Review: The Magicians

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Second read. This is a reread before the third book comes out. I'm also trying to cheat the GR system by letting it count towards my yearly total- I'm kinda book lazy this year. The first time I "read" this book. I listened to the audiobook on a long long drive and remember loving it. Actually reading it this time reminded me how much I do actually love it and how different things can seam when you listen to them versus actually read them. I don't feel like I lost too much from this book in the audiobook version honestly, but I do think the audiobook left out the time you need to absorb and think about certain things in this book. Once thing that I always remembered from the audiobook, and it may have been the readers voice, was that in order to do magic you have to be a truly miserable person. You have to be unhappy in order to do magic. And that is really hammered in there. And while reading the book you kinda fester in that, you get stuck in it a lot longer and it's more tragic. I'm excited to read book two because I also listened to that one the first time on audiobook, but I have my advance reader copy of that one that I wont on good reads so not only will I actually read it this time, but I'll actually read a tangible book instead of my usual ebooks.



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Review: Authority

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I won this book through Goodreads First Reads. I would have bought it anyway because I read the first book [b:Annihilation|17934530|Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy, #1)|Jeff VanderMeer|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1377786575s/17934530.jpg|24946895] and got completely enraptured by it. This book took me a little longer to get into. It was a little slower but really explained a lot. I think it was a perfect middle book, wasn't as scary as the first book because I would not have been able to keep up with that pace at all- oh the creepiness. There were definite moments in this book where I was creeped out and had to take a break, but not nearly as many.

Now for my non-review- I think the reason I like books like this that are mysterious and adventurous, is because I don't like mysteries, surprises or adventures. I would never be able to go off into an unknown land for an unknown adventure/investigation without being terrified every 5 seconds. I'm a scaredy cat through and through and would rather stay someplace safe, like inside my home with my wine and cats. But that being said I understand how being get wrapped up in a mystery or have to figure things out where there are unknowns because you just have to know sometimes!

I'll pick up the 3rd one in August and see how all this ties together.



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Review: Night Film

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Wow. Very interesting. I wasn't too terribly impressed by it at first. But it was always intriguing. Then the last 100 pages, good grief it picked up, finally got scary and then ended nicely. What an interesting book. I wasn't too highly impressed with the pictures, fake FB posts, fake articles that were interspersed, but luckily there weren't very many of them.

Brief synopsis (I suck at this part) a famous horror film director's daughter is found dead of an apparent suicide. An old journalist sets out to find out why and encounters a drug dealer and waif to help him on his way. The more the delve into the daughter's life and the life of the director the weirder things get. Their lives are frequently in danger and the mystery is one that may kill them or at the very least severely injure them.

There's a lot going on here, traditional mystery, psychological thriller, dark magic and stuff. It was a really enjoyable ride though, except for those 45ish pages that I had to read so fast because they freaked me out a lot...but I really liked it. This is a book I wanted the hard copy of because of the pictures and extra stuff, but after reading the hard copy of it I think I would have been fine with the e-book version, which is kinda sad. But the hardback version is lovely.



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Review: MaddAddam

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I'm a little devastated this series is over. But it was a truly beautiful ending, totally fitting of the amazing people Margaret Atwood created. I'm pretty sure I have a new favorite author to add to my list. I can't wait to read everything else she's written.

I can't talk about the actual story though- except to say everything makes sense in the end.



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Review: Someday, Someday, Maybe

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Adorable. I listened to the audiobook read by Miss Lorelai Gilmore herself! Lauren Graham is adorable and I want to be her BFF. This book was about a young struggling actress in New York in the 90s, the day of file-o-faxes and answering machines. I don't know if it's autobiographical at all but I'm going to find out! But it's adorable and cute and not the greatest piece of literature out there but for what it is I love it! And it was the perfect thing to listen to on my drive to and from San Antonio this holiday season.



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Review: Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories

Vampires in the Lemon Grove: Stories by Karen Russell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I was very impressed with this short story collection. I've ready two other short story books this year and this is my favorite. There were only 8 stories but each one was excellent, compared to [b:Tenth of December|13641208|Tenth of December|George Saunders|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349967540s/13641208.jpg|19256026] and [b:Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury|13329252|Shadow Show All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury|Sam Weller|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347768800s/13329252.jpg|18536664]. Here's a by story review and rank (8/8 being my fave and 1/8 still being awesome just not my fave- cause again they were all great!) Slight spoilers for plot, not outcome

Vampires in the Lemon Grove- 1/8 Great opening story. It was engaging and well told, for short stories there was excellent character development. I felt so sad for the old male vampire because you could tell he was trying and the bat/vampire was just kinda heartless bitch.

Reeling for the Empire- 4/8 Creepy and weird. Poor women are given the "opportunity" to make money for their families by because human silk worms! OMG weird. Creepy and gross, but again you really feel for these women because they're tricked into it and sometimes sold by their families to do this. Weird.

The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach- 2/8 Probably should actually be 1/8 but it was written so well I can't help at least put it second to my least favorite. I didn't feel like the potentially time traveling aspects of it were too well thought out or developed but I kept wanting to know where the hell the story was going.

Proving Up- 6/8 OMG CREEPY! This one gives me the heebies when I think about it. Kinda a little Book of Eli action going on here. Even though it's not supposed to be a dystopian story it totally could be. People who moved west early on and struggled and died for years but still worked so hard for the "inspector" to come and grant them their homesteads. Eeeek scary scary cause you can totally see this happening...back then.

The Barn at the End of Our Term- 5/8 Fabulous little story! One of the shorter one but super cute, presidents that didn't really make that big of an impact become horses at the end of their presidencies or when they die, it's not clear, but so entertaining. Some of them think they're in heaven, others think they're in hell and some are still trying to Politic their way out of it. LOVE IT!

Dougbert Shackleton's Rules for Antarctic Tailgating- 3/8 Cute story, shortest of the bunch and just entertaining. What if antartic tailgating was a thing, who are the teams- Whale VS Krill of course! How do you prep- by fattening up and training for months. It's hilarious and just super cute.

The New Veterans- 8/8 BEST SHORT STORY EVER. I could have used a whole novel on this one. Reminds me a bit like a story from Shadow Show because it had an interactive tattoo- a tattoo so tied into a persons soul basically that it can effect their lives. Really good. I will probably keep thinking about this one for a while.

The Graceless Doll of Eric Mutis- 7/8 Uh kids. Uh kid bullies. And creepy Scarecrow! This one could have been so much worse (as in stomach turning) but luckily it wasn't. I kept waiting for true horrors to happen but honestly just thinking about what could of happened makes it so good. I wanted to finish this one fast because I was so scared of what the ending could be.

I love this short story collection, seriously every one is deserving and I really liked this one best out of the short story books I've read this year.



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Review: Slimed!: An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age

Slimed!: An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age by Mathew Klickstein

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



If you're between 23-33 and spent the first 8ish years of your life watching Nickelodeon then go read this book. It was a delightful trip down memory lane. The "golden age" of Nick stops right around the ending of Clarissa Explains it All and started during You Can't Do That On Television. This book was just interview after interview with all the people involved (actors, producers, animators) in You Can't Do That On Television, Welcome Freshman, Out of Control, Nick Arcade, Roundhouse, Double Dare, Wild & Crazy Kids, Clarissa Explains it All, Salute Your Shorts, Hey Dude!, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Rugrats, Doug and Ren & Stimpy. It was so interesting.

What's amazing is all the child actors seem to be completely normal people now. Most of them went on to college and if any of them stayed in the business it was as Production Assistants and Producers. The people who were really screwed up by Nickelodeon? The adults! OMG it sounds crazy. Backstabbing and bickering and being just downright cruel to one another. You'd never know the animosity that came out of RUGRATS! The backstabbing that happened with Ren & Stimpy.

This books covers everything from what Slime is made of (eww), to diversity on Nick, the music, the costumes- Pete & Pete's costume designed does Mad Men's costumes now. It's so interesting. For the adults at the time they of course seem the least effected, all the actors apparently still get approached on the street by not 30-somethings telling them how big a fan they were of their shows.

This book probably doesn't really deserve 5 stars, but it gets it because I'm a nostalgia sucker. What this book reminded me of- I will forever long for the day when the entire series of Pete & Pete is on DVD (right now only two seasons are grrr), Clarissa had the best fashion sense in the world, and Marc Summers is a bad ass.



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