It's Hop & Follow Time Again! 7/30

I can't tell you how happy I am that it is Friday and my albatross known as LSC557 Research & Evaluation in Library & Information Service is off my back!

Once again it's time for Jennifer @ Crazy For Book's book blogger hop where we can go out and explore what's out there in the book blogosphere. Each week my too be read list just gets bigger and bigger thanks to the great bloggers I've encountered.

Also, please check out her giveaway to celebrate Penguin Books 75th anniversary (Happy Birthday Penguin!). She's giving away a book of your choice from this list

To answer this week's question: My favorite new to me author is Brunonia Barry. Not only is she fairly local (from Salem) but her writing style is just so easy and similar to Alice Hoffman. She's a wonderful storyteller.

It's also time for Parajunkee's Friday Follow. This week she's featuring Amelia from The Authoress, who has a great point of view. It's refreshing to see what teens think about books and taking time to write reviews.

So please check out the hop & follow.

Book Review: The Passage by Justin Cronin

Cronin, Justin. The Passage. Random House. New York. ISBN 0345504968. 784pp

Synopsis:

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.”

First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.

As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun.

Review:

I've actually been putting off this review for a few weeks. Partially because I've been overwhelmed with this massive research proposal due today for school. Mostly because I've been struggling with how to review this book.

First of all: the size of this book is pretty daunting. If you have an e-reader I would recommend downloading it. Not only is it cheaper, but it's much easier to carry around with you.

I've read countless reviews before buying The Passage from people proclaiming this was the best book of 2010. I bought it not sure what it was about other than it was dystopian and involves vampires. I love dystopian books and I love vampires. Can't go wrong with something that combines the two!

I guess the best way to describe the book is to call it a combination of The Stand, 28 Days Later, and with some elements of Lost thrown in. For me it was a roller coaster ride of epic proportion. I was sucked in from the very beginning. Yet, there is a lot going on in the book, and it's not very well described at times. Certainly there are some huge time leaps in the book and it's not made clear that it's a leap in time. You also don't always know who's point of view you are seeing. The Passage leaves the reader going "huh?" at times. Certainly there were points in the book that I was bored and hoping it got better. Each time I was ready to abandon The Passage for something lighter and fluffier, it became great again. I think Cronin was trying to keep his reader guessing and wondering where or what is going on. To not feel comfortably settled in the world he created.

I have to warn you - there is a lot of stuff going on and not much is explained. Additionally, the elements that are explained don't necessarily make sense. I was very disappointed in the ending. Allegedly there is a planned sequel in the works, which will hopefully clear up a lot of confusion. Overall this is a thrilling read, but you will be confused at times. If you can get past that it's worth it.

I did like the book, and I do recommend it for those who are willing to just "go with it". It's just not an easy book to read, and I think it is something you need to be prepared for in advance.

Rating: I'd give this a 7.75/10

Fellow True Blood Fans

What do you think of the season so far? I'm especially interested if you've read the books (I haven't).

While I am enjoying the fact that Tara is finally getting back to the sassy Tara of season 1, Sookie has a bit of brevity with her spunk, and stangely enough I'm amused by the Franklin storyline - I can't say that I'm jazzed about season 3. The gore is starting to become gratuitous and I'm really bored by the Jason and Sam storylines.

I don't know. I think that maybe they just have too much going on and maybe it would be better if there were less active storylines. I also really dislike Bill this season. It's funny how some characters you love one season grate on your nerves the next. I found myself fast forwarding through Tara's scenes last year, but I am enjoying her this year. I really enjoyed Jason's storyline last year, but find him tedious this year. Is it this convoluted in the books?

Some nerdiness my fellow "bookies" will understand

So just a minute ago I totally threw my husband off-guard by conferencing him in with Alex the Cox Cable man. See I totally forgot that tonight Pillars of the Earth begins on Starz. Now, Pillars is tied for my favorite book of all time and I've been pretty giddy that they did a miniseries.

Side Note: It goes to show you just how stressed/depressed/out of sorts I have been to forget about this.

Thank goodness my cousin made a comment to me about it or I would have missed it. Unfortunately we don't have Starz. And I'm not authorized on our cable account (never get around to finding the pin #). So that's why I had to conference in my completely confused husband and tell him to repeat after me "I want to order Starz". Then I disconnected him and finished my order. Voila!

So the bright spot on my cruddy week is to pop open a bottle of wine and enjoy Pillars of the Earth tonight with my beagle boys. I might even sample the rum cake I am making for a girl's night tomorrow night.

Hopping and Following- July 23rd edition

It's Friday and once again it's time for Crazy for Book's Book Blogger Hop.

This week's question is: Tell us about the book you are currently reading.

I just finished The Passage by Justin Cronin, and I'm going through a not so good time right now, so I really needed something fluffy and mindless.

So I'm reading The Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly. It's the third installment in his Jack West Jr series. It's an adventure novel that combines race to the death, quest for world dominance, and trying to save the world from destruction. If you're into that sort of thing, I highly recommend you read The 7 Deadly Wonders (the first book).

Meanwhile, Parajunkee is hosting the Friday Feature & Follow. Each week she selects a blogger to feature. This week's spotlight is on VampAngel . I've been a follower of hers for a while now because I like her candid reviews of books, and you gotta love a gal that is a fellow fang fan.

so check out the hop & follow to get to know some pretty great people in the blogosphere!

When I'm Not Reading

I can't believe it's been 12 days since I've posted. Things have been pretty busy here with work, school, and personal issues going on at home that I get too depressed even thinking about. Plus I've got a sinus infection - so not much fun to be had here.

To get back into the swing of things, I figured I would start with participating in "when I'm not reading", which is a new meme hosted by Missie @ The Unread Reader . It's nice to learn what fellow book bloggers are into besides books and blogging.

For me, when I'm not reading I am often working on my genealogy. I am fascinated by the stories of what life was like in the past, particularly in regards to my family. Unfortunately I do not have much beyond names and dates for a lot of my family but I have been truly fortunate to meet some great people that share my interest (and even some long lost cousins).

Right now, I'm on a hunt to unconver some old medical records for my Great Grandmother's cousins Christina and Charles Hodde. They were siblings and both hospitalized at the Massachusetts School for the Feeble Minded (later known as the Walter Fernald School). I'd like to know why they were institutionalized, because back then it could have been for anything. Also, they were institutionalized at a time when US mental institutions were truly horrible places (and MA institutions were among the worst). The Fernald School participated in some nasty experiments in the name of eugenics and I would like to know if my relatives were test subjects.

Monday...

Every Monday, MizB over at Should be Reading asks a question. This week's question is:
Can you read amidst distractions? (tv, others talking, sporting events, etc)

Absolutely! I don't know if it's a talent (probably not) or a skill I've honed throughout the years (most likely), but at least 75% of the time I've got something going on in the background while I am reading. I read during commercials, while Mike is watching tv, while I am waiting in line, while I am outside with the dogs (barking and neighbors screaming), or countless other reasons there is noise going on around me. I'm pretty good about being able to tune things out; however very loud conversations and yelling are almost impossible for me to ignore unless it's a very good book.

Meanwhile in the blogosphere, Sheila over at Book Journey hosts a weekly "What are you Reading" Monday. The downside of this meme is that I come away with entirely too many books on my ever expanding wish list. There are just so many people out there in the community that read fantastic sounding books.

This week I am still plugging along with The Passage by Justin Cronin, but hope to be done this week. I'm also reading Book 1 of The Snipesville Chronicles, "Don't Know Where, Don't Know When" by Annette Laing that she so nicely sent me a copy of.

I couldn't tell you what I am planning to read next. I have a really busy next couple of weeks coming up with school and unfortunately research journal articles are going to have to take precedence over novels :-(

So what are you reading? And can you do it with distractions?