February 15 - 21

Break this week! And a book I've had on hold for a while had the extreme good fortune to become available this week, while I actually had time to read it!

The Young Elites by Marie Lu
This is the book I had been waiting for. It was a nice splash of YA in the midst of my 400-level English kind of readings. I powered through it in a night, and was surprised by it. It has the pretty standard lines of YA through it, but there were some aspects that had me go, "Oh! That's new!" The protagonist was abused horribly as a young girl, which isn't terribly surprising. However, she's also pretty much established as a horrifying murderer, and her magic is powered by hate and fear, both her own and others'. THAT'S pretty... grisly, I suppose, for a nice little young-adult novel. But definitely the most surprising part---

 **HUGE SPOILERS** 

was that the prince, the man they were all fighting to put back in power, the love interest even, DIES. And not in any way that lets you imagine, "Oh, maybe he's not really dead and he's just pretending for the sake of the duel!" No. This guy is gutted with a sword straight through his body, guts hanging out and everything. And not only that, but it's the main girl's fault. She attacked him in a blind terror and then his opponent totally gutted him. So... she's not doing so hot in this novel. There was an epilogue in another country though, that suggested we might see him reanimated like a zombie, albeit with some unknown yet creepy complications...I think we'll see....


Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov
Well, this one was for school. I thought I would really hate it, and I kind of did for a while. As I pushed through, I developed a better understanding of it though. This book is an interesting hybrid told in an unusual way. The narrator is the friend of a poet who was murdered. The friend takes it upon himself to provide explanatory notes to his friend's poem so that he can publish it posthumously. However, the narrator just turns everything into a story about his homeland and his king there, like some kind of absurdly patriotic guy who's so upset that his friend didn't write the poem about the stories the narrator told him about his homeland that he's using the poem and established author's fame to hijack it and tell his own story.

That's all true. However, it makes a little more sense when you learn through the process of the egotistical narrator's notes that

**HUGE SPOILERS**

(well, maybe not... but still.)

he's actually the king he knows so much about. It becomes obvious pretty early on, but he never actually gets to the point of expressly admitting it until the last twenty pages or so, when he finally shifts from "The king thought this" to "I couldn't believe how..." (shifts from a clearly false third-person to a more honest first-person). The ending was... odd. The parallel stories were interestingly woven though, and by the end I had a more invested interest and respect for the narrator, the story, and the actual author, Nabokov, for weaving such contrasting threads into a complementary tapestry.


The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
I didn't actually get much farther in this, but I did listen to some of it so I wanted to include it in here. Clearly, as you can tell from the VOLUMES I had to say about the other two books this week, I had a lot of other things on my mind. :)

February 8 - 14

Since I'm on break from school next week, I have some time to read non-school-related books! (Well, kind of.) Here's what I've got for now.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
I've never read this. It didn't come about in high school, and I felt like I should know it, especially if I'm going to be a teacher. My thoughts so far are that the narrator is super annoying. Does he really need to sweat so often? I know it's part of the character, which totally nails a 14-year-old boy, but jeez, does that get on my nerves. It's so unnecessary. The character, BEYOND the constant goddamns, is quite interesting and rather endearing. He's so obviously trying hard to be aloof and suave (and actually thinks he's so suave at times!) that it's just adorable and sweet to watch, even as he tries to save his nervous little face by cussing in every sentence. I'm not too far in yet, but I'm interested to see where this goes.

The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
I grabbed the audiobook of this, the sequel to The Lost Gate that I read/listened to over the summer. It was helpful on my 3-hour drive home for break. Stefan Rutnicky narrated again, so of course it was wonderful. There was actually a part, a part about "angry gates" from the heart-hoards of other mages, that was pretty sad and freaky, so I stopped listening that night. I didn't want those images in my head or in my dreams! It's quite interesting though. We've gone to Middlegard!! Pretty awesome. And of course all kinds of new magery are possible. I'm nervous about the friends, though... they seem like clueless high school idiots. I guess we'll see how that goes, but I sense betrayal, even if by accident, in the future.

January 11 - 17

What's on the bill:
I got the book list for my English class on unreliable narrators, and it's looking pretty solid! Expect to hear about Gone Girl, Fight Club, Pale Fire, and We Came to the End along with several others! I'm pretty excited!

The Call of Earth by Orson Scott Card
Stefan's voice reading Orson's words is a wonderful combination. The second book is holding up strong as we travel to other cities in the land and learn a bit about places outside of Basilica. The oldest brother, Elyemac (and I very well could have the spelling wrong since I've been hearing it, not seeing it--audiobook, remember?) is going absolutely bonkers. He's pretty much freaking me out, and I'm not sure how no one else is seeing it!! The charismatic new general is a delightful character though, clever and charming and deadly and completely aware that he is all of that and more. I'm quite excited to see where his plot line leads to.

After reading a bit more (well, finishing the book, really) I am absolutely delighted with the way all the loose ends came together in the end to reveal that they were all part of the same string the whole time. It was done in a very tidy and intriguing way, and I think the next book will be the most exciting yet!

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Well, I just couldn't stay away. I was so excited to read this that I already started it, although I'm not sure if I'm going to finish it before we start reading it in class (because I may just choose to save some of the excitement!). It's incredible to see how closely the movie really does mimic the book. The lines are almost always the exact same as in the book! I'm glad to see that both were done well. I read one time that the author of Fight Club actually said he thought the movie did a better job than the book---his own book! Anyway, the book is holding up wonderfully, and it's interesting to see all the clues to the big reveal at the end as I go through the novel. The hints are scattered so wonderfully! Marla always seems like she's nuts before you learn the truth, but then everything makes so much sense!! Oh, I can't wait to discuss this in class! I hope there are at least a few people who aren't familiar with it.

January 4 - 10

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
I picked this book up over the summer at a used bookstore because I was intrigued after reading the first few pages. I never got a chance to read it because I headed back up to school shortly after, and decided I would save it for this winter break. Well I finally started it, and ohmygoodness! I'm quite interested in the world. It's a very disorienting combination of old-world-ish-ness (so many hyphens!) and references to clubbing and booty shorts and whatnot. It's a mashup like no other, and I love the way the author weaves them together. The language is fantastic as well. There have been so many sentences that I just paused and re-read for the sheer joy of it. When that happens once in a book, I'm pleased. In this book, it's already happened several times, and I'm not even halfway through. I am pretty pleased.

The Memory of Earth by Orson Scott Card
I decided to give a bit more of my time to Orson Scott Card after I really enjoyed his novel The Lost Gate. I have a feeling part of that is because I listened to The Lost Gate as well as this one in audiobook, and both were read by this man with a purely magical voice, Stefan something.... I was so pleased to hear his voice start up the opening of this book! I was even more pleased as the words he read were holding up to my understanding of Card's quality. Humans have left Earth after we (inevitably) destroyed it, and set in place a machine called the Oversoul to prevent humans from destroying their new world, aptly named Harmony. This works out for some odd 40 million years, but the Oversoul wasn't supposed to have to last so long, and starts losing its power to subtly redirect humans' thoughts when they turn towards potentially disastrous things (such as war). The narration begins with the point of view of one character for a while, and slowly begins adding in sections of other characters, which keeps it really interesting. There's lots of political intrigue and mystery, which was so well done that it kept me wanting to read (hear) more. I actually listened to the whole book in a week, which surprised me, I'll be moving on the second one as soon as I can!

December 21 - 27

The Host by Stephanie Meyer
I've read this so many times before, but this time it was an audiobook. I was having trouble falling asleep one night, and reading always makes me sleepy, so I thought a book being read to me would be just as good if not better. I borrowed this one from my online library, and I was asleep in no time. Then I fell into the story again, and put it on whenever there was some silence that needed filling: while cleaning my room, while driving in my radio-less truck (seriously, it's just a plastic dash--I don't even have the option of a cassette!) or any other time.

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
Another solid installation of the Temeraire series, although to be honest, this one took me so long (for whatever reason) that I can't really remember what happened in this book or the one(s) before it. Regardless, the story is still progressing! I'm excited too, because judging from the ending, with Laurence and Temeraire getting shipped off to Australia, I think there might be a bit of a break from all the military combat. It's very well done, but these little breaks that Novik works in the series are perfectly timed to keep me going. I'm looking forward to the next one (which I already have downloaded!).

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
Yay, I finished it! I actually finished this so early in the week that I forgot I finished it this week and had to edit this in here after checking the other entries! I plowed through this once I got home for break, and it was incredibly well done. It was very exciting to go to a new land, and the new potential allies and enemies there have me all excited for what's coming next. This one had a lot of back story and revelations and lore, but it was woven into the action so as to prevent it from becoming a dull historical recitation. Maas seems to be very good at that, because I made similar comments about the last book (noting that the second book in a series is often the dull "character development" one). I'm glad the main character finally got herself together and moved past the wallowy sadness phase, although even that wasn't overdone or annoying. However, I'm excited to see what she can do when she's actually thinking and in control of herself. As for the romance plot, I'm actually pretty unsure of any of those possible tangled ends, for any of the characters. Very well written! And thank goodness that those are taking a bit of a backseat to the true drama of the world. Romance is good as a spice, but not so much as the main flavor, at least not here.


How odd...
This is the last post of the year! Kind of anyway: next post will be a few days of this remaining year and few days of THE FUTURE! Whoohoo, and look out for a new label!

November 16 - 22

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins
This is one of only two audiobooks I've ever listened to. I was looking for something to occupy my brain while I did some fairly simple tasks for school, and I found this while scouring the e-library offered by my school. It sounded easy enough, and it was. The voice of the character (not the actual reader's voice, but the stylistic voice) was hilariously realistic, and I loved it. The plot was predictable, but still something I had never heard before. There were a few moments that caught me off guard, and overall I quite enjoyed it! A nice simple read.

When it starts with the prom queen almost getting murdered by her history teacher in the bathroom and then kissed by the janitor-in-disguise? That's pretty promising. Throw in some things like "assasination attempt with a letter opener," "paladin," and "super badass alchemy" and you've got my attention for sure! I'll read the next one whenever I have time and can find it.