Grave Peril, by Jim Butcher (16 November)

Man, what a crappy weekend for reading. I mean, it was a good one in that I read about 700 pages and finished two books this weekend, but I was really disappointed by those books.

This one especially! Grave Peril is the third in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, and I very much enjoyed the first two books. Sadly, this one just did not work for me.

The plot here is that Harry Dresden, a wizard for hire, gets drawn into a case where ghosts are attacking people, someone is probably attacking the ghosts, and there's a demon that attacks people in their nightmares. Not a bad premise.

But! There are about eleventy bajillion red herrings in the book that don't all sort themselves out in the end, there's at least one continuity error, and in the end everything is solved by love or something stupid like that. Butcher is an engaging writer, for sure, and I definitely wanted to know what happened in the end, but then it was stupid and I was sad. It's sort of like when VeggieTales is on TV and you know that there's going to be a corny tie-in to God at the end of the episode, but those vegetables are just so darn cute that you keep watching it anyway.

I'll probably pick up the next book in the series in the hopes that it will get better, but if it doesn't I guess I'm done. Sigh.

Rating: 6/10

The Countdown Challenge

Another challenge that seems fun and easy! This one requires participants to read nine books published in 2009, eight published in 2008, etc., back to one from 2001. It runs from 8 August 2008 to 9 September 2009, so I'm getting in a bit late, but I think I can handle it since I mostly read newer books anyway!

My list (45/45)

2009 (9/9)
1. The Pluto Files, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (Review)
2. Beat the Reaper, by Josh Bazell (Review)
3. We'll Always Have Paris, by Ray Bradbury (Review)
4. The Composer is Dead, by Lemony Snicket (Review)
5. The Manual of Detection, by Jedediah Berry (Review)
6. Fool, by Christopher Moore (Review)
7. The City and The City, by China Miéville (Review)
8. Free Agent, by Jeremy Duns (Review)
9. Black Water Rising, by Attica Locke (Review)

2008 (8/8)
1. Dictation, by Cynthia Ozick (Review)
2. Superior Saturday, by Garth Nix (Review)
3. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski (Review)
4. The Likeness, by Tana French (Review)
5. Zoe's Tale, by John Scalzi (Review)
6. Just After Sunset, by Stephen King (Review)
7. When We Were Romans, by Matthew Kneale (Review)
8. Pandemonium, by Daryl Gregory (Review)

2007 (7/7)
1. In the Woods, by Tana French (Review)
2. First Among Sequels, by Jasper Fforde (Review)
3. The Year of Fog, by Michelle Richmond (Review)
4. The Last Colony, by John Scalzi (Review)
5. The Book of Murder, by Guillermo Martínez (Review)
6. Bookhunter, by Jason Shiga (Review)
7. Captain's Fury, by Jim Butcher (Review)

2006 (6/6)
1. Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl (Review)
2. The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield (Review)
3. The Tenth Circle, by Jodi Picoult (Review)
4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne (Review)
5. The Adventuress, by Audrey Niffenegger (Review)
6. Cursor's Fury, by Jim Butcher (Review)

2005 (5/5)
1. The Twelfth Card, by Jeffery Deaver (Review)
2. Twilight, by Stephanie Meyer (Review)
3. Looking for Alaska, by John Green (Review)
4. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi (Review)
5. Academ's Fury, by Jim Butcher (Review)

2004 (4/4)
1. Afterlife, by Douglas Clegg (Review)
2. Something Rotten, by Jasper Fforde (Review)
3. Furies of Calderon, by Jim Butcher (Review)
4. Cadillac Beach, by Tim Dorsey (Review)

2003 (3/3)
1. The Well of Lost Plots, by Jasper Fforde (Review)
2. Out, by Natsuo Kirino (Review)
3. The Weatherman's Daughters, by Richard Hoyt (Review)

2002 (2/2)
1. Lost in a Good Book, by Jasper Fforde (Review)
2. Coraline, by Neil Gaiman (Review)

2001 (1/1)
1. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde (Review)

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski (10 November — 16 November)

I put this book on hold at the library some very long time ago, after I heard an interview with the author on NPR and thought the book sounded decent. I finally got it last week, and was possibly over-excited to read it.

The premise of the book is a sort of updated version of Hamlet. Edgar Sawtelle is a mute 14-year-old who breeds dogs with his family in far northern Wisconsin. His uncle, Claude, comes back into the family after a long leave of absence, but sibling rivalry sort of explodes and Edgar's father, Gar, sends Claude away. Soon enough, though, Gar ends up dead in the kennel and Claude starts moving in on his sister-in-law. Gar's ghost tells Edgar that Claude is the murderer, but Edgar can't tell anyone — not just because he can't speak but because he's pretty sure they won't believe him.

More Hamlet happens — the Polonius character dies, Edgar goes off on an adventure, et cetera.

And I think that's my problem with the book. I liked the beginning of the novel, wherein we learned about training dogs and Edgar's relationship with his mother. I liked the part when Edgar runs away and has a great woodsy adventure with his dogs. But I didn't like the parts where I said to myself, "Oh, look, Polonius is dead now! And hey, I thought Laertes was supposed to kill Hamlet!"

Ah, well. It doesn't follow Hamlet to the letter (see Laertes comment), so there's quite a bit of wondering how the plot will turn out, which is good. And those parts that I liked, I really did like. I just don't think that the book as a whole really fit together well.

Definitely a good read if you're a Hamlet scholar or dog enthusiast.

Rating: 6/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2008)

Support Your Local Library Challenge

This looks fun and easy! J. Kaye at J. Kaye's Book Blog is hosting this challenge, wherein you read books from the library. Simple, yes? The challenge is for 2009, so I can't start counting all of the library books I have right now, but as soon as New Year's rolls around I'll be keeping track of the ones I've read at this post. I'm going to commit to 50 books since that's about how many I expect to read next year and I tend to get my books from the library anyway.

1. First Among Sequels, by Jasper Fforde (Review)
2. The Year of Fog, by Michelle Richmond (Review)
3. The Adventuress, by Audrey Niffenegger (Review)
4. Out, by Natsuo Kirino (Review)
5. Plain Truth, by Jodi Picoult (Review)
6. Just After Sunset, by Stephen King (Review)
7. When We Were Romans, by Matthew Kneale (Review)
8. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi (Review)
9. Academ's Fury, by Jim Butcher (Review)
10. The Big Over Easy, by Jasper Fforde (Review)
11. Children of God, by Mary Doria Russell (Review)
12. Pandemonium, by Daryl Gregory (Review)
13. Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson (Review)
14. Coraline, by Neil Gaiman (Review)
15. Ella Minnow Pea, by Mark Dunn (Review)
16. The Drunkard's Walk, by Leonard Mlodinow (Review)
17. Cursor's Fury, by Jim Butcher (Review)
18. The Pluto Files, by Neil DeGrasse Tyson (Review)
19. Beat the Reaper, by Josh Bazell (Review)
20. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (Review)
21. The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi (Review)
22. Christine Falls, by Benjamin Black (Review)
23. The Fourth Bear, by Jasper Fforde (Review)
24. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling (Review)
25. We'll Always Have Paris, by Ray Bradbury (Review)
26. The Composer is Dead, by Lemony Snicket Review)
27. The Last Colony, by John Scalzi (Review)
28. Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, by Dave Barry (Review)
29. More of Dave Barry's Greatest Hits, by Dave Barry (Review)
30. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (Review)
31. The Manual of Detection, by Jedediah Berry (Review)
32. Fool, by Christopher Moore (Review)
33. Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson (Review)
34. Things That Make Us [Sic], by Martha Brockenbrough (Review)
35. Mister O, by Lewis Trondheim (Review)
36. Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld (Review)
37. La Bête Humaine, by Émile Zola (Review)
38. An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green (Review)
39. The Book of Murder, by Guillermo Martínez (Review)
40. The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death, by Laurie Notaro (Review)
41. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by David Sedaris (Review)
42. The Weatherman's Daughters, by Richard Hoyt (Review)
43. Pretties, by Scott Westerfeld (Review)
44. Who Slashed Celanire's Throat?, by Maryse Condé (Review)
45. People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks (Review)
46. Specials, by Scott Westerfeld (Review)
47. Cause for Alarm, by Eric Ambler (Review)
48. Woman With Birthmark, by Håkan Nesser (Review)
49. The Oxford Project, by Peter Feldstein and Stephen G. Bloom (Review)
50. The City and the City, by China Miéville (Review)

Lost in a Good Book, by Jasper Fforde (8 November)

This is the second in the Thursday Next series of awesomeness, and I must say this one is even better than the first.

After sending away a Goliath Corporation employee to live in a copy of The Raven, the company is understandably upset and asks Thursday to go back and get him out, please. She refuses, and Goliath goes back in time to kill off her new husband before he can become three years old. If Thursday will go get their employee, they'll bring back her husband. She's sold. Unfortunately, her uncle Mycroft has conveniently retired away with his Prose Portal and Thursday has to figure out how to get into the book herself and also figure out why a bunch of weird coincidences keep cropping up at inconvenient moments.

The book was great and mostly easy to understand in spite of all the weird time-travelling and odd coincidences. I really love how everything ties in with books, even when the books in question are ones I haven't read yet (but should! I'll get to it!). Definitely a must-read if you're into befuddling plots and funny talks with Great Expectations characters.

Rating: 8.5/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2002)

The Princess Bride, by William Goldman (1 November — 5 November)

Finally! I've been meaning to read this book ever since I bought it a couple of years ago, but I've always been reading something else instead. A lull in my library book stream led me to pick it up, and I'm really glad I did.

If you've seen the movie, you pretty much know how the book goes, interruptions and all. If not...

The Princess Bride is a "classic tale of true love and high adventure" featuring the titular Buttercup, who falls in love with her farm boy, Westley. Westley leaves for America to make his fortune but his ship is taken over by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who takes no prisoners. Disconsolate, Buttercup — who also happens to be one of the most beautiful women in the world — allows herself to be engaged to the prince of Florin so long as she doesn't have to love him.

Unfortunately, that whole not-loving thing is pretty real and the new Princess finds herself kidnapped by a Sicilian, a giant Turk, and a wizard Spanish swordsman. She is also being followed by a man in black who wants to kidnap her from her kidnappers...

The greatest part of the book is its really tongue-in-cheek feel. Goldman wrote it as an abridgement of a great Florinese novel (which, of course, it's not) and there's an entire chapter devoted to talking about why he loves the book and how he ended up abridging it. He also cuts in throughout the novel to talk about why he cut 15 pages here and 87 pages there. Of course, Goldman leaves in all of the "original author's" asides, which are equally ridiculous.

I read the 25th anniversary edition, so there's also a bit in the back about Goldman abridging the sequel, Buttercup's Baby, and how Stephen King was going to do it but he said Goldman could abridge the first chapter, and then there's the first chapter, but at that point I was really just done with the conceit. Part of that first chapter is really engaging, but most of it just doesn't make any sense and I'm not sure where Goldman was going with it. Alas.

Rating: 8/10

In the Woods, by Tana French (31 October — 1 November)

What a great book! Just go read it.

Our narrator, Rob Ryan, was found in the woods at the age of twelve with blood in his shoes and without the two friends he was meant to be with. He has no memory of what happened, and has mostly gotten along in life, until now.

Now Ryan is a detective who is put on a dead-twelve-year-old case in the same tiny Ireland neighborhood he once lived in, in the same woods he was once found in. He hopes both that the case is and isn't related to his, but it doesn't really matter — this murder is practically unsolveable. All leads point to nothing, there are no suspects, and Ryan is having a bit of trouble keeping himself distanced from the case.

Of course, then something clicks and the mystery unravels, and you see all the clues you should have seen before, and the solution is pretty darn cool. I'm definitely excited to read the next in the series, The Likeness.

Rating: 9/10
(Countdown Challenge: 2007)