75 Books...More or Less! discussion
Archive (2009 Completed)
>
Stacie's Books For 2009
message 51:
by
Stacie
(new)
Jul 01, 2009 01:27AM
58. Mister Monday- Garth Nix (I enjoyed this one; I found myself fascinated by the House and its Denizens. I'm looking forward to reading more in the series. A fast, entertaining read.)
reply
|
flag
59. The Invisible Man- H.G. Wells(This one didn't really impress me. Most of the story came across as slapstick so when the ending came around, which was supposed to tense and exciting, it didn't really work. I might have been more impressed if I hadn't read War of the Worlds, a much better book, first. This is one of the few times that I'll say that the movie was better than the book.)
60. Teahouse of the Almighty- Patricia Smith (This is a slim volume of poetry- 48 poems, 91 pages- but it explodes in your head like a deployed airbag: loud and fast, leaving little little hurts behind that somehow let you know you are still alive. I picked this up last night after work, at about 1A.M., and there are poems in this book that I've read three and four times already- it's one of those books that you keep in your lap after finishing just in case something demands to be read again. And in my case, again and again. I keep coming back to the first poem "Building Nicole's Mama" with it's kick in the gut "And now this child with rusty knees/ and mismatched shoes sees poetry as her scream/ and asks me for the words to build her mother again./ Replacing the voice./ Stitching on the lost flesh.")
61. Sunday- Thomas Lux (Poetry is an odd thing- sometimes, 'like' and 'don't like' aren't very good descriptions of opinion. These poems didn't strike an emotional chord with me, so I can't say I 'liked' them but they did make me think, my brain gnawing at the words to get at the meanings, trying and retrying the words to find the rhythm... which felt good. So... not a favorite, but I'm not unhappy I spent money and time to read it.)
62. Half Promised Land- Thomas Lux (I liked this collection better than "Sunday" but it won't be finding it's way to my 'favorites' shelf or anything)
63. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (After I watched the movie I wanted to read this again- it was just as good as I remembered :) I've got about four other things I'm in the middle of and that I should finish... but I think I'm going to dive into Deathly Hallows because I love these books so much.)
64. In the Dark- Ruth Stone (I wasn't blown away by this collection, but there were several poems that I liked a lot: Interim, Writer's Block, and What is a Poem? particularly. I'll be looking for more of her work.)
Paula wrote: "Well, I'm glad you didn't hate it! ;)"Definitely didn't hate it :) I wish I could hear her read her own work though (that's the hardest part about poetry for me, not knowing if I've got the rhythm and cadence right because it makes such a huge difference)
65. Cleopatra: Last Queen of Egypt- Joyce Tyldesley (This was a pretty quick and easy read- for a history. Dr. Tyldesley does an admirable job of making the mess that is the Ptolemaic family tree, if not crystal clear, at least understandable. As usual, her writing is clear and easy to follow-and not too dry... Everybody knows how Cleopatra's bid to retain her country and her crown ends, but the chapter on her failure and her death still made me sad!)
66. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- J.K. Rowling (Yes, there are plot inconsistencies. Yes, it could be called 'Harry Potter and the Long Camping Trip'. Yes, it's a lot darker than any of the others, with less focus on the quirky wizarding world... but I've read this book- or listened to the audio version- half a dozen times or more, and I still laugh, hiss and cry all the way through. To me, that's a good book. And a very worthwhile way to spend a Friday :} )
I'm on your side. I contend that HBP is better-written, but DH is definitely exciting!
67. Grim Tuesday- Garth Nix (I'm enjoying this series so far. I like the House and the Secondary Realms, and the characters are quirky and enjoyable. This is, in theory, a seven book set [only six books are finished:] with each book representing a day of the week, a virtue and a vice... although I have no idea how Nix is going to manage to cover Lust without killing the series for me- the protagonist is a 12 year old boy. That's in book five so I guess I'll have to wait and see.)
68. The Time Machine- H.G. Wells (Another enjoyable Sci-Fi classic. I'd give it 3 1/2 stars because the visuals and descriptions are well done, though the expositions slow it down in spots, but the 'relationship' with Weena just creeps me out.)
69. The Book for my Brother- Tomaz Salamun (This rather slim volume of poetry took me about a month to finish because I was only able to sit through a few pages at a time. I really liked "Nile" and "The Writing", and there were a few others that I liked well enough, but for the majority of the poems... well, I'm just going to assume things got lost in translation.)
70. The Alchemist- Paulo Coelho (I was expecting not to like this at all; very bad associations with miserable college courses. Imagine my surprise when I was completely charmed by the story. I guess it really is better to wait until you want to read something, as opposed to being told that you should read it... and then what you should think about it once you are done. Ok, climbing down off soapbox now, but they were really bad professors. Anyway... The story is written like a fable, fairly quick, deceptively simple and it invites contemplation without demanding it.)
71. Cell- Stephen King (This was a re-read for one of my book clubs. Pure brain candy :) Not King's best work, but still a fun read. Oddly enough, I preferred the audio version, because when I read the hardcopy I found it distracting that it didn't read like what I'm used to from King- there's no slow build up, no early character development. The action starts on page 7! There were some things towards the end of the book that I was disappointed with, but they were not out of place in the story, just my personal preferences.)
Stacie, I always enjoy your comments . . . I haven't read "The Time Machine", but I've seen the movie classic a couple of times. I'm trying to remember who/what Weena was . . .
Kay wrote: "Stacie, I always enjoy your comments . . . I haven't read "The Time Machine", but I've seen the movie classic a couple of times. I'm trying to remember who/what Weena was . . . "<<<<<<>>>>>
Weena is the girl he finds in the future. In the movie she's very sweet and innocent (and conveniently attractive!), but in the book she's basically a brain damaged golden retriever in a human shaped body (granted, all of the Eloi are, but I still found them creepy). He spends a lot of time carrying her around and petting her. And then lamenting about how much she had come to mean to him.
72. Year's Best SF 9- David G. Hartwell and Katherine Cramer, eds. (Usually I don't read the 'Year's Best' anything anthologies, because most times my idea of 'best' differs greatly from the editors'. But this was free and, surprisingly, it wasn't too bad. My favorite was the Joe Haldeman entry 'Four Short Novels' and there were good entries from Octavia Butler, Nancy Kress and John Varley.)
73. The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eight Grade Bites- Heather Brewer (Nothing spectacular, but it was ok. The story takes a few liberties with the vampire/dhampir legends but nothing too bad. Brewer's vampires don't sleep in coffins and can go out in the daylight- even if they don't like to- but at least they don't glitter :] )
74. Big Towns, Big Talk- Patricia Smith (I stared at this screen for a long time trying to formulate a description of the book, of the poetry. The closest I can come is to say that it made me feel that I was more, after having read it, than I had been before. I realize that's the goal of poetry- of any form of communication- but this one actually managed to do it!)
75. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?- Philip K. Dick (An interesting premise, but surprisingly- and you'll have to forgive the sci-fi blasphemy here- clumsy execution. The theme deals with what it means to be human, an important subject matter (and staple of the genre) I'll grant you... but the writing itself is clumsy and full of bad grammar, which was just distracting. Oh, and PKD used 'emphatic' and 'empathic' interchangeably all throughout the story... despite starting with the same three letters, the two words do not have even remotely the same meaning! Arrgh! Perhaps it reads better with the aid of mind altering substances... *sigh*)
Susanna wrote: "Congrats! :D"Thanks :)
76. Night Shift- Stephen King (This is a re-read for one of my book clubs. Fast, easy and fun. There are quite a few really good stories in this collection that have been made into truly bad movies- sadly, a frequent result of filming King's stories. I think my favorite is "Quitter's, Inc.", a story about a company that guarantees the protagonist will quit smoking... for a price. )
77. Judgement of the Pharaoh: Crime and Punishment in Ancient Egypt- Joyce Tyldesley (I read a lot of ancient history so I was really happy to discover that almost all of the information in this book was new- or newish- to me. Tyldesley's writing is easy to follow and her conclusions are sensible and well developed. Oh, and this had the best curse ever! Not appropriate for mixed company, but definitely funny ;p )I seem to have hit a bit of a slowdown in my reading, having recently been introduced to games on Facebook- I can't believe I've only read two books this month.
Stacie wrote: "Hey, look at that... I'm at 75 :) "Congratulations!!!
78. Duma Key- Stephen King (I've had this book since it came out but kept putting it off- I'm not sure why. Once I started I couldn't put it down. Ok, not quite true... I got to page 435 and looked up and realized that it was full dark... and I was alone in the house... so, yeah, I set aside until daylight ;) But I picked it up the next morning and didn't stop until I'd finished! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like most of King's longer works it starts out slowly and by the time you reach the end every event seems to have been inevitable. There are quite a few nods to Lovecraft in the story but luckily King is a much better writer, though there are some instances when he falls into the Lovcraftian mode of telling you something is horrible instead of showing you the thing and letting you feel horrified.)
79. Rage- Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King (Chosen for Banned Books week. Not his best work, but not bad either. The most interesting thing about it is that it's the only mass market title by King (to my knowledge) that's out of print. King himself went to the publisher and asked that the title be taken out of print after the book was found among the possessions of individuals committing school shootings and the book was suspected of having some kind of influence. The story actually reminded me of a modern take on "Lord of the Flies" with the way that the students/hostages reacted to the situation. I'd recommend it mostly to die-hard King fans.)
80. The Golden Compass- Philip Pullman (Also read in honor of Banned Books Week... and also because it's very good and I wanted to read it again :D Anecdote time ;) I went to buy a new copy, because my old one was falling apart, but couldn't find it in the young adult section. When I asked for help, it took 3 clerks to finally track it down- no one could decide what genre it fell under! The argument went that it was either children's fiction because the two main characters were children, young adult fiction because the books are long and the storyline gets progressively more complex and dark throughout the series, science fiction because it's set in an alternate/ Steam Punk universe, or fantasy because of the talking animals... and it was eventually found in with the adult science fiction because of the 'controversial themes'. Not only did I get to buy myself a nice new copy of a book I love, I got to have an interesting discussion about it first :D)
81. The Strain- Guillermo del Torro, Chuck Hogan (You can tell that this story is told from a filmmaker's perspective. The pacing, the visuals, the scene changes are all pure 'Hollywood Summer Blockbuster'. Like most summer movies the story is predictable- and not particularly original- but that's part of why it's satisfying. It's entertaining, easy to read, there is never any doubt who it's safe to get attached to and, because you're told up front that this is the first part of a trilogy, you don't get annoyed that the ending isn't an 'ending'... it's a 'set up'. )
82. Dracula- Bram Stoker (I have an odd love/hate relationship with this book. I'm not really a fan of epistolary style novels, they always seem disjointed to me, and there's just something about the Victorian era man that just makes me root for all the main characters to die horribly... but that said, there are still scenes that just grab you by the throat and squeeze. This particular 'read' was actually a 'listen' and I found that I enjoyed the audiobook version [unabridged, narrated by Robert Whitfield:] far more than the written one. Listening to the story while driving to and fro let me step back far enough to enjoy the story and not get bogged down by how much I personally wanted to hit the men ;) I still tend to root for Dracula, though!)
Stacie wrote: "82. Dracula- Bram Stoker (I have an odd love/hate relationship with this book. I'm not really a fan of epistolary style novels, they always seem disjointed to me, and there's just something about ..."LOL! I've always wanted to read the original "Dracula" as well as Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein". I'm intrigued with the idea of an audio version . . . I'll probably go that route.
83. Odd and the Frost Giants- Neil Gaiman (This was... cute. It was quick and easy, more for young children and without the wider appeal of some of his other children's works... say, Coraline, which is an absolute favorite of mine. I listened to the audiobook version and I love Gaiman as a narrator... at least of his own works- I don't think I'd like him reading someone else's stories though. The point of this rather disjointed ramble is that it was an enjoyable listen, but not something I'd classify as a 'run-out-and-buy-this-book-NOW' kind of story. Not bad, just a little underwhelming.)84. Coraline- Neil Gaiman (My reaction to Odd made me want to revisit one of his stronger stories. Coraline is one of my favorites, and much better IMO than Odd and the Frost Giants. They both have a surreal feeling, but Coraline is also creepy... perfect for Halloween :) Other Mother and Other Father are as creepy as any traditional monsters!)
Stacie wrote: "83. Odd and the Frost Giants- Neil Gaiman (This was... cute. It was quick and easy, more for young children and without the wider appeal of some of his other children's works... say, Coraline, whi..."Stacie, I read Coraline earlier this year, and "Creepy" is exactly how I found it, too. Couldn't put it down.
85. The Mist- Stephen King (I had seen the movie, which I enjoyed, but never read the book... novella... whatever- at 230 pages I'm going to count it as a book- and decided that Halloweentime was a perfect time to remedy that. As if I ever need an excuse to read King :D I really like the way he uses description.)
86. The Lost Symbol- Dan Brown (I'm embarrassed to admit I paid money for this. I've read the other Langdon books and enjoyed them, and it looked like- once I got past the clumsy first few chapters- I was going to have fun with this one too. And to be truthful, I was enjoying myself... right up until he started to reveal the story's big 'mysteries'. Then I was just embarrassed for Brown. The last ten chapters or so are painfully cringe-worthy.)
87. Skeleton Crew- Stephen King (I really enjoyed (most of) the stories in this collection. I've seen most of the (really bad) movies based off of some of the stories included but, as usual, "the book is better"!)
88. Alpha Beta: How 26 Letters Shaped the Western World- John Man (There were a couple of times where the technical linguistic terms lost me (right around chapter four, which was a little daunting) but for the most part this was well written and straightforward. There is a lot of 'non-alphabet' history covered for a book nominally about alphabets, but it is interesting and held my attention all the way through. With the exception of a few pages at the start of chapter four there was nothing that put this out of the depth of a layman reader.)
89. Coyote- Allen Steel (Despite some technical flaws in the writing- the author makes some errors with his use of tenses and uses the wrong character names a time or two- I really enjoyed this story. But then I've always had a soft spot for colonization/pioneer sci-fi.)
90. The Secret Country- Pamela Dean (This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, and several scenes and ideas from the book have stayed with me throughout the years so when I found a used copy of the book I had to snap it up. Sadly, this did not live up to a reread. The concept is still interesting and there are things about it that I liked, but the execution is clumsy and the dialog is awful. Oh, and I wanted to throttle every single character.)
Stacie wrote: "90. The Secret Country- Pamela Dean (This was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, and several scenes and ideas from the book have stayed with me throughout the years so when I found a used copy of..."LOL on wanting to throttle every character! I can related with some of the books I've read. Do you ever wonder why you keep reading when you find a book is like that?
Kay wrote: "LOL on wanting to throttle every character! I can related with some of the books I've read. Do you ever wonder why you keep reading when you find a book is like that?"Well, I keep hoping that it will get better! You know, that perhaps the author is using a wonderful device called a character arc (for example, while reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, who did not want to take that surly, angsty teen-aged boy by the robes and shake until his teeth rattled?) Plus, sometimes the really annoying people get blown up in truly spectacular fashion. What can I say? I guess I'm an optimist ;)
Stacie wrote: "Kay wrote: "LOL on wanting to throttle every character! I can related with some of the books I've read. Do you ever wonder why you keep reading when you find a book is like that?"Well, I keep hop..."
You made me laugh AGAIN! For me, sometimes it's like a T-shirt I saw about a character on Seinfeld that said something like "obnoxious, yet fascinating".
91. Under The Dome- Stephen King (A disappointing effort from an author I adore. He switches between past and present tenses, apparently for no other reason than that he can, and there is one gratuitous and self-indulgent segment where he switches to an omniscient narrator... completely breaks the flow and tension of the narrative. The premise itself is interesting- very Lord of the Flies- but the execution is mediocre, which disappointed me because King is a much better writer than that. Or at least he can be.)
92. A Christmas Carol in Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas- Charles Dickens (I realize most people only know this by it's shortened title, and I'm not trying to be a literature snob here, but if more people were mindful of the full and correct title then perhaps they wouldn't be surprised when their six year olds start screaming in the movie theatre when Marley's jaw drops off... or at least they might expect it and take said screaming six year olds out until they are no longer traumatized. Grr... Anyway... I've finally gotten to where I enjoy this book. This is one of those stories that schools love making required reading- 7th grade, 10th grade and college Freshman Lit courses in my case. Unfortunately, my teachers all had an incredible talent for sucking all the wry humor and enjoyment out of it. It's a good thing I'll listen to anything narrated by Jim Dale- it was his audio version that convinced me to give it another try and I'm glad I did!)
93. The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells That Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In- Charles Dickens (I'm discovering that Charles Dickens is not a good author to read when you're a kid- his prose is too intricate, and without an understanding of the history/ social conditions he addresses the stories and characters are so alien that they are very hard to identify with. Coming at them from an adult perspective, with a much better understanding of the framework his works are set in I'm finding that I like them very, very much. Well, some of them anyway.)94. A Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home- Charles Dickens (This is not one of the Dickens' stories that got better with time. I did love the passage at the beginning describing the 'contest' between the cricket and the teakettle, but the rest of it... it was the worst kind of smarmy Victorian melodramatic romance.)
95. Wi'tch Fire- James Clemens (Despite the gratuitous use of apostrophes and a very weak attempt to create a dialect for his og're I enjoyed this one. It was a fast read and his characters were interesting. Granted they follow the typical fantasy 'party' make up familiar to anyone who has ever played or read D&D- warrior, barbarian, thief, druid, ranger, sage, mage/cleric- but it was still fun and the take on magic was interesting. There are several more in the series and I expect I'll pick up at least one more and see how it progresses.)
75 Books...More or Less!
Books mentioned in this topic
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (other topics)Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (other topics)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (other topics)
