Wither – Lauren DeStefano

What if you knew exactly when you would die? Thanks to modern science, every human being has become a ticking genetic time bomb—males only live to age twenty-five, and females only live to age twenty. In this bleak landscape, young girls are kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages to keep the population from dying out.

When sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is taken by the Gatherers to become a bride, she enters a world of wealth and privilege. Despite her husband Linden's genuine love for her, and a tenuous trust among her sister wives, Rhine has one purpose: to escape—to find her twin brother and go home.

But Rhine has more to contend with than losing her freedom. Linden's eccentric father is bent on finding an antidote to the genetic virus that is getting closer to taking his son, even if it means collecting corpses in order to test his experiments. With the help of Gabriel, a servant Rhine is growing dangerously attracted to, Rhine attempts to break free, in the limted time she has left.

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Year: 2011
Rating: 5/5

I picked up this book on sale at Basement Books in Sydney.  It was cheap. It has a pretty cover. And I had previously read a review on 25 Hour Books which caught my interest.

Despite that, I wasn't expecting too much. Nowadays the market is saturated with these types of novels. YA romances. Dystopian fiction. They are a dime-a-dozen and there is plenty to choose from. So I was expecting the run of the mill read. I was pleasantly surprised. Wither was intriguing and haunting. I couldn't put it down.

Thanks to scientific experiments in genetic engineering, people now only live until they are young adults. Once women hit 20 and men hit 25, they get sick and die a horrible death. In an effort to save the human race from extinction, the older generation which are still living from before these days, encourage their offspring to procreate before they die. All while looking for an antidote.

This has resulted in woman being treated as a commodity. Life is tough. You have to fight to survive and harsh realities face teenage girls. There is fear of being murdered, kidnapped and forced into prostitution, or kidnapped and forced to be 'a bride' in order to have babies and keep the human race going.

For Rhine, all of these options are horrifying, so to say she is unhappy when she is kidnapped and forced to marry Linden is an understatement. She joins two other girls, her sister-wives, and together they are afforded to live their short lives in luxury, on the condition they do their best to get pregnant. 

When it comes down to the crunch, this doesn't sound so bad. Rhine gets to live in a beautiful manor, she is given plenty of pretty dresses and has two other girls to spend her time with. But loss of freedom is loss of freedom no matter what the circumstances, all Rhine wants to do is escape and return to her twin brother. 

The novels focuses on her plans to do this and her growing relationship with her sister-wives, a young servant boy and her husband. Things are never as they seem and Rhine learns this the hard way. 

The big bad in this novel is Linden's father. He will stop at nothing to try and save his son. He is driven by a desire to find an antidote and will do all it takes. Even if it means murder. There sure are some creepy scenes in this novel.

Underneath the basic story DeStefano touches on some very important issues. Human trafficking, mortality rates, the sex trade, womens rights and lack of power are all issues that are very real in our world today. So although this book is fiction, it really isn't all that far from reality. If you can look past the futuristic setting and dystopian aspects, you could relate these themes to problems facing women in many different countries in our world today. 

This book, being YA, was also an easy read. I basically read it in one sitting. So this is one of those books that is great for a lazy Sunday afternoon or long journey. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys dystopian fiction. Just be aware that this novel is focused on the characters so don't expect a great new world. I think that is the only negative about this novel, the world isn't really fleshed out. But that's ok. The characters and the issues they face are more than enough to make this book a good read.

1Q84 – Haruki Murakami

The year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo. A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 — “Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.”

Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled. As Aomame’s and Tengo’s narratives converge over the course of this single year, we learn of the profound and tangled connections that bind them ever closer: a beautiful, dyslexic teenage girl with a unique vision; a mysterious religious cult that instigated a shoot-out with the metropolitan police; a reclusive, wealthy dowager who runs a shelter for abused women; a hideously ugly private investigator a mild-mannered yet ruthlessly efficient bodyguard; and a peculiarly insistent television-fee collector.

A love story, a mystery, a fantasy, a novel of self-discovery, a dystopia to rival George Orwell’s — 1Q84 is Haruki Murakami’s most ambitious undertaking yet: an instant best seller in his native Japan, and a tremendous feat of imagination from one of our most revered contemporary writers.

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Publisher:  Random House
Year: 2011
Rating: 4/5

I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of this novel by the crew over at Random House. Not only is it always cool to be sent book to review, but I am a huge Murakami fan, so getting this gem in the post was exciting!

This novel may be the most anticipated book of the year. Murakami has a large international following and the hype surrounding the release of this book was pretty intense. For months now I have seen this book talked about all over the bloggersphere and that is something. You know you have made it as an author when people are talking about your book before it has even been released.

As stated in the blurb this book follows the intertwining stories of Aomame and Tengo. Two lost souls who first met in elementary school, and shared one intimate moment, but have long gone their separate ways.

Raised in a religious cult, Aomame has left her roots behind and now works as a fitness trainer by day, and an assassin by night. Sounds pretty ruthless, right? Despite the nature of her job, Aomame could be said to have noble intentions behind her work. She is employed by an old dowager who runs a house for battered women and helps out by ridding the world of the men who hurt them. 

We meet Aomame as she is on her way to a job. She gets stuck in the traffic on the expressway and is worried about not being unable to complete this assignment. Lucky for her, the taxi driver suggests a way in which she can keep her appointment, But her warns her,

And also, the driver said, facing the mirror, "please remember: things are not what they seem."

The driver chose his words carefully: "It's just that you're about to do something out of the ordinary. Am I right?"

"Right. And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before. I've had that experience myself. But don't let appearances fool you. There;s always only one reality." - Page 9

Reality is a big theme in this book. After Aomame takes on the driver's suggestion things do start to look different and certain aspects of the world have changed. Is Aomame going crazy? Or has the world really changed? What exactly is reality, anyway? 

Aomame dubs this new world 1Q84 and struggles with the fact that she seems to be the only one that can see the changes. Little does she know, someone else has entered this world too. Tengo, the boy she hasn't seen since elementary school is now also all grown up and strange things are happening for him too. 

Tengo works as a maths teacher at a local cram school and harbours dreams of writing novels for a living. Too bad he can't seem to get published. That is until his publisher friend approaches him to rewrite a novel called 'Air Chrysalis', written by seventeen-year-old Fuka-Eri.

Fuka-Eri's novel contains a fantastic story but it is poorly written, so the plan is to have Tengo to fix it up. This basically amounts to literary fraud but Tengo is drawn in by the story and agrees; against his better judgement. By doing this, he soon finds that the world seems different. Things have changed. What is going on? Could the fantasy world created by Fuka-Eri be real?

1Q84 is a big book. At 925 pages and three 'books' which make up the story, this tome made for a lengthy read. In my honest opinion, this novel was too long. I feel like a traitor to the Murakami Army by saying that, but it really could have done with some heavy handed editing. 

The whole novel we follow the parallel stories of Aomame and Tengo, just waiting for them meet up again. This is something that was dragged out through the book and I was a little annoyed by it by the end. You know it is going to happen, it just doesn't, not for 895 pages anyway. I guess some people may enjoy this 'will they or won't they' theme, but I just found it trite.

My only other criticism is the romance aspect of this novel. My opinion may be coloured by the fact I am not really a fan of those sorts of stories to begin with, but I found it unbelievable. Call me cold hearted, but I just didn't feel the love. Can two people really have one 'moment' when they are 10, never see each other again, then still be in love with each twenty years later? Maybe. I don't see it, but I kind of wish I did.

Despite these aspects, I enjoyed this book. It was well written and thoughtful. I enjoyed Aomame's relationship with the dowager, Fuka-Eri's strange personality and felt akin to Tengo's literary ambitions. The story in 'Air Chrysalis' was interesting, and some of the secondary characters were well played out.

Like all Murakami novels, questions relating to human nature and the world are raised, which left me pondering for a long time after the novel had been put down. That is probably the thing I love most about Murakami's work. His ability to make you think about things that you maybe wouldn't have thought about before.

Overall, this was an enjoyable novel. Definitely not Murakami's finest work, but good enough to cement his place as a great modern literary figure.

Have you read 1Q84? What did you think? Are you with me, or do you think this is Murakami's great masterpiece? Leave me a comment and let me know!

The Shifting Fog – Kate Morton

Summer 1924: on the eve of a glittering Society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, one-time house-maid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and memories, long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge; something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The Shifting Fog is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

Genre: Fiction, Edwardian, Romance, Mystery
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Year: 2007
Rating: 4/5

The Shifting Fog (known as The House at Riverton in the US and UK) tells the story of the Hartfords, a family on the verge of falling apart, as told by their former maid, Grace Bradley. 

As a young girl, Grace is sent to work for the Hartfords. A rich, society family who live in the grand Riverton Manor. Grace is a shy fourteen-year-old who yearns for company her own age. Because of this, Grace finds herself drawn to Hannah, one of the Hartford children. 

Grace is extremely loyal and she develops a close friendship with Hannah. Well, as close as you can expect a maid to develop with her mistress. Grace follows Hannah from Riverton, to Paris and London. The perfect companion, always by Hannah's side, watching out for her and completing any task Hannah asks of her, to the point where she forgoes her own happiness in order to serve Hannah.

It is through this close relationship, that we hear Grace's story of the decline of the Hartford family, the secrets Hannah held and what really happened on the night Robbie Hunter killed himself by the lake at Riverton. 

After 84 years of silence, Grace is ready to let go of all her secrets (and those of the Hartfords) and divulge the truth.

Not only do we have the mystery of what happened to Robbie Hunter, but Grace's mother once worked at Riverton and left under mysterious circumstances. Circumstances that Grace is curious about, but which her mother refuses to talk about. This serves as a secondary mystery.

I enjoyed this novel. I like a good story about an Edwardian family living in a grand manor with their secrets. It's formulaic and been done a million times, but I love it anyway. Nothing like an epic family saga full of twists and turns to entertain on a rainy afternoon. This novel provided just that. 

I must admit, I found Grace's loyalty to Hannah a little annoying at times. I liked Grace and wanted her to go live her life! Not live vicariously through Hannah. Then again, we wouldn't have had a story if she did. 

The mystery in this novel was interesting but I was surprised to see it seemed to play a small role in the overall story. Robbie Hunter's demise served as the end of the story, rather than the main plot line, which I thought strange since it is what is mentioned in the blurb. I was expecting the book to be about him, but he was a secondary character. 

This story is about Hannah. It is about Hannah's life and what Grace learned of the Hartford's and Robbie through living with Hannah. Lucky for the reader, Hannah is an endearing character. 

Hannah is brave, feisty and like all good women, unhappy with her lot in life as a female. She wants to travel, see the world and have adventures! She wants to learn new things and experience all life has to offer. Not very ladylike. But in my opinion, all the most interesting women in history went against the norm and fought to live! A female lead that happily sits around crocheting and drinking tea certainly wouldn't make for good reading. 

This, however, is Hannah's undoing, and leads the reader on a journey which is exciting, worrying, frustrating and in the end, tragic.

Grace, although the storyteller, acts as a secondary character to Hannah. Yet her story is just as, if not more, interesting. She may have only been a ladies maid to begin with, but Grace sure packed a lot into her 98 years of life and what a fascinating life it was!

I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves a good family saga about love, loss and life in England during the war. 

Want to grab a copy of this book? Try Book Depository!

Delirium – Lauren Oliver

Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love – the deliria – blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance
Year: 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 5/5

I was lucky enough to win a copy of this novel from Penelope over at The Reading Fever!

Honestly, this isn't a novel I would have bought. I am not a big fan of YA romances. I don't know if this is because of my age, being well beyond my teen years I am past being interested in this kind of novel. Or, it could be because I am in a happy, stable relationship so I just don't find these rocky, "will they or won't they", "everything is standing in their way", relationships all that compelling. Just get it together, ok! In my experience, if you love someone, it really isn't all that hard.

Or, it could be because of my background as a teacher. Seeing the maturity level and behaviour of sixteen-year-old boys and girls doesn't mesh with the mature, wise beyond their years, teens we see in YA novels. I just couldn't get swept up in a YA romance, and then walk into the classroom and see the relationships my students were forming, and feel that it was "all so romantic". It wasn't. At least, not from a teachers perspective who has to deal with the fights, tantrums and emotional outbursts when it all went sour. 

Despite all that, I was surprised to find that I enjoyed this novel. I loved the dystopian aspects of this book. It is an interesting idea that love, the deliria, is seen as the cause of all pain and suffering in the world. In order to bring some peace and order, the US government develops a procedure that suppresses a persons ability to love, or feel any sort of strong emotion. Not being able to love equals not being able to hate, right? 

The procedure itself is pretty barbaric. It's basically a lobotomy. Yet the citizens of the US are brainwashed from birth about the greatness of the government and the cure. Like all typical dystopian societies, it is a crime to question the government, step out of line or even think thoughts that are against the cure. Those who refuse to have the cure, or continue to have the ability to love after their procedure, end up "disappearing". 

Lena has been brought up in this world and looks forward to getting the cure. Especially since her mother committed suicide after a bunch of failed attempts at the procedure. Once she gets the cure, everything will be good with the world. She has never questioned the procedure or the government. Love is an illness and why would she want to be sick? 

Then Lena meets Alex and her whole world changes. Suddenly, she is overcome with the deliria! and she LOVES it. How can something that feels so good, be so bad for you? 

Soon Lena finds herself not only questioning the world she knows, but she is in a situation that could cost her, her life. 

I enjoyed this book. Instead of the normal, whiny "poor me", "I can't live without my man", "life means nothing without a guy to look after me", kind of teenage girls we normally seen in YA romances, Lena is brave, strong and well-adjusted. Well, as well-adjusted as you can be living under a screwed up, controlling government. 

Even thought Lena falls in love with Alex, and they risk everything to be together, it doesn't feel over dramatic or soppy. The context of this story really does a great job of putting together a good romance story. It makes sense that they would have to sneak around and fight to be together. It doesn't feel silly and it didn't annoy the heck out of me, like most YA romances do. 

There has been come criticism of this book. Some people have labelled it a "Hunger Games" rip off, as the novel has a dystopian setting and the female protagonist is strong and fighting against the man! That is where the comparison ends and I really have no idea why you would even compare the two. 

If you want to get into it, The Hunger Games is a dead set rip off of Battle Royale. So I hardly think criticising Lauren Oliver for "not being original" is good form when your comparison is an author who didn't come up with an original idea either. Just sayin'. 

Overall, this is one of the better YA novels I have read. The writing was eloquent and the story was gripping. Oliver managed to make me care about her characters and to me, that is what makes a good writer. 

I am so happy to hear that this is the first novel in a trilogy! Especially with the way this one ended! If only I didn't have to wait for the next one to come out.... I want to read it now!

Want to grab a copy of this novel? Try Book Depository or Amazon!

Lisey's Story – Stephen King

To the public eye, the spouses of well-known writers are all but invisible, and no one knew it better than Lisey Landon. That is until the maddeningly humid, maddeningly muggy day her husband Scott, a celebrated, award-winning novelist, inaugurated the site of a new library. The day that started with a broken toothglass....

Years later, Lisey is ruminating on their marriage of profound, sometimes frightening intimacy. Lisey has always known there was a powerful place where her husband ventured to face his demons. Now it's Lisey's turn. And what begins as a widow's effort to sort through her husband's effects becomes a perilous journey into the heart of darkness.

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Romance
Year: 2006
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Rating: 3/5

I started a new job about a month ago now, that requires train travel. I am not a big fan of public transport (anyone who commutes in Sydney will understand!) so I use the time to read. Partly, because the train is one of the few times I actually have to read, and secondly, so the trip will seem quicker. 

A few weeks ago I was lugging around Lisey's Story. A book so big and heavy that my shoulders were killing me and my bag strap actually broke! Was it worth it? hhmmm I am unsure. 

This novel follows the story of the widow, Lisey Landon, as she undertakes the task of sorting through her husbands study, two years after his death. Sounds pretty straight forward, right? Think again. This is a Stephen King story. Nothing is ever straight forward!

This novel jumps all over the place. One minute we are in the present, as Lisey tries to come to terms with her husbands death and deal with the problems of her mentally unstable older sister. We then go back to the past, where Lisey remembers how she met Scott, and some of the experiences they had together. She also remembers the dark secrets Scott shared with her about his childhood, spent with his abusive and insane father... and his mysterious brother, Paul.

Despite the constant changes in time and place, this novel is easy enough to follow. It deals with loss, the bonds of marriage, the sadness of mental illness, the coping mechanisms of children when faced with traumatic situations and how what happens to us when we are young can shape our whole lives.  

This was an interesting novel, yet I struggled with it. Sure, I am distracted with my new job (so much to learn!) but I also had trouble with the language King used in this novel. Lisey spent a lot of time thinking in Scott-speak, a language he devised as a child. This just irritated me. 

Despite that, I am glad I read this novel. I do wish to make my way through all of King's works, and this one was certainly different from the others I have read. 

I'd say this one if for King fans only. If you are new to his work I would avoid this one. 

Want to grab a copy of this book? Try Book Depository or Amazon!

Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen

When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, swindlers and misfits in a second-rate circus struggling to survive. 

A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that Jacob meets Marlena, the beautiful equestrienne who is married to August, a charismatic but violently unpredictable animal trainer. Jacob also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems unmanageable until he discovers an unusual way to reach her. 

Genre: Fiction, Historical Romance
Year: 2006
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Rating: 5/5

Water for Elephants is one of those books that grabs your attention from the first page and does not let go. Full of vibrant characters, animals that prove to be more 'human' than some of the so-called humans around them, and a depiction of the travelling life of circus-folk, that is less than pleasant, this novel is hard to put down. 

This novel is told from the point of view of Jacob, who is ninety (or maybe ninety-three) and is an unhappy resident of a nursing home. He is reminiscing on his time spent working for a circus, when he was in his twenties. 

Looking back, the story follows Jacob as he tries to find his place in a world that no longer feels like home. Wandering aimlessly, Jacob jumps a train on impulse, that just happens to belonging to the Benzini Brothers Circus. The circus is run by abusive Uncle Al, who takes Jacob on because he has veterinary skills. 

Here Jacob meets a cast of characters that change his life in ways he never imagined. From Marlena, who steals Jacob's heart; to the unpredictable and violent August; the intelligent and gentle Rosie; the hostile yet kind circus midget, Walter; and the drunkard Camel, the characters in this book came alive on the pages and I found myself thinking about them for a long time after I put the novel down. 

I was disappointed when Water for Elephants was over. This novel was touching... it was lovely... it was sad and dramatic and exciting.. this novel was exactly what a novel should be. There were times I found myself laughing, others I was shocked and felt sad for the characters... sometimes, I just felt mad. There were so many emotions involved in this book.. in this simple, yet fascinating story. 

If I tried to sum this story up in a few sentences, I would have to say it is about a group of people and their lives, albeit different lives, as they travelled in the circus and try their best to get by... funny thing is, even though they are in the circus, I didn't feel they were any weirder than "normal" folk, or that their goals, hopes and dreams were all that different.

This novel is a must read as it certainly is a treat. 

Want to grab a copy of this novel? Try Book Depository or Amazon!

Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

I am a big Haruki Murakami fan and am slowly making my way through all of his novels. The latest novel I have read is Norwegian Wood and like all Murakami novels, it did not disappoint.


Genre: Fiction, Japanese, Romance
Year First Published: 1987
Publisher: Vintage
Rating: 4/5

When he hears her favourite Beatles song, Toru Watanabe recalls his first love Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki. Immediately he is transported back almost twenty years to his student days in Tokyo, adrift in a world of uneasy friendships, casual sex, passion, loss and desire - to a time when an impetuous young woman called Midori marches into his life and he has to choose between the future and the past. 

Norwegian Wood may seem like a love story of the surface but it is so much more than that. This is a novel about loss, about the fragility of life, the fragility of the human mind and how our choices can affect others in heartbreaking ways.

Toru Watanabe is a university student struggling to get by in a world full civil unrest. He goes to classes, works a few nights a week at a record store and spends his Sundays doing his laundry. His life is full of order. That is until both Naoko and Midori enter his life. 

Naoko was the girlfriend of Toru's best friend from high school,  Kizuki. That was until Kizuki killed himself when he was 17. No one can understand what happened, or why he did such a thing. Toru and Naoko find themselves bound by grief and their link to Kizuki. They quickly become good friends and spend days together walking around Tokyo. 

Just as Toru feels that Naoko is the one, she disappears from his life and the city. He later finds out that she is suffering from Kizuki's death much more than he realised and is staying at a retreat in the forest to try and recuperate. He visit her on occassion and also enjoys the company of Reiko, her room mate. He promises to wait for Naoko to recover so they can then start their lives together. 

That is until Midori steps into the picture. Midori is the opposite of Naoko, who is frail and emotionally troubled. Midori is strong-willed, outgoing and just a little crazy. Midori has had her own share of heartbreak in her life, but handles it in a very different way to Naoko. She won't let life get her down. 

Soon Toru and Midori have formed a bond, not based on grief or loss, but on mutual respect and friendship. Now Toru must choose between Naoko, who he made a promise to, a woman whose mind is on the verge of collapse, and Midori, the woman who makes him happy. 

This novel is very different to the other Murakami novels I have read. It is more "mainstream", less a metaphysical exploration of ideas but more an exploration of humanity and the faults of human beings. Just because it is different, doesn't make it any less worthy. This novel still has Murakami's trademark style of asking questions and encouraging his readers to think outside the box. 

"If you only read the books everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking" - Nagasawa to Toru on why he reads classic literature over contemporary literature

I can see why this novel is Murakami's most popular. It is accessible by a wider audience than some of his other works. I quite enjoyed it. This novel took a good look at how different people deal with grief and heartbreak. Toru, Midori, Reiko and Naoko all dealt with things in their different ways (or didn't deal) so it was a good character study. It looks at how people can so easily go from living, breathing human beings to nothing more than a memory... 

"I went to the hospital to visit the father of a girl in one of my lectures and ate some cucumbers in his room. When he heard me crunching on them, he wanted some too, and he ate his with the same crunching sound. Five days later, though, he died. I still have a vivid memory of the tiny crunching he made when he chewed his pieces of cucumber. People leave strange, little memories of themselves behind when they die." - Toru in a letter to Naoko.

I would recommend this book to anyone who isn't sure about Murakami but wants to give him a go. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is also a good place to start. It was the first Murakami I read and since then I have been hooked!

The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova

I purchased The Swan Thieves when it was first released as I really enjoyed The Historian and was keen to experience more of Elizabeth Kostova's writing. It has sat on my bookshelf for quite a while. I have pulled it down twice, previously, but could not get through the first few chapters. Determined to give it a go I took it down again recently and to my surprise, enjoyed it.

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Art
Year Published: 2010
Publisher: Little, Brown
Rating: 3/5

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlow has a perfectly ordered life - solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient.

Desperate to understand the secret that torments this genius, Marlow embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.

Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy; from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth; from young love to last love. The Swan Thieves is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve hope.

Why did it take me so many attempts to read this novel you may ask? It all came down to the way it was written. As I have stated in earlier reviews, I tend to struggle with novels that are written in letter format. This style does not appeal to me. In The Swan Thieves, the chapters switch between prose and letters. The chapters are either told from the point of view of Marlow, Kate (Oliver's ex-wife), Mary (his mistress) or they are in letter form.

This story starts with the hospitalisation of Robert Oliver, a troubled artist who paints in the style of long gone French Impressionists. Oliver is forty-something, tall, good looking, moody and aloof - all those qualities that good artists seem to have. He is admitted to a psychiatric facility after he attacks a painting in the National Gallery, called 'Leda'. His appointed psychiatrist is Andrew Marlow. Marlow is twenty years Oliver's senior, a painter who gave up his dream to hold down a steady job in medicine. He still paints in his spare time, is intelligent and cultured but a little lonely after dedicating his life to his profession.

Oliver is not a happy patient and refuses to talk to anyone at the hospital, let alone Marlow. He does however, allow Marlow to watch him paint and to read a package of old letters he has been carrying around with him. These letters contain the correspondence between two nineteenth century French Impressionist artists, Béatrice de Clerval and her elderly uncle, Olivier Vignot.

Intrigued by the relevance of these letters, Marlow plays detective. First he approaches Kate, Oliver's ex-wife, and she relays everything she can about Oliver the man, his slide into mental illness and his obsession with painting nothing but a particular woman, a women in old fashioned clothing with brown curly hair. She also chronicles the breakdown of their marriage. He then tracks down Mary, Oliver's mistress. She also sheds some light on the painter and his obsession.

Spurred on by this slowly unraveling mystery, a mystery that reaches back to the 1800's and into the lives of people long dead, Marlow takes what steps he must to find out what has caused Oliver's obsession and remedy it before Oliver is too far gone to help.

I don't know a lot about painting, so I don't know how sound all the descriptions of painting, preparing to paint and studying a scene to paint, were. I just know there were a lot of them. Sure, this is a book about painters (every character paints!) but there was a LOT of painting in it. I found it enjoyable enough, but I think a lot of it could have been omitted. This book was just so long. The story and the unraveling of the mystery was so slow (and the ending abrupt) which is a shame because it really could have been told in half the amount of time.

Despite its slow pace, it was easy to read and flowed well enough to hold my interest. I was a little disappointed with the ending (as stated above, it was abrupt, after 561 pages I expected something more) but the overall story was interesting (again, just LONG!). If you love French Impressionism, stories about brooding artists and mysteries that don't make you think too hard, then you will like this book.

I am not sure this will ever be on my "re-read" list, but I am glad that I did read it this once. I will not hesitate to pick up Kostova's next novel.

Afterthought:  Also, what was with the soup in this novel!? Most of the characters seem to eat nothing but soup! Especially Marlow. The most annoying part about that was that it was just "a can of soup" or "soup". That's it. No particular flavour (I got excited when just ONCE they had tomato soup) What is that? Soup flavoured soup? Weird.

The Giant's House - Elizabeth McCracken

The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken is another book I borrowed from my mum's collection. I picked this book up mainly because I thought the cover looked interesting. Yes, I know. You shouldn't "judge a book by it's cover" in any way, but let's face it, we all do. In this case, I was confronted with a very strange story.

Genre: Romance
Year Published: 1996
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Rating: 2.5/5

The Year is 1950, and in a small town on Cape Cod 28-year-old librarian Peggy Cort feels as if love and life have stood her up. Until the day James Carlson Sweatt - the 'over-tall' eleven-year-old boy who's the talk of the town - walks into her library and changes her life forever. Two misfits whose lonely paths cross at the circulation desk, Peggy and James are odd candidates for friendship, but nevertheless they still find their lives entwined in ways that neither one could have predicted. In James, Peggy discovers the one person who's ever really understood her, and as he grows - six foot five at the age of twelve, then seven foot, then eight - so does her heart and their most singular romance. 

Honestly, I am not a big fan of romance novels. I think there are much more interesting things to read about than people falling in love. Give me death, mayhem, dystopian worlds, tragic poetic figures and internal conflict any day, over soppy romance. This book, however, was not a soppy romance. Nor did it involve two people making eyes at each other across a table or silly misunderstandings. This was the most unusual romance novel I have ever read.

This novel is about a boy who has a disease. A disease that means he does not stop growing. A disease that will eventually kill him. It is also about a woman. A lonely librarian who is too sensible for love. Peggy is the kind of person who prefers the order and structure of her library over the unknown possibilities relationships bring.

When Peggy meets James, a boy seventeen years her junior, she finds something she has been lacking; a friend. Peggy and James are similar in so many ways. Both are uncomfortable in their lives and both are lonely in their own way. This part of the story, I could understand and I almost found it warming that friendship can be found in the most unlikely places. As their friendship progressed into a "romance" of sorts, I started to struggle.

Peggy decided early on in the novel, when she became aware to the fact that James would not live a long life, that she would love him. She made an active decision to love this boy in every way possible. If this was just the love of a friend, I would have enjoyed that. But, it wasn't just that. Peggy is the sort of person that is so afraid of falling in love, that she put all her unused feelings on a young boy with health issues, who she knew very well was going to die, all because that was easier than living her life unreservedly. Peggy is a coward.

Now don't get me wrong, Peggy was good to James, she helped him whenever he needed it but as he got older Peggy got weirder. When James was a teenager Peggy was jealous of his female friends. If James showed an interest in anyone but her, she was hurt and angry. She even took to following James at times, watching him from a distance, to see what he was doing. Peggy was obsessed. Obsessed with a young boy who was out of her reach.

That said, I still found the inevitable ending of this novel a bit sad. James lived such a short life, but a hard one. You would have to have a heart of steel not to feel for him. Life is not fair.

Peggy, however, was not a character I could warm to. She made silly choices and took advantage of a child. I really don't think this is how the author intended the reader to see Peggy (granted she was forthcoming with her faults but I think we are supposed to "warm" to them - I think we are supposed to see Peggy as strange but endearing), but I just could not sympathise with a grown woman who decided the love of her life was going to be a sick child.

Maybe I missed the point. Maybe this novel was supposed to be about love overcoming everything! Age, height, death. Maybe Peggy was supposed to be seen as a kind of hero? The kind of selfless person who would give her life to make another happy. Maybe.

I did like the way Elizabeth McCracken writes. Her prose is flowing and seamless. Her ideas however, are offbeat and her idea of romance is so very different to my own. I applaud her for having the courage to write such a difficult and unusual story and would happily read another book by her. In the case of this novel, however, I am still trying to decide if I liked it or not... I am conflicted.

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Every once and a while, you find yourself holding a special book. A book that makes you go "wow". A book that is complex, intriguing, colourful, intelligent and written with such beauty and grace that you just don't want to let it go. For me, The Shadow of the Wind, was that kind of book. 

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Gothic, Romance
Year Published: 2001
Publisher: Text Publishing
Rating: 5/5

This novel is set in Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War.  It is about a young boy named Daniel who is grieving for his mother, who recently died. He lives with his father and they run a second hand bookstore specialising in hard-to-find books.

As Daniel nears his 11th birthday, his father takes him on a special journey. A journey to a secret  place called "The Cemetary of Forgotten Books". A huge, old maze of a library full of books with no homes. According to tradition, Daniel being a newcomer to this library must choose one book to take home with him, which he must protect for life. 

"As I walked in the dark through the tunnels and tunnels of books, I could not help being overcome by a sense of sadness. I couldn't help thinking that if I, by pure chance, had found a whole universe in a single unknown book, buried in that endless necropolis, tens of thousands more would remain unexplored, forgotten forever. I felt myself surrounded by millions of abandoned pages, by worlds and souls without an owner sinking in an ocean of darkness, while the world that throbbed outside the library seemed to be losing its memory, day after day, unknowingly, feeling all the wiser the more it forgot."

After much searching, Daniel finds a book called "The Shadow of the Wind" by Julián Carax. A book that seems to speak to him, that needs him to take it home. Daniel quickly devours this book and finds the most brilliant story he has ever read. 

This sets Daniel on a search to find more out about Julián Carax and his other works. Much to Daniel's surprise, no one seems to know much about Carax and his novels are no where to be found. Instead, he is confronted by creepy stories about a man who calls himself Laín Coubert (which just happens to be the name of the Devil in "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carax), a haunting figure who also is seeking to find all of these novels... so he can burn them. 

Soon Daniel finds himself caught up in a mystery that consumes his life, and the lives of those around him. A mystery full of terror, heartbreak and evil. 

This novel follows the story of what happened to Julián Carax alongside the story of Daniel, his search for answers and his journey into manhood.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book!!! This book was a fantastic mystery, a  tragic love story and a story of passion - a great passion for literature! This book was made for those of us who love books. 

This novel was beautifully written, the words just flowed seamlessly from page to page. Although complex, with many characters and twists, it was easy to follow and very engrossing. The characters were  endearing (despite their obvious faults) and I really felt that they were like 'old friends' by the end of the novel.

Like Clara, the blind and misguided woman who first steals Daniel's heart but refuses to give him hers. To, Nuria Monfort, the woman who gave her life for Julian even though she knew his heart would always belong to Penelope. And, of course, Fermin. A man who had fallen on hard times, who Daniel showed great kindness and was re-payed with great friendship.

I recommend this novel to anyone who loves to be overtaken by a good story. Because that is really what this novel is all about, telling a good story.

The prequel to this novel, The Angel's Game has been released! Now I have a mission... get my hands on this this book!

Note: There is so much more to this novel than what I have talked about in this review that I really don't feel like I have done it justice. All I can say is that this is one of those novels that I will recommend to anyone I know who loves books and reading. It is also one of those novels I will come back to and re-read in the future. I am adding this to my "all time favourites" list. 

The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

I decided to read The Time Traveler’s Wife, after much discussion by Tara SG and fellow 101 bloggers on how great this book is. Can I say, that I am very glad that I did. This book is fantastic!

This book is about Henry DeTamble, a librarian, who suffers from a genetic disorder called Chrono-Displacement, which causes him to time travel unpredictably and his devoted wife, Clare Abshire, an artist who must deal with Henry’s absences.

This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry, who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare’s struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

This is a science fiction novel and romance rolled into one and Niffenegger does such a great job bringing the characters to life. Henry and Clare really felt like real people. It was one of the novels that I just couldn’t put down and whenI had no choice but to go do something else, all I could think about was Clare and Henry and what were they doing now? Even the supporting characters were quite compelling and well fleshed out.

This story is one of the most interesting and engaging that I have read for a long time. The concept of having this genetic disorder, of being unable to control where you are when you want was quite compelling. This book had me pondering how would you cope mentally if you couldn’t control your life, free will was absent and your had to live your life out of order. Also the issues of true love, how strong that can be and how it suffers when the person you love is absent quite often.

Although this book jumps all over the place, as Henry is time travelling, it really follows Clare’s chronology and the plot moves forward through her life which makes it easy to follow and understand. Niffenegger takes a complex concept and explains it in a way which makes it straightforward and enjoyable.

I won’t say too much more because I think this is the type of book you need to experience fresh, without any preconceptions or too much knowledge on what happens.

My only gripe was this book did not end how I wanted it to. I felt quite let down and grumpy for a few days about this. I also felt sad that it was over because I had such a good time reading it. Overall, the book was an excellent read and it is most definitely making my favourites list. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good love story, science fiction (although don’t expect it to be a typical sci-fi, it is very different) or just a good modern literature novel in general.

Rating 5/5