The Never Ending 'To Be Read' List - TBR

How long is your 'to be read' list, otherwise known as a TBR? I Keep track of my TBR list on Goodreads, and I just realized this morning that it is currently at about two hundred books, and always growing. Every time that I read a book, or add a book to my 'want to read' list on Goodreads, I receive recommendations of similar books, therefore knocking one book off of my TBR but adding two, or four, more to it. I also pick up the monthly issue of book page that is offered free through the library. And I even go so low as to watch YouTube videos on book hauls, and book reviews, therefore stumbling upon even more titles that I desire to read. 

It could always be worse though, the possibility of there not being any books that I desired to read makes me shudder.

Book Review of "The Prophet of Yonwood" by Jeanne DuPrau

This book made it onto my did not finish list. I got no more then a chapter into this book before calling it quits. To be honest, I didn't have very high hopes for it before I even started reading it. I was disappointed in the second book in the Book of Ember series, and then this book, the third book in the series, had very low ratings on Goodreads with several unsatisfied reviews. I see why now. The City of Ember should of been a stand alone novel, despite my wanting to know what happened not only before the city was built (The Prophet of Yonwood), but what happens after the citizens of Ember leave their underground city (The People of Sparks), simply for the very fact that the authors writing ability has progressively decreased after her first book was written. There is a fourth book in the series, "The Diamond of Darkhold" but I believe that at this point and time I am finished reading these books. I may just pretend that The City of Ember is a stand alone novel, and that the other books in the series don't actually exist.

My Rating : *

Book Review of "The People of Sparks" by Jeanne DuPrau

       

The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau is the second book in the Book of Ember series, The City of Ember being the first.

Disappointed. The first book in the series was so intriguing, and I had high hopes for the second book in the series. There were points in this book that I certainly found to be of interest, the citizens of Ember have emerged from their underworld and are seeing our beautiful world for the first time. First being bewildered by their new habitat, and not understanding what it is that they are seeing, feeling, and hearing. Then encountering people. They discover that a small population of people have managed to survive through the great disaster, when they stumble upon a small village, the citizens there calling themselves the people of Sparks. I was extremely intrigued that the citizens of Sparks were actually less advanced then the citizens of Ember, not understanding the concept of electricity for example, but were more knowledgeable about the events that took place and of survival, as rather then be kept ignorant on the subjects like the citizens of Ember were kept, the citizens of Sparks made sure to pass their history down through the generations. But the citizens of Sparks aren't prepared to accommodate the sudden arrival of four hundred people, and despite not wanting to repeat the mistakes that their previous ancestors made, things between the villagers of Sparks and the citizens of Ember become tense ...

That was the pros on the one hand, on the other hand I found that all of the characters suddenly lacked a personality and were all suddenly dull and soulless. It seems that in the story, the author neglected one of the most important aspects to a book, the characters themselves. This book also felt a lot more juvenile then the previous book in the series, and lacked a certain amount of depth to it. The story itself was actually rather childish in comparison.

My Rating : ***

Pursuing the White Whale has hit a Milestone!

Pursuing the White Whale has been a active blog since the middle of March 2015, which is just a little over two months now. I am pleased to say that Pursuing the White Whale has now achieved over one thousand plus views in that time. I also want to take this time to encourage people to not only follow me here, but to feel free to comment on discussions. I would love to hear from you!

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Tell your book loving friends and family about Pursuing the White Whale.

I want to also take a moment to thank any, and all, fans of Pursuing the White Whale. I truly love to not only write about book related topics, but to discuss book related topics, and this blog gives me the out-lit that I need. 1000 + views is a big milestone for my newly created blog, here is to 1000 more!

I Have A Confession To Make

It is confessional time. In a attempt to be a little more diverse in my reading material, to reach a wider range of readers, I decided to look into some more modern works of fiction. That called for a trip to my local public library. I have not been to the library for some time now, as I have so many unread books in my personal home library that outsourced material has become unnecessary. Now, despite merging some modern books into my reading regimen, I will not read books that hold no interest for me. So only books that genuinely grab my interest, and I am not opposed to discontinuation of a book that I am not enjoying. With this mind set, I found some adult fiction in the newly released section at the library that I will be reading and reviewing shortly, one of which I have already found to be disappointing (Mermaids in Paradise). I also found several young adult, and children's books, that grabbed my attention. Some of which are very popular books that I was interested in seeing what all of the hype was about, some deserving of it, and some not so much. I have already read and reviewed several of those books.

My confession being, that I have been enjoying many of these books. Which is not something to be ashamed of, but which rather surprises me to be honest. I will always hold the classics dear to my heart, and I will still continue to read and review them, but I will also continue to read, what I like to call, the easy reads. I forgot how easy it is to finish a book in one sitting! It is all about the right books folks.

Book Review of "Divergent" by Veronica Roth

This book definitely kept me entertained throughout, but I honestly consider it as what has become my endearing term, junk food reads. And there is nothing wrong with a junk food read, as long as you, the reader, is being entertained. With that being said, this book did not rank very high with me despite the fact that I actually kind of enjoyed it. Does that make sense? I enjoyed it, and yet I wasn't impressed by it. The dystopian genre has been so overdone at this time, that the author really needs to have a unique story line in order for their books to stand out. You get the feeling that the author tried to be unique, but you can feel traces of other books within Divergent. The dystopian genre has become so hyped up, and very popular right now, so you can see why every Dick and Harry is mass producing these books. The same thing happened after Twilight became so big. With story line on the wayside, I just wasn't impressed with the characters either. Flat, flat, flat. I'm just going to say it, the entire book felt very juvenile. I realize that this is a young adult book, but I read young adult, and I am here to say that not all young adult books read such as this book does. I enjoyed the book, I may even read the other books in the series, but I just cannot for the life of me, understand why this book became so popular. I immensely enjoy reading dystopian and apocalyptic genres, but Veronica Roth's dystopian world just didn't feel even remotely real to me. It felt dysfunctional, flaky, and rushed.

My Rating : ***