2012 Goal - No Re-reads!

You hear that sound? That quiet weeping? That's not the friendly attic ghoul - that's me. That's me mourning all of my favorite books for all of 2012, because I've banned myself from re-reading them.

No Harry Potter.
No re-reading The Shining, The Stand, The Dark Tower series.
Nothing I've read before... ever.

Dawson feels my pain. And I didn't even watch Dawson's Creek. That's how painful this is.

Shhh... There there, Dawson. I know. It's hard. But, we'll get through this year, Dawson. We WILL.

I mean, unless the Mayans were right. Then we're just screwed. O_o

Review: The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

This book. Wow.

I kinda don't even know what to write about this book. The scope of it, the detail, everything is just so... epic. And then I think about the fact that there are a proposed nine more books, and I just...

The EPICNESS.

As I was reading this, I admit to being unable to see how this story, already ginormous all on its lonesome, could expand to a whopping 10 book series and do it well. Keep the pacing, the excitement, the world, the magic system, the awesomenes all consistent.

Oh me of little faith. O_o

This is BRANDON SANDERSON. I should have known better. His leg hath been metaphorically humpeth'd by thy humble review writer thrice previously, and I anticipateth this trend to continueth.

The last 150 pages or so of this book brought things together in such a way that... well, a whole world of possibility has opened up. It seems a bit silly to say that, because a book, any book, EVERY book opens up a universe of possibility just by virtue of what it is... but in regards to my not seeing how this story, which seemed as though it could be a standalone for so much of it, could spawn a potential 9 sequels... the last 150 pages clinched it. And then I went back to the beginning and read the prologue again (having to stop myself from just continuing...) and it becomes clearer just how vast this story could be.

The world-building alone here is fantastic. This whole world, so many peoples and creatures and beliefs and societies, the weather patterns and landscapes and the history... all of it has the feeling of both being barely touched upon and described in depth. I can see it all so clearly in my head, it's almost as if I were there. I need my own Worldsinger to come tell me more. I am so curious and so excited about the scope and depth of this series, I can't even describe it.

And that's just the "background" stuff.

One thing about the beliefs in this book. Religion plays a big part in the daily lives of the characters here, as it did in his Mistborn series as well. If you aren't aware, Sanderson is a Mormon. I don't know anything about Mormonism, but I remember worrying as I was reading the Mistborn series how the religion in that story would be handled. I hate being preached to.

I don't worry about that anymore with Sanderson. I think that the way he approaches religion in his books is intriguing and unique and thought-provoking, but never preachy. These are fantasy-world religion/belief systems that one can think about and take with them as they will, but Sanderson doesn't force or push his beliefs on anyone. And I very much respect that.

The characters in this book... I just have no words. No, I lie. I have a word: Amazing.

But before we get into that, let me tell you about this bad habit I have. I don't read chapter or section titles. There, I said it. It's true. I don't read chapter or section titles. Too often, they give something away, which I really don't like. So I skip them. Which means that, unfortunately, sometimes I miss key things and have to either pick them up elsewhere, or backtrack.

I had to backtrack a couple times while reading this one. There are a lot of perspective shifts, and sometimes they threw me off. A switch to a known character is one thing, but there are these sort of 'intermission' sections with characters that come into the story only briefly to give us something and then leave again.

So, getting back to my point about characters, I was a little thrown off when I realized that the Jezrien and Kalak I'd met in the very beginning (aka: the prologue I didn't realize was a prologue until much later) weren't the characters I'd be following and that the world was very different. One backtrack later, and it makes sense... 4,500 years separation between prologue and chapter 1. Got it.

I have no regrets regarding the characters that I spent the last two weeks with, though. Like I said: amazing. I loved all of these characters. All of them. Even the horrible ones. And the weak ones. All of the characters have such a depth to them. Their lives seemed 100% real to me, as if they could step right off the page (or screen in my case, since I read this whopper on my nook) and into my life.

I cared about these characters. A lot. They live in a world in chaos. They are in the midst of a lingering, brutal war. The seasons are in a constant state of flux. Highstorms are only semi-predictable, but seem to be getting stronger and stronger. There's betrayal everywhere and trust is a luxury that almost nobody can afford. Is it any surprise that I read in this sort of state of constant fear about What Might Happen? It was thrilling, but at the same time, I was a nervous wreck.

I love that feeling... of actually caring what happens to characters. I like exciting books as much as the next person, but if I don't invest anything in the characters that the excitement is happening to, then it's just kind of hollow. Enjoyable? Sure. But forgettable.

I want reading to affect me. I want to feel it. I want my hands to shake, my heart to race, or break, or ache, my eyes to be filled with tears and my stomach queasy with worry. And it was. This book gave me all of that, and more.

The more I think about this book, the more I piece together. The more theories I form, the more excited I get for the next installment. I loved it. Loved it loved it loved it. In case you hadn't noticed.

This feeling that I have right now, this awe and wonder and excitement... This is why I read.

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Review: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin ★★★★★

4.5 Stars

I admit that I'm a little torn on what to rate this book, so I split the difference, although I'm really tempted to go all StarSearch™ up in this piece and do 4.75 stars. (Wait, did they have a 5 star rating system? No, I think it was only 4. Crap. Well, anyway, you get the point. That is, unless you're younger than me and don't even know what StarSearch is. In that case, you're a jerk, and go away.)

Anyway, I'm torn because, having seen the movie before, I think that Roman Polanski nailed the ending... He stopped at just the right point, and left us with that lingering empathetic horror, the mystery, the "What the fuck?!" feeling. We get just a hint, and the rest is Rosemary's reaction, and that subtlety's often better than the giving up the whole shebang.

The book takes the ending just a smidge further, and with a smidge more detail to the what, and that smidge further opens a line of possibility that is horrifying in itself. The things that a mother will accept, the things that a PERSON can accept, it's scary to think of in extremes like this. Imagine raising this baby with the eye of the world watching. Jeez. The terrible twos would be... apocalyptic. So... yeah, I'm torn. I don't know which ending I prefer. They are both great in their own ways.

I listened to this one as an audibobook, and I LOVED it. It was read by Mia Farrow and honestly, I think that her reading may have upstaged her movie performance. Not that she wasn't great in the movie, because I think she was, if a teeeeeensy bit melodramatic, but the audio relied solely on her voice, and so it was a bit more subtle and intense at the same time. I'm not sure how to really explain it, but just trust me, it was awesome.

Mia portrayed Rosemary's naivete perfectly. Perfectly. I feel like, perhaps if I'd have read this, I'd have found some of it a bit ridiculous. The things that Rosemary goes along with, I'm thinking, "No! Don't drink the putrid drink again! Are you STUPID?!" but then Mia does such an insanely great job at showing us this small town, kinda sheltered girl on her own in the big city, with her barely-married-a-year husband, in way over her head, super excited that she's FINALLY pregnant, and just wanting to do the right thing, even though she's not sure just what that is. She's manipulated on all sides, she's tricked and fooled over and over, and even though she's smart, she just doesn't know to be suspicious until it's too late. Mia Farrow shows all of that perfectly. The wavery quality in her voice, the whispers, the hesitation, the doubt and fear... all of it comes through, and really adds a lot to this story, I think.

Then there's Ira Levin's writing in general. Really great stuff. It's so... layered. But it doesn't FEEL layered. It feels straightforward and almost simplistic, but it's like seeing tree after tree after tree, and then finally stepping back far enough to realize that it's a forest after all. It doesn't change what it is, but the big picture is a sum of the parts. I loved the little things, the tiny details that Rosemary saw as a whole lot of trees, never realizing that she was too close to see the forest.

Also, I was really kind of impressed by Guy Woodhouse in this, although it feels very strange to say so. He managed such a ridiculously fine line of manipulation, it's hard not to be impressed that he carried it off for so long, even while being feministically pissed at his audacity and selfishness.

I was also struck by the emotional and mental abuse tactics that Guy used to keep Rosemary in line. Always keeping her home, with no money and no means of getting any, cut off from friends and family. She was always watched or followed. He didn't even let her do her own shopping - the neighbors would do it in the guise of being neighborly and helpful in deference to her sickly condition. Even without the paranormal bent of this book, it would be terrifying just for those reasons. I kept hoping that she'd leave, go to a friend's house, anything, but she didn't. I knew the storyline already, but I still wanted her to just GO. Guy wasn't physically abusive, but he was emotionally neglectful and distant and cruel (not to mention all the rest), and she just wanted so badly to have a happy family that she couldn't see it.

This is a fantastic book. I'm so glad that I splurged on it. Highly recommended.

Horror October 2011: #8

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Review: The Bell Witch: An American Haunting by Brent Monahan ★★

2.5 stars

From the blurb: "The Bell Witch took up residence with John Bell's family in 1818. It was a cruel and noisy spirit, given to rapping and gnawing sounds before it found its voices.

With these voices and its supernatural acts, the Bell Witch tormented the Bell family. This extraordinary book recounts the only documented case in U.S. history when a spirit actually caused a man's death.

[...]this book recounts the tale with novelistic vigor and verve. It is truly chilling."

Chilling? Not so much. I just kinda expect malevolent spirits to, you know... be malevolent. Just a quirk I have. So much of this book was about how this spirit would just sit down and have conversations with people regarding what it is and where it came from and what it wanted. There was surprisingly little poltergeist chaos wreaking after the initial start. I dunno, maybe the teller thought we'd get bored with that chaos and terror, and instead wanted to tell us all the mundane stuff about it, like... how it went out of its way to prevent injury or death to some or outright save others. Or when it touched that one guy's hand that time, in order to be "liked".

I had seen the movie, and so I knew how it went. I wasn't sure whether the resolution at the end of the movie would be a Hollywood re-write or not, and so I waited it out with the book to see. And I found out my answer about an hour before the audiobook ended. I could have stopped there, but I'm glad that I kept with it until the end. It didn't improve things very much for me, but I think that there was information in the book that wasn't in the movie, about the spirit's origin and manifestation, and I found that aspect very interesting. Hence the half star addition. ;)

The audio reader was very iffy for me. In the Editor's Note at the beginning of the book, he sounded very stiff and formal, but then when he started to read the story, he fell into this kind of Southern drawl that made me sigh with contentment. Unfortunately, he didn't keep it up. Boo!

I'm not a big fan of audiobook readers who "do" the voices. I usually just want the reader to read and let the characters speak for themselves. There were parts that were very well done, Old Kate's "main" voice, & John Bell's voice were both done well. But then, during straight narration, the reader would lapse into odd accents, or stumble over his words, or pause at inconvenient times (like the middle of a word). I heard something like a Scottish accent, hints of a Spanish one, a little bit of Minnesotan, etc. Every time one of these would slip in, I'd be like...

Yeah. So, this book? Not terrible, but not very good either. That is all.

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Oy... Look at the dust in here!

Yeah, so... It's been a reallllly long time since I've posted anything to my blog, and... that makes me a lazy jerk.

I'm gonna try to do better, because... well I shouldn't be lazy or a jerk, let alone both at the same time. It's just shameful.

So, I'ma open the windows, dust things off, and maybe get off the couch...

Maybe.