Supernaturally, sexy romance or dabbling in something unusual for me

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

I love Kelley Armstrong, so I was pretty interested to read one of her earlier works. I liked it a lot. I will probably finish the series, although in that typical slow way that I read series. Having said that, I do think you can tell that it’s an early novel, because her later books are a bit more succinct and sharp, but the story carries itself along quickly, the characters are interesting and Elena is pretty likable.

I actually read this book ages ago, I’m having a hard time keeping up with my blog. I have one baby, and soon will have another and my reading and blogging time is pretty dear.

So I will say this – fun book. My favourite part is the relationship between Jeremy and Elena – I love non-sexual friendships that are central of stories. I also love the Pack dynamic. I find Elena and Clay to be quite troubling and abusive, so the sweetness of it makes me a little uncomfortable. We’ll see how it that unfolds.

Not for young readers though ’cause there’s lots and lots of sex.

Last movie I watched:

Thor. Not as good as I remembered it, but still very good.

Last TV show I watched:

Probably still Shadowhunters. Nothing new to report there.

You know what? Meh. That’s what.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Although I really did enjoy the first three books in what I think should have been stayed a trilogy, I’m not sure that I love the sequel series.

This book chronicles the story of Jace essentially turn to the dark side, thanks to a rune on his chest and Clary, Simon and the gang’s scramble to get him back, while protecting him from the Clave, who would try him for treason if they caught him. But mostly it’s relationship drama with a side of supernatural and demon fighting on the side.

That’s the problem with this book to me. Where the first one was a relatively generic Chosen One/Teen Love story, there was quite a bit of fun world building, interesting support characters and a story that added something to the book. But this trilogy I’m finding is a little thin on those elements. The world building is more of less done and not really being expanded on. The support characters are all just tangled up in their own somewhat manufactured relationship drama and the story is driven mostly by the manufactured relationship drama. And even that relationship drama feels a little disingenuous and under developed.

The Clary and Jace relationship, which realistically had never been exactly healthy and normal is further tortured by Jace being possessed by Sebastian, motivating Clary to risk her life and be generally crazy in her attempts to bring him back, ignore his reckless behavior and pursing their unstable relationship across Europe. Simon and Izzy continue to not quite admit their feelings and Maya and Jordan start a relationship despite the fact that during his transformation to a werewolf he was an abusive, controlling jerk who hurt her on purpose. So yup I’d describe this book as a collection of unhealthy relationships with an absurd amount of drama.

So, all in all, a real step down from the first book. I’ll finish up the series but I’m hoping the next book brings me a bit more plot and a little less drama.

Last movie I watched:

Incredible Hulk. I thought it was pretty good other than the way too long fight scenes.

Last TV show I watched:

Shadowhunters, as it turns out. I think the show really made some narrative improvements on the book, but was not particularly good at casting.

Two things I love, combined poorly

Batman: Nightwalkers by Marie Lu

Batman is 100% my favourite superhero ever and realistically if I didn’t have a family and a job and a house, most of my time, money and mental energy would be devoted to Batman. It probably okay that I’m a little more of a well rounded person, but I’m always happy to indulge my love for Batman. I also really, really enjoyed Legend, Marie Lu’s Hunger Games-esk Ya series so when I realized she was writing a stand-alone Batman novel for DC I was pretty excited.

Until I read it, then I became a little disappointed.

There was nothing wrong with it exactly, there just wasn’t anything right either. It follows a teenage Bruce Wayne, along with the usual supporting cast and a new character named Madeleine as he becomes involved with the notorious criminal group known as the Nightwalkers.

I think there were two problems with this book, admittedly only one of which would be a problem if you didn’t love Batman as much as I do. The first was a lack of interesting characterization of Bruce Wayne. He was just a protagonist. Comic Bruce Wayne is a lot of things, you know the list of adjectives could go on for days because so many writers brought something new to the character. But in Nightwalkers he could have been swapped out with any number of generic male protagonists around their 18th birthday. He could have been Hans Solo from the new Solo movie and virtually nothing would have changed. But this might not really matter to all readers, I’ll admit that.

But the plot! Every twist could be seen miles away – two faked deaths, one love interest that wasn’t really a love interest but was a love interest after all, one botched rescue mission, one betrayal, one unresolved love story, I mean really, it was basically the same script as the new Solo movie, now that I think about it. And I’m a snob. I wanted to see something that I didn’t know was coming.

I suppose if I’m being realistic this is a YA novel based on the characters from the recent DC movies. What kind of narrative innovation was I expecting? It was a fun read, like a graphic novel but without the pictures and I enjoyed it, but it didn’t live up to my expectations, which are admittedly, too high.

Last movie I watched:

Solo. It was fine. I liked it. It was fine.

Last TV show I watched:

Friends. Near the end. This was a fun show. Dated for sure. Fun though.

Super Scary Haunting Kids Book

Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

I really, really loved this book. It also scared the crap out of me which was kinda fun, although not my usual. I am also delighted to report that this is a series so within any luck, I’ll enjoy this exciting, frightening world again before too long.

This novel takes place in a future where ghosts have become so common that all life on earth has just adjusted to it, and humans get on with their lives by staying in after dark, lighting ghost lamps each night and development of Agencies, which can be hired to investigate and remove ghosts from private residences. Children often have more psychic abilities than adult supervisors, so they are used by these agencies to investigate ghosts. After Lucy’s supervisor makes a terrible error and all of her colleges die in a horrifying haunting, she runs away from home and ends to London looking for a job. And she finds one with Lockwood & Co, the only agency that doesn’t have adult supervisors.

There was so much to love about this book. The three members of Lockwood & Co, Lockwood, George and Lucy are each well fleshed out, have lovely banter and a genuine relationship. The world building is so careful and thorough that you can’t even pinpoint when you learned something about it because it’s worked in so subtly. The writing is terrifying, like I was worried I’d have nightmares (I am a wimp though) and the plot was twisting and interesting with quite a few twists that I didn’t see coming, or if I did, I couldn’t see how.

I would recommend this to older readers, mostly due to the horror content, nothing else there is inappropriate there, who liked Harry Potter and want a creepy twist. Definitely check it out!

Last movie I watched:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Never gets old.

Last TV show I watched:

Things Explained, or something like that on Netflix. It’s by Vox. I liked it a lot.

Some light Batman

Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol 2: The Starfire by Scott Lobdell, Kenneth Rocafort and Timothy Green

I’m not going to chat about this book in the context of the wider New 52 stuff because I’m not up do date on most of it any more. I will add also that I don’t have a lot of the context of the New 52 on Starfire or Arsenal.

I do want to say one thing about each of them each though. Arsenal is well written and I really liked him. Starfire is drawn ridiculously sexually. Ridiculously. I know this is drawn for an audience that probably doesn’t think about this too much, and I know that Starfire is supposed to to be sexually liberated but she basically wears no clothes and is in a sexy pose whatever she’s doing. I don’t understand why sexually liberated means not wearing clothes so standing with her boobs popped out.

Because I love the Batfamily most, I will just mention a few things about the story from that point of view. I loved Jason’s portrayal in this. Not only is he well written and funny to read but he’s a complex and challenging and genuine. Having him care about Tim Drake and their brief conversation really completed  him in a precise way. The dynamic between Arsenal, Red Hood and Starfire was great! They were fun and fast paced and great to read.

I don’t have a lot of smart thoughts to say about this book, as it turns out. It was a good read, I’m glad I took a break from my serious reading list for a quick, fun read.

Last movie I watched:

I think Moana still. So cute

Last TV show I watched:

Last episode of The Dragon Prince and I really liked it! I’m looking forward to some more and would also like a baby dragon.

Heartbreaking, hopeful but also mostly gutting

We Are All That’s Left by Carrie Arcos

This book is really compelling, really heartbreaking and a good story about one of those things I didn’t know a lot about. I really value YA lit that widens my world view. The story is told in two perspectives. The first person narration is a diary entry of a typical American teenager – her strongest relationships are with her friends, she loves photography and she doesn’t get along with her old fashioned Mom. The second story is a third person narration account of her old fashioned mother as a teenager during the Bosnian genocide. Their lives are brought together when a fictional terrorist attack in the USA injures them both and brings them closer as part of their healing process.

Although the writing isn’t particularly outstanding, it’s a good story. It’s always startling to me to learn about history that I was alive during. Sure, I was a little kid at the time, and I was kind of aware of hearing about Bosnia, but I didn’t understand it at the time and as an adult it’s hard to reconcile that terrible things didn’t just happen in my grandparents time – the World Wars, the Depression, etc  but in my parents time and worst of all, in mine. I imagine my kids will have a similar moment when they realize I was a teenager during 9/11. As uncomfortable as it is, I’m glad this book made me look closely at how recently there’s been this kind of violence in the world and remind me how unkindly history looks on people who stay silent during times of great violence.

At it’s core, this story is about trauma and the healing process being about connection and faith. Nadja, the mother, survived the trauma of genocide, rape, outlived her family who were all killed and lived in a city under siege for years where she faced starvation and snipers. And yet she made it to the United States, met a man, got pregnant and found joy in her baby. But she was never able to talk to her children about their grandparents or her past and she remained closed off from the world. Zara saw nothing in her mother but her weird habits, obsessive behaviors and closed off nature. After the terrorist attack Nadja is able to see her daughter learning to cope with the same trauma she is experiencing and understand that keeping her terrifying past away from her children has held her back from them. Zara comes to understand that trauma and violence change a person in very profound way and that her mother is a product of a brutal life, scarred, just like she is now.

I’m an atheist and generally don’t read outright religious texts and maybe that’s why I wasn’t really prepared for the religious element in this book. Although the concept of God is quite loosely defined (Nadja is ethnically Muslim but celebrates both Christmas and Eid during the war and almost never attends mosque and Zara doesn’t have a clear sense of her own faith at the start of the book) through the introduction of Joseph,  a young man Zara meets at the hospital and his quest to at least temporarily practice all the major world religions, Zara moves towards having a relationship with God. In the abstract I didn’t connect with her because of my own bias but it’s probably a good thing for me to consider from time to time, where religion fits into other people’s lives.

The ending had me in tears and that’s all I can say safely, without spoilers. But it really did drive home this feeling the book carries that love is as strong as anything bad in the world.

Last movie I watched:

Moana. Love it!

Last TV show I watched:

The Dragon Prince. Although the animation isn’t great, the story and characters are great! Definitely committed to this show!

A little less Percy Jackson than I like in my Percy Jackson

The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

I am obviously a huge fan of the original Percy Jackson series because I am a reasonable person and they are great (my opinion, stated as fact). Generally I enjoyed the next series, although I really missed the intimate storytelling of the first person narrative from Percy Jackson. It’s back for this next series, the Trials of Apollo and it’s not quite everything I  hoped for but pretty close.

There is so much I loved about this book. First of all, Percy Jackson cameo. I wish he was more of a leading character and less of a cameo, but I’ll take it. I always love Percy Jackson, no matter how small his part is. Apollo’s internal voice is hilarious and delightful most of the time – the Me Cabin is an example of a wonderful joke and his character development is a carefully crafted and carries the story forward almost as much as the plot. I love Meg McCaffrey and everything she is and I have nothing else to say about her.

On a deeper level I really appreciated to outright acceptance of both gay and bisexual characters – Apollo’s son Will and his boyfriend Nico are the only functioning couple in the book and that’s fantastic and also very sweet. Although it’s becoming more common, it’s still nice to see some representation in a genre that’s not a coming out novel. Apollo openly declaring that he has only had two true loves, one women and one man and that’s great too. Overall, most LGBT representation kind of boxes off characters into gay or lesbian, so that’s great.

And here there be spoilers. I can’t get over complexity of Meg’s traumatic and abuse filled past. Talking about the devastating effects of Nero’s relationship with Meg and the way he has crippled her emotionally through a monstrous use of fear and kindness is just heartbreaking. Depending on how it is handled in the rest of the books it could be a a great chance to have an abused child become a hero, which would be great.

However, I feel like this book overall could use a bit of tighter edit. I have a feeling that when an author is big enough and their book is sure to be a bestseller that no one takes the time and care they did with the first book to make sure the story is as sharp as it could be. It wasn’t anything make or break it for me, it just struck me that there were a few lines or details that more or less just padded the text and a little more streamlined narrative would maybe make the book a little better.

I would one hundred percent recommend this book and this series to any keen reader and I would totally finish the series, if I get around to it. Percy Jackson, I’m glad your back!

The last movie I watched:

Avatar. I had only seen it once, in theaters in 3D. Incidentally it was when I learned that 3D makes me very nauseous. I enjoyed it much more this time. You know, mostly for the visuals. The plot wasn’t very important.

Last TV show I watched:

A bit of Charmed. It’s always my staple rewatch show and I don’t care what anyone has to say about that.

Greek mythology is real weird

Circe by Madeline Miller

I begin by saying, Greek mythology is very odd and it’s not easy to take something that messed up and make in feel human. But that’s exactly what Miller has done.

Circe is a lesser goddess, featured in Homer’s Odyssey. In the original myth she is a witch who lives on an island and turns sailors into pigs. Odysseus tricks her, takes her as his lover and in the end she helps him complete his quests. In Circe, the character is a little more developed. Her childhood was sad and lonely, her heart not as capricious, cruel or indifferent to the suffering of morals as her immortal family. When she discovers her powers, she goes against the will of her god father, Helios, reveals her witchcraft to the Olympians and is punished with exile for all eternity on an island. There she waits, interacting with several heroes and villains throughout Greek mythology.

It’s a story of family, motherhood, anger and violence, wrapped up in ancient myths and held together with beautiful language and lovely storytelling.

Once again, the part that most resonated with me was Circe’s becoming a mother for the first time. I swear, I’m not looking for audiobooks about parenthood to listen to while I’m feeding my son but they just keep popping up.

Circe’s terror and fierce drive to protect her son, and her amazement and heartbreak as she watches her son age and change struck a cord with me for sure. It’s hard to articulate my feelings of constant terror for my son, particularly because as an adult you see how dark and scary the world is and how delicate life is and how easy it is for it to be hurt and lost. Circe, as an immortal goddess who has survived in a world where gods are a destructive force sees so clearly the futures her son might face. I understood her. The awe she feels as her baby ages and changes in what feels like the blink of her eternal eye, I also got that. My son’s coming up on three months and already I feel like my time with him is slipping away.

It was incredibly powerful to hear the descriptions of parenting Miller wrote through Circe.

This is not a kids book – it’s got quite a bit of kind of disturbing content, a lot of sex (although nothing graphic) and is pretty violent. It is an adult book, and above all, I’d say it’s a parent book.

Also, anyone who likes Greek myths. I would not recommend it to anyone who can’t handle all that nonsense.

Last movie I watched:

The first half of Into the Woods. Fun musical. Very grim.

Last TV show I watched:

Part of To Walk Invisible. I’m committed because I’m interested in the Bronte sisters, but really I’m not sure I’d recommend it. I’m finding it lacks any kind of narrative drive.

Surprisingly life changing and a bit magical

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

My wife made me read this. I would never, ever have picked this book up ever. And although I didn’t expect to like it, I found it quite readable and not even that painful, like I had anticipated.

I don’t know how to talk about this book, because it’s kind of a self help book and therefore I assume everyone should be getting something different  out of it.

Please note that I a not a clean person, never have been but I recently had a baby and am spending most of my time at home with him and I was finding, for the first time in my life, that the messes around me were actually upsetting. This book came to me at the prefect time. Which is one of the things the author talks about – objects coming to you at the right time in your life.

The things I took away from this book were the idea that your objects and your house itself serve you faithfully and in return you should make sure they are treated respectfully. I’m not going as far as she did (nope, just not folding my socks or emptying my purse every day) but that philosophy kind of resonated with me (yup, I’m lucky I have this beautiful, little house and I should treat it with care and affection). She also discusses how everything has a place, everything has a home and this is also something that brings peace to my brain, going to bed knowing things are in their place. It used to just be people but maybe I could extend it to my objects too.

So I’m not going to systematically go through my whole house, hold each object and ask myself if it brings me joy but I am going to take a bit of that book with me as I move through my life, keep my house and raise my kid(s). I’m not sure I’d recommend it but I’ll say this – if you think you should read it, it might be the right time for you to read it.

But I will never agree with her philosophy on not keeping all your books. Seriously, even bad books bring joy to my life.

Last movie I watched:

The second half of my Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. I liked it. I mean, I loved the first one but I liked this.

Last TV show I watched:

Legend of Korra. Loved it, but Avatar is better

I am … okay

Lorien Legacy: The Power Of Six by Pittacus Lore

I suppose I should say, in defense of this series, I haven’t read the whole series. I saw the movie, and read one of the other books so maybe I’d enjoy this more if I’d done better with the series.

The second thing is that I listened to it, and I really didn’t like the readers. That can make or break an audiobook, and in this case, it broke for me. The reader for Four’s part wasn’t great but he was okay. The reader for Seven drove me nuts! I don’t know why she read all the parts of the Spanish characters with a terrible Spanish accent if all the characters, including the main character, are speaking Spanish?

Overall I felt this book wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great – the language wasn’t particularly compelling, and while the story moved along at a good pace, the characters lacked any real depth or characterization, the villains lacked complexity and the story was generally predictable. I liked it well enough, but I’m a snob and I guess I was looking for something a little bit more.

On a more positive note, I enjoyed seeing a love triangle with a boy in the center. If there had to be a love triangle, it was nice to see it wasn’t a girl. After all, boys have feelings too.

I’m sure I’d recommend this series to an older child or young adult – it’s a fast read, plot driven and fun. I’m sure I wouldn’t recommend it to adult snobs.

Last movie I watched:

The first half of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. I loved the first one so much it could hardly live up to my expectations, but it’s not bad.

Last TV show I watched:

Legend of Korra. Love it!