Book Review: Ugly To Start With

Jason Stevens is growing in picturesque, historic Harpers Ferry, West Virginia in the 1970s. Back when the roads are smaller, the cars slower, the people more colorful, and Washington, D.C. is way across the mountains-a winding sixty-five miles away.

Jason dreams of going to art school in the city, but he must first survive his teenage years. He witnesses a street artist from Italy charm his mother from the backseat of his family car. He stands up to an abusive husband-and them feels sorry for the jerk. He puts up with his father's hard-skulled backwoods ways, his grandfather's showy younger wife, and the first-throwing schoolmates and eccentric mountain characters that make up Harpers Ferry-all topped off by the basement art project with a girl from the poor side of town.

Ugly to Start With punctuates the exuberant highs, bewildering midpoints, and painful lows of growing up, and affirms that adolescent dreams and desires are often fulfilled in surprising ways.

Ugly To Start With
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 168 (ebook)
Part of Series: -
Purchased: For Review by the author
Rating: 3/5 stars
Buy: Amazon (US)

REVIEW:
I remember when Yiota send me the e-mail in which the synopsis of the book was included, I told her that the book sounded really, really good, and that she should totally send me a copy. Unfortunately, the book was not what I was expecting.

Firstly, we have a perplex story. In each chapter we read different facts from Jason's life, in which the only common link is Jason himself. We cannot be sure if what we are reading is in a straight chronological line. You understand it only by some facts, Jason may think during something else is happening to him. But still you cannot be sure, about the distance from the previous facts.

Secondly, the writing part was weird. It was nothing like the styles I've been used to. You don't really understand why someone is reacting the way he does. The characters' character is changing in an instant and there are many thoughts unspoken which cause those reactions. Sometimes I was lost. It may happen that in one point everything is peaceful and the next all hell break loose.

Lastly, every single story in this book is true. There are thirteen different stories from thirteen different people, written on their own journals. The author just took those stories and combined them together under a main character. The good thing in it is that you appreciate the book more. The bad thing is that you learn in in the end, in the acknowledgement part. The other bad thing is that even though you learn that the book is almost true, it still feels like you read a journal of facts and not a novel which describe feelings and details.

Bottom line, it's different. For me different is good. I cannot say it was the best book I've ever read and I cannot say it was the worst. It's small, but it took me some time to finish it, due to my college reading. It's not a book of relaxation after a day's work. It's just different and the author leaves you with many questions during the end for what happens next into Jason's life. So, basically, it's up to you, to read it or not.

P.S.: Sorry for not being clearer, guys and gals. If you decide to read it, please tell me your opinion too.

Book Review: Streamline

Seems like Leo Scott has it all: looks, brains, and athletic talent. He's captain of his high-school swim team with bright future in college and beyond. But Leo has secrets. His mother's cripping car accident has devastated hie family and left Leo to deal with his father's abuse, battered and alone.

Leo's girlfriend Audrey Rose is poised for her own share of success. As one of Florida's top high school swimmers, Audrey dreams of college swimming stardom. But there's an obstacle to her glorious rise to the top. Her number one supporter - her father - is in prison for murder.

Part murder mystery, part tale of young love in a military family, this gripping story takes readers on a journey from Pensacola to Annapolis. Leo and Audrey must band together to rise above the adversity they encounter and find thier true selves in the process. When everything's on the line....streamline.

Streamline
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 460
Part of Series: -
Purchased: For Review for tour
Rating: 5/5 stars
Buy: Book Depository || Amazon (US)

REVIEW:
This book was a request by the author to be read and reviewed. Needless to say that until the book reached my hands, or my inbox since it was in electronic form, I had totally forgotten what I've read on the synopsis. At first, I thought it was a teenage book from those that talk about proms and first kisses. But I was so happy when I proved wrong.

First thing I noticed were the chapters. I mean they are not like those you see mostly where they are just numbered. These chapters had titles. Titles that had a meaning, other times they were ironic, other there were just phrases from the chapter. But always they were giving you a hint and they were intriguing you to read further.

 Secondly, I would like to mention how misleading is the cover of the book. I really like it, but there is a major problem. Leo is black. Well, his father is black and his mother is white, and he's supposed to be half black, I don't remember how the author describes it and I don't want to attempt and describe it myself. But the boy in the cover is white and I was so stuck into the idea of a white Leo, that after that I couldn't imagine him as black. And that sucked a little.

Thirdly, there are the characters. They are all so great. Yes, they are all troubled and each of them have their own problems. Yes, sometimes their reactions are not the ones you expect and there might be some times when you are going to hate them for their decisions, but you cannot but sympathize them all during the end. Or almost all.

The book itself is awesome. I was not expecting half of the things that happened. The author has the ability to keep your attention all the time. There were descriptions that I was not believing in my eyes as I was reading. She makes you travel in a cascade of feelings that make your experience of reading unique. For instance, when Leo was happy, I was happy. When he was sad, I was sad. And when he was in the Academy, I could feel in the air around me the authority and the strictness. The end was awesome, I was not expecting it. Well, I had the first part figured out, but there was more to it. I don't know if by being a psychologist helped the author write as it is, or the things she heard or read, but the whole story seemed somehow real and familiar.

Bottom line, I loved it. I totally recommend it. I think it was unique and lovely. I don't know if it appeals to all of you, but it was totally different from what I've read so far and far more adult-like. So, basically, what I'm trying to say is that if you want to read it then you should be sure you want to, because it's not some novel you can read lightly.

Want to win $25 Gift Card of your choice? Enter Jennifer Lane's giveaway while the tour runs!

Newbies - April 2012

So i will be naming this monthly post "Newbies" for the new books in our bookshelves each month. (In case you are wondering, we don't buy/get so many books each week for a weekly post - it's better only once at the end of each month).

Yiota's April Newbies

Gift - The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Gift - The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Bought - Bleach Vol. 7-9 by Tite Kubo
For Review - White Raven by Irina Lopatina
For Review - The Spirit Keeper by Melissa Luznicky Garrett

Free for University  (those books cost in sum over 200 euros o.O) :
The Internet Galaxy by Manuel Castells
Διδακτικες Προσεγγίσεις και Εργαλεία για την διδασκαλία της Πληροφορικής
E-Business and E-Commerce Management Strategy, Implementation and Practice by Dave Chaffey
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach by Russell & Norvig
Essentials of Management Information Systems by Laudon & Laudon

What did you get this week? Leave your links at the comments :D

Game Review: Binary Domain

THE MACHINE AGE HAS BEGUN in this immersive and atmospheric squad-based shooter in which you need to regain control of a futuristic Tokyo from an emerging robotic threat. Set in 2080, the story starts when Dan Marshall and his squad are sent to bring the robotic community under control as they begin to infiltrate society and slowly take over undetected, leaving humans redundant in their wake. Thrilling encounters with highly intelligent robotic enemies require you to think tactically, make challenging, real-time moral decisions and build up trust with your team mates in order to guide your squad to safety and success.

Features:

A NEW TAKE ON FUTURISTIC TOKYO - Experience dual layered Tokyo with a run down and derelict lower city and a clean and affluent upper city.

 THE CONSEQUENCE SYSTEM - Under the pressures of battle every action, every choice and every word affects everything.

PROCEDURAL DAMAGE - Fully destructible and highly resilient robots adapt to the damage they sustain encouraging you to analyse each enemy, find their weaknesses and dispose of them in the most efficient way.

WEAPON MODIFICATION AND SKILL SELECTION - Alongside a full armoury of unique weapons, put emphasis on the skills that will benefit you.

Binary Domain
Released: April 27, 2012
Rating: 3/5 stars
Console: PC / XBOX360 / PS3
Buy:Amazon.com

Review:

This game confused me... It starts right into the action with no intro at all given to get the player into the story, instead after I finished the first chapter I got to watch the intro video that explains how I got into Japan and why. And that was just the start of my confusion, I will explain in the detailed review.

Gameplay: The gameplay is pretty standarized in our days, ever since the call of duty games were such a big hit. The confusing thing here is that the default button for reloading the weapons is the middle mouse button instead of the more common 'R' button. It doesn't sound very big an issue but when all other FPS games use this button it is pretty hard to get used to another button, but if you can't you can always change it, in that case though you would have to get used to press 'R' for the secondary weapon attack because they had the bright idea to put it on the same button as the reload button...

Graphics: Yep they are good and without glitches at the same time. Thumbs up on this one.

Story: The story is really cool actually. It is about the birth of emotionally aware artificial inteligence which is banned by the UN. So the UN sends a multinational commando team called "Rust Crew" to destroy those robots and bring their creator into custody for his "crime" of advancing the technology beyond America's interests. The confusing thing here are the characters. They are all like robots, they act like their emotionaly and morality "software" is reprogrammed in each scene :O Especially in the two final chapters. In one scene they want to slay every last artificial intelince machine in Japan and in the next scene they wanna kill their boss to protect the machines. And it is not just "following orders" they are acting like fanatics on all their decisions and a human that acts that way does not change his opinion that easily, so fail for bad writen characters. The only nice character was the main hero and the hot chinese sniper girl. And the worst of them all, they failed to make me believe that the "bad guys" were really bad, in fact at the end I wanted to join them and fight against the UN because the bad guy here was actually a briliant scientist and the UN were just a racist bunch of close minded assholes that were afraid of evoltion, they were afraid of losing their sit, their money and their power and because of that they decided to stop the scientific progress.

So I would suggest you buy this game only if you like robot stories or anime series or you are just a big FPS fun. If the price drops a bit it would be worth it but now the price is too high for its worth.