Gyre's Reading Adventures 2009!

[Weave]

Glad you enjoyed Norwegian Wood! I have yet to read this....looking forward to it, especially now I hear you have enjoyed it!

 

Thanks chrysalis_stage, I think you will enjoy it

 

A bit different from his usual style but its very his kind of story, if that makes sense?

[Weave]

Forever Odd by Dean Koontz ~ Started: 31.07.09 ~ Finished: 02.08.09

 

Synopsis ~

 

This is the follow-up novel to "Odd Thomas", from worldwide bestselling author, Dean Koontz. Odd Thomas, that unlikely hero, once more stands between us and our worst fears. Odd never asked to communicate with the dead - they sought him out. As the unofficial goodwill ambassador between our world and theirs, he has a duty to do the right thing. That's the way Odd sees it, and that's why he has already won over hearts on both sides of the great divide. For, though Odd lives in the small desert town of Pico Mundo, he stands between two worlds, and for him the heroic and the harrowing are everyday occurrences. A childhood friend of Odd's has disappeared and the worst is feared. But as Odd applies his unique talents to the task of finding the missing person, he discovers something worse than a dead body. New allies and new enemies gather around Odd, some living and some not. But the enemy he encounters is unspeakably cunning, and every sacrifice is needed to tip the balance between despair and hope as a life-changing revelation rushes towards us. In the battle to come, there can be no innocent bystanders...

 

 

This is second book in the 'Odd Thomas' series by Dean Koontz. The beauty of this book was the fact that all of the characters were set up so you just dive right into the story and what a story it was! Odd's friend is kidnapped and Odd goes to find out what has happened to him, using all of his skills in the progress, I found this book a bit more emotional, Odd is dealing with feelings that are intense and they read so well, you feel so bad for him.

 

Odd is a flawed hero but he knows it, which again for me, makes him endearing. An excellent book and I think I have found my most hated villainess! read and find out who she is.

 

I am now about to start the third book in the series, 'Brother Odd'.

[Weave]

Brother Odd by Dean Koontz ~ Started: 02.08.09 ~ Finished: 04.08.09

 

Synopsis ~

 

The third Odd Thomas novel from Dean Koontz, following 'Odd Thomas' and 'Forever Odd'. Odd Thomas is looking for peace. But in the silence and snow of the mountains, danger and desperation haunt him still! Odd, a charismatic young man with a sense for the otherworldly and the downright strange, is in self-imposed exile. The tragic events that took the love of his life have led Odd from his sun-bleached desert home of Pico Mundo to a monastery in the High Sierra. It's December and the remote abbey is besieged by icy winds and snow. As ever where Odd Thomas goes strangeness goes too. A white dog named Boo befriends him -- as does the ghost of Elvis. And a world-famous physicist is conducting experiments in the catacombs of the abbey. Could this be why Odd can once again see bodachs, shadowy harbingers of violence? They prowl the halls, suggesting terror to come. But what form will it take? And how will Odd defeat an enemy that eclipses any he has met before?

 

This is the third book in the ‘Odd Thomas’ series by Dean Koontz and although not as good as the previous two books in the series, it does keep you interested. This time around Odd has left his home of Pico Mundo to find peace and solace in St Bartholomew’s monastery in the High Sierra on the California side of the border. Odd finds some peace and solace until a bodach shows up (a Scottish Gaelic term for ‘old man’ and a mythical spirit or creature, rather like the bogeyman), Odd knows they are not actually bodachs but it is a word he uses after learning it from a friend who also saw the living dead like Odd.

 

As always Odd has the company of the spirit of Elvis and a spirit dog called ‘Boo’ who he meets at the monastery, Odd finds himself again facing things that are difficult to understand but Odd does what he can.

 

I enjoyed ‘Brother Odd’, I found the premise of the monastery particularly interesting, there was something calming reading about the nuns and brothers of the monastery and the good work they did, plus the isolation of the monastery read well, you could feel the isolation, at times, I did think, ‘how will they get away’. The downside of the book was that it wavered slightly at certain parts, it was readable but under duress readable but it did not put me off the book, and it was a good read.

 

I am now patiently waiting for the next instalment ‘Odd Hours’ to arrive from amazon.

 

 

[Peacefield]

Great review, Paula! I've only ever read the first Odd Thomas book, but while my friend and I were at Barnes & Noble this weekend she picked up Odd Hours. She loves the series and couldn't wait to read this newest paperback . I hope you like it!

[Weave]

Great review, Paula! I've only ever read the first Odd Thomas book, but while my friend and I were at Barnes & Noble this weekend she picked up Odd Hours. She loves the series and couldn't wait to read this newest paperback . I hope you like it!

 

I hope your friend enjoys 'Odd Hours' and thanks

[Weave]

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Started: 01.08.09 ~ Finished: 05.08.09

 

Synopsis ~

 

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the classic detective chiller. It features the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes, in his most challenging case. The Baskerville family is haunted by a phantom beast ‘with blazing eyes and dripping jaws’ which roams the mist-enshrouded moors around the isolated Baskerville Hall on Dartmoor. Now the hound seems to be stalking young Sir Henry, the new master of the Baskerville estate. Is this devilish spectre the manifestation of the family curse? Or is Sir Henry the victim of a vile and scheming murderer? Only Sherlock Holmes can solve this devilish affair.

 

This is the first Sherlock Holmes book I have read, I have seen the films and the television adaptations, and I always enjoyed them. I enjoyed reading ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, I thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s style of writing was excellent, Sherlock Holmes is very charismatic and likeable but I liked Dr Watson more. ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is an excellent piece of storytelling which is wrapped up nicely at the end.

 

[lexiepiper]

I really need to get around to reading this, is the language easy to read?

[Weave]

I really need to get around to reading this, is the language easy to read?

 

Hi Lexie, I found it very easy to read, its a good read

[Kylie]

Thanks for posting your thoughts, Gyre! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Weave]

Thanks for posting your thoughts, Gyre! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

No problem, I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would Kylie

[Adam]

This "Odd Thomas" series looks really cool. I might have to look into it.

[Weave]

This "Odd Thomas" series looks really cool. I might have to look into it.

 

They are really good books Adam, I hope you get the chance to read them

[Michelle]

I really enjoyed the Odd Thomas series, although the first remains my favourite.. I didn't realise there was a fourth book.

[Weave]

I really enjoyed the Odd Thomas series, although the first remains my favourite.. I didn't realise there was a fourth book.

 

Hi Michelle, how are you? I think the fourth book came out this year, and there is a graphic novel as well 'In Odd We Trust'. I liked the first one best too, it was a great introduction.

[Weave]

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz ~ Started: 04.08.09 ~ Finished: 10.08.09

 

Synopsis ~

 

The latest Odd Thomas thriller from the master storyteller. A mystery in Magic Beach, California has lured Odd to the small town by the ocean -- but is it the call of the deep or the cry of the desperate? Odd Thomas knows more about the mysteries of the universe than the rest of us. He can see the lingering dead. He has learned that there are no coincidences. Even in chaos, there is order, purpose, and strange meaning. Intuition has brought Odd Thomas to the quaint town of Magic Beach on the California coast. In his desert home, Odd once found an ocean filled with love, and lost it. Now, scarred and alone, the only magic he finds by the vast, indifferent Pacific is in the name of the town where he has come to rest. As he waits to learn why he has been drawn to Magic Beach, he has found work as cook and assistant to a once-famous film actor who, at eighty, has become an eccentric with as long a list of fears as he has stories about Hollywood's golden days. Odd is having dreams of a red tide, vague but worrisome. But nothing prepares him for the hard truth of what he will discover. For in Magic Beach, he will come face to face with a form of evil that will test him as never before.

 

‘Odd Hours’ is the fourth book in the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz. ‘Odd Hours’ compared to the previous books was slightly more violent but it was great reading and the disaster which Odd foresees was shocking and I feel will continue in the next untitled book of the series. Dean Koontz has said there will be 7 books in the series, 4 down, 3 to go.

 

A great read with an excellent ending, what does the future hold for Odd?

 

 

 

Dirt Music by Tim Winton ~ Started: 05.08.09 ~ Finished: 13.08.09

 

Synopsis ~

 

Georgie Jutland is a mess. At 40, with her career in ruins, she finds herself stranded in White Point with a fisherman she doesn't love and two kids whose dead mother she can never replace. Then a dangerous element enters her life - Luther Fox. Their unlikely alliance is set in Western Australia.

 

This is the third book I have read by Tim Winton, the first two being ‘Cloudstreet’ and ‘That Eye, the Sky’, both wonderful books. ‘Dirt Music’ was equally impressive, it tells the story of Georgie Jutland, a lonely 40 year old woman who finds herself far from home, with a man she knows she does not love and his sons, who do not hide how they feel about Georgie. Georgie meets Luther Fox, an outcast in White Point for many reasons, Georgie finds herself falling for Lu and everything changes for both of them.

 

Dirt Music was a very visual book; Tim Winton is excellent at describing Australia, the people, the weather. An excellent read.

 

[Weave]

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer ~ Started: 15.08.09 ~ Finished: 15.08.09

 

Synopsis ~

 

So begins The Confessions of Max Tivoli, a heartbreaking love story with a narrator like no other. At his birth, Max's father declares him a 'Nisse', a creature of Danish myth: for the baby boy has the external physical appearance of an old, dying creature. Yet, as Max ages, his body will grow younger...Max's curse will prove also his blessing: in youth, he falls hopelessly for neighbourhood girl Alice. But with age he will grow into a stranger to her eyes, and so be granted another chance at love.

 

‘The Confessions of Max Tivoli’ tells the extraordinary story of Max, born in 1871 with the skin of an old man and ageing backwards, he may have a child’s body but he has an adult mind and soul. At the beginning, Max now has the body of a 12 year old and is aged 58 years old, Max at this point has lived a life of regrets and lost love.

 

Without giving to much away, ‘The Confessions of Max Tivoli’ shares one similarity with the book, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ by F Scott Fitzgerald, the fact that both of the main character are ageing backwards, I found the Max Tivoli’s story different from Benjamin’s for various reasons.

 

Max had more to his character, you felt a connection to him and as you read his story, you understood more and more about his life, and how he coped with ageing backwards, his friendship with his friend, Hughie Dempsey and his love for Alice Levy, both of his relationships with Hughie and Alice were loving and tragic.

 

I enjoyed ‘The Confessions of Max Tivoli’ because Max was a wonderful character, at times I had a lump in my throat for Max, Hughie and Alice. A warm hearted and sad (at times) tale with a lovely character.

 

 

[jewell]

Thanks for that review Gyre it sounds really good.

[Weave]

Thanks for that review Gyre it sounds really good.

 

You are very welcome Jewell

[lexiepiper]

Your review is great Paula, I'm def going to get this! x

[Weave]

Your review is great Paula, I'm def going to get this! x

 

Thanks Lexie

[Mac]

Hey Paula! I tried to read Dirt Music earlier on this year - could not get into it. I don't know why, but maybe it's something to do with there being no quote marks around the speech and this might have confused my poor, struggling brain. I can be a bit of a numpty sometimes.

 

The Odd Thomas books are great - I've read them all, particularly enjoying the one where he's in a monastery (the 3rd one?).

 

Anyway. What's new with you? Errr....this isn't the correct place to ask that, now, is it? Hang on...

[Weave]

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones ~ Started: 15.08.09 ~ Finished: 18.05.09

 

Synopsis ~

 

A chaotically magical sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. Charmain Baker is in over her head. Looking after Great Uncle William's tiny cottage while he's ill should have been easy, but Great Uncle William is better known as the Royal Wizard Norland and his house bends space and time. Its single door leads to any number of places - the bedrooms, the kitchen, the caves under the mountains, the past, to name but a few. By opening that door, Charmain is now also looking after an extremely magical stray dog, a muddled young apprentice wizard and a box of the king's most treasured documents, as well as irritating a clan of small blue creatures. Caught up in an intense royal search, she encounters an intimidating sorceress named Sophie. And where Sophie is, can the Wizard Howl and fire demon Calcifer be far behind?

 

What a fun read! I have read the previous two books in the series, ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’ & ‘Castle in the air’ and enjoyed them immensely, books to be kept and shared with my nieces and nephews. ‘House of Many Ways’ was a great tale and it included my favourite characters, Howl and Sophie, plus the introduction of some new characters. There are some genuine laugh out loud moment, I have never laughed so much at the actions of one little white dog called ‘Waif’, if you get the chance, read the Howl series, you will thank me for it.

 

[lexiepiper]

I've added Howl's Moving Castle to my wishlist You're belting through books atm though aren't you! And you seem to be enjoying majority of them so that's great

[Weave]

I've added Howl's Moving Castle to my wishlist You're belting through books atm though aren't you! And you seem to be enjoying majority of them so that's great

 

I think you will enjoy 'Howl's Moving Castle' Lexie, I have been really lucky this year with books

 

[Weave]

Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist ~ Started: 19.08.09 ~ Finished: 25.08.09

 

Click here for review

Edited August 30, 2009 by Weave