August 2011 Rundown

So, generally this is where I tell you all about how many books I’ve been reading and all those reviews I’ve been writing. However, between a funeral, family visiting from down south, starting school again, getting sick, etc etc I’ve once again been neglecting the blog a bit and my reading has been seriously lacking.

As for what I’ve read recently, I read and reviewed Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant which was phenomenal. I also read Bonk by Mary Roach and The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti, both of which were great and are permanently in the category of books I’m going to gush over in conversation. In addition, there have been the obligatory romance novels that I always get sucked into.

I have a few reviews coming up as well. The Purity Myth and Bonk reviews can both be expected shortly. There is also my review of The Electric Church by Jeff Somers that has been half written for about a month and a half now, and I’m planning on finishing that shortly as well.

As for what I’m reading now and the books I’ve got in the future… I still have The Artificial Ape to finish. My recent mental state just hasn’t been quite right for that type of reading and I’m looking forward to jumping into it again. I’m also reading Bedbugs by Ben Winters which I received for review from the amazing Quirk Books.

A recent trip to the library also landed me a copy of Sex and Sensuality in the Ancient World by Giulia Sissa and Paradise Lust by Brook Wilensky-Lanford which is about people who have tried to find the “real” Garden of Eden. I’m looking forward to those as well as the two books that were finally delivered today; Never Enough by Lauren Dane, the last book in her Brown Siblings series and A Billion Wicked Thoughts by Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam both of which I am beyond excited about. So keep a lookout for my thoughts on those as well.

Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant

From the publisher:

Yona Stern has traveled from New York to Israel to make amends with her estranged sister, a stoic ideologue and mother of five who has dedicated herself to the radical West Bank settlement cause. Yona’s personal life resembles nothing of her sister’s, but it isn’t politics that drove the two apart.

Now a respected Jerusalem Talmud teacher, Mark Greenglass was once a drug dealer saved by an eleventh-hour turn to Orthodox Judaism. But for reasons he can’t understand, he’s lost his once fervent religious passion. Is he through with God? Is God through with him?

Enter Aaron Blinder, a year-abroad dropout with a history of failure whose famous father endlessly—some say obsessively—mines the Holocaust for his best-selling, melodramatic novels. Desperate for approval, Aaron finds a home on the violent fringe of Israeli society, with unforeseen and devastating consequences.

In a sweeping, beautifully written story, Joan Leegant, winner of the PEN New England Book Award and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, and a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award, weaves together three lives caught in the grip of a volatile and demanding faith. Emotionally wrenching and unmistakably timely, Wherever You Go shines a light on one of the most disturbing elements in Israeli society: Jewish extremist groups and their threat to the modern, democratic state. This is a stunningly prescient novel.

My Thoughts:

I’ve spent a good part of my day procrastinating on my review of this book for one reason, I simply don’t have the words to explain how much I loved it, but I’m going to do my best.

When I first read the description of Wherever You Go, it was instantly a book that I wanted to read. When I first sat down with it, my intention was to read the first few chapters to see how things are. In fact, I ended up not putting the book down for hours. Between the characters, the story, and Leegant’s way of writing I was simply glued to Wherever You Go.

It’s no secret that when I read a book I look for great characters. I must say that reading this book, I grew to care for each of the three main characters almost immediately. They were just so human with faults and worries and they were all looking for something. Yona, Mark, and Aaron could be any of the people we pass on the street any given day and that fact only made the book easier for me to read.

As for the story, and the lives of these three people who find what they need in a place they never really expected to end up… Well, that is just another one of the pieces of the story that makes the book unputdownable. Wherever You Go is realistic in a way I don’t always see in literature, and it was quite honestly, refreshing.

I also couldn’t end this without saying that the writing is absolutely beautiful. Even if the story or characters hadn’t grabbed me I would’ve kept on reading because Leegant’s writing was simply stunning. I highly recommend reading Wherever You Go, simply because it’s a great novel. I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for other works from Joan Leegant.

**I received a copy of this book from the publisher as a part of TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose

Kevin Roose, child of Quaker parents and student at Brown University met a group of Liberty University students while on a trip with his boss. The result of that meeting… a desire to live and study at Liberty University for a semester where he could immerse himself in the evangelical Christian culture and get to know a group of people that he knew little about. During his semester at Liberty University he experienced many things. He got to sing in the choir at Thomas Road Baptist Church and attend a variety of church services the likes of which he’d never before experienced. He met regularly with a pastor and explored the campus. He interviewed Jerry Falwell himself. He taught himself to stop swearing and did his best to follow the rules (all forty-six pages of them). He went on a spring break mission trip to Daytona Beach and attended a support group for chronic masturbators. Oh, and he studied young-earth creationism while attempting to keep his cool every time he heard a homophobic statement.

I have to say, I really enjoyed reading The Unlikely Disciple. From the first page I was interested to see what he had to say about being immersed in a culture so different from his own and trying to fit in as if he too was an evangelical Christian.

There are two huge positives that stood out for me while I was reading this book. First, Roose’s observations of the other students, faculty, and staff at the university. By that I mean that even though he is on the complete opposite side of the belief spectrum from those he was living and studying with, he didn’t criticize their beliefs or put them down. Sure, he might disagree with many of their beliefs, but that is natural, and he isn’t a jerk about it. He also talks about some of the friends he made while he was at Liberty and the fact that aside from their religious and generally conservative beliefs, students at Liberty are just like students at any secular college in the States.  They have fun, stress over exams, and some break rules. Basically, he shows that they are human just like the rest of us.

The other thing that I really liked about this book was the fact that a lot of what Roose writes is about what he is feeling. He writes about his fears, insecurities, and his struggles throughout that semester. You’re able to get a good feel for what was going on in his head.

The Unlikely Disciple gives a peak at what is happening on a Christian college campus. In my opinion it is an all-around great read. The way the book is written makes it a quick read with the added benefit of being quite humorous. Most certainly an enjoyable book.

What I’ve Been Reading

Once again I have a late post, mostly because the last week has been far more on the insane than the sane side. Basically, I decided to leave my job and I’ve been trying to deal with all the things that come along with leaving a job you’ve been at for ten years. I have also decided to spend some time just relaxing and doing what I want to do before I start school again in less than three weeks… Where did the summer go?

Anywho, what have I been reading for the last two months or so?

For a while there I really wasn’t reading much or I was just skipping around. However, I have had a few good reads from June and July. One of the books I’m sure I’ve mentioned at some point is The Electric Church by Jeff Somers. While I haven’t finished my review yet, it will be up soon, and I can tell you now I definitely liked the first of Somers’s Avery Cates novels. I also read my first book by Jared Diamond, Why is Sex Fun? The History of Human Sexuality. There were some new facts and some facts I’m definitely familiar with, but overall it was worth reading. As part of one of the TLC Book Tours I read Kicking Ass and Saving Souls by David Matthews, the story of a man who has lived a life beyond anything most people will ever experience or dream. More recently I read The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinners Semester at America’s Holiest University by Kevin Roose, which I very much enjoyed. I’ll have a review of that up soon too! 

Aside from the three books I mentioned before, most of my reading was either very choppy – books that I would start, but not stick with – or it was one romance author or another who I went on mini kicks with. I tried reading Omega by Jack McDevitt, but every time I picked up the book I would only get a few pages before I was distracted or interrupted and I just decided to save it for later. Sadly, I never finished Heartless by Gail Carriger. I’ve been reading a chapter every couple of weeks, and much as I still love the story, I just haven’t committed to finishing it yet. I am looking forward to picking it up again soon though and finishing the second half of it. As for my mini-romance-author-kicks, there were three over the last couple months. They are Maya Banks, Lori Foster, and Tara Janzen who I’m sure I’ll talk about in more depth at some point. 

Over the last crazy week, I’ve been bouncing between four books. Those are The Philosopher’s Kiss by Peter Prange, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach, Passionate Minds: Women Rewriting the World by Claudia Roth Pierpont, and The Artificial Ape: How Technology Changed the Course of Human Evolution by Timothy Taylor.  I’m planning to finish these in the next few days and after that I’ve got a few books lined up that I’d like to read. Books I’m planning on reading: American Gods by Neil Gaiman, Between the Bridge and the River by Craig Ferguson, and a few review books that I’ve got. I’m also reviewing another book for TLC Book Tours at the end of the month, Wherever You Go by Joan Leegant which looks promising, so keep an eye out for that. Apart from those, who knows what I’ll come up with? Only time will tell. 

Happy Reading!

Book Blogger Hop: July 29th

The Book Blogger Hop takes place every Friday and is a great way for book bloggers to connect! This weeks question asks:

Highlight one book you have received this week (for review, from the library, purchased at the store, etc.) that you can’t wait to dig into!

Between receiving a couple of books in the mail and coming home from a trip to the library with nearly ten books, I’ve got quite a few books that I’m looking forward to reading.

Of the books I’ve gotten, I’m most looking forward to picking up The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose. I saw a review for this book earlier this week here and I decided I needed to read it, ASAP. So far, I’ve only got the first chapter read, but I am looking forward to sitting down with this one tonight.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

It feels like I just did one of these posts, which I pretty much did only a month or so ago – you know, when I promised to keep up with blogging. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to keep up. In fact, I’ve been ignoring the blog much more than I’ve been on it in the last month or so, and there is a reason for that.

Life.

With everything that’s been going on in the last month and a half, life sort of caught up with me and kicked my ass. That’s just one of those things that happens, and I had to deal with it. And in dealing with it, things got thrown a bit off track.

One of the side effects (for lack of a better term) of everything is my putting the blog on hold and ending up in something of a reading slump. Reading wise, I went on a couple of kicks for two different authors, but aside from that I just haven’t really been into reading. Plus, finding a book that I’m able to stick with has been something of a chore. Blog wise, I simply couldn’t think of anything to say, which was a very strange feeling for me. Therefore, I simply haven’t been posting.

Finally, I’m starting to get things back together. I’m getting caught up with everything at work and stuff with my school is pretty much settled. I also realized that coming to terms with my grandmothers passing is going to take a lot longer than I realized, and I’m finally okay with that.

Seeing that things are on the mend in everyday life means that it’s time for me to get back to the things I love. I’ve been getting myself back into the habit of reading everyday and now I’m ready to get back into blogging. So here I am and hopefully I won’t be disappearing again anytime soon.

Kicking Ass and Saving Souls

From the book jacket:

Stefan Templeton was born a child of extremes. He spent half his childhood with his African American philosopher father in the decaying ghetto of Baltimore in the 1970s. The other half was spent with his Norwegian mother in the wealthiest enclaves of Europe. His father was a brilliant academic, and intense disciplinarian, and a lethal martial artist. His mother, an aristocrat by birth, was a mystic and a healer. By the time Stefan was nine, he spoke four languages. By the time he was seventeen, he had a black belt and could take apart a .45 automatic in the dark. 

Things got heavier from there. Stefan’s wanderlust and action jones took him all over the world. Before he was twenty-one, he’d hunted in Burgundy, brawled in Oxford, served as a medicine man in Colombia, escaped death on the Amazon, and trained to be a deep-sea diver on Cousteau’s Calypso.

At twenty-five, love for the mother of his first child settled him in Norway but didn’t settle him down. He drifted into a labyrinthine criminal underworld, where he pulled off an enormous jewel heist and became a player in a European smuggling consortium. But his conscience demanded that his life be about more than the next adrenaline fix, the next adventure, the next score. His road to redemption led him to some of the bleakest corners of the globe, where he finally found a focus for his life in humanitarian relief work: on the beach in the wake of the Indoneasian tsunami and on the ground following the Sudanese civil war. That was just the beginning. 

Kicking Ass and Saving Souls is a true testament to the capacity of the human spirit, a mythic adventure made palpable, lyrical, and human by David Matthews- Stefan’s childhood friend and sometimes harshest critic.

I would be lying if I said the story of Stefan Templeton didn’t grab me from the start. He is a human being just like the rest of us, but he has lived an extraordinary life. Things that the general population can only dream of were seen and done by Stefan by the time he became an adult. Deep sea diving, traveling over several continents, a run in with a member of the Yakuza, walking through crime ridden neighborhoods in the dead of night for an adrenaline fix as a teenager, and helping people in need all over the world – this is only a sampling of the things Stefan Templeton has experienced.

At times, this man’s story seems almost unrealistic and you can’t help but think, ‘Really, one person has done all of this?’ Yet there is one about the book that makes you realize, yes this is true, this is the extraordinary story of a real person, and that is seeing the change in Stefan as he goes through life.

The changes Stefan goes through from the time he was a child through his adulthood is my favorite part of Kicking Ass and Saving Souls. The book paints a picture of Stefan’s life and the many good and not-so-good things he’s done. Seeing that he had made both good choices and some mistakes gives him a human quality. This isn’t just some unrealistic story, but it’s the life of a living and breathing person. A father, a son, a friend, a lover.

Stefan Templeton has done some amazing things during his life. He’s seen the most beautiful parts of the world and the ugliest. His story, told by his good friend David Matthews, is absolutely worth reading.

**I received a copy of this book as a part of TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own and have not been influenced in anyway.

Booking Through Thursday: Dog Days

This weeks BTT asks:

Since my dog is turning 10 today … what animal-related books have you read? Which do you love? Do you have a favorite literary dog? (Snoopy, anyone?)

In all honesty, regardless of the fact that I am an animal lover, I don’t read many books with animals in them. However, I have read some.

The first book I can remember reading that had dogs in the forefront was Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.

The book is about a boy and his two Coonhounds. I absolutely loved the book, all the way until the end, where I cried, and cried, and cried. Then I cried some more.

This is one of those books that has always stuck with me, and the one that stands out the most when it comes to dogs.

For anyone who is curious… Here are my own two pupsters Jack (bottom) and Jill (top).

Book Blogger Hop: July 1st

The Book Blogger Hop takes place every Friday and is a great way for Book Bloggers to connect! This weeks question asks:

“What keeps you reading beyond the first few pages of a book, and what makes you want to stop reading a book and put it back on the shelf?“

Generally, I’m not too quick to judge a book. I like to give every book a chance. There are a couple of things that will keep me reading no matter what.

First, characters – good, realistic characters. I have a tendency to get emotionally attached to the characters in a book, it’s simply the kind of reader I am. The more attached I get, the less likely I am to put the book down, even when I might not be a fan of the story itself.

Second, an interesting story will always keep me reading. When I am guessing what is going to happen next in a mystery, or a world of epic proportions is created, or a characters life is turned upside down I’ll keep turning pages until the book is over.

I also have a list of what I’m going to call fool-proof reading. If any of these things are in a book I’ll read it regardless of how good or bad the book is overall. If a book has zombies in it, I’ll read it no matter what. If a book has any reference to Star Wars, or is a Star Wars book, I’ll read it no matter what. If a book is B-horror movie material, I will read it and I will LOVE it. If a book has anything to do with mythology (regardless of fiction or non-fiction) I will read it no matter what. If a book has any combination of the above I will read it no matter what and I will probably praise it to the stars.

As for what will make me put a book down… That’s not something that happens very often. I always like to find out how things turn out in the end, so I pretty much always finish books. There are only two things that I can think of that would make me put a book down. First is if there is something that causes an intense dislike for the characters – to the point that it gets in my way of enjoying or fully experiencing the book. The other thing that would do it is if I’m really offended by what is happening in the book, though it is near impossible to offend me, so it would have to be pretty extreme for me to stop reading.

NetGalley July!

Emily over at Red House Books is hosting NetGalley month once again. Unfortunately, I did not participate in April, but this time around I’m pretty psyched to give it a go. With over 20 books in my queue at present I’m thinking this will be a good way to focus on getting (at least some of) those books read and reviewed.

The goals are pretty straightforward. Read as many NetGalley books as you can throughout the month. There are of course prizes and all sorts of awesomeness going hand in hand with Galley reading, but really I’m just hoping to get caught up.

I’ll be using this post to keep track of the NetGalley books I read throughout the month, and of course you’ll see reviews as those go up.