2006

An Epic

Summer Reading Challenge is kicking my ass – being at Blogher isn’t helping but really it was my choice of books that’s driving me insane. What in the heck caused me to choose Kristin Lavransdatter, along with all of these other really long and difficult books?

It’s not that I’m not enjoying the book because I am. It’s just incredibly long and it isn’t an easy read at all, due to the translation and the odd phrasing and such. Not to mention I can’t pronounce any of these names or places and so I stumble in my head over all of them.

It took me about 50 pages to get sort of comfortable with the language and then I began to really enjoy the story. TW has commented several times that I seem to be really moved or into the book, even while complaining at how long it is taking to read it or how difficult it is to read. And that’s so true, I am really into it. It’s just so long.

I’m through “Book One” and “Book Two”. I’m hoping to be finished with “Book Three” before I head home from Blogher. I probably won’t make it but that’s my goal.

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The Shadow of the Wind

I wasn’t looking forward to reading The Shadow of the Wind. I kept pushing it back further on the “to be read” list. I kept picking it up and putting it down. I even read Vanity Fair before The Shadow of the Wind because I was sure this was going to be a dud. I was soooo wrong.

From the first paragraph to the last, I was totally hooked. I love the idea of a Cemetary of Forgotten Books. I loved every single character in this novel, including the “bad guys”. I loved the twists and turns and the impossible connections between the characters. I even loved the ridiculous and completely impossible coincidences.

The only thing I didn’t like was that the book ended. And I wish, I really wish, I could read Julian Carax’s novels.

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Percy Jackson – Sea of Monsters

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed Sea of Monsters. Ignoring the fact that I’d have enjoyed just about anything after the horrors of Vanity Fair, Sea of Monsters was terrific. Great fun for kids and grown ups and an excellent sequel to The Lightning Thief. I can hardly wait to see what happens next.

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I Prefer the Moonstone

I finally finished this monster of a book, Vanity Fair. I prefer The Moonstone. Thank goodness that’s done with. I’m not even sure what the point of the book was? I suppose 100 bloody years ago, it might have been new and interesting but today it just seemed tired and incredibly long and a wee bit boring. OK more than a wee bit.

It’s pretty bad when you don’t find a single character to LIKE in a 750 page book.

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The Ancient Child

So, The Ancient Child. Ummm, Summer Reading Challenge Book. Errr, chosen because it is on that interesting Teacher’s Lifetime Reading List. Hmmm, I feel like I should say something really deep, and moving, and errr whatever.

There were parts of The Ancient Child that I liked very much. I believe those can be found between pages 100 and 200. Before that and after that, I wasn’t feeling it. There were some problems for me. The first 50 pages were confusing, even with the character list in front. The “vision quests” early in the book were confusing. Later they were either better written or I had gotten used to them so it wasn’t as difficult. I liked Grey’s character very much but I was more interested in the Grandmother. I liked Grey’s character except when she was with Billy the Kidd, weird. I didn’t give a damn about Set at all. I found Worcester Meat more interesting.

So, The Ancient Child. I read it. Onto the next Summer Reading Challenge book.

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The Book Thief

Wow! A fictional story set in Nazi Germany that I loved. Amazing. It’s been a very long time since that happened. The Book Thief was excellent. If you haven’t read it, push it up to the top of your “Must Read List”. Skip whatever is on your Summer Reading Challenge list and read this instead.

Maybe it’s the whole “death” thing, how many books are narrated by “death”? Not many that I’ve read, that’s for sure. Death is a good thing, I’ve always known that but The Book Thief has proven it.

Wow!

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Kindred – Octavia Butler

I really hate to admit it but this is the first Octavia Butler I’ve read. What in the heck was I waiting for? If Kindred is any indication, I need to read them all – maybe even own them all.

I loved the sci-fi twist on a slavery novel, it’s brilliant. If I met Dana on the street today and she told me her story, I think I’d have to believe her. That’s how brilliant this book was.

After my SRC is over, I’ll want to read more of her work – do you have any suggestions about which I should start with?

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Black Elk in Paris

Well, I read Black Elk in Paris. I wish it had been Confessions of a Pagan Nun but it wasn’t. Darn.

Black Elk wasn’t a bad book, it was a little bit slow. I really didn’t care whether he got back to America or not. I didn’t care much about Madou or Philippe or any of the others. Sort of bored with the whole thing. Too bad though, I thought it had potential.

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The Night Watch

I really do like Sarah Waters and her books, except for Affinity. The Night Watch started slowly, as her books tend to start, but just as I start to wonder if she’s written a dud I realize I’ve been lured in and need to read, all the way through without stopping.

The only complaint I have about The Night Watch is that I really wish she hadn’t written it backwards. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the stories had been a progression, rather than moving backwards through time. I’m not sure why she moved backwards in this story, I don’t see the point, I don’t think anything was gained by the reader. I don’t think anything would have been lost if she had started in 1941 and moved forward. I’ve read some reviews and people either loved or hated the reverse.

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Four and Twenty Blackbirds

It’s official. I’m back to avoiding my Summer Reading Challenge list and doing a darn good job of it. Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest was an excellent read.

I believe this was recommended to me by someone I know at work who recently moved to Florida. She was compiling a stack of books set in Florida and this was one of them. I think that’s how I discovered it. I certainly had never been to the author’s blog, I would have remembered that.

I thought this was a young adult book, for some reason. Probably the cover art, which is interesting but with the blackbird and the headless women, just feels like a kid book, ya know? Well it isn’t, though I am betting there are some teens around here who would enjoy it.

The reviews on the back suggested this was a really creepy read and it would give you goosebumps. Well, I didn’t find it that scarey. (Why do reviewers feel the need to exagerate?

So, the story, let’s see… a line of women, they “have magic on them”, voodoo or sorcery (whichever you prefer), John Gray and the St Augustine priests. A bad guy named Malachi who wasn’t so much bad as misled and a wee bit nuts. Chattanooga, Macon, St Augustine and the swamps of south Florida. Go read it.

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