Book Review - Deadline

Deadline by Mira Grant


My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I love this series. I really, really love this series. I think I actually loved Deadline more than Feed, which surprised me, because I was pretty angry at the ending of Feed and determined to be hateful toward the author and upset through all of Deadline.

Except I wasn't. I loved the writing. I loved the action. I most especially loved the characters, which drive this series and make you hurt for them, cheer for them, and most of all, feel a kinship with them.

Read this series. Really.

I'm afraid that I'm going to be utterly miserable until I can get my hands on Blackout, the next book in the Newsflesh series, coming out in May. Or maybe just until I find a new reading obsession. We'll see.





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Book Review - Feed

Feed by Mira Grant


My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I'm kinda fascinated by the zombie genre in general, but this particular series is a little different from most. Instead of focusing on the zombie apocolypse, this book begins twenty five plus years after it occured. Life has pretty much gone back to normal. Except, of course, for the virus that everyone carries around dormant in their cells, and which turns them into the walking dead once they bite it. Or once something bites them, as the case may be.

George and her brother Shaun are bloggers, part of a new breed of journalists that sprang up in the aftermath of the zombie wars, when people lost their trust in traditional media outlets after they were slow to tell people the truth of the situation they were in. They have been selected to follow a candidate on his campaign trail as he makes a bid for president. And along the way, they fight big badass zombies, freaky political terrorists, and occasional random bad guys.

It's action packed. It's fun as hell. It's a great read.





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Book Review - Thriller 2

Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down by Clive Cussler


My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Fun mix of espionage/spy/asassin stories, not for the faint of heart, but for those who like a little suspense. Some fabulous authors are highlighted in this short story collection, which includes great story notes by Clive Cussler that enhance the reading experience greatly.





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Book Review - The Giver

The Giver by Lois Lowry


My rating: 5 of 5 stars



In this novel of a dystopian future where "sameness" is the norm and politeness and normalcy is the status quo, we meet a young man chosen to receive the memories of all people. It will be painful, he is warned, and he will have to be brave. With the collective consciousness purged of any knowledge of famine, war, prejudice, pain, and fear it is important for one person to be wise enough to advise the governing council on their decisions, for only the receiver of memory has any idea what the repurcussions might be.

With the agony of knowledge also comes joy, however, and the discovery of emotion, pleasure, color, and a desire to be different and make one's own decisions. Is it better to be safe from the possibility of hurt, or is it better to hurt because by it you learn happiness, pleasure, and the texture that life may have?

By immersing you in a world of peace and a culture of safety and harmony, the author makes the question one that is difficult to answer. While it is a YA novel, the themes and writing style are fantastic, with depth and power and a poetic style that made the book impossible to put down.

All I can say is, why did no one direct me to READ this until now? A huge "thank you" goes to my friend Jill, who suggested it to me, and a huge "Go read this now!" to the rest of you.





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It's a new year, after all

My "year of reading dangerously" ended on a high note this past weekend when I checked in with my last couple of books. Finishing on time took some work, and some serious dedication to reading the last couple of days. 111 books in a year is a lot. Seriously.  There were points in the last year that I wondered what I was thinking, but I'm glad that I took on the challenge and pulled it off.  I learned so much, about everything from raising dogs to polygamy to the latest trends in YA fiction.

And next year, I'm not doing nearly so much.  I've resolved to make it through 60 books in the next year, five per month.  That seems more than do-able, but since I have some major changes and challeges coming up in this next year, it may be just as tough as the 111 I took in in 2011!

So, what am I taking on that is going to be so demanding?  The biggest challenge of all is one I'm not talking about just yet, so you'll have to stay tuned for details as they come, but suffice to say that it will be life-changing and wonderful.

I'm also trying to get back into a routine of writing fiction regularly again.  It's hard, when you're paid to write silly little articles, to take your other writing seriously.  Especially when you're not getting paid for it (yet, anyway).  So perhaps instead of a year of reading dangerously, I'll have a year of writing dangerously.

I think that making resolutions is setting yourself up to fail though.  There's just too much pressure to change with the flip of a switch.  When you're ready to make a decision, as someone pointed out on Facebook today, you should change then.  Other things I have read discuss how it takes thirty days to have a new behaviour become a habit, so expecting instant success because the calendar has changed is counter to reality.  We'll see what happens.