Book Report: Matched by Ally Condie

Matched by Ally Condie

Well, the writing is nice, characters have some depth and are more or less believable, the concept a little tired and the plot is maybe a bit thin.

This is Lewis Lowery meets Scott Westerfield in a H.G. Wells sort of way.

In general, it is not a problem for me when concepts in one work are similar in nature, or influenced by, or even out-right borrowed from other works.  All the better when a new twist or different spin on the same scenario give life and excitement to an old interpretation. Sometimes though, I just feel like there is a lack of originality. All-in-all though, for having thrown all these into a blender, what came out was nicely done here, Ms Condie. Nicely done.

So lets take a look-see at what we have here.

Protagonists:

Cassia Reyes

Xander Carrow

Ky Markham

Well, those are the /main/ ones, I suppose.

Antagonists:

The Society.  Ha! Go figure.

So, in this world, ambiguously far in the future, the society (aka government) is in charge of everything.  Where we live, what we eat, what we do, who we marry, etc.  There are only few approved songs they are aloud to hear, only a few approved poems, paintings, etc - everything else was destroyed.  Matched starts out with Cassia readying herself for her matching ceremony.  Well, apparently, the norm is for people to be matched with someone from elsewhere in the ... from another place.  The rare is to be paired up with a local person, but shocking to be match with your childhood best friend.  What are the odds, right?  So, then there is a... glitch that implies to Cassia that she may have been alternatively matched to someone else from her childhood.  Coincidence? I put no stock in coincidence.

I am not giving away much there actually - you get almost that much from the jacket.  Well, except for the my-opinion part.

The thing about how well written this is, is that Condie provides a tremendous amount of insight into their world, culture etc. in the very beginning while also letting us know a lot about Cassia without boring us to tears. (You listening to this Ms Meyer?)

Ever read The Giver?  Or Uglies? ... or The Time Machine?  The idea is that in this society, everyone is calm and relaxed because the governing collective is always looking out for everyone and never does anything wrong.  Everyone agrees that it is good, or risk being wished away into a cornfield.  That was a subtle Twilight Zone reference, hopefully setting the mood.  As we the reader ride along with Cassia, we collectively start to realize that more and more people are apparently looking out for themselves for fear of the society, not trust in it.  They are careful what they say and do because they do not want to stand out.  Everyone is careful of offending anyone because their culture dictates that it is not nice to offend anyone, true, but doing so has repercussions greater than simply hurting someone's feeling.

She sees that there is one commonality that makes people rebel.  One thing fires individuals up to fight the system they fear, and that is when injustice occurs against someone they love.

There are three pills that everyone is supposed to have.

1) Nutrition supplement. This is to help them out if they ever are lost/stranded or whatever where they are in a position where they could suffer if not for adequate nutrition. I spent a lot of time thinking about what, within the scope of their perfect little society, would ever put them in need of such things.  I mean, to the point that the Eloi - er, sorry, the members of the society - are required to always have one with them at all times.  I pondered the psychological impact of such a thing and here is what I came up with: If They provide my food, three times a day, and I can get food no other way, nutrition is so important that if I ever fail to come to the feeding trough when called, I need an emergency supplement, then I my life is completely dependent on Them. And, they care enough about me that they give me the means to survive if I would ever to make such a mistake.  We do take a bit of a trip into the nutrition processing center and I half expected Morlocks running the place.

2) Sedative. Like somewhere between a super Alprazolam and a short-term chemical lobotomy. Again, something that /should/ not be needed in a utopia.

3) The enigmatic RED PILL.  They are always supposed to have them, but only supposed to take them when told to do so.  Some fear it is a suicide pill, some have no imagination, others... who knows.  Well, I know, but I am withholding /some/ spoilers so I am not going to tell you is like like the MIB Flashie-thing.  Oh, wait.

I am at a point now where I feel if I continue, I will:

- give away too much

- convey an inaccurate picture of my assessment of the book

- drive away potential readers, or something like that.

I have a number of issues - technical ones - that are too big to ignore, but not big enough to ruin the book.  Here is an example: They have /lost/ the ability to write.  They can type, but not write.  And not just in the sense "gee, this would be so much easier to type and my handwriting will be hard to read" but in the "I know the words to a lost, forbidden poem. I cannot type them, because then the Morlocks will see it! If only there was a way I could put these words onto something!" sort of way. Now, I understand that this was a plot device to get some things done.  And for one thing, it is a real sense of rebellion to break such a serious rule as to learn something the the Society did not teach.  But seriously, they know how to draw, they /could/ just draw the characters.  It is little things like that that do not sit well with me - and not just in a not-how-I-would-have-done-it sort of way.

One thing that was not conveyed - or I missed it, or whatever - was a sense of scale.  Sometimes it feels like they talk in the scope of cities and boroughs, other times, it seems like towns and divisions, or states and countries.  It bugged me, but I am over it now.

All in all, a good book that I am happy to have read - and eagerly await the next part.  Now that the base is set, I am hoping book two will be more... substantial.  I think this book could easily become more popular most.  That does not sound right... I hypothetically score it 10 of 15, but would understand that the populous gives it more of a 12 to 13 of 15.

Book Report: Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore

Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore

It has been a little while since I did a book report, and it looks like the last one may have been a ghost story as well. But these are nothing alike. AND, I suppose, because the book is NEW, this will be more of a review than other book reports I have done in the past.

So, What is it like?

There are a number of reviews out there on Texas Gothic, and a number of them... maybe /all/ talk about the hunky/hot/gorgeous cowboy, Ben, and the romantic tension between him and Amy.  Well, although I have a few "romantic" books like, and moreover, I like, in general, when a little romance is tangled in the overall story, but unlike what is implied in those reviews, the romance is so far sidelined, that it is tucked neatly away and does not intrude more than is should.  But more about that later - this is a ghost story.

The players:

Amaryllis Goodnight (Amy) - the "reluctant" hero

Delphinium Goodnight (Phin) - my personal fave, amusing sidekick, required techie nerd, and... well, you'll see.

Daisy Goodnight - 

Aunt Hyacinth Goodnight - albeit obliquely... by reputation... and phoned in from a cruise.

Uncle Burt, in his special way.

Ben McCulloch - the "hottie"

Old Man McCulloch

Deputy Kelly

Dr Douglas

Mark

Caitlin

And, of course,

Lila

Well, I do not want to give too much away, so I will stop there - but not without mentioning Taco and Gordita for good measure.

A bit about the mood of the book.  It was funny.  Not Terry Pratchett or Douglass Adams funny, but defiantly Janet Evanovich funny.  Actually, I see a number of similarities between Stephanie Plum and Amy Goodnight, but they may not be meaningful to discuss.  So, there is humor, and the previously mentioned romantic tension, supernatural mystery.

Setting:

In contemporary Texas, the Goodnight womenfolk are witches - kitchen witches, that is.  These are not your flames-shooting-from-the-wand - turn-you-into-a-newt sort of witches mind you.  The Goodnights use Earth/Nature magic, generally speaking. If their aroma therapy body wash works like magic, it is because it /is/ magic. That and talking to the dead is common among them. They are not all farmers and ranchers as such, but the vacationing Aunt Hyacinth is leaving the Goodnight Herb Farm, smack dab in the middle of Texas ranchland and good and gone from civilization and cellphone coverage, in the hands of Amaryllis & Delphinium ... and adventure ensues.

While the Goodnights are witches, Amy fancies herself more compatible with "normal" society, struggling to find sanity on both sides while buffering each from the other.  Her older sister Phin is about as opposite as could be possible, which is why they need each other so much. Technical to the core, the paranormal is more normal to her than the mundane and she is the supernatural equivalent of the proverbial absentminded professor. (On a personal note, Phin reminds me of the way my dad is with wildlife, but pay that no mind.) 

Enter Ben, the antagonistic hero. Bringer of tension and frustration... and one of the tools used by our heroin to out-wit the evildoers. So, no, he is not an antagonist from a plot perspective, just a character trait because Amy and the Goodnights are just one of those things standing between him and a normal life, or so he thinks. (My way of saying that he is a little bit of a jerk, even though he is a good guy.)

When Amy gets abruptly and reluctantly sucked into a quest, of sorts, everyone surrounding her is involved, like it or not, in their own way and see it (the obstacle, plot-wise speaking) coloured with their own objectives, frame of mind and way of thinking. Phin sees a scientific opportunity, Dr Douglas sees a roadblock between her team and a great archaeological discovery, Mark sees a mystery brewing, Ben is faced with a near insurmountable obstacle keeping him from efficiently managing a ranch and Lila is looking for some affection in return for a job well done. Amy and Ben, primarily, just want to have their lives turned back up-side-right so they can go on living in a normal, reasonable fashion. See? That is why they get along so well - they have the same goals. Hehehe.

The hot cowboys... it is summer, in Texas, on a ranch. Everyone is hot, no matter what they look like, right? So, here is the deal with the "romance" between Amy and Ben. They each find the other in the way. Each are struggling with what promises to be a pleasing distraction from conflict at hand, but they are each chin deep in their own path that they cannot see that they are indeed working for the same solution.

I compared Amy to Stephanie Plum, and there are other strong, leading characters that fall under this similarity as well. When I look at each of the character's traits individually, it seems that there is no way that anything is going to get solved. Collectively, however, when the character is forced to step back and reassess things from a different angle and leverage their full, collective talent base in ways that make them grow overall - defeat the greater odds - this is what makes them greater than the sum of their skills. The Hero Gestalt. Moreover with Amy and Stephanie, they manage to leverage other people as well to fill in the talent gaps. They see the good and value in the people around them and do not try an tackle it all on their own, but not in a whiny-come-rescue-me sort of way.  Well, not all the time anyway.

I do not think that I am giving too much away when I say that the way the plot unfolds, I kept wondering up until the dramatic end, what role the supernatural was playing in this quest; which hands were being dealt by magic, ghosts, or ill-willed muggles.

Clement-Moore's writing style is amazing. I read my fair share of YA books as well as adult fiction and this is a pleasing bridge between - subjects, voice and characters I can relate to and connect with; told in a beautify, meaningful way where the text does not get in the way, but rather envelopes me and carries me through the journey as though I am a part of it, not just a passenger.

Texas Gothic is a must read of the decade.

Take Care

LQ

Sookie Stackhouse, Sam Merlotte, True Blood

It is Friday again, right?

Today I am going to talk a little bit about the show True Blood and the book series from whence it came.

This morning, I was (carefully) watching more of season one of the show - about fifteen minutes at a time or so. I have read a number of the books, but had gotten kinda fed up with Bill. Point being, while I never really thought that Sam and Sookie ought to hook up, I always liked Sam a lot.

Now, watching the series, thinking about what I know now of the character, vs what the audience knows about him so early on, it is kinda cool.

Not the least of which is just him running the bar. He has his little place, that is fulfilling a local need, and still out there, far enough from the beaten path to give him the freedom he needs. And that get us to what this post is all about - I think that would be cool, owning-running a little bar and grill. There are, like, the ones I visit. I may like having one down town where I could live in the up-stairs. Or opening/taking one over out on the corridor.

That's it.

Oh, and I would still kinda like to be a radio dj.

Take Care!

LQ

Watching True Blood, but the books were better.

Um... that just about sums it up, actually.

Well, not quite.

I am a fan of Anna Paquin - well, her works anyway, don't really know her - and so I am getting a kick out of watching here here.

I like the guy they got for Sam too. I always liked him in the books anyway.

I am only a couple of episodes in to the show, but Bill seems rather emo, unlike the books where he was just a little brooding and self-noble.

Lafayette seems spot on and I would have liked for him to have had a bigger part in the books because he is such a fun character.

So, I do not know if the show will start moving along faster once we have gotten to know everyone, but as for right now, it is _really_ dragging.

The pace is not this only think I am having a little trouble with in the show - the sex is a little much - Jason in particular. I mean, in the books he was a serious "horndog" but it was not graphically portrayed, just talked about as a matter of fact. This too, I am hoping will change as the series progresses once, we, the audience, get the point (driven into our eyes (what was seen cannot be unseen - get the brain bleach)) that he is a horndog. I mean, it is less of a deal in the books too, but mainly relevant in the first because of the whole plot thing.

Okay. I suppose that is NOW about it - at least until I watch some more.

Take Care!
LQ

It's Friday + a dream

Well, part of a dream - but I'll get to that later.
First:
Yeah, there have been updates to LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) and so, and all the groovy updates promised. The big one I am waiting for is the 64bit release.
I mean, am I wrong or will this require a new iso? Everything else, yeah, great, I can get through updates. Well, not exactly everything. They said they made improvements to the installer, so I need to run the installer if I want to check them out.

So I am waiting (kinda) patiently for the new 64bit iso of LMDE. But I will be all excited when it is out - probably blog all about it and stuff.

Second:
As some of you are well aware, my - er, Dad's - house plays holiday host for the holidays. People were over for Thanksgiving, and typically we get everyone again for Christmas-New Years. Yup, that's right, a week+ of "house guests."
Every time, I work hard to make sure the house is ready for everyone. Then Mum comes and re-does it all - like it was her house. So, "Why do I do it, knowing this?" you may ask. I just have to. If for no other reason than when Mum comes and moved things, there are not those "clean" spots where things were, you know? Everything is clean before she touches it. Then I have to re-clean after they go to, uh, get "them" off things.
I am doing something different this year. I am completely rearranging the house full stop. Totally mixed up the chi or whatever. Couch - over there. Radio - there. Book case - (unloaded) over there (reloaded). Etc, etc. Even the kitchen is all rearranged.

The point of all this? To change things so radically that Mum will actually _notice_ that I am taking care of it. This is still a work in progress, so we'll see how it goes. It may backfire on me and drive me nuts. Oh, and for the record, yeah, I even am doing the bedrooms.

And, third:
Before I get to the actual "dream" part of this, you gotta know the setup.
In the past, I have had (bad) dreams about waking up next to Dad in bed and (bad) dreams about waking up next to him in bed that felt so real that I ran screaming into his room waking him up with a hockey stick. Being a bit of a sleep walker, I have actually woken up in Dad's bed, being... uh... poked in the back of the leg by him*. That was a fright and he ended up getting kicked in the face before things settled down.
[edit: I should clarify that he was /sleeping/ when this happened, eh? Not his /fault/.]
Also, Amy shares my bed when everyone is over for the holidays. So, I am not completely unaccustomed to waking with someone else in bed. Now, on to the dream:

In the dream, I was dreaming about everyone being here for the holidays and having Amy around. Then, in the dream, I dreamed I woke up rather peacefully, just stretching in the sun-warmed sheets, face down and feeling the still-fresh linen against my skin. I was quickly and calmly aware of the weight of someone next to me, my skin against their smooth skin. I could feel the rhythm of their breathing and it was comforting. I kept my eyes closed against the persistent, bright sumer sun. I felt the curves of their - of her body and knew she was on her back; slight curve of breast against the my ribs. My skin felt cool against her warm body, soft and tender. I smiled from the comfort of it all as I finished my stretch then rolled to my side, away from my bedmate to look at her face. The scent was so familiar I could picture the form before me before I opened my eyes and found...
Claire.
That startled me awake for real. I should have known it was a dream from the light. There was too much light. Sunrise it not until like almost eleven. I had been expecting (in my dream) for it to have been Amy, so familiar and comfortable. I really believed my dream was real and Amy was next to me. I just knew it. Then to open my eyes and find Claire - I was instantly bombarded with new, Claire scents and rhythms. And that /light/. It was on the other side of Claire from me (well, no, it was all around such that the only things I could see were myself, the bed (and beddings) and Claire) and the light wrapped around her so tightly that I could only see her face - my mind filling in the rest of her from memory, vague and incomplete. At least she was smiling at me.

That was yesterday morning - Thursday. It kinda occupied my thoughts, leaving me lost to this distraction most of the day.
You know when you have an "off" day, right? And you can tell things are just not going the way they normally do. So, at fencing, I am off my game. Completely distracted. One guy who doesn't really beat me... doesn't really get touches on a normal day... beats me - twice - and starts talking to his buds about how much better he is because now he is better than me. He had extra toast with breakfast, and now he is better than me, so he is going to have extra toast before tournaments. He put on his right shoe first this time, so he is better than me and will now always put on his right shoe first. Some such nonsense.
On the other hand, the other, the really good fencers, are actually /more/ annoying. "Hey, there were a couple of opportunities in there you missed, thank goodness." Or, "Oh, my, I thought you were going to get me there... You normally get me with those." Etc, etc. Yeah, they could tell I was off my game, but they were trying to /help/. Even Coach started trying, but my mind just was not in it. I tried meditating, but oddly, it did not help.

Sheehs.

So, this is probably a fairly frustrating post for some of you. It touches on Linux, Family, Dreams, Fencing... if I... Oh, I think I will...

Here are the first fifteen tracks in my current playlist:
[0/2680] Lily Allen - Everything's Just Wonderful (03:29)
[1/6901] Book Of Love - I Touch Roses (Long Stemmed Version) (05:46)
[2/6891] Book Of Love - Late Show (03:38)
[3/3300] KT Tunstall - Hold On (02:58)
[4/3209] Katharine McPhee - Over It (03:35)
[5/3294] 32+-+KT+Tunstall+-+Hold+On.mp3 (02:47)
[6/6946] Everything But The Girl - Letting Love Go (04:46)
[7/6939] Everything But The Girl - Driving (04:00)
[8/4235] Yaz - And On (03:12)
[9/5702] Garbage - Wicked Ways (03:44)
[10/5660] Garbage - Cup Of Coffee (04:31)
[11/3221] Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl (03:00)
[12/3299] KT Tunstall - Funnyman (02:56)
[13/6902] Book Of Love - Boy (Extended Mix) (04:29)
[14/3121] Gabriella Cilmi - Einstein (03:40)

Oh, Mercy... somethings in that list should be omitted. :blush:

I just finished reading The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade. It was a good and light teen candy book. I have these "Candy Books" that I read from time to time. Most are Teen, or YA books, but they are fun without having a lot of weight, you know? Why I Let My Hair Grow Out, The first HP book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, In the Stone Circle, the first Twilight book (Uh, I guess that would be Twilight) and about anything by Meg Cabbot. I mean, there are other "light reading" books I have and like and whatnot. The Pern Series, some Piers Anthony, Dresden Files, Girl Vs Evil and whatnot. But these are not like my "deep reading" like Time Travelers Wife, or Never Let Me Go, etc.

Okay... lots of topics to post for one day. Have fun...

LQ

It is Friday and I am not sure how I feel about that

This update may take me a while to get posted, but I will leave it up here until I am good and ready to post it.

This week has really gone my fast. Too fast, one may say.

The Linux Mint servers were having issues from being overloaded. I am happy that they are getting that popular... in a way.

Maybe I should go back to looking for a nice, quiet, unpopular distribution... maybe I should stick with Mint. It is great, but I am never one to go with the flow, as it were.

Rice. Sure, it's rice - who expects it to _not_ be boring. But hey, seasoned right, it is very flexible. And, dried, it stores well all winter, so, you know, no point in being down about it, eh?

I watched the film they made of Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones and...
I think they did a good job. I am not goring to do a side-by-side breakdown. I have given up on trying to do that because it never ends well for the film. Maybe an exception or two. Now, books made from films? That is a whole other issue all together.
Back to the point, I really think that - for a conversion - the stripped down film made a lot of sense. Yeah, I think there was a point or two missing... but those missing points are mostly Mrs. Sebold's issues/hangups. It was tidied up nicely for the movie-going audience.

Never Let Me Go, when it comes out, I am not likely going to be so kind about. In fact, I think I am going to re-read it over the holidays so it is all fresh. It has been even longer since I read Ishiguro than Sebold. This was an incredible book. Depressing, yes, but incredible.

Now, I have no idea if there are plans or not, but I think Peter Jackson could do a good job bringing Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series to film... seeing as how Hollywood has thrown in the towel on original film concepts. (Did I spell Westerfeld right? lemme look that up... Nope. Better go back and fix that. Done. Now no one will know.)

I did a thing a while back about songs that, given a more developed story, could make a really good film. Some may be more like a Sundance festival short, other maybe like a full fledged motion picture, but hey... interesting plot nonetheless.
I am listening to Yaz (or Yazoo, for those of you across the pond) while writing this. It feels good.

Earlier, I was listening to Cherry Poppin' Daddies:
"You gotta move fast to beat the devil
Your arm is too short to box with G__"
I feel like that some days... stuck between anything and everything with no recourse and no wall to put my back against. It really wears me out sometimes.

Oh, I am doing better now, I suppose. Sometimes when you are lying down at the bottom of the well, the only thing to do is be still and hope the kicking is over with soon.

So, this is supposed to be the month for writing, right? It is bugging me that I have not been able to put anything down, you know? And Mum will be here Wednesday. It feels like it may as well be tomorrow. I am not ready to deal with family again. Maybe I just want Dad all to myself for the holidays. Yeah, that is bad of me to think like that, but then, I have even worse thoughts, so, oh well. The point of that was to say that starting with Mum on Wed,family will be coming and between getting ready, and then them being here, I doubt I will get anything finished enough to post. :bummer:

This is getting long-ish and has touched on a number of subjects without being very meaningful to any of them, so I suppose it is time to wrap this up.

Take Care-
LQ

(yet) Another Friday Instalment

Well, what can I say...
Where have been things that happened this past week, but they were weird and I am not going to blog about them -
 - Other, that is, than to say it has been a weird week.

I got to a point this morning after not being able to sleep, not feeling good, etc that I will not waste blogspace or keystrokes talking about, where I was like, "Oh boy! It's Friday! Time to blog again!"
That was followed quickly by the stark realization that I have no idea what to blog about.  Hmm... imagine that.

So:
The trailer for "The Girl Who Played With Fire" was released.  Um... what is the word... Oh yeah.  "w00t"
Watch It Here
Okay... that was not the English/internat'l trailer that was just released, but apparently the only link back to it I am finding right now is on youtube, to which I am insanely allergic, so you have to read the Swedish. For some of you that will be fine, I know.


Also, there has been a lot of buzz around the literary circles for the series (Thank you @randomhouse) which is cool because it is much with the awesome.

Then, also, a friend of mine turned me on to an anime series Bamboo Blade.  It is cute and funny, but it has amusing character development.  It centres around the sport of kendo.  Being a fencer, I find this cool.  Reminds me of clubs I have known, but I will leave it there.

Let's see... what else.

Oh - I wrote a (bash) script to... automatically tweet whatever I have playing in xmms2.  But it is a little annoying... I think I like to be more selective about what I share - even if it may not seem like it.  :rollseyes:

Well, there you have it.

Have a good week.  Read a book.

Take Care
LQ

p.s.  Yes, I am missing most of last weekend.  Not sure I want it back, given the evidence.  Two more "episodes" this week that I am sure of.  :sadface:

A Friday instalment

I do not know if I am going to start, like, keeping a "Friday Blog" or anything like that to sum up my week or whatever, but I thought I ought to get some things out of my head.

-I have been giving some thought to a couple of possible Top Fifteen lists to work on. 

-Someone asked me if I have read any good books lately.  No.  Some okay books? yeah.

-If you want to look at some of the stuff I have read, check out my Shelfari (down there on the right).  There is another "lets talk about what we are reading" site that looks good, but I have already kinda set myself up here and have no real reason to leave.  One of the things about the site is you can ask other people if they should read this book or that.  So, someone had asked if they should read this one book.  I liked the book.  It had more ... graphic ... descriptions of sex than I had read from that particular author, but I took it all in stride.  I had read worse.  (I mean better... I mean - nevermind.) So I am looking through this person's bookshelf.

    1 - I was not really "old enough" for that level of detail myself when I read it. (I am still not, if you ask me, but that is not stopping me. hehehe)

    2 - It was unexpected based on other things I had read from the author

    3 - This person has not, from what I can tell, read anything with this kind of explicit description

    4 - This person has read some of the other books by this author that I had read, thus causing the surprise

Now, I had read some adult books by some adult authors.  Moreover, I have read adult romance books by adult romance writers.  But this is kind of like... author crossover.  It is not a "romance novel" but it is about more of the "grown-up" coming of age subjects and the choices made by young adults with no vagueness about some of the decisions made.

Now, looking at some other books. Lets just say a random fiction book.  Not from the YA section, not from the NC-17 section - just a book.  

    1 - Two adults, unmarried, unattached, there is a good chance that they will have sex.

    2 - This may be implied or explicit.

    3 - This may or may not be integral to the plot.

I asked Dad once, in one of those times where I took advantage of the open-door "if you ever have questions, pleas come to me" standard, ... Let me start that over for clarity.  I asked Dad, "If grown-ups just have sex when there is nothin better to do, what is the big fuss over the proverbial wearing white for the wedding?"  After he recovered from shock, he said that it does not always happen like that. Of course, then he wanted to know what I had been reading, so I told him.  He was like, "Oh, yeah... umm..." because he had just taken it all in stride when he had read them.

So, how do I say, "Hey, yeah, the book was funny and fun and well written, but fast forward through pages 120,122 and 286?"  I have no idea if this person it ten, twenty, or.... idk.  Do I assume that I am none the worse for it and say "Go for it!" Or do I say, "Wait until you are older, for mercy's sake!"  Or do I go into, "Well now, I am not sure about your reading experience, but..."  I really do not want to even bring it up because, like, for me, that was not what the book was about and I do not want to give the impression that the book is cover to cover trash talk.  It wasn't.  It was good. (Not that these are mutually exclusive.) Yeah, if you made a film of the book, there would have to be creative camera angles to keep it only "r" rated.  maybe pg-13 or whatever with edits.  But what if this person is just ...

IF, there were some other books in her lib that had scenes like this, I would say "yeah" and not even think about bring up the "special" parts.

I suppose the root of this is that I kinda mentally blow by things in books, that kinda freak me out when I have to think about them.

Anywho-

Take Care,

LQ

Pirate Latitudes: A Novel by Michael Crichton

• Rated 4 of 5 stars

“Of course I am going to say that the book is really good. I mean, it is. But here is the thing: It has great twists that I have failed to see so well laid out in other stories. The threads are there, but I find myself thinking, "I am only a quarter through the novel, and other books would have stopped here."

What I mean is, certain elements (that I will not specify to avoid spoilage) are wrapped up in good, logical fashion rather than being drawn out for the grand finally at the end. Yet, the twists are not random, out-of-the-blue, slap-you-in-the-face introductions of new conflict. The seeds of each turn are very well placed.

And excellent read, and I do not like pirates, boats, water, etc., so that is really saying something.”

... as posted on Shelfari 

Book Report: Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon

Book Report:
===================================================
Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon
Pseudo military, pseudo sci-fi adventure thriller hurls Kylara Vatta into predicaments that would challenge the most seasoned of trade veterans. But a novice space freight captain, Ky must prove herself apt in matters of business, trading, hostage negotiation, public relations, finance and military intelligence on an off the charts voyage past the brink of civilized somethingorother.

Protagonists:
--Kylara "Ky" Vatta
--Glennys Jones (Her ship)
--The crew of the Glennys Jones
--The infamous aunt's fruitcake
Antagonists:
--Fate/luck/karma
--herself
--kinda kidding about that... read on.

There is a vague ruse plot device to get Ky kicked out of military academy sufficient for us, the audience, to have nothing to hold against her while understanding that the bridge is burned and that path is over. It also creates a reasonable justification for her to be set out on her assignment.
Ky is the only daughter of the reining generation of the Vatta space trading dynasty. She shocks the family by NOT wanting to pursue the family business, but with all of the older mails in the family, we feel no need to hold that against her. Her expulsion from academy, again is more embarrassing than truly damaging so she holds to her "can do no wrong" image thus far.
In all fairness, her actions are all reasonable and believable. Se behaves sensibly for a person with her background and with careful consideration of the thoughts and motives of the key players in the big picture.
There are times when she is, for lack of a better word, blind-sided by events and whatnot, although these things only happened within the scope of the known unknown. That is... I know this will be a problem, but I know I cannot predict what kind of problem so I just need to be ready for whatever.
Except where boys are concerned. The motivators of the male mind are enigmatic to her because the does not consider that the M/F thing is a factor to them.
Ky is portrayed with, in my opinion, a reasonable image of self which is often lacking in female protagonists. "How so?" Well, in a lot of 'girl books' they often either undervalue their own physical appearance because they run around "gee, I don't understand why ALLLLL the guys are falling over themselves around me." listen up... if the guy does not know you, but is paying you "that much" attention, then 1) you are so hot that he abandon's better judgment to try and get in your pants, or 2) is under the impression that you are so easy that he abandon's better judgment to try and get in your pants when in all reality, it is most likely C) get over yourself... he does that to everyone; you are not that special.
OR, they have a skewed assessment of their ability. Ky is not like Mrs Granger "Oh, mercy me! That is so much harder than I can do! I couldn't possibly live up to that!" then presto - without breaking a sweat - the universe is saved. "Oh, Yippie Yippie! I did it! Everybody look at me!"
So I forgive the way some things work out a little on the convenient side because it is believable that people want to help her. (Obvious McCaffery influences here.)
So There you have Ky.
I love her ship. It is not presented with character, but I read a bit into it. (Mercy - I used the word 'love'. I thing that was the second time this week. I better watch myself.) More on that later.
Okay, so Mama Vatta wants her only daughter to be all domestic and maternal and - well - just so, you know? Pappa Vatta, with a bunch of sons leading the way, understands the little rebel in her.
So, she has to take an old, outdated, no-can-upgrade-to-corporate-standard ship from their home world, to be decommissioned and sold for scrap. While it is going that way anyway, the send it out full of cargo with destinations along the way. (Never missing a good business opportunity is a recurring thing in here - but in a good way.) So, after her first stop, and thus clearing a little room in her hold, She gets another opportunity. Eager to 'do good' and prove herself capable, she takes the job to 1) make a little money, 2) promote the company name and image (because this is like really playing a bit of a hero taking a job no one else will) 3) Assert her command a little.
No, I am not going into the whole story here but...
It is not a simple as it should be. Company A is buying from B but is not paying until delivery, so transport V has to front the money. Captain K is showing she is a big girl and not just playing with "daddy's money" (there is some risk, after all) (and she is afraid of him refusing to let her deviate from the scheduled itinerary) so she is funding this herself and doing it as an "independent". Naturally, this one, simple, and reasonable, little detail creates more than the expected amount of havoc.
She gets bystander'd into a civil war; a mercenary, uhm, raid(?) (So, what exactly were they doing there?) and a tangle with the space-age-whatever-year-this-is equivalent of Ma Bell. (Firefly influence, me thinketh.)
This was a really good read. I hope to pick up the next one before long.

If you made it this far - thanks. If not, well, thanks for trying.

Shelfari = Cool

Hey, I just found this Shelfari widgit.  It is cool.  I mean, I like reading, and I like letting people know what I think if what I have read. 
I have my faveourite authors, right? And so a lot if these her on my shelf today are books I "plan to read" because of who wrote them.

Yeah, I like scifi and fantacy.  I like some "chick flick" books and there are a lot more I need to put on my shelf.
Goodness, yeah... a lot more, now that I think about it.  These on here were just some of my fave authors. 

So, I will be updating what info I have on my books there, and adding in more that I have read.  I figure this will take a while.


I have some "book reports" saved on google-docs.  I should post them too.

Take Care!
LQ