First read: 23.01.2009
Comments: Although I liked the philosphical implications of the "Extras" world I still would say the Uglies series would have been better as a trilogy. I think it's greatly Aya Fuse's fault. Aya seems to try to follow the Tally model by being exactly what her society expects of a fifteen-year old girl but, unlike Tally, who ( Read more... )

First read: 23-04-2008.

Summary: 173.000 words. Her crush on male impersonator Kitty Butler leads the main character to leave her small Kentish town, where she lives and works with her family in the family business: oysters. London and life as Kitty's dresser is everything she could have dreamed of, and soon she discovers that Kitty returns her ( Read more... )

"The Short History of a Prince" by Jane Hamilton.

First read: 15-03-2008.

Notes: I listened to this because it was supposed to be slashy... not so much. Homosexuality seems to be important to the main character but not as much as his family. It seemed to me as if it focused on the less interesting parts of ths story, somehow.

"Heir Apparent" by Vivian Vande Velde.

First read: 13-03-2008.

Notes: Well, wasn't this a letdown of universal proportions! This was written seven years after "Companions of the Night" and it's, let me count the ways: badly plotted, full of plot-holes, full of logic-holes, completely pointless, boringly repetitive. It's only saving grace it's that ( Read more... )

"Flora Segunda" by Ysabeau Wilce.

First read: 04-03-2008.

Notes:
( Read more... )

"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides.

First read: 06-02-2008 (audiobook)

Second read: 28.07.2012 (in paper. To think I meant to re-read this once a year!)

Notes: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Middlesex is an epic with all the right references and literary credentials. But it's not at all pretentious, there is undeniable passion behind the academic ( Read more... )

“Rings, Swords, and Monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature” by Michael C. Drout.

First read: 28-01-2008.

Notes: Another brilliant installment :). Drout revealed interesting things like that fantasy literature is an exercise in nostalgia (Nos talgia = our house) for a place we can never go back to.

Tolkien sends me to sleep, even in movie form, but ( Read more... )

"From Here To Infinity: An Exploration of Science Fiction Literature" by Michael D.C. Drout.

First read: 26-01-2008.

Notes: First, let me issue a warning, Drout discusses some novels(the best) in detail, even giving away their endings, which is, of course, a spoiler! These are a collection of lectures (they even come in mp3, not sure if there's a ( Read more... )

"Look Me In The Eye: My life with Asperger's" by John Elder Robison.


( Read more... )

"Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens.

First read: 31-12-2007.

Notes: I'm not sure what I think, quite yet. It was certainly fun at places and I did care about the characters but in the end, I don't feel like I have read a great story. It's too moralistic by far to be really touching and tells more than it shows in a way that keeps the reader ( Read more... )