View From the Middle

Hello all!  I have, unfortunately, not finished a sci-fi/fantasy book this week to share with you.  I am, however, in the midst of two!  May I tell you about them, and about how they are going so far?  Then you can have a full review from me next Thursday!  (In my defense, I am quite pregnant.  I may not have finished a book, but I have finished a nursery.)

First book:  Ice Whale by Jean Craighead George.  This book features a relationship between an Eskimo family and a pod of whales.  In 1848, a young Eskimo boy witnesses the birth of a whale-a very rare sight-and he names the whale.  Then he unwittingly leads a group of whalers to the whale pod.  For generations afterward, the Eskimo and his descendants are cursed until a young girl can rectify the whole situation.  What makes this book extra cool (aside from the Eskimo culture and the curse, both of which are cool enough on their own) is that the story is told in alternating points of view from the Eskimos and the whales!  So there's "whalish" (I just made up that name for the whale language) in the book!  Here's part of a page (no spoilers):

Don't worry- there's not so much whalish that you can't follow the story.  Such a unique thing in a book!

Second book: Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud.  It's the "third and final" book in the Bartimaeus "trilogy."  Why all the quotation marks?  Because five years after this was published, Jonathan Stroud ended up writing one more Bartimaeus book... so it's not really the "final" book in the "trilogy" as the back of the book proclaims.  I'm not complaining- I love, love, love the snarky dry-humored Bartimaeus and look forward to the series continuing at least one more book!  I'm listening to this one on CD in my car and it's such fun.  I literally laugh out loud at parts!  Poor Nathaniel the magician, bumbling through his government bureaucracy job while trying to keep a handle on his often-wayward djinni, Bartimaeus.   Also in this book: Kitty.  She's not gone after all!  She's so super smart; I totally enjoy reading about her jobs and her research, and how she manages to get so much done in a time period when girls/women were expected to be quiet and keep home.  In this installment, the three of them will end up working together to try to create world peace between magicians and the public and djinnis.  I'm only about halfway through, so I have no clue if they survive each others' company, or succeed at their task!  ;)

So, that's what I'm up to!  I hope everyone has a great week.  I'll be back next Thursday with a legit review, I promise!

Posted by Tynga at 02:00

 Ice Whale, Jean Craighead George, Jonathan Stroud, Personal, Ptolemy's Gate  2 People left their mark

Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

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