CommanderStrikeher’s #CBR4 Review #44: The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon’s Court by Michelle Moran

*Audiobook Review*

 Ahh, Historical Fiction.  The genre with which I have the strongest love/hate relationship.  Difficult to do properly, and incredibly easy to dissolve into a bodice-ripping romance novel.  However, the ones that are good tend to be worth the effort of seeking them out.

 This book has three narrators and each chapter alternates between the three: Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife,  Pauline Borghese, Napoleon’s Sister, and Paul, Pauline’s half-black Haitian servant.

Napoleon was a total dick.  He was completely obsessed with being seen as the rightful Emperor of France, so for his second marriage, he demanded the hand of the nineteen-year-old Austrian Archduchess, Marie-Louise.  He figured that a princess of the incredibly prolific Hapsburg line would give him the son and heir that his first wife, Josephine, could not.  Of course, she is already in love with someone else, so there can be the obligatory “tortured lovers” angle.

Pauline is nuts.  She is completely obsessed with Egypt, and wants to marry her brother, Napoleon, just like the Pharaohs did.  She hated Josephine, because she was jealous of her, and she hates Marie-Louise, because she could possibly give Napoleon a son.  She has had dozens of lovers, and uses old ladies as footstools.

 Paul is boring.  His chapters contribute little to the story, other than to show what crazy crap Pauline was up to.  I really didn’t care about anything that happened to him.

 This novel was OK.  Not something I would really recommend, but it kept me entertained while driving to work and doing the dishes.  Michelle Moran’s Madame Tussaud was a much better novel.

2/5 Stars.

CommanderStrikeher’s #CBR4 Review #43: 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill

I read this short-story collection around Halloween, in order to get into the spirit of the holiday.  I’m really just not the biggest fan of the short story. I like to get into a long novel and watch character development.  Most of these were horror stories, but a few definitely weren’t.

My favorite stories were:

Pop Art – A boy makes friends with a balloon boy.  It sounds weird, but it’s actually very touching.

The Black Phone – A boy is kidnapped by a serial killer and locked in a basement that has a mysterious black phone.  Even though it is disconnected, it sometimes rings.

The Cape – Takes the idea of a little boy playing superhero with his favorite blanket and gives it a sinister twist.

Voluntary Committal – The longest of the stories, it was very original and unsettling.

All in all these stories were good.  I think that I just prefer to read one story a day so I have time to digest it, rather than reading several of them back-to-back.

4/5 Stars

CommanderStrikeher’s #CBR4 Review #42: Redshirts by John Scalzi

*Audiobook Review*

Yet another great recommendation from anther Cannonballer.  This book was right up my alley.  I am a huge Star Trek nerd, mostly Next Generation.  This is a loving spoof in the vein of Galaxy Quest.  I laughed my ass off when I read the title of this book.

I listened to this book about 2 months ago, so I’m a little fuzzy on the details.  A bunch of brand-new ensigns have just been assigned to the USS Intrepid, the flagship of the Universal Union.  The reason for all of the new crew members is that low-ranking ensigns tend to die on away missions.  Like a lot.  More than all of the other ships in the fleet combined.  Understandably, this makes the crew a little nervous.

This is a great meta analysis of not only Star Trek, but entertainment in general.  Why do we need so many secondary characters to die in order for a scene to have the proper dramatic impact?  I loved this book, and I am recommending it to nerds everywhere.

5/5 Stars

Commander Strikeher’s #CBR4 Review #41: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

 *Audiobook Review*

Holy shitsnacks was this book crazy!  I was hardcore addicted to this book.  I haven’t been sucked into a mystery in quite a while, and it was awesome.  This is definitely a book where you need to know as little about it as possible to really enjoy it.  I kept screaming at acquaintances to read this book so I would have somebody to discuss it with.  This book is dark and deeply disturbing.

Nick and Amy Dunne move to a small town in Missouri after both losing their writing jobs in New York.  On their fifth wedding anniversary, Amy disappears.  There are signs of a struggle, and the mounting evidence points to Nick.  The chapters in the book alternate between Nick’s perspective starting the day of Amy’s disappearance, and Amy’s diary.  I really can’t discuss any more without giving away major plot twists, but this book is crack.  It’s addicting, and dark, and it makes you a little crazy.

4/5 Stars

Commander Strikeher’s #CBR Review #40: Super Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

 *Audiobook Review*

I listened to this book so long ago that I don’t really remember much of it.  If you loved Freakonomics, then you will love Super Freakonomics.  Read this if you love the Freakonomics Podcast.  I love this kind of pop-sciencey stuff, especially in Audio form.  It is great to listen to while doing the dishes or folding the laundry.

Once again Levitt and Dubner use economics to ask intriguing questions.  How effective are car seats?  Is it more effective for a prostitute to have a pimp or not?  Is drunk walking really safer than drunk driving?  The authors manage to make economics interesting, and these books are highly entertaining.

3/5 Stars

CommanderStrikeher’s #CBR4 Review #39 The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

 

I didn’t know that this book existed until I saw a few reviews of it on the Cannonball Read blog.  Thanks again Cannonball!  This is the book Dumbledore leaves Hermione in the beginning of the book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  It is a collection of fairy tales, similar to the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson, except they were written for Wizard children.  There are 5 stories, and each one has an afterword written by Albus Dumbledore.  Each of the stories is designed to teach a lesson, so maybe these are more like Aesop’s Fables than the Brothers Grimm.

This was a cute collection.  J.K. Rowling did the interior illustrations herself, and this book was used to raise money for the charity she co-founded, The Children’s High Level Group.  This is a great addition to the Harry Potter universe.

4/5 Stars

CommanderStrikeher’s #CBR4 Reviews 32-38: The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

*Audiobook Review*

***This is my FOURTH attempt to write this review.  I have become paralyzed with fear that I cannot do justice to this amazing series.  Feel free to criticize, you can’t write anything worse than I have already thought.***

Since I am incredibly behind on my reviews, I’m doing one giant review of the series.  Shut up.  I need to spend more time reading and less time agonizing over reviews if I’m going to make it to 52 books.

I used to be obsessed with the Harry Potter books.  I read and re-read the first four books during that horrendous three-year wait between books four and five.  I was at midnight book parties for the last 3 books, and my first knitting project was an attempt at a Gryffindor scarf.  It was terrible, because I couldn’t knit very well and I was using cheap-o scratchy yarn.  I watched the movies, and I was relatively pleased with the first three.  Then they started turning 700+ page books into 2 1/2 hour movies, and the perfectionist in me reared her ugly head.  I was increasingly disappointed by what seemed to be glaring omissions in the films (S.P.E.W. anybody?).  I never even watched the last 3 films.

Lately I have had a Harry Potter renaissance.  I re-read all of the books, watched all eight of the movies, and even blasted my way through both Lego Harry Potter video games (which are the video game version of crack, by the way).  This was my fourth (maybe fifth?) re-read of some of these books, and even knowing what happens, they are as engrossing as ever.  I still get a little teary when certain characters are killed.  I still hate Delores Umbridge with the fire of a thousand suns.  The twelve-year-old me still identifies with Hermione Granger, and I still want a Hippogriff for a pet.

These books are credited with getting kids to learn that reading is fun. They are classics that will hopefully be read and re-read for generations.  Finishing the series is depressing, because I won’t be able to have any more adventures with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  If you haven’t read these books yet, there is nothing I can say to convince you.  Just don’t make the mistake most adults make in assuming that because these books are written for children that they are childish.  These books have some very adult themes, and some of them are downright dark.  Characters die.  Characters that you love.  Your favorite characters will die FOR NO DAMN GOOD REASON.

*Audio-specific portion of the review*

Jim Dale’s narration is nothing short of amazing.  When he reads Hagrid, you think that Hagrid is there reading his part.  His Professor McGonagall was amazing as well.  These are wonderful for a car trip, or just listening while you clean around the house.  Probably the best-read audiobooks I have ever listened to!

*Coda*

I forced my roommate to watch the movies since he had never seen Harry Potter anything before.  I previously tried to get him into fantasy with Game of Thrones, but he hated all of the characters. Here’s the exchange we had after watching Prisoner of Azkaban.

“Do you like Harry Potter better than Game of Thrones?”

“Game of Thrones is like Harry Potter, if everyone was in Slytherin.”

 

There is nothing I can write that can top that.

 

5/5 Stars

 

CommanderStrikeher’s #CBR4 Review #31 – Cinder by Marissa Meyer

*Audiobook Review*

OK, I read this book a couple of months ago, so I’m fuzzy on a lot of the details.  Basically, this is a steam-punk/futuristic retelling of Cinderella.  Cinder is a cyborg, living in New Beijing with her wicked step-mother and step-sisters.  Cyborgs are the lowest class of society.  Most people view them as no better than robots, which are treated as slaves.  However, Cinder is the best mechanic in the city, so she gets the freedom to work at the market.  There is a breakout of some kind of plague, and Cinder is volunteered by her evil bitch step-mother to be used as a test subject.  Telling anymore would be giving too much away.

I really enjoyed this book, but I’m getting really sick of reading series.  Can’t an author write one good stand-alone story? This book is the first of a quadrology, and they are only planning on releasing one book a year.  I’m getting old and my memory is too bad for that.  I can’t remember what happened that far apart. This is the book that inspired my new rule: No more reading a book in a series until the entire series is published.  I’m still waiting on the third book in the Exiles series by Melanie Rawn.  The second was published in 1997.  I will eventually finish this series, but probably not until all four books are available.

4/5 Stars

CommanderStrikeher’s #CBR4 Review #30: Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

*Audiobook Review*

I’m so sick of hearing about the damn Zombie apocalypse.  Zombies are supernatural and there is absolutely no chance in Hell that they will ever roam the Earth.  There, I said it.  Shut up about it.  I’m so tired of zombie-themed EVERYTHING.  The real threat is robots and technology.  Have you seen The Matrix?  The Terminator movies?  Battlestar Galactica???  The robots want to overthrow their human overlords and enslave us and we keep making it easier for them!

Robopocalypse uses the “found footage” trope that has become popular in film with The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity.  It has also been used in novels, most notably, World War Z, which I have previously reviewed for the CBR.  In both novels it works.

Robopocalypse starts at the end of the Human/Robot war that nearly destroyed humanity.  Humans are clearing out the last outposts of Archos, the super-intelligent computer that attempted to wipe us out.  They find a file that contains the beginning of the robots rise to power, leading up to Zero Hour, when the robots actively try to destroy humanity.  Everything turns against us, even cars, which are almost fully automated.

I really enjoyed the first few chapters of this book.  The slow but steady increase in robot violence against humans, and a little girl’s toys coming to life and threatening her and her family were creepy.  Zero Hour was flat-out terrifying.  The last part of the book lagged, but overall, it was good read.

4/5 Stars

CommanderStrikeher’s #CBR4 Review #28: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

 

I’m not usually one to read self-help books.  But this one caught my eye on the shelf at Target.  It has a pretty, bright blue and yellow cover, and it promises happiness.  Who doesn’t want happiness?

Gretchen Rubin divides her project into twelve subjects and covers one per month: Vitality, Marriage, Work, Parenthood, Leisure, Friendship, Money, Eternity, Books, Mindfulness, Attitude, and Happiness.

Gretchen Rubin is quick to point out that this particular Happiness Project was HER Happiness Project, and doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone else.  She encourages everyone to start their own Happiness Project, and has a blog with some tools to help.  I loved how Gretchen Rubin tried to scientifically quantify happiness.  She tried to break it down into its base elements.  There is nothing Earth-shattering in her book, but it did have some good advice.  Think about something that you liked to do as a child, and try to replicate what attracted you to that hobby in the first place.  Gretchen Rubin gets back into Children’s Literature and even starts a successful book club. She also attempts to make at least three new friends.  This is something I have struggled with as an adult.  I love the friends that I have, but I haven’t made a new friend in at least 3 years.

There is a lot in this book that is admirable, but not be practical for everyone.  Most everyone isn’t a stay-at-home mom who can write at her leisure.  Most of us don’t have millionaire husbands and rich in-laws who live around the corner and are always willing to babysit.  But don’t let that get in your way of starting your own happiness project.  Tackle a nagging task, sing in the morning, and learn to enjoy now.  I know I will.

4/5 Stars.