October Books

[dantheman23.livejournal.com]

Well the only bad part about my new job is that with the very short commute (10 minutes!) my audio book listening is going to take a big nosedive. But hey, more time to read printed books, right?

The Memory of Earth
by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game is one of my Top 10 books ever, but I haven't had very good luck with the rest of OSC's books. I couldn't make it through the first book in the Alvin Maker series, and while I did finish this novel, I didn't really love it. Apparently it's based on the Book of Mormon. After nearly destroying the Earth humans have moved to a new planet called Harmony and have lived there for 40 million years. A being (computer?) called the Oversoul watches over and guards humanity, but it is starting to break down. A young boy is granted visions by the Oversoul and must do what he can to help bring about the will of the Oversoul. The religious overtones where way too heavy for me, and the whole book took a while to get going. It did get more interesting towards the end though; there's a chance I'll pick up the next book in the series. One annoying thing was the names were all so goofy, and then everyone has nicknames and titles that get used interchangeably so it's hard at first to figure out who's being talked about. Not a terrible book but I'm glad to be done with it. 2.5/5

The Color of Magic
by Terry Pratchett

Another attempt to find a good series I could get into, and another failure. This is the first book in the Discworld series. Looking back, I don't know why I thought I would enjoy this book/series; it's a farcical fantasy world that takes aim at fantasy cliches and tries to be funny and irreverent throughout. The whole “making fun of genre cliches” thing almost never ends up actually being funny (anywhere I've seen it tried) though. I actually busted up laughing on the second page, and I thought “Oh man, here we go!” but sadly that ended up being the only really funny part. The rest of the book felt like a long slog that I only made it through because the book itself was short. 2/5

Found
by Harlan Coben

This is the third book in the Mickey Bolitar series and just came out very recently. I read it in one sitting, so yeah I liked it! Man, there was A LOT going on in this book. About halfway through I was thinking “OK, we need to get a few reveals here, because it's starting to get annoying that we never find out anything” (we were still dealing with threads from the first book at that point). But we did get some reveals in the second half of the book and a few things got wrapped up, but of course there are plenty more loose ends to work with in the sequels. Here's something you'll rarely hear me say: this book was almost too fast paced. What?! Is that even possible? There was so much going on and things changed so rapidly it was almost a little much. But not quite! The first good book of the month, yay! 4/5

The Revenge of Seven
by Pittacus Lore

The latest in the Lorien Legacies series (book #5), the alien invasion action continues to ramp up, with the bad guys actually revealing themselves to Earth at large and proceeding with their plan to take over the planet. The good guys are scattered, on the run, and outnumbered (as usual) , and struggling to come up with a plan to win. I was almost a little reluctant to start this book because it's been a while since the last one and I couldn't remember who the characters were but once I cracked it open I was immediately into it and tore through it quickly. 4/5

No Plot? No Problem!
by Chris Baty

In preparation for NaNoWriMo I read this book by the founder of said website event. It explains the origins and idea behind NaNo, and how and why it works. Everything in the book really spoke to me and made a lot of sense. It was well-written and funny, and one of the very very few books I deem worthy of actually buying. It made me totally excited for NaNo... 4.5/5

Books for October: 5
Books for 2014: 62

October books

[moredetails.livejournal.com]

Love the One You're With - Emily Giffin
Ellen is newly and happily married to a great guy, but her emotions are thrown for a loop when she encounters Leo, her ex-boyfriend, several years after he broke her heart. Out of guilt and a desire to get space from Leo, Ellen agrees that she and her husband should move back to his hometown. But there she finds discontentment, which drives her thoughts back toward Leo and what might've been. This was really good, despite some frustration with the main character and some of her stupid choices. I feel the topic was handled appropriately with a lot of thoughtful conversations and struggles that should be felt in a situation like this. Giffin knows how to add layers onto characters and relationships so that you can begin to understand their motivations to an extent, even if they are making wrong decisions. Her books also tend to be interesting from start to finish, even if they are also frustrating at times.

Life's Little Instruction Book - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
I listened to this while doing chores one day. It's very short--just a list of 511 things you "should" do to have a happier, healthier and more organized life. I guess the guy wrote it for his son, which is fine, but it's not really all that clever or unique. I'm not sure how it was a NYT bestseller. It had a lot of normal stuff, some eyerolling stuff, and even included the line about how on your death bed you won't wish you had spent more time at the office. Really? Are you trying to act like you came up with that, H?

The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion
Socially-challenged but brilliant genetics professor, Don Tillman, decides he will obtain a wife the way he is used to tackling problems--with a logical questionnaire to narrow down prospects. Meanwhile, his friend sends Rosie along to shake things up. She fails to meet Don's criteria for a wife, but a friendship develops when he volunteers to help her determine her biological father through genetics testing. This was really cute. It took a bit for me to get into it--i.e. to like the main character--but he grows on you. Also, I've known guys who weren't very different from Don, so this book gave me a bit of understanding for them.

Books for October: 3
Books for 2014: 34

I was trying to think of why I got barely any reading in, and I guess it's because I did less driving, plus I started several that I didn't continue (yet).

Hey, don't forget to post your book lists here! Please. :)

October Books - A Decidedly Agricultural Dream Theme

[mattiescottage.livejournal.com]

A Tenderfoot Bride:  Tales from the Old Ranch, by Clarice E. Richards, 1920 eBook free from Project Gutenberg

An engaging, pleasant biographical (or perhaps quasi-biographical) account of the adventures of a young couple from the east as they take on cattle-ranching in Colorado.  They run into obstacles with the former ranch owner--whom they find difficult to boot out--and in keeping neighboring cattle off their land due to restrictions from the Federal Government concerning neighboring free-range land.  A mystery of perceived evil of the former owner--no one could quite pin him on it--and friendships with the neighbors and ranch hands are woven into the fabric of the story.  A major theme is the changing nature of the times and economy and the need to be resilient, to adapt and evolve, and sometimes to let go of one thing when it is time to take hold of the next.

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