30 days of books meme
Been wanting to do this since I saw the 30 days of music, tv, movies etc. going around. I don't watch that much TV though and my taste in music is pretty pedestrian (I just listen to what they play on the radio), so.
Day 1 - Best book you read last year
Joe Abercrombie, Best Served Cold. I should preface this by saying I don't think it was the best book of 2009, or even the best book I read in 2009. It was probably the one I enjoyed most though. Best Served Cold is set in the same 'verse as the "First Law" trilogy, which I cannot for the life of me seem to get into. I think I got 20 pages into The Blade Itself before giving up out of boredom. I'm still not sure why I fared so much better with this stand-alone novel, honest.
Abercrombie's style of writing continues to grate on me - it's like he's got his own idiolect, and sometimes that works, but for the most part I think unless your name is Joyce you should try to make your prose as unobtrusive as possible. Also, there was a lot of highly graphic, possibly gratuitous violence.
My dad refuses to watch a movie if nobody gets shot and nothing blown up in the first fifteen minutes. I apparently have the same weakness for opening theatrics, because as soon as Monza Murcatto's longtime employer, Duke Orso, threw her off a cliff after murdering her brother in cold blood, I was hooked. I watched her break practically every bone in her body in the fall, watched her heal, watched her swear revenge on the Duke, and I thought, cool, I know what kind of story this is. First, she has to collect allies. Instead of a gang of lovable rouges we get a motley crew of broken (wo)men. And I do mean 'broken' in the sense of a china vase, not a jammed printer. Thieving, sneaking, stealing and general skullduggery ensues. It's very dark. I repeat, for all those who are familiar with the GRRM definition of "grim" and "gritty" and "gray characters" - you ain't seen nuthin' till you've seen Joe Abercrombie.
It is to Abercrombie's credit that he managed to surprise me even though I was mostly right about the kind of story this is. As with all good revenge novels, it's ultimately a story of redemption. There is a shocking!plot twist - two, in fact - and he also does a couple of things thematically that I liked. He explores the consequences of thwarted obsession, what happens when you build your entire life around something - a crown, for instance, or a person - and you lose it, what that loss does to you. He sets Shivers up as Monza's foil and their trajectories seem to pass like ships in the night, his looking ever forward towards the future, while Monza is mired in the past (the interludes featuring flashbacks from Monza and Benna's childhood and rise to prominence as mercenaries eventually link up with the main timeline). Of course, by the end of the book, Shivers is no longer an optimist and Monza is no longer a cynic, and even though it'd be too simplistic to say they rubbed off on each other, they both gained something from their brief liaison.
Also, I like books that end with a pregnant woman. Not the kind where the romance is the main thread and having a bun in the oven is like a coda to the action, though. I like it when the pregnancy symbolizes possibilities. I particularly liked Monza's pregnancy because the uncertainty surrounding the child's paternity mirrors Friendly's concerns about life's unpredictability. Have I mentioned yet how impressed I was with Friendly when he decided to turn himself in so he could spend the rest of his life safely behind bars, in a controlled environment devoid of randomness? It was such a Friendly thing to do, so in-character, and it was exactly how his character arc should have ended. Rarely have I ever seen a fantasy novel ended so satisfactorily - it's much easier to write good, gripping beginnings - that I will overlook all the other quibbles I have with this book to pronounce it the best book I read last year.
"You were a hero round these parts. That's what they call you when you kill so many people the word murderer falls short."
"What do the dice say?"
"Dice say nothing. They are dice."
"Why roll'em, then?"
"They are dice. What else would I do with them?"
Day 01 - Best book you read last year - Joe Abercrombie, Best Served Cold.
Day 02 - A book that you've read more than 3 times
Day 03 - Your favorite series
Day 04 - Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 05 - A book that makes you happy
Day 06 - A book that makes you sad
Day 07 - Most underrated book
Day 08 - Most overrated book
Day 09 - A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 10 - Favorite classic book
Day 11 - A book you hated
Day 12 - A book you used to love but don't anymore
Day 13 - Your favorite writer
Day 14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 - Favorite male character
Day 16 - Favorite female character
Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 - A book that disappointed you
Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 - Favorite romance book
Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 - Favorite book you own
Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven't
Day 24 - A book that you wish more people would've read
Day 25 - A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 - Favorite title
Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 - Your favorite book of all time
Day 1 - Best book you read last year
Joe Abercrombie, Best Served Cold. I should preface this by saying I don't think it was the best book of 2009, or even the best book I read in 2009. It was probably the one I enjoyed most though. Best Served Cold is set in the same 'verse as the "First Law" trilogy, which I cannot for the life of me seem to get into. I think I got 20 pages into The Blade Itself before giving up out of boredom. I'm still not sure why I fared so much better with this stand-alone novel, honest.
Abercrombie's style of writing continues to grate on me - it's like he's got his own idiolect, and sometimes that works, but for the most part I think unless your name is Joyce you should try to make your prose as unobtrusive as possible. Also, there was a lot of highly graphic, possibly gratuitous violence.
My dad refuses to watch a movie if nobody gets shot and nothing blown up in the first fifteen minutes. I apparently have the same weakness for opening theatrics, because as soon as Monza Murcatto's longtime employer, Duke Orso, threw her off a cliff after murdering her brother in cold blood, I was hooked. I watched her break practically every bone in her body in the fall, watched her heal, watched her swear revenge on the Duke, and I thought, cool, I know what kind of story this is. First, she has to collect allies. Instead of a gang of lovable rouges we get a motley crew of broken (wo)men. And I do mean 'broken' in the sense of a china vase, not a jammed printer. Thieving, sneaking, stealing and general skullduggery ensues. It's very dark. I repeat, for all those who are familiar with the GRRM definition of "grim" and "gritty" and "gray characters" - you ain't seen nuthin' till you've seen Joe Abercrombie.
It is to Abercrombie's credit that he managed to surprise me even though I was mostly right about the kind of story this is. As with all good revenge novels, it's ultimately a story of redemption. There is a shocking!plot twist - two, in fact - and he also does a couple of things thematically that I liked. He explores the consequences of thwarted obsession, what happens when you build your entire life around something - a crown, for instance, or a person - and you lose it, what that loss does to you. He sets Shivers up as Monza's foil and their trajectories seem to pass like ships in the night, his looking ever forward towards the future, while Monza is mired in the past (the interludes featuring flashbacks from Monza and Benna's childhood and rise to prominence as mercenaries eventually link up with the main timeline). Of course, by the end of the book, Shivers is no longer an optimist and Monza is no longer a cynic, and even though it'd be too simplistic to say they rubbed off on each other, they both gained something from their brief liaison.
Also, I like books that end with a pregnant woman. Not the kind where the romance is the main thread and having a bun in the oven is like a coda to the action, though. I like it when the pregnancy symbolizes possibilities. I particularly liked Monza's pregnancy because the uncertainty surrounding the child's paternity mirrors Friendly's concerns about life's unpredictability. Have I mentioned yet how impressed I was with Friendly when he decided to turn himself in so he could spend the rest of his life safely behind bars, in a controlled environment devoid of randomness? It was such a Friendly thing to do, so in-character, and it was exactly how his character arc should have ended. Rarely have I ever seen a fantasy novel ended so satisfactorily - it's much easier to write good, gripping beginnings - that I will overlook all the other quibbles I have with this book to pronounce it the best book I read last year.
"You were a hero round these parts. That's what they call you when you kill so many people the word murderer falls short."
"What do the dice say?"
"Dice say nothing. They are dice."
"Why roll'em, then?"
"They are dice. What else would I do with them?"
Day 01 - Best book you read last year - Joe Abercrombie, Best Served Cold.
Day 02 - A book that you've read more than 3 times
Day 03 - Your favorite series
Day 04 - Favorite book of your favorite series
Day 05 - A book that makes you happy
Day 06 - A book that makes you sad
Day 07 - Most underrated book
Day 08 - Most overrated book
Day 09 - A book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
Day 10 - Favorite classic book
Day 11 - A book you hated
Day 12 - A book you used to love but don't anymore
Day 13 - Your favorite writer
Day 14 - Favorite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 - Favorite male character
Day 16 - Favorite female character
Day 17 - Favorite quote from your favorite book
Day 18 - A book that disappointed you
Day 19 - Favorite book turned into a movie
Day 20 - Favorite romance book
Day 21 - Favorite book from your childhood
Day 22 - Favorite book you own
Day 23 - A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven't
Day 24 - A book that you wish more people would've read
Day 25 - A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 - A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 - The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 - Favorite title
Day 29 - A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 - Your favorite book of all time