14 posts tagged “a-z challenge”
Finished Goldengrove by Francine Prose for the A-Z challenge.
It's about a family after the older daughter dies and how they cope with the sudden death. (Dad retreats into writing his book, which deals with what different societies/religions think will happen when the world ends; Mom starts taking pills; surviving daughter starts hanging out with her sister's boyfriend.)
It's really good, but (obviously) sad.
And, as it turns out, it's not a good idea to hang out with your dead sister's boyfriend, because there's a chance he may start to try to turn you into your dead sister.
Really good. I would definitely recommend this.
Finished The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent for the A-Z challenge.
It's another historical fiction novel, which I seem to be devouring these days (it's my third in a row, and I think I'm reading another one next).
It's set during the Salem witch trials and, if you're familiar with The Crucible, there are several mentions made to characters from that. (Did Arthur Miller use real people?)
Anyway--this was really good and really sad. It's funny; while I was reading it, I was thinking, "How did this ever happen?" but then it became pretty clear: if there's anything in the world we like doing, it's picking a group of people and persecuting them.
I also really admired one of the characters who was tried (and hanged) for being a witch. She said (shades of John Proctor) that she wasn't going to confess for something she didn't do, and she was so adamant about it and brave.
I don't think I would be able to be that brave. (And while I could maybe be brave for my own sake, even when there was torture involved--doubtful, granted, but it's possible--I'm pretty sure I'd cave once they started going after people I cared about, I'd start admitting to whatever they wanted.)
Finished Say When by Elizabeth Berg for the A-Z Challenge.
Really, really good book. I usually forget to mention her when I list my favorite authors and that's a shame, because she's brilliant.
This is about Griffin and Ellen, a married couple. Ellen tells Griffin she wants a divorce--he knew she was having an affair, but he didn't think it'd go so far. So she wants him to move out and he's basically like, "I'm not going to give up seeing my daughter every day because you're having an affair; if you want out, you're the one who's moving."
So now that he has free time, he takes work as a department store Santa at night (the nights Zoe's spending with her mom).
It sounds kind of cheesy, but it's really good. And I would absolutely recommend this (and her others). I can't wait to read her new one next month. :)
Finished Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine by Ann Hood for the A-Z Challenge (it's my H author book).
It's about three friends in the 60s (Claudia, Suzanne and Elizabeth) and then their children in the 80s (primarily Rebekah and Sparrow but also Henry, a little).
It's not my favorite Ann Hood book, but it's definitely entertaining.
Also, I think we can all relate to living lives that we didn't expect to live when we were in college.
The three friends all had these huge ideals and expectations, and none of them really attained those goals. (The book's not as sad as you'd think it would be, though.)
Finished The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett for the A-Z Challenge.
I'm sure everyone's heard about The Secret Garden, whether or not you've read it, so I'm not going to do a synopsis.
I did like this, and I wish I had read it when I was little, because I think I would've loved it as a small Kelly.
If you haven't read this, I definitely recommend it. It's fun and I preferred it to Little Women. You'll never be nicer than Beth, but you don't have to work too hard to be nicer than Mary Lennox. :)
Finished Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr for the A-Z Challenge. (It's my X title, which is obviously cheating but there aren't many books that begin with X and probably even less that I'd want to read.)
This is a sequel of sorts to Wicked Lovely although you might be able to read it without having read that one. (I wouldn't recommend it, though.)
Anyway, Aislinn's friend Leslie is the main character in this one. Her home life's really bad (Mom left, Dad's drunk, her brother is on drugs--pot on good days, crack on bad ones) and as a way of trying to reclaim her life, she decides to get a tattoo.
Unfortunately, the one she picks will give her a connection to the king of the Dark Court (Keenan is the king of the comparatively warm and fuzzy Summer Court). This means that he can sort of feed on her emotions. The good thing: she no longer feels fear or worry or anger, because it automatically goes to the king. The bad thing: she no longer feels happiness and also, the guy is feeding on her emotions.
I liked this one. I like tattoos (I have three) and it was interesting (although creepy). I like her tattoo although I wouldn't get it (even assuming that in the real world, we don't have faery kings to feast on our emotions).
Finished The Vampire Diaries: The Return--Nightfall by L.J. Smith for the A-Z Challenge (V for Vampire Diaries).
At first, I was worried that this was L.J. Smith's Breaking Dawn, but I ended up really liking it.
(spoilers)
This is the first of a trilogy (I think) set after the original four books in the Vampire Diaries series. At the end of book four, Elena had just come back to life as a human (she was a human who became a vampire but then died).
In this one, she's sort of Other. She's not a vampire but she's not wholly human, either. And weird things are happening in Fell's Church (which is on a Hellmouth, although they don't call it that--but I've watched Buffy, and this place seems like it's on a Hellmouth). To make matters worse, Stefan's disappeared and Damon's acting all weird. (Meaner than usual and possessed.)
I still like this series, but it's pushing it.
Finished I Am Legend by Richard Matheson for the A-Z Challenge (and as part of my 30 by 30 challenge).
This book is the basis for the Will Smith movie of the same name. I haven't seen it, but I have DVRed it and hope to watch it at some point over the next couple days.
In this book, Robert Neville is pretty sure he's the last person alive. Vampires have taken over his town, and he devotes the daytime to (a) making sure his house is still a fortress, (b) foraging for food and books [library books on biology and blood so he can understand exactly what's going on] and (c) killing as many vampires as he can find.
If you like books that are scary (because parts of this are incredibly scary) and love anything related to science, you will adore this book. If you do not like science, proceed with caution. I do not like science AT ALL, and I still enjoyed it but it was very dry in parts.
Finished Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for the A-Z Challenge (A for Alcott) and this also finishes the 20 books in 2009 challenge.
This book is a hard one to review. I wish I had read it when I was younger, because I think I would've loved it a lot more than I do now.
For one thing, Louisa May Alcott has a lot of opinions and she's not subtle in sharing them. You know how in Wall*E, there's a big message about consumerism and how, if you had a brain stem, you got the message? It's like that.
Louisa May's not a fan of alcohol. Or people who drink alcohol. Or people who have fun. Or people who aren't poor (except for Laurie).
Also, the characters aren't very realistic. I was talking to Jenny on AIM today and we were discussing it and while, yes, Beth is an absolute dose of perfection, Meg, Jo and Amy aren't exactly awful. It's basically three angels and an incarnation of Jesus in one house. (Seriously--much is made of their "faults," but I think anyone would be happy to have even one of those girls as children, but all four? Wow.)
That said, I did enjoy it. There's a lot in the book that wasn't in either of the movie versions I've seen, and it's hard not to like Jo.
And yes, I cried when Beth died.
Finished Books by Larry McMurtry for the A-Z challenge. (I had actually started this before and was half done, but I finished it today.)
I originally bought it because I like books about books and I thought that it would be an account of what he read and why, and probably a little about his own books.
Turns out he also sells books, so it was mostly about that.
Bit of a letdown.
