2012 Challenges, Books, Quotes, The Classics Club

Book 105: Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Well I survived the slog. At points I honestly didn’t think I would get through the novel and really should have waited having just finished the five books of Martin’s epic saga, but I did and I didn’t. It took me nearly three weeks to read the novel (which, yes I know, isn’t a lot of time for some people – but it was never-ending for me), and they were three very long weeks.

Counting for the Back to the Classics Reading Challenge, the Tea and Books Reading Challenge and The Classics Club, I am definitely glad I read the novel (aside from the story of course) because it puts me that much closer to my yearly goals! Technically I’ve finished the Tea and Books reading challenge (my original goal was Earl Grey Aficionado, or six books) but I upgraded last month to the Sencha Connoisseur level which is eight books.

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ARC, Books

Book 99: The Land of Decoration – Grace McCleen

Yesterday I wrote about reading my first Advance Reader’s Copy of a novel and promised the review and here it is. As mentioned yesterday, this is an advance copy provided by the publisher and I did not receive compensation to review this novel. The views and opinions in this post are my own.

It’s hard to know where to begin, thus yesterday’s post, but I’ll just delve right in. As with most of the novels I read I’ve only selected a few things to focus on for this post.

Overall, I thought the novel was interesting and well written. Judith, raised by her religious father, is a 10-year old living in England and is facing what she believes (and her religion often believes at various intervals) is the end times. Told from Judith’s point of view the story did have some issues occasionally, but this worked well for most of the novel. Her language, and even her emotional reactions/descriptions, often times switched into what I felt was an older child. Although described as quick and advanced for her age and not having habits like most children, I can see why Judith’s voice would come across older, but sometimes it was just too much of a stretch (and not like she was mimicking adults, but almost like her voice was lost in the writer’s voice).

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2012 Challenges, Books

Book 98: A Dance with Dragons – George R. R. Martin

Well I finally got bored with the series, but I’m glad I read them (and will finish the series as they are released). The action within the novel was fascinating and the stories only added to the complexity of the overall world, but I wasn’t wowed or taken by surprise this time and that’s how it has been for the past three novels (last two more so).

The boredom wasn’t from the book being any less interesting or its length, but more the fact that I’m no really surprised. The first two novels had entire sections which left me breathless and the last three have had moments where I approached breathlessness only to be left wanting, such as what happens to Lord Snow, the discovery of what happened to the Maid of Tarth, and Daenerys’ dragon escapade. But even these incidents came across as trite, or even repetitive, in comparison to the shocking and sometimes disheartening actions of A Game of Thrones.

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Books

Book 93: The Son of Neptune (The Heroes of Olympus #2) – Rick Riordan

In book two of The Heroes of Olympus cycle, Riordan comes through on the perceived promise of keeping things as exciting as in The Percy Jackson and the Olympians cycle. I’ve already discussed my lack of enthusiasm over the Kane Chronicles so I’ll move right in to this review/summary/pontification.

This novel takes place immediately after the events of The Lost Hero. However, rather than continuing with Leo, Piper and Jason we finally get to catch up with Percy Jackson. Not only do we not find out what happened over the past eight months, he was apparently sleeping, but he also appears with very little recollection of who he is and what he’s done in the recent past. (However, he knows more than Jason – I guess because his story was already written.) Instead of waking up in Camp Half-Blood, he is on the run from various monsters and steadily making his way to Camp Jupiter – a Roman demigod camp located somewhere in California – where all Greeks face a cold welcome.

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Books

Book 90: The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1) – Rick Riordan

With The Lost Hero Riordan sucked me into a new series. It definitely helped that this was a continuation of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. It also helped that the Greek pantheon has a stronger sway on mythology and fables that I learned growing up than the Egyptian pantheon which appeared in The Kane Chronicles. I had no intentions of reading this book any time soon, but it came in at the library and I had to read it or send it back. Thankfully I enjoyed it and it was a quick read (550ish pages in two days).

The Lost Hero follows the story of Jason, Piper and Leo from the journey of normal teenagers to demigods. However, not all is as it seems. Although I discovered the ‘secret’ not very far into the book and assumed the last chapter’s revelation earlier than I probably should have, but I assume that comes from the novel being written for a younger audience. Aside from this, I quite enjoyed this series. And how could you not enjoy a series that’s back-to-back action and packed full of Greco-Roman mythology brought into the 21st century?

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