Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic 50 Book Challenge 2014/What I've Read In 2014

Oh boy - I just bought that one tonight and I'm thrilled to hear it's good.

Joan

I just finished reading my 24 year old daughter's fantasy novel! She's been writing forever and feeling like nothing's ever been good enough to submit to a publisher so that all she does is edit and re-edit and never send anything away.

I told her that all I wanted for Christmas was a manuscript that she would be willing to send off. (And I told her if she didn't give me that gift at Christmas, then she obviously didn't love me. ) (Guilt, the great motivator!)

Then when she gave it to me Christmas day, I procrastinated about reading it. I was nervous that I would hate it or only tolerate it and then what would I do!

Well, I read it and had to force myself to put it down to go to work or sleep or do anything else. It was absolutely awesome! Last Tuesday, we shipped it to Daw Books so now we wait and see what happens next.

Irene otherwise known as Proud Mama!

Good luck!

So exciting--and such an awesome/proud time for you, too...keep us posted!

Seeing someone go after their dreams is truly inspiring

Laura

#5 (Classic #1) Heidi by Johanna Spyri. Great story. I've read it before but had forgotten much of the story. A good one to start with!

One of my goals for this year is to read some classic books. I've been reading about the Common Core for schools and the fact that they are de-emphasizing classic fiction. I feel that this is a very poor idea. Then I remembered a newspaper article , The Top 100 Classic Books to Read.'. Found it and a few other similar articles and collated tham. So, my top 100 list has 214 books on it with many still missing books that I will add as I think of them. This will be a multi-year project.

I hope you enjoy it!

Wolfling - Gordon R. Dickson

Again, I like the author's short stories. This would've been a great book at 325 pages but it was only 225. The final wrap-up took about 10 pages.

It's almost like the authors in '65-'70 were pushed to cut manuscripts to a specific length after they were written.

The Caster Chronicles - Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

#2 Beautiful Darkness
#3 Beautiful Chaos
#4 Beautiful Redemption
Dream Dark (short story)

I quite enjoyed the rest of this YA series. I'd quite like to see this on TV, a la the TVD/TSC type of show. Could be interesting.

LabRat

6) Guilt by Jonathan Kellerman Low key mystery but fun to read.

#4 The Good Girl Revolution by Wendy Shalit

Interesting read about the images and expectations that bombard girls and women.

Joan

Stay Close - Harlan Coben

Not one of his best, it has to be said. At times, it seemed to be phoned in, with sketchy characters and the barest of plots. I didn't hate it, but I've read better from him.

LabRat

Daughter of the Empire - Janny Wurts and Raymond Feist

Mara of the Acoma, a 17 year old would-be temple initiate, inherits the ruling position of her House after her father and older brother are killed--the victims of a sworn blood-feud. With powerful enemies, no family, little leadership training and limited resources just staying alive could be considered "victory".

(BTW This is my second time through the series.)

If you are at all familiar with the Raymond Feist's excellent 6 novel Riftwar series, this novel is set on the Tsuranni side of the rift. The two series do not depend on each other, though, and the Empire series could be read on its own.

Based on the style, the shared authorship seems more due to Janny Wurts writing in his world than Feist's contribution. Feist's saga has more than a dozen main characters, more subplots than I could count and the POV shifts between groups of them as they quest to save Midkemia from the Tsuranni invaders.

In contrast, the "Empire" novels are more straightforward in their construction and only focus on 2-3 main characters with a much simpler plot. ("Simpler" in comparison to Feist's anyways.) Janny Wurts introduces the Tsuranni culture in depth while telling an engaging story. The story does continue in the sequels but this is a standalone novel.

Oh, I adore the Empire series. One of my well-thumbed favourites that has been re-read so often it's falling apart. Mara is such a great character. I loved all the clever and scheming ways she used to defeat her enemies and foil their plots. And the complex society - which seemed predominently based on Japanese feudal culture - was fascinating.

I think you may be right on the division of labour. I tried to read the Riftwar saga after these but just couldn't get into it and the same was true of the novel I tried by Wurts alone.

Together, though, they definitely produced magic.

LabRat

#5 The Digital Invasion by Dr. Archibald Hart and Dr. Sylvia Hart

I was looking forward to reading this book. However, it was disappointing. The last 'topical' book I read (The Good Girl Revolution) sited all sorts of practical examples: quotes, magazines, etc... Those made it a compelling read. This book did nothing like that. The subject matter is different but with issues such as pornography addiction and cyberbullying, most of us could site lots of examples.

Some of the 'quizes' offered to see if you had problems with technology seemed a bit foolish.

Joan

7) The Storm by Clive Cussler Typical Clive Cussler book. Interesting and enjoyable.

8) Stages by Jay Osmond Biography. A little sparse on detail but interesting.

8. Hot Six, by Janet Evanovich

This is one of the funniest books in the Stephanie Plum series.

The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov

Detective Elijah Bailey is charged with solving the murder of a Spacer scientist. The case pits the interests of Earth and its 8 Billion people against those of the 50 Spacer worlds and their virtually unlimited resources. Bailey is in the middle and his new partner on the case is an advanced Spacer robot. He needs to solve the case fast to ease the tensions--and before his robot partner beats him to it to save his job.

Asimov was told once that a science fiction mystery would be impossible to write. The argument was because the hero could always solve the case with some kind of a whizbang frammitz it would make the story unreadable. This is Asimov's answer to the challenge.

This is a re-read but it's been close to 30 years since the last time. I remembered the generalities but not the specifics so it was still an entertaining read. Though I have to say that compared to modern novels that run 300-450 pages, the older (1960-1975) SF novels I have seem minimalist.

2. Poptropica: Lunar Colony by Patrick Kinney - This is a kids adventure book about a 13 y.o. boy who accidentally get sent to the moon on the space program's last flight.

This story had characterization and plot holes a mile across and twice as deep, but my kids didn't care (or even notice). It did start off REALLY slowly (which my kids *did* notice). It starts off as sad commentary on where our space program was headed, but turns into a quest to find aliens.


3. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: Book 2: The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis

I now know why I never read the other books in the series. I thought that the Magician's Nephew was better written. This book was okay until the Aslan and the White Witch meet. Then it just fizzled out as if CS Lewis didn't know what to do with it and copped out an ending. The death of Aslan gave my children nightmares, so they were probably too young for me to read it to them. Additionally, the reason for his death was too vague and, well, frankly, not explained. It seemed like graphic violence for no reason at all, other than to scare the reader. We'll wait awhile (if ever) before reading more of the series. I, personally, was disappointed. The kids have decided that after reading the book, they don't want to watch the movie adaptation.

I have always heard that Aslan is a metaphor for Jesus, and that his death is a version of the Crucifixion. Of course Jesus and Aslan are both resurrected.

C. S. Lewis was known for being a prominent Catholic apologist. Another interesting something I've heard (and I don't know how true this is, but it's interesting to speculate) is that the seven books of the "Narnia" series can each be tied to a specific Catholic sacrament:

1) "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" - obviously Communion/Eucharist, the willing sacrifice.

2) "The Magician's Nephew" - Baptism, where everything is made new.

3) "Prince Caspian" - Confirmation. In "LWW", the humans accept Aslan/Jesus as their savior. By the time of Prince Caspian, the humans of Narnia have fallen away from "Aslan worship" (if there is such a thing) and the Pevensey children serve as the means for the Narnians to rededicate themselves.

4) "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" - Holy Orders, where one goes to seek God. Note the symbolism in Reepicheep going off into the sea filled with lilies, and meeting a Lamb (the classic symbol for Christ.)

5) "The Silver Chair" - Penance. Eustace, Jill, and their Marsh-wiggle friend keep on messing up, but despite their sins are able to finish Aslan's mission after all.

6) "The Horse and His Boy" - Marriage. Aravis and Shasta meet and will eventually get married.

7) "The Last Battle" - Extreme Unction, Last Rites. Obvious, given the subject matter. I will say that this is the book which I liked the least of the series. Now that I'm older, I can see a little bit of the theological underpinnings behind the story. Lewis does work in the "Plato's Cave" analogy, which I of course totally missed when I was a kid but picked up on it when I got a few more years and a little more education.

******SPOILERS for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe******

Yes, I have heard that as well and looked for more out of the book. Something. *Anything.* But that was about it, comparison-wise.

okay, I'll also grant that Aslan is a 'godlike' figure whom everyone (good) in Narnia admires upon meeting or hearing of him. He agrees to the White Witch's trade to save Edmund's life for his own, a) despite having created the world in The Magician's Nephew (which was more genesis-esque with the creation of Narnia and garden with the apple-tree where they once more meet the white witch, in my opinion), b) to follow the rules of a never before mentioned or explained "deep" or old magic, which frankly couldn't be older than Aslan himself (see "a") and/or the White Witch (who arrived during genesis), and c) The White Witch had absolutely no claims whatsoever that Edmund had acted as a traitor, being that she was never a rightful queen of Narnia, and because, technically, he never acted against her.

If Lewis was going for some kind of allegory, he didn't decide to do so until that point in the book, IMO. From that point in the book, the plot makes no sense, whatsoever, especially the last chapter. Although, I must say that the chapter with Aslan and the statues was pretty cool from an imagery standpoint.

Lewis describes Aslan willingly being led to his death in gristly detail for *pages*, while the death of the White Witch is only mentioned as an afterthought. OH, right, btw she's dead. :rolleyes: If it is allegorical, and you're supposed to turn the other cheek and 'do as I do', then why would Aslan killing the White Witch be acceptable? It was like Superman killing Zod.

So, yeah, I was disappointed. For a world-renown author, and one of his most honored books, yes, I expected better writing.