Books: To Read or Not to Read.

Just a quickie post on what I've been reading.

Two thumbs up: Overall Rating 8.5/10 Michael Scott's The Alchemyst: The Secret of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel is wonderful. It's the first of a 6 book young adult series. Genre is fantasy which is not usually my cup of tea- but it was offered for free for a limited time for the Kindle and I just couldn't resist downloading it because of all the fantastic reviews.  Does the name Nicholas Flamel ring a bell Harry Potter lovers?? Ofcourse he is none other than Dumbledore's friend who finds the Secret of the Philosopher's stone (aka the secret to immortality).  The basis of these books are very similar to the Harry Potter series- there is a prophecy that predicts the posibile end of the human world because of the coming back of the "Elders" or magical ones.  The humani twins Sophie and Josh might be the twins of legend mentioned in the Codex. In this case the word humani = muggle. I find that this series is for the graduates of the Harry Potter series, meaning a slightly older target audience" because it introduces many true historical characters and envelopes them in the world of serious magic and not so much folly. The following books of the series "The Magician" and "The Sorceress" are equally as good (I finished all three books in 4 days). Unfortunately fans will have to wait until May of 2010 for the 4th installment, "The Necromancer".

One Thumb down: Overall rating 4/10 Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. In all honesty- I didn't finish the book. Who am I kidding? I hardly even started it!! I know that Dan Brown think that he has a winning formula. Robert Langdon gets a call about some mystery. He gets to the mystery and someone dies or is missing. He goes on a crazy chase for the answer to the mystery.  That's just all fine and dandy for Angels and Demons or the immencely popular The Da Vinci Code but doesn't he think that his fans would realize the pattern by now? It gets old real fast. Luckily I didn't actually pay for my copy of the book. I read the sample (thankgoodness for free kindle samples!) which was roughly the first 6 chapters of the book and I already felt that it was predictable. Ofcourse, there are going to be twists and turns- ala the Dan Brown formula- but then you expect that. Maybe I'll give the rest of the book a try some other time when the price goes down and maybe I'll have so many GOOD books to read that I won't.

Next up: Another kindle freebie: According to Jane by Marilyn Brant

Vee's Book Review: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Finally, a very satisfying read. I've read a couple of books since my last book review such as Time Traveller's Wife and The Nine Lives of Clemenza- but they both left me empty. The Time Traveller's Wife was extremely entertaining and a very good read- highly recommended if you are looking for a good love story. The writing style was a bit "Nicholas Spark-ish" - not usually my cup of tea. The Nine Lives of Clemenza was very interesting- about a soul that goes through 9 reincarnations- from air to human. It was more of a novelette though- short and sweet, whereas I was looking for something with more substance than these two novels could offer.

This is the description for The Forgotten Garden from Amazon: "A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book -- a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and with very little to go on, "Nell" sets out on a journey to England to try to trace her story, to fi nd her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. At Cliff Cottage, on the grounds of Blackhurst Manor, Cassandra discovers the forgotten garden of the book's title and is able to unlock the secrets of the beautiful book of fairy tales."

My overall rating: 8/10

I really enjoyed The Forgotten Garden. I am not going to get into any particular details of the storyline because it spans 3 generations with a different yet entertwined story for each of the 5 main females in the book. Morton does a great job of slowly unfolding the mystery of the Mountrachet family and adding the right amount of suspense to keep you hooked. It's like a modernized Pride and Prejudice meets the Da Vinci Code. With the granddaughter, Cassandra, acting as a sort of Robert Langdon trying to decipher Nell's secret past. The book does alternate every other chapter between the past and the present which takes a bit of getting used to but is a very effective way of storytelling in this case. I am a huge fan of period books because of the beautiful settings and grandeur of the past that isn't really present in books that take place in present day. There is a stark contrast given in the life of Eliza and her wealthy cousin Rose, as well as the contrast in their personalities.

I mentioned before that The Time Traveller's Wife was written in a very "Nicholas Spark-ish" manner- what I mean by that is that the writting style is very linear- what you read is what you get. Morton's writing style is somewhat different. Each word is chosen carefully for it's dual meaning- adding more depth in her storytelling. There is some reading in between the lines to really understand the characters. It's what reading is all about, in my opinion. The author also includes fairytales in the book- written by one of the main character's Eliza. These semi-autobiographical (to Eliza's life) fairytales are a real delight and add further depth to the storyline with their "lessons" learned. The main theme presented for each of the women is their loss of and search for family and sense of belonging. My main gripe is that the male characters are presented as afterthoughts.. don't expect any character development for any of them. A little dissappointing since getting to know the inner workings of the creepy uncle, Linus Mountrachet would have been entertaining.

Ofcourse this book is more geared towards women. It focuses too much on family and inner feelings to be enjoyable to most men I know. But if you are in the mood for a book that makes you think a little, envelopes you in the lives of English women in the Victorian era and a bit of scandal- then you will enjoy this book from the first chapter to it's bittersweet end.

Book Review: Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

I finished reading Pillars of the Earth about a week ago. I just got around now to write a review about it- why?- because I still really don't know how I feel about the book.

This book was a selection in Oprah's Book Club back in 2007- and although I do like Oprah, I don't always agree with the books that she chooses (well, other than Middlesex which was a great thought provoking book) But I only found it that it was a previous Oprah book after I already started reading it.

The plot of the book is about the building of the Kingsbridge Cathedral.. which may not seem too interesting at first but it represents the dreams of a builder and a priest. The cathedral also represents the constant struggle for power in England between earls, kings and monks.

There are too many characters and too many subplots to go into the book in detail without revealing too much- so I am not even going to try. I was swept up in all of the emotions and hardships that the characters had to endure to build the castle. There were hidden loves, impossible loves and loves lost. The story moved fast and spanned 40 years with villians that you grow to loathe and suffering heroes that you know will somehow conquer in the end. There were many many twists in the story which made it sometimes frustrating but worth it in the end.

So why did I not throughly enjoy such an engaging book? Too many characters and strange plot twists. Follett tried very hard to let his reader in the mind of each and every character but can you really do that to the fullest when you have at least 10 main characters and 15 more supporting characters? Each section of the book focused on specific characters- but there was enough material in each section to write a novel in itself. I found myself dissappointed by the end because I wanted to know more about Ellen, Martha and even Walderan but knew too much about Aliena, Jack and Phillip. There were many many plot twists in the book- some that added interest to the story and some that were just far fetched. The love that Aliena and Jack shared was a great story but was Aliena's hunt for Jack through several countries in Europe really necessary? Did this really mesh in with the rest of the book?

So all in all- Pillars of the Earth was a very engaging book. It has love, drama and war- all the elements of a good book. But sometime less is more. I would have prefered a less complicated plot and just a few main characters instead of an army of them.

Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

The Classic Regency Romance--Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
Author: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Version: Kindle

I finished this book a while ago and many people have asked me my opinion on the book. I didn't hate it but I also didn't love it. That being said, the original Pride and Predjudice is by far my all time favorite book. I revisit it often when I am in need of something familiar and comforting. I really thought that I would like this comedy version a lot more than I did.

Oh sure, the first couple of chapters are entertaining enough. The sheer novelty of zombie fights mixed in with Austen's original text makes the reader crave for more. However- being that I am an Austen purist by heart- the changes that were made became irritating towards the middle of the book. Some of Austen's themes were removed entirely and the typos did not help with the annoyance any. Each zombie fight became predictable as well as every episode of vomit. There was also the constant reminder that the heroine was a shaolin master- ok, we get it so stop telling us in every chapter! When Lady Catherine's ninjas arrived- that was the end of it for me. Luckily the 2nd half of the book wasn't as zombie ridden as the first but it didn't stop me from skimming the book to the end where as I would normally cherish every Austinized word.

Entertaining? Perhaps, if you are looking for something light and mindless to read. Otherwise I would stick with the original.