Too much or not too much…??
This is a question that’s been going through my mind recently and it’s become a little more prominent because at the moment I have two books that I’m currently working my way through – and I would say that so far I’m finding them hard work. And, yet, I still want to press on and give them a little more time to wow me.
Basically, and I would say this was probably true up until only a couple of years ago, I felt compelled to finish a book if I picked it up. It was almost like I was determined not to be beaten, ‘I will not be beaten by this book syndrome‘ is what I’m naming it. Nowadays, and it is fairly recent, I try to have a more balanced approach in that I’ve decided life is too short. If I’m not enjoying the book I’m not going to finish it. At the end of the day I wouldn’t carry on with other things in life if I wasn’t enjoying them would I? If I go to a restaurant and order something that I don’t like the taste of – I won’t eat it. If I start watching a series and it peters out – I won’t continue to watch it. If I start painting my walls pink only to discover that I hate pink – I won’t paint the full room pink and live with it out of foolish stubbornness, I’m sure you get the picture. So why the strange compulsion to finish a book once I’ve started? The thing is I do love books and I’m always so hopeful when I pick one up. When I start reading a book I would say I generally start with a really optimistic feel. There are a few occasions where I feel a bit on thin ice – like at the end of a series, or when a book was so good that I’m almost scared to pick up the next book by the same author – because how could it possibly compete? And possibly that author is going to get knocked off the pedestal that I’ve put them on! But, even so, mostly, I’m ever the optimist.
So, how much is too much? At what point do you decide enough is enough? This question is all that much harder if the book I’m reading is a review book – which I feel compelled to finish and review! Which of course leads to other questions? This is on a need to know basis – enquiring minds, etc, etc:
How long do you give a book before it becomes a DNF?
How long do you give a book before it reaches a point that you will finish come what may because you’ve already invested so much time?
Do you review your DNFs?
Assuming you have ‘I will not be beaten by this book syndrome’ at what point does a book become irredeemable for you? So, if you read 70%, as an example, and you’re really struggling but then the author pulls the rabbit out of the hat in the last 30% is that going to redeem it for you or is it still going to only be an average book?
I realise that nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition but even so….
A Local Habitation (October Daye #2) by Seanan McGuire, readalong week No.2
12 March 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: A Local Habitation, Readalong week 2, Seanan McGuire
Today is week two of our readalong of A Local Habitation (No.2 October Daye by Seanan McGuire) arranged by Lisa from Over the Effing Rainbow. I read the first book as part of a readalong at the start of the year and thought it got off to a good start but book No.2 is speeding along.
The schedule is below, so if you want to join in or jump in with the comments then please do so. Without further ado here are the questions and answers with a customary word of warning that spoilers will be lurking below:
1. ALH is a very odd place – what do you make of it so far and it’s inhabitants? It has a different feel to the last book doesn’t it?
I think this book feels different than the first – probably because it’s pretty much contained to the environment of ALH. ALH is a very odd place. I would love to know what it was like before the trouble began and all the other inhabitants ran away leaving this very unusual bunch of characters and a desperately lonely place. Also a little sad that the remaining few have nowhere else to go and feel somewhat trapped. The place has a detached feel – it feels like you could be in space almost and ALH could be a huge space ship with it’s twisty corridors. I realise that probably sounds odd! But it just feels very remote from everything else.
2. There is certainly a lot going on at ALH – different dynamics, what are your feelings on the people you’ve met. Anything at all about those remaining and those who have died.
They are a very unusual bunch – maybe they were less noticeable when they were mixed in amongst others but now, in the face of everyone else leaving, they do kind of stand out as odd. I can’t help distrusting all of them! I still keep wondering about Alex and his sister – there seems to be something wrong with those two – it occurred to me for some strange reason that maybe it’s one person and they shift into the other character – but I can’t remember whether or not we’ve ever had a scene where they were both present at the same time. Alex does act very oddly whenever Terrie is mentioned? Then we have Gordan the Coblynau – I don’t know what to make of her but she certainly seems to hate the purebloods which makes me wonder why she doesn’t hate Januarn.
3. The phone call with Tybalt. I was curious about his comment about Riordan and what do you think he intends to do next? We’re learning a little bit more about the Cat Sidhe – what do you think Tybalt’s next move will be?
He seemed a bit animated didn’t he ‘She held a crown without a kingdom thanks to that Riordan bitch’. Seems like there’s more going on with the cat world than at first meets the eye! I reckon that Tybalt is going to maybe show up at ALH! I sort of hope so anyway.
4. Barbara – what do you make of the new evidence that has come to light with her dealings with the Duchess of Dreamer’s Glass? What is she up to?
This feels like a red herring to me. I don’t know what Barbara is up to but I can’t imagine it has anything to do with the deaths somehow. And anyway, she’s one of the victims now!
5. It looks like Toby is going to try and summon the Night Haunts? Any thoughts on how this will go and speculation about the Night Haunts?
I have no idea what the Night Haunts are going to be like but I imagine they’re a bit scary! It’s a fascinating aspect of this world and one that I want to know more about! And why don’t the fae rot btw? The fae world seems kind of sad doesn’t it, like they’re a shadow of their former self and all this slinking around hiding from the humans for fear of reprisals.
‘These days you’re lucky to get a battered changeling and her under age, half-trained assistant, and the princesses are confused technological wizards!’
‘Up the airy mountains and down the rushy glen, I dare not go a-hunting for fear of little men’
6. Any guesses so far as to what’s going on?
I have to admit that I’ve been jumping about all over the place. – it’s like reading an Agatha Christie book where everyone’s a suspect! Originally I didn’t trust April, I think she probably has a good motive after what happened in her past, plus she has this strange ‘doting on January’ thing going on – I think she must be connected to the phone calls not going through to Sylvester and also something about the strange puncture marks on the bodies – it’s almost as though people are being plugged in? I wondered at first if April was getting ‘rid’ of people because of some sort of jealousy over January – then I wondered if she was actually ‘gathering’ people into her computer (like forming her own little community) which would answer why the Haunts haven’t been to collect the bodies – because they’re not actually dead (like she’s downloading people somehow). I also can’t help wondering why April doesn’t know what’s going on – she seems to be able to go everywhere and see anything. I ended up feeling that maybe she’s trying to protect this aspect of her world by taking everyone into her world. Then I got all suspicious over Gordan – there was a comment from Toby about her being niggled over ‘Gordan’s too clean hands’ – don’t know why that got either Toby or my attention but it did. There was also a comment about Coblynau being able to trap enchantment in living metal – I wonder whether Gordan is trapping people somehow! Maybe they’re working together. The other thing that was odd was when Toby and Quentin were looking at everyone’s rooms and April turned up unexpectedly – there was like a tank with miniature Hippocampi (and by the way how cool do they sound – I wants) swimming about and when April turned up they all shied away – like they don’t trust her.
Basically, I’m all over the place really. I quite like the idea that somebody is gathering all of these people up somehow – well, I don’t like it exactly! but it seems like a possibility.
Week 1: Saturday 5th March, Chapters 1-8 hosted by Over The Effing Rainbow
Week 2: Saturday 12th March, Chapters 9-16 – hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog (me!)
Week 3: Saturday 19th March, Chapters 17-25 – hosted by Books By Proxy
Week 4: Saturday 26th March, Chapters 26-end – hosted by The Bibliosanctum
All are welcome and there’s a discussion page over on Goodreads if that makes it easier to join.
Better a witty fool than a foolish wit..
11 March 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book cover art, Books by Proxy, Prince of Fools, The Friday Face Off
The Friday Face Off (FFO)
Today is the start of a weekly meme being hosted by Books by Proxy called The Friday Face Off. I confess that I’m a bit of a book cover tart. Lets face it – the cover is what first attracts your eye after all. The rules are fairly simple and can be found here. Each week, following a predetermined theme choose a book, compare a couple of the different covers available for that particular book and choose your favourite. Simples. This week the theme is:
~ A Freebie! ~
This week I’ve chosen the Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence and here are the covers for the UK/US versions:
UK: Harper Voyager. US: Ace.
I like both of these covers. I enjoy the red of the UK and the very stylised queen in the background. I like the font style and colour but, my favourite is the US version in this instance.
Winner:
The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde
11 March 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Classics Club, Oscar Wild, The Importance of Being Ernest
The Importance of Being Ernest is one of my Classics Club books (details here – don’t be alarmed by all the blanks in my list – it’s currently undergoing a little revamp!) I started the Classics Club some time ago and so far I’ve completed 10 books off my list – okay this may not be a stirling achievement but slowly and certainly I will get through this list. I’m in the process of revising this at the moment as I would like some Agatha Christie on there.
Moving on to TIoBE.
I’ve seen an adaptation of this but to be honest I couldn’t really remember the plot so it was lovely to pick up the book. This is a very good read, very witty and equally silly. For those of you out there that want to read more classics but don’t want to be bogged down with flowery descriptions and great big chunky books this could be just for you. To say this play has aged well is something of an understatement. Originally published in 1895 it feels almost like a contemporary novel – I put this down to the fact that it’s a play and although the language is a little more old fashioned there aren’t lots of descriptions that would age it.
The plotline revolves around a double case of mistaken identify. A love story that almost ends in disaster but don’t dismiss this as romantic chick lit. It has much more about it than that and in fact makes a few statements, even in a decidedly amusing way! A look at family, social standing, hypocrisy, love and selfishness!
A short story, easy to read in one sitting but utterly charming and full of memorable quotes that you will have undoubtedly heard of in everyday passing.
United States of Japan by Peter Tieryas
10 March 2016
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Angry Robots, Peter Tieryas, United States of Japan
United States of Japan is one of those books that took me by surprise. To be honest I went into this with a little bit of concern because it has a military/sci fi look and description which made me worry slightly about whether it might be out of my comfort zone. As it happens that wasn’t the case at all. This book is a fast paced read that undoubtedly got it’s hooks into me from page 1.
The story starts in America in the year 1948 where we are introduced to a number of survivors being released from a relocation camp. WWII has ended and the Japanese are the victors. We then move forward approximately 40 years where the son of one of the couples that survived their early interment at the hands of the US now works as a censor of video games. Beniko Ishimura is a man who seems to lack purpose. He is constantly overlooked for promotion, he worries about saying or doing something untoward that might bring him the wrong sort of attention and at the start of the story he’s about to take a phone call that will turn his world upside down.
This is basically a book of ‘what ifs’. What if Pearl Harbour never happened. What if the Japanese had held off until they were in a better position in terms of military and technological capability? Would America have still joined in with WWII and if not would the Japanese have been in a better position to conquer with all their new military gadgets? Now assuming those ‘what ifs’ all lined up to give us an alternate history and a 1988 in which the United States of Japan was a different landscape to the one we now know, a USJ with greatly advanced technology and a dystopian society ruled by a cruel and brutal system where extreme fear and paranoia are the order of the day and a person can be taken at the drop of a hat and tortured with very little reason or justification.
Let’s just be honest, the USJ is a scary place to live. A big brother society as its most extreme: people’s habits, even their gaming techniques and choices are monitored. The people are under constant scrutiny and the smallest utterance can be taken as a traitorous remark that brings down the wrath of the secret police (the Tokko). Agent Akiko Tsukino (an officer with the Tokko) has been sent to investigate Beniko (Ben). She has very little to go on at the start, other than the phone call that Ben received the evening before, but even so she doesn’t let that interfere with her intimidation and she manages to involve Ben in her investigations into the underground movement known as the George Washingtons – rebels fighting for freedom.
So, the hunt is on and we’re about to be led on a journey of violence, torture, dark and seedy underworlds and secret hideouts with a couple of characters who whilst at first seem to be uncompromising have hidden depths.
This is a difficult book to review. Firstly, I don’t want to give anything away, secondly I’m still thinking about the ending and thirdly I confess that it’s a fairly grim read. And, I don’t say that as a criticism because I think it’s fairly intrinsic to what the author is trying to achieve here and he achieves it very well – this isn’t a nice place and there is never any doubt about that. There are no laugh out loud moments to lighten the feel, this is a dark story set in an unkind world. In imagining this story the author has used the very worst human traits and intensified them. He’s also used a lot of creativity in imagining this alternative world and the inventions it has spawned.
The two main characters are Ben and Akiko. Now, neither of these characters are straight up good or bad. They’re both layered and over the course of the book the author will, almost without you realising, manage to impart things about them that will shed a different light on their personalities. Ben comes across a bit lackadaisical which isn’t strictly speaking true. I would say he’s almost paralysed with fear. He certainly isn’t quite as laid back as he likes to make out and considering the first impression I had of him as a womanising loner he manages to conjure quite a few friends and acquaintances who seem to respect him. Akiko is ruthless and ambitious. She has carried out atrocities all in the name of the Emperor and yet scratch the surface and a few doubts leak out. I can’t say that I really liked either of them but what I can say is that the author made me care about what happened. That almost sounds like a contradiction in terms doesn’t it? Basically, throughout the book I was looking for some sort of turnaround moment for both of them. and in one particular aspect I think the author does manage to bring a different light to bear. Mostly, however, and actually I have to say that I have great respect for this, he didn’t go down the route of miraculous transformation. His characters, mostly, pretty much stayed true to themselves.
I didn’t really have any criticisms of the book. It’s not necessarily an easy read and I don’t doubt that some will find certain aspects not really for them but I thought it was quite fascinating and it definitely gave me plenty to think about. Did I end this with that giddy feeling that some books seem to achieve – no, quite honestly, I didn’t. But for a book that I finished over a week ago I’m still mulling it over. There are many ways in which a book can succeed for the reader, we can simply fall in love, it can hypnotise us with it’s beautiful prose or stun us with it’s scope and creativity or it can take us on a journey that we didn’t expect and whilst maybe not a journey with singing and picnics nonetheless one with plenty of food for thought. I’m still digesting USJ and frankly I might just go in for seconds and give this another read at some point in the future.
Dark, dystopian, alternate history with a setting that makes you glad that you’re not living in one of the many possible parallel universes that could be out there.
I received a copy of this courtesy of the publishers through Netgalley for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.
