Urania

Review: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

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11084145Are you a fan of APPLE? Do you hate APPLE? Did you admire Steve Jobs? Did you hate Steve Jobs? No matter your answers, you *really* should read this book. There have been things about APPLE I always disliked. This book made me turn many of these things into things I no longer dislike, but also into things I now understand and yes, even admire. There was many many things I learned in here that I had no clue about. There is no way I think you can read this book and not just totally be in awe of Jobs. Yes, he was a total asshole. It’s also clear that he never made apologizes for this. He has some very obvious personal issues. Professional issues as well. What I never understood is what drove him. After reading this, I feel very sure that money was never a driving force in his life. Instead it was always his passions. His passions for PIXAR. His passion for APPLE. His passion to always be the best.

Read this book. I am not sure that I’ve ever read a book that showed a man with such passions. No, this book is not always a nice pretty picture of Jobs. In fact, at times you will think he is complete shit. You will hate him for how he treats his employees. You will marvel at how he justifies his backhanded business ethics. You will stare open mouthed at his tantrums….but through it all, you can’t help but to marvel at the man. At all he accomplished. At how he never gave up, no matter who told him it couldn’t be done. You will marvel at how he pushes others into greatness. You will wish you could have experienced his “reality distortion field”. I also learned so much about APPLE…..I learned and now understand their “closed system” I used to really hate this about APPLE…now I am excited about it….You will understand why they really DID change the world that you and I now know. How many things that Jobs pushed that you don’t even realize…but things you would be hard pressed to do without.

I wish I had read this book years ago. I wish I had been an APPLE fanatic years ago. I wish I had bothered to learn more about Jobs before his passing. I wish everyone knew just what he did for APPLE. The story about APPLE that I really never knew when he came back to it’s helm.

Again, no matter what your feelings about the man or the company, this is a book worth reading. If you walk away not learning anything new….well, I would surprised. If you walk away without being a little bit awestruck with the man…well, I would be surprised.

Brilliant man…..there is no question….there will never be another like him….

and just one more thing…..

you shall be missed……you left your mark on us all, Steve…..job well done…..RIP…..

 

~Urania

Buy it now Steve Jobs

Review: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

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5759This is a tough one for me….I almost stopped reading this book a dozen times….almost just flipped to the ending at least another dozen times. I was seriously pissed. I couldn’t follow the story at all. I felt like it did not flow, at all. I sooo wanted to love this book…..I have heard so much about Palahniuk. I have found dozens of quotes that I loved and tracked them back to him. I *needed* to love this book, but I hated it!!!!! It is not often I give up on a book. Especially one I have wanted to read for a long time. This one had me sooo close to doing just that…..

It’s not that the book was too gross (just imagine soup stirred with a stranger’s penis). It’s not that it was too brutal. It’s not that it was too warped. None of those things bothered me. It’s just that it all seemed too jumbled. It felt like I would read a part of the book and then the next page it seemed to go to a time that was prior to the part I just read. I felt very disoriented. I am a reader that usually has no problems following a story. I love the details, but I don’t let the details bog me down either. Sometimes I know this is a very hard thing for readers to do….to let go of not understanding everything….to just let the story take you where it needs to…at it’s own pace….It is human nature to want to understand everything and not wait for answers to be revealed….but even I had a hard time with this novel.

As I said, I was seriously pissed that I was not able to grasp where Palahniuk was leading me. I mean, I knew where it was going, but seriously, why can’t he keep a straight path to it? Foolish me…..going off and doing exactly what I thought I never did…..getting bogged down in the freakin’ details instead of letting the book lead me to where I needed to be….

To not give anything away from someone who might read this book later, I will just say, that as soon as Palahniuk turned on my light bulb moment at about 80%, the madness I was feeling turned into a moment of surreal brilliance. At that point, I was *SERIOUSLY* pissed that I had almost abandoned the book a dozen times… B-R-I-L-L-I-A–N-T!!!!!!!!!!  I mean, seriously, just fucking BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This book was everything and more that I had hoped to gain from reading a Palahniuk book……

~Urania

Buy It Now  Fight Club: A Novel

 

 

 

Review: On the Island (On the Island #1) by Tracey Garvis-Graves

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islandSometimes we all need to read a book that doesn’t make you think at all….we need to read a book that makes you forget…..it’s been a while since I stayed up past my bedtime reading a book…one that had me waking up a few times during the night wondering what happened…too excited to remain asleep…..one that finally made me get up early and stay in bed for hours trying to get it read….just so I could see how the characters got to their happily ever after….this was that book! I loved it…..No, it wasn’t life changing. It wasn’t something that makes you change how you view the world…it was pure escapism….something that you needed without even knowing you needed it….it was delightful to be so wrapped up in Anna and TJ’s life that I was able to forget my own for a little while….again, I simply loved this book….sorry I waited so long to actually read it……I hope I don’t wait so long to read her other books…..

I hesitated a very long time reading this book. I kept hearing wonderful things about it, but I read the description (something I rarely do) and it put up a huge mental block for me….the description and my imagination of the subject matter really put me off of this book. I didn’t see how I could ever get past a part of the book and this was before I even started it!!!! However, the subject matter I feared (teacher/student relations) was handled seamlessly by the author. Tarvis-Graves did a wonderful job and there was not a moment I felt uncomfortable with anything in the book. Don’t pick up this book until you have a chunk of time set aside….you’ll be wondering the whole time how it’s going to get to the ending!!!!

~Urania

Buy it now On the Island: A Novel

Review: The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

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princeNever been both, so happy to see a book end and sad at to finish the last page as I have with TPoT. This is one of the types of books I love the most…so beautiful that you ache with each word you read…yet at the same time your gut is clinched in knots that are painful and your heart is pounding out of your chest because of the horrors you are witnessing. yes, I said witnessing. I did not simply *read* this book….I was there. I experienced it. I witnessed it. I felt it….There were parts I laughed so hard that I almost had tears rolling out of my eyes…there were times where I felt so much pride that I wanted to cry…there were times I felt such righteous anger that I had tears of anger blurring my vision….there were times I felt so lost and hopeless that I could only cry….and there were times that this book actually brought chills upon my skin….Finally, there were times that I had no choice except to put the book down for a while and walk away and try to distance myself from it. At times it was simply too much for me to bear….

The grandparents reminded me of characters from a Fannie Flagg novel. So eccentric, outrageous and lovely that you hate your childhood, just because you didn’t have them in it. There is no way you could not feel pure enjoyment at some of the happenings in the town. At other times, I was so mad I could taste bitter bile in my mouth….so angry, I felt my pulse pounding. But most of what I felt was a sorrow that stayed with me, even after I laid the book down and tried to forget.

I grew up in the South. Besides the ending (which was the only objection I had to this entire book, I felt the ending was just too much….too contrived to be believable), I felt that this novel was not a work of fiction. It was a life that could be found in many many a Southern town. I bet I knew some of these people. I bet some of me can be found in these pages. I felt fierce pride at so many moments in this book. Pride for perhaps the first time at being a Southerner. At other times, I knew for a certainty why I no longer live there. This…Book….Was…..Very….Real to me….

It would be so easy to point the finger at any of the characters in this book and tell them why they were wrong. It would be just as easy to understand why they were as broken as they were.

What one can not so easily explain is how they are still beautiful and how you have no choice but to love each and every one of them. What is so hard to accept about your own self is that you feel sorrow for them. That despite the horrible things that they did, you understand that they are all good people. That they all have a fierce love for family. That they did so much wrong, but that in the end, they honestly did the best that they could in that moment in time.

I like to think we are all above how we were raised. That every bad rotten thing we experienced or witnessed has made us into a better person. I like to think that we all have the power within us to *always* do the right thing. Life however has taught us all otherwise. Can any one of us not think of a single time where we have had wrongs done to us and wish we had behaved differently? No, most of us have not done atrocities to those we love….nor have we had atrocities done to us….but can any one of us look back and not see one instance where we wish we had chosen a different way? A better way. Reacted differently? In the end, they are just people who did what they did and wished that they had behaved differently. They suffered for the choices that they made, because they had to live with those choices. They did not simply act and move on….

We should all take away from this book that the choices we make not only effect other people, they also effect us. There is no running away from the past. The past is a part of you that you always carry with you….No matter how much you deny it or reject it…it is still a part of you. Good or bad, it helps to shape you into the person you are today. No, we do not have to constantly live in the past….but let us all hope that we have learned from our own personal history. It’s never to late to change your life…I sincerely hope that it’s never to late to make amends and try to make it right….

~Urania

Buy it now The Prince of Tides: A Novel

Review: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin (Translator)

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windupHow does one review a Murakami book? First I will start by saying, this guy is way too smart for me to grasp all of what he writes. Having said that, I think there was a time in my life that I would have grasped a lot more, but perhaps that time for me has passed….I think to truly appreciate all he expresses in a book that one must read his work over and over. If there is ever a book that you wish to have a dog-eared copy of, with passages underlined 3 times in bold pen, Murakami’s works would be it.

Part of my problem trying to absorb (and this is an author you *really* do absorb…He words sink into your bones, into your very tissue…one does not simply read Murakami, if you do, you are not doing it right….)Murakami is that I often get so enthralled with a single passage that my mind must stay and linger there for a great deal of time. Never mind that I have tried to continue on reading, my mind is still caressing a single passage over and over….so in effect, I often find myself having to go back and re read parts of the book….

Now this book. Many questions are asked here…and in true Murakami style, he leaves much to you, the reader, to decide the answers…I often get aggravated with authors that do this, but not with Murakami. He always ends the books in the only way possible to end them!

Yes, he has the moon and the stars in this book. He has good and evil. He has mysterious women….and he has a very simple, ordinary man, faced with what he knows in his heart to be true, even though everyone and everything is saying different. I think this book had a beautiful, fairy tale ending to it. It was so suspenseful in parts (I usually don’t get my heart pounding so fast as this book did!)….How far would you go for love? How much faith could you put in what your heart knows to be true, even though you mind tells you it is not? Finally, the question is asked is all you gain in the end worth the price you pay to stay true to your own self?

Of course there are many other aspects to this book…Far too many for me to try to explain or even understand, but this is what will stick with me from this book for a long time…..

as is true with any Murakami novel, you should travel this journey yourself to experience all he has to offer….and remember, you *must* stop and enjoy the scenery…the desalination of his books are only that…the end….the true magic lies in just getting there…..

~Urania

Buy it now The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel

Review: The Dirty Streets of Heaven (Bobby Dollar #1) by Tad Williams

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DirtyI’ve been wanting to try Tad Williams for a while now. I just kept putting it off. I am not opposed to fantasy writers. Some of my favorite books are from this genre. However, for whatever reason, I am always intimidated by them before I start. Perhaps I am afraid the story line will be too foreign for me to follow. Perhaps it is because so many of the great fantasy reads are volumes upon volumes of novels…whatever the cause of my hesitation, once I start I am fine….after all, a great story is a great story no matter the genre….and the fantasy world has some totally amazing storytellers. I have always heard that Tad Williams was one of these amazing storytellers….

Having said all of that…some parts of this book were actually very good….however, other parts were just bad….no, not just bad, but very bad! I might give Tad Williams another go, but I don’t think it will be with this series….I do like how Bobby was loyal in the end…not only to his own self, but also to a friend….So Williams gets full props for the main character. The rest of the story is where it fell short for me. It was not exciting. It was not original. I could pick out dozen of instances where certain characters reminded me of another from some other series, by other writers. I knew who the culprit was almost from the start and I know it was supposed to come as a huge shock…..I also thought the same “action packed monster scenes” were very repetitive and hence, very boring…maybe this was all my own fault as I had very high expectations of Williams. Hearing about the subject of the story excited me. It sounded original. It sounded exciting. It sounded so unique and I was expecting not only to be blown away by it, but refreshed by it as well. I mean seriously, even the title was fantastic to my mind! I was super excited going into this book…..I wanted to finish it a full run, excited to hit my next book…..that didn’t happen….I felt as if I hit a brick wall reading it. I lost all interest about halfway through….I found reasons to either put the book down and find more interesting things to do, or a strong desire to just skim over pages and pages to get to the ending I knew was waiting for me.

The one thing I did learn from reading this novel is that even an original concept can end up being told in a very unoriginal way.

~Urania

Buy it now The Dirty Streets of Heaven (Bobby Dollar)

Review: Tell the Wolves I’m Home (Revisited) by Carol Rifka Burnt

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wolves

“I thought how that was wrong and terrible and beautiful all at the same time.”
― Carol Rifka Brunt, Tell the Wolves I’m Home

This quote is exactly how I felt about this book. There is no doubt that this will go down as an all time favorite of mine. What a powerful read for me. I want to go out and buy multiply copies and give it to all the people I love. I want to hand out copies to complete strangers. I want just one person to read it and then turn to me and say, “I understand what this book means to you, I feel it too.”

I usually start a book and it’s easy enough for me to tell if I am going to like it or not. I can tolerate an okay story if the writing is “quote worthy.” It’s no secret to anyone that knows me that I can get lost in words if the author writes them in a lyrical way. This book was no exception. I fell in love from the start. This book sang to me! As I read along I loved the writing I was witnessing. Yes, I was not just reading words on a page….I was feeling as if I was present in Brunt’s imagined world. However, at the same time, I thought, this is a really a pretty cool book and I’m really enjoying it, but there’s no way I will be able to review it. The story was too hard to put into words. Many times, as a book goes along I lose some of my passion for it. As I went further along in this book, I was surprised to find that my love for the book was not easing off. In fact, my love for it was growing in leaps and bounds. My despair at trying to figure out how to start a review also changed. Now the story wasn’t too hard to put into words, it was simply too big! How could I encompass all the emotions that this book evoked from me and put it into mere words?

“Proof that there are worlds and worlds and worlds on top of worlds, if you want them to be there.”
― Carol Rifka Brunt, Tell the Wolves I’m Home

Brunt has masterfully given us so many stories on top of stories here. Is this a story about the ignorance of AIDS in the 80’s and the assumptions people made born out of that ignorance? Is this a story of family rivalry? Or of family love? Is it a story about the bond between sisters? Is it a coming of age story of a single young girl? Or is it the story of two lonely people that find a way to hold on to one another to overcome life’s grief? Is it about courage? Or sorrow? Loneliness? Acceptance? Regret? Acceptance?

“She was wired into my heart. Twisted and kinked and threaded right through.”
― Carol Rifka Brunt, Tell the Wolves I’m Home

Brunt has somehow taken these separate amazing stories and twisted and kinked and threaded them right through the reader’s very heart and made them into one…..how does one do that? How is it possible for this to be a debut novel? Surely there must have been bit of magic involved!

What strikes me most about this book is just how well Brunt was able to capture what being a teenager was like for me. I felt as if I had traveled in some time machine….that I was transported back to my own life as a teenager….forced to re-live all those thoughts and fears I had. I remember all those same feelings that June and Greta were feeling. The self-doubt. The selfishness of not being able to see the world beyond how it affects me. Ultimately this was June’s story and we only had her viewpoint to follow. This story could have read so differently if it had been Toby or Greta’s voice that we heard. Some parts of me wish it had been the type of book that was told from multiple viewpoints. That feeling came from my own personal greed. I was so able to climb inside the character of June. I wish I had been allowed to also climb further inside the characters of Greta and Toby as well. How different my life might had been had I been privy to their thoughts and insights at the time…it really is something when an author is able to transport you to another place and time….to make you feel as if you are no longer a reader, but instead, you are present, living this story, just as if it were your own…..

Please don’t let all the hype and the great reviews of this book deter you from giving it a chance. Sometimes you run across a book that not only lives up to all the hype….to a book that truly deserves all the hype….sometimes you also run across that a book totally and completely captivates you and takes you by surprise…..

This is that book! Read it! I dare you to!

~Urania

Buy It Now Tell the Wolves I’m Home

Review: A Mercy by Toni Morrison

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mercy“She learned the intricacy of loneliness: the horror of color, the roar of soundlessness and the menace of familiar objects lying still.”
― Toni Morrison, A Mercy

“I dream a dream that dreams back at me”
― Toni Morrison, A Mercy

With quotes such as this how can one not just love the book that they are from? I am the type that can fall in love with a book because of one sentence. This however was not that book. Maybe it was too short to come together for me….maybe I just don’t like Toni Morrison’s writing style….but this just can’t be! I mean it’s THE TONI MORRISON! I’ve wanted to read her forever and I really, REALLY, R E A L L Y wanted to love this book, it was my first experience with her…….I usually love beautiful poetic writing styles! Why couldn’t I fall in love with this book?????????? Why!!!!???

Honestly, truth be told, I just didn’t feel the story. I didn’t connect with the characters. I didn’t feel respect….I didn’t feel fear….I didn’t feel love…I didn’t feel sacrifice….I didn’t feel regret….I didn’t feel sorrow. There just wasn’t a basis for it. Sure, I knew I was supposed to feel these things. I knew exactly what I was supposed to feel and who my sympathies were suppose to lie with…I knew who I was meant to despise….however, I felt no more emotion for one character than another. I barely cared at all. I just wanted it to end….and it wasn’t even that long of a book. Maybe I needed more character development. Maybe I needed more details. I know the words were there…..there is no doubt that Morrison writes in a beautiful lyrical way….it’s just that in this story….well….it was almost as if Morrison sat down and penned a few great sentences. Sentences full of promises….and THEN and only then did she try to build a story around them. I wanted her to write a story first AND then write beautiful sentences to tell that story….I realize that to some they will think that sounds foolish and silly….that there might not be a difference….a story is just a story, but this is what I thought when I was reading the story….and it’s still what I think after I have finished it.

I want to give Morrison another try. I *really* want to read “The Bluest Eye”…..but I’m afraid that no matter how much I know that I am supposed to love Toni Morrison, that she just might not be the writer for me…..sigh….I seriously HATE when that happens, don’t you?

~Urania

Buy it now A Mercy

My Forever Growing TBR List…..

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945197_10151389248375064_582985017_nSome people believe you can never have too many friends. I’ve always held the belief that one can never have too many books. In fact, I will take it a step further and say that you can have too many friends. Why would I ever dare say something so preposterous? Well I have two answers to that…..both are painfully honest….I reckon the one you would get from me would be determined by my level of aggravation that day. If you asked me on a very busy or stressful day of work I would tell you that, yes, you can have too many friends….friends whose sole purpose in life was to keep you from enjoying a peaceful, guilt free night of reading! If you asked me the same question after a day spent far from work, a day spent finishing a great book and then going in search of another book to read, well I would have to tell you that, yes, you can have too many friends….friends that are always begging you to try this book, or that book….friends that are giving 5 star reviews…..friends all too willing to help you buy yet one more book……

Before the internet was so common….before smart phones…..before Amazon (Bezos is out to get me!!!) and its magical kindle…..well, I confess, I still had a problem with books. I had bookshelves full of books. I had books upon books stacked upon flat surfaces in my house….beside my bed on the floor….my kitchen table…..my nightstand…..the backseat of my car…..I confess, even on the back of the commode in the bathroom……I would spend part of each week gathering up all of these books and trying to find hiding places for them all….when I was asked if I got a new book, I would reply with, “this old thing? I’ve had it for ages!”….hey, it’s not like anyone I know would ever realize that the book was a new release just out that day! But life was easier then. I mean, I had to actually go to a store and look at the books. I would have to study their covers. I would have to open them up and read the first paragraph of the description. I would have to be moved enough to actually spend my hard-earned money on an author I had never heard of. Was it worth the risk? I didn’t know many readers…..I was far better off sticking with those authors I knew and loved….I was able to somewhat control my addiction……

Then my entire world changed….around this time I thought Facebook was just a wasteland of worthless posts that you signed on once a week and looked around for 15 minutes and logged out. At this same time, I thought Amazon was a great way for me to order my books without having to go and find a store close by that had the new book I wanted….sometimes finding a book was tough where I lived.

Then two life changing events happened…..it was late in the year 2010…the first thing that happened is I caved and bought a kindle….Bezos with his evil plot to take over the entire world finally convinced me to come over to the dark side….in doing so, I was inspired to type in KINDLE in the search engine of Facebook…..OH MY GREAT GOODNESS!!!!! What do you mean they have entire pages dedicated to kindle and eBooks? What do you mean there are other people in the world that would rather read on a Friday night then go out and get pissed? What do you mean that other people love books as much as me? How is this possible? I am a grown woman who has met thousands of people in this life and I thought I was the only one!!!!! Have I suddenly been transported into a parallel universe or something?

<conversation with myself> okay….chill! calm yourself! let’s adjust to all of this….let’s learn to accept all of this….okay….this is a good thing….NO! a great thing!!!! I now have book friends! For the first time in my life, people “get me”…..How awesome is this! Oh my! Look, they are offering suggestions! Oh my! look how helpful they are! They even provide me links that take me directly to the book! Oh my! I LOOOOVEEEE my new friends…..I would have never tried this book if they hadn’t told me about this great new author….oh wow! This author doesn’t just have this one book out, they have an entire series!!!! My new book friends are amazing…..How did I ever live before I met them all? I am the luckiest bibliophile on the planet!!! And seriously….look how easy it is to hide how many books I have! Not one single person has asked me if that’s a new book I am reading!!!! Well, except my new book friends, but it’s almost like bragging! They actually get excited for me…not a single one has rolled their eyes wondering why I just bought that new book when I have so many to read

fast forward 6 months

<yet another conversation with myself> hmmmmm…..now that I have over 500 books on my kindle (I love you, Bezos, you’re not evil at all….let me help you take over the world, I want to tell everyone how much I love my kindle!!!!) perhaps I am confident enough to let go of some of my hard covers…..oh, but I love them all so much….first let me make sure I have purchased the kindle copy….one day I might run out of books to read and want to revisit this old favorite…besides, I am giving them to people who need books….I am being charitable…I deserve some new books, since I am being so generous…hmmmmmm…..all of my new friends are great, but they keep telling me about new books….perhaps they need to step away from the computer for a while….it would be nice if they actually READ their TBR list before they added to mine…or even worse….made fun of mine….who cares how many books I have….it’s not like they are taking up room in my house…..and besides, my buddy Bezos stores them in the magical cloud for FREE!!!! Free!!!! Can you believe that? And hey, it was hard work to get track down this many great books to read!!!!

fast forward again

<conversation with family members> I don’t care if I asked for an Amazon Gift Card last year for my birthday….it’s what I want….no, I don’t want a stupid set of pajamas. I want a GC…..I’m sorry if you think a GC isn’t personal enough…personally I’ve had no use out of a single present you have ever given to me EXCEPT for the GC from last year….for now on don’t send me anything BUT GCs…..I need a few more books to read…..don’t roll your eyes at me like that!!!!!!!!!!!

fast forward one year

<yes, yet another conversation with myself> oh look! One of my great friends just told me about a website where I can track all of my books…..I must go check it out!!!! Holy Hell, this GOODREADS is freaking awesome sauce! I love this! I’m going to add all my books in……hmmmmm….I didn’t realize I had purchased this many books…..hmmm…..maybe I need a new kindle to keep track of the books I’ve purchased so I can make sure to get to them first….lots of people have multiple kindles….why should I be stuck with only one when they aren’t limited to just one…..yes, I NEED this other one….It’s so I can track my books better……..OH MY GOSH!!!!! Why in the world did I buy this stupid book? Who recommended this one? I give up! I can’t add all of these books! There’s no flipping way….I need five of me to enter all of these damn books….how is it possible that I have these many books? It just isn’t possible….seriously! I’m going to Amazon right this second and checking my archives…….OH HELL NO!!!!! I DO NOT HAVE 6,000 BOOKS IN MY ARCHIVES…..THIS ISN’T POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today

<current conversation with myself> hmmmm….I really should finish this blog post, but my book buddy just told me about this book that just came out….I really need to go check it out….one more book won’t hurt anyone, will it?

Much Love to Each and Every One of my Fellow Book Friends,

Urania

Review: And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

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16115612I have loved every word Khaled Hoseeini has put to paper. I have waited a long time for this novel. I have held my breath as I opened the very first page of this book and read the first line. I think I might have held that breath the entire first chapter….but as I finished that first chapter, I could only set the book down, breathe deep, sigh contentedly, and smile….yes, the wait had been worth it! As each chapter went on my feelings of pure bliss only grew. I was like the fat cat that had just ate that robin in the garden and was now basking in the sun feeling full, clean, and oh so satisfied. Life could be no better…..I was simply put…in a word…giddy……

Then I hit chapter 5……and my world changed…..

This is hard one to review. This book is broken into 9 chapters. All of them are lengthy…some of them are LONG…..They are told by different characters of the novel. They go back in history and forward in history….I have to say, chapters 1 – 4….they were….pure bliss for me….I loved every single word of them. I think I’ve reread the first two chapters 3 times each already. Chapters three and four have been scanned over multiply times….These chapters had everything I look for in writing. Mystery. Fables. Devotion. Regret. Heartache. Betrayal. Hopelessness. and a beauty that simply made me ache inside….I honestly found it hard to move beyond to the next chapters, it was just THAT beautiful. If this book had stayed on track from those chapters, it would have made it to my all time favorite list.

However, something strange happened at chapter 5 and I am still not sure why Hosseini changed direction. It was still great writing. It was still interesting. But the enchantment for me was gone. It was just good writing. The magic was left out…the interweaving of all the elements of the first part of the novel were laid off to the side. We were introduced to more stories. Yes, the narrators of these stories were all related to the main story, but not a part of it. How do I explain….I almost felt like I was reading something along the lines of 6 degrees of separation. I had no problem following along, I just was left wondering why is Hosseini including these narrators? Why are their stories included? That was it for me…they were not part of the story I feel in love with…they were their own stories. Yes, they were connected…but oh so different. They added nothing to the mystery. The added nothing to the enchantment of the first part of the novel. they were simply fillers….The ones that were important to the story were visited way too late in life to really fill in the part of their history I yearned to know of….Others were never revisited at all….Hosseini wrote a novel in the beginning that demanded I become invested in the characters and then completely ignored my need for more! Confused? I was too. Once you read the book, you will hopefully understand what I mean…..I personally feel like Hosseini had too wide a focus on this book. Perhaps if it were 900 plus pages long (YES! I would love to read a Hosseini book that long!) all of the stories could have been expanded upon and I would have felt that magic throughout the book…as it is, I simply felt like the first part was what the novel should have stayed true to and the rest just felt like an outline/shell of an unrelated story…..again, yes, I know they were all connected and I saw the connection…I just didn’t *feel* that connection….

this book left me so thrilled with its words and it’s story…yet surprisingly empty and let down at the same time…..

~UraniaBuy it now And the Mountains Echoed