The Cellist of Sarajevo Written by: Steven Galloway

Sarajevo...I never heard of that name until my Mother in law sent me a book, I read the inside where the author states "this is above all else is a work of fiction." So, I took this book as a work of fiction. Turns out I was wrong, and the author meant his story was the fictional part, but the war in Sarajevo was actually very real. I have read as of late so many books on wars and yet all of these wars are so different, but so many of the people and their causes are so frightfully similar even if their stories are wholly unique. This book, though short, packed a punch. The story evoked emotion and I did find myself demonizing the "bad guys on the hill" But, then I took a step back I really read the book and realized what I already knew. Hatred will get you nowhere it will cause you to morph into something you never would have wanted to. It will cause you to lose bits of yourself and your humanity. I never learned about Sarajevo, but after a friend mentioned to me that this war was real I researched and learned just how real it really was. The author is so right in so many of his statements and how he tells the story of this war, and he does it in so few words and chapters. I was inspired and filled with so many emotions and hope that one day these wars these killings may stop. Just look around the world and you see ideals, ideas that crush one another that oppress so many who wanted nothing more than to live, but I will borrow an idea and line from a recent book War and Peace. "Why is it the army and their commanders can control the fate of so many." This book was very good and flowed so fast I loved how it was told by the voices of only four people. The Cellist drew all of the characters together, and gave them what they needed humanity a reminder of what once was and might be again even if they didn't know it nor did the Cellist. Now to borrow a line from The Cellist of Sarajevo. I will abridge it so it won't spoil too much. "They know they won't ever be able to forget what has happened here. If the war ends, if life goes back to some semblance of how it once was, and they survive, they won't be able to explain how any of it was possible. An explanation implies a logic, but there's no logic to Sarajevo now. They still can't believe it happened. They hope they will never be able to." Again, just look around why should a person's beliefs their ideas lead to killing? I will never accept how people can take an idea a belief and turn it into a weapon, I see and understand this, but when does the idea of freedom to escape oppression lead to turning you yourself into an oppressor a murderer? Demonizing your opponent may help, but in the end we are all human, we breath, we bleed, and we die. We are mortal, but we have humanity. So why does our species insist on finding reasons to kill one another? I highly recommend reading this book, I was spotty in my details simply because I think you the reader should discover this story on your own.

War And Peace Written by: "Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy " Leo Tolstoy

Wow, why hello! A shout out to my readers from Russia! Currently they are the biggest country aside from America who read this Blog, so I thought I would read a book written by a Russian author, and what better known author/book than War & Peace...well, I sure had absolutely NO CLUE as to what I was taking on. The book itself I must say was rather well amazing and amazingly confusing. I do not know if this was because of the translation from the original Russian language into English? Or, it could have been the fact a lot of the earlier parts of the books have long paragraphs entirely in French and then are later on translated into English. Also, it could have been there are some 580 characters in this book (I looked that one up due to I kept confusing family names and titles in the beginning chapters) I even asked a few people I know from Russia about the French language and its popularity in the past during the time period this book was placed. Turns out the French language was still popular even fifteen years ago. But that irrelevant I just wanted to know why these very prestigious Russian families were speaking French all the time!

 The book War and Peace I never knew anything about other than it took place in Russia, was written by a Russian, and is extremely long and known to be one the greatest books ever written. Well, it was very well written, and the Story is so detailed! I actually did not enjoy a lot of the main characters I found them snobbish, detached, and very deluded with themselves and their surroundings, but if you were to look at their ways of life one can begin to understand. The book is told from many perspectives including the authors and even the well known Napoleon Bonaparte . I was impressed with how the author created in each voice such distinction you would know who was talking just by their thoughts and actions. The story takes place over a decade and then jumps into the future towards the end. Much is said in this book and a lot of history is incorporated into the story and is actually very historically accurate from what I looked up and remembered from prior knowledge. There are so many plotlines it would be impossible to pick one, but the author does take his Giant cast and funnel it to almost a drip towards the end. Alas there are some characters you will never know what happens to them and some of them are so interesting I wish I knew! The way wars were fought in this book and how the soldiers were treated compared to that of their leaders is just disgusting and unbelievable especially when said troops leave the battle field and go into towns and cities and wreak havoc themselves. The lack or strategy and the strategies were just mind boggling. Then there is the child like manners in the young and old, and how society all over Russia is dealing or not dealing with the Wars. Over all though, I really enjoyed getting a look at the behind the scenes of these historical figures and the families that made up this society and even their serfs. There are some very deep theories on humanity and the universe that this author tackles and even a few I had to read and re-read to understand I’m sure I missed some messages, but again very heavy reading. It was also refreshing though this book was dark it was not crude or overtly crude, but that may be for the era it was originally written in, either way though there is a darkness and a very disturbing side to this book I did not find myself having to stop or cry it was as if I were a historian and this was just me studying and learning rather than emotionally attaching myself to the story I was able to analyze and observe. The last few chapters of this book made me wonder if the author only wrote it to prove his point as if this was his Theses he was proving all along but did not reveal it so until the very end. Overall War & Peace was a heavy very heavy read I enjoyed the story for the most part, but really wish I could take a peek into Leo Tolstoy's head and find out what he would say happened so some of these characters, or what was he really trying to get at with those last few chapters based on Freedom and Laws and nature... perhaps one of you know?

So for those of you who haven't read this book and would like a bit of culture, history, very little peace and a whole lot of War perhaps this is the book for you.

The Madame School of Sex Seducing Sarah Written by: Jinx Jamison

First, so not safe to view this image or to read this book at work. Second, hmm...I dare take the quote from P.C.U "everyone get's laid!" Well, this movies bash where they title the party Everyone Gets laid is quite fitting for this book. The Madame School of Sex is just that a school where people go to learn about and how to perform sexually. To be in a safe environment with specially trained and not judgmental teachers who will help bring out everyone's inner sex Diva/God. It is a very interesting school, I was a bit skeptical at first being recommended this book, but upon reading well, this book was actually very well written! The steamy scenes were not bad at all I mean it, they were just well...I'll let you find out, nor was the plot development or even the character development overall bad. They were actually quite good. I found myself laughing a few times and yes as per usual with a book like this blushing quite furiously. And why shouldn't there be a school like this where people who want to perform better in their bedroom? You very well cannot ask every lover "So, was I okay? Did that suck? Should I not have done that?" Haha, or can you? Either way the school itself seemed very safe in its welcoming environment and analysing everyone's preferences and their safe zones. I loved that some of the men and women were not all sexual knockouts in the looks department but their personalities and their looks created quite intriguing people. The story is about this woman Sarah who just is getting over a breakup because her ex-boyfriend said she just didn't "please him sexually." So, she heard rumor about this school where a person could learn to be good in bed. Little does she know someone at the Madame School of Sex already plans on educating her personally. It is a quick read a good ol relax and not think too hard about the real world read. Perhaps I will look up the other book in this series and see what happens to the cast of characters the author Jinx Jamison created.

The Hunger Games Written by: Suzanne Collins

Absolutely grotesque, just horrible...gut churning. These were the emotions I felt over this book. I had seen some previews of the upcoming movie, and some friends had mentioned how I just "Had to read this book!" But, well I listened to the unabridged audio book. I felt myself really wishing I could stop at times, because I felt no better than the spectators watching the barbaric hunger games. Unlike the spectators I completely understand how messed up the hunger games are and what they represent and why. It is a very awesome book and quite mind blowing. Of course those of us who have learned the history of the Roman Gladiators and read other books with warriors fighting for their lives would easily see the paraells in this story, the fact these are children in these games makes it all the more horrifying. Similar to the Japanese Manga/movies Battle Royal, only this too has its own original spin. The hunger games introduces a girl whom I found borderline sociopathic, but not because of anything wrong with her, but because of how her life and society made her. She's gifted with a fierce loyalty but has no understanding it seems of how much people actually like her, she thinks they respect her not that they admire or even love her. Katniss Everdeen is the main character and the story is told entirely from her point of view. She's got an wicked amount of spunk, and appears though to have grown up too fast in the post apocalyptic world of Panem in district 12  is still quite naive and disconnected with quite a bit, but she's clever and can catch onto things rather quickly, we even get a few glimpse of the type of girl she might have been had she not been born into such a hard world. The other characters are also quite animated and lovable, and others are so scary and just plain messed up... I really cannot describe them without giving away a lot of plot, so I'll just say this have tissues on hand. After all 24 children will enter the Arena, only one is permitted to leave. The world of Panim is dark and ugly even the beautiful Capitol is grotesque and decadent in its refined and engineered beauty it's just so damn fake. Suzanne Collins paints a world that is scary in the fact our own world emulates so much of the Capitol world, at least the first world countries with their reality TV shows and how Wars and poverty make them feel. But, at least we all have a choice and freedom currently unlike the Capitol people they seem prisoners too in a gilded cage.  I often am disgusted especially with the on going wars against humanity how often times you hear how the reports "feel, think, are upset, saddened, repulsed." Yet, they will often disregard how the people themselves feel. It just enrages me when they do this.I do know there is little some people can do, but seriously making money off of these peoples plights and suffering? Just disgusting. This book I find did a very good job of masking and at times outright calling out our current societies. Or, perhaps I am just projecting, either ways the Hunger Games is an fantastic book, it caused me to cry at several moments, and keep crying. The sheer emotions and scenes were so vivid. So, if you have not read this book yet, it is part of a trilogy which I intend to finish, go on out and read it, or wait for the movie, but remember most movies today are only highlights, and there are so many dark scenes in this book I wonder how they will be able to show a lot of them seeing as it will be rated PG-13, so really if you want a good grasp of the story go for the book I say it will be more intimate that way too.

Love, Lies And The Unkown Life of Mata Hari La Femme Fatale Written By: Pat Shipman

Mata Hari, have any of you ever heard of her? I hadn't until I learned about her in a book I was reading completely unrelated.  It was only one sentence mentioning the World War I spy, or was she? Needless to say I wanted to know more a female spy in World War I?  I read this book last year, but seeing as it is International Women's day, I thought this would be a good book to read yet again. Mata Hari was born Margaretha Zelle she was overly indulged by her father and believed herself to be different, special, if anything she possessed more flair than any around her. It was a charmed life until she was 13. Her life took her to temporarily become a school teacher, and like she charmed her father, brothers, and those around her, she too charmed a man she should not have. Later she would answer an add to become a wife to a man twenty years her senior it was not a happy marriage she had two children and even then lived with great flair and all were scandalized but amazed by this women. She was shunned by women and she took this to be them jealous of her. Her marriage was just in shambles and Mararetha became even more disillusioned she created her own world her own amazing fantasized worlds that overlapped the real reality. She wasn't necessarily beautiful but her life her essence and expression changed her into something rare and exotic. The character she eventually transforms herself into never fully stops evolving either. Her life is so beautifully tragic she demanded people watch her that they admire her and worship her. It was Prior to World War I, she was generally viewed as an artist and a free-spirited bohemian even if the performing world viewed her as a farce, but as war approached, she began to be seen by some as a wanton and promiscuous woman, and  even perhaps a dangerous seductress who would later be blamed for the deaths of over 50,000 soldiers. This book has so much detail and at times you cannot help but smile ad how Mata Hari just went for what she wanted and knew how she would obtain her desired goal. The photos are so amazing too what was so scandalous then I see occur all the time at least the performances. The searching that went into this book is like a bittersweet love letter. I won't spoil anything more for you, but even if you might not agree with how Mata Hari lived her life, you must admit she lived and even those that came across her could not help but marvel at this rare and original woman.

A Perfect Blood Book 10 The Hollows Series: Written by Kim Harrison

Oh goodie, a Rachel Morgan book! Huzzah! I absolutely adore this series. I hated the Rachel character when I first began this series, but now, well I only at moments want to throttle her to the ground, but that's common for everyone who meets her. Sure she tends to think short term and not really use her head a lot, but she tries, and she's grown quite a bit. This book, well the last one was incredible, but this one was infuriating! In a good way...  but it was paced differently than the last several books. This one had a slow beginning as if Kim Harrison was also trying to become reacquainted with her cast of characters and her world. This has been a very long and wild ride thus far, and this is so not the last book in the series, it felt more like a book that though had moments scary as all hell and action packed, has set us up for something way bigger, something even the mighty Trent Kalamack may not be able to handle in the future. The basis of this story is Ritual murders are occurring across the city, and there are terrifying amalgams of human and other. Well, scary, this book brings a lot of sensitive topics into the story, things that are very own world faces very much today. Prejudice...and a lot of it. I almost threw the book across my desk a few times due to how angry I had become over how even in a work of fiction something so evil and so relevant could hit so close to home and be so obviously wrong. And yet... it thrives in both worlds. It's sad and I will refrain from becoming preachy, but seriously people, why can't we just put aside the differences and live and let live? I must quote Tim Curry here in the fact this series still causes me to "shiver in antici....pation." The sheer will the author has in her character relationships just kills me, I just want something to happen! The story itself also had a very sad undertone as change has to happen all of us have faced such moments in our lives when we are either no longer changing and our friends change on us, or we change and our friends just go on leaving us in the past. I also wonder, what the hell is so darn special about the coffee shop of Jr.s that causes so many big moments to go down. There is so much tension and the story so taunt the relationships have evolved to a point I think I have a glimpse of the future and I'm excited and sad for everyone from Witch, Vampire, Pixy, Elf, etc.. to demon kind. I enjoyed this book, I screamed at my husband to leave me alone, I was on the last ten pages, and I just HAD to finish. A good tenth book, I wonder how long this series will go on for, I'm not tired yet, but I NEED to know what the hell this author is thinking.

Sacred Volume 2: Story and Art By Lizbeth R. Jimenez

Mmm... Manga, how I missed you. Due to how long series are these days and how similar most manga have been, I have been hesitant to even begin another, then at Manga Next, I again had the pleasure to attend a few panels that hosted Lizbeth, and interacting with her just hooked me. This book continues directly after the first one. It brings a lot of plot to the table. The art even appears to have evolved a little. I love the outfits she puts her characters in, they're so unique in their own ways. There is a cool grouping of Goth, Business, business casual, classic royal garb, and just so many styles that blend wonderfully in Grandome. However, for every question answered three more are asked. I love the pace of this book and the funny moments cause me to just giggle like a young girl. There are a lot of serious moments, but it seems Lizbeth just cannot help herself and will throw in some kind of wise ass moment or remark to offset the serious tone, but it does not ruin the moment if anything it helps we the readers to cope. The scene transitions could use some work. I had whiplash a few times when I was reading and then BAM! We were in a totally different scene with a different group of people. These could be a tad neater so I do not find myself going back a page and wondering if I missed a page. I find myself loving Skylar and Sheko was more than the main character, but I usually route for the chorus rather than the lead singer I think. I do wonder where this story is going, this world is just so vast! It seems there could be a book just about the world and not even the characters, but I love that! It means there is definitely more to come. Did I mention how awesome the art is by the way? The art is just so spiffy and beautiful. From the funny chibi art to the very serious art. I love it! Being this is a manga it is very hard to talk about the plot, but... trust me this is a series to follow.