Number The Stars by Lois Lowry

Tags

bargain book!, challenge 15, children, english, europe, fiction, gentle spectrum, middle grade, newbery, review15, secondhand books, world war

Title: Number The Stars

Writer: Lois Lowry

Publisher: Dell Publishing (1989)

Pages: 137p

Bought at: Betterworldbooks (USD 5.48, bargain price!)

Annemarie Johansen lived peacefully in her hometown, Copenhagen – at least before the war came. But it’s now 1943 and the Nazi soldiers marching in her lovely town. They start to arrest the Jews, relocate them to unknown places that sound really horrible.

Annemarie’s world become impacted when her best friend, Ellen Rosen, has to be pretended as her sister and lives with her family, because Ellen is a Jew, and her family has to hide somewhere without her. The safest place for Ellen is to blend with Annemarie’s family.

To save Ellen’s life, Annemarie must embark on a very difficult and dangerous journey, and she must rethink her most important things and priorities in life. Will all of these things she’ll do worth her and her family’s lives? Will saving people become the most important priority in her life now?

Number The Stars is one of the books that discussed World War II from a different perspective for younger audience. The story from Copenhagen captured the contrast between a peaceful, lovely city and the dark, cruel life in a wartime.

I haven’t read the story about the joint forces of Scandinavian people to save their people (non Jewish helping their Jewish neighbors) and it is pretty amazing. No wonder Scandinavian countries still become some of the most peaceful places to live until now. The people have been very helpful to each other even during the harsh days of WW II.

The only thing that bothers me a little bit about this book is it’s too short!! Just like Lowry’s previous book that I’ve read, The Giver, it lacks of the depth of characters and the solution of the conflict itself is too simplified.

But maybe because this book is targeted to younger readers, then the stories actually fit. To teach about bravery, friendship, making the right decisions and prioritize what’s important, I have to admit that this book has successfully done so.

Submitted for:

Space category

 

Just as Long as We’re Together by Judy Blume

Tags

challenge, CL/YA, fiction, gentle spectrum, Gramedia, review15, terjemahan, young adult

Title: Just as Long as We’re Together

Writer: Judy Blume

Translator: JE Retno Dwiastuti

Publisher: Gramedia Pustaka Utama (2004), first published in 1987

Pages: 360p

Swapped at IRF 2013

The thing about Judy Blume’s books is, they’re always tell honest stories about sensitive issues- even though the targets are young adults. She wrote about religions, ethnicity, cultural differences, divorce, family problems, although in the 70s-80s, people didn’t really care about “diversity in YA books”. I love how she wrote simple stories with deep meanings and memorable characters.

Just as Long as We’re Together told a story of three friends: Stephanie, Rachel, and the newcomer Alison. Despite their differences (Stephanie is an extrovert, cheerful girl, Rachel is a total genius, and Alison is an artsy, pretty girl from California), they fought their way together in the middle school dangerous fields- complete with bullies, popular girl cliques and handsome crush all over their way.

But their friendship has been tested with the problems they faced at home: Stephanie’s parents were in the middle of “separating phase”, Rachel’s brother kept on getting into troubles, and Alison was feeling torn as an adoptive daughter of a famous actress.

I love how Judy Blume wrote the story in a light, flowing kind of way. This book was taking me back into my teenage days, growing up in the midst of family issues, ups and downs of friendship stages and of course the murky, unclear future in front of me.

One thing I noticed in Judy Blume’s books is the crappy parents. Seriously, I can’t hate any parents more than I do with Stephanie’s selfish parents. They are separating but telling nothing to the kids, and the first time the kids had to accept the fact is when they were introduced to their father’s new girlfriend. Sucks!

That’s why I think Judy’s books are as important to the parents as they are to the children, since they remind us how to avoid being selfish, inconsiderate, and childish parents to our kids! 🙂

The companion book, Here’s To You, Rachel Robinson, tells the story from Rachel’s point of view. Too bad, after the second book, Judy didn’t continue with another sequel.

Submitted for:

Cheerful category

Emerald City by Jennifer Egan

Tags

bargain book!, challenge 15, english, gentle spectrum, review 15, short stories, WIN2015

Title: Emerald City

Writer: Jennifer Egan

Publisher: Corsair (2012), first published in 1993

Page: 170p

Bought at: Periplus FX (IDR 20k, bargain price!)

Eleven short stories written by the Pulitzer winner, Jennifer Egan, all told tales about longing, empty feelings, broken hearts and homesickness. What makes this collection special is the setting of each story that embedded nicely into the plot. The setting became a crucial part of the stories, even more like a character that supports the whole tone of the stories.

One of my favorites is Emerald City, telling a story about the life of models in New York City. Their yearning to become the best, their competitiveness to be the most exotic, beautiful, and famous. To travel the world and define themselves as a supermodel. But then again, still they feel insecure, trapped, and lonely. With NYC as a perfect setting, this story is heartbreaking yet feels so true.

Another favorite is Passing The Hat, about a woman who is in the middle of transition phase in her life, trying to accept the reality that her marriage has ended, life goes on, even her old house is now occupied by a new family. Again, loneliness and self discovery became the main theme here and I can’t help but to sympathize with her.

The other one is Letter to Josephine, that tells a story about a woman named Lucy, who married one of the richest (and nicest) guys around, embarking into a new life full of luxury, traveling to exotic places and living in a wonderful house. But in Bora-Bora, she met a girl who introduced her to the new meaning of freedom. And suddenly Lucy remembered her old friend Josephine, and missed her terribly.

Jennifer Egan is a wonderful writer, and her short stories are the kind of stories that I wish I could’ve written. But again, like her other books, I found this short stories collection is not as memorable as I thought it would be. Yes, the stories are intriguing with some kind of sense of wonder that I always like, but still it lacks of strong character, memorable message and the story did not always linger.

Also because the tone and theme of the stories are pretty similar, I found it hard to remember which one is which, and they started to blend with one another in my mind.

I like the cover, though, it suits the tone of the book, with the vintage touch and the glittery colors.

Submitted for:

Limitless Pallet and Stones category

Category: A colour

Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography

Tags

english, gentle spectrum, humor, memoir, non fiction, review 15

Title: Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography

Writer: Neil Patrick Harris

Publisher/Edition: Crown Archetype First Edition (2014)

Pages: 294p

Bought at: Kinokuniya Nge Ann City (SGD 44.95)

Who doesn’t love Neil Patrick Harris (NPH)? From his cute acting as a genius prodigy, Doogie Howser, MD, to his most legen (wait for it) dary role, Barney Stinson, he never stopped to amaze me. And while his hosting the most current Academy Awards had got various reviews, I considered him to be pretty successful in that area, too.

NPH is a talented artist (he can act, sing, dance, perform magic, and even write), and the way he wrote his autobiography captured his unique and witty personality really well.

NPH admitted that he loved the “Choose Your Own Adventures” series when he was a kid, and he was inspired to write his autobiography in similar way. Guess what? I love the series too, Neil! So I hoped you wouldn’t disappoint me 🙂

Turned out, NPH didn’t disappoint me. This is one of the most daring, honest, and fun autobiography I’ve ever read so far. NPH told his life story, starting from his childhood as a kid from New Mexico who discovered his own talent and passion since a very young age, and have a very supportive family. After that, he is honestly telling his ups and downs- from the successful Doogie Howser to some flop B-movies.

How it felt to live as a child celebrity in Hollywood, how he developed his talents into many things, how he (almost) never refused any challenges coming his way (Challenge Accepted!!)- from magic tricks to Broadway performance to hosting various award shows. He had some failures, learned some lessons, made another mistake, and kept on growing. I can’t help but admiring him more and more.

Another issue that NPH tackled is about his self discovery as a gay man in Hollywood, from the early denial until he met with his soulmate, David Burtka. It’s funny to read how NPH still can’t believe that he is now in the famous Elton John’s circle.

His sense of humor is wonderful, especially when he made fun of himself, and -afterwards- tried to turn the table by doing some humble-brags 🙂 Some of the endings are fictional, but will make you genuinely laughing out loud or widely cringing. You can’t help but trying all the juicy, suspicious options at the end of each chapter.

Here are some examples:

If, despite Barney’s perpetual youth, you want to get older, turn to page 280.

If, despite Barney’s lady-killer status, you want to get gay, turn to page 78.

 

Or this one:

To hear from Barney Stinson, go on to the next page.

To kill someone, turn to page 165.

 

NPH is one of the most versatile, successful artists in our time, and he is successfully captured his rich life into this funny, memorable book.

If you want to have a great time with NPH, read this book! (I can lend you if you’d like to)

If you just want to snore with another boring book, please choose other biography 🙂

Submitted for:

Humorous Category

Kategori Genre 101: Biografi

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Tags

america, borrowed, classic, english, fiction, gentle spectrum, reading challenge, review 15, romance

Title: The Scarlet Letter

Writer: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Publisher: Penguin Popular Classics (1994, first published in 1850)

Pages: 224p

Borrowed from: Fanda

Hester Prynne has waited for two years for her husband to join her in New England settlement. The husband arrived just to find her wife with a small baby and a big scarlet letter A (for Adultery) worn on her breast as the punishment from the settlers for her sin.

Hester and her daughter Pearl were isolated from the neighborhood and lived through each other company only. Even though Hester had been pushed by everyone to tell who was the father of her daughter, Hester never revealed it. She insisted to keep the secret within her heart, to protect the man she loved. Her silence made the husband crazy with hatred and vengeance, and he started to plot some cruel revenge for the mysterious man.

Meanwhile, Hester and Pearl has begun to win respect from the society, with all her charitable acts and bravery, which helped a lot in the hard settlement life during that period.

The Scarlet Letter is one of the most difficult books I’ve ever read. Not only it is full of symbols, but the language itself is pretty hard to understand, with some flowery style that is not really my cup of tea 🙂 Hester’s strength and bravery (with the symbol of the scarlet letter that she carried everywhere) contradicted the moral cowardice and shame of the man she loved, who allowed her to face the guilt alone. The justification of Hester is to protect this man, but apparently it only created more burden to the man itself.

Another interesting thing is how Hester- with her sin, public shame and punishment from the society, slowly became the most exemplary person in the neighborhood, with her charitable acts, kindness and love for everyone. Even though sometime she felt afraid that Pearl, her daughter, was actually the representative of the devil, created by sin, because of her free spirits and sometimes demonish manners. But Pearls was actually only a child, a daughter loved by her mother and created by the act of pure love.

This slow plot of the book almost killed my patience, and I think you really need a good mood to read The Scarlet Letter. I remember I watched the movie years ago, starring Demi Moore as Hester Pynne, and I don’t blame the producers to twist and turn the story to become lighter and more dramatic (even though the movie itself got a very bad rating). The bland, slow plot is actually a bit of killjoy, but I guess that is more of the classic style of the authors during the period.

Submitted for:

Limitless Pallet Category

The Golden Ball and Other Stories by Agatha Christie

Tags

british, challenge 15, classic, english, fiction, gentle spectrum, horror, mystery, review 15, romance, secondhand books, short stories

Title: The Golden Ball and Other Stories

Writer: Agatha Christie

Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur Mysteries (2002)

Pages: 288p

Bought at: Reading Lights (IDR 25k)

The Golden Ball consisted of 15 short stories by Agatha Christie, taken from some of her books/short story collections. The first half of the book has funny, humorous short stories, full of surprises, twisted endings and hilarious characters, remind me a bit of Roald Dahl’s writing style.

My favorites include The Girl In The Train, telling a story about George Rowland, who had just been fired by his uncle, and decided to move into a small town, when suddenly he faced an unexpected adventure, involving a mysterious girl, a foreign royal family scandal, and some shady secret letters.

Another favorite is The Golden Ball, which has similar tone with The Girl In The Train (even the main character has the same first name!), but with more romance and a bit of juicy drama. All stories in the first half of the book are light, fun, and have a romantic tone.

The second half of the book, however, has very different tone. Taken mostly from The Hound of Death book, it consisted of supernatural stories, stories with unexplained things, and jaw dropping endings.

I don’t really have a favorite since most of them are pretty creepy and I don’t have the mood to enjoy creepy stories (especially after some heartwarming stories in the first half of the book). But I still remember well The Gypsy, a story about a mysterious gypsy woman who always haunted a poor young man and gave scary premonitions. The Lamp is also stuck in my head because it contained ghost- a child ghost who’d like so much to have a friend. Goosebumps!

It’s a bit weird actually to put very different kind of stories in the same book, especially because half of them are sweet and funny, while the rest are scary and creepy. But I still enjoyed The Golden Ball and other stories, it showed clearly that Agatha Christie was a very fine storyteller, however unusual and surprising the stories are.

Submitted for:

Limitless Pallet Category

Reading Challenges – 2015

Tags

2015, challenge, gentle spectrum, master post, NARC2015, reading list, WIN2015

It never hurts to join a few challenges every year to boost your reading mood. Even though I didn’t always strive in every challenge I joined, at least I tried to do my best 🙂

This year, I decided to join the following challenges (and I may add some more throughout the year, we’ll see!!)

What’s In a Name- 2015

This is always becoming one of my favorite challenges every year and I have joined the challenge for several years now. This year it’s hosted (again) by Charlie @ The Worm Hole, and consisted of six categories. Here we go:

• A word including ‘ing’ in it (The Time Of Singing, Dancing To The Flute, Lex Trent Fighting With Fire) My examples are verbs but you can of course use other words.– Looking for Alibrandi (Melina Marchetta)
• A colour (The Red Queen, White Truffles In Winter, On Gold Mountain) — Emerald City (Jennifer Egan)
• A familial relation (Daughter Of Smoke And Bone, Dombey And Son, My Cousin Rachel) By all means include in-laws, step, and halves. — Pilate’s Wife (Antoinette Way)
• A body of water (The River Of No Return, Black Lake, Beside The Sea) — The Lake of Dreams (Kim Edwards)
• A city (Barcelona Shadows, Shanghai Girls, Under The Tripoli Sky) — The Alexandria Link (Steve Barry)
• An animal (Black Swan Rising, The Leopard Unleashed, The Horse And His Boy) —The Cat’s Table (Michael Ondaatje)

I never failed this one so wish me luck again for this year!

 

New Author Reading Challenge (NARC) 2015

I’ve never joined this one before, but I realized I love to try reading books from new (aka unknown) authors who I’ve never heard before, so I decided to join this challenge this year, hosted by Ren @ Ren’s Little Corner.

I want to try for Middle Level (15-30 books), and take the following extra challenges:

1. Whats In a Name (reading books that have “name” in their titles)- minimum of six books: The Einstein Girl (Philip Sington), Pilate’s Wife (Antoinette May), A Tale Dark and Grimm (Adam Gidwitz), Fatima’s Good Fortune (Joanne Dryansky), The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Jacquelinne Kelly), The Club Dumas (Arturo Perez-Reverte)

2. Genre 101: Reading books from the following genres:

Fantasy: The False Prince (Jennifer Nielsen), Thriller: Complicity (Iain Banks), Asian Lit: The Unknown Errors of Our Lives (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni), Children Lit: Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of NIMH (Robert C. O’Brien), Mystery/Crime: The Twelfth Card (Jeffery Deaver), Young Adult: The House of The Scorpion (Nancy Farmer), Dystopia: Unwind (Neal Shusterman), Holiday: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (L. Frank Baum), Classic: Far From The Madding Crowd (Thomas Hardy), Biography: Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography (Neil Patrick Harris), Adventure: The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle (Hugh Lofting), The Women Fiction: The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Looks like a lot of books to read, huh? I think I need more luck for this!

Gentle Spectrums 2015

This cool challenge is hosted by Carolyn from Riedel Fascination. I was thinking to join this one since last year but hadn’t got a chance. I decided to give it a try this year, it looks like fun 🙂 There are two main challenges with different categories:

(A) Limitless Pallet – Read books with any color in the titles. I choose Colourful Level (10 colours), and plan to read these: Ruby Red (Kerstien Gier), Emerald Green (Kerstien Gier), Sapphire Blue (Kerstien Gier), Emerald City (Jennifer Egan), Charlie Boone and The Blue Boa (Jenny Nimmo), The Emerald Atlas (John Stephens), The Golden Ball (Agatha Christie), The Portrait in Sephia (Isabelle Alende), Ginger Pye (Eleanor Estes), Sapphire Battersea (Jacqueline Wilson), Emerald Star (Jacqueline Wilson)

(B) Gentle Subjects

1) Stones: Variations of the word, gems, jewellery, ruins, geological formations: The Moonstone (Wilkie Collins)

2) Cheerful: Uplifting, positive messages;  conveys pleasant thoughts, images: Just As Long As We’re Together (Judy Blume)

3) Nations: Cultures, locations:  lakes, towns, even well-known places;  fictional included: The Taliban Cricket Club (Timeri N. Murari)

4) Plants: Trees, flowers, lawns, fields, grasses, grains, and gardening paraphernalia: Flora and Ulysses (Kate DiCamillo)

5) Water: Water bodies, proper names, closely-connected components:  taps, sinks, pools: The Lake of Dreams (Kim Edwards)

6) Space: The sky, its contents, spatial matter, concepts, tools.  Star Trek / Star Wars-related: Number The Stars (Lois Lowry)

7) Daunting: Any title that has you thinking:  “Oooo!  That does not sound good”!: Struck By Lightning (Chris Colfer)

8) Structures: A building, its rooms, proper names, any of a structure’s parts: 44 Scotland Street (Alexander McCall Smith)

9) Time: Any signifiers of time, like seasons.  Any unit-measurers, like watches and calendars: The Distant Hours (Kate Morton)

10) Humorous: Odd, or anything that gives you a grin.  I’ll accept a ‘pun laid on too thick’ grimace too!: Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography (Neil Patrick Harris)

Phew, if I take a look at it, these all seem very ambitious for me!!! But who knows, maybe I finally can conquer a bit of my TBR???? (and of course add some new ones along the way haha)

Have a great 2015 peeps! Hope you all have fun with your reading challenges. Remember, reading is about joy, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself, kay? 🙂 Good luck!