The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
This is the third and final book in the All Souls trilogy that I started two years ago. As with the predecessors, I was spellbound with this one as well (see what I did there-haha).
Picking up where the last book left off, Diana and Matthew have returned from the past to find the two missing pages from Ashmole 782. She's still pregnant with twins, and now one of Matthew's rogue children is out to cause trouble. He wants Diana because she is capable of bearing a vampire's child, and Benjamin will stop at nothing to possess her.
Meanwhile, a friend of Diana's has joined the research team to find out the secrets of vampire, daemon, and witch dna. It works out rather well on that front.
Unlike most trilogies lately, the need to kill off one of the "good guys" wasn't necessary. Sorry to spoil that for you. In many ways, it ended like a Shakespeare comedy, with all the loose ends tied up.
I have immensely enjoyed reading this trilogy, and will miss the adventures of Diana and Matthew, and their band of misfits.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Monday, July 28, 2014
Summer Book #17
Four: A Divergent Story Collection by Veronica Roth
Because I enjoyed the Divergent Trilogy so much, I knew I would read these novellas too. They tell Four's/Tobias' side of the story. I am not sure why I thought these would be good after reading his chapters in Allegiant. Sorry, but Four just isn't that engaging a narrator. He doesn't tell much that I couldn't have figured out without reading these, aside from Four seeing both of his parents before the attack on Abnegation.
What I truly believe is that Ms. Roth wrote the books for the money. They really aren't that good, but she is making a crap ton of money off of them.
Because I enjoyed the Divergent Trilogy so much, I knew I would read these novellas too. They tell Four's/Tobias' side of the story. I am not sure why I thought these would be good after reading his chapters in Allegiant. Sorry, but Four just isn't that engaging a narrator. He doesn't tell much that I couldn't have figured out without reading these, aside from Four seeing both of his parents before the attack on Abnegation.
What I truly believe is that Ms. Roth wrote the books for the money. They really aren't that good, but she is making a crap ton of money off of them.
Summer Book #16
Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Little Golden Book by Diane Muldrow
This entire book is written in the vein of the "All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" poem that was popular in the 1990's. That means the book is short, and can be read in mere minutes, so I am totally cheating by including it in my summer reading list. I couldn't help myself though. I had a ton of the Little Golden books when I was a kid, and if I can bring that nostalgia back to someone else, then this book belongs on this list.
Each page of this book has the lesson learned, and at the bottom in tiny print, it tells where the lesson learned. Coincidentally, the illustrations are all from the Little Golden book. Yes, Poky Little Puppy is here, as is The Little Red Hen, Chicken Little, and The Shy Little Kitten. This book was a walk down memory lane for me, and, as an adult, I think we sometimes need to be reminded of the wonder of childhood.
This entire book is written in the vein of the "All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" poem that was popular in the 1990's. That means the book is short, and can be read in mere minutes, so I am totally cheating by including it in my summer reading list. I couldn't help myself though. I had a ton of the Little Golden books when I was a kid, and if I can bring that nostalgia back to someone else, then this book belongs on this list.
Each page of this book has the lesson learned, and at the bottom in tiny print, it tells where the lesson learned. Coincidentally, the illustrations are all from the Little Golden book. Yes, Poky Little Puppy is here, as is The Little Red Hen, Chicken Little, and The Shy Little Kitten. This book was a walk down memory lane for me, and, as an adult, I think we sometimes need to be reminded of the wonder of childhood.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Summer Book #15
Jumping Off Swings by Jo Knowles
This book was short, but I started it right before I left for an out of town convention, so it took longer than necessary to read.
Told from the point of view of four people: Ellie, Caleb, Josh and Corrinne. Ellie and Corrinne are best friends. Ellie sleeps with Josh (among others, previously), and gets pregnant due to condom use ineptitude. Caleb has had a crush on Ellie since first grade, and Josh is a friend of his. This is the story of a high schooler getting pregnant, what she does, and how it affects those around her. It was only ok.
This book was short, but I started it right before I left for an out of town convention, so it took longer than necessary to read.
Told from the point of view of four people: Ellie, Caleb, Josh and Corrinne. Ellie and Corrinne are best friends. Ellie sleeps with Josh (among others, previously), and gets pregnant due to condom use ineptitude. Caleb has had a crush on Ellie since first grade, and Josh is a friend of his. This is the story of a high schooler getting pregnant, what she does, and how it affects those around her. It was only ok.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Summer Book #14
Son by Lois Lowry
The fourth and final book in The Giver Quartet, this one brings it all together. The book actually starts a little before The Giver does, and in the same community. It tells the story of a birthmother, about to give birth to her first product. Her name is Claire. Things go wrong, and they end up having to do a C-section. It leaves Claire unable to have anymore children, so she is reassigned to the fish hatchery. Claire is left with feelings, and this, as you may remember, is unheard of in her society. She wants to find out what happened to her child, a boy. Turns out, her child is Gabe.
She spends time at the nurturing center just to be able to spend time with her son, though no one knows she is the one who gave birth to him. She finds out he is going to be released, and she leaves the society the same night Jonas leaves with Gabe.
Claire ends up in another society, one more primitive than the one she left. I say this only because they live in huts, and use plants for medicine, much like the society from the second book. Claire has lost her memory, and must try to remember who she is and where she comes from. I am not sure that everything became clear for her, but she knew she had a son and she wanted to find him. One of her friends in the village trained her so she would be able to climb the cliffs and leave the village. She manages it, but at the top, she runs into the Trademaster. She trades him her youth so that she can find Gabe.
Find Gabe she does, but she is an old woman. Gabe is an unhappy lad because he wants to find where he came from. He builds a boat and plans to leave, but Claire has a talk with Jonas, telling her who she is. Jonas in turn talks to Gabe, who finds it unbelievable at first. Gabe then goes to battle the Trademaster so that his mother can be her true age again, instead of about to die.
Sometimes, there was an overabundance of details, and sometimes there weren't enough. It ended well, and it was a good series to read.
The fourth and final book in The Giver Quartet, this one brings it all together. The book actually starts a little before The Giver does, and in the same community. It tells the story of a birthmother, about to give birth to her first product. Her name is Claire. Things go wrong, and they end up having to do a C-section. It leaves Claire unable to have anymore children, so she is reassigned to the fish hatchery. Claire is left with feelings, and this, as you may remember, is unheard of in her society. She wants to find out what happened to her child, a boy. Turns out, her child is Gabe.
She spends time at the nurturing center just to be able to spend time with her son, though no one knows she is the one who gave birth to him. She finds out he is going to be released, and she leaves the society the same night Jonas leaves with Gabe.
Claire ends up in another society, one more primitive than the one she left. I say this only because they live in huts, and use plants for medicine, much like the society from the second book. Claire has lost her memory, and must try to remember who she is and where she comes from. I am not sure that everything became clear for her, but she knew she had a son and she wanted to find him. One of her friends in the village trained her so she would be able to climb the cliffs and leave the village. She manages it, but at the top, she runs into the Trademaster. She trades him her youth so that she can find Gabe.
Find Gabe she does, but she is an old woman. Gabe is an unhappy lad because he wants to find where he came from. He builds a boat and plans to leave, but Claire has a talk with Jonas, telling her who she is. Jonas in turn talks to Gabe, who finds it unbelievable at first. Gabe then goes to battle the Trademaster so that his mother can be her true age again, instead of about to die.
Sometimes, there was an overabundance of details, and sometimes there weren't enough. It ended well, and it was a good series to read.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Summer Book #13
A Dangerous Inheritance: A Novel of Tudor Rivals and the Secret of the Tower by Alison Weir
Being fascinated by the Tudor Dynasty for a decade or so, Alison Weir was one of the authors whose biographies I read to become more familiar with the Tudors. Her books are well researched, and the nonfiction keeps the reader as entertained as the fiction books do. So, when she started writing historical fiction, I knew I would enjoy her books. Yes, there's a lot of untruths in her fiction, but I can overlook that because I know that sometimes you have to fabricate to fill in the gaps.
For me, this book was a tale of two Katherines, with a little Elizabeth I, my favorite Tudor, thrown in. The first Katherine we read about is Katherine Grey, younger sister of Lady Jane Grey, the nine days queen who was executed for treason during the reign of Mary I. The same day Jane married Guildford Dudley, Katherine married Harry, son of the Earl of Pembroke. She was 12. They were not allowed to consummate their marriage, not because Katherine was so young, but because the Earl wanted to see how things would play out once King Edward VI died. In the short time they were married, Katherine found evidence of another Katherine at her husband's family house.
So, Edward VI dies, Lady Jane is proclaimed queen against her will for nine days, and then Mary takes the throne. Pembroke sends Katherine away, and wants her marriage to his son annulled. Katherine serves first Mary, then Elizabeth, but since she is a princess of the blood, Elizabeth doesn't like her much. Katherine falls in love, and marries without royal permission. She ends up pregnant and jailed in the tower of London. She ultimately has two sons, and dies in captivity. From the time she found evidence of this other Katherine, she was fascinated by the story of the two princes in the tower.
This other Katherine, or Kate, as it turns out, is Katherine Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of Richard III. Kate loves her father very much, and doesn't want to believe all the awful things that have been said about him, particularly that he had her cousins, the princes in the tower, put to death so that he could become king. She fell in love with her cousin, but was not allowed to marry him. Instead, she was married off to the Earl of Huntingdon in Wales. At first, he treats her well, but then her father dies, and he's now saddled with the bastard daughter of a traitor. He doesn't treat her so well after that. She is pregnant when they are summoned to court for the coronation of Henry VII, and loses that baby, a son, because she was manhandled by the king's guards when they abducted her on his orders, accusing her of treason. She and her husband are sent back to Wales, where her husband, though he despises her, impregnates her again. Toward the end of her pregnancy, her cousin starts a rebellion against the king, and on his dead body, a letter from Kate is found. He husband is not pleased, and Kate is to be arrested once she gives birth. She gives birth to a dead son, and she herself dies. She never did find out whether her father was responsible for the deaths of the princes.
I am not that familiar with the princes in the tower. I know they were the sons of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward V, and were imprisoned in the tower by their uncle Richard. There is a great deal of supposition, mostly due to Shakespeare's play, that Richard had the princes killed so that he could be king. He also tried to have them declared bastards. There is also supposition that Henry VII had them killed because as long as they lived, they were the rightful heirs to the throne, and he was just a pretender. No one knows for certain what happened to them. Either they were killed, or they were somehow smuggled out and lived out the rest of their days in obscurity.
Being fascinated by the Tudor Dynasty for a decade or so, Alison Weir was one of the authors whose biographies I read to become more familiar with the Tudors. Her books are well researched, and the nonfiction keeps the reader as entertained as the fiction books do. So, when she started writing historical fiction, I knew I would enjoy her books. Yes, there's a lot of untruths in her fiction, but I can overlook that because I know that sometimes you have to fabricate to fill in the gaps.
For me, this book was a tale of two Katherines, with a little Elizabeth I, my favorite Tudor, thrown in. The first Katherine we read about is Katherine Grey, younger sister of Lady Jane Grey, the nine days queen who was executed for treason during the reign of Mary I. The same day Jane married Guildford Dudley, Katherine married Harry, son of the Earl of Pembroke. She was 12. They were not allowed to consummate their marriage, not because Katherine was so young, but because the Earl wanted to see how things would play out once King Edward VI died. In the short time they were married, Katherine found evidence of another Katherine at her husband's family house.
So, Edward VI dies, Lady Jane is proclaimed queen against her will for nine days, and then Mary takes the throne. Pembroke sends Katherine away, and wants her marriage to his son annulled. Katherine serves first Mary, then Elizabeth, but since she is a princess of the blood, Elizabeth doesn't like her much. Katherine falls in love, and marries without royal permission. She ends up pregnant and jailed in the tower of London. She ultimately has two sons, and dies in captivity. From the time she found evidence of this other Katherine, she was fascinated by the story of the two princes in the tower.
This other Katherine, or Kate, as it turns out, is Katherine Plantagenet, the bastard daughter of Richard III. Kate loves her father very much, and doesn't want to believe all the awful things that have been said about him, particularly that he had her cousins, the princes in the tower, put to death so that he could become king. She fell in love with her cousin, but was not allowed to marry him. Instead, she was married off to the Earl of Huntingdon in Wales. At first, he treats her well, but then her father dies, and he's now saddled with the bastard daughter of a traitor. He doesn't treat her so well after that. She is pregnant when they are summoned to court for the coronation of Henry VII, and loses that baby, a son, because she was manhandled by the king's guards when they abducted her on his orders, accusing her of treason. She and her husband are sent back to Wales, where her husband, though he despises her, impregnates her again. Toward the end of her pregnancy, her cousin starts a rebellion against the king, and on his dead body, a letter from Kate is found. He husband is not pleased, and Kate is to be arrested once she gives birth. She gives birth to a dead son, and she herself dies. She never did find out whether her father was responsible for the deaths of the princes.
I am not that familiar with the princes in the tower. I know they were the sons of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward V, and were imprisoned in the tower by their uncle Richard. There is a great deal of supposition, mostly due to Shakespeare's play, that Richard had the princes killed so that he could be king. He also tried to have them declared bastards. There is also supposition that Henry VII had them killed because as long as they lived, they were the rightful heirs to the throne, and he was just a pretender. No one knows for certain what happened to them. Either they were killed, or they were somehow smuggled out and lived out the rest of their days in obscurity.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Summer Book #12
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Yes, I am that weirdo who reads Faulkner and Shakespeare for fun.
I first read this book in 2007, in my American Lit class at SHSU. It is the first Faulkner book I ever read, and that is what made me intrigued by his works. I decided to reread the book because I recently saw the movie made from this novel, and wanted to revisit it. The movie was fairly accurate to the novel.
If there is one thing you should know about Faulkner's style, it's that he is unconventional. He plays around with grammar and punctuation to fit his needs, and he uses dialect to put the reader exactly where he wants them. In this case, Jefferson, Mississippi.
Jefferson is a fictional town. It is supposed to represent Oxford. It is in the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha, which is supposed to represent Lafayette county. Everyone in his stories and novels is connected. It's like a giant spiderweb for a family tree. Faulkner had it all in his head, and he is the only one who knew all the connections. It's part of his genius.
As to the story....It is told from somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen narrators, including Addie Bundren, who is dead. In its simplest terms, it is the story of a dysfunctional family. There's Anse, the father. In my opinion, he's a snake. He tries to make his family feel sorry for him because he has no teeth in his head, that he is long suffering because he gave them everything he had. That may or may not be true. What is true is that he traded his son's horse, that his son paid for himself, and took his daughter's money because he felt they owed him for his suffering.
Next is Addie. She is lying on her deathbed, looking out the window at her son making her coffin. Another son drilled holes in said coffin while she was lying dead in it, and ended up drilling holes in her face. Her death is what puts all the craziness in motion because, some time before, she made Anse promise she'd be buried with her people in Jefferson.
The oldest son is Cash. He is a carpenter. He made the coffin, and on the way to Jefferson, broke his leg. His genius family thought it would be a good idea to put concrete on his leg, and nearly cost him the leg. Next oldest is Darl. This experience of transporting Addie's body to Jefferson has caused him to go crazy. Who could blame him with the father he has? He knows without her telling him, that his sister is pregnant, and that one of his brothers doesn't share his father. He keeps it to himself. He spends most of the book being the voice of reason. After eight days on the road with a corpse, he's had enough, and sets the barn it is resting in on fire in the hopes that they can end the journey. Instead, he is arrested, and his father is the culprit who made sure that happened.
The third child is Jewel. When he was fifteen, he worked his butt off overnight to earn the cost of a horse. The horse his father trades away without consulting him. Jewel is Addie's favorite, and it is because he is the product of something she did for herself. Basically, he's the child of an affair, and Anse has no idea. Jewel spends most of the book brooding over something. The fourth child, and only girl, is Dewey Dell. She got knocked up and hopes to find a cure for that in town. No one wants to help her, and she ends up getting into more trouble. Last is Vardaman. He's very young, and doesn't really understand any of what is going on. The most memorable chapter in the book is his: "My mother is a fish."
So, Addie dies, and the family is going to fulfill Anse's promise to have her buried in Jefferson. The night she dies, there is a torrential rainstorm that washes out two bridges. The Bundrens try to cross the river anyway, and end up with drowned mules and a broken leg. Anse trades some things, including Jewel's horse, to get another wagon team, and they make their way to Jefferson. Nine days it takes. In the heat. Buzzards following them every step of the way. Nearly arrested in one town for causing a public health issue from the smell.
I should mention that all the other narrators are people they know, who interacted with them on the journey.
Great book.
Yes, I am that weirdo who reads Faulkner and Shakespeare for fun.
I first read this book in 2007, in my American Lit class at SHSU. It is the first Faulkner book I ever read, and that is what made me intrigued by his works. I decided to reread the book because I recently saw the movie made from this novel, and wanted to revisit it. The movie was fairly accurate to the novel.
If there is one thing you should know about Faulkner's style, it's that he is unconventional. He plays around with grammar and punctuation to fit his needs, and he uses dialect to put the reader exactly where he wants them. In this case, Jefferson, Mississippi.
Jefferson is a fictional town. It is supposed to represent Oxford. It is in the fictional county of Yoknapatawpha, which is supposed to represent Lafayette county. Everyone in his stories and novels is connected. It's like a giant spiderweb for a family tree. Faulkner had it all in his head, and he is the only one who knew all the connections. It's part of his genius.
As to the story....It is told from somewhere in the neighborhood of fifteen narrators, including Addie Bundren, who is dead. In its simplest terms, it is the story of a dysfunctional family. There's Anse, the father. In my opinion, he's a snake. He tries to make his family feel sorry for him because he has no teeth in his head, that he is long suffering because he gave them everything he had. That may or may not be true. What is true is that he traded his son's horse, that his son paid for himself, and took his daughter's money because he felt they owed him for his suffering.
Next is Addie. She is lying on her deathbed, looking out the window at her son making her coffin. Another son drilled holes in said coffin while she was lying dead in it, and ended up drilling holes in her face. Her death is what puts all the craziness in motion because, some time before, she made Anse promise she'd be buried with her people in Jefferson.
The oldest son is Cash. He is a carpenter. He made the coffin, and on the way to Jefferson, broke his leg. His genius family thought it would be a good idea to put concrete on his leg, and nearly cost him the leg. Next oldest is Darl. This experience of transporting Addie's body to Jefferson has caused him to go crazy. Who could blame him with the father he has? He knows without her telling him, that his sister is pregnant, and that one of his brothers doesn't share his father. He keeps it to himself. He spends most of the book being the voice of reason. After eight days on the road with a corpse, he's had enough, and sets the barn it is resting in on fire in the hopes that they can end the journey. Instead, he is arrested, and his father is the culprit who made sure that happened.
The third child is Jewel. When he was fifteen, he worked his butt off overnight to earn the cost of a horse. The horse his father trades away without consulting him. Jewel is Addie's favorite, and it is because he is the product of something she did for herself. Basically, he's the child of an affair, and Anse has no idea. Jewel spends most of the book brooding over something. The fourth child, and only girl, is Dewey Dell. She got knocked up and hopes to find a cure for that in town. No one wants to help her, and she ends up getting into more trouble. Last is Vardaman. He's very young, and doesn't really understand any of what is going on. The most memorable chapter in the book is his: "My mother is a fish."
So, Addie dies, and the family is going to fulfill Anse's promise to have her buried in Jefferson. The night she dies, there is a torrential rainstorm that washes out two bridges. The Bundrens try to cross the river anyway, and end up with drowned mules and a broken leg. Anse trades some things, including Jewel's horse, to get another wagon team, and they make their way to Jefferson. Nine days it takes. In the heat. Buzzards following them every step of the way. Nearly arrested in one town for causing a public health issue from the smell.
I should mention that all the other narrators are people they know, who interacted with them on the journey.
Great book.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Summer Book #11
The Messenger by Lois Lowry
Third in this series, and let me just say, the end pissed me off.
This one does tie the first and second books together, so that was something. The hero of this book is Matty, who was friends with Kira from the last book. He lives in a new village with Jonas from the first book, although he is known as Leader. In a way, their village is a bit of a utopian situation. Everyone, even though there is something wrong with most of them, is happy and lives in peace, but all of the sudden people are starting to change. Almost like they've sold their souls for something. They are becoming selfish, and want their village to stop allowing new people to move to their town. There is a town vote, and the village decides to close their doors. Matty is sent to let the other civilizations know and to bring back the Seer's daughter, Kira. Will he make it back with her in time?
Third in this series, and let me just say, the end pissed me off.
This one does tie the first and second books together, so that was something. The hero of this book is Matty, who was friends with Kira from the last book. He lives in a new village with Jonas from the first book, although he is known as Leader. In a way, their village is a bit of a utopian situation. Everyone, even though there is something wrong with most of them, is happy and lives in peace, but all of the sudden people are starting to change. Almost like they've sold their souls for something. They are becoming selfish, and want their village to stop allowing new people to move to their town. There is a town vote, and the village decides to close their doors. Matty is sent to let the other civilizations know and to bring back the Seer's daughter, Kira. Will he make it back with her in time?
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