NightLight

The Twilight Parody book.

Nightlight: A Parody of Twilight


... I am not a fan of Twilight. I haven't read it, but I don't need to read it to know that it'll drive me crazy and that there are lots of elements that are in it that will guarantee I won't like it.
So, I read this book, because I thought it might be amusing.

It wasn't.

The End.

... P.S. It was still better than Twilight.

Eloise

Eloise by Kay Thomson




A blog recommended I read this, as a 'books you should read no matter your age' sort of list.

The book is a picture book, about a little girl called Eloise, and was written in the 1950s. Eloise lives in the Plaza hotel, which was a hugely interesting aspect for me- I didn't realise people did live in Hotels. Do they still live in Hotels? She basically runs around all day exploring and having little adventures. She has a Nanny, and her parents are always away. I find it interesting that it's a book where she has a career mother, but I guess they're leaving it to you to decide if that's right or wrong- Eloise is left largely unsupervised and is a bit naughty, but since you see it all from her perspective, and her stream of consciousness, it's okay. It's also nice to see an older book with a 'naughty' little girl, and where she's not punished for it, it's just how she is.

I wouldn't recommend reading it to children who are too young- it's very long, but the front cover does say for ages 7 and up (though the main character is 6).

If you ever get a chance to look at it, do.

The Year Of The Flood

The Year of the Flood
by Margaret Atwood

Another great book I've read this year. Apparently I have good book choosing taste/luck because I've only given up on three books this year, all the others I've liked or loved!

This is a dystopian future novel (she does them so well!), where some people live in compounds run by companies, which seem pretty similar to nowadays, but with added genetically modified animals, but many people live outside them in slum areas, eating foods that have 'secret' meats in them (could be anything! human, dog, lion...) and in some really interesting conditions. There's also several religious/environmental groups who want the world to change. Adam One, the leader of one of these groups called The Gardeners, has long predicted the end of the world. Now it has happened. The story flashes between two women who remain on earth when everyone around them is gone. It also flashes back to their pasts before The Flood, which is what Adam called the coming apocalypse and cleansing.

I have to say I was incredibly sucked into this story right from the beginning.

Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter

Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter
by A.E. Moorat



Wow, this book is a good one. I read it hot on the tail of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and the cover led me to believe it'd be another 'zombie' thing. But no! Sure, there are some zombies in it, but it's mostly about demons and other otherworldly evils, and the fact that Queen Victoria is often attacked by them as a young woman. Why? You'll find out!

It follows the real life of Queen Victoria quite accurately, which is slightly 'scary'- for all you know, it could be true, because who's to say that demons aren't real and they're just hiding themselves well? Reminds me of that bit in Doctor Who about The Royal Family (you know what I mean if you've seen it.)

It's quite funny in places, and has a good love story between Victoria and Albert, plus all sorts of great actiony scenes. Plus zombie servants, mad scientists, werewolves, rats, Intrigue, and much much more.


Tagline: She loved her country. She hated zombies.

Blurb: There were many staff at Kensington Palace, fulfilling many roles; a man who was employed to catch rats, another whose job it was to sweep the chimneys. That there was someone expected to hunt demons did not shock the new Queen; that it was to be her was something of a surprise.

London, 1838

Queen Victoria is crowned, she receives the orb,t he sceptre and an arsenal of blood-stained weaponry. Because if Britain is about to become the greatest power of the age, there's the small matter of the demons to take care of first.

But rather than dreaming of demon hunting, it is Prince Albert who occupies her thoughts. Can she dedicate her life to saving her country when her heart belongs elsewhere?

With lashings of glistening entrails, decapitations, and foul demons, this masterly new portrait will give a fresh understanding of a remarkable woman, a legendary monarch and quite possibly the best Demon Hunter the world has ever seen...

Books I'm Looking For

Updated list of books I'm looking for. I've put a hold on the books that are at the start of the original list. I have a limit of I think 10 books on hold, hopefully more will come in soon!



Neverending Story
Bring the Jubilee

Pretty much all the books on this list.

The Catcher in the Rye, because I've not read it yet
What I saw and How I Lied
The '100 Ideas' books for education
Little Brother- I really like dystopian kinds of books.
Saturn's Children, about a sexbot after the humans have died out.
Zoe's Tale
The Last Colony
Books by Lois McMaster Bujold
Thunderer
Briefs for the Reading Room by Dan Marvin
The Magicians
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
The Handmaid's Tale- read it before, but I want to read it again.
The Time Traveller's Wife... I'm not totally sure on this one but I'll give it a go.
Before I Die - if I'm wanting a tearjerker.
More of the Jeeves and Wooster stories
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Up the Down Staircase- about teaching
To Sir With Love
More books by Mark Billingham, one of the guards in Maid Marian and Her Merry Men. He writes crime novels.
A book by Hugh Laurie. I forget what it's called, it's a detective story
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Books by Dickens
Gods Behaving Badly
Galex-Arena A book that has stuck with me since my early teens.
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
The Brief History of the Dead
Geek Love, Catherine Dunn
Catch 22
Buying Time
Starship Titanic (again)
The Difference Engine
Diary of Anne Frank
The Minpins
Something Beginning With
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Beka Cooper series by Tamora Pierce
Bartimaeus Trilogy
Stranger in a strange land by robert heinlein.
Full Tilt
Books by Shel Silverstein
Playing Beatie Bow
To Sir With Love
more Terry Pratchett books

Blind Faith

Book: Blind Faith
Author: Ben Elton

I've been sitting and staring at this draft (with only the above on it) for quite a few days now. Why? Because it's hard to explain how good a book this is.
I read it a while ago, and then asked to get it for Christmas. I got a good quality second hand copy- that's all I need.

Ben Elton is a British comedian who did/does stand up comedy, wrote many fantastic britcoms and is friends with Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson. He also writes novels: something that people might not know.

I think "Blind Faith" is my favourite Ben Elton novel, and I've read quite a few of them.

I like that it plays on many classic novels like 1984, Farenheit 451 and quite a few others, in its portrayal of the future, but makes it more 'relevant' for modern times (not that 1984 isn't still relevant, but he bases his dystopian future on a world that we, now, could fear happening).

I like that it's written in a way that is very readable, and entertainingly (in a non funny way). I like that it all seems so ridiculous, but at the same time possible. It makes me think about social networking, the internet, privacy, religion, and the nature of technology.

Without giving too much away, Blind Faith is set in the future, after a Flood that the citizens believe was a message from God to kill off people for their vanity and pride, however is clear from the start was the ice caps melting- the whole city is too hot as a result of global warming. Everyone is crowded in, and 50% of children die. There's also a lot of media everywhere, even little screens on coffee cups. People are constantly watched on webcams by fellow citizens, and are expected to watch other people as well. They're expected to blog and to read blogs, and to post up videos of all major life events. This is a matter of religion- you're taking pride in what God has given you. Similarly, you should not wear too many clothes, or that's not taking pride in the body God gave you. 'Disrespecting' someone is a crime that could get a mob after you very easily. Fiction is banned. Cake is good and therefore God must want you to eat more of it.

You are never alone.

And the main character lives in this world.

It sure makes me thankful for not joining Facebook.


I really, really, love this book.

Pride and Prejudice And Zombies- Review

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains"

By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

A much talked about book, that I finally finished on the 4th! But just in case you've not heard- it is awesome, if you're a zombie geek, and a Jane Austen lover (or hater even, I think). It's even great if you're like me and like the concept of zombies but can't cope with too much gore so don't go much further than Shaun of the Dead in terms of Zombie Movies, as it's all in text format and is just so funny juxtaposed with Regency England!

The basic idea is that someone has added zombies to Pride and Prejudice. Woah there, don't get angry- they did it in a completely awesome way, and most of the original text is still there! The zombies have been woven almost flawlessly into it. I was expecting normal Pride and Prejudice, and then sudden Zombie attack, like what often happens in movies- they have no awareness of zombies before that point. No. They've written it so that quite a few decades ago, a plague started, a strange plague, that brought the dead back to life. Now, it is usual and expected for young ladies of a certain social standing to add 'zombie killing' and 'hand to hand combat' to their list of accomplishments, for children to be sent to China, or better (according to Lady Catherine) to Japan, for martial arts training, for groups of militia to travel about the country side killing the afflicted and for deadly blood oaths to be sworn rather than mere grudges based on pride or prejudice.

Yet all of the original story is still there (though altered sometimes due to the zombie changes).
Brilliance.
I also love the fact that it is *illustrated*!

I will have happy memories of this book forever, as I started reading it in the tent while I was away on the Yorke Peninsula, lit only by a torch, and I was laughing away at all the changes Seth made. If you love Jane Austen (or Zombies) you'll love that there's some more stuff to read that could easily get people loving the original (rather than just loving the most recent P&P movie which was sadly lacking in my opinion. No, not talking about that one where she jumped into the book through a portal, which I quite liked!). If you hate it, it'll make it more entertaining for you.


I look forward to the movie that is being made, and also to reading Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters, which I got for Christmas.

The Yiddish Policemen's Union -Review

The Yiddish Policemen's Union
by Michael Chabon
Genre: Detective/Crime/Alternative History

I picked up this book from the library as it was on my list of books that sounded cool- it was on an alternative history sci fi list. This is a genre that I quite like. The author changes something that happened with history, and writes their story set in that world. The changes can be big or small, and have varying levels of difference to reality. The stories can be set in any time in the past or present or future as well.

This story, by Michael Chabon, is set in the present, but the point where time diverged into a different dimension, was that after the second world war a safe haven was created for Jews in Alaska. In 1948, the fledgling state of Israel collapsed. Now, sixty years later, the Jewish state of Sitka is about to be reverted back to Alaskan control. A homicide detective, a workaholic after the shameful divorce from his wife (bit cliche for a crime novel...), investigates a murder that took place in the same 'flophouse' he's been living at.

What do I think of it? I think people should give it a try, but I didn't get more than a few chapters in. Perhaps I will keep reading it, but it doesn't seem like 'my' sort of thing. I didn't realise when I borrowed it that it was a crime novel, and though I don't mind crime novels, I like specific sorts. To be honest the Jewish stuff confused and frustrated me- I don't know nearly enough about Jews apparently to understand things, and though I tried to just read it and piece it together like I would for an alien culture, it was difficult for me, and I gave up, I wasn't sucked in. I LOVED the concept of the alternate history, however, and he writes decently, just in a style that I'm not used to. And I know nothing about Chess.

Maybe I'll try reading it again in a while.

Apparently a movie is coming out - I'd watch it.

edit: People on Library Thing had a hard time reading this too, this makes me feel slightly less bad about it!

My List of Books to Find or Request

A goal of mine for 2010 is to read more books. I'm going through lists right now and finding good sounding ones. Fiction, non fiction, children's/teens/young adult fiction, help books, travel books, anything useful sounding. I'm requesting and holding them now (some aren't in our local library so I need to ask them if they'll buy it, or look elsewhere), because then I'm much more likely to actually get to the library soon, unlike last year when months would go by without any Library access. Unfortunately my library card will only let me request or hold 10 books at a time, so I need to make a list to remind me. Perhaps you'll want to do the same?

Laura Charlotte- a picture book that was my brother's favourite when he was little. I want to reread it!
The Neverending Story- I don't know if I've read this or not.
The Princess Bride- I've read it before, but I think I want to own it, or at least read it again.
Bring the Jubilee, Ward Moore- Alternative Fiction about the South winning the Civil War

Pretty much all the books on this list.

The Catcher in the Rye, because I've not read it yet
What I saw and How I Lied
One of those Twilight Parody books
Pagan's Daughter ... I think I disagree with the book being written and Pagan having a daughter, but I do still sorta want to read it. I might want to rant about it though.
The '100 Ideas' books for education
Little Brother- I really like dystopian kinds of books.
Saturn's Children, about a sexbot after the humans have died out.
Zoe's Tale
The Last Colony
Books by Lois McMaster Bujold
Thunderer
Briefs for the Reading Room by Dan Marvin
The Magicians
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
The Handmaid's Tale- read it before, but I want to read it again.
The Time Traveller's Wife... I'm not totally sure on this one but I'll give it a go.
Before I Die - if I'm wanting a tearjerker.
More of the Jeeves and Wooster stories
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Up the Down Staircase- about teaching
To Sir With Love
More books by Mark Billingham, one of the guards in Maid Marian and Her Merry Men. He writes crime novels.
A book by Hugh Laurie. I forget what it's called, it's a detective story
The Picture of Dorian Grey
Books by Dickens
Gods Behaving Badly
Galex-Arena A book that has stuck with me since my early teens.
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
The Brief History of the Dead
Geek Love, Catherine Dunn
Catch 22
Buying Time
Starship Titanic (again)
The Difference Engine
Diary of Anne Frank
The Minpins
Something Beginning With


And I'm sure, much much more. Which books do you think I'd like?