The Athena Project by Brad Thor

I'm not really one for spy/thriller novels.  I feel like they are written primarily for the testosterone set, and I've steered away from them, thinking I wouldn't really like the books.

The Athena Project proved me wrong.

This was (obviously) my first Brad Thor book, although there's a not insignificant book list in the front of which this was one of many.

This book takes place all over the globe, reminding me a bit of the Bourne movies.  South America, Czech Republic, Croatia, Venice, Denver.  Some of the premises might be technologically futuristic, but the novel starts back at the time of Nazis.  Thor might be on to something here, since I don't think all the horrible research performed by the Nazis is either fully understood or even known about today.

My favorite part of the book isn't the science though, its the inspiration for the book title.  The Athena Project is an elite group of women, only women, trained to perform clandestine operations around the globe.  Similar to the Seals or the Rangers, this is an elite group of ass-kickers.  The best part is that they are all close friends, loyal to each other, and good at their jobs.  Apparently this group was introduced in one of the Thor's other novels, and he liked the concept so much he gave them their own book.

These women are tasked to uncover information about a top secret Nazi project, long thought abandoned until the results start showing up in South America.  This takes them around Europe where they must resort to kidnapping and killing to find answers before the experiment falls into the wrong hands with catastrophic results. In America, an undercover FBI agent is trying to handle a Russian spy bent on exposing secrets at, of all unlikely locations, the Denver International Airport.  I am intrigued about looking more closely at DIA when I fly through there in December!

Since I don't have anything to compare it to, I'd say I liked the book.  Thor maybe doesn't write about women too well, but not many men can pull that off. Regardless, the book is interesting.  I hope this group of women show up in other books in the future.

Bunheads by Sophie Flack

I'd forgotten how much I love young adult fiction before I picked up this book.  It's been years since I picked up my last YA book, after years of obsessively reading them.  An old coworker, Crystal, herself a voracious young adult reader, recommended some books to me after I asked her why an adult read so many children's books. Clearly the joke was on me.  Many YA books are just plain awesome.

I bought Bunheads on a recent trip to Colorado.  The title comes from a slang term for ballerina.  Hannah is a ballerina in the corps of the Manhattan Ballet.  After spending her life working hard to first get into the corps, then get promoted to a soloist, real life starts intruding onto Hannah's life, making her  wonder if her choices that were once perfect for her are still right for her now.  She meets a guy, makes life long friends, and starts dreaming of life outside the ballet.  After sacrificing most of her childhood for the ballet bar, doubts start creeping into her mind about how willing she is to sacrifice most of her adult life as well.

Hannah is smart, brave, and willing to work hard.  As a former ballerina, I loved the minute details of life behind the curtains. This is Flack's first novel, and she did well.  She's a former ballerina, which adds a sense of realism to the hard work and dedication present everyday in a ballet company.

Wow, its been awhile...

Not sure where I've been.  Buried under working, running, traveling, and moving I guess.

I still have been reading a bunch though.  I think last month I polished off Deanna Raybourn's books and then read all of Kathy Reichs' books, which are my guilty pleasure.

For my book list, I'm (still) reading Anna Karenina and Hunchback of Notre Dame.  I also started reading The Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett and am really enjoying it.

Earlier this month I read Off Balance, a non-fiction sports book written by Dominique Moceanu about her life as an elite gymnast.

In keeping tabs on popular fiction, I started reading the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy.  I'm halfway through the second book, and therefore consequently halfway through the trilogy, and still haven't formed a solid opinion one way or the other about how much I like it.  Sometimes I get annoyed by the characters and I have to put my Kindle down.  Then I feel like I need to know what's going to happen next, so I turn my Kindle back on and sink back into it.  Way better then the mess that was Twilight, but not as awesome as the Hunger Games series.

I won't be gone for so long next time, I promise.

Silence in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn

This is the second in the series following  Silent in the Grave.  Raybourn's sophomore book continues in the aftermath of the first.  Lady Julia Grey is recuperating in Italy with two of her brothers when their father summons them all home for Christmas at the family estate in England.  During an innocent games of sardines, a man is found dead in the chapel, with one of Julia's cousins, Lucy, standing above him with a bloody candelabra.

I liked this book.  I like Raybourn's style of writing.  I feel like a better author could have tackled this same plot in a much more convincing manner.  Most of Julia's family were staying at the house (a former Abbey so its massive), her love interest from book one with his new fiance, her poor distant cousins Lucy and Emma, Lucy's new fiance, his cousin, and the new pastor in the nearby village.  The night of the murder a huge snowstorm trapped everyone in the family in the Abbey for next few days, creating an island with one murderer on it, and a dead body stored in the larder, in the middle of pastoral England.  However, it was easy to assume that no one in Julia's immediate family would have been the murderer, which immediately eliminated quite a bit of the household.  Despite the large gathering, only a few people could possibly have been viable suspects.

In the middle of the book, a second crime is committed, which brings to light the true story behind Brisbane and his new fiance, and why they are staying with Julia's family.  This angle essentially fell into the story from nowhere.  Usually when surprises happen mid-plot, there were clues leading up the event if you were reading close enough to catch them.  That didn't happen here.

All that being said, I still enjoyed the book.  Julia's family is eccentric, but instead of shunning them, the wayward family members are embraced.

I already downloaded book 3 in the series.  Reading these in a row makes me feel like I'm falling into Victorian England.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

This book (or author, or series) came to my attention while perusing through Tasha Alexander's books on amazon.  At Christmas my mother asked for a list of books I wanted.  After reading through the description of this book, I added it to my list since it seemed like something I'd like.

And like it I did.  Despite the 435 pages, I started it Saturday and finished it Sunday.  Lady Julia Grey is a recent widow.  Her husband, her childhood sweetheart, collapsed and died in the midst of a dinner party.  Suffering from a heart ailment for most of his life, nobody really questioned his death, including his widow.  When a man approached Julia, telling her her husband had paid him to discover who had been sending him death threats, Julia rudely dismisses him.  Nearly a year into her mourning, Julia discovers a death threat logged in the desk drawer of her late husband.  Finally believing his death might be from something other then natural causes, Julia humbly approaches the private investigator, Nicholas Brisbane, with the note.  And so begins an interesting mystery story set in Victorian England.

I spent a good portion of the book comparing Deanna Raybourn to Tasha Alexander, which I didn't think was fair and I won't do here.  Both authors are very talented, creating interesting plots and characters that I really enjoy.

Despite the prudishness of Victorian England (at least literary), this book delved a bit into prostitution, abortion, and Gypsies.   The culprit actually surprised me, which really pleased me.  I hate it when I'm 30 pages into a detective/mystery story and already know who did it!

And since I'm a bit of a hopeless romantic, I'm interested in the attraction story between Brisbane and Julia which may or may not be developing.  Julia's eccentric family is also highly entertaining.

I downloaded the next book in the series on my Kindle, since I just couldn't wait to read the next one.

Hunger Games

Lately I've been weary about jumping on the bandwagon with popular book series. I think having been horrified by how horrible the Twilight series was that I stopped listening to what the popular media has to say about books and just started focusing on books that I thought I would enjoy, regardless of how popular they were to the general population.

Then Hunger Games came out.  I ended up purchasing the book at the San Diego airport after a rave recommendation of a friend.  When I returned home, the book ended up on my stack of books to read, but I never opened it.  Then the movie was released, and a coworker asked me to go see it with her when we travel for work in a couple weeks.  I was finally going to have to actually read this thing.

Sometimes, the popular media is right.  I thought Hunger Games was awesome.  Katniss is smart, clever, and way more awesome than she thinks she is.  The love story with Peeta was sweet.  I love how Katniss is so modest about herself.  There's no pretense with her.

I think buried somewhere in the book Suzanne Collins is making a statement about our world today.  Katniss's horrified reaction to finding out how much food and services are available to her at the touch of a button sounds suspiciously like a condemnation of the excess of the First World.

I can't wait to read the second and third books!

books I'm reading

It's been awhile!  I vacationed in Canada, just returning home yesterday.  I didn't really get a chance to read while I was there, so I'm a bit behind.

Anna Karenina.  I'm loving this book.  It's taking awhile to get through, but instead of trying to rush it the way I've done for some others on the The List, I'm trying to just take it slowly and enjoy it.  I don't anticipate finishing it anytime soon, but I believe it will be worth the wait.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  After visiting Paris in February, I couldn't wait to return home and start reading this book.  It's my first Victor Hugo.  I'm not enjoying it the way I thought I would.  I realize some of it might be a poor translation, but I find Hugo to be overly verbose.  He segues off to random tangents and by the time he gets back to where he left off in the plot, I've forgotten what was going on.

Hunger Games.  I bought my copy at the airport in San Diego and finally picked it up.  So far I'm loving it.  It's an easy read, the characters and engaging, and the story actually gets my adrenaline going.

Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham

Oh, poor Phillip.  Orphaned as a young child, he is sent to live with conservative Christian relations who raise him as their own, instilling in him their morally uptight religious views.  Born physically deformed with a clubfoot, Phillip spends a week as a teenager fervently praying for his foot to be healed.  When this doesn't happen, he begins to doubt an omnipotent God.  Eventually he desires to become an artist in Paris.  After spending two years there, he accepts the realization that though talented, he will never become more than a mediocre artist.  Moving back to England, he decides to follow in his father's footsteps and attend medical school. During med school, he meets Mildred, an ugly, self-absorbed waitress who Phillip falls passionately in love with.

This book is on my 100 books list.  I was intrigued by the back of the book, which promised things like "sexual obsession", which would at least guarantee an easier read.  W. Somerset Maugham is a skilled writer.  The book, though 700+ pages in length, read quite well.  Phillip does become obsessed with Mildred, although the only reason I can fathom as to why is because he couldn't have her. Mildred could care less about Phillip, although she has no qualms taking his money, lying to him, and letting him help raise another man's baby.  Eventually he grows repulsed by her, although all the love he felt for her never dissipates entirely. Despite his deformity, several women do fall in love with him, none of whom he loves back.

And I guess the morale of the story is: people always want what they can't have.  Phillip loves the only woman who doesn't want him.  Woman love Phillip who he can care less about, although does care about hurting their feelings, which is always nice to hear about men (even fictional men!)  Phillip never quite figures out his religious stance.  He falls somewhere into the agnostic group.

I also read this in Paris, which was awesome, since parts of the book took place in Paris.  I've read Maugham The Painted Veil which I really liked.  Books aren't very similar at all.

perfect spot for reading.

The weather this week has been record-setting warm.  Yesterday after work I took Anna Karenina to the lake and read.

It was an awesome way to spend the afternoon. 

The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier

While in Paris, I visited the Musee de Cluny, which houses the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.  I read this book years ago when it first came out (original publishing date is 2003, so right around there).  When I found out the tapestries were real and in Paris, I immediately wanted to see them.  They are incredibly awesome, worth the admission price to the museum.

Now for the book, Nicholas des Innocents in a Parisian artist known for his portraitures of women.  He is commissioned by a French noblemen to draw designs for tapestries. The tapestries are to be completed by a Brussels family of weavers.  Nicholas gets too close to the daughter of the noblemen, and then too close to the daughter of the weavers. It's a bawdy tale, but those tapestries do get woven. Each chapters is told from the point of view of someone else, a technique which works really well for the story.  

Many of the characters are really interesting, including the blind daughter of the weaver who manages to help her family weave.  She is also an expert gardener and the soul of the family.  The story happens around the same time many Gothic cathedrals, namely Notre Dame, are being erected, which adds a fascinating backstory.  In an age of zealous religiousness, many of the characters are forced by society to conform to be the ideal pious citizen while trying to maintain their individuality as non-believers.  It's an interesting dichotomy. 

 

A Crimson Warning by Tasha Alexander

Wow, where have I been?  A legitimate question, since I've been traipsing around Europe!  I've been reading, not writing, so now its catch up time.

This is the latest installment of Alexander's Lady Emily Hargreaves series (which originally began as the Lady Emily Ashton series, although now Lady Emily has remarried and is no longer Lady Ashton).  This was the least thrilling of the books.  The ending was anticlimactic, and several chapters of the book were rather boring.  Interspersed between some of the chapters are diary entries from Lady Emily's bestie, Ivy, who is stressing about all of London finding out her "secret."  I admit, I was intrigued by this, since Ivy is an incredibly sweet, loving, loyal, somewhat naive sidekick of Lady Emily.  When she finally reveals her secret to Lady Emily at the end, its surprising, but definitely not worth waiting the entire book for discover it.

Onto the story, after the murder of a legitimate, honest businessman, someone begins painting the steps of London's fashionable homes with red paint.  Shortly after, a scandalous secret is revealed leading to the destruction, and in one case a suicide, of those keeping the secret.  Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, embark on a mission to find out who is ousting the liars, cheat, adulterers.  Alexander is a talented writer, but she couldn't quite pull off the storyline.  A lot of the characters were stock characters and poorly developed.

I still love Lady Ashton though.  I hope Alexander hasn't hit her peak with this series and will produce an awesome book in the future.

Tears of Pearl by Tasha Alexander

Tears of Pearl is Book 4 of the Lady Emily Ashton series, although at the start of this one, she is now Lady Emily Hargreaves.  It wasn't vital to the story, but I was sorely disappointed at the lack of a wedding between Emily and Colin.  They were engaged at the end of Book 3, and married by the start of Book 4.

What's vital to the story is their honeymoon to, what was then Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire, and is now Istanbul in Turkey, due to Emily's love of history.  A harem girl is murdered while the newlyweds are enjoying a night at the theater, and a rather complex story involving multiple murders, bribery, eunuchs, crazy sultans, lost siblings, and good old fashioned, if slightly unconventional detective work, arises.

Prior to reading this book, I actually read through the reviews on amazon and it was by far the least liked book out of an otherwise popular series.  I opine this is due to the general readers unfamiliarity with Turkish culture, landmarks, and history.  I enjoyed this book primarily because of its unusual setting.  I spent two months in Turkey a few years back and therefore was familiar with most, if not all, of the bazaars, hamams, palaces, and mosques mentioned in the book.  It's rare to find novels set in Turkey, especially written by American authors, especially more in the middle of series about the upper class of 19th century England.  Well done Tasha Alexander.

The downside of this, however, is the smallish group of possible who-dunits.  I didn't find myself voraciously reading this book to find out the killer the way I did the last one.  Three people are murdered in the harem, and since harems are restricted access only, it narrowed the list of possible murderers to a tiny handful of people.  Regardless, I also received Book 5 for Christmas, so I can't wait to dive into that one.

classics.

I've read three classics recently off The Book List.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H.Lawrence
The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorn
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley


Lady Chatterley's Lover wasn't quite as scandalous as I thought, considering it was chosen for its former position on the banned book list.  Amazing how times have changed so things once banned are now more accepted as commonplace.  Despite the blatant sexual overtones, I was more scandalized by two married people having an affair than the actual sex scenes.  Or maybe that was the whole point.  Either way, I did have to slog through some verbose language to make it to the end, but I admire Lawrence's brazenness.  I can't imagine what kind of scandal to caused when released.

The Scarlet Letter was long overdue.  I somehow missed reading this in high school.  By the time I reached college, my professors assumed everyone had already read it (which they had) and therefore didn't assign it.  It was worth the wait.  I genuinely enjoyed this book, even more so once I found out Hawthorne himself had family involved in the Salem witch trials which sparked a near obsession in him.  I found myself caring very deeply about the fate of Hester and little Pearl and frustrated by the duplicity and manipulation of Chillingworth.  

Frankenstein I did read in high school and enjoyed it just as much this time around.  I was more creepy this time around, mostly because I didn't quite comprehend the horror of it the first time around.  I love how the story came about:  Mary Shelley, her lover turned husband, Percy Shelley, Lord Byron and maybe some other well known authors/poet, were housebound while on vacation due to torrential rain, and therefore decided to have a contest on who could write the best horror story.  Mary was the only one who finished hers, and future generations of readers will forever be thankful.  It's rudimentary in some ways, but Shelley showed enormous talent as a budding writer.