TBR (in the next two weeks) Books

One of these things is not like the others.

And that would be Kindred in Death, the only book on this stack that I’m reading purely because I want to. The rest? Those are for either work or school. And here’s the thing: I’m on vacation for the next almost two weeks and I was really hoping to read more of what I want to, not what I’m obligated to. Ah, well.

Guess I better get reading.

A Northern Light ~ Jennifer Donnelly (& I made a trailer!)

From the book…

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown asks her to burn a bundle of secret letters. But when Grace’s drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers the letters reveal the grim truth behind a murder.

Going into this novel the only thing I knew was that Theodore Dreiser has written a book, An American Tragedy, that drew on the same early 1900s murder case. My interest was piqued, of course, and learning more about that case after finishing this book was a given. But it seems to me that the back cover’s synopsis for A Northern Light is a bit misleading: Yes, Grace Brown’s death plays a role in the novel, but it never takes center stage.

This is Mattie’s story. And she’s a strong girl, a dutiful daughter and unabashed dreamer, a character rich with language and heart. And with courage.

When her mother died, Mattie promised to take care of the younger children, and she kept that promise even as she strained against the confines of the border lines that marked her family’s farm. She made a promise to Royal Loomis, a beautiful boy she thought would surely never look her way, when he offered her a ring; she slipped it on her finger even as her mind took her to distant lands each time she opened a book. And she made a promise to Grace Brown, a guest at the Glenmore Hotel where Mattie worked to bring in extra money, that she would burn the stack of letters Grace gave her before anyone could see them. She kept that promise, for as long as she could, after learning that Grace did not survive the boating outing she took with her gentelman friend.

Mattie wants to burn those letters, but being the smart girl she is, she realizes that the bruises and laceration on Grace’s face don’t hold with the drowning theory everyone in the hotel clings to. That knowing makes Mattie’s life infinitely harder. “What had I seen? Too much. What did I know? Only that knowledge carries a damned high price.”

A Northern Light is a wonderful coming-of-age story, filled with characters that provoke and challenge Mattie, and based upon true events that lend the book an eerie, haunting tone. Readers who struggle with non-linear storylines might find the pacing slow or confusing, but the tension and the wondering is always thick and present, making this one a compelling read from start to finish.

Favorite passages:

This first one reminds me of Emily Dickinson, a poet Mattie has much to say about towards the end of the novel.

They leave things behind sometimes, the guests. A bottle of scent. A crumpled handkerchief. A pearl button that fell off a dress and rolled under a bed. And sometimes they leave other sorts of things. Things you can’t see. A sigh trapped in a corner. Memories tangled in the curtains. A sob fluttering against the windowpane like a bird that flew in and can’t get back out. I can feel these things. They dart and crouch and whisper. (p 135)

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If you harness two horses together and one is stronger, the weaker horse gets buffeted and bruised. That’s what being friends with Weaver was like. A farmer can put an evener on his team’s yoke to compensate for the weaker horse by shifting some of the load to the stronger one. But you can’t put an evener on two people’s hearts or their souls. I wished I could just up and go to New York City. I wished I was as strong as Weaver was. I wished I was as fearless.
But I was not. (p 313)

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I turned around. It was Royal. His shirtsleeves rolled up, showing his muscled arms, already brown from the sun. His color was high from working, his cheeks streaked with dust. He stood with his hands in his pockets and his sturdy legs rooted to the ground, belonging to this place. As much as the silvery streams belonged, and the great, scudding clouds, and the deer in the woods. He was as beautiful as these things, too. He took my breath away. His eyes were the color of amber. Not hazel, not buckwheat honey like I’d thought, but warm, dark amber. (p 117)

I should mention here that I read A Northern Light for my course. Part of my final project is to make a book trailer, so that’s what I did. The final isn’t due yet, but I thought I’d post my first effort at creating a trailer to see what you think. It was challenging – first attempts usually are, right? – but it was also fun and I can see how one could become addicted to creating them. Anyway, here it is…

Digging Further into the Drafts Folder: Mr. G

Neil Gaiman. He’s brilliant, yes, which just about everyone who reads his work knows. And will say to anyone who’ll listen for even a moment. I’m certainly among that number.

That’s why, when I found Lakeillustration on Etsy, I knew that I wanted a custom illustration of Mr. G made for my library. To hang on the wall above the bookcase that houses my collection of his books.

One of these days I’ll get it framed. Or maybe stretched over canvas. And it’s going to go up on the wall.

Desperate Times…Call for Memes!

I’m feeling completely at a loss in regards to posting lately, but didn’t want the blog to go dark, so to speak, so I went through my drafts. This post goes way, way, waaaay back, but it kind of made me crack up, so I’m going with it.

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Okay, so maybe this iPod meme went around ages ago. If April constitutes ages ago, that is. But I couldn’t resist and I had a bit of time. You probably know the rules for this one: iPod, shuffle, songs are the answers, don’t cheat, blah blah blah. Here’s what I got…

1. How does the world see you? Carry on Wayward Son – Kansas – Um, okay. Not a son, but, you know, great song so whatever!
2. Will I have a happy life? Wonderful! Wonderful! – Johnny Mathis – Woo-hoo!!
3. What do my friends think of me? Boy in the Backseat – Alice Peacock – Whoa. Not sure how to take that one. Again, not a boy, and I was never one for getting too many in that position.
4. Do people secretly lust after me? No Letting Go – Wayne Wonder – So not only are they lusting after me, they can’t let go? Interesting…
5. How can I make myself happy? Hicktown – Jason Aldean – I’m movin’ to the country!!
6. What should I do with my life? Flowers – Chris Young – Become a florist? Damn, looks like I missed my calling.
7. Will I ever have children? Snakecharmer – Ottmar Leibert – Ha ha! I personally love that one!
8. What is some good advice for me? Falling – Mindy Smith – This could be interpreted in oh so many ways.
9. How will I be remembered? Whenever I Call You Friend – Kenny Loggins & Stevie Nicks – That seems reasonable. Sweet, you know?
10. What’s my signature dancing song? Here for the Party – Gretchen Wilson – I did not cheat to get that one, either.
11. What’s my current theme song? When the Stars Go Blue – Tim McGraw – This one is rather perfect I think.
12. What do others think is my current theme song? Since I Fell for You – Dinah Washington – This meme seems to have a crush on me. Or it’s overestimating my charms. Take your pick.
13. What shall they play at my funeral? Say It Right – Nelly Furtado – Well, it wouldn’t be my first choice.
14. What type of men do I like? How ‘Bout You – Eric Church – Yeah, how ’bout you?
15. How’s my love life? The Remedy – Jason Mraz – Wait. I need a remedy ’cause it’s not great? Or it is the remedy? Gosh darn! A straight answer on this one would have been nice.

Belated Wrap-Up: RIP IV Challenge

The bouncy, shiny, super fun ball that was the RIP IV challenge?

Yeah. I not only dropped it, I flung it across the room and went running in the other direction. In my defense, I did look back a time or two.

Things came up during this RIP round that made it impossible for me to complete the four books I said I was going to read for the challenge. As it is, I eeked out two books, one of them a graphic novel. This disappoints me no end – even though the bumps in the road were completely out of my control – because I love this challenge and the mood it rouses. Ah, well. There’s always next year. Here’s my reading recap:

The Drowned – Laini Taylor, illustrated by Jim DiBartolo
Heart’s Blood – Juliet Marillier

Both were excellent and I’d highly recommend them.

Thanks, Carl, for once again pulling this together! I have every intention of firmly holding onto the ball that is Once Upon a Time.

 

Finishing the Lioness Quartet

This post may contain spoilers for the first two books in the Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. My thoughts on books one and two can be found here.

From the book cover

New knighted, Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the vast desert of Tortall. Captured by fierce desert dwellers, she is forced to prove herself in a duel to the death – either she will be killed or she will be inducted into the tribe. Although she triumphs, dire challenges lie ahead. As her mythic fate would have it, Alanna soon becomes the tribe’s first female shaman – despite the desert dwellers’ grave fear of the foreign woman warrior. Alanna must fight to change the ancient tribal customs of the desert tribes – for their sake and for the sake of all Tortall.

Having survived her knighthood ordeal, Alanna decides to leave Tortall – and those in shock after discovering that Alan was actually Alanna – to roam in search of adventures. In true Alanna fashion, she and Coram quickly encounter trouble in the form of desert hillmen and then from the Bloody Hawk tribe of the Bazhir. The focus of this installment, then, is Alanna’s stay with the tribe from the time she bests one of their own in combat until she trains a replacement shaman.

This book, as much as I enjoyed it, went the slowest for me. My attention wavered while Alanna was in the desert, even as the magic she taught the three young Gifted Bazhir interested me, and I found myself hoping she’d go back to Tortall, or that her friends would seek her out in the desert. I raced through those pages and slowed down when Myles and Jonathan arrived.

I loved the bit between Alanna and Myles. That was awesome, seriously, and I was so glad. Jonathan’s change in behavior bothered me at first; it didn’t take me long to see why his shift in character was necessary. And my favorite part? George’s increased involvement in the story, naturally.

The thing about these books is…I couldn’t read anything else until they were done. I knew they were in my house and that knowledge drove me crazy. So as soon as I finished The Woman Who Rides Like a Man I moved on, picked up Lioness Rampant, and…

Having achieved her dream of becoming the first female knight errant, Alanna of Trebond is not sure what to do next. Perhaps being a knight errant is not all that Alanna needs….But Alanna must push her uncertainty aside when a new challenge arises. She must recover the Dominion Jewel, a legendary gem with enormous power for good — but only in the right hands. And she must work quickly. Tortall is in great danger, and Alanna’s archenemy, Duke Roger, is back — and more powerful than ever. In this final book of the Song of the Lioness quartet, Alanna discovers that she indeed has a future worthy of her mythic past — both as a warrior and as a woman.

Why oh why aren’t there more books in this series? I loved everything about Lioness Rampant even though it broke my heart at times. (Thom *sniff*)

At first I was all like, “ah, what’s up with this Dragon dude, and why is he elbowing in on George’s girl, yo” – but really I loved his character, and I thought that he brought so much to both the story and Alanna. (Those hand-to-hand combat scenes? Awesome.)

Roger is one of the most nefarious bad guys I’ve encountered in YA fantasy (right up there next to Cashore’s Leck – who makes my skin crawl in the worst way.) You know he’s up to no good the whole book and, man, did his patience annoy me. I wanted his smackdown to come much, much sooner, but was totally satisfied with how it played out. Seriously, that whole end bit? Kept me on the edge of my seat.

These books are soooo good. And I know I’m going to revisit them. For now, though, I’m going to read more by Pierce, starting with, I think, Wild Magic. I can’t wait to get back to Tortall!

Sunday Salon ~ Dude, Where’s My Groove?

I’m not a weekly participant in the Sunday Salon – in fact, this is my first give-it-a-go – but my reveiwing groove totally fled the building. It didn’t even leave a note. At this point it would be easier to sum up what I’ve read than to try to complete the countless number of reviews waiting in my drafts folder. I’ll also be posting about birthday loot (it was the 27th,)  recent distractions (Matt Bomer, I’m talking to you,) and NaNoWriMo.

Okay. Well, I did finish Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet. I might actually manage to finish that post, so that’s all I’m going to say for now. Oh, that and also that I went a little crazy and bought myself three T. Pierce books on my birthday – Trickster’s Choice, Trickster’s Queen and Wild Magic. Having them in my house and not reading them is slowly driving me crazy.

I also picked up Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams and Fade Out (book seven in the Morganville Vampire series) by Rachel Caine. Yes, I got it early, and, yes, I did a little happy dance when I saw it on the shelf. I was so excited that I read it the next morning. A few thoughts:

I love Rachel Caine.  She’s a really good storyteller and her series are consistently good. From book one, Glass Houses, I’ve adored her characters and I still do. After having wrapped up one story arc in Carpe Corpus, Caine introduced a compelling new problem (actually a few problems) in this seventh installment, and the pacing was as tight as the tension. So all I can really say is…Bring on Kiss of Death!

The weekend was a no-go for me in terms of reading. We took the little miss to a corn maze at a local farm, watched most of the seven hour live lockdown of Ghost Adventures, and then, of course, camped out on our front step last night to give out candy. (A quick, cute story about that: A little girl, probably around three, came up the steps and took a piece of candy out of the bowl we had there. She noticed our pup and clamored up a few more steps to reach him. She then handed her piece of candy to my husband, told him “Keep this safe for me,” and began to pet our dog and demand kisses from him. Unbearably adorable.)

And then there’s White Collar. We’re fans of Pysch, which is taking its weird hiatus, and I wanted to give White Collar a try (since it’s rather convientently in Pysch’s time slot.) The verdict? I love it. Fantasy & SciFi Lovin’ did a post on the show that covers a lot of the premise and stuff so I won’t rehash it. The two leads have great chemistry, Bomer is certainly easy on the eyes, and I really enjoy the concept. Total win for me.

Today marked the beginning of NaNoWriMo. I’m going to be realistic and say that there’s no way I’m going to write 50,000 words this month, but…I do hope to do at least 30,000. I’d be very happy with that. Wish me luck.

Oh, one more thing before I sign off: Head over to Angieville because she’s holding a fantastic blogiversary giveaway. Happy blogiversary, Angie!

Life As We Knew It ~ Susan Beth Pfeffer

From Amazon:

Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove. In her journal, Miranda records the events of each desperate day, while she and her family struggle to hold on to their most priceless resource–hope.

The current module of my graduate course places its focus on my favorite of the genres: Fantasy (and science fiction, too, which I’m coming around to.) When I looked over the list of books we’re required to choose from I ran into a problem. I’d already read the majority of them. Life As We Knew It stood out as one of the only ones I hadn’t read, in fact, which would be why I picked it. I had no idea when I sat down with it that it was going to take me daaays to read it.

Let me say this first: There is absolutely nothing wrong with this book. The writing is good, the concept offers up a fantastic hook, and for the most part the characterization is spot-on. When this book was on the middle school’s summer reading list in my town it was the one all of the students wanted. And I know there are a great many bloggers who loved it, too.

So why did I struggle with it so much?

Possibly because Miranda annoyed me. She was a very well developed character in that her emotional responses were honest and appropriate to her situation. My problem with her stemmed from the several screaming, door-slamming fights she had with her mother. There were too many of them, for one, and the reader doesn’t even actually “see” all of them. And beside, I didn’t need those displays of immaturity to make me appreciate the growth of Miranda’s character as her family’s situation worsens. That she could put momentary spurts of jealousy aside, that she knew what needed to be done in the end and did it even though she was scared, that would have been enough for me. The fights just didn’t fully ring true for me and seemed to force a theme unnecessarily. (To be fair, I didn’t love her mother, either, though her character was also well done.)

Another thing that made this a slow read was just the subject matter itself. The bleakness of it. I’m not a big fan of dystopian novels, though there are exceptions, and I don’t want to read about one disaster after another, about a situation rapidly declining with little to no hope of an end in sight. That’s just not what I read for. And I found myself reluctant to return to this book time and again because at a certain point I had just had enough of it. Plus there were things that just didn’t make sense to me (like, for instance, the fact that people were quick to loot homes of the deceased, but never became desperate enough to try to rob someone still living. I would think towards the end that that kind of desperation would have run rampant, but Miranda and her family felt mostly safe in their home from that kind of violence. And also, really? Not one scientist or astronomer had any inkling that the hit might impact the moon more thoroughly?)

I guess it’s good that I read this – as I mentioned earlier, a lot of my young patrons have, and I like to keep up with what they’re reading – but I didn’t really enjoy it.

Scrap Art – Attempt #1

I put it out there a while ago that I was going to make an effort to be more crafty, but all of the regular blah-blah-blahs made it seem okay to say “not today.” But! I have every intention of making good on my promise to myself, and that picture below? It’s a start.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about making cards – you know, for birthdays and maybe even Christmas. But I wanted to experiment a bit first using the supplies I had. (No easy task going through those supplies! They’ve taken on monstrous, unorganized proportions.)

I didn’t know where to start and, man, it’s tough staring at a blank sheet of burgandy cardstock. But the color kind of set the tone and I decided to do something regal and whimsical, something fairytaleish.

It was a pain in the rear trying to cut out that fairy, but it was worth it, even if the lines aren’t super clean. It’s also remarkably difficult to cut in a straight line – even with a guide! But this was for practice and, honestly, I’m pretty happy with the results. This might have made a nice birthday card for my little miss (had she not been sitting beside me as I was working on it.)

I think I’m going to try an actual card next time. My husband’s birthday is coming up. Hmm….

On the Edge ~ Ilona Andrews

The Broken is a place where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is nothing more than a fairy tale.

The Weird is a realm where blueblood aristocrats rule and the strength of your magic can change your destiny.

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, the place between both worlds. A perilous existence indeed, made even more so by a flood of magic-hungry creatures bent on absolute destruction.

Within its first month of publication I read a few chapters of Magic Bites and quickly realized that I wasn’t in the right mood for it. Due to a lengthy hold list on my library copy I sent it back, adding it to my list of future reads. I haven’t gotten around to that series yet, but when On the Edge was released and when Angie liked it, I thought, Why not?

Despite the cover, which, to me (& a friend,) is rather unfortunate, I really enjoyed this first book in the Edge series.

You know what I constantly find myself loving in novels? An older sibling taking care of younger brothers or sisters scenario. As soon as I discovered that Rose was responsible for her two younger brothers, Jack and Georgie, I liked her. Sure, she may think about what her life would have been like had her mother not died and her father not split, but she loves her brothers and does whatever is necessary to keep them safe and protected. And, even better, her adorable brothers appreciate her for it. That’s the type of family dynamic that really gets me invested in the story. So, already charmed by the two boys and rooting for Rose, I began to pay more attention to the world building and magic system.

As the synopsis points out, there are three physical layers, so to speak, of this world: the Edge, the Weird, and the Broken. The names kind of made me scrunch my nose, but the concept didn’t, and the variation in place is very important to the story. A specific scene, in fact, in which Rose helps Declan cross over into the Broken was key, I thought, in strengthening their relationship. The magic system was nicely done, too, and I would have loved to have seen that explored even more in the novel.

I’m going to wrap this up before it dissolves into random rambling. The short of it? I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading the next one.

If you’re interested, you can read chapter here.