Reading Report: Juliet

Written by Anne Fortier
Random House/Ballantine Books, 2010; 447 pages

Julie Jacobs, the heroine of Anne Fortier's novel Juliet, has spent most of her twenty-five years living in the shadow of her more vivacious twin sister Janice. Janice seems to do everything right, win all the friends and appropriate all the goodies for herself while the unkempt and less talented Julie drags behind. But Julie's life gets a lot more interesting after the girls' Aunt Rose dies. Rose has raised the twins after the deaths of their parents and they've always thought of her as more of a mother than an aunt. But when Rose's will is made public, it turns out that she's left everything to Janice; the only legacy Julie receives is an airplane ticket to Italy where the girls' parents met and married - and died when Julie and Janice were toddlers - and a key to a safety-deposit box that is supposed to lead to an old family treasure.

And with that, she's off to Italy on a convoluted and dangerous adventure involving her ancestor, Giulietta, whose real-life love for a young man named Romeo was supposedly the basis for the tale told by Shakespeare and other authors down through the ages. Julie (today's Giulietta, of course) meets the descendants of the families of the two lovers, and tries to track down the treasure while at the same time avoiding the curse that's supposedly still at work on the families. Naturally, she falls for the modern-day version of Romeo - his descendant Alessandro, who works for the Italian police. And she's stalked by a mysterious and seemingly malevolent leather-clad motorcyclist who shadows her every move.

I really wanted to love this book. I think the idea is a good one, and there were parts that were very well done. The scholarship was impressive (although in her Author's Note, Fortier gives her mother credit for the research), and the setting in Siena was nicely drawn. Unfortunately, the story just didn't live up to its promise. Julie is such a sad case, wallowing in jealousy and self-pity for most of the novel, that I frequently just wanted to shake her and tell her to shape up and get a life. Move. On.

Also, this is one of those books that include a lot of shifting back and forth between time periods. And, as usual, just as I would get interested in the modern-day part of the story, I'd turn a page and find myself back in the 14th Century. Actually, I think Fortier's imagining of the "real" Romeo and Juliet is a very engaging tale, and would have made a decent novel all on its own without the silliness of the modern-day adventure-romance thrown in. But that would have meant losing the "evil" twin, Janice, who was really one of the bright spots in the book.

As I said, I didn't love the book. But I didn't hate it, either. Overall, it's not a bad read if you can stick it out to the end (at over 400 pages, it takes a bit of commitment to make it through). Fortier is definitely a talented writer, but Juliet is probably not her best work.

[Note: I received the advance reading copy of this novel free of charge from the publisher. No other form of compensation was offered or accepted, and no one attempted to influence my opinion of the book.]

Booking Through Thursday: Resolutions

Well, here we are in a brand new year - time for taking stock and making plans. So I guess it's only natural that the first Booking Through Thursday of the new year should ask the timely question: Any New Year’s reading resolutions?

And my answer is: not many. And I wouldn't really call them resolutions (that sounds so much like laying down the law). I prefer to think of them as goals that I'm going to try to achieve throughout the year. Something to shoot for, and if I don't make it all the way, at least I can give myself a pat on the back for making the effort. Right?

My one major reading goal for 2011 is the same one I had for 2010 and 2009 - read more books than I did last year. In 2010 I didn't quite make it - I read exactly the same number of books as I read in 2009. But at least I didn't read fewer books. And having that goal in mind helped keep me reading all year.

I also want to try to be more faithful about reviewing the books I read. This year, I'm really going to try to say at least a few words about each book as I finish it - even if it's only a thumbs-up/thumbs-down type of report. I started "book-blogging" in the first place so that I'd have a record of what I read and my reactions to it, and I think I've been getting away from that purpose lately. Must do better.

This year I've also promised myself that I'll be a little more discriminating when it comes to reading challenges. In 2010 I had more than two dozen going all at once; it was fun but also hectic. And it took away a lot of the spontaneity I enjoy - I had to stick to a pretty tight reading schedule if I was going to finish all those challenges. This year, I haven't signed up for quite that many and I'm looking for challenges that allow me a lot of "wiggle" room in choosing what to read and when to read it. I still think challenges are fun and a really good way to keep me focused on reading, so I'm not giving them up entirely. I'm way too addicted for that.

And that's about it. I have a few more minor goals: things like keeping up with my accounts at Good Reads, Library Thing, and Shelfari; and not requesting quite so many ARCs. But the main thing I want to do is have fun with my reading in 2011. And I hope all of you have fun with your reading, too.

Just One More: The Aussie Author Challenge

I really did think I was finished with my challenge sign-ups for the new year. But apparently I was wrong about that. Don't know how I missed this one. I love Australian cinema and koala bears, so I'll probably love Australian literature too, don't you think? And anyway, who could resist that adorable platypus on the button?

The Aussie Author Challenge 2011

Dates: 1 January - 31 December 2011
Host: Joanne of Booklover Book Reviews
Two Reading Levels: "Tourist" - Read and review three books by three different Australian authors; or "True Blue" - Read and review twelve books by at least nine different authors.
See the announcement/sign-up page here.

✸ I'll be signing up at the "Tourist" level, so I'll be reading three books. I've wanted to read My Brilliant Career (by Miles Franklin) for decades now, and this might be just the nudge I need. I'm also interested in works by Christina Stead, Elizabeth Jolley, Shirley Hazzard, and Peter Carey. So there's lots to choose from. I'll have my list of possible choices posted on my challenge blog shortly, and I'll be updating my progress there, through the year.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Anatomy of Ghosts

This week my teaser lines come from the new book by Andrew Taylor (due out later this month), The Anatomy of Ghosts. It's a historical suspense novel about ghosts and books and Cambridge University in the eighteenth century. I've only read about seventy pages, but so far I'm definitely enjoying it.

This bit comes from page 10 of the ARC - the final paragraph of Chapter 1 - so please remember that the published version may differ slightly. And once again it's more than two lines, but just a little:

He did not know that he was screaming....But long before he discovered what he was holding, he knew that there was nothing living in whatever curled around his fingers. He knew that what he touched was dead.

Well, it is a ghost story, after all.



Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by mizB at Should Be Reading. If you'd like to read more teasers, or take part yourself, just head on over to her blog.

And please feel free to leave me a link to your Teaser Tuesday post in a comment here.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Monday again. A new week and a brand new year, too. Clean slate time. I spent most of last week finishing up a few books and writing wrap-ups for all my 2010 challenges. I think that's all done now, so I can start my reading for 2011 without worrying about any loose ends. So here's how things look:

• Finished last week:
  
  The Weird Sisters. Eleanor Brown. This was an Early Reviewer book from Library Thing, and I need to get a review up very soon (like, today).
  
  
  The Thirty-Nine Steps. John Buchan
  Operation Terror. Murray Leinster
  
  I'll be posting brief reviews of those last two, probably tomorrow. Not a lot to say. I read them mainly because they'd been on my TBR list for years and I could get free downloads from Amazon.
  
  
• Reviews posted:
  None. I'll be posting a few later this week. No, really - I promise. That's one of my resolutions for the new year.
  
  
• Reading this week:
  
  The Anatomy of Ghosts. Andrew Taylor
  
  
  Back When We Were Grownups. Anne Tyler. Reading for the What's In a Name Challenge.
  
  The Killings at Badger's Drift. Caroline Graham. Reading for the 1st in a Series Challenge - it's Graham's first Inspector Barnaby mystery novel. This was on my list for last year, but I never managed to get around to it. So I guess that does sort of qualify as a "loose end."
  
  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. If you want to let the world know what books you're going to be reading this week, head on over to her blog and leave your link. It's also a great way to discover new books and new blogs.

Wrapping Up the Wrap Ups

I spent most of last week wrapping up some of my 2010 reading challenges and planning for the challenges I've signed up for in 2011. Still have a few more challenges that need a wrap, though, and I thought I'd save time by doing one final super-wrap. Not going to list all the books I read for each one here - I'll just include a link to the list on my challenge blog. Okey-dokey?

I'll start with a few that I really didn't do so well with.


First up: the Battle of the Prizes Challenge. I'm really upset that I didn't do better with this challenge. I enjoyed the 2009 edition quite a lot, and thought I'd just breeze through this one. The challenge was hosted by Rose City Reader and ran from February to December - so I had plenty of time to get the reading done. Of the four books I signed up for I only managed two, and only reviewed one. See my list here.


This is my one complete failure of the year (in the realm of reading challenges, anyway). For the Memorable Memoir Reading Challenge, hosted by The Betty and Boo Chronicles, I was supposed to read at least four books. And I ended up reading exactly none. That's none. Zero, zip, ziltch. I actually started reading Just Kids by Patti Smith, but never got past the first few pages (but I've still got it on my list, for this year). Shame on me. Anyway, you can take a look at my list of possible choices here.


The Support Your Local Library Challenge was originally hosted by J Kaye of the (now departed) J Kaye's Book Blog, and continued by new host Home Girl's Book Blog. I signed up for a minimum of twenty-five library books, and actually read only eighteen. However, I don't feel quite so bad about not completing this challenge, because I did read a lot more library books than I would have without the challenge. So from my point of view, I was at least partly successful. See the list of books I read here.


And now a few challenges I was a little more successful with:


The Series Challenge Season IV was hosted by Kathrin of Secret Dream World of a Bookaholic. I read three of the four books the challenge called for. Not perfect, but not too bad. I had fun and my TBR stack got reduced a bit. So I'm thinking that was a pretty positive challenge experience. See my reading list here.


The Themed Reading Challenge was hosted by Caribousmom, and it was another challenge that I did pretty good with. Read four out of the five books I signed up for. Unfortunately, I didn't get them all reviewed. That's one of the things I'm gonna try to do better with in 2011. But even so, it was one of my favorite challenges of the year. My theme was "women of a certain age," and you can see my list of books read here.


The 2010 Thriller & Suspense Reading Challenge, hosted by Book Chick City, was one challenge that I did very well with - with the reading, anyway (reviewing, not so much). I've always read a lot of mysteries and thrillers anyway, so this one was perfect for me. The challenge guidelines called for twelve books and I read seventeen. I've already signed up for the 2011 challenge, and my list of books read in 2010 is here.


Another one of my favorites, the Typically British Reading Challenge was also hosted by Book Chick City, one of many great challenges she hosts (don't know how she does it). I signed up to read eight books by British authors, and actually read eight books! Surprise! Well, not really - I've always been an Anglophile when it comes to reading material. You can take a look at the list of books I read here.



And finally (last, but definitely NOT least): the 2010 ARC Reading Challenge. I loved this challenge. And I really, really needed this challenge. It was hosted by Teddy Rose of So Many Precious Books, So Little Time, and it's being repeated in 2011 (I've already signed up). This challenge helped me get eighteen of my ARCs read (I had signed up for at least twelve), and I even got most of them reviewed. Still have way too many to read, though. But you can see my list of the books I read here.

OK, I think that's it for 2010. And even though I didn't do as well as I would have liked in 2010, I still think reading challenges are a valuable (and fun) way to keep myself reading. So, a big thank-you to all the challenge hosts and all the other participants for the great reviews and recommendations.

Now, on to the challenges of 2011!

Awesome Author Challenge 2011

I meant to do this last week, but got sidetracked with all the end-of-year goings-on. The Awesome Author Challenge is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. I participated in last year's challenge and really enjoyed it - in fact, it was one of my favorites and nudged me into sampling the work of several authors I've been meaning to try for decades.

So I definitely want to sign up for this year's edition. You can read all the guidelines on the announcement/sign-up page (here), but basically the aim of the challenge is to "read works from those authors who have been recommended to you time and again." I'm signing up at the "Simply Awesome" level, so I'll be reading 3-6 books. And as the year goes on, I'll be updating my reading progress on my challenge blog, here.

A preliminary list isn't required, and I'm not going to make one. But right now I'm thinking I might use this year's challenge to read some of the literary classics I've managed to miss out on over the years. Maybe Proust. Maybe Charlotte Bronte. Maybe James Patterson. Anything goes, so long as "you have heard great things about the author, but haven't yet read any of their works." How easy is that?