The Magician's Assistant-Ann Patchett

Book Title: The Magician's Assistant
Author: Ann Patchett
Version: ebook
ISBN: 9780547548791
Published: September 17th, 2004
First Published: October 1st, 1997
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: Fiction

Background: I have a funny and rather incredible story about Ann Patchett, well about her books anyway. When I was growing up my dad and I didn't always have enough money to get me new books. I had a voracious appetite at the time for books, as we all know that appetite has only grown, but at the time I didn't work at a bookstore where I got a big discount so we couldn't always buy new books. Anyway when that happened my dad would lend me books from his library and there were times that I was very receptive to them, like when he lent me 'Memoirs of a Geisha' by Arthur Golden and 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak. And there were times when I resisted his suggestions, like when he suggested his favorite book 'Moby Dick' which is something that I still to this day hesitate over (sorry dad, I just don't think I am ready for it yet). 

In the spirit of this, one day my dad reached up and pulled down this really beautiful light blue book called 'Run' by Ann Patchett, someone I had never read before, saying he thought that I might like it. The book jacket intrigued me, the book took place over a twenty-four hour period and was about a family in New England and a single accident that changes their whole lives. I loved it, I read it quickly and enjoyed every moment of it. Years later when I discovered goodreads.com and was trying to remember every book I had ever read I remembered a book about two brothers in Boston, with a blue cover and that there was something about fish. A couple more years went by with the vague memory nagging at me until one day, a very slow boring day at Barnes & Noble, I had, had enough. I went online and starting doing a search for a blue book set in Boston having to do with brothers and fish. And sure enough I found it, 'Run' by Ann Patchett. 

About a year later I was looking at the under $5 nook books online and saw 'The Magician's Assistant' for only about $2.99. I thought to myself 'I really enjoyed 'Run' I bet that this one is going to be just as good.' So I went ahead and bought it. It took a few months for me to actually pick it up to read it, but I finally finished it a few days ago. 

Synopsis: Sabine has just been widowed and is trying to figure out a way to continue living. Her life seems to be falling apart now that she no longer has the love of her life, Parsifal, around to take care of. Nor does she have Phan, Parsifal's partner around, all she has left is a giant lonely house filled with memories and a rabbit named Rabbit. These days she spends most of her days in bed dreaming of a life that is lost.

One day she gets a call from Parsifal's lawyer saying that he has to talk to Sabine in person. Some secret from his past that now has to be revealed. She finds out that Parsifal has been lying to her about his family for years. Parsifal told her that his parents had died years ago but in reality his mom and sisters live in Nebraska. The lawyer tells Sabine that it is up to her if she wants to have any contact with them. At first she decides she is just too mad at the lies and decides she doesn't want to know any more. And then one day she gets a call from a woman named Dot Fetters, Parsifal's mother, saying that her and her youngest daughter Bertie are planning a trip to LA and want to meet her.

When Sabine decides to go ahead and meet Parsifal's family she begins a journey that takes her into the heart of Parsifal's life before Sabine, before LA, before everything that made him Parsifal. It's a journey that takes her to Nebraska in the middle of winter where she meets the rest of his family, a sister named Kitty, her two sons, Kitty's husband, Howard (who turns out to be a jerk) and Bertie's fiancée. What Sabine finds there is a sort of family of her own, one she felt she had missed. What they find in Sabine is a savior, one that they didn't even realize they needed. The longer she stays the more secrets come out, and the more the family comes to rely on her. And Sabine has to decide whether she is willing to stay and live in the house that Parsifal grew up in or go back to LA and move on with her life.

Review: I went into this book expecting something great because I remembered liking 'Run' so much. I was hugely disappointed in this though. The story was rather ridiculous and I really, really did not like Sabine! She annoyed me the whole book which is a huge flaw when it comes to a main character. I read it all the way through so that I could review it but it was not a fun read.

I mean no disrespect to Ms. Patchett of course but this was not a well put together book. The writing wasn't all that bad, it wasn't great but it was passible. She is a talented writer but her talent seems to have been lost in the terrible story. There were moments of beauty throughout but not enough to make it a beautiful book. Maybe part of it had to do with my high expectations of her and what she had given me with 'Run,' but I was disappointed overall.

Like I said previously the story was stupid. Well let me rephrase, I felt that the story was stupid. A woman who fell in love with a gay man and then felt betrayed when he didn't love her back and felt as if he had lied specifically to her about his past. The only reason she went back to Nebraska was so she could be in the room that Parsifal grew up in. Because she was entitled to all of his life, and everything that he did when he was growing up. It was stupid and annoying and I found myself truly hating Sabine and wanted her to get a major reality check. The rest of the characters were monochromatic and hidden behind the annoyingness that was Sabine.

All in all it was a bad book, well for me anyway. I just didn't like any of it and I'm a little turned off of Ann Patchett. Maybe someday I'll pick up another one of her books and be wowed once more, like I was all those years ago when I first picked up 'Run.' I tip my tiny hat only once to 'The Magician's Assistant,' and that only because I have belief in the greatness that it could have been.

The Bone Season-Samantha Shannon

Book Title: The Bone Season
Author: Samantha Shannon
Version: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781408836422
Published: August 20th, 2013
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction

I read this book right when I got back from vacation because my good friend, fellow blogger, and author Sidney McEntyre highly recommended it after reading it on the vacation. In fact it turned out that all my friends at work were either just finishing it, in the middle, or just starting it and so I thought that since I was hearing such good things I might as well jump on the bandwagon and read it too. It turned out to be a really good choice. I was taken on a ride starting from the very first pages to the crazy climax and I found myself unable to stop reading or thinking about it the whole time. 

'The Bone Season' is one of those books that I can't really tell you that much about without spoiling things and so I will give you the short synopsis from the very reliable goodreads.com! "It is the year 2059. Several major world cities are under the control of a security force called Scion. Paige Mahoney works in the criminal underworld of Scion London, part of a secret cell known as the Seven Seals. The work she does is unusual: scouting for information by breaking into others’ minds. Paige is a dreamwalker, a rare kind of clairvoyant, and in this world, the voyants commit treason simply by breathing.

But when Paige is captured and arrested, she encounters a power more sinister even than Scion. The voyant prison is a separate city—Oxford, erased from the map two centuries ago and now controlled by a powerful, otherworldly race. These creatures, the Rephaim, value the voyants highly—as soldiers in their army.

Paige is assigned to a Rephaite keeper, Warden, who will be in charge of her care and training. He is her master. Her natural enemy. But if she wants to regain her freedom, Paige will have to learn something of his mind and his own mysterious motives."

I tend to ramble when I really like a book and I didn't want to spoil anything for my readers that might want to read it so instead I will just ramble on about how much I liked it thereby keeping an air of mystery and intrigue about the actual plot. 

This was Samantha Shannon's debut novel and I thought that it was a truly great debut! It was well written with a really great voice that kept me captivated the whole book. Ms. Shannon had a really beautiful way of describing the surroundings, the characters, the emotions all of it that was the perfect blend of poetry and prose. I'm excited to see how she keeps growing as a writer, because I think that we can expect nothing but truly incredible things from her. 

Although the story was entertaining and kept me guessing and wanting more I felt that there were elements that felt familiar. I know that I will be in the minority on this but I felt vibes of 'Hunger Games' in the story. Now this is not a bad thing at all because I really liked the Hunger Games books! And I think that it was a simple thing of debut novel jitters that made Ms. Shannon take the idea of 'The Hunger Games' and shape it into her story. I know this all sounds pretty harsh but I mean no disrespect to Ms. Shannon or 'The Bone Season' but the stories are similar in nature and I tell it like it is. Now this is not to say that I disliked the story at all or that it didn't interest me it was in fact the opposite. I loved the story and it was different enough that I couldn't wait to see what turn it would take next. It is all around a really great story that stayed with me even after it was over. 

The characters were absolutely wonderful, they were depicted fantastically and each one of them were unique and so deliciously imperfect. Paige, the main character, was so well rendered and real that she had me rooting for her the whole time. Even the 'bad guys' were so well done that I truly hated every one of them. Which is exactly what you are supposed to feel towards the bad guys in a book. Samantha Shannon has quite a way with drawing her characters, she is so great at it that each time I went back into the book, I fell in love with and hated the characters each and every time! 

All in all this was a great read, one that kept me up late and kept me fully distracted during lunch breaks. Whenever I opened the book I fell into it in such a way that everything else got blocked out. It enveloped me and became my whole world. That is the mark of a truly excellent book, when it totally takes you over and fills every one of your senses. I tip my tiny hat four times for Ms. Shannon's debut novel 'The Bone Season.' I am really looking forward to the next book in her absolutely exciting series!  

Night Film-Marisha Pessl

Book Title: Night Film
Author: Marisha Pessl
Version: ARC
ISBN: 9781400067886
Published: August 2013
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

[Note: I'm back! I am so sorry that it has taken so long to get this review up but things have been so crazy at work lately, maybe I'll tell you all about it sometime, that I've been too exhausted to be creative so this has been a long time coming. But finally here it is! And hopefully this is my big return to more regular updates.]

Synopsis: It opens with a dead body. Ashley Cordova's body is found in a seedy part of New York supposedly having committed suicide. When former big time reporter Scott McGrath finds out he is unconvinced that the young piano prodigy's death was a suicide. McGrath knows of the Cordova family and the darkness that seems to follow them wherever they go. Deciding that finding out what really happened will kick start his career again, Scott begins a journey that will drive him to the very edge of his sanity.

Along the way Scott picks up a couple of companions, a young man that claims to have known Ashley when she was young, named Hopper. And a young wannabe actress who was one of the last people to see Ashley alive named Nora. Although at first Scott resits the help standing firm in his 'I work alone' policy he slowly finds that the two of them are not only assets in finding out all the secrets that he is desperate for. But they end up as perfect allies in the dark world that he finds himself entering with each piece of information that they uncovers. 

Diving into Ashley's past means that Scott has to once again dive into the life of her father, Stanislas Cordova, the dark genius filmmaker that garnered a cult following. Digging into Cordova's life was what had cost Scott his career the first time around and this time he isn't just poking at Cordova he is messing around with his family life. Just the thought of going up against Cordova again makes his stomach turn but he is determined to get the answers he seeks and find out the truth about Ashley.

REVIEW: I was hooked from the very first page. From the opening web pages that were fake news articles and web posts from fans of Cordova and his films, I knew that what I had started was going to be an amazing journey. And I was right, this was a great book! The storytelling, the mystery, the intrigue was all so well put together that I couldn't put it down and when I did I couldn't wait to get back to it. 

From the very beginning I knew that this was a good story. I was gripped from the moment I opened the book and once I got into it a little bit I was already so invested that it was an automatic love. The way Marisha Pessl wove mystery and her fake web pages into what could have been another dull 'who-dunnit' was nothing short of incredible. It wasn't really action packed but the subtle menace that followed the characters through the book sure kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. 

Marisha Pessl's characters were unique and lovely and perfectly flawed in totally human ways. They were truly three dimensional, they had all the flaws that people have and you didn't really like any of them unconditionally. And that's kind of what I like most about them. Scott McGrath was a rather selfish uptight man that's only real redeeming quality was the love he felt for his daughter. Hopper was this sullen, almost obnoxiously taciturn guy that feels that because he had it tough as a kid the world owes him a huge debt. Nora is this bumbling, totally naive young girl who plays up the little girl 'I have no idea' routine. And of course there is the Cordova family who are dark, secretive and possibly even murderous. Their imperfections were what made them perfect. 

The writing was brilliant, especially the dialogue. Marisha Pessl has a wonderfully fresh voice that is simple and pure and one can tell that she spent a great deal of time thinking about each word and each sentence. It was really wonderfully done. I loved how well the dialogue flowed between the characters, there was a naturalness in the dialogue that I thought was simply brilliant. All in all this was a very well written book.

Now I may be a little biased about the book because I read it on vacation in Hilton Head, by the ocean, with my two best buds. But I truly liked this book. I highly recommend it to everyone looking for a good old fashioned good read. That's what this is all around, well written, great story, awesome characters. It's a triple threat and I take my tiny hat off five times to it. (Thanks DGF for that rating suggestion). This is a great, great book so go out and get it, it is very worth the read!  

Howards End is on the Landing-Susan Hill

Book Title: Howards End is on the Landing
Author: Susan Hill
Version: Nook Book
ISBN: 9781847652638
Published: August 8, 2010
Publisher: Profile
Genre: Memoir

Note: I know that I said I was going to review "Night Film" after my vacation but I have been thinking about this book for too long and I just have to get this review out of the way before I do "Night Film." 

SYNOPSIS: This book was supposed to be about a woman named Susan Hill who is a writer and reviewer and who after a search for a particular book in her home realized how many books she had that she had forgotten. She then decided to take a year and just read the books that she had in her home that she hadn't read yet or books that she owned that she forgot she had. She was going to buy no new books, she was instead going to enjoy the ones she already had.

This book was really about a woman who simply wanted to name drop and put down people with eReaders. There was very little talk about the books she read and more talk about where books were put in her house and the authors and famous journalists she met. There was some talk about books she has read, and some talk about books she studied in school. Mostly though she would talk about how she would never get an ereader because that was what real readers did and which famous people she knew or corresponded with. 

REVIEW: I try very hard to be as kind as possible while still being truthful in my reviews. But I feel as if I was being put down through out the whole book because I was reading on my nook. She made me feel inadequate because I hadn't read the complete collection of the famous writer Snotty McHighonhishorse. 

I didn't like this book, I didn't enjoy being talked down to through literature. Books are supposed to be enjoyed however they can be, in any form that people choose to enjoy them. Now I am a huge fan of every sort of book, I think that I have established that, but not all people are. A lot of people only like reading romance novels, or their bookshelves are filled with nothing but James Patterson, have Nooks filled with every classic ever written. Does that mean that the person who loves 'Fifty Shades of Grey' and all books like it is less of a reader than the person who's favorite book is 'War & Peace?' I think not. Am I any less well read because I read some of my books on a nook rather than the physical book? I don't think so. 

In fact I am able to read more because I have a nook, ebooks are more affordable and because this is New York and my space is limited I can own more books because ebooks take up no space. Because ebooks are more affordable and more accessible more people seem to be reading these days. So why would Ms. Hill spend a good chunk of her time putting down ereaders and those that use them? I feel as if that is totally counter intuitive for people to read. More people are getting back into reading because they have become more accessible to books again due to ebooks and ereaders.   

The writing was sub par, the story wasn't really what it was supposed to be and Susan Hill just all around rubbed me the wrong way. I was highly disappointed in the book as a whole and I was so angry the whole time that the question has to be asked 'why did I finish reading it?' I have no answer, I kept hoping that there would be some talk about books, or the utter joy she had while rereading a favorite passage but it just wasn't there. For someone who claims to love books the way she did I felt that she spent most of her time talking about how well educated and awesome she is. I want to say that there are a few parts about her excitement about libraries and how reading has always been a big part of her life. Books were talked about to a degree, I am not being fair saying that there was no book talk, however I feel that this was supposed to be a book all about books. An entire year spent reading and rereading amazing books. Her love for each new book or rediscovered book was what was missing. That was what I was expecting and the fact that, that wasn't what I was given was what disappointed me.  

I hate to put down a fellow reviewer and book lover but I felt like she just didn't care. I apologize to Susan Hill if my review seems harsh but I felt the whole time that I was being made fun of and put down for not having a degree in English literature and enjoying ebooks. I read books because they make me feel good, they make me laugh or cry, I get excited or fully absorbed in a new subject but no matter how I feel after I've read a book I always, always feel accomplished. I'm excited about reading and learning new things. But after I finished this book, I felt judged and angry and frustrated. This is not a good book to read. It's something that you can skip easily. It really was a disappointment but I have to say that I do not recommend this book at all. And I really hate not being able to recommend a book. However this is just a book that I have to say a big no to because it just doesn't love it's readers back, and I feel that, that is what good books do. 

My One True Love and Why I Love Them Part 2

I am so sorry that this wasn't posted last night. I was busy yesterday cleaning and then editing the friend's book I have been working on and I just lost track of time. As I was saying before I got too tired to continue there are just too many books in the world for me to get to all of them and I know this. However I feel as if I am letting them down by not trying. And so one book at a time I try to absorb a little bit of everything. I know that I am sorely lacking in quite a few genres or sub-genres but I am trying my best to become a truly well read person. 

I mentioned that I was on vacation, a couple friends and I went to Hilton Head, South Carolina for a week. While there I finished two books I had been in the middle of and read a third. All of which I will review here shortly. But in the meantime, one of them was a book called "Howard's End is on the Landing" by Susan Hill. It was a book that said it was supposed to be about a woman who spent a year reading only the books that were on her shelves in her home. Through out the book her love for reading came through and this reminded me of my own love and inspired me to finally write about why and what I love about books. 

Books are magical portals into other worlds and if they are put together right they can take you to places that your imagination only dreams of. They can be fun, or sad, they can anchor you or lift you up to new heights. I love the way books look all lined up on a shelf or stacked side by side on a table, just waiting for a new reader, a new friend to pick them up take them home and begin a new journey with them. 

I also truly appreciate bookstores. I am the first to admit, that I love my Nook, the books are cheaper and as a New Yorker it saves me a lot of space. But I still love bookstores with an undying passion. There is something about walking into a bookstore and seeing all the books that are out, there taking them in as a whole that can't be duplicated by 'browsing' online. As I mentioned before I was recently on vacation. While driving to Hilton Head from the Savannah airport we saw a "Barnes & Noble Center." At first, being B & N employees on vacation from said store, we were are all 'wow, we can't seem to escape it.' But as our book supply started to run out and as our bibliophile nerddom began to feel neglected we decided that it was a visit that had to be made. And so towards the end of our trip we bit the bullet and headed to the Hilton Head Island Barnes & Noble. Just walking in there made my heart beat faster, and made me get antsy and want to get back to reading. There is just so much to be read and seeing it all laid out in a bookstore makes me feel all happy and excited. Every time I walk into a bookstore I all in love with reading all over again. That is a pretty powerful thing don't you think?

I think that my love of books is pretty obvious. And I guess that it would be pretty easy to think that I am nothing but a book collector that enjoys reading occasionally. However this is not the case. Reading is what drives my love of books. I buy beautiful books but the difference between me and a collector is that I will go back and pick up that beautiful book to read again. A book can be beautiful but it doesn't serve its purpose unless it is being read. I love books, I love reading I love getting that rush of excitement when I walk into a bookstore. I love all of it. And I hope that someday I can inspire people to find that love as well, maybe not as obsessively as me because let's face it I'm a totally obsessed nerd and proud of it! 

Well I think that is all for now. I hope that you dear readers have truly enjoyed my two part post about my love of books and reading. It was a post that I knew had to be done at some point and I hope that I did my enjoyment justice enough to cause you enjoyment. 

  

My One True Love and Why I Love Them Part 1

I love books. I feel that, that is pretty self evident but I also felt that it needed saying. I love books of all shapes, sizes, material, color. I love them all as a whole. I don't always love all the individual stories that I read but I certainly respect the fact that the author made an effort (in most cases anyway.) There is a quote by Erasmus that says "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes." In a lot of ways this explains me to a 'T' because there was a time when this was almost literally true. Books feed and protect me in ways that food, and clothes just can't do. In short I love books.

I think that with a dad like mine I always knew the importance of books just like with a mother like mine I've always known the importance of art. But books never spoke to me when I was younger. I enjoyed them, and my dad reading Grimm's Fairy Tales was a favorite part of my day but I don't think that I ever really got them. Movies were more my thing maybe even too much my thing but there you have it. However when I was in the eighth I had to do a big joe project. This project was a huge part of me graduating and I was putting it off. And so my dad made a rule that there would be no more movies until it was done. I could however read whatever I wanted after my homework was done. And although I truly missed my movies, I even made a list that grew every day of movies I wanted to see once my punishment was lifted, I think that this is where my love of books started to grow.

I'm not a 100% sure that my memory is completely intact about this but I feel that this is where I finally started understanding books. Since then, even in my darkest days, books have been beside me in some form or another. My love for these magic creatures grew as I did. I think that I have always read above my level, I mean I was reading Shakespeare before I ever picked up a teen novel. Although those came eventually, Francesca Lia Block and Christopher Pike especially. But as I grew my appetite for them grew and all I could think about was what else could I read, what more was there that I missed? 

I want to read them all. I want to have read every book in every genre that I enjoy. I've read all of Austen's full novels, all Jodi Picoult's published novels. I've read a lot of Shakespeare, some Jack Kerouac, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, some Plath. I've read science fiction, fantasy, history, historical fiction, some biographies, poetry, plays, classics, general fiction, mystery, horror. And I feel as if I've read nothing. It seems crazy I know because for someone my age I have read more than my fair share. Yet I still feel like there are books out there that I don't know about and so many types of books that I will just never get to. 

I just got back from vacation and I'm feeling pretty tired so I think that I am going to end this here for now. Looks like this is going to be a two-parter. So more tomorrow.    

"The Angel's Game"-Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Book Title: The Angel's Game (Cemetery of Forgotten Books #2)
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Version: Paperback
ISBN: 9780767931113
Published: May 18th, 2010
Originally Published: 2008
Publisher: Anchor
Genre: Fiction

REVIEW: I'm a little rusty and very tired so this is going to be a straight review. I fell in love with Carlos Ruiz Zafon in the very first pages of "The Shadow of the Wind" (the review can be found here) and I just knew that my love would only grow while reading "The Angel's Game," and sure enough it did. Zafon, once again, brought his unique voice to a rather strange story and made it sing. I found the story of David Martin irresistible and utterly alluring. Every time I thought that I had been twisted and confused as much as possible Zafon would throw another curve ball my way. And I loved every minute of it. I found myself thinking about the book even when I was doing other things, in fact I would sometimes lose myself in the thoughts of 'what's gonna happen next?' There is something about the book that makes it stick with me. I'm still thinking about it and it's been a week since I finished it. Now that is something really special.

Zafon has such a beautiful writing style, there is poetry about it and as strange as it sounds almost a levity in his words even during the darkest bits. His writing makes me want to write, to create to strive for the very highest level of creativity. Very few authors are talented enough to do that, to make someone want to reach for a pen, a paintbrush, a can of spray paint. There was something about "The Angel's Game" especially that made me feel like writing a novel of my own. 

The main character was David Martin and he was rather pathetic. He was a hard character to fall in love with, instead I found myself feeling sorry for and hating him in equal measure. Despite having these conflicting feelings I found myself rooting for him, hoping that something would go in a better direction for him. I promise I'm not going to say anything more because I don't want to spoil it for anyone but David Martin is one of the strangest and most frustrating characters that I have ever come across and he's a character that you won't want to miss. 

"The Angel's Game" was all around a fantastic read and an edge of your seat story. I highly recommend finding a copy of the book somehow because it is highly worth reading. I read it in about 4 days and I promise you it's not because I'm a crazy fast reader it's just that good, it's not a book that can be put down. Carlos Ruiz Zafon has done it yet again with "The Angel's Game" and I can't wait to see what he brings me next. I can solidly say that Carlos Ruiz Zafon has become one of my favorite authors now and I think that he might just become one of yours as well. I know that I am doing this book a disservice by leaving it at that but there is so much mystery about it and so many twists and mind blowing moments that I would be doing an even greater disservice by revealing anything more. So forgive me dear readers for leaving it a little short and so very trimmed of juicy parts. Go out and pick up a copy and read it for yourself and you will find the magic there, in the pages and in the story rather than trying to simply get a whiff from my review.