Welcome to Friday 56! Hosted by Freda’s Voice, you turn to page 56 or 56% in any book or reading device and pick a sentence that grabs you.
“We knew it would work against rabies, and that’s what they said it was, right, just some weird strain of jungle rabies.”
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday! Hosted by Socrates Book Reviews this is where you share the first paragraph of one of the books that you are currently reading.
“The first outbreak I saw was in a remote village that officially had no name.”
Title: Spare
Author: Prince Harry
Audiobook Length: 15 hours and 39 minutes
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Autobiography
Read Start Date: June 20, 2023
Read Finish Date: July 3, 2023
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.
For Harry, this is that story at last.
Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.
At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.
Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .
For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
My Review: I think most people know who Prince Harry is. He is a public figure, and has been one since birth. Spare, a title taken from the English saying “the heir and the spare,” is a revealing memoir about Harry’s life from childhood to the present. It is hard to write this review without acknowledging that I had read a fair bit about the book in the media prior to actually reading it. I was expecting something very dramatic and damning of the Royal Family. In this aspect, the book did not really meet my expectations.
The brothers fought? Of course, they did. They are brothers. Is William supposed to be someone above reproach because he’s the next in line to the throne? Why is it so scandalous to portray the Princes as human beings with emotions? Maybe because I’m American I don’t get it, but I didn’t find any “oh my God” moment in the book.
While I liked reading about how the “other half lives,” I feel the memoir missed the opportunity to show more of what it is actually like to be a Prince beyond the “pap” harassment. I thought the story spent too much time explaining how Harry took drugs, how his penis got frostbite this one time, and complaining about being the spare. The whole time, I kept thinking that Harry has some enormous chip on his shoulder because he’s not the heir and yet has to deal with all the unwanted attention that comes with that title.
I think on this note, the best book review to read is from Orangutan Librarian. One of my favorite paragraphs from the review is below.
“Irritatingly, a lot of Harry’s narrative comes down to infantile whining. Forgive me for not feeling sorry for him that he had the smaller bedroom in a castle- I can’t exactly relate. Then again, this prince is delusional about class, privilege and money- seemingly completely unaware that you can’t get into Eton without a shed load of all of the above (even if they let a few plebs in every year to maintain charitable status, it’s undoubtedly a club for the rich and powerful). Yet here he is, lamenting his lot in life and feeling sorry for himself. Not that I don’t sympathise- I guess I am just too far removed from the line of succession (probably about 357,405,837th in line to be precise) to understand the point when #TIARAGATE matters in the grand scheme of things.”
Did this book make me feel bad slightly that they were harrassed by the media? Yes, actually. I did think it was terrible, but at the same time, he seems to confirm that a lot of what the media said about him was true.
Mybookworld24 had a different opinion.
“I think he might have everything material-wise but not what he really needs, which is family support and perhaps therapy to help him deal with the loss of his mother. It’s sad to see him carry that trauma into his adulthood, and I find that the palace and the media seem to forget that celebrities and royals are people too. After his second and final tour fighting for his country, he suffered from bad PTSD episodes, and when he told his family, they weren’t the most supportive until he hit rock bottom. This memoir felt raw and honest, which is why I gave it four stars.”
Stats: As of writing this blog post on August 21, 2023, this book has a 3.91 rating on Goodreads. My review is less than the average by nearly 1 star. So, I would recommend to read these other fabulous reviews for some comparison: Sprayed Edges and George L. Thomas.
Recommended? This book was good but not phenomenal. If one were to manage expectations, this book would be a good read, especially for people interested in the Royals.
Goodreads Monday is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog. “Goodreads Monday allows you to post about what books are on your “to read” lists, the progress you have made on your current books and reading challenge, and any other Goodreads news!”
Franz and Lola are vampires in love. They live in a cottage near the sea with their little vampire baby.
Burn Girl is a lonely girl who walks along the bottom of the sea, constantly on fire. The water doesn’t put her fire out or soothe her burns. It only makes her feel like she’s wearing an itchy wool sweater.
Bruno is the buffest vampire. He is building Muscle Island, a floating fortress comprised of mussels.
The Vampire Science Council has been working for centuries to prevent the depletion of their arctic planet’s blood supply, but the blood has finally run out.
Cyrus Lugosi’s friends want to slaughter him as part of a ritual sacrifice that will raise Cthulhu from his tomb at the bottom of the sea. There are just two The closest thing to the Necronomicon they’ve got is a unicorn coloring book, and Cthulhu is more interested in his quest for the perfect hamburger.
Their fates will converge when Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom .
See my review of this book here.
It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.
For Harry, this is that story at last.
Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.
At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.
Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .
For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
The Norfolk coast made for a perfect holiday — as long as the sun still shone. But when the rain came, the creatures left the shadows…
WORMS
Spectres from the past tortured James Hildebrand’s mind. His blackest nightmares were crowded with malevolent, coiling images of decay. Then, suddenly, he knew the threat was real.
WORMS
The dead alone could not quench their hunger. And, for the living, the horrors that fed and multiplied in the darkness of the night became more terrible with the dawn…
A poisoned man dreams of astronauts.
See my review of this book here.
Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it’s particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester .
Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all Hell really breaks loose – step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.
It’s not like they don’t have enough to be dealing with. Assistant Editor Hannah has come back from getting messily divorced to discover that someone is trying to kidnap a member of their staff and while editor Vincent Banecroft would be delighted to see the back of any of his team, he doesn’t like people touching his stuff – it’s the principle of the thing.
Throw in a precarious plumbing situation, gambling debts, an entirely new way of swearing, and a certain detective inspector with what could be kindly referred to as ‘a lot of baggage’ and it all adds up to another hectic week in the life of the newspaper committed to reporting the truth that nobody else will touch.
This Charming Man is the second book in the critically acclaimed The Stranger Times series.
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving—every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
– Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
– Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
– Design your environment to make success easier;
– Get back on track when you fall off course;
…and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits–whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
See my review of this book here.
Feyre’s survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price …
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre’s presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
See my review of this book here.
An emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?
William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a future different from the expected path of wife and mother; Cecelia, the family’s artist; and Emeline, who patiently takes care of all of them. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household.
But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?
Vibrating with tenderness, Hello Beautiful is a gorgeous, profoundly moving portrait of what’s possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.
Since 1973, The Exorcist and its progeny have scared and inspired half a century of filmgoers. Now, on the 50th anniversary of the original movie release, this is the definitive, fascinating story of the scariest movie ever madeand its lasting impact as one of the most shocking, influential, and successful adventures in the history of film. Written by Nat Segaloff, an original publicist for the movie and the acclaimed biographer of its director, with a foreword from John Russo, author and cowriter of the seminal horror film Night of the Living Dead.
On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle.
The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the real-life exorcism in 1949 Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages. Nat Segaloff, biographer of the film’s director, William Friedkin, draws on original interviews with cast, crew, and participants as well as revelations from personal papers to present an intriguing and surprising new view of the making of movie, and its aftermath.
Segaloff also examines as never before the keys to the movie’s enduring appeal. Friedkin and Blatty’s goal was far more ambitious than making a scary movie; they aimed to make people “think about the concept of good and evil.” The Exorcist succeeds, and then some, not just by creating on-screen scares, but by challenging viewers’ deepest personal beliefs—and fears.
Progress: Kindle 45% (May 15th: 11%, June 6th 22%, June 19th 33%)
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.
Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”
Progress: Page 68 of 342 pages
Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 billion stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps
400 billion galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the
14-billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our
own. The sheer enormity of the numbers almost demands that we accept the truth of this
hypothesis. Why, then, have we encountered no evidence, no messages, no artifacts of
these extraterrestrials?
In this second, significantly revised and expanded edition of his widely popular book,
Webb discusses in detail the (for now!) 75 most cogent and intriguing solutions to
Fermi’s famous paradox: If the numbers strongly point to the existence of extraterrestrial
civilizations, why have we found no evidence of them?
Progress: page 22 of 434
Title: Alone With You in the Ether
Author: Olivie Blake
Book Length: 288 pages
Goodreads Summary: CHICAGO, SOMETIME—
Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.
For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision.
To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. He gets through his days by erecting a wall of routine: a backbeat of rules and formulas that keep him going. Without them, the entire framework of his existence would collapse.
For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability—until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?
Title: A Court of Thorns and Roses
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Audiobook Length: 16 hours and 8 minutes
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
Read Start Date: July 11, 2021
Read Finish Date: August 22, 2021
Number of Book in Series: 1
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.
As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.
My Review: The first book in the series, the story follows Feyre Archeron, a young huntress living in a realm divided between humans and faeries. The faerie lands are split into the mortal realm, known as the Spring Court, and four other courts, each ruled by powerful faerie High Lords representing different seasons and aspects of nature. Due to a long-standing treaty, the two realms are separated by an invisible wall, and humans must be cautious not to venture into faerie lands.
Feyre’s life takes a drastic turn when she kills a wolf in the woods, only to discover that it was a faerie in disguise. Up until this point, the story was good. There was action, stakes (Feyre is hunting to feed her poor, starving family), and it was paced well.
As retribution, a beastly faerie lord named Tamlin arrives in the human realm to claim her. This is the point in the book where I began to get both annoyed and bored.
She is taken to the Spring Court as a “mercy” because the Treaty between the two species demands a “life for a life”. This means she can choose to be killed, or choose to live out her days in the faerie world of Prythian. I’m very confused. Why would this be an option for killing a faerie? Living in wealth and luxury? The Treaty also forbades slavery — although taking her as a servant would have made more sense as “punishment,” than living her days being able to do as she pleases. But I guess Maas couldn’t think of any other reason why Feyre would have to go to Prythian.
Once she gets there, she learns that a curse plagues the land and its inhabitants. A malevolent blight, threatens to destroy the faerie world, and Feyreis’s presence is entwined with the court’s salvation.
As Feyre navigates the unfamiliar and treacherous faerie realm, she begins to unravel the layers of secrets shrouding the curse, the court, and its enigmatic inhabitants. She also forms a complex and evolving relationship with Tamlin, the High Lord of the Spring Court, which transforms from hatred / fear to passionate affection.
And there is where Maas totally lost me. Beyond the repetitive use of the same words over and over (e.g. growl and snarl used over a hundred times), there was the creepy, predatory, abusive relationship between Tamlin and Feyre. Okay so you know how in Twlight, Edward is perpetually 17? It was like he never matured past being a teenager. So in human years he was 100+ years, but in vampire years he was 17. Well, Tamlin might “look young” but he is well over 500 years old in human years — and in fairy years he is like 40. At least that was my impression. There was nothing about Tamlin that indicated that he was a fairy “teenager.” Maybe this is why Feyre is hitting the end of the age range for YA fiction.
That being said, I was completely shocked when I learned that this book was YA. I would NEVER want my daughter to read this and think that abusive relationships are “hot.” Or even “okay.” Also I would be uncomfortable if my daughter read such graphic, explicit sex scenes. Maybe that makes me a prude, but whatever.
I first read this book as an audiobook in 2021 and disliked it. Then I thought I’d try it on Kindle because it seems like a popular series. I DNFed at 50%. I just couldn’t anymore.
This book was supposed to be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. I didn’t see it. Tamlin was the opposite of the Beast — he was good-looking on the outside and ugly on the inside. And where were the “Thorns and Roses”? I don’t remember seeing any. They weren’t intricate to the book.
Stats: As of the writing of this post on August 20, 2023, this book has a rating of 4.20 on Goodreads. So clearly, my review is not tot typical reception that this book usually receives. This book was also a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee in 2015.
Recommended? No, but as stated above, my opinion is the minority.
Welcome to Friday 56! Hosted by Freda’s Voice, you turn to page 56 or 56% in any book or reading device and pick a sentence that grabs you.
“And then, because life is not only weird, but also occasionally unforgiving, Sturgess’s phone rang for real.”
The Charming Man by C.K. McDonnell, page 56
Time Travel Thursday is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog. This is where I take a look back at what I was reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and compare it to what I am reading now.
Meet Forrest Gump, the lovable, herculean, and surprisingly savvy hero of this remarkable comic odyssey. After accidentally becoming the star of University of Alabama’s football team, Forrest goes on to become a Vietnam War hero, a world-class Ping-Pong player, a villainous wrestler, and a business tycoon — as he wonders with childlike wisdom at the insanity all around him. In between misadventures, he manages to compare battle scars with Lyndon Johnson, discover the truth about Richard Nixon, and survive the ups and downs of remaining true to his only love, Jenny, on an extraordinary journey through three decades of the American cultural landscape. Forrest Gump has one heck of a story to tell — and you’ve got to read it to believe it…
See my review of this book here.
Since 1973, The Exorcist and its progeny have scared and inspired half a century of filmgoers. Now, on the 50th anniversary of the original movie release, this is the definitive, fascinating story of the scariest movie ever madeand its lasting impact as one of the most shocking, influential, and successful adventures in the history of film. Written by Nat Segaloff, an original publicist for the movie and the acclaimed biographer of its director, with a foreword from John Russo, author and cowriter of the seminal horror film Night of the Living Dead.
On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle.
The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the real-life exorcism in 1949 Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty’s bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages. Nat Segaloff, biographer of the film’s director, William Friedkin, draws on original interviews with cast, crew, and participants as well as revelations from personal papers to present an intriguing and surprising new view of the making of movie, and its aftermath.
Segaloff also examines as never before the keys to the movie’s enduring appeal. Friedkin and Blatty’s goal was far more ambitious than making a scary movie; they aimed to make people “think about the concept of good and evil.” The Exorcist succeeds, and then some, not just by creating on-screen scares, but by challenging viewers’ deepest personal beliefs—and fears.
Progress: Ebook 38%
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
At least, he’s not a beast all the time.
As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it, or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
From bestselling author Sarah J. Maas comes a seductive, breathtaking book that blends romance, adventure, and faerie lore into an unforgettable read.
Progress: Ebook 21%
| Then | Now | |
| Fiction | x | x |
| Horror | x | |
| Sci-Fi | ||
| Fantasy | x | |
| Mystery | ||
| Thriller | ||
| Historical Fiction | x | |
| Women’s Fiction | ||
| Romance | x | |
| Contemporary | ||
| Nonfiction | x | |
| True Crime | ||
| History | x | |
| Self-Help | ||
| Humor | ||
| Memoir | ||
| Science |
Shelf Control is hosted by Bookshelf Fantasies. Instead of always looking ahead to upcoming new releases, I thought I’d start a weekly feature focusing on already released books that I want to read. Consider this a variation of a Wishing & Waiting post… but looking at books already available, and in most cases, books that are either on my shelves or on my Kindle!
Title: Leviathan Wakes
Author: James S.A. Corey
Published: 2011
Length: 592 pages
Brief Synopsis from Goodreads: Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.
Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.
Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.
How I got it: I bought this book from Thalia, which is a chain bookstore in Austria similar to Barnes & Noble in the US.
When I got it: 2020
Why I want to read it: My boyfriend raved about this series, but I never got around to reading it yet.
Title: Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom
Author: Cameron Pierce
Book Length: 172 pages
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Genre: Fiction, Bizarro Fiction, Horror, Fantasy, Lovecraftian, Vampires
Read Start Date: June 17, 2023
Read Finish Date: June 22, 2023
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Franz and Lola are vampires in love. They live in a cottage near the sea with their little vampire baby.
Burn Girl is a lonely girl who walks along the bottom of the sea, constantly on fire. The water doesn’t put her fire out or soothe her burns. It only makes her feel like she’s wearing an itchy wool sweater.
Bruno is the buffest vampire. He is building Muscle Island, a floating fortress comprised of mussels.
The Vampire Science Council has been working for centuries to prevent the depletion of their arctic planet’s blood supply, but the blood has finally run out.
Cyrus Lugosi’s friends want to slaughter him as part of a ritual sacrifice that will raise Cthulhu from his tomb at the bottom of the sea. There are just two The closest thing to the Necronomicon they’ve got is a unicorn coloring book, and Cthulhu is more interested in his quest for the perfect hamburger.
Their fates will converge when Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom .
My Review: This is a hard review to write. I got this book from the library, having never heard of it before. What called my attention to it at first was the name Cthulhu in the title. While I have several Lovecraft books on my shelf, I have not yet read them, and was intrigued about the author’s take on this Lovecraftian character.
I was pretty quickly turned off from the moment I started reading. Franz and Lola are a vampire couple, who have a vampire baby. In the first few lines, the baby is dead, Lola has drunk his blood, and the pair have dismembered the baby’s corpse. There was no emotions felt from either parent, and as a parent myself, I was not amused. I know its supposed to “bizarre” or whatever, but it just didn’t sit well with me.
Then they decide to use the baby’s body to summon Cthulhu in hopes of saving their dying planet. The results of the summoning are not what they expected, which leads to even more superfluous scenes of violence (like cutting up dozens of vampires to make one large mega vampire to fight Cthulhu).
There were many such scenes where I wanted to gag.
I am not a person who can put down a book once starting it, so I reluctantly kept reading, but it was slow going.
Stats: As of writing this review (August 8, 2023), this book has a 3.81 rating on Goodreads. My 2 stars therefore falls rather far from the average reader of this book. So, while I will not recommend it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good book, or that you might feel differently upon reading it.
Recommended? No.
First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday! Hosted by Socrates Book Reviews this is where you share the first paragraph of one of the books that you are currently reading.
“The hunger.”
The Charming Man by C.K. McDonnell
The Legal Alien 