Reformed Vampire - 3

Ok, so I'll admit it. I've abandoned this book. I know, I know - you're thinking, "Ms. Luthey, how could you? You are always telling us that it's important to stick with a book, even if you think that it's boring and that you have to struggle through difficult texts." Yeah, I know. And I DO believe that, for the most part. I do believe that you have to struggle through difficult texts because it will make you a better reader. And I do believe that getting through the boring parts will lead you to the better parts. However (and this is the kicker), I am an advanced reader and I have made my struggles and I have gotten through my difficult texts (when YOU'VE read Pride and Prejudice as many times as I have, you let me know). I know a boring book when I see one. I know when to take a risk and challenge myself and when to just let a book go. When you've become an advanced reader, you can make those decisions for yourselves. Since most of you have yet to read as many books as I have, I can be a walking contradiction. Until then, I WILL continue to make you struggle through difficult texts and I will continue to have you challenge yourself until you are an advanced reader. So there.

Reformed Vampire 2

I'm not sure why, but I am having a really hard time getting into this book. It's making me struggle. I think that it might be because of the characters. Truthfully, I don't really find them all that interesting. For some reason the main character, Nina, is boring. And she tells the story, so if she's boring, then I can't imagine what the rest of the story is about.

It is hard to read a book that isn't grabbing my attention right off the bat. It might be because I find the author's theory on "reformed vampires" not as funny as I thought it was going to be based off the cover. But that just reinforces the old adage about not judging a book by it's cover. Reformed Vampire Support Group looked interesting enough based on the cover and I'm struggling with it because it is boring. Whereas there are a TON of books out there that I know of that are boring on the outside, but inside, there is nothing but sheer entertainment.

I'm going to continue to challenge myself with this book to see if I can make it though. I'll be honest though, I will make no guarantees. After all, it is summer...

Reformed Vampire 1

Ok, so I have to confess that this book is taking a bit to get into. There are some confusing parts to try and get over. For example, the main character, Nina (who is the narrator of the story) talks about having her eyeballs bleed. Now I consider myself a vampire expert and never, in all of my readings of vampire books, have a I ever heard of a vampire's eyes bleeding. It has something to do with the virus that causes them to be vampires. Odd. And they seem to be really fragile, which, of course, is the opposite of pretty much everything that we've come to think about vampires being (I mean, think about it - have you ever really heard of a vampire being FRAGILE?). Although it is taking a few pages for the story to get warmed up, I'm going to press on and see what the heck is up with these vamps.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

I have started another book (although this one is NOT on my summer reading list) that I couldn't help but get and start. When I read the title, I thought that it was so funny (because I mean really, who ever heard of a vampire support group?). According to baresandnoble.com the synopsis for this book is:

Think vampires are romantic, sexy, and powerful? Think again. Vampires are dead. And unless they want to end up staked, they have to give up fanging people, admit their addiction, join a support group, and reform themselves.
Nina Harrison, fanged at fifteen and still living with her mother, hates the Reformed Vampire Support Group meetings every Tuesday night. Even if she does appreciate Dave, who was in a punk band when he was alive, nothing exciting ever happens. That is, until one of group members is mysteriously destroyed by a silver bullet. With Nina (determined to prove that vamps aren't useless or weak) and Dave (secretly in love with Nina) at the helm, the misfit vampires soon band together to track down the hunter, save a werewolf, and keep the world safe from the likes of themselves.

So I will have to see if this book is a entertaining as it seems to be. I have high hopes for this one (hopefully, it will be better than Jane Bites Back - which I have a friend reading to give me a second opinion).

Jane Bites Back - Review

I have finished Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford and I have to confess that I was less than excited. It started out really interesting; Jane Austen as a vampire, Lord Byron being the one who changed her. But as the story went on it lost some of it's lustre. There were times when the story was interesting, but the entertainment only lasted for a page or two. Unfortunately, the story became rather kitsh with all the different legendary figures as vampires and the whole Charlotte Bronte thing was just ridiculous.

I like that I had to rely on my background knowledge of legendary literary figures and books (both classic and modern writers), but the vague reference to, I think, Julia Child, as a vampire hunter was just a little over the top for me.

I give this book 2 1/2 stars. Funny with an orginal idea but not developed or taken far enough.

Jane Bites Back 5

So I have to confess that this book got disappointing when Jane revealed herself to be a vampire to her friend Lucy. It was a real let down and not at all realistic. Also, I find myself struggling with Jane's character. I can see traits of the 18th century woman who was turned into a vampire, but the character herself is rather boring and not at all what I have to expect from the idealogy of what vampires are. It's a bit of a let down actually. This is the same disappointment that I had in Edward from Twilight. Both of them are so wishy-washy with their existances as vampires. Neither want to actually enjoy being what they are nor do they actually truly accept themselves, almost to the point of punishing themselves for being what they are. It's all really annoying actually.

Jane Bites Back 4

Yes!! I love it when I am right! Brian IS Lord Byron! That is so great because that means that I am not the only one who pays attention to vampire myths. Someone else heard the theory as well and has not combined Byron and Austen. That is just cool!

Also, there is discussion about how Charlotte Bronte hated Jane's work and Jane, in this book, criticizes Jane Eyre (the book that Bronte wrote). It, again, is really funny because once more I am having to rely on my background knowledge of these authors and texts to understand what the author is trying to talk about. He does it again when he says that Jane knew Jack the Ripper - personally. So, since Jane was already a vampire at that time, does the author mean to insinuate that Jack was a vampire as well? Hmmm...

Jane Bites Back 3

Something that I am noticing is how much background knowledge I am using while reading this book. The author not only mentions a bunch of Jane Austen works (and spin-offs) but he mentions other books as well (like How Stella Got Her Groove Back and The Devil Wears Prada). It's helpful that I have also already read these books because I can see the sarcasm that the author is trying to get across and if I hadn't then I might not see how funny the author is being.

Also, my background knowledge and familiarity with literature is helping me think and inference about some of the characters. A man from Jane's past has come back into her life. His name is Brian and he is a poet. Knowing what I know about poets from the past and how the author is describing this character, I can only guess that he is actually Lord Byron and he's a vampire as well (which is interesting because there is speculation that Lord Byron had a relationship with a vampire and that is what the poem She Walks in Beauty is about). Now, I'm only guessing, but with Brian being a poet and seemingly is a vampire from Jane's past, the coincidence is too much to ignore.

She Walks In Beauty

by George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)

Composed June, 1814

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Jane Bites Back 2

Something that I am finding really funny is how many Jane Austen spin-off books they mention in this one book. What is even funnier is that I actually own and have read most of the books that they mention such as Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, Mr. Darcy's Diary, Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, the Jane Austen Bookclub, Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters...the list could go on. I just find it highly entertaining the the author of this book, a spin-off of the Austen legacy, is making fun of other spin-offs. I just think that it is so highly ironic and hilarious. I love things that poke fun at themselves. It's awesome.

Jane Bites Back 1

I got a head start on my summer reading by beginning Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford. This book is about how Jane Austen, the world famous author of Pride & Prejudice and Sense & Sensibility, is actually not dead but has been secretly living as a vampire.

I picked up this book because I really enjoy Jane Austen (she's one of my favorite authors) and I love to see what people have to say about her almose 200 years after her death. In this book, she's a vampire who owns a bookstore and she has some massive issues with people using her name in vain in order to cash in on the Jane Austen legacy.

What I am finding funny as I have read the first couple of pages is how Jane HATES all of the people who are using her hard work as a quick cash making machine. Also, her friend is named "Lucy" which is funny because in Dracula, Lucy is Mina Harker's best friend. I just thought that it was too much of a coincidence.

I have a feeling that this book isn't going to take very long to read. The writing is not very complicated so it seems to me like this is going to be another piece of "brain candy" for me. Which is fine. I mean, really, should you start your summer reading with something complicated and emotionally challenging??

Summer Reading List

There are a lot of books that I want to make sure that I have a chance to read this summer, so I thought that I would create this blog so that all of you can see what I am reading and thinking about while reading during the summer months. I wanted to start off with this wish list (there are a lot of books that are on this list and I don't know if I will be able to read them all, so that is why I wanted to create this list so that I don't forget which books I wanted to read):

(These are not in any particular order that I am going to read them, it is just the list. I will post pictures when I actually write the blog for the book as I am reading it!)

- Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters by Jane Austen & Ben H. Winters
I want to read this one because I read Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and since I am a HUGE Jane Austen fan, I really enjoy it when people put their take on her works out into the literary universe.

- Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford
This book looks interesting is because, again, it's about Jane Austen but this time, she's a vampire. That I find freaking hilarious. Jane Austen as a vampire! This goes along with similiar books that I have read in the past (Mr. Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange) and I find it funny that people are taking characters, and now Jane Austen herself, and making them vampires or zombies or sea monster.

Going along with the theme of vampires and great ficitional and non-fictional characters, the next two books fall into this catagory.
- Little Vampire Women by Louisa May Alcott & Lynn Messina. The original Little Woman is one of my favorite stories and the fact that someone has put them into vampiric roles is very entertaining. I can't wait to see what sort of story this comes out to be.
- Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (the same author of P&P&Zombies). I mean, really, one of our greatest presidents as a vampire hunter. That has got to be a great story!!
The next few books I have already done book talks on in class so I will just list them:
- Fallen by Lauren Kate
- Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
- Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

And finally, two books that were inspired by a student (because she was reading one of these books and it looked so good that I had to go and get both written by the author)
- The Bonfire of Berlin & Let Me Go both by Helga Schneider. These books are about a young girl who was abandoned by her mother during WWII so that her mother could become a guard in the Nazi army at Auchwitz (a concentration camp). Thank you Maria G., for finding these two books for me!

I know, it's a long list and, again, I don't know if I'll get through them all, but I'm going to try. And, like any good reader, I'm going to maintain this blog so that you can see my thinking as I go through these books! Wish me luck and have a good summer!! Happy reading!