Monday, March 31, 2008

Charles the Bold: The Dog Years by Yves Beacuchemin


Coming of Age in 1960’s/70’s Quebec

In this first volume we follow Charles from birth in 1966 through elementary school. His mother dies when is very young and his father is an alcoholic who doesn’t care for his son. He’s both neglectful and abusive. We follow Charles through good times and bad. We also get a glimpse into the place and politics of Montreal at the time.

I realized soon after I started this book, why it was labeled ‘The Dog Years. Dogs from all over the neighborhood follow Charles everywhere he goes. It really rang true for me, because I also had a dog following when I was growing up. My mom dislikes animals so I was not allowed to have pets of my own, but in a way I did because there were always dogs nearby when I was outside. I was happy that Charle finally got a dog of his own, unlike I who had to wait until adulthood.

Though this book is depressing at times, Charles has an endurable spirit that is contagious. He is a delightful boy that captured my heart. Though I found the first couple chapters a bit slow and tedious, Beauchemin really weaves a wonderful story with rich scenery and characters.

I look forward to reading the other three volumes of Charles the Bold and highly recommend this book. I predict that it will become a Canadian Classic, it certainly should.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 4:13 PM 4 comments  

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An Hour With Miriam Toews


Friday night I had the pleasure of seeing Miriam Toews live. She did a reading of 'A Complicated Kindness' and of her new book that is coming out in October. Then she did a question and answer with the audience.

I loved her book 'A Complicated Kindness'! It's a coming of age story about a teenage girl in a Mennonite society. Unfortunately, I read it long before I started writing book reviews, so you will just have to trust me on this one.

Miriam made a comment at the beginning of her reading, that in the past, people have complained that she reads too fast. She did read fast, especially when the lead character was speaking. However, she paced it exactly how I imagined the character to talk. She nailed it, and other audience members agreed!

I really enjoyed her reading and especially the question and answer. I highly recommend you read 'A Complicated Kindness' and see Miriam Toews in person, if you get the chance. She is delightful. I look forward to reading more books by Miriam Toews!

A complicated Kindness was also reviewed at:
book-a-rama

Posted by Teddy Rose at 1:44 PM 6 comments  

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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Historical Fiction Reading Challenge April 1st-October 1st 2008

Anne over at Reading Writing and Ranting is hosting this challenge.

This is what Anne Said about the challenge:

"There is only one rule:1) You must commit to reading 6 historical novels over 6 months.

As this is a challenge, not a competition, satisfaction and a bigger brain will be your greatest reward! This is to encourage us all to have fun learning about history. I expect that if you've read a great author, you'll be inspired to hit Wikipedia up and learn a little more too. I don't mind if you end up reading a series about mostly fictional characters either. You won't find any literary snobs here."

The first novel I intend to read for this challenge is:




April 18, 2008 My review is now posted, please see it here






The second novel I intend to read for this challenge is:


April 18, 2008 My review is now posted, please see it here




The third book I intend to read for this challenge is:





April 29, 2008 My review is now posted, please see it here





The fourth book I intend to read for this challenge is:




May 9, 2008 My review is now posted, please see it here




The fifth book I intend to read for the challenge is:





May 31, 2008 My review is now posted, please see it here


The sixth book I intend to read for the challenge is:



July 7, 2008 My review is now posted, please see it here

Posted by Teddy Rose at 8:29 PM 10 comments  

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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

A Foreign Affair by Caro Peacock

Publication Date: April 2008




Warning: Do not read this right before bed!

The year is 1837 and Liberty Lane, runs away from her overbearing aunt to meet up with her father in France. She receives an anonymous note telling her that her father was shot in a dual. She knows that this can’t be true, due to her father’s ethical belief against duels. He must have been murdered, but by whom?

Liberty does some investigating and gets herself caught up in some very close calls herself. She agrees to pose as a governess for a family that was said to be, somehow involved in her father’s death. To tell more of this riveting early Victorian Gothic mystery would give away too much.

This is a compulsive read that I was unable to put down! Caro Peacock’s characters are well fleshed out and come to life. I felt like was inside the story myself. This book is very close to a five star rating for me, however, there is one little part towards the end that I think could have been set up better. I can’t mention it here without giving away a spoiler.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you, I was up until 3:00 in the morning with this wonderful heart-racing book!
4.5/5

Note: This book was also published with the title 'Death at Dawn'

Also Reviewed by:

Historical Tapestry



Posted by Teddy Rose at 8:13 PM 12 comments  

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Friday, March 7, 2008

Win a Copy of "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult


Girls Just Reading is having a contest to win this book. I have not read it myself yet, but it's gotten good "buzz". If you would like to enter the contest, click on the link above to go to the Girls Just Reading Blog.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 10:18 PM 0 comments  

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Meme: The Six-Word Memoir

Jill at The Magic Lasso tagged me for this meme,which originated here .

"As I read yet another book review of a memoir this weekend, my husband told me that I should write one. I said that my story would be much too short and rather boring so when I ran across the following book I decided it was just my speed. A six word memoir! Written by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, Not Quite What I was Expecting: Six Word Memoirs by Famous and Obscure is a compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were- For Sale: baby shoes, never worn. There’s a video on Amazon with examples from the book, it sounds like a fun read! I’d like to start a six word memoir meme and here are the rules:

1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you’d like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4 .Tag five more blogs with links
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play!"

MY SIX-WORD MEMOIR

Life's too short and too long!

I now tag:

Dana
Laura
Kristy
3M
Wendy

I Hope you all have fun with this one.

Posted by Teddy Rose at 10:28 PM 5 comments  

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6 Unimportant Things About Me!

Marg from Reading Adventures tagged me for this meme.

The rules are:
1. Link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself
4. Tag six random people at the end of your blog entry.
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.

1. I fall in love with just about every dog, cat, and furry living being I meet!

2. I've only had two cavities in my entire life.

3. I don't like capers.

4. I love pasta.

5. I do yoga.

6. I went parasailing once and would like to do it again.

Now I will tag:
Jill
Chris
Aarti
Nyssaneala
Bonnie
Nicola

Posted by Teddy Rose at 9:57 PM 7 comments  

Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold



Original and Refreshing!

Susie Salmon is a 14-year-old dead girl looks down from heaven and tells us about her murder and her observations about her family. She observes her family struggle to come to terms and cope with her death. We see her younger sister grow into a woman and her father trying to bring Susie’s killer to justice. We also learn about what her own heaven looks like and what it is like to be dead from her perspective.

Sounds a bit weird, right? That’s what I thought years ago when I picked up this book. I read about 15 pages and thought, "this is stupid, how can a dead person narrate a book. Then I ran across the audio book version a couple weeks ago. I thought to myself, "why not give it another more fair try and try to see why other readers like it so much." Boy, am I glad I did. Once I got past the description of the murder, I really enjoyed this book. It’s not as depressing as one would think. It was suspenseful, heartwarming, and humorous.

The performer on the audio version is Alyssa Bresnahan. She is excellent and really enhances the novel.

Susie Salmon captured my heart. I highly recommend this book and can hardly wait to see what Alice Sebold writes next!
4.5/5

Posted by Teddy Rose at 9:07 PM 8 comments  

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