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