Lost in a Good Book (Literally!)

Uh, talk about an awesome book- Lost in a Good Book drew in me completely. Not only was it a great expansion of the incredibly interesting premise the prequel introduced, it also made Thursday Next an even more likeable character. I'm not talking about introducing something for her to mope over- meaning the removal of her spouse, I'm talking about her reactions to small events. They made her seem so real to me.

I sped through this book a few months ago, so I'm afraid I can't remember too many of my thoughts other than "AWESOME". I know I was a bit disappointed with the ending- I was moving the next day, and I couldn't check out the next book, so it was a bummer the ending ended on rather a cliffhanger.

I loved Mycroft's "retirement"; it was an absolutely perfect tie in that I didn't (surprisingly) see coming. I also enjoyed the steadfast devotion Thursday's partner showed her when she told him what happened to her husband. I may still be a bit mopey that Thursday didn't wind up with him, rather than her actual husband who has had shockingly little screen time, and from what I can remember, little personality as well. Whatever, to each their own. Any way you look at it, this was a great book, one I'd definitely recommend.

(5/5 stars)

The Eyre Affair

I hate to use the word unique, because honestly, it seems like that word has become over-used, but I'm at a loss for another appropriate word to describe The Eyre Affair. After some serious searching on GoodReads, I stumbled across the title and was delighted to see that it was available at my local library. Not as an audiobook, unfortunately (I'm beginning to suspect that one of my first indulgences post-graduation and steady employment will be an Audible account), but a paper copy.

As I've mentioned countless times before, once I started up knitting, I've been seriously disinclined to reading paper copies of books. E-Books are slightly more likely to be read, but for the most part, I stick to the audio version. It's just easier. Luckily, the library copy of the book was both hardcover an well read, so it lay flat on the table and I could happily knit away as I read it.

The spine was well used for a reason- the book was just what I was looking for! Jasper Ffore managed to weave a story incorporating some of my favorite literary themes. A dystopia/evil government, a plucky heroine, parallel universes, fabulous books, and a decent mystery. I absolutely adored it, and can't wait to read it again and again. In fact, I fully intend to rush to the library upon opening hour.

(5/5 stars)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Also known as the longest title ever

I've never been one for stories set in a past I could picture, or revolving around a war I couldn't relate to. I hated Pride and Prejudice for the former, and steered clear of every WWII related book for the latter. It's not the past that I can't get past- I adore Sherlock Holmes and other books that take place in history- it's the meek and demure characters.

Maybe it's just Jane Austen.

In any case, I began The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society expecting to want to turn it off immediately. I get this horrible notion sometimes that I ought to read a book because it will be "good" for me- that the fact that it has so many fans means that it has some literary merit and will improve my life (see: almost every book recommended for high school students). I just don't like them and usually wind up torturing myself to their close. After repeatedly hearing the praises sung for this book, and finally being confronted with it at Walmart, I finally gave in and told myself that it would be character building for me to abandon the world of cozy mysteries and fantasy romance.

I downloaded the audiobook from the library, and again, in my fit of desperation of being without my computer for a whole week, finally started listening to it. It only took two letters before I was hopelessly hooked.

While the book is incredibly predictable, it's not predictable in a bad way- it's more like when you see your favorite movie over and over again, and even though you know the guy wins the girl, you can't help but hold your breath and root for him. (On that note, I wound up watching You Got Mail for perhaps the ninetieth time this morning. That may explain my utter sappiness. I can't help myself when it comes to Meg Ryan's romances). The other extenuating circumstance is probably that I fell in love with epistolary novels from a young age. I blame the American Girl franchise's Royal Diary series. Those novels combined my love for royalty (my nickname is Princess for a reason!), and the warmth you get from reading a letter. This love for letter-based books manifested itself in fanfiction and Meg Cabot's American Girl when I hit my early teens. Now, apparently I've moved on to the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

I absolutely adored this book. I fell in love with Juliet, and anxiously bit my nails waiting for her interactions with Dawsey. Isola was great comic relief, and I thoroughly enjoyed the influence Sydney had on her. Each and every character was likeable, and as the book neared it's close, I frantically wished that it would go on forever. The ending was rushed, as I understand it, it was written while the original author was sick, which explains the slight difference in writing style. It was still satisfying, though I had to wonder why the authors would have Juliet declare that the engagement isn't the end of the story- yet her story ended with her engagement! It wasn't logical.

In any case, I can see myself reading this book over and over again. While I wasn't moved to tears (something rare with books but common with TV, movies and even commercials), I did stay up until four in the morning listening to the end. I just couldn't seem to make myself pause it!

I left the book dreaming of my own love letters. Frighteningly enough, I'll be forced to either write letters or face no communication with Monkey later this summer. I'm not looking forward to it, as romantic as this book made it seem. ..

(5/5 stars)

All Together Dead

For all of my disappointment with the last book, All Together Dead more than made up for it. I loved it. I was so anxious to read the book, that I didn't think I could wait a whole two weeks to get it from my local library's overdrive hold shelf. I wound up discovering a new, fantastic asset that my library offers- OneClick. While it doesn't offer e-books, it has quite a lot of titles as audiobooks. The best part has been that I have yet to encounter a single book on hold. It does have its shortcomings, unfortunately. For one thing, the actual device is extremely difficult to use. For another, it it doesn't have anywhere near as many available titles as Overdrive. Nonetheless, I was extremely excited to find this.

In terms of All Together Dead, I don't have much to say about this book, other than the fact that I sped through it. I couldn't stop listening! This was an absolutely great, fluffy, no stress book. While it did have it's somber "moments" (i.e. everything after the first third of the book), it was still suitably humorous and intriguing. I enjoyed Sookie and Quinn (who I keep picturing as Pitbull, which thoroughly entertained me), and I loved the vampire politics.

The books seem to emphasize the pomp and circumstance of vampire politics, and I love the deviousness and intrigue that goes on at all times- it reminds of the most interesting histories of European monarchy. The Fellowship subplot and Sookie's exploration of her talent only served to add to the political theme of the book. I'm particularly interested in seeing how Sookie will handle the vampires now that her powers have been 'expanded'.

The ending did disappoint me a bit, as while I'm glad it finally sunk into Sookie the effect the vampire politics are having on her life, it did feel forced. The sudden fight and make up between Sookie and Quinn's sister was a bit irritating, honestly. It didn't really seem to serve much purpose, as I suspect this is the beginning of the end of Quinn as a major romantic lead, which is disappointing as I really enjoyed Quinn. His background was a great addition to the book, as it further struck home the inhumanity of vampires- something that I'm sure Sookie will grapple with more, especially as her relationship with Eric develops.

Overall, this was a really good book! I absolutely cannot wait to read the next installment, though unfortunately I'm sure I won't get to it for quite some time. Darn all those pesky things like jobs, homework, and housework that get in the way of my fiction!

(5/5 stars)

How to Knit a Love Song

If you're of the fibery persuasion and you love romance novels, drop everything right now and buy How to Knit a Love Song by Rachael Herron. Is it Great Literature TM? No. Is it a great, fluffy read? Yes.

I could not wait to finish this book- it was a perfect balance between that and studying for my impending GMAT.

Abigail, the frightened knitter, who came to a recently inherited cottage encounters hostilities at every corner from Cade, the handsome cowboy who inherited the property surrounding Abigail's new safe-haven. While there were cliches and overused phrases (I think Abigail might have needed an inhaler for all of the gasping she did), I utterly fell in love with the characters. It was absolutely perfect get away from reality, and hit the syrupy sweet romance spot just right. I can't wait to read the rest of Rachael's books, I can definitely see some vacations from reality in my future.

Two thumbs up from me!

(5/5 stars)

The Help

Talk about a book you just can't put down! The Help has been sweeping all sorts of book clubs and bestseller lists for a while now. I have to admit, I had absolutely zero interest until I saw the movie trailer. After that, I was intrigued by the fact it seemed to be more humorous than serious. I had almost forgotten about it by the time it popped up as available for me from my library, but five minutes in, I was hooked.

I normally absolutely abhor books that have some sort of propaganda or underlying message throughout. Not only are they usually incredibly boring, but they also have a tendency to be insanely preachy. This book, wasn't. It was funny, lighthearted, and heartwarming, and still addressed the difficult topic, all without falling into a lecturing tone. I didn't end the book feeling as though I should be filled with guilty, rather, I felt entertained, and grateful that the topic was brought up in my mind.

I'm not even going to pretend that race has ever been at the forefront of my mind. While I did grow up in a predominantly white town, throughout the years, I've had just as many, if not more non-white friends than white. I just never really noticed it- it took me until I was thirteen years old to realize that my best friend since the age of eight was Asian. It took me even longer to realize she was Buddhist, even though she had a shrine in the house I spent every weekend in.

Observant, I am not.

I'm just so tired of books that set out to make you feel guilty. I'm tired of novels that have a message. Don't cheat on your husband, you'll die a miserable death. Don't pick on the unpopular kids, you'll wind up a loser later in life. Don't be jealous of your best friend, they'll wind up dying and you'll feel guilty. And so on. This book managed to avoid that pitfall by being a story about women. It wasn't really a story about the treatment discrepancies, it was about these women and their lives. It was thoroughly engaging, and I kept laughing out loud and crying as the scenes changed. I was utterly wrapped up in the characters lives as soon as they were introduced. They all had personality depths that brought them from a cliche to a dynamic character.

I do think that I would have liked this book less if I had actually read it, rather than listen to it. The narrators of the audiobook were absolutely fabulous, and now I keep catching myself let out my little southern twang the way I do after talking to someone with a serious accent. The majority of the book was written in dialect, and that would have frustrated me to no end having to actually see it, but listening to it wasn't bad at all. It added an additional level to the characters that just pulled me into their stories further.

The one small criticism that I have for this book is that Minny and Celia were by far more enthralling than Aibileen and Skeeter, yet they had drastically smaller parts in the book. Celia's struggles of trying so hard to fit in, and yet still remaining an outsider really stuck with me. When the scene came up where she lost her baby, I was alternating between hysterical sobs as that is my greatest fear ever and horrified laughter at Minny's reactions. Minny was a breath of fresh air in the novel whenever Aibileen and Skeeter grew too sentimental and idealistic. Her frank humor brought the novel to a new level, and her final decision that forced her to grow as a character at the end made my chest hurt with sadness at what she had been through. I only wish that Celia's storyline was finished properly. While the ending with Johnny was meaningful, I think she could have brought yet another dimension to the novel if she had been given a greater part- especially countered with Minny's descriptions of her and her actions.

All in all, I absolutely adored this book. It's definitely one of those that sticks with you for a while. It probably didn't hurt that I wound up listening to it essentially all of yesterday and last night (and a good portion of today as well... did I mention that it only took me two days to finish?). I really, truly enjoyed it and was sad to see it end, but I know I'll be reflecting on it for weeks to come.

(5/5 stars)

Good Omens

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I've read Terry Pratchett before- only the book Going Postal, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also have read a few blog posts by Neil Gaiman. I've thoroughly enjoyed both.

Good Omens, however, I'm just not so sure about. I don't know if it was because I was listening to it, or because had so many story lines roaming at once, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought it would. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it- in fact, I really did. I loved the humor in it. I loved listening to Crowley and Aziraphale. I even loved Anathema Device and Newt. But every time the book veered toward Adam the Antichrist, I lost interest. I think it's because the other characters were so interesting, so engaging, that I didn't want to leave them. Adam and the Them dragged on in their frivolous childhood. It just felt rather out of place. And humorless.

Overall, I think I'll definitely be reading this again. It's one of those books that I think would be great a rainy day. I want to curl up in an arm chair with a warm cup of tea or soup and spend the whole afternoon in that universe. This is definitely a book I'd recommend, and I really think I'll enjoy it more as I reread it. As soon as I get an e-reader, this book is going to be at the top of the list. (Also, I want to be Crowley and Aziraphale's bff. I'm just sayin').

(5/5 stars)

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

I have to say, this has been an incredibly enjoyable book to listen to. The narrator, in particular really captivated me. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie is told through the eyes of a precocious eleven year old girl, and the woman who narrated my audio book managed to capture her essence entirely.

As for the book itself, it reminded me in all the best ways of my childhood. It was like Nancy Drew, Matilda, and the Series of Unfortunate Events rolled up into one thoroughly delightful story. I've always been a fan of mystery books and movies, particularly ones I can predict the ending to halfway through (which may explain why Monkey and I spent our Sunday night watching two horrible movies on Lifetime, but that's beside the point). This book managed to keep me captivated while making me feel intelligent for figuring out the mystery well before Flavia did. By making each turn of the mystery easy to suss out, it also emphasized Flavia's lack of maturity, which added to the believability overall. However, the book had a sufficient amount of twists and turns to maintain my interest throughout.

Flavia's character was entirely believable. From her determination to torture her sisters to her obsession with learning, I demonstrated the same things in my childhood. I can remember hatching numerous schemes when I was a kid, as well as investigating the thesaurus for the most impressive vocabulary to spring on others. The best part of this book, however, is that I would feel comfortable letting a child of that age read it. While Flavia's gruesome imagination runs rampant, the author manages to reign in the gore to an appropriate level without dumbing it down for kids.

Like I said, this was a thoroughly enjoyable read. I actually applied for an additional library card in my University's town, just so I can download the sequel on overdrive. I'm thinking that I'll probably annoy my sister into giving the audio book a bit of a listen the next time I'm home as well. Two thumbs up on my part!

(5/5 stars)