Some books I read that I liked in 2011

Okay, I know everybody is going to do this, but I am making a list of books I read over the last year that I enjoyed. I really don't know how many I am going to list, but here I go.

Just Kids 
by Patti Smith A great memoir of an artist, a musician, and a special relationship

X'ed Out  by Charles Burns

A brilliantly weird graphic novel. 

Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History 
by Yunte Huang

Learn about a former entertainment icon and the real life man he was based.  

Skippy Dies: A Novel 
by Paul Murray

Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error 
by Kathryn Schulz 
Ever wonder why people are so convinced they are right even when they are sometimes obviously so wrong?  This book helps explain that.

The Half-Made World 
by Felix Gilman
 This is a western themed steam punk story with a splash of fantasy masterpiece. 


Revolution 
by Jennifer Donnelly


Okay that is my list for this year. Yes, I know all of those books were published in 2010, but I read them in 2011.  I hope some of you check them out trust me they are pretty brilliant. 

Books I am reading this week

I am continuing my reading of Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton and Rain Plays Barefoot by Jennifer Steen.

The Scorpio Races (review)

The Scorpio Races is another book I was not going to read. It was wrote by Maggie Stiefvater who wrote Shiver, which makes my worst books I've read list, but a person whose book opinion I trust gave it five stars. I decided to give the book a chance, and let me say, I was not disappointed. 

The book takes place on an island where a race of giant sea horses is held annually. The main characters race both for very different reasons enter the race.

As I like to do in my positive  reviews, I will get the things I did not like about the book out of the way first. Well actually there is only one negative in the book in my opinion.  The amount of cliches especially in the characters really stands out to me.  The main characters are evil. The villians are rich.  The male lead is brooding. Yeah I know kinda hard not to roll your eyes.  Now that my main complaint is out of the way. Let's get to the good.

The characters in this book were very well done.  The book switches between the view points of two main characters, a male and female lead.  While I often feel I miss things when this is done (see my review of Fat Vampire), I thought the author combined the view points in such a way that I was able to easily follow and know both characters in this book.
The male lead - Sean was an okay character. He was brooding like I said and seemed to fit one of the archetypical formulas that young adult authors use to manipulate their female readers. To me outside of some romantic things with the female lead, he stayed pretty much the same person through out the story, so I did not like this character quite as much as the other.

The other character - Puck was brilliantly written. One of the things I really like in first person narrative is when the character is truley changed through a story, and I get to watch it happen. I really thought the author did a nice job with that with the Puck character, as she took her from a strong but scared and naive little girl to a strong smart young lady.  The thing I really liked about the character is her changes, for the most part, came about because of her actions and not because of luck or random chance. I really enjoy stories with strong characters that choose over stories where the character is "chosen."

Another little thing, I enjoyed  about the female character was the minor characters that surrounded her. I thought her brothers were interesting and very unique especially the little brother.

I really enjoyed the plot too. The story flowed nicely to a heart pounding climax. I think one of the things that really got me into the plot is that it was so easy to picture the world the story was set. 

If you want a very good read then I strongly suggest you check out this book.

My score is  3.85 stars or in letter grade terms a B+

Read the book. 

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming Of Age Story (review)

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming Of Age Story is a novel about an overweight geek type boy that has accidentally been turned into a creature of the night. 
The opening few scenes of this book were excellent. They are humorous, well written, and  establish characters and conflict well. 

Then the author switched the story to another character. The character was fairly interesting the author did a nice job with her, but this was not her story. The story then switches to another even more minor character. When the story returns to the main character, the one I cared about, the fat vampire, he'd changed, developed grown, and I missed it. Oh sure I found out what happened through the observations of other characters and the fat vampires personal reflections, but it wasn't the same as experiencing the changes with him.This combined with a pretty weak plot make this a book, I cannot recommend. 

Rating 1.75 STARS

The books I am reading this week

I will conclude my reading of The Scorpio Races this week.  I will do a review on this book right now it really could go either way.  There are things I like about it and things I don't.

I am also reading (though it won't take the whole week) Rain Plays Barefoot. This is a short story I purchased to support a fellow writer. I will post a review on amazon for it when I finish. 

I finished The Count of Monte Cristo, so I need to choose my next audio book.

GEM: THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO

The Knife of Never Letting Go go by Patrick Ness is the first book in the Chaos Walking trilogy.  The entire series is excellent, but I think this book is the top one. 
Okay, I'll get this out of the way to start. The Knife of Never Letting Go, does have one pretty big plot hole. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I imagine most readers will have a 'hey wait a minute' moment when it passes.
So, why is this book a gem? There are two reasons, multi dimensional characters it is impossible not to feel for, root for, and cry for, and an emotionally charged adventurous plot.

The story starts in a town with no women due to war and sickness. The thoughts of the living males are all audible. The main character - Todd is a boy on the cusp of going through some sort of secret ritual that will signify he has become a man, but the day before Todd is to complete the ritual, his uncles, who raise him, send him running. He runs for his life. I would risk spoilers if I said anymore. Just know the rest of the book is emotional, intense, and powerful.

My books for the week (10/31 - 11/6)

These are my books for this week

1. Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story. I should be finished soon. My review will be somewhat of a rant. 

2. Mark Twain autobiography. 

3. The Count of Monte Cristo. I can see why this is a classic.

Bloodlines: review

I hadn't planned on reading this book. The last book of the Vampire Academy series had been a little bit of a let down, and I didn't know if I wanted to return to that world.  Then a couple of my trusted booky friends gave it 5 stars, so I thought why not. Bloodline opens up with a bang and Sydney, the alchemist from the VA novels, is sent on a mission that involves her protecting the sister (Jill) of the mori queen.  I don't want to say much more, so I won't give away any spoilers.  Just know there are a few characters and cameos from the Vampire Academy series and a few new people from the vampire side and alchemist side. 

The plot of Bloodlines is fun with a lot going on. The story is a bit predictable in some places, but that doesn't mean there are not a few surprises. I really enjoyed the action, the character interactions, and some nice uses of dramatic irony. The pacing is very well done too. There was one moment that had me scratching my head and not in a good way.

Then we come to the characters. I'll focus on Sydney. The book is written in first person through her eyes. I like her character, its flaws and the room she has to grow. Though I don't always believe her, or I guess how she is written. The only action that I think showed her hate of vampires was when she said she did. The rest of the time, she was either praising them or going out of her way to help them. That being said, the character was shown and developed well in other areas including an aversion to magic and some romantic tension with another character that I think is being paced quite nicely (I said is because, this is something I'm pretty sure that will develop more as the series goes on.)

Would I recommend this book? Yes, but I suggest you've read the last three books of the Vampire Academy series.

The final verdict /rating Very good/ 3.5 STARS

The two trusted booky friends mentioned earlier :)
 
http://thoughts-of-an-endless-dreamer.blogspot.com/

  http://the-bookaholic.blogspot.com/

The books i am reading this week (10/24-10/30)

This week I'm reading
Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of age Story by Adam Rex. 

I'm listening to The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandere Dumas

Finally, I continue with the reading of Mark Twain's autobiography.  

Gem: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Okay, let's get it out of the way. Yes, there are some N bombs in the book. There are a lot of them. I do admit for the first ten they were pretty bothersome, but after that they really lose their sting.
Now for the good, The first really good think about The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the  story itself.  The plot is filled with comedy, adventure, social satire, etc.  Two things I think stand out about the plot are its pacing, and the fact that it advances mainly due to the actions of the characters.
Most of the story takes place along and on the Mississipi river as Huck and a run away name slave look to avoid those that would have them return to a life they don't want.
The thing I like best about the book is the characters. 
The main character of course is Huckleberry Finn or Huck as he is often called in the book. The things I liked best about Huck were his intelligence, a unique sense of logic, and the fact he took little at face value. This and a desire to do what is right allows Huck to develope a relationship with Jim (more on him later) and seemingly change his views on somethings.

Okay Here is the more on Jim.  Jim is Huck's traveling partner in the book. He is also a run away slave.  The main thing I liked about Jim is he is potrayed as not just a good person, but a realistic person for the time. The rest of the characters are minor or villians. A couple of note are two con men that claim to be royalty. Mark Twain claims at the very beginning that there is no lessons or morals to be learned from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I suppose we have to take him at his word. That being said I find it hard to believe it didn't make a lot of people of the time question what they judged people on and some of society's hypocrocies

What I am reading this week

Okay here are the books I am reading and a preview of a post coming up.

1. I am still reading Bloodlines. I guess I am about halfway through. My feelings on the book are kinda mixed now, but I am hoping for a big finish.

2. I am still reading the Official Autobiography of Mark Twain.

Well, I finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and I am in the process of writing a blog post on the book. It will be under my gems post.

Now, I need to pick another book to listen to. I will probably do that this up coming weekend.

My gems

Everyone who reads has their books that moved them like no others.  Of course some of the gems on these lists are common and shared by many many other reader, but I believe we all have our rare gems of books that are special to us and maybe not many other people. I am going to try to share a few of my gems. Some will be books you will know and love yourself and some might possibly be books you found boring or never heard of before.

I should make it clear this is not a place for reviews. I will gush over these books and either skip over or make an excuse for any shortcomings.  These are books I love and we all know love sees the world through rose colored glasses.   Okay be looking for my gems.

So many rejections

I recently read a thread started on a writing site i frequent where a couple of writers vented some frustration about their work being rejected.  A few days later I read a tweet from a friend of mine (@addiction2book)  expressing how it was hard to not get discouraged after so many rejections or non responses.
As some one who has never even finished a novel let alone submitted a query letter, I thought I would be the perfect person to offer some advice and encouragement on the subject of rejections.
First let's get the obvious out of the way. You've wrote, edited, revised, and got a second opnion on your manuscript. Right? Okay good.
Second, you have a finely tuned, attenion grabbing, well crafted, etc. query letter.  Right? Okay.  I'm going to go on a little about those damn query letters.  I once asked a very talented writer friend of mine if they had wrote a query letter for their novel. They basically said no, but they could throw together one in like 5 minutes.  Of course ive never wrote a query letter, but it seems to me they're something to spend sometime on.  They get you in the door, and in away, theyre an editor or agent's first impression of your writing and story.  (I know I have seen actual query letters by actual authors on the internet. I think it would be worth it for people to take some time and seek them out.)
That was tough, but I've got my imaginary manuscript and query letter polished to perfection.  Now I'm ready to send off my letter to lucky editors and/or agents.  The question is, which ones?
These are the questions I would ask

1. Do they even consider new writers?

2. What type of stories and/or authors have they accepted before? I mean if you have wrote a classic mermaid erotica story, and the agent you're considering has only ever had their name connected to stories of historical fiction. It would probably be a waste of your time to submit to them.

3. Are those my only questions?

Yes, I think so find a place to submit that is a good fit for your story and you actually have a chance of being accpeted.

If you follow these tips and keep getting rejections, These are my suggestions.

1. Look at what you're submitting. Is that query letter really the best you can do?

2. Is your story marketable.  I think that is the thing with a lot of rejections. You don't just have to be a good writer, but who every is putting out your story has to believe it has a market and will sell. If you are writing a genre/topic/trend that the market has been over saturated with that will be a tough sell too.  In these case, it maybe best to either seek out indie publisher or self publish. I don't know this will have to be choices you make after much research.

That is all I have to say. You may wonder why I wrote this. I did because one day I will finish a novel, and I will submit it to several places and get several rejections. Now, I have some excellent advice to look back upon while I bang my head on my desk from rejection frustration. 

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes (review)

There is a lot to like about this book. The beginning is one of them. Daniel  (the main character) wakes up on a beach in Maine with no memories of who he is. Daniel is lost until he sees a lady on TV that he is sure he knew at one point, and. He sets out to find her.
This book is loaded with twists and turns galore. Some work really well and send the plot in very interesting directions, and others kind of left me scratching my head.  The thing is, I think different people will have opinions on the twist they like or do not like.
The characters are done very well. The protagonist in someways gets to choose what type of person he is, and he is often faced with some tough moral choices.  The antagonist, a true bad Guy, is smart in many ways, pretty funny at times, cocky, and a real ass.
The question now is what does not work.  The two main things is how the author handles what he shows, and I thought the climax fell a bit flat.
What do I mean by "how the author handles what he shows"?  The story is told in a sort of limited third person omniscient point of view.  Meaning, the reader gets into several characters' heads, but only partially.  To me this almost came across as a little gimicky, as some of the character's thoughts were very incomplete and cryptic, so they wouldn't ruin any surprises. 
The ending was a bit anti climatic to me, and I felt part of it was kind of forced to make it relate to the books title.  This was especially disappointing to me because for the most part, I thought the book's theme of choices their consequences and how they shape us was strong through out.
Would i recommend this book? Yes, I would only adults though.  I give it 3.75 stars
A little miscellaneous thing: There is a forced sex scene that I think will have some people especially ladies rolling their eyes saying "sounds like a man.  The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes

The books I'm reading

Hey everybody

Guess what the books I'm reading feature of my blog will feature.

That's right, the color of my socks, but since the answer is always rainbow, I'll also share books I'm reading. 

The Official Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain. (This book is so random so far.)

The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes by Marcus Sakey.(This book is so up and down.)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (this was started for the just passed banned books week.)

That's it for now this I will post this feature every time I start a new book. 

An introduction to my book blog

Hi, my name is Chris, and I decided to start a book blog. Why would I start a book blog? Well, I read a lot, and I read a lot of different types of books.  I know people who read more than me, but I don't know anyone who reads a wider variety than I do. I think it would be fun to share my thoughts on books I read or have read through out the years. I will post about books I loved and books I hated.  Since I mentioned books I hate, I feel the need to warn that I won't be diplomatic here ;)  well lets get ready for the fun