Chatting With Ryan

So apparently Ryan Gosling and me have birthday on the same day, and that day is today. Happy birthday, Ryan! You're an okay actor and I like some of your films quite well (Drive!!!, Blue Valentine, Lars and the Real Girl).

 

And in order to keep this post from becoming total photo spam, here is the gift I got from my lovely fiancé this year:

It's a Kindle Paperwhite. There will be a post upcoming why I decided it would be a good idea to own an e-reader but right now I'ma gonna go get some more wine, watch some more Babylon 5 and fiddle around with my new precious.

More mini-reviews! #3

 

A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving

SHOULD I WRITE LIKE THIS NOW? Ok, ok, cheap trick, but after having read this book, who can resist? Owen Meany was fussed about a lot among book bloggers in spring and I got curious. Read the book, thought "meh" - it is a very decent book, but what is all the fuss about? Months later, I still can't get the characters out of my head - it's that kind of a book.

4/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde

The crazy literary nerdy adventures of Thursday Next continue in The Well of Lost Plots. This book features one of my favourite secondary characters in this series so far - ibb and obb (aka Lola and Randolph). Seriously, how does Fforde come up with this stuff? At times it feels that there is too much going on and it's really hard to force myself to slow down to inhale all the geeky details. I am happy I have two next books of this series waiting on the shelf.

5/5

 

 

 

Ship of Magic, Robin Hobb

Back when I started reading Robin Hobb with Assassin's Apprentice, I was really not sold. By now, I am totally sold - her works have improved for me, book after book. Ship of Magic doesn't have the full-on feel of fantasy; in fact, about the most fantastical thing about this series so far is liveships, but what a concept! In the first book of this trilogy I feel like we have only just scratched the surface of what might come out of the world where certain ships are alive. Also, I am usually borderline phlegmatic kind of reader, meaning I don't easily get overwhelming positive or negative emotions when reading, but in this book, one of the characters... maaan... I just wanted to punch him SO HARD! One of the most unlikeable characters I've encountered lately, who is definitely not two-dimensional, there are reasons for his actions, even though incomprehensible for me, but still... my fists just clenched every time he stepped into my field of vision.

5/5

 

 

 

The Universe Versus Alex Woods, Gavin Extence

What a precious book. A likeable main character, a likeable friendship, very likable secondary characters, focus on a very controversial topic that I personally feel very strong about. It is a very easy read text wise, but never for a moment is it dull. Parts of me sympathise with Gavin Extence (in case he is planning to publish more books) because really, after such debut, how high are the expectations and how does an author meet them?

5/5

Closing the lid of October

The books I read last month:

* Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

* The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury (Classics Club, RIP VIII)

* Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn (RIP VIII)

* Shatter Me by Taheref Mafi

* Dracula by Bram Stoker (Classics Club, RIP VIII)

* Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

* The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft (RIP VIII)

Haven't finished yet (and not sure if I will):

* The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

I managed four reviews in October, which for me is an achievement. Seriously, I feel like I'm in a constant writing slump... I'm trying to catch up with books I've finished and that will probably include at least one post full of mini reviews.

 

 

 

Here is my TBReviewed pile. Yep, it's quite high. 4 of those are Classics Club books, the rest I will turn into mini-reviews, most likely.

 

Here's to more catching up with reviews in November!

Concerning Harry Potter

Being involved in book blogging, every once in a while (or more like almost all the time and every day) you stumble onto something Harry Potter related. If there is something I have learned during my 9+ months of writing a blog, it's that the whole world loves Harry books. It is kind of a phenomenon - I haven't seen a single review/opinion that was negative! Even with the bestest and most hyped books, you usually get something from the each end of the spectrum, but no, Harry Potter can do no wrong in the eyes of the world.

 

When the first book was published, I was 15 years old, and that is basically answer to the mystery of why I hadn't read the books until this year - I was too old. Harry Potter was something for children, and not for an overachieving teenage girl.

 

Truth be told, I did read the first book at some point. I was sick at home, and my mother (!) had brought it from the library, for herself to read. How cool was my mother, and how uncool was I? I read it and quickly classified as "OK but too childish". Yes, the first book is meant for younger readers, but as much as I've seen, the later ones tend to mature pretty well.

 

The train was already gone, and I didn't really get the whole Potter mania that the world was going through (hype puts me off, needless to say). At some point I decided that if the books stand the test of time, I will read them all.

 

Now, more than 10 years have passed, books are still going strong, and when earlier in spring Scholastic revealed the new, not-too-shabby-looking covers for the anniversary of the books, I decided to get them, and read them (yes, even if it meant I'm getting "the Sorcerer's Stone" instead of "the Philosopher's Stone").

 

So that is how it's going right now: I read the book, then Jan reads the book, and then we watch the movie. I've read three books now, and he is reading the third, and we have watched the two first movies. It's a nice little project and let's hope we can keep it up until the end.

 

I have rated books 3/5, 4/5 and 5/5 so far, so very curious if the next ones are going to be as good as the Prisoner of Azkaban.

 

This is not a review, simply because I don't really feel there is much anything to add to everything being said about the book. They are fantastically written; atmospherically they are just too good; all the details (seriously, how do you even come up with all this stuff - Mandrakes? really? :D); in earlier ones maybe character development is a bit something to pick on, but I'm hoping it gets more sophisticated as characters age (looking forward to teenage-emo-Harry!).

 

I am also quite enjoying the films, although general consensus seems to be that they are not that good, but I find them really nice light, atmospheric entertainment with some really good acting.

 

The next book, the Goblet of Fire, is a proper brick and I'm thinking I will fit it in somewhere in the end of November - December. I haven't bought the other three books yet.

The Moonstone readalong - the tour of my copy!

 

I greet you, fellow Wilkie enthusiasts. It's November! So all this waiting is finally over and we can sink into our books without feeling any guilt.

 

In this post I shall introduce my copy of The Moonstone!

 

 

 

 

This is what it looks like, it is from the series called Oneworld Classics, of which I heard for the first time. But the book doesn't look too shabby, so maybe I can stumble upon some other books from this series in the bookshop. (Also, it was a lot cheaper than, say, Penguin Classics edition.)

 

 

The length of the story itself is 460 pages and there are several nifty additions to the story, such as

* photos of Wilkie, his family, his women, and his home (see photo above);

* preface, x2;

* notes on the text;

* extra material: Wilkie Collins's life, Wilkie Collins's works, Adaptations, Select bibliography, Acknowledgments (by the publisher) and the list of Oneworld Classics books.

 

 

This edition was published in 2007.

Spooky success - RIP VIII has ended

 

 

Our two spooky reads' months have ended - hooray! RIP VIII was such a fantastic event, right?

 

For me personally, I think this was the most successful reading event during the  wholeblogging time. In the end of August I decided to tackle the following pieces of literature:

1. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
2. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
3. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
4. Dracula by Bram Stoker
5. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes from The Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
6. The Shadow Over Innsmouth from Great Tales of Horror by H.P. Lovecraft

 

And here's what happened:

 

1. It sucks but I didn't get into The Turn of the Screw, my mind kept wandering off and after about half, I just put it aside, though it's more likely it will be one of those very rare cases that I will not finish a book/novella.

2. I finished The Night Circus and reviewed it here.

3. I finished Gardens of the Moon and reviewed it here.

4. I finished Dracula and have not reviewed it yet, but let me tell ya, it was a good piece of vampire story. That's how a vampire should be - none of that sparkling-under-the-sun crap.

5. I didn't read Sherlock Holmes because I think my short story quota is full for a while, what with Bradbury stories and Lovecraft story/novella.

6. I finished The Shadow Over Innsmouth and haven't reviewed it yet, but it was definitely the highlight among all the RIP reads - you guys, it was SO GOOD. I finished it yesterday, so just in time, and I'm so happy I decided to read it. So creepy, disturbing, with a twist that followed good pacing throughout - I'm a big fan. That's how a horror story should be written.

 

In addition, I accidentally read a few more books that would definitely count as RIP reads:

 

* The Illustrated Man - it's Ray Bradbury, and it's good, just as I would expect from him. Review here.

* Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn and I will not be besties; I didn't get this book, good thing it was a short one. Review Rant here.

 

So, I read 4 novels, 1 collection of short stories, and 1 novella. 2 of them count towards the Classics Club goal.

 

I will definitely take part again next year!

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Sent to investigate the disappearance of two little girls Camille finds herself reluctantly installed in the family mansion, reacquainting herself with her distant mother and a precocious thirteen-year-old half-sister she barely knows. Haunted by a family tragedy, troubled by the disquieting grip her younger sister has on the town, Camille struggles with a familiar need to be accepted.

But as clues turn into dead ends Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims and realises: she will have to unravel the puzzle of her own past if she's to survive this homecoming.

(From the back of the book.)

 

Not long after I boasted how awesome I have lately been at picking only good books to read, Shatter Me and Sharp Objects happened. That'll teach me!

 

The reason I picked up this book was to give Gillian Flynn another chance because I felt it extremely difficult to rate her overhyped Gone Girl and I really didn't want to be unfair. I wasn't a fan of Gone Girl but compared to Sharp Objects, it was better.

 

For me, Sharp Objects was a mess. I was really surprised because I probably gravitate towards books with darker themes and tones more than an average Joe (American Psycho is one of my favourites), but maaan. This book was just... The characters were... The plot... Gah! I didn't like it.

 

So Camille is the kind of young (around 30 - yes peoples that is young!) lady who has been into cutting herself for a long time and starts her days with a vodka shot from bottle she keeps under her pillow. Like... I really really tried to imagine that and I got sick (the vodka shot part). Like, I got nausea. Of course she generally drinks a lot, there is some drug doing around (with minors), casual sex, the whole thing along those lines.

 

Now I am not the one to judge. I get it that the main character developed into that person because of childhood traumas and things (yes her mum is a proper nutcase and stepdad made me shudder more than once - really creepy peeps), and I really don't judge because obviously I haven't been in such shoes, but really, it's also kind of hard to symphatise because in the end these were Camille's choices. Some of the self-destructive behaviour also didn't make any sense whatsoever (in which world and under which conditions is it ever a good idea to get high with your teen sister? I just don't get it).

 

I also found it problematic to take this book as a murder mystery trying-to-solve-it and I really didn't even care who was the culprit because honest, that town was full of nutcases and almost any one of the characters could have committed the crimes and I couldn't care less. One of the few redeeming parts of the book was the detective who was the main man on the case, of course he and Camille have a little thing going there, but I was happy how it played out in the end; I can't get more into detail as this is already bordering the spoiler territory but let's just say it was kind of a realistic outcome to the situation.

 

So yes, I think that was the last Flynn book for me, objectively I can see how certain type of people may enjoy her books but it just ain't my jam. I actually think that for me, her stories would probably play out better on the big screen - which means if it's true that a few of her books are in the making process to the movies, I might go and check them out.