Book Report

Umm. Hi. I guess it's been awhile. And that's okay. Feels good to be here though. I've been feeling kind of lost these past few weeks months. Feels like I am re-connecting with an old friend!

Anyhoo, back to the report. It's been awhile since I did one of these. In fact, it's been 2 months. I checked. I'm not going to review each book I read (or didn't read...probably). Just the ones that might interest you. And definitely the ones that interested me!

Soulless // Kind of a mash up between steam punk and fantasy. Vampires and werewolves type fantasy. Also a romance. It was okay in terms of "chic lit", but I will not be seeking out any further titles in this series, if that's what this is. You can tell it was written by a fan of fiction like this, which isn't meant as an insult or anything. Just not my cup of tea. A spinster with a mind of her own (and an Italian father, which is apparently even worse than just being a spinster), who has no soul is attacked by a vampire at a posh party, and has to dispatch of him with her trusty parasol. And the whole situation is a bit fishy, so it is investigated by the equivalent of the Supernatural Police, led by a handsome Scottish werewolf. Supernatural folk are disappearing and appearing at an alarming rate, and Alexia seems to be right in the middle of it!

The Paying Guests // This is one of those books where I kept waiting for the climax and then the book ended. Which isn't to say there wasn't a climax, just that it wasn't very climactic for me. I did really enjoy the details, the minutiae of everyday life in a different time. Essentially, a spinster and her widowed mother take in boarders - of a lower class - after the war in order to be able to afford to continue living in their home and then stuff happens. "Routines are shaken up"...I can't actually write anymore or I will give away what little surprises there were. Scandal! Cover Up! Toilet in the backyard!

Editor's Note: I have never heard of the author, but apparently she is very famous and many of her books have been adapted for TV. And her earlier books have received some better reviews, so  perhaps I am not finished with Sarah Waters after all.

The Giver // Definitely Young Adult, like, really young. I can see handing this one over to Lucas this year. As a cynical adult, the very very open-ended "ending" left me floundering. But given a child's imagination and a more innocent take on the world, and I could definitely fill in some blanks there and see past the disappointment I felt. Which is probably what they had to do with the movie, because the book is all of 180 pages.

Behemoth // The second book in the Leviathan series. Not as good as the first, but I am still very impressed and very enamored with this alternate reality that the author has created. The Leviathan has moved on to Istanbul, where they hope a gift from the Crown will sway the Sultan to the side of the Allies. But the Germans have beaten them there, and have bigger and shinier gifts. The prince on the run has to leave the ship behind, but finds friends in a resistance movement. They have really cool toys.

Dude & I are still madly in love with The Deltora Quest audio books! We are on the final stretch - I think I am waiting for book #6 to come available - and have a lot of guesses about how it will end. I am saving my review of the series until we've finished the final book, but I can safely recommend this series to young readers. It was especially exciting to listen to it read by an Australian! (I'm a sucker for accents...)

Tried and failed...these are the books that I didn't finish. Because, reasons.
Insurgent // Was so terrible I didn't even make it past 30 pages. I think I reached the first "love scene", promptly threw up in my mouth, and rain it back to the library. It looks like I will not be finishing this trilogy.

A bunch of Neil Gaiman graphic novels. Apparently my love for Neil Gaiman does not extend to his comic writing. Sandman was very gory, disturbing, and did not interest me at all. And while Marvel 1602 has an amazing premise - today's Marvel superheroes re-imagined for the world of 1602 - it was really long, and there were SO MANY CHARACTERS! Like, all of them. And I am not familiar enough with every single Marvel personality to keep them straight when faced with all of them presented anew on every page.

I did read a very intriguing graphic novel called Sex Criminals. A lady and gent discover they can exist outside of regular time when they orgasm, so they plan a bank robbery. Only to be caught by other people who can do the same thing! Amaze balls!

I think I will save December's books for another post. I have already started my 2015 Book List page and am slogging through my first book of the year. 52 in 2015 begins now!

I LOVE STEAMPUNK! (apparently...)

I can't believe I didn't realize this sooner...so many wasted hours. HA! That's silly...reading any book is never a waste.

Anyhoo, this first one showed up on a Goodreads list I believe, and it looked interesting enough for me to add it to my library holds list. I think it's young adult (based on the ages of the main characters), but it was actually quite rich and interesting. Essentially it is a re-telling of WWI with steampunk elements. The Germans have developed advanced Mech & Tech and the British and Allied Forces have manipulated Darwin's knowledge of DNA and created bio-engineered beasts.

The young son of the assassinated Duke is in hiding from his enemies, and falls in with a young man working on a dirigible, that is actually a helium filled whale. But this young man is actually a young lady. Girls aren't allowed to join up so she's got a bit of a secret identity. The two groups are forced together to outrun their common enemies and get some secret bio-tech to a potential ally.

For a YA novel, it's actually not super lame. And I'm really enjoying the alternate reality that it presents.

I've got the next book in the series ready to go, and I'm excited to see what happens!

Next we have Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. I really enjoyed this book, as indirectly recommended to me (via Instagram) by a feminist who likes books. About feminism. This one has the added benefit of being about feminism from a POC perspective. I never really got used to the dialect (it drove me a little batty actually), but Zora's prose in amongst the talking was so poetic and so beautiful.

It is truly a masterpiece. The lead Janie is a woman who has always been told what to expect out of life and what she should want for a husband (and a family), as a coloured woman of her time, but she wants more. And she keeps trying to find it, listening to and following her heart.

And she carves her own path, and she finds her way, and it ultimately ends in tragedy, but she keeps on keeping on. It was very inspiring to read such a tale about a lady who keeps trying to find what she wants, and find herself. I'm not doing a good job of explaining it...it's a book for the heart, that's for sure. But not sappy and mushy. I really enjoyed it.

And last but not least, Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. Once again, Neil wins the list, just as I knew he would. This book made me uncomfortable, and it's kind of hard to explain why. You know when you're watching a show or movie and somebody does something "embarrassing" or not-well-thought-out, and you are embarrassed for them? That. That feeling.

Say your father is a god and you don't know it. And you have a brother, and you didn't know that either. And then your father dies, and your brother comes into your life and he's driving you crazy and stealing your fiance - and she doesn't even realize it - and your boss is a thieving bastard and you just want things to be the way they were so you ask the Bird Goddess to "take care of things" for you, and things get even messier. All that and more...this book is amazing! If you liked American Gods, you will like this book (and vice versa!)

I'm falling behind on my list! There were three books that I started in September and never finished. Not because they weren't great...because they were! They were just really long and I renewed them to their max. Silly library rules ;-)

On deck (aka "my bed") for the next month:
Soulless by Gail Carriger (steampunk + vampires & werewolves...)
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld
And a couple more titles from Neil Gaiman...because of course.

Book Review - I got this

I can't seem to get anything right lately! I've got a whole post started about how much of a giant arsehole I've been lately, but I thought I would at least work on my writing with a little book review.

This graphic novel is amazing! I remember reading parts of this epic poem back in Religion 101 in University and really falling in love with the characters and the story. Essentially, this is illustrated, layman's guide to one part of the tale. The illustrations are amazing, and beautiful and also adorable! Please do a Google Image search - you won't be disappointed! I have started reading it to Lucas, and he loves it just as much as I do. There is adventure, love, brotherly devotion, gods, and a ten headed demon!

Highly recommended!

As for the next one...sigh... I am SO SICK AND TIRED of the following story line: average girl gets thrown into a strange and unique world/chain of events. And there is a boy (urgh...) who is really annoying and not at all interesting or attractive, or is he? And she is just so out of her element that she requires his help, even though she doesn't want his help and is just so frustrated when he helps her in his condescending, handsome, boyish manner...etc.

The protagonist of this book has no agency. Stuff happens to her, and she just watches it instead of participating. And when something strange, or scary happens she just panics and complains. Woe is me, and all that jazz. She is curious when it is safe to be, but when it might actually help her she just fumes. Her right hand lady is more exciting, and her crazy aunt. And her cousin that has only made an appearance once and is alluded to often so at least she's going to play a bigger role as the books continue.

Gywneth is part of a kind of secret time travel club, and you only get to enter it if you have the gene for it. And she didn't think she would have the gene for it, as her cousin has been groomed for the role since she was born. She is wholly unprepared for this new life! (Gosh just typing this is making me roll my eyes). And girls are allowed to be in the club, but not actually make any decisions about it or run it or anything. Cause girls are stupid. And yes I understand the author is possibly trying to make a social comment about that, but she does a piss-poor job of it. More "woe is me".

I had high hopes for this series - time travel and all - but I have been sorely disappointed by book one and don't think I will search out the remainder. Oh look, it was made into a movie. Of course it was...in German?! That might actually be worth watching ;)

 Not recommended.

Another amazing graphic novel! Very "Canadian" without beating you over the head with hockey references. Although there are some of those in here! This volume includes three separate but connected stories about a group of individuals living in Essex county at various times in the past. It's a beautiful commentary on life in a small community where everyone knows each other - or thinks they know each other. And how ghosts of your past are always with you, haunting or just hanging around. It felt very special and I could feel the connections between the characters form and grow, and then get ripped away or change - for better or worse - even with so few words, as befits a graphic novel of this kind.  I lent it to BFF because this is definitely the kind of book that he can get behind. Highly recommended. 

(I hate formatting blog posts.....)

In closing, always and forever, a little reminder:
I LOVE THE LIBRARY
I LOVE EPL's HOLDS SYSTEM
I LOVE GRAPHIC NOVELS

Book List Update

Editor's Note: Another old post I found in the queue. Needed an ending...still needs an ending cause I'm kind of lazy & cranky today. Hey! If you and swap the syllables in those words you get two actual words: "lanky" and "crazy"! Awesome!!!

My reading list is turning around!

EXCELLENT!

One of the cute gals I follow on Instagram posted a picture of this and I immediately thought "a book about a Golem?! I'm in!" And it didn't disappoint. This book answers the question: "What happens when two mythical creatures end up in 1920s New York and become friends?" It's a really lovely book about love, friendship, overcoming (and giving in to) your nature, faith...And it paints a really unique picture of life in 1920s New York, which varied hugely based on your social status and ethnicity/religion/nationality.

EXCELLENT!

Jen recommended I pick this up, and I'm going to listen to all her recommendations from now on! I have always enjoyed Stephen King, and this book was no exception. Creepy as all get out.

fin

Book Review For You

I can't believe I forgot to post this!! My reading list has improved steadily since drafting this post a couple of weeks ago, thanks to the "resolution" I made at the end of this post. But feel free to continue, Dear Readers. Perhaps I will have something important to contribute after all. In the meantime, I am off to compose a post about asparagus.

Sigh, I love rhymes. "Love" does not describe my book list for the past couple of months. Oi vay!

The Guernsey one with the ridiculous title // I don't like books that are written as a series of letters. Feels lazy to me. And I find it's really hard to pull off any character development or attachment when doing so. And this book definitely suffered for it. Not to mention the fact that it was just TOO sweet and cuddly. No thanks.

Before I Go To Sleep // Have you ever read a book and you couldn't figure out if it was a mystery, or a thriller, or a medical genre, or whatever until the very end? Turns out this was a thriller...sort of. Also, it's been adapted for the big screen. Hooray...

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova // Busy, business woman is rushing to work, multi-tasking with the phone, gets in a horrible accident, and loses the ability to recognize anything on the left side. The whole book is about her super Type-A, agreesive, competitive personality trying to adjust to living with "left neglect". I thought it was a made-up disorder (I'm a bastard). The play on words of the title? Lame. To be honest, I really couldn't feel any sympathy or connection with the protagonist. Not a smidge. I was more interested in her mother who *spoiler alert* up and dies near the end of the book and nary a word was spent on how. Bet this one will be a movie too. Apparently, this author is pretty awesome and everyone in the world loves her shit. Not this gal.

The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle // A small town is rocked by the discovery that two of it's most prominent citizens have been part of a child pornography group for years, taking it as far as abusing their son. Widowed mother of two boys herself, who considered herself to be the best friend of the abused's mother, takes the boy into her home, and...yeah. The ick factor was high with this book, so if you have any triggers for sexual abuse do not read it! I loved the characters. I loved their unique identities, and their independent struggles in dealing with this tragedy in their community. It was sad and beautiful, and it has a happy ending!

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion // Part of me really enjoyed this book, part of me really wanted to enjoy this book more, and part of me was not impressed. It's an interesting premise, a gentleman with a host of social anxiety issues wants to find a wife. So he devises a ridiculous questionnaire, a la dating websites, that will live up to exacting (and mind-numbing) requirements. Plot diversions, a jackass best friend, and a wacky love interest stir things up, all with an Australian accent! I was mildly disturbed at how nonchalantly ladies were treated like passing fancies, or commodities, and the asshole behaviours of the man male leads. But I suppose that was the point? But it was kind of funny and "cute", in a rom-com sort of way. Oh right...it's because it was written as a screenplay. The cocktail mixing scene was very amusing, but of the whole book that's the only thing that really stands out. Not bound for the rubbish heap, but not on my re-read list either.

It feels like I read a load of junk these past couple of months! Argh! Lame characters, uninspired writing, boring plotlines. I hope I get back on track for the summer. Either that, or something is seriously wrong with me, because all of these books got rave reviews and everyone (but me) loves the shit out of them.

Note to self: You don't like books that make it on to "Must Reads of the Year" lists...apparently...

If you need me, I will be feverishly scanning book lists on Goodreads, and then searching titles in the EPL databases, before putting them on hold.

And if that proves to be too much work, I'm just going to stick with what's safe: Margaret Atwood and Louis L'Amour and anything on this "science fiction-dystopia" list.

On a plus note, I have reached the halfway point of the year and my reading goal! Go Team!

#iamsuchadork
Lisa

I Read Comics Now

This isn't a new thing, or something that came on me suddenly. I think it falls under the "Lisa is trying to better herself and pursue things she was never brave enough to pursue before" growth that I am experiencing right now. Growing pains are what they are, but so far this is a good growth!

This may seem like a stupid thing to "be brave" about, but anything that breaks you out of your comfort zone, even in a small and seemingly insignificant way is important! Yessirree. For me, right now in my life, comic books are a small-brave thing that I can do and explore while working on and working up to the big-brave things.

Dude reads comics too! This is him with his stash from Free Comic Book Day! We had to wait in two separate lines for our books, and for what must have seemed like forever for an 8-year-old (who was also very concerned that our parking meter would expire while we were waiting), but he did really good! He actually finished reading a bunch of them while we were standing in line...so...

And sometimes we even read comics together. "Bedtime stories" will never be the same.

If you have any comic book or graphic novel recommendations, I would love to hear them! I never thought I would enjoy reading about super heroes, but I have quite enjoyed "The New 52" series of Batgirl and the same of Batwoman (spoiler alert: she's a lesbian!). The library has bunches and bunches that I can borrow, and I am taking full advantage of that (spoiler alert: they're free!).

p.s. Lucas met BFF for the first time on Free Comic Book Day. I didn't think he noticed that there was an extra person hanging out with us, but he totally did.

#bigdeal

Lisa

Worst. Book.

I very rarely stop reading a book that I have started. In fact I can only think of three times this has happened. The first was a book by Joseph Campbell (I think) about myths and I got really frustrated and "shouty". *cough*idiot*cough*. The second was Kite Runner, which may surprise people because it's such a popular, moving, blah-de-blah book. But I got to a point in it and I was just sick with what was happening and what I knew was coming next, and I couldn't continue. And the third time was the book on the right.

I love Douglas Coupland. I own and cherish many of his other books. I love his characters, his imagination, his heightened reality. But this one was too rough. It wasn't just that the language was explicit and raunchy. Everything just felt way too extreme, too over-the-top. It felt like it was trying to be explicit just to be explicit. Granted I only made it through a couple dozen pages, but the ick never went away. I just felt slimey and uncomfortable reading it. Like I needed a bath. And an old priest and a new priest.

Boo-urns Mr. Coupland. Boo-urns.
-Lisa

First Quarter Book Review

Yep, that title. That's totally a thing. Now. Cause I made it one.

Shuttup.

Should I start with the MEHs and work my way up to the HELL YAs? Sure, sounds like as good a plan as any.

Meh
For all the hype that some books get, I just don't get it. Perhaps I am not meant to read heady books about pretentious teenagers. Or college students. Or coming of age blah blah blah. No thanks. Not for me.

In the "not for me" section this quarter:
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Middling
Chris Hadfield is an awesome guy! But he's not a writer. And based on pretty much everything else I have ever read of Stephen King's, Roadwork cannot compare. But it didn't totally make me want to poke my eyes out, so there's that!

Okay, let me start this little paragraph by saying I really love PKD's books. A lot. Anything I have ever read of his, I have enjoyed immensely until now. All I can say about Eye in the Sky is "what the deuce?!" And also, "it was fine".

Hell Ya!
Neil Gaiman is some sort of crafty genius. You're reading along, everything is perfectly normal, and BAM! Psychic powers! Alternate dimensions! Otherworldly creatures! And also the story is fricken awesome! And normal. And yet also Dream Worlds! And Evil Beings! And Magic! Oh yes...loads of magic.

He wins the list every time.

later loves

Book Learning 2014

I started this blog/life tradition back in 2011. I was inspired by another blogger to set a goal for myself to read 52 books over the course of the year. There were "rules" (that I hated and broke immediately), but I made it to 53 books, considered it a smashing success and started up again the next year. In 2012 I added some challenges of my own, and read an astounding 71 books! And last year I modified my challenges slightly, stopped writing monthly reviews, and made it to 54 (almost 55) books.

I really enjoy this challenge. I am reading books anyway, but it's nice to be able to keep track and see a goal - albeit a simple one - accomplished over the year.

I have already started up my list page and changed up my challenges a tiny bit. Maybe I'll do some reviews this year, when I find a book I really love. And maybe not.

This goal is all about no pressure, which is one of my 2014 Intentions. I am ready to have fun with this again and discover some new favourites along the way.

Happy New Year

later loves