Swatkat's Book Debrief Vol. I

[swatkat]

msgenevieve, check out what JKR has to say about the PoA movie. Looks like we're going to have to watch this one with a magnifying glass. *g*

~

Meanwhile, I've been reading. A lot. Feels good reading new books after a long, long time. *g* I still have a few new books in hand, not to mention the couple of contemporary history and economics books I nabbed from my father's bookshelf yesterday.



Voices in the Summer – Rosamunde Pilchard

I knew there was something wrong with this book the moment I had it in my
hands. But my cousin said it's a good book, and I had to take it – you know,
just to keep her happy. Right now, I can think of only one phrase that suits
it: mind-numbingly boring. What exactly was this book about? Is it a
romance? Is it a family story? Is it the author's attempt to preach family
values and importance of marriage? I couldn't figure it out. After slogging
through the first few chapters, I flipped through the rest of the book.
Nothing happens. At all. I think the author realised it too, because she
tried to sex things up a bit by throwing in some mysterious anon letters –
but it's equally pathetic. Why is this book a best-seller? (Or so they say
on the cover. But then, *all* books are best-sellers.)

She's quite a popular author, from what I gathered from amazon. Just not my type, I guess.

The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

So. Finally got to read it. It's a good book. A good read, difficult to put
down. Just the way men's thrillers are – racy plot. Little character. To the
author's credit, the characterisation isn't too bad, and the hero is human.
What really impressed me was the author's choice of subject. It's
controversial. He's writing for a primarily male readership, but he's picked
a subject that's bound to interest women. And he's also thrown in a fairly
interesting female lead to seal the interest. I wouldn’t recommend this to
anyone whose religious sensibilities might be hurt, but otherwise, it's a
good book.

Just for curiosity's sake, I dropped by amazon.com after reading the book.
The reviews vary from "it's the One True Book" to "BURN EVOL BOOK NOW!"
*smirk*

Shelters of Stone – Jean M. Auel

Apparently, mum is *big* Auel fan. She only owns Book 5, and in a
I-need-something-new-to-read-or-I'll go-crazy moment, I picked it up. Bad
idea. Very bad idea, actually. Even the fabled sex scenes didn't impress me
at all. Instead, I sniggered through the most of them because I recalled
someone from f_w calling them the 'caveman sex books'. So. Not reading any
more. Maybe I'm doing the series a grave injustice. Maybe I should get the
first book and give it a try. But I'm not going to.

Mum: (mildly) Um, maybe you should get the first book and try again? It's a
good series, you know.
Dad: (vehemently) You couldn't read it? Me either. I stopped reading [the
first book] after she (Ayla) started talking to animals and inventing every
damn thing on the planet.



So, what new books have you been reading?

Comments

Heh.

[msgenevieve.livejournal.com]

Looks like we're going to have to watch this one with a magnifying glass. *g*

Darn. This means that I'll have to go see it more than once. *smirk*

Dad: (vehemently) You couldn't read it? Me either. I stopped reading [the first book] after she (Ayla) started talking to animals and inventing every damn thing on the planet.

Your father is a legend. *g*

I've read all the Auel books. I really liked the first two, then my interest started to wane. Jondolar is just so...so...annoying. A complete wimp, IMHO. With Ayla being a prehistoric Mary Sue, not to mention the 'put tab a into slot b' sex scenes that were all the freaking same, I doubt I'll reread them ever again.

Yes

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Darn. This means that I'll have to go see it more than once. *smirk*

Unfortunate, isn't it? I've already marked a few tentative dates for the second time. ;)

I really liked the first two, then my interest started to wane. Jondolar is just so...so...annoying. A complete wimp, IMHO. With Ayla being a prehistoric Mary Sue, not to mention the 'put tab a into slot b' sex scenes that were all the freaking same, I doubt I'll reread them ever again.

I suppose I'll have to *read* the first book to talk about it - but I'm not going to. :p

Also, I was really, really annoyed by the writing style. Omniscient POV is pretty bloody difficult to do (IMO), and she doesn't do it very well. Head-hopping in the middle of a sentence sounds good when it's Jane Austen, but here it's just plain annoying. Also, the constant use of epithets - the blond man, the younger man, the pretty woman, and so on. Ugh!

I guess she's not my type too.

Swatkat

Hmmmmm

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

I received a copy of the Da Vinci Code as a Christmas gift last December, and just *hated* it. LOL. I found the writing itself atrocious, the main character a horrific Marty Stu, the main female character vastly annoying in the way she immediately falls for the Marty Stu, and the baddies completely over-the-top and/or cliched. The whole plot was very predictable, including the identity of the main villain. I finished it out of a morbid need to see if I could get through it, but there were times when I wanted to hurl it across the room. And it's not even an original plot, having been cribbed completely from Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and so having read that book I pretty much knew everything that was coming.

Um, sorry for the rant. I suppose, relatively speaking, it's not a bad book for its genre (male-readership-oriented mass market thrillers), but I think it's safe to say that genre doesn't appeal to me. LOL.

Heh

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I suppose, relatively speaking, it's not a bad book for its genre (male-readership-oriented mass market thrillers)

Exactly. And I'd read so *many* books in that genre at one point (long story, largely because my reading has always been very much influenced by my father) that I still harbour some weakness for it, and I can't help liking some of the better ones. I mean, if Robert Langdon is a Marty Stu - go read something by Frederick Forsyth or Alistair Maclean or anyone of the popular male novelists. *g*

I found the writing itself atrocious

Again. Male novelist writing a thriller, for a bunch of readers who don't give two hoots about the writing style. It's actually better than the rest of the crap.

And it's not even an original plot, having been cribbed completely from Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and so having read that book I pretty much knew everything that was coming.

I learnt that about it - after reading the book, so that didn't affect my reading.

Did you hear that he's writing a sequel? ;)

Swatkat

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Reading my comment to msgenevieve above, I suddenly realised how much conscious I am about the style (Conscious? I'm probably the nit-pickiest person in the world, lol!) when I'm *not* reading a male thriller. Does it tell something about my early reading habits? Hmm.

Swatkat

Cave Man Sex

[sk56.livejournal.com]

I've read the Auel books as they've come out, which helps -- they don't seem so repetative that way. I appreciate the historical/anthropological information, but the rest of it is way too gushy.

The part that I like the absolute least, though, is the way that she has to re-tell Ayla's story every time they meet someone new, which they seem to do every five pages. Enought already!

I'll probably read the next one, if she ever finishes it, just to complete the series, but I'm a fast reader so it doesn't take too much out of my life.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

The part that I like the absolute least, though, is the way that she has to re-tell Ayla's story every time they meet someone new, which they seem to do every five pages. Enought already!

Oh yes, that too. *rolls eyes*

Swatkat