Saturday, July 13, 2013

Catching up - a bunch of mini-reviews


Since I am so much behind with my book-reviewing, I decided to just take the easy way out and write only a couple of words of those books I have read in the past months. (Except for the Classics Club ones, of which I want to write longer.)
 

 
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - I loved this book so much. Booknerd's dream. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequels, if what I heard is true, the series will become even better.
 
5/5 on Goodreads.
 
 
 
The Forgotten Queen by D.L. Bogdan - this book is about a less-known Tudor, Queen Margaret of Scotland. Maybe her life has not been covered so much because there was not much to say? This is what I felt when finishing this book. Margaret's character comes out as really annoying by the end (she makes a lot of questionable decisions, especially when it comes to her relations with men, and she seemed to have some serious self-esteem issues). I appreciate all that I learnt from this book, but mediocre plot + nothing-special writing didn't suck me in that much (it took me a long time to finish the book).
 
2/5 on Goodreads (just as a reminder - 2 on GR means "It was okay", so it's not even a negative rating).
 
 
 
The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker - I had problems with this book, partly maybe caused by high expectations (golems? djinn? I am bound to love it, right?) First, the writing just didn't appeal to me that much. I didn't write down a single quote from the book. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't for me. The characters showed a lot of promise, but in the end, I wasn't emotionally invested into any of them. I see what the author was trying to do and say, but for me it just came out kind of lacluster. It's quite a long book and by the end I really just wanted to get finished. Given my slight obsession with the djinn, I was also disappointed because the djinni in the book wasn't humorous or witty at all, he mostly embodied the negative characteristics (selfish, with anger management issues). I don't know, seeing all the praise for this book I was kind of sad it didn't do that much for me. That all being said, the setting of New York in the turn of the century was kind of captivating.
 
3/5 on Goodreads.
 
 
City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte - this book proved how important it is to choose the right story for the right moment. I chose City of Dark Magic to read for the Prague trip, and it worked well, because the novel is set in Prague and it's the kind of easy reading that suits me when I have problems concentrating. I was bound to enjoy it because I was basically wandering around in those same places where characters of the book did. Aside from those subjective feelings, I got a lot of Dan Brown vibe from this book. At some point I had problems with info-dumping. Some of the things didn't make sense. I had no problems with the paranormal element. I will probably read the sequel, just because, you know, Prague.
 
3/5 on Goodreads.
 
 
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey - this is a young adult dystopian book that I have seen getting a lot of praise. I am not a young adult reader, so I am always in fear that I am being unfair just because the genre is not my favourite. I think it's actually a decent book. I wouldn't jump on the fangirl/-boy wagon, but it was a decent story. A few things disturbed me - given that the novel was written by several different POVs, there was really nothing except for the plot itself to give any indication that these were different characters, so I don't think the different POV-thing was done well at all. But it was a gripping read and the whole idea of by whom the earth was taken over was kind of new and captivating.
 
3/5 on Goodreads.
 
 
Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon - I picked up this detective story after I heard the news that my grandmother has passed away and I knew for sure I won't be able to read anything heavy or actually anything that would require any kind of emotional investment. I think it served its purpose well, although it made me rething whether I want to continue with Leon's Brunetti-series. But I probably will because this being the first book of the series is definitely not the best one. The books are set in Venice, which was a huge pro-factor for me when deciding which contemporary detective series I'd like to start.
 
3/5 on Goodreads.
 

 

16 comments:

  1. Look at all those books you've been readin! That's a lot, I don't blame you for just wanting to get reviewing some of them out of the way.

    I'm so so happy you liked The Eyre Affair! And I've been seeing The Golem and the Djinni around a lot lately and was thinking of trying it... but maybe I'll wait. I'm like you, I like my djinni witty and sarcastic! This book seems a bit more serious, which I don't know if I'm really in the mood for.

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    1. Hehe, some of these go way back, I think I read The Eyre Affair during Bout of Books readathon (which was in May? Yes).

      I don't know about The Golem and the Djinni, I mean everyone seems to like it so it's probably my problem that I didn't that much, so I would definitely not discourage anyone from reading it. But it's definitely a more serious book than the other jinn-books that I've read.

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  2. You've been productive recently! I'm also dying to get my hands on the sequels to The Eyre Affair. It has been a year since I read the first one and, like you say, it is a booknerd's dream.

    The City of Dark Magic was a good choice for your holiday. It is really cool to read about a place you are actually in. Plus, the guy has an awesome name :D

    The 5th Wave is all over the show at the moment. I feel I should read it but then I hate falling prey to hype and I actually dislike YA quite a bit. I'm a massive book snob. I'm glad you enjoyed aspects of it, the premise certainly sounds gripping and intriguing.

    I hope everything is good with you :)

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    1. Recently as in the past 3 or so months ;) Actually quite the opposite, it's been busy and I've been in a slump. But it doesn't bother me much at this point and I still read regularly, if less in volumes.

      "The guy" is actually a pen name for two women :) But it was indeed an okay holiday book.

      I'm definitely not a YA reader, but I'm making effort to read a little bit of it to be more of an all-around reader. Luckily YA books tend to be easier books that go fast so they don't take away too much reading time from other things :)

      Thanks for your lovely comment, Ellie.

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  3. Oh no, I think I need to adjust my expectations of The Golem & The Djinni, because in my head it is THE BEST BOOK EVER. I did the same with Alif the Unseen, which was very good, but could never be as good as I hoped it would be.

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    1. I think the problem for me was exactly that in my head I made it into The Best Book Ever before reading it. Or I had overall such high expectations, and at the same time I wasn't quite sure what I was even expecting, so it was meant to be doomed. It was still an okay book, just nothing special for me (I liked Alif way better but then again, I had absolutely zero expectations for that one :) )

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  4. I've only read The Eyre Affair from your list and I enjoyed it a lot and have been collecting the others in the series...but I'm terrible at reading series books. I keep seeing so much buzz for The Golem and The Djinni. Sometimes it's nice to see some tempered reactions (even if it means YOU didn't like it as much).

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    1. Ah, I think if I had other Thursday Next books at home they'd be on the very top of TBR list :) I do get the reading of the series issue, too, but probably not with these books.

      And I agree, if a book gets a lot of hype, it's always nice to read a little bit more toned down opinions in the middle of the fuss.

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  5. That's too bad about The Golem & the Djinni! I still want to read it, but good to know your thoughts. Glad you liked The City of Dark Magic -- I thought it was just so light & fun.

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    1. The Golem and the Djinni totally seems to be one of those books that most people love but I just didn't get in to, so I definitely wouldn't not recommend skipping it.

      And yes - I am actually looking forward to the sequel to The City of Dark Magic, I think the plot moves to Vienna but there'll still be a bit of Prague :))

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  6. YAY Fforde. And the series really does get better than The Eyre Affair, which is pretty great to start with.

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    1. Well, I couldn't resist last week and ordered four following books in the series, I can't wait to get to them already! :)

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  7. I'm just catching up on posts from the last week, so I'm a little late on commenting :-)

    You and I seem to have similar views on books. I, too, loved The Eyre Affair, and found The Forgotten Queen and City of Dark Magic to be just okay. I wonder if my thoughts on The Golem and the Djinni will match yours?

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    1. I'd be excited to read about your thoughts on Helene Wecker's novel, since I've read many praising reviews but none by people whose blogs I read regularly, so it will indeed be interesting to see :)

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  8. I've heard so many good things about The 5th Wave! Not sure if I should pick it up though. The cover of The Golem and the Djinni is nice

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    1. I'm sure people who enjoy YA/Dystopian genre will find something from The 5th Wave. But for some it may definitely come off as too simple.

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Leave a comment if you feel like it - it warms my little bookish heart. :)