Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson

This is one of those "incidental" books. I didn't intend to borrow it, but it caught my eye when I was wandering around the TUFS library. Since this book inspired Neil Humphrey's "Notes from an Even Small Island" (which covers Singapore), I figured that it couldn't hurt to try reading this book.

And wow, I can really see the similarities in the way the two books are written. They're both travelogues of a sort, and they do criticise the respective islands (which, in this case is Britain - not that I would call it an island) but at the core, you feel like the author really does love the place.

Basically, Bill Bryson is about to leave Britain to go back to America and he decides to say farewell by taking a trip around the place. It gives him a chance to compare the Britain he knew and the one that he's saying goodbye to, complain a bit, praise the British transport system and teach you the interesting parts of British history. It manages to be funny and educational at the same times. While it does veer towards condescension at times, it stays on the right side of funny most of the time.

Of course, I checked the published date and it was published in 1995, so you really shouldn't use this as a travel guide in any way. But I find it really cool that it was published while I was living in Britain (my family also has fond memories of the place). So in a way, this is now a history book within a history book. Britain in 1995 and the Britain of the "past" in the book that Bryson compares the Britain he leaves to.

There was only one time where I disagreed with him, and of course, it's over the English language. He says something to the effect that the English language has been enriched by American English. Really? What I remember about American English affecting us (in Singapore) took place when I was 16. For our O levels Chemistry, we were told all of the sudden that due to America, we were to change the spelling of sulphur to "sulfur". I like to think it says a lot of good things about my school that we didn't rejoice at being able to save the effort of writing a letter but instead, started complaining to the teacher that the new spelling made the word look ugly (it does!). Of course, we were only marginally comforted when the teacher agreed with us, but sadly, that ugly spelling is here to stay.

All in all, this is a really funny book that is really different from most "travel" books that I've seen. But naturally, I prefer Neil Humphrey's Notes from an Even Small Island, since I actually know the places talked about in the book there.

Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins

I don't know how to feel about this book. I don't know whether to say it's really great because it elicited really strong reactions from me and made me want to continue reading, or say it's terrible because most of my reactions were negative.

Temptation deals with Rose, an 'English' girl and Noah, an Amish boy. They fall in love, and well, the road to true love is never smooth (at least not in books). They fall in love at such an amazing speed, that most of the book deals with them sneaking around and making their plans for the future.

What this book could have been was amazing. It could have explored the cultural differences while telling a deeply moving story. But, I felt that compared to other books (like Reckless Heart, which I read recently), the Amish culture isn't portrayed positively in this book. In fact, it's portrayed as an over-controlling, anti-feminist culture for most of the book.

Of course, the characters are also infuriating. Even looking past the unnatural speed at which they fall in love, it seems to me that Rose and Noah's relationship is deeply deeply unbalanced. They're either in some kind of power-play relationship or they're doing the "I-can't-live-without-you" routine. Plus, Noah comes off as very controlling, and I thought he started thinking of Rose as his possession rather than a person towards the end of the book. I think it was meant to show deep devotion but it's also slightly creepy. Oh, I checked and I actually bookmarked this quote (and similar ones exist all over the book):

"How was I going to convince her [Rose] to do what I wanted when she was behaving like a child?"

Rose, on the other hand, was a brat. While there's nothing wrong with it (I'm a brat too!), it's unsettling how quickly she falls into what I can only call "Bella-mode". And it's even sadder because she started off as such a feisty girl. Here's a quote that sums up what she becomes at the end:

"How could I be ruining my life, when Noah was my whole life?"

Really? Your entire self-worth is based on a guy whom you just met?

Another thing that bugged me was the absence of God in the novel. In an Amish novel. There are references to the Church and stuff, but really, I didn't feel that any of the characters had a personal relationship with God.

Despite all this "ranting" (and the fact that I realised that this is probably the Amish version of Twilight), I'm actually looking forward to the next book, I want to see where this relationship is heading. That's why I'm confused about the book.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Keeping the Moon by Sarah Dessen

Even though I'm slowly/not so slowly buying/borrowing books in Japan, I still go back to the books I brought with me when I'm homesick. Like Sarah Dessen, I think out of all the authors I packed, I packed the most books from her (4 books). I previously reviewed The Truth About Forever, and now, here's another re-read: Keeping the Moon.

Keeping the Moon features Collie, who has never fit in. First, that was because she was fat and when she became thin, she developed a reputation she didn't deserve (school can be cruel). But one summer, her mom (who became Kiki Sparks and famous after losing weight) goes on tour and she's sent to her Aunt Mira for the summer. Mira is eccentric in ways too many to count but like in a Sarah Dessen novel, this is when she makes friends and finds out her own worth,

I say "like in a Sarah Dessen novel" because looking back, it fits her storyline pretty typically. But, while reading it, I never once felt a sense of deja vu. In fact, it was the complete opposite. I'll have to say that this is probably because of the writing and the characters. Colie, Morgan, Isabel and really everyone else is so well-portrayed that it made the story unique.

Especially Morgan and Isabel's friendship. They're alike (and at the same time opposite) that they remind me of my best friend and I. The way they talk, know each other so well, it sounds like what Rachel and I do. We don't talk about the same subjects, but the way we talk (or don't need to) is the same thing.

While I've never had Collie's problems (I'm sorry, but I don't think I was/am fat. And I was a goody-two-shoes), I can certainly identify with her loneliness. I think this is amplified all the more in Japan. While I have really awesome friends, there's a certain loneliness from being so far away from the friends left behind, and the language barrier doesn't help much. So in a way, reading about Collie fitting in by being who she is encouraged me that I will make friends eventually and there's no need to worry about fitting in.

Seriously, I think if you're going overseas/moving, you should bring Sarah Dessen along (I could make a list of authors to bring). If you have a friend moving, maybe you could give her this book to let her know you'll be thinking of her.

Little Night by Luanne Rice

I didn't know what to expect when I requested this book. It's supposed to be a family drama, but I didn't know what type (If you want a brief long introduction to family drama, watch the Taiwanese series Ai (Love)). But basically, Little Night examines the relationships between sisters and mother-daughter.

While trying to protect her sister Anne from her abusive husband, Clare hit him and got sent to jail for two years. This more-or-less broke the ties between them since Anne lied on the stand for her husband. But one day, Anne's daughter Grit appears on Clare's doorstep all of a sudden, and well, everything collides.

I found this story really heartbreaking. The two sisters didn't intentionally severe ties, it was all caused by Anne's husband, who emotionally and I think physically abused her. Basically, the book explores the effects of domestic violence on the relationship between female members of the family. It's not as clinical as I make it sound, but it's heartbreaking because while I was hoping for a happy ending, I could see that it wasn't going to happen (and it didn't).

As for the characters, I think they were wonderful. I have nothing more to say about it, except that I thought it was realistic.

The plot was interesting. It shifted between the incident in the past, the present, Clare and Grit's point of view and Anne's journals/website. In this way, I kinda knew more than the characters, but that actually served to increase the "tension". Because I knew more, I wanted the characters to behave a certain way but since they only knew what they knew, their actions and my expectations diverged.

Plus, in Anne's case, the release of information was well timed. Because it's linked to when Clare/Grit reads her diaries, we only get her point of view at very selective stages - and a lot of it is about the past. There was another plot device that managed to delay releasing information from her website even though the reader knows it exists.

In conclusion, this is a good book. I think it was sensitively written, and I enjoyed reading it very much. Most of the plots were fully explored so yay!

Disclaimer: I got this book free from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Teaser Tuesday - Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson

Midterms are over! And now I can resume reading(: Right now, I'm reading another book that I borrowed from the school library (I try to go there often) called - Notes from a Small Island. I picked it up because in Singapore, we have a book whose title was inspired by that (Notes from an Even Small Island by Neil Humphreys - go read it!). So, here's today's teaser:

"I forgot to mention curry houses earlier in my brief list of Bradford's glories, which is a terrible oversight. Bradford may have lost a wool trade, but it has gained a thousand excellent Indian restraurants, which I personally find a reasonable swap as I have a strictly limited need for bales of fiber but can take about as much Indian food as you care to shovel at me." (page 180)

Do you think the book sounds funny? So far, it's an amusing read, but then again, I'm only 3 chapters into it.

What are your Teaser Tuesdays?

Book Blogger Hop #1

As always, I'm not much of a meme person, but I am very intrigued by this week's question. Plus, I like the ethics behind this meme. So, this week's question is:

How do you handle the writing of a negative review?

Well, honestly, I try my best not to write negative reviews. I'm well aware of my biases, so I tend to stay away from books that I think I won't like. But since I've been getting more review copies to read (thank you NetGalley), I've also encountered more books whose blurb's and my expectations don't meet. In this case, I'd rather decline to review. If I'm getting a free copy, I don't feel good writing a negative review, so if I can't write a nice review, I'd rather not write anything at all.

There was this one time, however, where the book was sent from the author. In this case, I emailed him once I realised I couldn't write a good review and told him my reasons. Since I'd previously agreed to review the book, I asked him if he still wanted me to do so (but I won't write a nice review when I can't). Thankfully, he understood my position and let me back out.

But if it's a book I bought/borrowed, all bets are off. I may or may not write a review, depending on how infuriated I am with the book itself (and it's lack of logic/excessive swearing/etc).

Hmm... what about you? Do you prefer not to write negative reviews too?

Reckless Heart by Amy Clipston

I actually didn't know that I've read one of the books in this series until I started reading Reckless Heart. Then, it hit me. I realised that the names were familiar not because they were common, but because I've seen them before.

And really, I enjoyed this book more than A Life of Joy.

Reckless Heart follows Lydia, who's suddenly overwhelmed when her younger sister Ruth is diagnosed with Leukemia. She reacts by alternately trying to bear the weight of the household on her shoulders and what she perceives as "lashing out/being disrespectful" towards her dad (her mom is at the hospital with poor Ruth). At the same time, she has to make a career choice and deal with a friendship with an English boy, a friendship frowned upon by the community.

Personally, I think the two subplots weren't as well dealt with as the main plot. While I didn't always agree with Lydia's perception of herself, I could understand her and I was hoping along with her that Ruth would get better. Plus, the characterisation of this household in turmoil was very well done, and brought the characters to life.

On the other hand, I think that the weight of the main plot crowded out the subplot. There wasn't enough space given to each that they could develop and honestly, I thought that the whole "school-or-bakery" crisis was a non-event. It didn't feel like a crisis anyway. But, the friendship with Tristan (the "English" guy) had definite potential. In fact, he was my favourite character in the whole book, a nice Christian guy who goes beyond the discrimination against him. It was a stronger sub-plot, but again, the resolution felt like a non-event. Perhaps more time was needed to build up the tension before the resolution?

All in all, this is an enjoyable book. The speech felt a bit confused at times (sometimes I didn't understand the Amish words, and sometimes I felt like the characters were speaking exactly like modern teens), but it wasn't a very big impediment. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a fiction book centered around the Amish.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.