Original Sin - Allison Brennan

I was lucky enough to receive a free copy of Original Sin by Allison Brennan, courtesy of Random House's facebook page. I had to suggest a good name for a fallen angel - I said Gabriel (mostly because it's the only one I could think of). But however I came across it, I got the free book! I wasn't even sure until I started it whether it was a Young Adult or an Adult novel. Having finished it, I'm still not sure.

Brennan is apparantly a New York Times bestselling author, although I've never heard of her before, nor read any other books by her. And this book is fairly clearly an attempt to jump on the vampire bandwagon, but do something a little bit different with it.

Fiona is the head of a powerful coven who are dead set (is that a pun?) on bringing the seven deadly sins to earth. This involves a complicated ritual that requires a virgin sacrifice and another young girl to be the 'arca', the vessel that the sins (in demon form) are trapped in. Fiona's daughter, Moira, turned against her mother's evil ways several years ago and has since been trying to bring about her demise. There's also a Roman Catholic Church (supported by a cardinal apparantly) on the goodside, and some fairly noble and predictably attractive demonologists.

And guess what - there's seven deadly sins, and SEVEN BOOKS! Although the idea behind the plot is slightly more original than just throwing together a few lust enraged vampires, it doesn't move far beyond that script. And it is clearly set up to suck young readers in and hopefully purchase the next 6 instalments.

I'll admit, maybe a little sheepishly, that I got sucked in by the Twilight books. Despite the atrocious writing, there was just something about the plot that was unputdownable. Original Sin didn't grab me in nearly the same way. I tried my hardest to go into it with a completely open mind and not compare it to Twilight, but it's impossible not to. And, the writing in this book is, if possible, slightly more atrocious. There are clear holes left in the plot, and massive gaps in the character's history, that presumably will be answered in subsequent novels - but to be honest I just don't really care if I ever find out what happens to them.

Even though I was lucky enough to get given this book for free, I still spent a few previous hours reading it that could have been better spent doing life enriching activities, like mopping the floor, or picking my boyfriend's nose. If fantasy romance is your thing, give it a whirl and you'll probably enjoy it. Otherwise, best leave this one on the shelf.

Happy reading!

Em

Emma - Jane Austen (and inadvertantly Clueless)

Every now and again, I like to jump back into a book I've already read and loved, just to remind myself why I fell in love with it in the first place. All six Jane Austen novels are on that list, although not long ago I re-read Sense and Sensibility, and now I have reread Emma.

Emma centres around the life of Emma Woodhouse, a well-to-do young lady who has it in her mind that she's got a knack for matchmaking, despite her apparent lack of success. At the beginning of the novel, she takes young Harriet Smith, a young woman of unknown birth, under her wing, and declares that she should wed Mr Elton, a local vicar, and that Mr Elton is madly in love with Miss Smith. However, Emma has read the situation all wrong, and Mr Elton is actually in love with herself, and Emma must work her way out of the mess she's gotten herself in to. The novel follows on with various other romantic intrigues, comical errors, and  garden parties. The plot is actually hilarious, and relevant to today's courtship rituals, despite the clear differences.

And even, perhaps as a young man, you feel the plot a bit too fantastical, how can you go past Austen's marvelous and engaging prose?

"Mr Elton returning, a very happy man, He had gone away rejected and mortified - disappointed in a very sanguine hope, after a series of what had appeared to him strong encouragement; and not only losing the right lady, but finding himself debased to the level of a very wrong one. He had gone away deeply offended - he came back engaged to another - and to another as superior, of course, to the first, as under such circumstnaces what is gained always as to what is lost. He came back gay and self-satisfied, eager and busy, caring nothing for Miss Woodhouse, and defying Miss Smith."

Jane Austen's writing is simply marvellous. There's a reason why she has legions of fans the world over, why there are annual shindigs like the Jane Austen festival being held in Canberra this April (www.janeaustenfestival.com.au), and why everyone should give at least one (but preferably all) Austen novels a try.

Going to an all-girl's school, it was practically impossible to avoid Jane Austen, and most definitely impossible to avoid repeated viewings of the movie Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone. For those who didn't realise at the time (and I am one of those few), Clueless is based around the plot of Emma, with Cher playing the high spirited matchmaker, Emma. Although the names are changed and part of the plot is slightly different, they're essentially the same story. And it was with much annoyance that, whilst reading Emma, both the first time around and then again over these last few days, I couldn't get Clueless out of my head. I constantly found myself making connections between the movie and the book, and how it was actually quite clever how they had managed to update the older novel into a modern film.

But, it got very annoying very quickly, because I found I was unable to enjoy Emma for Emma, and I fear, due to the fact I've seen Clueless at least 20 times, I'll never be able to. That being said, Emma read differently to me than the other Austen novels. It's hard to put my finger directly on what that difference is, but I think it has something to do with the use of dialogue, and perhaps strange punctuation. It just didn't flow for me as easily as the others did. Although, to be fair, that might not be all Austen, as I started a new job this week and so have been a bit distracted and tired while I've been reading. But anyway, at times I felt it difficult to keep going - things were moving too slowly, there was too much chatting going on, the absurd formality of their society really did seem absurd, rather than charming and quaint, as it does in most Austen novels. I occasionally even fell asleep whilst reading, a habit I thought I had trained myself out of over the summer.

Despite my pathetic grumblings, Emma is still a Jane Austen novel, and as such, amazing, and should most definitely be read by all young women at least once, and if they have any good sense, all young men too. And don't just take the easy way out and watch Clueless! You'll regret it forever!

As a young women who professes to love reading in all its forms, Jane Austen has, and always will, shaped my views about reading, and influenced the books I like to read. She was a genius both of her time, and before her time. Pick up a Jane Austen novel and you won't be disappointed.

When In Rome A.K.A. 4 hours of my life I'm never getting back...

This book was chosen as the first book of the year for my bookclub, and this has been the first book we've chosen that hasn't been amazing. But this book was anything but amazing. 


The novel is the autobiographical reminiscences of Penelope Green, who, nearing her thirtieth birthday, decided to desert her life in Sydney, Australia, and move to Italy. She arrives in the foreign country with no job, only a few friends, and no real plans other than attending an international language school to improve her Italian. Sounds like the beginning of many similar such stories, like Almost French by Sarah Turnbull, and Holy Cow by Sarah McDonald. But the fact that this is a story about an Australian girl heading overseas is where the similarities end, mainly because, unlike those other books, both of which I have read and thoroughly enjoyed, Green's experience in Italy hasn't been shaped into any reocgnisable narrative, and is almost completely unremarkable.


The story is littered with boring cliches, and offers no real insights into Italian culture, or the people she meets in her travels. As I was reading it, I got the feeling that I could have gleaned anecdotes more interesting from Wikipedia, or even reading a travel guide (where the author seems to have gained most of her facts about the country). 


I really don't like being negative about books, as everyone likes different books for different reasons, but despite trying for a long while to find a positive about this one, I've come up with nothing. If I wanted to read about a single girl gallivanting about with a string of different men, I'd read Marian Keyes, who would have me laughing out loud, and if I wanted to read about a single girl moving to a new country where she doesn't know any, I'd read one of the books mentioned above. If I specifically wanted to read about Italy, I hear Lonely Planet does a roaring trade in informative and useful guide books. But this just fell completely flat, and was the first book in a long while that was a chore and a difficulty to get through. 


My hot tip is, if the only positive endorsement a publisher can get for a new book is from Australian Women's Weekly, don't bother taking it off the shelf. 


My next read is Emma, by Jane Austen, and thousands of positive recommandations (and the fact I've read it once before and loved it) can't be wrong! 


Happy reading. 


Too-Roo! 
Em