Kiwiria's May Reads

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I forgot to post my books for May yesterday! I also can't believe I only read 4 books in all of May! But I've been even more busy than usual with knitting (wanting to finish a baby blanket in time), and I'm currently in the middle of a LOT of books (even for me ;) ), so I guess it all makes sense :) And if I actually end up finishing all my current books instead of just continuing to start new ones, I should have a LOT more books in June :D


We All Looked Up - Tommy Wallach, 4/5, 370 pages
I was really intrigued by this take on a "pre-apocalyptic" novel. I've always loved post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels, but pre-apocalyptic novels are few and far between - probably because they're harder to write, I'd assume.

I think Tommy Wallach did a really good job though. I was instantly charmed by his writing style (found two quotes I wanted to write down in just the first chapter!) and he managed multiple POVs extremely well.

I'm not entirely sure what I think of the ending, but I guess I understand why he decided to end it like that... I'm not sure anything else would have worked.

A random pick that totally worked :)


Ready Player One - Ernest Cline, 3.5/5, 386 pages
It took me a LOT longer to read this book than it should have done, but I had several problems with it, which is also what pulled the rating down to 3.5.

First quarter of the book: FAR too much telling and too little showing. I understand that world-building is necessary, but I'm not impressed by how he went about it (not to say that I could've done better, but then I'm not a writer ;) ). 2 stars.

Second quarter: AWESOME! Stuff finally started to happen, and I stopped considering giving up on the book :). 4 stars.

Third quarter: Meh... again with the telling instead of showing. It was alright, but just much too slow. I think Ernest Cline could probably easily have cut the length in half here. 3 stars

Fourth quarter: Again excellent! Ernest Cline really knows how to write action, and I loved this part! 5 stars.

So that gives an average of 3.5 stars for the book as a whole. Very mathematical of me ;)

I liked the premise of the plot, loved many of the characters (Aech and Og especially) and was amused by all the references to childhood games, movies and books).

As a whole, definitely a book I'd recommend to a fellow geek, but I wasn't as blown away by it as many of my friends seemed to be, nor - indeed - as I'd expected to be myself. Still, it's probably a book I'll reread. I think I might even like it more the second time around.


The Time-Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger*, 5/5, 518 pages
I love the idea of this book and am amazed by how well Audrey Niffenegger pulled it off. It's an extremely interesting book - well written, with almost all loose threads tied up as we go along, and no inconsistencies that I could find at least. It's a sad book, but a brilliant book.


Knit the Sky - Lea Redmond, 3.5/5, 192 pages
Since I read this book from begining to end rather than just flipping through it, I'm going to count it here :) Besides this is not your usual book of knitting patterns. Instead it is a book of ideas. Ideas of how to turn everyday events into knitting projects, and begin seeing both those events and your knitting in a new light.

I loved the idea of knitting your everyday life and was quickly taken in by the concept, so even though some of the ideas were a tad too twee for me to tackle, or followed a path that wasn't relevant for me to follow, I walked away from the book with a great appreciation of what Lea Redmond was trying to do... Not to mention a great desire to try (or to have tried, if I had known of them in the past) some of the projects mentioned.

Some of my favourites were:
"Monsters under Your Bed", where your inner insomniac comes out to play.
"Play By Play" that allows me to combine my husbands interest of soccer with my own knitting hobby.
"Navigating By Heart" where you knit a well-traveled road.
"K1 B1", that combines meditation and knitting
"Mind the Gap" - although that really only works in a city with lots of public transportation. Copenhagen has that though, and I'm kinda itching to get started on this!
"Pins and Needles" where you knit a teeny-tiny project!
"Dormitory Hop" - probably my very favourite of the lot, and I would have loved to have thought of this back at boarding school. Not a project that's relevant for me to do now, but one that I'd recommend to any knitter setting out to meet new friends.
"Party Popper", which is a fun idea for passing on yarn to others.

I don't think I'd recommend this book to a new knitter, but it's a fun way to branch out.

May books

[dantheman23.livejournal.com]

Someday I'll write an entry that isn't my monthly books, I promise ; )

Green River, Running Red
by Ann Rule

Anne Rule has led quite the life. She is a true crime writer who used to wok at the Univeristy of Washington as a psychologist. While she was there, and already writing true crime stuff, she had a partner she worked with; that partner turned out to be Ted Bundy! How weird is that? This book however, is about the Green River Killer, who it turns out she lived about a mile from 0_o So bizarre. The GRK was active when I was a kid, and I remember hearing about him at the time. I also remember when they captured him but hadn't really heard many details. This book tells the whole story of Gary Ridgeway, his victims, and the circumstances surrounding them. Fascinating read. 4/5

One Shot
by Lee Child

Our buddy Jack Reacher is back, this time trying to figure out the truth of an ex-marine sniper who apparently killed several people in a planned shooting. Glad I got into this series, and even though I'm only about halfway through it I'm already getting sad thinking about finishing it. 3.5/5

Angela's Ashes
by Frank McCourt

[Yes, I've joined The Finer Things club from The Office] Wow. This book...I don't know if I can even convey how powerful it is. It's the author's memoir of his childhood and upbringing and it is jaw-dropping. Talk about dirt poor. His parents came to America separately at the beginning of the Great Depression, Frank was born here, then they moved back to Ireland. And if you thought things were tough in the U.S. in the 1930's, Ireland was even worse. I wanted to reach through the book and strangle the father, because whenever he made money (which was rare) he spent every penny on getting drunk at the pub. Just a total alcoholic loser. Not the most uplifting book ever, but an incredible read. Really puts your “Wah, my iPhone won't update to the newest version” first-world problems in perspective.

So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish
by Douglas Adams

Eh, while Hitchhiker's Guide is a classic and something that I should read every few years, the rest of the series isn't nearly as good. It took me weeks to get through this one because I just wasn't into it. It still had some moments, but wasn't nearly as fun or humorous as the original. 3/5

Young Zaphod Plays it Safe
by Douglas Adams

I don't know if I ever read this one before. It's a very short story; Zaphod helps find a crashed ship that has an incredibly dangerous thing aboard that can't ever be allowed to escape. And of course it does, but we never find out exactly who it was (we know it was a person). I didn't get it so I looked it up and apparently it was an allusion to Ronald Reagan! Weird. 3/5

The Hard Way
by Lee Child

This was a really good Reacher book. I liked the mystery, I liked the resolution, I liked the action. This series just gets better and better. 4/5

No Country for Old Men
by Cormac McCarthy

I'd seen this book on all kinds of recommendations and lists so I decided to give it a whirl. When I saw the back cover was comparing it to people like Joyce and Melville I was like “Oh crap...”, but it wasn't that bad. Even after finishing I'm not too sure what I think of it. It's ostensibly about a man who finds a bunch of money from a drug deal gone bad and trying to get away with the money while being chased by a very bad man trying to recover it. But it's not really about that at all; it's more of a “slice of life” look at a group of people with the events as a backdrop. The story itself plays out very oddly, and it isn't necessarily my kind of book, but it was definitely interesting and I'm glad I read it. One of the more peculiar books I've ever read. 3.5/5

Books for May: 7
Books for 2015: 26