Worth-It Wednesday

The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

⭐⭐

I have long been wanting to read a Allende novel (to my surprise I have, in which I learned at our book club zoom) and my opportunity came in the form of the Spilling Tea online book Club hosted by  Ryan & Russell (IG: readbyryan & inkandpaperblog). 

This book was published in 1982, which makes it one of her earlier book and most famous. The setting is in a country that is not named but reflects much of Chile, in which Isabel is from. It is a family saga that spans over generations. We are introduced to the del Valle daughters, Rosa & Clara. We find that both are very unique and in touch with the spiritual world especially Clara. Very early on Rosa passes away and leaves a fiance Esteban Trueba, who is overwhelmed with grief he begins to throw himself in developing a land in which his father left behind. However, he is then engaged to Clara and they embark on their marriage and expanding their family, on and on. 

The book I had was well over 450 pages and every inch of that is more descriptions I have ever experienced in my reading life. I wish the author took note and let her characters in on the descriptive nature of this because these are probably some of the most one dimensional characters I have ever read. I mean the one character I did like was Clara but even then there was no substance to who she was, how she felt. The one person that is given a narrative is Esteban and he is the worse. He needed to kick the bucket early on, the author kept redeeming him for all his maliciousness! So to that effect, the descriptions of the country and the homes were welcomed because I hated the characters so much! Probably, why i gave it 2 stars. 

During book club, one of the other gals mentioned she tried to read Daughter of Fortune by Allende, then it came back to me that I tried that one too and hated it! Needless to say, she is going in my authors i will not soon read (Margret Atwood has a plot there). Most of the book club did enjoy this book and it was their second reading. This is why I enjoy book clubs because you are able to get insight on how others view the book from their perspective. 

Hope all of you are doing well! Happy Hump Day! 

 

Worth-It Wednesday!

 

Happy Hump Day! This week has been off to a great start. I have been focusing mainly on one book (this is very unheard of for me) for a book club I joined on IG. It is a layered, family saga! I have recently begun annotating my physical books and trying to learn how to do it with my Kindle app. I used to write notes in a notepad but then my notes are all co-mingled together and later they don't make sense to me, haha. I have two book reviews for your this week, Bronte's Mistress & The Gods of Jade and Shadow. Keep reading if you want to know my full opinion. 

Bronte's Mistress by Finola Austin

⭐⭐⭐

I am a avid fan of the Bronte brood and was sure to pick request this thru Net Galley courtesy of Simon & Schuster. The book start us meeting the Robinson family particularly Lydia Robinson, the woman of the home. Anne Bronte is the governess of her daughters but Anne's brother Branwell has just been hired on as her son's tutor. The setting is 1800s England, which is right up my alley, we find that Lydia is starting or in the middle of a mid-life crisis. She doesn't seem wanted by her kid or her husband and is looking for attention elsewhere. Here comes in the new tutor. Right off they have some sort of spark and the story goes from there. 

I wanted to give this more stars then I did, it really fell short. Although I did appreciate the fast paced of the story, it really lacked any substance. I wasn't invested in any of the characters except when they mentioned Anne, Charlotte & Emily but that is not what this story is about. It was about Lydia and Branwell friendship & supposed affair. I knew it going into this but Lydia really bugged me. She was insufferable. I think I would prefer a story focusing more on Branwell with a little Lydia here and there. 

Gods of Jade & Shadow By Silvia Moreno-Garcia

⭐⭐⭐

Yes it is a 3 star kinda day. For those of you who don't know the rating of stars in the book world, its meh ok book - good but not great, you know. Its in the middle. That being said. This book is a great example. I went into it really know very little of what this was about other then it touched on fantasy, a dash of Amazonian mythology. I loved the setting early 20th century Mexico, a young girl, Casiopea, who lost her dad, which her family consider beneath their class for their daughter to procreate with. She is a servant in her own family home and she is mostly caring for her mean grandfather. Low and behold, her grandfather has a chest in which contains the bones of a Amazonian god in which she unleashes and he is now brought back to life only thru a shard of his bone being in-bedded in her. I was like whoa hoa, this is going to be great. The god is Hun-Kame, he takes Casiopea on a journey to reclaim his throne in Xibalba. He takes Casiopea out of her home with her family, this is a dream for her but with a obligation of setting this God free and somehow not killing her in the process. Its a great adventure that takes some time building up. I often had to look up names and places I was not familiar with, which was fun. What did me in not giving this 4 stars was the last quarter of the book, which out giving away too much it turns into Hunger Games and I wasn't there for it. However, I have very promising hopes in the authors other works which I have on deck for the fall. She is really good at story telling and will be great if she hones in a little more. 

Stay safe and read on! 

Monday Musings

 

Oh Mondays! This particular Monday I am struggling with this Cali heat and my asthma...SMH! I was able to start and finish a book this weekend, in which I have a mini review below. Also, this weekend I got a invitation to Penguin Random House's Book Your Summer! which is a two day author event. I am over excited to be included in the discussion with Brit Bennett! I am going to take as many notes as I can to share on the blog. 

Passing by Nella Larsen

I had to immediately pick up this book after reading The Vanishing Half per several suggests from other blogs and podcasts. Written during the Harlem Renaissance, this is a story of re connection between two childhood friends from Chicago. Irene and Clare both could pass as white but Clare is the one that chose to go for it fully after her fathers death. When they meet for the first time, Irene doesn't even recognize her at all. Nella breaks down the story in 3 sections - Encounter, Re-Encounter, and Finale - it is written in the function of a performance as like a play really. Much like the Vanishing Half, it makes you think about race, class and society but this was set after WW1, we are a hundred years later and seem to be dealing with the exact same issues! I enjoyed this book not as much as Vanishing Half since there was more characters involved but i did take a deep dive into Nella's bio and can't but feel she was writing from her experience. She only written two novel's and both are the experience of being mixed raced & passing at some point. I would definitely recommend this as a companion read for TVH! 

Hope you all have a good day & I will be back with a Worth It Wednesday!!