Books!
One of the good things about travel is having time to read. Not much else to do on the plane when you can't sleep (well, that and watching 4 of the 5 HP movies between the trip there and back). Also had some down time in the evenings to read, so I got three books done over the past couple weeks.
1. Lion Among Men - Gregory Maguire
2. The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo
3. Arrows of the Queen trilogy - Mercedes Lackey
4. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
5. Inkspell - Cornelia Funke
6. Brightly Burning - Mercedes Lackey
7. Teacher Man - Frank McCourt
8. All the Weyrs of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
9. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
10. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
11. The Alchemyst - Michael Scott
12. The Sugar Queen - Sara Addison Allen
13. The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
14. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
I enjoyed all of them for different reasons.
The Alchemyst was definitely the teen book it is labeled as, but it wasn't bad as a quick, end of the school year read. Lots of references to modern things to keep the kids happy, and yet a fair share of literary allusions that make it something that isn't without merit. The story itself was also fairly entertaining, in fact more so than I expected (enough that I've already purchased the second book in the trilogy/series-not sure which it is).
The Sugar Queen was a good, quick read. Fluffy story involving some magical realism where emotions can effect the physical things around the characters and books can appear at random to offer advice to one of the characters. Other than that, it's mostly a love story in a mountain town in NC. Good summer beach read: decent story, but engaging the brain is not strictly necessary.
The Fifth Elephant was typical Terry Pratchett. Satire + play on words that certainly entertains me. Again, not a terribly heavy read, but I would say a little more thought goes into reading Pratchett, for me at least, since I like to also enjoy the satire and not just the puns and physical humor.
Middlesex was obviously not as light a read as the others, but I still went through it fairly quickly. While I can't say that I agree with everything that was said in the novel, I still found it to be a fairly compelling read. I think my biggest problem with it is how little the narrator actually admits to the fact that they don't fit neatly into either gender, and how much it seems to rely on a strictly two-sided definition of gender despite the title. That being said, I think it did a great job of presenting some of the other more...non-discussable in polite company topics (i.e. the incest and the way that old-world traditions often blind people to reality). It was an interesting book, at least.
Now I get to pick my next read, and perhaps go sit out by the pool for a bit. Wheee...
1. Lion Among Men - Gregory Maguire
2. The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DiCamillo
3. Arrows of the Queen trilogy - Mercedes Lackey
4. Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
5. Inkspell - Cornelia Funke
6. Brightly Burning - Mercedes Lackey
7. Teacher Man - Frank McCourt
8. All the Weyrs of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
9. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
10. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
11. The Alchemyst - Michael Scott
12. The Sugar Queen - Sara Addison Allen
13. The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
14. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
I enjoyed all of them for different reasons.
The Alchemyst was definitely the teen book it is labeled as, but it wasn't bad as a quick, end of the school year read. Lots of references to modern things to keep the kids happy, and yet a fair share of literary allusions that make it something that isn't without merit. The story itself was also fairly entertaining, in fact more so than I expected (enough that I've already purchased the second book in the trilogy/series-not sure which it is).
The Sugar Queen was a good, quick read. Fluffy story involving some magical realism where emotions can effect the physical things around the characters and books can appear at random to offer advice to one of the characters. Other than that, it's mostly a love story in a mountain town in NC. Good summer beach read: decent story, but engaging the brain is not strictly necessary.
The Fifth Elephant was typical Terry Pratchett. Satire + play on words that certainly entertains me. Again, not a terribly heavy read, but I would say a little more thought goes into reading Pratchett, for me at least, since I like to also enjoy the satire and not just the puns and physical humor.
Middlesex was obviously not as light a read as the others, but I still went through it fairly quickly. While I can't say that I agree with everything that was said in the novel, I still found it to be a fairly compelling read. I think my biggest problem with it is how little the narrator actually admits to the fact that they don't fit neatly into either gender, and how much it seems to rely on a strictly two-sided definition of gender despite the title. That being said, I think it did a great job of presenting some of the other more...non-discussable in polite company topics (i.e. the incest and the way that old-world traditions often blind people to reality). It was an interesting book, at least.
Now I get to pick my next read, and perhaps go sit out by the pool for a bit. Wheee...