Les Miserables

Les Miserables Volume 1 by Victor Hugo, 743 pages


Les Miserables is a book that you have to really commit to. It is a book you need to know is a slog before you start it and resolve yourself to push through it. Otherwise it is not a book that can be finished. This is Hugo's fault. He has a style that is full detailed at best and rambling to nonsensical at times. There are entire chapters that could be deleted from the book and nothing important would be loss. I am looking at you "Waterloo". The person Hugo has narrating the story is also a jerk. Many times in the description of events the narrator throws in this; I am sure the reader will forgive me if I explain this in detail. No, no I will not forgive you, please continue the story that you are telling. This same narrator also has this tendency to fully describe everything and the history of it, especially cities. While this does add depth to the story it also really slows everything down. Hence the two volumes.

If you don't know the story it is thus: Jean Valjean, a former criminal being pursued by Javert raises a girl named Cosette after promising her mother Fantine that he would. There is a lot more going on than that, and even more to the story than what appears in this volume. Like a brewing uprising that is not even in motion yet.

I look forward to see how Hugo wraps everything up but I also dread slogging through some more useless chapters that I know are coming. It is easy to see why this book ends up on peoples to read or to finish shelf forever.

Grave Mercy

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
549 Pages



Ismae is about to be married to a brute of a man when he discovers that she was marked as the spawn of the Death God Mortain, now demoted to Saint.  She escapes to the sanctuary of a convent where the sisters study all aspects of death and become agent assassins for the god.

Soon Ismae is called upon to travel to the court of Brittany and help discover who is trying to overthrow the duchess and let the province come under the control of France. Ismae discovers that all of her preconceptions will be challenged and she may be made to assassinate the very person she has come to love.  An okay book, probably more suited for a teen age girl.    

Future Falls

Future Falls by Tanya Huff
326 Pages



Huff returns to her series on the Gale family with its controlling matriarchs.  Charlie Gale continues to come to grips with her wild power and her attraction for Jack who is outside her 7 year zone of appropriate mates (convoluted rituals that are part of the family dynamic).  To make things more stressful a large asteroid is going to crash into Earth in 22 months and no one seems to be able to stop it.

This latest entry by Huff still has some humor and moments of brightness but we spend well over 2/3rds of the book with Charlie and Jack moaning about how they can't have one another and then the book sums up the asteroid with a line about "Oh, I took care of the asteroid and made it go boom."

Secrets of Life and Death

The Secrets of Life and Death by Rebecca Alexander
373 Pages

When the body of a young woman is discovered, Professor Felix Guichard is asked to consult since she had occult symbols drawn all over her body.  The course of his investigation leads him to a woman called Jackdaw Hammond who lets Felix in on a secret, she's dead and her life has been extended by the very symbols he discovered on the girls body.  

The book skips backward in time to Elizabethans Edward Kelley and John Dee who have been summoned by the King of Poland to save his niece Countess Elisabeth Bathory. They start to uncover a ritual very similar to the one used to save Jackdaw in the future.  

It turns out that the blood of those whose lives are extended is very useful for saving and curing people of their ills.  It is also useful for extending the lives of a group of "vampires" such as Elizabeth Bathory who is still around nearly 500 years later.  Of course everyone is fighting over the latest saved girl who is still in Jackdaw's house.    A very convoluted and not so entertaining book.  At least the dog doesn't get killed.

We Are Not Ourselves

We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas
620 Pages


The book follows the life of Eileen Tumulty racing through the 1940's and 1950's as she grows up in Woodside, Queens.  As you are reading you start to worry about what the book is going to cover as we get through the first 25 years of Eileen's life in 100 pages.  When Eileen meets Ed Leary, the pace of the book starts to slow down and examine the lives of the pair and their son Connell.  After Ed turns 50, it become apparent that there is something seriously wrong with him and it seems that all the hopes and dreams Eileen had for her and her family are in jeopardy.  


On one hand, the book was written very well and I though that Thomas captured the true essence of families and the American Dream.  However, I found myself disliking all of the central characters, especially Connell and that detracted from my overall enjoyment.  

Preacher Vol 1 and 2

Preacher Book 1 and Preacher Book 2 by Garth Ennis, 352 and 368 pages


The Preacher series, or at least the first two books, are about a preacher named Jesse who has unwillingly merged with an ancient spirit named Genesis. Genesis was the result of an unnatural union between an angel and a demon and is a being powerful enough to rival God. Jesse seeking answers begins a journey to find God who fled heaven when he learned of the birth of Genesis. He is aided by an ex girlfriend named Tulip and a vampire named Cassidy.

This is quite an interesting series and so far I like how it has developed. It takes a little while, name till the end of book two before we learn  the main characters back story but the rest of the plot flies along. It is a very graphic novel especially in the gore department but there is also some adult material. There are some religious themes that could be offensive to some.

New Deadwardians

The New Deadwardians by Dan Abnett, 172 pages


New Deadwardians is about a post apocalyptic London society and the survivors of an undead uprising. What makes this different from all of the rest of the zombie graphic novels out there is this one features a cure. A cure that makes you a vampire. In all honesty that is not much of a cure, you go from an undead zombie to an undead vampire. But I guess you avoid all that flesh rotting but still, not much of a cure.

The story follows a vampire or "Young" named George. He works as the only detective in the murder room. Ever since people started rising from the grave and the undead, namely the Young, were accepted into society there is no longer any murder, because people dont stay dead. That all changes when one of the Young turns up dead and not by any normal means (staking, beheading or incineration). What follows is an investigation that makes him question himself and society.

While using vampirism to avoid being changed into a zombie is a unique idea it is not enough to make this graphic novel anything special. It is not a bad read, but it didn't make that big of an impression on me.

The Unwritten: War Stories

The Unwritten, vol. 10: War Stories by Mike Carey and Peter Gross, 128 pages

In the penultimate volume of Carey and Gross's reality-blurring graphic novel series, Tom/Tommy Taylor must work his way back to reality (or at least, what he thinks is reality) by traversing a myriad of stories. But when he rejoins his friends, he finds that he's in for a bigger fight than he bargained for.

Since this is so deep into the series, it's hard to discuss, except to say that, unlike the previous volumes, this one does give a bit of a back-story reminder. This is perhaps because the preceding volume was a crossover with the much-more-popular series Fables and the creators were hoping to keep a few of the crossover readers; whatever the reason, it's nice to have, especially if you haven't binge-read the first nine volumes before opening this one.

The artwork is, as always, phenomenal, particularly during the portion in which Tom/Tommy is traveling through stories, each of which gets its own style appropriate to the story. A good read, and I'm anxiously awaiting the final volume. I seriously have NO IDEA how this is going to wrap up.

I was the cat

I was the cat by Paul Tobin, 190 pages

I was the Cat is about a cat who hires Allison Breaking to write his life's story. Now for any other cat this would seem unusual but for Burma this is nothing new. Because Burma can talk. He also had some plans to take over the world using his other eight lives that didn't quite pan out. As Allison finds out more about Burma she is not convinced that he has entirely left his world domination plans behind him.

This book is quite entertaining and worth reading. I think cat lovers will especially enjoy it because we know our cats are secretly plotting to take over the world, right after their mid morning nap.

Leaving Time

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult, 405 pages

This story is told from several different points of view, but mostly from Jenna, a thirteen year old girl, who has been living with her grandmother for the past decade.  When Jenna was three, a terrible accident happened on the elephant sanctuary where her parents worked and they all lived.  One of their colleagues was killed, Jenna’s mom, Alice, went missing, and Jenna’s father ended up in psychiatric facility.  Jenna enlists the help of the detective from the original case and a psychic to find her mom.  She has never wanted to believe that her mom willingly abandoned her but also doesn’t want to believe that her mom is dead.  We hear Alice’s story prior to that night from Alice’s point of view and we also get some of the story from the detective and the psychic.  Although there is not a lot of action, this is a compelling story with an ending that completely surprised me.  I would highly recommend this to people who like mysteries or family stories with a little paranormal thrown in.

I Am The Cheese

I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier, 214 pages

Surprisingly, I hadn’t ever read this book before.  I have always found Cormier’s books to be a little bit odd.  The premise behind this story is good and it actually is well executed, but I don’t really like it.  The main character, Adam, has just set out on a bike ride that is going to take him at least overnight.  He is trying to get to his father, who he plans to visit.  The story of Adam’s ride is interspersed with an interview that Adam appears to be having with a doctor and is being recorded.  As the story progresses, we realize that Adam’s family may have been in some sort of witness protection and that Adam might still be in danger.  Unfortunately, the ending is still a little ambiguous and I was left feeling somewhat incomplete.  I suspect that is purposeful, but it isn’t usually my preferred style.  Teens who like mystery and suspense might like this story.

Skin

Skin by Donna Jo Napoli, 341 pages

The first day of Sep’s junior year of high school she wakes up with lips.  Panicked, she and her mother call the doctor, who can’t see her for a few days but reassures them that she isn’t dying.  Sep covers them with lipstick and eventually finds out that she has vitiligo, which causes pigment to leave the skin, usually in spots or splotches.  There’s no telling how much of her skin will be affected or if it will be permanent.  There is no cure and the treatment options that are effective have pretty bad side effects.  Sep is devastated, especially since the boy she likes, Joshua, has started paying attention to her.  This is a story about a girl who is trying to find herself in the midst of a difficult situation.  Teens, especially girls, who like realistic stories will probably enjoy this book.

Mortal Heart

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers, 444 pages

Perfect student and Death's number one fan Annith finally gets her due in Book Three of the His Fair Assassins series.  Annith, the long-suffering and unbelievably loyal friend of both Ismae and Sybella, has long felt she has been left behind as her friends go out to serve as handmaidens of Death.  No longer content to sit around waiting for her life to go the way she wants, Annith takes charge of her fate one night and flees the convent.   Disillusioned with her life there, Annith breaks free only to find herself mixed up with a very rough group of hellequins (read: traveling troop of demons hunting for souls trapped on earth who need an escort to the afterlife).   Shielded from the very start by the mysterious Balthazaar, Annith manages to hold her own among the demons.  As affection begins to grow between Annith and Balthazaar, it is clear there is more to this demon than brooding looks and an affinity for blood hounds.   Annith's realization that Balthazaar is really the one that needs rescuing makes for an unconventional romance with a happy ending relying heavily on mysticism.  

While Sybella and her story remains my favorite in the series, I found myself more intrigued by Annith's story then I originally thought I might be.  I thought I would be bored by her perfection, instead I found myself sympathizing with her quest to please everyone.  She has done everything right, and still she is punished.  She excels at every element of being an assassin, yet she is never sent out on missions.  The reasons for this are all explained in a plot twist I saw coming from Book One, but it is a YA novel, so I really cannot blame it for its predictability.  If the series held your interest through books one and two, Book Three is a must-read as it is over-all a satisfying read and ties up a lot of series loose ends.   

Dark Triumph

Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers, 387 pages

Dark Triumph is Book Two in Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assassins series.  Book Two picks up right where Book One left off, and the action is intense.  Focus shifts from the polite but dangerous Ismae to the mysterious, rebellious, and fascinating Sybella.  Sybella makes no apologies for herself or her chosen role as a handmaiden of death. In Book One, Sybella both arrived and left the St. Mortain convent under mysterious circumstances, all of which are revealed slowly with expert pacing throughout the course of Dark Triumph.  

While the overarching genre of historical fiction still reigns supreme, this book is full of other incredible themes:  guilt, redemption, revenge, incest, forgiveness, love and justice.  While I enjoyed Ismae's story, Sybella is certainly my favorite assassin novitiate.  Her emotions and motivations are incredibly believable and even heart-wrenching at times.   The one drawback (for some) might be the love story that occurs between Sybella and a character named the Beast.   I know some might feel it is somewhat of a cop-out to make romance as a central theme of this novel, and I can completely understand that, especially considering everything Sybella has lived through.  Still, I really like the Beast character, and I liked his contributions to the plot as well as his role as Sybella's partner-in-crime.  I cannot wait to read Book Three!

Grave Mercy

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers, 549 pages
The His Fair Assassins series by Robin LaFevers has received a lot of talk based solely on its central premise: assassin nuns.  I have to admit, that is what first attracted me to this young adult series.  We meet the heroine Ismae on the day of her wedding to a very cruel man.  Her entrance into the mysterious St. Mortain convent is somewhat of a rescue mission from that rather than a direct choice.   Ismae learns that she is now in service of St. Mortain, the god of death, and her training as a highly skilled assassin begins. 

Part historical fiction, part Quentin Tarantino fantasy, Grave Mercy is an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable read.  Combining court intrigue with other-worldly figures, LaFevers writes a novel that is both fast-paced and thoughtful.  The character of Ismae is likeable without being annoying.  I found myself really cheering for her throughout the book.   The love story/romance elements were well-placed, and I think contributed to Ismae's development without detracting from her strength.  I read this book basically in one sitting (during a long day waiting to be called for jury duty) and have since moved on to the rest of the trilogy.

Enemies of the Permanent Things

Enemies of the Permanent Things: Observations of Abnormality in Literature and Politics by Russell Kirk, 303 pages

 

In this work, Kirk argues that without a clear, agreed upon standard of morality, all morality, thus reduced to a matter of opinion, ultimately becomes the captive of ideology.  Ironically, the pursuit of radical individualism, where "every man alone thinks he hath got / To be a phoenix, and that then can be / None of that kind, of which he is, but he" produces hollow men who, lacking an anchor in a real interior life, are fully other-directed, blown about by the winds of fashion.

 

Unfortunately, merely agreeing on certain norms for pragmatic reasons will not suffice, since no such agreement can survive any but the most trivial disagreement.  Nor can consensus be achieved by unaided reason, which was the project of the Enlightenment.  Kirk locates the foundation of civilization in tradition, and the wellspring of tradition in the moral imagination, best represented in his own time by fabulists such as Tolkien, Lewis, and Bradbury.  The foes of the moral imagination are those ideologues who regard the wisdom of the past as an oppressive burden which must be overcome if some utopian future is to be realized, and those technocrats who regard humans as things to be measured, catalogued, and managed.  To the latter, Kirk objects that it is precisely in a time of greater social sophistication and complexity that knowledge of human things - humane learning - the humanities - is most needed in our leaders.  To the former, he survived to see its greatest earthly representative undone by such proponents of the moral imagination as Solzhenitsyn, Havel, and Wojtyla.  To those, more respectable if not numerous now than in his own time, who reject all forms of order and authority as inherently unjust, Kirk repeats that to believe that human life has value is to believe it has meaning, and to believe in meaning is to believe in order.

 

One might expect a book entitled Enemies of the Permanent Things to be primarily negative, but it is far more an effort at reclamation than a jeremiad.

Wallflower at the Orgy

Wallflower at the Orgy by Nora Ephron, 187 pages

In Wallflower at the Orgy, Ephron presents a collection of her long-format magazine articles that were originally published in the late 1960s. While there were plenty of hard-news subjects to focus on in that era, Ephron's articles have a softer focus, looking at the fashion, food, film, and cosmetics that were defining characteristics of the late '60s. From discussing the competitive (and small) world of cookbooks to relating her experience getting a Cosmopolitan makeover, Ephron offers up some great articles in this collection. I particularly enjoyed her profiles of Helen Gurley Brown and the late Mike Nichols, though the whole book was enjoyable. A fun read!

(Note: The title of this collection refers to a phrase Ephron uses to describe her journalistic style in the introduction rather than the headline of one of her articles. No orgies make an appearance in this particular book, thus making it safe for conversations with your Aunt Gladys during the holidays.)

Horrorstör

Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, 243 pages

Strange things are afoot at Orsk, a knockoff Ikea in Ohio. Weird smells and smears keep showing up in the morning, while nothing is showing up on the security cameras. To solve the mystery, the Orsk-preaching assistant manager Basil asks middling employee Amy and Orsk lifer Ruth Anne to work a special, off-the-books overnight shift with him, in the hopes of catching the troublemaker in the act. Turns out, things are a bit more supernatural than anyone expected, and they're soon in over their heads.

This is a classic haunted house story, with a setting that's been begging for this kind of treatment. While the writing didn't exactly blow me away, the premise is great, and there are definitely some spooky bits, especially early on in the overnight escapades. It doesn't take long to read, and those who like this sort of story will likely enjoy it. What makes it really stand out, however, isn't the story--it's the design of the book (it looks just like an Ikea catalog!) and the Ikea-esque names for all the furniture. Let's face it: no matter how much you like pre-fab furniture, Ikea had this coming. I will be highly disappointed if this isn't made into a slightly campy movie.

Broken Monsters

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes
442 Pages

The book opens with the discovery of a bizaare crime.  A young boy has been killed and cut in half.  From the waist down he has the body of a fawn.  Dectective Gabriella Versado is the lead investigator of the murder in a story that revolves around the dying city of Detroit.  A wide cast of characters populates the book from T.K. a homeless guy to Jonno, a journalist trying to get ahead with an online blog.

A fairly good procedural interspersed with a fantastical streak that in my opinion takes away from the story.  I understand that the author was trying to show the killer's worldview but when it started affecting others it brought the story down.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes & Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty

254 Pages


Caitlin Doughty began working at a crematory when she couldn't get a job with her degree in medieval history.  The book covers the beginning of her career in the world of the dead leading us behind the black curtain. Doughty challenges the way society deals with death and makes suggestions of how to change our preconceptions and misunderstandings.

 This is a quick and enjoyable read.  People who enjoyed Stiff by Mary Roach will probably enjoy this book as well.  

I Work at A Public Library

I Work at a Public Library by Gina Sheridan
157 Pages


Reviewed by Krista so I'll be brief.  The book is mildly amusing.  If you want something more amusing to workers in a library  try the blog  Tales from the Liberry.  He doesn't blog any longer but the stories posted are funny and his writing style great.

Blood of Olympus

The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan, 516 pages

This is the final book in Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series. The plot follows the group of demigods on their quest to save the world from a vengeful Gaea waking from her sleep. On the other side of the world, two other demigods and their satyr chaperone are must deliver the 40-foot-tall Athena of Parthenos to Long Island to prevent war between the feuding Greek and Roman camps.
I felt that this book tried to pack in to much and from too many different perspectives. There were times when it was difficult to distinguish certain characters from each other, especially when they  followed the same plot thread and from both perspectives. I think this book is worth reading if you've read the others, but overall it felt a little to fast-paced and it isn't an entirely satisfying conclusion to a decent series.

First Impressions

First Impressions, A novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen by Charlie Lovett
308 Pages

Sophie Collingwood is a recent graduate of Oxford whose love of books came from her Uncle Bertram.  When Uncle Bertram suddenly dies, Sophie inherits his flat and soon has a job in  a nearby bookstore.  When two different customers ask to find the same obscure book, Sophie finds herself entwined in a mystery that may present evidence that Jane Austen plagerized the beloved book Pride and Prejudice. 

 A literary mystery that jumps back to Austen's life  and then returns to the present presents an enjoyable reading experience.

Miniaturist

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
400 Pages

In 17th century Amsterdam, Nella Oortman is to marry merchant Johannes Brandy, who she doesn't know very well.  She finds herself part of a strange and unwelcoming household with a distant and unknowable husband.  Only when Johannes gifts her with a dollhouse of their home and she starts to collect wondrous  miniatures, does Nella start to to unravel the  mysteries of the household.


 Somewhat interesting, but also confusing.  Not as good as other historical novels set in the same period.

Building of Christendom

The Building of Christendom by Warren Carroll, 547 pages

 

The second volume of Carroll's History of Christendom opens with the Council of Nicaea and closes with the end of the First Crusade, along the way covering the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the rise of Islam, the age of Charlemagne, the beginnings of the Reconquista, the predations of the Vikings, and the origins of the great heresies of Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, and Iconoclasm.

 

In a Christendom besieged by barbarians, riven by division and social strife, and struggling over theological definitions, Carroll makes it clear that this last was the most important.  The far ranging consequences of a Monophysite or Iconoclast victory would have been greater and deeper than if Carloman had ruled and Charlemagne retired to a monastery, or if the Goths had defeated Belisarius.

 

An excellent retelling of the story of how classical culture was interwoven with Christianity to create the fabric of Western society.

Reunion

Reunion by Hannah Pittard
271 Pages

This is a short novel about Kate Pulaski who has made a series of bad decisions in her life.  When her father dies she travels to Atlanta to meet with her two siblings to make the final arrangements.  Their father had been married 5 times and there are a number of half-siblings to deal with as well as the various ex-wives.  Kate has never really come to grips with her relationship with her father and the tough childhood she had and this is partially the cause of her current series of misfortunes.

A book of family dysfunction, Pittard weaves a story with a slight snarkiness and realistics relationships.  The only flaw I found with the novel is that it wasn't longer.

Hawley Book of the Dead

The Hawley Book of the Dead by Chrysler Szarlan
332 Pages

Revelation Maskelyn is part of a long line of women who possess special, magical skills.  Revelation's skill is the ability to disappear.  When she kills her husband, in a Las Vegas magic production she flees with her three daughters to the old family compound, an abandoned town where all the people disappeared in the 1930s. But Revelation is being tracked by an ancient foe and she will have to awaken all of her power and learn her family's background to defeat him and save her daughters from being killed as well.

I enjoyed this book and hope that there might be a sequel later also it also works as a stand-alone book. 

Bone House

The Bone House by Stephen R Lawhead
385 Pages

This is the second book in the Bright Empires series following The Skin Map. The two main characters struggle against the forces of evil and while Kit finds himself stranded with a pre-historic tribe.  Mina discovers how to move through the lines better, crossing not only the timeline but her movements (something that gets a little bit confusing).  The series continues strongly and it is planned that there will be 5 books total.

Spirit Well

The Spirit Well by Stephen Lawhead
377 Pages

This is the third installment in The Bright Empires series.  Kit Livingston and his friends are traveling through the ley lines  which allows not only travel between places but travel between times.  They continue to look for the skin map which supposedly has a map of all the ley lines and the places they connect.  It was tattooed on the skin of the original ley line traveler and split up after his death. 

There are basically three parties looking for this map, 2 bad, one good.  We find out more about the backgrounds of the parties in this book and minor characters become more integral to the story.

The Bright Empires series is a good series and should be enjoyable to fans of science fiction and fantasy.  Since I've read the fourth book as well, the two are starting to commingle in  my memory so I won't go into a lot of detail on the plot.  The books definitely need to be read in order.

Death Sentence

Death Sentence by Montynero, 192 pages

Death Sentence is about brief super heroes and villains that are springing up after getting infected with the G+ virus. I guess to make it more relevant or more graphic the G+ virus is only transmittable through sex. Unlike most superhero graphic novels where the weak underdog gets all of these awesome powers they don't know what to do with, G+ just amplifies what you are good at. If you are good at convincing people to buy stuff you might get mind control. If you are a guitarist you might now be able to write perfect music that everyone loves. It is also very random how far these abilities will be magnified.

In this volume two marginally good guys are tasked with stopping a super villain who is using his telekinetic powers to take over England.

Death Sentence is obviously for mature audiences only. When I first picked it up I thought that it was relying on the skimpily dressed women and sex to sell copies but it actually had a decent back story and underlying plot as well. I think people that like the darker comics would also like this.

Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, 368 pages

After seeing the semi recent movie adaptation of this book I added this to my "to read" list. However unlike most books that end up on that list, where they will likely spend an eternity, this one actually got read!

Ender's Game is about a young boy named Ender who is selected to go through command school training. Along the way he meets new friends and faces some hardships. But none of that is really important except as buildup for the last couple chapters of the book. There might be some moral in there about pushing kids to hard into being what you want them to be but again only somewhat important.

What is important is the end. This book has an ending that leaves you thinking what? How did that? Wow. Everyone that has read this book knows exactly what point I am talking about. It is that point that makes this book a good book. It then goes on with some wrap up that also doesn't really matter except that this is the first in a series.

I would recommend this book to everyone, even if you have already seen the movie.

Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling

Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling by D. M. Cornish, 434 pages

I am not a reader who enjoys world-building. I read for characters and atmosphere and am generally unimpressed by the energy authors spend creating worlds filled with made-up species and languages and continents (I’m looking at you Mr. Tolkien). Monster Blood Tattoo is a series that involves A LOT of world building, but it’s done in a way that works for me. Cornish’s books are set in the Half Continent, a land filled with monsters and magic, but instead of using up valuable page real estate on world building, there is a 100+ page “Explicarium” (aka glossary) and numerous appendices at the end of the novel. I LOVED this approach – when I wanted more background information, it was there for me to read, but it didn’t slow down the plot.

Foundling follows the adventures of Rossamund Bookchild, an orphan from Madam Opera's Estimable Marine Society for Foundling Boys and Girls, as he sets out to join the ranks of the Emperor’s Lamplighters. His journey is fraught with misfortunes including piratical riverboat captains, monsters of all shapes and sizes, famous monster hunters and more. What seems at the book’s start to be a black and white relationship between humans (good) and monsters (bad) has begun to become muddied by the book’s end and promises to become even greyer in the subsequent books.

I had a hard time getting past what I consider a truly awful title for this series (maybe “Monster Blood Tattoo” is a more appealing name to teenagers? I feel like it’s just trying too hard). Clearly, I had some hurtles when it comes to this book, but I’m really glad I gave it a shot. I’ll be reading the second book despite the fact that it’s a whopping 700+ pages – a length that would typically deter me.

Minding The Manor

Minding the Manor by Millie Moran
353 Pages

Millie Moran was a kitchen maid who eventually become a cook during the 1930's in England.  This memoir of her time in the service is especially fascinating  to people who enjoyed Downton Abbey or Upstairs/Downstairs

Les miserables, Graphic Novel

Les Miserables adapted by Crystal Silvermoon, 337 pages


This is the manga adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. I initially picked up this version to read after I finished the original but I ended up finishing this first. Since I am only 400 or so pages in to Les Miserables by Hugo I cannot say that it follows to book or not but it did follow the movie rather well, though there was less singing. I admit it was kind of odd seeing the previously flesh and blood characters from the movie being portrayed in a manga fashion especially the young Cosette and her huge eyes. But I eventually got use to it and enjoyed the book.

While I shouldn't recommend that people take a short cut in reading Les Miserables, this might be an alternative to those that want to read the book but balk at the 1400 pages.

Dear Luke we need to talk, Darth

Dear Luke, we need to talk, Darth : and other pop culture correspondences by John Moe, 292 pages

 

 This book was one of the bestsellers that I was putting up along with the previously blogged about Passive Aggressive Notes:... As you can see from the title it makes jokes though humorous pop culture references. Sadly this book while funny at times is not all that good. Sure it made me chuckle at times, the letter about Hotel California was very good, but a lot of the content seemed overly forced. I could see this being worth paging through during a long wait at a doctors office or bus stop but I cannot recommend reading this for fun.

 

Archbishop Laud

Archbishop Laud 1573-1645 by Hugh Trevor-Roper, 436 pages

 

William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 until his death, was the primary ecclesiastical adviser of King Charles I.  An admirer of Lancelot Andrewes but lacking some of his finer qualities, Laud attempted to heal the wounds of the Church of England after its disembowlment under the Tudors.  Although fully supported by Charles, this brought him into conflict with the Puritans, led by those who had profited most from the sack of the Church.   In the midst of the Civil War, Laud was imprisoned on trumped-up charges of treason and illegally executed, four years before his master.

 

Trevor-Roper writes with his customary smug superiority, although his sense of irony makes palatable references to "Popery" and its "arsenal of Antichrist" or "the redskins of Massachusetts".  Less forgivable is the author's acceptance of Henrician propaganda against the pre-Reformation English church, for although he did not have access to Duffy's work on the subject, he certainly was aware of Cobbett's.  Still, reading past the sneer, Trevor-Roper's learning is sufficient to produce an enlightening study of a tried man in a trying time.

A Paris Apartment

A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable, 378 pages

Julie has already offered a great review of this book here, so I won't go into details too much. Suffice it to say that this book offers two sometimes-parallel stories of women in Paris: one a modern-day American furniture expert for Sotheby's, the other a 19th-century Parisian courtesan whose belongings (and journals) are the subject of the first's studies. While this book could be summed up as a mix between historical fiction and chick lit, it's also a fascinating read, particularly when you consider that the Parisian courtesan was a real person. This was a hard book to put down, and while I'm still waffling on how I feel about the ending, it was certainly enjoyable. I've never been much of a francophile, but this book made me want to hop on a jet to Paris so I could eat some cheese, drink some wine, and snuggle up with some 100-year-old scandalous journals. Basically, I wanted to become the furniture expert, just without the emotional baggage.

Desiring the Kingdom

Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation by James K A Smith, 238 pages

 

In this book, the first volume of his Cultural Liturgies series, Smith argues that religion is not a matter of assenting to a certain set of intellectual propositions, of choosing the correct doctrines.  Nor is it the possession of a set of underlying pre-rational beliefs and presuppositions.  Rather, life, and especially the religious life, is a matter of what we value, that is, what we love.  Because we are embodied beings, this is not a matter of logic, but of practice, that is, of liturgy.  Lex orandi, lex credendi.  Worship is itself a form of education, of paideia.

 

There is nothing revolutionary in these statements, indeed, this view has a long history stretching back to Aristotle.  Long neglected as a result of Enlightenment abstraction, in the twentieth century it was rejuvenated by thinkers as diverse as Martin Heidegger, Alisdair MacIntyre, and Charles Taylor.  Smith compellingly synthesizes the thought of these and other figures, not only conveying their insights but also peppering his commentary with approachable exemplars and interesting discussions (such as when he ponders whether Moulin Rouge is more authentically Christian than "The 700 Club").

 

Smith approaches his subject from within the Reformed tradition with an eye to its application in the Christian college environment, but neither of these factors makes the book less useful to members of other Christian groups or those outside the academy.  Entertaining and enlightening in equal measure, this book is truly remarkable.

Heirs of Grace

Heirs of Grace by Tim Pratt
271 Pages

Bekah has been left a sizeable amount of money and a house in remote North Carolina by an unknown relative. (If only we all could have this happen).  When she gets there she finds that the house is full of junk and the person who left it to her was her birth father who let her be given up for adoption.  As she explores she discovers that the objects in the house all have various magical uses and if she can solve the mystery, she will come into the powers once wielded by her father.  However, she also discovers that she has other half-siblings who also want the power, at the expense of her life.


A middling book in every way,  Pratt takes an interesting premise but fails to deliver a memorable book.

The Wild Ways

The Wild Ways by Tanya Huff
295 Pages

This is a continuation of the Gale family saga.  The Gales are a family of magical humans and their background is very closely related to the Green Man mythology of Great Britain.  With a new family circle established in Calgary, Charlie Gale, the family's wild power, must find out what is upsetting the selkies while coming to terms with her powers.

A reader needs to have read the first novel of the series to understand the background and power dynamics of the Gale family.  While the book is entertaining, it is not as strong as the first. 

I Work At A Public Library

I Work At A Public Library by Gina Sheridan, 152 pages

This book is a must read for anyone who has ever worked in a library.  A collection of one-liners and conversations, mostly between patrons and library staff, almost everyone who has worked in the library has experienced several of these situations or ones very similar.  Some stories made me laugh and several had me shaking my head but all of them are so very true.  There was a whole chapter devoted to one specific patron and one story had staff calling her because she had returned a case without the DVD inside.  She denied it and when staff persisted, she said, “I’d rather do two hundred million things than listen to you.”  Also funny were the kid stories, such as the young child who returned a book through the book drop outside just as a staff member stubbed her toe inside.  The child could hear the yelling coming from inside and said “Mommy, I think we hurt the book!”  I think that several patrons would also see the humor in this book, especially if they had ever worked in any type of service profession.

The Magic Trap

The Magic Trap by Jacqueline Davies, 257 pages

This is the newest book in The Lemonade War series.  Brother and sister Evan and Jessie Treski have very different reactions to things.  When their mom plans a trip away for a week for work, Evan isn’t thrilled, but he thinks that his mom needs to get away for a while and he understands that she really needs to take all of the work that she can get.  Jessie is upset that her mother is leaving because she really hates change but is trying to be understanding.  When their father shows up unexpectedly right before their mother is ready to leave and an unexpected turn of events means that their babysitter is unavailable at the last minute, their dad volunteers to stay for the week.  Their mother reluctantly agrees.  Jessie is thrilled.  Evan is also apprehensive, because he understands, as his mother does, that his dad is not very reliable.  Still, everything seems mostly ok at first.  Their dad is on the phone a lot with work related things but he still finds some time to spend with them.  Until the day that their mom is scheduled to come back and their father leaves  a few hours before her return with a hurricane about to hit and Jessie and Evan have to figure out what to do.  A good story about family and self-reliance, with a good amount of adventure thrown in at the end, this book will appeal to a large kid audience.

The Revenge Of Seven

The Revenge Of Seven by Pittacus Lore, 371 pages

This is the fifth book in the I Am Number Four series and picks up where the previous book left off.  Eight has been killed by Five, who has betrayed the few remaining Lorien and is now working for the Mogadorians, who destroyed the Lorien and now want to destroy Earth as well.  The remaining Lorien and some of their human friends are trying hard to stop them, but Ella was captured by the Mogadorian so not only do the others have to come up with a plan to stop the Mogadorians and destroy Setrakus Ra, their leader, but also  to rescue Ella while they are doing it.  This is not my favorite series.  I care enough that I keep reading so I can know how everything ends, but I like a lot of other end of the world scenario and alien books better than this series.  It is pretty popular though, so several teens are seeing more in it than I am.  Teens who like these type of science fiction stories might want to give the series a try.

Tesla’s Attic

Tesla’s Attic by Neal Shusterman & Eric Elfman, 246 pages

Nick, his brother, Danny, and his father have to move after their mother dies in the fire that destroyed their old house.  They move across the country because they’ve inherited an aunt’s house.  When Nick tries to go into the attic he finds that it’s full of junk and decides to have a yard sale.  At first no one comes but when Nick turns on a lamp that he found in the attic people start flocking to their house and buy nearly everything that came out of the attic.  However, after making friends with some of the kids in school who also bought some of the items, Nick finds that these weren’t ordinary things.  For example, there was a camera that takes pictures of the future, a tape recorder that records what people are thinking instead of what they’re saying, an odd metallic device that looks a little like a See-And-Say that finishes people’s sentences with pieces of truth they might not have known, and a battery that makes the dead come back to life.  Unfortunately, there is a group of people out there determined to find the items that came from the attic and they will stop at nothing to get them.  The first in a new trilogy, this was an excellent science fiction/fantasy story and young fans of this genre will probably like it.

The Blood Of Olympus

The Blood Of Olympus by Rick Riordan, 516 pages

The Olympians are on a quest to stop Gaea from awakening and heal the rift between the Greeks and Romans.  Reyna, Leo and Coach Hedge have undertaken the task of returning the statue of Athena to Camp Half Blood, which would help end the feud between the Greek and Roman camps.  Percy, Jason, Annabeth, Piper, Frank, Hazel and Leo are trying to figure out a way to keep Gaea from waking up, or how to defeat her if she does.  Both groups have many monsters, trials and tribulations to face and the prophecies say that one of them will die.  But Olympians don’t give up so they will fight to the bitter end, and maybe even get some help from the godly parents along the way.  This is the finale to The Heroes of Olympus series, but the way this ends there certainly could be more books with these characters, or at least in this vein.  I would recommend reading these in order.  It had been a while since I read the previous book and it took me some time to catch up and I at least remembered all of the characters.  These books are for kids and teens who like magic, mythology, and adventure.

Some Luck

Some Luck by Jane Smiley, 395 pages

Jane Smiley is an excellent writer and this slice of Midwestern American life story is no exception.  Walter Langdon is a farmer in Iowa who marries Rosanna.  They have five children who survive childhood and the book covers the lives of the family from 1920 to 1953.  We get to see the births of all six children, Frank, Joe, Mary Elizabeth, who dies young, Lillian, Henry and Claire.  We get to see their good years and bad, the births and deaths, the Great Depression and World War II.  There is no big action in the book, but Smiley has a way of making characters seem real and their troubles and triumphs important which makes her books really nice to read.  And even though there is no bog conflict and resolution, she always brings the stories to a satisfactory conclusion.  I would recommend this to anyone who likes slice-of-life, historical America stories.

How To Catch A Bogle

How To Catch A Bogle by Catherine Jinks, 313 pages

Birdie is a bogler’s apprentice, which means she is the bait to trap the bogle.  Birdie has a wonderful singing voice and she is smart and fast.  Alfred Bunce is a good bogler.  He’s only ever lost one apprentice to a bogle and has no intention of ever losing another.  Since bogles love to eat children and usually ignore adults entirely, only children work as bait.  A young woman of quality, Miss Eames, is interested in creatures such as bogles and asks the two of them to allow her to come along on a bogle hunt.  Because she plans to pay them, they agree.  When Miss Eames realizes that bogles are real, not just folklore, and how dangerous they are, she begins a campaign to get Birdie into another line of work before she is hurt or killed.  Birdie staunchly refuses, especially since orphans have begun disappearing and it’s up to her and Mr. Bunce to sort it out, since it is almost certainly the work of a bogle.  This was a really good scary fantasy adventure for kids.

The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs

The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs by Patricia B. McConnell

246 pages

Long before there was the dog whisperer, there was…Patricia McConnell. McConnell is a Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist with a Ph.D. in Zoology, but her expertise in training dogs comes as much from her decades of experience on a sheep farm as from her formal education. I picked up The Other End of the Leash because I wanted some guidance regarding the dogs in my life. It proved very useful in that regard, especially in calling my attention to how human behavior, down to the most indiscernible gesture or flash of eye contact, can affect dogs in very dramatic ways. And in how drastically we—dogs versus humans—differ in terms of our senses. McConnell illustrates this with a moving story about how her cat was rescued from certain death, thanks to her Border Collie’s keen sense of smell. But aside from being a how-to manual, it’s a compelling and well-written read for anyone interested in animal or human behavior.