2017 Reading Plans

Well, I managed to leave last year's challenge in the dust! I read 83 books when my goal was only at 60. Of course, a lot of those were mangas which I will probably being staying away from for this new year since I have read the only interesting ones at the library branch I visit. I will however be finishing the Attack On Titan series as soon as I get a chance, so look for an update for those at some point.

I am going to be putting the bar at 60 once more for this year, and try to tackle more novels for the goal. I will also be going along with the themes set up by the book club my sister moderate once more, so look out for some weird patterns in my reading once more! I look forward to really expanding my base again as I try to meet each theme. As I did last year I will have the themes posted by the month in the right column of my page and my posts labeled. 2 books per theme!

Also on my plans is another of the Game of Thrones series, so be on the look out for that!

I believe that we are also changing up plans for the Texas Teen Book Festival, attending the North Texas one this year in Irving in March. If that is the plan, my update of new books from there will probably be used to fulfill some of the themes. We will just have to wait and see!

I hope everyone has a fun year full of books ahead of them!

Library Wars: Love & War vol. 9

This series has been amazing so far! Along with a love story that has me squealing and mumbling under my breath on every other page, this manga tells the story of the library. As Iku, now a Defense Force Member, works her job and figures things out, the library is put through some serious trials. From the threat of a pervert targeting patrons to rumors of one of their own burning books, Iku and her friends deal with a lot in the year and half that is covered in volumes 1 through 9.

My primary reason for writing the post is to talk about how awesome these books have been. Yumi is an incredible writer and artist as she turns the story into a manga that is both exciting and sweet. I even loved the little skit panels at the start of every new chapter.

But I also wanted to note that this is as far as I can go with the help of my local library. I know there have been at least 6 others published, but the library does not have any copies at this time. That leaves me to buy them myself or find an alternative method of reading the series. So, for now I have to put it down, which just breaks my heart because I am so enthralled by this story. If I manage to get my hands on more I will let everyone know. Otherwise I am currently moving on to a new series and book.

So, if you haven't read these yet, please do, the story is incredible. And if you have, let me know what you think of it. Especially if you know where I can find more of them! Until next time!

Library Wars: Love & War vol. 1

Ok, so looking through the teen manga section at the library led me to this new discovery. Which, thank goodness because I just found out that Sword Art Online: Progressive only has three books in the series. So I have read as much of that as I can. So here we have another series that doesn't go very far as of yet, but I am still enjoying it.

The story is that censorship of books got out of hand. So, governments got together with libraries to start an army to protect their collections from those trying to get rid of books they find wrong in some way. When Iku was younger she had to wait 10 years for a book of fairy tales that she wanted to read. And when it finally came in it was going to be taken from her. Instead, an agent from the Library Defense Force showed up and stopped the confiscation and gave Iku back her book. Since then she has been determined to join the DF and save books for other young readers. This is about her journey starting with training, trying to make proud a man she barely remembers while dealing with a commanding officer that is a bit too hard on her.

I love this story. Not only is the concept of a nerd army going out to protect books just awesome, but I am really loving the characters Iku and Dojo who seem to have the face they show the world and then the part of themselves they are slowly showing to each other. In this first installment alone Iku learns some important things about being in the forces and pushing herself to new heights.

I am really looking forward to reading more in this series. Even though I went in knowing that there are only 9 books available to me right now. This will be a new series for me to follow as it come out. You should check it out!

Between Worlds

Finally I got around to reading this second novel in the Cemetery Tours series and my only regret is not getting to it sooner!

After Micheal Sinclair declared to the world that yes, he does in fact see ghosts, his friend Luke Reiner approaches him once more asking to join him on his show Cemetery Tours. This time, his presence is a stipulation one of the home owners has placed on their allowing the tv show to film there. Michael reluctantly agrees after Luke and Kate, Micheal's now girlfriend, team up against him. We join Michael, Luke, and Kate once more on a ghost hunt that gets out of hand as the crew learns more about the ghost haunting a home in Maine.

I loved getting to join the team once more for a wild and humorous ride. Jacqueline has a unique gift in building up the world of Michael Sinclair where he can talk to ghosts, Kate can sense them, and Luke likes to poke them with a stick. The banter between the characters, including Brink, Michael's ghostly roommate, really makes you laugh out loud at least a half dozen times. Also in this one is a tragic love story that focuses around the ghosts the team is trying to find evidence of, and the heartbreak leads to some pretty crazy moments for everyone.

Jacqueline also steps outside her zone and takes us to the stunningly beautiful Maine, describing an incredible home and a quaint town that made me wish I could take a trip up there while reading this one.

Of course I am going to recommend everyone read this second great novel from Smith. Specifically to those that took the chance in reading the first one. This was a great follow up novel and I am looking forward to the third one.

The Dark Rose

Within The Dark Rose are two main characters, Louisa and Paul, both with dark pasts that have brought them to work at the sight of Kelstice Lodge to help restore the grounds to their former glory. Along with revealing what happens at the Lodge between these two people, Erin Kelly also weaves in the stories of their pasts where both have come far closer to death than either would have liked.

Kelly does an excellent job of winding three different stories together in a way that does not distract from any of the plots, avoiding the problem of the reader wanting to get back to a certain thread when the others are being given. With each chapter I was just as thrilled to read whatever new bit Kelly was going to give me, no matter which part of the story it was about. Slowly, Kelly unravels two stories that come together in  multiple ways before the end and had me sitting on the edge of my seat as every event unfolded. And wow, I was not prepared for the ending at all! The epilogue was just icing on the surprise cake!

If you've seen any of my other reviews you may know I am not one for mystery, and yet here I am again stepping out of my comfort zone and loving it! This is one of the darker novels I have read, with the exception of Sleeping in Eden earlier this year. And just like that novel, I was a bit shaken by this book, given a few ideas for a darker story of my own, and intrigued enough to look for more by this author!

I definitely recommend everyone pick this books up ad get pulled into these character's lives as well as the excellent writing style of Erin Kelly. And if you have read her work before and have recommendations for me on her other books or perhaps more in the genre, please leave a comment! I will be giving more books like this one a chance in the future.

Fangirl

This is Cath's story. Well, actually Carry On, Simon is Cath's story, her fanfiction story that she wrote about her favorite book character and his sub-textual love for the guy the original author painted as the bad guy. Because in Fanfiction anything goes, any ship is welcome, and the story never ends. Cath firmly believes all of this. And it's ok, because in that world she knows her characters, she knows the way they really feel (about each other), and she knows what comes next. And thousands of fans think she is an amazing writer, so that's got to count for something, right?
But now Cath is starting college and her twin sister doesn't want to room with her, and her actual roommate is kind of like a force of nature, and her roommate's boyfriend(?) smiles way too much, her father is really having trouble coping with being alone in the house, and her fiction writing professor does not approve of faniction. Could anything else go wrong? At least she has Simon and Baz.

This book was everything. For me at least. While reading, I stopped and told me husband that I was so glad that I didn't find fanfiction until recently because I would have been Cath, locked in the world someone else had created. Although, if I admit it out loud I was already like that, even without fanfiction, and even now I tend to get too far caught up in stories for my own good. But more than that, I could relate to Cath's anxiety, her fear of change, her shut down mode to avoid it all. I saw so much of myself in Cath while reading this book, maybe that's what had me reading in in just two days and getting downright giddy over every good thing that happened to Cath.

Of course it could also be because Rainbow Rowell is an incredible writer. Her characters are amazing. They are stunning in all their little imperfections and it's those flaws that make you love them and want to hold them close. The fact that her main character is a hot mess is wonderful. Rainbow is letting the reader know that it is perfectly fine to be a little crazy, a little obsessive. Just come out of your shell every once in a while.
And her humor! So many times I found myself laughing out loud, having to close the book to let it out for a long minute. And once I was forced to put the book down completely to wipe away the tears from laughing so hard and walk away to gather myself to keep reading. She really had just stunning dialogue throughout the whole thing!

And, yes, the subject matter was a big draw for the book. Fanfiction is such a big movement and it is also the most frowned upon literary genre out there. And yes, it's a genre. When thousands of people write it, when people have to update servers to support it, when so many people read and follow stories, when books get published (shhh, I know, but it supports my point), it is more than a hobby, it's a movement. I read fanfiction, I have read some astonishing works by incredible writers that would put some books I've read to shame. I even write it. But it's not something we bring up in polite conversation because so many people look down on it. Rainbow brings it to the forefront and says "Here, it's a thing, it changes lives, and it's actually ok." And I applaud her so much for that. For writing a book with a character people can relate to and feel better about something others may put them down for.  And that's awesome.

This book was so many kinds of amazing. You need to read it. I don't care if you like fanfiction or not, you'll fall in love with Cath anyway. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go track down every other book by Rainbow I can get my hands on. Right after I update my fanfic!

Thirteen Reasons Why

May - Books with numbers in the title.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a unique book. The majority of the book is told from one boy's point of view, Clay Jensen as he listens to a series of cassette tapes that were sent to him in the mail. What is he listening to: Hannah Baker's story of her thirteen reasons why she killed herself.

I found this book in a Half Price Books last year after the Texas Teen Book Festival, but I didn't have the money to get it at the time so I made a point of taking down the title and author so that I could get it as soon as possible. Then my sister said she was listening to the audio book for this month's book club read and I thought that would be perfect, it gave me the chance to talk to someone else who had read the book. So I bought my copy and waited anxiously for it to get to me in the mail. And read it in one day.

This book hits close to home for me. There was a point in my life when I thought that suicide might be the answer to my problems. Lucky for me I am kind of a wuss and couldn't go through with it. It doesn't keep me from stopping every so often to think about it, from considering what it would take and what it would affect. I am also lucky enough to have a best friend who had also been at that point in her life and knew how to talk me down. I now have more people to turn to, including that first friend. But to this day I can still name the people and events that led to that first real consideration. Much like Hannah picked out her list of reasons, I could still do it thirteen years after I was in that same place. Wow, thirteen years ago. Is that serendipity? Ok, this got pretty heavy for a book review.

So, this book. It was incredible, I really think so. There were a few times when maybe I wasn't thrilled with a sentence, or maybe something seemed just slightly less than amazingly written. But those times were very few, far between, and not worth note. What is important was how well Jay Asher brings to life this story. Not only does he give the reader this unique format of having parts of the chapters told from a cassette tape, but he does a wonderful story of interjecting Clay's world into it. Not just his thoughts about what is being said, but what he is does as he listens to the tapes, as if the reader is also hearing Hannah in the background as Clay lives. What's better, you can hear parts of the cassette tapes on YouTube, as posted by a "friend".

And as Clay listens to the tapes, as he anxiously waits at the start of each new story to find out if this one is for him, I waited anxiously. I am pretty sure that I felt every thing that Clay felt, including the heartbreak for his story and the start and stop of tears as he listened. Asher does an amazing job of turning the reader into Clay. Part of me really hates that I read the book instead of listening to it on tape because I hear the way it alternates between narrators is fantastic. I'll ask my sister's opinion on that matter when she gets done with listening to it. Maybe I'll listen to it some time in the future.

Which leads me to what I plan on doing with this book. I am going to put it on my shelf. I am going to loan it out to anyone that even looks in its general direction. I am going to hold on to it until my son is getting ready to start high school and I am going to make him read it before he starts. I will do the same for my daughter (who I am really worried has the potential to be a bully) and have a good long talk when she is done with it. Because I think everyone needs to read it. No one ever realizes the impact their little thoughtless acts have on others. People don't think about the possibility that others are fighting their own battles and that one wrong push can really tip their scales. I need at least my children to think before they act. This is a lesson this book paints so vividly as it tells stories that may seem so simple and innocuous individually but add up to be just too much for Hannah. So I will pass this book on. Frequently.

If you have your own take on this book, on this story, let me know. Or check out ThirteenReasonsWhy to share you story or see others.

I also want to leave you with a few things. Like the number for a hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE. A website: www.hopeline.com . An organization: To Write Love On Her Arms. A campaign: The Semicolon Project. Even a name: Jared Padelecki. Please, if you think that you are at a place in your life where nothing else can help, try just once more. And remember, you can always reach out to me, through a comment of email. And always keep in mind that others may be struggling, so try to always be kind to each other.

Three Good Things

May - Books with numbers in the title.

I loved the premise behind this book, the story of two sisters, one a recent divorcee with a bake shop that's just trying to figure out life after her husband, and the other a successful lawyer and new mom trying to figure out how to balance her life. Loosing their mother at just sixteen and six, they have only her imparted words of wisdom to help them these years later: "At the end of every day, find three good things about it."

I think the fact that I rarely pick up mainstream books has effected me. While I greatly enjoyed this book, loved the story and the writing style, even found myself talking aloud at the characters near the end, I felt the book was a little watered down. I believe this to be a side affect of far too many life and death harrowing storylines in my recent read list. Something so simple almost fell flat for me. That is not to say that I didn't love the book, that I don't recommend it, on the contrary, I suggest everyone, especially women, pick this book up. Join the McClarety sisters on their path to trying to discover themselves in their own little ways at a time when most people expect to have all their shit together. This book is wonderful, so much like life with moments of joy, confusion, pain, misunderstandings, awkward moments, The characters are so adorable in their little Wisconsin town where the worst that can happen is a little too much snow to make someone late for work. Well, at least on the surface, because under that is two women who are a little too scared of making the wrong move and having everything they want in life slip through their fingers. And what's a little pastry without a side of drama?

This was a really enjoyable read and I look forward to holding on to it to recommend for all my friends that ask me for a good book and they don't want anything too heavy. And if you read the book and try the recipe for kringle, something I am really considering, let me know how it turns out!

Shada : A Doctor Who Story

Feb. - Books published after 2011

Where do I even begin about this book? Let me start with a little backstory, a "Why it was written" of sorts. Did you know that Douglas Adams was a writer for the original Doctor Who series back in the 70's? I did not. As a great fan of Adams in my late teens, I was unaware of what he was doing outside the Hitchhiker's series. In my defense, as an American I wasn't exactly the target audience for the BBC show. In 2005 when the show started back up I heard about it from all my college friends, some of whom went to Harlaxton for the study abroad program out University offered simply to be closer to all things British they loved so much. It was in 2006/7 that I discovered BBC, falling in love with random episodes of Graham Norton, Doctor Who, even Law & Order: UK! Don't even try selling me on the American version of Being Human because it is crap compared to the original. But being sucked into the world of The Doctor failed to fill me in on one of my favorite author's former hand in the show, even as I watched numerous older episodes. So imagine my excitement when I unwrapped this book one holiday or other and became nearly giddy with the possibility of mixing Adams and The Doctor!

Reading this book, Adams' hand in creating The Doctor has never been more clear! Of course his mind helped shape the Time Lord's personality! How could I never see it before! The Fourth Doctor could have been best friends with Arthur Dent!

This brings me a little further into the story behind this book. Shada was the episode they were working on when the BBC went on strike. The story line never came to an end. And while everyone was distraught over it, Tom Baker (the 4th Doctor) admitting they all cried at the loss, Adams couldn't help but be relieved. Because the story was not what he had wanted. He had been forced to leave things out, drop off whole lines of thought, characters appeared only to leave the plot with no explanation!

Enter Gareth Roberts. I don't know how he got the script, why he was asked to write this book, but I am eternally grateful he did. Gareth did an incredible job of capturing Adams's voice and writing a book that I could almost believe was written by the late author I so loved. Many times I found myself sinking into a place I hadn't since first reading Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Other parts had me laughing out loud and wishing I could start up some episodes of the 4th Doctor because I definitely heard his voice in my head throughout the story.

Simply put this is such an awesome book. Perfectly told in the way of a Doctor Who episode. With all the humor, chaos, twists, and close calls one would expect to accompany The Doctor. So if you have ever read any of Douglas Adams' work and loved it, or seen an episode of Doctor Who and been enraptured, pick this book up. It is completely worth the read!

::EDIT:: I am marking the scheduled publish date on this for Feb. 29th so it will be listed on the Feb bracket, even though I didn't finish the book until March 15th.

The Eye of Minds

Feb. - Books published in the last five years.

So, I got this book at one of the Texas Teen Book Festivals, autographed of course, and it has been patiently been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to get a chance to pick it up. When I had last talked to my son about what I should read next he told me to wait until we could read this one together. So, at the beginning of February we picked this one up and started reading it in intervals.

Jareth ended up making it 2/3 of the way through it before he moved on because it is sometime hard for him to keep interested when a book is broken up so much. We hadn't been reading it every day as we should have. When I finally asked if he was done, I did continue to tell him what was going on as I read it. He was still very interested in the story.

I was a little worried that working so slowly through it would have a negative effect on my interest in the story, but when I actually sat down and read it, I slipped right back into the story and moved quickly through it. Dashner is a great author that does a wonderful job of holding the reader's attention.

The story is one that follows a gamer named Michael, a teenager that lays down in his virtual reality bed and slips into the VR world to play games with his friends. After he sees a girl rip her own Core out (the link that separates your VR mind from your real body so that when you die in the game, you don't actually die in the real world) he is contacted by the VNS, a government organization in charge of monitoring the Virtual World. An Agent Weber asks that Michael and his two best friends make their way through the system to find Kaine, a man who is slowly hijacking people for experimentation and sometimes killing them. Michael and his hacking skills are needed. But the closer Michael and his friends get to Kaine the more crazy the world becomes until Michael is having real trouble figuring out just what exactly is going on.

Not only is Dashner such a great writer, capturing the voices of these teenage gamers wonderfully to make the reader laugh, but his plotting ability is astonishing. I am still kind of reeling from the major plot twist at the end of the book. When I explained it to my husband he was shocked. Jareth literally screamed "What!?" It was just mind-blowing.

This book was a great one. Especially for me and Jareth who loved the show Sword Art Online where the gamers were stuck in the program until one of them could beat the game. The Eye of Minds is a great story because with VR slowly easing further into everyone's lives, the events of this story could actually one day take place! It makes it a great story for young adults. I look forward to picking up the next one and seeing how Michael's story progresses.

::EDIT:: I am marking the scheduled publish date on this for Feb. 29th so it will be listed on the Feb bracket, even though I didn't finish the book until March 1st.

Sleeping In Eden

There are two stories to tell here. Dr. Lucas Hudson is a small town doctor trying hard to hold onto a failing marriage. And he definitely regrets answering the phone when his friend Alex called, because he did not like the thought of acting as coroner with the body of the town's most reclusive alcoholic hanging from the rafters. But it's too late to change the past and things are about to get far too complicated for Lucas to pull back now.

Meg Painter is a young girl just trying to figure life out, which seems like the usual fair for any fourteen year old. And wouldn't things just be more fun if she was being tossed between the ups and downs of first love, first heartbreak, best friends, and boyfriends, all with two boys in the mix? No. No, it wouldn't be fun. But Meg has been given these circumstances and she is trying to untangle it all.

Slowly these two stories unfold and grow closer together in this wonderfully woven tale by Nicola Baart. At first I hated the alternating chapters, bouncing from one character's story to the next. As soon as I would feel invested in one plot line, she would throw me into the other. But as the stories got closer to intersecting, I found that I was deeply invested in both, needing to know how they came to meet, how things could possibly be resolved, how things had happened. Due to the nature of the story, I was kinda expecting the ending, just a little. I didn't know the finer points, and I was unprepared for the heartbreak that would accompany the details. I tweeted the author when I finished: "Thanks @NicoleLynnBaart for ripping my heart to pieces and stitching it back together with a fine thread. SLEEPING IN EDEN was wonderful." And that is the best way I can say how the ending affected me.

I really recommend this book. To the lovers of mystery, twists and turns, love, and heartbreak, and Hope. This is a great read by a talented author. I look forward to reading more of her work!

Forever Odd

I don't know why I thought that the solution to sinking into a depression after the news of David Bowie and Alan Rickman would be starting a book in which the main character is dealing with the overwhelming loss of someone so close to him, but I am sure glad I stuck through to the end of the novel.

Forever Odd begins not long after the events of the first book. Odd is dealing with the loss of Stormy when all too soon someone else close to him is thrown into the storm that often accompanies his supernatural gifts. This time, it's his best friend Danny and he is already in the thick of trouble as Odd uses his gift to find and help his friend.

I don't know what it was about this book that made me like the series more than the first although I think I have it narrowed down to two points. 1) I didn't have a movie to spoil anything in this book. I was all new and I was along for the ride without being shown every detail before starting. OR 2) Due to his grief, Odd is a bit more serious in this book. He still has a wit and sense of humor that nad me randomly shouting out a laugh amidst the tension, but there was just a little more worry, a little more directness to his thoughts. He was trying to hold onto his levity but couldn't help the more frequent lapses into stern territory.

I think the book helped a little too for me to deal with the grief I had under estimated due to the loss of two men I had looked up to and loved from a distance. As Odd pushed his way through his own sorrow to help his friend, I rode along and took from his determination my own sort of strength. I still feel a little heavy and am looking forward to soon getting the next book to further distract me, but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. Once more books have kept me moving, given me a safe place to distract my soul, and this time I have Dean Koontz to thank.

So, be looking for my review of the next book in this series, because it will no doubt be coming soon!

Odd Thomas

Jan. - Books turned into movies.

Odd Thomas is a man who can see dead people. Because of this strange ability he feels compelled to do something about it all. So when a man comes across his path surrounded by bodachs, invisible creatures akin to evil spirits in Odd's opinion, the young man is determined to do something about it. What follows is a complex mystery steeped in the supernatural. The story is told from Odd's point of view, and I found his narrative voice to be great. I think Koontz did a great job of giving Odd a personality unlike any other. Although I have to say that I sometimes with he would take a conversation seriously instead of answering everything with a quip. In fact I can only recall a handful of times in the whole novel when he gave serious answers to situations. I love a quick wit as much as the next person, but sometimes I just need some seriousness.

This is my first Koontz novel, and let me say, I am definitely going to be coming back for more of his work after this entertaining review.

That all being said, I have already seen the movie, that was after all what drew me to buy the book. I am, however, rereading it now that I have reread the book. There are plenty of differences from book to movie. The more I take a closer look at adaptations I am coming to better understand reasons for cutting things out, changing details, tweaking scenes. So I get the reason Odd's mother was cut out of the movie, placed in a mental institute when he was younger rather than having her be someone he turned to in a rather lengthy, disturbing, unnecessary scene. Despite these minor differences, I think the movie does a good job of doing justice to the book.

So I will probably pick up the second in this series, since I happened to buy it with the first, and read it very soon. Suddenly I feel bad about not picking up any of Koontz's work sooner.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Jan. - Books turned into movies.

Nine year old Chiyo and her older sister are taken from their home and sold to an Okiya in the Gion district of Tokyo while their mother is ill and their father realizes he can't take care of them. Well, Chiyo is sold to the house, her sister is taken across town to become a mere prostitute. Because whatever you may have heard, geisha are not simply prostitutes, although Chiyo (later known as Sayori) does confide that sometimes that is part of the job. No, geisha are entertainers. Trained from a young age in music, dance, tea ceremonies, and lavished in beautiful kimonos and face paints, these women are hired by men to brighten up a party, serve drinks, offer amusement, lend to the conversations. They are escorts in the classiest sense of the term. But that doesn't mean they have great lives.

As Sayori struggles through hardships, she tells her story as honestly as possible. Through loosing her sister and parents, trying to run away, nearly ruining her chances at becoming anything more than a made, discovered that she needed to be a geisha more than anything, and pushing her way through the process of becoming a successful geisha, all in a time of war, Sayori tells it all.

So, while I enjoyed this book, it took some getting into. While Chiyo/Sayori has plenty of things happen to her, most of it is rather boring before she becomes a geisha. It's a real Cinderella story, let me say. And there were plenty of times I wish I could just tell the young girl to suck it up. After she finally puts on the robes of a geisha and makes her debut I want to tell her to suck it up and be happy with what she gets. Because she sure gets a  hell of a better deal than a lot of the other girls in the district, but she is always wanting more.  See Sayori has her eye on one man. One perfect prince of a man that she devotes everything in her power to try to get his attention. I get that she likes him, has some sort of savior complex for him because he was nice to her when she was a sad child. But to overlook the kindness of one man who gives everything to make sure she is taken care of and happy, just because he isn't the one she has her eye on. It made me very upset with Sayori through the later half of the book.

I am sorry to say I wasn't thrilled with the book like I wanted to be. And unfortunately I can't tell you if I liked the movie better because I haven't seen it in some years and barely remember it. Hopefully soon I will get a chance to rewatch it and can give a comparison for you, but until then I am just going to say that this one just wasn't my cup of tea. Have you read it? Did you like it? Let me know!

EDIT:

So I finally got a chance to rewatch the movie. There were very few differences between the two, but somehow those subtle differences made the movie a little less grand than the book, I think. They tried so hard to stay true to the story, making the movie into a brutal 2 and 1/2 hour affair, that I almost feel bad for saying it, but I really did like the book so much more.
But that's just my opinion. What do you think?

2016 Reading Plan

A new year, a new challenge for myself in the world of books. 

This year I am rejoining a book club that my sister and mother started a few years back. We have moved it to Goodreads since I am rarely able to join them for discussions. I love being able to talk books with people, especially these two since they are not only fellow avid readers, but they are writers as well. These traits, along with our diverse taste in books, always leads to some very interesting conversations. I am really looking forward to the year ahead!

So there have been some rule changes for the group since I left and they made the group honestly more appealing for me. 1) We each read 2 book that fit the monthly theme. 2) They don't have to be the same book as the other members, although they have been known to lend the book to the other after finishing. 3) They are books they already own. 

With me having a very wide selection of books, including some random ones neither of the other two would think of adding to their own shelves, and having too many that I haven't yet had the chance to read, these new rules were the best thing! 

This all means that this year I plan on reading at least 24 books. A much more manageable number since I tend to set the bar too high and never reach the number. I went ahead and added a few more books to the number making it an even 30. That's only an extra book every two months. I can do that!

So here it goes! A new year and a new list of books to read and review!

The Shannara Chronicles

Back in 1977 Terry Brooks published The Sword of Shannara, something he later confessed was a bit of a surprise to him and he was even more astonished when called with the news of just how well the book was doing. Just shy of 20 years ago I picked up one of Brooks' other books, The Black Unicorn, and after reading the series it was a part of, I moved to the Shannara series. My life was changed. It may sound cliche, but that is exactly what had happened. Reading Brooks's work I realized that I wanted to tell stories like him, wanted to be a writer. Some of my first works were based off Brooks' characters that had become so much a part of me. Since then I have collected every book Brooks has written, met the man himself and had him autograph many of my books, and followed any and all news of him. This was why when I saw that they were making a television show based on his prominent fantasy series, I was too excited for words. That silence was broken the closer we got to the release date and I started bugging all my friends with my near constant updates on about the premiere. This morning I thanked them all for being patient enough with me not to yell at each new status post. Because last night was the series premiere on MTV!

So, since I had read all the books and waited so long to see the show, I thought I would give a little word on what I thought of it. It was EPIC!

After all the fear behind MTV being the ones to adapt the show, I was reassured every time Terry Brooks made an update about how happy he was with what had been done with the show. See, Terry has always been protective of his work, going so far as to turn down people that had wanted to adapt it when he saw what they wanted to do with his work. So with each new bit of information, I grew more and more confident that the show would be done right. And last night that was proven correct.

I will say that there were a few differences from the book, things that bothered me for a moment but then I could understand why they made the changes they did. After all, you want to keep some things a little bit of a surprise, a moment to catch people that think they know everything about what is going on off guard. Gotta keep them on their toes. I only had issue with one detail that kept getting mentioned, and I am sure will be brought up more in the future, that had been changed from the books. It would have been a very big, very compromising detail if they had started with the book before Elfstones, but since they started where they did in the story, I can almost see why they made the change. That being said I am sure I will forever cringe every time they mention it. Oh well, it is a small price to pay.

At other times I could only marvel at the amazingness of it all. The actors were wonderfully chosen, the sets were beautifully made, and the costumes were so skillfully put together. There was one scene, in which Allanon makes his appearance int the court of the Elven King Eventine, and every little detail of the scene was just so perfect. A shiver ran down my spine, I literally squealed, and I will probably rewatch the scene a dozen times between this week and next.

Have I made my point about this being a great success? I'll say just once more in case you missed it. This show took an already incredible series and made it great again for all of us. I truly hope that as I witnessed my son getting so excited over it, wowing at each new scene, and asking for a chance to read the books with me when I revisit the series, others out there that have not had a chance to read the books will discover the world I so cherish.

So thank you, MTV and Jon Favreau for bringing this incredible series to life for all of us. Thank you Terry for imagining such a world and inviting us all to join you there. And thank you to anyone else who gives the show a chance, falls in love with it all over again, and hopefully makes it possible for the series to continue on in the future. I have always believed the Shannara series was meant for great things, and I think I am being proved right.

Jim Henson

A nonfiction book.

This book was a gift to me from my mother for Christmas. She gave me a wry smile and said, it has a chapter about him making Labyrinth, as if that was the only part of the book I would read, but she knew the truth. I would pick it up and discover this guy who had brought so much joy and creativity to the world, and I would love him a little more. Throughout my life I have caught glimpses of Jim Henson, but as more of a 3rd generation geek than a normal kid, I never really watched his work with Sesame Street. It wasn't until I was introduced to Labyrinth that I discovered the amazing talent that was Jim Henson. After having my son, aptly named after the goblin king himself, Jareth, I began to see a little more of Henson's work. Labyrinth remains my all time favorite with my 9 year old son having seen it about 20 times and owning his own copy since he kept having to borrow mine, and my husband will always prefer The Dark Crystal to nearly any other film from his childhood, but we are gaining a new respect for Henson's other works. A part of this I have to thank this book for, since I tried to find each work of his as I read about Henson's work on them. With reading this book, therefore, I have come to see both sides of the man behind the widely known Muppets, and it was a very interesting trip to see.

Brian Jay Jones does an excellent job of capturing the quiet, creative, loving nature of Henson. Through interviews with the family, numerous friends, and a great many co-workers, he shows the reader the Jim Henson as everyone had come to know him. And with how little time along Henson seemed to have, the view is nearly all encompassing. What little gaps were left, were filled in with notes from Henson's personal journals. Many times I found myself laughing, smiling, and nodding my head as if I had known Henson personally and could attest to how "Jim" that one thing was. Countless times I found myself rushing from my seat to go tell someone else in the house this amazing little tidbit about Jim, his antics, his process, his life. I was constantly fascinated by him. And Jones does a great job of pulling the reader into the Henson's life, making sure you get just as excited about this amazing man as I am sure Jones is.

My only complaint throughout the whole book (just shy of 500 pages or it would have knocked that one off the list) was the long-winded family descriptions at the beginning. For a while i was afraid that everyone Henson met would be given a complete family history going back a few generations. Turned out those genealogy reports were reserved for Jim and Jane. After they had been given and Jones began to delve into Henson's personal history, things picked up and I grew increasingly fascinated with the story unfolding.

Outside of that, I think everyone should give this book a try. Jim Henson was a fascinating man with such a wonderful personality crammed into his tall, lanky frame. He is someone everyone should get to know a little better. Then come back here and tell me what your favorite thing about Henson is. I love his creative vision. As a writer that sees worlds in my mind, I can relate to him in that aspect, and the products of his creativity fascinate and leave me in awe.

The Scorpio Races

A book that your mom loves.

My mother handed this book to me a year ago, as we were getting ready to go to my first Texas Teen Book Festival. In fact, she pushed it into my hands with a delighted smile and insisted I read it. But while we read a lot of the same books, I was a little hesitant to pick it up anyway. I can't say why other than she didn't give me much of a feel for the book, I didn't know what I was going to be stepping into. But she loved it, my sister loved it, I would give it a shot. A year later. After a lot of bugging. It was worth it.

Oh wow should I have read it sooner. I have yet to read any of Stiefvater's books, taking my time to pick up her Shiver trilogy until I can get all three books and not have to wait in between, so this was my introduction to the writer, and what a meeting it was. Maggie takes a myth that has fascinated her for most of her life and pieces bits of it together from different legends, and makes it her own. And she does so beautifully. Being both a horse lover and a lover of myth, there was no other path but love for me to take, and Maggie's amazing writing style simply helped make the trip easier.

The capaill uisce (Irish pronunciation CAPple ISHka) are a race of water horses that wash up on the beaches of this small island. They have done it for hundreds of years, having formed some sort of bond with the men of the island who sacrifice a bit of blood for the honor of riding these fierce creatures. Only, sometimes the bit of blood isn't enough. The Scorpio Races, which are run every November, are bloody, chaotic events in which the men ride their barely held mounts a little too close to the water to tap into the magic of the creatures for speed. Sean Kendrick was nine years old when he watched one of the horses nearly tear his father in half during the race, but that didn't stop him from racing when he got older, and now he is the four time winning champion of the races. But he wants to own the horse he races for the man that owns half the island, no longer in fear the beautiful animal he has formed a bond with will be torn from him. Enter Puck Connelly, a girl who is used to fading into the background and likes her privacy there. Her older brother is leaving for the mainland, leaving her and her younger brother behind, and in a last ditch effort to keep him close a little longer, she proclaims she will ride in the races as well, the first girl to do so ever. Only she doesn't like the beasts that tore her parents from her the year before, refuses to ride one, and instead thinks riding her regular horse in the races will be a good idea. What unfolds is an incredible story about what the races are really about, what people need when they think they need nothing, and how much  can truly change in a matter of week, even on a tiny island.

So apparently, since I have spoken out about first person a little too many times, the universe has decided I will be given many example of why this particular point of view is in fact awesome and beautiful, and here are some authors that know what they are doing! The Scorpio Races alternates between Sean and Puck, each telling their stories from their view points and giving you insight into two very different, but kinda similar people. You know what the best thing was? They didn't overlap. I hate it when the author feels you need the same scene from both characters point of view, it is redundant and boring. Stiefvater has no qualms moving on, not letting you see that one scene from Sean's point of view so you know what was going through his head, because hey, she already told you what happened. I love it!

SHe also does a great job of introducing just enough myth into the real world that you can believe that somewhere out there is an island where water horses come onto land in storms to eat flesh before melding back into the sea. In fact, it is kind of a perfect book for someone that loves horses to dip their tow in the water of fantasy. I myself used Peter S. Beagle's short stories to introduce me to the world of fantasy and have never looked back, but boy am I wishing Maggie had written a couple decades earlier so that I could have been introduced to her wonderful imagination sooner!

Definitely give the book a try. Give Stiefvater a try. Let me know what you think of it! Do you love it as much as I did? Do you love it as much as my MOM did? Let us know!

The 100

A book based on or turned into a TV show.

I will admit, when I saw this book laying on the table at the 2014 Texas Teen Book Festival I picked it up simply because we had watched the show and enjoyed it. I wanted to read more behind the characters, maybe read more of the story before the show covered it, and compare them. I also got to meet Kass Morgan and talk to her for a little while as I waited for my sister to get another author's autograph. She was thrilled to find out that each week my husband, son, and I would sit down and watch the show with excitement. She asked me about my opinion of the character and story and I told her I loved both. She personalized my book with a little note to my family - To the Bowles, Happy Reading! (and watching =) ).

I am so wishing I had read the book before meeting her! I want to tell her how much more I loved the story she had laid out, the background of the characters being a bit more heartbreaking than the show gave them. There is more romance in the book, since nearly everyone is part of a couple, but that gives more room for heartbreak! And I love Bellamy more in the book, and from the beginning. I was also a just as annoyed by Clarke's indecision in the book, but hey, there is room for her to grow.

The book has more drama, especially since the story line only follows the main characters. With Clarke, Wells, and Bellamy all on Earth you only know what they know. You only have their little bits of back story to tell you about the world on the ship. The only character in space is Glass and since she is not yet an adult, she doesn't have the inside story on anything. You only know what she sees as she tries to stay out of the way until her pardon can be formalized. There is so much of what is going on that is a mystery to the reader. And I love it! It puts you on the edge of your seat and keeps you guessing on what is going to happen, who is going to survive, how will things work out.

If you liked the show, definitely give the book a try. I don't think too much will be spoiled since usually there is a divergence between the two mediums. If you haven't seen the show but enjoy post-apocalyptic survival stories, really give it a try. This story promises to have twists and mayhem aplenty! Let me know what you think!

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

A book that was made into a movie.

This book was given to me last year for All Hallow's Read by my mother. As I had already read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies she thought that I would enjoy this one as well from the same author. I have to say, it was an interesting read. But in all honesty not really my cup of tea.

Presented as a biography by a man (Seth Grahame-Smith) after he was given the real, secret, journals of Abraham Lincoln by a mysterious man named Henry along with a bundle of letters, all speaking of the untold half of history surrounding this former President. Smith proposes that the truth of Abraham's life was surrounded by vampires from the time he saw his father consorting with one which lead to his mother's death through his years of hunting the creatures until he led the Union to defying them as the vampires fought to keep slavery going as their meal ticket. I'll not give you much more, but I will say that vampires are thick in every aspect of Lincoln's life.

While I find Lincoln an incredible man in history, rereading his story in this new way was a tad on the boring side. But mainly that is because the author so seamlessly (in nearly every event) inserts the creatures into Lincoln's life. In almost every event of the man's life I could easily believe vampires were involved, with the exception of only a few events where I was rolling my eyes because, come on, of course we are going to say that was a vampire thing. So I must say the book is well written, I'll give it that. And I was able to breeze through it as an entertaining read. I just don't think I would ever pick it up to read it again. Maybe I wouldn't be too quick to recommend it to others.

But, hey, that's just my opinion. Give it a read if it's up your alley. Tell me what you think about it!