The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova

The Historian was suggested to me in high school, but for some reason I never read it. I recently picked it up and was very pleasantly surprised. First of all, this book is long! The edition I have has pages that feel like tissue paper - they are so thin! So from the outside, this book appears to be about 350 pages. It's really 676 pages. So despite the riveting, page-turning quality of this book, I did find myself checking to see how many pages were left a couple of times.

Kostova really does her research for this novel. She especially excels at painting the scenery for us without interrupting the actual telling of the story - which is essential for any novel that is going to be a favorite of mine. She describes monasteries and villages vividly enough that you are transported there- all over ancient and modern day Europe. It really is a treat.

The book follows an unnamed protagonist and her father Paul as he recounts for her his search for Dracula - whom is alive and well - in his college days. He speaks of this in the past tense until...one day he disappears  from one of this diplomatic trips to pursue Dracula (and the love of his life) again. His daughter follows him, of course, and what ensues is one of the most satisfying endings you'll ever read. It resolves everything without being too "happily ever after" cliche.

If you like mysteries, this is for you. It has supernatural characters, history, a romantic subplot which is done perfectly, beautiful scenery, and action scenes that will get your heart racing. With all the vampire novels that have hit the shelves in the last decade, you would be doing yourself a disservice but not reading this one. The fact that Twilight has been made into a movie but this book hasn't is a bit depressing*. I'll take a cerebral vampire story any day.

*Apparently SONY bought the production rights to this book before it was even published but has done nothing since. I blame Twilight.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

The Magicians is the first book in a trilogy which has been advertised as "Harry Potter for Adults". It follows a clinically depressed protagonist, Quentin Coldwater, through a journey to discover a magical world. Lev Grossman's writing is readable and occasionally engaging, which is honestly the only reason I finished this book. 

The beginning of the story is quite boring. Quentin apathetically muses about high school, applying for college, and how jealous he is of his best friend. At this point he is a very grey, boring character. He briefly mentions the fantasy novels he rereads every year, and how he wishes he could be one of the characters in those books (which you would think would make him more interesting!).

After you slog through the set-up, you are rewarded with a trip to Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. This is by far the best part of the novel. During this section, you can see why the comparison to J.K. Rowling's work was made. Although Grossman's writing doesn't hold a candle to Rowling's at any point, this is where it gets closest. He describes the tedium of studying magic, the friendship and competition between classmates, and the bad habits - drinking, chain smoking, and one-night stands. This could actually be what Hogwarts would be like if it were a college rather than a prep school recruiting eleven-year-olds. If you're really into the magic/fantasy genre, the book may be worth reading just for this section. Fair warning though, the other half of this book reads like an unfunny parody of the fantasy genre, written by someone who thinks he is far too cool for this genre. 

Without spoiling too much of the ending, I'll say that this entire book feels like an opportunity missed, but the ending is heartbreakingly bad. The only semi-developed character who isn't a insufferable narcissist dies, because of course she does, and Quentin sinks back into depression after realizing his dream. The book basically ends exactly as it begins, and leaves you feeling like you've wasted your time.  Instead of reading this book, pick up a book by an author who embraces the genre they write...Grossman is just too cool for school, and it kills this book. 

Elijah's Cup - Valarie Paradiz

This review is a reprint from 11/27/15. The formatting was wonky in ways that I couldn't fix, so I decided to retype it here with minor editing.

Elijah's Cup is a refreshing and enlightening book to read as a healthcare professional. Elijah's mother Valarie Paradiz accepts her son for who he is, and takes us on a journey of discovery regarding autism and it's history. As an occupational therapist, I learned a lot of academic information about autism in school. But now that I'm practicing, I realize that nothing you can learn from a fact sheet is as powerful as hearing a personal account from the individual with ASD or some one close to them.

Paradiz attempts to find a 'autism culture" for her son to take part in, and explores the history of autism. The non-judgmental nature of this book is just wonderful. You get the good, the bad, and the ugly, and you come out of it knowing so much more about autism.

I wish I could recommend this book to more parents. Often parents are told by professionals to 'mourn what is lost' or hit with baseless predictions like 'your child will never read'. I want parents to read this book and see that acceptance does not mean giving up on your child or settling for any less than YOU believe is their full potential. Acceptance means putting in the effort to understand your child's unique perspective.

On her rambling journey of discovery, Paradiz not only gives us an in-depth look at her son's formative years, she also hops on the bandwagon of trying to diagnose historical figures, works in poetry by Gertrude Stein, and takes us along as she meets celebrities of the autism world like Jim Sinclair and Temple Grandin.

If you have any interest in autism, or know anyone who has autism (which you probably do, given the CDC's recent incidence estimate of 1 in 68), you should read this book. It is a very informative book that reads like a memoir.

Dataclysm by Christian Rudder

Christian Rudder, cofounder of OkCupid and math whiz, has written an intriguing book subtitled: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity – What our Online Lives Tell Us About Our Offline Selves. This is a book for math and statistics lovers – it is full of graphs and charts and, appropriately, much data. 

While the author seeks to show us how this broad swath of data proves we are all connected, the connection between the chapters is tenuous at best. There are quite a few interesting tidbits in each section that you could pull out at a cocktail party, but there is little in the way of overarching theme or a “moral of the story” so to speak.

Nevertheless, this is definitely a book I would suggest to friends. If you read non-fiction, this is a good choice. Rutter’s writing is very down to earth and entertaining, and he is very careful to point out his own biases and contradictions. Though it is a very information-rich book, it reads like a Malcolm Gladwell novel. It is very accessible to the average reader without a degree in statistics. The difference is that Rutter uses information from OkCupid and various other social media sites to make broad conclusions, where Gladwell attempts to individualize his studies of statistics and behavoiral economics.

Some short disclaimers before I get to some of my favorite excerpts. First, I met my boyfriend on OkCupid, and have had many friends do so as well. So I was especially interested in this book because of my boyfriend talking about how great the OK Trends blog had been (it was discontinued before I made a profile on the site, probably because Rudder was busy writing this book). Rudder uses some of the insight from that blog here, although he says that he re-ran all the numbers and updated information to the point where he basically only used the blog as a starting point. So if you’ve read that blog, I suggest you read this too. There is way more information here! Second disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

If you are looking for a how-to guide on online dating, then you may be disappointed with this book. Only the first section is on dating, and it’s mostly an overview of things you probably already knew on some level. For example, men profess to like younger women the most, but mostly message women similar in age to themselves. Also, men tend to rate most women above average on a 1-5 scale of beauty, where women tend to rate men below average. Rutter attributes that to this gem of wisdom – “women are inclined to regret the sex they had, and men the sex they didn’t.” Well that is not the most forward thinking thing I’ve heard this week, it’s probably not altogether untrue either.  Basically, the dating section is an okay read, but Rutter really shines in the later sections which discuss race relations, the nature of beauty, and privacy in a digital world.

These sections elucidate a racial bias toward our own race in a relationship, and show that people of different races write their self-summaries in very different ways. The lists of most used and least common words in profiles by race were really interesting to read. This chapter is titled “Tall for an Asian”.  I think Rudder does a fine job of showing us our biases but not preaching too hard against what he has found. This is certainly not a book that thinks for you.

His discussions of the mob mentality on social media and privacy in such a data rich world make this book worth buying. Rudder is able to offer a unique viewpoint from the creator of one of the most used dating websites and statistician examining droves of data from it …but also as someone who treasures his privacy and doesn’t use dating sites or social media much.

Overall a very good book. I’ve been getting back into fiction lately, so I read this while I was reading two other books, and it’s easy to pick up and put down when you’re in the mood. It’s relatable and easy to read, and you’ll feel smarter when you finish it!

The Shadow of the Wind (and Sequels!)

Carlos Ruiz Zafon has become one of my absolute favorite writers. He writes like a spider makes his web...weaving a beautiful, intricate, and interconnected story that draws you in and doesn't let you go until it's damned well finished with you. I first read this book about three years ago, and I remember being heartbroken that there were not any sequels. Well, since then, there are two!  I was lucky enough to stumble on the second book at a local library's used book sale, giving me the opportunity to fall in love with Zafon's writing all over again! The first of the three, Shadow of the Wind, will be reviewed here. I'll only mention the second and third briefly after reviewing the first, to avoid spoiling anything in these plot-twist rich books.

The second in the series The Angel's Game, actually takes place before Shadow of the Wind, and reveals some interesting backstory about Daniel Sempre's father, and introduces an entirely new character who sells his soul for the sake of writing. Who/what he sells it to... I'll leave that for you to decide.

The third, Prisoner of Heaven, delves into some backstory for Daniel's loveable sidekick Fermin Romero de Torres, including his time as a political prisoner, his connection to the Sempres, and his marriage. We also learn a lot about Daniel's mother Isabella and the circumstances surrounding her death. As always, Zafon weaves a complicated web between characters.Though it doesn't seem as well developed as the previous two books, Prisoner of Heaven is definitely worth the read.

Now, onto my review of the Zafon's first book, Shadow of the Wind, which has drawn me back in three years later. Zafon is a Spanish writer, and he sets his novels in gothic Barcelona, around the civil war years. Zafon handles this setting perfectly - describing it richly enough so that you can lose yourself, but not lose track of the overall plot.

Sidenote - I hated Steinbeck's intercalary chapters in Grapes of Wrath, because they totally interrupted the plot thread. I generally read books to avoid the commercial breaks! Just to give you a sense of my feelings on flowery language - if you're describing a certain rose outside the court house for almost a whole page (I'm looking at you Nathaniel Hawthorne), then that's too much, but if you're able to expertly weave details into the course of the plot (describing the streets as the character walks on them, following a mysterious figure), then you'll hold my attention.

Anyway, the setting is mysterious and dark - richly described throughout the novel without taking away from the flow of the plot. You'll fall in love with the protagonist, Daniel Sempre, as he unravels the mystery of the demise of his favorite author, Julian Carax. Daniel acquires one of Carax's books from the cemetery of forgotten books, a large, secretive shrine guarded by a gruff character named Issac, whom you will grow to love as the series progresses. Zafon's characters are so well-developed that you will end up sympathizing with the villains too - and the plot twists might give you whiplash! Please read this book!

review on goodreads