Great Books

Great Books
To read or not to read?....that is a silly question!

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Much love to My Mom and Dad

In loving memory of the amazing Maya Angelou, I wanted to ready some of her works that I haven't read before.  I chose to begin with MOM & ME & MOM.  It is, as is typical for the works of Angelou, well worth the read.  She succinctly describes her strained relationship with her mother because of her mother's abandoning Maya and Bailey (Maya's older brother) when they were only three and five, respectively.  But she beautifully shares how she came to need and love her mother.  Their relationship was never perfect, but as "Lady" always said, she was Maya's MOTHER.

One part that stands out to me a little more than the rest of the book is when Maya was on set during the filming of a movie she'd written.  She was being disrespected by much of the crew and was having problems with her self-esteem.  She called her and mom and asked if her mom would go to Sweden to be with her.  Her mom was on the next flight.  And just by BEING there with her daughter, being Mom and demonstrating love and respect for her daughter, things turned completely around on set and the crew began respecting her as she deserved.

I feel that way about my mom--and dad.  So very often, just because of their presence and/or because someone I know knows them, I receive respect myself.  I know that others know, love, and respect me because my parents talk me up to their friends as well as to anyone who will listen.

I would just like to say a very special THANK YOU to my WONDERFUL Mom and Dad for always showing me unconditional love as well as respect and for helping others to see how great I am just because YOU love me!

I hope that I reciprocate through my life......

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Gone, but won't be quickly or easily forgotten

I have one major complaint about Gillian Flynn's GONE GIRL:  the language.  I can't stand books with foul language.  It makes it sound like the person doesn't know how to speak in polite society.  Granted, it adds to my dislike of BOTH of the major characters of the story, but still--I'd just rather not have to read such language.

But this is one murder-mystery-gone-wrong book that honestly shocked me.  I was FLOORED when I
turned a page and IT was revealed.  Wow.  THAT was a twist I had not even considered and believe me, I'd been running every possible scenario (or so I'd thought) through my head, but THAT one wasn't one of them.  It was a GREAT twist that made me keep reading even though I should have been doing other things!!!!

Flynn artfully weaves into the story the stories we've all seen and/or read about on tv--quite often on the ID channel--where the spouse is ALWAYS the one "who done it."  By the time the reader gets to the first real major twist of the story, the read (ok, me at least, anyway) has been pulled in and believes everything--on both sides of the story!!!!

It's really fantastic the way certain details are revealed slowly and perfectly, right at the exact moment necessary to the story.  Some parts of the story are not at all surprises (Andie, for one), but overall, I was quite surprised by the turn GONE GIRL took and I anxiously await the movie premier.  I really hope the movie does this story justice!

I have to say that it's so very difficult writing about this story at all because everything I really want to say (write about) would give away a major plot point that might ruin the book for you and that's the last thing I want to do!  You really just need to read Gillian Flynn's GONE GIRL for yourself!!!!

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Finally finished!!!!!

Whew!  I did it!  I finally finished A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.  Wow.  This book took me forever to read.  It's not that I didn't like it; I really did.  It's simply that there is SOOOOO much....a ton of characters to remember....a ton of details to remember....a ton of pages to read....just simply so much to remember.  It's certainly not a book to pick up for a simple, quick, easy "summer" read.
When reading this book, the reader has to be focused completely for every moment of reading.  Because I've been so busy and overwhelmed this past year, that make it that much more difficult for me to stay focused and read.  But I've finally done it!  Now on to watch the series!!!!

It reminds me of The Lord of the Rings series as well as the Outlander series.  Both of those have the same types of issues that drive me absolutely crazy:

1.  Way too many characters.  there's no real way to keep up with everyone in the story because there are just SO many characters.  And just when I think that a certain character is minor and not worth paying attention to--so I don't read his/her portions carefully, I realize that said character IS important to the story and was only presented as a minor character to keep me off the scent, so to speak!

2.  Several--many--characters have too many names and/or variations of their names.  I mean, come on!  How many different ways can a narrator refer to the SAME person before the reader no longer cares?!  I'd say by the time I get to the second name, I'm DONE with that character.  I get that people (even characters in stories) can and do have their real names as well as nicknames, but once we get into having other names beyond a nickname, I can't stand it--it's just too much.  Gandalf, for example, is called different names depending on who or which group of peoples he's with.  Arya has so many names now, I don't care about her as much as I used to--and she's my second-favorite female character (2nd only to Dany--who also too many names).  Littlefinger has so many variations to his name and/or title, I have NO idea what I'd ever call him myself if I were to talk to about him--I HATE the name Littlefinger, just so you know.  there is an index at the back of many of the books, but it's so long and has so many names, I still find myself not sure who I'm reading about.

3.  And what about having several characters with names that are so similar it's difficult to tell who is who?!  Boromir.  Faramir.  I mean, come on!!!!  

4.  No real concept of the passage of time.  It appears that several months, if not several years, have passed, but yet there are other details that make it sound as if only a few hours have passed.  It sounds as if Kahl Drogo has been dead "a long time," as Dany says just before her second marriage, but based on the time span of the books, it sounds as if only a few short months have passed.  But obviously quite a long time has gone by because the dragons now not only no longer sit on her shoulders because they're big, but they're out flying around, eating people--including babies and children, and have to be chained up in the belly of a pyramid to keep them from causing more trouble/damage.  How'd we get to so much time passing when it seems as if only a few months have gone by?!  (With the Outlander series, as we move deeper and deeper into the series, only a year passes, yet so much happens, there's NO WAY that only a year has gone by.  To make things worse with that series, Claire and Jaime are in their mid to late forties at the start of the second book in the series when Claire finally goes back in time to spend the rest of her life with Jaime.  People didn't live THAT long four hundred years ago....)

5.  Toooooo much happening.  There is so much going on, I can't keep up with the different plot points.  Obviously, the whole series is about the fight for the Iron Throne, but all the sub-plots and sub-sub-plots and so on are just TOOOO much.  I can't even remember over half of what's going on with so many of them.

6.  It's clear that somehow or another, all the characters are connected, but because there are so many characters and so much happening and no clear passage of time, I can't figure out how they're connected.  They're all just a bunch of characters playing his/her own role without clear evidence how he/she fits in with the whole context.

7.  Martin is obviously working very hard to be sure that he keeps his audience guessing about what is going to happen next, especially who is going to die next.  But rather than surprise that so-and-so dies, I'm just wondering why Martin chose to kill that character at this particular point in time, but even more than that, I'm relieved that that makes one less character for me to worry about keeping up with.

8.  Even though a character dies, he/she plays a vital role in the story as a whole because the other characters keep bringing him or up or certain characters use the dead as their motivation for their actions.  

9.  It's violent.  I don't really like all the violence.  It's just not someting I enjoy.  I know I love action movies, but if you notice when I watch them, I typically turn away when there is violence on the screen.

10.  LOTS of sex.  Every time I turn a page, it seems like, characters are either having sex or talking about sex and using sexual language and/or sexual innuendo.  It gets old quickly.  
11.  I hate foul language and there's a lot of it--especially THAT word.  I don't want to see it or hear it.

12.  Each book is no less than 800 pages long, and that's a short guess on the length of the books.  It's one thing if one book here and there in a series runs long, but when each and every book runs that long, it's just TOOO MUCH.

I can't just quit reading the book or the series.  I've come too far to give up.  What's even more overwhelming is the fact that Martin plans on publishing two more books for the series, but the fact that he's still writing them and has NO idea when they'll be ready.....UGH!!!!

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

My Guilty Pleasure Reading

Mary Balogh's books are my "guilty pleasure."  What makes THE SUITOR that much more enjoyable to read is the fact that it's more a short story than a whole novel and I was able to read the whole thing in less than an hour!  :)
It's still a cute read for those of us who like Balogh's writing style.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

You will cry. That is a guarantee.

I would assume that it speaks volumes to know that I read THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green in less than four and a half hours....I have no words.  There are no words.  You simply have to read it for yourself.
Please, please, please, please read the book before you see the movie.  Please.