eclectic / eccentric

Book Blogger Hop

2010-07-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

Who is your favorite new-to-you author so far this year?

That's the wondrous question for this week's Book Blogger Hop. My very first thought was Justin Cronin because I'm absolutely loving The Passage which I'm reading right now thanks to Andi giving me permission to buy it. (Love you Andi). Cronin was followed quickly by Sarah Waters because Fingersmith was such a fantastic read. But then I got to thinking about how much I liked Paper Towns by John Green and the Knife of Never Letting Go series by Patrick Ness is just fantastic. But I also read two novels by David Ebershoff which were fantastic.

Seriously I could keep going. I've read 51 new-to-me authors so far this year, so picking one favorite would be quite impossible for me. We'll see which ones stand the test of time for me; although even that isn't too valid an indicator as I'm really not an "author person". I don't actively seek out very many authors.

What about you? Do you have a favorite new-to-you author this year? How many new authors have you read so far in 2010?

What Kind of Reader Are You?

2010-07-29T05:38:00.000-05:00

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Right now I really don't feel like a dedicated reader. I feel like an overwhelmed reader, someone who has so many books waiting to be read she can't actually pick up any single book.

So what kind of reader are you?

Lvl 80 F Druid Seeks M Time Lord for HP LARPing

2010-07-27T05:22:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know, Alex Day is hilarious. Going under the name nerimon on YouTube, he uploads wondrous videos including one of my favorites, the Alex Reads Twilight series in which he comments chapter by chapter on the book. He also has a blog and his CD released this year. Really I could keep going, but I'm just going to suggest you head over to AlexDayMusic.com.

Now for your viewing pleasure, here is one of Alex's videos in which he relates for you some wonderful Nerdy Personal Ads:

I would absolutely love it if you guys came up with your own Nerd Personal Ads and left them in the comments. What will you win? Why, a free book of course. Check out the list of possibilities here.

Sunday Salon: Books Behind Bars

2010-07-25T05:05:00.003-05:00

Weeks after reading it, The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky is still on my mind. I thought I would dig up some other books set in prisons just for fun (I know, my version of fun is a little tweaked). After ~~hours and hours of research~~ random googling, here are four prison books that I found interesting.

You Got Nothing Coming: Notes from a Prison Fish by Jimmy Lerner

You Got Nothing Coming, Jimmy A. Lerner's memoir of his first year as an inmate in a Nevada state prison, is a shocking, hilarious, and heartbreaking narrative of a world both parallel to and absolutely alien from the one most readers inhabit. With deft, economical prose, Lerner, a middle-aged former marketing director for a major corporation, introduces us to his fellow inmates--swastika-tattooed skinheads, Wiccans, methamphetamine addicts, and fashion-conscious prostitutes, among others--as well as a multitude of prisoner scams, nonexistent but on-the-books rehab programs, and the life-or-death intricacies of the convict code of etiquette. Lerner's ear for prison language is pitch-perfect, and much of what we learn comes directly from the mouths of the incarcerated. Lerner has, in effect, written a nonfiction novel, one artfully laced with mordant humor and by turns tender, caustic, insightful, and relentlessly candid. ~Amazon

Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet
Novel by Jean Genet, written while he was in prison for burglary and published in 1944 in French as Notre-Dame des fleurs. The novel and the author were championed by many contemporary writers, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Jean Cocteau, who helped engineer a pardon for Genet. A wildly imaginative fantasy of the Parisian underworld, the novel tells the story of Divine [while he is in prison], a male prostitute who consorts with thieves, pimps, murderers, and other criminals and who has many sexual adventures. Written in lyrical, dreamlike prose, the novel affirms a new moral order, one in which criminals are saints, evil is glorified, and conventional taboos are freely violated. ~Amazon

Papillon by Henri Charriere
Henri Charrière, called "Papillon," for the butterfly tattoo on his chest, was convicted in Paris in 1931 of a murder he did not commit. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, he became obsessed with one goal: escape. After planning and executing a series of treacherous yet failed attempts over many years, he was eventually sent to the notorious prison, Devil's Island, a place from which no one had ever escaped . . . until Papillon. His flight to freedom remains one of the most incredible feats of human cunning, will, and endurance ever undertaken. ~Amazon

Stone City by Mitchell Smith
This gripping novel is many things. On one level it is a page-turning murder mystery. On another it is almost a sociological study of prison life, its rites and rituals, its racial antagonisms and its power ploys, its intimidations and its deprivations. On another level, a large unnamed Midwestern prison serves as a metaphor for contemporary America, festering with evils and dreaming of innocence. In that prison two inmates have been murdered and a former history professor, jailed for killing a girl in a drunken driving accident, is forced by the different coercive pressures of the prison authorities and the inmate kingpin to find out who is the killer. Graphic and searing, an unflinching, harrowing vision of hell, this is a fine novel with strong best-seller potential. ~Amazon

As always my time spent in boredom has resulted in more books being added to my to-read pile which has reached Sisyphean ridiculousness. Do you know of any books set in prison I should be looking at?

You Know You're Looking at a Winner....

Okay, that Jamie Foxx song has been stuck in my head for days. I apologize. But seriously, I do have two winners to announce:

Greg from The New Dork Review of Books won Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, and Dawn at She is Too Fond of Books won a book for offering up a suggestion for smarty pants beach reads.
~~~~~~~~
Finally, if you haven't signed up already, you should head over to my post about Thumbing Through Thoreau. I want to send it around to everyone and have them annotate! You know it will be fun to see what others have written. Geek fun, but fun nevertheless.

Book Review: The Last Olympian

2010-07-24T05:55:00.000-05:00

Title: The Last Olympian
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Release Date: 5 May 2009
Date Finished: 23 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, 101 Fantasy Reading Challenge, YA Reading Challenge, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

My reviews of The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, and The Battle of the Labyrinth.

The Short and Sweet of It
The final installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series portrays the final battle between Percy et. al. and Kronos et. al. Teeming with gods, monsters, Titans, heroes, magic, and action, The Last Olympian was a wonderful end to a wonderful series.

A Bit of a Ramble
I finally read it. I didn't want to. I really didn't want to. When reading a series I truly enjoy, I have a great deal of difficulty picking up the last book for the obvious reason: I don't want it to end. I know once I read the last book, my time spent with characters I've fallen in love with in a world that fascinates me will be over, and my experience with the books will never be the same even if I re-read them over and over again. The last book is a love song at a funeral, bittersweet. Okay, enough of my mushiness and on to the meat of the matter.

Unlike many "final battle" books, The Last Olympian doesn't save the big fight scene for the end; instead, almost the entire book deals with the epic battle. I loved this. By filling the book with the battle, Riordan lent import and authenticity to the event. Far from feeling like a fleeting culmination of prior events, this battle felt like the main event. The battle was a marathon, not a sprint, which for some reason made it more real for me and increased the battle's importance. Of course, it also allowed Riordan to include some amazing fight scenes, awesome monsters, and even more ancient myths, legends, and heroes.

And the best part : IT'S NOT A FREAKING LOVE STORY. A few days ago on Twitter, I was talking with Pam from Bookalicious and Amanda from The Zen Leaf about Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander series. Just like the Percy series, the Gregor series is full of action and excitement, and leaves romance on the back burner. The love story is there, but it is secondary to the main action. I have to admit that this is how I prefer my YAL. When the love story is too prominent, I'm annoyed. As strange as it may sound, I have a much easier time suspending my disbelief for the supernatural than I do for the tragically romantic. Flying horses, demigods, werewolves, vampires, and psychic abilities are much easier for me to stomach than desperate glances, doomed lovers, painful longing, and violent passion.

As with any book, The Last Olympian isn't perfect. First and foremost, I was a bit put off by Percy's decision to bathe in the River Styx; it seemed like a cop out, taking the easy way out, and other cliches that convey the same idea. When he was standing by the river with Nico, I kept thinking that he was being tested, and when he actually jumped in despite Achilles' warning, Percy himself diminished a bit in my eyes. Alas, what can I do? It happened. Deal with it. Or better yet, I can just ignore it since I'm in control of the story that resides in my brain.

I would highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a clever, action-packed, easy read. And I would especially recommend it for those who need a break from the I-would-slit-my-wrists-to-be-with-you love stories that permeate YAL.

The Filmic Connection
Please let them continue the Percy Jackson movies. Pwetty Pwetty Please.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

Becky's Book Reviews; The Zen Leaf; Today's Adventure; Bookalicious;

Question: How do you cope with the end of a series you loved?

Bookish Activity: Thumbing Through Thoreau

2010-07-23T05:45:00.001-05:00

Thumbing Through Thoreau is a compilation of quotes put together by Kenny Luck and then illustrated by Jay Luke and Ren Adams. It is beautiful. Not for the images, which were wonderfully done, or the words, which are brilliant, but for its ability to make readers think. This was my first experience reading a book of quotations - at least cover-to-cover - and I think one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much is that I was reading an unbound review copy; put simply, I was reading a print out of the book. So I felt no guilt whatsoever about putting pen to page and annotating.

My annotations are not intellectual, well thought-out, or particularly well written; they are just the phrase or question that popped into my head while reading a quotation. Some examples:

Thoreau: The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
My note: Pink Floyd

Thoreau: If it were not for death and funerals, I think the institution of the church would stand no longer.
My note: a definite possibility, except that humans seem to need greater meaning...perhaps we wouldn't without death.

Thoreau: Be not simply good; be good for something.
My note: The point where so many fall short.

Thoreau: It is only a reflecting mind that sees reflections.
My note: Why did Donnie Darko just pop into my head?

Thoreau: We are one virtue, one truth, one beauty.
My note: Sounds like a Black Eyed Peas song.

Thoreau: Love and lust are as far asunder as a flower-garden is from a brothel.
My note: YA lit would do well to learn this.

Thoreau: ...not till we are lost do we begin to realize where we are..
My note: sad but true; I found my vocation when I realized I had absolutely no idea what job to get and decided to teach part-time until I found one

About half-way through the book I had an idea: Wouldn't it be neat to pass this "book" along to others, let them annotate in it as well, and then get the book back? So that's what I'm going to do if any of you are interested.

Your task would be to read the book, adding in annotations where you'd like, and then pass the book on to someone else (who will be assigned). Once all interested parties have received the book and added their doodles, I'd like the book back, and I will put up a post with images of the annotated pages. With media mail offering pretty cheap shipping, I'm hoping a bunch of you will sign up!

Tweet this! Blog about this! Do whatever you'd like and let me know you promoted this event, and I'll enter you into a drawing for a free book from this list!

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Book Review: Maximum Ride 1 & 2

2010-07-22T05:50:00.000-05:00

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, 42 Challenge, Sci-Fi Challenge, YA Reading Challenge, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
Max is only fourteen years old, but she is responsible for five other children. Five children who, just like her, have wings. The result of genetic experimentation, these six kids are just trying to live as close to a normal life as possible. The School that made them, a terrifying place of needles and tests and pain, wants them back, but is it to study them or to help them? Max is determined to keep her family safe, but is the School really the bad guy? And what is all this nonsense about Max saving the world?

A Bit of a Ramble
I needed this type of book, an easy to read young adult (really young) series that had no real purpose outside of pleasure. I have so many books sitting on the "You Have to Read This Soon" pile and quite a few others on the "No Seriously. You Need to Read This Now" pile that I was feeling a bit put out. I am a spontaneous reader, and sometimes the sight of ARCs and Tour Books makes me grimace. There is something about having to read a book on deadline that annoys me - no matter how awesome the book sounds in the first place. I like to read what I want when I want. So for the past two days, I've ignored the 12 books I should be reading, and I read these two books.

The first in the series, The Angel Experiment, introduces us to the unique cast of characters. Max is the mom, the leader, a fourteen-year-old girl with too much responsibility but the strength to manage it. Fang seems to serve as the father, a fourteen-year-old boy who embodies the strong and silent type. Iggy, also 14, has a talent with fixing things and blowing things up despite the fact he is blind from an experiment at the School. The next in line is Nudge, an 11 year old, whose mouth is a rapid fire gun shooting out words. Gasman is an eight-year-old with a gastrointestinal annoyance. Finally, we have Angel, the youngest in the group at only 6 years old, who is also the most talented in regards to abilities. Not only can Angel fly like the rest of them, but she can also read minds.

Max lives with her family of six well away from the prying eyes of society. Despite her young years, she has been the leader of the family since the man who rescued them, Jeb, disappeared. One day, the flock's world crashes down around them when Erasers (human-dog travesties who work as muscle for the School) come snatch Angel. The other five children fly to rescue her, and that is where the adventure begins.

What I really enjoy about this series, outside of it being easy-to-read and just-for-fun, is the continuing questions. When Max et. al. get to the School to rescue Angel, they are captured and forced back into the cages that were their homes for the early part of their lives. But they are also reunited with their father-figure, the man who saved them from the School so long ago and whom they presumed dead, Jeb. And he tells Max that it's all a test, that everything that is happening is just part of the master plan, that he is just trying to help her, and that she, Maximum Ride, has to save the world. From this revelation through to the end of the second book, readers are left wondering what is really happening. Is the School really the bad guy? I am really digging this lack of clarity; it's such a change from the norm, where the bad guy and his motivations are pretty apparent.

On the other side of the reader coin, there is something I'm not loving about the series. For me, it's like this was one really, really long book that the author just chopped up. I tend to think of series like a staircase. Some series are staircases with landings, and each book is a section leading up to a landing; then you pause for a moment, turn the corner, and start up the next section by reading the next book. Other series are staircases without landings, just a string of steps leading to the top. In the first style, each book is like a mini-episode in the overarching storyline; while it progresses the story as a whole, it has its own conflict-climax-resolution set up. In the second style, not much happens in each individual book; it's more like the author wrote one big story and then just cut it into smaller pieces. I much prefer the first style, and Maximum Ride is definitely the second, not much progress is made in each installment.

My final recommendation is to read it IF you like young adult (think 13 not 17) adventure stories that focus more on action than romance. As far as I can tell, there are currently six books in this series with the possibility of more on the way. I thought it was a trilogy until two seconds ago when I looked at Patterson's website. DANG IT! I was hoping it would be a nicely contained trilogy.

The Filmic Connection
The film is in the works...sort of. Rumor has it that Catherine Hardwick (Twilight, Lords of Dogtown) will be directing and that she wants Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in the lead roles. How in the world would those two be able to play 14-year-olds first of all? And can they even do non-romantic acting? It looks like we have a while before we find out as the film is currently slated for 2013.

The image is a random person's casting of the movie. I'm not up on child actors, so I know nothing about who these people are or if they are at all talented, but I think they look appropriate. Much, much better than Pattinson and Stewart anyway.

For these Books Around the Web, head on over to the Book Blogs Search Engine!

Book Review: Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno

2010-07-21T04:06:00.001-05:00

Title: The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno
Author: Ellen Bryson
Publisher: Henry Holt
Release Date: 22 June 2010
Date Finished: 19 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
P.T. Barnum's Living Curiosities inhabit their own world, defined by the limits of the American Museum where they live. Bartholomew Fortuno, toted as the Living Skeleton or the World's Thinnest Man, finds his world beginning to change when a new curiosity joins the show. While the premise really grabbed me, the book ended up falling a bit flat.

A Bit of a Ramble
The world of the circus, traveling show, freak show, etc. fascinates me. I find appealing the life of the nomad, removed from "normal" society in lifestyle and possibly appearance, so the premise of this book really caught my eye. Bryson attempts to reconstruct the world of the Living Curiosities in Barnum's museum circa 1865. Within this world, Bartholomew contentedly displays his thinness, for him a gift he has been given to awaken self-revelation in those who view him. One night, he sees a veiled woman, a new act, and he becomes obsessed with her.

The rest of the book revolves around his obsession: how it affects his current friendships, his job, his self-awareness, etc. While I found the setting and the characters fascinating, the plot didn't quite cut it for me. I didn't fully believe the obsession, err..I'm sorry, the love story, and I thought the inclusion of Bartholomew's history with his mother undeveloped. Most of the "mystery" elements were easy enough to guess, and the lack of awareness on the part of Bartholomew was frustrating.

Overall I wanted more time with the eccentric characters and more...well more. It is so strange how sometimes a book only 100 pages can have such action and such depth, and then a chunkster can feel superficial; unfortunately that is how I felt with this book. For 330+ pages, not a lot happens and I never felt like I really got to know any of the characters. And man oh lordy did I want to.

On a side note, I highly urge you to go explore the Lost Museum, a website dedicated to Barnum's American Museum. The photo to the right is of Isaac Sprague, the thin man who inspired Bartholomew.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

Fyrefly's Book Blog; Life and Times of a New New Yorker; Booklust; Book Magic; Reading My Life Away; words, words, words;

Answering the Important Questions

2010-07-20T05:46:00.000-05:00

Stephanie at Laughing Stars put up this awesome post about playing with Google. To play, you type in the beginning of a question and check out the automatic questions that pop up. I decided to focus mine around teaching first:

I typed: Why are professors

And I got:

liberal? (we have brains)
so liberal? (see above)
so mean? (students are annoying)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I typed: How do professors

And I got:

check for plagiarism? (we find words and ideas we know you don't know)
get paid? (by check or direct deposit)
grade? (very carefully)
curve? (we don't or at least we shouldn't)
get tenure? (kissing a lot of administrative butt and doing a bunch of extra work)
make money? (we don't...seriously)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was having so much fun I thought I would try another group I belong to...wives.

I typed: Why are wives

And I got:

annoying?
so annoying?

Really, those are the only two that popped up; technically that's just one question, and all this annoying wife has to say is Bite Me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I typed: Why do wives

And I got:

cheat/cheat on their husbands? (can't answer this one as I'm not a cheater)
lie? (I'm not a liar either)
nag? (I don't nag)
get fat? (er....because food is freaking delicious)
complain? (there's a lot to complain about when you have to live with a man - aka The Big Baby - 24/7)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On a side note, I was looking for a picture of a man in a baby suit to add to that last bit, and this is what I found....scary, very scary.

On a side, side note: I love men; I love my husband. And I even like him most of the time. :)

Book Review: Incognegro

2010-07-19T05:29:00.001-05:00

Title: Incognegro
Written by: Mat Johnson
Art by: Warren Pleece
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: 2 June 2009
Date Finished: 16 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Graphic Novels Challenge, Hogwarts Reading Challenge, 1930s Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
Zane is a reporter in Harlem. He is black, but he can pass as a white man, and this skill allows him to infiltrate the south and reveal the horrors of lynch mobs. When an assignment goes bad, he barely escapes with his life, and he returns to Harlem determined to stop his incognegro work. But when Zane's brother is arrested for murdering a white woman down in Mississippi, Zane has to go undercover once more.

A Bit of a Ramble
I went into this graphic novel expecting an education on race relations in the 1930s and what I got was an entertaining mystery which was also powerfully informative and moving. The author, Mat Johnson, "grew up a black boy who looked white" and dreamed of using his appearance to promote racial equality. While in college, he read about Walter White, a pale-skinned black man who went undercover to investigate lynchings in the deep south. This is the inspiration for Incognegro.

It would be very difficult to read this graphic novel and not admire and fear for the protagonist, Zane. I would hazard a guess that everyone picking it up comes in to the story with negative feelings about lynchings and a deep understanding of the hate, sorrow, despair, and fear surrounding race relations in the 1930s. For most, it requires very little prompting to call up the emotions necessary to access the book.

I do want to stress that while the book is certainly evocative, it is also entertaining. The plot is a well-crafted mystery with unique characters. My mind continually strayed from thinking about the "message" to wondering whodunit and how.

Drawn in stark black and white panels, the artwork really makes apparent the difficulty of assigning race and the fluidity of race. The characters don't have skin tones, so the distinction between the black and white characters is practically non-existent.

Memorable Scene:

I found this page so thought-provoking. The text is as follows:

That's one thing that most of us know that most white folks don't. That race doesn't really exist. Culture? Ethnicity? Sure. Class too. But race is just a bunch of rules meant to keep us on the bottom. Race is a strategy. The rest is just people acting. Playing roles. That's what white folks never get. They don't think they have accents. They don't think they eat ethnic foods. Their music is classical. They think they're just normal. That they are the universal, and that everyone else is a deviation from form. That's what makes them so easy to infiltrate.

Memorable Quote:

How could you approach a person with a loaded shotgun like that? Pointed at you...!

She might be big, but she's still a woman. I knew that if I stood my ground, stared her in the eyes, she couldn't be cold enough to pull the trigger.

I takes it you ain't never been married?

The Filmic Connection
I think that the subject of lynchings will forever be linked to the film Mississippi Burning in my mind. I must have been 9 or 10 when I watched it for the first time, and its powerful portrayal of the investigation into the murders of three civil rights workers dramatically affected me. If you haven't watched this movie yet, you should.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

Worducopia; Ready When You Are, C.B.; large hearted boy; Apooo Book Club; New York Times;

Sunday Book Blogger Hop Salon

2010-07-18T05:45:00.001-05:00

Okay, I'm doing a two-fer here, combining the Sunday Salon with the Book Blogger Hop. I just really liked the question on this week's hop!

RIGHT THIS INSTANT, WHAT BOOK ARE YOU DYING TO GET YOUR HANDS ON (PAST, PRESENT, OR FUTURE)?

Some people read this question and a book pops directly into their mind, something specific they've heard about that is at the top of their wish list. I, on the other hand, am terrible with a question like this. This is worse than the infamous "who's your favorite author" or "what's your favorite book" questions. It's not that I don't want books right now - the problem is that I want EVERY book right now.

I am a hoarder of books. All shapes, sizes, genres, and styles. I want them all. And I want them all nicely displayed on my shelves. My wish list is hundreds of books, and I don't even shop with a list in hand. If I'm at the bookstore, I'm buying five or six books that I randomly find. I very very rarely go in with a specific book in mind.

If I had to pick just one, at this exact moment in time, I am jonesing for Who Killed Amanda Palmer, a collection of photos of Amanda Palmer playing dead coupled with stories by Neil Gaiman (who wrote about the experience here) and lyrics from Palmer. I seriously want this book.

Unfortunately I can't afford the $50+ the book would cost. At least, I can't hide a charge like that from the husband who would then remind me I have over 400 unread books in the house. Even typing that makes me feel a bit guilty. : )

So what about you? Do you book shop with list in hand? Is your wish list manageable? What book do you wish you owned right now?

Reminders
Be sure to let me know what books you think smarty pants readers should take to the beach! You are automatically entered to win a free book just for participating.

Enter here to win a copy of Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry

Even the Intelligentsia Go to the Beach

2010-07-17T05:06:00.002-05:00

In summer, post after post comes out about beach reads, aka light, fluffy, easy reads or brain candy. But what about those who want cerebral, complex, makes-you-look-oh-so-smart beach reads? Well, Flavorwire has 10 Beach Books for Smarty Pants Readers, but I thought we could make our own list.

So tell me, what book(s) do you think should be on the Book Blogger Recommended Beach Reads for Smarty Pants Readers list? Don't just pick a difficult read; think of a reason it's perfect for summers on the beach!

Our List

The Summer We Fell Apart by Robin Antalek (Kathy)
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Clare)
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Amy)
Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (Jill)
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Jill)
The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin (Dawn)
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields (Melissa)
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Trish)
Petite Anglaise by Catherine Sanderson (Mystica)
A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Jenna)
Columbine by Dave Cullen (Jenners)

I'll compile the list here, and then Random.org will let me know who to give the prize too. What is this prize, you might ask; well, it's *drumroll* a book!!! You will be able to choose one of the following:

Matched by Ally Condie
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen
Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Book Review: Her Fearful Symmetry

2010-07-16T05:17:00.002-05:00

Title: Her Fearful Symmetry
Author: Audrey Niffenegger
Publisher: Scribner
Release Date: 29 June 2010
Date Finished: 15 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
Julia and Valentina move across the ocean after they inherit a London flat from their aunt Elspeth, but that is just one tiny step on the path that now lies before them. Their arrival in London changes both of them as they settle in to their new apartment which sits next to the famous Highgate Cemetery and houses two eccentric men and one ghost. The story is well written and the characters intriguing, but it's not quite a "buy" and I'm having difficulty putting my finger on why.

A Bit of a Ramble
As I am clearly the last person to read this novel, I'm not exactly sure what to write in my review. Any drawn out plot summary or explanation of the text seems unnecessary and frivolous. I do think I come at the book from a unique perspective though: I have never read The Time Traveler's Wife. I know, I know, how strange right? A quick glance through reviews indicates that I may be the only person who didn't go in to Her Fearful Symmetry with any sort of expectations based on that much lauded story. How this affected interpretation and enjoyment I can't really say.

The cast of characters within the story appealed to me. None of them were very likable, it was difficult to relate to them for the most part, and the decisions almost all of them made were rather silly; and yet, I found them fascinating. Julia and Valentina are clearly set up to be rather stereotypical twins: one the leader who is also the more dependent, the other the follower who wants to break away. Despite their commonalities with other fictional twins, Julia and Valentina were just odd enough to have me interested. The two men in the novel, Robert and Martin, are each unique with Robert being rather manipulable and Martin suffering from severe OCD. Then there's Elspeth herself and her twin sister Edie who have secrets kept buried for decades.

The wonderful thing about loving these characters is that they are each given ample development; the author did not focus all her attention on Julia and Valentina, so chapter by chapter each character's story is told. Far from being secondary, Robert, Martin, and Elspeth have fully developed stories that coexist with Julia and Valentina's story rather than relying on it.

A few points in the novel had me scrunching my eyebrows in disbelief. For example, who would have that Very Very Bad Idea and what idgit would go along with it? That felt a bit contrived to me. And the ending was almost too obviously open, like the author wanted to be purposefully frustrating. Sometimes open endings feel perfect for a story, are the only way the story could end, and at other times, like this, an open ending feels like a literary device purposefully constructed to call attention to itself.

Despite these misgivings, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and thought the plot and characters well-crafted and unique and the story well written. Perhaps this will motivate me to finally read The Time Traveler's Wife.

On a side note, I'm trying to decide where to shelve this book. I separate my fiction into only two categories: realistic and SFF. Usually this is a rather easy decision to make, but in the case of Her Fearful Symmetry I am tempted to put it in realistic fiction despite the paranormal portion of the book. What do you think? Realistic or SFF?

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

Bibliofreakblog; Linus's Blanket; Bending Bookshelf; my fluttering heart; Care's Online Book Club; Find Your Next Book Here; Rhapsody in Books; Fyrefly's Book Blog; Fizzy Thoughts; You've Gotta Read This; book-a-rama; Presenting Lenore; books i done read; Reviews by Lola; S. Krishna's Books; Stainless Steel Droppings; The Literary Amnesiac; I'm Booking It;

I could have kept going with the reviews as I am clearly the last person in the blogosphere to read this book. If I missed yours, let me know, and I'd be glad to link it!

Giveaway
In case I'm wrong, and there are actually others out there who haven't read this book, I'm pleased to say that the publishing company has generously provided me with a copy to give away. Fill out the form below if you are interested. Open internationally.

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Serious Gaps in My Reading

2010-07-15T05:41:00.001-05:00

While giving an unneeded check to my Reviews by Author page (hey, I was bored) I noticed some serious gaps in my reading. I, O, Q, X, and Z are blank. That's right, I have not read a book written by an author whose last name begins with any of these letters. I find this extremely disturbing for some reason. I checked the Reviews by Title page, and I am happy to report that only the letter X sits with no books listed. But still, that's one letter too many. These empty spaces in my reading are like missing puzzle pieces - much too annoying and bringing out my OCD-ish side.

I am determined to get these blanks filled in, but I need some help. Do you have any suggestions for authors with last names beginning with I, O, Q, X and/or Z? How about titles that start with the letter X?

Book Review: Manhood for Amateurs

2010-07-14T07:54:00.006-05:00

Title: Manhood for Amateurs
Author: Michael Chabon
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: 11 May 2010
Date Finished: 8 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Hogwarts Reading Challenge, Non-Fiction Five,

The Short and Sweet of It
In 39 well-written and insightful essays, Chabon reflects on what it means to be a man, circumcision, raising daughters, divorce, honesty in parenting, the loss of childhood freedom, murses, and I'll stop now. His beautiful prose and relatable anecdotes along with his observant and astute ideas make this a definite finalist for my best of 2010 list.

A Bit of a Ramble
In my review of Dostoevsky's House of the Dead, I talk about how I sometimes miss the artful weaving of words common with classic novels when I read contemporary texts. Well, Manhood for Amateurs is making me sort of contradict myself. Chabon masters language, and the prose in this collection of essays impressed me with its sesquipedalian but unpretentious use of words. While I'm not a fan of the ostentatious and unnecessary inclusion of $10 words, I am a fan of the perfectly correct use of words, and sometimes it is the less everyday speech that offers specificity and clarity. Hmm..I guess what I'm trying to say is that the way Chabon tells a story rocks.

The basic concept of the book is that it is a collection of essays on being a father, husband, and son, on what it means to be a man. Chabon makes women nod in agreement almost immediately as he talks about how disparate the criteria for good fathering and good mothering are. While he is praised for doing nothing more than buying groceries with a kid on his arm, he's convinced that a woman would have to "perform an emergency tracheotomy with a Bic pen on her eldest child while simultaneously nursing her infant and buying two weeks' worth of healthy but appealing break-time snacks for the entire cast of Lion King, Jr." in order to receive the same praise. Exactly.

Alongside this focus on manliness, he has also included various essays discussing contemporary methods of parenting on childhood, and it is these essays I found most interesting. It is always nice to see one's own ideas expressed articulately on the page, especially when so many seem to disagree, and that occurred for me on page 63.

The thing that strikes me now when I think about the Wilderness of Childhood is the incredible degree of freedom my parents gave me to adventure there. A very grave, very significant shift in our idea of childhood has occurred since then. The Wilderness of Childhood is gone; the days of adventure are past. The land ruled by children, to which a kid might exile himself for at least some portion of every day from the neighboring kingdom of adulthood, has in large part been taken over, co-opted, colonized, and finally absorbed by the neighbors.

I remember being separated from the watching eyes of adults for long stretches of time in my youth, converging on expanses of grass and trees where I and my friends were sheltered from watchful adult eyes. Playing baseball and kickball, putting pennies on the tracks in the hope of a train smooshing it all to unreadability, walking the tracks (like in Stand by Me except with no leeches or dead bodies), and playing imaginary games like pirates seeking treasure, explorers on an island inhabited by overly large-toothed beasts, etc. Many times, I even played in these places by myself, fully immersed in a world I had created. No adults allowed. Today I see my friends' kids barely allowed to play in the fenced-in backyard without supervision, and I'm saddened. It seems Chabon is as well.

...our children have become cult objects to us, too precious to be risked. At the same time they have become fetishes, the objects of unhealthy and diseased fixation...Art is a form of exploration, of sailing off into the unknown alone, heading for those unmarked places on the map. If children are not permitted - not taught - to be adventurers and explorers as children, what will become of the world of adventure, of stories, of literature itself?

We do a great disservice to children when we protect them to the point of smothering, of inhibiting their ability to create something all their own or to face dangers real and imaginary. But if I say this, I am just condescendingly reminded that I can't possibly understand because I don't have children. Well ha! Here is someone with children who agrees with me. *insert totally childish, sticking-out-tongue face here* Oooooh, found one....

On a side note, this book was my first for sticky notes, and I quickly discovered a problem. I was slapping a sticky note on practically every page. I forgot how often I write in good books, how much marginalia graces the pages and how many sentences are underlined by the time I'm finished. I had to stop myself only 50 pages in or I would have gone through almost all of my new freaking sticky notes! I may have to go back to writing in books... for the really thoughtful ones at least.

The Filmic Connection
One essay I would really like to see put up on screen is "I feel good about my murse", a lovely piece on the social stigma of and personal necessity for some sort of man bag. I can see an Indie short featuring the progression from wallet to black masculine diaper bag to pink and girly diaper bag to messenger bag to murse. I love it.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

The Book Lady's Blog; The Girl from the Ghetto; S. Krishna's Books; Find Your Next Book Here; Fizzy Thoughts;

Question: What are your thoughts on murses?

Book Review: The Bacchae

2010-07-13T05:39:00.000-05:00

Title: The Bacchae
Author: Euripides
Translation and Intro: William Arrowsmith
Original Release Date: 405 BCE
Date Finished: 10 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
Dionysus wishes for Thebes to recognize him as a god, but the current man-in-power, Pentheus, refuses to acknowledge him. As a result, Pentheus and his whole family are punished rather remarkably. The sort of over-the-top punishment doled out in this play is one of the reasons I adore ancient Greek texts.

A Bit of a Ramble
Dionysus is alternately the most awesome god ever, the most ridiculous, and the most dangerous. He seems to be the god of excess, of drunken orgies and animal instincts; but along with the sexier versions of excess comes violence and rage and emotion without logic. It is to Dionysus which can be credited the reality of ecstatic frenzy (think arms in the air, speaking in tongues type religion, but with lots and lots of alcohol). When Dionysus begins his evil plan to reveal himself to Thebes, he seduces/possesses the women of the town who run off into the woods with him. This pisses Pentheus off since those women are his relatives, including his mother. Understandable really, I mean who wants their mom taking off with some playboy into the woods for irresponsible sex and drinking?

Pentheus determines to get the women back and drive Dionysus, who he refuses to believe is a god, from Thebes. But come on folks, as we all know, you don't mess with a god - and you certainly don't deny him his existence in the first place. Mucho badness befalls Pentheus and his family.

The central theme of The Bacchae is arguable. Certainly the convergence of religious tradition and rationality is at work in the text, represented by Dionysus and Pentheus; however, to say that the play favors one over the other seems questionable. While Dionysus "wins" in the play, both characters are presented as equally undesirable. Dionysus is manipulative and conniving and Pentheus stubborn and delusional. Personally, I believe the play supports the immovability of mankind's belief more than it supports any religious doctrine. The truth of the existence of gods is secondary to people's belief in the existence.

On a side note, the book I have does not feature that startling cover featured above, but I loved that cover too much not to use it. In the play, Dionysus has Pentheus dress in women's clothing to spy on the frenzied women in the forest, and I just love that the above cover shows this.

The Filmic Connection
The second season of TrueBlood features a Maenad, sort of a concubine/priestess of Dionysus aka Bacchus aka Bromius aka and the list goes on and on. The TrueBlood version of Dionysus is definitely one of the more dangerous interpretations of him. Portrayed as a bull god whose spirit - or that of his maenad - possesses people causing indiscriminate sex and violent, Bacchus revels in the darker, instinctual side of humanity. Within The Bacchae, he's a bit more tame; if you can call someone who causes a mother to rip off the head of her son tame.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

Project Gutenberg; The League of Ordinary Gentlemen review;

Question:

Book Review: More Minis

2010-07-12T05:51:00.000-05:00

"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" by J.D. Salinger is a strange little story that I enjoyed even as I pondered the meaning. First, let me get this out of the way: on my first read through, I was partially convinced that Seymour, our protagonist, was a pedophile. A Michael Jackson-type pedophile, trying to recapture the innocence of childhood, but still too bound up in the sexuality of adults. Second read through didn't do much to dissuade me of this notion; although there is no clear, definite proof. At its core, this short story reflects upon the difficulties of communication, the inability for anyone to truly know anyone else. I recommend focusing on that while reading rather than thinking about the strange kissing of the foot.

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll admit it. I love Nora Roberts. Before The Great Book Purge a few months ago, I owned a copy of every book she wrote. Many I had read multiple times. Blood Brothers is the first in the Sign of Seven trilogy, and this was my second time reading it. After reading A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, I figured I needed a light read. The premise is lovely: three boys celebrate their 11th birthday camping in the woods and accidentally - or fatefully - release an ancient evil. The rest of the book - and the next two - deals with countering the evil they unleashed...and ~~having unabashedly hot sex~~ falling in love.

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I read "The TV" by Ben Loory based on the recommendation of Megan at Leafing Through Life, and I loved it. In this surreal short story, a man ditches work and begins flipping channels only to find a channel featuring a show starring himself. As he sits there, he watches himself arrive at work and go about his daily life. Soon his channel flipping reveals this other version of himself doing all sorts of things. And then things get weird. Loved. It.

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dead and Gone is the ninth book in Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, and I really felt like writing a full review of it would be rather redundant. I've already reviewed 8 of these books, and let's face it, there's not much more to say. The supernaturals have their Political Disputes and Big Revelations; Sookie's Frustrating But Beneficial Talent, well, it frustrates her and benefits her; Eric's Super Hotness had me drooling; etc. I did enjoy this one more than many of the previous books though.

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday Salon: Recaps and Requests

2010-07-11T04:17:00.001-05:00

After finding an interesting article about books that are unfilmable, I wanted to see which books bloggers thought could not be made into films. Head over here to add your thoughts!

I got quite a bit of reading done in the past week, but only three reviews went up. My favorite, by far, is Fyodor Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead which was a stunning look at life in a Siberian prison. I started a new series by K.A. Applegate (new for me, not new for the world) and I'm really excited to read the remaining 11 books. I also read Jekel Loves Hyde by Beth Fantaskey, and while I enjoyed it, I was a bit too hung up on the sexuality and gender issues.

This past week I also finished Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon, which was a close second to House of the Dead, and I read Charlaine Harris' Dead and Gone, book 9 in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Reviews for those books will be going up sometime this week...I hope.

I quite happily finished my mid-year reading report, and with 67 books read at the mid-way point, I'm a bit ahead of my typical reading pattern.

~~~~~~~A Request~~~~~~~

From August 9 to 18, I have a family reunion/small town festival. During that time, I will be pretty MIA online. If anyone is interested in writing a guest post to be published here while I'm gone, I'd love it. If you want a guest post from me in exchange, I can do that too.

If you are fresh out of ideas, here's a brainstormed list I came up with: the joys and/or hardships of eclectic reading, a history of your favorite genre or a post on why that genre makes for great reads, a description of any small town festivals you've been to or a review of a book which features a small town festival, etc. I'm really open, so any thing you'd like is fine.

If you are interested, email me at eclectic[dot]eccentric[at]hotmail[dot]com!

No Movies Here: Books that are Unfilmable

2010-07-10T06:45:00.005-05:00

While roaming the net (I don't surf) I found this post about books that are unfilmable. Awesome. According to Paul Hollywood Briggs at Screenhead, certain books would be so difficult to adapt that to do so is rather impractical. He lists the following as unfilmable:

Ulysses by James Joyce (I've heard this one might also be unreadable...)
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Wind Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
The Third Policemen by Flann O'Brien
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (I think this one could be done with modern technology)
The Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Any and all Thomas Pynchon novels
Don Quixote by Cervantes
The Atrocity Exhibition by JG Ballard
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Molloy, Malone Dies, and Unnameable by Samuel Beckett

I, of course, would like to know:

Do you agree? Disagree?
Which one do you wish could be made into a movie? Why?
Are there any other books that you think are unfilmable? (as the above list proves, it doesn't matter if someone has turned it into a movie already; it can still be unfilmable!)

Our List

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Ulysses by James Joyce
Any and all David Foster Wallace

Book Review: House of the Dead

2010-07-09T05:06:00.000-05:00

Title: The House of the Dead
Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky
Translator: Constance Garnett
Publisher: Barnes and Noble Classics
Release Date: 25 April 2004
Original Release Date: 1862
Date Finished: 3 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Reading Resolutions, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

Who is Fyodor Dostoevsky
Dostoevsky was a Russian writer who lived between 1821 and 1881. His claim to fame revolves around his novels which delve into the psychology of those on the fringe of society. Early on he focused on the lower classes. In his first novel, an epistolary called Poor Folk, Dostoevsky wrote about the harsh conditions facing the poor. While he continued to write about the more disenfranchised or "unfortunate of society", his most famous works, Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, explore the morality of murder.

Dostoevsky's interest in and knowledge of the minds of murderers may be the result of the time he spent in a Siberian prison. In 1847, he joined the Petrashevsky Circle, a group of intellectuals who discussed Western philosophy and literature. While this sounds fine and dandy, the group opposed aristocracy, which was a surefire way to piss of the tsarist Russian government. In 1849, many members of the Circle were arrested, including Dostoevsky, and he was sentenced to four years in prison and another four years in the army.

The Short and Sweet of It
The House of the Dead is a semi-autobiographical accounting of his time in the Siberian prison. While many of the stories, experiences, and even the people are true-to-life, Dostoevsky created a fictional narrator, Alexandr Petrovich, who is serving ten years for murdering his wife. By creating a fictional character, Dostoevsky was able to insert biting political and social commentary into his writing; quite the brave thing to do after he had already been imprisoned for disagreeing with the government. Reading like a well-lived man recounting memories, The House of the Dead is a beauteous philosophical ramble that will stay with me for a long time.

A Bit of a Ramble
There is beauty in language, and I must admit that sometimes I forget this as I read less literary books. Let me be clear, I love a wide variety of books, and I feel no shame in reading works which are written in simple terms with standard cadence, no shame in the guilty pleasures. And yet, when I pick up a book like this, a classic novel that creates a unique rhythm and high-style to the language, I am moved. In this instance, that is in part due to the translation; after all, I'm not reading this in Russian. But I find that classic works have a greater likelihood of complex prose than modern novels. Literature became standardized for the masses, and the language of literature became more normalized, more like everyday speech. Sometimes I miss the nuanced language of the classics, the artful and articulate weaving of words, that can be lacking in popular contemporary novels.

Outside of the language, The House of the Dead also places a feast of philosophical dishes before readers:
the relationship between character and freedom, the necessity of purpose, the difficulties in assessing and punishing crimes, the importance of choice, appearance versus reality, the gap between the classes, the strength of hope, and the list goes on and on.

He reflects through anecdotes, not abstract thought, relating specific events, causes and effects, that happened before his eyes. These are not the musings of an intellectual constructing theories while reclining in his armchair or beside a flowing stream. These are the reasoned observations of one who is living it, and yet partially removed by his difference from the masses. Dostoevsky entered prison a gentleman, a leisured thinker, and found himself surrounded by criminals of the lower class. His inclusion in the life of the prison did not transcend the class difference, and so Dostoevsky and the narrator he constructed for the novel are at once participant and observer.

I find myself rambling here, mixing the book and reality in much the same way Dostoevsky has, but in my defense, I can not review in a normal fashion. The plot is nonexistent, the characters many and sporadic, the themes varied, etc. While the story is told chronologically from Petrovich's first day in prison through to his last, there is no real conflict. What Dostoevsky has done is create a portrait, a multidimensional complex image of life in prison. He moves from event to event from person to person, offering a snapshot of individual instances and inmates, that when combined, form a comprehensive whole that is rather powerful.

I could relate for you the myriad scenes and quotes that captured my mind, the stories that moved me or challenged me, for there were many. But instead I am going to implore you to pick this book up, to read for yourself the stories of the eccentric, unique, and oddly charming convicts that peppered Dostoevsky / Petrovich's life while he was in prison.

For an absolutely fantastic review of this book, check out The Lectern.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

Jandy's Reading Room; Read it online at Google Books; Check out the rest of the Russian Imperial Tour at The Classics Circuit.

Question: What other books should I read that offer a complex portrait rather than a focused story?

Book Review: Jekel Loves Hyde

2010-07-08T06:49:00.010-05:00

Title: Jekel Loves Hyde
Author: Beth Fantaskey
Publisher: Harcourt
Release Date: 3 May 2010
Date Finished: 2 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, YA Reading Challenge, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
Jill Jekel and Tristen Hyde are thrown together in a chemistry experiment that could benefit them both. But while Jill's reward is money for college, Tristan's is something more personal and more dangerous. For Dr. Jekyll left a legacy beyond a great work of literature, a legacy which has the power to destroy those involved.

A Bit of a Ramble
First off, I can not get used to typing Jekel. Jekel. Not Jekyll. Seriously, my fingers have to be forced to type it J-E-K-E-L. While my left middle finger is trying for the 'e', my right pointer finger is simultaneously touching the 'y'. Okay, now on to what you actually care about.

I sped through Jekel Loves Hyde, finishing it in one sitting. Throughout, I was entertained; although I can honestly say that the first part of the book was much more intriguing than the last. I think as time went on I was a bit annoyed by Jill's unclear motivations.

I didn't form a strong connection with either of the two main characters, Jill and Tristan, who take turns narrating the story. I think I have very high expectations for multiple narrators; if the voices aren't completely distinct (a la The Moonstone), I go into eye-rolling mode. Why have multiple narrators if they aren't going to be different? Outside of that, one other thing annoyed me.

At this point in the review, things may get a bit... Well, you'll see. I have a question. Why do some YA authors think it's sexy to have a boy almost rape his love interest? Or talk about how she must be careful around him or he might lose control and hurt her (yeah, I'm talking to you Twilight)? Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for clothes-ripping, fist-clenching, teeth-scraping, intense passion - and it's pretty hot when the partners are equals. But come one, unbridled passion is completely, utterly, and entirely different from rape.

But YA seems to think that guys are consistently teetering on the edge of control, and that girls are passive little receptacles designed to help them gain control through their virginal innocence and amazing capacity to forgive. "Aw shucks hon, I know you didn't mean to slam me against that desk and keep going even though I was begging you to stop. It wasn't really you!"

I understand that in this book, Tristan really wasn't himself, but how does a girl initially fall for a guy who admits that a part of him wants to rape and kill her? Maybe if they fell in love first when he wasn't a raging psychopath, and then he changed. Maybe. But I forgot. He's gorgeous. And well, if a guy is gorgeous, we'll just forgive him anything.

Rant over.

Ultimately, I did not hate this book - despite indications from the rant above. The premise is highly unique; I do so love reworkings of older stories. I just wish Fantaskey (and other YA authors) found a way to inject her heroine with smarts and a backbone, which would be much more interesting than these silly little girls I keep seeing. If you like YA paranormal romance and quick reads, Jekel Loves Hyde is a solid choice.

This Book Around the Web
If I've missed your review, let me know!

This was another simultaneous review with Amy of Amy Reads!

Steph Su Reads; Laughing Stars; Wastepaper Prose; The Story Siren; Read This Book; Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf;

Question: Where are the strong, smart, sexually-confident YA heroines?

Book Review: Search for Senna

2010-07-07T05:01:00.002-05:00

Title: EverWorld: Search for Senna
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publisher: Scholastic
Release Date: 1999
Date Finished: 5 July 2010

Buy | Borrow | Accept | Avoid

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, YA Reading Challenge, Hogwarts Reading Challenge,

The Short and Sweet of It
David, Jalil, Christopher, and April are normal kids, but Senna (girlfriend, friend, ex-girlfriend, and sister, respectively) is not, and when Senna is suddenly swallowed by a wolf too large to exist and the whole world starts turning itself inside out, they are caught up in the struggles of a world (a universe?) very different from their own. Despite my wishing for a bit more depth, this is a fast, one-sitting type read, and I am really looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

A Bit of a Ramble
Vikings, Aztecs, gods, witches, and children stuck in the middle of all it. That's my kind of fun. I found this randomly on SwapTree and thought 'why not?' Why not, indeed. I have already requested the next four books in the series from BookMooch, and I'm hoping the lovely gentleman in Australia will be willing to send them to the US. My only complaint is that the book was too short, the characters, world, and plot a bit too undeveloped; however, I'm hopeful that the rest of the series will correct this problem, and then I can just look at it like one big book.

First, the main reason I enjoy books like this:

I'd lived sixteen years' worth of shiny malls and dark school hallways and narrow homes and TV blaring and smiley face e-mail and don't do drugs, don't do sex, don't smoke, don't eat junk food, don't don't don't because your boring, boring life, your robot march from kindergarten to grammar school to junior high to high school to college to work to the condo in Florida to the grave where you'll slowly decay for all eternity, should be nothing but leafy green vegetables and happy thoughts and G-rated lyrics about puppy love.

How many people - whether kids, teens, or adults - have felt this way? Or maybe it's just me, and I should be worried? Regardless, this expectancy and predictability of reality, the tedium of it, can be wearing on a person, and it is through fantasy books that I escape...well, books in general, but really for true escapism, I need a fantasy novel. And I love the mix with the real that Applegate has chosen.

The premise of the world created is that the gods left our world for this new one and brought (some of) their followers with them, so readers are introduced to various cultures' mythologies, and we also get to meet the followers themselves. In this book, the focus is on the Vikings, with Loki and Odin. As I said before, I do wish the book was longer. I would have really enjoyed more time with the Vikings, more depth to their culture, but what I did get to see was enough to really spark my interest.

I feel the same way about the characters: David, Jalil, Christopher, and April are quite superficially drawn in this first book, given enough personality to interest me, but not enough to make me truly care about them or understand them. Much of what I know about them comes from Applegate telling me about the characters rather than from me deducing personality from the way they reacted to situations. David, being the primary character in this installment, is of course a bit more fleshed out, and the most intriguing part of his personality is that he seems to prefer Ever World with all the danger and excitement to "reality". I liked this a lot for some reason; I guess I'm too used to the "reluctant hero" who just wishes he could stay home and be normal but must power through somehow for the good of the world. David finds this adventure exciting, and he jumps in with both feet running.

I believe there are twelve books in this series which is both exciting and intimidating; although these books are pretty short, so it shouldn't take me too long to read them. Acquiring them, on the other hand, is going to be somewhat of a problem since I'm on a pretty strict book buying ban. Let's hope BookMooch and SwapTree can really pull through for me. :)

Question: Has anyone out there read this series?

June Movies: Not the Best Month

2010-07-06T05:38:00.002-05:00

Splice
A woman who has mommy issues. A man who has horniness issues. And a product of genetic splicing who has too many unnecessary mutations. I just hated this movie and so did my three theater companions. The hubby and I had a case of the giggles throughout, and I'm pretty sure the film wasn't made to be a comedy. Oh, and the female lead reminded me of Julianne Moore, and ever since Blindness I just can't stand her.

Gamer
Gerard Butler's looking pretty buff in this movie. Okay on to something of substance. The film's premise is fantastic, but the delivery was lacking depth. The characters have no backstory and no clear motivations or personalities, and yet their foundations are ripe for exploration. Seriously, there is this streak of genius running through the film, but it's neglected for superficial sex and violence. This could have been fantastic but it's like they left the film in the hands of a twelve-year-old boy.

Law Abiding Citizen
Gerard Butler movie number 2 of the month. In this film, Butler plays a man whose wife and child were murdered, and the main culprit was let go in exchange for testifying against his partner. After the set up, people die in some seriously nasty ways, individuals question their complicity in a corrupt system, and shit blows up. The film divides its time between displaying over-the-top violence and questioning the justice system which means it spreads itself rather thin. I, however, enjoyed it, and felt that while the director may have been confused as to his purpose, Butler and Foxx still entertained.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
This is a strange tale with two men fighting over souls through the presentation of choices in a world of pure imagination. I think. It's hard to say what the story really was about..... but the visuals were stunning. Then of course, Heath Ledger morphs into Johnny Depp into Jude Law into Colin Farrell which is a unique - and rather hot - concept despite its rather macabre motivation. As an entertaining flick, I'm not a fan; but as an acid-trip art form, I enjoyed it.

True Blood: Seasons 1 and 2
I have to say that just like in the books, Sookie annoys the crapola out of me even while the story entertains. I keep going back for more, and now I'm sad to wait so long for season 3. I guess I'll get my fix by reading books 8, 9, and 10. And may I just say that I am disturbed by my fascination with Eric - hello hotness.

And there you have it, a rather disappointing month in movies, but some mucho hotness in my TV on DVD.

Mid-Year Report: No Clever Title, Just Lots of Numbers

2010-07-05T05:10:00.032-05:00

Reading statistics are addictive. I keep adding categories to my spreadsheet, thinking of new ways to analyze the data, and I have to admit it's making me very uncomfortable. I should not enjoy anything math-related this much.

THE BIGGIES

Books Read	67	Pages Read	16207
Worthy Reads	41	Guilty Pleasures	26
New Books	61	Re-reads	6
Fiction	55	Non-Fiction	12

Nothing too surprising in The Biggies. I'd like to read more non-fiction, but really I'm at 18% at that is pretty good for me.

THE AUTHORS

Male	39	Female	28
Alive	59	Dead	8

I'm kind of impressed that my male-female ratio is so close; I've always read more men than women. I am shocked by my alive-dead ratio as before blogging, those numbers were reversed!

THE BOOKS

Era	Classic	8	Contemporary	59
Age	Adult	34	YA	32	Children	1
Format	Novels	46	Short Stories	5	Plays	3
	Graphic Novels	11	Epistolary	1	Misc.	1

Just like with the alive-dead ration, the classic-contemporary ratio is opposite of my pre-blogging statistics. Clearly I am reading many, many more recent works. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. I'm happy with my adult-YA split as that feels right, and I'm very excited that I've managed to read so many graphic novels as before this past year, my GN reading was practically non-existent.

Bought	39	Borrowed / Library	4	Gift/Win	3
Swap Site	1	Review Copy	9	Free	6	BEA	5

Clearly I need to buy less books. Just...yeah.

GENRES

Fiction		Non-Fiction
Science Fiction	8	Memoirs	6
Fantasy	22	Biographies	0
Historical Fiction	6	Cultural Studies	4
Mystery-Thriller	1	Essays	1
Realistic Fiction	14	Narrative Nonfiction	0
Romance	4	History	1

No surprise here. I've always enjoyed fantasy novels, which I take to also include folk lore, mythology, fairy tales, etc. A note about Historical and Realistic fiction - Historical fiction includes stories written about a time period/event in the past that is realistic and relatively accurate. Realistic fiction is the term I'm using to describe stories taking place in the same / or close to the same time they were written..sort of. I'm still working on the proper terminology.

MONTHS

January	12	July	2
February	11	August	0
March	10	September	0
April	14	October	0
May	8	November	0
June	10	December	0

CHALLENGES
Slowly but surely I am crawling out from under a pile of challenges. Here's the lowdown:

June
Once Upon a Time: End Date 6/20; Current Stats 12/? COMPLETED
Sookie Stackhouse: End Date 6/30; Current Stats 7/10 DONE ; I'll probably read the rest of the books in the series, but I definitely didn't get it done by the end of June. They are quick reads, but I don't feel a need to rush through them so much.

July
1930s Mini-Challenge: End Date 7/31; Current Stats 0/1

August
Sci-Fi Reading: End Date 8/8; Current Stats 10/8 COMPLETED

September
Non-Fiction Five: End Date 9/30; Current Stats 6/5 COMPLETED

October
101 Fantasy Reading: End Date 10/10; Current Stats 8/12

November
Women UnBound: End Date 11/30; Current Stats 16/8 COMPLETED

December
Hogwarts Reading Challenge: End Date 12/13; Current Stats 87/?
18 and 19 c. Women Writers: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 1/2
Young Adult Reading: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 24/25
Flashback Challenge: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 6/6 COMPLETED
TBR Challenge: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 5/12
World Religions: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 7/?
Read the Book, See the Movie: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 5/10
42 Challenge: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 14/42
Take Another Chance: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 6/12
Books to Read Before I Die: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 1/10
Graphic Novels Challenge: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 12/10 COMPLETED
GLBT Challenge: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 17/12+ COMPLETED

100+ Reading: End Date 12/31; Current Stats 65100

Reading Resolutions

Read 100 books : 65/100
50% or more "worthy" books : 63% worthy
10 non-fiction books : 12/10
10 non-fiction personal essays : 0/10
Review 75% of the books I read : 99%
Read 3 TBR books for every 1 I buy : I have to admit I haven't been measuring this one...

And finally, my favorite reads so far this year:

Happy Fourth of July

2010-07-04T06:56:00.001-05:00

This is me for the day...

.....plus or minus a few pounds....er, plus.....a lot of plus....

Happy Fourth!