Book Review

Review: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

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*1So weird…this of course was real life vs Murakami’s imagination. I absolutely love how this man can stump me on one single sentence for minutes at a time…I just read them over and over again….this book was not like that….it was pretty straight and to the point….with most of his books I give them 4 stars right off the bat and then go back a month later and bump it up to 5 because, honestly, it sometimes takes me that long to fully appreciate him….yes, a month later, I still often think of the latest Murakami book I have read. It’s true…for me, his words become part of me…they seep into my very bone marrow…but for whatever reason, this one got 5 stars right off the bat….why? I am not sure…I just know it deserves it….stupid reason, but there you have it…and really, who knew he could run 60 plus miles in a single day? Who knew he has more albums than I have books? But most of all, I felt a real connection to him after reading this book. I don’t write. When I write down my thoughts they start to consume me. I lose control. It is a very scary thing for me. It’s why I avoid it when I can…Murakami spends some time in this book explaining why he must run to offset the unhealthiness of his imagination…How you have to go deep inside you to be able to tap your creative vein…if you don’t stay healthy on the outside, the inside will take over….me? I just have never learned how to do that…I fear one day I would just bleed out….

Until next time…

Urania xx

Buy it now What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

Review: Confessions of a Bad Bridesmaid by Jennifer Rae

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Confessions of a Bad Bridesmaid saved me from book slump!

Olivia flies from Australia to England to be a bridesmaid in her best friend’s wedding. Since she has always felt less pretty and less appealing than her friends and sister, Olivia expects very little in the way of quality male attention. She puts on a party girl act to hide her low self-esteem.

When she meets Edward, all that begins to change. Olivia questions her insecurities and her reality…. As does Edward.

I’ll be honest. This was a nice bit of fluff. It’s a romance novel, a light one at that, predictable and a little bit repetitive, and not totally creative or original. The characters could’ve used more depth, blah blah blah.

But it was fun… Fun, and funny, and entertaining. Prior to COABB I had just finished two disappointing reads. I didn’t read for a week, and I was afraid to pick up another book in case it was as bad as the other two.

So I needed a rebound read. Badly. I needed a party girl and a handsome guy living in a castle. I needed an Of Course They Did happily-ever-after.

Confessions of a Bad Bridesmaid was THE PERFECT REBOUND READ. I’m so happy! I’m no longer dwelling on those silly disappointments. I can move on! Thank you Bad Bridesmaid, thank you.

-calliope
buy this $1.99 DEAL Confessions of a Bad Bridesmaid

Review: The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

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*1Since this has been all over the news of late I thought it was time to revisit. I now live in the United Kingdom and often do my clothes shopping online (much easier than trying to suffer though the experience with my loving but very impatient husband) and I admit I was somewhat shocked at looking at the shipping restrictions. It appears that post is no longer allowed to be sent many countries now with “Ebola virus” listed as the cause….This is just mind-blowing to me….anyway…here is the review of this book that has always stayed in my mind. I worry about chemical warfare and someone leaking this type of virus much more than I’ve ever worried about a bomb going off overhead….

What can I say? This one really makes you stop and think. How close are we all to death? What blink of an eye can mean the end of the world as we know it? Forget how utterly disgusting this book was. I mean, seriously, this was the most insane, make you wish you hadn’t eaten that for lunch, I think I just threw up in my mouth, wipe that grimace off your face book I have ever read. i still can’t stop imaging what it would be like to have your tongue, esophagus and intestines slough off and run through your body. Nor can I stop trying to imagine the black vomit or bleeding out through ever orifice of your body. Screaming monkeys. This book really could give you some nightmares. Seriously. Who is that guy sitting next to you on the plane? Does he look sick? Does he have a virus lurking in his hazel eyes? Did that cough just set the virus free?

I tell you something, this type of book makes me reevaluate my life. I want to do things differently. I want to be in a different place….and today might be the last day to do so…time to get my ass moving…..

Until next time….

Urania xx

Buy it now The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Review: Mr. Miracle by Debbie Macomber

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This is the perfect book to give to a sweet relative – for Christmas or a birthday or just because. Mr. Miracle is charming, easy to read, and a little bit hokey. Macomber gives us Christmas lights and a new outlook, after showing how Addie and Erich dug themselves into darkness.

The book is straightforward – no unexpected twists at the end – and direct in its message and moral. What makes Mr. Miracle stand out is its parallels with Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Addie sees how she and others CAN change and grow.

A beautiful and subtle theme in Mr. Miracle is the idea that although you can’t change someone else (Addie! You can’t change Erich), you can change yourself. And when you change yourself, you change the dynamic you have with others. Sometimes that’s enough to spur another person to change, or to make you realize the other person is just fine as they are.

-calliope

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Review: The Recruit (Cherub #1) by Robert Muchamore

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*1This was a new type for me. Yes, I’ve read plenty of YA novels. I’ve even read them like this so far as that it involves young people in some sort of war/espionage type thing. However, all of these involved post-apocalyptic world or includes some sort of magical realism. This one, however, included none of that. It was simply a story about a young boy orphaned at the age of 11. He is then contacted by an governmental agency and offered a new home. Once he completes training he will be placed in various missions in order to obtain information that will be useful to his government. The organization was formed in WWII and has grown and evolved since then.

In this first installment of the series, James looses his mother, is placed in foster care, has contact with the law, is contacted by the secret agency, finishes his basic training and completes his first mission. It’s a fast read but only because it’s so entertaining. The author has set up a great start to what promises to be a fantastic series. We have many characters to not only follow, but to also fall in love with. If that wasn’t enough, the spy element also ensures us lots of suspense and mystery as well. There are countless story-lines that can follow.

I especially enjoyed that James did not just complete his mission blindly. He is young, but not so young that he doesn’t realise that his actions have consequences. At the start of the story, James doesn’t seem to let these bother him….yes, he thinks about them, but only as they effect him. At the end, James questions the effect that his actions has on others. At what costs does one pay for the benefit of the overall good? When does the price paid negate the good?

I realise this series has been out for a while now, but I hope as I read the later books that James continues to question and to learn from what he sees and does. I hope he does not just blindly follow.

Until next time….

Urania xx

Review copy provided from NetGalley for an honest review

Buy it now The Recruit by Robert Muchamore

Review: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

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It’s so difficult to ponder this book after reading it that I have to hurry and write the review so I can forget about the book.

Outlander is about Claire, a English woman from the 1940s, pulled into an adventuresome, fun, dangerous, romantic quest in 18th century Scottish Highlands.

I loved every second of 90% this book: Horseback riding through the forests, stereotypical Scottish dialogue, ripped clothing, filth, the challenges of being a female who knows medicine and healing, lots of rough men stealing and working and saving people… An arranged marriage that was full of unspoken love, family ties of numerous clansmen, illegitimate children, crime, detention and escape, and of course a really really bad villain with an ancestral tie to Claire’s husband. What’s not to love in this beautiful saga?!

One thing ruined the entire book for me. The ENTIRE book. I’m talking about making the book go from 5 stars to 2. It nauseated me and left a bad taste in my mouth. The chapter was gratuitous and over the top in my opinion. There was a day of rape. I can accept that as part of the story. I can’t tolerate the retelling of the day-long rapes to one’s spouse, including not only every physical detail but EVERY anguishing psychological and emotional detail. I just don’t believe that any spouse would or could tell their loved one what Gabaldon wants me to believe Jamie told Claire.

Had I known that was coming I would have completely skipped the chapter, pleasantly read the very end, and given Outlander 5 stars.

The one scene ruined the entire book for me. How disappointing.

-Calliope

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Review: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

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*1If every book read like this for me, I would seriously find a job that I could hide behind a counter and read all day….This book nourished my soul. It was perhaps the most beautifully written book I have ever encountered. It read like pure poetry that seemed to be written especially for me. A lover’s gentle caress that was so intimate that you know it was for meant for you alone. So deeply felt that it must have been written in the stars long before I even existed. This is a book that I have enjoyed so much that I am hesitant to read the second book in the series. If I were 10 years younger, or not so jaded, i would not hesitate to pick up book two….but life has taught me well…I know that oftentimes what we become enamored with often fails us in the end…perhaps is really is better to remember a perfect moment in time instead of trying to pursue it and have reality slam you in the face….yep….I know….I know….but this book ended perfectly for me….so many could be stand alone books are ruined with authors trying to “do the right” thing…I couldn’t bear it if this perfection were ruined…sigh…..

After finishing this book a second time, I can’t say enough about the mystery that resides within this novel….It’s so easy to fall in love with almost every character in the pages as well….I find it hard to believe that I could love this book any more than I did the first time I found myself lost within it’s pages….but it’s true…I love it even more now…..such a great story….I’m still afraid to continue on with the story in the other books that follow….

Until next time…

Urania xx

Buy it now The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Musing: Reading and Running

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IMG_0209.JPGLast year I read Christopher McDougall’s book Born to Run. Read my review here.

One valuable nugget I took from the book was that people who ran barefoot – and who were raised running barefoot – had fewer injuries than westerners running on super-cushioned shoes.

Even in my 20s when I was in the best shape of my life and ran half-marathons, I still felt pain when running. Shinsplints and knee pain attacked the most. I was slender, strong, and young. I couldn’t imagine why running was so painful sometimes.

Fast forward 15 years, three childbirths, and five pounds… and the book Born to Run.

I decided to try barefoot running shoes to help me shorten my stride and land on the balls of my feet. (I’ve since learned this is called “running forefoot.”) I picked out some cute Vibram FiveFingers. See some Vibrams here. My husband calls them my Himalayan mountain shoes. And hey, if it helps me run like the guys running 20 miles a day in the Himalayan mountains… Awesome.

Guess what? On my very first longer-than-a-mile run, NO SHIN SPLINTS. I haven’t had shin splints or lasting knee pain from running in the entire year I’ve been running “barefoot.”

I recently trained for 8 weeks for a race. Just 8 weeks. I finished the half-marathon (13.1 miles) wearing barefoot running shoes. My stride is more natural and I am pain free. I even recovered twice as quickly as my sister who has been training longer and further than I have.

I credit Christopher McDougall, Born to Run, and Vibram with my success. Thank you!

To you readers out there I say, Give Born to Run a read. Even if you’ll never run in your entire life, it’s a work of science and anthropology followed by a fantastic, inspirational story.

-Calliope

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buy BORN TO RUN
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Review: In Your Dreams (Blue Heron) by Kristan Higgins

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Aaahhh, the Blue Heron series. Wine, good-looking vintners, smart and sassy women, and swoon-worthy heroes.

So Emmaline has a crush on Jack, but so does half the town. He married and quickly divorced a hot ticket from Savannah, saved four stupid teenagers from drowning, and offers his friendship to any of his sisters’ friends who need a convenient date to a wedding.

What I absolutely adore about Jack is that he’s pretty realistic. Higgins precisely got into the mind of a man … focused on his own stuff, not purposely being a jerk but obliviously doing so, aware of his charm and hotness — and willing to use it for his own benefit.

Emmaline proves to be one of the most awesome female protagonists in a romance. She’s great at her job, insecure with men, not a skinny-minny, loving to her sister, annoyed with her mother, and just trying to get through life unscathed any more than she already is. Very realistic. And she has a smart-mouth on her, that Emmaline.

Higgins writes Emmaline in that little place of insecurity – in love with a man but not willing to tell him because she knows it’s going to blow up in her face. And you know what, it does blow up in her face.

And then Jack saves the day. And they live happily ever after. Because that’s how the Blue Heron men roll.

–Calliope

$5 for kindle!
buy IN YOUR DREAMS

Review: Virgin by Radhika Sanghani

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*viso ummmm….I appreciate this book, because honestly, it’s the first book I’ve actually been able to read in months without actually forcing myself to pick it up and finish it.

However, I can’t decide if I like it or not….I see where it could have actually been a very good book. It just fell short in so many places. The main character just felt forced. The humour felt forced. All I could think of though out the entire book was that I was pretty thankful that I never had a friend that was so obsessed with her virginity…or better yet….so obsessed with *herself*…..Okay….let me rephrase that….of course as young girls we were all obsessed with our sexual journey to a certain point…however, I like to think that we weren’t so self-absorbed with it to the extent that nothing else mattered in our lives….and I should hope that those that made it to the age of 21…well….I certainly hope that they wouldn’t have still been so focused on it….

I suppose I am just old-fashioned without considering myself old fashioned….by that I mean…well….I guess I have issues with sexual relations with people who you aren’t exclusive with and have no intent to be so….I suppose I also have issues with simply going out with multiple partners whilst having sexual relations with them…..

hey ho…I’m not passing judgement….I’m just saying I personally have issues with it and I really can’t relate to it….so perhaps I am not the best person to rate this book….

I’m not a prune…I’ve enjoyed books where there might be a love triangle….I understand people can be confused….I suppose I don’t even have problems with people have multiple partners if that’s what they want….I guess I just have issues with people not putting a higher worth on something that can be so intimate. Don’t misunderstand me…I’m not just referring to the main character here…This wasn’t just a one person trait here…it was multiple characters….

And therein lies the rub….

That’s why this book wasn’t as wonderful as it could have been for me….it wasn’t the actions of the characters that bothered me…..it’s how those actions made me feel about how they valued themselves….or actually a lack of value. It cheapened the entire book for me. They were so occupied with themselves that they often overlooked what it meant to others….they selfishly took and then became offended when others seemed to be doing the exact same thing….if what you’re concerned with in life is superficial and what you offer others is also done only for what you can get out of them and not what it can mean to someone….well….don’t be surprised if you get the same type of behaviour in return….just saying…

Until next time…

Urania xx

Review copy provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Buy it now Virgin by Radhika Sanghani