Book Nook Club: Reviewed by iamthediva

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May 23, 2009

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult

Okay, so i think i may be the last person on the planet to have read this book. I don't know what took me so long, but i never really had any desire to read it. I had many friends tell me it was worth the read, but i just never really got around to it. Then a few weekends ago, i saw a copy of "My Sister's Keeper" in the Symphony Used Book and Music Sale for two dollars, so i decided to give it a go.

I realize that this book has probably already been reviewed umpteen times on this site, and on others. Sixteen year old Kate is dying from Kidney failure as a result of aggressive treatments for her rare form of lukemia, her thirteen year old sister Anna (who was concieved and genetically engineered for the sole reason of prolonging her sister's life) has been asked to donate her kidney to her dying sister and is now suing for Medical Emancipation from her family, and the rights to her own body.

What did it for me was this: It brought back that feeling of the need to devour a book from cover to cover! Since my son was born 10 1/2 months ago, i haven't had the time, nor the inclination to really read a book. Oh sure, i have read a few books during this time, but only in the stolen moments during nap time.

Reading, for me, has taken a back burner position in my life at the moment. Then, i saw this trailer for the movie:

I'm always wary of books that are made into movies, but after watching the ad i really wanted to see it. That's when i decided i had better read the book first; i remembered buying the book at the sale and i rummaged through my bookshelf to find it, picked it up and was taken away.

I was intrigued by Picoult's writing device of multiple narrators. When i went in, i thought she wouldn't be able to pull off so many characters effectively and was pleasantly surprised. Her writing style is very free and easy, you feel almost comfortable in the words... like a really comfy chair, and before i knew it i had read over half the book the first night, and believe me, if i didn't know i would be waking up in a few hours to feed my son i would have kept on going.

The theme of morality and ethics not being black and white, how there isn't always a clear line drawn in the sand, really causes the reader to think about what's going on. I know i did, especially as a new mother, and i found myself sympathising with both sides and placing myself in those impossible situations and wondering how on earth the author was going to resolve things.

She kept me guessing until the very bitter end, and while i do prefer a fairy tale ending, the end to this book was sweetly written and will leave you with a lump in your throat the size of Texas.

I would read this again, and for that reason i give it 5 stars.

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April 16, 2009

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

I read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and i couldn't put it down. It's the story of a young women who is asked to meet with a mysterious dying author with a dark past. (*note this book contains content that some readers may find offensive) It was the writing that captivated me, i just found her to have such a great way with words, here are some of my favourite passages:

1. - There is something about words. In expert hand, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.

2. - People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continue to exist.

3. - 'Politeness. Now there's a poor man's virtue if ever there was one. What's so admirable about inoffensiveness, I should like to know? After all, it's easily achieved. One needs no particular talent to be polite. On the contrary, being nice is what's left when you've failed at everything else. People with ambition don't give a damn what other people think about them. I hardly suppose Wagner lost sleep worrying whether he'd hurt someone's feelings. But then he was a genius.'

4. - The young people at the lakeside made a pretty picture from a distance in their summer frocks and white shirts. The glasses they held were filled with a liquid that sparkled in the sunlight and the grass at their feet looked soft enough to go barefoot. In reality, the picnickers were sweltering beneath their clothes, the champagne was warm, and if anyone had thought to take their shoes off they would have had to walk through goose droppings.

5. - I made a resolution to telephone my mother the next day, but it was a safe resolution; no one can hold you to a decision made in the middle of the night.

6. - 'Do you believe in ghosts, Margaret?"
Do I believe in ghosts? What could Isay? I nodded.
Sastisfied, Miss Winter sat back in her chair, and I had the not unfamiliar impression of having given away more than I thought.

7. - But those were private tears, and not for this man. The tears I gratified him with were fake ones. Ones to set off my green eyes the way diamonds set off emeralds. And it worked. If you dazzle a man with green eyes, he will be so hypnotized that he won't notice there is someone inside the eyes spying on him.

8. - 'You are at liberty to say nothing if that is what you want. But silence is not a natural environment for stories. They need words. Without them they grow pale, sicken and die. And then they haunt you.' Her eyes swivelled back to me. 'Believe me, Margaret. I know.'

9. - It was the warmth of her hand that persuaded me she could hear me. It was the warmth in her hand that brought all the words into my chest, falling over each other in their impatience to fly into Emmeline's ear.

10. - 'I am human. Like all humans, I do not remember my birth. By the time we wake up to ourselves, we are little children, and our advent is something that happened an eternity ago, at the beginning of time.'

11. - I should not have been surprised at the extent of Adeline's hatred. I knew how ugly her anger could be, had witnessed the lengths she might go to, I could scarcely believe it.

12. - I feel my heart die. What have I done? Have I...? Is it possible that...?
I cannot bear to know.
I cannot bear not to know.

13. - I did not see the wolf when he came. I did not hear him. There was only this: a little before dawn i became aware of a hush, and I realized that the only breathing to be heard in the room was my own.

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March 6, 2009

Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins

What i found in this book is that it was a whole lot of filler to tell a story that probably could have been told in about 50 pages. True to his style, Robbins does manage to throw in some good comedic points, and he truly is the master of the metaphor, but this time I didn't feel it was enough. I had read this book once before, and didn't like it much then either. I was hoping that this go-round I would enjoy it more, as it's been a good 5 or 6 years. No, sadly.

This is not one of Robbins' better novels. While I do enjoy most of his work, "Skinny Legs and All" being one of my favourite books of all time, this one is just didn't do it for me. Robbins jumps around from past to present, and after reading 4 or 5 pages of dialogue that doesn't seem to fit into the whole package of the book, I found myself wondering if he just didn't meet his required amount of words and was padding.

Would I recommend the work of Tom Robbins to another person, yes. Would I recommend this book? probably not. It just didn't captivate me the way "Another Roadside Attraction" or "Jitterbug Perfume" did. In fact, I found myself, many a night, almost forcing myself to continue reading it.

I give this 2 stars. Well written, just not entertaining.

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February 6, 2009

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal; A Novel by Christopher Moore

This is my first review for The Book Nook, and as it's my first review I am happy to be reviewing what just may be my favourite book of all time. It also happens to be the book I was reading when I decided to be a contributor to this great site.

This book is an irreverently witty and comical look at the lost years of Jesus Christ, what may have happened between the ages of twelve and thirty.

At the dawn of the new millennium, Christ's childhood friend Levi bar Alphaeus who is called Biff finds himself resurrected so that he may write his Gospel having the unique honour of being at side of the Messiah through the formative years.

This laugh-out-loud novel follows Biff and Joshua (as Biff points out in the novel, Jesus is a Greek translation of the name Yeshua, Joshua, and Christ is the Greek translation for the Hebrew word Messiah) as they grow from boys to men and travel East in search of the Three Wise Men so that Josh may learn how to become the Messiah to his people.

Moore is, happily, able to bring an endearing human quality to the man who was born of God, and juxtaposes him with his brash, cocky, and often lewd and vulgar best friend Biff. Together they study for years under the tutelage of the different Magi and learn from them in their own ways.

I have read this book six times, finishing the sixth time just this morning, and even though I know how the book will end (anyone knowing the plot of The Passion does) I still find myself on the edge of my proverbial seat as Moore takes us through the torture and trial of Christ through the eyes of his friends and apostles. As sarcastic and filled with tongue-in-cheek and clever irony as this book is, the spiritual and ethereal divinity is not lost. In fact, I find myself able to better empathize with the Biblical story, and coming from someone who is in no way religious, the basic teachings of being kind and loving thy neighbour as thyself are still easily identifiable.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of their faith or creed, as there is a little bit in there for everyone. Please remember, though, that it is a work of fiction and beyond that, a comedy. It is not intended to change any one's beliefs or to challenge them in any way. And also, be forewarned that there is a great deal of language and sexual content within the covers of this book, sometimes tasteful, sometimes not (Oh Biff and his debauchery, not to worry Christ is ever Christlike).

This book is a Five Star book if I've ever read one. I hope you like it too.

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May 23, 2009

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult

April 16, 2009

The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

March 6, 2009

Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins

February 6, 2009

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal; A Novel by Christopher Moore

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