Disclaimer! I pulled this review over directly from Goodreads without editing is. So any references I make to other people's reviews are all reviews from Goodreads.com.
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really nice book!

It looks longer than it feels- reading it was a breeze. Enzo is funny and insightful, and I think Garth Stein did a great job striking a balance between his doggie instincts and almost-human thoughts.

Having recently spent time driving at a racetrack myself (totally a one-off thing- I am not a professional racer or driver or NASCAR watcher, although I do own a car) I like to think that I have experienced a tiny little taste of what racing is like. I will not try to hide it- my love of dogs and brush with racing made me inclined to like this book.

In fact, I liked it so much that I feel compelled to defend it! Some of the criticisms I've seen strike me as exaggerated or not well thought out. Here are a few specific criticisms that I want to address:

1. "What is the purpose of having a dog tell the story" or, "The story would have been the same with a human narrator." A few rebuttals. First, what is ever the purpose of having a human tell a story? Better examine your biases. Second, telling the story from Enzo's point of view makes a HUGE difference in the feel of the story. Storytelling is about so much more than "a happens, then b happens, and we end up at c". It's about tone, perspective, and way the storyteller's version leads you to believe certain things. Telling the story from Enzo's unique pov makes for a much different story than if any of the human narrators told it.

2. "This story is too emotional". Emotions are deeply personal and unique to every individual. Because one person found it too emotional doesn't mean that someone else will be moved in the same way. For me, I expected it to be more of a tear jerker (and this is part of the reason why I put it off for so long). The only place I lost it was the epilogue.

3. "Their life is like a soap opera" or "Why did the author have to include 15 year old rape". Three words for you: This. Ish. Happens. And while my own life is (thankfully) less dramatic, cancer, statutory rape, custody battles, and false accusations are here to stay. Some of the reviews I read set me up thinking that some really crazy stuff was going to go down but in truth it's not that crazy. There are no freaky love triangles and the main (human) character is someone you can feel okay with rooting for.

4. "I don't give a crap about racecars" or "cars are bad for the Earth". Why are you reading a book with "racing" in the title if you hate it so much? But for all of you who are on the fence about racing and whether a topic interests you then please bear in mind that reports of the extent of race-talk are grossly exaggerated on this site. Again I was lead through the reviews to expect lots of technical information and pages of droning about races. One reviewer put it at twenty-five percent of the book! Trust me, it's not even close to that much.

Overall, the book is a four. It was great and I really enjoyed reading it. Read it again? Probably not. But I bought the hard copy and will definitely be passing it on to a friend.


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Red Seas Under Red Skies

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book! Not surprising though, because so much of it mirrors the good aspects of The Lies of Locke Lamora. There are the characters we know and love, the familiar template of big con underway when the main characters are coerced into working for someone else (who will probably kill them), the chapters devoted to learning how to false-face and blend in, the chapters that switch back and forth in time, and all the witty banter and awesome insults you could want.

With all these similarities the book could feel stale, but it manages to avoid this trap by changing the surface elements in ways that make you ooh and ahh. For starters, Locke and Jean are in a new city with new wonders to behold. The sinspire casino is the scene for the big con, and it is so richly described- familiar turf (because yeah, it's a casino) but embelished with interesting people, cool new games, and exotic animals- that you feel like you are there. Other scenes such as the archon's garden and the wealthy vacation city are so well described it's like they are real.

Now let's talk about pirates. The book takes a sharp turn before the casino con is through, and Locke and Jean are pushed into the middle of Tal Verrar's most nasty political battle. For reasons too complicated to go into here, Locke and Jean find themselves becoming pirates. This is the real meat of the book, where our favorite criminals go through the equivalent of pirate boot camp, captain a ship, lose a ship, find love, lose almost everything, and (with some help) save the day. I had heard about the pirate thing before I read the book and was skeptical to say the least. But the pirate life turns out to be such a good fit for Locke and Jean! It was a really inspired move by writer Scott Lynch.

But despite all the awesome-ness of the book there are some problems. For one, the transition between casino heist to pirate bay is a little jarring. I couldn't make the mental transition between the two plots very well, and it took a while for me to realize that the pirate story was now primary. And it was a little sad, because casino cons are fun!

Other readers have rightly pointed out some pacing issues as well. The book is pretty long (554 pages on my nook) but only the last 50 pages were concerned with the endgame. It felt very rushed, and kind of disappointing. I wish that more space had been given to really fleshing out their last night in Tal Verrar, the way that space and time are given to events at sea that don't matter as much to the plot.

Last, there are some nagging minor details that I can't get off my mind. Like how tidy it was that Locke could just wipe out the whole city that he hated (with the exception of the furniture maker, of course). Also, what's with that crazy fog that tries to convince the crew to commit suicide?

These problems are small in comparison to how great the book is. Read The Lies of Locke Lamora first, and then get on Red Seas Under Red Skies!

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Dark Shadows

So I had this crazy idea to review something OTHER than books. A movie! I went to the theatre a few days ago and saw:

Did this movie fly under the radar or what? It came out on May 11 but I never heard a peep about it until I saw that it would be playing at the ISAF theatre.

Wikipedia tells me that it is based on a horror soap opera that aired in the 1960's. It stars Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Helena Bonham Carter, so I assumed it would be good. 

But before I get to the movie review, a comment about the theatre. I did not have high expectations. It is a makeshift movie theatre on a military base, so quality would not be the highest priority. However, I wasn't quite expecting  the worst movie experience of my life. I was freezing, staring at a fuzzy screen, and hearing blaring static out of the speakers. But as I sunk into my misery I suddenly found myself laughing. In the MIDDLE of the movie! I was laughing because the horrible theatre was a great reminder that I'm in flipping KABUL and this fact is so awesome that it toally eclipses anything else. 

The movie itself was SO-SO. 3 out of 5. Six out of ten. There were certainly redeeming parts, like the cast. And the soundtrack was killer. The movie is set in 1972 so you get awesome flower child colors and music. Really groovy. And the story itself was fine: Wealthy young man is turned into a vampire by a witch and buried for 200 years; vampire finally is freed and tries to help his ancestors rebuild the family business while battling with the aforementioned witch. I can dig it. 

But there were some problems. For one, your perspective gets all mixed up when the movie seems like it will be told from the Governess Victoria's point of view,  but then suddenly she is not even part of the story anymore until the very end. Parts of it seem totally disjointed, like this ghost that shows up a couple times to mime her death. She is of no consequence to the story. And then there is a really bizarre witch/vampire sex scene that doesn't seem to fit in the movie and felt totally weird to me. Overall it simply didn't feel very solid.

The movie is campy and kind of cool, but it's far from perfect. If you have some free time and you can watch it for little or no money then I would recommend. 

Kabul Reads!

I haven't blogged in a few days, but I've been trying to keep my broke a$$ busy by doing as much reading/tv watching as possible. Here's what I've been up to:

I joined a book club! Yay for suddenly aging 10 years! But honestly, it's free, it's somewhat social (ok it's online so it's not like FACE TO FACE social or anything) and it is nice to pace my reading a little and actually think about what's going on instead of plowing through it.

Right now we are reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I'm about 50% done so far. No spoilers but PSST: It reads like a Neil Gaiman book.


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I also just finished The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett. I even reviewed it on Goodreads!

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wanted to read this book because I loved the movie when I was a kid. I finished it in one sitting, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reading The Secret Garden make me want to garden and run outside. I am seriously considering buying a jump rope. I am thinking about food from a positive perspective (i.e. nourishment) instead of a negative one (something to fear because it makes you fat).

This book is good for your soul.

Why four stars instead of five?
The whole magic and God business was a little much for me. I wanted Colin to pick up a book about health and the human body instead of blaming his recovery on magic.

Also, I felt that the whole book had a kind of plausibility until the end- there are Reasons that Mary and Colin change. But at the end of the book Mr. Craven just changes all of a sudden with nothing to cause him to do so. I thought it was weirdly rushed and too magical, with the explanations about the garden waking up and Mr. Craven waking up at the same time.


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I also re-read the Bloggess's Let's Pretend this Never Happened and Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I'm a reading MACHINE.

So tell me, what do you do when you are broke and bored and in a foreign country where your entertainment options are limited? Books? Video Games? Wall staring?

The Magicians

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Magician King by Lev Grossman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First off, I liked these books. A lot. In fact I have read them three time in this year alone! (Although I realize that this fact says equally as much about how I am too broke to buy new books).


The Magicians
The first book, The Magicians, introduces us to Quentin Coldwater. The story starts off in ordinary, dreary Brooklyn, but the author wastes no time in killing someone off and then taking us out of that place and to Brakebills College. Brakebills is a college for magicians, and Quentin gains acceptance there by passing a series of exams (that are really a treat to read about!).

The first half of the book is about Quentin's five years at Brakebills. We get to know him and his friends as we are immersed in their magical studies. If this sounds a little like Harry Potter it's becaues the premise is similar- boy and his friends go to a school for macigians (or wizards). But the experience is different. For one, Brakebills is a college, and college-aged students are drinking, having sex, and worrying about their future. For another, Grossman's characters aren't all textbook heroes like Harry and his gang. At times Quentin is downright unlikeable, and his friends are all flawed. But for me these characters are at the heart of my love for this series. When they talk, I can actually hear them because they talk like me (especially Josh- he is always using my slang!). I believe their conversations because they are familiar. It could be that I'm at just the right age/socioeconomic status/level of geekery/etc. for these characters to seem so real.

After graduation the group starts dragging their feet, and they all become pretty mopey and self-destructive. This is hard to read about because you have high hopes for their lives after graduation. However, it's also heavily foreshadowed so you have a feeling that it's coming. This section is short, and it serves as a transition between college and Fillory.

The last section of the book takes place in the magical world of Fillory. (Which is basically a riff on Narnia. Riffing is big here- the book will be much more enjoyable if you have a baseline background in Fantasy so that you catch the allusions.) It's written as a quest: group journeys to new land in order to achienve a goal. This part of the book forces you to think about some "big questions" like God, the purpose of magic, the point of life, ends justifying the means, responsibility, etc. Some of the questions the book poses are more obvious than others. Most are interesting and worth ruminating over. At the end of the book you will feel sad, and you will also feel like you were knocked on your ass. And then you will want to read it again.

The Magician King
This book is certainly different from the first one, although echos from the events of the first influence the story of the sequel. It starts off in Fillory, where Quentin, Elliot, Julia, and Janet are kings and queens. It seems that they have everything they have ever wanted, but Quentin is restless. A quest quickly develops.

In this book the main characters are Quentin and Julia. They embark on the quest together, and in the process they are pulled back to Brooklyn, make a visit to Brakebills, spend time in Venice, meet a dragon, go to the Chatwin's house, and more. Part of the fun of this book is the constantly changing scenery. But scenery isn't the only thing changing- you can see see Quentin and Julia growing and changing throughout the book. Quentin changes into a more mature, more appreciate, and less mopey person. And Julia into something entirely different (no more! I don't want to ruin the story).

Another cool thing about this book is the format. The chapters alternate between current events starring Quentin and Julia, and the past where we learn about Julia's story and what she went through during the time of the first book, when the other characters were at Brakebills. Her story shows you another kind of magical education, the kind you learn on your own in seedy safehouses, with disreputable teachers, and in genius chatrooms. You learn about her losses along the way- the true price she paid for her power.

I wish I could say that this book had a happy ending, but alas it doesn't. Fillory is saved (no surprise), but your hopes for Quentin will be dashed. Out of both books, the ending of the Magician King is the part I still have the hardest time grappeling with. Why is this an appropriate ending for Quentin? Why do his friends let it happen? What is with the arbitrary rules of Fillory, and what kind of power do these people really have? If you put yourself in Elliot and Josh's shoes you might feel a little sick. If you put yourself in Quentin's shoes you will want to cry. And your own shoes? Well, you will feel mostly impatient for Book #3.

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Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As some of you may know, I'm currently in Kabul, Afghanistan on a short term assignment. Whenever I'm in Kabul I get a ton of reading done, and I had to share my thoughts on this latest.

I finished reading Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel a few days ago, and I'm still a little rosy from the experience. The book is classified as Fantasy, but it's not the kind with wizards and dragons. Instead we get gentleman magicians who are out to restore magic to19th century England. In this pursuit they assist England in battling Napoleon's armies, raise the dead, and engage in high-brow debates about magical theory (especially where it relates to fairies). Cameos by King George III and Lord Byron are particularly notable.

The book was difficult for me to get into. Others have remarked that the action doesn't begin until the last 200 pages, which is true. But for me it wasn't about the action, it was about the style. I have never had patience for "old books" (ha- stay with me here).  When I started to read this book it reminded me of how annoyed I was trying to read Jane Austin and anything Dickens. In fact I was doubly annoyed because it's not even an old book! The author was doing this to me on purpose! I think my problem is that with older style prose I feel a distance between myself and the book, where reading it is not natural enough for me to fall into the story.

But maybe all I need is more practice, because by page 300 or so something shifted and I really got into it. The story is great, and Clarke's 800 pages might be slow but they don't take you on pointless tangents. Everything in there feeds into the main storyline. And by the time you get to the action you will be glad you stuck it out!

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First post

Does blogging count as a hobby? Because I need a hobby.

I tried this blogging thing once before. It was a little affair called "Postponing the Real World". At the time I was moving across the country to grad school. The blog was a way to keep my friends and family up to date on my new life. The title was a nod to my real reasons for going off to school.

But school's out now. I'm a real, grown up lady with a real, grown up 9 to 5. I'm Lucy in the Real World, and I'm gonna tell you all about it.