Book Logging
Oct. 4th, 2012 12:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckBaker, E.D. The Wide-Awake Princess - The main character of this book is a princess whose magical christening gift was that no other magic will ever work on her. Just her proximity cancels out other magic (leading her family to avoid being near her for fear of temporarily losing their own christening gifts). The princess' older sister is cursed (Sleeping Beauty), and once the curse comes true, the heroine is the only one capable of taking steps to remedy the situation. The story's told with humor, and I'm definitely hoping the library will pick up the sequel that's due out soon.
Castle, Jayne. The Lost Night - Bog standard book for Castle/Krentz/Quick. There weren't any surprises, and I could see where she was setting up for the next book. I'm starting to get bored with the dustbunnies. Every single heroine on Harmony seems to have one. Aren't there any other pets available? I am curious to see what Castle does with the location where her latest books are set. It has potential to be interesting. Of course, I'm more interested in the Preserve than I am in the romances. The thought of finding alien ruins and artifacts and so on is fascinating.
Klimo, Kate. The Dragon in the Driveway - I'm not sure I have the patience for this series. Each book is quite short, and the plots are straightforward. I'm just not sure I like them enough to keep reading. This is the second book in the series. The series is about two cousins who find and hatch a dragon egg. They then have to protect the dragon from an evil sorcerer who wants to drink the dragon's blood. In this installment, they find out that capturing the dragon isn't all the sorcerer wants.
Pierce, Tamora. Alanna, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Lioness Rampant - I read these because Mark is doing them for Mark Reads. I hadn't read these previously because I was too put off by how utterly special the main character appeared to be. (I also had some prejudice against them due to something the author had no control over-- These books came out during the years when I was waiting for Meredith Ann Pierce to finish her Darkangel trilogy. I'd see a new book on the shelf with 'Pierce' on the spine and seize it in hope only to be disappointed when it proved to be by Tamora Pierce.) In reading these, I still found Alanna to be too special. I might have loved that when I was a teenager, but I'm forty-five now. I'm more impressed with Pierce's Keladry books.
Rex, Adam. The True Meaning of Smekday - I thought for a while that I wasn't going to finish this, not because it wasn't good but because I couldn't seem to sit down and focus on it. I enjoyed the humor of the book. The main character, Gratuity, accepted every terrible thing that happened (and, though they never felt all that terrible, events really were that bad) as a new challenge to overcome. She had faith that, somehow, she'd figure out the answers. In the book, aliens have invaded the Earth and have ordered all humans in the United States to move to Florida. Gratuity is eleven, and her mother has been kidnapped by the aliens. She decides to drive to Florida rather than taking one of the alien transports.
Walker, Victoria. The Winter of Enchantment - This was a decent children's fantasy. It wasn't good enough to prompt me to seek out the sequel. I had to get this through interlibrary loan, and I'd have to do the same with the sequel. I try to save ILL for things I really want to read. The story follows a Victorian boy who finds a magic mirror that lets him talk to a girl who's trapped in an enchanter's castle. The story follows their adventures as they try to free her. I never felt any strong sense that the children were in danger, but I enjoyed seeing them face challenges and visit odd places.
These are the books I started but didn't finish:
Chick, Bryan. The Secret Zoo - I think I was expecting something from this that it couldn't give. I wanted either more depth or less. There was too much going on for me to take the book as a romp, not expecting character development or complexity of plot, and what was happening was somehow too superficial to satisfy me. I suspect that the lack of depth wouldn't bother most readers in the target age group (probably eight to twelve). This book has intelligent animals and a secret world hidden beneath the everyday reality of the zoo.
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki. Catalyst - I usually like Hoffman's books, but I couldn't finish this one. I read the first few chapters and the last few chapters but couldn't bring myself to read the middle. As far as I could tell, the main character started out in a terrible position and ended up in one that was potentially even worse. At the end, his attitude seemed to have changed enough to make him almost optimistic in the face of his problems, but the problems were still there and were still pretty overwhelming. I was, in a weird way, reminded of an Octavia Butler book, not in style-- this was definitely a Hoffman book-- but in the fact that the main character has choices taken away from him and has to compromise and adapt and accept that the good options he wants aren't really there. That's all a valid choice for an author to make and can create really powerful stories. I just don't want to read a story like that right now.
Kontis, Alethea. Enchanted - I'll have to give this book another try because I like what I've read of it. Unfortunately renewing it isn't an option. There's quite a waiting list for it. I'll just have to wait and try again in a couple of months. I liked the characters, and I liked playing spot the fairy tale. I have the impression, from looking at the end, that everything will come together satisfyingly.
McGraw, Eloise Jarvis. Greensleeves - GoodReads recommended this, and I really liked the author's Mara, Daughter of the Nile, so I got it through interlibrary loan. Unfortunately, it wasn't at all my sort of book. It's about an eighteen year old girl finding herself and finding love. I read the first few chapters and the last couple of chapters and felt that I'd had quite enough. The book was well written, so if one likes that sort of thing, it might be worth looking into. I am puzzled as to why this is labeled as a children's book. Possibly, when it came out YA/teen wasn't a book category.
Castle, Jayne. The Lost Night - Bog standard book for Castle/Krentz/Quick. There weren't any surprises, and I could see where she was setting up for the next book. I'm starting to get bored with the dustbunnies. Every single heroine on Harmony seems to have one. Aren't there any other pets available? I am curious to see what Castle does with the location where her latest books are set. It has potential to be interesting. Of course, I'm more interested in the Preserve than I am in the romances. The thought of finding alien ruins and artifacts and so on is fascinating.
Klimo, Kate. The Dragon in the Driveway - I'm not sure I have the patience for this series. Each book is quite short, and the plots are straightforward. I'm just not sure I like them enough to keep reading. This is the second book in the series. The series is about two cousins who find and hatch a dragon egg. They then have to protect the dragon from an evil sorcerer who wants to drink the dragon's blood. In this installment, they find out that capturing the dragon isn't all the sorcerer wants.
Pierce, Tamora. Alanna, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Lioness Rampant - I read these because Mark is doing them for Mark Reads. I hadn't read these previously because I was too put off by how utterly special the main character appeared to be. (I also had some prejudice against them due to something the author had no control over-- These books came out during the years when I was waiting for Meredith Ann Pierce to finish her Darkangel trilogy. I'd see a new book on the shelf with 'Pierce' on the spine and seize it in hope only to be disappointed when it proved to be by Tamora Pierce.) In reading these, I still found Alanna to be too special. I might have loved that when I was a teenager, but I'm forty-five now. I'm more impressed with Pierce's Keladry books.
Rex, Adam. The True Meaning of Smekday - I thought for a while that I wasn't going to finish this, not because it wasn't good but because I couldn't seem to sit down and focus on it. I enjoyed the humor of the book. The main character, Gratuity, accepted every terrible thing that happened (and, though they never felt all that terrible, events really were that bad) as a new challenge to overcome. She had faith that, somehow, she'd figure out the answers. In the book, aliens have invaded the Earth and have ordered all humans in the United States to move to Florida. Gratuity is eleven, and her mother has been kidnapped by the aliens. She decides to drive to Florida rather than taking one of the alien transports.
Walker, Victoria. The Winter of Enchantment - This was a decent children's fantasy. It wasn't good enough to prompt me to seek out the sequel. I had to get this through interlibrary loan, and I'd have to do the same with the sequel. I try to save ILL for things I really want to read. The story follows a Victorian boy who finds a magic mirror that lets him talk to a girl who's trapped in an enchanter's castle. The story follows their adventures as they try to free her. I never felt any strong sense that the children were in danger, but I enjoyed seeing them face challenges and visit odd places.
These are the books I started but didn't finish:
Chick, Bryan. The Secret Zoo - I think I was expecting something from this that it couldn't give. I wanted either more depth or less. There was too much going on for me to take the book as a romp, not expecting character development or complexity of plot, and what was happening was somehow too superficial to satisfy me. I suspect that the lack of depth wouldn't bother most readers in the target age group (probably eight to twelve). This book has intelligent animals and a secret world hidden beneath the everyday reality of the zoo.
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki. Catalyst - I usually like Hoffman's books, but I couldn't finish this one. I read the first few chapters and the last few chapters but couldn't bring myself to read the middle. As far as I could tell, the main character started out in a terrible position and ended up in one that was potentially even worse. At the end, his attitude seemed to have changed enough to make him almost optimistic in the face of his problems, but the problems were still there and were still pretty overwhelming. I was, in a weird way, reminded of an Octavia Butler book, not in style-- this was definitely a Hoffman book-- but in the fact that the main character has choices taken away from him and has to compromise and adapt and accept that the good options he wants aren't really there. That's all a valid choice for an author to make and can create really powerful stories. I just don't want to read a story like that right now.
Kontis, Alethea. Enchanted - I'll have to give this book another try because I like what I've read of it. Unfortunately renewing it isn't an option. There's quite a waiting list for it. I'll just have to wait and try again in a couple of months. I liked the characters, and I liked playing spot the fairy tale. I have the impression, from looking at the end, that everything will come together satisfyingly.
McGraw, Eloise Jarvis. Greensleeves - GoodReads recommended this, and I really liked the author's Mara, Daughter of the Nile, so I got it through interlibrary loan. Unfortunately, it wasn't at all my sort of book. It's about an eighteen year old girl finding herself and finding love. I read the first few chapters and the last couple of chapters and felt that I'd had quite enough. The book was well written, so if one likes that sort of thing, it might be worth looking into. I am puzzled as to why this is labeled as a children's book. Possibly, when it came out YA/teen wasn't a book category.
