Teaser Tuesdays (2)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I am currently reading Shadow's Edge by Brent Weeks, the second book in the Night Angel trilogy.

"Does it strike you as a good idea to let your enemy launch fully formed stratagems on you and then be forced to react from a position of weakness?" Brant asked. 

"That's more a rhetorical bludgeon than a question, general," Jarl said. 

Hollywood, Hapless

I love movies. And I love books. So you would think, then, that I would also love movies based on books, but no. (Same goes for books based on movies, but that's a different story.)

Somehow, Hollywood has an almost supernatural ability to ruin books by making theoretically related movies. Virtually the only movies based on books I've liked are the ones I've seen before reading the books (Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, Fight Club, The Bourne Identity, etc. And of those I've only ever read Lord of the Rings.) Harry Potter was okay, in general. I still haven't seen the last one and it doesn't particularly bother me. I laughed through Twilight in theaters and have no plans to watch any of the sequels. The Chronicles of Narnia started off okay and then degenerated into a giant pile of crap.

I think I develop a really clear picture in my head of The Way Things Are in a book, so when the movie comes around and (obviously) doesn't match my picture, I don't like it. Plus, because movies are such a different medium, the story has to be told differently, which I understand logically but don't have to be happy about. The Fever series being made into movies (by Dreamworks, no less) makes me very nervous, because a great deal of that story depends on being in Mac's head, which isn't really possible from a theatrical standpoint.

That being said, I watched the trailer for the Hunger Games movie today and I'm kind of excited. It looks like it could actually be pretty amazing, and from the trailer, at least, they're sticking pretty close to the book. If you haven't seen it yet, unlikely as that seems, check it out:

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

"It's Monday! What are you reading?" is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey.

Completed:

Beg for Mercy by Shannon Dermott (review)

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (review)

Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater (review)

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (review)

Aloha from Hell by Richard Kadrey (review)

Nightlife by Rob Thurman

Currently Reading:

Kiss of Midnight by Lara Adrian

What are you reading?

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger


From Goodreads: When Henry meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty. Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. Henry and Clare's attempts to live normal lives are threatened by a force they can neither prevent nor control, making their passionate love story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable. The Time Traveler's Wife is a story of fate, hope and belief, and more than that, it's about the power of love to endure beyond the bounds of time.


Because this is such a well-known book, I originally wasn't planning to post a review of it. And then I actually read it and found that I had many Things To Say, so here it is. 


Somehow I both loved and hated this book. I know, it doesn't make sense to me either. I was definitely a fan of the writing style; it was filled with that sort of understated, droll humor that appeals to me. Henry and Clare's relationship was really well done. The book was packed with emotion, and has successfully achieved a place as one of about five books I've read that has made me cry. (A lot. Don't finish this book in public.)


So all that was great. The middle was a bit slow, but I would have been fine with that if it were the only problem. What really bothered me was the meaningless suffering. There was no reason for the book to end the way it did. A horrible accident? A series of unfortunate events? That's really how you're going to do this? I get that this is supposed to be a tragedy, and that's fine. But if you're going to write a tragedy, make it a significant one. Sacrifice is far more touching than accidents.


The time traveling thing could have been great too. Near the beginning of the book, Clare describes the way things Henry does in his future determine the past and present as a Möbius strip, and I think that's a perfect analogy. So Niffenegger did explore, a little, the question of determinism v. free will, but really didn't go anywhere with it. If that could have been tied to the ending somehow, I think it would have been really amazing. I mean as long as it didn't destroy the space-time continuum or anything, anyway.


The Time Traveler's Wife was a good book. I think what bothers me so much about it is that I can see so clearly how it could have been really, truly spectacular, and it was so very close. If it were just an okay book I would have no problem listing off the issues and going away to do something else. The frustrating part is having the potential for greatness present but unrealized.


Anyway. This is definitely a book you should read. Be prepared for emotional impact. Bring tissues. And try not to wish for more than is actually there.


Plot: 2 cupcakes
Characters: 4 cupcakes
Style: 4 cupcakes
Overall: 3 cupcakes


If you liked The Time Traveler's Wife, try:
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
Spindle's End by Robin McKinley

Aloha from Hell by Richard Kadrey

Aloha from Hell
Richard Kadrey
Sandman Slim #3


From Goodreads: The ruthless avenger, a.k.a. Stark, finds himself trapped in the middle of a war between Heaven and Hell. With God on vacation, the Devil nosing around in Paradise, and an insane serial killer doing serious damage on Earth, Stark/Slim is ready to unleash some more adrenaline-surging, edgy and violent supernatural mayhem—and even pay another visit to Hell if necessary—which is great news for fans of Jim Butcher, Warren Ellis, Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and Simon R. Green.


Well, the writing's not exactly Pulitzer quality, and the story has all the subtlety of a grenade launcher, but things get blown up, burned, shot, stabbed, filleted, and otherwise destroyed. Reading these books is just fun. It's sort of like watching an action movie; sure, there's some plot there, and it's probably exciting (I like the way Kadrey paints Heaven and Hell), but the real point is the explosions. (And actually, this series would make great movies. Start producing, Hollywood.)


Stark is pretty much the ultimate badass. After however many years in Hell, he's gotten very good at killing things, and that's what he does. But like any halfway decent action movie hero, he's got a heart buried somewhere under all the scar tissue. The duality of human Stark and his angelic better half was a little weird, especially at the end, but it's not entirely unheard of, though usually it's done with half-demons instead. His continuing affection for Alice was a touching addition to Stark's character, so I was pleased this book was about her as well as Candy, who's really better for post-Hell Stark.


I've come to the conclusion that characters should never actually meet God. Expecting mysterious and unfathomable and getting snide and mean is just a letdown. But otherwise, it was fun, and I'm curious to see where the story is going next.


Plot: 3 cupcakes
Characters: 3 cupcakes
Style: 3 cupcakes
Overall: 3 cupcakes


GARS Score: 2.5 (5/5/2/2)
What's a GARS Score?


If you liked Aloha from Hell, try:
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Nightlife by Rob Thurman
Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Ranson Riggs

When Jacob was young his grandfather told him stories of a fantastic school for strange children, beset by monsters. The photographs of children with unusual abilities seemed to support his tale,  but as Jacob got older he realized the photos were obviously doctored, and stopped listening to his grandfather's tall tales. But when Jacob's grandfather is murdered, Jacob sees something that forces him to reconsider everything he thought was true. He travels to the island where his grandfather lived as a child, but what he finds there, he never expected...


I was kind of disappointed in this book. I was expecting droll and creepy, and what I got was occasionally witty and not-as-unique-as-it-sounds. Not that it was a bad book - the story was decent enough - it just didn't live up to the hype.

Mostly Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was sort of like X-Men, but less fun and with time travel. At first I thought it was going to be really great - the beginning was pretty enjoyable - but the story got bogged down by exposition somewhere around when Jacob and his father arrived on the island. Then nothing really happened for a long time until the very end, when many things happened abruptly and nothing was really wrapped up. It felt like the book was laying the groundwork for a sequel, though on Goodreads it didn't look like it was part of a series.

The characters were fairly unremarkable as well. It was a little weird that Emma was in love with Jacob's grandfather and then decided she liked Jacob. There were a couple times that I thought people were acting out of character, which does tell you that there were distinct characters they could actually act out of. And I did sort of like the idea of the ymbrynes, though I thought they could have done a lot more with that, not to mention the unrealized potential of the hollows and wights.

I wouldn't say I disliked this book. It was entertaining enough for a rainy day. If you're bored one day and have nothing better to do, give it a try, but until then, leave it at the library.

Plot: 2 cupcakes
Characters: 3 cupcakes
Style: 3 cupcakes
Overall: 3 cupcakes

If you liked Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, try:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Friday Memes 11/11

Follow Friday is a weekly blog hop hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee. This week's features are Mother Lode and The Book Nympho.
This week's question is...

In light of 11.11.11 and Veteran's Day, tell us about your favorite soldier and how he or she is saving the world. Fictional or real life.

I have two cousins in the military, one in the Air Force and one in the Marines, and I'm very proud of them! Here's hoping all our servicemen and women stay safe, wherever they are.

Fictionally speaking, Gladiator is my favorite movie ever, so the clear winner is Maximus Decimus Meridius. There was a dream that was Rome...

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TGIF is a meme hosted by Ginger at GReads.

This week's question is...

Love-Hate Relationship: which characters from a book do you love to hate?

My first thought here was Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter, of course. He's an obnoxious snot but not actually evil, so it's really quite easy to enjoy hating him!

I also love to hate the Goddess of Pain from Robin McKinley's Sunshine, who is a scary b*tch.