Category Archives: crows

Diana Gabaldon

Start with Outlander and then keep going.

I’ve been re-reading them in between other books since Jane has been born and I’m on my 6th book of hers in a month.

I haven’t yet had the words “dinna fash” or “you’ll ken” come out of my mouth yet but it’s a good thing I’ve only got one book left or I’d be yelling “Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ” next time I burn dinner.

Would I recommend them? Having just stared blankly at the computer screen for a many minitues I have no tidy way to sum up the books nor why exactly I’d recommend them.

I think I’m in a Jamie and Claire induced stuper… and now I have to go read what happens next – even though I’ve read this one twice before.

A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin

I like epic fantasy novels and series. I like knowing what happens next… and next… and next.  The trouble with this is that authors of epic fantasy’s usually don’t crank out their books one right after another so I’m required to remember what happens in a book for long stretches of time… possibly years. Usually this is where John comes in. I screen books and give him ones I think he’ll like and he remembers everything he reads and can remind me of all the little (and sometimes gigantic) details I have forgotten. Unfortunately after he read A Game of Thrones and possibly the next one or so in this series he quit. He quit reading them because the author makes you care about his characters and then he kills them.  Sadly it’s true, the chapters switch character viewpoints among a huge cast and Martin has an uncanny ability to turn you from indifferent,  to actively rooting for them right before he offs them.

In any case I couldn’t count on John to remind me what happened in the last books, which was a problem, because this books timeline runs along side the book before (A Feast For Crows) so I actually was trying to remember what happened two books (A Storm of Swords) ago.  I read those books in 2004 and 2006 respectively.  I can’t remember a book I read last week, asking me to not only remember back to a time before children but to also recall what I read then – not happening.

For the first quarter of the book I was confused, really confused. I recognized names, some events were familiar, I had a couple of “OH YEAH he killed that king” sort of moments but it was pretty bad. By the time I reached the half way point I was mildly confused but had come to terms with the fact that I wasn’t setting this book down, re-reading the last two and coming back to it.  Mild confusion and I were getting along fine.   The third quarter of the book I was well enough in that most of my confusion was behind me and I was caught up in the story again. Then last quarter arrived and he started killing off all the characters I cared about, threw a few new old ones that I was supposed to remember into the mix and ended it with me wanting to know what happens next.

Would I recommend it? The series isn’t for anyone… the term epic should not be taken lightly… This was a 1,000 page tome and while lots of people died nothing got resolved and it’s the fifth book in the series. On the other hand it’s a pretty darn good story, from what I can remember… If you are brave enough to take them on start with A Game of Thrones.

Doomwyte by Brian Jacques

Hello my name is Jessie and I love books with talking mice, and shrews, and otters, and moles with funny accents, and any other little woodland talking creature as well.

I  think that by this age most have out grown their love of small furry talking creatures, but…well…I haven’t.

This is one of the newer Redwall books and I love all of these books.

I love them because the good guys always win.

Because even though they win the war they usually lose a few good “men” along the way.

Because swords are not in themselves evil, just the nasty varmints who wield them.

Because friendship always wins.

Because there is always a riddle to solve.

Because the Dibbuns (children) are always getting into mischief.

And most importantly, because when all the fighting is done there is always a feast.

I read Mossflower when I was in middle school, it’s still my favorite, but well, as you can see I thought the rest were pretty good too…

Would I recommend it? Yes, I’d rank it among my favorites, but if you’ve never read any I always recommend starting with Mossflower. I’m impatiently waiting until I’m able to read these aloud to Ivy.  Unfortunately we are currently at the point that even a Franklin book is enough to start Ivy shaking with fright.  I’m thinking we’ve got quite awhile before we can read about marauding sea rats, raven tyrants, and wildcat queens!

Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum by Lisa Wheeler and Laura Huliska-Beith

Where is a good editor when you need one?  Truthfully I’m not exactly sure what an editor does but with a very small amount of changes this would go from a great book to an excellent one.

-Toads are not green, this looks like a frog to me. And every kid I’ve ever known thinks that  green= frog, brown=toad, why mess with that?

-Bees do not have stinger noses, I dislike improper anatomy on animals (or bugs) for no good reason. Cowboy boots, fine but get that stinger on the other end.

-And finally, if the books follows the same rhyming pattern the whole way through why do you mess it up on the last page?!?!

road-toad

goo-shrew

loose-goose

free-bee

go-crow

stuck-truck

air -bear

stuck-hen — WHAT?!!?

Those problems aside this book has a great chanty, jaunty, rhymey, rhythmy, flow to it (that’s a technical term).

I like the pictures (other than above mentioned problems) and Ivy likes it enough we’ve been reading it multiple times in a row.

So even with the above problems…

Would I recommend it? Yes, unless you are one who reads books in a flat monotone, this requires that chanty, jaunty, rhymey, rhythm in order to be great.

Birdology by Sy Montgomery

The chronicles of this lady’s “adventures with a pack of hens, a peck of pigeons, cantankerous crows, fierce falcons, hip hop parrots, baby hummingbirds, and one murderously big living dinosaur” are full of facts and information, unfortunately they are also full of Sy Montgomery. Sy Montgomery is a bit too, for lack of a better term, woo woo for me. I’m glad that birds fill her heart with awe and wonder and make her spirit soar. But when I read things like “My whole soul feels like a yawning hole that only this bird can fill.” I throw up a bit in my mouth as I roll my eyes.

Would I recommend it? No Parts of it, particularly the parts about the cassowary, I found pretty interesting but I have very little tolerance for woo woo mixed in with fact. It made my head hurt from all the unintentional eye rolling and I wouldn’t want to subject anyone else to such pain.