pages of words

8 new books

S Chou — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:34:42 +0000

I’ve gone on another reading binge, this time it’s about 8 books in one week, which isn’t bad since I read about 4 of them on a weekend day. In no particular order, here they are:

Queen of Sylphs by LJ McDonald (Final book in the Sylphs series)
Kiss of Frost by Jennifer Estep (Book 2 of Mythos Academy series)
Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep (Book 1 of Mythos Academy series)
The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson (sequel to 13 Blue Envelopes)
The Trouble with Spells by Lacey Weatherford
The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams
If I Die by Rachel Vincent (Book 5 in Soul Screamers series)
Fatal Judgment by Irene Hannon (Book 1 in Guardians of Justice Series)

Quick thoughts on some of the books

Queen of Sylphs – ok, the author did answer my question about how battler sylphs could propagate with their human female masters, but I still find it unsatisfying. Why? Because it requires a human male sperm donor. And that the queen’s battler sylph thinks that becoming a father is just “yelling at his kids.” Really. If you think that way, then you’re definitely not ready to be a father. For real men in that series, the two older human males are the role models. Not the battlers that just think about fighting and sex. (I should probably mention the whole hive-sylphs thing got to me and I had to analytically look at it was due to my biologist training. I get annoyed at animal shape shifter stories that don’t follow their real world counterpart norms as well.)

Mythos Academy series – not bad, I will continue following the series. Has a bit of a touch of Vampire Academy in it, which I like, but it took a bit too long getting to the plot.

The Trouble with Spells – this was the lightest read of the lot. I have trouble with this book, especially with the magic world-building. There’s practically none! Perhaps I’ve just read too many fantasy novels that deal with building the laws that govern magic, where it comes from, how it’s learned, how it can and can’t be used, how dark magic works, etc, that this book pretty much just said “rule of three” and left it there. Very YA and light at that too.

If I Die – hm. Kind of on the fence on this one. I don’t know why it started reminding me of Twilight flaws, but it did. However, I know the series has considerably more potential in series plot, with character development for the villains, so I’ll probably come back to it.

Fatal Judgment – it was a BN Free Fridays book ages ago, and I finally got around to reading it. It was good to read a mystery action book, to give myself a break from all the fantasy stuff. overall, a pretty entertaining read, but I started getting annoyed when the characters mentioned believing in God three too many times.

I have a huge backlog of BN Free Fridays books to read. I download each week’s book even if it doesn’t interest me when I download it. You never know when one of them turns out to be amazing.

1 movie 1 novella 1 book

S Chou — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:47:07 +0000

It’s been nearly a month since I’ve updated, and I really haven’t read anything new that’s been traditionally published. However, end of December means Yuletide Treasure stories, so I’ve been reading a lot of that.

Book – Blood Safari by Deon Meyer

Novella – “Magic Gifts” by Ilona Andrews (free on their website until Jan 7, and then it’ll be published with the next book)

Movie – Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which I watched Christmas weekend with friends. The title reminds me a lot of Wheel of Time titles.

My roommate got me Grimm’s Fairytales (translated into English of course) for my birthday, so now I’m slowly working at the 600 page volume on my Nook.

Have I ever said how much I love my 1st generation wi-fi only Nook? It is all sorts of e-ink amazing even if it’s well over 1.5 years old now.

13 new books

S Chou — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:45:46 +0000

So… I ended up on a reading spree between today and the last time I updated. Not reading books for a long time makes me all irritated and then I have to go on sprees to feel right again.

Blue by Lou Aronica
Blood Ties by Lori Armstrong
Getting Caught by Mandy Hubbard
Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald
Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas
It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas
Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
Scandal in Spring by Lisa Kleypas
Mine Till Midnight by Lisa Kleypas
Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas
Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas
Married By Morning by Lisa Kleypas
Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas

So yes, I ended up reading more historical romances, although in these cases I was much more intrigued by the friendships and family interactions and not the romance. Also, figuring out the villains was a bit like figuring out a mystery, and I tend to just skip over the sex scenes. I’m a little crazy when it comes to books.

2 new books

S Chou — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:30:48 +0000

Have been slowing down my reading due to having a full-time work life, and trying to hang out with friends on weekends. Which doesn’t leave much time for leisure reading, which makes me sad. I have a huge backlog of books on my BN Nook to read (downloaded free from Free Fridays), and I really want one free weekend to browse the local BN and sit in a comfy armchair for a whole afternoon.

But anyway, here’s two new books I’ve read this week.

Somewhere I’ll Find You by Lisa Kleypas, and Fate’s Edge by Ilona Andrews. I’m not exactly a fan of Regency era romantic novels, so if I’m reading one and there’s no elements of steampunk or magic in it, it must mean I’m really desperate for something new to read. Luckily for me, Fate’s Edge came out this week, and I enjoyed reading it. Now I want to go re-read Lirael (by Garth Nix), one of my old favorites.

shrek forever after

S Chou — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:12:17 +0000

Watched Shrek Forever After because I’ve seen the first three, and I didn’t feel like leaving my warm cozy home on a Thursday night. It was pretty funny, but it was obvious that the story was getting near the end of its life… I kind of prefer Shrek as the cynical sarcastic ogre seen in the first movie over the softie he’s become by the fourth one.

beauty and the werewolf

S Chou — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:47:00 +0000

Finally got around to reading Beauty and the Werewolf by Mercedes Lackey. I don’t know how I missed this when it came out, considering how much I love Mercedes Lackey’s books. Since I haven’t really read anything in the last few weeks, I enjoyed reading this one, and of course, learning more about the 500 Kingdoms. There are some story plotlines that I take issue with, especially the villain as I, the reader, identified the only possible candidate straight from the beginning, and even the Godmother should have taken notice. But then again, there would be no novel if so. I was happy at the end when the traditional sort-of/could-have-been villain wasn’t though.

Also have started watching two new (both in first season) TV series Grimm and Once Upon a Time, two very different takes on western fairy tales. Come to think of it, it was all Mercedes Lackey’s Black Swan that I stumbled upon in 8th grade that led to me being interested in retellings of traditional western fairy tales.

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

S Chou — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 18:41:51 +0000

I finished reading Snuff by Terry Pratchett, which was a nice return to Discworld. I haven’t actually read a book in a couple weeks, and I was starting to get antsy with nothing new to read. So I’m glad I remembered that Snuff had just been published and went to read it. I think I’m starting to get the hang of the “mystery” in the novels where either the City Watch or Sam Vimes are invovled.

I’ve been catching up on Season 5 of Big Bang Theory, but it seems to me that the later seasons are more on the dumb jokes and less science-y ones. Which makes it a sell-out to me, and I don’t know if I have enough interest to keep watching. Maybe there’s just too many seasons and no proper plotline to keep things moving at a pace for people with an IQ over 100. Then again, I think most American shows are dumb and vulgar, and why yes I am rather a bit of a culture snob.

6 new books

S Chou — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:20:20 +0000

Rather behind on this – just haven’t felt like updating due to the crummy weather the Mid-Atlantic had for the past few weeks. Anyway, weather’s nice now, so here’s this update

5 books by Seanan McGuire:

Rosemary and Rue
A Local Habitation
An Artificial Night
Late Eclipses
One Salt Sea

I believe I read a part of A Local Habitation before, but this time I actually finished reading it.

And I also read Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, which just came out.

Have been watching Downton Abbey – it’s my current favorite show. I like Big Bang Theory, but it lacks the class and complexity of British shows.

A friend mentioned a new Taiwanese film, You Are the Apple of My Eye, to me this morning. Since it just came out in Taiwan, I have no idea when the DVD will be out.

a pile of new books and 1 tv series

S Chou — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:58:22 +0000

I’m rather behind on updating this – I discovered the local public library a couple weeks ago and now I have been borrowing quite a few books and DVDs left and right. It’s amazing – I love the library. My only gripe is that they arrange the adult fiction alphabetically, so it’s a bit harder to find fantasy/sci-fi authors unless I already know their names. On the other hand, at least they’ve got a separate section for YA, and DVD hold requests get filled fast!

Books I have read:

Ill met by moonlight by Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis (I believe I started reading this book years ago but never finished)
Pegasus by Robin McKinley, apparently this was only part 1?
Princess Ben by Catherine Murdock

I’m also currently watching Big Bang Theory on DVD, I’ve just finished watching all of Season 1 and will be requesting Season 2 from the library soon. Yay for legal free ways of watching shows!

Downton Abbey series 2 is also airing now, except it won’t in the US until early next year. Waiting time…

princess novel series by jim c hines

S Chou — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 03:14:58 +0000

Finished reading the 4 books of the Princess novel series by Jim C Hines, recommended to my by BN.com while looking at a novel by Mercedes Lackey. Usually I think recs by websites often tend to go a bit off, but in this case, it was a great recommendation. The four books are The Stepsister Scheme, The Mermaid’s Revenge, Red Hood’s Revenge, and The Snow Queen’s Shadow. All four books had strong female characters, twists of fairytales with homages to the original darker stories, and positive endings although perhaps not quite in the traditional sense, but something that would be much more likely to happen in real life. I thoroughly enjoyed the series, and even enjoyed the author’s blog as well.

Also, I think the best part was this entire series started out after a wedding of a fairytale couple, the “happily ever after” part, but with adventures and friends.