Library Haul 3/29/14

So I went back to the library earlier than I planned because two of my brother books for his paper were due. I of course even though I still had a bit of that not knowing what book to get because most novels from the library disappointment got a couple of books.

My library hauls have not been as big as they used to be then again I do have 4 or 5 books that I still need to read in addition to these books.

Graphic Novels

I rechecked out Astro City: The Dark Age volume 1 for my brother.

I wanted x but ended getting y…

I have been sampling a lot of books lately. I probably should read the books I own but I can’t get myself to be excited about any of them right now except A Clash of Kings. Anyway, I sampled a couple of blah/eh/no books. Then I read  a few really good books. I wanted those books from the library but they are hot right now so they are going to be checked out for a while.

I wanted   but got 

I wanted  but got , , and

The Left Hand of Darkness: I have no idea if reading this book out-of-order will be a problem but the author and other people said it is okay so I’m doing it. I’m trying go into this book without having a negative opinion of it but for some reason I do not think I will like this book. I guess if we are getting into it I don’t know if I will like any of these books. I did pick all of them up on a whim.

( all book covers are from goodreads)

Books Left May Update

yellow=books I do not have the sequel or first in series to

1. The fountainhead by ayn rand
2. I know why the caged bird sings by Maya angelou
3. hard times by Charles dickens
4. prince jack frank spierring
5. Aztec by Gary Jennings
6. Nicholas nickleby by Charles dickens
7. Japanese Americans by harry h.l. kitano
8. Waiting by ha jin
9. This other Eden by Marilyn Harris
10. samurai by saburo sakai
11. an American in japan, 1945-1948
12. when the elephants dance by Tess uriza holthe
13. Ivanhoe by sir Walter Scott
14. V by a.c. crispin
15. The price of greed & malice
16. A thread of sky by Deanna fei
17. Unicorn mountain by Michael bishop
18. The red tent by Anita diamant
19. Seduce me in shadow by shayla black
20. My wicked vampire by Nina
21. The immortal hunter by Lindsay sands
22. A feast for crows by George r.r. martin
23. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
24. The Dante club by Mathew pearl
25. Shades of Simon gray by Joyce McDonald
26. Desperation by Stephen king
27. Eli by bill Myers
28. Candles burning by Tabitha king and Michael McDowell
29. The Canterbury tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
30. The complete adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan doyle
31. A cast-off coven by Juliet Blackwell
32. the book of lies by brad Meltzer
33. a clash of kings by George r.r. Martin
34. shadowland by peter straub
35. the regulars by Richard bachman
36. the girl who loved tom Gordon by Stephen king
37. {east of eden , the wayward bus} by John Steinbeck
38. Martin chuzzlewit by Charles dickens
39. The greatest knight by Elizabeth chadwick
40. False inspector dew by peter lovesey
41. Aladdin and other Arabian Nights
42. Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin
43. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros
44. The death of the necromancer by Martha wells
45. Dreamcatcher by Stephen King
46. A Dance with Dragons by George rr. Martin
47. Scandalmonger by William Safire
48. Insomnia by Stephen king
49. Reluctant saint by Donald spoto
50. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
51. O Jerusalem by Dominque Lapierre
52. Cell by Stephen king
53. The Green Mile by Stephen King
54. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame Smith
55. The Merlin Conspiraacy by Diana Wynne Jones
56. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
57. The Tell-Tale Hart by Edgar Allan Poe
58. The book of negroes by Laurence Hill
59. Bag of Bones by Stephen King
60. The XX Factor by Alison Wolf
61. His Last Bow by Conan Doyle
62. Professor Challenge volume 2
63. Meaniest doll ever by Selznick
64. Bevis by Richard Jefferies
65.    Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
66.   Brazil-Maru by Karen Tei yamashita
67.   The Jungle by Utpton Sinclair
68. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conra
69.  It by Stephen King
70. Tono-bungay by H.G. Wells
71. Complete Sherlock Holmes
72. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
73. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
74. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
75. Wizard and Glass by Stephen King
76. Gerald’s Game by Stephen King
77. A Christmas Carol and other stories by Charles Dickens
78. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
79. The Waste Land by Stephen King
80. Song of Susanna by Stephe King
81. The Dark Tower by Stephen King
82. Tommy Knockers by Stephen King
83. The Talisman by Peter Straub & Stephen King

I’m on the last 100 pages of A Clash of Kings so that will probably finished by the end of the month. I’m also reading The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

Bookhaul 3/20/14

I didn’t really get books from the library this visit. I am weary of the entire experience of  trying so hard to get certain things I want so basically I went into the library not knowing what I wanted. I had this big plan of picking up  random books that caught my eye at the library. When I got to the library I picked up novels but I felt that I didn’t have the energy to actually read these books.  I’m going to go more into this feeling in my March wrap up.

My brother books

He checked out more books on Egyptian queens for his paper. He also finally got Gotham City Sirens which, he is enjoying immensely right now.

Books that are for both of us

 

A Game of Thrones: I found this book and as you know I am into the A Song of Ice and Fire series so this was a yes. It might be good for my brother also to get him into the series beyond the show. It is also a potential gateway into the novels.

Chew: My brother is already into this series so we are both going to read this.

 

I don’t know if I will enjoy these two books.

Library Checkout Reviews{12}-{13}

DNF

I wish I liked you. I knew that you were not the one but the shelf checkout machine checked you out while I was trying to put you back.

I kind of knew from the first sentence. Everyone seemed to be impressed by the ash falling from the sky while I shrugged. Nothing was catching me. I pushed myself though to at least finish the preview I downloaded. I couldn’t go further than 2 chapters. So I looked up this amazing magic system to see if that would get me, did not impress me. Overall, the characters and story have no pizzazz.

DNF:I just don’t care edition

You want to be gritty and dark so hard. So you create these characters who have tragic pasts and a setting that is dreary. Sadly, at the end of the day I just want to get some feeling/interest from anything in your world. It is not a choice I enjoyed throwing me straight into the world without explanation. I couldn’t even finish the first chapter because it was a done deal, no.

 Elizabeth Bear has so much diversity going on in her books. That is what made me pick this book up.  I just don’t care because as soon as the story opens lyricalness slaps me in the face. I would take away all the lyricalness just to care.

The moral of the story is all the diversity and creativity die with blah writing. Fantasy, I want so much to open a book and like it. I want to rave about how creative, diverse, and mind-blowing you are. But, you are not. You are making me question you. The want and potential for so many things in you is there but the output is lacking. I guess this is the time I will let you sit on a shelf while I explore other genres that are taking care business now.

 my instincts told me that I wouldn’t like this book and they were not wrong. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I didn’t like it, more like I felt indifferent/eh towards it.

I will comeback maybe…

I will say that it was mildly interesting.

  It’s long and the pressure to read  so much just to finish it before the due date made me put this down. Also, I think my interest waned.

 I just didn’t feel like reading this book.

 my brother reserved the first one so I decided to just take this one back.

Finished

Cons: I like the anime better. I just feel that the manga series in the earlier goes so fast from point to point that there isn’t time to feel attachment to things. The anime takes the time to let the viewer get emotionally attached to characters and digest the setting.

Pros: Once I got further into the series the manga series got better. +The story slows down a bit and takes the time to let the reader feel attachment. +Major clues are dropped into the manga series that are not in the anime. Some of the clues are early on in the manga series. +The story moves faster than the anime because most of the filler in the anime is not present in the manga series.

316: All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #7) Spoilers

[Disclaimer: SPOILERS]

7/12

Synopsis

Betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse must now not only deal with a possible new man in her life-the oh-so-handsome shapeshifter Quinn-but also contend with a long-planned vampire summit. With her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans, the local vampire queen is vulnerable to those hungry for a takeover. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she’ll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.

The Bad

• I did not know who most of the characters were so I didn’t care about them.
• Everything felt undercooked and last-minute.  Sookie brings up that Quinn killed someone (Andre?)  at a later time. The problem is that I the reader was witness to when this event actually was supposed to have happened, it was not mentioned. Now that we are on Andre why did he need to die? All he did was make Sookie drink Eric’s blood. I guess the control he basically had over her made him get killed off.
• Why does it seem that everyone has a problem with Sookie?
• Why does it feel like nothing really happened for the first hundred or so pages?
• Now that we are talking about the first hundred pages why did Sookie have a chip on her shoulder for majority of it? I don’t know if I missed something from the last book or what.
• Most of the pieces in the overall puzzle I could careless about. I do not care about the Queen or almost all of the vampires.
• When did we stop introducing new unique supernatural creatures?
• Kind of predictable. Gosh, this suitcase no one knows about is not going to turn into something.
• Dumbing down Sookie.

The Good

• Although, I didn’t like how the pieces came together. I can see one of the pieces, the conflict between vampires and the fellowship of the sun coming back to the forefront as real potential.
• Once I got back into the book I actually thought it was okay.
• The vampires are allowed to keep up their viciousness and not watered down to make people like them.
• There is some humor in it that made me laugh

The Meh

• Characters ( mostly Eric) who I actually like seemed blah to me.
• Quinn’s relationship with Sookie feels like a place holder until the Eric or Bill ship sails again. Quinn is not that interesting of a love interest because he does not feel as developed as all the other men circling Sookies orbit. Most of those men at this point have done some foul things so their ships have pretty much sailed off to never return. Out of all the men that Sookie has been a possible love interest Quinn has gotten the least development. It really makes me not care about him. I do not feel the chemistry between them.
• Now that we are talking about Sookie’s love life, it bothers me that she is going from man to man. New men get introduced into the story to be her love interest but fade into the background.

Comments: My reading tastes have changed so much since the last time I picked up the Sookie Stackhouse series. I cannot figure out if I am a lot more conscious of books problems or the series has went down a bit in the writing department. I think a bit of both honestly.

Bookhaul 3/6/14

Bought

 both of these books are in one volume bind up.

I also bought more comics in a sealed thingy you could only see the comics in the front and back. My brother saw Deadpool so we got it for that mostly. I opened it today and it did not visually seem like the best lot. My last comic haul was seemingly better (a whole lot more diversity, women, and cool looking covers…). I have to read the comics to really judge which one is better.

Library

I was supposed to only get Attack on Titan in response to the calming down of reading so many books but the books I am currently reading are not exciting me. I want action, adventure, and to just be excited about what I am reading. I thought you need fantasy books in your reading life.

 I actually read the first chapter of this book in a preview called Unreal last year. Recently, my brother and I watched the first season in two days because it is so good. Since my brother was into the series I couldn’t just get 1-2 of the books. The only thing that stopped me from getting further into the series before is that it is not finished.

Miscellaneous/Random

March This is my random book of this library haul so I hope it is good.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms I got this for my brother because he wanted to read it. I checked this out from the e-book library last year and did not like it.

Fantasy+ 1 Romance

 

I have not done my February reading wrap up so I have not announced the sort of big news of the year, I have made a reconciliation with the romance/ chick-lit genre. So be prepared to see more books from these genres.

Bookhaul 2/28/14

 

Testing

Testing him as an author out now: Henry James. I’m in the middle of reading The Portrait of a Lady which, is really good. I’m surprised by how much it is because I have been putting dnf on classic books lately. A lot of them feel like just the same English aristocrat setting.

Tested him a bit on this book but willing to give another translation a try: Cervantes. I really am hoping that a different translation will make this book be good. I really want to get into classics from different places other than England or America.

Going to test him as an author out later: James Fenimore Copper. I think this book is going to be racist. I will honestly be sort of surprised if this book actually does justice to anything. Trying to set my expectations low even though that cannot save a bad book.

Charles Dickens

Even though, I dnf Bleak House last month I still believe he is good. In result of me actually reading through authors I like I have learned a few things: authors have really bad books and have flaws in their writing. So I am getting this hoping that this will be good, it has no women in it for him to make lame so that is a start.

John Steinbeck

He is a case just like Stephen King, I had a ton of his books that I got rid of one day. So now I have to book his books all over again.

Stephen King

I got these even though Stephen King has made me mad recently with his book The Stand. I’m still in the middle of The Stand so these are going on the back burner with all my other Stephen King books.

Graphic Novels

Since I basically do not have a point of reference on what is good in terms of comics I picked comics based on a pretty simple system. This system is actually a system that I am finding myself using with generally every genre/category I am reading in.
This Looks Good, Diversity, and Women Doing Things other than being a victim for a hero to save

I will not show all the comics I bought because I bought a lot. The comics are by issue not volume so they are not on goodreads for me to copy and paste so I would have to manually look for each cover.

(all covers are via goodreads)

March TBR: Virago & Whales

1. Moby Dick

Reading this for one of my goodreads groups. I read a bit of this last year so hopefully I can finally finish this book.

2. Portrait of a Lady

I’m reading this too for one of my goodreads groups. This being  picked as a group read of the one month came at a good time, womens history month. I’m trying so hard not to put all my good portrayal of women hopes in this book. I hope that this book can show women a lot better than I have been seeing. I really need it.

3. From Dead to Worse

The next installment in my plan to read all the Sookie Stackhouse books that I own. I have small hope in this book, the last book was not the best. I want Sookie and the series to be awesome again. *sigh*

Alternates: Women and one little girl

This is if I finish my other books early. I probably will not because the library exists.

I picked these books on the basis of seeing diversity and variety in women.

4. The Red Queen

I have this book on my radar since this is the only Korean historical fiction book I have. I have zero faith in this getting the right treatment it deserves, so I keep pushing it back.

Women: in ancient Korea court life, motherhood, and  being a wife

5. The Book of Negroes

I don’t exactly like the cover so whenever I finish this book I may envision a new cover for it. What caught my attention about this books is that the main character will be travel to different countries as a African woman.

Women: immigrate, motherhood, slavery

6.  Brick Lane

All I know is that it is about a woman dealing with moving to London for a arranged marriage.

Women: arranged marriages, motherhood, London, India, immigrate

7. Candles Burning

What makes this book different is that it is horror and has a little girl instead of a woman as a main character. This book is about the little girls father who was murdered, tortured, and dismembered by two women for no apparent reason. The girl and her mother move into this house and stuff happens.

Girl: being in a horror setting

8. Savages

“The children of the rich never expect anything terrible to happen to them”

This books has one of the best first sentences. Savages is about a group of rich women who are on a business trip that goes wrong. They end up having to be in survival mode on this island.

Women: survival mode

9. We Need to Talk About Kevin

The main character is the mother of a boy who shot 7 people in a school shooting. I think this book will go heavily into motherhood. I would like to see that because being a mother among everything else a woman does is dissected and critiqued to death. I hope that it is well done.

Women: motherhood, school shooting

10. Night Sins

It is about a boy who goes missing, the only thing left at the scene is a taunting note. The main character is a investigator on her first case. This is the first book I started reading in March so I probably most likely finish this book in this month.

Women: investigators, romance?

11. The Red Tent

It is about Dinah and other women from the bible.

Women: from the bible

12. Medea and other Plays

[Medea, Hippolytus, Electra, Helen]

I don’t know that much about these stories. I don’t want to look anything up because I’m afraid of spoilers. Okay, I researched a little bit nonspecifically, just greek tragedies overall, and it was mentioned that women do not get the best treatment.

13. The XX Factory: How the Rise of Working Women Has Created a Far Less Equal World

It is non-fiction about women in the workplace. I don’t honestly know if I will like this book. I have been avoiding because it is non-fiction and seems like it will be something that I don’t want to hear. I need to read this book soon because I won it in a giveaway.

Mini-rant: I hope these books are good because recently it has become so apparent that women are not given the best treatment character wise. If I am not opening a big can of women get raped just to fill this plot point, I am getting a pot of women only exist to be a prop for men.

I hope so much that these books can go above and beyond. (all images are via goodreads)