Challenges or the I’m a miserable failure post

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This week I decided I’d do a few wrap-up posts and I’m starting with challenges (my original list). I figured it would be an easy one since almost all attempts were botched this year.

So, jumping in, it’s the end of the year and I’ve failed at most of the reading challenges I entered this year. It was bound to happen. There are so many challenges and I always tend to over estimate what I’m capable of reading in a year. I kept signing up but somehow I didn’t keep reading.

The tally, here goes… In 2012, I managed to complete The Stephen King Project, reading more books than I thought I would thanks to a co-worker who gave me several of King’s books and got me started. For the Gender in SciFi Challenge, I managed only three of six. The Back to the Classics Challenge was even worse; of the nine on my list, I finished one and quit another. The Tea and Books Reading Challenge also had a pathetic showing; I was going to read four and only read one. In fact, I never even picked the fourth book for the challenge. For the BHA Book Club, which isn’t really a challenge but since I’m already adding up what I didn’t do I thought I throw it in, I read three books.

My personal re-reading challenge was also a bust — I had seven on my list and finished three. Since getting a Nook, I’ve started keeping track of the ebooks I read and this year I read 28 which is down from 36 the year before.

In general, I read less this year which shouldn’t make my failing challenges a big surprise. I know a lot of people who’ve stopped taking on challenges and maybe that’s why I haven’t seen many posts for 2013, that, and I’ve been ignoring all my feeds. I think what I’m going to do is continue my 2012 challenges into 2013 and finish out what’s on my list because there are some great books on that list. Also, I’m not going to feel any guilt about it. Books will get read in the end.

It’s your turn, did you finish any challenges this year? Feel free to gloat if you managed a ton.

The Sunday Salon – Out of Order

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I did something I normally don’t do. I read a series of books out of order. I know, the horror, right. There was this book about two years ago that everyone was excited about. I was trying out NetGalley and requested a copy. I knew it was part of a series but I decided to go with it anyway because it was exactly the type of book I like. Well, about two years later, I’m getting around to starting the series, officially. If you’re curious, it’s Deanna Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series. I finished Silent in the Grave this week and I think I may be looking around for the next book for some holiday downtime reading.

In other non-book related news, our tree is decorated and has finally started to look like a tree instead of a large, pine scented bush. I’ve started the holiday baking, presents have been bought, and holiday spiced beer has been drunk. So, why am I not feeling the holidays yet? Hopefully I’ll get into the spirit later this week when all the crazy work stuff is done and holiday parties begin.

Well, I have pierogies to make so I’m off for today. Happy Sunday reading.

Double Review – Berserker and Abominable

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BerserkerBerserker

By William Meikle
Generation Next Publications
4 stars

I always enjoy Viking stories and always mean to read more than I actually manage to. When I came across this book I was happy to see it met the very important conditions I was looking for — it featured a monster in the context of a Viking story. It seemed like a good candidate for my October reading.

Tor Tyrsson is on his first Viking voyage and the adventure he expected is less than stunning. His friend Orjan Skald, who has been subject to strange trances since an injury he suffered as a child, has accompanied him and he is also having less than the time of his life. While Tor actually wants to encounter a fight, Sklad can only predict them when the strange trance he calls the wyrd takes him. After being at sea in heavy storms with no land or other ships in sight for months, when land is spotted, everyone on this doomed voyage is ready for an adventure off the ships. Unfortunately, what they find on land is something completely and utterly unexpected.

I wanted a book with monsters and got one. There was no disappointment on that end. The Alma, large, white-haired beasts that can rip a man into several pieces, are not only the stuff of legend but fodder for bad dreams for the men on this journey. Hoping to find treasure, these Vikings instead find a single female Alma and slaughter her bringing down the wrath of the Alma colony that exists on the small bit of land they were doomed to land on. Much violence ensues, as you can imagine. This is a Viking story so that shouldn’t be a surprise. I don’t say that to turn anyone off of the story — everything that happens, makes sense within the context of the story. And, it’s a story about monsters so it’s easy to step back from it all.

This was my first official October read, which I actually read at the end of September. (Yes, I’m that far behind on reviews.) It was enjoyable despite not actually being read in the month in which it was being saved for. I hoard my scary books when Halloween approaches and this was one of them. If you’re like me, this would be one for the pile. It’s a quick read and I found it entertaining.

AbominableAbominable
By William Meikle
Smashwords Edition
3.5 stars

No one knows what happened on George Mallory’s last ascent up Mount Everest. Until an iron chest that had been forgotten for many years is opened and the secrets of that last journey are revealed. The journey is much more dramatic than any imagined and while some would believe Mallory succumbed to the elements, there are other devious monsters at work.

Yetis! Yep, more monsters. This short story was a nice diversion when I found myself in between books and not sure what I wanted to read next. I liked that this was told by someone who was hawking the diary of a dead man and providing select entries to convince the buyer it was worthwhile. It added a nice creepy touch. Also, I love anything told epistolary style. I’m such a sucker there.

This being a short story means this is going to be a short review as well since I’m going to do my best not to give away too much information. So I end with this — if you’re looking for a short evening read to curl up with this fall/winter, give it a shot.

Review – Bag of Bones

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Bag of BonesThere are so many good reviews of this that of course I had to read it. It’s one of King’s many books that I never got around to, and with the number of books this man writes and publishes, I’m not surprised it took me this long to read it.

Mike Noonan is an author, a good mid-list author at that. He leads a comfortable life with his wife Jo in New England. When Jo unexpectedly dies of a brain aneurysm, Mike is left alone and almost incapacitated by her sudden death. His wife also left him with a bit of mystery and he wants answers. Since Jo’s death, Mike has developed writer’s block, something he’s never even briefly experienced in his career as a writer. Thinking a change in scenery will help with his writer’s block and hopefully quell the obsession he’s developing with his dead wife’s coming and goings, Mike heads to his vacation house on a lake in the woods of Maine. Shortly after arriving, he finds himself caught up in a nasty custody battle over a three year-old girl he accidentally made friends with when he saw her walking down the middle of a busy road. Unwilling to let Mattie, the young mother, get destroyed by the system, Mike steps in and learns what it means to be a stranger in this part of Maine.

I jumped into this book anticipating a full out ghost story and found myself in the middle of a custody battle. Strange how books emerge sometimes. The ghost element was more than strong and I liked the small town history and how it all tied back to Mike and the property he owns but the custody battle felt like it really never fit for me even when every last tie was explained. I think my expectations were set up to be very different from what I actually got in reading the book. This sounds negative but it’s not. It just wasn’t what I had in mind when I started this book.

That said, I did enjoy this book very much. It reminded me of 11/22/63 in the slight love story that starts to develop, and then when the ghosts start in, there’s nowhere to hide for the reader or the characters. This book spooked me early on but as the story got going, I was more interested in the ghosts themselves than some of the living characters. Anything that scared me in the beginning was out the door by this time because I wanted to know every last detail of this town’s ghosts and have them out every bitter secret.

Even with all the ghosts and their brutal pasts emerging, the main story was sad. Mike Noonan is a man lost without his wife and drifting without a career now that he can no longer write without getting violently ill. When he decides to visit the lake home, he hopes he’ll be able to write again, and when he does, it’s not what he thinks it will be. He ends up have to mourn not only his wife but a part of his life he never thought he’d lose. The custody battle is heartbreaking, as all are, but there’s a cruel aspect to it all that ties back very well to the area’s unfortunately well-known and well-hidden past.

There are a few references to Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca in Bag of Bones. I adored Rebecca and referencing it here only made my love of it stronger. Why not invoke a book with a ghostly aspect to enhance another ghost story?

I know many people might stay away from an author like King and may not like horror/ghosts stories either. Well, in some ways this book is many of those things but I still want to encourage you to try it. It’s a good story with some extra supernatural parts to make it interesting. It’s more than its ghosts. In other words, it’s a keeper.

Bag of Bones
By Stephen King
Scribner
ISBN: 9781439106211
4 stars

Stephen King Button BlueThis book was read for The Stephen King Project Challenge. You can find more information here.

Review – City of Dark Magic

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City of Dark Magic

I have a soft spot for urban fantasy. I don’t know if it’s the paranormal haze that overtakes the story or if it’s the ridiculous quality that some stories take on when fantasy and paranormal mix, but in this book, it’s the latter. That ridiculous quality is the draw for me.

Sarah Weston is a talented music student in Boston but a student with few lucrative prospects in her path. When she’s offered a very profitable summer job in Prague cataloguing Beethoven’s manuscripts for a new museum, she jumps at the opportunity. Sarah arrives in Prague and is immediately hit with bad news — her mentor, the man who most likely recommended her for the position, is dead of an apparent suicide. She has trouble believing the story which gets even stranger when odd things begin happening to her. Weird symbols start appearing in unlikely places, she accidently stumbles on a Cold War conspiracy involving a very prominent U.S. Senator, and then there’s the time travel inducing drug she takes without knowing what it does. Throw in a romance with a prince and you’ve got a very busy summer that also includes putting together an exhibit on Beethoven.

A standard rule I have when reading a book such as this — remove all sense of reality then enjoy at will. City of Dark Magic is a fast read, silly, yet entertaining. It’s campy and you want to keep reading because it’s compelling in its strange way. I wanted to know what else could be thrown in the mix. This book is a huge mashup of genres: paranormal, mystery, thriller, time travel, and romance. Prague, with its long and sometimes dark history, is a good setting for it all but I do wish the city itself had played a larger role in the story. It’s a location and not much more.

Sarah’s the center of everything weird going on but she’s not the most interesting character for me. There are two others: Pollina, a blind musical prodigy who keeps warning Sarah with cryptic references about Prague, and Nicolas, a little person with a penchant for stealing valuable objects and who hints at being alive for close to 400 years. Pollina and Nicholas play scant parts in the story but they also made it for me. You don’t know much about either but each time one of them shows up, something interesting happens. I like characters like that.

Then we have the romance, which is more like sex in weird places rather than a straight forward romance. Sarah falls for Max, the heir apparent of the Prague royal family and also heir to an enormous fortune. Frankly, I had no idea what Sarah saw in him. He gets slightly more interesting as the story goes on but he’s sort like a light bulb — on one second, off the next but the two work as a couple.

I gravitate toward books with any time travel element. Here, it’s a bit different, less actual travel to the past and more watching the past thanks to a drug that allows users to see the remnants of history but not interact with it. Think of it as watching a movie. The concept is cool. In fact, it works extremely well and is one of the best parts of the book. Points for creativity need to be awarded for this.

Sometimes you want a book that simply entertains and City of Dark Magic does that. There’s a bit of everything and when one scene seems impossible, know that the next will top it. Go with it. It’s a good ride and a great way to escape reality for a bit.

In addition to this blog, I also do reviews for The Book Reporter website. The above review was done for the Book Reporter which can be found here. The book was provided to me by the publisher.

City of Dark Magic

Magnus Flyte

Penguin Books

ISBN: 9780143122685

3.5 stars

 

The Sunday Salon – I’d think up a title but I’m going lazy today…

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TSSbadge1I was sort of appalled when I realized I still had that awful rendition of a turkey up here. Then I continued to watch TV. Obviously, I quickly got over it. I thought taking a bit of a break would help, and it has especially on the reading front, but what it’s also done is make it easier not to do anything.

So, what have I been doing when I’m not reading or writing posts? I’ve been watching Call the Midwife on PBS for the last week. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it now. It’s a wonderful show and I’d say more but this whole post would just dissolve into a snotty love fest full of tears and joy and sappy language that I don’t even want to temp myself into writing. It’s better if you just watch it yourself. The show is based on a book and I’ll probably be buying it.

In the last week, when I wasn’t watching TV, I finished City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte which was a bit of ridiculous fun. I’ll be posting about it this week. I also finished The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I’m still trying to figure out what I thought of it. It was interesting but fell flat at the same time. I’m not sure if it was the mystery or just that I wasn’t in the mood for it, but it was boring. I know; right now I suck as a Sherlock Holmes fan. Next book. A co-worker loaned me a book of short stories called The Firefly Dance which has a story by Sarah Addison Allen. She’s one of my favorite authors and never fails to cheer me up. This one did the trick. It’s called In My Dreams and was exactly what I needed to read. I’ll probably skip the rest of the stories in the book though. I’ve been reading The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan the last few days. It’s interesting and I’m hoping to finish it today as it’s pretty short. Also, I have Maureen Johnson’s The Name of Star waiting for me at the library so I don’t want to start anything new. I’m late to this one but now that everyone’s talking about the sequel, I now want to read it.

For the rest of today, I’m planning to sit on my couch and alternate reading and watching shows about the apocalypse on the History channel. Why? Because I can. I might also watch the first season of The Walking Dead too. I foresee a relaxing day ahead.

Happy Sunday readers.