The Boundless ~ Kenneth Oppel

The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel was a delightful read.

I've been attempting to be more selective with my book reads due to have much less free time--babies cause that strange phenomenon of loss of leisure time.

Regardless, I grabbed this book during a book outlet sale, drawn to it by it's artistic cover...and my instincts proved correct.

If I was going to pick a book that I could compare The Boundless to, it would be The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern--which I also greatly enjoyed.

After finishing the book (in one evening, no less), I went onto Goodreads to get an idea of what other readers thought of it. I was quite surprised to read reviews criticizing how "slow" and "boring" the beginning of this novel was. Someone even commented that it didn't pick up speed at all.

Clearly none of these reviewers have ever read any Russian literature. They would still be on the first page of War and Peace, bogged down in the multiple names of Constantin Levin.

To be clear--I did not find this novel boring or slow *at all*. It was delightful for a few reasons.

I loved that it was set in Canada. I find Canadian literature to be so boring sometimes. This was an interesting combination of fantasy and historical fiction.

The premise of the novel is set on a massive train called, you got it, the Boundless. The protagonist is a teenage boy called Will who is got up in a plot to....well, I can't go into detail because it would spoil the novel for any possible readers.

With the speed and ease that I was read it, I would think that it should be classified as a teen or young adult novel.

Definitely give this novel a chance if you're interested in a simple read that has small elements of fantasy.

4/5 stars and I'll have to check out other book by Oppel.

EDIT: Just checked the novel is in the category of children's literature. Very appropriate.

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The Perfume Garden ~ Kate Lord Brown

The Perfume Garden: A Novel by Kate Lord Brown
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was tricked into reading this book by it's enticing cover and deceiving description. It promised to be a riveting read about survival, life and death in Spain during the revolution. Not having read many novels about the Spanish revolution (other than The Shadow of the Wind which was exemplary), I was excited to enjoy some historical fiction that hopefully had some facts sprinkled in.

Unfortunately, the dialogue was childish and the characters undeveloped. The protagonist Emma was annoying and boring. It almost seemed as those the author read a Wikipedia article about the Spanish revolution and then worked those facts into random parts of the dialogue. There was no seamless weaving of fact and fiction to be had.

Some of the cringe worthy writing included:

A woman with a dark veil turned and pursed her lips "Shh". Emma's reverie broke, and she met his gave for the first time. She felt like she had come to the end of a long journey.


and


"(...)Don't bother dressing on our account, Luca," he said, raising his eyebrows at Emma. "Not bad for an old man, eh?"
"Who are you calling an old man?" Luca laughed.
"What do you think, Emma?" Guillermo leaned toward her.
Luca glanced back at her as he walked away. "Are you two checking out my ass?" He smiled as he stepped into the cool shadows of the apartment.



Much of the dialogue did not match the tone of the novel, or rather, the tone that the writer was attempting to convey. Even the descriptions of the atrocities that the Republicans suffered through post-war were boring and bland, characters reciting terrible things that had happened. It seemed as though true emotions were never plumbed or even slightly conveyed in any manner.

Emma ended up seeming vapid and boring. Her anger over being cheated on felt fake and insincere. All of her emotions seemed to be a bit robotic and there was no encompassing sensation of love or anger or hatred that seemed to have any PASSION.

If this novel hadn't been about the Spanish war and the consequences that followed...If it had been a simple romance without any promising back story, it would perhaps have been more palatable. Instead, I was left feel cheated by a novel that seemed to lack any genuine emotion.


2/5 and don't bother.

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A Bookish Bridal Shower

I've been meaning to post about my literature themed bridal shower thrown by my lovely family and friends...but life has been crazy!  For all you single people:  if a married person talks to you about the chaotic last few weeks of engagement, listen up!  They are not lying.  Even though Matt and I are having a fairly simple and casual wedding, we are still swamped with all sorts of things.

(To be fair, it's not just wedding things.  Taking on a second job a couple months before a wedding and dealing with a fiance being laid off from work does make one a bit...cuckoo.)

But back to the subject on hand:

A book themed shower! I've loved books since I was a young child and most of my friends (and blog readers) know that I often get caught up in the fictional world.  I even had mastered a talent of speed reading aka skipping over boring descriptive parts.  I believe my dad taught me that gift after a painful reading of Lord of the Rings out loud to us as children.

Reading is just the thing our family does and we do it well. 

My maid-of-honour/sister pulled it together really well.  It ended up being a beautiful event with lots of delicious food and even a book swap!

I was personally very proud of this decorative wreath I slaved over for the wall.  

Yeah, I made that beauty.

My mom came up with this neat idea of creating a vase with old book pages and dried flowers.

She also whimsically twined together some books for more decorations.  You can see them in other pictures.

My dearest Matt put his skills to work the week before and painted a picture as a prize for the crossword game.

And I put together the crossword using an online generator and basing it on historical and fictional couples.

My sisters and my mom created a couple neat table runners made out of book pages.

I had the crafty idea of buying little jars at the dollar store and using a strip of paper and our heart-shaped hole punches, we created little book themed tea light candle holders.

We used little jars for favours full of candy.

Below is the invitations we sent out for the shower.  Kind of a neat book themed twist as well.

My biggest regret was not not taking more pictures of what we put up.  I had such a fantastic time connecting with friends & family though and I was so blessed by the thoughtful cards and gifts that people gave me.

The shower was so perfect for me and I loved it!