Blurb:

For ages women have come together over coffee, cocktails, or late-night phone chats to analyze the puzzling behavior of men. He’s afraid to get hurt again. Maybe he doesn’t want to ruin the friendship. Maybe he’s intimidated by me. He just got out of a relationship.

Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo are here to say that — despite good intentions — you’re wasting your time. Men are not complicated, although they’d like you to think they are. And there are no mixed messages.

The truth may be He’s just not that into you.

Unfortunately guys are too terrified to ever directly tell a woman, "You’re not the one." But their actions absolutely show how they feel.

He’s Just Not That Into You — based on a popular episode of Sex and the City — educates otherwise smart women on how to tell when a guy just doesn’t like them enough, so they can stop wasting time making excuses for a dead-end relationship.

Reexamining familiar scenarios and classic mindsets that keep us in unsatisfying relationships, Behrendt and Tuccillo’s wise and wry understanding of the sexes spares women hours of waiting by the phone, obsessing over the details with sympathetic girlfriends, and hoping his mixed messages really mean "I’m in love with you and want to be with you."

He’s Just Not That Into You is provocative, hilarious, and, above all, intoxicatingly liberating. It deserves a place on every woman’s night table. It knows you’re a beautiful, smart, funny woman who deserves better. The next time you feel the need to start "figuring him out," consider the glorious thought that maybe He’s just not that into you. And then set yourself loose to go find the one who is.

My thoughts: 

This is the first book I read for my “relationships topic” for the One, Two, Theme Challenge. I don’t know exactly what I expected other than an entertaining read, but I was disappointed. Yes, it was an entertaining read, but other than that reading it is as enlightening as reading no book about relationships at all.

The book takes various situations, e.g. he doesn’t call when he said he would, he puts you down in front of others, he doesn’t want to marry you…., and evaluates them. The result of that evaluation is invariably the same, “he’s just not that into you”. Greg Behrendt’s world is black and white. If the man doesn’t do what he said he would and/or doesn’t do what you expect him to, dump the loser!

He doesn’t call on Monday, like he said, but on Tuesday? What a jerk! Dump him! He doesn’t want to marry you even though he knows how important it is for you to get married? You know now what to do.

Admittedly, there are some situations where the dumping is appropriate, but in others a readiness for compromise would help a bit. Also, your own feelings towards the jerk seem of no importance. You might be crazily in love with the guy who’s just not that into you. Doesn’t matter, get rid of him anyway.

The basic statement of the book “Better to be alone than to be with someone that makes you unhappy” might be sane and sound, but I am not sure that 100% of the women out there would agree with that. Liz Tuccillo, the co-writer of this book and the girl voice likes Greg’s wisdom and lives by it. Strangely enough, even though he assures the female reader continuously that she is a. hot stuff (how he knows this is beyond me, not all of us are hot stuff) and b. a better man is somewhere out there waiting for her, Liz is still single at 40 something and looking.

I’m ambivalent about this. Some advice is good, makes sense and should be followed, but that is advice that your mother would give you, too. The writing style is entertaining and every woman recognizes herself in the stories. However, a few more shades of grey would have done a great deal to make this book more helpful all in all.

Title	He’s just not that into you
Author	Greg Behrendt & Liz Tuccillo
Publisher	Simon & Schuster
ISBN	978-1416948674
Buy link	Buy He’s Just Not That Into You

For the One, Two, Theme Challenge 2011 I have finally decided on my three topics. I went through my TBR pile and built my themes around it to make sure I get some books read that have been sitting on my shelf for quite some time.

My three themes are Wicca, WWII and Relationships.

Now, what books to choose?

 

1. Wicca

I went to a site Poppy Red recommended (Witchvox.com) and found out that one of the books I already owned is one of the most popular ones as well. Lucky!

I plan on reading:

• The Spiral Dance by Starhawk
• The Real Witches Handbook by Kate West (already have that one as well)

I might add

• Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham that Angelique suggested.

That leaves me with one fiction book I still need. Does anyone have any recommendations?

• After a look around and from recommendations I might read "The Forest House" by MZB.  

 

2. WWII

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
• Joseph Goebbels by Kurt Riess. This is a biography that came out in 1950. Kurt Riess was working for the US Army at the time; he searched archives and spoke to people who worked for Goebbels etc. right after the war.

 

3. Relationships

• He’s just not that into you by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
• Essays in Love by Alain de Botton

• Important artifacts and personal property from the collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris including books, street fashion, and jewelry by Leanne Shapton

  This book – as non-fiction as it sounds – is a fictional auction catalogue that portrays the rise and fall of a four-year-relationship.

I think this is going to be a fun challenge for the next year.

 

 

I thought I was done with my reading challenge planning for 2011, but, as always, something else came up. At Poppy’s blog I saw that she joined the Gothic Reading Challenge. The lowest level “A little Madness” is just the right thing for me. You are only required to read one book and that suits me just fine.

I have two books on my TBR list. Depending on which one I can get my hands on cheaper I will either read “The Castle of Otranto” or “The Mysteries of Udolpho”. Not sure I will be able to stomach more than one. I am somewhat wimpy when it comes to suspense.

I was thinking about what challenges to join in 2011. Not too many since I am not very good at sticking to things.

Apart from my own Steampunk Challenge I am considering the One, Two Theme Challenge. It sounds like a fun idea to explore certain topics, I just have to come with a few that I WANT to explore. One of them will definitely be Wicca. I already have a few books at home about it, but never really got into them. The other topics I still need to think about.

Is anybody else joining this challenge? If so, what topics are you choosing?

Blurb:

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire — and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

My thoughts: 

This is the first book I read for my Steampunk challenge. Everybody talks about the Parasol Protectorate series, of which this is the first book with Changeless and Blameless to follow. Two more sequels, Heartless and Timeless, will be released in the next two years.

Since this is the first steampunk book I have ever read (except a m/m novella which I don’t count here) I have no idea how to rate it as far as the steampunk factor is concerned. It is set in an alternative Victorian London; werewolves, vampires, ghosts and other supernatural beings have come out years before and are now an official, if not 100% popular, part of society. The plot revolves around mysterious appearances and disappearances of supernatural beings and it is up to Alexia and Lord Maccon to detect what is going on (if only by accident and with the help of a few delectable dandies).

Alexia is a preternatural, the only one known in fact, who can neutralize supernatural powers merely through touch. I found this an interesting twist. In no paranormal story I have read so far did I come across anybody who could negate the supernatural at all, let alone this easily. Her interactions with her paramour-to-be were delightful. Both thoroughly dislike each other – or so they think – and that made for some very agreeable banter.

The other main characters are all fleshed out and, if not likeable, at least believable. The typical werewolf – vampire differences are in place. The vampires are refined to foppish, the werewolves down-to-earth to rough and boisterous. I absolutely loved Lord Akeldama and his drones. I hope I will see more of them in the future.

One thing I could have done without were the descriptions of the experiments in the club. I hate that sort of thing and I would have known that those scientists were rather crazy, fanatical and dangerous without reading all that. So I skipped some of it, even though I am sure I missed out on some great machinery ideas that way.

The idea to lock Alexia into the cell with the biggest werewolf gave a chance to throw in a lovely scene between her and Lord Maccon. Strange how people in love are inclined to kiss and pet even in the worst circumstances. But then, I suppose they were locked in and could only wait. So what better pastime than to make out?

I very much enjoyed reading Soulless and will definitely continue with that series. If you like the paranormal, romance (not too explicit), an element of humour and a lot of entertainment, get it!

On Gail Carriger’s website you will find a page about Alexia’s London, along with sketches of characters and outfits, deleted scenes and more. A nice addition to the reading experience.

Title	Soulless
Author	Gail Carriger
Publisher	Orbit Books
ISBN	978-0316056632
Buy link	Buy Soulless

For all the steampunk lovers or lovers-to-be who are interested in romance, you might want to have a look at Meljean Brook’s blog this week. It is Steampunk Romance Week and readers get quite a lot of info on that subject.

Short blurb:

The story is based on the famous "setup" in which three wishes are granted. In the story, the paw of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate.

 

My thoughts:

I decided to re-read this very short story for the “Short Story peril” option of the RIP challenge.

There is not much to be said about this story without giving anything away, since it is only ten pages long. It shows the reader very clearly what the saying “Be careful what you wish for” means and that everybody who wishes for things does it at his own peril.

The time frame is about a week and in that one week pretty dreadful things happen to Mr. and Mrs. White and their son. Just shows you that you can never be too careful when expressing a wish. I found it quite interesting to hear that the old fakir who put the spell on the monkey’s paw did so to show “that those who interfered with it [i.e. fate] did so to their sorrow”. Unfortunately it seems that for most people that knowledge comes too late. They don’t listen to sound advice but need to know at first hand – and suffer the consequences as a result.

If you would like to read this story and haven’t got it, it is available as a free e-book at Project Gutenberg as well as a free audio book.

The Monkey’s Paw free e-book

The Monkey’s Paw free audio book

Even though some of us have started reading and reviewing already today is the official start of the year long steampunk challenge. If you haven’t taken a look at the reviews posted on the reviews page you should do so. I am sure we will all get lots of ideas about what to read next from them.

My first two books have still not turned up, so I will have to be patient. What is your first book to read? Are you going to start with an anthology or is it going to be a chunkster right away?

If you need reading recommendations please have a look at the recommendations page. I will continuously add books to the list, so check back from time to time.

Want to know who else is participating? Go to the participants’ page. I have listed everybody with a link to their blog or website (if there is one). 

Thanks to everybody for participating. I am sure it’s going to be a fun reading year.

image by timobalk at sxc.hu

Wow, I am totally overwhelmed by the response to the challenge. I’m still working on the list of participants, but will post it asap. So far 27 people have signed up and a lot of steampunk lovers have given us tons of recommendations.

There are even a few reviews up already even though the challenge hasn’t even begun officially. Isn’t that great? Make sure you go and see what some of us have already read. Seems everybody is quite enthusiastic about it and eager to start. So am I. I ordered two books which should arrive shortly (and broke the book buying ban in the process).

I am going to start with something light and fluffy (according to some), “Soulless” and then will have a look at the “Steampunk” anthology to get a little overview of what is out there.

What are you all going to start with?

You might have read that I started to become interested in Steampunk. I want to explore the genre and find out what is out there. So while tweeting the other day the thought came up to organize a Steampunk challenge. And here it is.

If you are interested in Steampunk and would like to join my Steampunk challenge, please go to my Steampunk challenge page and sign up there.

We will all link to our reviews or other related Steampunk blog posts, so we can all discover this interesting genre together. Your reading recommendations are more than welcome!

If you would like to grab the Steampunk button for your blog, just copy and paste the code below the button in the left sidebar.