Seed by Rob Ziegler

Seed. Seed. How do I talk about this book? This book is revolutionary, I think. This book is ... disorganized. While Seed wasn't written in a way that could be easily understood, it did have some ideas and settings that stayed with me, even a few weeks after I angrily, frustratedly gave up on it. Set in the ruins of Denver, in a desert world with biologically manipulated humans, it had a lot going for it, unfortunately, the writing barely gave that information to us.
I don't know what to rate this book.

3? 3.5?

Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

I think this is one of my favorite of Murakami's stories. I would compare it to 1Q84. He rules.

6/5

Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Did you know that Pinocchio kills his consciousness cricket in the first few pages of Collodi's original Pinocchio? This is a really funny story of a block-headed boy who just can't seem to learn his lesson. This book was written about 20 years after Alice in Wonderland, which I find pretty interesting. Disney really changed this story around, mostly in the way it made a few other characters more evil than they were. Most of the revisions were necessary to make a story that actually flowed with some direction, though. Great job, Disney!

Pinocchio by Winshluss

This book started my Pinocchio obsession. When you find something modern based on something else written a hundred years in the past, you've gotta know, what about the original thing inspired THIS? This drug infused, sex crazed, mechanical war boy tottering around, how is he close to the Disney Pinocchio? The original Pinocchio? I went on a quest. The art is great, the story is fresh, this graphic novel rules.

5/5

The Wikkeling by Steven Arnston

The Wikkeling is a creepy, well-written children's book by a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop named Steven Arnston. The main character is Henrietta Gad-Fly, unliked by her fellow classmates and parents, terrible in school, and quite unattractive with a "blockish figure," she makes a great heroine. The world is made of plastic and old things are regarded with disgust. There is a strange creature stalking the main characters, giving them headaches. The entire story was set up with such care that it was a pretty big disappointment when Arntson completely drops the ball and doesn't explain anything in the end. I figured the Wikkeling would be some awesome metaphor for the way people were living but it turns out it's not really anything except maybe a computer program? And it was created to fight something that never gets explained. Pretty disappointing. Anyway, I'd still recommend this book. Just don't expect it to end as well as it began.

4.5/5

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin

Kind of a pump-up for the entrepreneur. A call-to-arms if you will to gather your tribe, provide them with a place to communicate, and do your "duty." Pretty good while you're reading it, silly when you're not.

4/5

The Fairy Tales of Hermann Hesse

Reading now

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Killer Unicorns!

Need I say more?

The focus was a little too boy-obsessed for my liking. Then again, I'm not a teenager anymore. Peterfreund pulled it off well. It's too bad more attention (and by attention I mean money) wasn't paid to this book. It could have been edited a little better. Some sentences were a little less than coherent. Also, there REALLY should have been at least 4 illustrations. Those four illustrations should have been of the 4 unicorn species in the world.

Not to worry, I'm illustrating them for you.

4/5

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje is a series of poems, prose, and occasional photograph meant to depict a fictional account of Billy the Kid's life. It's fast-paced, descriptive, and beautifully written. I really liked this book.

5/5

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

The Cover
It is beautiful. It says five things.
1. 1Q84
2. Haruki Murakami
3. A Novel
4. International Best Seller
5. "Murakami is a genius." Chicago Tribune

The Pages
Heavy press cream colored paper. Beautiful inside cover of two moons, one glowing white, the other clouded and dark against a black sky. Really the design of this book is superb. The page numbers are normal on the left and backwards on the right. 1Q84 is inscribed on the side of each page near the page number, also backwards on the right side.

By page 40
We have met two characters. One has traveled down the "rabbit hole," in this case, an expressway stairwell. So far it is expertly written- each scene a performance piece, set to silent music, with invisible cues. It's his best work yet, I'm already convinced.

The Entire Book
Haruki Murakami is a master. He kept the tension equal the whole time. The final outcome didn't hit until the last ten pages. And the whole time I was biting my nails, thinking, will he end it happily? I didn't know. I am immesely pleased with this book. I will carry it in my heart always. Also, I'm going to get a new tattoo on Friday. It's going to be from Hard Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World.

This book gets 6/5

The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr

I didn't finish either of these books. They were both very intriguing. Fiction For Lyfe!

Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse by Max Brallier

An adult Choose Your Own Adventure, Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse by Max Brallier is everything you could hope for. "You" are a couple-years-out-of-college office worker in Manhattan and you're in a morning meeting when the outbreak happens. Do you take a taxi? Run for the subway? or head home to your apartment?
And thus your story begins. Reading this reminded me of all the times I read Choose Your Own Adventures stories before, as a kid. You've got your entire hand marking all the spots where you could backtrack if it was a bad decision, then you read the bad decision first, just to make sure it was a bad decision, then back track and read the right decision. That was what I would have done anyways you think.
The funny thing about Brallier's book is that the bad decisions are actually the best decisions. When I decided to start pounding beers and take a bunch of xanax, I eventually get rescued but, it seems, every time I try to intelligently avoid the zombies, I just end up getting killed. It makes me wonder what kind of decision making and morals Choose Your Own Adventure stories instilled in me as a kid.

4.75/5

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi

OH MY GOD.
THIS IS MY FAVORITE BOOK.




I rolled around like a madwoman when it ended. No, I cried, No I don't want it to be over.

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi is an experiment in imagination. It follows the famous author, Mr. Fox, through his fairy-tale love affair with his own imaginary Mary Foxe. There is no line between reality and fiction, and the disjointed stories don't often add to the understanding of the whole but they are written with such keen observance and clarity of heart that you clutch at them, and live inside them for the few pages that they exist. Oyeyemi's writing is powerful, intoxicating, and clear. It's very rare that I read a book twice- I'm always on to the next thing, but I want to read this book over and over and over again. I want to see what I missed and I want to learn it by heart. I could talk about this book all day and it still wouldn't make much sense to someone who hasn't read it. It's not exactly confusing, just a bit disjointed, but in a lovely and desired way.
This is a great book.

6/5

The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Ereaders

Working for the local Library has it's perks. First of all, I can call in sick if I'm sick. I haven't actually done this yet, but it's really, really nice to know the option is there. Also, they just bought 12 e-readers - for the employees - to make us better employees. Now, isn't that awesome. And so, I checked out the oldest of the e-readers we have- the Sony E-Reader and I read The Help on it.


















Nicole's Opionion of E-Readers

E-Readers are about the stupidest thing ever invented. First of all, the technology is already outdated. The reason I say this is that there is absolutely no reason to be carrying around a phone, an e-reader, an mp3 player, and a laptop. This means, according to me, that all modern mobile device technology is outdated, as no device conglomerates all of these things into one - yet. And when that thing does, after it evolves for a couple gens, maybe then, maaaaybe then, will I say, okay, this technology is relevant and then buy one. You know that shit's only two or three years out. So why would I spend near $200 on something which, by the way I hate, to read books on when I'll be able to read books, listen to my music, surf the web, and carry it around in one hand in a couple of years for the same price. It's just stupidity.

Now, I said I hate e-readers. This is true. The second reason they are the stupidest thing ever invented is that they're fucking stupid. They take up all this waste, metal, batteries, plastic, energy, and then they give you... guess what, a book. But not a book that you can carry around and look cool. Not a book that you can smell. Not a book that you can look at the picture of the author. Not a book that you can see the color of the cover. Not a book that you can weigh in your hands. Not a book that you can physically experience as you plow through it. No. They give you a book that is actually just a bunch of words and nothing else. And they charge you the same price for it.

Third reason: I'm a hell of a fast reader. Like fastest in the West fast. I cannot read as fast on an e-reader as I can in a book and here is why.
1. The pages, even when the print is the smallest possible, are smaller than a regular page. This means I cannot read as many words at once. It also means the lag time between pages is increased greatly.
2. There is always some lag time between pages in ANY book, as you have to turn them. BUT I believe the lag time, at least for the Sony E-Reader is significantly more than simply turning a page.
I hate reading slow. And I hate waiting for a screen to load.


Now for the book:

The Help by Katheryn Stockett has been really popular. Like 100 holds at the library popular. It finally slowed down a big but then they released the movie. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is yes, it's a pretty good book and I'm glad it was so popular. It's theme is: "White people suck" and I'm pretty tired of reading about it after Indian Killer and now The Help. It was written pretty well and the historical background was pretty good. The characters were interesting. I'm not crazy about historical fiction if it doesn't have magic in it. So I'll give it a 4.

4/5

We the Animals by Justin Torres

So, yeah, the Iowa Writer's Workshop is the place to go.

Though it is marketed and sold as "fiction" Torres' story feels more like truth than the world outside the pages. In an observant and poetic voice, it is a telling of the classic story of three sons, narrated by the youngest. It's a book about brotherhood, coming of age, and the inevitable realization that our parents are people too. Lit by love and shadowed by pain, it is the true story of the human condition.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs is a strange story about a young boy dealing with his grandfather's death. His grandfather, while he was alive, was an extreme embellisher of stories, touting claims of monsters and magical children. Jacob, our hero, stopped believing his stories at a young age, that is, until his grandfather appeared to be killed by those very same monsters. Convinced he is crazy, Jacob travels into his grandfather's past and discovers that the world is not as stable as it appears to be.
My very favorite part in the book is this:
"Only birds can manipulate time, Therefore, all time manipulators must be able to take the form of a bird...Most, however, slip back and forth only occasionally, by accident. We who can manipulate time fields consciously- and not only for ourselves, but for others- are known as ymbrynes. We create temporal loops in which peculiar folk can live indefinitely."
Also, it stayed in the "real world" for a little over 100 boring pages, which made the fantasy exciting and fresh-feeling.

4.5/5

The Gunslinger by Steven King

Kelsey, my only, lonely reader will be happy to know that I am NOW READING THIS BOOK.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Well I'll be darned at the number of books I read and don't review. I read this, oh, two months ago, at the end of summer, perhaps in late August? Revati down at Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins handed me the book and said I would like it. I read the first few pages, wasn't ready for a teen book, then picked it up a couple of weeks later. Anyway, it follows a talented teenage art student who has a chimera (mixture of beasts/human) for a dad. It starts in the present, travels back to an almost entirely new (yet very connected) story, and then ends in the now-enlightened present. After meeting Laini Taylor at the Boulder Bookstore last night, I am more enthused about her work. She has written other things, like a book about a weaver of magic carpets, and uh, yeah I'm gonna read it. It's a great teen book, good characters, good plot though a little disorganized (I couldn't offer a better way to present the story) and finishing up with a horrible ending that could only be solved by, you guessed it, sequels.

4/5

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the third and final (and best) of the Hunger Games Trilogy. In it, Katniss assists in the revolution that she accidentally sparked and successfully achieves the desires of the rebel group. Always acting as a pawn takes it's toll though, and Katniss is left mostly empty, a shell of a person. Somehow, though, Collins makes a stab at a semi-happy epiloge. Many readers (aka amazon reviews) felt "betrayed" by Collins' ending but I thought she wrapped it up nicely and at least gave us something to hold on to. Great trilogy.


5/5

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

It's only a trilogy. I'm going to read it in 4 days and it's only a trilogy. What will I do afterwards? Probably what Stephanie Meyer did:
"I was so obsessed with this book I had to take it with me out to dinner and hide it under the edge of the table so I wouldn't have to stop reading. The story kept me up for several nights in a row, because even after I was finished, I just lay in bed wide awake thinking about it."
Yes, I've lost sleep over these books. Not just from incessant reading, but in nightmares and nagging thoughts. And there are only three of them. And now I'm on the third one. Not fair, not fair at all.

Let me get to my review, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, like it's predecessor The Hunger Games, reads like a movie. It's an action-packed page-turner. You read until your thoughts are Katniss Everdeen's thoughts, until you're thinking right along with her. She's very smart and Collins does a great job to keep the reader just as informed as she keeps Katniss- so the reader makes the same decisions and feels comfortable inside Katniss's head because she's reliable. She'll carry you through. She may not know everything but she does wonders with the knowledge she does have.
My complaint:
The Hunger Games should have been the last of The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games are a to-the-death contest and I was hoping Catching Fire would be all about Panem, the world, but of course it returned to the arena. Now, there's no POSSIBLE way that Mocking Jay (the third in the now-trilogy) can take place in the arena. Now we will get to the heart of the story, the distopian world, and the girl who will save her people from The Capitol.

4.75/5

Indian Killer by Sherman Badass Alexie

Sherman Alexie rules.
Indian Killer is not just a cool story. It's not even a cool story about Indians. It's a complete analysis and critique about the historical and current tension between white Americans and the Native Americans that they stole everything from WHILE telling a great story. The plot takes place in Seattle, not on a reservation. It deals with the Indians that have tried to assimilate into the white culture but of course, they carry their dark skin, their Indian blood, and for that, they're spurned, falsely adored, unjustly hated, and ignored. My favorite part is when Marie Poltkin says something along the lines that maybe the ghost dance, the dance to kill all the white people, maybe it works, and maybe a couple of Indians are ghost dancing, making the Indian Killer - who is an Indian who kills, not someone who kills Indians. Anyway, it was a great length. The only thing I wished would have happened, and it would have been so apparent and crafted if it had, would be that the two most violent characters, Aaron (white) and Reggie (indian) have met. Of course, they would have killed each other and maybe we wouldn't have learned anything but it felt like the tension should have led to their meeting. It didn't and that's okay.
I think it's his best because he blended an extreme sociological/cultural situation and made a hell of a book about it.

5/5

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Well, no wonder that they're making this into a movie. You open the thing up and it's like it's projected right in front of our eyes. You can't put it down or close it or stop reading it because that would be like pausing the most action packed part of a dramatic movie.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins has been getting a lot of attention lately, and for good reason. It's been rated next to 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 as one of the best dystopian novels. I'm not sure if it's that good, but I did enjoy it immensely. My non-perfect rating represents the fact that it dealt with such a short period of time and didn't really delve into more than the action. Katniss is an amazing heroine though, and just the sort of girl that girls of today need to be emulating. Sure she's got boy problems but only because she never noticed boys before. She's a survivor and she's got so much compassion in her own reserved way. It's a good book. I'll be exited to finish the series.

4.5/5

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Plainsong by Kent Haruf is a lot like a Mcarthy's The Road if it were written in full sunshine. The story is made of darkness but lit with a silver lining of hope and neighborly kindness. I really enjoyed the entire thing, each character, each viewpoint and the things that happened. I loved the scenery, which was in Holt, Colorado - not too far from my own home. I guess the reason why I didn't give it a full 5 is because it dealt with a year in time but it did not emphasize the effect of the Colorado seasons strongly enough. The winter is COLD and I really didn't get that feeling. Maybe I'm being to hard on him but there could have been more seasons and more colors. Otherwise, perfect book. I can't wait to meet him. :)


4.75/5


Here is a picture of me reading this book.

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

Funny, smart, quick, and somehow realistic, The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson is a great book. It follows the Fang family, the parents, Camille and Caleb, obsessed with including their children in their post modern art - namely, creating public chaos. The children become actors, props, anything but normally loved children. I read an interview by Wilson in the Book Pages that talked about his use of dark humor and shifting of light and darkness. It was a very good interview and it persuaded me to read the book, which if you couldn't tell, was a very good book. It's a little reminiscent of Geek Love but the kids are just mentally demented, not physically.

5/5

Under the Harrow by Mark Dunn

I probably won't finish this book even though it's an English Major's wet dream.
A society trapped from the outside world, stuck in the world of Charles Dickens, with only his compendium, a 19th century encyclopedia, and a bible to guide them.

Damn is it boring.

But so intriguing.

If only it weren't so boring......


I may give it the old college try one last time.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

This is my pile of books-to-read. But guess what. I didn't want to read any of them. So I biked down to my local library and picked up one of the last few Gaiman's I haven't read and boy, was that a good idea.



Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
5/5
Characters always ended up where they needed to be, perfect blend of modern and ancient myth, reality and fantasy, struggle and humor.

Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster

Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster is the third Paul Auster book I have read. The strange thing about Auster's work is that I wouldn't recognize it. Each novel is a world of it's own with characters unlike the others. That's talent.

Anyway, Mr. Vertigo was wonderful, it truly was. It was about a snot-nosed blabber mouth kid in St. Louis in the 1920s who meets a mysterious man. This mysterious man adopts him and actually teaches him to first levitate, and later fly. It was simply a joy to read.

So why did I give it 3/5? Because the kid stopped flying after the first part of the book- about 1/3 of the way through. And the story basically fell apart. And then it got worse. Like way worse. Like if the book had started that way I would have thrown it away. I think it was based on Auster's desire to tell the whole life story of the kid, all the way until his death but that was a mistake.

3/5

Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin

Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin

5/5

<3

The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer

This Book is incredible.

Dexter Palmer's Dream of Perpetual Motion captures the disillusion of living among machines. In about 350 pages that feel like a complete and fantastic lifetime, Palmer gives us an alternate history of the early 20th century, where gears and levers work with electricity to create a familiar-yet-different world- where computer technology doesn't exist, only the intricate clock-maker's wheels and cranks to drive mechanical men and automated aspects of every-day life. It is a classic, yet realistic hero's journey, following the struggles of would-be hero Harold Winslow (the name is intensely perfect) and the inventor-genius villain Prospero Talgient.
I haven't read The Tempest but Prospero is the mad Magician, Miranda is his daughter, and Caliban is enslaved by Prospero. They are stranded, not on an island, but in a giant tower. Ah Ferdinand also plays a part! (Thank you Wikipedia)
Apart from that the story is genius, the world is realistic, the writing is awesome, and the characters are believable. Perhaps Palmer is gifted with a story-teller's mind but I'm sure his doctorate in literature helped him quite a bit as well. Thank god for education. Thank god for Dexter Palmer. I can't wait for his next work to hit the shelves.

Here is a picture of me reading this book.


5/5!

The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Passage by Justin Cronin has received a lot of hype and for very good reason. Before it was release a movie deal was already in the works. Also, it is said to be the first in a trilogy which makes my blood boil with excitement. (Read Summer of 2010)

The Passage tells the story of biological-warfare gone wrong, genetically mutated zombie/vampires, and the effect they have on the world over a couple hundred year span. It's been a while since I read it but it was insanely good and I devoured it's near 800 pages in a fervor. Here is a picture of me reading the book.

5/5

The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold by Kate Bernheimer

Kate Bernheimer is my brain with different experiences. She embodies the frail, starving white girl lost in her insecurities/intellect. It is genius on paper, poetic, moving, fantastic, imaginative, and wonderful.

Here is a picture of me reading this amazing work.


8/5

Horse, Flower, Bird by Kate Bernheimer

5/5

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Magical world inside magical world inside the real world. Lev Grossman's The Magicians tells the story of a young intelligent boy and his curious education. I enjoyed the fact that in this magical universe there is no good vs. evil, only the personal battle for finding happiness and overcoming boredom. Good and evil exist in a complex interweaving, as they do in the real world- not as a singularly good thing vs. a singularly bad thing. This was a SUPER story and written very well. Lev Grossman has his masters in Comparative Literature and though I've never heard of this particular degree, it must be a good one. I look forward to reading his other novel Codex.


5/5

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow may best be described by it's genre. It is written in the style of modern female literature, almost in the same tone as a biography, with light overtones of science fiction and a heavy religious overtone. If I owned a bookstore I would be tempted, if not forced to place this book in Religion over Fiction. That is how heavy the religious overtones are. Its not a preachy book, more of a deep look about the legitimacy of God.
The story itself was great -when she got around to telling it. I won't be reading the sequel.

3.5/5

Paul Auster Invisible

Paul Auster is a literary bad ass. I wasn't sure what to expect with Invisible after digesting New York Trilogy (5/5). It wasn't as good as NYT but then again, I wasn't disappointed. Invisible follows the story of a young man in 1967. It was never very clear to me why the book was called Invisible- maybe the young man, who dies telling his story, feels as though his life has been invisible. I have a strange attraction to the title because it causes me to think of the word "indivisible" which is very different indeed. I like comparing the two words with the actions and demeanor of the character because he was both. It was a story of intense dedication to a set of morals, while really going off track of the morals of society. Basically, I think Auster could wipe his boots on a piece of paper and it would be worth reading, he's just that good.
It's not the first Auster I'd recommend, as it has some old-man musings that most white male authors get when they start to get old. But I would never turn someone away from it.

4/5

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is the 800+ page, historical fiction, 1st novel from Susanna Clarke. The plot, though as twisted as a King's Road, fulfilled every complex question and desire the reader could have while creating the vivid worlds (both Fairy and Christian) of the early 19th century. Clarke incorporates real events, such as the war against the French, with her fantasy world of practical magicians so beautifully, it's almost hard to tell exactly where the history stops and the fantasy begins. It's dark without dwelling on the darkness, and light without being silly. Perhaps my favorite thing about this novel was the language. She stays true to the almost-stuffy banter of 19th century gentlemen and ladies while occasionally changing the spelling of certain words. Whether it is the old way or her own way of spelling, I cannot say, but it is fun to read a word like "connexions" on the page of a modern book. The characters are all complex, the story moves along like a river, never stopping or slowing, and the magic is restrained for the sake of realism. I loved this book. I'm not sure if there is anything that could have made it better. I will probably read it again, even with the near 1000 page commitment.

Here is a picture of this book on my head.

5/5

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Well, things haven't really been going my way lately, and you know what that means for my reading life... FAN-TA-SY TIME!

I picked up The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly based on its cover and boy did it deliver. The story follows a coming-of-age boy through his mother's death and father's remarriage and into fairy land. Fairy land is the story world where all the humans who enter bring their own monsters and heroes. It's a simple hero's journey across a dangerous landscape. The scenes are vivid, the villains frightening, and the story exciting. While the whole story wasn't exactly groundbreaking or terribly, fresh, Connolly did put a nice old fairy tale spin on a more modern story and it did exactly what it was supposed to do - take me out of this world.

4.75/5