All posts by skyebjenner

June 2019

List, ,
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Now that winter is starting to set in, I’m becoming very… nesty. It’s becoming more and more difficult to actually get anything productive done in the mean time. After all, it is disgustingly cold. Rainy. And just generally annoying…

Standalone stories

Series

Short story collections

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Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Book Review, ,
Overview
Image result for because of winn dixie book cover

Title: Because of Winn-Dixie
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Family
Dates read: 23rd – 27th May 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Year: 2000
5th sentence, 74th page: “I don’t know,” I told him.

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Synopsis

When ten-year-old Opal Buloni moves to Naomi, Florida, with her father, she doesn’t know what to expect – least of all, that she’ll adopt Winn-Dixie, a dog she names after the supermarket where they meet. Before long, Opal and her father realize – with a little help from Winn-Dixie – that while they’ve both tasted a bit of melancholy in their lives, they still have a whole lot to be thankful for.

Thoughts

This was such a fun, easy and sweet novel. It would have been amazingly easy to just read it cover to cover in one small afternoon, with a big smile on my face (the only reason this didn’t happen is because I haven’t sat still for an entire afternoon in a little while). India Opal, Winn-Dixie and the Preacher are a great little family that so obviously needs help. Actually, the whole rag tag bunch of characters that make up this story need a bit of a helping hand. And I love that this comes in the form of a slightly unorthodox and scraggly dog.

The underlying current of India Opal’s sadness at the loss of her mother is a little heartbreaking and it winds its way throughout the storyline so seamlessly. her own yearning to find a sense of belonging is further backed by the melancholy that seems to haunt every character in this story. Each and every person Winn-Dixie and India Opal come across are lonely and feeling some kind of loss. Yet, it surprisingly didn’t make a sad story at all. I was expecting a little bit of tragedy and an ending that would bring tears to my eyes. I even had a box of tissues next to me when I was getting close to the end…. There’s been very few stories I’ve read that feature a dog that doesn’t end in some kind of tragedy. But this didn’t. that feel good, wholesome vibe continued right the way through. And it was completely amazing.

This might not be the kind of story that I’m going to pick up once a year for a nice, fun revisit. But it is the kind of story that I will pick up again years down the track. When I need a reminder that not every tale is tragic and that there is always hope in the world. That it doesn’t matter how down life gets you, there is always something positive just around the corner…

<- More easy reading reviewsMore family reviews ->
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Low School by Rhys Bowen

Book Review, , ,
Overview
Image result for an apple for the creature book cover

Title: Low School
Author: Rhys Bowen
In: An Apple for the Creature (Charlaine Harris & Toni L. P. Kelner)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Demons, Easy reading
Dates read: 24th May 2019
Pace: Fast
Format: Short story
Publisher: Ace Books
Year: 2012
5th sentence, 74th page: I shall have to report this to Ms. Fer.

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Synopsis

Miss Weinstein finds herself in a situation she just can’t get out of. Her worst nightmare. Repeating school when she cant make it to a test, is dressed in the worst clothes imaginable and is… well, fat. But things are about to get a whole lot worse…

Thoughts

I thought at the beginning of this story that it was nothing more than a nightmare. After all, we’ve all had that dream where we can’t make it to an exam, that everyone has turned on us and we just don’t quite fit in. Alright, I’ve never dreamed that I’m wearing some weirdly disgusting clothing… but I can imagine how that would fit into the whole school-nightmare theme that is obviously going on here.

This short story doesn’t just play on our fears that seem to come from high school… it also highlights the idea that your decisions affect you. Every decision effects your potential future. The dumb things that you do that are questionable… well, they can certainly come back to haunt you. And throw you into a reality that you didn’t want to face… every day until the end of eternity.

I wasn’t popular in high school. I also wasn’t unpopular. But I never really wanted to be the homecoming queen and centre of attention… it just seemed so boring. So I honestly can’t imagine signing away my soul for the right to be the popular girl. Even if it was just in joke. This is the only thing about this story that just doesn’t compute for me. Why would someone want to be popular? Do anything to be in the centre of the crowd? As the story unfolded and Miss Weinstein’s attitude became clearer and clearer, it was more and more difficult to feel any kind of connection to her. More and more difficult to feel like she was really worth saving at all…

 <- Sympathy for the Bones ReviewCallie Meet Happy Review ->
Image source: Goodreads

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for coraline neil gaiman book cover

Title: Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Book to Film, Dark fantasy, Easy reading, Horror
Dates read: 16th – 22nd May 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Year: 2002
5th sentence, 74th page: “The one who says she’s you other mother,” said the cat.

Synopsis

In Coraline’s family’s new flat there’s a locked door. On the other side is a brick wall – until Coraline unlocks the door… and finds a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.

Only different.

The food is better there. Books have pictures that writhe and crawl and shimmer. And there’s another mother and father there who want Coraline to be their little girl. They want to change her and keep her with them….Forever.

Coraline is an extraordinary fairy tale / nightmare from the uniquely skewed imagination of #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman.

Thoughts

I picked up this book because I absolutely adored the movie. Just seeing the title makes me want to watch the movie again and again and again. Which meant that I was seriously hoping that the book would be just as good. I was a little wrong. For starters, the book is so much creepier and horrifying than the movie. For another thing. It was just better.

I really expected an easy, fun slightly twisted read when I opened this book. After all, it is described as a children’s twisted fairy tale. And it’s a tiny novel! I was wrong. So very, very wrong. I finished this about 10 o’clock at night… and then just lay there, imagining a creepy hand crawling across the bed towards me in my sleep… I’m really not sure that I would have read this when I was a child. And even if I did… I’m not sure that it would have been a great idea. There are certain downfalls to having such a vivid imagination…

As children, we all have moments when we feel that our family just doesn’t care about us. That we belong somewhere else. And that it could just be so much better if we just had someone who understood us more. Or at least, I felt that way frequently throughout my childhood. I like that Coraline plays on this and gives us a reality in which everything is far more fantastic, fun and just plain exciting than the real world. But at a cost, and it’s one that Coraline just doesn’t want to pay. After all, she realises that real life just isn’t too bad after all…

 <- Angels & VisitationsFragile Things ->

Image source: Goodreads

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe

Book Review, , ,
Overview
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Title: Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?
Author: Bruce Pascoe
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Australian authors, Indigenous Australians, Non-fiction
Dates read: 14th – 19th May 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Magabala Books
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: Sturt climbed one final dune and peered down onto the plain.

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Synopsis

“If we look at the evidence presented to us by the explorers and explain to our children that Aboriginal people did build houses, did build dams, did sow, irrigate and till the land, did alter the course of rivers, did sew their clothes, and did construct a system of pan-continental government that generated peace and prosperity, then it is likely we will admire and love our land all the more.” – Bruce Pascoe

Pascoe puts forward a compelling argument for a reconsideration of the hunter-gatherer label for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians. The evidence insists that Aboriginal people right across the continent were using domesticed plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating and storing – behaviours inconsistent with the hunter-gatherer tag.

Thoughts

I’ve been meaning to get to this book for ages. Good intentions and all that. And once I picked this up… wow! It completely changed my outlook on Indigenous Australians and their culture – pre Europeans. Alright, I already had a lot of respect and fascination for these peoples, but after reading all of the different aspects of their daily lives and existences… just, wow.

Pascoe brilliantly sets out his arguments for an agricultural and sedentary existence in Dark Emu. Each chapter is set out into different aspects of this lifestyle and filled with examples, quotes and so many different forms of proof. Unlike a lot of books I’ve read which use quotes to back up their evidence, Pascoe provides some great background information before imparting the words of others. It feels less like information has just been spewed forth, and more like the quotes were adding to his information, instead of just complementing it.

When Dark Emu came out, it was highlighted as a great outlook on a forgotten group of people, or at least a group of people who, in Australian history are normally overlooked and forgotten. But for me it was almost something more… it was a great way to immerse myself in the ways that we use the land around us. I’m an ecologist and reading about species and plants which I see in the field all the time, just not in the same quantities. It gave me a much greater appreciation for the land and the soil that I step on all the time. A greater appreciation for the world I live in.

<- More Australian authors reviewsMore Indigenous Australians reviews ->
Image source: BookDepository

Only Joseph by Sophie Hannah

Book Review, , ,
Overview

Title: Only Joseph
Author: Sophie Hannah
In: I Am Heathcliff (Kate Mosse)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Crime
Dates read: 16th May 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Borough Press
Year: 2018
5th sentence, 74th page: We usually refer to ‘the problem’ or ‘the issue’.

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Synopsis

She’s trying to find a new school for her troubled daughter. But when she comes across a conspiracy of murder and mayhem at a potential new place of education, things quickly spiral out of control.

Thoughts

Finishing off the I Am Heathcliff collection with this story worked surprisingly well. It took a modern take on Heathcliff’s stalkerish ways and also weaved in other themes of understanding, betrayal and appearances throughout the story.

The school setting made this an immediately relatable story. Alright, there was never a murder at my school (although there was an exorcism performed)… but the fact that a mother is searching for the best fit for her child and is constantly concerned that she’s not doing the right thing by her is touching. Not to mention a little frightening. I don’t have children, but now the idea of trusting my potential future children to possible murderers, and definitely people who don’t have the same concerns… it kind of gave me goosebumps…

 <- Heathcliff Is Not My Name ReviewI Am Heathcliff Review ->
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Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds by Rick Riordan

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for hotel valhalla book cover

Title: Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Companion
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Norse mythology, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 17th – 18th May 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Collection
Publisher: Puffin
Year: 2016
5th sentence, 74th page: Having his hand eaten by Fenris Wolf while the other gods bound the beast with the rope Gleipnir

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Synopsis

Dear Magnus Chase,
Welcome to Hotel Valhalla!
We hope you enjoy your eternal stay with us in the afterlife.

This is a guide to the gods, mythical beings and fantastic creatures of the nine Norse worlds – now your fellow guests.

There are stats, interviews, stories and anecdotes to help you avoid those awkward first introductions and make sure you never confuse a dwarf and an elf ever again.

Your story is just beginning, Magnus Chase. We hope you find this guide an entertaining companion on your adventures.

Thoughts

Hotel Valhalla is a great way to fill in the gaps that the storylines of the Magnus Chase novels just can’t fill. After all, they’re stories which follow a specific storyline. This hotel guide on the other hand isn’t a story, but a way to constantly give a background that you really don’t know you need until you read this collection.

Written with the typical Riordan humour, Hotel Valhalla really brings some of the more distant characters of Norse mythology to life in a very satirical and dry way. It helps to pull you further and further into the storyline of the Magnus Chase world and, because of this, the moment I finished the last page I was sorely tempted to get out of my couch next and grab Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead. I didn’t because I had two dogs happily asleep on my lap, but believe me, it was a fight of temptation.

My main complaint about this book is that it wasn’t longer. I would have loved a lot more insight into the characters which make up this aspect of Riordan’s world. But it still worked beautifully…

<- The Ship of the Dead9 From the Nine Worlds ->

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The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for magnus chase and the hammer of thor book cover

Title: The Hammer of Thor
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Easy reading, Norse mythology, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 12th April – 16th May 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Novel
Publisher: Puffin
Year: 2016
5th sentence, 74th page: The nightly numbers ranged from zero to twelve.

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Synopsis

My name is Magnus Chase. Two months ago I died fighting a fire giant and woke up in Hotel Valhalla as one of Odin’s warriors. Time of a rest? I wish.

When I meet Otis, an informant with a lead on Thor’s missing hammer, all I get is the name ‘Provincetown’ before a wolf-masked assassin takes him out and warns me to stay away.

Someone really doesn’t want me to find the hammer, and even if I could it’s rumoured to be underground, guarded by powerful magic.

But the giant armies are on the move, preparing to invade. If I don’t find it, they’ll ravage the Nine Worlds, starting with the streets of Boston.

There’s just one person who could help. Someone who demands a very high price: the gods’ worst enemy, Loki.

Thoughts

It took me forever to pick this up after finishing Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer. And now that I’ve finished this… I’m really not sure why. Or why it took me so long to get through the first half of this book. This tale has everything that I loved in the Percy Jackson books, but with Vikings. Which, as much as I love Greek mythology, there is something about Vikings and the Norse mythos that is… better.

For the first part of this book, I kept on thinking of Thor like he is in the Marvel movies… gorgeous, powerful and just plain “good”. The Thor in this story is nothing like that. Actually, he’s kind of a bumbling moron. And he farts a lot. And you know, he’s the reason that the whole mess in this story even happens. Because he’s a moron. Which adds a great level of humour throughout the whole novel. One that makes me grateful for Riordan’s writings. And makes me think that I need to keep adding some of his books (the few I don’t have) to my bookshelves.

There are hints from the very beginning of this tale that it isn’t all about Thor’s hammer. But, since I was so caught up in the action and what was happening to Magnus and his friends, I didn’t really pick up on them. It was only in hindsight that I managed to understand all the little clues that Riordan was sliding out for my slow little brain to grasp. Which is kind of great in a book that is aimed at a younger cohort. It makes me excited to reread this book at some point in the future. Read and reread and reread over the years to come, being able to find other “duh” moments throughout this story.

I was so impressed with Riordan’s use of a Muslim lead character in Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer. I was even more head over heels in love, completely impressed, making this man my idol when I realised that he has a trans-person as a secondary lead in this story. Talk about helping to raise a generation on acceptance and love. Alex is feisty and fun, if not a little angry and damaged at times. Also a little too obsessed with taking off people’s heads with a wire… but I digress. Having two people from minorities that are being ostracised today means that I can’t wait until they feature even more strongly in the next Magnus Chase story! Now where did I put that book…??

<- The Sword of SummerThe Ship of the Dead ->

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Unbound by Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson & Jocelynn Drake

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Overview
Image result for unbound book cover kim harrison

Title: Unbound
Author: Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson & Jocelynn Drake
In: Unbound (Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson & Jocelyn Drake)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Short story collections, Strong women, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 29th March – 7th May 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Anthology
Publisher: EOS
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Startled, Jenks turned in the air even as Daryl caught her breath only to start coughing.

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Synopsis

Five master of dark fantasy cross the borders between our world and others.

Not all huntersa are bound by human laws…

Revisiting the paranormal realms they’ve made famous in their wildly popular fiction, New York Times bestselling authors Kim Harrison, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson and Jocelynn Drake – plus New York Times bestselling YA author Melissa Marr with her first adult supernatural thriller – unleash their full arsenal of dark talents, plunging us into the shadows where the supernatural stalk the unsuspecting… and every soul is a target. 88 Get ready for the ride of your life – because the wildest magic has just been unleashed…. and evil is about to have its day.

Thoughts

This was a great collection of urban fantasy novellas. Not only did it introduce me to a few new worlds (that are now sitting impatiently on my To Buy List), but it also swept me away into a couple of worlds that I already love, and can’t wait to sink my teeth into again and again. The great balance of known worlds and new ones made me incredibly excited to crack the pages of this collection, and I’m mostly just disappointed that it took me so long to do so…

The stories in Unbound run across a series of paranormal settings and creatures. Yet, they all have powerful women as their core. There is something that always draws me back again and again when the woman is the powerful lead, when she is independent and strong. Even if things tend to go a little haywire when they try to do the right thing…

It took me a little while to read this book. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to dive into the stories, but rather the opposite. I was a little concerned about the depths of my obsession with the stories. I didn’t want to go out and buy a heap of other novels when I still have so many to read. But, honestly, if I wasn’t concerned about spending too much money… I probably would have read all five of these novellas in a day or two. They were all completely amazing!

 <- Two Lines ReviewLey Line Drifter Review ->
Image source: Harper Collins Publisher

Bit the Jackpot by Erin McCarthy

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
Image result for bit the jackpot erin mccarthy book cover

Title: Bit the Jackpot
Author: Erin McCarthy
Series: Vegas Vampires #2
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Romance, Vampires
Dates read: 15th – 16th May 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year: 2006
5th sentence, 74th page: In fact, at the moment, as she stood up, she had a sly little smile of satisfaction on her face, despite her no-nonsense words.

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Synopsis

The USA Today bestselling author of High Stakes returns to Sin City, where you can get bitten by the gambling bug – or by the sexiest vampire you’ve ever seen…

Campaign manager – and vampire – Seamus Fox has had his fill of women, since he’s been keeping tabs on his presidential candidate’s wife and female entourage. But suddenly he finds himself obsessed with a mysterious stripper who dances behind a screen. The sultry, yet shy, Cara Kim whets his appetite for more. Leave it to Seamus to fall fangs over feet for that rarest of Vegas attractions – a good girl. After a sudden run-in on the street, thought they may soon have a lot more in common…

Thoughts

This is such a fun, easy, cutsey little read. It doesn’t involve a lot of thought processes to actually read. But it definitely leaves you with a happy, completed feeling when you finish it. Alright, throughout the story there are a number of moments in which you want to just smack Seamus over the head. And tell Cara to get over her shit and be a real adult. But, as a general, this is a fun, easy and cute read. One that I will probably pick up again and again, whenever I just need something happy and cheerful. Something to remind me that the world is actually a happy place and true love does exist.

I never thought I’d read a story about a virgin stripper. It was something of a paradox. One that I wasn’t entirely sure I’d like at the beginning. After all, it is dealing with a number of extremes of a woman’s sexuality. But, somehow McCarthy makes it work. Cara is completely strong and independent. But she’s also incredibly vulnerable, unsure… and in so many ways, prejudiced. She has such odd ideals that make her act and think in a way that makes you want to smack her around the back of her head and tell her to get a clue. Which of course makes the book impossible to put down.

I don’t like uptight men. I don’t like them in real life. And I don’t like them in books. Generally. There is something about Seamus that made me start to think about revising my opinion of uptight men. Only a little bit because every stupid moment that he had was because he was completely rigid and unbending. This was not the kind of man that you think of as your dream man…or at least, it’s not the kind of man I could picture as that. But him and Cara work so incredibly well together that you still have a skipping heart every moment that you read about such a perfect couple.

Although this is very much a cutesy love story, I like how it becomes a little more complex with the back storyline. The election battle which is set up in High Stakes continues, but gains a lot of traction. Things start to get a lot more hairy and you wonder what evil levels the Italian will sink to next time. What the next plot will be and how the “good guys” are going to beat it. Everything you need to create a storyline that is not only fun and engaging, but also makes you impatient to turn the next page.

 <- High Stakes ReviewBled Dry Review ->
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