"Circling the Sun" by Paula McLain

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from Netgalley. Unfortunately, it took me a little while to get to it. The book already came out on July 28th, 2015. I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to all who like biographical fiction about strong convention-breaking women.

Paula McLain is the author of the highly acclaimed bestseller The Paris Wife. This new book is another novel about an amazing woman who was a trailblazer in the 1920s and 30s in several different areas. Beryl Markham's life was anything but ordinary from the very beginning. Born in Britain, she moved to Kenya with her parents when still a very young child. Her mother abandoned her when she was quite young, and Beryl was pretty much fending for herself with very little supervision from her father. She grew up on a horse farm and probably spent more time with the native Kipsigis tribe than with her father. She went on to become the first female racehorse trainer in Africa and later on a record-setting aviator and the first woman to cross the Atlantic from East to West.

When I first started reading the book, I thought it would focus more on Beryl, the pilot, or a British version of Amelia Earhart . However, a very small portion of the book is actually focused on her flying. I would say this book is more about how Beryl came to be a pilot, what led her to taking up flying and what traits of character made her a success in this highly male-dominated field. One theme that stood out to me is Beryl's incessant search for freedom. She wanted to be free to make choices about her life, and never looked for a man to define her purpose.  Even in our modern day, as a woman, I am often afraid to take risks. In Beryl's time, the safest thing would be to marry well, have children and lead the life of a country housewife. This was never enough for her. When asked whether she ever felt afraid, she answered: certainly, but I never let the fear stop me.

Paula McLain's writing is amazing. You will be transported to the exotic land of colonial Kenya and follow Beryl in her fierce pursuit of happiness, independence and love. She loved passionately, worked hard and never gave up. A great story, an amazing heroine at the center of it and flawless writing. 5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend it.

Top 5 Books I Read This Year So Far

I was thinking of a good topic for a blog post and decided to do my own top 5 this week. The Goodread's Top 5 Wednesday Group is covering the topic of series we wish had more books in them. Honestly, I am not a big fan of huge series. I do enjoy trilogies and duologies, but endless series exhaust me. Yes, it is nice to be able to dwell in the world we love for more than one book, but it is also very liberating to finally be done with a story. So I am doing my own personal top 5 this week and will instead list the best books I've read this year so far. Not all of these were published in 2015, but all of them were new to me. And as always, the books will cover a range of genres.

1. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The more time passes since I read this book, the more I am completely awed by it. The book was originally published in 1968 and I would consider it a modern classic. It is definitely up there with Catcher in the Rye for me. The book is written from the perspective of a teenage boy, and focuses on the struggles and dangers that Ponyboy and his friends face on a daily basis when they interact outside of adult supervision. I was completely blown away both by the writing and the story. I highly highly recommend this book. My full review can be viewed here.

2. The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

This book was my reluctant venture into magical realism. I am normally not a big fan of the genre. However, this book was amazing. I think it would make a great pick for any book club or group discussion. The author touches upon many timeless topics such as being trapped by circumstances, teenage crime, being driven to desperation and getting justice. Again, I do have a full review of the book on my blog - go check it out. This is a new release. The book came out in March 2015.

3. Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

This was another new release that I had the opportunity to review before the official publication date (which is September 1, 2015). My full review is already up on this blog. All I'd like to say is that if you need a pick-me-up, get this book. You will look at your life in a completely different way and hopefully start appreciating the little things that truly matter.

4. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

Just like many readers, I get intimidated by some classics, and approaching a literary titan like Kafka was really daunting for me. I had Metamorphosis on my shelf for probably 4 or 5 years before I finally felt ready to give it a go. Well, as you see it made it into my top 5 reads of the year. So if you are wondering whether to read this book, stop wondering and do it. It is amazing. This book is probably one of the most over-analyzed works of literary fiction, and some of the things that critics see in it go completely over my head. To me, the entire story is an allegory for how we react when faced with any condition or situation that is potentially embarrassing, unusual or strange. I did write a full review of the book, and cannot say enough great things about this classic.

5. Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

I had never read any graphic novels until this year, and the ones I read so far have completely changed the way I look at graphic novels. Early in the year I read Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi which opened up a whole new world to me where a picture truly can be worth a thousand words (see my review). Anya's Ghost is another example of a graphic novel that has a very poignant and important message. The main character Anya is a teenage Russian-American girl who really struggles with her identity and fitting in at school. The usual teenage insecurities about weight, appearance and acceptance by her peers, are exacerbated for her by the fact that she is embarrassed by her mother who speaks with a weird accent and cooks strange food; and by the fact that the only other Russian kid in her school is a nerdy acquaintance from church whom she desperately tries to avoid. However, her perception of "what is cool" begins to change once she unexpectedly meet a ghost....  A great read. This is now my favorite graphic novel, and even if you don't read graphic novels, you should definitely pick this one up.

A Trilogy Review: Twin Souls by DelSheree Gladden

I first discovered DelSheree Gladden's books when I stumbled upon her Destroyer Trilogy. I loved that trilogy and decided to give some of her other books a go. Twin Souls has a very interesting premise. It is rooted in Native American mythology and legends and is very atmospheric. I love New Mexico and the story takes place in a small village set in the state, so the main elements were quite interesting and attractive to me.

The main character Uriah is a long-awaited Tewa hero who is destined to defeat an evil monster plaguing the world. Uriah does not know about his destiny and dreams of marrying his high school sweetheart Claire and leading a life of a simple rancher. However, when he and Claire approach the elders for permission to get married, the tribe's shaman announces that both of them are destined to meet their twin souls (i.e. their true love, or the "other half" of the soul that was separated from them at birth). The elders therefore, refuse to let them get married. Uriah and Claire are determined to stay together and fight the twin soul bonds. In the process, they also learn about their real destiny that was prescribed by the gods long before they were born, and get on the path of fulfilling it. I did really enjoyed the first book. I rated it 5 out 5 stars on goodreads and a detailed review of it is available on my blog here.

The second book was not as great. I felt that it really suffered from the second book syndrome and is basically a filler between the first book where the story is set up and the third book where the denouement occurs. There are some new things revealed in the second book. However, that happens only in the very end. Most of the book is focused on emotional struggles that Claire and Uriah go through. There was too much detail about that and overall, I felt that the story dragged and hardly moved a long. I rated it 3 out of 5 stars.

The third book was a definite improvement over the 2nd, but still not as good as the 1st. It took me a long time to get into the 3rd book simply because the second was so disappointing. I did like how the story moved along and the ultimate conclusion. In true Gladden's style, there were some surprises along the way that I did not anticipate or saw coming. We learn a lot of new information about the main characters and see how their stories are interwoven together. The overall plot is very creative and interesting. But I did have some problem with how the books were structured and especially with the pacing of certain scenes. Too much emphasis was placed on emotional struggles, tearful conversations, and guilt. The way Uriah and Clair interacted with each other seemed unrealistic to me. Some of the emotional conversations they had felt more like a counseling session rather than an exchange between two teenagers in love. Despite those issues, I did like the third installment and rated it 4 out of 5 stars.

Overall, I think this book is great for fans of Native American mythology. But I do think the second and third book could be combined into one.

Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Required Reading

And it is Wednesday which means it is time to do top 5! For this topic I chose two books that were required for a literature class in high school and three books from my college studies.

If you are new to this, Top 5 Wednesday was created by Lainey who can be found on YouTube as GingerReadsLainey.

The books below are not organized by how much I like them. Rather, I list college reads first and then go into the two high school requirements.


1. The Once and Future King by T.H. White

I had to read this book for my college writing class. I always loved books and stories about King Arthur, so when we were assigned this novel, I was super excited. It is a fantasy and explores the human nature, and struggles for justice and power. It is a great book. I should definitely re-read it sometime.

2. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

This is an extremely powerful and poignant short story. Aside from the genius of Poe (discussed below), this is probably one of my favorite short stories. I had to read it for my English composition class and ended up choosing it for my fiction essay paper. The basic premise of the story is that a group of people who are individually very decent, kind and hardworking, act completely out of character as a group. In this work, villagers hold a lottery the object of which is to choose one among themselves for stoning. The story is so shocking that you cannot help but get engrossed in it and start drawing parallels with how we as a society or a group "stone" certain individuals through gossip, bullying, etc. The effect of a herd is very well examined here.

3. Edgar Allan Poe

Yes, all of Poe! I had to read various short stories and poems of his for various college classes. And I love everything he ever wrote. Nothing else to say here.

4. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I read this book in high school for my Russian Literature class. I know Dostoyevky has the bad rep of being a difficult author. But truly, he is not. In this novel, the main protagonist decides to kill an old woman in order to prove to himself that he is a "somebody". He has this twisted theory that he sets out to prove about justice and the right to bestow it. However, after committing the crime he finds that the guilt and remorse he feels are simply unbearable. Dostoyevsky also explores the idea of redemption through suffering. It is a very powerful book. I highly recommend it.

4. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

This is another book that readers are often intimidated by purely because of its size - the novel has 4 volumes. However, this book is amazing. First of all it is set in the imperial Russia during the war with Napoleon (early 1800s). This book has everything: history, war, romance, several different family stories, etc. Tolstoy's characters are always complex and interesting. You will undoubtedly have favorites and root for them. I read it twice and highly recommend it.

"Awake" by Natasha Preston

This was another book I got for review from NetGalley. The novel was released on August 4, 2015, and I just finished reading it last night. I was a bit hesitant about this one because the ARC received some pretty negative reviews on Goodreads. Nonetheless, I decided to give it a go and I was pleasantly surprised (perhaps going into a book with low expectations is not such a bad thing after all!).

The novel is written from two perspectives. The first one is Scarlet, a sixteen year old high school student who has no memories of her early childhood (she does not remember anything before the age of four when she woke up in a hospital after a house fire). The second perspective is that of Noah, a new student in Scarlet's class, who immediately upon his arrival at her school, singles Scarlet out and does everything possible to make her fall in love with him. As the story progresses, we learn that Scarlet was born into a family that ran a religious cult whose members led a very isolated life and shied away from modern society. Well, now they want her back.

The weakest point in the story (and the reason I think it got so many low rankings on Goodreads) is the beginning. Basically, Scarlet sees Noah and immediately falls in love with him. All we see for the first several chapters are how sweet he is and how much she cares about him. I can completely understand why this would turn off some readers. However, just past that part, we get a glimpse into Noah's real thinking and motives and he emerges as a really creepy guy... From that point on, I was absolutely enthralled and could not put the book down. I had never read any books featuring a religious cult before, and to me the way Preston described it felt authentic and truly scary. I did really enjoy the book and I think it deserves better ratings. I ended up ranking it at 4 out 5 stars just because I agree that the insta-love in the beginning of the book is a little cringe-worthy. Had Preston started with Noah's creepy thoughts it would have made for a much stronger set-up in my opinion.

Overall, good story, well-written, definitely creepy and scary - pick it up!

Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Maps

Before I jump into this topic, I would like to elaborate a bit on how I picked the five maps. For me, a map should not only be aesthetically pleasing, but it should be useful and add to the story. So yes, I do love all sort of maps, but in books, their utility is the most important factor for me.

As always, I would like to mention that Top 5 Wednesday was created by Lainey who can be found on YouTube as GingerReadsLainey.

Now, in no particular order, here are the five maps that I picked for this week's Top 5.

1. Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The thing that I love about the Narnia books is that the map changes in each installment depending on where the action takes place. This particular map is from Book 5: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. So you will see that the ocean takes up most of the map and Narnia is far to the left. The map also points to the spot where our main characters joined the ship.

2. The Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo

I love the maps in this trilogy. The first book has a map that is zoomed in on Ravka since that is where all events of that book occur. In books 2 and 3 we get the more expanded view of the world which includes the surrounding areas and Novy Zem where Alina and Mal travel. The map featured here is from Book 3 Ruin and Rising. Since the world in this trilogy is so unique, I did enjoy referring back to the map and found it extremely useful. I like to be able to picture where things are geographically so this was a big help. This map is also stunning: I love the font and pictures of various monsters featured in the story.

3. The Eragon Series by Christopher Paolini

This map is actually pictured on the end pages of the hard cover both in the front and in the back of the book. Even though the maps are monochrome they mirror the color of the book cover - which I thought was a cool way to do it. This particular one if from Book 4: Inheritance and as you see, it is green. Maps are essential to most fantasy novels and Eragon is not exception. I thought the map really helps to orient the reader and provides a better idea of the world.

4. The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer

I love how colorful this map is. It is also a fold-out which makes it easy to find and keep handy. I only read the first book in this middle grade series so I am not sure if the map changes/evolves in any way in later installments. However, I did refer to the map frequently while reading the book and found it extremely helpful. 

5. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Martin's world is so incredibly complex, that a map is absolutely necessary. I did find myself referring to the map quite a bit especially when various military strategies and battle locations were discussed. My main problem with the original maps in the books (as pictured above) is that they are nearly unreadable. The font is extremely small and the maps are very detailed. Luckily, there is an abundance of Game of Thrones maps online - in full color, various portions of the world, etc, which makes it easier to navigate Martin's world

"Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon

I received an advanced reading copy of this book from NetGalley and the book lived up to all of my expectations. Even though the novel will not be released until September 1, 2015, a lot of book reviewers and bloggers have already read it and it's been getting a lot of buzz. It is an impossibly cute and heart-wrenching YA contemporary about a girl (Madeline) who spends all of her life inside her house due to a deadly immune system disease. The air in the house is carefully filtered, all objects from the outside are meticulously decontaminated and the only people she ever sees face to face are her mom and Carla, a nurse who helps take care of her. Madeline is 18 and seems to be reasonably happy. She takes classes online, reads a lot and enjoys spending time with her mother. But then one day a boy moves in next door and Madeline starts dreaming about the Outside more than she ever had before....

I was really surprised by how much I loved this book. It is fairly short, but I am a slow reader and never read books in one day. This one, however, was just impossible to put down. Madeline and Olly are such likable characters, and the book has a very positive overall message. It is also filled with quotes and references to The Little Prince, one of my favorite books ever. So yes, it is truly a gem, and I highly recommend this book. It is up there with The Running Dream for me, another book that makes you want to live your life more fully and appreciate every moment. If you are feeling down or out of sorts, read this book. You will look at your day in a completely new way. This is probably one of the best new releases I've read this year.