I know - winter is on it's way and here I am talking about the spring that passed a few months ago! Well, I wasn't blogging then (well - not about books anyhow), and I read some really good books that I want to share. So here's a recap of my Spring reads - from April - July, 2011.
Favorite Reads of Spring 2011 (Plus the Books That Didn't Thrill Me)
Favorite Reads
City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments series, Cassandra Clare). All 3 books in this trilogy are fantastic reads.
Delirium, Lauren Oliver. The characters, the story, and how it progresses seem so well thought out and the book is so well written.
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins. Again - the entire series is AMAZING and this final book does not disappoint.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson. Read this towards the end of spring, and promptly moved on to the next 2 books in the trilogy during the summer - all excellent!
Good
Across the Universe, Beth Revis. Unique plot about 17-year-old Amy who was frozen aboard the spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future - but she woke up rom her frozen slumber fifty years too soon ... to a whole new world. There were a few unexpected plot twists that kept me reading and guessing about what would happen in the end.
As She Climbed Across the Table, Jonathan Lethem. Lethem's writing kept me interested - although I didn't think I would like this book at first ... I mean, a woman falls in love with her science experiment - sounds like the beginning of a bad novel - but kudos Lethem - you massaged me right along, making everything seem very believable and even the ending - which was like wtf?! - left me thinking about it a few days after.
Graceling, Kristin Cashore. I loved this book from beginning to end. I was a bit bothered by a few things towards the end, and that's the only reason it's not on my favorites list - but I definitely want to read the rest of the books in the series.
Paranormalcy, Kiersten White. Loved this book - it was light reading, just what I was looking for. The characters were well developed, although I felt the explanation of "what" the main character is, was a bit lacking.
Stolen, Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic (Women of the Otherworld Series #2, 3 & 4, Kelley Armstrong). I read book 1 (Bitten) last year and enjoyed it immensely, along with these follow up books - Dime Store Magic is my favorite of these 3.
The Marriage Bureau for Rich People, Farahad Zama. This was a cute, interesting story. It took a little while for the plot to develop but it left me smiling at the end. And I loved the glimpse into the tradition of arranged marriages.
Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead. This book was interesting enough to make me go read the 2nd book in the series (and the series gets better and better - I'm on book 4 now).
What the Night Knows, Dean Koontz. This book was a little creepy - don't read at night when it's dark and you're alone in a big house :-) Loved it!!
Not too Bad (but not too good either)
Aunt Dimity Down Under, Nancy Atherton. A light read which brought New Zealand to life for me and made me want to visit it. Other than that, the story was a bit run of the mill and I'm not inspired to pick up any of the books in this series (and there seems to be like 20 of them).
Graveminder, Melissa Marr. I like the premise, and the book is an okay read - but not really as action packed as it should be. It seemed to promise more than it delivered.
The Grey King, Susan Cooper. Another book I don't want to read any more in the series (and I feel you have to start with book 1 to really get this - I didn't).
Tide Running, Oonya Kempadoo. It took a while for this book to get to the meat of the story. The first few chapters seem to be just descriptions, and so I put it down. Once I picked it up again, I enjoyed seeing how the story progressed - but after about the middle, it didn't seem like the story was going anywhere. And that's where I think this book fails. It's also difficult to read if you don't understand the Trinidadian dialect.
Wished I Hadn't Wasted My Time
The Polished Hoe, Austin Clarke. This book started out promising, but about 1/4 of the way into the book, it becomes dull and boring. It no longer becomes a story of murder, but instead starts detailing the history of the island of Bimshire, the history of slavery & racism in the island, in America & in Europe. That's a lot to tackle for one book and I became totally lost - what direction was the author heading? I'll be honest, I skimmed over a lot of the pages of the 2nd half of the book - I tried to keep up but got lost in boredom.
Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys. I like the vivid descriptions of the book - of the Caribbean islands, and even the characters. But the book seemed a little disjointed to me, as if some things were left out that would have made the story fuller.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. This book is SLOW - slower than sap running down a tree on a cold day.
(Photo Credit: FlackJacket2010)
