The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - the movie

Whew!!!
Went to the movie yesterday and this is a doozy!!! Somehow it's so much worse to see things happening than to just read about them.  This is not a film for the faint of heart  - Lisbeth's life is not easy to see...

But - my goodness does it keep you engrossed!!

The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

I just finished this book. I have to say I love these!! This one does not disappoint...

The books are about Tessa Gray.  A New York girl who has been brought to London and is under the care of the Institute of London. Basically that means that she lives in the institute with Charlotte and Henry, Will and Jem and Jessamine.  Now that may sound very mild mannered - but the Institute houses the Shadowhunters - beings descended from the angels tasked with keeping the world safe from demons and evil.  Tessa is not a Shadowhunter, she is not a werewolf, vampire or other downworlder, she is not a warlock because she doesn't have a mark.  But - she is not a mundane (normal human) because she is able to change into another person with the help of something that person owned.

That sounds difficult enough - but there is a nasty dark figure stalking the Shadowhunters seeking to own Tessa.  He is the Magistrat and the mastermind behind an army of clockwork monsters ready to kill.  And he seems to be everywhere - easily finding their weaknesses through spies and clockwork creatures.

Oh yeah - and there is more.  Will is a loose cannon - irreverant, uncontrolled, unpredictable, hating everyone he comes in contact with.  Jem is the exact opposite - he is caring and kind and looks out for everyone and he is dying - addicted to a drug which is slowly killing hime and to stop the drug would kill him outright.  These two are fighting partners - paired in a special ceremony to defend each other no matter what. And they are both in love with Tessa.

Now the real problem...

I hate reading series...I really hate it...It's been too long since I read the first book and I have forgotten some of the underlying connections. So what do you do??  And the book just ends. The story doesn't - only the book.  So you are left with another year before the next installment.
Sometimes I think I should just buy them when they come out and not read them until they are all here...

Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

I clearly have been on a supernatural kick lately!  I also read the first two installments of  Heroes of Olympus.  These books follow the Roman Gods - where the Percy Jackson series followed the Greek Gods.


There is also a Roman camp - run very differently from Camp Half Blood. Everything is very military, very controlled, very scary.  Sort of the antithesis of the Greek camp. But the prophesy says that both the camps must work together to save the world. A little difficult since the camps don't even know the other exists...so on single goddess has an idea...

What if we took the heroes from each camp - bonked them on the head so they lost their memories and then dumped them in the opposite camp.  Sound like something a meddling goddess might do??

So in the first book The Lost Hero - Jason ends up at Camp Half Blood - where everyone is mourning the disappearance of Percy and are more than a little concerned about this very talented kids appearance.  The same thing happens in the next book Son of Neptune. Except this time Percy ends up at the Camp Jupiter.
Both of these boys are given a quest to prove themselves and a couple of misfit kids to help them out...

All the while both camps and campers are moving closer to fulfilling this prophecy...

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,To storm or fire the world must fall.An oath to keep with a final breath,And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

I enjoyed these books - I continue to be in awe of the understanding and research that Riordan brings to these stories! They are like textbooks for the ancient gods.  Incredible!

Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan

 The Kane Chronicles are Riordan's newest journey into the ancient world of gods and their children.  These are the tales of the Egyptian gods - those who fill mortals with the spirits and fly through sand filled portals at any Egyptian relic site.

Riordan's  main characters are two siblings - Sadie and Carter Kane. Two teenagers as different as their parents were - Sadie raised rather prim and proper by her English grandparents and Carter raised by his Africa American Egyptian archeologist father roaming from one dig site to another.

In each of these books the Kanes must work together to attempt to save the world from the ever approaching god of Chaos.  Each book connects known well known places with Egyptian gods and their cohorts.  Each also reminds the reader of the importance of Egypt in the past and the present.  The Kanes slowly become more of a family as they accept the difficulties of trying to train future godlings and keep the world from succumbing to chaos.

As I read these I was reminded again and again of the other Riordan books and have become quite curious about his ease in describing gods in many different lands and ways.  It makes life quite interesting.

Rainwater by Sarah Dallas

I really liked this book.

It was one of those quiet stories that slowly drew me in and then it barreled to the end and...it was over.

Rainwater tells the story of a sad and lonely boarding house owner with an autistic son in the middle of the dust bowl.  Into this sorry life strolls Mr. Rainwater.  He is the new boarder in Mrs. Barron's boarding house and he is dying.  That is a secret shared with Mrs. Barron when Mr. Rainwater's doctor cousin delivers him.

And that is how it begins.  

The two circle around one another polite, at arms length, waiting for something.  And then the government begins shooting cows at the neighboring dairy farms to provide a little money for the farmers.  But, those shots set off something else in the town and eventually in Mrs. Barron, Solly (her son) and Mr. Rainwater.  

There is a predictable strand to this story - but it is comfortable and sweet.

So - I would definitely recommend this one!

Relentless by Dean Koontz

This is the first Koontz I have read and it was an enjoyable and super fast read. In fact, I read it all in one evening because I so wanted to see how it could possibly be resolved.
Relentlessis the story of Cubby Greenwich (famous author), his wife, Penny (famous children's book author), their son, Milo (6 yr old nicknamed Spooky for good reason), and a book critique named Shearman Waxx. Cubby has just finished a book and receives a scathing review from Waxx. It just keeps bothering him - he can't get it out of his head. It seems so unfair, and so obvious that Waxx did not even read the book. Through more luck than detective work Cubby an Waxx end up in the same restaurant...in the same bathroom...and then...

"Doom." That is the single word that Waxx speaks to Cubby and the beginning of a an altered life for the Greenwich family. Waxx is beyond a psychotic. His first contact with the family is simply wandering through the house - but the very next time there is a taser and a darkened room are involved.

The violence escalates as does the bottomless fear - especially as more of Waxx's victims turn up on the internet....a poison pen review is only the first step - you have been marked for elimination as a writer and as a human being!

So - this book creeped me out. Waxx seems to be everywhere and able to do absolutely any horror he deems necessary. But - Koontz's humor and odd, fringe details about Milo and his bizarre machine and his levitating, disappearing, grinning dog really balanced out the horror of the torture in this book. I hate reading suspense novels...they simply eat me alive.. but this was different! The conversations between Cubby and Penny and Cubby and Milo were hilarious and boring and so typical of a normal family. This was in sharp contrast to the unthinkable horror that Waxx's previous victims were subject to.

There was also another layer of bizarreness...Cubby tells the story of the night his parents were killed - through the eyes of a 6-yr-old. Creepy beyond measure and terribly interesting!

I enjoyed this escapism book. It was the perfect antidote to tech and teaching overload as we prepare to start our first day of school on Monday.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

This is another excellent book that our book club read a few months ago. I loved the pace of the book - quiet and peaceful and steeped with memories - like turning the pages of your grandma's photo album. You know there is so much there right under the surface, but the years have tempered it all to a quiet hum. That is this story!

This is Henry's story, a boy in the early late 30s and early 40s. His father is a proud Chinese and sends him (with a button declaring that) to the all white school outside Chinatown in San Francisco. Henry HATES it -he is so lonely and harrassed and alienated - he doesn't fit in the English world or the Chinese one. Finally his life is made better when Keiko begins at the school also. Their friendship grows and grows - but Keiko is Japanese and Henry's father HATES Japanese more than any other group.

The WWII begins. Keiko and her family are threatened and eventually sent to an internment camp. Henry professes his love and promises to wait. And he faithfully does. Sending letters weekly over the years of Keiko's internment. And they make a promise to reunite.

But, Keiko never comes. Henry waits.

But, another love has been growing and eventually Henry chooses second best.

This is a book about hard realities and choices and continuing on. I like that the book begins with Henry as an old man. There is a hotel at the edge of Japantown and artifacts have been found in the basement. Artifacts from Japanese families sent to internment camps and never collected. Henry begin searching for Keiko's life and that is where the story begins.

This is a wonderful book. It respects the hard decisions our government and our families made without oversentimentalizing them. Instead they are treated as a matter of fact, and life continued on. This also demonstrated the deep prejudices on all sides of our country.

I would highly recommend this!