Hiya, this is Jenn. I am a library science grad student at Indiana University, Indianapolis and I am using this blog to get some practice reviewing books and (hopefully) discussing them with others. Of course, don’t expect this to always be one of those professional blogs, because everyone needs a place to rant about random things, don’t they?
I have always been a big fan of YA literature, and I hope to put that to good use when I graduate by becoming a Young Adult/Teen librarian. I generally steer clear of the realistic fiction YA, as it tends to focus on the typcial adolescent drama, which I didn’t enjoy even when I was that age. Read more »
A heartfelt thanks to Charlotte at Charlotte’s Library for the heads up on the teaser trailer Greenwillow issued for the much anticipated A Conspiracy of Kings. I’m so happy that I only have to wait about a month more for this to come out!
Now, because I love you all (and want you to love this series as much as I do), without further adieu, here’s the trailer . . .
Psst . . . for those of you coming here from my Adult Readers Advisory class, this is the book I want to talk about for my YA pick. I’m just hoping it comes from Amazon in time.
Book Stats:
Title: The Well of Lost Plots
Author: Jasper Fforde
Publisher: Viking Adult
Page Numbers: 375
ISBN: 0143034359
Jasper Fforde offers something for every reader in The Well of Lost Plots, the third book in his bestselling Thursday Next series.
The former Spec-Ops Literary Detective has found sanctuary within the pages of the unpublished police procedural Caversham Heights as a part of the Character Exchange program, allowing her to lay low until the birth of her child. Of course, trouble seems to plague Thursday wherever she goes. She must battle her memory-modifying nemesis, Aornis Hades, before she forgets her eradicated husband and the father of her child, and discover who is behind the grusome deaths of numerous Jurisfiction agents. The fate of the Book World is on her shoulders . . .
Fans of mystery, fantasy and classic literature alike will be transfixed by the escapades of unflappable Thursday and the supporting cast of delightfully quirky fictional characters. Fforde’s clever mix of word play, parody and social satire will have readers laughing out loud and clamoring for more.
I have class in Indianapolis twice a week and I have to drive an hour and a half each way, so I figured listening to audio books would be a great way to get some reading in and entertain myself during the long drive. However, it seems that I have had the worst luck finding readers that I can enjoy listening to for any amount of time.
My first foray into audio books was with the unabridged version of Diana Gabaldon’s Voyager. I liked the narrator’s voice for the male main character, as she had a deeper voice and could pull off the Scottish accent fairly well, but her voice for the female main character made her sound like a matronly old woman (which she isn’t) and pretty much every other voice the narrator did grated on my nerves, especially any children’s voices. It took me forever to get her voices out of my head as I read the other books in the Outlander series. Every review I’ve seen for the Outlander audio books have raved about the narrator, so I seem to be in the minority here. Read more »
That’s right, folks: all the fast-paced, brain-teasing appeal of an ordinary who-dunit, with less of the violence, foul language, and gratuitous sex!
First up, we have Evan Evans, the local Police Constable of the charming North Wales village of Llanfair. His canny mind and tenacity make him a natural at solving crime (much to the chagrin of his superiors), and his ‘aw shucks’, ne’er do wrong nature make him a hit with all the ladies, from the trollopy barmaid to the purer-than-the-driven-snow schoolteacher. These stories come with a complimentary backdrop of rival ministers, a letter reading postman, a tourist hating butcher, and a host of other quirky townsfolk. What more could you want? Read more »
In 1547 Scotland has been humiliated by an English invasion and is threatened by machinations elsewhere beyond its borders, but is still free. Paradoxically, her freedom may depend on a man who stands accused of treason.
He is Francis Crawford of Lymond, a scapegrace nobleman of crooked felicities and murderous talents, possessed of a scholar’s erudition and a tongue as wicked as a rapier. In The Game of Kings this extrodinary antihero returns to the country that has outlawed him – to redeem his reputation even at the risk of his life.*
*Courtesy of book’s back cover.
I knew I was in trouble with The Game of Kings the moment I saw the two page detailed character list provided by the author at the start of this book. With characters being referred to by their given name, their surname, and their property name, I found myself constantly going back to these pages to try to figure out who these people where and whether they supported the English or the Scottish (or both, if that was convenient). If this wasn’t enough to try my memory sorely, the main character, Lymond, kept getting into skirmishes with various characters throughout Scotland and then refer to them by location later on in the book and I hadn’t a clue what he was talking about, having put down the book for a day or two in between readings. Read more »
This week’s tease comes from the first book in the Miles Vorkosigan saga, The Warrior’s Apprentice. I can see why so many fans of Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series has recommended this series, because Miles shares the sassiness and intelligence of Eugenides (which you all know I love in a character). I haven’t entered into the Science Fiction foray in quite a while, but this book has been great so far at reintroducing me to all this genre has to offer (with none of the plot driven storyline Sci-Fi is known for of which I’m not such a fan). Read more »
This is Music Monday, the weekly series where I provide a song or two that describe events occurring in the chosen book (spoilers may occur in the song descriptions, so watch out).
While I found The Eyre Affair a bit difficult to get into at first, Lost in a Good Book hooked me right from the start. Seriously, how can you not love a book with characters like Schitt-Hawse (half-brother to the infamous Jack Schitt) and SO-5 partners Kannon and Phodder? I swear, it’s like Monty Python with a literary spin. I can’t wait to review this book for you all.
