It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finish this week. It is hosted by Sheila from One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books so stop by and join in!
Books Completed Last Week
Another busy, hectic week here. Just when I thought I hadn’t finished a single book this week, I was reminded that I did finish two!
Publisher:It Books; Original edition (September 6, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0062103377
Source: Publisher
Fans of the Supernatural television series are very well familiar with Bobby Singer, the hunter that keeps Sam & Dean Winchester alive. He has the history, the knowledge of the evil creatures that he and the brothers hunt.
In Supernatural: Bobby Singer’s Guide to Hunting, Bobby is losing his memory. He’s not sure why, but obviously it terrifies him. He uses this guide as a means to keeping track of the vast knowledge he holds, passing on his legacy to the Winchester boys. He does this by flashing back to the instances in which he hunted, with each “creature” giving their weaknesses & strengths, the things that will kill them, the things that will not.
Reed does an outstanding job at capturing Bobby’s “essense.” Bobby’s overal demeanor, attitude is quite crass at times. He’s a “tell it as he sees it” kind of guy. Reed picks up on that and really takes off with it. I felt as though I was really reading a book written by Bobby (yes, I realize he’s a fictional character). He uses Bobby’s terminology (Ya Idjit!)
One of the things I really appreciated about this book was the history on Bobby’s wife. Fans of Supernatural know the history with her demise, but in this book, Bobby relives that experience, nothing held back, everything revealed. Additionally, we learn how Bobby met all the various other hunters throughout his career. It was really great to learn about their history, including that of Sam & Dean’s father. Also, further explanation is given on some of the items that frequently appear in the television series, including the Colt & Dean’s amulet.
Fans of Supernatural are sure to enjoy this book. It does make references to things that took place in the most current seasons, so it would probably be best to catch up on your Supernatural episodes before taking this book on. Additionally, I think the length of the book is perfect; not too long, not too short. Just enough to grab your attention without overwhelming with information. A perfect gift for any fan of the Supernatural series. Highly recommended!
In a dystopian 1930’s America, archivist Arthur Puskis discovers a duplicate file in the Vaults, a dark, desolate underground hall containing the city’s criminal justice records for the past seven decades. Puskis has devoted the last twenty-seven years of his life to the Vaults and he holds a sort of reverence for the power and honor the Vaults hold. To find a duplicate file throws him off base, the existence of this second file is impossible. The name on the file: DeGraffenreid, a man convicted of murder but apparently hasn’t served a day of jail time. What throws him off is the differences in pictures in the files. Which one of these men is DeGraffenreid? Obsessed with the perfection that is the Vaults, Puskis attempts to track down more information on DeGraffenreid’s case.
The reader meets Private Detective and socialist union leader Ethan Poole in the process of attempting to blackmail a prominent leader with incriminating photographs for the purpose of getting said leader to agree to the demands of the union. This first impression isn’t exactly the best, but the overall opinion of Poole changes when he accepts an assignment to track down the location of a desperate woman’s son.
Frank Frings is a journalist scrounging up sources and evidence of corruption in the office of Red Henry, the city’s mayor. Unknown to Frings & Poole, they are hitting up the same source. Frings, Poole, & Puskis are initially strangers, brought together by one case of deep corruption.
I’m unique in that I both read and listened to the audio production of The Vaults. In the print edition, there is a vibrancy in many of the characters that just isn’t quite carried over into the audio production. Agreeably, Puskis is a lone, almost hermit-like man, the majority of his time spent in the Vaults. The narrator, Michael Agostini, does a stellar job at portraying the voice of Puskis. Unfortunately, the tone he uses carries over to the other characters as well. Frings and Pool are completely unlike Puskis in personality. They are more animated, “alive” than he is. It’s a shame that these characteristics of these two men didn’t carry over into the audio book. Oftentimes, the pacing of the book lagged, mainly because the lack of expression in the narrator’s voice.
That said, I highly recommend The Vaults itself, in print format. It covers a wide range of subject matter, including political corruption, and is reminiscent of classical novels dealing with class struggle. I look forward to reading more of Toby Ball’s work, he has quite a bit of potential in him!
November 22, 1963 is a day that forever changed our country, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. If you could go back and time & change this monumental day in our history? Jake Epping was provided this very opportunity, to step through a portal to the past, with the promise that he would stop JFK’s assassination. Each time he steps through the portal, he’s only missing from the current world for a matter of minutes. He could spend years in the past, but will return to the present the same day he left.
Before he decides to test the power of the portal by altering the events that took place on 11/22/63, he attempts to change the past of individuals who have made an impact on his life. He does so and learns that while he may have altered the past, the future that subsequently transpires isn’t necessarily a better outcome than the original. Fate and destiny play a key role in this epic novel.
I think I’ve made my fondness of Stephen King’s writing well-known. I admit, when I learned about the premise of this book I was a bit nervous. King, the master of classic horror, taking on time-travel and the Kennedy assassination? I can’t believe I ever doubted the man.
Fans of King’s previous works will appreciate the “Easter eggs” that appear in this novel. A good portion takes place in the town of Derry, Maine. Fans will recognize this as the setting of a number of King’s novels. Those new to King’s work won’t be confused by these “flashbacks” of sorts, however.
Additionally, 11/22/63 isn’t your typical horror, actually there isn’t a single element of horror in this book. There is a bit of violence (hello, Kennedy assassination) but nothing overtly gory at all. Most surprising were the emotions I wasn’t expecting to experience while reading this book: sadness, sympathy, and grief. The characters are rich in this novel; it’s nearly impossible to not form a connection with them.
A note on the book’s length: Yes, it is nearly 900 pages. But, with King’s other books, while there may be a few lulls here and there, I really can’t think of any part of the book I’d eliminate.
A note on the book’s cover: It’s gorgeous! The front depicts what transpired that fateful day in Dallas. The back shows the newspaper headline from the “altered” past.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading This Week? This is a weekly event to list the books completed last week, the books currently being read, and the books to be finish this week. It is hosted by Sheila from One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books so stop by and join in!
Books Completed Last Week
Despite hosting Thankfully Reading Weekend, I didn’t do a lot of reading. That said,t he books I did complete were pretty fantastic!
While I didn’t get nearly as much reading done as I would have liked, I did read two books: Supernatural: Bobby Singer’s Guide to Hunting by David Reed and 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I started reading a third book, The Inside Ring by Mike Lawson, but only got about 100 pages in.
I really hope everyone enjoyed Thankfully Reading Weekend! Be sure to take part in the following challenges!
You’ve made it! It’s day three of the Thankfully Reading Weekend! I hope you’ve enjoyed the event!
I’ll be spending the day in the car, driving back home from a visit to my parents’ house. Well, I should say my husband will be driving, I’ll be reading 🙂
Don’t forget to take part in the challenges! Have chance to win some pretty fun prizes! Here is a list of the challenges so far:
If you are hosting a Thankfully Reading Weekend challenge or giveaway on your own, be sure to send me the link so I can add it to the list!
Late this evening/early tomorrow I’ll be posting the wrap-up post. Feel free to continue reading as long as you like; there is no “end time” to this event.
Have fun & I hope you have another wonderful reading day!
Day two of Thankfully Reading Weekend is here! How did everyone fare yesterday? I admit; I didn’t get nearly as much reading done as I would have liked. I’m visiting family and we actually went out to brave Black Friday crowds. Not too early, we didn’t head out til the afternoon. Today we’re doing a little shopping then I hope to curl up with a book before more family arrives.
Keep reading, keep relaxing. Hopefully I’ll be joining you this afternoon!
Thanksgiving is all about being thankful for the things we have. So, for the first Thankfully Reading Weekend challenge, write a post about the book you are most thankful for. This could be a book released this year or twenty years ago. Your post should include why you are thankful for that book.
One random participant will win a book of their choice from the book prize list (scheduled to post later today). The only rule: you must sign up to participate in Thankfully Reading Weekend in order to participate!
It’s time!! Rather than facing the crowds & going shopping on this Black Friday, what are we doing? READING!!
This is the official kick off post for Thankfully Reading 2011. Feel free to link up your kick-off post to the Mr. Linky below, as well as any update posts you have.
If you don’t know what to post, here are some ideas. But remember there are no rules; you do not need to post during the weekend!
How did you celebrate Thanksgiving?
What’s in your TBR pile for the weekend?
How much time do you think you’ll have for reading?
What book are you starting out with?
Are you reading print, ebooks, or audio? Maybe a bit each?
What books did you discuss at Thanksgiving? Did you get any recommendations you can share?
If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, don’t worry, this is a weekend for everyone throughout the world.
Pictures and/or vlogs are a great thing to add to your kick-off posts!
Throughout the weekend, feel free to post about your progress or even get some reviews up. Be sure to come back and link up your posts. Then take a break and check out everyone else’s posts. We’re looking forward to seeing how everyone else is celebrating Thankfully Reading Weekend.
Oh and don’t forget that some of your fellow readers will be on Twitter. You can search for Thankfully Reading Weekend tweets and hook up with others by using the hashtag #thankfulreading.
On Sunday afternoon, we’ll post another Mr. Linky for your wrap-up post. Tell us how your Thankfully Reading Weekend went. You could give mini-reviews of your books, tell us how many books and which books you read, number of pages, number of hours, and so on. This is a rule-free, contest-free event, so you can wrap up the weekend however you’d like.
Check back later today for information about the mini-challenges taking place over the course of the weekend!
With that said, let’s get reading!!
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