2012 Book Reviews by Title
A list of my 2012 book reviews by title.
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June 1, 2011
Fluke by Christopher Moore: Book Review
Nate Quinn has spent his entire professional career following humpback whales around the ocean, trying to find out exactly why the males sing. He's currently in Hawaii, where the whales spend the winter, still researching. His world is rocked on the day that he is taking pictures of one singer and sees BITE ME clearly written across the whale's tail. Did he imagine it? Was it there? Surely he got a picture of it. He heads back in to get his film developed, only to find that someone has completely trashed his lab. So begins a lot of inexplicable events. Oh my gosh. I'm pretty sure Fluke just replaced A Dirty Job as my favorite Moore novel, and I can't help but wonder if it's because I listened to Fluke. I have never been interested in audio books. I don't take things in all that well just by listening. I've tried them a time or two, and while I found them interesting at the time, I never had any desire to turn the book back on and finish it. Then, about 6 months ago, I realized how much my new job was eating into my reading time. Out of desperation, I tried an audio book during my commute, and I haven't looked back. I'm now one of those people who sits in my driveway listening to my book, because I have to know what happens next. Still, the printed word is my first love. I wasn't too sure about this narrator, Bill Irwin, at first. His voice was a little dry. It didn't seem to fit Moore's laugh-out-loud, over-the-top, usually raunchy humor. Oh, but I was wrong. Somehow it was even funnier. I would be driving along, something outrageous would come out of this guy's mouth, and I'm looking around,…
Moloka’i by Alan Brennert: Book Review
Seven-year-old Rachel Kalama is living in Honolulu in 1893. Her life is punctuated with a child's hopes and dreams and drama. Her father is a sailor, and she loves it when he comes home on leave, mostly because she's excited to see him, but also because she loves to hear his stories about the wider world and for the exotic dolls he brings home to her. Then she's diagnosed with leprosy. Native Hawaiians are incredibly susceptible to the disfiguring, deadly disease. To prevent the spread, all who are diagnosed are sent to Kalaupapa, a lepers' colony on the island of Moloka'i. This sounds a little depressing. Seven-year-old girl sent away from all her friends and family to await death. But Rachel is stronger than that. She is lucky that has a very strong resistance to the disease, and she has a form that is slow-moving anyway. She has a hard time at first (who wouldn't in her shoes?) but she forms her own family in the colony, and she chooses to live. I loved her. I loved that she never gave up hope, that she lived a life that was as normal as it could be, she loved to read, she loved to surf, and she loved her chosen family. I loved that as she grew older she fought hard for improvements to conditions in the colony. She was a heart of this community. She always dreamed of and longed for the wider world. When something happens in her life that would have broken many women, she hurt but she kept on hoping. I missed her when I finished this book. Rachel was the biggest draw of the book for me, but I also enjoyed reading about this part of history. I had never heard about it until I came…
Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey: Book Review
This started out a little slow for me. It dragged along for about the first 150 pages. Then the action started and I couldn't put it down. To oversimplify the plot, this is the story of Phèdre, a masochist who sleeps with her patrons not only for money, but also for state secrets. So, there were [...]
Character Connection: Miss Alexia Tarabotti
Don’t you just love larger-than-life characters? The ones who jump off the page and grab you? Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t be indifferent to them. I would love to know about the characters who just won’t leave you! Most of you will probably post about how much you love (or loathe) each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Write a love poem in elvish for Aragorn. Draw a picture of Harry obliterating Voldemort. The possibilities are endless. 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.Miss Alexia Tarabotti is the main character in Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series, beginning with Soulless. Miss Alexia (it feels disrespectful to leave off the Miss) is, to quote from my review, "a fantastic character. At twenty-six, she's firmly on the shelf in Victorian society, but she's okay with that. Better to be on the shelf than married to some half-wit who can't keep up with her own intellect and curiosity. She gets enough of that from her family. They don't know she's soulless and put all of her quirks down to the fact that her father was Italian. But they've left her just a little insecure about her appearance and desirability. Just enough to make her feel real." She meets her match in sexy Lord Maccon, who just happens to be an Alpha werewolf. You would think that a non-werewolf female would be cowed by a true Alpha personality, but not Miss Alexia. She is more than…
May 26, 2011
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly: Book Review
"My name is Calpurnia Virginia Tate, but back then everybody called me Callie Vee. That summer, I was eleven years old and the only girl out of seven children. Can you imagine a worse situation?" "That summer" is the summer of 1899 and it is a scorcher. Amid the heat and the drought though, Callie is finding out who she is. She is a born scientist. She is a little lost in the shuffle of all those brothers, but one day, desperate for an answer to a scientific question, she bravely goes out to confront her eccentric grandfather in his "laboratory." The rest is history. The two recognize a "kindred spirit" in each other and set out on scientific pursuits together. Granddaddy encourages Callie in all her experiments and dreams, seeing past her gender to her brilliant mind, but slowly Callie realizes that she is destined for a life of embroidery and children and cooking. She is not happy. I love Calpurnia Tate. She is a childhood heroine for the ages, joining the likes of Anne Shirley in my heart. I do not say that lightly. I have loved Anne for about 20 years, but now she has good company with Callie. Calpurnia is a thinker and a quiet fighter. When her mother tells her she can't cut her hair, she does it an inch at a time. I have utmost faith that her fighting spirit will help her get what she wants and prepare the way for women who follow. She is funny and honest and she tries so hard to make her family happy with her. She is far from perfect and gets into some hilarious scrapes. She has a gigantic heart and tries to help those she loves any way she can. I wish I could know…
Rising Tide by John M. Barry: Book Review
Telling the story of an epic flood of the Mississippi River in 1927, this book explores the early history of flood control efforts and a rivalry that made flood controls at the time practically a joke, the politics involved in decisions for handling the flood itself, the politics of disaster relief, and the impact of the flood into the future. It's too much. There is a ton of interesting detail in this book, but I got bogged down in the details. Any one of the above aspects of the flood would have made an interesting, shorter book on its own. Putting them all together made me read at a stupefying pace and left me confused as to who was who and what was going on where. Just too much. However. The author makes a lot of good points. He asserts that the flood was responsible for hundreds of thousands of African Americans migrating out of the Mississippi River valley, the slow decline of New Orleans, the death of a way of life in the South, the eventual shift of the black vote to Democrats, the beginnings of big government in America, and could someday lead to the mouth of the Mississippi transferring over to the Atchafalaya. It's interesting to see how one event led to so many changes in America. Reading this as the Mississippi is currently having another epic flood is interesting too. I have to say that I've gotten pretty good at keeping my head in the sand when it comes to national news, but this flood has even made it into my awareness. Today's flood is being compared to the flood of 1927. I read a brief article about it before I wrote this review, and I now have an understanding of the flood control measures that…
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Over the past week, I've Read: Nothing! I haven't finished even one book! A Storm of Swords is killing me. I'm loving it, but that 973-page monster is taking me forever to read. Now I know why I typically read longer books in the winter; I have more time to read them. Reviewed: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan--Still love this series Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach--Like a European vacation with a well-read, intelligent friend Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson--Was not a fan of this one. Maybe if I had read it when I was younger I would have liked it more. Currently Reading: A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand Everlost by Neal Shusterman, read by Nick Podehl Up Next: I'm not even going to throw anything out there. I've got my fingers crossed that I might finish Seabiscuit and Everlost, but if I do, I'll just think about this when I get to it. What are you reading this week? I hope your week was more productive than mine! I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my local independent bookstore, and Better World Books. I will receive a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase books through links on my site.
May 23, 2011
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