Challenge failed - Book Buddy Blogger Challenge

My challenge:

Read 5 books from a set list of 10 that appeared on bloggers' Best of 2008 lists.

My list:

1- The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - recommended by Stephanie of Open Mind, Insert Book (6/1/09, rated 9/10)
2 - Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips - recommended by Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit (5/3/09, rated 7/10)
3 - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - recommended by Marcia of The
Printed Page (5/28/09, rated 10/10)



I still plan to read the other books on my list - I just didn't get to them this year.

Review & Blog Tour - The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
published 8/08
528 pages



Synopsis from publisher:

Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain.

Sweeping and lyrical, spellbinding and unforgettable, David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense.

It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.

Soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds–a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father’s death.

And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’s search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith.


My thoughts:

If you like historical fiction, you need to read this book.

David Ebershoff takes two distinct narratives, adds faux-historical documents, letters, and Wikipedia entries, and comes up with a completely engrossing look at the history of polygamy in America. This is a case of a hugely ambitious idea - multiple narrators, different time periods, the blending of history and fiction - that absolutely gets it right. I was grabbed by the first page, and by the end of the 500+ page novel didn't want it to end.

One of my favorite things about the novel is the way Ebershoff allows each person - Mormon, nonbeliever, polygamist, apostate - to tell their story without judgement. Everyone's voice is heard and respected. That doesn't mean, however, that difficult questions are not addressed:

" ' Why do they keep on believing all that crap? Where's the skepticism? Why don't they ask themselves - just once, that's all it would take - why none of it makes sense?'
' If it's the only thing you know ---'
' No, that's not it. I mean, sure, yeah, if it's all you know it's hard to imagine anything else. But I'm talking about something different. I'm talking about why they never once have any suspicion that something's not right. You don't need to know anything to have a doubt. You just need to listen. To yourself. Why are so many people so lousy at listening to themselves?' "


Once again, this is a book that, for me, completely lived up to its hype. If you haven't read it, find a copy! It's a fascinating look at a lifestyle so many of us can't even begin to comprehend.

Finished: 6/1/09
Source: my shelves
Rating: 9/10

Don't just take my word for it! Stop by the other hosts of this blog tour, sponsored by TLC Book Tours:

Monday, May 18: Hey, Lady! Whatcha Readin’?

Wednesday, May 20th: A Guy’s Moleskin Notebook

Tuesday, May 21st: Becky’s Book Reviews

Tuesday, May 26th: Book Nut

Tuesday, June 2nd: Biblioaddict

Thursday, June 4th: A Life in Books

Friday, June 5th: Bookgirl’s Nightstand

Monday, June 8th: Live and Let Di

Tuesday, June 9th: Ramya’s Bookshelf

Wednesday, June 10th: As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves

Thursday, June 11th: A Novel Menagerie

Monday, June 15th: The 3 R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, and Randomness

Tuesday, June 16th: The Book Faery Reviews

Wednesday, June 17th: Shelf Life

Friday, June 19th: In the Shadow of Mt. TBR

Review - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
published 1/09
290 pages



Synopsis from publisher:


In the opening pages of Jamie Ford’s stunning debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, Henry Lee comes upon a crowd gathered outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has made an incredible discovery: the belongings of Japanese families, left when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps during World War II. As Henry looks on, the owner opens a Japanese parasol.

This simple act takes old Henry Lee back to the 1940s, at the height of the war, when young Henry’s world is a jumble of confusion and excitement, and to his father, who is obsessed with the war in China and having Henry grow up American. While “scholarshipping” at the exclusive Rainier Elementary, where the white kids ignore him, Henry meets Keiko Okabe, a young Japanese American student. Amid the chaos of blackouts, curfews, and FBI raids, Henry and Keiko forge a bond of friendship–and innocent love–that transcends the long-standing prejudices of their Old World ancestors. And after Keiko and her family are swept up in the evacuations to the internment camps, she and Henry are left only with the hope that the war will end, and that their promise to each other will be kept.

Forty years later, Henry Lee is certain that the parasol belonged to Keiko. In the hotel’s dark dusty basement he begins looking for signs of the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot begin to measure. Now a widower, Henry is still trying to find his voice–words that might explain the actions of his nationalistic father; words that might bridge the gap between him and his modern, Chinese American son; words that might help him confront the choices he made many years ago.

My thoughts:

It's hard to think of something original to say about one of the most blogged-about books in recent history. Has there been a bad review for this novel? If so, I haven't read it. I have, however, read "it's the best book I've read all year"; "this goes on my list of all-time favorites"; "what an amazing novel"; etc, etc. High expectations? Yep, I've got them.

In a completely unexpected turn of events, this book actually lived up to the hype. I really was engrossed from the first chapter. I honestly felt drawn in to the emotions of the characters. I certainly didn't want it to end. So what can I tell you about this novel?

Should I tell you about the love Henry shared with Ethel, his recently-deceased wife, who knew him better than anyone, but didn't know the truth about Keiko?

"Henry looked around to see if anyone might be watching him having this odd, one-way conversation. He was all alone - he wasn't even sure if Ethel was listening. It was one thing to talk to her at home, where she'd lived. But out here, in the cold ground next to his parents, she was certainly gone. Still, Henry had needed to come out to say goodbye.
He kissed the quarter and placed it on top of Ethel's headstone. This was our promise of happiness, Henry thought. It's all I have left to give. This is so you can be happy without me."

Or maybe I should discuss Henry's confusing, angry, distant relationship with his father, who wants the best for his son, but can't give up his loyalty to his homeland long enough to really discover what that might be.

"His father pointed at the door. 'If you walk out that door - if you walk out that door now; you are no longer part of this family. You are no longer Chinese. You are not part of us anymore. Not a part of me.'
Henry didn't even hesitate. He touched the doorknob, feeling the brass cold and hard in his hand. He looked back, speaking his best Cantonese. 'I am what you made me, Father.' He opened the heavy door. 'I.....am an American.' "

Certainly, I should tell you about the beautiful, innocent relationship of Henry and Keiko - a friendship, born out of shared foreignness, that blossoms into something so much deeper. One of the most beautiful love stories I've ever read.

"Henry watched and waited until he saw a beautiful slip of a girl walk up the muddy path in a faded yellow dress, red galoshes covered in mud, and a brown raincoat. She stood on the other side of the fence, her smiling face, pale from food poisoning, framed by cold metal and sharp wire. A captured butterfly."

Here's the best thing I can say - whenever someone asks me what to read next, I'll ask if they've experienced Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. That's just about the highest praise I can give.

Finished: 5/27/09
Source: Pump Up Your Book Promotions blog tour
Rating: 10/10

Don't just take my word for it! Here's what some other fabulous bloggers had to say:

Literary Feline
Dreadlock girl (aka b&b ex libris)
Medieval Bookworm
Devourer of Books
Bookworm's Dinner
The Friendly Book Nook
A Hoyden's Look at Literature
Redlady's Reading Room
Bibliophile by the Sea

Review - Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips

Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
published 12/07
292 pages
Purchase from Amazon or Powell's



Synopsis from publisher:

Being a Greek god is not all it once was. Yes, the twelve gods of Olympus are alive and well in the twenty-first century, but they are crammed together in a London townhouse-and none too happy about it. And they've had to get day jobs: Artemis as a dog-walker, Apollo as a TV psychic, Aphrodite as a phone sex operator, Dionysus as a DJ.

Even more disturbingly, their powers are waning, and even turning mortals into trees--a favorite pastime of Apollo's--is sapping their vital reserves of strength.

Soon, what begins as a minor squabble between Aphrodite and Apollo escalates into an epic battle of wills. Two perplexed humans, Alice and Neil, who are caught in the crossfire, must fear not only for their own lives, but for the survival of humankind. Nothing less than a true act of heroism is needed-but can these two decidedly ordinary people replicate the feats of the mythical heroes and save the world?

My thoughts:

I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up - I know I wasn't expecting chick-lit with Greek gods. I guess I'm not sure why - I knew about the gods, I knew about the budding romance....I've even read reviews about it, which is why I added to my list for the Book Buddy Blogger challenge. It just didn't quite turn out to be what I thought it was supposed to be.

Now, that doesn't mean it was bad. It was actually a pretty entertaining little twist on the chick-lit genre. The introduction of Greek mythology allowed for some plot advances that wouldn't normally be attempted - the storming of the Underworld, for example. Neil and Alice were so sweet, and charming, and completely, almost boringly NORMAL, that is was easy to understand how perplexing and overwhelming the circumstances of the novel could be.

One of the things that has always fascinated me about the Greek pantheon of gods is how very nearly human they can often be. In Christianity, God is the essence of everything good and pure, and very unlike the humans that were created. Greek gods, however, are a very different story - they are quarrelsome, and lecherous, and cruel, and petty - very much like the people they rule. And in this novel, they are just what you would expect, with modern-day technology thrown in to the mix. Which is to say, this is definitely an adult novel, with the gods engaging in some decidedly adult behavior.

Overall, I thought it was a light, fun read. If you, like me, are starting to look for something to read on the deck, or by the pool, lemonade in hand, I think this would be a great choice.

Finished: 5/3/09
Source: Franklin Avenue Library
Rating: 7/10

Don't just take my word for it! Here's what some other fabulous bloggers had to say:

Serena at Savvy Verse and Wit
Julie at Booking Mama
Michele at A Reader's Respite
Sheri at A Novel Menagerie
Anysia at Booklorn
Anna at Diary of an Eccentric

Yet ANOTHER challenge - I know, I'm nuts

I know, it's crazy to even THINK about joining another challenge - but frankly, I'm going to be doing this anyway, so I might as well get a sense of accomplishment about it. =)

Here are the rules for the Book Buddy Blogger Challenge:

Rules: The challenge will run all of 2009. You will be required to read 5 books from a list of 10 that are recommended by a book blogger buddy. The books should be from their list of best books from 2008. It's that easy. Then let us know what you think of your friend's choices. Do you agree or disagree and why?

This being hosted by Wisteria at Bookworm's Dinner - why not join us? Come on, you know you're going to read a whole list of books from other blogs. At least this way, you can feel like you are accomplishing something too! Here is my list, compiled from recent blog posts I've read:


1 - How I Live Now by Meg Rosof - recommended by Megan of Leafing Through Life
2 - Repossessed by A.M. Jenkins - recommended by Andi of Tripping Toward Lucidity
3 - Devil's Brood by Sharon Kay Penman - recommended by Carey of The Tome Traveller
(in the spirit of full disclosure, I was going to read this book anyway, but since I found a
glowing recommendation for it, now I'm adding it to this challenge!)
4 - Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman - recommended by Alyce of At Home with Books
5 - Matrimony by Joshua Henken - recommended by practically all of the book blogging world
6 - Dakota by Kathleen Norris - recommended by Word Lily
7 - The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - recommended by Stephanie of Open Mind, Insert Book (6/1/09, rated 9/10)
8 - Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips - recommended by Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit (5/3/09, rated 7/10)
9 - The Almost Archer Sisters by Lisa Gabriele - recommended by Luanne of A Bookworm's
World
10 - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford - recommended by Marcia of The
Printed Page (5/28/09, rated 10/10)


So there's my list - 10 books from 10 different bloggers. I don't think I'll have any problem reading at least 5 of them!