BC Reads!
  • Home
  • Book Reviews
    • Student Reviews
    • Faculty/Staff Contributions
    • Illustrations
    • Sort Reviews... >
      • All
      • Alphabetically by Title
      • Alphabetically by Author
      • Alphabetically by Genre
      • Alphabetically by Reviewer
      • Faculty/Staff Contributions
  • Events
    • Boston Book Events
    • News and Events
  • Get Involved!
    • Become a Member
    • Submit a Review
    • Volunteer >
      • Saint Columbkille Partnership School
    • Donate Used Books
    • Become an Illustrator >
      • Work with a Reviewer
      • Design a Bookmark
      • Work on the Publicity Team
  • Resources
    • Where Can I Find Books For Free?
    • Local Bookstores
    • Useful Websites
    • Other
  • About
    • Executive Board
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff Members
    • Special Contributions
  • Contact
  • Untitled

"Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)" by Jenny Lawson 

10/25/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
 Title: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)
Author: Jenny Lawson
Genre: Memoir
Page # : 313
Date Published: 2012
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Recommend: Yes

If you’re anything like me, you could hardly express your excitement when you saw the mini Pop Collection section the O’Neill librarians added near the third floor printers over the summer. (I think I probably went down to the first floor once my entire freshman year. Much too far out of the way.) I immediately began to browse through the selection, looking for a book that would provide a lighthearted, fun contrast to the somewhat heavy readings required for my history and philosophy classes this semester. I found just that in Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.

 If you’re wondering who Jenny Lawson is and why she has a memoir, don’t worry – I asked myself the same question when I first picked up the book. Better known as “The Bloggess,” Lawson is best known for her popular blog, a knowledge of which I found unnecessary to appreciate Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: although I still haven’t read any of her blog, I thoroughly enjoyed the memoir. She begins with her childhood in rural Texas, where she lived with her sister, mother, and taxidermist father. This somewhat unusual upbringing provides fodder for dozens of hysterically disturbing stories, and although none of my childhood memories include humiliation by giant turkeys or puppets made from dead squirrels, somehow Lawson makes her recollections both hilarious and relatable.

The memoir continues on to cover various points of her adult life. While Lawson may no longer live in a house with a taxidermy shop in the backyard, these later stories are just as perversely funny. While she does have a tendency to flit from topic to topic – the book has very little structure – she does so in a way that seems natural, as if we’re listening to her stream of consciousness.

While sometimes I would feel almost guilty for finding Lawson’s bizarre experiences and crude sense of humor so entertaining, I did thoroughly enjoy Let’s Pretend This Never Happened. It was the perfect book to pull out whenever I was feeling stressed and just needed a good laugh. But I do have one piece of advice: don’t read this in public, or you’ll get weird looks for all the giggling. Because trust me – you will.


Review by Laura Baumgartner, A&S '16
 


0 Comments

"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

4/10/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 560
Date published: 2007
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Recommended: 



I first noticed this book during the summer before my freshman year of high school. It appeared alongside The Diary of Ann Frank on the English Honors reading list, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t very keen on the idea that I was being told what I had to read during my last two weeks of freedom (I’ve never been the type to spread out my summer homework. Why prolong the agony?) After slowly stumbling through The Book Thief’s confusing first chapter, I was even more indignant about the injustice that is summer homework and slightly worried that I wasn’t cut out for the rigors of high school. But my brief bout of pouting aside, I quickly became enthralled by the book, finishing off the remainder of my summer immersed in the world of Holocaust-era Germany.

The Book Thief follows the life of Liesel, a young girl living in Germany who is sent to live with foster parents right before World War II starts. The novel chronicles the small-town adventures she embarks on and the wide array of relationships she fosters, highlighted by the several times she steals books. Liesel’s relatively happy, uncomplicated life becomes dangerous when her family takes in a Jew – an unspeakable crime in Nazi Germany. The novel is narrated by Death personified, a point of view that enriches the story (but also was the direct cause of my confusion while reading that first chapter).

Of course, as can be expected from a story set in Nazi Germany narrated by Death, the novel is dark. Zusak excels, however, at putting a positive spin on the atrocities of the time without ever diminishing their weight. A major theme of the book is the power of words, particularly the immense weight Hitler’s words had over all of Germany, and the destruction that followed. By means of a beautifully crafted story within the story, a parable written by Max, the Jew Liesel’s family hides, Zusak explores the great constructive power words can have.

I have read The Book Thief probably around six or seven times since that first time almost five years ago, and each time I’m as emotionally invested in and as blown away by the story as I originally was. Even with Death’s affinity for spoilers (you’ll know the ending to the story about halfway through, but don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you), tears stream down my face every time I read the book. Yet this novel is so much more than a sob story: it’s a masterful destruction of stereotypes, a love letter to human nature, a case study of the purest form of friendship. This book truly makes me believe in the goodness of humanity, an incredible feat for a Holocaust story.

I would recommend this book to everyone: its uplifting message, unflinching honesty, and superb writing will forever keep it in my top-ten list. 


Review by Laura Baumgartner, A&S '16


0 Comments

"The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton

1/28/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Title: The Forgotten Garden
Author: Kate Morton
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Date Published: 2008
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

It is a ship set to sail from London to Brisbane in 1913 that spurs the entangled, enticing story of The Forgotten Garden. But, luckily for us, we need neither months aboard a vessel nor the ability to time travel to unravel this mystery. Instead, we must only look to Kate Morton, whose encapsulating voice carries us across continents and centuries with her story centered around a foster child named Nell. At first, Nell’s world is shattered when her father informs her that she was adopted. After her father’s death in 1975, Nell hoped to travel back to England from Australia to discover her true origins, but her granddaughter Cassandra’s unexpected, elongated stay kept her from continuing her search. In 2005, with Nell on her deathbed, Cassandra continues her grandmother’s journey, determined to piece together the puzzle that is their family history.

Coming in at a hefty 552 pages, The Forgotten Garden is no light read – but it is a quick one. The chapters seep with mystery, and each question answered only raises new complications. Every time I thought I had the mystery solved, a new revelation would force me to reconsider and read on. Despite the many hours of sleep sacrificed, I finished the novel in a matter of days.



Picture
Part of what compelled me to continue flipping the pages was Morton’s ability to create sympathy for her characters. I related to each and every character, whether she lived in 2005 or during the 1800s. I wanted desperately to fill in the dark patches of history that influenced Nell, Cassandra, and everyone else involved in the familial search.

Though Morton waits until the very last page to fully enlighten her readers, the journey that gets us there is well worth it. Morton is a master storyteller in both her descriptions that drive the main plot and in the gems of original fairy tales that are sprinkled throughout the novel. While reading, I was often conflicted between a subconscious desire to admire the genius of her writing and my need to know what would happen next. With The Forgotten Garden, Morton creates a beautiful homage to the institution of storytelling.

I recommend this book, or any Kate Morton novel for that matter, to everyone. The Forgotten Garden has earned a distinction in my head I previously thought impossible to win: favorite book. As far as I’m concerned, this book has everything: mystery, beauty, compelling characters, prodigious prose. And while I’ve read - and loved - all of Morton’s other books, The Forgotten Garden is unquestionably the best.

Review by Laura Baumgartner, A&S '16     Illustration by Kayla D'Ambrosio, A&S '14
0 Comments

"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern

11/5/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Genre: General Fiction, Fantasy
Number of pages: 512
Date published: 2011
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Recommended?: Yes

I usually shy away from fantasy literature, often proclaiming that I prefer to read stories that could actually happen in our world, but I’m glad I broke that self-enforced rule for The Night Circus. The story begins with a twist of fate: a young Celia is given to her father, Prospero the Enchanter, an extremely talented magician of questionable character. After Celia breaks a teacup without touching it, Prospero notices his daughter’s gift and challenges a man in a grey suit to a duel: Celia against the grey-suited man’s own protégé. After Celia’s opponent is selected and years of training are completed, the Night Circus is chosen as a venue for this competition. However, this nocturnal world of black-and-white stripes becomes much more than a stage for a battle, the lives of many getting tangled up in the magical circus. Beneath the wonders and pleasures of the tents and performances, though, the forces that balance the circus and the competition that drives it threaten to collapse.

The multitude of characters, the non-chronological order of the novel, and the suspenseful mystique Morgenstern creates throughout the story demand readers’ close attention. I often found myself flipping back through the pages, trying to figure out whether certain characters had been mentioned before, if certain events had already taken place at another point of time, or even important details I may have skimmed past without noticing. While the novel was thoroughly enjoyable, it demanded my full attention. It is no lazy read, not the kind of book you can relax with.

But what drives this book is not the plot, but rather the majestic, enchanting atmosphere that is the Night Circus. With her beautifully crafted words, Morgenstern creates an enticing, irresistible world, filled with intricate clocks and mazes and illusions unparalleled by anything found on Earth. Her descriptions are interlaced within the actual story of the circus, a couple pages at a time dedicated to elucidating a certain tent or attraction. Each time I would arrive at one of these descriptions, I felt like a patron of the circus, stumbling upon a new striped tent. Morgenstern creates wishing-to-be reveurs out of her readers, the characters of the book who follow the Night Circus around the globe dressed in black and white with a splash of red. The book concludes, and yet one wishes they could travel with the circus forever.

While I sometimes grew impatient for substantial plot development during the immense stretch of 512 pages, I cherished the opportunity to enter Morgenstern’s highly imaginative and elegant world of the Night Circus. The book has earned critical acclaim with seven weeks on the bestseller list, and has been rumored as a possible film down the road. I urge you to explore the enchanting novel as soon as possible. The well-deserved hype will almost certainly escalate.

Review by Laura Baumgartner, A&S '16


0 Comments

    Who are the authors?

    These book reviews have been submitted by BC Reads! Staff Writers and other Boston College students.

    Archives

    December 2014
    November 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All
    Andrew Ireland
    Anne Donnelly
    Autobiography
    Biography
    Brittany Duncan
    Caitlin Mason
    Caroline Grindrod
    Chris Mclaughlin
    Christie Wentworth
    Christine Degenaars
    Colleen Brady
    Fantasy
    Fiction
    General Fiction
    General Non Fiction
    General Non-fiction
    Hallie Sullivan
    Historical Fiction
    Historical Non Fiction
    Historical Non-Fiction
    Horror
    Humor
    Immigration
    Jennifer Heine
    Julia Walker
    Kayla D'Ambrosio
    Kristie Dickinson
    Laura Baumgartner
    Lauren Bly
    Lauren Schlacks
    Liz Handler
    Maria Peroni
    Memoir
    Michael Solah
    Molly Saint
    Morgan Healy
    Movie Franchise
    Mystery
    Non Fiction
    Non-fiction
    Patrick Hughes
    Pulitzer Prize
    Quick Read
    Romantice Fiction
    Satire
    Science Fiction
    Serena Gibbons
    Short Stories
    Steven Nicholas
    Suspense
    Tashrika Sharma
    Thriller
    William Hwang
    Yande Lombe

    RSS Feed


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.