The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was picked up on a whim at Barnes and Noble one afternoon. I was browsing a section of the store where they highlight new, recommended, and featured authors. I walked up and down the row multiple times and on the third pass I noticed this book down on the bottom hidden in shadow. And it literally called to me. As I picked it up and started to read the description it seemed to vibrate in my hands. (And no, I hadn't had my coffee yet) I read the opening lines and I knew I had to get this book.

And several good cry's later, I am SO glad I did. This book is now one of my all time favorite books. I have been shouting from the roof tops that it must be read. My dad and a friend of his both went and got copies. And Dad said that from page one he was intrigued and hooked.

The writing is beautiful and mesmerizing.

This book will change you. I guarantee you will walk away a different person when you finish. The characters will have moved into your heart and they will become a part of your soul.

I can't tell you enough what an amazing book this was.

The Golden Compass

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.

The Accidental

The Accidental by Ali Smith was a fast read. Just a couple of days to get through. It started out great but I think it fell apart at the end. Or maybe I missed something. But I thought the ideas in the story were good. The character development was good. But then it seemed as if she wasn't sure what to do with the story.

I liked it, but was a little disappointed in the end. The story starts with a family on vacation and a stranger comes to live with them. Each family member assuming that another member invited her. Only, none of them actually did. The story is about how this stranger interacts with each member of the family along with private moments with each family member. But suddenly vacation is over, they are home and the story seems to loose its intriguing magic.

I was sad in a way about the way it ended.

The Rape of Oc

The Rape of Oc by Michael Baldwin I found on the shelf at work. We have several bookcases around the buildings filled with books and this one caught my eye. What really intrigued me was the "This book not for sale in the US" stamped on the back.

Why? Don't know. But it was an interesting tale. Basically the story of a virgin and her fight against the crusaders that pillage town after town.

An interesting collection of characters make this a somewhat entertaining story. But it is long. One of those stories that could probably have been told in a few less pages. But still, I read it all the way through and I enjoyed it. It was different. It was imaginative, and it was a story I wanted to know the end of.

The Solitaire Mystery

The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder - I picked this book up on a whim at Barnes and Noble. I had read Sophie's World a few years ago. And I loved his style and his story. So I decided to give myself a treat.

And what a treat this was. A wonderful tale within a tale. A young boy on a journey with his father to find their mother is given a magnifying glass along his journey. Then, in another town he is given a bag of sticky buns. The baker tells the boy to keep the biggest stickey bun for himself and not to tell anyone about it. Later that night, hungry, the boy decides to devour the last stickey bun. He is surprised to find a book baked inside. The book has the tiniest writing he has ever seen. So tiny it would require a magnifying glass. Which, he just happened to have been given days earlier by a strange little man.

So begins the adventure................you'll have to read it for yourself to find out what happens.

A mix of life, mystery, adventure, and philosophy. This is a wonderful wonderful story.

Sophie's World

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder - I read this book a few years back. I picked it up because I had always enjoyed the idea of Philosophy and the great philosophers but found the reading material about them very dry. And the classes I took in college seemed to always put me in a coma.

This book should be required reading in Philosophy 101. It is fantastic. The story of a young girl, Sophie, who is taught philosophy by Albert. I enjoyed this book as a fictional novel in and of itself. But it was the philosophy lessons interwoven amongst the story that really made this an enjoyable book. I felt like I got more bang for the proverbial buck. A great story and an education.

Curious about understanding philosophy - this is a great place to start.

World War Z

World War Z by Max Brooks is a survivor account of the zombie war. Told in a very straight forward and serious manner the impartial author interviews and records the stories told by the survivors.

My over imaginative brain filled in a lot of the scenery for this film as will the mind of any other lover of the zombie movie. Moaning walking dead with their arms outstretched saying something close to "Brains......"

My mind made this story a comedy. But at the same time, it was a very serious and interesting story to think about and mentally chew on. What would we do if a virus erupted that turned people into the living dead? How would we handle a problem on this sort of scale?

I really enjoyed this book. I was fascinated by the politics, the humanness of it all, and by how close to an imagined reality this story gets. As you read survivor accounts you can believe whole heatedly that a real life reaction would be dead on similar. No pun intended.

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman - Typically I wouldn't read a book on the subject of marriage, children, loss and the struggles of step motherhood. But this story got a great write up when it was first published. And I'm a sucker for great write-ups.

Basically this story is about Emilia and her struggles with the loss of her new born child, trying to deal with an over privileged, spoiled, and incredibly intelligent young stepson, the ex-wife, and coming to terms with what her marriage is really about.

Had I just read the book description it would have been back on the shelf. But because of the write up I read it. And I really enjoyed the story. I can't relate to the character but I can empathise and understand where she is coming from. And were I in her shoes I don't think I would have acted much differently. I guess I saw a lot of myself in the story and the type of person I might have been if I had made different choices in my life.

I think the New York Times review says it all:

The New York Times - Chelsea Cain
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits is clearly out to irritate some Mommy groups. It may also be the first chick-lit novel (it features, after all, a young career woman who falls in love with her boss, shops and worries about her relationships) that in addition to being a romantic, shocking and sometimes painful page-turner does the unthinkable: it actually says something new and interesting about women, families and love.

You Remind Me of Me

You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon - Ok, I can boil this book down to one word. "Eh"

A Million Little Pieces

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey was a very good read. Raw, harsh, and beautiful. Full of lyrical prose that made me stop, think, and read them for a second time. I don't care what the truth is behind this story. Nor do I care about how much or how little of the story was embellished. It was simply a wonderful read. And I loved it. So very human, full of the best and the worst in mankind.

I also think the book can be and has been an inspiration for addicts. From what I was able to find on the internet about the controversy there were many people whose lives were changed for the better because of this book. If that is the case it doesn't matter how true it was. I have not found anything that said that Frey wasn't an addict. And if he has stayed clean and changed his life than that is all that matters. If one person is saved by this book than that is all that matters. And regardless of all of that the bottom line is, this is a wonderfully written book and I loved it.

Blue Moon Rising

Blue Moon Rising by Simon R. Green is the first in a series of three stories about Prince Rupert and Princess Julia. However these two characters are the same two that are in the Hawke and Fisher series. This is their story before the time of Hawke and Fisher.

Simon Green has yet to let me down. I loved this story. How can you not love a story whose central characters include a Dragon and a Unicorn? There are two more books in this series, unfortunately they are out of print so I will have to hunt around for them.

But as always, Mr. Green has written a fantastic adventure. From start to finish I am always fully entertained by his stories.

The Vampire Papers

The Vampire Papers by Michael Romkey is book two in the Vampire series. This story focuses on two serial killers that have come together to destroy the families of a small southern town. And it is up to David and Mozart to stop them.

The second book is just as good as the first. I am enjoying this series and I look forward to the rest of the books. Most of them are out of print but I found the collection at a used book store and had them shipped to me.

I, Vampire

I, Vampire by Michael Romkey is a re-read. I wanted to read the second book Vampire Papers but felt that it had been too long since I read the first one. So I have quickly read through the story again.

This is one of the better vampire series. Unfortunately only the first two books in the series are still in print. I have the remainder on route to me. I found the collection at a used bookstore in Indiana.

The basic premise of the series is that there are two factions of vampires. Good and Evil. The good ones belong to the Illuminati. The bad ones are lead by Caesar Borgia and include Nazi's and Jack the Ripper.

One of the main characters is Mozart. Yes, THE Mozart.

A mixture of beauty, the arts, and horror. In other words, it is a perfect read.

Corelli's Mandolin

Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres is a fantastic story about a small Greek island during World War 2.

The book is a bit long. Though I read it quickly I occasionally felt I would never finish. But that is more due to the language than anything. This is a translated work but there are still smatterings of Greek, Italian, German, and French throughout the story.

I found the story captivating and assuming that it is historically accurate I found it educational as well. The brutalities of war mixed with the humanity and kindness. This was simply a wonderful story.

Summer Knight

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher is the fourth installment of the Dresden Files. This was a fun book to read. The Summer and Winter courts of Faerie are going to war and Harry is right in the middle.

These books are fun reads from cover to cover. This series is dangerous for me in that I almost daily risk missing a bus stop. I become so absorbed in these books that the rest of the world disappears.

And that can be a wonderful thing!

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco was on the clearance shelf at Barnes and Noble. The idea behind the story was fascinating so I picked it up.

The main character in the book suffers from a stroke and looses his memory of who he is. He doesn't know anything about his past, his wife, or his children.

But he does remember every book he ever read with precise clarity.

This is the story of his journey into remembering and piecing together his past.

I found this book fascinating, and very informative. A great deal of the story focuses on life in Italy during WWII. Overall I liked this book. At times I was getting a little distracted but for the most part I was so fascinated by the politics and culture of Italian life. This is not edge of your seat reading. But it is interesting and I might even have learned a few things.

A while back I picked up Baudilino by Eco but I wasn't able to get into the story and gave up on it. Or I should say that I shelved it for another time. I enjoyed this one so much for the sheer cortical stimulation that I picked up The Name of the Rose which is probably his most famous work. And I will give Baudilino a second try....................

84 Charring Cross Road

84, Charring Cross Road by Helene Hunff was a book I noticed on a friends blog. I told my dad about it and he bought it and read it that same day. He even let dinner get cold because he wanted to finish it. Then Mom read it that night. He called me to tell me I had to get it.

So of course I did. And I read it in one sitting. Grant you the book is just about 97 pages so it's not all that much to read, no super impressive feat here.

But this is a wonderful story covering the correspondence between a book lover in New York and a book dealer in London. Bitter sweet, full of laughter and fondness this is undoubtedly a fantastic read.

I went to get it at Barnes and Noble but I had forgotten my book list so I wasn't sure of the author. I went up to the customer service desk for assistance and I barely got out the "84 Charr................." when the guy interrupted me and said "OH, fantastic book, I hope we have a copy in stock because you simply MUST read it." They didn't but he found one at a store on my way home and he had them put it on hold for me. He also let me know that they made a movie out of it that was equally fantastic.

Pick it up at your local library. It's a hefty $13.00 for the 90 pages, I intend to pass it on, in fact if you read this, Kell, it's on the way......................

War for the Oaks

War For the Oaks by Emma Bull was a book I was very excited to read. It was a good story but it wasn't a great read. I never felt a connection to the characters in the story. I found it a little lacking in character development and because of that I didn't get really into it.

The only reason I stuck it out was the fact that it takes place in the Twin Cities so I was familiar with all the places in the story.

I really had high hopes for this book. The author is friends and maybe even band mates with one of my favorite authors, Steven Brust. But overall I just didn't LOVE this story.

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones was recommended to us years ago when Harry Potter first came out. The series dates back to the pre-Potter years so this isn't a copy cat. The chronicles consist of two books from the Chrestomanci series, Charmed Life, and the Lives of Christopher Chant.

This is a fun and entertaining series. If you liked Harry you really will enjoy this series.

Deathstalker Honor

Deathstalker Honor by Simon R. Green is #4 in the Deathstalker series. To put it simply I love this series. Ok, so I love every single book he ever wrote. And I'm not sure he is capable of writing a bad one.

The series is fun, entertaining, and intriguing. The characters are fabulous. Even the villains are wonderful in their own evil way.