Review: A Doll's House

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hilarious and heartbreaking. My kind of story.

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Review: Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran

Rebel Queen by Michelle Moran

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Though it is written well, 'Rebel Queen' is more about Sita, one of the Durgavasi, the Queen's Guard comprised entirely of strong female soldiers. Even after finishing the novel, I don't have a clear enough picture of the Rani Lakshmibai's personality, strength, and struggles. Sita's life and struggles, on the other hand, are explained so well that the book should have been titled 'Durgavasi' rather than 'Rebel Queen'. The exposition of Indian ideas and traditions could have been more smoothly interwoven into the moving plot. Still, I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in historical fiction or strong female characters.



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Review: Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cloud Atlas is a phenomenal and profound read that left me in tears of wonder. It is a novel that must be revisited countless times accompanied with a pen and notebook. David Mitchell is truly a genius, but what amazed me was his unique grasp on humanity that can only be understood by reading the book.

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Review: Speaker for the Dead

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Beautifully constructed story with layers of symbolism and themes that questions the meaning of "human". Every character in this novel is so unique and has their own fully fleshed out plot line. Orson Scott Card said that this book is even more important than its prequel Ender's Game and I have to agree. While Ender's Game explores the psyche of one young boy who is supposedly destined to be a savior, Speaker for the Dead explores the minds of various people in an isolated and highly regulated community who have to come to terms with their mistakes and their consequences.

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Review: The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

His language is poetry
what is life when all there is left of it is survival?
beautiful
haunting
lasting

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Review: The Metamorphosis

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

No idea what to make of this. Honestly, I didn't understand it, but I couldn't tear myself away from it, so 5 stars!! Goes from mysterious to hilarious to tragic almost seamlessly. Poor Gregor. Or poor Family. Not sure which interpretation to settle on.
It's one of those existential classics that you must read, just because…either you love it or you hate it. I love it and will reread at some future unspecified point…unless of course I am turned into a giant dung beetle and am unable to do so.

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Review: The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I have kids, I want to read this to them at bedtime with all the animal voices :-)

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Review: Leaders Eat Last

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a fantastic book! I only picked it up because it had a great title and it turned out to be one of the best books I've read this year.

I would recommend this to anyone who works in an organization regardless of whether you are in a leadership position or not. Emphasizing trust, empathy, and compassion, he illustrates examples of how leaders have a responsibility toward their organization and their community to create long lasting success. He praises and encourages the concept of servant leadership--though I don't think the term is used at all in this book.

By the way, the title says it all.

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Review: A House Like a Lotus

A House Like a Lotus by Madeleine L'Engle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a difficult book to review. First of all, it is a GREAT book, but because we expect perfection from Madeline L'Engle, the flaws in this one were hard to handle.
1) The plot switching from
South Carolina to Greece was confusing and hard to follow, which is why it took me several months to get started on it. I realized that the transitions she used would have been perfect for a movie, but not for a book.
2) Polly's character does change significantly from the two prequels and the sequel, "An Acceptable Time". These changes weren't due to adolescence. She appeared to be a different character entirely.
3) SPOLIERS: Max. Here is my opinion on the incident. I don't think Max was drunkenly trying to come onto Polly. There was nothing homophobic about that scene. Max had become a mentor that Polly began to idolize. In her naiveté, Polly expected Max to be perfect in every way. As adults, we know that's not possible. When Max was drunk out of her mind and her inhibitions were erased, she couldn't maintain the image of strength that Polly had come to expect. Remember, this part is told through Polly's memory of it. In the panic of facing her own demise, Max loses control and lets loose all the bottled up anger and resentment not fully realizing that poor Polly who is really still a child, will remember this as an act of violent monstrosity rather than an act of human weakness. Again, there os nothing homophobic about this. The fact that Max is a lesbian is irrelevant. This book is driven by Polly discovering layers of the world and learning to accept them. At first, she can't cope, so she runs away and seeks comfort in the arms of an older boy. Again, I think this has nothing to do with sexual orientation. It's about a teenage girl seeking solutions in the wrong place, as many teenagers (and adults) do.
3) Greece and Cyprus. Honestly, I think the story is about Max and Polly and the entirety of Greece and Cyprus was out of place. Zachary, Omio, Khris, Norine, Vee, and even Sandy and Rhea didn't really belong in this story. With that said, I really liked those parts and all of it deserves to be its own book titled "Saranam".
4) Ultimately, it was a wonderful coming of age story. Madeline L'Engle is still my favorite.

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Review: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread

The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW. I love Kate DiCamillo. Books like these are why I prefer children's books to adult books most of the time. It's a tale of adventure, betrayal, kindness, courage, and empathy, but most of all it's a tale of love. For a children's adventure story with talking mice and rats, it's a surprisingly realistic tale.

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