Book Review: BECOMING by Michelle Obama

Becoming by Michelle Obama

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"What I won't allow myself to do, though, is to become cynical... We all play a role in this democracy... I continue to keep myself connected to a force that's larger and more potent than any one election, or leader, or news story -- and that's optimism. For me, this is a form of faith, an antidote to fear."

I've read and loved both of Barack Obama's books, but I enjoyed reading Michelle's more! I suppose a great deal of it has to do with her being a woman. I loved reading about her childhood, the lessons that she learned from her parents, the struggles and joys of being the life partner of someone who would later become the POTUS.

I admire her candour, I guess I wasn't expecting a lot of it. She gets REALLY personal with the not-so-glamorous parts of her life (her struggle to become pregnant, for example). Hers is by no means a charmed life, but I just admire her all the more for this. She became who she is by working hard.

In a world turning more cynical and mean with each day, Michelle reminds us to always choose kindness and hope.



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Book Review: THE GREAT PASSAGE by Shion Miura

The Great Passage by Shion Miura

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"A dictionary is a ship that crosses the sea of words... Without dictionaries, all any of us could do is linger before the vastness of the deep."

I will be forever thankful to a certain Professor for lending me this treasure of a book! It is something I would never have read on my own, but she spoke so convincingly about it that I felt I had to borrow it.

(And guys, if you have a choice between "BORROW" and "BUY," go for BUY! It's a keeper!)

Simply put, it is the story of how a dictionary is made.

You would think it's boring, right? Since dictionaries are often associated with less-than-pleasant required reading in English classes? But did you ever wonder what kind of people would spend their lives making one?

"Majime looked easygoing, but his soul was on fire."

This book made me realize just what a dictionary is: a symbol of hundreds of people's passion, perseverance, and prowess. Making one is a testament to human enterprise; it can take decades! And the definitions need to match the changing times, as language is fluid and never static.

The book tells of the dictionary's creators and champions... people who obsess over the specific type of paper required (waxy enough so that only one page at a time is turned with ease... thin enough so the volume won't be too bulky... but thick enough that the ink does not bleed through...there's SO MUCH to consider, it boggles the mind!! And that's JUST THE PAPER!!!!!)

Surprisingly, I had tears in my eyes at the end. I never expected I'd cry over a book about a dictionary, but there you go!

This book also made me realize how little I've read of Asian literature, which I shall seek to remedy. I mourn how I'm unable to read the great poems of Saigyo, except in translation.

Another thing to treasure about this book is the unforgettable love letter at the end!

"All I ask would be to walk my path sensing your gaze upon me. And if I might be allowed to do so, I would want nothing more than to watch over you from the shadows."

It's a testament to how well-loved this novel is, that it has been turned into both an anime series and a film! And now I can't wait to watch them and compare them with the book! (The trailer for the film : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlTjg... )

And gosh darn it, now I badly want to eat Nupporo Number One noodles!!! Thank you so much, Professor Or!



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Book Review: STRANGE THE DREAMER (Book # 1)

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"Beautiful and full of monsters. All the best stories are."

This is one of those books that make you want to shove it in the face of all your bookish acquaintances, frothing at the moth, shouting "READ THIS OR ELSE WE CAN'T BE FRIENDS!!"

I'm so glad I read this for Valentine's! It's not your typical romance, in fact, I'm loath to classify this book as a romance novel because it violates some of the commandments of romance novel-hood.

Don't get me wrong. I was (and am, and always will be) a romance novel lover, having been brought up on Judith McNaught and Susan Elizabeth Philipps. My sister and I have been reading them for so long, we experienced the genre change from bodice rippers to more feminist-friendly fare.

However, there are rules for it to qualify as a romance, and Laini Taylor breaks them. I'm pretty sure she breaks several other rules of different genres as well, but in the most thrillingly beautiful way.

For one, the Prologue gives away the ending. Except that, by the time you read it again in the end, you're weeping. I shan't say anymore about the ending, but romance novel readers will already be acknowledging the point, since HEA's and HFN's don't make people WEEP.

And speaking of Weep... that's the setting of this beyond awesome tale. It's a forgotten city, whose name has been lost to memory, because of traumatic events in its past.

It's a city with another one floating above it.

It's a city that has been liberated by men who rose up against Gods, but killed off their own humanity in the process.

It's a city where the hero meets the heroine only half-way through the book. So the first part is world-building, and character build-up, and Laini Taylor does an excellent job, to be sure.

But the second part is about falling in love with another's mind, another's soul... about searching for a way to save another's way of life... with heartpounding action and bone-melting descriptions of what it means to meet in dreams, and of how easily prejudice and ignorance can tear the loveliest dreams apart.

I thought nothing could make me "kilig" (the Filipino word for extreme excitement that makes one shiver with the most pleasurable frisson of joy), given that, well, I've read far more romance novels than I'd care to admit. Haha. But Laini Taylor writes so poetically, yet so simply... her kisses and touches and glances have redefined those actions for this fan!! And oh gosh, her dialogue is a rich treasure-trove for Valentine's Day cards.

"I think you're a fairy tale. I think you're magical, and brave, and exquisite. And I hope you'll let me be in your story."

She has other descriptions likening a kiss to a book ("It's like finding a book inside another book. A small treasure of a book hidden inside a big common one... That's what a kiss is like...no matter how brief: It's a tiny, magical story, and a miraculous interruption of the mundane."), and the fact that the hero is a librarian just makes me love this incredible book all the more.

I am counting down the days until I get Book 2 in my hands!!!

Until then, I shall re-read Book 1 and re-live the magic.

"The beauty he sees in the world, and in me. It can change things."

Recommended for everyone, guaranteed to touch even the most stone-cold of hearts. This will make you believe in Love.



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Book Review: THE PORTRAIT by Iain Pears

The Portrait by Iain Pears

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"People cannot tell the truth about themselves, for they do not know it."

"You command, and it comes to pass. You lift your finger and a reputation is made, shake your head and the hopes nurtured for years in the ateliers, worked for and so desperately desired, are dashed forever. So, you do not move armies, do not wreak destruction on faraway lands like our politicians and generals. You are far more powerful than that, are you not? You change the way people think, shape the way they see the world."

The novel starts with two old friends meeting. One of them is an artist, commissioned to paint a portrait of his comrade.

Only one of them walks out alive at the end... but which one? And what could possibly drive a man to wreak the destruction of a beloved?

This novella is an enormously tense read, short yet heavy, packed with profound meditations on the meaning of art, the role of a critic versus that of the artist, the tension between objective truth and compassionate humanity, and what it means to choose between success and integrity.

Iain Pears is a revelation! I will look for his other works, I extremely enjoyed this one. He is a fine, intelligent writer, and every page, every paragraph, feels NECESSARY. (Kudos to his editor, too!)

Best read in one sitting! And it will make you re-think the purpose of triptychs. *shudders uneasily at the remembrance of the last fifteen pages*



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Book Review: NIGHT'S MASTER (Tales from the Flat Earth # 1) by Tanith Lee

Night's Master by Tanith Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"Hate fed on hate, and now perforce it fed on love, and love choked it."

I'd been hearing a lot about Tanith Lee from my Creative Writing/ English major twin and other book club pals, so I FINALLY gave in and read Book 1 of her "Tales from the Flat Earth" series. And WHOOOAAA the hype is real!

First page in, I knew I was in the hands of a master wordsmith. After the first couple of paragraphs, I realized that Lee's writing evoked the same sense of wonder and magic that Oscar Wilde's fairy tales did. Even the rhythm of the sentences seemed very similar!

"East and west he flew, beating with his vast wings, north and south, to the four edges of the world, for in those days the earth was flat and floated on the ocean of chaos. He watched the lighted processions of men crawling by below with lamps as small as sparks, and the breakers of the sea bursting into white blossoms on the rocky shores. He crossed, with a contemptuous and ironic glance, over the high stone towers and pylons of cities, and perched for a moment on the sail of some imperial galley, where a king and a queen sat feasting on honeycomb and quails while the rowers strained at the oars; and once he folded his inky wings on the roof of a temple and laughed aloud at men's notions of the gods."

The difference lies in their definition of taboo, and morals. What I loved about Oscar Wilde's stories were the lessons they imparted.

Tanith Lee's tales (for that is what the Flat Earth series is... a Scheherazade-like collection of stories about ... Night's Master, in the case of Book 1) don't always contain lessons... at least, not any that school children ought to learn. And perhaps this is the give-away that this book was written in the 1970's, a more permissive time... the fact that this reader was quite shocked at the events portrayed ... so vividly! too. Nothing is taboo in Tanith Lee's Flat Earth. And thus, the series is MOST DEFINITELY for adult readers only.

(And yet... the penultimate tale spoke of how even an evil creature is capable of sacrifice and good.)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars because I'm a school teacher and I love books with morals, ahahaha. But gosh darn it, this is fiiiiiiine writing! You'd be hardpressed to find any better! Now, which one of my book club friends has Book 2?? :)



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Book Review: HOW LONG 'TIL BLACK FUTURE MONTH? by NK Jemisin

How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"if...
if a tree falls...
if a tree falls and there's no one around to hear it (but God)...
would it really bother with anything so mundane as making a sound?
or would it
dance"

I LOOOOVE Jemisin, having swallowed whole her Broken Earth trilogy (each book in the series won the Hugo in the year each was published!!!). I remember all the treks to the different branches of Fully Booked in order to complete the series, ahaha. And when I heard that she wrote a collection of short stories, I was thrilled!

HLTBFM contains 22 short stories, and each one has the potential for a future novel! Some are downright terrifying, while others were tributes to other authors that had gone before.

Standouts for this reader were "Stone Hunger" (set in the Broken Earth universe!), "Walking Away" (written as a reaction to Heinlein's "The Puppet Masters" and if TPM is anything close to as terrifying as WA then I MUST HAVE IT), "The Storyteller's Replacement" (quite possibly the most horrifying fairy tale ever), "The Narcomancer" (a very special love story) and "Valedictorian" (set in a world where the worst... and the brightest... are sacrificed).

Before reading this collection, I thought I understood what Jemisin's writing was. And now that I've read this collection, I am not sure I do. Each story was written in a different voice, and while some were excellent, some were difficult to understand (possibly by design) and had me re-reading them. I am struck with the theme that ties them together: Discrimination. By race, of course, which is something that hasn't been an issue in my country in modern times... until very recently. And also by gender.

"Underneath Meroe's contempt lurked fear. Underneath that lurked reverence. He never looked very deeply inside himself, however, so contempt remained foremost in his heart."

Certain comments made by my elementary students this past week made me reflect on how easily, how thoroughly hatred and intolerance (of other religions, other races) are inculcated in the very young.

And so, Jemisin's collection is most welcome, because the diversity of its stories matches the diversity of its characters... "where every soul matters, and even the idea that some might not is anathema."

Within stories are the power of creation. We keep telling each other the right stories, we help create a better world.



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Book Review: STATION ELEVEN by Emily St. John Mandel

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"What was lost in the collapse: almost everything, almost everyone, but there is still such beauty."
Well no wonder this novel won the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award! I didn't notice that tears had been running down my face until I closed the book and had to turn in for the night, and noticed my pillow was wet.

It's THAT kind of book. The kind that will linger in your memory forever, because it portrays a reality that just might happen. But also, it gives us hope. It's a book that celebrates everything about the human condition... our pettiness, our hardheadedness... and the triumph of the human soul over Armageddon.

It starts with a famous actor dying onstage, during a performance of Shakespeare's King Lear. "Just now, he was doing the thing he loved best in the world," says an eye witness who tries to save him, but fails.

And on that night, a deadly virus ("The Georgia Flu") spreads all around the world, killing 99.99% of the population.

"Everyone else died, I walked, I found the Symphony."

The world collapses. And the remaining 00.01% struggle to survive. Others find shelter in supermarkets and towns. Others, with religious cults. But our protagonists are the members of the Traveling Symphony, who go all over North America, performing Beethoven and Shakespeare to all who would listen. "Because survival is insufficient."

Emily St. John Mandel shifts time, character with each chapter, but is always coherent, and weaves together all the loose threads in one magnificent sunburst of a masterpiece. Rarely are end of the world scenarios so horribly presented, and yet, so beautifully, too.

Yes, all things come to an end. But the biggest blessing of all is to be doing the things we love, surrounded by the people we love most, until the very last.



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