everydayathena
Ottawa Public Library
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Why I Am Not A FeministWhy I Am Not A Feminist, BookA Feminist Manifesto
by Crispin, JessaBook - 2017Book, 2017
Added May 18, 2017
Cinnamon Toast and the End of the WorldCinnamon Toast and the End of the World, BookA Novel
by Cameron, Janet E.Book - 2013Book, 2013
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jan 19, 2014
Comment:
I'm disappointed to see that someone gave such a damaging rating to this novel, without any justification. I'm pretty sure that the reviewer was passing judgment on the theme of the novel, and not the quality of the writing. Bigotry is so sad...I'm a high school teacher and teacher-adviser to our school's Rainbow Alliance. I always try to have a few good reading recommendations on hand for the students in our club (as well as the students in my English classes). This was an enjoyable coming-of-age novel; what I liked best about it was that it wasn't as 'pushy' as Parrotfish (I enjoyed that novel, too, but felt like the author was continually hammering me over the head with a political message). I liked the fact that this novel simply normalizes the coming-out and coming-of-age experience, making it part of a new generation of lit not only for LGBTQ youth, but for all adolescents. The large majority of my students don't even bat an eyelash any more when homosexuality is discussed; I'm glad to see a novel that doesn't do this, either. As always with a good teen novel, I've recommended it to our teacher-librarian and it is now sitting on the shelf of our library. I look forward to more novels by Janet E. Cameron.I'm disappointed to see that someone gave such a damaging rating to this novel, without any justification. I'm pretty sure that the reviewer was passing judgment on the theme of the novel, and not the quality of the writing. Bigotry is so sad...I'm…
Suitability
Ages 16
We Need to Talk About KevinWe Need to Talk About Kevin, BookA Novel
by Shriver, LionelBook - 2006 | First Harper Perennial edition.Book, 2006. First Harper Perennial edition.
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 15, 2013
Comment:
A dark and compelling book.
The plot, despite its unusual focus (most mothers, thankfully, do not give birth to monsters), was incredibly plausible - at no point did I find myself doubting that this could happen. I did struggle with the 'weight' of the book - meaning, I found the heavy subject matter difficult to bear - but I was absolutely gripped throughout. I found myself thinking of that now-famous blog post titled "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother". I also connected strongly with the protagonist. Some reviewers below have complained about her character flaws, but I think that's the point - she isn't a madonna, but rather a regular woman who can, at times be petty and mean. She has her limits and her psychopathic son, even as a toddler, incessantly pushes those limits.
In her essay "Life is Precious, Or It Isn't", Barbara Kingsolver expressed her empathy for the parents of the Columbine school shooters, who " must surely live with the deepest emotional pain it is possible to bear". This novel made me acutely aware of that emotional pain, and of the unfathomable weight of the cross borne by the parents of kids who kill.A dark and compelling book.
The plot, despite its unusual focus (most mothers, thankfully, do not give birth to monsters), was incredibly plausible - at no point did I find myself doubting that this could happen. I did struggle with the 'weight'…
Cloud AtlasCloud Atlas, BookA Novel
by Mitchell, DavidBook - 2004 | Vintage Canada edition.Book, 2004. Vintage Canada edition.
everydayathena's rating:
Added Dec 05, 2012
Comment:
I am glad that I had the chance to read the novel...it's been on my "To-Read List" for a long time. Still...I did not enjoy it.
Reading this novel was very laborious - and this detracted from my enjoyment. It's always tougher to get through a book when it feels like a task instead of a pleasure. Mitchell's style was too verbose; yes, this added authenticity to certain characters, but egads...it hurt my eyes to push through it! If the author's strategy is to impress readers by using big words, it didn't work on me. It seemed pompous. My irritation with his style just escalated while I was reading the futuristic sections of the book. Again, I appreciate the author's attempt to be authentic, but a lot of my enjoyment drained away as I found myself having to re-read sentences in order to make sense of them.
The assumption that kept me pushing through the novel was that there would be a fantastic "a-ha moment" at the end which would tie all six characters together in a breathtaking epiphany. When that failed to happen, I felt pretty disgruntled.
Most frustrating, to me, was to come to the end of the novel and say, "Well...what was the MESSAGE?" and realize that I really had no clue. This was both humbling and disappointing.
I think all the hype about this book must be either (a) because of the movie or (b) because people are impressed with big words. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAPEpD...I am glad that I had the chance to read the novel...it's been on my "To-Read List" for a long time. Still...I did not enjoy it.
Reading this novel was very laborious - and this detracted from my enjoyment. It's always tougher to get through a…
everydayathena's rating:
Added Sep 08, 2012
Comment:
My favourite aspect of this novel was "hearing" that lilting Newfoundland accent once again. The dialogue (not something I usually comment on) was saturated with it, and I loved it.
This is a difficult novel to rate. While it is very well-written, it contains dark matter that is so vaguely hinted at on the book jacket that I missed it - and was thus unprepared. As the novel unfolds, the reader quickly realizes that something very bad - something amoral - is going to happen. I found it difficult, as a reader, to continue reading through the build-up, knowing that at any moment I could turn the page and "the event" would happen. And I had to wait until very close of the end of the novel for that evil to erupt.
I therefore read the book with the intention of "Quick, get through it and get it finished" rather than with a sense of leisurely enjoyment - and this spoiled my reading experience a little.
However, it wouldn't be right to knock the book down a few points just because I found the content difficult to digest. It was, again, very well written. Author Nicole Lundrigan made the reading experience extra bittersweet because side-by-side with the darkness was a raw and beautiful family love. That juxtaposition was achingly poignant.My favourite aspect of this novel was "hearing" that lilting Newfoundland accent once again. The dialogue (not something I usually comment on) was saturated with it, and I loved it.
This is a difficult novel to rate. While it is very well-written,…
TwilightTwilight, Book
by Meyer, StephenieBook - 2005 | First hardcover edition.Book, 2005. First hardcover edition.
everydayathena's rating:
Added Aug 13, 2012
Comment:
Save yourself 500 pages of wanting to ram a pencil through your eye - just read this perfect synopsis: http://theoatmeal.com/story/twilight
Added Jul 25, 2012
Comment:
I haven't read the book yet, but I think it's unfair that someone posted a "1" rating and gave no explanation. That's a pretty horrid rating to leave - what's the justification?
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
Comment:
Incendiary is an ultra-satisfying book which you'll sink into...unable to surface until the very end. The horrifying event which transforms the protagonist's life - the loss of her husband and child in a terrorist attack on a London soccer stadium - is all too believable and is written with harrowing detail. I empathized with the narrator - she is an imperfect woman who must try to regain a sense of normalcy in a world that no longer makes any sense. In this out-of-control world, her illogical decision to write a letter to Osama bin Laden does indeed seem oddly reasonable. Her account has a dark, comic edge - at times I laughed out loud and at others I felt such despair. I read this book in one sitting - I absolutely could not put it down. I highly recommend Incendiary. Bravo Chris Cleave - what an outstanding first novel!Incendiary is an ultra-satisfying book which you'll sink into...unable to surface until the very end. The horrifying event which transforms the protagonist's life - the loss of her husband and child in a terrorist attack on a London soccer stadium -…
Suitability
Ages 17
ClickClick, Book
Book - 2007 | 1st ed.Book, 2007. 1st ed.
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
Comment:
I picked up this book because I was intrigued by the idea of collaborative writing (one novel, ten authors). As an English teacher, I think this is a fabulous project idea (for the right group of students). I enjoyed the first 8-9 chapters of the book; I thought all the authors worked well to stay true to the characterization, etc that was established in the beginning. I can only imagine the compromises that were made behind the scenes - made by authors who are all well-established and who could have easily stormed off the project if things weren't going their way. I applaud their spirit of fun and cooperation!
But there always has to be that one kid in the class who's intent on wrecking everyone's fun. And Margo Lanagan did just that. I would have honestly preferred it if she had written, "And then _____ woke up. It had all just been a dream." Poor Gregory Maguire had to follow her chapter by picking up the plot somewhere in left field where she had abandoned it (actually, it was left field in another frikkin universe) and write the conclusion to the novel...a conclusion which left me scratching my head, wondering why the editor didn't just drop Lanagan from the project for her...insubordination. "Does not play well with others" - that's what I'd put on her report card...I picked up this book because I was intrigued by the idea of collaborative writing (one novel, ten authors). As an English teacher, I think this is a fabulous project idea (for the right group of students). I enjoyed the first 8-9 chapters of the…
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
MockingjayMockingjay, Book
by Collins, SuzanneBook - 2010 | First edition: September 2010.Book, 2010. First edition: September 2010.
Added Jul 21, 2012
Life on the Refrigerator DoorLife on the Refrigerator Door, BookA Novel in Notes
by Kuipers, AliceBook - 2007 | 1st ed.Book, 2007. 1st ed.
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Book
by Dick, Philip K.Book - 2017 | 2017 Del Rey Trade paperback edition.Book, 2017. 2017 Del Rey Trade paperback edition.
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
Comment:
I enjoyed this novel, and was particularly intrigued by the essay featured at the end of the book (it discusses all of the conflicts which arose when the screenplay for the movie "Blade Runner" was being written). I then watched the movie, actually, just to have a better understanding of why these conflicts had erupted. Like 99% of viewers, I found the movie to be a colossal waste of time (sorry Ridley Scott - I loved the Alien movies and always will!).
But I digress. This is not a movie review. It's a book review.
The plot was satisfying and I appreciated the significant theme of the novel - were clones to exist, (the beings in this book are not true clones, but rather "androids") what rights would they have, if any? Would it be ethically offensive to use them as slaves? What would our response be if these clones chose to assert their rights? Would they HAVE rights?
I did not find the romance in this novel believable, but rather mechanical. The love between the protagonist and the android that he must "retire" (kill) was not well developed. I say this only because the essay at the end of the book indicates that it was an important idea to the author, one which he vehemently defended when screenplay writers threatened to "write it out" of the movie.
I struggled with two concepts in the novel - the veneration of animals, and "Mercerism", which is the religious ideology followed by the characters. Upon those concepts the most important messages of the novel were built - it's too bad they were both stripped from the movie.
I would still recommend this novel, despite some of the drawbacks - its underlying philosophies are provocative. Moreover, I think it's important to be familiar with the classic canon of any genre, and I intend to read more PKD.I enjoyed this novel, and was particularly intrigued by the essay featured at the end of the book (it discusses all of the conflicts which arose when the screenplay for the movie "Blade Runner" was being written). I then watched the movie, actually,…
Suitability
Ages 16
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 21, 2012
Comment:
I love the intricacy of plotlines that follow numerous strangers whose separate lives gradually intersect as the chapters unfold. Author Threes Anna accomplishes this masterfully in "Waiting for the Monsoon". Some of the mysterious connections between characters are not revealed until the thrilling final pages of the novel, and as a reader, I was left thinking about "What will happen next?" long after I closed the book.
The novel is set in India and shifts back and forth in time, through the opulence of the Raj to the terrors of the Pacific Front to modern times, slowly revealing the ties that bind each character together. I fell in love with India while reading this novel - despite there being so much to deplore. The depravity suffered by some of the characters made each scrap of compassion which surfaced in the story that much more satisfying. Detailed descriptions of the sights, sounds, and smells of India made me feel completely immersed in the setting. This is truly one of those novels that a reader "sinks into", completely losing awareness of everything going on around her.
I also enjoyed the depth of character development in this novel. Many characters, including the protagonist Charlotte Bridgwater, have less-than-admirable qualities and some of them are, at first glance, entirely despicable. Gradually, the author reveals the painful events that have shaped each character into the person - or the monster - that he/she has become. As a reader I was absorbed with the frustrating shortcomings of some of the characters, but appreciated how proficient the author had been in making these people so very, very human.
One of the reviews on the back of the book describes it as "A mixture of drama, comedy, and a little magic...a wonderful story of different, very beautiful, and evocative scenes". I agree wholeheartedly. I highly recommend this thoroughly captivating novel.I love the intricacy of plotlines that follow numerous strangers whose separate lives gradually intersect as the chapters unfold. Author Threes Anna accomplishes this masterfully in "Waiting for the Monsoon". Some of the mysterious connections…
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 05, 2012
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jul 02, 2012
The Fault in Our StarsThe Fault in Our Stars, Book
by Green, JohnBook - 2012 | First edition.Book, 2012. First edition.
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jun 28, 2012
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jun 26, 2012
Suitability
Ages 14
UgliesUglies, Book
by Westerfeld, ScottBook - 2011 | Simon Pulse edition May 2011.Book, 2011. Simon Pulse edition May 2011.
everydayathena's rating:
Added Jun 26, 2012
Comment:
I should probably start with my usual preamble: I'm a high school English teacher, trying to 'stay on top of' everything that my students are reading these days...Maybe that's why I just didn't think Uglies was worth all the hype it's been getting from teen readers. I liked the underlying idea of the book - a dystopian commentary on cosmetic surgery (and more importantly, on the true nature of beauty) - but I wasn't captivated by the protagonist - and that's a deal-breaker for me as a reader. Westerfeld just didn't spend enough time developing her character deeply, so I felt, for most of the book, like I was following around a rather vacant-headed girl who was never quite sure what was motivating her to rise up in rebellion. No "girl on fire" in this series, that's for sure. Her vacuousness affected the strength of the relationships between other characters...leaving the reader with a lengthy novel (I'm not sure it needed to be so lengthy) full of empty "cardboard cutout" characters who lacked depth. I'll stop blathering here and just say, I won't be reading "Pretties" - the second book in the series.I should probably start with my usual preamble: I'm a high school English teacher, trying to 'stay on top of' everything that my students are reading these days...Maybe that's why I just didn't think Uglies was worth all the hype it's been getting…
Suitability
Ages 12
everydayathena's rating:
Added May 27, 2012
Comment:
Who could resist a book that had the following quote on the front cover: "The Lifeboat traps the reader in a story that is exciting at the literal level and brutally moving at the existential: I read it in one go." (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)
I'm surprised that Donoghue gave the novel such a stellar review (in fact, many accomplished writers gave it rave reviews); I found the book only so-so. Perhaps it's because I had just finished reading Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch - if you're looking for sinking ships and survival on a lifeboat, Birch's book is the superior read.
"The Lifeboat" failed to be really engrossing because it was so easy to tell, from the outset, who the troublesome passengers would be. I also found it difficult to keep those passengers straight in my head: there were a total of 39, but it didn't seem like all of them were named in the novel (and looking at author Charlotte Rogan's website, I see that there were 9 "unnamed women" in the lifeboat). I got two women named Mrs. Forester and Mrs. Fleming mixed up...all in all, it was just too many people (although I suppose Rogan needed to stay true to what was 'usual' for lifeboats in 1914).
Also problematic for me was the narrator/protagonist herself: she was a shrewd, calculating woman with whom I didn't identify. I really didn't know what I was supposed to learn from her...the moral of this story seems to be that the women who get ahead in life are those who can "read" people well and thus manipulate them for personal gain. What kind of life lesson is that?
Perhaps I'm naive but I think survival stories should expose us to both the worst AND the best in humanity. How strange it seems that my heart ached for the characters in Jamrach's Menagerie, who resorted to cannibalism on their lifeboat, when I felt completely devoid of emotion for the starchy British occupants of Rogan's Lifeboat #14.Who could resist a book that had the following quote on the front cover: "The Lifeboat traps the reader in a story that is exciting at the literal level and brutally moving at the existential: I read it in one go." (Emma Donoghue, author of…
Jamrach's MenagerieJamrach's Menagerie, Book
by Birch, CarolBook - 2011 | 1st Canadian ed.Book, 2011. 1st Canadian ed.
everydayathena's rating:
Added May 26, 2012
Comment:
I've got so many reserved books arriving for me at the library these days that when Jamrach's Menagerie arrived for me, I couldn't even remember what had compelled me to reserve the book in the first place. Initially I thought the book was going to be about a boy who works for a man who sells exotic animals - and it was, for a bit - but I was delighted that the tale eventually became one about a whaling ship. For one reason or another, I went through a strange nautical phase in my reading when I was in my 20's - indeed, Nathaniel Philbrick's "Into the Heart of the Sea" (the true story of the whaling ship Essex and its survivors) was one of my favourites at that time. Author Carol Birch touches on the story of the Essex in this novel - indeed, the sailors in this novel who jokingly sing of the dire choices that Essex's crew was forced to make in order to survive their ordeal at sea must later face the same predicament. (This is not a book for the faint of heart). With lush, riveting language, the author juxtaposes incredible humanity against the basest animal instincts - I felt like I was there in the lifeboat with the others.I've got so many reserved books arriving for me at the library these days that when Jamrach's Menagerie arrived for me, I couldn't even remember what had compelled me to reserve the book in the first place. Initially I thought the book was going to…
Suitability
Ages 16
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar ChildrenMiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Book
by Riggs, RansomBook - 2011Book, 2011
everydayathena's rating:
Added May 13, 2012
Comment:
What attracted me to this book was its creative premise - author Ransom Riggs has built a fascinating story around a collection of unusual vintage photographs loaned to him by hobbyists who "spend countless hours hunting through giant bins of unsorted snapshots at flea markets and antiques malls".
The plot is a little like a dark version of "Big Fish" - protagonist Jacob Portman has been raised on his grandfather's bizarre stories of a childhood spent at an orphanage in Wales - an unusual orphanage filled with peculiar children. At sixteen years of age, Jacob has come to reject his grandfather's tall tales - that is, until a terrible event occurs and Jacob sets out on a quest to discover the truth about Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
This novel has all kinds of elements to keep a reader intrigued: time travel, historical trivia, monsters. It's classified as teen fiction but can definitely be enjoyed by adult readers (an adult friend recommended it to me) - I blazed through the book in one day.
Overall, I was impressed at how seamlessly the author was able to weave the photographs into the story; it served to make the tired old narrative of "eccentric British orphans who go on an adventure" very fresh and exciting. I am intrigued to see that the book is listed in some places as #1 in a series - its ending was definitely not fully "closed" and I look forward to reading Ransom Riggs' next work!What attracted me to this book was its creative premise - author Ransom Riggs has built a fascinating story around a collection of unusual vintage photographs loaned to him by hobbyists who "spend countless hours hunting through giant bins of…
Suitability
Ages 12
Comment: