Library Time!!!

Went to the library today. WOOT WOOT!! Picked up some books with my mom, and am totally going to be reading like crazy over the next couple of weeks to a month in order to get these books back in a short amount of time. (I like to absorb my books so it takes me awhile) lol

Let me tell you about the goodies that I brought home:

First, we have the book THE KINGMAKER'S DAUGHTER, which I am excited to read because it is written by one of my very favorite authoresses (yes, I totally love to call female authors that), Philippa Gregory. She writes amazing books. Plus, I liked the cover.

Second, we have the book THE MAPMAKER'S OPERA. The cover reminded me of a book I read a few years ago called MOZART'S SISTER. The description on the back of this book just seemed really intriguing to me.

Third, we have the book THE CLOCKWORK THREE. I almost did not pick this book up, because it was near the kid section of the library and I was too embarassed. My mom, however, did pick it up and set it on the books I was carrying and told me to check it out for her. Ends up, I am the one who is definitely going to read it....am reading it now.

I am totally psyched to finish these books and I hope that soon I can post about them and tell you, the readers, my thoughts.

Happy Reading, and remember:

A Book A Day Keeps Illiteracy Away!!

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

I read this book in a span of about two months starting in around september and just now finishing it yesterday. I read it in between writing my own stories, work, family matters, etc. and was amazed at how easy a read it was to get back into after each dry spell of not reading. I love how the perspectives and personal stories of each character mesh into eachother to bring out the whole story, and I especially love that the past is completely intertwined with the present. The artistic elements are fantastic and make me want to just pick up a paintbrush and envelope myself in the artists world. This book is not just a historical fiction novel or a love story to last the ages, it emulates how the life of one person, whether they are still living or long dead, can impact so many other lives and relationships. I completely reccomend this to anybody who loves an intellectually stimulating read.....an amazingly powerful read. Elizabeth Kostova touched my heart with her first novel and she has definitely and inifinitely touched it once more with this second. THE SWAN THIEVES is a beautifully written novel about a beautiful subject: ART. I loved it all the way from the beginning to the end. It was a miraculous journey of pages and I would not take back the experience of reading it for the world.

General Synopsis for The Swan Thieves:

 

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe, devoted to his profession and the painting hobby he loves, has a solitary but ordered life. When renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient, Marlow finds that order destroyed. Desperate to understand the secret that torments the genius, he embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy, from the late 19th century to the late 20th, from young love to last love. THE SWAN THIEVES is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

Gold by Chris Cleave

Never hearing of this particular author before, I was glad to have a fresh and open mind about this work of his I was about to start. Unmarred by the expectations readers may have after reading an authors' previous works.
From beginning to end, GOLD was a breath of fresh air. I was happy to see Mr. Cleave bring his readers' into the world of the olympics. Happy to see him tell the story of his famed athlete characters as they worked to find their place in both the next olympics and in their everyday lives. It made me think of olympians I have watched on the television. They do not seem human, but superhuman, to be able to perform the feats that they do. I was glad to see that human side portrayed in this book.
I was also amazed to find in this book another fight of epic proportions. The fight of a girl to just be able to live....to be able to survive. Seeing the world through her eyes, watching her notice how her parents reacted to her illness and being able to work around that to keep them happy, made you realize that children with leukemia are so grown up in their own right. I also loved her imaginings of being in her Star Wars world. It was a nice relief thrown in around some of the serious aspects of the story.
The author truly did his homework with this one.

General Synopsis for Gold

 

Gold is the story of Zoe and Kate, world-class athletes who have been friends and rivals since their first day of Elite training. They’ve loved, fought, betrayed, forgiven, consoled, gloried, and grown up together. Now on the eve of London 2012, their last Olympics, both women will be tested to their physical and emotional limits. They must confront each other and their own mortality to decide, when lives are at stake: What would you sacrifice for the people you love, if it meant giving up the thing that was most important to you in the world?