Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
copyright = 2007
pages = 509
source = library
date completed = 09/16/08
Set in London 1886, this is the story of Lady Julia Grey and the death of her husband. She is approached by a private investigator, Nicholas Brisbane, who indicates her husband was murdered. A year later, she comes across some threatening letters that had been sent to her husband and she implores Nicholas to take up the case again. Julie herself assists in the investigation and finds several key clues that help solve the case. In the interim, she is faced with the "facts of life" in a way--poverty, prostitution, race relations, homosexuality--and is forced to lose her naive outlook. I found it a very compelling read (ask the boyfriend--I couldn't put it down!) and will definitely read the next one (just after I finish my current TBR).
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
copyright = 2007
pages = 292
source = library
date completed = 09/12/08
This is a wonderfully amusing book about the Greek gods living in modern London. They have lost most of their powers from their golden age and live in a run-down house that none of them will either fix up or clean. They have new jobs--Artemis is a dog-walker; Apollo a wanna-be TV psychic; Aphrodite a phone-sex operator, etc. To liven things up, Aphrodite talks Eros into casting an arrow at Apollo and he falls in love with Alice, the mortal woman who eventually becomes their housemaid. Alice however, has feelings for someone else and when Apollo can't have his way with her, he has Zeus (kept in the attic as a mental case) take revenge. The rest of the book is about how Artemis finds Neil (Alice's real love) and how he has to be a hero to save Alice. In the meantime, the gods also figure out why they are losing their powers and how to fix it. Overall it was a very fun, quick read.
copyright = 2007
pages = 292
source = library
date completed = 09/12/08
This is a wonderfully amusing book about the Greek gods living in modern London. They have lost most of their powers from their golden age and live in a run-down house that none of them will either fix up or clean. They have new jobs--Artemis is a dog-walker; Apollo a wanna-be TV psychic; Aphrodite a phone-sex operator, etc. To liven things up, Aphrodite talks Eros into casting an arrow at Apollo and he falls in love with Alice, the mortal woman who eventually becomes their housemaid. Alice however, has feelings for someone else and when Apollo can't have his way with her, he has Zeus (kept in the attic as a mental case) take revenge. The rest of the book is about how Artemis finds Neil (Alice's real love) and how he has to be a hero to save Alice. In the meantime, the gods also figure out why they are losing their powers and how to fix it. Overall it was a very fun, quick read.
Roma by Steven Saylor
Roma by Steven Saylor
copyright = 2007
pages = 555
source = purchase
date completed = 09/11/08
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very readable and entertaining. I wasn't sure what to expect; I just knew it was a Roman epic spanning about 1000 years. There was sex, violence, war, mythology, politics--basically everything about Roman life. It didn't follow a specific family per se, but followed the passing down of a particular pendant of a winged phallus representing the god Fascinus to son and daughter through the years. This really makes me want to read some Livy or other works written during the rise of Rome.
copyright = 2007
pages = 555
source = purchase
date completed = 09/11/08
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very readable and entertaining. I wasn't sure what to expect; I just knew it was a Roman epic spanning about 1000 years. There was sex, violence, war, mythology, politics--basically everything about Roman life. It didn't follow a specific family per se, but followed the passing down of a particular pendant of a winged phallus representing the god Fascinus to son and daughter through the years. This really makes me want to read some Livy or other works written during the rise of Rome.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Current Book challenges - R.I.P.
R.I.P. challenge
September 1 - October 31
I'm going for the first challenge which is to read 4 books from your pool. Definitely much better than sticking to a hard list.
Here's my pool:
2. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
6. The Nightwalker by Thomas Tessier
7. Midnight Mass by F. Paul Wilson
8. Renfield by Barbara Hambly
9. Sweeney Todd by Robert Mack
10. Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn
11. The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
12. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
These are all already in my possession so I need to read them anyway.
Current Book challenges - Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction
April 1-October 1
Books chosen:
1. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel*
2.Roma by Steven Saylor
3. The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
4. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson Replaced withSilent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn
5.The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone
6.The King Must Die by Mary Renault
* = currently reading
April 1-October 1
Books chosen:
1. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel*
2.
3. The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
4. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson Replaced with
5.
6.
* = currently reading
Sway by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
copyright = 2008
pages = 199
source = library
date completed = 09/04/08
copyright = 2008
pages = 199
source = library
date completed = 09/04/08
This was a quite interesting book on how humans are swayed toward irrational behavior. It's really a very short introduction to the psychology though. Mostly it is contained of anecdotes that explain the concepts and the anecdotes lead into other ones to explain the first ones. It gets kind of confusing--but it's interesting. I would really have preferred to read something with a little more depth though. This is like a prologue for a psychology book.
Bone Song by John Meaney
Bone Song by John Meaney
copyright = 2008
pages = 370
source = library
date completed = 09/01/08
Plot reviews can be found on amazon.com so I just wanted to point out a few things. First, I liked the premise and the setting. But the author should have taken more time explaining these things. There are wraiths, witches (not Wiccans, but witches with super-powers), zombies—I think—these are never explained. Are they zombies or just un-dead? And yes, there’s a difference. And why would they need to re-charge themselves? (One scene shows a zombie/un-dead plugged into the power outlet??) There is something called necroflux which apparently provides power to the city and is supplied by using the bones of dead people. How? It’s mentioned that bones contain the memories of the dead person, but how does this provide power? But in another city, power is supplied by live children connected to a network?? I didn’t get this at all. I also have a peeve about books that use magic, but don’t define it or have no rules for it. The main scene with a witch in it manages to calm some annoyed animals while at the same time talking to the protagonist telepathically. There’s also the mention of something called hexes—not like a hex on someone, but hexes that are used as alarm systems on buildings and traps for unsuspecting people. It didn’t really make much sense especially since it seemed that just anyone could detect and undo them with meditation techniques (this one’s mentioned a lot).
It is implied that wraiths (mainly used as slaves for electronic equipment—elevators and such) are discriminated against as well as the zombies/un-dead. The main character goes out of his way to make nice with them, but only one person in the whole book makes a snide comment about them. It seems overdone. There’s also a whole side-plot about one of the officers on the task force getting kidnapped. It just seemed completely out of place. The resolution assisted in finding out who the bad guys were, but too much time was spent on it.
The end was abrupt and incomplete—why did that one person have to die?? But come to find out, there will be a sequel. I really don’t think there needs to be a sequel to this particular story. Maybe it will just be books set in the same universe. At least I hope there will be more explanation next time. That’s why I might read the next one—if my library has it.
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