“Those Impressionists,” she said, “they certainly knew about color. And about light and shade. Different kinds of shade: thinner shadows that let the light through, and heavier, denser ones. And it’s as if Monet made this garden to show the world how he saw colors. How he saw their power, their potential, and their purpose. I think he wanted to show that the world is color. That life itself is color. That if we can just see the colors, really see them, life will be beautiful. And meaningful. Because beauty has a value of its own, that’’s how I see it anyway.” – p. 37
“People who read books,’ he went on, “tend to be dispensable. Extremely.” – p. 48
Useful or dispensable? A life of choice or no choice? And what if your own choices led you to have to give of your own body to the ‘needed’ until your ‘final donation’?
I love dystopian fiction, and this book was no exception. It reminded me quite a bit of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, so if you enjoyed that book, you’ll probably like this one as well. Reading books like this is always a reminder of the ways society could go horribly wrong, and sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if parts of the book actually do come to pass someday.
Dorrit, age 50, has reached an age where she is now considered dispensable because she has no children or parents to take care of and because she is a writer, which is considered an unessential occupation. The dispensables in The Unit are provided for in every way, a nice apartment, exercise facilities, and entertainment venues, etc. Except that they are monitored 24/7, and of course, they may never leave The Unit. Dorrit makes great friends here, and in some ways her life is better than when she was on the outside, but, obviously, her life and her body are not her own. She is essentially a commodity of the State.
The book raises some excellent ethical questions. Is a person’s life itself precious and valuable, or is it only what they can contribute to society that is deemed worthwhile? My view will always be the former.
How obtained: I checked this book out from my local library.
2006 (Swedish), 2009 for the English translation; 268 pp.
It was fun to read both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire back-to-back for the read-a-thon. I’m glad I didn’t have a long wait between the first two books of the trilogy, but obviously I’ll have a longer wait for the third book to come out. The bad part is, the cliffhanger between 2 and 3 is quite a bit greater than from 1 to 2 in my opinion. I do look forward to reading the next book.
I liked this sequel about the same as the first book and both books received a rating of 4 stars. As I said in my post about The Hunger Games, though, I still feel there are some better written young adult dystopian books out there. However, this series, though a bit dark and violent, will definitely keep you going until the very last page.
2009, 391 pp.
Disclosure: I received this book from a promotional company (but after I had already purchased The Hunger Games).
I read this book for the read-a-thon, and I must say it was an excellent choice as it was quite a page turner. This book is taking the internet by storm, and while I did enjoy it, I didn’t quite love the book.
I’m not going to go through the plot as quite a few people have read it, or if they haven’t, there are plenty of sources to find that information. I will say that the plot was, in my view, the best part of the book. As I said above, it’s quite a page turner, but although I didn’t think the writing was bad per se, I didn’t feel it was up to par with The Giver by Lois Lowry or The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. The romance angle in the book irritated me a bit. I understand to a degree why it was necessary to the plot, but I thought it could have been a little more well done. Another minor irritation was the naming of the characters in the book. I suppose it was done on purpose, but I felt it distracted me from the story every time I came upon a strange name. I’ve never really noticed it in books like Lord of the Rings, etc., but in this book the names just seemed a bit silly.
Even with all that said, I did like the book quite a bit and plan on reading the entire trilogy. I hate to be too negative when I actually enjoyed it, but since it’s received so many rave reviews, I just thought I’d explain why my rating was a little lower.
2008, 374 pp.
Disclosure: I purchased this book for my personal library.
I don’t remember where I heard or read this story, so it might not be true, but I heard that when Joe Hill was trying to get this book published, he didn’t tell anyone until he signed the contract that he was Stephen King’s son. I was so impressed by that. He really could have used that to his advantage and instead he chose to try to make it on his own first. Kudos. [Edit: Okay, I did find a source of this from USA Today]
But can he compete with his famous father? In a word, yes. I used to love Stephen King when I was in high school and have read several of his books. I can’t take much horror at all now, but I was really curious about Joe Hill’s writing and the book seemed like it had an interesting premise. At an online auction site, a guy buys a suit that’s supposedly haunted. The guy that buys it, Judas, is an older rock star who collects all sorts of crazy stuff so he’s unable to resist the suit when he’s prompted to do so by an email. Turns out, it’s a bad decision.
This book was creepy. Very creepy. I listened to it on audio CD, and I could only listen to it in the daytime. It was perfect for the R.I.P. Challenge, but it was a little too gritty for my tastes — otherwise I probably would have rated it 4 stars instead of 3.5. If you don’t care about such things and like Stephen King’s writing, there is almost no doubt you will like Joe Hill’s as well.
2007, 384 pp.
[Disclosure: I obtained this book from my local library.]
Snowflower and the Secret Fan tied (along with The Book Thief by Markus Zusak) for my top book of 2007, so I was very anxious to read the latest book by Lisa See. It did not disappoint. In fact, I am now fairly certain I will want to read most, if not all, of Lisa See’s works. Though I didn’t feel it was as good as Snowflower, I still thought it was excellent and will definitely be reading the sequel.
The novel takes place mostly in the 1940’s and 50’s, and I just love the sense of history in See’s novels. It was so fascinating to learn about the Chinese immigration process and the discrimination they endured, the dynamic of Chinatown, and the workings of the new Hollywood. Not to mention the intense relationship between Pearl and May, two sisters who are thrust into a completely new life with only each other as a reminder of the old. I also appreciate the female perspective on all their difficult situations.
Though I thought the ending of Shanghai Girls was a bit abrupt until I realized a sequel was in the works, I thoroughly enjoyed this story of sisters and the almost unbreakable bond they share. Reading a second novel by See made me even more interested in reading her non-fiction historical account, On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese American Family. I’m not a huge non-fiction fan, so that says a lot. I was surprised how much I enjoyed another Chinese family account when I read Wild Swans by Jung Chang, so I know it’s fairly certain I will like On Gold Mountain as well. Plus, it was heavily wishlisted on both PBS and Bookmooch, and that’s always a good sign.
Highly recommended.
2009, 336 pp.
[Disclosure: I received an ARC of this title from the publisher.]
I really, really was into the first half or so of Breaking Dawn, but did not like the second half at all. I read the first half or so immediately after Eclipse andabsolutely couldn’t put the book down until the end of the birth scene. I thought it was really intense and I was totally engrossed. Then, afterwards… what a let down. For starters, I actually was a little disappointed that she had to ‘cross over.’ I understand the reasons why, but it was so much more interesting to me before she did. And the way they told Charlie was totally hokey. I didn’t think that part was written well at all. Jacob’s new love interest seemed a little bizarre, but it did keep everyone in the same family so I guess I can live with it. And the vampire showdown? It went out with a whimper instead of a bang, didn’t it?
Oh, well, now it’s over, and I can feel great that once again this 40-ish woman is up on a small portion of pop culture. It’s difficult keeping up with the youngsters, but the Twilight series (at least most of it) made it a little more fun to do so. Now I’m just looking forward to the release of the movies!
2008, 754 pp
[Disclosure: This book was not received from the publisher. It's hard to admit, but I actually purchased a copy.]
I don’t know why I’m so interested in dystopian literature, but I am. Interested may be too mild a word. I am fascinated by books with dystopian themes and at least like most of the books I read in this genre.
I listened to House of the Scorpion on audio CD with my two teenage sons. Wow, what an incredible book! I didn’t love it as much as I loved The Giver by Lois Lowry, but it was still really powerful. There are so many issues to discuss in this book. My sons were anxious to talk about everything the book presented as well. Words cannot describe the satisfaction I get from listening to or reading the same books at the same time as my kids. I feel it’s even more important, not less, as they move into their middle teens. I highly recommend it.
It’s really difficult to describe the plot of this without giving too much away. I didn’t know much about the book when I picked it out for us to listen to — just that it was dystopian lit, so I’m hesitant to spill the beans on this one because I loved discovering it ‘fresh’ so to speak. Suffice it to say it’s an excellent YA dystopian book, and I will definitely be looking into more of Nancy Farmer’s work.
2002, 380 pp.
[Disclosure: I checked out this audio CD from my local library]
I read Eclipse pretty much straight through in one sitting the day after finishing New Moon. These books are addicting, if nothing else. I liked these two books the best of the four, and I couldn’t read fast enough. Since so many have already read the book, this post will contain spoilers.
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Eclipse was a fun one, what with the Edward/Jacob rivalry heating up even more. I especially enjoyed the tent scenes. Teenage love and angst at its best. I thought it was a little weird, though, that Bella wanted to be with Edward forever but resisted marrying him. What’s the difference when it comes down to it? I also really felt for Jacob in this one. I’m not really ‘Team Jacob,’ though, but in some ways I’m not ‘Team Edward,’ either. If you had to pin me down I’d have to say that I was ‘Team Bella’ in the sense that I’m rooting for her to realize and attain what she really wants for herself. Sometimes that’s the hardest thing in life to do — figuring out what one really wants.
2007, 629 pp.
[Disclosure: This book was not received from the publisher. It's hard to admit, but I actually purchased a copy.]
I have now read through the entire series and will be publishing reviews for the other two books very soon.
Spoilers ahead
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I actually liked this one much better than Twilight, probably because it was better written. In fact, my favorites of the four were New Moon and Eclipse. I didn’t mind at all that Edward wasn’t in New Moon very much and was even half rooting for Jacob. It was fun to find out Jacob’s story as well. And although some readers felt that Bella’s grief was way over the top, I didn’t. Teenage love and loss– heck, adult love and loss– is very painful. Sometimes excruciatingly.
I’m excited for the movie to come out. I’ve seen some of the sneak previews from Comic Con and they look great. I’m also looking forward to seeing Dakota Fanning play Jane.
You know, I haven’t gone through chunks of books like this for a long time, and I must say I’ve missed it.
2006, 608 pp.
[Disclosure: This book was not received from the publisher. It's hard to admit, but I actually purchased a copy.]
I thought that I’d at least try out the series that everyone’s been talking about – I guess it’s a super hit on HBO as well. I was a little worried it would be too graphic for me and it was, but I’ll probably at least try the next book in the series and take it one book at a time.
Sookie is a telepath and can hear everyone’s thoughts — except vampires. So when ‘Vampire Bill’ comes into the bar where Sookie works and Sookie hears nothing, it’s a blessed relief to her. I won’t say much else about the story, but it was a nice diversion when I was flying and at the airport. Like I said, I’ll at least read one more and may even check out the DVDs. I am wondering, though, if Stephenie Meyer had read this series before starting Twilight. There seems to be some similar ideas, but maybe all vampire fiction has some basic commonalities.
It was fun to read both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire back-to-back for the read-a-thon. I’m glad I didn’t have a long wait between the first two books of the trilogy, but obviously I’ll have a longer wait for the third book to come out. The bad part is, the cliffhanger between 2 and 3 is quite a bit greater than from 1 to 2 in my opinion. I do look forward to reading the next book.
I read this book for the read-a-thon, and I must say it was an excellent choice as it was quite a page turner. This book is taking the internet by storm, and while I did enjoy it, I didn’t quite love the book.
I don’t remember where I heard or read this story, so it might not be true, but I heard that when Joe Hill was trying to get this book published, he didn’t tell anyone until he signed the contract that he was Stephen King’s son. I was so impressed by that. He really could have used that to his advantage and instead he chose to try to make it on his own first. Kudos. [Edit: Okay, I did find a source of this from 
Snowflower and the Secret Fan tied (along with The Book Thief by Markus Zusak) for my top book of 2007, so I was very anxious to read the latest book by Lisa See. It did not disappoint. In fact, I am now fairly certain I will want to read most, if not all, of Lisa See’s works. Though I didn’t feel it was as good as Snowflower, I still thought it was excellent and will definitely be reading the sequel.
I read Eclipse pretty much straight through in one sitting the day after finishing New Moon. These books are addicting, if nothing else. I liked these two books the best of the four, and I couldn’t read fast enough. Since so many have already read the book, this post will contain spoilers.
