5 Stars. I just need to say that this book was fantastic. It’s hefty, coming in at 518 pages, but there’s even more to to chew over and unpack than meets the eye. It’s written in three parts (because of course a book about wishes would be written in three parts) and each takes a slightly different approach […]
4 Stars. Overall, I enjoyed this more than the first book. I missed her frequent conversations with God, but I found it easier to relate to troubled teenage Marjane than activist child Marjane. I was busy playing with Barbies when I was ten, not trying to figure out how I could sneak out to political rallies that frequently […]
3 Stars. I’m just not the reader for magical realism in literature. Oh, I do just fine with Sarah Addison Allen’s light touches of fantasy in otherwise contemporary novels. But a huge black beast of an unknown species adopting a family? Spirits wandering the house? Curses? Mermaid girls? All in dark historical fiction? I just […]
4 Stars. I wasn’t quite sure to what to expect when I downloaded this book from the library but I liked it. It’s quirky and funny but there’s a lot of substance lurking beneath the exterior. won’t hazard a guess as to what might be “wrong” with Keiko but she really doesn’t think like most other people. But is that bad? She […]
3 Stars. Eh. Axel was a whiny wimp who complained endlessly about having to go on the trip. The minute his uncle, Professor Liedenbrock, started to get the least bit angry with him over his dithering, Axel would cave and blithely go along with whatever ridiculous plan the professor has in mind. Axel was generally the one with […]
3 Stars. I’m about to write a huge sweeping statement that I really shouldn’t but here goes. I just don’t do well with South American authors. That’s not fair. I’ve only read three or four, I think. But I never have a clue what’s actually going on. What’s real, what’s not, what the “not real” things are supposed to […]
4 Stars. I just read Art Spiegelman’s Maus about a month ago and loved it. I thought I would go ahead and give this other highly-acclaimed graphic novel/memoir a try. I enjoyed it, if that’s the correct word, but it didn’t affect me quite the same way Maus did. I’m not too sure why. Maybe it’s because I know more about WWII than […]
4 Stars. I felt like I was sitting in this roomful of multi-generational women as they gossiped about themselves, each other, and friends they knew. I think all women have sat in a group like this, when there aren’t any men around, and said just exactly what we really think. It’s not all ladylike and demure. This is the chance […]
3 Stars. Even though this novel was written in first person, I felt as if I were watching the story unfold behind glass. I never got pulled into the story completely. I was never particularly interested in Aurora. I was more interested to see what scheme Paulina would come up with next in late-nineteenth century America and […]