Posts

Top Ten Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read

 I haven’t participated in Top Ten Tuesday in a while, I’m having trouble relating to some of the list topics being provided, but I wanted to do this one from June 2nd. The world is full of books and there are books not only do I want to read them, I should have already done so and I’m surprised at myself for not having done so. 1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez . It’s classic literature and I’m told people either love it and find it moving, or they just don’t get it. With books that stir up so much passion (and sometimes confusion), I usually like to see what side of the divide I’m on. 2. Drood by Dan Simmons . This book is a horror/historical fiction about Charles Dickens’ life. Fact and fiction will blend seamlessly for me because I know nothing about Dickens outside of his books. I love when historical fiction crosses over into other genres. 3. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin . I’m a fantasy fan, and Ursula Le Guin is supposed to be right up th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Overgrowth by Mira Grant

Image
 “All a seed truly needs to sprout is time.” Anastasia Miller insists her whole life that she is an alien here to kickstart the invasion of Earth by an alien species of plant people. She advertises it to everyone she meets almost as soon as she meets them. Of course nobody believes her, it’s outrageous and crazy. Her roommates Mandy and Lucas accept her for who she is, extraterrestrial or not, and her boyfriend Graham loves her unconditionally. But nobody really understands until an astronomer intercepts an alien signal from outer space and things begin to change. The first thing that really pops out of my head on the subject of Overgrowth is how when people realize the aliens have been among them the whole time, they turn on each other. People begin accusing neighbors and friends who are “a little out there” of being aliens, even attacking them. They’re rioting in the streets and looting. I don’t think this behavior is outside the realm of possibility of what would happen in a re...
2 comments
Read more

The Witch of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire

Image
“The first rule of witchery is to acknowledge your deficits.” The third and final installment of the Another Day trilogy brings us Rain with her memory restored. Now that she remembers who she is, she can’t wait to return to Oz and figure out who she is meant to be. As with the Wicked Years and the first two installments of Another Day, I found the settings to be imaginative even though L. Frank Baum was there first. GM creates a world that makes you feel transported and strangely at home. Despite my appreciation of the setting, I found that this book lacked the charm of the first two books.  The beginning was a bit wishy-washy. It opens with Rain, Iskinaary, and Lucickles on a ship. Eventually there’s an explanation for how they got there but it didn’t come soon enough and it felt really random.  I didn’t find the subplot of Rain and Lucickles to be on par with their characters unless it’s to be considered a weird kind of character evolution…Which doesn’t make a whole lot of...
1 comment
Read more

The Swarm by Frank Schatzing

Image
"All mankind is trapped within a waking dream of a world that doesn't exist." Sigur Johanson and Tina Lund are biologists working for the oil company to study worms that have mysteriously cropped up along the sea slopes. Leon Anawak is a cetologist and whale watch guide who’s taken by surprise when the normally peaceful animals begin attacking boats. Schools of fish turn murderous, seafood turns poisonous… The ocean is turning into a battle ground. But why and how? (And that’s just Part One) Let me start my review by saying I loved this book. There’s not a thing worth complaining about. Originally written in German, I read the English translation, and you know how people always say things get lost in translation? If something was lost, it was lost on me. I found this book to be highly suspenseful. The science bits were a bit slow, but there were plenty of action sequences to spice things up a bit. And the mystery of why this is happening kept me flipping the pages late in...
1 comment
Read more

The Sunday Post

Image
Happy Sunday! I hope everyone’s having a good weekend and if you are in the US, I hope you had a great 4th of July. The Sunday Post is a news meme created by CaffeinatedReviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. I normally do a weather report for the past month, but June was perfectly normal weather-wise, and I’d rather state the obvious that the first few days of July were flippin’ hot. And not just in the Northeast, across the country. So I hope everyone is drinking plenty of fluids and respecting their local fire and water bans and regulations. My vacation was perfect, exactly what I wanted. I lounged on the beach in Maine with a book in my hand… I finished two actually. We had a couple of rainy days but it didn’t rain until after 3pm when we were wrapping things up at the beach anyways. I only posted one review in June: The Oracle of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire But I’ve got ...
6 comments
Read more

Vacation is Upon Me

Image
 Leaving today to go read on a beach and pretend that adulting is not a thing I have to do. I'll be back in July with new reviews and recommendations. See you soon!
2 comments
Read more

The Sunday Post

Image
 Happy Sunday! I hope everyone’s having a good weekend! The Sunday Post is a news meme created by CaffeinatedReviewer . I'm also linking up with Sunday Salon at ReaderBuzz . I will be posting on the first Sunday of each month and I hope you'll join me. The weather in May was as weird as the weather in April. Hot then cold, dry then rainy. Sometimes all of the above on the same day. I couldn’t figure out if I should wear long sleeves or short. My butterfly/hummingbird garden has started to grow and I planted some annuals for filler; I think we’re well past the point of frost at the very least. It’s probably warm enough for me to store away my long-underwear too. I’m super excited that I’ve had so much time this year to read some great stories. Last year I struggled, but this year I’m finding little pockets of time here and there. My GoodReads Challenge was to read at least 15 and so far, I’ve read 8. I’m more than halfway through! My goal for the Speccy Fiction Challenge was to ...
Post a Comment
Read more