The Dust of 100 Dogs by A. S. King

 

This book wasn’t what I expected, but it’s good, nonetheless.

 

Basically, it’s about the famed teenaged pirate Emer Morrisey who was cursed to be reborn a hundred times as a dog before returning to a human body.

 

Three hundred years pass by and finally she’s human again, and with all her memories intact. Now she wants to search for the treasure she buried 300 years ago before she died as a pirate.

 

I expected something more exciting and dramatic, with a lot of fighting scenes and adventure. This book was a little bit more laid-back and slow-moving, but it made up for it in depth.

 

It’s a book with a really interesting premise, and that’s what caught my attention. I guess I expected it to be one of those adventure stories, but in a way, it read more like literary fiction, in the vein of Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones.

 

This is a well-written book with a good storyline, but I was slightly disappointed because I expected something else. Perhaps the problem lies with the marketing of the book, perhaps it shouldn’t be categorized as a YA book, or perhaps King should make Emer something other than a pirate.

 

There wasn’t much of a pirate feel to the story, in my opinion, and I think the story could work just as well if the pirate angle was substituted for something else.

Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception by Maggie Stiefvater

 

I found out about this book from a bookblog review, and then I checked out the Amazon.com reviews to make sure if it was really something I’d enjoy.

 

I have to say that I’m quite disappointed in this book, and I don’t understand all the good reviews it has gotten.

 

To be fair, it’s not a bad book, but it’s not good either. It has a good storyline, and Stiefvater’s writing is actually very easy to read and flows wonderfully. It has exciting moments and a great plotline, but the characters completely fell flat.

 

I’m quite a character-driven reader, and I need to like the characters to like the story. However, the characters in this book is so undeveloped that I find myself wondering who they are, why they do the things they do and just wanting to know more about them.

 

I never even knew Deidre was a 16-year-old girl until later in the story because she seemed so childish and immature, and I actually felt a uncomfortable when she shared a kiss early in the story with Luke. It was a steamy kiss, and I kept wondering, how old is she? Is she supposed to be kissing like this?

 

The other characters aren’t much better, and all through the book, I felt that they all were having some kind of identity crisis or other.

 

I do think that Stiefvater is a good writer though, and perhaps if she spent more time on character development, I would give her books another try.

Final Friends Trilogy (The Party, The Dance, and The Graduation) by Christopher Pike

 

This book is a three-in-one, all three books in Christopher Pike’s Final Friends series are included.

 

Christopher Pike is one of my favorite authors, and in fact, I first knew I wanted to be a writer only after I started reading his books.

 

Although I had always enjoyed reading, I had never realized that writing required any mastery until I read Pike. I was eleven years old, and any books I read prior to Pike (granted they were mostly children’s and YA books) never showed the mastery that he did.

 

The Final Friends trilogy is one of my favorite YA Pike stories, and I’ve read it many times over the years whenever I feel nostalgic. Which is appropriate, because this story is about being nostalgic, for high school and for high school friends, your final friends.

 

Of course, it’s a Pike book, so there’s also death, suspense, mystery, and romance, and he does them all so well.

 

I consider this as one of Pike’s best books, adult novels and YA both included, and I can guarantee that I will definitely be reading it again and again in years to come.

 

My 2nd Friday Fill-in, I have been extremely busy lately because I’ve just moved to a new home, been packing and cleaning and unpacking, and I’m exhausted! I’m taking a break today, so here I am again.

And...here we go!

1. Anonymous..._comments are welcome, but I really like knowing who you are, so leave your names and urls_.

2. _Adam Lambert_ is a _damn good singer!_

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for thee leads me to my destiny.

4. _Considering that my country doesn’t have four seasons, rain is not_ what I look forward to most about Spring.

5. Who needs therapy when _ice cream, chocolates, and books work so well_.

6. _Nothing(because I don’t celebrate Easter)_ MUST go into the Easter Basket!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _relaxing with a book_, tomorrow my plans include _cleaning the house and studying a little_ and Sunday, I want to _have a nice night out with my hubby_!

The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

I've had this book for ten years, and I kept putting off reading it because I assumed it would be a boring, old classic.

 

If I had only known! This is one of the most exciting, sitting-on-the-edge-of-my-seat books I've ever read!

 

At the back of my copy, it says that this is a "triumphant yet tragic story", and oh, how I celebrate and sympathize with the old man!

 

I know the feelings of excitement and triumph well when it comes to fishing, since I'm somewhat of an amateur fisherman myself. I've been fishing with my father for several years, and while we've never gone deep sea fishing, we've had our share of triumphant and tragic fishing moments.

 

The old man's experience with the giant marlin is amazing, and to be quite honest, I'm not sure I can find the words to describe my feelings as I was reading this book. Hope maybe, and fear, helplessness because I couldn't do anything to help him, respect for his steadiness and strength, jubilation when he triumphed, sadness when he was defeated, worry for his safety, and ultimately, moved by his story.

 

I am moved almost to tears by this amazing, amazing story, and I daresay that this book is among the top ten best books I've ever read in my life, and I haven't been a slouch when it comes to reading books either! This is one book that I will not forget easily, and one that will stay in my heart for a long time.

The Prestige by Christopher Priest

 

I watched the movie years ago when it came out, and I loved it! It was exciting, suspenseful, shocking, and became one of my favorite movies ever.

 

There is one unfortunate thing about it though, once you've watched it and know about the surprises, you naturally don't get surprised when you watch it a 2nd time. However, the movie is so masterfully done that you still enjoy watching it again to find out how you missed the surprises the first time.

 

I didn't plan to read the book, because I enjoyed the movie so much that I assumed that the movie either stayed completely true to the book, or that the book was just a mediocre book where they got the idea from.

 

How wrong I was!

 

I finally decided I had to read the book when I saw so many great reviews of it in Amazon.com. They intrigued me, made me wonder why so many people loved the book so much. What was I missing? I had to read it and find out. And now that I have, I'm amazed!

 

One thing I do have to say though, since I've already seen the movie, I already knew some of the book's secrets, but it didn't stop me from enjoying the book, and the story. It's the first time I've read a book, and seen a movie based on it, in which they were both different from each other, but loved both of them!

 

The movie was dramatic, sinister, and tragic, the book was less dramatic, but no less exciting and tragic in its circumstances, and I honestly can't decide which of them is better. They are both different, and they're both amazing, and I would recommend both watching the movie and reading the book, but I'm not sure which of them you should do first, because inevitably there will be spoilers for the other no matter which you do first.

 

But I enjoyed them both despite that, and perhaps the spoilers will not matter when the journeys of the movie and the book themselves are so magical.

I'm reading William Benham's The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading, and I thought it was interesting enough to do my TT this week about this book.

 

 

13 Things about William Benham's The Laws of Scientific Hand Reading:

 

1. It's palmistry, but it is scientific. Really. Benham read thousands, or more likely tens of thousands, of hands and put together all the information in this book based on the consistency of the markings/signs/shape/etc of the hands he read and the characters of the people they belonged to.

 

2. I read this book many, MANY, years ago, and read many hands before, and I have found the information to be very accurate. I haven't been in practice for the last 7 years though, so now I'm reading the book again to relearn what I've forgotten.

 

3. The copy I'm reading is the 18th edition of the book, published in 1971. My father bought it in 1975, and although some of the pages are falling out, it's still in pretty good shape for a book that's almost 40 years old!

 

4. It was originally published in 1900! 

 

5. One of the first things to learn about reading hands, has nothing to do with reading the palm itself, but in seeing how the hands are held. Loosely at the sides, or clenched tightly? Does the person hide his hands in his pockets, or hold them behind his back, or are his hands hanging limp and loosely at his sides, only slightly open, or held completely closed?

 

6. You can tell so much about a person's character from his hands, before you even get to reading the lines on the palms!

 

7. Other than seeing the way he holds his hands, you can also tell a lot by the texture of the hands. Are they smooth and refined like a baby's hands? Or course and rough? Or somewhere in between, with elastic and firm textured hands?

 

8. The consistency of the hands also tells a lot. Is it a hard or soft? Flabby or firm? Is the flesh bouncy like a sponge or pliant like clay? You can tell if the person is lazy or hardworking, and if they recover easily from a failure or if they take it very hard.

 

9. How about the flexibility of the hands? Is it a stiff hand or a flexible hand? You can tell if the person is a rigid, stubborn person, or if he's flexible and adaptable, or if he's too easily swayed by other's opinions from the flexibility of the hands.

 

10. You can also tell a lot of things from the color of the hands, the shape of the nails and their quality, the hair on the hands, and the individual fingers. The thumb by itself can also tell you much about their owner.

 

11. Palmistry is usually seen as a parlor trick and is always viewed with a lot of skepticism, but Benham's use of the word 'Scientific' in relation to his study of hands is accurate, and for that reason, I have a enormous respect for his work and the information contained in the book.

 

12. Truthfully though, I have been really out of touch with reading hands, and I've forgotten so many details. I have to do a lot of study and practice, before I become good at hand reading again. 

 

13. I have to admit that I'm a person who is extremely interested in trying to understand people and their characters, and that's a very big reason why I love learning about and reading hands.

 

I don't have many details to share about hand reading at the moment, because I've only just started reading it again. I'm on page 36, and have barely relearned what I use to know very well. I hope it'll come back to me soon.