christianreader | November readings (Reply)

Life, the Universe and Everything - Douglas Adams*, 5/5, Audiobook
The original BBC broadcasting is one of the best narrations I've ever heard. I turn to this whenever I need a good laugh.

Last of the Wilds - Trudi Canavan, 4/5, 576 pages
I'm in the rare situation, that I actually prefer this book to the first book in the series. The characters are more fleshed out here, and the plot more interesting too. Guess great wars aren't all that fascinating to me, whereas character development is.

And there's a lot of character development. Mostly Auraya's obviously, but Leiard and Imi too are showing great potential. I enjoyed following Imi's growing friendship with Reivan, and am interested in seeing where that will take the Elais.

Parts of the story are extremely predictable, and were obvious pages ahead of time, but some of the major issues I'm still wondering how Trudi Canavan will manage to sort out - and I greatly admire an author who can keep me guessing.

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood*, 3.5/5, 298 pages
The Handmaid's Tale is a fascinating dystopian (I think - if I understand the definition correct) tale. I'm not actually sure that I like the story, but it captures my imagination and makes it hard for me to put down the book.

I've never been able to do more than skim the historical notes at the end, but I think it does explain a lot about the structure of the book, to know that it is a transcription of several recorded tapes, and that the order of those tapes wasn't easily determined. It was one of my issues with the book that I disliked the disjointed writing style, and the way it jumped back and forth all the time, but it turned out that Margaret Atwood had a reason for it.

The Handmaid's Tale and Lorna Summer's Third remind me so much of each other. Both address pretty much the same future, but the atmospheres, or moods, of the books couldn't be more different. Truth be told, I prefer Third, as it seems to portray a less dark version of the future, but it's interesting to read them both for comparison.

Bones of the Dragon - Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, 2.5/5, 536 pages
Despite my enjoyment of fantasy, I've never read a single Dragonlance book, and probably wouldn't have picked this up either, if I hadn't been asked to review it.

It's a fairly interesting start to a new series, but either not terribly well-written, or I'm just way above the target age, because I did find it rather simplistic at times, and during the first half of the book, the main character came across as a gigantic arrogant git. Had it ended there, I would only have given it two stars.

It improved in the second half though. Through tragic events Skylan was forced to make difficult decisions and mostly rose to the occasion. Following his growth made the book worth reading, even if nothing else had. Also, I grew to like several of the other characters and found myself interested in their futures - despite my initial reservations.

Bloody Good - Georgia Evans, 3/5, 300 pages
I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but my initial assumption about this book was that it was trash. The plot sounded intriguing, but the cover is just too tacky for words.

I think the book itself lands somewhere midway between the two expectations. Honestly, it was a refreshing change to read a book where the vampires were closer to Bram Stoker's invention, and I really enjoyed the other paranormal aspects also.

There were situations where I had to suspend my disbelief though - even accepting the universe Georgia Evans created - and though they were few, the VERY gratuitous sex scenes meant that I'd more more likely to categorise this as erotic fiction than anything else.

The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society - Beth Pattillo, 4.5/5, 352 pages
I read the sequel, The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love, earlier this year, not realising that it was a sequel. However, I loved it, and wanted to know what came before.

TSKLS didn't disappoint. I was just as charmed by it as I had expected to be. In atmosphere it could best be compared to Mitford, as the reader is introduced to some of the characters of a small village - none of them perfect, but all of them human.

TSKLS is not a literary masterpiece, but it's a very cozy book that's the perfect comfort read.

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult*, 5/5, Audiobook ~21hrs
My Sister's Keeper was the first Jodi Picoult book I read, and it's still my favourite. The premise is fascinating, and it is one we all can relate to - should a child be required to repeatedly donate blood and organs to her sick sister, and should she go so far as to donate a kidney when it is not even certain her sister will survive the surgery?

As is usual for her, Picoult has written this book from several different points of few. This can get frustrating at times, if you get caught up in one storyline, but Picoult handles it well, and didn't subject the reader to too many cliffhangers. The audiobook I'd gotten hold of had a different reader for each character, which worked well.

And once again, I can conclude that "reading" page-turners as audiobooks is somewhat frustrating at times, because it's just too slow!

I loved the book as much as I did the first time around, and it still holds the dubious 'prize' of being probably the book that's made me cry the most.

Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong, 3.5/5, 462 pages
Definitely not as good as the two first books in the series. The plot wasn't as interesting, and I never got to care as much for Paige as I did for Elena. Nor did the romantic interest seem as believable - it mostly appeared just to be tacked on there, so Kelley Armstrong could include a sex scene.

The plot seemed contrived - I never fully understood why Nast decided to pursue the custody case, and the response of both the city and the Covern seemed completely disproportionate. I was furious with the Covern, and wondered why Paige didn't call the police on the intruders long before she did.

The writing was excellent though, and kept me captivated much more completely than the plot deserved. I want to know what happens next, but will probably stick to getting the rest out of the library.

De døde brødre - Nick Clausen, 3/5, 192 pages
(The Dead Brothers)
I don't usually read ghosts stories, as the good ones are often very far and few between, and most of them just seem exaggerated and rather ridiculous. So when I received this as an ARC, I had no great expectations... and was greatly surprised when I ended up really liking it! Sure, I'm quite a bit older than the target audience, but Nick Clausen understands that a good ghost story requires well-described characters and a well thought out plot, and can't just survive on spooks alone, and thus ended up delivering a story that was well-worth reading.

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami, 2.5/5, 459 pages
I'm not entirely sure it deserves such a low rating, because I think my problems with it more than anything stem from the fact that I didn't understand it. At least I hope that's the case, and that the symbolisms just went waaaay over my head, because the alternative is that this is a very, very, very strange book. We're talking Ib Michael strange!

Despite its strangeness, I have to admit it was really well written though. There's not much plot in it, but the characters drew me in completely, and I kept reading because I was interested in seeing what happened to them, more than for any other reason. Not that we were ever fully told though - there were a LOT of empty threads left hanging and questions left unanswered... although I'm not sure they were every intended to be explained.

So I'm in the odd situation that I simultaneously liked and disliked the book - and both would and would not recommend it.

All the Lovely Bad Ones - Mary Downing Hahn, 2/5, 192 pages
Not very well fleshed out, I thought the story dragged, and it wasn't until I was almost half way through, that I was truly interested in what happened next. The ghost story part wasn't very scary - the truly chilling bit was how all the lovely bad ones had been treated before their death - that did rise my ire, and made me want to see justice come to light at the end. I did think even that was exaggerated though, and that a similar effect could have been obtained with much less cheap tricks.

But perhaps I am just a much too old first-time reader. 10-12 year olds would probably have appreciated the spookiness a lot more than I did.

Mission: Drømmeprins - Pernille Eybye, 2/5, 153 pages
(Mission: Prince Charming)
I would undoubtedly have liked this a lot more if I'd been younger when I read it first. The plot was reasonably entertaining, but much too superficial. Too much stuff had to happen in too few pages, and the ending was still obvious from a mile away. I don't remember being as critical of stuff like that when I was younger though, so had I been a 11-12 year old girl I might just have loved it. As it is, it's unfortunately one of those YA novels not suitable for grown ups. It was short though ;-)

The Doctor's Sweetheart - Lucy Maud Montgomery*, 3/5, 175 pages
I hadn't read this short story collection in years, so thought it was time to pick it up again, but on this read-through, I was surprised to see how dark and almost depressing all the stories were, despite the main theme allegedly being romance. Very few - if any - were completely happy love-stories, instead there was love lost, love regained after a long estrangement, love found at the expense of others, or love misunderstood. I didn't pay attention to when these short-stories were written, but if I were to venture a guess, I'd think it was rather late in LMM's life, when her depression had become more pronounced.

New Moon - Stephenie Meyer*, 4.5/5, Audiobook ~16hrs
A lot darker in atmosphere than "Twilight", I still think it lives up to the expectations set by the first book in the series. I'm especially impressed by Stephenie Meyer's way of describing the first months after Edward left - most authors would have been tempted to go on and on in order to tell us Bella's catatonic state. Stephenie Meyer managed to show it very, very efficiently instead.

I'm firmly on Team Edward, but I do appreciate the friendship that developes between Bella and Jacob in "New Moon" - although the animosity between warewolves and vampires annoys me - how neither race can see any good in the other. I'd get really, really frustrated too, if I were Bella.

Probably my least favourite of the series - but I still love it :-)

The Amulet of Samarkand - Jonathan Stroud, 3/5, 479 pages
I loved the footnotes, and enjoyed the gentle dig at Harry Potter (chapter 11: "Well, unless age-old practices were now being dropped and apprentices were being bussed off to boarding school together (hardly likely)."), but apart from those two things I found myself very unimpressed by this introduction to the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Both the characters and the plot failed to captivate me, so I ended up finishing it out of a sense of obligation more than anything else. It wasn't that it was bad, it just didn't interest me.

The footnotes did make me laugh though.

Book of the Month: The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society. Just nice and cozy.
Biggest disappointment: Mission: Drømmeprins. I think I had too high expectations of it.