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Drive by book reviews
Again, I almost forgot to crosspost, but I do have the excuse that I had stage fever :). We did another Diskworld novel on stage today. Can I say I love to be Nanny Ogg, and that I love it that I live in this little town in the middle of nowhere but there are so many awesome nerdy people here? Nothing, nothing beats the moment when you get a cheering crowd for doing something you absolutely love to do. :D
So, ahem, aside from the totally unrelated wonderfulness of the day, here's my bookpost from LJ.
I'm still doctoring around on the big Temeraire review, since I now have read the sixth book too (yay Kindle) and have to update the review with it's content. But in the meanwhile I listened to a few audiobooks and wanted to do a little write up of what I thought about them before I forget them again.
First of I listened to Dead in the Family the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris. I have to admit that I already have pretty much forgotten about it again. I think the fun is pretty much over with this series. There are some funny moments in the book but for the most part it follows the usual scheme without any interesting happening. There is a bit of Eric's slashy backstory but it doesn't jibe with the backstory from the tv-show that is in the end not very interesting.
All this urban fantasy thingies (even if this one isn't really urban) seem to be a bit too much alike. I think for this one I'll stick with the tv-show. It's more fun and the format fits the content better. The quality of the audiobooks is quite good though. The actress who reads them really fits as Sookie's voice and if her southern accent is done badly I don't notice.
Anyway if you don't have too much time on your hands I'd give this book a pass, there is much better brain bubblegum out there.
The Dresden Files for example. I'd usually read those, but since James Marsters did the audiobooks it's just too lovely to go biking with his voice in my ear. This time around I listened to the fifth book Death Masks and other than the Stackhouse books which are far past their zenith these are actually getting better and better.
The world around Harry is getting more fleshed out with everybook and the stories seem to have more connection than the initial books did. A good part of this book is Harry dealing with the vampire war fallout from the last book and I loved his interactions with all the holy knights, especially the trotzkist one :).
I was also surprised how much I liked the Susan business, usually the Dresden Files suffer from Harry wandering into femme fatales on every street corner, who's motivation beyond being sexy is hard to gasp. So Susan going to South America to do her own thing was a quite nice turn of events.
Best thing as always are the oneliners and JM is great at giving them. I'll definitely read (or listen) on because this series is highly entertaining and actually growing out it's flaws as it progresses.
Last but not least The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This series seems to be the new it thing and a lot of people on Lj recced it so I had to give it a try. First off, I wasn't blown away, but I think to a large part that was due to the audiobook. If you're interested in the series, read it, because the reading in the audiobook is terrible. The actress gives Katniss such a whine voice you want to hit her over the head. Every new chapter starts with another wail of anguish, so annoying that it kills a lot of the books appeal.
I have hard time picking the text apart from the reading and it in itself was really quite good. It's a sci fi story for teenagers based on the idea of tributes sent to a winning power like in the greek legend of the Minotaur. There's not much YA sci fi out there, and less with a female hero who kicks ass, so I'm very glad to hear that the series sells so well.
The series builds around a reality gladiator show, where teenagers from conquered districts have to kill each other for the entertainment of the masses. The largest part of the book plays inside the arena where Katniss, the tribute from the dirt poor coal miner district tries to win the games. It's very suspenseful, but the bits I liked best are ones about the world outside, about the crazy media controlled capital, how the tribute kids are styled to look their best, how they have to fake their background stories and emotion to gather sympathy with the audience (and much needed help in the arena).
I started to read the second book of the series "Catching Fire" and I'm already liking it much better than the first, there are some minor weaknesses in the writing (like the need to always let Katniss be surprised by things that are already obvious to the reader), but without the whiny audiobookreader, Katniss comes of quite badass and I can't wait to read on.
That's all for today, books coming up next in more detail are (aside from the Temeraire review) "Let the right on in" by John Ajvide Lindqvist
and "The Fry chronicles" by Stephen Fry which I'm listening too and greatly enjoying at the moment.
So, ahem, aside from the totally unrelated wonderfulness of the day, here's my bookpost from LJ.
I'm still doctoring around on the big Temeraire review, since I now have read the sixth book too (yay Kindle) and have to update the review with it's content. But in the meanwhile I listened to a few audiobooks and wanted to do a little write up of what I thought about them before I forget them again.
First of I listened to Dead in the Family the latest Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris. I have to admit that I already have pretty much forgotten about it again. I think the fun is pretty much over with this series. There are some funny moments in the book but for the most part it follows the usual scheme without any interesting happening. There is a bit of Eric's slashy backstory but it doesn't jibe with the backstory from the tv-show that is in the end not very interesting.
All this urban fantasy thingies (even if this one isn't really urban) seem to be a bit too much alike. I think for this one I'll stick with the tv-show. It's more fun and the format fits the content better. The quality of the audiobooks is quite good though. The actress who reads them really fits as Sookie's voice and if her southern accent is done badly I don't notice.
Anyway if you don't have too much time on your hands I'd give this book a pass, there is much better brain bubblegum out there.
The Dresden Files for example. I'd usually read those, but since James Marsters did the audiobooks it's just too lovely to go biking with his voice in my ear. This time around I listened to the fifth book Death Masks and other than the Stackhouse books which are far past their zenith these are actually getting better and better.
The world around Harry is getting more fleshed out with everybook and the stories seem to have more connection than the initial books did. A good part of this book is Harry dealing with the vampire war fallout from the last book and I loved his interactions with all the holy knights, especially the trotzkist one :).
I was also surprised how much I liked the Susan business, usually the Dresden Files suffer from Harry wandering into femme fatales on every street corner, who's motivation beyond being sexy is hard to gasp. So Susan going to South America to do her own thing was a quite nice turn of events.
Best thing as always are the oneliners and JM is great at giving them. I'll definitely read (or listen) on because this series is highly entertaining and actually growing out it's flaws as it progresses.
Last but not least The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. This series seems to be the new it thing and a lot of people on Lj recced it so I had to give it a try. First off, I wasn't blown away, but I think to a large part that was due to the audiobook. If you're interested in the series, read it, because the reading in the audiobook is terrible. The actress gives Katniss such a whine voice you want to hit her over the head. Every new chapter starts with another wail of anguish, so annoying that it kills a lot of the books appeal.
I have hard time picking the text apart from the reading and it in itself was really quite good. It's a sci fi story for teenagers based on the idea of tributes sent to a winning power like in the greek legend of the Minotaur. There's not much YA sci fi out there, and less with a female hero who kicks ass, so I'm very glad to hear that the series sells so well.
The series builds around a reality gladiator show, where teenagers from conquered districts have to kill each other for the entertainment of the masses. The largest part of the book plays inside the arena where Katniss, the tribute from the dirt poor coal miner district tries to win the games. It's very suspenseful, but the bits I liked best are ones about the world outside, about the crazy media controlled capital, how the tribute kids are styled to look their best, how they have to fake their background stories and emotion to gather sympathy with the audience (and much needed help in the arena).
I started to read the second book of the series "Catching Fire" and I'm already liking it much better than the first, there are some minor weaknesses in the writing (like the need to always let Katniss be surprised by things that are already obvious to the reader), but without the whiny audiobookreader, Katniss comes of quite badass and I can't wait to read on.
That's all for today, books coming up next in more detail are (aside from the Temeraire review) "Let the right on in" by John Ajvide Lindqvist
and "The Fry chronicles" by Stephen Fry which I'm listening too and greatly enjoying at the moment.