Time for the weekly book haul. I got a lot of good books again this week. And despite my vow to not buy any more books until I have got through all the ones I already have; I found a few great books on super sale at Borders that I haven't been able to get through paperbackswap.com or the library. So here's the list!
From Paperbackswap.com:
I am looking forward to this re-telling of the classic fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty".
This is the second book in the Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch. I enjoyed the first book; it was a darkly humorous epic fantasy type of book with loads of intrigue. I am excited to read the second book.
From Amazon Vine:
This book is being compared a lot to the "Mists of Avalon". We will see. I glanced through the first page and it looks like something I will like.
This looked like an amusing kid novel; so I am hoping it is as good as the premise sounds.
Bought At Borders:
I have read "Extraordinary Girl" and liked it a lot. Based on that I started aquiring parts of the "Alien Huntress" series by Showalter. I have the first and third books; but haven't been able to find the second book used anywhere...so when I saw it at Borders on clearance I snapped it up.
I have read all of the Noble Dead series by Barb and JC Hendee. So when I saw that Barb had written another vampire book (previous to the noble dead) I wanted to read it. I have been having trouble getting my hands on it used though; so this is another one that when I saw it on clearance I grabbed it.
I have read the first book of the Thursday Next series and loved it. So I have been slowing acquiring the next four books in the series. This is the last of the bunch. Again couldn't find it used so when I found it on clearance I had to get it!
So there you go. Some more good additions to the bunch of books I already own. Someday I *will* read them all!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Crazy Hair by Neil Gaiman (5/5 stars)
Okay so I am a huge Gaiman fan. I know Gaiman has released a couple books for children, but I don't have any of them. When I saw "Crazy Hair" was coming out I actually pre-ordered it. All my expectations were met; it is a great kid's book and I also enjoy it as an adult.
I read through it first by myself to make sure it wasn't too scary. Personally the fact that the main character has all of this crazy stuff living in his hair creeped me out a little. Then the girl gets sucked into his hair; which I thought might be scary to my 2 1/2 year old son. Still once the girl is in his hair she has a really good time. The pictures (in true Dave McKean style) are very abstract and a little creepy. There is one picture in particular with a pirate ship swooping through huge hair folicles that is a bit odd. So all-in-all the normal mix of wildly creative, creepy, strange that I have come to expect from the Gaiman/McKean team. The book itself is a good length for a toddler; long enough to be a good story but short enough to keep their attention.
So, how did my son like it?
He absolutely loves this book. We read it over and over. He loves that every stanza ends with "crazy hair!" and screams that closing statement at the top of his lungs. He thinks it is really neat that all of this stuff lives in this guy's hair. When the girl gets sucked into the guy's hair he thinks it is hilarious and he has memorized all of the neat things she does "dancing in his crazy hair!"
He also finds the abstract artwork fascinating and will spend (well not hours) but minutes at a time (that's a lot for a toddler) just staring at them and pointing out the things he sees.
In summary I was very pleased with this book and so was my 2 1/2 year old son. We read it every night. It is a great story with wonderful artwork. It made me anxious to get some of Gaiman and McKean's other children's books. This is a book that I will keep forever; it definitely gets a spot on my keeper shelf. I would strongly recommend this book for all ages.
I read through it first by myself to make sure it wasn't too scary. Personally the fact that the main character has all of this crazy stuff living in his hair creeped me out a little. Then the girl gets sucked into his hair; which I thought might be scary to my 2 1/2 year old son. Still once the girl is in his hair she has a really good time. The pictures (in true Dave McKean style) are very abstract and a little creepy. There is one picture in particular with a pirate ship swooping through huge hair folicles that is a bit odd. So all-in-all the normal mix of wildly creative, creepy, strange that I have come to expect from the Gaiman/McKean team. The book itself is a good length for a toddler; long enough to be a good story but short enough to keep their attention.
So, how did my son like it?
He absolutely loves this book. We read it over and over. He loves that every stanza ends with "crazy hair!" and screams that closing statement at the top of his lungs. He thinks it is really neat that all of this stuff lives in this guy's hair. When the girl gets sucked into the guy's hair he thinks it is hilarious and he has memorized all of the neat things she does "dancing in his crazy hair!"
He also finds the abstract artwork fascinating and will spend (well not hours) but minutes at a time (that's a lot for a toddler) just staring at them and pointing out the things he sees.
In summary I was very pleased with this book and so was my 2 1/2 year old son. We read it every night. It is a great story with wonderful artwork. It made me anxious to get some of Gaiman and McKean's other children's books. This is a book that I will keep forever; it definitely gets a spot on my keeper shelf. I would strongly recommend this book for all ages.
Revelations (Blue Bloods, Book 3) by Melissa de la Cruz (4/5 stars)
This is the third book in the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz. I thought this one was the best of the series; I would give it 4.5 stars if I could!
In this book things are coming to a head. The Silver Bloods are evidently somehow infiltrated into some of the prestigious Blue Bloods families but no one knows who or where. With Lawrence running the council things are changing at Duchesne school. The students are now learning more about how to defend themselves. Things are getting worse for Bliss; who instead of just having blackouts is now plagued by horrible visions while awake too. Something is wrong in South America and Lawrence is called away to deal with it. Schuyler spends time in misery when she is adopted by Charles Force; she also spends a lot of time in this book trying to reconcile her relationships with Oliver and Jack. Mimi spends most of her time planning her bonding with Jack; when she isn't making Schuyler miserable.
This book had a much faster pace then the second one. The plot line twisted again and again; which I actually thought was well done and enjoyed. I thought this book, more than any of the previous ones, really kept you on your toes mentally and kept you second-guessing yourself. I thought this book really set the stage nicely and made the series into something bigger than high school girls that are super pretty and happen to be vampires.
There are, of course, the prerequisite modeling scenes. I actually enjoy reading about these so they don't detract from the story for me. The amount of time Schuyler spent whining about whether or not she loves Oliver or Jack got seriously annoying; but as the plot moved along she didn't have time to dwell on this forever.
As I said, I thought this was the best book of the series. I liked how complicated the plot got at the end and how dire circumstances end up. I think the story was well tied up, but leaves you wondering what will happen in the bigger picture. I loved that there was a lot more action in this book too! This book finally made me really excited about this series :-)
In this book things are coming to a head. The Silver Bloods are evidently somehow infiltrated into some of the prestigious Blue Bloods families but no one knows who or where. With Lawrence running the council things are changing at Duchesne school. The students are now learning more about how to defend themselves. Things are getting worse for Bliss; who instead of just having blackouts is now plagued by horrible visions while awake too. Something is wrong in South America and Lawrence is called away to deal with it. Schuyler spends time in misery when she is adopted by Charles Force; she also spends a lot of time in this book trying to reconcile her relationships with Oliver and Jack. Mimi spends most of her time planning her bonding with Jack; when she isn't making Schuyler miserable.
This book had a much faster pace then the second one. The plot line twisted again and again; which I actually thought was well done and enjoyed. I thought this book, more than any of the previous ones, really kept you on your toes mentally and kept you second-guessing yourself. I thought this book really set the stage nicely and made the series into something bigger than high school girls that are super pretty and happen to be vampires.
There are, of course, the prerequisite modeling scenes. I actually enjoy reading about these so they don't detract from the story for me. The amount of time Schuyler spent whining about whether or not she loves Oliver or Jack got seriously annoying; but as the plot moved along she didn't have time to dwell on this forever.
As I said, I thought this was the best book of the series. I liked how complicated the plot got at the end and how dire circumstances end up. I think the story was well tied up, but leaves you wondering what will happen in the bigger picture. I loved that there was a lot more action in this book too! This book finally made me really excited about this series :-)
Masquerade (Blue Bloods, Book2) by Melissa de la Cruz (4/5 stars)
This is the second book in the Blue Bloods series by Melissa de la Cruz. I was pleasantly pleased with this book. After reading both Melissa Marr's "Ink Exchange" and the remainder of the House of Night series I have to say, I think Melissa de la Cruz writes much better than either of those authors.
Schuyler travels to Italy with Oliver in hopes of finding her grandfather; she hopes he can help her figure out how to fight the Silver Bloods. Meanwhile the Blue Blood community is planning the Four Hundred Ball and at Duchesne School Mimi is planning an exclusive after party. Also a mysterious new kid, Kingsley, enters the scene. Will Schuyler find what she seeks? What will happen to Mimi as she walks a darker and darker path?
I like this book better than the first book of this series. There is a lot more plot and things move along at a fast clip. It was nice to see Schuyler doing something productive and really taking the initiative. The tension between Oliver/Schuyler/Jack and Jack/Schuyler/Mimi continues to make things interesting. In this book you feel like things are kind of building to a climax as you find out more and more about the Silver Blood taint within the Blue Blood community.
This book is also a fun read if you like fashion and reading about the elite. There are a couple good fashion shoots that Bliss and Schuyler attend and some discussion about style and fashion in general. I happen to enjoy fashion so I find these parts of the book to be interesting and entertaining.
I thought many of the characters really filled out in this book. I also thought that this book was more linear and didn't jump between characters in a way that was as distracting as the first book. All in all I really enjoyed the book and am eagerly awaiting the next book. Just remember these are books to read for fun and really aren't all that deep. Although I will say that this book had more depth than the first book.
Schuyler travels to Italy with Oliver in hopes of finding her grandfather; she hopes he can help her figure out how to fight the Silver Bloods. Meanwhile the Blue Blood community is planning the Four Hundred Ball and at Duchesne School Mimi is planning an exclusive after party. Also a mysterious new kid, Kingsley, enters the scene. Will Schuyler find what she seeks? What will happen to Mimi as she walks a darker and darker path?
I like this book better than the first book of this series. There is a lot more plot and things move along at a fast clip. It was nice to see Schuyler doing something productive and really taking the initiative. The tension between Oliver/Schuyler/Jack and Jack/Schuyler/Mimi continues to make things interesting. In this book you feel like things are kind of building to a climax as you find out more and more about the Silver Blood taint within the Blue Blood community.
This book is also a fun read if you like fashion and reading about the elite. There are a couple good fashion shoots that Bliss and Schuyler attend and some discussion about style and fashion in general. I happen to enjoy fashion so I find these parts of the book to be interesting and entertaining.
I thought many of the characters really filled out in this book. I also thought that this book was more linear and didn't jump between characters in a way that was as distracting as the first book. All in all I really enjoyed the book and am eagerly awaiting the next book. Just remember these are books to read for fun and really aren't all that deep. Although I will say that this book had more depth than the first book.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Bear's New Friend by Karma Wilson and Jade Chapman (3/5 stars)
This is a story about Bear who hears a noise in the woods. Bear keeps running into his normal friends in the woods but none of them are the ones making the noise. In the end the animal making the noise was hiding because it was scared and is happy to be friends with Bear.
The pictures in this book are really cute. My two year old loved the repetitive phrase "And Bear says 'Who?'" He loved repeating the Who part. He also loved naming the animals and repeating the sounds they would make.
Unfortunately this book is pretty long and wordy for a board book and I have had a lot of trouble getting my son to sit down and read it. He loves to read books, normally he will tolerate a longer book, but he tells me this one is boring and always wants to put it away. The parts where Bear says "Who?" don't necessarily make any sense with the rest of the story and are kind of put in weird places. Also this book doesn't really teach anything about friendship; it says on the cover it is "A Book About Friendship". If anything it touches on issues of shyness but even that is only brief.
In summary the pictures are cute. The story length and content leave a lot to be desired (especially from my two year old son's point of view). This book will never be a favorite of his or mine. Also don't be misled, this isn't a story that teaches some sort of deep-seated lesson about friendship. It also isn't a story that is educational in any way. The only positive parts about this book were the repetitive "Who?" phrases that my son enjoyed and the fact that there are animals in the story. It's an okay book but will most likely be gotten rid of sooner than later.
The pictures in this book are really cute. My two year old loved the repetitive phrase "And Bear says 'Who?'" He loved repeating the Who part. He also loved naming the animals and repeating the sounds they would make.
Unfortunately this book is pretty long and wordy for a board book and I have had a lot of trouble getting my son to sit down and read it. He loves to read books, normally he will tolerate a longer book, but he tells me this one is boring and always wants to put it away. The parts where Bear says "Who?" don't necessarily make any sense with the rest of the story and are kind of put in weird places. Also this book doesn't really teach anything about friendship; it says on the cover it is "A Book About Friendship". If anything it touches on issues of shyness but even that is only brief.
In summary the pictures are cute. The story length and content leave a lot to be desired (especially from my two year old son's point of view). This book will never be a favorite of his or mine. Also don't be misled, this isn't a story that teaches some sort of deep-seated lesson about friendship. It also isn't a story that is educational in any way. The only positive parts about this book were the repetitive "Who?" phrases that my son enjoyed and the fact that there are animals in the story. It's an okay book but will most likely be gotten rid of sooner than later.
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey (5/5 stars)
I loved this book. But then I am a big fan of your classic down and dirty comics. I think if you like dark graphic novels you will dig this book.
Sandman Slim (or Jimmy if you want to piss him off) has just escaped from Hell. He is here to revenge his girlfriend and will stop at nothing to get the guys that did her in. And, hey, if he gets stuck in a plot to stop world destruction on the way to his main goal who's to say that he actually meant to save the world?
Sandman Slim is your typical down and dirty anti-hero. He does good deeds because he is stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has no intention of being a hero. He has a dark biting sense of wit, and this shows through in the number of over-the-top biting analogies he makes or phrases he tosses out. Almost every line he speaks sounds like it's jumping out of a comic book; so if you don't like this type of writing I would skip this book. I felt like I was wandering the dark streets of a dirtier Gotham City for parts of the book; at other times I was sure I had fallen into Simon Green's Nightside books.
I enjoyed this book immensely. The dry, dark sense of humor had me chuckling a number of times. Slim's gun-toting attitude was amusing as was his serial stealing of hot cars. Oh, yeah, and Slim is a super cool magician too, so don't forget that.
Slim was one of those characters that keeps getting beat to a pulp and then gets up and dusts himself off for some more; reminded me in some ways of both John Taylor (Nightside series) and Harry Dresden (Dresden Files). All of the characters in this book were quick and dirty types (a lot of over the top quotes thrown around like in the Nightside series). I particularly liked the Jade and the Doctor, as well as Slim's close alchemist friend.
This book was quick paced, action packed, and didn't pull any punches when it came to the gore involved. If you don't like to get down and dirty then don't read this book. Surprisingly there really wasn't any explicit sex, just violence galore.
The book wrapped up nicely, but there could be more books in the future featuring Sandman Slim and I certainly hope that there are.
I would recommend this book if you liked: The Nightside by Simon Green, Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Sandman by Neil Gaiman, or dark graphic novels (Batman, Sin City, etc.).
Sandman Slim (or Jimmy if you want to piss him off) has just escaped from Hell. He is here to revenge his girlfriend and will stop at nothing to get the guys that did her in. And, hey, if he gets stuck in a plot to stop world destruction on the way to his main goal who's to say that he actually meant to save the world?
Sandman Slim is your typical down and dirty anti-hero. He does good deeds because he is stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has no intention of being a hero. He has a dark biting sense of wit, and this shows through in the number of over-the-top biting analogies he makes or phrases he tosses out. Almost every line he speaks sounds like it's jumping out of a comic book; so if you don't like this type of writing I would skip this book. I felt like I was wandering the dark streets of a dirtier Gotham City for parts of the book; at other times I was sure I had fallen into Simon Green's Nightside books.
I enjoyed this book immensely. The dry, dark sense of humor had me chuckling a number of times. Slim's gun-toting attitude was amusing as was his serial stealing of hot cars. Oh, yeah, and Slim is a super cool magician too, so don't forget that.
Slim was one of those characters that keeps getting beat to a pulp and then gets up and dusts himself off for some more; reminded me in some ways of both John Taylor (Nightside series) and Harry Dresden (Dresden Files). All of the characters in this book were quick and dirty types (a lot of over the top quotes thrown around like in the Nightside series). I particularly liked the Jade and the Doctor, as well as Slim's close alchemist friend.
This book was quick paced, action packed, and didn't pull any punches when it came to the gore involved. If you don't like to get down and dirty then don't read this book. Surprisingly there really wasn't any explicit sex, just violence galore.
The book wrapped up nicely, but there could be more books in the future featuring Sandman Slim and I certainly hope that there are.
I would recommend this book if you liked: The Nightside by Simon Green, Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Sandman by Neil Gaiman, or dark graphic novels (Batman, Sin City, etc.).
You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore (1/5 stars)
I found out (after reading this book) that it was the sequel to "Bloodsucking Fiends" and also had characters in it from "A Dirty Job". I didn't know that when I read it. I have read two other Moore books "The Stupidest Angle" and "Fool". I thought "The Stupidest Angel" was so so; I absolutely adored "Fool". I thought "You Suck"...well, I thought it really sucked.
I thought the first page of the book was funny and it went downhill from there. Tommy gets turned into a vampire by his girlfriend and his girlfriend is supposed to be getting out of town. But, Tommy bronzed the old vamp who turned his girlfriend into a vampire so that old vamp is still around. Then Tommy's friends go to Las Vegas and blow all their money on a Blue Hooker. That basically was the story. Does it make sense to you? Well it didn't really make sense to me and there didn't seem to be a point to it.
I didn't really like any of the characters that much; the only character worth speaking of is Abby the goth girl. She was funny at parts, but even her long slang filled journal entries got boring to slog through after a while. I never figured out what the point of the story was; there wasn't anything of interest (or even urgency) propelling the story forward. All the characters ran around in a confused daze with no purpose what-so-ever. Now remember I have read Moore a couple times before so I know that that is part of his charm, but this book was ridiculous.
I didn't find any of the humor to be particularly clever (unless you are a twelve year old boy - this is a general statement I am not trying to stereotype 12 yr old boys...). I had a really, really hard time finishing this book. I put it down and said "forget this waste of time" more then once. Then in the last fourth of the book things picked up, so I decided to finish it. Then there was the ending, which was just plain stupid and screamed that Moore didn't want to write this book and had no idea how to finish it.
This book really knocked Moore down a few points in my opinion. I probably should have picked a better book of his to read. I am still interested in reading "Lamb" because I love a good parody of religion as much as the next person. But I won't be reading any more Moore books for a bit until the disappointment of this book clears through my system. If I hadn't read "Fool" before this book there would be no more Moore in my future (sorry for the horrible more Moore phrases....).
I thought the first page of the book was funny and it went downhill from there. Tommy gets turned into a vampire by his girlfriend and his girlfriend is supposed to be getting out of town. But, Tommy bronzed the old vamp who turned his girlfriend into a vampire so that old vamp is still around. Then Tommy's friends go to Las Vegas and blow all their money on a Blue Hooker. That basically was the story. Does it make sense to you? Well it didn't really make sense to me and there didn't seem to be a point to it.
I didn't really like any of the characters that much; the only character worth speaking of is Abby the goth girl. She was funny at parts, but even her long slang filled journal entries got boring to slog through after a while. I never figured out what the point of the story was; there wasn't anything of interest (or even urgency) propelling the story forward. All the characters ran around in a confused daze with no purpose what-so-ever. Now remember I have read Moore a couple times before so I know that that is part of his charm, but this book was ridiculous.
I didn't find any of the humor to be particularly clever (unless you are a twelve year old boy - this is a general statement I am not trying to stereotype 12 yr old boys...). I had a really, really hard time finishing this book. I put it down and said "forget this waste of time" more then once. Then in the last fourth of the book things picked up, so I decided to finish it. Then there was the ending, which was just plain stupid and screamed that Moore didn't want to write this book and had no idea how to finish it.
This book really knocked Moore down a few points in my opinion. I probably should have picked a better book of his to read. I am still interested in reading "Lamb" because I love a good parody of religion as much as the next person. But I won't be reading any more Moore books for a bit until the disappointment of this book clears through my system. If I hadn't read "Fool" before this book there would be no more Moore in my future (sorry for the horrible more Moore phrases....).
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