I know I mentioned, way back when I reviewed Arthur Golden’s “Memoirs of a Geisha,” that prior to reading, I had very little knowledge about that aspect of Japanese culture. When it came to Japanese early modern history, the same thing happened with James Clavell’s “Shogun.” I had kind of known that samurai were important and had a vague idea what a Shogun actually was, but that was about it. Post-Shogun, while I can’t claim to be an expert on that era of Japanese history, I do know a significant amount more than I did going in.

Japan during this time is feudal, and is in a perilous condition. There are internal dynastic problems, but most of all, is the coming of westerners into the very (very) inward looking Japan. The story is told from the point of view of John Blackthorne, a sailor on the first English ship to ever land in Japan (so far, it’s only the Portuguese who have had contact). Blackthorne ends up being shipwrecked, taken prisoner and eventually gets tangled up in a bid for power for the position of Shogun, the warrior/military ruler who controlled Japan. The way that Blackthorne gets involved in this struggle is far too varied, complicated and would take far too much space to explain here. Suffice to say, they make for an interesting plot.

It is the look into feudal Japanese culture that is the major interest in “Shogun.” There are so many aspects of Japanese culture that are explained- societal, political, cultural and economics- and does so in great detail. This book shows the complicated power structure in Japan, the samurai way of life and even important cultural niceties, such as the tea ceremony. The most interesting part is that it’s (for the most part) told from Blackthrone’s perspective. Like the reader, he’s a foreigner being introduced to these things for the first time.

A second aspect that of the book that is absolutely fascinating is the social struggle that takes place between the traditional Japanese ways versus the new western ideas being brought in. This struggle shows in many ways, including the attempts of the Jesuit priests to establish Catholicism in a land that has been dominated by Shinto and Buddhism for centuries. The best way that the general tradition versus new is shown in the relationship that develops between Blackthorne and Lady Mariko, a highborn Japanese samurai Lady (a relationship that any romance fan will completely enjoy).

“Shogun” is long and dense, and it took even me a fair amount of time to read. The sheer amount of history and culture and Clavell manages to pack into this book, not to mention the intrigue and extremely well written characters, made all the time spent reading it time well spent.
Given how often I review a book about them, I wouldn't be surprised if you thought I had the opinion that the Tudors were the most interesting historical family out there. While I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that, I would like to point out there are many others, especially in British history. One of those was the Plantagenets, which is directly before and led to the Tudor line. Of course, when I saw it was my favourite historical fiction author who was writing a series about them, I was all over that.

In order to understand The White Queen, you need to at least catch up on the basics of the War of the Roses. Two royal families -Lancaster and York- were fighting over the English throne. There's a lot to go into, but what's most important to this book is Elizabeth of Lancaster, for she's the main character. It begins with one of her defining moments- recently widowed, knowing her side is going to lose, she sets up a 'chance' meeting with the York king, Edward IV to ask for leniency for her family. Edward is impressed with her bravery, and it goes further than that. Edward falls in love and they marry in secret. Surprising no one, that comes back to haunt them. When the Yorks win, Elizabeth becomes Queen, a title she needs to keep fighting for when people from all sides questions its legitimacy. By the end, with Edward dead and her basically trapped under sanctuary in a church, we see her suffer through what has become one of the major mysteries of English history- what happened to her sons, the princes in the tower?

As always, Gregory delivers on an amazing look at the politics that shaped the day. She gives us a character that is trapped in those politics, and yet is doing everything to not only survive, but come out on top. Elizabeth, for all her success and failures, is still able to play the game beautifully. The politicking, surrounded by the drama and romance, makes this a great story. The Tudors are great, but the Plantagenets are just as dramatic and intriguing. They created just as much of an uproar and shaped just as many powerful players. I highly suggest looking into them, and The White Queen is a great, entertaining starting point.
It’s been awhile since I’ve brought you back to The House of Night (both the series and the main setting inside said series). It’s been awhile since I went with the teen version of vampires, so I thought it might just be the time to come back to both. That’s why I’m continuing with the series. With all that in mind, I present you with a review of Chosen, book three in PC and Kristen Cast’s The House of Night series.

When we last left the series, Zoey (super almost-vampire extraordinaire) had just found out that the high priestess Neferet is bringing back dead fledglings and making them into monsters for unknown reasons. This included Stevie Ray, Zoey’s best friend. The book deals with Zoey trying to find a way to stop Stevie Ray and the others like her from losing themselves. Since she can’t let anyone else know about it, it mean keeping secrets from everyone, even as it chips away at the trust everyone has in her. Of course, it all explodes in spectacular fashion by the end.

I’ll be honest- I didn’t really like this book. It rates as an ‘okay’ 2/5 stars for me, but since I still want to review the rest of the series, I had to cover this one. It’s just a book that could also be titled ‘Zoey Makes the Worst Decision Every Time’ and that’s frustrating. It’s painful to read, because it’s hard to see the main character acting so stupidly. This is not a book with good characters (most of them are nothing but a cliché), but it’s a fairly solid one when it comes to plot (minus to ridiculous romance plotlines(s)). It gets the overall story going, setting up the Neferet vs. Zoey storyline nicely, and gives us a glimpse of just what’s at stake on a big picture level. That is important for any ongoing series. It might not be the best in the series, but it’s still a series worth reading.

Battered

Nov. 8th, 2024 07:24 am
The pain travels up
Hurting me so,
Never have I felt
So damn low.
The life I had
Went flashing by,
And I think in sorrow
“All this for a guy”.
On the floor
And bleeding out,
Yet he still kicks
Screams and shouts.
So I’m the victim
So I’m the prey,
And God only knows
He’ll kill me someday.
But I won’t leave
He’ll only chase me down,
No matter where I go
No matter the village, the city, the town.
I want to die
And not face this anymore,
Because I’m a woman
Broken, battered and tore.
The last time I wrote about my time in Alberta, I gushed about the history, specifically the First Nations history of the southern parts of the province. Writing-on-Stone isn’t the only place like that, and certainly not the last time I’ll write about one either, but I like to sprinkle these travel guides with a variety of places. I want people to get a full picture of the places I’ve been, so I try and give you as many genres as possible. There are times where you just want to go somewhere simple and fun, which is why I’m here to suggest some options. The ones for today, staying in southern Alberta of course, are the town of Vulcan and the Calgary Zoo. )
How far would you go to save your sick child? Would you risk one of your other children to save them? Those are the questions that Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper makes us ask ourselves. It leaves you grappling with them from page one to the very last and never makes it easy.

The Fitzgerald’s daughter gets sick with leukemia when she is only a child. In order to give her a better chance of survival, Kate’s mother becomes pregnant again, making sure that this new child is a genetic match to her daughter (they never exactly explain the science behind it, only that they do it). Anna is this second daughter…the daughter that sees herself only in relation to her sister. Every time her sister relapses, Anna gives a piece of herself. As the story opens we see that now Kate needs a new kidney, and as a genetic match, Anna is expected to give one. Before that surgery can happen, Anna goes to a lawyer to sue for medical emancipation. That’s where the story really begins.

You go into this book with many assumptions; the mother must be horrible to ask so much of one of her daughters, poor Anna is so neglected that she’ll risk her sister’s life, Kate doesn’t care about her sister as long as she’s there to save her. All of said assumptions are wrong. The book is told in alternating points of view, showing us the minds of the main characters (the members of the Fitzgerald family, Anna’s lawyer, and the child advocate assigned to look out for her). By showing us their thoughts, we see how much turmoil they are all in, how there is no right or wrong answer. We see that Sara loves both her daughters equally, Anna doesn’t want her sister to die but feels that see needs to do this, and Kate understands why she has to. You can’t hate any one character, no matter how much you may want to. Picoult’s work is heartbreaking in so many ways, and is without a doubt a complete tear jerker. She’ll leave you questioning many of your own beliefs and praying that you never have to go through what her characters are going through. You’ll be questioning your own morals by the time you finish, and those are the profound ones that will stick with you long after you’ve put the book down.
Think back to high school. Remember your friends? Remember what they were like, how close you were? Most importantly, remember what secrets you told them? I’m willing to bet that some of those secrets were ones that you never, ever wanted anyone to find out (as is the nature of secrets). But of course, there’s that friend who did know…and it really is impossible to keep a secret once someone else knows. Wouldn’t it just be easier if that friend just…disappeared?

That’s the plot of Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars, the first book in the series of the same name. Allison was the best friend of Aria, Emily, Hanna, and Spencer. She was the one who knew their deep, dark secrets. We don’t see Allison very long, but the reader gets the sense she was one manipulative queen bee, the type of ‘friend’ who would subtly send out nasty barbs about those secrets. She would, without saying it outright, remind you that she knew, and it could destroy you if she wanted to. Then, one night Allison just disappears without a trace, and deep down, beneath the fear, sadness, and grief, the other girls feel just a little relieved. No Allison, no risk of exposure. Flash forward a few years, and the girls have all dramatically drifted apart. They’re all dealing with normal teenage girl issues- boys, girls, pressure from parents, weight issues and, a whole slew of others (though in a more dramatic, overblown way than I remember from high school). Allison hasn’t been heard from and her disappearance remains a mystery…until the girls begin to get messages, signed only with the letter A. These messages are taunting and coy, telling each girl that they don’t only know their new secrets, but their old ones as well. The secrets that only Allison knew. These messages are genuinely threatening, and it makes them that much more menacing.

This is a fun book, so ridiculously dramatic and over the top that it’s enjoyable. It never takes itself seriously and never tries to tone down the melodrama, but it also keeps in mind that it’s touching on some really serious topics, such as eating disorders. The book is ridiculous, but it never treats those issues as though they’re funny. Is it the best portrayal of them? No, but it takes them seriously in a book that is far from serious. The only complaint I have is that I felt the mystery could have lasted a little longer, at least into the next book. A new mystery replaces it, and it promises to be just as good, but I still wish they had drawn the original one out a little longer. Other than that, I thought the book was a good one, especially for reminding me just how vicious and catty high schoolers can be. If there’s ever a book that demonstrates that you should keep your secrets to yourself, it’s this one.
Let’s face it people; for some of the population, especially the sort of younger generations like mine, didn’t even register that a book trilogy called The Lord of the Rings existed until news came that they were being made into a movie (I am one of the proud geeks who read The Lord of the Rings before the movies- and have been my favourite books since). Quite a few people have read the trilogy since the movies came out and many have read The Hobbit (Bilbo’s adventure that is the prequel to the trilogy) too. What I have noticed though is that fewer people have read The Silmarillion.

The Silmarillion tells the tale of the beginnings of Middle Earth, from the very creation of the world being sung into existence by the being Eru, the supreme being, to the second age and the first fall of Sauron (The Lord of the Rings takes place in the third age). We learn of the coming of elves and men, the forbidden creation of that dwarves, and the war fought against the first dark lord. Here we read the greatest legends from Middle Earth, from the tragedy of the mortal Hurin and his children, to the greatest love story in Middle Earth, between the elf Luthien and the mortal Beren. There is the great War of the Jewels, where the elves tore each other apart trying to reclaim the stolen Silmarils, the only light left from the great trees that lit up the promised land. No matter what trope you like in your high fantasy, there is a story here to match it.

Instead of chapters The Silmarillion is organized, more or less, into interconnecting short stories (it wasn’t written as a full novel at the time of Tolkien’s death, so his son Christopher gathered up the sections his father had written and put them together for publication). You can find a large part of the history of Middle Earth in The Silmarillion and that right there is a reason to read it- knowing how things came to be makes reading the trilogy much more enjoyable to read. However, I do understand that that’s also a reason why there are quite a few people, Tolkien fans included, that can’t get through this book. It feels like a history textbook. A beautifully written and creative one, but still dense with details. That’s not for everyone, even if it’s right up this history geek’s alley. Here’s the thing, even knowing that it won’t appeal to everyone- Tolkien created this entire, amazing world with so much detail that you can’t help but imagine it being real…how can you not want to explore that world even further?

Untitled

Jun. 22nd, 2021 12:11 pm
Alone in my room
As the world passes by,
Trapped in the darkness
I just wish to die.
The window nailed shut
The door locked tight,
Trapped here in my prison
Without so much as a fight.
Screams are so useless
As are my tears,
No one can hear me
I’ll succumb to my fears.
From husband to monster
Before my very eyes,
From angel to demon
With all of your lies.
Locked in our house
For two painful years,
I cannot escape
For you always loom near.
Alone for so long
Just wishing to die,
The only way to escape
Is with the angels to fly.

Goodbyes

Jun. 22nd, 2021 12:10 pm
Goodbye to a friend
Who wants to go,
Goodbye dear friend
We’ll miss you so.
We’ll never forget
All the fun we had,
Even is sometimes
We made you mad.
You were always the one
To darken our days,
With all of your scary
Dark gothic ways.
So to my friend
We don’t want you to go
So we hope
Your mom will say ‘no’!

Alone

Jun. 20th, 2021 01:03 pm
Alone with no voice
One no one will hear,
Lost in a place
Drowning in fear.
All alone but with someone
Who won’t hear my cried,
Left alone with someone
Who only tells lies.
My voice is so small
So young and so meek,
Something so tiny
So little so weak.
After graduating high school, I had to take a year off to recover from surgery. For a very long time before that, I was determined to get out of my small hometown as soon as I could. The year off only made me want it even more, and also made me want to get as far away as I could. I didn’t take it that far, but after that year was up, I did relocate to Alberta, clear across the country. Alberta was quite different than the New Brunswick I grew up with. )
I first saw The Clan of the Cave Bear on one of those 100 books to read before you die lists, and truth be told, it didn’t really sound all that appealing to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love history, but I’m a bit less into the prehistoric humanoids. How much can there really be to tell about cavemen (excuse the simplistic term)? Despite those reservations I decided to read the book anyway, and I’m glad I did.
Clan of the Cave Bear takes place in the time where Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons lived in the world together.

Ayla is a little girl when her village is destroyed and she’s the only survivor. She wanders and after being attacked by a huge ancestor to the lion, is injured and found by a tribe of Neanderthals. They decide to take the girl with them, though she is ‘other’. Ayla is different in more ways than appearance, and that becomes more obvious as she grows. Ayla is a tomboy in a world where, even though women do as much physical labour as men, there are clear gender divisions. Women cannot hunt for example. Yet Ayla defies all that. She teaches herself to hunt and when her child is threatened, she violates the laws to protect him. Those are only a few of the moments where Ayla is like a prehistoric feminist.

Another interesting factor in the book is the culture that surrounds the clan. It’s nowhere near as simple as your cliched caveman tale. There is an extreme amount of mysticism and religion. The bear is a sacred animal, and each person has their own spirit animal. There are medicine women and shamans who preform rituals of deep religious and symbolic value. There is also a large amount of conflicting politics in the story. The issue of succession as a leader and how a personal vendetta can affect the wellbeing of the clan is a key plot point. There is xenophobia and distrust of the ‘other’. All of that makes it feel real. Never could I have imagined a prehistoric culture being so captivating. Auel makes it so real that you can imagine that this is what early people did believe in. Romanticized yes, but The Clan of the Cave Bear is fascinating nonetheless.

Madness

Mar. 12th, 2021 01:32 pm
He tried to fight back
As she lowered the gun,
He tried to get out
But this fight she won.
Blood poured out
From the hole in his head,
Falling to the ground
She killed him dead.
She caught them together
They both broke her heart,
Killing him now
Is only the start.
There will be others
Before her own life she takes,
To flee from this world
So full of mistakes.
Out of the house
And into the street,
Walking towards
The next victim she’ll meet.
One of the most poignant questions an author can address is the question of human nature. In most cases, authors will take the chilling (and realistic) approach that tells that world that, as a collective group, humans really aren’t that good when it comes down to it. That premise becomes downright horrifying when you throw children into the mix.
Suzanne Collins does just that in her novel The Hunger Games.

In a bleak future, the former North America is divided into twelve districts and ruled (with an iron fist, of course) by the Capital. In order to remind the populace why rebellion is a bad idea, the Capital has the annual Hunger Games- a Battle Royale style competition that puts two people from each district in a landscape arena…last person standing wins. These two people? Children between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Katniss takes the place of her twelve-year-old sister, when Primrose is chosen in the yearly draw. Along with Peeta, Katniss is whisked off to the Capital and will have to kill twenty-three other tween/teens in order to survive.

If the idea of the games itself isn’t terrifying, the hype around them amps up the horror. The tributes (those participating in the games) are treated like American Idol contestants, complete with stylists, interviews, and judges ranking them on their talents (in this case, killing and survival skills). People sponsor and bet on which kid is going to win. Twenty-four kids are going to kill each other (or be killed by the hostile environment and traps the games masters create) and everyone is going to watch it as live entertainment. Then there are the kids themselves. They have to kill to survive, and quite a few of them are going to do it gleefully. One of the girls plans to make Katniss’s death ‘good’ (aka torture) if she’s allowed to kill her. Other tributes are killed by arrows, spears, knives, and with bare hands…all by other children.

Reading the book is gut wrenching, because you know the only way Katniss is going to survive is if the others die. And you don’t want most of the others to die, especially Peeta and sweet little twelve-year-old Rue. The reader is in the exact place as the viewer of the Hunger Games, and that is in a troubling thought. The idea is terrifying, plain and simple. The fact that The Hunger Games is marketed towards a young adult audience doesn’t play down that fact. In fact, it quite possibly amplifies it. Folks, by the time you’re finished, you’ll be agreeing that human nature is a scary thing.
I’ll come right out and say it- Coraline is one of the creepiest books I’ve ever read, especially in light of the fact it’s aimed at a young adult audience. It’s the creepy factor that makes me recommend this book to you.

A little girl named Coraline moves into a new home, a massive old house that is divided into apartments. Her parents basically ignore her and Coraline is a solitary girl. When she finds an old key that opens a locked door in a downstairs room, she opens it and goes through a tunnel, despite warnings. On the other side, there is an alternate world that mirrors her own. Here there is her Other Mother and Father, who are identical to her real ones except for the big black buttons for eyes. They treat her the opposite of her parents by showering her with affection and attention, and Coraline loves it. She prefers it to the real world in fact, though she slowly figures out there’s darkness lurking under the surface. It’s an evil that has no plans to let Coraline go.

The Other Mother is one of the creepiest characters I have ever read. She’s too sweet, too loving, and you know there has to be something wrong. She’s the perfect mother, who only wants Coraline to stay and be happy…except you know in your gut that this mother is not. It’s an ominous feeling and you feel a lot of dawning horror when you realize just how right your gut feeling is. Coraline is a great book. Coraline is a creepy book. Coraline certainly isn’t a book I’d suggest reading if you’re home all alone after dark.
A light grows dim
And someone dies,
On this world
Death severs the ties.
A soul does fade
And one is born,
Time and space
Is all but torn.
Love and hate
Are all the same,
Human nature
Anything but tame.
Trapped in Hell
That is our fate,
To save our souls
It’s much too late.

Afraid

Mar. 12th, 2021 01:20 pm
I’ve gone too far
And can’t come back,
And now I see
The bravery I lack.
The journey began
Not hard at all.
But I was setting up
Myself to fall.
I thought it’d be easy
And now here I am,
Not close to being done
And already damned.
It all seems awful
It all seems bad,
And not only that
It all seems so sad.
I drop the pills
And lean back against the wall,
Somehow just wishing
I wasn’t this small.
So I couldn’t stand
For my own life to take,
And now here I wonder
If I’ve made a mistake.
Before heading to Korea, I had never heard of the city of Gunsan. It wasn’t mentioned in the guidebook I used as a first round of research. Even when I got in the country, it didn’t come up as a potential destination. It wasn’t until I was making plans to meet up with a friend who moved to Korea a year or so before me, did Gunsan come to my notice. It was the city she was living in and I was to go down there and stay with her for a weekend. Gunsan hadn’t been on my travel list, but it would have been worthy of it. )
I’m kind of a twisted person, and I can easily admit that. I tend to watch all those crime shows (Criminal Minds is my favourite, which is telling enough) and tend to focus on the more bloody side of history. Of said bloody aspects, serial killers hold a (morbid) fascination for me. The one who interests me most? Hands down, Jack the Ripper.
Given those facts, it’s no surprise that, when I saw Patricia Cornwell’s Portrait of a Killer, I picked it up. Cornwell, famous for her fiction mystery novels, seemed to be the perfect person to delve into the case of one of England’s (if not the world’s) most famous serial killers. It’s a non-fiction book, chalk full of historical information and research (as a former history major, that warms my heart).

The book is Cornwell presenting her case about the true identity of Jack the Ripper, which to this day is a mystery. Cornwell presents well researched evidence that the Ripper was, in fact, an intellectual and artist named Walker Sickert. Her research is well done and meticulous, but is it really enough to conclude that Sickert was the killer? Well, let’s just say that, if it was a court case and I was on the jury, I’d convict. That doesn’t mean she’s right, only that her arguments are solid enough to make me agree she could be.

Obviously, this book isn’t for everyone. The content is graphic (it is about a serial killer after all). Crime scene photos of the six murdered women are in the book, and that is a disturbing thing to see (though the pictures themselves are truly not that graphic, given the photography at the time wasn’t that great). To say that you shouldn’t wander idly into this book falls into the range of understatement. Part of what drew me to this book (and the Ripper in general) is the fact that it’s unsolved, and no matter how convincing Cornwell’s argument, it will always remain that way. There are so many theories and conspiracies out there, that the mystery of Jack the Ripper will always remain just that- a mystery. Here, Cornwell gives us a possible answer to this mystery, and a well written one at that.
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