New Release Tuesday #8: September 15, 2015

Hello dear Readers,

This week, a Young Adult  release, Dumplin' by Julie Murphy.

Title: Dumplin 

Genre:YA

Author: Julie Murphy

Publisher: Balzer+Bray

Publication Date: September 15, 2015

Language: English

Hardcover: 384 pages
Buy Me: Amazon 

Book Description

For fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell comes this powerful novel with the most fearless heroine—self-proclaimed fat girl Willowdean Dickson—from Julie Murphy, the acclaimed author of Side Effects May Vary. With starry Texas nights, red candy suckers, Dolly Parton songs, and a wildly unforgettable heroine—Dumplin’ is guaranteed to steal your heart.

Dubbed “Dumplin’” by her former beauty queen mom, Willowdean has always been at home in her own skin. Her thoughts on having the ultimate bikini body? Put a bikini on your body. With her all-American-beauty best friend, Ellen, by her side, things have always worked . . .  until Will takes a job at Harpy’s, the local fast-food joint. There she meets Private School Bo, a hot former jock. Will isn’t surprised to find herself attracted to Bo. But she is surprised when he seems to like her back. 

Instead of finding new heights of self-assurance in her relationship with Bo, Will starts to doubt herself. So she sets out to take back her confidence by doing the most horrifying thing she can imagine: entering the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant—along with several other unlikely candidates—to show the world that she deserves to be up there as much as any twiggy girl does. Along the way, she’ll shock the hell out of Clover City—and maybe herself most of all.

Wen

Book Review: The Martian by Andy Weir/Sci-Fi

Hello dear Readers,

Below, my book review of The Martian by Andy Weir. 

Title: The Martian

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Publication Date: October 28, 2014

Genre: Sci-Fi
Author: Andy Weir 

Publisher: Broadway Books

Language: English

Paperback: 387 pages

Buy Me: Amazon Barnes&Noble

Book Description

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. 

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

My Thoughts

A new favorite. I still have a smile on my face. I love, love, love it. What a brilliant story. I'm so glad a read this book. From page one Mark Watney made me feel welcomed to his world and all the things happening in it. There were times I wished he was a real person so I could just hug him and tell him that everything was going to be ok, that there was nothing to worry about. 

I have to say Mark Watney has become one of my favorite characters ever. I admire his sense of humor, even in the most difficult times. I love how his character is portrayed and how much we can learn from him.

Perfectly paced, well written, believable and reliable characters. I think is it very smart the way it is told, journal entries. It is clear all the research and hard work the Author put on this book. I appreciate that for being the first Sci-Fi book I read, it was not hard to read. 

I love all the feelings and emotions this book made me go through. Humor, sadness, happiness, difficulty, serious and real things the characters go through and have to deal with that it was almost like it was happening to me. I love how real the book felt to me. It made me think a lot about life and how much our lives can change in a matter of minutes, like Mark's. Made me think of what is really important in life, what really matters.

The Martian, a book that will remain with me for a long time. One I totally recommend. One that can change the way you think about life, about people and what is really important.

Wen

New Release Tuesday #7: September 8, 2015

Hello dear Readers,

This week, a work of Fiction. This is your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison.

Title: This is Your Life, Harriet Chance!  

Genre: Women's Fiction

Author: Jonathan Evison

Publisher: Algonquin Books

Publication Date: September 8, 2015

Language: English

Hardcover: 304pages
Buy Me: Amazon 

Book Description

With Bernard, her husband of fifty-five years, now in the grave, seventy-eight-year-old Harriet Chance impulsively sets sail on an ill-conceived Alaskan cruise that her late husband had planned. But what she hoped would be a voyage leading to a new lease on life becomes a surprising and revelatory journey into Harriet’s past.There, amid the overwhelming buffets and the incessant lounge singers, between the imagined appearances of her late husband and the very real arrival of her estranged daughter midway through the cruise, Harriet is forced to take a long look back, confronting the truth about pivotal events that changed the course of her life. And in the process she discovers that she’s been living the better part of that life under entirely false assumptions.In This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! Jonathan Evison has crafted a bighearted novel with an endearing heroine at the helm. Through Harriet, he paints a bittersweet portrait of a postmodern every woman, her story told with great warmth, humanity, and humor. Part dysfunctional love story, part poignant exploration of the mother-daughter relationship, nothing is what it seems in this tale of acceptance, reexamination, and forgiveness.

Wen

Book Review: Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning by Timothy Snyder/Non Fiction-History-Adult/NETGALLEY ARC/Published in 2015

Hello dear Readers,

Below, my book review of Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning by Timothy Snyder. 

Title: Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Publication Date: September 8, 2015

Genre: Non Fiction-History-Adult

Author: Timothy Snyder 

Publisher: Tim Duggan Books

Language: English

Hardcover: 480 pages

Buy Me: Amazon Barnes&Noble

Book Description

In this epic history of extermination and survival, Timothy Snyder presents a new explanation of the great atrocity of the twentieth century, and reveals the risks that we face in the twenty-first.  Based on new sources from eastern Europe and forgotten testimonies from Jewish survivors, Black Earth recounts the mass murder of the Jews as an event that is still close to us, more comprehensible than we would like to think, and thus all the more terrifying. 

The Holocaust began in a dark but accessible place, in Hitler's mind, with the thought that the elimination of Jews would restore balance to the planet and allow Germans to win the resources they desperately needed.  Such a worldview could be realized only if Germany destroyed other states, so Hitler's aim was a colonial war in Europe itself.  In the zones of statelessness, almost all Jews died.  A few people, the righteous few, aided them, without support from institutions. 

Much of the new research in this book is devoted to understanding these extraordinary individuals.  The almost insurmountable difficulties they faced only confirm the dangers of state destruction and ecological panic.  These men and women should be emulated, but in similar circumstances few of us would do so.  By overlooking the lessons of the Holocaust, Snyder concludes, we have misunderstood modernity and endangered the future.  

The early twenty-first century is coming to resemble the early twentieth, as growing preoccupations with food and water accompany ideological challenges to global order.  Our world is closer to Hitler's than we like to admit, and saving it requires us to see the Holocaust as it was -- and ourselves as we are.  Groundbreaking, authoritative, and utterly absorbing, Black Earth reveals a Holocaust that is not only history but warning.

My Thoughts

I have read many books about the Holocaust, Hitler, the Jews, World War II. Some of them works of Fiction that in one way or another take place in World War II, but most of them, works of Non Fiction, which have followed the same pattern, focusing on the mass killing perpetrated by Hitler, the concentration camps. However, Black Earth has been one of the most complete and fascinating books I have read on this topic.

I like how the Author not only concentrates in one aspect, the killing of Jewish people, but also we can see different perspectives, the political, social and historical view of one of the most devastating periods in history. It is always hard to read about this topic for all that it represents but Black Earth takes it to another level. A level where the Author, Timothy Snyder, gives the readers a better and deeper understanding of the events leading the Holocaust, Hitler;s motives and the impact it has had in our World. Another aspect of this book that personally it was what made reading it such a different experience is how it shows us that differently from what most people have thought (including myself), the Holocaust is far from being a thing of the past, maybe we are not seeing exactly the same things that happened back then but in so many ways all the current events are a warning that something like that can happen again. It is very interesting how something that happened a long time how can be described as something that could have been a warning of what is happening today.

Black Earth, a different, challenging, provoking and interesting book. Either you are a history teacher, a Historian, an expert on the subject, or just a  person who likes reading about the Holocaust, I totally recommend it.

Thank you Crown Publishing and Netgalley for sending the ARC copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Wen

Upcoming Release #3: The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone

Hello dear Readers,

A new book coming out in October. For fans of The Guild, New Girl, Scott Pilgrim, Big Bang Theory, Veronica Mars, or anyone who has ever geeked out about something.

Title: The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss

Genre: Fiction/Mystery/Thriller

Author: Max Wirestone

Publisher: Redhook
Publication Date: October 20, 2015

Language: English

Hardcover: 320 pages
Buy Me: Amazon 

Book Description

For fans of The Guild, New Girl, Scott Pilgrim, Big Bang Theory, Veronica Mars, or anyone who has ever geeked out about something.

The odds of Dahlia successfully navigating adulthood are 3,720 to 1. But never tell her the odds.

Meet Dahlia Moss, the reigning queen of unfortunate decision-making in the St. Louis area. Unemployed broke, and on her last bowl of ramen, she's not living her best life. But that's all about to change.

Before Dahlia can make her life any messier on her own she's offered a job. A job that she's woefully under-qualified for. A job that will lead her to a murder, an MMORPG, and possibly a fella (or two?).Turns out unfortunate decisions abound, and she's just the girl to deal with them.

Wen

New Release Tuesday #6: September 1, 2015

Hello dear Readers,

This week, a Memoir. Is not a new book but a new release on Paperback. Yes Please by Amy Poehler. One of the best books I have read this year.

Title: Yes Please  

Genre: Biographies/Memoirs

Author: Amy Poehler

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: August 25, 2015

Language: English

Paperback: 352 pages
Buy Me: Amazon 

Book Description

Do you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady who made you howl with laughter on Saturday Night Live, and in movies like Baby Mama, Blades of Glory, and They Came Together? Do you find yourself daydreaming about hanging out with the actor behind the brilliant Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation? Did you wish you were in the audience at the last two Golden Globes ceremonies, so you could bask in the hilarity of Amy's one-liners?

If your answer to these questions is "Yes Please!" then you are in luck. In her first book, one of our most beloved funny folk delivers a smart, pointed, and ultimately inspirational read. Full of the comedic skill that makes us all love Amy, Yes Please is a rich and varied collection of stories, lists, poetry (Plastic Surgery Haiku, to be specific), photographs, mantras and advice. With chapters like "Treat Your Career Like a Bad Boyfriend," "Plain Girl Versus the Demon" and "The Robots Will Kill Us All" Yes Please will make you think as much as it will make you laugh. Honest, personal, real, and righteous,Yes Please is full of words to live by.

Wen

September 2015 TBR

Hello dear Readers,

Below, my ambitious TBR for the month of September. I already started of all them.

My Current Reads:

• The Martian by Andy Weir

• Anne Frank The Biography by Melissa Muller

• Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

• Dancing with the Devil in the City of God by Juliana Barbassa

Wen

August 2015 Book Haul

Hello dear Readers,

This is my August 2015 Book Haul. 

Physical Books

• Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

• Still Alice by Lisa Genova

E-Books (Kindle Books)

• The Martian by Andy Weir

• Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Wen

August 2015 Wrap-Up

Hello dear Readers,

During the month of August, I read four books, two of them great books, the other two not that great. I posted Reviews for three of them on my blog. I will leave the links down below.

• A Whole New World by Liz Braswell

http://thecostaricanreader.blogspot.com/2015/08/book-review-whole-new-world-by-liz.html

• Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

http://thecostaricanreader.blogspot.com/2015/08/book-review-everything-everything-by.html

• Armada by Ernest Cline

http://thecostaricanreader.blogspot.com/2015/08/book-review-armada-by-ernest-cline.html

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Wen

New Release Tuesday #5: August 25, 2015

Hello dear Readers,

This week, a Biography. The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion by Tracy Daugherty.

Title: The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion  

Genre: Biographies/Memoirs

Author: Tracy Daugherty

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: August 25, 2015

Language: English

Hardcover: 752 pages
Buy Me: Amazon Barnes&Noble Hastings

Book Description

In The Last Love Song, Tracy Daugherty, the critically acclaimed author of Hiding Man (a New Yorker and New York Times Notable book) and Just One Catch, delves deep into the life of distinguished American author and journalist Joan Didion in this, the first printed biography published about her life.

Joan Didion lived a life in the public and private eye with her late husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, whom she met while the two were working in New York City when Didion was at Vogue and Dunne was writing for Time. They became wildly successful writing partners when they moved to Los Angeles and co-wrote screenplays and adaptations together. Didion is well-known for her literary journalistic style in both fiction and non-fiction. Some of her most-notable work includes Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Run River, and The Year of Magical Thinking, a National Book Award winner and shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, it dealt with the grief surrounding Didion after the loss of her husband and daughter. Daugherty takes readers on a journey back through time, following a young Didion in Sacramento, through to her adult life as a writer interviewing those who know and knew her personally, while maintaining a respectful distance from the reclusive literary great. The Last Love Song reads like fiction; lifelong fans, and readers learning about Didion for the first time will be enthralled with this impressive tribute.

Wen

Book Review: A Whole New World by Liz Braswell/Teens-YA/NETGALLEY ARC/Published in 2015

Hello dear Readers,

Below, my book review of A Whole New World by Liz Braswell. 

Title: A Whole New World

Rating: 2/5 Stars

Publication Date: September 1, 2015

Genre: Teens-YA

Author: Liz Braswell 

Publisher: Disney Press

Language: English

Hardcover: 384 pages

Buy Me: Amazon Barnes&Noble

Book Description

What if Aladdin had never found the lamp? This first book in the A Twisted Tale line will explore a dark and daring version of Disney's Aladdin.

When Jafar steals the Genie's lamp, he uses his first two wishes to become sultan and the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Agrabah lives in fear, waiting for his third and final wish.To stop the power-mad ruler, Aladdin and the deposed princess Jasmine must unite the people of Agrabah in rebellion. But soon their fight for freedom threatens to tear the kingdom apart in a costly civil war.

What happens next? A Street Rat becomes a leader. A princess becomes a revolutionary. And readers will never look at the story of Aladdin in the same way again.

My Thoughts

I have to say, before I read this book, I watched the movie Aladdin. That being said, I noticed the book is not a good representation of the movie. It does not add that different factor that a retelling is supposed to have. It was not clear for me the message this book was intended to send to the reader. I would honestly say, after watching the movie, I probably did not need to read the book.

I had issues with the writing, the structure. While the beginning of the book its like the movie but then it changes to a different direction but without taking off and going to a better level. It was almost painful to see how hard the writer tried to make the story a good one but not success at all. It went really slow at times. I managed to finish it, however at the end I felt I could not connect with the story and the characters. I did not see much development in the characters and the narrator was not believable for me.

I did not hate the book but I did not love it. I just could not trust the narrator, the characters and could not connect with the story. I won't continue with the series.

Thank you Disney Press and Netgalley for sending the ARC copy, in exchange for an honest review.

Wen

Book Review: Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon/Teens-YA/NETGALLEY ARC/Published in 2015

Hello dear Readers,

Below, my book review of Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon. 

Title: Everything Everything

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Publication Date: September 1, 2015

Genre: Teens-YA

Author: Nicola Yoon 

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Language: English

Hardcover: 320 pages

Buy Me: Amazon Barnes&Noble Hastings

Book Description

If you love Eleanor and Park, Hazel and Augustus, and Mia and Adam, you’ll love the story of Maddy, a girl who’s literally allergic to the outside world, and Olly, the boy who moves in next door . . . and becomes the greatest risk she’s ever taken. This innovative and heartfelt debut novel unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, illustrations, and more. My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.  But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He's tall, lean and wearing all black—black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking and stares at me. I stare right back. His name is Olly. Maybe we can’t predict the future, but we can predict some things. For example, I am certainly going to fall in love with Olly. It’s almost certainly going to be a disaster.

My thoughts

This year I have read a few books with plot twists that blew my mind and this one. I'm still in shock about the ending because I was not expecting it at all. However, I think that is what makes this book so different and a unique story. I do not want to spoil the book, I will just say, wow.

Everything Everything is the story of Madeline who is half Japanese, half black. She lives with her mom who is a doctor. Her dad and brother died in a car accident when she was a baby. She has SCID, a disease that basically means she is allergic to everything and because of this she can never leave the house, which makes her routine at home very strict and finds herself being constantly over protected by her mom and her nurse, Carla. But when Olly and his family move in next door, Madeline felt in love with Olly and her life changes forever. She knows meeting Olly can put her life at risk but with the help of her nurse, she arranges everything so that Olly can visit Madeline for short periods of time. 

Things I like about this book: the way it is told. The Author uses e-mails, doctor reports, notes, chat or instant messages to tell some parts of the book. I like Madeline and Olly's love story. It is a sweet, cute and fun one. Seems like everything happens so fast, especially for Madeline, at one point Olly is all she thinks about. She wants to spend all her time with him, she cannot stop thinking about him. I like how well they connect and the dynamics between the two of them. I like how honest and believable these characters felt to me. I like this is a fast paced story. The Author's writing style is great and the characters, well developed and complex, very interesting characters. 

Things I did not like about this books: there were a couple of things I did not like. One, I felt Madeline was very selfish at times, specially with her mom. I tried hard to understand her motives while reading these passages but could not sympathize with her. Despite of this, Madeline is my favorite character. The other thing I did not like is, even I think the plot twist at the end is what makes this book unique and different but I wish the Author could have spend a few more pages trying to add a little more explanation on this ending that like I said at the beginning of this review, I'm still in shock, I feel like I need more answers.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. A cute and sweet love story, very complex characters, an unexpected plot twist. A story about first love, loss, growing up, family, parent's love for their children, and taking risks in life. I highly recommend it.

Thank you Random House Children's- Delacorte Press and Netgalley for sending the ARC copy, in exchange for an honest review.

My Favorite Quote

"He's the biggest risk I've ever taken".

Wen

New Release Tuesday #4: August 18, 2015

Hello dear Readers,

This week, a debut novel. The Girl from the Garden by Parnaz Foroutan.

Title: The Girl from the Garden 

Genre: Fiction/Historical/Cultural Heritage

Author: Parnaz Foroutan

Publisher: Ecco
Publication Date: August 18, 2015

Language: English

Hardcover: 288 pages
Buy Me: Amazon Barnes&Noble Hastings

Book Description

An extraordinary new writer makes her literary debut with this suspenseful novel of desire, obsession, power and vulnerability, in which a crisis of inheritance leads to the downfall of a wealthy family of Persian Jews in early twentieth-century Iran.

For all his wealth and success, Asher Malacouti—the head of a prosperous Jewish family living in the Iranian town of Kermanshah—cannot have the one thing he desires above all: a male son. His young wife Rakhel, trapped in an oppressive marriage at a time when a woman’s worth is measured by her fertility, is made desperate by her failure to conceive, and grows jealous and vindictive.

Her despair is compounded by her sister-in-law Khorsheed’s pregnancy and her husband’s growing desire for Kokab, his cousin’s wife. Frustrated by his wife’s inability to bear him an heir, Asher makes a fateful choice that will shatter the household and drive Rakhel to dark extremes to save herself and preserve her status within the family.

Witnessed through the memories of the family’s only surviving daughter, Mahboubeh, now an elderly woman living in Los Angeles, The Girl from the Garden unfolds the complex, tragic history of her family in a long-lost Iran of generations past. Haunting, suspenseful and inspired by events in the author’s own family, it is an evocative and poignant exploration of sacrifice, betrayal, and the indelible legacy of the families that forge us.

Wen

Book Review: Armada by Ernest Cline/ Science Fiction/Published in 2015

Hello dear Readers,

Below, my book review of Armada by Ernest Cline. 

Title: Armada 

Genre: Science Fiction

Author: Ernest Cline

Publisher: Crown 
Publication Date: July 14, 2015

Language: English

Hardcover: 368 pages
Rating: 2/5 Stars
Buy me: Amazon Barnes&Noble Hastings

Book Description

Zack Lightman has spent his life dreaming. Dreaming that the real world could be a little more like the countless science-fiction books, movies, and videogames he’s spent his life consuming. Dreaming that one day, some fantastic, world-altering event will shatter the monotony of his humdrum existence and whisk him off on some grand space-faring adventure.  But hey, there’s nothing wrong with a little escapism, right? After all, Zack tells himself, he knows the difference between fantasy and reality. He knows that here in the real world, aimless teenage gamers with anger issues don’t get chosen to save the universe.  And then he sees the flying saucer.  Even stranger, the alien ship he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.   No, Zack hasn’t lost his mind. As impossible as it seems, what he’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.  It’s Zack’s chance, at last, to play the hero. But even through the terror and exhilaration, he can’t help thinking back to all those science-fiction stories he grew up with, and wondering: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little…familiar?  At once gleefully embracing and brilliantly subverting science-fiction conventions as only Ernest Cline could, Armada is a rollicking, surprising thriller, a classic coming of age adventure, and an alien invasion tale like nothing you’ve ever read before—one whose every page is infused with the pop-culture savvy that has helped make Ready Player One a phenomenon.

My thoughts

I received this book without knowing anything about the Author and his work. When I went to read about him, I found out he is the Author of Ready Player One, a book that a lot people seem to like and consider one of the best books they have ever read.I have not read Ready Player One. Armada was a totally new experience for me.

That being said, Armada was a complicated book to read. Not the writing itself but I could not connect with the character Zack, or the story. There were times I felt bored but I kept reading in the hopes the story was going to get better, but in my case, it did not happen. Some of the events in the story did not make sense to me, I felt like I was struggling. I had issues with the way the story is told and the plot. By no means a book you should not read but in my case I had a hard time connecting with it and the message the Author intended to deliver. 

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review"

Wen