Audio Book Review - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Why did I read this book?
I had heard about this author and his new book had a lot of buzz.  I happened to find it in the audio section of the library and thought I'd give it a try, I was needing a break from all the fantasy sci-fi I had been reading lately anyway.

What is it about?
This will sounds like a very depressing premise, but the book itself isn't that depressing, I promise.  The book is about a couple teenagers who have cancer and meet at a cancer support group.  Basically, it is a love story about teenagers, with that very sad twist.  It is fun because their emotions are a bit more raw and they really try to live life to the fullest knowing that they might not be around to enjoy it in the near future

Why you should read it!
This book will be coming out as a movie this summer, and I'm sure it will be tear worthy so get the tissues ready.  The book itself had its sad moments but you really feel the emotions of these kids and how they really try to have normal lives despite their disease.  It is a young adult book, but I think it is one that adults would enjoy, yes you are dealing with teenagers but it is very well written and won't make you feel like you are reading a dumbed down book.  I listened to the audio version and I have to say it wasn't very good.  Luckily the story shone through but the narrator wasn't very good and I felt like she made the book feel younger than it should.  At the end the author made a statement that originally he wanted to be the narrator but didn't make sense for a story told from a teenage girls point of view, honestly he probably would've been better.  This will be a big movie this summer and we all know the book is always better so go read it first!

the.book.chat: Characters

One of my goals for this month was linking up more with sweet green tangerine and her weekly link up, the.book.chat.

The topic for this week is one that I’m having a hard time relating to (ha!).  It’s about characters that you relate well to.  I was hoping something would come to me quickly and that instantly I would know the most recent character I read that I really related to, but nothing came to mind.  I do remember many characters I don’t relate to: Amy from Gone Girl, Tris from Divergent, Bella from Twilight, Katniss from the Hunger Games, Annajane from Spring Fever, just to name a few. 

So then I started thinking that maybe I seek out books where I don’t relate to the character.  Aren’t books suppose to give you an escape? Take you to others worlds?  Maybe that’s more just my taste.  I don’t think I’d want to read about book about something similar to my life, and I think that translates to not wanting to  read about characters that are similar to me or that I can relate to.  One other thought I had was that I actually find ways in my mind to not relate myself to characters.  Whatever it is, I can think of a character in recent memory that I really relate to and I don't see that as being a bad thing!

Book Review - Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Why did I read this book?
I had listened to Sharp Objects on audio and really enjoyed it (although it was much darker that I expected).  Everyone had been talking about Gone Girl and I was curious.  I found out my local library would lend out books for 7 days to my kindle.  It's a pretty tough task for me to read a book in 7 days and the waiting list for this book was pretty long. My first attempt I got about one third of the way though before my lending period expired, I then had to wait three weeks on the waiting list again.  When I got it again I made sure to spend all my free time finishing it

First Lines:
"When I think of my wife, I always think of her head." (Flynn 3)

What is it about?
The story begins with Nick realizing his wife, Amy, is missing.  A neighbor tips him off to the fact that the door has been left open for quite a while and he heads home from work to investigate.  Coming home to what appears to be a crime scene the police are called in to this strange disappearance.  The more and more we learn about Nick and Amy the weirder things get and more questions arise.

Why you should read it!
I will try really hard to not include any spoilers here but if you haven't read this book and don't want it ruined for you it might be a good idea to stop reading now.  I really liked how uncertain things were the whole time in this book.  The twists and turns kept coming but there weren't too many and they weren't too ridiculous that I wanted to stop reading.  For the whole first half of the book I just knew there had to be more to the story and I real liked finally hearing both sides.  Although as soon as I started feeling like I was identifying with one character they would do something to make me angry and I would feel sorry for their spouse.  I know there has been a lot of talk about the ending and I hated it.  I have no clue what I wanted but the ending left me feeling blah.  With that being said I still loved the book, which I guess says a lot about the majority of the book and the writing since I despised the ending (seriously I was thinking that my kindle version got cut off a few chapters early).  Luckily, this book wasn't as dark as Sharp Objects but there were still some very twisted parts, but again it wasn't overkill and I think almost anyone would enjoy this book!

Reviews from around the blogosphere:

S. Krishna's Books
Book Jingle Blog
Book Club Classics

Did you read this book and review it on your blog? Let me know in the comments and I'll add your link!

Les Mis Week 2, JVJ and Fantine

We are still cruising through Les Mis (the book) and we have completed and discussed the next two books. 

(See here for why we're reading Les Mis, and here for Week 1, The Bishop)

Volume 1 Book 2 - The Fall

The part we've been waiting for, Jean Valjean has made an appearance!  It seems to be the typical story we know from the musical he comes to a town and no one will let him work or stay at their inn because he is on parole.  The only place the will open it's door to him is the the Bishop (who we met in the first book).  You know the rest, while everyone is sleeping he steals the silver and when confronted with the law he says the Bishop gave it to him as a gift and the Bishop agrees and tells JVJ he must use the silver to become an honest man (The whole time I was singing all these parts in my head, like a crazy person!).

In between all the action in the book, you learn the history of JVJ and how he got to prison and why he spent so many years there.  A few points I found interesting were that his family (his sister and her children) didn't seem to really care for him but he went to prison because he couldn't provide for them anymore and stole some bread.   I thought maybe he would care about his family more or they would care about him, but apparently not.  The other thing I thought was interesting was how RoB and I disagreed on when he went to steal the silver if he also thought about killing the bishop.  I got the feeling that's what he was planning to do, but RoB says no, what do you think?

The very end of this book was depressing, with Gervitas and his stolen coin.  I realize that is JVJ's turning point and from then on he realizes he needs to become a good person.  But it was heartbreaking that he was stealing from a child.

Volume 1 Book 3 - In The Year 1817

Now we meet Fantine, and her baby daddy! But before we get there, there is a whole chapter about what is going in in France that year, I couldn't follow any of it and I skipped a large chunk of it.  Back to Fantine and her story. I didn't expect Fantine's lover to be a well off scholar (of sorts), and he seemed to fawn over her.  I thought he would be a worker or passerby that she had a short fling with, but this was more serious.  Until, of course, we realize he is leaving her.  The other part I thought was interesting was that he didn't even know about the baby when he left her.  Him and his buddies decided they were just going to string along these 4 ladies for a while and then tell them it wouldn't work because their families expect more of them, sigh.  This depressed me quite a bit, and I felt really bad for Fantine.

Next up we find out what happens to Fantine's child, and what has become of JVJ since he decided to become an honest man with the silver from the bishop.  If there is anyone else out there reading or has read this please chime in and let me know your thoughts!

I'm also tying this in with a link-up this week with the.book.chat over at sweet green tangerine and semi-charmed kind of life.  The topic this week is what are you currently reading, and I thought this fit it perfectly.  I do have to say that I enjoy reading something so well known and respected so when anyone asks me what I'm reading I don't have to explain what it is or explain myself for why I'm reading yet another YA book :)

Les Mis Week 1, The Bishop of Digne

For those of you who missed it, RoB and I have finally decided to start reading Les Miserables.  This will probably take us all year, but since we are both reading we are hoping that we can keep each other motivated throughout the book.  And I'll have to admit that I might've given up in the first book of the first volume, so it's a good thing we're in it together.  The book is split up into 5 volumes, each of those with 8-15 books, and each of those with 5-20 chapters. Here are my thoughts on Volume 1: Fantine, Book 1: A Just Man.

This first 50 pages or so of the book was all about the Bishop of Digne (although in the kindle edition it just says Bishop of D---, anyone know why?).  It is a compilation of his history and all the good things he has done over the course of his life.  There are a couple small events that are explained and some chapters just talk about how he thinks or feels.  These chapters were the ones that made it hard to keep going and I'm pretty sure I skimmed though some of them.  Luckily, Rob finished this part before me and started reading ahead to the next book and informed me that things actually happen!



The Bishop of Digne as depicted by Gustave Brion in the first edition of the novel


So, I continued on through and kept reading about why the Bishop of Digne was A Just Man.  I was not a huge fan of this book, it was slow moving and what I was worried would happen when trying to read a classic like Les Mis. The one thing I do have to say is that you see a bit more charter and almost humor in the bishop and all that he does, the musically never really portrayed him this way, but I feel like in the movie Colm Wilkinson does a great job of showing more of how he is represented in the book (For those of you that don't know, Colm Wilkinson was the original Jean Valjean in the West End and on Broadway).

On the right is Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop

The next part is all about Jean Valjean (or as we've been calling him JVJ), finally!  I hope it starts to read faster because this pace might be tough for over 1000 pages.

How does everyone else out there feel about the start of the book? Anyone else out there reading it now? Eh, probably not and I'm probably talking to no one, but I thought I'd try!

Book Review - Fool Moon by Jim Butcher

How did I come into possession of this book?

I bought this at a local used book store, The Thrifty Bookworm.  RoB had bought a book there earlier in the week and they gave him a coupon celebrating an anniversary (I think), so I took that and went by to see what sort of books I could find.  This book store is primarily a romance book store but they do have some small sections for other genres, and since I don’t really read a lot of romance I made a bee-line for the non romance sections.

First Lines:

“I never used to keep track of the phases of the moon.”  (Butcher 1)

What is it about?

This is technically the second book in the Dresden Files series, but it seems like it’s one of those series you don’t really need to read in order, but I did.  Harry Dresden is called in for help when Chicago police suspect a werewolf is killing people.  They hope that he can explain what happened and that it’s all a misunderstanding, but with all the weird things that tend to happen and all the weird creatures that show up when Dresden is around it ends up being much more involved than just a werewolf.

What did I think?

This was the second book I read of his, and the second in the series.  These books are great, a typical thriller with a fantasy twist on it.  My only complaint is I wish he would give us a better background on each character, for example tell us what happened in the end of the previous book.  I would like to follow all the characters through this series but since most people will just pick up one or two of these somewhere in the middle of the series I guess it’s not really necessary.  I felt like there were a few more plot lines in this one than the previous book, which was good, but if he keeps adding more every book it will definitely be too much for me.  I also get really frustrated with Dresden at times, he makes stupid decisions and I feel like yelling at him, but I guess that’s probably a sign of good writing from the author.

Who would I recommend it to?

Anyone who is a fan of thrillers and/or sci-fi, fantasy.  The nice thing about these is they are quick, not an epic, and they still have just enough of a fantasy element to keep things interesting.  I don’t know of many other series or even books that fall into this category so I like mixing in his books to my reading pile every now and then.  They are also fantastic airplane/traveling reads!

Book Review - In Dreams by Robert Logan

How did I come into possession of this book?

Another book from Jagged Edge reviews.  Sounded like a book I would enjoy, so I requested it!

First Lines:

“A tourist might have called Magnolia Creek, “quaint,” he supposed.  But Jack Corbitt knew the little town just a few miles west of Boulder, Colorado, was a good place with good people.”  (Logan 1)

What is it about?

Jack has been battling cancer all his life, and when it makes reappearance after being gone for many years he is willing to do anything to get rid of it.  There is a new medical procedure that sends him into crazy dreams that he is sure are affecting current events.  When he tries to alter the outcomes he realizes he is having quite the impact on current events as well.

What did I think?

I read this book very quickly and it was a great book for that.  It kept me interested throughout but when I was done with it I felt a bit unfulfilled.  I don’t think there was a single twist in the plot and you knew exactly how the story would play out from very early on.  I’m always waiting for that great twist and I was even making up ones in my head before the book ended, but nothing like that ever happened.  I’m not sure if it was too much foreshadowing or just too much of a straight forward story, but it disappointed me.

Who would I recommend it to?

Again, it was a good quick read, with some interesting ideas and things that happen.  The main plot idea of going to the past in dreams is something I haven’t seen before in a book so it’s new in that aspect to me and probably to others reading it.  If you like thrillers this one is a good pick, especially for its uniqueness.  But if you’re like me and need some big plot twists this might not be the book for you!

Book Review - Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth

How did I come into possession of this book?

This was a book that I requested an early review copy from the publisher and, luckily I received it!  It sounded like a book I would enjoy (although it wasn’t quite what I expected, more on that below), and the tag line on the front leaves you wanting to read it.

First Lines:

“They’re showing it this afternoon.  A ceremony to mark the first spadeful of earth, and when it’s built, a ceremony to open the thing, I bet.  I bring a bag of Doritos and a box of wine with me to the couch.” (Ashworth 3)

What is it about?

The book centers around Laura (or Lola), and looks back on a tragic event that occurred when she was in high school.  It goes between present and the time leading up to the accident and all the events and characters surrounding it.

What did I think?

This book was not what I had expected, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it.  From the cover and description I pictured a somewhat quick, almost YA book about a murder that had happened in a small town.  But I was given a much heavier story with very interesting characters all with a very British feel to it.  Since I thought this would be a much quicker read, things started off slowly, but as soon as I got into the bulk of the story, I was hooked.  I could see myself in Lola and at times in the other girls, too.  The plot took some unexpected turns which I was happy to see since some of it was predictable.

Who would I recommend it to?

Anyone who wants a good literary read with a little bit of British feel.  There wasn’t so much of a mystery so don’t come in expecting that, but you will get a good story with characters that are very interesting and surprisingly easily relatable.

Check out these other reviews from fellow bloggers:
The Life & Times of a Book Addict

Did you read this book and review it on your blog? Let me know in the comments and I'll add your link!

Book Review - At The End by John Hennessy

How did I come into possession of this book?

This was another book I received in exchange for a review over at Jagged Edge reviews.  The author, John Hennessy, left me a personal note in the book which I thought was a great touch!  I offered to review this book since it’s a post-apocalyptic young adult book, one of my favorite genres.

What was it about?

Most of the human race is taken over the course of three consecutive nights.  The story starts with three young, somewhat geeky, teenagers trying to find out what happened and how to fix it.  They decide the best course of action is to head from Washington to Southern California and the JPL labs where they know there was research going on about extra terrestrial life.  Along the way they meet up with others and encounter what they soon find out are the creatures that have taken their families and friends.

What did I think?

I liked how this was a short quick read and it wrapped up the whole story by the end.  The glimpse you had of the world they were living in before the abductions was also really good and I felt like it some of it could actually be in our future.  I also enjoyed the narration switching between two of the main characters.  I wasn’t as big of fan of Darrel, but I really liked Maggy and always enjoy seeing a strong female character.  Also, almost all of the leaders mentioned in this book, whether it was the president or an army sergeant were all women which definitely wins points with me.  I do think it started a bit slow, but one I got into the meat of the story I finished it in one sitting.

Who would I recommend it to?

If you like YA dystopian or sci-fi and want a quick read that won’t throw you into a long epic saga, this is the book for you.  And make sure to give it a chance past the first couple chapters because the story seems to wrap up pretty quickly as soon as you are into it.

Audio Book Review: Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

How did I come into possession of this book?
I had bought Bacigalupi's book The Windup Girl for RoB while we were in Tahoe for Christmas (at a super aweosme local bookstore called The Bookshelf).  But let's be honest, I really just wanted to read it and it was nice to use him as a guinea pig and it kept him busy.  Soon I will read that book but I happened to see his young adult book on audio at the library so, of course, I borrowed it!

What is it about?
It takes place in the future when global warming has really taken a toll on our country.  The main character, Nailer,  is somewhere near the gulf of Mexico and works as a ship breaker, someone who dismantles old oil tankers for scrap metal and any other worthwhile commodities.  There are crazy storms that happen (called city wreckers) and one of these brings in a ship that will eventually lead them on an adventure.

What did I think?
I really like the premise for this book, the world that Bacigalupi creates is eerily realistic and very intriguing.  The problem I had was the story was very simple.  I know it is a young adult book but I think it might be meant for younger adults than what I am used to reading.  They go off on a adventure but it is all straight forward and then it ends as expected.  I wanted at least one twist or something else to make the plot more interesting.  I think there is at least one sequel in the works, but because of the simpleness of the ending I don't feel like there needs to be one.  It almost makes me think that the author was trying to dumb down the story for a younger audience when that really isn't necessary.

Who would I recommend it to?
The biggest problem with this book is that it is too simple.  For someone who is not sure about reading YA books for this reason should avoid this book.  However, if you enjoy most YA books and can appreciate all the interesting points of the book and hope that more depth is added as the sequel (an maybe more?) is released.  Its well written and makes me interested in reading his other work that isn't meant for younger audiences.

Book Review: The Handmaid's Tale

How did I come into possession of this book?
I think I picked up this book at a thrift store in Tahoe.  I figured I should read some of the classic dystopian books, since it is one of my favorite genres.  I've also been given a couple other of Margaret Atwood's more recent books, so I guess I should start with her best known novel.

What is it about?
It takes place in a future after many things have gone wrong with the government.  It takes a while to actually figure out how the world is and how they got to where they are.  It is a society where women have a much different place in the world, a much lesser place.  The story follows one handmaid and how she fits into this society.  There start to be flashbacks of her life before the world changed and you can fit the puzzle together a little to see how she got to where she is now

What did I think?
I really enjoyed the way you don't know how the society works off the bat.  Details are revealed here and there and the flashbacks help with that.  A lot of the book is learning how the world is now functioning which can lead to some slower reading, but still held my attention.  I wasn't a big fan of the main character, she just seemed so passive to everything going on in her world, but I guess that's a product of what she has experienced.  I also wish there had been more to the ending, but I'll try not to get too spoiler-y about it.

Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone who enjoys a good dystopian novel or anyone who just enjoys good literature.  It is very well written and doesn't get to far out as far as some dystopian novels will.  So it's a good book for pretty much any reader, if you like books you should probably read this one.  It would also be a great book to discuss, so if you enjoy that sort of thing, this is a good book to read.

Sidenote: My copy of the book is pretty old, but it said that it was now a major motion picture.  Has anyone seen this movie? Is it any good? I had no idea it existed!

Should I NaNoWriMo?

I love to read but I've never been much of a writer.  I don't think I've written a story or anything creatively since middle school (I didn't have to take a single engilsh class in college).  I enjoy writing (hence the blog) but I just haven't had much instruction or practice.  This brings me to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writting Month), where you are challeneged to write 50,000 in the month of November.  I think that I have good ideas for writing a novel but I've never sat down and organized my thoughts and tried to write them all down as a story.  I think I'm ready to try, and I think NaNoWriMo is a good opportunity for me to do just that.  I haven't signed up yet since I'm still a little unsure but I like the idea of it and I'm almost ready to pull the trigger!

I'm hoping to get some pointers from anyone out there who has done it before (or something similar).  I work full time so I'm worried about how much time I can commit and how to be the most productive with the time I have.  Should I update my blog during that month or devote all of my writing to NaNoWriMo?  How can I keep myself interested enough in my story to keep writing so much everyday? Anything else I should prepare myself for?

Since I think I will be writing a dystopic novel (my favorite genre right now), I decided I should read as much as I could in that genre before all the writting starts.  This brings me to the second point of this post a link up with Seven Day Push.  The challenge this week is to read a book and I will gladly take on that challenge.  I'm going to read Genesis by Bernard Beckett (a nice short book, yes) but it is one I've been wanting to read for a while.

FNL :(

Friday Night Lights was one of the best shows on TV, and now its all over.  I know it ended a few weeks ago, but I finally got around to watching the final episode.  I don't think you have to love football (like me) to enjoy this show.  It gives such an interesting look at high school football in Texas.  I'd like to know how accurate it is, but I like to think its pretty accurate since its based on a book that was a true story about a high school Texas football team.

I think it always got good reviews, but for some reason couldn't hold a steady audience.  Part of the problem was that the show wasn't on Friday originally (it eventually switched) but that might've been confusing for people trying to watch a show called Friday Night Lights on a Wednesday night.  Besides that, I'm not sure why people didn't follow the show.  I was very attached to all the characters and got really sad whenever an episode was over, I think that's a really good sign of great show.

I highly recommend this show to everyone, go out and rent it or hulu it or netflix it, you won't be disappointed.  On a side note, I'm starting to read the book Friday Night Lights, and really enjoying it so far (there will probably be a review at some point).

Book Review: Miss Garnet's Angel

So I missed yesterday...oops...oh well I guess I'll just carry on...

I love to read and I'd like to document some of that here, so on with my first review! (I feel like I'm setting it up like a grade school review)

How did I come into possession of this book?
This book was given to me by my mom.  It has always been one of her favorites and she happened to see it at a used book store, so she bought it for me!  She knows I love getting books and book recommendations from her (and really anyone else!).

What is it about?
The main character, Julia Garnet, is recently retired and then loses her best friend, who was everything to her since neither of them ever married.  Julia decides to do something she's never done and take an extended vacation to a different country, Italy.  There she meets all kinds of new friends.

What did I think?
I thought I would love this book.  Sadly, I didn't and I'm still not sure why.  I might've been the style of the writing that didn't capture my attention or it could've been that I never felt like I connected with any of the characters.  Most of the chapters were split up into two parts, one was the main story and the other was an old text that the main character was reading.  I had a very hard time following the old text and so I found myself skimming a lot, but it all proved to be important in the end and I think I missed some of the story.  I also wasn't a fan of the ending.

Who would I recommend it to?
I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone since I didn't particularly enjoy it.  But if you like books that take place in Italy (which I usually love), you might give it a try.  Since it is one of my mom's favorites I'm guessing there are others out there who will like it as well.