Two Book Tuesday

A book that I am reading... "The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide To A Long and Happy Life" by Noble Smith.

I've just finished chapter one, "How Snug Is Your Hobbit-hole?" and the main idea that came out of this chapter is the sense of home that a person can have, not necessarily in a place, but in an idea or memory of that perfect, safe environment that they consider home.

A book that I want to read in the future... "The Captain's Table: Fire Ship" by Diane Carey.

This is one of my all-time favorite science-fiction novels. Interestingly, it is published fanfiction (more on this at a later date) about the television show Star Trek: Voyager.  It is my favorite out of all the different Star Trek series and movies.

Originally, I read this book as a young teenager of perhaps twelve or thirteen years of age and it remains to this day the only title that I have ever had to skip to the end just so that I could be reassured of a happy ending. Fire Ship follows Captain Kathryn Janeway as she recovers from severe injuries and learns to cope with the knowledge that her ship, and friends, have been destroyed.  That she failed to bring the home, as she'd so-often promised to do.  Alone in the Delta Quadrant, aboard an alien ship, and with no other options available to her, Janeway does what she does best... She survives, takes life by the horns and comes out the other side of things the victor.

I remember crying, smiling, and feeling absolutely heartsick while reading this book and I cannot wait to start it again.  It's not often that a book has such an impact on me that I remember it even years later.

So, two books that I'm thinking about this Tuesday.  What are you reading?

Specter vs. Spectre

I was cleaning out my inbox and found an email from Dictionary.com from way back in 2014!  Yeah, I know I should clean my inbox out more often, lol.  Anyways the word of the day for November 30 was specter, of which the British spelling is spectre...

Now, some of you may be aware of this but I've been playing a lot of Mass Effect recently and the first thing I thought of when I saw the word of the day was the video game that I'd (by November 2014) devoted more than 100 hours of my life to.

In the Mass Effect trilogy you play a Commander in the human Alliance Navy.  Commander Shepard is a Spectre, one of the elite agents that answer only to the Citadel Council and basically have free-rein to get their assignments done in whatever way they feel is the best way.  This means that you can either play as a Paragon Shepard and unite the galaxy by building alliances or you can choose to be Renegade Shepard and, basically, rule through fear and bullying.  Either method will bring you to the climactic end of the Mass Effect trilogy and no matter which you choose, you may have lost some friends along the way.  I'm on my third play-through of this trilogy and I've played mostly as Paragon because many of the Renegade choices are actually quite distasteful to me.

Have you played the Mass Effect trilogy?  What did you think about it?

The other Spectre that came to mind is the recently announced addition to the Bond movie franchise.  Starring Daniel Craig as Bond, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny (yay!), Ben Whishaw as the Quartermaster, and Ralph Fiennes as M (you will be missed, Judi Dench).  Based on the highly popular book series by Ian Fleming, this latest movie has me excited before I've even seen the first trailer or stills!  I've enjoyed the Craig-Bond movies and I can't wait to see what happens in the next one... I may have to go back and watch all the movies that came before, just to be prepared.  Also because I haven't seen the Sean Connery movies in quite a while and... well, Sean Connery!

Are you excited about the new Bond movie?

For more information on the movie Spectre, click HERE and, if you're interested in the Mass Effect trilogy, click HERE to see the wiki page.

Unshelved or Brianna?

A number of years ago my sister, Brianna, had an encounter with a patron at the Circulation Desk.  She had informed the patron that he owed a small fine and asked if he wanted to pay it that day.  The patron responded with a question, "So, how can we make this go away?"

To this day, I laugh at my sister's response. She told the patron, as only she could, that if he paid the fine then it would go away.

And do you know what?  He was shocked enough by her response that he paid the fine that very day.

For family and friends, what are your favorite "Brianna-related" memories?

This Unshelved comic strip reminded me of that and I thought I'd share.  Click the comic to see more of the fun library-times that is the Unshelved comic series.

Best Of Overload

At the end of the year, we are bombarded by the "best of that year" and "books you must read next year" lists from every source imaginable.  Amazon, Goodreads, The New York Times, and many other websites, blogs, and newspapers release their own (sometimes very different) lists which can make it hard for a reader to decide just which titles really were the best.

One of my favorite things to come out of last years avalanche of lists is the one from Wired.com.  They did a unique thing by utilizing the data already posted and available to the public; taking a slightly different route in creating their "best books of 2014" list and pooling all of the lists together and rating titles by giving points for a title appearing on Top 100 and Top 10 lists AND how often those titles showed up on lists.

Although many of the titles are not surprising, the results are somewhat interesting and cover a number of genres of both fiction and non-fiction titles.  I was surprised to see Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty was so far down the list, as it has been highly popular in my library and on the "best of" lists I'd already happened upon.

If you think you can handle just one more list of book suggestions, click HERE to read Wired.com's article.  Who knows, perhaps you'll find your next favorite read?

Review of Ghost by Carole Cummings

If there is one pet peeve I have when reading, it is when an author has created so many different terms and names that you NEED a glossary just to keep track of everything.  I much prefer when an author builds the world around you, rather than throwing you into the deep end without a flotation device.

That being said, I really enjoyed the story that Carole Cummings has written in Ghost, the first book in the Wolf's-own series.  It is a well planned and wonderfully executed fantasy novel.  The world building happens from page one and is hyper-speed-paced, which is why you need the glossary, but it is also a vivid world with characters, locations, religions, and more that drew me right in!

Now, fantasy is one of my all-time favorite genres to read, but Ghost has a refreshing complexity to it that I just can't get out of my mind.  Even when I'm wasn't actively reading about Malick and Fen, I found myself worrying about the events happening around them and how things would turn out in the end.

One of the Jin people, it was foretold that Fen would become an Untouchable (Ghost).  As an Untouchable, Fen is able to hear the voices of his people's Ancestors and can only wait for the day that those voices inevitably drive him insane.

Taken from his family as a child, Fen is trained as an assassin by Asai, the man who rules his life and who is also a powerful member of the Adan people (who keep the Jin).  But Asai's plans for Fen and his people are darker than anything he could ever have imagined.  When he discovers just how far Asai is willing to go, Fen rushes to rescue and hide his twin brother and younger siblings, but is unable to save his mother.  Soon afterwards, Fen is ambushed by Malick and the group of mercenaries/assassins that he leads.

Unable to escape, Fen is pulled into Malick's scheming and will soon have to decide if he wants to forever be a pawn in the games of others or if he will choose his own path and embrace the power that only he can wield.

An interesting part of the story is that Fen has learned that he can ignore the voices of the Ancestors by cutting himself.  As someone who lives with a diagnosis of self-injury, cutting in particular (though I've been SI free for three years now), this was something that made Fen all the more real to me.  I was able to connect with his character, because I know what it's like to want the voices to stop.

Ghost pulled me right in and made me want desperately to know what would happen next and how Fen and Malick's relationship would grow.  However, be warned that this book ends in a cliffhanger and you'll be dying to read book two.  Make sure you have it on hand!

Review of City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Book three of the Mortal Instruments story is full of unexpected (but not undesirable) twists and turns and while I sort of had one of the big plots twists figured out, the way that events actually unfolded was SO worth the read.  You're gonna enjoy it, I promise.

In City of Glass Clary makes her way to Alicante, the ancestral home and capitol city of the Shadowhunters, where she learns more about her family's past and the (sometimes dark) secrets they've kept, the decisions her father made that we are only just now seeing the effects of, and discovers a way to save her mother, Joceline.

Clary is still far too impulsive, always running headlong into danger without taking even half of a second to consider who might be hurt by her decisions.  This is one of the traits I don't like about Clary but I would like to think that her heart is in the right place.  When she isn't thinking about herself, nearly all of her choices are driven by her desire to help those she cares about.

I feel that Cassandra Clare is far more brilliant an author than I was expecting or originally thought.  As the series continues, things we heard about in book one are finally being explained even as new questions and mysteries are unfolding.  She is really quite good at both world-building and continuing the Mortal Instruments story through many books.  If you stop reading, or try to skip forward a few pages, I can guarantee you will miss out on a great story-line and vital information.

Review of City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

In City of Bones, Clary Fray sees what she believes to be a murder committed right before her eyes and discovers that there is a whole other world beyond what she knows.  A world that she has been hidden and protected from, and one that her mother has kept secret for her entire life.  With these unexpected and somewhat unwanted revelations coming to light, Clary has to decide if she's going to step up and be a part of this new world or continue hiding from it.

Initially, it was hard for me to get into this book. Clary is such a whiny teenager!  I've long since grown out of that stage of life and it was far too annoying for me to read.  I had to put this book down for an afternoon in order to accept that Clary is a kid dealing with things that are entirely beyond the realm of normal.  After that, it was quite easy to fall into the world of Shadowhunters, mages, werewolves, and more.

I'm excited to see what happens with Clary, Jace, and everyone else in book two of The Mortal Instruments series, City of Ashes.