May Books

June 2, 2010


“Imago” by Octavia E. Butler – With the previous book, I was mad about leaving Lilith and then this time I was mad about leaving the story of Akin, but I quickly fell in love with Jodahs. My only complaint is that I never realized the meaning behind the title of the book, but perhaps I did not read carefully enough. I guess I’ll have to read it again sometime! I wish Butler had not died, because I could read about her characters forever. She really knows how to make a character come alive.

“The Eternal Tomb” by Kevin Emerson – This is book five in the “Oliver Nocturne” series and it is simply dreadful. The girl I work with picked it out. (So don’t blame me!) I know we started in the middle of the series, but even so, the book was really confusing with too many big words. As a writer, I don’t think books should have huge words unless they contribute to the flow and meaning of the book and few books should be filled with them, especially when the audience is for preteens. I just don’t think Emerson is a good writer and I find it sad and frustrating that someone who is not a proficient writer has published so many books!

“Eating in the Light of the Moon: How Women can Transform their Relationships with Food through Myths, Metaphors & Storytelling” by Anita Johnston – Fabulous! Johnston tells many folk tales from around the world and relates them to recovery from an eating disorder. I read this quickly and absolutely loved it. I have a quote book and I did not bother writing down any quotes from this book in it, because I wanted to quote the whole thing! I heartily recommend it.

“Kindred” by Octavia E. Butler – So far I have not found one book by Butler that I have not loved! In this book, Dana, who is black, keeps on going back in time to the time of slavery in America. The relationship between Dana and the man she keeps on going back in time to see is intriguing. The book brings slavery and its horrors to life and I often wondered how our nation could have had such an awful practice. The characters seemed like real people and I felt like Butler must have lived through that time herself!

“Clay’s Ark” by Octavia E. Butler – Besides her characters, I love the fact that Butler’s novels are very action oriented. A lot of the teen books I read with the girl I work with go by VERY slowly, but in Butler’s books the action is intense. Her books would make great movies. This book is probably my least favorite of her books, although I still could not put it down. In it, the astronaut, Clay, comes back to earth infected with an alien organism and he has to figure out how to stay human.

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