Books I read two months ago.

Look what I found in my drafts folder?  Yup, forgot to hit "publish" with the list of books I read in April.  I'm a slacker.

1.  The Help by Katherine Stockett

 

I loved this book. If you haven't heard of it, you're living in a literary blackhole.  About a young white woman in the South in the 1960's, who decides to write about the life of "the help"--the black women who clean the houses and raise the children of white people.  Told from multiple perspectives.  Made me cry a couple of times, very bookclub-esque.

2. The Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

I kept waiting for something more to happen.  Man is married, man cheats on his wife, and both his wife and his mistress are decent people.  Crazy, right? (insert sarcasm here).  The whole book was boring and it never went anywhere.

3. Spirit Dances by C.E. Murphy

Good urban fantasy series by C.E. Murphy, about police detective/mechanic-turned-shaman JoAnne Walker.  This one was actually one of my favorites.  I feel as if the action scenes were much better written than in previous books (they tend to drag on) and the plot moves along nicely.

4. Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons

 Historical fiction, inspired by a true story.  That "almost a true story" part saves it, makes it more interesting--it's about a Jewish immigrant in England who is obsessed with building his own golf course.  It has some nice details but the story drags on for a bit too long.

5. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Young Adult novel, Mean Girls meets Groundhog's Day.  Popular, mean, teenager relives the day she dies in a car wreck over and over again until she gets it "right".  Enjoyable but repetitive at times.

6. Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice

 I read this series way back in high school and decided to pick it up again.  Unfortunately, I couldn't read the book without picturing Brad Pitt in a bad wig.  Louie's angst is awfully whiny and the narrative style takes away from the story--but still a classic in the vampire-lit genre.

7. The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1)

 I adored this book.  Loved it.  If you like fantasy at all, pick it up now.  Told in flashback, it's the beginning of the story of a legendary and bigger than life man named "Kvothe the Kingkiller"--as he's now settled down in a sedentary life as an innkeeper.  He's arrogant, smart and dashing, but makes enough mistakes that you can't really hate him. 

8. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 2)

 See above.  Still love it, this one tells the stories of his 20's.  Plus the comic Penny Arcade even makes fun of some of Kvothe's...."exploits".  Really, not as much of this as this comic would have you believe.  A fun, well written series with strong characters and well-written action scenes. 

9. Every Last One by Anne Quinlan

Well-written but dark and depressing.  I bought this from the library and didn't realize she's the same author of Black and Blue---good book, but also rather depressing and about domestic abuse.  First half of the book sets up the frivolous and minute details about a family (the voice is authentic but are perhaps a bit tedious), and the second half is about how the remaining family members cope after a tragedy strikes. 

Tumblr and I don't get along. And I read a lot.

As you, my faithful reader knows, I recently attempted to switch my blog over to Tumblr.  It didn't go so hot.

I know just enough HTML to pretend like I know what I'm doing but not enough to actually make anything the way I want it to look.  In comparison, Blogger is ridiculously easy.

All I really wanted to do was change the name of the blog.  I called it "The Whole Mommy Thing" when I thought I was going to do one of those cutesie milestone blogs with too many exclamation points.  Mo-mo went to the park today!  Mo-mo stood up by herself today!  Mo-mo composed her first haiku today!

As I changed my writing style to a more humorous bent, "The Whole Mommy Thing" title didn't really fit anymore.  I felt mild pangs of guilt when I didn't actually write about my daughter for several weeks, as if I were depriving her of her time in the spotlight and would permanently scar her psyche in such a manner that she would insist on entering us in mother/daughter beauty pageants when she grew older to compensate.

So it's now "The Blarg" because that's shorter than "Crap I write about my life and family and books and try to make occasionally funny but without using too many swear words because all my relatives read it".  And it has all of my old entries from "The Whole Mommy Thing" and my brief experiment on Tumblr.

And now here's an awkward segue-way to....BOOKS I READ IN MARCH!

1. Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

 

      

Time traveling historical fiction romance series.  I'm currently reading the third of the series.  A WWII nurse gets transported back to the Scottish Highlands in the 1700's.  At 600+ pages, there are definitely some slow parts, but all-in-all, it seems to paint a very vivid picture with historical accuracy (including the ugly violent parts).  

3. Waking The Witch by Kelley Armstrong (11th in the Women of the Otherworld Series)

I just started reading this series a couple of months ago--I had tried before, but hadn't much liked the main characters featured in the first three novels.  This definitely wouldn't be the novel to begin with if you're interested in the series.  The series is "urban fantasy", about werewolves, necromancers, witches and sorcerers living their lives in secret from normal humans.  This particular one features Savannah, a 20-something witch trying to prove herself.  I suggest starting with "Bitten", or "Dime Store Magic" (which is all about Savannah's adopted parents).

4. Pale Demon by Kim Harrison (The Hollows, Book 9)

Hmmm.  On one hand, I love me some Kim Harrison.  Her books titles are mostly puns from old western movies, with the word "demon" inserted somewhere in there.  On the other hand, I feel as if every single character acted stupid and selfish at least once in this particular novel.  Don't get me wrong--it's not terrible, it had some amazing moments (especially with Al and Newt), it just wasn't one of her best.

5. The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller

I chose this book for its cover, just picked it off the shelf at Border's and decided to give it a try.  It had potential.  The characters were vivid, well-written, and interesting...but the plot was just cobbled together in a hurry with the basic reoccurring elements of a average fantasy novel.  Lowly peasant is actually special but no one can't tell him, end of the world coming, prince who lost his magic and trying to reconnect with the people...none of it was particularly thrilling or even new.

6. Something Real by J.J. Murray

I picked this one up for $.25 from the library, and thought I'd give it a shot.  It's an interracial romance book told from the perspective of a black woman (and, strangely enough, written by a white man).  It was funny, and the characters were interesting and a lot of the small town mindset was well reflected by the auxiliary characters.  It sometimes lacked depth and at times the main character seemed to have meltdowns for no reason, but I was willing to forgive it.  I would read more by this author.

7. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

My stepmother summarized this book for me when she loaned it to me:  "It's like a supernatural fiction written by someone who has never actually read a supernatural fiction."  Nothing actually happens and the characters are lame stereotypes (a sexy vampire?  Who would have ever thought of that?)  I stuck with the book until the bitter end because I kept thinking that the action had to come soon...but it never did.

8. The Search by Nora Roberts

I will say this for Nora Robert books: they are comfortable.  There will never be any true plot twists, in that you always know that the guy will get the girl in the end (sometime after they resolve some personal emotional conflict which prevents them from telling each other I love you).  This particular one was kind of neat because it was about a woman who trained search and rescue dogs, and I thought some of the details about that were interesting.   

9. Hiroshima by John Hersey

Yes, this is definitely not my typical book, but I thought it was fascinating.  It's a nonfiction book that follows the events of the Hiroshima from the perspective of six individuals who survived the bomb.  It was absolutely heart-wrenching to read and painted a clear picture of the atrocities of nuclear war.  It includes an update of the six individuals 40 years later. 

10. Blackout by Rob Thurman (Cal Leandros, Book 6)

I've always liked this series but I thought that this one was particular good.  This series is about two brothers who fight monsters, with one of them being part "monster" himself.  The main character, Cal, awakes with no recollection of who he is.  While this premise sounds hackneyed, it did a great job of exploring the way Cal and his brother Nick use each other to define who they truly are.  Most supernatural writers fall into the trap of writing the same sort of story over and over again but with a slightly different bad guys.  I think that Rob Thurman did an excellent job in actually giving the readers something new but utterly believable.

books I read in September

1.  Dragon Haven (Rain Wilds Chronicles, Vol. 2) by Robin Hobb (book one mentioned here).

While not a bad story, it's seems to be lacking when compared to the Farseer or Fool series by Hobb.  Maybe we have too many characters to get to as invested--but at least it's not as drearily bleak and depressing as the Soldier Son series.  It has all the elements of a good fantasy novel and she brings them together in a satisfactory manner:  dragons, outcasts, a quest, a forbidden love.    

2. Truthseeker by C. E. Murphy

 C.E. Murphy likes to weave the modern with fantasy:  her series The Walker Files is about a policewoman who suddenly that she has shamanistic powers, and her Negotiator series is about a lawyer who finds herself playing referee to the different races of the world (think dragon, gargoyle, selkie, etc.).  Along the same vein, this book is about a tailor who always knows the truth and is sought out by a prince of Fairie.  Satisfying read, good book, but I really can't see it being turned into a compelling series.   

3.  Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic) by Patricia Wrede

 

Juvenile fantasy novel set in an alternative pioneer world about a thirteenth daughter who has always been told she's bad at heart, and her twin who is the seventh son of the seventh son.  Vaguely reminiscence of Orson Scott Card's Seventh Son series, the story starts of strong but peters out towards the end.  Not nearly as good as some of her earlier work.

4.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The first time I tried to read this book, I got about 50 pages in and put in down because it felt too detailed oriented and didn't hold my attention.  When I picked it up two months later, I read it in about two days.  I'm excited to read the next books--my favorite character by far is the actual girl with the dragon tattoo, and she's a much bigger characters in the next series.  Summary:  Publicly shamed Swedish journal investigates the history of a wealthy family to search for a killer. 

5.  Summer House: A Novel by Nancy Thayer

The story of three generations of women and their loves--the grandmother and story of her relationship with her husband during WWII told as flashback, the mother who is struggling to forgive her cheating husband, and the daughter who is trying not to settle for a man.  While the writing was pretty strong and the characters engaging, there just wasn't quite enough to turn it from pretty good to great.  The character of Charlotte, the daughter, was especially one-dimensional and annoying. 

Books I Read in cough cough cough

Here's the list of books I read in coughcoughcoughavoideyecontact August.  Yeah, give me a break, I know it's already almost October. Better late than never, I always say.

Unless we're talking about an annual swarm of killer bees.  Then I say better never than ever.

I have a platitude for every occasion. 

1.  Rat by Fernada Eberstadt

 

While not wildly intricate or complex, this story about a 15 year old French girl is nevertheless well-written with interesting characters and story plot.  When "Rat" finds out that her adopted brother is being molested by her mom's boyfriend and her mother doesn't believe them, she and her brother set off to England to find Rat's biological father.  I wish this novel was almost 100 pages longer, as the author occasionally changed character perspective, and I feel as if she could have done that more often and given the story a bit of fleshing out.


2. Between, Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson

 

By the same author of "Gods In Alabama", this novel is similar in the heavily southern story line and quirky set of characters.  Told in the first person by Nonny Frett, this book is about the ties of family, both the ones you were born into and the ones you create for yourself.  I'd definitely recommend this novel to people who enjoy  the "quirky and realistic" genre like authors Billie Letts and Joanne Mapson, and I'd love to read more books by this author. 


3. House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

 

 A sequel to Howl's Moving Castle-- so don't just start with this one (Howl's Moving Castle was actually made into a fairly decent anime film by Miyazaki of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke fame if you're into that sort of thing).  Young adult fantasy fiction, not quite as good as the first but still fun.


4. The Perfect Poison (Arcane Society) by Amanda Quick

 

 Amanda Quick is the pseudonym for romance author Jayne Anne Krentz when she writes (and I use this word incredibly loosely) "historical" romances.  It's a junk food book:  comforting, you know exactly what to expect, but no real substance.  This is one of the Arcane Society books, which revolves around a secret society of psychically talented individuals in regency England (and you can read about their descendants in some of her novels under the name Krentz).    


5. Digging to America by Anne Tyler 

 

 This is a story of two very different families who adopt babies from Korea, one of typical white-bread Americans and one of Iranian-Americans, and it deals with issues of identity and outsiderness.  It focuses mostly on Maryam Yazdan, the Iranian grandmother, but we get snippets of insight from almost everyone involved.  Well written with detailed character description, I definitely enjoyed it.

6. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

 

Chevalier also wrote "The Girl With The Pearl Earring", and this historically inspired novel focuses on the friendship of two female fossil hunters.  As one is a moderately well-to-do spinster and the other a working class girl, Chevalier does a fantastic job illustrating how both gender and social inequality plays into their friendship and their lives without ramming it down your throat.  

7. Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom (Book 1) by Julie Kenner

 

 Imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer all grown up and trying to live a normal life in the suburbs with her kids and normal husband but demons start busting into her front window---and you get the premise of this book.  Cheesy but fun, I've been searching in vain for the next one and will soon have to give in and just order it online.

8. Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games) - Library Edition by Suzanne Collins

 

Have I mentioned that I love these books?  Oh wait, I have.  I stayed up until 2 a.m. reading this book the day it came in the mail.  Great ending:  real.      

9.  Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler

  

I liked Digging to America so much that I wanted to read some of Tyler's other books, so I picked this one up at the library.  While well-written and in-depth characterization, nothing really happens in the entire book.  It's the story of an elderly guy with a quiet life.  Not exactly a thrilling page turner.