Tamora Pierce, Book Rebound, and Karen Marie Moning's Fever Series

Where to begin....

Since my last post nearly a year ago I have been very, very busy.  However, this does not mean that I stopped reading for enjoyment.  I haven't stopped.  With the addition of a Nook I will can have almost any book at my fingertips instantly, which can be a problem.  Also the fact that Borders stores closed has not limited my supply of books.  I have read quite a bit over the past 10 months or so and I am not going to attempt to write about everyone of them.  It would take too much effort, and I'm not quite sure it would be worth it to write about them.  That's not to say they weren't good,  I can't really remember any of thing I read that was really terrible.  Instead I will briefly mention about my trip to NYC to meet Tamora Pierce with my best friend and the book series that I just finished and is the reason I wanted to write this entry.

So Tamora Pierce is one of my favorite authors.  Probably my favorite young adult author.  I was introduced to her in high school and have read at least one of her books (more likely one of her series) a year for nearly ten years.  I have honestly lost track of how many times I have read her Song of the Lioness Quartet, not to mention her other series.  Anyway my best friend and I went to meet here and it was great.  I don't think I've ever gotten to meet someone I had been such a huge fan of.  It was a great experience.  I also met two other authors and they signed my books.  It was a very memorable day for me. 

On to the reason for my post...

I have read a ton of books.  There have been bits an pieces of nearly everything.  No horror...or at least no Stephen King type horror (although I do want to read "Secret Window, Secret Garden").  The horror I read has to have some bits of humor in it...it can't been too scary.  I've ventured into paranormal books and dark fantasy, but I think those are my limits.  Anyway...there have not been many books or series that have involved me on an emotional or a physical level.  And I do mean this literally.  Harry Potter comes to mind, Anne Bishops Black Jewels books and Ephemera books, the Twilight series (although I don't like including it, it still affected me), most of Tamora Pierce's books, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander (I only finished the first book and boy what a first book that was!), Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series (to a lesser extent that the others, but still), and Karen Marie Moning's Fever series which I have just finished.  I have not been on such an intense journey with a book in a very long time.  It has be extremely interesting.

I found the books through a post on my favorite romance blog Smart B******, Trashy Books.  The post was about "book rebound", the feeling a person has after they have read a book that was so incredible they don't know what to read next because nothing feels as if it will measure up to what you have just finished.  I was very happy to find I was no the only person to have felt this way.  I experienced this first hand at the end of the Harry Potter series.  No matter what I read after it, nothing was satisfying.  Then someone told me to read Twilight and well I had something that allowed me to move on.  That was probably one of the worst time I needed to rebound.  I just felt so bereft after reading it.  I mean it was a series that had been part of my life for nearly ten years so I had more invested in the series than simply the fact that it was over.  But back to the Fever series.  The reader was at this point and was asking Sarah, one of the authors of the blogs what to read after Karen Marie Moning's Fever series because the character of the character of Jericho Barrons.  She was looking for life after Barrons and was having some trouble.  Well this had me intrigued.  I read into the comments a bit and found that many others felt the same way about the series and could not stop singing its praises.  I looked into the series, found out I could rent it on my Nook for free through my library (so convenient!) and decided to see if it was really as good as everyone claimed.  Well it was.  I will say this though, if I had judged the series based solely on the first book, I would not be praising it as much as I am now.  Particularly the first third or so of the book.  It was very slow going.  But I think what kept me going was the need for answers and the need to find out more about Barrons.  The only other character who comes to mind and is just as compelling (and mysterious, and a whole mess of other things) is Daemon Sadi.  Even if I knew everything there was to know about these to characters I don't know if it would be enough.  If these two characters were to ever meet, I would think they would look at each other and understand each other perfectly.  But Barrons was enough to keep me interested to read the next book. 

After reading the second book through my library's e-book subscription I was too impatient to wait for my turn on the hold list and bought books 3, 4, and 5.  I finished book three and began book four but then I was distracted by my new Tamora Pierce book ( I had been waiting for it for about 3 years) and I forgot about it for a little bit.  Well now that school is over for the semester I can become completely absorbed in books without having to worry about homework.  Boy am I lucky I waited.  I would not have been able to finish my semester if I had been reading books 4 and 5.  The cliffhanger between books 3 and 4 was bad.  It stopped mid-scene.  I didn't think it could possibly get any worse than that cliffhanger, but then I got to the end of the book 4 and I was left mid-scene yet again and this time I was pretty sure I knew what happened, but my mind still did not want to accept it.  I had tears in my eyes as I sat at work reading it.  If I had been home, I probably would have been more vocal and probably hit my bed a few times out of frustration and anger.  I don't know how anyone could have gone an entire year without knowing what happened in between books 3 and 4 and 4 and 5.  I would have yelled and ranted to anyone who would listen.   And the 5th book, well that took me on such a ride.  I did not want to do anything but finish this book (love that feeling!).  It was very difficult for me to put it down last night when I had a little over 100 pages left.  If I didn't have to go to work today I would have stayed up and finished it.  I could not wait to finish this book.  My mind was constantly racing because I could not stop thinking about all of the possible answers to the questions.  I don't know how I functioned yesterday.  I only functioned today because I knew I would finish it.  The book had me as confused as Mac (MacKayla Lane) as to what the answers would be.  I had so many ideas I didn't know which one it would be.  I would put the book down for some reason (even though I really didn't want to) and I would just feel so excited/energized.  I felt as if I was Mac and had just been through all the battles she had.  Having now finished the series it was so worth it.  I finished the last book so fast it don't feel as if I absorbed it all (I know I didn't because I had to go back a read two or three scenes because I had gone through them so fast).  I want to read the books again, but not just yet.  I need a break, something that would have me going through it at a breakneck pace.  I don't quite feel as if I'm on the rebound, yet, (I do feel as if I've been on a very intense roller coaster, one I will enjoy visiting again and again) and already lined something up to read since I finished the book in the middle of work and I needed something else to read to pass the time.  I think that may have been my way to get around the rebound part.  I don't have the same bereft feeling as I did with Harry Potter or the Black Jewels.  Barrons was an amazing character, and definitely a top 10 of mine, there was just something missing about the series that did not make me feel like the other series.  Maybe it's because the story is over yet.  I read today that there is going to be a few more books and the 5th book ended with room for more to happen.  So maybe the rebound will hit me when the books are well and truly finished.

I highly recommend Karen Marie Moning's Fever series.  I know I didn't actually explain what the book series is about but you can always as me if you want more info, or you can look it up for yourself.  You definitely need to get through at least the first book before decideing if you want to go on.  I know its alot to ask and I usually all for not finishing a book if it doesn't grab you, but this one you need to finish.  If you like urban fantasy, dark urban fantasy, then I think you will enjoy this.  I couldn't get enough of it....I actually want to read it again right now from begining to end...but I really have too many other books to read...

Oh!  Just as a side note, I loved the way the author used music in the novels.  It was great to almost have soundtrack.

Here is a list of the books in order:

1. Darkfever
2. Bloodfever
3. Faefever
4. Dreamfever
5. Shadowfever

Hopefully I'll be updating this blog more often in the new year.  Oh and pleas excuse the spelling and grammatical errors...the post is really way too long to go back and edit.

Listening to "I Am" by Bobby Darin

A best books list of things I have never read, or how to cave to commets about books chosen for a book list

I follow a number of blogs about books and today on Bookshelves of Doom the author posted about comments causing three books to be removed from a list of 100 young adult books for the feminist reader by B**** Magazine (here's the link for the list 100 YA Books for the Feminist Reader ) I am a sucker for lists of books, movies, tv shows, almost anything pop culture related so I felt the need to check this list out when I saw it before the uproar.  Now I do not consider myself a feminist, but I do think that as a woman I can do what ever I want regardless of my sex.  I have only read 9 of the books and as of my original viewing of the list was in the process of reading what would have been my 10th book from the list Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce, a re-imagining of the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  When I went to look at my regular blogs today, I found the post on Bookshelves of Doom saying that three of the books on the list, including Sisters Red were removed because of issues that certain people who commented on the B**** Magazine's website (the author of the list) claimed were in these novels.  Now I'm not going to argue whether or not these books include such things as "triggers" (which to my understanding is something that causes a person to remember or relive a painful experience.) Some people felt that certain scenes in some of the books which were removed could be triggers.  It is my understanding that what maybe a trigger for one person is not going to be a trigger for someone else.  Something as innocuous to me as a red hat may be a horrible trigger for someone else.  Who has the authority to pull something off of a list claiming it has the potential to be a trigger for someone???  They cannot have claim to know all the triggers in the world and use that as a reason to remove the book.   I am not trying to belittle triggers by saying this because triggers are very real and terrible for people, but a trigger could be anything!  It doesn't have to be a rape or another violet act.

I have not read any of the books that were removed and have not yet finished Sisters Red, so I am not going to try and argue against these points.  To begin with when I read, especially for my own enjoyment I am not thinking about different interpretations of a book or other stuff because unless I am reading the book for a class, I only care about my own thoughts while I'm reading the book.  I am arguing against the people at the magazine who caved to the those peoples comments and removed the books instead of the defending them.  The reason they were not defended?  Well apparently not enough people had read the books in question to defend the choices.  If something such as this is going to be created you as the creator need to be able to defend what you created and not immediately cave to the pressure that it should be removed!  Also, make sure you have READ the books you are going to list this way when your judgment is questioned, you can defend your decision.  As someone going into the library field, I am sure I will run across people who have issues with a book that is in the library's collection and they will give me reasons why it should be removed.  I want to be able to tell them, if I have read it, why it is there and if I have not read it, then read it for myself and see if the claim is unfounded or not.  I am a strong believer that people should read what they want and not have the decision to choose what they want to read taken away from them by a higher authority.  This list is by no means the "be all and and all" of YA books for feminist readers, but it does carry some weight because this publication has come credit (that's what I've read, I don't know because I haven't read the magazine).  By removing the books from the list, B**** Magazine has now given the impression that these books are somehow "wrong"  they have taken away their stamp of approval (as a publication supporting feminism) of the book by taking it off the list (even though it is still in their lending library) and chosen not to recommend it as a YA book for feminist readers.  For me, this list has now been marred by the incident and hardly seems worth what it could have been.  Yes, it is only the opinion of one group of people, but since it was their idea they should have stuck by it!  Now whatever weight this list may have held is gone for me.  Several authors have commented and requested that their books be removed after they found out about the removal of the first three books from the list but B**** Magazine said they will not do so.  Well, to me it seems a little too late now.  If I was an author, I would not want my name to be associated with such a list.

If you care to read another reaction check out the blog post over at Smart B******, Trashy Books


I find this situation very upsetting.  It could have been solved if the group that put the list together had done their homework, stuck to their decisions, and explained why the books belonged there and addressed the comments against them. 


Listening to "Under Osaka - Pure Madness!" by Ellery Klein
 

New Year, New Books

Happy New Year!!!

Well it has been quite some time since I have posted here despite the fact that I have read more than a few books.  A little thing called graduate school got in the way of both reading for enjoyment and free time for other things.  But hopefully that will change with the new semester.  Luckily my reading for the next semester should be more interesting.  I have two classes where the reading selections are more my taste:  Reading Materials for Adults and Reading Materials for Young Adults.  I'm really looking forward to both of these.  I have the list of books for my YA class and I have already browsed through and begun to read some of them.  Some of the authors are familiar to me, but out of all of the books, I've only read two of them previous to this class.  I actually had to laugh when the professor stated that four the fantasy category of YA books I was "expected to have read at least one of the books in the Twilight series".  I really thought that was great, I mean how many people can say they have a class where they are expected to have read something so popular.  The other book I have read is The Hunger Games.  I've also read two during the break and would like to have at least two more done, but we'll see how dedicated I am to that.  

I have continued to add to my ever growing list of books I own that I want to read.  A book sale at the library did not help me with this habit, but .50 cent and $1 books are really hard to pass up!  I was making a good dent into the list, but then I bought more and I was right back where I started from.  Not to mention I got about 20 books free from a cousin of mine.  I had really good intentions of reading alot over break too, but that hasn't counted.  I've read 3 graphic novels (1 was for school) and one book for school.  Plus I've started two books I already had....

Anyway, here's a list of all the books I've read between September and December that I didn't have time to blog about.

1.  A Charmed Death - Madelyn Alt
2.  Hex Marks the Spot -  Madelyn Alt
3.  Never Marry a Stranger - Gayle Callen
4.  Captive of Sin - Anna Campbell
5.  Blameless - Gail Carriger
6.  The Gates - John Connolly
7.  Tall, Dark, and Wolfish - Lydia Dare
8.  The Wolf Next Door - Lydia Dare
9.  One Dance With a Duke - Tessa Dare
10.  Twice Tempted by a Rogue - Tessa Dare
11.  Three Nights With a Scoundrel - Tessa Dare
12.  And Babies Make Five - Judith Durate
13.  Wicked Appetite - Janet Evanovich
14.  The Perfect Rake - Anne Gracie
15.  Mr. Perfect - Linda Howard
16.  Gabriel's Bride - Samantha James
17.  Promise of the Rose - Brenda Joyce
18.  Straight Up - Deirdre Martin

Graphic Novels
American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Wang
Fables 14:  Witches - Bill Willingham
Cinderella:  From Fabletown With Love - Chris Roberson

And for 2011

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Hopefully I'll have more time this semester to read and to blog about what I've read.  Here's to the new year!

Listening to:  Fuel - "Shimmer"