Sixteen Sunsets by Mark Gardner

Time for another book review by one of the WriteOn members - Mark Gardner. He's been really helpful in giving advice, and when he asked me if I wanted to read his latest book, I readily said yes.

Sixteen Sunsets is about (I think) Kristof, who has cancer and only sixteen days to live (hence the sixteen sunsets), and Joaquin, a young criminal. Both of them aren't completely human - they both have super powers of their own. Joaquin has some sort of impervious skin, and Kristof... has his own special powers. The story starts when Kristof gets his dreadful diagnosis, and rapidly introduces a whole host of characters.

I think this book is going to be the start of a series. When it finished, I felt like the stakes were finally set. For most of the book, I was rather confused as to who was on what side, and what did each of the sides want? That was basically my main reason for continuing to read - I wanted everything to eventually make sense. Plus, the premise was interesting, and I liked the secret history that Anne revealed.

Oh yeah, Anne. Anne was the most interesting character to me (Sorry, Mark, I wasn't too fond of the two male leads). As the character with possibly the longest history, Anne's take on how things actually went down was what I enjoyed reading the most. I'm not too sure about what I think about her at the ending of the book (no spoilers, tough), but for most part, I found her fascinating, even though I never want to meet her, ever. She and the powerful little girl, Bree, scare me. By the way, Bree is another interesting character - she only really pops up at the end, but if I continue to read on, it'll be because of her.

By the way, this book contains fairly explicit descriptions of violence and lots of swearing. For the faint at heart, this might not be for you.

Overall, this was an interesting start to the series. I wish the book continued a little longer, because to me, the stakes only felt real at the end, but I suppose that's all part of Mark's plan. I guess now that we've got a sense of the characters, there's no choice but to read on and find out what happens.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review. I did try my best to be impartial, but as I said in the start, I am kinda biased.

Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire by Mireille Guiliano

Since I've just entered job hunting season (I even had an all-day event today), I thought this would be a good book to read (who am I kidding, I was reading job hunting books even before the season. Even before I entered university, probably). Plus, it actually kept my attention past the first chapter in a "my Scribd membership is expiring and I have too many books to read" sort of reading death match, where everything that did not catch my interest by the first chapter got filed for "when I'm back in Singapore".

Anyway, Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire is meant to be a handbook to women just starting out, to help them navigate the tightrope that is work and life. It's basically full of anecdotes from the author, about her career in the wine business, and what they can mean for the reader.

Personally, I liked the book. I found it engaging, and I liked the author's tone. A lot of what she says makes sense, especially about goal setting and priorities. In particular, the line

"Your heart should be in your work, but that doesn't mean your work has to be something you have always loved."

caught my attention, because a teacher once said something similar. Actually, what my teacher said was "your ideal industry is almost always different from what you think it is, so don't stick to it so closely". I think I like this way of putting it better than my teacher. I mean, I love reading, writing, piano, but I'm not at all of that (i.e. piano), and in fact, what I'm hoping to do in the future is something related to Industry 4.0/Industrial Internet. That's actually pretty broad, so I'm hoping I can find a job that interests me.

Towards the end, she talks about things like the differences between men and women in work, and well, I'm not so sure about that. Other parts of the book, like wining and dining in business, may not be as useful to me, since Japan has a fairly unique dining culture. Although I think with globalisation, what she says is probably going to make sense sooner or later.

Overall, I think this was a good book for me to read at the start of the job hunting season. It managed to calm me down, and remind me to be more selective when picking which events that I want to go to.

Candyfreak by Steve Almond by Steve Almond

Before I read Candyfreak, I thought I liked Candy. After reading this, I realised that I am far, far from a Candyfreak. Steve Almond is clearly the master here.

Candyfreak is basically about this guy's love story with candy, and about the underdog candy makers (I.e. The companies that are not Nestle and the like). Which is probably why I don't recognise most of the candy here. There's something called the Idaho Spud, there's a Big Hunk, and all sorts of candies that I don't recognise. Clearly when I went to the US, going only Walmarts and Targets meant that I was limiting myself.

But after listening to Steve describe the candies that he ate, I want to try them all! I especially want to try Valomilk!!

Image from Wikipedia

Valomilk is basically a marshmallow cream in a chocolate shell. I imagine it's like Reeses but with marshmallows instead of peanut butter.

I want to try one so badly! But apparently it's only available in some areas of the US, and they don't even deliver to certain regions if the weather is too hot. I don't even know if it's still around, since the book was probably published quite a few years ago.

Anyway, the book has an extremely distinctive conversational style. I find it amusing, but I can imagine some people finding it annoying. But I liked it - it felt like a friend was telling me stories. It was all very amusing, and without you even noticing it, bits and pieces of information - how a candy is made, the history of a company - is slipped into the text. I think I learnt something, though right now, my craving for sweet treats is the most dominant emotion.

If you think you like candy, give this book a go. You might discover that you don't know as much as you think. And if the author didn't live in the US, I'd be tempted to send him some of the bake-able kitkats just to see what he thinks.

The Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

I think I got this book last year, but for reasons unknown, I never got round to reading it. Very strange, especially since I loved The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, and the Books of Bayern series in general. But, no worries, since I remedied the problem by finishing this book on the way to and from Dazaifu.

The Book of a Thousand Days is a retelling of the Grimm fairy tale Maid Maleen. Basically, a servant girl called Dashti has been locked up with Lady Saren, as her Lady refused to marry a different Lord. But her Lady seems to be having problems, and she makes Dashti pretend to be her when some other Lord (whose suit she accepted) comes for her. After a few years, they escape, and get to the other Lord's place. But the story isn't over yet (of course).

Throughout this story, while I was reading the names and looking at the illustrations, I thought, this looks a lot like the Manchu style and while I wasn't completely right, I was close. The customs were based on ancient Mongolia. How cool is that?

Another thing I found interesting was the character of Lady Saren. She's not a brat, but she's not brave like Dashti. Instead, she seems to be very trouble, psychologically. She made me think of another book, which I had to Google for just to find the title. Turns out it's The Phoenix Dance by Dia Calhoun. At any rate, I found her to be an interesting side character, although she doesn't seem to develop very much.

Plus, Dashti is totally a protagonist I can root for. The book is told entirely through her point of view, and her loyalty to someone as child-like as Saren is admirable. Plus, she can sing and her singing is powerful! (Not gonna say more, in case I accidentally something away).

As expected from Shannon Hale. After this, I need more fairy-tale retellings, STAT. Although sadly, The Phoenix Dance doesn't seem to be available for lending.