Book report
Aug. 19th, 2007 05:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisHere's the latest book report!
1. The Concubine’s Children by Denise Chong – I don’t know why I enjoy this type of book so much, but I do. This is just basically the non-fiction account of a family from China. The husband migrated to Canada in the early 1900’s seeking a better future for his family. He had two wives and several children – some of whom remained in China, others who went to Canada -- and this is the family’s story as told by one of the grandchildren. You could say that the family accomplished nothing noteworthy other than decency (well, most of them anyway) and hard work, but I really like reading about how average folk dealt with and survived periods of time in history. I’ve been fascinated by the 20th century upheaval in China and I liked reading about this family’s struggles. My favorite non-fiction family story of surviving China’s tumultuous recent history is “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang, but this was good too. Grade: B
2. The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse by Mabel Maney – I first read this book in the 90’s and I had remembered finding it absolutely hilarious and loving it. It’s a light-hearted spoof of both Nancy Drew books and lesbian romance novels. I brought it with me on a recent plane trip so I’d have something light and fun to read; I figured there was no harm in re-reading an enjoyable book. Well, I guess my tastes have changed a lot in 10 years. This time through I thought the book was just okay. It wasn’t half as funny as I remembered. And even though it’s just a parody, the mystery plotline was just silly and way too far-fetched. Grade: C
More behind the cut!
3. Unmarried to Each Other by Marshall Miller and Dorian Solot – Loved this! Miller and Solot are a heterosexual couple who have no intention of getting married even though they are committed to each other and the relationship. (They founded the Alternatives to Marriage Project.) They know that they are not alone and thus they wrote a guide. This book was so good that, as I read it, I dog-eared some pages so that I could later share them with Doris, and she and I did eventually sit down and discuss them together. There’s tons of information about communicating about the relationship, discussing goals, deciding on whether or not it’s the right time to move in together, legal stuff, commitment ceremonies, how to handle others’ reactions to the fact that you’re not married, and lots more. The book is gay-friendly; much of it applies a lot more to hetero couples who don’t want to get married though plenty of it also applies to those who legally can’t marry. And you know what? There’s so much good relationship-discussion material that I think even married couples could get something out of this book. Grade: A-
4. The Exes by Pagan Kennedy – I’ve been itching to read a book by Kennedy ever since I read a great magazine article by her, in which she talked of being committed to her relationship with her best friend. The two are not lovers (they’re both straight females) but they share a deep bond, they live together, and highly value their friendship. Kennedy has published several books and I finally got my hands on one of them. “The Exes” is about a 4-member rock band in which each member is a former lover of another member. Each of the four chapters is told from one of the band member’s points of view. As the band gains a reputation and starts to tour, old romances rekindle and bridges burn, and Kennedy gives us our own insider tour of the indie music business. She has captured the spirits of these young musicians with depth and originality. It was a very fast read. Grade: B
5. Lady of the Light by Donna Gillespie – This novel is the sequel to the magnificent work “The Light Bearer”, which was an epic saga centering around Auriane, who is the daughter of a chieftain of a Germanic tribe at a time that ancient Rome is pushing further and further into their territory. It was fast paced, intriguing, well-written – just fantastic all around. I would even put it on a par with “The Mists of Avalon” and recommend it to anyone, whether or not they like historical fiction. It’s been about 7 years since I read the book and I looked forward to reading this sequel. Despite its very favorable reviews on Amazon, I personally had mixed feelings towards it. On the plus side: Gillespie still writes beautifully and I like her characters. She brings the setting to life and gives you a fascinating take on history and the events that are shaped by one powerful woman. The whole setting is brilliant – the Germanic tribes are being even more overwhelmed and conquered by the Romans; their ancient traditions are falling out of history. It’s always interesting to read about history from the perspective of those who lost a war. Gillespie also writes well of the mother-daughter relationship between Auriane and her first daughter Avenahar. Also, I liked getting to see what befell some of the characters from the first book such as the prophetess Ramis and Auriane’s first love (and one of my favorite characters), the Roman man Decius. But on the negative side: The plot moved slowly. Some scenes felt like they were 5 times longer than they needed to be and there were plenty of scenes that really didn’t need to be in there at all. I was shocked at that, since the first novel moved at breakneck speed and I found nothing in it superfluous. I also felt that the main male character, Marcus, is almost a bit too much like a hero of a romance novel – he’s unrealistically without flaw. I’m glad I read the book though, just to see what happened to all the characters I loved in the first novel and I still found it enjoyable despite its faults. It’s always hard for sequels of extraordinary works to follow up to the earlier book’s greatness. Grade: B
Books I started reading but didn’t finish:
1. After Eden by Valerie Miner – It seems that lately I’ve made myself finish a few books that I hadn’t really wanted to complete. I went back and forth on what to do with this book, getting more than 100 pages in, before I decided to give it the kibosh. Miner has written several other novels, one of which I loved (“All Good Women”) and the rest of which were just so-so. “After Eden” tells the tale of a woman who has a summer cottage in a quiet Californian town, who has recently lost her partner, whose cottage is in a community of cool lesbians, and who is getting back in touch with her brother. That previous sentence encompasses pretty much everything that occurred in the 100 pages I read. I like the setting a lot but nothing was happening. I wanted to like it though!
1. The Concubine’s Children by Denise Chong – I don’t know why I enjoy this type of book so much, but I do. This is just basically the non-fiction account of a family from China. The husband migrated to Canada in the early 1900’s seeking a better future for his family. He had two wives and several children – some of whom remained in China, others who went to Canada -- and this is the family’s story as told by one of the grandchildren. You could say that the family accomplished nothing noteworthy other than decency (well, most of them anyway) and hard work, but I really like reading about how average folk dealt with and survived periods of time in history. I’ve been fascinated by the 20th century upheaval in China and I liked reading about this family’s struggles. My favorite non-fiction family story of surviving China’s tumultuous recent history is “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang, but this was good too. Grade: B
2. The Case of the Not-So-Nice Nurse by Mabel Maney – I first read this book in the 90’s and I had remembered finding it absolutely hilarious and loving it. It’s a light-hearted spoof of both Nancy Drew books and lesbian romance novels. I brought it with me on a recent plane trip so I’d have something light and fun to read; I figured there was no harm in re-reading an enjoyable book. Well, I guess my tastes have changed a lot in 10 years. This time through I thought the book was just okay. It wasn’t half as funny as I remembered. And even though it’s just a parody, the mystery plotline was just silly and way too far-fetched. Grade: C
More behind the cut!
3. Unmarried to Each Other by Marshall Miller and Dorian Solot – Loved this! Miller and Solot are a heterosexual couple who have no intention of getting married even though they are committed to each other and the relationship. (They founded the Alternatives to Marriage Project.) They know that they are not alone and thus they wrote a guide. This book was so good that, as I read it, I dog-eared some pages so that I could later share them with Doris, and she and I did eventually sit down and discuss them together. There’s tons of information about communicating about the relationship, discussing goals, deciding on whether or not it’s the right time to move in together, legal stuff, commitment ceremonies, how to handle others’ reactions to the fact that you’re not married, and lots more. The book is gay-friendly; much of it applies a lot more to hetero couples who don’t want to get married though plenty of it also applies to those who legally can’t marry. And you know what? There’s so much good relationship-discussion material that I think even married couples could get something out of this book. Grade: A-
4. The Exes by Pagan Kennedy – I’ve been itching to read a book by Kennedy ever since I read a great magazine article by her, in which she talked of being committed to her relationship with her best friend. The two are not lovers (they’re both straight females) but they share a deep bond, they live together, and highly value their friendship. Kennedy has published several books and I finally got my hands on one of them. “The Exes” is about a 4-member rock band in which each member is a former lover of another member. Each of the four chapters is told from one of the band member’s points of view. As the band gains a reputation and starts to tour, old romances rekindle and bridges burn, and Kennedy gives us our own insider tour of the indie music business. She has captured the spirits of these young musicians with depth and originality. It was a very fast read. Grade: B
5. Lady of the Light by Donna Gillespie – This novel is the sequel to the magnificent work “The Light Bearer”, which was an epic saga centering around Auriane, who is the daughter of a chieftain of a Germanic tribe at a time that ancient Rome is pushing further and further into their territory. It was fast paced, intriguing, well-written – just fantastic all around. I would even put it on a par with “The Mists of Avalon” and recommend it to anyone, whether or not they like historical fiction. It’s been about 7 years since I read the book and I looked forward to reading this sequel. Despite its very favorable reviews on Amazon, I personally had mixed feelings towards it. On the plus side: Gillespie still writes beautifully and I like her characters. She brings the setting to life and gives you a fascinating take on history and the events that are shaped by one powerful woman. The whole setting is brilliant – the Germanic tribes are being even more overwhelmed and conquered by the Romans; their ancient traditions are falling out of history. It’s always interesting to read about history from the perspective of those who lost a war. Gillespie also writes well of the mother-daughter relationship between Auriane and her first daughter Avenahar. Also, I liked getting to see what befell some of the characters from the first book such as the prophetess Ramis and Auriane’s first love (and one of my favorite characters), the Roman man Decius. But on the negative side: The plot moved slowly. Some scenes felt like they were 5 times longer than they needed to be and there were plenty of scenes that really didn’t need to be in there at all. I was shocked at that, since the first novel moved at breakneck speed and I found nothing in it superfluous. I also felt that the main male character, Marcus, is almost a bit too much like a hero of a romance novel – he’s unrealistically without flaw. I’m glad I read the book though, just to see what happened to all the characters I loved in the first novel and I still found it enjoyable despite its faults. It’s always hard for sequels of extraordinary works to follow up to the earlier book’s greatness. Grade: B
Books I started reading but didn’t finish:
1. After Eden by Valerie Miner – It seems that lately I’ve made myself finish a few books that I hadn’t really wanted to complete. I went back and forth on what to do with this book, getting more than 100 pages in, before I decided to give it the kibosh. Miner has written several other novels, one of which I loved (“All Good Women”) and the rest of which were just so-so. “After Eden” tells the tale of a woman who has a summer cottage in a quiet Californian town, who has recently lost her partner, whose cottage is in a community of cool lesbians, and who is getting back in touch with her brother. That previous sentence encompasses pretty much everything that occurred in the 100 pages I read. I like the setting a lot but nothing was happening. I wanted to like it though!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 01:22 pm (UTC)its funny how tastes change over time. a while back i watched a movie that i used to love and the 2nd time around i kept thinking uhm, so what was it about this movie i loved so much? i can't remember which it was off the top of my head. but sometimes that old movie or book or whatever is just as great (or even moreso) than the first time around :)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 02:11 pm (UTC)Sometimes it's kinda fun to see how your tastes change, right?
But sometimes they don't chage, in my case. (*cough* Jem. Duran Duran. Too many other 80's things to list *cough*)