An insider’s guide to books.
If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.
Oscar Wilde
I often have been asked what I do with my books once I have finished reading them. My answer: Keep them on a bookshelf to be reread at my leisure. You know I found it a truly awful book if I get rid of it.
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 1)
George R.R. Martin is not the first author to have his story told by multiple characters in the book, but I think that he is the best. He is able to capture the voice of the young and the old, the innocent and the corrupt with equal perfection. The series starts off by hinting at the big “unknown” on the other side of the Wall. Martin masterfully moves all about this world, having us watch as one thing happens as a result of the others that came before. Martin is also not afraid of killing off characters if it furthers the plot. As he gets rid of one voice, he replaces it with another, usually from a completely different view point. Some of the deaths we get to experience from the dying person’s prospective, sometimes from a spectator, sometimes they are a foot note in someone else’s day a thousand miles away. While some of my favorite characters were gotten rid of, he replaces them with others that I found that I had some strong emotion for, usually intense protectiveness or deep hatred. While this is a fictional setting, it gives you a feel for how our world may work if we got to look down on it all from above.
Moon Called
This was my first experience with Patricia Briggs. Overall, my feelings were meh. I am not a big fan of the romance genre. The genre as a whole is predictable in as far as how characters interact with each other. This was half way fantasy and half way romance. The book was great whenever the main character, Mercy, was not dealing with her old fling or her new budding relationship. Mercy is a character that I very much like, being a shape-changing mechanic who owns her own garage. Basic plot: she meets a young werewolf that is attacked in front of her. After killing the attacker, the only thing she can think to do with her charge, she takes him the the local alpha werewolf. Next day, the young one is dead on her door step, the alpha is ripped to shreds, and the alpha’s daughter is missing. Picking up the trail, she goes north to see her adopted father and head alpha of the western hemisphere, and of course her old flame is there. Hilarity ensues, red herrings are found and thwarted, and over all the book was alright. Great as fluff reading on a plane, but I wouldn’t get too invested in it.
Whiskey and Water: A Novel of the Promethean Age
By Elizabeth Bear
This post has been a long time the making. My deepest apologies to the author for the delay in this post. Elizabeth Bear is becoming a contender for my favorite modern fantasy author. Neil Gaiman is still number one, but just barely. Bear brings back many of our old dear friends, and enemies, in the sequel of
Blood and Iron. This book primarily focuses on Matthew, crippled Mage and guardian of New York. Bear also introduces some new, or old depending on how you look at it, players to the struggle. Michael the archangel make an appearance, as do several Princes of Hell, chief among them is Lucifer. Elaine still holds the horn throne of Arcadia, much to her son Ian’s dismay. Whiskey, our beloved steed, comes back with all of the power and majesty that he commanded in the last book, and just when you though the Promethean club was done for, here comes Jane for round two. Bear makes you see one thing while making three others change behind your back. In this writer’s humble opinion, Bear is not only one of the best writers in the fantasy genre, but one of the best fiction writers out there right now. Like the last novel, it is so full of detail, that you must read every word or you will soon be lost. Skimming is not recommended.
So it’s been awhile since I posted anything. Or read anything. Or done anything that I wanted to. On the big plus side to things, I have a new job that requires me to bus about one hour each way. That means two glorious hours every day of reading and working on homework and posts. So you will get to see more from me!! Still trying to find a new apartment in the bay area (wee fun in the not so fun sense). I have so much on my plate, it feels like I have a few plates going. Anywho, that is why you haven’t seen a new post from me in a while.
Scott Lynch
This book is quite possibly even better then the first. Starting from an introduction where Jean is about to kill Locke, to some of the most kick ass ship fights since Pirates of the Caribbean or Master and Commander. Locke and Jean are at it again in a different city, but yet again, they find themselves being the ones that are conned. To the high seas they flee to start thinking how they are going to get out of this one, and come out ahead. In the process, Lynch explores the character Jean further. We knew from Lies of Locke Lamora, Jean is a romantic, a skull-cracking, ax-wielding romantic. One of the sweetest and saddest romances is played out in the book with Jean. I had people asking me if I was alright after reading that chapter because I was crying so hard, and I rarely get emotional over books. Lynch is currently writing the third book in the series, and he had better finish it soon because the bastard leaves you on such a cliffhanger. Locke is also a bit more flushed out, and finally embracing what it means to be the Thorn of Camora. This is a rare series for me, as I hope that it never ends. I gave up on any series of books that was more than five books, thank you Mr. Pierce Anthony and your never ending Xanth series.
So I have always wanted to serve on a Jury. I find the whole process interesting, plus it gets me out of my normal job. This is day two of picking a jury out of the mass of us. But at least I got stuff done. Like a book recommendation, and some homework.
EDIT: So day three is when a deal is reached and we are all sent home. Sigh.
Library Lion By Michelle Knudsen.
I am a sucker for beautiful art in kids books. This one is full of acrylic and pencil drawings that will just melt your heart. The story is just as beautiful and heartwarming. It is centered around this lion, no one knows where he came from. He walks into a library, and starts looking around at the books, sniffing the shelves, and finally finds the children’s sections. He decides to take a nap and when he wakes up, story time is going on. He loves every minute of it. When it is done, he becomes upset and roars. Well, we all know the number one rule of the library: no loud noises. So, the head librarian makes him a deal; if you don’t roar, you may come back for story time every day. It is such a cute book. I went over to the children’s section of my store one day, sat down to read it and by the end I had six children sitting around me. My family has a tradition to give books out at baby showers as we are all big readers. This may become my next gift book.
