Books

[gilana]

My Sister's Keeper: A Novel by Jodi Picoult
Wow. I'm just not sure what I thought of this. I hate books that keep switching POVs, and this one used about 6, although it kept to one per chapter. And just as I was really getting caught up in it -- that ending! It felt like a manipulative cop-out to me. Grrr. So I guess I enjoyed the book overall but I'm pissed at the author and not likely to try her again for a while.

The Wizardry of Oz: The Artistry And Magic of The 1939 MGM Classic by Jay Scarfone
One of my little obsessions is The Wizard of Oz (the movie more so than the books), and I'm always interested in new behind-the-scenes info about it. I've read a fair number of books about it, but this one was the best I've found. They have blueprints of some of the sets, and pictures of the matte paintings that were used for some of the backgrounds along with stills of the scene *without* the matte added in. Lots of info on every technical aspect you could want to know.

The Blood Books, Volume II (The Blood Books) by Tanya Huff
OK, has anyone else read this one so I can rant about the ending of Blood Pact with someone? Aghhh! Dammit, I'm afraid I'm going to have to break down and buy Volume III now.

Smoke and Mirrors by Tanya Huff

The Truth-Teller's Tale by Sharon Shinn

The Secret Country (The Secret Country Trilogy, Vol. 1) by Pamela Dean
Not sure I really liked this. There was an awful lot of politics and plot, not quite enough character for me. I'll probably at least start the second one to see what I think of it, though.

Comments

[desireearmfeldt]

I read The Secret Country as a kid, and was totally traumatized by it. You get to the end and nothing is resolved, it just leaves you hanging. I hated unresolved endings as a kid--Stuart Little really jerked my chain, becuse you don't know if he finds his friend or not. I couldn't cope with that. I was somewhat older when I read the Secret Country, and had accepted the idea that some endings were "open," but still, this outraged me. I felt cheated.

Then, a decade later, I discovered that it was part of a series, not a stand-alone. :)

Every once in a while, I think I should re-read it & find the rest of the series, just to see how the story actually goes.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

OMG THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME

It's a little uncanny, how precisely you described my childhood emotional reaction there! It was really extraordinarly upsetting... I got to the end of the second one with no knowledge that the third one existed, and FREAKED OUT. I thought it was a lesson in Why It's Wrong And Evil To Have An Imagination. How was I to know that was just supposed to be a cliffhanger ending??

Gilly, I do like the series a lot, but if you didn't enjoy the first (knowing that the other two exist, that is), you may not like the others either. They're all of a piece, I think. (This recommendation doesn't have anything to do with what Andrea and I just said, though. I only disliked it for being unresolved, which it ultimately wasn't, no for the things you just mentioned, which I liked for some reason.)

[fenicedautun.livejournal.com]

Did you like smoke and Mirrors?

I read five Blood xxx books by Tanya Huff back when they first came out as single books, but I don't remember really liking them (I was also reading the first few Laurell K Hamilton's which were much better done), so I don't remember them. It may be that I just didn't like them because of the ending to one, because I remember liking them until about halfway through and then really getting turned off.

[gilana]

I did like it. I've been reading the Blood Books and the Smoke Books all concurrently with watching the TV show Blood Ties. I'm basically in love with Henry right now, so I'm enjoying anything with him in it :) But that might have something to do with the actor playing him on the show... le yum.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Yum indeed. I've read all the Blood Books, so rant away. :)

[wellstar.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you about the ending of My Sister's Keeper.

[missaligator.livejournal.com]

I read My Sister's Keeper a while ago and kind of liked the changing POVs. I totally agree that the ending was a cop-out. It goes against the whole message of autonomy. Her other books are kind of the same... court case about some ethical issue, but with less sucky endings.