Thursday Quotables: All The Winters After

Posted in Thursday Quotables by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome back to Thursday Quotables! This weekly feature is the place to highlight a great quote, line, or passage discovered during your reading each week. Whether it’s something funny, startling, gut-wrenching, or just really beautifully written, Thursday Quotables is where my favorite lines of the week will be, and you’re invited to join in!

NEW! Thursday Quotables is now using a Linky tool! Be sure to add your link if you have a Thursday Quotables post to share.

All the Winters After by Seré Prince Halverson
(published 2016)

I’m in love with this book! If only I didn’t have little things like work and sleep interrupting, I would have finished by now. Amazing characters, fascinating personal journeys, and a to-die-for setting in Alaska all make this a great read. Here a brief description of some of my favorite sights in Alaska:

All along the bench of land above the bay, fireweed spread like its namesake, setting the slope ablaze in the most vibrant fuchsia. In this land known for everything large and majestic — mountains, eagles, glaciers, bears, even its mosquitoes, which Alaskans called the state bird — the tiny, pale state flower popped up everywhere, those delicate sky-colored forget-me-nots with their pinpointed yellow centers, as if the sun had sacrificed a part of itself in order to anoint each one with a sacred droplet of light.

fireweed

Alaska state flower: forget-me-not

What lines made you laugh, cry, or gasp this week? Do tell!

If you’d like to participate in Thursday Quotables, it’s really simple:

Write a Thursday Quotables post on your blog. Try to pick something from whatever you’re reading now. And please be sure to include a link back to Bookshelf Fantasies in your post (http://www.bookshelffantasies.com), if you’d be so kind!
Click on the linky button (look for the cute froggie face) below to add your link.
After you link up, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment about my quote for this week.
Be sure to visit other linked blogs to view their Thursday Quotables, and have fun!

16Feb2016

Shelf Control #23: The Color of Magic

Posted in Shelf Control by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Welcome to the newest weekly feature here at Bookshelf Fantasies… Shelf Control!

Shelf Control is all about the books we want to read — and already own! Consider this a variation of a Wishing & Waiting post… but looking at books already available, and in most cases, sitting right there on our shelves and e-readers.

Want to join in? See the guidelines and linky at the bottom of the post, and jump on board! Let’s take control of our shelves!

My Shelf Control pick this week is:

Title: The Color of Magic
Author: Terry Pratchett
Published: 1983
Length: 210 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

In the beginning there was…a turtle.

Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place which might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Particularly as it’s carried though space on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown). It plays by different rules.

But then, some things are the same everywhere. The Disc’s very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the world’s first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. Unfortunately, the person charged with maintaining that survival in the face of robbers, mercenaries and, well, Death, is a spectacularly inept wizard…

How I got it:

I picked up a copy at a used book store — where else?

When I got it:

It’s been years. I’d forgotten that I owned a copy until I took inventory last summer!

Why I want to read it:

Discworld feels like a big gaping hole in my reading life. I loved Good Omens, and I’ve loved all the other little tastes I’ve gotten of Terry Pratchett’s writing. Discworld is so vast that I’ve let myself feel too intimidated to ever actually get started, but I think I need to just jump in and give it a try. I’ve gotten lots of different advice about suggested reading orders for the series, but I figure I might as well start right at the beginning.

__________________________________

Want to participate in Shelf Control? Here’s how:

Write a blog post about a book that you own that you haven’t read yet.
Add your link below!
And if you’d be so kind, I’d appreciate a link back from your own post.
Check out other posts, and have fun!

For more on why I’ve started Shelf Control, check out my introductory post here, or read all about my out-of-control book inventory, here.

And if you’d like to post a Shelf Control button on your own blog, here’s an image to download (with my gratitude, of course!):

15Feb2016

Top Ten Tuesday: The soundtrack of my reading life

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic has to do with books and music, and since the suggested approach didn’t really call to me, I thought I’d put my own spin on it.

My TTT list this week is about my reading habits, as described by 10 songs:

1) The Sounds of Silence: There’s nothing I like better than having a quiet room to read in. No music, no TV, no people… just me, a book, and maybe some birdsong or rain sounds coming in through the windows.

2) Forever Young: I’m a fully grown adult, but I keep coming back to YA fiction. There’s something so immediate and emotional about YA books, isn’t there?

3) Time Warp: Time travel books are always a favorite.

4) Walking on the Moon: I love to read anything about space travel, whether sci fi, or non-fiction about the space program, or even astronauts’ memoirs.

5) Thrift Shop: Nothing better than a used book store for spending a few hours lost among the stacks! My best finds are all from used book stores.

6) Time After Time: I do love to re-read! If I really and truly love a book, then once is never enough.

7) (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction: I try, and I try, and I try, and I try… but sometimes there’s no choice but to DNF.

8) Let the Sunshine In: One of my very favorite things to do is read outdoors on a sunny day. A blanket in the sun, or sitting somewhere on the grass, with clear blue skies and the sun on my face… bliss!

9) All You Need Is Love: Because even though I don’t read much in the romance genre, I’m still a sucker for a great, momentous, unforgettable love story.

10) Where Do We Go From Here?: Okay, this one might be a stretch — but if you’re a Buffy fan, then no doubt you’ve watched the season 6 musical episode (“Once More With Feeling”) a time or two (or a couple of dozen times, if you’re like me)… in which case, you absolutely know this song (and maybe sing along???). So where do we go from here… is what I ask myself every single time I finish a great book and just can’t imagine what to read next.

What was your musical theme this week? Share your link, please, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I host a Book Blog Meme Directory, and I’m always looking for new additions! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

15Feb2016

The Monday Check-In ~ 2/15/2016

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

In real life:

I’m very happy it’s Presidents Day! Who doesn’t love a day off?

What did I read last week?

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders: A witch and a mad scientist and the end of the world? Just as awesome as it sounds. My review is here.

The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand: Not my usual cup of tea, but I didn’t hate this romance that I read for my book group. Check out my thoughts on this book, here.

It’s All Your Fault by Paul Rudnick: A funny, quick YA book about celebrity life, family, and doing the unexpected. My review is here.

Elsewhere on the blog:

I wrote a post with follow-up news, information, and links related to two books I recently reviewed, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot and The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult. Check it out, here.

Pop culture goodness:

My son and I have been slowly working our way through my Buffy boxed set, and this week we finished season 4, with the awesomely weird “Restless” episode. So many priceless moments, including:

… and this treasure:

“Try not to bleed on my couch…”

Fresh Catch:

One new book thanks to Book Depository:

Three new YA releases all arrived at the library at once:

And a friend just back from Israel brought me this:

That’s Pride and Prejudice, in Hebrew. No, I’m not going to attempt it any time soon, but my husband was just about to give up on it in English, so the timing is perfect.

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

All the Winters After by Seré Prince Halverson: I’ve really been looking forward to this one — so glad to finally be starting it!

Now playing via audiobook:

I listened to about 15% of Liar Temptress Soldier Spy by Karen Abbott, and then quit. It seemed like an interesting topic, but the audiobook just didn’t hold my attention well enough. So…

I’m now very happily listening (again!) to the audiobook of Night Broken, book #8 in the amazing Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. I love these books so much! And I’ll be soooo ready for #9 when it comes out in a few weeks.

Ongoing reads:

And we’re off! My book group is reading and discussing two chapter per week of both Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon and Emma by Jane Austen. This is an online group, and anyone is welcome to join us — so if you’re interested, just ask me how!

So many books, so little time…

14Feb2016

Take A Peek Book Review: It’s All Your Fault by Paul Rudnick

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

My name is Caitlin and up until forty-eight hours ago I had never:

Tasted alcohol, kissed a boy, sang in public at the top of my lungs, kidnapped anyone or—WHAT? STOLEN A CONVERTIBLE?

Now I’m in jail and I have no idea what I’m going to tell:

The police, my parents, the mayor, all of those camera crews and everyone on Twitter.

I have just noticed that:

My nose is pierced and I have—WAIT? IS THAT A TATTOO?

I blame one person for this entire insane weekend:

My famous cousin.

Who is also my former best friend.

Who I have HATED for the past four years.

Who I miss like crazy. NO I DON’T!!!!

IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT, HELLER HARRIGAN!!!!

My Thoughts:

Be prepared to giggle, snort, and perhaps even LOL. It’s All Your Fault is a quirky, silly story of opposites exploding… and then giving each other exactly what they need.

Main character Caitlin is the very definition of a goody-two-shoes: homeschooled, impeccably dressed in polyester blazer and white knee socks, and part of her family’s musical act, the Singing Singleberries. Caitlin is a good Christian girl who eats wholesome food, never swears, drinks or smokes, and yet has crippling anxiety attacks that stop her in her tracks.

Caitlin has been estranged from her cousin Heller, her previous best friend, for the past four years, during which Heller has become one of the top teen stars in America. Heller starred for years in the kid TV show Anna Banana, playing a simple small town girl with a secret identity as a supermodel. (Hello, Hannah Montana!) Now Heller is about to become a major movie star, as the first movie based on the epic Angel Wars book trilogy is about to premiere… but Heller needs to stay clean, sober, and out of trouble long enough to make it through the publicity juggernaut required to launch the movie.

To say that Caitlin (who Heller sneeringly refers to as K-Bop) and Heller are like oil and water is an understatement:

“K-Bop’s parents are named Calvin and Carol and they have eight hundred children who all have names starting with C, like Cucumber and Cockatoo and Colostomy…”

“I only have eight brothers and sisters and my parents like the letter C because it stands for Caring, Cooperation and our Creator.”

But it’s Caitlin to the rescue! Caitlin is recruited to be glued to Heller’s side for the premiere weekend, to keep her in line, keep her from generating any more bad press, and to make sure the screaming Angel Wars fans have the time of their lives, putting to bed all the nasty gossip about Heller’s bad habits and making sure her movie career moves forward without a hitch. Of course, Caitlin is convinced that she’s there to save Heller’s soul, but hey, how hard could it be?

What follows is a comedy of capers and pranks, as Caitlin’s good intents collide with Heller’s need for mischief — and ultimately, both girls know that sooner or later they’ll have to face up to the events of four years earlier that drove a wedge between them and kept them separated ever since.

Along the way, there are crazy fans, daring escapes, a raid on a cupcake factory, and silly scenes galore, such as Caitlin trying to convince a table full of Hollywood teen stars to drink wholesome glasses of milk or Caitlin teaching Heller to substitute the names of New Jersey towns every time she has the urge to swear.

“You’re at one of your filthy nightclubs, or at a degenerate Hollywood party. Someone approaches you and offers you an illegal substance. What do you say?”

Heller thought about this, furrowing her brow.

“Go Teaneck yourself, you Dunellen piece of motherfucking Mount Kittatinny!”

“HELLER!”

The book pokes gentle fun at crazy, obsessive fandom, the YA trilogies that dominate books and movies today, and their almighty influence over the entire world, not just the entertainment industry. (There’s even a judge whose three daughters are named Katniss, Bella, and Hermione.)

It’s All Your Fault is a girl-power delight of wild adventure, personality clashes, and Hollywood backstage shenanigans. Heller and Caitlin are fun, well-developed characters who break out of their molds and display real humor and strength that go beyond their one-dimensional outer appearance. This is a light, silly, sometimes hilarious read, very quick and enjoyable, and is sure to make fans of teen movie and book franchises giggle in recognition.

Note: For more by this author, check out my review of Gorgeous.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: It’s All Your Fault
Author: Paul Rudnick
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: January 26, 2016
Length: 294 pages
Genre: Young adult fiction
Source: Library

13Feb2016

Book Review: The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Let’s be perfectly clear: This is not my usual kind of read.

My lovely online book group picked The Chocolate Thief by Laura Florand for our February group read. Don’t get me wrong — I have nothing against chocolate! And if you don’t believe me, just send me some and see if I eat it.

I do have a problem, though, with romance novels, and The Chocolate Thief belongs firmly on the romance shelf.

All that being said, I will admit that I didn’t hate The Chocolate Thief, and actually, once I accepted that I was reading this book and sticking with it, I kind of got sucked in — at least, enough to read for a couple of hours straight this morning so I could see how it all turned out.

Enough preamble.

In The Chocolate Thief, 20-something American businesswoman Cade Corey has come to Paris to see if she can make a dream come true. Cade is the youngest generation of the Corey chocolate dynasty of Corey, Maryland. Think Hershey — Corey is a multi-billion dollar corporation that thrives off of its 33-cent chocolate bars sold at Walmarts and in supermarket checkout lines across America.

Cade’s dream is to launch a line of gourmet, high-end chocolate as a flagship enterprise for Corey, but to make it happen, she needs a Parisian chocolatier to sign on to the scheme, agree to let Cade buy him for millions, and then mass-produce his type of chocolate, stamped with his name, as part of the Corey brand.

Cade gets a nasty awakening when she pursues the #1 chocolatier in Paris, Sylvain Marquis, and is given an angry and emphatic NO. (Or “non”, I suppose). Not one to give up, Cade eventually ends up breaking into Sylvain’s laboratoire, fingering all of his chocolate-making supplies, leaving chocolatey fingerprints everywhere, and winding up covered by gourmet blogs as the mysterious “Chocolate Thief”.

Needless to say, it doesn’t hurt a bit that Sylvain is gorgeous and manly and has beautiful hands. Cade falls hard. He falls right back. The chemistry grows and the heat rises. And it goes pretty much where you’d expect it to go.

Okay, my thoughts:

Well, as I said, I did read all the way to the end, so clearly, it’s a compelling story. Of course, there are things that bugged me. Such as Cade stubbornly running around the city in heels while thinking about how much her feet hurt. Or having to describe every outfit she wears and how much makeup she puts on. Or the fact that Sylvain’s early refusal and dismissal of Cade seems to be the key to what keeps her coming back. Or looking at every attractive woman as competition.

There are positives: I liked that the main character is a successful professional who’s devoted to her family and to the family business. I liked that she and Sylvain are both outwardly cool and confident, but have lurking insecurities underneath — she, that men only want her for her money, and he, that women only want him for his chocolate.

They spend a lot of the book mistrusting each other’s motives and getting either hurt or angry, when if they’d only talked a bit more, they’d have reached an understanding (and happiness) a lot sooner.

The writing is a bit bumpy. Lots and lots (and lots) of decadent, sensuous descriptions of the flavors of chocolate, the way it melts on the tongue, the scents and textures of every food, every piece of clothing, every touch of skin. These bits are all quite delicious (sorry…), if occasionally overdone. By the time I was further in the book, it was like — enough already! We get how good the chocolate smells. Can we get on with the plot?

Where was I? Yes, the writing. Some bits just made me groan, and not from ecstasy:

Long, phallic eclairs in shades of coffee, chocolate, and pistachio stretched in rows like some nymphomaniac’s dream.

Okay…

Chocolate melted on her tongue, melted into her body. Its warm, rich sweetness combined with the pounding adrenaline until she felt … the closest she could think of was aroused. Desperately, intensely aroused, as if someone could come out of the shadows with his sorcerer eyes glinting and lay her down on the dark counters and …

Is it getting hot in here?

This clunker just did not work for me:

She had hunted him. She had tethered herself out there like some kid goat to his Tyrannosaurus rex.

Wait, what? Goats hunt T-Rexes? Not sure this makes the least bit of sense.

The plot is a fairly standard romance arc — two beautiful people, intense instant attraction, lots of tingly bits leading up to hot sex, misunderstandings and obstacles, and finally, the HEA you know is coming at the end. Sorry, that’s not a spoiler — that’s just how these things go.

Speaking of hot sex — there’s quite a bit, including two especially… um, let’s say VIVID… scenes, one on the marble countertops of Sylvain’s workplace, and one quite memorable escapade taking place during the ascent of several flights of stairs.

Do I recommend this book?

Well, that depends. I actually had fun reading it, despite not being a fan of the genre, and despite the muscle strain I developed from all the eye-rolling. The Chocolate Thief isn’t a book I would seek out on my own, and I probably would have stopped after a chapter or two if not for not wanting to bail on a book club book. But, it wasn’t unpleasant to read, I did end up getting caught up enough in the story to want to see it through, and overall found it pretty fun. Especially all the chocolate. Yummmmmm.

For readers who enjoy romances with aloof, strong but secretly fragile men and the powerful but secretly looking for love women who break through their defenses, well, this might be just about perfect.

Overall, it’s sweet and romantic and full of the sights of Paris and an absolute walllowing in flavors. Not a bad choice for a quick and light read. And if you just want to get to the… um… vivid bits:

There in his arms. Yielding to him. Pulling at him. Yielding. Her mouth, her tongue, her body that flexed to him and grew softer and softer, as if all strength failed her, even as he grew stronger and stronger, too hard, hard to bursting with himself and his power over her.

… turn to chapters 13 and 18. You’re welcome.

Word to the wise: Stock up on chocolate before reading The Chocolate Thief, and splurge on the good stuff.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: The Chocolate Thief
Author: Laura Florand
Publisher: Kensington
Publication date: July 31, 2012
Length: 303 pages
Genre: Romance
Source: Library

13Feb2016

Take A Peek Book Review: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Take a Peek” book reviews are short and (possibly) sweet, keeping the commentary brief and providing a little peek at what the book’s about and what I thought.

Synopsis:

(via Goodreads)

From the editor-in-chief of io9.com, a stunning novel about the end of the world–and the beginning of our future

Childhood friends Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead didn’t expect to see each other again, after parting ways under mysterious circumstances during high school. After all, the development of magical powers and the invention of a two-second time machine could hardly fail to alarm one’s peers and families.

But now they’re both adults, living in the hipster mecca San Francisco, and the planet is falling apart around them. Laurence is an engineering genius who’s working with a group that aims to avert catastrophic breakdown through technological intervention into the changing global climate. Patricia is a graduate of Eltisley Maze, the hidden academy for the world’s magically gifted, and works with a small band of other magicians to secretly repair the world’s ever-growing ailments. Little do they realize that something bigger than either of them, something begun years ago in their youth, is determined to bring them together–to either save the world, or plunge it into a new dark ages.

A deeply magical, darkly funny examination of life, love, and the apocalypse.

My Thoughts:

What a weird and wonderful book!

All the Birds in the Sky mashes together magic and crazy science to create a whole that’s odd and unique and utterly engaging. We first meet the lead characters Patricia and Laurence as outcast kids — bullied, friendless, and with home lives that just scream abuse. When they finally meet, they provide each other with refuge and support, but ultimately part ways until a seemingly random reconnection as adults.

The story switches perspectives between both characters, showing us the life of Patricia the witch, cursing and healing people, always being cautioned against the #1 sin for witches, Aggrandizement… and Laurence, the genius mad scientist working on anti-gravity and the possible salvation — or destruction — of the planet.

The writing is often quite funny, although the subject matter can get pretty heavy, what with the impending end of the world and all. The witches and the scientists have plans to save everyone, but each plan may also bring the apocalypse. Patricia and Laurence battle their own factions as well as each others’ in order to avert disaster, even while dealing with their own inner turmoil and competing interests and emotions.

This book truly brings together science fiction and fantasy in a way very few do. As the author said in an introduction to the book on the io9 website, “A young witch and a wild science genius—the characters in my new novel All the Birds in the Sky don’t even belong in the same book together.” Read more from this piece, here.

If you enjoy oddball fiction with a science-y, magical flair, check out All the Birds in the Sky!

PS – Bonus points to Charlie Jane Anders for making excellent use of San Francisco — not just the obvious tourist attractions, but all the odd little corners and neighborhoods that make SF so SF!

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: All the Birds in the Sky
Author: Charlie Jane Anders
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication date: January 26, 2016
Length: 316 pages
Genre: Science fiction/fantasy
Source: Purchased

12Feb2016

Outlander season 2!

Posted in Outlander, Pop Culture by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Let the countdown begin! Starz announced this week that season 2 of Outlander will premiere on April 9th.

Want to get even more excited? Check out the newest season 2 trailer:

April 9th cannot get here soon enough!

12Feb2016

Following up: Reviews, news, and some HP too!

Posted in Bookish Thoughts by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’ve come across bits and pieces of information related to two different books I’ve read recently, and thought I’d take a moment to share some links of interest. Plus, a smidge of Harry Potter, because Harry Potter is always worth talking about!

______________________________________________________

First, some follow-up regarding The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot:

When I wrote about the audiobook of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks earlier this month (review), I focused just on the book content — what I enjoyed and what I didn’t, my overall impressions, etc. What I didn’t do at that point was to look for information about what has happened since with the family of Henrietta Lacks, the HeLa cell lines and their use in research, and the author of the book, Rebecca Skloot.

One of my questions while listening to the book had to do with the Lacks family. While the book discusses the sad situation of many of the family members, their financial struggles, and their inability to afford health coverage, it was not clear to me whether any of the book’s profits would be benefiting the family. A commenter on my blog was kind enough to mention that the author had started a foundation in honor of Henrietta Lacks, and that made me realize that I should share some of the information I came across here as a follow-up to my review.

First of all, Rebecca Skloot has established the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, to benefit the family of Henrietta Lacks as well as others in need. Ms. Skloot is the president of the foundation’s board of directors, and contributes a portion of her royalties and speaking fees to the foundation as well.

There have also been additional developments in the scientific community in regard to the HeLa genome, the family’s privacy rights in regard to their genetic data, and the ongoing use of HeLa in research.

Some reading links:

Henrietta Lacks Foundation: http://henriettalacksfoundation.org/

New York Times article about the foundation: http://nyti.ms/1BOaypD

The Lacks Family website: http://www.lacksfamily.net/
(includes information on speaking engagements, pictures and videos, and a link for making donations)

Rebecca Skloot’s FAQ page: http://rebeccaskloot.com/faq/
(includes detailed answers to questions about HeLa research, new developments since the book’s publication, the impact on the story, her writing process, and more)

New York Times op-ed piece by Rebecca Skloot (“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the Sequel”): http://nyti.ms/17TSE93

There’s a lot more information out there and tons of articles that come up with a simple Google search for “Henrietta Lacks” or “HeLa”. I’m glad that I followed up and learned more, and I hope these links are helpful for those of you who are interested!

______________________________________________________

Next, regarding The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult:

The Storyteller (review) is a work of fiction, but its depiction of Holocaust survivors and the narration of one particular survivor’s experiences seem all too real. The book raises a question about guilt and regret; whether evil acts can be outweighed — or at least, counterbalanced — by a life dedicated to helping others. In The Storyteller, a 95-year-old man confesses to a young friend that he was once an SS officer who oversaw the treatment of prisoners at Auschwitz. The friend seeks help from a prosecutor who works to hunt down Nazi war criminals and bring them to justice. In the book, the characters discuss the difficulty of bringing elderly suspects to trial, especially as there are fewer and fewer witnesses still living with each passing year.

I was reminded all over again of the relevance of the issues raised in The Storyteller when I saw an article in the newspaper this week about the trial just getting under way in Germany. The defendent is a 94-year-old man who was a guard at Auschwitz, and is being accused of being an accessory to the murders of 170,000 people.

It will be interesting to follow the course of the trial and see the outcome, particularly as there are several similar cases still pending in Germany. I was particularly struck by this fact included in the article: “Of 6,500 SS members who are known to have served at Auschwitz, only 29 were ever brought to trial in Germany. ”

If you haven’t had a chance to read The Storyteller yet, by all means do!

______________________________________________________

A final note:

After two serious subjects, I thought I’d end with something completely unrelated and totally upbeat: By now, I’m sure everyone has heard, but just in case…

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is being released in book form! *happy dance*

This is NOT another Harry Potter novel, but rather the script from the London stage production. The book will be released on Harry’s birthday (July 31st, for the Muggles out there), and is available for preorder now!

Some news pieces about the book:

From the BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35539552

From EW — a clarification from J. K. Rowling about what the book is and isn’t: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/11/jk-rowling-cursed-child-book

And the Pottermore announcement: https://www.pottermore.com/news/ww-publishing-cursed-child-script-book-announcement

I’d still prefer a trip to the theater in London, of course — but since that’s not going to happen any time soon, I’m tickled pink about the book! Who else is counting the days until July 31st?

11Feb2016

Discussion: Is it ever unfair to write a review?

Posted in Blogging, Bookish Thoughts by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Is there ever a time when it’s just not fair to review something?

Here’s what I mean:

Let’s say you’re reading a book in a particular genre. And it’s a genre you typically never read. What’s more, it’s a genre that you don’t particularly like. For whatever reason, you read the book anyway… and — big surprise — you don’t like it.

Do you write a negative review talking about how much you disliked the book? Or do you just put it down, accept that it was never meant to be, and move on?

Of course, you may be wondering, why even start the book in the first place?

Well, there could be plenty of reasons. Maybe a friend has urged you to read a favorite book… or you stumble across something at the library that catches your eye… or you see the author on a TV talk show and think she sounds interesting.

For me, I’m having this dilemma at the moment thanks to my beloved book group. (Hi guys!) Our monthly book picks cover a lot of different topics, although we do tend to veer toward historical fiction on a regular basis. That’s not all, though — we’ve also done historical non-fiction, thrillers, and contemporary drama, to name but a few.

Our current book — recommended by one of our members — is a romance/chick lit kind of book, which really, really isn’t my thing. Still, everyone else was enthusiastic, so I figured I’d give it a try. Five chapters in, I’m just not digging it, but I don’t want to sit out the discussion, so I guess I’ll do my best to finish it. And who knows, I may end up liking it.

(Doubtful, but why pre-judge?)

Okay, assuming I finish the book and still feel unimpressed, should I review it? On the one hand, it seems fair for me to say, basically:

This book did not appeal to me, and here’s why.

On the other hand, it doesn’t seem fair for me to say:

This is a terrible book, and no one should read it.

(Granted, that’s not something I’d typically say in a review, but let’s go with it for now.)

If I don’t like the plot or the characters, but the writing is decent and it seems to be successful within the usual “rules” of the genre, then who am I to say it’s not a good book? All I think I can truly say is that I read a book that didn’t work for me. And perhaps a romance fan might really and truly love it.

(Likewise, if you read a really gory scary horror book even though you almost never read horror and end up hating it, is it fair to say it’s a bad book? Or is it more fair to say that the book scared the bejeezus out of you and was icky and unpleasant, and hey, I hate reading horror, so I didn’t enjoy it at all?)

What do you do when you read a book that, objectively, you can recognize as pretty good for its type, but subjectively, you really don’t enjoy reading?

I’d love to hear some thoughts on this!