harleyale

54. The Harlequin by Laurell K. Hamilton

I've hoped for some time that Hamilton would get back to the roots of this series and return to a more supernatural mystery style of story rather than the metaphysical pornfest that the last few books have been.

This book may not quite fulfil that hope, but I'd definitely call it a step in the right direction. There's still a fair amount of sex, but it's all relevant to the plot and there's a lot more actual plot going on this time too.

Richard starts off this book by actually being more reasonable than he has for several books but ends up reverting to being a total arse. He's easily the most annoying character in the whole series, and it's a pity that Hamilton has effectively written herself into a corner when it comes to killing him off.

On the whole though, this is the best book in this series for some time and hope we get more in this vein...

The Bishop at the Lake, by Andrew M. Greeley
I'm not sure if I'm getting more demanding or if these aren't as good as they used to be - or maybe it's got more to do with the circumstances under which I was reading this one ... but even still, it was a fun, quick read, very good for shutting out the last couple of very stressful days in 15-30 minute snatches. Even when I'm a little frustrated with certain aspects of his writing, I still feel very happy reading it.
(76/300)

Books 1-4; Books 5-8; Books 9-12; Books 13-16; Books 17-19

20. The Museum of Silence (Chinmoku hakubutsukan) - Yôko Ogawa

An old woman who steals memorabilia of recently deceased. A young man who gets hired to create a museum out of these memorabilias. A book which takes you into a world so strange, frightening and at the same time intriguing that I can't really put it into words. Reading it feels like dreaming, as if you were at a peaceful place and then you make the unsettling discovery that you can't even control your own actions anymore. I felt thoroughly, but subtly manipulated by this book, and loved every minute of it. Rather curious considering the narration is very matter-of-fact, almost impersonal (none of the characters has a name), but pays great attention to details, to colours, odours, the shape of things, small movements, wordless messages. I could picture the huge and lonely villa where the story takes place, hear the old woman telling the young man the stories of people who died long ago, and feel the subtle force drawing him deeper and deeper into this enchanted world of memories and silence. As you have probably guessed from this review, this book is not recommendable for people who seek plot and action, but for those who appreciate the beauty of language and the magic of words.

Apparently there is no English translation yet. The title is a translation from German and behind it in the brackets there is the romanized original title.

21. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - Gregory Maguire

I read that book because I wanted to know about what everyone was making such a fuss - and honestly: it's overrated, in my opinion. I mean, a novel that "challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil"? "A punchy allegory that alludes to everything from Nazi Germany to Nixon's America"? ... Come on. This is clearly one of those cases where the high praise leads to you having such high standards that you can't appreciate the book even if it is, in fact, good. Just not that good. So there's a thin line between good and evil; good intensions don't invariably lead to good deeds; 'evil' has its reasons, and 'good' can be shallow and vane. Now that's astonishing news. And where exactly was the challenge again? There is too much common consent about that to really make you think, even if or precisely because you kind of agree on that matter.

Despite of this consensus bug, I fairly enjoyed Wicked, though the repeatedly abrupt change of the point of view and the setting was annoying. It impeded the reading flow and prevented you from getting to know a character you were interested in or could relate to better. Which is a shame because especially Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, was a character I could greatly sympathize with. She's strong, opinionated, socially awkward, and in a very brambly way charming - what's not to love about such a woman? Though I can definitely see some people complaining how the author put the whole children's book world of L. Frank Baum in an adult context - but I must admit that I never liked The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as much as to be bothered by that. (And the movie gives me the creeps.) For my first shot at fantasy in a long time - Terry Pratchett doesn't count, I read him for other reasons - it was entertainingly enough. I even got this feeling I had back then when I read almost only fantasy, that feeling to delve into another world full of strange and unknown creatures, magical and wondrous places and a sheer endless amount of possibilities.

22. Breakfast at Tiffany's - Truman Capote

I think there's no need to explain the plot, because I feel as if I'm the last person on earth to read this book. I was surprised by how much I liked Breakfast at Tiffany's, considering that I was not really into Capote's work so far. Though, come to think of it, I'd probably like him better now anyway than when I was fifteen. I can definitely see different ways to look at this book, but I'm tired and will be content with mentioning only that which is the most important to me: Holly. There are few fictional characters of whom I have a vivid picture in my mind the moment they appear, and whose pictures will stay with me for years and be probably the only thing I remember about the book. Mind you, this is not something bad, the books I like most are those who later make me feel something or see a picture when I think of them. I think Holly will definitely stay with me. She reminded me somehow of Maude ('Harold and Maude'), though those two women couldn't be more different in every aspect of their respective characters. But there is one thing which connects Holly to Maude, and that is the fact that we all need at a certain point in our life a Holly. At least I do. But I also think I've found my Holly already. :P I'm not talking about Audrey Hepburn in a slinky dress - though that would be welcome, too - but about the Holly type, the fun-loving, outgoing and yet searching person whose mere presence makes you in love with life again: ( 'See?' she shouted. 'It's great!' )

6) Small Favor - Jim Butcher - 420 pages
New book - 7 out of 10 ( My Review )

Total for the year:
Book count = 6/50, 12% of goal
Page count = 1700/15,000, 11% of goal
Days passed = 134/366, 37% of total

Crossposted in 15000pages and sterlingspider

This was inspired by Crimsontide's fic. Yes he read it ;) Heehee. Which means...VERRRY naughty comic behind the cut.

( read more )

Title: The Whole Truth
Author: David Baldacci
Rating: 3/5
Book: 21/50 (42% completed)
Pages: 401
Total Pages 7,433/15,000 pages(49.55% completed)
Next up: Sunday's at Tiffany's by James Patterson

Well.....what can I say about this one. Definately not Baldacci's best. I found about three quarters of the book was boring. There were several parts that got really good and I thought the book was finally getting better but then it got boring again. All the action seemed to happen in the last 50 pages. Definately not my favourite.

xposted to 50bookchallenge, 15000pages and thirdwatch_gurl

( Book Description from book jacket or back of the book: )

Innocent W #1 by Kei kusunoki is a very odd horror manga, and very adult and graphic. Makoto is a young man and a private eye with an otherworldly ability to get to the bottom of things. This is because, in spite of his grandmother’s attempts to shush him, Makoto is a wizard and a clairvoyant. This is apparently not the thing to be. Makoto takes a strange case than Granny doesn’t want him to and off he goes on a bus ride into the country. Turns out all of his fellow passengers are ‘witches’ well twins who can hear/see the dead, a tarot card reader, a witch who can’t be wounded, a medium and a few others.

The people out to kill them don’t care for fine distinctions. The rest of the plot can be summed up as ‘kill the witches.’ You could call this the most misogynistic thing ever except Makoto is included in the kill ‘em. Still, this is nothing more than spells and bloody battle and you are not spared severed limbs, eviscerations, graphic rape attempts and worse, all too often the girls don’t fend well for themselves without Makoto. Sigh. For all that, it’s a half way interesting story line but not for the meek at heart. And not all these girls are all that innocent either. Some are. Some have done some nasty stuff themselves.

Tokyo Babylon #1 by CLAMP. I’ll start this out with while I love the idea behind the CLAMP ladies, I’m not a huge fan of their work and this is one of their earlier works. ( Tokyo )

Busgamer – Kazuya Minekura. This one is different in that it’s complete in one volume, only because it kept getting canceled (well the magazines and it as well). ( Bus )

And not included in the book count but mentioned because once again I don’t get the hype. This one won or finaled in six major book awards for young adult and otherwise and I found it to be the most utterly unreadable thing I’ve come across in ages. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor the Nation by M.T. Anderson. ( astonishing )

Dragonsong - Anne McCaffrey

( From the dust jacket . . .  )

Technically, I should have gone from Dragonquest straight into The White Dragon, but since The Harper Hall Trilogy is set roughly contemporaneously with the former, I got in the habit while I was a kid of interposing my reading this way.

This is an extremely charming book, perfectly-suited for a young person who is just starting to get interested in fantasy.

Books Read:

22 / 50 (44.0%)

Pages Read:

8,939 / 15,000 (59.6%)

Time Remaining:

232 / 366 (63.4%)

Dragonquest - Anne McCaffrey

( From the dust jacket . . .  )

Still Anne McCaffrey at the top of her game.  Original, compelling, and generally extremely well-written (though McCaffrey does occasionally succumb to the urge to go a bit overboard with the breathless prose). 

In this second installment of her Dragonriders of Pern trilogy, McCaffrey shifts from straight up fantasy adventure to a more intrigue-based story with a more complex, interwoven plot than in its predecessor.  There is, as always, a trade-off.  The plot is richer, but the characterizations leave quite a bit to be desired.  They're still three-dimensional, but none of them approach the richness or depth lavished on developing Lessa's character.

No, it isn't great literature . . . not by any stretch, but it's a wonderful example of its genre.

Books Read:

21 / 50 (42.0%)

Pages Read:

8,737 / 15,000 (58.2%)

Time Remaining:

232 / 366 (63.4%)

 #11 The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion by L. J. Smith-

9) The God of Small Things – Aruhndhati Roy

I was highly disappointed and a bit disturbed by this novel.
It was hard for me to really get into the story because the author switches around the scenes constantly and in the first chapter introduces a ridiculous amount of characters.
Bah. So disappointed.

  

The band Arcade Fire, who for some reason I've forgotten to listen more to lately, did a song w/ David FLIPPIN' Bowie! 2 I believe, but this one... wow. It should be played in church or when Rocky wins a championship or Jesus walks the moon. And they will make music for movies now too. Enjoy.


Oh, and one more: The kid from Superbad has a message for you. He needs blow.
"Piracy PSA" with Christopher Mintz-Plasse on FunnyOrDie.com

Back later w/ a better blog. Or more vids. Who cares? Oh, you do. Oh. Sorry to put you on the spot there. Listen, I'll make it up to you. How 'bout lunch, say 3-ish? The Italian place, oh, didn't know you liked Italian but well, it is your choice. I did offer it. OK, see ya then, you got my number. Oh, you don't. Ok, hold on.... ok, there you go. Nice hat, btw. Oh, I'm sorry. That's your head. Oh well, you know I always forget this things. Peace.

....What the FUCK was that?!?!

Title: The Alexander Cipher
Author: Will Adams
Pages: 517
Genre: Historical/Crime/Thriller. Maybe? I suck at putting these things into categories!

Summary:
It's 318 BC in the deserts of Libya, and Alexander the Great is buried as only a God should be, placed in a golden Sarcophagus in a catacomb of chambers, each packed with diamonds, rubies and gold. This was how he should have remained, but time waits for no-one. 2007 - underwater archaeologist Daniel Knox has been on the trail of Alexander's Gold ever since he can remember. When a tomb is uncovered on the construction site of a new hotel, Daniel believes he has found the clue to what he has been working towards for years. But the discovery has alerted two of the most dangerous men in the world, and Daniel is now a marked man. [Amazon.co.uk]

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this. Well written, and although I know nothing about the time it gave enough background with out going into tons of historical detail!

Title: The Love Knot
Author: Elizabeth Chadwick
Pages: 472
Genre: Historical fiction

Summary:
The year is 1140 and England is torn by the strife of civil war. Oliver Pascal chances upon a village raided by mercenaries and rescues the survivors: an orphaned boy, who is the illegitimate son of the old king, and his mother's maid, a young widow named Catrin. After escorting them to Bristol Castle, they are accepted into the household of Robert of Gloucester and while Catrin finds herself falling in love with Oliver she suffers a deep boredom at the frivolity of court life. Thus when the old midwife Etheldreda offers to teach her the secrets of her ancient art, Catrin agrees. But the midwife's life is fraught with dangers, not least Oliver's own personal fears which threaten their relationship, but also in the shape of two men, both killers and both of whom threaten the couple's lives. However, Catrin is determined to pursue her career and keep Oliver and while England fights a civil war, she battles for her love and for her vocation. [Amazon.co.uk]

My Thoughts:
This is a re-read, but I couldn't remember what was happening until about half way through! I LOVE Elizabeth Chadwick's writing style, so i definately reccommend this one!

Title: The Black Sun
Author: James Twining
Pages: 579
Genre: Historical/Crime/Thriller

Summary:
A whole year has passed since art thief Tom Kirk made a resolution to abjure his criminal activities. But--it goes without saying--he finds himself unable to entirely leave his old life behind (after all, Twining would have no book in that the case). Three major art thefts occur, while in London a survivor of the death camps is killed in hospital. His murderers have removed a grisly relic from the crime scene: the dead man's left arm. Soon, Kirk finds himself drawn into a mystifying (and highly dangerous) situation, with yet another element complicating the already labyrinthine plot: a gang has broken into the NSA museum and made off with a decoding machine. [Amazon.co.uk]

My Thoughts:
Loved this as well. I haven't read the first one, but I don't think I missed anything vital to this story! I'd worked out the doubling crossings and things befire the end, but it didn't take away the enjoyment, haha!

Title: Slow Decay
Author: Andy Lane
Pages: 250
Genre: TV novelisation

Summary:
When Torchwood track an enery surge to a Cardiff nightclub, the team finds 5 teenages have died in a fight, and lying amost the bodies is an alien device. The next morning they discover the corpse of a Weevil, it's face and neck eaten away, seemingly by human teeth.
Gwen's job is putting a strain on Rhys and her relationship. She decides it's tim t spruce up their relationship using alien technology, and Rhys decides to sort himself on - go on a diet. Luckily a friend mentioned Dr Scotus's weight-loss clinic...

My Thoughts:
Biased, but I love these books! Read this one in celebration that there are another three coming out later this year!
All the way through this I was sitting there going 'Adipose, ADIPOSE' Haha. But y'know, it wasn't. A little less cuddly. Loved all the bits of insight into the characters, and I thought the way he'd written the dialogue fitted with the characters well!

( This years books )

Total Books: 33
Total Pages: 12866
Currently Reading: None
Next Up: Don't know

Books 1-4; Books 5-8; Books 9-12; Books 13-16

17. The Visit (Der Besuch der alten Dame) - Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Dürrenmatt is one of my favourite German-speaking authors. He masterfully captures the fatality and futility of the world in his grotesque comedies. I was probably the only person in my class who absolutely digged the bitter irony in the ending of The Physicists; and I can laugh every time about the inhabitants of the henhouse in Romulus the Great who are all named after Roman emperors. Somehow I did never get around to read The Visit, though it is one of his most well-known plays. Claire Zachanassian, a former resident of the small Swiss town Güllen and now a billionaire, arrives at her hometown after many years abroad. Back then, she had to leave in disgrace because she was with an illegitimate child and her boyfriend Alfred denied to have impregnated her. Now many things have changed: the once prospering Güllen is bankrupt and in desperate need of financial help. Claire offers the town a billion, but she wants Alfred's execution in return. The play revolves around the question how great moral strength can be in times of need; none of the townspeople are bad persons, and yet the prospect of a better future unsettles and tempts them ...

18. Jakob von Gunten - Robert Walser

I read this book a couple of weeks ago. It's honestly one of the weirdest books I know; if I try to recall my feelings about it, there's just a mixture of opposition, twisted fascination and a complete lack of understanding. Though Jakob von Gunten's family is well-off, he decides to attend the Benjamenta boarding school to be trained as a servant. The main lesson which is taught there is that they are of absolutely no importance and won't ever be. Jakob now describes their daily life at school, his experiences in Berlin and his dreams in episodes loosely strung together. The whole setting has an unreal, nightmarish quality and leaves you wondering whether Jakob dreams or really is awake; whether the humility taught at the Benjamenta school really can be considered as an alternative draft to blind individualism and achievement-oriented ruthlessness.

The cloister-like ambiance of the Benjamenta school was thought-provoking. Nevertheless I was a bit taken aback by its principles, namely unquestioning obedience, uniformity and systematic dumbing down. Jakob von Gunten however is not at all an obedient person; he's rather self-confident and vane. But there is this almost masochistic preference to demean himself --he constantly flirts with submissiveness and hidden rebellion, especially if confronted with his headmaster. And I'm quite convinced that it's not only my personal Wildean bias that made my stumble over homoerotic elements again and again. Though of course I should not be too sure because I had the feeling to stare at a wall knowing that behind it was a rich world of 'I see, this is what he meant' while reading the book.

19. In the Penal Colony (In der Strafkolonie) - Franz Kafka

Apparently Kafka was a great admirer of Jakob von Gunten, so this fits in quite well. A traveler is invited to see a particularly imaginative execution device that carves the convict's sentence into his back until he dies painfully. I admit that I read this only because my German teacher had given me a Kafka graphic novel last year and I found the graphic violence in the re-telling of this short story somehow refreshing. I'm a philistine - so what? I'm not going to pretend profoundness where there isn't any. Other people watch Saw, I read Kafka. :P As always, it was very disturbing, because none of the characters seemed to be particularly outraged by what we would call horrible, cruel and inhuman.

I haven't posted on here for ages because I've been in the last months of my degree and have been to busy to keep up with the posts. But these are the last few books I have read. I have been re-reading a lot of books recently for my exams but will only include the ones I've read last that haven't been repeats!

#27 - Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

If you've seen the film and not read the book, then it's basically the same. I think the film adaptation is a pretty good interpretation and I found it difficult not to imagine Brad Pitt as Tyler. Without giving much away, the novel centres around the unnamed narrator and his friend Tyler who set up an underground fight club for men to beat on eachother until they say stop. The only rule about fight club is you don't talk about fight club! A good examination of modern day hypermasculinity in a post-feminist world.

7/10

#28 Trumpet by Jackie Kay

This novel was based loosely on the life of Billy Tipton, a jazz musician who on his death was found to be biologically female. The novel takes place after Joss, a Trumpet player's death and is written from the point of view of those who knew him. I thought this novel was very interesting, it really makes you think about what makes a man a man and a woman a woman.

8/10

#29 The Prestige by Christopher Priest

I loved this book. The basic plot: Two rival magicians try to outperfom eachother and find out the secrets to one another's most famous tricks. The more you read the more you get confused but it all becomes clear in the end and there are lots of twists and turns which will keep you entertained.

9/10

23) Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Wow, what an intriguing book. It's a generational saga leading up to the very formation of the narrator, Cal, a hermaphrodite. Very little of the book takes place in Cal's present day life. The heart of the book, for me, was really in the story of his grandparents' exodus from turbulent 1920s Turkey to America, and to Detroit. Middlesex is also in many ways a love letter to Detroit; I've never been to the city, but the geography rang true and vivid for me.

The perspective of the book caused some problems for me. In truth, Cal knew too much. There were details that his grandmother wouldn't be able to provide, and other characters were dead, and yet Cal explored their viewpoint, too. It bugs me when a first-person narrator comes across as omnipotent. Even imagination can only go so far, especially in describing the details of your grandparents' sex life. Still, I loved Cal. He was delightfully complex and sympathetic, even as he did some stupid things that made me want to throttle him. His yia yia, grandmother, was my favorite character, though. I love the details on Greek culture (everything else I know is from a hilarious episode of the British comedy Are You Being Served?) and life in the 1920s in Motor City. The research on topics from Ford factories to silk worms is amazing and fascinating.

Overall, it was an excellent book, though I don't think I'll read it again.

Book 12
Author and Title of Book: Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) A Fair and Balanced Look At the Right by Al Fanken
Rating: 10/10
Date Began: April 30th
Date Finished: May 12th
379 pages


Good book if you haven't read it yet go do so. Al Franken does his homework unlike most talked about in this book. It may offend some, hell it might even piss them off. If you have a since of humor and some what aware of of the past few years you'll enjoy this book.

12/50
3,618/15,000

50BC08 #9: Things Fall Apart
Author: Chinua Achebe
Year: 1959 (Anchor Books, 50th Anniversary Edition)
Genre:  Fiction, African Literature
Pages: 209
Other:  Part of 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list

This is an extraordinary book in its ability to narrate both a story of cultural dissonance and an overarching tale about the human condition.  Achebe's novel broaches the subject of morality, but demonstrates that even the concept of "evil" is subject to a cultural interpretive context.

Okonkwo, the book's tragic hero, is an emblem of tradition, but also represents how tradition can be subject to the inner turmoil of the human soul.  While the Ibo people must face the threat of European missionaries, Okonkwo must confront the threat of his own misplaced hubris.  Achebe is a sympathetic voice, but is unafraid to reveal the flaws of his characters as a commentary upon our own imperfect existence.

This is probably one of the best introductions to African fiction, precisely because the story does not limit itself to the African context. The author's  investigation of tragedy is pragmatic, yet emotionally stimulating without being romanticized. It is a book that will help the western reader more easily understand not only Nigerian tribal culture, but the power of ideas and their institutions.

I just got doen reaidng The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama.  

It didn't tell me anything new but was interesting to read his views...even if his writing style was a bit dry.

Onward to the next book.