I thought I would wait to post on this book until we had our Book Club discussion last night. We were pretty much agreed. All of us who had read this book before (it was first published in 1980) remembered it as a gripping thriller. I've read it three times; first in 1986, then about 10 years later, and now last week. I would have to say that this book has definitely lost some of its lustre. Robert Ludlum didn't pioneer the spy genre, but he certainly brought it to new heights in early '80s. His books were exciting and different; I had never read anything like them before.
Recently, authors have raised the bar on spy thrillers with books like "The DaVinci Code" and authors like Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, and David Baldacci--the action never stops. I had some trouble getting through "The Bourne Identity" because it moved so slowly. It was easy to get lost in the middle of the plot because it seemed to go in circles without progressing.
Some of the good things about the book were that I still cared about the characters, and wanted to know what would happen to them. The plot still worked and was only slightly affected by dealing with the old-fashioned technology. (It was funny to read about these high-level spies and assassins all needing to use pay phones!) I appreciated the toned-down sex and violence that are so graphic in modern books.
I enjoyed revisiting this spy classic, but I mourned the fact that it did not live up to my memory.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Bite into a Good Book!
I don't know why I'm fascinated by vampire books, but I simply can't get enough of them lately. Knowing that a vampire is in a book is usually enough to get me to pick it up and give it a chance. Most often the vampire is the villain, but in the best books, the vampire is a hero. How can a vampire be a hero? It's the struggle he has against their own nature that makes him so fascinating. Here are a few of my recent vampire favorites!
The Vampire Plagues by Sebastian Rook -- This is a trilogy written for kids--yes, kids--in which children battle an evil vampire and his minions who were released from ruins during an expedition to Mexico in 1850. The books take place in London, Paris, and then Mexico. Very suspenseful for 4th to 7th graders. My daughter and I really enjoyed them. (Villain)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova -- In this novel, a daughter inherits her father's research about Vlad the Impaler from the 15th century and discovers that her father thinks that Vlad (Count Dracula) is still alive. The book runs three different storylines about people all over Eastern Europe, trying to hunt down Vlad. I found all of the historical detail fascinating, but some of you may not (some parts read like a dissertation). The book is long but fantastic! (Villain)
Morrigan's Cross (The Circle Trilogy) by Nora Roberts -- This trilogy is way out there, but I couldn't put these books down. The story is about a witch, a wizard, a vampire, a scholar, a warrior, and a shape-shifter who lead the battle to save the world from a blood-thirsty group of vampires . The heroes time travel and go from real locales to a fantasy land. It sounds like crazy fluff--and it is! But the personal relationships were enough to make me read all three books. (Hero and Villain)
Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer -- These are the first two in a continuing Young Adult series, and I'm heavily promoting these books since I enjoyed them so much! They are the love story between Edward (a vampire) and Bella (an average teenage girl). They are character-driven books about severely star-crossed lovers and how difficult it is to love a vampire. (I'm sure you can all relate!) The idea seems far out there, but I found myself believing every word. I'd recommend these to any teen girls or women. (Gotta support a fellow BYU grad, and I can't wait for Eclipse!) (Hero and Villain)
I've never read Anne Rice because the movie Interview with a Vampire was too disgusting, but I'd love to hear any vampire recommendations you might have!
The Vampire Plagues by Sebastian Rook -- This is a trilogy written for kids--yes, kids--in which children battle an evil vampire and his minions who were released from ruins during an expedition to Mexico in 1850. The books take place in London, Paris, and then Mexico. Very suspenseful for 4th to 7th graders. My daughter and I really enjoyed them. (Villain)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova -- In this novel, a daughter inherits her father's research about Vlad the Impaler from the 15th century and discovers that her father thinks that Vlad (Count Dracula) is still alive. The book runs three different storylines about people all over Eastern Europe, trying to hunt down Vlad. I found all of the historical detail fascinating, but some of you may not (some parts read like a dissertation). The book is long but fantastic! (Villain)
Morrigan's Cross (The Circle Trilogy) by Nora Roberts -- This trilogy is way out there, but I couldn't put these books down. The story is about a witch, a wizard, a vampire, a scholar, a warrior, and a shape-shifter who lead the battle to save the world from a blood-thirsty group of vampires . The heroes time travel and go from real locales to a fantasy land. It sounds like crazy fluff--and it is! But the personal relationships were enough to make me read all three books. (Hero and Villain)
Twilight and New Moon by Stephenie Meyer -- These are the first two in a continuing Young Adult series, and I'm heavily promoting these books since I enjoyed them so much! They are the love story between Edward (a vampire) and Bella (an average teenage girl). They are character-driven books about severely star-crossed lovers and how difficult it is to love a vampire. (I'm sure you can all relate!) The idea seems far out there, but I found myself believing every word. I'd recommend these to any teen girls or women. (Gotta support a fellow BYU grad, and I can't wait for Eclipse!) (Hero and Villain)
I've never read Anne Rice because the movie Interview with a Vampire was too disgusting, but I'd love to hear any vampire recommendations you might have!
Friday, July 13, 2007
"The Secret Pearl"
One of my confessions is that I really enjoy a good regency romance--the key word in that sentence being good. Unfortunately this book did not meet that qualification. But there is something about Mary Balogh's romances that I enjoy. She seems to write her books about fairly ordinary people. Most romances seem to be about feisty beautiful women with quick comebacks ready on their tongues. The men all seem to be extraordinarily handsome and either unusually sensitive or devil-may-care rough. Mary Balogh usually writes about quiet people who act with morals--a pleasant surprise. A good Mary Balogh book would be "Simply Magic."
Monday, July 9, 2007
Night of the Blackbird
I usually enjoy Heather Graham's books--they're full of intrigue--but this one from a few years ago was blah. It dealt with the reunification of Ireland and was pretty predictable. Not one of her best, in my opinion.
"Birdwing"
I did get a little reading of my own done while camping in the mountains of Utah. I finished a young adult book entitled Birdwing by Rafe Martin. It is a continuation of the Grimm Brothers fairy tale "The Six Swans," in which six brothers are turned into swans by the evil enchantress who becomes their father's new wife. Their little sister must not speak or laugh for 6 years while she creates shirts for them made out of nettles; these shirts will turn them into humans. When the six years pass, the brothers come back and she places the shirts on them, but she has not had time to finish the last, the littlest shirt. The brothers become human again, but the youngest brother has a swan's wing in place of his arm where his one sleeve was not finished. This is his story.
Rafe Martin writes Birdwing with beauty and poetry. I enjoyed the story of Ardwin (Birdwing) and how he discovers that a curse can be a gift. In the Q&A at the end of the book, they ask the author what his "wing" is. You can ask yourself if you have something you formerly considered a curse and now consider a gift or a blessing. The author answered that his imagination used to get him in trouble, and now it is how he earns his living. If you enjoy this story or fantasy literature, you might enjoy a book we read for Book Club a few years ago, Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. She actually wrote a trilogy about this fairy tale, and I (surprisingly) enjoyed them very much.
Rafe Martin writes Birdwing with beauty and poetry. I enjoyed the story of Ardwin (Birdwing) and how he discovers that a curse can be a gift. In the Q&A at the end of the book, they ask the author what his "wing" is. You can ask yourself if you have something you formerly considered a curse and now consider a gift or a blessing. The author answered that his imagination used to get him in trouble, and now it is how he earns his living. If you enjoy this story or fantasy literature, you might enjoy a book we read for Book Club a few years ago, Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier. She actually wrote a trilogy about this fairy tale, and I (surprisingly) enjoyed them very much.
Books on CD
I've been gone the last week on "vacation" (I honestly need a real vacation after a family vacation!), but still managed to fit in a little literature. When we have a long drive, we try to borrow a few books on CD from the library to keep everyone quiet. This time we listened to Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce on the way up and Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf by Wendelin Van Draanen on the way back.
Kelly was excited to listen to Framed--a story about a 9-year old boy in a small town with a big secret that might involve him in the crime of the century--but quickly changed her mind about 10 minutes into the story. The CD case did not tell us that the small town was in Wales and that the man performing the story would have a thick British accent that was nearly impossible to decipher. The story was written for ages 8-14; Kelly couldn't follow it, the older kids liked it, and David & I loved it! The story of how the English National Gallery stored a collection of valuable paintings in a mine near this small town and how the town was changed by it was very interesting, but it was listening to all the colloquialisms and the different pronunciations that was so fascinating. Examples: instead of saying that people were running around in the nude, he said they were running around in the "nuddie." Instead of going to a swap meet, they went to a "car boot sale." I don't know if the story would be as entertaining written as it was spoken, but we laughed often and very much enjoyed it.
The Sammy Keyes book was one of a series of books that none of us had ever read before. The interest level for the story was listed at ages 10-13, and that was about right because it was our 10-year-old and 13-year-old who enjoyed the story most. Sammy Keyes is a junior detective who is a step above most. The story was a little more complicated and a little less predictable than most detective stories written for this age group. While I was not terribly interested in the story line, a rich lady's dog being stolen and a little girl who continually runs away from home, I thought that Sammy had great personality, and I enjoyed her determination to solve the problem in the end. The actress did a great job with the first-person story. It was not great literature, but it was well done for the genre. I wouldn't be surprised if Erin read another one in the series, but Brian probably wouldn't because it was a "girl book."
Kelly was excited to listen to Framed--a story about a 9-year old boy in a small town with a big secret that might involve him in the crime of the century--but quickly changed her mind about 10 minutes into the story. The CD case did not tell us that the small town was in Wales and that the man performing the story would have a thick British accent that was nearly impossible to decipher. The story was written for ages 8-14; Kelly couldn't follow it, the older kids liked it, and David & I loved it! The story of how the English National Gallery stored a collection of valuable paintings in a mine near this small town and how the town was changed by it was very interesting, but it was listening to all the colloquialisms and the different pronunciations that was so fascinating. Examples: instead of saying that people were running around in the nude, he said they were running around in the "nuddie." Instead of going to a swap meet, they went to a "car boot sale." I don't know if the story would be as entertaining written as it was spoken, but we laughed often and very much enjoyed it.
The Sammy Keyes book was one of a series of books that none of us had ever read before. The interest level for the story was listed at ages 10-13, and that was about right because it was our 10-year-old and 13-year-old who enjoyed the story most. Sammy Keyes is a junior detective who is a step above most. The story was a little more complicated and a little less predictable than most detective stories written for this age group. While I was not terribly interested in the story line, a rich lady's dog being stolen and a little girl who continually runs away from home, I thought that Sammy had great personality, and I enjoyed her determination to solve the problem in the end. The actress did a great job with the first-person story. It was not great literature, but it was well done for the genre. I wouldn't be surprised if Erin read another one in the series, but Brian probably wouldn't because it was a "girl book."
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Welcome
Welcome to my book blog! It seems that I am always being asked if I have read any good books lately, and I usually have...but I have trouble remembering what they are! My sister and sister-in-law recommended I start a blog with all the books I have read, which seemed like a great idea. Once I realized how easy it would be to do, I thought I would give it a try.
I am willing to share with you all of the great books I have been reading, but you must be willing to take what I call my "junk books" with them. Junk books are either books I read (and wished I hadn't!) or books that are guilty pleasures that I am too embarrassed to tell people that I read. One day a friend asked me what I was reading. I told her sheepishly, "Oh, it's just junk." Then she said, "Tell me what it is--I like junk too!"
So I will share everything--the good and the bad--and you can decide for yourself what is worth reading. I hope you enjoy this (and I hope that I can keep it up). Thanks for caring!
I am willing to share with you all of the great books I have been reading, but you must be willing to take what I call my "junk books" with them. Junk books are either books I read (and wished I hadn't!) or books that are guilty pleasures that I am too embarrassed to tell people that I read. One day a friend asked me what I was reading. I told her sheepishly, "Oh, it's just junk." Then she said, "Tell me what it is--I like junk too!"
So I will share everything--the good and the bad--and you can decide for yourself what is worth reading. I hope you enjoy this (and I hope that I can keep it up). Thanks for caring!
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