Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is a surprising enjoyable read. I say surprising because after reading the synopsis I thought it sounded like a really cheesy book and I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it. After seeing several mentions of it online I decided to give it a chance and I’m glad I did. Shatter Me has action and a really unique plot that seems a little ridiculous when summarized but Mafi really makes it work.

Something that kept me away from this book for awhile (other than the potential cheese factor) was the quote from Lauren Kate on the back cover- “addictive, intense and oozing with romance”. What an unattractive quote, “oozing with romance” makes it sound like Shatter Me has a bad case of gonorrhea or some sappy romance book. Far from it. Shatter Me does have romance in it but not enough to be called a romance novel. To me, a romance novel is if the main point of the book is the romance factor. Shatter Me focuses more on Juliette and how her touch can kill people, as well as their dystopian society. The romance that occurs in the book kind of happens around the main plot, in addition to it without becoming an annoying feature.

This book is very multi-faceted and incorporates many different locations, characters and plot points to create a fast paced novel that keeps things interesting. Without spoiling the book, I really loved a couple of the locations especially and felt that they added a lot of interest to the book. I really loved James’s character, and I would love to read a prequel to Shatter Me that shows more of James’ life and how he survives in such a messed up world.

As much as I liked Juliette’s plot, I really disliked her character. I wouldn’t say that I hated her but she really grated on me. She felt a little too weak and wishy-washy to me. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. In Juliette you have a character with a hardcore power that cowers and leans on others far too much. Hopefully her confidence will grow and she will become a stronger, more enjoyable character in the next book.

The biggest thing I disliked in Shatter Me was the writing style at the beginning of the book  The random italics, strike out writing and rambling sentences are supposed to show you Juliette’s thoughts and illustrate her mental state but it really pulled me away from the book. It feels very gimmicky to me, as if Mafi couldn’t figure out how to demonstrate what Juliette is thinking simply through her writing. It seems like a cop out when authors use gimmicks like that and it doesn’t make for quality writing. It gets better as the book goes on, and Shatter Me because much more readable by about chapter 10.

I would give Shatter Me 3.5/5- a few problems but a unique plot with some great action.

Charity Hopping Around the World Giveaway $25 Kiva Gift Card

I’m participating in the Charity Hopping Around the World Giveaway Hop hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer; Reading Away the Days and Reading a Little Bit of Everything.

The purpose of this giveaway is to support and promote our favourite charities. My favourite charity is Kiva. Kiva’s slogan is “Loans that change lives” and it’s so true. When you donate to Kiva you’re not giving someone a handout that will only help them in the short term, you are providing a loan that can help them to turn their life around by supporting their business, assisting them in receiving an education or in many other ways. An explanation of Kiva from their website :

How to Use Kiva

1 Make a loan.
You make a loan on Kiva. All Kiva loans are made possible by our Field Partners, who vet, administer, and disburse each loan.

2 Get updates.
Throughout the life of the loan, you will see progress updates from Kiva through your email, and if you come back to the site.

3 Get paid back.
As the borrower repays the loan, the money becomes available in your account. This is called your Kiva Credit.

4 Repeat.
You can now use it to fund another loan, donate it to Kiva, or withdraw it to spend on something else.

Kiva is a great charity because it is so personal. You’re not donating money to be used by people that you know nothing about, you’re loaning the money to someone you have personally picked- you know their name, their country, what they’ll be using the money for and you usually get to see a photo of them as well. I also really like it because you choose who to lend the money too. Are you a foodie? Loan the money to someone who is starting up their own restaurant. Have a favourite country? Make a loan to someone who lives there. You can sort by gender, country and sector (education, agriculture, housing, arts, etc) so it makes it easy to sort through the loans. You can also sort by how much of the loan has already been raised so that you can be the first or last person to finance a certain person.

This giveaway is for one $25 Kiva Card. The winner will be emailed their Kiva gift card and they will be able to choose anyone off of Kiva’s site to loan it to. When the loan is repaid the winner can loan the money out again if they wish, or they can withdraw it to their own bank account

Unfortunately Rafflecopter is not currently supported by WordPress so to fill out the contest entry form you’ll have to head over to my facebook page. There are 5 different ways to enter, and no donation is necessary (although it may give you a warm and fuzzy feeling!)

Kiva is also currently giving away a limited amount of free trials to people who are not currently registered on Kiva, click here to sign up.

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to check out the other stops on the Charity Hopping Around the World Giveaway Hop!

Hamilton Reads Recap

I went to a great gritLit event last night called Hamilton Reads. There were 9 speakers who had 3 minutes each to discuss the book that they had read and to explain why that book should be the winning book. There was also a short debate period that turned out to be very funny. You can check out some photos from the event here.

I had never been to a gritLIT event before and I wasn’t quite sure what this event would be like. I had a pictured a more serious event but was pleasantly surprised to find that the event was very humourous and entertaining. The speakers were very engaging and had some great thoughts about each book.

I was really hoping that Natural Order by Brian Francis or They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children by Roméo Dallaire would win but Bedtime Story by Robert J. Weirsma ended up winning Hamilton Reads. I’m not sure if the audience really thought it sounded like the best book or if the very funny Trevor Cole won them over with his presentation, which included the use of many props and also involved him taking off his clothes. Don’t worry, he had pajamas underneath. I’ll have to check Bedtime Story out and review it.

GritLIT has many more events running until this Sunday, check out the schedule here.

gritLIT Hamilton’s Literary Festival

I’m looking forward to Hamilton Reads tonight, the event that kicks off gritLIT. GritLIT is a literary festival  in Hamilton Ontario that includes a variety of readings and workshops. If you’re in the Hamilton area you should check it out, the opening event starts tonight at 7:30 (doors open at 7:00pm) but there will be events throughout the rest of the week as well as this weekend. Here’s the schedule of events.

And here’s the blurb from the Hamilton Public Library’s website for Hamilton Reads:

On Wednesday, March 28th, 2012, gritLIT: Hamilton’s Literary Festival, in partnership with the Hamilton Public Library, will launch Hamilton Reads. Ten local luminaries will converge on the Central Library, each committed to defending to the death one of the titles on the Ontario Library Association’s Evergreen Reading List.

Well, maybe not to the death, but there should be some impassioned and creative defenses of the ten chosen titles

Sounds good to me!

 

Tripping by Heather Waldorf

Tripping by Heather Waldorf is a fun and touching book about Rainey, a high school student who goes on an 8 week cross country field trip that involves driving in a cramped van with the other student campers and their adult chaperones, and camping in various places across Canada.

The characters are really well written, with great back stories that help you to understand them better. There’s an interesting variety of characters, all with different personalities and identities and they add a lot to the book. Although Rainey is the main character, the other characters have great plot lines that run through the book as well. I really liked Carlos, and how his story unfolded. I also really liked Rainey’s step-mom and thought that she was well written and added an interesting perspective. Although there are many characters in this book and they all have at least something of a plot line the book never feels overly full of plot or characters, and everyone’s stories flow well and mix nicely together.

Although there are some more serious parts to this book overall it has a lighter feel and it’s a pretty quick read. There’s some really funny parts as well-Rainey using her prosthetic leg as a weapon was great! It was nice to have a main character with a physical disability that did not define her nor ruin her life, it’s one part of her life and personality, not her entire identity.

I loved that this book is set in Canada- it was nice to read a book with a variety of Canadian settings. Tripping shows Canada in a positive, non-stereotypical way- it’s a book set in Canada written by a Canadian and doesn’t make it seem like every single Canadian is a lumberjack or lives in an igloo.

If you’re looking for a novel that manages to be light, funny and thoughtful with great characters that will make you smile pick up Tripping by Heather Waldorf, 4/5

Review of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

I picked up Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua after reading the article Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior, also by Amy Chua. The book is an interesting look into Chua’s strict parenting style and how she raised her two daughters. It seems like a very difficult childhood to me, other perhaps “childhood” is the wrong word: no sleepovers, extracurricular activities other than the ones picked by mom, no TV, lots of studying and practicing musical instruments, etc. It feels like she made her children act like adults from the time they were born.

The book gives an inside view of a lifestyle very different than my own. I can’t imagine what my childhood would have been without friends, extracurricular activities that I had personally picked, unscheduled afternoons in the park or long bike rides with friends. I have a lot of happy childhood memories and I wonder if Chua’s daughters can say the same. It’s great to be accomplished and successful, but is it worth it if you have to go to the lengths Chua did to get it? I don’t have children but if I had to resort to belittling and screaming at my children in order to get them to become talented I would much rather to have a happy relationship with children who had no special talents. Many of the things that Chua says and does to her children would be considered abuse by many North Americans, and she admits as much in the book.

The book did grab my attention at first but it can be very dry in parts, and incredibly repetitive. After awhile I was thinking I get it, you make your kids practice more than most other parents, enough already! The book also made Chua sound very full of herself as she puts a lot of emphasis on how much she did for her kids, and how much she gave them, and how she got them to be so successful. She rarely acknowledges their talent or their hard work and actually sounds much warmer and more loving when she talks about her dogs.

I would give this book a 2/5. If you’ve already read Chua’s article Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior then I would skip the book. If you haven’t read the article and were thinking of giving the book a try I would recommend skipping it and just reading the article instead.

Movie Monday: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I attempted to read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert when it was first released. I didn’t make it very far because I was a little bored. The book wasn’t drawing me in and Gilbert’s writing style didn’t really make me want to keep reading to see if it got better later on. I ended up watching (and really enjoying) the movie of Eat, Pray, Love. Julia Roberts did a fantastic job, and I loved the different places that were shown. The cinematography was beautiful and I really felt like I was visiting these places as I watched the movie. I even craved pasta and gelato when Liz went to Italy!

I thought that since I had enjoyed the movie so much I would give the book another chance. It did get better as I got further into the book, and there were a few parts that I really liked but overall I didn’t like the book too much. Gilbert’s writing style feels very self congratulatory and gets boring. I also disliked the more spiritual parts of the book; it was a little too cheesy and wasn’t explained in a way that made it seem like more than a joke. I also felt that the book dragged on too much. I realize that the events of the book take place over a year, which is quite a bit to put in one short book, but I feel that a lot of the details added were not that interesting and took away from the book, making it feel more like a journal.

I usually really enjoy travel writing and biographies/auto-biographies so I was surprised that this book just didn’t resonate with me. Obviously since it became a bestseller, many people would disagree with me when I say this is a book that I wish I had skipped over. It’s o.k., but nothing fantastic. I would give Eat, Pray, Love the book a 2/5 and I would give the movie a 4.5/5- great acting, beautiful settings, and a good blend of serious and funny moments. The movie also did a good job of separating the wheat from the chaff- it took all the good bits of the book, left out the boring bits and tidied other events up so that they flowed better. Three cheers for artistic license!

Review of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin is a wonderfully written thriller that will grab and hold your attention. It’s not all fast paced action but even the slower points will keep you engrossed in this book.  I love Hodkin’s writing style, it’s so detailed that I really felt I was there with the characters, getting to know them.

Mara Dyer wakes up in a hospital after an accident that kills her friends and she can’t remember anything that happened. After her family moves to Florida to help Mara have a fresh start after the accident, weird things keep happening to her. This book was so creepy and spooky that it made me jumpy when I was reading it at night. It’s definitely a book that will have you glancing over your shoulder to see if anyone is there. Another aspect that made me really enjoy reading The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is that although it is a thriller there aren’t buckets of gore being splashed about- Hodkin infuses the story with creepiness with her wonderful writing and doesn’t take the easy way out.

The book flips back and forth between the time before Mara’s accident, and the present Sometime books that switch between the past and present irritate me, they can make me lose my focus and are generally less enjoyable to read. However, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer flows seamlessly between the two time periods. In the before sections Mara reminisces about her old life and remembers more and more about the night of the accident. What we learn in the before section is beautifully fitted into the present day and strengthens the plot and adds to the reader’s interest.

The biggest drawback to this book is Noah’s character. Noah is a complete jerk with very few (if any) redeeming qualities. The fact that Mara spends more than a minute with him doesn’t seem to agree with her character- although she is troubled and is having a very difficult time it seems like her character would never pay attention to someone like Noah. The relationship between the two of them kept jerking me out of the trance that this book had me in because it just doesn’t seem to make sense. It’s not just the fact that Noah is a jerk that bothers me- it’s how the character is written. The way he acts at the beginning and the way that he acts at the end of the novel are very different, but it doesn’t feel like there’s any change to his personality or character- at one point in the book he starts acting differently and that is that. His personality doesn’t seem to mesh with his words and actions. Noah’s character and how he is written is the only reason that I would not give this book a 5/5.

I really liked Mara- although she is devastated by the accident and the loss of her best friend she works hard at picking herself back up. She’s tough, even when bad things are happening and she’s pretty funny. She also has this sarcastic confidence to her that I loved. I also really liked Jamie and I hope he appears more in the next book- he leaves the book pretty quickly and I’m hoping that his story is not finished.

Without spoiling the book I have to say that I was NOT expecting that ending and it made me really excited for the next book. I can really see this book getting turned into a movie, it seems like there are a ton of movies being made out of books and I can really see this book working as a movie. If you’re looking for a spooky book that has lots of twists I would definitely recommend picking up The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin- 4.5/5

Review of Eve by Anna Carey

Eve is a dystopian novel set 16 years after most of the people on earth were wiped out by a virus. Eve lives in a well guarded school with girls, being educated in various classes such as Dangers of Men and Boys. Eve and the other girls think that once they graduate from their school they will be going to the building across the lake to learn a trade. When Eve discovers this is not the case she knows she must leave the school, regardless of what she has been told life is like outside the school’s walls.

I read the first couple of chapters online before Eve was released and they sparked enough interest to make me want to finish the book. This book has a really interesting concept- if most of the Earth’s population was wiped out, what would be the best way to repopulate? And best for whom- the women who will be bearing the children, the people in charge, or the general population?

Anna Carey writes clearly and with great details- I like her writing style because you feel as if you are following the characters, watching the action as it unfolds. I really enjoy how the characters are written, you get a strong sense of what they are thinking and feeling, you get inside their heads a little.

This is definitely not a feel good book, it’s terrifying to think of these girls being treated as objects more than actual people, horrifying to think that the people who are supposed to be caring for them are really only looking out for themselves. It’s still a great book if you want a more thoughtful book that will unsettle you,

I wish we has gotten a closer look at how people outside the cities are living there lives, but this book is only the first in the series so perhaps the next book, Once, will take a closer look at that.

One of the negative parts about the book is that it moves a bit too slowly at times. It’s a fairly short book at 322 pages, but I feel some sections were a bit too repetitive and the book sometimes drags too much. If you’re a fan of dystopian novels I would definitely recommend picking up Eve- 4/5.

Movie Monday: Oscars and The Hunger Games

Lots of book news for today’s Movie Monday.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won the Academy Award for animated short film. I had never heard of this before yesterday, but it’s a beautiful movie and I’m very glad it won.

This year’s Oscars were a very bookish affair, there were lots movies that were based on books this year and they did well. Hugo won for best visual effects. best sound editing, etc, etc. Octavia Spencer from The Help won best supporting actress. The Descendants won best adapted screenplay, I’m disappointed that this movie was even nominated. Full list of nominees and winners is here if you’re interested.

Enough about the Oscars. With less than a month to go before The Hunger Games hits theatres many bookstores are creating special displays that feature the trilogy. I saw this awesome set up at an Indigo store in Toronto. They bought a bow and arrows, spray painted them gold and hung them from the ceiling. Simple but very effective, it looked great (at least in person, the photos don’t really do it justice) and it really fits the book. Absolutely genius.