Oxygen

Oxygen by Andrew Miller tells the tale of three men. Two are brother's and one is a Hungarian author living in Paris. One of the brother's is translating the work of the author but they never meet. The story focuses around the brother's and their mother who is dying of lung cancer. The third character, the author, in a separate story is approached by a group of people struggling for political freedoms. They need his help moving a package into Hungry.

I was a little less than half way through this story when I almost gave up on it. The reviews for this story are excellent. Except one review saw the entire focus of the story to be about cancer and the slow and painful death from it. Because I didn't necessarily want to read a book that heavy and probably depressing I put it down. But something niggled at me and I picked it back up.

I'm glad I did. This story didn't necessarily have a huge point. There was no grand moment, no dawning of any ages, but it was a good story. Very well written and quite interesting.

The Love-Artist

The Love-Artist by Jane Alison was a really interesting book to read. Set in ancient Rome and centering around the story of Ovid this is a fascinating fictional look at a portion of his life. The story was inspired by the few remaining lines from one of his works, Madea:

"I gave you your life. Now you're wondering, will I take it, too?"

The author built a marvelous story around the person that inspired those lines as well as the entire work.

This is a fast and wonderful read. For historical fiction it captures your interest and your imagination from the first page.

Changing Planes

Changing Planes by Ursula K. LeGuin was a fun and fascinating read. The book is a "travel guide" about 15 different planes or worlds that you can visit while you wait at an airport for your actual plane. The flying machine kind.

Each chapter describes a different world. The people that inhabit the worlds are not all humanoid. They are at different levels of advancement/technology. They have varying beliefs, languages, religions, etc.

Overall this was a very fun story and I enjoyed the light-hearted humor. I also enjoyed the ideas expressed in each plane and how they compare to our world, it's practices and it's beliefs. This would actually be a very fun book to read on a trip. On a plane to be more precise. An escape from the "rushed" waiting of air travel. After all, it's the monotony of air travel that started the whole thing..............

Monkey Hunting

Monkey Hunting by Gabriel Garcia – This was an interesting story that spanned 100 years and 5 generations. This is the story of a Chinese man who went to Cuba on promises of riches only to find himself on a slave ship bound for the sugar fields of Cuba.
His life and those of his descendants follows.

I enjoyed this story. It was not life changing but it was life reflective. And life appreciative. I found myself realizing how lucky I have been in terms of when and where I was born.

This is a fast and easy read. And I’m glad I ordered it.

A Feast For Crows

A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin – This is the fourth installment of his Fire and Ice Series. This VERY long awaited book got to be too long and was as yet unfinished so the book is being published in two releases. When this decision was made they chose to have half the stories told in Crows, and then the other stories would be completed in the yet to be released Dance of Dragons.

To clarify, in this series each chapter is told through the eyes of different characters. And these characters live in different areas of 7 Kingdoms. So in Crows he only covered half the characters in half the kingdoms. Dance of Dragons will complete the stories during a certain time line.

Unlike the previous three novels I found myself getting a little aggravated with Crows. The writing style is as beautiful as ever. But the stories progressed a little slower. And I know that going into Dragons we will be forced to figure out where in the time line the characters are. Whereas the previous three books flowed nicely because you were finding out what was happening during a specific time to different characters. It was easier to follow because as you finished a chapter your picture of the kingdom grew larger and larger as well as more complete.

I think the fact that he divided #4 is going to make for less continuous story. Especially if his current trends continue we won’t see Dragons for several more years.

Unfortunately the story got longer and his need for perfection has become an obsession. Even the most hard core of his readers will find themselves loosing their dedication. A great story shouldn’t be work to read.

I trust for now he will get Dragons out as soon as humanely possible. And it will be written in a style that will help us to keep the time line in story order. Judging from reviews I read by readers I was not the only one that struggled through Crows. Of course the last chapter for each character was exciting and ended in cliff hangers. But it didn’t make for the pleasurable reading that the previous three did. Unlike my normal routine I did go back and read the first three books again. But I did that 4 years ago when they first announced the release date for Crows. But every month the release date pushed back. By the time Crows did come out I struggled a bit to remember where #3 had left off. Again, I wasn’t the only one that did this. Other fans re-read the series, other fans found themselves having re-read for “no reason”.

And Crows was such a disappointment that I almost dread having to re-read it just before Dance of Dragons is released. If it is released………………….

I do want to clarify “disappointment”. Honestly I enjoyed the story. I really did. And I couldn’t wait to curl up and read it. But with the absence of some characters, and with the relative “uneventfulness” of much of the story, I just didn’t LOVE the book the way I did the previous three. And I LOVED the first three so much that anything shy of their perfection seems to be a disappointment.