Literary Escapes – Page 13 – Creative Meanderings

_Room_

Jan 302011

_Room_ by Emma Donoghue

This was probably one of the most interesting fiction novels that I’ve read in a long time in terms of a unique story from an unfamiliar perspective. Donoghue writes the entire novel from the point-of-view of Jack, a curious five-year-old, who shortly after his fifth birthday has to learn to shoulder a great deal of responsibility and expand his mind beyond his own imagination.

Not only is there an element of crime thriller in this novel, but also one of wonderment, confusion, awareness of the overwhelming nature of life and most importantly the importance of family support and love.

As I don’t want to give too much away in case my viewers want to read the novel for themselves, I’ll leave it at this. It’s definitely definitely worth a read. I think I might be getting into contemporary literature finally! 😀

More to come…

-T

_Cross Fire_

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Jan 242011

book cover of Cross Fire (Alex Cross, book 17) by James Patterson

_Cross Fire_ by James Patterson

Patterson continues to develop the character, Alex Cross, and his ongoing antagonist, Kyle Craig, in this novel. It has hints of being the last in the Cross series, but that’s just my own opinion.

The story starts to get a bit predictable and too convenient from the clues of the crimes, intertwining of different cases, antagonizing between Cross and Craig, and Cross’s own family/love story. While I did keep turning the pages on my iPad at a rather quick pace, it was more out of the ease of the read rather than anticipation of what was coming up next.

Maybe it’s time for me to start branching out my contemporary authors and genres because I’m starting to get bored with these kind of crime thrillers (at least for the time being). In any case, at least I can say that I’m caught up the Cross saga by Patterson for now. 🙂

More to come…

-T

_Under the Banner of Heaven_

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Jan 182011

_Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith_ by Jon Krakauer

This book was a doozy of a tale of the foundations and progress of the Mormon religion. Jon Krakauer writes in an easy-to-read journalistic style telling the story of the beginnings, divisions and transformations of the Latter Day Saints centered around the story of the Lafferty brothers who are supposedly told by God to kill a number of people. They manage to complete the murders of their sister-in-law and baby with no remorse or guilt regarding their actions.

Krakauer weaves the history and varied beliefs and practices of the followers of Mormonism from the spiritual visions of Joseph Smith to its current-day position.

I don’t want to give much more detail as there is so much information and many stories that he shares throughout the book. It was a great read. I have/had friends who are LDS members and at various times was curious about their faith and the religion. Religion has always played an unsatisfactory role in my life and remains a topic that I cannot fully accept in all its various incarnations, sects and divisions. God does exist, I believe. Satan does exist, I believe. A spiritual presence does exist in man, I believe. Beyond that, I have questions and doubts.

The LDS church has always seemed a mystery to me. A friend many years ago sent me a book when I began to ask her about her faith. I was not satisfied with what it said as the Bible, which I have read numerous times front to back and back to front, did not match up – not just didn’t match, but contradicted. Laws seemed to be conjured up upon convenience and the role of women in the religion just didn’t vibe with me. Still, I respect everyone’s right to believe as s/he likes or feels called/moved to believe. I’m interested in all spiritual movements even if I don’t agree or they scare me.

So, I’m glad I read the story. I’m not sure if the author’s intent was to inform or to shed a certain tinted light on the religion itself, but I was drawn to his writing and the story. It’s not easy reading or necessarily good for the faint of heart, but it definitely opens the mind. 😀

More to come,

-T

_What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures_

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Dec 252010

_What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures_ by Malcom Gladwell is an interesting collection of his New Yorker articles over the years. Since I’ve not been able to keep up with all his articles (though I wish I could find the time to read the New Yorker regularly…), it was interesting to read his stories and takes on different events over the years.

Gladwell writes on sociological phenomenons such as the use of birth control, the publicizing of the Enron case, the reasons why some inventions were a success and others were not, and more.

I’ve been a Gladwell fan for some time now and have read his novels as they’ve come out. This one was just as interesting as the others and while not necessarily a travel book, it is one that would satisfy a before-bed read and fill your mind with interesting thoughts as you enter dream-world. 😉

More to come…

-T

_The Postcard Killers_

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Dec 252010

_The Postcard Killers_ by James Patterson and Liza Marklund is one of the better crime stories by Patterson lately. Marklund’s influence must have been strong in writing this story because I was on edge throughout most of the book. While the ending may have been a little too neat in terms of the love relationship between the two main protagonists, it still was interesting and somewhat unpredictable.

The writing was descriptive and easy to read, so I definitely recommend this as a travel book to make the time pass by quickly. I’m not sure it’s a good before-bed book though unless your immune to influences on dreams.

More to come…

-T

_The Shadow of Your Smile_

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Nov 282010

The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark

It’s been a while since I’ve read a Mary Higgins Clark book. Probably because I’ve read everything she’s written and she doesn’t seem to write as fast as I can read her novels. 🙂

While I enjoyed reading the story at the time, it was forgettable since I’m having trouble recalling the story even as I write this up.

There are a number of intertwined characters and story lines to follow, though nothing too complicated. The mysterious factors are just engaging enough to keep turning the pages, but not really enough to keep from putting the book down to do something else. I found some of the connections to be a little too convenient and my suspicious mind wanted more depth and complexity with the main protagonist’s love story.

So as to not give any of the story away, in case anyone plans on reading this, I’ll just say it was worth the read while traveling, but not really that fulfilling in terms of a thrilling mystery novel.

_The Secret_

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Sep 222010

Some time last year a colleague received a copy of this book as a gift from his students. As he already had read it, he offered it to me. I had heard about it and all the hype that surrounded it when it first came out in 2006, but to be honest I was quite skeptical about it. It sounded like some sort of new-age religious/spiritual book that people fell in love with just because it could be called religious without having a religion attached.

The book felt like a marketing scam throughout. While the ideas behind the secret are worth considering – imagining positive things happening/existing and having them happen – I am still in some doubt about the whole thing. Of course, it never hurts to test out its theory: Imagine for a month something unimaginable happening. Imagine that it has already happened and you are living life with it. For example, imagine that you receive $50,000. Think as if you already have it. Do this for at least a month and you’ll see it start to happen because the very fact that you’ve thought it, you’ve sent energy out into the world bringing it to you.

Sound like a scam to you yet? 🙂 Still…it can’t hurt, right? 😉 I’m not yet a believer in this actually bringing me $50,000 in the next few months. However, I do believe in positive thoughts, energy. I do believe that if we stay positive and imagine the best, there’s a much higher chance of success than if negativity pervades. So, I guess I have to say I’m still undecided about The Secret. I’ll keep you updated if my positive energies bring about my visions in the next few months.

Thus ends my reading updates. I’m afraid I’m going to have to switch my energies to more academic readings for a while, but I thoroughly enjoyed my summer reading and look forward to the next holiday when I can treat myself to more literary escapes!

-T

_Three Cups of Tea_

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Sep 222010

I end my summer reading update with my favorite book of the summer. It takes me a while to get to anything that is popular or trendy because I tend to avoid conforming to what everyone else is doing at a specific time. However, I can now fully appreciate why everyone was raving about _Three Cups of Tea_ by Greg Mortenson.

Mortenson was a mountain climber. A failed attempt at K2 leads him to a small village in Pakistan, where his entire life path will change. A nurse by trade, a mountain climber by life, Mortenson paves the way to liberating Pakistani women and children by building schools, women’s centers and more. It’s an amazing story of his life, both with failures and successes in making a difference in the world.

As I read this novel, I felt a reminder as to why I wanted to become a teacher. I felt a sense of why I chose to come to this region that I’m now in. In my own way, I want to make this kind of difference and change in the lives of the Emiratis. While I dreamed of paving the way in new schools of Afghanistan and Iraq, learning to survive in this milder Arab nation has taught me that perhaps I’m not up for the kinds of challenges that Mortenson faced. He, being a tall white American male, struggled. I can only imagine how much worse it would be for me – a short American female of Asian descent. Still, instead of making me feel defeated, reading the novel gave me hope about what I can do where I am now. I might not have as great of an impact on the world as Mortenson, but every small step counts.

For teachers, dreamers and optimists – this is the book for you!

More to come…

-T

_The Help_

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Sep 222010

What a book! Recommended by my BFF to read and part of Oprah’s Book Club, I had recently considered reading this book, but wasn’t sure as I am still not sold on contemporary fiction – though from my summer reads, I’m not sure I can say that anymore!

This novel by Kathryn Stockett was a great read. I could hardly stop reading it and that was on my iPad! It had a bit of _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_ feeling to it, but it was much more inspiring. I felt not only the position of the black women who were hired as help, but also the feminist movement that the main character was struggling with. I don’t want to write too much detail about the novel because I definitely recommend this as a must-read.

All I know is that there is no way that I could have lived in these times…I barely make it in my own time…. 😐

More to come…

-T

_Committed_ by Elizabeth Gilbert

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Sep 222010

_Committed_ by Elizabeth Gilbert

_Eat Pray Love_ fans may not enjoy _Committed_ as much, but for me in the phase of my life I’m at right now, I thoroughly appreciated Elizabeth Gilbert’s research and discovery on marriage.

Taking up where the love story ended in her previous novel, Gilbert shares the struggles she and Felipe face when he runs into trouble flying in and out of the US post 9-11. While there was never a moment of doubt in her mind that they would get married to solve their problem, it is understandable to follow her journey to coming to terms with the idea of getting married again. Though we can only appreciate her arguments from a female perspective, since we don’t know exactly how Felipe felt through the whole process, we can get a sense that her research is not just for her sake alone. It takes two to tango, after all.

I appreciated the parts where she talks with women in Laos, trying to understand the concept of “The One” or knowing that he was the right man to marry. The women in a small village merely laughed at her suggestion that emotions had anything to do with the fact that they married their men. It was about having babies and continuing the genetic lines. The reality is that men do their thing, women do theirs and the two only mix when it comes to getting busy for the sake of procreation. The completely unromantic nature of it sounds strange and sad to the Western romantics.

Yet, she doesn’t give up on her romantic notions, but comes to realize that (I think) it could be worse – we could marry for no emotional reason at all. 🙂 I fully appreciated her discussion about children. Gilbert shares that there is 10% of many female populations who do not have children. These women fulfill a very important role of “Auntie”. Aunties tend to have more money because they don’t have children, which can be used to help others out when in need. Aunties tend to be more attractive for children to confide in or use as an outlet when the parents are just too much. Sounds perfect to me! My lack of desire to have my own children totally confirms that I’m not a crazy, unloving, selfish woman. Rather, I’m meant to be a great Auntie! 😀

So, while I know that this is not for everyone to read, I enjoyed it and felt good after reading it. So, I guess that’s all that matters!

More to come…

-T

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