Unlegendary in the extreme!

Lu, Marie. Legend. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2011.

I love post-apocalyptic/failed utopian society books (Matched, Hunger Games, City of Ember). So when the inside cover said "Once known as the western coast of the United States, the Republic is now a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors the Colonies...." it sounded perfect. Only it wasn't. First, I couldn't tell what made it post-apocalyptic. In fact, I kind of wondered if maybe the people of California had just decided to secede from the United States. Especially since the rebels had this flag with red and white stripes and a blue square with stars on it. Second, it got really violent at the end. I know that sounds crazy, given that I liked the Hunger Games, I guess it was just that the violence in this was...umm...not unexpected, maybe unprepared? Yep, I sound like a crazy person since a pivotal plot point (also mentioned on the cover) is a murder but nothing in the first half prepared me. I also found it jarring when Lu sprung things on me like when the blond hair blue eyed main character was listed as Mongolian for his dominant ethnicity and Caucasian as his secondary, actually the whole Asian thing really caught me off-guard. He had light blond hair and blue eyes! But whatever. I guess what really bothered me was I couldn't tell if it was the lamest ending ever or the beginning of a series because it could go either way. And I hate that!!!!!

Ok, so I should have listened to my own advice!!

Stiefvater, Maggie. Shiver. New York: Scholastic, 2009.

Remember how I said that I'd sworn off young adult fantasy fiction (my genre of choice) because all the stories were the same? Why didn't I!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Shiver--the story of an awkward teenage with a limited social life and parents who need her to provide for them because they're selfish and weren't really ready to be parents yet. Sound like Twilight yet? Well, let me go on. He is a werewolf with yellowish eyes that had a green or brown tint depending on the page. Yep, they changed colors (not really--I think--just Stiefvater's descriptions changed). And was she obsessed with his eyes? She sure was! (Ok, there was kind of a reason for this--his eyes stayed the same whether he was man or beast.) Let's see...he was changed by a man he accepted as a father figure. He didn't want to be a monster so he was always pushing her...hmmm...bella?...no, that wasn't it...the girl...away. But she always pushed his self-control. Yep, he said that. It went something like this...

     "I think you are overestimating my self control, 'Bella.'"
     "I don't want self-control, 'Edward.' Let's have sex!"
     "But, you have your whole life ahead of you."
     "So do you! You're only eighteen."
     "At least I'm legal. I don't want you to do something that you will regret. I don't want to make you do something you'll regret."

What else? He was a musican who wrote song for and about her. He watched her sleep. He was well read. They drove around in a big truck which was perfect because it had a bench rather than bucket seats.


So if you like Twilight, Shiver is the book for you. Don't worry it is a trilogy. So you can get in on a lot more Twilighty goodness!

The hills are alive! And in some ways the movie is better...boy, I never thought I'd say that!

Trapp, Maria Augusta. The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. New York: Perennial, 2002.

This read was inspired by an article that I read in the newspaper about the next generation of Von Trapp family singers. It turns out that the grandchildren of the Captain are making a living by being the Sound of Music 2.0 and why wouldn't they? I mean, if my name was Von Trapp and I liked music, whether I was related or not I would totally milk it. In fact, I would even consider changing my name if I really felt music performance was my calling. Anyway...The article said that they sing the songs from the movie and quoted a Von Trapp as saying that people (specifically those in Asia) would sing a long it was just so magical. (I didn't make this up; they really did say the whole continent loved them and would sing along.) So, I became interested (which is the nice way of saying obsessed) with the Von Trapps. There are several other books written by Maria about the family. But my obsession did not lead me to read all of them just the story of the family.

First, Maria is hilarious! Seriously. My favorite part is when the Captain (who was also a Baron) asks her to marry him and she goes back to the Covenant to ask for advice. When she returns to the Captain, he's waiting for her and she starts crying because they said she should marry him. So funny! Actually, their whole courting was awesome! Way better than the movie. As was the wedding and the escape to America and her giving birth--yep they had more children bring the total to 10! (Honestly, I skimmed the book after this. It got a little blah once they got to America. I can see why they just climbed some mountains and stopped the movie.)

Things that were seriously better in the movie: The Captain is a creeper! He was 25 when Maria was born. BORN! not when they got married. not when they met. when she was born. I don't know about everyone else, but that creeps me out a little bit a lot. I mean it. She was 22 when they got married perfectly respectable age to get married. He was 47! gross. and ick. and wrong. His oldest child was only six years younger than she was. And since it was a boy (sorry to burst that bubble Lisel didn't exists more to come on that subject later) Maria would have been better off with him. Plus, he was a doctor. (That being said, I found his devotion kinda hot! I can see why she went with father-husband.)

2nd the children's names. It was like the Captain didn't love his children: Rupert, Werner, Johanna, Agathe, Maria, Martina and Hedwig (in less there was some inter-species breeding the this daughter is a snowy owl, not ok humans should not be name Hedwig). Ok, so some of them aren't too bad...and then there's Hedwig. I cry for the poor girl.

Things that I had to remind myself: she was going to be a nun. When she waxes poetically about the importance of Catholicism it's because she was willing to devote her whole life to it. I kind of felt like she was beating me with Catholic dogma and had to remind myself of her devotion. 2nd when she is praising the Captain's bravery during the first world war (no comment about her age at this time), he was fighting against the UK, France...eventually, the US. So when she's like and he took down a whole armada all by himself killing thousands. He's fighting a losing battle. He lost. 



PS He really did use a whistle to call his children. Awesome? You decided. But he did have sound reasoning...the house was so big it was easier to whistle. And I'll let you know right now that I am willing to take on for the team. Give me a big house and I'll decided if it is easier to whistle or call people.

There simply aren't enough Hamishes in the world!

Beaton, M. C. Death of a Gossip. New York : Ballantine Books, 1988.

So, I decided to give my regular genre a miss since I had been so thoroughly disenchanted with it--all books being Twilight only worst. Because of this I've been reading some mysteries, non-fiction, and biographies just to change pace. Death of a Gossip was the first book in the Hamish MacBeth series and there are more than 25 others. I didn't love it enough to read any more at this point, but hey it's out there if I change my mind. The book was written so that it was omnipresent--we kind of got narration for everyone which is not how I like my mysteries. I like to follow the story with the hero/mystery solver and no one else. And come on! his name was Hamish MacBeth and either one of those names would be awesome by itself. He was kind of the Clark Kent/Don Diego kind of hero. You know, "Don't mind me I'm just an average Joe. There's an emergency? Look in the other direction while I sweep in and save the day." Hamish is a "bumbling" country constable (I'm sure you guessed with a name like Hamish MacBeth, but it does take place in Scotland) who is secretly a hero that doesn't want anyone to blow his cover as lazy.

So it's a little late, but gratitude is always in season

I was going to post this on Thanksgiving but missed it...

The books I am most grateful for

Or 

The books I like best

(In order to be a part of this list I have read the book at least three times (or in the case of new release, plan to make it part of my reread) however, they are not in an order (while these are my favorites, I won't show further preference!))

Juvenile/Young Adult:  

• Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
• The Host which is far better than that other series she wrote and Twilight (but not any of the books that follow) by Stephenie Meyer
• The Ordinary Princess by MM Kaye
• Howl's Moving Castle and Castles in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
• Dealing with Dragons and Searching for Dragons by Patricia C Wrede
• The Sisters Grimm series and N.E.R.D.S. by Michael Buckley
• Any of the Young Adult/Juvenile books by Rick Riordan (I didn't like his grown up books)

Picture:

• The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub
• Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley
• The Kiss that Missed by David Melling
• John, Paul, George, and Ben by Lane Smith
• I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
• Don't Let the Pegion Drive the Bus by Mo Willems actually pretty much anything by Mo Willems because I really love the Elephant and Piggie books
• The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka 
• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

Adult: (So, I can read grown up books--I just don't want to! And while there are some series that I like, this list is about love!)

• The Lady Emily mysteries by Tasha Alexander

Classics: 

• Northanger Abbey  by Jane Austen
• Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, and An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
• The Jeeves and Wooster adventures by PG Wodehouse 
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Well, that looks good to me.

Truth, Justice, and the Austrian Way...

Dunlap, Susanne. The Musician's Daughter. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009.

For someone who likes music, mysteries, and gypsies, this book had everything I needed. It is set in Vienna during the late 18th century. The heroine, Theresa, is the daughter of a first violinist in the  Esterházy orchestra. On the first page, or maybe the second, her father dies under mysterious circumstances. Setting out to find out the truth of her father's death, or at least what happened to his violin, Theresa embarks on an adventure leading her to a series of more and more unlikely places.

Bad news about this book...Dunlap insisted on speaking German, Hungarian, and what ever language the Gypsies spoke. It was kind of annoying to me because she didn't tell me what they were saying except for the one time I already knew. Grrr!

More bad news...the story wrapped up so beautifully at the end I was left thinking "Really? That's convenient. Seriously, you're going there?" and not in a good way. And then she said..."but that's another story" like some cheesy 50s serial..."Tune in next time when we find out if Theresa can escape the dreaded blah blah! Same battime same batchannel!" It made me want her to say, "Meanwhile, back at the ranch..." but she didn't.

What I liked best about this book was that the author has a PhD in music history from Yale and an some kind of music something-something from Smith (in other words, she's no moron). She incorporates a lot of that passion for music (and music history) into the story. "Theresa" talks about how music is how her soul speaks which, as a musician, I can appreciate. On the other hand, she longs for a violin rather than her viola. Which I think is crazy, violas are way prettier than violins.

JK (The just kidding kind not the Rowling)

I revoke my blessing on the Iron Fey series. The third one was horrible. The only reason I read 82 pages is because I didn't want to go out to my car to get another book. BOO!! HISS!! Seriously, next person who writes about an immortal guy falling in love with an average girl and how they can never make it because eventual she will die and then he will kill himself. I'm burning it! Twice!

That said, I am still going to give the fourth a go. It's told from his perspective and he's all angsty and hot.