Making Up for My Small Library Stack

  (hosted by Marg of Adventures of an Intrepid Reader and Eva of A Striped Armchair)

I didn't actually pick up a lot from the library this week (which is good, because I am sooooo behind).  Just these two:
The Line by Teri Hall
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (book club set, yeah!)

A few came for review, though:
You by Charles Benoit (so freaking excited by this!)
Snap by Carol Snow
Dewey's Nine Lives by Vicki Myron

But when it came to the bookstore, the library sale, and a random garage sale, I got a bit crazy (well, not too much):
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (you can never have too many copies of this, right?)
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman

I also happened to win (my lucky week): 
Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey from Christina T at Reading Exclusively

A box of books from Kate at The Neverending Shelf (to donate to my local library :)
The September Sisters by Jillian Cantor
Ash by Malinda Lo
Arson Estevan Vega
The Cave by Steve McGill
Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy by William Irwin and Richard Brian Davis

I also won one of the bags of goodies from the book blogger conference from GalleySmith.  It had tons of bookish stuff in there, too much for me to write down, so I'll just send you to look at One Person's Journey Through a World of Books' list.


Definitely a lot of books coming in this week!  What about you?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


Book Review: Libyrinth by Pearl North

Libyrinth by Pearl North
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication date: July 2009
ISBN: 0765320967
Source: Library 

Libyrinth
 
In a future time when books are scarce and in danger of extinction, Libyrarians like Haly protect what is left.  Only Haly isn't like all the other Libyrarians - she has a secret.  The Eradicants believe the written word to be evil - even one look at the words is sin.  Instead, they pass knowledge through spoken word and song.  When the two sides gather to battle for possession of the books kept in the Libyrinth, Haly is about to find out just how important her strange hidden talent is.

Things I Liked:
It was a very interesting story idea and I just loved the summaries and blurbs I saw about it.  That is what really drew me to it - a book about future librarians who fight to save the written word from eradication.  A very intriguing idea to me.  I also really enjoyed Haly's comments on what she read from the books.  Some of it was familiar and some was not.  I enjoy a book that talks about books (meta-book?) and that incorporates specific books into the story.  Also the idea that there are two sides waging battle against each other feels just real enough that it seems possible.  I do like that both sides had their strengths and weaknesses - neither one was perfect.  This will probably appeal to librarians and book-lovers for obvious reasons.

I have often wondered why those who read consider themselves superior to those who don't, when it is the Song that is eternal, and the singers of the Song who wield the power of its teachings.  But arrogance is the folly of the literate. p 112
A story is nothing more or less than a sequence of facts, or in the case of fiction, lies, that are imbued with meaning. p 152
Things I Didn't Like:
Really, I just didn't like the execution of the idea.  I was bored and had to put it down multiple times because I was not interested.  I think the divided storyline (it switches back and forth between two characters stories) made it really hard for me to connect with either of them.  It seemed like there was a lot of extraneous information that did not contribute to the story and that I just didn't care about.  I admit that when I got near the end, I skimmed a lot, so it might have picked up in excitement.  


Read-alikes: 
Reminded me a little (the premise did anyway) of Unwind by Neal Shusterman and Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix


BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:  
s-factor: ! 
maybe one or two


mrg-factor: XX
some situations, but not very descriptive


v-factor: ->->
there is some pretty heated fighting that takes place


Overall rating: **

Would you be a libyrarian or an eradicant?
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


Sasha

SASHA, by Joel Shepherd, was kind of a surprise for us. We knew Joel's work from his Cassandra Kresnov series, but we didn't quite know what to expect from the first novel in his A Trial of Blood and Steel. While there were a few issues we took with the novel, we actually enjoyed what was offered and look forward to the sequels. Read on, slaves and loyal followers, to find out why.

Sasha, the titular character, is a Lenayin Princess, who decided to embrace the culture and religion of the Goeren-yai, instead of the Verethane, studied the ways of the serrin, to become a psuedo Nasi-Keth. If you're wondering what any of that means, join the club. SASHA is full of foreign terms, which aren't really clarified. By about the middle of the book you'll probably have a grasp on what the terms mean, but it takes forever. It doesn't help that the naming syntax Shepherd used was extremely narrow, resulting most of the names sounding, and looking, very similar. We appreciate the cohesive nature of his naming scheme, but a little diversity really would have helped this book. For example, when a guy named Udys and a guy named Usyn are talking to each other, it gets muddled. While this has obvious drawbacks, it is also just as salient that the world Joel created is detailed, and he was very thorough (or at least it seems so) in his creation and presentation of it. There is a high learning curve here, but as usual with that kind of curve, it has its rewards.

Back to the story though, at it's heart, SASHA is about a princess, uninterested in her royal blood, that becomes an apprentice to one of the greatest swordsman ever known. Her experiences have colored her view on life, religion, and kingdom in a very different light than the rest of her family, and most of the nobles. Eventually this disparity brings her to lead an army against her father to resolve the political, cultural, and religious problems that have arisen.

For a book in a series called A Trial of Blood and Steel, there is actually very little violence. Most of the content of the book's narrative is the characters talking, arguing, yelling, etc., back and forth about their policies and beliefs. If you read Joel's SF series, this shouldn't really come as a surprise to you. In this fantasy series, rarely is all the talking effective either. We were reminded very strongly of the dynamic that would be created in a family divided between Democrats and Republicans, with both sides trying to convince the other they are right.

The only reason we were OK with this occupying the majority of the novel, was that Joel has made all of the characters incredibly detailed. Their beliefs and motivations are clearly understood and fortified with the real depth each of the characters show. Sasha may, at first, appear to be the cliched naive, hot-tempered princess, who loves nature, does things her own way, and spurns her background. We come to find out that while she is those things, there is so much more to her. She is a fantastic lead character. Similarly, each of the other characters start out as pretty ordinary, but Joel turns our expectations on their heads and makes these characters real, and easy to care to about.

In addition, the dialog is immaculate. Simply superb. Combined with the aforementioned character depth, SASHA is a paragon of what authors should do to make readers connect to the protagonists, and even the antagonists. We rarely get to see character development perfected to this level. This is the area in which SASHA completely shines and makes a more than worthwhile read.

However, since the majority of the book is the banter between the characters, some may find it to move slowly. In all honesty, SASHA was well past the obligatory time period that readers typically give a book for the plot to grab them. It was nearly 100 pages in before we really started to get into the book. Its pacing doesn't increase either. The book doesn't run at break-neck speed, instead it carries a measured pace and caters to the readers who don't mind slowing down to examine the political and cultural ramifications of two very different ideologies smashing into each other. Nick liked the book more than Steve did for this reason.

The resolution was very well done. Thank you Joel for giving us something to look forward to, yet wrapping up the novel nicely. The series is a quartet, and most authors, it seems, would use that as an opportunity to leave us hanging or only give us part of the story (As is becoming a recent trend. Yuck). SASHA wraps up the immediate plot threads and gives us plenty to anticipate in the sequel PETRODOR. This is another place authors could turn to as an example of a fantastic way to do things.

There is another item that we want to touch on that doesn't actually reflect on the writing at all. Though really, most of you have come to expect it of us anyway. The cover art. Really, we must admit that our expectations from Pyr are extremely high, and realistically can't be met all the time. SASHA is one of the rare occurrences where we were pretty disappointed. The cover, with all respect for David Palumbo the artist, was very bland. If we saw it on the shelves at a bookstore, it's not likely we would have picked the novel up for closer inspection. It just doesn't do anything to grab the reader's attention.

SASHA, while not a thrilling read, was extremely enjoyable and we can't wait to get started on PETRODOR. Don't let the slower pace of the book, and the bland cover fool you. Within this book is a brilliant story eager to be read.

Recommended Age: 16 and up content-wise, but realistically 18 and up for enjoyment's sake.
Language: About 1/4 of the way through we were surprised the characters started to curse. There wasn't much before that. After that there pretty much what you would expect from a Rated-R movie.
Violence: Surprisingly very little. What scenes there are, aren't very bloody or graphic.
Sex: Nothing really of note.

If you are looking for some pretty solid SF novels, give Joel's Cassandra Kresnov novels a try. Also, go check out Joel Shepherd's site:

http://www.joelshepherd.com/


Kraken

China Miéville is like Dan Simmons in a way. No matter how odd or bizarre the idea or synopsis, the novel turns out well. Imagine Miéville's editor when China said, "So I'm gonna write this novel. It's a comedy. Kinda. In London. Kinda. Where a giant squid is stolen. And there are people running around with a giant hand in place of their head--Knuckle-heads, get it? And there is a Star Trek phaser that works. And there are cults of every kind whose gods are all legit. And they all have real and scheduled Apocalypses." With his track-record, what can Miéville's editor say but, "Awesome! I'll sell it tomorrow for a ton of money. Yay us!" (Note: This is similar to a post our friend, Larry Correia, did on the previously mentioned Dan Simmons. It was awesome, and it reminded us completely of how we feel about Miéville)

Yeah. This is China Miéville's KRAKEN. Billy Harrow is a cephalopod specialist at London’s Natural History Museum. He is leading a tour group to see a preserved giant squid, but it is soon discovered that the squid has been stolen. How? Well, that's the question on everyone--and everything's--mind, and they are all chasing Billy, whom they all think has the answers. Because, you see, the giant squid being stolen has caused the timetable on the impending Squidpocalypse to be dramatically sped up.

There is no way to describe this book without it sounding completely bonkers.

And yet, this is China Miéville. We have come to expect stuff from him that would be completely "out of left field" for any other author (except Simmons and Gaiman). The first hundred pages of KRAKEN proceed fairly normally, and we feel that for this book to keep its readers, that small token measure of normalcy was important. But then things go completely bizarre. When Billy gets abducted partway through the novel, the transition from "normal" to "what the heck?" happens in a paragraph. Looking back on it, it would have been nice to have a cleaner transition. In fact, as the novel proceeds, it is the clarity of the weirdness that is lacking at times. This is odd for Miéville, as his descriptions are typically so disturbingly clear you want to take a shower after reading them.

The story in KRAKEN takes place in London, but not an overly familiar one. It feels more like an adult version of Miéville's YA novel, UN LUN DUN (which we reviewed a while back). Apart from a few recognizable buildings, it feels like a fantasy world. The characters, typical of Miéville, are oddly fascinating. We have, again, Billy Harrow the squid specialist. He is being chased by The Tattoo, a sentient (it's explained in the novel, don't worry) tattoo on a guy's back. There is the the FSRC--the Fundamentalist and Sect-Related Crime Unit--a branch of London’s finest that, well, investigates the multitude of sects and cults. An ancient Egyptian spirit known as Wati is the head organizer of an ongoing strike put on by the Familiar's Union. Seriously. We are only scratching the surface here.

Throughout KRAKEN, there is an odd kind of humor. Remember, this is a comedy. Kinda. It is that dark humor that has had its place in Miéville's Bas Lag novels, and it saturates this newest effort. There are moments that will make you laugh out loud, and others that will make you shake your head due to its...wrongness.

KRAKEN clocks in at just under 500 pages. We found that pages 100-200ish, and pages 300-375ish tended to meander a bit too much. The rest was paced terrifically, especially the crazy ending (which made everything in the book make all sorts of sense). We will note that this is one of our least favorite Miéville novels. Don't take that to mean it is bad--all of his stuff is awesome--but it just doesn't have the appeal that, say, PERDIDO STREET STATION has. Additionally, KRAKEN is probably the least accessible Miéville novel. If you had never read a Miéville novel, this would not be the place to start--start with PERDIDO.

All in all this was a terrific, albeit completely bizarre, read. If you are a fan of Miéville, you shouldn't miss this novel. However, if you haven't liked the one or two Miéville novels you have read, this one probably won't change your opinion.

Recommended Age:
18 and up
Language: It's Miéville. There is all sorts of language.
Violence: Somewhat, but nothing graphic.
Sex: None.


Listless Monday, 3 In 1 Edition

Listless Monday was inspired by both Amanda at A Bookshelf Monstrosity's feature Books by Theme and Court at Once Upon a Bookshelf's Listed feature.  Be sure to check out their lists!

3 3 3  3  3  3  3 3

I've noticed an increase in the number of books published that list three things in the title (3 in 1, I'm so clever).  You'll see what I mean below.  Basically, I thought it would be a fun and random list to gather as many as possible together. 

3 in 1

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-made Catastrophes by Lenore Look
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison (suggested by Court)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by Abby McDonald
Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials by Rosalind Wiseman
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (suggested by Hopewell)
Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande
Fame, Glory, and Other Things on My To Do List by Janette Rallison
Food, Girls, and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff
The Ghost, the Eggheads, and Babe Ruth's Piano by Larry Sweitzer
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things... by Nick Hornby, Neil Gaiman, Jon Scieszka, and Jonathan Safran Foer
The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and A Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
Wolves, Boys, and Other Things That Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler

Any others you can think of?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


Word Girl


This week, There's a Book's A Bit of Me(Me) topic is our favorite word.  I knew I couldn't pick just one.  So, I went with these categories:

Made-up word: crapaflapnasti (from Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia)
Doesn't sound made-up, but it probably is: illicitabeticals (from Ella Minnow Pea
Childhood favorite: farm equipment (our family's substitute swear word - yes, it makes no sense)
For giggles: snogging
Sounds cool: vituperation
To make me sound smarter: abscond
I use too often: awesome, lovely, beautiful, gorgeous (especially in reviews)

What are your favorites?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban AND Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling


Second double feature (well, I guess technically third, since I reviewed the first two HP books together).  Also, my second review for GalleySmith's Harry Potter Reading Challenge, and joint review with the hubby, though as you'll see, he didn't have a lot to say. :)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: September 1999
ISBN: 9780439136365

Source: Library (audio)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: July 2000
ISBN: 9780439139601

Source: Library (audio)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3)   Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)

The Plot:
I'm sure you are all pretty familiar with the general basic plot of these books.  So, we'll skip right to:

Similarities:

I think most of the HP books have a similar plot arc - they all start about the same time, a bit before school starts and they end at the end of the term at school.  Harry deals with difficulties, of course, and fights evil.  You know, all the fun magical jazz that happens and he and his friends probably fight at least once.  And, of course, there is always a big surprise revealed - something you didn't expect to happen.  Or someone you didn't expect it to be.

Differences:

One thing I remember loving about POA is that Voldemort makes no appearance.  The bad guy is not the Dark Lord, but Sirius Black, who we know *spoiler* turns out to be a good guy *end spoiler*.  It stands out as a book that is different from the others that way.  (Ah, except after further thought, he doesn't exactly "fight" him in Half-Blood Prince either, but we do get to see and hear lots about him in that one, so I'm sticking with what I said.)  It is refreshing in ways to deal with a lesser villain.  Plus, we get lots of info about Harry's parents and what happened to them on that night. I think we also get our first shining display of Harry's fiery temper.  I'd say this one is more heart whereas GOF is more action.

In GOF, there is something totally different going on at school.  It deviates from the normal routine with the quidditch world cup and the triwizard tournament.  The regular learning appears almost entirely on hold, with the possible exception of defense against the dark arts classes.  Good old Moody turns out to be *spoiler* bad old Barty Crouch, Jr. *end spoiler*.  I admit to being most annoyed with this plot twist, since there was honestly no way on earth for us to figure it out before hand, especially with no suspicious circumstances surrounding Crouch Jr.'s death.  The two plots are actually quite different in these ones, despite the familiar wrappings.

The Characters:

Main characters are obviously the same, but we get new ones introduced in each.  POA has Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and Professor Trelawney.  I think that nearly everyone I know adores Sirius and Lupin.  They are both favorites of mine and both obviously play important roles later on.  This is proof to me of Rowling's foresight - introduce them early if they are important later.

In GOF, we most notably meet Mad Eye Moody.  I think I would have liked to see him before he came to this book, but I like him just the same.  What really throws me is that the person we think he is throughout the book, he really isn't.  That shows up more in the next book when Harry runs into him again and isn't sure what to think of him.  Rita Skeeter is also introduced, a person that my husband says he loathes.  We also meet the Crouches and of course Lord Voldemort himself.  And we meet students from other schools (none of whom play much of a part in the rest of the series).

Things I Liked:
Again, I really liked the audio versions with Jim Dale.  Though, I did notice that all of his older women sort of sound alike.  And Hermione is exceptionally annoying in nearly all instances.  Still, the characters were unique and the story is engaging.  I would love to forget the plot twists and be surprised again for the first time.  Perhaps on my next read, I'll have to see if the clues are enough to lead a smart person to figure the endings out.  I'm still enthralled with her variety of unique and well-defined characters and her ability to surprise us with those endings.


My husband couldn't think of anything he really wanted to add (he really just adores all things HP), though he does like the narrator as well - probably more than I do.  We listened to them while driving on some of our road trips.  But, here are two of his favorite quotes: 

POA:
"I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you.  Books can take you only so far in this field..."
AT these words, both Harry and Ron glanced, grinning, at Hermione, who looked startled at the news that books wouldn't be much help in this subject. p 103
GOF:
"Hermione, Neville's right - you are a girl..."
"Oh well spotted," she said acidly. p 400
Things I Didn't Like:
After I read someone's comments somewhere (I couldn't find where or who), I noticed that a lot of Rowling's descriptions, while funny and clever, are repeated too often.  Particularly Crookshanks' ginger bottle-brush tail.  After POA, I wanted to erase those words from my existence.  There has to be a synonym for ginger.  It also seemed a bit odd that Sirius would attack with a knife if he only wanted to see Harry.  Why carry a big knife and use it like a maniac if you're really a nice godfather? 

As far as GOF, I found myself wondering why on earth Moody/Crouch didn't just grab Harry earlier - why did we have to wait and wait and wait for the very end of the tournament?  No one knew who Moody really was.  Crouch could have gotten away with it.  It bothered me. 
Eh.  I know these things really didn't occur to me on first read.  I just devoured them and loved it. The hazards of a reread, I guess.

Read-alikes:
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS (for both):
s-factor: !
a few here and there


mrg-factor: none
not even the snogging yet


v-factor: ->->->

POA is less so, but GOF is quite violent

Overall rating: **** (me)  ***** (hubby)


I managed to get this up during Devourer of Books' Audiobook week!  What do you think of these audiobooks?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


Julian Comstock

So. Another Hugo nominated novel. Considering the luck we have had so far with the nominated novels, we weren't holding our breath for anything awesome with Robert Charles Wilson's JULIAN COMSTOCK. Thankfully, JULIAN COMSTOCK was an excellent and different read.

Wilson's latest novel is a a tale set in 22nd Century America, in and around 2172. That makes it SF right? This novel is written by Wilson, so is HAS to be SF. Right? Well...kinda...but not really. Get all your preconceived notions out of the way. COMSTOCK is not really SF, and perhaps this is why some people have been put off by it. This is not like Wilson's prior novels. Rather, COMSTOCK reads like a Civil War novel while simultaneously being a biopic of a famous "historical" figure: Julian Comstock.

We know, it is all a bit confusing at first. You see, in COMSTOCK the America that we know today had changed radically. The world has gone through an Apocalypse of sorts--the End of Oil--due to wars and oil consumption. Huge masses of the population of America (and the world) have perished--the Crisis of Infertility follows--and we essentially have hit the reset button. The "Secular Ancients" (us) were all heathens (like Nick) and such advances like Space Travel are now considered myth. The Presidency of the country (sixty states in this version of the future) works closely with the Dominion to create a Theocracy that governs everything. Our First Person PoV is Adam Hazzard (a would-be author who is almost as awesome as we are), and JULIAN COMSTOCK is told as if it were Adam's biographical work on Julian Comstock, the nephew of the current President of the US.

COMSTOCK is a Futuristic, Alternate Historical, Biographical, War, SF novel. Yeah. The events of the novel follow Adam and Julian as they are drafted into America's war with the Dutch. Some people will just not like this novel. After all, when you hear the name Robert Charles Wilson, you automatically think SF. This isn't SF. And yet there is something about COMSTOCK that will entertain nearly anyone. The prose used in the novel made us really feel like we were reading Historical Fiction. GOOD Historical Fiction. It lends charm to every sentence, and helps the readers "buy-in" to the dilemmas the characters face. Each character is well-realized and entertaining. If you speak a little French, you will get even more enjoyment, and even some great humor out of it.

The setting was absolutely fantastic. The idea of America falling to an oil-shortage-induced Apocalypse isn't a new idea, but Wilson's execution of the theme is so incredibly believable. Wilson does an amazing job of blending the familiar with the fantastic. The pacing of the novel was, in our opinions, perfect and the length of the novel seemed neither too short, nor too long. Really, we had no idea where the novel was going. It was as if we were along for the ride, and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Now, this isn't to say everything was jellybeans and gumdrops. There were a few instances where the way characters behaved forced us to suspend our disbelief a bit more than average (the section where Adam saves one of main female characters, Calyxa, is the main point of complaint here). In addition, it would have been nice to have a map of the altered layout of the US. Being that this novel was set up like Historical Fiction, a map would have been fitting. The ending also fell just a tad flat (a very small tad at that). There was a moment where we thought the future was going to follow Abraham Lincoln's life as the President, but instead the book ending more calmly than we imagined it would.

None of these items are deal-breakers. They are more than made-up for by Wilson's prose, setting, characters, and his depictions of war (which are truly fantastic). Of all the Hugo nominated novels we have read so far, is is a toss-up between Wilson's JULIAN COMSTOCK and Miéville's CITY & THE CITY for best novel.

Once you understand this isn't really SF (though we are labeling it as such for technicalities sake), you won't be disappointed. JULIAN COMSTOCK is a must-read novel.

Recommended Age: 15 and up.
Language: Perhaps 3 total usages. All of them mild.
Violence: The war scenes and the war "hospital" scenes can be brutal, and stomach-turning. Near perfectly done.
Sex: Some very very vague innuendo.


Wilson's Website:

http://www.robertcharleswilson.com/


Book Review: How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford

How To Say Goodbye In Robot by Natalie Standiford
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication date: October 2009
ISBN: 9780545107082
Source: Library

How To Say Goodbye In Robot

Beatrice's family just moved to a new town and she's hoping to make new friends, even if her mother thinks she is a robot without feelings.  She begins an unlikely friendship with an odd boy from school, Jonah, often called ghost boy by his classmates.  They form an unusual friendship, bonding over a late night radio show.  When Beatrice learns more about Jonah's family, she begins to understand his gloomy look on life and his desire to fade away.  Will her friendship be enough to keep Jonah around or will he disappear from her life forever?

Things I Liked:
This was definitely not your typical YA book.  I think I felt pretty torn about this one - loving it one minute and disliking it the next.  The characters are totally interesting - I love Bea and Jonah and how they interact, their emotions and relationships felt very real.  I thought their quirks and oddities were fun.  I laughed through lots of the book, even as I nearly cried over some parts of their relationship.  This is definitely not like anything I've ever really read.  I thought it was refreshing, however, to have a book about people who don't really fit in and who don't really want to fit in.  They're weird and they admit it and that's ok with them.  The story itself is also pretty heartbreaking.  You wanted to step in and try to save the characters, but it was impossible.  Unique, intriguing, different, quirky, odd, bitter-sweet.  All words to describe this book.


Things I Didn't Like:
Bea was kind of an idiot at times, particularly with her mother.  I can see that it was part of her character to be oblivious, but it bothered me.  Also, where are the parents who might be concerned when their daughter goes away for a few days with a strange guy?  Or who comes home drunk or does drugs?  Seriously, the complete unconcern of nearly every adult figure in the book annoyed me to no end.  I know that teenagers do all those things, but are parents really that blind or do they really not care? 


Read-alikes:
The only thing I could think of was Going Bovine by Libba Bray, because it is totally wacky too


BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:  
s-factor: !@#$
plenty


mrg-factor: X
mostly implied or off stage


v-factor: none

Overall rating: *** or ****


Have you read this?  What did you think?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


Hello, Books!

 (hosted by Marg of Adventures of an Intrepid Reader and Eva of A Striped Armchair)

More looting and pillaging (really, I get a lot of entertainment out of calling it library loot).  It's been a bit crazy this week - books on hold, packages in the mail.  Really, I think I might just be drowning in books.  Which sounds like a good way to go.

The Passage by Justin Cronin
Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve (reloot)
Sorcery and Cecelia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Sovay by Celia Rees
The Kings of Clonmel by John Flanagan
This Book is Not Good For You by Pseudonymous Bosch (reloot)
Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams

For review:
Ivy's Ever After by Dawn Lairamore
I So Don't Do Makeup by Barries Summy
Bitter Frost by Kailin Gow (goodreads first read)
Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel
Don't Know Where, Don't Know When by Annette Laing
Poison: A Novel of the Renaissance by Sarah Poole
 
Anyone else drowning in books?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


Elitist Classics: Dracula

Nick & Steve here in a brief intro. Hopefully you, our faithful readers, are enjoying our Elitist Classics Series. One of our new reviewers, Vanessa, thought it would be a solid idea to occasionally write up a brief review of some of the Classics. We loved the idea, so here is the first one...

***Elitist Classics: DRACULA***

Before there was Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton, before vampires that glitter in sunlight, before even Anne Rice or Brian Lumley, there was Count Dracula.

If you haven't read the original Bram Stoker novel, it's possible when you think of DRACULA it is that the Victorian era novel is a prudish old fashioned fuddy duddy that couldn't possibly still be relevant today.

You couldn't be more wrong.

Today's explosion of vampire novels, movies, and TV began somewhere, and it was with Bram Stoker's DRACULA. It wasn't the first vampire book ever published, even though it was written in 1897, but Stoker's folklore research mixed with adventure made it the most relevant. And although Stoker didn't invent vampires, it's his version of the undead that has captured the imagination of readers, authors, and screenwriters ever since.

Told in letters, journal entries, and newspaper articles, DRACULA begins with Jonathan, a young solicitor who visits the count in his crumbling castle in the Carpathian Mountains to help him purchase property in England. From the moment Jonathan arrives it's obvious that things aren't quite right, and too late realizes he's a prisoner.

The story is bizarre, which I expected. But I didn't expect it to be so creepy, since I had assumed that a Victorian novel read by today's audience couldn't be that scary. But it's the creepiness that draws the reader in to the horrifying predicament that Jonathan, his fiance, and friends find themselves in. Stoker's novel is worth reading alone for the story and its fascinating characters--doubly so because of the influence it's had on the vampire stories that came after it.

DRACULA is public domain, so it should be easy to find a cheap copy to purchase or else it's readily available at even small libraries. There are also several editions with commentary worth looking at.

If DRACULA is still too old for you, check out INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE by Anne Rice, which was first published in 1976. You can thank today's crop of vampires-with-a-conscience on her; but it's also a fascinating first-hand account of what it really means to become the monster that is vampire. And, like DRACULA, the content is relatively tame (especially when compared to a lot of today's urban fantasy).

Recommended Age: 14+
Language: Mild.
Violence: Your typical vampire staking and beheading, but nothing gruesome.
Sex: Some scenes could be interpreted as sensual, but on the whole the story is unexplicit and doesn't refer directly to sex.


Book Review: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson

Alcatraz Versus The Knights Of Crystallia by Brandon Sanderson
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication date: October 2009
ISBN: 9780439925556
Source: Library

Alcatraz Versus The Knights Of Crystallia

This book continues the adventures of Alcatraz Smedry.  Alcatraz is making his way to the Nalhalla, a free kingdom and his home city, with his father and grandfather when they run into a little bit of an accident.  They finally make it there, only to discover a plot by librarians to get the free kingdom of Mokia in exchange for peace.  But, do they really mean to keep that bargain?  Alcatraz must try to discover their true purpose in Nalhalla and protect the kingdoms from evil librarians.  Again.

Things I Liked:
I love the snarky, sarcastic, talking straight to the reader tone of the book.  I love also how Sanderson isn't afraid to make fun of himself and other tropes of literature today.  Each chapter seems to start with a very random bit of information, and yet is humorous enough that you keep reading anyway.  The story is funny and adventurous and you want to know what happens, even if he drops a hundred foreshadowing comments throughout the book.  And, of course, I love the evil librarian aspect.  I kept trying to limit myself from marking every page I thought was funny, so that I didn't have this whole post filled with a bunch of favorite quotes.  Here are a few I finally settled on.

Definition of "crapaflapnasti": "Adj. Used to describe an item that is as disgusting as fish sticks." (Note: This word can only be used to describe fish sticks themselves, as nothing has yet been found that is equally crapaflapnasti.  Though the unclean, moldy, cluttered space under Brandon Sanderson's bed comes close.) p 14
Of all the things in the world that come close to being crapaflapnastic, responsibility is the most terrible.  It makes people eat salads instead of candy bars, and makes them go to bed early of their own free choice.  When you're about to launch yourself into the air strapped to the back of a rocket-propelled penguin, it's that blasted responsibility that warns you that the flight might not be good for your insurance premiums. p 30-31
Fame is like a cheeseburger.  It might not be the best or most healthy thing to have, but it will still fill you up.  You don't really care how healthy something is when you've been without it for so long.  Like a cheeseburger, fame fills a need, and it tastes so good going down.  It isn't until years later that you realized what it has done to your heart. p 73-74
Summarizing is when you take a story that is complicated and interesting, then stick it in the microwave until it shrivels up into a tiny piece of black crunchy tarlike stuff.  A wise man once said, "Any story, no matter how good, will sound really, really dumb when you shorten it to a few sentences." p 107
Now, you may have gotten the impression that there are absolutely no uses for Librarians.  I'm sorry if I implied that.  Librarians are very useful.  For instance, they are useful if you are fishing for sharks and need some bait.  They're also useful for throwing out windows to test the effects of concrete impact on horn-rimmed glasses. p 187
Things I Didn't Like:
I think reading more than one of these books in a row might make the humor and the talking to the reader aspect get old.  I thought the book was just the right length to not make me annoyed, but others might disagree.  One at a time is best for full enjoyment, although I had forgotten what happened in the previous books.  Apparently it didn't matter too much. Tween boys (and girls) will love this series!


Read-alikes:
The Secret series by Pseudonymous Bosch 

A little like the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
Read the first two books in the Alcatraz series

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:  
s-factor: none

mrg-factor: none

v-factor: ->
a little bit, very mild


Overall rating: ****

How do you like humor in books - subtle or snarky or outright funny?

Posted as part of Tween Tuesday, hosted by GreenBeanTeenQueen.
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


Listless Monday, Summer Edition

Listless Monday was inspired by both Amanda at A Bookshelf Monstrosity's feature Books by Theme and Court at Once Upon a Bookshelf's Listed feature.  Be sure to check out their lists!

(my brother and I in the tiny backyard pool)

I am so happy summer has officially arrived!  I admit that this is my favorite time of year - I like it hot.  So, in honor of the official start of summer and the longest day of the year, I bring you a list of summer-y books.  

Summer Books:

Artsy-Fartsy by Karla Oceanak

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeffy Kinney
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
The Ghost, the Eggheads, and Babe Ruth's Piano by Larry Sweitzer
It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees
Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta
My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath
Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-garcia
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Short Circus by Stephen V. Masse (suggested by Britt)
A Song for Summer by Eva Ibbotson
A Summer Affair: A Novel by Elin Hilderbrand 
The Summer Book by Tove Janssen (suggested by Andie)
Summer House: A Novel by Nancy Thayer 
The Summer I Got a Life by Mark Fink
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
That Summer by Sarah Dessen
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis


I know I'm missing tons, so I'd love your suggestions!

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Elitist Classics--Part 2

Elitist Classics Part 2

Horror & Mystery


While Horror and Mystery typically have their own sections in a bookstore, we’ve heard it argued that Horror and Mystery are styles as opposed to genres. To an extent we agree, and certainly we see aspects of both across all the genres. After all, some of the best fiction involves blending genres and styles.

We are big fans of both Horror and Mystery. We are talking about Michael Connelly’s straight up Detective Mysteries, or even Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series that takes a detective-like element and throws it with some serious magic and mythology. We are referring to Brian Lumley’s pure Horror, or Monster Hunter International is an awesome combination of B-movie Horror and Urban Fantasy. The point is, all of these awesome stories come from somewhere. Keep in mind that the following picks are not an all-inclusive list. There are a ton more, and feel free to give your personal favorites a shout-out in the comments.

Sherlock Holmes--Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Come on. You had to know this was going to be on the list. Holmes is one of our favorite characters in all fiction, and perhaps our absolute favorite in Mystery (Hercule Poirot is up there too though). Thankfully the new movie is causing people to get interested in Holmes again. Holmes is an incredible and flawed character that it is near impossible to grow tired of. Our best advice? Go do what Steve did and pick up the three-volume set of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. 3000 pages of awesomeness that have had subtle and completely obvious influences (you did read THE AFFINITY BRIDGE right?) throughout nearly all genres.

Bram Stoker’s DRACULA
Maybe you feel like this is too easy a pick. That’s OK, it was a no-brainer. We aren’t going to get into too much detail here since Vanessa is going to give us all an Elitist Classics Review of it shortly. Let’s be honest. Can you go anywhere without all sorts vampire tales jumping (or sadly, sparkling) at you? We have wondered if the method for the telling of DRACULA is partially what influenced the style of Christopher Priest’s THE PRESTIGE (one of the most awesome novels EVAH!!). Look to Vanessa’s review for what makes this story so interesting.

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE by Robert Louis Stevenson
One of our favorites. There is so much psychology that can be discussed here. Or Mystery. Or Horror. You’ve gotta love Victorian Horror. Written in the late 1800’s you’d be hard pressed to find a story that better describes the horror of a double-life. What’s even cooler is that Stevenson wrote it based on vivid dreams he was having. The characters of Jekyll & Hyde have been used as inspiration, and have literally been used in themselves in works of fiction. Fan-freaking-tastic.

HP Lovecraft
We simply refuse to talk about the fathers of Horror and Mystery without mentioning Lovecraft. His works are bizarre, bleak, imaginative, depressing, scary, and SO unbelievably engrossing. Now we have mentioned Lovecraft before in our Fantasy 202 post, so we won’t keep beating the dead horse. Go grab The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, and treat yourself you one of our favorite all-time authors.

Alexandre Dumas’ THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
Some of the best revenge stories you will ever read. We once heard Dan Wells (author of the Horror novels, I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER and MR. MONSTER) talk about how people used to ask about the Horror novels that inspired him. He said that the Horror he read wasn’t what people expected, and specifically mentioned Dumas’ works. Think about the circumstances in those incredible novels. Those are some seriously horrific events. We also get some mystery and adventure in them. Full of win. They should be required reading in all schools.

***

A few other notables we won’t talk about too much, but that we really felt like we should mention:
FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelly
THE TELL-TALE HEART by Edgar Allen Poe (and really most all of his poetry)
Robert E. Howard’s Horror
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde
HAMLET & OTHELLO by Shakespeare


A Bit of a Pig

  
I've got another A Bit of Me(Me) post this week (hosted by There's a Book).

The question for this week is "Are you an animal person?"  I guess this is the part where I confess to being a librarian and not liking cats.  I'm not really much of a dog person either.  I'll admit a huge part of this is because I am allergic to most hairy animals.  However, I have had pets in my life and I thought it would be fun to mention them.

I come from a big family, so my parents probably felt like taking care of eight kids was enough without a pet.  Then came the day my sister got to take home the class guinea pigs.  There were two of them - a black and white one with a crazy head cowlick, and a white, orange and grey one.  She named them Wooshka and Booshka.  Though we all enjoyed the squeaking and the fun we had with them in our back yard, my dad fell hardest of all for them.  He would imitate their squeaks and talk to them like small children.  He simply adored them.  We even found some home video footage he took of himself squeaking and speaking to them while feeding them carrots.  But, obviously, when they died rather violently at the paws of a neighborhood cat, none of us wanted to become quite so attached to the little creatures again.  We did get my dad another, called Oynque, but after he died as well, there were no more.  He prefers to stick with stuffed animal pigs - they don't die and break your heart.  So, we've been a pretty pet-less family since then. 


Photobucket Photobucket
Oynque keeping our lawn trimmed.

My dad enjoying his stuffed pig.

What about you?

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Book Review: March by Geraldine Brooks

March by Geraldine Brooks
Publisher: Penguin
Publication date: March 2005
ISBN: 9780143036661
Source: Library

March
 
This is the unwritten story of Mr. March, father of the more famous four girls in Little Women.  While still a young idealist, peddling wares in the South, Mr. March meets Grace, an educated black woman with a fiery spirit.  He gets his first taste of the horrors associated with slavery while there.  Now, as an enlisted chaplain in the Union army, Mr. March must reconcile his idealist feelings with the harsh realities of war and the brutality of mankind.  While his wife and four daughters try to survive on very little, he must try to survive at all and conceal the real terrors that he faces both on the battlefield and off.

Things I Liked:
The writing really is beautiful - the descriptions pull you right into the action where you smell, feel, see, and experience all that the characters do (much to my dismay in reading about battles).  Brooks creates compelling situations and characters that are good but flawed, people who make mistakes.  I love the final part of the book where we get to see Marmee's reactions to everything and hear what she has to say about what her husband has done and experienced.  Marmee was without doubt my favorite character - I really liked when he remembered how she was when they first met - fiery and full of passion.  The book describes, without excuse, the daily brutality of war and of slavery during the Civil War.  Powerful and moving in its gruesome details.  Also, I couldn't help but fall in love with some of the idealist sentiments mentioned in the book.  Here are some favorite quotes:

"I've always imagined paradise as something like a library." p 17
"But, sir, surely the very condition of enslavement, not the slaves' inherent nature, must account for such lapses of honor.  The heart is a crimson organ, be it within white breast or in black, and surely wickedness may dwell alike in either." p 25
""I am, indeed, a 'chapel man,' who carries within himself all that's needed for worship.  At last, it is possible to have a part in faith without carved pulpit or Gothic arch, without lace altar cloth and without robes, save my suit of unornamented black." p 58
"But perhaps one day I will be entrusted with daughters of my own, and if so, I swear I will not see their minds molded into society's simpering ideal of womanhood.  Oh, how I would like to raise writers and artists who would make the world acknowledge what women can do!" p 64
"The brave man, the real hero, quakes with terror, sweats, feels his very bowels betray him, and in spite of this moves forward to do the act he dreads...Sometimes, true courage requires inaction; that one sit at home while war rages, if by doing so one satisfies the quiet voice of honorable conscience." p168
"You cannot right injustice by injustice.  You must not defame God by preaching that he wills young men to kill one another.  For what manner of God could possibly will what I see here?  There are Confederates lying in this hospital, they say; so there is union at last, a united states of pain." p 210
"I hoped so hard that Hope seemed to take corporeal form, my thoughts and wishes reaching out to him and wrapping themselves around him, as avidly as my body had wrapped around him when we both were young.  I wanted to transplant my vivid spirit within his depleted one, to root out the memories that troubled his sleep and sow in their place a vision of every good moment we had spent together.  So I sat by his bed, all day and into the evening, whispering reminiscences of sunlit days and crisp fall apples, of girlish laughter and great minds brilliant with new ideas." p 255
Things I Didn't Like:
I really hated Mr. March.  He was not a likable person and it makes you wonder, sometimes what his wife saw in him, other than a foolish idealist.  Also, it was too graphic for my tastes - I'm sure it was accurate and entirely true to the experiences of war, but I don't really have the stomach for it.  My book group really loathed the book in general (though most of them hadn't finished the book when we came to discuss it).  The fact that Mr. March didn't exactly fit into the character we all imagined from Little Women really turned everyone off from it.  I found that I could enjoy it more if I forgot that fact.  Also, we figured that some of the dislike was because of our personal beliefs and not because of the book's lack of merit.  I'm kind of torn on this one - while recognizing its merit and beauty, I really didn't enjoy it.  


Read-alikes:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is related (obviously)


BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:  
s-factor: !@
a few


mrg-factor: XX
a couple of scenes


v-factor: ->->->->->
quite graphic, quite common


Overall rating: ***

How do you rate well-written by not so enjoyable (for you) books?
If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage


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