Books Completed in August:
- My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares
- Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (audio)
- Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (audio) (reread)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (audio) (reread)
- Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (audio) (reread)
- The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion by LJ Smith
- Dracula by Bram Stoker
Look at that. I almost reviewed everything (ignoring Harry Potter which I will do as one big audio post).
Favorite: My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares
Least Favorite: The Vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion by LJ Smith
I think 9 books might be a new record for me (although if I’d noticed I was so close , I certainly would have tried for double digits). Part of this accomplishment is due to some easy, quick reads (let’s face it, that’s not really an impressive list) but a lot of it has to do with the 4 audiobooks I read. I’ve been flying through the Harry Potter books faster than other audios partly because I simply love Harry Potter and partly because I am finally maximizing my audio time. I’m not just listening in the car anymore. I’m listening when I get ready in the morning, when I’m cooking and cleaning, and when I have a headache and it’s the only thing I can bear to do. You can argue all you want that listening is not the same thing as reading, but I’m finishing MORE BOOKS, people. And that’s something.
Think I can hit 10 in September?
So, how was your reading month? What was your favorite book?
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Instead of doing a “review” of Dracula where I tell you about the plot and my thoughts and we discuss the already-discussed-to-death novel’s interpretation of conservative Victorian culture, gender, and religion, I thought I would simply explain why I read Dracula and if it lived up to my expectations.
We are overrun with vampires today, from Twilight to True Blood, and I thought it was time I understood where these stories came from. Yes, I understand Stoker didn’t invent vampires and the Vampire myth, in various forms, has been around for ages in many cultures. Yet, I think it is fair to say Bram Stoker’s creation of Count Dracula and the mythology surrounding it has had the biggest influence on our common understanding of what a vampire is.
Because of this, I expected to find the “traditional” vampire in Count Dracula – none of this sparkling nonsense. I wanted the night-loving creature who drinks blood, sleeps in coffins, cowers from crucifixes and garlic, cannot survive in sunlight, and is defeated with a stake through the heart. However, it turns out that Stoker’s original Dracula isn’t exactly this vampire. The drinking blood, crucifix, garlic part is alright, but Dracula is fine in sunlight (though weakened during the day), must rest in his native soil, and is eventually defeated with two simple knives (although vampire-Lucy is defeated with a stake through the heart). He can also shift into other animals besides the bat and he cannot pass running water.
It seems the various movie adaptations of Stoker’s story (which contain at least the sunlight bit) have managed to shape our understanding of vampires as much as the original novel. And today, with the competing mythologies of the various vampire books, television shows, and movies, perhaps we have new understanding of “vampire” and my classic vampire idea doesn’t exist anymore.
I love that people have taken the vampire myth and made it their own, but I certainly hope people 100 years from now don’t picture Edward as the quintessential vampire. Yes, I read and enjoyed Twilight for what is it, but I’ll take Count Dracula for the standard thank you very much. Even if this notion is quite accurate.
Have you read Dracula? Did anything surprise you about it? What is your favorite interpretation of “vampire?”
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SPOILERS – This post assumes you’ve read Mockingjay. Please skip if you prefer to remain spoiler free. – SPOILERS
Just like everyone else, I’m not doing a real review of Mockingjay. Immediately after I finished, I quickly typed up some notes before my thoughts could get contaminated by my discussions with others. These are those notes cleaned up a little bit. I’m still debating and figuring out some things, but these are my initial thoughts.
- As much as I was excited for the book and couldn’t wait to read it it, I didn’t really have many expectations. I was never invested in the Team Gale/Team Peeta debate because I always felt this story was about more than romance. And I think Mockingjay followed that theory.
- I loved the first two parts more than the third. I know this is backwards from what everyone else is saying but here is my reason: I thought the third section was rushed. And I think this is essentially what others are saying when they say they wish the third section was more of the novel. The battle in the Capitol was rushed. A lot of the deaths were rushed (more on that later). The ending was rushed. I enjoyed the pace of the first two sections much better.
- There was a lot of death and killing in this book. Wow.
- I sobbed through the last 10 pages. Like uncontrollably. Especially when that cat came back. I just completely lost it. I felt so heartbroken for Katniss who had just lost her sister, her best friend, and, essentially, her mother.
- I was actually ok with the epilogue. This surprised me (the only spoiler I heard was that there was an epilogue that some people didn’t like) because I normally hate them (I pretend the Harry Potter epilogue doesn’t exist). But I thought this one was kind of fitting. Yes, the whole happily-ever-after-and-then-they-had-babies thing is overdone, BUT in this case I think it is a great way to show how the world has changed. Katniss would never have brought kids into the old world. I think the epilogue gives us closure and shows us that the Hunger Games are truly over.
- The way things were left between Katniss and Gale makes me sad. I don’t care if she ends up with him or Peeta, but I hate that they aren’t even friends now. I almost feel like that was done as a way to make her choose Peeta. I really dislike that he is who she blames for Prim’s death.
- Oh, Prim. It was like Rue all over again. At first, I thought it was a little pointless – the whole thing started because Katniss was trying to protect Prim and then she just dies at the very end? But once I thought about it, I think it’s fitting. The whole thing did start because Katniss was trying to protect Prim, but then it became about so much more than that. Prim’s death doesn’t mean Katniss failed.
- Um, what was the point of her fighting to get to Snow and everyone dying along the way just for her to be stopped AT THE MANSION by the rebels who beat her there? That annoyed me.
- And Finnick’s death? He deserved more than that. It was so sudden and rushed. If we go back to the Harry Potter comparison (as we inevitably do) I felt the same was as I did at the battle of Hogwarts when we are basically given a list of the dead. People were dying left and right and some of them deserved a few more paragraphs at least.
- I’ve seen a lot of people complain about Katniss’ decision to support the final Hunger Games, but I am 100% convinced that Katniss only agreed to them to mislead Coin and distract her from her assassination plan. Katniss knew that those Hunger Games would never be played.
- I occasionally felt confused. Like either I was reading too fast or Collins had rushed certain parts. I found myself rereading passages on many occasions to make sense of them.
- I am fine with her and Peeta. Personally, I think I would have preferred her not to end up with either of them. I actually thought that’s where the book was heading but instead the Peeta romance was thrown back in there at the very end. It was especially surprising because we didn’t get the real Peeta for the entire novel. Gale seemed much more likely for most of the book, no?
- All of this makes it sound like I didn’t like it that much, which is not true. I enjoyed it very much. But it is my least favorite of the three and I wonder if that’s just the way I always feel about the final book in a series. Obviously and author can’t tie up everything the way you’d like. I think it’s impossible not to be disappointed a little.
I’d love to hear from you. What did you think? Did you love it? Hate it? Sleep with it under your pillow? Throw it against a wall? Tell me in the comments.
Ready…set…discuss!
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“Isabel grasped the phone with both hands, her breath coming in short burts.
Her heart was racing so fast she thought she might faint.
She closed her eyes for a moment, and rocked back and forth.
“I’m listening,’ she said.”
- p. 121* of Ape House by Sara Gruen -
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!
Just do the following:
- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
- BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
*Page numbers refer to the ARC and may differ in the final version.
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Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
ISBN: 0545123275
Pages: 400
Year: 2009
Publisher: Scholastic
Source: Library
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary:
When Grace was 11, she was attacked by the wolves that live in the woods behind her house. Instead of being traumatized by this experience, Grace becomes obsessed with them. Especially the one with the yellow eyes, the one that saved her, the one she refers to as “her wolf.” Her wolf, Sam, lives the winter months in his wolf form but shifts into a human during the warm summers. Fast-forward to the present day, Grace is a teenager when she finally meets Sam in his human form. But as the weather gets colder, Sam has to fight to stay human. Because this next change will be his last.
My Thoughts:
I’ve seen this one floating around for awhile but I held off on reading it because I wasn’t sure about the being-in-love-with-a-wolf-after-other-wolves-tried-to-kill-you angle. Turns out I should not have judged this book by it’s back cover. I ended up really enjoying it and reading most of it in one afternoon.
Stiefvater infuses what could be yet another paranormal teen romance with beautiful writing. This is where I would love to share some passages with you but I have returned my library copy. So you have to trust me on this one.
I loved the times when Sam and Grace were just happy. They fell in love with each other so early in the novel that we really got to spend some time with them as a couple before The Drama happens.
I like the touch of giving the current temperature at the start of each chapter. I thought it added a level of suspense to the story. As I watched the temperatures plummet, I felt Sam and Grace’s time running out.
I am anxiously waiting for my copy of Linger to come in. I don’t know where the story is going to go (especially since I loved the ending of Shiver) but I want to find out.
Buy It Now: IndieBound; Powell’s; Amazon; Book Depository
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Did y’all here about this little book called Mockingjay that was released this week? Well, now that it’s out and most of us have read it, we can move on and start anticipating other books. So you get an extra category this week for me to share what books those are for me.
Looking Forward To:
(1) The Scorch Trials
The Scorch Trials is the follow up to The Maze Runner. If you are missing the kind of dystopian YA where kids are placed in life-threatening situations, I recommend this series. The Maze Runner left us with a pretty decent cliffhanger/twist, so I’m more than ready to find out what happens to Thomas next.
(2) Madame Bovary
This is a new translation by Lydia Davis. Her translation of Swann’s Way received a lot of praise when it was released (I have not read it because Proust scares me) and there is a lot of buzz surrounding this one as well. Madame Bovary is one of the classics that is highest on my TBR and I can’t wait to read this translation of it.
(3) One of Our Thursdays Is Missing
No cover yet. Here's Pickwick instead.
This is the 6th Thursday Next book and I can’t wait to see what she gets up to now. And it is released on my birthday (Ben: hint, hint, wink, wink). I love Jasper Fforde’s strange, strange mind. I may have to appease myself with his Nursery Crime series until then.
And now on to the normal stuff.
Just Finished:
(See what category it’s in? See? See?)
Currently Reading:
(I put this down for awhile for no reason and now I’m picking it back up)
Currently Listening to:
Questions:
What book release are you most anticipating?
What are you reading today?
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Title:The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and Dark Reunion
Author: LJ Smith
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
ISBN: 0061140988
Pages: 520 (combined)
Year: 2007 (books originally published separately in 1991)
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Library
Rating: 3/5
Spoiler Warning: I can’t really discuss these books without assuming you’ve read at least the ones that came before it. Actually, you better be prepared for spoilers galore. But you can read my post on the first two books here.
Summary:
The Fury is the story of Elena’s new life as a vampire. At first, Elena has a hard time adjusting but soon she is back to her old self and ready to solve the newest mystery in Fells Church: what is this other Power that keeps turning up? With a visit from an old acquaintance, some help from Damon (who’s not quite as evil as we all thought), and some good old-fashioned team work, the characters face-off against this Power.
Dark Reunion is the story of what happens after Elena’s death. Stephan is gone, the rest of them are trying to move on. But something Evil shows up once again in Fells Church (at least we get an explanation why evil is drawn there) and it is up to the old gang to take it on.
My Thoughts:
The Fury was a good conclusion to the first two books. We all knew Elena would eventually end up a vampire and now we get to see that play out. We learn some more about what really happened in the past and we get a very dramatic ending.
As I understand it, The Fury was supposed to be the final book in the Vampire Diaries trilogy but Smith was persuaded into writing a fourth book (and now two new trilogies are being written). I was rather curious how Dark Reunion would compare since it wouldn’t be told from Elena’s perspective. Instead, Bonnie narrates it with a little narration by the other characters. But I actually think Dark Reunion might be my favorite of the four books. I was actually very interested in what this new Evil was and how they were going to get out of this one. Or maybe it’s that I don’t really like book-Elena that much anyway.
All in all, I still don’t love these books. They’re fine. They’re so quick to get through that I don’t mind spending time on them. But after being soiled by the awesomeness of the television series, these just can’t compare. I wonder what I would have thought if I’d read them first or if I’d read them as a teenager. I think I may have enjoyed them more. Instead, I just find myself making comparisons. I am curious as to how the show will incorporate some of these story lines though and I like having a bit of a heads up. I’m sure I will keep reading the rest of the books.
Recommended for something quick and easy. But if you must choose, just watch the show.
And on that note, here is a promo for Season 2 which premieres on September 9. Can’t wait!
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I finished Mockingjay tonight.
I will not post my thoughts until others have had a fair chance to read it. However, if you would like to discuss privately, let me know.
And now I can fully reenter the world again.
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I didn’t actually get that much reading done this week so if I did my normal Sunday Salon, it would look much like last week’s. Instead, I wanted to focus on one of my books specifically.
___________________
But first, I must share with you the Wonderful Thing I received in the mail yesterday. A few days ago, I got an email from Michelle of Le Mei Muse, telling me that she found something at Goodwill for $0.75 and bought it with me in mind and that she’d send it to me if I liked. Naturally, I immediately wanted whatever it was more than anything else in the world. So I waited a few days until this showed up:
I would model if for you but my hair is in desperate need of washing
and it currently refuses to be shown for all eternity on the internet.
I LOVE it! The little “Reading is Sexy” mug has become my internet presence and now I can take it out into the real world (plus, Rory wore this shirt on an episode of Gilmore Girls).
So thank you, thank you, thank you, Michelle. I love it. I want to wear it immediately. Also, you should all be following Michelle’s blog – she’s hilarious and artsy and just a joy to know.
_________________
Ok, on to the discussion.
For the past few weeks, I have been listening to the Harry Potter series. It’s my first time through the audio but certainly not my first time through the series. I find myself drawn to reread these books every few years. In fact, I am currently listening to Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter makes me feel happy. I love being back in this world that I now know so well. I miss the characters when I’m away too long. Harry Potter is officially my newest “comfort read.” I read it when I want something I know, something I love. But Harry Potter is simply the newest in a long line of comfort reads.
The first comfort read I can remember is Charlotte’s Web
When I got a little older, that book because Little Women
When I was a little older still, my comfort read became The Starlight Crystal
After that, I don’t think I had a comfort read for awhile. I was at a stage in my life when I turned to my friends or movies or music when I needed to escape and not to books. I was still reading, but I don’t remember going back to a specific book over and over again.
I’m sure there were more along the way, but those are my comfort reads that stand out. They are the books I have opened time and time again because of their familiarity.
What are/were your comfort reads?
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Summary:
Our unnamed narrator, alone in the world and doomed to a life as a “companion” to a string of rich, older women, quickly allows herself to be swept off her feet by Maxim de Winter. However, her new life at the beautiful Manderley is haunted by the memory of the previous Mrs. de Winter – Rebecca – who died at sea a year earlier. With a little help from the housekeeper, Ms. Danvers, our narrator becomes obsessed with Rebecca and the seemingly endless adoration everyone has for her. But are things exactly as they seem?
The Book [5/5]:
I adored Rebecca. I listened to the audio and I found myself stealing every moment I could to listen to more. If someone were to tell me what it was about, I think my first reaction would be one of boredom. But de Maurier manages to put so much into every little action. Every appearance by Mrs. Danvers set me on edge. Every mention of how Rebecca used to do things made me anxious. I wanted to urge our narrator on, but I also wanted to see how the story would unfold. It was so fascinating to watch how Rebecca, this important character who is never actually there, shapes the story, leaving our narrator to simply cry, “I could fight the living but I could not fight the dead.”
du Maurier’s talent is evident in her descriptive writing. Instead of telling you about it, let me just show you a couple of examples:
“I know I cried that night, bitter youthful tears that could not come from me to-day. That kind of crying, deep into a pillow, does not happen after we are twenty-one. The throbbing head, the swollen eyes, the tight, contracted throat. And the wild anxiety in the morning to hide all traces from the world, sponging with cold water, dabbing eau-de-Cologne, the furtive dash of powder that is significant in itself. The panic, too, that one might cry again, the tears swelling without control, and a fatal trembling of the mouth lead one to disaster.” Chapter 6.
Tell me ladies, who can’t relate to that one?
And finally, because we are book lovers, her description of Manderley’s library:
“There was an old quiet smell about the room, as though the air in it was little changed, for all the sweet lilac scent and the roses brought to it throughout the early summer. Whatever air came to this room, whether form the garden or from the sea, would lose its first freshness, becoming part of the unchanging room itself, one with the books, musty and never read, one with the scrolled ceiling, the dark panelling, the heavy curtains.” Chapter 7.
Please ignore the “books…never read” statement when judging Ms. du Maurier’s writing please. I am normally not one for overly descriptive writing. I don’t care for great pastoral novels. Give me Hemingway, please. But I found the descriptions in Rebecca simply enchanting. And perhaps listening to it helped as well.
Thursday Next fans: I admit that I half expected 1000 Mrs. Danvers to show up at some point.
The Movie:
At Dominique from Coffee Stained Pages’ suggestion, I watched the 1940 Rebecca directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Lawrence Olivier as Maxim and Joan Fontaine as the narrator. I don’t think could have asked for more in an adaptation. It was the perfect amount of suspense, stellar acting, and creepiness. If you aren’t going to read the book, at least see the movie. It’s almost as good as the book.
Book: 5/5
Movie: 5/5
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