Abby's bookshelf: read

Forgetfulness

Sun, 04 May 2008 18:59:47 -0700

author: Ward Just
name: Abby
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 05/08
date added: 05/04/08
shelves: favorites, recent-reads
review:

The Alchemist (Plus)

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:11:31 -0700

author: Paulo Coelho
name: Abby
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/23/08
shelves: dnf
review:
So far I'm pretty "meh" on this book. The narrative style is pedantic in the extreme.

Can anyone convince me it's worth continuing?

Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 11:10:23 -0700

author: Irene Spencer
name: Abby
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/23/08
shelves: favorites, recent-reads
review:
I really enjoyed this memoir. Knowing very little about the fundamentalist Mormon church, I found Spencer's candor and honesty about being a polygamist's wife refreshing, heartbreaking, and informative. Spencer never stoops to the level of pathos or moralizing. She tells her story straight-up and to the point, detailing how she falls in love with her brother-in-law and becomes his second wife, the abject poverty she lived in for much of her life, bearing 13 children, and more often than not, caring for 20+ children.

The end, which details her eventual conversion to Christianity, got a little too "God-heavy" for my personal tastes, but I respect her description of learning to love a more benevolent God as represented by the Christian faith, rather than the punishing and angry God as represented by the fundamentalist Mormon faith.

All that being said, though, what I liked most about the book is that for all the crap that Spencer lived through, she never once "bad-mouths" the fundamentalist Mormon faith. She points out the flaws of polygamy and the belief structure, but she never gets dirty and starts pointing fingers. I appreciated her honesty and forthrightness in telling what must have been a difficult story to tell.

Highly, highly recommended!

Before Green Gables

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:43:35 -0700

author: Budge Wilson
name: Abby
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2008
rating: 1
read at: 03/08
date added: 04/12/08
shelves: dnf
review:
I was really disappointed by this book. Billed as a prequel to Anne of Green Gables , perhaps I came in with too many expectations. The narrative was very "twee", taking all the "Pollyanna"-ish moments of L.M. Montgomery's work and ratcheting up the sweetness to saccharine levels. There was none of the shadows or dark corners left for the light to shine from, which make the characters (even Anne!) appear flat and wooden.

Needless to say, I didn't finish it and put it down in disgust. I guess that teaches me a lesson to read "prequels" about my childhood heroine. :)

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:35:30 -0700

author: Candice Millard
name: Abby
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/12/08
shelves: recent-reads
review:
GASP - Non-fiction!!! And I didn't hate it!

A notorious loather of non-fiction, I might just have found the one to break the cycle. River of Doubt was a brilliant, well-crafted narrative of Theodore Roosevelt's arduous journey down a previously unmapped tributary of the Amazon River. Barely surviving, Roosevelt makes it to the end in weary triumph.

One of my big problems with non-fiction is that there is no suspense. (Ok, one might argue that about romance novels, too, but go with me on this one.) With nonfiction, you pretty much know the story. You know how it's going to end since it's happened in real life and is on record somewhere. With River of Doubt I was staying up way past 1am during the week to read it, to see what was around the next bend in the river, to see what dangers the intrepid band of explorers were going to face. I knew how it would end, but I didn't know how they were going to be to that end point. That mystery alone kept me turning the pages far into the night.

The narrative was also well crafted, with only a few dull and overly long forays into depths of the diverse eco-system of the South American rainforest.

I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to break out of a reading rut.

The Deception of the Emerald Ring

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 06:28:42 -0700

author: Lauren Willig
name: Abby
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/12/08
shelves: recent-reads, romance
review:
I just love Lauren Willig's books. They're light, frothy, and sweet, just like that fancy coffee you treat yourself to at the end of a long week. Though I read a lot of romance novels, I confess to being stumped by this one. I just couldn't see how the two protagonists were going to get over their respective hurdles. That Willig pulled it off in a wholly believable manner is a testament to her writing skills.

"Crimson Rose" is on order from the Cambridge Public Library and I can't wait to take it on the airplane with me to Pittsburgh, PA!

First Person Rural: Essays of a Sometime Farmer

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 07:02:09 -0700

author: Noel Perrin
name: Abby
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at: 04/08
date added: 04/03/08
shelves: recent-reads
review:
A thoroughly charming collection of essays about living in the country and being a "part-time farmer." I giggled and smiled from the first page to the last. A little dated now, (it was written in the 1970s), the talk of high gas prices is even more "charming" now as we face a second energy crisis and skyrocketing prices. Sometimes it's good to be reminded that 30 years ago, people though it was the end of everything, and they got through it. It gives hope for our own future.

The Bleeding Dusk: The Gardella Vampire Chronicles Book 3

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:46:19 -0700

author: Colleen Gleason
name: Abby
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/26/08
shelves: beachreads, favorites, recent-reads, romance
review:
What pushed this from a three-star to a five-star was the end. I won't detail it here because it would be an OMG-I HATE YOU FOREVER-SPOILER, but seriously, it made me freak out. In a good way. In a way where I can't WAIT to see what Gleason does in the next book.

I've also started charting the BtVS-Gardella parallels. So far it's pretty interesting. There's a subchart for J.R. Ward parallels, but those pretty much died with Aunt Eustacia and the constant use of "vero". That tick really annoyed me, because it made me read that character like one of Ward's vampires who were always ending their sentences with "true". And trust me, it's not flattering to read Eustacia like Rehvenge or Phury. Mostly because it would require changing her name to Ehustacia. :p

Rises The Night: The Gardella Vampire Chronicles (Signet Eclipse)

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:36:15 -0700

author: Colleen Gleason
name: Abby
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/26/08
shelves: beachreads, favorites, recent-reads, romance
review:
Crack. Crackity-crack-crack.

I <3 Sebastian but can't wait until Max gets his head out of his butt.

Last Rituals: An Icelandic Novel of Secret Symbols, Medieval Witchcraft, and Modern Murder

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:34:20 -0700

author: Yrsa Sigurdardottir
name: Abby
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/26/08
shelves: dnf
review:
I was really keen on this book when I started it, but as the narrative progressed, I got more and more disenchanted. By the time I was about 150 pages in, I just didn't care anymore. I think the biggest obstacle was the language. It read like a case study of what happens when a great novel gets a poor translation. The dialog was very straightforward, without idiom, or anything else to liven it up and make it seem like real people were speaking. Instead the characters came off as prudish and wooden. I hope if this author gets published again in the US, they find her a better translator. The charm of Iceland is all there, it's just not reflected in the dialog.

Shadowheart

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:55:37 -0800

author: Laura Kinsale
name: Abby
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/07/08
shelves: dnf
review:
Just couldn't get into these characters. Elena swung between a feisty heroine I could get behind, but then would launch herself into TSTL-land and I wanted to smack her. Allegreto was as emo a bad-boy as you can get. I wanted to smack him, too, and then wipe off all the smudgy black-eyeliner I'm sure he was wearing.

DNF.

A Little Bit Wicked

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 08:30:54 -0800

author: Victoria Alexander
name: Abby
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 03/01/08
shelves: recent-reads, romance
review:
The best kind of historical romance: light and witty, with characters who are familiar enough to love, but different enough to care about.

The Friday Night Knitting Club

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:21:12 -0800

author: Kate Jacobs
name: Abby
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2007
rating: 1
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/19/08
shelves: dnf, recent-reads
review:
I really, really wanted to like this book. I'm a knitter and loved the idea of a chick-lit/women's fiction novel focused around the relationships and craft that "stitch" together a knitting group. However, I couldn't have cared less about the characters in this book. They were wooden and one-dimensional, either representing a stereotype or a carefully constructed personality set up against a stereotype, almost so the author could say "Look! I'm not being stereotypical!"

The writing style was difficult as well. The sentence fragments and short thoughts kept me jolted and jarred. This is a personal preferance of style more than anything. I wanted the prose to feel like the softest baby alpaca running through my fingers. Instead I got waste ends of boucle.

The Rest Falls Away: The Gardella Vampire Chronicles (Signet Eclipse)

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:00:59 -0800

author: Colleen Gleason
name: Abby
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 03/08
date added: 02/19/08
shelves: beachreads, favorites, recent-reads, romance
review:

For My Lady's Heart

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:51:30 -0800

author: Laura Kinsale
name: Abby
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 02/08
date added: 02/08/08
shelves: beachreads, favorites, romance
review:

Salt: A World History

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:00:00 -0800

author: Mark Kurlansky
name: Abby
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2003
rating: 2
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/09/08
shelves: dnf
review:
Salt was interesting in some parts and deadly boring in others. The origins of words, phrases and behaviors all based on salt were very interesting and were the parts that made me say, "Really?!" But a lot of the book was dull descriptions about salt-making, padded with old recipes for brining and picking various food items.

I'm sure this book will appeal to foodies and those who enjoy non-fiction. For me, well, it's just another case of me wanting more narrative instead of polished factoid after factoid shoved under my nose.

Twilight (Book 1)

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:52:53 -0800

author: Stephenie Meyer
name: Abby
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at: 01/08
date added: 01/09/08
shelves: hiatus
review:
Had to return it to the library before I got the chance to start it. Will try again at a later date.

The Religion: A Novel

Fri, 28 Dec 2007 04:55:49 -0800

author: Tim Willocks
name: Abby
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 12/07
date added: 12/28/07
shelves:
review:
I brought this book to Rangeley, Maine for the Christmas holiday. It was the perfect read for long winter afternoons in front of the fire with a drink. It traveled with me to the ski lodge and got picked up while I rested my aching feet and legs (skiing's hard when you haven't done it in 10 years!). It sang me to sleep every night and despite its gory and intense battle scenes, didn't give me nightmares.

Set in 1565, The Religion follows Mattias Tannhauser, a Saxon who as a young boy was kidnapped by the Turks. Raised as a Muslim and a janissaries, Mattias knows both sides of the Christian/Muslim coin. After "retiring" from the janissaries, he sets himself up to become a merchant, using his connections on both sides of the religion divide. But a twist of fate involving two beautiful women (isn't that always the way) drags Mattias into the thick of the battle for Malta and he must play carefully on the strings of his allegiances.

Tim Willocks, author of The Religion knows how to write a battle scene. His descriptions of the blood, muck and shit (literally and figuratively) bring the reader into the middle of the conflict and you can really "see" what it must have been like. It's easy to tell that Willocks is a screen writer. The romance aspect of the story was a little weak and I knew who was going to die the martyr's deaths at the end of the book within the first 100 pages. I will confess, I also read the last three pages just to be sure I was right. I started to get so attached to the characters, I didn't want there to be any repeats of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

The Religion clocks in at 640 pages, so I definitely recommend it for people who are on vacation or are on prolonged bed rest. I have a sneaking suspicion the audio book is fantastic, so that might entice a few more people to check it out.

Never Let Me Go

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:53:24 -0800

author: Kazuo Ishiguro
name: Abby
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 12/07
date added: 12/10/07
shelves: favorites
review:

The River Knows

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:52:50 -0800

author: Amanda Quick
name: Abby
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 12/07
date added: 12/10/07
shelves: romance
review:
Quick and light, Amanda Quick satisfies like angel food cake dipped in chocolate.

Atonement

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:51:13 -0800

author: Ian McEwan
name: Abby
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 12/07
date added: 12/10/07
shelves:
review:
The plot of Atonement is simple: 13 year old Briony Tallis, unable to separate the real world from the stories she creates in her head, misunderstands the love affair between her older sister Cecelia and the family's gardener Robbie Turner. She identifies Robbie as the perpetrator of a vicious crime and her false accusation rips the family apart. The rest of the novel is Briony attempting to atone for her sins and assuage the guilt from her childhood indiscretion.

I had a lot of problems with this book, all of it due to my own predilictions with what makes a good narrative. McEwan just doesn't do it for me. His Woolfian, meandering style, page long paragraphs and hyper-self conscious writing is the narrative equivalent to fingernails on a chalkboard. Orwell once wrote:

"The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink."

McEwan is guilty on all charges. The only possible excuse for this pointless and meandering narrative is if it was a deliberate choice to set up Briony as an unreliable narrator. To quote again from Orwell in 1984 "If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable – what then?" Briony admits in the epilogue that she can resurrect Cecelia and Robbie because it makes the reader and herself happy to think of them alive. Thus, she is controlling history. If this was indeed McEwan's point, I wished he had gotten to it a little earlier, and spared me all the meandering descriptions and pointless paragraphs.

The Sound of Butterflies: A Novel

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:26:46 -0800

author: Rachael King
name: Abby
average rating: 2.75
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 12/07
date added: 12/03/07
shelves:
review:

This sweet, deceptively simple novel touches on so many different themes and tropes, that reflecting on it, it is a marvel the author carried it all off, and did it so well.

The Sound of Butterfliesis about manners and conventions, love, trust, and social justice cradled in the familiar narrative of the white man entering the jungle and succumbing to his most basic instincts. (A lo-carb Heart of Darkness if you will.)

While the ending felt a little rushed and was wrapped up a little too nearly, the meat of the novel as told between jounal entries, letters and omniscient third person present point of view was enchanting. Very much like the Amazonian rainforest where the book is set.

Highly recommended for readers who like their novels with a touch of history.

Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book #5)

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:48:27 -0800

author: J.R. Ward
name: Abby
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/29/07
shelves: romance
review:
Dear J. R. Ward,

Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous addiction to your novels. Vishious and Jane's storyline has kicked my habit cold turkey. I don't care about John or Tohr. I definitely don't care about Mary Sue, I mean, Cormia.

Jane & Vishious were unbelievable from the start, which is a shame because V was an early favorite of mine, along with Phury, who's also ruined. More on that later. Anyways ... Dr. Jane could have been so interesting. Instead, she was forced into a cookie cutter mold of stock-female-character and at the drop of a hat, gave up all she ever worked for in her life for a man she knew for a handful of days. I don't buy it. OK, I know it's a paranormal romance, so all kinds of beliefs have to be suspended, but there was so much MEAT here (har har) and I felt that the potential for a juicy (hur) narrative was wasted.

V started to go downhill with the whole Butch thing. It's not my place as the reader to question an author's motives, but seriously, why not Butch & V?? That issue aside, the mommy-issued gifted with V from the start of the novel were foolish. It also undermined the character of the Scribe Virgin, her power, and the basic construct of the world that has been built so far.

Lastly, the development of Phury and Mary Sue's, uh, I mean Cormia's story was just dreadful. C is WAY to innocent and P has become a whiny baby. I usually dig the whole wounded hero thing, but a wounded, drug-addict hero? Nope. Sorry. Addicts don't do it for me. Which is probably why I started to lose interest in the series as a whole when Butch arrived and the drinking skyrocketed. News flash: alcoholism is not sexy.

So again, thank you J. R. Ward, for helping me get over you. I've got more time to pursue other reading material and I will approach it with older, wiser eyes.

Sincerely,
Abby

Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book #4)

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:33:30 -0800

author: J.R. Ward
name: Abby
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/25/07
shelves: romance
review:
*sigh* It looks like so many other people really liked this book. I'm on the fence about it. The story between Butch and Marissa was beautiful, truly star-crossed lovers. However, the "deus ex machina" endings with the Scribe Virgin and her brother (wtf?) the Omega are getting old. Are the vampires so completely incapable of getting out of situations that the SV has to drop in at the end of every book and fix things? I'm hoping it's going to lead to more backstory about the history of the vampires and the lessors. However, for the time being, it's reading like Ward doesn't know how to end the complex storylines she creates. Oh noes! Human loves vampire! What do we do? Oh, I know! Let's have the Scribe Virgin pop in, be all arrogant and rude, and solve everything for us, calling upon "ancient knowledge" that doesn't fit within the world as it has been built. Ugh.

Read this book for Butch and Marissa. They're a great couple. Just don't pay attention to the disintegrating narrative surrounding them.

Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book #3)

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:23:47 -0800

author: J.R. Ward
name: Abby
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/25/07
shelves: romance
review:
Is it possible that I'm getting tired of muscle-bound, shitkicker-wearing, Grey Goose drinking, rap listening, "Oh my, your *ahem* is so HUGE, how is it ever going to fit?!" vampires? I think I am ... either that or Ward is losing touch with that made this series so addictive in the first two books.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Zsadist's story. He, of all the "brothers" had the most to overcome. The past physical and sexual abuse was handled well, with empathy and without pity. I also really enjoyed the way Ward developed and deepended the relationship between Phury and Zsadist. However, indicative of my growing distrust of the series, the plausibility of Z and P's relationship was nearly blown at the end of the book. Without giving away spoilers, P's acts at the end of the novel struck me as obsessive, weak and out of character even given the other "cover ups" he's pulled for Z in the past.

I'm also getting familiar with what other critics have complained about: the woodenness and one-dimensionality of the women in the novels. Beth was a pretty fully developed character for me, but I had a hard time believing Mary's willingness to crop everything of her old life and switch to a nocturnal, secluded existence. Her work was everything to her and once she meets Rhage, we never hear about it again. (Side note: Same complaint in Lover Unbound Book 5 in the BDB.) I think this is the biggest mark against the female characters. They give up EVERYthing for their men, and only live within the context of their relationships with the BDB members.

Other things I noticed three books in:

- The first "shitkicker" reference happens on page 15.
- The extrahanious H's are coming fhast and fhurious. Seheriously, iht nheeds to stohp. Iht's fhreahking ahnnohying.

Anyways, I'm sticking with the series for now. There's enough that Ward is doing right for me to look forward to reading the next installment.

Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book #2)

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:57:38 -0800

author: J.R. Ward
name: Abby
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/25/07
shelves: favorites, romance
review:
Crack. I'm telling you. Ward is pure romance crack. Addicting as all hell, so not good for you, and totally alters your perception of normal life.

Once I can breathe again reading such an OMG HAWT novel, I'll post a more coherent review.

Promise.

Unless I loose myself in Book 3.

Tam Lin

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:29:54 -0800

author: Pamela Dean
name: Abby
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1991
rating: 2
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/18/07
shelves:
review:
I've got to think about this one a bit more. I'll get back to you.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:28:36 -0800

author: Khaled Hosseini
name: Abby
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/06/07
shelves: favorites
review:
A Thousand Splendid Suns is not a happy book. The lives of the two main characters mirror, internalize and reflect back a metaphor for Afghanistan's brutal, weary, bruised history. Whereas I read The Kite Runner as a retelling of Les Miserables, A Thousand Splendid Suns stands in its own, telling the story of Miriam and Laila, wives of abusive and manipulative Rasheed.

I have a hard time comparing this novel to The Kite Runner and feel that the comparison does a disservice to both books. The Kite Runner was about redemption, brotherhood, and righting past wrongs. A Thousand Splendid Suns is much darker, visceral, emotionally draining story, one that more accurately reflects, perhaps, the inner heart of Afghanistan. We often hear of nations being called The Mother Country, so it it not surprising that Hosseini chooses to show us Afghanistan through the eyes of two women, each representing sorrow, heartache and hope as they transition through childhood to motherhood, much like their Mother Country.

A Thousand Splendid Suns pulls no punches and Hosseini steers clear, for the most part, of any overtly social or political commentary. Instead, he lets the actions of the characters reflect the nation and lets the readers to hope, cry, pain and dream with Miriam and Laila.

Is the narrative perfect? No. Does Hosseini have "writer's tics" that detract from the story? Yes. Are some of the plot devices glaringly obvious? Yes. Is is enough to make this a "bad" book? Absolutely not. Hosseini knows how to tell a good, straight up story. No frills. No trim. Just the gut-wrenching truth of being a woman in Afghanistan.

The God of Small Things

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 06:41:07 -0700

author: Arundhati Roy
name: Abby
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1997
rating: 1
read at: 11/07
date added: 11/01/07
shelves: dnf
review:
"It's not you, it's me."

After trying for a third time to read this book, I have given up. I can't get past the adverbs. They annoyed the piss out of me and I had such a strong urge take a red pen and slash out the adverbs so as to tighten up the text. I've always had issues with adverbs, but it wasn't until reading Stephen King's On Writing that my hatred was validated and understood. I recognize that this is a stupid reason to dislike a book. Thus, I know that it's not the book's fault (or the author), but my failure as a reader to appreciate poetic prose.

Therefore, the book is getting shipped to another reader, and getting a DNF for Did Not Finish.

Please don't worry, God of Small Things. It's not you, it's me.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:21:25 -0700

author: Marjane Satrapi
name: Abby
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 10/07
date added: 10/29/07
shelves: favorites
review:
Review forthcoming. I'm trying to get a hold of Persepolis 2, so when I do, I'll write a joint review. (Which may also appear on No Is For Wimps?)

Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book #1)

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:11:58 -0700

author: J.R. Ward
name: Abby
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 10/07
date added: 10/22/07
shelves: beachreads, romance
review:
I'm a late comer to the sheer OMG hotness that is JR Ward. This is one SERIOUSLY sexy writer. Dark Lover is the first in the Black Dagger Brotherhood, which is a group of elite vampires who protect the rest of all the vampires from the Lessors. The Lessors are a group of soulless humans who eventually turn albino and smell like baby powder. (I mean, that is a cool characteristic! I've always thought baby powder had something subtly sinister to it ...)

Beth Randall, journalist and half-vampire, has lived until this moment blissfully unaware that she was half-vampire. Then her father dies and requests that Wrath, the king of the vampires and leader of the BDB, get Beth through her "change", which is a sort of vampire puberty, except that it's painful as hell and some people don't survive. Actually, it sounds a lot like puberty.

Big surprise - Wrath and Beth fall madly in lust/love with each other and get down to some serious sexx0ring. We're talking the kind of stuff that steams up the bedroom windows while you're reading it. The kind of scenes you pray to god that no one's reading over your shoulder while you're on your commute, but so good that you're not about to stop reading.

... and the rest of the plot's pretty damn good too.

Each subsequent book in the series deals with a different member of the BDB, so there's lots more to look forward to.

The only slightly nit-picky thing that took me out of the novel? The names of the BDB members: Wrath, Vishous, Tohrment, Zsadist, Rhage and Phury. PHURY?!? Maybe it's the English major in me, but the deliberate, wanna-be-goth punk misspellings really irked me. But to paraphrase Ward, "you can't really name a vampire Francis or Herman."

Touche, JR. Touche.

The Cry of the Dove: A Novel

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:01:27 -0700

author: Fadia Faqir
name: Abby
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 10/07
date added: 10/22/07
shelves:
review:

The Secret History

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:09:56 -0700

author: Donna Tartt
name: Abby
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1992
rating: 5
read at: 10/07
date added: 10/17/07
shelves: favorites
review:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt is like drinking the scotch the characters drink in the book: smooth, sweet, smoky and scalding. You keep drinking, having no idea how drunk your getting. Then you try to stand up and the world falls out from under your feet.

The Secret History captured me from the first page with the introduction of the narrator, Richard, and his memories of Hampden College in Vermont. He falls in with a group of "Intellectuals" studying the Classics under the tutelage of an eccentric professor. A few members of the group try to re-create the ecstasy of a Bacchanalian festival, and in a horrific turn of events, murder a local farmer while in their trance.

While the murder is central to the story, it was the aftermath and VERY surprising ending kept me on the edge of my seat and reading until late in the night. Tartt has written an excellent novel, telling a great story, but also exploring and satirizing the stereotypes that pop-up in liberal arts colleges. Plug in any private liberal arts college and the story would read the same. It is also an interesting discussion about the place of the ancient ideals of honor, justice, beauty and piety in the modern world. Who possesses these traits and are they punished or rewarded?

This is a book I highly recommend to anyone looking for a good, stirring read that will leave you feeling a little drunk and disoriented after the last page --- in a good way. :)

Thursday Next: First Among Sequels (5th Thursday Next Novel)

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:18:39 -0700

author: Jasper Fforde
name: Abby
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 10/07
date added: 10/10/07
shelves: favorites
review:
J'adore Jasper Fforde. In this fifth novel in his popular Thursday Next series, we find Thursday a little older, wiser, and facing her multiple personalities as written in the previous books. Add a cheese smuggling scheme, the disintegration of Spec Ops, a serial killer loose in the Book World, the return of Goliath, appearances by Aornis Hades, the Minotaur and Felix8 (or 9), the rapidly approaching End of Time, a Stupidity Surplus, a great Moral Dilemma to be solved, and the disappearance of all the humor from Thomas Hardy novels, and you've got a wham-bang zinger of a Fforde novel. The literary humor and puns are delicious, the plots are zany and fun, and Thursday, as always, is a delight to be with.

Fforde is in top fform with Thursday Next: First Among Sequels. I highly recommend it for Fforde Ffans. If you haven't discovered the joy of Jasper Fforde, pick up the first in the series, The Eyre Affair. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:07:35 -0700

author: Marisha Pessl
name: Abby
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2006
rating: 1
read at: 10/07
date added: 10/10/07
shelves:
review:
Like The Secret History, this story also involves a lone outsider, coming to a private school, getting caught up in a group of elitist-students and their unconventional teacher-mentor. Unfortunately, when held up to the brilliance of The Secret History, Calamity Physics looks like nothing more than the younger, annoying, desperately insecure and despised sibling of an older, wiser, wholly self-confident genius.

The character of Blue Van Meer had the potential to enter the ranks of great teen heroines of the modern era and I enjoyed following her exploits when she was doing things, rather than wanking on about pop culture topics that in a few years will be completely obscured. However, it was the discursive meandering into inane pop culture and Blue's too perfect behavior (until the last few chapters) that kept her from being at all believable. However, any credibility the novel built up through the character of Blue was lost with the wildly unbelievable ending and denouement.

If it wasn't for my extreme loathing of this book, it would probably have earned the grade of DNF (Did Not Finish.) However, there was something so appalling, like rubber-necking to look at a car accident on the highway, or like reading about Britney Spears' latest exploits in the tabloids, that despite my abhorrence of this book, I was compelled to finish it.

Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:20:11 -0700

author: Anthony Bourdain
name: Abby
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 09/07
date added: 09/12/07
shelves: favorites
review:
True confessions: I love Anthony Bourdain. Therefore, I came to this book already adoring the author, his honestly, sarcasm, ultimate snarkiness and his ability to enjoy and appreciate the joy of food from all around the world.

This is book is a punch in the gut of the restaurant industry, highlighting Bourdain's experience coming up in the field through the 1970s, 80s and 90s. The sex, the drugs, the rock and roll, the crazies, the geniuses ... it's all here told in an engaging, shocking, honest style. The one thing that irked me after a while was the over use of italics to emphasize important words. This got really annoying very quickly. Bourdain's tone and narrative POV is strong enough that he doesn't need to pepper every sentence with italicized words. He comes across loud and clear without the stylistic pyrotechnics.

This was one of the better memoirs I've read and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in food, cooking, or the interesting culture of "foodies" and celebrity chefs.

The Witch of Portobello

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:25:27 -0700

author: Paulo Coelho
name: Abby
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2007
rating: 2
read at: 09/07
date added: 09/09/07
shelves:
review:
I really, really wanted to like this book. I've heard wonderful things about Coelho and was excited to try him out, I love topics that deal with witchcraft and things fantastical, and I'm a sucker for redheaded heroines.

But ...

I found this novel and its ideas on the nature of spirituality really preachy, pedantic and overblown. I was so annoyed by the middle of the book that I nearly it down, but the cover art convinced me to keep trying. Surely the artist must have been inspired to create such a beautiful cover ... except that in the publishing world, cover artists rarely have time to read the books they're designing for, so it's unlikely there was much "inspiration".

I'm going to give The Alchemist a try once I have a new library card at the Cambridge Public Library, but I'm not going into it with too much hope. Who knows, maybe I'll be surprised.