lunabee34 | Entries tagged with reading: riordan

1. Well I spoke too soon. I had a fever again yesterday (very low), and I feel kinda crummy today without having a fever. Clearly this is still a process, and I'm not going to post any more pronouncements about how I'm feeling better unless it's been two weeks of no fever and feeling better. LOL

2. So all these stationery blogs I read also talk about fancy pencils, and they have been slowly snookering me into thinking I need to be writing with fancy pencils. Which is ludicrous. I do not write with pencils. I do not need fancy pencils. Fortunately, my friend M has some fancy pencils she let me borrow today, and I am relieved to say that they are indeed just fucking pencils (no matter how fancy) that I do not need or want to write with on a regular basis, and my desire for fancy pencils has been successfully exorcised. I feel like I deserve some sort of award for this achievement.

3. ( cut for spoilery review of The Tower of Nero--Trials of Apollo )

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I begin this book so enchanted with the Wellwoods--with Humphrey and Olive and their lovely family and her writing and the community of artists with which they've surrounded themselves. But I grow ever more disenchanted with them all as the novel progresses, which I suppose is exactly the point of a fin de siecle novel that culminates in what is arguably the biggest disillusionment of the Western world.

By the end of the novel, I am furious with Olive and Humphrey and Herbert Methley (may he expire of the pox), and Benedict Fludd could have walked into the waves so much sooner for me. I think this book has a lot of interesting things to say about what it means to have ideals that you do or do not attempt to actually live by or that you only give lip service to for your own ends. Methley's preaching free love because he wants to sleep with everyone and not have to pay any consequences. Olive and Humphrey say they care about the poor but do nothing to actually help people in a lasting, meaningful way (except for rescuing Philip; that's their one truly philanthropic act). They are progressive but give no thought to the education of their daughters.

Tom's story arc is so tragic. He's bullied and assaulted, and he has PTSD, and he's living in a world that doesn't recognize what happened to him as a problem.

The women interest me most--Dorothy and Elsie and Griselda and Violet and Imogen and the rest. I think Dorothy is probably my favorite character. Her fierce drive resonates deeply with me. I'm so glad that so many of the women are able to achieve at least part of what they want and experience some happiness and fulfillment.

Excellent, excellent read and a tour de force (ha, ha, ha, I pun) through the literary and intellectual movements of the latter decades of the 19th century and the first two decades of the twentieth.

View all my reviews

The Tyrant's Tomb (The Trials of Apollo, #4)

The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

I am convinced that Apollo is going to choose to remain human at the end of his trials. Zeus intended turning him human to knock him down a peg, but he did not, I suspect, intend Apollo to be learning the lessons he's learning. Every lesson he learns about how petty he was as a god is also a lesson he's learning about how petty his father is and all the other gods are. Every lesson he learns about his own cruelty is a lesson he's learning about the cruelty of the other deities. I cannot imagine him wanting to go back to being what he was or wanting to go back to hanging out with gods who are just like he was even if he manages to retain what he's learned in a divine form.

View all my reviews

( spoilers for Tyrant's Tomb )

1. They're gonna make my Rx today. Really, y'all. It's going to happen. LOL This is after four days of multiple phone calls to both the doctor and the pharmacy. I am so lucky to have a flexible job that allows me the time I have found it necessary to devote to begging medical professionals to help me. Is there anything more humiliating and time consuming than having weird medical problems in the US?

2. ( massive spoilers for third Trials of Apollo book; do not even peek, Spikedluv )

3. Emma and I went to see Spiderman a couple days ago. ( spoilers )

4. Look, look, look what

misbegotten wrote for me!!!!!!!!

To See When Shown
Good Omens
Aziraphale/Crowley

misbegotten has such a good handle on the character voices; reading her dialogue is like reading the book or watching the show. Very hot and very sweet which is exactly what I'm looking for when I read this in this fandom.

( spoilers )

I am now tempted to re-read The Trials of Apollo since it follows directly from this series, but I think I ought to take a Riordan break. I think I'll go back to Byatt and re-read Possession. And *then* read The Trials of Apollo. LOL

( both reviews are spoilery )

1. I decided to do a Percy Jackson series reread before I reread Byatt's Possession. I don't want to get author fatigue, and Riordan is pretty much a 180 from Byatt. My palate is cleansed! LOL

( Percy Jackson series )

2. We took Fiona to her first movie in the theater yesterday, Toy Story 4. I think I have probably seen bits and pieces of the Toy Story movies, and I have osmosised a lot about the series, but I've never watched a full movie. This one was really cute, very funny and sweet. I cried like twelve times, and Fiona loved it. Forky's trash sequence was Fi's favorite part. :)

3. We finished Jessica Jones season 2! ( spoilers )

I am totally unspoiled for season 3. I probably won't watch it for awhile; Josh and I have switched to Daredevil, and we'll be mainlining Stranger Things as soon as Emma gets back from her vacation with Josh's sister. I have seen on the flist that general reactions to JJ season 3 have been negative, so I'm all eeeep.

4. We watched the first three episodes of Daredevil season 3. ( spoilers )

Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles by Jeanette Winterson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this. The author interweaves POV narration from herself, Atlas, and Hercules. Hercules is a dick who is extremely concerned with his dick, but he's supposed to be off-putting. I absolutely love the end of this; it's such an unexpected ending. It makes me smile.

Also a very quick read; about the same length as the retelling of Oedipus in this series but it doesn't feel as slight.

View all my reviews

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really love this series. Riordan cleverly adapts the ancient Greek myths, gods, and monsters to the present and creates a cast of characters that the reader cares about deeply.

One of the tensions throughout the series is the way many of the Greek gods ignore their children; some of them never claim their children at all or interact with them in any meaningful way. Luke's betrayal makes a lot of sense in the context of a kid whose been abandoned and forced to survive in a deeply unfair system.

Highly recommended.

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We've been watching bad movies! The Great Wall was surprisingly entertaining and visually stunning. Kong: Skull Island fits that same bill and had the bonus effect of finally allowing me to find Hiddleston attractive. Loki just does not do it for me at all, but wash that hair and shave it off and Aragorn him up with some scruff? Yes, please. Also surprising is how little I enjoyed the Guy Ritchie King Arthur movie. I think I had too high expectations, but it just fell flat for me. It had all the cinematography hallmarks of a Ritchie film but very little of the humor. I think if it had been funny, I'd have been all over it.

What have you watched over the Christmas holidays?

The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2)

The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm really digging this series. Watching Apollo develop a mortal perspective and feel shame for his past misdeeds as well as the ability to truly be a friend and put someone else's welfare before his own is really satisfying. I love that we're meeting new characters while checking in with some beloved characters from last series.

I am so glad that Riordan has gone all in on depicting queer characters in his latest books. Apollo is very upfront about having relationships with men and women and a lesbian couple feature prominently in this book. It means a lot to me that Emma can pick up a series of books intended for her demographic and find people in it she can relate to. She's mentioned more than once how comforting she finds that.

I'm wondering if at the end of this thing, Apollo is going to decide to stay mortal, at least for awhile. IDK, but I just have a hunch that he might.

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Crossposts: https://lunabee34.livejournal.com/540832.html

Final reading stats for 2017: 82 books!

The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, #3)

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic conclusion to the trilogy.

I love the way Magnus ultimately defeats Loki, and I think the part where Hearthstone finally faces his father is excellently done.

I also really like that Riordan had the courage to let Magnus be attracted to Alex (and even kiss Alex!) as a guy and not just when Alex is a girl.

View all my reviews

The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1)

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is great. I loved seeing so many of the kids from Camp Half Blood again; Will and Nico are especially cute, and Percy is awesome.

Apollo's gradual transformation from self-centered douche to someone capable of thinking of others, feeling gratitude for what he's been given, and feeling shame for what he's done wrong is fantastic.

I loved Meg. She's such a fantastic character. Her betrayal is so heart-wrenching. I love that Apollo has grown so much that he can see Meg as the victim of abuse rather than an enemy.

There's a surprise appearance at the end of the book that made the whole book for me and made me eager to read the next one.

View all my reviews

Crossposts: https://lunabee34.livejournal.com/540163.html

I got a lovely card from

rahirah today. Thank you! :)

I did a lot of reading while we were away for Christmas (six days! wail! too long!).

( cut for a tl;dr review of Vanity Fair and short reviews of Stacy London's book plus the first two Magnus Chase books )

Crossposts: https://lunabee34.livejournal.com/539669.html

1. Today concludes two weeks at 11,000 steps. I did not meet my goal three days during this period; one day I just lost track of time and the clock rolled over with a few hundred steps lacking without my noticing it. The other two days were a day I had meetings in a town an hour away (so five hours of the day gone to riding in a car and sitting in meetings) and yesterday when we hosted a barbecue and the entire day was devoted to rigorously cleaning the house. All in all, I feel pretty good about the two week period. As I suspected, meeting 11,000 steps was not any more difficult than meeting 10,000, and out of the past 31 days, I've walked 10,000+ steps every day except two. Not too shabby! Today, I upped the goal to 12,000 steps, and this is where I imagine things start to get difficult. We'll see.

2. Why did I not know how funny Edge of Tomorrow is? I was expecting something totally different and was pleasantly surprised by how endearingly funny the movie is. Tonally, it reminded me of Starship Troopers a great deal. And I thought Tom Cruise was awesome in the role. Oh, Tom Cruise, you are such a good actor and such a bizarre RL person. Why? We were a Nielson family right after he started acting so bizarrely in public (the couch jumping, the screed against drugs for post-partum depression), and one of the questions we were asked in the phone interview was how we felt about him and whether his RL behavior impacted our willingness to watch his movies.

3. I finished the Heroes of Olympus series, and I would like to take this opportunity to fangirl the hell out of Rick Riordan. His books are so damn good. Like really, really good. In the interest of full disclosure, I kinda feel like the series closer is the weakest of the books, just because its scope was so broad and some of the characters who had been more foregrounded in previous books didn't get as much page time, but overall, I am extremely satisfied. ( SPOILERS ) I seriously recommend these books for all ages. I think they do very funny things with the Greek myths and in interpreting the attributes of the gods for the 21st century. If you're into audiobooks, the guy who reads the original Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus is genuinely gifted.

4. Lemme tell you about 'Tis the Voice of the Lobster. Description: A woody, musky-weird base glooping over with blackberry preserves, a twist of mandarin, strawberry juice, pulverized watermelon, and a handful of smushed gardenia petals. This, my friends, was a world of no for everyone in the house. Emma and I both smelled gardenia + strawberry glooping over something weird and mildewy. Bleck. I sent this to someone who will either smell gloriously of fruit or damn me for the weird glooping. LOL