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 It actually has begun to feel like summer this weekend. The last two times I spent the summer in England, it never got there for me. This is probably because by the time I got here, it had already warmed up at home and it very, very rarely goes above 80 degrees in England. Today it’s a gorgeous 72. This time, I’ve been living here since October, so I’m a little more accustomed to English weather. To me, it’s a beautiful day, and I was motivated enough to get a lot done on my work this morning so that I could sit outside and read.
I’ve been working on a couple of more difficult books. The first of these, which is actually really fascinating, is The Last Witch of Langenburg by Thomas Robisheaux. I received this as a review copy an embarrassingly long time ago; I had no idea that I would have such trouble picking up a review copy of a history book. It feels like all I do is history; I didn’t really want more outside of what I have to do. This book is what’s called microhistory. The author focuses on a single witch trial, that of Anna Schmieg and her family in the 17th century Holy Roman Empire, while using it as a base to explore the broader history around the small town, pulling in external facts and creating a much larger picture than it would initially seem. Witch trials are always out of the ordinary, he says, but I feel like I’ve learned a ton about small town life in Langenburg. It’s going slowly simply because I have way too many facts bouncing about in my head, but it’s very interesting and I’m sorry I didn’t pick it up sooner. I love what I called “people history”, history that focuses on a single person to explore wider issues, and it’s what I’m doing in my own work right now, so this book really couldn’t appeal to me more.
My second “difficult” read is Songs My Mother Never Taught Me by Selcuk Altun. This one should not be as hard as it is. It’s meant to be a thriller, but I’m not finding it particularly exciting. It’s only just over 200 pages long and I’m at around 100, so I hope to read 50 pages a day and get it done on Tuesday.
The third book I was reading today, which I have completed, is Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. I loved this book. It went in a completely different direction than I was expecting it to somewhere around the middle and that is around when I fell in love with it. I spent entirely too long sitting outside to finish it and now my nose is itchy, so I suspect I’ll be blaming the author for a sunburn soon!
I’m not sure what’s next. Since I’ve read my 50 pages in my difficult books for the day, I’ll probably start another book a little later. I have to read Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn before Tuesday, when it’s due back at the library, but Lady of the Roses by Sandra Worth has been calling to me. I guess we will see which book can call the loudest!
This week, I read:
- Shanghai Girls – Lisa See
- Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict – Laurie Viera Rigler
- Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
- The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane – Katherine Howe
- Tethered – Amy MacKinnon
- Simply Love – Mary Balogh
- Beauty – Robin McKinley
- Love Walked In – Marisa de los Santos
I reviewed:
I also participated in Weekly Geeks and posted about my “No BEA? Books Anyway!” purchases.
For all of those who attended Book Expo America in New York City this weekend, I hope you all had a blast and have a safe trip home. I’ll be looking forward to your posts!
 Lady Emily Ashton married her husband simply to get out of her mother’s house. When he dies less than six months after their marriage on a hunting trip in Africa, Emily does not know what to feel except perplexed. Everyone close to her husband assumes that she is mourning him dreadfully and sprinkles her with anecdotes, assuming that she’ll relate. Emily, however, barely knew her husband and struggles to orient herself in this world. When she learns that her husband felt a great deal more for her than she did for him, she begins searching for his true character, and in the bargain learns about disturbing fakes at the British Museum. Could the husband for whom she has begun to feel a posthumous affection be the criminal, or is it one of his friends?
I waited a while to write this review because I was a little perplexed as to how I felt about it. I still am. While I was reading the book, my last of the Read-a-Thon, I loved it. I continued reading after the Read-a-Thon was over because I enjoyed it so much, but towards the end I started to feel a little deflated about it and now that I’ve finished, my feelings are mixed. I think it has a lot to do with where the plot went. Emily convinces herself that a specific person is guilty with the coercion of another friend. I was convinced that person #1 was perfectly innocent while person #2 was definitely guilty. Sorry, if you’ve read the book, you will know who I mean. Lo and behold, I was right, but I think her willing ignorance and inability to think for herself – after going in and doing all that research and coming to so many great conclusions – really got to me. I liked person #1!
I originally went for this book because it reminded me of the Lady Julia Grey mysteries (Silent in the Grave) which I found absolutely fabulous. Husband very recently dead, later evidence of his suspicious behavior in regards to someone, widow finding her wings while solving a mystery directly involving dead husband. I think this one suffered a little in comparison, which is unfortunate, especially so because there are things I loved about this book. I loved Emily’s interest in the Classics, her desire to learn ancient Greek and really get into her research. The way she went about falling love with her husband after his death was sweet, if a little strange; but the feeling of regret is one that comes through beautifully and is really touching. She realizes that she could have loved this man if she’d looked twice at him and the fact that she didn’t bother really hurts her.
I think this book is really well-written, too. I know it completely sucked me in within the first few pages and I can’t say that about many of my more recent reads. Even though I solved the mystery, I still wanted to know the exact details and I wanted to see what would happen when Emily figured it out. Like I said, this book kept me reading after the Read-a-Thon was over and I’d spent 12 1/2 of the past 24 reading away and I plan on reading the rest of the series. Even though it isn’t the best, I would still recommend it if you are looking for more like Deanna Raybourn’s excellent series or, better yet, if you haven’t read them and want to try this genre, which is sort of more historical fiction than mystery but still has both.
Buy And Only to Deceive on Amazon.
 This is book four of the Ranger’s Apprentice series and titled The Battle for Skandia in North America.
Having just barely recovered from his dependence on mind-numbing drugs thanks to Skandian slave drivers, ranger’s apprentice Will is convalescing in an isolated cottage with Evanlyn, the Araluen princess in disguise. They are waiting for the thaw to complete their escape to Araluen. When Evanlyn goes to find food and never returns, Will forces himself to follow her. Meanwhile, Halt and Horace are still searching for Will and Evanlyn. On their search they find suspicious signs of Temujai activity and realize that the whole of Skandia is in danger.
Like the rest in the series, this book is a lot of fun, and perhaps more so than the others. The characters have developed enough that they have much more emotional pull on both readers and each other. The relationship between Will and Evanlyn, for example, has really changed quite a bit from the beginning and continues to do so over the course of the book. I’ve found that all the characters have grown in believable ways and I feel a lot of sympathy towards them. They work best all together and I was very pleased to see that happen in this book.
The plot is, as usual, fast moving and exciting, if a little predictable. Just the first chapter is enough to start building the suspense and getting the book on a roll. I read this for the Read-a-Thon and it was perfect. It is very easy to sit and read though and I suspect would hold the attention of more reluctant readers, too.
I also thought the value of cooperation and learning from other people was really emphasized in this book. Obviously, this is still YA, but I think it’s better to show Skandians learning from Araluens after all this time rather than having them retain hostility. I really liked how diplomacy worked in this novel; the relations between the nations are developing just like those between characters.
So far, I have really enjoyed this series. I like the plots, I really like the characters, and overall I think they’re a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see where the series goes next.
Buy this book on Amazon .
Yesterday, a few book bloggers and I were lamenting our lack of books and fun from not attending BEA this weekend. (I hope you are all having fun there!) With that in mind, we all realized that we’d saved money on travel expenses and could purchase a few books instead! Jen has put up a post over at Devourer of Books explaining a little more and for you to sign up if you can’t attend BEA but decide to acquire a few books this weekend anyway. If you’re looking for some socializing with those of us who are sitting at home, you can also catch the BEA Twitty Party happening on Twitter, and all the info is located with the wonderful creator of the event, Rebecca, at The Book Lady’s Blog.
I was lucky, I had a library sale starting today. This is what I found:
- Split Ends by Zoe Barnes
- Fast Women by Jennifer Crusie
- Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Claire Morall
- The Story of Henry Sugar and other short stories by Roald Dahl
- The Book of Atrix Wolf by Patricia McKillip
- Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk
- Villette by Charlotte Bronte
- The Rival Queens by Fidelis Morgan
- The Conjurer’s Bird by Martin Davies
- The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette by Carolly Erickson
None of these were really ultra wishlist, dying-to-read books, except Villette, but I do think they look good. Since a whole bag was a fixed price of £3.50, it only hurt my TBR pile, not my wallet. Now I just have to read all of these and five more before my Borders order comes so I can get my TBR pile back where it was this morning!
 Courtesy of Amazon :
All it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly : Sookie Stackhouse is in trouble again! Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is having a streak of bad luck. First her co-worker is killed, and no one seems to care. Then she comes face-to-face with a beastly creature which gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn’t enjoy it). The point is: they saved her life. So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favour, she obliges – and soon Sookie’s in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She’s supposed to interview certain humans involved, but she makes one condition: the vampires must promise to behave, and let the humans go unharmed. But that’s easier said than done, and all it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly . . .
I really enjoyed Dead Until Dark and not surprisingly, enjoyed this installment in the series even more. The plot is a little more exciting, especially when it comes to danger to Sookie, the characters get fleshed out a little bit more, and overall it was a ton of fun to get back into Sookie’s world. I also particularly enjoyed that she has doubts about her relationship. Bill is a vampire and does some fairly inexcusable things because of that, but it seemed more like a real-life relationship to me because they have dealbreakers. They also love each other, though, and they have an interesting dynamic together. I have to say that I’m very curious as to whether they’ll stay together throughout the rest of the series, or even whether I really want them to. I’m much more attached to Sookie than I am to Bill, so I think a similarly dynamic character could spark some interesting tension. Not Eric, though.
I really like this series. I’m looking forward to the next, and as of right now, if someone wants urban fantasy, I know what to recommend.
 In a small town in eastern Europe called Ropraz, a beautiful, virginal young woman dies of a horrible illness. With great ceremony and reverence, she is laid to rest in their churchyard. The next morning, her remains are found spread across the graveyard, horribly mutilated and defiled. Resorting to superstition in their fear, the villagers assume a vampire is on the loose. When two more recently deceased girls are violated in the same way, panic spreads and blame, naturally, settles on a peasant male who is found violating farm animals and has been noted for staring at girls. This little novel explores the psychological and superstitious reaction a small town on the edge of the 20th century has when faced with horrible brutality.
First of all, there are no actual vampires in this book. That was a disappointment to me, who received this as a review copy knowing absolutely nothing about it, so don’t let it disappoint you!
If you like creepy, you might like this book. The descriptions of the mutilated girls had me feeling ill and uncomfortable in my skin. I’m jumping at shadows. I don’t always like to be scared and I can’t say I’m liking it right now – I’m writing this review after midnight just to get this book out of my head. Also, the concepts of bestiality and necrophilia are innately disgusting to me, and those parts really bothered me. Honestly, I did not need to know the condition of the accused’s private organs. Worse, it’s written in such a matter-of-fact way that it’s almost as though this shouldn’t bother me, since it’s just genetics. It did. I’m squicked out.
The psychological effect was interesting, though. It almost reminded me of The Witch’s Trinity by Erika Mailman in the way that blame centers on one person and then it just grows and grows, people desperate to blame someone. Mailman does it better, though. This one captures a certain mass hysteria but doesn’t focus on anyone’s feelings in particular. It’s really too short and could have done with some fleshing out. At 104 pages of huge font with blank pages between chapters, we just get a straight narrative and not much else. It feels almost as though my review could be longer than the book.
I don’t think I’d want more though. This one creeped me out too much. I can’t imagine how it could be better in its original French; the descriptions of the countryside might flow better, but I doubt the translator could escape the graphic descriptions of mutilation which have me shuddering an hour after completing the book. I do have to say, clever ending. This one’s based on a true story and I was definitely wondering just how true that conjecture might be.
I will stop talking now, put this book out of my head, and let you look for yourself: Amazon and Amazon UK.
Do you like it when books creep you out?
 I love the synopsis on the back of this book, so I’m just going to quote it, especially since I am utterly horrible at science fiction summaries:
“John Perry did two things on his seventy-fifth birthday. First he visited his wife’s grave. Then he joined the army.
The good news is that humanity finally made it to the stars. The bad news is that, out there, planets fit to live on are scarce – and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So, we fight. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.
Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of our resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Forces, and everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join up. The CDF doesn’t want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You’ll be taken off Earth, never to return. You’ll serve two years in combat. And if you survive, you’ll be given a homestead of your own, on one of our hard-won planets.
John Perry is taking that deal. He thinks he knows what to expect. But the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine – and what he will become is far stranger.”
Ever since masses of bloggers received Zoe’s Tale for review last year, I have wanted to read something by John Scalzi. It seemed to appeal to even those who don’t read science fiction, and I’m not a fan of science fiction. Saying that, I was really swayed by all the positive opinions floating around, especially given that his books had great characters. That’s my problem with science fiction, lack of great characters. So, where else to start with the first book in that series?
(As an aside, look, I bought books because of bloggers, it does work!)
I was not at all disappointed with Old Man’s War. The characters are fabulous. John, the narrator, is capable of eliciting such emotion from me, especially about his deceased wife Kathy. He’s so real I could almost touch him. His bonds with the other characters are strong, believable, and interesting. This book brings up questions about war, kind of like Ender’s Game, and does it extremely well.
The technology in this book, while present, was not scary or hard to understand. It didn’t make me want to rip my brain out, like some science fiction books have with their explanations. It’s explained, and some of it is not explained and taken on faith; one of the characters says to another, “You don’t have the math”. To be honest, I like taking things in books on faith better as long as they follow their own rules, kind of like in fantasy. And we can pretty much guarantee that I will never have the math to figure even modern technology out, so I was quite happy with that!
I really enjoyed this book. I closed and immediately thought that I wanted the next. It was the Read-a-Thon, so I’m only adding it to my Amazon cart now, a few hours later. I’ll be continuing with this series. It’s awesome.
Buy Old Man’s War on Amazon.
Side note: I’m not alone in this one; my fiance loved it too, read it in a week (amazing given he works full time and is taking 3 classes), and was so disappointed that I didn’t have the next in the series that I proceeded to buy it for him. This book has our rare joint recommendation.
 This review/opinion post is probably going to be dripping with spoilers, so if you are considering reading this series, you may not want to read it.
Bella has agreed to marry Edward at long last so that he can turn her into a vampire and they can spend eternity together. An unexpected arrival on their honeymoon and a bit of vampire history leaves Bella and her family in grave danger to which they have little recourse beyond Bella’s new powers and vampire friends from all over the globe.
I think we’ve all heard how ridiculous this book is. I had it thoroughly spoiled for me so I knew exactly what was coming, and it wasn’t really less crazy because of that. To be honest, it feels like an entirely different series. Bella-as-vampire is a far cry from Bella-as-human although it was SO NICE when she stopped feeling inferior and actually grew a spine. It’s a shame it took her amazing vampire powers to get there, though. Switching the narrator over to Jacob was not even as nice as I would have expected given that he is far and away my favorite character in this series. Instead, we get him complaining, too. I know books need conflict, but honestly, he complains so much about Bella that it just drove me up the wall. So much whining could have been cut out of this book and it wouldn’t have suffered at all, especially given after Renesmee’s birth (disgusting scene, by the way, and not only does she have this ridiculous name but her nickname is Nessie!) he completely switches focus and it’s like he never cared for Bella at all. I don’t like the whole imprinting concept at all, it seems like a way to cop out of more actual love story.
It also particularly irritated me that after all the worrying about Bella turning into a vampire, she’s just absolutely perfect at it. I guess she had to be good at something, but after the complaining and the stress, it turns out to be nothing. So many words are wasted worrying and lamenting over nothing in this book.
I would also like to know how anyone could not notice that their partner was chewing on the bed while they were having sex.
I did like the wedding scene, though. I don’t really think anyone should get married so young after such a short acquaintance, particularly given that Bella didn’t even really want to get married, but wedding scenes always get me, maybe because my own is happening so soon.
So, I guess that’s the end of the Twilight series for now. It’s a shame the conclusion wasn’t, well, better. I have to admit that I spent most of this book sighing over how ridiculous many of the plot developments were.
Buy Breaking Dawn on Amazon.
 Since I have an interview this morning, I’m a little nervous and thought I’d focus on something happier: summer! And so we have my first Weekly Geeks post. I read so much that I have trouble fitting memes in and have decided to go ahead and do the more flexible ones, so I can fit them in between book reviews. Here’s this week’s task:
Again with Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S. starting traditionally on Friday evening, it also is unofficially the start of summer. You’ve probably been asked this in other meme groups in which you participate, but do your reading habits change over the summer? Do you choose lighter fare? What do you enjoy to take to the beach, for example? What is the ultimate summer book? OR what are your favorite travel guides — official or unofficial guides? Again, an example, I think of Holidays In Hell by P.J. O’Rourke, of places I’d rather not vacation. Along those lines, where do you vacation? Any places you recommend or even don’t recommend?
My reading habits barely ever change. Maybe it’s because I almost never go to the beach, either! Despite living only about an hour away from the Jersey shore while with my parents, I can’t swim. We moved around a lot when I was a kid and I was very shy, so somehow I never got signed up. By the time it became weird, I was already scared of water from an altercation with a floating device attached to my back at a friend’s pool party. I’ve heard they’re no longer sold because of this very problem. I don’t feel the lack much, to be honest. Keith and I want to honeymoon in a very warm place with beaches this fall, but we’re not sure if we can afford that yet, so right now my next few months are very likely beach-free.
Were I to choose some ideal beach reads, though, I’d go with lighter fiction. Inevitably, going to a beach involves traveling, unless you’re lucky, and I know that’s stressful. So who wants to read something angsty or thoughtful when they’ve got their mind on where they’re going? And once arrived, relaxation is surely in order. For me, this means romance, YA, or perhaps some of the urban fantasy genre I’m just discovering. Sometimes regular fantasy works too, as there’s nothing like a great chunkster when you have nothing but time, but I’d prefer to find one that wasn’t too deep. I’d like to calm down, not spend 800 pages worrying over whether my favorite character in the book is going to make it to the end.
I’m not sure if I could choose the perfect summer read. What do you think? Is there a book that I really should read this summer?
 When she was a little girl in India, Linno lost her right hand in an accident with fireworks. Ever since, she has been ashamed, dropping out of school and becoming the caretaker for her grandmother. The only thing that she treasures is her art, as she trains her left hand to create the beautiful pictures which were so effortless with her right. Her little sister Anju is incredibly intelligent. When Anju applies for a scholarship to study for a year in New York City, this is perceived as the opportunity to get her family out of India and to the US. Anju must succeed. When confronted with evidence of her own awkwardness and lack of originality during her interview, Anju decides to claim Linno’s pictures as her own and wins the scholarship on the basis of her sister’s talent. In New York City, Anju is haunted by her lies and by a friend of the mother who killed herself so many years ago. When she can no longer hide, Anju must confront the difficulties she’s created for herself and find out what really matters to her.
I really loved this book. My favorite part was how well the characters were drawn. Linno in particular was my favorite. She grows amazingly over the course of the novel, from the injured, mocked little girl into an amazing young woman fully capable of using her talents and getting what she’s dreamed. She confronts the evils of her own past and makes her own choices rather than getting married to another semi-disabled person and hiding in borrowed wealth.
Anju, while less appealing because of her pathological lies, is also a completely believable character. She’s forced to confront some hard truths in this book about who she is and what she is doing; she falls from the top of the world into its nasty underworld and honestly, it feels like she really learns that things aren’t going to be given to her and that grades aren’t all that matter in the world. People throughout the novel are set to use Anju for their own personal gain, to take her story and make it their own; by the end of the novel Anju has decided to take control of her story for herself. The other, less central characters are also fascinating, like Melvin and Bird and Gracie, Linno and Anju’s deceased mother.
The multi-culturalism in this novel was similarly interesting to me. I think one of the scenes that captures this best is when Linno has to make an invitation for a woman who does not want an authentic Asian design but rather one that reflects what she has seen on TV and in films. Linno has to struggle with her own knowledge of cultures and the way that they are perceived by outsiders, which I found to be a very interesting contrast. Anju experiences similar problems through her relationship with her host mother, a famous TV personality who while intent on enlightening people about Indian problems, has a worldview which doesn’t match up at all with the India that Anju was born and lived in. This always makes me wonder how different actual cultures are from the packaged versions presented on TV, in movies, and to tourists on visits. I’m not sure how accurate a picture books can give me, but I would hope that they push the boundaries a bit.
All in all, this is a great book. There are many layers to it but overall, it’s an engaging story. I grew to care about the characters and wished for them to succeed. I was sorry to let them go at the end of the novel, but I’ve been left with quite a bit to think about. This is readable literary fiction at its best. I completely recommend it.
Atlas of Unknowns is available from Amazon UK and Amazon.
Interesting aside: Did you know that Indian trains have open toilets and while traveling, the waste just falls onto the ground and whoever is unlucky enough to be standing underneath? I did not, but it’s in this book and I heard it on TV in the same week, so I went and looked it up. It’s true for some trains at least.
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