Book Reviews

The Avid Reader's Review

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Label : Something you put on clothes. Not on people.

Hi Guys,

As you know I’ve been wanting to create a tumblr for a while now. The reason being is that I have so many moments that are just too big to share in a short 140 character tweet. I also have so many feelings that I want to be able to express. I want us to be able to have an environment where we can discuss topics that need to be addressed, a place for us to give each other advice and to support one another. I want this to be a place that we can come and let our feelings out, our opinions out and pour our hearts out. So I hope that you will be a part of this journey with me!

The first thing I want to write about is something that I am currently experiencing and something that I’ve truly always been going through without me being old enough to realize it. I think to be quite honest ALL of us at some point in our lives go through this and IT. NEEDS. TO. BE. TALKED. ABOUT.

I’m talking about LABELS. No, not the kind we put on our lunch boxes when we are a kid, or on our sweater so if we lose it on the playground it can be returned to us, or even the ones that we put on the side of a mason jar with the fresh jam we just made (hello Pinterest thank you for the idea). I’m talking LABELS. The kind of LABELS that are put on PEOPLE. I was sparked to write about this after finding a post on a twitter account saying:

“If a girl likes ugg boots and starbucks she’s stupid and stereotypical, but if she likes combat boots and obscure coffee houses she’s a hipster wannabe and is trying too hard. If a girl listen to boy bands and other popular artists she’s a dumb follower, if she reads comes or plays video games she’s a poser/fake geek girl, if she likes sex she’s a slut but if she doesn’t like sex she’s a prude…”

Now, I’m going to interrupt the quote for a quick minute to get personal about that last description. I was just labeled as a “prude” by someone a few weeks ago. Now at the time I didn’t know what it meant so I just laughed it off and nodded my head awkwardly (as I do). I then got home and looked up the definition of it and was so taken back… For those who aren’t sure of the definition either, it’s this:

n./adj. One who will not engage in any kind of sexual activity with a member of the opposite sex. 1. Usually used as a discriminatory word. 2.Can be used in a fashion as to bait someone into sexual activity.

So this word isn’t a kind word. There’s no way to make it a kind word.

Here’s what upsets me and makes me feel a little confused: Where does having morals and waiting to take big steps until you’re absolutely ready to take them a negative thing? I didn’t know that making a personal decision based on what you believe in your heart was such a terrible thing…. that’s because IT ISN’T.

I didn’t speak about this for a while until a few days ago at breakfast. I was with my mom, a castmate of mine and his family. We were sitting around talking about life and it just kind of slipped out. It was only then that I let myself actually feel hurt about it after weeks of holding it in. I don’t want you to ever hold things in. Talk about it to anyone who you feel comfortable with. I don’t care if it’s the barista at your coffee shop. Never. Hold. Stuff. In.

I am not a prude. I respect myself and my body and I will always always do what I believe in that doesn’t make me any word or anything besides:

ME.

Okay- now back to the quote:

“…. if she doesn’t wear makeup she’s a slob, if she has low self esteem she needs to learn to love herself but if she has high self esteem she’s overconfident and vain, if she’s interested in politics she’s a crazy social justice warrior but if she prefers to stay out of social matters she’s a dumb airhead….”

I don’t know about you BUT this Twitter post really effected me and hit me straight in the heart. I also want to make a point to say that this doesn’t just go for girls it goes for boys as well…. and that’s where we move on to stereotypes.   stereotype : A stereotype is used to catergorize a group of people. People don’t understand that type of person, so they put them into classifications, thinking that everyone who is that needs to be like that, or anyone who acts like their classifications is one.

How many of you have been stereotyped? I know I have. I’ve been called: fat, skinny, fat again, anorexic, fake, smart, innocent, precocious etc. All words that have flown over my head and that I’ve made myself laugh at rather than cry over but I know that that isn’t the case for ALL of us.  How do you think the boy in the glasses who happens to like reading books feels when the whole school looks at him as some foreign object who can only date a science book? Or how about the boy on the football team who happens to be good at football but is immediately labeled the jock who is gonna be with all the girls in the school? There is so much more to a person than what they do and what we can see. Not all of us can be there with them to see what they do at 4am when they can’t sleep, or when they come home after winning a game to a house with their parents screaming at each other. None of us can completely know what that person is going through unless we are that person. So let’s stop talking about that person unless we really know them and even then don’t talk unless it’s something positive. Yes, I know it’s fun to talk to your besties about the latest drama and the he said/she said of it all (trust me I’m guilty of it too) but remember that much like the internet, once you put something out there it’s out there. Once you say something you cant take it back and you have to live with what it, so make sure you can before you say it.

We live in a generation where we are judged and looked upon every two seconds. I know that in my case I am being watched because I am in the public eye. I also know that one small mess up or mistake could honestly overpower any good that I have managed to do because sadly people are more interested in the bad mess ups than all the good things we do. Labels and stereotypes don’t help this situation. So here’s what I want to encourage us all to do:

Take out a piece of paper.

Grab a pen.

Take out a phone or a laptop or any device that can record. (and if possible I would love for you to tweet/ instagram me your pictures and/or video, I’ll be putting together a project about it)

Hit record.

I want you to know write down any word that you have ever been called on that paper.

Once you’re done lift up that paper and face it towards the camera so we can see those words.

On the count of three I want you to stay facing the camera and tear that paper into as many pieces as you can.

1..

2….

3….

Okay!

Did you rip it?

Now I want you to explain what you see.

What’s left on that paper? Is it just scraps of letters here and there?

At the end of the day if we put those words on a piece of paper, they just become words and if we rip the paper they become scraps. In theory they become NOTHING.

However as people we are EVERYTHING. Not one person is the same as another. Not one word can define exactly who we are. You can’t put us on a piece of paper, you can’t rip us up and you can’t make us nothing.

So, next time you are labeled or placed into a group that isn’t you… grab your phone, blast your music and have an epic dance party because YOU are worth so much more than a word.

With Love, 

Bailee 

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THIS. Bailee FTW. What a heartfelt, intelligent and beautiful young lady. (Now there's some labels we should use more often)

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Gorgeous cover for the British edition of Philip Pullman’s retelling of the Grimm fairy tales by designer Cheong-ah Hwang.

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3. This happened today (Taken with Instagram)

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2. Lunchtime sushi! #FMSphotoaday (Taken with Instagram)

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An illustrated ode to introverts by Grant Snider. Also see Susan Cain on the power of introverts. 

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Review: The Maze Runner - James Dashner - BOOK 1

Another YA book, I didn't realise this was a trilogy until I got to the end.

And was I excited? YES!

This novel has been compared toThe Hunger Games, and whilst it is similar, I would hesitate to compare it as far as themes go.  Those who have read THG will certainly enjoy this book, but Dashner takes us on a different story.  Instead of killing each other off, this is a story of teens coming together to fight a common enemy.

Our characters wake up to find themselves in a place they haven't been before, with their memories wiped clear.  They all have to work together to stay alive, and to beat the menacing 'greivers' that hunt at night.  There is a huge maze in which they believe there is an exit, but the walls move each night, causing confusion.

Can they get out of the maze? Can they find safety? And where have their memories gone? Who is controlling their envvironment, and why?

Excellent read. In fact, I've just gone and borrowed book two, The Scorch Trails from the library!

[thefrozendoll-blog]

Review: The Gilded Chamber - Rebecca Kohn.

This novel was neither great nor terrible, but sits somewhere in between.  I picked it up because on the front cover it exclaims that any reader of The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) will love this book. 

'Nuff said. It was in my hot little hands before I realised it.

It is the story of Queen Esther who is taken into service by the King as his concubine, then later is made his Queen.  Esther has been hiding her history as a Jew, and succeeds in doing so until a plan by the King to kill the Jews is made and Esther finds herself planning and plotting the best way she knows how to try and save her people, and herself.

Entertwined amongst this story, is the one of the women of the harem - the other concubines, and their daily rituals, their competitive natures and their bonds of friendship.

It's quite a good look at court life of the underdogs during that century and the story is well told. It just could have been more exciting.

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Reading nook.

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Oh. Yes. Yes. Yes.

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Review - The Long Walk - Stephen King

 Ray Garraty, along with 99 other teenage boys, has entered a competition. A race of sorts, where one must continually walk for several days and nights without falling below 4 miles an hour.  If you fall below that speed, you gain a warning.  After the third warning, if you don't pick up speed you get shot.

Simple.

Terrible and disturbing.

King gathers a host of characters through the novel, each character one of the Long Walk competitors.  We see at the beginning a bunch of typical smart ass, overconfident macho man-boys who, slowly but surely wither away throughout the gruelling Long Walk until there is one left standing.

A psychological and dark story, the only thing I was disappointed with was the ending.  It felt as though King had suddenly gotten sick of writing and just written a couple of sentences to 'tie up lose ends'.  I was absolutely expecting something more profound to occur, or to be said, and was left feeling really annoyed and disappointed that I'd read the entire (fairly lengthy) novel to get an ending like that.

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Review: Daniel Isn't Talking - Marti Leimbach

I am unsure if this novel is a true story, however the way it was written I wouldn't be surprised.

Daniel is our main character, a small boy.  He has a mother, a father and a sister.  It is a happy family, until Daniel is diagnosed with autism and the happy family starts to unravel at the seams.

Mum visits every possible doctor and specialist, hoping for a glimmer of hope amongst a sea of people who tell her that not much can be done for little Daniel.

Dad runs back to an ex girlfriend and leaves the family home, unable to cope with the fact that his little boy isn't perfect.

Mum Melanie discovers a man who calls himself a Play Therapist.  He has no qualifications, no formal training, but he's the only man who is able to teach Daniel to talk and play and interact.

A story of desperation, hope and a mother who would do anything for her child, this novel is absolutely a joy to read and a must for any mother. 

[thefrozendoll-blog]

Check out this list for 2012 - books you can't put down. Added a handful to my own 'to read' list.

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Review: One Breath - Heather Gudenkauf

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Even though Gudenkauf has only written a couple of books, she is solidly standing as one of my favourite authors.  Hew newest novel, One Breath Away doesn't disappoint.

The chapters are divided up amongst several characters, and their take on events that are occuring around them.  The main storyline is a hostage situation occuring at a local school.  Whilst police, reporters and parents are trying to assertain exactly what is going on, we as the reader get firstclass seats to the drama from the perspective of a teacher and a teenage student.

I won't spoil the storyline any further by telling you what else goes on.

Juggling the emotions of teenage, adult, and children characters, Gudenkauf does a remarkable job of keeping tabs on what each of her characters is doing and manages to paint them convincingly.

Put this one on your 'books to read' list.

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Lots of villages in the UK have turned red telephone boxes into mini libraries, just take a book and leave one behind.

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Oh my goodness this is too neat.

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oh good heavens

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Book Review: The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason

An enchanting and descriptive novel of an English piano tuner who travels, at the armys request, from England to the mysterious Burma to tune a piano.

Our piano tuner, Mr Drake is shy, quiet and reserved. A proper gentleman.

Our characters that we meet along his journey to Burma are anything but.

Whilst the author weaves a magical and mysterical tale of the sights, sounds and smells of Burma, we are also gifted with a mystery of why exactly a piano tuner would be called all the way from England.  Nothing is exactly as it seems and Mr Drake finds himself making a decision that will return to haunt him.

If you enjoy descriptive works, then you need to read this book.  It is both lovely and haunting at the same time.  This is real storytelling at its best.

[thefrozendoll-blog]

Book Review: The Light Between Oceans - ML Stedman

I had this book on reserve at the library for quite some time before I was able to get it into my hot little hands.  After reading the blurb, I'd decided that it was a book that I absolutely had to read.  And I'm glad that I did!

Tom Sherbourne accepts a lighthouse postion on a remote island off Western Australia, Janus Rock.  It is a quiet life, away from the rest of the world and he and his young wife, Isabel love their peaceful lifestyle.  The only thing missing from their life, is a child.  Isabel has had many miscarriages and a still birth, and feels a failure. 

One morning a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and an infant, and soon decisions are made, crossroads are passed and boundaries are stretched.

Only years later do they discover the terrible consequences of the decision they made that day as the infants' real story becomes known.

This is truly a heartbreaking novel, and blurs the reasonings between right and wrong.  Is something wrong when it feels so right?

I could hardly put this book down.  As the novel is the authors first book, I am eagerly anticipating her writing another!

This book will appeal to women.

10 out of 10!!!

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Review - The Snow Child: Eowyn Ivey

Maybe it is because I can relate to Mabel in this book, but I think perhaps it is the most poetic, lovely, beautiful novel I have ever read.  The clarity of the words are so crystal like and and truth rings out from them. There are no uneccessary words, it's just the telling of a story, and it is beautiful. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey is the story of a couple in their early 50s who decide to move to Alaska. She, to escape the sounds of children in the family and neighborhood, her own failure that she cannot produce a child. He, to chase a forture and please his wife. But what starts as a romantic notion, being alone in the Alaskan wilderness, soon turns to bitterness, silence and isolation. Mabel and Jack grow apart, rather than together, until one night they build together a little snowman.  Well, a snow girl. They place mittens and scarf around it.  Jack carves a face in the snow. Then they both sadly walk indoors. But what would happen if this snowgirl came to life? What if the snowgirl had disappeared in the morning, and a little girl appeared on the edge of the snow dressed in the very same scarf and mittens that they had dressed the snowgirl in? Who is she? How can she survive the cold Alaskan Wilderness? Is she real? Or a sprite? SUCH a lovely book, I highly recommend it.