Amy 
young adult, fantasy
In Shadow Scale, Seraphina decides to go off in search of other half dragon/half humans like herself. It is not particularly clear why her uncle thinks this will help settle the ongoing dragon/human battles, but she sets off with grand plans. She travels from place to place, meeting interesting people, seeing interesting things, and getting foiled at many turns. Things don't go as planned and she has to abandon her plans frequently. However, it turns out that she will play a critical role in ending the wars.
I do realize that part of my problem was that this book arrived from the library at an inopportune time. I’d had it on hold for so long and then it came when I had several other novels in my possession that I wanted to read. It came when I had my first taste of real schoolwork for the first time in 28 years which stole lots of my pleasure-reading time. It came and it was much larger than I had anticipated and was a bit of a pain to lug around everywhere, so I left it behind in favor of my Kindle frequently.
However, I persevered and did finally finish this novel despite being tempted to leave it and never come back a couple times. Basically, it got really slow and boring a sometimes during the course of Seraphina’s neverending, seemingly pointless travels. I enjoyed the characters and the settings were often charming and creative. But, Rachel Hartman's storyline never pulled me in. The strategies of all the players were never clear and I ended up doing quite a bit of browsing to get through the slow parts. The ending was only partially satisfying. And, I really don't remember too much about the first novel in the series, Seraphina. (I read it 20 months ago!) Perhaps, if I had, I might've felt more linked with this story.
So, I will give it 3 stars—my average rating for enjoying a book--but am tempted to give it 2-1/2. I’m going to give it the benefit of the doubt due to my first few sentences of explanation and assume that I would have enjoyed it more if it had arrived from the library at the right time.
Lynnie
contemporary fiction, short story collection
It's
rare that I find an entire short story collection so engaging, but
American Houswife: Stories is a fantastic exception. The collection was
interesting & entertaining, filled with unique stories & a
menagerie of housewives. Helen Ellis created characters for each story are at turns
quirky, charming, disturbing & funny and yet each have something to
offer. Some of the situations are so absurd (Dumpster Diving With the
Stars) that you can't help but laugh along.
The only story I
didn't love was the final in the collection (My Novel is Brought to You
by the Good People at Tampax), but all of the others had me highly
amused. I was particularly surprised by how much I enjoyed the darker
stories (Dead Doormen and The Wainscoting War, for example).
This was the perfect cure to a dreary winter weekend.
Lynnie
historical fiction
It's
been 30+ years since I spent any time with Judy Blume's writing. In
some ways, In the Unlikely Event was like spending time with an old
friend- unfortunately though, it's the old friend I've outgrown.
There
were two aspects of Unlikely Event that I really had problems with- the
first is that while the story is interesting in many ways it unfolds
slowly. Like the plane crashes the book is centered around, you know
it's coming but it's hard to watch.
The second issue is the
sheer number of narrators in this book. Each character gets a page or
two (or sometimes as little as a paragraph) to tell you the story from
their perspective. I lost count somewhere around the fifteenth narrator
and found myself annoyed by the constantly switching perspective. Just
as someone's story would get interesting, we'd be thrust into someone
else's point of view- sometimes about the same event, sometimes
regarding something entirely different. It gave me literary whiplash.
Worse though, I found that there were so many characters that I stopped
caring about most of them entirely.
The story just wasn't focused enough for my tastes.
Amy
historical fiction
The Secret Chord tells the story of the life of David, conqueror of Goliath. I read this novel for book club. I’ve read two other books by Geraldine Brooks (for book clubs) and, although I think she’s a great writer and admire the way she weaves historical fact into interesting stories, the subjects of those books were only mildly interesting to me. I also felt that they sometimes bordered on too much detail and got a little boring in the middle.
This is my favorite of the three I’ve read because I found the story and the characters so engaging. It kept me interested to find out what happened next. I thought it was very effective to have the narrator be Natan, David’s prophet and counselor. He was in a position to know everything that was divulged in the story.
I’ve never given much thought to David. I knew he was little and Goliath was big when he became famous for defeating the “giant”. And that’s about all I knew of David other than he was the subject of the famous statue by Michelangelo. But, I now feel like I’ve read his biography and have learned all about his life from birth through death. And, what an interesting life he had! From very discouraging beginnings, to a youth of brilliance and success, to leading a triumphant kingdom, to his slow demise, David is a flawed hero who is difficult to reconcile at times. Brooks definitely made him seem human—wise yet imperfect. I thought it was a great novel.
If you like this novel, I recommend The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. It, too, takes a much closer look at a flawed, heroic historical character and brings him to life.
