Sailing to Sarantium

I finished reading this book quite a while ago (June of 2011 to be exact) and was waiting until I read the sequel to post about it, but since I don't seem to be getting on with it I figured I'd post what I wrote over a year ago about Sailing to Sarantium. FACT: Guy Gavriel Kay is my all time favourite Canadian author, I haven't read all of his novels yet but am coming close! What makes his books great to me is how he mixes historical facts with myth and fantasy in a smooth enough way that you are convinced that these things actually happened.

Dear Creature

Sometimes it is nice to take a break from reading long arduous books (just kidding, no book is arduous...) and pick up a graphic novel to read. Thanks to my friend Michael who lent me Dear Creature, it was wonderfully amusing. With an amphibious main character who just wants to fit in but finds it difficult since he cannot resist his craving for human flesh. My personal favourite trait of the creature is that he speaks in iambic pentameter! He learned to speak through bits of Shakespeare he found in bottles afloat in the water. Which is what leads him out of his watery depths to seek a life amongst humans, to find the source of these Shakespeare excerpts. Mixed up in all this comes a lovely romance of a slightly batty woman and this creature from the depths.

Jonathan Case

American Gods

 
Last year I went on a Neil Gaiman reading spree and borrowed a couple of his books from my friend Allison. Over a year later, hehehe, I finally read American Gods one of his most successful and well known novels. Filled with Gods of old fighting against the Gods of the new world, trying to survive. I have started in on Good Omens next, a delightful duet done by Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

Hereafter

Once again I picked up a new teen series to take a stab at. It was another free advanced readers copy (thank you Chapters) and since its sequel, Arise, came out recently I figured I had better get a move on in reading Hereafter. A quick, enjoyable read I do believe I will take a gander at Arise (that is once it comes out in paperback, hardcovers just are not in the budget at the moment).

The Golem's Eye

Many moons ago I borrowed The Amulet of Samarkand from my friend Kate to read. It was an ok novel but Kate promised me that the sequel was much better and I was not disappointed! The Golem's Eye is faster paced and better narrated than its predecessor.

Rocannon's World

Wow I cannot believe how long it has been since I updated a blogpost! I guess I have just been spending all my time reading books as opposed to writing about them hahaha. So here we go, starting with a book I finished at the end of April.

Lady Susan

Since this novella is short and sweet I will likewise keep my post to a minimum. Long ago I vowed to read all of Jane Austen's works and have had great success with Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and most recently Lady Susan. The format in which Lady Susan  was written was by letters of correspondence between characters. I found it quite amusing how each character changes their writing dependent upon who they are writing to. Although I do tremendously enjoy Jane Austen's style of writing I often find myself irritated by her characters, namely I did not like Lady Susan at all. I thought that Lady Susan was a terrible mother and person in general, her tact and wiles were put to a lot of ill use. I was also very dissatisfied with the ending that came about. I somehow thought things would end differently but then again since it is called Lady Susan undoubtedly things would have to end well for her.

Jane Austen