1984

Here's a quick review of the first book I finished this year:


1984 by George Orwell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As a fan of dystopian fiction, I felt I ought to read this book. It is the most well known of dystopian fiction, isn't it?

The world was excellent, well thought out and presented perfectly. As expected. It was appropriately horrible and disturbing.

Overall, although I didn't not enjoy it, I wasn't really enthralled with it. The politics and philosophies were really interesting, but the characters were flat and...not unlikable, but...boring. I didn't care about them. Winston and Julia...would they die? Would they live? Would they be caught by the Thought Police? I really didn't care either way. And because I didn't care about the characters, the story just didn't excited me.

Nearing the end, I just wanted it to be over.

On a scale from Totally Awesome to Horrifically Awful, I'd give it an Alright. I'm glad I read it, but only for the sake of having read it, not because I enjoyed it all that much.

View all my reviews

La Chiripa

I received this book (SIGNED by the Author!) through Goodreads First Reads.

La Chiripa by Kaimana Wolff

Book Description:
 On the evening news, Vancouver lawyer Matt Wayne catches the story of a murdered Japanese tourist and instantly makes a decision: he will go to Todos Santos, high in the mountains of Guatemala, to hunt down the woman he hates.


In Todos Santos, Pira and her mother, Alma, keep quiet about their past, much as their Mayan neighbors, still in shock after four decades of La Violencia, now maintain El Silencio over an unspeakable history. But two aspiring journalists, stumbling onto the fate of the tourist, tell the sensational story for their own purposes, proving once again that lies uncover truth better than truth uncovers lies.


Only the shaman Natalya, dreaming of the vengeful, mythic Anton Kristo, foresees the wave of new violence about to engulf Todos Santos with the coming of Matt Wayne. Pira is plunged into a fight for her life and Alma faces a mother’s sacrifice -- to give up everything for a child.

The first thing I'd like to mention is that this is the second book in a series. This is a fact that I was completly unaware of until I got to the end and read the blurb about the author. You know how sometimes you're reading a book and although everything make sense it feels like you're missing something? And only later you find out it's actually the second or third book in a series? This happens to me a lot when I buy books from the bargin bin or when someone gives me a bag full of random books. Anyway, I did not have that feeling even once while reading this book. I had no idea and was quite surprised to know that there was a book that came before this one. It's written in such a way that it feels as if you are not supposed to know the back story. It's actually what I liked most about the book. The not knowing the whole story is what kept me reading. Without it, I don't know if I really could have gotten into it.

When I cracked open the book and found a cast of characters right at the begining, I was a little discouraged. I knew that meant there were going to be too many characters that are difficult to keep straight. I hate that. If I was reading this on my kindle, I would have never finished it, because the cast wouldn't have been so easily accessed, leaving me terribly confused. With a hard copy version of the book, it's not a big deal but it disrupts the flow of my reading experience. That's not to say that the author should have left it out - I needed it more than once. I just...hate when it's necessary is all.

The second thing I found as I continued to the first chapter - the format was really strange. It was a series of interviews, but you only got to read the response to the questions, not the questions themselves. It was really, really weird. I didn't like it at all, and contemplated not reading any further.

However, I would have kept reading regardless of any of the before mentioned facts, as when I receive free books, I feel obligated to read them. Even if they're terrible.

The odds against me liking this book were pretty high, but I kept reading, because I needed to know The Secrets. It was obvious early on that there was something big going on. The Secrets are what kept me reading at the begining, and eventually I got sucked into the story. I don't think I would have liked this book even a quarter as much if I'd read Broken Sleep first.

On a scale from Totally Awesome to Horrificly Awful I'd give it a Very Good. As I haven't read it, I can't suggest that you skip the first book, but don't let not reading it make you miss out on La Chiripa. I'll be on the look out for the last book in the series, for sure.

This Burns My Heart

This Burns My Heart: A Novel by Samuel Park

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.

Book Description: On the eve of her marriage, beautiful and strong-willed Soo-Ja Choi receives a passionate proposal from a young medical student. But caught up in her desire to pursue a career in Seoul, she turns him away, having impetuously chosen another man who she believes will let her fulfill her dreams. Instead, she finds herself tightly bound by tradition and trapped in a suffocating marriage, her ambition reduced to carving out a successful future for her only daughter. Through it all, she longs for the man she truly loves, whose path she seems destined to cross again and again. In This Burns My Heart, Samuel Parks has crafted a transcendent love story that vibrantly captures 1960s South Korea and brings to life an unforgettable heroine.

This is not a book I would have picked up on my own. Nothing about it is the type of book I'm drawn to. Everything about it has a soft quality to it - from the cover to the writing style. There's not anything wrong with that, it's just not really my thing.

That being said, I enjoyed the story. I liked the culture and the history of it. Soo-ja is likeable enough. I wouldn't exactly call her as a heroine, though, as the book description does. She's tragically naive at the beginning, and it more or less ruins her life. You feel bad for her, but at the same time it was her own decisions that got her into the mess she was in. Actually, it was a pretty depressing story for most of the book, things went from bad to worse, got a little better (sort of, I guess) and then got worse again. Glimmers of hope shattered at every turn. And still, I liked it. It was a charming book that was not difficult to read, understand or follow.

On a scale from On a scale from Totally Awesome to Horrifically Awful, I'd give it a pretty good. I know a lot of people who would really, truly enjoy this book, love it even. I'm just not one of them. But I did enjoy it and would recommend reading it if it came your way, but I wouldn't bother seeking it out.

Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior

Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads. 

Book Description:

Leonard Mlodinow, the best-selling author of The Drunkard’s Walk and coauthor of The Grand Design (with Stephen Hawking), gives us a startling and eye-opening examination of how the unconscious mind shapes our experience of the world and how, for instance, we often misperceive our relationships with family, friends, and business associates, misunderstand the reasons for our investment decisions, and misremember important events.

Your preference in politicians, the amount you tip your waiter—all judgments and perceptions reflect the workings of our mind on two levels: the conscious, of which we are aware, and the unconscious, which is hidden from us. The latter has long been the subject of speculation, but over the past two decades researchers have developed remarkable new tools for probing the hidden, or subliminal, workings of the mind. The result of this explosion of research is a new science of the unconscious and a sea change in our understanding of how the subliminal mind affects the way we live.

Employing his trademark wit and lucid, accessible explanations of the most obscure scientific subjects, Leonard Mlodinow takes us on a tour of this research, unraveling the complexities of the subliminal self and increasing our understanding of how the human mind works and how we interact with friends, strangers, spouses, and coworkers. In the process he changes our view of ourselves and the world around us.

 Your preference in politicians, the amount you tip your waiter—all judgments and perceptions reflect the workings of our mind on two levels: the conscious, of which we are aware, and the unconscious, which is hidden from us. The latter has long been the subject of speculation, but over the past two decades researchers have developed remarkable new tools for probing the hidden, or subliminal, workings of the mind. The result of this explosion of research is a new science of the unconscious and a sea change in our understanding of how the subliminal mind affects the way we live.

Employing his trademark wit and lucid, accessible explanations of the most obscure scientific subjects, Leonard Mlodinow takes us on a tour of this research, unraveling the complexities of the subliminal self and increasing our understanding of how the human mind works and how we interact with friends, strangers, spouses, and coworkers. In the process he changes our view of ourselves and the world around us.

This book...I didn't love it. I have no idea why (and, based on what I learned, probably wouldn't be the real reason anyway). I found the subject matter interesting. The writing style wasn't difficult to follow. It had some very charming anecdotes - I esspecially liked the one about the tortoise. I just found it hard to get excited about reading it. In fact, I made a lot of excuses not to read it, even though once I actually picked it up I quite enjoyed it.

On a scale from Totally Awesome to Horrifically Awful, I'd give it a Good If You're Into That Sort of Thing. If you aren't into the subject matter, skip it. 

How To Get Free Books: GoodReads First Read

I've gotten quite a few free books lately. Seriously, I've got a backlog right now, that's how many free books I've gotten lately. And because I'm feeling generous, I'm going to tell you my secret: GoodReads First Reads

I did win a prize pack from HarperCollins Canada on Facebook, but most of my free books come from GoodReads. I just go, click a few buttons and I'm entered to win. The real beauty of it though, is that when I win, it doesn't require any action from me to receive my books. They just show up in the mail, often unexpectedly. Like, I came home today and there it was, sticking out of my mail box - a copy of Bloodman by Robert Pobi. I didn't know it was coming, but there it was. (I'm not very good at email sometimes. I almost missed out on that five book prize from HarperCollins because they needed me to reply to their e-mail with my address. I would have been so angry with myself! Everything worked out for the best though.) If you win, you are not required to write a review, but you can if you're so inclined.

The other thing about GoodReads - even if they didn't keep sending me free books, it's still a great site if you're a lover of books. It's full of reviews and ratings and will even recommend books you might like based on your ratings. You should go there and check it out.

So Much Pretty

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman

From Amazon:
Set in a rural community steeped in silence and denial, So Much Pretty explores all parents’ greatest fear, that their child will be hurt. But it also examines a second, equally troubling question: What if my child hurts someone else? The disappearance and murder of nineteen-year-old Wendy White is detailed through the eyes of journalist Stacy Flynn and a host of other richly drawn characters, each with their own secrets and convictions. After Wendy’s body is found, Flynn’s intense crusade to expose a killer draws the attention of a precocious local girl, Alice Piper, whose story intertwines with Wendy’s in a spellbinding and unexpected climax.

This book arrived in the mail on my Birthday. How excellent is that?! I knew I'd won a book or two from Good Reads, but I forgot what they were and had no idea when they were coming. So when I tore open the package, it really was like a birthday present!

I didn't mean to read this book as quickly as I did. But I found my self thinking, "ok, just one more chapter..." and then I was done.

I wasn't immediately pulled into the book. It jumped back and forth through time, and was told from so many different perspectives, it was hard to keep track who was who. The mystery kept me reading, however, and it wasn't long before I was totally sucked in.

The way it was written, although at first confusing, was the genius of this book. It made me feel like I was constantly on the edge of figuring it all out. But then I didn't. I had no idea what was coming. Either I'm getting worse at figuring out mystery/thriller stories, or I've just read some really great authors of the genre lately. I prefer to believe the latter.

 Some of the subject matter is horrific, but it's also real. Violence against women, sexual assault and murder. It also based on a real crime -  which I was somehow unaware of until after. I guess when free books show up in the mail I just read them, I don't ask questions (or thoroughly read book covers).

On a scale from Totally Awesome to Horrifically Awful, I'd give it a Pretty Awesome. You should read this if you like thrillers and awesome books.