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Archive for November, 2009

November in a Nutshell

Posted by megmme on November 30, 2009

Read

Gone With The Wind (finished from oct)
The Heretic Queen
Ella Enchanted
Graceling
The Magician’s Elephant
Nefertiti
Heat Wave

Old Reads Reviewed:

The Forever War

In progress

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Foundation
World War Z (this is taking forever!)

Excited About

Cleopatra’s Daughter (audiobook released on November 27th! Its downloaded and at the top of my tbr list)
The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man’s Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt’s Greatest Mystery I seem to be on an Ancient Egypt kick lately. Secrets of the Great Pyramid was co-written by my favorite Egyptologist–Bob Brier. It was released just before my birthday (lucky me!).
The Shifter I read about this book here at Charlotte’s Library (one of my favorite review sites for YA books) and I couldn’t resist ordering it straight away! I love inventive books and this sounds like a really intriguing system of magic.

Abandoned

The Murder of King Tut (got through about a third)
Starship troopers (got through about half)

It was a fairly productive month! I’d like to give a big thanks to everyone who has welcomed me in to the book blogging community! I have relied on blogger reviews for ages and I’m thrilled to be giving back.

Posted in Nutshells | Tagged: nutshell | Comments Off

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

Posted by megmme on November 28, 2009

Nefertiti: A Novel

Overall Grade: B+

After reading The Heretic Queen, I was excited to read Michelle Moran’s first work, Nefertiti. This story is told from the perspective of Nefertiti’s sister, Mutnojdmet, and follow Nefertiti through her marriage to Akhenaten to the final days of Amarna and the end of the monotheistic era in Egypt.

I certainly like Mutnojdmet as a character–she is level-headed and honest, which makes her a much easier character to relate to than Nefertiti. Her dialog is exceptionally well written and I found myself almost able to predict her lines as I got well in to the plot.

All in all, I liked this book but there are two misgivings I have:

First, there are times at which the book is remarkably like The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory. The relationship between the two sisters is nearly the same–one power hungry sister who relies upon her sister for everything and forces her near-slavery regardless of her sister’s wishes. The put-upon sister wanting nothing more than love and a quiet life away from court.

Second, the historical accuracy is (as with most historical fiction) questionable at best. I didn’t go into this looking for a history lesson and I doubt many readers of the genre expect accuracy when the begin a book like Nefertiti.

All in all, though I liked The Heretic Queen much better than Nefertiti, I would highly recommend this to someone who loved the historical fiction genre, Ancient Egypt or The Heretic Queen–but perhaps only if they hadn’t read The Other Boleyn Girl.

Audiobook Details

The reader of Nefertiti, Cassandra Campbell, also read The Heretic Queen. She is equally excellent in this narration.

Run Time: 15 hours, 59 minutes.

Posted in Audiobook Reviews, General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Uncategorized | Tagged: B+ | Comments Off

The Old College Try

Posted by megmme on November 23, 2009

I always try to give a book the benefit of the doubt; I don’t mind a plot that is a little slower to start or characters that take a major plot even to really develop. However, there are books that I never finish. I know I’m not alone on this but I’m curious what makes you give up? Is it a page limit? Time invested?

I just hit a string of two books in a row that I gave up on–both I made it more than a third of the way through before stopping. I feel as though I wrestle back and forth on this issue: one voice wants me to give a book a real effort and I continually believe I may be just pages away from a surprising twist or major development but the other voice is reminding me that my reading time is precious and I shouldn’t waste it on a book I’m not enjoying. I have yet to decide which voice is the devil and which is the angel…

What do you think? Do you finish most of the books you start? When or how do you decide its time to give up and move on?

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Support Your Local Library Challenge

Posted by megmme on November 21, 2009

Support Your Local Library Challenge! Hosted by J. Kaye.

I am TOTALLY in! I adore my local library and am there to pick up books at least once or twice a week!

I’ve signed up for the 100+ Super Size Me level–since you can overlap books for this challenge with others, this should be easy peasy for me!

So–go join up! What are you waiting for??

Posted in Challenges and Swaps, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Murder of King Tut by James Patterson

Posted by megmme on November 19, 2009

The Murder of King Tut

Overall Grade: F

From my glowing review of The Heretic Queen, you have probably guessed I love everything involving Ancient Egypt. With that being said, I wanted to love this book but it fell incredibly short of expectations.

I started out so hopeful when, during the prologue, the Patterson stressed how much research he had done for the book. I’m certainly no Egyptologist but I was frustrated when, barely into the story, I started to notice several historical errors. For example, in Akhenaten’s death scene, Nefertiti makes some comments about how she will miss her husband’s “brain” as though that is the seat of his thinking and soul. Patterson rightly corrects this later by noting that Egyptians believed the seat of the soul to be housed in the heart but the damage was done.

That was just one of my gripes about this book and relatively minor in comparison to my largest problem with the book–I got more than a third of the way through and Tut had been mentioned in ONE of the scenes that took place in Ancient Egypt. ONE scene? Isn’t the book titled the Murder of King Tut? Patterson spent so much time setting up the family history there was barely any space left to actually discuss the reign and murder of his main character.

The book also has a frustrating format; the narrative has two separate tracks–one set in Ancient Egypt and the other during the time of Howard Carter (the eventual discoverer of Tut’s tomb. I have no idea why Carter’s story was included in the story; Carter is an interesting man and worthy of his own biography but it added very little to the book.

Even if I had ignored the poor format and historical errors, the story just isn’t compelling and never really takes off. All in all, this book was a serious disappointment. If you are looking for a good historical narrative set in the times of Ancient Egypt, look elsewhere because this book contains too little focus on the main characters. If you are looking for a good examination of the Murder of King Tut and the theories and facts involved, you should read Bob Brier’s work on the subject–The Murder of Tutankhamen–it is a much more academic look at the subject.

This book unfortunately falls into the “didn’t finish” category. I wanted to struggle through and finish but I hate to waste precious reading time on a book I find inaccurate and poorly written.

Audiobook Details

The reader, Joe Barett, does an adequate job. He isn’t an incredibly engaging reader but I don’t want to judge him on this book–I’m afraid I’m holding the poor quality of the book against him when it clearly isn’t his doing.

Run time: 5 hours, 59 minutes

Posted in Audiobook Reviews | Tagged: fiction malereader didn'tfinish F | Comments Off

2010 Challenges!

Posted by megmme on November 19, 2009

I am really looking forward to 2010! There are some awesome challenges starting to show up for next year!

First up:

The Young Adult Reading Challenge–hosted by J. Kaye.

I love young adult fiction for its mix of inventiveness and fun and I’m looking forward to making a big dent in my audiobook backlog! The challenge comes in 4 different levels and I’ve taken the plunge and signed up for the Super Size Me level–75 Young Adult books!

Sign Ups are Here!

Next up!

Book Chick City is hosting the Thriller and Suspense Challenge 2010. I haven’t read a lot of this genre but I’m looking forward to it! 12 Thrillers, here I come!

Any other good challenges out there? I see them popping up as people join them over on my google reader but if you are hosting one, I’d love to hear about it!

Posted in Challenges and Swaps, Uncategorized | Tagged: challenges | 1 Comment »

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Posted by megmme on November 17, 2009

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

Overall Grade: B+

A few months back, I started compiling a list of the classic science fiction novels I never got around to reading. I had purchased a copy of The Forever War years ago and it had sat on my shelf, lonely and unloved, until this past summer when I finally picked it up after adding it to my list.

The book takes place in the not too distant future when nearly instantaneous interstellar travel is discovered. During an expedition, the main character, William Mandela, is involved in the first contact/first battle in a war with an alien race. He returns to Earth a hero but finds that the planet is barely recognizable.

While the book revolves around a war, the true story is in the effects of relativistic time differences on human relationships. Mandela returns to Earth several times throughout the war and, while only a few years have passed from his perspective, for everyone else decades and sometimes centuries have passed. Mandela must resolve the changes he sees in technology and society while he remains the same. It is both sad and interesting to feel Mandela grapple with major changes in societal norms (for example, during one of his returns home, he finds homosexuality to be the norm).

I can see roots of many other science fiction books in The Forever War but, honestly, I was hoping for a little more focus on the war aspect of the book. There are some interesting discussions in the book on what it means to fight a war under the influence of relativity and space travel and I wish those discussions would have been explored at a deeper level. The story and characters were well developed enough to be able to handle this addition to the book.

It was a quick read at a little under 300 pages and quite enjoyable if you are willing to accept the times in which the book was written. There is some language and undertones of 70’s morality on sexual practices in the book that are now outdated and perhaps even bordering on offensive. Even still, I’d recommend it to any science fiction fan though, due to some explicit sexual scenes, I’d reserve it for a slightly older audience.

Have any other science fiction classics? I’d love to read them!

Posted in Classics, General Fiction, Science Fiction | Tagged: fiction, paperbacks, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Posted by megmme on November 11, 2009

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Overall Grade: B+

This book is a tie in for the series Castle on ABC. My husband and I are fans of the show and pre-ordered the book before it was released.

This book is exactly what you would expect if Richard Castle were a real author. The book is hardly fine literature and the characters are predictable and shallow but that doesn’t detract from the story being fun. I don’t want to spoil any of the plot details and possibly give away the whodunit aspect of the plot but I will say is that it is as well conceived as the episodes of Castle–a few twists combined with the right level of sardonic humor.

The sexual tension between Nikki Heat and Rook is a bit cheesy and contrived but, again, its what I would expect from a Richard Castle book, so it is all part of the fun.

Audiobook Details

I wish my comments on the audiobook version was as positive as those for the story but the reading wasn’t quite up to par. The reader has an extremely gruff voice which seems an odd choice for a book told primarily from the perspective of a young female detective. The reader, Johnny Heller, does not attempt to do any voice articulation for the various characters but does do some of their accents. Again, this was fairly frustrating since the Swedish nanny sounded remarkably like Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

My last gripe with the reading is that there are a few points in the reading in which it is a bit hard to tell between the words “Heat” and “He.” This was particularly problematic during the interrogation scenes when Nikki Heat, Rook and the suspect was present since it was unclear who was asking the questions.

Available from Amazon here: Heat Wave

Posted in Audiobook Reviews, Mysteries and Thrillers | Tagged: malereader fiction audiobook mystery | 2 Comments »

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Posted by megmme on November 9, 2009

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Overall: B for Adults/A+ for young adults

Geared towards young readers, this is a wonderful reinvention of Cinderella–complete with glass slippers, fairy godmothers and a prince. That being said, Ella is far from the meek Cinderella. At birth, she is afflicted with a curse that keeps her constantly obedient to anyone’s demands. Despite this, she manages to fight ogres, befriend a prince and keep her evil stepsisters at bay. I loved that Ella is an updated role model for young girls; she presents an independent personality and the ending emphasizes how believing in and being yourself is incredibly valuable.

This was a quick read (GoodReads says 240 pages in paperback) and it felt like the proper length. Since the intended audience is fairly young (I’d say 9-12 though GoodReads puts it at 9-14), the text is uncomplicated but not too simplistic.

Audiobook Details:

The reader, Eden Riegel, sounds quite young but does an above average job with the reading. She does voice intonation, though the different voices are not as clearly identifiable as other readers and some even sound quite similar to each other. The reading contains some background music in parts and this is probably my least favorite feature since it reminded me of midi music from the mid-90’s. The first few times the music played, I kept looking around the room to see if one of my kids’ toys was going off.

Run time–5 hours, 34 minutes

Published by Listening Library

Purchase it here through Amazon: Ella Enchanted (Trophy Newbery)

Posted in Audiobook Reviews, General Fiction, Young Adult | Tagged: female reader, fiction, Young Adult | Comments Off

Bookcase of the Week

Posted by megmme on November 8, 2009

I had to laugh when I saw this feature over on All About {n}. Why? Because I TOTALLY stole the idea in the banner picture when I came across it last year on flickr.

Here are my bookshelves…

I arranged them this way in May 2008 and they’ve been like that since. I completely adore them and everyone who comes to the house always comments on how fun it is. My husband was worried it would make things hard to find but it really hasn’t been bad at all since all of our books are on these shelves (they were scattered throughout the house before.)

The baskets on the bottom row of shelves serve as toy storage for the kids. I cannot even tell you how ready I am for the kids to outgrow this need so we can suck that book storage space back up! Until then, there is just a tiny amount of room to add another layer to the center shelf….

About the shelves… They are the Billy Bookcases from Ikea with two height extensions on the center three shelves and one on each of the side shelves.

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

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Archive for November, 2009

November in a Nutshell

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

The Old College Try

Support Your Local Library Challenge

Murder of King Tut by James Patterson

2010 Challenges!

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Heat Wave by Richard Castle

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

Bookcase of the Week