Top Ten...uh Wednesday... New to Me Authors in 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish Blog.  Sadly Tuesday has passed me by with nary a list being created but I say better late than never!  This was a particularly interesting topic to me: Top ten authors read in 2013 that I hadn't read before. 

1) Ian McEwen

I just finished Atonement and really loved it.  He was an author I had really wanted to read for a while and I'm glad I finally did.  I found his writing pretty spectacular on all levels from word choice to weaving an engrossing plot that makes you think. 

2) Kate Atkinson

Kate Atkinson is one of those writers that floats seemingly effortlessly between genres, at least that's what I've heard.  Instead of picking up her ultra buzz producing new literary novel Life After Life, I picked up the first in her mystery series featuring Jackson Brodie called Case Histories.  It blew me away and provided everything I want from a mystery novel and then some. 

3) Joe Abercrombie

A gritty fantasy writer ala George R.R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie swept me up in his The First Law series.  I read the whole darn thing this year and LOVED all the complex characters, political intrigue, topsy turvy conventions and moral ambiguities.  Terrific storytelling!

4) M.K. Hobson

I really loved the first two installments in M.K. Hobson's debut series: The Native Star and The Hidden Goddess.  It's fantasy set in alt-history, wild west, steam punky awesomeness.  It's got a really creative and unique magic system and most importantly characters that are fun to spend time with.  AND it's got really well done romance. 

5) Daniel O'Malley

I really enjoyed his romp of a book The Rook which takes you into a magical British spy agency.  It's loaded with humor and an interesting alternative world.  Can't wait to see what else he'll write!

6) Anthony Horowitz

He wrote a brilliant Sherlock Holmes installment called The House of Silk which was really enjoyable.  And the rest of his catalog looks like a real treat.  I am already a fan of his mystery series Foyles War on the BBC and after tasting his writing, I'm sure the books are even better.

It was a year for me to explore young adult literature and below were my author highlights.

7) Rachel Hartman 

Her debut novel Seraphina blew me away.  My biggest challenge with young adult literature is connecting with the characters and  this was not even close to a problem with this book.  I found the characters and relationships believable, the world created fascinating and richly imagined and the story gripping.  This book will probably be on my top ten for the year and I can't wait for the next installment in the series.

8) Alyxandra Harvey

Not nearly as sophisticated as the above but I had so much fun devouring her Drake Chronicles. It was like Twilight but with a sense of humor and characters that don't suck. 

9) Leigh Bardugo

I read the first in the Grisha series, Shadow and Bone and was really swept away by it.   My only complaint is that I got confused and initially read Daughter of Smoke and Bone which I did NOT like and I was wondering what all the fuss was about.  But I can hardly blame my addlepated brain on Leigh Bardugo:).

10) Gail Carson Levine

I finally read Ella Enchanted and was seriously enchanted.  Great book for middle grade girls - has all the story elements they (and I) love and a great overall message to boot. 

11) Karen Thompson Walker

Yes I'm cheating and including 11 but I just had to include Karen Thompson Walker for her melancholy and fascinating coming of age sci-fi novel The Age of Miracles.  One of the best I've read this year.

I'll shut up now.  What about you?  Do you have any new to you authors that you need to crow about?

REVIEW: Atonement by Ian McEwen

Atonement by Ian McEwan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Format: Hard Copy
Narrated By: NA
Original Publication Year: 2001
Genre(s): Literary Fiction
Series: NA
Awards: A few including the National Book Critics Circle and the L.A. Times Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Man Booker

I’ve wanted to read a book by Ian McEwen for many years because he seems to be a literary writer that is almost universally admired and enjoyed. But I approach literary fiction with some level of caution. Sometimes I feel like it is incredibly readable and it just blows me away but sometimes I feel a bit like Gavin of The Readers podcast that it's 300 odd pages spelling out a story about a guy walking to the shop. It’s just a sketchy label for a book - what does it even mean? So I wasn’t sure what I was going to get with Atonement but I was hopeful and my hope was fulfilled many times over. This was a spectacular read.

The book revolves around a crime committed on an English estate in 1934. The crime is compounded and made all the more tragic because of the faulty testimony of a 13 year old girl Briony Tallis. The repercussions of these events ripple out through the years and into World War II and beyond.

There is so much to talk about with this book. First, I have to say that while I never found myself yearning to get back to it, once I did pick it up I had a hard time stopping. I found it completely absorbing and mesmerizing and could have read it in one sitting if I’d had the time to devote. There is an almost constant sense of suspense and tension.

Second, there is both so much and so little going on in this book. The first third to half covers just about one day in the life of the Tallis family. The reader floats among the different characters; Cecilia, Briony, Robbie, Emily; getting different perspectives on the events and most interestingly on each of the characters. It is all building up to something, the foreboding clear in the writing, and when it crashes it is utterly devastating. Then we’re in World War II and Robbie is crossing France to get to Dunkirk. Briony has grown up and realizing the damage she has wrought, she is attempting to atone by not taking the privileges given to her and instead signing up as a nurse. The last half of the book is spent in Robbie and then Briony’s head and the grand events unfolding are seen through their eyes. In the end McEwen provides a wallop that will break your heart and leave you wondering.

Finally there are all the questions. I felt like McEwen captured perfectly the attitude and brain space of a 13 year old girl. Still a child with little experience and mostly a child’s perceptions but utterly convinced that she has an adult’s judgment. I wanted to throttle her as she completely misread almost every situation with an incredibly tragic result. But she is a child and what is the culpability of the adults surrounding her? Why are they so easily able to turn against a childhood friend, someone they know well and who is practically family? How can they believe such things of him? And for that matter why is life so very unfair? I found it impossible not to feel compassion for Briony and felt she was just as much a victim as the others. I think it is a book that would be very interesting to discuss with others.

It probably goes without saying, considering McEwen’s stature as a writer, but the writing at the sentence and word level is also breathtaking. The structure of the book is unique - it is not a straight through narrative and it's not even what the reader thinks it is. The book's full payoff and meaning comes in the last few pages.

Final Verdict: I believe I will likely be joining the ranks of readers who think Ian McEwen can do little wrong. Atonement was incredibly readable and while a lot of time is spent in people’s heads thinking their thoughts, it was never boring or too noodly. It provided hours of mesmerized reading and lots of thoughtful contemplation. 4.5 stars out of 5.

I also very much liked the movie of the book and enjoyed picturing James McAvoy as Robbie.  Any other McEwen fans out there?  What do you think is his best book?

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REVIEW: The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook

The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Format: On Kindle
Narrated By: NA
Original Publication Year: 2010
Genre(s): Romance, Steam-punk Fantasy
Series: Iron Seas #1
Awards: Nothing major but a number of reader’s choice awards

Steam Punk, Pirates and the British Navy! With these three things going for it, I was very excited to read this book. I LOVE me some big old sailing vessels, be they legal or otherwise and I was imagining a steam punk Jack Aubrey with some romance thrown in. Expectations were therefore very high, so it’s important to say, right off the bat, that if this resembles your imagining in any way, you may be disappointed in the lack of shippy goodness. There are other things to like however.

The first thing to note is that this is very definitely first and foremost a romance novel. It comes along however with a pretty intricate plot and some heavy world building which I liked very much. In this way it reminded me a bit if the Soulless series by Gail Carriger though less competently done perhaps, because in The Iron Duke my feeble brain did have some trouble keeping up with things. I’m not entirely positive if my slowness was due to reading comprehension issues or if the plot/world-building was a little too complicated and/or under-explained. Regardless here is what I think I know.

We begin in a steam-punk Britain (indeterminate 18th century, with some steam powered mechanical gew gaws and airships). It is an England and Europe that has somewhat recently (within 5-10 years) been liberated from an enemy known as The Horde who seem to be middle-eastern in origin. The horde is technologically advanced and kept its empire under control by infecting the population with nano-agents which makes them uber-healthy and strong but also enslaves, because The Horde can send out a signal to direct the nano-agents and therefore those that are infected with them. Liberation was mostly achieved through the actions of one man, Rhys Trahaearn and his ship Marco’s Terror and because of his actions; he has reached legendary status and is known as the Iron Duke. In this post-liberation world, there is conflict between the people who stayed in England and were infected with the nano-agents, called Buggers, and the people who fled England for America and who do not have the nano-agents, called Bounders. You following me so far?

The heroine for the story is Mina Wentworth, a member of the nobility (I think her father’s an Earl) whose family stayed in England during the occupation and are therefore Buggers. She also happens to be a detective chief inspector with the police and the product of a Horde union. What this means, I think, is that during a frenzy (an orgy orchestrated by The Horde), her mother was raped by a member of The Horde and apparently this fact is very obvious just by looking at Mina though I can’t for the life of me remember if it was ever spelled out what about her and others like her makes it obvious that they are the product of such a union. This makes her an object of hatred and disgust by most of the British populace, however it does not prevent Mina from being loved by her family and being very good at her job. All right, we’re almost there.

Hero and heroine collide when a body appears as if out of nowhere on The Iron Duke’s well guarded estate. Mina is sent to investigate. Sparks fly and a convoluted plot is set in motion which involves flying all about Europe on an airship, running away from zombies, and battling a kracken and a ship of the line. There’s also some family drama in there. Phew!

Taken as a whole, I was swept up in the adventure of the novel and it was a moderately addictive page turner. Probably my favorite bit, however was the first third which takes place in England. I very much liked Mina as the tough and smart detective inspector who is awkward at tea parties and balls. When she gives in to The Iron Duke’s blackmail and sets off with him I actually started to like her less especially because he was pretty significantly uninteresting to me. Rhys is the stereotypical “Alpha Male” found rampant throughout the romance genre and I found very little depth to him otherwise.

Basically what I am saying is I thought this book had real promise as a steam-punk adventure and crime/mystery novel but unfortunately all that part of the plot was muddled and rushed because of the focus on a lackluster romance. This book would have worked much better for me as a steam-punk mystery with a side of romance, instead of a steam-punk romance with a mystery. The steam punk world being presented was intricate and interesting but I felt like it wasn’t allowed to be presented fully and clearly, because the romance needed to be the focus.

Final Verdict: For most people who are looking for a romance, this book will likely provide you hours of fun reading. Even if you are hoping for something more, you will likely still enjoy it. Despite my disappointment, I will likely seek out books two and three to learn more about the world.


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Top Ten Tuesday - Winter To Be Read List

 

 Tuesday already?!  Where does the time fly?  This week's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is the top ten books on my winter TBR.  As I've mentioned before I'm not much of a planner with my reading so these projecting into the future lists are not easy but they are a good exercise.  So here goes:

1) The Stand by Stephen King

This book has been plaguing (look I made a pun:) me for over a year now.  I got to page nine hundred and something earlier this year before losing steam.  I WILL finish it this winter, dang it! Only 400 pages to go!

 2) A Barbara Pym book

I haven't settled on which one yet. Perhaps No Fond Return of Love, or Some Tame Gazelle.  I ended last year curled up on the couch with her lovely, quiet and funny Excellent Women and it sounds like a good way to end this year as well.

3) Sabriel by Garth Nix

 I hear a new addition to this series is due out next year and it's high time I get started with book one.  I've read some short stories by Nix as well as his middle-grade series The Keys to the Kingdom and I love his writing style and creativity.

4) The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of Elements by Sam Kean

My inner (and let's be honest outer) science nerd has had this book on my TBR for a good while and it's sitting on my Kindle taunting me.  It will make a nice non-fiction winter read.

5) The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

This was the big read of last winter that I think would make a good winter read this year.  Possible fake children appearing out of the Alaska wilderness sounds awesome.

6) Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (Grisha #2)

I love the first book in this young adult series about an imaginative and magical Eastern Europe-like world.  2013 was a year of exploring young adult fiction and this was one of the books that I loved pretty unequivocally.

7) Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal (Glamourist Histories #2)

Winter encourages hibernation and curling up with comfort reads.  I didn't love the first book in this series about Regency era magicians but it was good fun.

8 and 9) The Pursuit of Love and Love in Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

These look lovely and British and funny and bonkers.  Sign me up! Also on my 100 Books Reading Challenge.

10) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

From everything I've heard and read this looks like a profoundly satisfying and engrossing book that I can get sucked into during the more chaotic bits of the winter. 

I think that's it for me!  What are you hoping to read this winter?

REVIEW: Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz

Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know by Alexandra Horowitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Format: Audio from Library
Narrated By: Karen White
Original Publication Year: 2009
Genre(s): Non-Fiction
Series: NA
Awards: NA

Musing about what is going on in a dog’s brain is pretty much a daily occurrence for me. I share my space with two of the hairy beasties and I’m always looking for that key piece of knowledge that will unlock the why of them and therefore enable me and the pups to live in perfect harmony. Don’t get me wrong, my dogs and I get on smashingly, but there are those moments of aggravation when they do something crazy at the worst moment and guilt that I am not providing them what they truly need to be as happy as they deserve. So I love books like Inside of a Dog which purport to tell me exactly what is going on in those floppy-eared heads of theirs.

My response to the book is a little ho-hum but it is not the author's or the book's fault really. The problem is that earlier this year I read The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter than You Thinkand the two books cover A LOT of the same ground. Therefore, I encountered very little new material in Inside of a Dog and was getting frustrated that I wasn't learning anything new. However, though I read Genius of Dogs first it was actually published four years after this book so it’s not really fair to judge this book as lesser based on “no new information” when it actually covered the ground first. Upon further thought and examination, while the books are similar, they do complement each other. My recommendation would be to read both but not in a short time frame and I would read Inside of a Dog first.

So, I don’t want to reveal all the secrets of a dog’s psyche that are revealed in the book but suffice it to say that dogs see the world quite differently than we do. Horowitz spends a lot of time examining the five senses and how a dog uses those senses vs. how people use them. None of it was terribly earth shattering but each was covered in sufficient and organized detail. The chapters dealing with dog cognition were most overlappy with The Genius of Dogs and it does not cover that topic as well as that book. However it covers the information on the senses in much greater detail which is why I think the books are complementary.

Horowitz’s writing style is pretty engaging and easy to get into. She gets downright poetical and florid when describing little vignette’s of her and her dog Pumpernickel. And of course the inevitable description of that dog’s death had me in floods of tears. It comes out in the writing that Horowitz is obviously a kindred spirit to those of us who are fascinated by and feel blessed to share our lives with the amazing balls of fur called dogs.

In the end, I don’t feel like I learned much that will change my relationship with my dogs but I read a lot of books like this. I was never bored and enjoyed spending time with Horowitz and Pumpernickel.

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I know you're wondering. Why, yes I do crimp Jasper's ears every morning. He's a very 80's sort of dog and I want to keep him happy:)

 

Top Ten Tuesday - 2014 Releases

This week's Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish is about the most anticipated releases of 2014.  This is kind of a challenge for me because I am a dunce and clueless and don't really pay attention to releases.  I think it's somewhat related to the way I read which is mostly by whim.  I don't really plan or anticipate and I don't read a ton of new releases.  I do love series of books which I get sucked into and can get obsessed with the next one in line but I usually wait until a series is complete before I start it with the occasional exception.  

This translates into that there aren't any big upcoming releases that I am really coveting.  But I'll see what I can come up with below.

 

The Dead and Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley: I do like the Flavia DeLuce series ( though the books do occasionally irritate me) and it looks like a a new one in the series will be release in January.

William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher:  I remember hearing about the first one which was a retelling of Star Wars in Shakespeare's style and being intrigued.  I love me some Shakespeare and some space opera so I'd like to check these out some time.

Deception's Princess by Esther Friesner:  This just caught my eye and looks interest - strong female heroine, Ireland and some romance - sign me up!  I have never read anything by this author but it says she is award winning so that bodes well for this books quality. Released in April.

 

Blood and Beauty by Sarah Dunant:  I'm a bog fan of Sarah Dunant's historical fiction and this is a book about the Borgias!  Though I just noticed that even though this came up in my future releases list it was actually published this past July.  No matter - I'm keeping it on here because it looks awesome.  Looks like it will be release in paperback in March 2014.

Deranged Marriage: A Memoir by Sushi Das: This appears to be a memoir about growing up Indian in 1970's London.  Looks like it might be one of those memoirs that makes you laugh and feel appalled all at the same time.  Released in April.

Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories:  This makes my little Doctor Who fangirl heart speed up a bit.  Fun!  Released in February.

The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley:  I've not heard anything about this book or this author but it hints that she combine Gothic mystery, history and romance.  Sounds like a quick fun read.  I think just a new format of the book will be released in January.

I think I'll stop there or I'll be up all night perusing books!  Kind of haphazard list but it was fun exploring.  I'll look forward to seeing what other people are anticipating!
 

REVIEW: Magic Casement by Dave Duncan

Magic Casement by Dave Duncan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Format: Audio from Audible
Narrated By: Mil Nicholson
Original Publication Year: 1990
Genre(s): Fantasy
Series: A Man of His Word #1
Awards: NA

I know people get tired of the same old archetypes trotted out in book after book but I have a confession; I kind of love archetypal stories. As long as they are done well - details of the book unique and characters with depth and complexity - there is really no story I prefer cozying up with. They are comforting and inspiring and there is, after all, a reason they pop up over and over in literature. One of my favorites is the underdog made powerful, the ordinary Joe or Jane discovering that there is something special within them and becoming the hero/heroine. Magic Casement by Dave Duncan is this type of story.

The world of Magic Casement is a feudal Empire vaguely reminiscent of renaissance (or perhaps earlier) Europe. The heart of the action takes place in a small but strategically key Kingdom in the far, frozen north called Krasnegar (apologies for any misspellings as this was an audio I’m not sure how certain names were spelled). This kingdom is ruled by a kindly, widowed king whose only heir, a somewhat obnoxious, free-spirited and tomboyish girl, is named Inosolan. One of her best friends is an orphaned stable boy named Rap and they both teeter on the edge between childhood and adulthood (around 14-15 years old). Almost as soon as Inosolan is sent south with her Aunt to the more metropolitan city of Kinvale to learn how to be a more proper princess and perhaps pick a husband, things start going wrong in Krasnegar. The King’s health is failing and with the urging of an enigmatic stranger, Rap decides he must face the journey across the harsh winter countryside to warn Inosolan of her Father’s illness. Thus the adventure begins.

A classic story but Magic Casement has a lot of elements that keep it fresh. The setting of the book, in a near arctic environment adds some unique peril and hardship. The different races and cultures are also fascinating. There are Goblins, Imps, Jotnars, Fauns, Elves, and Gnomes though none are exactly as we think of them. They seem human except for a few familiar sounding characteristics. For example, Goblins have a slightly greenish tint to their skin and Fauns have particularly hairy legs – it is as if they represent the myth-source for the creatures we’re familiar with. The Goblins which have a Native American type existence (superficially), living in the arctic wastes is particularly interesting. One of the Goblin characters, Little Chicken, makes the most unusual sidekick for the hero Rap.

The magic system is also very interesting and the details of it are unraveled throughout the story as Rap learns about his power. It revolves around the passing down of words of power which enhance a person’s natural abilities.The more words you know the more things you can do  - the more magical you become.

Rap is the traditional humble boy with a great destiny and happily he fills this role engagingly. In fact most of the characters are pretty great – I particularly liked Insolan’s Aunt Kade. Insolan herself was a little irritating but not too bad. 

This book features only the beginning of Rap and Inosolan’s journey and ends on a cliffhanger. It’s a good start, embracing all the elements that make this type of traditional story enjoyable while also including enough unique stuff to keep it interesting. I’ll definitely be continuing with the series and I am glad I came across this older book in a sale on Audible.

Final Note: The reader is an older English woman which put me off somewhat as much of the story follows Rap - a 14 year old boy. She didn’t match the youthfulness of much of the cast. However, I did get used to it and in a way, given the fable like feel of the story, her choice as narrator made sense.


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