Worth-It Wednesday

The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende

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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

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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

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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!! 

Worth - It Wednesday!

 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Happy Hump Day! I come to you today with a Worth-It Wednesday. A fellow bookish friend of mine came up with the name & I would like to give her credit, Thanks Dia! 

If you are a avid reader & search out books, we often are bombarded by new releases rather then back listed books. Until recently, I would have rarely gone to the store and picked up the newest books. However, thanks to a few podcasts, I have hauled quite a few. That being said I want to do a mid-week review on newer release or hyped books to see if they are Worth It! 

Alas, I come to you with The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I posted on Friday that it was one of my weekend reads. It consumed my weekend, which i am not complaining about! I love when a book captures me and its very rare! 

The book is set in Mallard, LA which is a fictional town solely inhabited by black people who strive to marry lighter, in order for their children to be lighter or whiter. (In a interview, Brit said she got the idea from her mom who grew up in the South and there was an actual town you cant find on maps that was truly like this.) We are introduced to Stella & Desire Vignes, twin sisters who one night witness the lynching of their dad. It sets the tone of how each of them growing up was effected at that moment of witnessing the trauma. These sisters were tight, close as any twin siblings you can think of but this one situation rather then bringing them closer they dramatically lead different lives. One married the darkest black man she can find living as a black woman, while they other one runs away to live and pass as white. They embark on two different paths, but the story connects their stories with their daughters. 

The author does a great job at world building, where you feel you are in the cities, homes and atmospheres of the characters. She touches on identity of ones self in various stages of each characters life makes you think, "How much would I risk to block out a traumatic experience in my life?" "Would I go as far as overtaking a whole other life completely separate from my original upbringing?" Basically, identity is complicated. 

Is this book warranted all the praise? An astounding YESSSSS!!! It is not an easy read, it's deep but not too hard to understand what the take away is going to be. It left me wanting more backstory to almost all the supporting characters which in my book a good author does - ahem Toni Morrison. She respects every character even though you will tend to like some over others. 

This is my book club pick this month & I can not wait to discuss this! I can't wait to discuss this with anyone, so let me know if you read it or are planning to put this on your list! If so, you need to move it up on that list! 

And yes, Imitation of Life, ran all thru my head and Nat King Cole's unparalleled movie opening son thru out my reading! 

Have a good day peeps! 

Friday Reads August 7th, 2020

 

Friday is Here!! It has been a long week but today I took off from my work life. Day of catching up on chores & needed rest! Below are two books I started mid-week & loving already! Hope you guy get a good restful weekend before the Monday Grind! 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

I read on page on Tuesday & knew immediately that this was going to be one of my favorite reads of 2020! Yes one page because that is how GOOD Britt Bennett is! As I mentioned in my last Friday post, this is a book about the Vignes twin sisters who grow up in a small black community and running away at 16. What is interesting is that one passes as white while the other doesn’t. Ten years have passed by, with on sister returning with her daughter. My local book club picked this which I was ecstatic about because I love including diverse writers and books. My goal is to finish this over the weekend! 

Wandering The Strange Lands: A Daughter of the Great Migration Reclaims Her Heart by Morgan Jerkins

Next up is a Non-Fiction pick, one I have been anticipating since Morgan announced it on her Twitter feed. Morgan is a great writer whom I first was introduced to thru Book Riot post back in the day. Ever, since I will read her pieces she writes in articles or think pieces for whichever newspaper and her twitter is so great! Her memoir This Will Become My Undoing, was a great read in 2018. This time she writes about her understand her norther and southern roots, the Great Migration, and he displacement of black people across America. I pick this on Scrib to listen to while I work and so far it is what I need from a non-fiction right now, so much I already learned. 

That is it for now!! Talk to you on Monday!! 

Monday Musings

Mondays-they just aren't ever easy unless you have them off or take them off in my case that would be a no. So we do our best, with lots of caffeine! And with me a great book podcast!

I recently discovered Diving In Podcast hosted by Laura & Virginia, they hail from Australia and have great taste in books. This past week's episode was on Twins - books with Twins. They made me even MORE excited to read The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett (if you have not read The Mothers by her, wow!) but i have now put 2 other books on my list:

-Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell - alright another confession, I try to stay away from anything doing with Shakespeare. I have my husband and good friend who have to constantly explain the meaning of his works except his sonnets. His plays are just not for me but how the girls described this book, its less about him and more about his family. His wife Agnes and then the twins, Hamnet and Judith. I knew his son dies at a young age but didn't know Hamlet sprung from that. So of course my middle name is tragedy, I am now interested!


-A Saint of Texas by Edmund White - about two twin girls, Yvette & Yvonne, living on a Texas prairie (giving me Giant the movie vibes) who drift apart pursuing different paths in life- one goes to Paris (that cover!) and one to Columbia. It doesn't seem like too plot heavy and can be read on those "i don't want to think" days.


Weekend Reading Updates:

-Finished How Much Of These Hills Are Gold - if you haven't seen my IG post. This was a 2/5 star for me-I listened to a podcast after I read it to see if I could gleam insight on something in the book I didn't fully grasp. It is suppose to be more artistic than a story that is set before you but like one IG book friend described it "she tried to hard to be Cormac McCarthy" who is the KING of Westerns period.

-still reading Wow, No Thank You & Gods of Jade and Shadow

-I have my local book club on Wednesday and have some really good suggestions for our next book!

Any book on your radar from podcasts? Let me know!!

Friday Reads - 7/31/2020

Happy Friday!! And happy 1st post day in a long time!! 

I had given up on the blog a couple of years ago because my work scheduled changed from part-time to full-time. It has taken me awhile to get back to what i love. That is reading and crafting on my downtime. Since the pandemic, I have tried to focus on what makes me happy-reading and making cards! My blog was mainly to review books but this time around I am trying to compile different topics for my scheduled posts with a few flash reviews here and there. 

I know my post title is not original in the social bookish world but if it isn't broke why fix it. 

I have been a book haul binge lately take recommendations from podcasts & my favorite book tube channels. Here is what I plan to read this weekend (it is good to note I am what you call a Polygamist Reader-I can read multiple books at one time depending on my mood) : 

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby - It has been a long time coming for me to pick up something from Samantha. I follow her on twitter and have read excerpts of her books but never got her book. I take this to work when I need a good laugh on those stressful days & it works! Her essays are like she is in my brain! 

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zahng - This just made the long-list of the Booker Prize after I purchased it so i am really excited to finish it but there is a couple of things I am having issues with. To review soon! 

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - So I love to read diversely, have done so for years...but I am guilty, as a Mexican-American to not have read more authors of the same nationality. I want to turn that around this year so I have been eyeing a lot of Moreno-Garcia's (its helps that maternal part of my family names are hers too) back list & this one intrigued me most because of the Mexican Folklore tied in. I have taken my time with reading this, I am finding I like this when I have devote my full time just to be immersed in the world. 

Have a great weekend!