Month in Review: August 2011

Ah, long inactivity.  Fun things like moving house, job hunting and general lack of internet access have conspired against me (also: natural laziness) which means I haven't updated since April (at least it's April this year, but still) and am now planning all sorts of things which may or may not get done (including something involving Enid Blyton, though what that is I do not know). 

Anyway, something which I can do because it is essentially a list...

Books Read in August 2011
78. The Eagle of the Ninth - Rosemary Sutcliff (1/8 - 4/8)
79. The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory (22/7 - 5/8)
80. A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray (5/8 - 7/8)
81. Rebel Angels - Libba Bray (7/8 - 8/8)
82. One of Our Thursdays is Missing - Jasper Fforde (12/8)
83. Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas - Louise Rennison (12/8 - 13/8)
84. The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith (25/7 - 13/8)
85. Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson (13/8)
86. Tithe - Holly Black (13/8 - 14/8)
87. Bad Taste in Boys - Carrie Harris (15/8)
88. Five Are Together Again - Enid Blyton (15/8)
89. The Crowfield Demon - Pat Walsh (15/8 - 16/8)
90. Withering Tights - Louise Rennison (18/8 - 19/8)
91. Uglies - Scott Westerfeld (15/8 - 21/8)
92. Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead (21/8)
93. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase - Joan Aiken (22/8)
94. The Bermudez Triangle - Maureen Johnson (23/8)
95. Dancing in my Nuddy Pants - Louise Rennison (26/8 - 27/8)
96. The Last Continent - Terry Pratchett (27/8 - 29/8)
97. Vegan Virgin Valentine - Carolyn Mackler (30/8)
98. Outcast - Rosemary Sutcliff (31/8)

Stats
Total = 21
Total pages = 6591*
Average book length = 314 pages

Completed Challenge = 1st in a Series with Tithe (14/8)

Inadvertent Trope of the Month = It Got Worse.  Seriously, several of these books are full of things just getting worse and worse and bleaker and bleaker.  Prime examples: Outcast (ye gods, that was one thing after another); Uglies (and I know it's going to get worse in Pretties); and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (vile Victorian orphaned and alone bleakness).  I liked all of these books, and two at least had happy endings, but they needed buffers of 'happier' books around them.

Most Read Author = Louise Rennison (3 books).

Nicest Covers of the Month

Top Ten Books of the Month
01. Uglies
02. The Eagle of the Ninth
03. Speak
04. A Great and Terrible Beauty
05. Rebel Angels
06. Bad Taste in Boys
07. The Crowfield Demon
08. Bad Taste in Boys
09. The Bermudez Triangle
10. Vampire Academy

*I have a spreadsheet for this because clearly I a) have no life; b) am obsessive; and c) really like spreadsheets.

Finished 25: List, Stats & Award Type Things

I have read 25 new books this year, so am halfway through my goal and seriously considering increasing the amount I have to read for my challenge - except I think I'll wait until I've actually read 50 before doing that.  However, as I haven't posted anything for a while and haven't written a review since...checks...oh dear, Sisters Red in February, I should probably do something.

The List
01. Ash by Malinda Lo
02. The Waves by Virginia Woolf
03. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
04. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
05. Blood Fever by Charlie Higson
06. First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde
07. The Haunting by Margaret Mahy
08. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
09. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope
10. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
11. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
12. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Player's Boy by Antonia Forest
15. The Players & the Rebels by Antonia Forest
16. The Elusive Grasshopper by Malcolm Saville
17. The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
18. Elizabeth & Mary by Jane Dunn
19. The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
20. Heresy by S.J. Parris
21. The Marlows & the Traitor by Antonia Forest
22. The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart
23. The Boy Book by E. Lockhart
24. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
25. Ink Exchange by Melissa Marr

Stats
January - 2; February - 9; March - 10; April - 4

1sts Challenge - 6/20
2nds Challenge - 6/20
A to Z Title Challenge - 10 (I)
Victorian Challenge - 4
Project Fill in the Gaps - 8

'3 Book' Authors - Antonia Forest & E. Lockhart
'2 Book' Authors - Anne Bronte, Jasper Fforde & Melissa Marr

Longest Book - Elizabeth & Mary 592 pages
Shortest Book - The Haunting 144 pages

Fiction - 24; Nonfiction - 1*
Adult - 12; Young Adult - 10; Children's - 2

Award Type Things
Much in the spirit of when I finished 50 last year, these count for nothing at all except that they're fun to do in my head.  Just imagine Anne Hathaway has a different gorgeous dress for each announcement.

The Jane Austen: I have read all of this author's books and I hate that
Antonia Forest.  I finished The Marlows and the Traitor with a sense of great satisfaction - I'd read it, it was amazing, she's one of my favourite writers ever - then crashed headlong into the realisation that that was the last book of hers I had left to read.  There are no more new Antonia Forest books out there.  There never will be.  This sucks.  I am going to go curl up with The Cricket Term and lament this.

The J.K. Rowling: I need the next book in this series NOW
This is a serious clash between Melissa Marr and Dorothy Dunnett.  Until I finished Ink Exchange I would say that The Lymond Chronicles were winning - something made worse by the books only being available second hand, so I am going to have to search for them** - because omgLymondissoawesome but then I got to the end of Ink Exchange and I have so many questions and I want to know what happens and I ship Irial/Niall so hard it's a bit ridiculous.  So I think I'm going to call it a tie, because I also want to commend Dorothy Dunnett for an insanely complex plot.

Book With an Insanely Complex Plot

The Game of Kings.  This is not a bad thing, and it definitely shouldn't put anyone off reading her (good Lord, read some Dorothy Dunnett - I am going to have to write a more coherent review of this book soon) but it did mean that I was constantly surprised.  It wasn't even in a Harry-Potter-I'm-sorry-but-I-thought-he-was-the-bad-guy sense, just that people's motives and allegiances kept shifting and every time I thought I had a handle on what was going on it turned out that I was wrong.  Which was fantastic, because I never got bored and I always knew there was bound to be something else to change the perspective on everything, just as I knew Lymond was going to slither out of trouble yet again.

Book(s) That Made Me Glad Not to Be Fifteen Anymore
The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book.  Even more so than Into The Wild Nerd Yonder, these books grabbed hold of my remaining teenage angst and gave it a good shake.  It was painful at times, and occasionally touched my embarrassment squick a bit too much - but that's all part of being a teenager and what makes that books so good.  And with the hindsight of twelve years of mature reflection (ha!) I was able to treat all the teenage girl bitchery and teenage boy idiocy with yells of "oh, you bitch!" and "oh, you bastard!" and "they're so not worth it, Ruby!" that I felt was required.  These books are also serious contenders for The J.K. Rowling as I need the next book now because I need to know what happens (Noel Noel Noel, Noel Noel Noel - please?).

And I was going to do some quick final category things, but they're just going to be me rehashing a lot of what I've said above.  Of the 25 books I've read so far this year, my favourites are definitely anything by: Antonia Forest, E. Lockhart, Melissa Marr and Dorothy Dunnett, though I can recommend everything I've read.

* This sounds best read in the voice of the Saturday Football Results Man (that is his official title).
** I actually quite like looking for second hand books, there's a sense of purpose and achievement...right up to the point when it turns out that the last ones you need for your collection were only printed once and so each copy is worth hundreds of pounds.  Probably thousands now with inflation.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Just Had To Buy...But Are Still Sitting On My Bookshelf

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish, and this week seemed particularly appropriate for me because I do this all the time.  Most of the books on my shelf are a product of me going "that sounds awesome, I must have that, I will read it immediately...ooh, that sounds even more awesome, I must have that, I will read it instead" ad infinitum (either that or are a result of needing a third book for Waterstone's 3 for 2 offers).  Then there are the ones I've bought for university courses/essays and not read.  And the ones I asked for for Christmas and haven't read.  Or those that I bought because someone online recommended it, or I read the author's blog and they seemed cool.

To be honest, picking ten might be tricky...

1. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman - because I slid off the end of The Subtle Knife, went "what the hell?  How can you stop there, you evil man?" and then dashed in town to get the third book.  Which I've never finished reading.

2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith - it's Pride and Prejudice...with zombies.  The Bennet sisters fight zombies.  Darcy fights zombies.  I think characters I dislike become zombies. How could I not have that in my life?

3. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters - I love Sarah Waters, I'm pretty sure I pre-ordered this because I'm such a fan of her work - and then I didn't read it.

4. Nation by Terry Pratchett - it's Terry Pratchett, if he publishes I buy.  Then I hear that it's quite bleak and even though one of my favourite Discworlds is Night Watch, I put off reading it.

5. Possession by A.S. Byatt - practically all of my friends have recommended this to me, even those whose reading tastes vary wildly.  It has been sitting there for years and I haven't touched it.  I like to think I'm saving it till I'm older.

6. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson - read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and had to buy the remaining two.  They have now been sitting, unread, on my shelves for over a year.

7. The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde - I love the Thursday Next books, I liked the first Nursery Crimes book, I bought this in hardback and I haven't touched it since.

8. The Devil in Amber by Mark Gatiss - again, I loved the first Lucifer Box book, I bought this one in hardback, and there it sits, unread.

9. Evelina by Frances Burney - friends recommended it, Jane Austen loved Burney, she's one of the biggies of eighteenth-century literary, and yet I can't even read her shortest novel.  I have her others and they are intimidating doorstops, but this is comparatively light.

10. Clarissa by Samuel Richardson - I bought this for a course and have been terrified of it ever since.  It is bigger than a normal Penguin.  It is a million words long.  It is there and judging me because I haven't read it yet.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  I have more unread than read books, and even when I take vows not to buy any more there are always really good charity shops that sell great titles cheap (that doesn't count as buying books because it's so much less money).

Review: Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Published: 2010
Pages: 344
Series: Fairytale Retellings #1
Read: 7th February 2011
Challenge: 1st in a Series (1/20)
Status: Owned book
Reason I Read It: I bought it because I stumbled upon Jackson's blog, I read it because of the reason stated below.

Synopsis: The March sisters, Scarlett and Rosie, have been fighting the Fenris (werewolves) ever since one of them killed their grandmother.  But now the wolves are looking for one boy in all the world to be turned, and the sisters decide to take the fight to them, hoping to wipe out the whole lot before the new one can be bitten.  There is violence, Platonic philosophy, tattoos, bowling, and girls kicking arse.  And it is awesome.

First Line: "Strangers never walk down this road, the sisters thought in unison as the man trudged towards them."

Review: Just to quickly get this out of the way - I bought this book last summer (I think when it came out) but I only started reading it because of the Bitch magazine huha.  I didn't pick it up until I read this article, especially point 6 in which Sisters Red is compared to a Buffy episode I love, and then I knew I had to read it.  So, I am aware of the debate going on around this and the other two books, but I'm not sure that I'm qualified to get involved in the discussion because I haven't been following it from the beginning - all of my information about what happened is based on articles other people have written.  Basically, I'm aware but don't want to get involved; I am employing the survival technique of ostriches everywhere.

Anyway...

I think the Buffy comparison is a good one, because for most of this book I was thinking that the easiest way to describe it was as Buffy-meets-Twilight-with-werewolves-instead-of-vampires*, and my love of Buffy far outweighs my dislike of Twilight so I was happy.  The Twilight element was only really in the main love story, but even that is rational and explained as people's feelings changing after they've known each other for years.  I didn't completely feel it, but I never tend to completely feel romances which are a bit of a sudden boom, we're in love - that's just me, and I'm aware that Buffy/Angel (Bangel?) is pretty much that.  And at least no one was secretly watching anyone else sleep.

However, the romance wasn't the sole focus of the novel; that was reserved for fighting the Fenris.  There was a point at which I wondered if every man in Atlanta was a Fenris, but that was addressed as logical because they're all in the city hunting for the Potential**.  In fact, every time I thought "oh, come on, it's blatantly obvious that it's So-and-So", the book provided clues that it wasn't - until the end in which it turned out that what I'd seen coming was indeed going to happen, but in a twisty way that made sense.  This is me trying very hard not to spoil, but I didn't see the logic behind the solution until it was presented to me (cryptic reviewer is cryptic) and then I was cursing because it was bloody obvious.

For the twistiness of the end, and girls beating up wolves in amazing action scenes - seriously, very good fights - I loved this book.  The beginning creeped me the hell out, as I tweeted, and there was action in pretty much every chapter.  The easiest way to sum it up is: it's one of the few paranormal romances I like.  I can't wait for the second in the series, Sweetly***, even though it doesn't feature the March sisters.  I'm once again glad there was a fuss over a book as it's made me read it (last time was Slaughterhouse-5).

Rating: 7/10

* I know there are werewolves in both of those series, but I'd say the primary focus is on the vampires.
** Who thankfully did not turn out to have a bad fake 'British' accent; yes, Molly, I mean you.
*** Side note: how awesome are the covers for these books?

Review: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Published: 1881
Pages: 266
Series: N/A
Read: 3rd February 2011
Challenge(s): Victorian Literature Challenge & Project Fill in the Gaps
Reason I Read It: It's on my Fill in the Gaps list.

Synopsis: Young Jim Hawkins has to deal with drunkards, mutineers, idiots who are fortunately on the other side, idiots who are unfortunately on his side, treachery, rum, skeletons and rum as he looks for treasure on Treasure Island - and all because his mother refused to be done out of money, even when pirates were trying to break into their home.

First Line: "Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey, and the rest of these gentlemen having asked me to write down the whole particulars about Treasure Island, from the beginning to the end, keeping nothing back but the bearings of the island, and that only because there is still treasure not yet lifted, I take up my pen in the year of grace 17—, and go back to the time when my father kept the Admiral Benbow inn and the brown old seaman with the sabre cut first took up his lodging under our roof."

Review: I have to admit, most of my pre-reading knowledge of this story comes from the Muppets, which meant that as I read I was a) expecting things from the plot which, obviously, weren't going to happen; and b) imagining Tim Curry as Long John Silver which, having recently watched the end of Criminal Minds series 5, was not necessarily a Good Thing.  Though trying to remember which Muppets were which characters did lend a certain something to the proceedings, especially as Ben Gunn = Miss Piggy adds a whole new level to the novel.

Of Stevenson's other books, I've read Kidnapped and Jekyll and Hyde, and this is closer to the former.  I think I prefer Kidnapped, though it has been a while since I read it all the way through and half the fun of that book is how utterly crazy Alan Breck Stewart is.  Long John comes close to being as entertaining, but didn't quite get there; the other pirates all fall under the heading of "could you people be any dafter, this is ridiculous, please stop running around like drunken sheep".  None of the characters really drew me in, and Jim was a bit annoying as he was retelling the story from an adult's point of view and justifying some pretty silly moves.  I know that they ultimately helped the good guys and that he's a boy (query: how old is he meant to be?) but there were times when I was shaking my head.  I think that may be my main issue with the novel: people doing silly things even when they've been told not to - like the squire broadcasting that they're off on a treasure hunting cruise to everyone in Bristol, or during a mad dash escape when the heroes decide to stop and check if they've killed an enemy, then stand around congratulating themselves rather than, I don't know, heading for safety.

There were also times when the story dragged a little.  There are some seriously awesome set pieces - especially the fight on the ship during "My Sea Adventure"* - but other times when things are slowed right down when what you really want is more swashbuckling fun.  Some of this might be due to all the nautical speak, although I don't get bored by that in Master and Commander or Antonia Forest.  Of course, this might just be me.  I was in this for a madcap dash round the island, complete with pirates and rum (oh so much rum in this book), and this wasn't entirely what I got.  I kept reading, though, because the fantastically creepy bits - Blind Pew, the pirates coming back to The Admiral Benbow, the skeleton compass - far outweigh the slightly dull bits where I skimmed to get to the next brilliant bit.  And, as I recall, there are bits in Kidnapped when I skimmed (the bit on the island - ah, it's an island thing).

All in all, Treasure Island is fun, and for a Victorian novel it's very readable.  The heroes don't always make easy choices, not everything goes their way despite a lot of luck of overhearing things on Jim's part, and there are pirates.  Also, Dr Livesey has parmesan in his snuff box.

Rating: 6/10


* This would be me not spoiling that bit, because it is amazing.