Those Books I Did Not Finish

For some reason, I’ve been running out of steam with some books lately.  Usually no matter how much I’m not enjoying a book, I will try to finish it both because I’m a completist and, well, I want to know how it ends.  Which is saying the same thing two ways.  I also refuse to turn off a hockey game before it’s over no matter the score.  It’s a weirdness, I know, but so it goes. 

I’m going to talk about a few of these books in this post partially because I want to know if any of you feel that I really need to finish them and partially because I don’t want to pick another copy up later and be really confused about why it seems familiar.  I actually did that this summer except that I finished the entire book before thinking ‘huh, this seemed so familiar.  Oh yeah, I read this book about ten years ago!’  It was an embarrassing moment.

First up:

Sean Griswold’s Head
by Lindsey Leavitt

After a couple of reviews around the blogosphere, I seriously wanted to read and love this book.  The heroine sounded charming, and I always like to find another good contemporary read to pass on.  And it’s true, the heroine was charming; I adored her best friend.  The only problem is that I somehow missed that Payton’s issues - and her fixation on a certain head - are rooted in her dad’s diagnosis of MS.

And...no, I just can’t do it.  My dad died after an out of the blue diagnosis, and while it was a good while ago, I still have a really hard time reading about fathers getting ill.  I tried to push through it but between that and the fact that Payton’s really close to her dad...yeah, not going to happen.  I’m disappointed though and slightly annoyed with myself for letting this keep me from reading what seems like a good book!

Everlasting
by Angie Frazier

I waited for months for this book to finally arrive on inter-library loan.  I was excited about the historical setting plus Australia plus ships and magic and fiesty heroines.  What happened here is that I got bored.  I’m not sure why!  A secret map plus a shipwreck and treasure and a handsome boy should be enough to keep me going, but for some reason, I just couldn’t connect to Camille’s character and so about halfway through, I set the book down.

Should I keep going?  Is the end amazing?  I know its gotten a lot of love, and people whose opinions I usually agree with liked it a lot.  I’m frustrated that it’s not keeping my attention after I wanted to read it so badly!

The Mysterious Howling (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place #1)
By Maryrose Wood

This book fell victim to my lack of time over the past few weeks, and the return date to the library arrived before I managed to read more than a hundred pages.  But I’m pretty sure I’ll be checking it out again.

The narrative style of this charming book felt like a cross between Lemony Snicket and the narrator of Miss Austen’s Northanger Abbey...which admittedly is a weird comparison, but it really does!   I was amused by the very dry and slightly mocking tone of the narrator while enjoying the ‘gothic’ set up - a (very) young governess traveling by herself to a lonely mansion filled with taciturn retainers, a mistress who’s concealing a secret, and an odd howling from the outside...

Before Versailles: A Novel of Louis XIV
by Karleen Koen

I’m still telling myself I’m just stalled on this book.  I’ve adored Koen’s earlier books especially Through a Glass Darkly and Now Face to Face which were about 18th century England, the Court of George I and II, the American Colonies, Palladian architecture, and such a gorgeous love story.  I’ve read Through the Glass Darkly at least 10 times - and since the 18th century was my major period of focus in my history degree, I’m picky about my 18th century fiction.

But Before Versailles seems to lack a certain joy that Koen’s previous books contain.  Perhaps it’s the framing device that tells us what’s going to happen before it does or perhaps its that each of the characters seems like a stock figure - a doll picked up out of a box and set in a gilded dollhouse.  They’re all gorgeously dressed dolls for certain, but other than the King himself, none of them seem to have much of a spark of life.

It’s disappointing!  It feels more like the author thought ‘and now I should write my book about Louis XIV’ instead of really being inspired to write in his time period and court.  I was really looking forward to a book about a young Louis XIV and Henrietta Stuart, Charles II's baby sister.


So there's my list of shame: those books I haven't managed to finish over the past few weeks.  My other list of shame would be longer (those books I haven't written a review for yet), but I'm still looking at that as a "to do" list.

Have any of you read these?  Should I make a point to pick any of them back up?  What do you guys do when you get to a book that you're just not enjoying?  Is life too short to keep reading?

Review: Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal

Shades of Milk and Honey

Mary Robinette Kowal

August 3, 2010

Borrowed from Library

Goodreads Page

Amazon Page

Grade: B+

Synopsis (from publisher): Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

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Review: This was a lovely if perhaps a tad slight book. The Regency-with-magic setting was delicately handled, and I particularly enjoyed the characterization of our main character, Jane, the plain yet artistic Ellsworth sister and the positioning of magic as one of the arts that a well-brought up lady should know instead of something outside the bounds of propriety. The homages to Austen were well done, drawing smiles from this reader more than once.

Some parts of the plot - including the romance but also the relationship between the sisters and the fate of one of the supporting characters - seemed overly rushed, but I still quite enjoyed the book and very much hope the author writes more in this universe. The worldbuilding around the magic was detailed, and I enjoyed how glamour was a quite different type of magic than one would normally expect in a fantasy book.

There’s a lot more that could be done in this universe, and I hope to be able to read more intricate works surrounding how exactly magic has affected the Ellsworths’ world compared to our own and deepening our understanding of the current characters and their abilities.

As a side note, the author is one of my favorite voice actors and if you ever come across an audiobook she performs, I wholeheartedly encourage you to take a listen!

Review: Deadline by Mira Grant

Deadline
by Mira Grant
June 1, 2011
Purchased my Copy
Goodreads Page
Amazon Page
Grade: A

Deadline is the second in the Newsflesh trilogy. Don't read Deadline without reading Feed, the first book! My review of Feed, if you're interested can be found here.

Synopsis (from Publisher): Shaun Mason is a man without a mission. Not even running the news organization he built with his sister has the same urgency as it used to. Playing with dead things just doesn't seem as fun when you've lost as much as he has.

But when a CDC researcher fakes her own death and appears on his doorstep with a ravenous pack of zombies in tow, Shaun has a newfound interest in life. Because she brings news-he may have put down the monster who attacked them, but the conspiracy is far from dead.

Now, Shaun hits the road to find what truth can be found at the end of a shotgun.

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Review: I waited for Deadline breathlessly, but also I was the tiniest bit wary. How could any book live up to Feed's excellence? Add that to the fact that second installments in any trilogy are difficult, and there was definitely a bit to be wary of.

Deadline, however, managed to fulfill all my expectations and even hopes. Things have changed for the Masons and for After the End Times, but our heroes adapt, deal, and go more than a little bit crazy while doing so. Deadline is less of a political thriller - no following the campaign trail this time - and more of a conspiracy story, but the tension, the danger, and yes, the zombies remain the same.

I seriously loved Deadline. My major concern while reading it was after a blow-you-away opening sequence, the story seemed to stall out, but trust in Ms. Grant's writing, after a few chapters, it's less stalling out then slowly, slowly building to an insane climax.

Excellent book. I need Blackout RIGHT NOW...but I'll be reading Deadline again while I'm waiting.

Review: Feed by Mira Grant

Feed
by Mira Grant
May 1, 2010 
Purchased my Copy
Goodreads Page
Amazon Page
Grade: A

Synopsis (from publisher): In 2014, two experimental viruses—a genetically engineered flu strain designed by Dr. Alexander Kellis, intended to act as a cure for the common cold, and a cancer-killing strain of Marburg, known as "Marburg Amberlee"—escaped the lab and combined to form a single airborne pathogen that swept around the world in a matter of days. It cured cancer. It stopped a thousand cold and flu viruses in their tracks.

It raised the dead.

Millions died in the chaos that followed. The summer of 2014 was dubbed "The Rising," and only the lessons learned from a thousand zombie movies allowed mankind to survive. Even then, the world was changed forever. The mainstream media fell, Internet news acquired an undeniable new legitimacy, and the CDC rose to a new level of power.

Set twenty years after the Rising, the Newsflesh trilogy follows a team of bloggers, led by Georgia and Shaun Mason, as they search for the brutal truths behind the infection. Danger, deceit, and betrayal lurk around every corner, as does the hardest question of them all:

When will you rise?

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Review:
This is simply the best book I've read in ages. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in a zombie story, political thriller, murder mystery, virology story or all of the above.

It is very definitely a zombie book, and I don't advise reading it at night. Or in rooms with large picture windows that will give you nightmares later...or maybe that's just me. One of the quirks of this particular type of zombie is that since it's caused by a virus, everyone will become a zombie once they die. And by everyone, I mean every mammal over 40 lbs. So we have zombie deer, zombie giraffes, and zombie raccoons as well as Grandpa keeling over from a heart attack and suddenly wanting to eat your brains. Creepy, yes.

Our trio of main characters are bloggers chosen to follow the presidential campaign of Peter Ryman, the good Senator from Wisconsin. The politics aren't always the most sophisticated, but the possible political landscape of a post-zombie United States is incredibly interesting.

The politics are fun, but the characters give Feed its heart. Georgia Mason - head blogger of After the End Times - narrates most of the book with input from her brother Shaun. I've a soft spot for siblings in literature, but the Masons are an amazing pair while Georgia herself is one of my favourite characters ever. The third main character Georgette Meissonier calls herself 'Buffy' because she's "cute, blonde, and it's the end of the world." It's excellent, and Buffy's another beautifully drawn character.

No overt romance for romance fans, but the friendships and interpersonal relations more than make up that. The plot starts out with a bang, does a good deal of necessary world-building and then has a long, suspenseful build to a worthy climax. I cried more than once.

Excellent book.