We all know who Barack Obama is now, but how did he get here? What motivated him? From his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia to his rougher college years and on to his time as a community organizer in Chicago, Obama writes eloquently and compellingly about serious issues that we all wish were in the past already, like racism, suffering, and poverty.
Yep, I voted for Barack Obama. And I’m still quite proud that we, a country still astonishingly full of racism in so many ways, managed to elect a black man to the Presidency. So ever since then, I’ve been very curious about where he came from and how he got to the point where it was reasonable that he might become President. Unfortunately this book doesn’t go quite that far and ends right before he heads to law school, so his final motivations remain unclear. But I think this memoir is valuable for a lot of the things he says but also because it was written before he ever thought to go that far, and as such I think he is somewhat more candid about his life than he would have otherwise been – he mentions drug use numerous times, for example.
I enjoyed how this particular memoir followed a narrative path. Obama acknowledges in the foreword that he changed the names of people he knew and sometimes melded them together to make for an easier reading experience, which at first I wasn’t sure I liked but I’m sure those people are grateful for it now. I definitely felt like I was on a journey, from the moment he realized that he looked different from his mother and grandparents for the first time, to the idolization of his father, to his eventual success and work on behalf of poor black communities in Chicago. I was impressed by how well the memoir was organized and written; it’s also a bit more academic and thoughtful in structure than I would imagine most memoirs written by political figures to be. He doesn’t talk much about his truly personal life – he almost never mentions relationships with women – and I appreciated that a lot.
I was also surprised by how clearly I recognized his narrative voice. I was impressed by how he could reflect on his own experiences and apply them to the wider world – how he was confused as a black teenager and in some way identifies with the teens of Chicago but also recognizes that he was more privileged than them. He can acknowledge the faults of his family members even as it’s obvious how deeply he loved them. I was surprisingly depressed by his experiences in Chicago and saddened by the situation that poor black families found themselves in, with little kids living in houses full of asbestos and public officials lying about its presence. And I was astonished at the stigma that a mixed race couple experienced when he was in his twenties. I have never understood such discrimination and it truly makes me sad when love is dismissed by society because it doesn’t look like the norm.
I truly believe that even people who are the opposite side of the political divide will gain value from this book. It’s not political at all – which is why I chose this one and not his other book – and it is a surprisingly compelling story of a confused boy growing into a man who wants to help people. His life story is fascinating and I was particularly intrigued by the parts of the book set in Kenya and Indonesia, two places I’d never really thought about in depth. Obama’s outsider understanding of these cultures helped mark them out for me and gave me a lot to think about. I am very glad I read Dreams From My Father and I’ve only touched on a few of the many parts of this book that made me think – it’s a valuable memoir that I fully enjoyed reading.
I am an Amazon Associate. I borrowed this book from my local library. They like Barack Obama in the UK.
When her beloved grandfather dies, Theodora Lestrange finds herself dependent on the charity of others to survive. As a Victorian woman intent on making her living by her pen, she still doesn’t earn enough to house herself, but she’s repulsed by the idea of living with her sister and brother-in-law and children. Luckily, her friend Cosmina writes to her, urging her to attend her wedding in Romania to the enigmatic Count Dragulescu, and stay for a while. Theodora gratefully accepts, planning to write her novel in an atmospheric castle. But when she arrives, she discovers more than atmosphere – a mystery that could have more to do with the supernatural than anything she’s ever encountered before.
If you’re a long-time reader of my blog, you’ll know that I just adore Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series. I was made a little sad by the fact that she took time off from Julia to write this book, but I looked forward to it just the same. And with good reason; her writing quality stands up to the test and I definitely enjoyed my time with this book.
The beginning started off particularly slowly, which had me worrying at first. It all felt like a simple summary of what had gone before and way more telling than showing. I was waiting for the action to get started, and it finally picked up when Theodora got to Romania and the book began properly.
I didn’t love it quite as much as the Lady Julia Grey series, though, perhaps because much of it feels like the same characters in a different story. Theodora is a paler imitation of Julia and the Count just doesn’t have the appeal that Nicholas Brisbane does. I didn’t fall in love with them and I felt the Count in particular remained shadowy, possessed of few attributes beyond his physical attractiveness and rakish past. But I liked them and I was intrigued by the mystery, whether there were truly supernatural creatures in Romania or not and what was the true cause of these crimes. I didn’t predict the outcome, but then I didn’t think about it all the much either. I was too busy reading!
The Dead Travel Fast is an engaging gothic romance, but doesn’t quite touch the appeal of the Lady Julia Grey series. If you’re new to Raybourn’s books, I would suggest starting with Silent in the Grave.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from the Amazon Vine program for review.
Gwen Maudsley may be only a Miss, but she’s beautiful, wealthy, and kind enough to be one of the most popular debutantes of her day. Gwen’s parents spent their lives wishing for her to become a perfect lady, so she’s spent her time trying to catch a title with her three million pounds. Twice, she almost succeeds, but when the second man leaves her at the altar, Gwen wonders if it’s time to ditch her “nice” reputation and see what it’s like to be wicked. The object of her attention? Alex Ramsay, her late brother’s best friend, well known for his rakish tendencies and travels the world over.
I really, really enjoyed this book. I bought all of Meredith Duran’s previous books and virtually inhaled them through the last couple of months, so I was absolutely thrilled to receive this for review. Part of me was a little worried that I’d be disappointed – I know others have been – but I found this to be a satisfying, perfectly romantic read throughout. Duran is the romance author to watch these days, if you’re asking me.
This book feels a lot less emotionally tortured than her previous books, which I thought was a nice change. She still writes extraordinary well, and is IMO one of the most talented writers in the genre today. I could actually focus on this book with the TV on, something I normally struggle a lot with. But I can see how other fans of Duran would be disappointed, simply because it’s lacking that degree of suffering. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of emotional resonance here. Gwen and Alex have a number of problems to work through before they can truly be together. But there is certainly a lighter edge to this book, especially in the interactions between them, some of which were just plain fun.
In the end, I pretty much loved Wicked Becomes You. I’m almost wishing I’d left one of Duran’s books to savor while I’m waiting for her next one! But trust me, she’s on my auto buy list and she’ll be my first recommendation for romance readers from here on out.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from the publisher for review.
It was a bit quiet on my blog here last week. I intended to post more and participate more in Armchair BEA, which was a great idea, but I found that I didn’t have the energy for it at all. I’ve discovered that I generally prefer reading to blogging; if given a choice, I will read and ignore the reviews that are piling up. I even have maintenance to do with regards to my change in address – change my feed and redirect all my posts, for just two things – but I haven’t managed to convince myself to do that either. Writing lots for work has in some respects taken the fun out of writing for my own blog. I’m resolved to try and get back into it this month now that everyone is back from BEA and the chatter about it will quit depressing me!
Anyway, May wasn’t too bad as months go. I read 18 books, which isn’t very much for me but still amounts to a book every two days. I’m impressed with that; at times I didn’t feel like I was getting anything read! I think that’s because I read three chunksters, particularly the 900+ page Lonesome Dove, but I managed to read quite a few shorter books in between. Here’s what I finished:
Overall, I think my month was spread fairly evenly across genres, with the exception of fantasy. As you can probably see, I still have a lot of review writing to catch up on. I’ve almost finished the review for Wicked Becomes You but the rest are pretty much untouched. I’ll be working on those this week, but I don’t think I’m going to get back to daily posting unless I hit up some memes or come up with and actually do a weekly feature.
I also wanted to give everyone a quick reminder – next week, on June 8th at 4:30 pm EST, I’ll be on That’s How I Blog chatting with Nicole. The book we’ll be discussing is The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer, so if you’ve got it handy, give it a read and join us! Even though I’ve had to have an earlier time, I still hope at least of few of you will be able to listen in. I’m a bit anxious about it already, but I’ve really enjoyed listening to the previous shows and hope mine is half as fun.
I hope some great reads await you in June! I hope to get through:
Day for Night, Frederick Reiken
Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan
Magic Bleeds, Ilona Andrews
Dragon Haven, Robin Hobb
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, Kelly O’Connor McNees
Anne Neville has always known that her future isn’t really hers to choose. But she trusts her father, the earl of Warwick, to provide a good husband for her, and her childhood is generally happy even if she does occasionally fight with her sister Isabel. When Richard, duke of Gloucester, is brought to her home of Middleham to be fostered, Anne immediately develops an interest in him, and they become friends. When her father arranges their marriage, Anne is at first uncertain and then pleased. But politics in England are uncooperative and soon a rift grows between Anne’s father and King Edward IV. Anne is forced to flee to France, where she ends up in a loveless marriage and spends days wondering when she will escape her cruel life and get back to the man she loves.
Anne O’Brien chose to write this novel about Anne Neville because few people actually give the focus to her when writing a novel set during the Wars of the Roses. And she’s right, because I’m not sure I’ve read one which does actually have her as the narrator. As a result, there were some new sections here, particularly the exile in France. I’ve not read a fictional account of Anne’s marriage to the Edward of Lancaster, even though most books mention it. So, O’Brien succeeded in bringing some new material to a story that’s been told many times, which I appreciated.
I also liked that O’Brien chose to cast the novel as a romance between Anne and Richard over an extended period of time. While there’s no evidence that there was actually a romance, and Richard had plenty of greedy motives for marrying Anne, as the author says, there isn’t any evidence that it didn’t happen. And the romance was quite sweet and well-written; I like how both the characters, especially Richard, changed over the period of the novel and the couple acknowledged one another’s faults and flaws when they decided to be together in the end.
Unfortunately, a few things prevented the book from being truly excellent, though it was enjoyable. For one thing, I really feel like the Wars of the Roses are massively overdone in historical fiction, only surpassed by the truly ridiculous saturation of Tudors. Knowing the details of everything that is going to happen in a novel just kills it, IMO – which is why I appreciated how O’Brien did some things differently. I did find some things a little strange, like the fact that Anne referred to her parents as the Earl and Countess even in her own head, but Margaret of Anjou was never really the Queen and Richard was always Richard. While children in the Middle Ages would have been very aware of their parents’ titles, I’m pretty sure they still called their mothers “Mother”, especially when they’re depicted as having a close relationship – Anne’s mother doesn’t seem to be a particularly distant figure to her and she loves and trusts her parents. It added a bit of distance that I don’t think the novel needed.
Lastly, I thought the addition of an incestuous relationship between two of the characters was a little unnecessary; they had already been villainized enough throughout the rest of the novel. It just kind of squicked me out.
Virgin Widow is a good addition to the current offering of historical fiction covering the Wars of the Roses and I definitely recommend it for its different perspective on events.
I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free from the publisher for review.
When her boyfriend not only dumps her but becomes famous, shoving his betrayal in her face at every turn, Anna realizes that she has to get away from her American life. So she takes a cue from her French side and goes to live in her aunt’s Paris apartment for free. She stumbles upon a job translating an erotic novel from French to English, and as she writes more and gets involved in a French romance, she starts to wonder if the characters in the book are real.
I’m sad to say I didn’t particularly like this book. For one thing, there was just too much emphasis on sex. I didn’t realize she was translating an erotic novel! I don’t read the backs of books and sometimes that does lead to nasty surprises like this one. The novel wasn’t particularly nice either – I will admit that after the first one, I skimmed all the rest of the excerpts of the erotic novel.
Still, I persevered in reading the rest of the book, hoping Anna would learn something from her French life to apply back to her American life. I was disappointed in that too. It seemed to me that she just constantly moped in her apartment, lamenting the unfortunate state of her life, except when she went to hang out with her trendy French friends who all had their own issues and subsequently complained about them. The mystery of the erotic novel didn’t pan out either as I wasn’t interested in the book enough to actually remember the characters’ names. Bad, I know – but by the end, I was genuinely skimming the entire book and skimmed huge sections just to get to the end.
Just about the only thing I did like about the book was the wordplay and the rumination on the nature of language. Because Anna is a translator, she ends up thinking a lot about how concepts work in different languages and how some phrases just don’t work outside of their native tongue. I have studied four languages, five if you count Middle English, and although I don’t know any of them particularly well, this is a concept I’ve run into quite a bit. I definitely wanted to learn French.
Don’t take my word for it, though, as you might feel differently; Jennifer at Literate Housewife loved this book and named it one of her top 10 of 2009. I wish I’d felt the same way as she did! Foreign Tonguewas definitely not the book for me.
I am an Amazon Associate. To be honest, I’m not sure why I have this book or where it came from, but I know it was sent to me for free.
When this book was very kindly sent to me for review, I knew my mom would love it. When I didn’t have a chance to review it for the blog tour myself, she generously stepped in to write a review for me.
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt is a novel about a twelve year old girl who goes to live with her great Aunt Tootie Caldwell when her mother dies. After a terrible start to her childhood, Ceecee definitely needs saving. Is her aunt up to the task?
Most of all, this book reminded me of The Secret Life of Bees, which was also a book about a troubled girl who goes to live with middle aged women in the south. The beginning of the book when CeeCee is living with her mentally ill mother and her father was very troubling to me because of how negative her home life was. Instead of CeeCee’s father trying to help the situation, he chooses to spend most of his time out of the house at work. His work included traveling, so he was not home very often. Rather than helping his daughter he leaves her to take care of herself and her mentally ill mother. As a mother myself I was so angry at her father. How could he not want to protect his daughter? I wanted to jump in the book and try to help CeeCee.
After CeeCee’s mother is killed, CeeCee goes to live with her great Aunt Tootie in Savannah. I was glad that now CeeCee might be able to have a normal life. Aunt CeeCee is a wealthy middle aged woman with a housekeeper, Oletta. CeeCee meets other women in the neighborhood, Miz Hobbs and Miz Goodpepper. This is a very different life for CeeCee instead of having to take care of herself, she has someone to take care of her. I really liked the eccentricity of the women in the book. I think it added a lot to the story.
The part in the book about discrimination I thought was very important. This was part of life at that time and I am glad it was included since it’s something we must never forget.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It is an emotional and touching story. My only criticism of this book was the predictability of the story; the plot could have done with some twists. Still, I think Saving CeeCee Honeycuttwould appeal to women of all ages; I think we would all be able to relate to this story.
I am an Amazon Associate. This book was sent to us by the publisher for free.
Lucy Waltham has been in love with her brother’s friend Toby for eight years. When suddenly everyone declares that his engagement to a Miss Sophia Hathaway is guaranteed, Lucy decides she has to do something about it, and sets out to seduce Toby. First, though, she practices on Jeremy Trescott, the Earl of Kendall, who unbeknownst to her has begun to see her as a woman, not the foolish little girl she once was. When she kisses Jeremy, she gets a lot more than she bargained for.
While I liked this, it definitely had faults. Tessa Dare’s writing was surprisingly strong and carried me through the book without any trouble, and for the most part I liked Lucy and Jeremy. The falling in love was great, right up until the couple was about to get married (roughly halfway through the book). Then they decided that they couldn’t talk to one another and spent the rest of the book agonizing over stupid misunderstandings that could have easily been fixed. It’s like a lesson on how not to communicate in a relationship. Still, it was sweet, and my affection for the characters kept me going through to the end.
Sophia Hathaway longs to escape her stifling existence in England. So she flees her home and her fiancé to buy passage on the Aphrodite, a former pirating ship with a domineering ex-captain, Benedict “Gray” Grayson. Sophia wants nothing more to be her own person, posing as a governess called Jane on her escape. Instead she finds a person that she suspects will complete her, but how will they get past all the lies?
I’m a little wavery on this one. I liked it for the most part, but what bothered me were the constant lies. I couldn’t really imagine that anyone could base a relationship off total dishonesty, yet here these two are managing it. I kept wanting to shake Sophia and get her to tell at least Gray the truth, before it was too late. But it all wrapped up quite nicely (as these books are prone to do) and I did enjoy reading it.
Isabel Grayson has known that passion is dangerous from a very young age. Instead of seeking a love match like her brothers urge her to do, Isabel decides to marry a peer with influence so she can change the world. But then she meets Sir Tobias Aldridge, her brother’s wife’s jilted fiancé. Toby not only thinks Sophia is absolutely gorgeous, he thinks marrying her is a perfect way to get back at Sophia. The difficult part? Falling in love with his wife while her only love is charity cases.
This was a very sweet last installment in the trilogy. My only issue with it was Isabel’s reluctance to embrace her actual personality. She is so determined to suppress her own emotions that she is actually quite boring at times, but at least she had a good reason behind it. I really liked Toby and I could completely understand his frustration and attitude. And I was glad that rather than using Isabel, he genuinely liked her and enjoyed her company throughout the book – there was never anything as coldhearted as the summary implies.
I have to admit, though, the best part of this book was the sub-romance between Isabel’s brother and her doctor friend. He’s black and she’s white and I wanted to cheer that Tessa put that romance there. It’s not perfect; they’re both depicted as “flawed” people (his is because he’s a widower, hers because she is a female doctor in a time when women weren’t even allowed to be doctors) but considering the total absence of normal colored people in mainstream romance novels, I was very very pleased.
All in all, this was a really nice debut trilogy. Tessa Dare is releasing a new trilogy this summer and I just love the trailer she’s done for it. It just shows how creative you can be with a camera, a laptop, and children’s toys!
Bee Rowlatt is a BBC journalist looking for an Iraqi woman to interview. She’s married to a journalist, has two little girls, and leads a fairly normal life in London. May Witwit is an English professor living in Iraq, teaching things like freedom and democracy to female students who have never had those privileges. When Bee gets into contact with May, they start emailing each other and soon develop an incredibly close relationship. As the danger to May escalates, Bee’s worry overcomes her and the friends hatch a plan to get May and her husband out of Baghdad for good.
I loved this book in so many different ways. It was eye-opening, poignant, and just flat out amazing. I’m not even sure I can effectively review it – I kind of just want everyone to read it right this minute.
The book is not really a memoir, it’s just a record of every email sent between Bee and May over the course of two years, during which they meet, grow close enough to call one another sisters, and desperately try to get May out of her life-threatening situation. It’s also not at all about Jane Austen, but I didn’t particularly care. May is an English professor and that’s about as far as it goes – but the title isn’t what is important here.
At first it was the differences between their lives that struck me – both are intelligent women with incredibly vivid personalities, but location has its effects. Bee’s biggest problems are that her girls frustrate her and she has fights with her husband occasionally, especially when he goes on work trips for weeks. She has laundry to do, meals to cook, and works part-time. Her life was so familiar to me, which put it in even more vivid contrast with May’s life.
May is at risk every single day. Bombs drop next door to her house, her friends and colleagues are killed, and her life is personally threatened. She could die at any moment and Bee often expresses the worry that she might just never hear from May again. Because her husband is a Sunni and their marriage has ostracized them from their families, she has to support them both. In times of danger, he simply can’t leave the house. The obstacles that prevent them from even emigrating to a neighboring country are absolutely immense and often ridiculous. May actually laments that things were more organized when Saddam was in control, which I just couldn’t believe.
There was some political comment in the book, of course – May hates the Americans’ presence and feels they’ve made her life worse, which made me so sad, but I could unfortunately see her point. I think anyone would hate the people who brought danger and war to their doorstep, no matter how well-meaning. The asylum issue was mentioned again and as usual the women establish that it’s virtually impossible to attain asylum in the UK, especially because you have to get there to do it and they won’t let you in if you’re actually claiming asylum. They go the academia route instead and try to get May out with a student visa so she can do her PhD.
I just loved the relationship that developed between the two women – it felt so real to me. They also sometimes talk on the phone or send text messages, which left unfortunate little gaps in the narrative. I was greedy for all of their contact, really. It was incredible to read about two women with entirely different life experiences just connecting. I feel like this sort of story can go a long way towards reminding us that we’re all people, no matter what religion or skin color – it genuinely doesn’t matter, and I wish that it didn’t in reality to so many.
I think what I can’t sum up so easily is that Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad moved me incredibly. I was cheering for May the whole way and at times I could easily have broken into tears. Their story was just amazing and I hope that more people read it and learn that the differences between us aren’t really so immense after all.
I am an Amazon Associate. I borrowed this book from my local library.
It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon around here, but before I get into what I’m reading, I’d like to direct you over to Love Romance Passion, one of my favorite romance novel blogs. Keira has an interview with me up!
I have just finished Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and I’m feeling surprisingly triumphant about it. Heidenkind and I are reading it this month together, and I thought I’d have the whole month to work leisurely through this 950 page book. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case – someone else requested it almost the minute I took it out of the library, so I only had until this Tuesday. I decided to read it last week, but it went incredibly slowly up to the 300 page mark. I definitely despaired of finishing it this weekend, but when I finally had a chance to read it steadily I found it flew by. Expect a joint review towards the end of month – I’m glad my half won’t be negative at all!
I’m discovering that I’m even more of a money hoarder than I am a book hoarder. At present I have an Amazon cart all set up with 10 books in it, but I think I like the money in my bank account more than I like the books in my hands! I’m not sure if it’s just because I’m not used to working, so it hasn’t hit me that I will earn more, if I’m guilty about the books I haven’t read yet, or if I’m just cheap. Only time will tell – but most of the books in there are preorders anyway, so I’m sure I’ll loosen my fist when they’re released and everyone else starts buying and reading them.
For the moment, though, I’ve been enjoying my local library. All four books I read last week were library books. I have one review copy that I should get read this month and my mom has sent me a box of review copies, but otherwise I’m indulging in choosing whatever I feel like reading. Now that Lonesome Dove is out of the way, I’m planning on racing through at least one book later this afternoon, Kitty’s House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn. I read through the entirety of the series last summer in a couple of days, so I’m anticipating that this one will be just as quick and enjoyable. I have some work to do but I’m hoping that won’t take too long.
I had a genuine bookish question that I wanted to ask this week in my Salon post, but I’ve forgotten it between Friday and today – I’ve been letting the weekend stupor take over my mind! So I’ll just leave you with an ordinary question – what are you reading today?
We all know who Barack Obama is now, but how did he get here? What motivated him? From his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia to his rougher college years and on to his time as a community organizer in Chicago, Obama writes eloquently and compellingly about serious issues that we all wish were in the past already, like racism, suffering, and poverty.
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