american vampire, vol. 1

american vampire, volume 1
scott snyder, stephen king & rafael albuquerque
graphics/horror
vertigo
published 2011

This volume follows two stories: one written by Snyder and one written by King.  Snyder's story is set in 1920's LA, we follow Pearl, a young woman who is turned into a vampire and sets out on a path of righteous revenge against the European Vampires who tortured and abused her.  This story is paired with King's story, a western about Skinner Sweet, the original American Vampire - a stronger, faster creature than any vampire ever seen before with rattlesnake fangs and powered by the sun.

I'm not a big fan of Stephen King, but love Snyder's work and a friend recommended that I try this one out.  As luck would have it the library had it just sitting there the other day so I picked it up and cracked it open.

I really enjoyed the story, especially Pearl's vengeance driven story line.  I wasn't as fond of the old west story (and not because that was King's part), but I'm just not a big fan of westerns although I did find it entertaining nonetheless.  I'm not sure that I liked the whole thing enough to continue to read through the series (is there more?), but I did enjoy this volume.

the kite runner

the kite runner
khaled hosseini
fiction/drama/historical
penguin
published 2002

The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed.  It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption: and an exploration of the power of fathers over sons - their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

This is one of those books that I generally steer away from.  Books I label 'socially conscious' books.  I don't even think that's a real term, but it's always what I think of when books like this.  To me it means that this book is about something we should know about.  Like reading about current events.  Or, books Oprah raves about.  If Oprah is raving about a book I know I probably don't want to read that book.  Oprah and I do not have the same taste in books.

But at a book club meeting with women I love and respect they all unanimously voiced their love of The Kite Runner and one mentioned it was a great audiobook listen because then you weren't stumbling on the unfamiliar words and names.  I like to listen to books when read by the authors also, and this one was.  I was also made more curious after I discovered that Khaled Hosseini grew up in my hometown after moving to the States and even graduated from the other high school in our district.  So I set aside my prejudices about socially conscious books and checked out the audiobook from the library to listen to while I crocheted.

I did not love it.

I don't even understand why people like this book.  The main character, Amir is one of the most irredeemable, disgusting protagonists I've ever had the displeasure of reading about.  I was literally disgusted with him.  It made my stomach roll and at times I would exclaim in frustration because I just wanted him to shut up.  Are we supposed to learn to like him?  Have sympathy for him?  What is the point of creating a character so far removed from human decency?  I kept waiting for the moment when he would step up and atone for his past behaviors, but that didn't happen!  AND EVERYONE KEPT FORGIVING HIM!  He was treated as 'poor Amir' as if these things had happened TO him, when in fact he was the catalyst for ruining the lives of so many people who loved him.  And even in what should have been his great moment of redemption he once again proves to be a coward and useless.  When he should be a protector, he instead terrifies and then kneels idly while screaming instead of attempting to get help.  Waste.

The book dragged on for me with repetitive moments like when Assef is telling Sohrab to put down the slingshot.  It went like this:

"Put it down."  "No."  "Put it down."  "No."  "Put it down!"  "No."  "Put it down!"  "No!"  "Put it down!"  "No!"  "Put it down!"  "No!"

I almost went crazy in that moment.

Then there were the times when he would say something like:

"I have something important to tell you.  It will change your life.  It may be too late."  "What is it?!"  "Well, it may be too late."  "What do you mean?"  "I will tell you, but it may be too late.  Would you like a cigarette?"  "No, thank you."  "Let me ask you first, why do you want to know?"  "It's personal."  "But why do you want to know?"  "I have my reasons."  "But why?"  "It's personal."

Wasn't it painful reading that right now?  That's how I felt.  You may think I'm exaggerating, but I'm really not.

I was not surprised by anything.  Amir's actions and the repercussions of these actions were so obvious it was nearly unbearable.  Ugh.

But all was not terrible.  I loved reading about the Kabul in the 70's.  I loved getting that glimpse of  Afghan culture and traditions.  I enjoyed when Amir and Baba moved to the States and settled in the Bay Area reading about places I had been, like Lake Elizabeth and the Berryessa Flea Market, staples of my childhood.  I could clearly picture the stalls at the flea market and imagined Amir and his father maybe passing by my childhood home on their way back to Fremont.  I did love some of the characters, Hassan and Ali, of course, Baba, Soraya and her mother....but in the end it wasn't enough.

hidden

hidden: a child's story of the holocaust
loic dauvillier, marc lizano & greg salsedo
graphic novel/childrens/historical
first second
published 2012

Like every grandmother, Dounia was once a little girl herself.  Tonight, she's finally ready to tell her granddaughter a secret about her childhood - something she never even told her son.  Tonight, Dounia is ready to share her memories of Paris in 1942.  Memories of wearing a Star of David, of living in fear, of the kindness of strangers.  Memories of being hidden.

There are things in the history of our world that are difficult to know.  There are moments in time when the atrocities enacted upon human beings is too much and the knowledge of it is forever seared in your memory despite having never lived it.

For me, that is the Holocaust.  I remember being a teenager in high school and seeing a video in World History of the Holocaust.  I'm sure it's a video every World History class in just about every city across the United States watched at the time.  But what I remember most clearly were the bodies.  The emaciated nude bodies being dumped like garbage into a landfill.  I don't know what horrified me more.  Was it the human beings being treated like trash, the sheer number of murdered people or was it that someone filmed it?  Filmed it as if they'd want to go back and watch it like vacation videos.  It was an image in time that I won't ever forget.  When someone mentions the Holocaust it is what comes to my mind.

After having children I wondered at times, how does one explain these things to one's children?  I have explained the Japanese-American internment camps to Emma because that is a part of her history and I told her about the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but not in any detail.

But how do you explain the genocide of eleven million people to a child?

Hidden tries to do that.  Dounia is telling the story to her granddaughter from the perspective of herself as a child.  How it began, how her life changed.  How she was hidden and how people who didn't have to, saved her life.  Written for children and found in the children's section at the library it is an accounting of part of those events that open up a discussion.  Am I ready to have that discussion with Emma?  Probably not quite yet as I couldn't get through it without crying.

Hidden is a powerful piece of literature.  My heart was pounding and my throat was tight with tears throughout the book.  There were panels that took my breath away and my heart ached for Dounia and her family.  And within the pages that contain such sadness there is hope and joy and as much as it is a story of helplessness it is also a story of survival and living.

boxers & saints

boxers
saints
gene luen yang
graphics/historical
first second
published 2013

Boxers
China, 1898.  Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants.  Little Bao has had enough.  Harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers - commoners trained in kung fu - who fight to free China from "foreign devils".  Against all odds, this grass-roots rebellion is violently successful.  But nothing is simple.  Little Bao is fighting for the glory of China, but at what cost?  So many are dying, including thousands of "secondary devils" - Chinese citizens who have converted to Christianity.

Saints
China, 1898.  An unwanted and unwelcome fourth daughter, Four-Girl isn't even given a proper name by her family when she's born.  She finally finds friendship - and a name, Vibiana - in the most unlikely of places: Christianity.  But China is a dangerous place for Christians.  The Boxer Rebellion is in full swing, and bands of young men roam the countryside, murdering Westerners and Chinese Christians alike.  Torn between her nation and her Christian friends, Vibiana will have to decide where her true loyalties lie...and whether she is willing to die for her faith.

I am conflicted by Gene Luen Yang's parallel books.

I grew up Jodo Shinshu Buddhist and do not believe in God.  Christianity never had (and still doesn't make sense to me), but what always bothered me about religious people is their belief that you should believe as they do.  I have little respect for missionaries who make it their life's work to convert what they consider 'heathens'.  To me it's arrogant and insensitive.  It is, in a very true sense, a killer of cultures.

So with Boxers I sympathized with Little Bao and his desire to rid China of these 'foreign devils' who have not only come to China to convert the people, but take over land as if they've a right to it.  I could also see how Little Bao becomes conflicted by all the death surrounding him.

With Saints, I think Yang's choice to write a character who is so completely unlikable was probably not the best way to show a different side to the Boxer Rebellion, but maybe that was his intention.  Four Girl is selfish and mean and following a religion only because she got cookies out of it and wanted to become a devil, not because she wanted to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The writing is great and I was engrossed from beginning to end with both volumes.  I loved the art, it's just that the characters, Four Girl and Little Bao were not the heroes one is looking for.  I would have loved to follow Mei-wen's journey instead as I found her to be much more interesting than both main characters.  But I wonder, in this rebellion were there really heroes?  Another war, senseless killing because of religion.  It's a sad state of affairs that continually repeats itself.

the museum of extraordinary things

the museum of extraordinary things
alice hoffman
historical fiction/romance
scribner
published 2014

Coralie Sardie is the daughter of the sinister impresario behind The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk freak show that thrills the masses.  An exceptional swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father's "museum," alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl, and a one-hundred-year-old turtle.  One night Coralie stumbles upon a stiking young man taking pictures of moonlit trees in the woods off the Hudson River.

The dashing photographer is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father's Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor's apprentice.  When Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman's disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie.

I was incredibly disappointed in this book.  I admit, my opinion is colored in the fact that I don't usually enjoy historical novels, but really it was not a good book.  I think Alice Hoffman wanted to badly to write about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and the fire of Dreamland in 1911 that she completely neglected the plot.  This was touted as a the story of two characters who come together and fall in love while surrounded by the mystery of a missing girl and while, for the brief moment Eddie was searching for the girl it was interesting.  And then, she wrapped that up with hardly a peep in a couple of pages and that was the end of that.  After that it was all about the fire of Dreamland.  Even that was disjointed and hard to follow.  I couldn't figure out how everyone ended up where they were and the culmination of the horrors in the book all come down to one short moment with hardly any fanfare at all.  It was a let down.

And as far as the love story was concerned, it was a joke.  I felt nothing for either character.  I could care less how they got together - which happens so far into the book I was beginning to think they book jacket lied to me.  Flat, unsympathetic, boring characters, and unrealistic relationships (Coralie and her father, Coralie and Maureen, Coralie and Eddie).  The characters I enjoyed (Beck, Ella, the liveryman, and Mr. Morris), the characters she wrote to have fire and substance were background characters we hardly got to see.  It felt like she poured all character into these roles and didn't save anything for Coralie and Eddie.

The writing itself was confusing and repetitious.  With the three different narratives the timeline jumped around oddly and there was so much overlapping that I sometimes thought I had accidentally jumped a previous chapter on the kindle.

A disappointment.

the serpent's tale

the serpent's tale
mistress of the art of death #2
ariana franklin
fiction/historical/mystery
putnam adult
published 2008

Since she solved a particularly nasty case of a child murder using her forensic skills, Adelia Aguilar is deemed too valuable to send back to the School of Medicine in Salerno where she was trained.  Instead, King Henry II has decided to keep her in England.  This is bad news for Adelia - in free-thinking Salerno, women doctors are accepted but in twelfth-century England they're unheard of and regarded as witches.  Under suspicion, and with her illegitimate child, Adelia is forced to live and practice in the secrecy of Cambridgeshire's fenland.  But at Henry's court, terrible things are happening.  Out of jealousy, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine is not only stirring up revolt against her husband, rumor has it that she has also poisoned Fair Rosamund Clifford - the King's favorite mistress.  If Henry believes the stories, England will be torn apart as King battles Queen.  In a race against time to prove that Eleanor is at least innocent of Rosamund's murder, Adelia is recruitd by Rowley, her former lover and father of her child, to help avoid a civil war.  It isn't easy.  An assassin is on the loose and so is Queen Eleanor with a small army.  Adelia encounters both as, in the middle of a terrible medieval winter, she tries to pierce the physical and metaphorical maze that surrounds Rosamund's tower and they mystery of the dead woman who lies frozen inside.

Historical fiction is not my favorite genre.  It's not even my second favorite genre.  In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of historical fiction books I've read.  Ariana Franklin's Mistress of the Art of Death was a book I read for a book group years ago and I loved it.  The idea of a woman medical examiner back in the twelfth century was fascinating and the murders she was solving were captivating.

This time around I wasn't so enamored with this Mistress.  Adelia is the same, for the most part, but this story wasn't my cup of tea.  Too much talk of kings and queens and treason and plotting and God.  There were so many characters to keep track of I would forget who was who and the way that Franklin cloaks her mystery from the reader makes things confusing at times.  As if I'm missing something.  And I guess I am.  I was frustrated with Rowley and irritated at Adelia's forced citizenship.

Had this been the first book of Adelia I wouldn't have read any more after it.  As it stands I did purchase the third book so I'll probably read that one as well.  Hopefully the case will be more up my alley.

ōoku: the inner chambers, vol. 2

ōoku: the inner chambers, vol. 2
fumi yoshinaga
graphics/historical/fantasy/manga
viz media
published 2009

Curious about why female lords must take on male names, the shogun Yoshimune seeks out the ancient scribe Murase and his archives of the last eighty years on the Inner Chambers - called the Chronicle of the Dying Day.  In its pages Yoshimune discovers the coming of the Redface Pox, the death of the last male shogun, and the birth of the new Japan....

This takes us back almost eighty years beginning around 6 years after the death of the last male shogun.  In the previous volume Yoshimune goes to Murase to ask about the Chronicle of the Dying Day and in this volume two the Chronicle plays out.

In the first volume there was some humor and attempts at lightheartedness.  Here is just a lot of bleakness, violence and tragedy.  Kasuga will not let anything stop her from saving the Tokugawa name.  Murder, kidnapping, whatever, she'll do it.  She is a terrifying character.

There was just a lot of sadness, but we got to see the transition from being a place that housed women for the shogun to a place that housed men who thought that their male shogun was still alive and favored men.  The secrets that were kept and doled out to a select few who were then doomed never to leave the Inner Chambers.

I am anxious to get back to Yoshimune to see how she will have taken this account and what she will do, if anything, to change the state of affairs in Japan.  And also, how she will deal with the Inner Chambers.

ōoku: the inner chamber, vol. 1

ōoku: the inner chamber, vol. 1

fumi yoshinaga

graphic/historical/fantasy/manga

viz media

published 2009

In Edo period Japan, a strange new disease called the Redface Pox has begun to prey on the country's men.  Within eighty years of the first outbreak, the male population has fallen by seventy-five percent.  Women have taken on all the roles traditionally granted to me, even that of the Shogun.  The men, precious providers of life, are carefully protected.  And the most beautiful of the men are sent to serve in the Shogun's Inner Chamber...

At first glance this is very similar to Y: The Last Man and while I did enjoy those, Ōoku is telling a story much more intriguing to me.  I think maybe because it is written by a female we're missing those moments of annoying sexism that were pretty prevalent in Y: The Last Man.  Also, in Y the decimation of the male population is much more present.  Here, we're 80 years past the first case in a time when some people don't even remember when there were just as many men as women.  So we're focused less on why this has happened and more so on 'now what?'.

I really enjoy Fumi Yoshigana's art and storytelling.  While this is much more serious than Antique Bakery (my only other exposure to Yoshigana's work) she still inserts small moments of humor into the panels to break up the tension.  She's written something much more complicated and revealing than I expected.

The story begins with the introduction of the Redface Pox and it's devastating effects.  Shorty thereafter we skip ahead 80 years and get a glimpse of life as it stands with women in power and carrying the burdens of a country reinvented.  Yunoshin is a handsome man who has very little care until his mother arranges for him a fortunate marriage.  Instead he offers to put himself in service to the Shogun at the Ōoku.  Once there he learns quickly that living with only men has its downsides.

When the young Shogun dies a newer, more experienced and shrewd Shogun steps into her place and she has big plans for turning everything around.  She is smart and no-nonsense, yet she is compassionate and caring in her dealings with the men in her employ.  She has suspicions of the state of affairs in her country and she intends to get to the bottom of everything.

So you have some romance and some political intrigue all wrapped up with some gorgeous art!

the lost stories from the secrets of nicholas flamel

the death of joan of arc

billy the kid & the vampyres of vegas

lost stories from the secrets of nicholas flamel

michael scott

ya/historical

delecorte books for young readers

published 2010 & 2011

Joan of Arc was not burned at the stake in Rouen, France in 1431.  She was rescued from certain death by Scathach the Warrior.

The truth of that day is revealed in the last will and testament of William of York.

This is a short story telling the rescue of Joan of Arc by Scathach.  If you've read the books than you'll be familiar with the rescue, but Scott hasn't gone into detail until this short story.  While it was a good addition to the series it was kind of disappointing that it was told from an observer's point of view instead of Joan or Scatty's.  It would have been interesting to know what was going through Joan's mind during that time.  The story is super short, only about 17 pages, but t  chock full of action!

Billy the Kid is immortal.  And being immortal means following unpredictable paths.  Here is the tale of how Billy the Kid and Scathach meet for the first time and join forces against the unseen, deadly and eternally hungry vampyres who control the city of Las Vegas - where Scathach must face her greatest fear.

This short story had a bit more meat to it and even though it's Billy's name in the title, the story is really Scathach's.  In the second to last book in the series (or maybe the 3rd to last!) we find out that Aoife & Scathach had a falling out that revolved around a man they both loved.  Here we get a bit more history about that betrayal.

I liked this one.  Scatty & Billy are two of my favorite characters from the series so extra time is a good time!

the enchantress

the enchantress

the secrets of the immortal nicholas flamel #6

michael scott

ya/fantasy/historical fiction

ember

published 2012

The two that are one must become the one that is all.  One to save the world, one to destroy it.

San Francisco:

Nicholas & Perenelle Flamel have one day left to live and one job left to do.  They must defend San Francisco.  The monsters gathered on Alcatraz Island have been released and are heading toward the city.  If they are not stopped they will destroy everyone and everything in their path.

But every with the help of two of the greatest warriors from history and myth, will the Sorceress and the legendary Alchemyst be able to defend they city?  Or is it the beginning of the end of the human race?

Danu Talis:

Sophie and Josh Newman traveled ten thousand years into the past to Danu Talis when they followed Dr. John Dee and Virginia Dare.  And it' on this legendary island that the battle for the world begins and ends.

Scathach, Prometheus, Palamedes, Shakespeare, Saint-Germain and Joan of Arc are also on the island.  And no one is sure what - or who - the twins will be fighting for.

Today the battle for Danu Talis will be won or lost.

But will the twins of legend stand together?

Or will they stand apart -

one to save the world and one to destroy it?

Even that synopsis above was annoying.

Well, I'm not very happy with this whole series.  It started out promising, but then went downhill pretty quickly until we got to this final installment.  Like the book before this there were just too many characters, too many things happening all at once and that made it so difficult to keep track of what was going on.

***SPOILERS***



There was so much death and not enough conclusion.  Are we just to believe that time keeps running around in this circle, the events just destined to repeat themselves again and again?  I knew who Marethyu was, there could really only be one person so that revelation wasn't very exciting.  What I really wanted to know was what happened to Aoife?  Obviously, she's saved because of the last two lame sentences in the book, but that must've been quite an adventure.

I don't know.  I just don't like books where the end is the same as the beginning.  What was the point of that?!

the warlock

the warlock
the secrets of the immortal nicholas flamel #5
michael scott
ya/historical fiction/fantasy
delacorte
published 2011

In the fifth installment of this bestselling series, the twins of prophesy have been divided, and the end is finally beginning.

With Scatty, Joan of Arc, Saint Germain, Palamedes, and Shakespeare all in Danu Talis, Sophie is on her own with the ever-weakening Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. She must depend on Niten to help her find an immortal to teach her Earth Magic. The surprise is that she will find her teacher in the most ordinary of places.

Ok.  First of all there are too many characters.  Let's make a list, shall we?

1. Sophie
2. Josh
3. Nicholas
4. Perenelle
5. Scatty
6. Joan of Arc
7. St. Germain
8. John Dee
9. Isis
10. Osiris
11. Tsagaglalal <---which a="" be="" li="" name="" really="" shouldn="" t="">
12. Virginia Dare
13. Mars
14. Odin
15. Hel
16. Palamedes
17. Shakespeare
18. Niten
19. Prometheus
20. Abraham
21. Machiavelli
22. Billy the Kid
23. Mars Ultor
24. Black Hawk
25. Zephaniah

25.  I'm sure I'm missing someone.  While it's true that we only might see a brief glimpse at a few of these, most of them have some history we have to learn about.

And it is so goddamn boring.

Can we just be done already?  Can we just kill off John Dee and Josh and be done with it?  Maybe?  Yes?

The only person I really care about at all is Machiavelli.  I liked him from the beginning and was kind of bummed that he was evil, but he's evil in a subtle way.  I like Scatty & Joan of Arc too I suppose, but they're getting the raw end of the deal.

The four main characters, Josh, Sophie, Nicholas & Perenelle are my least favorite.  How does that happen?  

the sorceress

the sorceress
the secrets of the immortal nicholas flamel #3
michael scott
ya/fantasy/historical
ember
published 2009

Nicholas Flamel's heart almost broke as he watched his beloved Paris crumble before him. The city was destroyed by Dee and Machiavelli, but Flamel played his own role in the destruction. Sophie and Josh Newman show every sign of being the twins of prophecy, and Flamel had to protect them and the pages from the Dark Elders.

But Nicholas grows weaker with each passing day. Perenelle is still trapped in Alcatraz, and now that Scatty has gone missing, the group is without protection. Except for Clarent—the twin sword to Excalibur. But Clarent’s power is unthinkable, its evil making it nearly impossible to use without its darkness seeping into the soul of whoever wields it.

If he hopes to defeat Dee, Nicholas must find an Elder who can teach Josh and Sophie the third elemental magic—Water Magic. The problem? The only one who can do that is Gilgamesh, and he is quite, quite insane. 

These books are becoming agonizingly slow.  Well, that's not true.  They're not necessarily slow, it's just that NOTHING IS HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!  So far each book has been a replay of the previous book.  Dark Elder's peeps come after them, twins must learn magic, Dark Elder peeps find them, they fight, wonder twin powers activate, they escape, Dark Elder peeps come after them again, repeat, repeat, end of book.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the books, I just want it to come to an end before I start disliking everyone in the book.

At first, Josh's suspicion of Flamel really bugged me (beside his whining of course), but now Flamel is bugging me.  Can't go into detail about that without giving too much away, but I find myself worried about his methods.  Not the end game, just the way he's going about getting there.

Dee is the kind of bad guy that you just don't like because he's sort of pathetic.  He feels so superior and awesome, but for hundreds of years he has consistently failed.  Where does this guy get his self confidence?!  Somehow he just seems to get out of trouble.  It's very unsatisfying.

I've just got to power through it and finish the series.  This pussyfooting around stuff is not working for me!

the magician

the magician
the secrets of the immortal nicholas flamel #2
michael scott
ya/fantasy/historical
ember
published 2008

After fleeing Ojai, Nicholas, Sophie, Josh, and Scatty emerge in Paris, the City of Lights. Home for Nicholas Flamel. Only this homecoming is anything but sweet. Perenell is still locked up back in Alcatraz and Paris is teeming with enemies. Nicollo Machiavelli, immortal author and celebrated art collector, is working for Dee. He’s after them, and time is running out for Nicholas and Perenell. For every day spent without the Book of Abraham the Mage, they age one year—their magic becoming weaker and their bodies more frail. For Flamel, the Prophesy is becoming more and more clear.

It’s time for Sophie to learn the second elemental magic: Fire Magic. And there’s only one man who can teach it to her: Flamel’s old student, the Comte de Saint-Germain—alchemist, magician, and rock star. Josh and Sophie Newman are the world’s only hope—if they don’t turn on each other first.

I'm starting to agree with other readers.  Josh IS super annoying.  He's so whiny that even his twin comments on it at one point.  While I still think that it's a part of being thrust in this crazy situation it's getting harder and harder to be understanding.  Sophie's not happy about the situation either, but she's not irritating....so much.

I loved the new characters.  I even found myself intrigued and almost liking Machiavelli.  He's still hanging onto his humanity, whereas Dee has nothing left.  Still, I am most interested in Perenell and what's happening on Alcatraz.

The action marches on in this second book as well although, there are moments of downtime where we get more and more bits of history revealing Nicholas & Perenell's parts in it.  It's hard to see how they can stop the events in motion, but I'm along for the ride.

what a beautiful day

.....for Civil rights.....

and Women's rights!!

Yes, it's a beautiful day!

the alchemyst

the alchemyst
the secrets of the immortal nicholas flamel #1
michael scott
ya/fantasy/historical
ember
published 2008

He holds the secret that can end the world.

The truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on September 28, 1330. Nearly 700 years later, he is acknowledged as the greatest Alchemyst of his day. It is said that he discovered the secret of eternal life.

The records show that he died in 1418.

But his tomb is empty.

The legend: Nicholas Flamel lives. But only because he has been making the elixir of life for centuries. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects—the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. That's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it.

Sometimes legends are true.

And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time.

Michael Scott blends historical truth with superb fantasy in The Alchemyst.  The book starts off quickly, jumping right into the fray.  Sophie and her twin brother Josh seem to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time....Or were they?

I can see why some people felt that the twins were annoying.  I liked Sophie, but Josh was kind of irritating thoughout.  However, I chalked it up to being a 15 year old kid faced with unbelievable circumstances.  I wonder how I would feel or react in his shoes and I doubt it would be much different.

I liked the combination of history and fiction.  It makes things much more fun and makes me want to learn more about the people that Scott writes about.  I found myself taking little breaks here and there so I could look something up!

It's a quick read with very little downtime.  The action is basically non stop!

a game of thrones

a game of thrones
a song of ice & fire #1
george r. r. martin
fantasy/historical/epic
bantam
published 1996

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Long ago, a friend told me I should read these books, but alas they are so dang loooooong I kept putting it off.  And I'm not a huge fan of knights and kings and queens and the happenings at court so there was a little less appeal for me as well.  Then the show was announced and I thought, well shoot I'd better read those books before I watch the show.  Now I think they're on season 2 and I finally picked up the book for fear that some rabid fan of the show spoil something in the books for me.

I glanced at a few reviews that urged me to bear through the beginning as it is long winded and boring.  There's a lot of scene to set and many characters to familiarize yourself with.

But the book had me with "The wildlings are dead."

So mysterious and ominous.  Who, or what are these wildlings?  And how did they die?  Who killed them?  And in that prologue we are teased with something unreal.  Something not right.  Something other. And then nothing.  We jump right into the worst of treason, betrayal, honor, murder, passion and vengeance.  So many plots.  So many....

The Starks are my favorite.  How can they not be?  They are brave and full of honor.  Ned, while smart and full of love for his King, depends too much on the word of those around him, trusting that they want what is just and right.  Catelyn is fierce and the perfect matriarch for the family.  My only beef with her is her treatment of Jon Snow, but I can see her side as well.  The only Stark I care not for is Sansa.  Useless with a head full of air.

Despite what I fear may be coming I find myself silently rooting for Tyrion Lannister and maybe less silently for Daenerys.  When she finally stood up to her bizarre and misguided brother I wanted to stand up and cheer.

Throughout the book here and there were whisperings of the supernatural, but we only get to see them a couple of times.  And even then I would stop to re-read those parts to make sure I read that right.  But I expect the supernatural will take center stage in the next installment.

Epic, it is.  Good, it is.  Long, it is.  At 800+ pages it's not something you can get through quickly.  Yet, it's near impossible to put down.  I started it Saturday night and got just shy of halfway done and then it got some reading in yesterday before bed and then today while Olivia napped.  I could finish out the series by the end of the week, but I want to sit on it for a bit.  Do some 'light' reading before delving back into the Winter.

take what you can carry

take what you can carry
kevin c. pyle
graphic novel/drama
henry holt & co.
published 2012

His father in government custody, Ken is one of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans forced to move to makeshift relocation camps in the tumultuous months after Pearl Harbor.  As traditional family bonds fray, and sometimes break, he stumbles toward a state of gaman: enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.

Nearly four decades later, another boy also begins a new life.  A recent arrival to his rapidly developing suburb, Kyle assumes the role of daredevil and thief, always willing to take a risk too far.  But when his exploits land him in jail, it's clear that risks have consequence and debts must be paid.

It was the title this time and not the cover itself that caught my eye.  Reminiscent of Only What We Could Carry (a book everyone should read) my hand went to pick it up without even really thinking about it.  As I suspected it did deal with the internment of Japanese Americans, but with a bit of a twist.

The book flips back and forth from a 1978 Chicago suburb and 1941-1944 California.  In 1978 we follow Kyle in bright white & blues.  In the 40's Ken is awash in dark browns and silence.  There are never any words relayed in Ken's story so we're left with pictures which is almost more telling than words.

Incredibly powerful, although I'm not sure if I cry for Ken or for my family.  I wonder if I should have tried harder to get my Grandmother & Great-Uncles & Great-Aunts to talk about their time in the camps.  It was something that they obviously never wanted to talk about.  When asked my Ba-chan (grandmother) would always say she was too young to remember.  My Uncles always changed the subject and with time I understood this was something that they didn't want to to remember.

I wonder what happened when they came home.  How they were treated, what happened to all of the belongings left behind and how they rebuilt everything.  I wonder about Great-Grandparents I never knew, how much they must have suffered.  I wonder what it must have felt like to have always felt like part of a country and then all of a sudden being told you were not, to not belong anywhere.

In class I was once told by an entitled rich kid that the Japanese Americans wanted to go to the camps.  That it was like a vacation for them.  That was the first time I realized people were idiots. 

What struck me most about this book was the way Pyle chose to voice the time in the internment camp.  With no voice.  No dialogue spoken.  It felt to me as a nod to the quiet that covers the events even to this day.  It is not spoken of, expect mostly by Sansei who want their parents and grandparents stories to be told, to not be forgotten.  Well worth the read.

seizure

seizure
virals series #2
kathy reichs
ya/scifi/supernatural
razorbill
published 2011

Ever since Tory Brennan and her friends rescued Cooper, a kidnapped wolf pup with a rare strain of canine parvovirus, they've turned from regular kids into a crime-solving pack! But now the very place that brought them together - the Loggerhead Island Research Institute - is out of funding and will have to shut down. That is, unless the Virals can figure out a way to save it!

So when Tory learns of an old Charleston legend about a famous she-pirate, Anne Bonney, whose fortune was never found, she can't believe her luck - buried treasure is exactly what she needs to save the Institute on Loggerhead! Trouble is, she and her friends aren't the only ones looking for it. And this time, the Virals' special powers may not be enough to dig them out of trouble . . .

First of all, I've just got to say it, this was a huge Goonies rip off.  Now, I'm not saying this is a bad book, and I think she even makes a reference to the movie at one point, but really, it was Goonies.  The kids are all going to have to move away from each other and they have a chance to save their homes by finding a pirate treasure.

And while we're on the subject, Tory is just a bitch.  She believes that because she thinks it should be done it doesn't matter how it gets done and everyone should follow suit and do it with her.  Legal or not.  She believes everyone should just bow down to her whims, she lies to her friends, acts like a spoiled brat to her father and uses anyone she sees fit.  She has absolutely no respect for anyone but herself.  She's constantly rewarded for her crappy behavior and attitude.  When it comes to female heroines she's the absolute worst.

It's obvious that Kathy Reichs doesn't normally write for teens.  She's toned down the science talk.  Enough that you're not lost in technical information, but not so much that she's saying 'readers are dumb' which is nice.  But she doesn't quite have a grasp on how 14 year-olds operate.  They're all sort of caricatures of teenagers.

With all that being said, Seizure is a good book.  It's exciting and suspenseful with that bit of adventure thrown in for those who want a little more bite with their YA reads.

london, i can't even....

London, you may have one of the most unattractive Olympic logo in history, but your Opening Ceremonies were Ab Fab!  The only thing I want to know is where was Luther?!?!

I am loving every single second of this.  I mean, how can you not?!  I guess you can because EVERYONE is alight on the interwebs about how awful this is.  I'm in the minority because I have been completely glued to the TV since it began. 

The beautiful pastoral landscapes in the beginning with the May poles and animals and the children around the UK singing.  Then it was the Industrial Age where they 'forged' the Olympic Rings, making it look so life like until the sparks fell from above.  God save the Queen and James Bond......Onto British Children's Literature opened by JK!  The creepy nightmares, a 100 foot Voldemort looming scarily and Mary Poppins coming to save the day!  And Mr. Bean!!  Mr. Bean impressing us with his musical abilities.

The highlight for me was Frankie & June and four decades of British music all while representing how social media has overtaken our lives.  June was gorgeous & it was just so much fun watching the whole love story.

I thought the whole thing just celebrated everything that is wonderful about the UK.  It was fun and creative, dark and funny and beautiful.

My only real complaint is that I have never disliked Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera more in my life.  Ugh.  Idiotic commentary and they never just shut up and let you enjoy the show.  What is their purpose exactly?  To show how annoying Americans can be?  They irritated me so much that I didn't even look up to see how to spell their names correctly.

My other complaint, only half serious.....where was Idris Elba and Benedict Cumberbatch?? Or the Spice Girls?  I didn't see them anywhere!  Boo, I pout.

dark mirror

dark mirror
m. j. putney
dark mirror series #1
ya/historical/fantasy/romance
st. martin's press
published 2011

At sixteen years old, Lady Victoria Mansfield lives quite the carefree life.  Until the day that her family discovers she has magic.  Her father sends her away to Lackland Abbey, a reform school for aristocrat children who must be 'cured' of their magic.  There is nothing more Tory wants than to be cured and return to her family...until she discovers a group of students who meet secretly to learn how to control and use their powers in the hopes that someday soon they will help defend England from Napoleon.  Does she choose to defy her family and risk being turned out from her home to practice magic or will she stay on the path to be cured?

There is no doubt that Mary Jo Putney is an excellent writer.  I've never read any of her historical romances (not really my thing), but this one caught my eye.  Tory is a great heroine.  She's strong and fearless.  She's not easily shocked or scared, which you would imagine a girl coming from a privileged family would be.  Even the dreamed 'mean girl' has some golden qualities.  There is of course, a romance element, but it doesn't overwhelm the story and it's sweet and innocent and quite lovely.

The magic is fun, quite complicated.  Not simply that someone can heal or that you either have it or you don't.  Putney puts a lot of thought and effort into making even the magic a story.

That being said, I wasn't in love with the book.  I wasn't excited to get back to it once I put it down.  In all honesty, I should have been done with this book days ago, but there just always seemed like something better to do.  The second book, Dark Passage is already out.  In fact, I saw that book first and that's what got me interested in reading this series.

So I'm not saying run out and buy it. It's certainly a library read, but it is well written and there are a few nail biting moments.  I'm not going to rush out and get Dark Passage, but if I find myself itching for something to read and I've finished my Off the Shelf Challenge then I'll probably pick it up.  If you're interested Barnes and Noble is currently offering Fallen From Grace for free as a NookBook.  Fallen From Grace is Tory's love interest, Allarde's diary and this takes place before the events in Dark Mirror.