A quick update.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  I had my last surgery and then after recovering for a bit I went camping for a week with the family.  Immediately after that, I got home and had one day to prepare for my next surgery.  I am now in recovery for it.  I am working on getting a laptop because sitting at the desktop is really painful, thus the reason for my lack of posts and this only being a short post.  Hopefully I will have new reviews up within the next week!

Review of The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Pötzsch

Series: The Hangman's Daughter
Author:  Oliver Pötzsch
Book in a series: 1
Pages:  448

Goodreads Excerpt:
Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play. So begins The Hangman's Daughter--the chillingly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller from German television screenwriter, Oliver Pötzsch--a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan.

Review:
I first heard about this series when I was grocery shopping a year or two ago.  I was walking through the book aisle of the grocery store as I often do and I came upon a book called The Beggar King.  The cover really caught my eye and upon reading the excerpt on the back, I decided I needed to pick it up and read it right away.  When I got home, I looked it up on Goodreads where, to my GREAT disappointment, I learned that it was actually the third book in a series.  Ugh!  Why can't all books just have that information on the cover?  All of them.  Always.

A month or two ago, I finally remembered to look for the first two books when I was at my local library.  Fortunately they had them so, of course, I grabbed them right up.  I have to say that The Hangman's Daughter wasn't really what I was expecting when I started it.  I wasn't expecting much because I didn't know much.  That isn't to say that I disliked it, though.  I thought I would get right into the book, but it seemed to take me a while to get to the point of being able to say I really enjoyed reading it.  The thing is, the title is a bit misleading, I think.  It is called The Hangman's Daughter, but I think the plot followed the hangman himself and the town physician more than the daughter.  She played a large role, but I wouldn't call her the main character.  Other than that, I really liked it.

I enjoyed the characters.  The plot was rich with mystery and fast-paced elements.  Once I got used to what the story was about and where it was going, I really enjoyed the book as a whole.  I was able to get a great sense of the time period it was written about (the 1600s) and nothing felt out of place or in the wrong time period as I sometimes experience with historical fiction.  I think if you enjoy historical fiction and mystery you will love this series.

Rating:  5 of 5.

Warning!  Spoilers:



There isn't really a lot that I want to say that may spoil anything.  The only thing is that since starting the second book, I don't find it to be much of a series.  Not in the traditional sense, anyway.  The second one still has pretty much the same characters.  It is set in the same town and takes place about a year after the first book ends.  I think that is where the series similarities end, though.  The first book concludes and doesn't need to continue on as a series.  The second book has nothing to do with the first, other than the same people, and can also be considered to be it's own book.  It kind of reminds me of a soap opera.  All of these crazy things keep happening to this one group of people.  Each book dealing with a different adventure than the last.  It doesn't make the series bad in any way, though.  I really liked the first book and I'm nearly halfway done with the second.  I am loving it so far.  It's just odd the way the author set up each adventure.  Maybe it's just me, never having read a series of books like this before.  Anyway, I definitely recommend giving the series a try and reading the first book!

Have you read The Hangman's Daughter?  What did you think?

Review of Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman

Series: Maus: A Survivor's Tale
Author:  Art Spiegelman
Book in a series: 1 and 2
Name of book:  My Father Bleeds History (I); And Here My Troubles Began (II)
Pages: 160 (I); 136 (II)
Goodreads Excerpt:
(I) A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's story and history itself.

(II) Acclaimed as a quiet triumph and a brutally moving work of art, the first volume of Art Spieglman's Maus introduced readers to Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist trying to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiararity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive.

This second volume, subtitled And Here My Troubles Began, moves us from the barracks of Auschwitz to the bungalows of the Catskills. Genuinely tragic and comic by turns, it attains a complexity of theme and a precision of thought new to comics and rare in any medium. Maus ties together two powerful stories: Vladek's harrowing tale of survival against all odds, delineating the paradox of daily life in the death camps, and the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. At every level this is the ultimate survivor's tale - and that too of the children who somehow survive even the survivors.

Review:
Maus: A Survivor's Tale is a two part graphic novel series.  In the first, the author describes his father's life leading up to his father and mother being imprisoned in Auschwitz, the German Nazi concentration camp.  In the second, we see life inside of the camp as well as his parent's release.  They also deal with the author's strained relationship with his father.  I don't normally pick up graphic novels.  They remind me of anime, which I generally dislike (and that's a bad reason!), but this one seemed intriguing.  I love to read about the concentration camps, Nazi Germany, and WWII.  I have kept it kind of at the back of my mind for a while now and finally decided to pick it up on my trip to the library this past month.  Thankfully they had both so I could read them back to back.


Overall, I liked these books.  I found the perspective of Vladek Spiegelman to be tough and gritty to read at times because he had experienced these things first hand.  I found it to be easier to visualize, as a reader, more of what he was saying rather than it feeling as though you are just looking in on the situation.  I don't just mean because there were pictures, but being able to visualize better because of his perspective itself.  The first graphic novel centered more around life right before they were imprisoned, which I liked because I have read so many books that focus more on life within the walls of the camps, which is so scary by itself.  However, this one focused on how scary life was for Jews before they even got to that point.  The hiding, the food rationing, the families being split up, knowing that there were actually people out to get you.  The second dealt with Art's mother and father being imprisoned separately.  He described the horrible conditions within the camp and how hard it was for them to keep track of each other.  In short, they are lucky to have made it out of there.  It makes my heart heavy to think about it.


I was less interested in the strained relationship the author had with his father.  I can see how it played into the story, in that the author couldn't really relate to his father (or any of his family that went through the holocaust) because he had been lucky enough to be born after the fact.  I know that was an important part of the story for him and I know why it was included.  In all honesty, though, I just found the author to be a prick.  His father lived through the HOLOCAUST, and he acted like that towards him?  Ugh.

On the other hand, I LOVE how the author depicted the Jews and the Nazis.  The Jews were drawn as mice and the Nazis as cats.  I thought the cat and mouse analogy fit perfectly with the theme and content of these books.  The Nazis, or cats, could easily destroy the Jews, or mice but the mice, being small and less noticeable, can also outwit the cats.

Rating:  5 of 5.

Warning!  Spoilers:
I don't know what it is about me reading books where I just can't stand one of the main characters.  Art Spiegelman, that is your FATHER.  Yes, he seemed to be a very hard person to get along with, but you didn't want to deal with his annoying behaviors, and you can't relate to him, and you think someone else should do it?  Well let me say this.  WHO CARES?  Everyone has annoying parents.  Yours just had an accent to go with it.  Deal.  Who cares if being in the Holocaust (!!!) affected your father differently than anyone else you know who went through it?  What does that matter?  You should have helped him more and been more supportive, regardless.  Jesus.  If the interactions you put into these books between you and your father actually happened, then shame on you for being a complete brat.

I could rant all day.  What did you think of Maus: A Survivor's Tale I and II? 

Review of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Series: None
Author:  Sylvia Plath
Book in a series: Stand-alone
Pages: 273
Goodreads Excerpt:
Sylvia Plath's shocking, realistic, and intensely emotional novel about a woman falling into the grip of insanity

Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic.

Review:
This is my second time reading The Bell Jar and I have to say, for some reason I liked it less this time.  It has been a while since I read it for the first time and I remembered some things differently which was kind of annoying.  That is entirely my fault, though.


What we get to witness from then on is Esther's downward spiral.  Her struggles with finding a place to fit in really resonated with me.  I think they would with most people because everyone goes through a period of trying to find their place in society and in life.  I didn't like how serious her condition seemed to be, what with being in an asylum and having shock treatments, when it really wasn't THAT bad.  That is probably just the different time periods in play, though, as I know things were much different back then.  Things they considered to be a huge deal aren't considered to be such now.

She didn't the last time I read it, but Esther got on my nerves a little bit this time.  I don't know what it was about her, but I felt like she saw everyone else as beneath her.  She didn't fit in with them so they didn't matter.  She didn't even seem to like the girls she made friends with very much.  I felt like she was a bit stuck up and that maybe part of her problem was that she needed to pull her head out of her butt.

I can see why this book is a popular classic because who doesn't relate in some way, honestly?  I just think it is one of those books that, almost being 27 myself, I have pretty much grown out of.  I have grown out of the mindset that you need to really see it as fantastic.  It is a bummer, though, because I enjoyed it a lot before I decided to re-read it.

Rating:  4 of 5.

Warning!  Spoilers:

What is with Esther having nearly zero friends during the entire book?  Even people she WAS friends with didn't seem to be very close to her.  The closest I saw was Buddy Willard, and she got to the point where she couldn't stand him.  I think it's just society's standards being different now, but I definitely think her being so put off by Buddy's sexual experience makes her a prude.  I hate the ideas people had back then.  I don't think it's a bad thing to save yourself for someone if that is what you choose to do, and it's not even bad to want someone who also has their virginity.  But it isn't okay to think that others should choose the same way you may and if they don't, to look down upon them for it.  That's just my two cents.  Take it how you will.

Has anyone else read The Bell Jar?  What did you think of it?

Review of Simpsons Library of Wisdom: Flanders, Moe, and Ralph

Series: Simpsons Library of Wisdom
Author:  Matt Groening
Book in a series: Flanders, Moe, and Ralph
Pages: 96 each.
Goodreads Excerpt:
Flanders - Hi-diddly-ho, true believers! Ned Flanders offers up a helping handful of homespun and home-schooled hints for G-rated general audiences. Follow the Nedster as he leads you through the thorny debate over church vs. state, puts the focus on the Flander's family tree, and lists his forbidden words (a.k.a. Neddy No-Nos). This gospel of goodness also includes a souvenir map to Praiseland, Ned's Comic Book of Virtues, and a sampling of the left-handed luxuries available only at The Leftorium. Whether you live north, south, east, or even west of the Bible belt, good ol' Nedily Doodily will put you on the road to righteousness!

Moe - Moe Szyslak, pug-ugly purveyor at the local waterin' hole, has done it all — from takin' his licks in the boxing ring to performin' backroom surgery. Get to know the man behind the apron strings, the misunderstood mixologist with the gold-plated heart, as he dispenses advice to drunks like it was Duff on draft, recommends some of his signature (and watered down) drinks like the Moe-jito, tries out a pick-up line or two, dreams of actually getting a date, dishes a little on his acting career, and counts his blessings (like babysittin' Maggie Simpson) that make life worth livin' for at least one more day.

Ralph - There's more to Ralph than meets the eye. He might be that kid you feel like pointing towards and laughing at, but Ralph Wiggum has a 'special' way of disarming you with his completely off–kilter statements that always have the ring of truth about them. See the world through Ralph–coloured glasses as he muses on household pets, poetry, constellations, homemade gifts, hiding spots, sports, school, right and wrong, crime and punishment, love, leprechauns, wookies, wiggle puppies and a lot more non–booger and paste–related subjects. 

Review:
I didn't even know these books existed.  My niece picked them up when she went to the library and wanted me to read them after she was done.  I love the Simpsons, so that was fine by me!  These books are filled with little facts and tidbits about each character done in a strange, sometimes not-so-flowy style.  There is a Top 40 list at the beginning of each and a Bottom 40 list at the end, where the characters favorite and least favorite things are mentioned.  I don't usually go into these kind of books with very high hopes, and I was right not to this time either.  I really enjoy reading all of the things about each character compiled into one book.  However, I also felt like most, if not all, of the information in the books are things you would have seen on the show.  It makes me think, well if you don't watch the show, what are you doing reading the books?!  Similarly, if you DO watch the show, there's no need to read the books.  They were fun to read through, but I probably wouldn't pick them up again.  I may read books from other characters, but again, probably not more than once.

Rating: 5 of 5.

Warning!  Spoilers:
None really.  Other than my favorite thing to read out of all of them was in the book about Ralph.  Ralph's Wisdom: "When I am sick, my tummy makes floor soup!"

Haha.  Gross.


Tell me what YOU thought about the Simpsons Library of Wisdom books!

Library Book Haul

I went to the library the other day and checked out a lot of graphic novels and a few books.  I thought I would share what I got with you because WOO BOOK HAULS! and it will give you an idea of some of the things I may be reviewing soon.  I apologize that some of these editions are not the same ones I have, but for some reason they don't all show up on Goodreads.  So anyway, here we go!

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This is actually a reread for me.  I read it years ago and really liked it, but I'm in the situation where I don't remember a whole lot about what happens.  I saw it on the shelf and decided to pick it up and give it another go.

Goodreads Summary (link): Sylvia Plath's shocking, realistic, and intensely emotional novel about a woman falling into the grip of insanity.

Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic.

The Hangman's Daughter: The Hangman's Daughter Book I by Oliver Potzsch

The Dark Monk: The Hangman's Daughter Book II by Oliver Potzsch

I was walking through the grocery store book section one day and I came across the third book in this series called The Beggar King and fell in love with the cover immediately.  I didn't realize at first that it was the third in a series, so when I picked it up and brought it home I was very disappointed that I would have to wait to read it.  I finally looked for the first two at the library and hope the series is as good as I think it will be.  Tell me if you have read this one and what you thought.

Goodreads Summary (link #1) (link #2):  #1 - Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play. So begins The Hangman's Daughter--the chillingly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller from German television screenwriter, Oliver Pötzsch--a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan.

#2 -  1660: Winter has settled thick over a sleepy village in the Bavarian Alps, ensuring every farmer and servant is indoors the night a parish priest discovers he's been poisoned. As numbness creeps up his body, he summons the last of his strength to scratch a cryptic sign in the frost.

Following a trail of riddles, hangman Jakob Kuisl; his headstrong daughter Magdalena; and the town physician’s son team up with the priest’s aristocratic sister to investigate. What they uncover will lead them back to the Crusades, unlocking a troubled history of internal church politics and sending them on a chase for a treasure of the Knights Templar.

But they’re not the only ones after the legendary fortune. A team of dangerous and mysterious monks is always close behind, tracking their every move, speaking Latin in the shadows, giving off a strange, intoxicating scent. And to throw the hangman off their trail, they have ensured he is tasked with capturing a band of thieves roving the countryside attacking solitary travelers and spreading panic.

Delivering on the promise of the international bestseller The Hangman’s Daughter, once again based on prodigious historical research into Pötzsch’s  family tree, The Dark Monk takes us on a whirlwind tour through the occult hiding places of Bavaria’s ancient monasteries, bringing to life an unforgettable compassionate hangman and his tenacious daughter, painting a robust tableau of a seventeenth-century Bavaria still negotiating the lasting impacts of war, and quickening our pulses with a gripping, mesmerizing mystery.

Maus Vol. I by Art Spiegelman

Maus Vol. II by Art Spiegelman

I have to admit that I am not much of a graphic novel reader, but there are a select few that I have seen that seem really interesting so I am willing to pick them up.  Maus Vol. I and II are two such graphic novels.  I have always been interested in World War II and everything about these books interests me.  I love that the Jews are depicted as mice and the Nazis are depicted as cats while other races are depicted as other animals.  I think it gives a nice depth and explanation to the story that wouldn't be there otherwise.  What is harder to understand than the concept of the cat and mouse dynamic?  Another thing that interests me is the fact that it is the true story from the arist and author's father.  The fact that all of this crazy stuff actually happened catches my attention outright.  Not in that I find it amazing or anything.  The horror is what gets me, for some reason.

Goodreads Summary (link #1) (link #2): #1 - A story of a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe and his son, a cartoonist who tries to come to terms with his father's story and history itself.

#2 - Acclaimed as a quiet triumph and a brutally moving work of art, the first volume of Art Spieglman's Maus introduced readers to Vladek Spiegleman, a Jewish survivor of Hitler's Europe, and his son, a cartoonist trying to come to terms with his father, his father's terrifying story, and History itself. Its form, the cartoon (the Nazis are cats, the Jews mice), succeeds perfectly in shocking us out of any lingering sense of familiararity with the events described, approaching, as it does, the unspeakable through the diminutive.

This second volume, subtitled And Here My Troubles Began, moves us from the barracks of Auschwitz to the bungalows of the Catskills. Genuinely tragic and comic by turns, it attains a complexity of theme and a precision of thought new to comics and rare in any medium. Maus ties together two powerful stories: Vladek's harrowing tale of survival against all odds, delineating the paradox of daily life in the death camps, and the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father. At every level this is the ultimate survivor's tale - and that too of the children who somehow survive even the survivors.

Locke & Key Vol. I by Joe Hill

Locke & Key Vol. II by Joe Hill

Locke & Key Vol. III by Joe Hill

Locke & Key Vol. IV by Joe Hill

Locke & Key Vol. V by Joe Hill

 I have to admit that I don't know much about these books.  I know that the covers drew me in mostly.  I have heard about it through others talking about them, but I didn't pay them much attention until I saw them at the library and picked them up.  Now I am really excited to delve into them.

Goodreads Summary (link #1) (link #2) (link #3) (link #4) (link #5): #1 - Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them. Home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all... 

#2 - Following a shocking death that dredges up memories of their father's murder, Kinsey and Tyler Locke are thrown into choppy emotional waters, and turn to their new friend, Zack Wells, for support, little suspecting Zack's dark secret. Meanwhile, six-year-old Bode Locke tries to puzzle out the secret of the head key, and Uncle Duncan is jarred into the past by a disturbingly familiar face. Open your mind - the head games are just getting started.

#3 - The dead plot against the living, the darkness closes in on Keyhouse, and a woman is shattered beyond repair, in the third storyline of the Eisner-nominated series, Locke & Key! Dodge continues his relentless quest to find the key to the black door, and raises an army of shadows to wipe out anyone who might get in his way. Surrounded and outnumbered, the Locke children find themselves fighting a desperate battle, all alone, in a world where the night itself has become their enemy.

#4 - Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez's Locke & Key unwinds into its fourth volume in Keys to the Kingdom. With more keys making themselves known, and the depths of the Locke family's mystery ever-expanding, Dodge's desperation to end his shadowy quest drives the inhabitants of Keyhouse ever closer to a revealing conclusion. 

#5 - Colonel Adam Crais's minutemen are literally trapped between a rock and a hard place; in the first days of the Revolutionary War, they find themselves hiding beneath 120 feet of New England stone, with a full regiment of redcoats waiting for them in the daylight... and a door into hell in the cavern below. The black door is open, and it's up to a 16-year-old smith named Ben Locke to find a way to close it. The biggest mysteries of the Locke & Key series are resolved as Clockworks opens, not with a bang, but with the thunderous crash of English cannons.

Review of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Series: None
Author:  John Green
Book in a series: Stand-alone
Pages: 313
Goodreads Excerpt:
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Review:
I have taken a few days to let the second read-through of this book sink in because of the crazy array of emotion I have felt from it.  First of all, I love this book!  It has quickly become a mainstay on my favorites shelf.  I can't say that I loved every single aspect, as I didn't, but as a whole I would recommend it to anyone.  I read it the first time when it first came out in 2012 and since then, I have recommended it to everyone that I thought would give it any kind of chance, and some I thought wouldn't!  My emotions when reading The Fault in Our Stars were all over the place.  In December I was diagnosed with kidney cancer as a result of having Von Hippel-Lindau disease, and when I read through it again a few days ago I couldn't believe how much more emotion I felt than when I read it the first time.  Well, I guess I COULD believe it.  But with the main theme of the book being people who have cancer, I was able to relate in ways that I never even thought of.  I am not terminal like Hazel is in the story, but the whole thing is so scary nonetheless and I think John Green portrayed that beautifully.  Also, the humor style of the characters made me feel like I was there at some points because it reminded me so much of my own humor.  All in all, I think it is a great book and those I have recommended it to have agreed.  Read it!

Rating: 5 of 5.

Warning!  Spoilers:
The Amsterdam trip didn't wow me.  I mean, I know Peter Van Houten turned out to be a total douchebag, but that wasn't even the reason I wasn't thrilled with it.  In all honesty, if you held me up at gunpoint and told me to give you a specific reason why, I couldn't.  I enjoyed their Amsterdam dinner and the fact that they got, uh, close?  But I don't think it had the effect John Green was going for when he sent Hazel, Gus, and Hazel's mom there.  Oh well.  It scares the crap out of me to know that Gus is the one that didn't make it.  I know Hazel doesn't in the long run, but Gus is the one John Green killed off in the book itself.  His cancer wasn't supposed to be terminal.  It scares me because mine isn't supposed to be terminal either.  Gah.  Such emotion!

Tell me what YOU thought of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green!

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I will be soon and I will definitely be doing a review of it with a comparison to the book.  Keep an eye out for that!