With Memorial Day coming up, and schools letting out soon, I thought it might be useful to put an entry together with people's favorite summer reading suggestions. So, drop on by this entry and add your recommendations.

Happy summer reading!

Title: The Stranger Beside Me
Author: Ann Rule
Year: 1989
# of pages: 489
Date read: 5/10/2009
Rating: 3*/5 = good



Description:

"Ted Bundy was everyone's picture of a natural "winner" -- handsome, charming, brilliant in law school, successful with women, on the verge of a dazzling career. On January 24, 1989, Ted Bundy was executed for the murders of three young women; he had also confessed to taking the lives of at least thirty-five more young women from coast to coast. This is his story written by a woman who thought she knew Ted Bundy -- until she began to pull all the evidence together, and the whole terrifying picture emerged from the dark depths." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good true crime book in which Rule not only wrote about the life and crimes of Ted Bundy, but also wrote about how she was fooled by him for many years.

First line:

"A merry little surge of electricity piped by automatic alarm from the mood organ beside his bed awakened Rick Deckard."

Summary: In the future, World War Terminus has polluted the Earth and humanity has fled to space colonies. For those left on the barren planet, electric "mood organs" are used to control emotions and humans embrace an ideal of empathy to differentiate themselves from the architects of Earth's destruction. In the space colonies, androids are used as slave labor. These robots appear human save for their sociopathic lack of empathy. When several new-model androids - capable of emulating emotion and evading detection tests - kill their owners and escape to earth, it is up to the android hunter Rick Deckard to track them down.

Reaction: Dick blurs the line between man and machine. Humans regulate their emotions with mood organs and raise electric animals as status symbols. (Animal husbandry denotes empathy in the post-apocalyptic culture and Earth-bound humans pay handsomely for real or electric animals.) Deckard begins the novel as a remorseless killer, 'retiring' androids without a second thought. Humans seem just as programmed, artificial, and unempathic as their robot slaves. While the androids are sociopathic, it remains unclear whether or not their 'simulated' emotions are genuine. They will act selfishly and violently to protect themselves, but exhibit uninhibited curiosity and a desire to live.

The book's afterward (by Paul Sammon) quotes Dick's inspiration for the androids as Nazis who "appeared human but behaved in nonhuman ways." The androids represent a fundamental lack of empathy and the story warns that humans may become what they seek to destroy. However, I had a very different reaction to the novel's androids: I pitied them. (Ah, I feel empathy for them. I guess I'm not an android! Whew!) Yes, the androids are cold and conniving, but what four year old child isn't "me-centric" at that age? You see, the androids are built with a four year lifespan. (And there is text indicating that they may actually be modified human clones rather than 'mere' machines.) They are endowed with immense intelligence but none of the prosocial behavior learned by humans as they grow. The intelligence of Einstein and the strength of a machine with the emotion maturity of a child - is it any wonder that they strike out at their captors and behave as they do? Dick and his characters dismiss the androids as less than human, but I was left wondering what kind of people they could mature into, given the chance.

Recommended for the fun retro sci-fi elements (hovercars, androids, and laser guns) and thought-provoking questions about human nature.

Thumbs: Up

Book #23
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith
Fiction; humor
317 pages


"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers-and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you'd actually want to read.

This book was one of the most unique stories I have ever read. I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of reading classic literature, but when zombies, violence and mayhem are added into the mix, it certainly does make for an interesting read. I thought it was commendable how Seth Grahame-Smith changed the wording but it still felt like one was reading Pride & Prejudice. I didn't think that this book was outstanding, but it was very humorous, nevertheless. If you're a fan of zombies and Austen, then this book is definitely worth reading at least once.

Books read this year: 23/50.
Pages read this year: 8795/15000

I've been a little slow on finishing books this month. In my defense, I just spent a week with a dear friend of mine, so there was hardly any time to concentrate on a book :)

50. Title: Prey
Author: Rachel Vincent
Genre: Urban fantasy
Pages: 386

Summary:
"Paly? Right. My Pride is under fire from all sides, my father's authority is in question and my lover is in exile. Which means I haven't laid eyes on Marc's gorgeous face in months. And with a new mother and an I-know-everything teenager under my protection, I don't exactly have time to fantasize about ever seeing him again.

"Then our long awaited reunion is ruined by a vicious ambush by strays. Now our group is under attack, Marc is missing and I will need every bit of skill and smarts to keep my family from being torn apart." ~Jacket copy

Thoughts:
I don't have too much to say. Vincent's last two novels were very good -- that is not to say that any of them are bad. They are quick and enjoyable reads. However, as she dives deeper into the series, she has been able to mature Faythe as well as the other characters.

If you like the series, then this book is good :)

Currently: The Devil You Know by Mike Carey
Pages-to-Date: 15626

Niteblade Fantasy and Horror Magazine is an online publication for much of the year, but they do produce an annual print anthology. My work has been published in Niteblade this year, after this anthology was made.

This features an eclectic mix of thirteen stories and thirteen poems. Most tend towards horror rather than fantasy; horror isn't my preference because it tends to squick me, but I suppose that would also denote a good horror story. "Ten Second Rule" and "The Rusalka" were especially chilling. My favorite fantasy story of the lot is the final one in the anthology, "Joy," about the arrival of a mermaid in the rain. As for the poetry, my favorite by far was "The Gnome's Spectacles," which managed to mix fantasy and horror in a delightful way.

23  THE EASTER PARADE    Richard Yates  (USA,1976)



The Easter Parade follows the lives of the sisters Emily and Sarah Grimes from their parents' divorce to their relationships with men. While Sarah gets married and becomes a housewife, Emily wins a scholarship and goes from one relationship to another.
Most of the novel is centered on Emily's life and her attempts and inability to be happy.

Emily and Sarah lead completely different lives but none of them are successful. Once more Yates forces us to see what lies beyond appearances. Sarah is conventional, refuses to break free from her alienating life and denies her unhappiness. On the other hand, Emily does everything Sarah should have done. She studies, works and refuses to pretend she's satisfied when she's not, yet just like her sister she never manages to be happy.
Richard Yates has NOT created two opposite characters in order to draw a conclusion on what the girls should have done to be happy. He is telling us that no matter what some people do they can never be happy, and I believe that this is his ability to see the truth, the heartbreaking truth, which accounts for the fact that all his novels were out of print after his death. Few people want to know there is so little hope.

From Emily's lovers to Sarah's family, all the characters' personal stories of this novel are here to create this hopeless atmosphere I mentioned. There is one character, however, that seems to know what he wants and be satisfied,  and at the end of the novel he is the one that leads Emily to her final breakdown.

The last pages of this masterpiece are among the most heartbreaking I've ever read.

Richard Yates is a genius.

5/5

Title: Acorna: The Unicorn Girl
Authors; Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball
Year: 1997
# of Pages: 400
Date read: 5/6/2009
Rating: 3*/5 = good


Description:

"She was just a little girl, with a tiny horn in the center of her forehead, funny-looking feet, beautiful silver hair, and several curious powers: the ability to purify air and water, make plants grow, and heal scars and broken bones. A trio of grizzled prospectors found her drifting in an escape pod amid the asteroids, adopted her, and took her to the bandit planet Kezdet, a place where no questions are asked and a girl might grow up free.

But Kezdet has its own dark secret. The prosperity of the planet is based on a hideous trade in child slave labor, administered by "The Piper" -- a mystery man with special plans for Acorna and her powers. But free little girls have a way of growing into freedom-loving women, and Acorna has special plans all her own...." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good book introducing me to the character Acorna. I liked how Calum, Gill and Rafik learned about her powers and how Acorna and her friends made a difference on Kezdet. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Acorna's Quest.

22   MR  TOPPIT    Charles Elton  (England, 2009)




After his death, Arthur Hayman's children books, The Hayseed Chronicles, gradually become one of the most successful series in history. The family and friends he has left behind cannot escape the impact their popularity had on their lives and the terrible secrets they are now forced to face.

Charles Elton was inspired by books such as Harry Potter and the impact they have on popular culture (everybody knows when a reference to Harry Potter is made) to write Mr Toppit. I thought the idea of creating a family story around a popular culture phenomenon was brilliant, unfortunately Elton is far from being a good writer.

"Once upon a time a book broke a family", this is what's written on the cover of my edition but it is not true. The truth is the family secrets have NOTHING to do with the book. First of all we don't get to know much about the book itself except that the main characters are a little boy and a mysterious and tyrannic Mr Toppit, moreover it is just a way of introducing us to a family. You might think it isn't that bad because a family is always an interesting topic, but unfortunately the Hayman family and friends have nothing to offer. Their few secrets are so easy to guess and far-fetched at the same time that you wonder how he could possibly write his book without feeling ridiculous.
Finally, the worst aspect of the novel is that it's full of stereotypes. Americans are fat and only think about money, those who live in L.A. are the worst because they are shallow and Germans are of course bossy. But no worries the English are here to stand for real values (English people don't care when they shower with cold water, only Americans are stupid enough to complain!).

I do have one question however, how come this trash was advertised everywhere in London and in the tube?

0/5

26. The Complete Illustrated Works of Edgar Allan Poe 5 / 5

Me and Edgar first encountered each other in seventh grade, when I was 13. I think it was love at first sight when we read one of the short story collections. Not only they were morbid and depicted the horrible nature of evil I thought he himself was like one of his tragic characters. This edition was a great chance to finish the rest that I hadn't come across. Illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, Harry Clarke etc.

27. Thérèse Raquin - Émile Zola (1867) 4 / 5
One of Zola's most famous realistic novels, Therese Raquin is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower classes in nineteenth-century Parisian society. Zola's shocking tale dispassionately dissects the motivations of his characters--mere "human beasts", who kill in order to satisfy their lust--and stands as a key manifesto of the French Naturalist movement, of which the author was the founding father.

Deals with inner torture and consists of some very gruesome scenes. There's nothing special about the story itself, it's how it is told. Pressing and intense atmosphere in that little dusty shop where fear, dread and paranoia are constantly lingering and the ghost of a bloated corpse reminds you of your evil.

28. The Leopard - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1958) 3 / 5
The Leopard is set in Sicily in 1860, as Italian unification is coming violently into being, but it transcends the historical-novel classification. E.M. Forster called it, instead, "a novel which happens to take place in history." Lampedusa's Sicily is a land where each social gesture is freighted with nuance, threat, and nostalgia, and his skeptical protagonist, Don Fabrizio, is uniquely placed to witness all and alter absolutely nothing.

The embodiment of melancholy and beautiful language. Not so much a particular story, more like a portrait of a fading era.

29. Paradise Lost - John Milton (1667) 4 / 5
The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men"[1] and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will.

30. The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter (1979) 4 / 5
Carter relates traditional fairy tales through her own unique perspective. The mind of the modern feminist unravels the mysteries of the subconscious and its related symbolism.

Beautifully written gothic and feminist stories based on famous fairytales. They're like more developed and flowery versions of the originals, a world I'd love to be sucked into. On a closer look you notice they all study womanhood, taking the opening short story away from the "handsome prince rescues the helpless girl" - scenario.

( 31 - 40 )

61. Sherston's Progress- Siegfried Sassoon, 280 pages, 5/5
The final book in the Sherston trilogy, basically being an account of Sassoon's time at Craiglockhart military hospital where he was treated for shell shock after writing A Soldier's Declaration and then his return to active duty, first in Palestine and the France before being wounded by friendly fire. I loved it and found it really interesting, particularly after having read Regeneration, the fictionalised account of his time at Craiglockhart, to see how much of what happened in that was based upon the truth.

62. Insurrections- James Stephens, 55 pages, 3/5
Short anthology by a poet I'd previously not heard of. There were a few that were quite good but nothing blew me away.

63. Love Poems- W.H. Davies, 60 pages, 2/5
Another short anthology by a poet I was mostly unfamiliar with (I know Leisure but that's about it by Davies). Didn't really enjoy it but then love poems aren't my usual thing anyway.

64. A Book of Modern Verse (1925)- Ed. J.C. Smith, 63 pages, 3/5
Nothing modern about this collection these days! I always think it's interesting to see what poems are selected for which poets in these anthologies and it had some of my favourites.

Books: 64 Pages: 17794

This is an approachable and fast memoir that most any animal lover would enjoy. Susan Richards had a lot of baggage, but by the time she entered her 40s she regarded herself as an independent woman in control of her life. She had conquered the alcohol addiction that dominated her for decades. She shed an abusive husband and family. But when she agreed to take care of an abused mare and foal, she got more than she bargained for. The mare, Lay Me Down, had every right to hate humans, but she didn't. She looked on Susan with trust and faith, and Susan felt her old protective barriers begin to fall. But barriers exist with a reason, and soon Susan would need to face the truth: with love comes vulnerability, but it is still worthwhile.

I was surprised at how gently this book flowed. It felt like stream-of-consciousness, progressing from memory to memory without me even fully realizing how far the story strayed. Susan had a very difficult life, and she is very honest about what she endured and also what she brought on herself. Her relationship with Lay Me Down and other horses, even the impetuous Morgan Georgia, reveal a lot about her and her maturity. This is really a book about love, life, death, and how a person is never to old to learn and grow wise.

Book 72: Storm Glass (Opal Cowan Trilogy Book 1)
Author: Marie V. Snyder
Genre: Fantasy Romance.
Other Details: Paperback. 512 pages.

This new trilogy from Marie V. Snyder is set four years after the closing of Fire Study. Its main character and narrator is glassmaker Opal Cowan, who was first introduced in Magic Study.

Opal is now a magician-in-training at the Magician's Keep and faces her first real test when she is sent on a mission by the Master Magicians of Sitia to discover why the glass orbs of the Stormdance Clan have been shattering, killing storm dancers in the process. This is only the start of Opal's adventures and trials as this book packs a great deal of plot into its pages yet still has time for some romance and reflection.

I really liked Opal when she first appeared and was delighted to find her elevated to leading lady of this new trilogy. Snyder had created such a coherent fantasy world that I had felt immediately at home in from the start of the Study Trilogy. There is the added bonus of pronounceable names! I did wonder how glass-making would carry a plot though I need not have been concerned because it worked out well.

I do think though that although some background is given that this book really needs to be read after the Study Trilogy as many aspects of plot and characters are carried over and it builds on the foundation created there in terms of the world, its peoples and cultures. I loved it and am pleased that the second book, Sea Glass, will be out this autumn.

Chapter 1 of Storm Glass - contains spoilers for conclusion of Fire Study.

I've been putting off reporting on The Road by Cormac McCarthy because, oddly enough, I liked it so very much. It's the story of a man and his son wandering mostly aimlessly across a desolate America in the middle of what is probably a nuclear winter. I got it because so many of you were speaking highly of it and because I tend to be drawn to the post-apocalyptic. After I'd finished reading it, I called my father to see if HE'D read it. My father and I have very few books in common, since I like sci-fi and he likes straight fiction that's been well-reviewed by the New York Times. This, I thought, would be a book we might have in common.

"I really like McCarthy," said my dad, "But I've actually avoided reading The Road on purpose. I heard it was... bleak."

"It IS bleak," said I, "But it's beautiful in the bleakness."

It's very very bleak, and pretty disturbing in some spots, but there IS a beauty to it that seems to be held in common by very well-done post-apocalyptic stuff (like World War Z). Oddly, it most reminded me of a play I was in my senior year of highschool, a weird little thing called "A Fable" or something like that.

I was worried that the ending would ruin it, but it didn't. Even the lack of quotation marks didn't bother me for very long, it ended up making the whole thing more... bleak (sorry for over-repetition of this word).

So I think you should read it.

(52/100)

Title: Mandy
Author: Julie Andrews Edwards
Year: 1971
# of pages: 188
Date read: 4/13/2009
Rating: 3*/5 = good

Description:

A home of her own. For ten-year-old Mandy, the old stone orphanage was the only home she remembered. Matron Bridie was kind to her, but there were thirty children to look after, and sometimes Mandy felt there was something missing. One day Mandy climbed over the high orphanage wall and found a tiny, deserted cottage in the woods. Here at last was her very own home. All through the spring, summer, and fall, Mandy worked to make it truly hers. Sometimes she "borrowed" things she needed from the orphanage. Sometimes to guard her secret, she even lied. Then one stormy night at the cottage, Mandy got sick, and no one knew how to find her -- except a special friend she didn't know she had. -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

I enjoyed re-reading this book as it was one of my favorite books growing up. As I read, I smiled at remembering Mandy's climbing over the wall, and even though I knew how it would end, I still worried when she was in the cottage while she was sick.

Date read: 4/13/2009
Book #: 26
Challenge: Childhood Favourites Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Children's Literature

Publisher: Harper & Row
Year: 1971
# of Pages: 188

33.
Title:  Silk
Author:  Jordan Penny
Genre:  Family drama?
Rating:  5/5

( Summary copied from www.amazon.ca )

My Thoughts:  This is the first book I've read by Penny.  I really enjoyed it.  After I read it, I went to look for more books by her and discovered that she's written a ton of Harlequin romance type books...not so much my thing.  But, this book is the first in a trilogy, so I'm excited for the other ones to come out.  I read that readers who like Danielle Steel and Penny Vicenzi will like this book also.

34.
Title:  Every Secret Thing
Author:  Laura Lippman
Genre:  Mystery
Rating:  4/5

( Summary copied from www.amazon.ca )

My Thoughts:  I liked this book.  I may have been slow to catch on, but the ending was a suprise to me.  I like it when that happens!!

35.
Title:  Tomorrow's Promises
Author:  Anna Jacobs
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Rating:  3.5/5

( Summary copied from www.amazon.ca )

My Thoughts:  This book was ok.  It's set in England after the war is over.  I think my problem was that I don't really know about this time period, so it seems a bit far fetched to me to think that people meet once or twice, fall in love and get married....but I'm guessing that's probably how it went back then.  It was a good story, with some good twists.

36.
Title: Beach House
Author:  Jane Green
Genre:  Chick Lit
Rating:  4.5/5

( Summary copied from www.amazon.ca )

My Thoughts:  I really enjoyed this book.  It was a quick read, but a good one.

79. George Sand: A Woman's Life Writ Large - Belinda Jack 
            This was a biography of George Sand, a 19th century French writer.  As crazily famous and influential as she was at the time (on speaking terms with Bonaparte, good friends with Flaubert, longtime lover of Chopin), she's not so well-known now, at least not outside France.  The book focuses on her life, not her oeuvre, as being the most important thing about her.  She wasn't a woman who adhered to any hard and fast rules, but concentrated on living her life.  Just so happens she wanted to live her life writing novels, having lovers, wearing pants, and smoking cigars.  Wild.
80. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible - A.J. Jacobs 
         Pretty much just what the subtitle tells you.  This author, who previously wrote a book on reading the whole Encyclopedia Britannica, now tries to follow the Bible literally.  He grows his beard, he wears light colored clothes, he eats fruit from trees that are older than 5 years, he writes the 10 Commandmants on his door jamb.
         This is a funny book.  When I tell people that, they immediately think it isn't serious.  That it's just a big joke at the expense of religion and the Bible.  But really, the author is funny.  His style is funny.  But he is definitely serious about taking a closer look at an important book and seeing why it changes so many people's lives and what they gain from it. 

Today, I finished reading a graphic novel based on a novel series that I loved, way back when. This collection is called Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, and it's a good rendition of some of the tales that Leiber wrote about these rogues. Worth a look, either in the collections, or the graphic novel.

Cross posted to personal lj, 50bookchallenge and 15000pages

( The woods are dark, Haunted, and 3 Mercedes Lackey books )

13 / 100 books. 13% done!

4069 / 50000 pages. 8% done!

( On the Beach movie review... )

( 1-39 )

40. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - I loved this book! It took me a bit to get into it but when I did, yo, it was awesome. Also, I can really see this being a movie just the descriptions and all the action. Watch out right after HP and Twilight this is next man! Haha, maybe, I'd kinda like it to be. The ending was kind of mreh though, but I guess since it's part of a series it has to leave you hanging.

41. Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk - Pretty much the exact opposite of how I felt about the Hunger Games. I hated how it was written and just hated it from the start. Which is weird because I'm a typically a Palahniuk fan, but this one? Nope. I just couldn't get into it and once I realized this I kind of sped read through it just to get it over with.

I am so far behind it pains me. I probably will have to count plays again to actually hit fifty this year. Reason number 872 why I'm looking forward to going on leave from my theatre company next spring: more time for reading.

10. The Dark Half - Stephen King
Can't say I was completely mad about it - it's clearly one of the books from King's 'not part of this universe due to drug/alcohol abuse' period. However, overall I enjoyed it and there were parts that enthralled me, as King always does. I love Thad. And it was interesting reading this after having read Needful Things - reading the books out of order didn't hinder me at all, and actually kept me going because I wanted to know how Alan evolved from this to Needful Things.

11 - 13. Diaries of the Family Dracul Series - Jeanne Kalogridis
I was on board the 'let's make a prequel to a classic novel' up until the 'let's include the classic novel as part of the story, but change a whole lot of really important themes, ideas, characters and plot to make them fit in the new author's storyline and worldview' bit. Then came the wanting to scream and yell and throw the book across the room part (I refrained from throwing, but I did yell a couple times).
This whole series has been an up and down experience for me. Some of the characters I thought were really well done; others I did not. The way the story tied itself to the original novel of Dracula was interesting... at first, but the farther it got, the more convoluted and absurd it became. Hence the changing major aspects of the original to fit into this wacky new world.
A lot of this had to do with certain plot points and character developments that were completely unnecessary. That and the sexual depravity. There already is what I refer to as a 'Lesbian Spank Inferno Dracula.' It's porn with a little bit of plot thrown in... ish. One of these types of books is enough. It really wasn't needed in this book, too. Or any other book for that matter.
Overall the series was an interesting read, however I'd like to erase this final book from my memory. I hold Stoker's novel on a pedestal, and I do so for a reason. So when a book comes along that changes nearly everything that makes Dracula special, unique, fascinating, horrific and epic, for no reason other than to make it fit a new author's ideas of what a vampire novel should be, I become quite flummoxed and displeased.

14. High School Musical: Stories from East High - Battle of the Bands
Shut up. I had a bad day. It was there. I read it.
Thank you, Disney ghostwriters for furthering my twisted imaginings of these movies. I really needed more fodder for my Rycycle theories.

15. Summer of the Danes (Brother Cadfael Book 18) - Ellis Peters
My mom's been trying to get me to read these books for years. This one she sent me in a package with other stuff as a hint. Finally got round to it and have to say while I was really impressed with the writing and style, I wasn't mad about it overall. They story was intriguing and some of the characters well done, it just didn't pull me in the way it seems to do for my mom. Also, not speaking a bit of Welsh, or Danish, a lot of the names and places made my head hurt... and made me want to learn Welsh.

Up Next:
The Black Arrow - Robert Louis Stevenson

Title: Interred With Their Bones
Author: Jennifer Lee Carrell
Year: 2007
# of pages: 405
Date read: 4/12/2009
Rating: 3*/5 = good


Description:

"A long-lost work of Shakespeare, newly found. . .a killer who stages the Bard's extravagant murders as flesh-and-blood realities. . .a desperate race to find literary gold, and just to stay alive. . .

On the eve of the Globes production of Hamlet, Shakespeare scholar Kate Stanley's eccentric mentor gives her a mysterious box, claiming to have made a groundbreaking discovery. Before she can reveal it to Kate, however, terrifying echoes of the past break through to the present: The Globe burns, and a body is found inside -- murdered in the strange manner of Hamlet's father. Opening the box, Kate finds the first piece in a Shakespearean puzzle that sets her off on a deadly, high-stakes treasure hunt, racing from England to Spain to America.

An expert in occult Shakespeare, Kate knows better than anyone the many secrets, half-truths, codes, and curses surrounding his life and work. On the trail of a four-hundred-year-old mystery, she soon realizes that the prize at the end promises to unlock literary history's greatest secret.

But Kate is not alone in his hunt, and the buried truth threatens to come at the ultimate cost. . . ." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This was a very good literary thriller set in London, Harvard and the American southwest. I liked the mix of literary clues set in archives and libraries.

Thought i'd post since i've finished 2 books since my last post. I was very excited to finally read The Rule Of Four By Ian Caldwell...And now i know why. What a great book.

The Rule Of Four By: Ian Caldwel & Dustin Thomason
This book is basically a riddle. It is set at Princeton with 4 seniors who are friends and roommates. Basically one guy, Tom his father dedicated his life to studying a book called the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Tom recalls his dad being obsessed with figuring it out. There is a couple of professors who have also dedicated a fair amount of time studying it as well. Tom meets Paul another senior who is writing a thesis on the book. Paul had read the books that Tom's father had written about the book and finally was able to meet Tom through a search he'd done of the student registry. The story goes on as the two of them with help from their friends try to solve the mystery of the book.

It was a lot like The Davici Code...But a very good book...I would suggest to anyone who likes this type of reading to give it a try. I am currently searching for other books like this one to read.

The Heroin Diaries By: Nikki Sixx
This is basically a book of diary entries that Nikki Sixx the Bass Player for the band Motley Crue kept over the course of a year. It was during a point in his life when he was addicted to heroin and coke when Motley was touring for their Girls Girls Girls album. I am a hair metal lover and love Motley Crue so of course this would be a great book to me even if it wasn't a very good read...LOL It was an awesome read. Well worth picking it up. I have to say it is a little over 400 pages and i read it in 3 days. I had a hard time putting it down. What i loved about it was at certain parts of the book various people mentioned in the entries would give a bit of a commentary on how it was back then with him. So sorta the Nikki now vs the Nikki then. It was very interesting and informative.

My book list:
Books I've Read: (Strike through means finished)
1. Ghost Hunting By Jason Hawes & Grant Wilson
2. High Hopes: The Amityville Murders By Gerard Sullivan
3. Artemis Fowl By Eoin Colfer
4. The Mothman Prophecies By John Keel
5. The Rule Of Four By Ian Caldwel & Dustin Thomason
6. Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident By Eoin Colfer
7. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code By Eoin Colfer
8. Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception By Eoin Colfer
9. Artemis Fowl: The Last Colony By Eoin Colfer
10. Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox By Eoin Colfer
11. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone By J.K. Rowling (In Progress)
12. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets By J.K. Rowling
13. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban By J.K. Rowling
14. Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire By J.K. Rowling
15. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix By J.K. Rowling
16. Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince By J.K. Rowling
17. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows By J.K. Rowling
18. The Heroin Diaries By Nikki Sixx
19. Thr3e By Ted Dekker
20. Obsessed By Ted Dekker
21. Roses & Thorns By Bret Michaels
22. The Davici Code By Dan Brown
23. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
24. Motley Crue: The Dirt - Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band By Vince Neil, Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx & Mick Mars
25. The Real Rule Of Four By Joscelyn Godwin
26. Did Lizzie Borden axe for it? : a new look at the woman and the murder case By David Rehak
27. The Borden tragedy : a memoir of the infamous double murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892 By Rick Geary
28. Lizzie Borden : The Untold Story By Edward D. Radin
29. The Stranger Beside Me By Ann Rule
30. The Only Living Witness : The True Story Of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy By Stephen G. Michaud & Hugh Aynesworth.
31. The Milwaukee Murders : Nightmare In Apartment 213-- The True Story By Don Davis
32. Helter Skelter : The True Story Of The Manson Murders By Vincent Bugliosi, with Curt Gentry

From this list you get a pretty good idea of what i like...LOL Any suggestions would be great...Always looking for new interesting stuff to read.

Vinnie

This evening, while I ate, I finished another Osprey book, this one being Campaign #199: Philippi 42 BC: The Death of the Roman Republic, about the fight between Brutus/Cassius against Octavion/Mark Antony. Nice bits about their training similarities; background on the politics. These Osprey books have good, solid historical data.

A Fine Ending, by Louis Rastelli
I bought this novel because it was set in Montreal in the 90s and that's also what I liked best about it. But the matter of fact prose is somehow rather tasty as well.
(126/275, 5/75)

To Play the Fool, by Laurie R. King
The language, setting, and characterization in this mystery were really enjoyable. The plot felt like a bit of a pretext but I didn't mind much because I was caught up in the story anyway.
(127/275, 6/75)

Against a Dark Background, by Iain M. Banks
This is very smart and very literary space opera, and I really didn't care for it until about halfway through. After which I thought it was awesome, go figure.
(128/275, 7/75)

Catering to Nobody, by Diane Mott Davidson
I liked Cereal Murders well enough that I picked up a bunch of her other books - and I've finally got around to tackling the series in order. This one made such good vacation reading that I may save the others for the same purpose...
(129/275, 8/75)

Tales of Wonder, by Huston Smith with Jeffrey Paine
Things I like: 1) autobiographies, 2) travel books, 3) religious books that aren't too dogmatic, 4) charming old men. Big surprise, I really enjoyed this short, crisp look at the famous religion writer's own life.
(130/275)

I just finished reading Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mentchev.

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives in the Theatre Illuminata along with every character from every play ever written, that is, until the Theatre Manager tells her she must leave. Now Bertie has to prove that she's indispensable to the Theater to stay. But that might be somewhat difficult with unruly fairies for sidekicks, a pirate for a best friend, and one pissed off Air Spirit that may or may not be Bertie's weakness. Can Bertie save the theatre, keep her home, and find out who she is before the final curtain?

This book is definitely a good light read for Theatre / Literature nerds. Very witty and enchanting. The book itself is well written and leaves room for a sequel.

Hello everyone :D
I'm Gia, and I joined this community back in January under a different username. You can find my first post here..

Since reading my first book, I have read 2 more and am still stuck on Jane Eyre.

Might I recommend anything by Nicholas Sparks. His verbiage is fantastic and his books are very easy to read and digest. The two books I read were Dear John and Message in a Bottle, both by Sparks. I read "Dear John" from midnight into the wee hours of the morning because I could not put it down no matter how hard I tried. "Message in a Bottle" I took on my recent trip out of state. I was mezmerized on the plane ride, and before I knew it I had read almost half the book within my 3+ hours of flight. It only took me another two days to finish; despite my busy schedule I found time to pick up this book.

( Here are the reviews from websites under the cut. )

Wide range of genres and a couple of sentences to each title. I never include rereads nor are books that I started but didn't finish included. I'm in the middle of reading like ten books at the moment... hopefully I'll finish them soon. I've finally decided that I'm going to set my goal to three hundred books this year and at least seventy-five before Uni starts up again in October.

( Books 101-125 )

Genre: YA, Sci-Fi
Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary: Panem, a country built on the ruins of what was once North America, is governed by the Capitol, the cruel governing force which keeps the outlying twelve districts of Panem in line through fear tactics, namely The Hunger Games. For the Games, one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen from each district are chosen in the Reaping and sent to the Capitol to compete in a deadly competition against one another. The Games are brutal and the tributes, as the children are called, kill each other off until only one survivor remains. The survivor is then given a life of luxury and brings honor to their district. Everyone in Panem is required to watch the televised broadcast of the Games - the Capitol's display of power and their cruel way of discouraging the districts from rebellion. When Katniss Everdeen's twelve-year-old sister, Prim, is selected as the girl tribute for District 12, Katniss sacrifices herself to protect Prim. She and her fellow tribute, a boy named Peeta Mellark, whom Katniss has known since childhood, journey together to the Capitol along with Haymitch, a previous Hunger Games winner from their district and the man who will prepare them for the actual Games. When the Games begin, Katniss faces not only the danger of her fellow competitors, but many other terrifying obstacles created by the Gamemakers. She must also face the internal struggle of survival against humanity.

My Review: I loved The Hunger Games. Absolutely loved it. Which is odd because this is generally not my type of book at all. Futuristic novels tend to give me the creeps, especially when they're about cruel, controlling governments. But even though The Hunger Games is futuristic and deals greatly with the idea of oppressive government, I could not put it down. Katniss's narration is fascinating; there is never a dull moment in this book. Suzanne Collins does a wonderful job of putting the reader in Katniss's shoes; I could feel my own stomach twisting with anticipation and dread when Katniss is waiting in the arena for the Games to begin. Overall I thought it was a brilliant book and very original, which is a hard thing to come by in YA lit today. The Hunger Games stands completely on its own; there is nothing else like it.

I've probably already read 50 "books" this year, but I decided to only count things outside of my assigned reading - I definitely don't read for pleasure often enough.

#1:Pattern Recognition by William Gibson. 5/5.
I guess I was just reading the wrong Gibson.

I took a class on 19th century science fiction as a credit toward my (now minor) major in English. Our prof. emailed us a list of modern science fiction to check out over the summer, and Gibson was one of the authors on his "short list." I'd attempted to read Neuromancer in high school, but tossed it because of a rather off-putting scene that named one very particular part of the male anatomy one too many times, not to mention lots of really big words, some of which I was certain he'd just made up.

Needless to say, I was really hesitant to pick up a second book by Gibson, but one of my friends convinced me that Pattern Recognition was a much brisker read, and indeed it was. Wikipedia says that critics "approved of the writing but found the plot unoriginal and some of the language distracting." Honestly, maybe it was, but I didn't really notice, because I was too much in love with a certain protagonist named Cayce Pollard (also known by her online alias, CayceP).

The novel takes place in 2002 in the wake of the September 11th attacks (it took me a while to realize this, since I was unaware that Tokyo is already that much fancier than the US) but still contains some very science-fiction-y elements. The story follows Cayce, a marketing specialist who is psychologically affected by advertising and design. This sensitivity means she's very valuable in the realms of design and viral marketing, but when she's hired to find the source of a series of short film clips being deposited on the internet, she ends up on a chase through London, Tokyo, and eventually, Moscow, searching for its elusive creator.

Gibson's descriptions of the internet and underground geek culture were spot on - his descriptions of certain Japanese memes made me giggle a little, reminding me of all the hours I spent obsessing over Japanese animation and clothing and god-knows-what during middle school. Fantastic.

It's a great read, and pretty easy on the sci-fi element - it reads a little bit more like a postmodern action/thriller type than anything else.

2 / 50 books. 4% done!

37. Castle in the Air, Diana Wynne Jones (4.5)
I figured out a little too quickly just who the carpet, the genie and the cat all were. But that never detracted from the story. A great addition to this universe. Now, I need to find the third one.

38. Cart and Cwidder, Diana Wynne Jones (Dalemark Quartet #1) (5)
39. Drowned Ammet, Diana Wynne Jones (Dalemark Quartet #2) (5)
40. The Spellcoats, Diana Wynne Jones (Dalemark Quartet #3) (5)
41. The Crown of Dalemark, Diana Wynne Jones (Dalemark Quartet #4) (5)
Technically, these are re-reads, but I hadn't read these books since I was in middle school. Reading them again now was very much like visiting with very old, and very dear friends.

42. Copehnhagen, Michael Frayn (4.75)
I own the movie, which yes, is on my favorites list. Unfortunately, I missed the play last time it came through Boston, but found a copy of the play at my local library, and said, "huh!".
Definitely some differences between the two mediums, certain repetitions are removed from the film, as well as entire pieces of dialogue. Setting is different. But, oh my, did I enjoy this. Still physics meets history meets philosophy, which is what drew me to this story in the first place. If anything, this has more of the subtleness between Bohr and Heisenberg, more of the pain and connection. Margarethe came across as more real.
Well read.

43. A Kiss Before the Apocolypse, Thomas E. Sneigoski (3)
Initial reaction was that this reads like the abandoned child of Good Omens and Harry Dresden, only has none of the subtlety or humor from either.
Entertaining, and really great for that long plane ride home from Vegas (cheesy supernatural detective novel, I told the flight attendant, mind candy), but not something I'd necessarily pick up again.
There is a second book in the series, haven't decided if that's worth it or not.

44. Born in Death, J.D. Robb (3)
45. Innocent in Death, J.D. Robb (3)
46. Creation in Death, J.D. Robb (3)
More Eve Dallas novels, those futuristic crime mysteries set in 21st century NYC. Given I'm figuring out key clues before the protagonist? Enjoying these again. Somerset is still my favorite. These I will keep reading, always.


(1=bad, 3=it passed the time successfully, 5=i'd recommend this to everyone)