The Literary Blog Hop: To Like or Dislike the Hype

The Literary Blog Hop is hosted by the brilliant bloggers at The Blue Bookcase.  This week's question is:

Do you find yourself predisposed to like (or dislike) books that are generally accepted as great books and have been incorporated into the literary canon? Discuss the affect you believe a book’s “status” has on your opinion of it. 

 I think that my feelings on this topic have changed over time.  When I was in high school and college I was much more likely to assume that whatever classic literature they were asking us to read must be of great value, because otherwise why would we be asked to read it.  So I searched for nuggets even in things I hated, like The Scarlet Letter or The Old Man and the Sea.  But as I've gotten older, and I've learned more about the history of teaching reading and literature in our schools, I've come to realize the many, many, many voices that were never heard.  Women, people of color, gays and lesbians-all, with the notable exceptions of the Brontes and Jane Austen, were either left out of the literary conversation all together or had their stories told by others (most often not very authentically).  So, as the years have gone on, I've been less likely to read something that is strictly from the cannon and choose other, more diverse voices instead.  I suppose if I'm not careful I'll swing too far the other way, but for now I'm content to stay away from some of the capital A authors in favor of looking at life through the eyes of a more diverse group of small a authors.

Capital A Authors:

 Small a authors:

 

The Weird Sisters, Eleanor Brown

I've found myself suing the words, "I was listening to NPR..." more and more lately.  Maybe it's a function of my advancing age, or just that I refuse to watch television news, but I've got my radio tuned more and more to NPR regardless of when I am in the car.  I always listened to the headlines on my way to and from work, but lately I've found myself tuning in at odd time when they are talking about Kenyan tribal music, or why Americans may soon be eating only genetically engineered bananas, or some such.  One of the things that I discovered recently was the book The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown.  I heard an interview with the author, in which she described her process for writing the novel, as well as some of the themes that she was trying to address.

The Weird Sisters is the story of three sister (duh)-Rosalind, Bianca, and Cordelia.  Their father is a Shakespearean scholar, who communicates with them mostly through quotations direct from the Bard.  They all make their way back to their childhood home when their mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, though that is not the real reason any of them makes the journey.  Rosalind, an academic like her father, has always lived nearby, but comes to live at home after her fiance takes a fellowship at Oxford.  Bianca, the middle sister, loads up her beater and drives home from New York, where she unsuccessfully tried to live the city life on a secretary's income.  Cordelia, the youngest, finds her way home after years of traveling around the country at a whim, drifting here and there in what's left of the counterculture.  To say that the three sisters have a complicated relationship with each other is rather an understatement.  They each fulfill the stereotypical role of the oldest, middle, and youngest child.  While they obviously care deeply for each other, they don't appear to like each other, which is actually the tagline on the book jacket.

I found this book to be very much in line with what we are calling women's fiction.  The characters are all searching in their own way for connection-with each other, with their parents, with the various men in their lives.  What makes this book different than the others is the tie in with Shakespeare.  I don't know if it actually is more literary, or just seems that way because of the frequent mentions of the Bard,  but it feels like there is a little more meat in this story than in some women's fiction. 

But here's my problem-not only do the sisters not really like each other, but I found myself not really liking them that much.  They were all flawed, which I realize was the point.  They were all failures, which I realize was the point.  But I kept finding myself wanting to tell them, "Grow up and talk to each other!" or "Get over yourselves and move on with your life!" or "Stop whining-move to England already!"  Despite not really liking them much, I did find myself caring what happened to them.  And Brown did a good job of not falling into the easy traps.  None of them have the perfect resolution to their issues, though all of them found some happiness and satisfaction.  Overall, this is a perfectly pleasant read, but without any real profundity.

Orchards by Holly Thompson

ISBN-13: 9780385739771
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books
Published: February 2011
336 pgs
Source: Personal Library



I remember seeing Orchards by Holly Thompson on a few blogs I followed. Attracted by the lovely cover but more so intrigued by the plot, I decided to get a copy. When my copy arrived, I was a little surprised to find that it was written in free verse instead of a novel format. Since I have never read a book written in free verse (well they remind me of poetry, kind of) and given that the book I was reading then didn't intrigue me much, I decided to jump into it.

Half-Japanese and half-Jewish American, Kana Goldberg is an eight-grader whose life has taken a turn after a classmate commits suicide. Although Kana isn’t the one who had said the hurtful things to Ruth, nonetheless she still feels a little guilty since she is hanging out with the girls who were mean to Ruth. After the incident, Kana’s parents decided to send her off to Japan for the summer. Staying in her mother’s village home in Kohama where they grow mikan oranges for a living, they are hoping that her stay there will help to reflect on her behaviour.

Given her mixed heritage, Kana has difficulty fitting in and she learnt that her grandmother (whom she called Baachan) was unhappy when her mother left Japan many years ago and married an American. It took a while for the family to accept her and soon Kana adjust to her life in the rural orchard farm. Though she is far away from New York, Kana still think of Ruth, her death and how things might be different if it didn’t end it that way.

Filled with teenage angst, guilt, sorrow and reflection, Orchards is an emotional intense story told from Kana’s point of view which was directed to Ruth. I have to confess I was skeptical about the free verse format and wondered if this is suffice to tell a story, and surprisingly I found that this format works well through Holly Thompson’s prose and every of her words are enough to draw me in and pull my heartstring. I was also drawn to the few illustrations that spotlight some of the Japanese culture and symbols which I thought they somewhat lessened the brooding atmosphere given that Kana is sorting out her feelings as readers get to see her mature through the process.

Wordless Wednesday

Teaser Tuesdays and a DNF book

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.


• Let the book fall open to a random page.


• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page. You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• 
  
  Please avoid spoilers!

I don't think I've ever posted a free verse format in my Teaser Tuesdays post before. No, scratch that, I don't even think I've ever read a book that was written in a free verse format, but there is always a first, isn't it?

~*~*~*~*~*

I have never been to
Japan alone
never traveled anywhere alone
except sleepovers
and overnight camp
for a week in Vermont

on the plane
flight attendants chat with me
unaccompanied minor
praise my language abilities
assume it's a
happy occasion
my returning
to the village of my mother's childhood
for the summer

but they don't know
what I know, Ruth -
that it's all
because of you (Pg 14, Orchards by Holly Thompson)

---

I'd heard so many good things about Frank Delaney's Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show that when I was asked by a publicist if I was interested to read the sequel, The Matchmaker of Kenmare, I didn't hesitate. Unfortunately, after two weeks later of reading the book (and having only read one-quarter of it), I've to say I'm giving up this book for good. There is no doubt that Frank Delaney's prose is lyrical and beautiful, but I find the story is progressing slowly and though the plot seems interesting, it didn't manage to capture my attention into reading more.

Narrated by Ben McCarthy (he's the main character from Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show) with a World War II setting, Ben related his tale of his life traveling around Ireland as a collector for the Irish Folklore Commission as he grieves for his wife, Venetia, after she has disappeared ten years earlier. During the journey, he met Kate Begley who is known as the Matchmaker of Kenmare. They became friends quickly, and at some point they are attracted to each other too but Kate ended up with a striking American military intelligence officer named Charles Miller. I think it was from that point onwards that I've began to lose interest in the story; I also mentioned earlier that the pace is slow and it seems the story isn't going anywhere whereas I was expecting something interesting or exciting to happen (perhaps it did, but I had already lost my interest before I get to it).

And on top of this, I have yet to read Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show so I think I might have missed something which may be of related to this book. Nonetheless, I was disappointed with the overall experience because I had wanted to like this book but I didn't. That said, don't let this post deter you from reading this book as I've also read several reviews which are full of praise about this book.

Life in the Rooster Coop

I have openly admitted my Goodreads bookswap addicition.  While they say admitting you have a problem is the first step in recovery, I can't seem to take step number two.  At any rate, I was browsing one day when I came upon The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga.  I've recently grown more interested in south Asian literature, and this one sounded interesting.  I made my request and eagerly awaited its arrival.  Well it arrived alright-in CD form.  Apparently in my mindless bookswapping high I had requested an audiobook.  Arrggghhh...I am not a fan.  I realize that many people love the audiobook, but to me it feels like cheating.  Like if someone asked me, "Have you read The White Tiger?", I would be lying if I said yes.  But, with a couple of long drives coming up, I decided to get over myself and listen to it in the car.  Lucky for me I did, because The White Tiger is one of those rare titles that shows life exactly how it is, with all of its warts and ugliness exposed, and still manages to make it into something beautiful.

The White Tiger is the story of  Balram Halway, a rickshaw driver's son from "the darkness"-the small, poor, rural villages in the north of India.  He manages to escape his own small village by becoming a driver for a wealthy family in Delhi.  Balram is constantly aware of the wide gulf separating him from his wealthy employers, despite the mere inches of space that separates them in the car.  Through letters to the Premier of China, who is slated to come to India for a visit, Balram shares his life story, as well as his thoughts in class, caste, Eastern vs. Western values, and entrepreneurship.  Balram believes that the poor in India are caged in a rooster coop, and that every time one of the roosters tries to break free, he is pushed back in by the masters, even as the other roosters try to peck him to death.

Balram is the perfect narrator for this tale.  Smart, though uneducated, he brings to life the inequities that continue to exist in modern Indian society.  We watch as he becomes more and more dissatisfied with his lot in life.  As a child he seemed to believe the lie that the poor are told-that they are not as smart/talented/good as the rich, and that they should not seek to rise above their predetermined station.  But as he spends time with his wealthy employers, he begins to see the petty, ruthless way in which they treat the poor as something ugly and unfair.  While he starts out admiring his master, Ashok, he comes to despise him for having the same weaknesses and flaws that plague all humans.  As his rage grows, he is led to dramatic action-an action that will change not just his life, but the lives of his entire family. 

Adiga's portrayal of Balram, his employers, and the dual nature of Indian culture could be a metaphor for just about any family or society.  One the one hand, India at the beginning of the 21st century is a place of corporate offices, call centers, luxury apartments, and glittering shopping malls.  But leave the walled compounds of the rich and successful behind, and you enter the India of the slums.  Dirty, full of people scraping whatever living they can out of the underbelly of the city-a place where dreams and hope go to die.  Beggars living on the streets, entire families living in tents beside rivers of sewage.  At times Adiga's descriptions of the living conditions literally make you hold your breath to hold off the stench that you can imagine must exist in these poor neighborhoods.  What Balram calls "entrepreneurship" seems to me to describe not a knack for business, but a knack for survival, a knack for finding a way to be a "man" in a society that wants you to remain an animal.  As Balram says, for 10,000 years the rich and the poor have been at war, each trying to bring down the other.  If only all poor Indians had the "entrepreneurial" spirit, they could smash the rooster coop.  But Balram doesn't really believe that this is possible.  Only once in a generation will someone (a white tiger) be born that has the ability and strength to break free.

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. This month's Mailbox Monday is hosted by I'm Booking It.

Here's what I bought and received from The Book Depository last week:

1) Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

2) Orchards by Holly Thompson

What books came into your house last week?

Book Blogger Hop-Where To?

 The Book Blogger Hope is a weekly meme hosted by Jennifer at Crazy-for-Books.  Here is some information about the hope right from the horse's mouth:

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word!  This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!  It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs to read!

This week the Hop asks us to consider what book or series we would physically put ourselves into if we could.  My first thought was Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, because I have always wanted to see the top of the world, but only if I don't actually have to be cold or anything (one of the many reasons I will never see the top of the world-I'm a wimp!)

So next I thought about all those books that I love that take place in England, because that is a place that I desperately want to visit that I might actually get to some day.  But then I realized how many of them have a time period that is not conducive to women's rights, or, you know, basic hygiene.  Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley is the one I feel most strongly about, but only if I can be one of the priestesses and living in Avalon.

After some consideration, I think that my final answer of the moment is to visit the world of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, though preferably after the great "defeat Sauron/Destroy the ring" thing.  Though before the elves leave-that is one of my motivating factors, to meet me some elves.  After that I can build myself a normal size house at the edge of Hobbiton and live peacefully with the Hobbits in the shire.  Yep, days of quiet contemplation in an idyllic spot sound like exactly what I need today.

The Violets of March, Sarah Jio

One of the recurring themes in literature is the way that the past can come back to haunt us.  Things that happened long ago can reverberate through our lives and our families until they touch us, without us even knowing.  Secrets long held can be devastating when revealed-or they can lead to redemption, closure, and the ability to move forward in life.  All of these ideas are explored in The Violets of March, a novel by Sarah Jio coming out in April.

Emily Watson thought she had it all.  A best selling book, a handsome husband, a glamorous life in New York.  Then the writer's block set in, her husband had an affair, and her fabulous social life dwindled as her fame fell.  Ten years later, on the day her divorce becomes final, she accepts an invitation from her Aunt Bee to visit her on Bainbridge Island, where Emily spent many happy summers as a child.  There, Emily reconnects with an old boyfriend, Greg, and meets Jack, who her aunt warns her away from.  She also find a red velvet diary, and gets drawn into a tragic mystery that happened fifty years earlier.  She soon comes to believe that the diary is connected to her in some way, and that she was fated to find it and bring her family's secrets out into the light at last.

I love books about islands.  I have always wanted to live on an island-to be that close to the sea, to be a part of a close knit community just seems idyllic to me.  I was immediately drawn by Jio's description of the island, and the way that the sea matched what was happening in the story at the time.  I was also immediately drawn in by the mystery.  Whose diary had Emily found?  Why was her aunt so tight-lipped about it?  And why was she supposed to stay away from the gorgeous and interesting Jack?  Emily finds that she cannot complete her own healing process, or move forward in her own life, until she uncovers the mystery around the women in her family.  She also finds that she cannot go back to her old life in New York with thoughts of Jack in her head.  The Violets of March is an imminently readable, thoroughly enjoyable book about love, family, and moving foward.

(Thank you to Penguin Group USA for the  free review copy)

Wordless Wednesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Pet Peeves

This week's Top Ten, hosted by the lovely bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish, is your bookish pet peeves.  And I know that every reader has them.  Reading is a very personal experience.  While some of us can read anywhere, others need the environment to be just right.  While some of us don't mind a crumpled, marked up old paperback copy of some book we've always wanted to read, others need clean copies.  Not to mention the actual literary pet peeves that readers have (see my post on stream-of-consciousness writing).  So, what are some of my pet peeves?  I've only got seven, but I feel them strongly!

1.  Being asked what I'm reading-There is nothing that bothers me more than sitting somewhere reading, like in a hotel lobby waiting for a conference to start, and having someone I don't know or barely know ask me what I'm reading.  Partly I'm annoyed at the interruption, but mostly I'm uncomfortable because I don't know what to say.  Is this person a reader?  Will they know the book or author just from the title?  Do they want a synopsis?  If I give them a synopsis, will they be annoyed because they were just asking to be polite?  Yep, hate this when it happens.

2.  Reading snobbery-there are very few things that annoy me more than snobbery in general, but I have lately become very  sensitive to book snobbery.  People who read literary fiction looking down on people who enjoy genre fiction, non-fiction readers looking down on fiction readers-I saw an analogy from another book blogger not long ago (sorry I don't remember which one-either the Ape or The Literate Man, I think), that your reading diet should be like your food diet-balanced.  Eat what you like, just try to make sure that you eat more "good" than "bad".  And there is good in every genre (even romance, I'm sure-OK, so I'm not completely immune to book bias).

3.  Overuse of adjective, metaphor, and simile-Anne Rice, I'm talking to you!  I don't need 12 pages of description to know that it is hot, humid, and sultry in New Orleans.  Look, I said it in three words!  Really, I had the idea by page two.

4.  Books written from movies-Do I really need to explain this?

5.  Mass-market Paperbacks-It's not so much the print as the binding.  I hate having to hold the book open all the time.  Makes it much more difficult to snack and read!  I realize that this would be solved with a Kindle, but with over 400 books in my house I have not yet read, I just can't justify the expense.

6.  I'm not bored, I'm reading!-Do you ever visit friends or family, and sit down to relax with your book, only to have them immediately suggest an outing, since you must be "bored"?  Maybe you are lucky enough to only visit other readers, but this has happened to me more than once.

7.  Chapters that start with long poems or song lyrics-Not gonna lie, I generally skip them.  I know they're supposed to add to the meaning of the story and all, but I'm impatient...

Once Upon a Time Challenge

So I mentioned before that I would not be participating in any more reading challenges, after all I haven't been reading many books for the challenges I had signed up, plus my reading progress has been slow lately. However, I have to make an exception for this particular challenge - Carl V's Once Upon a Time Challenge (OUAT) since I have not participated in this before, plus Carl is a great host and I always have fun with his R.I.P Challenge (which I'm always looking forward to it). And then of course there is always this opportunity to explore new authors and get to know new fellow bookbloggers.

Anyway, OUAT runs from March 21st through June 20th and you have a few options to choose from for this participation. Given my slow reading progress, I decided to sign up for The Journey which I will read at least one book out of the four categories (fantasy, fairy tales, folklore and mythology). As of writing this, I have no idea which title to read but I do have a few in mind:

• Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale by Carolyn Turgeon
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
• Sisters Red by Jackson Pierce
• When Rose Wakes by Christopher Golden

However, the reading list might change as I can be fickle minded when it comes to my reading, thus we shall see how. If you are new to this reading challenge, I hope you would join in the fun; and if you are not then what are you waiting for?

---

Note: There won't be a Teaser Tuesdays post today as I'm still reading The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney. Aside from my snail pace reading progress, I also find that the story is a bit slow in my opinion and that it doesn't engage me as much (although I have to say Frank's writing style is lyrical and beautiful!). This book is the sequel to Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show and since I haven't read that book yet, I wonder if this is part of the reason why it affects my experience of reading The Matchmaker of Kenmare. That said, I wouldn't want to call it a DNF at this stage so I shall read a few chapters and see how it goes.

Hope you all have a Happy Tuesday!

The Road, Cormac McCarthy

The Road is one of those books that I knew I should get around to, but just never seemed to make its way into my reading rotation.  I knew that it was post-apocalyptic, which I enjoy.  I knew that McCarthy is a well-respected author, for good reason.   I was waiting to watch the movie until I read the book, and even that wasn't enough of a push.  Well, I finally got around to it, and now I know why I resisted.  I knew that the story was depressing as hell and it would suck me into its dark, ash-filled, cannibalistic world like a black hole sucks in light.

The story centers around a man and his son, wandering a world that is utterly dead.  While  this is obviously because of some man-made disaster, we never really learn what.  The man and his son have been wandering and scavenging for years, sometimes going days without finding anything to eat.  There are no animals, nothing grows-the earth is filled with ash and smoke and burned out cities.  They often have to hide from gangs of cannibals, looking for other survivors to hold captive and use as food.  Despite the apparent hopelessness of the situation, the man and his son keep traveling along the road, not really believing that things might be better on the coast, but unable to bow to the seeming inevitability of death. 

Here's the thing-despite the fact that at least once I was contemplating suicide on the characters' behalf, I loved this book.  The writing is genius.  I've never read any of McCarthy's books before, but if all of them have the same ability to convey with just a few words the enormity of life and love and death then I'll read them all.  I'm always in awe of authors who can choose exactly the right words to create a vivid picture for the reader-no more and no less.  Being rather verbose myself, I admire this ability.  I also admire the imagination that can come up with this kind of skewed reality in the first place.  Though it makes me wonder what kind of dark place McCarthy's mind is.

My one complaint-the ending.  Not that it is left completely open-ended.  I get that as a metaphor for life in general, and that as long as there is life the story is never over, everything is uncertain except for the passage of time, etc..In fact, my complaint is that the story should have ended about 10 pages sooner than it did, with the boy completely alone.  Now THAT would have been a head-scratcher, real food for thought, a book group discussion starter. Despite my feeling that he caved a little bit at the end, overall I am deeply affected by this book, and find myself thinking about it off and on in the days since I finished it.  What more can a book have to recommend it than that?

The Winter Ghosts, Kate Mosse

Freddie Watson is a man stuck in time.  World War I, The Great War, the War to End All Wars, may have ended 10 years ago, but he is still grieving the loss of his brother, George, on the battlefield in France.  After being hospitalized for severe depression, Freddie still sees and hears his brother all the time.  Thinking a change in location might help, he is driving through the Pyrenees one night when a freak snowstorm forces him off the road.  He finds a small village hidden in the hills, where he finds a small guest house to take him in.  That night, he travels to a village feast and meets Fabrissa, a beautiful young woman with whom Freddie is instantly entranced.  The next day, when he tries to find her again, everyone in the village acts as though the feast, and Fabrissa, are imaginary.  Who was this woman?  Where was she?  When was she? Freddie finds peace and redemption in this intriguing ghost story.

Mosse does an excellent job of setting the stage for the events in this book.  The sense of place is very strong.  I felt the wind and the snow, I could picture vividly the small village, the woods, the cave.  Freddie himself is a well-developed character, Fabrissa less so...but then, the story isn't really about Fabrissa.  It is about acknowledging what has been lost, recognizing the injustice of death, and then moving forward.  Fabrissa and the others couldn't move forward until someone knew what had happened to them, and by leading the world to discover the cave where she died, Freddie finds his own peace as well.  This slim volume is an easy, enjoyable read.

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs. This month's Mailbox Monday is hosted by I'm Booking It.

Here's what I bought and received from The Book Depository last week:

1) Playing Hurt by Holly Schindler

2) Live Wire by Lora Leigh

What books came into your house last week?

Movie: Gnomeo & Juliet

Loosly based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Gnomeo and Juliet are two garden gnomes whereby each clan (the Red and the Blue) has a long bitter feud despite they live so close to one another - the lawns of two neighbours, Mrs. Montague and Mr. Capulet (who like the gnomes are at loggerheads with each other).

Delicate and well protected, Juliet yearns for an adventurous life and her one night adventure sends her towards Gnomeo's path. Attracted to each other, Gnomeo and Juliet didn't realise of their positions until their disguise are off. However, this doesn't deter them from not seeing each other again. And with the help and advice from a discarded pink plastic flamingo named Featherstone, the twosome decided to overcome all obstacles even if they risk being broken (they are all made from ceramic).

Gnomeo & Juliet first caught my attention when I saw its advertisement on a magazine. Attracted by the bright and colourful illustrations and that it's a retelling tale of Romeo and Juliet, I figured this would be a fun movie to watch. And truthfully, I wasn't disappointed and my daughter loved it. There are many hilarious moments amid the heated exchanges and actions between the blue and red gnomes and their fights involving a lawnmower race are just some of the highlights of the film.

The characterisations are great too. Supporting roles like Nanette (who is a frog and is Juliet's good friend) and Featherstone (the pink plastic flamingo who reminisce about his lost love to Gnomeo and Juliet while encouraging them to embrace instead of hiding their love) add entertainment to the overall plot. I have to say their roles are more outstanding partly because they are funny and yes, likeable too.

While I think the plot is good, I was somewhat disappointed with the ending. No, I wasn't referring about the happily-ever-after instead of a tragedy ending (after all it is a G-rated film), but it is simply in my adult mind I was hoping for a more complex scenario. Anyway, what most matters is that we had had a wonderful time and that seeing the joy on our daughter's face and hearing her laughter is suffice for us.

Your Popcorn Choice: Salty or Sweet?

Yesterday my husband and I brought our daughter to watch Gnomeo and Juliet, as this week is a one-week school holidays. We had a wonderful time. I hope to have a review (or rather my thoughts) on the movie up soon. Anyway, what's a movie experience like without a tub of popcorn so we bought one and I found it interesting that they had listed the choice of popcorn we choose and what it says about us. Here goes:

Salty popcorn eaters tend to be down-to-earth, take-charge types who tell it like it is and prefer grim reality to la la land any day. They are inclined to also enjoy potato chips, salted nuts, sandwiches, hot dogs with ketchup and mustard, hamburgers with pickles and other salty things. They make loyal and steadfast companions on whom you can always count for an honest opinion, even when it's not necessarily the one you want to hear. Exponents of character-building tough love rather than wishy-washy-gooey-sticky soft love that does nobody any good, they tend to be excellent disciplinarians, good parents and responsible animal owners. They have strong moral values and even stronger opinions. Popularity holds scant appeal for them while integrity is held in the highest esteem. Their taste in movies leans towards gritty realistic dramas, natural disaster doozies, wartime epics, spy movies, martial arts showcases, action-packed blockbusters and road trip flicks. They tend not to believe in fairytales and take happy endings with a pinch of salt (just like their popcorn).

Sweet popcorn eaters tend to be romantic souls who hanker after happy endings and believe in true love, even when their heart's been broken and patched... and broken again. They tend to also like ice cream, chocolate, cookies, candy and other sweet things. They make good friends who will always try to cheer you up when you're down, and will gloss over the ugly truth to avoid hurting your feelings. If you ask a sweet popcorn-eating friend if your bum looks fat in a certain pair of pants, he/she will say no - the pants are poorly cut... or simply tell a sweet little white lie. Sweet popcorn eaters respond to pretty, bright colours and bright, bouncy pop tunes. They have lots of positive energy and radiate optimism like a little gob of sugar-coated sunshine. Their taste in movies veers towards romcoms, charming animated fables, modern day fairytales, weepies with happy endings, historical dramas, feelgood musicals and anything with an uplifting moral where the bad guys get their asses kicked and the good guys get their just desserts (or sweet popcorn).

So which popcorn eater are you? I'm a salty popcorn eater, but that's because I've always love salty food, ha. As for the types of movies I watch, I've to say I do go for romcoms and fairytales too, aside from those list of salty popcorn eaters. After all, who doesn't love happy endings?

Wordless Wednesday

Teaser Tuesdays

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

To tell the truth, I had intended to follow the Teaser Tuesdays rule to share two teaser sentences this week, after all I had broke the rule for the past two weeks in a row. However, when I flipped through Frank Delaney's The Matchmaker of Kenmare for a teaser, my eyes rested on these words - 'Referred Passion'. I thought it sounds interesting, but of course I knew it wouldn't do just to post two sentences, so there you go.

~*~*~*~*~*

"Do you know what I mean by 'Referred Passion'?" she said one day about a year into our relationship. And, as usual, not waiting for my hopeless stab at a reply, she went on. "Do you know what a referred pain is?"

Is it when I feel so stupid that I could kick myself?

"I'll explain it," she said. "Your shoulder is injured, but you feel it in your chest. Or you've hurt your spine, but your hip is carrying the ache. That's referred pain. Well, Referred Passion is when you're in love with one person, but you fiercely embrace another. That's us," she said. "That's me and you. Friendship is a choice," she said. "Love isn't."

(Pg 5, The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney)

Gone by Mo Hayder

ISBN-13: 9780593063811
Publisher: Bantam Press
Published: February 2010
416 pgs
Source: Personal Library



Gone is the fifth instalment of Mo Hayder's Jack Caffery series. If you'd follow this series, you'd know that DI Jack Caffery of Bristol's Major Crime Investigation Unit and Phoebe "Flea" Marley of the Underwater Search Unit are the protagonists of this series.

Anyway, Jack Caffery is once again called upon to solve a case involving child kidnapping. When the story opens, Jack and the readers are given the impression that it was a car-jacking case, but as the story picks up and more clues are shown do we realise that there are more than meets the eye. And when they received news that the kidnapper had abducted a second victim, it sent them all into hysteria because apparently he doesn't pick his little victims randomly and that he is enjoying playing hide-and-seek with them. And no matter how much time and efforts Jack and his team spent on tracking him, at the end the kidnapper is always a step ahead of them.

Flea Marley, on the other hand, has a hunch of the case but Jack Caffery as well as her team do not see her views. Call her stubborn or courageous, her next step is to follow her instincts and without assistance from anyone, explore a secret tunnel which she believes the kidnapper has hid or buried his victims away. It is also at this time that Jack has found some clues on the kidnapper and this entitle him a search warrant, but then is he the right person?

I have to admit I was on pins and needles while reading Gone. Though child kidnapping is a common theme in a crime thriller, I have to say what's so great about this book is aside from the emotional intense and the suspense, Mo Hayder has further explore the nature of humanity and that there's only a fine, thin line between the good and the evil. Because I was a huge fan of this series, I was hoping to see some developments between Jack and Flea but there isn't much going on between them, and that is due to a misunderstanding which I'd rather not mention here but all I can say is I am happy to note that there is still some hope flickering between them.

Another thing I wish to mention is it touches me a lot to see the strength and the emotional support among the victims' mothers. Because I am a mother of two, I could totally understand their feelings of losing their little girls and my heart went out to them. Their role may be minor to the story, but they do play a crucial part in some ways so in my opinion, this story is very much about them other than the cops and the bad guy.

Needless to say, I highly recommend Gone. If you are new to Mo Hayder's books and would like to get a gist of her writing style, perhaps I can point you to the direction of a few of her stand-alone books: The Devil of Nanking (aka Tokyo), Pig Island and her upcoming new release next month, Hanging Hill, in which I am eagerly anticipating.

Jack Caffery Series in order:

Birdman

The Treatment

Ritual

Skin

From Dead to Worse, Charlaine Harris

One of my guilty pleasures is a love of all things Sookie.  While the TV show based on the book, TrueBlood, and the books have diverged pretty widely at this point, I figure that just gives me twice as much Sookie Stackhouse to love.  There is something very comforting about the predictability of the stories.  Sookie will be in mortal danger.  Some supernatural man (or woman, in the case of her fairy godmother) will have to help save her.  At least one supernatural man will be in love with her.  Chances are there will be some impediment to their love.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

So, here is my short summary of From Dead to Worse, book number eight in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series...missing weretiger, vampire takeover, fairy great-grandfather, werewolf war, revenge, werepanther justice, Eric remembers everything, Bill still pines...if you have read the Sookie Stackhouse books, you know what all of this means.  If you haven't, and you are interested and or intrigued by what it all could mean, go back to the beginning and start with Dead Until Dark, the first book in the series, and prepare to lose yourself in a funny, scary, surprising, completely unrealistic world that will provide the perfect escapism.

Wordless Wednesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Holy Duos, Batman!

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic at The Broke and the Bookish is Top Ten Fictional Duos.  I'm guess that we will see a lot of Holmes and Watson and Potter/Granger/Weasley on this week's entries, so I am going to try and skip the more obvious...well, except for...

1.  Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee, LOTR-I can't NOT mention this duo.  Because honestly, if I needed a friend to support me on some life-threatening quest filled with danger, Orcs, and mind and soul-killing drudgery, I'd want Sam...

2.  Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis, Alex Delaware series-If you are not a fan of psychological mysteries, you may have missed out on these two.  But in Alex and Milo, Jonathan Kellerman created a duo that complements each other perfectly, and that basically defines the phrase "opposites attract".

3.  Pete and Rina Decker, The Decker/Lazarus series-The song "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" must have been playing in the Kellerman household.  Faye Kellerman, wife of the aforementioned Jonathan Kellerman and mystery writer, created another unique, complementary duo.  Peter Decker meets and fall in love with orthodox Jew Rina Lazarus, and thus starts a series of books that examine what it means to live a religious life and be a cop-oh, while solving really interesting mysteries along the way.

4.  Lenny and George, Of Mice and Men-OK, so it ends all tragic and stuff, but if there was ever a pair that loved and cared for each other, it was George and Lenny.

5.  Henry and Claire, The Time Traveler's Wife-I love this book so much I am going to make every effort to include it in as many Top Tens as I can.  Some weeks that will likely be a stretch, but this week it actually fits!

6.  Celie and Shug Avery, The Color Purple-Though Shug ended up being too flighty to be much of a partner to Celie, if it weren't for her Celie never would have had the nerve to leave Mr.

7. Temperance Brennan and Andrew Ryan, from Kathy Reichs-While I like the show Bones, it really doesn't do justice to the mystery/thrillers by Kathy Reichs.  In her novels, Tempe is not nearly so socially awkward, and her on-again-off-again romance with Andrew Ryan is engaging.

8.  Jekyl and Hyde-I know, I know, technically the same person...but come on, don't you think that Jekyl would be boring and stodgy without Hyde to spice things up?

9.  Katniss and Peeta, The Hunger Games-There is no way that either of them would have made it out of the first Hunger Games if they didn't have each other-even if some of it was just for show.  Rocky relationships are often the stuff of great fiction, after all.

10.  Frog and Toad-OK, this is here mostly because I couldn't think of a tenth entry that I didn't get from looking at someone else's blog, but hey...they are friends despite their differences (I mean, a frog and a toad being friends-who'd have thought we'd see the day!?!)