Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You review

Posted : 1 week, 3 days ago on 15 July 2008 02:03 (A review of Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You)

Where does one start with Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You? It seems like the author couldn’t decide which plot points to develop and as such none of them came to a satisfying conclusion. All the more disappointing is that Someday had the potential to be so much better. The story starts out promising enough; the narrator, James Sveck, is a witty and relatable character in the vein of Holden Caulfield. But after the first few chapters, it felt as if Peter Cameron had gotten out his dartboard, covered it with randomly generated plot ideas and started throwing. Not a complete waste of my time, but a pretty jarring reminder of why I tend to avoid the Young Adult shelves.

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Beautiful collection

Posted : 1 week, 4 days ago on 14 July 2008 12:13 (A review of Suicide Girls)

Dating from back in 2004 this book features a lot of the older and some now defunct SuicideGirls from the alternative erotica website of the same name. Only having come into proper contact with the concept in the last year I cannot comment on the book as related to the controversies quarrels that arose some while back, causing some of the models to leave, some migrating to GodsGirls, so rather I am leaving all that aside and concentrating on the book as a piece of art, representing the culminating experience, at the time, of Missy Suicide and all the models pictured.

The book is dived into two main sections: photos taken of the models by Missy, and self-taken photos along with profile-like excerpts. The first section features a nice range of pictures, showing the varying moods of the sets from playful, sumptuous, energetic, moody, artistic and a plethora besides. The second section also has some nice pictures, but its more about the self-expression of the models, featuring some of the stories behind their joining the site and choosing to freely show their bodies on the internet. It is here that the reader can get a real view into the down-to-earth stance that is the basis of the SuicideGirls concept. It may be pornography, but its also art, taking the image of an old fashioned "pin-up girl" as its integral form and throwing it together with music and life cultures that are not necessarily considered the norm, thus giving both the models and the audience/members an outlet of feeling part of something bigger and not alone in how they think/feel/look.

This is a book which documents a revolution in alternative erotica, while at the same time displaying some fantastic eye candy to the reader in a classy and stylish way. A beautiful collection of images and thoughts.

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Childrens Classic

Posted : 1 week, 4 days ago on 14 July 2008 12:06 (A review of Where's Wally Now?)

This, along with the other books in the series, is one of my favourite books from my childhood. And as far as activity books go, I remember getting a LOT out of this book in terms of entertainment value and time consumed. It may be extremely easy for me to find Wally (that’s Waldo to you Americans and otherwise) nowadays, especially after thoroughly trouncing the book over a hundred times, but going back over the lists of objects to find within the landscapes can still stump me occasionally. I truly love this book and look back on it fondly.

If only they made puzzle books for kids like this nowadays. *sigh* Screw new books, give this one to your kids and let them learn the joys of finding out just where Wally is.

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Average-y

Posted : 1 week, 4 days ago on 14 July 2008 12:04 (A review of The Abortionist's Daughter)

I picked this one up randomly when I recognised it in a charity shop after seeing it on Richard and Judy’s book club on channel 4. I’m not usually one to follow these kind of things, but its nice to branch out once in a while and see what else is out there.

The Abortionist’s Daughter, Elisabeth Hyde’s third novel, sort of reminded me of Alice Hoffman, especially in The Blue Diary, or Jodi Picoult’s style of writing. It isn’t really what I normally read, but it is one of those books that I pick up if I’m looking for a venture outside (or perhaps inside) the box. Overall it wasn’t a bad read, quick and easy enough to get through, granted the whodunit aspect of the story was rather predictable and the characters were basically your standard models in this sort of book.

Not bad, but not astoundingly great either. I guess the best way to describe my feelings toward this book would be one or two notches above meh.

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From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 8) review

Posted : 2 weeks ago on 11 July 2008 11:43 (A review of From Dead to Worse (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 8))

If my opinion of the "All Together Dead" (the previous book in the series) was that it was filler, then this book would have to be a bridge.

While reading it, I was rather confused at everything that was going on. This is mostly because there was so much going on in just one book. It felt more like a series of short stories rather than an overall plot. It wasn't until I got to the end that I figured out this might actually be the point.

"From Dead to Worse" brings back almost every character we have seen in the series since the beginning. The majority of it is really a series of knots, tying up any loose ends and linking together any hole we might have had in the past. I do think that this is a great idea and I like that things are now left clean and concise, with Sookie ready to face the next big bad or reach another emotional crossroads. It was something that needed to be done and I don't think I really realized how much had been left open until it was then closed.

On the downside, this left me a little disappointed with some of the things that I wish Harris had spent more time on. As someone who is very much "Team Eric", I was hoping for a lot of time spent on the revelation, on Eric remembering, on Sookie trying to deal with how he might have felt about it all. Instead, it was sort of brushed under the rug with a vague promise that it would all be addressed later. Other things, like Bob the cat, were summed up in a few pages, and suddenly it was just over. I truly believed that could have provided far more comedic fodder. The new family and Sookie's possible fairy ancestors should have proven to be a novel in itself. It would have allowed us to discover even more about a species of supernaturals that haven't been dealt with very much in the Southern Vampires series.

So I'm left a little torn. I like that things were adressed that needed to be, and I like that Sookie now has the chance for a fresh start... but simultaneously I was hoping for more classic Sookie fare. Either way, if you go into it prepared, than you will not be as disappointed. Accept it for the link between Sookie version 1.0 to (hopefully) Sookie version 1.5 (we don't want her to change too much).

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The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1) review

Posted : 2 weeks, 1 day ago on 10 July 2008 09:48 (A review of The Summoning (Darkest Powers, Book 1))

I've begun to have this firm belief that if it's written by Kelley Armstrong, then you just can't fail. She's followed up my favourite Women of the Otherworld series with her first novel for young adults.

The wonderful thing about this book is that you don't have to have read any of her other work to appreciate this story or the Otherworld universe. The characters really stand on their own, and we are introduced to this world with supernatural people living among normal humans. We get to discover that some people aren't like everyone else and how this can sometimes be interpreted as children having emotional or psychological problems. It was great fun reading along as Chloe discovers her powers and uncovers mysterious secrets about her new group home.

For anyone who has read Armstrong's previous novels, you can appreciate the small nuances or references in the story. You almost sort of feel like you're peeking in at what it might have been like for Clay, Adam, or Jaime as children. You appreciate the trials, confusion, and fear so much more knowing that there is a great big world filled with people like them, ready and willing to offer help.

The characters are great, but mostly I was quite surprised at the fact that I couldn't nail most of them down. Usually, when I read a story, I can tell who's going to be a good guy and who's going to be someone the protagonist should be wary of in the long run. By the time I finished "The Summoning", I thought everyone was sketchy or shadey. I found everyone multi-layered and started believing that not everyone was as nice or as helpful as they seemed. This was a very welcome surprise.

And speaking of the ending... you'll be cursing the fact that you don't have the follow-up book, ready and waiting. It's a great cliffhanger and definitely leaves you wanting more.

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And what a accidental revolutionary he is

Posted : 2 weeks, 1 day ago on 10 July 2008 03:50 (A review of Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary)

If your a technology geek like me you know what Linux is and you know that Linus Torvalds was the programmer behind it. Well Just for Fun tells Linus' whole life story.

The book is split into two parts, the book even says that, with the first part being from his childhood to college and writing Linux and how it changed the computer world and the second part is Linus' thoughts on the computer industry, life, and other philosophy subjects.
As I said before I'm a tech geek and really like hearing about tech and found the first part of the book really enjoyable but the second I didn't fully enjoy but that was because of my personal beliefs but was a good insight to Linus' way of thinking.

And the writing is good for a ghost writer as instead of making the book sound like Linus was writing it and was written more like a interview.

For geeks like me this is a must read into learning how the whole open source movement really started but if your not this books first might be way over your head.

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Beauty's Punishment

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 9 July 2008 10:23 (A review of Beauty's Punishment)

I think this is a great continuation from the first novel and although I love all three at times this would have to be my favourite. The fact that it offers a new experience for the slaves to be in makes it seem far more brutal and far more interesting. I think it helps to add more depth and then there is the introduction of a new character and the story being told from their perspective as well as Beauty’s. I quite like the new perspective and seeing as it is a different slave to what Beauty is (a different type of slave) I think it adds a better dimension compared to the first but only in so far that it helps add more dimension to Beauty’s character.
Then there is the introduction to Laurent (my favourite character) and seeing as these books are so short and it’s really only feeling like it’s getting to the heart of it just as it ends I always get a bit upset at the ending because of it’s abruptness. In saying that I think it’s an abruptness that’s needed to continue the slaves growth, but still I like the brutality, mainly because I’ve found it to be a more colourful novel and even more detailed then the first.

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Setting The Stage

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 9 July 2008 10:02 (A review of The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty)

I can’t help comment/review this book from the perspective of someone who has read it before and has recently read it again.
As a whole I like to think of the trilogy like a flower. The first novel is the bud and then by the time you get to the end of the third novel it’s in full bloom.
Claiming starts of with innocent little Beauty being “awakened” by the Prince. I like how innocent Beauty is because as the reader you’re innocent to this new world she is introduced to as well, this being a fairy tale after all, and you get to warm up to it like she does as if this is the setting stage for what is to come. By the end of it Beauty is still innocent but she’s really only touched the surface and so has the book so the ending isn’t really all that surprising and I think the perfect prelude to the next one.
I highly recommend this for anyone into the SM genre or if you are an erotic lit reader but want some shock value then by all means read it. Mind you, if you’re narrow minded forget about it because the “shocks” (when I say shocks I mean for vanilla people) start right from the beginning and become more intense, imaginative and descriptive as Rice delves further into the psychological factors of it.

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Great Read

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 9 July 2008 08:48 (A review of The Host: A Novel)

Yet again Meyer has written a book that I find quite painful to put down, it's too addictive for that. It's "science fiction for people who don't like science fiction" which is the perfect description and actually made me want to read it more in the beginning. Sure it's a story about alien invasion and it has aliens mentioned constantly through out but you get to a point where you don't really think about aliens because when it comes down to it this is really a story about humanity and human emotions then body snatchers, but then again it's very interwoven with body snatchers.
I love the characters in this story, they're such stronger characters to what I was expecting and the detail is great too. Sure it was a bit of a slow starter but mainly it's because it felt like the story was building up to something and by about the 50-75 page area you can't help but be swept up in it, utterly addicted and wanting to find out how two entities inside one body could possibly co-exist.
If you like a little bit of science fiction but don't want to read something saturated with it then I highly recommend this because the science fiction aspect of it is really just a back drop for an idea.

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