What’s In a Name 6 Challenge – It’s a Wrap!!

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2013, challenge, what's in a name, wrap up post

Yeay! Finally there’s ONE challenge that I’ve successfully finished 😀 I always love What’s in a Name Challenge and this year I still had a great time 🙂 Matching the title of my TBR books with the unique categories had always been a thrill.

And here’s my list of books for this challenge:

1. Up or Down category: Up in The Air (Walter Kim)

2. In The Kitchen category: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows)

3. Party or Celebration category: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake (Jenny Wingfield)

4. Fire category: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (JK Rowling)

5. Emotion category: State of Wonder (Ann Patchet)

6. Lost or Found category: A Discovery of Witches (Deborah Harkness)

So it’s a wrap, hopefully this challenge will be up again next year 🙂

Thanks for hosting it, Beth!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Discovery of Witches

Tags

cover lust, english, fantasi, fiction, paranormal, romance, what's in a name

Title: A Discovery of Witches

Author: Deborah Harkness

Publisher: Penguin (2011)

Pages: 579p

Bought at: Periplus Setiabudi Bandung (IDR 55k)

Plot:

Diana Bishop is a young scholar from Yale in the field of alchemy history, and has a grant to do research in Oxford. Diana came from a family of witches, but she tried so hard to deny her fate, and almost never uses magic in her life. Until one day, she encounters a long lost manuscript in Oxford library- a manuscript filled by magic and said to have an answer of the everlasting questions: the creation of the world, humans, witches, vampires and daemons.

This discovery lures all kinds of creatures into Oxford- and into Diana’s life, forcing her to face her fate as a witch. One of the creatures is an ancient, rich and handsome vampire name Matthew. And despite all the odds, Diana and Matthew quickly realized that it is their destiny to try finding out about the secrets of the manuscript, and journeying into the past together.

Why this book does actually have a good premise:

-Interesting topics about alchemy, history, and magic. I always love history and alchemy, and it seems this book has pretty good idea about the mystery of creation and its relation with alchemy.

-Lovely description of the setting: especially Oxford, I love how the old little campus town had been described in details- I guess it’s because the author- who was also a scholar, had been there before.

And why this book does not actually live to my expectation:

– Typical characters: a witch who was in denial and didn’t want to use her power, turned out has the greatest power ever. Plus, a vampire who is handsome, rich, smart, successful and dangerous. Sounds familiar, Twilight lovers? 😀

– Forbidden love: it’s a cliche, but actually I can accept cliches, if it’s been written well. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any of the romance plot in this book fascinating at all. It’s too predictable, slow, lots of unnecessary details and boring descriptions. And I can’t help but hating both the main characters.

– Another cliche: Over protective/ possessive vampire and the witch who always rejected his help- trying too hard to prove that she’s not a damsel in distress- but always failed!

– Too many unnecessary details: boring everyday mundane routines, described in long and torturing ways: taking bath, having breakfast, taking nap, rowing boat, running, etc etc- it’s too descriptive without being interesting.

– Lots and lots of repetitions: For example, Harkness loved to describe what Diana wears everyday. But sadly, her choices of clothes are not interesting at all! Sweater, legging, socks- always the same, it’s pointless to even know what she wears that particular day. The same happened when Harkness described Diana’s activities – very details and boring. For example, when Diana is rowing, Harkness always explains the small steps she takes: taking boat, getting into one, rowing, going back to the boat house, etc without any important incidents. It’s meaningless!

– Slow and predictable plot. For a book that wants to capture its readers with the mystery and secret stories, it successfully failed. The mystery is too slow, there are almost no important incidents or any fast paced actions. Even the fighting scenes could make me yawn, and I lost count of how many times I actually rolled my eyes while reading this book. Probably the fact that the author is a professor explained a bit how this book turned out more like a report than a novel.

In short, this book was failed to impress me- I know that paranormal romance is not actually my cup of tea- but I tried it anyway. This book only convinced me more that this genre is really not my thing, and I won’t read the sequels. Even though, knowing the author had been a Fulbright scholar before, broke my heart a little bit!

Submitted for What’s in a Name 6 Challenge for “Lost/Found” category.

 

State of Wonder

Tags

ann patchett, bargain book!, drama, english, fiction, literature, science, south america, tragedy, what's in a name

Title: State of Wonder

Writer: Ann Patchett

Publisher: Harper (2011)

Pages: 353p

Bought at: Periplus Setiabudhi Bandung (IDR 60k disc 20%, bargain book!)

Dr.Marina Singh is a research scientist working in a pharmaceutical company in Minnesota. Her dull life is suddenly changed when she is sent to Brazil by his boss, to meet with her former mentor and fellow coworker, Dr. Annick Swenson, who is doing an ongoing mysterious research of a fertility drugs, among a tribe in Amazon. Marina’s former coworker, Anders Eckmann, has been sent there before, but the news had reached Minnesota that he has died in Amazon jungle.

The journey to Brazil – and eventually to Amazon- is changed Marina’s life drastically, pushing her to get out of her comfort zone and facing a tragedy in her past, that involved Dr. Annick Swenson. And when Marina finally has a chance- and courage- to board a boat to Amazon, she finds incredible things that she never dared to imagine before.

This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve read so far this year. I never read Ann Pratchett before, and people praised her so much for her previous work, Bel Canto. I’m glad that State of Wonder has become my first encounter with the talented writer, since I didn’t have high expectation on this book.

Turned out, I like it so much- from the main character, Marina, who is so vulnerable you just have to hug her tight, to the amazing setting of Amazon jungle, and even one of the other characters, a doctor from Indonesia, Dr. Budi (even though I’m a bit confused at first because Dr.Budi is a female, and people kept calling her Budi- a common male name in Indonesia). The story unfolded beautifully, with many unexpected twists and turns- and a very haunting ending.

I can imagine vividly the humid air of the jungle, the fear of mosquitoes and malaria, the unfamiliar lives of Amazon’s tribes. Their rituals, traditions, the language barrier and the realization that actually you can understand each other without using a certain language. The interaction between Marina and the tribe people, and her revelation to Dr. Annick about her haunting past – everything fits perfectly into the story.

This is an eye opening book, and I am ready to encounter other Ann Patchett’s masterpieces.

This post is submitted for What’s in a Name Challenge, for “emotion” category.

 

 

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

Tags

bargain book!, dramatic, english, family, fiction, name challenge 2013, what's in a name

Title: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake

Writer: Jenny Wingfield

Publisher: HarperPress 2011

Pages: 334p

Bought at: The Book Depository (USD 4,60- bargain price!)

Plot:

Samuel Lake was a good preacher, but his views and ways sometimes got him into trouble, just like what happened in 1956, when he was voted out by his congregation and had nowhere else to live. Samuel decided to take his family to his mother in law’s house in Arkansas, and tried to figure out what he’s going to do with his life. In Arkansas, Samuel’s family faced with many demons and temptations: Samuel’s old lover from the past, their weird relatives, and the worst of all, a neighbor who looked like a demon in disguise. And when Swan, Samuel’s only daughter becoming a victim of their neighbor’s devilish plan, Samuel’s life turned upside down.

My thoughts:

I bought this book simply because of its lovely cover and title. I also read some good reviews about this book so my expectation was quite high. Turned out, this is not my cup of tea. Instead of a warm cozy southern read, this book was actually a story told in stuttering voice, did not have a nice flow and interesting characters inside.

Some reviews were comparing Swan Lake with Scout Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird, and I was very interested to know more about Swan. Apparently, this book was written in third person’s point of view. Swan was not the main heroine and I could not relate to her as much as I wanted to. The characters were simply one dimensional. The good guy like Samuel was very angelic, representative of God itself I guess (considering the author’s choice of Samuel’s profession), and the bad guy, the neighbor Ras Ballenger, represented the devil.

There was nothing mysterious about this book. The conflict was too flat, the characters were too predictable, and you can not help but feeling impatient reading the book. It’s a pity because the premise itself was actually quite good- southern life in the 50s always had a bit of charm. I think it will be better if the writer wrote in first point of view- using Swan’s voice for example, to let us at least to relate more toward the main character. I can’t sympathize to Samuel or his wife, Willadee, whose marriage was portrayed as a very perfect one, especially with the unnecessary subplot of Samuel’s old lover (who was quite a sympathetic character in my opinion).

Overall, I can say this book is just not my cup of tea. The way it was written made it even worse.

Submitted for:

For “Party/Celebration” Category

 

What’s in a Name 6: Sign Up!

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challenge, what's in a name

I enjoyed What’s in a Name 5 Challenge this year, that’s why I decided to join the same challenge for 2013. Thanks for keep hosting it, Beth!

This time, the challenge is more difficult but fun, and I think I already have some ideas of the books I’m gonna read. Here we go!

Here’s How It Works

Between January 1 and December 31, 2013, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with up or down (or equivalent) in the title: Up In The Air (Walter Kirn)
2. A book with something you’d find in your kitchen in the title:The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows)
3. A book with a party or celebration in the title: The Homecoming of Samuel Lake (Jenny Wingfield)
4. A book with fire (or equivalent) in the title: Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire (JK Rowling)
5. A book with an emotion in the title: A Tale Dark and Grimm (Adam Gidwitz)
6. A book with lost or found (or equivalent) in the title: The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) (Ellen Raskin)

Other Things to Know

• Books may be any form (audio, print, e-book).
• Books may overlap other challenges.
• Books may not overlap categories; you need a different book for each category.
• Creativity for matching the categories is not only allowed but encouraged.
• You do not have to make a list of books before hand.
• You do not have to read through the categories in any particular order.

So, do you want to join too? Let’s have some fun!

What’s in a Name 5 Challenge – Wrap Up

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2012, challenge, what's in a name, wrap up

One more wrap up post for challenge in 2012- this time is for What’s in a Name (5) Challenge, hosted by Beth Fish Reads. It’s a very fun challenge, especially trying to find a suitable title for each category- from my TBR pile.

Following are my reads for this challenge:

1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: exp. Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
The Road by Cormac McCarthy –> this one was a hard read, but very worth it!

2. A book with something you’d see in the sky in the title: exp. Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool –> My first 5 star book of the year, thanks to this challenge!

3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title: exp. Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
Lord of The Flies by William Golding –> Gonna re-read this book one day.

4. A book with a type of house in the title: exp. The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Ape House 

Ape House by Sara Gruen –> Not so memorable, but the animal there is quite interesting.

5. A book with something you’d carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: exp. Sarah’s Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers –> I enjoyed reread this book so much! A great experience indeed.

6. A book with something you’d find on a calendar in the title: exp. Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks –> Boring British novel, very slow.

Because this challenge is so much fun, I’ll join again for next year, wait for my post and reading list! =)