The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen

So The Vampire Stalker is one of those books that's tailored for just about every fangirl ever. Including me. It's basically a girl living out my fantasy of living out my fantasy. Huzzah!

Amy is your typical fangirl, in love with a sexy vampire hunter that doesn't exist. Except that he does. Otherworld is basically 1920's Chicago-plus-vampires-with-a-vengeful-hot-hunter-on-the-loose. That was a mouthful. Anyway, your fictional Stephanie Meyer-type author is actually an empath looking into Otherworld from the real world and writing about it, without knowing it. And then our hot vampire hunter is "scientifically" transported into Amy's (our) world. Diepen incorporates some modern physics string theory that about 90% of people reading this book wouldn't understand in detail. I do because I'm ridiculously good a retaining information from physics class (hence my test average being more than double my homework average), but you get the idea from what she says.

Oh, and Amy is friends with her school librarian, who was a physics major getting her Ph.D. and got kicked out for believing in this "literary physics." I found that a little weird.

The book is very light, and reads super quick. I finished in a few hours reading the ebook version. I recommend it, though. 4/5.

Summer reading with ebooks!

Hey, all you bookworms!

Ebooks. They're awesome, right? Right.

A lot of libraries are offering more digital audiobooks and ebooks now, through programs like Overdrive Media Console (audiobooks) and Adobe Digital Editions and such. I've been getting books this way more and more recently. The great thing about library ebooks is that they expire automatically, which means no fees. Also, you can access them anywhere (it doesn't have to be AT the library), and some audiobooks can even get transferred to your ipod! I know some people are saying the print books are going to become defunct, but I don't believe this will happen for a long time yet. I really hope it doesn't. There's something really ominous about the thought of a world without paper books.

I like to listen to audiobooks before bed to wind me down. I can't focus enough on them when I'm doing anything else, so I lie down and listen with my eyes closed. Otherwise, they just end up as background noise and I can't follow. Can you tell I'm a great multi-tasker?

I also have an eReader tablet called the Entourage Pocket Edge that has both an e-ink screen and an android tablet screen, and opens and closes like a book. Unfortunately, they're hard to find now because the company shut down, but it works great for how I use it. I'm starting college in the fall and I'm thinking it will be great for that as well because you can record lectures and take notes with the stylus. The e-ink screen is also a touchscreen, which means you can write directly within your ebooks, a.k.a. awesome textbook note taking.

I like to download a whole series of books onto my tablet, so when I finish one book I can go right on to the next one, no hassle. Hey, that's why I'm called The Binge Reader. I may like the convenience, but I'm not such a fan of ebook interface. I don't care how thin it is, there's a certain pleasure in reading giant hardcover books, like Harry Potter 7 (speaking of which, who's excited for the movie this thursday?!).

I hope that manga starts becoming more available as ebooks. I feel there's some big business here waiting to happen. I know I'd rather buy manga ebooks than all those tiny paperbacks. I have a giant box of them waiting to get moved to my new apartment. Ugh. It's worse because I reread them, so I can't get rid of them. I, for one, would be a huge consumer if they started offering more manga ebooks.

Anyway, what's your thoughts on ebooks and audiobooks? Shoot me a comment below.

Love always,
The Binge Reader

Review: Vampire Academy series

I'd been laying off the vampire series for a while, but this one caught my eye. I read the 6 book series over a week. Hey, they don't call me the Binge Reader for nuthin'.

Rose is a really unique heroine. I've never really read anything like it. She was described by a different character as just being "full of fire." All too often these days we see the typical shygirl-develop-into-a-brave-heroine routine, and it was nice to see an already outgoing girl explore her own personality and mature. I also find her relationship with Dmitri quite unusual, and I'm not talking about the forbidden part. Usually, YA authors don't touch so much as the deeper feelings of love as much as the physical senses or the fluttering feeling, blood rush, etc. Dmitri and Rose's relationship is interesting because sometimes he feels like an older brother figure but you can also sense the deepness, and that it goes beyond friendship. I find their relationship closer to real love than the blood-rushing, heart-racing sensation that you hear about so often. Sometimes it does seem like Mead tries a little too hard to sell the "deeper love," though. It does seem like Rose narrates her feelings a little too much, saying cliche things like "I realized that while he's there for me, I'm also helping him." You get the idea.


The plotline is really well done as well. Richelle Mead successfully reformatted our whole world, splitting it into the "vampire world" (split into Moroi and Strigoi) and the "human world," plus the Alchemists that defend the line between them.

Overall, awesome series. I'm glad I revisited the vampire phenomenon. I think maybe I'd just had enough of Zoey Redbird's character from House of Night. Blah. 


Highly recommended. 4.5/5.


Sincerely,
The Binge Reader