The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

Title: The Rook 
Author: Daniel O'Malley 
Type: Novel 
Genre: Fantasy 
Series: First in Tthe Chequy Files" 
Pages: 486 
Copyright: 2012  
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company 
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary: from GoodReads

"The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.

In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.

Filled with characters both fascinating and fantastical, THE ROOK is a richly inventive, suspenseful, and often wry thriller that marks an ambitious debut from a promising young writer. 

Feelings:
I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought that it was believable even though we were dealing with a subject that is easy to go astray with. At first I didn't think I was going to like the use of letters from the original Myfanwy Thomas to the one that comes about after she wakes up with her memories gone. The letters worked as a really good tool in the beginning and I thought that they would end somewhere in the middle of the book but they continued through. I found that I liked the letters because they filled in the back story of who Myfanwy was before zap memories gone.

Myfanwy is part of the British branch of the Supernatural Secret Service. As she tries to impersonate herself, which she knows only from the letters that her former self wrote before she had her memory wiped clean, she ends up asserting herself in a way completely out of character.

As she tries to make her way through live as a Rook she often has hilarious interactions with those she should know but can't remember.

"'Well, I...had an appointment.' They regarded her with expectant eyes, and she was suddenly filled with a desire to shake up those proprietary stares. 'A gynecologist appointment.' She smiled triumphantly at the twins. 'To have my vagina checked,' she added. They nodded in unison and, to her private satisfaction, seemed somewhat disconcerted. ...  'And...it's still...there. And okay.'" (p. 55)

The book is full of funny little things that Myfanwy does to try and both shake things up and hide her secret. She must learn the workings of the Checquey and discover who had her predecessor's memories wiped.

I would recommend this book to those that like fantasy and spies. 

The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

Title: The Last Runaway
Author: Tracy Chevalier

Type: Novel
Genre: Historical Fiction

Series: No

Pages: 305
Copyright: 2013
Publisher: Dutton

Rating: 3 out of 5


Summary: From GoodReads

New York Times bestselling author of Girl With a Pearl Earring Tracy Chevalier makes her first fictional foray into the American past in The Last Runaway, bringing to life the Underground Railroad and illuminating the principles, passions and realities that fueled this extraordinary freedom movement. 

In New York Times bestselling author Tracy Chevalier’s newest historical saga, she introduces Honor Bright, a modest English Quaker who moves to Ohio in 1850, only to find herself alienated and alone in a strange land. Sick from the moment she leaves England, and fleeing personal disappointment, she is forced by family tragedy to rely on strangers in a harsh, unfamiliar landscape. 

Nineteenth-century America is practical, precarious, and unsentimental, and scarred by the continuing injustice of slavery. In her new home Honor discovers that principles count for little, even within a religious community meant to be committed to human equality. 

However, drawn into the clandestine activities of the Underground Railroad, a network helping runaway slaves escape to freedom, Honor befriends two surprising women who embody the remarkable power of defiance. Eventually she must decide if she too can act on what she believes in, whatever the personal costs. 

A powerful journey brimming with color and drama, The Last Runaway is Tracy Chevalier’s vivid engagement with an iconic part of American history.

Feelings:
I read all of her books and enjoy them. That being said yes I do think some of them are better than others but for the most part I would recommend all of them. This book was not an exception. I enjoyed the topic, the Underground Railroad, and the characters of this story.

This story does feel a little more formulaic compared to Chevalier's early writing, such as the Virgin Blue, I thought the story cast a new light on a difficult subject matter. Honor Bright, the main character, is an English woman struggling to find her place in Ohio. In coming to America she seems to be running from a past where she feels she no longer has a place. As a Quaker Honor stands by her principles, I'm not all that familiar with Quaker principles besides equality and consensus, as mush as someone in a strange land can.

Parts of the book felt a bit rushed to me, hence the rating of 3. I thought that Honor rushed into her marriage with Jack Haymaker especially after she realizes she isn't really lusting after him but another man. It made the story feel a little bit like a romance novel. A little romance isn't a bad thing in my opinion it just felt a little like it was over powering the story of Honor getting involved with the Underground Railroad and also getting to know those that were running.

While this will not be considered one of the great novels about the Underground Railroad and the Quaker involvement it is an easy enjoyable read. I would recommend it to those have have enjoyed Chevalier's other books.

The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine

Title: The Blue Notebook
Author: James A. Levine
Type: Audiobook
Narrator: Meera Simhan
Genre: Fiction
Series: No
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Random House Audio
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary: from GoodReads

Dear Reader:

Every now and then, we come across a novel that moves us like no other, that seems like a miracle of the imagination, and that haunts us long after the book is closed. James Levine’s The Blue Notebook is that kind of book. It is the story of Batuk, an Indian girl who is taken to Mumbai from the countryside and sold into prostitution by her father; the blue notebook is her diary, in which she recalls her early childhood, records her life on the Common Street, and makes up beautiful and fantastic tales about a silver-eyed leopard and a poor boy who fells a giant with a single gold coin. 


How did Levine, a British-born doctor at the Mayo Clinic, manage to conjure the voice of a fifteen-year-old female Indian prostitute? It all began, he told me, when, as part of his medical research, he was interviewing homeless children on a street in Mumbai known as the Street of Cages, where child prostitutes work. A young woman writing in a notebook outside her cage caught Levine’s attention. The powerful image of a young prostitute engaged in the act of writing haunted him, and he himself began to write.


The Blue Notebook brings us into the life of a young woman for whom stories are not just entertainment but a means of survival. Even as the novel humanizes and addresses the devastating global issue of child prostitution, it also delivers an inspiring message about the uplifting power of words and reading–a message that is so important to hold on to, especially in difficult times. Dr. Levine is donating all his U.S. proceeds from this book to help exploited children. Batuk’s story can make a difference.


Sincerely,


Celina SpiegelPublisher


Feelings: 
This was a powerful book. Long after you finish reading it you will find yourself thinking about Batuk and wondering if there was anything she could have done to have ended up not on the street of prostitutes at the age of nine. She is literate which one would think would have given her an edge others wouldn't have had. This is a story of hardship and imagination.

Batuk is a very strong character and as she writes her story first in secret and then on the street while waiting for customers we get to know her way of thinking and the way she deals with what has happened to her. She has ways of referring to sex to make them less haunting to a child. She calls it baking sweet cake and she brags that she is better at making sweet cake than the other girls.

James Levine creates a magical voice of a 15 year old girl who is still a child in many ways yet is acting in a very adult manor. The voice seems very true and while the story is at times heart breaking. It is a book worth listening to as the story is of a world that isn't familiar to most of the western world. 

The reason I have given this story a 4 out of 5 instead of a 5 is that the ending didn't really feel like an ending to me. 

I recommend this book to anyone that is interested in the hidden lives of the developing world.

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

Title: Titus Groan 
Author: Mervyn Peake 
Type: Novel 
Genre: Fantasy of Manners 
Series: Yes. Volume 1 of "The Gormenghast Trilogy" 
Pages: 543 
Copyright: 1967 
Publisher: Ballantine Books, Inc. 
Rating: 3 out of 5


Summary: From GoodReads.
Mervyn Peake's gothic masterpiece, the Gormenghast trilogy, begins with the superlative Titus Groan, a darkly humorous, stunningly complex tale of the first two years in the life of the heir to an ancient, rambling castle. The Gormenghast royal family, the castle's decidedly eccentric staff, and the peasant artisans living around the dreary, crumbling structure make up the cast of characters in this engrossing story. Peake's command of language and unique style set the tone and shape of an intricate, slow-moving world of ritual and stasis.

Feelings:
If there was ever an author worthy of being jealous of their vocabulary Mervyn Peake would be that author. There really isn't that much that happens during this novel but the writing style is such that pages may be dedicated to a drop of water. One of the characters is described as garrulous and it fits the book as well.

The writing takes some getting used to. Having a dictionary handy doesn't hurt. Peake does at times create words but those are ones that are easy to define thankfully.

The entire book takes place over the first 18 months of Titus' life. The plot of the book is almost flat at times but it does move forward over the course of the novel. The characters are quirky, spiteful, devious, and gullible. Rather than plot moving the story forward I would say it is the characters thoughts and lack of action that give the story some forward motion.

It was not often that Flay approved of happiness in others. He saw in happiness the seeds of independence, and in independence the seeds of revolt. But on an occasion such as this it was different, for the spirit of convention was being rigorously adhered to, and in between his ribs Mr. Flay experienced twinges of pleasure. (p. 17)

Convention and following it creates character interaction and brings together characters that otherwise would not meet. It is something that is begrudgingly followed by some and joyously by others. 

This is a book that I am not sure I would recommend to just anyone. It is odd and verbose, both qualities that make it hard to say who will like it and who will not. I would recommend it to those that really like language and words, not because of the story but because of the use of words. I would recommend it to those who search out the odd books and enjoy them. This is not to say that either group will really enjoy this novel. I am still largely undecided as to whether I will read the next in the trilogy or not. I did enjoy the novel but it wasn't exactly an exciting read.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins 
Type: Audiobook 
Narrator: Carolyn McCormick 
Genre: Fantasy 
Series: Yes, Book 3 of the Hunger Games Trilogy 
Copyright: 2008 
Publisher: Scholastic Audio Books; Unabridged edition 
Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary: From GoodReads.
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Kat, her family, friends, and entire District 12.

Feelings:
I enjoyed the series and I think that even though after the first book it feels more like a political story than about an Katniss the series works. The tension between Peeta and Gale cased by Katniss' seeming inability to love just one of them or know if she loves one of them is maintained until the end of the series. Although I have to admit it was pretty clear to me which one it was going to end up being. Don't want to give anything a way though. 

Katniss remains independent until the end although damaged. Most of the change in her character stems from her being in the arena and then events that unfold during the rebellion so are not really changes that she chooses but ones that happen to her. This is not to say that she doesn't make choices, she does.

I have not read the books but I think that listening to them adds something that wouldn't be there in the text version. I am normally all for reading books rather than listening to them but I do think this is a series that benefits from the listening. 

I would recommend this series of audiobooks to anyone that likes some adventure and doesn't mind a little political turmoil.