...something new from Viv Daniels (ahem, Diana Peterfreund)

Good News!

Have you heard about the new Diana Peterfreund series?

The much beloved (especially by me) author of Secret Society Girl series is due to release the first book of a new series of romance novels. The catch here is that she is releasing these books under the romance-writing alter ego Viv Daniels. It would be interesting to find out how she came up with this name. 

This first book--entitled One and Only--will be about a girl named Tess McMann as she tries to navigate life and love at the prestigious Canton University. 

Here is a snippet:

One night they can’t forget…Tess McMann lives her life according to the secrets she’s sworn to keep: the father who won’t acknowledge her, the sister who doesn’t know she exists, and the mother who’s content playing mistress to a prominent businessman. When she meets distractingly cute Dylan Kingsley at a prestigious summer program and falls in love, Tess allows herself to imagine a life beyond these secrets.  But when summer ends, so does their relationship — Dylan heads off to Canton College while Tess enrolls at the state university.One love they can’t ignore…Two years later, a scholarship brings Tess to Canton and back into Dylan’s life.  Their attraction is as strong as ever, but Dylan has a girlfriend…who also happens to be Tess’s legitimate half-sister.  Tess refuses to follow in her mother’s footsteps, which leaves her only one choice: break the rules she’s always followed, or allow Dylan to slip away for a second time.…And only one chance to get things right.

(snippet via: booksbyviv.wordpress.com)

The release date is set for November 8th.
The cover of the book is yet to be revealed.
Find out more about this Canton series here.

Casting Callback: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

It's been a little over a week and I'm still thinking about "Moon Called." It seems this book has really worked it's wolfy magic on me and I'm truly all over this Alpha & Omega series! I've decided it's time to put some faces on these characters. In though, it's not a difficult callback since the series' graphic novelization provides great visual cues.

Mercedes (Mercy) Thompson: Half human, half coyote, Mercy has a mysterious background that's at least part Native American. She is also a car mechanic by trade, so she has some tough-chic undertones to her.

Casting Callback: Eva Mendes
This actor has grown on me. I think she can be a great Mercy. Eva Mendes's beautiful dark features will work well for this role. She will make a sizzling car mechanic/coyote. I mean, what guy (or wolf) won't be happy to have her inspect his car, hmmm?

Adam Hauptman: Adam is the attractive and grounded alpha male of the local werewolves pack. He has a calm disposition, but his temper can flare if adequately provoked. He is a divorcee with a teenage daughter.

Casting Callback: Joel Edgerton
I don't know what it is about Joel Edgerton, but he just exudes calmness and trustworthiness. I think it might have something to do with his blue eyes and friendly face. I really like him for Adam.

Samuel Cornick: Sam is a 200+ year old werewolf that once courted Mercy. Then broke her heart, big time! He is a medical doctor by trade, a characteristic indicative of how well he can control his inner wolf. Looks-wise, he is chiseled but a little less attractive than Adam. In the book, his chemistry with Mercy is almost palpable.

Casting Callback: Josh Holloway
I have nothing much to say about this. I loved Josh Holloway when he played Sawyer in Lost and I just think he will be great in a werewolf role. I also wouldn't mind seeing him square it off with Adam for Mercy's attention.







Mac: Mac is the teenage boy Mercy decided to take on as her assistant in the car shop. He is homeless and looks rather disheveled and scrawny. Mostly though, he is very scared since he is a newly converted werewolf, whose uncontrollable transformations are simply frightening.

Casting Callback: Eddie Redmayne. This actor will be perfect in portraying a homeless and disheveled young teenager who is afraid everything, even himself.







So how about it, who would you include in your "Moon Called" movie casting?

Book to Film Adaptations-August

Film adaptations of popular books is a tricky thing: most seem to fall a little short of the mark in matching the magic created in the book. But sometimes, some do strike it just right. Here are a couple of book-to-film adaptations I'm planning to see this month.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones based on City of Bones (Mortal Instruments, Book 1) by Cassandra Clare. 

I read City of Bones a while back. I remember liking it, but not loving it (3/5 stars on my Goodreads account). It's a paranormal YA novel about a girl named Clary Fray who starts seeing events and people that none of her friends seem to be able to see. With the help of a heartthrob named Jace, she learns that she has gained the Sight, and that these invisible beings are a league of demon-fighters called Shadowhunters.

This trailer looks great! The actors cast as Clary and Jace are pretty close to the images I had of these characters in my head. I'm also thrilled by the big names playing all those supporting roles: Robert Sheehan, Lena Headly, CCH Punder, Aidan Turner. Yup, I'm really looking forward to catching this when it comes out.

The Spectacular Now based on The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

I haven't read The Spectacular Now, but this story has been building up some hype ever since the movie adaptation got announced. The trailer seems really promising and it's also nice to get a break from supernatural beings and delve into what seems like a more realistic and rather mature YA drama. I kinda just want to read this book right now, actually. 

See what Goodreads says about The Spectacular Now. 

See what Amazon says about The Spectacular Now.

how do you like your books?

I'm curious about your take on books vs. ebook vs. library books.

I have this kindle and it is currently my number one choice when it comes to reading books. I like it because it's lightweight, it gives me lots of book options on the go, its battery life is amazing, and since everything is transmitted wirelessly, it lets me get my books at the snap of a finger. Another good thing about my kindle is that it's backlight allows me to read in a dark room, which makes reading before bed a lot less disturbing when sharing a bed with someone.

But I'm a recent convert. Although I don't necessarily like owning a lot of books, I think a well-curated bookshelf--even if it's small--says a lot about a person! I've also discovered that books with pictures in them translate poorly on the black and white kindle screen format, and that's just unfortunate.

I also enjoy my library visits, even though they have sadly become increasingly infrequent. I love the browsing process, which is much nicer at the library than at the bookstore because  you can always tell how good a book is by how creased it's spine is with use.

I know this is probably a really old topic, but I'm still curious: how do you like to read your books?

(image source)

Review: Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Arg. This book! This book!!!

Ever since the whole vampire hype overwhelmed readers everywhere (and subsequently died down after the nightmare that were those Twilight movies), I've been staying away from werewolves and vampires and fantastical creatures in general. The only books that prevented me from a fully clean break were Justin Cronin's "The Passage" and Christopher Moore's "Bloodsucking Fiends" (both of which were pretty stellar, should you want to give them a try). Then, just last week, I succumbed once again and started reading the first book of Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson series. It's called Moon Called and I think everyone but me has already read it by now. I don't mind though; the beauty of starting a series later than everybody else is that you don't have to wait for the next book to come out. In this case, I have about six follow-ups that have already been published and are awaiting me. That's a lot to look forward to!

Moon Called is narrated by a woman named Mercy Thompson. She is a car mechanic by trade and a shapeshifter by birth. The shapes she shifts back and forth from are that of a human and a coyote. This means basically two things: one is that she is very sensitive to smells, sights and emotions and generally relies heavily on instinctual cues, and the second is that she leads a rather exciting life. Her supernatural nature also gives her paramount contact with all sorts of supernatural beings, and where vampires, werewolves and witches tread, lots of interesting things tend to happen! In the case of where the story of Moon Called picks up, Mercy's next door neighbor Adam (who doubles as a local werewolf pack Alpha and also a potential love interest) has been attacked by an unknown group of werewolves. Since Mercy is that one that discovers Adam after the attack, she takes it upon herself to find out what caused the attack and who was behind it. To do this, she must recruit help from members of the benevolent pack of werewolves that raised her. But anytime anyone starts meddling with their past, a lot more than what they anticipated tends to surface. Thus, besides having to navigate through werewolf pack politics, Mercy must also face Sam, the 200+ year old werewolf she once loved and then left behind, before she can start solve the mystery of what provoked Adam's attackers.

What's really good about this book is the pull it has on a reader. Mercy's voice has a very attractive quality to it; everything she talks about--no matter how unbelievable and unnatural it may be--is done in a matter-of-fact fashion. She is not star-struck with all the supernatural beings around her but instead manipulates situations in her favor; even though her ranking (as a coyote) is rather low on the supernatural totem pole, she manages to pull her own by using her instincts and her smarts. As far as female heroines go, Mercy is high up there.

Another attractive quality to this book is Briggs's ability to infuse rich character backgrounds. The history of werewolves is explained very effectively here. At times, I forgot I was reading fiction and caught myself thinking how cool it would be if the History Channel did a doc on these werewolves.

Something that may be a little dismaying, but which didn't bother me too much, was how slow-buring the romantic aspect of the story was. Briggs builds up a love triangle between Sam, Adam and Mercy. Unfortunately, not a lot of progress is made in Mercy's decision between the two wolves. The one comfort a reader may have is that some sort of resulution must come about in the six books that follow this one in the series. Personally, I'm not a fan of a lot of back and forth between two characters, so even if Mercy's progress in the relationship department continues to be molasses-slow, I don't think I'll complain.

Overall Grade: 4/5

• Other books you may like to try: The Passage (J. Cronin), Bloodsucking Fiends (C. Moore)

Check out what Amazon reviewers think
Check out what Goodreads reviewers think

Review: In the Woods by Tana French

In the Woods by Tana French 

As a rule, I stay away from detective novels. Trying to break a case before the main character does isn’t something that gets me going. I also hate that creepy crawly feeling I get when reading a gruesome thriller late at night. It makes me jumpy and uncomfortable for a few days and I start looking over my shoulder too many times when walking home alone late at night. 

Well, Tana French is the go-to author for anyone, like me, who has been harboring reservations about the mystery/thriller genre, but might be interested in experiencing that creepy crawly feeling, as well as some other, deeper emotions. What French has done in “In the Woods” is just amazing. The short end of the story is that I am now in love with both her and her characters. 

Set in Dublin, “In the Woods” follows newbie detectives Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox, both members of the Dublin Murder Squad, who just got the lead on a new, high profile murder case. A 12 year old girl named Katy Devlin is found dead at a wooded archeological site just outside the capital. The clues surrounding the crime are limited, while the questions and suspects are numerous and every new hunch to the solve hard to prove. Making things even more complicated is the fact that detective Ryan has a case-shattering secret: 20 years ago he was a witness to the disappearance of two of his childhood friends who went missing in the same woods where Katy’s body was found. This old crime was never solved because young Rob Ryan suffered permanent memory loss and was never able to recall what happened to him or his friends when they went to play in the woods that day. 

Although the connection between the two crimes is unclear, Detective Ryan is unable to shake the guilt he feels over what happened. His unresolved emotions about his past begin to affect his ability to work the Devlin case and slowly infiltrate and deteriorate the strong bond he has with his partner Cassie (think along the lines of Law & Order: SVU’s Benson and Stabler with a little bit more flirtation and booze). Singularly, Rob and Cassie are two broken and messed up individuals, but when they are together everything just makes sense. Although solving the crime is of peak interest at the start of the book, by the end of it, the reader’s attention is almost exclusively focused on the shifts within Ryan and Maddox and their connection. Their very complex individual and shared pasts combined with the strain imparted by the Devlin murder case wreak havoc on everyone and everyone, possibly beyond repair. 

Never have I ever been so involved as a reader in the relationship between two fictional people as I was with Cassie and Rob. I wasn’t expecting to find this level of earnest emotions and cruelty and pain in a detective crime novel (sincerest apologies to that genre). Tina French had the ability to transport me inside the story and at times I felt like I wasn’t only reading the pages, but actually living each moment described. Just thinking about those last few chapters of the book makes me angry and sad, even now...and damn, do I have some burning questions for you Tana French! 

LitSnit Grade: A


Quote: "The girls I dream of are the gentle ones, wistful by high windows or singing sweet old songs at a piano, long hair drifting, tender as apple blossom. But a girl who goes into battle beside you and keeps your back is a different thing, a thing to make you shiver. Think of the first time you slept with someone, or the first time you fell in love: that blinding explosion that left you cracking to the fingertips with electricity, initiated and transformed. I tell you that was nothing, nothing at all, beside the power of putting your lives, simply and daily, into each other's hands."


Pros:

• Great writing-some say it was wordy, but I loved every minute of it.
• Very, very, very complex, but intelligent characters, the kind of characters that you love and want to be (or be with)
• Great setting: Dublin and nearby countyside is a great, atmospheric backdrop to a suspense novel

Cons:

• I hate to say it, but the actual crime and its eventual resolution were eclipsed by the characters and their individual storylines. This might not be the book for detective fiction purists.
• French tidies up the murder case pretty well, but she leaves a lot of unanswered questions about Ryan and Maddox. This book is only for readers who can deal with authors that like to leave some issues unresolved. 

More Like It: The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad, #2) by Tana French

The Secret History

Title: The Secret History

Author: Donna Tartt

Gist: “The Secret History” is the story of six friends  (Richard, Camilla, Charles, Edmund, Francis and Henry) who attend a very posh university in rural New England. They have it all: beauty, wealth, sophistication, intelligence, exclusivity, mystery, and are connected by an unparalleled devotion to studying Ancient Greek.

Driven by the boredom of not having a care in the world, they begin to engage in a wide array of immoral activities that test their apparent limitlessness. Their demented devotion to extreme experiences eventually tear them apart and leads to their individual demises. 

Told though the first person narration of this groups latest inductee, Richard (who unlike the other five comes from a middle-class family and is most sensitive to the strange behaviors of the group), this is a tragic but extremely sophisticated coming-of-age mystery that starts with the death of one of group member and and ends with the death of another. The suspense surrounding the reason behind each death is worth the 576 page effort because it unveils the ugliness behind the impeccably beautiful introductory facade Camilla, Charles, Edmund, Francis and Henry put up when they first meet Richard. The five of them easily comprise the most attractive and captivating set of supporting characters I’ve encountered in all fiction I’ve read this year. Like some mysterious, beautiful yet dangerous creatures, they live their outlandish lives beautifully and meet their tragic ends just as beautifully.

Richard is the narrator, but in many ways he is no more involved in the story than the reader. Like us he is taken for a strange ride as a spectator, incapable of changing the course of events set in motion by the other five. It’s only his sense of undying devotion and curiosity about what is to unfold that keeps him and us astride for the whole ride. We are Richard and Richard is us from start to finish. 

Quote:

"It's a very Greek idea, and a very profound one. Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like the Greeks or our own, than to lose control completely?...To be absolutely free!...To sing, to scream, to dance barefoot in the woods in the dead of night, with no more awareness of mortality than an animal! These are powerful mysteries...If we are strong enough in our souls we can rip away the veil and look that naked, terrible beauty right in the face; let God consume us, devour us, unstring our bones. Then spit us out reborn." 

Pros: 

• Great supporting characters-Camilla, Charles, Edmund, Francis and Henry are like an unhealthy addiction. You hate them, but can’t tear your gaze away either. 
• The gothically romantic and sometimes chilling mood Tartt is able to infuse into her writing (if you’re into that stuff, of course).

Cons: 

• There is a feeling of pretentiousness about this book and its supposed complexity, which can be off-putting from time to time.

Target Audience: lit majors

More Like It: Brideshead Revisited 

Extra: Check out Fravorwire’s casting of “The Secret History” the the movie. 


Rating: A-

Waiting on Wednesday - Christy

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Expected publication: May 17th 2011
Publisher: William Morrow & Company

Summary (via Goodreads) Melissa Mar is known to young adult readers as the author of the popular faery series Wicked Lovely. Her debut leap into adult fiction lands her in the small community of Claysville, a town where the dead walk free unless there their graves are not properly tended. Into this eerie maelstrom, Rebekkah Barrow descends as she returns to a place that she once believed she knew. Kelley Armstrong justly described Graveminder as "a deliciously creepy tale that is as skillfully wrought as it is spellbindingly imagined." A new genre author to watch.

I've read and enjoyed Wicked Lovely by this author (though I haven't gotten around to reading past the first book). Graveminder looks interesting, and I love the cover (run-down house/barn in sepia tones never fails to be creepy). I have to wonder what kind of care these graves require... I will be checking it out when it's released in a couple weeks.

What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Summary (from Goodreads): In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

I recently finished reading "Ender's Shadow", which is a novel told in the same time-line as "Ender's Game", but from the point of view of the character Bean, following his journey into battle school instead of Ender's. I really enjoyed it, just as much as I enjoyed Ender’s Game, and now want everyone to at least read this first book.

Ender's Game was one of those sci-fi classics that I'd heard of, but didn't know much about. No movie yet (main characters are both very young and time-line spans a few too many years for casting to be easy). Then, one Christmas, I bought and started readed it, brought it home with me and told my dad about it. I didn’t see that book again until my dad was through reading it himself. He’d even read Ender’s Shadow by the time I left. (moral of the story: tell people about books you love only after you're done reading them yourself ;))

In Ender’s Game, you’ll find mock battles in zero g, kids playing at war, humanity scrambling to defend itself against an alien race that has twice invaded Earth. The heavy weight of an all-out war of worlds is put on these child geniuses. It’s games now, but ever-present is the knowledge that there is a real war going on out there. The buggers (the nickname for the alien race) might come back at any time. These kids are being trained to command armies in the war to come. Humanity is depending on them. No, humanity might just be depending on Ender alone, the boy who seems to take war strategy and leadership to a level no one else can compete with.

Okay, so maybe this book isn’t for everyone. It’s all war games and soldiers in training, and not a drop of romance and not much comedy, but the story and characters are great and the books are hard to put down. If you’re at all intrigued by this book, read it! Read it now.

Lit Snit Verdict: A+

WoW - Christy

11/22/63 by Stephen King
Pub Date: Nov 8, 2011

Summary (from Goodreads): On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed.

If you had the chance to change history, would you?
Would the consequences be worth it?



Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.

Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time.

First, how awesome is the cover? JFK's assassination is a big what-if, and I know it's been discussed before, so I'm interested to see how King handles this. The book sounds like it has potential to be really cool, if done right.

What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution By Michelle Moran

Summary (from Goodreads): In this deft historical novel, Madame Tussaud (1761-1850) escapes the pages of trivia quizzes to become a real person far more arresting than even her waxwork sculptures. Who among us knew, for instance, that she moved freely through the royal court of Louis XVI, only to become a prisoner of the Reign of Terror? Her head was shaven for guillotining, but she escaped execution, though she was forced to make death masks for prominent victims. Novelist Michelle Moran covers this breathtaking period without losing the thread of its subject's singular story.

I've never read anything by Michelle Moran, but you can tell right away she really does her research on a time period (I see she has also has several other books that take place in ancient Egypt).

In Madame Tussaud, we see the French Revolution from the perspective of someone who is right in the middle of it all. Marie runs the Salon de Cire, and in order to fill her salon with wax figures of popular and interesting people (and thereby keep her income steady in these hard times of food shortages), Marie listens to the gossip, takes every opportunity to meet with prominent figures in society, even if she has to visit the local prison to do it.

When an opportunity arises to be the tutor to King Louis’s sister, pious and mild mannered Madame Elisabeth, Marie must take it (what an opportunity to find more faces for her wax museum!). But the public is hungry and unhappy with the lavish spending of the French royalty (though Marie could see Queen Marie Antoinette would be blamed no matter what she did). In Marie's salon, people like Robespierre and Marat meet and lash out against the monarchy.

This book was interesting because it straddles both sides of the argument. Marie and her family don’t really want to take sides, but in this political climate, and especially given their prominent role in the spreading of information (through wax figures, posters, and newsletters posted throughout their salon), not choosing sides is hardly an option. Refusing to wear the revolutionary’s cockade (symbol of loyalty to the cause) is not really an option, not when men will stop you on the street and demand to know why you are not supporting the revolution.

To stand against the king is treason, to stand against the revolution is just dangerous … but which side will win? What will that mean for Marie’s new friend in Madame Elisabeth? How long can Marie last?

The guillotine doesn’t even show up until most of the way through this book, and I see now how much more there is to the French Revolution, so many subtleties and shifts in thinking. I only knew the basics before, that aristocracy were rich and arrogant. That common people were poor and starving. Heads were lost. The fictional Scarlet Pimpernel gallantly saved aristocrats from the guillotine when the revolution turned bloody.

I really enjoyed this book. I especially loved that, at the very end, there is a section with some bits of the author's research that didn't fit in the novel (mostly because it took place after the story was over). There was a picture of the very first person to ever be photographed—a random guy on the street who happened to stand still long enough to be caught by the extra-long expose time.

Lit Snit Verdict: A-

Spotlight on Non-Fiction

Most of what I read is fiction, of all sorts of genres. So, when I do go for non-fiction, I'm pretty choosy. I don’t want to be one of those people, though, who (for example) has only ever gone to one musical and then tries to convince theater-loving friends that one was the best thing ever. I don’t read a ton of non-fiction (I’ve only ever read one book about painting and it made the list), so if you take this list with a grain of salt, I won’t be offended! And if you have recommendations, feel free to share in the comments!

Here's some non-fiction I've enjoyed in the last year:

Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku. Complex science, explained in easy-to-understand terms, all springing from science fiction concepts. What's not to love? We see how far science has come in recreating the sort of stuff we see in the movies (yes, there are people out there today working on teleportation), and how science fiction has been the inspiration behind some of the research. Plus, we get a history of humanity's fascination with the Sci-Fi concept (force fields, time travel, invisibility). It does get pretty complicated, going into topics like string theory and Schrödinger’s cat, but even when I didn’t completely understand it (how can the cat be dead and not dead at the same time!?!), it was still fascinating.

Untended side effect of reading this book: I understood the characters of Big Bang Theory even more ... and I was already a little frightened of how much I related to them (Sheldon: "Windows 7 is much more user friendly. I don't like that." ha!)

Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman. I know Eat, Pray, Love has been in the news lately, with the Julia Roberts movie, but I really enjoyed the style of this travel memoir, and had heard from a friend that it was better (can’t compare myself as I haven’t read Eat, Pray, Love). A woman facing a huge life change (separating from her husband), decides to leave her world behind and immerse herself in the culture of another country … and another country after that … and then a few more. In each place, she lives as the local people live, leaving behind (as much as possible) her own Western viewpoints. The writing style was relatable, and the adventures compelling. I wish I had this author’s courage.

Color and Light by James Gurney. A painting book brought to you by the artist who did Dinotopia (warm fuzzies to Dinotopia). Some fascinating stuff about how colors interact, how light and shadows behave in various settings. Everything from scientific explanation of cones and rods in your eyes to easy ways to set up your palette for painting en plein air to tips on photography (that is, taking pics to be painted later or pics of your paintings). Some eye-opening stuff, and some cool artwork throughout.

The Most Human Human by Brian Christian. A look at what artificial intelligence means for humanity & how we view ourselves. A surprisingly wide array of topics (philosophy, science, history, technology) spring from this topic of how our author might convince the judges of his humanity and earn the "most human human" prize in the Turing test. (The Turing test is a challenge to programmers to fool at least 30% of human judges that computer software is a human in a text-based 5 minute conversation).

What non-fiction books do you enjoy?

Waiting on Wednesday - Christy

Leaving Van Gogh by Carol Wallace
Pub Date: April 19, 2011
Random House Digital, Inc.

Summary from Goodreads: In the summer of 1890, in the French town of Auvers-sur-Oise, Vincent van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a revolver. He died two days later, at the age of thirty-seven, largely unknown despite having completed over two thousand works of art that would go on to become some of the most important and valued in the world.

In this riveting novel, Carol Wallace brilliantly navigates the mysteries surrounding the master artist’s death, relying on meticulous research to paint an indelible portrait of Van Gogh’s final days—and the friendship that may or may not have destroyed him. Telling Van Gogh’s story from an utterly new perspective—that of his personal physician, Dr. Gachet, specialist in mental illness and great lover of the arts—Wallace allows us to view the legendary painter as we’ve never seen him before. In our narrator’s eyes, Van Gogh is an irresistible puzzle, a man whose mind, plagued by demons, poses the most potentially rewarding challenge of Gachet’s career.

Wallace’s narrative brims with suspense and rich psychological insight as it tackles haunting questions about Van Gogh’s fate. A masterly, gripping novel that explores the price of creativity, Leaving Van Gogh is a luminous story about what it means to live authentically, and the power and limits of friendship.

I love Vincent Van Gogh's art, and I've always found it sad that his fame only came after his death. (I will also admit to a bit of boost in interest in what he was really like after the Doctor Who episode that featured Van Gogh.) I'm not familiar with this author, but the description sounds interesting. I'm looking forward to checking it out!

What are you waiting on this week?

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Review - Trapped by Michael Northrop

Summary (from Goodreads): The day the blizzard started, no one knew that it was going to keep snowing for a week. That for those in its path, it would become not just a matter of keeping warm, but of staying alive....

Scotty and his friends Pete and Jason are among the last seven kids at their high school waiting to get picked up that day, and they soon realize that no one is coming for them. Still, it doesn't seem so bad to spend the night at school, especially when distractingly hot Krista and Julie are sleeping just down the hall. But then the power goes out, then the heat. The pipes freeze, and the roof shudders. As the days add up, the snow piles higher, and the empty halls grow colder and darker, the mounting pressure forces a devastating decision....


I chose to read this book because, well, I love survival stories. I have to admit, I’ve thought more than once about how long the contents of my pantry would last in a disaster. Also, my area had just got hit with a snow storm (hopefully the last of the season) that took us from muddy grass to a thick blanket of white overnight. It was kind of an awesome time to be curling up in the chilly basement, reading about surviving a giant nor’easter. It got to the point where I had to put the book down and turn on the TV just to convince myself that we hadn’t lost power like the characters in the book (even though at that point, I was reading under electric lights and drinking hot coffee and it had stopped snowing hours ago… clearly my situation was not dire).

A chilling story (sorry for the pun, not intended). Not so much action-packed but there is an underlying sense of urgency throughout the book. How long will the storm last? What will they do about heat, food, rescue… And does anyone even know they’re at the school?!?

I would have rated this book better if there had just been one more chapter. The ending was unnecessarily jarring and abrupt. It wasn't about finding out "what happened next". I can guess enough to be satisfied (mostly). It was that things happened quickly toward the end. There were even super-short chapters to quicken the pace, and then it was done. End of story. The book desperately needed one more chapter to unwind the tension the climax of the story had built up. As it was, I felt cheated out of an ending.

The whole story was told in a "let me tell you about" tone, very conversational. From the beginning we, the readers, got spoilers of things to come, from comments liked “we didn’t know it at the time but…”. It added an extra bit of creepy, especially when the narrator says things like “our numbers would only get smaller from here”. This also made the abrupt ending even more annoying… our narrator didn’t do anything to catch us up to his “now” even though we know he’s telling us this story after at least a little time had passed.

I enjoyed the group dynamic, how the characters change how they interact when suddenly their world is down to just seven kids: Les, the trouble-maker; Elijah, the weird goth kid; two girls: beautiful Krista and her friend Julie; our narrator, Scotty; and his two friends, Pete and Jason. Kids who normally wouldn’t have known much about each other are suddenly relying on each other for survival. Social hierarchy isn’t completely gone, though, just different. The little groups of friends still stick together mostly, and the presence of girls in the room get the guys tangled up in knots. But Jason’s knowledge of construction and home repairs is suddenly an asset. They learn Les’ has more of a problem with rules and adults than other kids. And the goth kid’s not really goth at all, just different, even funny.

Bottom line: It's an entertaining survival story with an annoyingly abrupt ending.

Lit Snit Verdict: C (but would have been a B+ if only there had been an ending)

Review - Waiting For Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk

Summary (from Goodreads): On a beautiful April morning, a man is brought to an insane asylum in contemporary Spain, claiming to be the legendary navigator Christopher Columbus. Found in the treacherous Straight of Gibraltar, he is clearly delusional and has suffered a trauma so severe that he has turned away from reality. As he spins the tall tales of adventure and romance of someone who existed in the late fifteenth century, the lonely Nurse Consuela can’t help but be enchanted by his spirit. Who is Columbus? Where did he come from? This dazzling story about one man’s painstaking search for truth and loyalty will haunt the reader long after the final page.

Modern-day Spain is beautifully blended with the 1400s Spain, as the man who calls himself Christopher Columbus tells nurse Consuela his stories. A chapter might start with a scene in the institution (playing chess or talking to another inmate who believes herself to be the pope), and in the next scene, we’re in Spain in era of the Inquisition and the push for finding a new route to Marco Polo’s Indies, hearing about the lovers Columbus had, the attempts to convince Spain’s royalty to back his explorations.

Nurse Consuela is intrigued by Columbus… Who wouldn’t be? A masterful storyteller reminiscing on the days (in recent past, according to him) of struggling against the perception that the world is flat (though Columbus is quick to call anyone who still thinks that an idiot). Still, it is a challenging feat to get the queen and king of Spain to buy into Columbus’s obsession with learning what would happen if you sail West. The question is not whether or not the world is flat, but how big the world is. Could a ship can survive long enough to make it to the other side?

My one gripe with the story (and it’s a small one) is that the book switches point of views a lot. The three main perspectives were Consuela, Columbus and Emile (an Interpol investigator looking for a missing person). Even in Columbus’s stories to Consuela, though, we might find ourselves switching--mid-scene--to seeing the story from inside the head of Queen Isabella, perhaps, or his friend Benito. While each of these perspectives were interesting, I found myself needing to pay more careful attention than I was used to, rereading passages when I missed a POV switch.

There is a love for the written word in this tale. The characters have discussions of philosophy, religion and poetry. This is not a plot-heavy story. Most of it is told through the flashbacks (as Columbus is telling Consuela). Peeking through the story of Christopher Columbus is perhaps a real man hidden behind the historical figure. He wears a wedding band. His stories contain elements that don’t belong in the 1400s. He wants to call the queen on the telephone. How much of his stories are real? Why does this man think he is Christopher Columbus?

This was memorable story with a satisfying conclusion.

Lit Snit Verdict: A-

Review - The Birth of the Dread Remora

Summary (via Amazon.com): Nathaniel Demming is a midshipman aboard the HMES Remora, the very first ship to go beyond their world's waters and out into the ether. He and the rest of the crew are ready for adventure, eager to explore the unknown and chart a new course for the rest of their world to follow. But what they find out there will change their lives, and their perspective, forever. The ether is not empty at all, but teeming with life--including vicious marauders waiting to prey upon the hapless Remora. Can Demming help his friends and fellow officers through the crises that await? Can they survive the dangers all around them? And can he convince them to transform their ship and themselves into the antithesis of everything they trained for, while still holding true to everything they believe in?

Birth of the Dread Remora is the first tale of the epic Scattered Earth saga, and the first in a series of swashbuckling adventures about the space-pirate ship the Dread Remora!

This book has a really unique premise. In a future era of the human race, people live underwater. Knowledge of the universe has been lost since our time, but the people here know that above the water is air, and above the air is ether, but what's in the ether? When a strange, new light appears to be coming from beyond the air, a mission is formed to learn more. The story begins on the maiden voyage of Remora, the first ship to travel into the ether.

The ether is nothing like they expected. The main conflict in this book centers not on the mysterious light (which is forgotten fairly quickly) but rather around tension between the ranks and encounters with aliens who lurk in the ether and attack the Remora. The officers must find a way to protect themselves from dangers they weren’t prepared for.

This is book one of the Scattered Earth series, which I was interested to learn is / will be written by three separate authors. While this book followed Demming and his crew, the Scattered Earth series promises three worlds, three storylines, all ultimately connected.

There were several times throughout the book where I had a "wait, what??" moment, reading something that I wished had been explained better. Like, the underwater galley being stocked with soup and crackers, a girl sheened in sweat after a workout (still underwater), aliens who speak English. And at one point they mentioned seeing a burning globe like the sun, but much larger--what was that supposed to be? Unless I got their travel-time/speed wrong, the whole story took place within the solar system. Maybe there are good explanations for these things, but the idea of an aquatic race eating soup & crackers still puzzles me.

I liked the characters in this book. Our main character, Demming, is so eager to be a part of this mission. In his hopes to make the cut, Demming takes stock of each of the character's strengths and weaknesses as a leader, and it is from this perspective that we meet the rest of the crew.

Despite the "what, what?" moments, I did enjoy this story. It was an interesting premise (really, how often do you get to take a ship filled to the brim with water and explore outer-space & meet aquatic characters who are neither mermaids nor clown fish?), and I'm curious to see where the next installments of the series takes the story.

* This book was supplied by the publisher for review.

Lit Snit Rating: C+

Review — Demonglass by Rachel Hawkins

Summary (via Goodreads): Sophie Mercer thought she was a witch.

That was the whole reason she was sent to Hex Hall, a reform school for delinquent Prodigium (aka witches, shapeshifters, and fairies). But that was before she discovered the family secret, and that her hot crush, Archer Cross, is an agent for The Eye, a group bent on wiping Prodigium off the face of the earth.

Turns out, Sophie’s a demon, one of only two in the world—the other being her father. What’s worse, she has powers that threaten the lives of everyone she loves. Which is precisely why Sophie decides she must go to London for the Removal, a dangerous procedure that will destroy her powers.

But once Sophie arrives she makes a shocking discovery. Her new friends? They’re demons too. Meaning someone is raising them in secret with creepy plans to use their powers, and probably not for good. Meanwhile, The Eye is set on hunting Sophie down, and they’re using Archer to do it. But it’s not like she has feelings for him anymore. Does she?

Review:  Oh, Sophie.  I'd forgotten how much I loved your snarky, sarcastic way.  I will admit when I heard that Sophie and company were spending a summer in London I thought, "ugh, an entire book of 'What I Did On My Summer Vacation?  Lame.  Hex Hall, I thought you were better than this."  Oh, how wrong I was.  Rachel Hawkins took something that could have easily been a fun series about supernatural creatures in reform school and completely pulled the rug out from under us, making the reader question everything they've come to learn about the Hex Hall world.

Before I get to all the craziness that had me practically yelling at my book to stop it and just go back to Hecate Hall where everything would go back to normal, let's address the love triangle.  I've gotten pretty sick of love triangles, but I have to say I'm just as torn as Sophie.  Throughout the first half of the book I'm completely "TEAM CAL!  Woohoo!" but then Archer shows up and is all sarcastic and there's a lot of sexy banter and I become more "Team Cal?  Right?  We're Team Cal here...I think..." (I, actually, am totally Team Cal, but I think it's more of Team Cal For Erin because he's impossibly cute and stoic and I may want to have his babies)  However, there is some crazy/good chemistry between Archer and Sophie that's just impossible to deny.  Though, I will say, I wanted to shake Sophie a few times.  Note for the future, Soph, do not tell your ex-crush/kissing buddy exactly where you are hiding out from his brethren that want you dead! 

Also, I know you're in love with him but don't just go on some portal-hopping adventure without a second thought.  I didn't totally understand Archer's motives with Sophie in terms of helping her investigate whoever's creating demons, but I found myself brushing past it as they distracted me with their snarky, sexy banter.

Besides my love for sweet, dependable Cal, I know I'm getting old because I found it pretty heartbreaking the way Sophie's dad was still hung up on Sophie's mom.  I think it would have even worked better if he didn't come out and say it later in the book because his quiet pining pretty much made me swoon when they interacted early in the story.

The love triangle smartly takes a backseat to all the craziness that's happening between The Eye and the Prodigium.  The war is escalating between the two and turning deadly.  I was surprised at the gravity that came with the second in this fun series.  While Sophie keeps her quick, biting wit, there's no denying that things are no longer carefree and fun.  Hawkins throws some surprising twists into the story that have completely turned Sophie's world upside-down for me.  Plus, as I found out, much to my dismay, Demonglass ends on a CRAZY DRAMATIC CLIFFHANGER.  I had an ARC copy and kept thinking I was missing pages at the end, but, no, Rachel Hawkins clearly wants us to suffer because we have to wait until Hex Hall #3 to get any sort of closure, which, in my mind, is evil.


Lit Snit Verdict: A

Mad About: Marian Keyes (Week #1--This Charming Man)

 One of the reasons I've become mad about Marian Keyes is that she has the ability to take the most serious of issues & turn it into a story infused with a great deal of humor and warmth, i.e. Rachel's Holiday & Anybody Out There (both of which I'll tackle this month!). I enjoy laughing (and, I'll admit, a sniffle here and there) during these tales yet still walking away from them with something to think about...

Not so much with <-- this one.

The first week of Marian's Madness doesn't exactly start off on a high note with This Charming Man--

• Issue: Domestic Abuse
• Main Character: From perspective from of four women--- 1) Lola--a stylist; 2)Grace-- a journalist; 3) Marnie-- Grace's alcoholic sister, 4) Alicia--the fiancee of Paddy de Courcy, the center of this story.

Hands down, this book is the darkest of all of Keyes' fiction works. She takes no steps to tread lightly and, while the humor can be found here and there, is isn't prevalent. The love interests here aren't the main issue. The issue is how these women are changed by their experience with domestic abuse.

It's not my favorite Marian Keyes' book. Not at all. Lola's language is short & choppy, also written in the style of text message; this goes for everyone with whom she interacts. It's a bit difficult and slightly annoying as the book focuses a great deal on Lola's point of view.  I believe it serves Keyes' purpose because it does make Lola seem a bit flighty, making her the perfect foil to Grace, who is an ambitious journalist interested in nothing more than getting her story.

Marnie's plight is somewhat frightening. Her experience with de Courcy has fueled her alcoholism and her addicition is scary, to the point of blacking out and waking up beaten up and injured. Her journey is a tough one to read. Oh, and Paddy de Courcy? UGLY. I don't think there's a better way to describe this man. His behavior towards each woman is slowly revealed by flashbacks at the beginning of each chapter and it's gruesome.

This book was much grittier than I expected and rightfully so. Domestic abuse isn't a light-hearted issue. Keyes' tackles it well, however, while still providing us with a silver lining. This book is not the story of victims; it's the story of women finding the strength within themselves to deal with what life has handed them & for that I say well done. While I did say it's not my favorite of Marian Keyes' book, it is the most thought-provoking and I did enjoy it.

LitSnit Grade: A

Next week: A vlog (eek!) on Keyes' Walsh Family Series...

Review — Vesper by Jeff Sampson

 Okay, so here's the thing about this week's Villette-Read-a-Long:  I'm behind.  Like chapters behind (they're LONG this week).  I know, I know I'm terrible.  I promise I'll post my Week Three thoughts this weekend when I've caught up.  In the meantime, have a review!

Summary (via Goodreads):  Emily Webb is a geek. And she’s happy that way. Content hiding under hoodies and curling up to watch old horror flicks, she’s never been the kind of girl who sneaks out for midnight parties. And she’s definitely not the kind of girl who starts fights or flirts with other girls’ boyfriends. Until one night Emily finds herself doing exactly that . . . the same night one of her classmates—also named Emily—is found mysteriously murdered.

The thing is, Emily doesn’t know why she’s doing any of this. By day, she’s the same old boring Emily, but by night, she turns into a thrill seeker. With every nightfall, Emily gets wilder until it’s no longer just her personality that changes. Her body can do things it never could before: Emily is now strong, fast, and utterly fearless. 

And soon Emily realizes that she’s not just coming out of her shell . . . there’s something much bigger going on. Is she bewitched by the soul of the other, murdered Emily? Or is Emily Webb becoming something else entirely— something not human?

As Emily hunts for answers, she finds out that she’s not the only one this is happening to—some of her classmates are changing as well. Who is turning these teens into monsters—and how many people will they kill to get what they want?

Review: I feel like it's a rare YA book that keeps me guessing throughout the entire book, even more rare to not undermine the entire mystery with some cliched or obvious ending, so I was pleasantly surprised when Vesper managed an interesting mystery without making me roll my eyes when I got to the last page.

Vesper is hard to talk about because I'm wary of giving away any thing about the overall mystery.  Suffice it to say that just when I thought I knew what was going on, I was thrown in a completely new direction.  There were hints as to what was going on with Emily and the other kids in her town, but everything is so vague and clouded in mystery that I really couldn't take any one "explanation" as fact until the final reveal.  I will say that I thought Emily jumped to her suspicions about her "powers" a little to readily.  If I was suddenly acting like my sluttier evil twin come nightfall I don't know if I would jump to the conclusions she did.  In the end it made sense, but as she was in the library trying to figure out what was going on with her I found her choice of material a leap.  (See?  This is way hard to comment on without giving everything away!)

I really loved Emily in all of her sci-fi geeky-ness.  She'd totally be a girl I'd be best friends with in high school.  Heck, I think I was her in high school.  I could have dealt with about 40% less "I'm such a geek/have I told you that I'm a geek/really, I'm a HUGE geek, just look at all my Buffy paraphernalia."  I felt at a certain point like, okay I get it!  Stop beating a dead horse!  You're a geek.  Congrats. 

Interspersed with Emily trying to figure out just what the hell is happening to her are mini-chapters of her being questioned by a scientist what we assume is a few months in the future.  More than just creating a creepy Fringe vibe, these chapters really allow you to see how Emily evolves in future books.  She's pretty flippant and sarcastic and it only made me love her more for embracing her inner badass.  Even more, there's a logical explanation for why Emily's personality takes such a massive shift, when the other kids aren't suddenly making out with the local deputy and stealing cars.

My only big complaint, other than Emily's sudden logic jump about her condition, was the reveal of her love interest.  I felt like he wasn't established enough as a character to the point I went "who??" and had to go back to previous chapters to figure out who he was. The mystery might have been dragged out slightly too long because the action felt a little hurried and I would have liked to see more of Emily dealing with the revelation of what she is.

I hesitate to say anything else for fear of spoiling you guys, but, let me just say that I cannot freaking wait until the next Deviants book.  Jeff Sampson has a gift for keeping the reader guessing and has created a spooky, compelling series.  I'm excited to see what the deal is with some of the other kids in Emily's town.  There are hints of other powers going on and I'm eager to see what else is in store for these kids.

Lit Snit Verdict: B+

*I received an ARC of this book through Around the World ARC tours

WoW - Some long waits

This Waiting on Wednesday* I'm dedicating to all a few titles we've been waiting on FOREVER for a conclusion, a few series with years since the last release.

Earth's Children Series

Book 1, The Clan of the Cavebear, was published in 1980, and it's been nine years since the second-to-last book was published in 2002. Earth's Children's final book will be released ... drumroll please ... on March 29, 2011

I haven't read any of the Earth's Children books (though I know people who have), so I was hestitant to read more than the summary of the first book. But I do know that it takes place in the ice age (how many books can you say that about?), and features a girl named Ayla who we meet in the first book. At five years old, she is orphaned by an earthquake and taken in by a tribe who call themselves the Clan of the Cavebear.

The Night World Series

Books 1 through 9 of this 10-book series were released within a span of a few years ('96-'98), each story featuring a new set of characters all leading up to a great battle between good and evil promised to the reader for the final book in the series.

The final book, Strange Fate, will be release on April 6 2010... July 6 2010... April 26 2011... July 26 2011... July 10 2012(???)

I read these books when they first came out and loved them. The rules of the Night World are clear: 1) Never allow humans to gain knowledge of the Night World's existence and, 2) Never fall in love with one of them. Of course, these stories were all about what happens when the rules get broken, when Night Worlders (vampires, witches and the occasional werewolf) start finding their soulmates in humans.

While the title and plot of the final book has been public knowledge for years, I'm begining to wonder if this last book will ever come out ... and if it does, if I'll still care. The over-arching plot of the series centered around the millennium, but the world survived Y2K unscathed and might now find a world-ending-in-2000 story unimpressive.

Hopefully Strange Fate will be published while there still interested readers left!

A Song of Ice and Fire Series (A Game of Thrones)

This is another series on my to-read list. It began with A Game of Thrones released in '96. Seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros, a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime.

Now a show based on the series will start up in April. It's been 6 years since the last book came out, but fans will have to wait until December of next year for A Dance with Dragons to be released (unless maybe the popularity of the show bumps up the release date...?)


What about you? Which series have you waited the longest for its conclusion? What are you still waiting for?

*Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine