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Alif the Unseen

1 Comment / 2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Oh look, another book recommended by Sassymonkey. I can’t remember what she said about Alif the Unseen – something about there being a lot of interest in it. So, I reserved it. It arrived and TW started to read it. She didn’t get far before she put it down and said she wasn’t going to read it. I was surprised by this. Math, Science, Religion, Myth – seems like her thing.  I decided to give it a try, though I didn’t have much hope.

It started slowly but… once the State came for Alif, it picked up and from there, I never even considered putting it down. Brilliant storytelling. The science. The tech. Fabulous. And, written by a woman. That just made it all the better.

(I don’t really understand the Harry Potter comparisons being made by reviewers. There is no comparison.)

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Lone Wolf

2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Fiction, Queer /

Surprise! Lone Wolf was one of my favorite Jodi Picoult novels. Big surprise! I did not expect this. It’s been a long time since one of her novels surprised me and this one did.

She went light on the catastrophes and heavy on the super-interesting.  Like, when we found out that Luke’s son (and Cara’s brother) was gay… we know something else must have happened because that wasn’t enough to send him away (not to mention it seemed like not something his father would have reacted THAT strongly about) so we knew there was SOMETHING else. And knowing Picoult, it had to be something really HORRIBLE, because that is what she does.

But, when we found out what it was – not horrible. Perfectly normal (hahaha) and reasonable. And not so horrifyingly catastrophic that you’re lefting saying – no, too much. Impossible.

Except, we also KNOW something else happened in that car crash – something Cara doesn’t want to talk about. So, we brace ourself for the HUGE, CATASTROPHIC badness that you know Picoult is going to throw at you. And when it comes, it’s a heartbreaker but NOT THAT BAD.

Shock.

And I liked it. The catastrophe can sometimes take away from the story and the characters. It was very nice to NOT have that happen with what was really an interesting story. Maybe she didn’t blow out the bad because Luke was weird enough that the story didn’t need any more crazy?

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The Meryl Streep Movie Club

2012, Books in Bed, Chick Lit, Favorites, Fiction /

The Meryl Streep Movie Club is exactly the kind of book I would not have known about, much less read, if it had not been for book blogs and Sassymonkey who tells me about books like this. Life is much better because of book blogs and Sassymonkey who reads them all for me so that I only have to read a few.

This was the perfect chick lit novel for a busy work week. It also caused TW to want to watch Meryl Streep movies (which we did, but that didn’t keep her from confusing Meryl Streep with Brooke Shields a few days later.)

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When She Woke

2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Feminism, Fiction, Queer, Women /

I am a fan of The Scarlet Letter and tend to be a little hard on books that attempt to recreate that story – but When She Woke was EXCELLENT.  Abortion is murder and convicts of all kinds have their skin color changed (color based on level of crime) and sent back into the community. As you can imagine, “Reds” have a pretty tough time since those are the ones who’ve been convicted of murder.  Feminists run an underground railroad helping women who’ve been convicted for having abortions.

I really liked Hannah, and while I didn’t love the choice she made there at the end – it was the one that made the most sense for her and it made for a solid ending.

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11/23/63

2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

It felt like it took weeks to read Stephen King’s 11/23/63 but it really just took three days – which seems pretty good for an 800+ page book, when sometimes it takes me three days to read a 300 page book. Heh. That’s what happens with Stephen King, I pretty much can’t put it down.

If you could step back in time and stop the assassination of JFK, would you do it? And if you did it and discovered that the world was in even worse shape after you did it – would you go back and undo it? And would you undo it and leave everything the way it was, even if people you cared about were hurt – and you could never be with them again?

And, do you think Oswald acted alone?

Good book. Creepy story, in a lot of ways – but not as creepy as King can be.  I liked it – a lot.

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Fang Chronicles: Amy’s Story

2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Kindle, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

I tried to read Fang Chronicles: Amy’s Story while I was in Hawaii but I couldn’t because I had loaned it to RJ and it hadn’t been returned to my Amazon shelf yet. After I got home, it was returned so I could start reading it. Darn if I’ll ever do that again – the story was terrific, not the normal vampire romance.

One of the unusual things that I didn’t mention in that post over on BlogHer was that the story did not end where/when I thought it would.

I don’t know if it’s a symptom of reading on my iPhone via the Kindle App but I was very surprised.

You know how you’re reading a book, in a genre you’ve often read, and you begin to guess at what’s going to happen – and you expect the story to end shortly after X happens? If you’re reading a print book, you get that feeling even more if you’re close to the end – with the Kindle, I never really know where I am in the book so I was very surprised when X happened, to Amy, and the book did not end.

And then I figured ok, the book will end when X happens to Victoria but guess what – the story did not end there, either.

I guess if I’d been reading a print version, I might have been a little less surprised. Maybe? Even so – those were two key things that could have triggered the end of the book but neither did.

THAT was cool. Totally unexpected ending.

I’m looking forward to reading Emily’s Story next.

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Bunheads

2012, Books in Bed, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Young Adult /

I’m finally getting back into the swing of reading from my TBR list and my Challenge lists. Bunheads, a Cybils shortlister, was the last of the URGENT MUST READ NOW books that was due back to the library this week. Thankfully it was a short, easy, fun read. A very fun read actually. Except I probably will never be able to watch The Nutcracker again. TW thinks this is perfectly fine since she does not like The Nutcracker. I, however, don’t mind going to the ballet every 10 Christmases or so. In fact I had just been thinking it was time to see The Nutcracker again. Darn.

I also think Bunheads will make a really fun TV series.  

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Spy Glass

2012, Books in Bed, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Women /

Weird. Spy Glass was the shortest book in the trilogy but it seems like more happened in this one than the others – yet it didn’t feel rushed. Nicely done. I’m not sure I really LOVE the ending – and it was just a tiny, tiny bit predictable where I didn’t find the others to be predictable but that’s not always a bad thing for the last book in a trilogy. Loose ends all nice and need. I hope there’s a series with the kids next…

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