ready player one

ready player one
ernest cline
fiction/ya/scifi
crown
published 2011

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place.  The only time teenager Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS.  Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines - puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them.  But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize.  The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win - and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

Ready Player One is like a geek version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory drenched in 80's nostalgia.  I read a review that said something about the book being 'sprinkled' with 80's references, but I really feel that no, it was drenched.  You cannot find a page in the book that does not bash you over the head with it.

Now, I love my 80's stuff and geek culture is where my heart is.  This book would have been lovely, but it was sooooooooo 'let me explain every reference to you'.  There was a part where two characters are looking at a scene and one says, 'It looks like Rivendell.' to which the other character responds, 'It looks like Rivendell, from Lord of the Rings.'  Oh, I'm sorry, was the first character talking about a Rivendell from another book?

It was stuff like that that began to get on my nerves.  I listened to the book because it was read by Wil Wheaton, and hello! Wil Wheaton.  But even he couldn't make me not want to scream out loud when 2 and a half hours into the book I've listened to listings of nearly every movie, tv show, band and book that existed in the 1980's.  I almost gave up on the book, but friends assured me that there was a story yet to come.

Once things did get going it was somewhat better.  I don't think I really got into the book until near the end at the final hunt and the epic battle that hopefully will translate to screen very well.  I think that this is one of those books that could possibly make a better movie than a book because it will be forced to edit down quite a bit and this book needed editing.

dancing barefoot

dancing barefoot
wil wheaton
autobiographical
o'reilly
published 2003

There are five stories, spanning 30 years, between these covers.  Some of them are funny, one is pretty damn sentimental, but they are all true.  I wrote them shortly after my 30th birthday, as I looked to my past in an attempt to understand my present, and not fear my future.

Wil Wheaton writes five short, but sweet and insightful stories about love, loss and growing up but remaining a kid at heart.  While all the stories had their high points, the longest story The Saga of SpongeBob VegasPants was my favorite because it had a bit of everything.  I think that the most endearing thing about Wil Wheaton is that he is still unsure of himself.  He is confident when it comes down to it and he's in his element, but before he finds his bearings he's sort of just this normal guy who really wants to make people happy.

And his recounting of meeting WILLIAM FUCKING SHATNER was painfully sweet.

virgin book reader envy

It's been quite some time since I've written a post that wasn't a book review!

I just finished reading three books that I loved (Stolen Prey, Delusion in Death & Mad River), but knew I was going to love and one book that I hated, but thought I would enjoy (I, Michael Bennett).  Even though that's a 75% positive rating I still feel kind of, I don't know...bummed?

John Sandford's two books were so good, especially Stolen Prey, but it's been awhile since I've read something truly astounding.  Something that made me lose my mind, or my heart.  The last one was Luther about three months ago.  That doesn't sound that long ago, but since I read Luther I've read 53 books.  I started going through book recommendations on GoodReads, Shelfari & Amazon and it got me thinking about the books I have loved and how I wish I could erase my memory of them so I could read them again without any expectations.

You know what I'm talking about.  There are those books you read and recommend to friends, half jealous because they get to read them for the first time and all you can do is read them again....and even though I have read some of these multiple times and loved them even the second, third, fourth or even fifth time, I still wish I could get that first time read back.  If I could erase my memory of these books and start again here's my list of books I'd do that for.

It seems weird to expound on how much I loved this book.  It's not a warm and fuzzy feel good kind of story.  Chevy Steven's Still Missing is about a woman who is kidnapped and held captive for more than a year, raped and abused repeatedly.  But it was so damn brilliant.  It kept me on the edge of my seat - literally.  I was heartbroken, elated at times, terrified and blown away.  I wasn't expecting what happened.  At all.  It was nothing short of brilliant.

I read What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg too many years ago to count, but the lyrical prose has stayed with me all these years.  Page 30, concerning dreams of fairies became the bar to which I set stories like these.  I wanted magic where there wasn't necessarily going to be magic.  Berg wove beautiful words into this story that haunted me for over a decade.

In the beginning I got Sarah Addison Allen's book The Girl Who Chased the Moon for free from a Barnes & Noble special.  I had it for months before I finally read it and when I did I immediately went out to search for the rest of Allen's books.  They were all just so beautiful, but TGWCM was an unexpected delight.  Like Still Missing I just didn't know what I was getting into so it made everything all the sweeter.  Full of magic, first love, finding love again, family, friends and mystery.  It had everything and more.

Seriously, did you think I wouldn't include this one??  Now I had avoided the Twilight craze.  In fact, I scoffed at it.  So many nutsos going insane over this vampire book immediately turned me off, but one of those nutsos was my friend and she told me I must read it.  She guaranteed I would love it and if I didn't get the books she was going to drop them off on my doorstep.  So I waited a bit longer until all four books came out and went and got them from the library.  With a doubting heart I started Twilight and at page 98 I had to call my husband so I could tell him 'I LOVE THIS BOOK.' and I became one of those nutsos.  I didn't even care.  There was something about this story that tugged at me.  The writing was soooo not perfect, the plot kind of ludicrous and it was far from having a socially acceptable female 'heroine', but I loved it.  Every bit of it.  Maybe it was the first love aspect, or the setting, or the silly differences Meyer made in her vampires.  Whatever it was I loved it and while I enjoyed all four books (6 if you count Midnight Sun and The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner) the first one was my favorite.  The first meeting, the first kiss, the first time he saves her life - let's face it, we can roar all we want, but sometimes we just want that knight in sparkly armor.

*image found on Favim

This one's rather obvious, although it's not a single book, but an entire series.  Of course, I'm talking about J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.  Each and every book I loved.  It doesn't matter how many times I read them, they never get old and I still feel them pull the same emotions out of me as they did the first time.  It's one of the only books I've loved the movies almost as much as I loved the books.  I love the world that Rowling created, the language and the people.  I love that she created a series that you can think about, talk about with others and it never gets old.  There were times when I wanted to throttle Harry, but that was okay because even though the books carried his name there were so many characters that brought the stories together and Harry wouldn't have been Harry had it not been for Hermione, Ron, Snape, Dumbledore, Neville, and so many others.

Now that I've told you the books I wish I could go back and read for the first time, what are yours??  I'm always looking for new books to read!

oracle of seasons

oracle of seasons
legend of zelda series #4
akira himekawa
graphic novel/manga/adventure
viz media
published 2009

In a small village in Hyrule, a boy named Link has the mark of the Triforce on his left hand.  It is a mark of destiny that leads Link on a fantastic adventure!  Transported to the land of Holodrum, Link meets Din, the Oracle of Seasons. When a plot to steal the seasons from Holodrum unfolds, Link must battle the evil General Onox to save Holodrum and his friends from a terrible fate!

This was very fun!  Especially for someone like me who loves the Zelda games.  It's especially fun that Link has his personality here, since you don't really get to see that at all in the games.

The perfect combination of the video game stories and manga!

death: the high cost of living

death: the high cost of living
neil gaiman/chris bachalo/mark buckingham/dave mckean
graphic novels/supernatural
dc comics vertigo
published 1994

From the pages of Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN comes the young, pale, perky, and genuinely likable Death. One day in every century, Death walks the Earth to better understand those to whom she will be the final visitor. Today is that day. As a young mortal girl named Didi, Death befriends a teenager and helps a 250-year old homeless woman find her missing heart. What follows is a sincere musing on love, life and (of course) death.

I have always loved Neil Gaiman's Death character.  She is so opposite of what you think Death should be (the cloaked bony figure playing Chess with Bill & Ted).  She's bubbly, fun, honest and beautiful.  I used to have a t-shirt with her picture on it and it said 'You get what anybody gets - a lifetime'.  So it goes without saying that this compilation of the 3 issues of Death: The High Cost of Living and Death Talks About Life is one of my favorites.

The story sort of revolves around 3 characters, some more than others.  Sexton, Didi & Mad Hettie.  Mad Hettie is a 250 year old woman who is looking for her heart.  She knows Didi (Death) can find it.  Sexton is a boy on the brink of suicide when he meets Didi.  Death gets one day a century to walk as a mortal.  To eat, to breathe, to laugh and to ride taxis.  Everything is wonderful and it doesn't matter much what she does as long as she does something.  

The art is creepy and sad with Didi Death a shining beacon in the pages.  Gaiman's story is simple and concise.  The only thing I wish I got to read more about was the Eremite, but I guess that's another story.  The Tori Amos as Death PSA thing at the end was a little spooky too.

It definitely makes me want to go back and read Sandman again....

fray

fray
joss whedon/karl moline/andy owens
graphic novel/supernatural
dark horse comics
published 2003

Hundreds of years in the future, Manhattan has become a deadly slum, run by mutant crime lords and disinterested cops.  Stuck in the middle is a young girl who thought she had no future until she learns she has a great destiny.  In a world so poisoned that it doesn't notice the monsters on its streets, how can a street kid like Fray unite a fallen city against a demonic plot to consume mankind?

ohmygodjosswhedonneverceasestoamazemeheisthebestwriterintheworlduniverse

I picked this up just because it was written by Joss Whedon.  My standard m.o.  Got a couple of pages into it and realized this was the most amazing thing ever!  He followed up the Slayer story a hundred years after Buffy!  With flying cars!  And crime bosses who live in fishtanks!  Brilliant!

Melaka Fray is what I imagine Faith could have been.  She's daring, reckless, grumpy and good.  But it's not your standard slayer story.  She doesn't have the memories, the dreams of all the slayers before her.  She doesn't have the drive because she doesn't have her history.  She's just a girl who can fight pretty good.  But there's a reason and it was surprising, but it made perfect sense.

Of course, I wish this was a series.  At the same time, I'm glad it's not.  It was a good complete story with a bit of mystery at the end that leaves you alone with your own imagination to fill in the blanks. 

Loved it.

dramacon

dramacon, volume one
dramacon, volume two
dramacon, volume three
svetlana chmakova
ya/graphics/romance
tokyopop
published 2005-2007

Christie attends her first Con with her jerk boyfriend who flirts with every cute cosplayer who stops by their table and treats her like dirt.  She runs into (literally) Matt in tears and he comforts her and so begins a sweet little love story set in Anime Con carnival.

I really, really like Svetlana's work.  I loved Nightschool and so I went out and found Dramacon just so I wouldn't be so sad to have finished Nightschool so quickly.  This story was fun, silly, cute and a couple of time a little serious.  I loved every single one of the characters, though I wish we could have found out what was wrong with the bitch at the next table in Volume Two.  Blech.

Cute cute cute overload.  But I love it.

probably not your typical pinterest

Months ago my sister sent me an invite to join pinterest.  Once I signed on I mostly ignored it.  Sure the decorating ideas were great, but my house is never going to look like that.  NEVER.  And yeah, those nail polish ideas are super stellar but if I took the picture of the newsprint manicure to the woman who does my nails I'm pretty sure she'd punch me right in the solar plexus.  I'm already married, have already birthed my kids and decorated their rooms, don't garden, don't sew or do other crafts, I don't decorate cupcakes and I don't accessorize.

So really, why should I use this pinterest?

But I started pinning anyway.  Things that made me laugh or things that I wanted to remember to cook later.  Or photography ideas.  And I got hooked.

But I still felt kind of weird because people pin stuff like this:

And I pin shit like this:

'Cause damn it, when I saw this I really thought it was pin-worthy.  And I still do.

But I must be doing something right with my awkward pinning because in the last week I've been getting email alerts that so-and-so is following one or all of my boards.  And these are people I don't know IRL.  Or even in bloggie-land.

Part of me is flattered and highly entertained that someone got a kick out of something I pinned so much so that they wanted to make sure they caught other crap I found funny.  The other part of me feels slightly pressured to find junk to pin.

It's kind of like having followers on your blog.  Once you have followers who aren't relatives you feel an extreme amount of pressure to keep blogging.  My last seven posts were book reviews on the graphic novels I read this past week.  The last time I wrote a non-review post was on the 11th...quite some time ago.  But I promised myself this year that I would try really hard to review all the books I read this year.

And to be honest, I haven't felt like blogging.  I haven't had anything I wanted to talk about.  But I will try better.  I promise. 

In the meantime you can check out the rest of my tasteful and elegant pins here!

books vs. movies

There are two types of people.  Those who read books and those who wait until those books are turned into movies.  Back in the day there wasn't too much of this, or if it was it wasn't so widely advertised.

Now, thanks to Harry Potter & Twilight movie rights for books are being snapped up as soon as it hits the Best Seller's List or before it's actually published and now, before it's actually written.

For awhile I was a little irritated by these practices.  I want those movie watching people to come up with their own ideas.  Aren't they supposed to be creative?  I want to protect my book reading people.  We'll still be called nerds, but dang it we should have GOOD books to read.  Of course, I have no qualms about the Harry Potter or Twilight movies.  Duh, I'm a potterhead, or a tweirdo ... however you want to define me.  While I want the movies to be as true to the books as they can be I also understand they can't always and to me the movies have been a wonderfully illustrated companion to the book.  I know that Twilight and all the movies thereafter are not winning any Oscars, but I love them because it's what was in my head while I was reading played out on the screen.

I think the only time I was upset was after seeing Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince.  The Dumbledore-Harry-Malfoy-Snape scene in the end literally had me gripping my hands over my mouth to keep from screaming obscenities.  But it is what it is.

2011 saw a ton of books-turned-movies and 2012 isn't going to be any different.  What bugs me is that stuff is getting turned into movies before I can even get my hands on the books!  Though, sometimes that's not always a bad thing.

Amanda Hocking began writing during her free time and finished 17 novels.  In April of 2010 she began self-publishing them in eBook format and by March of 2011 she had sold over a million copies of 9 books and made two million dollars in sales.  Pretty impressive for a self published author.  When I saw that her Trylle trilogy was purchased to turn into a movie I was intrigued.  The cover art was interesting and the story sounded good.  Even better, I saw Hocking as a determined young woman who made her dreams come true, right?

Unfortunately (and of course this is only my opinion), the first book, Switched was a flaming pile of crap.  The story IS interesting.  A young girl, whose mother tried to kill her when she was 6 discovers she's a changeling and returns to the world she was taken from to live the life she was meant to live.  The writing however, was awful.  It read like something a middle school student wrote for a school project.  It was the worst book I read in 2011.

And now it's going to be a movie? 

I get that someone else will write the screenplay and it's just her idea that the movie will be based on, but come on!  What's even more impressive is that she made two million dollars off books she was charging $1.99 for!  And now, the Trylle trilogy is going to be published in hardcover.  I cannot believe that the literary world is so hurting for material that they will print this stuff!

Stephenie Meyer's The Host will be coming out in movie form soon.  I'm sure the next in the HORRIBLE I Am Number Four series will get crapped out as a movie.  They're still trying to make Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, though for some reason that one seems to be jinxed.  The screenplay for A Discovery of Witches will be penned by Proof writer David Auburn and even The Great Gatsby is getting a Hollywood makeover this year.

I don't know.  It seems that everywhere people are running out of originality.  I'd just like to find a few more books that blow my mind.  Is there anything out there like that anymore?

2012 100+ reading challenge

 

Another year, another 100+ books!  This year my goal was 200 and so far, I've got about 10 more books to read to make my goal.  Wish me luck!!

Book Chick City is hosting the one I'm participating in this year.  Last year My Overstuffed Bookshelf hosted, but this year she's doing 150+ Challenge so I'll probably join in on that one too.

My goal for the year is 160.  Much less than I have read in the part two years, but there's just so much going on that I don't want to get stressed out that I'm not going to reach my goal.

So here's the deets for this challenge:

Challenge Details

• Timeline: 01 Jan 2012 - 31 Dec 2012

• Rules: Read 100+ books in 2012 (any genre)

• You don't have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

• You can join at anytime. All books read in 2012 count towards the challenge regardless of when you sign up.

• At the beginning of Jan 2012, you will find a link to specific month to add your reviews.
• Audiobooks do not count, but all other formats are accepted.
• Only fiction, no non-fiction.
• This challenge can crossover to other challenges.
• You don't have to have a blog to join in

By the way, I love the button for this challenge!  You'll get to put it on your sidebar - it'll pretty up your blog for sure!  Go here to sign up!

1. Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer
2. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
3. Dream Dark - Kami Garcia
4. The Walking Dead, Book 15 - Robert Kirkman
5. Brody's Ghost, Vol 1 - Mark Crilley
6. Nightschool, Vol 1 - Svetlana Chmakova
7. Nightschool, Vol 2 - Svetlana Chmakova
8. Nightschool, Vol 3 - Svetlana Chmakova
9. Nightschool, Vol 4 - Svetlana Chmakova
10. Water Baby - Ross Campbell
11. Brody's Ghost, Vol 2 - Mark Crilley
12. Courtney Crumrin's Montrous Holiday - Ted Naifeh
13. Queen Bee - Chynna Clugston
14. Tough Love - Abby Denson
15. Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life - Bryan Lee O'Malley
16. Scott Pilgrim vs the World - Bryan Lee O'Malley
17. Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness - Bryan Lee O'Malley
18. Deadly Little Voices - Laurie Faria Stolarz
19. Across the Universe - Beth Revis
20. Beautiful Chaos - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
21. Chosen - Ted Dekker
22. Infidel - Ted Dekker
23. Black - Ted Dekker
24. Red - Ted Dekker
25. White - Ted Dekker
26. Renegade - Ted Dekker
27. Chaos - Ted Dekker
28. Bring Me The Head of John Grisham - Stefano Boscutti
29. This Breeze Brings Blood - Cody Connor
30. Sisterhood Everlasting - Ann Brashares
31. Anna Dressed in Blood - Kendare Blake
32. A Fool & His Honey - Charlaine Harris
33. Lark - Tracy Porter
34. Once a Witch - Carolyn MacCullough
35. Dark Mirror - MJ Putney
36. Swoon - Nina Malkin
37. Lost at Sea - Bryan Lee O'Malley
38. Burnout - Rebecca Donner
39. Scott Pilgrim Gets it Together - Bryan Lee O'Malley
40. Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe - Bryan Lee O'Malley
41. Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour - Bryan Lee O'Malley
42. Tantalize: Kieren's Story - Cynthia Leitich Smith & Ming Doyle
43. Dramacon, Vol. 1 - Svetlana Chmakova
44. Dramacon, Vol. 2 - Svetlana Chmakova
45. Dramacon, Vol. 3 - Svetlana Chmakova
46. Last Scene Alive - Charlaine Harris
47. True Blood: All Together Now - Alan Ball, David Tischman, Mariah Huehner & David Messina
48. Poppy Done to Death - Charlaine Harris
49. 77 Shadow Street - Dean Koontz
50. Chasing Fire - Nora Roberts
51. Hell's Corner - David Baldacci
52. Buried Prey - John Sandford
53. Shock Wave - John Sandford
54. The Affair - Lee Child
55. Heartsick - Chelsea Cain
56. Amy & Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout
57. Heat Wave - Richard Castle 
58. Kisscut - Karin Slaughter
59. New York to Dallas - JD Robb
60. The Search - Nora Roberts
61. Sweetheart - Chelsea Cain
62. Gossip Girl: For Your Eyes Only, Vol. 1 - HyeKyung Baek
63. Room - Emma Donoghue
64. Chaos in Death - JD Robb
65. Hana - Lauren Oliver
66. Malinky Robot - Sonny Liew
67. Grave Sight, Vol. 1 - Charlaine Harris, William Harms & Denis Medri
68. Grave Sight, Vol. 2 - Charlaine Harris, William Harms & Denis Medri
69. House of Odd - Dean Koontz, Queenie Chan & Landry Walker
70. Fool's Gold, Vol. 1 - Amy Reeder Hadley
71. Polly & the Pirates, Vol. 1 - Ted Naifeh
72. Polly & the Pirates, Vol. 2 - Ted Naifeh & Robbi Rodriguez
73. Morning Glories, Vol. 1 - Nick Specer & Joe Eisma
74. Morning Glories, Vol. 2 - Nick Specer & Joe Eisma
75. Foiled - Jane Yolen & Mike Cavallaro
76. Fool's Gold, Vol. 2 - Amy Reeder Hadley
77. Battle for Shadowland - James Patterson, Dara Naraghi & Victor Santos
78. Operation Zero - James Patterson, Dara Naraghi & Victor Santos
79. Batman Cacophony - Kevin Smith & Walt Flanagan
80. Green Arrow: Quiver - Kevin Smith, Phil Hester & Ande Parks
81. Batman: The Widening Gyre - Kevin Smith & Walt Flanagan
82. Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore
83. Wondrous Strange - Lesley Livingston
84. Evil at Heart - Chelsea Cain
85. Wither - Lauren DeStefano
86. Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver
87. Insurgent - Veronica Roth
88.