In Pursuit of My Own Library

I saw a movie, and then I read a book.  If you are a follower of mine, this should now be sending off loud and dangerous warning bells.   I do not like movies based on novels.  They too often want to press artistic license via dramatic visuals or gender bending on to a beautifully written work.  They think the visualization can expand the imagination.  I despise these actions.  Quit spackling literature with artistic license. Now for Cloud Atlas .  I saw the movie based on the premise depicted in the trailer.  One story that spans six generations and proves that events span time and space.  Rather unusual and sci-fi, I'm interested. The movie made zero  sense.  We bounce from one generation to another with little discourse and comprehension as to how A got to B.  There are these people with comet birthmarks.  Are they a gang, a secret society, relatives?  What? Then I read the book.   We start in the early 1800s with a journal of a lawyer that is being read by a man in th

This little gem got lost in a very large physical to-read pile.  After a very serious purging and rationalizing what I was realistically going to read from that pile and what needed to go to my local library, I finally managed to get A Riddle in Ruby  to the top of the reading list.   Thanksgiving had left behind gratitude for a cleaner house and the company of family in town for the holiday.  I wanted to keep the spirit of good nature going through to Christmas on out to the New Year.  This meant picking up that middle grade novel that had been buried in my to-read pile for three long years.     A Riddle in Ruby  centers around a group of pirates who are actually involved in a deep underground conglomerate with a false name.  The leading lady is on her way to becoming a professional lock-pick for her pirate crew when a chemystral powered carriage charges down a collision course. The action is well placed and dispersed between excellent bouts of character building and some truly

I have been reading long enough that I no longer remember how exactly I got pulled into the fantasy genre.   In elementary school, I m ostly I read  Boxcar Children, Shiloh, Sidewise Stories , Bailey School Kids and  Boys Against Girls .  While the Bailey series has mythical creatures, they weren't what I would really call fantasy novels. During school, I dutifully read my curriculum, which was heavy in Paulsen, London, Hinton, and other very realistic coming of age stories.  It wasn't until I was in high school where I had well outgrown my curriculum and had quite a bit of extra time on my hands.  I needed extracurricular reading.  I asked friends for their favorite reads.  Fantasy books were the ones that I added to my shelves. Lord of the Rings was one of my favorite trilogies until Brandon Sanderson came along.  I loved the high fantasy of Tolkien.  His elves were specifically most alluring to me. Then I read Pratchett.  Oh how Pratchett can shine a light on somethi

Sorry to the author and publishers for not getting out a release day review.  Best laid plans and all that...  I had a very exciting holiday season dealing with a credit card thief, but countered it with Christmas caroling and excellent friends at church. The Outlaw and the Upstart King made me glad that I gave Duncan another shot.  I was very vocal that The Queen of All Crows  left me seriously underwhelmed with the "Gas-Lit Empire" series.  I felt it was a poorly contrived attempt at New Age feminism that just did not fit well with the Elizabeth Barnabus built in the first trilogy.   Duncan refreshes the series with an entirely new character.  Heck, we don't even see Elizabeth until Part Two.  Once Elizabeth introduces herself to Elias, we finish the novel switching between perspectives. The new leading gent Elias No-Thumbs has a name you just have to get the story behind.  The small blurb showing him as a leading character on Netgalley is the sole reason I reques