Aug. 31st, 2010

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Title: Born at Midnight
Author: C.C. Hunter
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: 5/5
# pages: 343
Date read: August, 2010

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn't put out. Her grandmother died and now Kylie's acquired a stalker. Unfortunately, she's the only one who seems to be able to see the stalker. And that gets her sent to a psychologist's sofa.

The kooky psychologist gets Kylie sent to Shadow Falls Camp. Kylie and her parents think it's a camp for troubled teens.

They thought wrong.

It's a camp of supernaturals: vampires, werewolves, fairies, witches and shape shifters. And if she believes the camp leader, Kylie is one of them, too.

Just because she's seeing ghosts, just because she was born at midnight, does that really mean she's not human? And if so, what is she? Not even the other supernaturals can tell her.

Lately paranormal novels have come in fast and furious on the heels of the Twilight success. Are there really room for more? Well, I do think the market is getting a bit saturated, but when I come across a book as well written and captivating as Born at Midnight, I'd still have to say yes. It's set apart from most other paranormal novels by NOT being a Twilight-clone (other than the incessant love-triangle. Please, authors, it's getting old! It's not as bad in this one as in many others though, so I can mostly ignore it), but carving out a spot for itself.

I especially love the idea of a supernatural camp, and found it fascinating to see how the different 'species' (for want of better word) interact.

Really great book that I HOPE is the first in a series, because I'd love to read more about Kylie and her quest to figure out who and what she is.
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Title: Good Book
Author: David Plotz
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 320
Date read: August, 2010

At a time when wars are fought over scriptural interpretation, when the influence of religion on American politics has never been greater, when many Americans still believe in the Bible's literal truth, it has never been more important to get to know the Bible. Good Book is what happens when a regular guy - an average Job - actually reads the book on which his religion, his culture, and his world are based. Along the way, he grapples with the most profound theological questions: How many commandments do we actually need? Does God prefer obedience or good deeds? And the most unexpected ones: Why are so many women in the Bible prostitutes? Why does God love bald men so much? Is Samson really that stupid?

Very interesting book, especially when read (like I did) on the heels of The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. I'm not sure what I would have thought of it if I hadn't been as familiar with the Old Testament though - I have a feeling it could get a bit difficult to follow otherwise, but I do think it would be a great (although occasionally irreverent) commentary to a read-through of the OT. I didn't always agree with David Plotz on his conclusions, but at the same time, he did occasionally manage to point things out to me that I'd never noticed before (e.g. that there are two sets of 10 Commandments found in Exodus - one in chapter 20 and one in chapter 34).

Good book for anybody interested in the Old Testament - no matter whether they'd consider themselves religious or not.

After finishing the book, I discovered that David Plotz is also the author of one of my favourite blogs, Blogging the Bible, which I should really have guessed, but I just never added 2 and 2 to get 4.
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Title: Diget (The Dike)
Author: Teddy Vork
Genre: Horror, childrens
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 190
Date read: August, 2010

Every seventh year, according to an old tradition, a young boy had to be sacrificed to the dike by the Western coast of Denmark.

Trapped in the darkness of the dike, Knud has to fight against hunger, thirst, cold and fear - because he quickly discovers that he's not alone. Something is waiting for him in the darkness.

I'll admit it. I only read "Diget" ("The Dike") because I had to. It's not the type of book I'll usually pick up, but my publisher sent it to me for review, so pick it up I did. That said, it actually wasn't half bad. "Diget" was a mixture of Knud's experiences inside the dike, old legends and his experiences with the people of his village which worked surprisingly well. Until now I've only known Teddy Vork to write short stories, and "Diget" also mostly read like a collection of short stories, tied together by the red thread of Knud's imprisonment and attempts to get out. Generally it worked well, but there was a time or two where the connection was a bit too forced.

The end was very different from what I had expected, but actually worked a lot better than the ending I had envisioned.

Still, I think Teddy Vork is a better short story author than a novel author, and while good, "Diget" didn't quite live up to the expectations his short stories had caused me to have.

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