Category Archives: books/book review

It was a good week for Goodreads first-read books.

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Wow, what can I say I love Goodreads, and I regularly check the giveaways for interesting new reads. I’d never won anything though. Then, BAM!, this week I won three books-or I have been notified of having won three books. Nothing is real until it lands in my mailbox, or falls through the mail-slot rather.

First it was Combustible Sinners, then it was The Whipping Club, and finally Love and Fuck Poems. (How could you not love a title like that?)

What I particularly love about this small cluster of winnings is the variety. They have absolutely nothing in common. Combustible Sinners, as I mentioned a few days ago, is seven interconnected stories about the intersection of faith and culture in an evangelical Christian, Mexican-American community (right up my alley). My undergraduate was in Anthropology and Comparative religion. This is obviously a subject I would be interested in .

The Whipping Club is about an interfaith Irish couple fighting to rescue their adopted son from an abusive institution. I’ll have to save this one for a really nice day, as it promises to be a tearjerker. Serious subjects are best addressed under the balmy sun.

Love and Fuck poems is best described by its own description: “Sexually repressed, separated Greek girl on a rampage. There’s no love here, just fucks. But is she fucking him or fucking herself? Love and Fuck poems. A 52 page story told through poetry. No fluff, no birds and trees, just honest, raw, poetry.” My interest is certainly piqued.

My summer reading is lining up to be a corker.

Combustible Sinners just topped the TBR list

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Writers are readers too, and while I can’t speak for others, I still get excited about entering a competition to win a free one. This morning I received notification that I won this one on Goodreads. I must admit I don’t often read short stories. In fact I recently told someone that I have absolutely no use for them. So it is with no small amount of chagrin that I say I can’t wait to get stuck in and read this one. That’s why I entered the contest in the first place. Come on with a description like this how could I not be intrigued?

“Lissi Linares is a pastor’s daughter whose love for others contrasts with her fear of eternal damnation. Little Jasmine “Jazzy Moon” Luna is determined to save Jesus from being crucified. Naida Cervantes hides a brutal secret behind shapeless, florid dresses. Hermana Gracie tries to set her son up with a good Christian girlfriend, only to make a surprising discovery. Zeke wants a new guitar and Ben wants a cool girlfriend, but what they find as migrant workers in Arkansas changes their desires. These individuals and others try to negotiate the often rocky intersection of faith and culture in seven independent but intertwining tales that explore life in an evangelical Christian, Mexican-American community. Frank, funny and heart-breakingly real, this volume explores themes of identity, culture, religion and sexuality in the context of a little-known subset of Hispanic culture.”

I just can’t wait. Be sure to check back in a few weeks for the review.

Book Review: Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

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howls moving castle

In the land of Ingary, where seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, Sophie Hatter attracts the unwelcome attention of the Witch of the Waste, who puts a curse on her. Determined to make the best of things, Sophie travels to the one place where she might get help – the moving castle which hovers on the nearby hills.

But the castle belongs to the dreaded Wizard Howl whose appetite, they say, is satisfied only by the hearts of young girls…

My Review:
I originally picked this up for my small children. The idea was to pre-read it to ensure that it was suitable to be read to them. It is. In fact, they will love it, just like I did. Diane Jones strings the reader along marvelously. You really do need to pay attention to the details, though; they’ll sneak up on you. What made this such an enjoyable read for me was the characters. Sophie, Howl, Calcipher, Michael, et al. are wonderfully fleshed out, thoughtful, and funny. I was sad to see the story end. It felt a bit like losing friends. I was, of course, familiar with Hayao Miyazaki’s animated version of the story, and though quite a lot is left out it doesn’t stray too far from the book. So anyone who likes the anime will like to book. I recommend it for both children and adults.