to say i "read" this is a bit deceiving as about halfway through i got bored and began to skip ahead, reading a sentence or two from every chapter to get a general idea of what happened, and then reading the last page. the description of the book sounded really good, but the book itself was tedious. ]]>
bookshelves: kid-young-adult-books
i can see how kids love the percy jackson books. they are not masterpieces, perhaps, but they pop with action and they encourage kids to have a look at greek/roman mythology, and you can't hate that. apparently riordan is planning a new series based on egyptian mythology, i'll definitely check those out also. ]]>
bookshelves: started--never-finished
nope, i tried. gave it a couple of dozen pages. love you eoin, but you are no douglas adams. nobody is. let's just leave the hitchhiker universe alone. ]]>
bookshelves: to-read
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"keepsake was my airplane read. might even finish it now that i'm home, it's not bad."
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bookshelves: currently-reading
it's not bad, as far as airplane reads go. got me through a night flight from north carolina. i may even finish it at home. ]]>
bookshelves: to-read
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i enjoyed this book, but it will not be my favorite pratchett. it has many pratchett-type keen observations, but isn't as sharp and funny as some of his previous works. i imagine a soccer fan would get more out of it, too. nevertheless, a less-than-par pratchett is still really good, and i weep with relief, as i've been fearing what his health problems would do to his writing. he's still there, our terry. and for however long he can put them out, i will read them with relish. and mustard. and a pie. ]]>
oooooh, audrey, you HAD me, you really did!
the first half of this book has all the tragic romance and gothic atmosphere you could hope for, excellent notes of creepiness, family secret that is poisoning the waters, etc. then i spent the second half of the book thinking, "wait ... what??"
in her zeal to pack in plot twists, it got completely ridiculous to the point where i started skimming a bit to wrap it up. the worst part is, the plot twists were somehow simultaneously both surprising and lame. a sudden bizarre change in attitude on the part of one of the twins leads to a request so outlandish, the other characters should have run screaming from the idea. but after some token protest, the preposterous plan moves forward, and with such banality i skipped whole pages to see if it went off or not. and then the story continues ... and continues ... and yadda yadda ... and then it ... ends. on a loose thread. what??
well, the sophomore work when an author has put out a dazzler for her first novel is bound to be a letdown, and as far as letdowns go, this is not a devastating one. it has moments. i'll still be all over another niffenegger novel, when there is one. hopefully she'll have worked out the kinks. ]]>
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