To Bare One's Soul Could Take More than Just a Drawing

Never Let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Set in England in the late 1990’s, we meet Kathy H. as a carer for over 11years. We learn that Kathy loves her job, but has plenty of time to look back over her short life of 31 years. Her job has hard parts but is still fulfilling to her, even while she has no choice. As Kathy looks back, the audience goes with her back to her childhood, we get to know her and her friends that she grows up with. We learn about the odd ideas that are taught to them at Hailsham, the place where they grew up. We meet Ruth and Tommy and grow with the deep connection that the characters feel.

This author did an amazing job. The writing style was breath taking. I enjoyed thoroughly how he would introduce an idea, an idea that the audience has never heard of before, helps us learn to accept the idea, then plainly states what we were starting to understand when he first introduced it to us. There is no easy way to explain this, you will just have to read it to see what I mean. I would love to write some day, but I know that I could never write like this. I would get to excited, and I would ruin the whole thing by a couple of misplaced words.

I also loved that this book was not set in the future, but in the not so distant past. The ideas that were thrown around were not easy to swallow and the thought that this was happening across the ocean less than five years ago and had been going on since the fifties was a fantastic edge to the story.

With all of the parts of this story that I liked, I absolutely loved the idea of Norfolk, the place where all of the lost items are found. It was comical to me that when they were children, they made such a big deal out of the little area on the coast just because the guardian teaching social studies didn’t have a picture of it. Then you bring this idea to real life and I think of lost items of my own, items so dear to me that even 9 years later it still brings a crushing feeling to my chest. I wish there was a place like Norfolk that we could all go to and find the lost items of our lives. In the story, I loved Tommy and Kathy finding that tape in Norfolk. Most of all, my favorite was the very last paragraph of the book.

On a printing style thought, I didn’t understand the designation of the “parts” of the story. Usually there is something artistic about dividing a book up, but if there was something there, I missed it. The only thing I can come up with is that part one was Hailsham, part two is the Cottages, and part three is the ending. If I got it right, there doesn’t seem to be anything artistic in it and I may need to slow down and re-read.

Thank you for reading. I enjoyed the June book club’s choice and I was excited to go to my second meeting. Leave me a comment, if you have any thoughts!

Another Maximum Ride Novel

Max: A Maximum Ride Novel by James Patterson

Max is the fifth book in the Maximum Ride series, and much like the preceding books, Max is about the awareness of the pollution that humans are contributing to the earth. The Maximum Ride novels are a young adult series about 5 kids that were mutated with bird DNA and have small bone structure and have grown wings. They can fly, but besides that, they are normal kids, trying to save the world and grow up at the same time. In Max, the flock is helping the CSM, Coalition to Stop the Madness raise awareness of pollution and the environment by performing public air shows. By this time, the flock has grown very popular with sightings, public fights with the bad guys, and of course, Fang’s blog.

Since finding her real Mom, Max has been desperately trying to get to know her and her half sister Ella, she is with her all of the time, but when her mom is kidnapped, the flock has to try anything to get her back. It is discovered that she is under water and the US Navy helps the flock track her down. During their adventures, Max finally has a real first date with Fang, but all progress is lost when the young Dr. Brigid Dwyer comes back on the scene and continues to flirt heavily with Fang, much to Max’s disapproval. Before the end of the book, Max confesses her love for Fang, and there is still a hope that their young love will blossom.

Again, the main point of this series has turned into an environmental stance. I am very turned off by preachy books, so therefore, since the story line started to change, so has my interest in the series. There are two more books out at this point, and I have very little interest in continuing the series. The writing is just not that good and the story line has gotten weaker instead of stronger with time. The only thought of continuation is because I know I can get them for free from the library, and of course I hate leaving something undone. The next question that comes to mind, is this series ever going to end? Is Patterson going to keep it going forever? If so, I’m going to have to just stop while I’m ahead. If I knew there was only going to be 2 or 3 more books, I would probably continue, but thinking about the series going on and on makes me a little tired. I just can’t do it. There are too many wonderful books out there that wouldn’t feel like a waste of my time.

So, any thoughts, should I continue the series? If so, why? Happy Reading!

Fate...Pondering the Idea of It

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I am slowly trying to read the classics. As a lover of literature, it is usually assumed that I have read many classics and have a library of first editions behind a thick panel of glass on a beautiful antique bookshelf. Well your assumption is wrong, and it would probably surprise you that I have never read any of the classics, until after college. So, it’s a new challenge that I have given myself to read as many classics as I can. We’ll just say it’s a bucket list item (the only one on the list thus far, I plan on living a real long time). Of course close to the top of the list was Jane Eyre. Ever since I read Wuthering Heights, I knew that I wanted to read Jane Eyre too. With Wuthering Heights being one of my all time favorites, I knew that her sister’s book wouldn’t be too much of a stretch. Now I wish the Bronte sisters would have written more. Even though their genres and writing styles are very different, they both were excellent authors and I loved both of their books.

With most classics, it’s hard not to know some things that are going to happen. From time to time you hear about classics because people assume that a person that loves to read as much as I do, has read them, therefore, I’ve heard things about Jane Eyre. Dramatic turns in the story, people being left at the alter, and other rumors have been said or I’ve read about them in other books. Luckily things were very different than what I assumed, from these whispers. I kept being caught by surprise because I didn’t know that the changes in the story were going to happen. Without getting into details that would ruin the surprises for you, know that I often didn’t realize that how the story was going to change until it did. And therefore, I loved it!

I loved Jane’s character, she was multidimensional and everyone that met her loved her. What is funny about that, is that the book revolves around people that don’t love her because of who she was born from instead of getting to know her and who she was growing up to be. One surprise was that the book watches Jane Eyre grow up, and this was a great way to capture her personality and character. When she was spending her first winter at school, I couldn’t help but feel absolutely horrible for her. She was miserable, and Bronte helped the audience feel her pain along with her. And of course the story of love that transcends and overcomes all obstacles. Even though the audience doesn’t know where the story will end, the idea of love is interwoven throughout the entire story. It makes you ponder fate in a whole new way.

All of that to say, if you are looking to grow yourself and read a classic, I think Jane Eyre is a great place to start (or continue). The book was a fast read and it was easy to understand, with the occasional word to look up, since it was written in the 1800’s. I suggest it for readers of all ages.

Let me know what you think, leave a comment!

Remembering Loves From Lives Before

My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

So after many years of searching and pining over finding a book club, I have finally found one. I have had friends in other cities talk about their book clubs and I have always been a little jealous because that is so up my alley. I went to my first book club meeting on May 20th and guess what? I didn’t even finish the book. They graciously let me stay in the club, but I gave my word that I would do better next time.

My Name is Memory was the first book I was charged to read in the “Olive Books, book club” and I finished it just a few hours shy of the deadline. I am glad that I took the time to finish it before I charged on to the next read.

Daniel moved to Lucy’s school when they were both juniors in high school. Even though they didn’t share but a few words during the duration of their high school career, Lucy was drawn to him. She spent those two years dwelling on how he would react to all of the different things she did, from the clothes she wore, to the food she ate, she would fantasize about how Daniel would react to her daily decisions. On the evening of their senior party, Daniel actually talks to her, but to her surprise, she doesn’t like what he has to say. He explains that he is a special boy, he is just like the rest of the human race in the fact that all souls are reincarnated and brought back to earth many times to fulfill each soul’s purpose. But he is special in the sense that he can remember each life no matter how long or short. In his first life he was a soldier and the audience went along with his older brother and a few others to burn down a village that had been hiding their tribe’s enemies. He burned down a few huts and came to another and could not get it to start. He met the eyes of a girl that would haunt him the rest of his lives. He burnt the hut down and watched her die. Throughout the centuries to follow he would find this soul even though she would look different, his soul was destined to find hers. His older brother from his first life was also in and out of Daniel’s life. He had darkness about him that Daniel could always recognize and evil precedes him in all of his different lives.

Let’s start with the dislikes, I found myself confused during the first few chapters because I could never figure out where the story was taking place. There was a header that would say a city and a date, but not a lot of further explanation was given after that. After a while I got used to it or I just gave it a little more thought, either way it became less confusing as the book progressed.

I also found some of the “surprises” not surprising. A better way of stating that, is there wasn’t much that was introduced that took me by surprise. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail with that because I’m just not in the mood to give spoilers. All that to say, you probably won’t be sitting on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what’s going on, pretty self explanatory.

Now for what I enjoyed; there is a suspense that comes with reading a book that the audience knows all the different sides of the story and the other characters do not. I personally write in first person and often gravitate to books written in the first person, but it was a nice change of pace to read a third person piece.

One tiny detail that I just had to bring up is the fact that Daniel actually facebook stalked her. He not only stalked her in the story, which has become this romantic notion in young adult literature, but he checked up on her status changes, which cracked me up.

The last idea that I wanted to talk about was the whole remembering idea. I first of all do not believe in reincarnation and so this became a fantasy novel for me from the beginning. But I did enjoy that Constance, one of Lucy’s former selves made her remember. She felt so passionate about Daniel that she not only left herself a letter, but made Lucy remember through dreams and visions. I like the idea of that kind of love that goes beyond time and space. Even when you can’t remember, love makes you remember. It’s a neat concept.

So, what did you think, did you read My Name is Memory? Did you enjoy it? Who was your favorite character?