Couldn't Put it Down

The Host
By: Stephanie Meyer

I cannot remember the last time a book has held my interest in this way when it wasn't about a young wizard with a scar on his forehead. The Host followed me everywhere, I read it in restaurants, in the bar by the theatre, before work, before bed. In a weekend's time, the book was finished, sitting next to me, my mind begging for more story (even though I feel the story stopped at a respectable place).

To make a reference that few of you will understand, to me, The Host is to Stephanie Meyer what Firefly was to Joss Whedon. Whedon created the successful Buffy the Vampire series which saw fairly decent success. With that under his belt, the networks allowed him to create his baby, the odd, yet brilliant science fiction series Firefly. Meyer also created a world of vampires that saw some success, but to me The Host reads as an odd yet brilliant novel that her publishers may not have taken a chance on if not for the success of the Twilight series.

Imagine a world where humans have been taken over by an alien species. They take over human bodies and live their lives. Imagine that you are one of these aliens, and you're placed in a body full of emotions and heartache that you don't understand. Imagine that the original human's mind is still there with you.

Don't imagine - read the book. I would not have picked this up on premise alone and I would have missed out on a beautiful story of friendship, love and what it truly means to be human.

Throw Yourself in Another World

The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel
By: Jasper Fforde

Lesson one - don't read a new book during tech week!

That said, let me tell you a bit about The Eyre Affair. During the rehearsal process, a friend of mine handed me this book, saying that she thought I'd enjoy it. Based on the reviews (I've since stopped reading descriptions for most books), I agreed and decided to put Catcher in the Rye on hold yet again, with the plan to tear through the new book and be back to my classic soon enough. Well, that plan failed, though due to no fault of the book.

The Eyre Affair drops you into an alternate reality with barely a warning. In fact, early in my reading, I had to stop to make sure that I was in fact reading the first book in a series. I was. But once my mind was able to accept this new world for what it was, I was able to be sucked in.

I faded in and out of the book. Some days reading chapters at a time greedily, others reading a chapter before bed then placing it down to be continued. The last fifty pages though, I did in a single sitting, refusing to place the book down for a moment.

And I suppose that's the biggest flaw that this book held - it was an origin story (which is odd, as usually I'm a fan of a good old fashion origin story). Origin stories, while necessary, occasionally have those tedious moments. However, the well written nature, fun concept and over all cleverness of this book lead me to believe that the Thursday Next books will be an entertaining and intelligent read.