The Twelve by Justin Cronin (Review)

Title: The Twelve
Author: Justin Cronin
First published: 2012
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★☆

Do you have a topic that makes you instantly suspicious of a book? For me it's vampires! I immediately start figuring out if it's YA and if the vampires happen to be hot and sparkly. You can tell I'm not a fan of the humiliating transformation these terrifying creatures of the night have undergone in modern culture.

But Cronin's vampires are properly and dignifyingly scary! It's the second book in the series, but probably I liked it even more than the first. There are old acquaintances and new characters, both so real that you feel like you can hear their thoughts and feel what they feel. More is told about the first days after the infection spread and we also see more ways in which groups of people have learned to survive as a society.

The whole plot feels like a blur of disjoint puzzle pieces, which, as you read on, start to fit into the whole picture with the most satisfying clicks. I'm very intrigued about the third book now. Although I don't remember The Passage (the first in the series) very clearly, I think there was not much information about "patient zero", and he should be the main character of the last book of the trilogy!

In my book: An awesomely written, gripping vampire apocalypse!

(Already Traditional) Mini-Reviews, Part 2

Looking at these two bunches of mini-reviews, you can probably tell that I have not been much into serious lit this spring and summer :D But come on, sometimes mind-blowing Sci-Fi is just a better choice than those daunting 19-century chunksters :) 

Title: The Name of the Wind 

Author: Patrick Rothfuss

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I should listen to Riv more. She read it last year and wrote that the book is not as good as Goodreads and other reviews would you believe. It’s not that I don’t trust her opinion (I’m yet to discover a book on which our opinions differ significantly), but I still felt I have to read a book which gets so much hype. And well… I can see why people love it so much, but as for Riv, it also fell flat for me. I loved the magic system and the part at the university, but then the love story began and it was just so adolescent and ridiculous… And don’t even get me started on the pointless 200-page hang out in the forests with the draccus or whatever this thing is called. I also expected the book to have an ENDING, but apparently it cannot be read as a standalone novel. If the author thinks that would make me read the rest of the series… Um, no. Good writing and gripping plotline would do that, not failing to round-up a story even a little bit before the end of the first volume.

Title: The Night Circus 

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Rating: ★★★★☆

This novel should be made into a movie immediately! It screams for big screen special effects. Although the writing does an amazing job creating all this effects in your own head. Very atmospheric! Plotline… well, it exists, but it’s not the main point of the book. I feel that the characters and their relationships could have been written better, but as I’ve said, the book is amazing as it is!

Title: The Passage 

Author: Justin Cronin

Rating: ★★★★☆

The book reminds me a lot of The Girl with all the Gifts, although it should be vice versa, as The Passage was written before The Girl. That makes it two zombie apocalypse books that I’ve read and liked during this year, so I guess never say never? I don’t know what I expected from The Passage, but it was gripping and beautifully written and I spent more than one night not being able to put it down instead of getting some healthy sleep.

Title: L'amour dure trois ans (Love Lasts Three Years) 

Author: Frederic Beigbeder

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I’ve never read the guy before and most probably will never read him again. There is no literary merit in the book, the characters are just papier-mashe masks without any depth and the ideas are questionable in the least. It reads fast and there are some catchy phrases and aphorisms in it, but the novel gives you a feeling it was written to provide facebook status updates to people who like to put quotes there.

Title: The Universe Versus Alex Woods 

Author: Gavin Extence

Rating: ★★★★★

I loved this book!! It’s so poignantly sincere and kind… But not in a way SPECIFICALLY designed to jerk tears out of you. Everything is described very matter-of-factly and that’s why it’s so relatable and realistic. Alex is the best, really. The way he thinks is precious and I guess our world would be a much better place if everybody followed the same logic.

Title: Lexicon 

Author: Max Barry

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

I think my biggest problem with this book was that I had unrealistically high expectations. I’ve always been intrigued by NLP techniques and I thought this novel would be about it. Instead, it’s much more fantastic and hard to believe. Also, I did not understand what was happening until I reached the middle of the book. In some cases it can be intriguing, but here it was rather irritating. Also, the ending was just… Meh. I don’t get it, really.

Title: Ancillary Justice
Author: Ann Leckie

Rating: ★★★☆☆

This novel is like a riddle: at first you don’t understand what is happening and get lost in a lot of new words and alien references, but then without any explicit explanation it all kinda starts making sense, and you feel the world taking shape around you, gradually and imperceptibly. It is a beautifully written book, and the idea is awesome, but somehow this time I do not appreciate not understanding what’s happening for such a long time. Have I mentioned my attention span tend to be really short lately? So I don’t have enough patience for this kind of story

So what so do you think about these books? Do you agree or disagree with my opinions? I'd like to hear both :-P

I'm preparing some longer reviews next, as my reading is getting back to normal pretty fast. Stay tuned and have a nice weekend!

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (Review)

Title: The Graveyard Book
Author: Neil Gaiman
First published: 2007
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★☆☆

This short novel tells a story of a boy growing up on a cemetery after the murder of his parents. He is brought up by ghosts and has adopted some of their ways, but he still craves for a company of the living kids. However, it is not safe for him to leave the cemetery, as the murderer is still out there.

Gaiman's supernatural stuff is still not my cup of tea. Although the ghosts were cute and Silas mysterious and impressive, the Jacks were weird and vague. I also didn't dig ghouls and the gate and everything inside. But Gaiman CAN write kids, there's no doubt of that. Bod's thoughts and feelings are so real! This feeling of not being told anything, however capable of understanding you think yourself... It's familiar to everybody who remembers being a kid, I guess. Learning responsibility is also a major aspect of Bod's growing up, which is indeed very important.

Plot-wise the book seems to be for children, but there are certain graphic scenes of bloodshed that hint that the target audience is grown-ups. It's a bit confusing, but not new for me, as it's the same with Stardust.

In my book:
More suitable for kids which are not afraid of a bit of killing :)

Four Mini Reviews

As you have probably noticed I have close to zero time lately. I still manage to read, but posting and sleeping are not so lucky :) So I've decided to do as everybody seem do in such case: write mini-reviews! They are small books anyway :)

Title: Harry Potter y el Prisionero de Azkaban
Author: J.K. Rowling
First published: 1999
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★★

Yes, this one was in Spanish! We read it together with Hillary from ahorseandacarrot and it was fun! Books in foreign languages are perfect for read-a-longs. Without being accountable I just kept putting it off to read something more relaxing, but with our read-a-long I swished through it in less than two months at a pace of one chapter in three days. Wonderful! I'm a bit afraid to tackle the fourth book yet though. It's bigger and more "adult" and the chapters are longer... Well, maybe in summer, when I have more time :) Also, I'll announce the second Language Freak Summer Challenge next month, so I hope it'll give me a push :)

Title: The Sandman, Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes
Author: Neil Gaiman
First published: 1988
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★★

It was the first comic book I've ever read! Can you believe it? After the disappointment of Gaiman's American Gods and because of my inner snobbishness (comic books? They are for children!) I wasn't expecting much of it, but guess what? It was amazing! Dark and creepy sometimes, but totally amazing! I loved the art and how the story is told in short snippets, and how the parts of the puzzle fit together as you read and you get to know more about the awesome, awesome, awesome Morpheus. I love Morpheus. That's all there is to know about my feelings towards Sandman :)

Title: Yvain, or The Knight With the Lion
Author: Chrétien de Troyes
First published: 1176
Add it: Goodreads, Book Depository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Unlike Erec and Enide and Cligès, I didn't enjoy Yvain at all, and so I don't have much to say about it. The plot devices never looked so artificial in Chrétien's works as here (pour water on stone to summon a horrible knight? Really?) and the main character never was such an asshole. Yvain leaves the love of his life a couple of days after the marriage and promises to come in a year... and OF COURSE he just forgets about it at all and therefore has to go seek some adventures instead of asking for forgiveness... I will not even go into his treatment of the lion. The lion is the only decent character in the story, really.

Title: The Train (orig. Sputniki)
Author: Vera Panova
First published: 1946
Add it: Goodreads
Rating: ★★★★★

My mom has recommended me this classical Russian war novel, and as usual, her recommendation was brilliant! This short book tells a story of a hospital train during the horrible years of WWII, from its first bombing until the last war spring. Very different people work on this train - doctors, nurses, war officers, engineers... Each one has his/her own story, his/her own dreams and fears, but they all must live together and work endless shifts to make the passage of the patients from the front to the hospitals more comfortable. There's everything in this book: tragedy, loss, love, friendship, true selflessness and cunning self-advancement... Because people are different, and war makes these differences even more obvious.

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft (Review)

Title: At the Mountains of Madness
Author: H.P. Lovecraft
First published: 1936
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

This was my first Lovecraft and unfortunately I was not in the least impressed. Tell me, have I started at the wrong place? It seemed a proper place, though. I mean, what can go wrong with the remnants of an old and mysterious civilization found deep in the Antarctic? It's an AWESOME plot! However, the way the story is written robs it of all its awesomeness.

The first problem is that everything is told, not shown. It can be a successful literary device, but in a horror story it's totally anticlimactic. (There are spoilers ahead, but I don't believe they will affect your reading because the story is plain and devoid of suspense anyway) Let me give you an example. Part of the expedition has disappeared. Another part comes to the place where their last camp was and see something HORRIBLE, which the narrator CAN'T SPEAK ABOUT, which HAS RUINED HIS LIFE... Then he proceeds to tell what fake story they have reported, what was done next, and only like 40 pages after, when he is already in some other place, does he give some hint of what was exactly seen. I, as a reader, am already pissed off and ready to through the book out of the window.

Another thing that bothered me is that they never actually SEE those elder creatures, although they do come to life. They see only the traces of their actions and their dead bodies. How do the explorers then know about what was life like for them? From reliefs! They are able to tell the whole story of that old civilization from just looking at the reliefs adorning the walls for a couple of hours. Has Lovecraft ever tried to interpret a relief in his life? As someone who has studied the history of art for three years, I tell you it's not that easy! Unless of course their art is really different from ours, but then they would not be able to understand it anyway.

And, of course, the writing. It's so descriptive that it just makes me sleepy. For more than 50 pages they explore the old city, looking at the reliefs and having some horrible premonitions. No less than 5 times the narrator compares the scenery with that on Roerich's pictures. OK, OK, Lovecraft, calm down! I got it from the first mention already! It's no necessary to emphasize how in awe of Roerich you are...

In my book:
Wonderful premise, but pitiful realization.

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (Review)

Title: The Mysteries of Udolpho
Author: Ann Radcliffe
First published: 1794
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

20 pages into this book I already regretted putting it on my Classics Club list. OK, it's an iconic Gothic novel, which has inspired a lot of followers since it was written, but it's very, very tiresome to read. Seriously, I was wondering how come Catherine Morland found it so exciting and how could Henry Tilney have read it in three days? It took me three months, on and off.

Let's be a little more organised than usual today and make a bullet list of things that I didn't particularly enjoy in the novel.

• The first problem of the book is, of course, the abundance of cumbersome poetry. The reader is lucky if there are only epigraphs from Milton or Shakespeare, as they are quite bearable, but sometimes it's real crap, which I can't even make sense of. Moreover, some of the heroes write "their own" poetry from time to time, which is even more horrible. Sorry, Mrs. Radcliffe, you are no Shakespeare.
• Second thing that bothered me was the descriptions of nature. They are everywhere and occupy nearly one third of the book, or so it seems. Imagine a heroine being led through the dark forest by a couple of ruffians at night and then just stopping to admire the stars. Yep, that's what happens here.
• It's slow! It's so slow that the castle of Udolpho is first mentioned only on page 188 out of 650. Argh!
• All the FEELINGS! The main heroine is particularly sensitive and is always fainting, blushing, crying, trying to find words, shocked, etc. I know, I know those were the times when it was considered desirable, but really?
• All the characters are either unreasonably evil or are saints. The only well-developed character in the book is Annette, Emily's maid, who is generally good, but talkative, shallow and superstitious. Her voice is the only one that is different from others.

Maybe for its time it was a super exciting novel, and there are some twists of the plot that liven it up a bit, but for a modern reader, even the one familiar with some old classics, it's a bit too much

In my book:
The only reason to read it is to get acquainted with the source of the genre. If you are not famous for your patience, skip it!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (Review)

Title: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Author: Washington Irving
First published: 1820
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★★

All of you native English speakers probably don't need any plot summary of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, because, as I've heard, it's included in nearly every school program. Even for me the story felt very familiar, although I don't remember actually reading it. I guess it's already in the domain of collective unconscious. What I consciously knew about it, however, is just that it had a headless specter in it. So, naturally, I expected it to be this normal creepy ghost story. What I didn't expect at all is that it would be so funny!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is not in the least about something paranormal, it instead deals with people's beliefs and superstitions and how they influence their everyday lives. Nothing assuredly unnatural actually happens, but in a small village like Sleepy Hollow, superstitions flower in uneducated minds of people to such extent that they explain many things with ghosts, and it's not surprising that they tend to start seeing them :)

The main character, Ichabod, is a school teacher, but he can't be called particularly enlightened. He enjoys sitting in front of a hearth with older ladies and share ghost stories, and when he is alone he imagines supernatural things all around him. But that doesn't prevent him from having a practical mind, and so he enters an open competition for the hand of a rich farmer's daughter with the village's most reckless youth Brom Bones. It would be stupid of Bones not to use Ichabod's inclination to superstitions to his own benefit, and Bones is not stupid :)

I find characters in the story to be very lively and Irving's kind mockery of them really endearing. I was smiling a lot and sometimes even laughed at the descriptions of Ichabod's courting and then of his misfortunes. There is only one problem with this story: I intended it to count for RIPVIII event, but now that I know it's not scary, I'm not so sure :) But I'm very glad I read it anyway :) 

In my book:
A very well written, funny and entertaining story. Definitely recommended to anybody who hasn't yet had the pleasure of discovering it for himself :)

The Castle of Otranto Non-Review + General Ramblings

I haven't been here for a long time, and, as usual, I apologize. I'm always wondering how people can post every day and not get tired, especially if something is happening offline? As for me, 2 things have been happening which distracted me from blogging:

1) The semester started on Monday! I have 6 subjects, and it's 50/50: half of them are OK, and another half is total crap. Well, at least it's better than the previous winter semester :) First week is always crazy, because you need to get signed for everything you want, and it involves either queuing at the students department or participating in "clicking battles" during online sign-ups. Very nervous, all of this.

2) I had another fit of Heroes of Might and Magic V. This doesn't cease to surprise me, but every half a year of so I spend around a week playing it nearly non-stop. The game is like 2 boyfriends old, but seriously, have you seen how cool it is?

Meanwhile, I have 3 books that I've read and not reviewed, and they are The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, The Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. I'm going to write a proper review for the last two (and hopefully soon!), but Otranto is not something I'd like to spend much time on, so here is a non-review in just one paragraph:

The Castle of Otranto is a weird book, with no logic, where "gothic" things just happen one after another without any connection. It features enough women in distress, noble gentlemen, rude villains, superstitions, fainting, deaths, lost sons etc... That's pretty much all that can be said about it, and if it was not so short (less than 100 pages) I'm not sure I would have finished it. But if you are in the right sarcastic mood, it can be really funny. Last year Jean posted about it and it made me smile a lot, although I haven't read it then. Now I understand, although sometimes I wish I didn't! :)

I'll finish with a picture that gives you some clue as to what is happening in The Castle of Otranto. See?

The Ocean At The End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (Review)

Title: The Ocean At The End of the Lane
Author: Neil Gaiman
First published: 2013
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Everybody seems to be crazy about The Ocean At The End of the Lane, so I feel a little uncomfortable writing a 3-star review for this new Neil Gaiman novel. I hope nobody will hate me for this :)

Let's start with the positive, anyway. Gaiman's language is awesome, there is no doubt to it. So the writing is what I really enjoyed. I also liked the beginning: a middle-aged man comes to the village where he grew up and remembers the time when he was 7. The child's perspective is very believable, which is a rare virtue in books, and some of the fears and anxieties the young protagonist is experiencing are very familiar and easily recognizable. I think I'm one of many readers who can really identify with the boy.

So the beginning, dealing with life of a normal 7-year-old boy, is wonderful, but then... Then the weird stuff starts to happen. Don't get me wrong: I like weird stuff, especially if it's Gaiman-written, but in this novel it just didn't work for me. I guess the main problem was that it was not subtle enough. Spooky flying ragged things? Meh. Scary black birds tearing reality apart? Again, not very impressive. So in the end I wished this book to be less obviously paranormal and the events to be less cumbersome. Evil housemaid, for example, was good, really good. Her wickedness could be a child's imagination, or she could really be some evil creature. What is real and what is an imagination of a child who is too fond of books? More of this kind of suspense could have worked much better than the ragged things.

In my book:
It is an good book, but most of the fantastic things didn't work for me. The writing is awesome, though, and makes it worth reading anyway.


P.S. We'll have a discussion of The Ocean At The End of the Lane at Coursera Fantasy and Sci Fi book club this weekend. It's gonna be fun!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Review)

Title: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Author: Ransom Riggs
First published: 2011
Add it: Goodreads, The Book Depository
Rating: ★★★★☆

I wasn't expecting much of this book, because it's not what I usually read. It's YA, paranormal, and pictures creepy children. Not really my cup of tea. But I have learned to trust the taste of guys in Coursera Fantasy and Sci Fi book club, and it was chosen for reading this March. I must say I was pleasantly surprised with this novel, and quite enjoyed reading it, at least in the beginning.

The main innovative idea of the book is to use vintage photography as a part of the narrative. I think everybody have seen at least some of those strange pre-photoshop photos showing headless people and other creepy stuff. Well, the author is exploring what would the models look like, is the photos were not modified. In the beginning the photos even fit smoothly in the narrative, and the first third of the book is rather amazing. Then it suddenly turns into some weird mix of Harry Potter and X-Men, the photos become less beautiful and fitting, and the novel drags a bit. It finishes well, however, with the promise of some time loop jumping in the next book, which I'm not sure I'll read though.

In my book:
A surprisingly well-written work of its type, but I would cut short some of the middle part and make some of the last part less YA. But the beginning and the idea is great!

Recurring images in Poe's stories

 I've made this simple table somewhat in a hurry to compare and summarize images, that can be found in several short stories by Poe:

 "The Oval Portrait" is too different to fit here, but still there is a lot of recurrence, the motif of life after death being the most persistent. I'm just curious if it'll be one of the topics professor will choose to discuss =)