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What I've Been Reading: August 2012

I only read three books in August. Three. THREE. To say that balancing back-to-school, two soccer schedules, my (sadly-neglected) shop at DHD, and a new job has got my life off-kilter would be a severe understatement. Just look at what it's done to my reading time! LOL Here's a look at what I did manage to get read this month.

A Spy in the House (The Agency #1) by Y. S. Lee (3 stars)
I enjoyed the Victorian setting, the detective agency, the core mystery needing to be solved. I enjoyed some of the characters. I didn't enjoy the stereotypes that were employed or how the author just disregards the conventions of the time period in which she's writing in order to create the character she has in mind. So while this would be a great book to recommend to YA girls, I think it sends some mixed messages about being strong, smart, and female. And to be honest, the whole "bickering main characters" trope is almost as worn out as the "falls immediately in love" trope. 

Advent by James Treadwell (3 stars)
This was a really dense read, which I don't mind, when I feel the payoff is worth the time invested. At points, I felt as though I were getting my money's worth here, but at other times I really found myself struggling. The writing is lovely, and the magic constructed here is well-done (I've seen multiple comparisons to Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, which is accurate, although this book lacks the immediacy of her writing/story). I think my issue is that I never really felt like I connected with any of the characters in the novel, even though most of them are fairly well-developed and we spend plenty of time inside their lives. It's just hard to slog through 400 pages of story if you don't really care anything about the characters. What kept me going, to be honest, was trying to figure out all the connections among the different legends and magical beings called forth in this story. 

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness (3 stars)
It became pretty clear to me about a third of the way through this novel that the things that were *kind of* bothering me in the first novel (the slow pace, a lack of character development, mediocre writing) would end up being things that really bothered me in the sequel. Again, the story itself has promise, and there are enough glimpses of the core conflict provided to keep me plodding through an accumulated mass of details that just never coalesce and lead anywhere. Harkness spends so much time detailing 15th century England, but she fails to pay that same attention to developing the relationships between her characters. Of course, their relationship does progress, but it does so in fits and starts, and it's mostly through telling, rather than showing, that we come to understand how Diana and Matthew feel about certain topics. What it comes down to, I think, is that there's just not any "flow" to this novel; the pacing and plotting and development never come together to create that literary magic that a really good novel seems to effortlessly possess.  

 

I think now is a good time to revisit my Summer Reading List. I originally set a goal of 40 books. I ended up reading 29 books over the summer (June, July, August), with 16 of those being on my original list and 13 being additions that I picked up from the library, my own shelves, or the bookstore throughout the summer. I did make really good progress in getting a number of e-books read over the summer, especially some that I've had on my reader for almost a year without reading.

 

What I've Been Reading: July 2012

Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (4 stars)
This series is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, particularly when I want something that I can move through in just a couple of days, dipping in and out of in little bits and pieces without losing the threads of the story. Izzy and the rest of the Spellmans are dysfunctional, but in a harmless way, not in a heavy or dark way -- and that makes a difference. Great voice here, although I had a little issue with the organization on this one (I thought all the rehashing of events from the first book was way too heavy-handed). Just an enjoyable read without doubt.

Beautiful Days by Anna Godbersen (2 stars)
Pretty much the same as book #1 in the series -- lots of time spent describing the outfits and the settings, but very little time spent developing the characters beyond the expected stereotype.

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta (5 stars)
I just can't be unbiased when it comes to a Marchetta novel. What I love is how she just brings you into the lives of her characters so completely, and you end up just rooting for them. I particularly loved how this novel really tackled the more "adult" end of the YA spectrum. Marchetta's characters are so compelling, so real, and Marchetta again gives us a story full of heartbreak and hope -- a combination she is particularly adept at.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (3 stars)
I'm of two minds about this book. The first half of the story is really mostly romance, and I'm just annoyed by a number of things about it: Mara and Noah seem like just another version of Edward and Bella, and I get so tired of female characters that are so down on themselves all the time and of male characters that are just out-of-this-world amazing. However, Noah's amazingness was a good way to show off Hodkin's writing chops; the passages between Mara and Noah have some of the best writing in the book, and there were some turns-of-phrase that took my breath. I think, though, that Hodkin could work on improving the writing elsewhere, since Mara's thoughts ramble TOO much, and some of the descriptions just feel jumbled and incomplete.
I really enjoyed the second half of the book, and I can't really talk about it too much without giving a lot away -- but let's just say that there's a lot of potential with this particular character development. I just hope Hodkin can deliver and not get bogged down too much in the romance; I think there needs to be a careful balance between the two. And the plot twist at the end? Totally saw it coming but that's okay. I had plans to read #2 to see what happens as these characters "evolve" anyway.

Summer Morning Summer Night by Ray Bradbury (5 stars)
It's Bradbury -- there's no way I can be objective. Perfect for summer reading, savoring little bits of Green Town like sips of cool lemonade.

Discord's Apple by Carrie Vaughn (2 stars)
There's a lot of promise to the original concept here but it quickly turns into a hot jumbled mess with too many plotlines and overlapping stories, subpar writing, and little character development.

Tessa Masterson Will Go To Prom by Brendan Halpin and Emily Franklin (3 stars)
I loved what this book was about -- even though it ended up not completely being about what I thought it was going to be about. It's written from alternating perspectives, and I think Halpern's character Luke had the stronger chapters. There was just something about Franklin's writing and Tessa's character that didn't click with me. Tessa came more to life through Luke's description of her than she did through her own thoughts and actions.
In the end, although it still is the story of Tessa's struggle to just be her own person and enjoy prom like any other teenager, regardless of her sexual orientation, the book really ended up being more about how Tessa's best friend deals with this entire situation -- and that's what I really liked. There have been lots and lots of coming out stories, and while this one was timely in a "ripped-from-the-headlines" sense regarding the prom issue, the coming out part didn't really cover new ground. But Luke's struggles were realistic and didn't feel like something I'd read so many times before.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (3 stars)
I'm really torn on this one. One the one hand, I really enjoy Libba Bray's sense of humor and intelligence -- and that just shines through. I follow her on Twitter, and she's got just the right combination of snark and seriousness; her comments are intended to carry a little bite, but they are also insightful and honest. I like that about her, and it really comes through in her writing, particularly when she's creating a satire, which is what Beauty Queens so obviously is. This book has more than a touch of reality TV to it, and it's perhaps the limitations of that genre itself that limit the book; there were lots of places where the pacing felt odd, or where some details were just glossed over and others really drawn out, and I couldn't see the point. But sometimes, as others have noted, it seemed as though the satire was just too much -- cleverness for the sake of being clever. I was willing to suspend belief to an extent, but sometimes this pushed it. In the end, this just ended up being okay, which really disappointed me, because I think Libba Bray is a talented writer.

Welcome to Bordertown edited by Holly Black and Ellen Kushner (4 stars)
Nicely balanced -- a good mix of new and old Bordertown authors. Some of the poetry was weak, but that was rounded out by some really fantastic short stories. It's always nice to see an author still play to their own strengths and interests within the shared world of the Bordertown series, and that's what the best stories did here (McKillip, Hopkinson, Barzak, Pratt). Plus, any chance to get back to Bordertown is a chance I'll take.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (5 stars)
I thoroughly enjoyed this -- Myfanwy made me laugh out loud multiple times, and the plot was exciting and suspenseful. I didn't mind the "info dumps" at all, because I was completely intrigued by this agency and wanted to know as much about them as I could. I'm really hoping this is a series, because I'm definitely looking forward to more.

Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen (2 stars)
This was just okay. If as much attention had been given to the characters as was given to the setting, then it might've been better. Then again, with descriptions like "Her eyes looked like two blue planets in the pale oval of her face," maybe not.

Entwined by Heather Dixon (4 stars)
I really enjoyed this retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I thought the romance was well-done, the relationships between the various girls and their father was interesting to watch progress, and the magic made sense. The writing was really lovely in places, and I just found myself completely caught up in this. It's different enough from the original to make me feel like I'm not reading something I've already read, but it still retains that fairytale feeling.

book review: The City's Son

The City's Son by Tom Pollock (3 stars)

Synopsis from Goodreads: Expelled from school, betrayed by her best friend and virtually ignored by her dad, who’s never recovered from the death of her mum, Beth Bradley retreats to the sanctuary of the streets, looking for a new home. What she finds is Filius Viae, the ragged and cocky crown prince of London, who opens her eyes to the place she’s never truly seen. 
But the hidden London is on the brink of destruction. Reach, the King of the Cranes, is a malign god of demolition, and he wants Filius dead. In the absence of the Lady of the Streets, Filius’ goddess mother, Beth rouses Filius to raise an alleyway army, to reclaim London’s skyscraper throne for the mother he’s never known. Beth has almost forgotten her old life – until her best friend and her father come searching for her, and she must choose between the streets and the life she left behind.

My thoughts:
This novel felt a lot like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (which is one of my favorite urban fantasies), except that the events take place aboveground. It's gritty, dark, inventive -- but also disorienting. The copy I read was an ARC, but it needs a lot of cleaning up (more so than any other novel I've ever read an early version of, to be honest) and that was slightly distracting. Still, the disorientation came more from the fact that there's not enough background on this urban London to make me feel like I had a good handle on what was going on. With novels like this one -- where we are introduced to a different London that many of us don't see or just refuse to see -- it's necessary to have that reader orientation if you want them to come along on this ride with you. And while Pollock eventually provides all the information we need to understand the events that are happening, there's not enough backstory provided to offer the "why" and "how" that drives a story like this. For me, that ended up being my biggest complaint. At no point did I really have a clear understanding of the characters' motivations, their reasons for doing the things they were doing. I also thought that there was too much acceptance -- and much too quickly -- from the main character to be believable. I mean, this girl never batted an eye, it seemed, and although urban fantasy really depends on characters being able to just go with this new world they've stumbled upon, there's got to be some pushback. After all, by inviting that person into this new world, this person essentially has to give up their place in their old world. It's a journey story -- and we all know you never come back as the same person you were when you left.  

I received an Advance Review Copy (e-book version) from Netgalley. 

books+social media+technology = more awesomeness for us!

I still remember the first time that I interacted with an author on the internet. I was blogging about a book I'd read -- As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway. (This was back before I started this blog -- I think I was on Livejournal at the time). Anyway, I had written a post gushing about this YA novel and wondering what other good books involving Houdini were available, and Galloway left a comment on my blog. 

Y'all, you would've thought that a rock star had called me on the phone or something. Honestly, this was probably a bigger deal to me than if a rock star actually had called me -- but we all know I'm a total booknerd, so that's okay -- since authors ARE like rock stars to me. But it was the first time I'd been able to interact with someone who had written a book that I enjoyed so much, and it led me down the rabbit hole of authors and blogs. 

From there, it wasn't long before social media came along, with MySpace and Facebook and Twitter...and the possibilities for interacting with authors increased a hundredfold. Now, I can talk to my favorite authors every day, and while this isn't the same as an extended conversation or anything along those lines, the ease of accessibility makes for interesting possibilities.

One of the authors whose online presence I really enjoy is Maggie Stiefvater. Her Twitter feed is really entertaining and informative -- always a nice mix -- and her blog is top-notch. She writes great posts about her writing process (plus versions from TEN other authors), among other things, and her blog is where I first came across the concept of book trailers.

Where have I been, that I wasn't aware that authors were now making trailers to promote their books, just like trailers are made to promote movies? For all my talk about technology, I haven't done a very good job of keeping up with what's popular, huh?

I wanted to share Maggie's trailer for The Raven Boys with you because I think it is so impressive. Not only did she draw everything and then animate it herself, but she also wrote and performed the music. She details the process on her blog and then ends the post with the trailer. It's worth reading and watching, I think.

So do you have favorite authors whose blogs you read? Or do you follow them on Twitter? To be honest, I spend much less time on blogs than I used to -- I prefer Twitter because it's easier to get the info I need. In particular, I really enjoy the Twitter feeds from Lev Grossman, Libba Bray (oh my dad, she is hilarious!), Patrick Ness, Maggie Stiefvater, Erin Morgenstern, and John Green.

books: reader quirks

Like every reader, I have lots of quirks and preferences and pet peeves. Mostly they apply to my own books, but some of them apply to library books too. It's funny to see how my reading habits have changed as I've gotten older too -- I wonder if some of them are an indication of my increasing Type-A personality characteristics.

Library books:

• I really don't like large print books. I know that many people use them because they need them, and luckily I don't. However, there are times when there's a book that I really want to read, and the library only has it in large print (as in, they don't even own a regular copy...weird, huh?) I just feel like the book is yelling at me the entire time I'm reading it.
• I hate it when library books come back to the library smelling like smoke. I was once a smoker, and I never noticed the smell (smokers usually never do), but apparently I am much more sensitive to the smell now than I was even before becoming a smoker myself. Anyway, there's nothing worse than getting home, cracking open the book, and having to deal with that smell the entire time.
• I hate it when library books end up with food and drink stains on them. Yes, I read while eating too -- don't all readers do this? But I just don't understand how messy some people can be -- it's disgusting.
• No matter how many vows I make to read the books on my bookshelves and nightstand first, I can't leave the library empty-handed. If I come across a book I've been wanting to read or that looks interesting, I have to check it out right then. Yes, I know it's a library, which means the books will be there when I come back -- but there's no guarantee of that. You have no idea how many times I've been waiting on a book and it never gets returned. So I read them while I can, still swearing I'll get to those others just as soon as I'm done.

 My books:

• I adore hardcover books that are smaller than average and more square in shape. Patricia McKillp's books are shaped like this, and I just love the way they fit in my hands.
• I love when publishers really think about the details of the entire book and the reader's experience. For example, Wildwood by Colin Meloy is just lovely from start to finish. It's got that great square shape, deckled edges, heavy paper, a bookjacket that isn't slick (I don't like those at all), lovely illustrations (more books should come with illustrations). The beauty of each detail just enhances the entire reading experience for me. 
• I used to dogear my book pages to mark my spot, but I quit doing that when I started buying books for myself. It made a difference as to whether it was my book or not. Now I don't do it with ANY books. I have two postcards that I use as bookmarks; I'm not sure what I would do if I lost one of them.

• I don't like to loan my books out to people. I just worry that I won't ever get them back. I know that's not very generous of me at all, but I can't help it. I'd actually be more willing to go buy another copy of the book for someone than to let them borrow my copy.
• I like collecting ARCs (Advance Review Copies) of books. Part of it is the fun of getting to read a book before it "officially" comes out; part of it is that copies are fairly limited and you never know when one could end up being worth a good bit of money.
• I hate it when people leave books laying open, face down. It just wrecks the spine.

• I loveLOVElove having signed copies of books from my favorite authors. Some are copies that I've been able to have signed in person (Melanie Benjamin, Audrey Niffenegger, Erin Morgenstern, Tony Crunk, Avi, and Ned Vizzini); others are autographed copies that I've purchased as pre-orders (see my John Green novel above, complete with Hanklerfish) or purchased as signed copies after a bookstore-signing that I wasn't able to attend (Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, Charles de Lint, San Kean, John Green, Holly Black, and Johnathan Carroll.) 
• I'm really sad that I'll never be able to get Ray Bradbury to sign one of my books. However, I'm thrilled that I'll get to see Margaret Atwood read in October and hopefully be able to have her sign my copy of Cat's Eye. 
• Even my girls have gotten in on the signing action (see below).

What about you? What are some of your reading habits, quirks, preferences, or pet peeves? Share them with me here -- I'd love to hear them! Happy Monday, and happy reading, everyone!

 

 

What I've Been Reading: June 2012

If you are interested in my Summer Reading List, here's the link to the original post.

The Spellman Files (The Spellmans #1) by Lisa Lutz: 4 stars
Great book. Really enjoyed this -- a little reminiscent of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, but overall I liked Izzy better. What a dysfunctional family, but not in a necessarily negative way. Sometimes the dysfunction is just too much to handle but here it's just a little odd and worthy of some chuckles. The saving grace is that Izzy is messed up but at least she KNOWS that she's messed up. Entertaining voice, pacing is fantastic, and the short chapters/lists/etc are a nice break from the norm. Great start to a fun series -- I'll be looking for more.

The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard: 3 stars
I'm really torn on this one. On one hand, I could not shake the feeling through the entire novel that I was reading something that was entirely too similar to Jeffrey Eugenides' The Virgin Suicides. Granted, it's been quite a while since I've read TVS, but once that comparision popped into my head, I could not shake it. And while I don't consider myself a prude, I really thought the book's emphasis on sex and physical relationships -- even if it is supposed to be told from the collective viewpoint of the neighborhood boys -- seemed heavy-handed and overdone to me, as though the author thought I would need that much convincing that this story was being told from a male perspective. At times, this was effective, because it helped to capture how helpless and unsure these boys/men felt when it came to establishing and protecting relationships with the women in their lives. But at other times I just felt like I was being hit over the head with the information. Luckily, Pittard's writing is a real plus here, although this definitely has the feel of "literary fiction." There's an awareness of style that is almost precious and too self-aware, and that's one of my pet peeves with literary fiction. Just tell the damn story, I want to shout. That's why I'm really reading in the first place!

The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston: 3 stars
 I think this works in terms of historical fiction; I see that a lot of people have labeled it as fantasy (even the book jacket does so) but it really doesn't fit my idea of a fantasy novel. The witchcraft just doesn't have the right feel, but I think that's because even the "modern" sections feel dated to me. Anyway, the writing is okay -- a little dense at times with some annoying constructions (totally an issue of personal taste, though), but otherwise pretty strong. My biggest complaint is that this felt really unbalanced. We're provided with three "historical" sections that show Bess in different time periods, but the sections get increasingly shorter and they don't really seem to add anything to the novel, as a whole. They don't really bring anything NEW to the story or even do a good job of advancing what we already know about particular events or characters.

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards #1) by Scott Lynch: 5 stars
 Oh, I love finding a good new fantasy series. Locke is a great character (and I particularly loved Jean Tannen, too), with an authentic voice and a realistic set of strengths and flaws. Lynch has created a realistic world of nobility, magic, and con artists, and he's got the writing talent to pull it off. I'm definitely looking forward to book #2.

The Enchantress (The Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flamel #6) by Michael Scott: 4 stars
I've got mixed feelings about the final installment of this series. First of all, I think that one of the key themes -- whether humankind is worth saving -- is developed beautifully through the book, and the closer, more intimate look at many of the Elders and their relationships helps to bring this theme to life much more richly. There are some very moving conversations and scenes. However, I still had issues with the pacing -- some scenes moved entirely too quickly, some dragged on for what seemed like forever, and some really key scenes got summed up in a way that just made me angry. (Had I been reading the book instead of listening to the audio version, I might very well have put it down and walked off at that point.) Several of my hunches paid off, and ultimately I was satisfied with the way things ended -- although I worked myself into a time-travel-themed snarl inside my head, trying to figure out some details. I'm still not clear on them, but I can't really discuss them here without revealing spoilers.
I listened to the audio version, and I'm amazed at how well the narrator was able to keep the different voices and characters separate. However, I do think that the audio version unfortunately emphasized many of the weaknesses in Scott's writing, particularly when it comes to dialogue and description. 

Wentworth Hall by Abby Grahame: 1 star
 So I'm probably one of the few people left on the planet that hasn't watched Downton Abbey, but I at least have a feeling for the general premise of the show. This book alludes to the show on the front cover with a tagline, which obviously would be quite attractive to fans of DA. However, the storytelling, character development, and plotting are all sub-par, resulting in a poorly written YA novel that reads more like a weak attempt to cash in on the DA popularity. There's not much here at all to make me recommend this one. I'd go with The Luxe series instead.

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan: 5 stars
Obviously, this is a creative approach to telling the story of a relationship, but I think it goes beyond creative -- the combination of word choice and the sheer poetry of Levithan's writing add up to a story experience that just took my breath away with its beauty. Aside from the words and ideas, I thought it was brave of Levithan to bare all with this kind of glimpse into a relationship, as it forms and as it falls apart. There's an autobiographical touch to it, although it could be completely fictional for all I know. Still, there seems to be an honesty and bareness here that makes it feel realer and more intimate than fiction usually feels.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith: 3 stars
I'm just sort of "eh" about this one. There's nothing that stands out -- though there's less romance and more family drama than the jacket blurb leads you to think. I wobbled back and forth about the writing for most of the book; most of the time I thought it was okay, there were some parts where I think the verb tenses were jacked up, and then there were some really stellar one-liners (mostly connected to the family drama, actually). The swoon isn't all that swoony, although Oliver's dialogue is pretty clever. Still, as far as teen romances go, I've read better.

The Fitzosbornes at War by Michelle Cooper: 4 stars
 I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley. A full review will be published closer to publication date in October.

Top Reads of 2012 -- so far...

This has been a really good year for books -- at least in terms of me finding books that I really, really like. Some years it seems as though everything is just middle-of-the-road with only a few standout novels. This year, though, I've given the same number of 5-star ratings in the first six months that I've given during an entire year.  So here's a look at the books that will be contenders for my Top 10 of 2012 at the end of the year.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
There's so much to love about this novel. It's large and sprawling and covers a multitude of genres. It also works on so many different levels, with connections among different sections (metafiction done well is something that I love -- without all the pretentiousness, of course), characters, settings, and ideas. 

The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff
I don't think there's a stinker in this entire collection. Of course, most of these stories are available on The Merry Sisters of Fate website, but what's not available is all the additional commentary you get with each story. These three authors have put together a great collection of work -- and an even better commentary on the act of writing. (Note: This book won't be published until October 2012 -- I read an ARC through Netgalley.)

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta
I recommend Marchetta's Jellicoe Road to everyone I meet (well, almost everyone), and then I suggest they read her fantasy series, even if they aren't fantasy fans. The reason why? Because everything that I love about JR is contained in her fantasy novels -- it's just that the window dressing is a little different.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
My favorite novels remind me of my other favorite novels, and this one is no exception. It brings to mind Ray Bradbury and Susannah Clarke and Christopher Priest, and it's a feast for the senses. This is definitely one I'll be going back to again and again.

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch
This novel could make the list just on virtue of the amazing narration alone, but there's beautiful writing and an engaging plot as well. Again, this is one of those vast sprawling novels that brings to mind other books but also tops those other books by a mile.

Bright's Passage by Josh Ritter
Even though this suffers from a few "first-novel" technical issues, it's a beautifully dreamlike fable -- and it's that mood that pulled me along to the very end in just a few short hours. A real gem.

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
I actually listened to the audio version of this, but I was completely entranced the entire time. This is just the kind of novel I enjoyed when I was a younger reader, and I have enough of that reader left inside me to continue to enjoy novels like this. (Plus, Meloy is the sister of writer Colin Meloy, lead singer of The Decemberists, and author of the Wildwood Chronicles.)

After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn
I'm enough of a comics fan -- and my husband is much more of a fan than I am -- to really enjoy this story. The character development is great, the plot zips along, and it's just a really enjoyable story.

 Everybody Sees the Ants by A.S. King
I describe some YA authors as "issue" authors -- their books are always about an important issue that impacts teenagers, like Laurie Halse Anderson, for example. Her books tackle major issues (rape in Speak or anorexia in Wintergirls) but without being preachy -- plus the writing is just plain awesome. You can add King to that list. I don't think I've ever read a novel that makes me want to take action like hers do -- not just this one, but Please Ignore Vera Dietz as well. Highly recommended.

 

 

my 2012 reading goal

Are you on Goodreads? If you are, are you participating in the 2012 Goodreads Reading Challenge?  I've talked before about how much I love being able to track what I've read on Goodreads -- I think there's some kind of strange rogue statistician living in my head, since I love tracking all of Cassidy's (and her teammates, in fact) stats for track and cross-country too. Strange -- that's something that didn't develop until after college, maybe even after kids. 

Weird digression. Sorry. Back to the post at hand.

I love the sense of accomplishment that comes at the end of each month when I meet my reading goals. And even when I don't reach them, this list of books gives me a nice way to guage how busy our month was. Because reading is just a normal part of each day for me, I've set my goal pretty high. I know plenty of people who are thrilled to get one book read each month -- and that's great! I'm thrilled for you too. This is one of those things that's completely personal, I think. When other people choose to watch TV or spend time gardening or knitting or hiking, I choose to read. As a result, my reading goals reflect the amount of time that I spend doing this activity.

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at where I stand with almost six months down and six more to go. Here's a screenshot of the stats breakdown from the Goodreads site:

Here's how the numbers break down even more:

In January, I read 12 books. February was 7, March was 9, and April was 15. In May, I read 14 books, and so far I've finished 5 in June. I've read 18,316 pages. 42 of those books are YA. 20 are adult fiction. 5 were nonfiction, 3 were audio books, 2 were short story collections, 2 were graphic or illustrated novels, and 3 were digital short stories.

I've definitely had good luck with books this year; my list of 5-star reads is as long right now as it was for 2011 and 2010 at the end of each of those years. I'll do an updated post next week with my Top 10 of 2012 so far, and make some projections on what I think might end up (or more accurately, maybe, what I HOPE might end up) making that list by the end of the year.

Take Twelve with Ella Publishing!

It's time once again to Take Twelve with Ella Publishing Co. If you've been playing along from the beginning, this makes month #6, which means that this project is at the midway mark. If you're using Twitter, make sure to include the hashtag #Take12 so we can follow along with your daily photos. Also, don't forget to share your photos and your layouts with us on the Ella Publishing Co. blog and the Take Twelve Flickr Pool. 

Speaking of the Ella Publishing Co. blog, if you've stopped by lately you'll see that there are two great new products availabe in their store: Real.Life.Photography by Rebecca Cooper, which is an excellent resource for those of us who might've stalled when it comes to capturing everyday moments for our Take Twelve or Project Life albums. There's also the Simple Fixes Action Set, which makes it easy to rescue photos with typical problems (like under- or overexposure). 

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series spotlight: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

With the recent publication of Book #6, The Enchantress, Michael Scott's series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel comes to an end. This is a great series for middle grade readers -- I remember that 4th or 5th grade was the age when I really got hooked on mythology. It's also a great series for teen and adult readers. Although a few of the books drag in certain spots, overall the series moves along quickly and covers such a huge range of mythologies and famous characters (my favorites being Virginia Dare and Billy the Kid). What I love most is how Scott uses such a massive story to tell a tale that is so intimate and individual in the end. Here's a look at the 6 books in the series, along with two accompanying e-books.

The Alchemyst (4 stars)
 You know, once Harry Potter hit it big, the market was just saturated with young adult and children's fantasy novels -- some good, and some really really terrible ones. I've been reading children's and young adult fantasy since I was a kid (naturally) and I've got some pretty strict standards, I guess. Luckily, Scott's book is one of the good ones. It's something that has the potential to be heavy-handed or overdone, since it features some pretty stock situations -- prophecies, kids being thrust into magic out of nowhere, old myths come to life...But Scott handles these things beautifully, and I particularly LOVE how he's pulled so much historical and mythical information together. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

The Magician (4 stars)
 More like a 3.5/5 -- I enjoyed this one like I did the first one, but this one seemed to drag on a bit more, even though I think it was longer. The premise is very engaging, and this installment introduced us to several new immortals / Elders. I especially enjoyed Machiavelli's (yes, *that* Machiavelli) character, and I'm glad to see that Scott doesn't fall into the trap of making his good characters all good and vice versa. However, he's crap at writing dialogue.

The Sorceress (4 stars)
This is another YA fantasy series that I've been following from the start, and I'm always eager to see the next installment. For round #3, I think Scott has redeemed himself; I thought the first novel was great, but the second one was a little bit of a let-down for me. That's not to say that there aren't some issues with this one, but overall, the good outweighs the bad.
The good: When it comes to bringing in new characters based on mythology and historical figures, I think Scott nailed it with this novel. Not only are these characters intriguing, but Scott's perspective and character-building moves beyond what we know and imagines an all-too-believable life for them. I love when a writer can deftly take what we know about a character and combines it with a "what if?" I also think Scott has done a good job of pushing relationships and character motivation farther in this novel. As I mentioned in a previous review, I like the fact that Scott's characters are all three-dimensional and that his good guys aren't all good, and his bad guys aren't all bad. This means that there's some questioning and doubt going on as far as motivation and purpose are concerned, and that's one of the things that can really pull me into the story.
The bad: Scott has three or four storylines going on here; normally that wouldn't bother me, but there are one or two that just seem tacked on, as though he'd forgotten about those characters right up until the end. A few of the characters are obviously introduced just to move the plot along, and when they come up against the really strong characters, it just shows how poorly developed they are. That's something that could've been prevented, I think.
I think Scott should be praised for writing a YA fantasy series that follows in the wake of Harry Potter without being weak or derivative. I've seen mention that there are still three more books in this series, so I'm excited to see where Scott takes his characters next.

The Necromancer (4 stars)
Maybe more like a 3.75. I think some of my issues have to do with the structure of the entire series, more so than anything to do with one specific book. Since the series is set to cover a period of time that's maybe 10 days in length, having to wait a year for each book to come out causes problems in the flow and pacing. This is an instance where it might be better to hold off and read all the books at once -- an omnibus edition would be even better (and definitely a companion book that details all the characters/backstory/etc). That said, I think the pacing and action were good in this installment. It felt a little drawn out at times because we are following so many storylines by this point, but I think that happens in a series of any length. I don't think Josh's character was nearly as annoying this time around, and some interesting themes in terms of trust and relationships (both sibling and romantic) are rising to the forefront. I'm still just as enamored with the mythological characters and even more so with the Immortals (famous figures from history), and that's what keeps me coming back to this series. 

The Warlock (4 stars)
 Still really enjoying this series. It's a great melding of all the things I'd like to find in a YA fantasy series. Looking forward to the last one to see how this adventure wraps up.

The Enchantress (4 stars)
I've got mixed feelings about the final installment of this series. First of all, I think that one of the key themes -- whether humankind is worth saving -- is developed beautifully through the book, and the closer, more intimate look at many of the Elders and their relationships helps to bring this theme to life much more richly. There are some very moving conversations and scenes. However, I still had issues with the pacing -- some scenes moved entirely too quickly, some dragged on for what seemed like forever, and some really key scenes got summed up in a way that just made me angry. (Had I been reading the book instead of listening to the audio version, I might very well have put it down and walked off at that point.) Several of my hunches paid off, and ultimately I was satisfied with the way things ended -- although I worked myself into a time-travel-themed snarl inside my head, trying to figure out some details. I'm still not clear on them, but I can't really discuss them here without revealing spoilers.
I listened to the audio version, and I'm amazed at how well the narrator was able to keep the different voices and characters separate. However, I do think that the audio version unfortunately emphasized many of the weaknesses in Scott's writing, particularly when it comes to dialogue and description.

The Death of Joan of Arc (2 stars)
 I really enjoy the characters of Joan of Arc and Scathach in Scott's series, but this short story doesn't really add anything new to what we know. There are no new insights into these characters -- it's just a recounting of how Scathach saved Joan of Arc from being burned at the stake so that she could become one of the immortals. So, there's plot, but not much in terms of motivation or explanation. Plus, the story is from another person's POV, and it really doesn't add anything to the series either. I enjoyed getting back into this series' world for a bit, but I don't feel like I came away from it with anything worthwhile

Billy the Kid and the Vampyres of Vegas (3 stars)
 This is another short story set in the world Scott has created for his Nicholas Flamel series. This time, we're treated to a little more of the backstory and character development for Billy the Kid -- or at least, that's what you would assume. However, the story ends up being just as much (if not more) about Scathach, the Shadow. Both are characters I've enjoyed through the main series, however, so that's okay with me. The story progresses nicely -- there's good dialogue and pacing, though the setting could have been a little more extensively drawn. Still, everything is good until we get to the climax of the story. That's where the tension and particularly any emotional development just goes flat. I get that this encounter is supposed to be a big deal, but it's just not. Other than that, this is a fine little story to add to the rest of the series.