Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry

Author: Audrey Niffenegger

Genre: General Fiction

Her Fearful Symmetry is the second novel by Audrey Niffenegger, the same author who brought us The Time Traveler’s Wife (if you didn’t know already) which happens to be my all time favorite book.

In Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger tells the story of Julia and Valentina, mirror twins in their 20’s who are completely inseparable and dependable on each other. Elspeth, the aunt of the twins dies from cancer and leaves them her apartment located in London. The twins were never aware of their aunts’ existence and this is because of the rift that had happened between their mother, Edwina and their late Aunt Elspeth. The reason of the rift is unknown to the twins but with the sudden inheritance, they decided to take residence of the flat in London.

I’m not going to go into details about the book because I quit reading Her Fearful Symmetry halfway. The central characters in the book, Julia and Valentina as well as the other characters featured just did not appeal to me. I felt the plot was slow moving and I was constantly wishing that something would happen before I quit the book. Overall, I felt the book wasn’t engaging and I had to put it away. Sorry but this book is just not for me.

Below are some of the other books I've read by Niffenegger, please click on title if you'd like to read my review:

The Time Traveler's Wife
The Three Incenstuous Sisters: An Illustrated Novel

Hopefully, I'll enjoy her next book better. In the meantime, happy reading everybody.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? Is a weekly event hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. 

I’ve just picked up a graphic novel today titled Blankets by Craig Thompson. My brother read it sometime back and raved about how good it was when he finished reading it, so I thought I’d give it a try. It's been a good few pages so far. I think I can finish reading Blankets by tomorrow. If I do then the next book I plan to read would be The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff, which has received quite a number of great reviews so am hoping it’ll be a good read. 

Last week, I managed to read three books:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (click here for review), Never the Bride (click here for review) and The Girl Who Could Fly (click here for review). I have to say that I absolutely LOVED The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and highly recommend you read it if you haven’t already.

Have a great week ahead everyone. 

Muaks!

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Author: Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrow

Genre: Literary/Historical Fiction

Juliet Ashton is a prominent writer made famous by her work Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War during World War II. In January of 1946, Juliet receives a letter from a stranger who introduces himself as Dawsey from Guernsey who claims to have purchased a book once belonging to her written by Charles Lamb. Dawsey further explains that he is a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Curious by the name, Juliet writes back to find out more about the society and is pulled into the life of it's extraordinary members and their story during the German Occupation.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is such a unique book as the storyline, the characters involved are all revealed through a series of letters between Juliet, her closest friends and the group of people belonging to the society.

This book is funny and full of warmth and through the letters you learn about each individual and their experience; their bravery, love, loss and suffering during the 5 years the Germans occupied the Channel Islands. The letters written by each character carried such a realistic tone that you feel they really do exist. Reading the book I can't help but fall in love with each and everyone of them (well except for one: Miss Adelaide Addison).

I absolutely love this book and found it impossible to put down. A definite must read!

BTW, I did some research on Guernsey and I'd really love to go on a holiday trip there someday. The book made me fall in love with the island. Must start lobbying the idea to hubs soon... :D

Challenge: 100+ Reading Challenge

Lotsa love,

Book Review: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Author: Nicole Krauss

Genre: Fiction

The History of Love focuses on two central characters who lead separate lives and are unaware of each others existence.

Leo Gursky is Polish and in his youth wrote a book where he named the female character after the woman he loves. Having survived World War II, Leo moves to New York and lives his life in quiet existence as a locksmith after realising that he cannot live the life he dreamed of with the woman he loves. Now an 80 year old retiree, Leo lives a lonely life and does whatever he can to get noticed.

The second central character is Alma Singer, a fourteen year old girl who is named after a character from her parents favorite book, The History of Love. She sets out to investigate more about the book; The History of Love after her mother was hired to translate it. Her efforts lead to both her and Leo converging towards the end of the book.

Actually, there are a lot of characters involved in this book other than Leo and Alma that play a pivotal role to the storyline. You'd need to really focus on whats happening or risk losing track of how things ended up the way it did.

The History of Love carries an interesting mix of themes like love, loss, regrets and also the desire to be recognized or remembered. It took a while for me to appreciate The History of Love but what stood out most for me from the book was Leo's character. How the book ended for Leo haunted me long after I finished the last chapter of the book; it was heartbreaking and I can't help but feel sorry for him.

Overall, the History of Love was just okay for me. Other than the ending, I found it a bit of a struggle to read the book because there were too many things going on. I like my books simple I guess. The History of Love turned out to be just an okay read for me. 

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge

Lotsa love,

Friday Finds: 12 November 2010

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! This is a weekly blog event hosted by Should Be Reading.

Here's what I found this week:

Brains, Robin Becker
The Replacement, Brenna Yavanoff
Room, Emma Donoghue

I've been reading a lot of great reviews about Room and am quite eager to get a copy of the book to read. Anyway, I'm currently reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I'm enjoying the book tremendously and I'm only 96 pages in! Hopefully, I'll be able to have the review up by next week.

In the meantime, I hope that everyone will have a good weekend ahead and happy reading!

Ps, what do you think of my new blog design? Like it?

Lotsa love,

Book Review: Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

Author: Daniel Waters

Genre: Paranormal/Romance/Young Adult

A strange phenomenon is happening to teenage kids in America; teenagers who die are not staying dead. More and more teenagers who die are coming back to life and American society now has to adapt to the existence of the living impaired.

The book revolves around Phoebe and her friends Margi and Adam. They go to Oakvale High School which was beginning to get a reputation for providing a good educational program for the living impaired; so much so that families with living impaired kids were moving into town and as such has doubled the population of the living impaired in the area.

Phoebe is somehow drawn to one living impaired student; Tommy Williams. He seems different from the rest of the living impaired kids Phoebe has seen; he’s gorgeous, funny and was even (briefly) part of the school’s football team. Her friendship with Tommy leads to friendship with other living impaired kids and becomes an eye opener for her in understanding their predicament and challenges to be part of today’s society.

Though Generation Dead is a book on zombies, it’s not the typical gore, eat your brains out type of book you should expect to read. It’s a book that although fun to read manages to address many complex themes like equality and acceptance for a minority group in today’s society.  

I loved almost all the characters in the book and thought that it had an engaging plot. Generation Dead was such a good read that I finished it within a day! Yes, it was that unputdownable. It had a fair share of romance, action and suspense. Definitely a recommended read and I’m looking forward to read the sequel: Kiss of Life.

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Young Adult Reading Challenge