Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

 Summary: I know I won't do the book any justice trying to explain the plot. Elspeth and Edie are twins, and Edie is mother to 2 twins, Julia and Valentina. When their aunt Elspeth dies, she leaves them her London flat. The twins move in and realize that Elspeth's ghost is very active. Other characters include Elspeth's lover and a man named Martin who lives upstairs.

Short review: I adored 2/3 of this book. The final 1/3 I was sitting in my chair gasping in horror. Martin and Robert are great characters. Elspeth and Julia are easy to hate.

Long review: The author's style is beautiful. I love her descriptions and the tone she sets makes me feel very melancholy. Basically, she does the job she sets out to do in this sense.

The characters had interesting personalities. Martin's OCD was fascinating to me, especially the fact that the novel was showing him broken-hearted and trying to figure out what to do next. Robert's grief was portrayed in a way that made me feel for him from the beginning of the book.

Valentina's shyness was an appealing characteristic to me but I didn't like to see Julia push her around. The relationship between Julia and Valentina was disturbing to me and I hoped I would see some more independence in the middle of the book.

Elspeth is absolutely detestable. I hated her character.

This is the first book I've completed in 2010 and I do think it will be hard to beat. It was also the first I completed on the Nook! Maybe I was a little disappointed because I expected more from the ending? The middle of the book was the most compelling. What did I want to see more of? I would have liked to see more of a resolution with Robert. I hated Valentina's ending.


What did you think?

Baby-Sitters Club Makeover

I recently read 2 articles that said The Baby-Sitters Club would be getting a makeover to be more modern:

Baby-Sitters Club Is Back

Explanations, Breaks And Personality Makeovers: A Baby-Sitters Club Revamp Wish List

 Here are a few things I would like to see made over, though it seems unlikely: 

• The girls need to be older than 12 or 13. 
  

• Can we update the wardrobes please? I love Claudia's outfits but I don't think the younger generations will "get" it.  

• Give the girls more personalities. Especially Mary Anne and Mallory.

• Replace "Cam Geary" with a more awesome name. 

  
  

  Do you have any wishes for the BSC makeover?
  

  
  

Why does religious freedom matter?

I'm a little behind on pretty much everything for a lot of reasons, so I had to pretty much skip Bloggiesta and the new year's read-a-thon, which I am not happy about. What I am happy about, however, is that the Social Justice Challenge has started. The January theme is one subject I find very important: religious freedom. I plan to read a book related to religious freedom this month, though I'm not sure which one yet.

Religious freedom is so important to me. I am an atheist and many times I have felt that I was treated badly or stereotyped because of this. While I have had some bad experiences with religious people, I do not think anybody should have their religion stripped from them. I have mixed feelings about religion, though I think that believers should be able to believe freely. I also think that those who do not believe, like me, should have this freedom. it is horrible to hear about people who are killed because of their religion.

Though I am an atheist now, I was brought up in a Christian environment. My family did go to church at times, and I enjoyed it. I always questioned the existence of God, however, even as a child. I still had the desire to learn more about religion and when I moved to Texas it was strange to experience such a strict separation among the different religions. The time I spent in Texas is what encouraged me to decide I was not religious, and this is where I found a lot of hatred. I found that Baptists and Catholics had negative things to say about each other, and the statements were deep-rooted. I heard comments from a "friend" that everybody who was not Baptist should be killed.

I admit that I do not know a lot about religious freedom outside of the United States. I would like to broaden my perspective, however, which is why I joined the Social Justice Challenge. I hope this month will prove to be educational in this way.

Everybody should be able to practice, or not practice, their religion as the see fit, as long as they are doing it in a safe way that does not harm others or infringe on the rights of others.




I recommend that everybody take a look at the Social Justice challenge and read some of the other blog posts about why religious freedom matters. There are a lot of other book bloggers with interesting takes on the subject.

2009 Stats

It's a little late due to me procrastinating, but here are some of my reading statistics for 2009!

Pages read (only from books completed): 33,676    - Maybe I'll get to 50,000 this year?
Books completed: 119
Average pages per book - 282.99 pages

Female authors: 59
Male authors: 6
Authors new to me: 49

Fiction: 94
Non-fiction: 25

Classics: 1
Children: 2
Young Adult: 39
Graphic: 1
Re-reads: 28

Worst month: January with 1 book read
Best month: November with 18 books read

Yay for 2010!

Changes for 2010

I plan to make a lot of changes to my blog for 2010. I still don't have everything worked out to the extent that I would like, but here is a general overview of the changes I plan to make this year.

• More posts in a series and unrelated to book reviews
• Improve my book review format and include an in-depth summary for each book I read along with a review. 
• I want to organize the way I run giveaways and contests better and find a way that works best. Instead of weekly giveaways I plan to make a monthly giveaway where a way to enter the monthly giveaway is presented each week. 
• I plan to review Sweet Valley High, Baby-Sitters Club, and V.C. Andrews books chapter-by-chapter. I may implement this method for similar books. 

How do you plan to change your blog for 2010?

Top Movies and Music of 2009

This year I wasn't so big on movies but I listened to a lot more music, mainly thanks to my XM radio.

Here are my favorite movies that I watched in 2009 in order:

7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
6. Jennifer's Body
5. The Time Traveler's Wife
4. 500 Days of Summer
3. Adventureland
2. New Moon
1. Whip It

And the music I loved in 2009, not necessarily in order:

Kings of Leon
Passion Pit
Metric
La Roux
Lady Gaga
The Glee soundtrack
Matt & Kim
Paramore

My Top 10 Reads in 2009

I read a lot of great books this year and I'm so excited to read even more in 2010! Here is my top 10 list of my favorite reads of 2009 and why!

Runner-up: Gossip Girl by Cecily Ziegesar
 While I do struggle with the writing style and story development of the series, there is an element that is so addictive that I keep wanting to read more.

10. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
This book has some interesting characters and the language and style is just fun. 

9. Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty
The whole Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty is great! I love Jessica Darling and McCafferty's writing style is so sarcastic that I can't help but love the books.

8. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Nick and Norah are both interesting characters and the way that the story between them is told is unique.

7. Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres
This memoir had quite an emotional impact on me and the story was fascinating. It inspired me to do a little bit of research on my own. Any book that inspires me to research is worth noting.

6. The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares
I really liked reading about the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I love all the characters and the style in which their story is told is down-to-earth and fun.

5. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
I had always been fascinated in the Tudors and always thought that reading even fiction about Anne Boleyn would be amazing. That is why this book stands out to me so much. I felt for the narrator, Mary Boleyn, and I loved the story she told.

4. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
I had to start reading this book for an English course but I ended up finishing it just for myself. It is the first graphic non-fiction that I've read and the story Satrapi tells is informative and eye-opening.

3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The element of Stockett's book that stands out to me the most is the characterization.Each character adds something new to the story and opens up to the reader bit by bit.

2. Dead Until Dark and the rest of the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris
I cannot say enough good things about the Sookie Stackhouse series. The books even got my mom reading when I lent them to her. The characters are amazing and the story in each book keeps me interested. Of course the main reason I keep reading, however, is Eric.

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneggar
The characters in this book are so interesting that I did not want to stop reading. The entire book is emotional and bittersweet. I love Niffeneggar's writing style.


There you have it! Do you have any books in common with me on your Best of 2009 list?

The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery #31: Mary Anne and the Music Box Secret

Summary:  Mary Anne is cleaning her grandparent's basement with her step-mother after a flood and she finds a hidden music box. The catch is that the music box is allegedly cursed. Strange things begin happening around Mary Anne and she begins to wonder if the box is cursed after all. 

Review: For some reason I tend to shy away from BSC Mystery books. The mysteries aren't all that intriguing. For example, there is no reason for Mary Anne to believe that the music box is cursed because nothing significant happens because of it to make her believe this. 

Every once in a while I will be reading a BSC book and stumble upon a client I just cannot stand. Mrs. Dewitt is one of these clients. She already has 7 children and has invited over 6 more. She's pretty much an idiot because she only called over 2 sitters to watch 13 children while her home is undergoing construction. 

The obligatory description of each character's personality and skills come into play in the second chapter as Mary Anne describes how each person can play a role in helping her solve the mystery. I look forward to seeing how characters will be introduced in each book. 

One good thing about this book is that it made me like Jessi a little bit more than I typically do. In one scene, Jessi claims to like the new Barrett-Dewitt children's bathroom because it makes her feel like she's in a  rain forest. That's exactly what I look for in a bathroom!

Mary Anne is one of my favorite narrators but this book seemed to be missing something. Like all BSC books, it's great for a young audience but also fun for an adult to read and appreciate for the unintentional humor.