February, March, April

Well, this is awkward.  Its been three months.  Here are some books:

The Good Wife, Steward O'Nan
The Traveler, John Twelve Hawks
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Pathfinder, Orson Scott Card (again)
Heart of Gold, Sharon Shinn
Mr. Penubra's 24-hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan
Ruins, Orson Scott Card
I am the Messenger, Markus Zusak

Lets get this out of the way first, I've already read Pathfinder since I've been keeping this blog.  You can read what I thought of it here.  I had slightly different opinions this time.  I re-read it because the sequel FINALLY came out, its called Ruins.  Pathfinder was definitely better than Ruins, which almost reads like fanfic.  It just keeps going and going and don't get me wrong, its good, but every turn of events had me thinking "really?  You're just farting around with your characters."

The Good Wife reminded me of Room, and maybe one other book who's name isn't coming to me just now.  It was OK, it kept me hooked, but only really because I wanted to know how it ended.  Thus, beach read.

Cloud Atlas and Heart of Gold were both OK scifi.  Cloud Atlas was slightly more literary (or trying to be literary) whereas Heart of Gold was quite scifi-ish.  Both were interesting and I got through them, but neither were amazing or stood out in any way.

Mr. Penubra's 24-hour Bookstore on the other hand WAS amazing.  Great adventure, great characters, great plot, well written, kept me engaged... On the back it said it was similar to The Night Circus which I totally disagree with because that was SO MUCH BETTER even than this book, but I do agree that both have a charm.  I highly recommend this book.

Lastly I am the Messenger was a huge letdown.  Zusak also wrote The Book Thief which was truly fantastic and witty and powerful.  I am the Messenger was bumbling, random, undriven in plot, unlogical, and the end in particular stank of "Oh shit how do I get my character out of this mess?  Let me pull some metaphysical strings which may not be metaphysical"  The entire time I expected that the ending would make me understand the motives behind the main character's actions throughout the entire book.  Instead it made everything even less clear, and not in a 'The Giver' kind of way.  Don't read it.

More books coming soon, you can be sure.

In other news I am departing on a 2 month journey soon and won't be able to take books with me so I will experiment with e-books.  If I have anything interesting to say I'll post it here.  Its mostly notable now because I have been quite opposed to e-readers, and still would be if there were any possibility of packing books or having library access while I'm travelling.

January, Feburary, March 2013

I have been incredibly delinquent in updating this blog and for that I apologize, dear non-existent reader.

Here's what I've read recently:

Blackout, Connie Willis,
The Good Wife, Stewart O'Nan
The Traveler, John Twelve Hawks
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

Dear non-existent reader, I am ashamed to have read so few books in 2.5 months!  However I have been quite busy, yes, I am plotting to take over the world!  Actually no, but I am plotting to get my PhD and that has been draining.  The end is in sight though!

Comments on these books:
Count of Monte Cristo was good albeit slow.  It was an interesting look into a different time and place.  The Traveler was actually quite interesting and grabbing, although pretty far into the scifi realm.  The Good Wife reminded me of Room in the way I wanted to know how it ended but wasn't really interested in it.  And Blackout was interesting but excruciating in that the characters just seemed so dumb!  There is a sequel that I would have read, but I couldn't stand reading through an entire additional book of the characters being incredibly dimwitted.