The Golden Compass

This book is awesome. Seriously. If you haven't yet bought / borrowed / stolen it in order to read it, do so. Do so now. Now Now Now. I started this book sometime in December and it took me more than a month to finish. Unbelievably scandalous, granted, but my reading pace was slowed to levels of extreme retardation due to Frenzied Christmas Shopping, Bouts of Extreme Busyness and a certain Literary Restlessness that wouldn't even let me sit down and re-read Charlaine Harris' "Dead Until Dark". So, of course, something was obviously mentally wrong with me.

That said, I seemed to snap out of it in mid-to-late January and I began to stay inside my house so that I could read and talk to NO ONE because I was reading His Dark Materials and they are AWESOME. live again. I also began to have dreams that I was Paula Abdul's assistant on American Idol, but this blog is about books, so.

I found "The Golden Compass" somewhat difficult to get into. Truthfully this may have been because of the aforementioned restlessness, but either way, I reached a certain point within the novel after pushing myself to read further and further and had simply had enough. I put it down, and there is lay for a few weeks. Then, while looking for something to read whilst waiting for my ride at work, I picked it up again, through it into my purse and thus began my love affair with Philip Pullman that he knows nothing about.

I'm currently working on "The Amber Spyglass" and I've just read the first five pages. I will probably post a review of "The Subtle Knife" when I am not gushing continuously, endlessly on about "The Golden Compass". I realize that this review hasn't even gone into the plot, but it is a fantasy/science sort of adventure that had me almost wishing I lived in the North.

And then I remembered that I do, and it is god-awful.

I leave y'all with a plea that you pick up this book and you read it, and you read the second two books and you love the movie when it comes out in 2006 even though they are not going to mention the Church AT ALL in it and it might even possibly be ruined because of that. Read. This. Book. Please.

Book Club Meeting, Feb. 03

The book club meeting, held in a darkly-lit coffeehouse, was great. Since I can't remember everything we talked about (Five favourite books, Lindsay from the Lovely Bones, that men-who-are-pregnant-via-their-brothers book that el had to read for uni) I will list what we drank:

El, had an apple cider. Upon arriving at our table, she exclaimed, somewhat terrified, "What the hell? Why are there sticks in my cider?!" On further inspection said sticks were actually not stripped from trees growing in the back lane of Seattle Coffeehouse but were cinnamon sticks.

Alicia ordered a banana flavoured steamed milk, all frothy and banana-ish.

I ordered the Mega White Mocha, which had me wired until five a.m. when I collapsed in bed and fell immediately asleep.

The Breakdown of February Book Club Selections:

El is reading The Notebook.
Alicia is reading The Golden Compass, part of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series.
Laura is reading The Colour Purple.
I'm reading Kay Hooper's Touching Evil.

The Dwelling

The Dwelling by Susie Moloney was picked up at a secondhand book shop and I can see why the seller didn't want it. Its not that it isn't well written, because it is, and its not that certain passages don't pop with description and emotion -- but the book is damn boring. It took me about a month to struggle through it, and even then, admittedly, I have about a chapter left.

One might ask, "If you have a chapter left, why not just finish it?!" and the answer is simple because, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE." I am so ready to put down this book and leave it be. This book is not as bad as some that I've read -- not as bad as "The Rising" by some guy who probably shouldn't want his name associated with his book anyway, or the romance novels I used to (inexplicably) read when I was fourteen. Moloney is a talented writer, but I found this book to be dry.

A lot of the characters she started with were real, fleshed out, detailed -- but only up to a point. The climax hits and they are suddenly gone from the story, flitting in and out as ghosts. You have small conclusions of their lives after the house is once again sold to the realtor, but thats about it. It leads to thinking that all the build-up, everything you learned about their careers, family life and personality were for naught -- was pointless. And that is incredibly frustrating.

Rating : 2/5 stars.

Hardcore First Post Action.

I started this blog because I wanted to keep track of the books I've read and would recommend (or not recommend as the case may be). December and January were slow months for me, read-wise, and I hope to get back on top of my "few a month" norm. Part of my problem throughout the holiday months was busyness / restlessness, but also a smattering of not being able to find the right book -- throughout December I pushed myself through "The Dwelling" by Susie Moloney. (Review to follow.) But I also have a habit of picking up several books at once and reading them in intervals.

Likewise, this blog won't only be used in regards to books that I, personally, am reading, but books that I've read in the past and loved (or hated). This blog is also open to several other people who will be posting (hopefully!) the books their reading / loving / loathing.