Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2009
I wish I had a time machine to get more out of my day.
I am currently back into a new session of Taekwondo and have started Pilates. Oh boy. Dunno how that is gonna go, but it has cut into my free reading time. I order a ton of my books from Amazon, but I wish I had a B&N or Borders closer so I could peruse the shelves. My husband tries to tell me that it’s better to buy off of Amazon but the feelings just aren’t the same as being able to flip through a book and actually give it a test drive before you buy it.
This month has been a slow month on books. None of my favorite authors have published anything new. So I await the end of January and beginning of February for the glut of books coming out.
More later as it is time to go practice and then go to pilates class.
I’ve been out of touch. I’ve been reading tons of books, but not commenting on them. I picked up the last two Amy Lane books. I’ve read them, but I need to form and opinion of them before I put it down on paper. I’ve started reading “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss, and thoroughly enjoying it. It’s been awhile since I’ve read pure fantasy. I have a huge library of mostly fantasy novels, but I really got tired of reading the same thing over and over. The genre just hasn’t had anything new published for awhile. The Urban Fantasy section is starting to get there as well.
I got an early Christmas present of an Acer Aspire 8.9″ laptop. I want an E-reader but the cost for a reader is totally absurd. This lets me log in where ever there is internet access which is practically everywhere. Hopefully this will allow me to post more often.
Here are some upcoming books to look forward to:
Books due January 2009:
Books due February 2009:
I’ve been busy. I wish I could tell you it was doing something fun, but I can’t so we will ignore it and move on. I’ve been reading a lot, and some of it is new and some of it is old. So, here’s the list:
It’s not a lot, but then again I didn’t mention everything I’ve read. That would probably bore you. Reading through reviews and the forums on Amazon I came across something strange. General anger about Authors switching genres.
I have read all of the Laurell K Hamilton books (except the Star Trek and Ravenloft junk) and here’s the deal… I don’t care for the way her books went after Obsidian Butterfly in the Anita Blake series. I didn’t really care for Obisian Butterfly either but there was a marked difference in the books after. Less plot more sex. Then she started a new series with the Meredith Gentry books and she clearly meant them to be the vehicle with which she got to fully explore sex. I’m fine with that. I wasn’t fine with how the Anita Blake books devolved. It went from Urban Fantasy to Romance.
Apparently this cross genre jumping is driving people nuts.
I also read JR Ward’s Brotherhood series. I enjoy it, and yeah sometimes all the extra hhhhh’s she adds to accentuate the difference between human and vampire gets a little silly…er a lot silly. So she published a new book this year and people were unhappy with her jump from Romance to Urban Fantasy. I really didn’t have a problem with it because the story is still there at least it wasn’t all pointless sex with little plot.
Another author that I’ve been reading has been Karen Moning. There is also a subset of people who are upset about her jump from Romance to Urban Fantasy. Especially with how dark the ending was on her new book Faefever. People are getting upset because it’s lacking the sexiness of the Highland series.
So what’s the big difference between Romance and Urban Fantasy? And why does it irk people when authors jump ship to a different genre?
It appears that this Wordpress Blogger came across a lot of the same issues.
I’ve gotten to the point where I wish booksellers would just combine all fiction into one group. I hate going to the Fantasy section to pick one book then find what I want out of the horror section and then run the Romance to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
Now for some reviews:
Swallowing Darkness
Who didn’t snicker when they read the title? And the next Anita Blake book is called Skin Trade. Good grief. Does she really take herself seriously?
I found this book a departure from the rest of the series. It had less sex. I think only a chapter was sex and the rest actual quasi plot. Hamilton’s language in the book was what led it astray for me. The dialogue was so stilted it was terrible, it didn’t flow and was almost boring to read. I put it down several times to go do other things hoping that it was just my mood that influencing my boredom.
It was rather nice to see her back on track, but I think with this series she just isn’t into writing it. I’ve read a few reviews that mentioned this book almost seemed to be the end of the series, as in what would be the point to add more to it. I agree with that. This would have been a safe ending.
Acheron
A lot of people didn’t like the first half of the book. It was rough, dirty, and not at all comfortable. It detailed the life of the main character Acheron. The first half of the book dealt with the mistreatment of Acheron from the time he was born up until his rebirth from being killed by Apollo. Readers had a hard time with it because it was about child slavery and rape. It wasn’t Kenyon’s normal fare. I thought she had written it well and it did an ample job of putting you in the Ash’s mindset for the rest of the book. The second part of the book was a typical Dark Hunter novel, but thank god she went as far as ending the relationship with Artemis. I like to see authors grow out of a segment of writing and advance a plot. Overall I enjoyed the book and it has become a favorite book. It’s a little bit of harsh with a little bit of sweet.
Just finished rereading theCrossroads series by Nick O’Donohoe. It’s an old series, and you probably won’t find it on the shelves at your local B&N. I own the first two books and haven’t ever bought the third one. I enjoy them though so eventually I’ll pick up the third book.
I love the characters, I love the setting, and I love the story. Overall it’s a great read, but some readers may get turned off by the level of detail the author uses in some of the animal surgery scenes.
I have read a ton of fantasy, it’s by far my favorite genre. This book is a branch off of the fantasy tree into urban fantasy. It was originally printed in 1994 so it’s not like a lot of the recent urban fantasy novels.
There aren’t vampires in it, but there are werewolves or Wyr as they are called. Most of the critters in the book are from classical lit: centaurs, satyrs, chimera, and griffins. The setting is a place called Strangeways, it’s an intersection of space and possibly time where people come and go and it’s magical of course. The interesting twist is that it’s about veterinarian students who go into Strangeways to help the magical critters. It’s different. There is a touch of romance to it, but it’s not as prevalent as in current novels.
Where do you draw the line at too much sex in a novel?
Sex is becoming commonplace in our commercials, tv shows, internet, and even video games. There are people who want it on every page. There are people who don’t want it at all.
I don’t mind sex in a novel, but I don’t think it should be gratuitous. I am also one of those who thinks the book is always better than the movie. So poorly written gratuitous sex is sorta like watching a bad movie….you’re sorry you spent the money and sorry for the waste of time. Sex should add to the story, not overshadow it. That’s the way I like to think of it. Sex scenes can be fun, titillating, or even scary.
I think some people have different tastes as far as reading goes. Each person should make that call for t
Genre can be misleading as well. You can find sex scenes in most Romance novels, but it’s becoming common in standard fiction and even my favorite sci-fi/fantasy. I’ve heard rumors of some of those books being put in young adult literature sections. How does that even work? Do I really want my kid reading that? As an adult I can make those decisions for myself…but children?
I found this interesting article via google. Thought I would share it. This one is also interesting.
In two weeks I test for a green belt in Taekwondo. I have some trepidation about this because at green the sparring starts. While I totally enjoy learning the forms and sparring stances, I don’t know how I feel about actually trying to hit someone. I played soccer when I was younger and even though they say it’s not a contact sport it required a certain amount of physicality. Playing soccer had some pushing and shoving and tripping….Taekwondo is actually the art of striking with the hands and the feet. So we’ll see.
I’m really diggin’ the Old Man Logan series in the Marvel series ‘Wolverine‘. It’s been awhile since any of the x-books have interested me. I used to collect them avidly until the movies came out and created a ton of spin-offs. I didn’t have the time or the money to spend on them so I gave them up. I just started getting the current x-books via a retailer that gives me the retail cost on comics and so far I’ve been pretty happy with the new story line in Wolverine.
I want to pick up the Deadlands RPG, but am unsure of weather to pick up the old edition or the reloaded edition. I hear (via amazon reviews) that the new books is prettier and more consolidated..that it’s missing some of the ‘feel’ of the original.
Last night I made one of my favorite dishes. Blackeyed peas and spinach….very tasty.
I tried to sit down and again read “Blood Noir” by Laurell K Hamilton. It has been aptly named Blood Bore by a few Lashers. I 2nd that name and have been tempted to round up my Anita Blake books and throw them away. The direction that the Anita Blake books has taken is not what I want to read. Poorly written porn with very little plot, unless you count the need to find new ways to get down and dirty as plot. I don’t. I find it amusing that although she includes necrophilia, bondage, beastiality, and multiple partners sex she seems to overlook the anal sex even though she considers herself edgy. Not that I encourage her to include it, I just find it fascinating that she strives to include all the others but steers clear of that…it’s almost comedic in how she works her way around it.
I miss the mystery/supernatural plot.
Has anyone read “Wolfsbane and Mistletoe“? I hope it’s all new stories.
I missed Taekwondo this morning. So I went to buy Iron Man this morning. Yay!
I also picked up a Latin text book or so. I needed something to keep my mind somewhat nimble. I also started messing around with my two domains and adding new things. Fun!
I picked up a book via Mom, and it was sucktacular! The title is “Vulnerable” by Amy Lane. While reading it…I got the feeling that Amy Lane is an LKH fan. Some of the plot devices seemed strangely familiar. The book was about Elves and Vampires, and seemed to be a mishmash between Anita and Merry Gentry. It has the vampire (sorta like Jean Claude) and it has the Elf (sorta a cross between a few of the guys in the Merry Gentry novels). And of course the main character of the book is well on her way to becoming a goddess. Eh. I was ok with the sex in the novel. I think my main problem is that although there was characterization in the book it was still two dimensional.
I also read the new Emma Bull novel “Territory“. I enjoyed it but I felt that it ended in a strange place. If you liked the movie Tombstone, that is exactly what it is except with magic. Kinda neat.
So, I went to the doctor this morning to have her look at a lump on my back. Yeah I know “Fin we knew you were Quasimodo!” Anyway I knew the lump had to go away but I thought it would be a two step process. Oh boy nope. So it was a cyst and now I have 3 stitches. I can honestly say, “Finally and thank god it’s gone.” Hopefully the cyst will never return.
