Cory Day’s Comments (group member since Aug 18, 2012)

Cory Day’s comments from the Reading with Style group.

10.8 Comfort Read
Sacrifice by Brigid Kemmerer

+10 Task ( I rated Secret 5 stars )
Low Lexile – no styles

Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 675

10.6 Short Stuff

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link

Review: This book continues my difficulties getting into short stories. I don’t believe it’s that I don’t “get” them – but it’s possible I’m not willing to try to “get” them. Kelly Link is well-regarded all over the place as a master short story writer, and the blend of reality and fantasy is something that should appeal to me. Unfortunately, every time I moved on to another story I’d pretty much forget the previous one. They all just left me hanging. That being said, Link is clever – she has interesting ideas and funny sentences all over the place. She even manages to pull in pop culture references without making them feel like they’re already dated. I appreciate her skill, but don’t love the stories.

+10 Task (O. Henry Award – 2013)
+10 Not-a-Novel (short stories)
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.4, 20.7)

Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 665

20.10 Higher Ed

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson

Review: Steven Johnson did a great job of taking an unpleasant topic and making it interesting and manageable. The book is primarily about one man (John Snow) and his quest to discover how cholera spreads and then convince everyone else that the prevailing wisdom of the time is wrong. Today, it’s hard to believe people, including medical experts, believed that “miasma” spread disease, rather than contaminated water, etc., but it took a LONG time to shift the tide. It’s interesting to me how they could have been so right and so wrong at the same time – the conditions in which people, especially the poor, lived in London in the 19th century were horrific and partially contributed to the spread of disease, but not for the reasons they thought. I did want a little more of the urban planning focus Johnson brings some of in the conclusion, but that’s because the “cities” part of the title is what interested me in the beginning. Also, I suggest not trying to read Regency romance novels set in London while reading this book – it loses some of the, um, romance thinking about the gross sanitation in the city.

+20 Task (http://www.k-state.edu/ksbn/)
+10 Review
+10 Not-a-Novel
+15 Combo (10.4, 10.5 - #38 on list, 20.1 – shelved 21 times as 19th century)

Task Total: 55
Grand Total: 625

10.4 9, 10, 11 Letter Word

The Bad Boy Billionaire's Wicked Arrangement by Maya Rodale

Review: The premise of this is cute – termed book 1.5 in the Bad Boys and Wallflowers Series, it’s a modern-day version of the story I just read, The Wicked Wallflower. In fact, the main character is writing a historical romance based on her experiences. Unfortunately, it’s short and undeveloped and only part of a single story. Apparently the other two segments, related to the other two historicals, complete the story of Duke and Jane. I’m not sure I’ll be reading them.

It’s a decent premise – Jane meets a guy at a party, the guy turns out to be a billionaire, and Jane’s friend announces an engagement between the two on Facebook to try to cure Jane’s heartache. Duke goes along with the charade because it’ll help him look more respectable in the eyes of the venture capitalists he’s courting. The two of them fall in lust, if not yet love. Unfortunately, nothing is fully developed, to the point where Duke tells Jane he’s told her things no one else knows – including the readers of the book. It’s a good example of telling rather than showing. Also, there are numerous references to pop culture and contemporary technology – that already feel dated. As a librarian, 28-year-old Jane wouldn’t be as clueless about basic things like Facebook as she is portrayed – or maybe her being fired from her previous job was warranted.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 570

10.4 9, 10, 11 Letter Word

The Wicked Wallflower by Maya Rodale

Review: I’m taking a break from work right now, and I thought that would mean I’d get all kinds of reading done. For whatever reason, I’m finding it harder to concentrate on much more than graphic novels and romances. Oh well! This is the first in the series that continues with Wallflower Gone Wild, which I just read. I didn’t like this one as much, probably because a good portion of the tension stems from something between a love triangle and a cheating type story – not my favorite plot line. The premise is cute – a group of wallflowers desperate to marry within 3 months hatch a plan to try to get Emma’s long-time beaux to propose – by putting an engagement announcement in the paper saying Emma is engaged to a duke. Wackiness ensues, including the best part – a trip to said duke’s aunt’s house for a contest that will determine who inherits her fortune. Aunt Agatha is by far my favorite character, and it was worth reading the book to read her interactions with her nephew and Emma. All in all it’s a fine book but I preferred the sequel.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 550

20.6 Underrated

Girl Genius, vol 11: Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell by Phil Foglio

+20 Task (pub. 2012, 345 ratings)
Graphic Novel, no styles

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 530

20.4 Realism

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Review: Macbeth was one of my high school reading assignments, and I’m pretty sure I’d neither read nor seen it performed since, although one of the seasons of Slings and Arrows dealt with it and its themes. One of the things I noticed is that I know a lot more about Scotland now, or am at least more familiar with Scottish geography and names. Other than that, rereading it didn’t bring all that much more to light – it’s a well-known play, and a rather short one, at least in page count. I’m sticking with my original three star rating, even if it’s one of the most enduring stories of greed, guilt, and madness out there.

+20 Task
+10 Review
+10 Combo (10.7 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespe..., 20.10 - http://www.utexas.edu/ugs/frr/archive...)
+10 Not-a-Novel
+25 Oldies

Task Total: 75
Grand Total: 510

10.4 9, 10, 11 Letter Word

Wallflower Gone Wild by Maya Rodale

Review: I had a lot of fun reading this book. Sure, it’s a predictable historical romance – heroine is about to be “on the shelf”, hero is tragically misunderstood, etc. – but the humor hit me just right. The author does a lot of capitalizing for effect, and that made me laugh, but some people might find it over the top. It also had a little case of mistaken identity, which, while a little unbelievable, is one of my favorite tropes. I do wish there had been a little less reliance on a lack of communication to create tension – in a lot of cases, if a conversation had just been finished, the couple would’ve ended up understanding each other and falling in love a little earlier, but all in all I loved it and wanted to read the next in the series right away.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 435

10.7 Honored Authors

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll (Lexile 940 and 910)

Review: I’d read these classics by Lewis Carroll when I was a kid, and of course I’ve seen the Disney movie, but it’s been a long time since I did each of those. When I signed up for a Science Fiction and Fantasy Coursera course, I decided to listen to this instead of rereading it. It makes sense that, as a classic kids book, this really works as an audiobook. The wordplay Carroll uses really shines in audio form – I hadn’t remembered (and maybe never noticed) all the homophones and other language silliness Alice encounters. Wonderland and the Looking-Glass world are slightly creepy but fun, and it was great to listen to these stories on my long drive from Virginia to Pennsylvania.

+10 Task (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Ca...)
+10 Review
+10 Oldies (published 1865)
+10 Combo (10.4 – adventures, 20.1 – shelved as 19th century 158 times)

Task Total: 40
Grand Total: 415

10.1 Square Peg

Wicked as They Come by Delilah S. Dawson

Review: A friend of mine read this book recently and really enjoyed it, and since she’d sent me some of the best lines and it sounded funny, I picked it up. It was an interesting experiment – I figured out that she definitely pays attention to the writing more than I do and that I pay a lot more attention to character development and motivations than she does. In the end, it was a good read but not my favorite, and I really do think my friend sent me the best and funniest lines. The premise sounds really silly – a woman, who works as a nurse and is coming out of an emotionally abusive relationship, picks up an old locket at an estate sale and ends up being transported to an alternate world called Sang, which is inhabited in large part by what amounts to vampires and vampire animals. It’s unlike any urban fantasy/paranormal romance book I’ve read – Sang is kind of a combination of steampunk with some carnival elements – interesting. But the character development and romance was a little rushed, so it’s a 3-star book rather than higher.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 375

10.8 Comfort Read

Saga, Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughan

+10 Task ( I rated Volume 1 5 stars )
Graphic Novel – no styles

Task Total: 10
Grand Total: 355

10.3 Iceland/Norway

Nemesis by Jo Nesbø

Review: This is the second Harry Hole novel I’ve read, although I think it’s the fourth in the series, and since I have the tenth book on my shelves, I’ll have to catch up! Jo Nesbo writes in a unique way, with lots of little tricks. Harry will have dreams or flashbacks or watch videos, but it will be written as though he’s experiencing it contemporarily with the other events in the book. Perspectives switch from Harry’s to the criminal’s to other characters’, but it’s not always clear which character is which. In this book, it’s even more pronounced than I remember from The Redbreast, since there are two murders (plus an additional one in the past), all related, being investigated at the same time. Even though I basically guessed what was going on pretty early in the book, Nesbo managed to keep me guessing.

+10 Task
+10 Review

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 345

20.9 War Babies

Slightly Married by Mary Balogh

Review: Slightly Married is a predictable but relatively well-written historical romance. The last few I picked up didn’t hold my attention, so it was nice to have this one move quickly, which is what I want from a fluff book like this one. As the title suggests, it involves a marriage of convenience, but since it’s a romance, the couple falls in love in the end. My biggest criticism was that while the romance was well-developed, the sex scenes fell flat and the ending was still rushed. I did like a lot that the heroine wasn’t a virgin and even though she was older than 21 she didn’t feel like an old maid. I plan on reading the next in the series, and may end up adding Balogh to my list of go-to romance authors.

+20 Task (born 1944)
+10 Review

Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 325

10.5 Dr. Salk

The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

Review: This is the first book in the Rizzoli and Isles mystery series, although Isles isn’t present in this one. It’s a decent police procedural with a tough female cop who has to be that way to navigate the male-centric world she grew up in and is now working in. I suppose some people might find that part heavy handed, but recent experience in my own job made me sympathize. I wonder if this was actually meant to be a series at the beginning, or if the focus changed, because at least as much of the book followed a male colleague of hers as Rizzoli herself – and I have to admit I liked those parts better. I still struggle with mysteries that bounce around among perspectives – I like to try to solve the crime, but seeing things from the point of view of the person who committed it feels like cheating. All in all, I liked this and will be picking up the second one at some point to see how the series develops.

+10 Task (#112 on list)
+10 Review

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 295

20.8 Middle East

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

+20 Task (set entirely in Iran)
Lexile 650, no styles

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 275

10.2 9, 10, 11 Letter Word

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

Review: The Invisible Bridge should have been right up my alley. When I was a kid I got my hands on as many Holocaust novels as I could, and my interest in the subject has not abated as I’ve grown older. Also, the main character is an architecture student and I’m an architect, so I expected to feel a certain kinship with him. In the end, I didn’t love the book and didn’t hate it – it was a solid 3-3.5 star read.

There is a sense of foreboding that pervades any book about the Holocaust, but I felt it in this one more than most. The characters, almost all Jewish, are aware of the impending war and the place Jews are likely to play in it, and the book spans the period just before the war until shortly after the war’s end. I was thoroughly aware bad things were going to happen to most, if not all, of the characters. The problem was that I’m not sure I ever truly cared. Of course I didn’t want them to go through bad things – especially since so many real people did – but I felt an odd sense of disconnection with them throughout most of the book. The time I felt most strongly was probably when Andras was going through architecture school. It was reminiscent of my own time in studio, complete with harsh critiques and sleepless nights, so that was probably the reason.

At the end of the book, the author discussed her inspiration, which turned out to be her grandparents and other extended family. I found myself wishing I had read a different book – one that wasn’t fictionalized. I want to know more about the tremendous people who really lived – not the fictional versions.

+10 Task
+10 Jumbo (758 pages)
+10 Review

Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 255

20.6 Underrated

The Devil in Disguise by Stefanie Sloane

Review: The Devil in Disguise is the first in another series of historical romances revolving around a group of spies. It seems to be the author’s first book, so I’m inclined to go a little easy on it, but I was still far less than impressed. Unfortunately, the plot was not all that exciting, the “spy” parts weren’t all that… spy-like… and the romance was undeveloped. It’s pretty usual for people to fall in love quickly in historical romances, but this one came together far too easily. There were also a number of glaring typos and poor editing choices that distracted me from a less than gripping overall story. There were some interesting side characters, however, and I own a later installment, so I may pick that up at some point and see if the author has improved her craft.

+20 Task (514 ratings, published 2011)
+10 Review

Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 225

20.6 Underrated

Reflecting the Sky by S.J. Rozan

Review: The seventh in Rozan’s Lydia Chin series takes PI Lydia and her partner Bill Smith away from New York and into even more hectic Hong Kong. The mission seems simple – bring a couple of objects to a family friend – but there wouldn’t be a book if complications didn’t ensue. A kidnapping, smuggling, murder – what else could she have expected?

The descriptions of Hong Kong simultaneously made me want to go there and made me afraid of going there – not because of the murders and kidnappings, but because had Lydia not spoken Cantonese it seemed like she and Bill would have been blind there. The descriptions of food made my mouth water, and the subtle romantic tension is always one of my favorite parts in this series.

The book can be read as a stand-alone novel, but some character development would be lost.

+20 Task (379 ratings, published 2001)
+5 Combo (10.2)
+10 Review

Task Total: 35
Grand Total: 195

20.6 Underrated

No Ordinary Groom by Gayle Callen

Review: I found this on a list of romance novels that have something in common with The Scarlet Pimpernel – in this case a “dandy” hero who doesn’t seem smart at all but really has hidden depths. Unfortunately, that particular plot/character point doesn’t hold up in this story, but it was still a serviceable romance novel. I do enjoy a spy hero too, after all…

It follows one of a handful of typical romance plots – a young woman in 1840s London is betrothed to a man she doesn’t know and refuses to like – of course until she falls madly in love with him. The characters were ok but a little uneven and the spy plot was not really wrapped up – but it didn’t make me want to run straight to read the sequel. There were also a few nitpicky typos/grammatical errors/anachronisms that pulled me out of the story.

Side note: I don’t suggest reading a non-fiction book about a cholera epidemic in 1840s London concurrently with a romance set in the same time and place. Thinking about the nastiness of London sanitation makes it a little hard to suspend disbelief…

+20 Task (166 ratings, published 2003)
+10 Review

Task Total: 30
Grand Total: 160

10.8 Comfort Read

The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire

Review: This is eighth book in McGuire’s October Daye urban fantasy series, and it is NOT the place to start. It’s set in a complicated world where the fae realms meet up with modern-day San Francisco. I love this series mainly for the characters – October has actually grown significantly across the eight books, and that’s not always the case. In this installment, the big bad is not totally vanquished, so there is plenty more for the next story. McGuire seems to be starting to wrap things up, which is sad, but I’m excited to see how all the pieces are put together.

+10 Task ( I rated Chimes at Midnight 5 stars )
+10 Review

Task Total: 20
Grand Total: 130