Ouran High School Host Club volume 3

Today's post is on Ouran High School Host Club volume 3 by Bisco Hatori. It is 192 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat Manga. As it is the third in the long running series you need to have read the first two in order to understand the book. The cover has the Hitachiin twins on it. The intended reader is someone who likes over the top humor, light love stories, and manga. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. The story is told from third person close perspective of Haruhi. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- It's summer break, and the Host Club crew head to the beach, dragging out reluctant heroine with them. When Haruhi stands up to some local bullies and gets tossed into the ocean, Tamaki, the Host Club King, rescues her. But afterward, he's so mad that he won't speak to her until she apologizes. Trouble is, Haruhi can't figure out what she should be sorry for!

Review- We get see into a very important part o Tamaki's character in this volume: namely that he does not think. When Haruhi gets tossed into the sea, he just dives after her.Tamaki does not think all the time. Sometimes he just reacts and it was a good thing too because Haruhi cannot swim. They have a fight and Tamaki swears that until she apologizes he will not speak to her. Humor ensues. In the end, of course, everything works out and Tamaki gets to learn something important about Haruhi. Kyoya gets to play an interesting role in this volume. Kyoya is, I think, a bit more honest than normal but Haruhi being herself does not understand that. Tamaki gets it better but then Tamaki knows Kyoya and Haruhi really does not. Good character development in this volume.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this book with my own money.

Fair Game

Today's post is on Fair Game by Patricia Briggs.  It is 293 pages long and is published by Ace Books. It is the third in her Alpha and Omega series. The cover has Anna and Charles on it looking cool. The intended reader is someone who has read the first two, likes urban fantasy, and good writing. There is no sex, mild language, and violence in this book. The story is told from the third person perspective of the characters moving from one to the others has the story moves. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.
Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can't afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father's dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.
Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack's help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer's sights...

Review- Another strong book from Briggs. This one takes place some time after the events of the second novel and the world now knows and has changed by the knowledge of more spiritual creatures. I did not guess the killer in this one until the reveal. I like how Anna is growing as she changes. She is growing into herself and trusting herself more and more. Briggs gives an interesting human character that I would love to see more of.Learning more about the Fae of this world was interesting too. Briggs stay very traditional with them. Very powerful, immortal unless murdered, and beyond human understanding. The world is becoming more complicated and more interesting. I would like to see more of the human supernatural powers other than witch. A very solid third book.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story

Today's post is on Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story by Michael Rosen. It is 448 pages long and is published by Counterpoint. The cover is green with the title in different fonts. The intended reader is someone who likes history, language, and a lots different threads in a book. There is no language, no sex, and no violence. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- How on Earth did we fix upon our twenty-six letters, what do they really mean, and how did we come to write them down in the first place? Michael Rosen takes you on an unforgettable adventure through the history of the alphabet in twenty-six vivid chapters, fizzing with personal anecdotes and fascinating facts. Starting with the mysterious Phoenicians and how sounds first came to be written down, he races on to show how nonsense poems work, pins down the strange story of OK, traces our five lost letters and tackles the tyranny of spelling, among many many other things. His heroes of the alphabet range from Edward Lear to Phyllis Pearsall (the inventor of the A-Z), and from the two scribes of Beowulf to rappers. Each chapter takes on a different subject - whether it's codes, umlauts or the writing of dictionaries. Rosen's enthusiasm for letters positively leaps off the page, whether it's the story of his life told through the typewriters he's owned or a chapter on jokes written in a string of gags and word games. This is the book for anyone who's ever wondered why Hawaiian only has a thirteen-letter alphabet or how exactly to write down the sound of a wild raspberry.

Review- This is a very good book about the history of language, the alphabet, and how we read. At times it does get a little off topic but in the end it is a very fun read.Rosen talks about everything from where the letters come from originally to who put in the letter in Minuscule. Rosen gives personal stories about learning and dealing with language to common stories that everyone learns as we learn about words and their meanings. Overall this is an interesting book but at times Rosen gets a little detailed that has nothing to do with the overall narrative. He gives the reader a interesting and solid overview of the alphabet and how it came to be the way it is now.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.  

Ouran High School Host Club volume 2

Today's post is on Ouran High School Host Club volume 2 by Bisco Hatori. It is the second in her Host Club series and you need to have read the first in order to understand the story. It is 192 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat Manga. The cover has Tamaki and Kyoya on it looking cool. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, romance comedy, and good writing. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this volume. The story is told from the third person close of the main character Haruhi. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- The school-wide physical exam has thrown the members of the Host Club for a loop. How can the doctor not discover that Haruhi is a girl? And once the female customers learn the truth, Haruhi can kiss her job goodbye. But then life at the club will be unbearably boring if she leaves! So the guys wrack their brains for a solution...

Review- We get lots of character development in this volume. We see the twins at their best (or worse...), Haruhi gets to spend time with Mori and have an adventure. Poor Tamaki is still trying too hard to be someone other than himself with her because he gets embarrassed. Many laugh out loud moments in this volume. The plot is starting to really be build. The friendships between the characters are being revealed.On her adventure with Mori, we get a better understanding about the relationship between him and Honey.  Mori is one of my favorite characters in this series, he is really funny in his own quiet way. Kyoya does annoy Haruhi which is always funny. Kyoya's family is thinking about expanding into a new market and he uses his friends to test it out. Comedy ensues.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this volume with my own money.

Maplecroft

Today's post is on Maplecroft by Cherie Priest. It is the first in her Borden Dispatches series. The cover is beautiful; it has Lizzie Borden with her ax in the center standing in a doorway. It is 435 pages long and is published by ROC. The intended reader is someone who likes Lovecraft, horror, and just some really good writing. There is language, sex, and violence in this novel. The story is told in first person of the character's moving from chapter to chapter. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; and when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one....
The people of Fall River, Massachusetts, fear me. Perhaps rightfully so. I remain a suspect in the brutal deaths of my father and his second wife despite the verdict of innocence at my trial. With our inheritance, my sister, Emma, and I have taken up residence in Maplecroft, a mansion near the sea and far from gossip and scrutiny.
But it is not far enough from the affliction that possessed my parents. Their characters, their very souls, were consumed from within by something that left malevolent entities in their place. It originates from the ocean’s depths, plaguing the populace with tides of nightmares and madness.
This evil cannot hide from me. No matter what guise it assumes, I will be waiting for it. With an axe.

Review- This is one of the best written books I have read all year. I am very serious. Everything about this book is so good. The plot, the pacing, the setting, the characters, there it nothing I would change. Epistolary novels are so hard to do well but Priest owns this. In horror one common thing is to stop the reader or watcher from seeing too much but Priest instead makes it like an onion. Layers are peeled back slowly so that the horror just builds. The horror is very Lovecraftain, very slow to build but like the tide coming in, it will pull you under. The sex is not overdone and very tasteful. The violence is there but it is not overwhelming. I just enjoyed this book so much. I cannot wait to read the second one Chapelwood.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I was given this book as a gift.

Founding Grammars: How Early America's War over Words Shaped Today's Language

Today's post is on Founding Grammars: How Early America's War over Words Shaped Today's Language by Rosemarie Ostler. It is 309 pages long including notes and it published by St. Martin's Press. The cover is blue with a quill and the constitution on it. The intended reader is someone interested in history and grammar. There is no language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- Who decided not to split infinitives? With whom should we take issue if in fact, we wish to boldly write what no grammarian hath writ before? 
In Founding Grammars, Rosemarie Ostler delves into the roots of our grammar obsession to answer these questions and many more. Standard grammar and accurate spelling are widely considered hallmarks of a good education, but their exact definitions are much more contentious -- capable of?inciting a full-blown grammar war at the splice of a comma, battles readily visible in the media and online in the comments of blogs and chat rooms. 
With an accessible and enthusiastic journalistic approach, Ostler considers these grammatical shibboleths, tracing current debates back to America's earliest days, an era when most families owned only two books -- the Bible and a grammar primer. Along the way, she investigates colorful historical characters on both sides of the grammar debate in her efforts to unmask the origins of contemporary speech. Linguistic founding fathers like Noah Webster, Tory expatriate Lindley Murray, and post-Civil War literary critic Richard Grant White, all play a featured role in creating the rules we've come to use, and occasionally discard, throughout the years.
Founding Grammars is for curious readers who want to know where grammar rules have come from, where they've been, and where they might go next.

Review-This at times is a very entertaining and then it goes into very dry. There is no middle ground, sadly. But that said it was interesting to see where our language, as Americans, comes from and how it has grown. The notes were just for adding citation and did not really much more to the overall narrative. This is not just about how Americans write but also about how we educate ourselves and our children. Ostler takes something that could have been extremely dry and boring and makes a good effort to make it interesting and mostly readable. At times she gets into very detailed items about the how and it takes some time to get through those moments but in the end I think that it is a worthy read.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

Ouran High School Host Club volume 1

Today's post is on Ouran High School Host Club volume 1 by Bisco Hatori. It is 168 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat Manga. The cover has two of the main characters on it looking cool. The intended reader is someone who likes extreme humor, light romance, and interesting characters. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this volume. The story is told from the third person of Haruhi the main character. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- In this screwball romantic comedy, a poor girl at a rich kids' school ends up working for the school's swankiest club- and gets mistaken for a boy!
One day, Haruhi, a scholarship student at exclusive Ouran High School, breaks an $80,000 vase that belongs to the "Host Club," a mysterious campus consisting of six super-rich (and gorgeous) guys. To pay back to damages, she is forced to work for the club, and it's there that she discovers just how wealthy the members are and how different the rich are from everyone else...

Review- This is one of the funniest, best written, and all around best mangas that I have ever read. The character's have real depth, the plot is very light and funny, but it is so funny. Haruhi has one of the driest sense of humor that I have ever read. She is just the best. Tamaki is wonderful. He is one of my favorite hero's of all time. Hatori takes all the shojo and romance tropes and she lampshades them. That said it is a romance comedy manga. When Tamaki 'discovers' that Haruhi is a girl is one of the funniest moments that I have ever read, period.  The first volume is all about setting up the plot and getting to know Haruhi and some about Tamaki. So expect lots of character development in later volumes.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.

Hunting Ground

Today's post is on Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs. It is the second in her Alpha & Omega series. It is 286 pages long and published by Ace. The cover is dark blue with the two main characters on it. The intended reader is someone who has read the first book, likes urban fantasy, and a little romance. There is some language, implied sex, and violence in this book. The story is told from the third person close perspective of the character's moving from one to the next as needed. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Anna Latham didn’t know how complicated life could be until she became a werewolf. And until she was mated to Charles Cornick, the son — and enforcer — of Bran, the leader of the North American werewolves, she didn’t know how dangerous it could be either...
Anna and Charles have just been enlisted to attend a summit to present Bran’s controversial proposition: that the wolves should finally reveal themselves to humans. But the most feared Alpha in Europe is dead set against the plan — and it seems like someone else might be too. When Anna is attacked by vampires using pack magic, the kind of power only werewolves should be able to draw on, Charles and Anna must combine their talents to hunt down whoever is behind it all — or risk losing everything...

Review- A very solid second book in a series. There is more plot, more character development, and more world building in this book. We get to move out of the small town that Anna and Charles live in to explore pack relations in Seattle. There are Fae, crazy other wolves, and different witches. Briggs does so much with this book. Anna and Charles are still getting to know each other but they are invested in being together. I really liked their interactions in this book. I did guess who the villain was early on but that did not ruin it for me and I did not guess all the villains or what they would do. I am very curious about where Briggs is going to take these characters next.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

The History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks

Today's post is on The History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks by Stewart Gordon. It is 270 pages long including notes and an index. It is published by ForeEdge. The cover has a painting of the sinking of the Lusitania. the intended reader is someone who likes history, ships, and how they changed the world. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- Shipwrecks as hidden windows on the history of globalization.
Stories of disasters at sea, whether about Roman triremes, the treasures fleet of the Spanish Main, or the great transatlantic ocean liners. Stories of disasters at sea fire the imagination as little else can, whether the subject is a historical wreck—the Titanic or the Bismark—or the recent capsizing of a Mediterranean cruise ship. Shipwrecks also make for a new and very different understanding of world history. A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks explores the ages-long, immensely hazardous, persistently romantic, and still-ongoing process of moving people and goods across far-flung maritime worlds.
Telling the stories of ships and the people who made and sailed them, from the earliest ancient-Nile craft to the Exxon Valdez, A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks argues that the gradual integration of localized and separate maritime regions into fewer, larger, and more interdependent regions offers a unique window on world history. Stewart Gordon draws a number of provocative conclusions from his study, among them that the European “Age of Exploration” as a singular event is simply a myth—many cultures, east and west, explored far-flung maritime worlds over the millennia—and that technologies of shipbuilding and navigation have been among the main drivers of science and technology throughout history. Finally, A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks shows in a series of compelling narratives that the development of institutions and technologies that made terrifying oceans familiar, and turned unknown seas into sea-lanes, profoundly matters in our modern world.

Review- At parts I really liked this book but then it would get really slow and boring. When Gordon is talking about the history of the ship and the world that made it is is very interesting. But he gets into the all the little details about measurements that gets boring quickly. The title is a little misleading. It is about the ships that changed the way that we build ships and how they changed the world but not all of them were wrecked. In fact the first ship discussed was a funeral boat that was never meant to sail at all.The notes are just more details that did not really add to the overall narrative. The history of ships and maritime culture was good and interesting but Gordon has so much going on in this book at times it just gets too cluttered.

Ii give this book a Three out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

XXXholic volume 19

Today's post is on XXXholic volume 19 by CLAMP. It is the last in the XXXholic series and as such you need to have read the rest of the series to understand what is happening. The cover has Watanuki in it smiling at the reader. The intended reader is someone who is interested in Japanese mythology, long plots, and fantasy. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this volume. The story is told from Watanuki's perspective. There Be Spoiler Ahead.

From the back of the book- Kimihiro Watanuki has passed through many trails by fire. Once an indentured servant , he has matured and become the poised and skilled keeper of the shop that grants wishes. but Watanuki's final wish is for himself: to meet the witch Yuko one more time. With Yuko long vanished from our world, is it even possible? That question and others are answered now in the concluding volume of the bestselling manga xxxHOLic!

Review- I loved the ending for this series. Watanuki gets peace at the end of the story. He does see Yuko again but it is in a dream that she left for him long ago. The only thing that remained was what Domeki was to use the egg on. That is never told or it could be that he never needed to use it at all. The story in this manga was so moving to me. Watanuki starts out so angry and alone. He feels that he does not matter and no one would care if he just disappeared. In the end of the story, Watanuki knows that he is worthy. He knows that people care about him and he, in turn, cares about others. The way that Watanuki grows over the course of the series was so beautiful and moving. The sadness that is part of this story is so worth how beautiful it is.

I give this volume and series a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this series with my own money.

Midnight Crossroad

Today's post is on Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris. It is the first novel in her Midnight, Texas trilogy. It is 305 pages long and is published by Ace. The cover is a picture of the one street in Midnight. The intended reader is someone who likes urban fantasy and mysteries. There is some mild language, no sex, and some violence in this book. The story is told from the third person close of the main characters moving from one to the next as the story goes. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book-
From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse and her world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a darker locale - populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer it...
Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.
There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).
Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth... 

Review- I am not a huge Harris fan. I read the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series and it just did not hit with me. But I really enjoyed this book. The best part is that Harris spends so much time making the setting of Midnight a character too. The characters were not bad, I did not guess the killer until the big reveal, and the writing was good. I will say that the story moves very slowly. I know that everything happens in a short amount of time like two or three weeks but it feels so much slower than that. I liked how slow it was, that is something different than most things written in both urban fantasy and just in general. The plot does have moments when things get going very quickly but  mostly it is goes at its own pace. Read this for the excellent use of setting.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

1920: The Year that Made the Decade Roar

Today's post is on 1920: The Year that Made the Decade Roar by Eric Burns. It is 400 pages long and is published by Pegasus Books. The cover is golden with wall Street on it. The intended reader is someone interested in history. There is no sex, no language, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- "The Roaring Twenties” is the only decade in American history with a widely applied nickname, and our collective fascination with this era continues. But how did this surge of innovation and cultural milestones emerge out of the ashes of The Great War?
No one has yet written a book about the decade’s beginning. Acclaimed author Eric Burns investigates the year of 1920, which was not only a crucial twelve-month period of its own, but one that foretold the future, foreshadowing the rest of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, whether it was Sacco and Vanzetti or the stock market crash that brought this era to a close. Burns sets the record straight about this most misunderstood and iconic of periods. Despite being the first full year of armistice, 1920 was not, in fact, a peaceful time—it contained the greatest act of terrorism in American history to date. And while 1920 is thought of as starting a prosperous era, for most people, life had never been more unaffordable. Meanwhile, African Americans were putting their stamp on culture and though people today imagine the frivolous image of the flapper dancing the night away, the truth was that a new kind of power had been bestowed on women, and it had nothing to do with the dance floor...
From prohibition to immigration, the birth of jazz, the rise of expatriate literature, and the original Ponzi scheme, 1920 was truly a year like no other.

Review- On the one hand this was a very interesting book but on the other there is just so much happening that at times I felt overwhelmed by it all. Burns does good research into his topic and he gives the reader lots of information; not just about people or events but about how these people and events were able to happen. He gives so much about individuals from their births all the way to death that at times I was wondering why he felt that I needed to know everything. That said I enjoy this book. Burns makes a good narrative about the year that started so much of what happened in the twenties and for the rest of the century. With good notes in the back for more research, if you so desire, there is much to learn about the 1920s and Burns gives a good place to start.

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

XXXHolic volume 18

Today's post is on XXXHolic volume 18 by CLAMP. It is the eighteenth in the long running series, and as such you need to have read the first seventeen to understand the series. The cover has Watanuki on it wrapping around to the back. The intended reader is someone who is interested in Japanese culture, mythology, ghost stories, and good plots. There is no sex, no violence, and no language in this volume. The story is told from Watanuki's perspective. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Watanuki's vow to the witch Yuko, who has disappeared, leaves him in charge of the shop where wishes must be granted to those who meet the price. Enter a deranged customer who is determined to capture the heart of the man she is stalking. Now Watnuki may have no choice but to deliver his friend Shizuka Domeki into the arms of this unstable woman!

Review- The blurb is not bad but it only gives one small story from this volume. The real story is about a child waiting to be picked up by a rainbow. It was very interesting and intense with the interactions between the characters. But the woman who is stalking Domeki was a little scary because of what she did to herself. She had hurt her own soul, taking it away from her body. It was interesting watching as I tried to discover what was wrong with her. In this volume ten more years have past from the last one, with Watanuki getting more and more powerful has he runs the shop. And we get to see Syaoran and company again on their journey. Only one more volume then I am done with this series.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.