To Die For

I would have finished Linda Howard's To Die For last night, but I was too tired. So I finished it just a few minutes ago. I do not really like reading romance novels, but I do like Linda Howard's stuff. She is the author of Heart of Fire, which is probably my favourite romance novel to date. (I like that it is told from both the woman's and man's perspective. That made it really entertaining!)

To Die For was not told from the man's perspective, but instead was first person from the woman's, in this case Blair Mallory. The very beginning of the novel wasn't terribly appealing to me, but by the end of the first chapter I was hooked!

Nicole, a woman who was copying Blair's image, was shot, and Blair was the only witness. In comes police lieutenant Wyatt Bloodsworth, a man whom Blair had dated a bit until he mysteriously ended their relationship. Cue fireworks here.

I think the main thing that appealed to me was the dialogue between the two main characters, Blair and Wyatt. Some of the things that Blair thought during the narrative were also hilarious! The two of them argued constantly and it was highly entertaining!

I also liked that, for a romance, there wasn't way too much sex. Yes, sex did happen, but it wasn't graphic like some of the books I have read in the past.

So, to make a long story short, this book was alright. I enjoyed it for what it was.

Upcoming Break from List Books

While working today, I had four books recommended to me. Being library books, I am thinking that I may take a break from my list books in order to read them. As this site is about reviewing the books that I read, all four of them will be reviewed here as well. I have not quite decided when I wil read them; I may wait until I am down to 90 books left on the List, or else I may read them one at a time between books on the List. We'll see.

Garden of Shadows

Garden of Shadows is the first book I have ever read by V.C. Andrews. And I absolutely loved it!!! Right from when I first started reading it, I didn't want to put the book down!

Garden of Shadows tells the story of Olivia. Tall and deemed ugly by everyone, she believes she is given a chance at love when she marries Malcolm Foxworth. But right from the beginning of their life together, Olivia finds out she is sorely mistaken; Malcolm never said anything about love during their whirlwind courtship. Garden of Shadows tells the story of everything Olivia must do for her husband, her family, and for herself. This is the tale of how Olivia becomes the strong Mistress of Foxworth Manor, a woman to be feared by even her own family. I thought it was an amazing read and I recommend it to everyone!

I just wish I could keep reading this series, but right now I shouldn't - I have far too many other books to read!

Aeon Flux

Okay, this book is not actually on the List. I picked it up from work the other day (I DO work at a library), and I decided to write about it here, just for a brief break from the List.

First of all, I wasn't sure I'd even read it. The cover said "Now a Motion Picture," so I thought it was just the graphic novel adaptation of the movie. Thankfully, it turns out to be a little prequel story. But I think you do need to see the movie in order to read this, otherwise you won't understand it.

I did enjoy reading the story. But I did NOT like the artwork (it's a graphic novel). I especially didn't like the way all the people looked.

So, in my opinion, if you liked the movie, this is worth reading. But do not get this for the art.

The Halo Graphic Novel

I wasn't sure if I was going to include graphic novels on the List. But then I decided that they are, by definition, novels. And I don't read a whole lot of them, so why not use them as a break when I need a really quick read?

I was also really happy when I picked this up in Minneapolis a month ago; I was able to pay the American price ($24 I think) rather than the Canadian price ($40).

The one thing I was rather impressed with was the art. In two of the four stories, the artwork was AMAZING! (In the other two, not so much). There was also a gallery included after the stories with pictures from many different artists, and many of those pictures were also amazing! (I also found out that this is where one of my favourite pictures comes from, which I have included here).

However, I didn't really like the stories. The first one was incredibly hard to follow. It was supposedly about one of the Elites from Halo 2, showing how he lost part of his jaw. I scanned through the pictures a couple of times and I couldn't find where he loses part of his jaw. (There was one really cool part that looked like the flood he was fighting had a chance to bite it off, but I'm really sure he didn't).

The second and fourth stories had the worst drawings. The second one wasn't bad, and it was kind of fun. The fourth story was just okay; I really wasn't impressed with it.

But the fourth story was hands down my favourite! It was the story of how Sgt. Johnson escaped the flood from Halo 1. There were no words in the entire story, yet it was amazing! The artwork (as mentioned) was phenomenal. And they didn't NEED words at all!

So, overall, I totally recommend this for any Halo fan. While the stories might not be super fantastic, it is worth getting just for the artwork.

The List Update!

Well, having finished Lamb, I am pleased to say that the List is officially down to 95 books! I have successfully brought the List down from July 6th. Yay!

Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

I wrote a review of Lamb by Christopher Moore on Monday on the Read 'Em and Eat 2008 blog (http://readem2008.blogspot.com/2008/07/lamb.html). On there, I said that I was enjoying the book, but I didn't like the modern story of Biff stuck in a hotel room with an angel, forced to write his version of the gospel. On further reflection, that's not true; it was the incident with the first wise-man that didn't really sit well with me. It was while I was reading this afternoon that I figured this out; the incident ended, and then I found myself really enjoying the book. The other two wise-men seemed to fit more with Jesus: a Buddhist monk and a wise-man from India. The first one had been a magi, and he seemed to teach Biff a bit more (like alchemy).

I found myself reading the afternoon away once Jesus and Biff moved on towards the second wise-man; I didn't want to put the book down! So it appears that Lamb just took quite awhile for me to really get into. My comments from the Read 'Em and Eat blog do hold up though: it was no non-stop laugh fest. But it was still rather funny, and I definitely recommend it to anyone who won't take it too seriously. As Christopher Moore says in the afterword, it is just a story, afterall.

Read Em and Eat 2008

I may have mentioned it before, but a lot of the books I review on here are also featured on the Thunder Bay Public Library's blog http://readem2008.blogspot.com. However, I go into a lot more detail on this blog than I do on the TBPL's. So if you're looking for more reviews on books, or just looking to see what other people are reading this summer, go and check it out!

Legions of Hell

Well, this is another book that I decided I could not go to sleep before I had finished it. So once again it was 5am when I went to sleep.

C. J. Cherryh's Legions of Hell was a very interesting read. It's not every day that you come across a novel with Julius Cesar, Cleopatra, Napoleon Bonaparte and a whole host of others running about in a shared Hell. The book was a bit slow to start off, but after I made it about a third of the way through, I found that I didn't want to put it down! Legions of Hell is mainly the story of Brutus, the man who helped assassinate Cesar - but who did not remember anything beyond his 17th year. In Hell, Brutus and Cesar are both given a rare chance to change the history between them for the better.

I am going to complain about the ending though. It didn't really wrap the story up. I'm sure that was because Baen Books or C. J. Cherryh want the reader to keep reading the series. But I was really looking forward to seeing how some things would be resolved; I was very disappointed that that resolution never came.

Bookstore Adventures

Well, I am proud of myself: I went into not one but THREE bookstores yesterday, and I didn't buy any books!!!! And believe me, it's not because there were no books that I wanted....

My friend and I first decided to go to a local used bookstore. While there, I found a book that is in the same series as the one I am currently reading (Legions of Hell by C. J. Cherryh), so it was tempting to buy that (even though I figure I am better off reading the one I have before deciding whether or not I want more). Next we went to Chapters, but nothing really caught my eye (except for a few books I've wanted for awhile). And finally we went to Coles in the mall, where I found You Suck! by Christopher Moore for only $7.99. But I managed to leave it behind! (I figure I'll go back in August and if it's still there for cheap, then I'll pick it up).

Go me!

The Snow Queen

I finished Mercedes Lackey's The Snow Queen last night at about 3:30 am. I just didn't want to put it down, I enjoyed it so much! It was a really happy read, a love story, where everything turns out alright in the end (well, it IS based off of Fairy Tales....most of which turn out alright in the end). There were some parts that were really predictable (a lot of Mercedes Lackey books are like that), but others really took me by surprise. I also really liked that this was the first Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms that featured a different Godmother than Elena (although Elena is still in the book of course). This was an excellent read...and it makes me want to reread the actual fairy tale The Snow Queen to see how much of it Lackey used!

Starcraft Ghost: Nova

Alright, so I started reading this a few days ago while on a work break. I got through the prologue, but then didn't pick the book back up for a few days. Then today I picked it up again and read the first chapter before heading out to Sleeping Giant for the day. Finally, on the way home, I started reading. And I found that I couldn't put the book down!

Nova is one of the most powerful Ghost operatives of the Terran dominion. But she was originally a child of one of the Terran Confederacy's ruling families. This book details how her psionic powers manifested themselves, and how she went from her priviledged life to embrace the anonymity of being a Ghost.

Keith DeCandido did an amazing job bringing Nova's back story to life. After reading this, I am now even more disappointed that Starcraft Ghost has been put on hold indefinitely!

The Bookstore Delimma

Well, it appears I have to stay out of bookstores! I wandered into Chapters yesterday to kill some time, and ended up wandering out with two more books! So the List is back up to 99 books!!! This is also because I have been extremely slow with my reading (and busy!) So I have decided that I am going to attempt to stay out of the bookstores until the first week of August! Wish me luck!

Michael Crichton's "Next"

Wow am I slow! I finally (just) finished Next. I found it a bit of a confusing read, as there are many characters who seem unconnected. But it was really good. Pretty much all of the characters were eventually connected in some way and the plot did come together rather well from a bunch of seemingly unrelated stories. Next also really makes you think about a lot of the issues surrounding genetics, the patening of genes, and the disconnect between the legal system and the people the legal system is supposed to serve.