November Fails

I've called it quits on two books I was reading for this month. Er, last month. Whatever.
The first is, as I'm sure you are all surprised to discover, The Amber Wizard. I was just about 100 pages from the end of the novel, the great battle had just started...and I really couldn't muster up anything close to caring about the characters or the fate of the kingdom. Even now, having just called it quits, I can't remember the name of the kingdom or even the great amber wizard. A slightly forgettable book, which is very unfortunate because I think there is true promise to the story. The writing was tiresome and felt overdone or perhaps, just under edited. There were a lot of details that were fleshed out (as if describing set design) that might have aided the story if they were used in a more descriptive way. Perhaps, I will find the time in the future to finish it. I shall not, however, read the rest of the series. 

The second book I quit is called Secret Smile by Nicci French. I will confess that I first heard about this because of a miniseries where one, David Tennant, plays the main character Brendan. I rented both the DVD and the book from the public library, but returned both before I finished them. The miniseries was a bit haunting, but not in the good way. In the, "wow, that was really really creepy" kind of way. Brendan dates Miranda, or "dates" her, for a mere 14 days. She finds him in her home (uninvited) one day reading through her diary. She kicks him out, breaks up with him and thinks no more of him...until her sister introduces him as her new boyfriend. Miranda is confused when she finds that Brendan has told her sister that he (Brendan) had broken up with her (Miranda) and hoped that there would be no hard feelings between them. No matter how many times Miranda tries to correct this, Brendan always seems to "win" to the point where he is driving Miranda absolutely crazy. 
I only saw the first half of the miniseries and I was starting to stress out about it. I was completely unnerved by how much control Brendan had in the situation and how he was able to manipulate everyone around him, except of course Miranda, though no one would believe her. 

In other, happier news, I am almost to my Goodreads goal of 35 books! I hate to prematurely congratulate myself, but so far I think I've only had 4 really bad books this year. Two things: (1) the year isn't out, so that number could go up and (2) four really isn't huge in the scheme of things. Oh well. 
How I will finish those three AND season 5 of Mad Men? No idea. I'll think of something. I always do...

November Reviews

I was ahead on my reading. 
Was. 
I was actually 3 books ahead of my reading schedule at one point. It was great.  I was totally sure I was going to reach my goal for the year.
Then this book called "The Amber Wizard" put a stop to that. Guys, I want to read this book so bad. But honestly, I'm kind of bored. And I keep picking up all these other books I want to read. And then there is this whole thing about next year being the 50th anniversary of C. S. Lewis' death and my friends and I want to read through his published works. (Yes, we are nerds. More on that hopefully later.) And I'm watching all kinds of good movies...but I won't let myself start a new book until I finish The Amber Wizard. And it's starting to get on my nerves. I'm still deciding on if it is worth finishing. Until I do that, I've been avoiding the slightly boring book by watching a ton of movies.
Here, have some movie reviews. 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
This is one of those movies that I've heard a lot about but had put off seeing. It's rather mind-bendy, but oh so good. Boy meets girl. Girl and boy start dating. All is well. Until the fight. Girl gets mad. Boy visits her at work the next day to apologize. Girl treats boy like a stranger. Girl also seems to be dating a new boy. Old boy is confused and vents to his friends about the situation. Old boy is so distressed that his friend shows him a piece of paper. It says: Clementine Kruczynski has had Joel Barish erased from her memory. Please never mention their relationship to her again. 
Upset and very confused, Joel visits the clinic that is listed on the note. He decided that if Clementine doesn't want any memories of him, he doesn't want any of her. As the process begins, Joel relives every memory before it is erased. Somewhere during the erasing, he remembers the joyful moments, the moments of pure bliss that he shared with Clementine. And he starts to think that even if they hurt, he wants to keep some of them. It's a race against the procedure to find a way to keep some of those moments with Clementine. 

I rented the collector's edition from my library and it includes a booklet with reviews from the original release as well as some stories from ordinary viewers like me. And you, if you've seen it. As I read through the reviews, I noticed the same thought woven through all of them: cherish life. Life will eventually end. Hang on to the memories, the good and the bad. All of them are worth having. They prove you lived.

War Horse
I won't lie. The only reason I wanted to see this movie was because Benedict Cumberbatch is in it. And then I learned that Tom Hiddleston was in it. He became reason number two. I don't care. Go ahead, judge me! 
And then I actually saw the movie. Wow. So good. 
The story is about a boy called Albert...but not really. It's mostly about his horse Joey.
Joey really was supposed to be a work horse. You can't really run a failing farm with a thoroughbred, though Albert does his best. However, when their best efforts fail, Albert's father is compelled to sell Joey to the British Cavalry. Albert unwilling says goodbye to his beloved horse and we then follow the story of the Captain who bough him. Enter Tom Hiddleston. Yay! Joey goes to the front, behind enemy lines, ends up on the wrong side of the war for a bit, and then ends up home again. The main character doesn't have any lines (I mean, come on. He's a horse.) but by the end of the film I found myself crying. I have no idea why and I'm almost ashamed to admit it. Well done film. I will add that some of the war scenes I didn't like. I don't like war movies at all. But on the whole, really great film.

Skyfall
I feel that I need to preface this by telling you I'm not a classic Bond fan. Actually, I've never seen any of the "old" classic Bond films. Daniel Craig is my Bond. And really, I'm okay with that. 
I loved Casino Royale. Really. Loved it. I was so excited to see Quantum of Solace in theaters in England (which I did) a few days before the rest of the world. And...was let down miserably. Did they forget to write a plot for that one? Anyway, I was very skeptical of Skyfall. They would have to do a much better job than QoS to get my vote. 
The trailers for Skyfall did an amazing job convincing me that all would be great. Adele singing the theme song? Amazing. It's my ringtone. 
The film...well, it is better the Quantum of Solace. Absolutely. Still not on par with Casino Royale. It had a plot (yay!) and a bit more M (!!) but...
Ok, I think this is my main beef with the film. You aren't properly introduced to your villain or your "Bond girl". I vividly remember Vesper Lynd being introduced in to Bond in the train. I remember meeting the baddie at the poker game. Good. Great. Clear characters. I don't remember much about Quantum of Solace, but I'm pretty sure a lot of the characters were continuations of characters from Casino. I don't feel as if the same care was put into introducing the new characters in this film. Maybe the only really good ones were Gareth Mallory and Q. 
So I guess I give it...maybe 3.5 stars out of 5? Decent film, but for me, still a bit lacking. 




What did you think? Have you seen any of these movies? 
If not, what's the best movie you've seen recently? 

I'm sure I'll have a Christmas movie post in the next few weeks...get your favorites ready to share! 

October Reviews

Wow! Three reviews ALREADY -- and I still have a week and a half left in October!
I recently got a new job (ack! like a month now!) and since then, I have been reading like crazy. Why?
(You ready?)
I work in a library.
Wooot!
Oh man, it is so nice to be working in a library again! Really. Not only am I surrounded by my books again (and get to read over my dinner every day) but I'm helping students and that, I think, is really what I love. Still working on figuring out exactly what I love, but being around books and students isn't such a bad gig. 
Anyway, I've been reading a ton over the last month. I actually have a drawer in my desk that is full of books that I've checked out to read next. It doesn't matter that I have about 10 books in my room to read. No. I have to have more! It has finally gotten to the point when I have to make myself (ha ha) read the public library books first...because they won't let me renew them any more! So I am still working on The Amber Wizard, the first book due back. And even though a dear friend tried to stop me, the last time I visited the public library I picked up another book. The newest DekKer--how could I not?! 
Ok enough excuses. Back to the reviews. 



The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Where to start on this one?! It's been on my list for a while and was one of the first books I picked up at my new job. Back in 2006, two films were released about magic and a magician's life: The Prestige and The Illusionist. Two very different films but oh, so interesting. The Night Circus reminds me of these stories. Two master magician's have constructed a contest: two protege's are pitted against each other to discover which one is the best...and which one is dead.
I was going to write more but as I was reviewing the book, I came across a few reviewer's opinions of the book and a few of them caught my eye. 
Olivia Laing says that even if the book doesn't quite meet the mark, " it still functions as an eminently intriguing cabinet of curiosities." Her turn of phrase really caught my eye because she is right.
Laura Miller  likens the book to a beautiful piece of pottery...except it has been fired with the potter's thumb print on it. Craft without being art. She also says it is "an aesthetic fantasia with all the trimmings" but that the "plot is this novel’s flimsiest aspect."  And again, on both counts I must agree. It was a good and interesting read. I even got my mother to read it. Her images and scenes were beautiful, but the motivation was slightly lacking. 


Lenten lands by Douglas Gresham
I grabbed this book on a whim during my last bookstore trip. Well, not entirely on a whim. Hmm. Let me explain. 
The book is marketed as the story of Douglas's childhood with C. S. Lewis and Joy Gresham. I'm not sure that is completely accurate, but whatever. If you haven't figured by now, I'm a huge C. S. Lewis fan. I have a lot of his books, written more than a few papers on him and his work and even had the opportunity to visit his home in England. So even though I didn't plan on getting the book at the bookstore, I've been meaning to read it for awhile. So...there's that story.
The book was a bit of a let down. For me, anyway. I guess I was expecting there to be more personal stories with Douglas and Jack (Lewis's nickname). Instead, I found it to be more of a general autobiography, mentioning Jack a handful of times through the whole thing. Actually there were more stories with Warnie, Jack's brother, than with Jack. And perhaps, that was the case. Perhaps Jack, though he tried, was just not around enough for Douglas and his brother. 
Insult to injury is that the book is a bit discombobulated and meandering. It comes out sounding more conversational than narrative. I believe he said that he recorded his story and from the transcripts came the book. It is very to easy to believe that that is indeed how the book came about, and with little editing.
I'm rather glad I didn't try to read this in school as research for a paper. I would have been sorely disappointed with the underwhelming amount of new information. 

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
I kind of fell in love with Zusak's The Book Thief the other year in Gettysburg and I was convinced that anything he touched would be gold. This book does not disappoint. When a book speaks to me in a certain way, I struggle to explain it to people. Kinda of like when I tried (and possibly failed) to tell you about If I loved you, I would tell you this by Robin Black. It's haunting and beautiful at the same time. Ed Kennedy is coasting through life when we meet him in line at the bank. We discover that he is an underage taxi driver and the least successful and least loved child in his family (No, seriously. This comes out later in the book.). His life keeps to the same boring pattern until that day in the bank I mentioned earlier. He helps the police catch a bank robber. He thinks things might be looking up...until he receives an ace in the mail. The card has three addresses & times on it. Ed learns that these are three opportunities for him to make a difference in the world around him. But it doesn't stop there. 
While Ed is striving to reach out to members in his community and spread a little bit of happiness, he ends up discovering more about himself than the people he helps. It reminds me of something C. S. Lewis said: if you want to see what’s really in your basement, surprise your basement. The playing cards that gave him the instructions turned the light on in the basement of Ed's life and showed him what he was and what he could become. See? I told you I had trouble explaining books like this.

Check In

Sometime after my last trip to the library I remembered that I had a pretty hefty reading list at the beginning of January. I wanted to check in with that to see how many books off the list I read. 

I checked this morning. 

I read two off that list. 

Two. 

What in the world? 

Anyway, I finished Everyone Worth Knowing and was not too pleased with the "climax" and resolution of the story. Honestly, it felt far too rushed and cliched. You find out toward the end that Bette actually loves to write (even though there had been no indication of that ANYWHERE up until the last part of the book...) and eventually takes up writing. Of course, she gets the handsome hunk, even though it looks like she won't. In my opinion, it ended with far too many neatly tied bows around half-problems. She's rather selfish too and if my friends ever let me get away with half of that crap, I need new friends. 

Moving on...I am borrowing the NEW JAMES DASHNER BOOK!!!!

But because I went to the library, I feel I need to finish those books first...so Kill Order has been languishing on my desk for the last week while I work on What the Dickens and The Amber Wizard. I better get a move on because according to Goodreads, I am 2 books behind and I seem to be reading slower with every new book I read. 

I am sure my new found obsession with Mad Men hasn't helped my reading. It has been on my list for at least a year and last week on a whim I started season one. Wow! I was totally blown away! The costumes, the sets, the content, the smoking, the drinking, the business end of things...just everything! Look for more thoughts on the show in the future. Right now I am still just loving the look of the show and how everything in the character's lives is connected --even when it doesn't look like it. Fascinating stuff. 

Do you watch Mad Men? What do you love best about it? Or, if you hate it, what is it that makes you not love it? 

If you don't watch Mad Men, what is your show of choice? That one thing that keeps you from reading or doing whatever it is you really want to be doing? 

I went to the library...again

Ah, September. 

Back to school, leaves starting to get crisp, cool breezes, and afternoons made for curling up with a blanket, a cuppa and a good book. I love fall. 

I was just getting back into the swing of my reading thing and was really getting into A Wizard of Earthsea...when I went to the library. Again. Oops. 

Seriously, I don't mean to sabotage my own reading plan but that seems to be what happens. 

I was talking to a friend of mine who recommend a good fluffy summer read called "Everyone Worth Knowing" by Lauren Weisberger. Lauren also wrote "The Devil Wears Prada" which was hilarious and cringe-worth at the same time, and I think this book is following the same course. Not that it is bad, of course. I can very easily sympathize with the rather average Bette Robinson who is stuck in a horrible bank job with a horrible boss who won't even let his employees leave the building for lunch. But I struggle with the almost too easy transition she makes into her new high profile job at Kelly & Company, a PR and event planning firm for every known person (and even the new faces) in the celebrity world. She goes from bumming around her apartment every night to going to a different club every night of the week. Coming in late to work is ok, because she's been out with her co-workers checking out the latest cool place for the next big party they are throwing. 

I usually like the stories of a nobody turning into a somebody, via a new found confidence in themselves, but I don't quite get that vibe from this story. I'm not halfway through this book, so there is hope for a turn around. Stay tuned...

I also picked up on whim "What the Dickens" by Gregory Maguire. It's a fairy tale about a rouge tooth fairy...and with a tag line like that, how can you refuse?! 

I picked up another fantasy book called "The Amber Wizard" by David Forbes. I know practically nothing about the book or the author except that the back of the book says that he is living about 1.5 hours from where I currently live. That's pretty cool, right? 

I am going to get a bit of reading done today--thank God for days off and Labor Day! But...I'll probably spend most of it hanging with my friends doing nothing. Which, really, is always more important that reaching a reading goal for the year.