I started reading this book during summer and the weather outside was just over 30 degrees. Probably not a good book choice as it was based in Africa. So reading this book I felt everything that was going on in the book so much more. I felt the heat that they were feeling and thus it magnified their emotions and loneliness.
I always wanted to go to Africa, but sadly this book as somewhat changed my mind about how great it was going to be. The two main characters were married and going through a rough patch in their relationship and considering the location they were in the author protrayed perfectly how lonely these two characters were and how differently they both were handling it.
I enjoyed reading about Eric and his mother as they always brought a bit of drama with them and left complete questions and chaos behind them. The character of Turner was also good, and totaly relatable.
In the end it got a bit out of control, not so much with Port dying, as that is believable, but in Kit's becoming a sex slave and being locked up for months. Not sure if I would have ended the book that way, but the author gets points for suprising me...
I quite enjoyed reading this book. It was refreshing to read about something different as the African Sahara and about characters that were very far from perfect. The author didn't describe either of the characters which was good as it doesn't really matter.
The book showed that there are very different places in the world and don't just go somewhere without a little research...
7/10
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
I wanted to read this book before I found out too much about it during it's movie release. Also I heard it's an excellent book and is listed as the people's choice for one of the best books of all time. So I had some elevated expectations and I have to say that it did deliver.
It took me a while to get my head around the whole time travelling thing. The skipping from time to time and getting to know what age is Henry currently speaking and where everyone is. But once I got into the groove of the book I very much enjoyed it. Yes it is a book about love but it's done in such a great way that brings a romance book to a whole new level.
I really enjoyed the lead female character of Clare who was not overshadowed by the strong presence of Henry and his time traveling. I liked the aspect that Henry showed vunerability at his dealing with his genetic disease. Even though this book is considered a romance, the characters do not fall into the typical romance novel stereotypes and because of this are a pleasure to read.
Yes it is a bit unrelistic and througout the book you do realise this at some points however it is written well which enables you to forgive this and overlook it.
I really enjoy reading books that are totaly different than anything out there and this book was one of them. I really enjoyed it.
8/10
It took me a while to get my head around the whole time travelling thing. The skipping from time to time and getting to know what age is Henry currently speaking and where everyone is. But once I got into the groove of the book I very much enjoyed it. Yes it is a book about love but it's done in such a great way that brings a romance book to a whole new level.
I really enjoyed the lead female character of Clare who was not overshadowed by the strong presence of Henry and his time traveling. I liked the aspect that Henry showed vunerability at his dealing with his genetic disease. Even though this book is considered a romance, the characters do not fall into the typical romance novel stereotypes and because of this are a pleasure to read.
Yes it is a bit unrelistic and througout the book you do realise this at some points however it is written well which enables you to forgive this and overlook it.
I really enjoy reading books that are totaly different than anything out there and this book was one of them. I really enjoyed it.
8/10
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Bronze Horseman - Paullina Simons
I was recommended this book by a good friend of mine, who has a soft spot for romance novels. I don't mind a romance book every now and then so I thought I'd give it a go.
I've re-written this review a few times because I can't word my thoughts properly. I'm a bit confused as to how to put them on paper as they are a bit shuffled.
Yes, I enjoyed the book
but
Yes I found it very annoying to read
and
Yes it did everything that I feared and detest in Romance novels
So writing a review is very hard because I don't know how to explain all these contradictions but still say that it was enjoyable to read.
The main character Tatiana is the typical female character that annoys me in Romance books. Naive, weak, clumsy and a push-over, who falls in love with her sisters boyfriend. The male character, Alexander, is strong, smart, dependable and totaly protective, who of course falls head over heals with his girlfriends sister. There are also complications to do with Alexander being an American and his best friend Dimitri.
The other characters were good to read, and I found that the Cinderella storyline where everyone treated her badly and used her excessively was a bit over the top. Reading how others took advantage of her was one of the hardest bits to read and it made you so frustrated that she could be so weak. But of course Alexander came to the rescue.
Another annoying part of the book was the constant reassuring that Alexander had to do to convince Tatiana that he loved her. He would just finish telling her that she's the one, and something would happen where she would storm off and it would start all over again.
The book felt as if it was a bit slow in some areas where it would repeat some things over and over where it just wasn't necessary.
The Tatiana character did start to get stronger as the book went on so it started to get easier to read. However the author then went from one extreme to the other as she then became so strong that it was almost impossible to believe, almost sub-human. But it's less frustrating.
I loved reading about the war and what people went through, because in today's environment it was a huge eye opener. You really started to appreciate how good we have it now, thanks to the people that fought during the war. The storyline was good, if you forgive the stereotypical characters. By the end I wanted to know more and will move onto the next installment in the trilogy a bit later.
This book is like a friend who is annoying and frustrating when they are around, but you miss them when they are gone.
It wasn't a book that affected me deeply, but it kept me interested and I enjoyed it. Not sure if I would agree that it's one of the best books of all time but then again I'm not really into romance novels.
6/10
I've re-written this review a few times because I can't word my thoughts properly. I'm a bit confused as to how to put them on paper as they are a bit shuffled.
Yes, I enjoyed the book
but
Yes I found it very annoying to read
and
Yes it did everything that I feared and detest in Romance novels
So writing a review is very hard because I don't know how to explain all these contradictions but still say that it was enjoyable to read.
The main character Tatiana is the typical female character that annoys me in Romance books. Naive, weak, clumsy and a push-over, who falls in love with her sisters boyfriend. The male character, Alexander, is strong, smart, dependable and totaly protective, who of course falls head over heals with his girlfriends sister. There are also complications to do with Alexander being an American and his best friend Dimitri.
The other characters were good to read, and I found that the Cinderella storyline where everyone treated her badly and used her excessively was a bit over the top. Reading how others took advantage of her was one of the hardest bits to read and it made you so frustrated that she could be so weak. But of course Alexander came to the rescue.
Another annoying part of the book was the constant reassuring that Alexander had to do to convince Tatiana that he loved her. He would just finish telling her that she's the one, and something would happen where she would storm off and it would start all over again.
The book felt as if it was a bit slow in some areas where it would repeat some things over and over where it just wasn't necessary.
The Tatiana character did start to get stronger as the book went on so it started to get easier to read. However the author then went from one extreme to the other as she then became so strong that it was almost impossible to believe, almost sub-human. But it's less frustrating.
I loved reading about the war and what people went through, because in today's environment it was a huge eye opener. You really started to appreciate how good we have it now, thanks to the people that fought during the war. The storyline was good, if you forgive the stereotypical characters. By the end I wanted to know more and will move onto the next installment in the trilogy a bit later.
This book is like a friend who is annoying and frustrating when they are around, but you miss them when they are gone.
It wasn't a book that affected me deeply, but it kept me interested and I enjoyed it. Not sure if I would agree that it's one of the best books of all time but then again I'm not really into romance novels.
6/10
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