Brain Wave and Leviathan Completion

Brain Wave

For 1954 it was well thought out and written. It gave you something to think about while keeping the pages turning. Not all books that are that old can do that.

Brain wave, is one of those light books that you're glad you read but you will likely not feel the real need to read again. But with that said its also not one of those books that you are soon to forget.

I found the ending to get a bit slower and fizzle out.. I was told that there was a big climax at the end but honestly now looking back, its just a sign that, my definition of an amazing book and his are likely not the same.

In my good reads review I gave it 5 stars because it deserved it, for effort, for giving me a bit to think about, for keeping the pages turning and being something I can appreciate.
I know, had i been around to read the book when it was written it would have had a much bigger impact.

It turned out to be a well timed read because it was the less serious book i needed to get me ready to start my book challenge reads and some of those are a lot more intense.
So it was a good way to prepare.

I'd recommend Brain wave, definitely for anyone looking for something light and fast.

Leviathan - Scott Westerfeld

I found out about this book when it was, all the rage all over the internet. Anyone with any interest in Steampunk was babbling about this book.
So I had to read it just to see.

It was well thought out, and a lot of detail had gone into this creation.
It was pretty amazing when you look at how the Darwinists compared to the Machinists especially in the ending of the book.

Which is I think why i found the ending to be so sadly disappointing.
Someone wanted a book two, so to do that they just kinda dropped the entire book off a cliff and that is the ending you got.

Honestly, it ruined the whole thing for me.
I was already lacking in stars to give this book just because it gave me the impression it was written for someone much younger.
The detail was there, the potential was there but it seemed just too... "fluffy" not enough steampunk I guess.

Yes, the characters are kids but that doesn't mean it has to be written for kids when you look at the time period thats being re-written using their alternative history.

While I don't regret buying it, or reading it, if i decide to read book two whenever it comes out, I won't be buying it if I can help it.
If my local library doesn't carry it then I intend to get comfortable on the floor inside chapters for a couple days and read my way though.
It is just not something I can justify spending money on when there are so many others that I can.

(And have to sort through the books i got now to sell to buy more and make some room lol)

Brain Wave

By Poul Anderson

I am about 20 pages short of done, and this has big one book that has just left me unable to wrap my head around it yet. Just when you have said "omg!" (out loud no less) something else entirely different has happened and you find yourself adding it all together to figure out what the story is trying to tell you.

The earth entered (or possibly left) a force field - which caused everyone to get smarter.
Animals included.
The pigs opened their cage and ran off. You realize later that they are so angry and hostile because they have seen many of their kind slaughtered so if i was suddenly smart enough and able to run off then yep I'd of too.

But for the most part the animals are okay, so long as they haven't been couped up and had to watch humans slaughter their kind.

People, well their not all so lucky.

You'd think more brains would make a person smart but that's not always the case.
It can also make them greedy and evil trying to get things in the "new smart world" the way they want them.

You've also got those that can't handle being smart and just want to go back to how things were.
One even electro shocks herself back to the way she used to be.. possibly one of the stupidest yet smartest ideas that came to be in how do we go back thought lines.

So with nukes flying, a space ship in space trying to figure out the force field and 20 pages to go what can possibly go wrong?!

Gilmore Girls thought.. (Rorys booklist)

I was thinking about Gilmore Girls again, i do that when i see a commercial for the repeats on tv - a channel i no longer get with free cable *sniff*

I wondered what book(s) people think Rory should have read but didn't get a chance to.

Personally, I can not help but wonder what she would have thought about something like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Gilmore Girls

Gilmore Girls is among the shows named for top of the decade!! I am tickled pink about that.
I loved that show and every time i hear about it i just wanna sit myself down with all the dvds and fall into it.

Of course when I do that I am surrounded by junk food just as they would be :)

2010 Book Challenge

I decided to take the 2010 book (number) challenge choosing 52.
A wide range of everything and then some.
At the same time I will be doing the Rory Gilmore Book Project. I love that show more then anything else on the earth and so when i found it, it was just naturally something I HAD to do.
I added some of her books to my list as an over lapper so it should be an interesting year.

1.The elephant whisperer : my life with the herd in the African wild
Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence.

2.Eternal life : a new vision : beyond religion, beyond theism, beyond heaven and hell. John Shelby Spong.

3.Queen Elizabeth : the Queen Mother : the official biography
William Shawcross.

4.Reinventing the body, resurrecting the soul : how to create a new you
Deepak Chopra.

5.With Hitler to the end : the memoir of Hitler's valet
Heinz Linge ; introduction by Roger Moorhouse

6. Allah : The God of Islam : Moslem life and worship
Fitch, Florence Mary, 1875-1959.

7.The book of miracles : the meaning of the miracle
stories in Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam
Kenneth L. Woodward.

8.The drowned book : ecstatic and earthy reflections of Bahauddin, the father of Rumi
translated by Coleman Barks and John Moyne. [read]

9.An introduction to Western philosophy : ideas and argument from Plato to Popper
Flew, Antony, 1923-

10.The storyteller's daughter [read]
Shah, Saira.

*11. What do Muslims believe? : the roots and realities of modern Islam
Ziauddin Sardar. [reading]


12.Write like Hemingway : writing lessons you can learn
from the master
R. Andrew Wilson.

13.The time machine ; The war of the worlds
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George), 1866-1946.

14. Emma Jane Austen [read]

15. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte [reading]

16. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

17. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

18. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

19. The Tragedy of Richard III by William Shakespeare

20.The complete short stories of Ernest Hemingway

21. King Henry the Eighth
William Shakespeare

22.The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes

23.To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Philip Jose Farmer

24.Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Clarke, Susanna.

25.A promise of hope : [the astonishing true story of a
woman afflicted with bipolar disorder and the miraculous
treatment that cured her] [read part of it and found it to be a med scam it shall be replaced]
Stringam, Autumn.

26. Yoga body, Buddha mind [read]
Lee, Cyndi.

27.The Mote in god's eye [reading]
Niven, Larry.

28.Stranger in a Strange Land [reading]
Heinlein, Robert A

29.Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden

30.The Darker Passions: Frankenstein
Amarantha Knight!

31.Rumi : the fire of love
Tajadod, Nahal.

32.The essential Rumi
Jal¯al al-D in Rumi, Maulana, 1207-1273.

33. King Hereafter
Dorothy Dunnett

34.Madox Ford: The Fifth Queen*
- a novel about Henry VIII's fifth wife, Katharine Howard

35.Enchi Fumiko: A Tale of False Fortunes

36.Alasdair Gray: Poor Things*

37. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

38.Daisy Miller : The complete text of the original
edition (102 pages) Henry James

39.The preacher's daughter
Beverly Lewis

40.2666
Robert Bolaño

41.A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy
Greig, Charlotte.

42.The Tao : finding the way of balance and harmony
Forstater, Mark.

43.Early Greek philosophy
Barnes, Jonathan.

44.Thus spoke Zarathustra : a book for all and none
Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, 1844-1900.

45.The Age of Stonehenge Colin Burgess

46.Reaper Man
Terry Pratchett

47. Lord of Snow and Shadows
Sarah Ash


48. Fearless Living
Rhonda Britten

49.The Quran [reading]

50.the bible

51. The feeling good handbook
David D Burns M.D

52.The Industrial Revolution [read]
Stalcup, Brenda.

53. Becoming Enlightened
Dalai Lama [read]

54. Life below stairs: Domestic servants in England from Victorian times
Frank Edward Huggett [read]