Book Reviews

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas 4

 in Adult / Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Series by

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A Court of Mist and Fury

Summary

“Feyre survived Amarantha’s clutches to return to the Spring Court–but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can’t forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin’s people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms–and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future–and the future of a world cleaved in two.

With more than a million copies sold of her beloved Throne of Glass series, Sarah J. Maas’s masterful storytelling brings this second book in her seductive and action-packed series to new heights.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Okay, so  I caved in and borrowed this book from my library before I finished the other book I am reading, but I just had to. I honestly couldn’t wait. I kept seeing it all over my feed on Instagram and I just had to check it out!

And oh boy I loved it. This one took me a little longer to read as it was a much longer book, but it kept me guessing the entire time. You really weren’t sure what was going to happen and who was going to end up on what side. And that happened until literally the last page.

I had moments of laughing my butt off, wanting to cry and then having to take a breather from the actual book. This is a more mature YA book due to some of the violence and romance within the book (not graphic, but more for mature YA). In my opinion, book two was better than book one! Ugh, I was so depressed when I finished the book. I have to wait until MAY for book 3, A Court of Wings and Ruin. 

But honestly, if you read book one of the series, then you have to read this one as well.  It just keeps the series going. Honestly, you would have figured out if the series interested you in book one, so if you liked it, then you just have to read book 2 as well!

I’m 100% Team Rhysand. How about you?

Thoughts? I’m casually dying while I wait for the 3rd book to come out so I’d love to rant with someone!

Otherwise, happy reading!

 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 1

 in Book Reviews / Books / Fantasy / Older Readers / Series / Young Adult by

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A Court of Thorns and Roses

Summary

“Perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore and George R.R. Martin, this first book in a sexy and action-packed new series is impossible to put down!

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin–one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin–and his world–forever.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting this at all. I’ve been seeing A Court of Thorns and Roses all over Instagram recently with some amazing photos of the book and it really caught my attention. Then it kept showing up on my feed and I just had to see what everyone was talking about and I am so glad that I did.

I honestly hadn’t heard anything about this book until I saw it on my timeline so clearly I’m living in my own little bubble because how could I have missed this?! I read the entire book in about 4-5 hours, with a small break for dinner, but just couldn’t put it down. It was so addictive.

First of all, the cover is beautiful! Just look at all that red and thorns and just, yes. Red covers always seem to catch my attention.  Of course I had seen some beautiful covers of it on Instagram as well. I will definitely be finishing the series after I finish my currently reading book.

The story was unique which was nice. The fairies in the book weren’t little things that were all adorable. They were badass and could kick some serious butt. It was more of a mature YA book because of that too, there was blood, violence and sex. The sex wasn’t explicit but it was enough to push it to be more mature and there was a decent amount of blood as well.

Team Rhysand

From Redbubble

Now, as for the story, the first book ended quite well in a nice neat package so you don’t have to finish the series I guess as it did finish the book quite well, but there were some things not answered and I just want to see what happens next! And the two teams to choose from; Team Tamlin or Team Rhysand. I don’t know which team I am on yet. I was Team Tamlin, but Rhysand though….

 

I mean this book was just so good and I cannot wait to be able to read the next one. It is a best-seller on Amazon which clearly shows that it is liked by many.

Team Tamlin

From Redbubble

Have any of you lovelies read this series yet? Or just this book? Whose team are you on and did you like the series?

Happy Reading!!!

 

 

 

 

Absolutely on Music: Conversations by Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa

 in Book Reviews / Books by

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Absolutely on Music

Translated from Japanese by Jay Rubin

Summary

“A deeply personal, intimate conversation about music and writing between the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author and the former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In Absolutely on Music, internationally Haruki Murakami sits down with his friend Seiji Ozawa, the revered former conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, for a series of conversations on their shared passion: music. Over the course of two years, Murakami and Ozawa discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, from Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, from Bartók to Mahler, and from pop-up orchestras to opera. They listen to and dissect recordings of some of their favorite performances, and Murakami questions Ozawa about his career conducting orchestras around the world. Culminating in Murakami’s ten-day visit to the banks of Lake Geneva to observe Ozawa’s retreat for young musicians, the book is interspersed with ruminations on record collecting, jazz clubs, orchestra halls, film scores, and much more. A deep reflection on the essential nature of both music and writing, Absolutely on Music is an unprecedented glimpse into the minds of two maestros.

A selection of the music discussed by Murakami and Ozawa is available at harukimurakami.com.”

From Amazon.com

Review

This book is certainly something I would never really read, however the cover really did catch my attention and had me curious as to what the book was about. Now I will say up front that I skimmed the last 50 or so pages of a 325 page book just because the book was kind of repetitive and since I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the music that was being spoken about, I had troubles understanding everything they were referencing.

Additionally, this book is definitely for musicians just because of some of the lingo expressed and I can tell you now that some of the ways that music is described will be hard to understand for someone who is not a musician

Ozawa was certainly an interesting person to interview and he has lead such an interesting and impressive life. He has gotten countless awards and it is not surprise with the way that he understands music and the way that music really flows through him. He’d be able to listen to a piece of music and recall who played certain instruments and explain why the orchestra sounded the way that it did. When I listened to some of the pieces mentioned while I was reading the book, what he was speaking of only became clear to me when I read what he had said. I would never have really noticed the subtle differences like he had. Of course he is a master of music and just understand it and studies it and becomes one with the music. He is such an inspiration to me, as a musician, and as a persona as well as he’s so accomplished, no matter how difficult the road was.

The format of the book was unique as well as it is set up in an interview format and I haven’t really read books like that before. They’ve never really gained  my attention and it was also one of the reasons that I finished the book, but it was still enjoyable overall.

Even if you are not interested in music, looking at this book may just be beneficial to you as there are lessons within the book that you can still learn. I also feel that this book is a book you do not need to read from start to finish as it is broken up into chapters and then sections. All the sections are a different piece of music and all of the chapters work out to be a separate interview.

Overall, I did enjoy Absolutely on Music. It was unique and really opened my eyes to show me, as a musician, just how much more is in the music. I was always aware of the fact that there was more, but seeing just how much more a human being can find within music was incredibly impressive.

I do recommend the book, even to just dip into it, and to have a new experience.

Happy Reading!

Shōgun by James Clavell

 in Book Reviews / Books by

From wikimedia.org

 

Summary

“Here, from the master story teller who ‘writes in the oldest and grandest tradition fiction knows’ is a magnificent saga of feudal Japan, a stunningly dramatic re-creation of an exotic and alien world…”

-From back of book

Review

Well…let’s just say this review has been a long time coming. 1 year and about 9 months coming. Admittedly I haven’t been reading it consistently because of being extremely busy from University and such. But…after a lot of persistence, I have finished the 1234 page book…probably the longest book I have ever read.

Now I have mixed feelings about this book. For about half of the book I was really enjoying it, but by about 3/4 ways through the book I started to get quite bored and then in the end I was just relieved to be finished with it. Of course one reason for this was because no current readers are used to reading books this length, even me! And it was a pretty dense topic. This is an older book, and a classic, and is a much more difficult to read between the length and the story type. Don’t get me wrong, I love a well developed story, but this story was so developed and so much going on. There were TONS of characters and so much going on and a lot of Japanese political stuff. This was kind of at the level of Anna Karenina or The Satanic Verses.

It was one big adventure with lots of stuff happening. It followed the main character Blackthorne and his journeys to bring Toranaga into power. While the story itself was good there was a lot of useless information, like characters going to the bathroom and such. Maybe doing it once or twice but when the author starts writing about EVERY tiny detail in their life, it get’s a little too specific. However, I will comment that that may have been the purpose here to really show the tiniest things. But to me I felt it detracted from the story a bit.

This is definite a book for more mature readers, not just because of the length but because of some of the content. There was quite a lot of violence and it showed the Japanese torture methods in the beginning of the book, which are quite violent and gruesome. Also there was a lot of pillowing, which is sex. I mean the Japanese had no shame about sex exactly, so it was talking about anyone, or anything, they would use as well as instruments to assist in love making. I really wasn’t expecting a kind of BDSM experience from reading this book, but it was certainly unique. Don’t think that this book is romance because of it at all. It was just the way in their land to provide consorts and such, so it went into tat aspect of life as well.

I mean the book literally covered every aspect of life, from drinking to eating to showering to fighting to the specific ways of respect. And I thought I was going to drown with the amount of sake that was being drunk in the book. They literally drink it all the time. That and ocha (tea).

The entire story as it was was just so long. Do I recommend reading it? If you’re interested in Japan and willing to commit to this kind of story, definitely. If reading a book this long, and complex is difficult for you, then I wouldn’t suggest starting it. However, it was a great learning experience about feudal Japan so even though it was hard, I did enjoy it.

Even though it was a difficult read, it was a good challenge for me and I am happy that I have officially completed it.

If you have read this before, what did you think of it? Or would you ever read a book this long?

Happy Reading!

[Update 3/2/2024] It appears that there’s a TV show that has also just come out on Hulu which is incredibly exciting! A review of that will be coming soon but I would absolutely say, for those of you who are books before movies/tv show readers, this may be a difficult choice. The show looks to be a great adaptation. And this book is a classic so I would recommend reading the book first, but, it is a commitment and a bit of a challenging read. However, you may get a lot of the book experience from the show. Once I’ve finished it I’ll report back!

Dashing Through the Snow by Debbie Macomber

 in Book Reviews / Books / Holiday by

dashing through the snowSummary

“Savor the magic of the season with Debbie Macomber’s newest Christmas novel, filled with warmth, humor, the promise of love, and a dash of unexpected adventure.

Ashley Davison, a graduate student in California, desperately wants to spend the holidays with her family in Seattle. Dashiell Sutherland, a former army intelligence officer, has a job interview in Seattle and must arrive by December 23. Though frantic to book a last-minute flight out of San Francisco, both are out of luck: Every flight is full, and there’s only one rental car available. Ashley and Dash reluctantly decide to share the car, but neither anticipates the wild ride ahead.

At first they drive in silence, but forced into close quarters Ashley and Dash can’t help but open up. Not only do they find they have a lot in common, but there’s even a spark of romance in the air. Their feelings catch them off guard—never before has either been so excited about a first meeting. But the two are in for more twists and turns along the way as they rescue a lost puppy, run into petty thieves, and even get caught up in a case of mistaken identity. Though Ashley and Dash may never reach Seattle in time for Christmas, the season is still full of surprises—and their greatest wishes may yet come true.”

Review

This was quite a cute Christmas season book and it literally only took me an hour to read as it was that simple. I would classify this as a bodice ripper book, one of those cheaper books that you find in an airport stand or at Stop and Shop that you get so you can read quickly. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the story was cute and fluffy and great to read during the winter by your fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate, but other than that this wasn’t my kind of book.

There were so many holes in the story and it kept jumping all of. There were the FBI involved and it wasn’t really clear what was going on and it was so basic with the hole story. It was one of those stories that you would get and read only once, hence why I borrowed it from my library. I also go it because it was made into a Hallmark Channel movie and it looked cute and fluffy to watch but I really did want to read the book first because that’s how I always am.

I honestly don’t really have much to say about the story in general. It was a traditional guy and girl meet kind of story, they don’t want to fall for one another, the obligatory puppy appears and then suddenly everyone is happy and cute in the end. Traditional Hallmark material. Now if this is your kind of thing, then have at it. And reading one of these kinds of books a year is perfectly fine. Everyone needs some fluff, especially in the world we live in right now, but it wouldn’t really be a book to buy in my opinion. However, some of you may be so inclined to pay about $7 for the book. I mean it was cute and it does have a very colorful cover, which caught my attention when I picked it up, but other than that I wouldn’t really go for it.

I’d give it a 2 out of 5 stars (M.O.M would disagree – she thinks it’s cute for this time of year), just because it was a cute and easy read as Christmas Season book, but as someone who likes more meaty books, and less holes, this wasn’t exactly my cup of egg nog.

Happy Reading!