The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell was another book I picked up at the B&N clearance sale.
This one I grabbed because I am a fan of Maggie O'Farrell. I have read two other novels by her and I liked them both.
She writes about female characters that I can relate to in some way. They are more human, more real, and more tangible than a lot of female characters in "chick" literature. Usually the women are fat and or ugly but by some miracle they get skinny and beautiful, they get fabulous jobs, a ridiculous bank account, and they marry the latest Bill Gates. Please, that just isn't real life. Bless her heart, Maggie O'Farrell makes characters more like the rest of us. In the case of Vanishing Act I found myself relating to Esme. In a time when girls were raised to be proper wall flowers that married at 16 and spent their lives being Mrs. David Smith, Esme danced to her own drum. She was wild, different, and fearless. She couldn't stand the girliness of her class mates. There were moments the Esme described that I found myself instantly transported back in time. And contrary to Esme's world, I have to be thankful that I grew up in an age when women were encouraged to get an education, live your own life, experience the world before you worry so much about settling down. Esme was ahead of her time. She was me. Wild, independent, and free.
The first book I read by Ms. O'Farrell was After You'd Gone. I loved this story. So I followed it up with My Lover's Lover. Another good story.
Leonardo's Swans by Karen Essex is a marvelous historical novel. I love books written about the Renaissance. And when the main characters include the artists of that time I love the book even more.
The characters in the story all lived. And from what I could see this story was researched to the finest details.
If you love art, the renaissance, and stories of court intrigue, you will love this book.
Soon I will be Invincible by Austin Grossman has been on my reading list since it first came out.
It's one of those books I had a feeling I would enjoy so I saved it as one of those "Special treat" books.
This summer I decided it was the perfect time to read it.
And it was as enjoyable and entertaining as I hoped it would be.
Light, fun reading. It's a super hero/ super villain story that lets you escape from the world for a few hundred pages.
Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer are the first two books in her 4 book Twilight Saga.
For anyone that has read the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamilton, this is a must read.
It's an entertaining vampire/werewolves story without the constant porn.
Much more innocent. Much more focused on the story and the characters. This is young adult so the reading is fast and easy. But no so easy and young that any age can't enjoy them.
I look forward to the other two books.
The Portrait by Iain Pears was a very interesting tale.
It was unique in that the narration was entirely a one sided conversation between an artist and his subject.
A fast read.
An unforgettable ending.
Life of Pi by Yann Martel has been on my list to read since it came out. It has been one of those literary marvels that everyone was talking about.
I had high expectations because of all the hype. And I gotta say, this is a good book.
It's not life changing.
It's just a good read.
Borderkind by Christopher Golden is book 2 in his Veil Series.
Myth Hunters by Christopher Golden was a re-read in order to be prepared to read the second book in the series, Borderkind.
Second time around I loved it just as much. This is a creative and fun story. And a pretty fast read.
Oliver Bascombe is sitting in his living room contemplating his pending wedding that is to take place the next morning. When a snow storm kicks up into high gear. And through a window comes an ice man in desperate need of help. So Oliver throws on a coat and helps Frost to the edge of the ocean cliffs. Much to Olivers surprise the ice man plunges over the cliff taking Oliver with him. And as Oliver prepares for his death he is shocked to find himself falling into a lake, the sky is blue, the trees are green, and Oliver isn't in Kansas anymore..................
A Calculus of Angels by J. Gregory Keyes is book 2 in his Age of Unreason series.
Still love it.
The continuing adventures of Ben Franklin, Isaac Newton, and many other characters.
The author does get maddeningly worse at ending every chapter with a cliff hanger. So be prepared to not want to put these books down. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss was a VERY pleasant surprise. Only in that I bought the book on a whim while shopping on Amazon. It came up as a recommendation while I was ordering other books. It sounded good so I figured, why not?
Well, let me tell you. If you love Robert Jordan, George R. R. Martin, or any of those big Sci/Fi fantasy series writers you will LOVE this book. It is a fantastic debut novel that is also the beginning of a planned series called the Kingkiller Chronicles.
To say I LOVED this book is putting it mildly. I adored every word, sentence and paragraph. It's poetic, visually lush, and sometimes I found myself chewing on sentences just to savor the idea in the words. Yeah, it's that good.
The Nature of Monsters by Clare Clark was a book I grabbed at Barnes and Noble because it was on clearance and sounded appealing.
I won't say this was a great book. I hesitate to say it was even a good book. But I did enjoy reading it. I found it intriguing. And I wanted to finish it.
But I also felt like it was a great book that didn't reach it's potential. That it could have bumped itself up a notch but missed. And I don't know why.
Like I said, I enjoyed reading it. And I wanted to finish it. But maybe I just didn't relate to any of the characters. I just never found myself caring about them or their lives. And because of that distance I didn't fall in love with anything about it.
And this review is just as non-committal as the book. Not bad, but not a must read.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas has been sitting by my bed for months. And I have been reading it off and on. It's 1488 pages. Give me some slack.
But this was the second go around for me. I think I might have originally read the abridged version. So I picked up the unabridged and decided to give it a second read.
And even the second time around I loved this book.
I had one of the guys at work stop in mid sentence when he noticed it sitting on my desk. And he said I was reading his all time favorite book.
My dad LOVED it as well. He decided to read it because I had mentioned it was my favorite classical piece of literature and so had his friend at the coffee shop.
It's an amazing story. Even the second time around.
To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust - well, let's just say I shelved it about half way through. It's not a bad story. But I was getting so pissed off at one of the characters that I wasn't enjoying myself.
This is the story of the great war in heaven between god and satan. All the archangels are there as well as a host of other greater and lesser beings.
I might pick it up again but who knows. It had some very interesting moments. And a few characterizations that I really liked and wanted to know more about. However, like I said, I was so annoyed at the character instigating all the trouble that I had to stop. Probably stupid, but when you find yourself gritting your teeth while you read, well, it's time to stop.
Hell to Pay by Simon R Green is #7 in his Nightside series.
I have had this sitting on my bookshelf for over a year because I was saving it for a very special occasion. Mainly the release of the next Nightside book. I don't know what I would do if he stopped writing these.
Fun, creative, and a wild ride. I LOVE this author. I love his humor, his style, and his amazingly creative mind.
Putting it simply, his books to me are perfect escapism.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron was simply wonderful. Fantastic, couldn't be better. My dad read this book at the same time I did and we would call each other and talk about the quotes we liked from the book. There were many.
We had read "The Book Thief" and both thought that there was no way a book could compare. And that for a while it would seem that all other books were just not anywhere as good in comparison. But I picked this one up and as soon as I started it I called him and told him to grab it. That he would love it just as much.
And we certainly did. This was a really good story.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman has been on my reading list for ages. I thought about reading it when the movie was coming out but of course there were other books that I just HAD to read. But then a friend said to me that she wasn't going to let her kids see the movie because it is about a couple of kids that set out to kill god. Well, hell, of course I had to read the book now. I need to find out for myself just what this series is about.
And though I still don't know what Mr. Pullman's message (if any) is, I do know that this is a fantastic series. I am about 100 pages into book two (The Subtle Knife) and at least thus far there is no mention, nor any quest to kill god. God really doesn't come into it yet. There is some hints and references to great beings, but nothing obvious or harped on.
All I know is, when I pick up the book and start to read the entire world around me disappears. And if I have to stop reading i have to pull myself out of the beautiful and fascinating worlds Mr. Pullman has created.
I can't wait to finish this series. It is marvelous. I'm thankful for the controversy or I might never have put this at the top of my oh so long reading list.
