odd apocalypse

odd apocalypse
odd thomas series #5
dean koontz
fiction/thriller/scifi/horror
bantam books
published 2012

Once presided over by a flamboyant Hollywood mogul during the Roaring ’20s, the magnificent West Coast property known as Roseland is now home to a reclusive billionaire financier and his faithful servants. And, at least for the moment, it’s also a port in the storm for Odd Thomas and his traveling companion, the inscrutably charming Annamaria, the Lady of the Bell. In the wake of Odd’s most recent clash with lethal adversaries, the opulent manor’s comforts should be welcome. But there’s far more to Roseland than meets even the extraordinary eye of Odd, who soon suspects it may be more hell than haven.

A harrowing taste of Roseland’s terrors convinces Odd that it’s time to hit the road again. Still, the prescient Annamaria insists that they’ve been led there for a reason, and he’s promised to do his best for the ghost on horseback. Just how deep and dreadful are the mysteries Roseland and her masters have kept for nearly a century? And what consequences await whoever is brave, or mad, enough to confront the most profound breed of evil? Odd only knows. 

There was much about this book that went well over my head.  Similar to Brother Odd in the sense that there is quite a bit of science fiction & fact intertwined in the story.  While I did love Brother Odd, Odd Apocalypse was slightly less amazing.

Odd is still the same person, although the events in Odd Hours have changed not only himself, but the way he travels.  He is now directly on a path that has some meaning, though none of us, save for maybe Annamaria know what this path leads to.

The book was both quick and slow.  Slow in parts I didn't think necessary, quick in parts where I would have rather seen more character development.  I didn't feel like the bad guys were really evil because there was hardly any interaction with them.  We heard about their exploits and got small glimpses into their true natures, but they never seemed any worse than ordinary bad guys.  There were too many forces to contend with, too many things to explain and just not enough pages.

I hate to say it, but Odd Thomas has let me down.  Save for Darkness Under the Sun, Dean Koontz has been striking out with me quite a bit lately.

the age of miracles

the age of miracles
karen thompson walker
fiction/scifi/ya
random house
published 2013

“It still amazes me how little we really knew. . . . Maybe everything that happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing. It’s possible, I guess. But I doubt it. I doubt it very much.”

On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life—the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.

Amazing.

I finished this book about 5 minutes ago and then I sat staring off into space, my chest tight and a sob trapped in my throat.  Incredibly sad, haunting, disturbing, beautiful, lonely.

I was struck most of the time at how lonely Julia was.  How awful sometimes being 11 can be.  Not having any siblings to lean on, Julia looks towards her parents for strength, but they are falling apart in their own ways much faster than she ever does.  Her quiet sadness permeates through the book, but not in a way that makes her seem whiny or pouty.  She's accepted.  She is the most unafraid of them all.

And while I ached for this child I was frozen with the terror of 'the slowing'.  It is something that at first seems so silly, so made up.  And you think for a minute, seriously, what's the big deal.  While it is so much science fiction, it is so believable that you begin to fear that something like this is just beyond our horizon.  It is a science fiction that feels more science than fiction and it is frightening.

As the days stretch into weeks Julia's life moves as it must.  Despite the seemingly end of the world feel, she still dreams of sweet boys and best friends that left her behind.  Her grandfather's stories of Alaska and the mystery and allure that surrounds the 'real timers'.

The tightness in my chest is still there.  I kept waiting, expecting some miracle as the title promises, but I don't know.  I don't know if I can accept the miracle that Walker provides.  The book is astoundingly good.  I just don't know if I was ready to read something like that.

ash

ash
malinda lo
fiction/ya/romance/fantasy
little, brown books for young readers
published 2009

In the wake of her father's death, Ash is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Consumed with grief, her only joy comes by the light of the dying hearth fire, rereading the fairy tales her mother once told her. In her dreams, someday the fairies will steal her away, as they are said to do. When she meets the dark and dangerous fairy Sidhean, she believes that her wish may be granted.

A sweet and beautiful spin on the class Cinderella story.  I first saw this book at the San Diego Comic Con and I was captivated with the cover.  You know how I feel about book covers.  It wasn't until a couple of years later that I got the eBook and then now, finally am reading it.

Ash is a sweet, but somber story of a girl who loses everything she holds dear.  Actually, when she loses her mother she seems to have lost everything.  Her father, though there is no doubt that he loves her and she him, doesn't really know what to do with her.  When he marries Lady Isobel things only go from bad to worse.

The writing is magical.  Malinda Lo has set the story on the edge of the Wood, no matter where they are.  With hints and nods towards the Cinderella we've grown up knowing, we are brought into a different and despite the setting, a modern retelling.  Ash is bright and courageous, but she's not the blonde sunny princess from Disney.  She's darker and more determined.  She doesn't expect everything to come from wishes and pleas, but she does dream.

This is the first book by Malinda Lo I've read and I'm sure it won't be my last. 

bad love

bad love
alex delaware series #8
jonathan kellerman
fiction/thriller/suspense
random house publishing
published 1994

It came in a plain brown wrapper, no return address - a tape recording of a horrifying, soul-lacerating scream, followed by the sound of a childlike voice delivering the enigmatic and haunting message: 'Bad love. Bad love. Don't give me the bad love...'

For Alex Delaware the tape is the first intimation that he is about to enter a living nightmare. Others soon follow: disquieting laughter echoing over a phone line that suddenly goes dead, a chilling act of trespass and vandalism. He has become the target of a carefully orchestrated campaign of vague threats and intimidation rapidly building to a crescendo as harassment turns to terror, mischief to madness. With the help of his friend LAPD detective Milo Sturgis, Alex uncovers a series of violent deaths that may follow a diabolical pattern. And if he fails to decipher the twisted logic of the stalker's mind games, Alex will be the next to die.

1994 doesn't feel that long ago to me.  Maybe because I graduated from high school only a year prior to that, but it has been 19 years.  The thing I love the most, or maybe just the thing that makes me chuckle throughout the book are instances when we're shown just how far technology has come since 1994.  Alex doesn't own a computer or a cell phone.  When he wants to find something he drives himself over to the college library and looks stuff up.  In my head I say, why doesn't be Google it?!?!

Maybe because Kellerman's professional life is mirrored so perfectly in Alex Delaware or maybe because he's written so many books in the series.  Either way, Delaware is a fully fleshed out character.  He acts kind of hokey sometimes, but it's 1994.  Wasn't everyone hokey in the 90's?

He writes the psychology mumbo jumbo without making you feel like you're at a boring lecture or like you're a dummy.  The clinical aspects of the story are brief yet thorough.  You understand the psychosis discussed, the methodology of the treatment and it's not boring.  The story is suspenseful and intriguing.  You can't wait to get to the end to see how it all plays out, how it's all connected.  And you're taken by surprise at times.

A really, really good book.  Having taken a break from Alex Delaware for a little more than 3 years (because the last book I read, Devil's Waltz was so boring I could hardly stand it) this was a good book to start my journey back into his world.  He still does the weird navigation commentary that I don't enjoy, but I've learned to skim over those parts quickly!

darkness under the sun

darkness under the sun
dean koontz
fiction/thriller/short
random house
published 2010

There once was a killer who knew the night, its secrets and rhythms. How to hide within its shadows. When to hunt. He roamed from town to town, city to city, choosing his prey for their beauty and innocence. His cruelties were infinite, his humanity long since forfeit. But still . . . he had not yet discovered how to make his special mark among monsters, how to come fully alive as Death. This is the story of how he learned those things, and of what we might do to ensure that he does not visit us.

I read an article a while back about how with the advent and popularity of eReaders authors are now having a hard time keeping up with the demand of readers.  Authors generally would publish one book a year.  More prolific writers like Nora Roberts (aka JD Robb) and James Patterson would sometimes release two to three books a year, but now people are reading and they're reading a lot.  In order to satisfy impatient readers more authors are spitting out short stories, or novellas in between novels.

Everyone's doing it.  Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth series has a short, as does Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl's Beautiful Creatures series.  Lee Child has released two shorts in the Jack Reacher series and to precede the release of her newest book Chevy Stevens is publishing a short prelude to her next novel a month before the novel comes out.

Now, horror writer Stephen King has always been a short story writer.  Having at least three collections of short stories and I tend to like his short stories better than his full length novels.  With the shorts it forces him to rein himself in.  His superfluous, ad nauseum depictions of the color of concrete tend to get on my nerves and cause in me a great amount of hatred for all books written by him.

Dean Koontz's books have generally always entertained me, however lately, the last few books I've read have left me feeling sad and irritated.  Two years ago I read What the Night Knows and gave it only two stars on Goodreads and Shelfari.  It was just not very exciting.  His books are starting to become somewhat cookie cutter to me.

Darkness Under the Sun is a 60-page novella taking place nearly twenty years before the events in What the Night Knows.  It tells how both innocence and evil have things in common.

It was creepy, it was direct and to the point.  It was a perfect example of storytelling in merely 60 pages.  The only problem is that it ties very deeply into What the Night Knows and I feel that the story is not complete unless you read both (and you should read What the Night Knows first) and that wasn't a fantastic book. 

So I leave it up to you intrepid reader.  If you want to slog your way through What the Night Knows to get to a decent short story, by all means....

ebook challenge

Workaday Reads is hosting the eBook challenge.  I didn't reach my goal last year so of course, I'm determined to reach the goal I set for myself this year.  You can sign up here & join me!

Even though I do love sitting down with a real book in my hands I really do love my Nook.  It is one of my favorite gadgets.  I'm thinking about getting a Kindle this year too.  For why, I don't know.....but it sounds like a good idea in my head!

I'm going to go for the DVD level (25 books).  Like every other challenge I'll decide in a few months if I can handle going up a level!

*****Completed DVD Level 4.3.13*****

Moving up to Memory Stick - 50 Books 

*****Completed Memory Stick Level 8.15.13*****
Moving Up to Hard Drive - 75 Books

*****Completed Hard Drive Level 10.31.13*****

1. Darkness Under the Sun - Dean Koontz  
2. Bad Love - Jonathan Kellerman 
3. Ash - Malinda Lo 
4. The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker
5. Odd Apocalypse - Dean Koontz 
6. Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr 
7. Immortal Beloved - Cate Tiernan
8. Waiter Rant - Steve Dublanica
9. Self-Defense - Jonathan Kellerman
10. Gregor & the Prophecy of Bane - Suzanne Collins 
11. Crossed - Ally Condie
12. Born in Fire - Nora Roberts
13. Annabel - Lauren Oliver
14. Born in Ice - Nora Roberts 
15. Gregor & the Curse of the Warmbloods - Suzanne Collins
16. The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket 
17. Born in Shame - Nora Roberts 
18. Forged in Grace - Jordan Rosenfeld  
19. Gregor & the Marks of Secret - Suzanne Collins
20. The Walking Dead, Vol. 16 - Robert Kirkman
21. The Walking Dead, Vol. 17 - Robert Kirkman
22. The Walking Dead, Vol. 18 - Robert Kirkman
23. The Reptile Room - Lemony Snicket
24. Gregor & the Code of Claw - Suzanne Collins
25. The Next Always - Nora Roberts 
26. A Game of Thrones - George RR Martin
27. Raven - Lauren Oliver
28. Ink Exchange - Melissa Marr
29. The Alchemyst - Michael Scott   
30. Darkness Falls - Cate Tiernan  
31. Stopping Time - Melissa Marr
32. Old Habits - Melissa Marr
33. Fragile Eternity - Melissa Marr
34. The Magician - Michael Scott
35. Odd Interlude #1 - Dean Koontz
36. Odd Interlude #2 - Dean Koontz
37. Radiant Shadows - Melissa Marr 
38. The Sorceress - Michael Scott
39. Eternally Yours - Cate Tiernan
40. Odd Interlude #3 - Dean Koontz
41. Tampa - Alissa Nutting
42. Deep Down - Lee Child
43. Sushi for Beginners - Marian Keyes 
44. The Necromancer - Michael Scott 
45. Deeply Odd - Dean Koontz 
46. The Warlock - Michael Scott 
47. 12th of Never - James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
48. Learning to Swim - Sara Henry  
49. Darkest Mercy - Melissa Marr 
50. Daring to Dream - Nora Roberts 
51. Sacred Sins - Nora Roberts
52. Divine Evil - Nora Roberts
53. Holding the Dream - Nora Roberts
54. The Enchantress - Michael Scott
55. Pretty Little Liars - Sara Shepard
56. The Death of Joan of Arc - Michael Scott
57. Billy the Kid & the Vampyres of Vegas - Michael Scott
58. Finding the Dream - Nora Roberts
59. Genuine Lies - Nora Roberts
60. Carnal Innocence - Nora Roberts
61. A Faint Cold Fear - Karin Slaughter
62. Warrior Heir - Cinda William Chima
63. Flawless - Sara Shepard
64. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
65. Perfect - Sara Shepard
66. The Wizard Heir - Cinda Williams Chima
67. Live to Tell - Lisa Gardner
68. Snow Flower & the Secret Fan - Lisa See
69. Sea Swept - Nora Roberts
70. Rising Tides - Nora Roberts
71. The Kill Order - James Dashner
72. Lies Beneath - Anne Greenwood Brown
73. Love You More - Lisa Gardner
74. Unbelievable - Sara Shepard
75. Taken in Death - JD Robb

pandemonium

pandemonium
delirium series #2
lauren oliver
ya/dystopian/romance
harper collins
published 2012

Pandemonium continues Lena’s gripping story. After escaping from Portland, Maine, Lena makes it to the Wilds and becomes part of an Invalid community, where she transforms herself into a warrior for the resistance. A future without Alex is unimaginable, but Lena pushes forward and fights, both for him and for a world in which love is no longer considered a disease. Swept up in a volatile mix of revolutionaries and counterinsurgents, Lena struggles to survive—and wonders if she may be falling in love again.

I liked Lena a lot more here than in Delirium.  She's harder, but it hasn't stifled her compassion.  She comes into the Wilds broken, hurt and ready to die but she soldiers on and make the resistance a priority for herself because she knows it's the right thing.  The 'now' and 'then' flip flopping of the chapters was great,  It felt like everything moved faster although it did leave little room for suspense because you basically knew the future when you were in the 'then' parts.

I dread Alex returning.  While I don't think that what Lena may have found in Pandemonium is deep, I dread the 'you hurt me' boy all butt hurt and acting like she betrayed him.  It's a character that's been done too many times in too many different novels and I was hoping this would be different.  Of course, I could be wrong.  We'll find out in March when Requiem comes out!

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?

book challenges? check.

I did it!  It was a close one this year.  At the beginning of December I was still about 6 books away from my 200 book goal and I was starting to get a little worried, but I got it done.

I didn't read everything I wanted to read this year.  I got waylaid by some new authors and other new books I picked up instead of sticking with my TBR list, but that's okay.  All in all it was a good reading year and with a new baby becoming more mobile in 2012 I'm thinking I won't be reading as much this upcoming year!

Here are the links to my Book Challenge posts with link ups to the (very few) reviews I did!

100+ Reading Challenge
YA Reading Challenge
Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
Support Your Local Library Challenge
eBook Reading Challenge


This year some of the challenges are being hosted by other bloggers, but right now I'm planning on participating in all of them again.  You should join me!

2012 ebook reading challenge

 

This will be my second year participating in the eBook Challenge.  This year I've read about 60 books on my Nook so I'm going for the 'Memory Stick' level (50 eBooks) though I might upgrade to 'Hard Drive' (75 eBooks) later.

 2021 will be hosted by Sarah at Workaday Reads.  You can go here to sign up!

Challenge Guidelines:

1. This challenge will run from Jan 1, 2012 - Dec 31, 2012.
2. Anyone can join, you don't need to be a blogger. If you don't have a blog, feel free to sign-up in the comments. You can post reviews to any book site (i.e. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Goodreads, etc).
3. Any genre or length of book counts, as long as it is in ebook format.
4. You can list your books in advance or just put them in a wrap-up post. If you list them, feel free to change them as the mood takes you.
5. When you sign up in the linky, put the direct link to your post about joining the E-Book Reading Challenge.
6. You can move up levels, but no moving down.
7. Sign-ups will be open until Dec 15, 2012, so feel free to join at any time throughout the year.

Levels:

1. Floppy disk - 5 ebooks
2. CD - 10 ebooks
3. DVD - 25 ebooks
4. Memory stick - 50 ebooks
5. Hard drive - 75 ebooks
6. Server - 100 ebooks
7. Human brain - 150 ebooks

Happy Reading everyone!  Let me know if you're going to join in on the challenge!  Leave the link for your page in my comments so I can follow along with you!

1. Midnight Sun - Stehenie Meyer
2. Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
3. Dream Dark - Kami Garcia
4. The Walking Dead, Book 15 - Robert Kirkman
5. Bring Me the Head of John Grisham - Stefano Boscutti
6. This Breeze Brings Blood - Cody Connor
7. 77 Shadow Street - Dean Koontz
8. Chasing Fire - Nora Roberts
9. Hell's Corner - David Baldacci
10. Buried Prey - John Sandford
11. Shock Wave - John Sandford
12. The Affair - Lee Child
13. Amy & Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout
14. Heat Wave - Richard Castle 
15. Kisscut - Karin Slaughter
16. New York to Dallas - JD Robb
17. Room - Emma Donoghue
18. Chaos in Death - JD Robb
19. Hana - Lauren Oliver
20. Batman Cacophony - Kevin Smith & Walt Flanagan
21. Bitterblue - Kristin Cashore
22. Wondrous Strange - Lesley Livingston
23. Evil at Heart - Chelsea Cain
24. Pandemonium - Lauren Oliver
25. Insurgent - Veronica Roth
26.  

the girl who chased the moon

After the death of Emily’s mother Emily moves to Mullaby, North Carolina to live with a grandfather she never really knew existed.  Though nervous, Emily is determined to make the most of this move.  In the meantime, we meet the other residents of Mullaby, including Julia who has returned to settle her father’s estate and get out as quickly as she can.  Just the idea of making a life in her childhood town suffocates her.  When Emily meets Win and sparks fly Julia, Emily’s grandfather & the rest of the town know nothing good can come of it.

I loved this book.  It’s sort of a crossover between a YA novel and an adult fiction novel.  Emily’s story is the center of the plot, but Julia’s story is also a huge part of the story.  I loved each of the characters and was entranced by the promise of the supernatural, by the mystery that surrounded Win and his family and by the love story that slowly develops for Emily and for Julia.

The story wasn’t so much supernatural as it was magical.  I didn’t want it to end, even after learning all the secrets there were to learn.  I just wanted to keep reading about everyone in Mullaby forever.