Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Author: J.K. Rowling
Pages: 607
Published: 2005
Challenges: Finishing the Series, Harry Potter Re-Read, Chunkster
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Personal

Description: It is the middle of the summer, but there is an unseasonal mist pressing against the windowpanes. Harry Potter is waiting nervously in his bedroom at the Dursleys' house in Privet Drive for a visit from Professor Dumbledore himself. One of the last times he saw the Headmaster was in a fierce-one-to-one duel with Dumbledore with Lord Voldemort, and Harry can't quite believe that Professor Dumbledore will actually appear at the Dursleys' of all places. Why is the professor coming to visit him now? What is it that cannot wait until Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks' time? Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts has already got off to an unusual start, as the worlds of Muggle and magic start to intertwine ... (from Goodreads)

Thoughts: This is one of my favourite books in the Harry Potter series for a number of reasons.  My first reason is that the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore.  Dumbledore is able to impart information to Harry in way that doesn't make Harry feel inadequate or a child, but rather in a mature manner that allows Harry to ask the questions that he needs to ask.  Secondly, it shows how Harry has grown since the last book, not only in age but also in maturity and knowledge of what lies ahead for him.  The final reason that I like this book is because the author allows the book to build and gives the reader just enough to wonder what is going on but still be surprised by what happens, especially when reading he book for the first time.

Bottom line: While I had moments in which I felt that the book was hard sometimes to get through, I found the book to be a pleasurable and enjoyable read.  The book is a good continuation of the series and is an excellent jumping off point for the final book in the series.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.75/5

If you have read this book, what did you like or didn't like about the book?

2015 Chunkster Challenge

This is another enjoyable challenge that I have done over the past few years and as long you read a book that is over 450 pages and its not a graphic novel, you are fine.  My goal this year is to read about 10 chunky books.  I will link my books here with my reviews while also on the Chunkster Reading Challenge website.

Books read:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness

Title: A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy #1)
Author: Deborah Harkness
Pages (File size): 579 (1.5 MB)
Published: 2011
Challenges: Chunkster, E-books, I Love Libraries
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.  (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: Even though there were times that it was difficult for me to concentrate on the book and felt that it was a little slow at times, I liked how the author was able to draw the reader into the story and allow us to root for the two main characters. 

I can see where some readers have had an issue with the book, as the book does seem to drag a bit during the middle portion of the book, but I felt that the middle was probably the strongest part of the book.

Bottom line: It was a pretty good start to the series and I am looking forward to reading the other two books in the series.  If you have enjoyed other paranormal fantasy books, you probably will enjoy this book.  Recommended.

Rating:  3.75/5

Pages for 2014: 25,665

If you have enjoyed this book, what did you think of it?

Bridge to Haven - Francine Rivers

Title: Bridge to Haven
Author: Francine Rivers
Pages: 500
Published: 2014
Challenges: Chunkster, Historical Fiction, I Love Libraries
Genre: Christian Fiction
Edition: Trade Paperback
Source: Library

Description: To those who matter in 1950s Hollywood, Lena Scott is the hottest rising star to hit the silver screen since Marilyn Monroe. Few know her real name is Abra. Even fewer know the price she s paid to finally feel like she s somebody. To Pastor Ezekiel Freeman, Abra will always be the little girl who stole his heart the night he found her, a wailing newborn abandoned under a bridge on the outskirts of Haven. Zeke and his son, Joshua Abra s closest friend watch her grow into an exotic beauty. But Zeke knows the circumstances surrounding her birth etched scars deep in her heart, scars that leave her vulnerable to a fast-talking bad boy who proclaims his love and lures her to Tinseltown. Hollywood feels like a million miles from Haven, and naive Abra quickly learns what s expected of an ambitious girl with stars in her eyes. But fame comes at an awful price. She has burned every bridge to get exactly what she thought she wanted. Now, all she wants is a way back home. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: While I am Christian, I find that the vast majority of Christian that is on the market is very formulaic and while this book does probably a certain element of that formulaic model, the book had a quality to the writing that drew me into the story.  I felt that the characters were believable and real, as though they really could have existed and I also liked how Josh and Abra were able to build the foundation of their relationship through establishing a friendship before starting a romantic relationship.

Bottom line: While for the most part I really enjoyed the book, I did feel that the book started out a little slower than I expected.  Overall, it was a pretty decent story that will please most fans of Christian fiction.  Highly Recommended.

Rating: 4.25/5

Pages for 2014: 24,672

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

Title: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Pages: 531
Published: 2014
Challenges: Chunkster, Historical Fiction, I Love Libraries
Genre: Historical Fiction
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.

In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: I really liked this book, particularly how the author played off the two main character, Werner and Maire Laure.  I came to care about each of them and saw them as individuals who only wanted to survive and I also liked how the author used time shifts within the book: pre-war, during the war, post-war and present day.

Bottom line: Even though it is a long book, it reads like a novel that is a hundred pages less because the short parts within the book and also it allows the reader to become involved with the characters.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.25/5

Pages for 2014: 23,535

Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Brontë
Pages (File Size): 450 (680 KB)
Published: 2012 (first published 1847)
Challenges: Chunkster, E-book, R.I.P IX
Genre: Classic, Gothic
Edition: E-book
Source: Personal

Description: Wuthering Heights is the tale of two families both joined and riven by love and hate. Cathy is a beautiful and wilful young woman torn between her soft-hearted husband and Heathcliff, the passionate and resentful man who has loved her since childhood. The power of their bond creates a maelstrom of cruelty and violence which will leave one of them dead and cast a shadow over the lives of their children. (via ChaptersIndigo)

Thoughts: This was a second re-read for me and probably because I was frantically trying to get the book completed prior to a book club meeting, I was unable to enjoy the book as much as I did the first time I re-read the book.

As much as Heathcliff is supposedly this romantic hero of sorts, I found him to be manipulative and selfish, as I did with the characters of that generation and as a result I had a hard time having any sort of sympathy for them, unlike their offspring, which I had a lit more sympathy for; the parents seemed to play a game of one-ups-manship, almost trying to see how well they could out-manipulate each other.

Bottom line:  This book is one of the best examples of Victorian gothic literature and there is a reason that it is a classic and even though this read of the book didn't give me a great impression of some of the characters this time around, you can see why not only this book has stood the test of time, but also why Emily Brontë would have probably been a very prolific writer in this particular genre, had she lived longer.   I would recommend this book not only to fans of classics, but also those that enjoy reading gothic literature.  Recommended to Highly recommended.

Rating: 3.75/5

Pages for 2014: 22,764

The Guns of August - Barbara W. Tuchman

Title: The Guns of August
Author: Barbara W. Tuchman
Pages (File Size): 566 (8.7 MB)
Published: 2009 (first published 1962)
Challenges: Chunkster, E-book, I Love Libraries, Non-Fiction, War Through the Generations
Genre: Non-Fiction
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: In this landmark, Pulitzer Prize–winning account, renowned historian Barbara W. Tuchman re-creates the first month of World War I: thirty days in the summer of 1914 that determined the course of the conflict, the century, and ultimately our present world. Beginning with the funeral of Edward VII, Tuchman traces each step that led to the inevitable clash. And inevitable it was, with all sides plotting their war for a generation. (via ChaptersIndigo)

Thoughts: If there was anything that I did like about this book it was the detail that the author included in the book.  I particularly like the chapters that the author devoted on the four main combatants (Britain, France, Germany and Russia) at the start of the First World War in August, 1914 (the United States did not enter until 1917) and the social and political climate leading up to the start of this conflict.

What I did not like was the fact that the author spent way too much time describing things in such detail that I would sometimes literally fall asleep while trying to read the book.  And yet, there were times that I was engaged with the book and really enjoyed those details, so it was a catch-22 scenario.

Bottom line: If you are interested in reading about wars and battles, you probably would enjoy this read.  Recommended.

Rating: 3/5

Pages for 2014: 21,595

Under the Wide and Starry Sky - Nancy Horan

Title: Under the Wide and Starry Sky
Author: Nancy Horan
Pages (File Size): 496 (3.15 KB)
Published: 2014 (first published 2013)
Challenges: Blogger Summer Reading, E-Book, Historical Fiction, Chunkster, I Love Libraries
Genre: Historical Fiction
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium—with her three children and nanny in tow—to study art. It is a chance for this adventurous woman to start over, to make a better life for all of them, and to pursue her own desires.  Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated “belle Americaine.”
            
Fanny does not immediately take to the slender young lawyer who longs to devote his life to writing—and who would eventually pen such classics as Treasure Islandand The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson’s charms, and the two begin a fierce love affair—marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness—that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson’s own unforgettable tales. (via ChaptersIndigo)

Thoughts: I really liked the concept and the title of the book.  As well, I had also heard a lot about this book from fellow bloggers that I thought I would give the book a try.  I can honestly say that prior to the reading the book that I had never had heard of Fanny and never knew that Robert Louis Stevenson (referred to as RLS after this) was married prior to this; all I knew was of RLS wrote several well-known book, along with a book of children's verse.

While the subject matter was fascinating, I felt that the book at times was drawn out and that the author got bogged down in some of the details of the story and didn't allow the story to grow a little more organically; it just seemed to drag on too much for my tastes.

Bottom line: If you enjoy fictionalized books about the lives of famous people and/or their family members, you probably will enjoy this one.  Recommended.

Rating: 3.25/5

Pages for 2014: 20,229

The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith

Title: The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1)
Author: Robert Galbraith
Pages (File Size): 465 (784 KB)
Published: 2013
Challenges: Blogger Summer Reading, Chunkster, E-Book, I Love Libraries
Genre: Mystery, Crime
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide. After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts:  Heard about this book about 18 months ago and it did not disappoint.  The characters were really well developed and kept me engaged with the story from the start, even if there were times I felt it lagged at time, make me wonder what really did happen and who really did do it.  If there was anything that was a bit of a disappointment with the book, it was that I wished Robin was around more during the course of the book.

Bottom line: Really enjoyed the book and has the potential to be quite a good series and should be of interest to those that enjoy well-written crime fiction.  Recommended.

Rating: 3.8/5

Pages for 2014: 18,629

If you have read this book, what did you think of it?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter #6)
Author: J.K. Rowling
Pages: 607
Published: 2005
Challenges: Blogger Summer Reading, Chunkster
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Personal

Description: It is the middle of the summer, but there is an unseasonal mist pressing against the windowpanes. Harry Potter is waiting nervously in his bedroom at the Dursleys' house in Privet Drive for a visit from Professor Dumbledore himself. One of the last times he saw the Headmaster was in a fierce-one-to-one duel with Dumbledore with Lord Voldemort, and Harry can't quite believe that Professor Dumbledore will actually appear at the Dursleys' of all places. Why is the professor coming to visit him now? What is it that cannot wait until Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks' time? Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts has already got off to an unusual start, as the worlds of Muggle and magic start to intertwine ... (via Goodreads)

Thoughts:  While this book is not my favourite book in the Harry Potter series (Prisoner of Azkaban is), but is definitely is a close second.  One thing I did like about the book is that it does help to establish what is likely going to happen in the final book and allows for the story to move along, without giving away too much of what happens in the end.  There were times that the book was a bit slower, but things seemed to pick up again fairly quickly.

I also like the character development of the main characters and how they are starting to mature into young adults..  I particularly also like the background that the reader is given about Voldemort, as one is given a sense of his motives, even though they are evil, and where he has come from; it helps to give one a clearer picture of him.  But I also liked the side plot of figuring out who the Half-Blood Prince is (if you have read it, then you know, but I am not going to give away anything for those that haven't read the book).

Bottom line: It is a good set up for the final book, especially since the book introduces things that will become key components in the final book.  And like the other books have demonstrated, the book builds on the previous book and is meant for a more mature reading audience, as there are things in the book that could possibly scare younger kids.  But only a parent could be the judge of that.  I would recommend the book to those that have already read the previous five books and wish to complete the series.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.75/5

Pages for 2014: 18,164

If you have read the book, what did you think about it?

Empty Mansions - Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.

Title: Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguett Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
Author: Bill Dedman and Paul Clark Newell Jr.
Pages (File Size): 496 (11.4 MB)
Published: 2013
Challenges: Blogger Summer Reading, E-Book, Chunkster, Non-fiction, I Love Libraries
Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Biography
Edition: E-book
Source: Library

Description: When Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the nineteenth century with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, why had she lived for twenty years in a simple hospital room, despite being in excellent health? Why were her valuables being sold off? Was she in control of her fortune, or controlled by those managing her money? (from Goodreads)

Thoughts: It was definitely an interesting book, in that it one learned about the uber-rich and the strange lives that some of these individuals have lived.  Other than the odd bits of fascinating information about the Clark family, I felt that the language was simplistic at times and felt that Ms. Clark was portrayed as being a bit too sympathetic at times.  I also felt that the author never really delved too much into Ms. Clark's life and treated her with kid gloves.

Bottom line:  It was definitely an intriguing story and was worth reading.  If you are interested in learning about those who are a bit odd or even those who are/were uber-rich, then I would recommend this book for you.  Recommended.

Rating: 3/5

Pages for 2014: 16,801

If you have read this book, what did you think about it?

The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt

Title: The Goldfinch
Author: Donna Tartt
Pages: 771
Published: 2013
Challenges: Blogger Summer Reading, Chunkster
Genre: Contemporary, Literary, Ficiton
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Personal

Description: It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle. (from Goodreads)

Thoughts:  After reading a number of book reviews over the past few months, I realized that I needed to borrow the audiobook from the library and it was a good decision in the end, as I was able to get through several portions of the book.  When all I wanted to do was to give up, even though there were sections that I really enjoyed reading.

I will say that Ms. Tartt's ability to allow the reader to as though they are actually in the place being described.  I really liked Boris more than Theo, who seemed to be a tad too mopy for my liking.  It's not that the book wasn't well-written, it was very well-written, I just felt that Theo didn't deal with his grief very well and felt that the author could have maybe brought some sort of relief/happiness into Theo's life.  I also felt that the author rambled a little too much for my liking.

Bottom line: I would recommend the book for those that don't mind long books that sometimes tend to be on the rambley side of things.  Recommend.

Rating: 3.5/5

Pages for 2014: 16,305

If you have read it, what did you think of it?

A Clash of Kings - George R.R. Martin

Title: A Clash of Kings (A Song of Fire and Ice #2)
Author: George R.R. Martin
Pages: 1009
Published: 2005 (first published 1998)
Challenges: Chunkster, Blogger Summer Reading, Bookish TBR, Roof Beam TBR
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Edition: Mass-Market Paperback
Source: Personal

Description:  A comet the colour of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk at night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles. (from Goodreads)

Thoughts: After reading A Game of Thrones, I suspected that I would be a bit let down with the second book.  What I found with the book was that it tended to be bleak and dreary to the point that at times I wondered when I was ever going to get end the least bit happy and I felt that the book seemed to plod on for pages on end, with the book never seeming to end (felt like I was going through torture myself at times), especially since the first book seemed to be full of action and plot twists coming left and centre.

Being it the case, since I have gotten this far in the series, I am definitely in it for the long haul and will find out who gets to claim the throne, if there is anybody left in the end.

Bottom line:  Even though it did seem to plod along at times, I did enjoy it and am planning on finishing up the series, whenever that may be.  And yes, you do need to read the first book in the series, as the story basically picks up from the end of the book and there are characters and events you need to have a little background about.  Highly Recommended.

Rating: 4.25/5

Pages for 2014: 11909

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Title: A Tale of Two Cities
Author: Charles Dickens
Pages: 489
Published: 2003 (first published 1859)
Challenges: The Classics Club, Chunkster, Historical Fiction, Blogger Summer Reading
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Literature
Edition: Paperback
Source: Personal Library

Description: After eighteen years as a political prisoner in the Bastille, the ageing Doctor Manette is finally released and reunited with his daughter in England. There the lives of two very different men, Charles Darnay, an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton, a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer, become enmeshed through their love for Lucie Manette. From the tranquil roads of London, they are drawn against their will to the vengeful, bloodstained streets of Paris at the height of the Reign of Terror, and they soon fall under the lethal shadow of La Guillotine. (from Goodreads)

Thoughts: I don't know why but this has become one of my favourite novels; I think it has partly to do with the historical detail, but it probably it is more likely due to the fact that Dickens uses language so well and allows the reader to be drawn into the story as much as possible.  So when a readalong was organized by a blogger that I follow, I had to definitely do it. 

One thing that I liked about the book is how Dickens draws the reader into the world that he creates in the days leading up to the French Revolution and even the one during; it also doesn't hurt that the book is a really good example of how detail can add to the overall story and how it has the ability to make the experience of reading that more enjoyable.

While the vast majority of the book is well done, I did find that the last little bit of the book a bit rushed, but I will give Dickens the benefit of the doubt on that one, as there is too much of the book is too well done that it would be nitpicking on a book that in all respects is well-written and has a lot of amazing detail in it.

Bottom line: Dickens does a really good job of describing London and Paris during the French Revolution, but also builds up the story so that one gets a pretty good build up to the events of the story.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 5/5

Pages for 2014: 10150

The Mysteries of the Udolpho - Ann Radcliffe

Title: The Mysteries of the Udolpho
Author: Ann Radcliffe
Pages: 875
Published: 2010 (first published 1794)
Challenges: Blogger Summer Reading, Classics Club, Chunkster, Historical Fiction, I Love Libraries
Genre: Classics, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Literature
Edition: Paperback
Source: Library

Description: Beautiful young heiress Emily St. Aubert is frightened when she finds herself orphaned and in the hands of her cold and distant aunt, Madame Cheron. But her fear turns to terror when Madame Cheron agrees to marry the haughty and brooding Signor Montoni, and she finds herself trapped in the castle of Udolpho, threatened by Montoni's terrible greed and haunted by the secrets of the medieval fortress. Will Emily find the strength to survive this place of nightmares? Or will Montoni and his wicked schemes destroy her completely? (from Goodreads)

Thoughts: Even though this was a book that I had wanted to read for sometime, I struggled with it.  While reading the book, I found that I really couldn't keep my interest with the book and found it to be a bit of a chore, even though at times I could get myself engrossed with the story.  I found it to be something that I read for long periods of time without figuring what was going on and all of a sudden I got interested in the story for a bit and the process would repeat itself.

Bottom line:  If you are a big fan of gothic-era books and large books that seem to go on for quite sometime and you can get lost in the world of the story, I would say that this is a book for you.  Recommended.

Rating: 3/5

Pages for 2014: 8768

The Orenda - Joseph Boyden

Title: The Orenda
Author: Joseph Boyden
Pages: 501
Published: 2013
Challenges: Chunkster, I Love Libraries, Historical Fiction
Genre: Historical fiction, Canadian literature, Literary fiction
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: A visceral portrait of life at a crossroads, The Orenda opens with a brutal massacre and the kidnapping of the young Iroquois Snow Falls, a spirited girl with a special gift. Her captor, Bird, is an elder and one of the Huron Nation’s great warriors and statesmen. It has been years since the murder of his family and yet they are never far from his mind. In Snow Falls, Bird recognizes the ghost of his lost daughter and sees the girl possesses powerful magic that will be useful to him on the troubled road ahead. Bird’s people have battled the Iroquois for as long as he can remember, but both tribes now face a new, more dangerous threat from afar.

Christophe, a charismatic Jesuit missionary, has found his calling amongst the Huron and devotes himself to learning and understanding their customs and language in order to lead them to Christ. An emissary from distant lands, he brings much more than his faith to the new world.

As these three souls dance each other through intricately woven acts of duplicity, small battles erupt into bigger wars and a nation emerges from worlds in flux. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: I felt that the book was disjointed and while for the most part I could tell who main speaker was, there were times that I was unable to.

There was also the problem that I couldn't tell what point in time the chapter was, even though it was clear that time passed in the novel, mainly due to the age of Snow Falls.  While it was a read that I did get entranced with, I really couldn't figure out exactly time period I was moving through (but after doing a search, I realize that it takes place during the mid-17th century, but it would have been nice to have a context for the book).

That being said, the author does create a lyrical picture of Huronia (yes, I also found that out too during my search to find out the period of the book and by end of the book, I was definitely engrossed in the book.

Bottom line: If you are a fan of contemporary Canadian literature or at least a contemporary spin on a historical event, you might enjoy this one.  Even if you like literary fiction, you may like this as well. Recommended.

Rating: 3.5/5

Pages for 2014: 6391

The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer

Title: The Interestings
Author: Meg Wolitzer
Pages: 480
Published: 2012
Challenges: Chunkster, I Love Libraries
Genre: Literary Fiction
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description: The summer that Nixon resigns, six teenagers at a summer camp for the arts become inseparable. Decades later the bond remains powerful, but so much else has changed. In The Interestings, Wolitzer follows these characters from the height of youth through middle age, as their talents, fortunes, and degrees of satisfaction diverge.

The kind of creativity that is rewarded at age fifteen is not always enough to propel someone through life at age thirty; not everyone can sustain, in adulthood, what seemed so special in adolescence. Jules Jacobson, an aspiring comic actress, eventually resigns herself to a more practical occupation and lifestyle. Her friend Jonah, a gifted musician, stops playing the guitar and becomes an engineer. But Ethan and Ash, Jules’s now-married best friends, become shockingly successful—true to their initial artistic dreams, with the wealth and access that allow those dreams to keep expanding. The friendships endure and even prosper, but also underscore the differences in their fates, in what their talents have become and the shapes their lives have taken.

Wide in scope, ambitious, and populated by complex characters who come together and apart in a changing New York City, The Interestings explores the meaning of talent; the nature of envy; the roles of class, art, money, and power; and how all of it can shift and tilt precipitously over the course of a friendship and a life. (via Goodreads.com)

Thoughts: I first heard about this book either through the Bookrageous or through Books on the Nightstand, but I pretty sure I heard about the book through both at some point, and then heard about the book through the New York Times Book Review Podcast, which convinced me that I really did need to read the book and that it did appeal to me.

And I wasn't disappointed with it at all.  While I felt that it took a bit of the story to actually get going, once the story did get going, I really got into the story.  What I really liked was the shift between the characters and how very different their narratives ended up being from each other and reflected their personalities well.  I also liked how they interacted with each other and was really surprised how involved I got with the various characters, especially with Jules.  In fact, I got so involved with the story that I found myself bawling as I finishing up the book.

I don't know why the book struck a chord with me in that manner, but while I didn't like it so much as to garner a higher rating, it was a book that probably will stay with me for a long time.

Bottom line: If you enjoy reading more contemporary pieces of fiction, you probably will enjoy this book.  Or even if you want to read something that allows you to think a bit while being engrossed in a book that allows one to escape for a bit.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pages for 2014: 4946

The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton

Title: The Luminaries
Author: Eleanor Catton
Pages: 834
Published: 2013
Challenges: Chunkster, Historical Fiction
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction
Edition: Hardcover
Source: Personal

Description: It is 1866, and young Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men who have met in secret to discuss a series of unexplained events: A wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely ornate as the night sky. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts: I had a bit of difficulty getting into this book, but I ended up actually enjoying the book.  I think if there had been a little bit more editing to the book (the first section should have been cut maybe by about 100 pages), I think that I may have enjoyed the book a little bit more than I did.  Overall, it is a pretty good read and once I was able to get more into the book, I was able to enjoy a little more than I had.  It is one of those books that the payoff comes later on in the book, as you are given so much information in the first section that I felt that there was too much to digest.

Bottom line: Overall, the book is pretty good and definitely does deserve its nominations, but having not read the other nominations for the Booker Prize, I can't say if it deserved to win the prize, nor can I say if it deserve to win the Governor General's award for literary award for Fiction (she holds a Canadian passport and therefore is eligible for Canadian literary prizes, even though she hasn't lived in Canada for over 20 years; personally it should be awarded to those only that make their primary residence in Canada, but I digress), as I haven't read those books either.   To put it concisely, I didn't exactly love it, but I didn't exactly dislike it either.  I haven't read other Booker winners, but I am hoping that Wolf Hall is a bit better.  Recommended.

Rating: 3.75/5

Pages for 2014: 3200

Winter's Tale - Mark Helprin

Title: Winter's Tale
Author: Mark Helprin
Pages: 768
Published: 2005 (first published 1983)
Challenges: Chunkster, Historical Fiction
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Historical Fiction
Edition: Paperback
Source: Personal library

Description: New York City is subsumed in arctic winds, dark nights, and white lights, its life unfolds, for it is an extraordinary hive of the imagination, the greatest house ever built, and nothing exists that can check its vitality. One night in winter, Peter Lake, orphan and master-mechanic, attempts to rob a fortress-like mansion on the Upper West Side.

Though he thinks the house is empty, the daughter of the house is home. Thus begins the love between Peter Lake, a middle-aged Irish burglar, and Beverly Penn, a young girl, who is dying.

Peter Lake, a simple, uneducated man, because of a love that, at first he does not fully understand, is driven to stop time and bring back the dead. His great struggle, in a city ever alight with its own energy and besieged by unprecedented winters, is one of the most beautiful and extraordinary stories of American literature. (via Goodreads)

Thoughts:  I bought this book because I had hoped to go and see the film version of this book, which was released in North America on Feb. 14, and I had started out with high hopes for the book.  Based on how the book started out, I had hoped that this book would live up to the expectations that I had built up for this book and I ended up being a bit disappointed.

While I did like the author's use of words and how he described the rich atmosphere of the book early on in the book, I felt that it just kinda fell flat and by the end I just wanted the book to end.  I realize that this was my first foray into paranormal fiction and so I didn't really know what to expect and how I would react to such a book.

It's not that I didn't have times where I enjoyed reading the book, its just that I felt that it was maybe a little too long and that the book could have been much more effective and cohesive if somebody had cut 200-300 pages; it didn't really need the 700+ pages to describe what it did.

Bottom line:  If you absolutely love paranormal fiction, you maybe should give this one a try.  I realize that this a very long book, but one really does get swept up into the story and at times you really don't feel like you are reading so much.  Otherwise, I would probably give this one a pass and read something that I would enjoy. Recommended.  As for me, I really gave this book a chance and this genre a chance and I honestly don't know if I could read much more of the paranormal genre.

Rating: 3/5

Pages for 2014: 2366

2014 Chunkster Challenge

This the third time I have attempted this challenge and this year its a little more relaxed, not that I minded having a bit of a nudge for this challenge, but sometimes its nice to take a bit more of a relaxed approach.  That being said, I am a person that needs goals, so I am going to state the chunksters that I wish to read.

But before I state which ones I am going to attempt to finish this year, here are a few rules:

• Audio books and e-books are now allowed. You want to listen to a chunkster on audio? Be my guest. 
• Essay, short story, and poetry collections are allowed but they have to be read in their entirety to count.
• Books may crossover with other challenges.
• Anyone can join.
• You don’t have to list your book ahead of time.
• Graphic novels don’t count. Sorry guys but reading a chunkster graphic novel isn’t the same as reading a non-graphic chunkster.

You can find more information here: http://chunksterchallenge.blogspot.ca/2013/12/2014-chunkster-challenge-sign-ups.html

Remember that the book has to be 450 pages or more and can be adult or YA, just not a graphic novel.

Here are the books that I am going to attempt to complete:

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas 

• The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

• The Passage by Justin Cronin

• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

• Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

• A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling