Theme Song Saturday (28)

Welcome to Theme Song Saturdays, a new weekly meme, hosted by yours truly, in which we share our love of music and books! Since I love books and music, this meme is for fun to try to incorporate those two loves! Whenever I read a book, a certain song -- kind of like a soundtrack or theme song -- plays through my head.

Want to know how to play? Head over to this post to read the rules and get the code.

Here's my pick this week:

Don't Fear the Reaper cover by H.I.M. is not the greatest song after you read this book, but it's the one I kept thinking of.  First of all, when we find out the actual name of the zombie plague and seeing the Reapers riding around the Nevada desert, I couldn't help thinking of this song. 

What are your picks this week?  Leave a the URL to your post in the comments.

Follow Friday

Follow My Book Blog Friday is hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee's View and Alison at Alison Can Read. The point is to follow as many book blog as you can and make new friends! As part of the adventure, she gives a weekly question.

Here's this week's question:

Q: Summer Reading. What was your favorite book that you were REQUIRED to read when you were in school?

A:

Honestly, my school was not big into required reading.  They started into some weird hippie shit, so they were really big about not forcing kids to do anything.  Hence, why I was homeschooled after my 7th grade year.  Anyways, what I do remember reading when I was in 3rd grade was Julie of the Wolves.  I loved it!

In high school, the curriculum we used gave us a list of books.  We had to choose two, read one required book, and pick two on our own to write book reports on each semester.  I remember reading LoTR and Battlefield Earth.  I chose the later ;)  Being strict Christian curriculum, there was no way they would have had that on the possible choice of books.  I think there was an ensuing battle between my parents and the company on whether they would accept it.  *shakes head*

Anyways, I am curious to see what other people pick!

Book Review — Contagious

Title:  Contagious
Author:  Scott Sigler
Genre:  Thriller
Published:  2009
Publisher:  Broadway
ISBN:  978-0307406323
Author Links:  Website ♠ Twitter ♠ Facebook
Rating:

"Across America, a mysterious pathogen transforms ordinary people into raging killers, psychopaths driven by a terrifying, alien agenda. The human race fights back, yet after every battle the disease responds, adapts, using sophisticated strategies and brilliant ruses to fool its pursuers. The only possible explanation: the epidemic is driven not by evolution but by some malevolent intelligence.

"Standing against this unimaginable threat is a small group, assembled under the strictest secrecy. Their best weapon is hulking former football star Perry Dawsey, left psychologically shattered by his own struggles with this terrible enemy, who possesses an unexplainable ability to locate the disease’s hosts. Violent and unpredictable, Perry is both the nation’s best hope and a terrifying liability. Hardened CIA veteran Dew Phillips must somehow forge a connection with him if they’re going to stand a chance against this maddeningly adaptable opponent. Alongside them is Margaret Montoya, a brilliant epidemiologist who fights for a cure even as she reels under the weight of endless horrors.

"These three and their team have kept humanity in the game, but that’s not good enough anymore, not when the disease turns contagious, triggering a fast countdown to Armageddon. Meanwhile, other enemies join the battle, and a new threat — one that comes from a most unexpected source — may ultimately prove the most dangerous of all."

~ Goodreads

Thoughts:  Contagious is the sequel to Infected.  It picks up shortly after the first ends.  Margaret Montoya has patched Perry Dawsey, and he has now become part of their team.  Being the only person who can track down the triangles and the gates, he is a huge asset to the team.  However, after his life altering encounter with the triangles, he is more interested in killing the victims than bringing back a live specimen for Margaret and her team to examine.  The book starts out with Perry pretty much going rogue.

After their adventure with Perry, the triangles are now starting to learn an mutate.  Where first they started out as a rash and formed triangle growths on people that would hatch, they have changed into something that is similar to a neural net.  These latest victims are able to infect people with these similar neural nets, and they are charged with protecting the hatchlings.

As with the previous book, this one is jam packed with violence and action.  Honestly, I don't think there really is any downtime in this book.  Sigler used this book to dig deeper into Dawsey and flesh him out as a character.  In the first book, he see him in the middle of a crisis trying to survive this horrible infection.  In this book, however, the reader is able to see a completely different side.  Further, Sigler was also able to pull in some of the periphery characters and bring them to the forefront.

This book seems to go a lot more into the politics of the situation both inside the US government, Margaret's team, and between the infected.  There are a lot of power struggles and questions of ethics.

Contagious is extremely hard to talk about without giving away spoilers.  There are a lot of twists and turns I didn't see coming and a few I did.  Sigler keeps up the pace from the first book, and it felt like a pretty seamless transition between the two.  If you like the first book, I don't think this one will disappoint.

Upon finding out the "virus'" new method of transition, I am anxiously awaiting the third book in the series!

Currently Reading:  Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
Current Progress:

32/50 books

Book Review — Aliens: Earth Hive

Title:  Aliens: Earth Hive
Author:  Steve Perry
Genre:  Sci-Fi
Pages:  Paperback 278
Published:  1992
Publisher:  Bantam Spectra
ISBN:  0-553-56120-0
Author Links:  Website
Opening Lines:  "Even inside her bulky E-suit, Billie could feel the cold night bite at her."
Rating:

"Wilks was a space marine with a near-fatal flaw:  he had a heart.  Billie was a child, the only survivor of a far-flung colony outpost.  Thrown together in the last hellish night of an alien invasion, Billie and Wilks helped each other get out alive.  Thirteen years later Wilks is in prison, and Billie lives in a mental institution, the nightmare memories of the massacre at Rim seared into her mind.  Now the government has tapped Wilks to lead an expedition to the aliens' home planet to bring back a live alien.  But the competition on Earth to develop the aliens as a new weapons system is brutal.  When Wilks's team departs on their mission, a trained assassin trails them.  And what follows is no less than guerrilla warfare on the aliens' planet--and alien conquest on Earth!"

~ Amazon

Thoughts:  Honestly, I'm not sure why it took me so long to read this book.  I have been in love with the movies since my brother first showed me Alien when I was under 10.  However, after watching Prometheus and re-watching the four movies that came out before it, my brother talked me into reading the series.  Further, he convinced me to read the Predator books as well!

I have never read a series of books based off of a movie, so I was not sure what to expect from this book.  I have always loved Ripley and couldn't imagine the Alien world without her.  This book follows the story of Billie and Wilks—the only survivors of the infestation on the planet Rim.  After returning the Earth, Billie ends up institutionalized and Wilks is in prison.  Trying to reprogram Billie's brain, she is made to believe that her experiences on Rim are some sort of reoccurring nightmare/psychotic delusion.  In an attempt to stop it, they have decided to take drastic measures and preform some sort of lobotomy on her when she starts seeing the Aliens appear in TV.  Wilks, however, is faced with a prison sentence to keep him quiet about his experiences.  After putting him through a battery of tests and determining that he was, in fact, telling the truth, the government locked him away from everyone.  Now, after years in their current conditions, the government has decided to send an expedition to the Alien homeworld in order to turn these monsters into a weapon.  Being the only person with experience with these creatures, Wilks is blackmailed into fronting a team of Marines to the planet.

While Wilks, Billie, and the Marines are taking stock of the Alien homeworld, it is discovered that scientists have an Alien on Earth.  Since it is the only Alien, they find out that a drone can turn into a queen and reproduce without the aid of other drones.  This, as you may have guessed, causes all ends of chaos.

This book was action packed and didn't lack in plot or character development.  In some ways, it could be argued that it is extremely simple.  However, I felt the author did an amazing job adding the Alien genre.  After watching the other four movies again, I found it interesting that Billie and Wilks remind me of Newt and  Hicks in Aliens.  Further, when you finally learn Billie's back story, it is nearly identical to that of Newt.  I am not well versed enough in the Alien sub-culture to know the connection; however, I would be surprised if there wasn't one.

In this book, as well as the four movies, I found it neat the use of Asimov's Laws.  For me, it gave the book a certain level of authority and reputability.  It also gave an interesting launching point for things that happened on the Alien homeworld.

This book is told in several different parts.  Some of them are from Wilks' and Billie's POV, some from the Marines, but the author also has the reader see things from various government officials and the Alien religious fanatics.  Sometimes, if not done correctly, that can drastically muddy a book's plot and bog it down.  However, Perry did an amazing balancing job with this device.  It gave the book more of a three dimensional feel, and it gave the audience a more complete view of everything that was happening.

I ended up really enjoying this book!  Since I liked Newt and Hicks in Aliens, it felt as though they didn't actually die and I was able to see their story continue.  The next book in the series promises to be something awesome.  I look forward to reading it!  If you love the world of the Alien movies, I highly suggest this book.

Currently Reading:  Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry (ARC from publisher)
Pages:  10,020
Current Progress:

31/50 books

Theme Song Saturday (27)

Welcome to Theme Song Saturdays, a new weekly meme, hosted by yours truly, in which we share our love of music and books! Since I love books and music, this meme is for fun to try to incorporate those two loves! Whenever I read a book, a certain song -- kind of like a soundtrack or theme song -- plays through my head.

Want to know how to play? Head over to this post to read the rules and get the code.

Here's my pick this week:

Take Your Mama by the Scissor Sisters just jumped into my head when I thought about Thomas and his mother.  In some ways, I'm not sure if it makes sense . . . Either way it's a fun song and it reminds me of Thomas.  His mother didn't live too long, and it would be nice for him to have a chance to take her out.  Plus, the fact that he is a ladies' man also seemed to fit the song.

What's your pick this week?  Leave a comment with the link back to your choice ^_^

Thank You, Chic & Sassy Designs!

I wanted to give a shout out to Zoe at Chic & Sassy Designs.  She made the lovely new design for my blog! It is more beautiful and rockabilly than I expected when I first contacted her.  If you're looking for a custom design, definitely drop by her site.  She is amazingly talented and a JOY to work with!

Zoe, thank you so much for the new blog layout!  I love it!  It is amazing how you were able to put my jumbled ideas together into something so beautiful and cohesive!  You have an amazing talent ^_^

Book Review — Blood Rites

Title:  Blood Rites
Author:  Jim Butcher
Genre:  Urban fantasy
Pages:  Paperback 372
Published:  August 2004
Publisher:  Roc Fantasy
ISBN:  0-451-45987-3
Author Links:  Website   ♠   Twitter
Ratings:

For Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, there have been worse assignments than going undercover on the set of an adult film.  Dodging flaming monkey poo, for instance.  Or going toe-to-leaf with a walking plant monster.  Still, there's something more troubling than usual about his newest case.  The film's producer believes he's the target of a sinister entropy curse—but it's the women around him who are dying, in increasingly spectacular ways.

"Harry's doubly frustrated because he got involved with this bizarre mystery only as a favor to Thomas, his flirtatious, self-absorbed vampire acquaintance of dubious integrity.  Thomas has a personal stake in the case Harry can't quite figure out, until his investigation leads him straight to Thomas's oversexed vampire family.  Harry's about to discover that Thomas's family tree has been hiding a shocking secret: a revelation that will change Harry's life forever."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts:  This is rather hard to review.  Reading this was broken into multiple sessions due to a nasty string of migraines; therefore, it wasn't a straight shot.  Please forgive the lack of a coherent review!

After reading the first few books, I stopped trying to expect what the Dresden books would be about.  While there is a definite story line, in some ways they all appear to be a standalone.  I feel that the beginning of the books are always rather forced and contrived.  Wanting to start a book every book right in the middle of action is a sign of an immature writer.  For me, it takes a bit to get into a Dresden book.  However, usually once it gets going, they are pretty steady and enjoyable.  This one was no different.

Butcher touches on Harry's mother a bit more in this book.  She is mentioned off and on from the beginning, but usually only in passing and veiled comments from his "Aunt."  However, after learning a startling realization, Harry is actually able to come face-to-face with her and make some pretty interesting discoveries.  Further, he learns some things about his old mentor, Ebenezar, that shake him to the core.  While it is extremely unexpected, I didn't like the revelation.  In a lot of ways, I felt it was out of character of what the audience has been shown up to this point.  It seemed like a weak plot device, and I'm not sure why he did it.

In this book, you get to see a little more of Murphy and some of her family.  Honestly, I wonder if her family isn't more screwed up than Harry's!  It was extremely surprising to see Murphy being willing to come with Harry on his quest to kill Mavra and stop the White Court.  Even though she is big about stopping the paranormal badies, it seemed a little out of character for her to turn vigilante.  However, I did kind of like seeing that side of her.  Plus, it was awesome seeing Harry as her "bitch"!

The banter in this book is up to the same level as the previous books.  It kept me laughing, even when it hurt too.  Kincaid and Murphy made an interesting pair.  And, like Harry, I will never forget her fighting off badies in undies with pink bows!

All in all, I did enjoy this book!  I loved the puppy and am curious to see how that turns out.  Also, it will be neat to watch the new relationship with Thomas grow.  So, even though the beginning was forced, I think Butcher set himself up for another few good books.

Currently:   Aliens: Earth Hive by Steve Perry & listening to Contagious by Scott Sigler
Pages:  9742
Current Progress:

30/50 books