Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury

Shades of Blue is the November pick of the FLICKS Book and Movie Club. It is a Christian book that touches on a very big issue, abortion, which will most likely lead to some heavier than usual discussion at book club next month!

Brad Cutler is a handsome, successful ad executive who is on the brink of marrying the perfect woman, Laura James. He finds himself suddenly at a loss to promote his latest campaign, Kotton Kids, and instead finds himself thinking of his high school girlfriend Emma Landon.

Emma and Brad grew up together on the North Carolina coast. They were friends since childhood and became a couple in high school. Their relationship had a complicated and heart breaking ending, and both Brad and Emma find themselves unable to move on without closure and forgiveness for the past.

I thought Shades of Blue gave a mostly well rounded view of a very touchy subject. I did feel at times that the book did get a little too preachy and a few times almost sounded like propaganda. Luckily those moments didn’t last and it was able to get on track to the story.
I think the heart of the book were very complicated and well rounded characters. Instead of being perfect Christian people, Brad and Emma had pasts where different actions were not actions they were proud of. I did think that Laura James at times was too good to be true, but she also had a few moments of inner conflict and doubt.

I did not like the ending of the story. I think Emma’s story line was tied up a bit too neatly.

Overall, Shades of Blue was a good book, although it did get a bit too preachy at times.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

The Classics Challenge Wrap-Up 2010

I have really enjoyed being a part of The Classics Challenge again this year. I miss my Classics Book Club that I was a part of in Milwaukee, but The Classics Challenge helps me to keep classic books in my mix of reading material. I also love to read everyone else’s reviews and get ideas for future books to read or share thoughts on classics I’ve already read.

I originally decided to read four picks for the challenge and my original picks were as follows:

1. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
2. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
3. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
4. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

My alternatives were:
1. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
2. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence

My bonus book that “should be” a classic was Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

My final reading selections were as follows:
1. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
2. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
4. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen (audiobook)
6. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (audiobook)
7. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (bonus book)

I enjoyed all of the books that I read, but of the true stand-outs for me (besides the Jane Austen novels, which are perennial favorites of mine) were Lady Chatterley’s Lover and The Count of Monte Cristo. I was surprised by Lady Chatterley’s Lover's frank discussion of a woman’s need for sexual satisfaction. It makes it in a category of its own even compared to modern novels. The Count of Monte Cristo was a rip roaring adventure story that held me enthralled throughout.

I was disappointed by Heart of Darkness. I think it was a case of it being overhyped to me over the years.

I loved Life of Pi and I whole heartedly agree that it “should be” a classic novel. Besides being a great adventure story, it was a thought provoking novel of religion and belief.

Thank-you again to Trish for hosting The Classics Challenge. I loved being a part of it again this year!!

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I have been meaning to read Life of Pi for years. I had great hopes that I could convince my library book club to read it, but I’ve given up hope. I’m a part of The Classics Challenge, which has a neat twist of having you read a “bonus” book from the challenge participants’ list of modern books that “should be” classics. Life of Pi was on the “should be” classics list, and I chose it for my bonus book.

Life of Pi was a riveting novel that I literally kept me up all night (while nursing a newborn!). The entire story is unique, intriguing, and thought provoking. It transports you to another world with its fantastic storytelling.

Pi Patel has a mostly idyllic youth spent in India. As a teenager he decides to practice the Hindu, Christian, and Muslim faiths. His family owns the Pondicherry Zoo. After Pi’s father can no longer stand the political atmosphere in India, he decides to have the entire family immigrate to Canada. He sells the zoo lock, stock, and barrel. Many of the animals are sold to zoos in America. The Patel family and many of the zoo animals board a ship to North America. Unfortunately, the ship sinks and Pi finds himself alone on a life raft, alone except for the presence of a zebra, hyena, orangutan, and a tiger (named Richard Thomas).

Eventually Richard Thomas and Pi are all that remain. Pi must find a way to survive on the raft with a tiger and try to make it to safety. While Life of Pi is a great survival story, it is also a fantastic story about storytelling and religion. Do we need religion? Can we suspend our disbelieve in stories not based in science in order to believe in something better than ourselves? It was definitely a novel that has kept me thinking.

Spoiler Alert!!

I loved the ending of the novel and how Pi tells the interviewers his story and then gives them a second story more based in “reality”. At the end he asks the interviewers which story they believe and they respond “the story with animals is the better story.” Pi answers “Thank you. And so it goes with God.”

I think Pi is saying here that to believe in God is to believe in the “better story” than atheists who just believe in science. The interviewers have to suspend their initial disbelieve in order to believe in Pi’s animal story. If you were first coming into a new religion, you might also have to suspend your disbelief. What did other readers think about this section of the book?

I also couldn’t help but think about Pi’s second story. It did seem the most logical. It could also be thought that Pi experienced such emotional devastation that he needed the first story in order to handle it. And he split his violent persona into “Richard Parker” that had to commit acts of violence to survive. Any thoughts?

Spoiler End.

Overall, I loved this book. It was my “bonus book” or seventh and final read for The Classics Challenge for 2010.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

I have heard great things about the novel Heart of Darkness for years and have been meaning to read it for a long time. The Classics Challenge finally motivated me to pick up this book and learn what all of the fuss is about.

Heart of Darkness is narrated by a sailor named Marlowe. He and his fellow sailors are anchored in the Thames and he is entertaining them with a story of his travels up a mysterious African river at some point in the past. Marlowe was hired to be a captain of a steam ship by an Ivory Company. His goal is to travel up the river into the depths of the “heart of darkness” in Africa to find a mysterious man named Kurtz and relieve him of his duties. Kurtz is a master of the ivory trade and is able to reap great rewards for the company at the inner station, but at what cost?

Heart of Darkness is basically a story of the evils of colonialism on a continent such as Africa, but also of the evils of leaving a man by himself in a foreign country, which can allow him to “go native” and revert to his lesser nature. I thought it was interesting in the novel that colonialism is shown to be evil, but then the way the African people are portrayed seems very stereotypical and not in a positive light. For example, Marlowe had a boat full of “cannibals” that he was transporting and (SPOILER ALERT) Kurtz has “gone native” which has him putting heads on spikes and warring with other tribes for their ivory. (SPOILER END).

The novel had some thought provoking quotes such as these favorites of mine:

“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look at it too much.”

“Destiny. My Destiny! Droll thing life is – that mysterious arrangement of merciless logic for a futile purpose. The most you can hope from it is some knowledge of yourself – that comes too late – a crop of unextinguishable regrets.”

“The horror! The horror!”

Truthfully, overall I felt let down by the novel. I think I went into it with too many expectations. I’ve heard so much about it over the years that I was expecting a lot, but it didn’t live up to the expectations. I had always heard how it was a tale of a man’s journey up the river to look for the mysterious Kurtz, and that’s what it was, without any surprises or embellishments. I actually much prefer the movie, Apocalypse Now, which was based on this novel, but set during the Vietnam War in Vietnam/Cambodia.

I wasn’t really in love with the style of narration. I often thought Marlowe drifted too much with his narration was not a reliable narrator. It annoyed me at times . . . but I’m also reading it at night while feeding a newborn so that may have had something to do with it! The prose on the other hand had some beautiful sections that I loved (such as the quotations above).

Overall, I’m glad I read Heart of Darkness, but I don’t think I need to read it again.

Heart of Darkness is my sixth item for The Classics Challenge.

Book Source: I bought Heart of Darkness years ago at Barnes and Noble.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan

I have read great reviews about Sharon Lathan’s Darcy Saga, a series of books that continues the story of Elizabeth and Darcy directly after their marriage. In the Arms of Mr. Darcy is the fourth novel in the series and the first novel in the series that I have read. My review therefore is on this novel as a standalone novel and not in comparison to the rest of the series.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy encompasses approximately a year of the Darcy’s marriage, in particular the second year of their marriage. The novel starts with a gathering of Darcy and Elizabeth’s families for a Christmas celebration at Pemberly. Darcy and Elizabeth rejoice in the love of their infant son William and in their passion for each other. William’s christening is soon after the Christmas celebration. The year passes by slowly with Colonel Fitzwilliam, Kitty, Caroline Bingley, and Georgiana each experiencing a romance of their own.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy moves at a leisurely place and each chapter seems to almost be a short story of its own. I didn’t think there was too much of an overall plot holding the novel together besides it just being a year in the life of the Darcys. Truthfully, the leisurely plot moved a little too slow for me and I longed for some more action. Colonel Fitzwilliam has a great romance and action scenes toward the end of the novel, but it seemed like more of an afterthought.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy has a lot of hot and steamy love scenes between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth. Truthfully, after just giving birth to an infant of my own, some of the love scenes after William’s birth seemed a little over the top and not quite what I would find romantic. But I don’t want to get into the details!

I love how Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth have a passionate and true love for each other in the novel. I thought the characterization of both of them as parents seemed a bit off. Their parenting techniques fit with our modern sensibilities of being a parent, but don’t really seem to fit into the regency equivalent of being a parent. I can’t imagine Mr. Darcy waking up for midnight feedings and whatnot.

Overall, In the Arms of Mr. Darcy was a leisurely look at life after marriage and a child for Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, but moved at too slow of a pace for me.

In the Arms of Mr. Darcy is my sixth item for the Everything Austen Challenge II.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

What’s in a Name? Welcome to Penelope Rose . . .

I had my baby this past Friday, Penelope Rose Gerold. Penelope is Ben and my third child, and our first daughter.

Unlike our sons, Ben and I had a hard time agreeing on a name for a daughter. I discovered that Ben is very picky about girl names. When we went through the social security’s list of the top 1000 girl names, Ben only liked maybe two names on the list. We had named the boys after family members, but Ben vetoed almost every family member name. So where did we get the name Penelope Rose?

A few years ago, I was listening to an audiobook in the kitchen and Ben wandered in. The main character’s best friend was named Penelope, but she was often called Pen or Penny. Ben heard the name Penelope and said, “I like that name.” I instantly took note as it is not often that he likes a girl name.

I’ve liked the name Penelope since I was in middle school and obsessed with Greek and Roman mythology. I loved Penelope in the Odyssey. Although her husband, Odysseus, is gone for twenty years fighting the Trojan War and having quite the adventure trying to return home, Penelope remains a faithful wife. She is a strong and smart female character. After Odysseus fails to return home after the war, Penelope is beset with 108 suitors. Penelope tells her suitors that she cannot remarry until she finishes weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes, and undoes her work every night to delay the time when she will have to pick a suitor. Eventually Odysseus returns and they are happily reunited.

I also admit to loving the name Penelope in more modern entertainment too. Ben and I loved Lost, and I loved the romance between Desmond and Penelope Widmore. In fact, I always wondered if her name was chosen by the series writers as a nod to the faithful Penelope of the Odyssey as Penelope Widmore remains true to Desmond throughout the years and continues her search for him until they are happily reunited. Penelope might have to endure

“Not Penny’s Boat” from us in future years and wonder what the heck we are talking about.

We chose the middle name Rose after Ben’s great-grandmother. We had two names selected as finalists, and we let our son Kile chose the final name. He selected Penelope Rose and is very proud of himself for getting to name his baby sister. He says we cannot call her Penny as her name is Penelope. We’ll see how long that lasts!

The boys are excited to have a new baby sister and Penelope is a very mild baby so far. Three kids four and under is a lot of work; therefore things may be a little slow on this blog for the next few months. Please have patience and know that I am still reading and watching, but it may take a bit longer to post my reviews!

The Making of a Gentleman by Shana Galen

The Making of a Gentleman is the second novel in Sons of the Revolution Regency Romance Trilogy that started with The Making of a Duchess. At the end of The Making of a Duchess, Julian had rescued his brother Armand from a prison in France. After 12 years of solitary confinement, Armand is finding it hard to adjust to life in polite society. His family has been unable to get him to speak again and decides to hire a tutor to help him, Felicity Bennett.

Felicity believes she is going to tutor a young boy and is surprised to find a handsome, intense young man instead. Felicity’s father, a poor parson, has recently died leaving her penniless, and even worse, betrothed to a scoundrel. Even though Felicity is surprised by her charge, she takes the job in order to pay off her fiancé and end her betrothal.

Through the power of her music and their mutual attraction, Felicity is able to finally get Armand to open up and begin to speak again. Unfortunately there are still secrets from Armand’s past and evil men willing to do anything to obtain those secrets. Together with Felicity’s scoundrel of a fiancé, Armand and Felicity face almost insurmountable obstacles and danger. Will they be able to surmount them to live happily ever after?

I enjoyed this romance and it was a great follow-up to The Making of the Duchess. Felicity and Armand had fantastic chemistry and it was a joy to read of their adventures together. I loved the time period that the novel was set in (regency England during the Napoleonic War with France), and I was very excited to read their discovery that their third brother is “Captain Cutlass.” I look forward to learning more about him in the third book of this trilogy.

If you are looking for a romance with great chemistry and adventure, I highly recommend The Making of a Gentleman.

Book Source: Advance Review Copy from Sourcebooks. Thank-you!

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (Audiobook)

Northanger Abbey is Jane Austen’s often overlooked first novel accepted for publication in 1803. Sadly the publisher decided not to publish it at that time, but it was ultimately published after her death. It is most often referred to as Austen’s “gothic novel parody.” While it is a humorous parody of the gothic novels of the day, I find Northanger Abbey much more than just a parody. Northanger Abbey is also a comedy of manners and matches Austen’s other novels great characters and romance.

Catherine Morland travels with family friends, the Allens, to Bath. At first life in Bath is anything but exciting, but then she meets the engaging Henry Tilney. Afterwards Mrs. Allen’s friends, the Thorpes, come to town and Catherine soon befriends Isabella Thorpe. Life is great fun in society now that Catherine has the Tilneys and Thorpes to spend time with. Soon she is invited by General Tilney (Henry’s father) to visit the family at Northanger Abbey. Catherine hopes that the Abbey will include all of the mystery that her favorite gothic novels detail.

As I listened to this audiobook, I realized that my favorite thing about the novel was Austen’s fantastic characters. I love Henry Tilney and his quick wit. I also love how he is a great reader and is proud to talk about it. I thought about it and decided that of all of the Austen heroes, my husband most resembles Henry Tilney. I told him my observation and I think he has decided I may have read one too many Austen novels!

Isabella Thorpe and her brother John are also great characters. I love how Isabella is a “fake friend” who pretends to care about Catherine, but is really all about number one. Her brother John is also very full of himself. As with all of Austen’s novels, these characters are timeless and are people that you would meet and befriend today. I have known many Isabella and John Thorpes in my life.

One of my other favorite aspects of the novel is how clueless or naive Catherine is at points, especially when John Thorpe is trying to express his admiration for her and she totally doesn’t get it. It made me laugh out loud.

I have read Northanger Abbey a few times in my life (see a review here), but this is my first time listening to it via audiobook. I really think Austen’s novels transfer well to audiobook. They contain a lot of great dialogue that is a joy to listen too. I started my Northanger Abbey audiobook adventure by listening to a Blackstone Audiobook, but disc 2 was too scratched to listen further so I returned it to the library and switched to a Tantor Media edition read by Donada Peters. Truthfully Ms. Peters was an uninspired audiobook reader and the quality of the recording was not that great.

Overall Northanger Abbey is often overlooked, but it is not an underperforming Austen novel. If you love Austen’s other novels, you will be sure to love Northanger Abbey.

Northanger Abbey is my fifth item for both The Classics Challenge and The Everything Austen Challenge II.

Audiobook Source: The Kewaunee Public Library

Winners of Mr. Darcy's Obsession

The two lucky winners of Mr. Darcy's Obsession by Abigail Reynolds are PoCoKat and Emilee Hope of Another Binkley Sister's Blog. Both winners were notified via email and have until this Friday to respond with their mailing addresses. If I don't hear back from them, new winners will be drawn. Both winners were chosen using random.org.

Thank-you for all who entered the giveaway, to author Abigail Reynolds for a fantastic interview, and for Sourcebooks for providing the winners with copies of this great book.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay is the third and final novel of The Hunger Games trilogy. It was a fantastic conclusion to the series. I had a hard time putting it down and find myself constantly thinking about the story.

In Mockingjay, the revolution has finally broken out. Katniss finds herself having to deal with the destruction of her home, the loss of Peeta, and the fact that she has long been a part of the revolution without knowing about it. Katniss embraces her role as “the Mockingjay” and helps the rebels to break the Capital’s hold through their own use of propaganda, as well as being a physical warrior. Katniss faces tough emotional and physical challenges and healing in this novel. The novel also has almost non-stop action sequences towards the end and was riveting. I don’t want to get too much more into detail for the plot summary as I don’t want to ruin the novel for others!

Overall, I thought The Hunger Games Trilogy was quite brilliant. The Hunger Games trilogy combined the best of many of my favorite sci-fi novels and short stories including 1984, Fahrenheit 451, "The Lottery", and "The Lady or the Tiger". Overall themes included the role of media and perception in how the world runs the senselessness of war, the repeatability of history, etc. It gave me a lot to think about and I’m still thinking out it.

A couple of quotes that really seemed to spell out the meaning of the book to me included the following:

Katniss - “Frankly, our ancestors don’t seem much to brag about. I mean, look at the state they left us in, with the wars and the broken planet. Clearly, they didn’t care about what would happen to the people who came after them.”

Haymitch - “We’re fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.”

I think both quotes are fantastic. Although this novel is about war and the rebellion “freeing” the District people from the capital’s rule, it becomes much more complex than that. How do you know if your government is any better than the previous government? How do you stop the cycle of violence? How do you treat all people with respect and not hold grudges against your enemies? It was very thoughtful and compelling reading.

The Ending (SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!)


I loved the ending of the novel. While it was very sad and unexpected, I like how Katniss realizes she is a pawn and takes destiny into her own hands by killing off President Coin. She realizes Coin is no better than Snow with her willful destruction of the children in front of the capital as well as her use of a new “hunger games.” The ending seemed realistic to me. Katniss is a solitary creature and is finally able to deal with all of the horrible events of her life by returning home. I was glad she ended up with Peeta. As I continued reading Mockingjay, I realized Gale and Katniss were too much alike, and Peeta was the one person who was able to help her to be a better person and to relate to the terrible traumas they had both endured together in and out of the Hunger Games. While neither of them will be the person they were before, they can help each other to remember and be better people through their children.

SPOILER END

I am excited by all of the talk of The Hunger Games becoming a movie. I think this trilogy will be great on the big screen.

I highly recommend Mockingjay and the entire trilogy to those who haven’t read it. It is an action packed read with a great love triangle, but also a compelling thought provoking tale of human nature.

Book Source: The Kewaunee Public Library