Category: Ruminations

Blog Hop: Quitting a Story

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop5 Comments

book blogger hopThis week’s Book Blogger Hop question: Why would you stop reading a book? Too long, wrong genre, bad language, not what you expected, or something totally different?

I had to think about this, because I rarely stop reading a book once I start it.  Partially that’s because I’m pretty judicious about what books I pick up to begin with, and (maybe more so) partially that’s because I have a lot of trouble stopping midway through a story.  I’m a completist–I like to read entire series, or every book a favorite author wrote, and I have a hard time stopping partway through even a story I don’t like.

Sometimes, if a book is really bothering me, I’ll very deliberately finish it anyway–because I can close the book and be done with it, while a half-finished story tends to linger in my mind in a very bothersome way.

So when I do quit a book, it tends to be because the style or narrative is not at all what I was expecting, to an extent that I’m actively not enjoying the reading.  I’ve noted several unfinished books on my list of books read, and a couple were surreal to the point that I couldn’t get into the story at all (though one was philosophical and the other was just TOO silly), one turned out to be experimental poetry I couldn’t make any sense out of, one was far more violent than I had expected, and two were just flat boring.  And then there was one that made me so ANGRY with the clearly abusive relationship presented as romantic that I quit on page 65 in genuine fear I would throw the book across the room if I kept reading.

The most recent book I quit (which will remain nameless) I might yet go back to…it was by an author I like a lot, there was a promise of a masked Robin Hood figure and I really expected to like it–but it was in a quasi-medieval setting, and something about the grinding poverty and the utter lack of life options for the heroine just really depressed me.  And it’s not like I haven’t read other books with those elements, or people in far more immediate crises, and I was guessing life would eventually turn around…but I wasn’t willing to wait for it and be depressed in the meantime.  I might have picked it up on an off-day, though, so I may yet try it again…

So much for me!  What causes you to drop a book halfway through?

Movie Review: Boyhood

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

I was intrigued by Boyhood when I heard about in theaters, but decided to wait for the DVD–and now I’ve finally watched it, and returned the DVD to the library for the other 400 people waiting for it!  You’ve probably heard the buzz about this movie, especially since it won at the Golden Globes.  I found it interesting…and yet it ultimately didn’t quite work for me.

I realized as I started watching that I didn’t know anything about the plot.  Everything I’d heard about the movie was about the very unusual filming plan.  The director (Richard Linklater) spent 12 years on this movie, coming back to film the same actors each year so that the characters, especially the boy of the title, can age throughout the movie.  After watching, I realized there was very little word about the plot because there’s very little plot.  Mostly it’s about a boy (and his sister) growing up.

The back of the DVD box described this as the “epic journey” of a boy reaching adulthood, which I think gets it completely wrong.  Half the point is that it’s not an epic journey.  It’s an ordinary boy with an ordinary life captured on screen over 12 years.  That’s not to say that there’s no drama in the circumstances: when the movie opens, Mason and his sister Samantha are being raised by their single mom (Patricia Arquette), with an absentee father (Ethan Hawke) who drifts in and out over the years.  Their mother gets married (and divorced) twice more, and Mason goes through his own romantic ups and downs once he hits high school.  But the plot is not epic, and is still secondary to the simple passage of time and the development of the characters.

Which brings me to what was both the best and most problematic part of the movie for me.  I love this concept.  I mean, LOVE it.  And it was interesting to watch, and I absolutely appreciate the movie as an artistic accomplishment.  I think Linklater successfully made the movie he was trying to make, and the aging of all the characters (not just Mason) is fascinating and so different from anything I’ve seen before.

But.  The whole point is that we’re following the characters, and especially Mason, right?  And there we come to what, for me, was the absolutely impossible to overcome flaw of the film.  I didn’t like Mason.  Continue reading “Movie Review: Boyhood” →

Book Review: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

I enjoyed Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series when I read it several years ago, and I always meant to go on to his next Greek (and Roman) mythology series…but those books were coming out just as I was desperately trying to get my unfinished series list down, and I had a terror of starting any new series!  But that list has been under control for a while–and mythology is one of the categories for Once Upon a Time–and so it finally seemed like time to pick up the first book in the series, The Lost Hero.

The book opens right in the middle of mysteries, when Jason finds himself sitting on a bus with no memories of his past or who he is.  It could be worse, since at least he’s holding hands with Piper, a pretty girl who thinks they’re dating–and they’re also sitting with Leo, a wise guy who thinks Jason is his best friend.  But it could be better, considering they’re attacked by wind spirits within the hour.  By the time the winds settle, Jason, Piper and Leo are collected by a group of teenagers who take them to Camp Half-Blood–the sanctuary and training ground for demigods, half-mortal children of the Greek gods.  Their leader, Percy Jackson, has gone missing, and the gods have stopped communicating with humans.  A prophecy points to Jason to lead a quest to rescue the queen of the gods and defeat an ancient enemy who is on the rise. Continue reading “Book Review: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan” →

Reading Challenges Update

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

A little past the quarter-mark of the year, time for a check-in on reading challenges.  I’m being more laid-back this year and trying something different.  Just two challenges this year, the Reread Challenge and the…well, it doesn’t have a name, but there is a scorecard below.

For the Reread Challenge, I’ve been diving into lots of beloved rereads (21, in fact), so I’ll just remark on some of the more notable ones.  I reread (almost) the entire Tillerman Cycle (so good), The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Good Omens, Hatchet and its sequel, Golden and Grey, the first three books of the Little House on the Prairie series, and Jane of Lantern Hill, the very last L. M. Montgomery novel I ever read and which I had previously only read once.  So far, I’m having a lot of fun revisiting old friends, and definitely plan to continue.

As to my unnamed Reading Challenge, here’s the scorecard and the results for the first few months of the year:

Goodwill Librarian Reading Challenge

  • A Book That Became a Movie: The Martian by Andy Weir (at least, they’re making a movie…)
  • A Book Published This Year: The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente
  • A Book with Nonhuman Characters: Stitching Snow by R. C. Lewis (droids instead of dwarfs!)
  • A Funny Book: Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett
  • A Book by a Female Author: Loads of them, but Phoenix Island by Charlotte Paul was the first of the year.
  • A Mystery: Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie
  • A Book with a One-Word Title: Unbound by Jim C. Hines
  • A Book of Short Stories: Clockwork Fairy Tales, edited by Stephen L. Antczak and James C. Bassett
  • A Non-Fiction Book: The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs
  • A Book from an Author You Love that You Hadn’t Read Yet: Beyond the Farthest Star by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  • A Book a Friend Recommended: The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart
  • A Book at the Bottom of Your To-Read List: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
  • A Book You Can Finish in a Day: Fairest by Marissa Meyer
  • A Book From Your Childhood: Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • A Book Set Somewhere You’ve Always Wanted to Visit: Loose Chippings by Thomas Gerald Wheeler (England and Wales)
  • A Book with Magic: Ahem.  We’ll go with A Question of Magic by E. D. Baker, because of the title
  • A Book by an Author You’ve Never Read Before: Again, loads, but the first was Who Is the Doctor? by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith? [sic]

And that is…a lot!  17, in fact, putting me well on track to hit 50 by the end of the year, just mathematically.  But I think I’ve accounted for the easy ones, and it’s going to be harder to do many of the rest…  For now I’ve made it only new reads (except “book from my childhood”) and haven’t put any book in multiple categories.  I’d like to stick to that, but I’ll see how strict I feel as the year goes on.

And…that’s all for now, folks!  🙂  Did you have any reading challenges or goals this year?  How are they going for you?

Small Blog Changes – and a New Review for the Storyteller

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

First of all, I have a bit of housekeeping to address.  Outside of the blogosphere, I’ve recently started a new day job–which is great and very exciting!  🙂  But sadly, it also gives me less time for blogging.  I’m not by any means shutting the blog down, but I do want to give a head’s-up that I may be posting less.  Probably more like 1-2 times a week, instead of my usual three.

I figure if I announce it, then it’s a plan… 🙂

In other news!  I’m happy to share a recent review for The Storyteller and Her Sisters, posted by fellow blogger Katy, who writes at The Library Mama.  She highlights some of the darker themes of the book…but notes that it stays light throughout.

Check out the review here.  Thanks for sharing, Katy!