My original thought, when planning this post, was that 2010 was kind of a "meh" reading year for me. But after flipping through my journal, I realised that there were some good things in there, just didn't find any new (to me) authors who absolutely knocked my socks off.
I discovered the very competent Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter. (That's not the faint praise it sounds like. I'm very picky about my Urban Fantasy.) The first book in the series is Skinwalker.
I really enjoyed What the Librarian Did by Karina Bliss. I don't read much category romance anymore, but this one was good. A well balanced combination of fun and emotion. And to an Ugly American the New Zealand setting was just a touch exotic. I definitely look forward to reading more from this author.
Exit Strategy and Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong are the only two books in the Nadia Stafford series. (So far. I'm still hoping for more.) I put off reading these for a while because I wasn't sure I wanted to read about a heroine who's a hitman... woman... whatever. But Nadia has strong reasons for doing what she does, and it was easy for me as a reader to accept what her line of work. I absolutely loved her mentor, Jack, and hope if there are further books in the series that they will develop the relationship between them.
Changes by Jim Butcher ended with a real shocker that leaves the whole Dresden Files series in question. Can't wait to see what happens in the new one, due out this spring.
Draw the Dark by Isla J. Bick was excellent, and a book that I never would have discovered if not for Netgalley. My review is here.
Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews was good.
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl was good. I hope to get around to the sequel, Beautiful Darkness, sometime in the new year.
There were other books this year that, unfortunately, didn't live up to my hopes for them. Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie, The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen, and Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn were all slightly disappointing. None of them were bad books by any means. But they didn't live up to the authors' previous books.
And then there was the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. I found these books both obsessively readable and not very good. The story is told in first person by MacKayla Lane, possibly the most insipid, TSTL heroine I've ever encountered. In fact, there were times when she wandered past TSTL and into Why Aren't You Dead Yet? I frequently longed to beat her over the head with one of her pretty pink shoes. I only put up with Mac to get access to the delectable Jericho Barrons. Who is also sometimes a bit of a tool-- if I were Mac I'd have planted one of my pretty pink shoes where the sun don't shine about 5 minutes after meeting the guy. But honey, I'd still bang him like a screen door. And so I will be putting up with the irritatingly ignorant Mac just to find out what happens to Barrons in the final book, due out in about 3 weeks.
So those were the standouts of my reading year. For anyone who's curious, you can see my full 2010 reading list here. Happy New Year, y'all!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
I have a plan
After four years with the Little Red Book, I feel like I've got a handle on tracking my reading. Now I need to work on the other side of the equation.
My TBR shelf was always a bit out of control. I tried to keep the TBR to one shelf on my bookshelf. Then it was a double row of books on that shelf. Then it was a double row of books with others piled on top. For every one I read, three more magically appeared. They were breeding like rabbits. Pretty soon I was going to have to rent them their own apartment. And still, I didn't always have exactly the right book for my reading mood.
Then came the Kindle.
For a while I did pretty good. Since I could have just about any book I wanted any time I wanted, there was no need to stockpile. I could download a sample for any book that struck my fancy, and then browse and buy at leisure. It was the damn freebies that got me. Out of the 153 books in my TBR file, I only purchased 8 of them. Everything else was a promo.
Then All Romance Ebooks had a major sale leading up to the introduction of Agency pricing last spring. Hello, Sony Pocket, and hello piles of ebooks. Bought at a discount, of course, but still purchased and languishing on my reader. With the world of ebook retailers suddenly wide open, I also discovered Kobo. And let me tell you, Kobo loves to run coupons. This summer Carina Press opened it's doors, and I've probably bought half of the books they've published so far, many from Kobo at obscene discount. And then there were the thousands of library books available for download with my Sony.
Are you starting to get the picture here? I have a lot of books, just waiting to be read. And with them demurely tucked away on ereaders, and not bursting off the living room shelves, it's easy to forget exactly how much I have, and how much I really don't need to take advantage of that next coupon.
My name is Chronic Betty, and I have a book buying problem.
The only way to take control and clear out some of this backlog is to start making a list. For a while this summer I had a list of all the books I needed/wanted to read, along with a notation for whether I had paid for them, gotten them as a freebie, or downloaded them from the library. I'd cross each book off as I read it. But it quickly got cumbersome, since I didn't dedicate a special notebook to this and instead just mixed it in with all the rest of the every day notes. (Proof that my Little Red Book was a good idea.)
So for 2011 I'm trying something new. I've had my Goodreads account for a while, but I haven't taken full advantage of it's shelf system to organize my books. This year I will. I've created a shelf called Books to Read in 2011. There are 105 books on it right now. A few of these are library books that I know I'll be able to download at some point in the coming year. A few more are books that are coming out in 2011 that I know I'm going to want to buy. But the majority are books that are sitting on one of my ereaders, just waiting for me to get around to them. This list isn't set in stone. There will probably be additions as the year goes on. But if I can get most of the books on this list read by the end of the year, I'll feel pretty good about my progress. If I stay away from the coupons it will help.
My TBR shelf was always a bit out of control. I tried to keep the TBR to one shelf on my bookshelf. Then it was a double row of books on that shelf. Then it was a double row of books with others piled on top. For every one I read, three more magically appeared. They were breeding like rabbits. Pretty soon I was going to have to rent them their own apartment. And still, I didn't always have exactly the right book for my reading mood.
Then came the Kindle.
For a while I did pretty good. Since I could have just about any book I wanted any time I wanted, there was no need to stockpile. I could download a sample for any book that struck my fancy, and then browse and buy at leisure. It was the damn freebies that got me. Out of the 153 books in my TBR file, I only purchased 8 of them. Everything else was a promo.
Then All Romance Ebooks had a major sale leading up to the introduction of Agency pricing last spring. Hello, Sony Pocket, and hello piles of ebooks. Bought at a discount, of course, but still purchased and languishing on my reader. With the world of ebook retailers suddenly wide open, I also discovered Kobo. And let me tell you, Kobo loves to run coupons. This summer Carina Press opened it's doors, and I've probably bought half of the books they've published so far, many from Kobo at obscene discount. And then there were the thousands of library books available for download with my Sony.
Are you starting to get the picture here? I have a lot of books, just waiting to be read. And with them demurely tucked away on ereaders, and not bursting off the living room shelves, it's easy to forget exactly how much I have, and how much I really don't need to take advantage of that next coupon.
My name is Chronic Betty, and I have a book buying problem.
The only way to take control and clear out some of this backlog is to start making a list. For a while this summer I had a list of all the books I needed/wanted to read, along with a notation for whether I had paid for them, gotten them as a freebie, or downloaded them from the library. I'd cross each book off as I read it. But it quickly got cumbersome, since I didn't dedicate a special notebook to this and instead just mixed it in with all the rest of the every day notes. (Proof that my Little Red Book was a good idea.)
So for 2011 I'm trying something new. I've had my Goodreads account for a while, but I haven't taken full advantage of it's shelf system to organize my books. This year I will. I've created a shelf called Books to Read in 2011. There are 105 books on it right now. A few of these are library books that I know I'll be able to download at some point in the coming year. A few more are books that are coming out in 2011 that I know I'm going to want to buy. But the majority are books that are sitting on one of my ereaders, just waiting for me to get around to them. This list isn't set in stone. There will probably be additions as the year goes on. But if I can get most of the books on this list read by the end of the year, I'll feel pretty good about my progress. If I stay away from the coupons it will help.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Little Red Book
Way, way back in 2006, while making my New Year's resolutions, I decided it was time to get organized about this reading thing. I knew I did it. A lot. But how many books did I read in a year? No idea. If someone wanted a recommendation I was reduced to scanning my book shelves, which was only partially successful because I'm also a library junkie. And when reading a series with a lot of similar titles, the "oh, crap, have I read this one yet?" factor was just too high. It was time to start my Little Red Book.
The journal itself is something I won that year in the Cherry NaNo group. Left to my own devices I probably would have grabbed a plain old notebook from the grocery store. And within a month or two there would be a reading list in the front and grocery lists, driving directions, and all kinds of other random crap in the back. So the pretty journal was a blessing. Even though it's showing some wear after four years of constant use, it's still in good shape. No random doodles, no pages torn out. Just an ongoing list of the books I've read since I started my project.
Being me, I have a few rules for the Little Red Book. Only books read in their entirety are recorded. DNFs don't make it. If it's an anthology, I have to read the whole thing. Two stories out of five doesn't make the cut. And most of all, these have to be books I've never read before. Re-reads most definitely don't go in the book.
Even with all these rules I've managed to make it to 400 books in the last four years. I expect to finish book number 401 before midnight on Friday. At the rate I've been reading, and considering the number of pages I have left, this book should take care of me for another 48 years. Since that would make me approximately 84 years old, this is probably the only reading journal I will ever need.
I highly recommend you start a reading journal of your own, if you don't have one already. You can do it the old fashioned way, like me with my Little Red Book. You can make a spreadsheet and track them on your computer. Or you can go the social media route and use a website like Goodreads or Shelfari. And you don't have to use my rules. Make up your own, or have none at all if that suits you. However you decide to do it, start a list. Try it for a year. You might be surprised to see how satisfying tracking your reading habits can be.
The journal itself is something I won that year in the Cherry NaNo group. Left to my own devices I probably would have grabbed a plain old notebook from the grocery store. And within a month or two there would be a reading list in the front and grocery lists, driving directions, and all kinds of other random crap in the back. So the pretty journal was a blessing. Even though it's showing some wear after four years of constant use, it's still in good shape. No random doodles, no pages torn out. Just an ongoing list of the books I've read since I started my project.
Being me, I have a few rules for the Little Red Book. Only books read in their entirety are recorded. DNFs don't make it. If it's an anthology, I have to read the whole thing. Two stories out of five doesn't make the cut. And most of all, these have to be books I've never read before. Re-reads most definitely don't go in the book.
Even with all these rules I've managed to make it to 400 books in the last four years. I expect to finish book number 401 before midnight on Friday. At the rate I've been reading, and considering the number of pages I have left, this book should take care of me for another 48 years. Since that would make me approximately 84 years old, this is probably the only reading journal I will ever need.
I highly recommend you start a reading journal of your own, if you don't have one already. You can do it the old fashioned way, like me with my Little Red Book. You can make a spreadsheet and track them on your computer. Or you can go the social media route and use a website like Goodreads or Shelfari. And you don't have to use my rules. Make up your own, or have none at all if that suits you. However you decide to do it, start a list. Try it for a year. You might be surprised to see how satisfying tracking your reading habits can be.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Sweet!
I was poking around at Goodreads the other day, as I am occasionally wont to do, and I rediscovered the giveaways section. (It's a tab under Find Books.) Many, many people throw their names in the hat for these things, so I wasn't expecting much. But I went ahead and applied for a few that looked interesting. And I was chosen for one! The drawing was Monday, and they say it could take 4-6 weeks for the book to arrive. Well, I guess Penguin is ready to wrap things up for the holidays, because FedEx just delivered my copy of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
Obviously, two days before Christmas is not the best time to start an almost 600 page novel. But the blurb sounds really good, right up my alley, and I look forward to cracking it open sometime after the first of the year.
So if you're on Goodreads, I encourage you to take a look at the giveaways page and apply if you see something interesting. You never know when you might get lucky! (Almost 1200 people signed up for 25 copies of ADoW, so I feel pretty lucky indeed. Anyone want to buy me a lottery ticket?) And here's a link to my profile, if you'd like to friend me over there: http://www.goodreads.com/chronicbetty. You know I love seeing what everyone else is reading!
Obviously, two days before Christmas is not the best time to start an almost 600 page novel. But the blurb sounds really good, right up my alley, and I look forward to cracking it open sometime after the first of the year.
So if you're on Goodreads, I encourage you to take a look at the giveaways page and apply if you see something interesting. You never know when you might get lucky! (Almost 1200 people signed up for 25 copies of ADoW, so I feel pretty lucky indeed. Anyone want to buy me a lottery ticket?) And here's a link to my profile, if you'd like to friend me over there: http://www.goodreads.com/chronicbetty. You know I love seeing what everyone else is reading!
Friday, December 17, 2010
A Survey of One-Hit Wonders
Now please be advised, readers, that Diva defines a one-hit wonder not as an author with a single successful book but as a writer who wrote what I deem to be one and only one excellent book after reading others in their canon.
Feel free to dispute my selections--some obscure, some revered--but be armed with the title of another good book he/she wrote.
1. Whitney Otto
The Book of Superior Perfection: How to Make an American Quilt
Dismal 1995 film adaptation notwithstanding, this collection of stories examines the defining events in the lives of a group of women who quilt together in Grasse, California as they make a wedding quilt for Finn Bennett Dodd, the granddaughter of one of the members. Sophia Darling, the first story, is my favorite--romantic, true, and devastating. Seriously--anyone who can describe a seventeen year old as having a heart that "resembled nothing so much as a badly-formed arrow, all rough edges and sharpness" had incredible potential writing for women.
The Letdowns: The Passion Dream Book (the first 50 pages are great, too bad she abandons all the characters in the Renaissance era prologue to focus on an interracial couple in a dull and pedantic story. A Collection of Beauties at the Height of their Popularity is the only book I have ever actually marched to the counter of a bookstore with and demanded my money back BECAUSE IT WAS SO BAD. If I wanted to read about a bunch of drugged out promiscuous people doing lines of cocaine off someone's daughter's school picture, I'd be a very different person. Since I'm me, I required my $12 back and got it.
2. Tracy Chevalier
The Book of Superior Perfection: Girl With a Pearl Earring
Another book whose movie I disliked--Colin Firth in an impossibly bushy red wig seemed ineffectual and rather like he was, um, ogling a very very young girl whilst married. The novel, however, explores Griet's coming of age as a housemaid who falls in love with Vermeer, poses for his painting, and is cast out in disgrace. The descriptions are vivid and Griet's inner life is observant and honest. Plus, great last line..."A maid comes free."
The Letdowns: The Lady and the Unicorn--Chevalier's other attempt to enliven a famed artwork came across as lewd and annoying. The tapestry guy uses a rather icky unicorn story as a pickup line. It's not pretty. Also, Falling Angels which centers around a cemetery but meanders dully until my favorite character, Ivy Mae, gets raped and strangled at a suffragist rally. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
3. Beth Gutcheon
The Book of Superior Perfection: More than You Know
I reviewed this here and it's one of the most romantic novels I've ever read. No disclaimer, no warnings, just a stunning love story with a malevolent ghost in the mix. I could quote the luminous writing for hours.
The Letdowns: Domestic Pleasures--only one chapter of this book had a taste of the magic of MTYK. The rest of it is about a single mother reeling from her ex-husband's death and getting involved with his bastard lawyer. Leeway Cottage--again, the chapter about Nina before she gets stuck in the concentration camp is lovely but the rest of the book vacillates from a dreadful marriage to brutal scenes in said camp. She wrote a sequel to this which I felt it unnecessary to explore since I hated all of the characters both individually and as a group.
4. John Steinbeck
Book of Superior Perfection: East of Eden
One of my favorites ever, this ambitious allegory of Cain and Abel follows three generations of the Trask family: jaunty one-legged egomaniac Cyrus, his sons the brutal Charles and apathetic Adam who are trashed by devil allegory Cathy, and Adam and Cathy's twins Cal and Aron. Cal Trask is the first character I ever read of whom I truly thought: I am him. That is me. Not Anne Shirley nor Laura Ingalls, my perennial favorites, could compete with the shattered depths of my identification with Cal.
The Letdowns: Of Mice and Men (unengaging and depressing), To a God Unknown (egotistical and damn creepy), Cup of Gold (practically nonsensical), Winter of Our Discontent (smug and self-aggrandizing), The Grapes of Wrath (tragic and miserable without loveliness), et. al.
Feel free to dispute my selections--some obscure, some revered--but be armed with the title of another good book he/she wrote.
1. Whitney Otto
The Book of Superior Perfection: How to Make an American Quilt
Dismal 1995 film adaptation notwithstanding, this collection of stories examines the defining events in the lives of a group of women who quilt together in Grasse, California as they make a wedding quilt for Finn Bennett Dodd, the granddaughter of one of the members. Sophia Darling, the first story, is my favorite--romantic, true, and devastating. Seriously--anyone who can describe a seventeen year old as having a heart that "resembled nothing so much as a badly-formed arrow, all rough edges and sharpness" had incredible potential writing for women.
The Letdowns: The Passion Dream Book (the first 50 pages are great, too bad she abandons all the characters in the Renaissance era prologue to focus on an interracial couple in a dull and pedantic story. A Collection of Beauties at the Height of their Popularity is the only book I have ever actually marched to the counter of a bookstore with and demanded my money back BECAUSE IT WAS SO BAD. If I wanted to read about a bunch of drugged out promiscuous people doing lines of cocaine off someone's daughter's school picture, I'd be a very different person. Since I'm me, I required my $12 back and got it.
2. Tracy Chevalier
The Book of Superior Perfection: Girl With a Pearl Earring
Another book whose movie I disliked--Colin Firth in an impossibly bushy red wig seemed ineffectual and rather like he was, um, ogling a very very young girl whilst married. The novel, however, explores Griet's coming of age as a housemaid who falls in love with Vermeer, poses for his painting, and is cast out in disgrace. The descriptions are vivid and Griet's inner life is observant and honest. Plus, great last line..."A maid comes free."
The Letdowns: The Lady and the Unicorn--Chevalier's other attempt to enliven a famed artwork came across as lewd and annoying. The tapestry guy uses a rather icky unicorn story as a pickup line. It's not pretty. Also, Falling Angels which centers around a cemetery but meanders dully until my favorite character, Ivy Mae, gets raped and strangled at a suffragist rally. Horrible, horrible, horrible.
3. Beth Gutcheon
The Book of Superior Perfection: More than You Know
I reviewed this here and it's one of the most romantic novels I've ever read. No disclaimer, no warnings, just a stunning love story with a malevolent ghost in the mix. I could quote the luminous writing for hours.
The Letdowns: Domestic Pleasures--only one chapter of this book had a taste of the magic of MTYK. The rest of it is about a single mother reeling from her ex-husband's death and getting involved with his bastard lawyer. Leeway Cottage--again, the chapter about Nina before she gets stuck in the concentration camp is lovely but the rest of the book vacillates from a dreadful marriage to brutal scenes in said camp. She wrote a sequel to this which I felt it unnecessary to explore since I hated all of the characters both individually and as a group.
4. John Steinbeck
Book of Superior Perfection: East of Eden
One of my favorites ever, this ambitious allegory of Cain and Abel follows three generations of the Trask family: jaunty one-legged egomaniac Cyrus, his sons the brutal Charles and apathetic Adam who are trashed by devil allegory Cathy, and Adam and Cathy's twins Cal and Aron. Cal Trask is the first character I ever read of whom I truly thought: I am him. That is me. Not Anne Shirley nor Laura Ingalls, my perennial favorites, could compete with the shattered depths of my identification with Cal.
The Letdowns: Of Mice and Men (unengaging and depressing), To a God Unknown (egotistical and damn creepy), Cup of Gold (practically nonsensical), Winter of Our Discontent (smug and self-aggrandizing), The Grapes of Wrath (tragic and miserable without loveliness), et. al.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Do you like a challenge?
I have a confession to make. I love the thrill of a challenge. 52 Books in 52 Weeks, 43 Things, NaNoWriMo, Team in Training. I like the adrenalin of starting something new. I like the camaraderie that projects like this create.
But I have another secret for you. I'm terrible on follow through. As much as I might want to do something at the start, if the motivation to do it doesn't come from within me, I'm not going to finish.
I've noticed lately, probably because we're coming up on the start of a new year, a lot of reading challenge sign ups, both on Goodreads and various book blogs. Usually, the challenges are linked to what you're reading in some way-- read x number of YA novels, read x number of first time authors, read every book on this list of classics, etc. One of the more attractive challenges to me was about stepping outside your comfort zone and trying different styles or genres. Sometimes I wonder if my reading interests are too narrow, and think that a challenge that forces me to read something different would be good for me.
And this is where I always get hung up. I don't read because it's good for me. I read for entertainment. I read for pleasure. Reading a book I don't want to read is like forcing myself to gag down lima beans. I don't like it, and I'll avoid it whenever I can. Add that to my little quirk about not starting a new book until the last one is finished and suddenly there's a whole lot less reading in my life. Not good.
That said, I do like having reading goals. What's the difference? My goals involve the number of books I read in a year. The subject matter is totally up to the whims of the moment. And I have many reading whims.
I think I'm going to create two goals for myself this year. The first goal is to reach 500 in my little red book. (I'll talk more about that in a future post.) My other goal is to read down some of the massive TBR list waiting for me on my Kindle and Pocket. I may even go so far as to say no buying books for a certain length of time or until I've read a certain number of books in my backlog. I'm not certain about that part yet. A no buying policy could lead to another book binge in the week between Christmas and New Year's, especially if there are any good coupon deals.
So, that's my tentative reading plan for 2011. What's yours? Have you thought about it at all, or is everyone just trying to hang on until Christmas?
But I have another secret for you. I'm terrible on follow through. As much as I might want to do something at the start, if the motivation to do it doesn't come from within me, I'm not going to finish.
I've noticed lately, probably because we're coming up on the start of a new year, a lot of reading challenge sign ups, both on Goodreads and various book blogs. Usually, the challenges are linked to what you're reading in some way-- read x number of YA novels, read x number of first time authors, read every book on this list of classics, etc. One of the more attractive challenges to me was about stepping outside your comfort zone and trying different styles or genres. Sometimes I wonder if my reading interests are too narrow, and think that a challenge that forces me to read something different would be good for me.
And this is where I always get hung up. I don't read because it's good for me. I read for entertainment. I read for pleasure. Reading a book I don't want to read is like forcing myself to gag down lima beans. I don't like it, and I'll avoid it whenever I can. Add that to my little quirk about not starting a new book until the last one is finished and suddenly there's a whole lot less reading in my life. Not good.
That said, I do like having reading goals. What's the difference? My goals involve the number of books I read in a year. The subject matter is totally up to the whims of the moment. And I have many reading whims.
I think I'm going to create two goals for myself this year. The first goal is to reach 500 in my little red book. (I'll talk more about that in a future post.) My other goal is to read down some of the massive TBR list waiting for me on my Kindle and Pocket. I may even go so far as to say no buying books for a certain length of time or until I've read a certain number of books in my backlog. I'm not certain about that part yet. A no buying policy could lead to another book binge in the week between Christmas and New Year's, especially if there are any good coupon deals.
So, that's my tentative reading plan for 2011. What's yours? Have you thought about it at all, or is everyone just trying to hang on until Christmas?
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Review: Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake by Sarah MacLean
A lady does not smoke cheroot. She does not ride astride. She does not fence or attend duels. She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen's club.I really enjoyed this one, mostly because Callie is my favorite kind of heroine-- intelligent and accomplished, but terribly insecure about her appearance and ability to attract a mate. Read into that what you will, but I love seeing this kind of heroine come into her own and find the man of her dreams.
Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried - and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she's vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she's been missing.
But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss - to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston - charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.
If she's not careful, she'll break the most important rule of all - the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love...
Callie receives a wake up call the night of her younger sister's betrothal ball, and she make a list of nine things she wants to experience.
Kiss someone- PassionatelyAn overheard conversation is the spur she needs to take the list from a fantasy to a project. By an impulsive act that struck me as out of character, Callie lands in the home of the man she's fantasized about for years, Lord Ralston. That same day a sister he never knew about landed on his doorstep, and he decides that Callie is the solution to the problem of launching this new sister in society. I found this a bit improbable also. But if you can go with the flow, it gives them an excuse to spend time together for the rest of the book.
Smoke a cheroot and drink scotch
Ride astride
Fence
Attend a duel
Fire a pistol
Gamble (at a gentleman's club)
Dance every dance at a ball
Be considered beautiful. Just once.
I liked Ralston a lot, too. He and Callie had great chemistry, both physically and mentally. Although a rake and an accomplished lover, of course, he had an endearing habit of saying exactly the wrong thing after fooling around. Through the filter of Callie's insecurities they were more devastating than charming, but from his point of view he was desperately trying to be the person he felt Callie deserved.
The list provides momentum to the story. Many of the adventures also become opportunities for Callie and Ralston to advance their physical and emotional intimacy. But if felt like the last few were accomplished just to be accomplished. They didn't add anything to the story. I would have preferred to close the book knowing that they planned to continue their adventures than to rush through them.
Also, there was a side story about a bet that I could have done without. It never really added up to much in the story, except for one more fall out between the lovers before the final declaration. It could have been cut with no negative impact to the story as a whole.
Overall, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake was charming and heart wrenching (I might have teared up a time or two), a solid B+.
I downloaded this one from the library (hooray for the library!), and I'm already on the waiting list for the next book in the trilogy, Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Mid-Day Mini Monday
You're probably all getting really sick of listening to me talk about this, but today I'm working through Memory, the (depending on how you count them, because the books were written and published all out of order and they still manage to be brilliant) tenth book in the Vorkosigan series.
This book suffers from the same problem that every series seems to face eventually. There's stuff that has to happen, the mundane, taking care of business stuff. Recovering from what happened in the last book, set up for the next one. You gotta do it. But it's not terribly interesting, at least not on the re-read. Not if that's all you're doing, with no other plot stuff woven in.
The first third of the book has some pretty significant stuff going on. There's a big "oh, shit" for Miles in there, and something major happens for Gregor. If this was Gregor's story, the first third of the book would be fascinating. But it's not, and it's not. At about the one-third mark the real business of the book is introduced and things pick up. At the half-way point, where I am right now, things are really getting hot. If I didn't have other stuff I had to do, I wouldn't have put down the book to write this.
But the first part of the book? Meh.
This book suffers from the same problem that every series seems to face eventually. There's stuff that has to happen, the mundane, taking care of business stuff. Recovering from what happened in the last book, set up for the next one. You gotta do it. But it's not terribly interesting, at least not on the re-read. Not if that's all you're doing, with no other plot stuff woven in.
The first third of the book has some pretty significant stuff going on. There's a big "oh, shit" for Miles in there, and something major happens for Gregor. If this was Gregor's story, the first third of the book would be fascinating. But it's not, and it's not. At about the one-third mark the real business of the book is introduced and things pick up. At the half-way point, where I am right now, things are really getting hot. If I didn't have other stuff I had to do, I wouldn't have put down the book to write this.
But the first part of the book? Meh.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Review: Changeless by Gail Carriger
Review by Lora (DivaBetty)
After reading Soulless by Gail Carriger, I was hooked.
Our preternatural heroine, Alexia (we find her witty but sometimes annoying), has married her werewolf hottie Connall Maccon (we LOVE him) and parlayed her newlywed aristocratic status into a post on the Shadow Council--Queen Victoria's advisors on the supernatural.
Suddenly, when the British fleet comes in from India by way of Egypt, all the supernaturals are rendered temporarily mortal and the ghosts are exorcised permanently. The BUR Agency where Connall works and the Shadow Council investigate, debating whether a plague or a new weapon is to blame for the "changelessness".
This phenomenon follows Connall back to Scotland where he goes to settle some business with his former pack, which he abandoned after a betrayal (cue blah blah blah exposition in which he was in every way justified in his actions blah blah). Alexia follows him by dirigible and is tailed by compelling French inventor Madame Lefoux who dresses in men's clothing, has a rather suspicious affiliation with our heroine's equally suspicious former-vampire-drone-turned-ladies'-maid Angelique. Attempts on Alexia's life and rummaging of her belongings ensue at Woolsey Castle where the dwindled former pack is a mess because Connall's successor (nice guy, crappy Alpha) has died. They are pissed at Connall, Connall's pissed at them, and amusing sequences follow in which they are all stuck as mortals but beat the crap out of each other anyway...astonished by how long it takes for natural healing to occur.
The wit abounds, the clever satirical steampunkishness remains charming.
The pseudoscience with the aethographer (telegraph-meets-satellite-phone-booth) and the dirigible felt laborious and overly detailed, perhaps in an unwise authorial attempt to have it MAKE SENSE which it does not. Personally, I like the series and I'm willing to check my disbelief at the doorway for the sake of entertainment but this reminded me of the numerous times in the wretched movie adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife that the silly screenwriter had characters try to "explain" how and why the time traveling occurred instead of letting it be a condition of the story. It just *is*, okay? The aethographer thingie sends messages and is tricky. The dirigible is a blimp with fancy deets. Basta!
Minor complaint: I really enjoyed Ivy Hisselpenny in book 1, Alexia's fashion-victim friend who was both conventional and hilarious. This time around she's caricaturized and Alexia dismisses all of her concerns and feelings in a cavalier manner underscoring my belief that our soulless mc is as caring as a toadstool. By ramping up the ludicrous hysterics, the author reduced a likeable character to another something for Alexia to turn up her nose at--she did that plenty often enough as it was. Is there anyone to whom she doesn't feel superior? Would I be terribly distressed if someone smacked her? The answer to both, sadly, is in the negative.
I won't spoil the WTF ending but I am personally torn between instantly downloading book 3 Blameless or simply chucking this one at the wall. Sufficient to say I believe that someone (namely my adored Connall) is acting out of character for the sake of a cliffhanger.
Our preternatural heroine, Alexia (we find her witty but sometimes annoying), has married her werewolf hottie Connall Maccon (we LOVE him) and parlayed her newlywed aristocratic status into a post on the Shadow Council--Queen Victoria's advisors on the supernatural.
Suddenly, when the British fleet comes in from India by way of Egypt, all the supernaturals are rendered temporarily mortal and the ghosts are exorcised permanently. The BUR Agency where Connall works and the Shadow Council investigate, debating whether a plague or a new weapon is to blame for the "changelessness".
This phenomenon follows Connall back to Scotland where he goes to settle some business with his former pack, which he abandoned after a betrayal (cue blah blah blah exposition in which he was in every way justified in his actions blah blah). Alexia follows him by dirigible and is tailed by compelling French inventor Madame Lefoux who dresses in men's clothing, has a rather suspicious affiliation with our heroine's equally suspicious former-vampire-drone-turned-ladies'-maid Angelique. Attempts on Alexia's life and rummaging of her belongings ensue at Woolsey Castle where the dwindled former pack is a mess because Connall's successor (nice guy, crappy Alpha) has died. They are pissed at Connall, Connall's pissed at them, and amusing sequences follow in which they are all stuck as mortals but beat the crap out of each other anyway...astonished by how long it takes for natural healing to occur.
The wit abounds, the clever satirical steampunkishness remains charming.
The pseudoscience with the aethographer (telegraph-meets-satellite-phone-booth) and the dirigible felt laborious and overly detailed, perhaps in an unwise authorial attempt to have it MAKE SENSE which it does not. Personally, I like the series and I'm willing to check my disbelief at the doorway for the sake of entertainment but this reminded me of the numerous times in the wretched movie adaptation of The Time Traveler's Wife that the silly screenwriter had characters try to "explain" how and why the time traveling occurred instead of letting it be a condition of the story. It just *is*, okay? The aethographer thingie sends messages and is tricky. The dirigible is a blimp with fancy deets. Basta!
Minor complaint: I really enjoyed Ivy Hisselpenny in book 1, Alexia's fashion-victim friend who was both conventional and hilarious. This time around she's caricaturized and Alexia dismisses all of her concerns and feelings in a cavalier manner underscoring my belief that our soulless mc is as caring as a toadstool. By ramping up the ludicrous hysterics, the author reduced a likeable character to another something for Alexia to turn up her nose at--she did that plenty often enough as it was. Is there anyone to whom she doesn't feel superior? Would I be terribly distressed if someone smacked her? The answer to both, sadly, is in the negative.
I won't spoil the WTF ending but I am personally torn between instantly downloading book 3 Blameless or simply chucking this one at the wall. Sufficient to say I believe that someone (namely my adored Connall) is acting out of character for the sake of a cliffhanger.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Freebie!
I've been talking a lot about the Vorkosigan series lately, since I'm working my way through the whole series again before starting the new book. (Up to Mirror Dance. Four more books to go before the new one.) So I thought I'd mention that the publisher, Baen, has one of the books available for free. The Warrior's Apprentice is the first book in the series that features Miles as the protagonist. It's the first book that I read in the series, and in my totally biased opinion is an excellent place to start.
To download the book, go to the Baen free library. (This is an excellent resource if you like scifi. Be sure to read the introduction, where they explain the reasoning behind the free library. Baen was way ahead of the ebook curve.) Click The Authors, then Lois McMaster Bujold, then Warrior's Apprentice. Once on the Warrior's Apprentice page you've got your choice of about a million different formats.
Enjoy!
To download the book, go to the Baen free library. (This is an excellent resource if you like scifi. Be sure to read the introduction, where they explain the reasoning behind the free library. Baen was way ahead of the ebook curve.) Click The Authors, then Lois McMaster Bujold, then Warrior's Apprentice. Once on the Warrior's Apprentice page you've got your choice of about a million different formats.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
'Tis the Season
... to be reading! When I was a kid, one of the best parts of any holiday was the seasonal books that Mom would pull out of storage for us. Some of them I just remember the cover for, like Santa Mouse.
And then, there are others, like Cajun Night Before Christmas, that starts so memorably:
Christmas in America was a gift from my Pop-Pop for my first Christmas. It's out of print, probably never had more than that one printing, and is hideously expensive on the second-hand market. Amazon has copies for around $40. Fortunately, I still have that original copy (signed by the author even! I started early), and I was able to get copies a few years ago for my parents and brother, so none of us have to be without it, even if we can't all be together for the holiday.
The great thing about Christmas in America is that there is so much to see and learn. Unlike many picture books, Christmas is text-heavy. And the family in the story is German American, with corresponding foods and traditions, so not always easy to pronounce, either. But being German American myself, some of those foods and traditions were familiar from our own celebrations, even if the story takes place almost 100 years ago.
Moving into the present, I'm looking forward to reading a few grown-up Christmas books this year, too. My parents are seriously addicted to Hallmark movies. There have to be at least 30 hours of Hallmark Christmas movies on the dvr in the living room right now. They've watched Mrs. Miracle and Call Me Mrs. Miracle (Kaylee!) at least twice since Saturday. That got me interested in the books, even though I'm generally indifferent to Debbie Macomber. I was able to download Mrs. Miracle from the library, and I'm on the waiting list for Call Me Mrs. Miracle. I haven't had a chance to start reading yet, but I'd better get on it soon, or I may find myself wrestling my mother for possession of the ereader.
The other seasonal read I'm looking forward to is A Christmas to Die For by Marta Perry. I'm not normally an Inspie reader, but the first book in this series, Hide in Plain Sight, was one of the first books I read when I bought my Kindle summer of 2009. Harlequin had it available as a promotional freebie (and as far as I know it still is), so I decided to give it a try. Plus, the setting is Amish country, which sounded interesting, although the hero and heroine are not Amish themselves. When I saw that the second book in the series was Christmas themed, I decided to read it on Christmas Eve. Well, circumstances conspired against me, and A Christmas to Die For is still sitting, unread, on my Pocket a year later. This time I'm not banking on getting to read it on Christmas Eve, but I do plan to get to it sometime this month.
So, do you have any special books for the holidays? Any holiday-themed books you plan to read this season?
And then, there are others, like Cajun Night Before Christmas, that starts so memorably:
'Twas the night before Christmas
An' all t'ru de house
Dey don't a t'ing pass
Not even a mouse.
But our very favorite book, the one that we still snuggle up on the couch on Christmas Eve to read together, is Christmas in America by Beverly A. Scott.
Christmas in America was a gift from my Pop-Pop for my first Christmas. It's out of print, probably never had more than that one printing, and is hideously expensive on the second-hand market. Amazon has copies for around $40. Fortunately, I still have that original copy (signed by the author even! I started early), and I was able to get copies a few years ago for my parents and brother, so none of us have to be without it, even if we can't all be together for the holiday.
The great thing about Christmas in America is that there is so much to see and learn. Unlike many picture books, Christmas is text-heavy. And the family in the story is German American, with corresponding foods and traditions, so not always easy to pronounce, either. But being German American myself, some of those foods and traditions were familiar from our own celebrations, even if the story takes place almost 100 years ago.
Moving into the present, I'm looking forward to reading a few grown-up Christmas books this year, too. My parents are seriously addicted to Hallmark movies. There have to be at least 30 hours of Hallmark Christmas movies on the dvr in the living room right now. They've watched Mrs. Miracle and Call Me Mrs. Miracle (Kaylee!) at least twice since Saturday. That got me interested in the books, even though I'm generally indifferent to Debbie Macomber. I was able to download Mrs. Miracle from the library, and I'm on the waiting list for Call Me Mrs. Miracle. I haven't had a chance to start reading yet, but I'd better get on it soon, or I may find myself wrestling my mother for possession of the ereader.
The other seasonal read I'm looking forward to is A Christmas to Die For by Marta Perry. I'm not normally an Inspie reader, but the first book in this series, Hide in Plain Sight, was one of the first books I read when I bought my Kindle summer of 2009. Harlequin had it available as a promotional freebie (and as far as I know it still is), so I decided to give it a try. Plus, the setting is Amish country, which sounded interesting, although the hero and heroine are not Amish themselves. When I saw that the second book in the series was Christmas themed, I decided to read it on Christmas Eve. Well, circumstances conspired against me, and A Christmas to Die For is still sitting, unread, on my Pocket a year later. This time I'm not banking on getting to read it on Christmas Eve, but I do plan to get to it sometime this month.
So, do you have any special books for the holidays? Any holiday-themed books you plan to read this season?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Review: Incantation by Alice Hoffman
Allow me to begin by confessing my adoration for Hoffman's bewitching coldly-observant-on-the-outside-heartbreaking-in-the-center style.
If you require references in addition to my oath of fealty, check out The Probable Future or Green Angel for astonishing proof of her power.
I've loved her other YA books (Green Angel, Green Witch, The Foretelling) so I was thrilled to find Incantation for $2.50 at the school book fair last week.
The Premise:
Sixteen year old Estrella lives in a Spanish village with her widowed mother Abra (she spins wool and dyes yarn a spectrum of gorgeous blues as well as practicing herbalism) and grandparents. She loves her home, her town, her best friend Catalina next door--they are inseparable, dark haired and mischievous. Locals even called them Raven (Estrella) and Crow (Catalina) as children.
Officials begin to set more regulations on the Jews in town--surgical practice/medicine is banned as well as the possession of books by a Jew. Estrella finds this disturbing, but Catalina is rather callous about it. Any thoughtful reader over age ten will realize this is your first clue that Catalina's a raging bitch. Anyone under age ten (or named ESTRELLA) will not notice that obvious fact.
Estrella's stern grandmother gives her a string of pearls bought for her on the day she was born. Catalina manages to weasel these away from her by questioning her loyalty. Estrella's devout and studious brother comes home from seminary for a visit. Catalina gripes that he thinks he is better than everyone else.
The next door neighbors are turned over to the officials as secret Jews and executed. Estrella sees Catalina looting through their house afterward, taking embroidered tablecloths and anything fine she can scavenge.
Yes, folks, she's a greedy greedy ho-bag.
Did I mention that--uh ohs!--Catalina's orphaned cousin Andres lives with her family? It is assumed that he is betrothed to Catalina. He loves Estrella. Estrella begins to notice him.
Catalina is mad and crazy jealous. She becomes suspicious of how Estrella's family always lights candles before dusk on Friday afternoons and performs the sign of the cross differently. I think you see where this is going. If you don't, I won't spoil it for you.
Despite the impending doom in the plot, Incantation is fascinating, beautifully detailed, and well worth reading. It's well-researched, provides a personal and vivid depiction of closeted Jews during the Inquisition, against the background of a sweet love story brought from the ashes of devastation.
An excerpt (because it's so much lovelier than I can say):
We floated in the dark water. Above us the sky was so filled with stars it seemed more white than black. I thought of salt and flour on my grandmother's tabletop. I thought of pearls in the sea. All this way from town we could still breathe in the odor of the lime flowers from the burnt trees in the plaza. Some things were strong. They stayed with you. The place where you grew up, the scent of lime flowers, the dreams you had. When I stared into the bathwater, I thought of the bowl my mother had me gaze into so many times and I thought, It is all here, the beginning and the end.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday Mabel
The coming of winter tends to put me in the mood for romances, so I turned to my unread books and picked up England's Perfect Hero by Suzanne Enoch. I'm not far in, but I already really like it. The hero is an ex-soldier given to panic attacks, and he has a serious crush on the heroine, who has a crush on someone else. It feels like it's going to be a nice change from the "twisted steel and sex appeal" of too many heroes in the Regency genre. Will report back when done! - London Mabel :-)
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Free Books! Go Now!
Books on the Knob, an excellent source for info on free or inexpensive ebooks, has posted that Kobo has a $3 off coupon going right now, good until midnight. (Non-Agency books only, unfortunately.) If the book is under $3 before the coupon, it's free. Kobo, if you haven't heard of them, is a reputable ebook vendor. I've bought from them many times with no problems at all. Their books are in epub format, so be sure that works with your reader, or be ready to read on the computer.
Here's a link directly to the post. What are you still here for? Go! Download lavishly! And then come back tomorrow and tell me what you bought! ;)
Here's a link directly to the post. What are you still here for? Go! Download lavishly! And then come back tomorrow and tell me what you bought! ;)
Friday, November 19, 2010
Review: Butterfly Tattoo by Deidre Knight
Butterfly Tattoo by Deidre Knight
Review by Chronic Betty
Just when the darkness seems permanent, fate flips a switch.
Michael Warner has been drifting in a numb haze since his lover was killed by a drunk driver. As the anniversary of the wreck approaches, Michael’s grief grows more suffocating. Yet he must find a way through the maze of pain and secrets to live for their troubled young daughter who struggles with guilt that she survived the crash.
Out of the darkness comes a voice, a lifeline he never expected to find—Rebecca O’Neill, a development executive in the studio where Michael works as an electrician.
Rebecca, a former sitcom celebrity left scarred from a crazed fan’s attack, has retreated from the limelight and from life in general, certain no man can ever get past her disfigurement. The instant sparks between her and Michael, who arrives to help her during a power outage, come as a complete surprise—and so does her uncanny bond with his daughter.
For the first time, all three feel compelled to examine their inner and outer scars in the light of love. But trust is hard to come by, especially when you’re not sure what to believe when you look in the mirror. The scars? Or the truth?
This is a difficult one to review, because it's such a big novel, not it's length so much as it's scope. Rebecca is a woman who is damaged both physically and emotionally, and struggles daily to deal with that damage. Michael was widowed almost a year ago, and he's struggling to find his balance and connect with his daughter again. Either of those problems would be enough to fill a book. But Rebecca and Michael have one more. Michael's dead spouse was a man.
He's not only dealing with the usual feelings of betrayal as he finds love again, he's also readjusting his view of himself as he accepts that maybe he's not as gay as he thought he was. Rebecca, who was horribly scarred in the attack and has understandable self confidence issues because of it, also fears that at some point Michael will decide he'd rather be with another man after all.
The book is very gentle in how all these issues are faced and dealt with. Michael and Rebecca take the relationship slowly, breaking down walls and building sexual tension. And Michael's daughter, Andrea, develops a significant relationship with Rebecca. There's a lot of pain to go around in this story, but a lot of joy, too.
About two thirds of the way through the story it took a surprising turn toward Inspirational. (If there are many Bisexual Inspirational Romances out there, I certainly haven't come across them.) There was no heavy handed proselytizing, but religion became important to them all in a way that I've never seen outside of the occasional Inspie.
About two thirds of the way through the story it took a surprising turn toward Inspirational. (If there are many Bisexual Inspirational Romances out there, I certainly haven't come across them.) There was no heavy handed proselytizing, but religion became important to them all in a way that I've never seen outside of the occasional Inspie.
Shortly before that, Michael and Rebecca break up. One of my few problems with this book is that this portion of the book dragged a bit. Pain because they're dealing with some heavy stuff I can deal with. But this is where it started to tip over into angst for me.
I also wasn't completely in love with the style the book was written in. It's first person present tense, with Rebecca and Michael narrating in alternating chapters. The narrator is labeled at the top of each chapter, but I tend to skip past chapter headers, so it took me a little while to figure out what was going on. Those first few sentences of each chapter were pretty confusing until I caught on. As I got used to the style it became invisible to me, and the story took over. But someone who really dislikes first person or present tense might have issues with this.
Overall, this is a rich, emotional story, with unusual characters and situations. I give it a B+. It was published by Samhain and is available in trade paper and ebook. I bought this one myself.
I also wasn't completely in love with the style the book was written in. It's first person present tense, with Rebecca and Michael narrating in alternating chapters. The narrator is labeled at the top of each chapter, but I tend to skip past chapter headers, so it took me a little while to figure out what was going on. Those first few sentences of each chapter were pretty confusing until I caught on. As I got used to the style it became invisible to me, and the story took over. But someone who really dislikes first person or present tense might have issues with this.
Overall, this is a rich, emotional story, with unusual characters and situations. I give it a B+. It was published by Samhain and is available in trade paper and ebook. I bought this one myself.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
A WTF? Special
In the shadowy corner of every reader's history is the hall of shame, the books we finished and wish we hadn't or the one's we cast aside in disgust.
Here are a few to consider giving as gifts to people you hate, in the spirit of the holiday season.
Books I Wish I'd Never Seen.
1. Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
I adore Trigiani. Her Lucia, Lucia is one of my favorites and my grandma's as well. Her real-woman voice is formidably true and wry. I await the third volume of her Valentine trilogy. However, I have a copy of Big Stone Gap in a box in my garage. I can't keep it in the house because I'll try to reread it and my Normally Patient Husband said if I attempted it he'd set it on fire.
It's beautifully written and the narrator, Ave Maria, is relatable in the extreme. She runs the small town pharmacy in the titular village and dwells on the agonizing breast cancer death of her beloved mother and the oppressive abuse of her stepfather before his death. It hit a little too close to home and the mother's death left me in shreds. I cried so hard I gave myself a sinus infection. I sobbed intermittently for three days just from remembering things in this book.
2. Sleeping in Flame by Jonathan Carroll
The king of all WTF books, this one is like Baz Luhrmann on crack. You know, Baz Luhrmann, gifted director of opulent flicks like Strictly Ballroom and Moulin Rouge--so clever, sumptuous and over the top that eventually one wants to smack him because he went two steps too far in his surrealist buzz. Well, Carroll is just as talented but about a hundred times more wacko. To call it speculative fiction would be to sully the good name of the genre.
It's about Walker, a modern day guy infatuated with Mavis. The first couple of chapters are gorgeously written and made me think I'd love the edgy romance.
In a past life, Walker was an assassin. He reminisces about stabbing women just beneath the ear. Then there's a talking potbellied pig. And then (spoiler) Walker's dad is Rumplestiltskin. Yes, THAT Rumplestilskin--he keeps resurrecting Walker to see if he can "get it right" but he always chases after some girl and dad gets pissed and KILLS him and has to bring him back as a baby again to keep trying. So to stop Rumplestiltskin from killing Mavis (after he has caused a gory miscarriage already), Walker has to remember his dad's real name. It's Breath. There, I've ruined it for you. Save yourself the pain.
3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
I was so excited to read this, which was reputed to be the next Jane Eyre, I bought it in hardback. The writing was bewitching. I was fascinated.
Then there was the incest. The sadism. The brother running around raping girls. The dad yanking hair out of his daughter's head and dying of septicemia from the hair wrapped around his finger.
I quit.
Ew.
4. Straight Talking by Jane Green
She wrote Mr. Maybe--my favorite trashy chick lit book. I've read several of hers with varying degrees of enjoyment but I actually threw this one away. Frankly if they are having that much graphic sex in the first two pages, there isn't going to be a plot. I tried to find one. I think she's after her best guy friend. It was too frustrating trying to puzzle together a story with all that pointless nakedness.
So which books have made you vow Never Again?
Here are a few to consider giving as gifts to people you hate, in the spirit of the holiday season.
Books I Wish I'd Never Seen.
1. Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani
I adore Trigiani. Her Lucia, Lucia is one of my favorites and my grandma's as well. Her real-woman voice is formidably true and wry. I await the third volume of her Valentine trilogy. However, I have a copy of Big Stone Gap in a box in my garage. I can't keep it in the house because I'll try to reread it and my Normally Patient Husband said if I attempted it he'd set it on fire.
It's beautifully written and the narrator, Ave Maria, is relatable in the extreme. She runs the small town pharmacy in the titular village and dwells on the agonizing breast cancer death of her beloved mother and the oppressive abuse of her stepfather before his death. It hit a little too close to home and the mother's death left me in shreds. I cried so hard I gave myself a sinus infection. I sobbed intermittently for three days just from remembering things in this book.
2. Sleeping in Flame by Jonathan Carroll
The king of all WTF books, this one is like Baz Luhrmann on crack. You know, Baz Luhrmann, gifted director of opulent flicks like Strictly Ballroom and Moulin Rouge--so clever, sumptuous and over the top that eventually one wants to smack him because he went two steps too far in his surrealist buzz. Well, Carroll is just as talented but about a hundred times more wacko. To call it speculative fiction would be to sully the good name of the genre.
It's about Walker, a modern day guy infatuated with Mavis. The first couple of chapters are gorgeously written and made me think I'd love the edgy romance.
In a past life, Walker was an assassin. He reminisces about stabbing women just beneath the ear. Then there's a talking potbellied pig. And then (spoiler) Walker's dad is Rumplestiltskin. Yes, THAT Rumplestilskin--he keeps resurrecting Walker to see if he can "get it right" but he always chases after some girl and dad gets pissed and KILLS him and has to bring him back as a baby again to keep trying. So to stop Rumplestiltskin from killing Mavis (after he has caused a gory miscarriage already), Walker has to remember his dad's real name. It's Breath. There, I've ruined it for you. Save yourself the pain.
3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
I was so excited to read this, which was reputed to be the next Jane Eyre, I bought it in hardback. The writing was bewitching. I was fascinated.
Then there was the incest. The sadism. The brother running around raping girls. The dad yanking hair out of his daughter's head and dying of septicemia from the hair wrapped around his finger.
I quit.
Ew.
4. Straight Talking by Jane Green
She wrote Mr. Maybe--my favorite trashy chick lit book. I've read several of hers with varying degrees of enjoyment but I actually threw this one away. Frankly if they are having that much graphic sex in the first two pages, there isn't going to be a plot. I tried to find one. I think she's after her best guy friend. It was too frustrating trying to puzzle together a story with all that pointless nakedness.
So which books have made you vow Never Again?
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Review: Motor City Fae by Cindy Spencer Pape
Motor City Fae by Cindy Spencer Pape
Reviewed by Chronic Betty
Detroit artist Meagan Kelly has had a strong sixth sense all her life, but that doesn't mean the gorgeous stranger's crazy story—that she's a half-elf, half human heiress—is true. But Meagan can't deny the evidence of her own eyes—he's Fae. A tall, blond, handsome, pointy-eared elf—and a man she just can't get enough of.
Ric Thornhill's assignment just got a lot more complicated. The more time he spends with Meagan, the harder it is to see her as a political tool to prevent an all-out war between humans and Fae.
Now Meagan's in a race to master her newly released powers in time to prevent the conflict, convince a jealous Queen not to strip Ric of his powers, and find out if she can build a life that straddles two worlds.
Motor City Fae was the first book from new digital-first publisher Carina Press that really caught my eye. The Fae, romance, political intrigue, and the first of a new series? Sign me up!
The romance was the strongest part of this story. Meagan and Ric had chemistry from the start, and even though they went from meet cute to marriage in a ridiculously short period of time (I think the whole story happens over the course of five days), I still believed they had a shot at working out.
The weakness for me was all the rest of the story. There were lots of creatures other than just the Fae, but they got only the most perfunctory of introductions. And the political intrigue was a bit too straightforward to count as intriguing. I would have preferred more world building and complexity when the supernatural element is supposed to be such an important part of the story.
But even so, Fae was a light, entertaining read. I give this one a B-. The hero and heroine for the next book, Motor City Witch, are well signalled, and I'm looking forward to their story. It's already on my reader, waiting it's turn.
As a digital publisher, Carina Press titles are available as ebooks from their website and from major ebook retailers, and some titles are also available as audiobooks through Audible.com. I bought this one myself, with the help of a coupon from Kobo. (Seriously, ya'll, keep an eye out for those Kobo coupons. They're majorly helpful, or dangerous, depending on your point of view.)
Monday, November 15, 2010
Help Me Get My Mojo Back!
Have you ever felt a little "meh" about reading? I know, heresy! But hear me out. I'm still working my way through the Vorkosigan series, which is wonderful as always, but I need something to cleanse the palate before diving in again. I poked through my Kindle and found an historical romance that I started a few weeks ago and hadn't finished yet. Now I know why I didn't finish it. It wasn't pretty. More on that on Wednesday. But for right now I need something to get me reading again. What books have helped you get your reading mojo back? To kick things off, here's a list of books that have done it for me in the past.
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
On the Edge by Ilona Andrews
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
The Silver Master by Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz)
Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
Venetia by Georgette Heyer
As you can see, there is a pretty good variety there. Historical, futuristic, contemporary, lots of fantasy of one type or another. I just need something a little different for a while, and then I know I'll be ready to jump right back in again. So what do you suggest?
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
On the Edge by Ilona Andrews
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
The Silver Master by Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz)
Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer
Venetia by Georgette Heyer
As you can see, there is a pretty good variety there. Historical, futuristic, contemporary, lots of fantasy of one type or another. I just need something a little different for a while, and then I know I'll be ready to jump right back in again. So what do you suggest?
Monday, November 8, 2010
Late Monday Mini
I finally have internet again! Hooray! Hopefully things will get back to normal by the end of the week. Please feel free to jump in with a mini review in the comments, or email it to me for next week's mini Monday.
As you may have guessed from the last post, I'm still working my way through the Vorkosigan series. This morning I finished the omnibus Young Miles, which is a combination of The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game. My favorite part of Apprentice is the screwball humor of it. A 17 year old goes out on what amounts to a Grand Tour after flunking the physical exams for officer school. One small lie spirals until... well, I won't tell you that part. But believe me, that one lie grows to outrageous proportions. And I cackled the whole time. (Except for one really tragic part, but mostly it's crazy fun.)
My favorite part of The Vor Game was not actually Miles, although I love him as much as ever. My favorite part was the close up look at Gregor. As the Emperor, he is frequently a part of Miles's calculations as he scrambles from disaster to disaster-- What would serve the Emperor, what would serve Barrayar? But this is probably the closest we come to seeing the inner life of Gregor, and what kind of sacrifice being Emperor has required of him. There's still a lot of scrambling and scheming in Apprentice but it's got a more serious edge.
And so far I've read maybe a chapter of the next book in the series, Cetaganda. Nine more books and three novellas until I get to the new one.
As you may have guessed from the last post, I'm still working my way through the Vorkosigan series. This morning I finished the omnibus Young Miles, which is a combination of The Warrior's Apprentice and The Vor Game. My favorite part of Apprentice is the screwball humor of it. A 17 year old goes out on what amounts to a Grand Tour after flunking the physical exams for officer school. One small lie spirals until... well, I won't tell you that part. But believe me, that one lie grows to outrageous proportions. And I cackled the whole time. (Except for one really tragic part, but mostly it's crazy fun.)
My favorite part of The Vor Game was not actually Miles, although I love him as much as ever. My favorite part was the close up look at Gregor. As the Emperor, he is frequently a part of Miles's calculations as he scrambles from disaster to disaster-- What would serve the Emperor, what would serve Barrayar? But this is probably the closest we come to seeing the inner life of Gregor, and what kind of sacrifice being Emperor has required of him. There's still a lot of scrambling and scheming in Apprentice but it's got a more serious edge.
And so far I've read maybe a chapter of the next book in the series, Cetaganda. Nine more books and three novellas until I get to the new one.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Vorkosigan Series- A Love Letter
I'm not always swift on the uptake. For years I saw this series mentioned anywhere people love books. Romance, romcom, urban fantasy, everyone liked and recommended these books. Finally, in the spring of 2007, I read The Warrior's Apprentice.
Wowza.
In less than 6 months I tracked down and read the whole rest of the series. That 6 months was also when my health tanked and I was diagnosed with Crohn's. It was a miserable time for me, and I read Ethan of Athos over and over. You'd think it would be Miles, brilliant, damaged Miles who attracted me just then. But it was Ethan instead. A man who had been pushed out into a whole scary world that he knew almost nothing about. The friendship between Ethan and Quinn was so sweet, and it kept sucking me in again and again.
Now that I've read the whole thing, I have other favorites, too. Grover Gardner does an excellent job of reading the books (although the very first time I heard him reading The Warrior's Apprentice, I thought "Really? That's who they picked to be the voice of Miles?" By the second chapter I was hooked, and now I can't imagine any other reader), and I've listened to A Civil Campaign over and over. Although I may have referred to Miles as my literary boyfriend once or twice (last week), I really can't imagine a more perfect match for him than Ekaterin. I love watching the two of them bumble along until they're sure what they want. I always cheer during the proposal scene at the end. Miles and Ekaterin are a force to be reckoned with.
It wasn't my favorite at first, but subsequent reads, and listens, of Cetaganda have definitely highlighted its pleasures. I love Rian and the haut lady bubbles. I love the wary, yet friendly and respectful relationship he builds with Dag Benin. Cetaganda and Barrayar are once, and probably future, enemies, but they're still able to work together and help each other, even while saving their respective planets.
Falling Free is a wonderful book, apparently inspired by the author's father. It takes place in the same fictional universe as the Vorkosigan novels, but hundreds of years before our hero's birth. It doesn't have much direct impact on the rest of the series, but it is a bit of a thrill in Diplomatic Immunity when Miles goes to Graf station and sees a performance in the Minchenko Auditorium, and you know who those places were named after. Also, Falling Free is a really community book. You know who's meant to be doing the heavy lifting, but all the characters are heroes in this one. Except for the baddie, who is probably one of the top three (bottom three?) bad guys we've experienced so far in the Vorkosiverse-- a bureaucrat.
The latest Vorkosigan novel went on sale the other week, and with all the squirreliness in my life, I don't have it yet. But since I'm writing this in advance, I'm hoping that by the time this posts I'll have it in my hot little hands. If you're at all curious about these books, especially if you have an ereader, I strongly suggest you pop out and pick up a first edition copy of the new book, Cryoburn. It's got a disc in the back with e-versions of all but one novel in the series. That's a significant savings.
It's going to mean avoiding anything that might have spoilers for the next month or so, but I plan to read the whole series again, in order, before moving on to Cryoburn. Bujold has been writing these books for years; the first one was published in 1986, I believe. But as I said above, I'm a Betty-come-lately to the series. This is the first new Vorkosigan book she's put out since I became a fan. I plan to savor the experience.
As I write this I'm within a few pages of finishing Shards of Honor. It's amazing to go back and see the origins of Miles' personality in Aral and Cordelia. I think in many ways he's more his mother's son than his father's, although he might be surprised to realize which bits came from her.
I caught a vague rumor of a tragedy at the end of Cryoburn, and I have a suspicion what it might be. That may also be why I'm wanting to go slowly through the whole series first. I don't want to get to that tragedy.
Wowza.
In less than 6 months I tracked down and read the whole rest of the series. That 6 months was also when my health tanked and I was diagnosed with Crohn's. It was a miserable time for me, and I read Ethan of Athos over and over. You'd think it would be Miles, brilliant, damaged Miles who attracted me just then. But it was Ethan instead. A man who had been pushed out into a whole scary world that he knew almost nothing about. The friendship between Ethan and Quinn was so sweet, and it kept sucking me in again and again.
Now that I've read the whole thing, I have other favorites, too. Grover Gardner does an excellent job of reading the books (although the very first time I heard him reading The Warrior's Apprentice, I thought "Really? That's who they picked to be the voice of Miles?" By the second chapter I was hooked, and now I can't imagine any other reader), and I've listened to A Civil Campaign over and over. Although I may have referred to Miles as my literary boyfriend once or twice (last week), I really can't imagine a more perfect match for him than Ekaterin. I love watching the two of them bumble along until they're sure what they want. I always cheer during the proposal scene at the end. Miles and Ekaterin are a force to be reckoned with.
It wasn't my favorite at first, but subsequent reads, and listens, of Cetaganda have definitely highlighted its pleasures. I love Rian and the haut lady bubbles. I love the wary, yet friendly and respectful relationship he builds with Dag Benin. Cetaganda and Barrayar are once, and probably future, enemies, but they're still able to work together and help each other, even while saving their respective planets.
Falling Free is a wonderful book, apparently inspired by the author's father. It takes place in the same fictional universe as the Vorkosigan novels, but hundreds of years before our hero's birth. It doesn't have much direct impact on the rest of the series, but it is a bit of a thrill in Diplomatic Immunity when Miles goes to Graf station and sees a performance in the Minchenko Auditorium, and you know who those places were named after. Also, Falling Free is a really community book. You know who's meant to be doing the heavy lifting, but all the characters are heroes in this one. Except for the baddie, who is probably one of the top three (bottom three?) bad guys we've experienced so far in the Vorkosiverse-- a bureaucrat.
The latest Vorkosigan novel went on sale the other week, and with all the squirreliness in my life, I don't have it yet. But since I'm writing this in advance, I'm hoping that by the time this posts I'll have it in my hot little hands. If you're at all curious about these books, especially if you have an ereader, I strongly suggest you pop out and pick up a first edition copy of the new book, Cryoburn. It's got a disc in the back with e-versions of all but one novel in the series. That's a significant savings.
It's going to mean avoiding anything that might have spoilers for the next month or so, but I plan to read the whole series again, in order, before moving on to Cryoburn. Bujold has been writing these books for years; the first one was published in 1986, I believe. But as I said above, I'm a Betty-come-lately to the series. This is the first new Vorkosigan book she's put out since I became a fan. I plan to savor the experience.
As I write this I'm within a few pages of finishing Shards of Honor. It's amazing to go back and see the origins of Miles' personality in Aral and Cordelia. I think in many ways he's more his mother's son than his father's, although he might be surprised to realize which bits came from her.
I caught a vague rumor of a tragedy at the end of Cryoburn, and I have a suspicion what it might be. That may also be why I'm wanting to go slowly through the whole series first. I don't want to get to that tragedy.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Review: Otherwise Engaged by Suzanne Finnamore
Rating: An infinite quantity of bacon. As good as bacon itself.
Confession: This is my favorite book of all time. I can quote long passages and snort with hilarity over them despite repetition. If I had to pick one book forever, it wouldn't be the life-affirming A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or the ambitious allegory East of Eden (both of which I adore) but this one--the snarky, bittersweet, romantic look at marrying for the first time in one's thirties. So I may be just slightly worshipful of the tome, its author (I want to have her babies), and its distinctive, biting voice. If you want unbiased, go elsewhere cuz Diva loves her some OE.
Premise: The interior monologue of Eve, an advertising executive with a rocky relationship history, as she plans her wedding to Michael, a once-divorced commitmentphobe.
The Quote (If this doesn't hook you, trust me you won't enjoy the rest of it):
And those Harvard researchers? The ones who claim a woman is more likely to be kidnapped by terrorists than to be married after age thirty-five? May they fall into open manholes where hard body lesbians with blowtorches await them. I am thirty-six years of age.
Backstory: This is a thinly-veiled account of author/ad exec Suzanne Finnamore's engagement to Mark Feingold (their fertility struggle and the birth of their son are chronicled in the sequel The Zygote Chronicles, which is much more melancholy in tone). The third tome in this trifecta is called Split, the journey of their divorce. I haven't read it--I responded to the second one like a trauma victim so I'm not sure I can handle it. So if it bugs you that their relationship doesn't end with HEA ultimately, just try not to think about it.
Review: Eve yearns for, hints for, demands a proposal from Michael ("The free introductory trial period, I tell him, is over."). Then she commences therapy to reconcile her sense of impending doom with her belief that she has "won" by getting engaged.
Some of her observations are quirky but she strikes at the heart of things.
"This ring is my one time lump-sum payment for every bad thing that has ever happened to me. I don't feel I can tell people this because they will ruin it." She says, going on to detail her troubled relationship with her late father, a charming but selfish alcoholic, and an ex she refers to only as The Semi-Professional Basketball Player, who was an abusive addict who tried to strangle her. It ain't all hearts and flowers in Finnamore-ville, ladies. There's a darkness here and a poignance that make her wry self-awareness hit home.
Anecdotes involving her friend Jill are the most hysterical, in particular a rant in which she characterizes specific antidepressants as wizards and fairies.
We follow Eve on a business trip, wedding gown shopping, and to the deathbed of her former gym teacher/gay recovering alcoholic artist Dusty whose Southern drawl makes his dialogue even more immediate and priceless.
She shares wisdom such as, "When you are planning a wedding everything costs a thousand dollars, except the things that cost more than a thousand dollars. The band, for example. The guitarist was in Ray Charles' touring band. Ray Charles is referenced, therefore it costs one thousand dollars."
Her doubts both about her own ability to become a wife and her level of emotional damage are resonant and unflinching, and her humor makes the insight bearable, even delightful.
The depth of Eve and Michael's love is never questioned, although they both question the wisdom of marrying and fear failing at marriage. It is the truly romantic and uplifting ending that makes me choke up every time.
I love love love it.
I also need to buy a new copy because the friend I loaned it to cannot find it. It was falling apart anyway.
Enjoy, my lovelies. As a Halloween treat.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Review: Until the Real Thing Comes Along by Elizabeth Berg
Rating 4 strips of bacon--good enough to read more than once but not without flaws
The Premise: Thirtysomething Patty Murphy is an unsuccessful realtor who feels doomed to be alone forever. She isn't lonely though--she has the friendship of bestie Ethan, the handsome gay man she has loved since childhood. Her yearning for family life--a husband and a houseful of kids--leads her to decide that she wants a baby, with Ethan.
The Review: Before you start groaning about Will & Grace, trust me this is not that sitcom.
Patty is immediately lovable, wry, and honest. She knows what she wants and takes steps to get it. She is a big-hearted character struggling toward maturity and happiness.
Her lovely and humorous observations about her dream life--grocery shopping with four kids, nap time, cooking big suppers--highlight her desire for kids realistically--she loves children and knows how hard it will be. After some bickering, Ethan assents and they make a baby. She's pregnant for most of the book so this is not a spoiler.
My problem is Ethan. When Berg "Tells" about their relationship, it's golden and bewitching to read. When she "Shows", Ethan seems exasperated with Patty's enduring love for him and is, at best, grumpy. He wants the baby for his own reasons and I think truly wishes he and Patty could have been together in different circumstances. But I'm editorializing because, until right at the end of the book, he's not all that lovable himself.
This was my gateway drug to Elizabeth Berg. Her writing is gorgeous and as the highest praise I can give her, she's truly an author of women. Her female characters are layered and behave realistically.
This book is wonderful (dh adores it, calls it The Baby Feet Book because of the cover). But be warned it is not a fluffy chick lit romp.
Interesting Factoid: The story was optioned by Goldie Hawn in the 90's to develop into a star vehicle for her. God save us all from such a day. I cannot imagine what she would have done with this role except make it intolerably shallow with bubbliness. Ugh.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Mini Review Monday-- The Sequel
It's a mini review... by me! Also, the move is definitely on, so my internet access will probably be spotty for a week or more. You can try emailing me with your mini reviews, but it might be a better bet just to add them to the comments.
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
This book had a problem that seems to be common in long running series. Stuff happens, but stuff is not the same as a plot. There was a small story arc that started about half way through the book, so it wasn't totally plotless. There was also a long and rather pointless info dumpy conversation between Eric and Sookie, with no pay off in this book. It might mean something later, but in that case I'd rather have read about it in that later book. By the time the next book rolls around I will have forgotten the details. (I have a mind like a steel sieve, I swear.) There were some things I liked about the book, however. Sookie seems to be reconnecting with her roots. She spent a lot more time with Sam in this one than she has lately, and her relationship with her brother seems to be getting back on track. I also like how Harris uses real people as vampire characters. She introduced a new one in this book, but I won't ruin the surprise. The fairy problems seem to be pretty well resolved, and I'm hoping that means we'll be getting back to more vampire action soon.
In other Charlaine Harris news, I heard a rumor the other day that her Harper Connelly series, about a woman who was struck by lightning as a teen and can now sense the dead, has been optioned by CBS. I don't see anything about it on Harris's website, so it may just be a rumor. I'll be watching this one closely, because I really like this series, and it will be interesting to see how it makes the transition to TV.
Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
This book had a problem that seems to be common in long running series. Stuff happens, but stuff is not the same as a plot. There was a small story arc that started about half way through the book, so it wasn't totally plotless. There was also a long and rather pointless info dumpy conversation between Eric and Sookie, with no pay off in this book. It might mean something later, but in that case I'd rather have read about it in that later book. By the time the next book rolls around I will have forgotten the details. (I have a mind like a steel sieve, I swear.) There were some things I liked about the book, however. Sookie seems to be reconnecting with her roots. She spent a lot more time with Sam in this one than she has lately, and her relationship with her brother seems to be getting back on track. I also like how Harris uses real people as vampire characters. She introduced a new one in this book, but I won't ruin the surprise. The fairy problems seem to be pretty well resolved, and I'm hoping that means we'll be getting back to more vampire action soon.
In other Charlaine Harris news, I heard a rumor the other day that her Harper Connelly series, about a woman who was struck by lightning as a teen and can now sense the dead, has been optioned by CBS. I don't see anything about it on Harris's website, so it may just be a rumor. I'll be watching this one closely, because I really like this series, and it will be interesting to see how it makes the transition to TV.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Review: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn
*Warning* This review may contain spoilers for the first three books in the Lady Julia Grey series. If you haven't read them yet, and you don't want to be spoiled, don't read further. Also, if you haven't read them yet, what are you doing here? Go read them! They're really good.
And now, on to the review.
I love Deanna Raybourn. The relationship between Julia and Brisbane crackles with sexual tension in the first three Lady Julia Grey novels. And her stand alone novel, The Dead Travel Fast, was creepy, romantic, and very entertaining.
Her latest, Dark Road to Darjeeling, is a continuation of Julia and Brisbane's story. At the end of Silent on the Moor Julia and Brisbane resolve their romantic problems, and when we pick up in Darjeeling they are married and on their honeymoon tour. All should be blissful in paradise, right? Um, not so much.
Julia's sister and brother, Portia and Plum, have tracked them down in Egypt. Portia has received a letter from her former lover, Jane, and all is not well at her new home in India. Portia and Plum have come to collect Julia and Brisbane and find out what is going on.
But an untimely interruption is not the only fly in the ointment. Julia and Brisbane's courtship, if you can call it that, was liberally seasoned with murder and intrigue. After months of travel, things are getting a little, well, dull. Brisbane has turned out to be a far more conventional a husband than Julia imagined he'd be. He's even more resistant now to the idea of Julia joining him on his investigations than he was before they were married. She's beginning to wonder if this was the right choice. And worse, she's beginning to wonder if he thinks the marriage was a mistake, too.
Darjeeling is most definitely a transitional book. The sparks between Julia and Brisbane were what kept me coming back for more in the first three books. But the tension in a relationship changes after marriage, and that's where they are right now. Trying to find their footing in their new relationship. There are some classic moments between the two, but there is also more worry and sadness. They also seemed to spend more time apart this time, with Brisbane working off screen for large parts of the book. The ending gives me hope that they will find a better balance in their relationship, but in book four they are missing some of their sparkle.
The whole mood of this book is different from the first three. Most of the story takes place at a tea plantation in India, which greatly affects the tone of the book. And there are far more deaths in this book than the others. Six in total, two occurring before Julia and her family arrive. And the deaths in this one all seem so pointless (in a human condition kind of way, not that the author was killing off characters for no reason). One of these deaths is particularly painful, capping off the gloomy atmosphere of the book.
There were some very interesting surprises, however. We meet a few characters that I wasn't expecting to see again, and one new one who was really out of the blue. I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of this character in the future, and I can't wait to see how Raybourn handles that. (I'd love to discuss this particular character more, but my absolute loathing for spoilers forbids me from saying anything further.) There was also a real "finally!" moment between Julia and Brisbane at the end of the book, and I can't wait to see how it impacts future books.
I give this one a B. It may not be my favorite of the series, but it's still entertaining, and there's some can't-be-missed info for the future. Dark Road to Darjeeling is available from Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble and many other stores.
It was hard, but I pre-ordered this one, paid for it with my own money, and then waited FOREVER for release day.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Review: More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon
Review by DivaBetty
Rating: Five strips of bacon. Practically perfect.
Plot Summary: Elderly Hannah tells the story of her passionate, doomed romance with Conary Crocker in her youth. Hannah Grey goes to Dundee, Maine for the summer with her hateful stepmother, Edith, and half-brother Stephen. In their rented lodgings, Hannah hears weeping and begins seeing a black shrouded figure that appears only to her. The unhappy seventeen year old crosses paths with rebellious Conary who fills her in on the century-old murder that happened on nearby Beal Island. Together they uncover the true story behind the crime that led to mild-mannered schoolteacher Sallie Haskell’s conviction as an ax-murderer and discover that Conary can see the ghost as well. Forbidden to see each other by snobby Edith, the two must keep their passionate romance hidden. Thanks to the ghost and her unfinished business, however, their idyllic love is doomed to end in tragedy.
Review: Love the book. Unforgettable. Ah, let me count the ways
The Intriguing Opener: “Somebody said, ‘True Love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen.’ I have seen both and I don’t know how to tell you which is worse.”
The Narrator: Hannah’s voice is clear and rueful, so crystalline and painfully true that the scary bits with the malevolent ghost rattled me as though I were there. The narration is so excellent that I find myself wanting to quote long passages of it in the review. The prose is gorgeous and austere and Hannah is stubborn, lonely, and raw. She chops her hair off at the barber shop back when the only women with short hair were psychiatric patients, she insists that the ghost is real despite skeptical Edith’s ridicule, and she knows that Conary is a kindred soul who belongs with her despite anyone’s objections.
The Guy: Handsome, troubled Conary is the town rebel, a berry raker trying to support his younger sister and their drunken father. Sincere, passionate, and breathtaking--he throws blueberries at her window late one night, leaves messages for her in a copy of Dickens at the library--the perfect first love.
The Romance: Swoon. Honestly, I have lent this to many people from colleagues and friends to my grandma and each has remarked how incredibly romantic it is and how real and thus how excruciating at times. My husband and I read passages to each other over the phone during our courtship and quote lines of it that capture intimacy and hope like no other. Practically nothing melts my heart like him turning to look over his shoulder at me and raising an eyebrow and saying, “Do I look like a potato farmer to you?”, to which the correct response is a breathless, “Why not?” Trust me. Extremely romantic.
The Villain: is so immensely hateable that no one including my own grandmother felt that he didn’t deserve to be murdered long before he was. The principle reason I persuaded then-boyfriend to read it was because he had confided his dream of naming a son Daniel Marino after legendary Dolphins qb Dan Marino. Well, hell no to that. So I smuggled him the novel with cowardly, oppressive, cruel Danial Haskell to ruin it for him. It worked. He called me late one night and said, “Now I could never name anything Daniel this is horrible why isn’t he dead yet?” (Grins mischievously)
The Ghost: Equally hateable. Vindictive and soulless, she roams Dundee looking for ways to cause Hannah pain in an effort, presumably, to “save” her from a similar fate. I confess she scared the living daylights out of me. When she rocks in the rocking chair by Hannah’s bed, scuttles across the floor on all fours with the black hollows where her eyes should be and seems bent on driving Hannah insane, I clutched at the covers on my bed and darted unsettled glances at the shadows in the corner.
Disclaimer: It’s searing and will make you cry. Don’t get it from the library because you will feel compelled to underline passages and repeat them aloud because the writing itself is luminous.
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Inaugural Mini Review Monday!
It's our first ever Mini Review Monday! Many thanks to our very first test subjects volunteers. If you have a mini review you'd like to share with the class, please email it to us or feel free to post it in the comments. Can't wait to see what you're reading!
And now, London Mabel!
And now, London Mabel!
Juliet by Anne Fortier.Though I wasn't a big fan of the writing, this was a nice little page turner. A romantic Da Vinci Code, via Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Likable characters, good twists, satisfying ending. Favourite part: I liked Juliet's meddling hotel concierge.
Room by Emma DonoghueI read this almost in one sitting. A touching story about a kidnapped woman and her son--told from the latter's point of view, who has never seen the world outside the one room he was born in. An elegantly simple and creative treatment of a horrifying subject. Favourite part: Jack's step-grandfather.
London Mabel also wanted me to mention that she got Room as an advance reading copy through her job. (Where do you work, Mabel, that you get ARCs? And, more importantly, are they hiring?)
Next, one from one from Atomic Betty!
Next, one from one from Atomic Betty!
Plum Lovin' by Janet EvanovichThis mini review comes from DivaBetty. And keep an eye out tomorrow for another review from Her Divaness!
This is one of the Between the Numbers series, a slightly paranormal set of books featuring Stephanie Plum running around with Diesel, a guy who randomly appears in her kitchen from time to time, without needing to use the door (one of several unusual skills Diesel has). I like this series within the series because the slight elements of paranormal, seen through Stephanie's eyes, and the interaction between Stephanie and Diesel make a good fun read.
Hmm mini monday sounds like a yummy candy bar, possibly with nougat...
Anyway, I'm happily reading Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt. I read it in high school and remember liking it but that's been a while. I'm really enjoying it because Ellen's voice is witty and confident and it's set in nineteenth century London among the gentry. I'm not loving the names like Esmerelda, Rollo and Jago personally but I'm superpicky about names in books (don't get me started on Katniss from Hunger Games). So far my favorite part has been Ellen's smug and vindictive enjoyment from inviting her overbearing hateful aunt to visit her wealthy future in-laws the Carringtons.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Review: Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
With a set up like that, you'd think this book was about the End of Days, or that it's a dark fantasy. But most of the emphasis is on Lisa's real life, which is dark enough. The descriptions of her experience with anorexia are heartbreaking. The extreme exercise, the compulsive counting of calories, the symptoms she's experiencing but not connecting to her self-imposed starvation, the Thin voice constantly whispering in her head are all disturbing. And the scene of Lisa's friend binging and purging is graphic and nauseating.
The fantasy elements of Hunger were less compelling. We meet the other three Horsemen, and she learns a little bit from each of them. But Lisa is mostly left on her own to figure out what her powers are and what she's supposed to be doing. By the time she gets a handle on her powers, the fantasy part of the story was over. Other than providing a larger than life backdrop for an examination of eating disorders and a way for Lisa, and the audience, to understand some of the problems of world hunger, the fantasy element didn't add much to the overall story.
I was concerned that Lisa's anorexia would be "solved" by her role as Famine, but as the Thin voice said,
What did you think? the Thin voice asked. That it would all just go away? That you'd suddenly not be fat anymore? ... That's something out of a fairy tale.Fairy tale, indeed. Lisa's work at recovery happens off the page, and even at the end of the book we're shown that her struggle with anorexia isn't over. We're left hopeful for her future, but it's clear that there is more work to be done.
Two of the supporting characters were the most entertaining part of the story. (Which is not a slam. Lisa's problems were gripping, but to call them entertaining would be to take them way too lightly.) Death, as the leader of the Horsemen and a, pardon me, dead ringer for Kurt Cobain, had the most page time of the rest of the Horsemen, and I suspect he will continue to play a significant part in the series. (The next book, Rage, is due out in April 2011.) He was a strange mix of formal and casual, modern and antiquated, kind and frightening. I really hope he gets a book of his own so that we can get an inside look at his own struggles.
The other really fun character was Famine's steed. What would a Horseman be without a horse? The steed, which Lisa names Midnight, loves pralines, although he's willing to make do with eating Mrs. Lewis's garden. Lisa bonds with Midnight more than anyone else in the story, and we're left with the impression that it's unusual for the Horsemen to take such notice of their steeds. Midnight defends and protects her, which is something that Lisa desperately needs in her life, as her parents are too wrapped up in their own lives and problems to pay much attention to her.
As a woman who thought she was fat as a teen (although I was a perfectly healthy weight) and is morbidly obese as an adult, Lisa's issues with food are not my own. But it was frightening to realize as I read how many of her thought processes were familiar to me. I would be interested to know what someone who has dealt with anorexia or bulimia thinks of their portrayal in this book. Our attitudes about weight and food in the West are not healthy, and it's taking a toll on our mental and physical well being. Hunger is well worth reading on its own, but it would be a particularly good choice for mothers and daughters to read together or for teen reading groups. I give this book a B+ for the intense look at the inner life of someone dealing with anorexia. I would also like to point out that the author is donating a portion of the proceeds to the National Eating Disorders Association. Good for you, Ms Kessler.
Hunger was scheduled for release on October 18th, but it appears that it's already being shipped by Amazon, Borders, and Barnes & Noble, and it's definitely available for download on the Kindle.
I received a free advance copy of Hunger through NetGalley, but this in no way affected my review.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Announcing Mini Review Monday!
I'm feverishly reading behind the scenes here at Bacon Central to prepare new reviews for you. Yes, I know I missed Tuesday. There were technical problems. (Technically, I haven't finished reading the book yet.) But I want you to participate, too. So I've come up with an idea. Mini Review Monday!
Mini Review Monday is simple. All you have to do is tell us the title and author of the book you're currently reading and whether or not you like it so far. In a nod to Sweetness, we also want to know: What's your favorite part? (But, please, no spoilers.) In the spirit of Universal Positive Regard, please refrain from bashing the author personally. (I'm not too worried. This is the Betties, after all. But just to cover all the bases....) "This was not the author's best work." A-OK. "Author X must have been smoking crack when she came up with this idea." Um, not so much.
Email your mini reviews to booksandbacon (at) yahoo dot com, and be sure to put Mini Monday in the subject line. I can't wait to see what everyone's reading!
And don't forget, I'm still looking for regular and guest reviewers. So if you've got a review in you just dying to get out, let me know!
Mini Review Monday is simple. All you have to do is tell us the title and author of the book you're currently reading and whether or not you like it so far. In a nod to Sweetness, we also want to know: What's your favorite part? (But, please, no spoilers.) In the spirit of Universal Positive Regard, please refrain from bashing the author personally. (I'm not too worried. This is the Betties, after all. But just to cover all the bases....) "This was not the author's best work." A-OK. "Author X must have been smoking crack when she came up with this idea." Um, not so much.
Email your mini reviews to booksandbacon (at) yahoo dot com, and be sure to put Mini Monday in the subject line. I can't wait to see what everyone's reading!
And don't forget, I'm still looking for regular and guest reviewers. So if you've got a review in you just dying to get out, let me know!
Friday, October 8, 2010
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery- a Non-Review
I picked up The Blue Castle again recently and felt the urge to write about it. But I feel absolutely no desire to review it. You see, reviewing something requires analysing it. Looking at what was good and what was flawed. This book has been magic for me since I was 11 years old, and I have no desire to look for flaws and risk killing the magic.
Our heroine, Valancy Stirling, is in a bad way at the start of the book. It's the morning of her 29th birthday, and she's decided it's time to face the truth. She is old and unloved, living with family who intimidate and stifle her, and the secret chest pains she's been experiencing are getting worse. The only pleasant thing in her life are John Foster's books, which she manages to sneak by her mother.
At 11 I *so* identified with Valancy. What teen or preteen hasn't felt ugly and unwanted, misunderstood by her family? And I know that books, like those by L.M. Montgomery and the ones my parents always called my "trashy teen novels", were my solace and escape from that pain. I was right there with her with the shyness and thinking that no boy would ever love me. (At 11. Oy.) By the end of the first chapter I was hooked.
What Valancy discovered, and what I discovered through her, is that there can be so much more to life than your current situation. She got a pretty major piece of news, and it inspired her to let go of her fear. When she let go of her fear she discovered that even though she'd felt alone, there was a dear friend just waiting for her. She found purpose in her life. She found love, and thought it was small, she found a family, community. It was all right there once she moved past her fear and reached for it.
I've read it at least once a year for the last 25 years. (I'm on my third copy. All lovingly treated, but there's only so much use a modern paperback can take before it falls apart.) Every time I read it, it soothes something in my soul, and every time I read it I find something new. I've even read The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough, a version of the novel set in the mountains of Australia. (My Blue Castle was better.)
As an adult I still relate to Valancy, although hopefully in a slightly more mature way. I still have my moments when I feel unloved and unlovely. I still get sucked into the story and root for her when she.. well, I'll leave that part out. Spoilers, you know. It can still make me cry a little bit when everything comes out right in the end. And it still makes me want to be brave. I'd say that's pretty darn good for a silly little novel I read when I was 11.
Our heroine, Valancy Stirling, is in a bad way at the start of the book. It's the morning of her 29th birthday, and she's decided it's time to face the truth. She is old and unloved, living with family who intimidate and stifle her, and the secret chest pains she's been experiencing are getting worse. The only pleasant thing in her life are John Foster's books, which she manages to sneak by her mother.
At 11 I *so* identified with Valancy. What teen or preteen hasn't felt ugly and unwanted, misunderstood by her family? And I know that books, like those by L.M. Montgomery and the ones my parents always called my "trashy teen novels", were my solace and escape from that pain. I was right there with her with the shyness and thinking that no boy would ever love me. (At 11. Oy.) By the end of the first chapter I was hooked.
What Valancy discovered, and what I discovered through her, is that there can be so much more to life than your current situation. She got a pretty major piece of news, and it inspired her to let go of her fear. When she let go of her fear she discovered that even though she'd felt alone, there was a dear friend just waiting for her. She found purpose in her life. She found love, and thought it was small, she found a family, community. It was all right there once she moved past her fear and reached for it.
"Fear is the original sin," wrote John Foster. "Almost all the evil in the world has its origin in the fact that some one is afraid of something."I've used this quote in much the same way Valancy did-- to find the courage to move past fear and open up my life. There have been times when it was written on a notecard and taped to the mirror or the closet door. Sometimes I just had to pick up the book and skim until I found it. That quote has become an anchor for me, one of my fundamental beliefs that makes me the person that I am.
I've read it at least once a year for the last 25 years. (I'm on my third copy. All lovingly treated, but there's only so much use a modern paperback can take before it falls apart.) Every time I read it, it soothes something in my soul, and every time I read it I find something new. I've even read The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough, a version of the novel set in the mountains of Australia. (My Blue Castle was better.)
As an adult I still relate to Valancy, although hopefully in a slightly more mature way. I still have my moments when I feel unloved and unlovely. I still get sucked into the story and root for her when she.. well, I'll leave that part out. Spoilers, you know. It can still make me cry a little bit when everything comes out right in the end. And it still makes me want to be brave. I'd say that's pretty darn good for a silly little novel I read when I was 11.
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