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Showing posts from September 19, 2010

Revised Fall Catch-Up Read-A-Thon

I am freaking out a little because when I made my original list I forgot and over looked some books that I need to be reading and I will be joining a few challenges that I think I want to save some books for. So I am going to try this again, though I am not sure it maters much. Sometimes change weakens your dedication. I hope that is not the case this time.   Books I am planning on reading/finishing: Feed by Mira Grant (finished) The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan (started, but not far in. May reserve for YA dystopian challenge) Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler (started, staying on list) Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (currently reading) Framed by Frank Cottrell-Boyce (currently reading) Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (thinking about saving for steampunk challenge) Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (haven’t started, staying on list) Cherry Heaven by L. J. Adlington (desperately need to finish this) Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder (may save for dystopi

Feed by Mira Grant

“No one gets cold or cancer anymore. The only issue is the walking dead.” Feed is a zombie story with heart. Mira Grant combines perfectly the traditional, almost campy tropes of zombie stories, with emotions and politics.  It is the near future and a virus, from a vaccine gone wrong, is turning people into zombies.  This isn’t the zombie apocalypse though.  This is the story of a community of people coping, or trying to cope with the situation around them. The world has been safe guarded against those who are or may have become infected. There are endless amounts of blood tests to make sure a person isn’t going to convert into a zombie.   Why did Grant write this book? In an interview with SFX she explains: Initially what I came up with was an ecology book. I am a zombie fan but all of the zombie stories I’ve enjoyed started when the dead rose and ended three days later with everybody looking exhausted. I was thinking, “What happens in 20 years?” So I set up a func

Read-A-Thon – First Book Completed

It is 11:15 pm and I am listening to the last minutes of Feed by Mira Grant. When I woke up this morning I thought that I would be putting in some hard core reading hours, but that isn’t exactly how it happened. I am a little behind on my read-a-thon goals, but that’s OK! There is still plenty of time. I am also considering amending some of my intended reading due to some upcoming challenges I have decided to join. No official decision on that yet, though. Will keep you updated, I promise. I definitely feel some pride in being close to finishing my first book and am eager to push through Never Let Me Go . Both books have been classified as dystopian or having dystopian themes. And this makes it a double triumph for me. I am happy to be continuing my intended reading within this fiction classification. If you haven’t already, check out my post The Problem with Dystopia and look for follow up posts coming soon. I know a lot of us love these type of books and I love rea

Indigara is Where?

Indigara by Tanith Lee is a fast, fun read. I got it at Half Price Books for $4.98 when I met The Page Flipper on my cross country road trip. Although it is a slim hardcover, almost $5 is a pretty high price for me to pay for a book. A lot of the books I got that day were from my wishlist or recommendations from Chelsea, but Indigara was a pure impulse buy. The cover of Indigara really appeals to my interest in cyberpunk and technology but for the most part, the book did not live up to all that the cover promised. I am still trying to figure out if it was just lacking something or if I had false expectations. I love books that play with concepts and warping of reality. This book has the main character, Jet, falling into some sort of old movie and getting stuck there. The first half of the book was really fresh and funny. But the second half of the book really lost me. One of the dangers of playing with the reality of the main character is not giving the reader anything t

The Sunday Salon – Reading Zombie

    For months I have been struggling with finishing books. Well, I finally got 3 done and what happens? My glasses disappear off the face of the earth. In an emergency effort I had to put in my trial contacts and my eyes have been miserable ever since. Of course now that I have met my goal and can pick up any new book I want my eyes bug me too much for me to be able to read.   But let’s try and celebrate the good things! Here are the three books I finished. Mockingjay Grass Indigara   Grass has been reviews, Mockingjay got a quasi review and I am trying to decide how I want to go about doing a full fledged post or if maybe I just want to skip it. The Indigara post has been written and will be up in a few days.   But now what? Well luckily, and oddly, Mr. X and I have the same prescription in our right eye. He has a pair of glasses I am going to try out for in house and reading use and save my contacts for outings. I am hoping this will help my eyes