Being There by Jerzy Kosinski

The story of Chauncey Gardiner--Chance--an enigmatic but distinguished man who emerges from nowhere to become an heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon, a presidential policy advisor, and a media icon.

At only 140 pages, this was a very quick read but fun.

Chance was sheltered from the outside world his entire life. He never left the house of his employer except to tend the garden in the backyard. He cannot read or write and spends his off time watching TV. When his employer dies he is left homeless and thrust into the outside world. After an accident and a few gardening metaphors he is thrust into America's financial and political society.

I found this book incredibly humorous. I loved the irony of the entire situation. How someone who knows nothing and says very little can rise to fame all because of assumptions and media perception.

Kosinski's writing is simple and to the point which made it very easy to read. The subject matter is relevant probably more today than it was when it was written in 1970. I think it's nearly impossible to read this book and not insert a politician from your life. It makes you think about politics and media.

Being There would be a great book for a book club. So many discussions could come out of this book.

4 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:  Being There

The Girl Who Couldn't Say No by Tracy Engelbrecht

A sharp, occasionally shocking, memoir that will change how you look at teenage mothers, The Girl Who Couldn't Say No is told with frank South African humour and refreshingly mature insight. Tracy Engelbrecht tells the story of how she came to find herself pregnant at 15, and how she coped with pregnancy, birth and homework.An eye-opener for teens and their parents alike, as well as a message of hope, empathy and respect for those who have experienced a teenage pregnancy.

Tracy got pregnant at 15. As with all teenage mothers, she struggled through all the hardships motherhood brings with it. This is her story of how she got through it and more.

Engelbrecht's humor and wit drew me into the book. I loved her wit and her sense of humor. There was, also, quite a bit of profanity in the book but it all belonged there. That was Tracy's personality and it gave you a real sense of her. As a mother, I found her insight on motherhood hilarious. I laughed out loud on several occasions, especially when describing toddlers, since that is the stage my children are in right now.

The first 2/3 of the book, I was really into. I loved reading her thoughts on what was going on in her life. It was all interesting. The last 1/3 dragged for me, though. I had a hard time getting through it. I don't know if I can pinpoint why, maybe it was the way she rambled off subject for pages at a time, though that happened through the whole book. Maybe it was the subject matter or the slight repetitiveness. I'm not sure. Either way, I didn't like the last part of the book. Plus my American brain shuddered every time I read the word "learnt". But her humor was still there.

It was a quick and funny read that fell kind of flat at the end.

3.5 out of 5 stars

This is another book that is only in e-book format.

BUY IT HERE: The Girl Who Couldn't Say No: Memoir of a teenage mom

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

When Henry meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty. Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. Henry and Clare's attempts to live normal lives are threatened by a force they can neither prevent nor control, making their passionate love story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable. The Time Traveler's Wife is a story of fate, hope and belief, and more than that, it's about the power of love to endure beyond the bounds of time.

I have wanted to read this book for a very long time. I'm actually a little upset it took me so long to get to it. It is a great book.

Clare meets Henry when she is just 6 years old. Henry meets Clare when she is 20 years old. Henry has chrono-displacement disorder, in laymen terms, he is a time traveler.

I really liked this book. Niffenegger took time travel and made it believable. She made it a disease, something completely uncontrollable. And the love story was epic. It truly was. A love that defies time and space. I fell in love with both characters almost immediately. I got pulled in by the story and lost track of time on many occasions. I loved how it was all laid out. I loved the foreshadowing and how she told the story almost chronologically but included Henrys time jumps also.

I did have a few problems with it though. Niffenegger went into such incredible detail about so many completely useless things. She could go on and on about the food they were eating or grocery lists. I found it incredibly irritating. Also, some of the language that was interspersed throughout seemed unnecessary at times, almost inappropriate (this is coming from someone who swears like a sailor).

I loved the movie adaptation of this and I think that took a toll on how I perceived the book. I had such a romanticized idea about this story because of the movie that the book kind of fell flat in that aspect. I tried to keep it separate as much as possible but the movies is one of my favorite romantic movie, so it was a bit difficult.

All in all, this is a great book. Worth the read.

4 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:

You Might Be A Zombie And Other Bad News by The Editors of Cracked.com

You're going to wish you never picked up this book.
Some facts are too terrifying to teach in school. Unfortunately, Cracked.com is more than happy to fill you in:
* A zombie apocalypse? It could happen. 50% of humans are infected with a parasite that can take over your brain.
* The FDA wouldn't let you eat bugs, right? Actually, you might want to put down those jelly beans. And that apple. And that strawberry yogurt.
* Think dolphins are our friends? Then these sex-crazed thrill killers of the sea have you right where they want you.
* The most important discovery in the history of genetics? Francis Crick came up with it while on LSD.
* Think you're going to choose whether or not to buy this book? Scientists say your brain secretly makes all your decisions 10 seconds before you even know what they are.

I loved this book. It was funny, inappropriate and at time disturbing. It was a very fun read!

You Might Be A Zombie is a compilation of articles from the editors of cracked.com. It is full of little known facts mixed with the undeniable humor and wit of the writers. Some of them are a bit gross or disturbing such as, "The five most horrifying bugs in the world" or "Five horrifying food additives you've probably eaten today". Others I found incredibly fascinating, like the origins of fairy tales (the story of Sleeping Beauty was not originally as sweet as Disney portrayed) and all of the facts about the human brain.

After reading this book you will be full of knowledge that you will want to share with everyone you know, maybe just to feel smarter than them.

I highly recommend this book.

5 out of 5 stars


BUY IT HERE: You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News: Shocking but Utterly True Facts


Have you visited cracked.com yet? If not you should. It will give you even more hilarious lists to entertain you.

The House of Special Purpose by Colin Falconer

For years no one knew what happened to Czar Nicholas and his family after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. It was decades before the whole truth came out.

The deadly account of what happened to them in Ekatinerberg, in the House of Special Purpose draws on eyewitness accounts and is told from the point of view of Anastasia, the Czar's youngest daughter. The facts are so ghastly - and so farcical - they defy belief.

The story brings to vivid life the events of the last months of the Romanovs and is the prequel to Colin Falconer's best selling novel: Anastasia.

How was it possible for any of the children to have survived?

You won't believe the answer; except that it's all true.

The story starts with the Romanov children on a train in Siberia. They are on their way to their new "prison", as Anastasia calls it, The House of Special Purpose. The story accounts the last 2 months of their captivity and, subsequently, their lives.

Falconers writing is very good. He keeps you engaged in the story. The only thing I did not like about the story were the quotes in the beginning of the chapters. Not only does he not credit them to anyone, which makes me think they are the work of his imagination, but they are very cruel. I have read enough about Anastasia to know that, yes, she was a bit of a mean child and liked to make fun of others but she was still a child. Some of the things said about her were far more cruel than any of her actions I have heard about.

I did like how he ended the book. It leaves it up to your imagination and assumptions of what really happened to Anastasia.

Overall a good book and very quick read.

3.5 out of 5 stars

It seems that this is only out in e-book format but you can find it many places on the internet. Here is the link to the Kindle version on Amazon.

BUY IT HERE: THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

In this wry take on the post-apocalyptic horror novel, a pandemic has devastated the planet. The plague has sorted humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead.
Now the plague is receding, and Americans are busy rebuild­ing civilization under orders from the provisional govern­ment based in Buffalo. Their top mission: the resettlement of Manhattan. Armed forces have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street—aka Zone One—but pockets of plague-ridden squatters remain. While the army has eliminated the most dangerous of the infected, teams of civilian volunteers are tasked with clearing out a more innocuous variety—the “malfunctioning” stragglers, who exist in a catatonic state, transfixed by their former lives.
Mark Spitz is a member of one of the civilian teams work­ing in lower Manhattan. Alternating between flashbacks of Spitz’s desperate fight for survival during the worst of the outbreak and his present narrative, the novel unfolds over three surreal days, as it depicts the mundane mission of straggler removal, the rigors of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder, and the impossible job of coming to grips with the fallen world.
And then things start to go wrong.

I had heard great things about this book and was excited to read it. I love a good zombie book. Unfortunately, this was not a good zombie book. I just didn't get it.

Zone One is an area of Manhattan. The Marines have come and gone, cleaning up the hoards up zombies in the city. "Mark Spitz" is a sweeper. With his team, he goes through every inch of the city and cleans up the straggling undead, in hopes that they can re-inhabit the city soon.

Whiteheads writing, in this novel, just didn't work for me. He rambled on and went off the story line, if you can call it that, repeatedly. He went into a lot of detail but most of it was worthless. Because of this writing style, the book was very confusing. I had a hard time figuring out what was going on. I, also, didn't feel anything for the characters.

The few times Whitehead stuck to the story for more than a paragraph, you could glimpse the good writer he is. These parts were few and far between, though.

I have heard people say that Zone One was terrifying. I just can't see that. There were a few scenes with the zombies that I really enjoyed, the only parts of the book I did enjoy actually, but I wouldn't call the book terrifying or even scary.

I really struggled to finish this book. Eventually, I just started scanning paragraphs because most of the story was so dense.

If you are looking for a good post-apocalyptic zombie story, I would wait for the next one.

2 out of 5 stars.

BUY IT HERE: Zone One: A Novel

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart - and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed - a dark subculture flourishing in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city - a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known...

Neil Gaiman has a way with words. He creates worlds unlike any other with his amazing imagination. He captivates you with incredible descriptions. 


The story introduces you to London Below, a network, below London, for the people who have "slipped through the cracks". It is a magical, eerie world that seems so much like our own, only a few centuries behind.  Filled with criminals, rats and filth, it is a unique backdrop for an intriguing story.


Neverwhere is filled with memorable characters. It made me almost wish that this were a series of books so you could get to know the characters better. Richard is well developed and you get to watch him grow throughout the story but I wanted more of Door, Hunter, Marquis de Carabas and even Old Bailey or Islington. I would have loved to see them more in depth, but I appreciate that Gaiman stuck with mainly Richards story, as to not overwhelm the reader. I do have to say that Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar are by far 2 of the best characters I have read about in a long time.


There were a few flaws. Some of the story lines seemed to be going somewhere but really just fell out of sight, and there were quite a few predictable parts. Overall, though, this was a great book.


I recommend it.


4 out of 5 stars


BUY IT HERE: Neverwhere

Looking For The Summer by Robert W. Norris

 David Thompson is a former Vietnam War conscientious objector in Paris on a quest to find himself in the early days of 1977. When he befriends an Iranian and an Afghan and is invited to return with them to their countries, his quest slowly becomes a descent into his own private hell. Interspersed with a multitude of characters whose religious, philosophical, and political opinions influence David greatly in his search, "Looking for the Summer" is a remarkable adventure story of a man about to lose his youth and find his true self in ancient lands

I didn't like this book. I was hoping I would, I love learning about different cultures and religions. The writing was boring and the story was bland, though. I'm happy I didn't spend any money on this book.

David is wandering around Europe and Asia trying to find himself after being released from jail for refusing to fight in Vietnam. He is trying to figure out what his beliefs really are.

I didn't care for any of the characters. None of the people David meets on his journey are memorable, neither is David.

Aside from the long winded spiels about religion and politics, nothing really happens in the book. David goes from place to place and talks with people. That's about the gist of it.

This book could have been a great travel log of the time and area, if only it were written differently.

1 out of 5 stars

While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin

In an unassuming apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, three lives intersect as the reality of war invades each aspect of their lives. Young Esther is heartbroken when her father decides to enlist in the army shortly after the death of her mother. Penny Goodrich has been in love with Eddie Shaffer for as long as she can remember; now that Eddie's wife is dead, Penny feels she has been given a second chance and offers to care for his children in the hope that he will finally notice her and marry her after the war. And elderly Mr. Mendel, the landlord, waits for the war to end to hear what has happened to his son trapped in war-torn Hungary. 
But during the long, endless wait for victory overseas, life on the home front will go from bad to worse. Yet these characters will find themselves growing and changing in ways they never expected--and ultimately discovering truths about God's love...even when He is silent.

I don't normally read Christian literature for personal reasons but I liked the premise of the story so I picked it up. I liked it but I also struggled with it a bit.

The story bounces between 3 main characters. Penny, a 24 year old who works at the bus station and lives with her older, overbearing and protective parents. Esther is 12, has lost her mother, and lives with her father and little brother Peter. Jacob Mendel is their landlord who lost his wife and is awaiting word from his son who is in Hungary during the war. When Esther and Peters father decides to enlist in the Army Penny steps forward and offers to take care of the children in his absence. Then all their lives intertwine and change more than they could have ever imagined.

In the beginning I really disliked Penny. She was mousy, naive and slightly annoying. Throughout the story, though, you get to watch her grow into a confident, beautiful woman. I loved her transformation. I really loved the other characters right from the start. You can feel all the pain Esther, Peter and Mr. Mendel are feeling.

The book is well written and the characters are well developed. The history part of the book is fascinating. I have always been drawn to all things WWII and Austin portrayed life on the home front beautifully. She weaves the stories together seamlessly and it is great to see the growth in all the characters. The ending was nice and happy too.

'Far Apart' has a very religious base to it. In the case of this book it is handled with the Jewish religion rather than Christian. It isn't an 'in your face' religious book but it is there a lot. I didn't mind it though and normally I would.

There, of course, were flaws. The story was slow and dragged at times. There was a lot of repetition too. Plus, with as slow as the story was at times the ending seemed rushed and a bit predictable.

It was a good story and well written. Not fantastic but I would recommend picking it up if it piques your interest.

3.5 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE:  While We're Far Apart

The Art Student's War by Brad Leithauser

The year is 1943. Bianca Paradiso is a pretty and ambitious eighteen-year-old studying to be an artist while her bustling, thriving hometown turns from mass-producing automobiles to rolling out fighter planes and tanks. For Bianca, national and personal conflicts begin to merge when she is asked to draw portraits of the wounded young soldiers who are filling local hospitals. Suddenly she must confront lives maimed at their outset as well as her own romantic yearnings, and she must do so at a time when another war—a war within her own family—is erupting.

After reading this book, I can honestly say, I have no idea what it's about. It made no impression on me whatsoever.

There is a girl named Bea and she is an art student. Her family is melodramatic and they live in Detroit during World War Two. Bea paints portraits of wounded soldiers.

That's it. That is all I got from it. Other things happened but I just stopped caring at that point.

 The main character is uninteresting, unrelatable, narcissistic and shallow. The story is more about the trivial things her family goes through then about the war or the fact that she paints the soldiers. Leithauser's writing is trite. I found myself thinking, "I've read this before," several times throughout the story. If he would have cut out the parts that were repeated the book would have been at least 100 pages shorter.

I am actually mad I wasted my time on this book. I could have been reading something much more interesting.

Don't waste your time.

1 out of 5 stars

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

“The end was near.” —Voices from the Zombie War

The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.

I have a slight obsession with all things zombie apocalypse so I was very excited to read this book. I can see why this book got the attention and praise that it got but it didn't entirely work for me.

The story takes us around the world 10 years after World War Z ends. It is a collection of interviews of survivors and their tales, taking us from the first zombie case, through the "Great Panic" and all the way through the end of the war against the undead.

Brooks came up with a unique and intriging way to write a zombie book. With the craze about zombies and vampires you have to write a story that sticks out. This one definitely does stick out because of the style it is written in but it falls short in the writing itself.

WWZ is more a collection of stories than anything else. There is no flow between the stories, nothing ties one to another. Yes, they are all about the war on zombies but that is where the comparison ends. There are a lot of characters throughout the book but not one of them has any depth. There are just too many, there is no way to get a feel of who the people are. They tell their story then BAM on to the next one. Some of the stories do end up pulling you in but most are completely forgettable.

The biggest flaw in the book for me is that even though there are so many characters telling you their stories, they all have the exact same voice. You cannot tell the difference between a grunt talking about his time in the field and a young woman who fled to the north with her parents. There are a few exceptions to this, such as the traumatized woman with the mind of a 4 year old, but they are far and in between.

The story, also, lacks a scare factor and those scenes that terrify and cause tension that you expect in zombie books. Again, there are some exceptions to this but not many.

It is a very interesting read. Great idea and great imagery plus there are a lot of underlying issues throughout that make you really think about the world, the government and social status. There is a lot lacking in the book too. It's a good book just not a great one.

3 out of 5 stars

BUY IT HERE: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War