Hello hello. Kind of random requests but can anyone recommend some good horror/suspense stories with mirrors as a motif? Or y'know, prominent to the story.

And by horror/suspense I mean any and all -ghosts, monsters, murder, etc.

Thanks!

Tags: recommendation requests
Current Location: Work work

The Summoning
Writer: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: YA/Urban Fantasy
Pages: 390

The premise: Chloe thinks she's just a normal girl (who's mother died, who's father is rich, and goes to an art school--yes, I'm being evil when it comes to the definition of "normal," but don't let that alone keep you from reading) until all at once, she gets her period and sees her first ghost. Oh, and he sees her too, sending her into a screaming fit all through the school and convincing her teachers she's stark raving mad. In order to get her education back on track, Chloe has to get therapy, and she's taken to the Lyle House. There she learns she's not the only weird one around, and finding out why people want her to think otherwise becomes a matter of life-and-death, especially after her roommate is taken away.

My Rating

Buy the Paperback: it's an enjoyable, fast read, but if it hadn't been for the cliffhanger ending, I don't think I would've pursued this series, as I wasn't that attached to the world or the characters, which is ironic, since the world is the same one from Armstrong's adult UF series (which I've only read one book of, so give me a break). I'll continue to get the hardcovers since I'm already committed, but I think that unless you're a collector or just love hardcovers to pieces (or just a super big fan of any and everything Armstrong writes), you might be better off with a cheaper copy, possibly the trade.

The full review, which does include spoilers, may be found in my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome! :)

REVIEW: Kelley Armstrong's THE SUMMONING

Happy Reading! :)

Was just wondering if peeps have any recs for Urban Fantasy books, or regular fantasy.

I'm looking for books with male protagonists, not female. Some of the ones I've enjoyed are:

• Unshapely Things (Connor Grey, Book 1) ~ Mark Del Franco
• Hero ~ Perry Moore
• Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1) ~ Rob Thurman
• The Temeraire series ~ Naomi Novik
• Dog Days ~ John Levitt
• The Alera Codex ~ Jim Butcher

Am also making my way slowly through Discworld and I have The Dresden Files in hand.

Any suggestions would be appreciated :)

Tags: recommendation requests

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway of The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent! You can win one of three copies of the book! 

            Once upon a time in the dreary town of Salem, hysteria struck the people and blighted their reputation forever.   Regardless of what they’d done before, and what they accomplished since, Salem will forever be known for the witch hunts of 1692. The trials have been a black mark upon the community for generations, but as the years went by descendents of the families involved have begun to speak of the past’s traumas.   Kathleen Kent, a direct descendent of Martha Carrier, tells the story of her ancestor in her first novel, The Heretic’s Daughter.  (The book review is continued here...)

This was a fantastic book, capturing the hysteria and horror of the Salem Witch Trials.  It would make an excellent addition to a high school student’s book shelf, as they’re sure to learn about the Salem trials in class, and this book helps shine light on one of the darkest periods of American history. Additionally, it’s enjoyable and entertaining (let’s face it, there are a lot of high school students bored stiff by The Scarlet Letter) and might encourage the reader to do a bit of digging into their own family tree, to see what kind of secrets are lurking in the past.

To enter to win your free copy, click here!

( This book is phenomenal. )
Overall 10 out of 10.

Current Mood: accomplished

Sindbad and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights is a compilation of four stories that didn't actually make it to Haddawy's version of The Arabian Nights. He says that this is because they were not yet part of The Arabian Nights when the version he translated was written. Frankly, I think he excluded them so that people would have to buy two books. This would annoy me, because these were the stories that I bought The Arabian Nights for in the first place, except that they are very nice books. So, all's well.

The stories in this version are The Story of Sindbad the Sailor, The Story of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, The Story of 'Ala al-Din (Aladdin) and the Magic Lamp and The Story of Qamar al-Zaman and His Two Sons, Amjad and As'ad.

I love this book. The stories are very easy to read, if completely mad. They are completely mad. But they're vibrant and flamboyant and playful. They're utterly hilarious, but, it has to be said, they do not often show women in good light. Mind you, most of the men are bloody stupid, so. The characters in these stories are champion sulkers, and they'll behead you as soon as look at you. Sometimes you have to suspend logic a bit, but that's okay. It's a fun ride.

 

( My thoughts. Minor spoilers and rude poetry. )

 

Tags: fiction
Current Mood: crazy

One for Sorrow
Writer: Christopher Barzak
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 306

The premise: it's more than a love story about a boy falling in love with the ghost of another boy. It's a love story about life itself: Adam's shocked by the murder of Jamie, a classmate he barely knew but wished he knew better, and that murder brings Adam all kinds of lessons in life: in love (with the girl who found Jamie's body), in family (let's say things are not well on the home front), and of course, death. It isn't long before Jamie seeks Adam out, clinging to every last bit of life possible. But the more Adam tries to help, the more he loses himself, and it's not going to be long before he too becomes a ghost.

My Rating

Must Have: despite my particular issues, I really loved this book and plan on getting Barzak's next novel, which comes out November of this year (I can't wait). The writing is solid, the details lovely, and the characterization and portrayal of family life mostly very honest. This book may remind readers of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, but the two stories are very different: Barzak has a rather complex love story with a boy, a girl, a ghost, life, and death, all wrapped into one package of a book. The ending is solid, good, hopeful in its own way, but by no means does Barzak tidy up this story and wrap it with a pretty bow. It's well worth the read, especially if you can't resist ghost stories.

The full review, which does contain spoilers, may be found in my journal. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome. :)

REVIEW: Christopher Barzak's ONE FOR SORROW

Happy Reading! :)

Clockwork Phoenix: Tales of Beauty and Strangeness
Edited by: Mike Allen
Genre: Short Stories/Fantasy
Pages: 285 (ARC)

Normally, in book reviews, I give you the premise. With short story anthologies, that's a bit trickier, and even reading the whole book doesn't really tell me the idea or theme that gels these tales together. They're mostly fantasy (some are more horror, some have an SF-nal touch), and they're all written well. And as I usually do for anthologies, I'll give each story it's own review (at my journal, that is), and then review the book as a whole at the bottom of the entry.

My Rating

Worth the Cash: of the 18 stories, I really enjoyed 12, and even the ones I wasn't crazy about weren't horrible or anything, but more or less not to my personal taste. I'm surprisingly impressed with the quality of stories and writing in this anthology, and it's an easy book to recommend, especially when you consider my biggest complaints are the cover and the intro, which in the total package, is completely superficial (go me!). My absolute favorites of the book are Grant's, Brennan's, Singh's, and Hoffman's. This book is definitely worth the cash to those readers who enjoy spec-fic shorts, and to those readers who may be tired of the stories offered by the Big Three, especially in regards to fantasy. And this might be random, but I was very impressed with the story order and how the stories sometimes fit together and led into each other. That was very nice. :)

The full review, which does include spoilers for the various stories, may be found at my LJ. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Clockwork Phoenix: Tales of Beauty and Strangeness

Anthology contributors are:

Catherynne M. Valente
David Sandner
John Grant
Cat Rambo
Leah Bobet
Michael J. DeLuca
Laird Barron
Ekaterina Sedia
Cat Sparks
Tanith Lee
Marie Brennan
Jennifer Crow
Vandana Singh
John C. Wright
C.S. MacCath
Joanna Galbraith
Deborah Biancotti
Erin Hoffman

I read this book for several reasons. One is that I was interviewed for it by the author (well, online, and it was a survey, but I did fill it out, and you get the idea). Another is that I try to stay current with new books on open relationships, since I have them and not many books get written about them. Those two are the reasons I started reading the book. The third reason came later, and I am not proud of it. I wanted to finish the book so that I could tell you all that it was bad and why I thought so.*

Open is basically an annotated memoir. Author Jenny Block tells the long and meandering story of how she came to be in an open marriage, with many asides and quotes criticizing monogamy and praising "openness" along the way. The introduction is the short version of the story, and each chapter is then introduced with another short paragraph from the introduction which summarizes it.

( All the Sordid Details. )

I wanted to like this book. The prose was good in places, and I did enjoy somewhat Block's story of how she got into an open marriage. But unless you feel you have been sitting around for years just waiting for someone to write another book on open marriage, I think you should give this one a miss. I'm glad she didn't wind up using any of the quotes I gave her. Two stars. (In the new system I would give this book a D+. I rolled my eyes a lot but I did finish it without throwing it once.)

*I don't really feel right saying, "This book is really bad but I didn't bother to finish it so I don't know for certain that it is bad all the way through." Strange, perhaps, but true.

Tags: memoir, nonfiction

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, isbn 9781401323257, 206 pages, Hyperion,  $21.95

I've put off reading this for a while now, although someone gave me a copy before Dr. Pausch left us in July.  I wasn't in the right headspace, wasn't ready to read what he had to say.

I'm glad I finally did.  There's a lot of good wisdom in here.  He talks of his childhood dreams, and how even the ones he didn't achieve worked for him by giving him something to strive for.  He reminded me a lot of my mother, keeping that upbeat (hard to call it honestly "optimistic" when he's so clear about accepting his coming death) attitude, thinking of others as much as himself.  I found myself quietly crying a lot reading this book, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.  I'm not sure if it will have an immediate effect on how I conduct my life, but I'm going to keep it nearby and try to remember the things he said and see if that will help me make some of the changes I need to make.  And I am definitely giving it to my sister to read soon.