You know what they say

You can never judge a book by it's cover...


...but I'll never read this.

Sherlock

Not a book review here, since I'm still knee deep in three books (and going nowhere fast). Last night, when I wasn't reading (again) I jumped on Netflix and watched some new shows. One of them was Sherlock, BBC's modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.


Martin Freeman, who is always awesome, plays John Watson...and while he's not quite as handsome as Jude Law, he's just as like-able as the good doctor. And once you get over the fact Benedict Cumberbatch has no eyebrows, he's pretty darn good too.

I don't want to compare it too much to the recent Sherlock Holmes movies, it's quite different because it's set in modern day Britain with modern day crimes. And Cumberbatch's Holmes is more like the book Holmes in that he is incredible perceptive (and annoying).

If you have Netflix, check it out. It's available for instant streaming and one episode is all you'll need to be hooked!

Book Blurb: A Game of Thrones

Title: A Game of Thrones


Author: George R. R. Martin


Genre: Fantasy


Synopsis: Fantasy at its finest. Any short synopsis will not do it justice.


Stars: 5/5


Lauren's Review: This book was everything I wanted it to be, and then some. I cannot get it out of my head. If you are a fantasy buff, this is an absolute MUST READ! If you're on the edge about fantasy ("I liked Harry Potter, but I'm not a total nerd") this book is STILL a must read! It combines the bests of all my favorite books, like King Arthur, LOTR, and Pillars of the Earth, into one awesome, epic tale.

The thing about this book that is the most amazing is the scope and detail. It's so intertwined and complex, and yet still totally enthralling. Description and dialogue are perfectly combined, and cliffhangers are randomly thrown in to make this 800 some page book a total page-turner.

Another beautiful thing is that it's not completely black and white. Fantasy has a tendency to have 'bad guys' and 'good guys,' and while this book isn't totally innocent of that, it has enough gray area that you feel connected to all the characters (at least the main ones).

I cannot recommend this book enough, please please please read it! Just be warned that you will be completely sucked in and may not have a social life until you finish it...and perhaps the 4 sequels.

Side Note: If you're not aware, this book has also been made into an HBO mini-series. I haven't seen it yet, but I hear fabulous things. I plan on checking it out soon!

Book Blurb: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Title: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan


Author: Lisa See


Genre: Historical Fiction


Synopsis: Two young girls are matched to be laotong, life long friends. But as they grow up they must deal with the realities of life in 19th Century China and their friendship struggles.


Stars: 3/5


Lauren's Review: I wanted to like this book much more than I did, but the problem was I had read The Good Earth by Pearl Buck not that long ago. After reading Buck's account of China, anything else just feels kinda fake. Also she used a few expressions that just jumped out at me as out of context, for example at one point the narrator is climbing a mountain and says that she was "beyond tired." This book is definitely an interesting read and study in female friendship, but if you're looking for a more realistic picture of rural life in China before the cultural revolution, go for The Good Earth.

There is a movie version out in select theaters now, I have yet to see it but I enjoyed the book enough I probably will.

Book Blurb: The Mermaid Chair

Title: The Mermaid Chair


Author: Sue Monk Kidd (who also wrote The Secret Life of Bees)


Genre: Romantic Fiction


Synopsis: A married middle aged woman goes home to take care of her depressed mother and has a mid-life crisis.


Stars: 0/5


Lauren's Review: Do not read this book. It sucks.

Why does it suck? Because the plot is boring and the main character is selfish. I understand that women are complex, emotional beings. But I also understand that when you have a nice husband who works full time so that you can pretend to be an artist in your cushy Victorian mansion, you really don't have that much to whine about. But Jessie whines and whines for a full novel. All the while ignoring the fact that her mother is DANGEROUSLY depressed and hurting herself. She is a terrible person. And I don't enjoy books about terrible people, unless they're interesting. And this one isn't.

That's why it sucks.

I hear The Secret Life of Bees is good, but I doubt I'll ever read it.

Book Blurb: The Girl in a Swing

Title: The Girl in a Swing


Author: Richard Adams (of Watership Down fame)


Genre: Horror? Romance? I dunno.


Synopsis: A man meets a woman while on a business trip and falls head over heels for her. They get married after knowing each other only two weeks and live happily ever after...until strange things begin to happen.


Stars: 3/5


Lauren's Review: I decided to read this book because someone I know listed it among their favorites. I picked up a used copy that had the same cover as above...which is why I need to tell everyone that this book is NOT a "beautiful, haunting, erotic love story and absolutely terrifying ghost story."

First things first, this book IS well written. Wonderful prose, and of course I loved that it was set in the English country side (I'd even been to a few sites mentioned!). That being said...

It is NOT a beautiful love story! It's like Romeo and Juliet (not the ending), these people have known each other TWO WEEKS! I just can't cheer on their decision to be married! And as for erotic...call me pervy, but in this Nora-Roberts-Danielle-Steel age, this book fell far short of erotic.

Which brings me to the most disappointing part...the horror aspect. This book just didn't scare me. Richard Adams is not a ghost story writer. At one point I was telling John what happened and he said "that sounds scary to me!" and I thought "yes, this should be scary...but it's just not."

It's a good book and worth the read, but that quote on the cover just left me expecting so much more than it offered. The irony is that this book is very similar to Rebecca, one of my all time favorite books. Two strangers meet, soon get married, weird stuff happens, scary ending. But with Rebecca I had no expectations so I really enjoyed it. With this book I expected so much, and it just fell flat. I blame the cover.

So...I guess you should never judge a book by it's cover? And don't read this book when you want a horror story.

Oops!

I've been MIA on the blogosphere for a loooong time, so I won't bother to review all the books I read while I was gone. Instead I'm just gonna list them here with how many "stars" I give them. I follow the Goodreads star system, which is:

1 star - I didn't like it
2 stars - it was ok
3 stars - I liked it
4 stars - I really liked it
5 stars - it was AMAZING!

So that in mind, here's what I've read:

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness - 3 stars

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - 3 stars

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton - 5 stars

The Other Daughter by Lisa Gardner - 2 stars

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier - 4 stars

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins - 5 stars

World War Z by Max Brookes - 5 stars

City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin - 2 stars

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - 4 stars

Cocktails for Three by Madeline Wickham - 3 stars

Switched by Amanda Hocking - 1 star

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray - 2 stars

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - 5 stars

One Day by David Nicholls - 5 stars

Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskill - 4 stars (would be 5 stars, but there's no ending!)

Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet - 2 stars

The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart - 3 stars

The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy - 4 stars

Something Blue by Emily Giffin - 4 stars

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb - 5 stars

City of the Sun by David Levien - 2 stars

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - 4 stars

If you want to know anymore about any of the books, let me know and I'll do a full review of it. If not, I'll just pick up from here!