Sunday, March 26, 2017

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman Book Review

This is a spoiler-free review of Norse Mythology by the famous Neil Gaiman. 
This book came out last month, February 2017.   Norse Mythology is very much what is says on the cover, it's a collection of short stories about Norse mythology.  The best way I can think to describe this book is that it's a lot like when musicians will release a new cover of an old song.  Gaiman adapted fifteen stories from what very little remains of the pre-Christian Scandinavian myths in the Edda that were recorded around the 13th century in Iceland. The Edda includes the prose and poetry records of the original Norse Myths.  I will link the full text for both of them down below if you ware interested.   Gaiman hasn't done a new translation of these myths, he's added some storyteller's flourishes to the existing material. And to be fair, he's really added quite a bit to the material.  Where the original material in the Edda might have 2 or 3 sentences about something, Gaiman turns it into 2 or 3 pages of setup and comedy. He's made the Norse myths quiet a bit funnier, bawdier, and far more relevant for current readers. 



I will say, prior to reading this book I did not have a particular interest in reading Norse Mythology. I was really just reading this book for a good time, and it was a good time.  But Gaiman takes his time setting the stage with this book.  We start of with a list of all the characters in the Norse myths and descriptions of them and a tour of the Norse worlds, the 9 worlds of Yggdrasil and background about what each world is like.  The setup portion of the book reads quite a bit like a Wikipedia article on Norse mythology to me, which, at the very beginning of the book I thought, oh no, if I wanted to read a Wikipedia article on Norse Mythology, I would have just done that on my own. 



But the first short story about the gods kicks off around page 50, and from there on out, I very much enjoyed this book.  I enjoyed the inventive origin stories, including the beginnings of poetry, earthquakes and the shape of salmon. I would say if you have any particular interest in Norse mythology, read the front matter. And there's an introduction about the author and his interest in this topic of Norse myths and some background about the process of him writing the book, so if you have any particular interest in Neil Gaiman as a writer or as a person, read the into.  But if you're just looking for a good time and some entertaining stories about Norse mythology, skip to page 50 where the first story of the gods kicks off. The first story is called the "Treasure of the Gods," and Loki is delightfully mischievous


I think Neil Gaiman really did something special with how much personality he brought to the Norse gods.  He took the germ of what was there in the Edda and  fleshed out the Norse gods into characters you feel like you know. It's fascinating to me how flawed and how emotional and fickle the Norse gods were. And mortal and not omnipotent by any means. The story hinges on Odin, the all father, Thor and Loki. Odin, I did not realize, sacrified himself to himself, which gave him great wisdom, not omnipotent, but great wisdom. Neil Gaiman's Thor is rather dense but seems to mostly work around these limitations rather successfully by threatening violence. Loki was the most interesting character of them all.  He's a bit of a gray character. He's a villain, but not entirely. For much of the book, he's more mischievous. Like a practical joker, but he's nowhere near Marvel movies level of cackling supervillain. He does take a dark turn at the end. 


Actually, the book as a whole I would say starts off very light and gradually becomes darker in tone, culminating in the story of Ragnarok, the final destiny of the gods, which is essentially the Norse Apocalypse. It's a reminder that the gods are not immortal. 
Gaiman’s comedic tone gradually takes a dark turn in the book and follows the darker turn Loki takes, moving from joker to villain. 



Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Caraval Book Review

Hey guys!
WELCOME, WELCOME TO CARAVAL
I'm Brittany & this is spoiler-free review  😁

The video version of this review is available here: https://youtu.be/3n_Z2ke7MPs
If you read the book already, a spoiler chat is available here https://youtu.be/CztzYIVUD9M

Let's talk about the plot twists, magic, romance and Caraval, a young adult fantasy novel by Stephanie Garber. It is really popular.  It is all book boxes.  It was $27 at Barnes and Nobel and I was like forget that, so I bought an e-book. This review is spoiler-free


This book the first book in a planned series. It's the story of Scarlett Dragna, the daughter to a ruthless  father who is Lord of the Conquered Isles. He's never let Scarlett or he younger sister Donatella ever leave the islands.  He shelters them and he's physically abusive. The book starts off with a series of seven letters Scarlett has written to Legend, the master of Caraval, a fantastic traveling magical game that lasts 5 days every year. Scarlett keeps writing these letters every year around her younger sister's birthday because she knows her younger sister Donatella really wants to go, and Scarlett really, really loves her sister and tries to step in as a missing mother figure. A story of the bond between two sisters: 


Scarlett's father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett is really happy about it, not because she has any particular interest in her fiancee or thinks her life will be happily ever after, but because she she really just wants to get away from her abusive father and take her sister with her once she's married.  However, a few days before her wedding she gets three the very, very, very, very long desired tickets to Caraval. Her sister's really excited about it, but Scarlett is like, I don't want to wreck my wedding and one shot at getting us away from our dad. 

So I won't tell you HOW Scarlett and her sister get to Caraval but obviously, they do. Scarlett gets there and can't find her sister and starts to realize finding her is part of the game. And then she realizes it's far more than just a game, or is it?? And she's kind of partnered with this guy who she arrives on the Caraval island with, and he seems to be helping her kind of, but she's very conflicted like, should I be trusting you??? 

Let's talk about the marketing campaign for this book.  It was very circus themed.  Caraval was in all the book box subscriptions and everyone's been posting their unboxing videos and there's visual themes of tents and elephants and the flying trapeeze.  So I read Caraval, and I was like... where's the circus?  Caraval is a magical scavenger hunt that takes place in something akin to an Epcot village, which is cool, but it's not a circus. There are no tents, no trapeeze artists, no-one's juggling, there are no animals, there's not even any cracker jack. Which is fine, but I think the marketing campaign for this book has been a rather egregious misdirect. So if you;'re going into this book really excited for a circus, you're going to be letdown. This didn't impact my rating for the book, but I thought I should mention it.

Caraval is very plot driven, something exciting was always happening that held my attention. It's very much a book where the only person you really trust is Scarlett, the main character. And you're completely occupied with trying to figure out who and what is bad news, what's going to be helpful in winning the game, and what's real and what isn't. There are several plot twists, and I found it all to be very entertaining.  I actually think Caraval would make an incredible mini-series, and I really hope a network can make it happen.  Caraval's island is really beautiful and I'd love to see it brought to life.  Because the story is jammed with events, I don't think it would adapt particularly well to film.  I think there's probably several hour-long episodes, maybe 5 or 6 natural breaks im the story that would adapt quite well to a first season of a mini-series.

The character development is fine, it's not a book that's really driven by the characters.  The book is driven by the game of Caravel.  It's not terribly deep character development, but I think at least for the main three characters that the story hinges on, it was good enough, and I thought it worked. I will mention, Scarlett starts out in a very weak position.  She's abused by her  father, and all her hopes hinge on getting a man to marry her so she can get away from her dad.  Men dominate her and she's looking for a man to save her, and I don't mind reading about characters I don't like or who I think are weak, but I hold young a dult to a different standard, but I know young tweens and teens will be reading the book. And if a girl is young and still struggling with the process of forming her own identity and knowing who she is, I think this book would be a bad influence. There are too many young women who always have to ahve a boyfriend and kind of place their self-worth in that, and I think this book would reinforce negative patterns. I read about Scarlett's life and I'm like, wow, that's sad that that's how she's viewing marraige, but I'm concerned because it's for young women, they might not have grown enough to realize that.

So this book starts off strong with a map, which I love books with maps so that's fantastic. It's a map of Legend's island where he hosts Caraval, so it's not a terribly large map in terms of geography , but it's nice, I like it.  The setting is done well, although the world building is not terribly extensive. Except for this area with islands, you don't have a good sense of what the world they live in is like or how it's setup. I was curious to learn and see more of their world, but it wasn't anything that got in the way of enjoying the story for me.

So overall I would have been willing to give this book 4 stars or maybe even 4 and a half, but the descriptions in this book are so terrible, and they jolted me out of the reading experience so frequently, that I dropped this book to a 3.5. The issue is that there's this weird thing going on with the main character where she sees different literal colors based on her emotions, which makes no sense.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Shack - Book Review & Controversy!

Hi friends! 

The video version of this post is available here: https://youtu.be/ASBlAHa5poY

The Shack is a Christian novel by Canadian author William Young. He wrote the book initially for his children and friends only, with no intention of ever publishing it.  But his friends really encouraged him to publish it.  He gave it the old college try, but The Shack ended up being rejected  by 26 publishing companies, so the author's friends set up a small company to publish the story themselves. The company sold nearly 1.1 million copies out of their friend's garage in just over a year. This self-published book went on to become a USA Today bestseller and was on The New York Times Best Seller list for trade paperbacks from June 2008 to early 2010.
So what is this book about?


Synopsis

“The Shack” is the story of Mackenzie Allen Phillips, "Mack" whose youngest daughter is abducted during a family vacation. The police find evidence that she was taken to a remote wooden shack in the Oregon wildreness and was brutally murdered. Mack is completely devastated and doesn't want to go on with life when he receives a letter from God inviting him to spend the weekend at the shack in the Oregon wilderness where evidence of his daughter’s murder was discovered. And the book is about Mack's encounter with the Christian God at the shack where his daughter was murdered. It's about Mack's struggle with forgiveness and struggle with faith in spite of his anger and in spite of injustice. 

Review

This book is emotional, sometimes manipulatively so, but still cathartic. I think does a great job of pacing, it keeps moving the entire time. I was never bored. And the main character, Mack, I was invested in him. I was rooting for him. I wanted to see him work through his pain and anger. And you get a lot of insight and detail into his thoughts and emotions. And, I say this all the time, but I love a story where the main character goes through a significant change, an internal change, throughout the book. As a story, as a concept, I think The Shack holds together quite well. 
However, remember earlier when we discussed that the author was not a professional writer and the book had to be self-published? It shows. The craftsmanship of the writing is not fantastic quality, I don't think that's a matter of taste, the descriptions, the dialogue, really could have benefited from further editing and revision. I think it's such a shame that for so long no publisher was able to recognize the immense appeal of this book.

What's the Controversy?

So, when I first heard there was controvery surrounding this book, I actually thought it was agnostics or atheists or other relgions who were upset about the book. But no, it's infighting.  Much of the controversy comes from within Christian circles, I've also seen some Jewish commentary that was quite critical.  A lot of Christians have embraced the story as a creative depiction of how God's healing and forgiveness can work in a person's life, while others criticized the book as heretical and misrepresting the God of the Bible. 


Where a lot of the controversy surrounding The Shack comes from is related to issues with how the trinity, the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit are portrayed, both individually and relating to one another. God the Father is portrayed as an African American woman. Jesus, obviously, is a Middle Eastern carpenter.  The Holy Spirit is portrayed as an Asian woman. In the shack, Mack and the truine God have a lot of back and forth conversation, helping Mack work through his issues, which include the murder of his daughter and also the abusive father that Mack grew up with.
There was also some backlash at a few sentences that seemed like God was revealing himself to Mack as a universalist.  I must admit, there is one place where that was my understanding as well, that the God in The Shack is a universalist, which is not a mainstream Christian belief.  In an oversimplified nutshell, a universality believes everyone goes to heaven, everyone is reconciled with God regardless of what they believe or how they life their lives. Mainline Christianity says to be reconciled with God, a person must accept the gift God's love for them, and then ought to live in light of that. However, William Young has gone on record saying he is not a universalist. Interview link is here: 
So, what is my take on all of this?

There was some backlash that God the Father was portrayed as a woman.  The Bible uses male pronouns to refer to God the Father, but also describes God as beyond gender or nongendered. The author has explained in interviews that because the main character, Mack, had trauma issues related to his biological father, he was trying to show that God meets people where they are and Mack wouldn't have responded well to a father figure. 



http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march/love-shack.html?start=

In my last tag post, the "get to know ya tag", I talked about why it's so hard to answer the question "what's your favorite book?".  Because people read for a wide variety of reasons.  For example, when I pick up "The Sound and the Fury" by Faulkner I'm looking to expand my mind and my understanding of humanity.  When I pick up Cinder by Marissa Meyer, I'm just looking for a good time.  I have an entirely different set of expectations for each book, and each book fulfills those expectations wonderfully.  And I think something kind of similar can be said for The Shack.  If I'm looking to be uplifted by a heartwarming Christian story, The Shack is a perfectly great reading choice. If I'm looking to do some serious thinking about what I want to believe about the Christian God and why,  The Shack is a terrible reading choice. I've read some great books that provide overviews of different world religions, or straightforward apologetics like The Reason for God by Timothy Keller would be a great choice, or Mere Christianity by CS Lewis, you could go straight to the source and read scripture.

For me, it all comes down to why you're reading the book, and for me, The Shack is a piece of a thought-provoking piece of entertainment, it's not a theological magnum opus, and it shouldn't be treated like one. That said, I think it's okay to read things you don't agree with. Maybe you're not Christian, or maybe you're Christian but disagree with some of The Shack's content. That's okay, I suspect you can still appreciate the story as long as your purpose isn't to agree with everything presented to you.
So that's my take on The Shack, by William Young, the film adaptation is out in theaters now. Have you seen the film or read the book?  I'd love to know what you thought, please share your comments down below.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Get to Know Ya Book Tag

Many thanks to +Jadeyraereads for the tag!

The video version of this tag can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpCSIrkhdxM&t=60s

1)What's your favorite book?

So, I have a really hard time answering this question because people read for a wide variety of reasons.  I personally will read for a wide variety of reasons. For example, I love to read to meet people.  I love books with amazing well realized characters. That's why I love the books that brought the world Severus Snape and Tyrion Lannister and Gollum. 

 I also read because I just like an entertaining story. I like Marissa Meyer and Tom Clancy and Stephen King because they're a good time. I enjoy the ride.  I also read to experience writing so expertly crafted and so beautifully insightful that it's a work of art, which is why I read Toni Morrison and Marilynne Robinson.  I like to read about insightful social commentary on past and present culture, which is why I like to read Faulkner and George Orwell.  But I can't take a book like Cinder by Marissa Meyer and a book like Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury and compare them to one another in any meaningful way.  So, sorry for the ramble, but I can't answer this!!

2) What was your favorite book 5 years ago?

Five years ago I wasn't reading that much.  I was an elementary school teacher for special needs children and it took every ounce of my energy to pull lesson plans together that fit across 6 different grade levels, So I mostly read children's books. Oh I know!  I'm going to go with The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. 

The three meanest farmers around are out to get Mr. Fox. Fat Boggis, squat Bunce, and skinny Bean have joined forces, and they have Mr. Fox and his family surrounded. What they don’t know is that they’re not dealing with just any fox–Mr. Fox would never surrender. But only the most fantastic plan ever can save him.

3) Favorite duology/trilogy/series?

Lord of the Rings by Tolkein.

If you somehow manage to not know what this is about, it's an epic high fantasy trilogy about a fictional creature called a hobbit named Frodo who inherits a magical ring.  This ring is very dark and powerful, and a powerful dark Lord is actively seeking out the ring because he wants to use it's powers to enslave the people in Middle Earth. Frodo is a very ordinary person with a simple life who's put in the most trying and extreme circumstances.  A wizard, dwarf, elf, and a few others assist Frodo in an attempt to destroy the ring before it gets into the very wrong hands.   They have epic battles and fantastic adventures, but the ring also works on Frodo, attempting to destroy him from the inside out. 

4) What was the last book you read?

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, a collection of short stories from Norse mythology adapted to a current audience.  

I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'm about to post a  review on this, two actually, one spoiler free and one is a full book talk, I'll link both once they're up. 

5) What was the last book of poetry you read?

William Wordsworth Favorite Poems.  Wordsworth is one of the famous poets from the romantic era, in the first half of the 1800's, and his most well known poem is about daffodils, it's called "I wandered lonely as a cloud".  I have daffodils that recently started sprouting in my front yard, so I revisited Wordsworth in honor of the occasion 

6) What book most influenced your life?

The Bible, maybe? The Bible is 66 books, so, I don't know, Matthew. We'll go with the Book of Matthew. 

There's four books that relate the life of Jesus, and one of them is written by Matthew  a former tax collector who was recruited by Jesus to be one of the Twelve Apostles. When I say tax collector, like, everyone in the Roman Empire hated tax collectors because they basically just took however much they wanted from you, submitted the tax to the government and kept the rest for themselves. The Sermon on the Mount is in Matthew, that's my favorite. 

7) A book that made you ugly cry?

Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. It's about two ranch workers who live in California during the Great Depression.  

They're migrant workers who move from place to place in search of new job opportunities, and one of them is mentally retarded. And the other ranch worker looks out for this disabled person. I sobbed at the end of that. I'm gonna tear up just thinking about it now.

8) A book that made you laugh?

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson! Actually Jadey, who tagged me for this, I first heard this book recommended from her. 

Nimona is a graphic novel, it's basically one long comic strip, and it's absolutely hilarious.  If you find this, pick it up. Nimona is a young girl who is a shapeshifter, and she's trying to become a supervillian.  She successfully becomes the sidekick to supervillain Lord Blackheart, and they're trying to expose the local superheroes as not being all they're cracked up to be.  Nimona is just so dang funny.


9) Character you'd like to be for the day?

Mowgli from The Jungle Book. The Jungle Book is a collection of 7 short stories, 3 of which involve Mowlgi.  

He's raised by wolves in the Indian Jungle, and I think he has a really interesting life.  Everyone in the Jungle lives by a social code called the code of the Jungle, and it fascinates me.  

10) A book that was so good you dreamt about it? 

A Child Called It. I dreamed about this book and not in a good way. At all. It gave me nightmares. 


It's the story of this incredible little boy, David Pelzer. It's a true story about one of the worst cases of child abuse recorded in the United States. This boy's mother would play these cruel, torturous games with him that would leave him nearly dead. who was cursed with Satan for a mother.  It's about a boy's daily struggle to regain his life and to believe he is worth something.

11) Book you DNF'd?

The Chemist by Stephanie Meyer. 


This is marketed as an adult spy thriller, but I did not find it very thrilling. It's about woman who's an ex-CIA agent who tortures people with chemicals a guy she was torturing falls in love with her. 

12) What book are you most excited to read?

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diana Ackerman which is part of my March TBR and it's being adapted to film and released March 31 I believe?

The Zookeeper's wife is a true story of the zookeeper of the Warsaw, Poland zoo during the 1930's and 40's.  The zookeeper and his wife both saved and hid 300 Jewish refugees who were imprisoned in the Warsaw ghetto. 


Monday, March 6, 2017

2017 Current Book Review Policy

I am currently accepting, at my own discretion, e- and print-ARCs and books for review consideration from publicists, authors, agents, etc. You may contact me by email at AlwaysaStoriedLife@gmail.com. Please keep in mind:
  • I only respond to offers that interest me. 
  • I write for this blog and also review on Goodreads, Amazon and on my Youtube channel. I may choose to write or vlog review for a book I receive on any medium on which I am active. I often review the same book on multiple mediums. 
  • I typically also like to feature books I review on my bookstagram Instagram account @Brittany.Reads
  • I AM NOT A 5 * REVIEW SERVICE. If you send me a book, please understand that does not mean I will write or speak about the book in a positive way. 
  • I tend to like nonfiction, historical fiction, fantasy, action/adventure, comics, cookbooks young adult and children's literature
  • I tend to dislike thrillers,"chick lit" and romance, mysteries and horror. I do make exceptions if something about the book interests me in particular, but I have a higher rate of rejecting review requests from these genres. 
I do not have affiliate links on my blog or channel. All of my reviews are the personal opinions of someone who reads for pleasure in her free time.