Book report
Jul. 2nd, 2010 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisAh, the Friday of a holiday weekend! What do I have going on this evening? Well, I took a nap and now it’s time for a - book report!
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier – Remarkable novel. Taking place in 19th century England and inspired by a true story, this novel shares the story of two “spinsters” who are fossil hunters. One of them, Elizabeth, is educated and upper-class; the other, Mary, is impoverished and uneducated – always a few shillings away from losing everything. I listened to this book on CD, and both voice actresses were gifted. I don’t know how to convey how much I loved this book. Striking characters who were totally realistic, a plot that moved at a nice clip, many levels of intricacy and many themes raised and explored (friendship, class, what it means to be a “spinster”, the role of women). The two main characters are perfect foils to each other. I was transported to the magical yet harsh setting and could not wait to see how the story resolved itself. Grade: A
Committed by Dan Mathews – This is Mathews’ memoir. He has spent his life fighting for animal rights and doing so in very creative and unusual ways. This was on my “to read” list for literally a few years but I kept dodging it, for a lot of reasons. I don’t always agree with PETA’s methods or style, and – yet simultaneously - reading about cruelty to animals horrifies me. Reading about it makes me wish I did more besides sending money to the Humane Society and not eating meat . (And oh yeah, my employer? The one I’ve been employed by for 14 years which runs restaurants? Main ingredient on our menu? Meat!) So I was prepared to be majorly depressed, reading about stomach-turning treatment of animals on fur farms, in labs, and in factory farms. I was very, very pleasantly surprised by this book. While Mathews does include enough detail that you know why he does what he does, it’s not a diatribe. It’s actually fun. He has a light-hearted way of describing both his activism and his approach to life that make you want to go out and join him. He says that seeing videos of horrible treatment of animals doesn’t bother him as long as he can actively work to end and prevent such treatment. He’s got a great style in terms of being able to connect with people and get his point across. And the book was so engaging and action-packed that I read it in like two days. Grade: A-
More behind the cut.
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen – I listened to this novel on CD and really enjoyed it. Both voice actors (one playing elderly Jacob, one playing young Jacob) did a good job telling us the main character’s story. After suffering a family tragedy, he up and joins the circus. Great characters and a compelling story. My only complaints are that at times Jacob is a bit too perfect, and also every time the book switched to elderly Jacob’s point of view the story lost some momentum; it just wasn’t as compelling as the main storyline staring young Jacob. But overall the novel definitely brightened my commute. Grade: B
The Invisible Sex by Adovasio, Soffer, and Page (when there are more than two authors, I’m not going to bother with first names) – At times, this book was fascinating. I love prehistory. In this work, the authors try to reconstruct prehistory and specifically discern the roles of women. When did gender (not biological sex, but gender roles) become a part of the human experience? Were there matrifocal and/or matriarchal cultures? When did our ancestors evolve into modern humanity? What did all those Venus of Willendorfs really mean? There are a lot of tantalizing tidbits in here. I’m not sure they tied it all together as well as they could’ve (despite, of course, the fact that much is unknown). But they did make me want to explore the subject further. Grade: B
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James – I have to stop reading books like this. This is a novel taking place in Jamaica mostly in the year 1800, and the main character is a slave. I guess the fact is that I’ve always loved historical fiction, and I am interested in characters who face incredible odds. So I’ve read more than a few novels about slavery. This one spares us none of the brutality that slaves experienced. I definitely wanted to know what would happen to the spirited and torn main character, Lilith. I can’t say the book was at all pleasant to read – in fact it’s quite heartbreaking – but it’s masterfully written and engaging. Grade: B
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia – This novel – which is about three generations of Cuban woman, some living in the US and some still in Cuba -- had many elements of a great novel. Vivid descriptions, detail, vibrant characters. I didn’t get into it that much though. Maybe it makes me sound like a simpleton, but I prefer novels that go from point A to B to C, rather than ones that skip all around in terms of time and place. This one did a lot of skipping. It was beautifully written but didn’t draw me in. Grade: C+
Started reading, didn’t finish:
I had a few this time, but none worth mentioning. The more books I read, the less I feel guilty about abandoning a book on page 40 that hasn’t hooked me. I had a lot of good books in this crop. For each mediocre book I plod through, it keeps me from a good one like most of the above
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier – Remarkable novel. Taking place in 19th century England and inspired by a true story, this novel shares the story of two “spinsters” who are fossil hunters. One of them, Elizabeth, is educated and upper-class; the other, Mary, is impoverished and uneducated – always a few shillings away from losing everything. I listened to this book on CD, and both voice actresses were gifted. I don’t know how to convey how much I loved this book. Striking characters who were totally realistic, a plot that moved at a nice clip, many levels of intricacy and many themes raised and explored (friendship, class, what it means to be a “spinster”, the role of women). The two main characters are perfect foils to each other. I was transported to the magical yet harsh setting and could not wait to see how the story resolved itself. Grade: A
Committed by Dan Mathews – This is Mathews’ memoir. He has spent his life fighting for animal rights and doing so in very creative and unusual ways. This was on my “to read” list for literally a few years but I kept dodging it, for a lot of reasons. I don’t always agree with PETA’s methods or style, and – yet simultaneously - reading about cruelty to animals horrifies me. Reading about it makes me wish I did more besides sending money to the Humane Society and not eating meat . (And oh yeah, my employer? The one I’ve been employed by for 14 years which runs restaurants? Main ingredient on our menu? Meat!) So I was prepared to be majorly depressed, reading about stomach-turning treatment of animals on fur farms, in labs, and in factory farms. I was very, very pleasantly surprised by this book. While Mathews does include enough detail that you know why he does what he does, it’s not a diatribe. It’s actually fun. He has a light-hearted way of describing both his activism and his approach to life that make you want to go out and join him. He says that seeing videos of horrible treatment of animals doesn’t bother him as long as he can actively work to end and prevent such treatment. He’s got a great style in terms of being able to connect with people and get his point across. And the book was so engaging and action-packed that I read it in like two days. Grade: A-
More behind the cut.
Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen – I listened to this novel on CD and really enjoyed it. Both voice actors (one playing elderly Jacob, one playing young Jacob) did a good job telling us the main character’s story. After suffering a family tragedy, he up and joins the circus. Great characters and a compelling story. My only complaints are that at times Jacob is a bit too perfect, and also every time the book switched to elderly Jacob’s point of view the story lost some momentum; it just wasn’t as compelling as the main storyline staring young Jacob. But overall the novel definitely brightened my commute. Grade: B
The Invisible Sex by Adovasio, Soffer, and Page (when there are more than two authors, I’m not going to bother with first names) – At times, this book was fascinating. I love prehistory. In this work, the authors try to reconstruct prehistory and specifically discern the roles of women. When did gender (not biological sex, but gender roles) become a part of the human experience? Were there matrifocal and/or matriarchal cultures? When did our ancestors evolve into modern humanity? What did all those Venus of Willendorfs really mean? There are a lot of tantalizing tidbits in here. I’m not sure they tied it all together as well as they could’ve (despite, of course, the fact that much is unknown). But they did make me want to explore the subject further. Grade: B
The Book of Night Women by Marlon James – I have to stop reading books like this. This is a novel taking place in Jamaica mostly in the year 1800, and the main character is a slave. I guess the fact is that I’ve always loved historical fiction, and I am interested in characters who face incredible odds. So I’ve read more than a few novels about slavery. This one spares us none of the brutality that slaves experienced. I definitely wanted to know what would happen to the spirited and torn main character, Lilith. I can’t say the book was at all pleasant to read – in fact it’s quite heartbreaking – but it’s masterfully written and engaging. Grade: B
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia – This novel – which is about three generations of Cuban woman, some living in the US and some still in Cuba -- had many elements of a great novel. Vivid descriptions, detail, vibrant characters. I didn’t get into it that much though. Maybe it makes me sound like a simpleton, but I prefer novels that go from point A to B to C, rather than ones that skip all around in terms of time and place. This one did a lot of skipping. It was beautifully written but didn’t draw me in. Grade: C+
Started reading, didn’t finish:
I had a few this time, but none worth mentioning. The more books I read, the less I feel guilty about abandoning a book on page 40 that hasn’t hooked me. I had a lot of good books in this crop. For each mediocre book I plod through, it keeps me from a good one like most of the above
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 02:44 pm (UTC)Committed sounds interesting too. I have similar qualms about PETA as an organization--they treat their fellow humans so appallingly that I couldn't care less what they do for the animals--but that guy sounds like he's got the right idea.
Have you read anything by Temple Grandin? She's a high-functioning autistic who does a lot of work on farms and slaughterhouses to make them as humane as possible. Her condition, the way her brain works, makes her relate to animals very well, so she talks a lot about figuring out what, specifically, is going through their heads and uses that to make their lives better.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-03 06:27 pm (UTC)I look forward to the "Water" movie.
Thanks for reading my review!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 02:49 am (UTC)My pleasure!
BTW.... Did I imagine/dream this, or did you have a brief review here of Avatar that I very quickly snarked on?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-04 10:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 05:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-05 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-09 07:05 pm (UTC)i got water for elephants once from the library and ran out of time and had to return it. i'll have to give it another try (also, great that it's available on cd! 90% of the reading im doing these days is on cd.
i have remarkable creatures on my 'to-do' list ;)
re: dreaming in cuban... i think i read a book a while back that was based in cuba and it too was constantly jumping timelines and locations and it drove me nuts. i don't think it was this one though.
was the invisible sex more of an academic type book?
thanks for sharing!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-09 09:32 pm (UTC)I hope you love Remarkable Creatures too.
I'd say Invisible Sex tried really hard to be non-academic. And it succeded. It wasn't a drag to read at all.