Room for a Review and a Wrap-Up

Sorry I dissapeared for a fortnight! I simply did not have the time to post anything, and also, I did not have much time for reading either. Actually, my September and beginning of October have been horrible reading months, I've only finished five books in a month and a half, and only one this far in October!! But dancingwise it's been perfect! :) Since the autumn season began we have danced in two grand prix competitions and won both of them!! (Imagine a very happy smiley here :))

My September wrap-up is here:

Books read: 4 (That's actually 1 more than in August!!??! Slump-ety slump!)
Books read in English: 2
Books read in Finnish: 2
Finnish books read: 1 (nonfiction, professional literature)
Fiction: 2
Nonfiction: 2
Books reviewed: 0

The books I read in September:

• Bowers, Chris: Roger Federer -The Greatest
• Donoghue, Emma: Room
• Joyce, James: Dublinilaisia (Finnish translation of Dubliners)
• Lahti, Leena: Monikulttuurinen johtaminen (A book about diversity management) 

To make up a little for the perfect zero in books reviewed last month I'll add my thoughts on Room by Emma Donoghue here:

As I've mentioned in here before Emma Donoghue has this year quite quickly become one of my favorite writers. I have now read four of her books and have enjoyed every single one of them. However, if, without my knowing who the author was, someone would have recommended me a novel about a woman abducted and kept in an enforced, soundproofed garden shed for seven years during which time she would repeatedly be raped by her capturer, get pregnant and bear a son and then try to raise that son in their roomsized world, I would have actually said no thank you, that is not a book for me. I find the subject matter deeply disturbing, but as it was written by Emma Donoghue I knew from the start that I wanted to read Room. And what a read it was!

Room is the story of Jack and her Ma. Ma was kidnapped when she was a 19 year old student. Two years later she bore Jack. What makes the story so special is that the narrator is the 5 year old Jack. The Room is his world. To make things easier Ma has told him that everything he sees on TV is not real, it's just TV. But things are changing and Ma has to tell Jack about the world outside. Jack has been happy in his and Ma's little world and he has a really hard time trying to understand that there really is an outside world.

Jack's world is totally turned upside down when half way down the book he is able to escape and also get his Ma out from the Room. In the Room he has been a clever little boy, who knows his surroundinsd, his little world. He is linguistically very gifted and well ahead of other 5 year olds when it comes to vocabulary and reading, but he has never descended stairs or even seen wide spaces, and in the outside world he is in many ways a total newborn. Also Ma has very hard time adjusting to her freedom.

Room is told by Jack in his own words, in his own vocabulary, in his own language. As a non-native English speaker I probably missed some of the specialities of the language of Jack, but I loved the way Donoghue used the 5 year old's perspective in the narrative. It was both shocking, heartbreaking and eye-opening when Jack at the end of his first evening outside asked if he could now go back to the Room to sleep. What was prison for Jack's mother was the whole world for Jack, a world where he had been happy.

I must say I liked everything in this book. I loved little Jack! What a wonderful little boy he was! And I admired his mother for her courage during the years of her ordeal. I was saddened that she found it so hard trying to adjust to normal life again. I was worried for Jack after it was made clear how much he still had to learn to really be able to function in the outside world. And as much as I had loved for a plain and simple happy ending I must say Donoghue was able to finish the story very well. After the last lines on the last page I was left with hope. And that was enough. It was plenty. It was perfect.

Room has cemented Emma Donoghue's place on my list of favorite writers. It has also shown what a versatile writer she is. Short stories, romance, historical fiction, and now this novel. Wow!

I'll count Room towards the GLBT Challenge. There is no GLBT characters or issues in the book, but Donoghue is an out lesbian.

Darkfever (Fever Series Book #1) - By Karen Marie Moning

MacKayla Lane is your typical 22 year old southern bell. Blond, cheery, colorful, with a great mani/pedi at all times. When her world comes crashing down after the news of her sister Alina murder, MacKayla, or Mac as she likes to be called, receives an alarming voicemail from her sister that she left before her death. The only thing that Mac wants to do it fly to Ireland and force the police to investigate further. Once landing in Dublin, the last city to see her sister alive, Mac realizes there are things in this world that she doesn't understand...and for once she might be in over her head.


Mac is an amazing character to read about, she's a spitfire who doesn't want to take crap from anyone. (Even though there are times when she might have to) Losing her sister is one of the hardest things that's ever happened to her, she knows the type of girl her sister was, and doesn't understand what might have happened to her during her time in Dublin. During her own investigation Mac stumbles into a book store owned by Jericho Barrons, a tall, dark, and of course mysterious man, who might have some answers to the clues Mac's sister left her.


Barrons opens her eyes to a world she had no idea even existed, making her come to the realization that there are things beyond you and me. They're called Fae, the Seelie of the light court, and the Unseelie of the dark cour. Now Mac is trying to tie this new reality into the one she has always known, all while grieving her sisters death, and hunting down the man or thing that murdered her sister. Not knowing who or what to trust Mac must use every ounce of determination in her body to push forward and get done what she came to Dublin to do. The question is can she?


I recommend this book to everyone, Moning did an amazing job creating a different Fae world then ones I have read about before. Suspense is at every turn, and there was never a dull moment in this book

iPhone+blogging=this

So this is my first time blogging from my iPhone and I'm tryng to see if there are any perks to it or if it'll just be a pain in the butt more then anything.

First, just so you all know I will not be doing full on books reviews via the iPhone simply because I want to be able to add photos, links, you know all the fun stuff. So this will just be a keep in touch type of thing :). Second I will be giving fun hints and updates about the books that I'm reading, or have purchased, or have heard great things about.

Well, I think that's it for now! Ta ta!

Fantasy Lover (Dark-Hunter Book #1) - By Sherrilyn Kenyon

Taking a break in between novels, I picked this one up because I had heard great things about Sherrilyn as an author and her ability to create amazing stories. Fantasy Lover was no let down!

After being trapped in a book for 2,000 and the only way to get out is by being summoned as a love slave on a full moon, Julian was just waiting around for the next sex hungry female to call on him for a months worth of sex detail. What a crappy deal huh? Well when Grace, a sex therapist who is in desperate need to get laid, and her voodoo dabbling friend Lanie decide on Grace's birthday to try to summon Julian, this time out of the book might be more then Julian could ask for. After what seems like a failed attempt at conjuring up a delicious looking immortal play toy, Grace sees a flash of light coming from her living room. As she rounds the corner to see what was happening, she's suddenly out of breath and is stunned to see a naked, gorgeous, tanned, blond haired man in her living room. Did I mention naked? Both of their first instincts beg them to run to upstairs into the bedroom and not come out for a month, but Grace isn't like that, not even in the slightest. Puzzled as he may be, Julian goes by her rules and plays along.

Soon Grace is introducing him to a world he knows nothing about, and treating him like a human being. He can't remember the last time he was treated as a human being, and not something that was dragged out of the closet and used to bring his keeper pleasure. As his time with her is cut shorter as each day passes, Grace realizes that she wants to find a way to allow Julian his freedom and a try at a real life. Julian calls on the only person that he can think of to help him find an answer....Cupid, or Eros as he likes to be called.

Now with a mission in hand, and the finish line in sight, can Julian & Grace do the impossible to grant his freedom, and possible their chance at love?

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: The Laughing Corpse - By Laurell K Hamilton

Being Offered to raise an almost 300 year old corpse Anita knows that no matter the amount of power and animator posses the only way to raise a corpse that old is human sacrifice, and Anita does not do human sacrifices. End of story. That is unless there's an eccentric wealthy man who thinks you can be persuaded with money, and if not money then thugs, and if not thugs, well then there are some things that people shouldn't have power over.

This novel was a great continuation from Guilty Pleasures, it has all the suspense, action, and adventure that you came to love in Anita's life before. I will have to say that there is more suspense and action in this book, which I did like. Having a certain about of suspense I believe is key to making any book work. You can have all the action that you like, but if you don't have the reader wondering what will happen next and anticipating turning the page, then the book to me is boring.

 More characters are introduced and looked at a little better in this book. Some of Anita's co-workers, Stg. Dolph, a voodoo queen, her best friend Ronnie, her wonderful boss Bert, and of course Jean-Claude who has not stopped his effort to woo Anita into his arms. When I finished the Laughing Corpse I felt like I had a better understanding of Anita, and couldn't wait to pick up the next Anita Blake novel.

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter: Guilty Pleasures - by Laurell K Hamilton

After being reintroduced into the reading world,via the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, I felt a sudden rush to read, and read, and read.

Anita Blake was given to me by a great friend who thought that I would like it since I had previously only read vampire books who had a few friendly werewolves in them.

Polar opposites is what I got and loved it. Anita is a bad ass, hard to the core woman who's known as an Animator, which means she raises the dead for a living. She absolutely despises vampires, thinks that they're nothing but a walking corpse. In an age where vampires are running bars & strip clubs, and have the same rights as every living, breathing human does, Anita finds herself launched between a rock and a hard spot when she's approached by a very powerful vampire in her city and is asked to help them figured out who is behind some of the unsolved vampire murders that are happening in St. Louis.

During her reluctant investigation Anita must work with people she doesn't know, or trust. Thrown into a different type of world she has no desire to join or even wander into, she must now completely surround herself with it. If being stalked by a dangerous assassin (who's also a former ally) isn't enough, try throwing the fact that she is catching the eye of an extremely sexy "walking corpse"! And all while trying to raise the dead and get her job done.

I will admit that it took me a little while to get into this book, but I'm glad that I did because it really creates a great starting point for this series.

Slow and steady wins the race....I didn't know there was going to be a race!

Daily, that's how I'm going to do it! Post at least once a day, what do you think? I know it's impossible to read one book everyday, well for me it is anyways, but I want to post on here to be able to stay in contact with people who might actually one day follow my blog and enjoy it. I might even want to stay in contact with the people who don't like what I say, but read it anyways. :)

Here's my 5 simple rules that I want to try and follow during this whole blogging experience:

1. Blog everyday
2. Blog at the end of every book I read
3. Reply to every comment, idea, or thought someone posts on my blog
4. Sucker all my friends into reading my blog
5. Inspire you or a friend or a co-worker to read whichever book I've blogged about.

Through this process I want people to be inspired to read more, take a little time out of your day to get wrapped up into a world unlike the one you live in. Lose yourself in a book every once in a while....you just might like it.