Reading Bingo Progress

I’ve been making pretty good progress with my bingo card so far this year. I should have a few more to add before too long, but I wanted to share the progress I’ve made to date. If you’re participating let me know in comments!

In the top row I’ve completed “a book that became a movie” by reading The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I realize it was a short story more than an actual novel, but I think for this purpose it still counts. In the next line the square reads “a book by a female author” and that was In The Company of Thieves by Kage Baker. Of course like all good bingo cards, the center square is a free square, so I marked it off as completed. Finally I managed to fill in the square for “the second book in a series” by reading The Godborn, which is the second book in The Sundering series.

I know you normally win bingo by getting a row, but I would really like to complete the entire card. I think the most difficult square for me to fill will be “a book that scares you”. I’m just not a fan of reading things that scare me. The easiest square will probably be “a book published this year” – there are lots of great books releasing this year that I can’t wait to get to. I’ll post another update next month – in the meantime, keep reading!

Review: The Godborn, by Paul S. Kemp

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley, my thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity.

When I first saw The Godborn on NetGalley I was very interested in reviewing it because it’s the second book in The Sundering series, started by R.A. Salvatore. Like many, I had assumed that the books would have some sort of link between them, but I was wrong. They do both take place in the Forgotten Realms world, but that is where the similarities end. This is both good and bad, it means you can read them as individual stand alone novels, but if you’re looking for some continuation of a story you’ll be out of luck.

You follow the life of Vasen, who was born in an abbey having never known his father. He meets up with some heroes, and together they set forth to prevent the destruction of the world. Pretty straight forward story. The writing style is incredibly dark which makes sense since the end of the world is a pretty bleak time, but it was so dark and morbid and at times just disgusting that I found myself really wishing for some sort of reprieve. For fans of that sort of writing style I have no doubt that the book will resonate very well, but personally it was a bit too much.

3 / 5 stars

StoryBundle and their Sci-Fi Saturday Night Bundle

StoryBundle is promoting a wonderful collection of books picked out by the hosts at Sci-Fi Saturday Night. Now, science fiction is not one of my favorite genres, in fact I tend to stay as far away as possible but that doesn’t mean I can’t still promote great deals on wonderful books that others may be interested in. The bundle runs for another 14 days, and like the humble bundle deals you decide how much you want to pay. If you donate more than $10 you receive 3 bonus books.

Sounds like it’s win-win, to me.

If you’ve never heard of StoryBundle before, I suggest you check out their FAQ. They answer pretty much anything you would want to know – and they also look for authors to feature in their bundles. Could be some great publicity!

Review: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I admit, I saw the movie before I ever read the short story and I wish it had of been the other way around. I enjoy books much more than movies, but the fact was that I enjoyed the movie so much I wanted to read the book. I picked up the audiobook narrated by Ben Stiller for free on amazon which happened to come around by coincidence.

As a few others have mentioned, the fact that it is so short, is exactly the point. It highlights “the wispy nature of one man’s substance along Main Street, America, the story is meant to be here one moment, then gone.”

All of us have daydreamed at one point in time or another, and wished we could live through them. We wish we could perform heroic acts, but tend to quietly go back to our mundane existence. This is a reminder of that, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The book is short enough that there’s really no excuse not to give it a read or a listen and pay tribute to James Thurber.

4 / 5 stars

The Humble Audiobook Bundle

In an effort to listen to more audiobooks this year (even one would be an increase over last year) I picked up the latest humble bundle, which just happens to be eight audiobooks. I have only heard of three of the titles before, but at $4 (which was the average at the time that I purchased the bundle) I figured I couldn’t go wrong. I haven’t listened to any of the books yet because I’ve been slowly working my way through Moby Dick, but I did transfer them to my ipod with relative ease.

Some people don’t think audiobooks “count” when it comes to enjoying a book – but I think that they can provide the same relaxation and enjoyment. There are times when it’s just not possible for us to read, we’re often involved in other tasks but we do have the ability to listen. Why not fill these moments with some of our favorite things – books. No matter what their form.

The Human Library

This was an event I had never heard of before, but as soon as I did, I was intrigued. It’s called the living library, or the human library. It’s about interacting with real people, and having real conversations with them about their fields.

The concept

An individual accepts to take part in the event as a Book.

Book reservations for specific time slots will be available the day of the event at each site.

Books get “checked out” for 20 minutes by a Reader, during which they have a one-on-one conversation.

Readers can register for only one book at a time. First come, first served.

Background

Launched in Denmark in 2000, the Human Library was a way to focus on anti-violence, encourage dialogue and build relations. It has grown in popularity with 27 countries taking part in 2008, including Brazil, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Malaysia and South Africa.

The Ottawa Library held theirs on January 25th, and they had a lot of really interesting people available to ‘borrow’ including a Bylaw Officer at Carlingwood, a former gang member, a transgender, and a foster parent. The unique perspective that each person gave is something that just completely blew me away. I hope to see more of these events in the future, and if you have one such event taking place around your area, I highly suggest you check it out.

New Books for Friday

Amazon has had some pretty great books for sale lately, so of course I couldn’t help but pick a few of them up and adding them to my to-read pile. They don’t follow my typical genres of choice which I’m really pleased about. Whether or not I will enjoy them is another matter – but I love reading, so how could I not enjoy these books?

First up was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Saffer and Annie Barrows. I’ve seen a lot of good (and bad) said about this book, but it was actually recommended to me as a book club readers choice, and since I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, I decided to give it a whirl. At $1.99 it was a pretty simple choice.

Next I picked up A Clash of Honor by Morgan Rice, which was free from a daily deal. I haven’t read the other books in the series yet and I may pick those up first before moving on to this one as it is 4th in the series, but we’ll see. Maybe those too will be part of a daily deal. I can hope!

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion has been getting a lot of press lately, and it was another $1.99 deal from amazon which is a fantastic price. I really like the idea of the book, plus it’s not one of my usual genres. This year I’m really trying to branch out and discover books that I may not have otherwise read, and I think I’m off to a really good start so far.

Finally I bought When I found you by Catherine Ryan Hyde, and it was my final $1.99 purchase for the evening. I’m not exactly sure what inspired me to pick this book up other than it sounded really interesting and had gotten a few reviews that I found intriguing. None of my friends have marked it on their read lists, so I’m not really sure what to expect. That being said, once again the price was tempting in all of these instances, and I can’t wait to get started. I haven’t decided which one I want to read first yet!

Have you picked up any good books this week? Let me know in comments!

Review: Lingering Echoes by Erica Kiefer

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review, my thanks to the publishers.

I’m not sure what sparked my interest in this book, I think it was a whim more than anything else. Perhaps the fact that it showed up listed in a NetGalley email which should say something for those types of promotions working at least.

Readers first learn about Allie Collins and her family through a lot of bickering between them all. She has been sent to her family’s summer cottage with a friend of hers, and her extended family. All her and her family does is fight. The cottage is the location of a pretty horrific accident that happened a previous year so it is no wonder that she doesn’t want to be there. She meets Damien while she’s there, but you’re introduced to him because of the way he keeps stalker Allie. Well, perhaps stalking is too harsh a word, he just ‘turns up’ wherever she is.

I had a really hard time believing any of the characters. It felt like they weren’t completely fleshed out, and their conversations and even actions felt lacking. When I first began reading the book it felt as though I had been thrust part way into some other novel without any real explanation on what was going on or why these people were acting and reacting the way they were.

In a very ‘Twilight-esc” way, Allie starts to get interested in ‘bad boy’ Damien. While there are glimmers of a strong female character in there, her actions constantly leave me frustrated. Try as I might I just could not get into the writing style or the story. Things do pick up later on, as you start to realize what’s going on and the mystery surrounding the main characters, but you have to read through a good portion of the book before that starts to happen.

One thing to keep in mind is that it is a young adult book. While the story is ‘romance’ at its core with some pretty heavy themes, the writing style is meant to appeal to a younger audience, and it shows. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just wasn’t the book for me.

2.5 / 5 stars

Review: In The Company of Thieves by Kage Baker

I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review, my thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

I admit, sometimes I’m pretty shallow when it comes to picking a book to read. I judge by the covers (both the front and the back). The cover to ‘In the Company of Thieves’ pulled at me and I just knew that I had to read it.

I was sad to learn that Kage Baker had passed on, and even sadder once I read the first short story in this series. It involves a robotic entity who does nothing but observe time as it passes. Down the same streets, the same city. Eventually he starts to watch and observe a woman who visits a specific park each day. She fights for the restoration of the park but no one listens to her. He watches as she becomes thinner, and thinner, and eventually she dies from her illness. It was a sad yet touching story, filled with emotion and compassion, more so once I heard of the authors own death. Funny how things can touch us that way.

The stories were chosen by the authors sister once she had passed on, and that is probably the reason why they seem to ‘hit home’ as it were. There are six short stories total and while the later ones involve a setting that Kage Baker is known for, the first ones are a bit all over the place. This isn’t a bad thing, it just left me a bit confused as I naturally looked for a tie-in between stories. I loved the writing style and the steampunk-esc settings, but still found myself wanting a bit ‘more’ out of each short story.

The book came out in 2013, so if you’re a fan of Kage Baker or are looking for some new short stories to delve into, this makes for a great choice and it certainly left me with the desire to check out some of her other work.

3.5/5 stars

Review: Board Stiff by Piers Anthony

This book was given to me as an ARC for an honest review from NetGalley.

The world of Xanth is made of puns – and a virus threatens those puns. Of course before you get to the main story of the book you’re introduced to Kandy, a woman who is turned into a literal board of wood at a wishing well. Thankfully she doesn’t have to suffer too long, as she meets up with the love of her life. Being a board, things get complicated, quickly.

The two meet up with other characters along the way, including Com Pewter, and a basilisk. They partake in a quest to get rid of the virus, and meet up with many colourful characters along the way.

The book was highly sexualized and it felt almost needless. It was amusing hearing about men ‘freaking out’ and freezing any time they saw a flash of panties, but it felt like an overused mechanic that was just tossed in there randomly. I really enjoyed the world of Xanth, and the puns made me cackle in delight but again I felt the sex was something that was just thrown about whenever the author wanted a bit of shock value (which was often). Had these parts been left out of the book I would have personally enjoyed it a lot more.

Thankfully there are a few redeeming characters you meet up with along the way, and enough interest to keep wanting to read about the quest and see if the group is finally successful. If you’re familiar with the world of Xanth and the writing style of Piers Anthony then you may want to give this book a try, but otherwise it wasn’t quite what I was looking for.

3 / 5 stars