Rose City Reader is hosting the European Reading Challenge in 2012. The goal is to read 1-5 books written by a European OR set in Europe. There are prizes and different variations of the challenge. Visit Rose City Reader for more details and to sign up! I'm doing the straightforward challenge and aiming for the Business [...]
Shelleyrae at Book'd Out is hosting The Eclectic Reader Challenge in 2012. The challenge is to read a total of 12 books from 12 different genres. I'll track my progress here. The genres are: Literary [...]
Nobody Owens is being raised in a graveyard. His "parents" are two ghosts. His guardian is a man who only comes out at night and who seems to be neither dead or alive. His real family was murdered and the murderer is still looking for Nobody. As long as he stays in the graveyard, he's safe. But what growing boy isn't curious about the wider world? He has lots of adventures and near-misses, both in and out of the graveyard. Honestly, I loved this. It was a fun, imaginative book with a hugely loveable main character. Think a tiny bit of "The Boy Who Lived" mixed with a slightly bigger bit of Odd Thomas but a charm that is all his own. Nobody made this book. The other characters were all slightly screwball and they each added to the book in his or her own way. For example, there's the poet Nehemiah Trot who took revenge on a critic by refusing to publish his (Nehemiah's) poems and having them buried with him. He's still waiting on the public to exhume him to publish his lost work. He's been dead over 200 years. So, mostly this book was character-driven for me. But the stories were fun and interesting too. My biggest complaint is that I could have used a little more explanation as to why Nobody's family was killed in the first place. There is an explanation, but it felt a little weak to me. Maybe there will be a sequel? This book definitely stands alone, but there's always room for a sequel. I would definitely read it if one was published. I recommend this to anyone who thinks the synopsis sounds interesting. If it sounds like a silly premise for a book, you probably will never enjoy it. Reviewed December…
Marianne Engel is the main character from The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. It's been a while since I read this, so my details might be off, but I'll definitely be true to the spirit of Marianne. Marianne at first comes across as a crazy lady. Not in any kind of a dangerous way, but in a whoa-let's-take-a-step-back-here-cuz-what-the-heck-is-this-chick-talking-about kind of way. The narrator, who is never named, has been horribly burned in a car crash. Marianne, whom he has never met before in his life, suddenly shows up in his hospital room claiming that they were lovers in a past life. Now, the narrator at this point is not a nice person. At all. He admits it himself from the beginning. But Marianne comes in and starts caring for him. She sits with him and tells him stories and does whatever she can to make him comfortable and help him pass the time. She even cares for the nurses who are taking care of him. She listens to them and brings them gifts and treats. Her stories are amazing. They cover vastly different times and cultures, and she talks about the characters as if they're people she's been friends with. They are all beautiful, timeless love stories. And that is how she starts to crack the narrator's tough shell and make him a better man. She's also a talented carver of gargoyles. I don't remember if she actually says anything like this, but I at least got the impression that she agreed with Michelangelo; she isn't carving a form, she's setting it free. Her other...eccentricities...fade when compared with her carving. So what if she's a little kooky in day to day life? She's spreading love and beauty and compassion in a world that desperately needs it. But when she's carving, she…
Wade Watts is just your average kind of guy, living in his aunt's trailer, trying to get through the last months of high school, playing video games, and trying to solve a multi-billion dollar puzzle. Yup. Billion with a b. See, it's 2044 and video game designer James Halliday has just passed away without an heir. He's left a video will for the entire world, promising his fortune to whomever can find the "Easter egg" he's hidden within the OASIS, a virtual reality video game he created that everyone is addicted to. In order to find the "egg," egg hunters, or gunters, as they come to be called, must solve riddles and challenges that Halliday designed around his favorite things, and they all center around the 80s. Wade knows he's got this. He's watched War Games something like 32 times. He can sing lyrics to obscure 80s hits. His mind is overloaded with video game history and trivia. This should be a piece of cake. But things get complicated, as they always do, when a multi-national conglomeration finds a loophole in the will and starts tempting other brilliant minds to play as a team to solve the riddles. Wade is determined that these guys will not win at any cost. What a fun book! I don't remember a lot about 80s pop culture, but I had a blast recognizing all the little tidbits Cline worked into this novel. The world of the OASIS was fully realized and I could see the appeal. My one complaint with the book is the world-building though. While I did enjoy it for the most part, I felt that Cline got a little too involved in it and that led to some unnecessary info dumps. There would be a few pages in a row of…
Jared is one of the more powerful members of the Blood, the vaguely aristocratic magic-wielding rulers of the lands he lives in. After a life-alteringly bad choice in his teens, Jared has become a pleasure slave for the Queens and Witches of Hayll. After nine years of bowing to sadistic whims, he does something that has him headed for a short, brutal life in the salt mines unless some fool decides to buy him at the semi-annual slave market. Enter The Gray Lady. She is one of the few Queens that has refused to bow to the demands of affiliation from Hayll's Queen. The Gray Lady sees that the balance of power has shifted dangerously in Hayll. The Queens who are meant to care for their people and their land are instead abusing both. The males who are meant to protect the female Blood are instead breaking the stronger of them in order to eliminate competition for the leaders. Hayll's Queen wants The Gray Lady assassinated. The Gray Lady buys Jared and a handful of other cast-off slaves at the slave market. She then makes some puzzling choices. Instead of putting everyone in a coach and riding the Winds home, a trip of hours, she buys a cart and heads over land, a journey of days, if not weeks. On the journey, the group faces many dangers together and starts to feel a confusing loyalty to their new owner. Jared is the most torn of all. As a pleasure slave, he has had more than his fill of women, so why is he attracted to this Lady who is old enough to be his grandmother? I might be finished with this series. I loved the first one and liked the next two, but now that new characters are taking center…
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted:Posted a sign-up page looking for Southern authors and those who work with them to guest post on my blog in a new feature called Saturdays in the South Review: The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds Review: The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore My Sign Up Post for the Middle East Reading Challenge My Sign Up Post for the Bookie Friends Favorites Challenge Read: Finally finished up Tales of H. P. Lovecraft. The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet by Jill Conner Browne with Karin Gillespie, read by the author From a Whisper to a Scream by Charles de Lint Currently Reading:The Fat Man: A Tale of North Pole Noir by Ken Harmon Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes When Santa Fell to Earth by Cornelia Funke, read by the author Elliot and the Goblin War by Jennifer A. Nielsen Up Next:I've put a few hold requests on some more Christmas audio, like Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, a paranormal short story collection. Other than that, I have no idea what I'll be in the mood for. I was actually going to grab Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran when The Fat Man came flying out of my stacks at me, so maybe I'll get to that next. What are you reading this week? I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.
I'm having a hard time summarizing this without either giving away the story or making it sound like something it's not. Katsa is a fighter with almost supernatural abilities. This is the story of how she grows into her power and herself. Not the greatest summary, but at least it doesn't sound like a book about a woman who does nothing but fight. That's what I got from the "official" summary, and that does this wonderful book no justice. I'm so glad I listened to Allison and gave this a shot! I loved Katsa. What a great name for this character! She seems to be so strong and self-reliant, but really she's kind of clueless, insecure in some things, and afraid of herself. I loved watching her grow past all that and realize that she's more than just a fighter. I loved seeing her realize that she was living her own legend. Whether it was a good story or a bad story was entirely up to her. And then there's Prince Po. Wise, funny, mostly humble, lovable, sometimes cocky, Prince Po. I adored him. My one problem? His name. I could not get past Po in Kung Fu Panda. I did finally stop seeing a fat panda in my head whenever I read his name, but that was replaced with Chow Yun-Fat. Not too bad, but I got the feeling that Po was supposed to look more Spanish, or maybe even like a gypsy. Not so much Asian. But I could not get past that name. I did have a few minor problems. Katsa's amazing fighting abilities come from her Grace. Not everyone in this world is Graced. I would have liked something, even if it was some sort of mythology, explaining why some people have an ability that makes…
Who did you connect with this week? Link your post on Mr. Linky, then be sure to go check out the other Character Connections! Who do ya love? Or love to hate? You know you've got a lot to say about some larger-than-life characters, and this is the place to say it. Write a straightforward post. Draw a picture. Vlog, write poetry, write fiction, cast the role, be as creative as you want! Be sure to post the book's title and author, and be very careful not to give away spoilers while talking about how much you love your characters. Mr. Linky will be posted here on The Introverted Reader every Thursday. I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore located in downtown Asheville, NC; and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.
"'I think this is the greatest generation any society has ever produced.' I know that this was a bold statement and a sweeping judgment, but since than I have restated it on many occasions. While I am periodically challenged on this premise, I believe I have the facts on my side." So writes Tom Brokaw in the introduction to this book about the World War II generation, and he proceeds to make his case by telling individual stories of survival, courage, leadership, and trail-blazing. I pretty much loved this book. I have always liked reading books centered around WWII, but I haven't actually read much non-fiction, and especially not exactly like this. I got what I expected and more. I expected stories about the heroes, both celebrated and unsung, and their exploits in the war. I may have even expected stories about the women on the home front. I did not expect Brokaw to tackle some of the issues this generation had to overcome. He did not shy away from segregation, both in civilian life and the military. He confronted the issue of the Japanese internment camps. He took a close look at the women in uniform during the war and the paths they had to forge to get anything that even resembled equality. I was impressed that he included those topics, and I learned a lot from the personal stories he used to make his points about these issues. I also didn't really expect the personal stories to dwell so much on life after the war. I was a little disappointed at first; after all, the war was what drew me to the book. But I quickly got over it and realized that this generation didn't let one major event define their lives completely. They moved on and shaped…