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 I really enjoyed Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, so I was looking forward to this. I probably shouldn’t have been quite so excited, though. Little Women was my first “adult book” in elementary school and I have a lot of sentimental attachment to it. Besides that, I don’t normally like Civil War fiction but with the great exception of Sweetsmoke earlier this year I felt I should give it a try. And it was from the library, so giving it a try didn’t put me out any money or space on my shelves.
This book covers both the idealistic young adulthood of Mr. March and his current missionary duty in the south at a plantation where he teaches the former slaves. We’re used to the loving image put forth by Marmee and the girls in Little Women, but here we get the brutal reality of war as it affects the man himself and watch as his ideologies are eroded in the face of the struggle.
Honestly, I didn’t really like it. Like I said, this might just be me not liking Civil War books and nothing to do with the book itself. Mr. March irritated me with his high and mighty ideas. Worse, the way he treated Marmee after they married was intolerable and I think shameful, just because she didn’t conform to his ideas about how women should be. Gah. Maybe that’s period appropriate but it bugged me.
I did like how he had to adjust to the war and the hardships he went through, so maybe it was just all too harsh for me, raining too much on my Little Women parade. I thought the book did a great job exploring the issues of how the war could affect him and the problems of being so far from his family for so long. I liked the depiction of the March’s mind afterwards and the impact it made on his psyche.
I just didn’t like most of it. Unfortunate but true. I think if you like Civil war stories and aren’t attached to Little Women, you may like this one – it did win the Pulitzer, after all. It just wasn’t for me. Regardless, I am still planning on reading People of the Book, because at least I don’t have any expectations and nostalgic love wrapped up there.
Find this book on Amazon .
Come follow me on twitter! It seems like a whole crowd of us just joined, I’m happy to play along. If I’ve missed you, please drop by.
In better news, I finished my essay draft! I have a whole bunch of reviews to get going on now so expect them in the next week.
 Today is Thanksgiving here in the U.S.
Now, you may have noticed that the global economy isn’t exactly doing well. There’s war. Starvation. All sorts of bad, scary things going on.
So–just for today–how about sharing 7 things that you’re thankful for?
This can be about books, sure–authors you appreciate, books you love, an ode to your public library–but also, how about other things, too? Because in times like these, with bills piling up and disaster seemingly lurking around every corner, it’s more important than ever to stop and take stock of the things we’re grateful for. Family. Friends. Good health (I hope). Coffee and tea. Turkey. Sunshine. Wagging tails. Curling up with a good book.
So, how about it? Spread a little positive thinking and tell the world what there is to be thankful for.
I’m not in the US this year and I’m missing out on my grandma’s lasagna because of that. For me, it’s always been about the Italian food that my Italian grandma makes (my mom makes it too, and well, so do I, I’m a lucky girl!) rather than the turkey and traditional “American” foods. And instead of Thanksgiving dinner, I have an essay and translation to do. Lucky me. Regardless, I am still thankful for a large variety of things!
I think number one is my fiance, who really is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, corny as that is. Hey, isn’t this a corny holiday anyway? He’s incredibly supportive all the time, which I know is better than I can manage, and he makes me very happy.
Second, my parents, of course, who are also very supportive and I’ve never doubted how much they love me. We’ve been through a lot (that’s an understatement) as a family and I’m glad the three of us at least are still here and mostly healthy, even if we’re missing one crucial member.
I’m very grateful for my friends, who are without exception far away right now, but are the best and closest I’ve ever had and I can’t wait to see them again.
I’m also thankful for my opportunity to study here, in my opinion the most beautiful and inspiring medieval city in England, doing something that I love without reservation; so many people don’t get even that last part let alone the first. I’m also very grateful for my books and my love of reading (more thanks to my parents for that one) and my ability to escape into another world at will. Two more – I’m grateful that I can cook well and have food to cook with, and finally and perhaps most importantly, I’m glad that everyone I love is mostly healthy and not in imminent danger, and while far away right now, I’m happy that I can see them all soon.
And now back to my persistent essay, I promise I will review (and read) books again once it’s done and in! I hope that is today.
 Today’s question from The Boston Bibliophile: Blog Widgets. Do you use them? Do you have them on your blog? Do you know what I’m talking about?  A blog widget is that list of books “From my LibraryThing” and such, that you’ll sometimes see on someone’s sidebar. If you use it, do all of your books show up or do you have it set to only show certain books? Do you have a search widget, which would allow your blog readers to search your library? Have you ever made a photomosaic of your book covers? You can find widgets and photomosaic information on the “Tools” tab in LibraryThing.
I do have a widget and I’m very fond of it. It’s just a regular “random books from my library” one, which shows 5 books and only the ones with covers. I’ve definitely refreshed my blog just to see what comes up when I’m bored. I only exclude books that don’t have covers from it because I think they’re a bit boring, otherwise it’s all out there. I like the photomosaic widget but I think this one fits best on my narrow sidebar.
I also use the “currently reading” widget on other websites I frequent which don’t take the covers one, but I have enough space to put up more than just the books I’m reading at any given time on this blog. On Facebook, I used an application that listed my favorites, currently reading, and newest additions. I think if LT had multiple fields on their widgets, I’d use those three, but I like random books for now.
 Ivar Graycloak and his comrades have a secret. They spend half of each day as animals due to a curse from an evil sorceress. Ivar has risen to prominence in Norman England and as a result, is given an heiress as a bride. The king does not know that Ivar spends his days as an eagle. Ivar wants to love his wife, Alaida, properly, but how can he do so when he’s keeping a terrible secret from her?
I’m still new to the world of paranormal romance, but I really liked this one. It’s definitely romance, but I love the overarching plot of these men cursed to live as animals half the time and how they deal with it. There is more to the story than just love between the hero and the heroine. The romance is good, but the difficulties in their relationship definitely make this a fuller and more entertaining book. I even liked both main characters; they were stubborn and realistic and they had misunderstandings just like any normal couple would. Alaida was particularly good, in my opinion. She really reacted the way I think a normal woman would react; she’s attracted to and likes her husband, but she’s confused and insulted when he vanishes every day without explanation. Very nice characterization.
I’d call this a very solid, enjoyable romance and I’m looking forward to the next in this series! Check it out on Amazon .
This review is part of a blog tour brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion and thanks also go out to author Lisa Hendrix for my copy.
I haven’t finished a book this week. Not even one. I’m working my way slowly through The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny in one big omnibus from the library. I believe this is actually only the first five books of ten, but I read somewhere that the second five aren’t as good, so I decided just reading these was good enough.
That’s not really the source of my distraction, though; it’s really because I’m obsessed with Final Fantasy IV. I’ve been writing an essay this week and every time I give myself a break, I don’t want to deal with more words, even fun ones. I want to kill endless rounds of monsters instead. Yes, the game has a story, but I can also run around leveling up and collecting items, so I am hardly engaged mentally yet still accomplishing something.
This just reminds me of the phases I went through in high school. I used to alternate between being really interested in video games and really interested in books. I would always do both, but one seemed to take prominence over the other and every so often they’d switch. I don’t think I’ve had a video game phase since high school, so perhaps I am overdue by a number of years. Or I’m just reacting to all my required reading and taking a much-needed break.
Do you ever experience these phases away from reading? What do you do?
 To be honest, genres are very confusing to me. My books have been classified as romantic thriller and romantic suspense. I suppose suspense would work for Amanda’s Rib, but I wouldn’t classify it or Oblivious as a thriller. To me ‘thriller’ is a fast-paced book filled with tension. Oblivious is fast-paced, but has humor more than tension. There’s a mystery, but the book is more about how Olivia Chatham solves the crime than the heinous deed itself. I’d classify both novels as romantic mystery. I write about people facing a problem, and how they solve it. Above all my books are about the characters.
I think it is important to have more specific genres than just romance or mystery or historical etc. There are a wide variety of genres under each broad umbrella. For example, some mystery purists get quite upset if there’s any romance at all in a book. They want to know it has a love element so they can pass on it. I want to know if a mystery is sci-fi or fantasy because I generally avoid those. They are perfectly fine books, and very popular. I think I lack the imagination for some of the wild events in them. Like shape shifting or ‘beam me up’ stuff. My mind just can’t wrap around those concepts. I wish it could.
The term ‘thriller’ is usually a turn-off for me. I’m very much a character-driven reader and writer. It could just be me, but I think thrillers often overlook character development. So much time is spent running here and there, the protagonists seem to be almost forgotten. Nothing more than a few names on the pages. Tension comes from some kind of deadline rather than a hero or heroine’s dilemma. While reading thrillers, I frequently find myself wondering when the protagonists are going to get to shower and change clothes. I realize I’m using a broad brush here, but these are just my opinions. A recent best selling thriller bored me to pieces. I almost wished one of the protagonists would die because it would have broken up all the hopping around from place to place. But it sold millions of copies, so what do I know? For the record, I don’t like chase scenes in movies, either. Watch me run left! Watch me turn right! Watch me climb this fence and avoid the dog on the other side! Not this gal. Watch me nod off. My husband loves them.
In the end all genres are wonderful, even though I avoid some. If they entertain people, they’re good. I just wish there were specific definitions for each type so we’d know what we’re getting into. I’d like my books on mystery shelves and romance shelves. Mostly I’d like them in windows and displays as you enter the store. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?
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Thanks, Cyndia! Cyndia Depre’s latest book, Oblivious, which is classified as a romantic mystery, is available from Amazon . Check it out!
This blog tour is run by Pump Up Your Book Promotion.
I receive a lot of review books, but I have never once told lies about the book just because I got a free copy of it. However, some authors seem to feel that if they send you a copy of their book for free, you should give it a positive review.
Do you think reviewers are obligated to put up a good review of a book, even if they don’t like it? Have we come to a point where reviewers *need* to put up disclaimers to (hopefully) save themselves from being harassed by unhappy authors who get negative reviews?
I think we all know where this question is coming from. No, I do not think that we are obligated to put up a good review of a book. I think every time the author sends their book out for reviews, they are taking a chance that the reviewers won’t like it; they are not paying for free positive marketing. I’ve heard that even negative marketing helps – now all those blog readers know your book exists and even if you don’t like it, one of them might like the premise for it – but none of this impacts what I say in my reviews. I say what I think.
I don’t have a disclaimer on my blog and I’m not afraid to give a negative review. I will be polite, however; I will describe what I did not like and I will describe what I did like. I recently read a book which I was dying to love, both author and publicist were incredibly nice and helpful, but I found something in it that I did not like. It would have been easy to leave that out of my review since I loved the rest of the book, but I didn’t, because it is my goal here to be honest and to help other people find great books to read. If my problem doesn’t bother them, that’s great, they should go read the book, but if it does, now they know it exists.
I’ve never been harassed by an author. I’ve been fortunate in that even when I do not like something, the author has never lashed out at me. And I get a fair number of review copies. I will continue to review books. I will not trash any of them; I will give each of them a fair shot. If I don’t like it, I’ll say so, but I’ll try to find the positive. If there is no positive, I don’t know what I’ll do, but I’d email the author before I wrote anything in this public space if I found the book to be absolute trash. I have read trash, but luckily none of it was sent to me for review!
What are your thoughts?
I have read 162 books this year, and my goal is 175. I’m 99% sure I’ll reach that goal. Last year, I read 139 books, so I have definitely been reading more. For 2009, I’d really like to read 200 books, and I think I can do it! You’ll find my books listed, starting in January, on a new page I’ve created on the right, “Read in 2009″. Click on the picture above to visit J. Kaye’s Book Blog, where all sorts of fun stuff beyond challenges goes on.
Thanks for hosting this challenge, J. Kaye!
 Mariella is an over-protected, sheltered girl who lives mainly to sew and to long to be with Henry, her lifetime love. Her life gets interesting when her cousin Rosa, a girl who is nearly her complete opposite, comes to live with Mariella and her family. Rosa is beautiful, high-spirited, and passionate about nursing and helping people. When the Crimean war begins, both Henry, a doctor, and Rosa go to the war effort. When Henry falls ill, Mariella must go to him. His strange request sends her to the Crimea, to the heart of a war she never wanted to get involved in, but where she finds hidden strength and who she really is.
I didn’t expect to like this too much, given that it’s had mediocre reviews, but that made it a very pleasant surprise when I did like it. Mariella is a bit dull at first, but watching her come into her own is so satisfying. The revelation at the end didn’t come as a complete surprise but had me looking back through the book, seeing things with new eyes. Besides that, the Crimean war seems to be a rare topic in historical fiction and I loved it as a backdrop; I felt like I was learning, and this war seemed far more similar to modern wars than those in most of the historical fiction I read. And I did end up satisfied with the ending; I didn’t feel that way at first, but the distance of a week has settled the book into my mind and I think it’s perfect. I also really enjoyed the author’s prose style and found it both lovely and captivating.
Another recommended read; obviously not everyone has liked it as much as I have, but it’s definitely worth a try. Pre-order it on Amazon.
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