Marvellous Hairy by Mark A. Rayner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I feel so badly. I have loved Mark A. Rayner’s other books but this one just didn’t grab me. I can’t tell you how often I nearly put it aside. I am glad I finished it. The characters did grow on me after more than halfway into the book. Look, maybe it was just me. I kept thinking that this is a guy’s book. So if you are a guy, maybe you will like this and find the farting around to be great fun.
The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If it weren’t for Audible I wouldn’t have been able to read this book. The font is so small that I can’t stay with it for long. Having the story narrated to me helped. When I didn’t understand a passage I could check it out in the book for understanding.
I love this series. I read them all a long time ago. It is so fun to get back into Pern and enjoy the dragons and fire lizards. Anne McCaffrey wrote so beautifully. I loved her vocabulary and the extent that she researched the sciences of these books. Her characters are well developed and fallible. In this part of the series the traditions of a male dominated system are challenged. The dragons make those changes happen. A new more equality-base system is about to emerge. I look forward to more in the series.
The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wish I would have written this review when I finished reading/listening this book. I have already started another in the Pern series (Dragonsdawn/Dragonriders’s Dawn).
Okay, let’s see. I remember loving The White Dragon more than the others the first time I read it. Maybe that was because I read it after the Menolly stories last time around. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums. As a music major at the time I was thrilled by the music of Pern. But White Dragon was more mature with a wider vocabulary. It also helped titrated me up to the rest of the books of Pern. This time I was more interested in the trials of the way Pern, herself, demands that traditions be challenged.
The name Ruth, in my life, has been a female name, so it still throws me that the white dragon is Ruth. He named himself. Who would argue with a dragon? Still, I loved the book. Can’t say if it is my favorite this round. We’ll see!
This time I am listening to the Audible versions while reading the paper book (hard back). I love Dick Hall’s voice, especially when he does his rendition of Masterharper Robinton. He keeps the characters individualized. And the voices for the females are not silly. It is a pleasure to listen to his voice.
Oh, the book form for this was Dragonriders of Pern which had the three books: Dragonflight, Dragonquest and The White Dragon.
The Pickup Pros by Maria-Foteini Alevizou
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a cute little comic book by a young physicist that seems to have had experience in the field she is writing. 😉 Though I didn’t find myself rolling on the floor in laughter I can remember what it was like as a young woman. I think this might be even more fun in paper form, but on Kindle Fire or the Tablet it is visually entertaining. Try it, you might like it.
Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a continuation of The Dragonriders of Pern. I didn’t have the money for the Kindle version so I managed to listen to this Audible version while attempting to decypher the book with its tiny font. Because of the narrator’s wonderful voice and character depictions I was able to keep track of where I was in the story even when my eyes refused to read any more.
I loved this book the first time I read it nearly two decades ago and found it equally exciting this time. Other books in this series are about the dragons and their riders and the fight against thread. This books challenged us to look at traditions and even break them to see if there might be a better way to do things. New sciences were discovered or recovered in this book. These kept me involved wondering if our own descendants may run into similar discoveries should we let go of our tightly held concepts. Who know, maybe gravity will cease to be so grave!
Anyway, I am lucky to have the next of the Dragonrider books in Audible form and have already cheated ahead. I remember White Dragon as one of my favorites, so I’m getting back to my ‘reading’ um, listening. 😉
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I can’t believe I am finally finished with my second reading of A Song of Ice and Fire! As I have stated in my occasional GoodReads status updates, for the most of these books I have followed the recommended merged reading order for second readings recommended by All Leather Must Be Boiled.
They, also, have a recommended way to read it all the first time. Resources like Boiled Leather, and conversations with my offspring, along with the television series, helped me see this whole story in a much clearer way. I suggest this series is best in situations like reading groups. The depth of characters and plot are enhanced by all these inclusions in my life.
I am glad I read it all again. Now if only the television series will catch up! Oh, and hanging on the cliff waiting for the next book to come out–Grrr! I hate waiting! For this, and for the boredom that often occurred with many of the characters and plot twists, I still haven’t grasped, brings only 4 stars for this book and the whole series. In the next book I hope there are strong females who have learned lessons and are ready to take over the world. That will raise the rating to 5 stars!
Placencia by C.A. Clemmings
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Disclaimer: I was given this story free for an honest review. Thank you, C.A. Clemmings.
First what I loved: I loved feeling I was on the beach in the Caribbean. I felt I was on a grand vacation. I loved the main character and the people she meets.
Okay, second, what I didn’t like. That it is a short story. Ergh! Next to cliffhangers in my list of dislikes (hates?). I barely get to know the characters and have hints as to what makes them tick and the story is over. What happens next? Will this relationship end? will another begin? Can we live in Placencia, please, please, please? And make sure you have your white bathing suit!
This was fun as long as it lasted. 🙂
Made to Forget… by Samantha LaFantasie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Disclaimer: I was given this book, free for honest review, from the author.
I want to give this book 3 1/2 stars. Though it had a good story and fairly good editing, it took me a while to get into it. I couldn’t decide if I liked the main character, Elsabetha Ellery, or if in fact she could have as much spunk as she had for the condition she was in. Female MC’s do best, in my opinion, if they have spunk. Later, when she feels better, her personality rocks!
It had been a while since I read the blurb about the book. So imagine my surprise when I realized I was reading a sci-fi! No longer was it just a book about amnesia which might be interesting enough, there was much more involved here. This surprise alone would’ve gotten the book 5 stars.
The problem I had with this book was the ending. I finally like the character. I finally like the plot. I like what was going on and I’m scared to death –and – there’s the cliff. I hate cliffhangers! If it wasn’t for the author giving me the book and she was so nice… I would’ve given the book 2 stars. Good editing and plot and character can’t rescue the bad feeling I feel when I’m left hanging like that.
All that aside, I’m hoping there’s a book two. I do want to know what happens next in the story.
Thank you, Samantha LaFantasie, for letting me read your book.
2k to 10k: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
What a quick easy book to read! I came away with a lot of little nuggets that will be quite handy as of midnight tomorrow night. I have been sitting on an idea I started on during Camp NaNo. I managed about 19K but a whole lot of the story has resided in my head. Ms. Aaron’s book helped me feel there is hope for this little book. So, NaNoWriMo here I come, ready or not!
I am not sure that even with my Dragon Naturally Speaking I will be able to get that kind of word count the title implies but I will say that prep work before starting a book and daily prep work will help me get a better, faster, tighter story.
Now, on to editing. I had hoped for more. The author uses her own books to demonstrate what works and how to edit, but if you have never read her books it leaves one flat. Actually, that can be said of the writing faster part of the book, too. I would have loved to have a clickable link to charts or spreadsheets to aid the readers and other, commonly read novels as examples.
Still in all, it is worth the read.
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 100 books for the 2013 Reading Challenge! 115 of 100 (115%)
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 225 books for the 2012 Reading Challenge! 225 of 225 (100%)
Congrats! You have completed your goal of reading 200 books for the 2011 Reading Challenge! 204 of 200 (102%)
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