I have been challenged

So a friend wrote me an e-mail asking him to join in on the "Read 50 books this year" challenge. I have no idea where he got this idea, but I like it! I love to read and lucky for me, I am allowed to count anything I have read since the beginning of the year, meaning Jan 1st and I've already finished 4 books (yes, I know, only in a few weeks? Read on to find out why). I don't know if this is going to be much of a challenge for me, but I can't speak too soon, I never know what the future tends to hold. Some days at work there isn’t anything to do for stretches of time and I can get through a shorter novel quickly or a longer novel in a couple of days. It can sometimes be nice, but other times I really don’t know what to do with myself. I try to be productive with my time by reading or working on costume sketches, but you never know.

After talking to my friend, he said that he's trying to make this challenge work with all of his friends. I think, for some, 50 is too high of a goal, but "reach high and you'll eventually get there" seems to be his motto. And no, picture books don't count, technical manuals (because sometimes they seem like books) don't count; which stinks for me.

I've never been one to write review of books, but since that is part of the challenge, then I'll give it a try. I also end up giving more information than is needed; I'm a spoiler. The times that I've had to write reviews of books, I take you through the entire book and how I felt about certain parts and I guess people really don't like it when you do that, so this may get interesting.


Book 1: Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Basic premise is that a man, Mo, can read characters out of books, especially if he says it with enough passion and pronunciation. Mo has a daughter Meggie and one night this guy shows up at their house. Turns out this guy, Dustfinger, has been read out of a book and wants to go back but is actually working for another character that has been read out of the same book. The evil guy ends up abducting Mo and trying to get him to read him other things out of his book and others. Meggie goes after him along with her aunt.

It is kind of predictable, but it keeps things moving along rather smoothly. The only problem is that it has been translated and some of the translation doesn’t work or doesn’t translate smoothly. There are times that you think one person is talking and then it says someone else is talking. It also switches he and she multiple times.

Some of the characters get old really fast. The aunt is one that you are “I’m done” with by the first two times you hear her. She doesn’t play that big a part in the story, but you can see why she is in the story later on. Dustfinger’s whining gets old quickly. There is a bit of a twist pertaining to a couple of characters at the end, but not a big character arch for any of the characters.

The story has a solid ending, but also leaves it open for the rest of the trilogy.


Book 2: The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer
When a friend recommended this novel to me I was a bit skeptical. Another Stephenie Meyer book? Not too exciting, but I decided to read it so she would stop bugging me about it. Turns out the story is quite . . . interesting.

There are these “parasites” that roam the galaxies and try to restore order by taking over the inhabitants of the world they land on. When they come to Earth, they find out that humans won’t go so easily. The story follows one of these parasites and how a rebel bunch of humans teach the parasite humanity.

It is sci-fi and reeks of the BYU English Department, but the story is actually pretty good. At times it is interesting to follow because you’ve got both the parasite and the actual human talking and sharing their experiences. The connections between the characters is great and it takes some twist and turns with the characters and their emotions.

The ending is interesting and something that you don’t expect and do expect at the same time.


Book 3: City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) by Cassandra Clare
A teen novel that was recommended to me by a Border’s Bookstore sales associate, it isn’t the best of books, but I can see why the teens like it. It has action, adventure, and a world that only exists in imagination.

There are a few different types of beings that live among humans and most humans don’t notice them, but the main character does. She ends up seeing a “murder” of sorts while at a teen club and gets pulled into a new world; a world that her mother was trying to keep her out of. The main “love interest” gets annoying quickly.

I can’t say too much because the story does take a few turns, but it’s definitely set for multiple books.


Book 4: Night World No. 1 by L.J. Smith
It has three stories that all work within the same world and has a few of the same characters to tie them together but basically has different main characters, each dealing with the ‘Night World”. The Night World is a place that vampires, werewolfs, witches, and the likes are all part of their own world. They live and work among the humans, they normally don’t like it, but the humans aren’t supposed to know about their world. It also deals a lot with the idea of a “soulmate”, a person who you can’t live without once you’ve met him/her. That tends to have problems because normally those in the Night World aren’t supposed to have relationships with humans and visa versa.

Very teenish novel, but the stories actually can be entertaining. They are a quick read and having three stories in one book is nice; instead of buying three separate books.


So I've got 4 down, 46 more to go. Oh boy.