The Journal of Curious Letters

I finally finished The Journal of Curious Letters! 
It only took two renewals from the library and a very long phone conversation last Saturday for a third renewal but I finished it! 

I wasn't as fresh off The Maze Runner as I would have liked to be, but one of the first things I noticed was that the writing was very different. The Maze Runner, if I had to categorize, is a mid-teen young adult books. That would place The Journal of Curious Letters somewhere in pre-teen/early teenworld. What does that even mean any more? In my head, I'm thinking maybe 8-12. 
I am basing that on the style of writing, the themes present in the book and the over all progression of events. 

It is a story that starts with our main character, Atticus (nicknamed Tick) Higginbottom, receiving a "curious" letter telling him that the world is in danger but that he can help! What a crazy thing for a kid that gets picked on all the time to hear! And of course, like any good hero, he has a choice: to help or to ignore the letter.  And, as a good storyteller would do, James Dashner has Tick accept the challenge and we start on an adventure into the Realities. 

Tick receives letters in the mail from a mysterious MG, each one a clue to when, where and how they will meet and further discuss saving the world. A nice twist to the story is that Tick isn't the only one receiving letters. He meets up with a few other kids and together they figure out the clues and talk about the interesting things that happen to them. 

I will be honest: I wasn't terribly riveted by this book. What I found most interesting is the completely different way James Dashner told this story. It was evident in both the writing and story line that this was not going to be a watered down Maze Runner book. 
Some authors can seamlessly write a book for children that adults find wonderful. Harry Potter is case in point. The story, the characters, the writing--it wasn't dumbed down so only children could understand. I had more talks with adults. come to think of it, about the books than I ever had with children. We talked about our favorite characters and plot twists, as well as the moments that made us cry. 
But J.K. only really wrote the one series. Sure. OK. The Chronicles of Narnia. C. S. Lewis wrote children's books as well as academic books and "adult" books. There was a bit of a difference, but the quality was the same. 

It almost seemed like there was a fire missing from The Journal of Curious Letters that was always present in the Maze Runner. As I was reading I kept thinking that this book would be good for pre-preteens. It gives them a character their age (that gets the be the hero and is a rather "normal" even boring kind of kid), introduces them into a fantasy that seem possible, and puts them in harrowing adventures. For my taste, too much focus was put on the letters and the events leading up to the harrowing adventure rather than on saving the world. (Very reminiscent of the last Twilight book where we spent the whole book on the verge of an epic battle...that never took place. Major letdown.)

I will not be pursing the rest of the series, but will keep it in mind for kids who aren't sure they like to read, are feeling kind of left out in life, or are interested in trying a new genre. I might recommend it for boys (as Tick is a boy...) and I seem to have trouble finding books to recommend to young men that don't have girls as the star of the show. But as a girl who is really into fantasy, I have gotten used to boys running the show (Harry, Frodo, etc.). [ Ok so they don't always run the show. There is Buffy and Katniss, too. Just...oh never mind!] 
Next up: The Wizard of Earthsea? That would be nice. My friend just gave me Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and I am itching to try that. I also got Pilgrim's Regress and The Children of Hurin out of the library at church...this past May. And I haven't gotten to those either... 

The Apocalypse has never been funnier -- Clive Barker

I finished Good Omens! Yes! 
So, okay it took me WAY longer than I really wanted it to, but I will again blame it on crazy normal life schedule, work schedule and season one of Game of Thrones. Only important stuff, I promise :) 

I wrote the following review over on Goodreads.com (which, by the way says I'm only 1 book behind of my goal now. Cue The Journal of Curious Letters. With any luck I"ll be back on track in no time!) which I decided to share with you. I'm still working on how I do reviews. I struggle with telling too much or telling too little. I have trouble with this when I tell friends about the books I am reading in face-to-face conversations. 

When you see the name "Neil Gaiman" on the cover of a book, you not only buy the book but you also clear your calendar for the foreseeable and forget about everything else that is going on in your life. 
Good Omens was no exception. 
When my friend's ask me about the book I tell them that it's about the the end of the world & the Apocalypse, hilarious and sacrilegious but in all the right ways. If I ever get around to reading The Screwtape Letters (which after this, I really want to do) I imagine it would be a modern take on that. The main characters are Aziraphale, (an angel with an obsession with books and considers the used bookstore he runs as his own personal library), Crowley (a demon with a love for good food and fast cars) and the antichrist, a young boy of 11 who runs a bit of a gang in Tadfield. 

There is more than that, obviously. But honestly, if that isn't enough to make you laugh or make you interested at least a little bit, well then, I'm not sure you deserve Neil Gaiman. 

But really, do any of us deserve Neil? He is, I believe, a common grace--something we don't deserve but something we need to be thankful for. 

Game of Thrones, FTW!

Guys. 

Guys. 

I just finished season one of Game of Thrones. 

IT WAS SO GOOD!

Excuse me for yelling, but seriously, I mean seriously. This show was done so well. Top marks. 

The settings, the costumes, the map, the script--everything was fantastically done. And adapting a 900 odd page book into a miniseries? Probably the BEST choice they could have made. It would not have done well as a movie. It would have needed to be a 5 hour movie. Longer. 

It made me wonder what would have happened if Peter Jackson had done the same with Lord of the Rings. That way instead of three hours, we could have gotten (if they held to GoT series) 10 hours and LOTS more details. Don't get me wrong, I love Lord of the Rings and am SO EXCITED to see The Hobbit. But it makes ya think, doesn't it? 

I am now motivated to get back to reading Clash of Kings. I am already about 200 pages in, but that was...months ago. Also, so excited to see season 2! 

If you haven't seen it, or read Game of Thrones, do it! I promise you won't be sorry! 

Six+ month review

Anyone want to explain to me how it is already August?! 

I have been reading a lot (ok and watching Game of Thrones, too. Have you seen series one?? So good!) but I am still struggling with finishing books. I have so many things going on and sometimes my books end up on the back burner. It doesn't mean I'm reading boring books, or that I don't want to read. Promise. Sometimes stuff gets in the way, life gets in the way, or I just choose to read slowly. 
However, I've just learned a very important lesson: apparently, I can finish a fairly long book if I just put my mind to it and choose to do it.

I check out a book called I am forbidden by Anouk Markovits sometime at the end of June...and didn't get around to reading it until about 4 days before it was due. I was busy reading Good Omens, trying to get through The Wizard of Earthsea and starting a new book was not in my plans. And then I got hooked on Eureka and lost about two weeks of my life.  Not that that is a bad thing...never! It just well...anyway. Back to the book.
I read two nights hardcore. I mean I went to bed early and propped myself up with pillows and just read. During coffee the next morning, I read. I would get comfy and read after work, get ready for bed and read some more. I put such a hurting on that book! I will confess that I was more in a hurry to finish the book than I was to understand the book at times. I did lose my place a few times in the narrative, but I was able to pick it back up. 

I first heard about the book from Goodreads (which tells me that though I am at 54% of my reading goal, at my current pace I am 2 books behind schedule. Thanks guys.). Actually, the Goodreads monthly newsletter accounts for most of my "new" finds these days. I love it. 
At first, the book seemed to be about a couple of Jewish kids during and after the war.  Not quite. It tracks the beginning of a Jewish family who takes in an orphaned Jewish girl, Mila, after the war. She becomes the oldest in the family, embracing and learning the ways of faith while the families natural daughter, Atara, questions the faith in a way that is only acceptable for men in the faith. She is repeatedly told that the questions she asks could be answered if she were a boy learning to be a rabbi. At the time and in culture, girls were raised with "enough" knowledge of the faith in order to raise a family in the proper Jewish way. 
Mila and Atara take different paths once they grow up and the book chronicles more of Mila's choices and legacy than her sister's. One reason I think this really works for the books is because even though Mila is supposedly the "better" daughter in keeping the Torah and the proper ways she is taught in order to raise a family, her choices aren't easy. How often are the stories we read about the rebel daughter picking her way through the tough of life because it is more interesting than the "perfect daughter" doing what is expected and having everything turn out ok? I think "I Am Forbidden" shows us that even the path that is considered right and proper has plenty of trouble and heartache of it's own. No one is safe. 

It was a bit of a juvenile read, but not to the point of being immature. There is a whole post I could write about the way Mila interprets the Torah when she is looking for answers, but I won't. If you do pick it up, let me tell you that there IS a glossary at the back of the book. I wish I had known that while I was wading through the many Hebrew & Yiddish words throughout the book.


I forgot to tell you that when it was all said and done, I was a few days late returning I am Forbidden. Oops. I am absolutely rubbish at library due dates. And when I just wasn't making progress on Good Omens, I broke down and headed over to my local used books store. One of the many benefits of Gently Used Books is that they have a search & reserve feature. So I emailed to see if they had Good Omens and The Wizard of Earthsea. They had both and reserved them for me to pick up later in the week. I own both now and was able to return my almost overdue library books without too much of a fuss. I'm trying to grow here, people. Really. 
I am almost done with Good Omens and when I'm done with that, I HAVE to pick up The Journal of Curious Letters...because it is due in 10 days. And I don't want another 3 days of intense reading with the purpose of "just getting through" a book. I want to enjoy and relish in the new adventures and characters without feeling rushed. 

Sorry the updates have been few and far between. I just have been behind on my reading. Though now I know that Goodreads is not-so-silently judging me about reaching my goal, I might just be a little more on top of my goals. 

First Loves

San Diego ComiCon was this weekend. I was not there, but I watched my Twitter stream update every second with pictures and panel updates that made the geek girl in my just about cry with joy. (And, of course, a bit of pain was mixed in there as well. Come on! 10 year anniversary panel for Firefly? Why could I not be there?? Geek girl flail!!!)

But it got me thinking about what first got me into the things I love now. I first started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer because it was such an iconic show that practically everyone had seen. That was my entry drug to the Joss Whedon universe. I think what I love most about Joss and his work is his ability to create characters that feel real, put them in real life situations and then kill them off without mercy. BUT he does it all for the good of the show. It is something I've noticed other directors and writers shy away from, and I have since learned to love the fact that Joss does not. From Buffy, I turned to Angel, Firefly, Serenity, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, and Dollhouse. 

You can also trace my Felicia Day love back to Joss. And, thanks to my exposure to Geek & Sundry, I am now in love with Eureka and Colin Ferguson...right before the series finale. I have perfect timing. 

And of course, all of that love got me thinking: what was the first book that really got me into reading? To start with, when I was in kindergarten I was  anti-reading. I gave my mother so much stress about that! Oddly enough, I remember nothing of that experience. However, I do have early childhood memories of asking my mother, after being told I could take a couple of books to bed, "Is a "couple" one or two books? Or is it two or more books?" I've always had problems with math...

But what I think of when I remember the book that made me love reading is something that happened when I was in 6th or 7th grade. By 4th grade, I was checking out books above my reading level and hiding them in my desk. And reading during class. Oops. By 6th grade, I was reading Gone with the Wind (a book of almost a thousand pages), when others were still reading chapter books that didn't go over 100 pages. But somewhere in there, I discovered a book called Beauty. 

I read it. 

I loved it. 

And promptly forgot about it. Until a year later, when I found it again and fell in love with the magic of it all over again. Beauty is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley. I found it to be ten times more magical than the Disney movie. There was something about how blatant but mysterious the magic was, almost as if it could have happened exactly that way. 

It is the story of a father with three daughters who all move out of the city to a small village on the edge of an ancient wood. While her older sisters get married and start having babies, Beauty continues to find more pleasure in books and nature than she does in men. As it happens in every story, a dark and stormy night finds Beauty's father far from home, relying on the mysterious stranger in a dark castle. However, the stranger's help comes with a price--Beauty's father must come and live with him. Unattached to anyone except her father, Beauty volunteers to take her father's place. She finds herself treated like a princess and forced into beautiful gowns, which she tries to tear off her body. She struggles, at first, as she finds that living in a magical castle is more difficult than she ever imagined. Eventually, of course and as all the stories go, she learns to live at peace with herself and the Beast, even counting him a friend. It ends the way you hope it ends, full of magic and love. 

There are some complaints my friends have launched against this book, and to an extent, I agree with them. For instance, some say Beauty whines a lot and is selfish. Eh, sorta. Sure, to the whine. But I think she needs some of the selfishness to surface because without it she would be too perfect a protagonist. 

This book has another special place in my heart. It got my little sister into reading, too! My sister will never be the reader I am; she doesn't crave it or care for it quite the way I do. And that is totally fine. But we share a love for this book and I honestly love the book a little bit more for bringing us together in that way.

What about you? Can you pinpoint a book, movie, TV show or video game or a specific event that was your "entry drug" into something you absolutely love doing today?

An ode to Felicia Day...

I think the first time I saw Felicia Day was in Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, starring the ever wonderful Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. (And if you haven't seen Dr. Horrible, go do that right now! It's on Netflix...and YouTube...I think.) Dr. Horrible was Joss Whedon's response to the writer's strike way back when. He said, See? I don't need you! I have the internet and my friends and we make magic!
Well, he didn't say that exactly, but you get the point.
Since then, I've seen Felicia in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse (Yes, I'm a Joss Whendon addict. Got a problem with that?).
Then, this spring/summer, Felicia started her own website company extravaganza called Geek & Sundry. It is the reason I finally got into The Guild (Felicia's web series about gaming) and the reason I now want to game, even though I'll suck. On G&S, you will also find Wil Wheaton's show TableTop, where he plays table top games (like Settlers of Catan, Munchkin, Gloom, Castle Panic, & tons of others...) with a bunch of his friends. I will suck at those games too, but I really want to play! If that is the point of the show, well done sir. Well done.

Ok, now that you know the cool geek stuff, the reason for this post was to tell you about an online comic Felicia recommended in the Fave Five segment of her show. It is called The Dreamer and it is about a 17 year old named Beatrice Whaley who lives a modern life...except in her dreams. When she falls asleep in our world, she wakes up in 1776 during the Revolutionary War. In fact, when we meet her, she is snogging the face off a handsome soldier named Alan Warren. It is such a well done piece, and honestly, I'm not sure what I did for the last week...except read the comic. It is updated only twice a week, but it is totally worth it.

This whole live-in-one-world-but-wake-up-in-another is not a new thing for me. Ted DekKer does it in his Circle Trilogy (which is really not a trilogy anymore, but whatever...). If the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey story line appeals to you, do check out DekKer's book "Black." You won't be sorry. 

June kicked my butt

Guys. How is it almost July already? What is up with this year? 
I have no remorse for the following: I hardly read at all this month. 
I mean seriously. 
Like I said last post, I am loving A Wizard of Earthsea. Really. But...Ok you know how there are those books that are so great and well loved that you are just too intimidated to actually read them? Like Lord of the Rings. I feel like there is a special energy you need to read those books. I love them and have read them before, but when I go to re-read them, I am filled with this sense of "epic-ness" and I just don't have enough mental space to read "deep literature."  All in my head and I'm a little crazy? Maybe. Probably. Ok, yes. 
Anyway, that is how I look at WoE. I can tell from the first few chapters that it is going to be amazing. Really. But...I feel I can't dedicate the proper amount of time to it right now. And because of that, I haven't really read much of it. 
Also, my baby sister got married this month. So, yeah. I am using that as an excuse. 

In addition to the WoE, I have the following books checked out of the library and I am really excited to get to them:

• Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
• I am Forbidden by Anouk Markovits
• The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner