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Summary: (Taken from GoodReads) Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you. Just ask Zoey Redbird – she’s become an expert on suckiness. In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a close group of friends who trusted and supported her, to being an outcast. Speaking of friends, the only two Zoey has left are undead and unMarked. And Neferet has declared war on humans, which Zoey knows in her heart is wrong. But will anyone listen to her? Zoey's adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested, shocking true intentions come to light, and an ancient evil is awakened in PC and Kristin Cast's spellbinding fourth House of Night novel.

( Thoughts: )

I think that the month of May, and possibly a portion of June, will be dedicated to getting reviews onto this blog of books that I've read in the past. I wanted to start this blog to better chronicle my reading adventures from 2010 onward, but it doesn't seem fair to pass over really good books that I read, say, last year. I may not want to reread them right now in order to review them, but that doesn't mean they aren't worth a little publicity from me.

So I'm going to try to post reviews of books read by me in years gone by, once each weekday, until I either reach then end of my list, reach the end of May, or get bored of doing so, whichever comes last.

This also means that if my life picks up again and I don't have as much time to read as I have had lately, this blog won't lack for content.

Now, to go through my lists and figure out what I want to review first.

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Summary: (Taken from GoodReads) Dark forces are at work at the House of Night and fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird’s adventures at the school take a mysterious turn. Those who appear to be friends are turning out to be enemies. And oddly enough, sworn enemies are also turning into friends. So begins the gripping third installment of this “highly addictive series” (Romantic Times), in which Zoey’s mettle will be tested like never before. Her best friend, Stevie Rae, is undead and struggling to maintain a grip on her humanity. Zoey doesn’t have a clue how to help her, but she does know that anything she and Stevie Rae discover must be kept secret from everyone else at the House of Night, where trust has become a rare commodity. Speaking of rare: Zoey finds herself in the very unexpected and rare position of having three boyfriends. Mix a little bloodlust into the equation and the situation has the potential to spell social disaster. Just when it seems things couldn’t get any tougher, vampyres start turning up dead. Really dead. It looks like the People of Faith, and Zoey’s horrid step-father in particular, are tired of living side-by-side with vampyres. But, as Zoey and her friends so often find out, how things appear rarely reflects the truth…

( Thoughts: )

As much as I enjoy the plot of the House of Night books, and as much as admire the realism of the characters, I have to admit that some of Zoey's thoughts about people grate on my nerves. Take, for example, the following quote from Betrayed:

"Clearly he was one of those geeky kids who is a dork, but a likable dork with potential (translation: he bathes and brushes his teeth, plus has good skin and doesn't dress like a total loser)."

This attitude? Do not want. The implication there is that the dorks and geeks of the world (who, if you want to play to stereotypes, are the ones who are good with computers and enjoy fantasy books and yes, are often the ones who will enjoy the very novels that PC and Kristin Cast write) are unwashed and dirty, and that "potential" as a person relies on the quality of one's skin and clothing.

Now, I understand that Zoey's thoughts are her own and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of the authors. My problem is that they reflect the opinions of a lot of teenagers and adults, and I'm sorry, but I'm tired of feeling like a pariah because of somebody's else's baseless preconceptions.

Yes, this is a sore spot with me, and as much as I enjoy some novels, I well and truly get tired of being indirectly insulted like this. People put these kinds of opinions into their books because they're common opinions, and unfortunately they just reinforce the mistaken impressions.

I'll give you another great example that ruined what may well be a good book by an author I like. I tried to read Death's Daughter, by Amber Benson, because I love her sense of humour and her acting. I figured I'd enjoy her book. I tried valiantly to get past the fact that I couldn't relate to the "modern high-powered female" main character, the one who's interested in high fashion and dating and all that. I really tried.

And then I got to the part where Calliope (the main character) is thinking about delivering her overweight boss's decaf no-fat latte, wondering why said boss even bothers with the "decaf no-fat" thing because Calliope thinks it's all just for show, and that "everybody knows that as soon as the office door is closed the boss just chows down on the stash of candy and junk food she must have hidden is her desk drawers."

I closed the book. As someone who's overweight and who's had to struggle with it for the majority of my life, that hit home and dug deep, and I lost a lot of respect for Amber Benson. I don't enjoy reading about shallow idiots. I don't like having to keep telling myself that the author may not actually think that way just because their characters do. Sometimes to repeat it to myself like a mantra, hoping that I'll actually believe it in the end.

Does it work? I'm still waiting. Regardless, it keeps reinforcing public image of fat people as compulsive overeaters who lie to the world, of greasy-haired nerds who play chicks-in-chainmail to get their kicks because they're too ugly to get near a real girl.

One of these days, I'm going to write my own novel. The protagonist will be a nerdy girl with a goddess-of-Willendorf body who is a social outcast and spends her time reading fantasy novels and playing video games. And when the world goes to hell in a handbasket, she'll be the only one who knows what to do because everyone around her spent their lives being concerned about dating and new clothes and shiny hair, and she spent her life reading about different kinds of magic and monsters.

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Summary: (Taken from GoodReads) Organized alphabetically for easy reference, A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi" is an accessible lexicon of foreign words and phrases used in English, containing everything from aficionado (Spanish) to zeitgeist (German). Inside you'll find translations, definitions, origins, and a descriptive timeline of each item's evolution. Attractively packaged with black and white illustrations, this whimsical yet authoritative book is a great gift for any etymologically fascinated individual. Use this book to reacquaint yourself with the English language, and you'll be compos mentis in no time.

( Thoughts: )

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Summary: (Taken from Amazon.ca) Terrel's destiny is far from clear. In exile from his home, he journeys through a hostile world, with only the spirits from an earlier life and his instincts to guide him. Having crossed two oceans, Terrel finds himself in Misrah. A harsh and barren desert land, survival there is a daily struggle for its nomadic tribes. But Misrah is also a place of many wonders, where superstition is as important as the constant search for water. For Terrel, his magical talents may be all that can save him—and lead him one step closer to discovering the truth of the mysterious prophecies in the Tindaya Code.

( Thoughts: )

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Summary: (Taken from GoodReads) In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE.

Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened.

Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day.

It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else...

( Thoughts: )

I've thought this question before, but I was reminded of it last night when I flicked through a book that is soon to be on my "Currently Reading" list, Homosexuality in History. (Nobody can accuse me of not having a diverse taste in books!)

Not being a history major, I can't verify whether a lot of the facts presented in this book are true or not, but I did come across a few mentions of things that made me pause. Particularly the presentation of two east-Asian names. A Japanese shogun by the name of "Lemitsu" (should be Iemistu) and a Chinese character, I believe, named Ximen Quing (should be Ximen Qing).

Now, I can hazard a guess at how and why these errors were made. Somebody could have seen Iemistu and mistaken the upper-case I for a lower-case L. In where Ximen Qing's name is concerned, the letter Q hardly ever stands on its own in English, so force of habit may have made them add a U after it. They are understandable mistakes to make.

However, the fact that there are identifiable mistakes makes me wonder how many other mistakes are in that book that I may be accepting as fact, even though they aren't. I can't tell whether those mistakes were made because of a sloppy editor or sloppy research, after all. If those small things are wrong, may larger things be wrong also?

Of course, it's wrong of me to assume that because I noticed two errors with the presentation of non-English names then every fact presented in the book is almost mistaken. And to research every single fact I come across there would ruin my enjoyment of the book as a whole, and would drag on the reading for well over a year. But it always happens like this, whenever I find small errors in nonfiction, even with ones so seemingly trivial as names. If A is wrong, then how can I trust B, or C, or the rest of the alphabet? How do I know that the mistake wasn't a result of sloppy research? Perhaps nobody else noticed because they weren't familiar with how such names worked, but how many people will read that book who already know every fact and theory presented in it so that they can point out to the author, "Um, I think you got this bit wrong."

Does this happen to anybody else? Do you run across small errors in nonfiction and start taking the book as a whole a little less seriously? Do you wonder what else may be wrong, and wonder if you'll be able to tell?

I'm reading through all the free book available on the Harper Teen website, partly because I have no objection to free books or YA paranormal books, and partly to give them a chance, because they may lead me to something. Kelley Armstrong's The Summoning (reviewed only a few days ago) was pretty good, and I've moved on to Claudia Gray's Evernight.

Which is so boring that it's only sheer force of will that's keeping me going.

Which is more than I could manage for Twilight, I'll say that much.

But Evernight is like Twilight at boarding school. Blurbs and reviews recommend it for fans of Meyer's books, and so far I can't say that's far off the mark. It's got the same kind of obsessive love thing going on, the same heroine that I can't bring myself to care about. It's marginally better than Twilight in that I don't want to smack the protagonist upside the head every chapter, or at least not as much. She's fallen head-over-heels in obsession with a guy who spoke to for ten minutes on the first day of school, and by chapter three is already thinking of all the places in her life that he can fit in.

There's a conversation in chapter four that can be summed up by the following:

Raquel: I had a nightmare about vampires and evil things in this school, and it scared me so badly that I'm hiding in the bathrooms to cry.
Bianca: I know how you feel. I had a nightmare about flowers dying. Totally the same thing, right?

I can't see this book picking up so much in the last half that it redeems itself for a terrible beginning. But we'll see. I'll give it a chance before I condemn it completely. But really, when I'm frequently reflecting on how little I've read but how long it seemed to have taken, I don't hold out much hope.

Back of the Book: Exhiled from Vadanis, the homeland he risked his life to save, and betrayed by a brother he has never known, Terrel find himself adrift on the ocean, delirious with hunger and exhaustion.

It seems his fate is sealed. But, as the illusions clouding his mind momentarily clear, he at last spots land.

Rescued by fishermen, Terrel is nursed back to healthm his new home a world away from The Floating Islands of Vadanis. All he has for company are the local villagers, but he soon discovers that they have difficulties of their own.

Leaving behind his new-found friends, Terrel embarks on a remarkable quest to discover the truth, both about the world he lives in and his own life. For Terrel's past holds the key to his destiny.

( Thoughts: )