As an audiobook, this was well done enough to annoy the hell out of me. The reader did the idiotic Goth girl voice so well, I wanted to slap my iPod.
This is a love story. In a way. It's #3 in the series of Tommy and Jody, vampires from San Francisco. I haven't read a Moore book yet that hasn't made me crack up laughing and, once I got past the Goth girl voice, this wasn't any different.
Tommy posted an ad on Craigslist for a minion and Abby Normal, Goth girl and vampire-wannabe shows up for the job. This book is told mostly through diary/blog entries from Abby, but throws in other perspectives of other characters as well.
All of the characters are really pretty good although I especially love the Emperor of San Francisco and his men, Lazarus and Bummer. The Emperor is a homeless man who takes on the duty of protecting his city against the vampires. His men are dogs and Moore always translates dog speak for us - and it's hilarious.
Vampire kitties, old ones coming to San Fran, little sword-wielding Japanese men, fake Rasta men....This book has everything you need to satisfy your funny bone.
(and it's a better love story than Twilight!)
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
It's possible that this book got to me because I'm highly emotional right now, but I doubt that. I think it got to me because it's an amazing book.
The Book Thief is set in Nazi Germany and follows a little girl named Liesel Meminger as she goes about stealing books. That is the plot at its simplest.
It's so much more than that though. The Book Thief is narrated by Death. At first, it was slow reading for me because I just wasn't sure I was ok with Death telling me a story. But, Death turns out to be quite empathetic and a wonderful storyteller. Of course he is. He's seen it all, humans at their best and at their worst.
Liesel is sent to live with a foster family, The Hubermanns. She had just lost her brother and had just stolen her first book. She's unable to read but the book had a strange pull on her so she took it. Once her new Papa found out, he decided to teach her to read. Papa clearly became her favorite although Mama was rough, she clearly loved Liesel as well.
This book and the books Liesel stole have one thing in common. Words. Words have the power to help and heal and the same power to destroy and control. This is obvious with the rise of Hitler, who used the words to his advantage and managed to create a horrific time in history. It's also obvious with Liesel, who, although she stole books, she used those words to heal. She healed herself, Max, her parents, the mayor's wife.
Zusak's writing style is magnificent. It did take me a bit to read this simply because I couldn't stop going back and re-reading sections. In Zusak's world, words are physical. They "are hurled over the shoulder", "ascend the staircase", "are punched into the air".
I admit my eyes kept leaking at the time of the air raids, when Mama becomes more than the character she began as. She becomes Liesel's mother, her arms engulf Liesel out of fear, her "pride is crayoned on her face" as she describes how Liesel helped everyone in the air raid shelter by reading to them.
My eyes full on exploded water when Death stepped in to do his job. The passages were beautifully written and heartrending.
This is the book that got my reading mojo back. I've been wholly uninterested in reading lately and just picked it up off my bookcase because it was there. Now I want more.
The Book Thief is set in Nazi Germany and follows a little girl named Liesel Meminger as she goes about stealing books. That is the plot at its simplest.
It's so much more than that though. The Book Thief is narrated by Death. At first, it was slow reading for me because I just wasn't sure I was ok with Death telling me a story. But, Death turns out to be quite empathetic and a wonderful storyteller. Of course he is. He's seen it all, humans at their best and at their worst.
Liesel is sent to live with a foster family, The Hubermanns. She had just lost her brother and had just stolen her first book. She's unable to read but the book had a strange pull on her so she took it. Once her new Papa found out, he decided to teach her to read. Papa clearly became her favorite although Mama was rough, she clearly loved Liesel as well.
This book and the books Liesel stole have one thing in common. Words. Words have the power to help and heal and the same power to destroy and control. This is obvious with the rise of Hitler, who used the words to his advantage and managed to create a horrific time in history. It's also obvious with Liesel, who, although she stole books, she used those words to heal. She healed herself, Max, her parents, the mayor's wife.
Zusak's writing style is magnificent. It did take me a bit to read this simply because I couldn't stop going back and re-reading sections. In Zusak's world, words are physical. They "are hurled over the shoulder", "ascend the staircase", "are punched into the air".
I admit my eyes kept leaking at the time of the air raids, when Mama becomes more than the character she began as. She becomes Liesel's mother, her arms engulf Liesel out of fear, her "pride is crayoned on her face" as she describes how Liesel helped everyone in the air raid shelter by reading to them.
My eyes full on exploded water when Death stepped in to do his job. The passages were beautifully written and heartrending.
This is the book that got my reading mojo back. I've been wholly uninterested in reading lately and just picked it up off my bookcase because it was there. Now I want more.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
There's not a lot to say about the Stephanie Plum series except they are your tiny cupcakes in life. The little fluff you need and want to make your day better. Nineteen was a good one, read in the span of one day.
Evanovich really knows her audience and what we want. And she always delivers.
Evanovich really knows her audience and what we want. And she always delivers.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Cold Days by Jim Butcher
I can't guarantee no spoilers here.... be warned
Harry Dresden is BACK! From the dead! Oh, thank goodness. I didn't like ghost Dresden at all.
So Dresden ended up making a deal with Mab, the Winter Queen, in order to come back to the land of the living. She helped make sure he lived and was being "cared for" on the island of Demonreach after he was shot and killed. Now, Dresden is the Winter Knight. Oh, Dresden.
He awakens in Mab's world, getting a form of physical therapy, which includes being nearly killed in creative ways every day by Mab. Keeps him on his toes, ya know. Mab sends Harry back to Chicago with his first order: kill Maeve, Mab's daughter, the Winter Lady. Except...she's immortal.
There is so much action going on in this book it was a little hard to follow. True, Harry has his order, but he also has assassins after him, coming back to his friends and family (who think he's dead), Demonreach (it's a jail for evil evil things) about to explode, The Wild Hunt, meeting Mother Winter and Mother Summer (whoa), the war on the outer edges of NeverNever, the Nemesis, Outsiders..... The list is endless.
All in all, this was a great Dresden book with a whole lot going on. Exactly what I come to expect from Jim Butcher. BUT.... the ending was a game changer. Completely unexpected (at least to me!) and points us and the characters in a whole new direction.
Can't wait for the next one.
Harry Dresden is BACK! From the dead! Oh, thank goodness. I didn't like ghost Dresden at all.
So Dresden ended up making a deal with Mab, the Winter Queen, in order to come back to the land of the living. She helped make sure he lived and was being "cared for" on the island of Demonreach after he was shot and killed. Now, Dresden is the Winter Knight. Oh, Dresden.
He awakens in Mab's world, getting a form of physical therapy, which includes being nearly killed in creative ways every day by Mab. Keeps him on his toes, ya know. Mab sends Harry back to Chicago with his first order: kill Maeve, Mab's daughter, the Winter Lady. Except...she's immortal.
There is so much action going on in this book it was a little hard to follow. True, Harry has his order, but he also has assassins after him, coming back to his friends and family (who think he's dead), Demonreach (it's a jail for evil evil things) about to explode, The Wild Hunt, meeting Mother Winter and Mother Summer (whoa), the war on the outer edges of NeverNever, the Nemesis, Outsiders..... The list is endless.
All in all, this was a great Dresden book with a whole lot going on. Exactly what I come to expect from Jim Butcher. BUT.... the ending was a game changer. Completely unexpected (at least to me!) and points us and the characters in a whole new direction.
Can't wait for the next one.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Space Chronicles by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
I can't help loving this man. I can't believe I'm saying that about an astrophysicist but he's just awesome.
That said, I wasn't as impressed with this book. I really liked some of his others, his writing style is incredibly conversational and he's full of fun facts to show and tell. But this book felt very jumpy to me, like he was talking to me but rapid fire and changing trains of thought too fast.
That's not to say I didn't learn anything from this book. I learned that America is doomed. (Just kidding, kinda). He's saying what I already know: America is falling behind and losing the traction that we once had. For whatever reason, the high and mighty people don't think we need to explore space anymore. That the STEM studies aren't as important.(Science Technology Engineering Math). Tyson has the perfect counterpoint to the argument "We need to take care of the people on Earth first". When that asteroid comes barreling towards Earth? You'll wish we had invested time and money into space.....
He included lots of Tweets of space facts into the book which were (almost) redundant. I follow him on Twitter anyways so I've seen a lot of them.
Read the book because it's Tyson and because it's NASA, but be sure to read his other books too.
That said, I wasn't as impressed with this book. I really liked some of his others, his writing style is incredibly conversational and he's full of fun facts to show and tell. But this book felt very jumpy to me, like he was talking to me but rapid fire and changing trains of thought too fast.
That's not to say I didn't learn anything from this book. I learned that America is doomed. (Just kidding, kinda). He's saying what I already know: America is falling behind and losing the traction that we once had. For whatever reason, the high and mighty people don't think we need to explore space anymore. That the STEM studies aren't as important.(Science Technology Engineering Math). Tyson has the perfect counterpoint to the argument "We need to take care of the people on Earth first". When that asteroid comes barreling towards Earth? You'll wish we had invested time and money into space.....
He included lots of Tweets of space facts into the book which were (almost) redundant. I follow him on Twitter anyways so I've seen a lot of them.
Read the book because it's Tyson and because it's NASA, but be sure to read his other books too.
Julia Child by Laura Shapiro
This was a fairly short (5.7 hours) audiobook from the library. I had listened to a podcast on Julia from The History Chicks and was intrigued enough to dig around for more on her. I think everyone knows who she is, but there was more to her than her famous voice and TV series.
Ah, the lady loved food. And wine. How can you not love someone so enthusiastic about being happy?
Ah, the lady loved food. And wine. How can you not love someone so enthusiastic about being happy?
“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”
― Julia Child
I don't know where this book lies in the best of the best, since it was the first one I picked up about her, but it was pretty good. We get to travel from being a young, privileged woman in Pasadena, to travel in the Foreign Services for the war, to meeting Paul Child and becoming a strong team of two. The relationship between her and Paul just makes you believe that good things can happen and that there are people out there without tremendous egos that want you to be happy.
I was a little (a lot) unhappy about Julia's prejudices against homosexuality, but I try to remember the era that she was raised in. It makes it worse that the book describes her dad's prejudices and how she abhorred them because she clearly though her views were fine. It took the AIDS epidemic and losing several dear friends to make her come around.
I don't think any of the Food Network "stars" have the power that Julia did. How the world created such an optimistic and enthusiastic person, I will never know.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Purchased through my Audible.com account (ok, so it's not a *total* book diet), this has been on my list to read for a while. I just finished it and literally am torn on what I thought of it.
On one hand, Walls describes a self-induced poverty, with parents who never wanted to act like parents, who let the kids raise them. Some of the acts of the parents were pretty heinous and made me angry, such as when the dad, Rex, stole money from the kids for liquor and cigarettes. When the family moved to West Virginia, it was the kids who found jobs and the parents who wanted to do whatever they wanted and that never included work. They lived in squalor and poverty.
On the other hand, it's clear from the book that the parents loved their children. When they couldn't afford Christmas gifts, the dad would take the kids out into the desert backyard and tell them they could each have a star. Whichever star they wanted out of the sky. Jeannette chose Venus. Clearly, something in the raising of the kids went ok, because they moved on, went to college and got careers.
The parents chose to be homeless in New York while the kids were there working and attending school - just so they could still be a family.
I think the most frustrating part, for me, was finding out that the mom had property in Texas worth millions. If they had compromised just a little, the Walls family would not have been subjected to the poverty they lived in. But who knows how that would have changed the kids.
A complicated but very good book. How do you second guess the life that made you who you are?
On one hand, Walls describes a self-induced poverty, with parents who never wanted to act like parents, who let the kids raise them. Some of the acts of the parents were pretty heinous and made me angry, such as when the dad, Rex, stole money from the kids for liquor and cigarettes. When the family moved to West Virginia, it was the kids who found jobs and the parents who wanted to do whatever they wanted and that never included work. They lived in squalor and poverty.
On the other hand, it's clear from the book that the parents loved their children. When they couldn't afford Christmas gifts, the dad would take the kids out into the desert backyard and tell them they could each have a star. Whichever star they wanted out of the sky. Jeannette chose Venus. Clearly, something in the raising of the kids went ok, because they moved on, went to college and got careers.
The parents chose to be homeless in New York while the kids were there working and attending school - just so they could still be a family.
I think the most frustrating part, for me, was finding out that the mom had property in Texas worth millions. If they had compromised just a little, the Walls family would not have been subjected to the poverty they lived in. But who knows how that would have changed the kids.
A complicated but very good book. How do you second guess the life that made you who you are?
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