( Book 82 )

( Book 83 )

( Book 84 )

( Book 85 )

ighty books so far this year, YAY!!

:: is proud ::

Another two graphic novels -- one that I read about in a LJ post by author Poppy Z. Brite, highly recommending it, and another that was highly recommended by oddmonster.

Book 79 was "A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge" by Josh Neufeld. I picked up these books from the library at the same time, they both came in for me within days of each other, which was kind of a fun coincidence. At first glance, I thought I would enjoy this book more than book #80. The immediate effect of Katrina on people from New Orleans in various levels of social standing as told in graphic novel form sounded fascinating to me, and I was really looking forward to reading it.
Unfortunately, it just didn't hold up to what I had hoped for. The artwork was flat and colorless --the artwork was printed with a variety of color backgrounds, so that some pages have squares or rectangles of aqua, some are yellow, some are pink, with the illustrations done in black and white on top of the odd colors. On some of the pages, the background is purple, with people drawn as having yellow skin, whether those people are white, African American, or Hispanic.
The stories told are of people that the author/artist actually spoke to about their experiences, but their anger and frustration and pain didn't engage me, which made me feel very sad. These people deserved to have their stories told in a better, more expansive way than this, I feel. I honestly feel like I would have felt more personally touched by the people affected by reading about them in a newspaper article rather than this book, and I honestly can't recommend it.

Now, at the library when I picked up both books, I flipped through book #80 - "Fray" by Joss Whedon, and thought "Oh, dear. It's a superhero comic, like Wonder Woman or something. I don't know if I'm going to enjoy this very much." I hoped that I would be able to find something I liked, so as not to make oddmonster regret recommending it to me.
In reading it, I was surprised at how quickly I was drawn into the story and the characters, and how VERY wrong I had been in my first judgement of it. The illustrations are *gorgeous*, and there is a wonderfully deep storyline that I really enjoyed. I grew to love some of the characters and hate others, and I only have one question.

PLEASE, oddmonster, is there a SEQUEL?

I really want to say how much I LOVED Joe Hill's second graphic novel, "Locke and Key #2 - Head Games". For the record, I didn't actively DIS-like it, and would definitely recommend it to fans of his work and fans of graphic novels. The artwork by Gabriel Rodriguez is incredibly detailed and somehow manages to be gorgeous and horrific at the same time. The characters are still interesting to me, but I don't believe that the series went any further with this part of the story.

I am looking forward to the next volume in this series, but even more so Joe Hill's next novel, "Horns".

(Sorry for the short review, but I've got places to go and a novel to write, and zombies to kill before I sleep -- apologies to Robert Frost.)

Current word count: 23,752!! Go me!

y apologies for the delay in posting reviews of these two most recent reads. It seems like the closer we get to November and NaNoWriMo, the faster time seems to fly past me. If there were only more hours in the day... I would be required to be at the office more hours, so nevermind.

( book 72 )

( book 73 )

It didn't occur to me until just now that this latest book was #68 of the year -- 68 is my lucky number!  (My birthday is June 8th, and maybe you can guess the year?) 

Anyway, "Bright Shiny Morning" by James Frey is a book that surprised me.  Kim, the receptionist at my office, is a friend and fellow reader (she would also like to write, but that's a story for another day).   I was up front talking to her one day and she held up that book, asking me if I'd read it before.  I hadn't, and I hadn't even heard of the title, though I had definitely heard of the writer.   (For those not in the know, James Frey wrote his autobiography, "A Million Little Pieces", telling the story of how he'd been a drug addict and all the horrible things he'd gone through and how he eventually became clean.  He was invited on Oprah, he went on lots of talk shows, he became extremely famous.  But then it came out that the book wasn't true, or at least not completely true.  There was a HUGE backlash from the media and the public, and especially from Oprah, who was furious at being deceived.  I've never read that book, though I am told that it's an interesting read if you can think of it as a novel or a novelized autobiography...)

ANYWAY, the point is, when Kim was done reading it, she loaned it to Jill, who read it, and then passed it along to me, and I finished reading it this morning.   It's a cliche, but like a newly opened bag of chips, this book was extremely difficult to stop reading. 

It's a strange book -- little vigniettes that follow various characters who have come to Los Angeles to try to make their fortune, and in between each vigniette, there is a short couple of sentences about the history of LA.  There's very little punctuation and the sentences run together.  His writing style reminds me of Cormac McCarthy and something about the short stories of these people reminds me of "Pretty Little Mistakes" by Heather McElhatton, which by the way I also highly recommend. 

I'm already over my time limit on my break so I will just say that I DO recommend this book. 

"The Opposite of Fate" by Amy Tan was a total impulse purchase -- I had a store credit at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Uptown Minneapolis, and while looking at the 'books on writing' section, I came across this one.  A friend had recommended it before, and the price was right (free with the store credit). 

I think I was expecting more of a book on writing, really, but maybe that's unfair.  Stephen King's book which really is titled "On Writing" is just as much autobiographical as it is about how to write.  On the other hand, I *like* reading about Stephen King's life.  I'm pretty sure I've read something by Amy Tan, but I don't even remember what it is, which should show you how much I like her writing.  It's not that I dislike her, I just don't care much one way or another. 

What I got was a collection of essays, most of which were either totally about her relationship with her mother, or at least partly about her mother and her mother's history.  Granted, her mother had an interesting life, and even an interesting death/last few months of her life, but surely Amy Tan has had an interesting enough life of her own.  Or maybe I just found this book repetative and not all that interesting. 

I just finished reading this book this evening, and now I'm going to pack it up and mail it out to the person who has mooched it from me on BookMooch! 

I was really looking forward to reading "Breathers - A Zombie's Lament" by SG Browne, ever since it was spoken highly of during the "Making Monsters New Again" forum at WriterCon this summer.  I had commented during that session that it wasn't like you could write a novel from the ZOMBIE'S POV -- I mean, they've got no brains, what would they be thinking of, besides random moans and ambling towards screaming people, right? 

But I was quickly told about this book, and I wrote it down and put in a request for it at the library.  Considering that this year's NaNo attempt is going to be a zombie story, I need all the research I can get. 

And for the most part, it was a fun read, but it wasn't a book that I'll ever need to read again.  And it definitely assured me that I don't need to write from the zombie's POV. 

The zombie characters were fun, and funny, and even intriguing, and the writer even made *gore* funny.  I was laughing at the same time I was thinking *EW!*  The problem was, the writer decided to take a serious turn for the last couple of chapters, and it just didn't work.  

It was a pity to take a perfectly lovely gross-out kind of book and try to make me say "AW" for the beings who had just been dining on some of their relatives a few pages before.  No, thanks. 

Fellow zombie lovers -- er... fellow enjoyers of zombie stories might enjoy this novel, but this is DEFINITELY a get-it-from-the-library, don't-waste-your-money-or-bookmooch-points (there's a waiting list for it at BookMooch anyhow) on it. 

And oddmonster and I are tied again!

Book #65 was another great pick. I wish I could remember who it was that recommended it to me so I could thank them! But I will settle for recommending it to others -- well, a *select* group of others. Keep reading this post, and you will get some idea of whether or not this book is for you.

First off, I should mention the title: "The Book of Lost Things" by John Connolly. It's an amazing read, and -- well, one thing that struck me as I read it was that it's a young adult book for adults.

Another thing that struck me is -- the beginning of each chapter reminds me a little of Kipling's 'Just So Stories". For example, chapter one begins like this: Once upon a time - for that is how all stories should begin - there was a boy who lost his mother. Now, Kipling started out those much-loved stories with lines like O my dear and best beloved, once upon a time, there was ... Close enough.

One more comparison, and then I'll get to the guts of this review - 'The Talisman' by Stephen King. The plot and themes of this book are very similar to this one. Some of you are turning away now, repeating 'Oh, but I don't like Stephen King!', and that's fair enough. If you don't like Stephen King's books, you might not won't like this one -- this book has some pretty scary stuff. But you're missing something good. (You're missing a LOT of good books, but I digress... )

This book begins in the late 1930's in England, just as people are readying themselves for war. But the main character, David, has other things to occupy his mind. His mother dies in the first 5 pages, leaving him and his father alone to cope. His father has his work to keep him busy, and David has his schoolwork and his books. His mother passed along her great love of books to him, and he finds a great refuge there.

All too soon, his father has gotten involved with a woman named Rose, gotten her pregnant, and then they are married and moving into Rose's house, and then David suddenly has a new baby brother. His family is going through a lot of stress, and unfortunately, David and Rose don't get along well, and he turns more and more to his books for comfort, until he finds himselfthrust into a frightening world.

This new world is also where we get a taste of the writer's dark sense of humor, when we learn about the *true* stories of the fairy tales that we grew up with, including one bitchy character that we associate with Disney, and the seven little persons with whom she lives.

If you have a truly sick sense of humor, enjoy reading Stephen King (or an equally dark writer of your choice) and young adult novels, and are intrigued by a pack of wolves with human characteristics, this is a book for you.

little_tristan, I'm looking at you!

ETA: I hope the mood "sick" doesn't make anybody worry too much, it's just a cold. But HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER, I'd forgotten just how MISERABLE it is to have a cold. Blerg. Even taking a day off from work didn't make it any more enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to the end of the year, when I will go over these Book Count 2009 posts and see if there are patterns in the books I've read. I've noticed that more than once that I seem to read books in bunches, and these three books are another example of that.

Book #62 was "The Children of Men" by PD James. When I first read about that book title (in another person's LJ, where they also mentioned my book #63 and recommended them both highly), it sounded familiar. Someone else pointed out to me that it was a recent movie, and now I'm eager to see it, wondering what changes they might have made and what was kept true to the story.

It's the story of a dystopian society, in England, in the year 2021. There have been no children born on Earth in the last 20-some years, and mankind has had to come to the realization that within 60 years or so, there will be nobody left.

Middle-aged women in particular (in this novel, anyway) are having a difficult time dealing with not being able to have children, and some push life-like dolls around in carriages. Others become emotionally attached to kittens, dressing them up in bonnets and dresses, and having them christened by their local priests. The last generation, now young adults, are referred to as "Omegas", and have a lot of issues of their own.

Scariest of all is the way the government is handling this issue. Our narrator along the way is Theo, a college history professor (who obviously doesn't have a lot to keep himself busy lately). He is the cousin of the man who has appointed himself "Warden of England", but has resigned as his cousin's advisor, not so much because he disagreed with the way things were being done as an apparent lack of interest.

That is, until he meets a young woman named Julian, who approaches him specifically because of his famous cousin, wanting Theo to talk to him on behalf of their group. She and her friends would like some changes made, they have some demands, and it becomes apparent that they have a chance of changing the world.

****

Book #63 was another dytopian book, "Daughters of the North" by Sarah Hall. This novel also takes place in England in the not-too-distant future, but our narrator here is a woman who tells us that she is called 'Sister'.

In this version of the future, children are prevented. Women are forced to have an implanted device (which sounds horrendously painful) to keep them from getting pregnant, and at any time, they are subject to 'examination' by any man who has any sort of position of authority to make sure that this implant is in place. Only women whose names have been drawn in a sort of lottery are allowed to have this removed and to conceive.

We never meet Sister's husband Andrew, but she tells us how he went from someone as outraged as she by the changes that the government has implemented to someone who shrugs and says "don't fight it, what can we do?"

Through all of this, she remembers seeing a group of women selling cheeses and jams and meats in the marketplace, and how much they fascinated her, even as her father told her to stay away from them, they were a bad influence. This group of women has been written about in many newspapers and magazines, though, telling various stories of the goings on at their farm called "Carhullan". Within a few pages, she has slipped away at night and traveled up into the mountains to escape to this farm.

Up to that point, I was reading quickly and eagerly, anxious to see what would happen next. Unfortunately, the women of Carhullan and the very atmosphere of the farm are shrouded in secrecy. Sister (as she is named by the leader of Carhullan) is confused by this, even once she gets used to how things work there.

And if Sister, is confused, what about those of us who read her story? You see, Sister keeps secrets, too.

I enjoy dark stories, and puzzles, and erotica, and this story offers some of all of these things (there's a short scene of f/f action), but ultimately I was a little disappointed in this novel. "The Children of Men" was better.

***

Book #64 was better than both of these books, but then I have often said here how much I like YA books. "The Diamond of Darkhold" by Jeanne DuPrau is the fourth and last book in the "City of Ember" series, and brought the series to a very satisfying conclusion. little_tristan told me that it was possibly the best of the series, and though I think I liked book one almost as much as book four, I would have to agree that she's right.

The story returns us to the small town of Sparks AND to the City of Ember, as well as the great characters from the first two books, and some new brand new ones. It has action and adventure, some brave and resourceful kids, and a very cool post-apocalyptic series that actually talks about the details of where food and energy and supplies come from, and doesn't gloss over the difficult things that have happened, too!

If I re-read any of these three books, it would be books one, two and four of the City of Ember series. But for anyone who is interested in dystopic or post-apocalyptic stories, I *would* recommend any of these. Despite my annoyances with book #63, each of these books has something to ofer.

Wow, I surely did not expect to be writing book reviews on my LJ during working hours today!  But one of our computer systems, the one that we need and use the MOST, of course, is down for the count.  It has been down since 12:30 or so this afternoon.  That sucks for trying to get work done (thank God it's not month-end is the general consensus of those in my department, including me), but hey, if you don't mind being paid hourly while reading and surfing the internet, it's not half bad.   And I managed to finish a book that I have enjoyed the most of anything I've read in the last week or so (except for little_tristan's Catbread stories, of which I am lucky enough to be the beta). 

And so...

( Book 60 & 61 )

This is one of those times where I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to pick out a user pic. Do I use the "books. cats. life is sweet." because it's about books? Or one of my two Stephen King icons because one of the books was by him? Or the LOL icon because of the joke that still has me giggling to myself (and which will likely cause the rest of you to groan)?

Well, obviously I chose -- there's more than one book, and one of them was not an SK book, and the joke is a small part of this post, so...

( Two books and a joke )

A short and sweet review -- if you read and enjoyed "City of Thieves" by David Benioff, you should absolutely read his first book, "The 25th Hour". 

It's strange -- the main character of the book is a drug dealer who is going to be reporting to prison tomorrow morning to begin serving a seven year term.  Not exactly the type of book that would usually interest me or the kind of characters I would choose to 'hang out with'.  Then again, I probably wouldn't have associated with a teenaged boy and a fast-talking Russian soldier, either, and I really enjoyed "City of Thieves". 

There's just something about the way this author writes his characters -- there are several supporting characters in The 25th Hour, and many more who appear only for a couple lines of dialogue.  But all of them are interesting, and I have to say, if I overheard any of them having a conversation in public, I would happily eavesdrop.  I think that's a sign of a great book, especially if you've got a good story behind the characters. 

This is a definite recommendation.

Here's another book that's a DEFINITE recommendation. oddmonster? little_tristan? Are you there? 'Cause I'm looking right at both of you!

:: uncrosses eyes ::

There, that's better.

( book 54 )

"A Book of Bees" (hence the use of this LJ icon) by Sue Hubbell is a sweet and informative book about bees.  I think it's a bit more advanced than I expected, and if I decided to keep bees, I would have to find something with more specifics.  I don't really intend to keep bees, though I have gained a new admiration for them this summer.  I probably won't be reading this book again, but I DID enjoy it.

Special thanks to <lj user=little_tristan> for the recommendation.

Book #52 is DEFINITELY a book to recommend.

The first time I heard of it myself was one evening when I was browsing in Borders, and the friendly older guy who works there approached me with a book in hand and asked if he could recommend a book. I'm always up for hearing about a book, and even though I knew very well that he was going around talking to ALL the customers and trying to sell this particular book, there was something about the plot that drew me in.

I really do hope that some of you will put this book on your "read SOON" list and let me know what you thought.

"City of Thieves" by David Benioff takes place in Russia during the siege of Leningrad. Two men work together to survive, sent on a very strange (and probably impossible) errand, sent by a colonel. Lev is 17, but small and thin for his age, and is paired with Kolya, a Russian soldier (with a bizarre sense of humor) who has deserted his unit, though he insists that he's being misunderstood and falsely accused.

One way or another, I'm going to be buying this book soon (it is already out in paperback), at least partly so Mr Catyah can read it, too, since he has expressed much interest (and the library copy is due back next week).

In the meantime, I'm going to see if the library has his other two books!

Wow, I've had strange luck lately with books -- book #51, "The State of Jones" bySally Jenkins and John Stauffer was definitely an *interesting* read.  Maybe I didn't pay enough attention in history class in school, or maybe this is one of those MANY MANY things that the teachers and history books never bothered to mention -- I think it's the latter.

The front cover of this book explains it this way -- "From 1863 to 1865, residents of Jones County, Mississippi engaged in an insurrection against the confederacy that would have repercussions far beyond the scope of the Civil War.  Their defiance became legendary, and the line between fact and fiction faded with each passing year. Until now... "

Mainly it is the story of a Jones County farmer named Newton Knight who seems to have wanted to be left alone to grow his crops and sell them and live his life with his family.  He didn't believe that slavery was right, and many of the people in his county had similar feelings.  Even those people in one of the poorest counties in Mississippi who DID believe in slavery would never own slaves, as poor as they were and as small as their farms were.  And then the Civil War happened.  He realized early on that it was a war of rich men, to be fought by the poor men. 

The rich men who wanted war were those who owned huge plantations and owned many slaves to do the work.  Without slaves, my goodness, they'd have to either PAY someone a wage to do the work, or else do it themselves.  And so, war.  

Once Newton was forced to become a rebel soldier and dragged off to fight battles, he saw just how right he was in his early opinions of the war.  He saw a lot of suffering, and suffered himself, as did the rest of his regiment (and most Civil War soldiers, from the sound of it).  They didn't have proper clothing for the elements or food or sleep, or anything else he needed. 

Meanwhile, back on his land, his family was suffering as Confederate leaders sent tax collectors around to farms to collect "taxes", which were any kind of cloth, clothing, food, animals, or anything else they could either carry away or destroy.  When the wives and children tried to refuse, there were horrible consequences. 

Newton and his fellow soldiers heard rumors of this happening (probably wondering where those supplies were going, since they surely weren't coming to them) and soldiers rebelled and abandoned their units in droves and went home to try to protect their families and homes and farms.  As the Confederate Army felt the loss of the soldiers who'd deserted, they tried to find ways to get them back.  Newton was brought back, only to leave again and take shelter in the woods and swamps near his home, and quickly discovered that he wasn't alone.  He met up with other like-minded men and they formed what they referred to as "the Free State of Jones County" to fight back  

And that's just in the first 1/3 or so of the book, along with a fairly detailed history of Newton Knight and some of his ancestors.  It's quite detailed and a lot of work went into researching geneologies and tracking down documents written during the 1860s. 

And yet -- would I recommend this book?  Maybe. 

( spoilers )

YAY, me!!  I've made it to book #50, and I've got many more books yet to read this year!   (Good thing we're having steak tonight for dinner -- it'll be a celebratory meal.)

Also in the good news department, we got some long-awaited and much-needed rain last night.  It made for lovely sleeping weather, and sleeping-in weather.  I've just been checking up on my garden, and it *rocks*.   And we're expecting more rain tonight, which means I won't have to water the garden for at least a couple of days.

And now, on to the book review. 

I felt that it was especially meaningful that book #50 should happen to be Elizabeth Berg's newest novel.  She happens to be one of my favorite writers, and it was her book on writing, "Escaping Into the Open" that gave me the idea that I really COULD write a novel myself. 

The trouble is, "Home Safe" wasn't nearly as good as I was hoping (and expecting) it to be. 

Interestingly, and probably meaningfully, it's a book about a writer who has writer's block.  I got the feeling while reading it that this novel is more than a little autobiographical, and the author's acknowledgments at the end of the book bear me out.  The really weird thing is, this book has some of the most UNLIKABLE characters I've ever encountered in one of her novels. 

The main character (Helen) hovers over and smothers and meddles in the life of her adult daughter (Tessa), especially since Helen's husband Dan died suddenly, a year before the book begins.  In return, Tessa whines and complains and is an all-around bitch to her mother. 

Helen seems to be in need of help, and some counseling would do her a lot of good.  Instead, she divides her time between her daughter and her best friend Midge, who is quickly losing patience with Helen's moping over Dan's death, Tessa, and her inability to write.  Midge comes off as being impatient to the point of rudeness, but Helen keeps turning to her for help and advice -- and then never takes it.

In the midst of all this, Helen's accountant calls.  Somehow, nearly a year after her husband has died, the guy has discovered that there's a lot of money missing from their savings. 

( SPOILERS! )
Now, I've never reacted to an Elizabeth Berg novel like this before (except for the end of "Dream When You're Feeling Blue", which sucks -- but that's a story for another day), and it's possible that it's just the grouchiness that sometimes goes along with depression.  I'll have to wait and see if the story is better when I read it again someday.  And in all honesty, a bad Elizabeth Berg novel is still better than the GOOD novels by some writers! 

"Love, Aubrey" by Suzanne LaFleur is a YA novel about an 11 year old girl named Aubrey (obviously).  It's a well-written story, both sweet and sad. 

Aubrey has been through a lot in the last few weeks before the book starts.  First she lost her father and her little sister, and now her mother is gone.  At first she told herself that her mom was just out running errands and would be back soon.  She waits, and tries to be patient and brave.  She even goes out grocery shopping and with the leftover money, buys herself a goldfish so she won't be all alone. 

Luckily, her grandma shows up soon and even if her grandma can't make everything better, she is able to help in numerous ways. 

To tell more would be to spoil the story, but Aubrey experiences lots of ups and downs in a relatively short novel.  For those among you who enjoy a good YA novel, look for this one, Suzanne LaFleur's first published novel.  I hope she has a lot more stories to tell.