The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield

I very much enjoyed this book, it was well written and plotted and of course, any book that has at its core reading/writing/books is something to appreciate in this day and age when it seems so many "best sellers" are junk. I was happy that I was able to catch some of the literary allusions in the story, even though I'm sure there were many I missed, as I'm still on a quest to fill in the (embarrassing) gaps I have with some classic literature. Recommended.

The Mysterious Benedict Society - Trenton Lee Stewart

What a delightful children's book! I came across this book on the 50 cent Library Sale shelves and it seemed intriguing, and I'm really glad to have read it. It's nice to have such a well-written story about appealing (which isn't necessarily to say pleasant), intelligent children as characters and with an interesting plot loaded with puzzles that need solving. Apparently it's a series, and I'd definitely read the next book(s). Recommended.

The Girl Who Invented Romance - Caroline B. Cooney

Got this at the Library Sale on a lark. I'm not usually a fan of romances and teen romances seem especially silly, but for some reason this one appealed to me. It was a light, fast read with a light story and good writing and it was enjoyable on its own terms. And it made me appreciate being an adult and not being a teenager any more. :)

Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde

As someone who is always rambling on about what a huge fan I am of Jasper Fforde, I'm ashamed that it took me this long to read this book. It's OK though, it was worth the wait - a totally new, fresh story with classic Ffordian touches. Although I of course wanted to rush through the book, I took my time reading it, savoring it and really living in the universe of the book while I read. Like his other books, this one will be fun to reread and experience over and over. So highly recommended I can't even say how high.

I'm also behind on the Thursday Next series but I have my copy of the latest book standing by. I was tempted to reread the entire series first, but I'm not sure I'm patient enough to do that. I also have some NetGalley ebooks that I need to finish so they might have to be read first.

Malled - Caitlin Kelly

This book is a great example of how something can look great on paper but be a huge disappointment in reality. Having done a couple stints in retail as a college-educated adult, the book's subtitle, My Unintentional Career in Retail, and the NetGalley description made this book seem like a perfect match for me and I very much looked forward to reading it.

Despite being written by a seasoned journalist, the book felt like a disjointed stream of consciousness conversation over drinks with an acquaintance who keeps repeating the same few complaints. The first half of the book was so repetitive and lacking any kind of point that it felt like a series of rough drafts for a single magazine article that had all been accidentally compiled and put into book form. In fact, the first half of the book wasn't much more than a 75+-page repetition of the author's qualifications and accomplishments as a journalist and as a human being, which were repeated so often I can list some of them here off the top of my head without having to consult the book: 

-she came from a wealthy family, which included a grandmother who went everywhere by limousine
-she attended boarding schools and summerlong camps

-she has been to 37 countries (mentioned at least 5 times)

-she is an accomplished journalist who has interviewed CEOs, celebrities, and royalty, including Queen Elizabeth (who is mentioned at least 3 times) and has written for countless prestigious publications, mentioned endlessly

-she is fluent in French and can speak Spanish (although her competency goes from passable to fluent and back to workable throughout the book)

In addition, her complaints about her workplace are rather petty and typical of a spoiled Baby Boomer, and are things she could have inferred without ever having worked retail, or could have found out in a 15-minute discussion with anyone who has ever worked retail:

-it's hard to stand on your feet for 8 hours
-customers can be mean, rude, and demanding
-the wages are low
-there's no privacy in the store
-the stockroom is too crowded and poorly lit
-she has nothing in common with her coworkers
-the managers/the corporate office don't specifically thank the workers for doing their jobs

On top if it all, the title and the publisher's description make it sound as if this book is about someone who lost her well paying full time job and ended up in retail as a full time career - but in reality, the author only worked one shift per week and continued to write and edit as a freelancer as a full time job. As someone who has had no choice but to work 40 hours a week in retail jobs in the past I cannot possibly take seriously any complaints coming from someone who was clearly doing the retail job specifically for a book the entire time, as opposed to someone who would have had no choice but to work full time to bring home any paycheck just to make ends meet. Someone whose fiance surprises her with a trip to Paris, who describes buying clothing/items at places like Saks (although she's quick to add that it's a splurge, but it happens a few times during the book so that seems contradictory), and who couldn't possibly be making enough money working one shift per week to make the retail job worthwhile, is not someone who is hurting for money and working retail for survival in a bad economy.

One thing I did learn from this book was the true definition of the "show, don't tell" writing maxim. As an example, the author endlessly repeats the fact that she was one of the top salespeople in the store, but never shows us an example of how she met this goal so easily. Were there instances where she was able to persuade someone to buy things they otherwise might not have purchased? Did she gain an ability to size up customers who seemed ready to buy and those who needed a push, and if so, how did she get them to buy? Did she develop specific techniques that helped her to sell? We don't know, we weren't shown, only told. As a college student I briefly had a telemarketing job selling orchestra tickets, and although that was many years ago, I can recall several instances where I was able to sell people tickets when they might otherwise have hung up on me. If I were writing a book, I'd be sure to include details like that to illustrate my points.

All in all a very disappointing book. 

Domestic Violets - Matthew Norman

Overall this was an enjoyable novel. The narrator was sympathetic and very funny, and reminded me of a Nick Hornby character (a compliment, I quite like Nick Hornby). Sometimes the plot seemed almost overloaded with drama, but that didn't bother me terribly because I enjoyed the narrator's voice and the interactions of the characters. Another good book from NetGalley.

Anasazi - Emma Michaels

I believe the author of this book is young, and this is her second book. My advice to her would be to get a really good, really honest editor to smooth out the writing, as it's full of errors and poorly worded sentences. I think the author has decent ideas, and it's great that she is writing novels and getting them published, but it's obvious that she hasn't done much reading of good writing, and taking her writing to the next level will make her books even more popular.

Book Blogger Hop/Follow Friday/TGIF

Another Friday means fun book blogger networking and visiting and following and etc. so let's get to it!





This week's hop question:


Let’s talk crazy book titles! Highlight one or two (or as many as you like!) titles in your personal collection that have the most interesting titles! If you can’t find any, feel free to find one on the internet!

I have to say that Haruki Murakami has some great crazy book titles, such as:

A Wild Sheep Chase
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

And of course sci-fi type books often have interesting/crazy titles, such as:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

That's it for my personal collection, I know there are more out there!







This week's question:

How have your reading habits changed since you were a teen? or if you are still a teen what new genres are you in love with currently?

I am not still a teen (and haven't been one for a while, yikes!), but my reading habits have changed quite a bit over the years. When I was a teen I was more into fantasy and sci-fi books, and loved any kind of story with dragons, and now for some reason I can't handle books with dragons and I'm not much drawn to fantasy or sci-fi, although I guess that Jasper Fforde and sometimes Haruki Murakami, among other authors I like, fit into the fantasy category. I was also more forgiving of clunky writing - or maybe there was much less of it in years past?

So I guess in reality my tastes have gotten more "literary" and  I have lost patience with what I think is poor writing. I'm not a book snob or anything, and I will always read anything that seems interesting to me, but I just prefer good writing in general and try to stick with books that fit that description regardless of genre.

Here's a new blog follow I've been meaning to try - I can't find the code for the follow button but here is the blog button so you can find it. It's the TGIF Book Follow Friday at GReads.

This week's question: 

Author Block Party: If you could gather a handful of authors to hang out with, who would you choose? 

I love these questions! There are so many authors I'd love to hang out with. I'm going to go for it and also include authors who are dead, since this is a fantasy anyhow:

Christopher Buehlman

Haruki Murakami

Jasper Fforde

Kazuo Ishiguro

Graham Greene

William Shakespeare

M.T. Anderson

Bill Bryson

James Thurber

Mark Twain

Anne Frank

Nat M. Wills

Who's on your guest list? 

To Hell and Back: The Damned Busters - Matthew Hughes

I came across this book by chance at a bookstore. I was initially attracted by the cover, which looks like it could be the cover for a graphic novel, and I thought the premise seemed funny and unusual, so I bought it for a friend for her birthday. Of course, I couldn't stop thinking about it and I ended up buying myself a copy. I'm glad I did, I liked this book. I really enjoyed the main character and I thought the ideas the author had were indeed funny and unusual. It pains me to say that I saw a few typos (missing words, misplaced quote marks or punctuation) but no more than usual. There is going to be another couple of books at least in this series, and I very much look forward to reading them. Recommended.

Calli - Jessica Lee Anderson

This is another NetGalley read, and although I enjoyed it on its own terms, I have to say it didn't seem to fully match the description on the site. Maybe I am just a horrible person, but the description makes it sound like something really terrible happens and I kept waiting for that to happen. There are definitely sad moments, but I guess I just didn't think anything that horrible occurred, so that made me feel slightly confused. But again, that could just be me. Maybe I am too removed from the teen years, and couldn't fully connect with the inner struggles of the main character (whom I liked). Otherwise, though, aside from a typo here and there (missing word, spelling error) this is a well-written YA book that was a fast read.