Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

I really liked the book. I watched the movie several years ago, but I think I started watching in the middle (my dad was watching it on TV). I don't remember much about it, but I do remember not being very impressed. I've heard it's a pretty terrible movie adaptation, so if you didn't like the movie you're not alone.

Book #83
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 3, 2015
480 pages.

This was a very strong start to what promises to be an excellent fantasy series. Fitz as a character can be slightly whiny at times, but then I remember that he is very young and will grow up as the books progress. I love fantasy books with intrigue, and this book is absolutely full of it. I also love books with interesting magic systems, and the competing forces of the Wit and the Skill in Fitz should be interesting. The book leaves me with plenty of questions, while also wrapping events up well enough that I don't feel like anything was left purposely dangling for the sequel. I think this series can only get better from here.

Categories: Fantasy, medium, adult, female, new-to-me, series, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Clear the Shelves.

Book #84
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 7, 2015
214 pages.

As a book, this is a solid three stars. The content seems good, and Marie Kondo's suggestions for discarding those items that do not spark joy will hopefully help me later today when I clean out my bedroom. Her philosophy of talking to her things and treating them as if they have feelings is an interesting thought experiment and I might try it for items that are hard to get rid of, but doesn't really resonate with me in a deep way. The writing of this book is simple and straightforward, but it is also fairly repetitive.

I plan to update this review with my thoughts on the KonMari process itself after I'm finished discarding and finding homes for everything.

Categories: Other nonfiction, short, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Clear the Shelves.

Book #85
Armada by Ernest Cline.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 8, 2015
355 pages.

I was slightly disappointed in this book, after loving Ready Player One so much. The I flew through the book, but the book's content felt fleeting to me. I think this book should have been longer. There was so much action packed into a 300 page book that there was no time for anything else. There were some moments that deserved to be explore, such as Zack's relationship with his family and the way that he and the new recruits deal with finding out they've been training for an alien invasion without ever knowing it. Most of the breakneck pace was engineered by the looming invasion, but it didn't need to be so forced. I loved that I flipped through the pages without realizing time was passing, but at the end I felt like chunks of the real story were never told.

Categories: Science fiction, medium, young adult, male, repeat, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Favorite Genres, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards, Travel.

Book #86
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished August 13, 2015
272 pages.

I'd never read the webcomic, so this was my introduction to the world of Nimona, the zealous shape-shifting girl sidekick of the villain of the realm. The story starts out absolutely hilarious, and is reminiscent of The Princess Bride in that it pokes fun at traditional fantasy heroes and villains. The art style perfectly fits this lighthearted beginning. What surprised me about this book is that it quickly turned deeper, discussing some of Nimona's darker past. I devoured this book in one sitting, and then flipped back through my favorite panels because I didn't want it to be over. I loved the ending, which is perfect for a willful girl like Nimona. I highly recommend this one!

Categories: Graphic novel, medium, young adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards.

Book #87
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 14, 2015
579 pages.

My favorite thing about this book is that it blended magic (witches, vampires, and demons) with everyday life, and it did it in a superior way to most YA paranormal fantasy novels. It did have its problems - for example, the main character Diana vacillates back and forth between being reasonably strong from a mental and emotional perspective to someone who needs to be saved. It got a little bit old. The story did drag in places, but I listened to this on audiobook in the car on the way home, which improves my ability to focus even if it's not super interesting. Despite these flaws, I remained engaged with the world and I'm willing to believe that the next book will be better as Diana gets a better hold on her powers, which will hopefully bring more independence to our heroine.

Categories: Fantasy, long, adult, female, new-to-me, series, audiobook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Travel.

Book #88
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 14, 2015
455 pages.

Again, this was a good mystery novel. This one was a little more polished than The Cuckoo's Calling. There's a better balance between dialogue and description, without as many big chunks of one or the other. The thing that stops me from rating this higher, even though I enjoyed it, was that it was exactly the same formula as the previous book. Someone is killed, Cormoran Strike has to go down the rabbit hole of a strange industry to solve it. Robin whines about not being appreciated and fights with Matthew. Cormoran Strike figures out everything but refuses to tell the reader what he's learned. There's a big reveal at the end where Cormoran Strike confronts the killer and someone gets hurt. For only having two mystery novels, following a formula isn't the mark of a great writer in this genre. That said, I did like the book and I got through it pretty fast.

Categories: Mystery, medium, adult, male*, repeat, series, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Clear the Shelves, Travel, TBR twins.

*Although JK Rowling is female, since she is presenting a male pseudonym to the world in this case, I choose to label the author as male.

Book #89
The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake by Neil Gaiman.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 15, 2015
192 pages.

This volume is split into two parts. The first is the wake and funeral for Morpheus and is a wonderful, touching way to wrap up the series. The art style is more serious and strong, which fits perfectly. In fact, this first part of the volume had me feeling that everything was exactly the way it was supposed to be. The second half of the volume is a little strange for me. It is meant to be a wrap-up of the Hob and Shakespeare plotlines, which it is. I can't help but feel that they were a little bit unnecessary, or that they should have come first. It seems a great injustice that the series didn't end with that perfect feeling I had after the wake. Perhaps that's the point, however, since The Sandman has always felt real, and real life is rarely that clean.

Categories: Graphic novel, short, adult, male, repeat, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Complete Works.

Book #90
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished August 19, 2015
259 pages.

I'm actually not the biggest fan of The Princess Bride. That isn't to say I don't like it, but I've only seen it a couple of times, and I know that there are diehard fans that far exceed me with love for the movie. I was particularly impressed that this audiobook was interesting to anyone who enjoys the movie, not just the ideal audience of adoring fans. I listened to this one on audiobook, and Cary Elwes is a great narrator. I also like the way that perspectives from almost all of the cast members are woven throughout. It was both funny and telling to hear the same story from multiple people (though it was never so often to become repetitive). I found myself smiling as I was driving to work and back, so it was well worth my time.

Categories: Biography/memoir, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, standalone, audiobook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.

Book #91
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.
Rating: 2 stars.
Finished August 20, 2015
396 pages.

I had a really hard time getting through this book. It had such a great premise and was funny for a while, but there is far too much going on. While Forrest Gump is charming and earnest even though there are too many historical coincidences for it to be truly believable, this book was lacking that charm for me. There was also very little variation in the things that Allan did or the people he met. Even though he was in several very different countries, the writing never felt different. There was nothing to distinguish one country or adventure from the next. There was also no interesting historical detail about any of the world leaders he meets. The book gets points for trying something different, but could have been executed much better.

Categories: General fiction, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, standalone, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Clear the Shelves, Travel, group read.

Book #92
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 22, 2015
312 pages.

I actually didn't love this book as much as I thought I would. I'm a big fan of Neil Gaiman, and I love the premise - that it takes a graveyard to raise a child. Maybe I'm just past the ideal age for this book, since I'm sure I would have loved it as a kid. I liked all of the characters, but I wanted to know more about everything. I still have so many questions about Silas and the Honor Guard, and about the organization behind the man Jack. Sometimes Neil Gaiman books leave questions intentionally unanswered, and it feels right that things remain a mystery. This book was enjoyable and even lovely in places, but doesn't feel as complete a story as I expect from the master storyteller.

Categories: Fantasy, medium, young adult, male, repeat, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Complete Works.

Book #93
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished August 23, 2015
169 pages.

Wow. I don't typically read poetry, and this doesn't even feel that much like poetry to me, but it should be required reading for anyone living in the United States. The way that Claudia recounts everyday situations and microagressions, things that presumably happened to her or someone she knows, she doesn't just tell you about her experience. She puts the situation in the second-person perspective, so that it's not happening to her, it's happening to you. This is an important and powerful distinction. As a white person, there are a lot of things that I will never experience and never have to worry about that are part of the daily life of any who is black in America. Claudia's book bridges that gap and forces you to confront those differences. She also writes about Serena Williams' experience in the very white sport of tennis, and has several pieces in memory of the recently slain black men. It is an uncomfortable read, but it is worthwhile.

Categories: Poetry, short, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen.

Book #94
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished August 23, 2015
400 pages.

My all-time favorite thing in fantasy novels is interesting, detailed magic systems that come with a cost - extra points if there is more than one type of magic in the same world. This book has all of that with blood magic, elemental magic, magic that is clever and alive. It also has multiverse Londons where the world of each London has a completely different outlook on how magic should be handled. I also really enjoyed Lila as a character. She is spunky and can definitely take care of herself, and the author has hinted at some serious character development for her in the next books. In fact, I hope that Lila becomes more of the star of future books. I flew through the book and as soon as I shut the cover, I wanted more. The only thing I didn't like was that there was so much action that the characters, while lovable on the surface, didn't have as much dimension or development as I would have liked.

Categories: Fantasy, medium, adult, female, new-to-me, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards, Travel.

Book #95
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 26, 2015
320 pages.

I really enjoyed the accessibility of this book and the quirky questions that Steven Levitt asks. It's interesting to think about applying statistical methods like those used in economics to societal issues. Some of the claims I've read about before from more reliable sources and was inclined to believe. The rest of the book feels believable, but Levitt doesn't provide any level of detail or proof besides his own word that he is performing the statistical analysis correctly. I expected a little bit better from a statistics book. Any old data can be used to argue just about anything you want, if you are selective about the data you choose and how you present it. Due to the lack of detail, I found this to be an entertaining book, but as a nonfiction work it is of dubious trustworthiness.

Categories: Other nonfiction, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, standalone, audiobook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.

Book #96
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 28, 2015
222 pages.

This book has some really funny and interesting parts, but it's also crammed full of pop culture references and other things that I don't really care that much about. As someone whose job depends on her knowing all of the funny or ridiculous stuff that's on television or happening in Hollywood, that's just not me. I found my mind wandering as I read this book, so it didn't pull me in as much as I hoped it would. That said, Mindy Kaling is a relatable person. She struggles with her weight and sometimes self-esteem issues. She didn't have sex until she was an adult. You might think these things would be uninteresting reading (who wants to read about someone else's boring life?), but Mindy can be pretty hilarious.

Categories: Biography/memoir, short, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, audiobook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen.

Book #97
The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 29, 2015
448 pages.

I love fantasy that is full of political intrigue, and on the surface this has all of that. Unfortunately, it all fell a bit flat for me. Someone is always trying to kill Kelsea, the Queen of the Tearling who has just come of age. The only problem is that it never feels like she's in actual danger, even when she's hurt while surrounded by her (somewhat inept) guards. There's no feeling of real danger or consequences. She also has magic that saves her on several occasions - magic which is unexplained and completely out of her control. There are also problems with the world building. Apparently this is a post-apocalyptic world where colonists sailed away from one continent (presumable the Americas) to another continent which doesn't seem to match any continent in our world. There's no explanation of why they fled their home, but on the way most of their technology was destroyed, plunging the (new) New World into the dark ages again. I can buy all of that, I'm good as suspending disbelief, but I wish it had been explained better. Despite some serious flaws in the storytelling, I still enjoyed myself while reading this and I was interested to see what happened next. I just wish it had been carried off better, because the idea is strong.

Categories: Fantasy, medium, young adult, female, new-to-me, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen.

Book #98
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished August 29, 2015
323 pages.

This book's biggest claim to fame is that people compare it Gone Girl, but where Gone Girl kept me riveted, I wasn't quite so enthralled by this book. Gone Girl's biggest strength is that I could go from liking someone to hating them and back, all within a few chapters. This book had a big reveal at the end, but my opinions of each of the characters stayed pretty much the same throughout the book. I didn't really care for the protagonist, Rachel, so I found it hard to sympathize with her. The book doesn't require much brainpower but still had that sinister tone that I like so much, and I practically raced through the book. It was actually the perfect thing to read while my power was out for several hours.

Categories: Mystery, medium, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards.

Book #99
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion.
Rating: 1 star.
Finished September 4, 2015
415 pages.

I couldn't finish this one. I loved The Rosie Project, but while the first book was charming, this was completely unengaging. It's an odd combination of being too much like the original while sucking the soul out of the story. Both characters start behaving in ways that are completely uncharacteristic for them with no apparent reason. Don was likable if a little bit strange in the first book, but in this one all of the charming aspects of his personality are removed and the reader is left with a robotic narrator with no humanizing characteristics. I'm not sure what prompted the author to stray so far from the beloved characters in The Rosie Project, but it was a bad decision.

Categories: General fiction, medium, adult, male, repeat, series, audiobook.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.

Book #100
Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished September 4, 2015
383 pages.

I feel like this book had a great premise and ended up with a terrible story. It was entertaining, but somehow it lost some of my attention along the way. At the beginning, I was completely engaged in the world that Aveyard created, but it almost became less believable as the story went along. I can't say much about what went wrong without getting into major spoilers, which I try not to do in my reviews. I did really enjoy the idea of some people having superpowers, while another group of people does not and the way that creates a strong caste system. The Silvers, or people with superpowers, each have only one superpower each (and the type of power is hereditary) causing some families to be more powerful by nature than others. But while this could have led to a rich exploration of the way this affects daily life and governance in this world, it degenerated into something far less interesting as the story progressed.

Categories: Fantasy, medium, young adult, female, new-to-me, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards, Back to School.

Book #101
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished September 5, 2015
198 pages.

This was a great short story collection. As with all collections, some stories were more powerful or easy to connect with than others, but overall there was a strong haunting, beautiful, and melancholy feeling. Lahiri's writing is simple yet evocative - I felt like I could easily imagine each of the situations and could sympathize with each of the people, even though the characters were often in difficult situations and didn't always behave in the stereotypical "right" or "good" way. This makes the characters feel human and allowed me to connect with each character, despite the fact that my lived experiences are significantly different in most cases. One of my favorite things about the stories is that they helped me understand Indian history and culture without feeling like a lecture or a lesson. For better or for worse, the most powerful story was placed at the beginning. It was a great hook, but it also left me wanting more from some of the next stories.

Categories: General fiction, short, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Clear the Shelves.

Book #102
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished September 8, 2015
499 pages.

I'm a big fan of the world of Locke Lamora. I really enjoyed the dark, underworld atmosphere. If you don't appreciate dark fantasy, though, you might not feel at home in Camorr. I also liked that while the book is technically fantasy, the fantasy elements weren't the important parts - in fact, in many places they weren't even explained outright. This helped avoid the tedious world-building beginning that plagues many fantasy books. Instead, the story focused on Locke Lamora and his elaborate cons (and the elaborate cons against him). The biggest problem with this book is that Locke isn't a likable character. It isn't because he's a thief, but because he doesn't really have that much depth. As a result, I loved the beginning of the book while I was getting to know the world, and after a major plot event, Locke's motivation becomes more clear and he becomes more interesting. The middle did drag on a little bit, but my hope is that now the characters are well established, the second book will be even better.

Categories: Fantasy, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, series, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Clear the Shelves, Back to School.

Book #103
Neuromancer by William Gibson.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished September 13, 2015
271 pages.

I have to admit, I struggled with this one a little bit. I'm an avid reader of science fiction, so not having read this always felt like a glaring omission on my part. I was so excited to finally open it... and then I found myself a little bit baffled by what I found inside. Gibson throws you into a science fiction world without explaining anything. I'm usually totally fine without world-building hand holding in the beginning of a book, I can figure things out for myself. I had the distinct impression throughout the entire book that I wasn't exactly sure what was going on. I was mostly sure, but not exactly. That might be one of the strengths of this book as well, because it makes you think and interpret. My biggest problem was that the beginning was fairly boring. How this extremely interesting world managed to be boring, I'm not sure, but once the action of the cyberspace caper got underway, at least it felt more exciting. All of this leaves me with little idea of how to rate the book. I liked it medium well, but I also respect the vision that Gibson had and how revolutionary many of his ideas were. In the end, I choose to rate this book based on how it feels to me now, not how it must have felt when it was new.

Categories: Science fiction, medium, adult, male, repeat, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Back to School.

Book #104
An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished September 15, 2015
446 pages.

This book did many things very well, but had some serious problems. I was excited to read a fantasy book that is less Western, but aside from some references to efrits and jinn, there wasn't anything to distinguish this world from that of any other young adult fantasy world. I love the political intrigue and appreciated how far-reaching the plans were after the big-reveal ending, but there needed to be some serious character development. The characters were strangely single-minded, with only one real motivation. There was also the fact that each main character had two love interests - I'm not a fan of love triangles (squares?). As I was reading, I was entertained and the book definitely sucked me in, but after I was finished, I realized that it was lacking in many areas.

Categories: Fantasy, medium, young adult, female, new-to-me, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Favorite Genres, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards.

Book #105
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished September 16, 2015
303 pages.

I was so impressed with this book. I'm usually not into cute romance novels, but while this story is cute and has romance, it isn't a cute romance novel. It's about so many things. Simon deals with blackmail, shifting friend dynamics, coming out, and exploring new relationships. He is clever and observant, but still manages to screw things up. What teenager doesn't? I can relate to so many things in this book, and I wish every teenager would read it. The style is light and I couldn't stop smiling the whole time I was reading it (except for the parts that were so perfect I was almost crying). The coolest thing about this book is that it deals with important issues of race, sexuality, and what it means to be a good friend to other people, all without being too much.

Categories: General fiction, medium, young adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards.

Book #106
Ms. Marvel, #13: Crushed! by G. Willow Wilson.
Rating: 2 stars.
Finished September 17, 2015
112 pages.

This volume was significantly weaker than the first two. There are three storylines and they have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Meanwhile, the book is obviously a setup for a more interesting story arc about opposing Inhuman factions. This volume was frustrating because it really wasn't necessary at all. While I still love Kamala, there was nothing major that needed to happen to move onto something more interesting. I'm especially disappointed because this is the time in the series for the storyline to really take off, but instead of maturing it seems to be devolving into a monster-of-the-week kind of comic. There are still little things to love and I want so badly for this comic series to be awesome, but I'm worried if this is the future.

Categories: Graphic novel, short, young adult, female, repeat, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.

Cassandra wrote: "Book #105
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished September 16, 2015
303 pages.
"

Hey! You met your goal for 2015!! Nicely done. And you hit it with a 5 star book. That's got to feel great.
It looks like you're going to keep reading. Why stop now, right?

I'm definitely going to keep on reading! I don't think I'll set another goal, but I'll see how far I get and use that to set next year's goal.

One of the perks of tracking my books on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ is that I actually got to see that I finished my challenge on a 5-star book, rather than just skipping over it.

Book #107
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished September 19, 2015
374 pages.

This was such an interesting book. The main character, Flavia de Luce, is completely unlikeable but makes the best crime-solving eleven-year-old heroine you could ask for. Now, do I really believe that Flavia acts like an eleven-year-old child - even a very smart one? Not really. I think Flavia's character might have been more believable if her age was set just a few years older. One of the characters at the end says something to Flavia to the effect of, "Sometimes you deserve a medal, and sometimes you deserve to be sent to your room with no dinner." Flavia is a brat, but she's also a mini-Sherlock Holmes running around and solving the crime of a bizarre death at her manor. I felt that the middle dragged a bit, where the charm of the premise had worn off a bit but the action hadn't really come together yet. There were also some believability issues with some major plot points, but the story was fun and I enjoyed reading about Miss Flavia de Luce.

Categories: Mystery, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, series, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Clear the Shelves.

Book #108
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished September 20, 2015
152 pages.

Both of the stories included here ("Kitchen" and "Moonlight Shadow") are powerful, haunting tales about loss and grief. There is something about Yoshimoto that allows her to transform the most average and ordinary scene into something special and meaningful. I actually preferred the second story, Moonlight Shadow, over the title story, but both were solid works of art. It's hard to talk too much about this book, because I think the magic is something that has to be experienced to be understood. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

Categories: General fiction, short, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Clear the Shelves.

Cassandra wrote: "Book #108
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.
Rating: 5 stars."

I tend to avoid reading stories about loss and grief due to the fact that I just don't want to experience sadness/fear in my free time. However, some books are worth reading anyway. Is this one of those? If I read Kitchen, will I walk away feeling like I gained something from reading it?

I'm the kind of person that is totally okay with books about sad or upsetting things, so I might be a bad judge, but I don't feel like Kitchen would really upset you. There's something about the Japanese style that makes it feel really beautiful to me. I didn't think the book felt heavy, though, like some books about grief can.

The nice thing too is that they're short stories (the second short story is about half the length of the first) so it's a relatively small dose. I feel like my perspective about grief shifted a little bit after reading this book, and to me that's the mark of a good book - if it changes the way I think about something.

Have you read any other Japanese authors, like Haruki Murakami or Kazuo Ishiguro? The story is pretty similar in tone, but a little bit different in style (more choppy).

Book #109
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished September 21, 2015
264 pages.

The strength of this book is in its social commentary and its description of slavery. In some places, it felt real enough to be a real-life slave narrative. Butler shows slavery for what it must have been - brutal and terrifying. Butler's heroine looks at the world of slavery from an outside, modern-day perspective, though, and starts to show that the world we live in now is still intimately tied to the world that enslaved black people and exterminated Jewish people. Maybe it's the science fiction nerd in me, but I wanted a little bit more about the time travel. I understand that it isn't the focus of the story - it shouldn't be - but the story felt a little too simple and handwavey for me in places. I feel like there was room for complexity that would have added to the story, not detracted from it. Because the story was both compelling and fairly simple, I found myself flying through the pages. I wish that it would have slowed down, just a tad, so that I had more time to really think about the things that deserve thinking about. Altogether, though, I'm happy I read this. Kindred is unlike anything I've read before.

Categories: Historical fiction, medium, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, buddy read.

Book #110
A Spell for Chameleon by Piers Anthony.
Rating: 1 star.
Finished September 23, 2015
344 pages.

This book is so preposterously sexist. I read it in early high school and really enjoyed it, and I can see why. The world building is great, and I'm a sucker for interesting magic. Xanth is a world of interesting magic - where even inanimate objects can cast particular spells. All humans have magic, but they can only cast one particular spell, or talent, with some talents being much more useful than others. I think I probably thought the book was sexist then, but I liked the rest of the world enough to make up for it. On a second read, as a more mature person, there is no amount of good world building that can make up for not being able to read three pages before running into another sexist comment or situation. It makes me sad, because if Piers Anthony could have separated his deplorable personal opinion from his fiction, Xanth would be one of my favorite fantasy worlds. As it was written, however, it is one of the most terrible fantasy books I've ever read.

Categories: Fantasy, medium, adult, male, repeat, series, owned.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Clear the Shelves.

Book #111
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished September 27, 2015
438 pages.

My readthrough of this book was a little bit interesting. It took me almost half the book to get past the fact that the storyline is extremely similar to The Girl You Left Behind. It might not have a painting, but it is so stylistically similar with enough plot elements in common that I couldn't help but feel like I'd read all this before. Then I transitioned to thinking, "Okay - this has been done before, but I think The Nightingale is the stronger story" but I still couldn't shake the déjà vu feeling. It wasn't until Isabelle's story really took off that I felt like I was completely engrossed in the book. My favorite thing about this story is the relationship between the sisters and the way that they react differently to desperate circumstances. I've read enough WWII fiction and history that I didn't learn anything new from this book, which is always a bit of a bummer, but I did react strongly to the people. In fact, I stayed up late to finish it and ended up crying my eyes out at the end. The writing sometimes got overly dramatic for me but the images it conjured were strong and unsettling - exactly the way that a wartime historical fiction novel should be.

Categories: Historical fiction, medium, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards.

Book #112
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished September 30, 2015
386 pages.

I was expecting something more from this Murakami novel, and since I had such high expectations I was a bit disappointed. I really liked the beginning, but the more I learned about Tsukuru, the less I liked him. I usually enjoy the ennui and sadness that Murakami's main characters brood over, but in Tsukuru I found it to be less profound and more boring. It's very similar to Norwegian Wood, but while Norwegian Wood had three main characters who were all interesting, this book focused almost exclusively on Tsukuru. I did enjoy the ending, and I liked that it left some questions open for interpretation. I enjoyed reading this book, but the whole time I felt like it was missing some critical element.

Categories: General fiction, medium, adult, male, repeat, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.

Book #113
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished October 2, 2015
320 pages.

I absolutely loved the first half of this book. I was even sitting on the city bus, trying hard not to be obvious about crying over a book. I remember thinking, "If I'm crying during the middle of this book, what's the ending going to be like?" As a matter of fact, the ending was extremely anticlimactic for me. It was such a twist that it should have been amazing, or at least meaningful, but it didn't convince me. There was some instalove, which I usually hate, but in this case (because Madeleine's life experience is so limited) it felt real and slightly adorable. I just wish the story hadn't peaked in the middle.

Categories: General fiction, medium, young adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards, Fall Back.

Book #114
Saga, Volume 4 by Brian K. Vaughan.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished October 3, 2015
152 pages.

I really enjoyed the change of pace in this Saga volume. Rather than running, Alanna and Marko have settled on an isolated planet. Hazel is an absolutely adorable toddler, which makes her even more special. Instead of assassins, the enemies in this volume are friends and even Alanna and Marko themselves get into trouble. This felt like real life, which the characters hadn't gotten to experience before. The volume ends on a serious cliffhanger, which is slightly annoying but also makes me want the next volume more than ever.

Categories: Graphic novel, short, adult, male, repeat, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Banned Books.

Just making the rounds. Congratulations on meeting your goal Cassandra!

Cassandra I'm reading Cinder now. Right now its not much like Cinderella but I can see where it will get that way? Without giving too much away, was the big twist where she is immune?? That's as far as I am.

Sorry that I didn't see these comments until today! My Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ time has been a bit limited with the beginning-of-the-academic-quarter craziness.

Thanks Kadijah! I appreciate it (and all the work you're doing). I can't believe how well I'm doing with my reading goals, even though the year has thrown some interesting changes my way. It gives me hope that I will continue to read even when I graduate and get a full-time job - in fact, a full-time job would probably open up more free time than I currently have.

Alison, that's part of the twist, but it leads to a bigger one - you may be there by now. I actually think that the book grows less like Cinderella as goes along. I may have seen more parallels between the two because I read Cinder right after finishing the classic Cinderella.

Book #115
Time Salvager by Wesley Chu.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished October 7, 2015
384 pages.

This was such a promising start, but unfortunately I found that I liked it less and less the further I got in the story. I frankly got bored during the middle of the book, when the novelty of the premise and world had worn off, but nothing interesting was happening. The thing that irritates me that most is that the past is so interesting in this book, especially the past from our present to the book world's present, especially the Publicae Age (mid-23rd century, I believe). In a time travel book, it's a little bizarre that the past would take a backseat, but that's exactly what happens. As conspiracy theories start to emerge, the world gets more cliche - megacorporation greed is fairly uninteresting at this point. What I did love was the concept of the Time Laws and chronostream disruption, and the exos and kinetic coils (mind-controlled technology that enables time travelers to be essentially gods when they travel into the past). When there were fights between people using exos, I loved the action and the way that the fighting was a combination of ancient martial arts and Jedi mind games. It's also worth noting that because this is the beginning of a series, events weren't sealed up very well at the end, leaving some cliffhangers to wonder about.

Categories: Science fiction, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards, Fall Back.

Book #116
Wonder Woman, Vol. 2: Guts by Brian Azzarello.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished October 8, 2015
144 pages.

I love the way this series follows Greek mythology so closely, but always seem to have trouble deciding on a rating for it. There were some things that were amazing - for example, Hephaestus is a fantastic character and I want to see more of him. I also really enjoyed the depictions of Hell and the art was definitely on point. Some of the Greek gods just feel hollow, though, and the dialogue felt forced (or was non-existent) in several places. The Greek mythology is sometimes subtle enough that I find myself struggling to remember someone's story, so it's a tricky balance between telling too much and not enough - I feel like this story might have been closer to the "not enough" side of things, especially for people who aren't super familiar with mythology stories. I do love that Diana's backstory has been so thoroughly reimagined and integrated with the rest of the characters. I'm still interested enough to see where this series is going, but I'm still having trouble making up my mind about it.

Categories: Graphic novel, short, adult, male, repeat, series, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Fall Back.

Book #117
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished October 10, 2015
341 pages.

I love Marjane's story so much. I learned quite a bit about Iranian history by reading this book. There's a short overview of older Iranian history in the beginning and then Marjane herself lived through the Islamic Revolution. Her voice is strong, and it changes throughout the book as she gets older. She starts out talking about her time as a precocious and adorable 10-year-old growing up with very liberal parents and attending a prestigious French school. The reader has the privilege of seeing the revolution through her growing eyes and perspective and the ways that it affects her, especially as an adult. The storytelling style is perfect, because it is extremely emotional and immediate. The art is endearing and I especially love that Satrapi herself did the illustrating. As a package, this is one of the best graphic novels I've ever read.

Categories: Graphic novel, medium, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Banned Books, Fall Back.

Book #118
The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished October 12, 2015
296 pages.

This was a very raw telling of the Holocaust and the fear and violence that were facts of life for Jewish people during World War II. I've read several accounts of WWII before, but none resonated with me quite as much as this one. I think that comes down to two major reasons. First, there is something compelling about the graphic art form that speaks directly to the heart, and I appreciated the way the characters were drawn in different styles based on their race. It illustrated in a way that nothing else could exactly how explicitly race was projected during the war, that being Jewish was as obvious and inescapable as being a mouse in a world of cats. The other thing that struck me was the way that Vladek survived the war but was deeply scarred by his experience. This seems obvious, but many survivors in fiction are portrayed as somehow perfect in that they survived and retained all of their optimism about the world. That may be the case for some, but Vladek's story is another, incredibly important perspective of what it means to survive such terrifying experiences.

Categories: Graphic novel, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Banned Books, Fall Back.

Book #119
You're Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day.
Rating: 5 stars.
Finished October 14, 2015
262 pages.

I like Felicia Day, but I don't watch much television, so I haven't seen either of her best-known pieces (Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog and The Guild). That said, if you even remotely consider yourself a citizen of the internet, this is a book for you! Felicia is hilarious and awkward and completely real. I completely relate to the way she feels about finding your community on the internet, and also her fears about the way the internet can hurt people too (especially through movements like #GamerGate). But above all, the best thing about Felicia Day is that she had to figure out how to like the things she liked - unapologetically and unironically. That's something that has been part of my journey from teenager to adult, how to fully own the things you care about, even if they aren't "cool." Plus, Felicia has such a witty and laugh-out-loud funny style that I couldn't help but love this.

Categories: Biography/memoir, medium, adult, female, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, #readwomen, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards, Fall Back.

Book #120
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished October 21, 2015
376 pages.

I really appreciated this look at what water scarcity could do to the United States. The story goes deep and shows the issue from all sides, and for that reason it takes quite a long time to set up. The characters were believable, and everyone's morals were shifting shades of gray, which is exactly what kept me interested in them. The action scenes were thrilling and gritty enough to lend credibility to Bacigalupi's world. Unfortunately, the world building also had some issues. There were several new concepts that didn't get explained well enough early on, which kept me in the "outsider" position, trying to picture what the world really looked like. The story reads like a thriller, which may be why some world-building got skipped in favor of edge-of-your-seat excitement, but I think that it was a mistake. It wasn't until about halfway through the book that I was fully invested in the world, and I wish it had happened sooner.

Categories: Science fiction, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Choice Awards.

Book #121
One Plus One by Jojo Moyes.
Rating: 3 stars.
Finished October 26, 2015
368 pages.

This was the most adorable book. There really isn't anything spectacular about it, but I enjoyed myself immensely. Each of the characters is quirky and likable, even if the premise felt pretty unbelievable. And it is unbelievable, but if you do accept it, the ride is absolutely worth it. The writing is funny but poignant, and I especially appreciated the perspectives of each different character as their characters develop throughout the story. The conflict was almost too neatly wrapped up at the end, but in this case I didn't mind it since the purpose of this book is to be fun and heartwarming.

Categories: General fiction, medium, adult, female, repeat, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages, Fall Back.

Cassandra wrote: "I love Marjane's story so much.."

YAY! I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Now I'm even more excited to pick up my copy...

UNFINISHED BOOK
The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen.
Rating: 1 star.
Finished October 27, 2015

What a ridiculous book. For the first 150 pages, I was completely hooked. The material was interesting and seemed well researched. The author had some opinions or drew some conclusions that I was slightly skeptical of, but they were fairly clearly labeled as opinions, so that was fine with me. Unfortunately, as I got deeper into the book, I started to see some errors with concepts I was quite familiar with already. First of all, she refers to a bombsight as a "bombsite." Bombsite doesn't even appear to be a word, and was my first clue that this book may not have been properly edited or fact-checked. I am generous, however, and understand that misspellings can make it through even the best of editorial processes. After that, though, my skeptic senses were perked for more inconsistencies. When I got to the part where the author completely mangles Moore's Law (instead of saying computing power doubles every 18 months, she was saying it squares), I was done. The problem with a book like this is that the subject matter is difficult for a layperson to fact-check, and when fairly simple concepts aren't correct, it doesn't bode well for the recently declassified material. I'm super disappointed, because this book was extremely interesting before I lost faith in its accuracy.

Book #122
Lock In by John Scalzi.
Rating: 4 stars.
Finished October 29, 2015
336 pages.

This book is a fantastic combination of science fiction and FBI crime-solving thriller, and it caught my interest from page one. I've been meaning to read this one for quite a while, and I'm glad that I finally made time for it. This story chooses to examine what happens to a world where research that allows locked in Hadens to function in the world becomes the number-one priority. There are huge technical advances in neural networks and "personal transport" robots that allow Hadens to have an android body, as well as virtual reality technology that allows them to spend time in the nonphysical Haden world called the Agora. My favorite parts of this book are actually the social science fiction aspects of Hadens having their own distinct culture or nation and the debate about whether locked in Hadens are actually disabled or not. There was some serious urgency missing from the police procedural part of the story, so I can't give this one five stars, but it is a solid read.

Categories: Science fiction, medium, adult, male, new-to-me, standalone, library.
Challenges: Let's Turn Pages.