Bon's Book Club... Divergent by Veronica Roth

Bonnie at The Life of Bon hosts a book club on the last Thursday of every month and because we all know how much I love reading, I figured why not add a bloggy book club to my ever growing list of book clubs!  This month for "Bon's Book Club" we read Divergent by Veronica Roth which was exciting because I really enjoyed this series (while minus the last book because well I was disappointed with how she chose to end the series, but that is a topic for a whole other blog post) and I really want to see the movie, so it was good to get my Divergent on before hitting up the movies (which I have still yet to do).

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So on with the discussion for "Bon's Book Club".....

Who is your favorite character in the novel and why?
I would have to say that Tori is my favorite character in the novel (even though when writing this I had a total brain fart and had to text one of my friends with a description of Tori to find out what her name was).  Tori was the woman who administered Tris' aptitude test to her and was the first one to know that Tris was a Divergent. I like that Tori tried to help Tris to understand that she was a Divergent and that while being Divergent was something to be proud of that it was something that could end up getting Tris killed.  I felt like Tori was almost like a guardian angel to Tris and for that reason I really liked her.  Of course Tori might also be my favorite character because I know how she develops in the books to come (that is the danger of having read all of them... makes it hard to pick a favorite based on just the first book), but I really did like the fact that she tried to help Tris understand who she was and who she was going to become once she chose to join the Dauntless.

Did you like Tris as the main character? Why or why no? Do you see her as a strong female lead?
I am not going to lie, I did enjoy Tris as the main character.  In the beginning I thought she was going to be just an annoying girl who didn't know what she wanted out of life and who wasn't going to do anything to go against the grain.  I felt like she wasn't going to pick the Dauntless even though that was what she wanted.  Then she went and surprised me... became a Dauntless and then was the first one to make the jump.  She definitely grew on me because while in the Dauntless compound she began to remind me of myself in that she is really stubborn.  She ends up being one to not let people tell her what to do or what not to do... she stands up for the "little" people... she is head strong... she doesn't give up.  All qualities I like to think that I have.

What did you think of the ending to the book? Was it satisfactory to you?
Personally I don't ever think that the endings to books in a series are satisfactory.  They almost always usually leave you wanting more and I don't think that the ending to this book was any different.  The only good thing was that I was so late hopping on the Divergent train that I was able to get the first two books at the same time so I didn't have to wait to find out what was going to happen next.  I almost wish however that all the books were somehow rolled into one because like I said the endings just kept me being like "What just happened?!" and "Are you kidding me, this is how it ends?!"

How do you feel about Tris and Four's relationship? Could you tell that Four liked her before Tris figured it out?
I feel like Tris was being a stupid girl in this book.  To me it seemed obvious that there was something going on between them from the first few interactions they had with each other.  I was pretty convinced that they were somehow going to end up together.

Anything else you want to say, add, admit, confess?
When I first started reading this book I honestly wasn't really sure that I would like the series.  It didn't seem like anything that I had ever read before... plus the tack of factions reminded me a little bit of Brave New World which anyone who knows me knows is NOT one of my favorite books and the fact that I ended up having to read it for three different classes...once in high school and twice in college... well lets just say that the more I read it the more I wasn't a fan. So not being a fan of Brave New World I was skeptical about all this faction non-sense and I thought that it was really going to annoy me, but for some reason I was ok with it this time around.  The idea that people could only belong to one faction and would have to completely denounce the other factions was a bit hard to wrap my head around because it seemed a bit unrealistic, but as the series goes on I feel like you learn that most people in the factions have qualities of the other factions so it really isn't as bad.

So there you have it people... my thoughts on Divergent by Veronica Roth based on the questions posed by Bonnie.  (Note: she had a few more questions but I felt like my post was getting a bit wordy so I just deleted them because well I didn't think I had very good answers to them anyway.)  Looking forward to April and getting to read Night Circus by Eric Morgenstern.  Hopefully in April I will be able to link up on the actual day instead of being super busy and posting almost a week late!

As always, today I am thankful for this bloggy book club.  Although I may always be late to the party or I may not even post in general about the book... I am glad that I have found an excuse to read some good books... and some books I never would have picked up on my own to read.  I am also thankful that Bon is an English teacher and comes up with some great questions for us all to answer about the books!  Makes my life easier!

Book Review... Return to Tradd Street

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For March's Beta Book Club meeting we chose to read Return to Tradd Street by Karen White.  This book was the 4th in the Tradd Street series and since our book club had read the previous three, we decided to give this one a go. The three previous books in the series were books that I really enjoyed so I was super excited to start reading this one!  I wish I hadn't been so excited about it, because well I was really disappointed in this one .

The Tradd Street Series follows the life of Melanie Middleton as she learns to embrace her "special powers" and use them for good in her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina.  Each of the previous Tradd Street books had a mystery that Melanie had to use her powers to solve... sometimes with the help of her mother or some of the ghosts she encounters.  These books are usually full of mystery and intrigue and they leave you wanting more.  This time around the book just annoyed me.

In Return to Tradd Street, Melanie finds herself pregnant with her now ex-boyfriend's child.  Melanie who in the other books had seemed like such a strong female protagonist now finds herself being almost "bullied" by her mother, best friend, maid, etc. all because of her being pregnant.  They are dictating what she should eat, how hard she should work, etc. and Melanie never really seemed to stand up for herself.  That was not the Melanie Middleton that I had come to love in the previous books!  Melanie also seems to let Jack get his way too much in this book as well... I know that deep down she really loved him, but at times he was such a jerk to her and she did nothing to fight back.  I get that it was part of their relationship, or at least that was how Karen White wanted their relationship to look, but it really just made me mad.

There was also a lot of extra "fluff" in this book.  I felt as though some of the characters had no business being brought into this book because well they really did nothing for the story line.  Take Melanie's cousin Rebecca for instance... she was in a couple of the other books as she had a "power" like Melanie and she used her power to help Melanie out.  In this book Rebecca came off as a really snooty person who was there to just be mean to Melanie.... and there really was just no point to her character being around.  I really didn't understand the point of why she was there and I found myself angry that Rebecca even made an appearance.

I also did not enjoy the "mystery" part of this book.  In all of the books there has been a mystery that Melanie has had to solve in order to help the ghosts go into the light to be able to rest in peace.  This mystery was just lacking.  Sure they found another dead body in Melanie's house... but the suspense of the mystery just wasn't there.

Overall this was definitely my least favorite of the Tradd Street series, but I am glad that I read it.  I doubt that there will be any more books in the series as it seems like Karen White tied up all loose ends in this book, and I can't say that I will be upset if this series ends here.  I won't count Karen White out though as an author because I have read some other books by her that I have absolutely adored!

Can't wait for our next Beta Book Club meeting and to be able to discuss whatever book we end up reading next!!

Today I am thankful that I have a group of sorority sisters who love to read as much as I do.  I love that we can get together to discuss books in a constructive setting.  I love that despite our different opinions we have great conversations about the books that we read.  It is amazing to be able to get together with a bunch of women who are all in different stages of our lives and have a great time like we are all back in college getting together in the cafeteria to discuss our previous night out... only now we meet at bars and discuss books!

Book Review... The Buddha in the Attic

I am part of a few book clubs because as everyone knows I LOVE to read.  As part of the Beta Book Club (the Philly Chi Omega Alumae book club for those in the Western Suburbs of Philly) we read The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka for January's book.

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The Buddha in the Attic was definitely not like any other books that I have ever read before, and it is actually the first book in a while that I remember really not liking.  This book came highly recommended and I was really looking forward to reading it... then I started to read it... and well it was not at all what I was expecting.  Honestly I am not sure what I was expecting, but I definitely expected it to be an enlightening read, and instead I found myself struggling to keep myself interested in it.

The story is narrated in the first person plural which was an interesting choice by the author.  I think that the author's intent was for it to make the story seem more real and more like a conversation going on between a group of women, but for me it took away from the story.  I spent more time trying to figure out who was talking, who they were talking about, and what was going on and I think sometimes what the characters were saying was lost on me.  From the beginning when the women were on the boat headed to the United States on I was never sure if it was the same person talking, if different people were having conversations, or what was going on.  For me I feel like it would have been better had the story been told from one person instead of using first person plural.

The beginning of the book was definitely the most interesting part.  I did enjoy reading about the journey to America and what life was like for these women on the ship.  It was interesting to read about their hopes, dreams, desires and what they thought life would be like in America.  I felt their pain when they got to the US and discovered that their husbands were not who they said that they were.  I felt their pain when they had to work in jobs that were just as bad as the lives they had left behind.  I truly felt for them as they struggled to adapt to their new lives which turned out to be no better than the ones they had left behind.

The middle part of the book is kind of a blur... I don't actually really remember much of what went on.  I remember reading another book because I was bored with The Buddha in the Attic.

Overall what should have been a fairly quick read took me WEEKS to finish because I just wasn't that into it.  Usually I am cool with historical fiction, but for whatever reason this one was just not written in a way that caught my attention.

Note: The opinions expressed in this book review are my own and I am sorry for anyone I may have offended if you truly enjoyed this book.  I know not everyone has the same taste in books and for whatever reason this one was just not for me.

As always, another edition of what I am thankful for.  Today I am thankful for people who share my love of reading.  I love that I am able to be a part of a couple of different book clubs with people from various stages of my life.  I am thankful that they have helped me to read books that are outside of my comfort zone and have given me a place where we can discuss these books without worrying about what people will think of our opinions.  I am thankful that we are able to meet and have these discussions and to get to know one another through our love of reading.