Challenge 14: 'The Scorpio Races'

The book: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is a very hard book to describe. It's about horse racing, and killer sea horses, and magic and superstition, and living on an island and moving away, and feminism and independence. I said when I finished it a few weeks ago that it was the best book I've read this year, but trying to convince other people to read about killer horses that come out of the ocean was a bit of a hard sell.


Why I liked it: I loved the phrases that Stiefvater chooses. I loved the connection that Puck and Sean have to the island and to the horses. I loved their relationship and their independence.

Why Luke will like it: It is a "horse book"... kind of, but only in the loosest sense of the word, and definitely not a giggly girly horse book. There is a boy main character and a girl one who kicks arse. There are fantasy elements to the story, although it feels very grounded to me, and while they're not like anything he's probably read before, I think that side will appeal to him.

Why Luke should read it: I may be wrong, but I think most of what Luke reads is written in fairly basic prose. I want him to appreciate language, and the poetry of word choices, and to feel like he just has to re-read or underline or email me a particular turn of phrase because it's just so perfect. Not to say that this is the best ever example of that, or that there aren't other books that could do this (in fact I have another one in mind for a future Challenge), but I think The Scorpio Races is a nice place to start.

Challenge 13: 'The Final Empire'

The Final Empire is the first in the Mistborn series, but can be read by itself. It is centred on Vin (female)*, who starts as a street urchin and is revealed to be a Mistborn, and Kelsier (Also a Mistborn), the leader of a group of thieves who plan to topple an oppressive Emperor. The Mistborn can burn some metals ( Iron, Steel, Tin, Pewter, Zinc, Brass, Copper and Bronze)** in their bodies to give themselves magical powers. This is the primary reason I chose this book for the Challenge, the magic in The Final Empire is very different from that in most other books, and is a nice change.

I read this one a fair while ago, so I can't remember all the details, but  I remember liking the way Kelsier's background was slowly revealed, which suited his character (Mysterious, always with a plan, and never revealing all of his motives.). Vin was less complicated, but still had an entertaining history.

This is your Challenge: Read it, preferably all the way through this time (I'll forgive you DNFing the last book, it did look kinda long).

 - L

*Hey, look! More female protagonists!
** There's actually more than this, but they're the basics. Each metal does something different.

Review 12: 'Let's Pretend This Never Happened'

This book was... Not quite what I expected. Having said that, I'm not entirely sure quite what I expected. Perhaps just for it to be less engaging. I loved that way Jenny Lawson wrote this (and it was half the reason I enjoyed the book), it was very conversational, and did tend to run off onto amusing tangents, but nevertheless worked well to tell her story.

The rural Texas setting of her childhood, combined with (an admittedly odd) taxidermist father, makes for some great stories, which made me laugh frequently enough to keep reading. Even after she moved the 'Big City' (I can't actually remember where) with her husband Victor, interesting things kept happening* (Should I tell you about that Halloween party.. nah, you can read just the book yourself.).

I can't say that I'd go out and tell everyone that they should read this, but if it came up in conversation (admittedly unlikely) I'd recommend it. The wit, editors comments to cut down on tangents and occasional bouts of psychosis all contributed to something that was an interesting read, even if it wasn't something that I'd read all the time.

So yeah, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, good book, I'd recommend it, if you are into this sort of thing, and maybe even if you aren't. And I think there is a sequel coming, which I'd consider reading. Your next Challenge will be up shortly Em.

 - L

*Totally unfair, I think she stole my share of interesting life events.

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: Imaginary Internet Friends

The writers of three of my favourite blogs have recently published books. Yay!

1. Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson of The Bloggess.com

I gave this to Luke as his latest Challenge, and so I haven't finished it myself yet. I can't do a proper review of it, really, except to say that Jenny is hilarious. She seems funny and kind and she is capable of rallying the internet to any cause. I got to meet her at BlogHer08, where we hung out in a bathroom for a bit.

I read a review of this book which stated that it was better as a blog. Which ... yeah, I don't disagree, but I also think all memoirs are kind of blog-like. That's the whole point. But this is like bonus behind-the-blog-scenes material. So for people who would like a Bloggess blog to carry around with them, buy this book.

2. In Dreams by Jenn Sterling of Jennster.com

This was the first book that I have read on the Kindle app on my phone. I am catching trains a lot these days and I liked not having to bring a big heavy book along. This did mean that my reading of the book was quite broken up, but I think I got quite good at remembering where I was up to by reading the last page I'd read to. If I had a tablet now, I might read a lot more on the Kindle.

I have read Jennster for ages. Definitely before 2008, because I got to dance with her at BlogHer08 which was awesome. So when she decided to write a book (series) I was of course going to check it out. Who would have thought that real people could write books?

And since real people write books, it means that real people are going to read comments about them. I know that this book was criticised for the writing style, and that Jennster then put a lot of work into making it a better piece of writing. I deliberately didn't update my Kindle copy as I was halfway through reading it at the time, and was interested to see the 'first edition'. And yeah, shifting points of view from paragraph to paragraph was confusing, but once I realised that it was the style of the book, it didn't annoy me. But! Despite the fact that I (was forced to) put it down fairly regularly, I was always like "Oh yeah, that's what was happening. Yay" when I started reading again. Apart from the unpolished writing (which, I do actually like when a writer has a particular style so being distinctive is not necessarily a bad thing), the story was interesting and compelling (and full of hot guys!).

3. Messy by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan of GoFugYourself.com

Sadly, the Fug Girls were not at BlogHer08 (or if they were, I missed them) or we could have made it a hat-trick.

Messy follows the Fug Girls' debut YA novel, Spoiled, which I forced the library I worked at at the time to purchase from overseas immediately, because it took a ridiculously long to be available in Australia. But now I work at a bookshop, and I have the buying power, so Messy was mine! The covers of both are awesome, although I could have done with a little splash of green on Messy's.

These books are just straight up fun. They are full of pop-culture references, absolutely chockers. Sometimes I felt like a reference was just put in to meet some kind of quota, but most of the time it was either fine or awesomely relatable.

There are also a bunch of things that feel like shout-outs to the readers of GFY, little jokes that have been standing themes on the blog for ages. This is awesome to have in a book, because it makes me feel like a special little reader who knows the secret words. PLUS, the girls reply when you tweet them how much you want to stalk them read their books. Famous people replied to me OMGawesome.

As I was reading, there were a bunch of lines that I wanted to remember, so I could tell you about how they had all these cool lines. I really should've had a bunch of post-its next to me, because I have now forgotten most of them. My favourite: "There is no such thing as a blog emergency." HAHAHA DISCONCUR.

So, in conclusion:

Blog writers becoming book writers is awesome.
I will support people I "know" by buying their books.
More blog-book authors need to include Australia on their book tours. Work on that for the next ones, thanks girls.

Challenge 12: 'Let's Pretend This Never Happened'

I'm not sure when I first started reading the Bloggess, but it was definitely before BlogHer08, because that was when I got to meet her and hang out in a bathroom with her and hear her read a hilarious post. I made Luke watch this when I got back, so this is not quite his first encounter with the Bloggess either.

Luke, your Challenge: read Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson aka The Bloggess.

PS: I went to order the book at the bookstore where I work, thinking I would add it to system and order some bonus copies for us to sell but guess what? We already had it in stock. Like, a lot. I was kind of insulted that I wasn't the sole person in Adelaide aware of the awesomeness of the Bloggess, but on the other hand YAY, Bloggess books for everyone!

Review 10: 'A is for Alibi'

This has always been one of those books that sat on my parents bookshelf and I thought to myself "At some point I might try that series." It just never happened. A is for Alibi is a Detective/Crime novel set in California (well, mostly) and revolves around Kinsey Millhone, a tough, gun-toting PI. For her first case in the "Alphabet Mysteries", Kinsey is hired by Nikki Fife, who has just been released from prison after doing 8 years for the murder of her husband, to find the real killer.

The first thing that stuck me about this book was how it was structured. It really manages to capture the way Kinsey thinks about the world, everything was dry and precise. Few books I have read, even in this genre, manage to capture the essence of the characters so fully. A is for Alibi also surprised me with how fast paced it was, Kinsey followed leads across the state, meeting contacts and gathering information almost nonstop, gradually bringing together the pieces of the puzzle. A number of times she arrives just to late, to find that a crucial witness murdered, or files missing, and you know someone is one step ahead (At this point I figured out whodunit, although I almost changed my mind later, good storytelling there).

While I did enjoy this book, I'm not sure if I would read more, for a number of reasons:

1. While the writing style was novel, well executed, and even fitted the book well; it did at times irritate me, although I'm not entirely sure why. 
2. There just weren't enough explosions. (Or any Magic)
3. I don't like starting a series which I seriously doubt I'll ever [get to] finish. I've heard that the later books in the series aren't quite as good, and let alone that, I dont really want to read 24 books about a character with whom I have no real emotional attachment (Oh yeah, I found Kinsey hard to relate to).

 So yeah.. To sum up: A is for Alibi is a good book, written well; but isn't really my favourite type of read, so I probably wont come back to it in the near future.. later however, I may be running out of things to read.