Beauty's Punishment by A.N. Roquelare
I was even less impressed with this one than the first one in the trilogy. Why would Beauty deliberately choose to be punished more severely than she was in the palace? I don't think that question is ever satisfactorily answered. What we do know is the first thing she does when she gets in the cart to go to the village for punishment, the first thing she does is screw another slave, one she is seeing for the first time ever. Who does that?
So, they go to the village where they are auctioned off and get new masters. Yea.
This disturbs me because gang rapes are almost celebrated. At one point, Beauty is servicing several men at once and enjoying it, even though it wasn't her choice. Somehow, I have my doubts that, if Beauty were real, this would be something she enjoyed. Worse, Tristan, the slave Beauty screws in the cart, falls in love with his "master" who literally treats him like a pony.
Yes, I am going to read the final book. I spent the money, and it would be a waste to do otherwise. I am not sure what I expected, but what I got wasn't it.
Sunday, June 14, 2020
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Snow Always Lands On Top
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
I liked The Hunger Games trilogy when I read it eight and a half years ago, some better than others. So, when I heard this was coming out, I pre-ordered it. It's a prequel and about President Snow.
I had hoped that, as a prequel, we'd find out what happened that caused the districts to go to war with the Capitol, but as details were released, it increasingly became clear that this would not be the case. Instead, we were going to learn why President Snow was the way he was. For the most part, that's just what we got, though I feel the ending was rushed and didn't answer the pertinent whys.
As previously indicated, this was about Coriolanus Snow before he became President Snow. For the first two thirds, he is in his last year at the Academy, which is the equivalent of his senior year of high school. He is poor, and both of his parents are dead. He lives with his cousin, Tigris, and his Grandma'am. His only hope for greatness is to be awarded a scholarship to attend University, and in order for that to happen, the tribute he is mentoring in the Hunger Games needs to win.
And, poor Snow, his tribute is a small girl from District 12. What chance could she possibly have to win? What conspires is the tenth Hunger Games.
This wasn't a terrible read, but I don't think it was nearly as good as the original trilogy. Still, it was worth the time put in.
I liked The Hunger Games trilogy when I read it eight and a half years ago, some better than others. So, when I heard this was coming out, I pre-ordered it. It's a prequel and about President Snow.
I had hoped that, as a prequel, we'd find out what happened that caused the districts to go to war with the Capitol, but as details were released, it increasingly became clear that this would not be the case. Instead, we were going to learn why President Snow was the way he was. For the most part, that's just what we got, though I feel the ending was rushed and didn't answer the pertinent whys.
As previously indicated, this was about Coriolanus Snow before he became President Snow. For the first two thirds, he is in his last year at the Academy, which is the equivalent of his senior year of high school. He is poor, and both of his parents are dead. He lives with his cousin, Tigris, and his Grandma'am. His only hope for greatness is to be awarded a scholarship to attend University, and in order for that to happen, the tribute he is mentoring in the Hunger Games needs to win.
And, poor Snow, his tribute is a small girl from District 12. What chance could she possibly have to win? What conspires is the tenth Hunger Games.
This wasn't a terrible read, but I don't think it was nearly as good as the original trilogy. Still, it was worth the time put in.
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Not Your Everyday Fairy Tale
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelare
When I read the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy eight years ago, several people told me I should read this trilogy. I kept putting it off, and waited until I could get it fairly inexpensively. That was a week or so ago ($1.99 for the whole trilogy!). I just finished the first one.
I'll be honest: as a middle-aged woman, I find myself single again, and am coming at this from a different perspective than I would have had I read this when everyone suggested it. Given that everyone told me it was better than that other trilogy, I expected better. Plus, it's Anne Rice, an author I typically enjoy, so I thought it would be better. I thought it would be racier. I thought so many things and was severely let down on all accounts.
I will continue to read the trilogy in the hope that I will get what I thought I was going to get out of them, but it's not looking very likely.
When I read the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy eight years ago, several people told me I should read this trilogy. I kept putting it off, and waited until I could get it fairly inexpensively. That was a week or so ago ($1.99 for the whole trilogy!). I just finished the first one.
I'll be honest: as a middle-aged woman, I find myself single again, and am coming at this from a different perspective than I would have had I read this when everyone suggested it. Given that everyone told me it was better than that other trilogy, I expected better. Plus, it's Anne Rice, an author I typically enjoy, so I thought it would be better. I thought it would be racier. I thought so many things and was severely let down on all accounts.
I will continue to read the trilogy in the hope that I will get what I thought I was going to get out of them, but it's not looking very likely.
Saturday, May 16, 2020
KO Book Club Choice 1
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
We had several options, and this is the one I ended up voting for. I was glad it was the one chosen for my school's online book club. I love Jojo Moyes' work, and this was, I think, the sixth book of hers that I have read.
This one is about a group of women in Kentucky in the 1930s. They are part of a WPA program instituted by Eleanor Roosevelt to create libraries in rural areas. These women would ride out into their communities and take books to the residents. Not everyone was receptive, but most were.
The story, as is, would have been fascinating, but Moyes makes her characters so real and believable.
First, there is Margaery. She is the last surviving member of her family. Allegedly, there is a blood feud between her family and another in the area, which will be important, as she is accused of murdering the patriarch of that family. She has no intentions of marrying her boyfriend, Sven, although he would very much like to marry her. She is content with the status quo and thinks a woman should be in charge of her own life--quite the forward thinker of her time.
Next there is Alice. Alice is from England and married to Bennett Van Cleve, one of the owners of the coal mine in the area. Alice would very much like to have a real marriage with her husband, but her father in law is always up in their business (oh, and there's a good chance her husband is gay). Mr. Van Cleve even went so far as to beat Alice because she didn't live up to his expectations as a daughter in law, so she went to stay with Margaery.
There are several minor characters, and all of them put together made for a fantastic read. I was satisfied at the end, which so seldom happens, it seems.
We had several options, and this is the one I ended up voting for. I was glad it was the one chosen for my school's online book club. I love Jojo Moyes' work, and this was, I think, the sixth book of hers that I have read.
This one is about a group of women in Kentucky in the 1930s. They are part of a WPA program instituted by Eleanor Roosevelt to create libraries in rural areas. These women would ride out into their communities and take books to the residents. Not everyone was receptive, but most were.
The story, as is, would have been fascinating, but Moyes makes her characters so real and believable.
First, there is Margaery. She is the last surviving member of her family. Allegedly, there is a blood feud between her family and another in the area, which will be important, as she is accused of murdering the patriarch of that family. She has no intentions of marrying her boyfriend, Sven, although he would very much like to marry her. She is content with the status quo and thinks a woman should be in charge of her own life--quite the forward thinker of her time.
Next there is Alice. Alice is from England and married to Bennett Van Cleve, one of the owners of the coal mine in the area. Alice would very much like to have a real marriage with her husband, but her father in law is always up in their business (oh, and there's a good chance her husband is gay). Mr. Van Cleve even went so far as to beat Alice because she didn't live up to his expectations as a daughter in law, so she went to stay with Margaery.
There are several minor characters, and all of them put together made for a fantastic read. I was satisfied at the end, which so seldom happens, it seems.
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
When the Past Blends with the Future
You Cannot Mess This Up: A True Story that Never Happened by Amy Weinland Daughters
I initially bought this because a friend and former coworker mentioned it on Facebook. The author is from the same area I am, and graduated from the same high school I did (which is also where I teach). This takes place roughly six years before I moved to the same area, but the things she mentions, I can see them in my mind's eye. We even had the same fourth-grade teacher. So that aspect of the book would have put it near the top of my list of great books this year on its own, but then there is the story itself.
This is a weird mixture of autobiographical and fiction, which is not something you usually encounter--ever--but it somehow works. It starts in Ohio in 2014, where Amy currently lives. It is the day before Thanksgiving, and she is flying home to the suburbs of Houston, Texas, where her family lives, to meet with her siblings and parents to discuss financial matters while her parents are still alive and in sound mind to make decisions. She is taking a tiny plane, flown by her husband's boss' wife. She falls asleep on the plane, and wakes just before landing. They land at the wrong airport. Instead of an airport on the west side of town, they land at Hooks airport, mere minutes from where Amy grew up.
More importantly than landing at the wrong airport, they land on Thanksgiving Day, in 1978. Mary, the pilot of the plane, drives Amy to the house she grew up in, but tells her that is has been explained to her family (including her ten-year-old self) that she is a distant cousin from Ohio. She also tells Amy that she can't screw this up, meaning things will still turn out ok is she messes up. What ensues is both hilarious and touching as Amy re-experiences this time with her family, seeing everyone in a different light.
I can't recommend this book enough. Go out and buy it and share it with your friends.
I initially bought this because a friend and former coworker mentioned it on Facebook. The author is from the same area I am, and graduated from the same high school I did (which is also where I teach). This takes place roughly six years before I moved to the same area, but the things she mentions, I can see them in my mind's eye. We even had the same fourth-grade teacher. So that aspect of the book would have put it near the top of my list of great books this year on its own, but then there is the story itself.
This is a weird mixture of autobiographical and fiction, which is not something you usually encounter--ever--but it somehow works. It starts in Ohio in 2014, where Amy currently lives. It is the day before Thanksgiving, and she is flying home to the suburbs of Houston, Texas, where her family lives, to meet with her siblings and parents to discuss financial matters while her parents are still alive and in sound mind to make decisions. She is taking a tiny plane, flown by her husband's boss' wife. She falls asleep on the plane, and wakes just before landing. They land at the wrong airport. Instead of an airport on the west side of town, they land at Hooks airport, mere minutes from where Amy grew up.
More importantly than landing at the wrong airport, they land on Thanksgiving Day, in 1978. Mary, the pilot of the plane, drives Amy to the house she grew up in, but tells her that is has been explained to her family (including her ten-year-old self) that she is a distant cousin from Ohio. She also tells Amy that she can't screw this up, meaning things will still turn out ok is she messes up. What ensues is both hilarious and touching as Amy re-experiences this time with her family, seeing everyone in a different light.
I can't recommend this book enough. Go out and buy it and share it with your friends.
Saturday, April 11, 2020
It's *Not* The End Of The World As We Know It
When The World Didn't End by Caroline Kaufman
Apparently, I have had this one for a while, but didn't realize it. I was going to read something else tonight, but I accidentally spilled Coca Cola everywhere, and my book was a casualty. Oops. This was one of the books I grabbed off of the stack on the bookcase in my living room, and being poetry, it was a quick read.
I am torn on this one. Some of the poems I related to--ones dealing with relationships and being pressured by boys to have sex (I was a teen once). The ones about harming herself and contemplating suicide, not so much. Even the poems at the end, that were supposed to be sort of triumphant, weren't that triumphant.
I didn't hate it, and may even buy her other book of poetry, if I haven't already.
Apparently, I have had this one for a while, but didn't realize it. I was going to read something else tonight, but I accidentally spilled Coca Cola everywhere, and my book was a casualty. Oops. This was one of the books I grabbed off of the stack on the bookcase in my living room, and being poetry, it was a quick read.
I am torn on this one. Some of the poems I related to--ones dealing with relationships and being pressured by boys to have sex (I was a teen once). The ones about harming herself and contemplating suicide, not so much. Even the poems at the end, that were supposed to be sort of triumphant, weren't that triumphant.
I didn't hate it, and may even buy her other book of poetry, if I haven't already.
Apologies
Apologies That Never Came by Pierre Alex Jeanty
I bought this about six months ago, started it and never finished it. It felt right to buy it at the time since I was (and still am) going through a divorce. I felt that odds were pretty good I would relate, as there are several things in my 20+ years of marriage that I will never get an apology for. There are other instances in my life that I will never get apologies for. Reading this, I think I am ok not getting the apologies. The poet seems bitter, which I get, but reading this did not offer me the solace I sought. That in no way means that this wasn't worth the time, just not at this moment for me, I guess.
I bought this about six months ago, started it and never finished it. It felt right to buy it at the time since I was (and still am) going through a divorce. I felt that odds were pretty good I would relate, as there are several things in my 20+ years of marriage that I will never get an apology for. There are other instances in my life that I will never get apologies for. Reading this, I think I am ok not getting the apologies. The poet seems bitter, which I get, but reading this did not offer me the solace I sought. That in no way means that this wasn't worth the time, just not at this moment for me, I guess.
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