House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones

Title: House of Many Ways

Author: Diana Wynne Jones

Series: Howl's Castle

Date Read: January 12^th

On TBR for: 83 days

Format: Physical book

Source: Bought

Challenges: 2012 Outdo Yourself, Off the Shelf 2012, What's in a Name 5



In the last of the Howl's Castle series of books, we start with Charmain, a bookish 14 year old, who gets volunteered by her great-aunt to take care of her distant great-uncle William's house. Well, magical house. Charmain is a respectable young lady (read: sheltered and spoiled) and, as such, she doesn't know how to do much besides reading a lot, and eating a lot of pasties. That includes washing clothes and dishes, and goes as far as making tea.

Luckily for her, the house is indeed magical, and does provide for her meals, and she has always her Uncle's recorded instructions, that help her navigate around the house and help solve some mishaps. Did I mention it is a magical house? Well, it is. From the outside it looks small, but turn left instead of right at a doorway, and you'll find yourself in a completely different room, or building.

To add to the joy, in comes Peter, great-uncle William's new apprentice that he didn't know about, and who doesn't know his master isn't home. Peter, unlike Charmain, does know how to do things around the house, which should have come as a relief, if he didn't botch every magic attempt. And there were a lot of attempts.

And, as one job isn't good enough for bookwork Charmain, she writes to the King to tell him she would like to help him and his daughter organize the Royal Library. I do understand the girl, of course, a library is such a wonderful place to work when you love books.

But there is something missing here, isn't it? Of course, it would fit the series if Howl and Co. weren't there. And they are. Sophie is helping the King with his financial and magical problems, and Morgan and Calcifer come along, of course. And Howl, because he couldn't bear to be left behind. So he appears in his most adorable form ever (I'm not telling what it is, though it's easy to see when reading the book).

And so, Charmain has some adventures with magic, kobolds and lubbocks, manages not to destroy a house or kill her housemate, while getting herself a puppy.

Did I like this book? Hell, yeah! It was a rollercoaster of fun, but that was to be expected. It's Diana Wynne Jones, after all. But I did like it more than Castle in the Air, probably because of Howl. But Charmain was also a reason – incompetent as she was in household tasks, she is a bookworm, so I can find no fault in her (well, I am able to overlook most faults). I loved reading her adventures and misadventures, and if there was a lot of fun on the Castle scenes with the regular cast, her interactions with Peter were really great.

Had there been more books to this series, I would have read them. As it is, I will treasure these three forever.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Other Reviews: Cuidado com o Dálmata

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Wook

Challenges, Challenges, Part 3

Yes, one more challenge, but this one seemed too good to pass.

Fairy Tales Retold Challenge
Hosted by Debz Bookshelf



Basics
It goes from January 1st 2012 to December 31st 2012
To sign up, go here
You can sign up any time from now until June-ish
I would love you forever if you would follow me, and if you're interested in fairy tales, then you'd probably find my blog interesting anyway!

What Counts
Any retelling at all, or original fairy tales. When I say original fairy tales, I mean books that include many elements of many fairy tales, but aren't actually based on any fairy tales. Some examples are The Princess Bride by William Goldman or Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (BEST BOOK EVER!) Basically a book that should have a fairy tale based on it, but it's too late for it to be the other way around.
here

I'm going for level: Witch: 9 books


On a related note, I'm also doing a book bingo with some friends, you can see my progress here.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Date Read: From December 14^th to December 16^th, 2011

On TBR for: 351 days

Format: Physical Book

Source: Gift - Christmas gift





The world of Uglies is our own, but after we damaged our planet and ourselves almost to the point of no return, society gets restarted in a place where everything is self-sufficient and no one is discriminated based on their physical appearance because, ta-dahh, everyone is pretty. Well, not everyone, everyone over the age of 16, because before that they are not old enough to go under the knife. So, these young teenagers who have yet to discover the wonders of cosmetic surgery are called Uglies. Because it's what they are – Ugly.

Tally is one of those, months away from getting her operation, and she can't hardly wait to join the rest of her friends in the parties and being simply amazing. She is the last of her mates to turn 16, so she feels really alone in Uglyville, so much that she decides to go sneak up to New Pretty Town, to check on her BFF, Peris, who has been there for so long and hasn't bothered to write. Or call.

Things do not go exactly as planned, Tally is trespassing after all, but she satisfies her need to see her friend, who makes her promise not to get into more trouble before she gets the operation, and she meets someone else doing the same as her, Shay, who becomes her new best friend.

They do stuff together all the time, enjoying their time left in Uglyville to play all the pranks they want, Shay even teaches Tally to hoverboard (yes, hooerboard, think Marty McFly and Back to the Future). But when the big day looms close (and it's the big day for both of them, they share a birthday), Shay tells Tally she doesn't want to pretty (*gasp* The Horror!), instead she is going to runaway and join a group of rebels who also don't want to be pretty, known as Smokies (they live in The Smoke). Shay would have liked to have Tally runaway with her, but Tally is not having that. She wants to be pretty. But since she is in such good terms with Shay, she promises to think about it, and Shay leaves her a coded message on how to get to The Smoke.

Tally would never use that, of course, if The Powers That Be hadn't noticed Shay's leaving and Shay's new best friend. As it was, they made her an Ultimatum, she either had to help them catch the Smokies (breaking a promise to Shay of not telling her secret) or she would be ugly forever. Poor Tally thinks, and thinks, and decides to help TPTB somewhat – she'll go to Smoke, see what it's all about, and then she'll decide whether to betray her friend's trust or not.

And so, with hoverboard in hand, a pack full of concentrated Spaghetti Bolognese, Tally hovers away to get to The Smoke, not without perils, since this girl almost got roasted alive (this section remind me of The Hunger Games).

And let me stop here before I summarize the entire book. (There aren't many spoilers, though, most of this is on the back cover, only much more concentrated summarized)

Anyway... It took sometime to have the courage to pick this book up. Why? Well, to me beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, and my eyes are sometimes different from other eyes. So, this world where everyone was pretty, it wasn't gathering points with me. But I started the book, and I understood the concept of beauty used here – mainstream beauty, evening out differences, going for the big eyes, pouting mouth look of innocence, that ensured that there was a biological/psychological need to protect and love that person. I would be utterly miserable in that world, of course, but I can understand the reasons why it worked. As I continued reading I could also see how this world could be seen as school metaphor – the younger Uglies earning to enter that cool place that is New Pretty Town (*ahem, cof, High School, cof*).

Tally, with her eagerness to also be pretty, never really impressed me. She was fun, but had the book been about someone else, it would have been the same for me – I was reading for the world and the society, not the characters. In fact, I will continue reading the series for those reasons, even if there was some growth, at least where Tally is concerned. There was also a bit of romance in there, which, unsurprisingly, didn't impress me either.

This book's strengths are both the worldbuilding, and the action. There is plenty of action going on, from Tally and Shay's pranks, to the lone trip of Tally through the wasteland that our world has become, to the events on Smoke, rescue missions, hiding and going undercover. Lots of stuff that kept the pages flying by.

It did end on a cliffhanger (one has to ensure that readers will pick up the next book, right?), and as such I want to know what happens next. I also want to learn more about the world.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Other Reviews: A Journey of Books | Book Chick City | Este Meu Cantinho | The Non Reluctant Reader

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Wook | Wook

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Title: Entwined

Author: Heather Dixon

Date Read: January 3^rd

On TBR for: 2 days

Format: ebook

Source: Bought

Challenges?: 2012 Outdo Yourself, Off the Shelf 2012, Fairy Tales Retold





Entwined is a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses Fairytale. We start with Azalea preparing for a ball – her first one! – and dreading having to dance with the King, who is a very stiff dancer. But her mother is ill and someone has to take her place, and being the oldest of 11, the job falls to her.

But the ball never goes as planned – first the King never appears, then it ends prematurely. There are bad news, the eleven princesses become motherless. But they gain a little sister. The house enters in mourning, meaning that all their dresses are dyed black, the windows are draped in black, they cannot go out except on Royal Business, and *gasp* they cannot dance. And if there is something that these sisters like doing, it is dancing.

But this is a world with magic, and with magic they find a perfect place to dance – a silver forest with a magical pavilion, with music aplenty, and a guardian – Keeper, who is trapped there and wants their help to escape.

What first stands out on this book are the sheer number of characters – of course there would be many, it's the 12 Dancing Princesses, after all, but all of them get to be rather different from the others. And I really liked that they were so neatly named – bless the King with his organization and rules complex! – it was easier to set them apart this way. And what is this revolutionary technique? Well, they are named in alphabetical order: Azalea, Bramble, Clover, Delphinium, Eve, Flora and Goldenrod, Hollyhock, Ivy, Jessamine, Kale and Lily! The older ones got more action, of course, and more screen time. But the young ones were adorable as well!

As for the story, it was sweet, not without its sadness and perils. But in the end, the feeling I have of this book is that it was sweet. I really liked the King and his part on the story, and was glad that the fact that he was mourning his wife was not forgotten. He was stiff, and it was understandable that the girls felt unloved, but all the time I couldn't hate him for it. And the more the story progressed, the more I liked him as a character – he did love his daughters, although I think he didn't really know what to do with so many of them and that he was overwhelmed by their energy and liveliness.

Keeper's part of the story did make my brain churn since he first appeared – there was something in him that put me on guard (unlike, for instance, Fairweller, who is despised by Azalea and Co., and who I did like him from the start). But Keeper's mystery soon became rather obvious, although I wasn't sure how it was going to play out. In the end it worked out fine (better than I had hoped) although it was a bit a cheating there to get to the happy ending – but I'm glad it ended that way.

I also liked the writing on this one – there was a hint of humour throughout it that I enjoyed, from arguments with magic sugar teeth, to sisterly gossiping and teasing. I loved the interactions between characters, especially between sisters. There were, however, parts where I felt a bit lost about the surroundings and about who was holding the little ones, especially Lily, who kept changing hands between sisters.

To sum it up, Entwined is a really sweet book, with very good characters. Well worth reading.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Other Reviews: Bewitched Bookworms | Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing | Confessions of a Book Addict | Cuidado com o Dálmata | Curling up by the Fire | Good Books & Good Wine | The Nerd's Wife

Similar Readings: Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier [LT|GR]

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US

December Ins and Outs

Last Ins and Outs of 2011 and so little books reviews on December. The Shame! (Even more shameful - there are still some November reviews pending)

Surprisingly, there are not that many books acquired - it's not that Santa wasn't nice, he just got a little late and the books are still somewhere between the North Pole and Portugal (I hope. It would be the first time to have a book come via Australia.).
On the reading side things were good - lots of books read, even if not all of them good!

INS
Bought - physical bookCatch-22 by Joseph Heller
It arrived a little later than expected - after all it was bought on the same day as Slaughterhouse 5 (received in November)

Bought - ebook
Entwined by Heather Dixon
My first actually bought ebook! And only because it was at a fantastic price ($0.99) and Jen said it was good!

Swap sites
*Bookmooch*
The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Freebies
*For Review - LibraryThing Member Giveaway*
Bedtime Stories for Cats by Amy Neftzger


*For Review - LibraryThing EarlyReviewers*
Enchantment by Pati Nagle

*Gifts*

The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth by Tim Flannery
Christmas gift from my uncle

Mistwood by Leah Cypess
My Secret Santa's gift, who turned out to be, unsurprisingly, Jen. Thanks!

These were not the only books I received for Christmas. There are 6 more that I received. Kind-of. They are still in the mail - you'll see them in January. I hope.

OUTS

Physical books
The bloody chamber: and other stories Angela Carter
The Bloody Chamber is listed as a must have in dark fairytale retellings, and as such I had high expectations for it. It turned out not to be as good as I hoped – there was a repetition of themes, the writing managed, quite at the same time, entrance me and annoy me and there was just something missing in some of the stories. Also I started this book by reading the introduction which, although quite good as an analysis of the book, completely ruins the experience of someone reading the stories for the first time.

Rating: 3 out of 5


Carta del fin del mundo by José Manuel Fajardo [Letter from the End of the World]
A book that I wanted to read for a long, long time. This book is a letter from a sailor to his brother, from the New World, about his troubles and fears, about being in a strange land with strange people. It was rather nice, and I really like Fajardo's writing.

Rating: 4 out of 5



Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
This was on the shelf for quite some time (almost a year!). A Dystopia where everyone turns pretty at when they turn 16 - they have an operation which evens out their features. Tally can't wait to turn pretty and join her friends, but when she is denied her operation because of a new friend who ran away, she goes in search for her, torn between breaking a promise or being ugly for the rest of her life. It was a nice read, there was plenty of action, and it left me wanting to know more about this world.

Rating: 4 out of 5


The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror by Christopher Moore
A joint reading with Jen, but it wasn't the best of books. Not very Christmas-y, except that it takes place during Christmas. A bit of non-sense humour, but it was rather poorly done. And I just thought that the zombies were unnecessary. And the epilogue as well.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5



Temeraire by Naomi Novik
I had been eyeing this one for ages, and still didn't pick it up. Even if there are dragons. That was strange. But I finally read it! It is a good book, think Eragon meets Master and Commander. The dragons were really fun, but I found the main character a bit too stiff (it does provide some amusing moments, too). I found the language also a bit stiff, but I think that was the translation only. I'll continue this series (but in English).

Rating: 4 out of 5


The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martínez
I have seen the movie based on this book, but I didn't remember who-had-dunnit when I started. Eventually I remembered. But it was an okay read, I liked the parts that had to do with mathematics. Not mindblowing, but still nice for a fast a read.

Rating: 3 out of 5




The Field Guide by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
This feels much like an introduction to the series. The Grace kids move into an old house, and discover it has been inhabited by something else. Very fast read (1 day!), and the illustrations are simply lovely.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5






Ebooks
*For Review*

The Trees by Todd Brabander - Review
Bedtime Stories for Cats by Amy Neftzger - Review
Enchantment by Pati Nagle - Review



TBR Variation: -2 (From 203 to 201) Yey!

The Broken Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin

Title: The Broken Kingdoms

Author: N. K. Jemisin

Date Read: From November 26 to November 30, 2011

On TBR for: 19 days

Format: Physical book

Source: Bought - New








Back to the world of Sky, roughly ten years after the end of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms is the story of Oree, a blind artist who lives in the city below the palace-Sky, now turned into palace/tree. She sells knick-knacks and souvenirs to the pilgrims that go to worship the new godlings (and even the old god Itempas). And she paints, but that's just for her.

One day she finds someone in a pile of muck, and like the good person she is, she takes him home and treats him. She even gives him a name: Shiny. Why does she give him a name? One, because he never talks (he can talk, he just chooses not to - this isn't a story about the blind and the mute), and two, because he shines (but only in the morning).

And let me backtrack a bit here, because you surely recall that I told you Oree is blind. She IS blind, but she can see magic, its glow allows her to see parts of the world. It does help her a lot, especially because Sky is so infused with it. And it allows her to become really chummy with all kinds of godlings. So she knows, more or less, what she has in her hands with Shiny. And still adventure ensues.

There is part that is a continuation of the plots of the previous book, but The Broken Kingdoms is a book on its own. I found myself hating characters I once loved, and loving characters I once hated, just because there was a shift in perspective. And I loved that it happened.

Oree as a character captivated me like Yeine never did. She is spunky and feisty, and more importantly, gets things done. The big problem with this book is, having read the first one, the mystery of Shiny is no mystery at all (except for Oree, of course). But I did like to see his character unfold, and was surprised by how much I ended up liking him.

And that surprise is not exclusive to Shiny. I was surprised how much I ended up liking this book, considering that the first one didn't blow me off my feet. I really liked the ending, and I am now ready for the next/last one in the series, The Kingdom of Gods.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Other Reviews: Cuidado com o Dálmata | Fantasy Café | Libri Touches | The Broke and the Bookish

This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | BookDepository UK | Book Depository US | Amazon UK| Amazon US| Wook

Challenges, Challenges, part 2

Just another one, because it sounded fun. Most categories are somewhat easy, but I'm having some trouble finding something in my TBR pile with a creepy crawly in the title. Maybe I'll have to (finally) get a copy of Lord of the Flies...

What's in a Name 5
hosted by Beth Fish Reads



Here's How It Works

Between January 1 and December 31, 2012, read one book in each of the following categories:

1. A book with a topographical feature (land formation) in the title: Black Hills, Purgatory Ridge, Emily of Deep Valley
2. A book with something you'd see in the sky in the title: Moon Called, Seeing Stars, Cloud Atlas
3. A book with a creepy crawly in the title: Little Bee, Spider Bones, The Witches of Worm
4. A book with a type of house in the title: The Glass Castle, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Ape House
5. A book with something you'd carry in your pocket, purse, or backpack in the title: Sarah's Key, The Scarlet Letter, Devlin Diary
6. A book with a something you'd find on a calendar in the title: Day of the Jackal, Elegy for April, Freaky Friday, Year of Magical Thinking

The book titles are just suggestions, you can read whatever book you want to fit the category.

Other Things to Know

• Books may be any form (audio, print, e-book).
• Books may overlap other challenges.
• Books may not overlap categories; you need a different book for each category.
• Creativity for matching the categories is not only allowed but encouraged.
• You do not have to make a list of books before hand.
• You do not have to read through the categories in any particular order.

2011 Ins and Outs - The Stats

Another year comes to an end, another year in reading (and reviewing, although there has been very little of that this past month). After spending this week looking back, making these lists of things I liked, and things I want for the next year, it's only right that I make a summary of my reading, isn't it? (Even if it isn't, I'll do it anyway.)

So, here they are, the Ins and Outs of 2011 (that come before the December ones, I'm afraid).


INS
Total books acquired: 111

Breakdown by source
Bought (65)
New: 41
In a Bookfair: 18
Used: 5
Ebook: 1

Swapsites (32)
Bookmooch: 28
WinkingBooks: 4

Freebies (14)
Gifts: 7
Won on a giveaway: 1
For Review - physical book: 2
For Review - ebook: 4

Not included: Kindle freebies


OUTS
Total books read: 86!

Out of these 86, 9 were review copies. 70 books were actual, paper and ink and cover, books. 16 were ebooks. (I did juggle 2 books between book, ebook and audiobook) 17 were graphic novels or mangas (and 3 of those were digital galleys). 2 were short stories.

Languages: I read 70 books in English, 11 in Portuguese and 5 in Spanish.

Ratings:
I liked most of the books I've read this year: 57 received a rating of 4 stars or more. But there were some that didn't impressed me: 6 books received a rating of 2 stars or less. The average rating was 3.81.

Length:
Now, with ebooks this won't be accurate - I took the value of a paperback edition of the same book in the cases there was one, but some of the books pages were calculated based on the number of pages on pdf, or Adobe digital editions, or using the simple rule of number of pages on my cellphone divided by 4.

Longest book: A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin with 835 pages
Average length: 286 pages
Total number of pages: 24611 pages
16 books were 500 pages or longer
45 books had 250 pages or less

Time to read:
Average time it takes to read one book: 9 days - but reading multiple books at the same time.
A book was finished, on average, every 4.2 days (this is completely bogus - some days I read more than one books, especially if was it mangas, some months I finished only one book.)
Average number of pages read each day: 68

TBR CHANGES
Start value: 170 books
End value: 201 books

I have 31 more books in my TBR list than at the end of last year. SHAME! I'll be working on clearing it on 2012.
Taking into account my rate of reading of the last 2 and a half years, and if I read nothing but books on my TBR, and add nothing to it, I should clear it on July of 2014. See you then!




Oh, wait, there is more!

Next year I will be doing some Challenges - trying to read more, and just clear the TBR list mount. And an unofficial challenge will be also to cut down a bit on the getting more books side (I foresee that I'll fail this one). Maybe keep things on a 1:1 ratio?

I still have lots of books to review (from November and December), but those also will come next year.

Until then, I hope you have a lot fun on New Year's Eve, and make the best out of 2012 (unless the world ends on the first day)!

Enchantment by Pati Nagle

I received this book in ebook format from the Author, through LibraryThing Early Reviewers

Enchantment

Holly Parker’s life changes forever when she visits Enchantment Spring with her older sister Madison. They hike through the woods, and when they reach the spring, Holly’s disappointed. A concrete coffin full of water? She expected a pool surrounded by flowers, birds, dancing dragonflies.

But fine. They eat the lunch they packed, and lounge around in the sunshine a while. As they get ready to leave, Holly dabbles her fingers in the water.

And sees a face beneath the surface.

The joy of first love fills her, but Holly’s happiness turns to horror when she learns that the government plans to demolish Enchantment Spring. Her passion for Ohlan — the beautiful water spirit who inhabits the spring — is so strong that she’ll gladly risk her life, standing between the spring and the backhoes, to save him.


The description does tell what happens in this book – at least until the part I gave up on it.

And why did I give up, you would ask. For starters, I didn't really like Holly, the main character. Was she a bad girl? No, of course not. But she never left the page – she was just words, and never made me believe she was real. The pacing of the beginning had a lot to do with it – it doesn't take long for the face to appear in the spring – it must have been one or two pages, just slightly longer than in the description. But that would have been fine, if the main character wasn't suddenly head over heels over this face – before she even establishes he is real.

From then on it was hard to take anything seriously in this book. There was much of Holly's research that felt badly organized, and a tad bit too easy. And then the girl goes on jumping into conclusions that were 99% wishful thinking (just not to call it delusion) on her part, and 1% logic.

I got to the point where I asked myself “Do you care about the main character?” The answer was no. “Do you want to know if Ohlan is real or not?” Not really. “Do you want to know why he is weak?” Couldn't care less. “Do you want to read about Holly's first love?” Love? That's not love. “Do you care at all about what is going to happen next?” No, not really. So that's why I gave up on the book, even though I tried, for the sake of making a proper review. I just didn't care enough about any of it.


Rating: 1 out of 5 - Did not Finish


This Book on: LibraryThing | GoodReads | Amazon US (Kindle)