Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Angel's Game--Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Vintage Books of Contemporary Short Stories --Tobias Wolff
I love short stories. You can read something with a beginning, middle, and an end, and because they are "short", the language tends to be beautiful, concise, and what could be said in 300 pages is usually told in 100. I also like them because sometimes I just don't want to read a full blown novel. Short stories are great because it's a small commitment!
That being said, this collection of short stories is incredibly depressing. I was assigned this book in my senior seminar class in college. It was rough because like I said, a lot of the stories were sad and hard hitting, so having to read 4-5 stories in a sitting for review was no fun. I felt like I needed to watch Disney movies after each assignment to get my spirits back up! But even with all that, the stories were beautifully crafted and always enthralling, just not in a happy-go-lucky kind of way. It was a good thing these were short stories, because if they were novels, I don't think I would have made it through any of them!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Clive Cussler Novels
The Lost Empire and The Tombs
Oka, I reviewed Cussler's Spartan Gold, and I read these two in succession. I liked them, don't get me wrong, but I think I was just overloaded with Cussler. I feel like, yes, these are very action packed, mystery laden books, but Jesus, the Fargo's have ALL the luck, ALL the resources, and ALL the help they ever need. I mean, I know it wouldn't be as fun if something horrible happened to one of them, but if they struggled a little more, maybe it would be more believable! For example, in The Tombs, Remi gets kidnapped and held for ransom. And before long, she starts practicing the "system" her and Sam had put together, in case one of them got kidnapped, and before long she has escaped and at the same time Sam was there to come to the rescue. I don't know. I think I was just burned out on them. I wanted something bad to happen, just so it wouldn't be so predictable. I still think they are fun and exciting books, but it is going to be awhile before I pick another one of Cussler's books up.
The Tiger's Wife--Tea Obreht
The Tiger's Wife
My first reading of Tea Obreht's writing was in one of my college lit classes, Short Story Collections, and my teacher brought us copies of Obreht's stories from The New Yorker. They were two separate pieces, and I guess compared to some of the authors we had been reading, Junot Diaz, Alice Munro, and Tobias Wolff's collection of American Contemporary Short Stories, which will be reviewed soon, and so these two stories just kind of came out of no where. Don't get me wrong, they were very rich, colorful, thought provoking stories. But anyways, what really got me was that this GIRL was under 25 and was already in the New Yorker! I thought that was just amazing! I, at the time, aspired to be a writer, but even though that's what I thought I wanted I knew my chances of being in the New Yorker by the time I was 25 just wasn't going to happen.
Flash forward a year or so after I graduate, and I don't remember where I saw it--either on an Amazon.com newsletter or a Goodreads.com email, but there she was, Tea Obreht, and her debut novel, The Tiger's Wife. I really wanted it. BUT times were tough, and buying it wasn't an option at the time. So I went to the library. They didn't have it. BUT they had it as an e-media file I could download onto my kindle. And of course there was a loooong waiting list to get it! So I signed up for it and waited. And then forgot about it. When the email came that a digital file was waiting for me, I had no idea what it was. Then I saw it was the debut novel, and just about devoured it!
Oka, so, it is about this girl who just lost her grandpa. He was sick, and she was the only one who knew, and before he died, he just went off and died alone, and his wife was hysterical and she knew that her grand daughter was the only one to figure out why and where he went. This was paired with flashbacks to time spent with her grandfather, and old tales, including the tale of the Tiger's Wife.
Let me clarify, when I "devoured" this book, it still took me about a week and a half to finish. True to Obreht's style, the language was at times dense, and the story moved from one place to the next and sometimes there were very long gaps between them, so I would have to backtrack to remember what had happened. Even with that, I loved the book and I really couldn't put it down. For someone so young, she is so eloquent and detailed in her writing. It sounds cliche, but she really does paint a picture, and she just immerses you in this life and story. It's amazing. She's 27 now. And has a novel. And has been featured in top 5 under 35. Amazing. Phenomenal. God, to be her!!!
Anyways, if you have time, pick this book up and let her language take you away.
My first reading of Tea Obreht's writing was in one of my college lit classes, Short Story Collections, and my teacher brought us copies of Obreht's stories from The New Yorker. They were two separate pieces, and I guess compared to some of the authors we had been reading, Junot Diaz, Alice Munro, and Tobias Wolff's collection of American Contemporary Short Stories, which will be reviewed soon, and so these two stories just kind of came out of no where. Don't get me wrong, they were very rich, colorful, thought provoking stories. But anyways, what really got me was that this GIRL was under 25 and was already in the New Yorker! I thought that was just amazing! I, at the time, aspired to be a writer, but even though that's what I thought I wanted I knew my chances of being in the New Yorker by the time I was 25 just wasn't going to happen.
Flash forward a year or so after I graduate, and I don't remember where I saw it--either on an Amazon.com newsletter or a Goodreads.com email, but there she was, Tea Obreht, and her debut novel, The Tiger's Wife. I really wanted it. BUT times were tough, and buying it wasn't an option at the time. So I went to the library. They didn't have it. BUT they had it as an e-media file I could download onto my kindle. And of course there was a loooong waiting list to get it! So I signed up for it and waited. And then forgot about it. When the email came that a digital file was waiting for me, I had no idea what it was. Then I saw it was the debut novel, and just about devoured it!
Oka, so, it is about this girl who just lost her grandpa. He was sick, and she was the only one who knew, and before he died, he just went off and died alone, and his wife was hysterical and she knew that her grand daughter was the only one to figure out why and where he went. This was paired with flashbacks to time spent with her grandfather, and old tales, including the tale of the Tiger's Wife.
Let me clarify, when I "devoured" this book, it still took me about a week and a half to finish. True to Obreht's style, the language was at times dense, and the story moved from one place to the next and sometimes there were very long gaps between them, so I would have to backtrack to remember what had happened. Even with that, I loved the book and I really couldn't put it down. For someone so young, she is so eloquent and detailed in her writing. It sounds cliche, but she really does paint a picture, and she just immerses you in this life and story. It's amazing. She's 27 now. And has a novel. And has been featured in top 5 under 35. Amazing. Phenomenal. God, to be her!!!
Anyways, if you have time, pick this book up and let her language take you away.
Friday, December 28, 2012
TO BE REVIEWED:
The Tiger's Wife --Tea Obreht
The Lost Empire and The Tombs --Clive Cussler
The Vintage Books of Contemporary Short Stories --Tobias Wolff
The Angel's Game --Carlos Ruiz Zafon
IQ84 -- Haruki Murakami
The Forgotten Garden --Kate Morton
The Casual Vacancy -- J.K. Rowling
The Imperfectionist --Tom Rachman
Holidays on Ice -- Dave Sedaris
My New Years Resolution is to be better at updating my blog! I read 42 books in 2012 (and listened to about 5 audio books, if that counts!!!) and I only have about 10 reviews from 2012! Just a bit behind!!! So for 2013 I will finish reviewing the last 10 books I read in 2012 and then keep up with all the books I will read in 2013!!!
IQ84 -- Haruki Murakami
The Forgotten Garden --Kate Morton
The Casual Vacancy -- J.K. Rowling
The Imperfectionist --Tom Rachman
Holidays on Ice -- Dave Sedaris
My New Years Resolution is to be better at updating my blog! I read 42 books in 2012 (and listened to about 5 audio books, if that counts!!!) and I only have about 10 reviews from 2012! Just a bit behind!!! So for 2013 I will finish reviewing the last 10 books I read in 2012 and then keep up with all the books I will read in 2013!!!
Friday, October 5, 2012
Spartan Gold, Clive Cussler
Spartan Gold, by Clive Cussler
This book was a happy find when my manager at work loaned it to me. I've said it once, I'll say it again, recommend, lend, or mention a book, I will read it!!!!! I love getting new reads from people. Anything and everything, people! I read it all!!! Anyways, I digress...
This was an awesome, amazing, couldn't put it down, action/adventure book. It follows married couple Sam and Remi Fargo, treasure hunters, on a whirl wind adventure. This is also a historical fiction book, so there are lots of little historical nuggets about Napoleon's lost treasure, Greek history (Delphi and lost Greek statues made of pure gold...), Persian history (focused on Xerxes the Great, a very kick ass dude, until he died, at least) and all that is brought together by the power hungry Persian Bondaruk who is OBSESSED with all this stuff because he thinks he is a direct descendant of Xerxes himself.
Sam And Remi are vacationing and happen to find a shard of a wine bottle that kick starts their journey of finding Napoleon's lost treasure, a convoluted treasure hunt with secret codes that the Fargo's research team flawlessly decode. Bondaruk catches wind of these finds and tries to threaten the Fargo's to give up the search. When that doesn't work, he just uses them to continue his search. What really cracks me up about these two, the Fargo's, is that they will literally have just gotten gunned down, and then in the next scene they are getting deep tissue massages at the Four Seasons! Like nothing happened! Just another day, I guess!! But anyways, the Fargo's follow the trail of the wine bottles, and into Bondaruk's mansion to get the other bottle, and discover the bad guy's obsession with Persian history and weapons. They put the pieces together and figure out the whole Persian side to it, are lead to a cave, and BOOM, they find missing Greek statues made of pure gold (Napoleon's lost treasure). Just like that...
Well obviously not, there are of course huge cat and mouse chase scenes, car crashes, war wounds, etc. Like is said, it was a pretty great action/adventure story, so getting to the treasure was just a fraction of the good stuff...
My only real complaint of this book was the ending. It was like Cussler was only given so many pages to write this story in, and such a fantastic story going, that he got to the last 10 pages and was like, Oh yea, this has to end like now. And that is pretty much how it did end. They got to the cave, had a shoot out with the bad guys, and then called in a chopper to pick em up, and they decided what their next adventure would be. It was just...to quick. I wish that there was just a little more closure, like what happened with the statues, the repercussions of Bondaruk and his men and his obsessive collection. It was all wrapped up very quickly in a neat and pretty bow, and I don't know, just wasn't the ideal way for it to end for me.
With that said, the next adventure, The Lost Empire, looks promising and I can't wait to start reading it!!!!!
This book was a happy find when my manager at work loaned it to me. I've said it once, I'll say it again, recommend, lend, or mention a book, I will read it!!!!! I love getting new reads from people. Anything and everything, people! I read it all!!! Anyways, I digress...
Sam And Remi are vacationing and happen to find a shard of a wine bottle that kick starts their journey of finding Napoleon's lost treasure, a convoluted treasure hunt with secret codes that the Fargo's research team flawlessly decode. Bondaruk catches wind of these finds and tries to threaten the Fargo's to give up the search. When that doesn't work, he just uses them to continue his search. What really cracks me up about these two, the Fargo's, is that they will literally have just gotten gunned down, and then in the next scene they are getting deep tissue massages at the Four Seasons! Like nothing happened! Just another day, I guess!! But anyways, the Fargo's follow the trail of the wine bottles, and into Bondaruk's mansion to get the other bottle, and discover the bad guy's obsession with Persian history and weapons. They put the pieces together and figure out the whole Persian side to it, are lead to a cave, and BOOM, they find missing Greek statues made of pure gold (Napoleon's lost treasure). Just like that...
Well obviously not, there are of course huge cat and mouse chase scenes, car crashes, war wounds, etc. Like is said, it was a pretty great action/adventure story, so getting to the treasure was just a fraction of the good stuff...
My only real complaint of this book was the ending. It was like Cussler was only given so many pages to write this story in, and such a fantastic story going, that he got to the last 10 pages and was like, Oh yea, this has to end like now. And that is pretty much how it did end. They got to the cave, had a shoot out with the bad guys, and then called in a chopper to pick em up, and they decided what their next adventure would be. It was just...to quick. I wish that there was just a little more closure, like what happened with the statues, the repercussions of Bondaruk and his men and his obsessive collection. It was all wrapped up very quickly in a neat and pretty bow, and I don't know, just wasn't the ideal way for it to end for me.
With that said, the next adventure, The Lost Empire, looks promising and I can't wait to start reading it!!!!!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Moon Dance, J.R. Rain
Moon Dance, by J.R. Rain
This was a quick, fun vampire book. The first of a series, we meet Samantha Moon, who apparently is a vampire. Refreshingly, this was not your typical vampire novel. She is a private detective, working mostly at night, but unlike most vamp books, she has a family, and because of that, she is trying to maintain some sort of normalcy in her new life.
Let's backtrack...the book begins with meeting Sam in her house. Her vampire status is never really declared, instead, she has a "condition". She slathers on sunscreen, wears long sleeved shirts and big brimmed sun hats to pick her kids up from school. She seems real lethargic during all this, but once the sun goes down she seems to perk up. We learn that her marriage seems to be on the rocks as well.
She takes a case and meets with her new client. This is where the supernatural really comes out. Her new client, Kingsley Fulcrum (I think some of the names in this book is are kind of silly...like Kingsely Fulcrum...). Turns out Fulcrum is a werewolf. And makes her admit that she is a vampire. The story continues with her working for Fulcrum, trying to figure out who tried to kill him, figure out what to do with her marriage (which doesn't end well) and embrace what she really is without losing everything important, and figuring out what to do when and if she does.
Overall, though it was a new look at a vampire book, not stereotypical at all, it was not exactly a home run. I felt like maybe this book was a good start to something better, and I am looking forward to reading more of the series. I just hope that the character development grows and the stories get a little deeper, as this story just kind of skimmed the surface of anything real deep. Not that every book needs to be deep and telling, but it felt like everything was just on the surface. This could be because Samantha herself has not delved into herself and the vampire within, holding on to a life that she can no longer functionally be a part of. The end of the book gave the impression that book 2, Vampire Moon, might open up to that.
This was a quick, fun vampire book. The first of a series, we meet Samantha Moon, who apparently is a vampire. Refreshingly, this was not your typical vampire novel. She is a private detective, working mostly at night, but unlike most vamp books, she has a family, and because of that, she is trying to maintain some sort of normalcy in her new life.
Let's backtrack...the book begins with meeting Sam in her house. Her vampire status is never really declared, instead, she has a "condition". She slathers on sunscreen, wears long sleeved shirts and big brimmed sun hats to pick her kids up from school. She seems real lethargic during all this, but once the sun goes down she seems to perk up. We learn that her marriage seems to be on the rocks as well.
She takes a case and meets with her new client. This is where the supernatural really comes out. Her new client, Kingsley Fulcrum (I think some of the names in this book is are kind of silly...like Kingsely Fulcrum...). Turns out Fulcrum is a werewolf. And makes her admit that she is a vampire. The story continues with her working for Fulcrum, trying to figure out who tried to kill him, figure out what to do with her marriage (which doesn't end well) and embrace what she really is without losing everything important, and figuring out what to do when and if she does.
Overall, though it was a new look at a vampire book, not stereotypical at all, it was not exactly a home run. I felt like maybe this book was a good start to something better, and I am looking forward to reading more of the series. I just hope that the character development grows and the stories get a little deeper, as this story just kind of skimmed the surface of anything real deep. Not that every book needs to be deep and telling, but it felt like everything was just on the surface. This could be because Samantha herself has not delved into herself and the vampire within, holding on to a life that she can no longer functionally be a part of. The end of the book gave the impression that book 2, Vampire Moon, might open up to that.
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