Sunday, February 21, 2010

He's Just Not That Into You

Inspired. It was an easy read, but it was entertaining, if nothing else. I'm not really a dater. If I meet a guy I like and we start going out, great, but I don't actively seek dates in bars or other social venues. But this book was still interesting to me. It provided fun insight into the world of men, which is a bit confusing to more than just a handful of women that I know. We all know that men and women are different; we just don't see things the same way or act the same way about almost everything. The challenge is differentiating between the bad guys and the good guys. He's Just Not That Into You does a great job of slapping you in the face with reality. It really does what has needed to be done for years! It even helped me realize that my most recent relationship wasn't as happy and perfect as I had thought even before he and I realized we weren't meant to be together. I was in it deeper than he was, and I was too blind to see it. I didn't want to see it, which is our biggest problem. We want every guy we are with to be Mr. Right, and it's tough to see that he's not, especially if we've been dating for a length of time longer than a month. We all assume the guy must love us if he's still around after a year of dating, but the truth is, he's probably just afraid to tell you the truth because he doesn't want to hurt your feelings. So, he sticks around and things start to crumble and then you finally decide things aren't where they should be if you're both happy, and you break it off. I recommend this book to men and women alike. For men, it could be a helpful guide to know what women are really thinking, so maybe they should think twice before acting like one of the guys described in the book. And for women, it is a helpful guide to keep you away from the guys who aren't treating you the way you should be treated in a loving relationship. For women, this book is an upper more than anything. It is very reassuring when it comes to complimenting women on their fun, sexy, amazing features that we don't get complimented on nearly enough times throughout the day/week/month/year. Everyone should read this book!

The Amber Spyglass

This was less than enjoyable. The layout of the story did not make much sense and was just frustrating. I understand that the author was trying to be creative in how he did the end of the chapter italics-inside-Lyra's-head thing, but it just bit. In a Kindle it was even more frustrating than if it was in a hard copy, but I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed it just as little if I had read it in paperback or hard cover copy. Cutting someone off in mid-sentence and then starting it up again at the end of the next chapter only to cut someone off mid-sentence again was pointless and aggravating! At first I thought it had downloaded improperly when I ordered it on my Kindle. Then I just realized that was how it was meant to be.

The only good part was when that stopped happening. But even then, the plot lines were frustrating to follow as well. There were too many to follow to the point where I couldn't remember there were other characters until they were randomly brought to the front again. Some of the plot lines ended poorly as well. It was as if there was all this build up to have a lame ending because the author couldn't think of anything more creative to do with that segment.

I cannot express how deeply disappointed I was in this end of the trilogy. And the "amber spyglass" wasn't even mentioned by that name until 70% of the way through the book. And the other times it was mentioned before then it didn't seem to have that important of an implication; it certainly didn't seem as life-changing as the "golden compass" and the "subtle knife". Those objects were the sole attention in the previous books by those names. The amber spyglass did not even fit into the greater scheme of things when it came to what was going to happen at the end of the story. It basically turned out not to matter if it was made at all. The one character who used it was able to see "Dust" but she still couldn't tell what she was supposed to do through that. It could only confirm that Dust actually existed and that there was a disturbance with its flow.

All-in-all, The Amber Spyglass was my least favorite book in the series, which is why it took me so long to read. It got to be frustrating how long it was taking me just because my heart wasn't really in it. When I started the book, I was excited because it was the finale of the series, and for the most part, those are the best books because it wraps everything up so well that you can't help but applaud the author in the ingenious of it all. But that did not happen here. I would recommend the first two books, but certainly not the last. Even though you want to know how it ends. It was too painfully executed to enjoy.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials

This second book in the series was a quick and easy read. Before I knew it, I was more than halfway through the book! It was a good transition book while still adding more mystery to the series overall. I have no idea how this series will end, and I love that! It is refreshing not to be able to guess what will happen in the last book based on the first ones in the series. So many times a series will follow a certain path that eventually becomes predictable. I do enjoy when my predictions are incorrect because it means I didn't think outside of the box enough. When I am right, I feel empty because it means the author did not think outside of the box enough. I am certainly looking forward to seeing how this series ends.