The Wizard's Promise

From Amazon:
Hanna has spent her life hearing about the adventures of her namesake Ananna, the lady pirate, and assassin Naji. She dreams of the same adventures, but little does she know she is about to tumble into one of her own. Hanna is apprenticed to a taciturn fisherman called Kolur, and, during a day of storms and darkness, are swept wildly off course.
In this strange new land, Kolur hires a stranger to join the crew and, rather than heading home, sets a course for the dangerous island of Jadanvar. As Hanna meets a secretive merboy, and learns that Kolur has a deadly past, she soon realises that wishing for adventures is a dangerous game - because those wishes might come true.

My Thoughts:
First of all-I love this cover so so much.

I also really enjoyed Clarke's other series? duology? starting with The Assassin's Curse (read 2012, sequel read in 2013). This takes place in the same universe and stars the daughter of someone who knew the protagonist in that series.

Anyways. The Wizard's Promise is about a young potential Wind Witch who is also a fisherman's apprentice who is whisked away on an adventure when her master finds it necessary to storm an old lover's wedding and stop her from marrying a villain. Of course, in this book, they haven't yet made it that far. In fact this book mostly focuses on the trials of sailing so far north, and the falling out between Kolur and Hanna before she ultimately decides to help him in his quest in addition to a powerful witch and the North Wind. Needless to say, I am eagerly anticipating the follow up.

Rating: ***1/2

The Adjacent

From Amazon: 
In the near future, Tibor Tarent, a freelance photographer, is recalled from Anatolia to Britain when his wife, an aid worker, is killed—annihilated by a terrifying weapon that reduces its target to a triangular patch of scorched earth.

A century earlier, Tommy Trent, a stage magician, is sent to the Western Front on a secret mission to render British reconnaissance aircraft invisible to the enemy.

Present day. A theoretical physicist develops a new method of diverting matter, a discovery with devastating consequences that will resonate through time.

My Thoughts:
To be honest, I have no idea what happened in this book. I mean. I can give you details and what superficially happened. But I don't know what's going on. Are all the storylines echos of a single event? Multiverses? Retellings of the same event? With that said, while frustrating, I really enjoyed The Adjacent. Don't know what's happening-but it was an enjoyable and puzzling experience. There are also more storylines than the summary indicates...and the Tommy Trent one is a rather small part though magic is a common thread-as is flying-as is photography.

Rating: ****

The Master Magician (The Paper Magician Series)

From Amazon:

Throughout her studies, Ceony Twill has harbored a secret, one she’s kept from even her mentor, Emery Thane. She’s discovered how to practice forms of magic other than her own—an ability long thought impossible.
While all seems set for Ceony to complete her apprenticeship and pass her upcoming final magician’s exam, life quickly becomes complicated. To avoid favoritism, Emery sends her to another paper magician for testing, a Folder who despises Emery and cares even less for his apprentice. To make matters worse, a murderous criminal from Ceony’s past escapes imprisonment. Now she must track the power-hungry convict across England before he can take his revenge. With her life and loved ones hanging in the balance, Ceony must face a criminal who wields the one magic that she does not, and it may prove more powerful than all her skills combined.
The whimsical and captivating follow-up to The Paper Magician and The Glass Magician, The Master Magician will enchant readers of all ages.

My Thoughts:
This is the final book in a trilogy. A short book, a mere 200 or so pages. But it is packed with adventure, tension, and a satisfying conclusion!  Our protagonist Ceony is finally preparing to take her exam to become a Magician (in Folding naturally), after two years of apprenticeship and two novels. Unfortunately a criminal who has already made attempts on her life escapes en route to his execution and causes a bit of an obsession for Ceony. While she should be preparing for her exam, she instead seeks out this murderer multiple times and dabbles in non-Folding magics that should be forbidden to her. Sounds exciting, right? All in all, an enjoyable conclusion to a great (middle grade?) trilogy! I will definitely pick up Holmberg's newest book once it goes on sale since she can clearly write some enjoyable and easy young adult (?) fantasy!

Rating: ***
 

No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness

Amazon says:

Selected as the #1 book in diet/exercise for 2015 by USA Best Book Awards.

We start out with the best intentions. We're going to exercise more and get in shape! Then five days a week at the gym turns into two... then becomes none. We hit the snooze button and skip the morning run.

We really do want to be healthy and fit, but we're over whelmed and overextended—and exercise feels like another chore to complete. Is it any wonder we don't stick with it?

Behavior expert Michelle Segar has devoted her career to the science of motivation. In No Sweat, she reveals that while "better health" or "weight loss" sound like strong incentives, human beings are hardwired to choose immediate gratification over delayed benefits. In other words, we're not going to exercise unless it makes us happy right now.

So what's the solution? To achieve lasting fitness, we have to change our minds—before we can change our bodies. In No Sweat, Segar shows us how. Translating twenty years of research on exercise and motivation into a simple four-point program, she helps readers broaden their definition of exercise, find pleasure in physical activity, and discover realistic ways to fit it into their lives. Activities we enjoy, we repeat—making this evidence-based system more sustainable in the long run than a regimen of intense workouts. Even if we don't sweat, we really benefit.

The success of the clients Segar has coached testifies to the power of her program. Their stories punctuate the book, entertaining and emboldening readers to break the cycle of exercise failure once and for all. Getting in shape has never been so easy—or so much fun. 

My Thoughts:

  While the many conclusions of this book seem rather intuitive and maybe even obvious, I did enjoy the emphasis on Meaning and Permission when it comes to fitness and self-care. Segar emphasizes low-impact, informal, and joyful movement in small increments for a lifetime-arguing that it still adds up to more than a few weeks of high-intensity followed by a lifetime of inactivity, burnout, and guilt. Which is probably true, and I'm sure resonates with most people. I'm the asshole who likes high-intensity, highly structured workouts so this didn't really appeal to me and I admit it made me realize a silly bias....because that just didn't seem like "real exercise." This type of misconception or socialized expectation of what exercise should look like is a large part of Segar's discussion on basically overthrowing our societal and personal paradigms of what constitutes "real" fitness and what we "should" be doing versus what would bring us joy, fuel our lives, and improve our relationships with ourselves and others. I want to keep this review short (so I can keep up the habit of reviewing...definitely in line with Segar's philosphy!) but I did enjoy this bit of fitness motivation and do intend to incorporate her process into my own life!

Rating (Nonfiction): ***

Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Author: Catherynne M. Valente
Title: Deathless
Themes: love, power, humanity, war, death

Plot: From Amazon

Twentieth-century Russian history provides a background for Valente's lush reimagining of folkloric villain Koschei the Deathless and his dalliance with Marya Morevna, a clever but troubled young woman. After Koschei sweeps Marya away from her family's home in St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad, Baba Yaga assigns her three tasks that will make her worthy of marrying Koschei. As she spends more time in Koschei's Country of Life, Marya starts to become too much like her unearthly lover, until naïve Ivan Nikolayevich helps her regain her humanity (as well as the sympathy of the reader). Valente's lush language and imagery add to the magic and fundamentally Russian nature of the story, drawing pointed parallels between the Soviet Union's turmoil and the endless war between Koschei and his brother, Viy. Readers used to the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault will find this tale peculiar but enchanting.

My Thoughts: Reading Deathless was a revelation for me. It was my first Valente (certainly not my last) and it shocked me. I devoured this disturbing, sensual, and beautiful re-imagined folktale. I can't say that there is a single likable character in the whole novel...with a cast ranging from humans, spirits, demi-gods (??), and seasons. But they are compelling. The imagery alone is fantastic-Marya lives in a human world full of twelve mothers, red scarves, and house spirits. Then she is transported (it's a long trip including trials and feasts which is an unnerving and delightful sequence in itself) to the land of Life which is populated by spirits, living architecture, and the unending struggle against Death and his kingdom.

In addition to the bold and bizarre world-building, Marya enters into marriage with Life, who puts on skin to please her. The exploration of an open marriage and bdsm is intriguing though certainly not the main focus of the novel. This melding of Russian folklore is truly about war and loss and that all things End. I'm still not sure if I want to read all the fantastic elements of the story as an escapist fantasy from the realities of starving during a crumbling regime in mid-century Russia or as a wonderful surrealist dark fiction.

Rating: ****1/2
The only reason this doesn't have five stars is because I know this dark magical realism thing doesn't appeal to everyone. 

Similar Books: Amazon recommends Gregory Maguire and Neil Gaiman and similar authors...but I am forced to disagree. Neither gets as grimy, dirty, dark, and transcendent as Valente does in Deathless. With that said, I really can't think of any similar reads off the top of my head. Oops.

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan

I really question the YA branding of Tender Morsels. That thought aside: brilliant, heartbreaking, beautiful, bittersweet re-imagining of Snow White and Rose Red, though the beginning also hints at some Donkeyskin themes (incest, rape) and the ending hints at a more Sleeping Beauty Evil Queen theme (a mother's jealousy). I wouldn't say this is an easy read, but it is certainly powerful and lyrical.

The Fifties by David Halberstam

An epic book that hopes to cover the whole of the American experience during the 1950s. Topics range from integration in schools/sports/etc. to Marilyn Monroe to Kennedy and Nixon's televised debate to the A bomb to Westinghouse commercials. I won't lie, this has taken me about 6 months to finish because it is not a book to sit and devour. I did find it a nice general overview of the period, obviously it could never go too in depth due to its scope. It was interesting and well written.

Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross

I read this for the promise of a "fairy tale mash up" and was happy to find Bluebeard as the main story. It's YA so of course insta-love ensues (must be hard to fall FOR SERIOUS in love successively with two guys, who happen to be brothers, within a week....) as well as really illogical decisions. While it was a quick read and it wasn't overly offending, I probably won't read any further books in the series just because of the sheer stupidity of ALL the characters...is this was kids these days are reading?

Salt & Storm by Kendall Kulper

I found this to be a nice middle ground between Tender Morsels and Kill Me Softly....more YA then Tender Morsels with a dash of that instalove and completely illogical decision making, but also bittersweet, brutal, and lyrical. I immediately thought of Margo Lanagan's The Brides of Rollrock Island. The alliance between a Pacific Islander harpoon boy and a sea witch in the 1860s turns to romance which leads to tragedy. Quite good.

2014-3 Froi of the Exiles

Author: Melina Marchetta
Title: Froi of the Exiles (Lumatere Chronicles 2)
Themes: heredity, madness, duty, love

Plot: From Amazon "From master storyteller Melina Marchetta comes an exhilarating new fantasy springing from her celebrated epic, Finnikin of the Rock. Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home . . . or so he believes. Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been taken roughly and lovingly in hand by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper with a warrior's discipline. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds in its surreal royal court. Soon he must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad princess in this barren and mysterious place. It is in Charyn that he will discover there is a song sleeping in his blood . . . and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen."

My Thoughts: Froi of the Exiles follows Finnikin of the Rock in the Lumatere Chronicles, but it feels like a whole new series? trilogy? Finnikin of the Rock felt like a YA fantasy romance, Froi feels like the start of an epic YA fantasy. Froi is sent to Charyn to assassinate it's king, but along the way stumbles into discovering his parentage, falls in love with the mad princess, and breaks his bonds to Queen Isaboe to protect this new family.

I was sucked into this book. I was in anguish at the end (it is a cliffhanger, just so you know) because I can't afford to buy the next book! With that said, there were a few quibbles. First, I really did not like how everytime Froi had a violent impulse or did something wrong he blamed his blood. Really? Only one kingdom in your world has violent people? only one kingdom rapes? Let's blame your Serker ancestry for your decision to do bad things! Like every other flipping page! On another note, I felt like Quintana...who has been systematically raped for the past who-knows-how-many years could suddenly enjoy sex with our main character? I don't know. I also feel like that wasn't addressed properly in the book. I do appreciate how she is called a "whore" because that is how she would be addressed in such a society....but as a reader I felt that the violence done to her wasn't addressed as straightforwardly as I would have liked.

Rating:  **1/2

2014-2 Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Author: Laini Taylor
Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Themes: family, belonging, love

Plot: From Amazon "Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?"

My Thoughts: First of all. I found Karou obnoxiously perfect....almost manic pixie dream girl status with the incredible artistic talent, blue hair, beauty, etc. But at the same time rather flat as a character. There were a few times I liked her and wanted something good to happen...but most of the time I was wondering when we would get to the cliched love triangle or love at first sight or whatever.

Taylor did a great job building the elseworld with chimera and seraphim duking it out through eternity. I felt like the little details built into that story were rather fascinating, and I adored the chimera characters who raised Karou-they were absolutely fantastic.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The love angle with Akiva was also a little flat. Taylor tried to make it less "omg love at first sight" by building into the reincarnation thing...but it just seemed a little...silly. I doubt I'll continue the trilogy (?) but this was a fast, light read.

Rating: **

The Wet and the Dry by Lawrence Osborne

Title: The Wet and the Dry: A Drinker's Journey
Author: Lawrence Osborne
Themes: travel, alcoholism
Rating: **1/2

Plot: From Amazon.com "Drinking alcohol: a beloved tradition, a dangerous addiction, even “a sickness of the soul” (as once described by a group of young Muslim men in Bali). In his wide-ranging travels, Lawrence Osborne—a veritable connoisseur himself—has witnessed opposing views of alcohol across cultures worldwide, compelling him to wonder: is drinking alcohol a sign of civilization and sanity, or the very reverse? Where do societies and their treatment of alcohol fall on the spectrum between indulgence and restraint?

These questions launch the author on an audacious journey, from the Middle East, where drinking is prohibited, to the West, w

An immersing, controversial, and often irreverent travel narrative, The Wet and the Dry offers provocative, sometimes unsettling insights into the deeply embedded conflicts between East and West, and the surprising influence of drinking on the contemporary world today."
here it is an important—yet perhaps very often a ruinous—part of everyday life. Beginning in the bar of a luxury hotel in Milan, Osborne then ventures to the Hezbollah-threatened vineyards of Lebanon; a landmark pub in London; the dangerous drinking dens on the Malaysian border; the only brewery in the alcohol-hostile country of Pakistan; and Oman, where he faces the absurd challenge of finding a bottle of champagne on New Year’s Eve.  Amid his travels, Osborne unravels the stories of alcoholism in his own family, and reflects on ramifications of alcohol consumption in his own life.

My Thoughts: Osborne's short memoir on Drinking, predominately in the Middle East and North Africa, is rather rambling but full of interesting historical and societal facts. I enjoyed the sporadic inclusions of alcohol-in-history that Osborne peppers through his travels through the Middle East-searching for illegal alcohol.

Osborne relates his own alcoholism, although the reader is never quite sure how he truly feels about it. Even as he describes the deaths of loved ones who abused alcohol, he never quite connects it to his own alcoholism. He admits that Islamic countries have valid reasons for creating "dry" states, but cannot quite escape the lure of drunkenness...for even a single day apparently. As another reviewer says, it is very morally ambiguous. He seems to worship alcohol, and this is some feeble attempt to praise it's benefits against Islamic practices.

While I found this meandering memoir rather entertaining most of the time, and the "non-fiction/historical" facts absolutely fascinating; I must admit I found the "memoir"-ish parts rather boring and sometimes downright condescending (pg. 32 comes to mind). I think Osborne would make a wonderful writer of social/historical texts, but in this tome I found him self-indulgent, condescending, and plain unpleasant. I have no qualms with alcohol, but the way he glorifies the drunken state rubbed me the wrong way.

Osborne, Lawrence. The Wet and the Dry: A Drinker's Journey. New York: Crown, 2013.

Andrew's Brain by E. L. Doctorow

Title: Andrew's Brain
Author: E. L. Doctorow
Themes: memory, relative reality, stream of consciousness, love, responsibility, sanity
Rating: ***

Plot: From Amazon.com "This brilliant new novel by an American master, the author of Ragtime, The Book of Daniel, Billy Bathgate, and The March, takes us on a radical trip into the mind of a man who, more than once in his life, has been the inadvertent agent of disaster.

Speaking from an unknown place and to an unknown interlocutor, Andrew is thinking, Andrew is talking, Andrew is telling the story of his life, his loves, and the tragedies that have led him to this place and point in time. And as he confesses, peeling back the layers of his strange story, we are led to question what we know about truth and memory, brain and mind, personality and fate, about one another and ourselves. Written with psychological depth and great lyrical precision, this suspenseful and groundbreaking novel delivers a voice for our times—funny, probing, skeptical, mischievous, profound."

My Thoughts: Doctorow gives us a bit of a puzzling tale in Andrew's Brain. This is essentially a monologue between Andrew (who sometimes refers to himself in third person) and what the reader eventually assumes is a mandated therapist. How and why Andrew ended up in this conversation is never explicitly stated...in fact very little is explicitly stated, or linearly stated. This is a rambling story from a troubled man who provides his stream of consciousness. Andrew "The Pretender" seems to bring disaster with him, which provides some interesting anecdotes but leaves the reader wondering what the novel was all about come the concluding paragraph.

Similar Reads: White Noise by Don Delillo, Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Doctorow, E. L. Andrew's Brain. New York: Random House, 2014.

Galore by Michael Crummey

Title: Galore
Author: Michael Crummey
Themes: generational epic, love, family, poverty, small community relationships
Rating: ****

Plot: From Amazon.com "Winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book, Caribbean & Canada and the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award; Finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Book Award, and the Winterset Award

When a whale beaches itself on the shore of the remote coastal town of Paradise Deep, the last thing any of the townspeople expect to find inside it is a man, silent and reeking of fish, but remarkably alive. The discovery of this mysterious person, soon christened Judah, sets the town scrambling for answers as its most prominent citizens weigh in on whether he is man or beast, blessing or curse, miracle or demon.

Though Judah is a shocking addition, the town of Paradise Deep is already full of unusual characters. King-me Sellers, self-appointed patriarch, has it in for an inscrutable woman known only as Devine’s Widow, with whom he has a decades-old feud. Her granddaughter, Mary Tryphena, is just a child when Judah washes ashore, but finds herself tied to him all her life in ways she never expects. Galore is the story of the saga that develops between these families, full of bitterness and love, spanning two centuries.

With Paradise Deep, award-winning novelist Michael Crummey imagines a realm where the line between the everyday and the otherworldly is impossible to discern. Sprawling and intimate, stark and fantastical, Galore is a novel about the power of stories to shape and sustain us."

My Thoughts: I love the rather "tall tale"-ish feel of this generational epic, which spans from the early 19th century to World War I. It can border on the surreal while still offering a gritty and realistic portrayal of a hard-scrabble "frontier" fishing village in Newfoundland. Struggles between religious denominations, families, and employers/employees highlight the very real struggles of the people in Paradise Deep. Some may be off-put by the lack of linear plot or main character, but Galore is still a compelling read and I highly recommend it.

Similar Reads: A Bloodsmoor Romance by Joyce Carol Oates, Ice Land by Betsy Tobin, Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

Crummey, Michael. Galore. New York: Other Press, 2011.

The Forgiven by Lawrence Osborne

Title: The Forgiven
Author: Lawrence Osborne
Themes: responsibility, forgiveness, colonization, "the Other"
Rating: ***

Plot: (from Amazon.com) In this haunting novel, journalist and novelist Lawrence Osborne explores the reverberations of a random accident on the lives of Moroccan Muslims and Western visitors who converge on a luxurious desert villa for a decadent weekend-long party.     
     David and Jo Henniger, a doctor and a children's book author, in search of an escape from their less than happy lives in London, accept an invitation to attend a bacchanal at their old friends' home, deep in the Moroccan desert. But as a groggy David navigates the dark desert roads, two young men spring from the roadside, the car swerves...and one boy is left dead.
     When David and Jo arrive at the party, the Moroccan staff, already disgusted by the rich, hedonistic foreigners in their midst, soon learn of David's unforgivable act. Then the boy's irate Berber father appears, and events begin to spin beyond anyone's control.
     With spare, evocative prose, searing eroticism, and a gift for the unexpected, Osborne memorably portrays the privileged guests wrestling with their secrets amid the remoteness and beauty of the desert landscape. He gradually reveals the jolting backstory of the young man who was killed and leaves David’s fate in the balance as the novel builds to a shattering conclusion.

My Thoughts: I admit that I was thinking entirely of L'etranger by Camus when I first picked up this novel. Both address issues of colonization, relationships between the West/Middle East-Africa, murder, and obviously 'the Other.' Unfortunately the characters aren't entirely "fleshed out," and it can sometimes seem as though Osborne is writing about "poor, desperate post-colonial Moroccans" versus "decadent, imperialist Westerners" in a very cliched way. I think this is partly his writing style because the plot really does have a rather epic (morbid, depressing, hopeless) feel; the oppressive desert seems to have a life of its own as constant backdrop to the ridiculously decadent party David is headed to as well as the abject poverty the Moroccans face. However, occasionally Osborne moves away from the archetypes Camus utilized and creates individuals...admittedly not individuals that are very sympathetic, likeable, or "good" but individuals nonetheless. This keeps the novel from venturing too far into cliche or allegory, by making humans out of his characters Osborne has definitely created a more thought provoking story about Western/"Other" relations.

I'm still not sure what to think of The Forgiven, which is good because it forces thought! But it makes for a difficult review. I found the big bash thrown by Richard and Dally to be over-the-top ridiculous, the ease of bribing Moroccan police horrifying, and the ending rather abrupt after such a meandering story (it felt so languid and slow despite all the exciting events unfolding!).

Similar Reads: The Stranger by Albert Camus

Osborne, Lawrence. The Forgiven. London: Hogarth, 2012.

Reading Through 2012-6

Completed This Week:

American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work by Susan Cheever
***
If you managed to finish reading the subtitle I'm sure you have some idea of what Cheever's nonfiction multi-biography is all about. In truth, this has been on my TBR pile for a while but reading March inspired me to actually pick it up! I'm glad I did.
American Bloomsbury is a bit scattered, very superficial (it's only 200 pages, I know that's not a lot of room to get in-depth!), but very entertaining and interesting. Towards the end Cheever does insert herself into the story, which did turn me off a bit, since I'm sure you can fill 200 pages about these legendary writers and Transcendentalists without describing the author's "research" trips with her kids and dogs. Not that I wouldn't enjoy those stories, I just found that they didn't really fit into the overall telling of Cheever's story.
Cheever focuses quite a bit on Thoreau and his infatuation with Fuller, as well as Emerson's infatuation with her. Unfortunately Fuller's significance to history is never quite explored; but Emerson's, Alcott's, and Thoreau's certainly is. If you want a quick glimpse into a grouping of 19th century authors and their world, I would recommend it. You might also want to check out this quick review.

East by Edith Pattou
****
I do love fairy tale retellings, and this retelling of East of the Sun, West of the Moon (or Cupid and Psyche, or vaguely Beauty and the Beast plus tasks) is quite an enjoyable YA novel. Set in 16th century Norway, East takes the reader all throughout Northern Europe and even into France as young Rose sets off as a captive with a White Bear and then sets off to free him from a troll queen. I did find it difficult to imagine her family quite as literate as it was, but I enjoyed the cast enough to overlook it. Pattou definitely has a romantic style of writing, which makes even the most gruesome or harsh scenarios seem a bit "soft" but gives a far more emotional and poetic image to the book.
I haven't read many, but this is my favorite retelling of this tale. I do wish it had a little bit more...I don't know, pizzazz? It was a great and enjoyable retelling, but it doesn't quite capture the heart and imagination the way my other favorite retellings do (Daughter of the Forest and Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marrillier, Beauty by Robin McKinley, and Fitcher's Brides by Gregory Frost).

Death Masks by Jim Butcher
**
Okay, let's just admit I enjoy this series.
In this fifth addition Dresden faces a duel with an ancient vampire, hunting down the lost Shroud of Turin, and a band of thirty bad-ass fallen angels. And dodging the cops. And the return of his half-vampire girlfriend who "wants to talk." I really wonder about all the stress Dresden is under, but obviously his coping skills aren't the best...since he just seems to spiral into further trouble with less sleep and self-care!
While these books do feel somewhat episodic I kind of hope that there is an overarching storyline that I will pick up on sooner or later, that ties them all together. I also think Murphy didn't get enough "screen time" in this novel of the Dresden Files. I do love Murphy.

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
**1/2
Another foray into The Dresden Files this week! This one follows an entropy curse surrounding an up and coming progressive porn film director and his cast...as well as guardian puppies from Tibet and some secret family history for Dresden that is dramatically revealed to him by White Court vampires! Exciting.

Reading Through 2012-5

Completed This Week

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
**
I have completed the fourth book in The Dresden Files! Quite entertaining. Although my overall feelings about this author/series haven't changed. It's rather too formulaic. And I just can't get into urban fantasy, so that's another hit. But...I just keep reading them don't I? It's a fun series, give it a shot!

This particular book takes our protagonist into a war between the Winter and Summer Courts (the Fae, Seelie/Unseelie)...in addition to a war between Vampires and Wizards (which he caused), the rapidly approaching deadline he has with his murderous fairy godmother, the fact that his girlfriend is becoming a vampire, and his dead ex-girlfriend just showed up. Yup this book has a whole lot of drama. Overkill? Perhaps. Will I read book number five? You know it.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
**1/2
I kind of dragged my feet through this one, which is disappointing because I've been lusting after it since it was published, and I just love the cover for some reason. I just felt sort of...bored by it. The characters were pretty flat and stereotypical (but not archetypical!). Nevertheless by the final chapter I certainly had an opinion on who should win in the love triangle and fully despised the bad guys! I just never really liked the protagonists. Oh well. I can't have everything.

Anyways, Clockwork Angel is about Tess-an American in London who is kidnapped and forced to "Change" which reveals to her her own latent shapeshifting powers. She escapes with the aid of a secret organization of Angels (well, descendents of Angels) who are sworn to keep the balance with Downworlders (baddies like vampires, warlocks, etc.). In return for her aid in securing information about her captors and their nefarious plans, they help find her brother. Unsurprisingly, the cast of main characters (about ten or so) are all under 25, hot, powerful, etc. etc. Sometimes YA gets a little trying. With that said...gosh I love Henry! Who is a total secondary character who hardly gets any development!

Currently Reading

Yup still trying to read Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier. I did pre-order her book that's coming out (in the US) in fall! I am excited. Maybe I'll even have finished this one by then. Ha!

Reading Through 2012-4

Completed This Week:

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
**
Grave Peril is the third book in The Dresden Files. My husband really enjoys this easy urban-fantasy series, so I've been reading through them too. I'm finding a very consistent pattern in these books. Our protagonist, Harry Dresden, Wizard, is confronted by strange happenings that seem to occur all at once and may or may not be related. He stumbles along until he is forced into a confrontation that he has no hope of winning...then it all comes together. He figures it all out (and then explains it a few chapters later) and somehow squeaks through a nasty situation using questionable tactics (his magic is supposedly only for good...yet he kills so many people). Of course it's emphasized that he's such a good, self-less, chivalrous guy. Which I do find annoying...it's just so much "telling" and not "showing." With that said, this is an enjoyable urban fantasy series (of fluff).

Currently Reading:

Still trucking through Clockwork Angel and Blade of Fortriu, will I ever complete these books, who knows?

Reading Through 2012-3

Completed This Week:

The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
**
I have read Abe before, back in winter 2009, but his weirdness never fails to surprise me. He is very much a surrealist and was considered part of the avant-garde back when he first began publishing in the 1950s and 1960s. In some ways he is very like Tanith Lee (my favorite author) because he tends to write archetypes instead of characters, in fact even names are missing. The two main characters, usually referred to as "the man" and "the woman," are meant to portray ideals or sentiments rather than people. Sometimes I wonder if something is lost in translation or if I just really don't fully understand the ideals these characters are supposed to represent.
Does anyone have any tips for me?
With that said, I did enjoy this rather bizarre and horrifying tale of a man being held captive in a (literal) pit/hole with a woman. They are responsible for digging sand out every night, to keep it from encroaching any further on the village below. Yes, it's weird. Yes, he schemes to escape...but I think Abe is saying something about the human will to freedom here which makes the final scene of a dangling rope ladder rather unsettling...

Watchstar by Pamela Sargent
***
Amazon says "Alone in the desert, Daiya is faced with dilemma that will determine her fate. If she can successfully resolve it she will join the Net of her village, but if she fails, her life will be spent will the feared Merged Ones. Confused and torn between worlds near and far, Daiya harbors a secret of her people, and must find a way to move beyond her discoveries to a safe place where she can survive."
I find the summary misleading! Daiya lives on a futuristic Earth populated by telekinetic and telepathic agrarian humans who strive towards becoming one with "The Merged One"/God. "Solitaries" without these abilities are born into their society, and quickly killed, and those who survive are tested upon entering adulthood to see whether or not they can truly enter the village and become Merging Ones themselves. Individuality is, not surprisingly, looked down upon. But Daiya meets a Solitary not of this world, and this threatens not only her worldview but her entire planet with her "separateness." This is a young adult fantasy/sci-fi read from 1980...it's quite enjoyable.

Currently Reading:

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Amazon says "Magic is dangerous—but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all."

Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier
Yup I am still trucking through this one...very slowly.
I love Marillier but for some reason I find this series so...unreadable! I just can't connect with any characters and don't really care about the plot...any tips to get through this because I really want to read it!

Reading Through 2012-2

Completed This Week:

God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson
****
This meandering piece of popular non-fiction paints a picture of early Jacobean England. While the title may lead you to believe that it is in fact about the writing of the King James Bible, it is actually about an era, a context for, the creation of the King James Bible. It's fascinating. Nicolson describes social, political, and religious customs and debates.
Little is known about the Translators who created the King James Bible using previous English Bibles in addition to Hebrew and Greek originals (now recognized as corrupted copies). But Nicolson provides the context, and what little personal and political information that is available is placed within a general framework.
Nicolson essentially argues that the creation of the King James Bible was possible because of the atmosphere of the new succession-the hope for unity and peace. He also gives King James VI a more positive spin than most historians, painting him as a troubled, eccentric, but ultimately well-meaning, intelligent, and hopeful ruler who wished to give Britain a unity an sense of community that it did not possess.
Overall, if you like nonfiction, Renaissance or British history, or even Biblical histories then I would recommend God's Secretaries.

Everlost by Neal Shusterman
***1/2
While last Friday I admitted to having a difficult time getting into Everlost, today I have completely changed my mind. After trudging through the first few (admittedly brief) chapters) I found myself rather enthralled with this first book in the Skinjacker trilogy.
This is the story of Allie and Nick, two strangers who die in a car crash and then lose their way into the light (at the end of the tunnel). They find themselves reborn into a limbo that admits only children (aged 16 and under it seems) called Everlost, and are accompanied by a young boy who has isolated himself in a forest.
Nick and Allie are determined to escape, and leave the forest to eventually discover more of the Everlost-which is nearly parallel to, but intersecting with, the living world.
They stumble across leaders and monsters slowly uncovering more of Everlost, and what it means to be forever lost there...

Moses: A Life by Jonathan Kirsch
***
Another non-fiction title, and also concerning the Bible! I think I quite enjoy non-fiction now that I've graduated from school.
Moses is a historiography that is part clever interpretation and part scholarly discussion that revolves around the Biblical figure of Moses.
I love historiographies, which are basically scholarly summaries of past scholars/trends in scholarship to determine what a certain topic was thought of at different points in time. In this case, the story of Moses is showcased and different opinions over the centuries regarding Moses are discussed in depth in Kirsch's monograph. Naturally, a large part of this book discusses the different authors of the Bible (may I recommend this?) and the stories found in the Bible itself. Kirsch does seem a bit repetitive in Moses, and some points are frustratingly redundant but I think that the overall effect of the book is positive.
Moses is thought-provoking and entertaining, so I recommend it.

Currently Reading:

Blade of Fortriu by Juliet Marillier

This is the second novel in the Bridei Chronicles. I didn't love the first one, but am compelled to read the second since I love Marillier's Daughter of the Forest and Cybele's Secret. This may take me a while to finish, but I did start it...

Amazon says: "Loyalties are tested and truth must be distinguished from dangerous lies in the gritty second book of the Bridei Chronicles (after 2005's The Dark Mirror), set in a land resembling early Scotland. Hoping to gain the support of nearby chieftain Alpin of Briar Wood in the fight against the invading Dalriada, King Bridei of the Priteni sends an offer and a bride: Ana, a fosterling "hostage" from the distant Light Isles raised in his court. Bridei's personal bodyguard and spy, Faolan, accompanies Ana on the arduous journey, saving her life and struggling to control his growing feelings for her. When problems arise at Alpin's rude court, Ana secretly finds solace with Alpin's mysterious brother, Drustan, long believed to be insane, who has been imprisoned for the murder of Alpin's first wife. Skilled world-building and characterization set Marillier's historical fantasy at the head of the pack."

Reading Through 2012-1

Completed This Week:

Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst
***
This is a surprising read, a bit fantastic and urban fantasy-esque, but centered around the (local for me) very real town of Colma, CA. Colma is a massive graveyard town where the rich of San Francisco have historically buried their dead (since space is at a premium in the City). Enter our protagonist, a new cop who patrols the town on the night shift. But the graveyards of Colma aren't so quiet, and the dead are in need of a hero.
You were probably expeccting a ghost story. But it's not, it's a police/life story with failed romances, friendships, injuries, self-doubts, and lingering mysteries about past officers. Really the ghost story is only concluded implicitly, through a typed up incident report.
Dorst writes an interesting story, and I rather liked how under-emphasized the unusual (ghosts) was...but it did leave me with questions (someone give me the details on Root, please, I know what it does...but want to know more). I would recommend if you are looking for a spiced up police story or a subtle ghost story.

Oh, I've also read that they may be making this into a film?

March by Geraldine Brooks
***1/2
If you've read Little Women you may remember the absence of the March father, as he was away bringing God to the Yanks during the Civil War. Geraldine Brooks has provided us with a rather breathtaking story for this largely fictional character.
I was very impressed with the research evident in the writing of this novel. The Marches were an idealized form of Louisa May Alcott's real family, and so researching her family seemed to be a starting point. Brooks also researched the Civil War as well as the customs and thoughts of the day. She paints such an interesting picture of the times that the novel sucked me right in and didn't let me go until I finished the last page.
While I loved the atmosphere and world, I rather despised Mr. March...such an idealistic, pompous, naive person. This book definitely hasn't encouraged me to reread Little Women! I love a flawed protaganist, but I found him rather insufferable. I also struggled with the portrayal of the Civil War being solely centered around slavery/emancipation...it's a lovely and simplistic way to characterize it, but not an accurate portrayal of why the South succeeded. So it was painful to read a book about an intellectual who only focuses on that one aspect of the war.
Nit-picking aside, I highly recommend this novel! Though be warned, there are bloody battle scenes and I cried at least once in the reading.

Currently Reading:

God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson

I'm only one hundred pages in, but I've loving it so far!

Amazon says: "A network of complex currents flowed across Jacobean England. This was the England of Shakespeare, Jonson, and Bacon; the era of the Gunpowder Plot and the worst outbreak of the plague. Jacobean England was both more godly and less godly than the country had ever been, and the entire culture was drawn taut between these polarities. This was the world that created the King James Bible. It is the greatest work of English prose ever written, and it is no coincidence that the translation was made at the moment "Englishness," specifically the English language itself, had come into its first passionate maturity. The English of Jacobean England has a more encompassing idea of its own scope than any form of the language before or since. It drips with potency and sensitivity. The age, with all its conflicts, explains the book."

Everlost by Neal Shusterman

I'm having a hard time getting into this one, has anyone else read it? What do you think?

Amazon says: "Nick and Allie don’t survive the car accident, but their souls don’t exactly get where they’re supposed to go either. Instead, they’re caught halfway between life and death, in a sort of limbo known as Everlost: a shadow of the living world, filled with all the things and places that no longer exist. It’s a magical, yet dangerous place where bands of lost kids run wild and anyone who stands in the same place too long sinks to the center of the Earth.

When they find Mary, the self-proclaimed queen of lost souls, Nick feels like he’s found a home, but Allie isn’t satisfied spending eternity between worlds. Against all warnings, Allie begins learning the “Criminal Art” of haunting, and ventures into dangerous territory, where a monster called the McGill threatens all the souls of Everlost.

In this imaginative novel, Neal Shusterman explores questions of life, death, and what just might lie in between."

Quick Review: Mortal Suns

Title: Mortal Suns

Author: Tanith Lee

Themes: family, love, royalty, fate, blessings, deformities/disabilities, hard work, incest, death

Rating: ***

Plot: Horrible screams pierce the night air as the Daystar, Queen Hesta of Akhemony, wrestles with the delivery of the King's child, beautifully formed except for one heartbreaking deformity -- she is born without feet. Consigned immediately to the world of death, the lame infant is dispatched to Thon, the underworld temple, and baptized Cemira -- "snake" -- the name she will bear throughout a lifetime of darkness. It is only at the behest of Urdombris, the Sun Consort, that Cemire is wrested from te temple of death, renamed Callistra, and restored to her rightful place in the kingdom.

My Thoughts: Basically, I think this blogger sums it all up nicely. I recommend checking it out for a quick and easy review of Mortal Suns.

• Another typical Lee protagonist and plot-very beautiful and slightly off heroine with a love/lust/obsession for someone powerful (and usually blood related, to be frank). Enjoyable, but familiar if you have read much of Lee's work.
• A vaguely alien Egyptian world, a different planet, but the court life and sun worship just strikes me as Egyptian for whatever reason.
• A diverse and well made mythos. Lee provides not only a complete official pantheon within the story, of well fleshed gods/myths/superstitions/rituals but also gives the world a bit of depth by showing that there are competing mythologies in her world.
• This story is essentially the first half of the narrator's life, and by the conclusion, you will feel something is missing-namely what comes next! Although I wouldn't necessarily call it a cliff-hanger.
• Political intrigue and shifting alliances take up the majority of the plot, our narrator is merely a powerless player.

Recommendation: I enjoyed Mortal Suns quite a bit. It has Lee's excellent world building, if also her typical protagonist/plot outline. I felt the narrator had a strong and distinctive voice, but it did not really connect to the main character (herself) as described. In the end, I would recommend this to any fantasy lovers out there as a fun and intriguing read.

Similar Reads: Heroine of the World by Tanith Lee,

Random Quote: "From the smoke, maybe, the moon blushed rosy.

In his tent hung with crimson, Nexor dined with a meager scatter of sycophants.

They heard the songs.

Over the valley of two miles, the Ipyrans heard them, too. A joyous bridegroom sings before his marriage day, they said, in Ipyra. They listened to the joyous bridegroom singing, and wondered if marriage would mean, for them, something else. (p. 201)"

Lee, Tanith. Mortal Suns. Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 2003.

Quick Review: Heart Beast

Title: Heart-Beast

Author: Tanith Lee

Themes: werewolves, curses, love, lust

Rating: **

Plot: After the killing of his brutal father, golden and handsome Daniel Vehmund has sought refuge in an exotic faraway land. But his contentment is shattered when a fabulous diamond is pressed on him by a sinister graverobber. From that first fatal contact, Daniel is doomed each night of the full moon to become something else ... something dark and powerful and savage. And nothing that originates on this earth can destroy him

Laura, a beautiful redhaired farm-girl, lives with her two awful sisters and her selfish grasping parents in the remote English countryside. Apparently condemned to a life of drudgery, all is transformed when she is wooed and wed by a wealthy local squire. But this gilded existence is threatened when a travelling magician persuades her besotted husband to buy for her a very unusual diamond. For this gem is "The Wolf," the diamond that had so transformed Daniel Vehmund's destiny. And when he himself returns at last to England, his fate and Laura's are devastatingly intertwined ...
Meanwhile some dark, malignant presence continues to prowl the woodlands and hedgerows ... and seemingly nothing can curb its unquenchable bloodlust.

My Thoughts:

• This is definitely one of Lee's more gruesome tales, with lots of (literal) gut-spilling and savage cruelty. While it does suit the theme and nature of the tale, of a sort of beastly possession, it can be a little overwhelming at times.

• Another (I think) common Lee element also comes into play; the protagonist, female lead is more symbol than character. She is largely passive and "swept away" into larger, unfolding, events and eventually seems to represent values or emotions rather than motives or personality. This is especially true in Lee's Volkhavaar, if you are interested.

• Yes this is a werewolf romance, but NO it is not like any popular titles I've seen out there. This is a surreal, gory, and violent story filled with gruesome murders, betrayals, and fear. I think it's safe to say that the romance could better be described as a bizarre compulsion/attraction that spells a doom for most of the book's cast.

Recommendation: Despite the surreal and surprising nature of this stand-alone novel, I am still on the fence about it. I would recommend for werewolf *horror* fans, of course to fans of Lee, but I am not sure of any other niche that this book would fit nicely into. If you have it and the time, go for it.

Similar Reads: Vivia by Tanith Lee

Random Quote: "So the village packed the church with its black and its sweat. They stared at Daniel, the stranger who had been away.

They agreed he was foreign, might have come from the tents of some desert tribe, or the gaudy bazaars (p. 204)."

Lee, Tanth. Heart-Beast. New York: Dell, 1992.