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July 05
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Colby
gave
 
to:
Interview With the Vampire (Vampire Chronicles #1)
by Anne Rice
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my rating:
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Colby said:
"I had a hard time rating this book. In fact, I had a hard time finishing this book. In fact, I didn't finish this book.
The first half I enjoyed rather largely. The characters, for me, were compelling. Lestat, the vampire who seemed to be nothing...more
I had a hard time rating this book. In fact, I had a hard time finishing this book. In fact, I didn't finish this book.
The first half I enjoyed rather largely. The characters, for me, were compelling. Lestat, the vampire who seemed to be nothing but a foolish predator, but from time to time showed a predilection towards something more, and Louis, who struggled with his vampirism and seemed to want to retain the best of his humanity while being an immortal murderer. There were some times in the first half of this book where I felt Anne Rice made some very astute philosophical statements.
About halfway through, though, I started running into a problem. The book seemed, by degrees, to be getting very uncomfortably sadistic, and not for the purpose of moving the plot along or illustrating points, but for sadism's sake. That is a tremendous shame, because I think it could have very well been a fantastic book as a whole. Finally I quit reading, and probably will not finish it.
Good first half, though! Excellent, excellent characterization all around. ...less
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June 16
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Colby
gave
to:
The Creative License: Giving Yourself Permission to be the Artist You Truly Are (Paperback)
by Danny Gregory
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my rating:
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recommended for: people who want to be creative/think they aren't creative
Colby said:
"I just wanted to say "amen" a whole lot while reading this book by Danny Gregory, which basically is one big argument for why we should still be artists and why being an artist has gotten such a bad rap in our society.
We have been trai...more
I just wanted to say "amen" a whole lot while reading this book by Danny Gregory, which basically is one big argument for why we should still be artists and why being an artist has gotten such a bad rap in our society.
We have been trained by our society several tragic things:
1) Creativity is a you-have-it/you-don't issue.
2) Great artists are great because they were born with a lot of talent.
3) Art only has value if the artist makes money off of it.
4) Art is a selfish venue/not a real occupation.
The book is basically a pep talk to get the cautious reader to start drawing and exploring his/her creative self, and I enjoyed it immensely. There are a lot of ideas in here, and I think everyone would be better off to give it a go. ...less
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Colby
gave
to:
The Prince and the Pauper
by Mark Twain
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my rating:
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Colby said:
"I enjoyed it. Mark Twain's style is witty and feels as contemporary as anything I like to read. He sometimes went off about how humorous the numerous servants of the king with their overly precise titles (Royal Napkin Holder, Royal Whipping Boy, etc....more
I enjoyed it. Mark Twain's style is witty and feels as contemporary as anything I like to read. He sometimes went off about how humorous the numerous servants of the king with their overly precise titles (Royal Napkin Holder, Royal Whipping Boy, etc.) for too long; the joke either got very thin, or he was going to humor with an edge of sarcasm or social satire. I don't know. Anyway, the historical element was interesting, too, especially with the footnotes. He did his research, which is always cool.
I definitely enjoy Twain's writing style a little more than Dickens, perhaps because he's American and seems to speak the same language, although Dickens gets deeper and has more profound thoughts. Not to say Twain doesn't get deep, because he does. He just does it in a way that's less ... not exactly pretentious, but yeah. Less pretentious. He's definitely not very pretentious.
...less
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May 27
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Colby
read and liked
Angela's
review of Twilight (Twilight Series, Book 1):
"Pure fluff. It was a fun read on a rainy weekend, but given all the hype I was expecting a little more. It didn't help that I recently read Tananarive Due's My Soul To Keep, which...more
Pure fluff. It was a fun read on a rainy weekend, but given all the hype I was expecting a little more. It didn't help that I recently read Tananarive Due's My Soul To Keep, which was a way more thoughtful and thought-provoking exploration of some similar ideas (immortal male and human female in love, and the moral and practical issues that result). [Edited to add: Note: My Soul To Keep is an adult book - unlike Twilight, it's not PG-13. Just in case this review prompts someone to pick it up, and that's an issue...]
I was also somewhat disturbed by the whole "powerful, controlling male who is faster, smarter, better than anyone else/weak, dependent female who needs to be constantly protected or rescued" dynamic. It's nice that Bella seems to realize that this is an issue towards the end of the book, but aside from a bit of whining, she doesn't seem to be actually doing anything about it. Here's hoping she develops more of a backbone in the subsequent books. ...less
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Colby
read and liked
Carina's
review of Twilight (Twilight Series, Book 1):
"What reeled me into reading this book was the hype it got from many, many people raving about the demi-god (but really eternally damned) Edward Cullen. The potentially flawed relationship (of epic proportions!) between a super-hot vampire and an ordi...more
What reeled me into reading this book was the hype it got from many, many people raving about the demi-god (but really eternally damned) Edward Cullen. The potentially flawed relationship (of epic proportions!) between a super-hot vampire and an ordinary girl piqued my interest, mostly because I'm a big fan of Buffy (you know, the vampire slayer) and her relationships with both Angel and Spike are very, very engrossing.
Sadly, the love affair of Edward Cullen and Bella (not Isabella) Swan leaves a lot to be desired.
The novel has a terribly dragging narrative and while it does have its charming, almost endearing, points, this book, on the whole, fails to bring to the table what it potentially promises. Most of the supporting characters are the most interesting, but they are not built up enough because Meyer spent too much time dwelling on what Bella is eating.
It reads like bad, novel-length fan fiction and is scattered with an impossible number of Mary-Sues, including both the main protagonists.
"Twilight" could have been great, but it just mostly feels like a cop-out, young adult vampire novel, oversaturated with impossible "love" and a thousand more cliches....less
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Colby
gave
to:
Twilight (Twilight Series, Book 1)
by Stephenie Meyer
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in May, 2008
Colby said:
"I hope it doesn't offend anyone that I give this book such a low rating, but in the context of the types of books I normally read, I couldn't possibly give it more than two points.
I got interested in this book after reading the author's bio and ...more
I hope it doesn't offend anyone that I give this book such a low rating, but in the context of the types of books I normally read, I couldn't possibly give it more than two points.
I got interested in this book after reading the author's bio and decided, since I'd heard a lot about it and there is apparently a movie coming out based on it, to read it all in a straight shot.
It was okay. There were things I liked and things I didn't like. I can't honestly say I liked the book, but I also can't really say I disliked it.
The beginning of the book had some promising characterization that didn't really pick up for the rest of it. In fact, everything seemed to be kind of stalled to a standstill by the incessant love story which went nowhere. Unless you count professing love to each other for 200 pages "development". The constant references to Edward's beauty were distracting, and, in my opinion, broke up the narrative flow. Is it because Edward is supposed to be that distracting?
I dunno. It seemed like it was more because the author was in love with Edward, herself.
Overall, it was kind of like eating a bowl of popcorn for dinner. Light, not unpleasant, but not at all filling. ...less
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May 19
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Colby
gave
to:
Hard Times (Enriched Classics)
by Charles Dickens
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in May, 2008
Colby said:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
There was some interesting payoff, but not entirely, although when Mr. Bounderby was exposed as the fraud he was, I definitely had a big grin on my face for the whole scene.
Also I enjoyed the juxtaposition of Mrs. Sparset's noble blood to certain activities she lowered herself to, all in the name of ... well, I never did quite figure out why she was so incredibly obsessive about catching Louisa in the act of cheating. But whatever!
After reading this, I think Charles Dickens was an environmentalist? Plus: I'm glad I don't live in the industrial era.
...less
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April 22
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Colby
gave
to:
The Writer's Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing (Paperback)
by Frank A. Dickson, Sandra Smythe
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in April, 2008
Colby said:
"I read this in an attempt to pick up something worthwhile to help me out with writing the novel I'm working on. First published in 1970, this book was a little dated (lots of references to typewriters) and even sexist in places, but the first half of...more
I read this in an attempt to pick up something worthwhile to help me out with writing the novel I'm working on. First published in 1970, this book was a little dated (lots of references to typewriters) and even sexist in places, but the first half of it regarding creativity and writing in general was really helpful.
The things I picked up from this book: Creativity is like a muscle which you can't sit on and expect to always be there. It's a use-it-or-lose-it sort of thing, which I fully believe since I find it hard to get back into writing and drawing when I take even a week off.
The other thing I picked up was the 1000 words a day rule to become a writer. I can see the value in this one, too, because the 1000 word point is about what I can comfortably write in any given day. Sometimes I get inspired and write twice that, but less doesn't seem to allow me to get into the mode.
Anyway, the last half of this book was pretty useless, as it's all intuitive stuff like "How to make your characters loveable" "How to come up with a plot" and "How to write dialogue". Other than the fact that I really need to learn proper grammar in a lot of cases for my dialogue, I didn't pick up anything I didn't already know from this part.
Overall though, it's a fair-to-middlin' book which is not without value. ...less
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April 04
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Colby
gave
to:
The Bhagavad Gita (Penguin Classics)
by Anonymous
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in April, 2008
Colby said:
"I hate to give a religious text a bad grade, but I just plain didn't get a whole lot out of this one. It seemed like many of the chapters included a whole lot of praising of God, and not a lot of anything else. Maybe that's what's important to Hindus...more
I hate to give a religious text a bad grade, but I just plain didn't get a whole lot out of this one. It seemed like many of the chapters included a whole lot of praising of God, and not a lot of anything else. Maybe that's what's important to Hindus. I can't say I know. Anyway, I really found myself wanting more meat from this.
There was an interesting point, though, when once it was put that out of thousands of people there might be only one that seeks truth, and out of the truth seekers there would only be a few that find it. Well, it made me think, anyway.
I guess I'm one who didn't really find it in the Bhagavad Gita. ...less
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March 31
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Colby
gave
to:
Lilith (Paperback)
by George MacDonald
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my rating:
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read in March, 2008
Colby said:
"This book is some crazy stuff. So George MacDonald is definitely the father of modern fantasy. I could see the elements that have been handed down, and echoed in the modern day piles of crap that pass as "fantasy literature".
This book,...more
This book is some crazy stuff. So George MacDonald is definitely the father of modern fantasy. I could see the elements that have been handed down, and echoed in the modern day piles of crap that pass as "fantasy literature".
This book, however, was very enjoyable. There was a lot of religious symbolism, which is something that seems to be missing from modern fantasy almost entirely. In fact, it moved me nearly to tears at least once that I can remember.
The long sleep! At first it is frightening and repulsive, then by the end, MacDonald makes it desirable, and even to be longed for. So what if I want to die! ...less
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