China Dolls

I really really liked Lisa See's book Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It was such a fascinating look into China during the feet binding era. I've read some of her other books and didn't like them. So, I thought I'd give See one last chance.

China Dolls is set in the United States spanning the 1930s-1980s. It's mostly a story about 3 women who put ambition and jealousy before their friendship. Throw in some sad history about the internment camps for Japanese during WW2. The novel shows the damage of war pretty accurately and discloses the harshness of early to mid century showbiz. Over all it's a good book and I was happy to see that Lisa see can write about more modern time Chinese.

The best I can say about the book is that it's a quick read and would be fantastic to take to the beach. It's just not great literature. It won't win any awards or be a best seller. But it is an interesting story with complex characters and a good read.

Hollow City

Hollow City is the book that comes after Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It started off a little slower and more bland than the first novel did. But about halfway through I loved it and couldn't put it down. Just like his first book, the way Riggs incorporates a story into real-life-really-strange pictures is amazing. Very creative and unique. And well worth the read!

I'm looking forward to the next book, which comes out in 2015.

Keep Quiet

Keep Quiet is about a family torn apart when a tragedy happens. In a split second decision, the family members decide to forgo going to the police and hide the secret instead.

The secret destroys lives and the novel answers both who done it and can the family survive. It's good...just too similar a format to her other books and the characters are flat. Which I guess is fine since the book is about the story and not character development or complexity of character.

Overall, I'm done with Lisa Scottoline. I feel like she's turned into a female John Gresham. All her books are the same format with flat characters. If you are looking for a quick fluff read though, this one is fine.

Icy's Sparks

It kills me to start reading a book with such potential, only to put it down a little ways in. Icy Sparks is that book. It's narrated by a girl who ends up getting Tourette's Syndrome, but because she grew up in rural Kentucky in the 1950s, no one really knew about it so they just made fun of her.

The novel had potential, but wasn't fast enough for me. The beginning was weird. And the characters just were boring. So, I put it down. You may have better luck though and it's one of those books that I may have been able to get into on another day.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

This is the strangest book I've ever read; I loved it! This book is well, peculiar. It's beautiful storytelling and extremely unique. It's brilliant actually.

The author takes real photographs and weaves a story using them. And the pictures are quite strange, haunting, weird, and lovely. The story itself is a classic good v. evil, with a unique twist. I can't say more since this novel is so much more lovely when you know nothing about it.

If you read this book (which you should), just know it's more along the lines of a fairy tale than real life. But so so so worth the read. One of my faves for sure. And there's a sequel and the movie rights to this book have been sold. Which means I'm making a trip to my library and penciling in the date one year from now for the movie. 

The Housemaid's Daughter

I really wanted to love this book just because of the format. When I saw that the Madam's diary had a role in the novel, I thought it would be wonderful. It had such potential and I was let down, although it did get good reviews from Goodreads and Amazon.

It's about a white family in South Africa and how the housemaid's daughter gets intermingled with the family. A dangerous thing to do since it's during the period where Apartheid began.

The story itself was great. The writing was not. The book was slow, the author was redundant, and the housemaid's voice was not captured well. I think Mutch wanted the voice of the servant to sound naive, but she just came across as dumb and I felt insulted by the redundancy of her words.

Overall, I'd give this a 2.5 out of 5.

Thirty Girls

This is a historical fiction novel (my favorite genre) about a group of girls kidnapped from a Catholic school in Africa by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). The school nun went after them and managed to convince a commander to let some go. She had to choose the thirty that had to stay. Minot weaves the story of the girls in through the story of a thirty something single woman, Jane, who has come to Africa to write a story on the girls. Jane is trying to find herself and has some interactions that become defining moments in her life.

This novel is captivating. Haunting. Lovely language and use of words if a bit pretentiousness at times. The ending is a big surprise, which I always like even if it's heartbreaking.

The character development was masterfully crafted. Minot gave you enough emotion and fondness for the characters to be invested about what happens so that you continue to read the story. But not so much that when one of the main characters have something tragic happen that you are devastated. It was a good balance. Especially considering the heaviness of the rest of the book.

Rated R though for sex and violence. And for the tragedy of what has happened in Africa over the years and continues to happen.

I highly recommend this book to open your eyes to the capacity the LRA has and the evil done to man. And because it's a unique and interesting book. But mostly for the resilience of people. This is one of those books that will stay with me a long while.

South Of Superior

I really liked this book; it is good writing, a great story, and lovable characters who have flaws (I love to see that in novels).

It's about a woman, Madeline, who moves to Lake Superior to help take care of an aging family friend. She left her life in big city Chicago to move to a small town with a harsh economy. She meets people who are vastly different from her and learns a lot about herself from her experiences. And of course, there is a maybe romance with a man in the town.

I would recommend this book for sure. And while it won't win any awards, it is a good read and worth the time.