Holy crap I read a lot of books this month! Sadly, that list includes the worst book I've ever read, but what can you do? It's gotta be read sometime.
I read a lot of thrillers this month because apparently it's "recommend thrillers" month everywhere, and they were mostly okay, except for the aforementioned worst book ever. I'm not sure what it is I don't like about thrillers, but I think I'll trade them in for more mysteries next month if I can find some good ones.
I also finished two challenges this month, holy crap again! I finished off my 45th book for the Countdown Challenge, which seemed to take forever! I had six of the years done by February and the seventh by May, but it took then two more months to finish off 2007 and 2009. The latter I understand, since I had to wait until January to start those, but I wonder why books from 2007 didn't make it to my list much.
The Chunkster Challenge is also officially finished, with six 450-page monsters finished. I'm going to keep listing books there until November, though, in case you find yourself hankering for giant book recommendations in the future.
Other things I did this month: I tried to start some discussions, but failed miserably! If you want to give me a months-early birthday present, you could go check them out.
Wisconsin Library Debate
On Serialized Novels
Alternately, you can tell me that you come here because I'm pretty and I should keep my non-book thoughts to myself. :)
Onto the numbers!
Days spent reading: 27
Books read: 15
...in fiction: 15
...in fantasy: 6
...in thriller: 4
...in speculative fiction: 3
...in historical: 1
...in mystery: 1
...in young adult: 2
...in children's: 4
Series reads: Codex Alera, Old Man's War, Harry Potter
Favorite book: The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (Review) 9/10
Challenges
Countdown Challenge: +3 books for 45/45 Completed!
Summer Lovin' Challenge: +6 books for 6/10
Chunkster Challenge: +1 books for 6/6 Completed!
The Baker Street Challenge: +0 books for 0/3
My Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge: +2 books for 3/12
Orbis Terrarum Challenge: +0 books for 8/10
31 July 2009
30 July 2009
Booking Through Thursday (30 July)
Today's Booking Through Thursday is a simple question, or is it? "What’s the funniest book you’ve read recently?"
Paging through my blog, I am noticing that I haven't read any, say, "officially" funny books in a while. The last set of humorous short stories I read was Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim back in May. It was pretty funny in parts, not so much in others, you know.
But in the category of "books that aren't only funny but have good chuckle-y parts" there's The Android's Dream, which was pretty entertaining and had me giggling at the sheer absurdity of it all.
Maybe I should read another "officially" funny book. Any recommendations?
Paging through my blog, I am noticing that I haven't read any, say, "officially" funny books in a while. The last set of humorous short stories I read was Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim back in May. It was pretty funny in parts, not so much in others, you know.
But in the category of "books that aren't only funny but have good chuckle-y parts" there's The Android's Dream, which was pretty entertaining and had me giggling at the sheer absurdity of it all.
Maybe I should read another "officially" funny book. Any recommendations?
Castle, by J. Robert Lennon (28 July)
This. Book. Was. Awful. Do not read this book. Do not pick up this book, because you will think that maybe it can redeem itself and you will be wrong but you will finish the book and then your brain will hurt and you will have nothing to say except that this book is awful.
I have no idea where I heard about this book. I searched my Google Reader archives — nothing. I checked a couple of non-RSS book review sites I read. Nothing. But somehow, sometime, I thought this book would be good. In fact, there are lots of glowing reviews of this book around the internets. They are wrong. I will now spoil the whole book for you so that you will not be tempted to read it.
From the beginning, this book was iffy for me. Lennon writes such sentences as, "It would please me to be able to say that I felt, upon my return to the house, a reprise of the confidence and enthusiasm that had braced me the previous day, when I announced to Jennifer that I wished to buy it." And he writes such sentences with alarming frequency. The narrator is basically that jerk in your freshman comp class who wanted to prove that he knew big words and as such threw them into his speech and papers all willy-nilly. But Lennon, a writing instructor himself (really), at least uses the big words correctly.
But I was at the beach, and it was the only book I had, and I knew that for whatever reason I had wanted to read the book, so I continued.
The premise is, at first, possibly interesting. Jerk-face Eric Loesch comes back to his childhood hometown and buys some land and a house. Yay. He then smugly fixes it up with his apparent expertise in all areas. Whatever. But then he's looking at the history of the house and notices that the previous owner's name is blacked out and also that there's a bit of land in the middle of his still owned by Redacted Man. He's curious. He bitches at some people to find out who this owner is, and eventually someone comes through for him with a name; Avery Stiles.
Loesch goes to the library (yay!) to find out more about Stiles; he finds out that Stiles's family is dead and that he used to work at a nearby university. Loesch then, for whatever reason, goes to the university to talk to a woman who wrote an article that mentioned Stiles to find out more about the man. He leaves. Also, he explores his giant 612-acre property to get to some giant rock formation in the middle but gets lost, which is an affront to his spectacular directional skillz. I hate Loesch.
Then some stupid stuff happens, and Loesch ends up back in the woods, searching for Stiles at Stiles's castle in his property in the middle of Loesch's property, and finds him, and gets all tied up by him, and then we find out that Loesch totally knows Stiles (uh, okay) because Stiles trained (read: tortured) Loesch for many years when Loesch was a kid, teaching him to only do what he was told and no more and leaving him naked in the same forest, at the same castle, and why on earth did Loesch ever act like he didn't know who owned this property???
And then Loesch escapes, sort of, and climbs the giant rock from before and Stiles is up there and then there's some sort of message passed between them that I don't understand, and then Stiles jumps off the rock but also Loesch looses an arrow at him that goes through his heart, so Stiles is totally dead. And then Loesch is suddenly terrified of the woods for whatever reason and tries to run back to his house but falls in a giant pit and then sees himself leaning over the rim and then flashes back to the time he was an officer at Abu Ghraib (well, not really, but a similar place) and he killed a kid prisoner and then he was indefinitely furloughed and then he came back to his childhood hometown.
And then we're back in the present, and Loesch is rescued from the woods and goes to the hospital and gets all fixed up and then he packs his duffel and then is picked up by someone who's probably a soldier and is off on a mission and then the book is done. The end.
If you can explain this book to me, please do. But I don't care enough to figure it out for myself.
Rating: 1/10
I have no idea where I heard about this book. I searched my Google Reader archives — nothing. I checked a couple of non-RSS book review sites I read. Nothing. But somehow, sometime, I thought this book would be good. In fact, there are lots of glowing reviews of this book around the internets. They are wrong. I will now spoil the whole book for you so that you will not be tempted to read it.
From the beginning, this book was iffy for me. Lennon writes such sentences as, "It would please me to be able to say that I felt, upon my return to the house, a reprise of the confidence and enthusiasm that had braced me the previous day, when I announced to Jennifer that I wished to buy it." And he writes such sentences with alarming frequency. The narrator is basically that jerk in your freshman comp class who wanted to prove that he knew big words and as such threw them into his speech and papers all willy-nilly. But Lennon, a writing instructor himself (really), at least uses the big words correctly.
But I was at the beach, and it was the only book I had, and I knew that for whatever reason I had wanted to read the book, so I continued.
The premise is, at first, possibly interesting. Jerk-face Eric Loesch comes back to his childhood hometown and buys some land and a house. Yay. He then smugly fixes it up with his apparent expertise in all areas. Whatever. But then he's looking at the history of the house and notices that the previous owner's name is blacked out and also that there's a bit of land in the middle of his still owned by Redacted Man. He's curious. He bitches at some people to find out who this owner is, and eventually someone comes through for him with a name; Avery Stiles.
Loesch goes to the library (yay!) to find out more about Stiles; he finds out that Stiles's family is dead and that he used to work at a nearby university. Loesch then, for whatever reason, goes to the university to talk to a woman who wrote an article that mentioned Stiles to find out more about the man. He leaves. Also, he explores his giant 612-acre property to get to some giant rock formation in the middle but gets lost, which is an affront to his spectacular directional skillz. I hate Loesch.
Then some stupid stuff happens, and Loesch ends up back in the woods, searching for Stiles at Stiles's castle in his property in the middle of Loesch's property, and finds him, and gets all tied up by him, and then we find out that Loesch totally knows Stiles (uh, okay) because Stiles trained (read: tortured) Loesch for many years when Loesch was a kid, teaching him to only do what he was told and no more and leaving him naked in the same forest, at the same castle, and why on earth did Loesch ever act like he didn't know who owned this property???
And then Loesch escapes, sort of, and climbs the giant rock from before and Stiles is up there and then there's some sort of message passed between them that I don't understand, and then Stiles jumps off the rock but also Loesch looses an arrow at him that goes through his heart, so Stiles is totally dead. And then Loesch is suddenly terrified of the woods for whatever reason and tries to run back to his house but falls in a giant pit and then sees himself leaning over the rim and then flashes back to the time he was an officer at Abu Ghraib (well, not really, but a similar place) and he killed a kid prisoner and then he was indefinitely furloughed and then he came back to his childhood hometown.
And then we're back in the present, and Loesch is rescued from the woods and goes to the hospital and gets all fixed up and then he packs his duffel and then is picked up by someone who's probably a soldier and is off on a mission and then the book is done. The end.
If you can explain this book to me, please do. But I don't care enough to figure it out for myself.
Rating: 1/10
29 July 2009
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling (25 July — 27 July)
My goodness, this book was long. How did I read this in one night when it first came out? A mystery of the universe, that.
So. HP4: A New Hope. Harry goes to the Quidditch World Cup, where quidditch happens but also some bad wizards do bad things and then the mark of the Bad Wizard shows up in the sky and everyone flips. Then, at Hogwarts, there is a Tri-Wizard Tournament going on with four champions — someone put Harry's name in the Goblet even though he's underage, and now Harry has to fight dragons and merpeople and a hedge maze. But, oops, at the end of the maze Harry gets transported to meet the Bad Wizard, who does some magic and is now scarier than ever. Then three more books happen.
A few days ago, I would have told you with absolute certainty that this is my favorite Harry Potter book. Now I'm not so sure. Azkaban may have beaten it this go round, and of course there are still three more books to go. But it was really long, and even though it was really long most of the scenes still felt truncated! I had forgotten just how short the World Cup really is, how little there is to the Tournament, how much I don't care about house-elves... bah.
But! I did like the fact that, knowing the story well, I could see how things would fit into the ending — Winky at the World Cup, Moody and his dustbins, Bartemius Crouch in Snape's office. And I like that all of the help Harry was getting was really part of the story, instead of convenient to the end (Dobby bringing Harry gillyweed vs. Ron's expertise at wizard chess).
Also, Fudge is an idiot. But more on that, sadly, later.
Rating: 7.5/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
So. HP4: A New Hope. Harry goes to the Quidditch World Cup, where quidditch happens but also some bad wizards do bad things and then the mark of the Bad Wizard shows up in the sky and everyone flips. Then, at Hogwarts, there is a Tri-Wizard Tournament going on with four champions — someone put Harry's name in the Goblet even though he's underage, and now Harry has to fight dragons and merpeople and a hedge maze. But, oops, at the end of the maze Harry gets transported to meet the Bad Wizard, who does some magic and is now scarier than ever. Then three more books happen.
A few days ago, I would have told you with absolute certainty that this is my favorite Harry Potter book. Now I'm not so sure. Azkaban may have beaten it this go round, and of course there are still three more books to go. But it was really long, and even though it was really long most of the scenes still felt truncated! I had forgotten just how short the World Cup really is, how little there is to the Tournament, how much I don't care about house-elves... bah.
But! I did like the fact that, knowing the story well, I could see how things would fit into the ending — Winky at the World Cup, Moody and his dustbins, Bartemius Crouch in Snape's office. And I like that all of the help Harry was getting was really part of the story, instead of convenient to the end (Dobby bringing Harry gillyweed vs. Ron's expertise at wizard chess).
Also, Fudge is an idiot. But more on that, sadly, later.
Rating: 7.5/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
28 July 2009
The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi (23 July — 25 July)
So, remember when I said that I'd never experienced a story/cover mismatch that bothered me? Well, now I have, and this is it. The Android's Dream cover looks like this, and there are absolutely no androids in the novel! I was expecting androids, people.
But that's not to say that this wasn't an excellent book, because it was. And it was a good way to break up the Harry Potter hullabaloo, even if it's really just jumping from one obsession to another (I love the Scalzi). And while it wasn't about androids, it was about sheep, which is apparently another Philip K. Dick reference I need to go learn about.
Anyway. This is one of those books where the first lines just really set the tone for the story, so here they are: "Dirk Moeller didn't know if he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident. But he was ready to find out."
Yes, really. And he does succeed, though perhaps not in the way he thought he would, and it falls to the State Department of Earth to rectify the slight against the Nidu race, one of their closest allies. Oh, dear. To do so, the Earth's government must find and procure one sheep of the Android's Dream variety (with electric blue wool, of course) for the Nidu ruler's coronation ceremony, which cannot happen without such a sheep. Unfortunately, someone out there knows this and has been killing all such sheep. But then Harris Creek and his truly intelligent computer (which has the brain of Harris's long-dead best friend, no, really) find the last remaining sheep, which is good, but Creek and the sheep are being well followed by some people who would like to see the sheep gone. So they go on a cruise. Really. And there's more, but then you'd just get confused and not read this book, and I strongly advise against that.
This book is really funny and packed with pop-culture references of awesome and is in that spectrum of weird where, sure, this story could totally happen, maybe. I call it perfect light reading for these oddly cold summer days.
Rating: 8/10
But that's not to say that this wasn't an excellent book, because it was. And it was a good way to break up the Harry Potter hullabaloo, even if it's really just jumping from one obsession to another (I love the Scalzi). And while it wasn't about androids, it was about sheep, which is apparently another Philip K. Dick reference I need to go learn about.
Anyway. This is one of those books where the first lines just really set the tone for the story, so here they are: "Dirk Moeller didn't know if he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident. But he was ready to find out."
Yes, really. And he does succeed, though perhaps not in the way he thought he would, and it falls to the State Department of Earth to rectify the slight against the Nidu race, one of their closest allies. Oh, dear. To do so, the Earth's government must find and procure one sheep of the Android's Dream variety (with electric blue wool, of course) for the Nidu ruler's coronation ceremony, which cannot happen without such a sheep. Unfortunately, someone out there knows this and has been killing all such sheep. But then Harris Creek and his truly intelligent computer (which has the brain of Harris's long-dead best friend, no, really) find the last remaining sheep, which is good, but Creek and the sheep are being well followed by some people who would like to see the sheep gone. So they go on a cruise. Really. And there's more, but then you'd just get confused and not read this book, and I strongly advise against that.
This book is really funny and packed with pop-culture references of awesome and is in that spectrum of weird where, sure, this story could totally happen, maybe. I call it perfect light reading for these oddly cold summer days.
Rating: 8/10
27 July 2009
Musing Mondays (27 July)
Today's Musing Mondays question is: "Do you have an account with an online book database site (LibraryThing, Shelfari, GoodReads etc)? If so, do you have a preference? Do you use it for - your own record keeping? finding new books to read? social networking?"
I do have a LibraryThing account, very new and exciting! I don't know anything about the other services, but I really like this one. I'm using it mostly for record-keeping at the moment because I don't really know anything about any other aspect of the site; if you have things to share, let me know! I do very much like being able to keep track of the books I have, especially being able to tag books and add them to my "unread" library. I tend to forget that I have unread books on my shelves; maybe this will help!
I do have a LibraryThing account, very new and exciting! I don't know anything about the other services, but I really like this one. I'm using it mostly for record-keeping at the moment because I don't really know anything about any other aspect of the site; if you have things to share, let me know! I do very much like being able to keep track of the books I have, especially being able to tag books and add them to my "unread" library. I tend to forget that I have unread books on my shelves; maybe this will help!
26 July 2009
On Serialized Novels
In case you haven't noticed, my "pile I'm reading" sidebar has two books that have links on them, Makers and Dracula. These are the two serialized novels I'm currently reading and the first ones I've ever read as they were serialized. I have, of course, read a few Victorian serials in my life as an English major, but those were already put together as books! So what's with this return to the serial?
While I sit around and read books cover-to-cover all the time, I know that there are employed people out there with less time on their hands for whom reading a quick blog post is much easier than picking up a book. There are also people, of which I was one while employed, who have some downtime at work but can't be seen reading a book. To the internet!
An interesting thing is that I'm reading these two novels in serialized form for entirely different reasons. Dracula is a book that I've always meant to read, but never wanted to enough to just sit down and read it. Makers is an entirely new book that will be published as a whole in October but is being serialized from now until January. I started reading it because it's by Cory Doctorow and I enjoyed Little Brother, and now I'm reading it because I'm curious about Doctorow's vision of the future even if I think the book kind of stinks. And I can do that, because a new installment only comes out every other day and there are lots of other things I'm reading in between installments.
On the reading experience: Makers is easier to follow along, because installments come out regularly and are a chapter long each time. Dracula, the original novel, is epistolary and the blog version has a new post for each letter, with dates matching up in "real time" as it were. So near the beginning there were lots of journal entries from Jonathan Harker; right about now I've been reading many shorter entries from other characters. I think the blog is a great conceit, but some of the entries are so far apart, and the topics so disparate, that I have no idea what's going on!
What do you guys think? Are you interested in serialized novels? Can you keep track of the action? Is there a book you've put down that you might read as a serial? Is there a serial you've stopped reading that you would have preferred as a book? Is your RSS reader too clogged up already?
While I sit around and read books cover-to-cover all the time, I know that there are employed people out there with less time on their hands for whom reading a quick blog post is much easier than picking up a book. There are also people, of which I was one while employed, who have some downtime at work but can't be seen reading a book. To the internet!
An interesting thing is that I'm reading these two novels in serialized form for entirely different reasons. Dracula is a book that I've always meant to read, but never wanted to enough to just sit down and read it. Makers is an entirely new book that will be published as a whole in October but is being serialized from now until January. I started reading it because it's by Cory Doctorow and I enjoyed Little Brother, and now I'm reading it because I'm curious about Doctorow's vision of the future even if I think the book kind of stinks. And I can do that, because a new installment only comes out every other day and there are lots of other things I'm reading in between installments.
On the reading experience: Makers is easier to follow along, because installments come out regularly and are a chapter long each time. Dracula, the original novel, is epistolary and the blog version has a new post for each letter, with dates matching up in "real time" as it were. So near the beginning there were lots of journal entries from Jonathan Harker; right about now I've been reading many shorter entries from other characters. I think the blog is a great conceit, but some of the entries are so far apart, and the topics so disparate, that I have no idea what's going on!
What do you guys think? Are you interested in serialized novels? Can you keep track of the action? Is there a book you've put down that you might read as a serial? Is there a serial you've stopped reading that you would have preferred as a book? Is your RSS reader too clogged up already?
25 July 2009
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling (23 July)
Uh, what's that? Oh, um, yes, I did read this in the same day as book two. -cough- Moving along now.
Book 3: Harry returns to school again, but this time there is a Secondary Bad Wizard just escaped from Azkaban (wizard prison and thought to be impossible to escape). Oh, and, bad news, Secondary Bad Wizard might possibly want to kill Harry. Seriously, this kid's life kind of sucks. Primary Bad Wizard doesn't make an appearance in this one, but his presence is felt and in the end a Very Tertiary (Vigenary?) Bad Wizard is presumed to have gone off and joined Primary Bad Wizard. Then four more books happen.
Since this is my favorite of the movies, I found myself many times wondering why things hadn't happened/weren't happening in the book. Sigh. I certainly missed Alfonso's Knight Bus. But, interestingly, I feel like I enjoyed the book better than I did when I first read it.
I have to say my favorite part was the time travelling, what there was of it. Rowling followed my favorite of the time-travelling conventions — that of each timeline being dependent on the others. And no changing the course of events! I did think the bit with Harry thinking Harry Prime was his father was a bit contrived, but, well. I don't know how it could have been done better (do you?).
I also appreciated Dumbledore's handling of the Buckbeak and Sirius problems; he seems to love, as my LIS textbook would call them, "wrong way" approaches. It might not be doing it right, per se, but it's getting it done well that matters. I think that's why I like Dumbledore so much.
This book is where Rowling also starts to tear down Harry's "good guy" persona; he jumps to conclusions without full facts, he flaunts rules meant to protect him, and he is accused (rightly) of ignoring the sacrifice his parents made for him. And he'll continue to do that right through to the end of the series. It makes me dislike him rather a lot at times, but it really does show that he's a teenager and I respect Rowling for that.
Rating: 8/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
Book 3: Harry returns to school again, but this time there is a Secondary Bad Wizard just escaped from Azkaban (wizard prison and thought to be impossible to escape). Oh, and, bad news, Secondary Bad Wizard might possibly want to kill Harry. Seriously, this kid's life kind of sucks. Primary Bad Wizard doesn't make an appearance in this one, but his presence is felt and in the end a Very Tertiary (Vigenary?) Bad Wizard is presumed to have gone off and joined Primary Bad Wizard. Then four more books happen.
Since this is my favorite of the movies, I found myself many times wondering why things hadn't happened/weren't happening in the book. Sigh. I certainly missed Alfonso's Knight Bus. But, interestingly, I feel like I enjoyed the book better than I did when I first read it.
I have to say my favorite part was the time travelling, what there was of it. Rowling followed my favorite of the time-travelling conventions — that of each timeline being dependent on the others. And no changing the course of events! I did think the bit with Harry thinking Harry Prime was his father was a bit contrived, but, well. I don't know how it could have been done better (do you?).
I also appreciated Dumbledore's handling of the Buckbeak and Sirius problems; he seems to love, as my LIS textbook would call them, "wrong way" approaches. It might not be doing it right, per se, but it's getting it done well that matters. I think that's why I like Dumbledore so much.
This book is where Rowling also starts to tear down Harry's "good guy" persona; he jumps to conclusions without full facts, he flaunts rules meant to protect him, and he is accused (rightly) of ignoring the sacrifice his parents made for him. And he'll continue to do that right through to the end of the series. It makes me dislike him rather a lot at times, but it really does show that he's a teenager and I respect Rowling for that.
Rating: 8/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
24 July 2009
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling (23 July)
The second book! I'd forgotten how addicting these are... I might not get around to reading anything else until these are done. No! Help me! Make me read something else!
Anyway. HP2: Electric Boogaloo. Summary: Harry returns to school. He learns even more new things and then a monster starts Petrifying (literally: turning to stone) students and then Harry fights the Bad Wizard, again, in memory form (yes, really), and then five more books happen.
I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed parts of this book. Lockhart is hilarious, and I've certainly met plenty of his type in my time. All of them deserved a memory charm to the face. I also thought that the big plot line was better paced and required much more effort on the part of three twelve-year-olds to solve. The adults could probably have solved it if those darned kids would just trust them, but I certainly didn't trust adults when I was twelve. Just ask my mother! Similarly, I initially thought it odd that Ginny gets all but ignored throughout the novel, for the integral part she plays in the plot, but then I remembered that this is really from Harry's point of view and I would probably ignore Ginny, too. I was sad that the bit that actually takes place in the chamber lasted all of ten minutes — I really thought it was more involved, but that's probably the movie instead? I don't know. Nonetheless, I want a phoenix.
One last thing: Dobby is so annoying. I do not look forward to his presence in the remaining books.
Rating: 8/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
Anyway. HP2: Electric Boogaloo. Summary: Harry returns to school. He learns even more new things and then a monster starts Petrifying (literally: turning to stone) students and then Harry fights the Bad Wizard, again, in memory form (yes, really), and then five more books happen.
I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed parts of this book. Lockhart is hilarious, and I've certainly met plenty of his type in my time. All of them deserved a memory charm to the face. I also thought that the big plot line was better paced and required much more effort on the part of three twelve-year-olds to solve. The adults could probably have solved it if those darned kids would just trust them, but I certainly didn't trust adults when I was twelve. Just ask my mother! Similarly, I initially thought it odd that Ginny gets all but ignored throughout the novel, for the integral part she plays in the plot, but then I remembered that this is really from Harry's point of view and I would probably ignore Ginny, too. I was sad that the bit that actually takes place in the chamber lasted all of ten minutes — I really thought it was more involved, but that's probably the movie instead? I don't know. Nonetheless, I want a phoenix.
One last thing: Dobby is so annoying. I do not look forward to his presence in the remaining books.
Rating: 8/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
23 July 2009
Booking Through Thursday (23 July)
An easy Booking Through Thursday today... a list! I'm going to be extra-lazy and just bold the ones that apply to me.
Which do you prefer? (Quick answers–we’ll do more detail at some later date)
• Reading something frivolous? Or something serious?
• Paperbacks? Or hardcovers?
• Fiction? Or Nonfiction?
• Poetry? Or Prose?
• Biographies? Or Autobiographies?
• History? Or Historical Fiction?
• Series? Or Stand-alones? (No preference)
• Classics? Or best-sellers?
• Lurid, fruity prose? Or straight-forward, basic prose?
• Plots? Or Stream-of-Consciousness?
• Long books? Or Short?
• Illustrated? Or Non-illustrated? (No preference)
• Borrowed? Or Owned?
• New? Or Used?
How about you?
Which do you prefer? (Quick answers–we’ll do more detail at some later date)
• Reading something frivolous? Or something serious?
• Paperbacks? Or hardcovers?
• Fiction? Or Nonfiction?
• Poetry? Or Prose?
• Biographies? Or Autobiographies?
• History? Or Historical Fiction?
• Series? Or Stand-alones? (No preference)
• Classics? Or best-sellers?
• Lurid, fruity prose? Or straight-forward, basic prose?
• Plots? Or Stream-of-Consciousness?
• Long books? Or Short?
• Illustrated? Or Non-illustrated? (No preference)
• Borrowed? Or Owned?
• New? Or Used?
How about you?
22 July 2009
Wisconsin Library Debate
This showed up in my Google Reader today and links to a CNN article about a public library in West Bend, WI that has some patrons railing against inappropriate books. These books include The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Baby Be-bop, neither of which I've read, but both of which are apparently inappropriate for teens.
But what really strikes me about this protest is the proposed solution. CNN, of course, latches on to the radical group that wants to burn some books, but the intent of the original protesters was to have the books moved from the young adult section to the adult section. Young adults would still be allowed to check out Chbosky's book, but they'd have to know that they wanted it and either be able to use the library's catalog or be willing to ask a librarian to find the book for them.
While I agree that the books should not be moved, mostly because browsing is how I found many a book before I joined the book blogging world, this does bring up the question of how and why we separate books into children's, young adult, and adult. I read plenty of novels that are considered children's or young adult and I am not either, anymore. Conversely, I was reading YA books at the age of seven or eight and venturing into the adult section not long after. But in all crossing-over cases, I was pointed to a specific book either by a blog, now, or by a friend or librarian, years ago. And there are plenty of books that I've recommended to friends that I've purposely not declared young adult, because said friends don't read "kid books." Doesn't this arbitrary separation itself limit access to a lot of great novels?
The other day I noticed books 5-7 of the Harry Potter series in the adult fiction stacks at my library. A quick look on the library's online catalog shows that they are also in the young adult and children's areas. How was this determined?
I'm sure these aren't questions that can really be answered, but what makes a young adult novel? What makes an adult novel? Why can't we combine them? Why can't there be a section for "sexually explicit" material (and wouldn't that really just encourage kids to read them, anyway)? Is there a better way to lay out the library?
But what really strikes me about this protest is the proposed solution. CNN, of course, latches on to the radical group that wants to burn some books, but the intent of the original protesters was to have the books moved from the young adult section to the adult section. Young adults would still be allowed to check out Chbosky's book, but they'd have to know that they wanted it and either be able to use the library's catalog or be willing to ask a librarian to find the book for them.
While I agree that the books should not be moved, mostly because browsing is how I found many a book before I joined the book blogging world, this does bring up the question of how and why we separate books into children's, young adult, and adult. I read plenty of novels that are considered children's or young adult and I am not either, anymore. Conversely, I was reading YA books at the age of seven or eight and venturing into the adult section not long after. But in all crossing-over cases, I was pointed to a specific book either by a blog, now, or by a friend or librarian, years ago. And there are plenty of books that I've recommended to friends that I've purposely not declared young adult, because said friends don't read "kid books." Doesn't this arbitrary separation itself limit access to a lot of great novels?
The other day I noticed books 5-7 of the Harry Potter series in the adult fiction stacks at my library. A quick look on the library's online catalog shows that they are also in the young adult and children's areas. How was this determined?
I'm sure these aren't questions that can really be answered, but what makes a young adult novel? What makes an adult novel? Why can't we combine them? Why can't there be a section for "sexually explicit" material (and wouldn't that really just encourage kids to read them, anyway)? Is there a better way to lay out the library?
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, by J.K. Rowling (21 July)
Things I forgot about the first Harry Potter book: 1) It's short! 2) It's cute! 3) It's not very British! (Silly American translations...)
I really think that if you don't know what the Harry Potter books are about, at least slightly, you have to have been living under a rock under a larger rock for the past, um, 12 years? Wow, that's a long time. I'm old. Anyway, summary: Harry Potter is a wizard. His parents died at the hands of a Bad Wizard when he was but a little thing. Now he is eleven and off to wizarding school. He learns things and fights monsters and learns that the Bad Wizard, who all but disappeared after not killing a little thing, is back and coming to get him. Then six more books happen.
It was kind of weird reading this after seeing the most recent movie, because I kept imagining the twenty-year-old actors instead of the twelve-year-old ones. Then I thought about how my youngest brother is turning eleven this year, and I just about laughed out loud at the thought of William fighting trolls and Bad Wizards. I don't doubt that there are eleven-year-olds that could, I just don't know any, is all.
I also realized just how contrived the ending was (oh, let me alone, I last read this book nine or ten years ago!), what with all of the little tests fitting in with the main kids' skills so well. And while I dare say they probably couldn't have got past Fluffy (teehee, it's still funny) without Hagrid's help, the mirror was probably the only thing actually guarding the stone. I mean, three eleven-year-olds beat every other test. Really. Just put the mirror up and be done with it!
But! I still love this book, even if I'm shocked that Rowling earns a couple hundred dollars every minute off this franchise. And even if the movies are terrible.
Rating: 8/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge, My Year of Reading Dangerously)
I really think that if you don't know what the Harry Potter books are about, at least slightly, you have to have been living under a rock under a larger rock for the past, um, 12 years? Wow, that's a long time. I'm old. Anyway, summary: Harry Potter is a wizard. His parents died at the hands of a Bad Wizard when he was but a little thing. Now he is eleven and off to wizarding school. He learns things and fights monsters and learns that the Bad Wizard, who all but disappeared after not killing a little thing, is back and coming to get him. Then six more books happen.
It was kind of weird reading this after seeing the most recent movie, because I kept imagining the twenty-year-old actors instead of the twelve-year-old ones. Then I thought about how my youngest brother is turning eleven this year, and I just about laughed out loud at the thought of William fighting trolls and Bad Wizards. I don't doubt that there are eleven-year-olds that could, I just don't know any, is all.
I also realized just how contrived the ending was (oh, let me alone, I last read this book nine or ten years ago!), what with all of the little tests fitting in with the main kids' skills so well. And while I dare say they probably couldn't have got past Fluffy (teehee, it's still funny) without Hagrid's help, the mirror was probably the only thing actually guarding the stone. I mean, three eleven-year-olds beat every other test. Really. Just put the mirror up and be done with it!
But! I still love this book, even if I'm shocked that Rowling earns a couple hundred dollars every minute off this franchise. And even if the movies are terrible.
Rating: 8/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge, My Year of Reading Dangerously)
21 July 2009
Black Water Rising, by Attica Locke (18 July — 20 July)
I think I liked this book. I'm not sure, though. Has this ever happened to you? At first I wasn't sure I'd keep reading it, then it got interesting and I devoured it, and then the ending was sort of okay. Hmm.
Well, let's stick to the facts. The novel opens with our protagonist, Jay Porter, taking his pregnant wife out for a birthday "cruise" on Buffalo Bayou in Houston. That gets quotation marks because the boat is kinda crappy and so is the captain. But Jay makes the most of it, at least until the shooting starts. When it's done, Jay fishes a woman out of the bayou and takes her to the police station, figuring to have done a good turn. But when he later finds out that there was a dead man left behind, he gets a little nervous. And when he starts getting followed? More nervous. And when he starts getting threatened? Well, you know. Meanwhile there's a dockworkers strike that Jay's father-in-law wants Jay, as a lawyer, to get involved with, which means he will have to go talk to the his ex-girlfriend from back in his civil rights heyday (this takes place in 1981). Also there is Jay's current case involving a prostitute and also some sneaky oil tycoons (shocker?). All in all, it's an adventure of a novel.
I just felt like the ending was a real cop-out [spoiler alert?]. Locke spends several hundred pages getting me interested in this whole conspiracy thing, and then the conspirators get away with it but then Jay is like, "I'ma take them down!" and then the book ends. And I would certainly have rather seen them either taken down in the novel or just left to get away with it, or even to have ended the novel before they got away with it if ambiguity was the word here. Meh.
Rating: 6/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2009)
Well, let's stick to the facts. The novel opens with our protagonist, Jay Porter, taking his pregnant wife out for a birthday "cruise" on Buffalo Bayou in Houston. That gets quotation marks because the boat is kinda crappy and so is the captain. But Jay makes the most of it, at least until the shooting starts. When it's done, Jay fishes a woman out of the bayou and takes her to the police station, figuring to have done a good turn. But when he later finds out that there was a dead man left behind, he gets a little nervous. And when he starts getting followed? More nervous. And when he starts getting threatened? Well, you know. Meanwhile there's a dockworkers strike that Jay's father-in-law wants Jay, as a lawyer, to get involved with, which means he will have to go talk to the his ex-girlfriend from back in his civil rights heyday (this takes place in 1981). Also there is Jay's current case involving a prostitute and also some sneaky oil tycoons (shocker?). All in all, it's an adventure of a novel.
I just felt like the ending was a real cop-out [spoiler alert?]. Locke spends several hundred pages getting me interested in this whole conspiracy thing, and then the conspirators get away with it but then Jay is like, "I'ma take them down!" and then the book ends. And I would certainly have rather seen them either taken down in the novel or just left to get away with it, or even to have ended the novel before they got away with it if ambiguity was the word here. Meh.
Rating: 6/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2009)
20 July 2009
Musing Mondays (20 July)
Today's Musing Mondays question is one more about book covers...
"As a follow up to last week's question, Melody asked about when book covers do not match the story. Do you feel disappointed when the covers don't match the story? Have you ever been completely misled by a book cover?"
I have to say that I can't think of any books that I've read that had a cover significantly different from the story of the book. A quick scan of the books I own shows that most of them have covers with incidental graphics; either a stock photo or an illustration that could be any part or every part of the story.
But, assuming that I have read some novels with non-matching covers, I'd have to say that I wouldn't care if the cover were different. The cover picture might get me to pick up the book, but it's really the description that determines whether or not I'll take the book home.
Have any of you had this happen?
"As a follow up to last week's question, Melody asked about when book covers do not match the story. Do you feel disappointed when the covers don't match the story? Have you ever been completely misled by a book cover?"
I have to say that I can't think of any books that I've read that had a cover significantly different from the story of the book. A quick scan of the books I own shows that most of them have covers with incidental graphics; either a stock photo or an illustration that could be any part or every part of the story.
But, assuming that I have read some novels with non-matching covers, I'd have to say that I wouldn't care if the cover were different. The cover picture might get me to pick up the book, but it's really the description that determines whether or not I'll take the book home.
Have any of you had this happen?
19 July 2009
Things I Did Today
I saw the new Harry Potter movie today, really only because my dear spoon dragged me to see it, and it was okay. Better than the fifth one, certainly (not hard to do!), but still not terribly good. This is probably not helped by the fact that I haven't read the book since it came out what, four year ago? and as such I have little to no recollection of most of the book. I spent most of the movie trying my hardest to remember the things that happened in between the movie's scenes so that I'd have any idea what was going on, but it was mostly futile. So. If you haven't seen the movie yet and plan to, you should maybe go read the book first.
I was already going to rectify this "not having read a Harry Potter book since 2007" thing with the Summer Lovin' Challenge, but now I feel it is imperative, if only to get the bad taste of the movie out of my mouth (brain? whatever). So, starting whenever I finish my current book, I'm going to dive back into the world of Potter. I'll try to read one or two of the books every week, but, you know, I might get distracted by other things, so no promises.
The last thing I did today was finish logging all of my books in LibraryThing, because I am that big of a nerd. If you're on there as well, stop by and say hello!
I was already going to rectify this "not having read a Harry Potter book since 2007" thing with the Summer Lovin' Challenge, but now I feel it is imperative, if only to get the bad taste of the movie out of my mouth (brain? whatever). So, starting whenever I finish my current book, I'm going to dive back into the world of Potter. I'll try to read one or two of the books every week, but, you know, I might get distracted by other things, so no promises.
The last thing I did today was finish logging all of my books in LibraryThing, because I am that big of a nerd. If you're on there as well, stop by and say hello!
18 July 2009
Free Agent, by Jeremy Duns (13 July — 16 July)
I think I just might not be cut out for spy novels. I tried several of them years ago and didn't even finish; this one I did finish but I'm still not sure what to make of it. I think my biggest problem is that everything is just so convenient. Every time our hero is in deep trouble that he can't talk his way out of, there's a random person come to convince his captor to release him!
But the premise is good, and if you like spy novels you should check this one out. Our "hero" is Paul Dark (yes, really), a British Secret Service agent who, twenty years ago, may possibly have become a double agent for Russia. No big deal, except now there's a Russian defector offering up a double agent turned twenty years ago in exchange for asylum or whatever. Oops! Paul is understandably panicked, because who wants to be caught as a double agent after twenty years, and he trucks off to Africa, where the Russian is, to do something about this situation. Of course, his fellow Secret Service types also know about this Russian, and know that Paul has gone off to find him, and so Paul has to also deflect their suspicion all the while. Throw in an attractive woman and a plot to kill the British PM, and you've got the idea.
Rating: 5/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2009)
But the premise is good, and if you like spy novels you should check this one out. Our "hero" is Paul Dark (yes, really), a British Secret Service agent who, twenty years ago, may possibly have become a double agent for Russia. No big deal, except now there's a Russian defector offering up a double agent turned twenty years ago in exchange for asylum or whatever. Oops! Paul is understandably panicked, because who wants to be caught as a double agent after twenty years, and he trucks off to Africa, where the Russian is, to do something about this situation. Of course, his fellow Secret Service types also know about this Russian, and know that Paul has gone off to find him, and so Paul has to also deflect their suspicion all the while. Throw in an attractive woman and a plot to kill the British PM, and you've got the idea.
Rating: 5/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2009)
17 July 2009
The Woods, by Harlan Coben (12 July)
Let me just start by saying that I am very glad I only paid 14.7 cents for this book. Yeah. I must have read a glowing review somewhere, but honestly I would not have finished this book if it weren't the only book I had to read on my drive home Sunday.
Maybe it's because it's Coben's what, fourteenth book (and I haven't read any others), but the premise seems a little... out there? and also it seems that his editors took a nap on this one. There are a lot of little annoyances, like using seem(s) in three of four consecutive sentences, and a couple big things, like harping on a character's hatred of the outdoors for a paragraph and then five pages later telling me that she's enjoying climing on rocks and around trees, that just made it really hard to get into the story.
But back to the premise: Paul Copeland was a camp counselor at a summer camp the year that his sister and three other kids disappeared into the woods. Two of them turned up dead; Paul's sister and one of the boys were never found. Now, 20 years later, Copeland is a county prosecutor, trying high-profile cases in Essex County, New Jersey. He's dealt with his sister's ambiguous death (with just a disappearance, there's always hope) as best he can, but then a couple of cops show up with news that a now-dead guy seems to have been looking for him in relation to the camp deaths. When Copeland goes to identify the mystery man, he realizes it's none other than the boy who disappeared from the woods along with Copeland's sister. Copeland starts an investigation into this thing (yeah, I don't know how that works, either) and learns a lot of things he might not have wanted to know about what really happened.
And that seems okay, I guess, but there's a lot more to it — Copeland's high-profile case has a couple of defendants whose parents decide to drag his name through the mud a few dozen times, he reunites with his summer-camp girlfriend who also wants to know what's going on, his dad may or may not be KGB, there are cover-ups of all sorts of different crimes rolled up into this one.... It's just too much. It's like Coben thought, how many different twists can I throw into this mystery before my readers will strangle me?, and then added two or three more. And then he pulls the "I don't care that the mystery is over, let me throw in just one more twist that the readers will find shocking but that doesn't really factor into the story at all" bit that Jodi Picoult likes so much, and really. Come on. Come on.
I understand that Coben has won some awards for previous novels. If you've read both this one and (one of) those — are they better?
Rating: 4/10
Maybe it's because it's Coben's what, fourteenth book (and I haven't read any others), but the premise seems a little... out there? and also it seems that his editors took a nap on this one. There are a lot of little annoyances, like using seem(s) in three of four consecutive sentences, and a couple big things, like harping on a character's hatred of the outdoors for a paragraph and then five pages later telling me that she's enjoying climing on rocks and around trees, that just made it really hard to get into the story.
But back to the premise: Paul Copeland was a camp counselor at a summer camp the year that his sister and three other kids disappeared into the woods. Two of them turned up dead; Paul's sister and one of the boys were never found. Now, 20 years later, Copeland is a county prosecutor, trying high-profile cases in Essex County, New Jersey. He's dealt with his sister's ambiguous death (with just a disappearance, there's always hope) as best he can, but then a couple of cops show up with news that a now-dead guy seems to have been looking for him in relation to the camp deaths. When Copeland goes to identify the mystery man, he realizes it's none other than the boy who disappeared from the woods along with Copeland's sister. Copeland starts an investigation into this thing (yeah, I don't know how that works, either) and learns a lot of things he might not have wanted to know about what really happened.
And that seems okay, I guess, but there's a lot more to it — Copeland's high-profile case has a couple of defendants whose parents decide to drag his name through the mud a few dozen times, he reunites with his summer-camp girlfriend who also wants to know what's going on, his dad may or may not be KGB, there are cover-ups of all sorts of different crimes rolled up into this one.... It's just too much. It's like Coben thought, how many different twists can I throw into this mystery before my readers will strangle me?, and then added two or three more. And then he pulls the "I don't care that the mystery is over, let me throw in just one more twist that the readers will find shocking but that doesn't really factor into the story at all" bit that Jodi Picoult likes so much, and really. Come on. Come on.
I understand that Coben has won some awards for previous novels. If you've read both this one and (one of) those — are they better?
Rating: 4/10
16 July 2009
Booking Through Thursday (16 July)
This week's Booking Through Thursday is a follow-up to last week's on unread books: "Do you keep all your unread books together, like books in a waiting room? Or are they scattered throughout your shelves, mingling like party-goers waiting for the host to come along?"
Mine are of the scattered variety, mostly because I haven't gotten around to sorting my books yet. The bookcase in our "fun room" (computer/video game area) is sorted and has a shelf of non-fiction, a shelf of favorite books/prettiest books, and a shelf of Harry Potter and Wheel of Time books because they're so hefty they have to go at the bottom of some shelf. Of these, there are a few on each shelf I haven't yet read. In our spare room, I've filled another bookcase and a half with books placed pretty much randomly; I think my weekend task will be to sort them. But probably about half of those books are yet to be read and when they are sorted I'll likely put them together on a shelf for easier access.
Mine are of the scattered variety, mostly because I haven't gotten around to sorting my books yet. The bookcase in our "fun room" (computer/video game area) is sorted and has a shelf of non-fiction, a shelf of favorite books/prettiest books, and a shelf of Harry Potter and Wheel of Time books because they're so hefty they have to go at the bottom of some shelf. Of these, there are a few on each shelf I haven't yet read. In our spare room, I've filled another bookcase and a half with books placed pretty much randomly; I think my weekend task will be to sort them. But probably about half of those books are yet to be read and when they are sorted I'll likely put them together on a shelf for easier access.
15 July 2009
Book Blogger Appreciation Week
Things I signed up for today: Book Blogger Appreciation Week. I saw this last year, right after I started blogging, and this year I'm going to actually participate! If you have a book blog, you should sign up.
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster (10 July — 11 July)
So back in the day, I was a big nerd. "Just back in the day?", I hear you saying, and you are right. But! Nonetheless. Big nerd. As part of my nerdiness, I did things like memorize state capitals and dichotomous keys (the latter has not stayed with me, sadly) found in my Childcraft encyclopedia/instructive books set. Did you have such a set? Because these books were awesome. And one of them, the one focused on math, included an excerpt from The Phantom Tollbooth, wherein Milo meets the Dodecahedron. I knew right away (at what, eight years old?) that I needed to find this book immediately. It's been my favorite children's book ever since.
For those of you who didn't have Childcraft and/or were not interested in nerdy books as a child, The Phantom Tollbooth is the story of a kid called Milo who is just bored with life. I'll let the author explain:
"When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he'd bothered. Nothing really interested him—least of all the things that should have."
One day Milo arrived home, bored, to discover a curious package in his living room. Again, let's let Juster set the scene:
"Who could possibly have left such an enormous package and such a strange one? For, while it was not quite square, it was definitely not round, and for its size it was larger than almost any other big package of smaller dimension that he'd ever seen."
And it goes on from there. The package is the titular tollbooth, and Milo drives his toy car past it and into a land where all of our idiomatic expressions are taken literally (e.g. Milo jumps to conclusions about his trip and finds himself jumping to an island called Conclusions from which he must swim back) and there is a bit of a feud between math and language. Milo, with his companions Tock the watchdog (a dog with a clock for a torso) and the Humbug (who has a predilection for the number seventeen that I've long since assimilated), finds himself volunteering to end this feud by way of a perilous journey to the Castle in the Air, where the princesses Rhyme and Reason have been imprisoned for far too long.
Basically, it's an adventure book with a great message for kids (knowledge, all of it, is important) and sly references for the adults reading it to them. The illustrations are cute, too.
Rating: 9/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
For those of you who didn't have Childcraft and/or were not interested in nerdy books as a child, The Phantom Tollbooth is the story of a kid called Milo who is just bored with life. I'll let the author explain:
"When he was in school he longed to be out, and when he was out he longed to be in. On the way he thought about coming home, and coming home he thought about going. Wherever he was he wished he were somewhere else, and when he got there he wondered why he'd bothered. Nothing really interested him—least of all the things that should have."
One day Milo arrived home, bored, to discover a curious package in his living room. Again, let's let Juster set the scene:
"Who could possibly have left such an enormous package and such a strange one? For, while it was not quite square, it was definitely not round, and for its size it was larger than almost any other big package of smaller dimension that he'd ever seen."
And it goes on from there. The package is the titular tollbooth, and Milo drives his toy car past it and into a land where all of our idiomatic expressions are taken literally (e.g. Milo jumps to conclusions about his trip and finds himself jumping to an island called Conclusions from which he must swim back) and there is a bit of a feud between math and language. Milo, with his companions Tock the watchdog (a dog with a clock for a torso) and the Humbug (who has a predilection for the number seventeen that I've long since assimilated), finds himself volunteering to end this feud by way of a perilous journey to the Castle in the Air, where the princesses Rhyme and Reason have been imprisoned for far too long.
Basically, it's an adventure book with a great message for kids (knowledge, all of it, is important) and sly references for the adults reading it to them. The illustrations are cute, too.
Rating: 9/10
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
14 July 2009
Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay (8 July — 10 July)
Back in the day when I could easily creatively acquire television shows (ahem), I watched a lot of TV. Possibly too much. But one of the shows I dearly loved was Dexter, a show about a serial killer who kills serial killers. It was interesting and quirky and starred Michael C. Hall, and I would still be watching it today (it's still on, right?) if I wanted to pay for Showtime. Which I don't. Maybe I'll be able to grab the seasons from the library, but that is for the future.
Anyway. Where was I? Oh, yes. This excellent show is based on the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter, a short-ish novel about, well, a serial killer who kills serial killers. Shocking. Dexter is a blood-spatter analyst for Miami Dade, working alongside his foster sister, Deborah/Deb/Debs/Debbie, a vice cop looking to move up to homicide. Deb's father, Harry, was a cop himself, and took Dexter in after finding him at some crime scene that he kept a secret from Dexter even in his death. All Dexter knows is that he's emotionless (sort of), not-quite-human, and carries a "Dark Passenger" inside him that likes to kill people. But Dex follows his foster dad's advice and keeps the DP at bay by killing only people who really deserve it. But then, one day, another serial killer pops up with an M.O. rather like Dexter's for disposing of bodies, and Dexter's world goes a little lopsided.
This book is not for the faint of heart, though it's a bit less graphic than the series. Also, while it covers the same time span as the first season and is pretty much the same plotline, it has a rather different ending, so don't feel like you'll be spoiled too much.
Unfortunately, the ending is my one big beef with the novel — not that it's different, of course, because that's allowed, but because Lindsay leaves a couple of my questions unanswered (like [spoiler alert] what the heck happens to the killer and how Dexter convinced Deb to be okay with any of what just happened to her [end spoiler alert]), after he complained about LaGuerta not asking questions and therefore being a bad detective. Whatever. My recommendation: read this first, then go watch the series and love every bit that doesn't have Lilah in it.
Rating: 6.5/10
Anyway. Where was I? Oh, yes. This excellent show is based on the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter, a short-ish novel about, well, a serial killer who kills serial killers. Shocking. Dexter is a blood-spatter analyst for Miami Dade, working alongside his foster sister, Deborah/Deb/Debs/Debbie, a vice cop looking to move up to homicide. Deb's father, Harry, was a cop himself, and took Dexter in after finding him at some crime scene that he kept a secret from Dexter even in his death. All Dexter knows is that he's emotionless (sort of), not-quite-human, and carries a "Dark Passenger" inside him that likes to kill people. But Dex follows his foster dad's advice and keeps the DP at bay by killing only people who really deserve it. But then, one day, another serial killer pops up with an M.O. rather like Dexter's for disposing of bodies, and Dexter's world goes a little lopsided.
This book is not for the faint of heart, though it's a bit less graphic than the series. Also, while it covers the same time span as the first season and is pretty much the same plotline, it has a rather different ending, so don't feel like you'll be spoiled too much.
Unfortunately, the ending is my one big beef with the novel — not that it's different, of course, because that's allowed, but because Lindsay leaves a couple of my questions unanswered (like [spoiler alert] what the heck happens to the killer and how Dexter convinced Deb to be okay with any of what just happened to her [end spoiler alert]), after he complained about LaGuerta not asking questions and therefore being a bad detective. Whatever. My recommendation: read this first, then go watch the series and love every bit that doesn't have Lilah in it.
Rating: 6.5/10
13 July 2009
Musing Mondays (13 July)
Today's Musing Mondays question: "We all know the old adage about not judging a book by it’s cover, but just how much sway does a book cover have when it comes to your choice of book – whether buying or borrowing? Are there any books you’ve bought based on the cover alone?"
Book covers (and, relatedly, titles) are, quite often, the reason for my impulse book picks. Most books I've read reviews of or like the author or whatever, so I get them, but the rest I pick on cover alone. Pandemonium was one of these, as was Palace of Illusions a while ago. Often, when I get a backlog in my Google Reader and have a million book blog posts to read, I'll skim past any posts that have book covers that don't interest me.
But the covers don't necessarily have to be splashy. All of these covers are ones I've liked. It's really a whim.
And, of course, I've read and liked plenty of books whose covers I did not like (most sci-fi/fantasy novels spring to mind here), and hated plenty of books with awesome covers. I guess it's really all about your PR people. :)
Book covers (and, relatedly, titles) are, quite often, the reason for my impulse book picks. Most books I've read reviews of or like the author or whatever, so I get them, but the rest I pick on cover alone. Pandemonium was one of these, as was Palace of Illusions a while ago. Often, when I get a backlog in my Google Reader and have a million book blog posts to read, I'll skim past any posts that have book covers that don't interest me.
But the covers don't necessarily have to be splashy. All of these covers are ones I've liked. It's really a whim.
And, of course, I've read and liked plenty of books whose covers I did not like (most sci-fi/fantasy novels spring to mind here), and hated plenty of books with awesome covers. I guess it's really all about your PR people. :)
11 July 2009
Zoe's Tale, by John Scalzi (5 July — 6 July)
I didn't intend to re-read this book so soon... but as mentioned in my last post, I was on vacation and ran out of books! I had brought this book just for Scott to read, which he did and of course he loved it, but when our plane got held up in a taxi line in Atlanta, I "resigned" myself to reading it.
In case you don't remember, I read this book in December and enjoyed it enough to go back to the beginning of the series and read the other three. Then, when I got to The Last Colony, I thought it might have been better to have read this one last. Well, now that I've read it both first and last, as it were, I would definitely say it's better read last. It certainly stands alone and is awesome at it, but it makes infinitely more sense having read the first three books. Especially I would recommend reading The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale in quick succession, because the story is so much fuller that way.
Also, I cried again, at the same two points in the story, so either I have overactive tear ducts or Scalzi is a damn fine writer. Possibly both.
Rating: 8/10, again, because it's still excellent!
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
In case you don't remember, I read this book in December and enjoyed it enough to go back to the beginning of the series and read the other three. Then, when I got to The Last Colony, I thought it might have been better to have read this one last. Well, now that I've read it both first and last, as it were, I would definitely say it's better read last. It certainly stands alone and is awesome at it, but it makes infinitely more sense having read the first three books. Especially I would recommend reading The Last Colony and Zoe's Tale in quick succession, because the story is so much fuller that way.
Also, I cried again, at the same two points in the story, so either I have overactive tear ducts or Scalzi is a damn fine writer. Possibly both.
Rating: 8/10, again, because it's still excellent!
(Summer Lovin' Challenge)
10 July 2009
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood (4 July — 5 July)
I was on vacation at the beach for four days last weekend and brought only two books with me. A serious mistake! I was done with them by the morning of the third day. Luckily, Scott's family are voracious readers as well, and the beach house (which they own) was stocked with books. While I could have read A Very Naughty Angel (no really, I did find such a book on the shelf!), I chose to go with something a little deeper. I had been meaning to read The Handmaid's Tale anyway, so good job, me.
Let me just start with this: this book is disturbing. Seriously disturbing, in that way where the premise seems implausible but then you start to see how it could maybe be plausible and then you think it might be a good idea to rally against a cash-less society because it could lead to you becoming a handmaid. Yeah. Think 1984 or The Stepford Wives if you've read them. Disturbing.
All right. So this book is, as you may have guessed, about a handmaid. But in this (disturbing) dystopian world, a Handmaid doesn't do, you know, maid things. See, the American birth rate has dropped below a replacement rate, partly because pollution is causing "shredder" (deformed) babies. So a Handmaid is brought in to a household when a Wife can't provide her high-ranking husband with a child, because children are very important, unless they're girls. Once a month, the Wife sits behind the Handmaid as Mr. Man-pants does his thing, and the Handmaid hopes beyond hope that Mr. Man-pants's man-parts work and that she gets pregnant and that she never gets sent away to the Colonies as an Unwoman who gets to clean up toxic waste. Also, women aren't allowed to read or own property, and Handmaids don't even get to use their own names.
It takes a while for the story to get that far. Atwood sort of eases the reader into Offred's (read: of fred's) world, interspersing the dreary present with the past that looks suspiciously like America in the 1980s (when this book was written) and the interim in which Offred is taken away from her life and her husband and child. I wasn't thrilled with the first few chapters, but since I knew better was coming I held on, and then the book got really good and really, you know, disturbing.
Rating: 8.5/10
(My Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge)
Let me just start with this: this book is disturbing. Seriously disturbing, in that way where the premise seems implausible but then you start to see how it could maybe be plausible and then you think it might be a good idea to rally against a cash-less society because it could lead to you becoming a handmaid. Yeah. Think 1984 or The Stepford Wives if you've read them. Disturbing.
All right. So this book is, as you may have guessed, about a handmaid. But in this (disturbing) dystopian world, a Handmaid doesn't do, you know, maid things. See, the American birth rate has dropped below a replacement rate, partly because pollution is causing "shredder" (deformed) babies. So a Handmaid is brought in to a household when a Wife can't provide her high-ranking husband with a child, because children are very important, unless they're girls. Once a month, the Wife sits behind the Handmaid as Mr. Man-pants does his thing, and the Handmaid hopes beyond hope that Mr. Man-pants's man-parts work and that she gets pregnant and that she never gets sent away to the Colonies as an Unwoman who gets to clean up toxic waste. Also, women aren't allowed to read or own property, and Handmaids don't even get to use their own names.
It takes a while for the story to get that far. Atwood sort of eases the reader into Offred's (read: of fred's) world, interspersing the dreary present with the past that looks suspiciously like America in the 1980s (when this book was written) and the interim in which Offred is taken away from her life and her husband and child. I wasn't thrilled with the first few chapters, but since I knew better was coming I held on, and then the book got really good and really, you know, disturbing.
Rating: 8.5/10
(My Year of Reading Dangerously Challenge)
09 July 2009
Booking Through Thursday (9 July)
Today's Booking Through Thursday:
"So here today I present to you an Unread Books Challenge. Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, 'No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!'"
I think I've mentioned it before, but my bookshelves are mainly full of books I've read and loved. There is a small set of books that fall under "books I've bought or been given but not yet read" and an even smaller set that are "books I've been meaning to read for a while."
That set:
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac. Mary once recommended this to me, so I bought it, but for some reason I just haven't read it. And no, Mary, I have no idea when I'll get around to it. :) You may have to bribe/threaten me.
The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I picked this one up at the CWRU book sale in 2007 and started reading it immediately. I had meant to read the short stories in between other novels I was reading, but then the novels just sort of took over and I've still only read the first four stories. I hope that the Baker Street Challenge will get me to read it, but you never know.
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. I bought this at the same book sale, but it's been on my "to-read" list since probably 2002. Sigh. Someday, poor, neglected books. Someday.
"So here today I present to you an Unread Books Challenge. Give me the list or take a picture of all the books you have stacked on your bedside table, hidden under the bed or standing in your shelf – the books you have not read, but keep meaning to. The books that begin to weigh on your mind. The books that make you cover your ears in conversation and say, 'No! Don’t give me another book to read! I can’t finish the ones I have!'"
I think I've mentioned it before, but my bookshelves are mainly full of books I've read and loved. There is a small set of books that fall under "books I've bought or been given but not yet read" and an even smaller set that are "books I've been meaning to read for a while."
That set:
On the Road, by Jack Kerouac. Mary once recommended this to me, so I bought it, but for some reason I just haven't read it. And no, Mary, I have no idea when I'll get around to it. :) You may have to bribe/threaten me.
The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I picked this one up at the CWRU book sale in 2007 and started reading it immediately. I had meant to read the short stories in between other novels I was reading, but then the novels just sort of took over and I've still only read the first four stories. I hope that the Baker Street Challenge will get me to read it, but you never know.
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. I bought this at the same book sale, but it's been on my "to-read" list since probably 2002. Sigh. Someday, poor, neglected books. Someday.
08 July 2009
Captain's Fury, by Jim Butcher (3 July — 4 July)
I took a long (for me, anyway) break from the Codex Alera series because of the "little tiny major thing that happens at the very end and makes me want to scream in frustration" part of the third book. I was like, no way. Uh-uh. And then I was in the library, and the fourth book was there, and I was like, who knows? Maybe it could be okay.
And, well, you know, I'm glad I did. Because the thing that could have been frustrating was actually very well-handled and blah, blah, if I had a hat I didn't care much for, I'd eat it. And since it's not really central to the plot, I will just move along now.
So it's been two years since that big battle with the Canim, and Tavi is still leading his army under the guise of Rufus Scipio. Things are as they ever were, except that an Aleran senator called Arnos thinks that fighting is easy-peasy and brings in a couple of legions of his "First Senatorial" to complement (read: take over for) Tavi's First Aleran. Arnos is ready to lead his troops to their death, which was not on Tavi's agenda for the year and as such Tavi does what he can to thwart Arnos's plans. Of course, then Arnos thwarts Tavi by catching him at "treason" (read: talking to the head of the Canim troops to attempt to declare a cease-fire) and gets Tavi thrown in jail. Oops.
Meanwhile, the First Lord has decided that being passive is for losers and recruits Amara and Bernard to help him walk into Kalare's stronghold (literally; Gaius Sextus's furies are being tracked so he can't use them) and stop Kalare from a) destroying his own people and b) destroying the Aleran government. This is a good plan until Sextus injures himself but good and walking becomes limping becomes riding a sled through a swamp.
As usual, there is lots of fighting and lots of furycrafting and a little bit of sexing and some double-crossing and maybe triple-crossing but I can't keep track of all that intrigue. This series is definitely back on my good list.
Rating: 7.5/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2007, Chunkster Challenge)
And, well, you know, I'm glad I did. Because the thing that could have been frustrating was actually very well-handled and blah, blah, if I had a hat I didn't care much for, I'd eat it. And since it's not really central to the plot, I will just move along now.
So it's been two years since that big battle with the Canim, and Tavi is still leading his army under the guise of Rufus Scipio. Things are as they ever were, except that an Aleran senator called Arnos thinks that fighting is easy-peasy and brings in a couple of legions of his "First Senatorial" to complement (read: take over for) Tavi's First Aleran. Arnos is ready to lead his troops to their death, which was not on Tavi's agenda for the year and as such Tavi does what he can to thwart Arnos's plans. Of course, then Arnos thwarts Tavi by catching him at "treason" (read: talking to the head of the Canim troops to attempt to declare a cease-fire) and gets Tavi thrown in jail. Oops.
Meanwhile, the First Lord has decided that being passive is for losers and recruits Amara and Bernard to help him walk into Kalare's stronghold (literally; Gaius Sextus's furies are being tracked so he can't use them) and stop Kalare from a) destroying his own people and b) destroying the Aleran government. This is a good plan until Sextus injures himself but good and walking becomes limping becomes riding a sled through a swamp.
As usual, there is lots of fighting and lots of furycrafting and a little bit of sexing and some double-crossing and maybe triple-crossing but I can't keep track of all that intrigue. This series is definitely back on my good list.
Rating: 7.5/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2007, Chunkster Challenge)
07 July 2009
The Heretic's Daughter, by Kathleen Kent (1 July — 3 July)
When I opened up this book and saw a letter (the kind you send), I was a little nervous. I'm not a big fan of epistolary novels (Ella Minnow Pea notwithstanding) in general, because the exposition is always unwieldy and annoying. However, the letter soon ended and the book became simply a description of the life of Sarah Carrier.
Sarah is, in the story, a young girl living in Massachusetts near the end of the 17th century. Her family deals with the usual things — smallpox, farming, family rivalries, accusations of witchcraft... well, okay, that one comes a little later. Sarah's mother, Martha, is a bit of an independent woman, which is okay by her family and friends but not okay by really anyone else. When the Carriers move in with Martha's mother, they are not well-received by the town and eventually Martha is accused of being a witch. The book follows Sarah's perspective in all this and gives an interesting look at life in this strange time.
This description is a little weak, and I apologize for that, but I just didn't really get into this book. It was interesting, certainly, and I was happy to read through the end, but it's not some stunning new take on the trials or even on family dynamics. -shrug- If you like historical novels or novels about accused witches, you should give it a read, but everyone else could probably take a pass.
Rating: 6/10
Sarah is, in the story, a young girl living in Massachusetts near the end of the 17th century. Her family deals with the usual things — smallpox, farming, family rivalries, accusations of witchcraft... well, okay, that one comes a little later. Sarah's mother, Martha, is a bit of an independent woman, which is okay by her family and friends but not okay by really anyone else. When the Carriers move in with Martha's mother, they are not well-received by the town and eventually Martha is accused of being a witch. The book follows Sarah's perspective in all this and gives an interesting look at life in this strange time.
This description is a little weak, and I apologize for that, but I just didn't really get into this book. It was interesting, certainly, and I was happy to read through the end, but it's not some stunning new take on the trials or even on family dynamics. -shrug- If you like historical novels or novels about accused witches, you should give it a read, but everyone else could probably take a pass.
Rating: 6/10
06 July 2009
Musing Mondays (6 July)
Today's Musing Mondays question: "Who, if anyone usually accompanies you to the library? Is it somewhere you go alone? Or is it a regular outing with family or friends? Which do you prefer?"
Because I'm lame (and possibly because I love him a bunch!), I pretty much always go with my fiancée, Scott, to the library. Sometimes I'll stop in on my own to pick up holds and whatnot, but generally it's a family affair. I go and get books, Scott whines that his audiobooks haven't been returned yet (seriously, the fines some people must have on these things!), and then we both dip into the A/V section to check out the movie selection. We've been watching a lot of movies lately; they're not all good, but they're all free!
Because I'm lame (and possibly because I love him a bunch!), I pretty much always go with my fiancée, Scott, to the library. Sometimes I'll stop in on my own to pick up holds and whatnot, but generally it's a family affair. I go and get books, Scott whines that his audiobooks haven't been returned yet (seriously, the fines some people must have on these things!), and then we both dip into the A/V section to check out the movie selection. We've been watching a lot of movies lately; they're not all good, but they're all free!
01 July 2009
The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman (26 June — 27 June)
This story opens with a rather gruesome scenario — a man called Jack is killing all of the members of a family. But when he gets to the infant son's room, no one is there. The boy, an intrepid explorer, had woken up during the commotion, gotten bored, and simply walked out of the house. He wanders into a graveyard with Jack following, but with some help from the ghosts inhabiting the graveyard, the boy is kept safe. He is raised by the Owenses and given the name of Nobody, because that's who he looks like. Nobody but himself. He learns a lot of things from the graveyard and its ghosts, and eventually (of course) ends up fighting the man Jack and his cronies.
The Graveyard Book was a cute little book (that gave me more sunburn!), but I didn't like it as much as I guess I thought I would. A lot of things just sort of happen without much explanation, starting from the very beginning. I think I would have enjoyed the book more had I known who Jack was and why he wanted to kill Bod from the start; as it was it seemed more like an afterthought. I did like the very realistic Scarlett Amber Perkins, especially at the end, but I didn't understand why she or her mother was okay with Scarlett hanging out with Mr. Frost. Things like that. Ah, well.
Rating: 7/10
The Graveyard Book was a cute little book (that gave me more sunburn!), but I didn't like it as much as I guess I thought I would. A lot of things just sort of happen without much explanation, starting from the very beginning. I think I would have enjoyed the book more had I known who Jack was and why he wanted to kill Bod from the start; as it was it seemed more like an afterthought. I did like the very realistic Scarlett Amber Perkins, especially at the end, but I didn't understand why she or her mother was okay with Scarlett hanging out with Mr. Frost. Things like that. Ah, well.
Rating: 7/10
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)