plot was a lot to take in. I wanted either more or less and I wasn't sure which would be ideal. I wanted more descriptions to guide me and possibly less politics... it was a struggle. But what I mean to say is that this book could have either been cut down quite a bit or made into a duology pretty well and it could have been better with some cutting or some expansion. I felt like I wanted so much more from this world-build because I was so amazed by it and wanted more,  and I really enjoyed it. It was epic and fantastical and the adventures/ journeys people were sent out on were wonderful and foreboding. (all of which I loved).

I also loved the representation, there were characters of all colors, there were straight, gay, and lesbian romances. Overall, the characters were really enjoyable. I found myslef loving the sections about the East, then falling more in love with the Western side, and then back again because of the character's stories. (I wanted more of Tane and was sad that it felt like she was written less as the book progressed.) One point that I don't think is brought up a lot is that the praised Sapphic romance, while great rep., was an interesting dynamic as well. Ead is a black character and she is in a position of servant to the Queen... they fall for each other, but in this servant/served capacity it made their romance seem ungenuine in some ways. The characters bring it up briefly, i.e. 'you only act like this because you have to', but it didn't really address the issue. And maybe this is a non-issue for some, but it felt weird to me.

Overall, I felt like race and class throughout were not well developed and I think it could have helped the character development, but the plot was interesting and layered in a wonderful way. The fantasy elements were well done and I had the feels of Lord of the Rings at times, which is good. I really liked the ending, it was very togetherness themeded and it was a really fun read. 

Recent Reads: The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy
Publisher: Open Road Media
Publication Date:  Kindle edition, 2010; originally published in 1973

 

Format: Ebook
Source: Free to borrow for Amazon Prime members

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

The island is nearly deserted, haunting, beautiful. Across a slip of ocean lies South Carolina. But for the handful of families on Yamacraw Island, America is a world away. For years the people here lived proudly from the sea, but now its waters are not safe. Waste from industry threatens their very existence–unless, somehow, they can learn a new life. But they will learn nothing without someone to teach them, and their school has no teacher.

Here is PAT CONROY’S extraordinary drama based on his own experience–the true story of a man who gave a year of his life to an island and the new life its people gave him.

Review: 

We read The Water is Wide for book club over the past month and discussed the chapters weekly, my review is both my thoughts as well as some items that we chatted about in our discussions.

The book is a memoir by Pat Conroy who went to an island to teach the disconnected and native children on the island. These were black children, who had a school and a few teachers along the way, but had very little in the way of education. Pat goes to the island full of ideas of saving and education these children and retells a possibly dramatized version of his memories. 

Personal Thoughts: The discussions we had about this book were rich and meaningful and I thoroughly enjoyed them, however the book was not a stand out book for me personally. There were a lot of details that I thought were missing and the timeline for me was problematic. Conroy tells his tale as he thinks it all links together versus in chronological order and it makes it VERY difficult to understand where we are in his overall teaching experience. He also begins the book saying we will talk about things later and then seems to let them die out without a return. At times Conroy is overly idealistic and it was hard to read as he came to terms with what was available to these students and what was not. Since this is a memoir and it is based on remembering of events, I felt the gaps were wide for certain events and very specific for others, and I did feel like he omitted information to make things seem more dire than they might have been. 

Group Thoughts: This was a hard book to read for many reasons, it includes themes of racism, animal abuse, abusive relationships, severe punishment of students as well as shaming, and understanding that the education system did leave kids behind knowingly. Conroy did his best to shed light on these children and their lives and it was eye-opening. It also made us think about what we are still experiencing today with inequality and how this book was written in the 70's but is STILL relevant today for these themes. 

Overall, this book is not a light read, you will feel a lot of emotions going though it and not all good ones and it focuses on a lot of conflicts throughout. However, if you are looking for a book to open your eyes to inherent racism and sometimes the idealistic views of new teachers, this might be a good read for you.

Recent Reads: The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date:  April 9, 2019

 

Format: Ebook
Source: Bought on Amazon. 

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis:

Five devastating human stories and a dark and moving portrait of Victorian London—the untold lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper.

Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden, and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers.

What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. The person responsible was never identified, but the character created by the press to fill that gap has become far more famous than any of these five women.
For more than a century, newspapers have been keen to tell us that "the Ripper" preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, it has prevented the real stories of these fascinating women from being told. Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, revealing a world not just of Dickens and Queen Victoria, but of poverty, homelessness and rampant misogyny. They died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time—but their greatest misfortune was to be born a woman.

Review: 

I heard about this book online and added it to our options for book club, it seems that everyone was just as intrigued as I had been about it because it is the book that was chosen. The Five is a non-fiction book about the five women murdered by Jack the Ripper, however if you are looking for the gruesome details, crime logs etc, you will not find that here.

The author highlights each girl covering the backstories that are available in history as best she can and paints the picture of Victorian London as dark and devastating for them even before their deaths. Each one has her own section, which looks at her life from sometimes birth to her untimely death, chronicling how they were part of the English society at the time. Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane all led very different lives up to a point, but all succumbed to addiction in the form of alcoholism. 

This book was very factual and the first few chapters are a bit of a slog as the author portrays the working class of London through their types of jobs and their pay ranges, but it sets the scene although it was hard to get through. One thing that I had trouble with was that all the salaries and money were in GBP and did not include conversions, I know that is not the biggest deal, but I didn't want to stop reading or listening every time she mentioned pay to look up the conversion rate, and today's rate would not be the same; so it would have been nice to have at least one quick US rate.

I really liked how we got information about their lives without going into any detail about the murders, it was interesting to see them in this light, not as victims but as humans. It was hard reading about alcoholism affecting them, but it made me realize that maybe Jack the Ripper had an issues with drunks, or experienced abuse from a drunk somewhere along the line. Or maybe like prostitutes and women of the night, drunks were just easy targets. 


Most intriguing of the whole book was after all the tales, it was the list of the items found on each of the women at the murder site, one was wearing and carrying just about everything she probably owned, it was both eye-opening and sad, but very surprising. 

Recent Reads: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Series:Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy #1
Publisher: Del Ray Books
Publication Date:  September 27, 1995

 

Format:  Paperback
Source: Bought/Own

Rating:
 


 



Goodreads Synopsis: 

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

Review: 
I am happy to say that I now know the answer to the ultimate question and I realize how important a towel really is and I have been severely lacking in that area.  

I bought this paperback a while ago with all intention in reading it and it sat on my shelf for a while. My husband picked it up and enjoyed it and then finally I decided it was a good idea to grab pick it up (then by happy chance it was also an online book club pick too).

This is probably the wackiest book I have ever read and I really liked it. It was crazy to be crazy but also crazy accurate in some things that in the time it was written were futuristic but we have these things an use them now - the biggest one being the Guide itself being a Nook/Kindle like contraption. I thought that by itself was a crazy and wonderful realization on his part.

I loved that Arthur Dent is very needy and complains the whole time, and normally I wouldn't say that but he is thrown into such a strange and crappy situation that I think it was necessary. Ford is hilarious and the other characters all live up to their parts well. I really enjoyed the book a lot more than I thought I would and can't wait to read the next installment.

Recent Reads: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date:  July 15, 2014

 

Format:  Audiobook
Source: Bought on Audible.

Rating:
 


 

Goodreads Synopsis: 

A grumpy yet loveable man finds his solitary world turned on its head when a boisterous young family moves in next door.

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time?

Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations. 

Review: 
I am so happy this this was my work book club pick last month, otherwise I probably wouldn't have read it and I even took forever to pick it up. I have been in a very cranky mood lately and reading about Ove and his life and grumpy self was just the thing that I needed.

Ove is an old man who has lost a lot of things in his life and being almost at the end of his own, he is just trying to get away from the people around him - and that is mostly neighbors. They are always bothering him, asking him for stuff, advice, help or running over his mailbox and flowerbed or driving where they aren't supposed to. Ove is a rule follower and get very upset when others don't listen to the signage. So he is sad and grumpy and somehow people around him still like him.

Don't get me wrong, all of this sounds like it would make for a fun tale of a grumpy old man, but the underlying theme is one of depression and struggle with death. So while there were laughable bits, there was a lot of saddness for the reader too. I was drawn to this book because I was mad and sad and I think that Ove helped me through that a bit, he is stubborn and mean but inside that he has a great heart.

I don't want to give a lot of the plot away, because I was  surprised and I really want readers to be too - Ove is a surprising man. The story is told from his point-of-view and also as flashbacks into this life before now. It was very well done and the falshbacks gave you insight into how he came to be this way. I listened to the audiobook and LOVED it the narrator was wonderful and I highly recommend this book.


 

Recent Reads: Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie

Appointment with Death by Agatha Christie
Series: Hercule Poirot #19
Publisher: Black Dog and Leventhal
Publication Date: March 30, 2007 (this edition) 

 

Format: Hardback
Source: Borrowed from the library for book club.

Rating:
 


 



Goodreads Synopsis: 

Among the towering red cliffs and the ancient ruins of Petra sits the corpse of Mrs. Boynton, the cruel and tyrannizing matriarch of the Boynton family. A tiny puncture mark on her wrist is the only sign of the fatal injection that killed her. With only twenty-four hours to solve the mystery, Hercule Poirot recalls a remark he overheard back in Jerusalem: "You do see, don't you, that she's got to be killed?" Mrs. Boynton was, indeed, the most detestable woman he had ever met.

Review: 
I enjoy Agatha Christie and as a teen I read A LOT of her books, but they are mysteries and you really have to be in the mood for them...I picked this one up for a book club, it was surprisingly one that I had not already read. I found it to be entertaining but I wasn't really in the mood to read at all so it fell into that 'I liked it' category versus the more swoony ratings. 

This mystery followed a family who was traveling and while away their mother dies. It is originally called a natural death but then another person traveling with them realizes that it may be foul play and Hercule Poirot happens to be in the area to help out with the mystery of her death.

This was a strange mystery there were a lot of jumps in the end to get to the result and I know that happens at times but it was a very long-winded explanation and I found it to be a bit of a pain. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy finding out who -done -it but still. 

If you have not read any Agatha Christie but enjoy mysteries I think you should give her a try, they are classics.     

Recent Reads: The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman

The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Date:  July 31, 2012

 

Format:  Hardback
Source: Borrowed from the Library

Rating:
 


 



Goodreads Synopsis:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel. 

Review: 
Ah this book... I think it was a wrong time wrong place kind of book for me... This book was voted on as my next book club read and while it seemed like an ok one to put in the voting list, I probably should have read the synopsis a bit more. I knew that going into this book there would be a good amount about miscarriage and I thought I could handle it, but appearently not, it threw off my enjoyment of the whole book. (If you didn't know, I have recently experienced this - and as you can tell, it is not an enjoyable experience).

From the start the book was slow-going for me due to my mood and then as I read, I kept getting more and more frustrated with the characters. I think that this book is meant to do that to you. The book is about a man who works as a lighthouse keeper, he gets married, his wife cannot successfully birth a child, then one shows up on their shores. They then have to make a decision - keep it, or notify the mainland. The wife pressures the husband into keeping the child and then the real world comes into view and they have made a mistake. This is one of those decisions were you are in between a rock and a hard place kind of things. After reading the beginning of this story as an emotional wreck, it was hard not to want to shake the wife into reality - even having been through the experience myself I thought she was a bit batty and non-realistic. I understood her grief and suffering but could not get behind her judgement.

I think that to the right reader this could be a very moving book, but I didn't like any of the characters all too much and it was a very difficult book for me to actually make it a point to sit down and finish it. I did, but it was slow and rough.

Recent Reads: The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman

The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Publication Date:   August 2015

 

Format: Hardback
Source: Borrowed from the Library

Rating:


 



Goodreads Synopsis:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Dovekeepers and The Museum of Extraordinary Things: a forbidden love story set on the tropical island of St. Thomas about the extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro; the Father of Impressionism.

Growing up on idyllic St. Thomas in the early 1800s, Rachel dreams of life in faraway Paris. Rachel's mother, a pillar of their small refugee community of Jews who escaped the Inquisition, has never forgiven her daughter for being a difficult girl who refuses to live by the rules. Growing up, Rachel's salvation is their maid Adelle's belief in her strengths, and her deep, life-long friendship with Jestine, Adelle's daughter. But Rachel's life is not her own. She is married off to a widower with three children to save her father's business. When her husband dies suddenly and his handsome, much younger nephew, Fréderick, arrives from France to settle the estate, Rachel seizes her own life story, beginning a defiant, passionate love affair that sparks a scandal that affects all of her family, including her favorite son, who will become one of the greatest artists of France.

Building on the triumphs of The Dovekeepers and The Museum of Extraordinary Things, set in a world of almost unimaginable beauty, The Marriage of Opposites showcases the beloved, bestselling Alice Hoffman at the height of her considerable powers. Once forgotten to history, the marriage of Rachel and Fréderick is a story that is as unforgettable as it is remarkable.

Review: 
This book seems to be getting great reviews and I am sad to say that even though I made my way through it, it was a struggle. This book was chosen for my book club by another member and voted as the book we should read and I think this book was just too far outside of my normal reading for me to really enjoy it. That being said, it was still an alright book.

The author uses wonderful detail to describe the island and the people to the point were I was impressed but also bored - there was a lot of detail. What I like to read most is interactions between characters and a lot of the book takes place as these descriptions or as someone's thoughts and feelings versus conversations.  So the lack of dialogue really bothered me.

The book was very interesting, I really got into reading Rachel's point of view and right when I was the author decided it was time for a change and lead us into another POV, it felt disjointed at times. I understand the need for all the views but I had a number of chapters with one person then was surprised to realize that it would be changing. And because of these changes I found the overall story fairly slow. I ended up reading it in more than a few sittings but I felt bogged down as I read it and had trouble really feeling the urge to pick it up.

So overall this was not my cup of tea (so to speak). I think readers of this genre probably loved the historical aspects of it and all the detail and thought put into it but I was not really feeling it. On the bright side, I made it all the way through without tossing it, so thus the 'it as ok'  rating versus a lower one. I am glad I am broadening my reading but I also am finding that I just really don't enjoy most books outside the YA/MG genres.