4 Stars. Were there a few problems with this book? Yes. But it was fun, funny, suspenseful and original. I read it in one shift at work. I was hooked when Harry quips, "But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face." What a great line! Harry is a [...]
Aleksandr Ferdinand is the son of the Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian empire. He finds himself on the run one night with a few loyal men and a Stormwalker, a two-legged machine that sounds like something out of Star Wars. Deryn Sharp is a girl who loved to fly with her father. Now that he's dead, her only hope of flying again is to disguise herself as a boy and join the British Air Service. I loved this world that Westerfeld created. The Star Wars type machines of the Clankers set against the fantastical animals created by the Darwinists was just a lot of fun. Who doesn't love the idea of a whale that's evolved to fly? It was all just so whimsical that I loved it. And then to choose to set these people down smack at the beginning of World War I rather than in the future really just tickled me. I loved the illustrations too. The detailed pencil drawings added the perfect touch to the story for me. Alek and Deryn were great characters. They were both about fifteen or sixteen and they already had strong personalities, but I liked watching them grow and learn throughout the book. There was one point where I got pretty upset with Deryn, and I can't decide if I think she acted out of character or if people who blindly follow orders without any thought of their own just irritate the heck out of me. Either way, I got past it and she did too. For the record, I was not a huge fan of Westerfeld's Uglies, but I really did love this book. So if you didn't really care for his earlier book either, don't let that turn you off this new series. It was a great adventure story with amazing…
Paula is accompanying her father to Constantinople on a trading trip. She might “only” be a seventeen-year-old girl, but she’s an intelligent, able assistant. They’re in search of an ancient religious artifact, Cybele’s Gift. Once in Constantinople, Paula starts seeing strange visions, visions that she feels sure are coming from the Other Kingdom, the fairy tale world next to ours. She learns that it’s her turn to go on a quest. Can she accomplish the task set for her? I am so torn in rating this book. The beginning felt like it was at least a hundred pages too long. I don’t know exactly what could have been cut, I’m just left with the feeling that a lot of it was unnecessary. It was all character development and setup for the quest, but it got a little boring and I was feeling disappointed that this wasn’t as good as Wildwood Dancing. It was interesting to read the descriptions of Constantinople, but there should be a limit to setup. I read 200 pages before I really got into it, but once the story got going, it was a fantastic fairy tale with impossible challenges, riddles, dangerous pursuit, and all the stuff that make us love the old stories. I finished the rest in one sitting, on the edge of my seat, waiting to find out what happened next. Three stars for the first half, five stars for the second half, and we’ll average it out at four. Paula is a woman ahead of her time. She loves to read and dreams of opening her own book trading business. She sometimes gets a little too lost in her own head though, and needs to be reminded that there is a whole real life to be lived outside of books. She also has…
4 Stars. This wasn't exactly what I expected when I started it. I was expecting a typical shy-girl-meets-handsome-guy story. But it wasn't exactly like that. This was more about finding the courage to get to know yourself. The importance of female friendships. The jealousies between mothers and daughters. Surrounding yourself [...]
Shutter Island is off the coast of Massachusetts, housing an asylum for the criminally insane. As a nasty summer storm brews up, U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule cross over to the island to search for an escaped inmate. But Teddy knows that things are not as they seem on Shutter Island. Ho-lee crap. It's been a while since a book has messed with my head this much. Just as I thought I knew what was going on, a new revelation would come along and knock all my theories out from under me. It all ultimately made sense and brought me deeper into this world, and I have to say that I loved it. I didn't really know what was going on until the very last few pages, and I find that even after I finished it, I'm sitting here thinking, "Well, maybe it still really wasn't what it seemed..." You'll see. I bet almost everyone is surprised by this ending. The twists and turns were the big draw of this book for me, but I loved Lehane's style. This is the first book I've read of his, but it won't be my last. Shutter Island is set in 1954, and I love the way these marshals speak to each other and so quickly establish common ground through The War. Their speech, their mannerisms, it all fit together to make them feel like real people. If I say anymore, I'll give something away, so I'll leave it at that. I highly, highly recommend this if you like your thrillers gritty and unpredictable. The movie comes out today, and I think it will have to be fantastic. Great original material, great cast, great director--what's not to love?
I have my review of World Without End by Ken Follett written and ready to post. I refer so much to The Pillars of the Earth that I should probably post that review first. Here it is. To be very simplistic, The Pillars of the Earth is about building a cathedral in the twelfth century in England. But to say that would be doing this book a huge disservice. The building of the cathedral serves as a cornerstone to explore the lives of an intriguing cast of characters and how life was lived at that point in history. I wasn't too sure what to expect going into this. I just had a vague idea that it was about building a cathedral, and let's face it: to a dedicated reader of fiction that sounds pretty dry and boring. But I kept hearing how good it was from people whose opinions I respect, so I decided to give it a shot. I was mostly pleasantly surprised. I'll get to the "mostly" bit in a minute. What made the book for me was the characters. Even the protagonists had flaws that were believable. They persevered despite their flaws and in some cases even tried to overcome them. But each character revealed something of twelfth century life. There was the monk, the young woman, the builder, the earl, and minor roles for figures from history that I've even heard of: think Thomas a Becket and King Henry II. They all added something to the story, and they each felt like a real person. Now for what kept me from giving this five stars. The bad guy was way too bad for my taste. The fact that I despised this character should probably mean that I give the author points, but I got so disgusted…
Fisherman and WWII veteran Carl Meine is found dead and tangled up in his fishing net one morning. At first glance it appears to be an accident, but the sheriff looks a little closer and starts to wonder. He soon arrests another fisherman, Kabuo Miyamoto, for murder. Against the backdrop of the murder trial, Guterson explores the roots of the conflict that led to the accusation and the lives of the witnesses in a series of flashbacks. Gorgeous. That's really the best word to describe this book. It's just gorgeous. I normally tear through books pretty quickly, eager to know what happened, but this time I found myself reading slowly, savoring each elegant yet sparse turn of phrase. I still wanted to know what happened, but that was secondary to the beauty of the language. Within this story, San Piedro Island becomes almost as much a character as anyone. The isolation, beauty and harshness of island life has shaped the islanders to become a breed apart. They are often silent, self-reliant, and careful in their interactions with each other. It's hard to avoid someone who becomes an enemy when you both live on an island. Set in 1954, the islanders are still feeling the effects of WWII. A lot of the men are veterans and the Japanese residents were shipped off to an internment camp. Feelings between the communities can occasionally flare up, even nine years after the war's end. The flashbacks to the war and the internment camp were mostly what interested me. I don't know why I love WWII novels, but I do. I was surprised to realize that I had one in my hands with Snow Falling on Cedars. One of the main characters, Ishmael, is a WWII vet who lost his left arm in the war.…
There are roughly 30 years of Jesus's life that are unaccounted for. Oh, there's the one story about him teaching in the temple when he was 12, but other than that, he was born and then he started his ministry around the age of 30. Christopher Moore has fun imagining what exactly Jesus--or Joshua, as Moore chooses to use the Hebrew name--might have gotten up to in the in-between years. I know what I'm thinking but I'm having trouble finding the right words. I think if you're going to be offended by this book, the title will turn you off right away. And that's obviously okay. But there might be a few people out there like me, who are thinking, "I'm pretty open-minded. I think I can handle it. But I do have lines that I don't want to have crossed, and Moore could cross them easily." I was okay with what he wrote here. Joshua is still absolutely the Son of God, without sin, sent to save mankind from our sins. That is never questioned. If it had been, I would have had to put the book down. But he does have fun, love, and learn from people from many countries and religions. That's the best I can do as far as the is-it-offensive-to-Christians thing. On to the good parts! I loved Biff! I wanted to reach into the pages and smack him upside the head a few times, but usually when that happened another character stepped in and smacked him for me. He was a horny, cheerful smartass who could teach dogs a thing or two about loyalty. He spends his entire life following Joshua around and trying to make sure that he stays out of trouble. He can always get Joshua laughing when he falls into a…
The Boleyn Inheritance is the story of Anne of Cleves, Henry VIII's fourth wife; Jane Boleyn, her lady-in-waiting and Anne Boleyn's former sister-in-law; and Katherine Howard, a beautiful young maid-in-waiting. By now, Henry is a hugely fat, sick, stinking, paranoid tyrant. These three women try their best to keep him happy and stay safe. I went into this knowing only a tiny bit of these ladies' stories. Sovereign, by C.J. Sansom, is set around this time and the tempestuous life at court was discussed a little bit. Even knowing how this turned out generally, I found myself getting nervous along with the women as Henry's moods turned for the worse. I was sitting there thinking, "Okay, I know this happened. Right? So it's okay. But what if I'm wrong? I could be wrong. I'm so glad I didn't live in this time." And it was an emotional roller coaster all the way through. I was cautiously optimistic when Henry was happy. I got nervous when he got sick or grumpy. When he was bed-ridden or in a foul mood, I would have bitten my nails with anxiety if I were a nail biter. Aside from that, the women came to life for me in these pages. Little Kitty especially. She reminded me of Eartha Kitt singing "Santa Baby." "Slip a sable under the tree--for me. I've been an awful good girl." That was pretty little Kitty. Another character compared her to a magpie, collecting shiny things. That fit too. She was vain and couldn't think of anyone or anything outside herself and her wants, but I couldn't help but like her. There was no true malice in her. Every one of her chapters started off with, "Let me see, what do I have?" and then she enumerated her possessions. It…
A giant dome suddenly appears over the town of Chester's Mill, Maine one beautiful October day, and the townspeople are left to their own devices. That's a lame synopsis, but I don't want to give anything more away. What would you do if you were cut off from the rest of the world? Perhaps more importantly--what would your neighbors do? Would everyone pitch in together to get through the crisis the best way they could? Would everything dissolve into complete anarchy? What would you do? As I read this, I kept mentally comparing it to Lord of the Flies, which I hated. I hated almost everything I had to read for class though, so I don't know what that says. Anyway, as I recall, in Lord of the Flies, the boys run wild and only bad things happen and I'm supposed to buy that that's the way people in general would act if all authority and rules disappeared. I can't buy it. I just can't. Call me a deluded optimist if you want. Oh, I'll give you that some people will get up to nasty things. But there will always be people who do the best they can, for themselves and their neighbors. And that's what Stephen King got right here. Sure, it is what it is and a lot of terrible things happen. But there is also a core group of good people. I loved them and I loved King for creating them. There was Barbie (a man), who might have been a little too good to be believable, but I still liked him. There was Julia, who never backed down. There was Piper, struggling with her faith, but still trying to minister to people's emotional needs. There was Andrea. I respected the hell out of that woman. And…