Happy New Year and happy reading for 2009.

I'm shooting for 100 books in the year, and as I've recently been reading a lot of fantasy, urban fantasy and paranormal, I'd like to try to read a bit more widely this year. (Perhaps after working through a few of the books in the immediate TBR pile.)

1. Thin Air by Rachel Caine
This is the sixth book in Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series. I love the main character in these books, Joanne Baldwin, and the plot - while perhaps overly convoluted - is interesting enough to always have me wanting to know what happens next. A pleasant enough read, but not a great one.

2. On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance and Sunny
A compilation of short stories in the paranormal/ urban fantasy genre. It began with Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs which I really enjoyed, Inhuman by Eileen Wilks which was reasonably good, and then had stories by Karen Chance and Sunny which I wished I hadn't bothered with.

Currently reading Gale Force by Rachel Caine, and then plan to sink my teeth into Anita Shreve's Testimony.

Message edited by its author, Jan 5, 2009, 3:16am.

3. Gale Force by Rachel Caine
This is the seventh book in this series. It posits a world much like ours, but adds to it a secret organisation of Weather Wardens, whose purpose is to control the weather. The protagonist, Joanna Baldwin, is one of these Weather Wardens. I like Joanna's attitude and her resilience, and enjoy Caine's world-building, and I love that this world is also in a state of flux (i.e., the relationship between the Weather Wardens and the Djinn, for example, is ever-evolving). However, the plot seems to be getting increasingly and perhaps unnecessarily complex with each new book. This was a pleasant read, but not a very satisfying one.

I'm still hooked enough by Caine's world, however, to want to read her new book about an exiled Djinn Outcast Season: Undone when it comes out.

4. Testimony by Anita Shreve
This is the first of Shreve's book that I've read. A private school principal receives a copy of a tape, which shows three of his students engaged in various sex acts with an underage girl. We find out what happened to the boys, the girl, the principal, and their friends and families in the lead-up and aftermath to the event. I found this similar in style to the works of Jodi Picoult. I had some reservations about the writing, although I liked the way Shreve supplied different narrative voices for each of the characters. The book was thought-provoking in its content, exploring all the different perspectives about the event and how it should have been handled, and pondering the way in which a single mistake can have such massive ramifications. I will be less willing to buy into superficial media portrayals of 'sex scandal at private school' in future.

Message edited by its author, Jan 7, 2009, 6:10pm.

5. West of the Wall by Marcia Preston (also known as Trudy's Promise)
A gripping, sobering, and thought-provoking tale of friendship, loyalty, and politics, set in the aftermath of the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1962. When Rolf is identified as a member of the underground, responsible for 23 successful escapes to West Berlin, he himself is forced to flee to the West. His defection puts his wife Trudy under suspicion, however. Wolfgang is a childhood friend of Rolf's, with diametrically opposed political views, and a senior officer with the Volkspolizei. When he realises Trudy is in danger, Wolfgang risks his own career to facilitate her escape. However, she is forced to leave her young son Stefan behind, and swears to come back for him. The rest of the book tells about her attempts to do just that.

At the start of the novel, Trudy has little interest in politics, and despite her husband's 'hero' status, sees both Rolf and Wolfgang as being loyal to abstract principles that only serve to ruin people's lives. She's not blind to the irony that her husband has been a hero to total stangers, and yet simultaneously unable to protect his own family. Trudy's views evolve, however, over the course of the story, and this raised interesting questions for me about the extent to which we could and should be willing to make sacrifices for such principles.

Message edited by its author, Jan 9, 2009, 8:09am.

West of the Wall sounds really interesting - I've added it to my TBR list. Thanks for mentioning that it was also known as Trudy's Promise; when I went to look for a copy either from the library or to purchase I couldn't find it until I tried under the alternate title.

Geogal, glad you were able to find it and hope you enjoy it.

6. The Margarets: A Novel by Sheri S Tepper
I've found all of the Sheri S. Tepper books that I’ve read to date have been quite unusual, and they've potentially been a little difficult to read at times because of this. However, they've also felt almost startling in their originality, and thematically I've found them rich and rewarding. This was no exception.

In this book, Tepper depicts a future Earth, depleted of resources, and ravaged by pollution and over-population. I was intrigued and frightened by her descriptions of the consequences of our neglect of the environment in which we live, and the various sacrifices and trade-offs (with other alien races) that humans have to make as a result. Tepper uses the various scenarios in the book to make interesting points about human nature, the environment, diversity, tolerance, language, and hypocrisy.

I loved the premise of this book, which sees various parts of Margaret's personality split off as different people at different stages of her life, and then live vastly different lives, each in a different part of this universe.

I enjoyed the story, but overall, I thought it was a good, possibly very good, but not a great, book. I’m still processing, however, and reserve the right to revise my opinion upwards with time, as I did with The Gate to Womens Country.

7. A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson
At an ordinary dinner party, looked forward to with no great excitement by the inhabitants of a quiet suburban street, Anne’s brother Phil attempts to hypnotise her sceptical husband Tom. Subsequently, Tom develops strange psychic abilities. For me, Matheson’s depictions of the way in which this effects the relationship between Tom and Anne are some of the best parts of this very readable novel. I was less interested in the parts of the story that dealt with Anne and Tom's neighbours and their relationship, and the resolution of the ghost story elements of the plot - although these were probably also quite well done. Not a bad book, but not entirely my cup of tea.

seekingflight, I think I agree with you about The Margarets. When I read it last year, I think I really liked the storyline, but felt it could have been told a little better perhaps?

Thanks for your comment, Judylou. I'm still trying to get my head around this one, but there was something about the way in which the story was told that didn't quite work for me. Can you put your finger on what it was for you?

Have you read many other Tepper books?

Nice to see there's a number of us Antipodeans on LibraryThing - I'm a Sydney-sider, although born and bred in NZ, so I like to consider myself an Aussie Kiwi hybrid.

ah ha, so that's why you are seeking flight . . . .

I haven't read any other of Tepper's books, she is yet another author that I wish I could find the time to read more of *sigh*.

I can't quite say what was lacking in the book for me. It was good while I was reading it, but somehow, after I finished I was left a bit unsatisfied.

The username actually came from a Sheri S Tepper quote that stayed with me long after I finished the book - Sideshow, for what it's worth.

But I think I almost prefer your interpretation!!

Agree - there are always too many books to read than there are hours in the day!

8. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
I was surprised to find myself revising my opinion of this book upwards upon second reading (from 2.5 to 3 stars). I’m not really a fan of Edward. But I also disagree with the critics who dismiss Bella as weak, insipid and anti-feminist. The pacing wasn’t bad, the concept and treatment were interesting enough to provide me with a pleasant read, and I found myself caring about Bella and wanting to know what happened next. I think it's fair to say that it makes no pretensions to be great literature, but it still wasn’t a bad way to spend an evening still too hot for sleeping.

9. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
Hope _is_ audacious, and I am usually a sceptic. I fear the politics of personality, where style can take precedence over substance. I expect disappointment, knowing that no-one can live up to the very high expectations that people have of Obama at this time. No-one can live under media scrutiny that intense, and maintain an unblemished public profile. I’m not even sure that anyone could live surrounded by all the trappings of power, and public adulation, and not be adversely affected. And when I find myself agreeing with page upon page of content at a time, I worry that I am being swept away by rhetoric, and suspending my own powers of critical thinking. Or worse, that I am agreeing with trivial banalities, of little practical importance.

And yet I was impressed by this book, and the way of thinking about politics that Obama outlines in its pages. The book is well-structured and very readable, with each chapter starting with a personal anecdote that serves as a helpful introduction and entry point to each subject (Republicans and Democrats, values, the constitution, politics, opportunity, faith, race, the world beyond America’s borders, and family). I feel that Obama brings to light a number of themes that are a welcome addition to political discourse in any counry (i.e., the role of values and empathy in politics, the capacity to seek consensus and assume one's opponents are acting in good faith etc.).

And I find myself thinking that regardless of what happens in the future, the capacity to hope, and to hold our leaders to higher standards, is a good thing. This week – a very appropriate time to be reading this book – I feel as if I myself have also been transformed from cautiously to audaciously hopeful!!

Message edited by its author, Jan 24, 2009, 10:05pm.

10. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
An enjoyable young adult fantasy, this is also an interesting book about books and reading.

What if you could actually conjure up characters from the page when reading aloud, and transport them from their world into ours? This book and its central premise will enrich my imagination long after I’ve turned the final page, and there is a special place in my heart for books that do this - recent discoveries in this vein include Inkheart and The Host.

I also liked the way in which Funke opened each chapter with a relevant excerpt from another book (old favourites like The Princess Bride, The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and Peter Pan are all in here).

11. I am Legend by Richard Matheson
Matheson’s tale of a post-apocalyptic world peopled almost entirely by mutated creatures bent on destroying Robert Neville, the protagonist, followed by a collection of short stories. One interesting comment echoed a line from a pilot for a post-apocalyptic tv show, The Remnants, written by John August during the writer’s strike, basically observing the way in which disaster movies generally feature some talking head who is able to explain to the populace what’s happened. In this instance also (possibly the more likely scenario):

“Before science had caught up with the legend, the legend had swallowed science and everything.”

(p. 29)

The relentlessness and monotony of Robert Neville’s post-apocalyptic life are well conveyed. Overall, I didn’t really ever feel any real connection to the protagonist, and wasn’t terribly captivated by this tale. But I felt a flash of interest at the way in which two competing perspectives (or moralities) were brought into contrast later in the story, and the end really appealed to me. May need to watch the film version now, as I'm curious as to how this translated to the screen.

I'm not a big fan of horror stories, but I liked two of the stories in the remainder of the book that seemed to me to transcend genre - The Near Departed, and Mad House.

12. The Bride's Kimono by Sujata Massey
A fluffy but easily forgettable read about Rei Shimura, a half-Japanese woman living in Tokyo, who’s asked to courier some kimono from Japan to Washington, and speak as a guest lecturer at the exhibition where they’re displayed. One of the kimono is stolen, and matters go from bad to worse when she’s then caught up in a murder investigation. Meantime, Rei's ex comes back into her life, and she’s caught between him and her current Japanese boyfriend. Not a total waste of time: some interesting parallels are drawn between the women who wore the kimono in Japan in the 1800s, and the contemporary relationships of some of the minor characters; I got enough into the book to care about what happened to the characters; and there’s a tense finale. I liked some of the observations about Japanese culture, although they felt relatively superficial.

Message edited by its author, Jan 31, 2009, 1:47am.

13. The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey
I suspect that Lackey would have been one of my favourite writers had I discovered her when I was younger, in my David Eddings days.

I still enjoy her books, and will continue to read them. I consistently rate them between 2 and 3.5 stars (most fall between 2.5 and 3). But they still fit into my category of ‘good, but not great’ reads.

I started this book, the first of the 500 Kingdoms Series, with high hopes. I love alternate and contemporary retellings of the classic fairy tales. I love books that spell out and then play with traditional storytelling conventions. So I was hooked when I heard the premise of this series, which depicts a world ruled by The Tradition. The more that your situation in life resembles a fairy-tale, the more magic gathers around you, trying to force you down a path that will fulfil the Tradition. (Random aside: If you’ve read any of Christopher Booker’s The Seven Basic Plots, this seems like a great explanation for the ‘restlessness’ phase that precedes most hero’s journey-type stories.) (Even more random aside: I’ve always thought that Disney films contain some of the best exemplars of this.)

So what would have happened to Cinderella if her prince was too old, or too young, or her Fairy Godmother never got there in time? This book plays with these ideas and more, but the execution wasn’t quite what I was hoping for, and the romance was predictable and detracted from my enjoyment of the story (which could have explored in a thought-provoking way concepts such as destiny vs. free-will, gender roles, and so much more). I shall continue to turn to Sondheim's Into the Woods for my regular dose of fairy-tales retold with subtlety, humour, and insight.

Message edited by its author, Feb 3, 2009, 4:49am.

Hi seekingflight,

I've just seen your reference to Gallipoli on Stasia's thread and thought I'd find you and say hi - nice to see Aussies and NZers on here . I'm on the 75 BC and don't venture up to the 100 BC very often! I haven't read it, but will look for it at the library. I have Dark Journeys by Glyn Harper out of the library at the moment about Passchendaele and the other Western Front battles.

I've added West of the Wall to my library list too. I'm trying not to buy any books till I've reduced the piles in the house!

Hi cmt,

Thanks for dropping by and stopping to say hello - it is nice to meet other LTers from this part of the world. I just stopped by your thread and added it to my starred - it looks like you've done some fascinating reading already this year and I look forward to hearing what you think of Dark Journeys, and what you end up reading next.

I've added The Zookeeper's War to my TBR list, and your review of Ella Minnow Pea brought chuckles and made me shift it further up the list.

I gather you're also embarking on the great War and Peace challenge in 2009, and look forward to seeing you there in the near future. (Off to finish the last few chapters of this month's reading now, I hope.)

14. One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey
I enjoyed this unconventional re-telling of the story of Andromeda (the second book in the 500 Kingdoms series) more than I was expecting to, after being disappointed by the first book in the series. Andie's character appealed to me more than Elena's, I suppose, and the twists were a little more interesting. A pleasant read, and more memorable (to an extent) than the first and third in this series.

15. Horizon by Lois McMaster Bujold
This is the fourth and final book in The Sharing Knife, my favourite contemporary fantasy series. One of my favourite books of the year, so far. It has a different feel and pace to Bujold’s action-packed series depicting the adventures of Miles Vorkosigan, which I also loved. Yet I think the things that I enjoy the most in the Vorkosigan books (the richness of Bujold’s characters and world-building) are also here in this series.

I love Fawn and Dag and the way in which they process their experiences and interact with each other. In particular, I’m enchanted by the bewildered joy they seem to feel at having found each other, Dag’s blend of strength and vulnerability, the way in which Fawn has thawed his heart and taught him to care – and fear – again, and the way in which their experiences motivate them to try to change their society, in the face of the many obstacles they encounter on the way ...

I want to describe this as ‘gentle’ fantasy, because of the absence of the ‘epic quest’ and ‘climactic battle’ motifs. There are elements of these (and this book contains its share), but this series (and particularly this last book) struck me more as a reflection on the way in which small changes made by a small group of people, can have – through the tales that are told about them – ripple effects that may lead to profound changes in one’s society.

It is perhaps fair to say that this depicts (like a perennial favourite of mine, The Postman) the power of words and ideas (and stories!) to shape the world, and to do so in a way that is more powerful than a successful quest or battle, on its own, ever could be.

Message edited by its author, Feb 16, 2009, 7:24am.

16. Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey
This third book in the 500 Kingdoms series was probably my least favourite of the four. A pleasant read, with likeable characters, but too many disparate elements for my liking, without anything to tie them together. This did not leave a strong impression.

17. The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey
Overall, there was too much crowded into this story for my liking, but I enjoyed some of the elements very much – not least, Lackey’s original twist on the conventional tale of the Snow Queen, and her portrayal of the world of Fairy Tales as one where (as far as is possible) virtue is rewarded, while wrong-doers are made to recognise and face up to the consequences of their actions, and perhaps even given a chance at redemption ...

Upon reflection, I’m glad that I persevered to the end with this series, and I can see myself thinking back fondly on some elements of the stories. On the whole, however, perhaps partly due to my high expectations, I must confess that I found them disappointing.

18. Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks
An interesting and readable account of one woman’s time as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East. Brooks was based in this part of the world for a number of years from 1987, and this book was published in 1995.

The subject matter (‘the hidden world of Islamic women’) is perhaps bound to create controversy, and reviewers appear to differ in their opinions of the objectivity and accuracy of the book’s content.

On the plus side, I felt that it opened my eyes further to the variety and diversity of experiences of Muslim women. I'm glad I read the book, and I acknowledge that it would be difficult if not impossible to cover this material in an entirely impartial and objective fashion.

My preference would have been for more about the experiences, opinions and world views of the women Brooks was interviewing, and less of her own opinions, judgements and occasional editorialising about what she saw and experienced - although this is a personal preference and not necessarily a criticism of the book.

On the negative side, I found the tone a little harsh (bordering on snarky at times: “I couldn’t check myself into a Saudi hotel room in the 1990s because thirteen hundred years earlier a Meccan named Muhammad had trouble with his wives”, p. 3), and felt there were some biases in terms of the content.

Overall, I'm glad I read this, but I would want to temper some of its conclusions with further reading/ research.

19. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A good read – with some lovely ideas, such as the Cemetery of Forgotten Books.

I enjoyed the different characters and their interactions, and some of the insightful comments made about human nature, relationships, secrets, betrayal, books and reading, and the advent of the cinema and the television.

The story held my attention reasonably well, with some downright shocking twists and turns. The structure, with two parallel stories intertwining, was well done and had me wondering about the extent that they would (or wouldn't) mirror each other right until the end. Some of the plot devices didn't quite work for me, though - perhaps partly because I'm just not a fan of Gothic type romances at the best of times. (Hard to say more without being too spoiler-y.)

I can see myself revisting certain sections repeatedy, but I was a little disappointed overall - perhaps my expectations were overly high because of some of the rave reviews I encountered before embarking on this read.

20. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin
I really enjoyed this imaginative and thought-provoking young adult novel about a teenage girl who is the victim of a motor vehicle accident. I think it succeeds even better than The Lovely Bones at exploring some of the circumstances of the human condition (and perhaps specifically concepts such as ‘justice’, ‘fairness’, 'obsession' and ‘letting go’, in their various incarnations) - by postulating an imaginary life ‘Elsewhere’ from which the dead can watch the living.

Message edited by its author, Mar 29, 2009, 6:55am.

21. Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong
A light and perhaps fluffy read, that hit the right spot at the right time. I enjoyed this and liked the characters. Nadia is an ex-cop with a troubled past, who has turned assassin to pay her bills. She teams up with other assassins when a serial killer starts killing people hitman style, and their careers are all put in jeopardy.

I must read Elsewhere, I've seen too many good reviews of this book and I still haven't got round to reading it. I read Shadow of the Wind in Feb and enjoyed it but it wasn't a great read overall for me either.
Back to your post #14 I am Legend, I read this last year and then saw the movie on a flight - I found it incredible that they could get away with changing so much of the plot.

Hi avatiakh,

Thanks for dropping by, and I hope you do enjoy Elsewhere! I've enjoyed the reviews on your thread also, and will no doubt be checking out some of the interesting YA titles you've read later this year.

I still haven't got around to seeing the movie I Am Legend, but I really should. I'm always fascinated by the nature and extent of the changes that take place when books are adapted for the screen.

There was an interesting article on the BBC website the other day about 'happyendingification' in adaptations for the screen, if you're interested - complete with spoiler warning mid way through, which you go beyond at your own peril!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magaz...

Message edited by its author, Apr 11, 2009, 8:35pm.

22. Watchmen by Alan Moore

It’s hard to comment on the quality of something that’s meant to be one of the best in its genre, 20 years or more past its original release. Maybe I’m over-rating this because of the hype, or maybe I’m selling it short because I had such high expectations.

Nevertheless, I found this graphic novel a rich and rewarding read, thematically, stylistically, and in terms of each of the different character arcs. I enjoyed the visual nature of the medium, too, my eyes starting to linger over particular images – poignant, striking, or startling. And this favourable impression was only enhanced by a later re-read.

23. The Good, the Bad, and the Undead by Kim Harrison

Nothing special, but pleasant light reading. A good book to wind down with, and perhaps a little above average in its category due to the plot twists (which kept me guessing) and characters that I started to care about.

24. The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

I really enjoyed this story and its original and thought-provoking take on the "battle between Good and Evil". I don’t want to say too much more, because it was the gradual revelations about the way in which this world worked that made the biggest impression on me as I read this.

25. The Shadow Queen by Anne Bishop

A fantasy novel about a realm that has been occupied by an evil that has now been vanquished. How do the survivors come together, learn to trust again, and begin to rebuild their home?

In part, a sad story that acknowledges that we are all scarred, and yet offers hope that with time we can all live with our scars.

On first reading, this didn’t seem to belong in the same league as my other favourite Anne Bishop books. I wonder if it’s just a subtler story that creeps its way into your affections, like The Invisible Ring, which I enjoyed a lot more on second reading.

Message edited by its author, Apr 11, 2009, 8:48pm.

26. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

I generally love Margaret Atwood’s books – the richness of her character’s ‘stream of consciousness’ musings, and how well they come together to shape fascinating and thought-provoking stories. This one promised to be an interesting cautionary tale – extrapolating from several potential criticisms about the way the world is today to create a nightmarish future dystopia.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book. Several really interesting trends in this society were explored, and I found myself wanting to know more about what it was like to live in this society – and, in particular, what it was like to live in this society if you found yourself one of the lucky few living a sheltered and cosseted life in the domes, but in violent disagreement with the way in which society was heading. I would have liked more of this, and less of the lead-up to the apocalypse.

I finished this book feeling vaguely unsatisfied and disappointed, but I think that reflects my own reading preferences more than it does the actual quality of the book.

27. Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

In parts (notably characterisation and world building) this Mercy Thompson series has seemed a cut above today’s plethora of paranormal fantasy/ romance. The actual plots of each of the books, however, don’t grab me as much as I’d like, and I found this a pleasant read, but nothing more.

28. Outcast Season: Undone by Rachel Caine

Cassiel was a powerful Djinn, but when she refuses a request made of her by Ashan, she is made human for her defiance. Exiled to the human world, she is not pleased to find herself frail, vulnerable and dependent. This was a pleasant light read, before it lost me with the build to an overly melodramatic climax.

29. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I enjoyed this book, and was enchanted by the idea of Bod, the protagonist, growing up in a London cemetery. He’s adopted by its denizens after surviving an attack on his family home that sees him orphaned. His closest friends and companions are the ghosts of the dead from a range of historical periods – who are introduced in a delightful way, with birth and death dates, and epitaphs, presented in brackets after each name. This struck me as a fable about boundaries, and growing up, and accepting change, and is a lovely story with applicability to our own lives.

30. Every Which Way But Dead by Kim Harrison

A light read, but it felt overly convoluted and I didn’t love it.

31. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

A book that purported to give you a glimpse of the world through the eyes of an autistic teenager. You could empathise with both he and his parents, and I think that was perhaps the real strength of this book. It was clever and poignant, and although the novelty of its style wore a little thin with me at times, overall I found this original, thought-provoking, and skilfully written.

32. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

A simply written and powerfully evocative post-apocalyptic vision, the memory of which will stay will me long after I close the pages of this book. There was almost unbearable poignancy in the relationship depicted, of a father and son struggling to survive in a nightmarish future. The horror of loving someone and yet being utterly powerless to change the circumstances of their lives was starkly portrayed.

33. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salmon Rushdie

I picked up this book after reading favourable reviews of it on LT, and was not disappointed. This was a sensitively told story about a young boy whose mother leaves him, who embarks upon an adventure with this father. Original and imaginative, and interesting (like The Phantom Tollbooth) in the allegorical nature of some of its material – making us thinking about opposites like ‘light’ and ‘darkness’, ‘speech’ and ‘silence’, and the powerful nature of stories ...

34. March by Geraldine Brooks

What a treat when a book you’ve been looking forward to reading actually lives up to the excitement you felt upon first hearing its premise! Brooks takes the sketchy details provided about the absent father in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and her own reading about the American Civil War, and weaves from these a tale of the life of Mr March. Brooks describes herself as having “tried to add some darker adult resonances in the voids of her sparkling children’s tale”, and the book is a fascinating adult counterpart to the children’s classic.

Because of these ‘darker resonances’ (which include vivid depictions of the horrors of slavery and the war), I’m sure that the novel won’t be everybody’s cup of tea. For me, the contrast in tone with Little Women really enhanced the poignancy of the story, and I found the book rich, multi-layered and thought-provoking.

I particularly enjoyed this book for the way Brooks depicted March – he does have his flaws, and yet is sympathetically drawn, for its exploration of relationship between he and ‘Marmee’, and for the way it made me think through some of the difficult moral decisions that people may have been faced with during this period in history ...

Message edited by its author, Apr 17, 2009, 7:11am.

35. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

I would perhaps have enjoyed this more if I’d discovered it when I was younger. Most of the stories, while well enough written, didn’t really grab me. I did enjoy exploring the parallels between the Mowgli stories and The Graveyard Book - which I've also read recently. I quite liked the stories of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the brave mongoose, and Little Toomai, the boy who saw the elephants dance, although they didn’t leave a strong impression.

But I loved the story of The White Seal, I suppose because I did see it as having broader appeal – a nice allegorical tale for those of us who are passionate about any cause, and feel that the people around us are blind to the dangers of current societal trends ...

Message edited by its author, Apr 17, 2009, 7:43am.

36. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield

I wanted to like this book, about an ordinary small town girl who grows up to be the First Lady. It was an interesting premise, particularly because of the parallels drawn with Laura and George Bush, and I imagine it would spark some interesting discussion if read for a book group. And yet I didn’t really engage with the characters, story or style. For me, the story moved too slowly, and superficially, with too many unnecessary details, too many gaps in the narrative, and not enough momentum or coherency. And yet, I also felt like I should have liked this better, and I was perhaps missing something ...

Catching up with your posts and interested with your review of Nightwatch - I'm also keen to read that and appreciate that you haven't written too much - I watched the movie which is pretty crazy.
I read an extract from Haroun and the Sea of Stories in a children's short story collection The Puffin treasury of modern Indian stories (found most of these to be enchanting reads) and want very much to read the full book - I'll have to track it down as my library hasn't got it.
I read March last year and also loved it, couldn't put it down and finished it in a day. I had American Wife out from the library a few weeks ago but never got round to reading it and now after your review I'll let it slip a bit further down my list of possible reads - I was also drawn in on the parallels with Laura Bush.

I recently bought Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy - is this a good one to start with, I had never heard of her and chose it by the cover and blurb on the back.

seekingflight, I am just catching up with your posts. You have been reading some wonderful books lately!

I have Nine parts of Desire and so was interested to hear your thoughts on it. I am also keen to read March - especially now after reading your post. And I agree with your thoughts on The Shadow of the Wind, The Road and The Curious Incident. All three books very special in very different ways.

I have had my eye out for Haroun, I might try a bit harder to find it now.

Happy reading

Hi avatiakh and judylou,

Sorry I haven't been by to update for a while and missed your messages. Thanks for dropping by.

avatiakh, I hope you're enjoying (or soon have the chance to enjoy) the Black Jewels Trilogy - I'd definitely recommend this as the place to start. I was a little put off initially by some of the violence and cruelty depicted in these books, but found the characters and relationships between them made up for it, and I enjoyed the thought Bishop had put into building her world and its history. I definitely have the Nightwatch movie on my ever-growing list of things to watch. Nice to see others loved March as much as I did!

judylou, I did feel like I had a really enjoyable stretch of reading in April. It hasn't been quite so engrossing recently, which is possibly why I've been so slack updating this thread recently. I'm hoping that June is going to be better, particularly since I've just popped into Dymocks today to pick up a few Young Adult titles I've heard good things about on Library Thing (The Giver, The Hunger Games and Exodus). And my appetite to read The Slap, How the Dead Live and Handling the Undead has also been very much whetted after reading your reviews!!

Message edited by its author, May 24, 2009, 5:42am.

37. Wicked by Gregory Maguire (22/04/09)

Another book that I wanted to like, but ultimately found disappointing. I loved the idea of telling the ‘other side of the story’ by looking at the back history of ‘the Wicked Witch of the West’ from The Wizard of Oz, and using this to explore the nature of good and evil. Some of the elements of the story did work for me, but overall I just found the execution too clunky.

38. Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik (23/04/09)

This is the second book of one of the better fantasy series that I’ve encountered recently. It’s set during the Napoleonic Wars (and is perhaps thus a good lighter counterpart to this year’s group read of War and Peace), but in this world there are dragons, manned by aviators, and taken by them into battle.

Laurence is a former naval officer who’s now a Captain to one of these dragons. The dragon, however, was a gift from the Chinese to the French, captured by the British, and when the Chinese protest, Laurence is faced with the threat of separation from the dragon he’s come to love.

The story is reasonably well-paced, the characters draw me in, and I care about them and the dilemmas in which they find themselves.

I’m interested in the way in which Novik discusses the ethics of the way in which the dragons are treated, and the parallels she draws with slavery. Laurence's reaction to the way in which the Chinese handle their own dragons is an interesting depiction of culture shock, and it's interesting watching him process this.

I like the stern and stoic sense of duty and responsibility possessed by Laurence, and the way in which this is contrasted with the informality of the aviation corps. It's fun watching Laurence gradually becoming more tolerant of some of these unfamiliar attitudes and practices ...

39. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik (24/04/09)

In this third book of the Temeraire series, Laurence and his dragon are ordered from China to Istanbul, to collect three dragon eggs that are about to be hatched. I wasn’t as engrossed in the plot this time, but still very much enjoyed the characterisation.

40. House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III (28/04/09)

An Iranian flees for his life with his family to America, taking menial jobs to support them and hiding this from his family, who are living beyond their means in the hopes that this will enable their daughter to marry well. He buys a house at auction for less than it’s worth, hoping that he can sell it for a profit, and sees his wife finally start smiling and blossoming in these new surroundings.

A woman is evicted from her house, after ignoring several letters from the tax office, due to a bureaucratic error.

One of the officers responsible for her eviction becomes concerned with her plight.

These three protagonists are realistically and sympathetically drawn. I found myself empathising with all three (as distinct, perhaps, from liking them). They make one stupid decision after the other, as their paths bring them into conflict with one another, but you can understand why they’re doing the things they do, even as things spiral more and more out of control.

The stream-of-consciousness style could be perceived as drawn-out and excessively detailed, but I actually found it very readable, and a good entree into the minds of each of the characters.

I realised while reading this book that one of the joys of reading, for me, is the way in which it allows me to get into the heads of people quite unlike me. This book was a success for me for this reason.

41. The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (29/04/09)

Chloe sees ghosts, and when she rediscovers this with the onset of puberty, her understandable panic gets her locked away in a group home – which might not be what it seems. A pleasant read, reasonably good in its genre, and I’ll look out for book two in this young adult series.

42. Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine (01/05/09)

Book five in Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series. A light and enjoyable read, but also perhaps a little light on actual plot. I'm keen to read the next book to know what happens next, but I would have liked more development in THIS book.

43. Touch the Dark by Karen Chance (02/05/09)
44. Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance (03/05/09)
47: Embrace the Night by Karen Chance (09/05/09)

I'm feeling inconsistent here, because I'm now going to accuse this series of being too heavy on plot (cf. my previous review). It started promisingly, with an attention-getting first sentence, and action from the get-go. I liked being thrust straight into the action, and having the story filled in both backwards and forwards. There were elements of the series that I did really enjoy. But pretty soon I was feeling that too much was happening, and I didn't care enough about the characters to track the details of the dilemmas they were facing.

45. Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik (04/05/09)

I really enjoyed the first two books in this series, but am not enjoying the later volumes as much. This book sees aviator Laurence and dragon Temeraire journeying to Africa. It is interesting to see how Novik imagines Africa in the early 1800s, in this alternate world where dragons exist. But for most of the book I just didn’t have the same connection to the characters, nor the same level of concern with their dilemmas. Developments in the final section of the book, however, did remind me of the reasons why I was drawn to this series in the first place, and I am keen to see where Novik goes from here ...

46. Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara (08/05/09)

I was a little disappointed by this fantasy crime novel. Based on the jacket, I’d expected a sophisticated tale of court intrigue. Instead, I got an impetuous teenager with a mysterious past, working with someone from that past, trying to solve a series of murders where the corpses are all tattooed similarly to tattoos that exist on her own arms and thighs. I might have been better able to accept it on its own merits if I hadn't expected something so drastically different.

48. Storm from the Shadows by David Weber (14/05/09)

I used to love Weber's Honor Harrington series, and wait anxiously for the next book in the series. It's sad to feel that the things that I loved so much in the earlier books (the interactions between the characters, and their emotional journeys) are getting a little swept aside as the plot gets more and more drawn out and epic in scale. I trust that Weber knows where he's going with the overall story arc, and I'm eager to join him on that journey, but I'm not loving these as much as the earlier books.

Catch up time. Starting with:

49. Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino (20/05/09)

Two prostitutes are murdered in Tokyo – one is the once “monstrously beautiful” younger sister of the unnamed narrator of this tale, another once attended the same elite high school. The narrator gives us her own take on their lives and deaths, and the trial of their alleged killer, supplemented by various other accounts.

For me, one of the book’s strengths was the distinct voices of the characters who tell the story – they are each complicated human beings with their own individual prejudices, agendas, and blind spots. I suppose I liked the way in which, because of this, my perspective of characters and events shifted as I progressed through the book, and voices once sympathised with to an extent, became monstrous.

Some quite poignant scenes highlight some of the difficulties of life in a strictly hierarchical society, and the loneliness and isolation that can be experienced by those who just don’t fit in as they should. For me, the most interesting questions raised by the novel centred around the education system depicted therein. Are we right to tell students that they can achieve whatever they want if they just dream big enough and try hard enough? Or are we selling them a lie? Is the principal of the school right to regret that he didn’t do enough to prepare his students for the real world?

I enjoyed the book for the questions that it raised, but ultimately found it hard engaging with these characters, and lost interest to an extent as the story unfolded.

50. A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison (26/05/09)

This book (the fourth in the Rachel Morgan series) was payoff for me for reading the earlier books, which I didn’t enjoy quite so much. In earlier books, I had liked the characters and the world, but found the plots a bit too convoluted for my taste. Struggling through some of these earlier convolutions, however, meant that I had gotten to know the characters and the world in which they lived. And knowing and caring about the characters, I was able to enjoy the rich relationship dynamics in this instalment – which hinged around trust, betrayal, risks and redemption. I cared about the characters, and their relationships, and felt engaged with the story throughout. Probably still a bit fluffy, but for me, this was enjoyable fluff.

51. The Giver by Lois Lowry: 27/05/09

I feel as if I've come late to the party on this one, a thought-provoking ‘dystopia’ novel that starts off by showing what seems like an idyllic society, and gradually reveals its dark undertones ...

Jonah lives in a tightly regulated community that seems wonderful on the surface. Parents encourage their children to share their feelings after dinner, and Elders carefully observe the children as they approach the age of 12, and assign them to a profession best suiting their interests and abilities.

Needless to say, all is not as rosy as it appears, and the book raises some interesting themes about memory, and the importance of some of the less pleasant/ more problematic aspects of our lives (pain, conflict, differences, confusion, doubt, and uncertainty).

I wanted to love this story, but found that for me, the implausibility of some aspects of the society took me out of the philosophical realm and back into the mundane/ practical. I'm not sure that this is necessarily a fair criticism, though, and the book certainly works very well as allegory.

I certainly did find myself thinking about the issues it raised long after I had closed the pages and put it away ...

Message edited by its author, Oct 2, 2009, 6:18am.

52. Exodus by Julie Bertagna (29/05/09)

A very readable story, that posits a world devastated by the floods and storms that follow the melting of the polar icecaps, and poses a number of disconcerting questions as we follow a young girl's coming of age and attempt to improve circumstances for herself and her society.

If circumstances forced us to try to rebuild our society from the ground up, I wondered on reading this book, would we end up making the same mistakes all over again? To what extent are we as people culpable for the actions of our government?

Bertagna sensitively and thought-provokingly demonstrates the way in which fear for one’s own continued well-being can blunt our ability to feel empathy and compassion for others, and the way in which growing up in a society that is relatively well-off can leave people preoccupied with their own concerns and prevent them from seeing the bigger picture.

An enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

53. For a Few Demons More by Kim Harrison (04/06/09)

Didn't enjoy this as much as the previous book in the series.

54. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (07/06/09)

A poignant story about the impact of a child’s cancer diagnosis on one family - already extensively reviewed here and elsewhere.

Sara and Brian bring a third child, Anna, into the world, so that she can be a bone marrow donor for her sister Kate, who has cancer. At the age of 13, Anna seeks out a lawyer, so that she can sue her parents for her rights over her own body, and this is where our story begins.

I’ve found all the Picoult books I’ve read to date easy to read, and interesting for the issues that they raise, but often thought that they’re written in such a way as to showcase the greatest number of different perspectives on a given social issue. This is partly what makes them so interesting to read and to discuss, but my experience has been that this often occurs at the expense of plot and characterisation. So while I found this to be an interesting read, I was personally disappointed that it didn’t quite live up to what I saw as its potential.

55. Resistance by Anita Shreve (28/06/09)

A readable and moving, but otherwise not so memorable, novel about Ted, an American pilot forced to crash land his plane in occupied Belgium during WWII, and the resistance fighters who shelter him.

It did make me feel more for people not unlike me, and sometimes much younger, who were forced to make choices during wartime with consequences that we can’t really even imagine today.

An interesting story, made more interesting, perhaps, by the fact that I was reading this while travelling in Europe, but one which did nothing to recommend itself to me as anything more than average.

56. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (30/06/09)

Reality tv takes a new and frightening turn, when children are pitted against each other in a televised event which they can escape only by killing their opponents, or being killed themselves. The book made its biggest impression on me in the way that it made plausible a premise that you would hope would fall into the realm of the ‘unthinkable’.

The social and cultural rituals – and commercial interests – that spring up in the background of these events are fascinating, and eerily mirror many of the trends that we see in present day television.

Plotwise, I’m unsure of how well the story would stand up to a re-reading, although I did feel for a number of the characters and the situations in which they found themselves.

I’m keen to read the next instalment of the story, and see where it goes from here ...

57. Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson (06/07/09)
58. Undead and Unemployed by MaryJanice Davidson (13/07/09)
59. Undead and Unappreciated by ManyJanice Davidson (14/07/09)
61. Undead and Unreturnable by MaryJanice Davidson (20/07/09)
62. Undead and Unpopular by MaryJanice Davidson (21/07/09)
63. Undead and Uneasy by MaryJanice Davidson (21/07/09)
65. Undead and Unworthy by MaryJanice Davidson (25/07/09)
72. Undead and Unwelcome by MaryJanice Davidson (06/09/09)

Betsy Taylor (lover of shoes and Gone with the Wind) loses her job on her birthday, gets run over trying to entice her cat back inside during a freak April snowstorm, and awakens to find herself undead, yet otherwise (mostly) unchanged ...

The first sentence (“The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.”) sets a tone that is maintained throughout the book.

Enjoyable fluff for holiday reading - if you're looking for something light on plot, reasonably amusing, and refreshing in its complete and utter lack of any pretensions to be anything other than what it is.

60. How to Be Good by Nick Hornby (17/07/09)

This was one of those books that I catch myself coming back to and thinking about again and again in the days and weeks after closing its pages.

Katie is discontented in her marriage, and sick of her husband’s anger, and this story shows the way in which she responds when her wish is actually granted, and her husband David’s whole outlook on life changes.

David describes this change as follows:

“I’m a liberal’s worst nightmare ... I think everything you think. But I’m going to walk it like I talk it.” (p. 80)

In a way, this is a cynical indictment about the way in which our actions often fall short of our supposed ideals, about the extent to which we are content to simply mouth platitudes about the way in which we ought to think and feel and act, while behaving in the materialistic/ selfish/ comfortable way in which we always have.

And yet David's radical new views don't make Katie's life easy, and I caught myself sympathising with her on many occasions.

Ultimately, this book questioned my own assumptions about what it was to be ‘good’, and challenged me to think about whether I actually walked my own talk ...

64. City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende (22/07/09)

Alex’s mother has cancer, and he is sent off to his grandmother in New York while she undergoes chemotherapy. His grandmother makes little or no allowance for his youth, and thinks nothing of having him accompany her on a trip to the Amazon, in search of the legendary ‘Beast’. (I suppose I'm not the only one who thought 'Heart of Darkness' at this point, and it perhaps wasn't an entirely inappropriate comparison.)

I liked the way in which the book was grounded with such a realistic beginning, and I loved the enticing descriptions of the Amazon, its danger and its beauty. I enjoyed the coming of age elements of the story, where Alex and his friend Nadia both meet challenges, overcome their fears, and (of course!) learn things on their journey.

But the fantasy elements of the story didn't really appeal to me (and seemed a bit weak, in comparison to some of these other parts of the book), and I felt a little disappointed overall.

66. Magician by Raymond E Feist (08/08/09)
Feist’s first novel, written in 1982, and the first volume of the Riftwar saga.

As other reviewers have noted here, it’s easy to criticise this for the genre clichés (e.g., the orphan protagonist, the coming of age tale, the dwarven mines etc), and the sometimes bland, characterless and lazy prose (e.g., “his emotions written on his face”). Some of the characters facing some of the biggest dilemmas as the book nears its end still felt to me like little more than cardboard cut-outs, and this did disappoint me, and undercut some of the dramatic tension that these developments might otherwise have inspired. I was particularly disappointed by the way in which the female characters felt like caricatures of everything a princess in a fantasy novel is expected to be, and yet I suppose many of the male characters similarly lacked depth.

And yet there was also a lot to like in this novel. The sobering reality of a protracted war, that commences just as our protagonists are entering adolescence, and forces them to put all the futures that might have been on hold, to deal with their current reality. The fascinating world-building and descriptions of the Tsurani culture, which seemed to me to combine some of the most interesting aspects of the Japanese culture with ancient Rome.

This wouldn’t be first in my list of recommendations to introduce a friend to the fantasy genre, but it’s nonetheless a book that I found worth persevering with.

Message edited by its author, Oct 2, 2009, 5:54am.

67. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J K Rowling (08/08/09)

Fairy tales from the world of Harry Potter – with commentary from Dumbledore. What I liked about this light and readable little book was the way in which the ‘themes’ of the stories were explored in this commentary. I thought it was a very interesting exercise to transplant the genre of the fairy tale to another (known but fantastical) universe, and to explore the way in which fairy tales might still be used to convey universal messages. A great deal more could have been with this concept, had Rowling wished to do so.

68. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik (24/08/09)

A little disappointing. This is the fifth book in a new series I was excited to discover earlier in the year, and described to friends as the Napoleonic wars with dragons.

I was intrigued by the end of the last book, and thought that those developments might rekindle my interest. But I still can’t get into the story or the characters to the same extent as I could in earlier books - it's still a pleasant read, but it's not living up to the high hopes I had ...

69. Sunshine by Robin McKinley (31/08/09)

Surprised to report (perhaps because of the preponderance of vampire novels I've read recently of merely 'average' quality) that this was ‘very much liked’ or even possibly ‘loved’. I enjoyed the slower pace of this story and the level of detail with which it was told. I felt I got a real sense of who the main characters were and what their lives were like (especially Sunshine, and her job as a baker in a café), and I got to watch her process the experiences she was going through, rather than rush from one to the other for the sake of an overly convoluted plot!!

Sunshine was a likeable main character who really grew on me, and it was good (from a writing point of view) to see that the trauma she goes though has real consequences, and isn't just shrugged off with the next exciting action sequence.

70. The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong (31/08/09)

The second book in a series for young adults that focuses on Chloe, a teenager with supernatural powers, and the mysterious 'Edison Group' who seem to wish her and her friends ill. Somewhat average plotwise, but well-paced, and quite readable.

71. Evernight by Claudia Gray (04/09/09)

An enjoyable young adult vampire novel. I thought this was a cut above the rest of this genre. The characters were a bit more interesting and sympathetic, the world-building was interesting, and the plot was well-paced, as it built up to a revelation that had unfortunately been spoilt for me by reading the back cover of the sequel.

73. Marked by PC and Kristin Cast (13/09/09)
74. Betrayed by PC and Kristin Cast (16/09/09)
75. Chosen by PC and Kristin Cast (18/09/09)
76. Untamed by PC and Kristin Cast (21/09/09)

Zoey is the newest fledging at the House of Night, an academy where those Marked to be ‘vampyres’ either complete the change or die.

The characters in these books are caricatures, and I didn’t particularly enjoy the writing (it struck me as bland, repetitive and predictable). The series struck me as your typical teenage boarding school story, where readers can dream that they’re the talented munchkin protagonist and live out their fantasies of being powerful and attractive, spiced up with vampires, with nothing really out of the ordinary to recommend it, and what I saw as bad writing counting very much against it.

However, it must be conceded that there *is* a glimmer of something that does appeal to me in these books, that makes me persevere with them, because I am continuing with the series, and I do (almost in spite of myself) want to know what happens next. The series does seem to improve a little as you get further in, although many of the things that bothered me in the first book are still present in the fourth book ...

77. The Seamstress by Frances de Pontes Peebles (23/09/09)

The parallel stories of two orphaned sisters, brought up by their aunt in the Brazilian countryside in the 1920s, and trained as seamstresses. Emilia dreams of falling in love and escaping to the glamorous city, while Luzia – left with a deformed arm, after a childhood accident – has a more pessimistic attitude towards her own future.

Their paths diverge when Luzia is abducted by bandits, and Emilia meets a man who offers to marry her, and take her away to the city. Neither necessarily has the life that they had imagined for themselves. Now living very different lives, the sisters nevertheless continue to draw upon the lessons and metaphors of sewing as they describe the way in which their lives continue to develop.

I liked the little cultural details, the depiction of the relationship between the two sisters, and the way in which their shared upbringing influenced their subsequent lives.

When the market in the US crashes, the drought worsens, and the country falls in civil war, the bandits seemed to become more and more vicious. The story started dragging for me at this point, and I lost some of the earlier enthusiasm I had had for it.

Once again, you have read a whole lot of great books. And what a marathon of reviews you have just finished!

Hi Judylou,

Thanks for dropping by. I've just caught up on your thread also, and have been inspired by a number of your books. I *miss* library thing when I'm away, and it is nice to be almost caught up with my reviews again!