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The Moving Finger

By: Agatha Christie

Series: Miss Marple Mysteries, Book 4

Published: 1942

# of pages: 240

Challenge: RIP VI

Official description:

The placid village of Lymstock seems the perfect place for Jerry Burton to recuperate from his accident under the care of his sister, Joanna. But soon a series of vicious poison-pen letters destroys the village's quiet charm, eventually causing one recipient to commit suicide. The vicar, the doctor, the servants—all are on the verge of accusing one another when help arrives from an unexpected quarter. The vicar's houseguest happens to be none other than Jane Marple.

My opinion: This was my first Agatha Christie book! I don't know if it was the best to start with, but I do know that I really enjoyed it. I couldn't put it down! I can see why Christie is such an acclaimed author. It was short, but very well written and well structured. Apparently this is part of a series, but it didn't make a difference to me. The Murder at the Vicarage is the first in the Miss Marple Mysteries.

Why I gave this book 4/5 stars: Interesting characters, I liked the plot, well written, short but didn't feel like anything was left out. It didn't leave enough of an impression on me and the characters didn't REALLY pull me in enough for it to be a 5 star read.

Other reviews:

Chrisbookarama

Have you reviewed this? Let me know and I'd be happy to post yours as well.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

By: Stieg Larsson

Series: Millennium Trilogy, Book 1

Published: 2005 - English version in 2008

# of pages: 631

Official description:

Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo combines murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue into a complex and atmospheric novel, with an unpredictable style, intriguing scenes, and giant twists to the plot in many places.

Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of iniquity and corruption.

It also could be described as another thriller with romantic affairs, that Salander cannot cope with.

My opinion: It took awhile for me to become interested in this book. It wasn't until about 80 pages in that I started enjoying it. I think it may be that way with most readers. The first part concentrates on the character Mikael Blomkvist's financial journalism career, so unless the reader is interested in financial affairs, this part won't be interesting. Although as soon as the mystery started unraveling I was hooked! I'm surprised I enjoyed this book so much because it's very violent and graphic. There's a theme of sexual abuse and violence against women.

However, I loved the mystery. It was intricate, but not too complicated. I was able to work out a couple of the pieces, but the whole thing wasn't spoiled. I couldn't put the book down because I just had to know what happened next!

The only thing I disliked is how there's a story within a story. There's the beginning and end which concentrate on Blomkvist's financial journalism career and then there's the middle, which consists of the mystery. Thankfully the mystery makes up most of the novel, but then again, that makes the end feel especially out of place. I felt like the book had already ended, but I still had to read a lot more before the actual end. It didn't tie together very well.

Why I gave this book 5/5 stars: Very well written (and translated since it was originally written in Swedish), good character development, unique and thought provoking subject matter.

Other reviews:
You Can Never Have Too Many Books

Have you reviewed this? Let me know and I'd be happy to post yours as well.

Shanghai Girls

By: Lisa See

Series: Shanghai Girls (Sisters Pearl and May), Book 1

Published: 2009

# of pages: 309

Quote: "I focus my eyes on my jade bracelet. . . it is an object that ties me to the past, to people and places that are gone forever. Its continued perfection serves as a physical reminder to keep living, to look to the future, to cherish what I have. It reminds me to endure. I'll live one morning after another, one step after another, because my will to continue is so strong." -Pearl pg. 232

Official description:

In 1937 Shanghai—the Paris of Asia—twenty-one-year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister, May, are having the time of their lives. Both are beautiful, modern, and carefree—until the day their father tells them that he has gambled away their wealth. To repay his debts, he must sell the girls as wives to suitors who have traveled from Los Angeles to find Chinese brides. As Japanese bombs fall on their beloved city, Pearl and May set out on the journey of a lifetime, from the Chinese countryside to the shores of America. Though inseparable best friends, the sisters also harbor petty jealousies and rivalries. Along the way they make terrible sacrifices, face impossible choices, and confront a devastating, life-changing secret, but through it all the two heroines of this astounding new novel hold fast to who they are—Shanghai girls.

My opinion: This is a tragic book, a lot of terrible things happen to Pearl and May. However, I still enjoyed it and couldn't put it down. I related to Pearl and her thoughts and feelings. All of the tragedies add up to an adventure that is hard for modern Americans to comprehend, but that's part of what makes it so hard to stop reading.

I was impressed with See's storytelling and the obvious research she did for the historic aspects of the novel. I like reading about this time period (WWII and the surrounding years) from another point of view. A few months ago I read Snow Falling on Cedars, a book that is written from the view point of Japanese Americans. I learned so much from that book and now even more from Shanghai Girls, which taught me about how the war and politics affected Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans.

I also liked how See brings together both Pearl's and May's opinions and ways of interpreting everything that happened to them at the end. I'm glad there's a sequel to the story because otherwise I'd be unhappy with the ending! Dreams of Joy was released in May 2011, I'm on a LONG waiting list for it at the library!

Why I gave this book 4/5 stars: Well written, realistic characters, interesting story & setting. However, very graphic - violence & sex. It may be too much for readers who are sensitive about these subjects or who have been sexually abused.

Other reviews:
Royal Reviews

Have you reviewed this? Let me know and I'd be happy to post yours as well.

Names I loved from the book:
Pearl
Gordon

My husband and I have already had 2 boys, but before we found out their gender (while I was pregnant) we made a long list that included both boy and girl names. Several of the names on the girl list were literary names. I'm going to start including names I love from each book I post about. I'll put the section under the review & links to other reviews so that it won't distract people who aren't name nerds like I am!

The purpose of the R.I.P. Challenge is to enjoy books that could be classified as:

Mystery.
Suspense.
Thriller.
Dark Fantasy.
Gothic.
Horror.
Supernatural.

September 1 - October 31

Wither

By: Lauren DeStefano

Series: Chemical Garden Trilogy, Book 1

Published: 2011

# of pages: 368

Quote: "I don't know how Cecily has the energy to cry so much. I can barely muster the energy to move. Just being alive feels so arduous that all I want to do is climb under the covers and sleep. It seems impossible that I ever had the strength even to walk." -Rhine pg. 304

Official description:

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape--before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden's servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

I really appreciated the writing style and how the story flowed. It was very natural. The characters are realistic and have conflicting emotions and opinions without seeming flighty or unorganized. The author doesn't force anything on the reader. So many young adult novels are repetitive or have everything spelled out for the reader. Or the main character seems unreasonable. It was refreshing to read a sci-fi novel that is so well written.

It hardly seems like a "young adult" novel. I suppose I need to redefine young adult in my head though. I think it's a great novel for adults to read, the content is mature, but not crude or full of bad language.

Why I gave this book 5/5 stars: Well written, realistic characters, unique setting

Other reviews:

Bookfoolery and Babble
Royal Reviews

Have you reviewed this? Let me know and I'd be happy to post yours as well.

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You

By: Louisa Young

Published: 2011

# of pages: 336

Official description:
The lives of two very different couples are irrevocably intertwined and forever changed in this stunning World War I epic of love and war.

From the day in 1907 that eleven-year-old Riley Purefoy meets Nadine Waveney, daughter of a well-known orchestral conductor, he takes in the difference between their two families: his, working-class; hers, "posh" and artistic. Just a few years later, romance and these differences erupt simultaneously with the war in Europe. In a fit of fury and boyish pride, Riley enlists in the army and finds himself involved in the transformative nightmare of the twentieth century.

While Riley and his commanding officer, Peter Locke, fight for their country and their survival in the trenches of Flanders, Peter's lovely and naive wife, Julia, and his cousin Rose eagerly await his return. But the sullen, distant man who arrives home on leave is not the Peter they knew. Worried that her husband is slipping away, Julia is left alone with her fears when Rose joins the nursing corps to work with a pioneering plastic surgeon treating wounded and disfigured soldiers.

Only eighteen at the outbreak of the war, Nadine and Riley want to make promises to each other—but how can they when their future is out of their hands? Youthful passion is on their side, but then their loyalty is tested by terrible injury, and even more so by the necessarily imperfect rehabilitation that follows.

Moving among Ypres, London, and Paris, this emotionally rich and evocative novel is both a powerful exploration of the lasting effects of war on those who fight—and those who don't—and a poignant testament to the power of enduring love.

My opinion:
I was a little disturbed during the first part of this novel. I didn't like it until almost halfway through. I considered putting it down, but stuck with it. I'm glad I did! If you can read through the bad language (did people really use the "f-word" that much in casual conversation during the WWI era??), it turns into a thought provoking story.

I didn't like the characters at first, but when tragedy strikes they all either responded admirably or sympathetically...or both. I found myself really involved and caring whether or not the characters could make it through the war.

I found myself comparing this book to The Gargoyle, which is one of my favorite books. I suppose I like books that really make me think about the importance of physical appearance on relationships. I also liked the fact that one of the major things that happens to Riley at the beginning of the book and that haunts him throughout his military career ends up not being a big deal in the face of near death and the trauma he goes through. And he realizes that.

Why I gave this book 4/5 stars:
Well written, thought provoking story, but not the greatest characters and the story was a little disjointed (plus, the bad language didn't seem necessary).

Other reviews:
Bookfoolery and Babble

Have you reviewed this? Let me know and I'd be happy to post yours as well.

Chime

How sad that I haven't updated my blog in 6 months! It's been just over 3 years since I started this blog. I love book blogging, but obviously I'm not able to keep up with it and a one year old (and another on the way!).