Making It Up

as we go along

100 book challenge

Ape House by Sara Gruen #100books

by 1 Comment

I was thrilled when this arrived in the post yesterday from Two Roads Books. I read Water for Elephants as part of Cara’s book group and absolutely loved it, so couldn’t wait to get my hands on Ape House. It’s published in paperback on 1st September this year, so it’s available for pre-order from Amazon if you can’t wait either.

is a fabulous book. It’s complex, informative, educational, fascinating, enthralling, uplifting and an all round good read. There isn’t one part of it that disappoints – no cardboard characters or throwaway plot lines, everything pulls together to make a beautifully completed whole.

Sara Gruen put two years of research into writing this book, and it doesn’t actually show. What I mean by that is that the accuracy of the facts behind the plot is seamless with the fiction that wraps it all together, no awkward edges destroy the way the story flows. There’s no mawkish sentimentality even though many of the main characters are bonobos – you get the feeling that Ms Gruen respects the Great Apes as much as she does her human protagonists.

Is that an odd way to describe a relationship between an author and her characters? Respect? I hope you know what I mean. We’ve all read books that jar at some point, where a character is forced into a plot point that just doesn’t really work for them, doesn’t play well with how they’ve been drawn, but they are forced to it to pull the story together. No danger of that here – the characters all have their own flaws, no perfect ppl in this book or the world, but even the less pleasant are internally consistent.

I don’t really like to do detailed synopsis in my reviews, as I never want to spoil a story for anyone. I just hope that I describe enough of the writing and the book to whet an appetite, and that that’s what I’m doing here. I will tell you to set outside a day when you pick this book up – you really won’t want to put it down. And when you’ve finished it, you’ll be a little disappointed that you’ve reached the end.

Finally getting to the end of our 100 books. Book 87 to be accurate.

[Read more…] about Ape House by Sara Gruen #100books

Star Struck by Jane Lovering #100books

by 4 Comments

I really wasn’t up to much today, so I was thrilled to find an envelope from ChocLituk in my post this morning. It contained

and chocolate, so was a very good start to the day.

I haven’t read any Jane Lovering before, though I understand there are several about. This one is due out in September, and if you like good chick lit, I’d have said you’ll enjoy it. Strong characterisation, plot line to keep you guessing (but not ridiculous or over contrived as it does unfold) and lots of nicely oglable characters for internal visualisation. Ms Lovering appears to follow my interests in men, going for good descriptions of eyes, accents and rear ends, which I do recall being the triumvirate of requirements back in the days of frequenting university bars on the pull.

(Oh so very long ago….) Anyway. This book centres around a woman who has lost a lot in a recent car accident. (If that kind of central theme of loss or car crashes will be a problem for you, I’d advise you skip this one.) She ends up visiting a Sci Fi conventions in the states with a friend who thinks it will help snap her out of things, though all is not what it seems. Sci Fi conventions are things that intrigue me – I do like my science fiction, though I’ve never gone so far as to attend one. Good plot for a book though, and one that I could identify with in some parts.

How it all unfolds is not something I’m going to go into, but it romps along enticingly enough that I kept picking it up and managed to finish it in one day. (Not quite one sitting, but little details like no food in the house and having to go shopping got in the way.) And I’ll be looking out for other books from this author. Really enjoyed it, thanks ChocLituk!

I shall be entering this in the Chick Lit plus challenge, and of course it’s another of my 100 books. Book 86 to be accurate.

[Read more…] about Star Struck by Jane Lovering #100books

Bumped by Megan McCafferty #100books

by Leave a Comment

This book was sent to review as part of a bundle of holiday reading for teens/ pre-teens. Big started it, but found it a bit above her head – she is only 11 though. So I read it instead, and found it to be a perfectly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

The style of writing *is* a little confusing. It’s written in the first person, but the first person keeps changing as the narrators are identical twins, brought up separately and having lead very different lives. The whole novel is set in a future after a virus has caused ppl over the age of around 18 to become infertile, so the plot is that older couples are now paying teenagers to have babies for them. Echoes of the Handmaid’s Tale, though not nearly as depressing as that. (Please tell me I’m not the only one who finds Handmaid’s Tale utterly depressing? Tbh, I absolutely hate it. And I’m fond of dystopian tales generally speaking.) So there are lots of issues up for consideration – teenage sex and pregnancy, surrogacy, religion, privacy, childhood. It’s a challenging array, although the story romps along well enough that the issues don’t crash around your ears. Some of the futuristic language grated on me a little – perhaps I’m out of practice with scifi, I don’t seem to have read that much in the genre recently. Another oversight, it used to be my favourite. Along with fantasy.

Anyway, I think I’d suggest this for a teen of 13-14, and preferably a reasonably mature one at that. It may well be something that you feel you’d like to pre-read so that you’re ready for discussion of the issues – there isn’t much graphic stuff in it though to worry anyone. Very much depends on you/ your daughter’s sensibilities. (I say daughter as I don’t see this appealing to teenage boys particularly, it’s written from a very clear female viewpoint.

This is certainly an author I will be keeping an eye on though – a thought provoking book all around.

This is book 84. [Read more…] about Bumped by Megan McCafferty #100books

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

by 2 Comments

I was very grateful to be included in the first Love a Book bookgroup reading, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. The book arrived some weeks ago, and I started reading it almost straight away. Then there was Cybermummy, then there was Kentwell. And I forgot to take it with me camping, not that I ever had much time to read, so it’s taken til tonight for me to finish it.

This is no reflection on the book. When I finally got around to picking it up again today after a couple of weeks away from it, I sank straight back into it again. The story telling is compulsive, the characters memorable, though by no means softly drawn, and not all engaging, some almost repulsive tbh. The story has its darker sides as well, and there are moments of high drama, all interspersed with the maudlin day to day reality of life in a care home as a 93 year old.

To begin with I found the slipping between times distracting, but that quickly wore off – I’m a little surprised how many books I’ve read recently have this device in them, it’s obviously caught on rather. Gruen handles it well – it could so easily grate to have the main character changing so drastically in his own viewpoint from page to page – and it provides welcome counter point to what is a very nervy story at certain points. I was also surprised that I wasn’t put off by the adult nature of some scenes – I’ve read my fair share of chick lit, but that tends to gloss over the details or romanticise it somewhat. There’s not a lot of romanticising of some of young Jacob’s grittier experiences, and yet he is still a character you can identify with to some extent, and understand what he might be going through.

Running away to join the circus is probably something we’ve all considered. Certainly my favourite book as a child was Mr. Galliano’s Circus in which a whole family does precisely that. In this story, Jacob runs away but joins the circus accidentally and in fact reluctantly, and thus the ending which rather sneaks up on you, is quite unexpected. I’m always pleased when a book manages an unexpected but entirely fitting ending, so I was able to enjoy this one right to the very last page, and I’ll certainly be looking out for more books by this author.

Thanks so much for choosing this one for us to read Cara.

I won this book as part of Cara’s first book group. I’ve listed it as one of my 100 books, though I’ve completely lost track of where I’m up to, and as a small child keeps coming and jumping on me, I stand no chance of working it out tonight. Back tomorrow to sort that.

You can see what the other members of the bookgroup thought by following around the bloghop.

Took me a bit longer to sort it out. This is book 82. [Read more…] about Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble from Top That! Publishings.

by Leave a Comment

I’ll be up front about this book – I don’t particularly like it. If I hadn’t been sent it to review, I doubt very much that we’d have it in the house. Which would be a shame, as Smallest wouldn’t have spent time sitting on the couch reading it to herself. Granted, the reading sounds something like “goddle, goddle, burble, nay, inder” instead of the words actually written on the pages, but hey, she’s only 18 months old.

I *can* sort of see why she likes it. It’s very simple – few words to a page, and lots of strong rhyme and repetition. There’s even a CD with the whole book on as a song (three verses with chorus), and suggested actions for singing along, which again, she likes rather more than I do.

The pictures are full of action and colour which goes down well with her, although oddly, she hasn’t identified the turkeys in the book as birds, possibly because of their lack of identifiable birdlike shape. She’s usually pretty hot on birds – her other favourite reading material here is the RSPB magazine, and all of that comes second to birdwatching live out of the full length windows at the end of the living room. The pictures do go well with the words (I won’t say story as this isn’t a story book as such, there’s no strong narrative) and the illustrations are a definite strength with plenty of things to pick out and discuss if you want to stray from the words on the page.

Perhaps I should be giving picture books like these two ratings. One from me and one from the target audience. I’d be giving this one 3 out of 5, while I think Smallest is going 4 – she seeks it out and offers it to ppl to read, which isn’t the treatment that all books get. I’d certainly be interested in looking at other books by these author/illustrator team on the strength of her reaction to this one.

Disclosure: I’m on the reviewer team for Top That! Publishing and I’m sent these books free to review. I’m also encouraged to send negative feedback back to the publishers so that they can improve books in later editions, which I think is a stormingly good idea, so this isn’t only about publicity for their books.

Adding this to the 100 book list now, and it comes in at 81. [Read more…] about Gobble, Gobble, Gobble from Top That! Publishings.