The Big Book Thread

[Darlica]

I thought it could be nice with a book thread that gave a little more flesh on the bones than the
What Are You Reading thread.

If you have read a book and want to recommend it or discuss it this the place. Share the books you think other Siblings should read (or don't read for that matter )

Give a short description of the story without too many spoilers and add your personal ponderings and feelings about the book as well as perhaps a few arguments to why (or why not) we should run to the nearest Book Shop and purchase a copy of it.

Come on let your inner bookworm loose!

[Darlica]

I'll start.

Un Lun Dun by China Miéville

Un Lun Dun  is something as unusual as a YA (young adult) adventure book with two twelve year old girls as the main characters.
It takes place in London and in the urban wonderland of UnLondon where the broken and lost things (and some existences) of London ends up. UnLondon is at war and one of the girls is the chosen one, the one that will save the city.
To save UnLondon one girl has to go on a quest, now this is  so even the thick magic book will get it all right the first time...
UnLondon is to a large extent build on moil (mildly obsolete in London) technology houses can be built out of old typewriters and whatnot, it's inhabitants is mostly human (well more or less), some comes from London other are born UnLondoners some even comes from Parisn't or No York.


As I said, this is a YA book but that doesn't diminish my love for it. It is written in a way so even adults can enjoy it. It has excitement and action as well as moments of sadness.

This is China Miéville first book aimed at a younger audience, he has won prizes like the Arthur C. Clark award with earlier his books Perdido Street Station, The scar and The Iron Council 

I love C M's narrative style it was what got me though Perdido Street Station when the horror almost became to much for me ( I'm the type that can watch horror movies but I can't bear to read the same scenes ).

The creatures of C M's imagination are as usual fantastic and their names are fun or witty and descriptive. Despite this being a book for YA's he doesn't flinch from using a rich language with a lot of rather complicated words or names (many of those his own creation) he also play with words and their meaning in a way that I find both fun and inspiring. 

I've heard and read the opinion that the first fifty pages is too slow. And I do find the first fifty pages slower and less action packed than the rest of the book but to me the contrast between the girls real London everyday life and the surrealistic UnLondon and its adventures acts like a connection (or a bridge if you like) between the two worlds and in a way motivates the existence of two worlds in the story. If the girls London life was as action filled as their UnLondon visits there wouldn't be a need for two worlds.
I like that their adventures in UnLondon starts slow and escalate, it builds up the story but C M doesn't do conventional and that's a part of the beauty with his stories.

I can't really express how happy I am that there is at least one <i>good </i> YA adventure book out there with girls as the main characters.
There isn't a lot of books about active, clever and brave young girls, sure you have the ones about girls who chases horse thieves and such but not much else.   

As an adult if you have read any Neil Gaiman, especially Neverwhere and liked it this is most definitely a book for you only this one is better!

If you haven't read Un Lun Dun yet, do so.

And watch out for the Giraffes!
Read it and you will know what I mean.

[anthrobabe]

A Day No Pigs Would Die
by Robert Newton Peck  1972

Robert a young shaker boy receives a pig as reward for doing a good thing for a neighbor. 
About the mystery, wonder and pain of growing up and growing up different than those around you.
This book is also one of the top 100 challenged books of the decade 1990 - 2000.
Robert peck classifies this novel as fiction but the father is based upon his own father and some of the events mirror those in his life.

[Aggie]

I can't really express how happy I am that there is at least one <i>good </i> YA adventure book out there with girls as the main characters.
There isn't a lot of books about active, clever and brave young girls, sure you have the ones about girls who chases horse thieves and such but not much else.   

Darlica, have you read Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy?  I picked it up on recommendation from Sib Scrib (a while back; the first book has been made into a movie which reminded me of it).  Also young adult, and with the main character an active, clever and brave young girl.  Very good - sorry I'm not much for big reviews, but genre-wise it combines fantasy, sci-fi, and a bit of steampunk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Dark_Materials

[Pachyderm]

Reading Conn Iggulden's Emperor series. (4 in total, on Bk2).

Absolutely excellent. Based on Gaius Julius Caesar (Thousands of years later, his surname still means "ruler". That is quite a legacy.) They are novels, and so not historically accurate, but capture the flavour of the time superbly.

Naturally, being set where they are, there is quite a bit of swordplay and killing going on, and the violence of Roman politics is not glossed over.

Highly recommended.

[pieces o nine]

I came across an intact first edition of Sheri S. Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country  in a remainder bin a long, long time ago as I was embarking upon my adult life. Here is the Wikipedia synopsis (covers all plot elements) but skip "Major Themes" section at the bottom of the page as it contains big spoilers.

I really liked the way the story played out, with the struggle between constructive/destructive and conformity/rebellion impulses taking place in all characters. Cyclic productions of Iphigenia  are staged throughout, and each iteration brings the reader to new insights into the story and their own culture.

Ultimately, there are no good guys and no bad guys: only people trying to conform to their respective cultures enough to be accepted in them, yet maintain enough individuality to pursue things they think will bring them happiness.

I've read it at intervals over the years and have since purchased most of her books, all of which are interesting variations on her themes: rigid patriarchal heirarchies are damaging to all who live under them; females *do not* have inherently better natures than males; wanton destruction of the 'inferior' is a mistake; and knowledge, paired with understanding, is always worth pursuing.

I would also recommend The Fresco  as a lighter introduction to her writing. Although some reviews make it sound like a shrill, male-bashing screed, it is not as there are all-too-realistically flawed female characters as well. Best, the advanced alien culture is also in for a shock out of comfortable, time-honored assumptions, in another take on what constitutes superior vs inferior and right vs wrong. Categorized as sci-fi or fantasy, I think her books would appeal to anyone who enjoys a good story regardless of label.

[Sibling Chatty]

Mero turned me on to Tepper's books a while back.

Excellent author. Loved The Family Tree, but Grass gave me nightmares...

[pieces o nine]

Nice to know there are other Tepper fans here!

After Grass  (which I rather liked and read the first time just after a re-read of Madeliene L'Engle's A Wind in the Door,  which probably colored my image of the foxen) I noticed some characters popping up in other stories. She isn't anvilicious about it to sell more books, though.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Just finished the "unpublished" first novel by Robert A Heinlein, For Us, the Living.  Actual publishing date 2004.  Amazon Linky

Apparently, he wrote it in 1939, tried to get it published, failed and back-burnered it.

A copy was found not long ago, and it was published for him.

Interesting.

If you're a Heinlein fan, you'll see the seeds of nearly all his major novels in it, at the least, all his major themes are expressed or at least, mentioned.

As a stand-alone?  Not so much-- minimal characterization.  Ending?  Typical Heinlein.  But, reading it is akin to a romp through his major and minor stories and themes over the lifetime of his work.

A must-read for all Heinlein's fans.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Total comic book girl.
The Sandman--really good. Sort of unsettling and creepy, well drawn and over all excellently written.

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore. MUCH better than the movie. More adult-ly written and relevant to some extent.

The League for Extraordinary Gentlemen--Moore. The movie sucked, but the comic is, well, extraordinary.

1602--rip in the time continuum causes the various Marvel characters (the X-Men, Nick Fury, etc) born in 1602. And it's Captain America's fault.

Books books.
Confessions of an Economic Hitman. A little bit grandiose, but it really explains why the world is the way it is.

[anthrobabe]

sort of an interesting book I just read

Chill Factor by Sandra Brown
the first line is
"The grave was substandard."

Missing women,newly divorced woman who finds love in the most interesting place, two people-one of whom may be the killer stranded in a mountain cabin, jelous chief of police husband, the feds, school teacher with 19 year old loverboy, 19 year old high school senior athlete being given steroids by his father, are just a few of the cast in this book.

Some interesting plot twists- you think you have it figured out but maybe not. If you do not cheat and read the end you don't know the final ending-happy or sad- until the end just where I like it.

I'd give the book a B overall- can be formulaic at times but she does a good job. It was a good enough casual weekend read that I will check out her other offerings.