Book 31 - 4 blondes by Candace Bushnell

4 Blondes

969 books to go!

My friend gave me this book sometime in the Spring along with another book she was getting rid of. I'm going to dubiously pass it to my sister to read, because I pass her most everything I read, maybe she'll like it better. Perhaps I would have enjoyed this book better during my insane materialistic phase that lasted a few months, but even then I'm not so sure.

The book was divided up into four different short stories about you guessed it, four different blonde women one character was a model, the second character was a columnist, the third character was a socialite and the fourth character was a writer. The model and the columnist were downright nasty characters. One was a user, the other cared way too much about image and presented a front to the outside world, but was very different in her private life and very mean to her husband. These two characters were sort of rewarded at the end of their stories, the model more than the columnist but I felt like they learned nothing and shouldn't have gotten what they did at the end of the story. At this point in finishing both stories I felt like I was reading a train wreck and than it got worse. The socialite's story was full of WTF. The last story, the best one in the book was just alright, it was about a writer on her journey to London in hopes to score a husband because she's single and middle aged in NY.

Overall this is one of the few books I read where I mostly detest it, and can't really give a recommendation that anyone read it. I had this idea that Candace Bushnell's work was pretty good, but after this book I'm doubtful and I'm not sure if I'll pick up anything else by her to read.

Book 30 - 1,001 nights of Snowfall - by Bill Willingham

Fables: 1,001 Nights of Snowfall (Fables)

970 books to go!

This fables prequel is pretty interesting with a cleverly thought out plot. By reading it the reader finds out about the lives of some of the characters in fabletown before they came to fabletown. The stories about each of the characters are told by Snow while she is in the Sultan's palace, she's keeping him entertained with tales at nightfall so he doesn't take her for his bride and than kill her. It's a nice spin off of the original tale of the 1,001 nights while giving the reader a deeper clue into Fabletown and the fables that live there.

Book 29 - Beastly by Alex Finn - also a comparison book to movie blog entry

Beastly
971 books to go!

I've decided if I happen to see a movie and read the novel it was based off of that I will use this blog to do a comparison entry of the book and movie. I saw Beastly first in movie theatres and than later found out it was a book first, so I borrowed the book from work so I could read it.

Regarding the movie it was just alright. The director and make up artist seemed to downgrade and sugar coat events that were in the book and I'm not sure if this was because the movie was low budget or if this was their vision. The main character's appearance was more sci-fi steam punk and how Lindy was bought to live with him is less severe than how it happens in the book. As with all movies unless you do read the book before hand certain scenes aren't really going to make any sense and the movie is going to seem jumpy. Maybe that's not all movies but it seems to have been my experience with Beastly and The time traveler's wife.

The book was much better. The reader understood a lot of things they didn't go over in the movie and more disturbing things happened in the book, it seemed like they thought movie goers couldn't handle this. The main character actually had fur and claws. The way Lindy came to live with him was much more shocking. The book also explored the possibility of what both characters worried about after he was transformed back to normal. Also you learn why Kendra can't help his friends until he succeeds, in the movie she just tells him she can't do anything unless he breaks the spell. There's also some amusement in the book there's a chat room of teens that have been transformed through the book they get together to chat. Also I must give the book a big major win for making reference to phantom of the opera at least 3 or 4 times.

The book wins here, and if you do give the movie a shot you definitely should read the book first for more information that you will be armed with while you are seeing the movie.

Book 28 - Shot of Tequila by J.A. Konrath

Shot of Tequila: A Jack Daniels Thriller (Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels)
Kindle edition

972 books to go!

Every time I read this author's work I am impressed. He's written a whole series of mystery thriller books featuring detective Jack Daniels as the star. This book has Jack in it but she's not the main character. The main character is a man named Tequila. After the reader is introduced to Tequila, the reader finds out that Tequila has been framed by someone and has had a major robbery pinned on him. This book is Tequila's adventure as he runs from the police and his former boss and tries to make sense of things.

I can say as I will always say with any book I've read by this author I highly recommend it, you won't regret this read.

Book 27-Spring Awakening by Frank Wedenkind

Spring Awakening (Modern Classics)

973 books to go!

This is a play written by Frank Wedenkind, the action takes place in a small German town during the years of 1891-1982. This controversial story was also turned into a Broadway musical.

The story is somewhat depressing, a small group of teenagers start to learn and explore sexuality, by the end of the story two of them have died.

I'm curious to see the musical if I ever get a chance, but I wasn't overly impressed with the story it just didn't grab me.

Book 26 - Chanson de l'Ange by Paisley Swan Stewart

Chanson de l'Ange, Book 1: The Bleeding Rose- An Epic Retelling of Phantom of the Opera

974 books to go!

This book is a piece of Phantom of the Opera fiction I read, therefore I'm linking to the review of the book that appears in my phantom of the opera blog.

Book 25 - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I bought two of the books in this trilogy for my kindle when I first got it in December. I now have book three as well on the kindle (it was magically obtained).

After reading it I do understand why everyone has gone bananas over this trilogy. Starting off with a curious introduction the characters of the novel came together to form the crux of the story. The author did a great job bringing all of them together to bring about the action of the story, and oh what action it was. There was unexpected twists and turns that had me constantly yearning to keep reading to finish the story.

Even though I already own these for my kindle I anticipate purchasing them for my sister to read as well.