Introverted Reader

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater: Book Review

Deirdre meets Luke at an audition one day. They play some amazing music together, and by the end of the day, Deirdre is more than a little infatuated. But Luke isn't the only stranger appearing in her life. All kinds of weird people and events start surrounding her, and it's obvious that Luke has something to do with it. First of all, can I just say that I don't read all that much YA, but I am sick to death of the inevitable love triangle. Sick of it! Lament was a little more low-key than others I've read but it was still there. I remember it being hard enough to get one guy in high school to like me. Now girls have to aim for two or feel like losers?!?! C'mon. Let's do something attainable here. Aside from that, I enjoyed this. I had a decent idea as to what Luke's story was going to be, and it frustrated me a little that super-smart Deirdre was being so clueless about it. But I did enjoy the give-and-take of Deirdre's relationships with Luke and her best friend James. Sure, they rode to her rescue a few times, but she rescued them too. Deirdre and Luke were pretty good characters, but I loved James! He's such a smartass, but underneath all that he's a very caring, understanding guy. Mostly he just cracked me up though. Deirdre and Luke enjoyed playing old ballads together, and I liked that this book had a similar feel to it. That said, the ending might leave some readers dissatisfied, but it stayed true to that ballad history. It also left room for the sequel, Ballad: The Gathering of Faerie. I have that waiting to be read too, and I have to admit that I'm more than ready…

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani: Book Review

Valentine Roncalli is turning 34 years old, she lives and works with her grandmother, and she's single. She's pretty happy though, until the day her grandmother tells her that the family's custom shoe shop is in financial trouble. Now she finds herself trying to find a way to save the business she loves as she juggles a budding relationship with a hot new restaurateur. I think my expectations for this were skewed by the first few sentences of the book. It begins, "I'm not the pretty sister. I'm not the smart sister either. I am the funny one. I've been called that for so long, for so many years, in fact, that all of my life I thought it was one word: Funnyone." So I thought I was in for a funny book. It wasn't. Valentine stays entirely too stressed out to really be funny. Not that I blame her--she has a lot on her plate. It just wasn't what I expected from the setup. Also, I should probably be ashamed to say this, but I don't really care about shoes. I know, I know! But that's me. So all the descriptions of the cute shoes with the perfect fabrics and darling embellishments were lost on me. The food sounded divine, and I loved the part when Valentine and Gram take off for Italy. I'm ready to go back! They spend time in Tuscany and Capri, and the author's descriptions of both were beautiful. I didn't get to go to Capri when I visited Italy, but I did want to. Now I'm thinking I need to convince my husband that we should go back and spend time south of Rome. I don't think he would need much convincing! I may not be girly about the shoes, but I am loving…

Bookish Miscellany

To Flap or Not to Flap: Booking Through Thursday

This week's question: Do you read the inside flaps that describe a book before or while reading it? That depends. When I'm browsing the library or bookstore and checking out a book that I'm not familiar with at all, I'll definitely read the jacket flap. I want to have some idea whether it's something I enjoy. If I'm grabbing a book that I've learned about from my bookish friends, both in real life and online, I take it for granted that it's something I'll like and avoid reading any kind of synopsis. I generally prefer to have zero expectations going into a book. Do you read them? You can share your answers here and at Booking Through Thursday.

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January 14, 2010

Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix: Book Review

***SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK, FOUND*** Found ended with Jonah and Katherine latching onto Chip and Alex as the two boys were sent back into their own time period. Sent picks up there. The kids find themselves in fifteenth century England, where Chip and Alex find out that they're royalty. Many plots are afoot and the boys' lives are in danger. Jonah and Katherine, with JB's help, try to keep them safe. Eh. I think Found was so good because I was interested to find out what exactly was going on. Now that I know, the sequel wasn't that great. I saw potential when I found out that the boys were The Princes in the Tower, but really the book just fell a little flat. Jonah was dense and annoying. He would overhear subtle, barbed conversations and then had to get someone else to give him a recap of what had been said in plain English. I know this book is written for the pre-teen crowd, but I think they would have gotten it without the "translation." There are ghostly "tracers" roaming around, showing what was supposed to happen if time hadn't been messed with. I actually followed that pretty well, but then Jonah got confused thinking about it and took me right along with him. Confusion might have been a normal reaction, but it wasn't worth it at the risk of confusing the readers. It might just be me. I'm much older than the target age group. I'll probably read the next one, just to see if this one was the exception rather than the rule in the series. I am left thinking that there were 36 kids on that plane. How many books are there going to be?

Bookish Miscellany

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

What are you reading on Monday is hosted by J. Kaye's Book Blog. Last week, I finished: The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore and The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson--Highly, highly recommended I'm currently working on Sent by Margaret Peterson Haddix Up next: Probably Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani, but that might change. Hopefully I'll get to more, but I have to train someone at work this week, so I probably won't have as much time for reading as I usually do. What are you reading?

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January 11, 2010

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson: Book Review

The narrator of The Gargoyle (I'm pretty sure we never learn his name) begins his story with a horrific car crash that leaves him burned beyond recognition. He hasn't lived the best life: he's selfish, addicted to drugs, and a porn star. His beautiful, sexy "friends" take one look at him after the accident and never come back. But one day a woman, Marianne Engel, shows up in his room. He's never met her before, but she knows things about him that he's never told anyone, and she claims that theirs is a love going back seven hundred years. I'm not entirely sure what I just read. This was a group read this month for one of my groups on GoodReads. I'm dying to go over there and see what others have to say, but I try very hard to write my reviews before reading other reviews or discussions. I want my thoughts to be my own, and I'm afraid that sneaking a peek somewhere else will change my own honest feelings. For what it's worth, here they are. I really, really, really liked this, but there was a lot going on and there's still a lot left for me to think about. Don't you hate it when you know your review is never going to convey everything that you're thinking and feeling? That's what's going on here. Marianne is a character that I won't forget anytime soon. She's a gifted carver of gargoyles, a gifted linguist, a gifted storyteller, and a woman with infinite love to give away. She teaches the cynical narrator about the true meaning of love through a series of stories about her friends, and a long narrative about the first time they met and loved. He sees what she means when she lives what she…

Lamb by Christopher Moore: Book Review

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 by Philippa Gregory: Book Review

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…

Book Review Lists

2010 Book Reviews by Title

A list of my 2010 book reviews by title

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January 3, 2010

Under the Dome by Stephen King: Book Review

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…