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September 23 Maybe Young Readers will enjoy it more Legacy by Cayla KluverMy rating: 2 of 5 stars I had high hopes for this book when I started reading it. The author is still in her teens and I'd heard good things about the book. It started out okay, but didn't seem to maintain it's momentum. The protagonist, a princess who will soon have to marry so her new husband can be crowned the king of her realm, was not a very deep character. I'm sure the author was trying to make a statement about women being as capable to rule as men are, and tries to show the princess trying to change the system. But in the end she fails to thwart the rules, and seems to give in to the powers that be. Maybe subsequent books will change the story, but I didn't find myself wishing I had the next book in the series so I could find out. This seems like an okay first effort, hopefully the author will develop her skills and write a truly amazing story. She's young and has time to learn her craft. View all my reviews >> September 10 Not So Great a Read Empress by Karen MillerMy rating: 2 of 5 stars Read the Kindle version. There wasn't a lot to like about this book. The main character Hekat is a young girl sold as a slave by her father. After convincing herself that she is beautiful and "in the god's eye" her self-confidence lets her rise to become the titular Empress. The theology used in this book is interesting, but also brutal and bloody. The people worship the god who "sees them in its sight". The god is not a capital "G" god, and is an it. They worship it by sacrificing animals on a huge scale, drinking the blood when necessary for their ceremonies, and using scorpion pits to determine who is "seen in the god's eye" and who is possessed of demons. Everything is described in graphic detail, which makes me glad my inner eye isn't great at coming up with accurate pictures of events. The characters are interesting but I didn't find myself caring a much about any of them. Their futures became predictable early on and there wasn't much suspense in getting to the end of the story. Apparently there are two further volumes in this story, which I don't plan on reading. It just wasn't that compelling. View all my reviews >> August 20 Novels of Bleak Futures The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret AtwoodMy rating: 2 of 5 stars I read this book years ago, maybe when it first came out in paperback, and kind of remembered that I didn't like it that well. Since it's coming up in conversations so much, I decided to give it another try. I'm three-fourths the way through it, and still feel the same way I did before. It seems very bleak and depressing. And I've also decided I have a hard time reading those kinds of books. I read to escape bleak and depressing, not to find new things to be despondent over. That's probably why I like science fiction and fantasy so much, or at least the ones that have a positive take on the future. I don't remember exactly how this book ends. If I change my opinion - it'll be posted here. Now that I've finished this book, my opinion hasn't changed. I found the ending unsatisfactory, I like my stories more neatly wrapped up than this was. The author does have a nice turn of phrase, which I found enjoyable. But in the future, my future looking stories will be more optimistic, I think. View all my reviews >> August 09 Horizon: The Sharing Knife, Book 4 The Sharing Knife: Horizon by Lois McMaster BujoldMy rating: 5 of 5 stars Lois McMaster Bujold is known more for her Science Fiction writing, but has done some great work in the fantasy genre as well. The Sharing Knife books fall into the fantasy field. This fourth book in the series continues the story of Fawn and Dag, a farmer girl and a Lake-Walker man who have married and set out to do explore some of the world for their wedding trip. Some of the people they meet along the way have joined them and have become a diverse but close knit group of people. This book brings that journey to a close in a satisfying way. Fawn and Dag meet new people, some of who join them for a time. They also meet the nastiest, most frightening malice Dag has ever crossed in all his years of Lakewalker patrols. This malice threatens everything this group of travelers has dreamed of. The end of the story is very exciting and has an unexpected twist. Lois McMaster Bujold is a great writer, whatever genre she is in. Her characters are vivid, realistic, and you can connect to them and care about them very easily. I would recommend this series to anyone interested in a love story told with sincerity, that has a bit of the magic of a fantasy book as well. View all my reviews >> August 07 Bones Of The Dragon By Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman Bones of the Dragon by Margaret WeisMy rating: 3 of 5 stars I liked the premise of this book. It read like a Scandanavian mythology. The story is about a group of people who worship several gods, but have been told their gods were killed and new gods expect to be worshipped. The priestess knows this is partially true, but is afraid to confirm anything because it will demoralize her people as they battle their enemies. The Dragon in question is embodied in a sailing ship and the priestess is able to call it forth to help in battles. The main male character, Skylan,is young, brash, and thoughtless. He brought misfortune on himself and his people, but redeemed himself by struggling to overcome the obstacles they all faced and succeeded more often than not. I didn't rate it any higher though because I found the reader of this book, Stefan Rudnicki, not to my liking. The story was kind of dark and bleak anyway and his narrative seemed to make it more so. This is one book I wish I'd read in regular book format, since the story itself was so intriguing. View all my reviews >> June 04 The Amulet of Samarkand The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan StroudMy reviewrating: 5 of 5 starsThis is a YA book that was recommended to me by a Children's Programs librarian. I fell in love with it right from the start. I actually listened to the audio book, wonderfully read by Simon Vance. He completely captured the voice of each character. The story is about a young boy being trained as a wizard in a London very much like today's - only wizardry and magic work there. But this isn't anything like the other English boy wizard. Nathaniel is impatient to learn and studies ahead in books his mentor doesn't think he's ready for yet. Nathaniel decides to conjure a djinn (genie), which is difficult and dangerous. The djinn he summons, named Bartimaeus, is one of the best characters an author has ever written. He is mean, bullying, sarcastic, snide, and egotistical. He and Nathaniel get off to a rocky start and then the story really gets started. Nathaniel asks the djinn to accomplish a task that even this self-aggrandizing genie is leery of accomplishing. The escapades from here are exciting, frightening, funny, horrifically sad, and eventually mostly victorious. Jonathan Stroud wrote a wonderful book, complete with snarky footnotes by Bartimeus. Kids will love it, but adults can relish it as well. There are two more books in the Bartimaeus Trilogy; The Golem's Eye and Ptolemy's Gate. Both should be read to complete the tale of Nathaniel and Bartimaeus. View all my reviews. May 31 From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris From Dead to Worse by Charlaine HarrisMy reviewrating: 4 of 5 starsI'm not usually into vampire books, but my daughter talked me into reading the Sookie Stackhouse books and I'm glad she did. They are funny, insightful and entertaining, with scary parts, too. In this eighth book in the series Sookie continues to be involved with the "supes" - the supernatural beings - in her small town in Louisiana. She gets drawn into events that make her question her morality and ethics, and realizes that she is a survivor; she does what she has to in order to survive the events she gets dragged into so reluctantly. Some old friends leave - not in good ways - and new characters appear. Life in Bon Temps goes on, with always another supes crisis looming in the days to come. These books are fast paced and fun to read. I don't think they are for young readers - this isn't the Stephanie Meyers brand of vampirism. Emotions are raw and passions run high. Charlaine Harris has created a loveable character in Sookie, and some interesting individuals to interact with her. They won't keep you up at night with the scary bits, but they will make you think about things in a different way. View all my reviews. May 26 The Graveyard Book The Graveyard Book by Neil GaimanMy reviewrating: 4 of 5 starsI've heard so much about "The Graveyard Book" that I decided I must read it. I'm so glad I did. I thought the story was told so well, it just seemed to move on so simply. The character of Nobody Owens was delightful - I wanted to go find him and bring him home. The various inhabitants of the graveyard were captivating as well. I loved that they came from such different eras and had so much to offer Nobody and that though the language might change, there were certain universal concepts that held true, such as courtesy and respect. The scary parts could be very scary for young readers, I think. But since Noboby was able to overcome every challenge he faced, I think the book makes some good moral points as well. I'm hoping I can get my grandsons to read it when they are old enough. One of my grandsons loves scary things and will take to this story immediately, I think. Like others who have reviewed the book, I hope there may be more Nobody Owens stories. I think he has more to offer with his adventures. View all my reviews. May 23 World Without End by Ken Follett World Without End by Ken FollettMy reviewrating: 4 of 5 starsI listened to the audio book read by John Lee whom I always enjoy as a narrator. As I listened to this long book, I wondered why I found it so interesting. There were several times I thought it was just too long, and yet I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of the narrative by reading or listening to an abridged version. As with "Pillars of the Earth" I found the characters written as compelling; the good people were human and had their faults, the evil people were dispicable but from their point of view they were doing what they thought was right. And, as with the first book, there was a character that I kept hoping would get killed off every time he met one of the protagonists. Ken Follett can write some truly hateful villains. My history lessons have been so long ago that I can't remember much of what I learned about Europe and England during this time period, but the writing is vivid enough to make me realize I was better off born in my own time. The feudal society and the control the church had over people's lives was like an annoying noise in the back of my mind the whole time I listened to this story. The injustices against women and peasant's had me gritting my teeth. The story line about the plague and the medical practices of the time were frightening, with the current day backdrop of swine-ful, or H1N1, in the headlines. It makes you realize that even with our advanced technologies today, the possibility of a plague is still something to put fear in people's hearts. In the end, I liked this book very much, but probably not enough to re-read it any time soon. I do feel it was time well spent to immerse myself in it to enjoy the grandeur and the lowliness of the people's lives. View all my reviews. May 12 Grail<  Grail: Library Edition by Stephen R. LawheadMy reviewrating: 5 of 5 starsI listened to the audio book edition of this story and really enjoyed it. It's hard following the names when listening, but that was the only complaint I had. The story was so different than the usual Grail sagas, I found it intriguing. Stephen Lawhead writes great characters with a lot of depth and color. His battle scenes are always very graphic, but I think pretty realistic to the ways of fighting in that age, in a word - brutal. This series of books has presented the whole Arthurian Legend in a rather unique way, where events that seem ordinary in their day could be embellished over the centuries to the mythic proportions they have today. View all my reviews. DIV> March 30 Mistborn - Final Empire Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon SandersonMy reviewrating: 4 of 5 starsBrandon Sanderson is a new writer for me - I became interested in his works when I found out he will be writing the final book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, since Mr. Jordan sadly passed away last year. Mr. Sanderson has some mighty big shoes to fill. Having said that, I was totally captivated by the characters in "Mistborn-Final Empire", and by the world created. The premise for the magic used was innovative and made sense - if magic ever makes sense, that is. The book was paced well, I found it hard to put down and stayed up later than I should have more than one night. I look forward to reading the next book in the series. View all my reviews. March 29 Coraline by Neil Gaiman Coraline by Neil GaimanMy reviewrating: 5 of 5 starsThis is a book I've wanted to read since I read the first reviews. I'm sorry I waited so long to read it. Coraline is one of those fictional characters I could have carried around like an old friend by now, along with Anne Shirley, Jo March, and Rose Campbell. Even though I read a good portion of this book in the dentist office during the process of having a root canal - I will still think of the book fondly. It was a little creepy, of course. Coraline met some very impressive, nightmarish creatures in her wanderings. I am thinking of seeing the movie, just to see those creatures brought to life. Coraline's adventures and her bravery and intelligence make this a good book for kids to read. Every kid wishes they had "other parents" sometimes, and after reading this they may be careful what they wish for. View all my reviews. Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! by Terry BrooksMy reviewrating: 5 of 5 starsListening to this book was so enjoyable. Dick Hill performed the narration and did an excellent job - as he usually does. The story itself was rather more relevant to today than I expected for a book written in 1986. The main character Ben is a disillusioned, depressed lawyer who can't move on after his wife is killed in a accident. He answers an ad in an exclusive wish book catalog about buying a kingdom with all the trimmings; dragons, fairies, wizards, etc. Trouble starts before Ben even gets to his kingdom, and is compounded each day by new problems. It seems the magic that holds the kingdom together is fading since there has been no king on the throne for 20 some years. As Ben meets each new challenge from the kingdom he overcomes challenges from himself as well. He learns new things about himself and his motives that eventually lead to his victory in saving the kingdom (this is a story about magic, after all). At the end of the book as he stands before his subjects outlining his plans for restoring the kingdom to its former glory, I couldn't help but hear echoes of President Obama's speeches in my mind. Ben is tackling pollution, disparate trade systems, isolationism, and lost hopes. It just sounds too familiar. View all my reviews. December 01 March by Geraldine BrooksI'll start by saying that Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is one of my favorite books of all time. I've re-read it countless times. When I heard and read reviews of this book by Geraldine Brooks, I was intrigued by the premise of telling the story from Mr. March's point of view. While the story itself was well told, I couldn't help but feel a little betrayed. Little Women is such an innocent story about young girls that I found myself feeling a little angry about the more adult events of this book. In conclusion I've decided that I jealously guard my vision of the original story and didn't like somebody else playing in that sandbox. I do plan to read more work by Geraldine Brooks because I think she writes well. I just won't read anything that invades my little shrine to other books I've loved. <br/><br/><a href="View">http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1185055?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a> August 18 Too Pretty to Read?July 10 The Spellsong WarThis is the third book in L E Modesitt's series Spell Song Cycle. When my husband saw I was re-reading this series, he mentioned that he didn't like this series as much as the Recluse books. I figured out why when reading this book. The main character, Anna, doesn't have a very good opinion of men. She's magically transported from Ames, Iowa to the world of Erde where the men have very chauvanistic, medieval attitudes about women. She a very strong sorceress in the new world, and sets out to change the lot of life for women in that world. Unfortunately, reasoning with the men in power never works - they have such low opinions of women that they won't take her seriously, until she uses her powers of sorcery to kill their armsmen and sorcerers. When she does take down one of the bad guys, the rest of the men in this new world think she's too harsh and evil. Anna's commentaries throughout the book are pretty anti-men, but she also questions if she isn't just as bad by always resorting to violence to solve her problems. She also questions whether she has the right to make the changes she has set forth in this world. I found her to be strong, but not perfect. <br/><br/><a href="View">http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1185055?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a> July 06 Listening - Another DimensionAnyone that knows me very well at all knows that I'm a huge fan of audio books. I've been listening to them for around 15 or 16 years. I bought the first book on cassette to listen to when I was making a long drive by myself through some pretty empty country. It was love at first sound. I'm not even sure what that first title was, but it was something read by Lynn Redgrave. After that I bought everything thing I could find on cassette by my favorite author, Anne McCaffrey. Most of them were abridged, but since I was so familiar with the stories, the abridgements were fine then. I grew to prefer unabridged versions of all books though, over time.
When my husband was transferred to a job in another state, for about one and half years we lived in separate states. At night, I'd spook myself listening to everything that went bump in the night. So I started listening to audio books when I went to bed. It kept my mind focused on something other than strange noises, and I found I slept better. When we finally were both in the same state and the same house again, I convinced my husband that listening to books before going to sleep was a great way to relax - it keeps your mind focused on something other than all those things that run through your head at the end of the day and keep you awake.
I also discovered that listening to a book while working on my counted cross stitch projects was a wonderful way to pass time in the evenings. It was easier than trying to stitch while watching TV, since I had to wear glasses to see the TV, but couldn't stitch with my glasses on. Listening to a novel freed me from flipping my glasses on and off. I could also listen while puttering around the house, which made chores less of a, well - chore. Our commute to our jobs was much longer after our move to California, and it was only natural to listen to audio books in the car. When we traveled with our two boys, we listened to a great production of Lord of the Rings, which we all enjoyed. Our collection of books on cassette grew tremendously for a while and I confess I've worn out a few tapes over the years. Then they started bringing out books on CD. At one point my daughter gave me an e-bookman so I could carry books with me where ever I went. While that didn't work out as well as we hoped, it did introduce me to a fantastic website called audible.com which sold e-books and audio books. I signed up at that site so I could download two audio books a month. They had a great selection, which has only grown over the 6 years I've been a member. At first I usually listened to them on my computer while doing paper work, or playing games. Then the site added the capability of copying the books to CDs. This allowed us to download the books and listen to them in the car. With the gift of an Ipod which my husband received, the ability to store a whole library worth of books on a small device has seemed miraculous. His Ipod has around 150 books on it, and there's room for half again as many, plus the songs and pictures he has on it. And having them on a small device will save having to find storage space for all those CD cases. I've listened to books I could never get into when I tried to read them. The Wheel of Time books by Robert Jordan just intimidated me when I tried to read it, with all the strange names and complicated plots. But when I listened to the first, I was hooked. The narrators, Kate Reading and Michael Kramer, played a huge role in my enjoyment of this series. Other books that I loved to read took on a whole new dimension when I listened to an outstanding narration. The Harry Potter books read by Jim Dale should be a must listen for any fan of the stories. His voice characterizations and narrative talent add so much more depth to the stories. There is one book on cassette that I will keep, since it's not available on CD or as a download; that would be All the Weyrs of Pern, read by the author Anne McCaffrey. In this book a favorite character dies which was poignant in and of itself. But to hear the emotion in the author's own voice as she reads that passage adds to the pathos. So, my audible.com account has a wish list of 80 some books. I plan o do lots more listening. June 15 So many books, so little timeI listen to a lot of podcasts, most of them related to books. I just recently discovered "Books on the Nightstand". I also listen to podcasts from Tor, Randomhouse, Brilliance audio, Simon Says audio books, and NPR. I enjoy hearing about authors I haven't yet discovered. My only problem is that I immediately want to go out and get every book I've heard about. Since I'm not independently wealthy, that isn't going to happen.
We're getting ready to move, and downsize, and to accomplish that we are going to have to thin out the number of bookshelves in our house. Having been married 34 years, we've accumulated a lot of books. We collect series by several authors; I have pretty much every Anne McCaffrey book that's come out in hardback since 1974, and many of them in paper backs which are more portable. We have the Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan, all in hardback, plus a couple of his Conan novels. The books about Recluse by L.E. Modesitt Jr take up a fair amount of shelf space, and he has another series about the Soprano Sorceress that includes 4 volumes. Then there's the ten David Eddings books comprising The Belgariad and The Mallorean, plus a 3 or 4 related books. Terry Brooks Shannara series has at least a shelf full - since I've never managed to get them all together in one place, I'm not sure how many we have. And there's Terry Goodkind's series. All of those books will be keepers - but that leaves me with a load of other books where I have to decide if it's going to be a re-read or never-read-again. And I always find a few I didn't know, or forgot, we had and can't get rid of till I read it.
One consolation is that while I'm sorting through all those books, I can be listening to an audio book, too!
Any suggestions on a good place to donate used books would be appreciated. Leave me your ideas.
May your reading light always be bright... May 24 Lastest ReadsRight now I have 4 books in progress...in the car CD player is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In the computer room I'm listening to Arthur by Stephen Lawhead. In the bedroom I'm listening to Magician's Gambit by David Eddings. And finally I'm actually reading The Hidden City by David Eddings.
Since I'm not out and about the book in my car CD is going pretty slow. But I've read or listened to the Harry Potter books countless times. It's like listening to a favorite song on the radio. Jim Dale does an excellent job reading all the HP books.
When I'm in the computer room, I listen to books while working on a cross stitch project that I've vowed to finish within a month. But sometimes I end up at Pogo.com playing games. The book Arthur is the 3rd in a series of 4 books that re-tells the Authurian legend from a unique perspective of his roots starting in Atlantis. The other books are Taliesin, Merlin, and Pendragon; numbers 1, 2 and 4 respectively. The spread of Christianity in England is a huge part of the novels, as the people of the time move from Druidism to Christianity. I really enjoy the development of the characters and the way some of the icons of the Arthurian legends are incorporated, such as the sword, the Lady of the Lake and such.
At night we play audio books in our stereo in our bedroom. This started when my hubby and I were living in separate states during a job transfer process. I found that I heard everything that went bump in the night when trying to get to sleep, and started playing audio books to help divert my attention from the normal nighttime noises that set my imagination off. We only listen to books that we've already read or listened to, so getting engrossed in the story doesn't keep up from falling asleep. There are certain books we can't listen to though - those with lots of changes in the readers volume, such as shouting or whispering. Anyway - the book we're listening to now Magician's Gambit is part of the 5 book Belgariad series. A fantasy series, there is the young boy who must save the world, the old, wise man who mentors him and various other companions to help them accomplish the deed. David Eddings makes these characters come alive in a delightful way. He writes with a dry humor that I find delightful.
The last book I'm actually reading is another Eddings fantasy. The Hidden City is also part of a series called The Tamuli. A story of a quest to defeat evil forces in the world, the characters are again fully drawn and interesting. Eddings has a vivid imagination and creates evil entities that are the things of nightmares. These stories take place in a medieval society, with knights in armor, royalty in elegant dress and serfs depicting the cruelty of living in servitude.
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