Reading Update 07 June 2014

A few words on the 13 books I've finished since my last update.

The Enchantress by Michael Scott

This was a fun, light ending to a fun, light series. I was satisfied with how the six-book saga wound up. If you liked the previous books, you'll like this one.

6.75/10

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

I liked this book a lot.  It's not quite as impactful as the first, as the novelty has worn off and we're clearly being guided toward a third book, but it is just as tense and gloomy and dark as the first, and I'm eagerly awaiting the third.

8.5/10

Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

This is a bowdlerized version of a longer autobiography, pared down for children to read.  It's simple but harrowing.

6.5/10

Find Me by Romily Bernard

This is a good, fast-paced YA hacker novel with a great female protagonist and several interesting plot lines.  I'm glad to know there will be follow-up starring Wick.

8.25/10

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I would have liked this book better if I hadn't had such high expectations from it being the *it* book a couple summers ago.  As it was, I liked the book, but not until about halfway through when the slightly predictable plot twist occurs.  A very fun read with complex characters.

8/10

Stay Where You Are and Then Leave by John Boyne

This was a great exploration of PTSD from the point of view of a child whose father is shipped off to fight in WWI.  Boyne captures the emotional swings of an entire family to show us the real costs of war without ever falling prey to sentimentality.

8.5/10

The Eye of Minds by James Dashner

This was a disappointing book, especially because I so enjoyed his first series, the Maze Runner trilogy.  I could never quite get into the story or the characters.

4/10

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin by Liesl Shurtliff

This was a fun middle grade retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin story, from his perspective.  Don't expect anything like the book Wicked, but it's easy to fall into this story.

7.75/10

More Than This by Patrick Ness

This was an excellent book: tense, with complex, moving characters, and a compelling plot line. I recommend this book.

9.25/10

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

If, like me, you've been putting this one off because the uninspiring cover art or the so-so title, shame on us both.  This was a superb book, my favorite new read in a long while.  It's very dark, very tense, very bloody--and Lawrence somehow convinces us to care deeply about a despicable protagonist.  This book sucked me in like no other in the past few months.  Highly recommended.

9.75/10

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

This is Handler doing what she does best: telling compromising stories with hilarity and her signature debonair disregard. A very funny book.

8/10

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

I've been a fan of Pollan for awhile now, but kept putting this book off, I'm sorry to say.  It's excellent, insightful, and should be required reading for everyone who eats food.  Presumably, that includes you..

9.5/10

King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

The sequel to Prince of Thorns, this book was equally as tense and dark and compelling.  We keep a similar pattern--cutting back and forth between present and past storylines--all of which are gripping.  Jorg is a little softened here, his bravado tempered somewhat with pain and perhaps a little wisdom.  But he's still the Jorg who wrung out our sympathy and admiration and disgust in the first book. Also highly recommended.

9.5/10

Until next time,

Happy Reading

Finished Reading - 22 April - Catching Up

Once again I let a little too much time lapse between updates.  I've been really busy with a new job, and haven't had as much time to read lately, so I've only got 10 books to show for the last 6 weeks.

As with my last catching up post, I'll offer short microreviews for each.

Lirael (The Abhorsen Trilogy) by Garth Nix.
This book, like the first in the trilogy, Sabriel, was a delight to read.  The world of these books feels so comfortable and real, as though you're visiting a place you once knew that has been lost to memory.  Lirael is a great book in its own right, but is not quite on par with the excellent Sabriel.  Still, I very much enjoyed it, and am looking forward to the final book in the trilogy.  I recommend this title.
9/10

Looking for Alaska by John Green
A great book.  I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, particularly after reading The Fault in Our Stars (who could top that book?), but John Green is a master at facing head-on the darkness that a lot of teens experience, and he does it in a way that is honest and unforgiving and completely genuine.  Highly recommended.
9.75/10

Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive) by Brandon Sanderson
Another very good book that is slightly over-shadowed by its prequel. All the risky elements I loved about the first book in the series, The Way of Kings, are still here--interludes, interior artwork, very original and alien worldbuilding, and a scope that is beyond epic--and we still follow the same main characters from book one.  I liked that this book was more about Shallan, but Kaladin's storyline was not as interesting and the book's ending left me a little disappointed.  Still, this is a recommended title.
8.25/10

The Ginger Man by J. P. Donleavy
I picked up this book after reading a NYTimes Magazine article on the 87 year old author that really caught my fancy. I can see why the book is still a bestseller 50 years later, and it's mostly stood the test of time.  It actually reminded me a lot, in both pleasant and not so pleasant ways, of reading Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano.  I liked this book, but it did little else for me.
6.5/10

Something More Than Night by Ian Tregillis
This book was fascinating in many ways, and I was happy to write a review of it for Strange Horizons. As I wrote there, this is part tongue-in-cheek noir detective story, part ontological examination of the foundations of reality, ever so slightly and amusingly absurd, and dripping with lush, weird descriptions.  It won't be for every reader, but some will find it as wonderful as I did.  I recommend this title.
9/10

The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma
I read this book because it was given to me by my new boss, who really likes Robin Sharma (he attends his retreats every year).  As I wrote in my Goodreads review, this book basically takes all the favorite tricks of pushy evangelists--saying your first name way too often, grandiose but vague promises, unnecessarily withholding "important" information that is the "key" to "unlocking" something, encouraging the status quo by telling people to always do their best no matter what their position in life is--and then combines it with very poor writing.  For even my low expectations, this was a very disappointing book.
2.0/10

Halftime: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance by Bob Buford
Another book given to me by my new boss.  Despite being outside both target audiences (businesspeople and Christians), I still found it interesting and engaging, with lots of useful lessons.  Buford is a good writer, and if he's only interested in a certain segment of the population, that's his prerogative. I ended up liking this book, despite its being heavy-handed.
6.75/10

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Another book given to me by my new boss, and the best self-improvement book I've read. Carnegie clearly knows what he's talking about, and practices what he preaches. Plus his narrative approach is refreshing after the overload of superlatives and unlocked secrets found among contemporary writers of these types of books.  I recommend this title (and, as of this writing, it's only $2.99 on Kindle).
8.25/10

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
The book that brought Asperger's syndrome into the mainstream when it was released back in 2004. This is a great book with an utterly convincing narrator, and his atypical observations and interpretations help us not only understand a little of what people with Asperger's go through, but they also help us see ourselves in surprising new ways.  Highly recommended.
9/10

Finished Reading 10 March 2014 - Catching Up

It's been a little while since I've updated my reading list, and in that time I've finished 16 more books.

To catch up I'll skip my usual short reviews and just give you links, a few words of description, and my rating.  Micro-reviews, in other words.

Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 written and illustrated by David Petersen
Great artwork, a good story.  Like a darker, illustrated Brian Jacques. I enjoyed it, but wanted more story.
6.75/10

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow
The book that launched Doctorow's career as a novelist. Worth the praise it receives.  Highly enjoyable, quirky, sarcastic, satiric.  Joe Haldeman meets Robert J. Sawyer for the next generation.
8.5/10

Despair by Vladimir Nabokov, revised English edition
Not quite as brilliantly creepy as Lolita, but Nabokov's trademark lush, beautiful English is present.  Not a plot-driven story, but an exploration of character and self-delusion.  Engaging, but not captivating.
8/10

Wonder by R. J. Palacio
Smartly written YA book about a disfigured and often reviled boy, August. Just when I thought it was getting too much, Palacio wisely shifted gears and expanded the story with more viewpoints. Think Rudy goes to private school.
8.25/10

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
A great follow-up to The Lies of Locke Lamora, if not quite as tightly plotted as the first book. Locke and Jean take a meandering journey that somehow manages to always be fascinating and thrilling. Once again listened to the audio version, brilliantly narrated by the wonderful Michael Page.
9.25/10

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Quiet and introspective, like Ishiguro's other novels.  I liked it, but wasn't head over heels like so many others. I suspect much of the buzz in the SFF community is because it's Ishiguro dipping into their backyard, not because the book itself is that great.  I preferred The Remains of the Day.
6.75/10

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
My second foray into Discworld, after The Colour of Magic (which I previously reviewed here).  I liked this book better.  Reads much less like a Douglas Adams derivative, and Discworld feels more fully realized.  A really funny book.
7.75/10

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Loved this book. Go read it now.  Seriously.
9.75/10

The City of Ember: Deluxe Edition by Jeanne DuPrau
A timeless tale.  Great use of archetypal characters and symbols, mixed with a very original idea of a damp, cool city mismanaged by corrupt politicians and surrounded by darkness.  And the lights are going out.
8/10

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
A novel of poems describing a young girl's experience of fleeing the fall of Saigon and growing up a refugee in the American south.  Deep, moving, and a great use of form.
8.25/10

The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson
The damsel-in-distress tale is flipped in this plot-driven story which nonetheless manages some great characterization.  A cut above the second book, The Crown of Embers (which I previously reviewed here).  The last (and best) book in a very good trilogy.
8.75/10

Dodger by Terry Pratchett
A YA historical fantasy from Pratchett about a "tosher," a boy who makes a living collecting things that wash down into the Dickensian sewers of 19th C London.  Speaking of  Dickens, he makes an appearance, as does Sweeney Todd, Benjamin Disraeli, Robert Peel, and a host of other notable figures.  A very enjoyable, always fun adventure story.
8.75/10

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
A surprisingly good addition to the over-saturated YA vampire market. Black provides a refreshing and interesting twist on vampire stories, though it does still fall into the YA female protagonist cliche of the girl fighting against her feelings for the bad boy.  Still, a very creepy book in the best of ways.
7.75/10

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.
Very imaginative use of found photographs to craft a tense, scary story.  Loved the idea for form, and found the concept of "loops" and "peculiars" very fascinating.  The book got off to a slow start, and it wasn't until halfway through that the protagonist became interesting for me, but around that point the book fell into place and started really working.
8.0/10

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Kingsolver is in my opinion one of the greatest living American novelists, but she's often overlooked because her favorite themes of environmentalism and the quiet desperation of women's lives are themselves often overlooked.  This isn't her best book, but an average showing from Kingsolver is still a very good book by any metric.
8.5/10

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Based on the true story of a gorilla who lived most of his life in an enclosure in the middle of a mall, and told from the gorilla's perspective, this short novel has a lot of heart. Recommended for young readers and adults alike.
8.5/10

Best Books of 2013?

The New York Times Book Review has just released its year-end roundup (a little early?) of 100 Notable Books of 2013.

I'm still catching up with the books on my list from 2012, but many of the 2013 titles were already on my to-read list, and now I've got a lot more to add.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear recommendations for your favorite book(s) of 2013 in the comments below.