The Friday 56 (May 20th)

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it to Freda's Voice.
*Add your (url) post to Linky on Freda’s post

This week the book is Then is the Power by Gerald W. Mills. Some of the characters are very close to being over the top but the story is pretty good so far.

The sentence:

Careful not to get any of the vial’s white powder on his shaking hands, he dusted all the remaining doughnuts, then flushed the empty vial down the men’s room commode.

Hey, no fair messing with a man’s doughnuts. That just doesn’t seem right.

Theme Thursday -- Male Person

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Anyone can participate in it.
The rules are simple:
•A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
•Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
•Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
•It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word) Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This week’s theme is – Male Person (description of a man or boy)

Lyunov was a thin man, tall, with dark hollows in his cheeks and a wild shock of graying hair above cold brittle eyes. He wore neither uniform nor insignia. Other than a weak nod of stolid acknowledgement, he’d said nothing. By contrast, her once-skinny, insolent third cousin Boris had matured to become a stocky bull-of-a-man with bushy, dark reddish hair and a dominant forehead that gave him an evil profile. A man who was but one step from the top of the world’s largest intelligence organization, his manner could have been threatening…but it wasn’t. He, too, wore civilian clothes and was open-collared. In a certain way he still had the boyish look she remembered from the single time they’d met so long ago, but he was now a powerful man in a powerful organization that was itself the brains of a powerful army, in spite of his manner.

--Then is the Power by Gerald W. Mills

Journey to Promethea Review

Journey to Promethea
With Billy Zane

There is a tyrant on the throne and the people wait for the fulfillment of the prophecy that will bring back the spirit of an old hero in a young boy, who with the help of a special sword will bring about a time of peace.



It was rather amazing how bad this was. It starts with a little set up of the prophecy and then you watch three groups of people wander around in the forest badly delivering poorly written and sometime completely nonsensical lines and then getting into poorly choreographed and boring swordfights. Add to that a thin unoriginal plot, some really bad affects and costumes that look like they were cobbled together from what they could find in their closets and you have something not worth watching. The quality of the acting, writing and film itself suggest that a bunch of friends walked into the local woods with a video camera. Billy Zane tried but he had nothing at all to work with.

Theme Thursday -- Woman Relationships

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Anyone can participate in it.
The rules are simple:
•A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
•Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
•Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
•It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word) Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This week’s theme is – Woman Relationships (relation that one can have with a woman like mother, aunt, grandmother, sister, girlfriend, etc.)

“You could go anywhere,” my mother said. Back then I thought she was the harder parent of the two and had had high hopes for me, so the disappointment weighed on her more heavily. I remember that my mother was a dry well at my trial when the jury brought back the verdict, although my father had wept loudly and wetly, and he was starting to cry now, too.

-- An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke

WWW Wednesdays (May 11)

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions...
*What are you currently reading?
*What did you recently finish reading?
*What do you think you’ll read next?

Leave a link to your post (or the answers themselves if you do not have a blog) in the comments of Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading?

An Arsonist’s Guide to Writer’s Homes in New England by Brock Clarke
I’m liking it so far.

Then is the Power by Gerald W. Mills
Well, that’s what is on the cover of my book but I think he changed the title to No Place for Gods.

What did you recently finish reading?

Killing Girl Vol. 1: A Sister’s Love by Glen Brunswick
A graphic novel, the story is alright but I don’t like the artwork.

Hammer of the Gods: Mortal Enemies by Michael Avon Oeming
Another graphic novel, this one about Odin and Thor and such. I liked the artwork better in this one.


What do you think you’ll read next?

The Accidental Werewolf by Dakota Cassidy

Mockingjay Review

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

(from the book jacket)
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss’s family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans – except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss’s willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels’ Mockingjay – no matter what the personal cost.



I think once again Collins does a great job of giving you characters you can care about. You worry about them. Their anguish, mental and physical, makes you upset. You are sad when they die. And there are, of course, the people you don’t like too but even they evoke a strong reaction. And these strong characters get you emotionally involved in the story. And once again Collins explores some big issues. Katniss and the others have to deal with the horrors of war and the damage that it does to those who survive. They are faced with choices about how far they are willing to go to win a just war. Can they justify using the enemies tactics themselves? Katniss is overwhelmed by the war, the loss of her home, the fear for those she loves and the expectations of those around her. You are thrown into turmoil with her as she is pushed into a role that she never wanted but no longer knows how to avoid. I had a little harder time feeling for Katniss this time but that was only because the trauma she goes through, the trauma that makes you hide in the corner, that makes you apathetic and unresponsive is harder for me to relate to or envision than the fight for her life that she has been in in the past. And because this is the struggle she is going through in the beginning of the book it has a slower start than the other two. Mockingjay gives you a sense of hope because finally the people are fighting back but it is still a dark and scary world. Collins never gives her heroine and cure-all answer to the woes of the world. All of her plans and actions do not miraculously make everything better. Her choices are not at all clear nor are they without consequences. It is a compelling story but I’m slightly ambivalent about the ending. I’m glad that Collins does not pretty it up into something that is unreal and unbelievable. But there was a point when it seemed like the story just stopped for a moment and then continued after jumping over some important parts. It was good to take a look into the future a little bit but still leave the possibility open for anything to happen so you get a sense that the effects of the war will not fade quickly. But part of me feels like certain things were glossed over and left oddly vague.

The Friday 56, The Accidental Werewolf

Rules:
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to page 56.
*Find any sentence that grabs you.
*Post it.
*Link it to Freda's Voice.
*Add your (url) post to Linky on Freda’s post

The book this week is The Accidental Werewolf by Dakota Cassidy. My sister gave this for my birthday recently but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.

The sentence:

If she told them the truth, they’d tar her with a crazy brush and call for the men with butterfly nets.

Theme Thursday -- Female Person

Theme Thursdays is a fun weekly event that will be open from one Thursday to the next. Hosted by Reading Between Pages.

Anyone can participate in it.
The rules are simple:
•A theme will be posted each week (on Thursday’s)
•Select a conversation/snippet/sentence from the current book you are reading
•Mention the author and the title of the book along with your post
•It is important that the theme is conveyed in the sentence (you don’t necessarily need to have the word) Ex: If the theme is KISS; your sentence can have “They kissed so gently” or “Their lips touched each other” or “The smooch was so passionate”

This week’s theme is – Female Person (Description of a woman/girl…)


They were hags with hairy faces and popping eyes. Their bodies were round as chariot wheels and studded with arms and legs, three of each. Scuttling on these arms and legs they would glide up the walls and spin webs – each web as big as the mainsail of a Viking ship.

- Fafnir by Bernard Evslin

WWW Wednesday (May 4th)

To play along just answer the following three (3) questions...
*What are you currently reading?
*What did you recently finish reading?
*What do you think you’ll read next?

Leave a link to your post (or the answers themselves if you do not have a blog) in the comments of Should Be Reading.

What are you currently reading?

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey
It is interesting how attached to a snail someone can become.

Fafnir by Bernard Evslin


What did you recently finish reading?

How to Build A Robot Army by Daniel H. Wilson
After you build your robot army you will have to read his book How to Survive a Robot Uprising.

Immortality Inc. by Robert Sheckley
The basis for the movie Freejack. Although the two are not anything alike. Both interesting stories just not really the same story.


What do you think you’ll read next?

An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clarke

Books I Finished in April

It’s May 2nd. I meant to do this yesterday. Of course I also meant to do The Friday 56, the Theme Thursday, and the WWW Wednesday. And none of that happened either. Hopefully I’ll get back on track this month. Although it’s a bad sign that I’m already a day late.

Outlaw by Angus Donald
See my review here.

ExHeroes by Peter Clines
I wanted this to be better. I just didn’t find any of the characters all that interesting.

Rare Beasts by Charles Ogden
Nothing special. I can see why kids might like them but I don’t think I’ll be reading anymore.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
This is so sad. I loved it though.

How to Survive a Robot Uprising by Daniel H. Wilson
Something everyone should know. A surprising amount of real information.

Blazin’ Barrels Vol. 1 by Min-seo Park
Part of my new Manga obsession.

Zeus: King of the Gods by George O’Connor
A graphic novel about Zeus. That’s good stuff.

Plastic Man on the Lam by Kyle Baker
Another graphic novel but this one was not my cup of tea.

The Tain by Thomas Kinsella
An Irish epic. And a lot of names I can’t pronounce.