Snuff--Chris Palahniuk

Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2008
Pages: 208
Rating: 3/5

"One dude stood all afternoon at the buffet wearing just his boxers, licking the orange dust off barbecued potato chips."

I have to admit, I felt a little dirty after I read this book. Palahniuk's detailed description of the waiting room where 600 men wait to make history by having sex on camera with an aging porn star is enough to give anyone the willies (no pun intended!). The characters are repulsive and loathsome, and yet somehow sympathetic in how pathetic they are. There is a little bit of a mystery weaving through this book, regarding the porn star's child, given up for adoption two decades or so ago. There is also a little bit of crime thriller, as we begin to suspect that someone is going to die on camera. While guessing at the ending is fun, I doubt anyone could predict what actually happens in the climax (ha ha! No pun intended, again!).

This book is graphic and raunchy, and not for the easily offended or grossed-out. But it is a quick and interesting read, and not quite like anything I've read before.

Book a week #: 25
Date Read: 4/14/09

The Lightning Thief--Rick Riordan

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy
Year Published: 2005
Pages: 375
Rating: 4/5

"Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood."

This is a very clever and engaging young adult novel about a sixth grader who discovers he is a demigod. Although this does explain his ADHD, dyslexia, and inability to make it through a school year without getting expelled, it brings on a whole new set of problems, as Percy needs to flee the gods and monsters who want him dead, save his mother's life, and stop the gods from launching a major war at the summer solstice.

Any fan of Greek mythology will enjoy Riordan's integration of the gods, heroes and monsters into today's modern world. My ten year old son recommended this book to me, and I think I enjoyed it as much as he did.

Book a week #: 24
Date Read: 4/13/09
Challenge/s: Young Adult

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy--Douglas Adams

Genre: Sci-Fi/Humor
Year Published: 1979
Pages: 215
Rating: 5

"Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun."

Douglas Adams was brilliant, and his books are hilarious. Impossibilities abound. Plot twists are ridiculous. Characters are stereotypic. Yet it works, beautifully. This is the first book in his five-book-trilogy (an impossibility in itself--who else could pull it off?) and it's a great read. Arthur Dent, of England, is forced to defend his house from being demolished for a highway bypass, but this becomes less important when he finds out his close friend, Ford Prefect, is actually an alien journalist, and that the planet earth is about to be demolished to make room for a hyperspace bypass. Luckily, Ford is a writer for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the pair escape on a Vogon warship. The rest of the book is a series of bizarre coincidences that explain what the Earth was really for and who was really in charge, AND provides the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. Then they all nip off for a bite to eat and...well, that's in the next book in the trilogy.

Book a week #: 23
Date Read: 4/11/09
Challenge/s: Read it Again, Series

Dragons of Spring Dawning--Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Genre: Fantasy
Year Published: 1985
Rating: 5/5
Pages: 352

"Why look, Berem. Here's a path...How strange."

This is the final book in the Chronicles series, and it leads to the final battle between the companions and the Dark Queen's dragonarmies. Tanis has to escape Kitiara, who believes him to be a captain in the Dark Queen's army, reunite with his friends and flee the city with Berem, the Green Gemstone Man, who is the key to winning the war, though no one knows why. Meanwhile, Laurana is appointed general of the Knights of Somania, and with the return of the good dragons to Krynn she brings hope and inspiration to the people. Unfortunately, she is tricked by Kitiara into trading herself for Tanis' freedom, not knowing he has already left on a ship with Berem. Raistlin abandons the ship--and his brother--when it is capsizing, using the dragon orb to go to Palanthas hoping to learn more and grow in power. With Laurana prisoner of the Dark Queen, and Raistlin gone, all appears to be lost for the good people of Krynn. Will the companions be able to salvage any hope?

As always, the plot is captivating, the characters enjoyable, and the writing good. This is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time.

Book a week #: 22
Date Read: 4/10/09
Challenge/s: Series, Read it Again

Paradise--Toni Morrison

Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 1997
Rating: 4/5
Pages: 352

"They shoot the white girl first."

I have yet to be disappointed in Toni Morrison. This novel centers around a town founded by freed slaves who were rejected in other towns, immersed in its own history and fully self-sufficient. But there is an underlying current of unease. The town has split into two factions of founder's descendants, and debates are raging. The children are different, moved by the civil rights movement and other signs of the times. Outside of town is an old convent, which has somehow become a boarding house for women hurt, lost, or rejected. They live together trying to create their own eden, a place where they can be who they are and heal. But the tension in the town only grows when faced with these brazen, strange women, and in the end misunderstanding erupts into horrible violence.

I can't say I truly understand what happens in the end. Like other Morrison books I've read, reality verges into something else, something religious and other-worldly, and I'm still mulling it over in my mind. Somehow this doesn't detract from the book, but adds to the overall feel.

Book-a-week #: 21
Date Read: 4/3/09
Challenge/s: TBR (Alt)

Dragons of Winter Night--Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Genre: Fantasy
Year Published: 1985
Pages: 395
Rating: 5/5




"The great Hall of Audience of the of the King of the Mountain Dwarves echoed with the triumphal announcement."





The second book of the Chronicles series begins with the return of the hammer to the dwarves, reuniting the tribes. Tanis is still struggling with his human/elven selves, manifested in his love for Kitiara versus Laurana.

King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table--Roger Lancelyn Green

Genre: Fantasy
Year Published: 1957
Pages: 352
Rating: 4/5

"After wicked King Vortigern had first invited the Saxons to settle in Britain and help him to fight the Picts and Scots, the land was never long at peace."

This version of the King Arthur legend is broken down into stories, following each of the Knights on their various journeys. It is easy to read, especially compared to L'Morte d'Arthur or even The Once and Future King. Based mostly on Mallory's work, this version also takes into account other sources and I always find the retellings fascinating.

Book a Week # 18
Date Read: 3/28/09
Challenge/s: Arthurian?

The Once and Future King--T.H.White

Genre: Fantasy
Year Published: 1958
Pages: 640
Rating: 5/5

"On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition and Astrology."

Although not the easiest book to read, this whimsical retelling of the Arthurian legend adds life and richness to Mallory's L'Morte d'Arthur. Highlights include Arthur's schooling at Merlin's hands, where he is turned into a fish, a merlin, an ant, a goose, and a badger; King Pellinore's symbiotic relationship with his Questing Beast; and the very fact that Merlin is living his life backwards and constantly confuses past present and future. It is also one of my favorite endings of the Arthurian books.

Book a Week # 17
Date Read: 3/27/09
Challenge/s: Arthurian

Skinny Bitch: A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous--Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin

Genre: Self-Help
Year Published: 2005
Pages: 224
Rating: 4/5

"Are you sick and tired of being fat?"

I didn't expect to like this book, but I read it when a friend loaned it to me after I decided to go vegan for Lent. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The author's are rude, lewd and in-your-face, which I found refreshing and amusing. But what stuck most with me--and kept me vegan even though Lent has ended--is the graphic descriptions of the torture animals endure in factory farms and slaughterhouses.

Book-a-Week #: 16
Date Read: 3/3/09

Glass--Ellen Hopkins

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Year Published: 2007

Pages: 688

Rating: 3/5

"Life was radical right after I met the monster."

In Hopkin's sequel to Crank, Kristina is trying to stay clean and raise her son, Hunter. But her old lifestyle and the drugs beckon, and the lure becomes too strong. Like the first, it is written as a series of poems that tell the narrator's story. And like the first, it is an interesting, easy, but not-too-phenomenal read.

Book a week #: 15

Challenge/s: Young Adult

Date read: 3/2/09

The Two Towers--J.R.R. Tolkien

Genre: Fantasy

Year Published: 1965

Pages: 368

Rating: 4/5

"Aragorn sped up on the hill."

I liked this book better than the first one and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe because I already knew the characters and the plot thus far, so it was easier to get into. Or maybe by the middle of his book Tolkien really started firing it up. Whatever it is, I really enjoyed this one, and am looking forward to the final book.

Book a week # 14

Challenge/s: TBR, 1% Well Read

Date read: 3/1/09

life with one arm...

This is not a book review, although that sounds like a book title! This is an update on my lack of blogging. I fractured my right arm at my son's school fundraiser. One moment I was gaily sailing past the PTA moms, turning to wave--the next I was down on the ice, nauseous with pain. The arm is getting better (its been a week), but still not usable--and I am right handed. I have about 8 books to catch up on reviews for, and I'm going to try to get to them in the next week. The good thing is I'm getting pretty good at typing with just my left hand!

Another book giveaway by Teddy Rose--Girls in Trucks...

I just saw this book at Women and Children First, and thought it looked interesting. And now here comes Teddy Rose giving five copies away! Click here to read more and enter!

(Another) 1% Well-Read Challenge

Take two! It's time for the 1% Well Read Challenge again, where we read 10 books from the list 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. The authors of the book went and changed the list on us, so some books have been added and some scrapped from the original. That's why I'm opting to pick challenge variation #3, in which I am to read 13 books from both lists, between today (March 1, 2009) and March 31, 2010. A list is available here, or you can download a spreadsheet here. My personal list is here, but it has not yet been updated with the additions/subtractions.

Here is what I plan on reading for this challenge!

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein (11/4/09)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon (12/1/09)
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Once and Future King by T.H. White (3/27/09)
On the Road by Jack Kerouac (10/26/09)
I, Robot by Issac Asimov
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (12/14/09)
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
Jazz by Toni Morrison

Cat's Eye--Margaret Atwood

Year Published: 1988
Pages: 455
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4/5

"Time is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space."

I read this book yesterday. It was a last minute decision--I need to finish a book for the 1% Well Read challenge, so it had to be something I had on hand that I could read quickly. I chose wisely--Atwood always weaves a captivating story. This story has to do with girls, and what damages they can do to one another. It also has to do with the past, and how fluid it is--the past can always verge into the present.

Elaine is a painter, and she has returned to Toronto, the city of her youth, for an art showing. While there, her past surfaces as she recalls an old friend/enemy, Cordelia, whom she boths longs to and fears to see. She is forced to confront the hurts both to and from Cordelia, as well as her former failed marriage and the loss of her brother.

Time as a fluid entity is a running theme in this model, as is the Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Perpetual Help/Hell), and how repressed memories surface (in this case, through the artist's paintings). But the main idea is that of girls and how they treat each other. Cordelia is both a villain and a tragic figure, and the symbol of both misery and triumph (and subsequent guilt) for Elaine. I'm sure many women could recount similar situations--girls just don't know how to be with one another, and their cattiness competes with their instinct to nurture and support one another.

All in all, another really good book by Atwood.

Book-a-week #: 13
Challenge/s: TBR (Alt), 1% Well Read, What's in a Name
Date Read: 2/28/09