Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2012/What I've Read in 2012

N4. A Prisoner of Birth - Jeffrey Archer [Greek]

Very intriguing and engaging book. When, at the beginning of the book, we saw the trial where the bad guys were conspiring to blame it all on the poor guy, I was like irl.

My only complaint is that the plot was a little far-fetched at times. Other than that, okay, might not be great literature, but I liked it.

(I see in the Wikipedia page that it is "a contemporary retelling of Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo." I'd heard the title but had no clue what it was about. Fail. Anyways, as far as Dumas goes, I recently bought The Three Musketeers, and will be up on it soon-ish.)

#6 Goliath by Scott Westerfeld Last in the series about an alt/fantasy/version of WW1

The Missing - Chris Mooney
The Secret Friend - Chris Mooney

Even though I had, indeed, read these out of order, it was still nice to get back to where it all started for our heroine, Darby McCormack, and actually see the events alluded to in the later novels in the series. There were still plenty of surprises.

Bones of Faerie - Janni Lee Simner
Faerie Winter - Janni Lee Simner

I just loved this young adult fantasy and its sequel, set 20 years after a war between the world of faeries and our own. The faeries have been defeated, but the legacy of war is a dark and deadly world, where nothing is truly safe. Trees hunt human flesh, crocuses full of acid burn unwary fingers, butterflies burst into flame ("as butterflies often did".) And birds remember the sound of car alarms in their songs, even though the cars are long since rusted and gone.

Our heroine, Liza, sets out into this world on a journey to find her missing mother, after discovering she has magic talents and fleeing her abusive father and a community fearful and suspicious of magic, who would surely kill her for them.

Engaging characters and a intriguingly imagined world make this one a real gem. The second has obvious parallels with The Snow Queen - Liza's soul mate ensorcelled by The Lady and so on - but that didn't detract too much from it being a beautifully wrought adventure.

I also loved the causal, random inclusions the author made of little snippets from our world - mugs in Liza's house carrying messages from Before that hold no meaning now - Disneyworld, St. Louis Cardinals, Missouri. And a few rusted Pepsi cans.

Also, it made me cry happy tears at the end. I swear, either I'm getting more easy to get to in my old age, or authors are getting way better at that than they used to.


LabRat

N5. The Landlady - Fyodor Dostoyevsky [Greek]

I got this one because both my mother and I have been curious to read some Dostoyevsky - and this one was short enough and the premise looked interesting. I must admit, by the end of the book I wasn't sure what exactly had happened after all. I mean, the landlady in question narrates a story, but you're not sure what to infer from it, and then you get another explanation, but before the narration you had gotten the rumours, and... I don't know, maybe this book is for smarter pplz. Or maybe the point is to get you to think and wonder, rather than understand what's going on.

The writing was beautiful, though. And I think it would be a fascinating read if you're a more character-oriented reader, as opposed to plot-oriented like I am.

#7 The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler

I'm working my way through the books I got my kids for Christmas. A girl in the 90s installs AOL but has access to her Facebook page 15 years later. Then she tries to change her future. This was fun.

Joan

A Killing Night - Jonathon King

Shadow Prey - John Sandford

The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare - Lilian Braun

The Cat Who Sniffed Glue - Lilian Braun

scifiJoan - Oooh, that sounds like a fun one!

Even though it's geared for young adults, it was a fun story.

Joan

#2 - Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

#3 - The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Loved that book! And the movie is good too.

Joan

Closer Than Blood – Greg Olsen
Victim Six - Greg Olsen

The first of these thrillers was a bit of a mishmash. The plot was all over the place and too many characters were introduced too soon at the start, often with little idea of where they fit into the plot. The writing was...average. But for all that, it wasn’t that bad and I did go to sleep about two thirds of the way through with my mind buzzing over how the plot would resolve itself.

The second was a little better as far as plot, character introduction and pacing were concerned.

About on par with Mary Higgins Clark for me, although a little more messy in the execution.

They Thirst – Robert McCammon

Still the best vampire novel around for me - Salem’s Lot being the second – as vampires take over Los Angeles in a chillingly plausible way.

Oddly enough, the author now refuses to allow his early works to be reprinted as he apparently doesn’t think they’re up to scratch. While I’d agree with him when it comes to Baal, Bethany’s Sin and The Night Boat – his first three novels, which are nothing more than pulp horror books and strangely not on par with the great novels he came up with shortly afterwards – I’m always surprised that he includes this one in that opinion. I disagree with him vehemently, obviously!

LabRat

Good to know about the movie! After reading the book I became curious about the adaptation but had already missed it on cinemas. I'll have to wait for the DVD to come out
So far I liked what I saw with the casting (even though Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard weren't physically close to what I had pictured of Skeeter and Hilly, they're great actresses - and that surpasses my expectations on looks). Hope there weren't losses to the story. That's always my biggest disappointment when books are adapted to the big screen. But from what I've read about the movie it can stand on its own, which is great.
Thanks for the recommendation!

A Storm of Swords
A Feast of Crows -- George RR Martin

Books 3 and 4 of A Song of Ice and Fire (aka The Game of Thrones) is done. I'm enjoying the series, but it does get a bit long. A bit of war, a lot of politics, and interesting characters make for a good story. Before I started reading it, some friends told me "Do not get attached to anyone." The author does like to kill off characters! I need to get book 5, but I'm going to take a bit of a break first. Especially since there's no release date for book 6.

The Night Angel Trilogy – Brent Weeks

I The Way of Shadows
II Shadow’s Edge
III Beyond the Shadows

Another superb fantasy trilogy lurking on my Kindle. Absolutely loved it. Reminded me a lot of Locke Lamora with its hero a young guttersnipe/thief who becomes apprentice to a legendary assassin. But it becomes much more than this – a wide, sweeping saga covering all of the major huge themes that fantasy does so well. With characters you root for and agonise over the fates of. The author has no compunction in killing off your favourites either, so you really are on the edge of your seat hoping for the best at times. And I especially loved that this was a gray world. None of the black and white morality that permeates much of the fantasy genre.

An interview with the author promises us a new trilogy set in the same world with some of the same characters in due course. I, for one, cannot wait!

LabRat

Back to my Verne re-reading:

R6. L'Étoile du sud (The Vanished Diamond) - Jules Verne [Greek]

I have a very soft spot for this one. I can't place the reason why; there's nothing very extraordinary about it, I think. But it has a good plotline with the necessary twists of events to keep you interested, it's not heavy on the science as other of his works are, and the protagonist is a very nice and likable young man. So, why not.

#8 The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
A unique spin on Alice in Wonderland where Wonderland is real and the story we're familar with isn't. I'm looking forward to checking out the other two books in the trilogy.

Joan

Eyes of Prey - John Sandford
Silent Prey
Winter Prey
Night Prey

The Cat Who Went Underground - Lilian Braun
The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts

Celebrity In Death - JD Robb
Nora Roberts did a little something different in this book. Instead of the kick ass, find the bad guy, it was a more mellow thought out case from clues. It was nice for a change but I hope she goes back to the old way next book.

The Black Prism – Brent Weeks

Sadly, I found this almost impossible to get into, unlike the previous trilogy and it felt like a real, hard slog to get to the end. The problem wasn’t the plot or the characters – I was immersed in those right from page one, as with the first trilogy. But, here, I found the rules/elements of the universe we were in almost impossible to understand and the things which had worked so well for the previous trilogy – like references being dropped in about people and past events which weren’t explained until much later in the book – just added to the confusion. Whereas, I really enjoyed that aspect of Week’s writing in his previous trilogy, here, I found I wanted explanations ASAP and was increasingly frustrated when I didn’t get them.

Ah, well…can’t win them all. Reading this though, reminded me that I have a small pile of ‘next book in the series’ on my Kindle by some of my top five favourite fantasy authors. So I’m going to treat myself to working through those next.


The Wolf’s Hour – Robert McCammon

Decades ago, when I first read this one, it was the first horror novel I’d ever read that made the werewolf a hero instead of an unthinking, monstrous villain. At the behest of his king, who is well aware of his ‘talents’, Michael Gallatin infiltrates Nazi-occupied France on a spy/sabotage mission. Interspersed with this story, the tale of how he was made into a werewolf as a boy and his early life spent learning how to survive with his pack in the Russian forests is given to us in flashbacks. One of the great werewolf novels of our age, imo.

The observant among you will have noticed TWH isn't a fantasy novel. I started the second in the Locke Lamora series first, but, hoo boy, even though I'm enjoying it, I'm finding it such a hard slog to get through.

Firstly, it's a real book and a thick one. It's killing my wrist holding it up as I read. And, secondly, the print is tiny. I had to give up and read something on the Kindle in between, just for the respite.

The Lady of the Rivers – Philippa Gregory

I’ve read enough now to know that I’m never going to be the greatest fan of PG’s historical fiction. This one – the story of the events leading up to the War of the Roses from the perspective of Jacquetta of Luxemburg - like the others, spent way too much time repeating the same minor events over and over. So we have our heroine declaring she is pregnant to her husband for the 10th time and they reaffirm their love for each other. Our hero bids farewell to his wife for the 7th time before sailing away to war or siege… And whilst these events are factual – this couple had 16 children! – I don’t think we need to be told about them in exactly the same way every single time.

But the lives of these real characters were intriguing enough to make me read to the end, so I don’t suppose you can call it a complete failure. And I can always appreciate the focus on some of the extraordinary women whose heroism is often overlooked by history in favour of the prominent men of the period. Jacquetta must have been a formidable woman indeed.

LabRat