Elaine Reads . . . constantly!

July 11, 2011 · 7:20 am

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

Daniel H. Wilson, the author of this book, has a doctorate in robotics from prestigious Carnegie Mellon and his writing credits include the nonfiction How to Survive A Robot Uprising and How to Build a Robot Army. That knowledge alone should activate your senses as you enter Robopocalypse, a realm where robots run free and humans flee skittering in many directions. Told with the unfolding menace of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this novel will keep you up late and your computer unplugged. (from Goodreads)

I have been reading Robert J. Sawyer’s www trilogy which is also about computers/technology becoming self aware. It is amazing how different the takes are on the subject. Wilson’s book makes me nervous. I am already concerned about what our lives would be like if there was an EMB that wiped out the technology I rely on. How much worse would it be if that technology turned on humanity?

The first chapter of the book takes place during the immediate aftermath of the war between the robots and humans. It almost made me not read the book. There was nothing really wrong with it, but it wasn’t what I was in the mood to read. I put it down for a few days and when I came back to it, I realized the rest of the book was the story of the beginning of the war and its duration. The chapters alternate between different characters, so I got a variety of perspectives. I ended up really enjoying the book.

One thing that struck me in the first chapter is the narrator states he is transcribing the records by hand. He is not trusting them to a digital form. That is one thing that concerns me about our (my) reliance on computers and the cloud. Nothing is in hard copy. What will happen if I no longer have access to computers? It’s a disturbing thought.

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Filed under Dystopian, Post-apocalyptic, Science Fiction

July 5, 2011 · 4:21 pm

WWW: WATCH (WWW, #2) by Robert J. Sawyer

Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer continues his “wildly though- provoking” science fiction saga of a sentient World Wide Web. Webmind is an emerging consciousness that has befriended Caitlin Decter and grown eager to learn about her world. But Webmind has also come to the attention of WATCH-the secret government agency that monitors the Internet for any threat to the United States-and they’re fully aware of Caitlin’s involvement in its awakening. WATCH is convinced that Webmind represents a risk to national security and wants it purged from cyberspace. But Caitlin believes in Webmind’s capacity for compassion-and she will do anything and everything necessary to protect her friend.

This is one of those series that I am so glad has already been completely released. I cannot imagine having to wait on these books to come out one at a time.

Watch picks up right after the end of Wake. The American government is out to kill Webmind and it is up to Caitlin to stop them. I won’t give it away, but I loved the method that Webmind and Caitlin devise to save him.

China is becoming more and more a problem to its people. If Webmind is to promote the “net happiness” of the human race, what is to be done?

This is a great trilogy. I have book three, Wonder, on order. I can’t wait to read it.

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Filed under Contemporary, Science Fiction, Young Adult

July 5, 2011 · 3:44 am

Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts by Mitzi Szereto

Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts by Mitzi Szereto
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Title: Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts*
Author: Mitzi Szereto
Series:N/A
Genre: Erotic Romance
Publisher: Cleis Press
Format: paperback & digital ebook
Date/Year: July 5, 2011
Reviewed by: ElaineReads

*This book was provided to the reviewer by the author for review

Summary from the publisher:

Imagine that Jane Austen had written the opening line of her satirical novel Pride and Prejudice this way: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a good romp and a good wife—although not necessarily from the same person or from the opposite sex.” In Pride and Prejudice: Hidden Lusts, the entire cast of characters from Austen’s classic is here, caught with their breeches unbuttoned and their skirts raised high in this rewrite that goes all the way – and then some! Mr. Darcy has never been more devilish and the seemingly chaste Elizabeth never more turned on.

In this no-holds-barred account, men are not necessarily the only dominating sex. This time Mr. Bingley and his sister both have designs on Mr. Darcy’s manhood; Elizabeth’s bff Charlotte marries their family’s strange relation, discovering that her husband’s pious nature extends to worship of a different sort; and, in this telling, Lady Catherine de Bourgh takes the disciplining of those in the parish very seriously. As for the handsome Mr. Wickham, he’s wickeder than ever! And of course there’s plenty of good old-fashioned bodice ripping that shows no pride or prejudice and reveals hot hidden lusts in every scandalous page-turning chapter. This is the book Jane Austen would have written, if only she’d had the nerve!

My Musings:

The original Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is a favorite of mine, so I was a little nervous about reading this book. However, I was very impressed that the author was able to maintain the “flavor” of Austen’s writing even though the content was quite obviously added. There was no delineation between the original book and the new content. It flowed beautifully.

The sex scenes were inserted naturally and very well done. Some of the dialogue was comical, but it was meant to be so. For example, Lady Caroline’s attempts to seduce Mr. Darcy and his attempts to ignore her seduction were hysterical. Should I mention Lady Caroline’s fascination with “birching?”

Lydia’s interest in sex in all its forms was wonderfully described. If it would hold still long enough for her to rub against it, she would. That includes pieces of furniture, men’s thighs, or other more interesting parts of the anatomy. Is it any wonder she ends up with the villain of the book?

Do I find the general acceptance of all this raunchy behavior believable for the time period? No, but I enjoyed it immensely anyhow. I think we all expect our predecessors to be a little more circumspect than they actually were. After all, we think we’re the modern ones.

Ratings:

Overall: 5 stars
Sensuality level: 5

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Filed under Erotica, Historical, Humor, Realistic, Regency, Romance

July 4, 2011 · 7:04 pm

WWW: WAKE (WWW, #1) by Robert J. Sawyer

One of the foremost science fiction writers of our generation-(SF Site) comes to Ace with a trilogy of the Web’s awakening. Caitlin Decter is young, pretty, feisty, a genius at math, and blind. Still, she can surf the net with the best of them, following its complex paths clearly in her mind. But Caitlin’s brain long ago co-opted her primary visual cortex to help her navigate online. So when she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness, spreading out all around her in a riot of colors and shapes. While exploring this amazing realm, she discovers something, some other, lurking in the background. And it’s getting more and more intelligent with each passing day.

I read this series on the recommendation of my friend Cindy. Her recommendations can be iffy because I accuse her of reading “literary” novels rather than good books. This, however, is a good book.

Mostly because of Cindy, I have been reading a lot more straight science fiction recently. When I was a teenager, it was all I would read. I don’t know what happened.

Anyway, this could be one of those “end of the world as we know it” books and in a way it is. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. The entity that Caitlin discovers is young and hopefully can be taught to be altruistic. That’s only if the American government doesn’t destroy it first.

I am so glad book two is already out.

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Filed under Contemporary, Science Fiction, Young Adult

June 30, 2011 · 7:35 pm

Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz

HEADS YOU LOSE is an innovative and hilarious new crime novel written collaboratively. The formula is simple: the authors write alternating chapters, each one picking up where the other has left off.

The novel stars Paul and Lacey Hansen, a pair of orphaned, pot-growing, 20-something siblings eking out a living in rural northern California. They each dream of escaping Mercer, with varying degrees of vigor. But when a headless corpse shows up on their property late one night, they obviously can’t call the police. They move the corpse as surreptitiously as possible (utilizing skills learned on CSI), and wait for some good samaritan to find it. When the corpse instead reappears — a few days riper — on their doorstep, the Hansens realize they might be in over their heads.

Okay, this book was hilarious. However, it was not the storyline itself, but the back and forth between the authors that made it worth reading. I have to say, though, the ending had a twist I did not foresee. I read so many books that I generally have them figured out before the end. Not this one, it completely surprised me.

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Filed under Contemporary, Humor, Mystery

June 26, 2011 · 1:18 pm

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Library

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t. (from Goodreads)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another one of those books I didn’t mean to like. The genre is not something I normally read, but with the movie coming out I felt that I had to read it first.

Although I have southern parents, I was not raised in the South. I do remember my aunt having black maids throughout my childhood though. Just like in the book, they did more to raise the kids than their parents did. Of course that is my opinion, an outsider looking in.

This book is extremely well written. It is not however a book that I felt I could read in one sitting. I think that is one of its strengths. It is so powerful, I could only take it a little at a time.

Did I like the book? I am still not really sure, but I don’t think I will ever forget it.

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Filed under Historical

June 25, 2011 · 7:24 am

Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It by Kelly Gallagher

Purchased

Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools. Reading is dying in our schools. Educators are familiar with many of the factors that have contributed to the decline—poverty, second-language issues, and the ever-expanding choices of electronic entertainment. In this provocative new book, Kelly Gallagher suggests, however, that it is time to recognize a new and significant contributor to the death of reading: our schools. In Readicide, Kelly argues that American schools are actively (though unwittingly) furthering the decline of reading. Specifically, he contends that the standard instructional practices used in most schools are killing reading by: · valuing the development of test-takers over the development of lifelong readers; · mandating breadth over depth in instruction; · requiring students to read difficult texts without proper instructional support; · insisting that students focus solely on academic texts; · drowning great books with sticky notes, double-entry journals, and marginalia; · ignoring the importance of developing recreational reading; and · losing sight of authentic instruction in the shadow of political pressures. Kelly doesn’t settle for only identifyingthe problems. Readicide provides teachers, literacy coaches, and administrators with specific steps to reverse the downward spiral in reading—steps that will help prevent the loss of another generation of readers. (from Goodreads)

Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do about It by Kelly Gallagher

I have mixed feelings about this book. The problem is I completely agree with what the author has to say (with one exception, that I’ll address later). I believe Gallagher is preaching to the choir. The people who read this book are already going to be interested in reading and the growing trend of illiteracy amongst our students. They do not need convincing that students need to read more.

Once I got past that though, I felt he had some really useful methods of assisting students in understanding difficult texts. I particularly liked his idea of bringing in current articles that address the theme of a book prior to the students reading the book.

I also agreed with his statement that the point is not that all the students like a particular book. The point is that they get something from it.

And the one exception I mentioned is he believes that the students should not be expected to use the library. He thinks the books should be available primarily in the classroom.

As a school librarian, I agree that all classes should have a well stocked library. However, there is no way a classroom can encompass the thousands of books that the library can offer.

Perhaps the students won’t be bothered to come to the library to check out books on their own . . . so bring them! Give them time in the library to browse and read. That is the point after all.

Okay, rant over.

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Filed under Literacy, Professional Development

June 21, 2011 · 10:30 pm

Smokin’ Seventeen by Janet Evanovich

Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. The bail bonds office has burned to the ground, and bodies are turning up in the empty construction lot. To make matters worse, Stephanie is working out of a motor home she shares with a dancing bear, and Joe Morelli’s old world grandmother has declared a vendetta against her. And just when Stephanie decides it might be time to choose between the two men in her life, Morelli and Ranger, a third man from Stephanie’s past moves back to Trenton…

Okay, I read this one straight through and I am already wanting Explosive Eighteen which will be released in November. Of course, that is nothing new. I always want the next book right away.

Stephanie’s relationships with Ranger AND Joe are heating up and I have no idea where this is going. For the longest time, Stephanie was in love with Joe and in lust with Ranger. Now, she is in love with both of them. It was obvious this was the way things were going in the last book, but it is a major plot point now.

There are interweaving storylines and people trying to kill Stephanie . . . or is she just in the wrong place at the wrong time? This is Stephanie after all.

I am really glad we don’t have to wait the normal year for the next book!

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Filed under Contemporary, Humor, Mystery, Realistic, Romance

June 21, 2011 · 2:16 pm

Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore

Being only half-vamp in a high school like Carpathia Night makes you a whole loser. But Danny Gray manages to escape the worst of the specists at his school. Thanks to genetic treatments he had as an infant, most people assume Danny’s other half is human. Which is a good thing.

Ever since the development of synthetic blood – SynHeme – vamps have become society’s elite, while wulves like his father work menial jobs and live in bad neighborhoods. Wulves are less than second class citizens; once a month they become inmates, forced to undergo their Change in dangerous government compounds.

For Danny, living with his vamp mother and going to a school with a nearly all-vamp student body, it’s best to pretend his wulf half doesn’t even exist. But lately Danny’s been having some weird symptoms — fantastic night vision; a keener-than-usual sense of smell; and headaches, right around the full moon.

Even though it’s easy to be in denial, it’s hard to ignore evidence. There’s only a month until the next few moon, and Danny’s time is running out.

Peter Moore speaks to adolescents in a voice that will have them laughing, set in a world that will get them thinking.

This is a completely different take on the vampire/werewolf legend. No sparkles here, although the vampires are considered the superior race. And that is where the problem really begins. Vampires are more intelligent and more attractive than humans, but the societies are well integrated. The fact that vampires only drink synthetic blood probably helps.

Werewulves (not a typo, that’s how they spell it) however, are not even second class. They are slightly higher than animals. They are considered the least intelligent and are required to register before their first turning. If they don’t, they are “moonrunners” and can be shot on sight. Every month during the full moon, all registered wulves are shipped to compounds and many of them never return. Many vampires and humans believe they should be exterminated, or at the least, should not be allowed to associate with “civilized” people.

I kept thinking of blacks in America before the civil rights era and Japanese containment camps during World War II. There is even a mention of Nazis and it is not in a negative way.

I would recommend this book simply on the basis it was a good read. The addition of the societal aspects make it even more compelling.

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Filed under Contemporary, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

June 21, 2011 · 3:40 am

Dangerous Desire by Diane Escalera

Dangerous Desire by Diane Escalera
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I first started this book, I was concerned I would not be able to finish it. I am an animal lover and dog fighting is part of the plot line. Fortunately, it is not too graphic in that area and definitely represents the evils of the “sport.”

The sex, however, is graphic . . . and hot. There is a plot to the story, so it is not just one sex scene after another. I particularly enjoyed the scenes where Sienna tries to check Cruz out without him noticing. It never seemed to work. Whenever, she looked at him, she caught him looking at her. He was most definitely an ass man while she drooled over his chest and abs. I have to say, they way they were described, I would be drooling too.

What I did not like is the fact that they immediately fell in bed with each other. Sienna has just lost her dog that she considers her child. She is distraught and heartbroken. There are several scenes where she breaks down in tears. I completely understand her emotions. Then a few scenes later, she is laughing and partying with her friends or making out with Cruz. I just didn’t find it believable.

I liked the book well enough that I would probably read a sequel. The ending of the book hinted at one. I did not like it enough to add this author to my autobuy list.

(CROSSPOSTED FROM http://seductivemusings.blogspot.com/…)

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Filed under Contemporary, Realistic, Romance