Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Posted by melydia on November 18, 2011 No comment

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis: Wow. And I mean that in a good way: I am completely awestruck by this novel. Kivrin is an undergraduate historian who wants to visit the Middle Ages. Mr. Dunworthy is a professor in the 20th Century History department who is trying to convince her not to go, since the Medieval History department has never sent anyone back in time and the Middle Ages were totally dangerous. She goes anyway, but while the tech is getting the fix to make sure she ended up in the correct place, he falls ill with a mysterious and possibly deadly virus. Oxford goes under quarantine as Dunworthy scrambles to figure out when and where Kivrin is. Meanwhile, Kivrin has her own set of problems in the 14th century, where she also has fallen ill and no longer knows where the rendezvous location is for when she is to be picked up two weeks later. On top of all this there are the blustery bureaucrat Gilchrist, the obnoxiously overbearing Mrs. Gaddson, the endearingly enthusiastic Colin, and a whole host of other wonderful and memorable characters. This book is nearly 600 pages but not once did it feel long. I was completely absorbed. If you like thrillers and are at all interested in the Middle Ages (and have a strong stomach, for many of the various symptoms and remedies are described in horrifying detail), definitely check this one out. It’s simply marvelous.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

Posted by melydia on November 15, 2011 1 comment

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks: This is quite possibly the most amazing collection of true stories I’ve ever read. I’d encountered Sacks’s work in the past only through the movie Awakenings (which I didn’t even know was him, given that the doctor in the film is named Malcolm Sayers), but that was merely the tip of the iceberg. Herein is described a man whose memory failed him, where he perpetually believes it to be some forty years ago, and cannot remember anything that’s happened since for more than a minute or two at a time. A woman who has trouble hearing people over the deafening Irish music playing in her head. A man whose visual understanding of the world is so diminished that he literally cannot identify a rose until he smells it, though he can describe its shape and colors to the smallest detail. And on and on. The mind is an amazing machine, and this book of various ways it can misfire is not at all depressing, as one might expect. Indeed, it’s actually full of hope, a reminder of how ingeniously mankind can adapt to even the most unusual and strenuous of circumstances.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

ATC Sunday

Posted by melydia on November 13, 2011 1 comment

Anime USA: November 18-20, 2011

Posted by melydia on November 11, 2011 No comment

For the fourth year running, I’ll be in the Artists Alley with my dear husband at Anime USA in Crystal City, Virginia, next weekend. Stop by and say hello!

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Posted by melydia on November 8, 2011 No comment

Extras by Scott Westerfeld (unabridged audiobook read by Corine Montbertrand; 11 hrs 45 min on 10 CDs): I almost didn’t read this book at all. I was so upset at the end of Specials that I figured I might as well just give up on the series, since Extras was supposed to be just sort of an additional story rather than a continuation. But a friend of mine convinced me to give it a try and I am so glad I did. While the first three Uglies books took place somewhere on the west coast of what used to be the United States, for this book we have been transported to Japan. It’s been a few years since Tally’s adventures and the Mind Rain (the removal of the lesions causing people to be Pretty-heads) has caused the world to go a little bit crazy. In Japan, Aya lives in a world of face rank – measures to fame compared to the other people in her city. They live in a reputation economy, where relative fame means more credit to purchase items. Aya is a kicker – what we’d call a vlogger – and in order to become famous she goes undercover with a secret clique of fame-shunning maglev-surfing girls. When she unwittingly stumbles upon the biggest story in the world, she attracts a whole lot of unwanted attention.

This isn’t just another story taking place in the same universe as the rest of the series: it actually is connected. Loose ends are tied up and I felt extremely satisfied by the end – and getting there was a hell of a lot of fun as well. Radical Honesty – the physical inability to lie or even hold back the truth – was an interesting plot device that ended up being more funny than contrived. I loved all the new characters and while I guessed at the truth behind the mystery pretty early on, I still enjoyed watching them figure it out. And, of course, the appearance of some of my beloved characters from the previous books was much appreciated. Definitely a worthy finale to the series.

A note on the audio: Despite my dislike of Monterbrand’s stoned-sounding male character voices, I was impressed at how well I was able to distinguish between each of them here. Hiro was especially entertaining.

ATC Sunday

Posted by melydia on November 6, 2011 No comment


If you don’t know who this is, well…I’m not sure we can be friends.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Posted by melydia on November 4, 2011 No comment

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (unabridged audiobook read by Jim Colby; 5 hrs 34 min on MP3): The story is difficult to describe: basically two men start a club based on emotional release through fisticuffs. Sort of. I saw the movie about a decade ago and recalled liking it, so when a copy of the audiobook fell in my lap (so to speak) I figured I might as well give it a try. Wow, is this one seriously frightening book. Not in a traditional way, where the narrator is being chased by some scary bad guy, but because the narrator is both utterly disturbing and terrifyingly believable. I mean, are those recipes for explosives real? I think this is what bothered me the most: I really felt like I was getting to know Tyler Durden on a personal level, and I didn’t want to. But I‘m glad to have read this. Now I want to see the film again and look for what I missed. There’s a fair amount of absurd and dark humor tucked in among the repetitive statements. I wouldn’t recommend this is you are put off by foul language, violence, or sheer insanity, but if you can accept it for what it is, this is one novel sure to stick with you for a long time.

A note on the audio: The repetition in this book is perhaps a bit more maddening on audio than it would be in print form, but hearing it also made it feel more real.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards

Posted by melydia on November 1, 2011 No comment

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards: One snowy night in the mid-1960s, a woman gives birth to twins: a healthy boy, and a girl with Down’s Syndrome. The doctor-husband, fearing further misery, tells his wife the daughter died at birth. The nurse, rather than following instructions to send the child to an institution to be raised, moves to another city to raise the child herself. Years pass, lives change. I admit I devoured this book over the course of about two days, drawn to the characters and the constant suspense of whether the truth will ever come out. But this is not a happy story. It is, at best, bittersweet. Well-written and beautiful, to be sure (though the repeated comparison between infant hands and stars/starfish grew a bit tiresome), but kind of a downer over all.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

ATC Sunday

Posted by melydia on October 30, 2011 4 comments


Remember She-Ra? I think I went as her one Halloween. I know I had pretty much all the dolls.

The Glue Stick Tourist

Posted by melydia on October 28, 2011 No comment

I’ve started another blog, this one devoted to my somewhat unusual hobby of gluebooking my travels. You can find it here: http://gluesticktourist.blogspot.com/

I’m on the “post once a day until I run out of things to post, then have a big lull until I have something new to share” schedule, so there’s a fair bit of stuff up there while I work my way through my existing pile of journals. I thought about just making it another feature here, like on Wednesdays or something, but decided I’d rather make an entirely new blog devoted to just that. I’ve never done a themed blog before (this, despite evidence to the contrary, was never meant to be exclusively a book blog), so it’s a fun experiment. Enjoy!

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