2016 In Review

Here are again, at the end of another year and a brink of a new one.  This has been a year of massive change in so many ways, including this blog.  The one thing that hasn't changed is my obsessive need to read, it is one of the things that gives me stability when everything is in flux...although I admit I love the chaos :-)  Anyways here is a list of my faves from each month that helped keep me sane.

Station 11

This book is still indefinable.  It has been read by me and several of my fellow bookies and while we can all agree it is an excellent book that stuck with us all...we still have no idea what genre to place it in.  It is the perfect book to start off the year.

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

A collection of Holmes stories written in every style imaginable.  The stories in this collection rekindled once again my love of this great detective and the supporting cast that never leaves me bored.

Room

This pick which was suggested to me by my partner at the firehouse was intense.  Probably one of the most emotionally draining, well written, thought provoking books I have read in a long time, go read it!

Peter Pan

One of my favorite books of all time.  It is one of my go to's when I need to be reminded that all of life is just one great adventure and to treat it as such.  This is one of the reasons books exist.

The Expanse

This is Sci Fi at its finest.  I enjoyed this book so much more then I thought I was going to and cannot wait to get my hands on the next installment in the series.  If you are looking for a very readable science fiction series, this is it my friends.

The Magican's of Caprona

Magic, magic, magic.  I could (and do) read Diana Wynne Jones all day everyday, pure magic.

The Mermaids Sister

A solid little fairytale that was both original and familiar.  The content was perfect for a midsummers read, especially in the hectic moving days.

Press Start to Play

August was a rough month overall, but this collection of stories at least gave some things to think about, which is always a good thing.

Chime

I loved this book so much.  I had high hopes for it and they were exceeded...which is really rare.  This book is weird and wild and different and I love it!

Cuckoo Song

This random read ended up being the perfect October read.  It combined mystery, atmosphere and a few hair raising moments, good book, good timing, happy reader.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

This book was long, epic and pretty awesome.  It took me close to three months to finally get through the whole thing, but I think it was definitely worth it.

When Santa Fell to Earth

This surprising and accidental find reminds me to look for unexpected joy, especially during the holiday season.  This book was a great little Christmas story which put the star on the tree so to speak.

There we have it folks, a quick year in review of some of the books that stuck with me.  Hopefully I will find more reading/rambling time this next year in between my new epic adventures.  Happy Reading Everybody!

A Year In Review

It's that time again, time to look back an revel in all the books I got read and weep over the size of my TBR pile (which only seems to grow, never shrink).  Here are my favorite books I blogged about this year, one for every month.  Enjoy!

The Lost Ones

This book was not only a perfect winter read, but really rekindled my sense of adventure.  After reading this book, I wanted to pack my bag and try and find the unknown.

Sabriel

This is one of those books that got read at the exact perfect time, making what was already a great book awesome!

Wings of Fire

Dragons!  I love dragons!  This book was full of dragons and awesome stories and great authors and just all around magnificent.

Chrestomanci Volume 1

  Magic, alternate worlds, sibling rivalries, it's all so wonderful.  Set it in an alternate English manor and this is a perfect spring read.

More Than This

This book was equal parts disturbing, frustrating, thought provoking and ambiguous.  Read while in between calls, this twisty little number stayed in my head for a long time.

Court Duel

Court intrigue, intricate plots, a secret admirer and niceness actually having a positive affect, I keep coming back to this book.

Grave Mercy

This book drove me crazy AND was surprisingly good all at the same time.

Prospero's Children

This book is why I love reading.  It took me far away and yet felt familiar all at the same time, instant love my friends.

The Lives of Tao

Everything I want in a book is here, a plot that keeps pace and makes sense, characters that are actually true to themselves and an alien who rocks!

The Martian

I LOVE THIS BOOK!  It is one of my new favorites AND may be the best book I read this year...go read it right now.

Victoria's Book of Spells

An era I adore, a place I love, atmosphere perfection, great book.

The Stupidest Angel

In case anybody was wondering how my holidays went :-)  This was fun and irreverent and suited my mood this year exactly.

I read a ton of great books this year, and these are just a few of my faves.  What was your favorites of the year?  Happy Reading Everybody!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Or The Most Disturbing/Boring Book I Have Read

Saw the trailer for the American version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson the other day, and it got me wondering how the movie will work.  I have read the book and it was the weirdest mix of disturbing imagery, major violence, and a lot of really boring blahness. Keep in mind, I am not a squeamish person, about violence or sex especially if it has a point, this book just seemed to use it in place of well everything. The book focuses on two main characters Mikael Blomkvist who is a publisher for an independent magazine called Millennium who is persona non grata for losing a libel suit against Hans-Erik Wennerström a billionaire investor.  The other character is the title character Lisabeth Salander, who is by far the most interesting character in the book.  She is a genius computer hacker who has been in Sweden's child social system for many years.  This book essentially tells the story of Harriet Vagner and her disappearance from her family home many years ago.  Blomkvist is hired to write the biography of the family as a cover to investigate Harriet's disappearance.  Salander gets hired by Blomkvist to help with the research and they eventually end up as uneasy lovers.  One of the main subplots is Slander's time in the System and the horrific brutalities she endures after her original case worker and protector Holger Palmgren has a stroke.  Her new "guardian" Nils Bjurman is a sick and twisted man who forces Salander to perform demeaning and painful sex acts to gain access to her own money.  After a couple of episodes she sneaks into his apartment and gets her revenge by tattooing "I am a sadistic pig, a pervert and a rapist" on his chest after recording one of the abusive sessions for blackmail. The reason she was placed in custody in the first place is revealed in the next book.  The disturbing violence continues as we learn more about the Vagner's history.  Turns out that Harriet's father and brother sexually abused her to the point that she arranged to disappear of the family island, never to return.  As they investigate Blomkvist and Salander discover a journal of Harriet's listing names of missing women.  Turns out that her brother Martin (who until now seems like the normal, stable one) has built himself a twisted playroom in his basement where he keeps kidnapped women to act out his twisted fantasies on, and then murders them.  At the climax of the book Salander saves Blomkvist's life, Harriet is found and the mystery is solved.  All of this disturbing action takes up about half the book.  The other half is devoted to long exposition on the political and financial history of Sweden and all the complicatedness that was part of the initial libel suit that placed Blomkvist in the position he was in.  It was weird to read a book that was so boring and so disturbing at the same time, it was one of those books you wanted to get to the end of just so you knew the mystery was solved, but at the same time was tempted to just skip to the end.  The exciting parts were very exciting and the boring parts were very very boring.  It was kind of like taking an upper and downer at the same time.  I think the book suffered in editing, the author died while the books were still in manuscript form and I think it would be interesting to see what he would have kept and what he would have gotten rid of if he had lived to work on the final edits himself. The mystery itself was pretty good, I think I would have liked it more with some better editing.  I think I will try and  watch the Swedish version of the movie so I can compare it to the book and the American movie and see how they portray all the sexual violence and get through the long winded exposition.  Let me know if any of you have read the book, or seen the movie. Let me know if you think I am being to hard on the book, or if you too found it a really long read.
Update:  Swedish movie wasn't half bad, they cut a lot of the exposition about the economy and such, and didn't show to much of the childhood torture of Harriet.  Noomi Rapace who played Lisabeth Salander was not bad, even if she looked a little old for what I had in my head, but all in all I liked it, even forgot that it was in Swedish after a while.