Cauterize's 2009 Book Challenge

This is my first time joining a book challenge so here goes!

I joined the group February 24, but will start the list from January 1st so it will take me bit to catch up where I currently am.

Thanks to SheWhoWearsRed's HTML tutorial, the clicking the titles of the books below will jump you to the corresponding message on this thread where I review it.

Books read:
1. Shadows and Light by Anne Bishop ★★
2. The House of Gaian by Anne Bishop ★★
3. Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain ★★★1/2
4. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase ★★★
5. The Last Inheritance by Bertrice Small ★1/2
6. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger ★★★
7. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg ★★★★
8. My Sweet Folly by Laura Kinsale ★★
9. Heat of the Night by Emma Holly ★★1/2
10. Belladonna by Anne Bishop ★
11. Winter and Spring by Anya Bast ★1/2
12. Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk ★★
13. Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long ★★★★★
14. These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer ★★
15. Heartsick by Chelsea Cain ★★★1/2
16. Graceling by Kristin Cashore ★★★★1/2
17. Velvet Glove by Emma Holly ★★★
18. The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker ★★★
19. Private Places by Robin Schone, Claudia Dain, Allyson James, Shiloh Walker ★★
20. Suite Fantasy by Janice Maynard 1/2
21. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin ★★★★1/2
22. Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence ★★★
23. Beauty and the Spy by Julie Anne Long ★★★
24. Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose ★★★★1/2
25. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell ★★★★
26. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood ★★★★
27. The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller ★★
28. The Hollow by Agatha Christie ★★★
29. Life with my Sister Madonna by Christopher Ciccone ★★★★
30. Skin: And Other Stories by Roald Dahl ★★★
31. The Slightest Provocation by Pam Rosenthal ★1/2
32. Burning Tigress and Tempted Tigress by Jade Lee ★ and ★★★
33. The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer ★★★
34. The Watchmen by Alan Moore ★★★
35. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card ★★★
36. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence ★1/2
37. Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse ★★★
38. Inside Straight: A Wild Cards Novel edited by George R.R. Martin (Early Reviewers) ★★★
39. Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara ★★1/2
40. The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys ★★★1/2
41. Swallowing Darkness by Laurel K. Hamilton ★★★
42. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld ★★
43. The Dominant Blonde by Alisa Kwitney ★
44. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner ★★★
45. My Life in France by Julia Child ★★★★
46. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis ★★★
47. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks ★★★★★
48. Mort by Terry Pratchett ★★★★
49. Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell ★★1/2
50. Super in the City by Daphne Uviller ★★★★
51. House of Illusions by Pauline Gedge ★★★
52. The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq ★
53. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett ★★★1/2
54. To Love a Dark Lord by Anne Stuart ★★★1/2
55. Ways to be Wicked by Julie Anne Long ★★★1/2
56. Not Quite a Lady by Loretta Chase ★★
57. What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan ★★★
58. The Dream Hunter by Laura Kinsale ★★★★
59. The Sandman : Preludes and Nocturnes Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman ★★★★
60. Frederica by Georgette Heyer ★★★★
61. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman ★★★★
62. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill ★★★★1/2
63. The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner ★1/2
64. The Sandman: The Doll's House Vol. 2 by Neil Gaiman ★★★
65. The Sandman: Dream Country Vol. 3 by Neil Gaiman ★★
66. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman ★★★1/2
67. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman ★★
68. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See ★★★★★
69. Ravished by Amanda Quick ★★★★
70. The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner ★★★
71. The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen ★★★
72. Threads of Silk by Linda Lee Chaikin ★★
73. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir ★★★★
74. Seer of Egypt by Pauline Gedge ★★1/2
75. Grave Sight by Charlene Harris ★★★
76. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery ★★★★1/2
(DNF) Dark Harvest by Lynda Hillburn 0 stars
77. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams ★★★
78. Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey (re-read) ★★★★★
79. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky ★★★★1/2
80. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak ★★★★
81. Promethea Vol. 1-5 by Alan Moore ★1/2
82. The Sandman: Season of Mists Vol 4. by Neil Gaiman ★★★★
83. Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn ★★★
84. The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman ★★
85. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown ★★1/2
86. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman ★1/2
87. Masterharper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey ★★
88. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte ★★★1/2
89. The Ship Who Won / The Ship Errant by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye ★★★ and ★★★1/2
90. Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte ★★★
91. The Sandman: A Game of You Vol. 5 by Neil Gaiman ★★
92. The Sandman: Fables and Reflections Vol. 6 by Neil Gaiman ★★★★
93. The Sandman: Brief Lives Vol. 7 by Neil Gaiman ★★★★1/2
94. The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop ★★★1/2
95. The Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie ★★★★
96. The Sandman: World's End Vol. 8 by Neil Gaiman ★★1/2
97. The Sandman: The Kindly Ones Vol. 9 by Neil Gaiman ★★★★
98. The Sandman: The Wake Vol. 10 by Neil Gaiman ★★★★
99. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde ★★★★
100. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett ★★★1/2
101. Thessaly: Witch for Hire by Bill Willingham ★
102. The Sandman Presents: The Furies by Mike Carey ★★★
103. The Crystal Singer Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey (re-read)★★★★★
104: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell ★★★
105. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman ★★★
106. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ★★★★★
107. Restoree by Anne McCaffrey ★1/2
108. Not Yet by Wayson Choy ★★★1/2
109. The Sandman: Vol. 11 - Endless Nights
110. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
111. Crisis Four by Andy McNab
112. The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff
113. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
DNF: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
114: The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
115: The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon
116: Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong
117: The Solar Queen by Andre Norton
118: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
119: Powers: A Novel by John B. Olsen
120: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Rating system:
★ - HATE. I chucked it or wanted to.
★★ - BAD. Probably had a couple decent elements.
★★★ - DECENT. Worth the read, but wouldn't re-read.
★★★★ - GREAT. Must read.
★★★★★ - FANTASTIC. My faves.

1. Shadows and Light by Anne Bishop
Rating: ★★

Not an auspicious beginning to my list! I had read the first book in the series in late 2008, so I read the second and third books in the first couple of days in 2009. I enjoyed the first book, The Pillars of the World, even with it's flaws and I am a big fan of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy. However, the premise started in the first book did not pan out so good in this book. I just couldn't get into it, I ended up doing a bad habit of mine - skimming paragraphs -just in order to find out what happens in the story and finish the book. This is a SF fantasy book where the powerful fae live in a perfect world called Tir Alainn which is anchored to the real world at certain points. The fae are arrogant and use the real world as their plaything. In the first book, you find out that at each anchoring point a trinity of witches secures each anchor and if they die, that piece of Tir Alainn dies which you think would wake the Fae up. Which they don't. In this book the few who are trying to do something are trying to find allies and other witches while the coming war with the Inquisitors is nearing.

There's a lot of subplots and secondary characters that I just don't care about and they get a lot of play in the story. I do feel the most compelling character in all the books is Morag, who is the fae Death's Mistress - she ferries souls to the other side - whose nature (death) wars with her heart (protecting the lives and land she cares about).

Welcome, Cauterize! Sorry your first reviewed book was a stinker. I hope your current read is going better.

Here's a dumb question for you: How do you put the stars into your message?

Welcome to the group - looking forward to reading your reviews!
Happy reading!

Thanks for the welcome messages! I realized I should give a little summary for my reviews, so I'll edit that first message.

Welcome and good luck this year, Cauterize!

I hope your next read is better. :)

Welcome!

2. The House of Gaian by Anne Bishop
Rating: ★★

This was the second book I read this year. I basically flew/skimmed through this book so I could find out how the trilogy ended. The third book was about the war, and the characters of Selena and Ashk come to the forefront. What's annoying about that is both are characters who weren't even in the first book! Selena didn't even emerge until this book. I think with a trilogy the protagonist should be someone who has been around since the first book so we can see their development and the consequences of the choices they make.

The book is disjointed with too many characters contributing too little to the understanding why the "good" side should win. The witches are just as bad as the fae for their neglect of the world but we are told over and over that the fae are arrogant and uncaring and the witches are good and caretakers. Also, I don't think Bishop is able to write battle scenes very well, it seems disjointed and I didn't feel 'in the thick of it' like you should in epic battle scenes.

Overall, this series was disappointing with a lot of the world building and the class structure making no sense. Characters which were set up for redemption end up stagnating and fading out as unimportant. However, it was better than the Sebastian/Belladonna series the author wrote.

3. Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain
Rating: ★★★1/2

This is the second book by Chelsea Cain about Archie, a police detective, and Gretchen, a totally uncompromising female serial killer. It sort of loosely follows the plot of Silence of the Lambs/Manhunter. Gretchen was apparently captured in the previous book and Archie has been visiting her in jail to get help with his latest case and also to get the burial places of the 200 people Gretchen killed. The difference is the sick, twisted relationship the two have. Where Clarisse (sp?) was fearful of Hannibal but was using him to further her career, Archie is a seasoned detective who is afraid of his own obsession with Gretchen. For in the first book, when Gretchen was free, she kidnapped Archie and tortured him for 10 days. And there is the delight of the book. The flashbacks of when Archie was hunting Gretchen and her torturing him are GRUESOME. Love it. Gretchen likes to kill, she's smart and she has no redeeming qualities. No wishy-washy girl who has empathy because, you know, women are born with it. No, Gretchen is badass . Archie is trying to pick up his life in this book, but it's hard with Gretchen on his mind. This book is great balancing out the twistedness of Gretchen who embraces it, with Archie who fears his own twisted yearnings for Gretchen.

It's an easy read though, took me a night.

Welcome to the group! I hope you enjoy your time with us.

4. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
Rating: ★★★

A historical romance; not sure of the period, but later than regency. It started off well, the heroine is independent, and she is actually written to be quite independent and daring. You do always feel that she can manage anything, even the hero. The hero isn't handsome by any means, which was interesting. He was the "Fallen hero type" - his nickname was Belzebub. Their chemistry does crackle, which is why I gave this book this high of a rating, but sometimes this book doesn't make any logical sense. Also, I would say this book would be a 2/5 for historical accuracy.

I've noticed that Chase seems to write her books with one plot, then abruptly tacks on another one and changes course. In Lord Perfect it was chasing after the kids as they run away. In this book, it was the whole subplot with the son and Vawtry/Charity Graves. I'm not a fan of these ninety degree changes in story. And reading how the hero keeps calling his kid a "monstrosity" and wanting to puke - he does this a few times - made me feel uncomfortable and thought this was a bit over the top. These extraneous plots brings the rating down.

#11: Chase's best romance, IMO, is actually a spin-off of Lord of Scoundrels entitled The Last Hellion. You might give that one a shot - it is probably her best book.

ETA: There is a review of The Last Hellion here if you are interested: http://www.romantictimes.com/books_review.php?book=1696

#12: I've read three of hers, Lord of Scoundrels, Lord Perfect - which I hated because it bored me to tears and Your Scandalous Ways - which I though started out great but ended badly. But I'll put The Last Hellion in the TBR, since you recommended it! One last shot for Ms. Chase!

Did you like Your Scandalous Ways? I read it because Dear Author and Smart Bitches Trashy Books fawned over it, but I really disliked the second half of the book. I'm just not a fan of each book having an impossibly beautiful heroine with no flaws (other than a 'temper') and too many unanswered questions by the end.

#13: I have not read Your Scandalous Ways. Perhaps Loretta Chase is just not an author for you.

I can heartily recommend my favorite all-time romance by Adele Ashworth called My Darling Caroline. Maybe you could try it if you have not already read it.

5. The Last Inheritance by Bertrice Small
Rating: ★1/2

Historical Tudor Period romance. It wasn't up to snuff, there were two stories stuffed in one. There's the romance, which was okay... and other story is the warping of history with the heroine, Elizabeth, going to court and being Anne Boleyn's best friend. Splitting the story ended up with both stories being undercooked. The sex wasn't very steamy compared to The Innocent (the only other Small book I've read) and you never fall in love with Baen because he doesn't figure into much of the book. Small really seems to rewrite Tudor history. She takes a few facts and then runs rampant. She doesn't mention at all how Anne Boleyn was the catalyst for the split with the Catholic church and that's the most important basis for her becoming Queen. This omission is too hard to ignore. Lastly, the author recycles sentences and paragraphs over and over throughout the book which I found lazy.

#15: I do not care for Bertrice Small's books at all - too much sex, not enough story.

#14: I'm thinking that way as well. It's strange because I always like the first 1/3 of her books, but by the finish I end up almost hating them. I don't know if it's her inconsistent plotting or characterization, unrealistic scenarios or what. I am mostly reading them because a best friend lent me a bunch of her books.

Looking at my public library, they only have a copy of My Darling Caroline in Russian! But no worries, I will put it on my TBB list (to be bought) list.

If you want a better idea of my taste for historical romance, I've been totally in love with Julie Anne Long who I have just discovered recently.

I do not think I have read anything by Julie Anne Long. I will see what I can find of hers.

The Ashworth book may be hard to find. It was her first book, but it is definitely worth looking for (although maybe not in Russian, lol).

#15 & 19

Looking at your library, you like J.D. Robb and Amanda Quick too? I liked the first 10 or so of the former, and all the older Amanda Quicks. However, Nora is losing me with the copy and pasted sex scenes between Eve and Roarke and boring mystery plots. Quick has been pissing me off with her changing everything into a series paranormal.

With Bertrice Small, I'm not a fan either. Her stories never seem to have any depth, and her heroines too "perfect". My city has a gigantic used book fair every year and I got both of her books for a dollar. I'll read anything for a dollar! Including Accordion Crimes by Annie Proulx which I've been trying to read for a month and wanting to kill myself while doing it.

#20: If you have been trying to read it for a month and can't - toss it, give it away, do something with it. No sense in trying to make yourself read something you obviously do not like or cannot get into at the moment.

As far as the J.D. Robb books go, I will read them as long as she puts them out. I really like the series and every time I read it, I feel like I am visiting old friends. I have ordered the newest one and hopefully it is on the way. I do not read the books for the mystery plots - I read them to catch up on the way Dallas' relationships are evolving.

Quick's changing to a paranormal series is not really surprising - it seems like all authors are doing that to a certain extent these days. It really does not bother me, since I also read her contemporary novels published as Jayne Ann Krentz. That being said, however, I do like her older books better than her newer ones. My favorite of her old books is Ravished.

#21: LOL, I can't quit J.D. Robb either, I'm still getting through them. I'm not saying I don't like her current books; I do like the little incremental ways Eve is growing. I cried when she and Mr. Mira had that bonding scene over Xmas in Memory in Death and I loved the little girl in Survivor in Death. But the homicide plots in Born in Death and Origin in Death were too fantastical or head-scratching.

With Accordion Crimes, I'm just reading a few pages here and there between my other books. It's all written in mini-stories so I'm not losing anything. Her style just grates on me with all the info-dumping and I'm not into early America immigrant stories. I'm just hoping it will pick up at some point.

My favourite Quick book is Surrender or Mistress. Currently, I have a big hate-on for paranormals after reading Any Given Doomsday from ER and Silver Master by Castle/Quick/Krentz. LOL I think everyone was scarred by Any Given Doomsday!

I have not read Silver Master yet, so I cannot comment on that one, although the reviews I saw were pretty good. Any Given Doomsday received such bad reviews that I have no desire whatsoever to pick it up.

6. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Rating: ★★★

I did a quick re-read of this book while trying to read a really boring literature book and I wanted something light and fluffy. First read this while going through Europe a few years ago.

Who doesn't love a roman a clef, especially when the dish is on Anna Wintour. The anecdotes of Miranda (Anna Wintour) are good, but the protagonist, Andrea Sachs acts like she's above it all - but really she's a snob and shouldn't look down on everyone else while she sells out. She thinks she's "better" than the others at the magazine because she doesn't "care about fashion", she has a degree from Brown, and she has high-brow dreams of writing at the New Yorker. Whatever, she could quit anytime. She sells out anyways by starting to wear the clothes and by landing a job at Seventeen in the end.

Sidenote: I'm not sure if I should add my re-reads to this challenge? I'm sure everyone will say it doesn't matter, and I'm just adding a re-read if I read 90%+ of the book.

#24: If you want to add re-reads to your list for the year, that is fine. I tell everyone - we are not the book police. It is your thread, you list what you want.

7. Nightfall by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg
Rating: ★★★★

SF book, a good story though about what happens when a civilization goes mad when all their six suns disappears from the sky. Reminded me of the movie Pitch Black.

The writing was quite in "Asimov-style" so I wonder how much of the writing was Silverberg's. I've been disillusioned lately that whenever it is double authors with a 'name' author, the 'name' author does sh!t all and the other one does ghostwriting, essentially. I think this might have been done here with Asimov's short story being written to novel length by the other.

The only thing I found inconsistent in the novel was the female protagonist. She's the only one of the protagonists who kills anybody during the "mad" period, which led me to think the authors were trying to make the point that she was had the most naturally ruthless and pragmatic nature. The book then drops the subject and we never get a nice character exploration about how she should feel knowing that she has it within her to kill, subconsciously. In fact, in the end she becomes all empathic and begs the main hero of the story not to hurt anybody when they're trying to survive. You know, a "womanly" attitude. :P

8. My Sweet Folly by Laura Kinsale
Rating: ★★

Historical Romance, perhaps Regency Period. Sadly, I didn't like this book. I really wanted to because I read my first Kinsale recently, Shadowheart, and I was blown away by the story and the writing. However this book was... weird. The best parts were the first 20 pages when they converse by letters to each other, falling in love (and separated by a huge distance). But when they're finally together... He's all crazy and mental like some Wuthering Heights remake and she's under his power and doesn't know what to do. The explanation why was out of left field and looking back on it, I can't even remember how this book ended, I was so not into it.

The foundation of what makes Kinsale a good writer is found in the letters, because I fell in love with the male love interest at that point.

Can't wait to read you review of Graceling - i see you've rated it four-and-a-half stars!

9. Heat of the Night by Emma Holly
Rating: ★★1/2

Erotic Romance. It was a novel-length story, "Hunting Midnight" with a short story, "A Night Owl", which I had read before in the Hot Blooded anthology. The short story was crap, but the other was decent since the girl was feisty in a believable way. Both stories follow paranormals called "Upyrs" who are vampires + shapeshifters (might as well reach for the fences with the paranormal tropes!). They end up meet-cute-ing with normal women who fall to their seductive charms.

I gave it this rating because I hated the short story and I am up to here with paranormals. They better be fan-fucking-tastic if they are going to get any good ratings from me. Sex was average. (LOL, for erotics/eroticas I will give a separate rating for that - I think good sex writing/ideas can be fun even if the story is boring).

#28: I'm getting there! At least I already have comments written down for all these books I've read, it just takes a bit of work to clean them up for reading by others. My unfiltered comments can be quite pithy. ie. Hero = lame; Girl was TSTL, sex was hot, contrived plot with the mother, why did nobody think of (that)?

Or it can be the opposite with paragraphs of ranting. Haha.

Graceling is one I need to read yet, too, but I have to steal it back from my daughters!

Cauterize - have you ever read any of Anne Stuart's books? I especially love To Love a Dark Lord with it's sustained sexual tension, but I haven't read one yet that I didn't like.

#31 I'm having the exact same problem! My daughter says it's really good. I hope I get it back soon!

#33: Good to know it is not just me! Kids these days . . .(lol)

#32: Karenmarie, I have not read Anne Stuart. Sexual tension is good! It's often hard to write it well too. I will add that to my TBR. Everyone's recommending so many books, good thing I have this to keep it all straight:
http://www.thelibraryshop.org/products2.cfm/ID/10033/c/journals

#31 and 33: Just tell your daughters you'll borrow it for 24 hours! It's a large book in size, but it really is a dedicated evening's read. It's great with a few nitpicks - I wouldn't want you guys to build it up in your minds too much and then have it disappoint. However, I do think that the Song of the Lioness Quartet had the same premise and was better. Also, I've heard that the next Graceling book is a letdown but I thought all four of the Lioness Quartet was equally amazing.

After reading SheWhoWearsRed's awesome tutorial on HTML, I've neaten-ed up my posts and the initial list links directly to the corresponding post!!

10. Belladonna by Anne Bishop
Rating: ★

Fantasy. This was a clean-up book; I had read Sebastian last year, disliked it, but my friend had lent me both books, so I flew through this book to find out how this series ended. It follows the uber-powerful Belladonna who must deal with alienation, love and find a way to defeat the evil Eater of the World (a Cthulhu mythos). It was so very blah that I don't even want to put much effort into a review. It's funny though, if I hated it I could have written paragraphs about every little stupid thing that happened. I guess it's the old adage, better to love it or hate it than feel nothing... right? This book just puts you to sleep and everything about it was mediocre to bad. Just don't read this. Please.

11. Winter and Spring by Anya Bast
Rating: ★1/2

Re-read of Erotica printed by Ellora's Cave. I distinctly remember picking this up in an airport bookshop because I had to grab something quickly and I wanted something smutty and fun on the plane. I was intrigued because I had known that Ellora's Cave was one of those new-fangled (at that time, years ago) epresses, so I decided, 'why not?'. Uh, yeah... I now know that epress does not = quality.

The writing was very amateurish. The story was split into two sections, each dealing with this sexually swinging and open, medieval-level tech society. My biggest problem is that the author does what I hate MOST in romances/eroticas. She tells you that women are equals in the society, but does not write the story that way. The heroes boss the heroines around all the time and act jealous and don't want them to sleep with other men, even though the society is "open" and "equal". When all the men resisted "monogamous mates" while the women wanted it was lame. I always think this stereotype is terrible. Also, I am tired of reading stories where the only way women can be the top female or queen is for the top guy to pick and marry her. That's not "equal".

However, the sex was pretty hot and for me, a scene with two guys and a girl always gets an extra 1/2 star from me.

(edited to fix touchstone)

12. Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk.
Rating: ★★

Urban Fantasy. I picked it up because I thought DearAuthor.com had recommended it... but now looking at their review... they gave it a C! Because it really is plotted badly. The premise is good and it was nice to read about the male love interest being very zen, very calm and very contained, rather than uber-macho Alpha males which happens a lot in romances.

The worldbuilding was interesting... in the future, everybody can use a little bit of magic. However, it always comes with a price - physical pain for the user, depending on how much magic was used. This leads to sub-industries such as proxies, who take the pain for the magic-users for money. The morality for using magic was refreshing, which is why I gave it this rating at all.

In the end, I started skipping paragraphs to get to the end just to see how it ended because I wasn't invested in the main character - who is supposed to be a badass Hound - a person who tracks down illegal magic users - but she never seems to make any rational decisions, and she whines a lot. The book has so many plot holes and dis-joining scenes I could name 10 things right now off the top of my head which didn't make sense or should have been explained. Hopefully the author can clean up her plotting and characterizations in the next book in this series.

I hope your next read is an improvement over the last several for you!

> 41: LOL, I'd like to think I'm doing some noble calling by culling out the weak for you guys and my friends. I'm a really fast reader so going through these crappy romances doesn't really take a lot out of me. Probably why I went through a "smut" period in Jan/Feb is for three reasons: (1) Because Chapters (the equivalent of Borders or Barnes and Noble for Canadians) was having a 4 books for $10 special selling romances and chick-lit. I couldn't resist. Twice. (2) I found DearAuthor.com and they give really thorough reviews of romance but I'm trying to see which reviewer meshes with my taste because some of the stuff I've read because of them, I'd give a C when they give a B+. (3) I'm looking for a new hot romance author to follow. Most of my faves (ie. Amanda Quick - which we talked about previously) has been dropping the ball and I have particular tastes when it comes to that area. Julie Anne Long is so far my only winner. I used to really like the Black Lace imprint so I might to spend an afternoon at the store skimming through the new offers.

Oh dear! Only one and two-star ratings lately for you...hope your next reads are more satisfying! Thanks for "culling out the weak" ones for us, though :)

#43: I can be on the brutal side for ratings, I know. Buuuuut... I'd rather be tough rather than a groupie. Previously, I tried to look through the libraries of the LTers who were the "Members with Your Books" to find recommendations but I found a lot of people just rate 4 or 5 stars! It's like reading Harriet Klausner for reviews...I think that negates the purpose of ratings. :P I love that quote from The Incredibles:

Everyone can be super! And when everyone's super, no one will be.

Actually, looking at my statistics... I have an average of ★★★, so that sounds about right.

Things start to pick up in my next group of reviews though! Also, in March/April I'm moving towards friend recommendations.

I guess average rating depends a lot on how you choose your books. Personally, I only read books that other people have recommended to me, or classics, or books that have received rave reviews on LT or in a newspaper, etc. I would never walk into a book store or library and buy/borrow a random book that I had never heard of before. This way, I really never have a poor review, because I always know I am getting a good quality book.

My system has its drawbacks though too. Since I don't pick up random books, I probably miss out on a lot of great things. Also, I am never the first person to review something - I am always piggybacking on what others read.

That said, I would give a brutal rating if I felt a book deserved it - it's just rare that I even bother with ones that would!

On a totally different note, have you seen the movie version of The Devil Wears Prada? It is one of my favourite guilty-watches, and I have thought about reading the book lots of times, but don't want to ruin the movie - are they very different?

#45: Cait86, I think I'm just a sucker for steals! In addition to the Chapters sales, there's a gigantic used book sale in my city every year. One dollar for a paperback. So I pick up a lot of classics and notable name fiction and SF but I also will pick up stuff "just because the cover is pretty" :) Also, I will peruse the racks at the library and pick up stuff that looks cool. In that way I got started into the In Death series by the third book, so I will admit that I'm proud to be an early adopter to that series and soon had all my friends into it!

Heh, *reminiscing* I found the Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop by the first book in that way as well... it looked interesting in the bookstore. So maybe I do like the thrill of finding some new, interesting author on my own. But yeah, the downside is the dreck.

With romance, I think you just gotta find what you like on your own because it's a genre so particular to your own ideas of love and sex. For instance, that Outlander by Diana Gabaldon was recommended to me so many times by different types of people but I tried it and really didn't like it. I've found only one person in this world who I can trust 100% to give me romance recommendations that I like and we obsessively share books between each other.

Wow.. that was a ramble. Moving on to Devil Wears Prada, I did see the movie... and I would say mostly the tone is different. The movie is more light-hearted and funny. With the book, the basic storyline is the same (but of course with more secondary characters), but Miranda is vastly different. She's doesn't have any human side. Meryl Streep was great in fleshing out an actual person, and portraying why she might be such a bad boss. The book focuses more on giving anecdote after anecdote of how Miranda tops the last mean thing she did. The guilty pleasure is thinking that a famous person actually does this stuff and (supposedly) getting the scoop of what happens behind the scenes at Vogue.

I know what you mean though, I read Silence of the Lambs and it ruined the movie for me. The book was SOOOO much better than the movie. With Devil Wears Prada I would say the movie is on par... or even better than the book. I hope that helps?

It does help, thanks - I think I will pass on the book, since I love watching the movie (it is on right now, actually, LOL).

I agree with Outlander - I read it this year, and was mixed. I will probably try the next one just to make sure, but romance is definitely a genre that is personal.

Oh, Chapters sales - those tables of 4 for $10 hit you right when you walk in, don't they! It's a good marketing ploy on their part :)

>44 Cauterize: totally agree with your rant on ratings!!!

What was sad about the Devon Monk book, Magic to the Bone, was that it had an original premise and she actually had some depth to her world-building... it's just the execution was bad. I wanted to make that clear in the review because there's always the possibility that she will improve her writing skills. An author can always improve her writing, but a lack of imagination... that's a problem a person (probably?) can't remedy. Maybe I'm just happy she didn't write about vampires or shapeshifters :)

Hey, wanted to let you know that I finished The Left Hand of Darkness as well! What a book! (review on my thread of course) So when are you going to post yours? I'm really curious if you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Oh and, as usual, after I finished the book, I went over to wikipedia and looked for the book to make sure I didn't miss any of the important themes and points. I highly recommend that you do so too as I came upon some interesting insights concerning the novel! Anyway, while reading about the themes I found this conclusion to the gender question, which I loved and wanted to share with you:

"In fact, Le Guin examines gender related questions surprisingly little, and provides even less in the way of answers. As the novel focuses instead on in-depth examination of curiously toned-down and blended distortions of subjects like Feudalism and Communism, Zen-like eastern mysticism and Christianity, this may in fact be a very subtle answer to the question of gender: It's not important."

Sorry for hijacking! Happy reading!

Sorry guys, was away for a bit... I gotta rev up the reviews *sigh*...

#47: The problem with the 4 for $10 is that they always put one or two books that I really want on the table. Last time, it was Purity of Blood by Arturo Perez-Reverte (who wrote the awesome The Club Dumas). So, I end up agonizing over the crappy romances and chick lit to fill out the group. *sigh* Oh, Chapters....

#50: Of course I loved it! Was there any doubt? Hehehe... Funny enough, I checked out Wikipedia after I had read Left Hand as well! I was surprised by the indepth review of it; Wikipedia often only has summaries for books. I did think the gender subheading was pretty spot on and within the book, I was surprised how subtle the gender commentary actually was... all the reviews put so much emphasis on it.

I am a bit confused by the entry saying the Handdara was Zen-like, or Taoism because I am not sure that those religions have that sort of mysticism but I'd have to do more research in those religions.

I was surprised the entry didn't put more emphasis on patriotism/nationalism as a theme, because that was one of the themes I found intriguing. The whole community vs. nation; disputes between neighbours vs. war sort of thing. Also, I thought the shifgrethor was closer to "face-saving" in asian cultures rather than office politics?

And lastly, I did like how the entry states its interpretation of the "wrong question, right answer". I couldn't figure it out....

Also, I thought the shifgrethor was closer to "face-saving" in asian cultures rather than office politics?

Totally agree.

I am a bit confused by the entry saying the Handdara was Zen-like, or Taoism because I am not sure that those religions have that sort of mysticism but I'd have to do more research in those religions.

Actually as it happens, I was recently looking through my copy of World Religions by John Bowker (can't seem to find touchstone) and LHOD did ring some bells in that direction for me. Especially Taoism. Why, even "Genly" Ai
not-so-subtly drew the symbol of yin and yang in Estraven's diary, if you remember, and was explaining its significance. Surely there was a reason for him doing so. Perhaps he was trying to find something familiar that he could relate to or finally something he could understand about Gethenians - and Estraven's philosophy/religion reminded him of the Earth's Taoism?

#52: Hmm, I guess to be more specific... I was mostly confused about the mysticism practices and which religion they would be coming from... I was thinking more of the Handdara's foretelling ritual with the chanting and the circle and the different types of 'freaks' needed. I didn't think Taoists and Zen practitioners do something so... hrm... voodoo-like? I tried going through some of the entries on Wikipedia and came out confused. The most I saw for Taoism was maybe animal sacrifices and foretelling with I Ching or mediums using focus objects.

13. Like No Other Lover by Julie Anne Long
Rating: ★★★★★

Historical Romance; probably Regency Period. This author is quickly becoming a must-read for me. She always starts off a bit slow but then things get cracking. The heroine, Cynthia, caused some mysterious scandal in London, which broke off her advantageous engagement to a Duke and as a result, she flees to a house party in the country held by Miles Redmond and his sister. Cynthia has no one and no money. If she doesn't find a rich man to marry during this party before the scandal spreads, she will have to become a paid companion or starve. Unbeknownst to her, Miles has a grudge against her because she slighted him a few years ago and he knows about the scandal.

Cynthia is pretty, yes, but it's her charm and intelligence that makes her irresistible. She's daring and bold and proud of it. She knows her worth and it's her ambition to leverage these things for money and title. This may seem mercenary... but you become sympathetic to her motives. Would it be better for her to be a sweetly sacrificing “nice” girl and become a penniless spinster servant for the rest of her life? In one of the best quotes she says to Miles,

You – You with your money and your bloody grandeur and your family and history. It’s all very well for you and Violet to play at romance. It will be all right in the end, of course. But I’ve none of that. I’ve no one. And you’ve gone and play dice with my future. Why shouldn’t I have what Violet will have? What you will have so easily? Why shouldn’t I?

And I thought, “Yeah! Stick it to the rich jerk!”

Miles derides Cynthia for her ambition, but Ms. Long is savvy enough to show that Miles is just as coldly rational about his own martial prospects. He has no moral qualms in marrying solely out of family duty to strategic alliances and protect social position. As an added bonus, his potential fiancee's family will invest in his next scientific expedition - money he cannot get otherwise. So who is mercenary now, hmmm?

The great thing about this book is everyone's actions follow their characters. Miles is a scientist and even though he doesn't like Cynthia at first, he observes her and changes his opinions when the facts do not match with his original hypothesis. He notices... he makes the effort to see underneath Cynthia’s sparkle. Cynthia’s main asset is that she is able to read people and use her charm to make them shine. Therefore, she evaluates each suitor by charming them to be their flirty best. I was also impressed that Miles and Cynthia never mistake the attraction they feel for each other. No cutesy “mixed signals”. With both of them being so observant, they each know with certainty how the other feels even if it’s never said out loud. I like this so much more than the I’ll disguise that I like you, but I want to know if you like me plot. Intelligent characters should never be written like they are stupid, even in romances.

The book has a very modern tone, and I never felt that there were any glaring historical inaccuracies. The dialogue is probably anachronistic, but I tend to like that in “fluff” romances. The author manages to insert a true-to-life drinking game and I ended up cracking up in laughter. The sex is hot, but quantity was low. As you can probably see, I really loved this book and I think Julie Anne Long writes better and better with every book. Drinking games and great writing, what’s not to love?

I’m debating whether I want to bump this up to 5 stars as a “all-time favourite”. I know I’ll re-read this over and over. Later note: It is now 5 stars.

14. These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer
Rating: ★★

Historical Romance; Georgian - France, England. The English Duke of Avon buys a young ragamuffin French boy, Leon, from his older brother. The Duke treats Leon treats the young man (who is 19) as a page in his household. Leon worships the Duke even though the world finds the Duke haughty, selfish and cruel. Of course, Leon is really the incredibly beautiful Leonie and soon the Duke adopts her as his ward and has mysterious intentions for her future.

First of all, this was my first Heyer... I had never heard of the author even though I like romances from this period. However, commentary from the internet informed me that Heyer was the author who started the regency/historical romance in the earlier part of the 20th Century. So I picked up These Old Shades because it's supposed to be one of her standout books. The Duke is supposed to be the template of the "Devilish rake who will be reformed by the heroine" alpha male.

After reading it, I realized I am too modern for this book. It was written in 1923 and it was too old-fashioned for me to lose myself in it. Today, the heroine would have been seen as a girl with daddy issues. The Duke is 40 and she is 19 and she 'worships' him and he calls her 'Infant' (in French). I was really put off by all the scenes where she kneels by his side while he strokes her head from his chair. As I was reading, I was freaking out in my head because in the eyes of the Duke, Leon/Leonie was - in order of progression - a "child", a "page", his "ward" and then his "love". In the course of the book, Leonie ages about one year. Squicky.

Leonie is... empty-headed? At first, I thought her mental age is about 14 because she talks like a tween. She whines and pouts and never seems to have any adult thoughts. All she cares about is being with the Duke and getting mad at people who don't like him. Leonie has no desires that does not involve the Duke.

On a technical note, all the characters speak with lots of exclamation marks which annoyed me to no end. I usually am very dense to these this things, but When! Everyone! Is! So! Exclamation-y! La!... It hit me over the head like a sledgehammer.

I did like the numerous French phrases interspersed with the dialogue. The author assumes you will know it - and therefore does not dumb it down with a translation - so I got to practice my high school French or look it up on Babelfish. I'm guessing that in 1923, the average reader knew more French than the average reader in 2009. Which makes them way cooler.

I won't give up on Heyer; I was encouraged to try one of her later books if the earlier books weren't to my liking. So I will try Frederica sometime this year.

15. Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
Rating: ★★★1/2

Thriller. First novel in the series about Archie, a police detective, and Gretchen, a totally uncompromising female serial killer. I already reviewed the second novel, Sweetheart, earlier in this thread; Click here to read.

In this book, Archie has recovered from nearly dying at the hands of Gretchen. He is encouraged to head another serial killer task force in order to bring him back to normalcy. This new serial killer is _targeting young high school girls in order to rape and murder them.

Archie is still haunted by his experiences with Gretchen. In flashbacks, the reader is shown what was done to Archie - from his perspective - and I'll always look at cleaning products differently. Gretchen is in jail now, but has managed to manipulate Archie into visiting her on a regular basis. This both hampers and helps his recovery.

Chelsea Cain's strength is the ability to fill each page with dread and gruesome horror. She's colourfully graphic and she doesn't hold back about describing blood and pain. I like how Cain can have so many scenes with Gretchen, yet keep her character, her thoughts, her emotions so completely fathomless.

16. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
Rating: ★★★★1/2
Genre: YA Fantasy

I picked this up because Xicanti wrote an interesting review of it. Katsa is a young woman who was born a Graceling. She has two different coloured eyes which signify the Graced and makes it hard for them to fit into a society that fears them. At a young age, an unfortunate incident makes everyone realize that her special Grace is killing. Her uncle, the King of their country, soon utilizes this talent by assigning Katsa to be his assassin to terrify his nation into obedience. He verbally abuses Katsa, and treats her like a mad dog. Not surprisingly, this story is about her growing into her powers, taking control of her life, embarking on a quest and falling in love - typical female protagonist YA stuff I love.

The characters are wonderfully written, and are convincing people. Katsa is tough, the best fighter, tempestuous and thick-headed. She knows what she wants for her future: she doesn't want to be married, nor have children. She's great because those things don't change even though she meets her love. Good message for YA. Po, the mysterious prince from Lienid, is roguish, self-assured but compellingly vulnerable. The secondary characters, aren't one-note or one-sided. You feel that they have their own lives they are carrying on, even if they aren't the focus of the book. Bitterblue, the solemn and precocious little girl breaks my heart. The bad guy is creepy and villainous, his influence is felt throughout the book as a dark cloud hovering over the land.

What I liked about this book is that it wasn't STUPID. Usually, I figure out the bad guy's secret and then wait for the characters to figure it out 100 pages later. In this book, it was about 10 pages and I was actually shocked they were smart on their own accord (I think I've been let down by other books too much). The worldbuilding is consistent, with all the infighting of seven monarchal nations. The writing was crisp, and there were a couple scenes where I let out unexpected shouts of laughter. The scenes between Po and Katsa could be heartwrenching, and I enjoyed how they learned to work together on their quest.

I only have two nitpicks about the book. I thought it was implausible that Katsa was responsible for creating the Counsel (a secret body that is trying to fix the wrongs in the world) since she had formed the self-image of a brute from the lessons of her childhood. It would have been more realistic if Raffin (her cousin) had formed it, since he is a very intellectual and moral man, and Katsa grew a conscience by working with such a body. My second nitpick, the denouement of the book was a bit abrupt. It kind of flies by in a nebulous sort of way, and an important character gets a one sentence send off.

This book has been compared to Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness Quartet and these comparisons are merited. When I was growing up, I loved that series with all of my heart and I am glad this book follows in its footsteps. If you are a fan of that series, you'll like Graceling. However, to be honest, I think Pierce's series is superior, as I think Pierce was able to write four compelling books without flaw.

Looking back on Graceling, I think my more accurate rating would be ★★★★, but if a book forces an actual physical response; it makes me laugh out loud (like this one did) or makes me cry - which is rare - then I'll give it an extra 1/2 star.

Great review Cauterize. I already have this book on my tbr list, if not, I certainly would have added it after your comments.

17. Velvet Glove by Emma Holly
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Contemporary Erotica Re-Read

Audrey is a BSDM submissive who runs away from her master because she realizes that she is going to lose herself if he pushes her farther than her limits. She runs back to her old life in Washington D.C. where she hopes to pull herself together. Little does she know, but her old master has pulled some strings that she will be watched by Patrick, a bar owner. Little does everyone know, Patrick is a dom as well and he decides to master Audrey for his own reasons.

I am conflicted about this book, I'm a take-it-or-leave-it BSDM reader. I like Emma Holly as an author, because I think she's one of the strongest writers of erotica. I like Patrick's take on S&M, he's not into degradation, like Audrey's former master. However, I don't like Audrey because she is too submissive, too unformed for my taste. The author tries to make it seem that she knows herself, but she never seems to have opinions, or even a real personality. Patrick deals with too much deception for me to like him. He lies to Audrey by saying he is gay; there's a side plot with Basil, a drag queen, who is his beard. He hides his true motives from everybody who cares about him. There is a lot of things that stretch believability in the book. From homing nipple rings, to custom tailored outfits everyday, to Audrey almost getting assaulted/kidnapped and everyone treating it like 'not-that-big-a-deal'.

Why this book gets this good a rating is that the sex is very hot. Scorching. Holly's strength is the ability to write a lot of sex scenes and keep the plot moving forward. It might be outré for many, but it's good and it isn't paint-by-numbers. She always surprises me with what kind of scenarios she can dream up, and it's the sex that doesn't ask me to drop my reality-checkers.

Very nice review of Graceling. I read it recently and really liked it as well. I enjoyed the fact that the Katsa was a strong female character that could more than take care of herself.

edited for spelling

18. The Darkness That Comes Before by Scott R. Bakker
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Epic Fantasy

"Many centuries ago, the world was nearly destroyed by the dark wizards of the Consult, and the High King's family was wiped out--or so it seemed. Then from the wild, uncharted north comes a mysterious and extraordinarily powerful philosopher-warrior, Anasurimbor Kellhus, descendant of the ancient High Kings. But the return of the king's bloodline is little cause for rejoicing. For Kellhus's appearance may signal the overthrow of empires, the destruction of the sorcerous schools, the return of the Consult demons--and the end of the world." - summary from Amazon.com

First of all, I am not an epic fantasy fan. I am that person who hasn't read any of Tolkien's books. I tried reading The Hobbit, only to give up 1/3 of the way in. I get frustrated by (what I perceive as) nothing happening. So, I just wanted to say this is the viewpoint I come from. Reading this book, it solidified my dislike of epic fantasy but I ended up finishing it and thinking it was better than my first impression. It is 600 pages(!) and I almost gave up around pages 100-120. However, I ploughed through and ended up getting caught up by certain characters and racing to find out what happened next.

I can't really do a good summary because there is so much going on, and too many characters. This world doesn't have elves, dwarf or the like, instead it's similar to our world around the First Crusade. There are different factions, tribes and religions. The prophet Maithanet declares war on the Holy City, Shimeh, which is analogous to Jerusalem held by the Muslims. The bulk of the story is various factions trying to control the purpose of the Holy War for their own ends, if they are prophets, Emperors, Schools of Magic or barbarians.

Bakker is very good at illuminating the games of politics that people play. I did like how Bakker was able to bring each major player to the forefront for their moment of glory, and then they fade back onto the chessboard. However, none of these players are women. This is the biggest criticism of this work, and extremely valid, is that the women are one-note and stereotypical. There is a total of three women in this whole book and two of them are whores. Yup. The last one is the mother of the Emperor, and she's seen as a Grade-A bitch by everyone. Even her son, who she masterfully schemed to put on the throne. Bakker makes the comment that she's always been a power behind the throne, but then he dumps her to oblivion after a few scenes. The two whores, they are set up to be people who will change the world, but one is certifiably crazy and so you don't like reading about her, while the other has the character of a doormat. This lack of any decent women characters is poor form.

This book is very ambitious and I would recommend it to lovers of this genre. However, it's not really for someone who is ambivalent to this genre, like me. But, I will read the next one because I really like Cnaisur, the Norse/Mongol-like barbarian warrior. His intelligence and his battle of wits with Kellhus makes this series worthwhile.

58 & 60: Thanks guys! Weirdly enough, I find it harder to write reviews on books I really like, as I feel I'm rambling on and struggling not to give spoliers away. I get blocked and give up for a few days and end up reading more books!

19. Private Places by Robin Schone, et al.
Rating: ★★
Genre: Erotic Historical Romance Anthology

Four short stories by Robin Schone, Claudia Dain, Allyson James, Shiloh Walker. I wouldn't recommend buying it, since two of the four stories were bad.

Schone's story: bad. About Ardelle Denning and Mr. Manning from Scandalous Lovers. I never seemed to care about either and the shadow of abuse was annoying. I think I'm outgrowing Schone's style of writing. The very wordy, hyper-unrealistic dialogue and the tons of one sentence paragraphs. I used to be okay with it, now it grates on my nerves.

Dain's story: It was split in half by following two different femme fatales. Not a good idea in a short story as it left both REALLY undeveloped. Bad.

James's story: Was the best, the heroine play piquet against a devilishly handsome duke. Cool because the story actually teaches you how piquet was played. They have a past, and now they use the game to create a future for themselves.

Walker story: Paranormal set in colonial America. Didn't like it. I seem to have a bias against anything that has the 'Hunter' role in it. But it was well written, with an unusual setting, so I would recommend it for others.

---

20. Suite Fantasy by Janice Maynard
Rating: 1/2 Star
Genre: Erotic Romance

Three short stories with the common thread being an upscale sexual fantasy hotel all the characters visit. It was horrible, so horrible that I started writing nasty comments in the margins of the book (because I know I'm going to throw it away) whenever something stupid happened. I do not recommend; I picked it off the 4 for $10 table at Chapters and now I'm embarrassed.

(edited to correct rating)

Whew.... I haven't been able to post for a bit. Had a sick Mr. Cauterize to tend to which (obviously) led me to get sick as well. I am going to make a big effort to catch up my reviews to my current reading.

Here we go:



21. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rating: ★★★★1/2
Genre: Science Fiction – New Wave

GirlUnderGlass and I read this as part of her “March – Month of Firsts” as we had both never read Ursula Le Guin before. She has already reviewed it on her thread here and I highly recommend it; it was even a Hot Review!

Genly Ai is a representative of the Ekumen, an alliance of many planets (think of the Federation from Star Trek). He is on the ice world, Gethen, in order to convince its leaders to join the Ekumen. Gethen is a unique planet, with unique individuals. Except for a small ring around the equator where it is warm enough, Gethen is completely uninhabitable. The people are completely androgynous until they are in their monthly period of “kemmer” in which they become male or female sexual beings for a few days. I look at the summary I just wrote and realize, “This is not even 10% of what the book is really about… people really need to read it to understand how complex it is”.

This book has been lauded as the first New Wave science fiction book to be critically recognized as it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards. Le Guin explores societal and interpersonal relationships within the science fiction framework and it is amazing how many concepts and philosophies she can make you think about. Her main theme is an exploration of the “Other”. What makes the Other? When do we emphasize or why do we reject the Other? Gender, religion, tradition, communcation, Eastern/Western, communism, feudalsim, tribal/nation… all this and more gets play within the book. For me, the gender question was not the most eye-opening, but the subtle criticism of patriotism and nationalism. Obviously in the 1960s, when this was written, it was a reflection of the Cold War era. However, I found it still extremely relevant to the present. I have always been proud of my patriotism, but this book forced me to think about whether it is a virtuous idea for the future harmony of our global world.

Lastly, what struck a personal chord with me, were the beautiful descriptions of snow, of glaciers, of ice. I live in Canada, and I live with similar a landscapes for about, oh… four to eight months out of the year. I love the beauty of winter and was pleased how Le Guin was able to capture it on Gethen. The harshness of the cold and the bleakness yet the pristine white nature of untouched snow and ice…

I strongly recommend this book for others, even if it is just to see how a talented author can cram so many thought-provoking ideas in one (not even long) book. I am just disappointed in myself for not having read this sooner, for I love great science fiction.

I thought I'd do that BBC list that others have been doing in the group:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy – Doing it for Group Read
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth.
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt.
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

That leaves me: 29 read, 2 abandoned, 1 currently reading.

#4: Carolyn (MusicMom41) and I are going to be reading Left Hand of Darkness in May. I hope we enjoy it as much as you and Eliza did.

Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Biography

Wandering the stacks at the library, I picked this up because I had seen the Anne Hathaway movie with the same name. It didn't dawn on me that it was a straight-laced biography, rather than a fictional account of the early life of Jane Austen like the movie was. The book is very detailed, the author focuses on three things: the letters Jane wrote and received, the inter-relationships between her family members and certain persons in Jane's life that had particular influence on her.

For the second theme, Spence goes into the minutiae of Austen's extended family tree. As he accounts her life, it emphasizes how important family was to the gentry of this time period. There are many accounts of how richer family members "adopted" poorer ones, Jane visiting her relatives for months at a time, how not-closely related relations would provide money for their almost penniless relations. Family was so much more closer than I realized.

Spence details what he believes to be the star-crossed love of Jane's life as Tom LeFoy, a future barrister, an assertion that I am not completely won over, but am willing to give some credence to. Also, Spence illustrates the other people he believes are the most influential in Austen's life, her sister Cassandra and her brother Henry and his wife.

I do feel this biography was weak in specific areas; Spence does not detail how Jane's education and religious beliefs influenced her work. I found myself often wishing to know what Jane read because I know that her work often parodied other novels. Jane's family also had more than three men of the cloth (her father was a rector) and not knowing Jane's viewpoint on religion felt like a big hole in the character sketch the author was making.

This book was not a dry, prosaic biography but it probably shouldn't be the first one you read about Jane Austen - like it was for me. It was a fairly enjoyable read, and I would recommend to Austen-ites.

#66: Stasia, you plan the books you read that far in advance? :) LOL, that doesn't surprise me with the amount you read and your Continent TBR. But I hope both you and MusicMom like the book. I tried to compliment Eliza's review... talk about some things that she was only able to touch on.

23. Beauty and the Spy by Julie Anne Long
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Historical Romance

Susannah was raised to be a wealthy heiress on the marriage mart, but when her father dies, his debts leave her destitute. She must move in with a poor spinster relative and figure out what she wants out of life and why someone would want to murder her father. She meets Kit, a viscount and spy for England after the Napoleonic Wars, who wishes to unravel the secret of her father's death for his own reasons.

I wanted to like this book more since I love the author, but it was only average (but better than average for most other romance authors). This is one of Long's earlier books and it seems that the author's writing improves with each book, because her current novels are much better. I didn't care too much about Susannah, she was sort of bland, personality-wise. There was a few inaccuracies that I didn't like, and it jarred the realism while reading the book. Lastly, the characters read Pride & Prejudice, which I always feel is "too cutesy" in a Regency-period romance.

#68: No, I do not generally plan books that far in advance, although I do have a 'must-read' list for this year. In the case of The Left Hand of Darkness since I am reading it along with Carolyn, we plan when we can read that fits into both our schedules.

Generally speaking, my advance planning for books is limited to 2 weeks.

#70: I'll admit, I'm more of a willy-nilly reader. I seem to either rotate genres, or do a glut of one. I've never had a must-read list or a reading plan, but I'm thinking of joining the 9/9/9 to get me structured in the genres I have difficulty starting (but not reading). Admittedly, I'm feeling a bit in a book slump right now. I have a bunch lying around but after doing my Anna Karenina for GroupRead, I don't know what I want to pick up next.

#71: This is the first year I have had a 'must read' list and I am not sure I will do it gain. I think I prefer the willy-nilly approach. Last year, I did want to read more young adult books, but I did not limit myself to certain titles like I have this year.

#72: Yeah, I think it's great when you stumble across something at the store or the library that seems cool, and then you're enthusiastic to start reading it right away. But not stuff from the TBR shelves... I think mine stare down at me and are angry at me for not picking them up yet, which just makes it worse. Aaack! I'm afraid of them!

Ooohh darn I just found your review now! I knew that this "holiday" thing wasn't gonna fit in with my LT schedule heh :) Stupid real world. Thank you so much for what you said about my review and linking to it as well. I'm so so so glad that you enjoyed the book as much as I did, it's always nice to share opinions on a novel - especially when it's that good. I plan to buy & read The Dispossessed next by her (apparently it's set a little before TLHOD; because on Le Guin's official site, she says" "In Dispossessed, the ansible gets invented; but they're using it in Left Hand, which was written fifteen years earlier. Please do not try to explain this to me. I will not understand.").

#74: Eliza, I just put that review up late last night... so don't feel that you're behind! I'm the one who is behind with her reviewing. I love the whole ansible thing, because Orson Scott Card uses it in Ender's Game (which is awesome, btw), and he gives a mini-shout out to Le Guin for inventing the term/concept. For Le Guin, I'm trying to decide whether to do The Dispossessed or try something from the Earthsea series.

24. Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose
Rating: ★★★★1/2
Genre: Non-Fiction

I picked up this book because the book's title describes one of my life's goals: to write a book someday (hopefully). I still don't think I'm ready to reach that goal, but this book helped me to start reading books in a different light.

Sometimes I think I am the world's worst reader of literature. I tend to read everything literally rather than think of any themes, metaphors or analogies (I think this was a topic of discussion on sjmccreary's thread). I enjoy reading for plot, characters, dialogue but skip over the construction of the writing, what the author is trying to say by how they construct their prose. Francine Prose's book tries to teach someone like me, to read between the lines, and to analyze what makes great writing, great.

Prose argues that one does not need classes or "how-to" books to learn how to write. She advocates that the best lesson for writing is close reading the work of great writers. Reading like a Writer basically excerpts famous works, and then Prose discusses how each passage shows great technique to construct sentences, character, tone, narration, dialogue, gestures, etc. Prose even includes a chapter on Checkov to show how he "breaks" all the previous rules.

As a result of my background, I sometimes found it tough to do the close reading. I am a fast reader and tend to race through books to "find out what happens next". But for once, I really took my time to go through the passages and I do think it's influenced how I read. I'll admit, I still don't understand some of the points Prose tries to make (especially the paragraph section), but I feel I'm closer to understanding than I was before. Maybe I'm just thanking my lucky stars that someone actually tried to explain close reading; all my English lit classes all the way into University never did (and I did well in them!)

Reading like a Writer was a NYTimes Bestseller, and it's easy to see why. Prose has a love of books and the written language, and her writing is very accessible. The passages she chose were from a very diverse group of writers and she even includes a list of "Books to be Read Immediately" that I will try to make a must-read for me in the next few years. Definitely Recommended.

25. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Memoir, American History

A few years ago, I saw Sarah Vowell promoting this book on The Daily Show. She was really witty, sarcastic and funny on the show and her enthusiasm for this book put it on my TBR list even though I am not remotely interested in this topic. Assassination Vacation is one-half memoir and one-half history lesson; the reader follows along with Vowell as she roadtrips (or as she likes to say 'pilgrimages') around America to the historical importance sites of the assassinations of the American presidents: Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and Robert McKinley.

Vowell's subversive humour and her obvious passion for this topic makes this an enjoyable read for both period buffs and non-enthusiasts, alike. I needed the laughs; I'm not American and I don't care about this period in history. If I am going to read about Vowell's visit the island prison of the doctor who harbored John Wilkes Booth after the assassination... it better be funny. Little nuggets of fun, like finding out that the Oneida flatware company started out as a free love commune, is what makes history interesting and not boring. And Vowell goes everywhere. She travels to the most obscure museums, to the actual spot on the street where Garfield was shot, to mountain resort where Roosevelt was informed he was now the acting president. History is so interconnected and full of coincidences and now I know that for these three men, the string that ties them together is Robert Todd Lincoln, the "Jinxy McDeath" of his time. Vowell is so adept at throwing so much information and writing you into her shoes, that you appreciate how she can boil it all down and still make a compelling narrative.

I have both the Prose and Vowell books already on the Continent (boy, with names like those how could they help but be writers?), but have not yet gotten to them. *Sigh*

LOL, yeah... maybe if I want to be a writer, I should change my last name to "Consonant" :) To be truthful, it took me about 4+ months to read the Prose book on and off. A lot of digesting and "Huh? I didn't catch that subtle switch from present tense to past tense to show X about the the character... I guess I gotta re-read the passage again" thought process going on.

Hi Cauterize! I read your Vowell review with interest because I read The Wordy Shipmates last year. I'd never heard of Vowell before and want to read more of her books since I liked Shipmates so much. I'm glad you like this book and I'll hope to score a copy on BookMooch soon!

I enjoyed your review of Reading Like a Writer. I was just thinking that your comment of being a literal reader fit me to a T, when you went on to mention that this very topic was discussed on my thread earlier! I will make a point of looking for this book on the next library trip. You've also got me reconsidering Sarah Vowell I'd checked out The Wordy Shipmates a couple of months ago, then returned it unread because it just didn't look very inviting. But I might have to try again.

I'm slow catching up here - sorry to hear you were sick, hope you're all better now. (I assume Mr C tended you as lovingly as you did him?)

I've been reading Reading Like a Writer off and on for maybe a year--rereading parts etc., and I'm not at the end yet. Every time I read a little of Reading Like a Writer, I find my other reading so much more rewarding, because I find myself slowing down and noticing things I probably would otherwise have missed. I do agree it's not a book to read straight through--you need to "practice" as you work your way through it.

#80: It's funny, because I enjoyed Assassination Vacation and I'll definitely pick up more Vowell books, but I'm still not interested, at all, in learning more about the topic? Her writing reminded me of a Roman History prof of mine who would tell you the gossipy, dirty details in history that only a person who knew everything about the topic would know... instead of boring dates and recitation of facts, etc. I loved that class.

#81: Thanks for asking how I'm feeling! I only had a minor cold, while Mr. C had the fever/chills and a cough that put him out for a week. However, right after I recovered, my chocolate lab contracted mild Kennel Cough, so I've been tending her now!

#82: I'm with you, anything that slows my reading down and gets me to notice anything is a miracle worker... I regret that I didn't read something like it when I was in Junior High/High School so I could have practiced from all the lit I've read since.

Assassination Vacation is one of my favorite Vowell books - you did an excellent job of describing her writing style. I always find it difficult to describe to people. I read The Wordy Shipmates this year, and although I enjoyed it, it was a bit more of the dense history and not as much of the funny. I might read The Partly Cloudy Patriot or Take the Cannoli first. Both are terrific.

Stolen from Cait86's Thread...

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Anne McCaffrey or Nora Roberts (as J.D. Robb)

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
Pride & Prejudice (4)

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
No. My complex grammar is pretty poor since I never was taught any grammar in school.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
i) Roarke from the In Death Series, but not liking his need to help with Eve's work
ii) Lars Dahl from the Crystal Singer Series

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
I re-read so much... I couldn't say. Maybe The Ship who Searched by Anne McCaffrey

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
I didn't have one. I was plowing through Nancy Drews like a mad fiend.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Any Given Doomsday for Early Reviewers. But I read Eat, Pray, Love a year and a half ago, and I STILL have burning hatred for it.

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Pride & Prejudice for the first time

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?
Never read any of them, so don't I care.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
A decent adaptation of one of Anne McCaffrey's works. How many of the other Grandmasters had their work adapted!? How many Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke and freakin' Dunes have been made? Sexism, I tell ya.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Whatever that second Stephanie Meyer book is... so I don't have to be harassed by all the mania anymore.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I don't have these. But, I used to dream about making out with the lead singers from my favourite bands back in high school.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
I've read one Patricia Cornwall, one James Patterson, one Dan Brown and I feel they're all on the same level of crap.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
The Canterbury Tales. It's in Middle English, and my prof kept wanting us to be grateful to her that she didn't make us read Beowulf in Old English. Whatever.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I've only seen MacBeth and Romeo and Juliet live. But I totally recommend watching the movie, "Hamlet 2". Hilarious and touching.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Never read any French, and I'm reading my first Russian --> Anna Karenina. But I have read Lolita by Nabokov.

18) Roth or Updike?
I've read neither.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Read neither... ok, this quiz is making me feel un-literate.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare by default. I haven't finished Paradise Lost and wasn't intellectual enough for Canterbury Tales.

21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen by default.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
Apparently, half the authors mentioned in this quiz... but CanLit (embarrassing because I'm Canadian). I've never read Anne of Green Gables, which somehow makes me a failure as a female Canadian, I've been told.

23) What is your favorite novel?
I used to say Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson, but this quiz is making me consider changing it to the Crystal Singer series or the Dragonsinger series by Anne McCaffrey. Recently, I have come to the epiphany of how much McCaffrey changed my life. I remember being in Grade 7 and picking up The Rowan off the school library's shelf and it's the first adult book that blew my YA mind. It spurred an undying love for Sci-fi that continues to this day.

24) Play?
Much Ado about Nothing - Shakespeare.

25) Poem?
"Demon Pond" by Christopher Dewdney - ha! An obscure Canadian poet... do I get bonus points to offset my embarrassing gap?

26) Essay?
Eeek.. most of the essays I've read were about economic or legal theory... so I pass on this one.

27) Short story?
*sigh* Short stories aren't my thing? I'll go for The Man Who Sold The Moon by Heinlein.

) Work of nonfiction?
I love Greek, Egyptian and Chinese history books.

29) Who is your favorite writer?
Anne McCaffrey.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
J.K. Rowling. Ouch... I've read them all, loved the first... but then disliked each successive book more and more. By Order of the Phoenix I was skipping pages of Harry yelling in All Caps. I also didn't like how she brought the Horcruxes in at the last second. I think she could have used an editor with a backbone for the last few books. Not an uncommon problem, I think most powerful authors have spineless editors that don't want to offend the cash cow. But then their later work suffers.

31) What is your desert island book?
I'd pick something that had a lot of snow in it and also take Life of Pi to give me some hope of survival.

32) And... what are you reading right now?
Other than Anna Karenina for Group Read, I'm in a big rut... haven't felt the spark to pick up a new book... sad, actually.

Oh dear...just reading the questions has made me realize how many gaps I have in what I read. Gulp. However, you've inspired me to give Anne McCaffrey a try. I think I actually have most of her books in my house because my husband loves fantasy/sci fi. Do you have one in particular that you would recommend?

Well, never having read Anne of Green Gables does make you a failure! Just kidding, or course - but you should read it!!!

Oh, and I have read Beowulf in Old English (I took two Old English classes in university), and to say it was tough is a massive understatement!

Re: My Questionnaire... I think I should clarify. I don't think Rowling is a bad storyteller at all; I love her world, themes and most characters (Snape!) and how she was not afraid to kill the good guys in a YA book. Her story totally grabs the reader. But as a writer... I think people overrate how well the later books were written by how great the story is. They seem... bloated... and she was popping them out pretty fast and that might have affected how much true editing and critique they were subjected to. I dunno, I just think they could have been tightened up.

#86: It depends what you're into! If you like dragons and low-tech societies, then start with Dragonflight (and this is her popular Pern series). If you like futuristic stuff about telepathy/telekinesis then go with The Rowan. If you like music, ambition, memory and love, then Crystal Singer. If you like a futuristic story about how disabled babies can have a better life by being popped into a shell and becoming a powerful starship, then The Ship who Sang followed by my favourite, The Ship who Searched.

Also, Callen610, did you read Assassination Vacation by audiobook? I want to try it because I've seen the cast of readers and they're all funny people like Conan O'Brien!

#87: LOL, at least I know I am a failure! Should I mention I've never read Little Women, either? :D Whee!

Thanks for the suggestions Cauterize - I'll have to have a look around and see if we have any of those novels. I read Assassination Vacation instead of listening to it, and enjoyed it a lot.

>88 Cauterize:: Sarah Vowell's books on audio are either love them or hate them because of her voice (Violet in "The Incredibles", if you haven't heard her). I'm definitely in the "love them" category. I read most of her books in print, but I listened to The Partly Cloudy Patriot, which has Sarah and Conan O'Brien and Stephen Colbert reading and really enjoyed it.

90: I knew she was "Violet Parr", I think her voice is very unique which is good for radio - I'm tired of the "radio voice". I'm just impressed that someone has put the effort into making a more theatre-esque audiobook with famous people. I've maybe listened to one audiobook, I'm not a fan of them but a hook like this would get me to pick one up.

After some down time, I'm back with the reviews. I've been barely been able to keep up on my post talk, and need to get back to some LTers. The hockey postseason has been calling its siren song and my beloved Flames are in a battle royale with the Chicago Blackhawks.

---

26. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Fiction, CanLit

- Warning: Mild Spoilers -

A story about the dystopian future of America when it descends into extreme Christian fundamentalism. Told from the viewpoint of Offred, a 'handmaiden' in the society, who lives in the Commander's home and under the thumb of the Commander's Wife. A 'handmaiden' is a woman of proven child-bearing capabilities who must become a breeder for women of high status who cannot give birth.

This was my first Margaret Atwood book; I think I was one of the few Canadian high school classes who wasn't required to read this book. Most of my friends had to read it, and I remember they had found parts of it mildly disturbing but overall an interesting read. So what can I say about it, now that I finally meandered over to it? 'Chilling' is a good adjective. Atwood is able to effectively convey her idea that America can be this close to religious fundamentalism and how easily it would be accepted.

I was impressed with the world that Atwood has built in this novel. All the little details of ordinary life has been thought out and changed. I was intrigued how Atwood's view of Christian fundamentalism can so easily be similar to Islamic fundamentalism. Veils, feminine modesty, colours denoting role, limiting freedom of education and how each person's place in society can be rigidly proscribed by religious doctrine are all examples. What struck me most in this book, is how easily Offred and all the 'normal' people submitted to this extremist regime. Within a short period of time, even though they remember the 'old' world, they have accepted the righteousness of the 'new' world. I was impressed how Atwood was able to make the reader understand through the first person perspective of Offred how regular people can accept such a terrible life and make it their normal routine.

To be truthful, I was disappointed in the ending to this novel. I really disliked the epilogue and think it shouldn't have been included. I almost didn't even realize it was there, and now I wish that I had never seen it. The epilogue tells you the ultimate fate of Offred, and I thought the novel had built up to an ambiguous ending - the sort of ending I love. Have you ever seen the alternate ending to Terminator 2? It shows Sarah Connor old and happy as a grandmother and it shows the viewer they were successful in stopping Judgment Day. Now the real ending is the darkened highway at night and Sarah narrating that she does not know whether they were able to stop Judgment Day and only time will tell and in the background, ominous music plays loudly. My opinion is... sometimes the best ending is the unknown highway ending. I'm not telling you if the Handmaid's Tale ends happily ever after or if the opposite is true; but that the author actually gives you the answer... and I think the book didn't end as strong as it could because of that answer.

Still, I enjoyed reading the Handmaid's Tale. It's gripping, yet easy to read. Atwood's prose isn't dense or quirky, but straightforward. This trait ensures I will be reading more of her work. Recommended.

#95: Nice review!

Wow, with my break, apparently I can't remember how to properly post anymore. I shouldn't hit "back" and then re-submit to fix my posts. Argh.

BTW, I created a fun thread where group members can upload pictures of their shelves! Check it out:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/62782

I thought maybe your computer had just gone nutso on you!

I have been to the shelf thread, drooling over the pictures. I just wish I had some shelves to take pictures of so that I could post them!

LOL, no... it's just me that's nutso! Ah well, you live you learn... until the next time I forget and quadruple post!

All that hockey watching has made you slightly off-kilter :)

I read The Handmaid's Tale when it first was published. Your excellent review prompts me to re-read it.

I enjoyed your review of The Handmaid's Tale. I've never read Atwood, either (but I'm not Canadian, so maybe I've got an excuse?!). I've heard lots about her, and have been planning to read this book, but then heard from a few others who found her to be too heavily into sci-fi/fantasy. Those genres don't appeal to me, so I began waffling. Now, with your comments, I think I will give her a go - and make up my own mind. I admit, the premise of this book has a weird appeal, but your comments comparing the fundamentalist Christians to the fundamentalist Muslims is chilling. Thanks for the great review.

I plan on reading THT next month Now, I know I keep saying that but this time I'm getting closer to actually doing it because it's finally sitting on a shelf in my room! (I got it through Bookmooch and was waiting for it to arrive)
Your review has got me all excited about it!

oh and, I stopped reading where you said that you were" disappointed in the ending to this novel". I don't want to know why you were disappointed just yet. It might put me off - and I don't want to be influenced! I'll read the review again after I've read the book!

Great review of The Handmaid's Tale. I read it years ago and was very impressed. It's the only Atwood book I've read and liked besides Alias Grace.

Stasia, playoffs definitely drain my focus! It's very intense... I'm currently trying to perfect all my game rituals, because... you know... they matter :)

#103: I read on other reviews that when the Handmaid's Tale first came out in the 1980s, some called it Sci-Fi/Fantasy?! It was nominated for a Nebula Award, but I don't consider speculative fiction to necessarily be science fiction. For me, Science Fiction has to deal with advanced technology or a world where regular space travel is somewhat possible.

#105: No worries! That's why that review came with a spoilers warning :) I think you'll enjoy the book, there's more going on than I said - stuff about feminism, etc. I always find it hard to figure out how much to say about the themes of a book for fear of "giving something away". But at the same time, I want to describe what I thought was "cool" about the book to see if anybody wants to discuss it. In this case, I guess I want to see if anybody else had problems with the ending.

27. The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
Rating: ★★
Genre: Fiction

This was an impulse pick-up at the library since I recently saw the movie of the same name, starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood - really enjoyed the movie. I have a general rule with films based on books, the books always better. This book... the opposite was true.

This is a love story between two middle-aged people - a National Geographic photographer and a Italian war bride/Iowan housewife - set in the 1960s. They meet when Robert Kincaid has been assigned to photograph the covered bridges in Madison County and he becomes lost and asks Francesca for directions.

But if you ask me, this book isn't truly about the love story... it's a love story between the author and the Robert Kincaid character. Robert has no flaws, he is so super-humanly perfect, and the reader is treated to many repeated lines of description about how he's "the last cowboy" and how his rugged type is becoming "obsolete in this changing world". If you do any research, you can find out quickly that the author admits that he is very similar to Robert. And this, is a Mary Sue. I hate Mary Sues.

I really feel that the screenplay for the film, and the acting abilities of Meryl Streep really enhanced Francesca. In the film, you feel her loneliness, her isolation. You see her intelligence, warmth and humour. I never thought Francesca seemed to be a real person in this book; she seemed to be a mirror to reflect Robert's greatness. We get superficial narration of how she is supposed to be intelligent, how she feels isolated but it's never anything of any depth or exploration.

The book shows there's a fine line between truly moving, heart-wrenching passages and the most purplish prose ever. I'll admit, where I place that line is probably on the more 'feet-planted-firmly-on-the-ground', cynical side of things but I'll give you a bit of a taste:

Ex. 1: In the midst of it, the lovemaking, she had whispered it to him, captured it in one sentence: 'Robert, you're so powerful it's frightening.'
Ex. 2: Invariably, after they'd completed their lovemaking and were lying together, she'd tell him, 'You're the best, Robert, no competition, nobody comes close'
Ex. 3: She, who had ceased having orgasms years ago, had them in long sequences now with a half-man, half-something-else creature. She wondered at his endurance, and he told her that he could reach those places in the mind as well as physically...

Okay, I'm sorry... but it's not good when I'm rolling my eyes all the time. Really?? Why doesn't everyone build a golden shrine to this guy?

But then there's this stuff:

It's clear to me now that I have been moving toward you and you toward me for a long time. Though neither of us was aware of the other before we met, there was a kind of mindless certainty humming blithely along beneath our ignorance that ensured we would come together. Like two solitary birds flying the great prairies by celestial reckoning, all of these years and lifetimes we have been moving toward one another.

See? That is the stuff of tearjerkers and twinging of heartstrings.

I don't know if I recommend this book. It's got some good passages, descriptions of nature and the art of photography and it's a snapshot of a period and place and history that isn't often done. But the book is definitely, for me, on the overly-cheezy side and an idealization of a certain 'rugged, last cowboy' type that I don't think ever actually existed.

I first read The Handmaid's Tale when it came out in the 80's (I think), and though I enjoyed it very much, I thought it was very speculative and far-fetched, as in "it can't happen here." When I reread it about 10 years ago, I was amazed at how prescient it was.

I do consider The Handmaid's Tale to be science fiction--I don't care for the space wars/high tech type of science fiction, but this type of science fiction--usually set in the near future, often raising social issues--is a genre I like very much.

#107: I am a baseball fan! You do not have to explain to me how important all those rituals are, lol.

#107 The comments I read about Atwood writing sci-fi were in response to another book, not The Handmaid's Tale, so I really don't know how accurate those comments might have been. I'm fond of sci-fi, and I usually don't care for what you call speculative fiction either. I'm not sure how well I'll like it, but I do plan to read the book. My curiosity has been aroused now, and must be sated!

#108 You're 2 for 2 with these reviews today. I read this book many years ago. It was so forgettable, that I didn't remember I'd read it when I watched the movie a couple of years later. I know I hadn't seen the movie before, and I honestly didn't remember reading the book but must have because I knew everything before it happened. I haven't forgotten it again. "Cheesy" is probably nicer than most descriptions I can think of. ;-)

#109: But, for the sake of discussion, reading the book in the 2000s, is such a society even set in the future or the near future and thereby making it science/speculative fiction? I would argue that something pretty close was already happening in the world in the 1980s to the present day... but it just happens to be a different religion. We have seen the rise and fall of the Taliban and there is the existence of the ultra-conservative Islamic nations. Many of the social mores are the same as in Gilead, except that women can own property in certain instances etc., but they could fall under the Atwood's definition of a "womens culture" with the segregation of the sexes and the "freedom from" rather than the "freedom to". Obviously there isn't the role of the handmaiden, but you get my drift.

Hockey Update: My Flames are out. *cry* I will now be directing my energies towards bad luck-ing the Vancouver Canucks and cheering on the Washington Capitals. It will be freeing to wash my shirts and jerseys and shave my legs again.

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28. The Hollow by Agatha Christie
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Murder Mystery

I like a good Agatha Christie once in a while, but I'd have to say this one is only serviceable. To be honest, I don't see the point in giving you guys a summary because it's... well, an Agatha Christie. Nothing surprising and I don't want to give any spoilers other than: there's a bunch of people, someone dies, Poirot figures it out. Why I thought this one was only... okay... was that the mystery wasn't too gripping and Poirot seems to be in the story less than usual. I like having Poirot do his little weird Belgian things and getting all offended when someone disturbs his sensibilities, but he sort of in the periphery in this book. But, an Agatha Christie is meant to be a fast, easy fluff read and The Hollow still gets the job done.

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29. Life with my Sister Madonna by Christopher Ciccone
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Biography

I picked this up because one of my favourite gossip websites, LaineyGossip.com, said it was a juicy read. And it is! The author is Madonna's brother, and by all accounts, was a close confidant and alter ego to Madonna from her rise as a popstar to Kabbalah earth mom. Apparently, they've had a somewhat recent fallout (he writes his side of that story), and whether you think it's repellent or not, he wrote this very dishy biography.

For me, if someone is going to write a "tell-all" biography, it better have lots of dirty details. I hate it when you think you are going to get the inside scoop, but instead you get a few choice stories, but then a lot of factual dreck. I don't know what that says about me, but if I wanted a biography with a lot of quotes or facts, then I would have picked one of those up! However, this book really does give you the view of an insider, someone who is privy to the intimate details of a famous person's life. And it doesn't hold back.

The only commentary I have about the content is that Ciccone does not talk about Madonna's process to create her music. No matter what else Madonna has done, she has always co-written her music and wants to be taken seriously as an artist. I'm not sure if this absence is because Ciccone has no clue how she makes her music or if music is of no interest to him. He goes on and on about the costumes, the dancing, the production of the shows - but this is where his job and interest lay.

I'm not going to describe what Ciccone talks about in this book, because a reader isn't going to pick it up based on such a summary. I'll just say that this biography delivers on its promise, and if you're interested in inside details in Madonna's life, then it's a great guilty read.

how did you do that??? it looks so good! (the separating lines I mean)
oh illuminate us with your wisdom! :)

Hello Cauterize!

I'm stopping by to say congratulations on your "hot review" for The Handmaid's Tale.

The 75 challenge folk are on a roll. Today's home page reflects a hot review for you, for TrishNY, Joyce A, girlunderglass and for Cait86!

I think this is great! I'm feeling very fortunate to have found this wonderful group!

that's such a sweet thing to say,Whisper!

...and, of course, CONGRATULATIONS Cauterize!!!

>113 Cauterize: I just got this book recently and haven't read it yet, but your review makes me want to bump it up my list. I'm always up for a some juicy gossip.

Wow! My first hot review!! Thanks for all your well wishes, guys! I didn't think my first would be the one where I compare The Handmaid's Tale to Terminator 2, but there you go :)

#114: Eliza, I use the tag for the indented parts. It's pretty neat, is it not? Don't forget to close it as well.

Cauterize--When I read The Handmaid's Tale in the 80's it seemed to me entirely speculative, and had an air of "can't happen here", I think, because all my life til then had been a time of increasing rights for women. I came of age during the late 1960's, and was somewhat of a "flower child." When I graduated from law school in the 1970's less than 10% of my law school class was female. 10 years later in the 80's it was 50%. Things seemed to be moving in the right direction. I was aware of the fundamentalist countries where women's rights were repressed, but thought that it was only a matter of time before those societies also "advanced."

When I reread the book in the 2000's we were in the Bush years. We saw the ascendence of the religious right, we saw the assault on Roe v. Wade, we saw the war against science. For the first time in my life, I saw what I believed to be regression in women's rights, and in fact all of our civil rights, and it really hit home to me that something as radical as what is depicted in The Handmaid's Tale really could happen here. It was a very sobering thought. Perhaps my flower child days gave me a very naive outlook on life. Peace and Love. :)

Hmmm, Cauterize - just to rub your nose in it, the Canucks are in the second round. GO CANUCKS GO.

#119: I understand where you're coming from - that in your lifetime, you felt the wind was blowing one way and now that it can be seen as blowing the other way in the US, and the Handmaid's Tale could be seen as prescient science fiction. I guess my point was, that I just don't see it as science fiction at all because IMO those conditions already exist, just in another part of the world.

#120: Oh, it's ON like Donkey Kong, Karen!! Oh wait... I forgot I don't care about the opinion of fans of a team that has never won the Cup :)

30. Skin And Other Stories by Roald Dahl
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Short Stories

Whisper1 recently reviewed this book on her thread, and she kept it very short but sweet and basically said that some of the stories scared the hell out of her. The brevity and creepiness of her review AND the fact that it's Roald Dahl made me go and pick it up straight away. So, I want to follow in her footsteps, be short, and say that there are some pretty eerie and ghastly stories in here. There was one that scared us both silly and really stuck in our minds. Won't say which one though. There are some ironic stories and funny ones too. I hate rating short story collections as there are always strong stories and weak ones - I never know what to give the book overall. Recommend.

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31. The Slightest Provocation by Pam Rosenthal
Rating: ★1/2
Genre: Historical Romance

Story of an estranged husband and wife, Kit and Mary, who separated because of their tempers and philosophical differences. During the course of the book, they slowly rediscover each other after years of separation and help save England from political disaster. Set during the post-Napoleonic War England, a significant part of the plot focuses on the political strife between Whigs and Torys and the growing unrest of the lower classes.

Rosenthal is marketed as an historical erotica writer, but I honestly didn't think the sex in this book is quite up to the erotica level. It was on the tame side, and only between Kit and Mary. Some of the scenes were the old-school romance kind - where the couple start messing around, jump into bed, and then... cut to next chapter as they pull on their clothes. The scenes that didn't do the above were what I would rate as "medium graphic". But, I've read more scorching accounts in your typical bodice ripper.

I... really didn't like this book. I felt it was a huge slog. I remember thinking I wanted to give up around page 50, but I wanted to finish it. Looking at some other reviews online, it seems this is one of those love/hate books. I thought it just failed on all three grounds that was supposed to make it interesting:

1. It wasn't really an erotica


2. Kit and Mary's touching rediscovery of their love felt more like a bunch of screaming matches then make-up sex and ends with a reconciliation out of left field


3. The political background of the plot, which I thought was going to make this a more intelligent romance novel, ended up boring me to tears.

In addition, Rosenthal has one of those "quirky" writing styles. As a reader, if I like the plot or characters, an unconventional style doesn't bother me. But if I already dislike the book, a weird writing style makes me want to rip my hair out. Not recommended.

Hope you have better luck with your next read!

I guess I won't be adding book 31 to the TBR pile! I'm surprised you finished it. :0)

32. Burning Tigress and Tempted Tigress by Jade Lee
Rating: ★ and ★★★
Genre: Historical Romance - China

I decided to do a double review on these books and count them as one on my Challenge - it makes things easier. On a romance review website I frequent, DearAuthor.com, they continually bemoan the lack of "ethnic" romances being published today. They do a concerted effort to highlight the few noteworthy authors that are getting published in this romance genre and they think Jade Lee is one of them. I, too, get tired of Regencies and Georgians and also the white-washing of Contemporaries, so I wanted to try this author out. I wanted to get Harlequin Blaze's The Concubine by the author (the recommended book by DA), but my library didn't carry it. So I borrowed Burning Tigress and Tempted Tigress (standalone titles) instead.

I... have mixed feelings after reading these books. Both featured British-descent heroines who are in China around the 1850s. This period would be pre-Empress Cixi rule but probably after the Second Opium War. The British have imposed their imperialist stance and China is suffering from the forced opium trade. Both the heroines have travelled to China with their families and have learned Mandarin over the years.

In Burning Tigress, the heroine is the long-suffering spinster type who accidentally stumbles into witnessing her First Boy, Ken Jin, practicing sexual Taoist acupuncture practices. He is secretly a 'Dragon' who recognizes that the heroine has the potential to be a 'Tigress'. A 'Tigress' is someone who has intense sexual energy and if they study ancient scrolls and techniques they can reach Heaven while having sex. The heroine is bored with her life so she begs him to enlighten her on what she's missing out. I really didn't like this book as it was full of those cheezy euphemisms. There were "Dragon Lances" and "Yin Flower" type descriptions for sexual organs. It was very mystical/spirtual, very kama sutra-ish, which isn't my taste at all.

Tempted Tigress featured a opium-addicted heroine, Anna, who has been drug running for English pirates in order to fuel her addiction and to lose her disappointment in life within opium's smoky grip. She is arrested by Zhi-Gang who has vowed to rid China of the corruption of the opium trade. However, before he can execute her, he needs to use her as a cover to covertly travel to Shanghai on a boat. Soon, they both realize the attraction they feel for each other, and Zhi-Gang tries to help Anna break her addiction and have her help him double-cross her drug pirates. If the story had stopped there, I probably would have thought this book was better than average, instead of average, but Zhi-Gang is also a "Dragon" and we find out that Anna is another potential "Tigress". However, the Tigress mythology is pretty low-key in this book and I liked the raciness of having an addicted heroine.

However, I wasn't looking to read historical romances that feature Caucasian women being amazed by the exotic quality of Chinese men or Chinese spiritual practices. Being a minority myself, I'm not a big fan of seeing non-Western cultures being portrayed as "exotic", "mysterious" or "mystical". I didn't think Jade Lee was a bad writer... and I was quite impressed with her audacity of featuring a drug-running opium addict as one of her heroines. However, the spiritual and exotic nature of these books just isn't my cup of tea. I just want a touching historical romance between two people where you get to see their relationship grow, and it just happens not to be set in Europe. The original book I wanted, The Concubine, is supposed to feature two Asians falling in love in the Forbidden City, and that storyline still appeals to me and I still will pick that book up even though I didn't like the worldbuilding in this Tigress series of the author's.

33. The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Historical Romance - Georgian(?)

Horatia, the stuttering, plain, youngest sister of the beautiful Winwoods, decides to help her sister out of an undesired engagement to Lord Rule - by convincing Rule that he would be better off marrying Horry instead. She tells him that she'll stay out of his way, he'll stay out of hers and they'll have a beautiful "marriage of convenience". Rule is surprised by the bold Horry, so he agrees. However, 'staying out of each other's way' is not the easiest thing to achieve, and eventually they will find out how "convenient" their marriage really is.

I would say I loved the first 1/3 of the novel, liked the middle 1/3, and was bored in the last 1/3. In the first third, Horry is spunky, funny and fearless. In the middle, she morphs a bit into the silly, superficial side but she's still charming and lively. The last third turned into a comedy of errors over a bracelet and I just didn't see the necessity of it.

This was my second Heyer and I definitely liked it better than my first, These Old Shades. I'm not a complete convert yet, but will keep plugging away until I find "my" Heyer novel.

#126: I finished Frederica by Heyer last week and it was very good with a great cast of characters. Maybe that one will be "your" Heyer novel. It certainly was for me!

#127: I've been advised that Frederica might gel with me. I think it's one of her later books? I had planned on reading that one as my second Heyer, but I realized that I had put A Convenient Marriage on hold at the library because they were still ordering in copies of Frederica. But, Frederica's in now, so I'll get to it soon. I'm pretty excited!

I like Frederica. I reread it last year. She's a bold heroine.

I can't offer much in the way of suggestions for romances with WoC. I don't read very widely in the genre. The Rogue and the Runaway by Mary Jo Putney is a Regency with an American heroine who is half Mohawk. It's okay. And if you like supernatural/fantasy, the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs has more romance overtones as the series progresses.

34. The Watchmen by Alan Moore
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Graphic Novel, Comic

If I had to pin myself, I'd say I am more of a comic book fan than a graphic novel lover. I grew up reading Marvel's X-Men and Excalibur with my younger brother and that's the format I still gravitate towards. This doesn't mean that I haven't been exposed to graphic novels, but I see them as more a visual art than a better-looking comic. Still, I do like my graphic novels to be visually stunning, and the Watchmen is not. I'm not sure, but I think the Watchmen was the forerunner to modern day graphic novels - it's drawn like a comic but the story is the type usually explored by graphic novels (ie. fallen superheroes, an exploration of the morality of superbeings). But what I want to say is that I didn't find the drawings to be impressive, at all. But, probably somewhat standard-looking for an 1980s comic.

As for the story, Alan Moore is supposed to be one of the greats of this genre and this is one of his best-loved works. I haven't read anything by him before, but I did like the V for Vendetta movie. As for me, I just don't think I was in the the right frame of mind to read this. It's set during the Cold War and everyone's paranoid that it's almost the end of the world; the nukes are going to drop. I am burnt out of reading Cold War paranoia stories. The genre is not one that I have much of an interest in, but lately I've been reading books that are analogies and metaphors of the Cold War and I think I need a break. Anytime the word "nukes" came on the page, I ended up sighing and flipping ahead. I was drawn the the other plotlines of the morality of vigilante-ism by superheros and the downfall of the golden age of super heroes and thought Moore's take was original and clever.

I was fascinated with the character of Rorschach, a superhero who lives his life like an old-school detective from a pulp mystery. I could talk all day about how nuanced his character is, and how ambiguous his ethics can be even though he is supposed to represent black-and-white morality. I was disappointed with what I felt were weak female characters; I felt that the main female character had no real purpose than to give sexual satisfaction towards some of the guys to keep them serene or re-affirm their male self-worth.

I would recommend only to people who like this genre in the first place.

Edited to correct rating

I had many of the same thoughts about the Watchmen. I love Alan Moore, having read From Hell, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Promethea, and I love graphic novels, but Watchmen didn't really do it for me. I can appreciate the influence it has had on the genre, but it did seem dated. Perhaps because it was so influential, I feel like I've seen the whole superhero/antihero done many times over. Anyway, the whole thing took me way longer to read than I care to admit, because it just didn't hold my attention.
I completely agree about the female characters too! I think this further "dates" the story.

I like your point about Rorschach. I started off disliking him, but grew to appreciate his character. For me, Dr. Manhattan was the most interesting - the only true "super"hero of the bunch. The character is almost a reversal of Superman in that Dr. Manhattan started off as an ordinary human, but after changing into a superbeing becomes more and more indifferent to humanity. I guess I've always wondered why Superman bothered with silly human trivialities like fighting petty crimes and catching bank robbers! (I know, I know - Superman grew beyond that, but ya still got to love the "golden era" comic book stories).

#129: JustChris, thanks for your recommendations! You say that you don't read widely in the genre - I don't think anybody can recommend much in this genre. There isn't just much to read in the non-European or minority romance genre. There is these protagonists in regular literature or you can always pick up a translated book from another country, but the english-speaking romance genre -- where the complete focus is on the romance and the HEA -- can be pretty narrow in scope. I actually find that the erotica genre is more open-minded because you can read stuff (idealized) about middle eastern harems, safaris to Africa or kama sutra-style stories. It's just frustrating, IMO. I've never read a romance where in the heroine was full-blooded african, asian, native or middle eastern decent. I'm sure there's a tiny amount out there, but it's hard to find. Hell, even give me a romance with an Australian or Kiwi heroine and that would be a nice departure!

#131: Good, you can post if you're not a member! If you want to see some ramblings I had with some another group member about Rorschach, go to http://www.librarything.com/topic/54929 and check out posts #47-57. I love R... the only part of the comic that spurred me on to keep reading. BTW, if you read my previous posts, did you realize that you're the "friend that I trust 100% to give me romance recs"? :)

#133: You're soliciting and stealing my words and posting them as your own? I'm flagging abuse and reporting you. Can others please flag as well?

Yes, I was excited too about my posting abilities! And interesting Rorschach discussion.
Now I feel some pressure to make sure I don't give you any bad romance recommendations! Lol! Its very reciprocal btw. :)

And I think Mr. Hanks is a bot. He has nothing catalogued and only mentions what he's soliciting. Very lame. Flagged!

I read Watchmen last year. My succinct review was "Wow!" I grew up with comic books as well and it was amazing to me how they have evolved.

Watchmen has been on my TBR pile for a while. It has been heavily promoted in the local bookstores as one of the best graphic novels ever, but I am put off by your comments above - a great book should never 'date'?

#137: IMO, Watchmen isn't a graphic novel. The drawings are in a style that is definitely 'dated' and I think the better name for it would be a "comic book novel". But I agree with ParadigmTree, that the superhero/anti-hero thing has been overdone, especially in this genre. Watchmen might have been one of the first, I'm not sure, but I've OD-ed on this topic and also Cold War paranoia stories so it's hard for me to go "Wow!" anymore.

BTW, it's sad when Luongo cries (seriously... I always feel bad for players who cry after losses). But he was quite the sieve in the 3rd period. It might tip the scale against him to be the choice for the #1 goalie spot in the Olympics.

35. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
Rating: ★★★
Genre: SF

- Warning: Contains MAJOR Spoilers - especially if you haven't read Ender's Game -

It is over 3000 years since Ender won the Bugger wars. He and Valentine have been travelling from planet to planet looking for a place to call home. But since they've spent more time in space travel than anything else, they have barely aged. Finally, Ender gets a call to Speak for the Dead on a planet called Lusitania where the only other found alien race, the the primitive Piggies, are being studied by xenobiologists.

To be honest, I didn't enjoy this book as much as Ender's Game. That book was very exciting to read with its battle room scenes where you could picture little kids being very adult-like soldiers. It also painted a very interesting psychological portrait of the nature of war, the stereotypes we have of children, and how it is human nature to destroy the Other than try to understand it. This book was more about inter-organizational politics, xenobiology and Catholicism. Whereas Ender's Game was more of a 'things happened' book, Speaker of the Dead seemed more of a 'bunch of philosophical conversations book'. Nothing sparked my interest until I hit the middle of the novel.

If you know anything about Star Trek, I do feel this book contained the best criticism of the Prime Directive I have ever read. Is non-interference with alien cultures the best way to go? I have always agreed with that philosophy, but now I'm not so sure. This was the only part of the book that held my attention and felt like something 'new' and worthy of the accolades it has received. The dialogues between Ender and Human (a Piggie) were extremely well done.

Lastly, I must mention that Card's domestic vision of the future really depressed me. In a world where many socials issues had advanced so far and were strictly protected by the interplanetary government - such as religious freedom - domestic violence is still permitted and ignored. In this book, one of the characters was systematically abused by her husband for many years. It is obvious that all the other colony members knew about it, including the top religious leaders and the Governor of the colony, but they all chose to look the other way and not interfere. I'm sorry, but it's illegal today and 3000 years from now I have expectations that domestic violence won't be tolerated and leaders and neighbours will not and cannot standby and allow a woman get the crap beat out of her by her husband.

I'll still recommend this book, but give a heads up that a reader will be extremely confused unless they have read Ender's Game first.

I agree that I liked Ender's Game better. On the other hand, since I am a troubled agnostic at the moment, one who has never taken any sort of comparative religions class, the religious discourse was interesting to me. Also, as someone who has spent some time in academia and government and has many friends in both sectors, I greatly enjoyed how this book shows that arrogant assumptions that the experts/technologically advanced/smart people are the only ones who know what's going on and what is the best decision--in other words, a one-way flow of communication--is deeply flawed and problematic.

I've only dabbled in Orson Scott Card's books. Ender's Shadow was okay, but I am always disappointed by the superbeing solution--it's a version of the Mack truck rule. I did like the parallax view of events in Ender's Game that it provided. And I read Shadow of the Hegemon, I think, sometime last year. About the only thing I really liked in that book was Ender's parents. They were a stitch. I wasn't at all interested in pursuing the storyline any further.

Going back to earlier posts--I read The Watchmen and V for Vendetta in college, because they were cult favorites that everyone read. They didn't make much of an impression on me, or maybe I wasn't paying attention, because I don't remember a damn thing.

The question of romances involving POC has been bugging me. When I say that I don't read widely in the genre, I mean the wider world of romances. I have essentially confined myself to Regencies and some one-offs in other eras written by authors who typically write Regencies. Given the very limited geographic scope, not surprisingly, the characters are white and British. Occasionally one will be American for a hint of the exotic--and the one I mentioned had the double-scoop of exotic--American and half-Indian.

I did finally think of a series that may interest you: the Benjamin January murder mysteries by Barbara Hambly. They are told entirely from a minority perspective. The first is A Free Man of Color. And because give her long enough, and Hambly eventually takes her characters into the realm of geek love, there is something of a romance for the protagonist, Benjamin. However, Hambly doesn't really have sex in her stories, it largely occurs off-stage. But these books are entirely an exploration of relationships among people living in a slave-owning society--nineteenth century New Orleans. That's the best I got right now.

36. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
Rating: ★1/2
Genre: Literature

Paul Morel grows up in a mining village in England, the son of a collier -- whom he hates. His mother is slightly more of a genteel lady, and Paul and her are devoted to one another. The book is a portrait of the Oedipal complex and how it affects Paul's relationships with women his own age, and the life of the labouring class as they try to move up to middle class around the start of the 20th Century.

This book had been on my TBR shelves for a long time, and I finally sucked it up and started reading it. It ended up being one of the most boring weeks of my life. I only kept reading this book because it was a "classic" and I had never tried the author before. Generally, I try not to chuck anything that falls under these two traits as I always hope the book will improve or I will start to "get" it. But no, I hated it.

I have pages of notes in my book journal about how I felt Lawrence's writing was the most boring thing I've ever read. A lot of the book is dedicated to everyone taking walks in the woods, strolls through the farm land while they look at nature. Miriam would see a bush and then feel "rhapsodies" and "ecstasies" every time she looked at it. Then she would make plans to show Paul the next time he visited her farm. Then the story would have Paul take that walk and swoon over the stupid plant as well. Three of the characters even judge each other about how they like to pick flowers.

Also, Lawrence likes to talk about everyone trying to hold/take everyone else's soul. Stuff like, (paraphrasing) "Miriam's soul quickened at the sight of Paul looking at her flower. Perhaps now she would be able to hold him, she could feel his soul straining towards herself", "Mrs. Morel felt that Miriam would never be able to hold Paul. Miriam would try to hold Paul's soul while giving nothing of her own". I ended up writing things like: 'Miriam = soul-sucker; Miriam = vampire... haha'.

Characters constantly contradict their previous assertions, with no explanation why... or even an indication if we were supposed to notice. It's frustrating when you have to read pages and pages of how Miriam loves Paul and wants to love and submit to him with all her soul, and then *poof!*, she says she always hated her love for him and that she knew they would break-up. ARGH.

Little things would start to bug me; at one point, the book went on and on about how Paul's handwriting was terrible no matter how hard he tried to improve it. But I just didn't this whole kerfuffle was realistic since Paul is an accomplished painter. I just have this notion that people who have enough skill to professionally paint, they probably can write legibly if they tried.

I did like the inside look of the lower classes and the struggle to move up in station. I've never read any books from this time period, and the book was very detailed about the daily life of a collier and his family.

As a side note: I have the Wordsworth Classics 1993 edition and it is full of printing errors. If you want this book, spend your hard-earned cash on a different edition.

#140: & 141: I know what you mean about the boy-superbeing complex being overdone in Sci-Fi. Where the world can only be saved by this super smart, prodigal child. I honestly have only liked it in Ender's Game... I hated Dune because of it. I truly feel it's a version of the Mary Sue -- male authors just over-love this idea. I've never read a book where a male author wrote a girl child to be this genius military, political prodigy. If girls ever save the world, it's because they have some special magic or other BS; and even then, the story is about some dude who's got to escort her on the mission.

The POC romance thing has been bugging me for awhile now, as well! I love regencies, but I just want to expand into other types historical romances (I'm not fond of contemporaries). I have read a few Wild West romances, and sometimes the heroine can have "a bit of Cherokee" blood... but that's as exotic as it gets. She'll usually have flaming red hair and no Native culture, whatsoever. But thanks for the A Free Man of Color rec, I'll TBR it!

37. Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Fiction, Humour

This was my first Jeeves and Wooster story. I enjoyed it, it was very "British" in humour and in tone. Things like words like "Marmaduke" kept popping in and class conflict. Bertie's observations about how his new manservant (the story in this book is that Jeeves quits working for Wooster) and how secretly proletariat he is, had me in stitches. However, I will warn people about this one... a big part of the plot revolves around blackface humour. They're not using it making fun of black people, but as a way for Wooster to escape captivity by walking off a ship with a musical troupe made of black men. It's not very PC today, so I thought I'd mention it. My main gripe is that the book cost me $21.95 CDN, and I didn't think it was worth that much for a trade paperback and a couple hours read. It will be a library borrow from now on. But it was amusing to read the book and fantasizing that Hugh Laurie was reading it to me. However, I do think that people who haven't been exposed to British comedy and humour won't like or enjoy these books very much.

Love those reviews Cauterize. Are you going to put the one of Sons and Lovers into the general reviews section? I wanna give it a thumbs-up.

Also, for all people starting to discover Georgette Heyer, I consistently recommend Friday's Child. :)

Hugh Laurie??! :)

Very interesting review, Cauterize. I am going to have to read it now. (just bookmooched it).

#145: I put both the reviews up for you guys. I wasn't going to for Sons and Lovers (since it was so ranty), but c'est la vie! And it's my plan to read Friday's Child after Frederica. If I don't love any of them, I'm going to give up on Heyer. I'm crossing my fingers!

#146: Yeah, Hugh Laurie! Not with his American accent, but with his real British upper-crust one. Because Wooster narrates the book in first person, I'd just imagine that Wooster... ahem *mumbles* lookslikeandsoundslikeHughLaurie... whoisatotalsilverfox. Hotness.

#147: Which one? Sons and Lovers? Noooooooo........! Literature shouldn't want to make people poke their eye out! I will still try Lady Chatterley's Lover, but will enforce a strict 50 page rule on that one.

If you like Regencies, but haven't succumbed to the charms of Heyer, what authors then do you favor?

I haven't read any P.C. Wodehouse, but I stumbled across the BBC productions while I was laid up with an injury and proceeded to watch many, many hours of Jeeves & Wooster. Both Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry were great, but I must say, after such a crash course, the latter's character began to seem more and more smarmy.

"I've never read a book where a male author wrote a girl child to be this genius military, political prodigy" Can you think of any male authors who have any kind of superior female protagonist who is clearly the center of the story (and lives at the end), rather than part of a mostly male ensemble? I'm drawing a blank at the moment.

38. Inside Straight (Wild Cards) edited by George R. R. Martin
Rating: ★★★
Genre: SF Anthology, Alternative Reality, Early Reviewers

I received a copy of Inside Straight as part of the Early Reviewer program. This was my first Wild Cards novel and foray into the world of George R. R. Martin. Apparently, the world was previously struck by the "Wild Card Virus" and it is latent in the body until triggered. When triggered, the virus gives a small percentage superhero powers ("Aces") and another small percentage are given physical mutations ("Jokers"). I felt this book did not give the reader good summary of the world-building; I had to look up the mythology on Wikipedia. I got the impression that it assumes you have read a previous novel from the series.

This novel started off with unknown Aces participating on a new reality TV show, American Hero. There are four teams of Aces who live together in a big house à la Big Brother. At the end of each week, they must complete a heroic challenge and the teams who lose must vote one of their teammates off. This reality TV satire was the half of the novel I really enjoyed. The reader follows a few key Aces as they audition, compete in the show and eventually the fallout from being voted off. The authors capture perfectly how people - whether normals or Aces - can lust after infamy on these shows. I do think it was a pitch-perfect spoof that was both witty and insightful.

However, the second half of the novel shifts to the Aces fighting an intense battle in Egypt. The Egyptian governmental and religious authorities have decided to launch a full offensive against their Jokers who they accuse of assassinating a religious leader. For various reasons, some of the American Heroes decide to fly over there and protect the Jokers. I felt this part of the novel led to blatant Americana, Ameri-centrism and Imperialism. In it, the story narrates the world sitting powerless on its hands when faced with rampant genocide and only the 'Good Guys' (Americans) will be brave enough to try to stop it.

I did not realize until I was 3/4 of the way through the book that the each section was written by different authors and this was an anthology. When I finally comprehended that fact, it made way more sense why the novel was so uneven in tone and viewpoint! There weren't any glaring contradictions between the stories, but I do feel it was obvious that each writer had their own agenda they were pushing in their own stories. In the end, I felt all the writing was pretty solid and each Ace's character was well delineated.

If the story had stuck to the reality TV satire, I would have given this book 4 or 4.5 stars. But I do feel that the "Only Americans Can Save the World" subtext in the second half left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

>150 Cauterize:: That's very interesting, I hadn't realized that Martin only edited the Wild Cards stuff... hmm. I'd been thinking about picking it up... maybe I'll add it to the TBR list and just skip that one story when I get there...

Hi, Cauterize!
I finally got caught up on reading your thread and have added some books to my wishlist (but not Sons and Lovers). :) I just wanted to tell you that Good Omens is a spoof on The Omen, maybe you have seen the movies? Anyway, it is pretty funny. I hope you like it. I loved it and The Princess Bride which were both new reads for me this year. Have a great day!
--BJ

#149: I first fell into regencies by reading Amanda Quick's work. I'd have to say my favourites are Surrender, Mistress and The Paid Companion. I haven't been following her recently because she's gone paranormal. I've also been liking Julie Anne Long's books and even though she's not always writing stories set in England, I found Laura Kinsale recently.

I thought about it for awhile, and the only things I could come up with for the male author/superhuman female protagonist topic was Arkady Darell from Asimov's Second Foundation and Friday from Heinlein's Friday. She's more of a super-spy, I don't know if that counts.

#151: Dk_Phoenix, if you look closely at the cover of Inside Straight you'll see in tiny letters, 'Edited by George R.R. Martin...'!! There is nine authors who wrote stories in that book, and Martin only wrote one of them -- it centres around his Lohengrin character. At the back of the book, it lists which superhero characters were created by each author. I'm pretty skeptical how much actual contribution Martin does for this series other than write his short story and lend his name. Even his editorial work was "assisted by M.M. Snodgrass".

#152: BJ, I have seen the original The Omen and the remake, so i will definitely check out Good Omens! The Princess Bride is the best!

How interesting...! Thanks for the additional info. :)

Thank you for the Regency authors. I am completely unfamiliar with them. I confess that most of my reading occurred in the 1980s and I haven't tried many newer authors, just the ones I come across when I troll my mom's bookshelves, and mostly I haven't been impressed with the newer stuff. But maybe that's me being old and cranky, because I say the same thing about much of the fantasy I've explored hit or miss recently (rather than following specific recommendations). Anyway, I am too easily irritated by what are essentially modern characters engaging in soft porn in costumes that purport to be historical fiction. If I watch a black and white movie, I expect it to have a certain period flavor with characters and plots appropriate to that period, and I wouldn't like to see a modern porn movie (or action movie, for that matter) disguised as an old classic. I also don't like bizarre fusion pizzas, like tacos salad on a pizza crust. As I said, I grow crusty.

Friday blew me away when I was a teenager. I loved the book and the character, and then the more I reread it, and a few other things by Heinlein, the more unhappy I became with his portrayal of women, but it isn't something that I can explain lucidly at the moment, since none of the books are fresh in my mind.

I never read any Asimov when I was young. I read the first Foundation trilogy several years ago after a friend gave me an omnibus edition to rectify such a gap in my science fiction experience. The stories were moderately interesting but not enough for me to pursue them further. I am much less fond of classic science fiction that I encounter for the first time nowadays, because I think much of it is not aging well and the charm or the interesting ideas often do not outweigh the dated and in many ways limited storytelling.

I certainly don't mean to be negative all of the time. I ate so much of this up completely uncritically when I was young, but once I was older and rereading these stories that I used to love, I was disappointed if not horrified at the portrayals of women (and their roles/relationships) by both male and female authors in these stories. Anne McCaffrey, the much beloved, has more than one story that involves rape leading to romance, and I just find the concept nauseating.

I'm still drawing a blank for the most part on male authors who have strong female protagonists (who are exceptionally talented individuals) who are clearly the focus of the piece, rather than part of an ensemble cast. Looking at my shelves for inspiration, the Telzey Ameberdon books by James H. Schmitz are the only ones that fit the bill. Wyrms by Orson Scott Card might be considered a candidate, but it is more of an ensemble and at the critical moment it is not the heroine who saves the day but her various sidekicks/fellow questers. Aland Dean Foster essentially narrates Cachalot from the perspective of a woman, but I don't consider her to be a particularly strong or effective character in many ways, and she is not the focus of the plot.

So I'll stop carrying on now, after all, this isn't even my thread.

I love The Princess Bride, I never tire of that one.

#155: I'm a bit different in my approach towards romances... I generally read historicals because I can't identify with contemporary heroines. Most of the time I get very frustrated by contemporaries because the women are too silly, too doormatty, too girly. I get pulled out of them too easily because I'm rolling my eyes, or saying, "OMG, are you kidding me??" when they make obviously stupid mistakes. Because of the nature of the beast, I'm able to lose myself better in historicals because if the heroine/hero acts or thinks in a way I don't agree with, I can justify such behaviour as being a result of time period and social mores. That being said, I like my heroines to be spunky and independent. For the heroes, if they’re a bit on the arrogant and autocratic side in historicals, I can understand why. But put those traits in a contemporary hero, and I’m screaming, “Asshole!”

I’m a pretty smutty person, so I like hot sex in any romances I read. However, there better be suitable sexual tension leading up to it. I’m not a fan of current authors shoving several random porn-level sex into the narrative because they feel it’s necessary. I sort of feel Bertrice Small does that. But I like it to be ‘my kind’ of sex or eliminate it altogether. If there are euphemisms like “man staff” or “lotus flower” I’m skipping ahead. I figure, some people must have been having hot sex in all historical periods, right? *wink wink*

Re: rape leading to romance… I have some theories on that. I’m not sure how prevalent this was, as I am only 28, but I have formed an opinion that a lot of older novels from a certain era have these sort of rape-ish love scenes. You know, where the girl despises/dislikes the guy and he grabs her and she resists and she submits to his brutal masculinity. I have read a few of my mom’s Harlequins from the 50s and 60s and this seemed to be the formula in all of them! Where the woman tries to escape and gives him a few slaps and then he traps her and then gives her “bruising kisses” and then she all but swoons. Where she says “Stop!” and “I hate you! Let me go!” and he says something callous like, “I don’t care” and narrative says that his forceful manliness was no match for her eager femininity. That old debate about whether Scarlett O’Hara was raped by Rhett in that movie scene, but the next morning she seems sexually satisfied. So, I’ve always been able to sort of skim over these old-fashioned scenes rationalizing it as how many “love scenes” were written during these times (even if I think they’re icky).

I read Friday because my ex-boyfriend was so in love with Heinlein and he knew I liked strong female protagonists. He recommended it to me, and I remember reading it and thinking Friday wasn’t quite strong enough, or a bit too male-orientated “sexy” but overall one of the better tries from a male author. I should read it again because I don’t remember much of the plot and I would be interested if my opinion of it has changed.

I thought I would mention who is my pick for the best male author who writes in the female first-person perspective – Christopher Pike. I read him a lot as a YA and he almost always writes his stories from a female perspective. I never thought his high school women were stupid or insipid, quite the opposite in fact. Because of the obvious pseudonym, I believed for the longest time that Christopher Pike WAS a woman… Now through the magic of the internet, I learned – and was pleasantly shocked – that he really is a he!

39. Snakes and Earrings by Hitomi Kanehara
Rating: ★★1/2
Genre: Japanese Fiction, Akutagawa Prize

This book was gifted to me by (the amazing) Kiwidoc who reviewed this on her thread, here. There are some advantages in living one province away from another LTer!

The book is about a 19 year old Japanese girl, Lui, who struggles through alienation and a general indifference to life. She dabbles Japanese counterculture in being a Barbie Girl, body modification, tongue forking, tattooing, ear plugs, S&M and alcoholism. Lui feels she cannot tell anymore between moral and amoral, pain and pleasure. The book has a very dark tone and it keeps you guessing what kind of personal journey Lui is on and whether she's going to make it.

My biggest problem with this book is that it relies on the shock value. What if you're like me and not 'shocked' by any of the underground scenes that Lui is involved with? Before I read this book, I knew a fair bit about Japanese subcultures like Barbie Girls, Elegant Gothic Lolitas, Cosplay, etc. And pretty much if I haven't had a friend who has done all the body modifications mentioned, I've seen pictures. When I was younger, I had my hand in many of the North American countercultures... and I felt in the book it was indirectly implied that young people who participate in these activities are somehow 'damaged' in some way. That there is a correlation between body modification and being a lost soul. And I honestly feel that this is a disservice. Not all people who are drawn to being 'different' have 'issues'. So I sort of get my back up when all the characters in Lui's underground life are unstable personalities.

In the end, I had to read the NYTimes review to understand another reason why this book might be worthy of the accolades it has received. Supposedly, it is the the first (or one of the first) Japanese novels to be written about the post-bubble generation (born after the mid-80s) and their struggles to fit into Japanese society. A generation that is disillusioned, that does not always have stable jobs -- Lui is a "freeter" which means she picks up temp jobs whenever she feels like it -- or rejects formal schooling. Apparently, there are no laws in Japan that requires children to attend school and this has led to an under-discussed, but growing segment of the young population that don't have a high school, or even middle school, education. Perhaps if I felt that if these themes were more in the forefront, rather than the background, I would have liked this book more.

Would I recommend this book? Hard to say. If you like to be scandalized or learn more about Japanese counterculture, then yes. If you are going to be bored by pages of description for ear plug gauges because it's old hat (like me), then no.

(edited to correct stupid grammatical mistakes)

Interesting thoughts on sex scenes in romance novels, especially the "rape" part. When I was a teenager, I read The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss, which has a scene just as you describe. SPOILER ALERT................the hunky love interest thinks she is a prostitute and "forces" himself upon her only to be forced to marry her when she winds up pregnant. Obviously, they eventually fall in love. I can't believe I thought that was romantic at 16! No wonder men aren't really sure that no means no. The odd part is that the book was passed down to me after my mother, aunts, and grandmother all read it. Ugh! I've GOT talk to them about that.......

"I’m a pretty smutty person, so I like hot sex in any romances I read. However, there better be suitable sexual tension leading up to it. I’m not a fan of current authors shoving several random porn-level sex into the narrative because they feel it’s necessary. I sort of feel Bertrice Small does that. But I like it to be ‘my kind’ of sex or eliminate it altogether. If there are euphemisms like “man staff” or “lotus flower” I’m skipping ahead."

and

"I like my heroines to be spunky and independent."

Well it's weird because I very rarely read romance or erotica or any combination of those two. But if I did I would want it to be just like you described it. Completely agree with those two statements above and would love to read sth like that. Any recommendations?

simply stopping by to say hi...

Cauterize - great evaluation of the Japanese book - I think you hit the nail on the head with the idea of shock value, counter-culture commentary. I found it hard to take away any particular 'message' from the book, too.

Unlike you, I have not explored this type of writing so I found it all rather overwhelmingly shocking - dare I say it, sordidly pointless as well, because I did not come away with much.

Thanks for the nice comments but truthfully, it was a book I wanted to pass along, ie. a reject, so you are too kind.

#158: Callen, I had a different reaction when reading my mom's old romances... I ended up thinking, "THIS is what my mom finds as romantic enough to keep for decades? Domineering, cruel men?" (even though she is totally not like this in real life). I think it was all part and parcel that "good" women were not allowed to be portrayed as sexually assertive because that would make them the "bad" girl, the seductress. So therefore, a lot of fiction made good girls resist the advances and the men were alpha-males who had to "storm the castle", so to speak. But, of course, she ends up loving the guy... so she likes it in the end *rolls eyes*.

#159: Eliza, if you haven't gotten into the J.D. Robb/Nora Roberts In Death series, I would definitely recommend starting from the beginning. Eve Dallas is truly kickass and this is one of the few times that an uber-popular series is justified in being a best seller. The sex is hot.

For romances, I'd say Amanda Quick for spunky heroines and the sex is on the moderate side. In The Paid Companion the hero really appreciates how resourceful the heroine can be. Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale is set during the Italian States period and is an amazing narrative but know there is a little pain with the pleasure.

For erotica, I really like the UK's Black Lace imprint (written by female authors specifically for heterosexual female readers) as they keep the writing quality consistent. Check out the info website: http://www.virginbooks.com/erotica.php One of my favourites is Dark Obsession by Fredrica Alleyn. It's a coming-into-their-sexuality story, but the woman isn't a submissive like many of these types of stories (ie. The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty and The Story of O). My friend really liked The Ninety Days of Genevieve. Emma Holly is one of the more mainstream erotic romance writers and I like Menage. But you want to know my trick of finding a erotica to try? I just go to the section in the bookstore, sit down with a few that sound interesting and flip to a sex scene and see if I like what I read. Or get a short story anthology as there will probably be something in there you'll like.

#160: *Waves back at Whisper1* Thanks for dropping in!

#161: Kiwidoc, I'm still glad I read it as I don't read a lot of translated works or about youth culture. Actually, my RL friend, ParadigmTree, wants to try it out and she lives in Vancouver... so the book might be returning back to its origin! Your "reject" is provoking much un-expected interest, so is it really a reject? :D

Time for a speed round, everyone! I’m so behind on my reviews….

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40. The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys
Rating: ★★★1/2
Genre: CanLit, WWII

I randomly picked this off my TBR shelves to read. I was about halfway through when I realized that this was the same author that other group members were raving about her book, The Frozen Thames. This book is about Gwen Davis from the Royal Horticultural Society who is on assignment to go a large estate in the English countryside and convert its fields to grow potato crops for the WWII effort. There, she is in charge of a number of other city girls, just as displaced, who are to be the labourers. Gwen feels alienated, as she always has throughout her middle-aged life, as she has never related well to others but rather to her flowers. To escape, she accidentally finds a hidden “lost garden” which she quickly discerns was planted by another knowledgeable plant-lover. Gwen tries to figure out the hidden meaning to this garden as it teaches her about the meaning of love and loss.

This was my first Humphreys book… the author has a very poetical style that I felt was not overly cloying. However, I only liked, not loved, this book. I think it has to do more with my personal feelings about the subject matter than anything else. I’d recommend to others who like this author, loves gardens, and/or like WWII stories.

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41. Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Fantasy

Even though I have given up on Anita Blake (yes, I am one of “those fans” who hate the later books) I haven’t given up on the Merry Gentry series. I was about to… mostly because Hamilton was stagnating with the story for about 3 books in the middle of the series. However, I read A Lick of Frost which actually had things happen so I got sucked back in. I won’t really give a summary about this book because if you’re going to read this series, you should really start at the first book, not the seventh. So I’ll say for those who are following this series… this one had a plot! That’s all fans need to know. It was pretty typical, I wouldn’t say it was good… merely that it was not bad.

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42. American Wife: A Novel by Curtis Sittenfeld
Rating: ★★
Genre: Fictional Memoir

A fictionalization of the life of Laura Bush but as “Alice Lindgren”, a middle class teacher who marries Charlie Blackwell, the wild son of the politically powerful Blackwell clan, and eventually becomes First Lady. The book is supposed to be an insightful first-person narrative look about the real First Lady, who is famously private, and why she would partner with a man like Charlie. I didn’t like this book, mostly because I couldn’t tell what were actual Laura Bush facts and ones the author made up and this diminishes the effectiveness of the parallel portrayal. Also, the few graphic sex scenes between the couple were really uncomfortable when I read them. I would definitely like to erase in my memory reading the passages of first-person sex with Charlie while picturing George Bush in my mind. Ugh.

>163 Cauterize:: I gave up on the Gentry books in the second one. They seemed like they were heading the same "bad porn" direction as the Anita Blake books were headed. Do I have to go 7 books to get any real content? If so, I doubt I'll bother. Too bad, Hamilton was great in the early AB books.

>164 TadAD:: I am more forgiving about the sex in the Merry series, mostly because right from the beginning she world build-ed the massive amounts of sex into the story (unlike AB). However, I am not so forgiving when whole book plots are based around gaining a billion powers and nothing actually happening. Don't worry though... I "listened" to Hamilton's letter for her ex-fan "haters" not to buy her books and stopped a long time ago. I just borrow them from the library and give them mostly bad reviews. Micah was a travesty. I officially gave up on AB when I read three chapters of Blood Noir and literally threw it across the room. I saw your conversation with Luxx about the new book on her thread, but I felt it wasn't prudent for me to butt in as it would have involved lots of ranting. But this is my thread and I can rant in it! Anita is dead to me.

ETA: I will add that Jean-Claude lives on in my imagination and as he used to be... and not as a figuratively castrated side-note character. He and Joscelin can fight over my attentions dans chez moi (as ejj might say)!

>164 TadAD:: I never saw a letter, though I did stop buying her books. Was it a "if you don't like it, don't buy it" type of thing?

It took me a while, but all the AB characters have reverted back to their early personae in my mind. Anita never had top billing in Tad's Fantasy World, but she's back to being a sexy, kickass woman instead of a castrating porn star.

>166 TadAD:: It was a blog post called "Dear Negative Reader". The link is here . I always thought it rivaled Anne Rice's "Negative Voices" letter.

>167 Cauterize:: Thanks for the link.

She did have good points about why people who hate her books continue to talk and write about them endlessly, but I found the smugness and superiority of that blog entry vastly irritating. Good riddance. New topic.

162: thanks for the recommendations!

I read part of one Merry Gentry book and dropped it, but have read all the AB books. I started getting upset with them after Obsidian Butterfly, although parts of all of them are good.... I liked Blood Noir but it took me about 50 pages to get past the obligatory "let's decide to justify having sex with all and sundry and then have sex with all and sundry" but haven't gotten the new one yet. A woman who works at the deli I go to occasionally read Skin Trade and didn't particularly like it. I'm sure I'll read it, I just won't buy it new from Amazon, even discounted and with free shipping.

I haven't read any Laura K. Hamilton, in part because vampires just aren't my thing (no Anne Rice in my reading past either) and in part because I am just now starting to acquaint myself with the slew of modern dark urban fantasy authors out there. I really like Patricia Briggs; I also was very fond of the Diana Tregarde series by Mercedes Lackey, but that's old hat now; the one Jim Butcher I read was pretty good; I liked Tanya Huff okay (but part of it is because she's Canadian and there's one story with werewolves); Rachel Caine was so-so; and I didn't care so much for Katie McAllister. I think that's the extent of my forays.

>170 karenmarie:: My problem with Blood Noir was one of the big reasons why I gave up Anita Blake. When she started sleeping with Jason, it broke my heart. He was the last guy that she actually cared about but she wasn't sleeping with and then, of course, Hamilton had the ardeur kick in. I am a believer that guys and girls can just be friends and not have sex, and I thought Hamilton was trying to make that point with Jason. But no... in Blood Noir, as far as I remember, Jason came over all upset because he broke up with his girlfriend, because she was jealous and she wanted him to stop sleeping with other people. Now, I don't know about other people, but I think this is a reasonable request by the girlfriend. Basically, Jason admits to Anita that she is the only one he was sleeping with (other than the GF) but he didn't want to give up having sex with Anita so he dumped the chick. And what does Anita do to console him? You get ONE GUESS!!! *Caut starts getting angry* Anyways, I ended up yelling, "OH... so instead of pursuing a meaningful relationship, he decides he can't stop sleeping with Anita because Anita is SO DAMN AWESOME!! Nobody can ever stop sleeping with Anita!!! Of course not!! ARRRGH!" and that's when I threw the book.

Anyways, I like the Merry series because I enjoy complex plots of court intrigue. I don't really care about Merry, but I really like Andais. A war goddess, a sadist, a deluded mother... but she did have a true love and she did love her brother Essus. I wish Hamilton would explore her character a lot more. There was a point where her and Merry were beginning to respect each other, and still have the antagonism, but Merry started gaining a billion Goddess powers and nothing has moved on that front.

>171 justchris:: I like vampires more in concept than in execution, it seems. I think they can be sexy and I like when authors explore the problems of immortality, but it's such a popular genre that there is waaayyyy too much crap to wade through. Included, for me, are stories about shapeshifters and demon hunters, etc. That is the reason why I am giving paranormals a wide berth right now; too many bad authors being green-lit into this cash cow.

I did like Interview with the Vampire, but the only other one Anne Rice I read was Queen of the Damned and I remember it being a massive bore. I always mean to try more Mercedes Lackey, but most of the stuff I have read of hers is the co-authors she does with Anne McCaffrey, but I did like The Fire Rose.

Another round of reviews...

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43. The Dominant Blonde by Alisa Kwitney
Rating: ChickLit
Genre: ★

A perfect example of terrible ChickLit. Don't get me wrong, I am not disparaging the genre... I think it can be great when it's light-hearted and fun and well-written. I really enjoyed Bridget Jones' Diary, the first Shopaholic, The Undomestic Goddess and Something Borrowed. But this... ugh. Your typical doormat female who has never had any real boyfriends yet looks like a beautiful, tall, blond, Marilyn-Monroe type. She keeps insisting in her head that she's smart (because she got a degree) and gets upset that her family thinks she's ditzy. Well, the whole plot revolves around her giving her first serious boyfriend a blank cheque to her family's business accounts. He ends up stealing a million dollars and fakes his death while vacationing with her. The story is she tries to track him down while enlisting the cute scuba instructor. Anyways, but I don't know about everyone else, but I agreed with her family. She IS stupid. Nothing angers me more when I'm reading in first-person and said narrator keeps insisting that she's a canny girl, that she is a good judge of character, and I'm thinking, "You are the dumbest ditz ever and I want to shoot you". You just don't give a blank cheque from your parent's business to anybody that you've dated for 6 months. Period. If you do, admit you're an idiot.

Anyways, from a technical standpoint, the author wrote a lot of little contradictions that irked me. I won't go into them, but they were there. She also didn't end the book, but gave a half-hearted attempt to make her protagonist wise up and try to be independent, but she left things on a cliffhanger on whether that becomes true.

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44. The Thief bu Megan Whalen Turner
Rating: ★★★
Genre: YA

The story of Gen, an imprisoned thief since he bragged to everyone that he was the biggest thief in the world - in front of the King's spies. He is freed and forcibly enlisted by the King's Magus to travel to Attolia to steal a mythical object, one that can only taken by a masterful thief. The party includes the Magus' two apprentices and a bodyguard and they all must work together on the quest.

Honestly, the book was mediocre. Gen is a charming, charismatic thief (as he should be), but that's not enough to pull a novel along. I didn't care about the other characters and they seemed one-dimensional. The big "Thief Trial" was boring and didn't live up to the hype when Gen figures it out. There were some amusing twist and turns, but somehow this book is lacking that certain something. The person who told me about this series said that this book was only okay but you have to go through it to get to the next two, which are stellar.

The book also could have greatly benefited from the inclusion of a map. I was sorely confused most of the time since the party travels through three kingdoms, among numerous rivers and across fields and mountain ranges. The author often refers to these landmarks to describe where the party is travelling, and I don't have enough of a visual memory (or the patience) to keep track of these things in my head. If I can't, I don't know how many kids will be able to do it.

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45. My Life in France by Julia Child
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Autobiography

A great memoir that focuses on when Child lived in France with her husband, a cultural diplomat. She enters France post-WWII with no appreciation of fine dining, but soon she discovers the joys of French cooking. She decides to attend Le Cordon Bleu as the only woman in her class. She becomes a fanatic, and you learn how much blood, sweat and tears she put into her opus, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, most of the book is about the life in France, her travels and observations she made while there. If you love travelling or are a foodie, you'll appreciate the snapshot she makes of this certain period in France. She details the exactness of her cheese seller, a woman who would ask the exact hour of when you would serve the cheese, and would provide the correct cheese by judging them with a finger poke. She describes the meals of the restaurants she dines at, some of those restaurants have been passed down for generations. Julia Child describes everything with a passion -- and the picture she paints made me feel extremely wistful because I don't believe that such a dreamy, cottage industry France exists anymore for me to visit.

I will have to read My Life in France (and probably gain unneeded weight while doing it!). Thanks for the recommendation, Steph.

Steph

I'm spending time trying to catch up on threads because I'm way behind.

Message 163.
I liked The Frozen Thames and Wild Dogs was also a great book. Thanks for your description of The Lost Garden. I'll give this one a try.

I highly recommend Wild Dogs!

>174 alcottacre:: I should also mention that My Life in France was written just before Ms. Child died (her co-author is her nephew). I love Julia Child and her voice in the book is very down-to-earth and wry, just like she was. After I picked up the book, I borrowed Mastering the Art of French Cooking from the library, just to try out some recipes. It is HUGE. And sadly, I can't make a lot of it since I don't have adequate casserole dishes which seems to figure a lot in French cooking. I also don't have a blender, mixer or food processor either (I'm a newlywed who has a small kitchen and doesn't bake, but I can cook) which also doesn't help. But Stasia, I guarantee you'll start drooling when you read the book!

>175 Whisper1:: Thanks, Linda! It was funny because I had seen all those reviews for The Frozen Thames (and had put it on the TBR), but I totally didn't connect the author's name until I was halfway through and I think I saw yet another review. I was like, "Oh! Ha! I'm reading her right now!" But yes, I couldn't love it as I don't have an affinity with flowers, and I shy away from war stories. Mr. Cauterize loves war movies and I absolutely hate them, so we have a bartering system where I force him to go to indies.

#176: I would never attempt any French cooking (completely beyond my repertoire), but I am really looking forward to reading the book!

For those who think older romances were too "rape-y", one of my favourite websites, Jezebel.com, just started a new feature called "Worst 80s Romance Heroes". They also talk about how the heroes always seemed to be assholes and force themselves on the women, who ended up loving them.

http://jezebel.com/5300054/worst-80s-romance-hero-contestant-1-jay-courtland-rul...

46. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Rating: ★★★
Genre: SF, Middle Ages

In the near future, humans have figured out how to time travel back to the past. This leads to historians visiting the past to learn about time periods but the technology is new enough so they have not travelled to "dangerous" periods yet. Kivrin, a young female historian, has decided to be the first person to travel back to England in the Middle Ages, a dangerous time. Mr. Dunsworthy is her mentor, but he is constantly afraid that bad things will happen to Kivrin, but he helps prepare her, nonetheless. On the appointed day, Kivrin is sent through time successfully, but she becomes sick on her arrival. Her technician becomes sick, as well, which leads to parallel stories in time for both Kivrin and Dunsworthy (who frantically tries to get Kivrin back).

For a Hugo and Nebula winner, I felt this book underperformed. In my opinion, the real genre of this book is historical fiction. Anything that had to do with the time travel, or "science" was glossed over with the barest of explanation. I still have no idea how the time machine worked, yet with any mention of a time "fix" it seem presumed that we knew what that meant. For another example, the author explains away the problems of time paradoxes by saying (paraphrasing) "Time does not allow time travellers to disrupt anything important in temporal history. If it is important, the person the machine won't allow the time fix and we can't send the person back". I'm really sorry, but that feels like a huge cop out. Don't worry about paradoxes! Time doesn't let them happen! Forget about it! As a Trekker since I was two years old, I have a massive affection to what is known as the "Temporal Prime Directive". And because of it, any book I read about time travel I expect some sort of rational explanation of how people make sure they don't accidentally kill the Lincoln's mother, or something-or-other. The fact that this book kept glossing over any "Sci-Fi", irritated me throughout the book.

However, anything that had to do with history and the Middle Ages was amazing. Willis obviously did a lot of research and is able to craft a tale where I felt I learned so much about the early 1300s while this part of the story was engaging. You really feel the muck, the dirt and the disease that was prevalent at this time. The relationships between an individual, their community and how they see their place with the world was thoroughly explored. The author even uses an ingenious way of making the reader learn how Middle English evolved and was spoken. You feel for Kivrin as she tries to fit into this world even though many of her assumptions (and the history texts) were wrong.

In the end, I only give could only give this book an average rating. There were a lot of plot devices and plot holes that should have been tied up at the end, but were not. There were too many instances of where I couldn't become engaged in the story because it asked to turn off the rational part of my brain (ie. Why would a newly-graduated student be allowed to time jump to a dangerous period alone? Wouldn't you send her to the 1960s first for some experience? Why do people go alone - that seems dumb?). The time travel explanations irked me and Willis didn't incorporate new and obvious technologies when she wrote this in the early 1990s such as the coming age of cellphones (everyone in the book has a land line in the mid 2050s). It seemed that the author put all her effort into researching history and none into researching time travel and science.

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47. Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks
Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Non-Fiction

"From the Washington Post's two-time Pulitzer-winning senior Pentagon reporter, the definitive military chronicle of the Iraq War-and a searing judgment of its gross strategic blindness-drawing on the accounts of senior military officers giving voice to their anger for the first time." -Amazon.com description

This was another book where I saw the author interviewed on the Daily Show and I had to read it. Military critique, counter-insurgency and the Iraq War are not topics that I'm interested in, yet I read this book and loved it. Or, more accurately, this book made me hopping mad, as it should.

The book is written in a very precise and factual writing style, but it was easy to read even for someone who has no love for this topic. Its covers the pre-planning of the war until its publication in 2006. But I wouldn't say it's an easy book to read... I found it really tough as every few pages my blood would be boiling with each new account of how the people in charge were completely incompetent. For example, the US Congress voted on the sending the nation to war based mostly on the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that outlined the justification for the proposed war -- the Weapons of Mass Destruction presumed to be in Iraq. The original document is approx. 90 pages and it outlines the sources of the information and also includes many of the caveats and dissenting views on the information. However, a 5 page executive summary was also prepared, but obviously could not contain the nitty gritty details and extra warnings and clarifications. Congressmen could only view the full 90 page NIE, if they went and signed into a special room and read it there. Therefore, there was it was logged how many elected officials went and read it... and as I remember the book said only a few (and I remember it was two or three). And this sent me off on a 5 minute rant to Mr. Cauterize... about how if I was an elected official and I was voting to send my country into war costing lives and billions of dollars I WOULD READ THE WHOLE DAMN REPORT! To just read the 5 page executive summary is so reprehensible to me (LTers, don't you agree? How long does it take us to read 90 pages -- think about that). And Ricks states that Condi Rice and Bush only read the executive summary.

So yes, I spent two weeks slowly going through this book. Every few pages, I had to yell to Mr. C what new stupidity was making me so angry, that he kept telling me he didn't want to know. I ended up yelling at him, "You should feel lucky! I'm keep giving you the 5 page executive summary so that you don't have to read this whole book!" Often, I had to put the book down because I couldn't stand learning about any more ineptitude or private agenda-making.

I passionately recommend this book. I cannot be an authority on how much this book is accurate or whether it has a biased viewpoint - that is not my expertise. Ricks does back up every assertion with a billion pages of endnotes, as a responsible journalist should. Why I give this book such a high rating is that it engaged an ambivalent someone like me -- someone who views the Iraq War as "not my problem" since I'm not an American, who dislikes military issues, who dislikes non-fiction, and made me care that the mistakes that were made should never happen again. I learned so much about the theories of counter-insurgency and the difference between strategy and tactics and the dangers of top officials not allowing opposing viewpoints in their circle. I felt for the US soldiers who were stranded, fighting in Iraq when they were not given a clear outline of what they were trying to do there.

Thanks so much for your review of Fiasco! Although I suspect that Ricks would be "preaching to the choir" with me, it would probably be worth my while to have the facts and know precisely what was (and is!) going on there. I'll have to find that interview on The Daily Show. (Stewart is a surprisingly tough interviewer, actually!)

Well done for reading Fiasco - I don't know if I could handle the inevitable 'blood-boiling' reaction that I will have, but a book that provides such a strong reaction is defo worth the time investment. Great review.

Excellent review. Fiasco made my blood boil too, as have several other books relating to the horrors and crimes of the Bush administration. I wish every person who does not believe that we (Americans) were manipulated into the war was required to read this book.

Well guys, I'm back. I sorta took some holidays: I went camping a bunch of times, went to a cabin in Idaho, saw the No Doubt concert, etc. And every time I came back, I'd vow to catch up on my reviews. Well, with all the extra reading I got done passing vacay time and my procrastination, I couldn't bring myself to do it. It seems so daunting... So now, if you look at my first post where I kept track of my reads, I'm at review 48 and I've read 90+ books. Argh. So I finally decided to just wade back in and do mostly mini-reviews until I catch up and also catch up on everyone's threads. And I will catch up on all your threads, I promise! *trembles at the thought of reading all of Stasia's threads*

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#181-183:
Fiasco was really great in educating me so that when I participate in discussions about the Iraq War, I finally have a clearer picture on what happened and I can name facts. Before, I was more of a "I knew it was bad, but didn't pay in depth attention to it since it wasn't my fight". I do like blood-boiler books sometimes, it's nice to get a visceral feeling rather than, a "that book was decent" and then you forget about it after you're done. It just astounds me how the Bush Administration made such a non-accountability culture and how I seem to know more about military tactics by playing computer games and reading history than 4 star generals and the Secretary of Defense.

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Reviews!!


48. Mort by Terry Pratchett
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Fantasy, Humour

My first foray into the Discworld and Pratchett. Kb.Marsh was kind enough to recommend that I start here and I thought the book was very funny and witty. Mort is a young man who is picked by Death to be his apprentice. Now I know how the term "anthropomorphic personification" became trendy. As I understand, Pratchett is supposed to be a master of alluding to rare and obscure works, but all I got was how he snatched the geography of the Discworld from Hindu mythology. What got me in stitches was the little footnotes, especially learning how the only thing faster than the Speed of Light is the Speed of Monarchy. Recommend for some light-hearted fun.

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49. Interred with their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell
Rating: ★★1/2
Genre: Suspense, Shakespeare

-mild spoilers-
This book has been described as "The Da Vinci Code meets Shakespeare" and I think that pretty much sums it up. The heroine is a Shakespearean scholar/director who is given a mysterious quest by her old mentor to find a long-lost Shakespeare play. I was only "meh" about this book, I felt there was a bunch of plot holes and the author could only make all the secondary characters suspicious by telling the reader nothing about them. Many times, secondary characters withheld information about themselves that a reasonable person wouldn't, and I think it was just so the author could create the *gasp* twists and turns later. I don't think that is good mystery/thriller writing. The historical mystery was good; the setup of the lost play and who was the Dark Lady and the Golden Youth are explored here. So I would say that Shakespeare buffs will like it but hardcore mystery lovers won't like the confusion.

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48. Super in the City by Daphne Uviller
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Chicklit

I actually really enjoyed this book! Chicklit has been letting me down for awhile, but this book was better than I thought it would be. Zephyr is a late-20s chick who keeps changing career directions in her life. Currently, she is unemployed and desperate so she accepts her parents suggestion that she become the Super for their Manhattan apartment building. This, of course, leads to Rear Window-type spying on the renters, a murder mystery and a meet-cute with the exterminator. What I really liked is that Zephyr had a funny mental voice full of hormones over hot guys and the way she interacts with her friends is the same way I do. I also have a new phrase to use from the book, "(the guy) was so sexy that I felt the polish slide off my toenails".

Welcome back, Steph! Do not worry about catching up on my threads - there are 9 now and I think the task of catching up would be daunting even for me!

Super in the City looks pretty good so I am tossing it on to Planet TBR.

Just started Fiasco based on your recommend - will let you know my gut reactions soon.... Good to see you back again.

#185: LOL, Stasia, I will get through them! I won't guarantee that I'll read every word that others say in them, but I'll read what you say in them! That's the trick :)

#186: Hey Karen! Yeah, I feel better just knowing that I'm going to tackle the reviewing hurdle, finally. I'm just sorry that I going to talk to everyone about stuff they wrote on their threads over a month ago. I'm sure it's a bit disjointing.

ETA: Corrected really bad grammatical mistakes

51. House of Illusions by Pauline Gedge
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Historical Fiction, Egypt

This is a sequel to House of Dreams which is one of my favourite books based in Ancient Egypt. I love the author, Pauline Gedge, who I found out recently also lives in my province. This story returns to Thu, the heroine from the first story, and the chance meeting she has with her lost (now grown) son, Kamen after 17 years apart. I can't say more because that would spoil what happened in the first novel. Ms. Gedge is always able to write convincingly and with acute historical detail about the life in Ancient Egypt. You really can feel the culture and beliefs spring up from the page. She is also able to write realistic and engrossing characters and this novel is no exception. Thu is wily and proud and time has only hardened her will to better her lowborn situation. I will say that I only liked this book and wouldn't fawn over it like I did for House of Dreams. It was a satisfying conclusion of the fate of Thu but it was not an amazing one.

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52. The Elementary Particles by Michel Houellebecq
Rating: ★
Genre: Speculative Fiction. French.

Ok, I admit, I hated this book. I didn't get it, I don't wantto get it, and I felt it was a big waste of my time. Somehow I was told it was a "cool" book to read which really screwed me over because I kept reading it, hoping to get to the "cool" part. The novel starts out narrating that Michel, an emotionally cold automaton, changed the world with this scientific discovery that changed humankind forever. Great, I thought it would be a SF-tinged book. Nope, what happens for 95% of the book is that the reader gets to follow the mind of Michel's brother, Bruno. Bruno is a masochistic, sex-with-young-women obsessed, racist, ridiculous individual. He's middle-aged and ugly, yet lusts after teenagers and scorns women his own age. Why? Because they're uglier and that led to a diatribe against "drooping vaginas". Firstly, I don't even think that happens to women. Anyways, he has some self-awareness that he's hypocritical and unrealistic, but that just leads him to get angrier at the world and at women for not all being young and nubile and willing to fulfill his rampant sexual desires. It was truly awful to be in the mind of this character. So Michel sees all the pain and angst that his poor brother is subjected to (please note the sarcasm here) and decides that he needs to change society through science so that people won't suffer like Bruno suffers. The reader gets to find out what that breakthrough is in the last 5 pages of the book... that was really annoying because there's no explanation how it works or how society has really changed. So there's a big build up to the revealing of the "mystery" and then it's so poorly done.

Supposedly the author was trying to make a critique about the hippie generation and how this led to society-destroying concepts like commercialism, youth culture, selfishness and feminism. Those societal forces are supposedly what has made Bruno so "damaged" and alienated and make women feel the same way too because nobody wants to have sex with them if they're not young. Yeah, I didn't really buy it. I definitely think there is validity in criticizing the effects of the hippies, free love and youth culture, but didn't see how that point was effectively made here.

As a footnote: So, I finished the book, disgusted, and then had to see that on the back inside flap, the most pretentious photo of an author I have ever seen. That just took the cake.

Yikes! Hope the next one is better, Steph!

You are really reading some very interesting books.

Sorry book #51 wasn't a good one and hope that the next one is better.

Fiasco is now on my tbr pile. Your review is great!

re. Book 51 - heard about this book and almost picked it up a few times (won't be now). I read somewhere that he is a 'post-modern' writer, what ever that is, and his form is unconventional and depressing. The French are often black and gritty in their writing but this guy is obviously unsuccessful at it - not a patch on Sartre or Camus. What an awful mind. I really hate reading that kinda stuff.

#51 sounds yucky, but I loved your review! Why don't you post it on the book's page so I can give it a thumbs up?

I read a different book by Houllebecq a couple of years ago and had a similar reaction. Definitely an author I never intend to read again.

Hey, Steph!
Just popping in post-tennis watching. Congrats to Kim Clijsters! That was quite an interesting match, wasn't it? Maybe she will win it all. She looks really great for just now coming back after having a baby. Strong, conditioned and tough! I wonder what will happen if she plays Serena? I thought that it was pretty funny when the commentator (I can't recall who) said both she and Federer looked great returning to tennis after having a baby. Then I think it was Pam who said, It is not really the same thing for the two!! No kidding! :)

I enjoyed your reviews. Have a great day!
--BJ

Re: The Elementary Particles by Houellebecq....
I totally get the impression that it's one of those books that if you hate the book, the fans (and the author) will probably sneer at you and say you have bourgeoisie taste. Maybe I do. But it's definitely a dealbreaker for me if the book has a character that states definitively that middle-aged women have drooping vaginas like it's a fact and other such repulsive things. Also, that I'm supposed to think this guy has a brain because he can debate about Aldous Huxley. He reminds me of all the skeezy pervs who have ever started at me. We're supposed to believe that his yuckiness is a result of the parent's generation's culture and the abandonment of his hippie mother and self-involved father. But I ended up wondering, "has the author ever considered that maybe this guy is just an asshole of his own making?" Lastly, the author gets his science completely wrong. For example, the author writes about DNA replication: "The moment of separation is dangerous, as it is then that random mutations - mostly harmful - occur". Thinking back to my first-year biology courses, I thought that DNA replication errors occur pretty often but it's mostly harmless because the body has mechanisms to destroy the erroneous DNA and also why important sequences are repeated to minimize mutations. Meh.

The only thing I thought was good about the book was this single line, "A world that respects only the young eventually devours everyone".

#192: I didn't submit it mostly because I didn't think it was as comprehensive and neutral as I'd like for a public review. It was on the rant-y side. :)

#194: I watched the whole Clijsters/Venus match! I totally was on edge in the third set and was screaming at Kim the whole last game! I liked how she cried at the end and how she's showing that moms can be world-class athletes.

Just found your thread and will star it for the future. Love your reviews of romance novels--- it's so hard to find good ones, and it's good to know which ones NOT to read, as well. :)

53. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Rating: ★★★1/2
Genre: Fiction, Humour

BillieJean recommended this spoof of the movie, The Omen, and I thought it was pretty amusing. The Antichrist has been born and Armageddon is on its way and both sides wants to find and mold the child. Two friends, demon and an angel, who have been on Earth working for their respective sides, decide they want to avert the End of the World (because they like life on Earth, thank you). A young witch has a powerful book of prophesies that she must fulfill, so she's in the mix as well. Co-written by Pratchett and Gaiman, the book an early collaboration before they were famous. I wouldn't say that this is going down as an all-time love, but recommended if you like light-hearted parodies.

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54. To Love a Dark Lord by Anne Stuart
Rating: ★★★1/2
Genre: Historical Romance, Georgian

Karenmarie was kind enough to recommend one of her favourite historical romances, and it definitely wasn't a letdown. Emma is a spunky heroine who is painfully living under the watchful and sadistic eye of her cousin, Miriam. Lord Killoran is your typical black-hearted, bored aristocrat. Fate has him running into Emma everytime she stands over a dead body and he generously take the blame because he won't get in trouble over it and it is a way to amuse himself. Eventually he realizes that he can use Emma to gain revenge on his long-time enemy and Emma accepts this role so she can escape her own terrors and try to release the inner pain Killoran hides beneath his veneer. There was good sexual chemistry in this book and I really liked how creepy cousin Miriam was.

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55. Ways to be Wicked by Julie Anne Long
Rating: ★★★1/2
Genre: Historical Romance

The second book in the trilogy about the Holt sisters. I have already reviewed the first book, The Beauty and the Spy in this thread. Ways to be Wicked is the middle book, and I would say it's the second best. I'll repeat what I said before, I do think Ms. Long gets better with every book from experience and also because I liked the third book, The Secret to Seduction, the best of the three. In this one, Sylvie Lamoureux is a prima French ballerina and she has decided to travel to England to solve the mystery of her parentage. She's robbed along the way so she's forced to accept the burlesque dancing job in Tom Shaughnessy's bawdy theatre to make ends meet. Of course, Tom and Sylvie have instant chemistry that they each try to deny which leads to crackling sexual tension. I liked that the author tries to explore their characters and gives you a plausible explanation for why they fall in love... that underneath it all they are attracted to each other because they each strive for the same thing in life.

I had decided to read a Pratchett first before I give Good Omens a try but now that I think about it, it doesn't make sense. I've seen all four movies (and the awful remake) of The Omen so I'll have a reference point when it comes to Good Omens, while if I start with Pratchett I haven't read anything by him so it will be a cmpletely new experience. Hmmm... I guess I'll see which one beckons to me more from the bookshelf.

To Love a Dark Lord sounds right up my alley! I've read and enjoyed several of Anne Stuart's contemporaries, and they're always a great blend of dark and sexy, but I've never tried any of her historicals, although I have several sitting on my shelf.

#196: allthesedarnbooks, that's funny that I posted two more romance reviews 20 minutes after you said that you liked mine!

#198: Eliza, I've seen the both the original and awful remake of The Omen, as well. Good Omens seems to stick to the core story, but obviously goes off on tangents since the young female witch plot is a significant part of the story. I couldn't tell you where on the scale this falls on judging Pratchett's best works, I've only read one other book by him.

I'm glad you liked To Love a Dark Lord, Cauterize!

I've been off romances lately for some reason, but I might re-read Dark Lord just to get back in the mood.

Or I might pick up Super in the City just for something different. Sounds fun.

Oh dear, I've only just discovered your thread. I haven't got the energy to catch up on it all, but I fear you might be bad for my wishlist!

I see we are in the same boat, in terms of desperately trying to catch up on reviews and threads. Sigh. Sadly, I am not sure minireviews are in my repertoire. There's a reason I've never aspired to write short stories. I am, however, reviewing trilogies and so on together in a single review, rather than a separate one for every book.

You are reading some interesting stuff. I added Gedge to my reading list. I have not yet tried Pratchett, though he's been recommended. A few others sound interesting. I look forward to hearing about more.

#202: You've already been bad for my TBR list, Lunacat!

#203: My favourite Pauline Gedge is Child of the Morning which is about Hatshepsut, the only woman to declare herself Pharaoh, and House of Dreams which I mentioned above. I did read The Eagle and the Raven which is about Boudicca, but I don't remember how good that one was.

56. Not Quite a Lady by Loretta Chase
Rating: ★★
Genre: Historical Romance

This is going to be my last foray into Ms. Chase's novels. I haven't loved any of them, and I've disliked most of them, so I'm pretty sure she's just not for me. I read this book two months ago and I had to go through several online reviews to even remember what happened. The beautiful heiress, Lady Charlotte, spends most of her time trying to fend off suitors and not get married. This is because she had a child out of wedlock but was able to hide that fact from her father and the world. Darius Carsington is ordered by his father to turn a failing piece of land into something profitable. The land is adjacent to Charlotte's home. I remember that the meet cute and Charlotte's ploys to lose men were pretty good, but that was in the beginning. I honestly can't remember what happens in the second half except the end and that was awful... there was a very unrealistic conclusion.


57. What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception by Scott McClellan
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Memoir

Written by the former Press Secretary to Bush, who was the one who told the lies (he says unknowingly) that Scooter Libby and Karl Rove were not involved in the Valerie Plame affair, and who eventually resigned over it. McClellan has been working for Bush since Bush was the Governor of Texas. Some interesting insights, he believes that the Bush Administration used the Permanent Campaign technique to sell the Iraq War; McClellan, in hindsight, says that was a disservice to the nation. The author also says that Bush isn't a stupid man, but that he is intellectually incurious about topics he doesn't care about and that he surrounded himself with advisors who were yes-men or had other agendas. I was disappointed how McClellan seemed to minimize his role in the mistakes the administration made and how even now he doesn't seem own up to the fact that he seemed to judge if people were loyal and should be part of the inner circle on whether or not they were Texan.


58. The Dream Hunter by Laura Kinsale
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Historical Romance, Middle East

Once again, Laura Kinsale writes a great non-typical romance. Lord Winter is your bored aristocrat hero who takes a commission to find a rare arabic horse in North Africa. There, he meets Selim, who is the only one left in the house of a dead English adventuress, and uses him as a guide in the desert. Adventures and dangers ensue, but I don't want to say anymore than that so I don't give the plot away. Readers of romance will recognize that the novel seems to follow the typical and overused plotlines of the genre, but Kinsale somehow is able to twist them and make them feel new. Possibly, it's because her heroine isn't a normal romance heroine, she's more of an underdog and realistic. The romance actually has a real conflict, rather than your normal comedy of misunderstandings. It was nice to read a romance that was actually based in the Middle East and the desert.

The Dream Hunter sounds lovely. I've added it to my TBR. I haven't read any Kinsale.

Hey, didn't you read Anne of Green Gables? Did I miss the review somewhere?

Oh, I just noticed that you have a lot of books to review still before getting to it - never mind!

Onto the wishlist The Dream Hunter goes! I own several Kinsales (Flowers from the Storm, Seize the Fire, and Midsummer Moon) but haven't read any of them yet, in spite of the fact that I hear such good things about her. Sorry about your experiences with Loretta Chase. I've only ever read Miss Wonderful, which was okay to good, and the Smart Bitches always rave about her, so I may try her again someday and see if I agree with you!

Hey, Caut!
I have not been feeling too well lately (nothing serious) so I missed the Serena - Clijsters match, but I heard today that Serena went totally nuts. I usually liked Venus better, but was getting to where I liked Serena pretty well, too. But I don't know how I feel about her after this. Did you see it? I was wondering what, if anything, McEnroe said. He was quite good at throwing a fit in his day (just to show my age!). I did get to see part of the finals and was glad to see Clijsters win. And her daughter there, too. It was nice. And Wozniacki looks to be quite an up and comer in the sport as well.

You are doing a great job with all of your reviews!
--BJ

#206: Kinsale can be hard to find, most of her books were written quite a while ago, but I've found she's worth it.

#209: Allthesedarn books,I've only read Shadowheart, The Dream Hunter, For my Lady's Heart and My Sweet Folly by Kinsale and I liked them from best to worst in that order. She's definitely an interesting writer and tries not to turn out cookie cutter novels. Shadowheart is somewhat on the dark side, as a heads up.

#210: I'm sorry to hear that you were ill, BJ... you missed quite the matches. I did watch Clijsters and Serena (which was an amazing game) and right now my Facebook profile says: 'Steph wants to know how: "I swear to God I'm (expletive) going to take this (expletive) ball and shove it down your (expletive) throat, you hear that? I swear to God." is NOT threatening someone, Serena?' Needless to say, I was not impressed with the original press conference Serena did where she didn't admit to doing anything wrong. I didn't watch the ladies final, but I pretty much knew what was going to happen. I did watch the entire Federer/Del Potro match and was amazing at what a forehand Del Potro has!

#206 and #211 - I love Kinsale and have 9 of her books. They're usually findable at Second Hand Book stores (not thrift stores). There are also some out there on BookMooch right now. (book exchange website, you send books to people and pay postage, you mooch books and they are sent to you free - I've sent over 200 books and gotten over 200 books and love it).

Thankfully, I have a great used paperback store that is always pretty well stocked in Kinsales. Right now I'm about halfway through Midsummer Moon and loving it. I just bought The Shadow and the Star today. I was actually leaning toward Shadowheart and the bookseller said she didn't like it as much as the others. Maybe she doesn't have a dark side? I certainly do, however, so I may have to get it on my next trip.

56. The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes
64. The Sandman: The Doll's House; and
65. The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman
Rating: ★★★★, ★★★, and ★★, respectively
Genre: Graphic Novel

Well, I found by accident the Graphic Novel section of my library and that has led me to a graphic novel spree that's going to be evident in the next 30 reviews of my books. I've decided to review groups of them together since the each collections are not very long, compared to your average novel.

The series chronicles the existence of Dream, an anthropomorphic personification of dreams and stories. He is one of the seven Endless, who are older than gods and fulfill certain cosmic functions. In the first collection, Preludes and Nocturnes, Dream is captured by black magic practitioners and he must escape after 75 years and restore his realm. This leads to working with John Constantine (a notable DC comic anti-hero), going to Hell and challenging Lucifer (who looks like David Bowie) and having a battle royale with Doctor Destiny. This was your standard quest-type story, but it's still compelling and builds a foundation for the rest of the series. Dream is proud, arrogant and indifferent to others; his captivity is a catalyst for his moral growth through the rest of the series.

In The Doll's House, the focus of the narrative is taken off Dream and this collection into three distinct stories. The first is about an African Queen, Nada, who fell in love with Dream a long time ago… and how this has brought her nothing but agony and an eternity in Hell. The second (and largest) story, is about a young woman, Unity Kincaid, who is a ‘dream vortex’ with the latent power to destroy the Dreaming. She’s trying to find her lost brother and she has some weird roommates…I thought this story was really boring because I thought the girl was totally bland. However, there was a serial killer convention which was effectively creepy. The last story is about Hob Gadling, a 14th C. man who decides never to die and then surprisingly doesn’t. He and Dream meet in a tavern every 100 years to have a beer and conversation. I liked the first and last stories, but the middle and main story really didn’t grab me.

The third book, Dream Country, again doesn’t focus on Dream, but instead on the people he interacts with, and how it affects them. The first story is about Calliope, a muse, who has been enslaved by a writer for her help with his talent. This story was fine, but I really thought some of the drawings were bad and off perspective. The second was about the dream of one small cat… her children have been taken by humans and drowned because they were unwanted. She goes on a quest to find out how this can never happen to cats again, and she meets Dream who gives her some advice. The third story was about how Dream commissions William Shakespeare to write a play for the faeries. The play is performed when Titania and Oberon come from their realm for one performance. This story is said to be an outstanding one and won some awards… but I didn’t like it at all. Mostly because I didn’t get it because I have no idea what happens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream-- so I didn’t get any of the coy references between the play and the ‘real’ faeries.

Still, the Sandman series is engrossing and I can’t put them down once I’ve started a novel. Recommend for everyone.

OOO, forgot to post that I'm a Cool Nerd Queen:

how many of the Sandmans are there, do you have any idea? Always wanted to start reading them but somehow got in my head that there's too many of them to bother with. Might be one of my usually not-based-on-anything ideas.

Neil Gaiman is a very talented writer I discovered through my kids books.

The genre of graphic novels never really appealed to me until I read the Maus series by Speigelman. (morbid reader that I am). That took me on a splurge of graphic novel reading last year which was rather unsatisfying. Will be interested in hearing of other graphics you discover.

I really must try the Sandman books, though. Gaiman is such a talent.

#214

Flissp loaned me the first two Sandman books but I haven't got round to reading them yet. I really must get on with them!

@214: I have always wanted to acquire the Sandman graphic novels, but rarely allow myself such a splurge. So right now I have issues #38 and #39 from 1992 individual comic books and graphic novels 1 (Preludes and Nocturnes), 6 (Fables and Reflections), and 7 (Brief Lives). I liked Nada's story and the crossover with Hellblazer involving John Constantine. The "cereal convention" was both funny and creepy. Some of the characters from the Sandman appear in other works such as Neverwhere, I believe.

Steph, you recommended these stories for everyone. I would caution that overall, the Sandman series has some very adult content involving a certain amount of blood and gore. It is certainly not something that I would consider typical YA fare or for the squeamish. On the other hand, I greatly admire the research that went into developing many of the story elements.

@216: Eliza, the original Sandman comic books by DC were monthly in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I used to read it in that format when I was in college. However, I graduated and moved away before the series ended, so I've never finished it. Wikipedia indicates that there were 75 issues total. They were later released as separate graphic novels by Vertigo for each story arc. I understand that a single ginormous (expensive!) omnibus edition has recently been released. It is possible to pick and choose to some degree without committing to the entire work, particularly with the graphic novel format.

217: Graphic novels are getting some traction in mainstream via the endless movie adaptations. V for Vendetta is a cult classic graphic novel from the 80s. I haven't kept up with any of this since I no longer have access to the free comic book library on campus and I have no budget for such tidbits.

#216: Eliza, wikipedia says there are officially eleven Sandmans plus some spinoffs. I'm almost done with the series, even though I had to ILL the eleventh one.

#217: Kiwidoc, I enjoyed reading David Mack's Kabuki series. My friend got me into them quite a while ago. Story-wise, it was a little more abstract than any other Graphic Novel I've read and the art is amazing. Seriously eye-catching. That's probably why i get disappointed when I see other graphic novels and it seems too "comic-y" too me. There's one of the main artists in Sandman that I don't really like the work of... it probably decreases my enjoyment, actually.

#219: Chris, I guess I should clarify about who I meant by 'everyone'. I meant it as 'lovers of any genre' and not really as an age thing. Yes, I would say that children shouldn't read it, but I didn't even think my LT readers on this thread could be children. Otherwise, I'm in the boat that anyone 13 and up should be able to read pretty much anything. If they can see realistic and graphic violence and sex in movies in a PG-13, and sneak/rent R-rated, I'm not really worried about themes in books and drawings in comics, especially when YA can buy these at any comic store or borrow them from a library. Sandman does have some stories where there are disturbing ways people die (and I totally forgot about those parts of the stories until you mentioned it, but I should have mentioned it -- my bad), but I thought the stories built up to it, so if anyone sees anything uncomfortable, they have a heads up to just flip ahead.

What's going on with me... currently I'm almost done Cloud Atlas which has been taking a while to get through. I almost gave up on it (I really didn't like the first story), but the next story was better. I'm not sure if I liked this book or not, yet... I think it needs a good soak in Caut's brain.

After some craziness in Caut's life, I'm back for some quick reviews. I think I'll have to go Stasia-style to catch up...

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60. Frederica by Georgette Heyer
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Historical Romance

The first Heyer that I enjoyed completely and found parts of it funny, to boot. Frederica comes to London to ask her very distant cousin, the Marquis of Alverstoke, to sponsor her beautiful sister for a season. Frederica's young, and mischievous brothers also come for the ride to upend Alverstoke's rakish life. I did think that the book should have been called "Alverstoke" as Lord Alverstoke was the real protagonist of the novel as he learned to love family and Frederica... while Frederica just stayed her same spunky, practical self throughout the book. This Heyer probably had the most realistic falling-in-love story that I've read in her books.



61. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: YA Fantasy

Thought I'd pick up this series when I saw it on the library shelves. Wanted to see for myself if there was any controversial religious/atheistic themes, as stated by general commentary. I didn't really see much of any religious overtones in this book, instead I thought it was a pretty thrilling adventure novel. Lyra is a young tween who lives in a parallel world and she's quite the engaging, cunning little minx.The characters were unique, and I really loved the end (can't say why because of spoilers). The novel is pretty scary, which I liked because it was unexpected, and "intercision" gave me the chills.



62. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
Rating: ★★★★1/2
Genre: Historical Fiction, CanLit

Kiwidoc sent me this as her chosen payment for our Flames/Canucks playoff bet, and it made me doubly glad she lost because this book was really good. It's about Aminata Dallo, an African girl who is taken by slavers and sent to America to work the plantations. Hill writes a book where one can read about historically-accurate horrors of slavery and unexpected injustices of emancipation through a first-person fictional lens. Aminata is so compelling, her voice is strong and gut-wrenching. Slave History isn't one of my interests, but I was glad I learned so many new things about this topic, such as the relocation of slaves into Nova Scotia. Highly recommended.


63. The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner
Rating: ★1/2
Genre: Mannerpunk(?)

I just didn't get this medieval-type fantasy novel. It centres around a young history professor, Basil St. Cloud, as he navigates the scholarly world and his love life with a student, Theron. Throw in an academic duel(??) and pagan King-sacrifice for the Land mythology and the search for eternal Truth, and you've got a mix that doesn't interest me. As I understand, this genre is supposed to be about the complexities of the relationships between the characters and social hierarchy, but I found it hard to get into all that when the overarching themes aren't my cup of tea. It's a book where you'll either love it or hate it, and unfortunately I fell into the latter.


66. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Rating: ★★★1/2
Genre: YA Fantasy

In the second novel of the series, Lyra meets Will who is from our world. Together, they must find out the nature of Dust and use the subtle knife to aid them in the coming war between good and evil. I liked this second book in the trilogy, it explored inter-dimensionality and also moral consequences. Lyra is still a compelling heroine and Will is enough of an alter-ego to make their pairing up work. The religious elements start creeping in, but still quite in the background. It wasn't as good as the first book, but the plot is moving along.


67. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Rating: ★★
Genre: YA Fantasy

Ok. Wow. It went into religion commentary overdrive in this book. Too many new plotlines and new characters get too much play for a third book in a trilogy. I got Lost, I got Confused, and I still have no idea what Dust is supposed to represent. All of a sudden Angels are popping up,holy wars and dark matter... it all hurt my brain. It finished in an unexpected way, which I always like, but that was the only good part of the book. I'd say read this book only to finish the series, but don't get your hopes up for a quality book.

ETA: Fixed HTML problems

Eclectic mix, Caut.

Interesting that the Pullman trilogy declined in star value over the three reads. I MUST read that set though.

Glad you liked the Negroes book - it is still waiting for me, but your review is very enticing.

I am a style now? Wow. There's a first :)

Hey cauterize - I gave up on The Amber Spyglass about 50 pages before the end, about 3 years ago. Have never wanted to pick it up again.

I guess I'll keep the series in case my 16-year old daughter ever wants to read them.

Long hiatus, cauterize - without trying to pry, hope things are going well for you.

#222: Karen, I really liked the first book of the Pullman series. I won't give anything away, but I literally gasped out loud in shock/surprise when I finished it and was dying to read the next one. The middle one I thought was good, but not great and the third... I spent the whole time confused and reeling about how much random, new concepts were being shoved in and how much I didn't like it AT ALL.

But if I have a chance, I'll redo the Negroes book for a lengthier review and for the other ones that I think deserve a proper review, like my next book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. But yeah, Book of Negroes was really engaging.

#223: Stasia, you're a style, you're a TBR black-hole creator, you're a taste-maker, and the gold standard of speed reading :)

#224: Just a lot of stuff... a job interview in Vancouver, my parents almost moving to Bakersfield, CA and then not after consideration, my husband resigning his job and starting a new one, my brother got the H1N1, etc. After dealing with everything and still reading there just wasn't much motivation to type up reviews.

More reviews coming your way!

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68. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Historical Fiction, China

Great novel set in the mid to late 1800s in China. Snow Flower is a young Yao girl who is proclaimed to be able to have the "perfect" feet... exactly 3 inches when bound. This good luck allows her to improve her station in life, which includes making a lao tong match, a friendship with another young girl whose characters match hers. This lao tong friendship is a sacred lifetime bond and is supposed to even be more special than the marital relationship. They are taught the special nu shu script, which is a secret language used by women for communicating with each other. The story follows Snow Flower throughout her life and chronicles how this friendship evolves and influences the other aspects of her life. Really engrossing.

I liked this novel because it was supposedly accurate about the lao tong and nu shu aspects of Yao culture. Also, it was nice to read a book about China that did not focus on Han or Mandarin culture, but one I've never read about. Why I gave it 5 stars has to do with how I rate books. 5 stars is reserved for a book that is going to be a lifetime favourite or one that is an amazing read and makes me feel something about my life, whether I want to change it or opens a new window of understanding that I never considered before. With this book, it made me wistful... I now wish that I had been set up with a friendship like this; where you know that you are going to be friends with this person for life, and that bond is respected by everyone and more sacred than family. Sort of like a soulmate. It's understood that you will, for a few festival days per year, to spend time with that person (what a great excuse to make sure you spend quality time catching up) and it just seems like the coolest thing ever. A great idea from an old culture that should be brought back to life, today.


69. Ravished by Amanda Quick
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Historical Romance

A great classic Amanda Quick. Harriet Pomeroy is obsessed with fossils and natural phenomena. So she hires Gideon, the Beast of Blackthorne Hall, to protect her fossils even though they are located in caves upon his property. Gideon is has a hideous scar on his face, which bothers everyone else, but of course Harriet barely registers it. Everyone in society avoids him because they think he drove his fiance to suicide. A typical Quick plot - a compromising situation forces Gideon the honourable thing and propose to Harriet and they play this charade in front of society while secretly falling in love. Funny part where Harriet starts a ballroom brawl. Or should I say, a Ballroom Blitz? (sorry, couldn't resist)


70. The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner
Rating: ★★★
Genre: Mannerpunk, Swordplay

The previous book to The Fall of the Kings, which I reviewed earlier. I had originally intended to read this book first, but got mixed up in the chronology. Wish I had, because it was a lot better than Fall of the Kings. Katherine Tremontaine is a teenage girl who is blackmailed by her eccentric uncle to come live with him in the City. When she gets there, he forces her to dress like a boy and learn swordplay from the best masters. She resists at first, but soon starts to like it, and envisions herself as like a dashing hero from a current play. There are various subplots with the Mad Duke (her uncle), and the playrights and another young lady who becomes friends with Katherine. I didn't really like the subplots, but I'm sure others do as they round out the book and perform social commentary, on class and sexuality, but I like the parts that focused on Katherine's growth and lessons in swordplay.


71. The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
Rating: ★★★
Genre: YA, Holocaust

A modern Jewish girl, Hannah, is exasperated that she has to spend Passover with her family and old grandparents and have to listen to their Holocaust stories. When it is her turn to open the door for the prophet, she finds she is transported back in time to WWII, and into the life of Chaya, a girl living in Poland... right before going to a concentration camp. I liked the story in general, but thought it varied from touching/terrifying to maudlin/overwrought. A good YA primer into the life of a child who was 'processed' through the camps.


72. Threads of Silk by Linda Lee Chaikin
Rating: ★★
Genre: Historial Fiction, Huguenots, Christian

A random pickup at the library, thought it would be a nice change from Tudor England to France under Catherine de Medici. Don't remember much from this book, was the last in a trilogy, and it didn't really explain previous events very well so I spent the whole time reading it and not being able to follow all the characters coming at me full force. The heroine is Rachelle Macquinet who is trying to escape the wrath of Catherine de Medici who is mad at her because she married the Marquis de Vendome without permission. I gathered that the romance was the main storyline of the previous two books, because this book did not focus on them at all. Instead, it centred around the Huguenots coming out of the woodwork and getting persecuted for their heretic translated-out-of-latin Bible. I thought the detailed religious interpretation debates was boring and out-of-sync for what I thought was a historical romance (judging from the cover blurb) and there was an obvious pro-Huguenot slant, until I read, after I finished, that the author bio that she is a pretty intense Christian and her work is marketed as Christian Fiction. Led me to a 'whoops' moment as that explained the disconnect of what I thought I was going to read and what I got to read. For all these reasons, I didn't like the book (confusion, jumping in the end of a trilogy, long religious debates), but that was more of a result of my personal reading experience. I probably can't judge how good the book was from a objective standpoint.


73. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Non-Fiction, Tudor Period

My first book by Weir, who I've heard about is the modern author to read for an extensively-researched book on the Tudor period. I do love reading about the Tudors (Elizabeth I is my fave, and Anne of Cleves is my favourite wife). So I thought I would expand my knowledge for when I read historical fiction about this period. Previously, I had probably only read an Elizabeth bio or two. I found Weir's book to be really accessible and easy to read, which I need in non-fiction. I finished it in about four days, which gives you a hint how easy it is to fly through, even though it's a fairly thick book. There were a lot of details, but I didn't feel overwhelmed with them. This book is written almost like a novel and there is a narrative chronological thread. If Weir writes her personal opinion, it's pretty obvious (ie. paraphrasing "when Anne Boleyn found this out, she must of have felt cornered and considered her options"). I didn't think that Anne Boleyn actually said that to anybody, but that it was Weir's own speculation. I wish that I had bought this book instead of borrowing it, so that I could refer back to it whenever I read more Tudor fiction.

Also thought I'd give an update on my reading... I'm trying to sort out my December push. There's a bunch of things I want to read before the end of the year and I guess I'll make a list here to see if I make it.

So far, my plan is to read:
Powers by John Olsen (an ER book)
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (to see if it is any good)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (I've got two parts left - I fell behind in the Group Read when I had to return my copy to the library)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (for my Austen of the year)
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill

Also, I should say that for the past few months I've been working on a personal project. I was inspired by Amaranthic and her passion for self-teaching herself languages, so I picked up a French grammar book and a YA book in French and have been slowly working my way through Tenth City by Patrick Carman or la Dixième cité. And WOW... my Grade 12 French did not prepare me AT ALL. We just learned the past imperfect tense and that's all a novel is in, I have learned. At first, It took me a couple hours to translate 2 pages in a 9-12 yr old book. I'm realizing just how under-taught 8 years of french classes can be. I probably came out with the vocab of less than 4 year old. I just wish they had been more inspired in teaching us. I've probably learned more in the past 3 months, self-teaching, that I did that whole time in school. It's getting easier and easier, and I can probably do more than 5 pages in an hour. I'm also enjoying that there's a narrative thread and it's helping me remember vocabulary better than memorizing a list of colours or whatever. So far, in the story the heroine is on a ship and I'm getting all the waves/wind/ship/deck/sails words thrown at me over and over and the repetition is helping me to remember. Anyways, that's what I've been up to!

#226: I keep meaning to get to Snow Flower, but still have not managed it!

Ravished is probably my favorite of Amanda Quick's books. I think I have them all.

I bought one of Ellen Kushner's books earlier this year, but cannot remember which one right off hand. I will have to get to it next year, whatever it is called.

I read The Devil's Arithmetic last year, so I do not need to put that one in the BlackHole and Thread of Silk does not look like something I will read.

Alison Weir is at her best with nonfiction, IMHO, and not fiction, so The Six Wives of Henry VIII is going into the BlackHole since I have not gotten to that one yet. If you want more good reading about Henry and his wives, I would recommend David Starkey's Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII. He also has a book out about on Elizabeth I called Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne that is very good.

#227 Teaching yourself to read French is an impressive accomplishment!

255: Steph, it's good to see you active again. I totally understand getting swamped by a multitude of events. That's why I haven't kept up with my reviews. Once again, a giant stack next to the computer to remind me, not that I have time right now. I got all caught up on the reviews, then ended up in the hospital. Lots of time to read and recuperate, not much energy to write. And now I'm desperately trying to catch up at work, having blown a good 7 weeks of deadlines. Sigh.

@226: Snow Flower sounds perfectly lovely. I will have to look for it. And Ravished sounds entertaining enough, maybe I'll get that for my second Amanda Quicl experience. However, both will have to wait. I decided to put a moratorium on library books until I made it through some of the TBR piles in my personal library. I found Privilege of the Sword to be a young-adult light-read favorite of mine. I've not read The Fall of the Kings or come across it in stores. I'm afraid the others are not particularly interesting to me at this time.

227: Good luck on the December reading ambitions. It sounds like a lot of diversity. I need to work on diversity. Instead, I'm tending toward easy. And congratulations on working through the French. I always wanted a reading knowledge of French, but just haven't sat down to try, despite picking up some French grammars and so on. My Spanish has grown rather rusty, and I'm not doing anything right now to reverse that. I have been teaching myself the Arabic alphabet so that I can at least transliterate what I'm seeing in writing. But that does not give me any actual Arabic language skills. Sigh...so much to do and not enough free time. Work? What's this "work"?

I'm very impressed by your project to learn French. I admire you for undertaking this project.

I note your interest in Tudor history. I'm currently reading The Concubine: A Novel by Norah Lofts. I highly recommend this book. I've read a lot about this historical time period and I think Lofts is one of the best writers.

The touchstones are working property, so here is the link.

http://www.librarything.com/work/173484/book/53932306

#228: Stasia, I almost have all of Quick's books too! Well, I pretty much have all the older ones with the covers that look like Ravished. I've stopped buying the newer ones with the Arcane Society, they've become library rentals for me :(

#230: Chris, I hope you feeling better and that the hospital trip wasn't for anything serious. I did love the scenes in Privilege of the Sword where she works with St. Viers and her internal commentary when she does her duels. I laughed that she gets impatient with the showoffs. I admit I got confused about a few things, like when her and that other young girl became 'best friends' after meeting for 5 minutes and even having an embarrassing second meeting. That's more what I meant about sub-plots that I didn't get.

Re: My French Attempts
I probably downplayed a bit how much those French classes did give me a foundational basis that a complete newbie would lack if they tried to self-teach. I knew the basic parts of a sentence and the principles of conjugating verbs, etc. Also, growing up my whole life with signs and labels being half in French doesn't hurt either, picking up the flow of the language by osmosis. But what I am depressed about is that school didn't really try to challenge us or give us more than basic idiot sentences. "My name is Steph, I like apples, You have four brothers, etc." For instance, reading my grammar book I've learned, for the first time, the pronouns for direct and indirect objects. Basic things that you need to know if you're going to actually be literate. Argh.

I always was better at reading/writing than speaking/listening languages but the hardest thing for me is to start "thinking" in a new language. So it just hit me... why don't I just take the biggest passion in my life, reading, and channel it to help me with one of my biggest goals in life, to be fluent in another language. I'm hoping that by going faster and faster in my French reading, one day (far from now) it'll just click and I'll stop translating and instead just be reading and thinking! But for now, it's a fun hobby and it's nice to feel the glow of personal accomplishment when I can notice the steady improvement I'm making.

And thanks for all the Tudor recommendations, guys! I'll put them all on my TBR.

Steph, are you joining us for the 2010 challenge? The group is up and running. I hope to see you there!

Ok, I'm still going to try to finish my reviews even though 2009 has ended (and start my 2010 thread over in the new group). I've decided Wolf Hall will be my first book in the New Year and it'll take me a while to get through it, anyways. BTW, my December reading did not go as planned because I got super bogged down with Powers: A Novel because it was so awful. I basically finished it and Anna Karenina.

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74. Seer of Egypt by Pauline Gedge
Rating:
Genre: Historical Fiction, Egypt

Usually, I love Gedge’s ancient Egypt historical fiction, but I couldn’t get into this story about an man named Huy who is the oracle for Amunhotep II. Probably because it was the second book in a trilogy and I didn’t read the first book, and also I spent the first half of the book totally confused. You see, I thought it was a prequel book on the oracle character in House of Dreams/House of Illusions who was named Hui. So I kept wondering why this book wasn’t keeping to the established facts for Hui. Well, this Huy isn’t as interesting as the other character, and I just couldn’t get engrossed in this book.



75. Grave Sight by Charlene Harris
Rating:
Genre: YA Fiction

No way I could get the Sookie Stackhouse books anytime soon from the library to try out Charlene Harris, so I got the first book of the Harper Connelly books. When Harper was 15, she got struck by lightning and is able to sense the location of dead bodies if she’s close, and also see the last few seconds of the person’s life. She has decided to profit from her powers so her and her half-brother travel town to town and take cases to try to find missing bodies for individuals. A side bonus to her power, is that she often can help with murders, as Harper might be able to see who killed the victim. The story is set in Arkansas and Harper’s current case isn’t what it seems with the whole town seeming to have alterior motives of why the high school jock and his cheerleader girlfriend were discovered brutally murdered.

At first I liked the world building and the practical approach that Harper had to her powers. But I got tired of her always not feeling well and her over-reliance on her brother to take care of her. I also didn’t think the mystery was very original or gripping. But I would read the next book in the series to see if Harris can come up with more intriguing ways that Harper could use her powers.



76. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Rating:
Genre: YA Fiction, CanLit

Ahh, the classic Canadian children’s book about the spunky Anne Shirley as she as adopted by the down-to-earth Marilla and Matthew who live in Avonlea, Nova Scotia. She basically brings imagination and creativity to the staid rural area, and is a true original. I was pleasantly surprised that the book followed Anne from childhood to adulthood, which is missing in much YA these days.

I read this as part of Cait86’s initiative to read CanLit in July, and also because I have always gotten in trouble that I never read this classic even though I am an avid reader. Glad I picked it up, it really is a great book and a great character.



(DNF) Dark Harvest by Lynda Hillburn
Rating: 0 stars, Did Not Finish
Genre: Paranormal

Random pickup at the library, thought the cover blurb sounded interesting… and I really regret the whole thing now. The main character is a “vampire psychologist” where she used to treat people who had delusions that they were vampires, until in the first book in the series where she finds out that her town has actual vampires. So now her practice has grown into treating real vampires with their problems. I thought this sounded fairly promising, the whole having a psychologist try to help vampires deal with the problems of immortality and feeding on humans, etc. Ok, well it turned into a whole Anita Blake clone within the first 50 pages. I ended up finding out that the main character is dating the top vampire because he’s gorgeous and gives great sex and the plot of the story spun around a story about some uber-powerful mysterious vampire whohas decided that he wants to come into town, make a power play and have the psychologist all to himself. Yes… so I ended up making disgusted noises and ditching the book. This is the novel that make me do a strict vow to take a paranormal hiatus because I was so pissed off.



77. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
Rating:
Genre: SF, Humour

I always loved Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and I have a complete set, but I never read the following books. This story continues on with the adventures of Arthur, Ford, Trillian, Zaphod, et al. as they navigate the perilous universe. I enjoyed it, but months later can barely remember the plot… which should say something. In contrast, Hitchhiker’s Guide is burned onto my brain.



78. Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey (re-read)
Rating:
Genre: SF

I re-read this book probably several times a year. My favourite of the Harper Hall trilogy and McCaffrey’s Pern world. This is the second book after Dragonsong and Menolly has just started her apprentice studies at the Harper Hall. She must navigate the perils of envy for having nine fire lizards and also the prejudice against her for being the only female harper apprentice. I like the struggle she has of trying to rid herself of the self-imposed limitations of her previous life and trying to grow her musical talent.



79. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Rating:
Genre: YA (supposedly)

A great, interesting epistolary novel where the young man, Charlie, has decided to write letters to an anonymous reader as a way to cope and describe his observations about his high school life. Charlie is… unusual, let’s say… and has had trouble relating to other people, but by the beginning of the novel has struck up friendships with other outsiders at his school, Sam and Patrick. The trio gets into adventures, Rocky Horror, and just hanging out with other like-minded individuals, while struggling with love and what they want to do after high school.

I know this all sounds movie-of-the-week, but it’s a dark, edgy tale that deals with drugs, sexuality, love and suicide (the suicide part is not a spoiler, honestly). Charlie is that smart kid who is articulate, yet emotional, but fragile and child-like at times. You really grow to love the kid and how honest he tries to be in his attempt to explain what’s going on in his head in his letters.

It’s one of the few books that I’ve read that really reminded me of my time in high school. Not really the ‘struggling to fit in’ part but more about the tone of how I used to hang out with my friends and the unconventional things we would get into and the unusual people I knew. A book for an outcast to feel not alone, and a book for other people to relate to ‘those weird kids’.



80. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Rating:
Genre: YA

I read it, I loved it, not much to say that hasn’t already been said about this book. The worst part (for my emotions) and, at the same time, the best part of the novel is that it still managed to make me cry even though it prepared the reader for it, chapters in advance.



81. Promethea Vol. 1-5 by Alan Moore
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

I’ll just review the whole series to save myself work. Started off really interesting, a young female writer starts researching the history of the “Promethea” tale, and how it seems to crop up in history every so often, by different writers. You start to find out that it’s a sort of universal tale, and when each author starts writing about her, he/she can project the Promethea persona into becoming a real-life superhero. The first issue was really good as the young woman, Sophie, writes herself into being Promethea, meeting the other deceased Prometheas personas in the Magic Misty Place, and using wit and imagination to defeat enemies. However, the last few issues go do a completely new direction into a New Age mumbo jumbo, as Sophie goes to the afterlife and it’s just tons of pages mixing religious and mystical beliefs from tarot, kabbalah, Christianity, greek mythology, tantric sex, and the kitchen sink. I felt it was one long rant by the author to tell us his weird spiritual philosophy on life. I got so lost and so bored. If you’ve read my previous reviews, it’s pretty obvious that I’m not really a fan of reading much religious commentary in my fiction, and this was overkill… in a graphic novel. I didn’t much of the allusions, and felt like it was a big let down from the promising beginning. I only finished the series because there was five volumes and the pictures were pretty.

Edited to fix my attempt at using the star gifs

Hey, Steph, glad to know you will be joining us for the 2010 group!

@236: Yes, of course I'm joining! :D I'll start up my thread right now (ugh, I had to fix the previous post like 5 times).

Congratulations on getting so many reviews out the door, and with all the bells and whistles too. Sorry to hear it was a mixed bag in terms of reading pleasure. I, too, have never read Anne of Green Gables. I also like Dragonsinger perhaps best in the series (though I pretty much stopped after Moreta). However, in a fit of tidiness, I returned all of my McCaffrey books to my mom, including the Dragonharper trilogy, because I was so disgusted by her recent works. And I enjoyed the Douglas Adams books, but never got around to adding them to my library.

@238: LOL, I pretty much stopped reading Pern books after Moreta and Pern: First Fall. I've never read any of the books her son has written.

82. The Sandman: Season of Mists Vol. 4 by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

Enjoyed the fourth volume of Sandman, better than the previous two. The main storyline moves forward and Dream returns to Hell and Lucifer… who isn’t exactly planning his revenge.



83. Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn
Rating:
Genre: Historical Romance, Mystery

Months later, I can’t really remember the plot to this book, and I had to look at other reviews. Even after, I still really can't remember if I enjoyed this book or not. I remember I wasn’t disappointed, though, so it gets an average rating.



84. The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

Some young people go to an underground circus for a lark, and get more than they expect. I ended the book going, “Huh, that was short”. And not a very original story for a Gaiman. Maybe I don’t get all the references.



85. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

Random pickup at the library. For my low expectations, it wasn’t bad. Robert Langdon vs. the Vatican. However, can see the major twist a mile away, and the ending was crazily unrealistic. Of course, some plot holes and loose ends.



86. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

A pretty thin volume. It’s about Richard, a ghost of a man, who accidentally finds himself drawn into the reality of “underground” London. He meets Door, who is an Opener, who is trying to avenge the death of her family. As I understand, Neverwhere was a television series written by Gaiman. But I didn’t find that out until I read this graphic novel. Anyways, they try to condense the whole plot of the series into this short novel, and it was really bad because of it. The elements of the story are good, and original, but there is no depth to it because of the length. It’s more that this graphic novel is a picture book summary of a TV show, which I think does a disservice to the unaware reader. I would read the full-length novelization because I did like the characters and the story.



87. Masterharper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
Rating:
Genre: SF

The backstory of Robinton, who is the Masterharper of Pern is most of the other Pern books. I thought this was to be a character study of the charismatic man who becomes so influential in the Pern world. Instead, it was pretty boring, left even more questions unanswered, and seemed to break the canon established in the other books. For example, Robinton’s mother is Merelan, who we find out was a famous Mastersinger, who also taught other female singers at the Harper Hall. Arguably, these women would be considered ‘harpers’ since they train at the Hall and are recognized musicians. However, in the Harper Hall triology, set 20-ish? years later, it is constantly impressed upon the reader that there had never been women harpers and that Menolly is ruining this tradition. Also, the lifelong conflict between Robinton and his father, Petrion, is never resolved even though the whole first 1/3 of the book seems to foreshadow that it would be. Highly disappointing treatment for this major character in the Pern world.



88. Captain Alatriste by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Rating:
Genre: SF

After loving The Club Dumas so much, I had always been eager to try another book by Arturo Pérez-Reverte. This is the first book in his Adventures of Captain Alatriste series, and it’s supposed to be homage to the swashbucklers during the Golden Age of Spain. It is narrated through the eyes of Captain Alatriste’s young charge, Inigo, and in this adventure, the world-weary Alatriste was hired to assassinate two foreigners. It wasn’t crazy good like The Club Dumas, it’s more of a light read.

BTW, the link to my 2010 thread is HERE

89. The Ship who Won and The Ship Errant by Anne McCaffrey and Jody Lynn Nye
Rating: and , respectively
Genre: SF

I read this as one book, so I’d thought I’d review it as one book. Two more books adding to Anne McCaffrey’s Brainship series, featuring the brain, Carialle, and the brawn, Keff. This team specializes in first contact, and in the first book (The Ship who Won) they think they hit the jackpot of finding a new species that has advanced technology, a race of wizards. However, the wizards are feudal, power-hungry and more interested in killing each other than joining the rest of Central Worlds. I didn’t like the first book all too much… Carialle and Keff seemed more like a bunch of fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants yahoos than highly trained specialists. The wizards seemed like too much of an effort to put “magic” into McCaffrey’s world.

I did enjoy the second book better, as it focuses on the Globe Frogs (hrm, I can’t say who they are because that’s a spoiler to the first book), and their return to their homeworld, which they hire Carialle and Keff to transport them there. I did enjoy this book a lot more, but the whole sideplot with the mysterious Griffin race was extraneous and boring.



90. Purity of Blood by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Rating:
Genre: Historical Fiction

Second book in the author’s Adventures of Captain Alatriste. Found this to be a straight-forward, but not dazzling, sequel to the first book. A father hires Alatriste to rescue his daughter from a convent. This puts him against his old enemies at the Spanish Inquisition and Alastriste must navigate the politics of Spain at this point in history.



91. The Sandman: A Game of You Vol. 5 by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

This whole volume focuses on Barbie from The Doll’s House and the dreamland she made up as a child where she was a Princess. The creatures from the land have come looking for her, in real life, because there is an usurper that held the land in an iron grip. Obvious allusions to the Chronicles of Narnia. Not my favourite in the series, and I felt it was badly drawn. The best part is meeting Thessaly, for the first time, and she is blood-thirsty in the most cold and calculating way.



92. The Sandman: Fables and Reflections Vol. 6 by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

In a drastic turn from the last volume, there are nine short stories in this one. This one seems to have a world-view, as there are stories that are set in ancient Rome, France, the Middle East, the Far East, Eastern Europe, and San Fran, etc. I enjoyed this volume quite a bit, especially the “Orpheus”, “Three Septembers and a January”, “Ramadan” and “the Hunt”



93. The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop
Rating:
Genre: Fantasy

Finally… Anne Bishop focuses a story on characters that aren’t related to the SaDiablo family. I am of the belief that Jaenelle and Daemon’s stories are done done done and no more needs to be said on that story arc. They’re still written about in a peripheral way, but I could handle that. This story is about Cassidy, a light-jeweled Queen, who has lost her path in the Shadow Realm, so Jaenelle sends her to Terreille – a land that has begged for a Queen to teach them the Old Ways. Of course, the Terriellians don’t seem to appreciate what they have because Cassidy isn’t beautiful, powerful or charming. This puts her in conflict with her First Escort (who isn’t a love interest – for a change), who doesn’t respect her. Not the strongest story, but interspersed with some genuinely funny moments. I’m just glad Ms. Bishop took a break from the intensity of Jaenelle and Daemon.



94. The Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Rating:
Genre: Mystery

A classic Agatha Christie, one of the famous ones. Great writing, great mystery, but the biggest problem is that the plot is so famous (mostly from the movie) that most people, including myself, knew how it ended and it takes something away because the ending can’t make you gasp.



95. The Sandman: Brief Lives Vol. 7 by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

Probably my favourite of the series. Delirium (who is my favourite character), takes it into her head to find their older brother, Destruction. She tries to enlist the other Endless, but only Dream is willing to help (he does have hidden motives). Some genuinely touching parts (I almost cried), and some laugh-at-loud sections too (when Delirium tries her hand at driving). I genuinely think Delirium is the best character of the series, and the most complex… she’s child-like and mad, yet has moments of kindness and wisdom. I liked how she made Dream realize how much of a dick he can be.



96. The Sandman: World’s End Vol. 8 by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

Two travelers get stranded on the road and make their way to an inn, to seek help. There, they meet other travelers who are stranded, who are also waiting out the storm. Soon, you find out that this is the World’s End inn, a place out of time and space, and some of the patrons decide to tell tales to pass the time. Another story which worships stories and storytellers, I’m kinda getting sick of this theme. I didn’t particularly enjoy any of the stories, not even Hob’s, so a slightly-below average rating from me.



97. The Sandman: The Kindly Ones Vol. 9 by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

Hmm, what to say about this volume. This is the climax of the series… where everything that was hinted, alluded to, or foreshadowed about Dream’s story comes to a head. The furies are after Dream (can’t say why because of spoilers), and everything Dream is and his choices seal his fate. Good, and I enjoyed the drawing style in this one.



98. The Sandman: The Wake Vol. 10 by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

-SPOILERS-

There is a wake and everyone gathers to tell their stories about the deceased. Touching epilogue to the series and you love the dynamics between Endless even more.

Edited to fix pictures

Wow, I think you definitely beat me in terms of reading books last year. That's impressive. I need to take some time to read all of the reviews you wrote but I'm glad you liked "The Book Thief". I've been meaning to read that for awhile and it'll probably be my next ready after I finish the new John Irving book. You should write your review of "the graveyard book". I'm curious.

99. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
Rating:
Genre: Classic

This was probably my most enjoyable “classic” of the year. I had never read anything by Wilde, other than some of his famous quotes, and I was surprised how accessible his work was. Dorian Grey is a young man of remarkable beauty. He is convinced by Lord Henry that he should take advantage of this beauty to lead a hedonistic lifestyle to the fullest. Meanwhile, there’s something unusual about Dorian’s good looks… The book was mostly dialogue – which is probably why I found it easy to read – and full of Wilde’s distinctive witticisms. Recommended.



100. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
Rating:
Genre: Humour, Fantasy

The second book in the Death novels. Death is given his termination notice by the higher ups, and he decides to live his retirement on the Discworld. Meanwhile, the wizards at the University are investigating some mysteriously multiplying snowglobes that are showing up on campus. I thought anything to do with the Death storyline was absolutely hilarious, but that the wizard storyline lagged until near the end with the “Yo!” parts.



101. Thessaly: Witch for Hire by Bill Willingham
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

Terrible spin-off of Gaiman’s Sandman. In Gaiman’s Sandman, Thessaly is a young, plain-looking woman whose exterior hides a bloody-minded, cold and ruthless interior of one of the oldest witches alive. In Bill Willingham’s graphic novel, Thessaly seems more like a cutesy, witchy Nancy Drew. She’s drawn like a pin-up girl, always showcasing her hot body, and I was getting intensely irritated that in the half the drawings, she’s puckering her lips like she’s whistling (do men find that sexy?). I don’t want Thessaly to be “cute”. I expect her to be scary, like Gaiman portrayed her. This story was beneath her character – she has to find a way to kill something “unkillable” – and *spoiler* she doesn’t even solve it herself. A MAN solves it for her. No way that Gaiman’s Thessaly would ever be such a useless… twit.



102. The Sandman Presents: The Furies by Mike Carey
Rating:
Genre: Graphic Novel

Amazingly painted spin-off of Gaiman’s Sandman. Lyta Hall is still unable to move on with her life after losing her son, Daniel. She’s been recommended to take some acting therapy in Greece and there she is once again pulled into the vortex of the Furies. The story plays with Greek mythology. The story was ok, but I enjoyed the artwork.



103. The Crystal Singer Trilogy by Anne McCaffrey (re-read)
Rating:
Genre: SF, Re-read

My absolute favourite trilogy and I reread it every year. It stars the proud, independent and driven Killashandra, who has tranformed a failed operatic career into becoming a Crystal Singer on Ballybran. Using sonic cutters, crystal singers mining Ballybran crystals which provide momentous data storage and interstellar communication. These crystals are highly sought, but singing crystal means you can never stop, and you must always return to Ballybran.

This series highlights the themes of music, addiction, pride, memory loss and everlasting love. Highly recommended.



104: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Rating:
Genre: Fiction

A series of seven stories that are told in chronological order. Each story (except the last) breaks off halfway and the next story starts. In the second half of the book, the second half of each story is finished in reverse order. The first story starts in the mid-1800s while the last few are set far into the future. There are linking themes for the stories. I wished I liked this book more, but I only really liked three of the stories and I almost snoozed through the first and almost gave up on this book. The book wasn’t badly written or anything, but as a whole, it wasn’t my cup of tea.



105. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Rating:
Genre: YA

As a baby, Nobody Owen’s family is killed. Somehow he is able to make it down the street to the graveyard, and the ‘residents’ take him in and give him the rights of the graveyard. Commentary says that this book is greatly influenced by the Jungle Book, but since I’ve never read that book, I couldn’t say if that is true. The story follows Nobody as he grows up in the graveyard, and the unusual lessons he learns, such as ‘haunting’ and ‘fading’. It’s an enjoyable light read, but when I finished it… I felt that I was read something that was a bit too young for me – which I normally don’t feel when I read Newberry Medal winners. Yes, it was humourous and slightly macabre edge, but it seemed like a book for kids and didn’t have enough oomph for me as an adult reader.



106. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Rating:
Genre: YA, Fiction

Wow, what can I say about this book… it’s probably my favourite novel of the year. It’s set in a dystopian future where the US has been split up into 12 different districts, based on commodity output, and under the totalitarian thumb of the Capital. Katniss, a 15 year old girl, lives in the poor District 12 where she tries to eke out a living for her mother and younger sister. When her younger sister is chosen for the Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers in her place… and she must fight to have her life back.

I don’t want to say anymore, because the pleasure in this book is reading everything for yourself. It is marketed as YA fiction, but I don’t think it’s really the right category for it. Yes, the main character is a teenager, but the story and action - including death and murder – seem more geared for adults. It’s more that the story doesn’t seem to be dumbed down in any way for a YA audience. Katniss is fierce and cunning, like she needs to be to stay alive… and all the secondary characters leap off the page. The book is a never-ending thrill ride and I’ve been shoving it down everyone’s throat. GET IT… NOW.



107. Restoree by Anne McCaffrey
Rating:
Genre: SF

Sara from Earth wakes up and finds out that she’s mysteriously in another body and on a different planet. She realizes that the role this body plays is that of a brain-dead nurse in an institution for strange patients. Going along with the charade, she realizes that her patient, Harlan, isn’t an invalid but kept drugged to appear stupid and injured. She concocts a plan to help and escape with him, and this sweeps her up into a plot of politics, intrigue and revolution. Eventually, she learns why she isn’t on Earth anymore and what happened to her original body.

I barely made it through this book. It was too old-fashioned and I didn’t think the plot was very gripping. Harlan was quite the bossy Alpha-male and Sara kept having to prove her worth and intelligence to him (and her intelligence isn’t that sparkling), because he kept under-estimating it. The story seemed to be more of an old-fashioned 1960s romance than anything ground-breaking. When Sara is revealed to be a Restoree, and what that means is explained, it was very vague and I still don’t understand the stigma – a very unsatisfactory conclusion/explaination.



108. Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying by Wayson Choy
Rating:
Genre: CanLit, Memoir

I was invited to go to my first Calgary Wordfest event (annual book/author event), which was a reading by Wayson Choy of his new book, Not Yet. Wayson is known in CanLit circles for writing The Jade Peony (which I had a copy and always mean to get around to) which has a story based on Vancouver’s famous Chinatown in the first half of the 20th Century. In this book, Wayson chronicles his realization of his mortality when he has two brushes with death in his old(er) age. He writes about his recovery, and the realization that even though he is un-married and without children, a fate which incessantly worried his mother, he is not alone.

I enjoyed this book, but felt that I couldn’t get its full impact because I am too young to relate with Wayson’s tale. Wayson has to confront the fact that he’s not longer a spring chicken at 65+, and the emotional impact of the inevitable breaking down of the body. At my young age, I don’t feel the icy hand of death on me and therefore I felt a disconnect from the message of the story. I’d recommend for older people who would like to read a life-affirming story about an unconventional life.

ETA: Changed to drop The Graveyard Book's rating to 3 stars.

Way to catch up! You are an inspiration. I still have a handful to go for 2009, hopefully this weekend (again!).

The only Oscar Wilde I've read is The Importance of Being Earnest, which was a riot. I've heard of Dorian Gray, but haven't gotten around to it.

I've never tried any of the Sandman spin-offs. I followed the main series when I was in college, but I graduated before the storyline ended, so I still haven't read the final section. I got no further than Delirium's quest to find Destruction and Dream's putting his son out of his misery.

I read The Graveyard Book recently myself. I enjoyed it. I suppose I didn't have high expectations simply because it was a Newberry book. It seemed about on par (though much more modern) with the boxed set of Newberry books I picked up a couple years ago: Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Cricket in Times Square, Johnny Tremain (all childhood favorites), The Witch of Blackberry Pond, and Philip Hall likes me, I reckon maybe.

I used to love all of the McCaffrey stuff, but I don't like any of her newer works. In one of my all-or-nothing phases I got rid of all her books. I really liked Crystal Singer for all of the reasons you mentioned, plus the cool symbiotic biology. But I didn't like the sequel (again, newer work) and never bothered with the third.

I did like Restoree and used to reread it at intervals, perhaps because I was young (long ago) when I first read it and ripe for that old-fashioned romance style of story. I agree with the annoying gender dynamics though. I think the whole horror at restorees is kinda like zombie scares. Imagine someone you knew and loved being brought back from the dead but completely nonfuctional in a catatonic/insane sort of way. Kinda like the difference between Frankenstein and organ transplants.

I am completely unfamiliar with the other authors, but given your glowing recommendation, I'll have to look for The Hunger Games. However, I am currently on a library moratorium and also trying not to buy any more books. I just reorganized my bookshelves to separate out the TBR piles in every category. Way too many to go.

243: James, I think I will beat you every year for the number of books read. Maybe it's because I don't spend all my time... baking ;) The Book Thief was good, I realize that I should have written more about it, but it seemed to be unnecessary because everyone else has written so much about it. The best part of the book is that it still creams you emotionally even when it prepared you for it. Graveyard Book was ok... I think it was too young for me, though.

245: Chris, all of a sudden I'm getting really stubborn and deciding I'm going to finish my 2009 reviews, come hell or high water!

Dorian Gray was really good, I am totally surprised that a lot of the group has been reading it this month... I feel like I had ESP about the coming trend. It seems that the people who don't like it, don't like how it's very un-realistic dialogue... Lord Henry spouts nothing but witticisms. My thought on that is... this is Oscar Wilde, you should be expecting the the witticisms, that's what he's known for.

I love Island of the Blue Dolphins! I don't have any others on your list, though - which ones do you like? I liked the Graveyard Book, but I don't think I'll ever re-read it, which is a good indicator of how I rate things. I did feel it was a bit "kiddie" for me, and I don't usually have that reaction with Newberry winners.

Omigod, you totally need to finish the Crystal Singer series. I do feel that the second book, Killashandra, is the weakest so I'm not surprised you stopped there, but I really enjoy Crystal Line. It's where her personality traits start to hinder her (pride, arrogance) when mixed with her memory loss, instead of helping her like at the start of her crystal singing career.

And it's not just my glowing recommendation for The Hunger Games, its practically almost anybody who reads it! I can't wait to buy it on paperback. I think everyone in the group is trying to work on their TBR shelves, except me. Mine's not too big - I estimate maybe 30-40 books, so I'm not worried about it. My TBR list is growing at alarming rates, though.

247: Steph, good luck getting through the rest. I have a handful left, the most interesting and challenging ones.

I think Dorian Gray was part of the group read for Halloween last year. You're right, though, Oscar Wilde is all about the witticisms.

I liked all of the Newberry books in the boxed set. They certainly represented a wide range of settings, though Island of the Blue Dolphins is the only one not set in mainland North America. The Cricket in Times Square is a modern children's fantasy with talking animals that is very charming. I used to own the sequel (Tucker's Countryside) for a number of years. Johnny Tremain--American Revolution, possibly about my favorite era of American history. The Witch of Blackberry Pond* is set during the colonial days. An orphaned niece from Barbados turns up on the doorstep of her Puritan aunt in Connecticut. It's quite an exploration of some pretty profound class and cultural differences, as this girl who grew up as part of a wealthy, prominent, slave-owning family tries to fit into this extremely religiously conservative community and its subsistence agriculture lifestyle. The "witch" turns out to be a Quaker, and the community is pretty intolerant toward religious differences. Philip Hall likes me, I reckon maybe. is the story of a young black girl in the South, I think during the Depression, but I'm not sure. She's growing up in a farm family but doing quite well in school and thinking about larger opportunities. Not surprisingly, I suppose, I liked the stories with female protagonists much better. I like Johnny Tremain because of the setting, but the protagonist isn't particularly sympathetic. When he's on top of the world, he's a jerk, and when his world comes tumbling down, he's full of self-pity and hostility. Not surprising, and necessary for the plot, but not likable.

Maybe I'll dig through my mom's books to find Crystal Lines the next time I'm up there. I'm sure she must have it lying around there somewhere. She's who I swiped the McCaffery books from originally (and then later returned when I gave up in disgust). I really liked Crystal Singer and was just completely horrified at the sudden right-turn in the second book.

I just reorganized my bookshelves so that I can see the TBR piles. I've been updating that collection on LT too to reflect the situation in my apartment. So maybe that'll help goad me into some action...

*I'm not sure what's wrong with the touchstone, and I'm not sure where to report it--but this is leading to something called Spam by spam, which looks like some sort of bug in the system.

Hi There!

I'm stopping by to say congratulations on your hot review listed on today's home page!

I had a Hot Review? I missed it! But thanks for letting me know, Linda. :)

248: Chris, I'll have to put Johnny Tremain on my TBR for this year. I don't think I've even heard of that one before.

Killashandra is definitely the one I skim through. I read the first half, but I admit I get bored with her trying to help the island revolution. It's main purpose is to set up her and Lars's relationship.

How many TBRs do you have, now that you've organized them?

@251: Johnny Tremain was required reading in junior high for me.

Well, I haven't double-checked all of the bookshelves, just the one closest to the computer. LT says 108 TBR at this time.