Title: Night Child
Author: Jes Battis
Thoughts: I found the beginning a little slow, mostly because there was a lot of description about forensic techniques I didn't particularly care about (or need to know about in such detail!) but once the story was fully underway I enjoyed it quite a bit. I look forward to the next in the series.
Friday, 30 May 2008
Book: Don't Hex With Texas
Title: Don't Hex With Texas
Author: Shanna Swendson
Thoughts: I know, from lurking over at her blog, this is the 4th in a series of 5. I also know the publisher has passed on the 5th book. This makes me sad. To be honest, I kind of felt the last book (Damsel Under Stress) was the weakest (with the caveat that it was still very good... just the weakest in the series up to that point). If this is so, Don't Hex With Texas more than makes up for it. I really, really enjoyed this one. I liked the change of scene, I liked the interactions between people, I liked the new cast of characters. I felt this one was more tightly written, and I read it in one sitting.
Also, I really love Owen. I really, really love Owen.
So my fingers are crossed in the hopes Book 5 will somehow come to be.
Author: Shanna Swendson
Thoughts: I know, from lurking over at her blog, this is the 4th in a series of 5. I also know the publisher has passed on the 5th book. This makes me sad. To be honest, I kind of felt the last book (Damsel Under Stress) was the weakest (with the caveat that it was still very good... just the weakest in the series up to that point). If this is so, Don't Hex With Texas more than makes up for it. I really, really enjoyed this one. I liked the change of scene, I liked the interactions between people, I liked the new cast of characters. I felt this one was more tightly written, and I read it in one sitting.
Also, I really love Owen. I really, really love Owen.
So my fingers are crossed in the hopes Book 5 will somehow come to be.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Ooh, May. Must be summer blockbuster season. Summer 2008 is also, apparently, sequel season.
Oh, Indiana. You went places in this movie I couldn't quite follow. Your cheesiness at times was hard to take, and seemed almost apologetic. Even the film quality fluttered in places, like you weren't given enough time or budget to reshoot something that initially went awry.
I still love you. I love your hat and your whip and your Harrison Ford half-smile. I love your theme music and the way you remind me of my childhood. Mostly, though? Not quite there with you.
Oh, Indiana. You went places in this movie I couldn't quite follow. Your cheesiness at times was hard to take, and seemed almost apologetic. Even the film quality fluttered in places, like you weren't given enough time or budget to reshoot something that initially went awry.
I still love you. I love your hat and your whip and your Harrison Ford half-smile. I love your theme music and the way you remind me of my childhood. Mostly, though? Not quite there with you.
Book: Something Rotten
Title: Something Rotten
Author: Jasper Fforde
Thoughts: Yes! Yes, yes, yes! This one I loved! (Okay, I've loved all of them, but I really, REALLY loved this one.) Hamlet!! Croquet!! Shakespeare clones!
I am aware how my reviews for Fforde's books have become increasingly enigmatic. Just read them. You'll be glad I spoiled nothing for you.
Author: Jasper Fforde
Thoughts: Yes! Yes, yes, yes! This one I loved! (Okay, I've loved all of them, but I really, REALLY loved this one.) Hamlet!! Croquet!! Shakespeare clones!
I am aware how my reviews for Fforde's books have become increasingly enigmatic. Just read them. You'll be glad I spoiled nothing for you.
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Movie: Prince Caspian
I liked The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. I really did. And Prince Caspian was always one of my favorite Narnia books. Some things I liked -- the Pevensie kids' emotional fallout from the first adventure was quite good. I disliked a lot of it too, though: the almost unintelligable accents of the 'bad guys'; the endless run-fight-battle-run-fight-battle sequences; the School of Melodramatic Acting (Major in the Dramatic Pause) all the actors were evidently required to attend. All told, I found it a little bit meh.
Book: The Well of Lost Plots
Title: The Well of Lost Plots
Author: Jasper Fforde
Thoughts: I am still really enjoying this series, although this one took me longer to read and a bit longer to get into. Still, I picked up Something Rotten right away, so Fforde is definitely doing something right. And honestly, it's hard to wrap my brain around the cleverness and originality sometimes. It's just that great!
Author: Jasper Fforde
Thoughts: I am still really enjoying this series, although this one took me longer to read and a bit longer to get into. Still, I picked up Something Rotten right away, so Fforde is definitely doing something right. And honestly, it's hard to wrap my brain around the cleverness and originality sometimes. It's just that great!
Monday, 19 May 2008
Book: Shopaholic & Baby
Title: Shopaholic & Baby
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Thoughts: I like Sophie Kinsella. I really do. And, for that reason, I hope this is the last of the Shopaholic books. Because I am kind of sick of them. They are cute and amusing and fun, but they've also, I think, run their course. This book felt like closure, and I liked that. Plus, I like Kinsella's books so much, I'd like to see more of her non-Shopaholic work!
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Thoughts: I like Sophie Kinsella. I really do. And, for that reason, I hope this is the last of the Shopaholic books. Because I am kind of sick of them. They are cute and amusing and fun, but they've also, I think, run their course. This book felt like closure, and I liked that. Plus, I like Kinsella's books so much, I'd like to see more of her non-Shopaholic work!
Movie: Iron Man
You know, I have a guilty pleasure. And that guilty pleasure is comic book superhero movies. I don't always love comic book superhero movie SEQUELS, but usually I love the first ones.
Iron Man is a fun movie. It's a good movie. It's well done and interesting and has a great arc for the main character. I genuinely liked it, and not just because it conformed to my guilty pleasure.
Some day I'll get into my other guilty pleasure: dance movies. Stupid, stupid dance movies.
Iron Man is a fun movie. It's a good movie. It's well done and interesting and has a great arc for the main character. I genuinely liked it, and not just because it conformed to my guilty pleasure.
Some day I'll get into my other guilty pleasure: dance movies. Stupid, stupid dance movies.
Book: Pride and Prejudice
Title: Pride and Prejudice
Author: Jane Austen
Thoughts: Not much to say here. P&P is my favorite book in the world. I read it every few months. It's only surprising I haven't read/written about it here yet.
Author: Jane Austen
Thoughts: Not much to say here. P&P is my favorite book in the world. I read it every few months. It's only surprising I haven't read/written about it here yet.
Friday, 9 May 2008
Book: The Drowning Season
Title: The Drowning Season
Author: Alice Hoffman
Thoughts: Yes, another Hoffman I hadn't read. I loved this one. Like a lot of her other work, this was a moving story told with a very fairy-tale-esque tone. Hoffman has a beautiful way with magic realism. I particularly enjoyed the way the histories were interwoven with the main narrative. I think I will be sad when I've read all of Hoffman's books and have to wait like everyone else for new ones to come out.
Author: Alice Hoffman
Thoughts: Yes, another Hoffman I hadn't read. I loved this one. Like a lot of her other work, this was a moving story told with a very fairy-tale-esque tone. Hoffman has a beautiful way with magic realism. I particularly enjoyed the way the histories were interwoven with the main narrative. I think I will be sad when I've read all of Hoffman's books and have to wait like everyone else for new ones to come out.
Book: Beauty
Title: Beauty: a retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Author: Robin McKinley
Thoughts: Next to Pride and Prejudice, this is one of my most favorite books. I know McKinley wrote it when she was young, and it is her first book, so every now and again I notice little awkward things, but it is still one of the most perfect stories out there. This is one of my pick-me-up books -- I can always count on it to cheer me up. It's also one of the few books I can read and reread without getting bored. In fact, I may have been known to finish reading it, pause, and begin it again, just for sheer pleasure.
Author: Robin McKinley
Thoughts: Next to Pride and Prejudice, this is one of my most favorite books. I know McKinley wrote it when she was young, and it is her first book, so every now and again I notice little awkward things, but it is still one of the most perfect stories out there. This is one of my pick-me-up books -- I can always count on it to cheer me up. It's also one of the few books I can read and reread without getting bored. In fact, I may have been known to finish reading it, pause, and begin it again, just for sheer pleasure.
Book: Lost in a Good Book
Title: Lost in a Good Book
Author: Jasper Fforde
Thoughts: Still really enjoying this series. I thought, perhaps, this installment moved a little slower than the first, but it was still enjoyable. Love all the clever ideas, and the dodos -- especially Pickwick -- are fabulous. Plock plock.
Now, on to the third!
Author: Jasper Fforde
Thoughts: Still really enjoying this series. I thought, perhaps, this installment moved a little slower than the first, but it was still enjoyable. Love all the clever ideas, and the dodos -- especially Pickwick -- are fabulous. Plock plock.
Now, on to the third!
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