RANDOM ME

Lots of days and lots of books since the last time I posted. I'm quite lazy to write something about each book but almost all of them are recommended by me. Speacilly Milan Kundera's. I read this year "Ignorance" and "Slowness" and currently am reading "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" which is my favorite so far. I'm also reading "A tale of two cities" but I tend to leave it in stand by because I get bored really fast, plus the vocabulary is rather high for my level (I have it in oldschool british english) and even when I understand the main actions I get tired of having troubles understanding the atmosphere which is the most important about Dickens writing style, his beautiful way of describing and his prose. Probably I'll get Oliver Twist (in spanish), I liked the movie (except for all that drama but I can deal with it...kinda).

I'm really easy to please when it comes to books but when it's about things like Julie & Julia certainly am ashamed. I think is one of the worst books I've ever read. I don't recommend it at all. Julie's writing style is too messy, she gets lost when explaining something , she goes way too far when it comes to digress. Her story was upside down , I got lost a couple of times and was pleading to finish boring and pointless chapters. I hate to leave books unfinished that's why I read it until the very end.

I've been reading Banana Yoshimoto's too. She is quite good. I liked "Amrita" so much, its lightness and simpleness it's amusing. Everything looked like was so easy and normal and its magic felt real. It's so simple and lost in details (which I love). Many people complains about Banana getting lost in useless details but I think it's were resides the beauty of her writing. I also read "Asleep".

Other books I read, include traveling through Germany and UK where I learned about their history and culture and The Good Conscience by Carlos Fuentes, which was quite interesting. If you wanna check up all the books individually check my goodreads account here: http://www.goodreads.com/jasminemilk .

NEW YEAR, PAST BOOKS, NEW ONES

I've been neglecting this blog for so long that I thought that it was enough. I'm bringing it back to life. It's "Recalled to life" (I'm reading A tale of two cities by Dickens). I'm posting the last three comments about the three books a read before 2010 was over, I couldn't leave things just like that. I'm also going to start posting other stuff- I hope. I'm willing to revive this and not letting it just for book reviews (though I have three reviews left because this January I read them!!). I'll come back with more to say. This time there's no book picture, instead I stole this picture from tumblr. Now go ahead and read if you wish :)

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

What a strong story. I was amazed by Alex’s capability of destroying and killing in a blink of an eye at his 15 years old. You certainly wouldn’t expect his liking for arts, good manners and classic music, but since he represents maximized human instincts his love for all the beautiful and violence is natural.
The story represents that part of the society where you are expected to act as the authority and society determines, your free will is confined and your decisions are merely a response to the urbanity norms. Certainly it had an important meaning; the mere title is to think of a lot; “A clockwork orange”, an organic and juicy being acting mechanically.
At the start I was quite annoyed by the fact of learning all those “Nadsat” words, but suddenly I was repeating them in a daily basis, I liked them all. All the violence was hard to stand since those are the things I dislike the most but I focused in the meaning of everything and it helped me to finish without any problem and even enjoying every single page.
You’d love this book certainly; it really makes me think a lot about society and its rules. A kid’s adventures and hardships, a kid which favorite activity was to walk around England, visiting a Milk bar with his friends, killing for fun and stealing to keep enjoying, an intelligent and monstrous kid.

Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
As a classic book I shouldn’t be ranting it at all, I couldn’t understand more than a half of the book and its beautiful words were only processed superficially. I couldn’t stand reading more than “Hell”; Paradise was completely unbearable, I just loved the part of the angels because they are my favorite light entities. But that’s it. I can’t be able to write something about a book I couldn’t finish because I like it but because I should , I hate to be partial so I’ll stop here. I just can say that Hell was absolutely strong, it made me think a lot and a couple of quotes were subtracted because of their wisdom.
Read it if you like poetry, it’s a big poem, its words are beautiful but certainly I can’t appreciate them.

Farewell Waltz by Milan Kundera

This book was easy to read, it was short and concrete but there was a lot of information to digest. People doing and following their own ideas not changing nor backing off, just doing what they think was the best for their own. Each head living in its world, thinking, doing and trying to be true to themselves.
I loved the way the author takes everyday matters (like a man cheating on his wife) and turns them into something you think of as stupid; give it a thought you’ll realize that it’s not that stupid but real. I think Kundera thinks that human matters are stupid and he’s just being sarcastic by writing them as something intelligent and reasonable, that way you think they are stupid because he was trying to be reasonable. Maybe I’m just rambling but that’s what I think. I’m going to read more Kundera books, he really can teach lessons, Can’t he?

HEIGHTS

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

With this book I was out of my comfort zone. I like classic books but I've been neglecting them for a while so this one was a perfect opportunity to read something almost all the readers community have read.

Wuthering Heights is a dark book with lots of painful scenes and cruel behavior. I don't love drama and suffering, so reading this book was kind of heavy for me because the main leads were the ones having revenge and acting like perfect bastards. I didn't love any character, maybe Catherine's daughter and that's it.

I suck at finding symbolism and hidden meanings between lines but I must say that Emily managed pretty well the psychological part of her characters, they had their reasons to be mean, they had pretty strong reasons to act like they did. Heathcliff was someone I couldn't stand even for a minute but I must admit that he was a pretty interesting character because he was really exposed, all his weaknesses,suffering and pain, all of them mixed in a man ready to get revenge on all the people who separated him from the side of his biggest love. Anyways I might read it again because it seems that the first time wasn't that great so I'll give it a second chance, maybe I just didn't put enough thought into it.

DOLLS

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

This play was quite amusing to read. I felt intrigued, worried about the character’s situation and really interested until the very end but I’m not sure why it wasn’t that transcendental for me. The main theme of this story is how a woman fights to protect the man she loves without even thinking about consequences and just being judged for the actions and not for her intentions, always playing the role of a good and happy wife and expected to only act like a doll. I liked the point of why the story is called “A doll’s house” but certainly is not a book I will always remember as one of my favorites. I don’t hate it; I liked it but not loved it. It’s an easy and quick read you’ll enjoy in a rainy day and nothing important else to do.

SMARTER THAN YOU

Matilde by Roald Dahl

Matilde is such a beautiful and adorable story. Since the moment I watched the movie I fell in love with it and when I discovered that it was also a book I felt this urge of getting it as soon as possible. It was quite a long way to go to get it because it’s not a common book in Mexico but as soon as I was able to ask at the international book fair I found the perfect opportunity of putting my hands on that treasure. I felt really ignorant after knowing who the author was because the idea of Roald Dahl never came across. Anyway, I’m in love with this book, I felt the book more human than the movie. I loved the movie and it’s one of my favorite ones but the emotions at the book were more real, which is quite an irony since the book is mainly for children.
The differences between the book and the movie are huge but not that noticeable. In the book Miss Honey’s economical situation is poorer, her interest in Matilde is higher and her personality is weaker. Matilde is a lot more powerful and her intentions were purer, her parents were less important and her brother inexistent (she has her brother but is just mentioned a couple of times). The book has less content of course and the story of Trunchbull was shorter, but the emotions were certainly stronger. I’m not saying I loved the book more than the movie because in my opinion are not comparable, the movie achieved this need of filling the blanks to make a longer story with more content but the essence of the book is there, weaker, but it’s there. I love Matilde, she is my heroine <3

MY VALENTINE

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

This book was really interesting to read. I love those kinds of novels where family, love and career are part of it; we add a trip to Italy, lots of exquisite descriptions, some words in Italian and presto you have a book I’d be attached for a while. I’m really attracted to books where love for your career is fundamental, I felt really identified with the main Character: Valentine. She was a lovable character, funny and with lots of will power and determination to accomplish her goal: Keep alive Angelini’s Shoes, an artisanal manufacturer of shoes with lots of years of experience and tradition while trying to also maintain her relationship with a chef.
What gave me tons of enjoyment were all those little details Adriana wrote, I don’t think they were useless and superficial; it was amazing for my kind of learning (“Visual”) because it helped me to imagine every single detail of the place or things she was seeing. I was really amused with the family; they were real, touching, close. I’m in love with this book, artisanal shoes, their construction and Italy (not in that specifically order).

MY FIRST LOVE

Sputnik, my love by Haruki Murakami
Wow, just wow. I'm amazed by Murakami's ability to wow me. I certainly don’t love metaphor but this book has tons of complicated thoughts that kept floating in my mind. I loved Sumire’s character; she was inside her own world never caring about anything else but her desire of becoming a writer, but just after meeting with disastrous love she stopped writing because of everything she was becoming thanks to her new and first love, who was a woman named Myu. Myu’s character was rather weird for me, she was a puzzle inside another puzzle, her story was quite strange, I couldn’t understand that much about her weird experience with her other self, I don’t know what kind of experience Murakami tried to share with the reader maybe it was just a mixed up conception of the world, hallucinations or something like that. . The last character but not less important is the narrator who was also part of the story, I don’t like him that much, and his personality is almost the same as the man in “At the south of the frontier, at the west of the sun” but I must say that he described things detailed and deep.
 
This is a book I really enjoyed that’s why I’m decided to get more Murakami’s books. I’m his fan.

EVOLUTION

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

This book has a delicious content, is light hearted, intelligent and detailed. It’s a one of a kind book; it tells the story about a little girl (the only one of 6 brothers), who is constantly struggling against her own mother and her desire of create a feminist daughter worried about knitting, cooking and playing piano, activities Calpurnia doesn’t enjoy even a little bit since she finds them as a boring waste of time (specially cooking).
Calpurnia is a girl absorbed by her desire of searching, analyze and find the answers to all the wonderfulness of the world that surrounds her. Her wish is to be a scientist and go to College one day. As she passes time with her grandfather discovers how nature works and thanks to it grows a special bond between them.
I loved how the story is described; Calpurnia knows that she is only a girl with the same destiny as all the other ones she knows, “There’s no escape” as she said in the book. The time she was born wasn’t exactly perfect for someone with that kind of ambition but she decides to give herself a chance even if all the odds are against her.
What I liked the most about the book were “The origin of species” quotes. They were perfectly applied and during my lecture I couldn’t help but to associate everything with natural selection and surviving of the strongest.
It’s an intelligent book full of metaphors and detailed observations about the world and simple questions with complicated answers. You won’t regret reading it.

FOLLOW THE SOUTH

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

This is a book I'll never forget. It was rather different from all the romance I've read. It's a book with almost no drama but it's kind of heavy compared to what I normally read since it's pure real life , crude and real; I couldn't help but to imagine a cloudy atmosphere in it, it's funny because the main parts of the book occurred while the rain was pouring down.

The characters were real and the flow of the redaction was pretty good , so good that I couldn't stop reading. I was intrigued at every moment and the secrets floating around Shimamoto were rather hard to imagine , I keep thinking about her sometimes.

At the end what it's left to say is that you should read it , take a shower of reality with touches of melancholy and unforgettable love.

EAT , PRAY ....I WANT SOME LOVE

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is my first book about some woman exploring herself trying to find peace and equilibrium in her life while being crushed emotionally.

After deciding to take a break of her suffocating life, Liz took a plane to Italy and started the search of pleasure in the place where she could learn her favorite language, then took a plane to India to find her devotion for god and love for herself removing all the bad thoughts that tormented her through the years and to finish her year of traveling went to Bali (Indonesia) with some healer-sage-wise-spiritual-weird-old man who was the reason why Liz took her one year trip in the first place after her divorce.

What I really liked was that everything she did was for herself. Many critics I read about the book said that she was way too self-centered but I must say that it must be the main point in this book , because she only wants to share her experience even if the story is totally self-absorbed, that's why it is that way , because she wanted to share HER EXPERIENCE, it's like reading someone's journal. We all read journals and all of them all self-absorbed because that's the main point of a journal , isn't?

Anyways , I loved all of the book , I thought her trip to India would be boring and slow to read but not at all, it was maybe the best part because she started to be aware of her behavior and admitted being arrogant and self centered. I felt identified with her because I also am neurotic and want to control everything...and everyone. So yeah , I loved the end but I'm not sure if I'll find a mature-sexy-adorable-caring Brazilian somewhere, but at least I want one man who can make me feel that way.

With nothing more to say. I loved this book. Read it , you won't regret it. It's all about exploring our interior, find what make us act like we act and trying to find an equilibrium and peace of mind to keep living with less worries even though we know all of the anger, the worries and shame will come back , but we'll be prepared to what is next and throw away all those feelings again and control our reactions to let those bad feelings to enter to our heart.

WITCHES

Lives of the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice

It took me a month and a half to read the Mayfair Witches saga by Anne Rice. I decided to read the three books before posting anything here because I like to see them as a whole.

My favorite book without a doubt was the second one, I just fell in love with Julien Mayfair and his story. The first one was in general good but it had something that bored me at times, that's why it's the book that took me a month instead of 15 days like the second one and the third one.

In my opinion the content that appeared in the third book confused me somehow. I didn't like at all the story about Taltos and such, I was happier with the first concept "paranormal and magical" but when it started to take the story of taltos at the end of the second book I was like "WTF? How come?..". I'm not sure about it, nor the end, it was so simple. I guess it finished like this because it's open for more books but I don't know.

What else can I say? This saga is quite good, it excited me at times and worried me other ones. I liked the first concept of the story a lot better but my favorite character was Mary Jane from the third book. It's a mixed up story about family, power, surviving and...sex? What I really liked was that all the characters had their background, were mentioned , their story was told and the empty spots that appeared through the books were clarified in the third one.

I enjoyed them a lot. That's the last thing I can say.

TELL ITS NAME

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Ruthfuss

I like epic fantasy but I've never read before something of that genre. I know lord of the rings exists but I don't like it that much to read the books , I'm not interested. But , after reading the small piece of the lecture on the back of the book, I knew I needed to read it.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

The name of the wind is a story with lots of stories inside. The kind of stories you like to hear before going to sleep when you are a child. I was absorbed by the lecture and I couldn't stop reading anytime. It's based on the memories of the main character : Kvothe. He was telling his story to a clerk who enjoyed writing true stories of heroes or important characters.

Kvothe's life was hard and all the decisions he took were based on his wish of getting revenge of those who killed his family. He's the kind of character you love but at the same time hate. I liked his intelligence and his sharp tongue. I loved the way he spread all of the rumors about him to keep him "safe". Like he said "Your reputation is like an armor". He was so adorable as a child and his curiosity of the world amused me. I was super intrigued by the story and was always wondering what was next and which were going to be the the results of Kvothe's actions.I can't wait to keep reading the second part of the story, I know it will be great.

MERE ELEGANCE

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

The elegance of the hedgehog is a completely different book from the ones I've read before. I'm not saying is absolutely wonderful but it was quite good for me. I loved all of the chapters, the main characters, Renee and Paloma are adorable in a way. I felt identified with them somehow and reading their thoughts about life amused me.

This book is about the life of a woman and a girl:

Reneé , a 50 year old cultured widow that is a portress and is hungry of knowledge. Lives in reclusion and alone with her cat. Why in reclusion? Because she is hiding her cultured self, don't want to be mixed up with the people in the building 'cause they simply can't understand her, some situations of her past made her that way. She's scary of them. Only rich families live there.

Paloma, a little girl living with a family in the building where Renee is portress. She is only 12 years old and it's decided to kill herself after her 13th birthday. Why to kill herself? Just doesn't find a valid reason to keep alive. She's a genius that hides her knowledge , hates her sister and just can't understand her family's way of living.

The main plot of this story is how both characters explain life, they both share thoughts about it. Both love Japanese culture, both love to read and they hide their true self . But something changes their life, something unexpected; a floor of the building was sold to someone, something that happened ... never before. The one who moved there was a Japanese man, polite, cultured , rich, well mannered and impeccable in everybody's eyes. He was the one who changed Renee and Paloma's life. Their point of view totally changed. And the day where the protagonists met, found a twin soul...

I really enjoyed the lecture. Some of the chapters were rather hard to understand , I had to read them twice. It's been a while since I put that much interest and attention to my lecture. There were tons of epic quotes and the way Reneé described Art made me love it more. I'm in love with this book really. I don't care if the critics are not that good.

STUPID OUTSIDE, BUT YOU JUST DON'T KNOW IT AT ALL...

Los caballeros las prefieren brutas by Isabella Santo Domingo

I just couldn't translate the title because it'd be like a sacrilege. This book is pure gold for the modern woman looking for a simple life composed of a decent husband, kids and of course : money given by the adorable groom.

I still don't know what kind of life I want but am considering some of the tips Isabella gives in her book. I must say that it was nonstop fun while reading and couldn't help but to keep smiling or even laughing.

This book is focused in how to treat men. They are simple animals that love to feel useful and powerful. "Machismo by convenience" is something I can describe as the new movement for those women who can use feminism and machismo in their benefice. I must say that I'm not feminist at all. I think that roles are not that bad, we all have roles, why to mix everything up?...I don't know, but it's just me. I love my career but also love to be treated like a princess (:

I'M TRULY INTO YOU

He is not that into you... by Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo

I learned so much with this book. We should be able to use all of those advises because I think most of them are true, and it's a man who tells them , the best of the sorces. I'm not the relationships girl but I'll try to take care and value myself enough to take the right decisions when it comes to choose the right guy.

When I bought this book I thought it was a story or something like that, I wasn't that informed about what it contained but I loved the movie so much that couldn't help it (I didn't even read the back of the book). The only thing I can say 'bout it is that I don't regret my purchase, all of the letters were really informative and felt identified with a couple of them, my point of view changed, I might re-read it, it's really short but really informative (:

SHOPAHOLIC LIFE

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

This book was like a breeze of fresh air, I was getting bored of the same kind of books and it was really comfortable to read something like this. I loved how Kinsella managed the topic, it was funny but objective about how a shopaholic lives her life. The only thing I didn't like at all was the end, it was so easy, so simple, her life was fixed just like that and I was like : "That's all?...where's the drama?", no wonder why the movie was completely different.

Rebecca's character was funny and imaginative, she kept digressing in any situation and that reminded me of myself so much , but without all of those weird-movie-extracted excuses. Brandon was a great character, not that important but I loved him <3. Right now I wish I was her~. She has turned into my favorite Book Character.

ONE AUTUMN

It Happened One Autumn (Wallflowers, #2) by Lisa Kleypas

A complete cliché. Love between a young American woman and an English aristocrat, both rich. She : An uncontrollable girl with a lack of respect for authority. Always speaks her mind , adores challenges and wants things to be the way she wants. (I felt so identified with her)
He : The most wanted single man in England. Rich, well mannered, with a hard infancy and a workaholic who never fell in love before.

The main story is about how they develop their carnal feelings. Each page is filled with lust and desire, in consequence, more than a love story is pure physical attraction that ends with an interesting match of their different characters, not that different.

The characters are too simple for me, too good or too bad. Descriptions of all of them were not detailed, but it gave me an opportunity to develop my imagination. I think Lillian (main character) was the best one, she completely owned the book, while Westcliff was rather common, he didn't make me love him.

The start reminded me of Pride and Prejudice but page after page it totally changed. As a summary I can say three words: I WANT YOU, HERE AND NOW.

THE BOOK THIEF

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


It happens during the Nazi German where a little girl with a sad but adorable story catches the attention of death and decides to follow her steps and tell her story.

Each part of the story remarks the value of words, how they save our lives and help us to keep going. All of the characters become part of you and get attached till the very end. They make you suffer and make you laugh, they make you cry and even smile. My heart broke a couple of times but also felt all the joy of the little girl.

The end is not surprise since death tells it by the middle of the book because she said that doesn't like to be dramatic and leave everything in suspense.
There's no doubt why this books is a best seller, it's fluid and easy to read and never lets you lose the correct path.

You'll really enjoy Liesel's adventures and the overcome of her hard infancy.

THE WINNER NEVER STANDS ALONE

The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho

The winners Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho it's a modernist book that doesn't lose the main essence of the writer.

It's constitued by a tour through the cinema and fashion industry during the Cannes festival. It explains with detail the differences between models, the birth of a movie, red carpet secrets and the world behind a catwalk.

Each character is important and have their very own purpose which also unite them : SUCCESS. Different areas and goals but with the same amount of effort and similar paths that brought them to the same place.

My favorite character was Jasmine. In my opinion, she was the human part in this glamour show. The climax of the book was breathtaking and completly absorbed me.

For those used to spiritual deepness in Coelho's book might be kind of boring or something not worth the time spent in its lecture but I think it's a different option but not less interesting, believe me, you'll have an informative and entertaining read. It has a different sight something fresh and new. Give it a try, you won't regret it.

SHANGHAI IN A BOOK

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
A beautiful book filled with difficult, stunning and breath taking situations that keep you reading without time to process them.

It's a historic novel that makes reference to the misfortune of two Chinese sisters during the invasion of Japan to China and the beginning of the second world war.
It was really hard for me to read the hardship and despair they passed through their migration to the United States and their uncertain future. Each chapter and page made me shiver and pray for their security and happiness even though I knew they were not real characters.

I loved the redaction, it was an easy lecture for me even though my first language is Spanish. The characters were carefully created and defined in a certain way that I couldn't help but to feel identified specially with Pearl, the main character. The investigation work it's impeccable. A wonderful and 100% recommended book of drama, love, fights and envy between sisters. It's really a must.