Shomeret's July Reads 4/4

[Shomeret]

16)

Source: PBS Started: 7/23 Finished: 7/24

Why Read: I saw this book on PBS and was interested in the fantasy aspect. The MC sees visions that come true. This is the context of a Victorian boarding school. Normally, I would avoid a boarding school novel like the plague. Ordinary teens drive me up the wall. This is why it's curious that I've been reading so much YA lately. I guess it's because some YA writers have been dealing with teens who are far from ordinary.

Comments: It's a beautifully written tale with emotionally honest characters and painful truths. I definitely want to read the other two books in this trilogy. Rating B+

17)

Source: Library Started: 7/25 Finished: 7/26

Why Read: I saw this on the shelf at the library and opened it at random. It seemed to have interesting information and a cross-cultural perspective.

Comments: It did have some wonderful cross-cultural information that gave me insights into religions other than Hinduism. The author discusses the Indo-European myth material that is drawn on in a great many traditions. I also think I understand both Hinduism and Buddhism better. Rating A

18)

Source: PBS Started: 7/25 Finished: 7/27

Why Read: I saw this on the list of a PBS member who was fulfilling my wish for another book. It was one of the Anne Rice books that I never read, and it suddenly looked interesting, though I thought it might be like Memnoch the Devil which I found overwhelmingly preachy and couldn't read. I started reading Servant of the Bones on the bus, and left the non-fiction book about Shiva at home because I didn't want to take notes about a book or have to think about it deeply on the bus. I thought this Anne Rice book would be spiritual, but less demanding.

Comments: It was preachy. But the first section that took place in Babylon was a beautiful story. The contemporary thriller aspect seemed formulaic. Anne Rice placed an Enoch the prophet in Babylon. There is no record of an Enoch the prophet during this period, though there is an apochryphal Book of Enoch that appeared around this time. Interestingly enough, Christian Kabbalists rely on the Book of Enoch a great deal. Most Jews find it questionable. In the Old Testament, Enoch was the father of Methuselah who was much earlier.

19)

Source: Library Started: 7/27 Finished: 7/29

Why Read: I discovered Dana Cameron while doing a search on archaeology on PBS and wondered why I hadn't heard of her before. I ordered the first one Site Unseen An Emma Fielding Mystery through PBS, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. This is the fourth. Emma Fielding has been excavating the house of an 18th century woman in Massachusetts and finds out that her diary is in a rare books and documents library. While she's examining the library, a fellow scholar is murdered.

Comments: There's no archaeology in this book, but there's some good characterization and the author does some great thinking about both libraries and librarians. As a library student that's of special interest to me. Rating B+

July was my last full month of vacation. There were some incredible reads during the month and a few disappointments. I noticed that I've had no D or F rated books at all this year, so there's been nothing remarkably bad.

School starts August 20th, so my recreational reading will start being limited again. I've already read a great Robin Hood novel in August and I won a Goodreads giveaway copy today. It's a New Zealand novel about a romance between a Maori and an American. I love inter-cultural relationships. I think it will be fascinating and I can't wait to read it.

Shomeret

[Melodie]

I've read a LOT of YA recently, Shom. I agree, I cannot read ordinary teen books. There has to be a supernatural element to them. There have been a lot of good YA supernatural tales in the last couple of years.