Keeping Faith (↑)

I've finished another book, a little later than I had previously expected. I mean I am home from school for Christmas, but the problem was that I've been super busy lately helping prepare for Christmas, that I haven't had much time for myself to just sit down and read (welcome to the real world, right?). Anyway, I've finished another Jodi Picoult novel: Keeping Faith. It was good, but I wouldn't really say it was one of my favourites. And it definitely didn't have the twists and turns that some of her other novels did. I do like the premise behind the novel, and as usual it was well developed.

The book is about a family that is getting divorced, and how a little girl develops an imaginary friend who is believed to be God. It follows this little girl and her mother as the media tries to exploit her. The father finds out and then starts to sue for custody, and then it all escalates from there. The idea of whether or not the child is actually talking to God is a good one, and is what drew me to the novel in the first place. It's hard to decide whether or not to believe her, or if they are making it all up. Picoult also developed a lot of the characters well so that the father's lawyer was one that I particularly couldn't stand and if I had met him in real life, I might actually have tried to smack him up side the head because he's that much of an irritant.  I always like when characters seem real and have those annoying traits, it makes the story so much more believable.

Anyway, I'm going to try and decide which book to start next. Until next time, Happy Reading!

The Last Concubine (~)

After how long, I have finally finished a book! The Last Concubine by Leslie Downer. It's a very informative book about Japanese culture in the 1800's, however, it was REALLY REALLY long, which at times made it difficult to get through, seeing as I was only able to read it randomly throughout my university semester (mostly 10 mins here and there). I wasn't really surprised to read about how women had no choice and were only thought as objects and weren't of value. That was similar to British culture of that time. What did surprise me was to what extremes they go to! I was also surprised by how the Japanese are bound by honour, and how they would rather kill themselves than become traitors, or retreat. Although it was too long, I still learned a lot, but I don't think I would recommend it to others unless they have a lot of time.

This book was about a girl who grew up in a village, but knew that she didn't belong there. She was then taken by the princess who was travelling through her village on her way to wed the shogun. As she grew up in the shogun's palace, she became very beautiful, and then became the shogun's concubine. War was started, and she had to flee, but along the way she fell in love with a samurai and meets her father and she decides she wants to find her true identity.

Anyway, onward to my next endeavor! Until then, Happy Reading!