So Many Books, So Little Time

From Goodreads:  With A Feast for Crows , Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth volume of the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and stands as a modern masterpiece in the making. After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors. My Thoughts:  Holy cow! There were some major...

From Goodreads:  Here is the third volume in George R.R. Martin's magnificent cycle of novels that includes A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings . Together, this series comprises a genuine masterpiece of modern fantasy, destined to stand as one of the great achievements of imaginative fiction. Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of the sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. And as opposing forces maneuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, ...

From Goodreads:  If you had the chance to change the course of history, would you? Would the consequences be what you hoped? Jake Epping 35 teaches high school English in Lisbon Falls, Maine, and cries reading the brain-damaged janitor's story of childhood Halloween massacre by their drunken father. On his deathbed, pal Al divulges a secret portal to 1958 in his diner back pantry, and enlists Jake to prevent the 11/22/1963 Dallas assassination of American President John F. Kennedy. Under the alias George Amberson, our hero joins the cigarette-hazed full-flavored world of Elvis rock n roll, Negro discrimination, and freeway gas guzzlers without seat belts. Will Jake lurk in impoverished immigrant slums beside troubled loner Lee Harvey Oswald, or share small-town friendliness with beautiful high school librarian Sadie Dunhill, the love of his life? My Thoughts:  I can't believe I waited sooo long to read this!  I honestly think I was a little intimidated by how big it ...

From Goodreads:  ...A Clash of Kings transports us into a magnificent, forgotten land of revelry and revenge, wizardry and wartime. It is a tale in which maidens cavort with madmen, brother plots against brother, and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy; a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress; and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, the price of glory may be measured in blood. And the spoils of victory may just go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel...and the coldest hearts. For when rulers clash, all of the land feels the tremors. Audacious, inventive, brilliantly imagined, A Clash of Kings is a novel of dazzling beauty and boundless enchantment—a tale of pure excitement you will never forget. My Thoughts:  I finished A Game of Thrones over the summer and finally picked u...

Thoughts on previous sections:  Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3    I did it!! I actually finished Les Miserables!  Honestly, I am so glad I stuck with it.  Overall, this was a beautifully written story.  I struggled with some of the political and historical aspects but it was worth it to push through those parts.  I think it really helped that I broke the book into chunks.  If I had tried to read it all at once, I probably would have given up. I've decided that Jean Valjean is one of my new favorite literary characters.  Despite the fact that the was an escaped criminal, through his actions over the years he completely redeemed himself.  I also think Javert was a pretty interesting character.  Every thing was black or white to him; there was never any gray and I think that is what led to his downfall.  I really hated him in the beginning but as the story went on, I started to understand h...

Another 300 pages down!  I am now 3/4 of the way done with Les Miserables  and I must say that the last 300 pages were the best so far.  I loved that most of this section dealt with the characters and less of the historical events going on around them.  Cosette and Marius really come to the front of the story and there is a ton of excitment when Jean Valjean and Thenardier meet again.  I felt like I spent a lot of time on edge; there is always this fear that Javert is going to catch up with Jean Valjean and it is as though I'm holding my breath as I continue reading.  I have to say that before I started this section, I wasn't loving the book but now I have changed my mind.  It is such a deep, well-written story with so many characters that all have intertwining stories.  It's confusing at times but still an excellent story.  I can't wait to see how it will all wrap up! 

  Ugh.  I must say that I didn't enjoy the second part of Les Miserables as much as I did the first.  I read from pg 300-600 this month and it just was kind of painful.  There were like 20 pages that gave the history of a fictional convent.  It took a LONG time to get through this section because it was pretty boring at times.  The first 150 pages were pretty good.  I got to see more about Jean Valjean and Cosette and these sections were very interesting and kept me wanting more.  However, the story left these two characters and introduced Marius Pontmercy.  I am not sure what role he is going to play as the story continues but I didn' t like him much.  He seemed like the typical spoiled rich boy who wants to rebel against his strict upbringing.  I am hoping I will eventually like him but right now he is kind of a brat. I mentioned it in my last post but this book reminds me of War and Peace a lot....

From Goodreads:  Told in Kvothe's own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature. A high-action story written with a poet's hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard. My Thoughts:  I have heard nothing but good things about this book so I had some really high hopes.  However, for me, it did not live up to the hype.  I kept waiting for something to happen that would make me fall in love with the story and/or Kvothe and it just never happened.  I liked the story and most of the characters...

Because Les Miserables is so long, I have decided to read and write about it in chunks.  So far, I have read through page 300 and I am enjoying it.  Most of what I have read so far has been about Fantine and Jean Valjean and I have to say that I really like Jean Valjean as a character.  He was not a very nice person at first but as the story progessed, he completely redeemed himself. I don't know much about Victor Hugo but it seems to me as though this book is a social commentary.  Hugo includes his opinions on poverty, the legal system and society in general.  He talks a lot about how poverty affects people and the lengths they will go to in order to stay alive and feed their families.  He also discusses the injustice of the legal system and condemns the harsh punishments inflicted on the poor by the legal system.  He definitely has some strong opinions regarding the society at that time and I am eager to see what he else he has to say....

From Goodreads:   This book tells the tale of a twelfth-century monk driven to do the seemingly impossible: build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known. Everything readers expect from Follett is here: intrigue, fast-paced action, and passionate romance. But what makes The Pillars of the Earth extraordinary is the time—the twelfth century; the place—feudal England; and the subject—the building of a glorious cathedral. Follett has re-created the crude, flamboyant England of the Middle Ages in every detail. The vast forests, the walled towns, the castles, and the monasteries become a familiar landscape. Against this richly imagined and intricately interwoven backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the rhythms of daily life, the master storyteller draws the reader irresistibly into the intertwined lives of his characters—into their dreams, their labors, and their loves: Tom, the master builder; Aliena, the ravishingly beautiful noblewoman; Philip, the...

From Goodreads:  A.D. 1135. As church bells tolled for the death of England's King Henry I, his barons faced the unwelcome prospect of being ruled by a woman: Henry's beautiful daughter Maude, Countess of Anjou. But before Maude could claim her throne, her cousin Stephen seized it. In their long and bitter struggle, all of England bled and burned. Sharon Kay Penman's magnificent fifth novel summons to life a spectacular medieval tragedy whose unfolding breaks the heart even as it prepares the way for splendors to come—the glorious age of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Plantagenets that would soon illumine the world. My Thoughts:  This book was so LONG.  I normally don't mind big books but this one felt really long.  It took me a week to finish and I was pretty happy when I was done with it.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad book at all.  It was incredibly well-researched and well-written and had a lot of potential.  The thing that bothered me is ...

From Goodreads:   Sometimes scholars should be more careful: Youthful researcher Diana Bishop briefly consults an medieval alchemical manuscript; then, after jotting down a few notes, sends it back to its prison in the stacks. Unfortunately for Diana, her quick dabbling has unleashed a long suppressed curse—and now only she can break the spell. Carefully researched, this debut novel will appeal to fans of historical novel infused with strong paranormal elements. My Thoughts:  This was a LONG book but it was so good.   I feel like I haven’t read a really good book in a while and this one definitely broke my not so good book streak.   I loved the mix of paranormal with history.   It makes me wish I knew someone, like Matthew, who had lived through so many historical events and personally knew a bunch of famous historical figures.   I am also glad the author made sure that the paranormal aspects didn’t get ridiculous.   The characters were believa...

From Goodreads:  A promise made twenty-eight years ago calls seven adults to reunite in Derry, Maine, where as teenagers they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children. Unsure that their Losers Club had vanquished the creature all those years ago, the seven had vowed to return to Derry if IT should ever reappear. Now, children are being murdered again and their repressed memories of that summer return as they prepare to do battle with the monster lurking in Derry's sewers once more. My Take:  I just have to say that Stephen King creates the best characters.  The seven children he wrote for this book were amazing; I felt like I knew each one of them personally.  They were each so unique with their own individual problems but still felt strong enough to try to combat the evil that took over their city.  I must say that I was surprised at how not scared I was by this book.  The story was definitely creepy and Pennywise/Bob Gray was one...