a nook and a book

16 Jul

On my birthday (last month), I was the happy recipient of a brand new Nook color. Yesterday, I finished my first Nook book :) , Deanna Raybourn’s The Dead Travel Fast. This post will be a review of both…

I just about gobbled up Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series last month (why, oh, why must it be so long for the next installment!?), so of course I wanted to try something else by her. The Dead Travel Fast is pure Gothic, Victorian mystery with traces of Jane Eyre and Northanger Abbey. There was very little to compare to the Julia Grey series (other than a strong-minded heroine and dark hero), so it was a fresh experience from an author I already enjoyed.

In the novel, spinster authoress Theodora Lestrange is invited to travel to Transylvania to visit her old school friend, Cosmina, the ward of the Countess Dragulescu. Cosmina is to wed her cousin, Count Andre, heir to the Dragulescu fortune, ruined castle and all, and Theodora is to help her make the necessary arrangements. Little does Theodora expect to be dragged into a local mystery when she arrives to find the villagers going “wolf” and the castle’s servants guarding themselves against strigoi. Too soon, Theodora’s pleasant visit becomes a prime opportunity to feed her imagination and produce her best novel yet. The Dead Travel Fast is an atmospheric mystery that draws on vampire and werewolf legends, while also providing a touch of romance.

The Nook experience, on the other hand, took some getting used to… I’m not one to argue on behalf of the smell of paper in support of print over e-books. I care about the story not the medium. That said, it did feel a little weird to be holding a small tablet. The weight of it was somewhat heavy, and I had to lean it against the table or atop my lap in order to give my wrists a rest, but the image itself was clear at any distance. The print looks really nice and it really is much more pleasant than reading a document on my laptop (I tested it with Ebsco’s databases at work to download full text articles). The apps are a neat feature, as is the web browser, although I do find myself using it mostly to update my online food/exercise diary more often than not. Overall, I’m glad the b-chan gave me the Nook color over the other readers/tablets on the market and I’m enjoying its many uses. The only major con… it is way too easy to get caught up in the allure of the Nook book store.

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penny dreadful

9 Jun

I love a good Victorian-esque mystery and the Lady Julia Grey novels do not disappoint. This was one of those cases when Amazon actually got a recommendation right and provided me with a perfect, new addiction. As an early birthday present, I ordered myself the rest of the series and will anxiously await their arrival. I’m sure nothing I read will feel as compelling until I have devoured them.

In Silent in the Grave, the series opens with the death of Lady Julia’s husband , a death that may have been produced by less than natural means… The novel is rife with mystery, mayhem, and adventure as Lady Julia comes to terms with the aftermath of her husband’s death and meets her match in Nicholas Brisbane, inquiry agent and enigmatic object of desire. I could not stop reading.

Lady Julia’s adventures continue in Silent in the Sanctuary as she becomes enmeshed in another case of murder, one that is too close to home. Returning to her role as amateur sleuth, Julia begins her own investigation as Brisbane tries to solve the mystery. Together, they  learn more than they ever expected and break a few hearts in the process.

I am loving this series and can’t wait to read on!

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Summer Reads

3 Jun

Summer has always been a time to catch up on my reading. Last summer, I reviewed every book I read (or nearly). Unfortunately, this is my last term in school and summer has little meaning for me as far as lazy days with a book go. That said, I’ve managed to finish two great reads in the last week, and am sorry that I cannot share much more than a quick post…

Fab Summer Read #1: Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Mystery, romance, Victorian-era drama and rich description. This novel gripped me from the very first line and kept me reading late into the night.

Fab Summer Read #2: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food by Jennifer 8. Lee

Part historical research, part foodie journey, Lee’s account provides fascinating insight into the world of American-Chinese food, it’s history, and it’s effect on the immigrant experience in America, as well as people’s perception of “Americanness” around the world. I don’t usually read nonfiction for fun, but Lee’s narrative style was so engaging, I was hooked. This is the kind of book that makes me want to share it with friends.

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in which I give in

11 May

I always told myself that I would never read Eat, Pray, Love. It appealed to me about as much as a Nicholas Sparks book–not at all (apologies to Sparks fans, but he’s just not my cuppa). Then I learned that it was selected as the campus-wide reading selection for 2011. I wasn’t on the selection committee, but given the library’s involvement in the event, I knew I would have to swallow my pride and give it a go. Then I was asked to lead the planning committee for the event and help organize a series of activities based on the book. Now, I knew I would have to really read it. I couldn’t get away with a quick skim, I would need to know this book well enough to talk about it and plan around it. So I did. And it wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be.

Yes, I did find some parts terribly self-indulgent, but Gilbert’s style is light and often humorous, even when dealing with the complexities of Indian and Balinese spirituality. I am not one for reading books on spirituality, but Gilbert never came across as preachy–this is her journey and no one need prescribe to it. Overall, I’m kind of glad I gave it a chance, if only because I learned a little more about interesting places to add to my travel wishlist.

Now, to brainstorm ideas for activities…

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A few more treasures

9 Apr

Found even more lovely books on Friday when I arrived at work. These were pulled from the sections on 18th and 19th century literature… nearly half a cart was just George Eliot.

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a few treasures

6 Apr

I work in an antiquarian book collector’s dream library. Some of the oldest books in our collection date back to the late 1800s. I’m almost certain some are first editions of classics. Problem is… our library is small and we have an equally small staff, so many of these treasures are moldy and ill-treated. Ideally, most of these books would be housed in a special collections department with all manner of temperature controlled settings, but unfortunately we haven’t the resources to manage such a project. If I’m lucky, my suggestion to try to get into the Google Books library project will be taken seriously, but I doubt such an endeavor can take place for a while yet.

In the meantime, I can continue to have little moments of heart-stopping bibliophilia when I come across some magical tome. Like the time I came across a set of works by Charlotte Brontë, illustrated by Edmund Dulac (!!!), or like today, when I suddenly found myself cataloging a 3 volume set of Queen Victoria’s letters and another set of English belles-lettres, both filled with hand-colored illustrations. Gorgeous books that make me wonder why we no longer have such lavishly illustrated works outside of the children’s section.

For your visual pleasure… apologies for the quality, all except the last were shot with a phonecam.

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Black Unicorn/Gold Unicorn

15 Mar

I started reading Tanith Lee’s Black Unicorn a few weeks before I graduated from high school, so I was forced to return the book before I was done reading it. The title and author of the book slipped my mind, but Lee’s description of the crystalized unicorn skeleton hanging from a red-headed princess’s bedroom did not. I searched and searched for this book, but it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I decided to try an image search for the book’s cover and… Voila!

There it was! The marbled cover that caught my eye so many years ago. I snagged a used copy around January, but decided to include it as part of my YA review project. It was well worth the wait, and so much better now than the first time I read it.

The image of the crystal unicorn skeleton was as strong as ever, but I found it easier to let myself be drawn into Lee’s sparse style now that I’ve become such a fan of feminist fantasy. I really loved that; the experience of reading something that I didn’t quite get when I was a teen, but made so much sense now.

The story is simple enough… Tanaquil is the somewhat neglected daughter of a sorceress who lives in a fortress. The sorceress’ magic has leaked into the desert that surrounds the fortress, enchanting the area and the peeves (dog-like desert-dwelling creatures) that live there with the power to talk. When one of the peeves shows Tanaquil a crystal bone that it dug up, Tanaquil decides to go after the peeve and help it dig up the rest. Putting the pieces together, Tanaquil soon finds herself drawn to the skeletal thing, unaware of the power that she is about to unleash and the adventure this will set in motion.

The sequel, Gold Unicorn, recounts Tanaquil’s further adventures with her sidekick the peeve as she travels the world and meets the power-hungry Empress Veriam, who wants Tanaquil to use her ability to mend things to assist her in her plan to conquer the world.

Like many fantasy novels, this series features magic, other worlds, quests, and battles between good and evil. The narrative is descriptive and filled with dry humor reminiscent of Diana Wynne Jones and Robin McKinley. Both books were a treat to read after wrapping up my course reading project.

There is a third book in the series, Red Unicorn, that I have yet to read.

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counting down…

5 Mar

Am 2 books away from completing my course reading project. Along the way, I have discovered a few things about myself:

  1. Like a good wine, some books improve with time… sort of. I just finished Tanith Lee’s The Black Unicorn, about 10 years after I unsuccessfully tried to read it in high school. I found it wonderfully enchanting; just the right kind of strong girl fantasy for me.
  2. Some YA books just do not appeal to me anymore. I fell in love with some of the works (The Truth About Forever, What My Mother Doesn’t Know, Ironman), but others just did not capture my interest. I think I just lost something along the way.
  3. Going outside of my comfort zone (genre-wise) is a good thing (re: Ironman).
  4. I need to read more smart, quirky bios and other non-fiction books.
  5. I still hate reading goals. I like to read at my pace and will be happy to resume it.

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a new resolution

23 Feb

My reading project is well under way, but it’s made me realize something about my reading selections… I read very few biographies/autobiographies, though I always enjoy the ones that I do read. Therefore, I’m resolving to add more biographical works to my leisure reading. My selection for this project is Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman, and I’ve already spied a few more that I’m interested in reading once this term is done.

I’ll gladly take recommendations. I especially love bios on female historical figures.

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A new term…

11 Jan

A new reading list.

I’m taking the general YA lit class this term, so my bloggings mat be few and far between while I marathon read my way through my 24 selections, assigned readings, texts, and prepare reviews/possible lesson plans for use in libraries. It’ll be intense now that I’m working full time.

First up on my list: Nothing but the truth by Avi

ttfn

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