Happy Thanksgiving

For those of you who celebrate it, Mr. Cranberry says, "Happy Thanksgiving"!

Review: Sylvie and the Songman

Title: Sylvie and the Songman
Author: Tim Binding
Illustrator: Angela Barrett
Publisher: David Fickling Books (2008)
Genre: Children's fantasy fiction
Book source: Book Diva's review group

Tim Binding’s book Sylvie and the Songman is a unique tale that explores the power of music. When Sylvie’s father disappears and the birds and animals all begin to lose their voices, Sylvie knows that it is up to her to unravel the mystery and rescue her Dad. George, her best friend, comes along and it does not take long before the dangers of their adventure threaten their safety. The sinister Woodpecker man and his cohorts are hunting them down so they must find refuge with the animals. Sylvie discovers her innate ability to communicate to animals and her special affinity to a fox. These abilities prove useful in their quest to overcome the evil Songman and foil his plan.

Sylvie and the Songman was an interesting novel with an unusual story. The plot was complex enough to be interesting to older children and adolescents. Sylvie was a likable character who was courageous and intelligent. I also liked the sinister characters. They helped to create the dangerous and mysterious atmosphere in the book. Tim Binding’s novel evidenced an appreciation for nature. His portrayal of animals was very creative. The pencil drawings also added to the enjoyment of the story. I would recommend it because of its complex themes and somewhat bizarre storyline. It is a great example of a creative and unique work of children's literature.

Where Are You?

Hosted by An Adventure In Reading - "Where is your reading taking you today?"

The book that I am reading today is set in present day New Orleans. A fifteen year old girl from New York is having to spend six months living in New Orleans. She is not too happy about it. I am not far enough into it yet to see what adventures she ends up on. - The book is called Ruined by Paula Morris

two mini reviews

Whoops ... I didn't realize that a week had gone by since I last posted. I have been reading heaps and instead of reviewing all the books lately I have moved straight onto a new book. Then I loose interest in writing the review for a book I finished a while ago. I will try to catch up by putting up some mini reviews over the next few days, that just share a few thoughts about the books I have read in the last few weeks or so.
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Title: The Castaways
Author: Elin Hilderbrand
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (2009)
Pages: 359
Book Source: My own copy

The Castaways are a group of four couples that are very close friends - they all live on the island of Nantucket. When one couple (Greg and Tess) die in a boating accident, leaving two young children and a string of mysteries, the other three couples are left to deal with the tragedy each in his/her own way. As the circumstances leading up to their death become known it seems that Greg and Tess's lives were not as straight forward as their friends thought... The point of view moves between all the different characters and we get to know Greg and Tess and their circle of friends by the retelling of stories from their past. The Castaways took many vacations together and the story of their relationships weave in an out from past and present. It was an enjoyable read because there was a lot going on. With so many main characters there was plenty of scope for human drama and tragedy. I kind of expected the boating accident to be more than an accident, but the book turned out to be predominantly about relationships.
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Title: Barefoot
Author: Elin Hilderbrand
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (2007)
Pages: 416
Book Source: My own copy

In her novel Barefoot, Elin Hilderbrand tells the story of three women from New York who spend a summer on Nantucket. Two of the women are sisters and one is a friend. They are all running from their problems and spend the summer trying to forget the reality of their situations. The friend Melanie, has just discovered her husband is having an affair and that she herself is pregnant with their first child after years of trying to fall pregnant. Brenda has just been fired from her position as an English professor due to her relationship with one of her students. She has also been charged with vandalizing a very expensive piece of art (after throwing a book that accidentally damaged it). Brenda's sister Vicki is having to deal with lung cancer. She undergoes treatment on the island. Also along for the summer are Vicki's two small boys. I was not particularly fond of this book. It moved kind of slow and was obviously fairly depressing. The way in which everything was resolved in the end seemed a bit unrealistic in Brenda's case and kind of annoying in Melanie's case. I thought that the thread about Vicki was probably the strongest. So Barefoot was not a book I would specifically recommend.

Review: Mercury In Retrograde

Title: Mercury In Retrograde
Author: Paula Froelich
Publisher: Atria Books (2009)
Genre: Fiction
Book Source: Review copy from publisher

This fun story focuses on three young women who live in the same apartment building in New York city. There lives are in chaos of one form or another. Dana Gluck is a divorced workaholic lawyer who is having difficulty in getting on with her social life but is very successful professionally. Other than work, the only place she ever goes is to Weight Watchers meetings. Penelope Mercury is a newspaper reporter who starts a fire in her workplace, and unexpectedly quits her job. She is running out of money to pay her bills. Another character, Lena Lippencrass, (nicknamed Lipstick) is a wealthy socialite who has been cut off from her parents money and has to learn to make it on her meager fashion editor's wage. One of her main dilemmas is how to afford the designer dresses that she needs to wear to the society events that she has to cover for her magazine. These three become friends over yoga lessons in Dana's apartment and help each other through the time of transition.

This light chick lit was funny, quick and easy to read. The writing was clear and smooth in the transitions back and forth between the different characters. Paula Froelich has been very creative with some of the ludicrous situations that these characters find themselves in. She keeps her readers interested with lots going on in a short space of time. As a comic look at life's various problems, Mercury In Retrograde is a success. Reading about the characters bumbling mistakes makes an entertaining way to escape from your own. So long as you take it for what it is intended I don't see why anyone would be disappointed. The coincidental forces that seemed to ruin the characters happiness in the beginning of the novel end up granting them (and us) satisfyingly happy endings.

Review: The Maze Runner

Title: The Maze Runner
Author: James Dashner
Publisher: Delacorte Press (2009)
Genre: YA, Science Fiction
Book Source: ARC from Publisher

The Maze Runner, first in a series, is an intriguing story about a group of teenage boys who are trapped in a mysterious place called The Glade. Just outside The Glade is a massive maze that appears to be unsolvable. The main character Thomas has just arrived, with no memories other than his name, yet he occasionally feels some faint traces of feeling that the place is familiar. While he is trying to adjust to his predicament he discovers that there are horrifying machine/beast creatures that attack the boys - especially in the maze at night. Fortunately they are secured in The Glade each night by big stone doors and walls. But what would happen if anyone ever gets stuck out there at night? Who created the maze? How will they ever get home to their families? The next day a girl arrives with a note from the creators and the end is triggered...

This novel sets up what looks to be a very suspenseful story with an end-of-the-world type theme. At first it seems that the action is confined to trying to solve the maze, but by the end of the novel the setting has broadened and new mysteries are hinted at. I look forward to reading the next installment and finding out what is going on. Dashner has created a strange but believable world that captured my interest and kept me reading. At first it felt a little repetitive when the boys circumstances were being described. I enjoyed it more as I got into it and things started happening. The book sort of felt like a computer game to me. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes suspenseful science fiction and particularly to teenage boys: what with the heroic young male protagonist, the spots of blood and gore plus the mysteries to solve I imagine it would be a great choice. It has been a while since I read any science fiction and I really enjoyed The Maze Reader.

100 Followers

Woo Hoo! The Reading Journey now has 100 followers!

Thank you to everyone who has been reading posts and leaving comments. I have been surprised at how quickly it has grown and how enjoyable blogging is.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

I recently took this photo in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant!

Review: Up Island

Title: Up Island
Author: Anne Rivers Siddons
Publisher: HarperCollins (1997)
Pages: 342
Genre: Fiction
Book Source: My Own Copy From A Library Sale

The title Up Island refers to the beautiful Martha's Vinyard up-island setting of this novel. The protagonist Molly Redwine starts out living in Atlanta but ends up finding an idyllic haven "Up Island". After her marriage falls apart, her various family members leave her, her mother dies and her home is taken from her, middle aged Molly is in a desperate situation. She does not know how to cope with the wreck of her life or how to begin a new future. When circumstances lead her to an isolated cottage on a pond, the solitude and close proximity to nature begins to have a healing effect. Anne Siddons has written about death, abandonment, and the complete loss of identity that accompanies the stripping away of everything a woman has poured her soul into. I have read other books that have similar story-line's to this one, but none as good as Up Island. Siddon's moved beyond stereotypes and created a greater depth to the "middle-aged woman finding herself" theme than I have seen in other works of this type.

Molly was a very detailed character who felt very realistic to me. As she dealt with all the emotional pain I could really see her strengthening and changing throughout the story. My favorite character though was Molly's father Tim. He was such a loving, caring person with a lot of dignity about him. The pacing of this book was good; it kept moving steadily. There were two distinct phases to the novel based on the setting. When I got into the second part I began to miss some of the characters from Atlanta and wonder what had become of them. Overall this was a captivating and creative story that explored some heavy themes. The ending was lovely and wrapped up without being too predictable (eg. woman goes back to husband or woman finds someone else). It was kind of open ended but implied that Molly had come to terms with the fact that her life would not be planned out or neatly organized. I loved the connection between nature and the soul. Also, the descriptions of the changing New England seasons really helped to evoke the feel of the story.

Quote: "Beyond all of it, the silver of the sea tossed and flashed. It was so utterly, picturesquely lovely, so somehow ridiculously operettalike, that I simply laughed. My heart squeezed with enchantment." (p.153)

Review: The Possibility of Everything

Title: The Possibility of Everything
Author: Hope Edelman
Publisher: Ballantine Books (2009)
Genre: Non-fiction - Memoir, Travel
Book Source: ARC from publisher

In The Possibility of Everything, Hope Edelman is a writer who is struggling to maintain order in her life and who finds herself very concerned about her three year old daughter Maya. Maya has taken up with Dodo, an imaginary friend, who causes behavioral changes and general disruption in her life. After seeking advice from books, Maya's doctor, teacher and a psychologist friend but finding no real solution to the problem of Dodo, Eldelman and her husband decide to take a vacation. Their choice is to go to Belize and bring Maya with them to consult with a shaman. This book details their journey, the people they meet and they way in which their lives change. Edelman writes about how she was a mainstream American mother who was skeptical about all things spiritual but how through these unusual experiences she discovered new possibilities.

Edelman is an amazing writer who somehow wrote an entire non-fiction book out of a one week vacation and the lead up to it. I figure that she must be a really good writer because she had me hooked even though the story is not one I would normally go for. The idea of taking a young child to Belize to see a healer in order to cure her of an imaginary friend seems quite bizarre to me and I did not identify with her parenting style. That being said, Edelman's ability to vividly describe her feelings as well as her surroundings made it very easy to enter her world. I feel like I have just watched a documentary film about Belize because Edelman's descriptive writing made it so easy to picture the places they visited. I also feel like I know the family. Edelman has effortlessly captured the reality of their lives and her state of mind at the time. The fear and confusion she felt is something we can all identify with at some point in our lives even if our method of solving our problems varies. Edelman's writing style is so smooth and polished that it was delightful to read. I am now keen to get a hold of her previous works . She wrote an international bestseller called Motherless Daughters about her experience of loosing her mother at a young age. After being introduced to her writing in The Possibility of Everything I am confident that her other books will contain the same emotional honesty.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

It's Tuesday... Where are you?

Hosted by An Adventure In Reading - "Where is your reading taking you today?"

Today I am in New York City in the early 1900's with Undine Spragg. She is trying to gain entrance into upper-class society by making an advantageous marriage. The book is The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton.