Week 2

Characteristics of the Books I like

Memoirs of a Geisha: a novel by Arthur Golden

The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty

The elements of appeal: (according to Novelist) 
There are eight essential elements of appeal:

1. Pacing
2. Characterization
3. Story Line (including the books context, type, genre, theme, and subjects)
4. Language
5. Setting
6. Detail
7. Tone
8. Learning/Experiencing

     Both of these books exhibit female characters that are born into hardship through no fault of their own.  Poverty happens to be a hardship that both books have in common.  Both of the main characters overcome some of their difficulties in the end.  Also, both of these books happen to be coming of age stories, which are my favorite.
     The main characters are both likeable, serious, sensitive and very intelligent.  The plots are realistic and I could definitely relate to certain incidents in both books.  The storyline unfolds slowly, always introducing new surprises.  I generally don't like too much description in books, but the rich, detailed, description in these books is 100 % necessary in order to enrich the plot.  Fortunately for me, the descriptions don't drag on and on - they are long enough to do the job.
     I learned a lot about Japan from Golden's book and felt like I was right in the story.  I enjoyed the love story aspect of the book, too.  Moriarty takes the reader into the dismal world of poverty, something that I fortunately  never had to endure.  Both books tugged on my emotions -- and I found myself rooting for the main characters and against the "bad guys."   Both books also happen to be written in first person, which I LOVE.
    
I posted two suggestions on Tiarella's blog: 1) Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut and 2) Mercy by Jodi Picoult.  I used Novelist, Goodreads, Google and The Library Thing to get suggestions.