Book Blogger Hop

 






It's Friday! That means  it's time for Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jenn at Crazy For Books. This is a fun meme where bloggers get to find new and interesting blogs to read and follow. Post your link, answer the question, find fun new blogs to read.
  
This week's question for Book Blogger Hop is:  
Who is your all-time favorite book villain?"
Oh my! This is a good one!  I probably have several, but since I have been reading The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss lately, the only one I can think of right away is Ambrose.  He is such a horrible person -- so far, anyway. I don't know how the book or the series will end, but right now, Ambrose is my favorite villain. Is favorite the right word? Because I really don't like him.

You

You by Nuala Ni Chonchuir
purchased from Kennys Bookshop
Description from publisher website:
Debut novel from established short-story writer and poet about a 10-year-old girl who lives with her separated mother and two brothers. Set against the semi-urban backdrop of the River Liffey in 1980, the story unfolds through the narrator’s observations and interactions, and her naïve interpretations of adult conversations and behaviour. Heartbreaking at times, but also optimistic, humorous and enchanting.

My take:
This book was sent to me by Des Kenny in my latest parcel through Kennys bookclub*. I had no expectations about the book except that it must be good because all the books Des sends are good. This book was rather unusual -- I have never read another book written quite like this one.  Rather than try to explain, let me demonstrate by quoting the first few lines of the book:

Your ma used up all the juice again. Last week you asked could she get two cartons of orange from now on, instead of only one, because there was never any for you and your brother Liam.

The entire book is written this way.  I gather that this is where the title comes from. Once I got over my first uncertainty about this manner of writing, I was drawn into the story. The story is told from the point of view of a ten year old girl and it is captivating. The reader gets a view of how she sees people and events and attempts to understand what is going on around her -- often failing to really understand how the adults in her life think or feel.  While written from the point of view of a child, the picture of the people involved is complete and sympathetic. This is a troubled family and the tragedy that strikes them resonated with me. So tragic and yet there is humor and optimism there too. I was really impressed at how well this story worked. I read the book in about a day total. It was hard to put down once I got involved in the story. There is so much that I would love to discuss, but I don't want to give too much away -- this book should be discovered by each reader on their own.  This story keeps popping into my head and I am sure I will have to read it again.

*Kennys Bookclub is a wonderful service provided by Des Kenny. I blogged about it early on, but the basics are this:

• You choose the amount you want to spend on books and at what intervals you would like the books sent to you.
• Des picks the books that are sent -- subject to approval. If you don't like them, you can return them. However, I have yet to be disappointed in anything that has been sent to me so far.

Every time I receive a parcel, it's like Christmas -- it really is a surprise because you don't know exactly which books will be included. If anyone is interested in Irish literature, I would recommend Kenny's Choice: 101 Irish books you MUST read  by Des Kenny as a starting reference point.

My Man Jeeves

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
purchased kindle edition from Amazon.com
Description from BarnesandNoble.com:
This collection of eight short stories, first published in 1919, features Wodehouse's most popular characters, the comic duo of Bertie Wooster and his drolly omnicompetent butler, Jeeves. Highlights include "Leave it to Jeeves" and "Jeeves and the Hard-boiled Egg." Rounding out the collection are four stories featuring a Wooster-like character named Reggie Pepper.

My Take:
I read this book because I have been wanting to read some Wodehouse books and in an attempt to make myself do this, I also joined the Wodehouse Challenge.  My Man Jeeves is a short collection of stories, some of which involve Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. Some were about Reggie Pepper and his misadventures. Poor Reggie didn't have a Jeeves to help him get out of trouble --- or to get him into further trouble -- depending on the situation.  These stories were short and funny and not very complicated or difficult to follow.  It was mostly just an easy, fun read for me.  Wooster is a British aristocrat who basically can't seem to function without Jeeves to help him out.  Jeeves is the ever patient, loyal, slightly sarcastic, intelligent, and long-suffering valet to Bertie Wooster.  I must say that Jeeves pretty much makes these stories what they are.  Bertie knows several young men who are basically the same as he is -- unemployed or barely employed and generally lacking in direction -- except that none of them seem to be as financially well off as Bertie. One of said friends always has a problem that needs solving  and Bertie always asks Jeeves how to solve the problem. The elaborate schemes that Jeeves comes up with are pretty chuckle worthy. I didn't have a laugh-out-loud experience while reading this book, but I did chuckle a lot.  I also enjoyed the glimpses into the life of a wealthy man of leisure of the period. 

Stoner

Stoner by  John Williams
purchased kindle edition from Amazon
Description from Goodreads:
William Stoner is born at the end of the nineteenth century into a dirt-poor Missouri farming family. Sent to the state university to study agronomy, he instead falls in love with English literature and embraces a scholar’s life, so different from the hardscrabble existence he has known. And yet as the years pass, Stoner encounters a succession of disappointments: marriage into a “proper” family estranges him from his parents; his career is stymied; his wife and daughter turn coldly away from him; a transforming experience of new love ends under threat of scandal. Driven ever deeper within himself, Stoner rediscovers the stoic silence of his forebears and confronts an essential solitude.John Williams’s luminous and deeply moving novel is a work of quiet perfection. William Stoner emerges from it not only as an archetypal American, but as an unlikely existential hero, standing, like a figure in a painting by Edward Hopper, in stark relief against an unforgiving world.

My take:
Stoner is an amazing, beautiful book. At times, the story is just heart-breaking. His marriage is a prime example of this.  The relationship is just so bitter and sharp and delicate - and absolutely perfect in the depiction of the way William and Edith relate to one another. His mortal, life-long enemy, Lomax is another example of a heart-breaking situation. I just felt so sorry for Stoner while reading certain scenes. But the description of his discovery of literature and his new found love of learning was wonderful. There are numerous examples of his constant desire to continue to read and learn throughout the book.

. . . there would come to him the awareness of all that he did not know, of all that he had not read; and the serenity for which he labored was shattered as he realized the little time he had in life to read so much, to learn what he had to know.

This is the story of a life. A life well-lived, full of the joy of learning and teaching as well as heartbreak and troubles that were personal, financial and professional. Much of the story is heart-breaking, but there is also this sense of a life lived with quiet purpose and strength. Stoner does get the love relationship he deserves, but it is a short-term thing, which is one of the bitter sweet events of his life. But I felt that he found a solace in his books and teaching career - even though Lomax made sure that his teaching schedule was mostly freshman level classes. There are also quiet, subtle victories that made me smile and admire this quiet, shy, studious person.

Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)

Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher
purchased Kindle edition from Amazon.com
Description from Goodreads:
Harry Dresden--Wizard

Lost items found. Paranormal investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he's the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the "everyday" world is actually full of strange and magical things--and most of them don't play too well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a--well, whatever.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get... interesting.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

My Take:

I found this to be a funny, fast, enjoyable read. I have read several reviews on Goodreads that found the character of Harry Dresden to be sexist and some even went so far as to accuse the author as well. I don't think I could go that far.  I found Harry to be good-hearted and acting on the best intentions. Now the way he went about acting on his intentions wasn't necessarily the best route sometimes, but I didn't find him offensive. I thought he was more awkward than anything else.  I found the story to be fast paced, and enjoyable.  I have heard from several different people and other reviewers that the books get better as you work your way through the series.  I do plan to read some more of the books because I think they are fun. I do hope they continue to improve.

I watched the short lived series before reading the book, so I was probably influenced somewhat by that. While I like some of the changes in there series - like the different take on Bob -- I am willing to give the books a fair shot.

Hating Olivia

Hating Olivia by Mark SaFranko
review copy provided by Harper Perrenial
Summary from Goodreads:
Max Zajack's life is cheap rooms, dead-end jobs, and suicidal fantasies until he meets the alluring and mysterious Olivia Aphrodite, and everything goes to hell.


Max is a struggling musician and wannabe writer. His life is in a rut until one night, while playing a gig at a local club, he gazes out into the crowd and sees Olivia. Before long, they are sharing a bed and host of dark vices that begin to consume them. Their love turns toxic, sending them spiraling downward toward the inevitable. Violently romantic, viscerally honest, Hating Olivia is the story of two loners whose obsessive love brings them to the edge of destruction.

My take:
This book initially sounded intriguing, but somehow it was different than I expected. I'm torn on this one.  There are things that I liked about the book, but the characters were not really very likeable. Olivia is just trouble from the get-go. I also would not call  Max and Olivia' relationship "love" in any real sense - obessession, most definitely - but not love. The story is told from Max's point of view, so we only get his interpretation of Olivia's motives for her behavior.

Max is just this guy who reads all the time and thinks he is too smart or too good to work like everyone else, so he holds down a series of low-level, unchallenging jobs to pay the bills --- but only when he has to.  He would prefer to let Olivia support him while he spends his time reading and supposedly working on his novel.  For most of the book, Max gets nothing useful done. All he cares about is not being required to actually work and having sex with Olivia. And occasionally talking about writing his book. He knows he is just stumbling through his life, but he keeps doing it.

The relationship that Max and Olivia have is just so wrong on so many levels.  They are one of those couples that bring out the worst in each other. We've all known a couple or possibly been part of such a couple.  It is painful to watch and it was painful to read about them. But here's the thing -- I couldn't put the book down once I got a couple of chapter into it. Not much happens, and while I didn't really like Max or Olivia much, I thought Max was pretty funny and the writing is very good. There are lots of literary references throughout the book, which were fun. And, I wanted to see if Max and/or Olivia made it through to the other side of their completely awful relationship.

De Bello Lemures, Or The Roman War Against the Zombies of Armorica

De Bello Lemures, Or The Roman War Against the Zombies of Armorica by Lucius Artorius Castus
purchased kindle edition from Amazon
Description from Goodreads:
A recovered Latin text tells the story of a struggle between Roman legionaries and the undead in 185 AD. Lucius Artorius Castus leads an expedition to Gaul to defeat a rebellion against the rule of the Emperor Commodus - and gets more than he bargained for when his enemies rise from the dead to fight again. The power of the zombie horde is amplified by the Babel of Ancient Rome's religions and superstitions, and the terror the undead bring in their wake foreshadows the incipient medieval darkness already creeping into the world at the end of Rome's Antonine age. Richly annotated, this mashup of survival horror and alternate history takes the reader on a bracing journey into one of ancient Rome's dark corners.The book is structured as a work of nonfiction, with a foreword describing the history of the Latin document and its solecistic title, a "translation" of the text itself, and extensive footnotes. It is a loving homage to the paperback nonfiction products of university presses - a classics text reimagined as a postmodern horror tale.

My take: There isn't too much I can say about this book. It is a pretty standard zombie story, but the Roman history twist is different from the usual zombie fare. I feel that it is pretty dead-on for what it is trying to do.  I think it reads like Tacitus -- which is sort of what I think the author was going for. There is little to no real character development - which is how the ancient histories are written. The frequent footnotes about historical aspects and the Latin and Greek words translated throughout keep up the ancient Roman document premise and add some fun and interesting reading.  This an extremely short book, but fun and easy to read. I liked the idea behind it, which is why I ordered it in the first place. I think it works out well.  I would happily recommend this book to anyone who likes the zombie genre and/or Roman history.

Book Blogger Hop and Follow Friday (5)

 
It's Friday, so it's time for Follow Friday hosted at Parajunkee's View . It's also time for another Book Blogger Hop hosted by Jenn at Crazy For Books.
 
This week's question for Book Blogger Hop is:
Why do you read the genre that you do? What draws you to it?"
My reading tends to be pretty eclectic, so I read many types of fiction, including the classics, historical fiction, paranormal, some young adult. I look for a great story and characters that are believable.
 
This week's question for Follow Friday is:
What makes up your non-human family?
At the moment, we have no non-human members, but there has been considerable talk of adding a dog to our family in the near future. I would love a cat as well, but I am extremely allergic.

2011 E-Book Reading Challenge

The 2011 E-Book Challenge is hosted by The Ladybug Reads. Since I got a new Kindle for Christmas, I will be reading most of my books on it. I will be aiming for the Possessed Level - read 50 e-books in 2011.

Wodehouse Reading Challenge

Okay, one more challenge. I've been intending to read Wodehouse and this is the perfect opportunity. This challenge is hosted by The Little Bookworm at Wodehouse Reading Challenge. I hope to read some of the Blandings Castle books, but my real interest is in the Jeeves and Wooster series.