goodreads

It seems that my bibliophilic ways have at last lead me to the social network for books: goodreads. That being said, I have been aware of goodreads now for quite a while, but between my own massive database and organization structure I haven't been all that interesting in signing up. Having worked at B&N for a while now (and Borders for 4 and a half years before that) I've come into meeting a whole host of different authors  from George R. R. Martin to Brandon Sanderson to a dude that was convinced he had caught a Chupacabra. As such I've also become more and more interested in the people behind my favorite books which then led me to contacting Brent Weeks, Patrick Rothfuss, and holding a fascinating conversation with Melinda Snodgrass and Ian Tregillis. One of the things many of these authors have in common is goodreads accounts, sure they update mostly the same things on Facebook, but I soon realized that Rothfuss, while posting many of his reviews on his amazing blog, he more on his account at GR.

As such, I now have an account and far from being the cumbersome interface I thought it was, it's a rather interesting and well thought out design. Indeed, while I will continue to post longer more thorough reviews here, I have started to post comments and thoughts while I've been reading in their status system. This is neat because 70 pages in I might experience something worth mentioning, but if the book is 600+ pages it may not end up in the final review. Plus it has been interesting to see how my thoughts and ideas about the book change as I read. The other thing is that it's kick started me back into actually writing blogs, for a while there I was lacking motivation, but for whatever reason, writing up some shorter book reviews over there has inspired me! We shall of course see how long that lasts, but in any case go check out my goodreads account and expect some more stuff up here as well! Also reviews and such that I do here will be longer and have more details, for what that's worth anyway.

Next time I shall talk about my lovely experience at Albuquerque's very own literary convention Bubonicon. Also I shall offer up some more thoughts on Mr. Martin after actually reading the first three books, so look forward to that as well.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

I'd like to introduce you all to a book that blew me away earlier this month, it was a chance meeting for me, as many such fantastic books go, and I am unbelievably thankful that I spotted this book sitting on a table at my work. Picture yourself wandering a misty street in San Francisco when a tinkle of a bell and the shutting of a door catches your attention. It being late you may wonder what on earth could be open and that's when you spot the lettering engraved on the door "Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore". Being naturally curious, you of course cannot resist going in and finding out about this little shop and as you open the door you see the most extraordinary sight, a seemingly endless number of shelves full of book going not only into the store, but up as far as you can see. After jumping into this book and consequently finishing it in a night, I can only dream of one day finding a bookstore even remotely like Penumbras; the mystery, the intrigue, and the fascinating adventures that can unfold from a place like that are infinite. The story, characters, and plot were so remarkable that I just could not put it down and it was one of the most fun I've had reading in a long, long time. 

First off let me say this is a book for book lovers. Secondly this is a book for tech lovers, and unless you have a solid balance of the two, it may be hard to truly enjoy both aspects. Instead of the standard gloom and doom and death to books scenarios that are popping up in more tech oriented books, Sloan manages to paint an almost optimistic picture of what is to come. A combination that throws open the doors of possibility and a future that I would readily live in. Another thing I should mention is that this is not science fiction nor is it even set in the future, it just has a quality about it that makes you look at the world around you in a completely different light. From how we use our phones to the latest tablets coming out, my perspective has shifted entirely. 

Since this is still somewhat a mystery based novel, going into too much detail is dangerous, but suffice to say if you are a bookworm who can't put down their smartphone this is the book for you. There's a splash of romance, a dash of intrigue, a heavy dose of mystery, and top it all off with some wry humor and a fascinating set of characters which all combine to make Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore one of my top picks for the year thus far. 

The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Well, well, well, remember back in April of 2010 when I was absolutely gushing about a book called The Shadow of the Wind? Well a fairly decent sequel called The Angel's Game came out not too long after, and most recently a third installment of the semi-series has come out entitled, as you might have already guessed, The Prisoner of Heaven. I did a quick review of it on my brand spanking new Goodreads account and figured I'd post it up here with a couple additions.

This book is a perfect example of what is wrong with the publishing world. Zafon's first book, The Shadow of the Wind is one of my all time favorites. Ever. The second book The Angel's Game is well up there on my list, so when I saw The Prisoner of Heaven on display, I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, it is very clear that Zafon was under time pressure from the publisher on this book, enough so that the story was irreversibly ruined. 

You see, Zafon is a master of prose, character, and theme. Indeed I would just say that Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a master storyteller in general, but he is also one that needs time to polish and work his product. The only problem is that because of the HUGE success of his other two books, the publisher (who's biggest concern is for money and not story) wanted a third book yesterday, not tomorrow, not next week, out with it! Some authors fight this or have a brilliant agent and publishing team behind them that believes in story rather than speed, not so with Zafon. Don't get me wrong, this book is still well written and at times brilliant, but in the end it is unfinished. This book is short, a mere 279 pages, compared to a solid 587 pages for The Shadow of the Wind and 531 pages in The Angels Game. What this tells me as a reader is that Zafon wasn't even close to done and it shows. Where this book ends feels like the mid point of a longer book, it isn't really a conclusion, things aren't really tied together, but it was close enough to cut it off and call it "done". 

I did enjoy The Prisoner of Heaven, but the rushed style, short story, and at times sloppy writing tells me that this once great author has been screwed by his publisher. Had this book had another year or even six months of work it would have been another shining example from one of the best writers of the 21st century. Instead we are left with a deep sense of betrayal at an incomplete story put out merely to make as much money as possible. Hopefully in the future Zafon is given the time necessary to produce books to his full potential and not merely for the quick cash. We will see I suppose.

One of the additions I want to make to this is Zafon's loose idea of a series: 

The Prisoner of Heaven is part of a cycle of novels set in the literary universe of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books of which The Shadow of the Wind and The angel's Game are the two first installments  Although each work within the cycle presents an independent, self-contained tale, they are all connected through characters and storylines, creating thematic and narrative links. 

Each individual installment in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series can be read in any order, enabling the reader to explore the labyrinth of stories along different paths which, when woven together, lead into the heart of the narrative.

The last bit there is the interesting part and something that I realize as I was reading the novel. You really can read them in any order because they are so loosely tied together that even some of the references made about the previous two, just seem like back story rather than direct inside jokes. With that in mind while I was reading it it was interesting to try and look at the book as something completely new and unique, from that point of view it was masterfully thought out and brilliantly written. No other author, that I've read anyway, has been able to write a "series" and not make the readers experience  completely dependent on the other books to truly enjoy the novel. Indeed, it is quite amazing that he was able to pull this off with how rushed the rest of the novel was and actually makes me way more sad for the potential this book had had the industry not infected the author.