What are you reading? I hope I have more time
after my homework is done for fun reading.
Have a great weekend!
Reviews, thoughts, ideas, and whatever else we have to say on books, movies, television, products, and just life in general.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Book Review - Beloved Enemy: Battle of First Bull Run - Al Lacy
Title: Beloved
Enemy
Author: Al Lacy
Review: I
love historical novels and the Civil War is a fascinating time in American’s
history. My first book about the Civil
War was Gone With the Wind, and I have to say that I was hooked with that
one. I read many more and have seen most
of the movies out there about that time in history. Brother fighting brother, a nation against
itself, Gettysburg Address and so many stories and adventures seem to surround
that time period. We have taken our
family to Bull Run, Gettysburg and Antietam to tour the Civil War battle fields
and learn about their history. I love history and adding fictional stories
and characters just makes it come alive for me.
Now for this book. The main character,
Jenny, is torn between her loyalty to her father, herself and Buck. That is being stuck between a rock and hard
place for sure. I found the story interesting
and yet lacking in some areas. I would
have liked the characters to be more fully flushed out and more interactions between
the lovers for the romance part of the story….not necessarily sex, but some
more romance. I found the book to be
inaccurate in a few areas and wish the author had done a better job of
researching the era. Some of the language
usage seemed a bit modern also. With so
many books written about this time an author needs to be careful not to mix up
facts.
I haven’t read the
first two books in this series and maybe if I had I would have jumped right
into the story. As it was I struggled to
really get a grasp of the story and the plot.
If you want to know what happens
you will have to read the book. Of
course we all know what happened at the end of the war, but the stories leading
to that are fun to read and imagine. A
different time, a different era and I loved the clothes. This book didn't do it for me, but it might for you. If you enjoy historical fiction then give
this book a try.
Publisher: Published February 1st 1994 by
Multnomah
ISBN: 9780880706261
Copyright: 1994
Pages: 356
Quick
Review: 3 stars (out of 5)-
Why I
Read It: Sent by the publisher for review through Blogging for Books.
Synopsis: Jenny's allegiance lay with the
Confederate Army. But her heart belonged to the enemy. Faithful to her family
and the land of her birth, young Jenny Jordan covers for her father's
Confederate spy missions. But as she grows closer to handsome Union soldier
Buck Brownell. Jenny finds herself torn between devotion to the South and her
feelings for the man she is forbidden to love. Overwhelmed by pressure to
assist the South, Jenny agrees to carry critical information over enemy lines.
But when she is caught in Buck Brownell's territory, will he follow orders to
execute the beautiful spy or find a way to save his Beloved Enemy?
Author Biography: Al
Lacy has written more than ninety novels, including the Angel of Mercy, Battles
of Destiny, and Journeys of the Stranger series. He and his wife, JoAnna Lacy,
are coauthors of the Mail Order Bride, Hannah of Fort Bridger, and Shadow of
Liberty series. The Lacys make their home in the Colorado Rockies.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
TLC Book Tour - Book Review - Telegraph Avenue - Michael Chabon
Title: Telegraph Avenue
Review:
A great novel should not be a chore to
read.
The
first 30% of this book crawled along introducing many characters with too
little action. So I had the double
problem of both trying to be engaged in the limited plot and trying to figure
out who was who and why they were even present.
The story did finally get moving as you got (way) into it, but it was
work, not enjoyment. And then he hits
you with part 3, an 11 page sentence. I
have read elsewhere that this demonstrates a masterful command of the English
language, but it struck me as tedious and extremely hard to follow.
Is
there value to getting to the end of this book; most definitely, but you have
to really want it. It reminds me of a
gourmet food that initially tastes terrible, but the connoisseur will say it is
an acquired taste. If you keep working
through it you will end up loving it. I
think Chabon is asking a little too much of his readers to work through
it. It seemed he was trying too hard to
write an ultrahip book, to show off his unique writing devices, and anything
else he could think of rather than just write a straight forward tale. Of course it could just be that I wasn't quite smart enough to get it, and I will leave that to other readers to decide
In
the end I was disappointed especially after loving his previous works so
much. Specifically I can highly
recommend Kavalier and Clay, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, and Summerland.
Publisher: Published September 11th 2012 by
Harper Collins
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 480
ISBN:
9780061493348
Quick Review: 3 Stars out of 5.
Where Did I Get the
Book: Sent by the publisher for review.
Synopsis: "An immensely
gifted writer and magical prose stylist."
--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
As the summer of 2004 draws to a close, Archy Stallings and
Nat Jaffe are still hanging in there—longtime friends, bandmates, and
co-regents of Brokeland Records, a kingdom of used vinyl located in the
borderlands of Berkeley and Oakland. Their wives, Gwen Shanks and Aviva
Roth-Jaffe, are the Berkeley Birth Partners, two semi-legendary midwives who
have welcomed more than a thousand newly minted citizens into the dented utopia
at whose heart—half tavern, half temple—stands Brokeland.
When ex-NFL quarterback Gibson Goode, the fifth-richest
black man in America, announces plans to build his latest Dogpile megastore on
a nearby stretch of Telegraph Avenue, Nat and Archy fear it means certain doom
for their vulnerable little enterprise. Meanwhile, Aviva and Gwen also find
themselves caught up in a battle for their professional existence, one that
tests the limits of their friendship. Adding another layer of complication to
the couples' already tangled lives is the surprise appearance of Titus Joyner,
the teenage son Archy has never acknowledged and the love of fifteen-year-old
Julius Jaffe's life.
An intimate epic, a NorCal Middlemarch set to the funky beat
of classic vinyl soul-jazz and pulsing with a virtuosic, pyrotechnical style
all its own, Telegraph Avenue is the great American novel we've been waiting
for. Generous, imaginative, funny, moving, thrilling, humane, triumphant, it is
Michael Chabon's most dazzling book yet.
Author
Biography:
Michael Chabon (b. 1963) is an acclaimed and bestselling
author whose works include the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Amazing Adventures
of Kavalier & Clay (2000). Chabon achieved literary fame at age twenty-four
with his first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), which was a major
critical and commercial success. He then published Wonder Boys (1995), another
bestseller, which was made into a film starring Michael Douglas. One of
America’s most distinctive voices, Chabon has been called “a magical prose
stylist” by the New York Times Book Review, and is known for his lively
writing, nostalgia for bygone modes of storytelling, and deep empathy for the
human predicament.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Book Review - Pierced - Thomas Enger
Title: Pierced
Review: Pierced is the second book in the
fantastic Henning Juul mystery series (Burned being the first). Juul is a divorced and scarred investigative
journalist for an online Norwegian news magazine. He received his numerous disfiguring scars in
a fire that not only burned his apartment, but took the life of his young
son. Even though he has recovered enough
to work, his mind is still trapped in the burning apartment trying to figure
out what happened. The police have
written it off as a mistake, but in his heart he knows it wasn’t. The fire was deliberate.
Juul receives a phone call from prison; I can tell you what happened to
your son if you prove my innocence.
Famous gossip page denizen had been convicted under flimsy evidence and
wants out of prison. Was it petty
jealousies, or was it his past life as an infamous gang enforcer? A bargain is struck and Juul begins sticking
his nose where it definitely not wanted.
What I love about Thomas Enger’s book is it does what all great
procedural investigative novels do. It
turns over the evidence one clue at a time and slowly builds an intricate web
of relationships and events that lead you to a successful conclusion. A literary plinko game following the evidence
regardless where it leads you. It proves
that when it comes to actual humans and their foibles, Occam’s razor is a
garbage theory for explaining behavior. Nothing is ever simple or
straightforward.
Layered into the plot is a little more of the ongoing mystery of Juul that is revealed through several plot twists and revelations keeping the reader always off guard. I love reaching
the last pages of a mystery not quite sure who did it out of the suspects, but
also not feeling cheated when the true culprit has been revealed. Thomas Enger manages this like a master of
the genre.
Publisher: Expected publication: October 2nd
2012 by Atria Books (first published January 1st 2012)
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 438
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1648-4
Quick Review: 4 Stars out of 5.
Synopsis: The acclaimed author of
Burned is back with more heart-stopping suspense in a gritty and thrilling
sequel that pits Norwegian crime reporter Henning Juul against an international
crime ring.
Oslo’s top investigative crime reporter Henning Juul is
still haunted by the death of his son. Every time he looks in the mirror, he
sees the scars from the horrible fire that killed his six-year-old boy. So when
he receives a message from convicted murderer Tore Pulli, he can’t stop himself
from following up: “If you find out who set me up, I’ll tell you what happened
the day your son died.”
Pierced follows Henning Juul to Tore Pulli’s prison cell,
where the felon sends the reporter on a quest to find the real killer behind
his false conviction. Juul knows the murders pinned to Pulli don’t bear his
signature, but when Pulli is found dead of an apparent suicide, Juul begins to
realize there’s much more at stake. As he digs deeper, he strikes up a fragile
partnership with Iver Gundersen, a journalist now living with Juul’s ex-wife.
Together, the two men rush headlong into a gangland power struggle, delving
into an impenetrable world. Uncovering more questions than answers, Juul soon
comes to understand that he has to find not one, but several
killers—money-hungry men more dangerous than any he has encountered before—if
he ever wants to solve the mystery of his son’s death.
Author Biography: Thomas Enger was born in Oslo in 1973, but grew up in
Jessheim. He has an education in journalism, and has also studied sports and
history. He worked at the Norwegian online newspaper Nettavisen for nine years.
He has composed music and written books
since the age of 18. He is also working on a musical.
Enger's first book, Skinndød, was
published in 2010. It is the first book in a series of at least six featuring
crime journalist Henning Juul. The second installment, Fantomsmerte, was
released in the fall of 2011; Blodtåke, the third book, is scheduled for a 2012
release.
Other Reviews: Raven Crime Reads, Petrona, Publishers Weekly
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Book Review - Hollowmen - The Hollows #2 - Amanda Hocking
Title: Hollowmen
Author: Amanda Hocking
Review : Amanda Hocking picks up where she left off in the book Hollowland and she keeps the reader biting their nails. If you haven't read the first novel Hollowland please stop reading my review because it will give several spoilers starting NOW. *** I warned you.
Remy King is a strong
female but at times a confusing character.
We last read about Remy as she was saving her brother from a Military
lab where he was hooked up to machines trying to solve the mystery of why he
was immune to the zombie bites. Remy
takes her brothers place and is put though pure torture for the good of the
world but when the zombies break into the military compound she’s left on an
operation table to fend for herself. Thankful
she has a friend, Tatum, who comes to save her.
The author created another
band of misfit survivors as they travel across the US to find a safe
environment and when they hear that Zombies cannot handle the cold they head
north. Now I will have to take issues with the author and the original band of
misfit Remy King first traveled with. They leave her behind in the evacuation of the
base. I couldn't imagine Lazlo leaving Remy because of how much he loved her in
Hollowland. It broke my heart when she
finally gets to hear Lazlo for the first time only to act like nothing happened
in the first book. I understand that
author wrote Remy to be adaptable to what is going on at that moment without
regret, but it killed me.
As the little band of
misfits help Remy to find her brother and her tiger we are able to finally see
Remy have emotions again, but we also read how much compassion her little
brother has for those around him. In
some ways the author wrote Remy opposite of her brother so if you couldn't
identity with one you could with the other.
Just like the first book there
are loss of characters you love, some that surprise you and character you hope
never to meet in real life. The author
creates great imaginary that makes the reader feel they are walking thought the
heat of the desert or the freezing cold while hearing the zombies moans and
screams all around them.
The author ends the book
perfectly because if she decides she wants to write a new story in the Hollow
series without using the same characters she can because I would love to know
what happened to Lazlo.
I enjoy reading Amanda
Hocking’s Zombie series and it is perfect for those who have never read zombie
books. It has the gore, violence and a little
sex but it is just enough without going over the top.
Thanks go to Heidi for this review.
Publisher: Published November 10th 2011 by Fraggin Aardvark
Copyright: 2011
Pages: 194
Pages: 194
Quick Review: 4
stars out of 5
Where I Obtained the Book: Purchased on Kindle after reading Hollowland.
Synopsis: the sequel to Hollowland....
Synopsis: the sequel to Hollowland....
After six months in the
quarantine, Remy finds out things are much worse than she feared. Her plans to
escape come with a heavy cost, and she realizes that zombies aren't the worst
of her problems.
Author Biography: I live in Minnesota, and I write young adult
paranormal romance and urban fantasy mostly. The My Blood Approves series is
about vampires in Minneapolis, and its available now. I also wrote the Trylle
Trilogy, which is a paranormal romance without vampires, shifters, mermaids,
fae, angels, dragons, ghosts, or ninjas.
My latest book is Hollowland - a zombie urban
fantasy set in the dystopian near future. It's a bit more violent and gritter
than my other books, but there is still romance. Mostly though, Remy kicks a
lot of butt.
I also enjoy Red Bull, Jim Henson, Batman,
Jane Austen, Star Wars legos, and I absolutely hate long walks on the beach out
of my intense fear/hatred of wet sand
My favorite authors are Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck
Palahniuk, Bret Easton Ellis, Alan Moore, and J. D. Salinger, but I don't write
anything like them. I have an obsession with River Phoenix, and I've seen
Silence of the Lambs more than any other movie, even The Dark Knight. If I were
trapped on a deserted island, the one thing I'd take with me would be a boat
capable for taking me home.
I'm also the guitarist in a band called the
Fraggin Aardvarks, and even though its even twice as cool as it sounds, we
haven't had a practice in like two years, so I'm not sure that technically we are
still a band. But we never broke up, and it's an awesome thing to tell people,
so I'm sticking with it. (We even had a synethesizer!)
Other Reviews:
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