New Year Challenge: DNFs

Last year, we each had one book that we did not finish.

For Luke, it was my top book for 2013, Code Name Verity which he was mystifyingly able to stop reading part way through.

For me, it was the somewhat lengthy Insurrection which I think would have benefited from me taking notes while reading.

Your Challenge: to complete your DNF book by the end of January 2014.

Then we will start anew with shiny new Challenges and maybe even a guest post or two.

I'm Reading - Quick Reviews

I loved Divergent. I ordered Allegiant as soon as I knew it was coming out. When I started to read it, I realised I couldn't remember what happened in Insurgent, so I read Insurgent then Divergent in the space of a couple of days. I was disappointed. I would recommend reading Divergent - and just that one. In the second two, I found there was too much going from this place to that other place to that place, for extremely vague reasons.

Burn for Burn was just okay. I like the idea of empowered girls taking their revenge. I didn't love any of the three characters, and the slight supernatural element, although I saw it coming, still seemed to come out of nowhere. I will probably read the sequel, but based on this review, I'm not sure why.

The Lucy Variations was interesting. I kept googling the music mentioned, and eventually had a classical playlist going the whole time I was reading. The young girl/teacher figure aspect was a bit icky.

I raved about Code Name Verity when I read it and forced Luke to read it as well. I loved Rose Under Fire almost as much. Read both of them. End of review.

I would have enjoyed Someday, Someday, Maybe more if I didn't know it was written by Lauren Graham. I was really distracted by trying to match up events in the book with possible real life events. And I don't like to think about embarrassing things happening to real people - characters in books are fine. But if I wasn't such a Lauren Graham fan, I would probably never have read it. I did enjoy it, but would have liked a chapter at the end explaining which parts were made up and which parts really happened.

I have read almost all of Philippa Gregory's books, and was eagerly awaiting The White Princess. It was okay. I was really interested to read about the person who was, per Wikipedia, the daughter, sister, niece and wife of English monarchs. However, the problem was that Elizabeth of York seemed to be always on the sidelines of the aforementioned English monarchs. She spent a lot of time sitting around having to wait for the outcome of the men's fighting to see what her fate would be. 

I have read all of Sue Grafton's Alphabet series, and about halfway through I started to wonder if she would really make it all the way through to Z - or if she even should. I haven't loved the last few, but I did enjoy W is for Wasted - maybe it was just a welcome break from all the teen crap I've been reading lately. I thought it was interesting having another point of view, but it didn't feel much different to Kinsey's usual voice, which was slightly distracting. I appreciate Kinsey's attention to detail (she is a detective, after all), but I am pretty sure that there was way more description than usual or was necessary.

Challenge 15: 'Code Name Verity'

Right, it's been a while. Let's get things moving again.

Luke, your Challenge is... Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein.

Why I loved it:
Did I mention my thing for strong female protagonists? Code Name Verity give you not one but two - one English fighter pilot crashed in France, and one Scottish captured secret agent. They are awesomely brave, and totally sassy - even though there's a war on! It's hard to say much without giving things away, but I think it's a cross between Tomorrow When The War Began and Number The Stars.

Why Luke will like it:
Luke was right into Biggles for a while there - this is just the same! Tiger Moths and crash landings and the English Channel and things. The author is a pilot herself, so that should help give this book some cred. And while he may not have read Number the Stars, I'm sure he's enjoyed the Tomorow series.

DNF Review 11: 'Insurrection'

This is our first Did Not Finish Challenge, which makes me a bit sad. I'm not even sure why I didn't finish, except that book? I'm pretty sure it's not you, it's me.

Or it might be you. Let's see.

You aren't really my favourite type of historical fiction. You spend a lot of time sounding like a history book giving a recount of battles or overarching policy. I prefer my historical fiction to be much more personal. Maybe you're trying to tell too much? More details and a shorter timeframe might have been better for me.

And speaking of personal, maybe I didn't persevere long enough (I read 348 out of 633 pages) but I didn't really connect with your hero. Maybe that's your point, and the whole thing is about how he's going to grow from this kinda boring, kinda self-centered, kinda average guy into this amazing leader of men and whatever. But you didn't make me want to stick around to find out. Plus he was having an affair with a married woman. I don't find that appealing.

And through no fault of your own, you are a book that I own. It's hard to compete against library books that demand to be read in a specific amount of time. And if FYA stopped recommending books I wanted to request, maybe this wouldn't have been a problem. But I'm sorry book, there are just too many things against you right now.

I have no doubt that you will be read sometime. Shall I aim for the Christmas holidays? I do want to finish you, because you cover a part of history that I'm not especially familiar with. But for right now, you are holding up this Challenge business, so I have to let you go. See you again.

I'm Reading: Historical Fiction

As Luke so kindly pointed out, yes it has taken me a while to start on the book he generously lent me. But it's not like I didn't have other things to do! (I've started now. And hey, I still haven't finished the Women Of Marvel graphic novel I'm supposed to be reading to make my boyfriend think I'm interested in what he's interested in. Bros before bfs.)

Over Easter, there was a massive book sale happening at the Showgrounds. (I suspect Borders may have had something to do with it.) It had zero books by authors I read but I still came away with five or so books. (For $20. Bargain.) The only one I've read so far was Philippa Gregory's The White Queen.

The part where Luke may have a problem: I also borrowed from the library and read The Queen's Fool and now have The Red Queen waiting for me.

I love finding an author others have (presumably) known about for ages. Did you know, there's this author, right? And she writes about, like, kings and queens and stuff? From the olden days? It's awesome!

I knew the name from seeing the movie The Other Boleyn Girl, but turns out she's written a ton of other books, and they follow the royals all the way through the 15th and 16th Centuries. It's like she knew we wouldn't be paying attention in high school History class (supposing they taught us Tudor history, which they didn't). When this semester (or this month's challenge!) is over, I will be getting right into all her books, in order, and possibly into The Tudors on TV. And I plan to draw a Tudor family tree all over my bedroom wall so I can keep all the Henrys and Elizabeths straight.

Since this is a newly-discovered genre for me, anyone have any recommendations of other authors for me? (Lord knows I don't have enough to read!)

Challenge 11: 'Insurrection'

Your Challenge, for the first time, is a book which I haven't read. I got you this book for Christmas, mainly because you had been reading other books set (more or less) around the same time. The book is Insurrection, by Robyn Young.

The book, from what I remember, is centred around the power struggle caused by the murder of the Scottish King in 1286. As the Scottish Lords vie for the throne the King of England, Edward, is making his own plans, but "a young squire will rise to defy England's greatest king. His name is Robert the Bruce".

One other reason why I bought this book (and why I give challenges) is that this is the first book in a trilogy. Giving the first book in a series will not only give the recipient something else to read if they like it, but gives me something to buy them at future Christmases. So yeah... let me know what you think so I can buy you a birthday present ;)