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Review: Notes from a Small Island

I’m a fan of Bill Bryson. It all started with A Walk in the Woods. Yes, the book that was recently made into the 2015 movie A Walk in the Woods. I really loved A Walk in the Woods when I listened to it on a long road trip. Since, then I have read several of Bryson’s Books. I tried A Short History of Nearly Everything, but I was unable to finish it. I found it very long winded and not very funny at all, but that was a long time-ago and I want to go back and try that one again. Most recently, I read Shakespeare: The World as Stage. I liked it. I was not a stuffy history on all the Bards work. It was very readable.

I’ve read a lot more of his works but let’s get back to Notes from a Small Island. I checked this book out because I read the New York Times book review Bill Bryson’s ‘The Road to Little Dribbling’ and I was very excited to read Bryson’s newest work. But there was a problem. This book is actually the second in a series. I had not read the first. You guessed it, Notes from a Small Island was the first in the series. Written in 1995, the book follows Bryson around the UK as he tries to see some of his favorite places again and some places he has never seen. The New York Times review of Notes from a Small Island was not as glowing as his newer work. Michiko Kakutani, gives his review that is not as I said glowing, but okay. I wasn’t extremely excited to read an okay, book, but I thought well Mr. Kakutani doesn’t know Bryson, like I do. I’ve read a lot of his work and I find him funny.

As he travels through the country largely using public transportation and walking he regales the reader with his dry pithy humor. His particular humor does make me laugh, but it was often employed by making fun of famous (or at least known) personalities from the UK. Example, “the landlord was as fat as….. or the dense twit was worse than …..” I just didn’t get these references. This book seemed to be targeted at Brits. At least to really understand these references. That being said there is a lot of humor that you can understand, even if you don’t know anyone from the UK.

This YouTube video review of the book gives you a good idea of what I mean of the UK humor. This obviously is done by a UKer:

Long blog post short, I gave this book 3 stars. Just average. However, if I had understood more of the jokes, this would have been an easy 4 star book.

Review: Golden Son

Golden Son by Pierce Brown is a great, great book. I just this moment finished it. I started it the moment finished book one in the series, Red Rising. At first, I was reeled into the story as it picked up right where they last book left off. However, while reading I noticed that this book was much more wordy than the last. I still laughed and was caught with awe and surprise at places in the book, but I did notice a slow down in parts of the book. The pace was not consistent and I think it hurt the story.

I whole-heartily gave Red Rising 5 stars. It earned them. It is by far the best book I’ve read this year. But, Golden Son is different. It still earns 5 stars, just barely. I want to compare it directly to Red Rising, but is that fair? If it was not part of this series it would be a 5 star book easily. But in comparing it to Red Rising it just is not that good.

Anyway, if you haven’t read Red Rising, read that first. This is the second book in the series. Once you’ve read that come back.

Okay, read it? Good. That was fast. You’re a fast reader! Anyway, this book continues to follow Darrow as he rises in the Gold Society. Some major mysteries are unveiled in this telling of his story. But they don’t have a huge build up, its just bang this is Ares, and you’re like WTF, really? That was surprising, and there are more surprises like that in the book. And it ends on a huge cliffhanger, not as good as Red Rising (again), but very good.

I’m going to take a break then read Morning Son. I have it, but I am beginning a book with a book club soon, so it will have to wait. And honestly, it will be good to have a little break from the fiction for a while.

Review: Red Rising

Wow! This is an outstanding adventure/science fiction/fantasy/thriller. I guess it is young adult. I don’t know why I’m draw to so many young adult books recently. Anyway, the genre doesn’t really matter to me that much. This is just such an outstanding work. I related to the characters instantly. I was draw into their life right from the start. At around page 50 I knew the book was very good. At page 100, I thought this is a 5 star book! By 150, I thought this book might just be my favorite book of 2016.

The settings were wonderfully done, with just enough description to not in get in the way of the story. When I had to put the book down, I made it my priority to pick it up again. The bad guys in there were very bad and you wanted them dead. You just were grabbed and thrown into the main characters wild ride. There were surprises and twist that I didn’t see coming.

Possibly the best part about this book was that I got it free from Comic-Con straight from the author and it is signed! Even though, this book was free my opinion is my own.

My friend Tim recommended this book to me. Tim reads a lot of sci fi and if he gives something a rare 5 it is very good. The last recommendation that Tim gave me was The Martian which was my favorite book of 2014 and the goodreads choice winner for 2014. Red Rising was also a 2014 goodreads choice winner. If you want a exciting and thrilling read, read Red Rising today! I’ve already ordered the next two books from Amazon: Golden Son and Morning Star. I’m really looking forward to reading Golden Son. I will devour these books!

Review: Wuthering Heights

The copy above it not the copy of Wuthering Heights that I listened to. I listened to the audio version of the book. I’m not sure if that was the best choice. I think this is a book to read in its paper form. Maybe I would have appreciated it more then. I was not taken with the story or the characters. Everyone was so upset at each other. All the characters did was continually yell at each other.

This book read to me like a very dramatic soap opera. It just seemed so over the top I couldn’t relate to the characters and they were so insane and upset constantly, with their laid back lives. It was just to ridiculous to me. I didn’t understand why Cathy did as she did. I felt bad for Heathcliff, until he went insane.

I went on to watch the made for tv movie filmed in 2009. I thought that maybe if I saw the movie I might care more for the story and characters. I have to say that the movie did help a little, but it wasn’t enough to elevate the memory of the book in my mind. The most peculiar bit is that my copy ow Wuthering Heights was read to me by a Romulan also, known as Carolyn Seymour.

In addition to being read to my a Romulan I also got to tick another book off my BBC 100 list! Almost, half way through that list.

Review: Truthwitch

I feel torn by this book. I’m not sure what to think. I liked the story. I liked how it was a completely new world that didn’t draw on anything else that I’d ever read or watched. I grew to like some of the characters and I never new were the author was going with the story, so it was very unpredictable. And everyone who has reviewed Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, loves it. 75% of the reviews are 4 or 5 stars and there are 5,500 reviews.

This book is immensely popular right now and everyone loves it. It is the story of two women who are close friends and an adventure they go through, where one finds love. However, this is just the first book in a series that is still being written so if you read this you will not find closure at least not until the other books are out.

I didn’t love the writing in this book, I found it a little too 50 shades of grey in places. That just doesn’t appeal to me. I’m sure I would be bored to death with a romance novel. Still I can read the driest of history or science novels in complete rapture so it can safely be said I’m not the average reader.

This all being said, this biggest question I have coming out of this book is not about anything I read in it, because its just not that interesting. The question I have is will the second book be worth reading? Do I like these characters enough to care what happens next to them. I’m truly on the fence about it. I feel like this world has a lot of potential. Thats why I am going to give this book 3 our of 5 stars. I’m in the minority here only 16% of people gave this book 3 stars.

Review: Smuggler’s Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure

I just realized that I have read three of Greg Rucka’s books this year. I just finished Smuggler’s Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure and I he also wrote Shattered Empire and Before the Awakening. I gave both those books 4 out of 5 stars and I still remember really liking both a lot. But this book fell short of both of those. Smuggler’s Run: A Han Solo Adventure was okay, but not as engrossing as either of the other two I read this year.

It is a very quick story. Han meets some bounty hunters in a bar and tells them a story of a time he escaped from the Imperials. It was a quick story. It lacked excitement and needed more suspense and thrill. But it is Star Wars so it still gets 3 stars. Not sure how this helped lead to the Force Awakens storyline though.

Review: The Secret Garden

This children’s classic is about a girl orphan and a little sickly boy who strike up a friendship because of their similar disposition and their shared interest in a secret garden. Through their friendship and plenty of play in the secret garden the sickly boy regains his health. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic The Secret Garden is a great book. Thats what makes it a classic. Like everyone else I have heard of this book and I also knew that it was a 1993 movie of the same title.

I didn’t start listening to this book for any of those reasons though. I did start listening to it because it is on my BBC 100 list. That makes it part of one of a few challenges I am completing in this year. I downloaded this book on my iPhone via overdrive and listened whenever I had a moment. It is well read by Johanna Ward aka Jennifer Mendenhall. I’m very confused as to why these narrators keep different names. I’m sure its all due to how “show business” works. David Case did the same thing.

This was the 23rd book I’ve read thus far this year. I’m about 10 books ahead of my goal of 100 books. Plus this means I have another book off the BBC 100 list. At sometime I would really like to be able to watch the movies that all these books have associated with them, but I can’t keep myself from picking up a book instead of watching television.

I liked this book. It wasn’t amazing, but again is a children’s story. It is a sold 3 star book in my opinion and I am glad I have read it. I can see why it is a classic.

Review: All Joy and No Fun

Reading All Joy and No Fun by Jennifer Senior was a welcome break from all the fiction I have been reading. I love a good non-fiction book and this cross between a parenting and psychology book was good fun. I believe that I first heard of Jennifer Seniors book via a TED talk she gave in 2014:

Like most TED talks the speakers are very good. They are practiced and the speech comes off flawlessly. Also, like most speaking at TED then are selling something. In Ms. Senior’s case she was selling her book and doing a damn good job of it too. It worked on me. I got her book, but didn’t read it until recently.

Senior has a very interesting way of approaching the parenting book writing process. Instead of telling you how to raise your children like so many of the books out there do, she is more interested in looking at how raising children effects the parents.

What it does to us. the good and the bad. How does having children change us? It is an interesting take. I felt something was missing in this book and it could very well be the lack of child rearing advice or maybe it was something else. Funny thing is that Senior herself writes a good many book reviews. You see she works for the New York Times.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. As I said, I felt something was missing, I just can’t put my finger on it. All in all it was a good fiction read, well written and researched. If you are looking for a parenting self-help book that turns the question around, this is it.

Review: The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro is a curious novel. I really liked the main character. I wanted to pick up this book often. It is about a butler who goes on a car trip to see a housekeeper that used to work in the same house as he did. On his trip he comes to some realizations that his former employer may not have been all that he previously thought he was. He also finds that he may have had feelings for the housekeeper that left the house they both worked at. A very interesting look into the thoughts of this man and what it means to look back at your life, if you don’t particularly like what you were then. I gave this book 4 our of 5 stars.

I really enjoy the climbthestacks reviews and Ashley happens to have already done a video review of The Remains of the Day. It is excellent and you should watch it:

What are we supposed to take away from this book, what is the butler a metaphor? Thanks to YouTube we can get it from the man himself:

Review: Star Wars: Princess Leia

When I first heard that new Star Wars comics were going to come out I was very excited and I told myself I will buy all of these and I can’t wait to read them all. Thing is I didn’t realize all of them were coming out at the same time and that comic books now cost $3.99 each! With them all coming out at the same time it is hard to keep up with all of them. Plus 5 of these things would be $20! It is also hard to keep up with all the different ones that are coming out. I think there are a dozen different comics series right now for Star Wars. There is Shattered Empire, Princess Leia, Star Wars, Lando, Chewbacca, etc.

Star Wars: Princess Leia by Mark Waid, contains the first 5 comics from the Princess Leia series. The story was okay, it did give up some details about what happened before the Force Awakens, but really it wasn’t enough. The story was not as well written as Shattered Empire. The art was nowhere near as good as Shattered Empire either. This graphic novel was a fun distraction, but I don’t think it’s going to get non-graphic novel readers to read comic and it’s not going to draw in people who are not already fans of Star Wars. I would say if you are trying to keep up with everything in the Star Wars universe that this is one that you can safely skip. Maybe the next collection of Princess Leia comics will be better.