Book Envy - The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I was beyond excited and surprised when this showed up in my mail a couple of days ago. I did not think I'd get so lucky to get Neil Gaiman's latest.  How beautiful is this little gem?  Today is the publication date so you too can run out and buy it.

Because everyone should look this happy when they read a book:

Doctor Who Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway for Doctor Who!  Not to waste any more timey wimey, the winner is:

Scott D.!

Congratulations!  I'll be emailing you and asking to confirm which of the three books you'd like.  I'll admit that Who-ology is AWESOME for any new or old fan.

My Name is Memory - Ann Brashares

Title: My Name is Memory
Author: Ann Brashares
Hardcover: 324 pages
Audiobook: 10 hours, 55 min
Narrators: Kathe Mazur & Lincoln Hoppe
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Published date: 2010
FTC: Hardcover bought at library bookstore, audio from library


I snagged a hardcover copy of My Name is Memory from the library bookstore. I remember a few years ago it receiving pretty good reviews and I read her novel The Last Summer of You (and Me) and thought she was a pretty good author (my review).  I'm trying to make room on my rapidly bulging bookshelves right now so when I saw the library had the audiobook I snagged it up.  Note: I pretty much always will have a different opinion of a book solely based on audio - there's just so many different things to judge when listening versus reading.


Back of the book:

Daniel has spent centuries falling in love with the same girl. Life after life, crossing continents and dynasties, he and Sophia (despite her changing name and form) have been drawn together-and he remembers it all. Daniel has "the memory", the ability to recall past lives and recognize souls of those he's previously known. It is a gift and a curse. For all the times that he and Sophia have been drawn together throughout history, they have also been torn painfully, fatally, apart. A love always too short.

Interwoven through Sophia and Daniel's unfolding present day relationship are glimpses of their expansive history together. From 552 Asia Minor to 1918 England and 1972 Virginia, the two souls share a long and sometimes torturous path of seeking each other time and time again. But just when young Sophia (now "Lucy" in the present) finally begins to awaken to the secret of their shared past, to understand the true reason for the strength of their attraction, the mysterious force that has always torn them apart reappears. Ultimately, they must come to understand what stands in the way of their love if they are ever to spend a lifetime together.

A magical, suspenseful, heartbreaking story of true love, My Name is Memory proves the power and endurance of a union that was meant to be.

My thoughts:

My Name is Memory is such an original and unique love story.  I really enjoyed Daniel's narration and part of the story.  Lincoln Hoppe did an excellent job telling his story and perhaps it's because I love history but the narrations of his previous lives were fascinating.  Although I couldn't help but think that after all of his lives and the fact that he could remember everything, he still seemed so young and naive.   His basis for his great love with Sophia also seemed a bit weak.  It's what I'd think a person married to their soul mate and true love for 50 years would compare to a high school kid with their first crush.  Daniel seemed more on the high school crush level.  But whatever.

The writing, as I was expecting from my experience with The Last Summer of You (and Me) is awesome.  But there's still something I didn't like.  Both My Name is Memory and The Last Summer of You (and Me) are touted as Adult books versus her YA series Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  But I just don't see it.  While My Name is Memory starts with Daniel and Lucy meeting in high school, the majority of the story takes place while Lucy is in college and grad school - so adult right?  I guess it just still seems like a YA book.  Maybe like I said above, it's because it's still got a bit of that cheese of high school crush/first love stuff.

Lucy wasn't my favorite character.  I mean she just seemed like one of those blase bland Twilight Bella characters who just kind of course through like waiting for something or someone to happen rather than take control. That always bothers me.  The narration in the audio book was also a bit odd.  When flash backing to Daniel's past, Lincoln Hoppe narrated.  But present-day Lucy was narrated by Kathe Mazur - makes sense.  But sometimes present-day Daniel was narrated by Ms Mazur as well.  Seemed odd.  But they both did a great job: weren't annoying and easy to follow along.

The other irksome thing is the ending.  It doesn't really wrap up nicely and just leaves you hanging.  Ann Brashares said on her blog that she plans on writing a sequel but I'm not sure how that is going.  Will I read it if/when it comes out?  Hmm.  Maybe.  I think that it's because of despite the well written and unique story, the relationship between Daniel and Lucy still seemed too YA and juvenile for me.  Would I have loved this story when I was younger? Absolutely. But touted as an "adult" novel it just didn't do it for me.

The Intercept - Dick Wolf

Title: The Intercept: A Jeremy Fisk Novel
Author: Dick Wolf
Paperback: 387 pages (ARE version)
Publisher: William Morrow
Published date: January 2013
FTC: Requested to ARE to review


It's funny how my reading preferences shift and change over the years.  A while ago I would have told you I prefer historical fiction and classics. While still true I've also fallen for more mysteries, YA books, dystopian stuff, fantasy, and sci-fi.  For some reason Dick Wolf's new suspense series revolving around Jeremy Fisk, a detective in the NYPD Intelligence Division really caught my interest.  If you are looking for a well-written beach read or airplane book this summer, you can't miss with this one.

Back of the book:

Days before the July Fourth holiday and the dedication of One World Trade Center at Ground Zero, an incident aboard a commercial jet over the Atlantic Ocean reminds everyone that vigilance is not a task to be taken lightly. But for iconoclastic New York Police detective Jeremy Fisk, it may also be a signal that there is much more to this case than the easy answer: that this is just the work of another lone terrorist. 

Fisk—from the department’s Intelligence Division, a well-funded anti-terror unit modeled upon the CIA—suspects that the event might also be a warning sign that another, potentially more extraordinary scheme has been set in motion. Fluent in Arabic and the ways of his opponents, Fisk is a rule breaker who follows his gut—even if it means defying those above him in the department’s food chain. So when a passenger from the same plane, a Saudi Arabian national, disappears into the crowds of Manhattan, it’s up to Fisk and his partner Krina Gersten to find him before the celebrations begin. 


Watching each new lead fizzle, chasing shadows to dead ends, Fisk and Gersten quickly realize that their opponents are smarter and more agile than any they have ever faced. Extremely clever and seemingly invisible, they are able to exploit any security weakness and anticipate Fisk’s every move. And time is running out.

My thoughts:

Sometimes books like these can be pretty generic: terrorist plot-line - check, New York City setting - check, time running out - check.  But what stands out with Dick Wolf's debut novel is the writing.  I've read some similar author/genre novels and they can be a bit simplistic: short simple sentences which rely on a lot of drama and action to keep you reading.  Dick Wolf can actually write which made this novel a refreshing change for this genre.

The other thing that I enjoyed was the New York City setting.  Ok, sometimes NYC settings can really annoy me.  They can be so cliched and the characters really annoying.  But I felt Wolf's NYC was authentic.  I also found his descriptions of NYPD policies and policing post 9/11 to be fascinating. It's still amazing to me how much the world has changed in the last decade.

While I enjoyed Jeremy Fisk's character and more importantly his role within the NYPD, I felt that his character development was the only thing really lacking in the book.  Considering this is the character upon whom a series is going revolve around, I don't feel like I really got to know him.  I actually liked Krina Gersten better and kind of wished this was a Krina Gersten Book #1 novel instead of Fisk.  I can only hope that future books in the series flesh out the character a bit more.


Also Reviewed By:
Luxury Reading

Book Envy - Siege and Storm

You might be jealous of the book I'm currently reading. 

Doctor Who: Only Human - Gareth Roberts

Title: Only Human
Author: Gareth Roberts
Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published date: April 2013
FTC: Received to review from TLC Book Tours


Only Human by Gareth Roberts is the second book I was fortunate to be able to review for TLC Book Tours as part of Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary celebration.  A few years ago I was so excited to see Doctor Who back on the air.  I didn't get to catch it on TV but caught it on Netflix.  The opening credits with the classic Doctor Who theme...sigh. Good memories.  Still I was pretty alone in my Doctor Who fandom. It hadn't blown up like it has recently.  I LOVED Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor.  He seemed so cool with his leather jacket but still had that sense of humor that is always the Doctor.

This book brings back the Ninth Doctor with his companion Rose - who has become iconic in the series - and Captain Jack Harkness.  If you haven't watched any Ninth Doctor episodes you are missing out.  Check out The Empty Child episode where we first meet Captain Jack.  It is one of my favorite episodes - London during WWII blitz and that creepy creepy child.

Captain Jack

I remember the last Ninth Doctor episode where Christopher Eccleston is no longer and David Tennant becomes the Tenth Doctor.  I was so mad because I loved the Ninth Doctor and who was this silly character with funny hair and shoes?  Ok.  So I came to love the Tenth Doctor along with everyone else. David Tennant, you rock.  Still, Christopher Eccleston will always hold a place in my geeky heart because you were the first Doctor since I sat on the couch watching Doctor Who with my dad.

Back of the book:

Reports of a time disturbance lead the Ninth Doctor to modern-day London, where he discovers a Neanderthal Man, twenty-eight thousand years after his race became extinct.  A trip back to the dawn of humanity only deepens the mystery: who are these strange humans from the far future now living in the distant past? The Doctor must learn the truth about the Osterberg experiment before history is changed forever.

My thoughts:

In Doctor Who stories there's obviously three "types": past, present and future.  I tend to love the past ones - you know when the Doctor and companion meet Queen Victoria, or Agatha Christie, or Shakespeare.  Present ones are usually pretty good too but I'm hit or miss with future ones.  They can be good or too sci-fi silly.  I loved that this book did an awesome job of having the Doctor and Rose go to the past - way way past, when Neanderthal's walked the earth - but also had a futuristic bent with future time travelers also mucking around observing early man and Neanderthals.

Most of the story revolves around the Doctor and Rose but there are sections where we learn about the Neanderthal man, Das, who was accidently sent to modern England.  Captain Jack is tasked with trying to modernize and acclimate him to the modern world.  These parts are written journal style by Das and Captain Jack and are quite funny.  Obviously there's something sinister really going on in the past and the Doctor and Rose save the day.  These books are so much fun.  I'm really going to have to get my hands on the rest of the series.

GIVEAWAY!!!

Remember to enter my Giveaway for either Festival of Death, Only Human, or Who-ology.  When I originally posted the giveaway I didn't know I could only give away one book so make sure you designate which book you want.  Don't worry if you've already entered but have changed your mind.  If you win I'll confirm which one you want.

Check out the huge lineup of Doctor Who reviews for TLC Book Tours and more giveaways!

Doctor Who Giveaway!

TLC Book Tours and Ebury Publishing are being awesome and letting me give away either a copy of the Festival of Death or Who-ology.  Not MY copies - I'm greedily keeping my copies :)  They are also letting me have the giveaway be international - o yeah!!  You can go back and check out my review of Festival of Death.

I'll admit I think the Who-ology book is awesome for any Doctor Who fan - new or old.  How cool is this little chunkster?

For instance, I didn't know that before the Ninth Doctor meets Rose, the Great Time War happens.  I was always a little confused about this.  How cool of a movie or series would the Great Time War make?

There's a TON of fun factoids. Some I'm staying away from as I'm currently catching up on Season Six on Netflix. Yeah I don't have TV so don't even tell me what's going on with the current season.  They CAN'T reveal the Doctor's name.  Sheesh.

I'll just leave you with a poster that if anyone wants to buy for me...  They just had to go and have an episode of the Doctor meeting Vincent van Gogh -- swoooon!!!

You can buy it for me here :)

GIVEAWAY OVER!