11/22/63

by Stephen King
847 pages

Jake Epping is a 35-year-old divorced English teacher.  He lives a pretty normal life in Maine--until he gets a phone call from the owner of a local hamburger joint.  Al, the diner owner, is dying of lung cancer (though he appeared to be fine yesterday) and has one last request for Jake.  He wants Jake to step through the time portal in the diner's pantry and go back to 1958 to prevent the Kennedy assassination.  Since the time portal only goes to one particular day in 1958, this means that Jake will have to give up 5 years of his life to this mission.  And as King puts it, "the past is obdurate," so Jake will have to fight against the past in order to change the future.  Much is at risk in this high stakes game--more than Jake ever realized.

I enjoyed this book.  There was this unsettling tone to the book that was just perfect for what King was trying to convey.  King deals with the consequences of time travel and changing the past in an intriguing way.  This book has a bit of everything and is sure to appeal to a wide audience.

XxxHolic: Volume 19

by CLAMP, 180 pages

Watanuki has been waiting for Yûko and selflessly running her wish-granting shop for decades, but now he's suddenly dreaming of a butterfly and doesn't know what it means. Dômeki and his other friends stand by him and do what they can, but the ultimate choice to stay or go is his own. So they wait along with him and watch for the signs. But not even Watanuki knows what the future holds.

*sigh*

This might get a little spoilery, so skip it if you like.

This is both another lovely addition to the series and a sadly disappointing final volume. The wishes that arrive on Watanuki's doorstep are as thoughtful and unique as ever and his companions are as watchful and loving. But that's the problem. I knew, this being CLAMP, that the creators were not likely to outright answer anything and would probably build up to some open-ended, cryptic yet goosebump-inducing, beautifully drawn climax that the reader is happy to believe makes sense in some alternate universe. But there is no climax at all; no action on Watanuki's part to resolve his wait, no opportunity for Dômeki to use the mysterious object he's been holding onto for years now. Instead, Watanuki just decides to continue to wait, even though he's been given permission to go by a dream sent to him long before his vigil began. I was ready to accept incomprehensible conclusions, but not the complete lack of one, comprehensible or otherwise. It makes me sad. Did they run out of ideas? Write themselves into a corner? Lose interest in the characters and story? I still love these characters. I still love this story. But it will live in perpetual limbo now unless CLAMP have plans to tie it back into some future series, which I doubt is the case. I'm more content with this state of affairs now than I was when I first read this volume, but I wish I didn't have to resign myself to it. Unfortunately, that's one wish Watanuki isn't going to be able to grant. Still, lovely. Also, grrr. And, as always, a wee bit of hmmmm. *sigh*

XxxHolic: Volume 18

by CLAMP, 180 pages

Watanuki asks for Dômeki's help with one customer and shoos him away while dealing with another. In both cases, and following a visit from old friends, Watanuki shows himself to have grown stronger, both in powers and spirit, which is a comfort to his loved ones.

It's a good thing Watanuki's built up some confidence and know-how, as only one volume remains and I'm sure it will not be an easy one for him. I don't know how or if CLAMP's going to fit in all the things I want to know, but I'm excited to get whatever they're willing to give me. But I'm also sad at the thought of finally having to leave these characters and their stories behind.

Revolution

by Jennifer Donnelly, 471 pages

I saw the print edition of Donnelly's book on the shelf and eventually got it on audio. Andi Alpers is an angry, grieving teen from a posh school in Brooklyn. Alexandrine Paradis is a young player who becomes involved in the lives of the royal family during the French Revolution. Andi lost her young brother Truman to a random act of violence, and Alexandrine must watch Louis-Charles suffer the brutality of the Terror. Their lives intertwine when Andi finds Alex's lost diary and she reads the gripping account of the attempts Alex makes to to save the doomed Dauphin, Louis Charles.

Why I picked it up: I thought it would be a time travel novel set during the turbulent era of the French Revolution.

Why I finished it: While I know a fair amount about the French Revolution, I was intrigued with the character sketches of real figures from the time. It is not really a time travel novel, but through Alex's eyes you get a level of detail about the lives of the royal family and their tragic ends.

Overall, I liked the book, though Andi's rebellious teen posture became a bit annoying by the end. It would appeal to people with musical interests since that is the main focus of Andi's character, especially when she talks about the history of rock music. The epilogue was a bit over the top, but given the fantastic elements of the story, it didn't seem that out of place.

by Cate K

XxxHolic: Volume 17

by CLAMP, 185 pages

Watanuki finds a red pearl for a familiar spider demon, sees what someone unaging like himself has to look forward to (and it's not all pleasant), and gives Dômeki a useful birthday present.

Dômeki is so patient. As he bides his time, waiting for the moment he'll be called to action, he can't help but worry exactly what action he'll be called to. It's a comfort, at least, to know that absent Yûko has clearly planned ahead. But the reader still worries.

XxxHolic: Volume 16

by CLAMP, 180 pages

As payment for his own wish, Watanuki has vowed to wait, never leaving the shop, never aging, until he can see Yûko again. In the meantime, he takes over ownership of the shop (and, so, the granting of wishes and the dangerous business of receiving appropriate payment). Mokona and Maru and Moro are about again, keeping him company and helping keep up the shop (and, in the case of Mokona, helping him consume the saké supply). Kohane comes to visit and, one presumes, so does Himawari-chan. And of course Dômeki comes by most days (and nights, as well) to keep an eye on him and eat his cooking, but it seems he's waiting and watching for something, too.

It's so sad to watch Watanuki grieve and wait, stubborn and pitiful at the same time. He's all alone on the cover this volume, with Yûko on the back at a 1/4 profile mostly obscured by her hair and umbrella--symbolism! The time jump of a few years threw me for a few panels, and I wish we could have seen how Watanuki's early experiences at determining payment for wishes went instead of just hearing them referred to in vague, past tense terms. But I'm glad he's not alone. He'd better not revert to not caring about his own well-being, or we're going to have words!

Somehow, I psychically started reading these at just the right time to have them line up perfectly with my reading of the major concluding crossover events of Tsubasa, which was quite cool. But I've finally caught up to the English language releases, so now I have to wait for the next one to come out in September.... Gah!

XxxHolic: Volume 15

by CLAMP, 179 pages

After failing to persuade his cooking student to taste her own food, a dispirited Watanuki dreams of losing Yûko. When he wakes, she is nowhere to be found. He tells himself she has just gone out on an errand, but he can't find Mokona or Maru or Moro, either. Still, he stubbornly carries on watching over the shop and leaving homemade omisubi (sticky rice balls with different fillings) on his student's door in an effort to gain her trust. After two weeks and no word from Yûko, Dômeki takes the initiative and moves into a guest room at the shop so Watanuki won't be alone with his fears...or when the time comes that he'll need his friend the most.

Owy. When Watanuki cries, I cry. He's losing his family all over again...only this time he remembers them--even if the outside world doesn't. I hope Dômeki's ready to throw him a lifeline, because I think he'll need it soon.

A Knight in Shining Armor

by Jude Deveraux, 392 pages

Dougless Montgomery has had a lifetime of ill-advised love affairs, but this time she thought she'd finally found Mr. Right. Everything had been going so well with Robert, a respected doctor, until his spoiled, lying, hateful thirteen-year-old daughter entered the picture. Now all the couple does is fight, with Robert always taking Gloria's side...and Dougless's money. Even a "family" vacation to England has failed to mend their relationship. Abandoned at a thirteenth-century church after one shouting match too many, Dougless throws herself at the foot of a tomb and cries her eyes out, wishing some knight in shining armor would come rescue her from her misery.

The last thing Nicholas Stafford remembers is sitting at a table in his cell writing a letter to his mother in a last-ditch attempt to prove his innocence before his imminent execution for treason against the queen. So how is it he now finds himself standing in a church, in his good armor, looking down at a strangely dressed weeping woman? And what's with the speeding iron wagon that nearly runs him down outside?

As Dougless and Nicholas try to figure out why he's come to her--to fix his problems or hers?--they research his family's history, have his bad tooth pulled by a proper dentist, and share more than just respective chronological cultural notes.

I had a hard time getting into this time-travel romance, largely because of Dougless. In her afterword, Deveraux says she wanted to write about an "alcoholic personality," one who lives to break another human's spirit, and I think she succeeds with Robert. My difficulty is with Dougless's addiction to her own unhappiness. Robert is clearly a $%*@ and an emotional, as well as financial, drain on her; but she never really confronts him, choosing instead to pout and wallow in self-pity and self-loathing. Instead of feeling sorry for her, I was angry at her for not acknowledging reality or trying to do anything to change it. It took well over half the novel for me to care about what was happening, but once Dougless acknowledges her feelings for Nicholas and lets Robert go, I enjoyed it and was able to appreciate all the well-researched, fascinating sixteenth-century details in the latter part of the book (I don't think it's too much of a spoiler to mention that the time travel goes both ways).

My only other thoughts are that the story is a little dated--cassette players!--and that I will never understand a woman who considers shopping for makeup, stylish-for-the-times clothes, and a giant new purse to be a priority activity when she's just been abandoned in a foreign country without her wallet or identification and left to rely on the fickle generosity of a delusional stranger with a sword. Also, no one ever stops and says, "Huh. 'Dougless' is an odd name for an American woman in the 1980s, isn't it?" Well, no one except for me, I guess.

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle: Volume 28

by CLAMP, 276 pages

The journey is over. Only it isn't.

Fei-Wang vanquished. Stopped clocks restarted. The circle complete. And a new dream, a new journey, and an unknown, hope-fueled future embarked upon.

*sigh*

I don't even know where to start trying to explain this "concluding" volume or my reaction to it, so let's just say that I am already nostalgic for it, hoping for revealing after-story snippets (or wholesale continuations) in future CLAMP tales, but also content to envision said snippets (or wholesale continuations) for myself. The understanding and in-jokes and unbreakable ties that come to link these characters together over their shared experiences have sneakily worked their magic on me, too (reading an involving, quality story over the course of a long period of time will do that to a person). After an initial agitated once-through, I re-read this volume at a more relaxed pace in order to pay more attention to the mechanics and logic and connecting details, and realized that I'd caught it all the first time, I'd just been so caught up in it that I couldn't process it until later. This time I felt comforted, laughed to myself, and cuddled my borrowed book (I do that sometimes, cuddling good books, even if they're not mine--shhh, don't tell anybody) and tried to will my next ILLed volume of XxxHolic to come in magically quickly so I can again submerge myself in that crossover world and see how the other half of the story continues to unfold. Reading the rest of that series will put off parting with it all that much longer, although even after I (reluctantly) give the books back the story and the characters will stick with me, to be revisited again and again whenever I need them. Besides, if get desperate, I can just re-request them, no? :)

Yay.

XxxHolic: Volume 14

by CLAMP, 184 pages

Watanuki starts teaching Kohane how to cook and, under orders from Yûko, takes on a shop customer as a student, as well. Both are naturals in the kitchen, but the smiling older woman seems a little empty and detached from what her hands are creating. As Watanuki keeps moving forward for his own sake, he determines to try to help her do the same...as he does for all those around him.

Yay, Watanuki is on the front cover for the first time since Volume 1! (He's usually on the back.) That must mean things are getting Serious. :) I love how the subtle little changes in relationships and outlooks have been building all this time. It's not till someone on the outside asks about it that the reader realizes just how far everyone has come since the beginning of the story. Mmm mmm good.

InuYasha: Volume 56

by Rumiko Takahashi, 206 pages

The battle appears to be over, but the final card is still in play. The Shikon jewel is determined to cling to life and wreak chaos once again, but the future (and, technically, the past) rests on Kagome's shoulders. The well that connects her time to InuYasha's has vanished and, for a little while, she is in neither. What choice will she ultimately make? And will she be strong enough to see it through?

All done! My one grumble here in this final volume is that, after Kagome makes her climactic wish, the author pulls one of those "three years later..." deals and doesn't let you see the big emotional events in the interim. Other than that, though, I'm mostly satisfied with the way things turn out, which is good, considering how much time I've invested in getting there. After 56 volumes, I can finally say I've read the whole thing--woohoo! It was fun and I'm glad I stuck with it. Now I just have to get around to watching the rest of the animé series and movies. But no rush. :P

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle: Volume 27

by CLAMP, 174 pages

Fei-Wang and Yûko both put into play long-germinating plans as the companions multiply their numbers and join forces to save all the worlds through which they've travelled and maintain the laws of space and time that Fei-Wang would subvert and destroy.

It's magic against magic and secrets against secrets in this action-filled penultimate volume of the series. At the root of everyone's tragic histories and present problems lies Fei-Wang's bottomless, fragile ego. He has heartlessly confounded physical and temporal laws purely for the satisfaction of accomplishing what he believes Clow Reed--his long-time rival and ancestor to a portion of the companions--could not: to bring the dead back to life.

Shared faces, shared genes, and variously crisscrossed and converging paths make for some reader confusion amidst a highly emotional show-down. Will it all make sense in the end? Will it bother me too much if it doesn't? :)

InuYasha: Volume 55

by Rumiko Takahashi, 186 pages

Naraku uses his powers of illusion and his awareness of the companions' motivations to isolate his enemies and cause them as much misery as possible, as their unhappiness only adds to his strength.

Naraku weakens, but he still seems pretty content with himself. What's he up to? And what did his puppet Byakuya just do to Kagome? There's just one volume left....

InuYasha: Volume 54

by Rumiko Takahashi, 184 pages

The final battle is in full swing as Naraku comes into his full power and draws the companions into his miasma-filled spider cloud. There he goes about possessing their minds and bodies and using them against one another, but he has never fully understood the power of bonds of affection and may find that to be his greatest weakness. Nevertheless, he still has Magatsuhi somewhat on his side, and that one's got his own reasons to squelch Kagome and friends.

Near cover-to-cover action, now, as Naraku keeps toying with his adversaries. What does he really want from the Shikon jewel, after all?

XxxHolic: Volume 13

by CLAMP, 185 pages

Watanuki and Dômeki intervene on Kohane-chan's part when her situation with her revenge-poisoned mother escalates out of control. At the same time, Watanuki's trying to understand and accept the "reality" of his own circumstances and make a determined effort to take control of them where he can.

Aw, lots of much-needed hugs for the shop's newest customer in this volume. Also, the usual endearing grumbling about who's an idiot and what's for lunch. Hee hee.

Drums of Autumn

by Diana Gabaldon, 880p.

The fourth book in the Outlander Series, 'Drums of Autumn' follows the Fraser family as they settle in the mountains of North Carolina.  After the many sacrifices made in this saga, Jamie and Claire are finally able to make a home for each other with their extended family, despite being without their daughter, Brianna.

As Brianna and Roger discover more and more about Claire's future, the more Brianna longs to travel to the past to be with her parents.

Diana Gabaldon's fantastic tale about the Fraser clan lives up to previous standards.  I can't wait to finish the rest of the series!

XxxHolic: Volume 12

by CLAMP 185 pages

Watanuki is having a harder and harder time differentiating dream from reality and is starting to fear that the latter may not even exist...or at least that he may not exist within it. But he has the love and support of his friends and has learned to value himself for the sake of those he loves. He contemplates all they do for him and decides he wants to return the favor. What wish can he grant one whose life is given to granting the wishes of others?

Even the reader's not sure when Watanuki is asleep and when he's awake...or if there's a difference. But as he realizes what he does and doesn't know, what he does and doesn't experience, the reader is surprised to discover she, too, has missed many obvious clues. Clever, clever, CLAMP.

InuYasha: Volume 53

by Rumiko Takahashi, 186 pages

Magatsuhi and Naraku use each other to advance their own agendas and undermine the desperate efforts of InuYasha and his companions. The latter have come a long way and gained much power throughout their long struggles, but so have their enemies. How much more will they have to endure before they can permanently tip the scales to the good?

Ouch. With only three volumes remaining, the characters (and the reader) learn the hard way that even a moment's respite is a luxury they can ill afford. Ack! Miroku! Rin! Kohaku! *goes off to fret until she gets the next book*

XxxHolic: Volume 11

by CLAMP, 185 pages

Watanuki's giving nature ties him ever more closely to those who love him, even as he begins to come untethered from existence. Seeing the signs of the coming confrontation, Yûko does her best to maintain the shop's physical and spiritual integrity while preparing Dômeki and the others for the moment Watanuki will need them the most.

CLAMP do cute as well as they do cool. Between the devoted pipe fox spirit, Himawari-chan's safe little bird, the admiring son of the fox spirit who runs the oden cart, and of course Mokona, the urge to cuddle something while reading this series is great. I'm so glad I have a lap cat! But the cute things serve more than just to suck in impressionable readers. The characters need those cuddles to balance out all that is frightening and dead-serious in their lives--and there's a lot of that here. I do not begrudge Yûko and Mokona their boozy parties or Watanuki his silly rants at obnoxiously patient Dômeki or his perpetual swooning bedazzlement at the littlest of Himawari-chan's smiles. We need those giggles as much as they do. And if the sudden influx of cute and the growing background tension seeping out into the foreground are any hint, we're going to have need of them soon. Don't vanish, Watanuki!

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle: Volume 26

by CLAMP, 190 pages

Syaoran reveals his past(s) and future(s) to his companions, trying to explain to them the sacrifices he has made and to what purpose, hoping they will understand and forgive him for possibly setting events in motion that have greatly affected their lives, as well. But they have each of them made choices that have brought them to this point and they accept equal responsibility for what has come to pass...and, smiling, promise to willingly bear equal responsibility for whatever happens next.

And, boy, does a lot happen. We finally understand how XxxHolic's Watanuki fits into the greater shared plot with Tsubasa and then time snaps back to the now of the past and it's an all-out battle between the sworn companions and the powerful magics of Fei-Wang, with scene after scene of flashing swords and roiling spells, repelled attacks and landed blows. The final bittersweet panels made me scrunch up my face in pity and satisfied melancholy and righteous triumph all at the same time. And there are still two books to go!