Book Review: "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

When I decided to read The Fault in Our Stars, I was coming off a reading hiatus. You know that empty space between books that no book seems capable of filling? I was stuck there in the thick of the reading hiatus malaise. Then, thanks to an Entertainment Weekly subscription I received for Christmas, I read there was a movie coming out based on the Young Adult book, The Fault in Our Stars. And of course there was one of those BuzzFeed lists that told me what I should read before the movie comes along. One can argue that reading a book first can ruin a film experience, but more often than not I find that having read the book enhances my viewing pleasure, because I know more of the story than the medium of film can portray.

While the book falls into the Young Adult genre, the intellectual complexity of the novel really surprised me. John Green is not a man who writes lightly. There's nothing I love more than being completely surprised by a story. References to Kierkegaard, T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams elevates this epic cancer romance. An epic cancer romance sounds just how it feels while reading it. And if you should endeavor to take this story on then you should know that it possesses the capacity to make you laugh and cry within a three page spread. 

Harry and Hermione? I'm Not Sold.

If you're a Potter fan you have undoubtedly heard J.K.Rowling's recent interview comments indicating that with the distance from the beloved Harry Potter series she has changed her perspective on their epilogue destinies.

Here, in an excerpt from the British paper The Sunday Times, Rowling discusses her decision:

“I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment,” she says. “That’s how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron.”

Book Review: "Love Medicine" by Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich’s first novel, Love Medicine, is anything but a light read. The read is so heavy at times it seems that to get back to reality you have to peel away layers of poetic prose and cultural nuance. Erdrich makes modern Native American life accessible, but that does not mean it’s easy to read. Love Medicine follows different characters in the Kashpaw and Lamartine families on a Chippewa reservation in Minnesota.  The chapters are all told by various characters connected to the two families and the reader has to pay close attention to who is narrating the chapter and at what point in the timeline the chapter is taking place. Though mostly told chronologically, the beginning of the story is sprung into action by one family member's death and then the subsequent chapters go back in time and pan out chronologically until the initial death is surpassed in the narrative. Phew!

In this beautiful story exploring multiple themes, one of which is modernity vs. tradition,the most pressing theme is the idea of and the boundaries of love. Love is examined through continual intersections of characters in the story and how they are thrown together in fits of desire, passion, desperation and even deep disconnected sorrow. It is a family saga that spans generations (and novels).  

Mortal Instruments: A Disaster

I am a fan of YA Fiction: compelling stories, coming of age character arcs, young love triangles and some
sort of necessary decision making that borders the line between good and evil. Needless to say that when I heard Mortal Instruments was going to be made into a movie - I felt that I owed it to myself to read the book prior to the Hollywood manifestation.

It doesn't happen very often that I become so irritated with the protagonist of a story that I am glad when the book is done (with the exception of David Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius which I set down and abandoned without completing). But in Mortal Instruments, Clary Fray was just too oblivious. The whole story centers around the fact that she has a gift of some kind. We find out that she is the offspring of two Shadowhunters, and so she too is a Shadowhunter.

Her gifts are buried beneath a Warlock's mental block built in her mind to keep her from seeing the world as her Shadowhunter nature wants her to see it. I just don't see the scenario of Clary transitioning into a Shadowhunter going very well, because Clary seems totally incapable of piecing things together.

Book Review: "The Giver" by Lois Lowry

Before today, I had never read this book. Apparently, it's quite popular on reading lists, but I was never required to read it when I was younger. I think I turned out just fine, however, I'm really glad to have read The Giver as an adult.

I watched an interview with Lois Lowry after finishing the book in one afternoon sitting. In the interview, Lowry discusses the perplexing fact that since the book was published in 1993 it has been listed on the nation's "most challenged" book list. People challenge the book's inclusion in schools and in public libraries. I didn't know this fact while reading the book, but I can understand why this book causes people to feel ill at ease.

The story begins with Jonas facing the prospect of an impending Ceremony in his Community that will set him on his path toward adulthood. The Ceremony will announce what occupation he will be trained for and work at for the duration of his adult life. This decision is based upon years of meticulous observation. During this time of Jonas' introspection, the reader learns that this Community is different. We are led to assume that the story takes place in the future in a society that has been structured to secure peace and safety. In order to secure peace and safety the Community has elected transformation into Sameness.

Book Review: "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson

I just finished reading Kate Atkinson’s novel “Life After Life,” and I thought it was a great book. I read quite often and I was a Lit major in college, but after the years of academic analysis I stopped writing about the stories that I experienced. I write my own stories now, but in thinking about how lonely my blog is with its sparse postings – I have decided to write a bit about what I read. If I were to take this on as a task of critical review I would tire after the first sentence. I am not a critic, just a reader. So here we go.

“Life After Life” follows Ursula Todd through many different versions of the same life. It always starts with her birth, a snowy night on February 11, 1910 (Aquarius! Which I feel is purposely symbolic). Ursula is born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. The story explores all versions of this evening by focusing on multiple character perspectives and the different outcomes all spurned from choices made by each character involved. From there Ursula’s story takes many different paths. In one version of her life she drowns and in another she is saved from the ocean by an artist who was painting her and her sister. In other versions she falls out a window, succumbs to the Spanish Influenza, is raped by one man and later marries an abusive man who kills her – all because she makes a single decision. And with every new life she makes a different decision somehow haunted by premonitions and intuitive urges that steer her in a different direction.

I'm a Believer

When I was in college, I took senior year “elective” courses that I thought sounded fun. One of those was a philosophy course called “Metaphysics.” Now, I feel the need to preface this by saying I was raised by a woman who told me we could believe in God better if we didn’t go to church. So, I have only been to church services a couple times in my life, but was raised with a moral code based in Christian principles. 

Meta, meaning beyond, and physics, meaning the physical science of what we can see, seemed like just the juice I needed to fuel my spiritual quest to discover just exactly what I believed in. Through my intellect and logic I arrived at the stunning conclusion that I did in fact believe in a god, an ultimate source of energy, some sort of cosmic intelligence that willed all life into existence starting with a creative burst a really long time ago. 

The peace I felt at the end of this course and its accompanying insight let me know that I had found a truth. Yet, that wasn't the end. I was still hungry to find out more about this feeling inside. I had been circling a spiritual hole for my entire life, and now I was ready to fill it. 

Adventures in Juicing

Juice. Who doesn't like juice? The sweet nectar of manufacturing gods filled with enough sugar to kill a mouse. For years I thought the only way to drink juice was from a pre-packaged container with a sanitary seal. I have never been more wrong.

I took some time off work recently over the Holidays and did what most people do: cleaned my house real well and watched Netflix. It was here that I discovered a world of documentaries about our food crisis and obesity in America. To escape sounding preachy, I will only say that in a commercialized culture we run the risk of feeding our bodies poisonous foods under the false impressions sold to us through diet advertising. Can we really help it when we are all branded by age two? This means that by age two we know how to associate items with their brands, and this is only the beginning of how we fall into the greedy hands of advertisers. Why should they tell us the truth when the lie is so delicious, the lie is so pretty, the lie makes our bodies our enemies until we're weak, and then we become prey for the pharmaceutical companies. Why should they tell us the truth when they get so rich by making us believe the lies?

Harry and Hermione: More Than A Dance

So, after the billionth time watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I (my favorite in the series of movies) I began to really pay attention to one particular relationship and character dynamic within the film. We all know that Harry, Hermione and Ron have a powerful friendship, one that we have watched grow and change throughout their stay at Hogwarts. Harry and Hermione have always been the intense duo; Harry being scarred and ‘the chosen one’ and Hermione with her unwavering intellect and focus. Ron has always provided them with a comical and very necessary lightness, which balances out the trio. Ron is the foil to their feminine/masculine intensity; Harry is able to let loose with Ron and embrace his youth, and Hermione lets loose as well, which allows Ron to connect with her on a much more emotional level elevating their friendship to something else.

Rick Santorum, Please Shut Up

I was going to let him prattle on and talk himself out of the Republican nomination for presidency without investing my thoughts and written words. He’s so ridiculously drastic in his right-wing ideology that I thought he would never be taken seriously. Why waste my breath pointing out the obvious when there are so many other stimulating things to write about that don’t make me question which century I am living in. However, I find myself no longer able to keep my mouth shut.

Our Relationship with Food

In general, I would like to say that this is something that has been beating at the back of my mind for quite some time. So, in light of today’s Occupy Food Supply movement I thought I would contribute some thoughts. I have always struggled to gain the upper hand in my relationship with food. It’s a perplexing situation, and in this commercialized capitalist age it is an absolutely daunting truth to dig into, research, and wrap your mind around. In an obese America we also have to contend with food addictions and the food advertising goals to brand children by age two and have them hooked for life to a High Fructose Corn Syrup existence supplemented by MSG laden side dishes and hormone rBGH ridden meats all washed down with a gluten heavy prestige. Fast food and pre-prepared meals packed with preservatives and additives are sold to us on the basis of convenience, not to mention they are more affordable than the healthier alternatives that cost more than money, they also cost time, and to some – time is very precious.

My 'Hunger Games' Melancholy Conclusions

I have been waiting for a while to express my views on Book 3 of The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay. I really enjoyed this series, I have a soft spot for young adult literature and dystopian apocalyptic literature, so needless to say, I devoured these books, and by devoured I mean one-click-buy for my Kindle and reading during every spare moment of the day. My mind was filled with Katniss Everdeen and her hard edge, her ability to defy an oppressive dictator by obeying her instincts and innate capacity for human compassion, a compassion that was at the whim of her stubborn mind, an easy switch to turn off and kill when deemed necessary. The conflicting inner states of Katniss was much more appealing to me then say that of Bella Swan, but in the third installment of the series I was left with a bit of muddled regard for one of my favorite heroines in recent years.

How I'm Like "The Doctor"

Apart from my unparalleled intellect and impeccable fashion sense, The Doctor (from the BBC’s behemoth of sci-fi awesomeness Dr. Who) and I share something else in common. Now, if you haven’t been watching this show, I recommend you suspend all American pretensions and settle down to invest those hard earned hours of evening time freedom. Your relationship with The Doctor may even feel like a betrayal of any romantic commitment you may be sustaining; there are enough seasons and regenerations of Doctor personalities to keep you well entertained and occupied, which is likely to distract you from other obligations. I recommend either sharing your Dr. Who experience with your significant other, or explaining that you will return to them after your mind blowing foray with the British time lord has made you a whole person.