Reviewed by T89

Go Ask Alice

2006-03-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

Young Adult > Realistic Fiction

Why I Read It: The YA/Sci-fi librarian at work talked me through the entire section, and this was one of the books she picked out for me.
Suitability: PG-13(some language, sex and drug use)
Rating: 2/5

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

-"White Rabbit", by Grace Slick

This book, written in diary format and supposedly based on a true story, details the story of an anonymous teenaged girl who gets caught up in the world of drugs. The writing style was easy to read, and it seemed realistic enough, but I can't quite figure out what about this book rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was the abrupt, almost cliched, ending, or perhaps it was the sheer predictability. At any rate, when I finished reading the last page, I was left with a feeling of emptiness. My needs, as a reader, weren't fufilled. Emotionally, I was left unaffected. That bothered me, especially because this book in particular depends upon manipulating your emotions. While I think that this is a book that everyone should read once, if only for the warning contained within, as simple pleasure reading goes it doesn't even compare.

Lipstick Jihad - Azadeh Moaveni

2006-01-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

Nonfiction - Memoir

Rating: 3.5/5
Why I Read It: I don't know. Really, I have no idea. My only defense is that I work at a library.

What would it be like to grow up in America, constantly feeling excluded because of your Iranian heritage, and then to return to Iran, and to feel excluded because you grew up in America? Moaveni spins a moving tale of her treatment in Iran, her relationship to her relatives who lived there, and her fight to forge an identity for herself when she felt torn between two worlds. In Iran, women lack the basic rights that us Americans take for granted. I could take a walk outside in sandals, a miniskirt and a halter top if I so decided, but in Iran that isn't the case. I can't remember how many times a friend or relative had to tell her "But Azadeh, you're not in America!", or something of the sort, because she took those freedoms for granted. We all do. No matter how much I whine and complain about our dear president tapping phone lines, at least I can wear a bathing suit at the public swimming pool without being arrested.
Moaveni is a journalist. So not only is she female, she is also constantly poking her nose in places that the rulers of Iran would really rather her not. This causes all sorts of conflict, and much of the book is her coming to terms with the limitations and abuse piled onto her by the Iranian government.
I read another Iranian memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, a while ago. A strange coincidence is that Lolita(to the best of my knowledge) ends in the mid-90s, while Jihad picks up in the late 90s. This coincidence led to an interesting sort of continuity between the two stories, despite their different perspectives.
A fault I found in Jihad(and, in fact, I found the same fault in Lolita) was that the writing tended to jump between events in such a way that I wasn't sure what came first, second, third, etc. I had difficulties putting events in order for the first part of the book, until Moaveni started writing in a linear fashion. Despite this, I enjoyed reading this account of life under an oppressive government. I've never been more thankful for the government I have, no matter who's the leader.

Related:
Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi, at ReadThisNow

Talk to the Hand - Lynne Truss

2005-12-30T15:38:00.000-08:00

Nonfiction

Rating: 2.5/5
Why I Read It: I enjoyed her rant on punctuation - Eats, Shoots & Leaves - and decided that her rant on manners might be an interesting read as well. At least, that's the official reason. More on that later.

First off, let me go on the record as saying that I always hold the door for people on the way into work. It's a really heavy door (thank god they're rebuilding the back entrance this year), so once I manage to get it open I consider it common courtesy to let others take advantage of my hard labor. Of course, seeing as some people (not to be stereotypical, but it tends to be middle-aged men), when faced with a 15-year old female holding the door for them, attempt to be polite as well. This leads to a standoff, with both of us trying to make the other go through the door, blocking the way for other patrons. This usually happens at least once or twice a month, but I'm rambling and that's not the point of this paragraph.
To get back on topic, I do feel slightly annoyed when people rush through without saying 'Thank you'. I understand if you have a 2-year old, who you're trying to keep tabs on. But if you're by yourself, just wandering through, and I hold the door for you, what happened to 'Thank you'? Is it that painful? When I read the quote below, I actually caught myself envisioning the scenario playing out behind the library. So, minor digressions aside, what we have here is a grammar rant, plain and simple. Truss(oh, the horror of referring to someone much older than me without a title!) wrote a rant, and published it because her last rant sold a bunch of copies. Eats, Shoots & Leaves actually was a how-to guide, though, even through the rants. And the rants were more amusing than the ones found in Talk to the Hand. I laughed at the horrible lapses in punctuation, while the grammar horror-stories got more of a roll of the eye and a shake of the head. Maybe it's because I'm a member of the (Truss-dubbed) 'eff-you' generation, but it doesn't bother me that much. Politeness taken to the extreme makes me uncomfortable. If the world was as she wanted it to be, I'd be holed up in my house all the time. Of course, seeing as she sees that as amazingly rude, I'd be in violation anyhow. A girl can't win.
And now, the promised story of why I read this now. I'd heard it wasn't that good, so I wasn't intending to read it, but then I got recruited for a shifting project at work, in the new non-fiction section. This book happened to be in the way, in such a way that everything would line up perfectly if it just wasn't there. So, I fell back on the tried-and-true method (actually used by my supervisor Mike* when he was a CA shelving juvenile fiction, but we won't go there) of walking up to the circulation desk and having someone check it out to me. I figured that I'd read it as a light relief from the heaviness of Stephen King's The Stand, and I wasn't disappointed in that respect. It was a rant that I didn't have to think about, one that I could just sit back and absorb. Nothing that would change my life.

* Not a real name - I protect the innocent (or not-so-innocent, as it may be).

Quote: "No wonder we shout after people, "A thank you wouldn't kill you!" It's amazing we don't wrench doors from their hinges, run after people, and say, "Here! Open it yourself next time, OK?"

Thud! - Terry Pratchett

2005-11-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

Novel - Fantasy Series
Discworld - unordered

Rating: 4.5/5
Why I Read It: Discworld is awesome, and it was a city watch book. Plus, it's called Thud!

The Ankh-Morpork city watch have their hands full as it is, but with a full-fledged species war between the dwarves and the trolls brewing it's time for trouble. This starts out as a murder mystery, then quickly escalates into a race to find an ancient relic of the Battle of Koom Valley(historic battle between the trolls and the dwarves) before it is destroyed. And, what's more, Vimes(commander of the city watch as well as (reluctant (ooh, nested parenthesis!)) duke of Ankh) has to put up with a vampire in the watch. Apparently, the species wasn't fairly represented.
As always in the city watch books, the lovable Carrot (a 6-foot tall dwarf), vertically-challenged Cheery Littlebottem (a real dwarf), Detritus (a troll), Nobby Nobbs (species uncertain) and other members of the city watch are present.
I really don't have much to say about this book, other than it's really good and you should read it. I did have "Is this my cow? It goes NEIGH! It is a horse! This is not my cow!" stuck in my head for days after finishing this book, however. I actually believe Pratchett wrote a childrens' book on that concept, and I should look for it the next time I'm at work.

Quote: "But this Ankh-Morpork, Captain. And murder is Murder."
"Yes, sir."
"And we are the City Watch," Vimes went on. "It says so on the door."
"Actually, it mostly says COPERS ARE BARSTUDS on the door at the moment, but I've got someone scrubbing it off," said Carrot.

A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby

2005-11-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

Novel - Realistic Fiction

Rating: 4/5
Why I Read It: Because it got good reviews and the plot appealed to me.

Take three very different people: Martin, a talk show host; Maureen, a mother; JJ, an American musician and Jess, a teenager (enough said). Put them on top of Topper's House, a popular London suicide destination, on New Years Eve. Now, watch the drama unfold as all four try to end their lives.
Firstly, I will go on the record as saying that this book contains the most profanity I have ever enountered in a printed, bound sheaf of paper. Yes, even more than the Anthony Kiedis (I checked my spelling of his (impossible to spell) last name with the wikipedia. If it's wrong, someone please go edit the Red Hot Chili Peppers article.) biography (I actually hadn't believed that possible, but yet I have the proof right here).
One of the ways that this book really shined was character development. There isn't that much of an actual story arc - most of it is character development and determining why they're trying to kill themselves. Not that there isn't a plot - far from it, in fact. There is a definite beginning, middle and end to the story. It's just that narrative plot has taken a backseat to the development of characters. And Hornby actually managed to do amazing character development without the use of flashbacks (I believe so, at least. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.), something which I have yet to master.
As for the characters themselves, I thought Martin was irritating and profane, yet entertaining at times. Jess was a loose cannon - god might not even know what that girl was going to do next. She was also quite profane. JJ was funny, I liked him. His favorite word began with F and had four letters. Maureen was quite prudish, and I didn't like her really. I didn't exactly dislike her either, it was a very neutral feeling. She heard the F-word as F---, which amused me to no end.
Read this book, it's funny and develops characters very well. Well, the book doesn't, Nick Hornby does. But you get my point.
I have a special message for Tori, over at Read This Now. I seem to recall you blogging this at some point, and I enjoy your witty titles for your blog entries, but I can't (in Maureen-O-Vision) f---ing find the post that way! I'm not really sure how you'd go about fixing that, but I just thought I'd register my disgruntlement.

Quote: "But we gotta do something," said JJ. "We can't just sit around waiting [spoiler text removed]."
"Typical American," said Jess. "What do you want to do? Bomb some poor country somewhere?"
"Sure. It would take my mind off things, some bombing."

Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman

2005-11-08T21:24:00.000-08:00

Novel - Realistic Fantasy

Rating: 4.5/5
Why I Read It: Because Neil Gaiman rocks.

OK, apologies for the genre up there. I am aware that realistic fantasy is quite the contradiction, but hear me out! It's realistic in the same way American Gods is realistic - it takes place in a world that is like our world and (mostly) follows our world, but several crucial plot points take place in a fantasy-like setting. So it is fantasy, I guess, but not in the same way that Wheel of Time is fantasy, or Discworld, or *shudder* Eldest. No, it's realistic fantasy. And if you have a problem with my labels, just...well, shut up because this is my blog and I can call the books whatever I please! At any rate, moving on...
Anansi Boys has been marketed as a sequel to 2001's American Gods. It really isn't. It only shares one character, Mr. Nancy, who is a nod to the Anansi spider (the trickster) legends. Mythology doesn't play as strong of a role in this as it did in American Gods. You don't constantly run off to the dictionary to look up Russian gods, for example. All the information necessary to understand the book is in the text itself, which was refreshing. American Gods made me research too hard.
Above all, this is a book about family. And how that family doesn't really get along too terribly well. When Anansi (aka, Mr. Nancy) died, he left his two sons as his legacy to the world. Chaos ensued, because it's a well-established fact that two siblings cannot work together for any length of time, especially when they're as different as these two are.
And to clear up name pronounciation, Gay-m'n, straight from the mouth (well, keyboard) of the man himself.

Quote: "Things. They came up. That's what things do. They come up. I can't be expected to keep track of them all."

Eldest, Christopher Paolini

2005-10-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

Novel - Fantasy

Rating: 2/5
Why I Read It: I'd read Eragon(didn't like it), and I have an interest in what Paolini does, since he was the first young writer to really get a lot of press attention.

Paolini totally ripped Tolkien off. The only battle that was even half-decent was the final 'climax'; the rest were kind of blink-and-you-missed-it. But the last battle, I was halfway though it and was thinking "hey, how'd he get so good at battle construction?", and then I saw the line "look, here come the dwarves!". The hell? Can you say Riders of Rohan? I mean, Paolini even had the freaking boat. Many authors rip off Tolkien, but they usually are much less blatant about it.
Alas, much as I would love to poke fun at his lack of plotting ability, I could find no discernable plot holes. Speaking of plot, I suppose I should have started off this review with a basic summary rather than a rant about ripping Tolkien off(shame on you, Paolini).
Eragon and his dragon, Saphira, have saved the Varden from certain destruction(oh!) at the hands of the evil king-whose-name-shall-not-be-pronounced-or-spelled, ruler of Alagaesia. Now, he must journey north into the even-more-unpronouncable land of the elves to complete his training as a rider.
Not only does Paolini write awkward battle scenes, but his romance is decidedly lacking as well. If one is going to introduce a romance side-plot, one must actually have something happen in it. The same thing happening over and over again for several chapters while the author kills time isn't very entertaining at all.
One of the few bits I liked was what happened to the little girl that Eragon blessed at the end of the last book. That was totally awesome, and much more sadistic than I ever had Paolini pegged for. I have hope for the man yet.

Digital Fortress, Dan Brown

2005-09-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Novel

Rating: 3.5/5
Why I Read It: I'd read Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, and I had 50 minutes to kill after my shift. I really have to come up with more unique reasons. ;)

Susan is an emloyee at the NSA, where they have a massive computer system dedicated to breaking the encoding on messages translated over the internet. It never met a code it couldn't break - at least, not until it encountered the Digital Fortress. What's even worse is that the author of the unbreakable code algorithm has threatened to release it to the highest bidder, meaning that the NSA could never snoop into cyberspace messages again. Soon, it's a race against time to find the keycode that will break the encoding on the algorithm.
This would have gotten a higher rating if I hadn't read Angels and Da Vinci first. Now that I'm on my third Dan Brown book, I've noticed that all his books have the same skeleton plot. Makes it extremely easy to get the big twist. This one was saved from a 3/5 only because of a slight deviation from the norm, which of course I won't explain here. Go read the books if you want to know, they're all fairly easy to get through.
I remember finding a plot hole while I was reading, but I've forgotten what it was. This annoys me to no end. I can't believe I didn't write it down. I think it had something to do with someone that should have done something, but ended up doing something else that they really wouldn't have done, but that helped push the plot along. I don't know, I don't remember it. Blarg. -_-

Wolves in the Walls, Neil Gaiman

2005-09-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Childrens Fiction

Rating: 4/5
Why I Read It: I shelved it, and I had time after my shift. So I just picked it up and took about 7 minutes out of my day to read it.

This is kind of a cross between Coraline and the Sandman comics, both by Gaiman. It's picture-based, like Sandman, yet oriented towards children, like Coraline. In fact, if it hadn't had the name Neil Gaiman on the front cover, I'd have assumed it was a picture book to be read out loud to small children. It's presented in that manner, authough the subject matter(of wolves emerging from the walls in a small girl's home and wreaking havoc) is decidedly unnerving. The illustrations also are atypical for picture books; in fact, they reminded me very much of the illustrations in Coraline. Quite creepy.
I can only imagine what some people thought of me, curled up by the first chapter books, reading what looked at first glance to be a picture book like one would read to a preschool class. At least, until one read a few pages.
I think that it was well-written. It certantly held my attention, at any rate. I reccomend that you go to the bookstore and read it there, because it took me all of about 6 or 7 minutes to get through. I doubt the bookstore people will kick you out before that point. ;)

Angels and Demons, Dan Brown

2005-08-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: I wanted to after reading the DaVinci Code, but never got around to it until someone(wasn't it Jakkar?) read it. Then I stalked the shelves(should have just put it on hold, really) until it came in.
Rating: 4/5

- points for being completely predictable. + points for having plot twists come out of left field(yet make absolute logical sense - see my upcoming review for the second Series of Unfortunate Events book) that completely unseat all your initial assumptions. I was sure it was ********* who was the bad guy! How dare it get all turned around on me? (Censorship provided courtesy of Tigger89's conscience, who doesn't want to post spoilers.)
This is the prequel to DaVinci Code. It ruined it just a bit for me, because I knew that Robert Langdon couldn't die, but not too much. After all, the main character almost never dies halfway through the book. That's usually saved for the last 10 pages.
So, pretty much the plot is that Robert Langdon is woken up in the middle of the night by a scientist from CERN(an advanced research facility) calling to inform him of a murder that was comitted. The reason that they called a symbologist and not the police(actually, even by the end of the book the police hadn't been called on the CERN murder XD) was because there was an ancient symbol branded int the man's chest that they thought Langdon could look at and help them solve the problem.
But at the same time, an antimatter(A small amount has more power than an atomic bomb, apparently. And according to the author's note, it's real. Holy crap. *hides*) bomb has been hidden below the Vatican in Rome, and that has to be disarmed. And to add insult on top of injury, the cardinals are about to go into conclave and the four favorites for the papacy have gone missing.
I liked this. It wasn't my absolute favorite, but I would definetally reccomend it.

Empress of the World, Sara Ryan

2005-08-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: Diana told me to a long time ago, and I just remembered about it last week while I was shelving. Or shelfreading. One of the two, and I thought 'this book looks familiar', and then I remembered.
Rating: 3.5/5

Nicola is an above-average student who is spending the summer at a program that is designed to challenge other teenagers like her by giving a program that imitates college life. They each choose a field of study(she chooses archaelogy, but some the other students that she meets study things like computer science and music theory) and attend classes. It's like classic dorm life, and all the drama comes along with it.
Nicola has had boyfriends before, and she never doubted that she was straight as a board. Unfortunately, it turns out that she was as straight as those warped boards that hardware stores always try to sell you anyway. So, she figures out she's in love with a girl. Now what?
Well, for starters, how exactly do you go about telling someone about that? It's not like it's a guy, where it's expected. And Nicola can't even ask friends for opinions on the situation, especially since she's only known them for all of a week or two.
Cue soap opera sequence.
I won't give away the ending, or any more of the bizarre twists. Suffice to say that this was an entertaining read, and it's only fault was being entirely predictable. I'd reccomend taking this out of the library or a deep discount bin, rather than actually spending $10 on it. Books are expensive. Were they always this expensive, and I'm just noticing it now because I'm buying them with my own cash?
Oh, and just for the entertainment of some people I know, according to the lack of clarification on the front cover, this book is not a novel. Toast for all! :D

Coraline, Neil Gaiman

2005-08-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: I've read it twice before, and someone at work was talking about it. So I decided to read it again.
Rating: 4.5/5

This creepy tale is about a girl named Coraline who has just moved with her parents into a new home. One day, she's bored and is told to go explore. She explores all of the rooms in the apartment(or flat, as they're known in England), and is satisfied on all but one count; there is one door that leads to a bricked up wall(it used to lead somewhere, it wasn't just built against a brick wall. That would be silly.), and she wants to know what's really behind the wall. Her chance comes sooner than she'd ever have expected.
Neil Gaiman has this to say about Coraline, in his FAQ at www.neilgaimon.com: " As a general sort of rule, kids seem to read it as an adventure. Adults get nightmares."
I wholeheartedly agree. Because I've read it before, I'd only gotten to chapter 2(before the creepy stuff starts) and I was already terrified.
I'm really not sure what it is exactly that makes this so scary. Most horror novels really don't get to me at all, but this one(a children's' book, even) has me scrambling for the lights at 3 am. Not to mention the irrational fear of buttons that I have developed. Yes, buttons. You would understand if you'd read the book.
Which you should go do. Now. Unless you're Tori, in which case stay away from the bookstore at all costs! ;)

Away Laughing on a Fast Camel, Louise Rennison

2005-08-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES

Series: The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, #5
Why I Read It: I'd read the first four, and they were laugh-out-loud-at-innapropriate-times funny. Seriously, I was cackling like an idiot while reading at the dinner table tonight and my mom kept having to ask me if I was okay, or if I was having some sort of hysterical seizure or something.
Rating: 4/5

Seriously disturbing similarities between myself/my friends/my relationships with them and certain characters/their relationships aside, this is a lighthearted teen-lit book that will certantly occupy you for the day, week, or however long it takes you to get through it. It was a bit of a literature genre shock reading this right after I'd finished 1984, but I quickly got lost in the story again. Georgia Nicolson has been going out with the Sex God(I want one of those!) for a while, but then he has to go to Kiwi-a-gogo land(that's New Zealand, for the unenlightened among us). What will she have to do now that he's gone? Why, call her friend Jasmine up every five minutes and annoy the crap out of her, which is what the entire first section is devoted to.
Then, an Italian-American boy, Masimo, comes to replace the Sex God(He used to have a real name, but it got lost somewhere around book 3) as lead singer of the local band the Stiff Dylans. All through this, she has to deal with her best friend Jas(god only knows how they got to be such good friends, they can't get along for two chapters), Dave the Laugh(you're better off not knowing, trust me), Rosie and many others.
Now, I'm going to do something I haven't done in forever, and share a quote with you. Just because.
Don't you feel special?
Oh, more spiffy vocabulary: Nungas are boobs. Don't ask.

Quote: [Dave said,] "I still say he's flash, but anyway, what in the name of arse made you walk off on Saturday? He thought you were very up yourself."
I said, "My boy entrancers got stuck together and then one fell off."
Dave said, "Your boy entrancers stuck together and then one fell off." And he was looking at my nungas to see if I still had two.
I said, "No, no, I mean my false eyelashes. First of all, I looked down and they got glued together and I was blind. So I sort of shuffled off to the music to try and unglue them, and then one fell off[...]."

Drowned Wednesday, Garth Nix

2005-08-05T05:28:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES

Series: The Keys to the Kingdom, #3
Why I Read It: I like Garth Nix, and I'd read the previous two and I just wanted to see what would happen.
Rating: 4/5

Another short review. This time because I'm going to work in five minutes and this book is due today.
Arthur is a boy from Earth who has the task of obtaining the seven keys to the kingdom(a universe in the center of everything is how I understand it), one of which is held by denizens representing each of the seven days of the week. He has already defeated Mister Monday in a general introduction book, Grim Tuesday in a book set in a mine, and now he tackles Drowned Wednesday in a book remeniscent of pirate novels. He must find the fragment of the Will, and obtain the key, to become the ruler over the Border Sea.
I liked it. No attention-span issues, and I couldn't see any apparent plot holes. It didn't stick out as being anything exceptional though, hence my middle-of-the-road rating. The last sentence though was especially unexpected, and reminded me of something Neil Gaimon would write than anything else.
Compared to the Abbhorsen series and Shade's Children, this is undoubtedly a book for children, but I enjoy it anyway.

Xenocide, Orson Scott Card

2005-08-02T14:19:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES

Series: Ender's Game, #3
Why I Read It: I'd read the first two, and really liked the second one. I wanted to see what would happen.
Rating: 3/5

Seeing as this book took me a month to finish, it obviously has attention span problems. Well, I do at least. But I've read Robert Jordan's 1000-page whoppers and they haven't taken me a month, so I don't know what this book's problem was.
Seriously, I loved every part of it and thought that the pacing was perfect. I just couldn't keep my attention on it.
Anyway, the plot of this book is dependant on the ending of the previous book in the series(Speaker for the Dead), so I can't talk about it too much. Mostly, it centers around the search for the origins of Jane(a computer program that displays life-like tendencies), the Descolada(a deadly virus that threatens the life of the human colony on Lustania) and the Pequinos(a sentient race living on Lustania). We also meet a planet of people where the godspoken, people displaying OCD-like symptoms that apparently come from the gods, rule over the common people.
It's an entertaining read. I'd take it on a trip, but also take plenty of other reading material just in case you have attention problems like I did.

Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman

2005-07-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: Jakkar said it was good, and if I was going to London then I had to read it.
Rating: 5/5 (Yes, the coveted rating! Now Neil Gaiman joins the likes of Max Barry and...well...just Max Barry!)

See London. Now, imagine another London. The same London, except different in odd sorts of ways. Someplace where you can get invited to the Earl's court, where there are those who can suck your life right out of you, and where there really is a reason to mind the gap while in the underground. Now, take that London and put it under the other London. Yes, that's right. Under.
Got that? Good.
Now let's take Mr. Croup, a quiet killer, and Mr. Vandemar, another killer with no such reservations, and put them on the trail of a teenaged girl, refuge from London Below(for that's what we named that London under the other London), who has the power to open doors. Are you scared yet? Well, you should be.
Because now we're putting Richard Mayhew in their path. A young Scotsman who moved to London (Above, of course) and who cannot assert himself if his life depends on it(which ends up being the case a few times). If you're not scared now, there's something seriously wrong with you.
I'm afraid to say more for fear of giving away the storyline, but suffice to say that it's a wonderful story, and no plot holes! Not even little itty bitty tiny ones. I reccomend everyone to read this, especially if you're going to London, because it makes more since when you know the places.

And if anyone knows how to pronounce Gaiman, I'd appreciate the help. I always mentally said it "gay man" until I was talking to someone the other night, and I realised how silly it sounded.

Shakespeare's Spy, Gary Blackwood

2005-07-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES

Series: The Shakspeare Stealer, #3
Why I Read It: I'd read the previous two when I was 10 or 11, and I saw this one when I was shelving in JF(juvenile fiction) last week.
Rating: 2/5

Isn't it a good feeling to pick up the last book in a series that you started when you were little, but never finished? I know it felt wonderful this time to actually bring the story of Widge the player prentice to a close. Set in the early 1600's(very end of Elizabeth I's reign), it is a well-written and humerous story about a prentice working at the Globe theatre, under Shakespeare. In the first book(Shakspeare Stealer), Widge is told to steal a copy of Hamlet for a rival theatre, but instead he joins the players cast at the Globe theatre. In the second book, Shakespeare's Scribe, the plague strikes London and the players begin to travel, putting on plays all over. Widge makes use of his shorthand talent(what he was chosen in the first place to copy Hamlet for) to become Shakespeare's scribe, after Shakespeare breaks his arm. I can't remember for the life of me how he broke his arm, but give me a break, that was almost four years ago now.
In this book, a spy has come to the Globe yet again. Everyone suspects Widge, but he didn't do it this time! To prove his innocence, he becomes spy for the Globe theatre to oust the traitor. I enjoyed the way Blackwood wrote the story, but I resent the fact that the main plot point(Widge becomes the spy) didn't actually occur until the very end of the book. I don't think that should have been the advertised plot. Maybe it should have been something about the fortune teller that Widge, Sal Pavy and Sam(his fellow prentices) encounter at the beginning of the book, and how her predictions coming true(but in unexpected ways) unite the entire book. Especially as a children's story, I think that the advertised plot should come into play before the last 50 pages, out of nearly 300. That's 5/6 of the book, 83.30%, that had a plotline that wasn't mentioned on the blurb. What if I hadn't wanted to read a story about fortune tellers, what if I was going for a spy novel? Accuracy in summaries, please, Gary.

'Salem's Lot, Stephen King

2005-07-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: I wanted to read a vampire novel, and this one sounded the most interesting.
Rating: 4/5

The title 'Salem's Lot refers to the town of Jerusalem's Lot, not Salem, Mass., like I had originally thought. I had hoped it would include some witchcraft lore in with the vampire story, but aparently not. Ben Mears grew up in a small town, but left shortly after a terrifying experience in the house on the hill, towering over the town. Now, just as he comes back, strange things begin occuring in the town of Jerusalem's Lot. Could it be that a great evil actually does inhabit the Marsten house?
This was good vampire lore, sticking to the facts just wonderfully. I would reccomend this book to someone who is interested in classic vampire tales, not the mutilations thereof that RL Stine passes off as literature. But I don't have a grudge.

Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott

2005-06-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: Tori said it was good.
Rating: 4/5

This is Anne Lamott's book on writing. I enjoyed her opinions and entertaining take on everything. For example, her discussions on rejection were absolutely hilarious. The only other author-written book on writing that I had read before was Stephen King's, and I agreed with Lamott's views much more than I had with his. Also, his seemed to be half memoir while hers was strictly about writing and how it effected her life. I highly reccomend this book to anybody who's trying to get started with writing, and whoever still has Tori's copy - give it back. Now.

Sample Quote: "You couldn't have had any way of knowing what this peice of work would look like when you first started. You just knew that there was something about these people that compelled you, and you stayed with that something long enough for it to show you what it was about."

The Dead Zone, Stephen King

2005-06-10T10:27:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: I liked the front cover. The whole carnival wheel with a skull on it thing appealed to my evil side.
Rating: 4/5

Johnny Smith had an accident as a child that sent him, for a brief time, into the Dead Zone. Later on, when in his early twenties, another accident returns him to the Dead Zone. When he awakes from his long coma, he finds himself with strange psychic abilities. What will he do with these abilities?
I haven't had this hard of a time writing a story summary for a long time. I'm just afraid that I'll give away integral plot points by accident. I'm not entirely certain that this fits into the normal horror novel mold; there really isn't anything at all to fear. It was certantly suspenseful towards the end, and the physical things that were happening to Johnny reminded me of what was happening to the father in Firestarter. Now that I think about it, those two King novels are surprisingly simliar. In both, there are people with strange abilities and people that don't understand them. A difference is that in Firestarter, the abilities came from government experiments with LSD, while this time it came from head trauma. Also, Firestarter was more violent due to the nature of the psychic powers. I enjoyed Dead Zone more.
The only part of the book where I felt that it seemed to drag was when Johnny was in the coma, and there was a period of time when it felt like nothing was happening. I know that was necessary for background story, to see what was going on in the world and what was happening to the people around him, but it was slightly tedious to read.

Sample Quote: Johnny stood calmly, watching the wheel, and now it seemed to her [sarah] [...] that his eyes were almost black. Jekyll and Hyde, she thought, and was suddenly, senselessly, afraid of him.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams

2005-06-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES

Series: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #2
Why I Read It: I'm reading the series.
Rating: 4/5

Sheer randomness. On the topic of randomness, I was shelving books at the library last night and someone came on the intercom and asked if a Douglas Adams could please come to the circulation desk. It was awesome, I laughed so hard. End randomness.
You can only hitchhike across the galaxy for so long, and it's way past due to get something to eat. Enter the restaurant at the (literal) end of the universe. There's not much to say about this that hasn't already been said about the first book, except for the fact that Veet still hasn't reappeared. How dare they advertise him on the back of the first book, but not include him in the story? False advertising, I say.

Sample Quote: "Arthur picked another one of the stones from the homemade Scrabble set. It was a T. He sighed and put it down again. The letter he put it next to was an I. That spelled IT. He tossed another couple of letters next to them. They were an S and an H as it happened. By a curious coincedence the resulting word perfectly expressed the way Arthur was feeling about things just then."

Related:
Tigger89 Reviews: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Gangsta Rap, Benjamin Zephaniah

2005-06-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I read It: It looked interesting, and I was dropped off early for work. What? I'm early almost every time...
Rating: 4/5

Ray, Prem and Tyrone are three boys living in east London who have a dream of becoming hip-hop stars. Facing many troubles, including expulsion from school and gang warfare, these boys struggle to make their dreams a reality.
This book was funny. Some of the scenes weren't, but a lot of them were. That was one thing I hadn't expected. I think that the characters were developed very well and the plot was very well thought out. You really cared about the protagonists, but then close to the end you started to care about their opponents as well. The ending didn't seem rushed or forced, something I consider a literary sin. The sad scene didn't make me cry though, and I get really emotional when I read books. When I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, for example, I was in tears when Sirius died. But I didn't when I read this book. I don't know if I'm just getting better at not crying, or if the emotions in the scene were just messed up. But it was strange.

Sample Quote: 'Just for a couple of nights, let me stay in the shop.' [Ray said]
'In de shop?' Marga Man shouted back. 'You're joking?'
'Hey, not a bad idea,' said Prem.
'Yeah,' Tyrone added.
'No way, yu spend all day in there and now yu want to spend all night in there? Soon you'll be kicking me out[...]'

Freakonomics, Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner

2005-06-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: Tori said it was good.
Rating: 3.5/5

What do a schoolteacher and a sumo wrestler have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? Steven and Stephen worked hard to answer questions like these using public data, math and knowledge of economics, and then published a book about it. While I can't say that it was one of my favorite books, or that it had a solid plot(it actually had no plot to speak of, there wasn't even a theme to unite the entire book), it was certantly entertaining to read. I enjoyed learning about cheating in classrooms(for once it's not the kids), the inner workings of crack gangs(eerily similar to respectable businesses) and the statistics on how people pick names for their children. Actually, the name thing was rather disturbing. My name, Brittany, was cited as being popular among the lower class and children whose parents weren't educated.
Whoops.
I'll forgive Levitt and Dubner for that one.

Related:
Freakonomics Blog

Unexpected Magic, Diana Wynne Jones

2005-06-01T07:36:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SHORT STORIES

Authors: Diana Wynne Jones.
Why I Read It: I had two hours to kill before work started, it was sitting on the shelf and it had the oddest picture of a toad on it. The entire situation was just strange.
Rating: 2.5/5

This collection of fifteen short stories and one novella - all written by Diana Wynne Jones - ended up just short of average. Some of the stories I liked a lot. For example, there was one about a cat who used to belong to a wizard and who wanted to escape with the wizard's apprentice. Another that I really enjoyed(but had read before in another of Jones's compilations) was one where a vet was called out to investigate a mysterious call and was faced with something quite supernatural. Some of them, however, suffer from PFO* syndrom. One in particular, The Fluffy Pink Toadstool, was going strong until the last page, when it ended in a big rush that never did resolve any of the actual plot issues. That bugged me.
The novella, on the other hand, was almost as wonderful as Jones's other work, such as the Dalemark quartet. It was about Carmella and Alex, two children(I say children, but it seemed to me that Alex was around 12 or 13 and that Carmella was 16 or 17) living in England a century or more ago. My major gripe with this was lack of information about ages and the time period, because I originally pictured the characters much younger than they actually were, and was quite surprised by the end scene. But everything else moved along smoothly, the plot was complete and it didn't fall over.

Sample Quote: "No," he said. "No touching, not even for you, princess. This map is part of the magic. I think the dining room door is going to be shut from now on."
"Don't you trust me?" I said.
"Not where little wobbly things are concerned, no," Henry said. "Run away now, there's a good cat."

* Plot Fell Over

i can't tell you, Hillary Frank

2005-05-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

BOOK

Why I Read It: The concept was interesting and I couldn't find anything better to pick up while I was at the library.
Rating: 4.5/5

This is about a college student named Jake who decides, after a fight with his roommate Sean, that he won't talk anymore, his reasoning being that it's too easy to say something in the heat of the moment that you'd regret later. So, he decides to communicate only by writing notes. This was written in a very creative way; instead of using dialogue, the prose was actually the text of the notes that Jake was writing. It's a bit of a refresher to read something written differently than usual.
The major plotline of the book deals with his crush on his friend, Xandra, and his internal struggle with whether to tell her or not. Along the way, they have to deal with Roger and Paul(roomates across the hall who think that writing notes is a good way to get girls), a mother who won't understand Jake's silence, Batman(listed Man,Bat in the phonebook) and more. It's hilarious at times, and plus it's got the funny(not my name for it, but it's what was in the book).
I thought I was the only one who got the funny, but apparently Frank has it too. For those of you who're wondering what the funny was, it's like this, basicly a pun. But it causes those of us who routinely get the funny to laugh out loud at stupid things like that, and then people look at us like we have two heads. Oh well.
The only thing I didn't like about this book was the very end. I can't explain why I don't like it, because that would spoil the entire book. I just think it should have turned out differently.

Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card

2005-05-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES

Series: Ender, #2
Why I Read It: I liked the first one, Ender's Game, and the library finally had the second one in. Yeah, I know I'm too lazy to just place a hold on it, especially since I work there. :P
Rating: 4.5/5

3000 years after the disaster with the buggers, humankind has found another chance with a new form of life, known as the piggies. That's not their technical name, but it's what everyone calls them. But the cultural barrier is too difficult to breach and, just like in the bugger wars, humans are being killed again. Ender, now the Speaker for the Dead, is called to speak a death on the planet(actually, two of them), and it becomes evident that he is humankind's only chance of understanding the piggy's strange cultural differences.
I liked this one much better than Ender's Game. While that was about war and dominance, Speaker focuses more on trying to understand those who are different from you and living in harmony with them. It's also told from a more adult perspective, while Ender was told from the view of children. Overall, it was a much more enjoyable read and much less classic sci-fi go-blow-up-the-aliens-and-conquer-the-galaxy.

Gothic! : Ten Original Dark Tales

2005-05-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

BOOK - COMPILATION

Authors: Joan Aiken, M.T. Anderson, Neil Gaiman, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Gregory Maguire, Garth Nix, Celia Rees, Janni Lee Simner, Vivian Vande Velde, Barry Yourgrau.
Why I Read it: The spine looked interesting(that's all I could see of it on the shelf, and the front cover is actually kind of crappy looking), and Garth Nix was in it.
Rating: 3/5

Average is a good word to describe this. There are some stories that are good, some that are bad, and some that left me just plain confused. For example, 'Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Nameless House of the Night of Dread Desire'(really the title!) caused me to blink at the book several times in quick sucession, shove it under my pillow, turn out the light, and fall asleep wondering exactly what the heck had happened. None of it made any sense whatsoever to me, but one man's confusion is another man's clarity, so I'm sure it made sense to some people. My favorite was, hands down, 'Morgan Roehmar's Boys', by Vivian Vande Velde. I have no idea who she is, but if I find anything else by her then I'll probably read it. The writing was amazing, it truely felt as if I was there, feeling the protaganist's emotions. Also, the ending was absolutely brilliant, it completely blindsided me. Nix's peice was good, but it wasn't my favorite as I had expected it to be. It was very short, and different than the others. I can't really describe how without giving away plots, but it was refreshing.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams

2005-05-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES

Series: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #1
Why I Read it: I'd been meaning to for a while, but the library never had the first one in. Then, before work last Wednesday, I went back and looked and saw, not only the old copy that I'd been looking for for months, but a second, brand-new, never-checked-out-before copy! Three guesses which one I took. ;)
Rating: 4.5/5

Hilarious. Simply hilarious. There are times to read a book and laugh out loud, and there are times when you're forced to keep it to yourself. I'm glad the latter never came up while I had this book in my hands, because I would have gotten myself stared at. I'd like to thank the lady working at the library(I forget her name, but I shelf-checked with her) who told me that I had time to run back and find some books, or else I'd never have ended up looking for this one. But I digress.
Adams's style reminds me of Terry Pratchett, in a way. I think it's mostly the seemingly random conglomeration of people, things and events that ends up blending together into a story that, even if it doesn't make any sense whatsoever, is still satisfying and funny to read. I love Marvin the Paranoid Android, his constant pessimism(plus the scene where the other computer committed suicide after listening to him - love it!) is quite lovable and works well in the story.
The only thing is, I read the back of the book and it mentions Veet Voojagig. He's mentioned breifly in a Hitchhiker's Guide article, but he's distinctly listed as a traveler on the back of the book. I can only assume that we meet him in a later book, but in that case why is he on the cover of the first one? How many books does it take to get to the center of the mysterious Veet? The world may never know.*

Sample Quote: "Am I busy?" exclaimed Arthur. "Well, I've just got all these bulldozers and things to lie in front of because they'll knock my house down if I don't, but other than that...well, no, not especially. Why?"

* Shameless reference from the tootsie pop commercials that used to be all over TV when I was about 3. Disregard the bad joke, please.

The Finder, Margaret Buffie

2005-05-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES
Series: The Watcher's Quest, #3
Why I Read It: I had read and enjoyed the first two, and the picture on the front cover looked pretty. ^_^
Rating: 4/5

This finishes the story of Emma, a Watcher. It's difficult to explain this story without giving away the endings of the previous two books, but essentially she has to complete a Finder's Quest by finding four elemental wands. Once she finds all four wands, there will be a world that is peaceful and held separately from the Games that are played in all the other worlds in the universe. If you want to know what Games are, you really have to read the first book, The Watcher, because it's so complicated I couldn't explain it properly without giving away big sections of the plot.
This book was very confusing in the beginning. It had been a while since I'd read the previous two(actually, I read them both when The Seeker(#2) came out. It was just a long time until Buffie published the third.), and there were names and places being thrown at me all over. I was highly confused, and actually almost put the book down. But I'm glad I didn't, because it shaped up to be a very interesting read, and actually incorporated the four elements theme, which I've been highly interested in lately. Really, the only thing that irritated me was that there was a scene in the beginning of the book that seemed to be a plotline going somewhere, but there was no continuation of it. It just stopped. Like this sente. Highly irritating.

Sample Quote: Inside that shifting blue space, he says, "Is this your solemn promise, Watcher?"
I nod vigorously, fingers still crossed.
"You know a Watcher's promise cannot be broken without dire consequences."
Inside I say, I do know that. And I've made my choice. I'll take dire consequences. But later, I hope.
Out loud I say, "Yes, Histal."

Syrup, Max Barry

2005-05-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

NOVEL
Why I Read It: I loved Jennifer Government, and Tori said that it(Syrup) was good.
Rating: 4/5

This is about a man(Scat) who wants to come up with a million-dollar idea, and eventually it occurs to him ("New cola product. Black can. Called Fukk."). Of course, since this is a Max Barry novel, only a few chapters later this is snatched away from Scat. But he isn't one to be gotten down, so he trundles on with even more products. Along the way, he has to deal with being in love with 6(yes, that's someone's name), constantly being homeless(I believe there were five instances by the end of the book, but I lost count), his roommate Sneaky Pete, and SP's receptionist @(once again, someone's name. Marketing is a strange field.).
I gave this a four out of five, because even though it's well-written and the plot is developed nicely, it's really nothing out of the ordinary. This is about average quality for a book that I spend my time reading (disregarding the mutated vampire definition stories (now complete with plot holes!) that bring the average down). But, now that I've read Barry's first work, I absolutely cannot wait until Company comes out. 2006!

Sample Quote: "I throw Sneaky Pete out of the apartment[...]I feel vindicated, if not quite satisfied, about getting rid of him until the landlord calls me up and reminds me that the lease isn't in my name but [Sneaky Pete's]. So, actually, I can't throw him out. I can only throw myself out.
So I do.
Which, of course, leaves me nowhere to stay."

The Taste of Night, R.L. Stine

2005-05-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

BOOK - SERIES
Series: Dangerous Girls, #2
Why I Read It: I had read the first one, and I was in the mood for vampire books.
Rating: 2/5

I will be the first to admit that I have a very traditional, strict definition of a vampire. I'm not out to bash other people's definitions, but Stine's one-month wait thing just isn't doing it for me. Once a person is bitten by a vampire, that's it. There's no turning back, and especially no Restorer(until a person has passed the one-month point after they've been bitten, they can be cured by a person known as the Restorer). Apparently, if the month has passed and the victim hasn't bitten their attacker back, they turn into a cursed being. This gets to me, not to mention that Stine messes up his own definition multiple times during the course of the book. But I digress.
This continues the story of 17-year-old twin sisters Destiny and Livvy. They were both bitten by vampires, but while Destiny was cured by her father(the Restorer) Livvy chose to become a full vampire. Now Livvy has ran away from home, and Destiny has to deal with her brother(who is distraught over Livvy's disapearance) and her father(who, in addition to being the Restorer, is also the Hunter, sworn to kill vampires). As a raid is planned on the apartment building where Livvy and Ross(Destiny's ex-boyfriend, turned into a vampire by Livvy) are staying, Destiny has to find a way to warn them.
My major gripe with this book was the vampire definition thing, which I have ranted about and probably thoroughly dissected above. What bugged me even more, however, was how in several instances Stine violated his own rule. There were several cases of someone being bitten - breaking the skin, I read closely - and not turning into the half-vampire or having the one-month rule apply. I suppose that they could have snuck off to the Restorer on the sly, but one of them didn't even know that the vampires existed, let alone the Restorer. I refuse to ignore this gaping plot hole.
My one satisfaction with this was that the ending managed to surprise me completely. R.L. Stine's work is usually utterly predictable for me, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the plot twist that he inserted near the end. But I wouldn't reccomend this book for anyone who hasn't read the first, mainly because the quality is so much less that it's not worth it unless you know the story and want to find out what happens.

Sample Quote: "[he] wondered why. He wondered why one twin chose the vampire life - and the other had to be forced into it.
Tonight...
I will force her tonight. She won't know what is happening until it is too late.
What drove the sisters apart? Why does Livvy carry such anger against her twin?"

A review I want to do but can't...

2005-05-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Tori finally let me read her novel, Absolution(head on over to Read This Now to see what she's saying about it). Actually, she handed it to me in a white binder - soundtrack CD included. That was something that I'd never have expected, not in a million years. Go Tori!
The first draft that she let me see was amazing, and I really wanted to review it, but unfortunately I couldn't. Something about publishing rights, I still don't understand those. I probably should figure them out, but the Wikipedia has a distinct lack on information on the subject. Crap.
So yeah, I'd wanted to be the first person to ever review it, but unfortunately that probably won't be happening now. But, I am the first person to want to review it. So, in your face, new york times! ^_~

Vampire Kisses, Ellen Schreiber

2005-05-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

Why I Read It: I was just looking around on the new shelf at the library yesterday, and the title caught my eye. I like vampires.
Rating: 4/5

This book is about a 16-year-old goth girl named Raven with a vampire obsession who lives in a town that she dubs Dullville. A family moves into an old mansion - a haunted mansion, if you listen to the town gossip - and it's rumored that they're vampires! Of course Raven has to figure out if the rumors are true or not, and along the way she falls in love with the 17-year-old vampire son.
I admit that I was skeptical when I first started reading this. I had a hard time understanding the idea that it was from Raven's skewed point of view, and I was upset that the family ended up fitting the worst steriotype of vampires. When I was about halfway through however, I realized that and it was a really enjoyable read afterwards until there was an intenslely cliched plot twist(which I will not divulge here). That upset me, but afterwards it got really good and I loved the ending.
This is a good book to take on a car ride, because even though it's a bumpy ride in terms of quality it may appeal better to someone who hasn't read as much vampire literature as I have.

Sample Quote: "Ready?" she asked, holding the compact.
"Ready."
She opened the compacct and pushed it against my nose.
"Ouch!"
"Oh, no!"
"You're not supposed to hit me with it! Give that to me!" I grabbed the compact with trembling hands and stared hard. Nothing - or rather, everything. I was still reflecting.

Jennifer Government, Max Barry

2005-02-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

Why I Read It: I read the 1st chapter online here, and I had to figure out what happened to Hack Nike!
Rating: 5/5

This is the first book ever to acheive the perfect rating of a 5/5, and it deserves it! This is a wonderful political satire that explores a possible future where capitalism has taken over the world. The entire world is under US control(except for parts of europe, but that's not overly important to the story) and everybody has to take the last name of the company they work for(Hack Nike, Hayley McDonalds, Jennifer Government, etc). When Hack commits the supremely idiotic act of signing a contract without reading it through, he finds out that he was contracted to kill 14 people to help in a Nike promotion. He goes to the Police, and it dissolves into chaos from there. Part of why I liked this book was that it was so true! It scares me to think about it, but even though a lot of the situations are exaggerated you can see similar things happening in the real world. A not-so-serious(depending on how you look at it) *coincidence* is a Nike promotion that is occuring where only a limited amount of shoes are being released at each location. If people start turning up dead, I think Max Barry should sue.
Something that kept me wondering through the whole book was the question of what the tattoo Jennifer has under her eye was the barcode for? You find out at the end, it's actually pretty funny.
This book is a must-read for everybody!

Sample Quote: "We'll refer the incident to the Government, and they will-"
"The Government? The enemy kicks you in the balls and you want to fill out a complaint form?..."

Girls in Pants, Ann Brashares

2005-02-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

Series: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, #3
Why I Read It: I had read the previous two and my friend said that I HAD to read this one and then practically threw it at me. ^_~
Rating: 4.5/5

The four members of the sisterhood of the traveling pants - Carmen, Tibby, Bridget and Lena - are 17 now and in their last summer together before college. Watch the traveling pants see them through soccer camp(guess who?), babysitting the elderly, little sisters falling out of windows and art classes. This book is laugh-out-loud funny, at times even more so than Terry Pratchett's work(I never thought I'd say that), but it's biggest fault is that at times it's so predictable. And the ending seemed to put an emphasis on getting a boyfriend, which I wasn't overly happy with. Girls can exist and kick major butt without having boys attached to them to slow them down! Other than that minor fact this was a very good book.

Sample quote: "Carmen laughed too. "Good Carmen strikes again. What are we going to do with that girl?"
"Tie her up in the bathroom?"
"Good idea.""

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King

2005-02-01T16:51:00.000-08:00

Why I Read It: I'm currently writing Urban Cave and wanted an author's suggestions for the writing process.
Rating: 4/5

I enjoyed this. Even though I didn't agree with King half of the time, I still enjoyed the book. He first writes about his childhood and teenage years before moving on to a comprehensive discussion of his writing techniques, then finishes with a (morbidly humerous) account of his being hit by a car in 1999. This book's biggest fault lies in the way that it flipflops between events in a way that it confuses me. It's very hard to keep track of what's going on when one chapter he's in high school, the next chapter he's publishing his first novel, then we're back to working before college. Even though I disagree with some of his suggestions for writing, it all seems to be sound advice delivered in an often humerous way. I would reccomend this book to anyone considering starting out in writing.

Sample Quote: "What am I going to say, "on the table is a cage three feet, six inches in length, two feet in width, and fourteen inches high"? That's not prose, that's an instruction manual."

Small Gods, Terry Pratchett

2005-01-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

Series: Discworld, not numbered.
Why I Read It: I love a good parody, especially about something as formal as religion. ^_^
Rating: 4/5

Where - Omnia, a country based on the worship of the god Om.
Who - Burtha, a novice at the temple.
What - Complete chaos as Om finds himself turned into a tortoise and enlists the help of Burtha to regain his status as a god.
This wasn't as laugh-out-loud funny as some of Pratchett's other works, but it was very appealing in it's own way. Despite a bit of a slow beginning, by the time you get halfway through it's running full steam with no sign of stopping anytime soon. You get to meet new characters such as Didactylos the Philosopher, Simony the Soldier and Urn the Didactylos's Nephew, as well as revisit Pratchett's old creations(yay for Lu-Tze the history monk!). I am not a member of any particular religion, so it was vastly amusing for me to see elements of so many different religions melted together and torn apart throughout this story. I would not, however, reccomend reading this to your devoutly christian grandfather.

Sample Quote: "It takes fourty men with their feet on the ground to keep one man with his head in the air."

Collision Course - Linkin Park/Jay-Z

2005-01-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

Genres: Rock, Hip-Hop
Why I Bought It: I like Linkin Park and I heard Numb/Encore on the radio and loved the song.
Rating: 4.5/5

Once again, Linkin Park brings out the hip-hop in their music with their fourth disc (the second side project they've done - the first was Reanimation which came out in 2002 after Hybrid Theory), this time joining forces with rapper Jay-Z for Collision Course, a mash-up album. I will tell you now, I had not heard any of Jay-Z's material before picking up this CD. It was all absolutely new to me; as a Linkin Park member said in some interview(I forget where and who(it might have been Mike actually), so forgive the lack of citation), mash-ups work best when both songs are known before being blended. Once I got used to the songs, however, I liked this CD much more than I did originally. One of the things that I liked best was the fact that the producer(Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, I believe) left in funny comments that were said during the recording process, and actually incorporated them into the songs. It had a very fun feel to it, you could tell that they had fun recording it. This came with a DVD that you could put in and see a 30-minute(or around there) documentary on the making of Collision Course as well as live performances of the 6 tracks. Once again, the fun vibe came through in the documentary. I mean, these guys go into the studio and they get stuff done, but they're joking around the entire time and it's just hilarious to watch ("Hamming it up for the camera? I never ham it up for the camera!" - Chester Bennington from LP). The performance I give a 4/5. Mike and Jay-Z gave an excellent performance, but part of what I loved about LP was the screaming hardcore stuff that Chester did so well. This was more hip-hop based, so Chester took a backseat and I think that I enjoyed it less without his vocal in the forefront. Also, he wasn't singing up to his usual level that day, especially during numb/encore. Mike on the other hand did amazingly, which was the only reason the performance didn't get a 3 instead of a 4. All in all, I give this a 4.5/5.

Sample lyrics: "I've become so numb / Can I get an encore, do you want more / I've become so numb / So for one last time I need ya'll to roar / one last time I need ya'll to roar"
- Numb/Encore

Chuck - Sum 41

2005-01-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

Genre: rock
Why I bought it: I own 'Does this look infected?' and I liked the first two singles off of Chuck.
Rating: 4/5

Sum 41 tops their previous projects with Chuck, their third effort. Named after a UN worker that helped the canadian quartet evacuate the Democratic Republic of the Congo (where they were working with the charity group War Child), this CD contains everything from the agressive, socio-politically fueled 'No Reason' to the ballad 'Pieces'. It's almost hard to believe that it's possible for the same guys to blame "the man of the year" one minute, and the next be "falling apart now in every way", to finally end up realizing that "it's what we put each other through". Some songs are impossibly tender, which others make me want to jump up and down with their energy and passion. The thing that I most noticed was that some of these songs seemed to have counterparts in 2002's 'Does this look infected?' (oh the philosophical musings that rock stars have...). For example, 'Still Waiting' (from 2002) seemed to be channeled in 'No Reason' and 'We're All to Blame' on Chuck; the furious rampage of 'A.N.I.C' was revisited by songs such as 'Welcome to Hell' (the name is self-explanatory) and 'The Bitter End'. As for album art, nothing can compete with the missle graphics that are mixed with cartoon-like little children, alluding to the children playing dangerously with weapons. Sum 41 has scored a hit with this one, perhaps if they had timed the release so that it didn't compete with Green Day, Good Charlotte and Linkin Park they could have had even better sales.

Sample Lyrics: "As your blood's running thin your time's running out/no one will be listening not even when you shout/when your angels turn to devils you'll finally figure out/that no one will be with you in the end"
-Welcome to Hell

The Becoming, Lyyne Ewing

2004-11-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

Series: Daughters of the Moon, #12
Rating: 3/5

This is the 12th(and the last I believe, it's hard to tell) book in the Daughters of the Moon series. I also believe that, everything considered, it's the worst. This was a great book to read once, very exciting, but it dropped off very suddenly at the end. It also left me with questions that were unanswered. What happened to the Daughter's powers, for example? Did they go away? This is a book that I would not re-read, and nothing really memorable jumps out at me. Definetely a let-down for the end of a series.

Related:
The Prophecy, by Lynne Ewing

The Fires of Heaven, Robert Jordan

2004-11-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

Series: Wheel of Time, #5
Rating: 4.5/5

Have I said how much I love this series? Everything fits together so well and the plotlines are so innovative and captivating. In this book: Matt faces his destiny as a war general, Rand continues doing...what Rand does(I can't give it all away! XD ), queen Morgase of Andor comes to her senses, Elayne and Nynaeve find a secret gathering of Aes Sedai and much more. An amazing amount can be accomplished in 1000 pages. The book's only fault was that with so many plotlines going at once I was sometimes confused(But...I thought Nynaeve was in Amadacia! Or maybe that was Morgase...). But all in all it was great. Working on #6.

Related:
The Shadow Rising, by Robert Jordan

Going Postal, Terry Pratchett

2004-11-13T15:08:00.000-08:00

Series: Discworld, not numbered
Rating: 4.5/5

Terry Pratchett tackles the subject of postal service in his newest discworld novel. Moist Von Lipwig is a criminal-albeit one who has never hurt another human being-who is set to be hung for his crimes. But of course Vetinari, the absolute ruler of Ankhmorpork, shows up at the last second and gives Moist a job. He has to run the abandoned post office. Sounds fairly easy at first, but he soon discovers an understaffed office with literal mountains and quagmires of undelivered letters. He takes up the winged hat of the postmaster, however, and sets about delivering the letters and getting the post back in operating order. This lacks the constant laugh-out-loud humor that is Pratchett's trademark, but more than makes it up in the well-developed storyline. One of my favorite Discworld novels, if only for the wonderful cast of characters.

Related:
Sourcery, by Terry Pratchett
Read This Now reviews Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett

Grim Tuesday, Garth Nix

2004-10-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Series: The Keys to the Kingdom, #2
Rating: 4/5

This is the second book in an as yet unfinished series about a boy named Arthur, who is attempting to obtain all the keys from trustees that the Will assigned. The Will is a sentient document(be scared, be very scared) that has escaped to find the heir, Arthur. In the first book Arthur defeated Mister Monday, now he faces Grim Tuesday and deals with an imprisoned sailer, slave mines and Nithlings(monsters made out of evil matter known as Nothing). Good story, but seemed to fall into some annoying plot and character cliches. Still, I'm waiting very impatiently for Nix to write the third!

The Shadow Rising, Robert Jordan

2004-10-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

Series: Wheel of Time, #4
Rating: 4/5

This is the 4th book in the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan. It's one of the better ones so far, but sometimes I found myself wondering who newly intruduced characters were. It would make me want to put down the book when I breifly had no idea where I was or what was happening. I think that Jordan could have intruduced the new characters/settings in a more fluid manner. But the basic plotline was excellent, and at one point near the beginning three different points of view came together around a specific event in a way that could only be described as 'wow'. Can't wait until I finish the 5th book.

The Prophecy, Lynne Ewing

2004-10-24T10:53:00.000-07:00

Series: Daughters of the Moon, #11.
Rating: 5/5

This book, told from the viewpoint of one of five teenaged moon goddesses living in LA, tells of Catty's being torn between loving an unwilling servant of the Atrox(an ancient evil that is trying to consume the world) and fuffilling her duty as a daughter of the moon. Wonderfully written, the 250+ page book took me about 1 1/2 hours to read and left me looking for more. Lynne Ewing makes use of powerful emotions in this book more so than the other books in the series. Some of the scenes were so well written that I actually felt as if I was there. For anyone who hasn't read the series, I highly recommend the first 10 books, despite the fact that none of them were as good as this last one.

American Idiot - Green Day

2004-10-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

Genres: Mainstream rock, political rock, hard rock.
Why I bought it: I had heard American Idiot and Boulevard of Broken Dreams on the radio and loved them, and the album got good reviews.
Rating: 5/5

I would have to call this the best album of 2004 so far, and with only just over two months left in the year how long do we have left to top this? Green Day visits familiar topics and sounds(Holiday, American Idiot, Give me Novacaine, St Jimmy) as well as trying out some new ideas(Homecoming, Jesus of Suburbia, We Are the Waiting). Critics have called this a 'punk rock opera', and I wholeheartedly agree. You can listen to each song individually, or listen to the CD the whole way through and follow a story line. Also, the little lyric booklet isn't just for pictures anymore, it actually doesn't contain any. Instead it houses handwritten lyrics(who's handwriting stays a mystery) which are required literature, not because of Billie Joe's lack of enunciation, but because the lyrics to some parts are so deep it's hard to appreciate them without reading along. This album is a must-buy-ASAP.

Sourcery, Terry Pratchett

2004-10-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

Series: Discworld, not numbered.
Rating: 4/5

With a world of magic it's very easy to wreak havoc. Take a self-proclaimed 'wizzard', his Luggage, the daughter of the feared Conan the barbarian, a self-taught hero and a person who is a source of magic and mix it all together...What do you get but Sourcery? It has a very creative plot line, but I found passages of it slightly hard to understand. For example, several sections of the book would deal with a group of characters, and when it switched back to another group I would find myself searching my memory for what they had been doing. Despite that, Terry Pratchett's usual myriad of jokes got laughter out of me, at quite inappropriate times I might add. Definitely something I would take out of the library, if not something I would buy.