Heads up! I'm probably going to give some stuff away here but I have a lot to say.
Let's
talk about Stephen King for a moment. I have a definite love/hate
relationship with the man. I sometimes think that he is the most
brilliant author alive today, especially when it comes to the Dark Tower
series which may very well be the glue that holds the world together.
However, he has a tendency to pull some cheap tricks that drive me mad.
Example: An elderly gentleman tells a story to Eddie in this book about
when he faced the Wolves. When he delivers the vital information to
Eddie, he whispers it so the reader can't read it. When Eddie shares
this information with Roland, again the reader doesn't see it. And
that's cheap. Also, towards the end Roland pulls about three tie ins
from other stories (two of which are not his) that almost made me throw
the book. Also, there are characters in this book with accents you will
not be able to understand. Even worse, you are going to start talking
in the Calla accent. Be warned.
Despite all that, I couldn't put it down and you KNOW I'll be reading the rest of the series.
Anyway,
we left off with the ka-tet wandering along the path of the beam. This
book picks up in Calla Bryn Sturgis where most of the children are born
as twins but every 20-25 years the mysterious wolves come out of the
east and snatch one of every pair that is of appropriate age. The
stolen children are sent back to Calla but they are sent back "roont."
They are oversized and developmentally disabled. The town has allowed
such behavior for a few generations but one farmer, Jeffords, has had
enough. Luckily, they have received word of gunslingers.
Finally,
we get to see the gunslingers at work. It's not all death and killing,
you know, but a code of conduct and a proper way to ask for help.
Roland, Susannah, Jake, Eddie, and Oi spend most of the book in
preparation. They must gain the trust and respect of the townfolk.
They must figure out as much as they can about the Wolves and how to
kill them and then prepare the town for action. To complicate matters,
Susannah is now aware that she is pregnant and that she is splitting
into two personalities again. To complicate things even further, an
ancient relic pops up that allows the ka-tet to go to New York where
they discover that the rose is in danger and they must save that and
Tower of Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind fame.
There really is a
lot going on in this book. Sometimes King can get wordy in his longer
novels but I don't think Wolves could have been a shorter book. It was
exciting and it was good and I really can't wait to see what happens.
As it is, I feel like I have run a marathon and I am glad for a little
break!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Dibs in Search of Self by Virginia M. Axline
A number of months ago, a friend of mine handed me this book and told me to read it. She said it was a quick read and really good, especially if you like happy endings.
Child psychology has never been a subject that I was likely to pursue. I work with children on a daily basis and I've often thought it would be beneficial to put some studying in but for the most part my readings in psychology center on self help. I was a little doubtful. The first two chapters were slow but after that it really took off.
Dibs is the son of a scientist and an ex-surgeon. His family has always values intellectualism. Dibs, however, is different. His parents have written him off as mentally retarded even though his teachers still have hope. He does not talk at school. He does not play with the other kids. No matter what is going on he is always on the outside.
Axline is put in contact with his parents and takes Dibs into her care. Using play therapy, Dibs begin to break down the walls that keep him so isolated from the rest of the world. I keep catching myself talking to people like Axline talks to Dibs!
I never thought that I would love this book but I did. It was wonderful to see a boy emerging so rapidly. I highly suggest this book.
Child psychology has never been a subject that I was likely to pursue. I work with children on a daily basis and I've often thought it would be beneficial to put some studying in but for the most part my readings in psychology center on self help. I was a little doubtful. The first two chapters were slow but after that it really took off.
Dibs is the son of a scientist and an ex-surgeon. His family has always values intellectualism. Dibs, however, is different. His parents have written him off as mentally retarded even though his teachers still have hope. He does not talk at school. He does not play with the other kids. No matter what is going on he is always on the outside.
Axline is put in contact with his parents and takes Dibs into her care. Using play therapy, Dibs begin to break down the walls that keep him so isolated from the rest of the world. I keep catching myself talking to people like Axline talks to Dibs!
I never thought that I would love this book but I did. It was wonderful to see a boy emerging so rapidly. I highly suggest this book.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
When I finished reading the first book in the Southern Vampires series, I wasn't sure as to whether or not I should continue. I decided that I would try the second book and see how it went. It went way better than I expected. I even made those audible reading noises, gasps and giggles. I hate that I enjoyed it so much, really, because that means that I'll have to read the third.
If you are a fan of True Blood, I would say that it is worth giving the books a chance. They are similar enough to the show to feel familiar but different enough to keep you reading. I spent a lot of time comparing season two to book two and discussing the differences with my boyfriend who is watching the show as well.
I really hate Sookie, though. I am glad that she is not like Bella in Twilight. She is special. She's not just a mopey girl who managed to fall in with a vampire. She even has a little more independence, though I would argue that she doesn't have much. She is very strong, really. She is brave and not just when it means saving the person she loves. It is even when it means saving someone she doesn't really care for. In this book, she sheds some of her innocence. It actually gets a bit dirty in parts.
Another character thing that I noticed is that I really don't like Bill anymore. He's just so greasy without meaning to be. I prefer Eric who is greasy because he's Eric and makes no attempt to hide it.
If you are a fan of True Blood, I would say that it is worth giving the books a chance. They are similar enough to the show to feel familiar but different enough to keep you reading. I spent a lot of time comparing season two to book two and discussing the differences with my boyfriend who is watching the show as well.
I really hate Sookie, though. I am glad that she is not like Bella in Twilight. She is special. She's not just a mopey girl who managed to fall in with a vampire. She even has a little more independence, though I would argue that she doesn't have much. She is very strong, really. She is brave and not just when it means saving the person she loves. It is even when it means saving someone she doesn't really care for. In this book, she sheds some of her innocence. It actually gets a bit dirty in parts.
Another character thing that I noticed is that I really don't like Bill anymore. He's just so greasy without meaning to be. I prefer Eric who is greasy because he's Eric and makes no attempt to hide it.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Behind on Reading
I am desperately behind on my reading goal for the year. According to Goodreads, I am precisely 18 books behind.
Lately, when I try to read at night, I pass out before I make it through the first page. I'm tired. There's nothing like propping yourself up on the couch to read, passing out, and taking a book to the face. I may have to switch to all paperbacks.
The most frustrating thing that could happen right now is finding a book that straddles the fence. And just that happened this week.
I had started it before but got a book in at work that other people were waiting for and, thus, put it aside. One day I went back to it because I left the other book at work. (Also frustrating as hell. I was so angry that I almost made the 20 mile drive to get the damn thing.) That one day hooked me and when I finished Jeneration X, I could not wait to get started on it.
The book was All the Way Home by David Giffels. I was enchanted mostly because I thought we would relate to one another. Giffels's book is a memoir about buying a falling down mansion and restoring it while his family is growing.
The day I looked at the house I bought, I went to look at my Dream House. It was a 3500 sq ft farm house on 10 acres that had been built in 1881. I fell in love with it when I was 9. My best friend at the time's grandparents lived around the corner and until graduation I got to look out Sara's bedroom window and see the Dream House in all its ruinous beauty. When I went to look at it, it was everything I dreamed. The kitchen would have to be completely gutted. In fact, they had built a small addition onto the kitchen for a refrigerator and covered an outside door from the formal dinning room. There was a black potbelly stove. The woodwork in the house was all original, dark and thick molding, massive doors, floors that had expensive woods along the outside and pine in the middle where a rug would cover the cheaper wood. There was a formal dinning room and a parlor and two staircases. One staircase was the "family" staircase. It went up to the second story bedrooms from the dining room. The second staircase was the formal staircase and went from the front parlor to the BALLROOM. A BALLROOM. A ballroom with plaster falling off the ceiling and a charred wall where another stove used to be. A ballroom covered in dust and dirt, fallen ceiling, and books. The thing about old houses like that out here is that they have usually been in a family long enough to have strange updates. A basketball court, for instance, or guest quarters built onto the back. It may have been strange and old and ugly on the inside but every last thing in that house was STRAIGHT and SOLID and completely workable.
The clencher was the photo on the fireplace of the house as it was when it was built.
I loved that house. I still love that house. If ever I were to win the lottery, it would be mine and the asbestos siding would go down and real wood siding would go up. There would be a front porch again and the ceiling would be repaired. What would I do with a ballroom? Fuck if I know but, dammit, I want one. I want a front parlor and I want a kitchen that will have to be completely gutted and made into the kitchen of my dreams. The difference is that I could I house for a third of the cost that needed a lot less work. It wasn't a compromise. The moment I pulled into my driveway, I knew it was MY driveway, that this was where I belonged.
So, what was the problem with Giffels work? Quite frankly, it was Giffel. He tells us that he has a degree in creative writing and that is all fine and good but I can guarantee that he didn't write like that in college. He was too pompous a lot of the time, bragging about his abilities while trying to make it sound like he was making fun of himself even when he wasn't. I was stuck on one paragraph for a day, unable to go beyond it, simply because he said Heineken is a beer for men who think they are of a certain distinction. (Boyfriend is a beer snob. Heineken is mostly for tools who don't know that green bottles make beer skunky. Thank God for Michigan, the beer state, and microbreweries.) We hear repeatedly about how classy his wife is, how beautiful, how out of his league. Sometimes the writing was too embellished, too whimsical. But mostly it was slow and somehow grating.
I'm disappointed. The book was published in 2008 and that's when it went on my list. It was soooo close to the top that I was constantly excited for the day I finally got to it. Then I could barely read a chapter at a time.
So, about a week lost to this one before I gave up just 70-some pages in. Bummer.
Lately, when I try to read at night, I pass out before I make it through the first page. I'm tired. There's nothing like propping yourself up on the couch to read, passing out, and taking a book to the face. I may have to switch to all paperbacks.
The most frustrating thing that could happen right now is finding a book that straddles the fence. And just that happened this week.
I had started it before but got a book in at work that other people were waiting for and, thus, put it aside. One day I went back to it because I left the other book at work. (Also frustrating as hell. I was so angry that I almost made the 20 mile drive to get the damn thing.) That one day hooked me and when I finished Jeneration X, I could not wait to get started on it.
The book was All the Way Home by David Giffels. I was enchanted mostly because I thought we would relate to one another. Giffels's book is a memoir about buying a falling down mansion and restoring it while his family is growing.
The day I looked at the house I bought, I went to look at my Dream House. It was a 3500 sq ft farm house on 10 acres that had been built in 1881. I fell in love with it when I was 9. My best friend at the time's grandparents lived around the corner and until graduation I got to look out Sara's bedroom window and see the Dream House in all its ruinous beauty. When I went to look at it, it was everything I dreamed. The kitchen would have to be completely gutted. In fact, they had built a small addition onto the kitchen for a refrigerator and covered an outside door from the formal dinning room. There was a black potbelly stove. The woodwork in the house was all original, dark and thick molding, massive doors, floors that had expensive woods along the outside and pine in the middle where a rug would cover the cheaper wood. There was a formal dinning room and a parlor and two staircases. One staircase was the "family" staircase. It went up to the second story bedrooms from the dining room. The second staircase was the formal staircase and went from the front parlor to the BALLROOM. A BALLROOM. A ballroom with plaster falling off the ceiling and a charred wall where another stove used to be. A ballroom covered in dust and dirt, fallen ceiling, and books. The thing about old houses like that out here is that they have usually been in a family long enough to have strange updates. A basketball court, for instance, or guest quarters built onto the back. It may have been strange and old and ugly on the inside but every last thing in that house was STRAIGHT and SOLID and completely workable.
The clencher was the photo on the fireplace of the house as it was when it was built.
I loved that house. I still love that house. If ever I were to win the lottery, it would be mine and the asbestos siding would go down and real wood siding would go up. There would be a front porch again and the ceiling would be repaired. What would I do with a ballroom? Fuck if I know but, dammit, I want one. I want a front parlor and I want a kitchen that will have to be completely gutted and made into the kitchen of my dreams. The difference is that I could I house for a third of the cost that needed a lot less work. It wasn't a compromise. The moment I pulled into my driveway, I knew it was MY driveway, that this was where I belonged.
So, what was the problem with Giffels work? Quite frankly, it was Giffel. He tells us that he has a degree in creative writing and that is all fine and good but I can guarantee that he didn't write like that in college. He was too pompous a lot of the time, bragging about his abilities while trying to make it sound like he was making fun of himself even when he wasn't. I was stuck on one paragraph for a day, unable to go beyond it, simply because he said Heineken is a beer for men who think they are of a certain distinction. (Boyfriend is a beer snob. Heineken is mostly for tools who don't know that green bottles make beer skunky. Thank God for Michigan, the beer state, and microbreweries.) We hear repeatedly about how classy his wife is, how beautiful, how out of his league. Sometimes the writing was too embellished, too whimsical. But mostly it was slow and somehow grating.
I'm disappointed. The book was published in 2008 and that's when it went on my list. It was soooo close to the top that I was constantly excited for the day I finally got to it. Then I could barely read a chapter at a time.
So, about a week lost to this one before I gave up just 70-some pages in. Bummer.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Jeneration X by Jen Lancaster
If you were feeling disappointed with Jen's last couple of books and you
were considering giving up on her, don't! She's back again with a new
memoir that is possibly one of her funniest.
Jen and Fletch have decided to move to the suburbs and buy their first house. It's quite a change from living in the city (No gunshots.) and paying rent (but your landlord not paying the water bill). Now they have privacy and enough property for the dogs to run. (So it's only natural that they would add another puppy to the mix.)
Jen is back to her escapades. She is watching the neighbors. She's surrounded by idiots and not amused. She is learning how to be an adult through legal proceedings, estate planning, and life insurance purchasing. And it is all laugh out loud hilarious.
What I enjoyed most about this collection is that suddenly Jen feels like a friend and I can relate to her. She is no longer the exceedingly bitchy woman with a handbag that costs more than my car is worth from Bitter is the New Black. Now she is willing to do undignified things and laugh at them. Some of her stories actually feel downright hillbilly.
Also, she really makes me feel like I'm very grown up myself!
Jen and Fletch have decided to move to the suburbs and buy their first house. It's quite a change from living in the city (No gunshots.) and paying rent (but your landlord not paying the water bill). Now they have privacy and enough property for the dogs to run. (So it's only natural that they would add another puppy to the mix.)
Jen is back to her escapades. She is watching the neighbors. She's surrounded by idiots and not amused. She is learning how to be an adult through legal proceedings, estate planning, and life insurance purchasing. And it is all laugh out loud hilarious.
What I enjoyed most about this collection is that suddenly Jen feels like a friend and I can relate to her. She is no longer the exceedingly bitchy woman with a handbag that costs more than my car is worth from Bitter is the New Black. Now she is willing to do undignified things and laugh at them. Some of her stories actually feel downright hillbilly.
Also, she really makes me feel like I'm very grown up myself!
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
In the past couple of weeks, Sookie Stackhouse has become pretty common around my house. We started watching the TrueBlood show and quickly became obsessed enough to decide that the books may be worth a shot. I ordered in the first one and started reading it right away because I figured it would be a quick easy read. It would have been quick too, except that I've spent most of my time watching the show instead of reading the book. It's made for an interesting experience. Sometimes it gets a little confusing.
That, actually, would be my one complaint about Harris's writing. Sometimes I just don't understand what is going on. The example that sticks out the most is Bubba. I had to Google to figure out who Bubba was. Why couldn't this have been spelled out a little better for the reader? It appeared to be a pretty common question about the series.
In general, I must confess that I like to show better. There is more going on. It makes me laugh more often. I like the characters that don't appear in the book or are just barely mentioned. However, I love READING what Sookie hears in other people's heads and I actually like Sookie better altogether.
If you don't know the story, Sookie lives in a little town called Bon Temps. This is our world but vampires have "come out of the coffin," as the book puts it. Science has led to the invention of synthetic blood which the vampires can drink for nourishment instead of using humans as a food source. That doesn't mean they do. Sookie meets her first vampire, Bill, and falls head over heels for him. In the meantime, women who have slept with vampires, or fang bangers, have been showing up strangled. A killer is on the lose and Sookie is sure to be on his list because of her relationship with Bill. This is one time where hearing other peoples thoughts doesn't seem to be helping. Sookie is sucked into a game of trying to figure out who the killer is, attempting to find her way through vampire society, and protecting the people who mean the most to her.
This was a fun read and I have already ordered the next book in the series. I can't promise that I'll make it through the whole set, though.
That, actually, would be my one complaint about Harris's writing. Sometimes I just don't understand what is going on. The example that sticks out the most is Bubba. I had to Google to figure out who Bubba was. Why couldn't this have been spelled out a little better for the reader? It appeared to be a pretty common question about the series.
In general, I must confess that I like to show better. There is more going on. It makes me laugh more often. I like the characters that don't appear in the book or are just barely mentioned. However, I love READING what Sookie hears in other people's heads and I actually like Sookie better altogether.
If you don't know the story, Sookie lives in a little town called Bon Temps. This is our world but vampires have "come out of the coffin," as the book puts it. Science has led to the invention of synthetic blood which the vampires can drink for nourishment instead of using humans as a food source. That doesn't mean they do. Sookie meets her first vampire, Bill, and falls head over heels for him. In the meantime, women who have slept with vampires, or fang bangers, have been showing up strangled. A killer is on the lose and Sookie is sure to be on his list because of her relationship with Bill. This is one time where hearing other peoples thoughts doesn't seem to be helping. Sookie is sucked into a game of trying to figure out who the killer is, attempting to find her way through vampire society, and protecting the people who mean the most to her.
This was a fun read and I have already ordered the next book in the series. I can't promise that I'll make it through the whole set, though.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Demons in the Spring by Joe Meno
I don't usually read short stories but I am always willing to make an exception for one of my favorite authors. With Demons in the Spring, I never regretted making that exception.
Meno has a way with words. His novels are always heartbreaking and difficult and this set of short stories follows suite. The stories are odd. There is one about a woman who becomes a cloud whenever her husband kisses her. There is one about a girl who has a tumor that progresses the same way a city would until there is a sky scraper growing from her heart. Even though the stories tend to contain strange subject matter, they always seem to be such quiet stories. It is just a day in the life for these characters. In this way the reader isn't surprised by something strange happening. Of course it is possible. Why wouldn't a woman turn into a cloud?
What I love about Meno's writing is that he always leaves me feeling raw. Sometimes he fills me with loneliness and longing. These characters are people with a great capacity to love. If anything, I would say that is what holds this collection together.
Besides the writing, this is a beautiful volume. I gasped when I opened the envelope it came in. It has a beautiful light maroon fabric cover and each story has a different illustrator. While I borrowed this from the library, it would be worth spending the money on.
Meno has a way with words. His novels are always heartbreaking and difficult and this set of short stories follows suite. The stories are odd. There is one about a woman who becomes a cloud whenever her husband kisses her. There is one about a girl who has a tumor that progresses the same way a city would until there is a sky scraper growing from her heart. Even though the stories tend to contain strange subject matter, they always seem to be such quiet stories. It is just a day in the life for these characters. In this way the reader isn't surprised by something strange happening. Of course it is possible. Why wouldn't a woman turn into a cloud?
What I love about Meno's writing is that he always leaves me feeling raw. Sometimes he fills me with loneliness and longing. These characters are people with a great capacity to love. If anything, I would say that is what holds this collection together.
Besides the writing, this is a beautiful volume. I gasped when I opened the envelope it came in. It has a beautiful light maroon fabric cover and each story has a different illustrator. While I borrowed this from the library, it would be worth spending the money on.
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