Twilight (↓)

I've finished a book. I've finally started reading the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyers. I'm going to read the whole series to say I've read them, but honestly, I don't really like them. I couldn't wait for Twilight to be over when I was reading it.

Anyway, for those of you who have been living in a hole the past few years, Twilight is about a human girl who falls in love with a vampire. The whole book is so far-fetched in the romance department, that it almost makes you sick to read. It almost ruins the ideals young women (teenagers, seeing as that is the audience this book is written for) that they should be expecting for love when they get into a relationship. It also can influence the young women to believe that no matter what trouble they get into their 'knight in shining armour' will come to rescue them, which isn't always true.

Overall, I have to say that I didn't really like the book. The characters were too basic (and annoying...), the storyline was dumb and basic, and the writing was too simple.  I would recommend it to anyone who wants a quick and easy read that they don't have to think about, and won't be nagging them later with unanswered questions. You can definitely tell it was written for a younger audience by comparing the writing of Ms. Meyers with any adult fiction writer.

anyway, I am onward to reading the 2nd novel in the series. Let's hope I enjoy it a little more than the last one.

Until next time, 

Happy reading everyone!

Sushi For Beginners (~)

I have finally finished another book! It's called Sushi For Beginners by Marian Keyes. I've already read a book by her, and didn't think it was anything spectacular, but I decided to give her another try. Again, it wasn't the best book in the world, and it really doesn't have any substance to it, but it's still one of those books you want to read in order to make you feel good. I guess you could say that it's 'chick lit'. The only thing is, I came out more sad after reading it. I don't know whether it's because I'm already feeling lonely, or if the book in general made me sad. Who knows!

Anyway, the book is about 3 women who have 'inter-connected' lives. It's about how these women go about trying to find their happiness in life, and all the 'trials and tribulations' they have to through beforehand. I guess you could say that it's a pretty sappy book, or at least the theme of it is. It's 564 pages long, but really it didn't need to be that long. But sometimes authors want to expand their storyline more than it should be expanded.  The good thing is, Marian Keyes doesn't insist on describing everything in a room, she tends to leave that up to the reader. Another thing I liked about the books is that it's set in Ireland, yes it does sometimes make it hard to understand what the characters are saying because they use slang words that I've never heard of before. But that's just something you have to deal with, I suppose.

All-in-all, it's an okay book.

Hopefully, I'll be able to settle on one book a lot easier/faster than the last time! Until next time, happy reading!

Craving a Read

This is horrible. I've been trying to find the perfect book now for a couple days. I flipped through the library books I picked up, but none of them seemed in the least bit appealing. I settled on Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. It's over 800 pages long, so we'll see if I will last through out the entire thing. Let's hope it satisfies my craving of the perfect book to read. If not, I might think about reading Memoirs of a Geisha.

The Journal of Hélène Berr (~)

I've finished another book! The Journal of Hélène Berr. It's a true story, of a Jewish woman, in Paris during WWII. It's similar to The Diary of Anne Frank, only, Hélène is 22 years old and is a university student. It really allows a person who has not lived through the war to grasp how horrible Jews were treated. I liked the book because of this perspective, BUT I didn't like it because it was very poetic (she was an English literature major) and sometimes hard to follow. It also differs from The Diary of Anne Frank in that Hélène wasn't hiding from the Gestapo, while Anne and her family were. 

I must say that Hélène should be an inspiration to anyone. She was a strong woman, she cared so much for everyone, especially the little children who became orphans because their parents were deported and (probably) killed. She dealt with being mocked and criticized for being Jewish. I'm not doing her justice here, but all I can say really is that she was an amazing woman, and if she had survived the war, she would've been an amazing mother and grandmother. She would've taught her children compassion, which is what the world needs more of at the moment.

Anyway, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the suffering of the Jews during WWII.

Until next time! Happy reading!

If Life Was Like a Story...

I've been thinking off and on about this idea for awhile now. I have joined a penpal site, and sometimes, people don't respond, or they have many friends they talk about, but I don't know them. I know this probably sounds weird...But I've come to realize that everyone has a story. How they came to be the person they are today. What made them that way, who they're friends are, and why they are the way they are. When you write a book, a character must be introduced. It's like they are being created from scratch in front of your eyes. They have no prior history, they can focus all their attention on you, you don't have to be careful how you act around them, because they have no prior history, so they have no memories or which could be triggered.

I guess what I'm saying, is that making friends is difficult. It'd be much easier if when you are trying to make friends, you don't have to compete with the old ones they already have. You don't have to worry about prior histories of friendships, relationships, and other things. I wish life could be like a story you're writing yourself, where you can make up people as you meet them, and if you don't like that person, or you make a bad mistake, you can delete it easily, and not have any repercussions. But I guess the problem with this is that you would never learn from your mistakes, and you would be bound to continuously repeat the same thing over and over again. But if you are the one writing the story, then you will still have to memory of that mistake, and you wouldn't repeat it even if you deleted it...hmm, fascinating topic...The way I suggested it, it sounds like if you delete something from your "story" then, you would also delete it from your memory, but I also described it as if you delete something from you "story" then it wouldn't be deleted from your memory...Hard to decide which is better...

I will think on this some more, and get back to  you.

Happy Reading!

Slumdog Millionaire (↑)

I have finished a book, finally! And I have finished my 3rd year of university so I have a lot of time on my hands, so I should be writing more blogs more often! Anyway, the book I have finished reading is called Slumdog Millionaire. It's the book that the movie is based off of. It's a really good book, and brings to light the horrible plight of poverty-stricken people. I'm not really sure in what era this book was set, but if it's in this day and age, I am shocked to learn that there are still people living in horrible little slums, with no running water, and no electricity. It also makes me sad that the poor are persecuted so easily in that country, and that religion plays such an important part in making decisions of who you can be friends with and who you can't be friends with. I guess in some areas of the world, they are still "backwards". Hopefully someday that will be rectified.

Until next time, happy reading!

Vanishing Acts (↑)

I have finished a book! Finally, you say!

This one is another by Jodi Picoult. It wasn't as good as the Tenth Circle, but I still liked it all the same. It's about a woman who finds out she was kidnapped by her father 30 years before. Her father is then arrested for said crime, and they go on trial in Arizona. It basically tells the story of this trial and all the other proceedings, and other things that go on outside of the court-room.

It is also told from many different perspectives, which I didn't think I would like at first, but I'm glad I did. It made me gain respect for the inmates in prison, along with made me realize the alliances and fights that can occur in prison and how dangerous that place actually is.

I really don't have much else to say about this book, other than I would recommend it to anyone who wants a fairly fast paced read, but wants a longer book.

Anyway, until next time, Happy reading!