9. Game of Thrones
By George RR Martin (807pp). For the first 100 pp. of this book all I could think is how this is not my usual kind of book. Medieval kings and battles where everyone tries to kill each other. Also the characters are always doing what you don't want them to do. I mean that in a good way. For the next 300 pp. I thought even though I was enjoying the book, I probably wouldn't continue with the series. Mostly because I already have so much stuff to read. It was nice to have this on vacation because I was able to read giant chunks in one sitting. Now that I've finished this one, if nothing else, I'm at least going to have to read the next book,There are about a million characters and I had a tough time keep it all straight even with the 25 page appendix at the end. Luckily a lot of people die although there are plenty new people to take their places. I'm going to read the wiki-page later and see what I missed.
I need to wait a bit on Book 2 because I have so many magazines and digests piled up we might need to add another room to the house to hold it all
posted by Pamela at 2:34 PM
Friday, March 26, 2010
8. A Man In Full
By Tom Wolfe (787 pp). Bob read this book on vacation a few years ago and I was going to read it but never got to it and it's sat on my shelf ever since.This is quite a book. It's set in Atlanta and concerns a number of story threads with people who've either made it big and are on their way down or trying to work their way up out of their current situation. Politics, race, society, business. Lots of great characters and hard-to-forget scenes. The scene with the horse breeding was particularly eyeball searing. This book is a great lesson for writers on characterization and how to do terrible things to your characters.
posted by Pamela at 9:32 AM
Sunday, March 14, 2010
7. Diary of A Wimpy Kid
By Jeff Kinney (217 pp). The Neuner kids recommended this book while we were at their house. The second morning of the trip I woke up early and went downstairs to read. Luis heard me laughing and knew right away what I was reading. The title character is deeply flawed and completely hilarious. Cute drawings. It's labeled for middle readers but I'd recommend to anyone who needed something fun to read.posted by Pamela at 10:25 AM
Sunday, March 7, 2010
6. Blackout
By Connie Willis (491 pp). I already knew that this is one book split into two. It doesn't end. It stops. Right in the middle of everything. But even with warning it's hard not to be a little annoyed. The story has several threads following different historians in the Oxford time travel program who go back to World War II. Everyone runs into problems. For the most part I enjoyed it but at times it suffered from Passage (#26) syndrome in that we're watching the characters try to solve their problems in tedious detail. Overall recommend. Book #2 is coming out in October.posted by Pamela at 8:32 PM
Friday, February 19, 2010
5. The Keep
By Jennifer Egan (242 pp.) I'm not sure how I heard about this book. I think I'd heard of the author before and then read a review and put it on my list. I inhaled this book in less than 48 hours. I loved it. I'm going to keep my comments brief and vague because the way the story unfolds is a nice surprise. At least I thought so. It's about a guy from New York who has an attitude and is a mess. He goes to Europe to help his cousin turn a crumbling castle into a fancy hotel. Things get weird and creepy fast.My Mom is always trying to find books for book club and I thought this might be a possibility. Out of curiosity I went to giant online book retailer to read some reviews and see what other people thought. Book reviews on that site are hilarious. People give five stars and write things like, "A sweeping epic tale of romance and danger in prose that alternately sparkles then burns, the author takes you on a journey that you will never forget."
Who talks like that?
This book had an even spread from 1 star to 5 stars with a slight advantage to 5 stars. The people who hated it complained that all the loose ends weren't tied up. And that's a valid complaint but I think the book's structure makes up for that.
I recommend.
posted by Pamela at 4:58 PM
Saturday, February 6, 2010
4. Just Kids
By Patti Smith (279 pp). I really loved this book but I'm also a Patti fan. Here's the link to Bob's review of when we saw her on this book tour. This memoir focuses on Patti's relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. They lived together in New York City starting in 1969 and focused on becoming artists and hung out with all kinds of musicians and artists. I love the photos. My only beef is that the ending felt rushed but I suspect that was intentional. She wasn't interested in talking about her life once it diverged from Robert's.posted by Pamela at 2:02 PM
Sunday, January 31, 2010
3. Heat Wave
By Richard Castle (196 pp.). The only reason I watch Castle is because of Nathan Fillion. Turns out there's a book to go with the series and my mother-in-law, who also watches the show, got it for Christmas. I asked if I could borrow it. It's about as good as you'd expect a tie-in to be. It's a mildly entertaining detective mystery and a fun in-joke if you watch the show. It would have been better if Nathan Fillion came over and read it to me.posted by Pamela at 5:44 PM
Sunday, January 24, 2010
2. The Mysterious Benedict Society
By Trenton Lee Stewart (485 pp.). My first boyfriend had a word for in between love and like which was either "loft" or "luft." We're going to go with "luft" because "loft" sounds like a trendy over-priced and spatially stupid apartment/condo where your bed, television, frying pan and living partner are in the same echo-y hard to heat/cool room with you at all times. Huh. "Luft" is in urbandictionary which says it means in between lust and love. Interesting. Maybe I misunderstood the whole thing with the boyfriend.Now I don't want to use the word to apply to this book. I liked this book a lot but didn't quite love it. I did not lust it whatsoever but I can't think of any moment in time where I lusted after a book. I should just remove the anecdote while I have the chance.
This book is about a group of kids who are recruited for a dangerous mission by a mysterious man: Mr. Benedict. I loved the characters. I loved the drawings. There were puzzles. I laughed out loud a bunch of times. This is exactly the kind of book I would have loved as a kid. I would totally recommend it.
However, I just think it was a bit long, especially for its intended audience. It's not like there wasn't always something happening, I just think it could have been pulled a little tighter. Also the very ending was egregiously cheezy.
According to the back of the book there are two more. Are there any stand-alone books anymore? Every time I see a shelf with a million books with similar covers and words like "Book IX of the [insert grand-sounding name here] Series" I want to lie down and take a nap.
posted by Pamela at 11:53 AM
Friday, January 22, 2010
1. The Mortal Instruments Book One: City of Bones
By Cassandra Clare (485 pp.). This book has been in "almost finished" status all week. I had so few pages I didn't want to take it on the bus because I might finish it and I didn't want to carry two books. But then by the time I got in bed at night to read it, I'd be so tired I could only finish a couple of pages. I finally finished this morning. I wish I liked it more than I did. It's about a teenager in NYC who learns of her connection to the Shadowhunters who are people who hunt and kill demons. There's tons of great action and unexpected developments but I grew weary of the angsty teen soap opera stuff.posted by Pamela at 4:56 PM
Friday, January 15, 2010
2010 Posting Will Begin Here
I think I have this thing working good enough for me.I've always intended to figure out the deal with titling the posts but just got to it this morning.
So now when you look in your feeds there should be titles.
I'm sure this issue was troubling many of you. For this I apologize.
posted by Pamela at 12:53 PM
Saturday, January 9, 2010
25. Help! A Bear is Eating Me! (129 pp.) by Mykle Hansen. (Dec 10). This book is hilarious. It's about this total jerk-off materialistic guy who takes a group of work people to Alaska for some team-building bear hunting. But ends up pinned under his Range Rover with a bear eating him. That's not a spoiler, that's what's happening on the first page. The voice of the protagonist is brilliant because he's such a self-absorbed weenie and there are several people I'd love to give the book to and say: the protagonist totally reminds me of you. It started losing me a bit at the end but overall fun book.
posted by Pamela at 1:18 PM
Thursday, December 10, 2009
24. The Faggiest Vampire (99 pp.) by Carlton Mellick III. (Dec 9) This is such a cute story. It's about a well-known vampire named Dargoth Van Gloomfang whose entire self-worth is tied up in his amazing imperial mustache. Then Baron Van Ravengraves comes to town with his pencil mustache and things around the Land of Broodsarrow are turned upside down. Recommended.
posted by Pamela at 12:45 PM
Wednesday, December 9, 2009