Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles and all sort of things

Oh I missed being here, hopefully I will start post regularly again  although nothing is quite settled right now I’m my life, I rent an apartment in Milan and one in Dublin, my husband is currently in London, I have a new manager and my team will probably undergo a re-organization (again!), and I will  soon have very BIG NEWS…I am so looking forward to december, this year I simply CANNOT WAIT but as my mum says “Patience is ‘the’ virtue of the strong ones” (italian idiom “la pazienza è la virtù dei forti“).

So here it’s the thing about Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles, I was hoping for distraction but all I got is a mild sense of annoyance, Carlos got on my nerves due to his self absorbed personality and poor listening skills, I couldn’t get into him and this is a big issue because this is a romance so the main male character is the focal point of everything.

This is not entirely Elkeles’s fault, it’s clearly one of those situations in which I read a good book at the wrong moment, lately I’ve been noticing that people always say “I am here if you need to talk” but are they really there? Don’t they just pretend for a few minutes so that they can then have their payback time which might take hours if I am the one listening on the other side of the coffee table.

Ok I am rambling… back to Carlos and Kiara all I can say is that attraction might have been in the air (not as overwhelming as in Perfect Chemistry) but love surely was missing and if the epilogue didn’t bother me too much in PC, here I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking “not again“.

I am quoting the super-quotable Carla:

“because we all know there is a BIG difference between love and lust and I just never felt like they crossed that particular line, I felt like I was told they did”

Precisely!

The opposites-attract routine never fails me but this time Kiara was a little too nice and understanding, I would have appreciated some  attitude.

Plus the whole sub-plot regarding gangs’ dynamics wasn’t engaging , it felt a bit like something that Elkeles had to throw in there somehow without too much conviction.

Other reviews:

The Crooked Shelf

Chachic’s Book Nook

Angieville

The YA YA YAs

My grade: 3/5

Em

The secret countess by Eva Ibbotson

Eva Ibbotson had been on my mind for a while and then I was invited to We Love Ya on Chachic’s blog where both Angie and Holly recommended A Company of Swans and A Song for Summer but The Secret Countess was already on my bookshelf so I decided to start from this one.

I am super glad I did it because The Secret Countess it’s one of those enchanting, make-you-feel-good-about-being-good fairytale plus it’s unputdownable and once I started reading about Anna Grazinski I simply could not stop.

Anna Grazinski is the heir of an aristocratic russian family based in St Petersburg, in Russia Anna has the most perfect life,  speaks many languages, plays the piano, she is not the most beautiful girl at court but her humble attitude and charm make her impossible to resist.

When revolution tears Russia apart and her beloved father dies, her now-penniless family is forced to flee to England where Anna becomes a housemaid at Mersham, a magnificent mansion on the verge of ruin.

Years ago  Rupert, The Earl of Westerholm, had promised his older brother that if required he would have done his best to save Mersham.

Differently from his brother Rupert has survived the war, he is coming back to Mersham and is getting married to the beautiful Muriel, a wealthy heiress who can afford to save Mersham and, most importantly, she wants to because those two are in love or so they think.

But the real story is about Anna and Mersham and the way Anna integrates herself so well that she becomes Mersham and Rupert learns to love his house through her.

This is a fairytale so there are no surprises, no shades, characters are pure goodness or utterly evil, Anna is a mix of earnestness, grace, sensitivity, she is perfect the way only fairytales’ heroines are.

I enjoyed reading about a princess who finds herself scrubbing floors and charms a whole community of supporting characters.

All supporting characters are great and there many but Ibbotson doesn’t overdo, she orchestrates them perfectly,  every single character is relevant and adds a contribution to the narration.

Predictability is not a bad thing, most of the books I read are  predictable and yet I don’t mind, I enjoy the ride if the story is well written and makes me feel something / think about something.

This it’s what I call a comfort book, a perfect way to spend a lazy day on the couch with a blanket and a cup of cocoa.

I reached the end with a BIG smile on my face and with a vague sensation that being good matters.

My grade: 4/5

Em

Soulless by Gail Carriger

I picked up Soulless following Lit Snit’s recommendation without really knowing what to expect,  I am glad to say that Soulless has a mix of dry humor, personality, style and  romance that really worked for me and let’s not forget that Lord Maccon is a werewolf and you know how I feel about those.

From Amazon:

Prickly, stubborn 25-year-old bluestocking Alexia Tarabotti is patently unmarriageable, and not just because she’s large-nosed and swarthy. She’s also soulless, an oddity and a secret even in a 19th-century London that mostly accepts and integrates werewolf packs, vampire hives and ghosts. The only man who notices her is brash Lord Conall Maccon, a Scottish Alpha werewolf and government official, and (of course) they dislike each other intensely. After Alexia kills a vampire with her parasol at a party—how vulgar!—she and Conall must work together to solve a supernatural mystery that grows quite steampunkishly gruesome. Well-drawn secondary characters round out the story, most notably Lord Akeldama, Alexia’s outrageous, italic-wielding gay best vampire friend.

A few years ago I had an appraisal with my manager and in my improvement area she wrote think overnight before speaking and then she added it’s probably because you are italian.

Every time Alexia blurts out her abrupt considerations, which happens quite often,  Carriger mentions her italian heritage and I can’t help smiling.

I instantly liked Alexia, an outspoken, sophisticated, perfectly mannered spinster which means  she can get away with many things (which she does).

It helps a lot that she is almost unique, Alexia  is a preternatural, who has no soul and can neutralize other supernatural beings such as vampires and werewolves, it’s a very rare condition she inherited from her italian father and very few people know about it.

The background is also very peculiar, it’s a Victorian London in which different communities, vampires, humans, werewolves coexist pacifically and respecting established rules.

This book it’s pure fun, it vaguely reminds me of Julia Quinn,  the romance  dynamic is also one of my favorite: a clever spinster who gave up hope for a marriage proposal and a hero clearly out of her league, except he is not.

And there are juicy bits that I wasn’t expecting, a welcome addiction to an interesting plot that works thanks to Alexia and Lord Maccon’s chemistry  but let’s not forget some well accomplished supporting characters like Lord Akeldama, a rather eccentric vampire, Professor Lyall, Beta to Alpha Wolf Lord Maccon, Foote, Alexia’s butler.

I really enjoyed the writing style, in typical victorian fashion here it’s a novel where the most daring conversations see our characters enjoying a walk in the park or a cup of tea.

It’s all rather polite and clever, very refreshing, absolutely worth reading. It’s a comedy of manners and I am a sucker for those.

Halloween is coming and I am  thinking of putting together an Alexia Tarabotti’s outfit, seriously that cover is an inspiration!

Other reviews:

Janicu’s Book Blog

Bookshelves of doom

Jawas Read, Too!

Angieville

Subverting The Text

The Infinite Shelf

My grade: 4/5

Em

This side of Paradise by Francis Scott Fitzgerald

Ever since I read The Great Gatsby in high school Francis Scott Fitzgerald has been my literary crush, my favorite writer, the material proof that opinions that freely wander into my brain can be put on paper and it doesn’t have to be non-fiction.

Fitzgerald finished only four novels This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender is the night and The Great Gatsby. I am planning to review them all and I would like to start from the beginning.

This side of paradise is Fitzgerald’s  semi-autobiographical debut novel (published in 1920, you can read it online for free):

To keep things simple we could say that plot is about the education of  Amory, a romantic  egotist who excels physically due to his exceedingly handsomeness, socially as he is magnetic and impossibly charming, mentally where his superiority is undisputable. Not the most sympathetic character but he will evolve.

Amory’s  life is traced from childhood all the way through his entire adolescence, a time frame that spans right across the fronts of World War I.

There are many aspects in this novel that could be taken into consideration in a proper review but mine doesn’t mean to be a comprehensive one (I am no literary critic)   I just want to explain what appeals to me.

Above everything else is the pessimism on life combined with a strong desire of living at full speed.

Amory Blaine starts as a young boy enrolled in a Prep School, St Regis, where he doesn’t fit in, after that he enters Princeton (Fitzgerald also was a student here) where he develop real friendships and starts experiencing life.

At Princeton he meets  Burne Holiday and Thomas Park D’Invilliers, both have a special influence on Amory and a relevance to the story.  When the war breaks up and most students enroll in the army Holiday is a the one that chooses to be a pacifist, a radical decision for those times  that’s analysed and argued in the book.

D’Invilliers introduces Amory to many writers such as Yeats, Wilde and under his influence Amory begins writing poetry. I throughly enjoyed each single conversation between Amory and Tom, especially those about american literature.

One of my favorite chapter is titled “The End Of Many Things” ,  it marks the line between Princeton and After-Princeton:

And what we leave here is more than this class; it’s the whole heritage of youth. We’re just one generation—we’re breaking all the links that seemed to bind us here to top-booted
and high-stocked generations. We’ve walked arm and arm with Burr and Light-Horse Harry Lee through half these deepblue nights

After Princeton Amory starts working in advertisement, his friend  Alec Connage introduce him to his sister, Rosalind Connage.

Amory and Rosalind fall deeply and passionately in love, they are talking marriage until she realizes that “the very qualities I love you for are the ones that will always make you a failure” and chooses a more reasonable and wealthy  companion breaking Amory’s heart in the process.

The break-up has a huge effect on Amory’s personality, the dream of love is broken and it will never be repaired again,  Amory will never be the same again.

Towards the end Amory uses the expression “scrap-book of my life” I really like it because this really is a beautiful coming-of-age story where  dialogues, poems, experiences, reflections come together to tell us of Amory’s life and, I admit, I learned a little about myself in the process.

I believe that part of the reason why I love Fitzgerald so much is that I relate to themes he deals with, the restlessness of youth, the illusion of a dream, the disappointing reality. It speaks to the troubled soul that doubts everything.

I also like  the way he creates novels that question our society  while focusing on individuals.

Plus no other writer creates an atmosphere the way Fitzgerald does, his prose has a delicate touch that needs no long descriptions, if you close your eyes you feel right there.

Other reviews:

Bookshelves of doom

World Through Books

Beattifickid89

‘One blow after another … and finally something snapped’

Em

Bad Books I read in 2010

Today I feel like organizing a list of some bad books I read in 201o, if you check my 5/5 list you might think that I am quite generous, truth to be told I am not … it’s just that when I read a book and it’s really bad either I give up (because life is too short) or I simply don’t feel  like sitting here and writing about it.

I bitch all day about all sort of things (office related things especially) and when it comes to books I just want to have fun but I am aware that Bad Reviews are also important,  so here it’s a list of books I read in 2010 and wouldn’t recommend to anybody:

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward

A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton

You are probably thinking that I am a prude, that’s not it! I selected those two books expecting some steamy Urban Fantasy but I found both books extremely dull and utterly boring

The Duke and I by Julia Quin

I enjoyed The Viscount Who Loved me so much but this one was a disappointment, I hate manipulations in all shapes so I was really annoyed by Daphne

Hostile Makeover by Wendy Wax

I deeply disliked the male character Ross, I failed to see his charming side. I should have know from the description: porsche-driving sales executive …urghhh…welcome to my personal nightmare

Schooled by Anisha Lakhani

I didn’t see the charm, one of those books that tries too hard to be smart, sometimes it works perfectly but this one left me completely unsympathetic

The Gatecrasher by Madeleine Wickham

Madeleine Wickham is in fact Sophie Kinsella but to me they are two completely different writers as I can’t help loving everything Kinsella publishes while hating everything that’s signed by Wickham.

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

I am perfectly aware that most readers love this book but I really couldn’t get into it. I wasn’t impressed by Aislinn, fairies are cold sinister creatures  not half as fun as my beloved werewolves.

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

One of those books in which a character is meant to be dark, dangerous, sexy because the author says so, I like reaching my own conclusions not being told how each character is

What about you?

Em

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner was recommended by Angie and Chachic, so far my favorite book is The Queen of Attolia but The King of Attolia is also perfect, exquisitely executed, Turner doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to crafting a subtle plot.

The plot from Goodreads:

By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making. Attolia’s barons seethe with resentment, the Mede emperor is returning to the attack, and the king is surrounded by the subtle and dangerous intrigue of the Attolian court. When a naive young guard expresses his contempt for the king in no uncertain terms, he is dragged by Eugenides into the center of the political maelstrom. Like the king, he cannot escape the difficulties he makes for himself. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king’s caprice, but he discovers a reluctant sympathy for Eugenides as he watches the newly crowned king struggle against his fate.

* There might be spoilers *

Eugenides is married to The Queen of Attolia, the woman he loves, but he is not interested in becoming King, oh he is officially  the King of Attolia but he acts like a fool rather than a king, falling asleep at  meetings, dancing with the wrong girl during  ceremonies, insisting in saying the wrong thing or barely speaking at all… the whole kingdom can’t stop laughing at him, the Attolians regard him as a lazy ass  who took advantage of their queen by forcing her into  marriage. It’s no wonder that the Queen refuses to admit Gen into her rooms and keeps him  at distance.

Except things are not always what they seem to be, are they?  and by now I suspected  that Gen  had a plan  to outsmart his opponents.

This third book is mainly told by Costis’ point of view, Costis is a young attolian guard who despises the king to the point that he physically assaulted him only to find himself at the King’s service rather than executed.

I missed Gen’s voice but I like the way Turner turns things around and we see it happening by Costis’ prospective, we know that Gen has something up his sleeve, we know that he might not be the smartass Thief of book 1 but he he can do better than that, Costis doesn’t know and it’s engaging to see how Gen plays the fool (idiot would be a better expression) while waving his own web of intrigue.

And what about the royal marriage? Is it really troubled? I don’t think so, Gen and Irene are now a team, and yes Irene is worried about Gen but their love is solid,  I enjoyed those brief moments of intimacy and tenderness between them, I appreciated their new closure and complete trust in each other.

The story starts slowly focusing on building the awkwardness of the new monarch and describing all sort of mortifying situations Gen has to deal with (pranks organized by his attendants, sand in his food, mismatched clothes he is forced to wear), the real turning point occurs after 100 pages or so when there is an attempt to murder Gen.

From now on the rhythm intensifies and it’s Turner at her best which means that you won’t be able to put the book down until “The End” and even there you are left with a feeling of wanting more.

It’s safe to say that I am irrevocably in love with this series because of the humor, the unpredictability, the smartness, those characters…but above everything else because it has a SOUL and there is no mistake there, while reading this you know it’s different, you know it’s so much better than so many books you read before. Or I do.

Other Reviews:

Book Harbinger

Angieville

Chachic

Miss Print

The Book Smugglers

Between The Stacks

My Grade: 5/5

Em

Norwegian Wood The movie!

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite books,  I am excited because right now the movie adaptation by Tran Anh Hung is competing at this year’s Venice Film Festival (September 1-11).

Here it’s the teaser:

and here it’s my book review. It’s a perfect coming-of-age novel, if it was an american book it would belong here (banned books reading challenge hosted by Stephen Su). It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, hopeful. Read this book.

I can’t wait!

Em

Sharing is Caring: Chick Lit September Giveaway

September is a very special month, I have a wedding anniversary (1 year!), a birthday (I’ll be turning 29 ), a possible relocation… I am excited and I thought I would share some of the fun by organizing my first  giveaway ever.

I selected two chick lit that I loved but don’t seem to have gained much popularity:

If Andy Warhol had a girlfriend by Alison Pace

The Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz

Contest is open almost internationally (if BookDepository delivers to your country …).

If Andy Warhol had a girlfriend talks a lot about art, contemporary art especially,  to enter leave a comment telling me the title of your favorite painting, why you love it and a way of contacting you.

Here it’s one of my favorite paintings (Gare Montparnasse. The Melancholy of Departure by Giorgio De Chirico):

I am fond of this painting for its simplicity, the implicit tension, its shadows and lights, its subtlety.

Contest is open until September, 16th (that’s my birthday) , Hope you enjoy!

Em

How I live now by Meg Rosoff

Things Happen and once they start happening you pretty much just have to hold on for dear life and see where they drop you when they stop.

A while ago I read What I was by Meg Rosoff and I was enchanted by Rosoff’s writing style, there was one passage that I will never forget (ever) but the plot itself was weak and its magic faded away as the narration progressed. I approached How I live now fearing a similar response, I shouldn’t have worried, I loved it.

From Goodreads:

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy. As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

The writing is superb, I immersed myself in the streaming consciousness of Daisy’s narration and breathed after 10 hours or so.

When Daisy described nature I could feel the touch and the smell of it, when Daisy described her auntie’s house I was right there, the food made me hungry, I  rejoiced for her love  and suffered for her loss.

Daisy  is a sharp sarcastic new yorker whose only weapon against oblivion is food-deprivation,  when she visits her cousins in England she senses that everything is different there, she lets herself be one of them, she loves them, little Piper who  is impossible to resist (I smiled every time she appeared on page) and her cousin Edmond, who she is irremediably  attracted to.

Daisy is overwhelmed by their attention, their intensity and pureness:

Edmond : “he turns the car up onto this grass and then drives across to a sign that says Do Not Enter and of course he Enters and then he jogs left across a ditch and suddenly we’re out on the highway”

Piper: “...the presence of Piper with her big eyes and pure soul made hims feel like all he wanted was a chance to die to protect her”  “Piper could smell wild garlic and onions in a meadow and she came home with armfuls of the stuff” “I came across Piper deep in conversation with Jet one afternoon and when I asked what they were talking about she shrugged and said Dog Things”

Isaac: “At times I thought he was more animal than human. For instance if you were walking in town on market day and there were tons of people milling around, you would never have to worry about losing him in the crowd even if you totally forget we was there and got separated for ages”

And then  War Happens.

And Rosoff is  super smart because Daisy’s voice stays fresh and consistent. This is not so much about the war itself,  it’s about Daisy and Piper, how they survive the war and how it affects them.

The story is simple, there is very little action (and a relationship of sexual nature between cousins. It didn’t make me uncomfortable) , the ending is gut wrenching,  it’s perfect, it filled my heart with tenderness, compassion, understanding. This is what love is all about.

You won’t read another story like this, not in a while.

Other opinions:

Things mean a lot

The Book Smugglers

Book Harbinger

Write Meg!

My grade: 5/5

Em

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

*This review contains spoilers*

Although I don’t believe that the success of this series lies exclusively in Gen’s character I must admit that he had a major role in keeping me reading day & night  until I reached The End and forcing me to go back and re-read most of the book …the first time I read it too quickly but  every single page in here deserves full attention.

The Thief thought me not to underestimate Gen, he has proven his ability to outsmart opponents and readers.

That  smart, carefree, young boy has grown up and when Attolia cuts his hand off  he finds himself questioning his position as Queen’s thief.

His previous outgoing attitude is replaced by cryptic silences, he needs constant medication to cope with the pain, he can’t sleep without experiencing terrible nightmares.

He is terrified by Attolia and what she can do to him:

He started to pace. “Her following stroke is as good as her attack” he said “I’m too frightened to leave my room, much less to be of any use to my queen”

Gen’s mutilation causes political ramification all over the country plus the Mede is  stepping in to try to gain power for his empire.

Attolia will stop at nothing to defend her throne, vicious, barbaric, edging toward insane,  she is also an astute strategist who rules her country with inflexible hand.

We  get to know Attolia’s story, which partly explains the brutality she is capable of.

The world is at war, the  Queen of  Eddis needs her thief, she needs Gen to steal her peace, not for the first time it’s up to Gen to come up with a solution that will preserve Eddis’ independence:

“Your Majesty” said her Thief at last. He’d never spoken before at a council meeting, and those at the table turned to look at him in surprise.
“Our goal has been to dethrone Attolia without inviting in the Mede.  If the instability of her rule were eliminated and Attolia had a government more stable but inimical to the Mede, it could mean an alliance between Eddis and Attolia that would drive back Sounis.”
“Yes,” Eddis agreed.
“I think,” Eugenides said quietly, “that I could eliminate the instability of the Attolian queen.”

by stealing the queen of Attolia.

And then there is a twist (not as  unpredictable as what happens in the Thief) and I genuinely melted because this is the kind of romance that warms my heart. Eugenides definitely had me swooning.

I feel a little overwhelmed, The Queen of Attolia doesn’t have the greatest plot ever  but while reading  this story I never  experienced that annoying sensation that the author is trying too hard to be smart.

There is a certain degree of simplicity in dialogues, strategies, descriptions and yet it’s subtle, smart without over complicating things.

Plus is not conventional, there is nothing I like more than an unpredictable love story 🙂

Other reviews:

Angieville

Jenny who is immoderately gushing about Megan Whalen Turner

Chachic

Fantasy Cafè

Just Book Reading

Fryrefly’s Book Blog

My grade: 5/5

Em