Stacia's books

8:00 pm 15 January 2013

As I know very little about Portugal & its colonies, I found this a relatively interesting historical novel. Lots of stereotypical characterization & uneven pacing, but neat/new-to-me historic info about the allegation of Portugal using slave labor on its São Tomé and Príncipe cacao plantations as late as the early 1900s. The Portuguese were challenged to prove otherwise by the British or face boycotts of their cacao exports....

Recommended for those who enjoy European &/or African historical fiction.

8:00 pm 10 January 2013

Women of the Klondike - Frances Backhouse, Foreword by Pierre Berton

Finally finished my first book of 2013: "Women of the Klondike" by Frances Backhouse. I found it to be a well-written, straightforward account of women in the Klondike, mostly during the gold rush years of the late 1800s/early 1900s. Backhouse covers all types of women... adventurers who went seeking gold, journalists, entertainers (running the gamut from singers to prostitutes), nuns, nurses, teachers, accountants, secretaries, business investors & managers, tourists, & more.

This book also includes lots of nice photographs -- a very nice touch.

The version of the book I read was a later edition because the back includes an epilogue where she talks about families that contacted her after the first release of the book & provided additional info/letters/family history on some of the women in her book.

Especially fascinating if you like history, genealogy, &/or women's history.

FYI, I looked up some of Backhouse's source materials. If you are interested, one of them is currently free on amazon Kindle: "A Woman who went to Alaska" by May Kellogg Sullivan. Sullivan was briefly covered in the chapter about women who went to the Klondike mostly as tourists. I haven't read Sullivan's book (yet), but thought I'd mention it since it is currently available for free download.
http://www.amazon.com/Woman-who-went-Alaska-ebook/dp/B004TIM3EU/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1357952157&sr=1-1

8:00 pm 27 December 2012

Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World - Catalina De Erauso, Michele Stepto, Gabri Stepto

While a woman dressing as a man is nothing new in the annals of history, reading this straighforward, picaresque autobiography is something fairly different. My Spanish bil confirmed for me that Catalina is indeed a Spanish (folk)hero. Reading of her exploits & adventures provided a fascinating glimpse into her life as a man in the new world, outlining her exploits as a gambler, soldier, and adventurer. Catalina got into enough scrapes that she often relied on the sanctuary of the Church for protection; later in her life, after confessing her true identity, the Church accepted her & the pope gave her a special dispensation to continue dressing as a man. A unique view of a Spanish hero/heroine. Worth a read, especially for the historical value.

FYI, here is a different translation than the one I read, freely available online:
http://mith.umd.edu//eada/html/display.php?docs=erauso_autobiography.xml&action=show

8:00 pm 15 December 2012

Chinese Letter made me think of a lighter form of Kafka (esp. The Trial), perhaps? I saw a reference that compared this author's work to Samuel Beckett's works, but I've never read Beckett so I can't compare. (Guess I need to add Beckett to my to-read list.) Chinese Letter is a mix of thought-provoking, banal, slightly surreal, contemporary, somewhat philosophical, & sometimes oddly funny musings in an unclear setting/sphere of action. Different, fairly interesting, & quick to read.

8:00 pm 13 December 2012

Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Maria Semple

As far as the book.... Well, I say... meh. I finished it today. It was ok. As I've said before, chick lit is not really my genre, but this looked like it could be a fun book so I thought I'd give it a try. It might be better than some chick lit out there (I don't have much experience to compare it against), but imo it got a bit tedious reading most of the book in the style of letters, emails, reports, yada, yada.... Plus, the writing style of one of the characters in the book was extremely annoying! Because everything was empahsized! Like it was so important! And urgent! And reading a couple of pages of that repeatedly through the book made me want to yell! I think I felt stressed out after reading those sections! Not sure I cared a lot about most of the characters either.... It's certainly a quick enough read though.

A side comment -- I'm starting to see more & more product references in books these days. It's starting to be like glaring product placement in movies (i.e., Heineken in James Bond, anyone?). Lately, books have over-mentioned (drooled over?) products/companies including Microsoft (Where'd You Go, Bernadette?), Google (Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore), Apple & Ikea (The Girl Who... series). I'm just starting to get a little burned out on all the specific product references, kwim? Anyone else noticing that? Perhaps I should make time to read Infinite Jest, huh? ;-)

8:00 pm 10 December 2012

The Prisoner of Heaven: A Novel - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Quite enjoyable. Now I may have to go back and read The Angel's Game (which I haven't read yet). Also wondering if the next book will be the last & final chapter...?

It has been quite a few years since I read The Shadow of the Wind. Yet, when reading The Prisoner of Heaven, I felt a pretty strong sense of déjà vu. I'm not sure if this stems from things I remembered from the first book or because of strong parallels to The Count of Monte Cristo or what.... So, for a good portion of the book, I felt like I knew what was going to happen w/ just the final parts being 'new' to me. Still, it was a decent, quick read. I'd rate it similar to The Shadow of the Wind, but w/ less gothic horror.

After mulling over The Prisoner of Heaven, I remembered one thing I wanted to say about it.... The POV bothered me in parts & here's why -- Fermin is recounting his past & it's like you're transported to that time/place. However, at times, there is much detail about people (mainly a person named Valls) & events going on w/ that person, but Fermin was not there, so how can he know to that level of detail? I guess I found the shift between 1st person & 3rd person POVs not great in parts of the book. Not a big deal, but more of a nagging feeling going on in my head when I was reading....

8:00 pm 7 December 2012

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir - Jenny Lawson

Hilarious, profanity-filled, stream-of-consciousness writing that will have you rolling with laughter. I laughed so much in places that my family began to eye me warily & give me wide berth. ;-)

Don't be fooled by my rating of only 3 stars. For books such as non-fiction self-help or humor, I tend to give 3 stars as my highest rating. So, for the humor genre, it gets my highest rating.

8:00 pm 30 November 2012

Holidays on Ice: Stories - David Sedaris

I read this because I saw the SantaLand Diaries as a play last weekend & really enjoyed it. To be fair, I think Sedaris is better heard/seen than read. His radio essays & plays I've seen have been enjoyable & entertaining. His writing... eh... not so much. I liked the SantaLand Diaries section of the book fine (though it was mostly repeating what I had just seen in the play), but I found the other stories to be quite dark & very cynical. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for such dark fare, but I found it to be too heavy for what-I-had-hoped would be light, seasonal, fun reading.

As I've said, I enjoy Sedaris when hearing/seeing him. I think I'll stick to his performed &/or spoken pieces from now on.... And in that vein, I'll leave you with a link to a different holiday tale of his from the Netherlands, "6 to 8 Black Men" (about St. Nicholas & Zwarte Piet) since St. Nicholas day is approaching quickly. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCUHTDrca4s

8:00 pm 18 November 2012

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin - Erik Larson

I finished "In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin" by Erik Larson. I both liked it & didn't like it (which is how I also felt about Larson's book "The Devil in the White City").

What I liked: Learning details about people & events I didn't know that much about; more knowledge about history, esp. a closer look at Berlin & some of the people there, what the city was like, etc....

What I didn't like: The subtitle indicates that the book is about a family, but the book really focused on Dodd & his dd; his wife & ds were mentioned but often missing from the narrative. I don't know if that's because there was less documentation on them or just because the author felt they were less interesting to the story. Also, there were some things he mentioned that seemed relevant to the story (using a local Jewish doctor's home for their residence/office, while the dr. & his family resided upstairs) -- what happened to the family? Did the next ambassador continue to live in that location or not? Sometimes it seemed like a mish-mash of assorted facts, letters, and so on, but not necessarily connected or flowing together very well. Also, he did a year or so in depth, then had a couple of jumps in time to give short descriptions of later events. It made things feel very uneven, I think. Etc....

8:00 pm 11 November 2012

I thought this book was ok. It kind of reminds me of a Sarah Addison Allen book -- easy-to-read, entertaining enough, no brain power needed type read. Overall, it's a mostly charming/cozy style, but does have a somewhat sinister turn or two in it. The pacing was fine until close to the end, when things picked up/changed tone unexpectedly & a quick wrap-up was tacked on; it felt a bit disconcerting after the more languid pace of most of the book. Not sure I'm thrilled w/ the title either (it is explained a bit); maybe something else would have been better?

My final take -- recommended if you want a brain candy type book similar to Sarah Addison Allen's books, but with a few ghosts along for the ride. Think along the lines of "I see dead people" but in a cozy (not creepy) way. Lol.

8:00 pm 8 November 2012

Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology - Amy Sonnie, Margot Kelley Rodriguez, Nzinga Akili, Gina de Vries, Ryan Pesigan Reyes, Jerome C. Boyce, Mario Anthony Balcita, Rachel Josloff, Sherisse Alvarez, Dani Frances Montgomery, Katherine Heather Grobman, Uchechi Kalu, Jason Roe, Meliza Banales, Kevin Rolfe, Sara

Read this one in honor & celebration of Banned Books Week (which was celebrated in early October in the US). Celebrate your freedom to read!
http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned

Overall, I think the topic is important & I enjoyed reading about the various contributors as much (or perhaps more than) the various writings/art that were included. Much of the writing is straightforward, raw, real -- about prejudice, love, hate, understanding, misunderstanding, uncertainty, & certainty... the road of life. A few pieces stood out above the others; much more was the style of what you would read in a high school or perhaps college-level literary magazines. I think the feelings & topics encompassed are the impact of this work (vs. the actual writing/art itself). As far as it having been a "banned" work -- really, it's not explicit. Yes, there is cursing, there is reference to queers (and many other terms, much of which is included in a glossary), to loving others. But, explicit? No. Filled with love, rage, anger, triumph, the good & bad? Yes.

Personally, I would love to hear a follow-up on the writers & artists in this book to see how life is going for each one of them a dozen years after the publication of this anthology.

8:00 pm 5 November 2012

To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism - Chuck Thompson

Entertaining, yet quite cynical, look at the places traveled. I liked that the author is highly opinionated & gives his unvarnished opinion of the places & people he meets. (Not everyone may appreciate his extremely straightforward style of writing. Thompson reminds me of a mix of Anthony Bourdain & Bill Maher.) The author is not 'politically correct' & doesn't necessarily paint a rosy picture of the places he visited, but I appreciated the detailed info about his travels.

8:00 pm 31 October 2012

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan

Hey, the cover art is glow-in-the-dark. Fun!

A charming little book that made me think of a kinder/gentler Da Vinci Code for bibliophiles of all stripes (print &/or e-reader) & font nerds. Nothing earth-shattering, but a fun choice if you need something nice, light, & pleasantly interesting.

8:00 pm 26 October 2012

Fascinating book of interwoven stories. Loved that Mitchell used different times/periods/writing styles for the six main story lines. I also enjoyed the cyclical nature of the story itself, of themes repeated in our past, present, and future histories -- lots to ponder, imo.

Now for a slight spoiler...

I read this book after seeing previews for the movie. As I came to each section, I remembered scenes from the preview that correlated to the book. When I got to "Sloosha's Crossin' an' Ev'rythin' After", I realized that much of the preview seems to focus on Tom Hanks & Halle Berry as characters from that section of the book. Knowing Tom Hanks was playing that character & reading the dialect (which I didn't really like) in that section, I kept hearing Hanks' voice as Forrest Gump for that entire section of the book. LOL. So, I think imagining that section (my least favorite part of the book) being read in Forrest Gump's voice tainted my impression of that section. ;-)
(ETA: I did see the movie -- loved it too -- and Hanks does not talk in Forrest Gump's voice in it. LOL.)

8:00 pm 18 October 2012

I'd probably give the story itself a 3.5 rating, but I'm bumping the overall score to 4 because some parts are just so absurdly funny.

This book is not necessarily for the faint of heart. It seems like a smash-up of teen horror flicks (and all their grossness, from juvenile humor to creeping levels of dread to gory scenes), dark-humor (a la the Coen brothers), with a side of Jon Stewart/David Letterman style commentary & conversation.

A fun, gross, creepy horror read. Perfect for October.

8:00 pm 17 October 2012

Visit Sunny Chernobyl: And Other Adventures in the World's Most Polluted Places - Andrew Blackwell

I finished Visit Sunny Chernobyl today. (And I made my computer guru kid read the section on China where they break-down/recycle electronic components.) It's a thought-provoking book. Blackwell visits & describes the places & people there, but leaves you to draw many of your own conclusions. I typically enjoy travel memoirs, and this book is no exception. It brought me to corners of the globe where I've never been (and most likely will never go); I like & respect that Blackwell visits the places that most people never will. I also like that fact that in spite of environmental devastation, he can see beauty amid the troubles, real people amid the faceless workers/people who work/live in these environments. His overall, final view seems to be along the lines of: the Earth is definitely extremely messed up & has been already; many environmentalists envision Nirvana being Earth w/ few to no humans; Blackwell argues that we humans are of & on the Earth too, we've figured in the damage, & we need to figure in the future of protecting the environment while living & working in it too. Ironically, while finishing his travels for the book, the Japanese tsunami happened (w/ the resulting nuclear issues), making many of his observations very timely & underscoring the impact we humans are having on our environment, both for today, as well as the short- and long-term futures. FYI, even w/ the environmental bent of his topic, this book is very much a travelogue of places & people visited.

I think it would be a great read for high schoolers & university-level students. This book can spawn lots of great discussion, debate, & research, imo.

My vote is for "definitely recommended".

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