The Terror by Dan Simmons (#3, Fiction)

I started The Terror a year ago and threw in the towel after about 200 pages of nothing satisfying happening. My sister recommended this book to me and having greatly enjoyed Ahab's Wife, another book suggestion from her, I took a chance and tried to read this 700+ page book while completing the 50 books in a year challenge. Needless to say, when I wasn't making headway on it, I abandoned ship, leaving Captain Crozier and his frozen crew aboard the Terror for greener, shorter pastures.

Not in a rush to finish books this year, I decided to climb aboard Terror and give Dan Simmons and his very technical, very descriptive writing another chance. I struggled a bit getting back into the story but there are definite moments of brilliance. Certain characters start to grow on you and it gets harder and harder as the men keep dying from scurvy, or from attacks from the creature stalking the men. I think I kept reading because I really just wanted to know what the hell the thing on the ice was that kept killing the men.

As my sister said, there were several twists in the storyline that were highly shocking. And the last 100 pages made it worth slogging through 600 pages to get to. The explanation of the creature on the ice was highly satisfying but I do think that Simmons could have tightened his prose. The Terror shouldn't have been 700+ pages. I found the endless descriptions of the ships and the cold tiring. I wish the whole book could have been as good as the last 100 pages.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (#2, Fiction)

Maybe trying to do my write-up for Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns while watching American Idol was not such a good idea. This was January's book club pick and I really don't know what to say about it. It was a typical New York Times Bestseller. Hosseini knows how to tell a gripping story and to keep the prose fairly sparse but he can't avoid a cliched ending.

Aside from certain cliched turns in the storyline, I found Hosseini's second novel an interesting snapshot into the lives of Afghan women. The most shocking part were the dates at the beginning of each chapter. This mistreatment of women is happening right now, currently. I found myself appalled at the brutality the two main characters suffer at the hands of their husband and it was hard to read those particular scenes. Living in a society where husbands are not allowed to beat their wives and women enjoy social freedom, it is hard to even fathom living in one where I would be required to cover my entire body with a burka and to not be allowed to go anywhere without a male escort. If anything, Suns gives its readers a reason to be thankful for the United States being what it is, economic downturn or not. Our wallets may be hurting but at least our homes are not being torn apart by rocket attacks and our women are not being beaten into submission.

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World by Rita Golden Gelman (#1, Nonfiction)

What an appropriate book to start the new year. I am planning on becoming a nomad this summer and Rita Golden Gelman's Tales of a Female Nomad really gave me the travel bug. I want to visit the Galapagos Islands and I want to live with a family in Bali and teach the local kids English. I want to traipse through the jungle, observing orangutans. I want to live in New Zealand and eat fresh mussels everyday.

While I did not enjoy Gelman's writing style--it was a little too sparse and distant at times--I did enjoy sharing the journey with her. Her travel stories were interesting and I admire her for having the guts to live her life as a nomad. I admire her for living an extraordinary life and sharing it with the world.

If you liked Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love you will like Tales of a Female Nomad, especially if you thought Gilbert was whiny and annoying. Gelman is neither, and while Gilbert's novel is more fluffy and written, Gelman sticks to the facts. She doesn't exaggerate or embellish and this is perhaps what makes the book so refreshing.