Moony's Books in 2010

[Moony]

JANUARY
01. The White Mountains - John Christopher (reread)
02. The City of Gold and Lead - John Christopher
03. The Pool of Fire - John Christopher
04. Dragons of Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
05. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (reread)
06. The Golden Cat - Gabriel King
07. The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All

FEBRUARY
08. Geisha of Gion - Mineko Iwasaki
09. Kindred - Octavia E. Butler
10. When the Tripods Came - John Christopher
11. An Old-Fashioned Southern Christmas
12. Truly, Madly - Heather Webber
13. Dragons of Winter Night – Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
14. The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrún – J.R.R. Tolkien
15. The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder – David Thomson
16. Heir to Sevenwaters – Juliet Marillier

MARCH
17. A History of Pirates - Nigel Cawthorne
18. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
19. King Arthur and His Knights – Sir James Knowles
20. Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths – Bernard Evslin
21. Unfinished Tales – J.R.R. Tolkien
22. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter – Seth Grahame-Smith
23. The Mystery at Lilac Inn – Carolyn Keene
24. The Sea of Monsters – Rick Riordan
25. The Titan’s Curse – Rick Riordan
26. The Battle of the Labyrinth – Rick Riordan

APRIL
27. The Crystal Shard – R.A. Salvatore
28. The Last Olympian – Rick Riordan
29. The Autobiography of Medgar Evers: A Hero’s Life and Legacy revealed through his Writings, Letters, and Speeches
30. The Pig, the Prince, and the Unicorn - Karen A. Brush
31. Silver Borne – Patricia Briggs
32. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
33. The Little Regiment and other Civil War Stories – Stephen Crane

MAY
34. Gladiatrix – Russell Whitfield
35. The Iliad – Homer
36. The Book of Chinese Beliefs – Frena Bloomfield
37. The Red Pyramid – Rick Riordan
38. 100 Heartbeats - Jeff Corwin
39. The Unicorn Dancer - R.A.V. Salsitz
40. The Scarlet Slipper Mystery - Carolyn Keene

JUNE
41. Profiles in Courage - John F. Kennedy
42. A Summer of Hummingbirds - Christopher Benfey
43. Lion of Ireland - Morgan Llywelyn
44. The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Alexandre Dumas
45. Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne - David Gaider
46. 20th Century Ghosts - Joe Hill
47. The Treasure - Iris Johansen
48. The Science of Vampires - Katherine Ramsland

JULY
49. Bard - Morgan Llywelyn
50. Warriors: Firestar’s Quest – Erin Hunter
51. Tuck Everlasting – Natalie Babbitt
52. The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
53. Kentucky Bride – Hannah Howell

AUGUST
54. Death of a Musketeer – Sarah D’Almeida
55. The Nazi Officer’s Wife – Edith Hahn Beer
56. Horns – Joe Hill
57. The Firebrand – Marion Zimmer Bradley
58. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things – Carolyn Mackler
59. Bloodsuckers: The Vampire Archives, Vol. 1

SEPTEMBER
60. The American Heritage Short History of the Civil War - Bruce Catton
61. The Strain - Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan
62. Sphinx’s Princess – Esther Friesner
63. Blood Oath – Christopher Farnsworth
64. Homer’s Odyssey – Gwen Cooper
65. The Longest Raid of the Civil War – Lester V. Horwitz

OCTOBER
66. The Capture – Kathryn Lasky
67. The Journey – Kathryn Lasky
68. The Fall – Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan
69. The Rescue – Kathryn Lasky
70. The Siege - Kathryn Lasky
71. The Shattering - Kathryn Lasky

November
72. The Burning - Kathryn Lasky
73. Through Wolf's Eyes - Jane Lindskold
74. Cleopatra: A Life - Stacy Schiff

December
75. The Silmarillion - J.R.R. Tolkien (audiobook)
76. Once Upon a Christmas - Diane Farr
77. Canticle - R.A. Salvatore
78. Letters from Father Christmas - J.R.R. Tolkien
79. The Heretic Queen - Michelle Moran
80. In Sylvan Shadows - R.A. Salvatore

[Moony]

After reading the original Tripods trilogy, I must admit that I liked the books. I didn't love them, but I honestly enjoyed them and look forward to reading them again. I confess that I enjoyed The White Mountains more now than I did when I was a child. And now I get to see how the war against the Tripods ended. Intoxicating the Masters with German alcohol to strike back at their cities amuses me to no end. It was sad to read of the fates of Eloise and Henry.

I still have When the Tripods Came left to read, but I don't want to burn myself out on science fiction too early in the year so I think I will save it for a later time.

[Moony]

The LOTR and Philosophy book was interesting, but I did not agree with everything that I read in the collection of essays. I do not believe that Tolkien's masterpiece is chock full of sexual symbolism. I also do not see Boromir as described being "faithless." He was "tempted" but so was anyone who came into contact with the Ring, but unlike some he failed to pass the test of Sauron's dark will. This book also makes me wonder about the nature of the Valar again which is something that has been bothering me. Documentaries and some of the essays in this collection, for example, label them as angels or angelic beings in a similar structure to Christian hierarchy. This makes sense when one understands that Tolkien was a deeply religious man. Yet after reading The Silmarillion, the Valar never struck me as being "angels" in the Middle-earth cosmology. Eru is the Creator, yes, but the Valar don't strike me as being angels despite their singing in the beginning. The Valar strike me as more like gods. Certainly not as powerful as Eru, but gods nonetheless. The Valar create the wonders of Arda until they retreat to their home in Valinor, leaving only Melkor (a.k.a. Morgoth) and Ulmo to be bothered by the affairs of elves, men, and dwarves in their struggle against the Dark Lord. The Wizards like Gandalf and Saruman seem more like angels since they serve as the emissaries of the Valar, and one of the references in an essay took a line from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien where Tolkien described Gandalf as being an incarnate angel.

Maybe I am totally off base here, but it was something that struck me when I hear or read analysis concerning the Valar.

[Moony]

Heir to Sevenwaters, by Juliet Marillier
I loved the Sevenwaters trilogy so I was anxious to read the follow-up, even if most of my favorite characters would not be in it. It was pretty good next installment for the series, but still by no means my favorite. There were things pretty predictable early on. Although I do like Clodagh and Cathal as a couple! And Ciracan makes an appearance, vital to the events! It's not all wrapped up in a nice bundle either. There's room for more sequels to the Sevenwaters saga.

[Moony]

Percy Jackson and the Olympians
I finished reading the final book in the series the other day. I have mixed feelings about the series.

I can certainly see how these books appeal to readers who like action driven plot. There's not really a whole lot of dull moments in any of the books because there's typically too much going on. The characters are on the whole rather sympathetic, and of course the villains are bad enough to despise. However, sometimes I feel that Percy flies off the handle in his judgments. Yes, Luke tries to kill him in the first book but Percy never seems to let go of his grudge until the very end. I guess he has to see the tragedy of Luke's life to understand his motivations instead of using the information that he already knew to deduce it. Oddly enough Tyson proved to be my favorite character in the books. This came as a surprise to me.

I think that a lot of my enjoyment of this series is that I could see it as entertainment. Taking it as just that makes it a lot of fun to read. It's quite often rather humorous. The books are not epic tomes so it doesn't take that long to read through each one. Yet I still though much of it was far too predictable (or perhaps I just know the stories too well) and felt that ending was a bit cliche with certain aspects of romantic entanglements.

I kept noticing a lot of similarities to the Harry Potter series while reading these books. I just couldn't help it.

Of course, now that I've read the books, could I say for certain whether I like the book or film adaptation of The Lightning Thief better? To be honest I don't like one version over the other, but I like bits of each of them. Yet I would still like to see film adaptations of the rest of the books in the series. I think that it would be quite interesting.

[Jez]

I'm happy to see this review. I've been tossing around the idea of reading this series after getting a strong recommendation from a woman I've swapped YA series with. Someday. :p

[Moony]

I just finished reading 100 Heartbeats and I have to admit that I loved it. I've always had a soft spot for animals so reading about animal conservation was right up my alley. However, this book is also filled with a lot of heartbreaking stories about how we're exceeding our carrying capacity and destroying our planet in the process. At times it is quite depressing, but there are success stories about a species that has been brought back from the brink of extinction and has graduated out of the One Hundred Heartbeat Club. Jeff Corwin was a guest on The Tonight Show on Earth Day so I loved seeing the Florida panther that he speaks of in this book. Such an adorable cat! I want this book for my collection.

Recommended for anyone interested in animals and conservation.

[Moony]

Llywelyn's novel of the Celtic tribes coming to Ireland was a pretty good read. The various characters had a chance to reveal their innermost thoughts and we the reader receive action from different viewpoints as opposed to following a single character. There weren't any characters that I really disliked, even those with less than savory ambitions made it an interesting story because they added various flavors. Deaths were kind of sudden and unexpected at times and the ending proved rather sad in that respect. Sometimes the narrative seemed to take time to go anywhere and other times it sped along as quickly as possible. The ending itself seemed almost like it was incomplete, as though there should be more to tell. With all the attention given to the rest of the story you might expect more from the ending, you know?

Still I think it was a good read and if you like the Celts or Morgan Llywelyn's books then I would say give it a try.

[Moony]

This was quite an interesting book. I liked the retellings of the Arthurian legends that Marion Zimmer Bradley has written, but I'm left wondering whether or not she really just liked tragedy because it seems that's what 90% of this book compromises! ;) I really loved reading this book and the few things that bothered me was Gwen's constant prattling on about Christianity because it gets to the point where you want someone to slap her. The other problem is that by the middle of the book I felt it reached the point where it should end. It seems like all the time Morgaine wastes and then she begins doing the Goddess's work... it's almost like the end gets rushed when it was dragging to that point. I know it's sounding like I don't like the book, but I do, believe me I do! Morgaine is quite the interesting character though. She rebels against Vivianne's machinations and yet when she returns to Avalon to take her place as priestess again she plots her own schemes using Nimue to bring down the traitorous Merlin. Still from the books of King Arthur that I have read so far (which still isn't a very extensive feat), this would be my favorite of the tellings.

I watched the mini-series again this weekend to compare book to movie since I couldn't really remember beyond the fact that Morgaine and Arthur conceive Mordred at the Beltane fires. It's a shame that some of the interesting and shocking events were left out. Between the two I would say the book is better despite the fact you might get utterly depressed after reading it! :p I had to pick up a romance novel after finishing The Mists of Avalon because I needed a story with some happiness that is more than just fleeting!

[margaine]

thanks for the review Moony. :) It's making me want to read the book again, I read it so long ago.

[Jez]

Thanks for the review. So many Arthurian retellings are filled with tragedy, but then again the basic story is very much a tragedy.

[Moony]

:good::good::good::good:
It would be very difficult me to resist the allure of a book that had stories written by Bram Stoker, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King... at least for long. But the stories in this collection demonstrate what real vampires are all about. Not all the stories are great, I found "Carrion Comfort" boring despite an interesting premise. Still I enjoyed a lot of the stories in the first volume of the mass market paperback edition.

My favorite of the vampire stories would be "Bite Me Not" because the idea of vampires as fallen angels appeals to me. :p It almost reads like a fairy tale, complete with the darkness we come to know of fairy tales in their truest sense. Another story that I fancy is "The Tale of Chugoro" because it satisfies my interest in stories in the vein of Japanese legends. While a fox woman is usually the culprit in such tales, I liked the ending of this one.

"The Sea Was Wet as Wet Could Be" is just weird. It's like vampires meet Lewis Carroll. There are a few like that too.

Overall I am quite pleased with this portion of the compilation. It's refreshing from most of what we are offered on the shelves nowadays.

[Jez]

It's refreshing from most of what we are offered on the shelves nowadays.

So, you're saying none of these vampires sparkled?

[Moony]

So, you're saying none of these vampires sparkled?
No sparkles. These vampires are dangerous and not to be tamed by simpering virgins.

[Jez]

:D And all is right in the world again.

[Moony]

In continuation of my vampire mania that took hold during the summer and refuses to release me, I finally requested the first book in Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's horror trilogy. I confess that it was hard to put down.

The science of vampires is explained as a virus and while there are things changed such as the classic fangs for a stinger, it all works. These vampires are not pretty. They sometimes might come across more like zombies, but they're scary and dangerous. Not something you want to screw around with in any context of the expression. Even when slain these vampires pose a health risk in how the virus is transmitted.

The characters are interesting, I especially like the old professor who makes it his mission to hunt down these monsters. A lot of the characters are given a good bit of page time in order for the reader to understand them a bit more. However, Nora seemed neglected in this respect which seemed surprising since she contributes so much. Really we only see her when she's with the men. And the Ancients? Seriously I want to see more! My appetite has been whetted with that last chapter before the epilogue and I can't wait for the second book to come out in a couple weeks.

The suspense is built up in the beginning and when the explosion hits the action just keeps coming. This book reads like a movie... which is not surprising considering the author! I had a lot of fun reading it and it's kept me up pretty much every night this week craving more. This is not a romance where the savage beast will be tamed by a naive girl. This is horror and that's the way we like it! :D

:good::good::good::good: