Hi Everyone!
So our party is tomorrow. The details are as follows:
Friday, August 16th
6:30 PM - closing (9:30 PM)
Brighouse Library - Children's Program Room
If you are coming (and your name is not Ashini) I NEED you to comment to say so and to say what your bringing in terms of food/drinks so we know how many people to expect. Other than Ashini, NO ONE has RSVPed! COME ON GUYS!!!
See you tomorrow (I hope)!
The World's Top Earning Authors of 2013
Hello Everyone!
Forbes Magazine has just published its list of the authors who made the most money this year. You may ask "This year? Not over their entire lifetime?" once you see the figures below, but, believe me, each author did indeed make all that money THIS YEAR (and this is ONLY the money they made off stuff relating to their books - not investments, etc.).
To the list:
Check out the full article here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/08/12/the-worlds-top-earning-authors-with-50-shades-e-l-james-debuts-at-no-1/
Forbes Magazine has just published its list of the authors who made the most money this year. You may ask "This year? Not over their entire lifetime?" once you see the figures below, but, believe me, each author did indeed make all that money THIS YEAR (and this is ONLY the money they made off stuff relating to their books - not investments, etc.).
To the list:
- E.L. James - $95 million
- James Patterson - $91 million
- Suzanne Collins - $55 million
- Bill O'Reilly - $28 million
- Danielle Steel - $26 million
- Jeff Kinney - $24 million
- Janet Evanovich - $24 million
- Nora Roberts - $23 million
- Dan Brown - $22 million
- Stephen King - $20 million
- Dean Koontz - $20 million
- John Grisham - $18 million
- David Baldacci - $15 million
- Rick Riordan - $14 million
- J.K. Rowling - $13 million
- George R.R. Martin - $12 million
Check out the full article here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/08/12/the-worlds-top-earning-authors-with-50-shades-e-l-james-debuts-at-no-1/
Shadow and Bone Contest
Not normally something that I'd read, but all the rave reviews of it have me ready to give it a try...
So, to the questions:
To what extent is the culture of Ravka based on the culture of historical Russia? To what extent is it a culture all it's own?
To what extent is Shadow and Bone intended to be a novel of romance and to what extent is it purely a book in the fantasy genre? (this will, of course, help determine whether I read it)
What was the intended audience for Shadow and Bone? (YA females? Teens in general? Everyone?)
How would you (the author) say that Shadow and Bone, and the Grisha trilogy in general, sets itself apart from the rest of the genre (which, I daresay, includes some titans of literature - Narnia, LOTR, GoT, etc.)?
Is Shadow and Bone your first novel? Or just the first one to be published? If the former, how long did it take you to complete?
What advice do you have for aspiring fantasy writers, or aspiring writers in general?
So, to the questions:
To what extent is the culture of Ravka based on the culture of historical Russia? To what extent is it a culture all it's own?
To what extent is Shadow and Bone intended to be a novel of romance and to what extent is it purely a book in the fantasy genre? (this will, of course, help determine whether I read it)
What was the intended audience for Shadow and Bone? (YA females? Teens in general? Everyone?)
How would you (the author) say that Shadow and Bone, and the Grisha trilogy in general, sets itself apart from the rest of the genre (which, I daresay, includes some titans of literature - Narnia, LOTR, GoT, etc.)?
Is Shadow and Bone your first novel? Or just the first one to be published? If the former, how long did it take you to complete?
What advice do you have for aspiring fantasy writers, or aspiring writers in general?
Damascus Countdown by Joel C. Rosenberg
All eyes are on the Middle East. Israel has successfully launched a first strike on Iran, taking out all of their nuclear sites and six of their nuclear warheads—and causing The Twelfth Imam to order a full-scale retaliation. U.S. President William Jackson threatens to support a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Jewish State for unprovoked and unwarranted acts of aggression.
Meanwhile, CIA operative David Shirazi has infiltrated the Iranian regime and intercepted information indicating that two Iranian nuclear warheads survived the attack and have been moved to a secure and undisclosed location. In danger not only from the ongoing missile strikes on Iran but also from the increasingly hostile and suspicious governments of multiple countries, David and his team are in a race against time to find the remaining nuclear warheads before disaster strikes.
Review:
Having always enjoyed Rosenberg's books (both fictional and non) in the past and having enjoyed this series thus far, I naturally wanted to read this book as soon as I saw it was available (especially since book 2 - The Tehran Initiative ended with such a cliffhanger). So once it came in at the library, it went straight to the top of my to-read pile (second only to The Judgement Stone which was even more highly anticipated).
I was not disappointed. This book is AMAZING! It picks up right (and I mean right) where The Tehran Initiative left off, which is both good and not-so-good. It's good, well, great, because it thrusts us right into a blazing warzone, behind enemy lines, from the first page, and as if that wasn't intense enough, the tension does indeed build all the way to the climax, racing at a breakneck speed all the way. It's not so good because my memory of The Tehran Initiative isn't perfect so I'd forgotten a few plot points and as a result a couple of times I was like "Huh? What's up with that?" - this of course my bad and not a problem with the book really at all.
As I have already said, this book is uber-intense and moves at a blistering pace right from the get-go. It may be 430 pages, but you get so into it from the very beginning that you really can't put it down and so one will probably end up staying up late reading and end up finishing it in 4 sittings MAXIMUM. Part of this intensity comes from the book's realism. With the constant conflict in the Middle East these days it is not at all hard to see this happening.
An interesting plot element of note is that this book involves the Mossad and their operatives far more than the other books. I personally like this because the Mossad is more shadowy/secretive, more ruthless, and dare I say more effective than the CIA. The Mossad deserves series of thrillers all to themselves, and I'd say there are likely are some centred around their agents... in Israel. The book market around here is so America/Euro-centric that we never really hear about spy thrillers with protagonists in agencies other than the CIA, MI6, etc (this also likely the reason why so few of Jack Heath's books are available over here). ANYWAYS, moving on...
The characters were generally quite well developed, having of course been developed over the course of the series. Even so, there still were some times when a few acted out of character, and other times where there were moments that were downright cheesy. The one character that is underdeveloped is the US President (he's anti-Israel, wishy-washy at times, and a Democrat - big surprise (sarcasm)).
The only other issue here is the ending. It's one of those times where the author makes things so impossible for the protagonist that it has to be a bit deus ex machina in the end, though in this case you can kinda see it coming as you near the climax. And then the ending started to mimic Dead Heat (the finale of Rosenberg's last series) a little bit... but thankfully it got off that track pretty quickly. Had Rosenberg wanted to extend the series one more book, the ending could have been SO MUCH BETTER, but alas he decided not to go that route.
Regardless of said issues, this was a great, well written, intense, and action packed book. Very highly recommended to fans of Tom Clancy (personally I like Rosenberg better than Clancy), spy thrillers, global politics, what-if scenarios, or action/adventure, and to anyone who follows the news! (Note: please start from Book 1 - The Twelfth Imam)
4.5/5 stars
Sovereign by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee
Nine years after Rom Sebastian was thrust into the most unlikely of circumstances as hero and bearer of an unimaginable secret, the alliance of his followers is in disarray. An epic battle with The Order has left them scattered and deeply divided both in strategy and resolve in their struggle to become truly alive and free.
Only 36 truly alive followers remain loyal to Rom. This meagre band must fight for survival as The Order is focused on their total annihilation. Misunderstood and despised, their journey will be one of desperation against a new, more intensely evil Order.
As the hand of this evil is raised to strike and destroy them they must rely on their faith in the abiding power of love to overcome all and lead them to sovereignty.
Review:
I reviewed the second book in this trilogy last year, stating multiple times how frustrating it was that Dekker was retreading so much ground from The Circle series, etc. I had hoped that the authors, particularly Dekker, would redeem themselves in the final book.
They did... somewhat. The Circle retreading is still there and still frustrating, but thankfully Sovereign diverges a bit more from that script than Mortal did. The parallels, though, do take away from the story big time.
Also frustrating is the whole TH blood thing. It's something evokes either a knowing smile, or an peeved eye roll and subsequent groan from readers of The Circle. It's one of those things that just makes you think "Seriously?" and makes the whole premise seem that much more ridiculous.
I also didn't particularly like the ending - it was too much a "feel good" one, which seems pretty ridiculous given the circumstances at the start of the novel (geez, Dekker, your readers aren't 10 year olds who can't handle a bittersweet, bloody, or melodramatic finish) and there were far too many deus ex machina-like elements as well.
That said, the feel good ending was probably supposed to make up for the brutality of the authors in hurting and killing key characters throughout the rest of the book, but it also makes for another reason why the ending didn't quite work.
Beyond all that though, Sovereign made for good reading. The writing itself was of high quality and had heavy emotional punch to it while for the most part staying grounded in things that made relative sense - all of which is very much likely due to Tosca Lee's influence (get Dekker on his own and you have no idea where a story might go - which isn't always a bad thing, but isn't always good either). To Dekker's (the suspense author of the two) credit, the final 2/3 of the book are so intense and suspenseful (partly due to the authors' ruthlessness in doing away with characters) you literally cannot think of much else until you finish it. The pacing could have been a bit brisker, but it never really dragged, and the slightly slower pace increased that chomping-at-the-bit feeling one gets when one reads an uber-intense novel (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).
The characters were also all very well developed (another thing I credit to Lee), which helped with the whole emotional-engagement thing.
I hope the authors leave this series as it is and don't add anything to it (knowing Dekker though, it won't and it'll get weird and turn into another Books of History Chronicles), but if the epilogue is any indication, that's not going to happen. All in all, a powerfully written finale to the trilogy. Recommended to all fans of dystopian novels who haven't read the Circle (since this trilogy is essentially the Circle for dystopian lovers).
4/5
Winner Week #6!
Each week the Richmond Public Library will be awarding prizes to teens who submit reviews. Each winner will receive a book of their choice and other fantastic prizes. This weeks winners are:1.) Drizzy Fan
2.) Tiny Tina - Librarian's choice for a fantastic review of "The Future of Us"
Congratulations and we look forward to additional reviews throughout the summer!
''The Great Gatsby'' by F.Scott Fitzgerald
“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”
Rating:4,5/5
I've heard a lot about ''The Great Gatsby'' (well, who hasn't?), but I've always considered it just another boring classic. And you know what? I was totally mistaken.
So, I have this rule that I can't watch a movie without reading the book that it's based on and I always follow this rule. And when ''The Great Gatsby'' movie came out, I wanted to watch it very much. That's why I had to read the book. And now this book is my second favourite classic (the first one is ''Gone with the Wind'').
The story is told by 30-years old Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate, World War I veteran, who moved to New York from Midwest in after-war years to become a bond salesman, however, deep inside, he dreams of being a writer. The story starts with Nick telling that 2 years ago, he bought a small and desolate house in New York's suburbs, in a village called West Egg. The main hero of a story is Nick's neighbour, Jay Gatsby, a mysterious and eccentric loner, who is an owner of a luxurious mansion with a marble pool, huge library and gigantic park.
It is set in a beautiful time. The after-war years, the age of jazz, the American Golden age or simply early 1920-s. Business, money, parties. Gatsby is a man who became a self-made billionaire, rose to glory, but fell because of his passion and unfortunate accident.
I'm not sure I fully understand this book yet, and I'm sure that when I re-read, my opinion on it will change, but right now I don't like any of the characters. Nick for just being the witness and not trying to stop the tragedy, Gatsby for being so obsessed with winning back Daisy and Daisy for being selfish.
What I like about this book is that it's really short, around 180 pages. It makes it much more fun to read. And it may be the key to success of the book.
Maybe it's because I didn't expect much of a book, it exceeded my expectations and turned out to be very good. The Great Gatsby is a book that I want to read and re-read again and again and I know this one thing for sure: ''The Great Gatsby'' is truly Great.
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