Wednesday, June 29, 2016

The Sudden Appearance of Hope - Drunk Blogging

 The Sudden Appearance of Hope is by Claire North, who wrote The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August.
Image result for the sudden appearance of hope
At this point I think I need to say that I technically got this at an ARC copy at BookCon this year, (which was awesome, I highly suggest going).  But this book came out, I think, in late May 2016.  This is an honest and unsolicited review.

But I loved this book even if I don't think I'm quite smart enough for it.
Hope is forgotten by everyone.  She is picked up by camera's and electronics, but nobody can remember her, even if they know they'll forget her.  That plot enough would be enough to interest me, but Hope decides to fight against an app called "perfection" which tries to make people "perfect" through a point systems that offers discounts at high end retailers and the like.  She's helped out by someone who goes by Byron and is being chased by someone named Gaugin.

That alone is enough to make me think that I wasn't quite smart enough for this book.  There's a number of references to classic literature and more, that I picked up on but wouldn't have known otherwise.  I read plenty, but it doesn't change the fact that I don't remember philosophers.  A lot of this book was people talking about the nature of humanity and whether or not someone was a person if they didn't have a past outside of what they rememberred as there was no culutureal reason for morality... Basically there was a lot going on here.

That being said, Hope changes a lot over the course of the book.  At the beginning she's a theif, becuase who better to rob someone than someone who can't be remembered.  She can actually grab something away from someone and they won't remember a minute later.  Which is kind of awesome.  Throughout the book she'll be having conversations with people and the next day she'll have the same conversation, which is one of the best ways to track tHope's changes.  She has the same conversation, but each conversation is slightly different.  It's amazing how sublte the changes are.  Seriously, this book was deeper than I am.

I think I'm going to manage not to need to put a spoiler warning in this.  Excpet now that I say that I mgiht need to.  the end of this book was wonderfully open-ended, not that the plot wasn't completely wrapped up, but that there were a  number of characters wehre I wanted to know what happened.  And fuck it. There's a police officer who has been following her for a really long time, since she was young and inexperienced with thieving. As time goes on, she develops a one-sided relationship with him.
This gets 4.5 shots out of 5. The only reason this didn't get 5 shots is that I have a personal grudge against the one thing under the spoiler cut. Othersie, I frigging loved this book. I might think I wasn't smart enough to get everything in it, but the writing was great, I loved the consistent characterization and how Hope grew as a character, and ... well I lost my train of thought. AS for what kind of alcohol to drink with this I think technically anything would work, you just have to drink enough not to remember what you read! So, probably tequila.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Kingkiller Chronicles Review Post

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss 


What I drank prior to the review:

  • Two Summer Shandies at a work happy hour
  • Three glasses of Old Moon Zinfandel
  • Two shots of vodka (Blame Virginia, it's her fault) 


Okay guys, for real, I'm drunk now. Didn't think I was, but I most definitely am. Still watching Pokemon. Still my fave drunk show. Now time for the review. However, Ginny is over ----> there writing her own review so I'm not alone this time =).

Spoiler-free Book Overview: Kvothe, the main charachter, is a legend. He's one of the most sung about people. There are stories and legends and crazy shit written about him. Guys, how do you say that name? I think it's Kah-Vothe. But some others say Quothe. I DON'T KNOW! Either way, because of this, he's chosen to hide from the world as a lonely inkeeper named Kote with his apprentice, Bast. In comes this dude named The Chronicler. He figured out who Kote was and asked to take down the real story. Kote's all like, "fine, whatever, s'gonna take 3 days." Each book is a day. Oh, and there are these weird demon things that are coming after the small town. PLOT TWIST!

So, the first book goes through his early days in the circus, well, they're more like travelling showpeople. So yes, they're circus people. His family is brutally killed by this dude named the Chandrian. So he ends up a beggar, obsessed with killing this Chandrian dude. And finally makes his way to The University. Basically this book is this legendary dude's life from his perspective.

Spoiler-free Review: 
Holy cow this book is my new favorite obsession. This is such a well written friggin story. Each word matters. Each paragraph matters. There are some epic fantasies that you can "skim" over the boring parts. In this story there are NO boring parts. The words are just so captivating that it doesn't relaly matter that it's in between super exciting parts because Mr. Rothfuss just engrosses you into it.

Plot: From the very beginning you want to know (I will travel across the land, searching far and wiiiide - new episode started and I love the theme song) everything about his story. The plot moves quickly and with no sections that don't advance the plot in any way. IT'S SO GOOD. READ IT. The magic system is exceptional. It's based on links between objects. So if you break a stick in half and then sympathetically link them, then you can lift both by lifting only one half. The more similar an object is the easier the link. If things are different, it feels like double or even triple the weight it should. Relaly cool. Also, the "naming" aspect. If you know something's true name you have power over it. Sorta like Eragon by Chris Paolini if that makes any sense. But basically that's what Kvothe is after.

Characters: Woah, guys, seriously, they are all exceptional. Even the supporting characters are so well developed that you want to know more about them. Abenthy is the first you adore. Then you get to Denna, Ambrose, Sim, Wil, Denna, Elodin, and Auri. AURI. She's such a weird friggin character. Legitimately one of the only 100% unique character I've ever read. She's so odd but oddly pleasing as well. YOu know what I mean? Like, that one friend that says weird shit but it makes you smile? They are so well developed. You love them all. The only character I don't really care about is that guy that's been there 30 years, but that's only because I care about the rest of them more. Not because he's not awesome.

Writing Style: Like I said before, there isn't a word that doesn't matter in this series. And they way he goes back and forth between thrid and first person is exceptional. YOu're never confused by which Kvothe you're talking to, and both points of view are exceptionally well written.

Spoiler Review: For the record, the spoiler section is for both Name of the Wind AND Wise Man's Fear.


Rating: Both these books are 5/5 shots. However, the novella The Slow Regard of Silent Things is only 4.5/5 shots. Basically a 4 shots and a 5th "shooter." I loved it. I did. But I found myself day dreaming while listening to the audiobook. I will try to re-read because I feel like his words are better read than listened to. These books are like a fine wine. A book that has lots of complexity and that can last through the ages.

What to pair it with: A Sounten. For those of you who've read, you'll understand.

That's all for now folks.

Until next time, I am forever drunkenly yours,
Sam

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Welcome to me

Hi everyone,

This is my chance for a get to know you post. Apparently drunk me sint’a particularly loquacious but really likes showing off the SAT vocabularly I built up for the test and then practically never used. Eclectic, aphrodisiac, homonym, fuck it I’m done, cause it’s late and whether I liked it or not I’m an old person now at 24 and I have to go to work tomorrow morning.

I’m the resident reader of practically everything. I know that Sam tends to stay in Sci-fi and Fantasy but at any given time my to-read list will have all of that plus biographies and histories (Erik Larson is a great way to get into non-fiction history if you want a way in, he’s amazing). I’ll pretty much read anything if it looks interesting. Unless it’s poetry, I have no patience for poetry.

Beyond that, I think that Sam covered most of the basic of this blog.  We'll get trashed and write posts; explain what kind of drink that book was like, how many shots our of five, etc, etc. 

That pretyt much covers it.  Hopefully we'll start to have book reviews up by next week. Untill then, don't drink what I did to write this post (it was a combination of SoCo, Amaretto and Cranberry Juice, I promise I didn't amke it up, the Mixology app apparently has bad taste).

Happy Drinking,
Ginny
on 10:31:00 PM by Ginny | 1 comment 

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Hello fellow booze lovers!

Hello fellow booze lovers! I mean, book lovers... right?

Welcome to our Boozie Book Blog, a place where we come together, while inebriated, to talk about our favorite books.

Our book club has been together for a while now. We get together about once every one (or two) months to talk about the book we chose read. Like normal book clubs. WHy am I explaining this? There is also a generous amount of alcohol involved. After attending BookCon 2016 in Chicago this year, we came up with the briliant idea to start ablog. What makes this blog unique you ask? We will not write any post without being drunk. Now, before I get into specifics, yes we are all well over the age of 21. We are young professionals who are avid readers but also enjoy an occasional (read: frequent) adult beverage.

So here's the deal. We tend to read mostly fantasy/sci-fi fiction but occasionally dabble in contemporary fiction, poetry, biographies, and non-fiction. We guarantee that our blog posts are our inner inebriated thought streams. We'll only edit to ensure that spoilers are hidden. All typos (already apparent in this post), grammatical errors, and otherwise crazy comments will be left in place. I for one have had 3 generously poured margaritas on the rocks prior to writing this post.

Instead of stars, our ratings will be in shots. 5/5 shots is the best. we also plan on comparing the book to a certain type of alcohol. For example, terrible novels would be compared to something like Steel Reserve 40s, while the best literature is closer to a well-aged scotch. We'll also give you recommendations on what drinks wouldgo best whilst reading the book. (did I just say 'whilst'?)

Here's a little about me: My name is Sam. I enjoy long walkson the beach and world peace. That's really not true, the beach is great until sand gets stuck everywhere and world peace is what people say when there's nothing else in their brains. I have been an avid reader since I was a kid. Harry Potter (obviously), Red Rising by Pierce Brown, Codex Alera by Jim Butcher, the Ryiria Chronicles and Revelations by Michael J Sullivan, Pendragon by DJ MacHale, and Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan are some of my favorites. I watch a ton of sports, big football and soccer fan. Currently on my TV: POkemon. Yes I know, it's old, but it's my drunk show OK? DON'T JUDGE ME!

We'll get into reviewing some books shortly, but I wanted to be sure that I got this post down while I"m still drunk. My bffs will introduce themselves as they start to post things as well. I know Virginia will be doing so shortly.

For now, we are your drunkenly yours,
~Sam