Categories
books and reading

Little Women

When I was born, my grandmother bought me the Little Women set of Madame Alexander dolls. They were in my room, high on a shelf, never to be played with. However, my mom would tell me stories about them and all the adventures they would go on. Time and time again, she tried to get me to read Little Women, but I just couldn’t get into it. And even as an adult, it just wasn’t interesting to me. However, for my “book that’s at least 100 years older than you,” I was bound and determined to read Little Women, finally.

So, now that I’m on the other side, I can honestly say it was just an okay book. I wasn’t pleasantly surprised with how much better it was than I was expecting it to be (like Kurt Vonnegut books have been) but it wasn’t a painful reading experience either.

I try not to spoil books, but really, this one is SO old that if you don’t know what happens by now (or haven’t seen the Friends episode where Rachel makes Joey read it) then read at your own discretion. So, Beth survives her scarlet fever, and knowing she dies, I was so surprised it didn’t happen then. I kept wondering if I had accidentally downloaded the “happy” version of the book, rather than the actual one. But, alas, Beth still met her fate. And I loved Laurie and Jo’s relationship, or lack there of. Jo has a good, reasonable head on her shoulders, and made the right decision. Not every male/female relationship needs to be one of true love. Some of the best friendships can be ones of siblings or sibling-like.

I gave this one a solid 3 stars. It was worth reading, but nothing I will read again. I’m glad to have it on my “read” list so I can move on. I’m not sure any accomplished American can say they’ve read all the classics without having this one on their list. So, job done!

Categories
books and reading

Madonnas of Leningrad

I really don’t have a lot to say about this book. It was a nice to have a bit of a breather from the long books I’ve been reading, but this one was still heavy in content. But it isn’t one that will stick with me for any reason. In fact, after finishing this last night, I’m not quite sure what the main character’s name is. Eek

Marina’s (I looked it up, no worries) story is told in present day when she is older and her memory is failing, alternated with chapters from her past. She was in Russia during WWII and barely managed to survive in the basement of an art museum. She helped preserve the artwork for safe keeping and, with so much time to spare, memorized the layout and the paintings in the museum.

At just over 200 pages, this book was a break from the 800+ ones I’ve been reading lately, and it is a darker story, but it never delved into the worst of the horrors of WWII, which is saying something considering many people starved to death in this book. But interspersed with descriptions of artwork, specially the Madonnas, you never really got sucked into the darkness.

I gave this one 3 stars because it was good enough to finish, but it just didn’t make an impression on me, either good or bad.

Categories
books and reading

The Death Code

I am not a writer. However, I do know good writing. And, sorry to say, this isn’t it. Anytime an author says something like “We were surrounded on all sides” I am out. Ugh. What awful redundant writing. Not to mention that “it was the first thing she said since we found her” was stated three times. So, apparently, this character said three different things on three different occasions, all of which were the ‘first thing.’ It’s also not true, because when she was found, she said something.

The story is told is alternating chapters from 2 first person accounts, which I have no problem with, but most chapters were so short and choppy (some only a page long) that it was very disjointed and there was no flow to the story. I assume they are meant to be action packed, different camera angle type stories, but it just didn’t work.

About 2/3 of the way through the book, the plot began to grab my attention. Survival in the “Outside” against forces that cause disease was much more interesting. I think this is where the focus of the book really should have been.

I gave this three stars, but I think that’s being generous. They were unnecessarily graphic Again, I have no problem with violence, but a character laughing and screaming with madness and joy as she gouges someone’s eyes out isn’t plausible. I *would* be plausible with a little more character development, but that was seriously lacking in this book. Also, I didn’t buy the relationship between the main characters at all. None of it felt developed or authentic.

Maybe I’m not the target audience. Maybe I’ve read too much of the genre. Either way, I can’t recommend these books to anyone.

Categories
books and reading

The Murder Complex

I’m a big supporter of my local library. I live near a bigger city, so we have multiple branches to get books. And they are so nice that they will order a new book if you request it. I am also a fan of ebooks and my Amazon wish list. I add books on there constantly and check it daily. I finally discovered the “sort by lowest price” feature so now I can easily find books on my list that have been deeply discounted. So, when a book on my wish list drops to .99 or 1.99, I usually snatch it up. This is how I obtained The Murder Complex. But the second book in the series is full price (usually) and my library didn’t own it, and I’m just too cheap to pay full price for books, so I requested the library order the second book. And they did!! They already owned the first, so it made sense for them to buy the second one. Big thanks to my library support!

I’ve owned The Murder Complex for a year or so, but just never wanted to read it until I had access to the second. I feel like I have exhausted the YA dystopian genre. Most of it is fair. A few series stand above the rest, The Hunger Games, The Legend series, the Book of Ivy series come to mind. There’s also a great series that I got for free from Amazon called The Starborn Uprising series that I thought was really good. But most are just mediocre. Sadly, this one falls into that category. I’m so used to reading a trilogy, that when a series is just two books, it feels a bit lacking. Book of Ivy, aside, because that’s a very fleshed out couple of books. This one, however, felt rushed. I never bought into a character’s motivation. None of them, really. It all felt very disjointed. Oh I hate you, no wait, I want to kiss you even though I barely know you, oh wait you’re going to kill me, wait I still might want to kiss you. Huh?

The book was also really predictable. I knew certain characters were either not dead or involved in a double agent situation. Ultimately, I gave this book 3 stars because I did want to keep reading, but I just wasn’t overly impressed with it. I felt like it was needlessly bloody and murderous (and have zero issues with meaningful violence in a YA books). The overall plot was just too farfetched.

Maybe I just have high expectations for this genre, or maybe I’ve just read so much of it that it takes a lot to impress me. But I am going to read the second book and see if it fares any better.

 

Categories
books and reading

City of Mirrors

I cannot thank Netgalley enough for this advance copy. I have been waiting 6 years for this book, and it was well worth the wait.

After plowing through The Passage and The Twelve the past month, rereading the first two books was beneficial to reading this book. There is no way I would have remembered all that happened from so many years ago. Without a fresh memory, this book would have lost its punch. And boy does it whack you a good one.

I feel like this series is more like a chess game. There are so many pieces in play. The Passage set up the board, introduced you to the pieces, and let you begin the game. The Twelve was a back and forth strategy of master opponents and by the end, the victor made his first step to checkmate. But not quite. City of Mirrors has the opponent battling back fiercely, not to be defeated easily. But the victor makes the final move and the game is over. Some pieces remain on the board, but others are lost in the process. But it all boils down to Amy. Always Amy.

There are pieces of the narrative from the first two books that are finally resolved, so again, a reread was very helpful. And reading the books back to back to back was much more emotional than I was expecting it to be. By the time this one ended, I teared up a couple times, whether happy or sad tears, I won’t say. Maybe a mixture of both.

I was trying to explain to someone recently that this book is about vampires, but not really at all. It’s about people, survival, hope, perseverance, and most of all, love and faith in humanity.

Categories
books and reading

The Twelve

As promised, here is the second book in The Passage trilogy review. And, even though I gave this one 5 stars, this one felt a bit weaker than the first. Still amazing and absolutely worth reading, but I were forced to pick a favorite between the two, I would have to go with The Passage.

The Twelve introduces us to a whole new group of characters, who are extremely important to our core group, but no one you necessarily want to get attached to, if you catch my drift. The ending of this one is wonderful and heartbreaking. Our group is torn apart and reunited, simultaneously. Some are lost, new ones join, so it will be interesting to see what happens with these relationships in City of Mirrors. The lives these people lead are so compelling. Even though they are just people, they do amazing things for humanity, at great risk to themselves. This is what I enjoyed most about the book. I’m not a risk taker by nature, but when the weight of the entire world is on one’s shoulders, one might look at danger differently.

Because of Netgalley, I have an advance copy of City of Mirrors and will be starting immediately. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you in a few days.

Categories
books and reading

The Passage

I rarely reread books. Partly because there are just so many books on my “to read” list that I just don’t have time for rereading. I’m too antsy to get to the new ones. Also, because if I loved a book the first time around, I am really nervous to read it again because it might not be as good the second time. There are books that fit into your life exactly in the perfect time and place. Reading Les Miserables was an experience that I could never recreate. The only time I’ve read it, I was teaching and would share the story with my students. Although, I fully believe Les Mis would hold up to a second reading, something would be missing from my joy: my students. So, I’ve never reread it. But there are books that I miss. I want to visit them again. My memories of them have started to fade. So this year, I vowed to reread some of my favorites.

I originally read The Passage when it came out, years and years ago. And then I read The Twelve (review coming soon) when it was published. And I have never revisited either one. But since City of Mirrors is FINALLY coming out this month, and it had been so damn long since I read the first two, I am gladly refreshing my memory of this series.

I loved The Passage. Not your typical vampire story, but really more of a character study. And unlike any story I’ve read, the vampires are humanized, well, as much as death row inmates can be. And you get inside their brains to really understand what life is like for them. The story also follows several formats. It’s not just a narrative, but also emails, journals, documents, etc, which helps break up the 800+ pages. As lengthy as this book is, the story flies. It’s told in a bit of a random order, jumping ahead 100 years in the middle, which was quite surprising when I originally read it, but all is wrapped up fairly well by the end. The Passage isn’t just another “vampire book.” It is unique and one not to pass up.

Categories
books and reading

Wolves of the Calla

There is just no denying what a master storyteller Stephen King is. I admit he has his misses, and he doesn’t always have the best endings. But overall, he truly is one of the most gifted writers of our time. And the Dark Tower, along with The Stand, are easily his masterpieces. I have yet to be disappointed with a book in this series.

This story is a bit of a side track mixed with some important plot events. The side story involves Roland and his ka-tet helping a town protect their children. Their cause is noble, but one they don’t enter lightly. The town must prove they are willing to do things Roland’s way, and it doesn’t take long for them to realize how valuable the ka-tet is to their cause.

The main plot of traveling to the Dark Tower is woven seamlessly within the town’s struggle. We get to revisit the world we know, where Jake, Eddie, and Susannah come from. The most interesting plot is Susannah and “the chap” which I will not elaborate on. However, the story leads directly into the next book, and I believe, Stephen King himself makes an appearance in this next book. I can’t wait.

Categories
books and reading

Shriek and Finch

The first book in this series, City of Saints and Madmen, I reviewed here. City of Saints and Madmen. Hey look at that! I hope the link works. I’ve never done that before. Instead of writing two reviews over two less than stellar books, I thought I would combine them and maybe try to pull some good out of each.

Let me say that these books are not my thing, but still really well written and overall worth looking in to. City is a story collection, of sorts. Very funny, very creative, but I just couldn’t get into it. The second book, Shriek, isn’t a sequel of the first because, well, how do you have a sequel to a story collection? Shriek tells the story of Duncan Shriek, as told by his sister, Janice. Duncan (I won’t explain how) also helps narrate the story. There were some great parts in this book, but overall, I just wasn’t interested in what happened. I gave this one 2 stars.

Finch was definitely better. And you do need to read Shriek to fully understand Finch. The trilogy isn’t one of chronological succession, but rather spin offs and still conjoined in their madness. And I mean madness in a good way. Let’s start with the Gray Caps. These are mushroom-like people who live in Ambergris. Stories about them are woven through all three books, but they are prominently featured in Finch. About another person, Finch, who is a detective trying to solve a murder, goes through an evolution of mind, body, and soul in the process of solving it. I thought this book was much more gripping. I wanted to know what happened to Finch, who was murdered, and ultimately how everything was wrapped up. 3 stars for this one.

The author, Jeff VanderMeer, is still Aok in my book. I plan to reread the Southern Reach trilogy this year. And I NEVER reread books this quickly, but I really need to dig into them and see what Easter eggs I can found. I definitely see how Ambergris and Area X came from the same mind. I just think Area X is more polished of the two regions. And soon to be a movie starring Natalie Portman. Highly recommend Southern Reach and will review when I revisit them.

Categories
books and reading

I Am the Messenger

Originally posted June 2010 on another site.

The Book Thief is simply one of the greatest books ever written. If you haven’t read it yet, please do. I was very nervous to read this one, though, by the same author. Nothing can compare to BF. And I was right. It’s nowhere near as good. However, assuming one hasn’t read BF, this book stands alone extremely well. I took it to training with me on Thursday morning and read while I was supposed to be working. I had to find out what happened!

Ed is a simple guy, nothing special, not smart, not motivated, just exists. He drives a cab, is in love with his friend Audrey, and happens to disrupt a bank robbery, getting the robber arrested. Soon after, Ed receives a playing card in the mail. Yes, that’s right. Just a regular card from a regular deck. However, there are addresses on this card. Addresses of homes of people Ed doesn’t know. After going to each address, he realizes he has to help these people. Sometimes the help is easy and obvious. Other times, it takes a long time for Ed to realize what it is he needs to do. However, helping these people brings such joy to Ed, that it’s impossible not to root for him.

Who is sending these cards? It’s quite the mystery. I never knew which direction this book was going. Are the cards being sent by some future version of himself, or a friend he knows, or is Ed dead and imagining the whole thing, or is his dog really not a dog, but a person who Ed converses with. All of these thoughts seemed plausible throughout the entire book. I just couldn’t figure out how it was all going to work out. It does all work out in the end, but you’ll have to read it for yourself to find out.

I really liked this book. Read the Book Thief for sure, but maybe after this one, so it’s not a disappointment.