I made excellent progress in reading this month. I finished 10 books. Most of them I read in two or three days. I enjoyed rather a lot of them. Let's get on with the wrap-up!
Book #1: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
For years, Grace has
watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed
wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live
without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen
woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a
fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being
human...until the cold makes him shift back again. Now, Grace meets a
yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her
wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay
human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.
I grabbed this after getting frustrated with it. Someone in the library had put them back in the wrong order. They had it Linger, Shiver, Forever. I changed them back into the proper order and then I decided to borrow this book to find out what it was about. I read it in....two days....I think? It was good and I rated it 4/5. I liked the way Grace figured out quickly which wolf was which and then how she helped them. I don't know if it's working though.
Book #2: The Influence by Ramsey Campbell
Sometimes evil refuses
to die. Rowan's great-aunt Queenie is dead. After all the misery she
caused her family while she was alive, most of them are secretly
relieved. But Queenie did not want to die, and she will do anything
to live again…including possessing young Rowan. She haunts the
child's nightmares, taking her over bit by chilling bit. As her soul
is drawn inexorably into a cold darkness, can Rowan hope to reclaim
her life from the evil dead?
It was weird. And not even a good weird. Just a what the hell did I just read sort of weird. It was super easy to figure out the plot, and then he just skips over parts like they weren't important to the theme? I rated this 3/5 because
the huge plot point was glossed over in a way that I found incredibly
aggravating. He went through all that work to lead up to it, and then
basically skipped over it as though it weren't important at all to
the story. Seriously? My other grievance is the fact that Rowan's
father doesn't seem to notice that there's something off with his
daughter. He thinks she's just in shock when it should have worn off.
Her mother and grandmother realize something is wrong, but he can't
see it? It makes me wonder about what sort of other things he would
have missed entirely in the growth of his daughter. I'm very "meh"
about this book. I'm not likely to read it again, but I'm also not
likely to get rid of it. I do like the cover art.
Book #3: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
It's 1941 and
fifteen-year-old artist Lina Vilkas is on Stalin's extermination
list. Deported to a prison camp in Siberia, Lina fights for her life,
fearless, risking everything to save her family. It's a long and
harrowing journey and it is only their incredible strength, love, and
hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be
enough to keep them alive?
It was interesting. I've
always been a fan of books set in/around WWII, and I've heard nothing
but good things about Ruta Sepetys. I figured I would give this one a
try since they had it available at the library when I was there. It
was entirely worth it. I rated this 4/5 stars because I loved the
book, but I wish I knew how Andrius and Lina found each other again
and what happened after they were freed. It was still well worth the
read. I've already been suggesting it for friends of mine to read it
and see what they think. I definitely plan to pick up more books by
Ruta. She's a new favorite of mine. I still don't know why I'm obsessed with WWII.
Book #4: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García
Márquez
In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza
fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a
wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a
romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years
in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband
dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty
years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love
for Fermina, he will do so again.
The plot of this book was just all over the place. There were stretches in here that had nothing to do with Florentino Ariza or Fermina Daza. I don't care about Fermina's husband's friend who played chess. It's irrelevant to the plot. Also, why do we need to know the exact number of affairs Florentino has had? It's not important. A huge gripe I had was the way Márquez kept bouncing around in the respective ages of the characters. It would have been better had he done it two separate parts. One half of the book for things about Fermina and the other for things about Florentino. I rated this one 3/5 and I may read another of his books, but then I may not.
Book #5: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
the longing. Once Grace and Sam have found each
other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this
means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing
a future that is less and less certain.
the loss. Into their world comes a new wolf named
Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his
own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of a
human.
the linger. For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life is a
constant struggle between two forces--wolf and human--with love
baring its two sides as well. It is harrowing and euphoric, freeing
and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart,
love is what lingers. But will it be enough?
This one was nearly as good as the first, but not quite. I rated it 4/5 stars because I enjoyed it. I wish there were a little bit more resolution in it, but I assume we will get that in Forever. Isabel is taking everything very well considering she thought her brother was dead, then really died. I am stuck between borrowing it and letting it go until spring rolls around.
Book #6: Misery by Stephen King
Paul Sheldon, author of a bestselling series of
historical romances, wakes up one winter day in a strange place, a
secluded farmhouse in Colorado. He wakes up to unspeakable pain (a
dislocated pelvis, a crushed knee, two shattered legs) and to a
bizarre greeting from the woman who has saved his life: "I'm
your number one fan!" Annie Wilkes is a huge ex-nurse, handy
with controlled substances and other instruments of abuse, including
an axe and a blowtorch. A dangerous psychotic with a Romper Roomsense
of good and bad, fair and unfair, Annie Wilkes may be Stephen King's
most terrifying creation. It's not fair, for example, that her
favorite character in the world, Misery Chastain, has been killed by
her creator, as Annie discovers when Paul's latest novel comes out in
paperback. And it's not good that her favorite writer has been a
Don't-Bee and written a different kind of novel, a nasty novel, the
novel he has always wanted to write, the only copy of which now lies
in Annie's angry hands. Because she wants Paul Sheldon to be a
Do-Bee, she buys him a typewriter and a ream of paper and tells him
to bring Misery back to life. Wheelchair-bound, drug-dependent,
locked in his room, Paul doesn't have much choice. He's an
entertainer held captive by his audience. A writer in serious
trouble. But writers have weapons too...
My first completed Stephen King book. I've started Cujo and Dark Matter several times, but never managed to get more than 40 pages in. I rated this book a 4/5 stars and it freaked me out a bit. Not enough to give me nightmares, but enough to make me go and buy more Stephen King books. I've seen the movie and I told my mother that I would take movie-Annie over book-Annie any day. Book-Annie scared the crap out of me. I didn't know anybody could be that cruel. I loved the book and I can't wait to get into more books by him. My next pick is one I know will scare me, Dreamcatcher. I couldn't sleep the entire weekend after watching half an hour of the movie.
Book #7: The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
Set in San Francisco
and in a remote village of southern China, this is a tale of American
pragmatism shaken, and soothed, by Chinese ghosts. What proof of love
do we seek between mother and daughter, among sisters, lovers, and
friends? What are its boundaries and failings? Can love go beyond
'Until death do us part?' And if so, which aspects haunt us like
regretful ghosts? In 1962, Olivia, nearly six years old, meets Kwan,
her adult half sister from China, for the first time. Olivia's
neglectful mother, who in pursuing a new marriage can't provide the
attention her daughter needs, finds Kwan to be a handy caretaker. In
the bedroom the sisters share, Kwan whispers secrets about ghosts and
makes Olivia promise never to reveal them. Out of both fright and
resentment, Olivia betrays her sister -- with terrible consequences.
From then on she listens to Kwan's stories and pretends to believe
them. Thirty years pass, and Olivia is about to divorce her husband,
Simon, after a lengthy marriage. She is certain he has never given up
his love for a former girlfriend, who died years before. Kwan and her
ghosts believe otherwise, and they provide Olivia with ceaseless
advice and pleas to reconsider. But Olivia has long since dismissed
the ghosts of her childhood and the wacky counsel of her sister. Just
as Kwan anticipates, fate intervenes and takes her, Olivia, and Simon
to China. In the village where Kwan grew up, Olivia confronts the
tangible evidence of what she has always presumed to be her sister's
fantasy of the past. And there, she finds the proof that love
endures, and comes to understand what logic ignores, what you can
know only through the hundred secret senses.
I rated this book 4/5. I loved it. I enjoyed Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club and I was right in thinking I would like this book as well. It's very good and really talks about something a lot of families go through: the bonds between sisters from different parents. I understand that some siblings get along and others don't, but simply having only one parent in common is no grounds for that. I am pretty glad I've read this book and I plan to read more of her works when I find them.
Book #8: Malice by Keigo Higashino
Acclaimed bestselling
novelist Kunihiko Hidaka is found brutally murdered in his home on
the night before he's planning to leave Japan and relocate to
Vancouver. His body is found in his office, a locked room, within his
locked house, by his wife and his best friend, both of whom have rock
solid alibis. Or so it seems. At the crime scene, Police Detective
Kyochiro Kaga recognizes Hidaka's best friend, Osamu Nonoguchi. Years
ago when they were both teachers, they were colleagues at the same
public school. Kaga went on to join the police force while Nonoguchi
eventually left to become a full-time writer, though with not nearly
the success of his friend Hidaka. As Kaga investigates, he eventually
uncovers evidence that indicates that the two writers' relationship
was very different that they claimed, that they were anything but
best friends. But the question before Kaga isn't necessarily who, or
how, but why. In a brilliantly realized tale of cat and mouse, the
detective and the killer battle over the truth of the past and how
events that led to the murder really unfolded. And if Kaga isn't able
to uncover and prove why the murder was committed, then the truth may
never come out.
I rated this 4/5 and I absolutely adored it. I watch MegamanChiefFan on BookTube and he's always talking up Japanese authors and I found this for relatively cheap on BookOutlet and ordered it for myself for my birthday. I'm glad I did. Of course, at this point I've actually forgotten what the why-dun-it even was, but I don't think that's incredibly important. I can always read it again later. The important part for me is that I enjoyed the story. I loved the way the two parts were told. One just someone's diary basically and then a police report. It was amazing. I will look for more books by Higashino-sama when I can find them.
Book #9: Circle of Stones by Catherine Fisher
TODAY: Sulis, a
teenage girl with a mysterious past, arrives in Bath, England, with a
new identity. She feels safe at the King’s Circus, a ring of old,
strange stone houses where she lives with her foster family—until
she spots the one person she’s been trying to outrun. THREE HUNDRED
YEARS AGO: Zac is apprenticed to a mad architect who plans to create
the world’s first circular street, King’s Circus. Zac probes the
mysticism surrounding the structure, but he has his own secret
agenda. THE ANCIENT PAST: The mythical first builder of the city of
Bath, a leprous druid king, discovers its healing waters...but to
what end? In each voice, unexpected mysteries entwine, linking
together three haunting stories as they hurtle toward a smart and
brilliantly intriguing climax.
I rated this 3/5 because I didn't understand part of it. It was just....silly. The three things clearly have nothing to do with one another. A leper finds a sulfuric hot spring, is healed, and hallucinates. A dude builds a giant round in honor of the dead leper-king and dies of an asthma attack. Then lastly a girl has extreme PTSD after accidentally pushing her friend off a wall and is seeing the dead leper-king but thinks he did it? The only connection is the sulfur water and the dead king. I didn't much like this book and don't plan to read it again. However, it wasn't garbage.
Book #10: Moments of Awareness by Helen Lowrie Marshall
This is simply a book of poetry. I found it over in the Free Little Library by my post office. I read it in probably about an hour? I don't know really what to say about it. I'm not much for poetry. I rated this 4/5 stars because I did like some of the stuff in here.
