Book Review - Hannah's Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived by Maria Housden

Title: Hannah's Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived
Author: Maria Housden
Year: 2003 
Page: 240 
Genre: Non-Fiction

New to me author? Yes 
Read this author again? Maybe 
Tearjerker? Yes 
Where did it take place? US
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from amazon.com): 
In Hannah's Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived, Maria Housden delivers a lyrical, heartbreaking and heartwarming account of her three-year-old daughter's illness and death. Among the values she learns from her extraordinary child's experience are joy, a Buddha-like stillness, candor and openness. When Hannah's seven-year-old brother asks the author questions about death, Hannah is fascinated and declares that she wants to be a butterfly when her body dies. When their church has a special service to honor and pray for Hannah, she's delighted. Housden, too, offers readers a gift, particularly those seeking to help a loved one through the process of dying and themselves through the grieving process. 


First Sentence:

Looking back, I realize that my whole life pivots silently around this single moment: I was standing in a Stride-Rite children shoe store, wondering which pair of shoes to buy.

  
Why did I pick this book?
I don't remember how I come across this book, most likely by browsing through the library catalog? I know this is going to be a sad book, but I mentioned previously in My Reading Taste post - I also enjoy books that are inspiring, like The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow)

My thoughts:

• This is a quick read. I enjoy the author's writing style. This is more like a collection of Hannah's stories (tidbits of her life) rather than one continuous story. Some of them were amusing, some showed little Hannah was wise beyond her years. I also really loved the stories between Hannah and her older brother, Will (who was still very young at the time). Such adorable children. Will was very protective of Hannah and was very insightful. Very mature as well. You could definitely tell the author loved her children and appreciate them

•  There were some religious reference in the book, but it wasn't preachy. (I don't have a religion, so sometimes religious reference in a book could get a bit too preachy for me personally)

• I wish there were pictures of the little girl! But I understood the family may want some privacy, but I think it may have been more powerful to put a face to the story. Now if I see red shoes I will think of Hannah

• With fiction, I HATE to know the ending ahead of time. I want to be surprise. But before I read this book, I knew what the ending would be, and yet it was worthwhile to get to know Hannah

• Actually the book didn't quite end where I thought it would. It went on a little bit longer about the author and her life after... those chapters were the ones I liked the least in the whole book - I guess the author wanted to share what lessons she took from Hannah and how they changed her life... but I felt it didn't quite fit with the rest of the book, and not as touching... and thus my 3.5 Stars instead of a higher rating.  I have read similar books before - the most recent being Note Left Behind back in January this year. Note Left Behind was a more emotional read for me, probably because it was based on a blog so the emotion may have been a bit more raw. Note Left Behind included pictures of Elena and I definitely still remember them.

• The author had a 2nd book, not sure if I would read it yet or not. I looked at the description but it didn't really make me want to go out and get it - to elaborate would be spoilers though (part of it was revealed at the end of the first book also)

• If I only learn one thing from the book, it was (as quoted below): Make the best decision you can with the information you have at that time.

Quote:

"Make the best decision you can with the information you have at that time." He leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair.
"'At that time' is the critical part. You'll see what i mean. You can drive yourself crazy saying, "If only we had known this, if only we had known that.' The pint is, you didn't know, so just keep telling yourselves, 'We did the best we could with what we knew. We did the best we could with what we knew.'" (p30)

 
Rating: 3.5 Stars

 

Have you read this book? 
If you have, I would love to hear what you think! I'll link your review here if you wish!

Challenges:
100+ Reading
Non-Fiction Five

Book Review - House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings) by Robert Liparulo

Title: House of Dark Shadows (Dreamhouse Kings)  
Author: Robert Liparulo
Year: 2008 
Page: 304 
Genre: Fiction - Young Adult

New to me author? Yes 
Read this author again? Maybe...
Tearjerker? No 
Where did it take place? US
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from amazon.com):
Dream house . . . or bad dream? When the Kings move from L.A. to a secluded small town, fifteen-year-old Xander is beyond disappointed. He and his friends loved to create amateur films . . . but the tiny town of Pinedale is the last place a movie buff and future filmmaker wants to land. But he, David, and Toria are captivated by the many rooms in the old Victorian fixer-upper they moved into--as well as the heavy woods surrounding the house. They soon discover there's something odd about the house. Sounds come from the wrong directions. Prints of giant, bare feet appear in the dust. And when David tries to hide in the linen closet, he winds up in locker 119 at his new school. Then the really weird stuff kicks in: they find a hidden hallway with portals leading off to far-off places--in long-ago times. Xander is starting to wonder if this kind of travel is a teen's dream come true . . . or his worst nightmare.

First Sentence:
The walls of the house absorbed the woman's screams, until they felt to her as muffled and pointless as yelling underwater.  

Why did I pick this book?
Browsing the new YA book shelves at the library. Creep house? Sounds interesting! 

My thoughts:

• I think I'd have enjoyed it a lot more if I were a teenager (especially if I was a boy). I didn't find it particularly creepy or scary or adventurous.

• There were lots of unsolved questions - but this is just Book 1 and I think so far there are 6 books in the series? But I didn't care about the characters enough to read the next one. The book did answer one question (why the dad decided to move his family to this town) which was a nice little twist.

• I did the protagonist's little sister's name, Toria. 

• I am reviewing this YA book as an adult, and it's just not for me...

Quote:

He lowered his eyes to his Dad's face. There was fear there. Fear. When your dad was frightened, there was something to be frightened about.  (p251)

 
Rating: 2 Stars

 

Have you read this book? 
If you have, I would love to hear what you think! I'll link your review here if you wish!

Challenges:
100+ Reading
Young Adult

Your Reading Taste

When I read Kals @ Pemberley's blog the other day, she posted a fun yet different challenge started by Simon from Stuck In A Book :

Can you post a picture which sums up your reading taste, or a section of it? I'm looking for a picture which doesn't include a book in it, or a character from an adaptation, or anything like that. It can be a photograph you've taken, or a painting you've seen, or anything... have fun with it!

It really got me thinking!

I read so many different type of books it's hard to "summarize" it:

• Non-fiction - mostly memoir, medicine, education, psychology, business, science, lifestyle, decoration, food, cooking, art, writing... 
• Fiction - mostly murder/mystery/thrillers, realistic fiction, contemporary fiction, dystopian, some young adults, some historical...
• A little graphic novels...
• Hardly any chick-lit, urban fantasy/paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, western

So how can I really find a picture that represent all that?!

Then I thought about the books I really like - do they have anything in common? Here are some I really like in the past 3 years (not in order):

• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
• The Emergency Teacher: The Inspirational Story of a New Teacher in an Inner City School by Christina Asquith
• Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza
• Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow
• Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter 
• A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table by Molly Wizenberg
• Josie's Story - A Mother's Inspiring Crusade to Make Medical Care Safe by Sorrel King
• Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, In Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson
• Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood by Donovan Campbell
• Still Alice by Lisa Genova 
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot 
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 

The common theme, of these books that really made an impression on me, were, SAD BUT INSPIRATIONAL. Usually there were some type of struggles, but the authors/characters somehow kept going and turned their lives around to make it better for themselves, or others.

But, what of picture represents that?

Google image is my friend :) I type SAD INSPIRATIONAL into the search bar, and this picture is just perfect when I saw it.

Wouldn't you agree?

How about you? What's your image? Please post a link if you do decide to find one that represents your reading taste! :) I LOVE reading others' posts!

Crazy Book Tours!

When I read other blogs, I often see "book tours" and didn't quite know what that means... when Jennifer from Crazy for Books cleared that up for me as she has just started one, Crazy Book Tours, for adult fiction and non-fiction (most other book tours seem to be for YA)!

Now I have never done it before, and can be a little challenging (you have a week to read it and then have to mail it to the next person) - but I am willing to give it a try to see if it's something for me. I have to limit myself to read those that I really want to read, and not get too overwhelm by the whole thing! I definitely want to give the book justice, but still be honest about how I feel. I don't get a lot of ARC so it'd be fun to get to read those!

My parents-in-law used to own a bookstore (sad that they don't anymore!) and I had been tot he book convention with them a couple of times - gosh do I miss that!! I remember all those free books we used to get (and some of them were ARC!) - one of them was Peace Like a River, which I know many of you liked it, but it's still sitting on my shelf...

Anyway, here are the 3 I have signed up so far!

• Crossing by Andrew Xia Fukuda (this one was already on my  TBR)
• Damage by Pamela Callow
• Hector and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lelord

Come join us if you are interested! You can sign up here!

Book Review - The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel by Yoko Ogawa

Title: The Housekeeper and the Professor: A Novel
Author: Yoko Ogawa
Year: 2009 
Page: 192 
Genre: Fiction

New to me author? Yes 
Read this author again? Maybe 
Tearjerker? No 
Where did it take place? Japan
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from amazon.com):
He is a brilliant math Professor with a peculiar problem--ever since a traumatic head injury, he has lived with only eighty minutes of short-term memory. She is an astute young Housekeeper, with a ten-year-old son, who is hired to care for him. And every morning, as the Professor and the Housekeeper are introduced to each other anew, a strange and beautiful relationship blossoms between them. Though he cannot hold memories for long (his brain is like a tape that begins to erase itself every eighty minutes), the Professor’s mind is still alive with elegant equations from the past. And the numbers, in all of their articulate order, reveal a sheltering and poetic world to both the Housekeeper and her young son. The Professor is capable of discovering connections between the simplest of quantities--like the Housekeeper’s shoe size--and the universe at large, drawing their lives ever closer and more profoundly together, even as his memory slips away. The Housekeeper and the Professor is an enchanting story about what it means to live in the present, and about the curious equations that can create a family.

First Sentence:
We called him the professor.

 
Why did I pick this book?
I've heard of this book before and saw some reviews, but Kals @ Pemberley's review really made me want to read this!

My thoughts:

• I love the cover, and the book has deckle pages! :) I don't know why but I like books with deckle pages - just one of those little things that made you exclaimed "Oh! I like that!" without a reason

• For some reasons, when I read this book, the thought "this is a quiet little book" kept popping into my head. I don't know what "a quiet book" means, but I just keep thinking it. Almost felt like one of those association games - you know, you are shown a picture or a word, and you have to respond with a word as quickly as possible without giving it much thought? 

• I like the characters fine, they are distinctive from other characters I'd read about, and they are believable and likable. I especially like the relationship between the Professor and the Housekeeper's son, Root (the Professor named him Root because he has a flat hair style and resembled the square root sign in math.) I wish she had elaborated on the Sister-In-Law character a little more, there is some mystery about her that wasn't fully explained. I can guess what had happened from the Professor's side, but not from her side of the story. I also didn't really understand the significance of the Euler's formula [e (to the power of pi * i) + 1 = 0] - the one the Professor scribbled to the Sister-In-Law, and why she behaved the way she did when she saw it?

• While I do not love math, I don't hate it either. I found it fun to learn some new math facts from this book! You may not look at numbers the same way after that!

• It also makes you think - what would happen if I can only remember for 80 minutes, then my memory from the previous 80 minutes just disappeared, just wiped out without I even knowing it? 

• Would have given it 4 stars, but the ending was a bit anti-climatic for me so deduct 1/2 star for it (I love a good shocking ending!) Since this is yet another book with "A Novel" in the title, maybe I shouldn't expect a surprise ending?

Quote:

He had a special feeling for what he called the "correct miscalculation," for he believed that mistakes were often as revealing as the right answers. (p2)

"I feel empty when Root isn't here," I said.
I hadn't really been speaking to him, but the Professor murmured in reply, "So, you're saying that there's a zero in you?" (P140)

 
Rating: 3.5 Stars

 

Have you read this book? 
If you have, I would love to hear what you think! I'll link your review here if you wish!

Challenges:
100+ Reading
Global

Book Review - The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Body Finder  
Author: Kimberly Derting  
Year: 2010 
Page: 332 
Genre: Fiction - Young Adult

New to me author? Yes 
Read this author again? Maybe
Tearjerker? No 
Where did it take place? Yes
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library

Summary (from amazon.com):
Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers. Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him. Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself. 

First Sentence:
Violet Ambrose wandered away from the safety of her father as she listened to the harmony of sounds weaving delicately around her.  

Why did I pick this book?
All about {n} LOVED this book so that got me interested after reading her review!

My thoughts:

• It was a fast read, too me less than 2.5 hours

• I think I would've given it a much higher rating had I read it as a teen. But, I am judging the book as an adult, so it's just okay for me - I think that's because I used to read a lot of murder/mystery/thrillers type of books, so the plot became fairly predictable and the story like was quite simplistic, without a lot of twists and turns for me. I don't think I am the target audience for this book (but that's okay!)

• It has an interesting premise, but I felt this is more of a teen romance book with a protagonist with a special ability, rather than a book about a protagonist with a special ability per se if that makes sense. I wish the author had focus or elaborate more on that. It's not really a YA book deal with an issue which I do prefer - again, reading as an adult, since some younger readers may not always want to be taught different lessons when they read :)

• I like the characters okay, but don't really feel attached to them. It seems like there is a 2nd book but I don't know if I'll read it or not - I have to say the author did a really good job to "close the loops" - so you don't feel frustrated that you have to wait to find out what happen until the next book! But I guess that's how they got you to buy the next one :)

• Some chapters were written from the killer's perspective - when I read some online reviews, some reviewers thought it was great to hear the killer's thoughts - but it's not something new to me as there were other thriller books I'd read with the same method

• I remember when I was a teen, I LOVED reading Christopher Pike and RL Stine (especially Pike!) I wonder if I re-read them now, whether I'd still like them as much. From memory, Pike's plot seems a little bit more complicated than The Body Finder - but then again, I hadn't read a whole lot of thrillers at that time so didn't have much to compare with.

• The cover IS pretty though!

• Didn't find a quote I like... Will give it 3 Stars because it did held my attention and read it in one setting!

 
Rating: 3 Stars

 

Have you read this book? 
If you have, I would love to hear what you think! I'll link your review here if you wish!

Challenges:
100+ Reading
Young Adult

Book Review - The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan

Title: The Lost Thing 
Author: Shaun Tan 
Year: 2010 
Page: 32 
Genre: Graphic Novel

New to me author? No 
Read this author again? Yes
Tearjerker? No 
Where did it take place? Anywhere
FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from the library (inter-library loan)

Summary (from amazon.com):
The main humour and intrigue of this remarkable author/artists book lies in the contrast between the casual 'What I did on my holidays' narrative and the bizarre, surreal and funny scenes.

First Sentence:
So you want to hear a story?

 
Why did I pick this book?
I loved Tan's other books, so gotta read more!


My thoughts:

• It's yet another oh-so-simple-but-oh-so-true story. Things that happens all the time but we don't notice... or forgot to notice

• Definitely a "symbolism" story, and a little sad one at that.

• I don't like the drawings in this one as much as I like the drawings from The Arrival or The Red Tree though, so I deduct 1/2 star for that... 

• The quote below is semi-spoiler, so read at your own risk, but I just want to remember it by...

Quote:

I still think about that lost thing from time to time. Especially when I see something out of the corner of my eye that doesn't quite fit.

You know, something with a weird, sad, lost sort of look.

I see that soft of thing less and less these days though.

Maybe there aren't many lost things around anymore.

Or maybe I've just stopped noticing them.

Too busy doing other stuff, I guess.

 
Rating: 4 Stars

 

Have you read this book? 
If you have, I would love to hear what you think! I'll link your review here if you wish!

Challenges:
100+ Reading