Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux

phantom of the opera

gaston leroux

c. 1910
264 pages

completed 6/9/2009

read for: decades challenge, orbis terrarum challenge

*may contain spoilers*

This is another one of those books where I was nervous through the whole thing because it is held very near and dear to someone's heart. In this case, my sister, the librarian. But I am happy to report...I LIKED IT! Surprise, surprise. Something she liked that I liked, too.

Couple things that stuck out to me...

Number 1...The author kept referring to Raoul and Christine as children, so I kept imagining them to be about 14. But while I don't think they ever explicitly say what Christine's age is, Raoul has been said to be 20 or 21 years old! Young, yes, but definitely not a child. If they were really around 14, I could then understand their "secret engagement," but at 20 years old...how could they think that was a good idea? I don't understand.

Number 2...Who was the Persian? I mean, I understand his history and connection with Erik, but did he have any kind of connection to the Opera other than that? And if not, how come no one thought it was weird that he just roamed through the Opera all the time?

Number 3...I don't 100% understand what happened at the end. After the water was rising and the Persian and Raoul were trapped in the torture chamber. I don't know how they got out. Maybe it got explained and I just didn't understand.

So. A few questions, but for the most part I enjoyed reading this. It's definitely a bit different from the musical. It's a little creepy and confusing and lots of fun. I felt lame writing that last sentence.

4/5

Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salman Rushdie

haroun and the sea of stories

salman rushdie

c. 1990

224 pages

completed 4/24/2009

read for: TBR challenge, orbis terrarum challenge, and 100 greatest novels

*may contain spoilers*

Haroun and the Sea of Stories begins in a sad city, where Haroun lives with his mother and father. His father is a famous story teller, often called upon by important men to entertain and help promote them to the public. When Haroun's mother runs away with another man, Haroun's father claims he doesn't want to tell stories anymore. Haroun wakes up in the middle of the night to find a water genie taking back a magic story-water faucet, that which enables Haroun's father to tell stories. Thinking his father had spoken without thinking, Haroun determines to go with the water genie to one of the Earth's moons in order to plead his father's case. He is followed to the moon by his father, and the two get caught up in a war between the cities of Gup, a land of eternal sunshine and chatter, and Chup, a land of perpetual darkness and silence. With the new friends they have made along the way, (Iff, Butt, Blabbermouth, and more) Haroun and his father try to take a stand and end the war.

I really enjoyed this book. The story was engaging and the characters were quirky and entertaining. I was thrown occasionally by some of the puns...for example in the land of Gup all the top scientists were known as "Eggheads" and their leader was known as "the Walrus." And not thrown in a bad way, just...I was surprised at some of the cleverness. My favorite thing was the description of the royal pages in the army. Their uniforms were thin rectangular outfits, with stories written on the front. And instead of being grouped into units and brigades, they were grouped into chapters and volumes. Like I said, very clever.

This is an author I have been wanting to look into for a while and I'm glad I finally did.

4/5

Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

purple hibiscus
chimamanda ngozi adichie
c. 2003
307 pages
completed 3/27/2009

read for: themed reading challenge, orbis terrarum challenge

*may contain spoilers*

I am forever indebted to this book for pulling me out of my reading slump AND for letting me say I actually did read something all the way through in the month of March. Yea me!

Purple Hibiscus is the story of Kambili and Jaja, two Nigerian teenagers who live with their fanatical Catholic parents. After spending time away from their parents on vacation with their aunt and cousins, Kambili and Jaja realize that life should be different. They learn to think for themselves and make their own decisions about life, love, family, and religion. And so, upon their return home, trouble ensues.

I have to say that while I did enjoy this book, I liked Adichie's other novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, better. This story has been told before. And while the Nigerian culture and politics made it seem fresh, a lot of the novel was predictable. That being said, I am definitely looking forward to more by Adichie.

3/5

A change is gonna come...

I am having a very hard time getting a hold of a copy of The Girl in Saskatoon. I think it's a fairly new book and I could probably get it from Canada, but I don't want to pay for the shipping. So I've ordered it from Amazon, but it's not in stock so they'll email me and ship it once it comes in, but I don't know how long that will be. Because of this, I'm going to have to take it off my list for the Well Seasoned Reader Challenge. Boo. Instead I'm going to substitute Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I hate changing my book lists! I feel like I'm failing. Oh well. I am still holding out hope that it will come in at some point, so it will stay on my list for the Orbis Terrarum Challenge. For the time being at least.

Around the world...

It's possible I'm going a little crazy with the challenges, but in my defense HALF of the books I'm doing for this challenge are already being read for another challenge. So that makes it better...

The Orbis Terrarum Challenge! From March 1 to December 31, read 10 books (one for each month) by 10 authors from 10 different countries. My books will be...

1. The Girl in Saskatoon - Sharon Butala (Canada)

2. Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)

3. The Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux (France)

4. To Siberia - Per Petterson (Norway)

5. Haroun and the Sea of Stories - Salmon Rushdie (India)

6. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russia)

7. An Artist of the Floating World - Kazuo Ishiguro (Japan)

8. The Riddle of the Sands - Erskine Childers (Ireland)

9. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)

10. Billiards at Half Past Nine - Heinrich Boll (Germany)

There is an abundance of Europe, I know, but I tried to diversify into different parts of Europe. And then made sure to get something from most other continents/regions of the globe. And I made sure nothing could be chosen from the US (seeing as that's where I live) or England...so places I don't normally read from so much. I think it's a pretty good mix.