A New Start?

I would like to get my book reviews started up again. I have quite a few in the hopper, so hopefully I can get some new posts up after my semi- self-imposed hiatus. Here is a short list:

Winter Of The World
Joyland
Amped
The Last Man
The Night Ranger
Gone Girl
Dark Places

I am currently reading Asylum, by Madeleine Roux, which is supposed to be similar to Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children. I'm only a short way into it, and it seems pretty good so far.

There may not be reviews posted for all the books listed, but I hope to hit a few of my favorites. My list of "to reads" is also getting quite long, so hopefully I can find the time to fit them all in.

Japanese Dreams and Stranger Things

I finished two books this past week, both of which were very good.  The first was 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami.  This was a very interesting read.  The theme I got out of reading it was the journey two people trying to find themselves.  The choices they each make turn into very interesting twists that eventually bring them together.

Tengo and Aomame are two people who grew up in worlds that were controlling and slightly oppressive.  The book starts with each of them in their mid-twenties.  Tengo is a aspiring writer and school teacher.  Aomame is a contract worker specializing in "wet work," and a fitness instructor.  The chapters switch back and forth between the two characters, adding in some supporting characters towards the end of the novel. 

The setting is Tokyo in 1984, though the timeline for both moves to "1Q84" at specific points in the story, due to actions taken by each person.  In this "new reality," there exists creatures called the little people, that have the ability to create air chrysalises which contain copies of specific individuals.  Mr. Murakami does not go into a lot of detail about where the little people come from, or what their motivations are.   I think that this is a little distracting from the storyline.  Whenever these plot points came up, I spent most of the time wondering what they were trying to accomplish, instead of focusing on how their actions were affecting the main characters.  A little more background on the little people would have enhanced the story greatly. 

The book was translated from its original Japanese, and sometimes the syntax showed this.  The translation seemed a bit plain at times, though I'm not sure if this was because of the translation, or if it was actually the way the author wrote.

This book is very hard to summarize in a small space.  It is very long, and moves around a lot.  It was very enjoyable to read, and the story proceeds well enough that you are rooting for Tengo and Aomame almost immediately. 

The second book I read was The Night Eternal, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan.  This is the final installment in The Strain trilogy.  It has very well written action, dialogue, and character development.  It served as a good wrap-up to the trilogy.

The book begins approximately two years after the end of the second book, The Fall.  The world has been subjugated by the vampires, and life is a very bleak existence.  The story centers around one group of "freedom fighters" as they try to destroy the last ancient vampire.  The death of this certain vampire, the one who created all the remaining "living" vampires, will wipe out the entire vampire population on the world.  This goal is complicated by the fact that the ancient has one of the main character's children held as a hostage.  A hostage who also happens to be suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome." 

I particularily enjoyed this series of books.  It is nice to see that some authors still want to show vampires as horror creations, and not the beautiful, passive, moody creatures that many teens have been reading about the past few years (e.g. The Twilight series, quite possibly the worst writing I have ever been exposed to.)  The books were very easy to get pulled in to, and once I started reading one of them, it was very hard to put down. 

Overall, I enjoyed reading both books, and would recommend each to everyone.  If you decide you want to read 1Q84, be sure to set aside enough time to really read it.  It is not a book you can sit down for 15 minutes at a time and get anything out of it.  The plot is deep, the characters are rich, and the end, once you get to it, is very satisfying.

Quick Recommendations

I've been out of the loop for a while.  Time to read, time for family, no time for posting entries.  Very quickly, here are some books I have read that I think are very good.

11/22/63 by Stephen King
A story about a man who travels back in time through a wormhole to 1958.  He plans on waiting around until 1963 in the hopes of stopping Lee Harvey Oswald from killing John Kennedy.  Along the way he finds life and love.  A very well written and well researched book by one of my favorite authors.  I think this may be his best one yet. 

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
A misfit boy grows up hearing strange stories from his grandfather's youth.  After his grandfather passes away under mysterious circumstances, the boy travels to an island off the coast of Wales to find out if the stories were true or not.  Once he finds what he is looking for, he realizes that this is what his life has been missing all along.  This is considered a "Young Adult" novel, but it is a great story for anyone.  It is a quick read, but very engrossing.  The pictures featured in the book are real photographs that the author collected from various places and people.   Mr. Riggs plans on having a sequel out sometime in the spring of 2013. 

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & Mockingjay all by Suzanne Collins
A fantastic trilogy set in a dystopian future of the U.S.  The first two books are the strongest of the series.  The third is good, but lacks some of the action and dialogue that made the first ones so good.  Another YA series that is just as good for "old" adults to read.  The first movie of the series is scheduled to open this spring (2012).  The previews make it look pretty good also. 

Here is what I am currently reading and/or waiting to read:

A Feast Of Crows by George R.R. Martin (yes, I am still trying to get through this)
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (started reading the hardcover, book was too heavy to carry around, waiting for ebook from library)
Micro by Michael Crichton
The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro
77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
Zoo Station by David Downing
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

There are other books I am planning on reading, but these are the ones that will be read for sure in the coming weeks.  The order I read them depends entirely on when they come available from the library. 

An Interlude of Ice and Fire

I placed a hold on this book at my local library a couple weeks ago, but didn't think I would be getting it so soon.  I was twelfth in the queue, and past experience puts that at about a two-month wait.  I received my notice that the book could be picked up, so I put my tackling of A Feast Of Crows on hold, and dug into the loaner.

I had somewhat high hopes for The Omen Machine.  I previously enjoyed the Sword of Truth series that Terry Goodkind had published, even though the books got a bit preachy towards the end of the 12-book series.  Mr. Goodkind developed a bad habit of interlacing his personal belief system within the pages of a fictional storyline.  Long rants by the main characters would slow the story down at points, but overall, the series was an enjoyable one. 

Three years after the end of the Sword of Truth series, and two years after his release of a unrelated book, Mr. Goodkind revisits the world of D'Haran Empire.  This story is billed not as a continuation of the Sword of Truth series, but as a "Richard and Kahlan novel."  I assumed, from the description, that this would be a stand-alone story.  I was wrong.  The end of the book is a cliffhanger, and sets up the reader to get sucked into another book that the author is sure to publish in the near future. 

The one bright point from this book is that Mr. Goodkind doesn't have the protagonist deliver too many sermons to his people.  The down side of this lack of preaching is that apparently this is what kept the storyline moving in the previous novels.  The plot of this book revolves around a machine that produces prophecies.  If you have read any of the other books, you will already know that Richard hates prophecy.  This book is more of the same.  The only difference between this novel and the previous 12, is that between the writing of Confessor (the last entry in the Sword of Truth series) and The Omen Machine, Mr. Goodkind has forgotten how to write a good book.  It almost seems like his publisher told him their coffers were getting low, and he had better write something that will fill them up again.  Mr. Goodkind obliged, and the readers suffered. 

I think that this will be my last Goodkind novel.  I know it is harsh to say that after only one weak entry in his catalog, but there are so many other authors out there putting out excellent material.  I feel like I wasted a weeks worth of time on this, when I could have finished A Feast Of Crows and started on 11/22/63, by Stephen King. 

The good thing is, Mr. Goodkind can only improve from here.  Let's all hope he does.  

A Long Wait...

To my avid readers the person that stumbles here once in a while:  sorry that it has been so long since my last review.  I have been reading the first four volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, by Mr. George R. R. Martin.  I purchased the four-book set before my trip to Shanghai, and I am about half-way through the fourth book now.  I had thought about posting reviews of each book as I finished, but then decided to lump them all together into one post.  There is a fifth book out in the series, A Dance With Dragons, but I won't be reading that one for a while.  There are many other books on my to-read list that have been neglected while I journey through Mr. Martin's 3,400+ pages of material. 

Anyways, I hope you will come back and check out my review when I get it up.  Thanks for being patient!

America Is Hooked On Vampires!!!

Guillermo del Toro writes and directs some pretty good movies.  If you don't believe me, watch Pan's Labyrinth (El Laberinto Del Fauno) sometime.  I thought if he has the ability to write good movies, think of what can he could do with a novel.  Characters' thoughts, detailed plots, and action not limited by what the special effects company can do for you.  That being said, while I wasn't blown away by the story, I was pleasantly surprised.  I know, I know.  "Do we really need to be exposed to more vampire media?"  In truth, no.  But, this is not a book written to attract tween girls looking for dreamy vamps to swoon over. 

The Fall is actually the second book in a trilogy.  The first book,  The Strain, also written by Mr. del Toro and Chuck Hogan, focuses on the beginnings of a virus that is rapidly spreading throughout New York City.  As it turns out, the virus was started by a millenia-old "vampire" who wants to take over the world.  The first installment focuses on a small group of people first trying to figure out what this virus is doing, and second, trying to figure out a way to contain it.  They were unsuccessful.  Hence, the second installment.  The second gets a little more into character development, and deeper into the plot lines of the trilogy.  Once it is finally understood what the goal of the "head vampire" is, the book takes more of a turn towards a dystopian future, which is the setup for the third book in the series, The Night Eternal, which comes out on October 25, 2011. 

Some people may be turned off by being exposed to more vampires, but this story is much different than anything that is currently out there.  It is more akin to I Am Legend than it would be to Twilight.  Sometimes the book sways more into being plot-driven than character-driven*, but it is not enough that it would ruin the story. 

I had originally downloaded this book from the library in order to have something to read on my long plane journey to Shanghai, but I instead got wrapped up in A Game Of Thrones instead.  Luckily, I found the time to finish  The Fall before it was due back after my return.  It is not a very hard or long read, but it is a good book to get into.  I am looking forward to seeing how Mr. del Toro wraps everything up in the third book.


*In my opinion, books should be mainly character-driven stories.  If the author has taken the time to introduce characters, and explain even a little of their backstory, then the author should respect the reader enough so that the character doesn't get put into situations that he/she normally wouldn't get into, just to advance the story.  This is one of my pet peeves in novels.  Authors usually do this so that they can advance a certain part of the story with an established character, instead of introducing a new character, or using a "throw-away" character. 

So This Is How The World Ends

Wow!  I haven't read a book this engaging for quite a while.  Robopocalypse, by Daniel H. Wilson, is a very imaginative and well written story.  There are two main schools of thought.  One thinks that the world will end with the birth of the zombie.  The other thinks the same will happen with beings of our own creation: robots and computers.  This book explores the latter of the two. 

The story starts at the end of a war, with one person finding a robot relic that has recorded all the human/robot interactions during the conflict.  The person discovers that all the people recorded on this device are under a category labelled "Heroes."  It seems that the robots, under the leadership of a supercomputer called Archos, weren't trying to eradicate the human race, just weed them down a bit. 

The book is written as a third-person account of the heroes witnessed in the device.  The different "hero stories" follow a linear timeline, and jump around between 5-6 different heroes.  Each person's story line starts out with them noticing something different about the robots that were built to serve man, and progress through their personal battles against the uprising. 

This is a book that was recommended to me by a number of websites.  I have had to wait all summer to read it after reserving it through my local library.  It was definitely worth the wait.  Mr. Wilson has a Ph.D. in Robotics, but doesn't write like you think a scientist would.  He doesn't focus on the technical aspects, but instead paints a very detailed picture of what he wants you to see and get out of the story.  This is a quality that not all writers have, but when they do, it makes the story so much more engrossing. 

I have heard that Stephen Spielberg acquired the movie rights before the book was even published.  I will be very interesting to see what he can do with a story like this.  In the meantime, lets hope that the next book Mr. Wilson puts out will be just as entertaining as this one!

I Just Can't Do It

I'm sorry.  Not to you, but to myself.  It isn't very often that I cannot finish reading a book.  In fact, I can't remember the last time I didn't finish one.  My personal rule is that I give the book 100 pages of reading, and if I don't like it, I can stop.  I gave this one 195 pages.  I just can't bring myself to read anymore of it.  I will be honest.  My mind hasn't really been in it, but to me that still isn't an excuse. 

The book I was reading is called The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo.  It was recommended by an article on NPR's website.  I have read other books recommended by writers for NPR, and they have been good.  I am assuming that The Snowman is good also, it is just not good to me.  If you are not familiar with Mr. Nesbo's work, he is a Norwegian author.  The Snowman is a book in the Harry Hole series, with Harry Hole being the protagonist in the series.  I will not go into the story, since obviously I didn't finish it.  One issue I had the whole time reading was with the attempts that Hole made to seem American.  Every American comparison seemed to be caricature.  The one that really stuck with me was when Hole was practicing his speed-cuffing techniques on a table leg.  He wanted to be as good as the American detectives he witnessed during his stint with the FBI (yes, he got to train with the FBI.)  While I have never been arrested, I have seen it happen to others before, and I never once saw a police officer speed-cuff anyone. 

There are other points I could make, but again, I didn't finish the book, so I have a hard time telling others my opinions of it.  I'm sure others think it is a very good read, and I don't want to spoil their enjoyment.

Here are two books that I AM going to finish, that I recently picked up at the library:

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

A Brief Intermission...

I am currently reading The Snowman, by Jo Nesbo.  I am about a quarter of the way through it, but I don't think it will take more than a couple more days to finish.  It is pretty good so far.  I should have a complete review up by Friday.

Instead of making both all of you wait for me to finish the current book and post something, I thought I would mention a couple graphic novel series I read earlier this summer.  Both of them are unique in that I saw the movie or television show before reading the novel.  In most cases, when I see a movie or television show that looks interesting, and I know it is based on a book or series, I will try to read the book(s) first.  Not so in these two circumstances. 

The first graphic novel series I read was the Scott Pilgrim series, which was written by Bryan Lee O'Malley.  I believe he also drew the whole series also.  Before getting the books from the local library, I had watched the movie when it was on HBO.  I thought the movie was well done, and very funny, though I may be a little biased towards Edgar Wright.  Others I have spoken with about this movie did not have the same reactions.  Anyways, after seeing the movie, I thought I would read through the graphic novels.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well the movie tried to include all important aspects from the books.  Most movies-from-books try to stay with the book in the beginning, but then start changing things to speed up the plot as the movie goes on.  Obviously, the Scott Pilgrim books had a lot more detail and things going on than the movie.  I think that someone who read the books first would have a very different opinion than mine, but I enjoyed both the movie and the books equally.

The other graphic novel series I read was The Walking Dead series.  Calling it a graphic novel series is a little misleading.  I read the paperback compilations of the comic book series, which is written by Robert Kirkman, and illustrated by Tony Moore.  I have read the first 14 collections that are currently published, but the series is still ongoing through Image Comics.  The television show by the same name debuted on AMC on October 31, 2010.  I was instantly hooked.  The show was excellent, and the characters were well played by the actors.  I cannot wait for the second season to start this coming October.  As good as the show was on tv, the comics are even better.  I love the fact that the zombies (called walkers or biters in the books) are never the main characters.  The series is ultimately about how much peoples' lives would change in the wake of a global disaster such as this.  Each paperback covers six issues of the comic, and the show supposedly covered the first paperback (with a few changes).  With this being said, the show should get very interesting this season.  Hopefully the producers stick with the grittiness of the books and don't try to dumb it down for the audience.  I recommend both of these to people who are fans of this genre.  Each of them can be enjoyed as a stand-alone piece of work, so don't worry about which one you want to get into first.