2015

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.

What did I read last week?

The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher: Awesome start to a new series! My review is here.

In audiobooks, I finished listening to the magical, magnificent Uprooted by Naomi Novik, and absolutely loved it. Check out my review, here.

In graphic novels, I read volume 3 of the outstanding Alex + Ada trilogy by Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna. My post about the series is here.

I also enjoyed The Wolf Among Us, a new prequel to the Fables series (which I love). Fables fans will want to check this one out!

Fresh Catch:

I’ve had an ARC of this book on my Kindle since earlier this year, but when I came across a nice used hard copy, I had to treat myself:

And… finally!!!… my library request for Winter arrived! As soon as I finish my current book, I’m diving in!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick: After watching (and loving) the Amazon series, I decided I should read the book!

Now playing via audiobook:

I’m continuing on with the terrific Kate Shugak series by Dana Stabenow, just starting #4, A Cold-Blooded Business.

Ongoing reads:

We’re done! Our 15-month, 127 chapter odyssey has come to its finish. Thank you to Outlander Book Club for another outstanding read-along!

So many book, so little time…

6Dec2015

Audiobook Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

This tale of magic and love is infused with an old-world fairy tale sensibility, and the entire experience is truly special.

Agnieszka is a simple village girl, but she’s well aware of the danger of the Wood. When she is chosen by the Dragon to be the next girl to be kept in his tower, she’s startled and resentful, and feels completely out of place. She’s always messy, unable to get through an hour without ripping her dress, snarling her hair, and coming out stained and mussed. This irks the fastidious Dragon no end. But as she spends time with him, Agnieszka slowly comes to realize that she has magic of her own — not the formal, “scientific” magic of the Dragon, but something uniquely hers, rooted in her beloved Valley and infused with the power of the earth, water, and sky around her, much like her inspiration, the legendary Baba Yaga.

Little by little, Agnieszka and the Dragon discover an ability to work together and combine their magic into something that’s greater than either can do on their own. Before they can get too far with their discovery, though, disaster strikes as Kasia is taken by the Wood, and it’s up to Agnieszka to find a way to reclaim her best friend before she’s consumed by corruption.

The Wood stared back at me out of Kasia’s face: an endless depth of rustling leaves, whispering hatred and longing and rage. But the Dragon paused; my hand had clenched on his. Kasia was there, too. Kasia was there. I could see her, lost and wandering in that dark forest, her hands groping ahead of her, her eyes staring without seeing as she flinched away from branches that slapped in her face, thorns that drank blood from deep scratches on her arms. She didn’t even know she wasn’t in the Wood anymore. She was still trapped, while the Wood tore at her little by little, drinking up her misery.

The stakes build and build throughout the story, as the entire kingdom is plunged into strife and ultimately war as the Wood’s influence extends to the capitol city and threatens the world beyond as well. Agnieszka and the Dragon have to lead the fight against the Wood, but more than that, they have to find a way to get to the source of the Wood’s malignant power if their home and their people are to survive.

Uprooted is a captivating tale, start to finish. Agnieszka is an unusual main character — strong willed, able to stand up for herself, and devoted to those she loves. It’s thrilling to see her develop from a young, unskilled girl full of self-doubt into a talented, capable, strong woman. She thinks on her feet, defies authority when she knows she needs to, and devotes herself to figuring out what’s right and what’s wrong.

The evil of the Wood is terrifying. At times, all seems lost. The descriptions of the Wood’s poisonous intent and seemingly undefeatable power are scary and haunting, creating a mood of despair and horror.

The story culminates with a battle between good and evil, but even there, there are nuances and shades of grey. There’s a deeply affecting story beneath the Wood’s awful terror, and Agnieszka has the wisdom to understand that finding out the past is the only way to see a path toward the future.

The language and imagery of the story is beautiful, especially Agnieszka’s growing magical powers and the descriptions of her spell-weaving and enchantments.

And what’s a good fantasy without a love story? The love story in Uprooted is mostly a quiet thread woven throughout the greater tale of good and evil, malice and redemption — but when it comes to a boiling point, it’s steamy and sexy in all the right ways.

I listened to the audiobook of Uprooted, which was both a great and frustrating experience. The narrator, Julia Emelin, is not (as far as I could tell) a native English speaker. Her Russian accent was an irritant at the beginning, as I found some of her phrasing and rhythm slightly odd and off-putting. But, as I got more into the story, I started to find the narrator’s accent a plus. The people and place names in Uprooted are all Polish and Russian-flavored (Dvernik, Marek, Rosya, Alosha, Marisha), and the voice of the narrator became, for me, yet another piece of the whole, creating a mood that felt magical and outside of the everyday.

As to why the audiobook was frustrating: If I’d had a physical copy of this book in my hands, there’s no doubt that I would have binge-read until all hours of the morning. Uprooted is the kind of story that I’d normally gobble up as quickly as possible. It was so difficult to go at the speed of the recording. I ended up listening in 1.25x speed, because I didn’t have the patience to listen at normal speed, but even so, I was so caught up in the story that I couldn’t wait to keep going. I came close a few times to switching over to a hard copy, but by then, I was under the spell of the narrator’s voice and didn’t want to lose the mood created by the audio, which made me feel as though I was listening to Agnieszka telling her own tale.

Ultimately, listening to Uprooted was a magical experience. The story itself is gorgeous, and the audiobook’s rhythms add to the total effect. I loved the narrative, the characters, and the folktale feel of the book, and know that it’s one I’ll want to read again… and perhaps again after that.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Uprooted
Author: Naomi Novik
Narrator: Julia Emelin
Publisher: Del Ray
Publication date: May 19, 2015
Audiobook length: 17 hours, 43 minutes
Printed book length: 435 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Library (Overdrive)

5Dec2015

Graphic Reaction: Alex + Ada

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Let’s talk about the terrific trilogy I just read! Presenting…

Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn is a futuristic love story set not too far from now, when robots are a part of everyday life, people’s smart phones have been replaced by devices implanted directly into their temples, and the search for meaning and humanity is as present as always.

Alex is a disaffected twenty-something at the start of the story, lonely after the end of a relationship, and lacking much purpose in his life. To cheer him up, his wealthy grandmother gives him a gift — an X5, the latest in life-like androids. The X5 looks and feels like a real person, and is programmed to please its owner. Yes, in all ways.

Alex is perturbed by this gift — he has no interest in having an android for a companion. But as he spends more time with Ada, he wonders whether there’s more than meets the eye. When he learns about an underground movement that holds the secret to enabling androids’ sentience, he realizes that he can only be happy with Ada if she’s capable of choosing to be with him as well. Sentience for robots, however, is strictly against the law — and when a sentient robot goes on a rampage and kills humans, there’s an immediate backlash against all robots.

Alex and Ada, meanwhile, pursue their goal of sentience, and in the process, fall deeply in love. There’s no place in the world for a couple like them, and they’re forced to hide and go on the run. Meanwhile, the political debate concerning equal rights for sentient artifical intelligence continues to rage, and social change seems inevitable.

The Alex + Ada trilogy tells a powerful story of love and connection, while also asking some fundamental questions about what makes a person a person. Does one need bones and blood to be human? Are feelings that stem from a constructed system any different from feelings generated by an organic human brain? And what about free will?

The artwork in Alex + Ada is minimalistic and spare, but beautiful all the same. The eyes of the characters are expressive, and their body language is clear and evocative. The illustration style supports the narrative, and I really appreciated the uncluttered but eye-catching look of the books.

The three volumes of the story work together to tell one seamless story, and my only regret is that I read them with intervals in between. I’d love to go back at some point and read all three straight through, as I think the dynamics and flow of the story would be even more powerful when read as a whole.

Alex + Ada is graphic storytelling at its finest. I highly recommend this gorgeous trilogy

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: Alex + Ada, volumes 1 – 3
Author: Sarah Vaughn
Illustrator: Jonathan Luna
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication date: 2014 – 2015
Length: 128 – 136 pages
Genre: Graphic novel
Source: Library

4Dec2015

Book Review: The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’ll admit it up front: I’m a Jim Butcher fan. I’ve read all of the Dresden Files novels (15 so far), and various and sundry related stories, novellas, and graphic novels. Heck, I own the DVD of the (sadly short-lived) Dresden Files TV series. I binge-read the six volumes of the Codex Alera series a few years back. So, I guess you could say there was a decent chance that I’d love The Aeronaut’s Windlass too.

Yup. I did. Loved it a bunch.

The Aeronaut’s Windlass is the first book in a new series (The Cinder Spires), and it’s a remarkable feat of world-building. The book is set in a world in which mankind lives in huge, multi-storied towers (which are miles high and about two miles in diameter) that function as independent countries. The surface of Earth is dangerous and uninhabitable, covered by mists that conceal all sorts of dangers. Commerce is conducted in the air by fleets of airships that use etheric currents and power crystals to swoop, soar, dive, and attack.

Our loyalty is to Spire Albion (which I assume is more or less England, between the name and all the tea-drinking), and we meet a sprawling cast of characters right from the start. The main hero is Captain Grimm, commander of the AMS Predator, a non-military ship that makes its money from privateering. Grimm has a shadowy past that includes a dishonorable discharge from the Fleet, but from the first instant, it’s clear that he’s brave, noble, and a kick-ass air captain.

In addition to Captain Grimm and the crew of the Predator, we meet Gwen, a military recruit who stems from the very upper crust Lancaster family, which basically holds the monopoly on crystal production; Gwen’s cousin Benedict, who is a genetically-mixed warriorborn human; and Bridget, a large, self-conscious girl who finds an inner core of strength and courage.

And let’s not forget my very favorite character (and I suspect he’d resent anyone but himself being considered the hero of the piece): Rowl of the Silent Paws tribe, kit to Maul, chief of the Silent Paws. Rowl is a cat, and the cats in this book absolutely rock. They’re fierce warriors with an elegant and intricate system of power dynamics, clan politics, and etiquette. They mostly look down on clumsy humans, apart from the few (like Bridget, whom Rowl refers to as Littlemouse) who can speak Cat fluently.

Littlemouse was in danger, doubtless a prisoner, and the humans could not be trusted to handle her rescue with appropriate violence. They might be willing to leave someone alive, and Rowl was not prepared to tolerate incompetence where his personal human was concerned. He had just gotten her properly trained.

The action kicks into high gear when Spire Albion is attacked by a Marine contingent from Spire Aurora (Spain, as far as I can figure). The attack is sudden and devastating, and seems to have a sinister mastermind behind it whose motives are unclear. The good guys seems to be constantly outnumbered and outgunned, and the danger is vivid and terrifying — especially when highly venomous icky things called silkweavers seem to be serving the Aurorans, killing and maiming everything in their path.

Our little band of heroes is aided by a master etherealist, who has strange and inexplicable powers that allow him to see the unseen currents all around him, and his apprentice Folly, who’s another amazing and wonderful character. Folly is odd and off-kilter, but is possessed of incredible skill and instinct and comes to the rescue more than once (or twice, or thrice).

It’s all quite thrilling and absorbing. Jim Butcher does many things well, and he truly excels at writing action sequences. The extended airship battles are breathtaking, with booming cannons and swooping maneuvers, and a brave captain who never waivers in the face of enemy attack. (Okay, maybe I have just a teensy crush on Grimm at this point, but can you blame me?)

As always, Butcher knows just how to mix tense drama and high danger with sparkling, witty dialogue. The scenes narrated by Rowl are, of course, my favorites, but you don’t have to turn many pages in a Butcher book to find some clever wordplay or smart-ass retorts to lighten the mood.

Gwen sighed, and fetched another pair of mugs for the etherealist.

“Lovely,” Ferus said, and gulped some more. “Perceptions of etheric energy change from mind to mind, just as you and Sir Benedict demonstrate with your weapons crystals. And if one changes one’s mind, that also changes the nature of those perceptions. This will allow me to perceive those energies in ways in which I would not normally be able to do so.”

“You’re getting drunk,” Gwen said slowly, “so that you can experience etheric energy differently?”

Ferus held up his mug and said solemnly, “Think of it as goggles for one’s mind, instead of one’s eyes.”

The Aeronaut’s Windlass is a BIG book, over 600 pages. That would be huge, in and of itself, but considering this is just the first in a series, reading it feels like a pretty major undertaking. If I didn’t already know and love Jim Butcher’s books, I might be scared off, I suppose. There’s obviously much more yet to come in this series. While the book’s conclusion wraps up the first wave of battle, it’s clear that the war is just getting underway, and there are major questions left unanswered.

I struggled a bit at the beginning to understand the structure of the Spires and some of the fundamentals of the world of this book, but the action and the characters drew me in immediately, and it didn’t really take all that long for the more obscure elements to start to make sense and feel natural. By about the midpoint, I really hated to put the book down. And now that I’ve finished, I can say with certainty that I’m all in. I can’t wait for more of this excellent series, and just wish I could move straight on to the next book, instead of having to wait the year or two it’ll probably take for #2 to be released.

You really can’t go wrong with a Jim Butcher series. Fans will absolutely want to dive into the world of The Cinder Spires, and I think The Aeronaut’s Windlass is a great introduction for people who haven’t read his books too. (Although, if you haven’t read any Butcher, I’d urge you to run right out and find a copy of Storm Front, the first Dresden book).

So there you have it — a lengthy review which all boils down to: I loved this book. Go read it.

I’ll let Rowl have the final word, because he deserves it:

Each creature had something it excelled at, he supposed. Humans could manage knots easily, and cats could do everything else.

_________________________________________

The details:

Title: The Aeronaut’s Windlass (The Cinder Spires, #1)
Author: Jim Butcher
Publisher: Roc
Publication date: September 29, 2015
Length: 630 pages
Genre: Fantasy/steampunk
Source: Purchased

2Dec2015

Thursday Quotables: The Aeronaut’s Windlass

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.

The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
(published 2015)

The Aeronaut’s Windlass is the first book in a new series by Jim Butcher, and I’m loving it so far! It’s a huge book (600+ pages), and I’m only about 2/3 of the way through it at this point — but I’m hooked already. Steampunk, airships, power dynamics, air battles, creepy crawly icky things, and clans of cats who have utter disdain for most of the people around them… yes, please!

There are heaps of battles and intrigues, and danger galore, but also some quite funny moments to lighten the mood:

“Poison?” Grimm asked.

Ferus waggles his hand back and forth. “Yes. No, actually, not even remotely, but for purposes of this conversation, yes.”

Grimm frowned. “Ah. Um. Am I in any danger?”

“You’re dead as a stone, man!”

“I am?”

“Yes. No, actually, not even remotely, but for purposes of this conversation, yes.”

And a nice little line that made me think of my favorite Gail Carriger books:

Grimm did not, as a rule, believe in extravagance. That said, he did own a rather finely made teapot.

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!

2Dec2015

Counting up the books: December update

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Another month, another opportunity to take stock of my overflowing shelves!

In early September, I wrote a post called Counting Up the Books, talking about two things I love: BOOKS and NUMBERS. That was the beginning of a monthly feature for me, in which I tally up just how many unread books there are in my house and on my Kindle.

My September starting point was 598:

$Book Math 1$

As of October, I’d made some progress after culling and donating a bunch of books, plus making the decision to omit non-fiction books from my total — since, let’s face it, I’m a fiction lover through and through, and I feel no urgency at all about getting to all those non-fiction tomes (as interesting as they may seem) any time soon.

As a result, my past two month totals, adding in new books and subtracting books read or given away, were:

October: 539

November: 548 (yes, that’s an increase…)

And here we are at the beginning of December… and, well, my Black Friday/Cyber Monday/used book store mania is clearly showing. Here’s the latest count, which clearly tells me that I’m heading up and not down:

Just to be clear: I actually read more than five books during the past month! But a lot of those were library books, and while I adore the public library, reading library books doesn’t help get my bookshelves under control.

How are your shelves doing this month?

Don’t forget to join me for Shelf Control on Wednesdays, where we highlight books from our shelves that we really want to read!

1Dec2015

Shelf Control #12: The Dressmaker

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 Dressmaker
Author: Kate Alcott
Published: 2012
Length: 306 pages

What it’s about (synopsis via Goodreads):

Just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic comes a vivid, romantic, and relentlessly compelling historical novel about a spirited young woman who survives the disaster only to find herself embroiled in the media frenzy left in the wake of the tragedy.

Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she’s had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic’s doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes.

Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon’s questionable actions during the tragedy. Others—including the gallant Midwestern tycoon—are not so lucky.

On dry land, rumors about the survivors begin to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic. Set against a historical tragedy but told from a completely fresh angle, The Dressmaker is an atmospheric delight filled with all the period’s glitz and glamour, all the raw feelings of a national tragedy and all the contradictory emotions of young love.

How I got it:

I bought it.

When I got it:

A couple of years ago, after stumbling across a mention of it on Amazon.

Why I want to read it:

One word: Titanic! I’m always fond of historical fiction, and setting a novel onboard the Titanic and then addressing the aftermath sounds perfectly fascinating.

__________________________________

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!):

30Nov2015

The Monday Check-In ~ 11/30/2015

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

What did I read last week?

Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith: I posted my review of this terrific mystery this past week.

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith: Another Jane Austen retelling, done! My review is here.

Fresh Catch:

Well, after the previous week, when I acquired exactly ZERO new books, I went in the opposite direction this past week. First, I received an ARC for a book that I’m really excited about and then treated myself to John Cleese’s memoir:

And then… I found myself with time to spare in the neighborhood of my favorite used book store, and just by coincidence, had a big old store credit in my hand that was crying to be used! I treated myself to a few books I’ve been wanting to read plus copies of a few that I’d read as library books:

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher: I finally decided to sit down with this massive, 600+ page book, and I’m loving it so far!

Now playing via audiobook:

Wow, is this good! I’m at about the 55% mark, and I’m thoroughly hooked… plus, I got over my initial annoyance at the narrator’s accent and now I feel like it’s part of the story.

Ongoing reads:

A big shout-out and hurray for my book group! After reading and discussing two chapters per week for the past year and a half, we’re down to the final week, with discussions of the book’s two epilogues! What a long and marvelous trip it’s been.

So many book, so little time…

28Nov2015

Audiobooks and the almost impossible art of patience

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I need more patience, and I need it now!

Okay, let me back up a bit and provide a little context.

Audiobooks are a big part of my life. Who’d a thunk it?

Until about three years ago or so, I didn’t think audiobooks were for me. I tried one once, couldn’t keep my mind from wandering, and decided I just wasn’t cut out for this audio thing.

But then, I ended up giving audiobooks another try when I felt myself itching for an Outlander re-read, but had so many other books to read that I couldn’t balance my competing reading needs. Audio to the rescue! Listening to Outlander in the car while commuting back and forth to work made my drives so enjoyable, and pretty soon I added audiobooks to my weekend walks as well.

Still, I was convinced that I could only succeed with audio for re-reading books; that if I tried to listen to a book I hadn’t read already, my focus would keep slipping and I’d miss too much of the narrative to enjoy it.

Cue the time machine, and fast-forward to the present!

I’m never without an audiobook now, and while I still find audio a great medium for revisiting books that I read long ago and want to experience all over again, I’ve found that when I want to, I can do just fine with new books too.

Perhaps it’s just an acquired skill that takes practice — like playing tennis or learning to knit? (Sorry, those are totally random examples).

I eased into my new book/audiobook adventures slowly, and discovered that audio is actually perfect for me when it comes to spending time with genres and types of books that I don’t normally make room for. I enjoy non-fiction occasionally, but I’ll always choose a novel over a non-fiction book when I’m looking for a good read — but via audio, I’ve loved a few great non-fiction books in the last couple of years, especially Unbroken and The Boys in the Boat.

I’ve also discovered that while I never seem to have the patience to sit and read a book of short stories, it works just fine for me as an audiobook, probably since I can usually only listen in shorter chunks anyway.

So, here’s where my current problem enters in:

The problem with audiobooks is that you can’t binge-read!

If I fall in love with a book, or get so caught up in the action or the intrigue that I just can’t put it down, then I’ll stay up til all hours of the morning reading in bed, or keep a book open while I eat my breakfast, or read every time I take a little break from my daily routines. I can make a binge happen if I want!

But my audiobook time is really limited, and the amount I can get through in any given listen is directly related to the length of my drive or my walk. Because one thing I simply CAN’T do is listen to an audiobook while sitting still, and if I try to listen while doing odds and ends around my house, my attention is too scattered to truly enjoy it.

Right now, I’m about halfway through with an audiobook that I’m absolutely loving, and today I got up to this incredibly exciting part… and then I came to the end of my walk, which I stretched out as long as I possibly could, and now I can’t continue with the story until tomorrow! And I’m so, so frustrated.

I actually picked up a hard copy of the book from the library in order to check on a couple of names, and so I suppose I could just read ahead… but somehow, it feels like I’d be cheating on my audiobook! Plus, I’ve really gotten into the narrator’s accent (even though it bugged me at first), and when I look at the printed words on the page, it seems flat somehow.

I’ve definitely had a couple of books in the past that I started via audio, and then realized that I wanted to go faster than the narration, so I switched over to hard copies (To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Cinder by Marissa Meyer are two that come to mind).

With my current back, I’m trying to take deep breaths and let go of my urgent need to find out what happens next. So what if it takes a few more days than I’d like? So what if, once I go back to work on Monday, I’ll have even less time to listen each day? Will I enjoy the book less if I can’t finish it all at once? Does a book need to be consumed as quickly as possible in order to satisfy?

Patience. I need patience. Maybe I need a patience mentor…

Nope, I will not give into the dark side. I will not read ahead. I’ll stick it out, and enjoy every half-hour or hour of listening time that I have.

And when all else fails, I can always listen at 1.25x speed.

27Nov2015

Take A Peek Book Review: Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

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)

Prepare to meet a young woman who thinks she knows everything

Fresh from university, Emma Woodhouse arrives home in Norfolk ready to embark on adult life with a splash. Not only has her sister, Isabella, been whisked away on a motorbike to London, but her astute governess, Miss Taylor is at a loose end watching as Mr. Woodhouse worries about his girls. Someone is needed to rule the roost and young Emma is more than happy to oblige.

At the helm of her own dinner parties, and often found either rearranging the furniture at the family home of Hartfield, or instructing her new protégée, Harriet Smith, Emma is in charge. You don’t have to be in London to go to parties, find amusement or make trouble.

Not if you’re Emma, the very big fish in the rather small pond.

But for someone who knows everything, Emma doesn’t know her own heart. And there is only one person who can play with Emma’s indestructible confidence, her friend and inscrutable neighbour George Knightly – this time has Emma finally met her match?

Ever alive to the social comedy of village life, beloved author Alexander McCall Smith’s Emma is the busybody we all know and love, and a true modern delight.

My Thoughts:

Alexander McCall Smith’s Emma is the latest volume related to The Austen Project, which pairs up popular contemporary authors with the classic works of Jane Austen.

Austen’s Emma is one of my favorites. I mean, I truly LOL’d over Emma as I listened to the audiobook earlier this year (which can be rather embarrassing when out in public wearing earphones.)

In this retelling, Emma is a college graduate who is thinking about starting her own interior decorating business, but in reality doesn’t have to do much, as her dear dad, Mr. Woodhouse, is more than happy to support Emma indefinitely — in between worrying about health, weather, and every possible hazard that could come their way. The various village residents are here, mostly true to the original, including the chatty Miss Bates and the snobbish but boring Mr. Elton.

Mr. Woodhouse gets many of the best lines, with his obsessive health worries:

“It will be good for them to get out of London and get some country air. All those people in London breathing the air in and out; just think of it, Emma. Just think of all that breathing going on in London — it’s a wonder there’s any air left for the rest of us.”

Emma gets many wry and silly moments too, such as:

“Look at the moon,” she said. “So bright. So lunar!” She had to say something.

And another gem:

Emma thought that this conversation would be a difficult one to conduct with anybody other than Harriet, with anybody … less beautiful. Somehow, beauty made a difference; a trite remark uttered by a beautiful person is not quite as trite as the same thing said by one less blessed.

Overall, the book is enjoyable, although the storyline perhaps just doesn’t work all that well in a modern setting. It feels at times as though the author is bending over backwards to figure out how to incorporate the socials calls, dinner parties, and picnics that are so crucial in Jane Austen’s world. This new Emma is certainly less detailed, so I felt that I didn’t get to know the characters particularly well, and even Emma herself doesn’t really hold the center stage position she should. Mr. Knightly is more or less a background character for much of the story, and he just doesn’t seem like a viable romantic interest for Emma, except that that’s the way it has to be in order to retain Austen’s plotlines.

Austen fans will probably enjoy this new telling of Emma, but it’s certainly no replacement for reading the original! But if you’re looking for a light read that takes a familiar story and gives it a new spin, this is a fun diversion, and the language is witty enough to give you a few laughs along the way.

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The details:

Title: Emma
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Pantheon
Publication date: April 7, 2015
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction/classics retelling
Source: Purchased