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Voyager by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My absolute FAVORITE among the books in the series that I’ve read so far. Much better than the last book in the series, loved seeing how certain characters have grown and matured over the years, loved the new characters, the exciting setting, and the pacing was SO well done. I found myself completely on edge throughout the reading of the last 10% of the book, and launched immediately into the fourth book as soon as I reached the end. The events toward the end of the book were SUCH a surprise, and in a really engaging way. I can’t wait to see where this series continues to go, and I’m already thoroughly invested in the next book.



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Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don’t think this sequel was as strong as the first book in the Outlander series, but I still loved it. A bit abrupt with the ending, the beginning just sucked me right in, some bits in the middle were a bit of a yawn with all the waiting and politics and history, but overall, it left me scrambling to download the third book and I’m already halfway through it!

Jamie and Claire are one of my favorite literary couples at this point, and I really just love the fact that this author just throws away the idea of fitting into one particular genre and just rocks these long, sweeping novels that defy definition. I cannot WAIT to see what happens next. :)



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The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. Four stars instead of five because I feel a bit worn out from the stress of the almost constant struggling of every single character, and the intense description of cathedral construction was a bit much at times, but it was SO worth the read.

Several different passages at the end of the book brought me to tears, and overall this was such an epic, sweeping description of the struggle between good and evil, while also constantly detailing the grittiest and tiniest details of each significant moment. I don’t think I could go through it again, but I’m glad I read it this one time, and I loved the ending.

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Outlander by Diana Gabaldon


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I grabbed this book for my iPad a while back because a few people that I trust in their smutty book taste had rated it highly and I wanted to venture outside my normal handful of authors.

The book is SO not a smut book, and I’m not really sure what category it best fits in (time travel = sci fi? 1700s = historical? relationship = romance?), but what I DO know is that I really enjoyed it. I had a really hard time putting it down and it was REALLY long, in a way that I found satisfying, like a series of stories that were all contained in one book.

I love the relationship that developed, I love how the main character handled the unexpected emergence of a *crucial* opportunity for her (no spoilers!), I loved the history (especially a history I really don’t remember learning much about), and I loved how invested I felt in so many of the characters, even those that were definitely not upstanding.

Not sure who to recommend the book to, but I do recommend it. I enjoyed it immensely and will probably go on to read the subsequent books in the series. I hope each volume is as good as this one. :)

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, it took me FOUR months to finish this book, because the first 10 chapters just didn’t reel me in. I literally read a few pages at a time and then would avoid the book for something that involved less characters with complicated (and often virtually indistinguishable) names, but once I got through the first 30% of this book, I was HOOKED and I finished the rest in less than two days.

I loved how every single storyline was given a proper ending, I appreciated that all the very detailed and sometimes confusing back stories tied in to a really interesting whole, and I loved every single imperfect character along the way. What a gruesome tale told in such a refined and interesting way… Despite how long it took me to get going on this first book in the series, I am already looking at starting the next book in the series.

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How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve had this book recommended to me at least three times, and now that I’ve read it my most prominent thought is:

“Don’t people have the common sense to do this stuff anyway?”

There’s not a single new idea in this book that a person isn’t already doing if they genuinely want to connect with and positively influence the people around them. A person who *isn’t* already operating under most of these principles isn’t likely to adopt them authentically, IMO, because these ways of handling the people around you are largely character-driven, and if you’re not already capable of figuring these things out on your own, odds are you are unlikely to spontaneously become a geniunely likeable person who respects and compliments others just because you read this book.

The later portions of the book on marriage are pretty blatantly sexist in several parts as well, but overall it’s just a book of common sense advice and decent examples to back it up. I enjoyed reading historical examples of some of the principles, but overall found it to be lacking in terms of new ideas about how to interact with other.

I can also note with a bit of humor that at least two of the three people who recommended the book are fairly lousy followers of its principles, which is really interesting. ;)

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Want to be able to use Blip.fm on the go from your iPhone? I’ve previously been really bummed not to have any way to Blip when I’m not sitting at my laptop listening to music (that’s why I’ve hardly used it for long periods of time), and the In the Mood iPhone app has an option to let you Blip on the go. :)

Yeah, I know… weird app name, but I’ve tested it out for the past few weeks and it does the job! I feel like I actually use Blip.fm now when I want to share a favorite song, since I no longer have to be sitting in front of my MacBook to give good tunes a shout-out.

Just a random app shout-out. What cool apps are you checking out lately? I’m always fishing for something new to eat up my brain power. :)

I recently did some catching up on my comic book reading with several trades. Three are series that I’m reading on an ongoing basis, and the fourth is a one-time publication that I REALLY liked quite a bit. Here are the reviews:

Fables: The Good Prince by Bill Willingham


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another favorite comic series that keeps things interesting. As the war approaches, Flycatcher’s story really made this volume a special addition to the series.

These issues clarify some of the big picture conflict, give depth to a few characters, and while I didn’t like the artwork for issue #64 I still appreciate that the series experiments with the artistic aspect (and this series consistently has phenomenal covers).

Looking forward to what comes next!

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Haunt Volume 1 by Robert Kirkman


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m still undecided when it comes to this series. I think the idea is really interesting, but I’m not quite sold on how it’s being done. I believe this is a limited series, so I’m not sure how long this storyline will last, and I think it’s definitely a concept that won’t last long term (at least not the way it’s been handled).

I love Robert Kirkman, so I plan to keep reading, but this isn’t my favorite of his work by a long shot. Cool idea, but he’s definitely done better with Walking Dead and Invincible.

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Fear the Hunters by Robert Kirkman


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, this series took it to a new level with this volume, which included the 5-issue “Hunters” arch. Robert Kirkman is always finding ways to keep this story fresh and thought-provoking. It remains an all-time fave in the comic realm, and I can’t wait to see where this band of survivors heads next.

(By the way, if you read comics and you haven’t yet read The Walking Dead, you are completely daft. It one of the best series out there, hands down, regardless of what comic book genre you enjoy.)

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Forty-Five by Andi Ewington


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is fantastic stand-alone trade that really thinks outside of the box. The “interviews” are fantastic, the artwork is superb and the entire concept is really well done, well thought-out, and the fact that the interviews are held together by a common storyline makes the entire collection come together in a really cool way. I read an article about this trade well before it came out and had eagerly awaited it’s release, and I have to say that the wait was definitely worth it. Seeing superheroes as fallible human beings with gifts that don’t magically make those fallible humans into perfect people is a great concept, and while it’s certainly been done before, it hasn’t been done in this way. A really great read.

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The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I finally finished it.

It took me a while to get through this one, but I’m glad that I finished it. There’s just something about Margaret Atwood’s writing style that fascinates me, both as a writer and a reader.

This is a really interesting take on where we could be headed if we continue to use the planet as an endless renewable resource… when it isn’t. Really interesting take on genetic engineering, ozone layer depletion, and even future drug addiction. It also warns of fanatical behavior on the other end of the spectrum, with environmental extremism.

Many of Atwood’s books have taken me a long time to get through, which isn’t typical for me, but it’s always worth the thought provoked through the reading. This one has an interesting tie to Oryx and Crake that makes me wish I’d read them in closer proximity to each other, because I felt there were probably several connections and shared characters that I missed. I may dust off Oryx and Crake to find some of them. :)

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Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow, am I ever glad that I read this on my Kindle instead of purchasing the hard copy with that AWFUL freaking cover! Holy crap is it over the top BAD. Lol.

That aside, this book really wasn’t bad. I liked the sci-fi angle and the smutty bits were pretty fun with the added sci-fi elements involved (I’m a sucker for smutty sci-fi lately, don’t know what it is). The dialogue was a bit repetitive at times and it got a little overly mushy for me in the second half (okay, a LOT overly mushy for me in a lot of the second half), but it kept me hooked and I read it in a day.

I’ll probably be reading more from this series.

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