It’s a smorgasbord!
As the title suggests, none of these books has anything in common with the others. A comedy spoof type of thing, an adventure, and a memoir, coming up!
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES BY JANE AUSTEN AND SETH GRAHAME-SMITH
Bear with me. If you are like everyone and my mother, you are now thinking “WHAT? THAT IS BLASPHEMY!!! How can any self-respecting Jane Austen fan read something this sacrilegious???” I am a self-respecting Jane Austen fan, which is why, when I saw this at Barnes and Noble, I had to buy it. And it did not disappoint. It’s about 80 percent Austen’s original text, but with Grahame-Smith’s interesting additions of zombie-related nature it becomes a different book entirely. England has been plagued by an epidemic of zombie-ism that cannot be stopped, but luckily all five of the Bennet sisters are highly skilled at zombie combat. Oh yeah, and their mother is trying to find them good husbands. It’s the story you know and love, except with kick-zombie-ass scenes added in. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think that doubters should at least try to read it before scoffing.
[B&N]
INKHEART BY CORNELIA FUNKE
People have been recommending this book to me for a while, so I finally went and bought it. I read it in two days, even though it’s 534 pages in the paperback edition. Funke’s writing is absorbing and it’s hard not to get lost in the rich world she creates. One night, a stranger named Dustfinger arrives at Meggie’s house. Her father will not tell her the purpose of his visit, and the next day they pack up and leave for Italy. But when her father is abducted, along with a book, Meggie is determined to save him from Capricorn, a villain she hears him mention but knows nothing about. The adventure that ensues is quite epic and has many twists and turns, although not so many as to make the story hard to follow. It’s fairly easy to tell that this was written for a younger audience (I found it in the Kids section at B&N), but that does not decrease enjoyment of the story. There are two more books in the series, Inkspell and Inkdeath, but this story is complete enough that I’m not sure if I’m going to read the rest of the series. We will see. In any case, this is a book I would heartily recommend to anyone who’s looking for an excellent adventure!
[B&N]
JULIE AND JULIA BY JULIE POWELL
I know, I know. I say I dislike non-fiction and yet continue to review it. But this is a different brand of non-fiction. As one reviewer put it, it is “Bridget Jones meets The French Chef”, and I’d agree with that assessment. Powell’s writing is so normal and unpretentious that it’s hard not to like her. This is a woman who decided to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s groundbreaking Mastering the Art of French Cooking (the first volume) in 365 days. She’s stuck working a dead-end secretarial job for a government agency and is feeling completely useless when she finds her mother’s copy of MtAoFC and randomly decides to cook all the recipes. In addition to mastering (or not) the art of French cooking, Powell also manages to discover those things most important to her: her husband, her family, and her network of diverse and supportive friends. The Julie/Julia Project, as she titled her blog, kept her going through the ups and downs of her life. It’s not always easy, and it usually involves messes, breakdowns, and angry outbursts at everyone and everything around her, but she perseveres and finds contentment with her life. The most hilarious book I’ve read for a very long time, but it makes me never want to attempt to cook anything out of MtAoFC. Read it. (By the way, there’s also a movie coming out with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, my two favorite actresses! I know movies are almost always worse than books, but I will be seeing it.)
[B&N]
ooh, I saw Pride and Prejudice and Zombies in the bookstore, thought the concept was hilarious, and wondered if the book itself was actually worth reading. Thank you for answering this question. I think I’ll go introduce my sister to Jane Austen now…
And yay! You finally read Inkheart! Woooo
You should read the next two books in the series if…
-You were intrigued by the brief descriptions of Inkheart (the book by Fenoglio, not the book by Funke) and want to learn more about that world/see it for yourself
-You really like Mo and want to see him do cool things?
-You’d like to see some romantic bits
-You want more nifty book quotes-at-the-beginning-of-every-chapter
Basically, the next two books are good, but not as good as Inkheart, and I think Inkheart had a better ending than Inkdeath. But they’re still interesting and they introduce interesting new characters from the Inkworld who do exciting (and interesting!) things. Also, they expand on the concept of story introduced in Inkheart, exploring the limits of the craft, use/abuse of power, words (fate) vs. free will, etc. And Inkdeath has a cool personification of Death in it. And the romance-y bits aren’t -great- but interesting and lacking in Inkheart. And they have more of a focus on the adult characters, like Mo and Dustfinger and other people you meet in Inkspell, which is cool. /ramble
Summary: Though not as good as Inkheart, Inkspell and Inkdeath are certainly entertaining and explore in depth the world only hinted at in the first book. Whatever shortcomings they may have, I never regretted reading them. The End. Huzzah!
I saw Julie and Julia, and without reading the book I LOVED the movie. Now with your review, I’m wondering if it’s worth reading. I really HATE non-fiction, but I may just take a chance on this one…