Tag: Books

Best Things About Being a Book Lover

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations5 Comments

I have met people who don’t read.  Like, ever.  I don’t understand them.  But the idea got me thinking about the wonderful things about reading–and the best things about being a person who reads.

1) Expanded Knowledge: I’ve learned about history from historical fiction, science from science fiction (slightly dicey, but some real science), and human nature from every genre…which doesn’t even touch all the random information I’ve picked up from nonfiction.  For example, most recently, I’ve probably been slightly annoying on the subject of decision fatigue and energy depletion–but it’s fascinating!

2) Expanded Life: Or, as S. I. Hayakawa said so well, “It is not true we have only one life to live.  If we can read, we can live as many lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.”  And recent studies have backed him up–the brain actually views real experiences and imagined experiences as the same thing (or maybe they’re just close–I don’t care, I saw the article and concluded my brain feels I have really ridden dragons and been to Prince Edward Island!)

3) Pleasant Commutes: It’s a good day when I walk out of my office and think, “Oh good, now I get to spend half-an-hour listening to my audiobook!”

4) Easy Entertainment, Always Available: What do non-readers do on their lunch breaks?  Seriously.  I have no idea.  Also helpful for long grocery store lines.

5) Instant Escape: See above.  And it’s not that I need to escape my job exactly, but getting out my book does immediately take me out of my work mindset for half-an-hour.

6) Instant Connections: I have rarely had a friendship that didn’t involve bonding over books on some level.  Notable examples: I met one of my best friends in high school because we were both reading Tamora Pierce, and would have been too shy to talk to each other without that bridge; second, I have never connected so immediately with someone, before or since, as I did at a party when a complete stranger and I realized we both considered (again!) Tamora Pierce’s books to be life-changing.

7) Readily-Available Friends: I saw a meme on Facebook a while back (which I can’t find…) which said, to the best of my memory, “I always carry a book, not because I expect to read it but because then I know I have a friend always with me.” Yes.

But the best thing of all was best said by C. S. Lewis: We read to know we are not alone.  Because nothing’s better in reading than stumbling across an idea or a feeling or a weird quirk that I recognize instantly but have never seen anyone else admit to, and knowing that somewhere, someone else felt it too.

What are your best things about being a book lover?  We might find out we’re not alone in our favorite, quirky thing!

Book Review: Here, There and Everywhere

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

Here, There and Everywhere by Chris Roberson was the rare book with such an amazing concept that, despite other reasons it really shouldn’t have worked, it completely did and I loved it anyway.  I found this one looking for parallel universe books, and it is that—with a vengeance.  I think it wins for sheer number of parallel universes involved, with time travel thrown in besides.

When Roxanne Bonaventure is eleven years old, a dying woman gives her a silver bracelet she names the Sofia.  When she’s sixteen and having a very bad prom experience, she wishes to be somewhere far away…and finds herself confronting a Tyrannosaurus Rex in a prehistoric jungle.  Thus begins a lifetime of using the Sofia to travel through time and space and parallel universes.  There’s a lot of quantum theory involved, and a whole lot of adventures.

The novel is structured almost as a series of short stories, as Roxanne travels to various eras or alternate pasts or futures.  Roxanne (and the Sofia) are the connecting thread, but the plot connections are very loose.  Mostly, that’s okay.  On some level the book lacks an overarching drive or purpose, but at the same time…each adventure is SO interesting that it didn’t matter that much to my enjoyment!  Roxanne travels to Victorian London to hang out with a Sherlock Holmes-inspired detective, and to the Egyptian desert for an Indiana Jones-inspired clash with Nazis. Continue reading “Book Review: Here, There and Everywhere” →

Book Review: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Historical Fiction2 Comments

I’ve had mixed experience with Mitch Albom.  I liked The Five People You Meet In Heaven, but didn’t like The Time Keeper nearly as well.  I loved The First Phone Call from Heaven, but was disappointed by his most famous book, Tuesdays with Morrie.  All the same, when I saw his latest, The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, sitting on the shelf at the library, I picked it up on an impulse–and it was great!

The story begins at the funeral of Frankie Presto, one of the great disciples of Music.  And while we wait for the funeral to begin, Music is going to narrate Frankie’s life for us, intercutting between stories from Music, and interviews with music legends who have all come out to pay their last respects.  The story that unfolds takes us from Spain to London to New Orleans to New Zealand, and through almost a century of music, from the 1930s on up to the present.  Frankie is a guitar player who, in Forrest Gump fashion, manages to intersect with the major musical trends of the 20th century, from Duke Ellington to Elvis to Woodstock to KISS, with plenty of jazz and country and classical thrown in besides.  Plus there’s a magical twist–Frankie has six magic guitar strings, which will change six lives.

This was a deeply clever book with a wonderful story.  I loved Music as the narrator, a mythological figure who speaks of his/her disciples across the years, who tells about how we all take a grab at a chosen talent at birth, and who tells Frankie’s life as a symphony, with appropriate musical metaphors throughout. Continue reading “Book Review: The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto” →

Book Review: The Conjurers

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Historical Fiction, ReviewsLeave a comment

ConjurersWhen I heard about a historical fantasy novel spanning Europe in the 14th century, I thought…I like history, I like magic, I like travel stories…so I’m in!  And so I read The Conjurers by David Waid, which did feature magic and travels across medieval Europe.

The Conjurers tells the story of two sets of siblings.  In Ireland, Caitlin and Eamon must flee raiders, a flight both helped and complicated by the sudden surge of Eamon’s magical abilities.  In Genoa, Teresa’s brother Ignacio does not come home after a trip to the house of his master, an alchemist, and her search for him leads to deadly and devastating results.  Magicians around Europe are gathering for a hideous rite, and Caitlin, Eamon and Teresa are all being drawn into events.

In many ways, this book is two stories that ultimately intersect, as we cut between Eamon and Teresa.  Both are engaging stories, and there are similar thematic threads.  Teresa, like Eamon, discovers burgeoning magical power.  The plot threads take longer to come together, though it becomes evident that the villains each child is facing have connections to each other. Continue reading “Book Review: The Conjurers” →

Book Review(s): Split-Second and Ten Thousand Skies Above You

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

A two-fer review today…I’ve been reading parallel universe books this year, and two of the ones I read had sequels.  I’m not counting them on my challenge books (although I might change my mind on that…) but I thought it would be fun to do a brief “here’s how the story continued” review.  Spoilers inevitable for the first books!

Split-Second by Kasie West, sequel to Pivot Point

Pivot Point introduced us to Addison, her best friend Laila, their secret community of paranormals, and Addie’s ability to see alternate futures.  The book ended with Addie forced to choose a path that wiped out her romance with the wonderful Trevor, with the added complication of asking Laila to Erase her memory of that possibility.  This book expands Laila’s role, as we learn more about her ability and how she uses it to avoid any vulnerability…at least until she meets a boy whose memory she can’t wipe clean.  Meanwhile Addie is starting school in the Norm world for the first time (again), while trying to figure out why she’s drawn to this Trevor guy, and what to do with her newfound ability/handicap of stopping time when she’s stressed.

So right off the bat, the concept was less interesting in the sequel–but, I was attached to the characters, so I still had a very good time with the book.  Addie only uses her ability to see the future for very tiny periods (seeing only a few minutes ahead, mostly), largely removing the parallel-ness of it all.  On the other hand, she gets to meet people in the Norm world for the first time again, and the reader can see how different timing and different circumstances change those relationships.  In particular, she meets Trevor’s ex-girlfriend in a very different way, totally changing her impression of the girl, who becomes much more complex in this book than in the first one.  So there’s some parallel-ness. Continue reading “Book Review(s): Split-Second and Ten Thousand Skies Above You” →