Books books books! :D :D Also some reviews.
Ever since In the Company of Shadows finished, I've been like WHEE I HAVE SO MUCH FREE TIME! :D *runs around madly waving arms!* I'm playing fetch with my dog more, going out with my friends more on the weekends, and most significantly, I've felt like I can start reading again! :D
For 6 years, I nearly had a moratorium on reading unless it was somehow related to the series or a few other caveats (like it combined research by being a review of another book and why it didn't work, like at RWAV) or was manga. I pretty much only read research topics, manga, the occasional fanfic, and the even MORE occasional book itself. I had so many books I bought or noted that people recommended but I just couldn't concentrate on reading them.
But no more! ohoho, I can start reading again, and you guys, you have no idea (ok you probably have a very good idea) how excited and happy I am about this! I mean, I love books. I fucking love bookstores (best way to pass the time ever), I love reading (my mom told me recently that as a kid the worst punishment they could give me was telling me I couldn't go to the library XD), and obviously I like to write (whether I'm any GOOD at it is in the eye of the beholder, of course lol).
SO ANYWAY. I can't remember if I already mentioned these books I read recently but if not I figured I'd mention them now! And if anyone has read them already/plans to/whatever and wants to talk to me, I'd be happy to talk! Or you can ignore me and I'll go cry in a corner. Whatever works for you.
(I won't really go cry in a corner. Probably. Unless you're SUPER MEAN TO ME ;_; )
In the realm of teen fiction starring female roles:
[INFORMATION/REVIEW: Cinder, and Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer]
Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and its sequel Scarlet
Summary: This is a well done retelling of Cinderella in a futuristic, dystopian world. Includes cyborgs, futuristic technology, the threat of war, a plague, and a prince struggling with his duties as leader versus his wants as a person.
How I found it and where you can find it: I ran across this rather accidentally (ngl, it was through a Mark Reads video on youtube lol) but I grew so intrigued by the reading of the first couple of chapters that I became obsessed with reading the rest of it. I scoured the intrawebz to find an ebook version of the first book, and read the whole thing in one sitting. First time I ever used the nook for any period of time. The next day I was obsessed with reading the sequel, and scored the intrawebz once more. Also read that all in one sitting. I would have gone on to read the others if only they'd been written yet. CURSE YOU, MARISSA MEYER! *shakes fist*
Cool thing I learned? Right now Amazon has the first 5 ebook chapters of Cinder for free download and the first 5 chapters of Scarlet for free too. If you don't have a kindle (like I don't), no worries-- download it anyway and you can read it on your browser in the kindle cloud reader. Also, there's an add-on in firefox that lets you read epubs (? I think) in browser if you ever need it.
My thoughts: I was surprised by how much I liked this series. I mean, I couldn't put the damn things down. I really like the main characters. For the most part, the female leads are strong. Interestingly, there were a couple of things that I anticipated I wouldn't like if it developed the way I suspected it would, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was wrong, or if it did develop that way, somehow it didn't bother me in the end. I think these are really good reads and are especially good reads for younger women to see the possibility of being a strong-willed woman without having to be put down for it.
Also, I like the way technology is dealt with, and I like the way it's more of a passing glance at the fairy tales than anything. ALSO, you know what I loved the MOST about this? Cinder is a hard worker, and unlike every other princess story ever, the second the idea of dressing up like a princess and going to a ball comes up, she doesn't drop everything for it. She's very pragmatic and a lot of her actions are ones that I could totally see someone doing.
For those of you who read Reading With a Vengeance (and if you don't, DO)-- I think this might be a series that could even pass RWAV scrutiny, or at least result in far fewer frustrations than most of the other relatively recent female-led YA novels out there that I know of.
I can't wait for the next book in the series and am already feeling very impatient for it, even though I think it's half a year away or more :(
[INFORMATION/ONGOING REVIEW: The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress -- I'M STILL READING! NO SPOILERS PLEASE!!!]
The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress
Summary: Steampunk ahoy! (from Amazon) Set in turn of the century London, The Friday Society follows the stories of three very intelligent and talented young women, all of whom are assistants to powerful men: Cora, lab assistant; Michiko, Japanese fight assistant; and Nellie, magician's assistant. The three young women's lives become inexorably intertwined after a chance meeting at a ball that ends with the discovery of a murdered mystery man.
How I found it and where you can find it: My friend linked me to a bog that mentioned it (might have been this one?) when I told him I was getting into steampunk and after I'd been talking to him about all the ridiculous things I'd started to notice about female characters after reading RWAV. As for where you can get it, I'm not linking anything because you can get it wherever you prefer to find books.
My thoughts: This is one I'm still in the middle of reading (lol I checked and I'm literally almost halfway through the book pagewise-- right now on pg 224 about to start chapter 26). SO PLEASE-- NO SPOILERS if you've read the whole thing or are past me!
I'm torn on this one so far. There are some things that I think are really cool about it-- three female leads, strong in different ways, who don't take shit, aren't afraid to stand up for themselves, whose personalities make sense for their backgrounds as far as I can tell, and realistic reactions to things like dudes being too flirtatious and grabby for one character in particular-- but then some things that I'm still on the fence over-- in particular, the voices work well enough for each character but it doesn't seem like it's in England at all, let alone London, let alone in the 1900s. It reads very much to me like a completely modern day story narrated by two American girls and one Japanese girl in the process of adopting American quirks. So that keeps throwing me off mightily. The thing that didn't make me hate it for that was that it was clearly done on purpose and since it's alt-history steampunk-ish, I tried to just keep saying to myself that the vernacular could have... somehow... developed in such a way. I guess it's less that phrases like "smokin' hot" are used and more that NO ONE'S dialogue seems very Victorian or English to me.
There are some other things that bug me (the scene after the Jekyll/Hyde duality conversation with Harris and Cora for instance) because they seem way too random and abrupt and unrealistic and not properly dealt with to me, HOWEVER. Take that with a grain of salt because I'm not done with the book yet so I don't know if the things that are currently bothering me will be addressed by the end.
Oh and PS: we've barely met Dr. Mantis but the whole time I totally had in my mind Techrat from Jem and the Holograms XD If you've read The Friday Society, and you watch that clip, can't you see it?? "Don't touch meeeeee!" hahaha XD They even both talk in a weird whisper XD
Anyway, I'm going to try to finish reading that book this weekend.
I was going to write about the newest Dresden book as well (Cold Days) but then I got tired and decided I'd hold off unless I knew anyone else out there who recently read Dresden's newest book and wants to talk about it. If you're reading this and you do, let me know, and I'd be happy to talk to you about it or do a post about it if you wanted.
For 6 years, I nearly had a moratorium on reading unless it was somehow related to the series or a few other caveats (like it combined research by being a review of another book and why it didn't work, like at RWAV) or was manga. I pretty much only read research topics, manga, the occasional fanfic, and the even MORE occasional book itself. I had so many books I bought or noted that people recommended but I just couldn't concentrate on reading them.
But no more! ohoho, I can start reading again, and you guys, you have no idea (ok you probably have a very good idea) how excited and happy I am about this! I mean, I love books. I fucking love bookstores (best way to pass the time ever), I love reading (my mom told me recently that as a kid the worst punishment they could give me was telling me I couldn't go to the library XD), and obviously I like to write (whether I'm any GOOD at it is in the eye of the beholder, of course lol).
SO ANYWAY. I can't remember if I already mentioned these books I read recently but if not I figured I'd mention them now! And if anyone has read them already/plans to/whatever and wants to talk to me, I'd be happy to talk! Or you can ignore me and I'll go cry in a corner. Whatever works for you.
(I won't really go cry in a corner. Probably. Unless you're SUPER MEAN TO ME ;_; )
In the realm of teen fiction starring female roles:
[INFORMATION/REVIEW: Cinder, and Scarlet, by Marissa Meyer]
Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and its sequel Scarlet
Summary: This is a well done retelling of Cinderella in a futuristic, dystopian world. Includes cyborgs, futuristic technology, the threat of war, a plague, and a prince struggling with his duties as leader versus his wants as a person.
How I found it and where you can find it: I ran across this rather accidentally (ngl, it was through a Mark Reads video on youtube lol) but I grew so intrigued by the reading of the first couple of chapters that I became obsessed with reading the rest of it. I scoured the intrawebz to find an ebook version of the first book, and read the whole thing in one sitting. First time I ever used the nook for any period of time. The next day I was obsessed with reading the sequel, and scored the intrawebz once more. Also read that all in one sitting. I would have gone on to read the others if only they'd been written yet. CURSE YOU, MARISSA MEYER! *shakes fist*
Cool thing I learned? Right now Amazon has the first 5 ebook chapters of Cinder for free download and the first 5 chapters of Scarlet for free too. If you don't have a kindle (like I don't), no worries-- download it anyway and you can read it on your browser in the kindle cloud reader. Also, there's an add-on in firefox that lets you read epubs (? I think) in browser if you ever need it.
My thoughts: I was surprised by how much I liked this series. I mean, I couldn't put the damn things down. I really like the main characters. For the most part, the female leads are strong. Interestingly, there were a couple of things that I anticipated I wouldn't like if it developed the way I suspected it would, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was wrong, or if it did develop that way, somehow it didn't bother me in the end. I think these are really good reads and are especially good reads for younger women to see the possibility of being a strong-willed woman without having to be put down for it.
Also, I like the way technology is dealt with, and I like the way it's more of a passing glance at the fairy tales than anything. ALSO, you know what I loved the MOST about this? Cinder is a hard worker, and unlike every other princess story ever, the second the idea of dressing up like a princess and going to a ball comes up, she doesn't drop everything for it. She's very pragmatic and a lot of her actions are ones that I could totally see someone doing.
For those of you who read Reading With a Vengeance (and if you don't, DO)-- I think this might be a series that could even pass RWAV scrutiny, or at least result in far fewer frustrations than most of the other relatively recent female-led YA novels out there that I know of.
I can't wait for the next book in the series and am already feeling very impatient for it, even though I think it's half a year away or more :(
[INFORMATION/ONGOING REVIEW: The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress -- I'M STILL READING! NO SPOILERS PLEASE!!!]
The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress
Summary: Steampunk ahoy! (from Amazon) Set in turn of the century London, The Friday Society follows the stories of three very intelligent and talented young women, all of whom are assistants to powerful men: Cora, lab assistant; Michiko, Japanese fight assistant; and Nellie, magician's assistant. The three young women's lives become inexorably intertwined after a chance meeting at a ball that ends with the discovery of a murdered mystery man.
How I found it and where you can find it: My friend linked me to a bog that mentioned it (might have been this one?) when I told him I was getting into steampunk and after I'd been talking to him about all the ridiculous things I'd started to notice about female characters after reading RWAV. As for where you can get it, I'm not linking anything because you can get it wherever you prefer to find books.
My thoughts: This is one I'm still in the middle of reading (lol I checked and I'm literally almost halfway through the book pagewise-- right now on pg 224 about to start chapter 26). SO PLEASE-- NO SPOILERS if you've read the whole thing or are past me!
I'm torn on this one so far. There are some things that I think are really cool about it-- three female leads, strong in different ways, who don't take shit, aren't afraid to stand up for themselves, whose personalities make sense for their backgrounds as far as I can tell, and realistic reactions to things like dudes being too flirtatious and grabby for one character in particular-- but then some things that I'm still on the fence over-- in particular, the voices work well enough for each character but it doesn't seem like it's in England at all, let alone London, let alone in the 1900s. It reads very much to me like a completely modern day story narrated by two American girls and one Japanese girl in the process of adopting American quirks. So that keeps throwing me off mightily. The thing that didn't make me hate it for that was that it was clearly done on purpose and since it's alt-history steampunk-ish, I tried to just keep saying to myself that the vernacular could have... somehow... developed in such a way. I guess it's less that phrases like "smokin' hot" are used and more that NO ONE'S dialogue seems very Victorian or English to me.
There are some other things that bug me (the scene after the Jekyll/Hyde duality conversation with Harris and Cora for instance) because they seem way too random and abrupt and unrealistic and not properly dealt with to me, HOWEVER. Take that with a grain of salt because I'm not done with the book yet so I don't know if the things that are currently bothering me will be addressed by the end.
Oh and PS: we've barely met Dr. Mantis but the whole time I totally had in my mind Techrat from Jem and the Holograms XD If you've read The Friday Society, and you watch that clip, can't you see it?? "Don't touch meeeeee!" hahaha XD They even both talk in a weird whisper XD
Anyway, I'm going to try to finish reading that book this weekend.
I was going to write about the newest Dresden book as well (Cold Days) but then I got tired and decided I'd hold off unless I knew anyone else out there who recently read Dresden's newest book and wants to talk about it. If you're reading this and you do, let me know, and I'd be happy to talk to you about it or do a post about it if you wanted.