Review

The Sorcerer’s Granny

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I have this entry on my 101 list to post reviews of stuff I read and see and such at least once every two months. I already occasionally review the books I read. But since I can’t be arsed to review everything in single, bigger posts, I figured I just do smaller Reviews. Probably not really worthy of that name, but screw that 😀

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (movie)

The story is pretty basic: guy who has no idea of his powers has to learn to control those powers (with lots of errors and funny situations) and save the world. It turned out to be a very fun movie, Nicholas Cage and Jay Baruchel play very nicely off of each other. It is quite obviously a Disney movie, and not just because it has the Mickey Mouse as Sorcerer’s Apprentice short re-made in live action in it (although that was hilarious to watch). It just has that goody-goody feel.
I enjoyed the relationships between the various characters, both on the evil side (Horvath and his apprentice) as well as the good side (Balthasar and Dave, Dave and Becky). The sets were awesome, especially Balthasar’s shop and Dave’s lab basement. And I like how the Geeky guy gets the girl without him having to de-Geek. Ending wise, I’m anticipating a sequel here if it does well, the movie had that kind of ending where a sequel makes perfect sense.

Granny’s (cafe / lunch room)

Went out for coffee with Gert, and let him pick the place where we went since he lives in the city and knows the best spots 😀 So, he suggested Granny’s as it was something we’d not been. I had to work afterward so I did specify it had to be a place that did lunch dishes too. According to Gert, this was also the case.

Granny’s is located across the A-church, and it being an inner city thing, has the characteristic rectangular shape of small buildings. It looks good, albeit slightly crowded due to the shape. Seating is split over two levels, ground floor and basement. It’s mostly single tables with chairs, but there’s a bench along a bigger table on both floors.

On the menu was mostly various kinds of apple pie (since it specialises in that), but it did indeed have a nice variety of sandwiches. Unfortunately for me, none of those tickled my fancy since all of them had something on it I don’t like, either at all, or not very much. So I went with a nice slice of lemon apple pie, with a warm vanilla sauce and chocolate coffee. The taste of all of it was very good, I enjoyed it. I found the prices to be on the high side though. The coffee was €4,25, so I’d expect a big glass, but I found it only slightly larger than a regular coffeecup. I get that what with the chocolate and stuff it’ll be more expensive than regular coffee, but I’d find €3,50 a more than reasonable price for it. The cake was a good sized slice, and the vanilla sauce very handily came in a separate little jug.

Books 2010 // Update

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Updated booklist!
A facebook convo reminded me I hadn’t posted one of these in quite a while so here goes 😀

2010 (so far)
1. Sarah Monette – Mélusine
2. Naomi Novik – Throne of Jade
3. Naomi Novik – Black Powder War
4. Kat Richardson – Greywalker

5. John Scalzi – The Android’s Dream
6. Paulien Cornelisse – Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding {Language is, like, my thing} [Dutch]
7. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Betrayed
8. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Chosen
9. Naomi Novik – Empire of Ivory
10. Joris Luyendijk – Het zijn net mensen {They’re just like people} [Dutch]
11. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Untamed

12. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Hunted
13. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Tempted
14: Louisa May Alcott – Little Women

15: Louisa May Alcott – Little Men
16: Louisa May Alcott – Jo’s Boys
17. Brent Weeks – The Way of Shadows

18. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Resistance (J.M. Dillard)
19. Brent Weeks – Shadows’s Edge

20. Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza – Looking For Group Volume 1
21. Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza – Looking For Group Volume 2
22. Brent Weeks – Beyond the Shadows
23. Preeta Samarasan – Evening is the Whole Day
24. Jeff Lindsay – Dearly Devoted Dexter

25. Terry Pratchett – Unseen Academicals
26. Bert Benson – Euro 5 antwoordt niet {Euro 5. Not answering} <A sci-fi series from my childhood, I recently stumbled across a second hand store that had almost the entire series. I only read maybe two or three of them back then, so am really enjoying the newness of most of these>
27. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Dreiging van de H-Mannen {Euro 5. Threat of the H-men}
28. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Duivels van de diepzee {Euro 5. Demons of the Deep Sea}
29. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Slaven uit de ruimte {Euro 5. Slaves from Space}
30. Bert Benson – Euro 5. De Monsters van Dr. Einling {Euro 5. The Monsters of Dr. Einling}
31. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Op drift in de tijd {Euro 5. Adrift in Time}
32. Bert Benson – Euro 5. Machten uit het heelal {Euro 5. Powers from the Universe}
33. Karen Chance – Touch the Dark [reread, in preparation for reading parts 2-4 which I borrowed from a friend]

Called quits on Deathwish (see previous bookpost). It was getting too damn obvious this wasn’t part one and the continuous half-assed referencing was driving me nuts. Plus, the story didn’t really pull me in. I haven’t touched Perdido Street Station anymore either. I’m giving it till September before I declare it a lost cause. Haven’t started A Thousand Splendid Suns yet, but it has made it to the nightstand 😀

Of the ones I read since last update, Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals was a bit dissapointing. I’m a devoted Discworldian but this one seemed a bit… stretching it, like he wanted to pull too much from everywhere together. The football as topic bothered me only slightly (I’m not a football fan so I expected worse) but the story didn’t seem to pay off the way the other books did.

The Euro 5 books feel like a warm bath. And I’m realising they’re actually pretty well written too, has something to offer to both kids and adults. It could do with some more female personnel, but for 80s books the author is doing very well with his one female character so far. She’s strong, not afraid to do things herself and, as the books get on, gets a fair share of the action too when she’s around (she’s not part of the regular crew of the Euro 5 spaceship so she’s not always there).

Books 2010 // Night Angel Trilogy & Evening is the Whole Day

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The Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks (The Way of Shadows, Shadow’s Edge & Beyond the Shadows)

I loved these books. I’m a sucker for epic fantasy, and especially when the world is so detailed as Brent Weeks makes his, I’m sold. He manages to turn the world of his books into a living, breathing thing with history, good politics and economy and a nice variety in cultures. I like how the magic in the book comes in a few different types, and offers nice mechanisms (in the way the Talent and the vir work) I’ve not come across before. Bonus points for limiting this magic by giving it a price/requirement so it’s not the catch-all solution. Finally, the ka’kari and how it works was very well done. I like how it is both an entity as well as an object, plus the cost of the immortality is a killer.

Then, on to the story. It starts with a young thief in a guild in the poorest district of the city of Cenaria. Azoth tries his best to steal enough to pay his guild dues, protect his friends and in general, make it through his miserable little life. When he sees the greatest wetboy (assassins with magical Talent) of this time deal with a threat, he decides he wants to be his apprentice. Convinced this will get him out of his sucky life, he trails Durzo Blint. Durzo finally caves and orders Azoth to kill his guild leader Roth (who is a bastard). Azoth has trouble with this, but after Roth severely mutilates his friend Elene, Azoth succeeds in killing him.

Azoth trains with Durzo and becomes Kylar Stern, supposedly son of a distant baronet, now living with Count Drake and his family. Through this persona, he also befriends Logan Gyre. When Kylar has grown up and is working as wetboy, Logan is set out to marry one of Count Drake’s daughters. However, with a twist, after the assasination of the King’s son, Logan ends up being married to the King’s daughter and  is proclaimed heir to the throne. After the festivities, as Logan and Jenine head upstairs to consummate the marriage, as ordered by her (rather crazy) father, Cenaria is invaded by Khalidor.

Much murder and mayhem ensues and many characters, both flat and fleshed out ones, end up dead. Through another twist, Kylar ends up with an old magical artifact which bonds with him, a so-called ka’kari. Before, while he had two of the three internal things needed for the Talent, the third was missing and he could never use it. With the ka’kari, he can. The longer he has the ka’kari though, the more he learns of what it is, and what it can do. It effectively renders him immortal, after every death he is brought back to life but at a cost, which takes him ages to figure out what it is. Kylar struggles with what the ka’kari is, what it does to him, and what it all means for him for the rest of the book. He displays a very well written growth in this process and it was something I really enjoyed.

From that moment on, Kylar works tirelessly to free, and restore, Cenaria. Not always willingly, and not always very well thought out, but he does it. He finds out Logan is not dead and rescues him and together with him and other friends and accomplices they manage to free Cenaria. But then it’s still not over…

I must say I really enjoyed the direction the book took after Khalidor got repelled. I was expecting, when the invasion happened, that it would take them all three books just to get rid of them. But getting rid of Khalidor in Cenaria was just the start. Pulling on all the history and cultural differences Weeks showed and told throughout the story he pulls the different peoples together for a climactic battle that’s not just about restoring Cenaria, but about saving the entire world.

I for one would love it if Weeks were to write more books in this world. Not necessarily even about Kylar but just in this setting. It has such depth he can easily craft more stories. I’d love to read more about the Chantry for example or Sho’Cendi.

Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan

This is literary fiction and it shows. The book is floating on themes and flowery descriptions without a whole lot happening. The story, insofar as you can call it that, is that Chellam, the servant of the main family in the book gets thrown out because she supposedly did something really bad. Then, through flashbacks it is told how she was hired and life in the family went until the bad thing (which it turns out she didn’t even do) happens. Mixed with that are flashbacks to the 1950s and 60s that give background to the father and mother of the family. How they became the people they are. The other flashbacks serve the same purpose but then for the two daughters of the family.

All in all I liked the setting (Malaysia) since I’d never read a book before that took place there. The continuous descriptions of everything started to get on my nerves though. The book really gets bogged down by it, nothing moves, it becomes this sluggish thing in which nothing really happens. This is part of the overall theme (nothing really changes) but I like a bit more action in my plots. In the end, I wouldn’t really recommend this book to anyone unless they are definite literary fiction readers and/or have an interest in Malaysia (she does very nicely show us crucial, and interesting, parts of Malaysian history and culture)

2010 (so far)
1. Sarah Monette – Mélusine
2. Naomi Novik – Throne of Jade
3. Naomi Novik – Black Powder War
4. Kat Richardson – Greywalker

5. John Scalzi – The Android’s Dream
6. Paulien Cornelisse – Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding
7. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Betrayed
8. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Chosen
9. Naomi Novik – Empire of Ivory
10. Joris Luyendijk – Het zijn net mensen {They’re just like people} [Dutch]
11. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Untamed

12. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Hunted
<Audio Book> Neil Gaiman – Harlequin Valentine
<Audio Book> Neil Gaiman – A Study in Emerald
13. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Tempted
<Audio Book> Lilian Jackson Braun – The Cat Who Played Brahms
<Audio Book> Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Emissary
<Audio Book> Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Fallen Heroes
14: Louisa May Alcott – Little Women

15: Louisa May Alcott – Little Men
16: Louisa May Alcott – Jo’s Boys
17. Brent Weeks – The Way of Shadows

18. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Resistance (J.M. Dillard)
19. Brent Weeks – Shadows’s Edge

20. Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza – Looking For Group Volume 1
21. Ryan Sohmer & Lar DeSouza – Looking For Group Volume 2
22. Brent Weeks – Beyond the Shadows
23. Preeta Samarasan – Evening is the Whole Day

I’m now also listing audio books, but still keeping them separate from the rest. This because I have a much harder time remembering them later on, which is not a problem I have with regular books. By now I cannot remember what the ones I’ve listened to back in March were about. I’ll have to go and read them for it to stick. This is probably because I can’t do just sitting and listening very well, I must do something with my hands. When reading, I hold the book and this enables me to fully concentrate on the reading and get lost in it. When listening, my hands are free so I end up doing something else beside it and thus I get distracted and don’t process the audio fully. I have the same with watching TV.

I’m also rather behind on my reading. My goal for this year is once again 60, so I should be at 30 books around now. Currently reading Dearly Devoted Dexter. Also still plowing my way through Deathwish (although I might call it quits on that one, it’s getting frustrating that this is obviously not the first part, I feel I’m missing too much) and just picked up A Thousand Splendid Suns to start for my read-owned-but-unread-books effort. Perdido Street Station also seems to be a lost cause. I’ve been trying for three months or so now and still not getting anywhere. Somehow it’s really not pulling me in. And I’ve so wanted to like it 🙁 The one I have officially called it quits on is Emma. I’ve come to the conclusion I actively hate this book.

So, with that said, here’s to the second half of the year with new chances to still make the goal 😀

Books 2010 // A Start

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I might as well post the beginning of the 2010 list, seeing as we’re already in the third month of the year. Some comments/notes on some of these books:

Mélusine: I loved this one, and am majorly bummed out that the 2nd book is out of print. I’ve been looking for it in second hand places but no luck as of yet 🙁

Naomi Novik: I’m in love with the dragon Temeraire, he is such an awesome character and I can’t wait until I get my hands on the fifth book in the series 😀

P.C. & Kristin Cast: These are the books in the House of Night series. They’re fun, easy to read YA novels about a vampire, eh vampyre finishing school. A bit over the top in places but a very nice mix of standard vampire mythology mixed with wiccan and Cherokee bits to make their brand of vampyres and their culture fresh. Plus, I find their teenagers to be actually acting like teenagers most of the time, which is nice 😀
The only thing that gets on my nerves is that they feel the need to very specifically introduce the gay couple in every book and then make a point of it not being anything special or weird.  The book is a first person narrative as told by the main character and she then says things like: “Oh, Jack and Damien are a couple. Which means they’re gay teenagers. Hello. It happens. More often than you’d expect. Wait, scratch that. It happens more often than parents expect.” (Hunted (bk 5, which I’m reading now), page 10).
And then the next page over she has Jack and Damien have a very cute moment where they kiss, which drives the point home much better. I would’ve preferred that by now, since this introducing happens in every book of the series, they stop telling it like this, it feels stilted and too politically correct.

Het zijn net mensen: This is an awesome book! It’s a non-fiction written by a Dutch journalist who worked as foreign correspondent in the Middle East for a good number of years. The book is about how the media (and then specifically television) portrays that region and how the usual way of making (TV)news in the Western world doesn’t work over there. So what we see here is never what it actually is, not because the networks don’t want us to know, but because TV by it’s nature can’t do it. Not in the Middle East, where most countries have some form of dictatorship as government. TV generally evokes a more visceral reaction, but that doesn’t work if you just put a voice over with pretty pictures. You need an actual person on screen to tell his or her story and in the Middle East, people will gladly tell their story, but often not on TV where they can be identified and become targets of police and government security services and all that crap. So you can tell a story there, but you’ll need writing a lot more, and that just doesn’t get the same attention and reaction as TV does.
This should be required reading for anyone working in media. Hell, even for everyone else.

2010 (so far)
1. Sarah Monette – Mélusine
2. Naomi Novik – Throne of Jade
3. Naomi Novik – Black Powder War
4. Kat Richardson – Greywalker

5. John Scalzi – The Android’s Dream
6. Paulien Cornelisse – Taal is zeg maar echt mijn ding
7. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Betrayed
8. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Chosen
9. Naomi Novik – Empire of Ivory
10. Joris Luyendijk – Het zijn net mensen {They’re just like people} [Dutch]
11. P.C. & Kristin Cast – Untamed

Torchwood: Children of Earth

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I’m still not quite coherent after this week of mind-wrecking tv but I need to vent things and since that’s what this place is for…
Just to be on the safe side I’ll put this after a cut for any stumbling in Americans that are waiting for BBC America’s broadcast starting July 20th. In short, I loved the series as a whole, well written, well acted, well directed, easily 4 out of 5 stars. I just have some minor issues and one major issue that ruined everything for me.

So… Torchwood… I’m in danger of rambling so I’m just gonna take this sort of by topic instead of doing it episode by episode.

Let’s start with the aliens. I thought the portrayal of the 456 was excellently done! By keeping them hidden the tension was kept up and there was no risk of having the audience burn the cgi. I was bothered by the fact that no-one tried to use the 456′ box against it. It sent instructions to build it so the government people knew how the thing worked, they couldn’t figure out a way, later, to break through the box and just kill the alien by venting its atmosphere?
The other thing about the 456 that I liked was that they didn’t want the children for some kind of higher purpose but just as a fix. To them, we mean nothing, we’re just a drug to them.

Then there’s the team. My love for Torchwood grew from the team dynamic. Granted, the wacky adventures they had we’re great fun to watch but it ‘s the characters and their dynamic that kept me watching. I love Captain Jack as this swaggering, cheeky man, almost always with a twinkle in his eye and at his best when he can go and do something. I also loved how they built up Ianto from the manservant who never got involved to full-fledged member of the team. And the Jack/Ianto relationship really gave a new dimension to both characters. Owen was another of my favourites, it was awesome to see him grow, see him become more than the basically angry man he was in the first few episodes of series 1. And, at the risk of repeating myself, same for Tosh and also Gwen. And then RTD started to break this down.
First he killed of Owen and Toshiko, leaving the team broken. I’d wished they would’ve touched on this a little more even though the scene were Gwen says good morning to their picture was really touching and all out lovely.

During the beginning of the crisis, the team sticks together and the team dynamic is good. As the situation worsens, however, the more the team gets separated (if not physically, then emotionally), especially after the hub explodes. I love about Torchwood how the team can make me laugh, and this series had remarkably few moments of that. I know it’s been emphasised from the get-go that this would be a darker Torchwood but there’s a thing as too dark. I watch Torchwood to have a good time, get some decent sci-fi in and have a laugh and a chuckle. I can’t remember any laugh out loud moments in this series, however, outside of the moment where Ianto breaks Jack out of prison. That was so very much a Torchwood thing; Gwen and Rhys sneaking in as undertakers, of all things,  then Ianto and his JCB come barging in. And Gwen admonishing him for taking his time when they run out and climb in to run :).

I also really enjoyed the moments the team members had with their families. Gwen with Rhys (even though he was almost a team member in this series), Ianto with his sister and her family and Jack with his daughter and grandson. They rounded out the characters, made them more human. Plus, they brought home the fact that this thing with the children does not only affect the world, it also affects them personally.

Now, outside of the the fact there was not much laughing or even chuckling to be done, I was gaining faith. The team was growing, getting used to being this smaller group. The dynamic was different but it came back. And then the unforgivable happened. They killed of Ianto. o.0
The scene was excellently acted and wonderfully executed by remaining close on them as Ianto was dying. But, and this a big one, it totally ruined everything for me. Jack is my favourite character of the bunch, but Ianto was such a close second you’d need a very tiny measuring tape to get the distance between them. And the Jack/Ianto relationship was awesome and brought new insights to both their characters and was slowly getting Jack out of his comfort zone. Jack is really a man who has been hurt a lot in his long time on earth and he keeps his emotions inside for the most part, a measure of self-protection, and Ianto was breaking this down. And then they killed him, and with him a part of Jack too.

The way of killing Ianto, however, seemed random(ish). No heroics, no going down fighting, just a virus, from an alien in a protective box, neither of which can be fighted, can be stopped. I get the point they’re trying to make: Torchwood is dangerous, you can die at any time, and it doesn’t have to be a major event either; but this was like a last straw kinda thing. After Owen and Tosh, now getting rid of Ianto killed the team dynamic. There is no team anymore, there’s Jack and there’s Gwen. Jack can’t really fall back on Gwen (although the scene with Ianto’s body was very touching) cause she has Rhys and her unborn baby. And with Rhys being the type of man he is, there is no room for Jack, not in the long run. And with no other people close to him, this leaves Jack on his own.

Then, the government. I have mixed feelings over this. On the one hand, I loved how they showed the process in which the government went along with the 456. How, once the decision had been made to hand over the kids, the people, almost casually, went on to decide which kids should be taken. Creepy Prime Minister was good too, really the embodiment of how many people see the government I think. It was John Frobisher, however, who was hands down the best part of the government parts. His development from a general paper-pusher to front man was very well done. You could see him wrestle with his emotions and it really showed how easy things change. He worked hard his entire life, was successful and then this comes along and in just a few days he is brought to the edge. The scene where the PM tells him he has been chosen as example and that his kids will be taken was chilling. The following sequence, where he requisitions the gun and goes home was marvelously done, with the sound going away and the music swelling. I half expected the scene to end with the closing door but then… the gunshots.

What I didn’t like about the government was that it took up so much screen time. I get that in this story line the government is important but, getting back to a previous point, I watch Torchwood for the team, I wanted more team time.

Another thing I really enjoyed were a lot of the secondary characters. These were excellently cast and brought diversity to the plot. Rupesh Patinjali for some reason really reminded me of Dr. Bashir from Star Trek : Deep Space 9, all wide eyed and ready to dive into the world of secret organisations and missions. Of course, we learn he already is involved and gets in over his head, just like Julian (almost) has on a few occassions.

I especially liked Clem and his tics 😀 His “isn’t it” over his shoulder, his smelling of things. A favourite part, one of the few moments that got a chuckle out of me, was when Gwen brought him to the makeshift hub. She’d introduced Rhys and then Clem goes “Who’s the queer?” Ianto’s fierce “Oy!” brought a smile and then Clem’s sullen response “He is, I can smell it” brought the chuckle.
I loved Ianto’s sister, Rhiannon, how her voice nearly broke when she asked Ianto if it was something she’d done that he wouldn’t talk to her. And then Ianto telling about him and Jack was marvelous, really brings home the point, we don’t fall in love with a gender, we fall in love with a person.

Jack’s family was a pleasant surprise too, Alice was very good, I loved the little tidbits we got to know about how she deals with having a father who can’t die and doesn’t really age. And how quickly she figured out that Jack was there initially for Steven, because he needed a kid.
Johnson was another I liked. Not at first, mind you, then she was just another person who happened to be the one wanting them dead. But later, once she started learning what it was the government was hiding, you saw her change, and that was very well done. Mellowing her without having her lose her hard edge, as demonstrated at the end with Steven’s sacrifice.

And that brings us to the ending. I didn’t really like the fifth episode. It seemed both too slow and too fast. It was awfully fast how the government managed to set the whole process of rounding up the kids in motion, a matter of hours, that seems a bit unrealistic (yeah, I know, it’s TV but still :D), yet the way it was filmed took too long, I got impatient with it. The way they showed the actual taking of the kids in the buses and such was a bit low on extras, I’d expect more angry parents at the fence and more fighting back. Not running after the bus for 3 steps and then stopping, no, get in a car, chase after it, stuff like that. Same goes for the scene on the estate where Rhi and Johnny live, the amount of soldiers and of civilians seemed to low. And the whole running off with the kids and hiding in the barn, that was… meh.
I both did and didn’t like how Rhiannon lashed at Gwen that she didn’t really know Ianto at all. Made it clear that there were still many things about Ianto we didn’t know and now never will, but also showed that Ianto apparently didn’t feel comfortable enough with the team yet to share that kind of information about himself.

The final solution that Jack and Mr. Dekker came up with seemed to easy, surely someone must’ve figured that out before… Mr. Dekker seemed to relish the thought the kid at the center would fry, the way he said it, it was very creepy. Jack’s in charge again, saving the world. And he has to make the decision to sacrifice Steven. there is no other choice, no other kid nearby. It was an excellent scene, very well done. Then when the transmission starts and Steven starts to bleed and you see Alice at the window and Jack standing there, tears streaming down his face. That’s when he breaks, and then when all is said and done and he’s in the hallway and Alice comes in and just looks at him and leaves him, that’s when he starts running away from things. He can’t take any more.

If it had ended there, it would’ve been better. The six months later epilogue was kinda lame. I get why they needed a set-up where Jack goes into space and such so he can meet up with the doctor (since six months later puts it conveniently in time for the Doctor Who Christmas special he is cast for) but… there’s just something off about it.

So… yeah. Taking us on a darker path this year, definitely. But there’s also something like too much darkness. Torchwood’s upbeatness was one of the main pulls for me, but this was just mostly bleak and harrowing and full of despair.

Books 2009 // Another Update

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It’s been a while since I updated the reading list so here goes.

I’m used to varying quality when reading tie-in fiction, since it needs to compete with the image of the TV-show (since I tend to read TV-show tie-ins) I have in my head. And since I tend to read books of shows I really like, the judging is harsh. That being said, until recently I mostly read Star Trek books and I think they have been blessed over the years not just with great writers, but also great editors. I have been spoiled with a plethora of good tie-in fiction. I’ve branched out now and added not just Charmed to my list but also Stargate and read a Supernatural book earlier this year and have a Buffy book waiting.

So far, I also love the Stargate books and the Supernatural one was very good too. The Charmed books, however, we’re not so good. Caveat beforehand, since I read these in translation I can’t really judge if it’s the books themselves or the translation that bugs me. I usually buy tie-in in English but got these at a discount store for about 50 cents a piece so had to take them 😀

I kept hearing the characters say the Dutch phrases in English in my head but it still wasn’t really right. I found, with most of them, the initial plot idea fun and entertaining but the execution either out of character, long-winded, obvious or just plain boring. I might re-read the ones I liked best in English to see if that makes a difference.

I’m currently not reading anything, I’m in the middle of finals. So, yeah I guess I’m reading the school books, but no fiction 😀 I have planned, for after the finals, to hit the Buffy tie-in book (The Lost Slayer, which is really a 4-in-1) as well as The Color Purple, which I got from the Library’s pile of books-for-sale.

2009 (so far)
01. Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves
02. P. Nowee – Arendsoog. Vogelvrij {Eagle-Eye Outlaw} [Dutch]
03. Maggie Tallerman – Understanding Syntax (translated into Dutch and edited for Dutch students by Jan-Wouter Zwart) [Dutch] [school]
04. Hanneke Houtkoop & Tom Koole – Taal in Actie. Hoe Mensen Communiceren met Taal {Language in Action. How People Communicate with Language} [Dutch] [school]
05. Erica van Boven & Gillis Dorleijn – Literair Mechaniek. Inleiding tot de Analyse van Verhalen en Gedichten. {Literary Mechanics. Introduction to the Analysis of Stories and Poetry.} [Dutch] [school]

06. Star Trek: DS9 – Relaunch 1-5 – Twist of Faith (S.D. Perry, David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang, Keith R.A. DeCandido)
07. Esther Verhoef – Alles te Verliezen {Everything to Loose} [Dutch] [school]
08. Orson Scott Card – Ender’s Game [re-read, it’s been years 🙂]
09. Robert J. Sawyer – Hominids
10. Neil Gaiman – Neverwhere
11. Justin Richards – Doctor Who: The Clockwise Man [Dutch]
12. Star Trek: DS9 – Prophecy & Change (short story collection)

13. Keith R.A. DeCandido – Supernatural: Bone Key
14. Paul Ruditis – Charmed: As Puck Would Have It [Dutch]
15. Laura J. Burns – Charmed: Sweet Talkin’ Demon [Dutch]
16. Atte Jongstra – De Avonturen van Henry II Fix [Dutch] [school]
17. Martin Caidin – Indiana Jones and the White Witch) [Dutch] [re-read]
18. Bobbi J.G. Weiss & Jacklyn Wilson – Charmed: Between Worlds [Dutch]
19. Martha Wells – Stargate Atlantis: Reliquary
20. Cameron Dokey – Charmed: Truth & Consequences [Dutch]
21. Sabine C. Bauer – Stargate Atlantis: Mirror, Mirror

22. Scott Ciencin – Charmed: Luck be a Lady [Dutch]
23. Laura J. Burns – Charmed: Inherit the Witch [Dutch]
24. Doeschka Meijsing – Over de Liefde {About Love} [Dutch] [school]
25. Emma Harrison – Charmed: A Tale of Two Pipers [Dutch]
26. Debbie Viguié – Charmed: Pied Piper [Dutch]

27. L. Frank Baum – The Wizard of Oz
28. Eliza Willard – Charmed: The Power of Three [Dutch]
29. Cameron Dokey & F. Goldsborough – Charmed: The Crimson Spell [Dutch]

30. Suzanne Wood – Stargate SG-1: The Barque of Heaven
31. David Brin – Kiln People
32. A.A. Milne & E.H. Shepard – The World of Pooh (The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner)

Books 2009 // Neverwhere

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Finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman today, and, as many books I read recently, it was awesome. It’s the tale of Richard Mayhew who gets stuck in London Below, a basically twisted through time and space copy of London situated below the Old City divided up in baronies and fiefdoms tied to old underground stations.

One evening, as Richard and his fiancé Jessica are on their way to a restaurant, they come across a young woman lying on the street, bleeding. It is Door, fled from London Below, the only survivor of the murder of her family. Richard decides to help her, against Jessica’s wishes who breaks off the engagement. Richard takes Door home to help her. Once there, Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar ring the bell, they’re looking for Door. Richard denies her being there and when C&V barge in and look through the apartment, she is indeed not there.

After Croup and Vandemar leave, Door comes back and the next day, with help from Marquis de Carabas, they return to London Below. Richard goes with them for a bit before he returns above ground. He then finds that people don’t really see him anymore. At his work they don’t recognise him, his apartment is being shown to another couple and Jessica also doesn’t recognise him.

He manages to get back Below and finds Door and the Marquis again. They then set of on a quest of sorts together after they hire Hunter as their bodyguard. Richard goes along because there’s nothing else he can do and this may be the only way for him to go back. Door comes to find out who killed her family, the Marquis helps to settle a debt to Door’s family while Hunter goes with them to so she can eventually slay the Beast of London.

The book is a very entertaining and grips you from just a few pages in. The world building of London Below is excellent, a perfect mix of (semi-)standard fantasy city and weird, twisted modern day London. Richard makes a good main character who doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into but stumbles on nonetheless because it’s the only thing he can do. Door is wonderfully charming and the Marquis… He’s intriguing from the beginning and he sets you on the wrong foot on multiple occasions. I found Hunter less fleshed out but she doesn’t speak a lot either, she more or less just is, at least  until near the end of the book. The final plot twist then, was not unexpected but felt a bit off.

2009 (so far)
01. Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves
02. P. Nowee – Arendsoog. Vogelvrij {Eagle-Eye Outlaw} [Dutch]
03. Maggie Tallerman – Understanding Syntax (translated into Dutch and edited for Dutch students by Jan-Wouter Zwart) [Dutch] [school]
04. Hanneke Houtkoop & Tom Koole – Taal in Actie. Hoe Mensen Communiceren met Taal {Language in Action. How People Communicate with Language} [Dutch] [school]
05. Erica van Boven & Gillis Dorleijn – Literair Mechaniek. Inleiding tot de Analyse van Verhalen en Gedichten. {Literary Mechanics. Introduction to the Analysis of Stories and Poetry.} [Dutch] [school]

06. Star Trek: DS9 – Relaunch 1-5 – Twist of Faith (S.D. Perry, David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang, Keith R.A. DeCandido)
07. Esther Verhoef – Alles te Verliezen {Everything to Loose} [Dutch] [School]
08. Orson Scott Card – Ender’s Game [re-read, it’s been years 🙂]
09. Robert J. Sawyer – Hominids
10. Neil Gaiman – Neverwhere

Books 2009 // Alles te Verliezen (Everything to Loose)

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One of my literature classes deals with current literature and examines various trends in Dutch literature. One of those trends is that well-written thrillers are more often seen as literature and also get marketed as ‘literary thriller’. So for a class on that particular subject in two weeks we had to read one of these literary thrillers. It was Esther Verhoef‘s Alles te Verliezen (Everything to Loose). Since this is not a genre I generally enjoy, I bought the book second hand. It arrived yesterday and I started reading it around 1 pm today. It’s now 4pm and I finished the book about half an hour ago. I’ve already put the book back up for sale.

I think that says enough about what I think about it. It’s not a bad book in itself, it’s just very much not my genre and not my style of book. I also found the pace to be on the slow side and the way the descriptions were done to be of the ‘look how nicely I can describe the surroundings’ variety. It felt as if she really wanted to rub it in how well-to-do her main characters were and how lovely the house and grounds and the stable and so on. I know it was part of the story, to emphasize all that Claire stands to loose, but it felt stilted.

The ending was kinda expected but the actual climax evoked an ‘oh, come on!’ reaction.

Edit: I just realised, maybe I should say a few words more about the actual plot? Well, here goes. Main character is Claire, married to rich realtor Harald and mother of their two young children. They’re rich, they live in a big house with lots of space around, stable, horse, you know, the works. Claire’s basically perfect: a stay at home mom, volunteer at the kids’ school, and excellent at entertaining her husband’s business associates when he throws a party. Claire however, has a shady past which came to an end when her lover in that period was sent to jail. Now, ten years later, he’s out and has come back to make trouble.

2009 (so far)
01. Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves
02. P. Nowee – Arendsoog. Vogelvrij {Eagle-Eye Outlaw} [Dutch]
03. Maggie Tallerman – Understanding Syntax (translated into Dutch and edited for Dutch students by Jan-Wouter Zwart) [Dutch] [school]
04. Hanneke Houtkoop & Tom Koole – Taal in Actie. Hoe Mensen Communiceren met Taal {Language in Action. How People Communicate with Language} [Dutch] [school]
05. Erica van Boven & Gillis Dorleijn – Literair Mechaniek. Inleiding tot de Analyse van Verhalen en Gedichten. {Literary Mechanics. Introduction to the Analysis of Stories and Poetry.} [Dutch] [school]

06. Star Trek: DS9 – Relaunch 1-5 – Twist of Faith (S.D. Perry, David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang, Keith R.A. DeCandido)
07. Esther Verhoef – Alles te Verliezen {Everything to Loose} [Dutch] [School]

Books 2009 // Twist of Faith

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Twist of Faith is an omnibus collecting four Star Trek tie-in novels and a novella that continue the story of Deep Space 9 and its crew. In short: I loved this book. I’d wanted to read the beginnings of the DS9 relaunch for ages now and this omnibus edition was the perfect solution (as opposed to buying all the books separately).
The stories were all very well put together, giving attention (and a very good voice) to those regulars that were left behind on the station (or from elsewhere in the ST verse) at the end of the series while skillfully introducing new characters to round out the crew.
The books take place over the course of about a month, three months after the end of the tv series. This was also my only complaint about the books, since so much happens in all of them, it kinda feels like overload to have it take place all in one month. Although this could have been caused by reading all the books in a row without pause.

The first book starts with the station being attacked by Jem’Hadar after three months of relative peace and quiet. The station is still undergoing repairs and not at all equipped to deal with attack. Fortunately, they manage to survive, although not without casualties. Thus begins the search for how and why the Jem’Hadar attacked. Intertwined with this is Jake’s story as he tries to deal with his father’s disappearance and a mysterious prophecy he is given. The third strand is the murder investigation of a Bajoran Vedek who gave Jake the prophecy. The Jem’Hadar and murder strands are brought to a close by the second book. Jake’s story isn’t done yet, however, and he sets out to find his dad.

The third book is a Bashir-centered one where he, together with a few friends from DS9, goes off on a mission for section 31 to stop another genetically enhanced human. I found this one the weakest of the books, the solution seemed to be too easy. It felt a bit sudden.

The fourth book is a Gateways book, telling a story about the Iconian gateways that suddenly open throughout the galaxy. Here it just so happens that one of those gateways connects the Delta Quadrant with the orbit of a Beta Quadrant planet. A Malon waste freighter stumbles upon the gateway and decides to dump it’s toxic waste into it. The waste threatens the planet on the Beta Quadrant side and a massive evacuation needs to be undertaken to save the people. Against the backdrop of this evacuation a way is being sought to close the gateways while Quark gets in over his head trying to negotiate the buying of the gateways for the Orions.

The fifth story tells the tale of Kira who gets lost in a gateway at the end of the fourth book. It is a lovely story about Bajor’s past and offers insights into Kira’s mind.

All in all, it was a ride I enjoyed immensely and I can’t wait to continue the relauch series with the Mission Gamma books and Rising Son where we will finally learn (among other things) what happened to Jake.

2009 (so far)
01. Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves
02. P. Nowee – Arendsoog. Vogelvrij {Eagle-Eye Outlaw} [Dutch]
03. Maggie Tallerman – Understanding Syntax (translated into Dutch and edited for Dutch students by Jan-Wouter Zwart) [Dutch] [school]
04. Hanneke Houtkoop & Tom Koole – Taal in Actie. Hoe Mensen Communiceren met Taal {Language in Action. How People Communicate with Language} [Dutch] [school]
05. Erica van Boven & Gillis Dorleijn – Literair Mechaniek. Inleiding tot de Analyse van Verhalen en Gedichten. {Literary Mechanics. Introduction to the Analysis of Stories and Poetry.} [Dutch] [school]

06. Star Trek: DS9 – Relaunch 1-5 – Twist of Faith (S.D. Perry, David Weddle & Jeffrey Lang, Keith R.A. DeCandido)

Books 2009 // A Companion to Wolves

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And so we reach 2009. For the rest of the year, I plan to post a list every first few days of the month (starting February) listing the books read so far. I might, in between, post when I’ve read something I enjoyed very much or hated (which is unlikely) or I just feel like I have something to say about.

Not much now, I’ve only read one book so far (mostly to blame on the fact that it’s exam period and I spend most of my time studying/reading school stuff). The book I’ve read is A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear. I bought this late last year as a result of starting to read Bear’s blog halfway through 2008. Then, on my Birthday in September I got a book gift card. I took to the bookstore and went to look for books by Bear and found Dust and Blood & Iron. I read the back cover and was intrigued by both of them so brought them home. I’ve finished Dust and I absolutely LOVE it. It immediately made its way on to the list of favourite books (where it joined, among others, Dan Simmons’  Hyperion/Endymion series and Keith R.A. DeCandido’s Articles of the Federation) and I can’t wait for its sequel, Chill, to get published.
I’ve started Blood & Iron after that but so far it has failed to really pull me in. I don’t quite know why, normally it’s a type of book I like. I blame it on a somewhat busy schedule in the last few months which didn’t give me the uninterrupted time to really dive into a novel. I’ll take it up again after the exam period when I can give it at least an hour at a time so i can see if the schedule’s to blame or the book.

Anyway, getting back on track, after I’d finished Dust, I knew I had to have more Bear. The description of A Companion to Wolves intrigued me, so I bought it and it ended up on the shelf until a few days ago. A post on Bear’s blog about the sequel tot ACtW inspired me to grab it as my next book and once I started, I couldn’t put it down, it was that AWESOME.

The story takes place in this Norse-based culture where Wolfcarls, men who bond together with a wolf, protect the villages from trolls. In return, when a she-wolf has a litter, they choose a number of boys from the villages to join them and eventually bond with the new pups.
This happens to the main character of the book, Njall. Njall is the oldest son of a jarl and destined to follow in his father’s footsteps and lead the villages. Until the wolfcarls knock on their door. Njall is fascinated by the wolf accompanying the wolfcarl and decides to join them. This is only the start of his new life in which he does not only find new friends and bonds with a wolf of his own, but in which he also learns that life is not as black and white as he grew up believing. Things are not always what they seem.

I love the fact that it uses Norse mythology, history and culture as a base, I’ve always been a mythology/history nut so… 😀 I also love the fact that they obviously researched their stuff. The names, culture, behaviour (of men and wolves)… The attention given to the trolls and elves to make them both fit the mythology/culture and keep them different from those generic fantasy trolls and elves… It all created such an interwoven whole that sucked me right in and kept me there. Like Dust, ACtW made its way onto my favourites list and I can hardly wait for the sequel. Too bad that still needs to be written, although the fact that the first two lines have been done is hopeful 😀

2009 (so far)
01. Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear – A Companion to Wolves