Introverted Reader

Thumb Flagging by Jerome Peterson: Book Review

Willy is a seasoned hitchhiker who introduces Jay to the wonders of the open road in order to boost his self-confidence and rid him of his spoiled-Catholic-boy tendencies. I enjoyed this. As you can imagine in a book about hitchhiking, it's a bit of a picaresque novel with stories about the other hitchers and rides they catch. There were some interesting stories, some crazy stories, and some unexpected stories. Some of the people whom I stereotyped based on their descriptions had surprising insights or tragedies to share. Jay finally realizes that everyone he meets has something to teach him and he starts to actively think about it and seek out the lessons. I like it. I did enjoy the second half a little more, when Chloe was introduced. She was a great character! Tough, vulnerable, funny, she just brightened up the book for me. And Nanook! If I had a dog, I would want her to be just like Nanook, one of the best dogs ever. This really could just be read as a story of two young men hitchhiking around the country and the characters they meet, but there's more to be learned than that. Jay identifies his weaknesses and learns to try to grow past them, recognize them when they show back up, and keep fighting those tendencies. Willy learns that you can't just ignore your problems; you have to face them or they'll lead to even bigger problems down the road. They both learn to appreciate good traveling companions while you have them, but gracefully let them go when it's time to move on. There were a couple of plot lines that were left unresolved, so I'm wondering if there will be a sequel. The book feels pretty complete on its own, but if there is a…

Bookish Miscellany

What Are You Reading?/In My Mailbox Monday

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. This week was a pretty slow book week. I had a hard time settling into anything. Finished: Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint. That review will be posted Wednesday. Currently Reading: The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell The Vision of Emma Blau by Ursula Hegi Oh! I almost forgot! I am trying out audio books for the second or third time, so I'm listening to I Like You! Hospitality Under the Influence by Amy Sedaris also. She's funny, so she's keeping my attention pretty well so far. Up Next: I checked out Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran from the library, so I need to get to that soon. What did you read this week? I hope you had better luck than I did!

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May 10, 2010

Personal Stories

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! You are truly special people! I can't think of a time when my own mom wasn't there for me. Whether it was just staying up with me all night when I was sick, helping me with homework, taking us to the library weekly, being at every single band event for eight years between my sister and me, being with me when I got my heart broken, listening as I gushed on and on about my now-husband when I first met him, sharing my joy when I got engaged, helping us paint and clean and remodel our house, or showing up when I call her saying, "My in-laws are coming into town, I need help planting flowers," she is always there. I don't say it enough, so here it is. Thank you, Mama. I love you. Go tell your mom, or your like-a-mom, or your whoever how much they mean to you today. We can never tell them often enough.

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May 9, 2010

Stardust by Neil Gaiman: Book Review

Synopsis from GoodReads: Stardust is an utterly charming fairy tale in the tradition of The Princess Bride and The Neverending Story. Neil Gaiman, creator of the darkly elegant Sandman comics and author of The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, tells the story of young Tristran Thorn and his adventures in the land of Faerie. One fateful night, Tristran promises his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star for her from beyond the Wall that stands between their rural English town (called, appropriately, Wall) and the Faerie realm. No one ever ventures beyond the Wall except to attend an enchanted flea market that is held every nine years (and during which, unbeknownst to him, Tristran was conceived). But Tristran bravely sets out to fetch the fallen star and thus win the hand of his love. His adventures in the magical land will keep you turning pages as fast as you can--he and the star escape evil old witches, deadly clutching trees, goblin press-gangs, and the scheming sons of the dead Lord of Stormhold. The story is by turns thrillingly scary and very funny. You'll love goofy, earnest Tristran and the talking animals, gnomes, magic trees, and other irresistible denizens of Faerie that he encounters in his travels. Stardust is a perfect read-aloud book, a brand-new fairy tale you'll want to share with a kid, or maybe hoard for yourself. (If you read it to kids, watch out for a couple of spicy sex bits and one epithet.) --Therese Littleton I'm pretty sure this is the first book of Gaiman's that I read. I read the novel but I need to get the graphic novel sometime. I have Charles Vess's Drawing Down the Moon, which features quite a few panels from the Stardust graphic novel, and it's beautiful.…

Introverted Reader Features

Charles de Lint’s Crow Girls: Character Connection

We all have characters we love. Let's spotlight these fantastic creations! Whether you want to be friends with them or you have a full-blown crush on them, you know you love them and want everyone else to love them too! Most of you will probably post about how much you love each character, but this is a great place for the more creative ones among you to let go and have fun! Write a love letter to Captain Wentworth. Write yourself into a scene with Anne and Diana. Draw a picture of yourself in Jamie's arms. 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. Reading Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint this week has gotten me in the mood to feature his characters. My very first Character Connection post was about one of his characters too. This guy has created a whole city of people that I love, so you can expect to see his books show up here fairly often. Anyway, this week's Character Connection is............ The Crow Girls!!!!!!! The crow girls, Maida and Zia, feature in de Lint's Newford books and are hard to describe. I picture them as older teen versions of Emily the Strange, graphic novels written by Rob Reger that I haven't read. Yet. Charles de Lint's wife, Mary Ann Harris, illustrated a short story about them, so you can see her rendering on de Lint's site. Mostly the crow girls, who look like identical twins but swear they aren't even sisters, are charming, funny, and lovable. They have a crazy sweet tooth. Here's a pretty typical exchange between…

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May 6, 2010

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review

Grace has been obsessed with the wolves living in the woods behind her house for years. There's one in particular that she thinks of as her wolf. On the day that she starts to think that there may be more to these wolves than meets the eye, some local hunters decide to go wolf hunting in her backyard. She makes up a story to get them to stop and then comes home to find a shot and naked young man shivering on her back deck. Wow. I've heard a lot of good things about this book and it really is great. I've read Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by this author, and I thought it was just okay, so I was a little hesitant to pick this one up. I shouldn't have been. I have a full-blown sensitive-boy crush on Sam. I think he has it all. He loves to read, he's musical, he writes songs for Grace, he respects her and tries to treat her right, he's beautiful; I really could go on and on. Sam is the reason I loved this book. Grace was pretty cool too. She has this weird obsession with the wolves, but that's explained. The only thing I can't figure out is how her 10- or 11-year-old self got locked in a car. Child locks are on in the back? A kid that age should know to climb out the front. Oh, and that disappearing-parent thing that is so prevalent in YA books shows up here. At least it's noted and treated as a problem rather than taken for granted and used as nothing more than an excuse to let teens do whatever they want without any adult interference. The girl that I really liked was Isabel. She had such a tough, take-no-prisoners exterior.…

Vampire Rising by Jason Henderson: Book Review

Alex Van Helsing has heard it thousands of times before. Yes, his last name is really Van Helsing. No, not like that Van Helsing. No, he doesn't kill monsters. To paraphrase his father, that kind of thing doesn't happen. Except when it does. What a fun, action-packed story! It begins with Alex running toward a scream in the woods and ends on a very brooding scene that feels like a pause. Which isn't to say that this book feels incomplete; for the first in the series, it stands very well on its own. I know more is coming, I have one or two questions, but I'm happy with the way things ended. Alex is the most fully fleshed-out character and I liked him. He's had some trouble in the past and he's still having trouble in the present but he's doing his best. His whole world has just shifted but he's dealing with it. The other characters were fun, but they weren't developed all that well. I am curious about Minhi, Mr. Sangster, and Sid. I hope I'll learn more about them in other books. As an older reader, I appreciated the way the classics like Dracula and the background story to Frankenstein were worked in. For younger readers who might not have been exposed to these books yet, the necessary references were explained well and the unnecessary ones were just bonuses for those in the know. There wasn't really anything new added to the vampire myth, but it was still fun. Kids who haven't read quite so much will probably love this. There were some gadgets that I even thought were very cool, and I'm not into gadgets! These vampires are not the seductive, tormented vampires that we've seen so much of lately. These guys are baddies through and…

Bookish Miscellany

Weekly Update for May 3, 2010

Welcome to my weekly update for May 3, 2010! It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. I had a pretty good week last week. Reviewed: The Girl Who Chased [...]

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May 3, 2010

Serena by Ron Rash: Book Review

In Depression-era North Carolina, a timber baron marries Serena and brings her to the lumber camps to live. Her ambition outmatches his and she drives him to succeed, prosper, and expand at any cost. Wow. What a character Ron Rash has created in Serena. I detested her, but she is going to stick with me the way Lady MacBeth and Medea have. I had to admire her strength and ambition, but she was ruthless and proud of it. She seemed to see those weaker than her as prey, and she saw almost everyone as being weaker than her. There's a kind of mythology that springs up around her in the camp. She thinks of ingenious solutions to problems, such as rattlesnake bites among the loggers. She really doesn't care when loggers die though. It's the Depression after all, and for every one worker that dies or is disfigured, there are innumerable men waiting to take his place. I would have liked an explanation as to why she was the way she was. She grew up in the camps, and there's a dark past that's hinted at but never explained. Was she just born heartless or did something or someone shape her to be that way? This book takes place practically in my backyard, and I had heard that these mountains were devastated back in the day. It's one thing to just kind of know that, and it's another to live it for two years inside a book. This one fictional camp ended in the clear-cutting of 34,000 acres. I can't even wrap my mind around that much land. I had to go Google some pictures. Look at these. Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississipi Photo taken by Bms4880 and found on Wikimedia Commons Mount Mitchell in 1923…

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs: Book Review

Mercy Thompson is a walker. Not that kind of walker. A "skinwalker." She can shift into coyote form easily and at will. Her sexy neighbor is the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. She's good friends with a vampire. Her life isn't exactly normal. When a new lone werewolf shows up at her garage one day looking for work, trouble follows him to Mercy's doorstep. Mercy has to figure out what's going on before her friends and family get hurt. I loved this! Mercy is a great character. She's smart, loyal, caring, funny, and sarcastic. She can hold her own against all the Alpha men in her life. And, oh those Alpha men.... There were a lot of men to choose from here. Adam is the ex-military guy who sticks his nose into Mercy's business whether she wants him to or not. There's a lot of history between Samuel and Mercy. Warren is loyal to his pack and the rules at any cost. There are actually more, if you can believe that. I don't know why I liked all these guys so much; I generally can't stand overly-dominant men in person. But these guys didn't just see themselves as powerful. With their power came responsibility to those weaker than themselves, and they took that responsibility seriously. That must be the difference for me. Briggs filled in the details of this world pretty smoothly. I never felt like I was just getting an info dump. A couple of times Mercy explained to a werewolf something like how the werewolves would defeat the vampires in a battle and I was pulled out of the story enough to think, "Honey, he knows that. Oh. That was for my benefit." And then I moved on. I know that I'm probably in the minority here,…