Ender's Shadow and A War of Gifts

Ender's Shadow and A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card (469 and 128)

Ender's Shadow is actually part of a six book collection that is told from other peoples perspective. I have included it here with A War of Gifts since both of these books happen concurrently with Ender's Game.

Ender's Shadow follows the young and unbelievable character named Bean. He like all kids is exceptionally smart but there is something a little different about him. He also represents the next best chance for Earth if Ender should fail. For that reason he is pushed mercilessly toward the final conflict. I think this book was mainly written to answer the questions we are left with at the end of Ender's Game. Namely about the inner workings of battle and command school. In some ways I found this to be better but lacking that sucker punch that makes Ender's Game such a great novel.

A War of Gifts focuses on the removal of religion from the battle school trainees and their rebellion against such strict practices. I think this book is meant to be more philosophical and highlight the humanity that is being given up to make soldiers. This is also only a side novel that does not really add anything to the overall plot though both Bean and Ender are in it. It does however have a very nicely done cover.

I continue to enjoy reading Card's work in the Enderworld and look forward to reading the multitude of books still remaining.

Odd Interlude

Odd Interlude by Dean Koontz, 279 pages

After saving the world from nuclear Armageddon Odd and company are beginning to make their way back to Pico Mundo when they decide to stop at Harmony Corners. Harmony Corners has everything weary travels need a cozy diner, service stations, and cottages for rent. Overseeing this homestead is the Harmony family. When Odd and company stop at there for the night they discover there is much more to this secluded place than meets the eye.

while being shorter than most of the books and being more of a side adventure to the main story this was actually a pretty good. It a bit more supernatural element than the previous book. Despite being an interlude in the series it has just as much mystery and action as any of the books, and stays just a good.

Island of Legends

Island of Legends by Lisa McMann, 478 pages

Now that the magical land of Artime has been restored it is time for Alex to focus on other things, such as rescuing Sky's mother, and defending Artime borders once again. In the meantime he practices honing his skills and and using his magic to create life as mentor used to, and to send a rescue expedition to the underwater Pirate Island. In Quill High Priest Aaron works rebuild the divide between his people and and Artime by rebuilding the wall between the two and spreading rumors of an impending attack by the former unwanteds that live there. He also discovers a hidden jungle filled with dangerous secrets that he plans to use to increase his power and cement his control over the rest of the island.

The first three books of this series were fairly good, but I was a little disappointed in this fourth book. To me some of the decisions the characters make seem questionable. This book also jumped around a fair amount with lots of characters which can make it a little hard to read at times. While not as good as some of the previous books it wasn't actually bad, there was a lot of character development, and expansion of the world that the characters inhabit. 

Odd Hours

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz, 352 pages

On his way back to his beloved town of Pico Mundo Odd is drawn to a small California coastal town by his unusual gift. Once their he begins to have a strange recurring dream of an all consuming red tide, that could signal a catastrophe that would change the world. With the help of his ghost dog Boo, a new companion who just might rival his old pal Elvis, and the mysterious Annamarie whom he trusts completely, Odd must figure out what his dream means and save the world from those who want to destroy it.

While it lacked some of the supernatural elements of some of the previous books there was enough suspense to keep me wanting to know what happens. It also seems like it is setting up events for the couple book by introducing the mysterious and very cryptic Annamarie. Overall this series is still capable of keeping readers glued to its pages. 

X'ed Out Trilogy

X'ed Out, The Hive, and Sugar Skull by Charles Burns (64, 56, 56 pages. 176 total)

I started reading this trilogy after finding the third book sitting on a table where it did not belong. Thinking that it was a one off I gave the graphic novel a quick read. When I finished I was left thinking what did I just read. I could not make any logical sense of it. Utterly confused and seeking clarification I turned to the internet and quickly found out that there were more books. Hoping they would clarify everything I stopped my research and read them. While this helped a little with the overall plot it introduced even more weirdness. I am still not sure what this is truly about, though I have my suspicions (note: my suspicions cannot be included as they may be spoilers...).



I cannot say that I would recommend these books to anyone, and I would advise not to let kids read them because of adult themes. If anyone has read them and can tell me exactly what the author is trying to say please feel free to let me know.

Bannon and Clare Series

The Iron Wyrm Affair, The Red Plague Affair, and The Ripper Affair by Lilith Saintcrow (323, 320, and 386 pages. 1029 total)

It might not be the most accurate description in the world, but I think I am going to call this a reimagined Sherlock Holmes. It follows the same basic principles; a mentath (beyond genius), Mr. Clare is led and guarded by a sorcerer Ms. Bannon and together they solve crimes for the Crown.  Mr. Clare follows the same tendencies as Sherlock. He regularly sits in a chair puffing on a pipe in thought, is prone to wild experiments when between missions, and exhibits the same observation to detail that reveals everything about a person. Ms. Bannon, while a sorcerer, is also quite clever, but serves more as a grounding rod for Clare much like Watson. She also frequently finds herself in a bit of trouble that relies on more than her efforts to escape. But on the other hand, there are also mythical creatures such as wyrms, and gryphons.

The Bannon and Clare series was well worth the read and I fully enjoyed them. If you have read  Shadows Over Baker Street and enjoyed it or other Sherlock adaptations I would recommend giving this a try. It also has some steampunk themes, for those that are interested.

One Year After

One Year After by William R Forstchen
304 Pages


"The story picks up a year after One Second After ends, two years since the detonation of nuclear weapons above the United States brought America to its knees. After suffering starvation, war, and countless deaths, the survivors of Black Mountain, North Carolina, are beginning to piece back together the technologies they had once taken for granted: electricity, radio communications, and medications. They cling to the hope that a new national government is finally emerging.

Then comes word that most of the young men and women of the community are to be drafted into an “Army of National Recovery” and sent to trouble spots hundreds of miles away.

When town administrator John Matherson protests the draft, he’s offered a deal: leave Black Mountain and enter national service, and the draft will be reduced. But the brutal suppression of a neighboring community under its new federal administrator and the troops accompanying him suggests that all is not as it should be with this burgeoning government."

 I am still enjoying this series although I was a little frustrated  with some of the extensive battle scenes in the book.  

Find Me

Find Me by Laura Van Den Berg
280 Pages

"Joy has no one. She spends her days working the graveyard shift at a grocery store outside Boston and nursing an addiction to cough syrup, an attempt to suppress her troubled past. But when a sickness that begins with memory loss and ends with death sweeps the country, Joy, for the first time in her life, seems to have an advantage: she is immune. When Joy’s immunity gains her admittance to a hospital in rural Kansas, she sees a chance to escape her bleak existence. There she submits to peculiar treatments and follows seemingly arbitrary rules, forming cautious bonds with other patients—including her roommate, whom she turns to in the night for comfort, and twin boys who are digging a secret tunnel.

As winter descends, the hospital’s fragile order breaks down and Joy breaks free, embarking on a journey from Kansas to Florida, where she believes she can find her birth mother, the woman who abandoned her as a child. On the road in a devastated America, she encounters mysterious companions, cities turned strange, and one very eerie house. As Joy closes in on Florida, she must confront her own damaged memory and the secrets she has been keeping from herself."

The description has very little resemblance to the novel itself.  While there is an epidemic, it quickly loses much importance to the plot as the novel wanders aimlessly.  The last half of the book is a mess of a road trip for Joy and makes very little sense overall. Not Recommended.

Moon Over Soho

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch
289 Pages


"The song. That's what London constable and sorcerer's apprentice Peter Grant first notices when he examines the corpse of Cyrus Wilkins, part-time jazz drummer and full-time accountant, who dropped dead of a heart attack while playing a gig at Soho's 606 Club. The notes of the old jazz standard are rising from the body--a sure sign that something about the man's death was not at all natural but instead supernatural. Body and soul--they're also what Peter will risk as he investigates a pattern of similar deaths in and around Soho. With the help of his superior officer, Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, and the assistance of beautiful jazz aficionado Simone Fitzwilliam, Peter will uncover a deadly magical menace--one that leads right to his own doorstep and to the squandered promise of a young jazz musician: a talented trumpet player named Richard "Lord" Grant--otherwise known as Peter's dear old dad."

The second book of the series continues in its development of characters and location.  There is a slight use of humor but not so much as to be annoying.  I would recommend this series to patrons who enjoyed the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher.

Infernal Devices Trilogy

Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince, and Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. (479, 502, 570 pages. 1551 total)


Having read and enjoyed Clare's Mortal Instrument series and with this having a stronger steampunk influence, I was quite looking forward to reading this trilogy.

Infernal Devices follows the life of Tessa Gray who is kidnapped as she arrives in London and thrust into the world of the Shadowhunters. Not sure whom to trust and unsure of everyone's motives for "helping" her, she quickly has to pick sides in a looming war or watch everything she loves be destroyed.

While the Infernal Devices trilogy can stand on its own, I would highly recommend reading the Mortal Instruments first. A lot of information about the world of Shadowhunting is assumed to be common knowledge, and therefore explained in less detail. I feel this could detract from readers enjoyment of the series.


Note: In writing this post, and trying to link the catalog back to this page, I discovered that this series has been adapted into a Manga! Stay tuned for a review of that adaptation.

On the Eternal in Man

On the Eternal in Man by Max Scheler, translated by Bernard Noble, 448 pages

Max Scheler is not a well-known philosopher, despite being admired by thinkers as influential and diverse as Martin Heidegger and St John Paul II.

This book is composed of five complementary but distinct texts.  The first, "Repentance and Rebirth", consists of an analysis of guilt and repentance.  For Scheler, repentance is not oppression by guilt, but liberation from guilt.  It is repression which is true enslavement by guilt.  In this contrast, conversion is revealed as a necessary part of a human life.  In the course of his analysis, Scheler develops a phenomenology of time which reveals the past and future bound up inextricably in the present.  In the second text, "The Nature of Philosophy and the Moral Preconditions of Philosophical Knowledge", Scheler attempts to establish the autonomy of philosophy as, above all, the science of Being, rather than the backstop of epistemology - if philosophy is the handmaid of theology, she is queen of the sciences, if not, she is Science's slave.

The central work takes up half of the book's total length.  In "Problems of Religion", rejecting both neo-Scholastic and neo-Kantian approaches, Scheler conducts an analysis of the nature of metaphysics, natural theology, and revealed theology, and sketches an outline of natural theology.  Much of the text is taken up with criticism of other approaches to natural theology, particularly those of Kant, Schleiermacher, Fichte, and Comte.  Central to Scheler's insights is the primacy of the divine love over the role of God as Logos, as revealed in Creation.

The final two works were written and published just as the First World War ground to an end.  "Christian Love and the Twentieth Century" seeks a Christian understanding of the roots of the war and a program for recovery.  Scheler sees bourgeois individualism and nationalism as having long ago replaced Christianity as the moral center of Western life, aided by indifference on the part of Christians to the public sphere.  Only by reclaiming the social aspects of Christianity - inextricable from a religion of love - can Christians reclaim their homelands.  "The Reconstruction of European Culture" proposes a political solution to the threat of repeated war - Scheler's vision of an united Europe with Germany as its center of gravity, able to stand up to both Russia and the US, with a federal system that allows for local communities and regions to exercise considerable autonomy within the central framework, which resembles in many respects the ideal of the European Union.

Leviathan Series

Leviathan, Behemoth and Goliath by Scott Westerfeld (440, 485, and 543. 1468 total)

When I was looking to expand upon my forays into the steampunk world I stumbled upon this trilogy. Just glancing at the cover and description was enough to convince me to give it a try. The cover and the inside cover art is quite elaborate and beautiful. Plus it is a young adult series so I knew it would read quickly.

The Leviathan trilogy follows the lives of two teenagers (Aleksander and Deryn) as they are swept along by love, war and station.  The overall trilogy follows a rough rehash of World War 1 with an interesting twist. The German powers and their allies are Clankers, who fight with mechanized war machines, and the British Empire are Darwinist, who rely on grown and genetically modified creatures.

I quite enjoyed the strange and at times weird creatures and machines that Westerfeld created. Unlike most fiction, this series had accompanying pictures to help the reader visualize what was being described. I would love to see this Darwinist/Clanker world expanded upon and brought to life through more books.  

Love Nina: A Nanny Writes Home.

Love Nina: A Nanny Write Homes by Nina Stibbe

"In 1982, 20-year-old Nina Stibbe moved to London to work as a nanny to two opinionated and lively young boys. In frequent letters home to her sister, Nina described her trials and triumphs: there's a cat nobody likes, suppertime visits from a famous local playwright, a mysteriously unpaid milk bill, and repeated misadventures parking the family car. Dinner table discussions cover the gamut, from the greats of English literature, to swearing in German, to sexually transmitted diseases. There's no end to what Nina can learn from these boys (rude words) and their broad-minded mother (the who's who of literary London)."

This was recommended by sources that I've used before but I didn't like it.  In the first place it is set in the early 80's so it is dated.  Secondly it is set in England and thus the slang and popular references are completely foreign to an American reader. 

Boo

Boo by Neil Smith
310 Pages

"When Oliver "Boo" Dalrymple wakes up in heaven, the eighth-grade science geek thinks he died of a heart defect at his school. But soon after arriving in this hereafter reserved for dead thirteen-year-olds, Boo discovers he’s a 'gommer', a kid who was murdered. What’s more, his killer may also be in heaven. With help from the volatile Johnny, a classmate killed at the same school, Boo sets out to track down the mysterious Gunboy who cut short both their lives.

In a heartrending story written to his beloved parents, the odd but endearing Boo relates his astonishing heavenly adventures as he tests the limits of friendship, learns about forgiveness and, finally, makes peace with the boy he once was and the boy he can now be."

 An okay book.  The mystery is fairly easy to solve and there are parts in the middle that are just annoying.  Not recommended.

Art of Crash Landing

Art of Crash Landing
by Melissa DeCarlo
416 Pages

"Mattie Wallace has really screwed up this time. Broke and knocked up, she’s got all her worldly possessions crammed into six giant trash bags, and nowhere to go. Try as she might, Mattie can no longer deny that she really is turning into her mother, a broken alcoholic who never met a bad choice she didn’t make.

When Mattie gets news of a possible inheritance left by a grandmother she’s never met, she jumps at this one last chance to turn things around. Leaving the Florida Panhandle, she drives eight hundred miles to her mother’s birthplace—the tiny town of Gandy, Oklahoma. There, she soon learns that her mother remains a local mystery—a happy, talented teenager who inexplicably skipped town thirty-five years ago with nothing but the clothes on her back. But the girl they describe bears little resemblance to the damaged woman Mattie knew, and before long it becomes clear that something terrible happened to her mother, and it happened here. The harder Mattie digs for answers, the more obstacles she encounters. Giving up, however, isn’t an option. Uncovering what started her mother’s downward spiral might be the only way to stop her own."


Great book, well written with a mystery at its heart.  I highly recommend reading when it comes out in September.

Sesame and Lilies

Sesame and Lilies by John Ruskin, 204 pages

This book collects three lectures by the master.  The first, "Of Kings' Treasuries" is on the subject of how to read and treasure books.  The second, "Of Queens' Gardens", contains the author's reflections on the proper education of girls.  The third, "The Mystery of Life and Its Arts", is a manifesto of aestheticism and the Social Gospel.

Ruskin is, as always, more of a passionate rhetor than a consistent systematic thinker.  His ideas are sometimes bizarre - he supported a set of sartorial laws restricting certain kinds of clothing to certain classes.  Other ideas are now out of fashion - his plans for suburban garden cities.  His central themes, however - the importance of beauty, the necessity of charity, and the moral benefits of work - are what make his work immortal.

Chasing Power

Chasing Power by Sarah Beth Durst, 368 pages

Kayla and her mom have been hiding from her father since the day he killed her sister.  Kayla has special powers.  She can move things with her mind.  Her mom doesn't want her to use her power because she's afraid that someone might see and then her father might find them.  Kayla has been doing it anyway without her mother's knowledge.  No one has ever noticed Kayla even though she has been stealing, until the day a boy speaks to her and then teleports her.  At first Kayla thinks the boy has been sent by her father but what he really wants is help rescuing his mother who has been kidnapped.  I thought this story was pretty good and that most tens who like magic will probably enjoy it.

Eighth Grave After Dark

Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones, 293 pages

Since Ed W reviewed this in April I’m not going to waste any time with plot.  I really liked this book and didn’t even mind that it ended with a cliffhanger.  Although, I have to say I’m glad that I read the print version with the bonus chapter because it did alleviate a little bit of the anxiety over the cliffhanger.  Overall, I think this book holds up well compared to the others in the series and that people will enjoy it.

The Slanted Worlds

The Slanted Worlds by Catherine Fisher, 359 pages

 Jake is still trying to locate his father through the mirror.  He ends up in World War II, during the London bombing, and nearly ends up stuck there.  However, while he's there he finds out some information that may end up helping him find his father.  Sarah has been researching the mirror but ultimately still plans to destroy it.  And of course, Venn's main objective is to save his wife.  Summer and the Shee are still a major problem but Maskelyne seems disposed to be helpful, although Venn certainly doesn't trust him.  This is a pretty good series, and this is only the second book in the Obsidian Mirror series.  Teens who like fantasy and science fiction will probably enjoy it.  I felt like the second book help up pretty well compared to the first.

Waistcoats & Weaponry

Waistcoats & Weaponry by Gail Carriger, 298 pages

The third book in The Finishing School series has Sophronia helping her friend Sidheag get back to Scotland to help her werewolf pack.  With help from her best friend Dimity, her sooty friend, Soap and even from Lord Felix Mersey, her sometime love interest. They manage to hijack a train until they attract the attention of some flywaymen and Picklemen.  It will take all of their skills to navigate through their predicament but Sophronia and the others are up for the challenge.  I really enjoyed this latest book in the series and teens, especially girls, who like steampunk will enjoy it also.

Killing Time In Crystal City

Killing Time In Crystal City by Chris Lynch, 230 pages

Kevin, who has been telling people that his name is Kiki, has run away from his dad and has been living with his uncle in Crystal City.  On the bus on the way there, he met a girl who called herself Stacey.  Stacey also ends up in Crystal City.  However, Kevin meets some guys on the beach in Crystal City who seem like they’re decent guys but they may not be exactly what he thinks.  I really liked this story and I really like the way it was written but the ending was a little crazy and I wasn’t left completely satisfied because it felt like there was too much unresolved story.  Despite that, I still think this books would appeal to a lot of teens, especially boys.

Brother Odd

Brother Odd by Dean Koontz, 449 pages


St. Bartholomew’s Abbey sits quietly in peaks of California’s high Sierra, it is a safe place for children whom the world has abandoned, and who have nowhere else to go, and a place of refuge for those seeking insight. Odd Thomas has come here to find peace and to learn to live again after the events of the first book. Among the eccentric monks, their other guests, and the nuns and young students of the attached convent school, he is beginning to find peace as the spirits of the dead have been mostly absent. However trouble seems to have a way of finding Odd and soon a pack bodachs, dark spirits who feed on upcoming pain and tragedy, have come to the children living in the abbey. Soon Odd is facing an enemy more dangerous than than anything he has yet encountered, fearing that he will be doomed to fail those he seeks to protect.

The Odd Thomas series continues to have all the horror, humor, and suspense that got me started reading it. This series also continues to introduce some interesting characters such as a former mob enforcer turned monk, and the mysterious Russian from Indiana. This series continues to be a good read with the perfect mix of suspense and humor.   

The Girl on the Train

The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins, 336 pages

Have you ever read one of those books that everyone else is reading and talking about, and when you finish it, you're like: "So... why is this popular?"  This was like that for me.  Rachel takes the train every day, to and from London, and she always sees a couple at one of the train stops.  She's created a whole fantasy surrounding them and their lives, and when the woman goes missing, she finds herself drawn to help solve the mystery.  Personally, I found just about every character to be unlikable and annoying, and when the "mystery" is solved, I could not have cared less.

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, 184 pages

This short work of fiction is great for book clubs and would work for a Banned Book Week discussion.  In 1970s China, the narrator and his friend are sent to the countryside to be "re-educated," and wiped clean of their bourgeois sensibilities.  But there they find a treasure trove of banned, Western fiction that changes their lives and that of the young seamstress they try to "civilize" using the books.  It's a short book, so there's not a whole lot more to say about it- but after reading it, there is a lot of substance for discussion with a book group. 

Sexcastle

 Sexcastle, by Kyle Starks, 204 pages

Sometimes, I just want to be entertained.  I'm not looking for depth or introspection- I just want some knowingly cheesey one-liners and ridiculous fight scenes to make me laugh.  That's kind of what this graphic novel was- a comic equivalent to the show Danger 5, if you're into that.  The main character, Sexcastle, (of course that's his name- didn't you read what I just said about this book?) is a reformed assassin who's trying to get his life right, by working in a flower shop.  Naturally, trouble still finds him.  Alot of this is an homage to cheeseball action films like Road House- so be warned.

Letters to the Lost

Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey   384 Pages

Forever is finally running out for Dan Rosinski. Now in his 90s, he has been given mere weeks to live. He has only one regret: he was never able to find the woman he fell in love with during World War II. Oh yes, he’s tried hard over the years to find Stella, but she seems to have vanished.

In a parallel story, it’s 2011. Jess Moran is running from her abusive, drug-user/seller boyfriend. She’s escaped and is running through London’s cold rain. She stumbles into a cul-de-sac that seems to have been mostly forgotten. One house in particular looks abandoned. She breaks in through the back.

The story jumps back to 1942 when Dan meets Stella Thorne, a unhappily married woman seeking refuge from the rain in a bombed church.

 Inside the abandoned home, Jess finds Dan’s latest letter, trying to locate Stella. With nothing to do since she’s all alone and on the lam, Jess tries to find Dan and Stella. The she discovers a trove of letters from Dan during what was left of the war. What the reader gets is two love stories. The one between Jess and the real-estate agent, Will, who eventually discovers her living there. Then there’s the one between Dan and Stella.

 Well written, although predictable, the story is a good one. I felt that Jess needed to be more complex that she was portrayed. While I enjoyed the story, I never that urge to hurry home to find out what was happening.

 

I give Letters to the Lost 4 out of 5 stars.  

Robert Peckham

Robert Peckham by Maurice Baring, 279 pages

"Here lies Robert Peckham, Englishman and Catholic, who, after England's break with the Church, left England because he could not live in his country without the Faith and, having come to Rome, died there because he could not live apart from his country."

Reggie Balfour quoted the epitaph of Sir Robert Peckham, found in the Roman church of San Gregorio Magno, in a letter to his friend Maurice Baring in 1899.  Thirty years later, it inspired Baring to base a biographical novel around Peckham, an English aristocrat driven into reluctant, self-imposed exile by the Elizabethan settlement.

Baring did his research thoroughly, and Peckham came from an interesting family.  His father was treasurer under Henry VIII and all of his children - Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth.  His quiet dedication and undoubted loyalty and competence helped him weather the political and religious changes that followed each change of monarch.  Robert's brother Henry was less successful, being executed for treason under Mary.  To further spice up his narrative, Baring introduces a love pentangle involving Henry, Robert, his wife, the woman he should have married, and the man who married her.  As the book itself seems to confess, this involves "further details, which to my mind, even if they were necessary, added nothing to what had already been said."

The Shore

The Shore by Sara Taylor  303 pages

 

I’m not sure how to classify Sara Taylor’s debut novel, The Shore. It’s part contemporary fiction, part historical fiction, and part futuristic fiction. Maybe this is one of those times that literary fiction fits the bill. as I was reading, it did remind me of Sherwood Anderson’s classic Winesburg, Ohio.

 

Told in related vignettes, these are the stories of those who live on a remote group of three islands off the coast of Virginia.  At times, the islands have a significant population and at times the population is so low it’s not worth counting. The population makes up three classes of people: the wealthy vacationers, those who work on the mainland, and those who are so poor that those who inhabit the Appalachian Mountains seem rich. However, Taylor focuses her stories on that lowest rung.

 

At the beginning, there is a complicated genealogy chart that became easier to decipher as I read. The first story is about Chloe and Renee. It’s a heartbreaking tale of abuse, poverty, and childhood. Chloe narrates this episode that has a shocking conclusion.

 

After the first narrative, I found it difficult to figure who exactly who was narrating, but usually by the time I read each chapter’s end, I could figure it out. However, (there’s that troublesome word again) in the chapters where the characters did not fit into the family tree, I had no idea who was talking.

 

I will admit that I only read about 10 pages of the last story. It takes place in 2143, and I couldn’t out how the characters fit in; they are not listed on the chart. I don’t feel like I missed anything by passing on the final few pages. 

 

I have mixed feelings about this novel. At times at I LOVED it; at times I HATED it.  That’s why I give The Shore 3 out of 5 stars.

 

 I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

 

Forever Odd

Forever Odd by Dean Koontz, 334 pages

When Odd Thomas discovers that his childhood friend Danny has been kidnapped and his step-father brutally murdered , he believes Danny's homicidal birth father, recently released from prison, has taken him. Fearing the worst Odd begins to investigate, and is led by his powers on chase through back alleys, water tunnels, and an abandoned hotel casino.

This is the second book of this series and is just as good as the first. The pace and the amount of suspense keep the reader on the edge of their seat, and make it hard to set this book down. I look forward to reading and reviewing the rest of this series. 

Ancillary Sword

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
391 Pages

"The sequel to Ancillary Justice, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, British Science Fiction, Locus and Arthur C. Clarke Awards. Breq is a soldier who used to be a warship. Once a weapon of conquest controlling thousands of minds, now she has only a single body and serves the emperor. With a new ship and a troublesome crew, Breq is ordered to go to the only place in the galaxy she would agree to go: to Athoek Station to protect the family of a lieutenant she once knew - a lieutenant she murdered in cold blood."

I actually had this book checked out since November and kept putting it on the back burner, partially because there were no holds and partially because I find it difficult to get invested in Leckie's books right away.  But after the reader gets through the first few chapters the reader is engrossed in the world Leckie has created.  I look forward to her next book which is due out later this year. 

How to Start a Fire

How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz
339 Pages


" When UC Santa Cruz roommates Anna and Kate find passed-out Georgiana Leoni on a lawn one night, they wheel her to their dorm in a shopping cart. Twenty years later, they gather around a campfire on the lawn of a New England mansion. What happens in between--the web of wild adventures, unspoken jealousies, and sudden tragedies that alter the course of their lives--is charted with sharp wit and aching sadness in this meticulously constructed novel. Anna, the de facto leader, is fearless and restless--moving fast to stay one step ahead of her demons. Quirky, contemplative Kate is a natural sidekick but a terrible wingman ("If you go home with him, might I suggest breathing through your mouth"). And then there's George: the most desired woman in any room, and the one most likely to leave with the worst man. Shot through with the crackling dialogue, irresistible characters, and propulsive narrative drive that make Lutz's books so beloved, How to Start a Fire pulls us deep into Anna, Kate, and George's complicated bond and pays homage to the abiding, irrational love we share with the family we choose."

The author of the Spellman Files embarks on a different trek with this entry but the narrative voice is very similar to her earlier books.  The format of the book has each chapter jumping around in time which makes it more difficult to follow the story but give enough hints of the present that the reader wants to find out what happened in the past. 

American Ghost

American Ghost by Hannah Nordhaus
320 Pages

"The award-winning journalist and author of The Beekeeper's Lament attempts to uncover the truth about her great-great-grandmother, Julia--whose ghost is said to haunt an elegant hotel in Santa Fe--in this spellbinding exploration of myth, family history, and the American West. The dark-eyed woman in the long black gown was first seen in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace. She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Vases of flowers appeared in new locations. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events: blankets ripped off while they slept, the room temperature plummeting, disembodied breathing, dancing balls of light. La Posada--"place of rest"--had been a grand Santa Fe home before it was converted to a hotel. The room with the canopy bed had belonged to Julia Schuster Staab, the wife of the home's original owner. She died in 1896, nearly a century before the hauntings were first reported. In American Ghost, Hannah Nordhaus traces the life, death, and unsettled afterlife of her great-great-grandmother Julia, from her childhood in Germany to her years in the American West with her Jewish merchant husband. American Ghost is a story of pioneer women and immigrants, ghost hunters and psychics, frontier fortitude and mental illness, imagination and lore. As she traces the strands of Julia's life, Nordhaus uncovers a larger tale of how a true-life story becomes a ghost story--and how difficult it can sometimes be to separate history and myth."

This isn't really a ghost story.  Instead I would label as a genealogical trek to the past as the author tries to flesh out family myths and assumptions.  The author also made several visits to various mediums and psychics which I felt weakened the book.  

Early Warning

Early Warning by Jane Smiley
475 Pages

"Early Warning opens in 1953 with the Langdon family at a crossroads. Their stalwart patriarch, Walter, who with his wife, Rosanna, sustained their farm for three decades, has suddenly died, leaving their five children, now adults, looking to the future. Only one will remain in Iowa to work the land, while the others scatter to Washington, D.C., California, and everywhere in between. As the country moves out of post-World War II optimism through the darker landscape of the Cold War and the social and sexual revolutions of the 1960s and '70s, and then into the unprecedented wealth--for some--of the early 1980s, the Langdon children each follow a different path in a rapidly changing world. And they now have children of their own: twin boys who are best friends and vicious rivals; a girl whose rebellious spirit takes her to the notorious Peoples Temple in San Francisco; and a golden boy who drops out of college to fight in Vietnam--leaving behind a secret legacy that will send shock waves through the Langdon family into the next generation."

The second of Smiley's trilogy is not quite as strong as the first part mainly due to the sheer number of characters.  I had some difficulty keeping track of who was who as the book went from 1953 to the early 80's. 

Seveneves

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
867 Pages

" A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remains . . .; Five thousand years later, their progeny; seven distinct races now three billion strong; embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth."

When the moon explodes humanity must find a way to survive into the future.  Two thirds of the book deals with this struggle over a period of 10 years.  Then suddenly it is 5,000 years later.  There is a lot of science in the book which can be daunting but Stephenson manages to make it interesting.  Good for fans of Sci-Fi.

Last Chain On Billie

Last Chain on Billie: How One Extraordinary Elephant Escaped the Big Top by Carol Bradley
320 Pages

Summary

"Against the backdrop of a glittering but brutal circus world, Carol Bradley's Last Chain on Billie charts the history of elephants in America, the inspiring story of the Elephant Sanctuary and the spellbinding tale of a resilient elephant who defied the system even as she struggled to conquer her past, who never lost sight of the life she was meant to have. Left in the wild, Billie the elephant would have spent her days surrounded by family, free to wander the jungles of Asia. Instead, traders captured her as a baby and shipped her to America, where she learned to carry humans, stand on a tub and balance on one leg - the full repertoire of elephant tricks. For decades, Billie crisscrossed the country, dazzling audiences as she performed breathtaking stunts. But behind the scenes she lived a life of misery: traveling in trucks, chained for hours on end, barely able to move, giving eight-minute performances under harsh lights and to the sounds of blaring music. And worse. Finally, she got a lucky break. As part of the largest elephant rescue in American history, Billie wound up at a sanctuary for performing elephants in Tennessee, able once more to roam through open meadows and share her days with a herd. She would never be beaten again. But, overcome with anxiety, she withdrew from the rest of the elephants and refused to let anyone remove a chain still clamped around her leg. Her caregivers began to wonder if Billie could ever escape her emotional wounds. The compelling story of Billie's battle to reclaim her old self is a testament to the intelligence, emotional complexity and remarkable strength of all elephants, captive or free."

The book is less about Billie and more about all elephants in captivity both in circuses and in zoos.  Each chapter tells the story of Billie followed by a section recounting the history of elephants in America and in circuses.  The book was actually hard to read at times because of the sheer cruelty places upon elephants which studies have shown to have complex and long-reaching family structures.  

Inside the O'Briens

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova
343 Pages

" Joe O'Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family's lives forever: Huntington's Disease. Huntington's is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe's four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father's disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father's escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she's gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing? As Joe's symptoms worsen and he's eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life "at risk" or learn their fate."

A compelling novel, almost as good as Still Alice.  I would highly recommend.

The Mysterious Island

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, 493 pages

During the Civil War five Union prisoners escape from Richmond in a balloon however they are blown off course and crash on an uncharted island in the middle of the Pacific. On the island the castaways must learn how to survive, their only possessions are the clothes are their back. 

This was quite an enjoyable book with just enough excitement to keep the story going. Verne also does a great job of taking the time to explain in detail how the castaways are able to do what they do, as well to provide a detailed description of the island. This book is easily worth reading if you don't mind a bit of technical language used.

Study of Man

The Study of Man by Michael Polanyi, 102 pages

The written compilation of a series of lectures given by Polanyi at the University College of North Staffordshire in 1958, these essays serve as an addendum to his book Personal Knowledge.  Primarily, they serve as a brief introduction to some of the epistemological theories elaborated in the book, and a subsequent argument for the unity of the natural sciences, social sciences, and historical scholarship.

Polanyi establishes a logical hierarchy, with parts lower than wholes, and with inanimate objects below subrational animals and animals below rational human beings.  Higher levels require greater understanding, a more complex and intimate relationship between subject and object.  As rational creatures, the persons studied by historians are subject to respect and reproach, but only with the proper qualifications necessary to avoid presentism and relativism.

An interesting contribution to a seemingly obscure discussion, the results of which carry considerable ramifications for the place of the humanities in the modern academy.

Felicities

Felicities by Thomas Traherne, edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, 114 pages

Thomas Traherne was one of the 17th century Metaphysical poets.  An Anglican priest, he lived and died in obscurity, but his unpublished works were discovered in manuscript form in the late 19th century.  Upon publication, they established their author's reputation as a remarkable poet and mystic, a 17th century forerunner of figures like Blake and Hopkins.

Felicities is an amalgamation of selections from Traherne's works, primarily Poems of Felicity and Centuries of Meditations, chosen and organized by Quiller-Couch into loose thematic groups.  It is a tribute to the sensibility of the editor that this succeeds, giving good tastes of Traherne's poetry and spirituality.  While Traherne is not the equal of Donne or Herbert either aesthetically or intellectually, he certainly deserves better than to be forgotten.

Vision in Silver

Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop
400 Pages
 "The Others freed the Cassandra Sangue to protect the blood prophets from exploitation, not realizing their actions would have dire consequences. Now the fragile seers are in greater danger than ever before--both from their own weaknesses and from those who seek to control their divinations for wicked purposes. In desperate need of answers, Simon Wolfgard, a shape-shifter leader among the Others, has no choice but to enlist blood prophet Meg Corbyn's help, regardless of the risks she faces by aiding him. Meg is still deep in the throes of her addiction to the euphoria she feels when she cuts and speaks prophecy. She knows each slice of her blade tempts death. But Others and humans alike need answers, and her visions may be Simon's only hope of ending the conflict. For the shadows of war are deepening across the Atlantik, and the prejudice of a fanatic faction is threatening to bring the battle right to Meg and Simon's doorstep.."

The third novel of the series is repetitive and slow moving.  We don't need to be told of the main characters motivations the 20-25 times Bishop insists on using throughout the book.  There is no big plot development until the last few pages and then of course we are left hanging. 

Midnight Riot

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
310 Pages

"Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he'll face is a paper cut. But Peter's prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter's ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic."

The start of a promising series, I enjoyed the setting created by the author and the characters.  There is plenty of room for future development and I look forward to reading the next installment.

The Demographic Cliff

The Demographic Cliff: How to Survive and Prosper during the Great Deflation of 2014-2019 by Harry S Dent, Jr.
357 Pages

"Bestselling author and financial guru Harry Dent shows why we're facing a "great deflation" after five years of desperate stimulus -- and what to do about it now Throughout his long career as an economic forecaster, Harry Dent has relied on a not-so-secret weapon: demographics. Studying the predictable things people do as they age is the ultimate tool for understanding trends. For instance, Dent can tell a client exactly when people will spend the most on potato chips. And he can explain why our economy has risen and fallen with the peak spending of generations, and why we now face a growing demographic cliff with the accelerating retirement of the Baby Boomers around the world. Dent predicted the impact of the Boomers hitting their highest growth in spending in the 1990s, when most economists saw the United States declining. And he anticipated the decline of Japan in the 1990s, when economists were proclaiming it would overtake the U.S. economy. But now, Dent argues, the fundamental demographics have turned against the United States and will hit more countries ahead. Inflation rises when a larger than usual block of younger people enter the workforce, and it wanes when large numbers of older people retire, downsize their homes, and cut their spending. The mass retirement of the Boomers won't just hold back inflation; it and massive debt deleveraging will actually cause deflation--weakening the economy the most from 2014 into 2019. Dent explores the implications of his controversial predictions. He offers advice on retirement planning, health care, real estate, education, investing, and business strategies. For instance . . . BUSINESSES should get lean and mean now. Identify segments that you can clearly dominate and sell off or shut down others. If you don't, the economy will do it for you, more painfully and less profitably.INVESTORS should sell stocks by mid-January 2014 and look to buy them back in 2015 or later at a Dow as low as 5,800.FAMILIES should wait to buy real estate in areas where home prices have gone back to where the bubble started in early 2000.GOVERNMENTS need to stop the endless stimulus that creates more bubbles and kills the middle class, and should assist in restructuring the unprecedented debt bubble of 1983-2008. Dent shows that if you take the time to understand demographic data, using it to your advantage isn't all that difficult. By following his suggestions, readers will be able to find the upside to the downturn and learn how to survive and prosper during the most challenging years ahead."

An interesting take and I don't know if it will become true.  However as an individual, the book doesn't give much to the reader on how to personally take care of themselves during the predicted downturn.

Fool’s Errand

Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb, 662 pages

This is the start of a new trilogy called The Tawny Man, but it picks up the story of FitzChivalry from the Farseer Trilogy fifteen years later.  Fitz is being called back into service by the Farseers, this time to help the young prince, Dutiful, who doesn’t even realize how much help he needs.  The prince needs a teacher for both the Sight and the Wit, but unfortunately, he has disappeared and Fitz and the Fool, now disguised as Lord Golden, must hunt him down.  This was a terrific story, although a little bit sad, but I loved it and would definitely recommend Hobb’s books to anyone who enjoys fantasy.

Scorpion Mountain

Scorpion Mountain by John Flanagan, 451 pages

This is the fifth book in the Brotherband series.  Truthfully, I can’t get enough of this author.  Every book he writes is just as good as the last one.  Although they are a little long, they are actually pretty quick reads and books that I would definitely recommend to boys who like adventure, especially who also like humor.  In this story Hal and his group have set out to try to help the Ranger Gilan cancel a death contract that’s out for Princess Cassandra of Araluen.  This involves fightinf their way through more than large group of people, but also invlolves bearding the leader of a dangerous cult inside Scorpion Mountain.  This was a thoroughly entertaining story.

The Bane Chronicles

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan & Maureen Johnson, 507 pages

This is a collection of short stories about Magnus Bane, featured warlock in The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices series.  The stories are fun and really give us an inside look into Magnus’s life.  Clare wrote the stories, sometimes with just one of the other women and sometimes with both, but all of the stories sound mostly like Clare’s voice.  The stories start as early as the 1700’s and relate Magnus’s adventures in various countries, and come up to present day, as he is when we meet him in the series.  I almost liked this book better than any of the books in the series, actually, so I would definitely recommend that fantasy fans read it and any teens who have read the series will absolutely want to read this also.