Archive for June, 2010

Title: Enchanted, Inc.
Author: Shanna Swendson
Genre: Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year: 2005
Pages: 308
Acquired via the Link+ system at my friendly neighborhood library.

I have to admit that I definitely have a thing for New York.  I haven’t been there but in my head it is absolutely fabulous.  I think my obsession with all things New York grew out of the fact that I’ve never left the West Coast.  Born and raised in sunny California, my parents had no reason to take me or my sister away from the comfortable coast.  When I started talking about moving to New York, they didn’t understand why I would ever want to do such a crazy thing.  They used words like cold and dangerous to try to deter me, but I applied to Columbia anyway.  Apparently fate sided with my parents because I didn’t get into Columbia University and instead ended up in Santa Clara University closer to my parents than I had ever imagined.

The New York setting of Enchanted, Inc definitely increased my liking of the modern day magical book.  Katie Chandler is what most people would call a hick.  She hails from Texas but finds herself in New York pursuing “the dream.”  Unfortunately, Katie hasn’t found the answers to her dream just yet.  She is working a thankless job for a monster boss named Mimi.  That is until a very unattractive sleezeball accompanied by a faerie and a very attractive quite guy change her life forever by extracting her from the “normal” world where she is seen only as the girl next door into the magical world where she is anything but ordinary.

In the magical world, Katie’s valuable gift is that she doesn’t have an ounce of magic in her making her able to see past all the enchantments and illusions that magicians work.  This gifts makes her a valuable asset as a verifier for MSI, Inc. :Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc.  And Katie’s business background serves her extremely well in this ancient establishment that has somehow managed to survive in the modern world.  Still, there is and evil doer afoot and Katie must help some remarkable characters to make sure that the good guys can save the day.

This book was such a fun read.  There were some literally laugh out loud funny moments in the book.  But more than just humorous wit, this book portrayed a girl that I could fully relate to.  Although I have always dreamed of living and working in the big city, I know that it would be difficult for me to adjust and fit in with all the big city slickers.  After all, I come from a completely different mentality and so did Katie.  I could really picture myself in Katie’s shoes which really helped me connect to the story.  Even more than that, I really enjoyed Sendson’s writing style.  The story moves along at a wonderful pace so that you get an opportunity to get to know Katie and her friends but also keeps the plot moving along.  And what a brilliantly put together plot.  All the pieces fit together nicely and I thoroughly enjoyed reading along as the plot unfolded to reveal some unexpected twists and turns.

Altogether, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoy women’s fiction with a magical twist.  The magical elements at play in this book are extremely entertaining but underneath that, this is really the story of a girl coming to terms with who she is and figuring out where her place is in the world.  And I have to admit, I always enjoy books like that.

Last year, Everything Austen began right around the time that I started blogging.  I didn’t really have a clue about challenges (in some ways, I still don’t!) but I joined and began a journey into the world of Jane.  Granted, I didn’t have the time or the dedication back then to complete the challenge, but I did really enjoy the two or three books that I did finish for the challenge.  And so, I have been eagerly awaiting another chance to jump into the past to learn more about Jane and her unforgettable characters.  Finally, that chance is here!

The Everything Austen Challenge runs from July 1, 2010 to January 1, 2011.  The goal is to finish six Austen-themed things (books, movies, even crafts like Austen inspired cross-stitches count!).  If you’re interested, head over to Stephanie’s Written Word to find out more.  You have until July 15 to sign up!

My list of six is as follows:

Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo
Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating by Lauren Henderson
Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine’s Guide to Life and Love by Patrice Hannon
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Are you joining in on the Austen fun?  If so, I’d love to hear about what you’re planning on reading!

Title: Leviathan
Author: Scott Westerfeld, Illustrated by Keith Thompson
Genre: Alternate History, Fiction
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Year: 2009
Pages: 434
Acquired via my friendly neighborhood library.

This is not the kind of book that I usually read.  First of all, it has been ages since I picked up a book that was illustrated.  Second, I’m much more of a sappy romance kind of girl.  I rarely go for the action pact, history based books.  But this was such a treat.

In Leviathan, Westerfeld takes the bare bones historical background of World War I and creates an alternate history with amazing technical advances that we don’t even have today.  The combination of advanced technology with backward social rules created an interesting contrast that I found to be extremely thought-provoking.

Even more, I loved the characters.  The story revolves around two central characters that I grew to absolutely adore.  First, we meet Prince Aleksander.  The Prince’s world is completely shaken up: he is forced to flee  everything he knows after the tragic death of his parents.  And then there is Daryn Sharp with big dreams that her sex doesn’t allow for.  However, Daryn refuses to accept this: she passes herself as a boy so that she can join the Air Fleet.  And this air fleet is made up of very unique “air beasts” which are essentially a mixture of different creatures designed to fly and fight just like the air ships we know today.

The result is a fun, face paced, action packed novel that will undoubtedly stay with you for a long time.  The story is unique and incredibly endearing.  I highly recommend it!

If you have read this wonderful masterpiece of Westerfeld’s I would love to hear your thoughts.  Please feel free to link to any reviews that you have read or written on this book.

In my attempt to expand my blogging horizons I have been doing a lot of browsing online trying to discover what really makes a book blog good.  On my excursion through various wonderful sites on the interweb I came across a post that really got me thinking about a reader’s relationship to his or fer favorite (or maybe even not so favorite) authors.  I have noticed that the book blogging community seems to have special relationships with authors so I’m particularly interested in getting feedback from some seasoned book bloggers who might have a little more experience to share.

My interest in this topic was piqued when I read a post at The Biblio Blogazine entitled “Letter to My Favorite Author.” In this post, blogger J.C. Montgomery writes a blanket letter to all of her “favorite” authors.  And as a reader, I understand that the idea of writing a letter to your favorite writer is a daunting task.  First of all, how do you chose the one?  Can there even be one single favorite author?  I adore so many different authors for so many different reasons.  Then there’s another problem, how do you convey the effect that this person you hardly know has had on your life?  How do you let them know how powerful their writing is without sounding like a creepy stalker or a literary nerd?  Or are you supposed to sound that way when you write to a literary god or goddess?

And then I started wondering, how well can we ever really know an author?  We know a fictional world that they create for us.  Granted, in said fictional world they are sharing huge pieces of who they are, but those little pieces can never really reveal an entire person.  I feel like maybe fan mail to an author is always going t fall a little short of the high marks we aim for because our relationship with authors is so limited.  We admire them for such a small piece of their existence that in the grand scheme of things, our connection to them is rather weak.

Still, I have to admit that I have sent a rather long e-mail to an author whose story really grabbed me at an especially difficult time in my life.  I was a junior in high school and I had just finished reading Megan McCafferty’s Charmed Thirds.  I loved the book so much.  In so many ways I felt like McCafferty was writing pieces of my life into her book.  And I needed her to know this.  So instead of writing her a letter that merely praised her work, I wrote her a letter outlining the struggles of my relationship.  And I think that at some point in the letter, I pleaded with her to write the ending for Jennifer Darling and Marcus Flutie that I needed so that I could continue to believe whatever I needed to believe to keep what really was a failed relationship alive.  I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking but a few weeks later I got a reply.  I was a little heartbroken when I read it: it was only a few sentences long.  I’m not even sure if McCafferty read the huge letter because the response e-mail seemed like something she probably sent to any fan. Still, I don’t regret writing it.  It was something I needed to do for me.  And maybe that’s really what any relationship with an author is about: me.  After, who built this person up to be the superstar that he or she is: we did!

So what are your thoughts on readers relationships with authors?  Have you ever written a letter to an author that especially touched your life in a meaningful way?

It is time for me to FINALLY crack down and get to work on making this a better blog.  I owe it to the readers who have stuck with me despite my lengthy absences.  School is on a temporary break and I’m ready to devote myself to building a blog that works for my readers.  Here are my initial goals.

Content:

1. Focus on creating more original material that is insightful and easy to relate to.  Make sure to have a unique spin on things so that readers don’t feel like they are reading something they have read somewhere else.
2. Keep personal and useful in balance.I’m proud of my voice and the insights that I have to share, but I don’t want my posts to sounds like useless rants.
3. Engage the book blogging community more often in my comments section, on fellow readers’ blogs, on the other social networks where I might see fellow bookies.
4. Consider a goal length when drafting posts: no one wants a post that is pages and pages long but they also want a post with some substance.
5. Create a variety on my blog.  This is a book blog, but I don’t want my reviews or posts to become monotonous.  I need to think of ways to spruce up my blog so that it stays interesting.

Design

1. Reconsider side bar content.  Figure out what works and what doesn’t.  Add necessary sidebar content while deleting unnecessary or distracting content.
2. Create a logo and matching favicon.
3. Work on the ease of navigation of my site by organizing tags, adding a search box, and a complete, easy to use index.

Comments

1. Add comment inducing questions to posts in order to better facilitate discussion.
2. Reply to comment sin a timely manner.
3. Comment more frequently on other blogs.
4. Work harder to get to know more bloggers better.

If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations, please leave me a comment saying so.  I’d love to hear your advice!