Past Perfect by Leila Sales

Past Perfect by Leila Sales
First published by Simon & Schuster in 2011 (this edition was an eGalley, provided through the S&S GalleyGrab programme)

Description (from Goodreads)

All Chelsea wants to do this summer is hang out with her best friend, hone her talents as an ice cream connoisseur, and finally get over Ezra, the boy who broke her heart. But when Chelsea shows up for her summer job at Essex Historical Colonial Village (yes, really), it turns out Ezra’s working there too. Which makes moving on and forgetting Ezra a lot more complicated…even when Chelsea starts falling for someone new.Maybe Chelsea should have known better than to think that a historical reenactment village could help her escape her past. But with Ezra all too present, and her new crush seeming all too off limits, all Chelsea knows is that she’s got a lot to figure out about love. Because those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it….

My thoughts
Past Perfect was such a perfect and sweet little book! I remember being in the mood for something light and funny with a bit of romance to top it all off, and this book definitely delivered!

In Past Perfect, we have Chelsea, a girl who has spent the last I-can't-remember-how-many summers working at the Essex Colonial Village; first, because her parents worked there and they used to take her with them and then, as a fully paid re-enactor. So, she was really looking forward to working at the mall this year with her best friend. But then her best friend thinks it's a good idea to work at the Colonial Village and so, Chelsea ends up working there for yet another summer. And lots of other things going on, including ex-boyfriends working at the Colonial Village too, them dating other people and also, cute romantic interests; all amidst the big "war" that has been going on between the Colonial re-enactors and the Civil War re-enactors.

This book focuses a lot on the relationships between the characters, and not just the romantic ones. There is the relationship between the exes, the relationship between two people who are attracted to each other but know that the attraction could pose some problems, the relationship between friends, the relationships between co-workers. But it still doesn't feel too relationship-heavy, as it's all part of being a person.

My favourite thing about this book - and which made it one of the most unique books I have read this year - was the setting. The story actually takes place "now", but, because of the fact that the setting is the Colonial Village, it has a rather historical feel to it. The feud between the Colonials and the Civil Warriors and the actual "War" going on between them is fun, as they actually come up with some hilarious ideas to win the battles.

The romantic story in this book is also rather cute, as are the two characters involved. I'm not going to go into many details, but I am going to say that even though the romance is very "Romeo-and-Juliet"-esque (as in they are on opposite sides of a feud, you do end up wanting them to come to their senses and just ignore the stupid war already!

I know this is not a good review, but a) it has been ages since I last wrote a review, b) I have been writing this review for over two weeks (with not much success!) and c) it has been ages since I read it, so I can't really remember that much about it. I promise the next ones will be much better, though!

Rating: 8/10


Author: 
Leila Sales grew up just outside Boston, Massachussets. She has a degree from the Universiry of Chicago and currently lives in Brooklyn. Other than Past Perfect, she has also written a book called Mostly Good Girls.

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
First published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in 2010 (this edition by Razorbill in 2010)

Book #2 in the Caster Chronicles
(My review of Beautiful Creatures - Book #1)

Description (from Goodreads)

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen. 
Sometimes life-ending. 
Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

My thoughts
When I spotted a copy of this one in a charity shop, I just had to buy it! I had really, really enjoyed reading Beautiful Creatures and I was excited at the prospect of reading the second book in the series. And for £1.99??? I just couldn't resist.

As this is the second book in the series, I will probably be mentioning stuff from the previous book, so if you haven't read it but are planning to, just proceed at your own risk. (There, you've been warned.) (I'll still try to be vague, though!)

Beautiful Darkness was every bit as good as Beautiful Creatures. When Beautiful Creatures finished, we were left with Lena in a bit of an inbetween state and with quite a bit of woe and sorrow going around because of the death of one of the "main" secondary characters. In this second book, things take on a completely different turn. Lena is becoming increasingly distant and hanging out with the "wrong" crowd. Ethan knows she is trying to find a way to cope with everything, but he is rather sad that she is choosing to distance herself from him in the process, knowing full well that she is also doing it to protect him from her. There is also the matter of Ethan finding out that he is more than he thought he was; that he really does play an important part in what is going on with Lena and not just in the way that he thought he did.

Link plays a much larger part in this book than he did in the previous one. It doesn't feel as if he is acting like a substitute for Lena, because he was an important character in the first book. It's just like any normal situation. When a boy (ie Ethan) "stops" having a girlfriend, he hangs out more with his friends (ie Link). We also have the addition of a few new characters. First, we have Liv, who came from the UK to Gatlin to work with Aunt Marian and who also knows more about the Caster World than she lets on. Then, we have John Breed, one of the "wrong" crowd Lena is hanging out with. But there is a bit of a problem with John Breed. We have no idea where he came from, what he is, what his intentions are. And also, we get to see a completely different Ridley. Remember the one who caused a lot of the problems in the first book? Yes, her. All pretty mysterious.

Beautiful Darkness has some pretty surprising revelations that keep up the interest in lieu of the third book in the series, Beautiful Chaos, which only just came out in October. Which I definitely will be buying!

All in all, Beautiful Darkness was neither better nor worse than Beautiful Darkness. I found each one of them as enjoyable as the other, a fact I was very glad of, because sometimes, second books aren't as good as the first ones. But, seriously, this series is definitely one to look out for. It's very well written and it also has a male narrator!! (Rather refreshing after all those female narrators!)

Rating: 8/10


Authors
You can find out more about Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl at the end of my post about Beautiful Creatures!


Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011, 2nd In A Series Challenge

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
First published by Faber & Faber in 2005 (this edition by Faber & Faber in 2006)

Description (from Goodreads)

From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day comes a devastating new novel of innocence, knowledge, and loss. As children Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy were students at Hailsham, an exclusive boarding school secluded in the English countryside. It was a place of mercurial cliques and mysterious rules where teachers were constantly reminding their charges of how special they were. 
Now, years later, Kathy is a young woman. Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life. And for the first time she is beginning to look back at their shared past and understand just what it is that makes them special–and how that gift will shape the rest of their time together. Suspenseful, moving, beautifully atmospheric, Never Let Me Go is another classic by the author of The Remains of the Day.

My thoughts
When I bought this book, I had never heard of Kazuo Ishiguro. It just happened that one day, when I went to my local bookshop, they had just brought some new books in and this one was one of them. I read the description on the back cover, decided to buy it and when I got home put it away on my bookshelf. It stayed up there for quite some time (except for that one time when I decided to give it a try, opened the book up, saw the tiny font and decided to leave it) and the main reason I decided to finally read it was because my brother read it while we were on holiday in England and actually enjoyed it very much (and read it much faster than he thought he would).

Never Let Me Go tells the story of three people whose lives are closely interconnected: Kathy, Ruth and Tommy. As children, all three were students at an exclusive boarding school called Hailsham, a place of certain notoriety and mysterious rules, where every student is encouraged to be creative and is constantly reminded of how special he/she is. Told from Kathy's viewpoint, we get to experience everyone - and especially Ruth and Tommy - through her own eyes. All the story is a narration, with Kathy telling her story in chronological order - starting with their being students at Hailsham and ending with her being where she is at the moment.

The whole world described in this book is rather surreal. And what makes it even more surreal is the way in which it is described by Kathy. Her tone - as well as that can be inferred from the story - is just normal; as if she's just recounting something acceptable and non-condemnable. The story doesn't start out as very engaging. It's just a narration of sorts, referring to the three characters' childhood years. And then, you start to notice that word popping up, too often for it to be insignificant. "Donor". You start to wonder if what you are thinking could possible be the case and if so, then what kind of a sick book is this. And you read on and on, wanting to make sure that you have understood correctly.

Never in the book is exactly what happens and what everything means mentioned in a straightforward way. The author kind-of beats around the bush and lets your mind do the talking and the figuring out, which was one of the things I loved the most about this book. Another thing I loved were the characters. Even though I wasn't a big fan of Ruth and the way she behaved towards everyone else (and especially Kathy), all characters were excellently developed and with great depth.

All in all, if you have not read Never Let Me Go, I urge you to do so. Even if it looks like too much of a heavy read, I assure you it's not. And I don't think you will regret giving it a try.

Rating: 8/10


Author
Kazuo Ishiguro is a British novelist. He was actually born in Japan, but his family moved to the UK when he was rather young. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the Univesity of East Anglia. In 1989, he received the Man Booker prize for his book The Remains of the Day.

The Remains of the Day   |   Nocturnes

You can find out more about Kazuo Ishiguro and his books from his Goodreads page.

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011, Dystopia Challenge

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallfower by Stephen Chbosky
First published by MTV Books in 1999 (this edition by Pocket Books in 2009)

Description (from Goodreads)

Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings.

My thoughts
The Perks of Being a Wallflower had been sitting in our bookshelf for a couple of years before I decided to finally read it. I remember that it was my brother who had wanted to buy it and read it straight away, and I am pretty sure I remember him telling me that it was a pretty amazing book. It's a rather small book, so I can only think of one reason to explain the fact that I didn't read it earlier: I forgot about it. But when my brother and I were re-organising our bookshelves so as to fit all our new books, I re-discovered it and decided to read it.

I will admit to not really remembering much about it, because of the fact that I read it more than a month ago (I have been very remiss in writing up my reviews not long after I read the book and now they've all seemed to pile up), but I am going to try my best.

In this book, we follow Charlie, who is a freshman in school and is also a bit of a wallflower (as the title suggests). On the back cover of the edition I read, there is a short description of Charlie; he's shy, introverted, intelligent, not very popular and socially awkward. To me he came across as a tiny bit weird, but mostly in an endearing way. We meet Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of unknown identity. In those, he changes everyone's names (in fear of recognition) by that person he sends them to and essentially catalogues all the events that take place within a given period of time; from the 25th August 1991 to the 23rd August 1992. Within that year, many changes take place, which either cause Charlie confusion or play an essential role in his becoming what he the end of the novel. The most important factor that influences the progress of this book is his friendship with Sam and Patrick, with his Aunt Helen also being an important presence throughout (directly or indirectly).

There were things in this book that I did not completely understand when I was reading them; what Chbosky was trying to say was not completely clear to me. (Which is probably why I will have to read this one again sometime in the not-too-distant future) But I do recognise that it is an extremely well written novel, with a main character who is engaging enough and self-deprecating enough to make you feel for him. Charlie did come across as a bit of a weirdo at times, because, try as I might, I couldn't understand what was going through his head some of the time. There are things going on in various parts in the novel that aren't explained properly at the time (probably so as to make the reader speculate as to what is happening), but it led to a slight confusion on my part. Especially regarding some of the Aunt-Helen parts.

All in all, The Perks of Being A Wallflower is a lovely coming-of-age story, with a rather endearing (though not always) character, who faces "real problems" and tells us about them in his own unique voice. Definitely a book that is worth reading and one that I am going to be re-reading myself soon, in hopes of understanding those parts that I missed the point of the first time.

Rating: 8/10


Author:
Stephen Chbosky grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and graduated from the University of Southern California's Filmic Writing Programme. He managed to win an award with his first film ("The Four Corners of Nowhere"). He has written screenplays, directed and co-produced a number of films. The Perks of Being A Wallflower is his first novel.
For more information about Stephen Chbosky, you can check him out on Wikipedia.


Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
First published by Little, Brown and Company in 2005 (this edition by Sphere in 2010)

Description (from Goodreads)

Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters addressed ominously to 'My dear and unfortunate successor'. Her discovery plunges her into a world she never dreamed of - a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an evil hidden in the depths of history. 
In those few quiet moments, she unwittingly assumes a quest she will discover is her birthright - a hunt for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the Dracula myth. Deciphering obscure signs and hidden texts, reading codes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions, and evading terrifying adversaries, one woman comes ever closer to the secret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definition of evil. 
Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumental proportions - a captivating tale that blends fact and fantasy, history and the present with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful - and utterly unforgettable.

My thoughts
Before deciding to finally read this book, The Historian had been sitting on my bookshelves for a little longer than it should have. I did have a rather good excuse for that; its size. The Historian is over 700 pages long and it has tiny (and I do mean tiny) print. So, when it came round to me choosing the next book I wanted to read, I always ended up skipping it.

I am going to be completely honest here by saying that, though the book was great and I really enjoyed reading it, I felt like it could have been a little shorter. There were parts of it that just seemed to go on and on without really adding that much more new information to the story or helping much in the character building. But, despite that "slight" problem, The Historian really is an excellent book. It has a great narrator, great characters, lots of historical facts (if you are into that kind of stuff) and some weird things going on. What is weird about this book is that I am pretty sure the daughter (a young girl and the narrator of our story) is - as far as I noticed - never actually named. And I just realised this now, when I sat down to write up the review.

The story itself focuses on the legend of Vlad Dracula. Vlad Dracula is actually a person who existed historically, and who was evil and a little perverted. He ruled the region of Wallachia (in what is now part of Romania) and is also known by his other name, Vlad the Impaler, because of the fact that he used to impale his enemies on great poles (it was his favourite method of execution). The book contains a large number of facts about the mythology surrounding Vlad Dracula, particularly the mythology that also surrounds the inspiration of Bram Stocker's classic book, Dracula.

The story progresses through various methods. The main part of the book is about Paul and Helen's (who are closely related to the narrator) journey to find out the truth about some weird and unexplained events that seem to bring lots of people from rather different backgrounds together. Everything starts off when our narrator is in her teens and finds an ancient book on her father's bookshelves. She then proceeds to ask him about it and he slowly starts telling her a story, which began even before she was born. Later on in the book,  the author used other meant to keep on telling the story of the past (other than the father - Paul - 's storytelling), with just a few paragraphs on what is happening in the present time. (It might sound confusing, but it's not, really)

What I found to be a bit of a problem with this book was the fact that too big a part of it seemed to take part in the past. The vast majority of the book was taken over by the father's storytelling (as well as by the other devices the author uses to bring the past into the present), with only a limited number of pages left over for the narration of what is happening in the present. Sometimes, those "past" parts seemed to go on for too long (without much of a "present" break) and I was a little put out by the fact that we didn't get to focus on the actual narrator as much. She was mainly used as a device to introduce the "past" and didn't seem to have as much of an active role as I would have liked. More specifically, her interactions with Bailey were so refreshing and lovely, that I was a little sad that there weren't more of them in the story.

All in all, though it is a rather hefty book, The Historian is a worthwhile read. It is enjoyable and very informative (without becoming too heavy on information). Elizabeth Kostova has a wonderful way of writing and it is obvious that she has spent a large amount of time researching historical information to write this book. I will definitely be looking out for more of her books in the future.

Rating: 8/10


Author:
Elizabeth Kostova is an American author. She holds a degree from Yale University, as well as an MFA from the University of Michigan. The Historian was her first novel and was published in 2005. She has since published a second book, called The Swan Thieves.

You can find out more about Elizabeth Kostova and her books from her official website.

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

Fury by Elizabeth Miles

Fury by Elizabeth Miles
First published by Simon Pulse in 2011 (this edition is an e-Galley, courtesy of the S&S Galley Grab programme)


Book #1 in The Fury Trilogy


Description (from Goodreads)

Sometimes sorry isn't enough....                                It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...
Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.
On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.
In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.
Em and Chase have been chosen.

My thoughts
Before I got round to reading Fury, I remember that I used to see it everywhere for a while. Reviews, IMM posts (lots of IMM posts) etc. And then it was on Galley Grab. Since Galley Grab is pretty much the only way I can get to read books before their release that is available to people outside the UK and the US (along with NetGalley, of course), I grabbed it. And was I glad I did! (By the way, is it only me who didn't get a September Galley Grab email?)

Anyway, I had read a few reviews of Fury before I started reading it myself and their main characteristic was that they were very mixed. I tend to like it when reviews/ratings are mixed, because then I don't feel the pressure of having to like a certain book, or feeling as if I missed something when I didn't like a book that everyone seems to. In the case of Fury, I am very happy to say that I am on the side of the people who enjoyed it.

Fury is the story of a group of teenagers, with the main characters, according to the description, being Em and Chase. When I was reading the book, I was under the impression that Em was the main character... Things are definitely happening to Chase, too, but the focus wasn't on him enough to classify him as a main character (in my opinion).

The actual storyline itself rather surprised me. The title should have given me a clue as to what it was about, but never did I think of the Furies (Erinyes) of Greek Mythology. (It was pretty obvious, but I probably just couldn't see it.) The fact remains that weird things are happening in Em's hometown of Ascension, starting with a teenage girl who decided to try and end her life by jumping off a bridge and continuing with the appearance of three mysterious girls, who no-one knows where they came from. And they always seem to appear whenever something weird is actually happening; they're never too far away.

I found the writing in this book to be superb! The choice of words and the sentence building was so good, that I kept reading and reading and reading, without realising how many pages I had actually read, and I ended up finishing Fury in just a few hours. (Which is really good considering I was reading from my computer screen.) The characters were well developed, though not particularly nice. Each one of them, excepting a couple of "secondary characters", had some sort of irritating quality. Em, for example, was very selfish, a little immature and quite self-delusional, but, by the end, you could see that her heart was in the right place (most of the time).

Some of the things that happened in this book shocked me. In the sense that I really was not expecting them to happen. And that they were also rather sudden in happening, with limited build-up to the event. But I suppose that is what the author was trying to do; present us with events we didn't think would happen and shock us.

All in all, Fury is a book that I am definitely going to be buying when it comes out in paperback and one that I think is worth reading. If you want to look up some different opinions about this book, then just check its Goodreads page. Looking forward to reading the next two books in the trilogy!

Rating: 8/10


Author:
Elizabeth Miles grew up in a city/town not very far from New York City. She has a degree from Boston University and has worked ever since as a journalist for an alternative newsweekly. Fury is her first novel. You can find out more about Elizabeth Miles from her official website/blog.




Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011, 1st In A Series Challenge

Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon

Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon
First published by Three Rivers Press in 2011 (this edition by Headline Review in 2011)




Description (from Goodreads)

While in hiding at a remote convent, a king's daughter sees a magical being dragging a shipwrecked man to the shore. The creature is a mermaid princess - the youngest daughter of the Sea Queen - but she shares more with her human counterpart than her royal blood. By saving a young man's life, both women have sacrificed their hearts. In one moment, the lives of the princesses, mortal and mermaid, are transformed forever.

My thoughts
Mermaid is - as mentioned on the back cover - a re-invention of The Little Mermaid, a fairy tale that was written in 1837 by Hans Christian Andersen, a Dutch poet and author. So essentially, the plot follows the same path that the original story follows, with some additions here and there, which differentiate the story from the original and make it unique (despite the fact that the same story has been told before).


In this re-telling, we get to see the story unfold from the point of view of both princesses - the mermaid and the mortal. Each one gets her own fair share of chapters, so we experience the story as both the mermaid and the mortal princess. We get to understand what motives each one of them has for acting the way she does and that is very interesting to know; especially because of the fact that in the original fairy tale we do not get to hear the voice of the mortal princess.


The story is a sad one, because as it builds up you start to see the inevitability of certain events. For me, it was a little worse, because I've read The Little Mermaid a thousand times (ok, maybe not a thousand, but you know what I mean) and I knew what was going to happen. But Carolyn Turgeon added lots of new elements to the story, elements which I did not expect to be there, and which gave the story a completely different "air" and made me want to keep reading it to find out what exactly was going to happen next.


All in all, Mermaid a really good re-telling of a classic fairy tale and one that is definitely worth reading. Carolyn Turgeon is an excellent storyteller and knows how to make even a well-known story interesting again, by adding just the right details to turn it into a story of her own. I will be looking forward to reading more of her books in the future.


Rating: 8/10


Author:
Carolyn Turgeon is an American author. Other than Mermaid, which is her latest book, she has written another two novels: Rain Village and Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story. Godmother has been optioned for film and Mermaid is being adapted into one as we speak. Carolyn Turgeon has her first middle-grade book, The Last Full Moon, coming out in January 2012.

Godmother   |   Rain Village

You can find out more about Carolyn Turgeon and her books from her WEBSITE (with the amazingly pretty graphics)!




Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis

Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture by Apostolos Doxiadis
First published in Greek by Kastaniotis in 1992 titled ''Ο θείος Πέτρος και η εικασία του Γκόλντμπαχ'' (this edition by Faber & Faber in 2000)








Description (from Goodreads)
In the tradition of Fermat's Last Theorem and Einstein's Dreams, a novel about mathematical obsession.

Petros Papachristos devotes the early part of his life trying to prove one of the greatest mathematical challenges of all time: Goldbach's Conjecture, the deceptively simple claim that every even number greater than two is the sum of two primes. Against a tableau of famous historical figures-among them G.H. Hardy, the self-taught Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan, and a young Kurt Godel-Petros works furiously to prove the notoriously difficult conjecture. Decades later, his ambitious young nephew drives the defeated mathematician back into the hunt to prove Goldbach's Conjecture. . . but at the cost of the old man's sanity, and perhaps even his life.


My thoughts
I do realise that most of you probably won't be able to read the Greek I have put up there, but I thought I might as well show off a little bit and put a teensy weensy bit of Greek on my blog!


Just because I am extremely smart, I decided to read a book, that was first published in Greek, in English. If it were the other way around and you were telling me to read a Greek translation of an English book, I wouldn't do it easily or happily, because the majority of books that I have read in Greek have either been very bad translations of foreign books or boring Greek ones. (Do not get me started on some of the things Greek writers choose to write about. Plus, most times I find their language to be a little too show-off-y.)


Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture is one of those books that I have been hearing about for years and years. Though I am not a big fan of reading fiction in Greek, I do not mind reading books that deal with philosophy or mathematical logic in Greek. I think that is probably because of the fact that I went to a Greek school, so everything I know about maths and logic (and all that jazz), I know in the Greek way; I am more familiar with the terms, which means that it helps me to better understand what is going on. The thing is that we never had a copy of this book at home (that I know of, at least). I did know my Grandpa had one when I went to England this year and I promised myself I would read it this summer.


Before reading this book, I had only vaguely heard of Goldbach's Conjecture, but had never really bothered to find out what exactly this Conjecture was all about. Now, I consider myself a little more educated with the matter. The story focuses on the narrator's Uncle Petros, a recluse of sorts, who is considered to be a bit of a weirdo even by his own brothers, because he never showed any interest in anything except for his ''beloved" mathematics. The real story behind Uncle Petros' withdrawal from society was the fact that he had  become obsessed with proving Goldbach's Conjecture.


The book consists of three chapters (yes, three), each one surrounding a different time in the narrator's and Uncle Petros' lives. We learn of Uncle Petros' story through the narrator, who is an aspiring mathematician and turns to his Uncle Petros for advice and guidance. His story is truly intriguing and it shows how something (even in the form of a short mathematical equation) can take over your whole life. It is also rather sad at times, because you can't help but feel sorry either for the narrator or for Uncle Petros himself, depending on which part you are reading.


Uncle Petros and Goldbach's Conjecture is not a book for everyone. I am not trying to sound snobbish, but I know for fact that not many people like reading books about maths and mathematical logic. And it's completely understandable. Which is why there is going to be no urging to read this book. It is very well written and very interesting, but because of the fact that is it very mathematically oriented, it's not for everyone. But, if you are interested in reading a book about maths, this is an excellent book to read.


Rating: 8/10 


Author:
Apostolos Doxiadis was born in Brisbane, Australia, but grew up in Athens, Greece. Although interested in fiction and the arts from his youngest years, a sudden and totally unexpected love affair with mathematics led him to New York's Columbia University at the age of fifteen. He did graduate work in Applied Mathematics at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, working on mathematical models for the nervous system. He has also directed and written theatre plays, as well as films.

Logicomix

(This is one book I've been meaning to read for quite some time, but it's not very cheap so I haven't got round to buying it yet.)

You can find out more about Apostolos Doxiadis from his official website.


Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

The Declaration by Gemma Malley

The Declaration by Gemma Malley
First published by Bloomsbury in 2007 (this edition by Bloomsbury in 2008)



Book #1 in The Declaration series





Description (from Goodreads)

In the year 2140, it is illegal to be young.

Children are all but extinct.

The world is a better place.

Longevity drugs are a fountain of youth. Sign the Declaration, agree not to have children and you too can live forever. Refuse, and you will live as an outcast. For the children born outside the law, it only gets worse – Surplus status.

Not everyone thinks Longevity is a good thing, but you better be clear what side you’re on. . . . Surplus Anna is about to find out what happens when you can’t decide if you should cheat the law or cheat death. 

My thoughts

I'd seen this book somewhere a while back and rather liked the sound of it, so I decided to try reading it. When I bought it, I found it at the bargain price of £2.10 on Amazon, a fact that I was very happy about! You can't go wrong for that amount of money, can you?

The Declaration is set in the future, in the year 2140, at a time when it is illegal to be young. Sometime during the previous century, Longevity was invented. Longevity is a drug which halts the ageing process of the human body and thus, enables the taker of the drug to live forever. Because of the fact that people are not dying anymore, there is no room on the planet for new people, which essentially means that the new children that are born are very few (because people choose to sign the Declaration and take the Longevity drugs). The main character, Anna, is a child, but she is known as Surplus Anna; a child that was born to people who took Longevity drugs and still decided to have a child. Children like Anna are hunted down and are ''put away'' in halls, where they train so as to become in some way useful to the Legal people when they leave the halls.

The idea behind the story was very clever. You might think the whole thing sounds quite absurd, but what would you do if you were faced with a similar decision? If you had the opportunity of a much longer life, what would you choose? Would you choose to live ''forever''? Or would you want to give another generation (your children) the chance to live? 

Gemma Malley's writing is exceptional, as is her character building. Anna is a lovely character, clearly misguided during the first part of the novel, but she slowly grows into herself and reveals how strong she really is. I will admit to finding her refusal to admit to certain things irritating at first, but then I realised that's it's all part of the ''realisation'' process. Peter was also a great character, who also got irritating at times, especially when he sort-of assumed that he and Anna were destined for each other, even from the time he didn't actually personally know her. But he is so sweet and tries to show that he is fearless, when he really isn't.

One of the things I really liked about this book were the diary entries in the beginning of some of the chapters. These do have some significance - as is explained early on in the story - but for me they serve a different purpose; the one of finding out more about Anna. The diary is her story the way she wants it to be said, portraying her own thoughts and questions and that really helped with her character building. The story itself does get a little slow at times and a little too fast at others, but it is fairly obvious what this story is aiming at. The journey to that ''final destination'', however, is not that clear. There were a few times when things happened or were said and I was left with my mouth wide open (so to speak), because it just came out of nowhere!

The Declaration is a story with a very important message to tell and it one of those that are definitely worth reading. So, read it.

I'm definitely going to be reading the next two books in the series, as soon as I can get my hands on them.

Rating: 8/10

Author:

Gemma Malley is a British author of young adult novels. She studied Philosophy at university and after graduating, worked as a journalist. If you would like to find out more about her, you can read a short Q&A session she has on her blog (just click on the Q&A). She has also written:

The Resistance (Declaration #2)   |   The Legacy (Declaration #3)

The Returners

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011, Dystopia Challenge, 1st In A Series Challenge

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
First published (in the UK) by Weidenfeld and Nicholson in 1997 (this edition by Phoenix in 2008) - First published in German in 1995 as ''Der Vorleser''








Description (from the back cover)
For 15-year-old Michael, a chance meeting with an older woman leads to far more than he ever imagined. Before long they embark on a passionate, clandestine love affair which leaves Michael both euphoric and confused. For Hanna is not all she seems.


Years later, as a student observing a trial in Germany, Michael is shocked to find Hanna in the dock. The woman he loved is a war criminal. Much about her behaviour during the trial does not make sense. Hanna must answer for a horrible crime, but she is desperately concealing an even deeper secret.


My thoughts
As most (if not all) of you will know, The Reader was made into a film in 2008, starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes, which was hugely successful and which resulted in a Oscar for Kate Winslet. The film is really well made and the performances from Winslet, Fiennes and David Kross (who plays the young Michael) are exceptional.

So, in this case, I did things the other way around; I watched the film before I read the book. I know many people do not like doing that, but I don't really mind doing things in the wrong order. Sometimes, I even prefer it (as in the case of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams, where I am sure that had I read the book before watching the film, I wouldn't have enjoyed the book as much as I did). The Reader was somewhere in the middle and by that I mean that it didn't really make much difference that I watched the film first, because the book was so easy to read. The story was rather short and very well written, but the translation was also one of the best translations I have ever read. It felt to me as if the book had actually been written in English.

In this book, we follow the story of Michael, a young boy who meets an older woman named Hanna and embarks on a love affair with her, despite their large difference in age. The story is split into three parts; in the first, we learn about the actual affair at the time it is happening; in the second, Michael is at university and is witnessing Hanna's trial firsthand; and the third is set many, many years later, but I'm not going to tell you what it's about, just in case you haven't read the book or seen the film, but are planning to.

Excellent portrayal of characters, lovely descriptions of places and circumstances. You can understand the motives between each person's decisions and, though they might seem a little extreme, you can see there is some amount of logic behind them. The Reader is a very sad story in general, but it is definitely one worth reading.

Rating: 8/10


Author:
Berhard Schlink is a German jurist and writer. He became a judge at the Constitutional Court of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1988 and has been a professor of public law and the philosophy of law at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany since January 2006. His second book, The Reader, a partly autobiographical novel, has been translated into 39 languages and was the first German book to reach the number one position in the New York Times bestseller list.
Other books include:

Flights of Love   |   Homecoming

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

February by Lisa Moore

February by Lisa Moore
First published by House of Anansi/Groundwood Books in 2009 (this edition by Chatto & Windus in 2010)









Description (from Goodreads)
In 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a Valentine's night storm. In the early hours of the next morning, all 84 men aboard died. Helen O'Mara is one of those left behind when her husband, Cal, drowns. This title shows us the oil rig go down and Helen emerging from her grief to greet a new life.


My thoughts
Before I saw February in the pile of books my Grandma had put together for me, I hadn't seen or heard of it before. The cover is not what you might call eye-catching, but because it was in the pile, I decided to read the description on the back cover, where I realised that the cover is pretty irrelevant to the story; it doesn't even give an inkling of what it's about. (Which is really a pity, because the book is worth reading)


The book follows Helen, the widow of Cal, a man who was working on the oil rig Ocean Ranger on the night that everything went wrong and 84 men died. Apparently, the Ocean Ranger accident was a real event, something which I did not know about before I read the book. While I was reading the story, I thought it was an event that was made up to be used as a backdrop for the novel, but when I finished the book and got round to reading the acknowledgements (something which I do, even though I think most people tend not to), I found out that it was a real event. (You can find out more about it HERE.)


Throughout the story, we go back and forth, to different times in the past and in the present, which allows us to understand Helen's grief, despite the fact that not everything is told in chronological order. The book doesn't solely focus on Helen's grief and her journey in dealing with it. It also follows Helen and Cal's children's lives (though not necessarily directly), so as to show the impact that particular accident had upon their lives; John, who was the eldest and the only boy, Cathy and Lulu, the two middle girls, and Gabrielle, who was born after her father died. And there is one important subplot, which is supposed to be the trigger for the telling of the story and though which the main characters come to deal with their grief.


Despite the fact that it deals quite a bit with grief  and dealing (over a rather large period of time), this book is not too heavy to read. The writing is very good and the way in which it is written (with all the jumps in time) just helped pull me into the story and made me want to read on and on so that I could find out what was going to happen next. The characters were easy to relate to and understand and faced real problems in real ways. Definitely a book worth reading.


Rating: 8/10


Author:
Lisa Moore is a Canadian author. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and has also studied at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. She has written two collections of stories, Degrees of Nakedness and Open, as well as a novel, Alligator. She has also written for tv, radio, magazines and newspapers.

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

The Wilding by Maria McCann

The Wilding by Maria McCann
First published by Faber and Faber in 2010 (this edition by Faber and Faber in 2010)









Description (from Goodreads)
Jonathan Dymond, a 26-year old cider-maker in post-Civil War England, has enjoyed a quiet, harmonious existence until a letter arrives from his uncle with a request to speak with his father. When his father returns from the visit the next day, all he can say is that Jonathan's uncle has died. Then Jonathan finds a fragment of the letter, with talk of inheritance and vengeance...


My thoughts
The Wilding is a rather odd book. Set in England in the 17th century, a few years after the Civil War, the story begins by introducing us to Jonathan Dymond, a young cider maker. Right at the beginning of the novel, Jonathan and his family find out that Jonathan's uncle Robin is not well, so his father hastens to his bedside. But, because of the fact that he chooses to go on foot, by the time he reaches the nearby village (where Robin and his wife live), it is already too late. Soon after that, Jonathan finds a fragment of a letter in one of his father's pockets, which perplexes him and makes him want to pursue the matter and find out exactly what is going on. So, he uses the cider-making as an excuse to stay at his aunt's house and find out what exactly has been going on.


The story features the practice of cider making as a means to developing the story, seeing as Jonathan uses it as an excuse to get into his aunt's household. Which I thought was a rather original idea. I have never read anything about cider (I haven't even tasted cider, which is really quite irrelevant here) and I found the information about cider-making rather fascinating (in a learning stuff kind-of way).


The characters in this book are very well developed. We come to understand the motives behind most of the character's actions and to sympathise (or not) with them. Jonathan is a very well thought out character and serves as an excellent main character, through whom we see the whole story develop.


As for the story, it was truly excellent. There were many points in the novel that completely surprised me. I wasn't sure what I was expecting to happen while I was reading the chapters, but then, suddenly, came a revelation which I just did not expect. It's one of the things I really like in books; not being able to guess what is going to happen in the next few pages.


All in all, The Wilding is an excellent historical fiction book. It's not a very heavy read (not at all heavy, in my opinion) and is very well thought out, if a little ''creepy'' (for want of a better word) at times. A book that is definitely worth reading!


Rating: 8/10


Author:
Maria McCann is an English novelist. She was born in Liverpool and has been working as a lecturer in English at Strode College in Somerset for many years. The Wilding is her second novel, the first being As Meat Loves Salt, which is set during the English Civil War.

Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

Birthmarked by Caragh O' Brien
First published by Roaring Book Press in 2010 (this edition by Simon & Schuster UK in 2011)


Book #1 in the Birthmarked series






Description (from Goodreads)
After climate change, on the north shore of Unlake Superior, a dystopian world is divided between those who live inside the wall, and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. It’s Gaia’s job to “advance” a quota of infants from poverty into the walled Enclave, until the night one agonized mother objects, and Gaia’s parents are arrested.
Badly scarred since childhood, Gaia is a strong, resourceful loner who begins to question her society. As Gaia’s efforts to save her parents take her within the wall, she herself is arrested and imprisoned.
Fraught with difficult moral choices and rich with intricate layers of codes, BIRTHMARKED explores a colorful, cruel, eerily familiar world where one girl can make all the difference, and a real hero makes her own moral code.


My thoughts
Birthmarked I had first seen on Becky's blog when she featured it on some post or another (I really can't remember now...). Anyway, the cover really drew me and I decided I had to get it sometime. It was nearly 5 months after I first saw it that I came round to actually buying it and another 2 before I got round to reading it.


Obviously, I had realised that there would be some marking of children at the time of birth in the book and that it would play a rather important part in the whole story (as if that wasn't pretty clear just by looking at the title). The story was really easy to get into and, to be honest, even though it is mentioned pretty early on, I hadn't realised how the birthmarking fitted into all this and when it took place.


The main character, Gaia, is a really strong and well-developed character. She is a sixteen year old girl, living on the wrong side of the Wall that separates the Enclave from the Outside. Gaia is a midwife and, at the beginning of the book, we find her on the first ever birthing she has had to take care of all on her own. Which means that she will have to advance the baby she helps the woman give birth to, as each midwife has a certain quota of babies that they have to 'advance' every month. On that same night, Gaia goes home to find out that her parents have been arrested.


What is great about Gaia is that she is a very self-conscious character, and not in a bad way. She has been scarred since birth and prefers to hide it (meaning that she is uncomfortable with her appearance), but it has not hindered her in any other way. She has gone through quite a bit of suffering (and taunting and ostracism) through the years because of her scarring, but that didn't seem to have shaped her as a character in making her a meek and will-less girl. Instead, she is a very strong main character and is very determined to be as good as possible at what she has chosen to be - a midwife.


The other characters in the book haven't got such a strong presence. The focus of the story is mainly on Gaia. We meet lots of different characters along the way, who get close to Gaia because of some situation or another, but none who are steady throughout the book, maybe excepting Sgt Leon Grey, who makes some appearances during the first half of the book, but is a more constant character during the second half. (Plus, I just loved him as a character! And the name Leon is such a nice name.)


There was quite a bit of information about biology, heredity and DNA in this book, which was an essential part of the story. At some point in the novel, there was a simile, where chromosomes where likened to chrome spoons. It was a rather interesting way to explain it, to say the least. But, there were also some parts of the explanations about things biological that were a bit off. A very main concept in this story is that of haemophilia. For those of you who don't know (and so that I can show off what I know!), haemophilia is a rather rare hereditary disease, which can cause death by excessive bleeding, even from one little scratch. Haemophilia is brought on by the absence of certain genes, which encode for the proteins that are necessary for the blood to clot (hence the excessive bleeding). What might not be common knowledge about haemophilia is that it is more common in boys than it is in girls, due to the fact that the genes in question are located on the X chromosome (of which boys have one and girls two). That means that if a boy gets the 'bad' X chromosome from his mum, then he will definitely get haemophilia, whereas if a girl gets the 'bad' X chromosome from her mum and a normal one from her dad, she will still be all right, though she will also be able to pass it the 'bad' chromosome on to her sons. That did not seem to have been very well explained in the book. Another thing that also wasn't mentioned was the fact that girls who did have haemophilia tended to die when they were young, even if they were very careful not to get scratches or wounds, and the reason for that was the arrival of their 'monthy courses' (for want of a better phrase).


I'm really sorry for that awfully long biology lesson, but I have to put my degree to good use. All in all, Birthmarked was a really good book, lovely to read, with a storyline that just kept me reading and reading. I loved the ending, which was a teeny bit cliffhanger-ish and I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series, Prized, when it comes out later this year!


Rating: 8/10


Author:
Caragh O'Brien is an American author from Minnesota. She holds an MA from Johns Hopkins University and used to work as a high school English teacher. She has now given up teaching so as to be able to write full-time.
You can fin out more about Caragh and her books from her website.


Read for the: 100 Books In A Year Challenge 2011, Dystopia Challenge, 1st In A Series Challenge