3 posts tagged “book challenge”
Read because: I liked it the first time.
Borrowed from: the Sacramento library
Rating: 8 out of 10
Synopsis: This sequel brings back the young wizard-in-training to face suspicious adults, hostile classmates, fretful ghosts, rambunctious spells, giant spiders, and even an avatar of Lord Voldemort, the evil sorcerer who killed his parents, while saving the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from a deadly, mysterious menace. Ignoring a most peculiar warning, Harry kicks off his second year at Hogwarts after a dreadful summer with his hateful guardians, the Dursleys, and is instantly cast into a whirlwind of magical pranks and misadventures, culminating in a visit to the hidden cavern where his friend Ron's little sister Ginny lies, barely alive, in a trap set by his worst enemy. Surrounded by a grand mix of wise and inept faculty, sneering or loyal peersplus an array of supernatural creatures including Nearly Headless Nick and a huge, serpentine basiliskHarry steadily rises to every challenge, and though he plays but one match of the gloriously chaotic field game Quidditch, he does get in plenty of magic and a bit of swordplay on his way to becoming a hero again.
My review: Ah, the adventures of the young Harry Potter continue. Again, I listened on audio book and fell in love all over again with Jim Dale's reading. He just brings everything to life. Also, he sounds exactly like Maggie Smith. Which is weird and awesome. This book is a little more intense than the first, especially toward the end. The characters are expanded more in this book, as are the growing mysteries surrounding Voldemort and Hogwarts. It's was also really well-paced -- unlike some of the others in the series, this one doesn't really get bogged down in the middle (I'm talking to you, Deathly Hallows). Plus, we get to see more of Ginny. And I just adore her. (Finished 10/13/09)
Borrowed from: the Sacramento library
Rating: 8 out of 10
Synopsis: This sequel brings back the young wizard-in-training to face suspicious adults, hostile classmates, fretful ghosts, rambunctious spells, giant spiders, and even an avatar of Lord Voldemort, the evil sorcerer who killed his parents, while saving the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from a deadly, mysterious menace. Ignoring a most peculiar warning, Harry kicks off his second year at Hogwarts after a dreadful summer with his hateful guardians, the Dursleys, and is instantly cast into a whirlwind of magical pranks and misadventures, culminating in a visit to the hidden cavern where his friend Ron's little sister Ginny lies, barely alive, in a trap set by his worst enemy. Surrounded by a grand mix of wise and inept faculty, sneering or loyal peersplus an array of supernatural creatures including Nearly Headless Nick and a huge, serpentine basiliskHarry steadily rises to every challenge, and though he plays but one match of the gloriously chaotic field game Quidditch, he does get in plenty of magic and a bit of swordplay on his way to becoming a hero again.
My review: Ah, the adventures of the young Harry Potter continue. Again, I listened on audio book and fell in love all over again with Jim Dale's reading. He just brings everything to life. Also, he sounds exactly like Maggie Smith. Which is weird and awesome. This book is a little more intense than the first, especially toward the end. The characters are expanded more in this book, as are the growing mysteries surrounding Voldemort and Hogwarts. It's was also really well-paced -- unlike some of the others in the series, this one doesn't really get bogged down in the middle (I'm talking to you, Deathly Hallows). Plus, we get to see more of Ginny. And I just adore her. (Finished 10/13/09)
Read because: I picked it up at a used bookstore and it looked interesting.
Purchased from: Almost Perfect Used Books in Elk Grove, CA
Rating: 10 out of 10
Synopsis (from Publishers Weekly): Thriller writer Connolly (Every Dead Thing) turns from criminal fears to primal fears in this enchanting novel about a 12-year-old English boy, David, who is thrust into a realm where eternal stories and fairy tales assume an often gruesome reality. Books are the magic that speak to David, whose mother has died at the start of WWII after a long debilitating illness. His father remarries, and soon his stepmother is pregnant with yet another interloper who will threaten David's place in his father's life. When a portal to another world opens in time-honored fashion, David enters a land of beasts and monsters where he must undertake a quest if he is to earn his way back out. Connolly echoes many great fairy tales and legends (Little Red Riding Hood, Roland, Hansel and Gretel), but cleverly twists them to his own purposes. Despite horrific elements, this tale is never truly frightening, but is consistently entertaining as David learns lessons of bravery, loyalty and honor that all of us should learn.
My Review: I really loved this demented little book. It was part Gregory MacGuire (Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister), part Lord of the Rings, and part Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. On top of it all, it was a wonderful coming-of-age tale. I thought the writing was absolutely wonderous and evocative, and I loved the way Connelly distorted all of the fairy tales we know and love into disturbing stories that served his purposes very well. The stories were interesting and gruesome, but like the review said above, never truly terrifying. I loved David's progress from boy into man as he tries to discover the Book of Lost Things in this world he's been thrown into. I devoured this delicious book. Highly recommended!
A taste from page 3:
Purchased from: Almost Perfect Used Books in Elk Grove, CA
Rating: 10 out of 10
Synopsis (from Publishers Weekly): Thriller writer Connolly (Every Dead Thing) turns from criminal fears to primal fears in this enchanting novel about a 12-year-old English boy, David, who is thrust into a realm where eternal stories and fairy tales assume an often gruesome reality. Books are the magic that speak to David, whose mother has died at the start of WWII after a long debilitating illness. His father remarries, and soon his stepmother is pregnant with yet another interloper who will threaten David's place in his father's life. When a portal to another world opens in time-honored fashion, David enters a land of beasts and monsters where he must undertake a quest if he is to earn his way back out. Connolly echoes many great fairy tales and legends (Little Red Riding Hood, Roland, Hansel and Gretel), but cleverly twists them to his own purposes. Despite horrific elements, this tale is never truly frightening, but is consistently entertaining as David learns lessons of bravery, loyalty and honor that all of us should learn.
My Review: I really loved this demented little book. It was part Gregory MacGuire (Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister), part Lord of the Rings, and part Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. On top of it all, it was a wonderful coming-of-age tale. I thought the writing was absolutely wonderous and evocative, and I loved the way Connelly distorted all of the fairy tales we know and love into disturbing stories that served his purposes very well. The stories were interesting and gruesome, but like the review said above, never truly terrifying. I loved David's progress from boy into man as he tries to discover the Book of Lost Things in this world he's been thrown into. I devoured this delicious book. Highly recommended!
A taste from page 3:
Stories were different, though: they came alive in the telling. Without a human voice to read them aloud, or a pair of wide eyes following them by a flashlight beneath the blanket, they had no real existence in our world. They were like seeds in the beak of a bird, waiting to fall to earth, or the notes of a song laid out on a sheet, yearning for an instrument to bring their music into being. They lay dormant, hoping for the chance to emerge. Once someone started to read them, they could begin to change. They could take root in the imagination, and transform the reader. Stories wanted to be read, David's mother would whisper. They needed it. It was the reason they forced themselves from their world into ours. They wanted us to give them life.
Purchased because: John Lescroart (pronounced "les-kwah") was doing a reading at my grandmother's senior center.
Borrowed from: the Sacramento library
Rating: 6 out of 10
Synopsis: Legal-thriller powerhouse Lescroart rounds up the usual suspects in his latest effort, the story of a man accused of murdering his wife. Investigator Wyatt Hunt and police detective Devin Juhle (from The Hunt Club, 2005) put in an appearance, as does longtime series regular Dismas Hardy, but the lead goes to Gina Roake, an attorney in Hardy's firm. Roake defends Stuart Gordon, an outdoor writer, whose wife is found dead in their home--while Gordon was out of town, alone. But defending a man she is not sure about isn't easy, and it gets harder when Gina begins to feel an attraction toward her client.
My Review: Lescroart is pretty far out of the realm of what I normally read. I haven't read a legal thriller since college, when I went through my read-everything-John-Grisham-has-ever-written phase. But I do love going to author readings, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I enjoyed the book for what it was -- another good legal thriller. I didn't guess whodunit, so that was pleasing, although I thought it was a bit of a stretch at the end when the murderer was finally discovered. I liked the characters and thought Gina Roake was a nice female lead -- strong and smart but still flawed. Meeting Lescroart was a treat -- he's really funny and personable and it was interesting to hear how he started writing (he wasn't published until he was in his 40s). I'll probably give another of his books a shot, when I'm looking for something that's fairly easy to sink my teeth into.
As always, for more information visit my Reading Challenge blog.
Borrowed from: the Sacramento library
Rating: 6 out of 10
Synopsis: Legal-thriller powerhouse Lescroart rounds up the usual suspects in his latest effort, the story of a man accused of murdering his wife. Investigator Wyatt Hunt and police detective Devin Juhle (from The Hunt Club, 2005) put in an appearance, as does longtime series regular Dismas Hardy, but the lead goes to Gina Roake, an attorney in Hardy's firm. Roake defends Stuart Gordon, an outdoor writer, whose wife is found dead in their home--while Gordon was out of town, alone. But defending a man she is not sure about isn't easy, and it gets harder when Gina begins to feel an attraction toward her client.
My Review: Lescroart is pretty far out of the realm of what I normally read. I haven't read a legal thriller since college, when I went through my read-everything-John-Grisham-has-ever-written phase. But I do love going to author readings, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I enjoyed the book for what it was -- another good legal thriller. I didn't guess whodunit, so that was pleasing, although I thought it was a bit of a stretch at the end when the murderer was finally discovered. I liked the characters and thought Gina Roake was a nice female lead -- strong and smart but still flawed. Meeting Lescroart was a treat -- he's really funny and personable and it was interesting to hear how he started writing (he wasn't published until he was in his 40s). I'll probably give another of his books a shot, when I'm looking for something that's fairly easy to sink my teeth into.
As always, for more information visit my Reading Challenge blog.
