Mistress Of The Art Of Death

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Book: Mistress Of The Art Of Death by Ariana Franklin

Pages: 384 (Hardcover)

My Review: Mistress Of The Art Of Death is about a woman named Adelia, and her 2 companions (Simon and Mansur) travel to England to solve the mysterious deaths of 4 children.  The community blames it on the Jewish population, who are hidden the king’s castle to keep them save from the rioting mob.

The two things that jumped out at me were the title and the cover, but the book was just okay for me.  It takes place in 12th century England, and while I don’t expect historical fiction to be completely accurate (being fiction and all), I just couldn’t get over the fact that a world dominated by men would be so accepting of a woman from a foreign country investigating the deaths of 4 children.  She was just too independent and confident for someone from 1170, and she felt too out of place, like she didn’t belong.  She was just a little *too* unrealistic for my tastes.

She seemed genuinely surprised by the few people who didn’t want her investigating the murders- you’d think that she’d be used to it, since woman doctors were (most likely) very rare in that time.

As for the plot, it wasn’t as interesting as I hoped.  I was hoping for more suspense, but the book didn’t deliver on that, and sometimes the plot just moved along really slow.  There was something off about this book, and I can’t quite place my finger on it.  I couldn’t even tell you most of what happened in the book- it wasn’t very memorable.  A lot of what I do remember (like the murders of the children and the ending), I felt like she threw in just because she could.

Rating: 2 out of 5.  The book had a lot of promise, and could have been really good.  Maybe if Adelia wasn’t so completely out of place, and if Franklin had left out some of the grisly details, I would have liked it better.

Hold Still

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Book: Hold Still by Nina LaCour

Pages: 230 (Hardcover)

My Review: Hold Still is about 16-year-old Caitlin, who is dealing with the suicide of her best friend Ingrid.

I went through it pretty fast, and it was really hard for me to put it down.  It was hard watching Caitlin struggle with her feelings of anger and guilt, and being the one left behind.  The only thing that Ingrid leaves Caitlin is one of her journals, full of drawings, letters and various journal entries that Caitlin reads over the course of the book.

Even though Ingrid is dead, you really felt her presence through her journal and through Caitlin’s memories, as well as the photographs that Caitlin take, and the photographs that Ingrid leaves behind.

It’s definitely a story of moving on, and that it’s okay to move on.  I thought LaCour did a great job of showing Caitlin’s feelings, and what she was going through.  I’ve never lost anyone to suicide, but I was a mess after my grandpa died.  I can’t imagine losing someone to suicide, but it can’t be easy.  LaCour did an amazing job showing the different emotions someone can feel after losing someone important.

I don’t usually comment on book covers, but I absolutely loved this one!  It has a teen girl on it, with one of the journal entries in the background, with a drawing on the upper left corner.

There was something about the book that reminded me of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  I don’t know if it was the overall tone of the book, or the characters from both books, or what, but almost the whole book, I was reminded of Speak.  If you liked that book, or any other book by Laurie Halse Anderson, you’ll like this one.

Rating: 3.5 of 5.  It was simple, and somewhat fragmented, but overall, I liked it a lot, and found both Ingrid and Caitlin very relateable.  I could picture everything so clearly.

What To Talk About?

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First, I really want to talk about t.v.  I watched Pan Am on Sunday and Terra Nova on Monday.  That just leaves the premiere of House and Once Upon A Time.  So, I’m not really into the whole retro tv show thing, but Pan Am has been hyped up, and it’s the only one that’s really jumped out at me.  I liked it, and I think I’ll keep watching.  It was better than I expected, and I’m really curious about one of the character who had more mentions than appearances in the episode.  Hopefully, we’ll see more of her over the course of the season.  If we don’t see her, I hope they at least explain a little more about her.  And Terra Nova!  Another show that was really hyped, and while I liked it, I’m still not sure.  I was reminded of Lost when I was watching the premiere, since there’s something odd about Terra Nova.  Seriously, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s definitely something weird.

NaNo’s getting really close!  A month and a few days…and I still need to work on all my plot bunnies.  Since I have a few weeks left, I really need to get into gear and start working on this.  That might actually mean something if I hadn’t been saying that for the last few months.  But this time, I really mean it!  Because, you know, I have 3 ideas, and there is no way I can absolutely wing it this year.  I have a general idea for each one, but I actually need to work out the details, since they’re all the sort of novel that need to be planned.  At least to a certain degree, because if I don’t, it’ll be a hysterical mess that will make me want to bang my head against the wall.  Oh wait, don’t I do that already?  Why, yes, yes I do, but even more than normal.  If I don’t plan, it’ll end up being like that year when I just started writing a novel feeling inspired by a song.  As entertaining as that was…I really need to not do that again.

I do have an announcement to make.  Next month (which is really this week), I’ll be switching to a 5 day a week posting schedule, and I’ll be introducing some specific columns.  Music Mondays, Writing Wednesdays, TV Fridays, and Tuesday/Thurdsay…I have no idea what’ll be filling those 2 days…probably book reviews and stuff that doesn’t really fit with the specific columns.  I might be posting on Saturday or Sunday every once in a while, but I’m not promising anything.  In November, I’ll be posting everyday, but that’s because it’s NaNo, and NaNo is a really big event in my life.  Monday/Wednesday/Friday should be kind of obvious right?  I’ll talk about music (or podcasts) on Mondays, writing-related things/updates on Wednesdays, and recap the week in t.v. on Fridays.  I may deviate from that schedule, but if I do, it won’t be very often.  Because what’s the point of having a schedule with different features and stuff if I’m not going to stick to it?  The last week of October will be devoted solely to NaNo, and maybe the first week of December too, as a pre-NaNo special, and a post-NaNo wrap-up.

What is bringing about this change?  I really want to do something different with my blog, and while I’m not running out of things to say, sometimes…I just don’t want to post something.  And yet I do post something.  There is another reason why I’m trying out something different.  When I started this blog 11 months ago (has it really been that long?), it was to talk about my writing, and to chronicle my attempt to write 3 50k novels in one month.  Sure, I talked about food, and music and some other stuff, but I tried to connect it all to writing.  But nearly a year later, I talk about everything except writing.  I wanted to update my “posting schedule” and introduce new columns on specific days to reflect everything that I talk about.  Everything I talk about will still be around, but on specific days.  I feel like I’m lost a little bit of my blogging focus, and hopefully an actually schedule with specific things on specific days will help me regain some of that focus.

So, that’s it for today…I should have a book review posted sometime this week.  Have a great day everyone!

My To-Read List Is Out Of Control

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I love Goodreads.  I really do.  With all the reading I’ve done this year, it’s come in handy.  I love reading, but as much as I love reading, I decided that next year, I would set a lower goal for myself in terms of reading.  Like 50 to 75 books. 

And then I started exploring their recommendation section.  It reccomends books based on what you’ve added and based on similar books that other people have added.  I had a handful of books on my to-read list…like 4 books, so literally, a handful of books. 

Now I have over 200!  226 to be exact.  It’s ridiculous!  But I’m always looking for new books to read, and considering that it’s based on books I’ve added and rated, I’m sure that I’ve found a bunch of books that I’ll really like.  I’m definitely going to start working on that list, since some of the books I’ve requested having a long waiting list, and I’m going to need books to read while waiting for them. 

I definitely have 2 years of reading material, and that’s if I stick with the 100 book per year goal.  And now, I’m considering it just to make it through that list. 

I mainly use Goodreads to keep track of what I’ve read, am reading, and want t0 (or going to) read, and what I’ve rated it.  And it keeps tracks of when I’ve read something too, provided I add in the dates.  But I really like the recommendation feature, and it refreshes as you add books, so I’m sure I’ll find even more books to read. 

They have all kinds of lists of books, and in answer to the question you may be asking yourself, I found some books there too!  I haven’t looked it all too much, because it’s a little overwhelming, and I pretty much ignore the groups, quizzes, and trivia sections, but I find the giveaway section really cool.

Seriously, I love the giveaway area.  Let me tell you why I love this part of the website.  Publishers list books that they give away for free.  You can enter to win a copy of these books.  I entered a few, because those books look really interesting, and if I can potentially win a free copy of it…

So a couple days, I was checking my email…and to my surprise, I won a free copy of a book called Wildflower Hill!  It’ll arrive in the next 4 to 6 weeks, but I’m really excited, since I don’t win anything.  I’m looking foward to it’s arrival, that’s for sure. 

But 226 books!  226!  That’s a lot of books to read!  But there is a good thing about having such a long list.  I’ll always have something to read, since, you know, I have a really long list of books to choose from.

Becoming Jane Austen

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Book: Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence

Pages: 294 (Paperback)

My Review: Becoming Jane Austen is a biography of Jane Austen and the people, events, and places that influenced her life and her novels.

We started off with a detailed family history, and it was really hard to keep track of everyone because the same few names appeared rather frequently. 

As much as I love Jane Austen, I couldn’t get into the book.  While Jane’s family had a big influence on her writing, I felt like they were more prominent than Jane herself.  The book itself was really dry, and I had a lot of trouble getting through it.  Sadly, I don’t remember much of anything from the book, mostly because I couldn’t bring myself to care.

There was a lot more speculation than I thought.  We don’t know a lot about Jane Austen, so I’m okay with some speculation.  The problem is that he presents it as facts, and tells us how Jane felt, when really…how can we know what she was feeling?  And the cover was misleading- on the front cover, it says (and I quote), “the true love story that inspired the classic novels.”  The back cover mentions that Tom Lefroy, a young lawyer that Jane met, “affected her life and caught her imagination.”  It’s misleading in the fact that he’s only mentioned a few times.  And the whole “we don’t really know for sure, but her sister Cassandra would have known” thing…well, why bother making it seem like her meeting Tom Lefroy is a big deal, when it really wasn’t?

I might be somewhat accepting of the fact that Tom Lefroy may have inspired Pride and Prejudice, but I just couldn’t believe that 20 years later, she was still pining for him and that meeting him had an influence on both Persuasion and Emma.  For all the influence he supposedly had on her life, it would have been nice to learn more about him and what happened to him. 

Another thing that I didn’t like was the ending.  For a book that started back in the 1600’s, it would have been nice to see what happened with her posthumously published novels.  The book literally ends with Jane’s death, and a few more pages about how her death impacted her family. 

Rating: I have to give a 1 out of 5.  I couldn’t like it, and while I’m curious about Jane Austen and her life, this book did nothing to satisfy that curiosity.

Brightly Woven

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Book: Brightly Woven by Alexandra Woven

Pages: 354 (Hardcover)

The Review: Brightly Woven is about Sydelle Mirabil, who travels with Wayland North, an unranked wizard.  He has information that could prevent the coming war, and Sydelle is his “assistant.”

I couldn’t get into the book.  We don’t really get a lot of information about the world the characters live in, and the characters aren’t developed very well.  I thought Sydelle was a little wishy-washy, and seemed a little too perfect.  As for Wayland, he was too cryptic, and seemed really sketchy. 

The main plot was to get to the capitol to give the information about the war, but that tended to be dropped for side quests.  There were a lot of things that popped up that were really random.  The book was also inconsistent in terms of plotting and characterization, and things didn’t make a lot of sense. 

I think the best way to describe the book is disjointed.  It was as if Bracken couldn’t think of any interesting details to add in about the people and the world she created, and she jumps around a lot.  It felt empty, like I was missing something.  It felt like it was pieced together and had a lot of telling but not a lot of showing. 

Rating: 1 out of 5.  There was nothing memorable about this book, and Bracken’s world-building needs a lot of work.  It felt like I was reading the first draft.

The Iron King

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Book: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Pages: 363 (Paperback)

The Review: The Iron King is about Meghan Chase and her journey to find her younger brother Ethan.  It turns out that Meghan is the daughter of a fairy king, and her younger brother Ethan is kidnapped by the Iron King.  She journeys through the Nevernever, which is Kagawa’s version of the land where fairies and such reside.  Her best friend Robbie turns out to be Puck, from A Midsummer’s Night Dream, who leads her to Nevernever, and helps her find her brother.  She meets other people along the way, and gets into all kinds of trouble along the way.

I liked it.  Kagawa’s descriptions are amazing, and I could picture everything so vividly.  I have to say that I loved Grimalkin, who is very much like the Cheshire Cat from Alice In Wonderland.  A few times, his response to things was “I’m a cat,” and I could picture Grimalkin saying it like that explained everything.  I’m not sure what to think about Meghan, the main character.  She is impulsive, and a lot of the trouble she gets herself into could have been avoided if she listened to Puck, or if she thought things through.  But at the same time, she did want to save her brother and would do anything for him.

I did like the concept of the Iron Fey.  In The Iron King, if fairies touch iron, they could die.  The faeries aren’t a big fan of the advances made in technology and science, since science “proves” they don’t exist.  But the Iron Fey were really interesting.  The Iron Fey are fairies that evolved from the traditional fairies in the book, and they are immune to iron, and are slowly poisoning Nevernever.

I enjoyed it, and you’re left wondering what happens to Meghan at the end.  There are a couple sequels, so I may have to add those to my ever-growing list of books to read.  It was fairly fast-paced, especially the 2nd and 3rd sections.  Random side note: 1- why is dividing books into different sections so prevalent? and 2, why does everything need a sequel?

Random side note aside (read: there WILL be a blog post about this), I love reading about fairies.  I feel like fairies are going to be the new vampire, because there seem to be a lot of YA books involving fairies now…

Rating: 4 out of 5.  It’s definitely a mix of different books, but I love how vivid the descriptions are, and how I feel like I’m there with Meghan.  Add the Iron Fey, and you have a really interesting take on fairies.

More TV Talk!

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Grey’s Anatomy and Person Of Interest are next up on my season premiere recap.

First off, Grey’s Anatomy.  It was a 2-hour premiere, and Meredith loses her job, the board at the hospital deciding a suspension wasn’t good enough.  She sticks around the hospital though.  Kepner is chief resident, but no one listens to her, and Bailey tries to find a gunther, which a patient used as a team-building activity to get the residents to work together.  Everybody’s made at Alex because he ratted on Meredith.  Let’s see…there’s a giant sinkhole in Seattle, so all the injuries go to Seattle Grace or Mercy West, or whatever the hospital’s called now.  Christina ends up getting an abortion and Owen supports her decision, which is a big change from the end of last season.  And with Meredith getting fired, the separation from Derek, and the “red flags” raised by the interview with the social services lady, the baby Meredith and Derek adopted is taken away, and will be placed with another family while they re-evaluate the life Derek and Meredith could provide for Zola.  Richard covers for Meredith, saying it was him who switched the results instead of Meredith, and so she gets her job back.  I have no idea if he’ll still be working there but not as chief, or if he’ll be gone completely.  He did hand off his clinical trial to Bailey, but we’ll find out next week.

I didn’t see Richard stepping down, but considering how much Meredith gets away with, and his relationship with her mom, I really shouldn’t be surprised.  And that is why I love Grey’s Anatomy.  It is dramatic, and over the top, and in general, it’s fairly predictable, with an occasional twist thrown in.  I’ll be tuning in next week, that’s for sure.

As far as Person Of Interest goes, I watched the pilot, and I really like the premise of the show.  It was interesting, but I’m not sure about it.  I think I’ll keep watching it online to see if it’ll keep me interested.  It was definitely hyped up, but I don’t know if the show actually lived up to all the hype.  Maybe it’s one of those shows that takes a while to get into, like The Event, which was weird at first, and then I got into it.  So maybe the same will happen with Person Of Interest.  For the moment, I’m glad that that Grey’s Anatomy was higher up on the priority list of tv shows to watch.

So, I’m not at all done talking about tv yet, so I’ll be back with a few more season premiere recaps!

So Many Shows…So Little Time!

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What a week for t.v.!  On America’s Next Top Model, the girls got makeovers, which is always one of my favorite episodes.  There was a meltdown, which always seems to happen, and one girl was so happy she cried.  Not much else to report, though, but I’m really glad Kayla didn’t get eliminated.

We also have CSI and Revenge on Wednesday nights.  I was really torn about which one to watch.  A DVR would really come in handy, and I’m not sure if I can convince my grandma to get one.  If I had a way to pay for it myself, I totally give her the money every month for it.  I wasn’t up to going back and forth, so I figured I would watch one and watch the other online.  CSI won out, mostly because it’s the first time I could actually watch it…the only problem is that I have no clue what’s going on, since I’ve only seen the first season in it’s entirety, and random episodes from the subsequent seasons.  On the plus side, though, it’s one of those shows where you can randomly pick up and generally get the gist of what’s going on.

I watched Revenge online, and so far, it’s really good!  It’s definitely something I’m going to keep watching.  I like how it flashed back to her childhood and the present.  You get little bits and pieces of why Emily returned to the Hamptons and what happened, but you don’t get the full story right away.  It’s all very mysterious, and I can’t help but want to know what happened.

And NCIS!  That fanfic I wrote back in July for Camp NaNo?  There was a lot that I unknowingly got right!  It wasn’t E.J., just like I thought, but the microchip she took out of Levin’s arm was definitely connected.  It turned out that it was Cade…but not really.  There’s some guy named Stratton, who said he worked for the FBI, but the FBI has never heard of him, and he’s not showing up in any kind of database.  Another person had the microchip, which I had written back in July, and Tony does disappear for a while, like I had written.  And the FBI is kind of but not really involved in the pilot, while they were featured a lot more in the fanfic.  I definitely need to rewatch it, since it goes back and forth between past and present, which reminded me of the episode where they go looking for Ziva in Somalia.  I feel like I missed a few details, but I can tell you right now that this micro-chip thing is going to be a season-long arc.  It all comes down to something called Phantom 8, which the new SECNAV, Director Vance and this Stratton guy are connected to somehow.  Good lord, everyone being involved in Operation Frankenstein at the end of the last season was enough, do we really need more secret projects that people are involved in?  I don’t trust the new SECNAV at all- he’s definitely up to something.  I really wish they’d go back to the stand-alone episodes- the whole “grab-your-gear, there’s a dead marine” thing.

I’m waiting for House and Once Upon A Time to start.  The season premiere for House is in October as is Once Upon A Time.  I think House is October 3rd, but I’m not sure about the date for Once Upon A Time.  I think it’ll premiere at the end of October.  And Terra Nova starts on Monday, so that’s another one I’ll be recapping.

I watched Grey’s Anatomy yesterday, but I haven’t had a chance to watch Person Of Interest, which was on at the same time, so I’ll give a recap for both tomorrow.

Mythology Is Pretty Important

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Mythology is going to be really important in at least one of my plot bunnies, maybe even two of them.  I’m going to focus on some of the mythological creatures and beings that may end up in The Pact.  If any of the information isn’t new to you, I’m sorry, but hopefully it’ll help me get some focus. 

  • Faeries popped into my head immediately.  The word faerie comes from Middle English word faierie, which seems to come directly from the Old French word Faerie.  Ultimately, though, the word faerie is derived from the Latin word fata, or one of the Fates.  So faeries are guardians in the ultimate sense of the word.  Can you imagine getting sick because you’re trying to protect something, and nothing is good enough?  Faerie is a pretty broad category, though, if the wikipedia page is any indication.  But still, I like the image of a faerie.  There are lots of faeries out there, so I’m pretty sure I can think of something interesting.   
  • Mermaids: I don’t have a clue how to work in a mermaid, but I really like the idea.  Mermaid comes from two French words, mer, which means sea, and maid, which is a girl or a young woman…obviously, right?  Mermaids sing to gods or people to enchant them and distract them from what they’re doing.  In some stories, mermaids squeeze the life out of men as they drown while they try to rescue them.  There are a lot of mermaid stories out there, and I really like the image of a girl who’s part mermaid or something. 
  • Selkies can become human by taking off their seal skin, and return to their seal form by putting their seal skin back on.  There’s not much on the wikipedia page, but the legends are really interesting, and I’m sure I could adapt the legends to fit the story. 
  • Sirens…I’m starting to detect a them here, perhaps something water related is where I should focus my attention.  Sirens, if you’re not familiar with them, are 3 bird-women who are portrayed as seductresses who lured sailors to the rocky coast of their island with their enchanting voices and music.  I’m pretty sure I could work this in somehow, but since it’s a fantasy, it can happen. 

I think some kind of water creature is where my thoughts eem to be headed, and there’s going to be some very strong imagery.  I’ll definitely need some to have a clear image of what Poppy looks like.  If I can actually get myself to work on it, it should be really fun.