They Found Him Dead; Where There's Smoke; Greater Journey; Dead Over Heels; The Lying Game; Never Have I Ever

So I'm on a bit of a Georgette Heyer kick. There are worst things to read, that's for sure :) "They Found Him Dead" is one of her mysteries. First, Silas Kane turns up dead, and it looks like a simple accident. But after his heir is murdered and threats against the next heir are coming fast and furious, the police must conclude that someone is after the money. I actually had this one figured out before the ending, so yay me!!
"Where There's Smoke" by William B. Davis was a bit of a disappointment. Davis played the Cigarette Smoking Man on my all time favorite show "The X-Files". I liked the CSM character, too (of course, I really watched just for David Duchovney, yummy! But I digress). First off, he spent the first 2/3 of the book discussing Canadian and British theater in the 50s and 60s, which he was an important part of. He kept dropping all these names, talking about how awesome they are, and I have no clue who any of them are. So, that was boring. Then, once he *finally* gets to the "X-Files", all he does is trash everyone! He didn't like David or Gillian, thought they were unprofessional, and thought Chris Carter was a twit. He was embarrassed to be on a show that seemingly promoted paranormal beliefs over cold, hard science. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! Oh well, it did put me in the mood to rewatch some of my favorite episodes!
"The Greater Journey" by David McCullough was an interesting look at how many Americans traveled to Paris in the 1800s to study art, medicine, music, and more, and how living and working abroad changed their ways of thinking. I was hoping he would get up to the point where Faulkner was living there, but alas he didn't. It was still interesting.
"Dead Over Heels" by Charlaine Harris is the fourth book in her Aurora Teagarden series. It wasn't quite as bad as the third one. Aurora is married now, and has a bodyguard because her husband is a bit shady. Her old nemesis, detective Jack Burns, is killed and his dead body is dropped out of a plane onto her backyard, setting off a chain of events that were highly improbable but didn't make me vomit in disgust.
And finally, a new series by Sara Shepard, author of the fabulous "Pretty Little Liars" series. I really do enjoy her books, they're much better than you'd think. I like the Lying Game series better than PLL already, because the girls, while still well off and spoiled, don't seem quite as obsessed as the girls in PLL. They don't brand name drop quite as much. In the first book we meet Emma Paxton through the eyes of a ghost, Sutton. Poor Sutton has no idea who she is or why she's suddenly attached to Emma, but we're all about to find out (Emma cannot see her, by the way). Emma is a foster care kid, about to turn 18, living in Nevada. Her foster brother, a real sleazeball, gets her in trouble with his mom, who asks her to leave after her birthday. Emma discovers a girl online in a weird snuff video that looks exactly like her, and wonders if they're related. She emails, and the girl responds that she was adopted, so she and Emma are probably sisters. She invites Emma to come out to Arizona, so, with nowhere else to go and no one else to turn to, Emma goes out to Arizona where she quickly discovers that the girl in the film is her twin sister, Sutton, who was murdered the day before Emma contacted her. Whoever responded must have had something to do with Sutton's murder and is using Emma to keep the crime covered up. With no other choice, Emma assumes Sutton's identity, and tries to fit in with her over the top friends, Charlotte and Madeline, and her sister, Laurel, who are all part of an exclusive club known as the Lying Game. They play pranks on each other that sometimes go way too far. Emma wonders if one of them might be responsible for Sutton's murder. With misdirection and suspicion coming right and left, it's impossible to know who might be guilty and who might be innocent, but it definitely looks like Emma is in danger.
In the second book "Never Have I Ever", Emma determines that none of the girls in the Lying Game were responsible for Sutton's murder, much to her (and ghost Sutton's) relief. However, two hangers on to the Lying Game, the Twitter Twins, Lili and Gaby, seem to be likely suspects after Emma finds out about the horrible pranks Sutton had pulled on them. By the end of the book, however, it looks like the twins are cleared and it might be someone else. Perhaps the return of the mysterious Thayer? All I know is, I can't wait until February for the third installment!!

Envious Casca; Three Bedrooms, One Corpse; Double Dexter

Another Georgette Heyer book, this one a locked room mystery "Envious Casca". It was very entertaining, and I actually had the murderer figured out but then decided no, it couldn't be and changed my mind. Uncle Joe has invited all the family out to his older brother Nathaniel's estate, Lexham Manor, for the Christmas holiday. Nathaniel is a crochetedy old fellow who doesn't really care for any of his family, including his brother Joe. When he turns up dead, stabbed in the back, in his room that was locked on the inside, the question isn't really so much who did it, since everyone had a motive, but rather how they accomplished the feat. The only other locked room mystery I remember reading is a Sherlock Holmes story, "The Speckled Band". I'm sure there have been others, I just don't remember. It was very neatly done, I enjoyed it.
The third book in Charlaine Harris' Aurora Teagarden mysteries "Three Bedrooms, One Corpse" was sadly disappointing to me. I thought Harris had a great heroine going with Aurora: she was a spunky single librarian who loved to read about true crime. In the last book, Harris had Aurora inherit a large fortune, so Aurora quit her job and decided to see if she liked working in real estate, like her mother. Lame. Everyone knows librarians are much more fun than Realtors :) Anyway, while showing a house to a wealthy man, they find a corpse in one of the bedrooms and the hunt is on. And, much to my chagrin, Aurora falls for the older wealthy gentleman and they begin a passionate affair that ends with him proposing at the end of the book with an enormous diamond. Well, that's realistic.
Jeff Lindsay's latest Dexter story "Double Dexter", was great fun. It's just hard sometimes to separate the books from the show, and they're very different, so it was a bit jarring to read about Rita still being alive. But I'm glad she is, I like the Rita in the books better than the Rita on the show. So Dexter is out taking care of business one night when someone spies him at work. Dexter is determined to find out who saw him and take care of him before problems arise, but unfortunately his nemesis always seems to be one step ahead of him and is threatening to expose him, and he has the proof to do so. Dexter enlists his brother Brian's help, but Brian FUBARs the whole thing up and in the end Dexter takes care of it himself with some help from Astor.

Gallery of Regrettable Food; Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor; Bone to Pick

I discovered James Lileks' blog and to my delight we had his book at work: "The Gallery of Regrettable Food". The name says it all, and it had me rolling with laughter. Lileks has collected old cookbooks from the 50s and 60s, when everything was made in a mold or creamed, and culled some of the worst pictures out, adding hilarious captions. It was great fun.
"Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor" by Robert Kirkman is in novel form, about how Brian Blake became the Governor in the graphic novels. Apparently it's the first in a planned trilogy, so we'll see exactly how he became so evil.
"A Bone to Pick" by Charlaine Harris is her second Aurora Teagarden mystery. It was very short, but a light read. Aurora inherits a house and discovers a skull hidden. She doesn't believe the old owner of the house killed anyone, so she starts investigating to find out who it could have been and what might have happened to him.

11/22/63

Wow, the King is back and in a big, big way! Stephen King's latest brick of a book, "11/22/63" was magnificent (spoilers ahead!). Jake Epping is a recently divorced teacher in a small town in Maine. He's a nice guy, so when a local diner owner named Al asks him for a favor, Jake obliges. Turns out there is a hole, a bubble, in the pantry of Al's diner that allows him to travel back in time to September of 1958. Al has been doing this for years, going back to the same day in September, hanging around 1958 for a bit, buying ground beef at cut rate prices and returning to the present day only minutes after he left, no matter how long he stays in 1958. It seems as if the past resets every time he goes back through the hole. Al had the idea of going back and sticking around until 1963, and stopping Lee Harvey Oswald from killing President Kennedy. Unfortunately, Al gets very sick and is forced to return to 2011 before he gets the chance to take Oswald out, or even determine to his satisfaction that Oswald was working alone. He asks Jake to do it, and Jake agrees. Well, the past doesn't like to be messed with, and for very good reasons, and fights back against change, which Jake learns the hard way. Saving Kennedy really wasn't the focus of the book, although it was an interesting plot line. For some reason a lot of people in King's generation idolize Kennedy and seem to think if only he had lived, the world wouldn't be as messed up as it is. I highly doubt that. I'm far removed from the myth of Camelot, so it doesn't enchant me the same way it does the older folks. The very best part - Jake goes to Derry, Maine in September of 1958, right after the summer of "IT" and sees Richie and Bev!! That had to be the best part, I love those kids. "11/22/63" is right up there with "IT", "The Stand", and "Christine", in my book.

Artemis Fowl: the Atlantis Complex; Lizzie

Book seven of the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, "The Atlantis Complex", was good fun. Turnball Root is planning a prison break, and the fairies need Artemis to help save the world, only Artemis is suffering from Atlantis Complex, which causes OCD and multiple personality disorder. General hilarity ensues with poor Captain Holly trying to hold things together while Artemis's sweeter side, Orion, makes an appearance, professing his undying love for her.
Frank Spiering's "Lizzie", about (what else?) the Lizzie Borden case, was...fanciful. It was an interesting theory, that Emma committed the murders, but really very thin on facts or reality.

Lizzie Didn't Do It!; Artemis Fowl: the Time Paradox; Real Murders

So, I got to tour the Lizzie Borden house in Fall River, Massachusetts a few weeks ago when I was in New England. I've always been fascinated by that crime, and read everything I can get my hands on about it. I'll have a few more to write about in the upcoming weeks, but for now "Lizzie Didn't Do It!" by William Masterton was very interesting. He pointed out that even modern day forensics cannot pinpoint time of death any closer than three hours, based on temperature of the body and the stomach contents, yet for 100 years everyone has assumed that Abby Borden was murdered 1 1/2 to 2 hours before her husband, simply because that's what they decided at the time. What if, Masterton posits, Abby and Andrew were killed within a few minutes of each other, by an intruder? Andrew's body was discovered just a few minutes after he was killed by Lizzie, returning from the barn. She raises the cry of murder and no one thinks to look for Abigail for almost an hour, and when they do discover her in the guest bedroom she is colder, her blood is more congealed, than Andrew's because it took longer for them to discover her. It's not all that strange a theory, when you consider all the other possibilities that have been put forth in this fascinating unsolved murder case.
"Artemis Fowl: the Time Paradox" by Eoin Colfer is book 6 in the series, and Angelina Fowl is dying rapidly of a mysterious disease. Artemis calls in Holly and Demon No 1 to help, and they determine she has a deadly fairly disease that one gets from having magic used on them. The only known cure is brain fluid from a now extinct lemur. Artemis and Holly must travel back in time 8 years, to a time when a ten year old Artemis was capturing the last lemur to sell to raise funds to search for his missing father. The whole time travel thing was confusing, but it was fun to see older Artemis trying to outwit younger Artemis.
"Real Murders" by Charlaine Harris was a quick, fluffy read, one of those books you don't really need to devote your full attention to. Aurora Teagarden is a librarian in a small town and a member of the real murders club, a group that gets together to discuss true crime and historical murders. Then murders start happening in their own town, mimicking historical crimes, and members of the group are implicated when evidence is planted against them. Everyone is acting suspicious and no one knows who can be trusted any longer.

Perfect; Emily Climbs; Artemis Fowl: the Lost Colony; The Clique; Tree Grows in Brooklyn; Bag of Bones

Okay, I know I'm way behind but I have a very, very good excuse.
I WENT TO SEE STEPHEN KING'S HOUSE IN MAINE.

Yes, I know. Yes, I was that ridiculously excited. Anyway, it was an amazing trip but now I'm back and ready to get caught up.
"Perfect" by Ellen Hopkins was a companion to "Impulse". Connor's twin Cara is struggling with her sexuality, her boyfriend, Sean, doing steroids to earn a baseball scholarship, Kendra starving herself to become a model, all in the name of perfection. Hopkins point is that no one is perfect so you should love who you are. It was very powerful and I enjoyed it.
"Emily Climbs" by L. M. Montgomery is the sequel to "Emily of New Moon". Emily is off for three years of high school in Shrewsbery where she does quite well despite the restraint of her overbearing Aunt Ruth. It reminds me of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", where Delores Umbridge is so annoyingly unfair and frustrating. Emily handles it all much better than I would have, that's for sure! Now unfortunately none of my libraries have the third book, so I might have to buy it.
"Artemis Fowl: the Lost Colony" by Eoin Colfer is the fifth book in the series. Artemis is chasing time traveling demons and facing a nemesis like no other: a twelve year old girl who is just as intelligent and devious as he was at that age, plus she's pretty and Artemis is going into puberty. Oopsies.
"The Clique" by Lisi Harrison is the first book in her series of a group of spoiled junior high school girls. It really wasn't that good, to be honest. But it did while away a few hours on the plane out to New England.
"Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith was a reread. I suddenly felt the need to reread it. It was one of my favorite books as a young teenager, and it's still good. Francie Nolan is a poor girl growing up in turn of the 20th century Brooklyn. Her father is a drunk, her mother works herself nearly to death to keep the family fed and sheltered, and Francie escapes into a world of books. Boy, doesn't all that sound familiar!
And finally, "Bag of Bones" by Stephen King. I bought it back in 2002 and never read it. I'm sure I meant to, but I was going to school and working full time and never got around to it. I saw the ads for the upcoming miniseries and wanted to watch it, but I wanted to read the book first. I'm glad I did, I really enjoyed it. Mike Noonan is a writer who hasn't written anything since his wife, Jo, died suddenly four years earlier. He moves to their summer house, Sara Laughs, hoping for inspiration. He finds himself in the middle of a custody battle between a young woman struggling to keep her child against the baby's wealthy, powerful grandfather. Mike decides to help Mattie out, and becomes a target of the old man's wrath. Oh, and his house is most decidedly haunted. Very, very good, classic heart wrenching SK ending and all.

Twisted; Artemis Fowl: Opal Deception; Night Circus; Maine; Favored Queen

Okay, I think this should catch me up. I missed "Twisted" by Sara Shepherd a few weeks ago. The 9th PLL book finds the girls friends again after Ali tried to kill them, and they take a spring break trip to Jamaica. While there, they meet a girl who reminds them of Ali, and a horrible thing happens that separates them again for fear of spilling their dark secret. A year later, things are going along seemingly perfectly for all four girls, until they start getting texts from A, who knows what they did in Jamaica. Whoops. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy these books, but they really are addicting.
"Artemis Fowl: Opal Deception" by Eoin Colfer is the fourth book in the series and finds the inhabitants of Underworld needing Artemis's help with the dangerous Opal, who has escaped and started a goblin rebellion.
"Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern was very beautifully written and utterly charming. I was actually enchanted by the world she spun, a world of mystery and magic that cannot be easily explained. Celia and Marco are pawns in a game much bigger than themselves, fated to duel their unique brand of magic at a circus created just to showcase their talents. Celia and Marco reach the point where they refuse to play the game as it was intended to be played any longer and they find a way to pass the delicate balancing act onto someone else so they can be together. It was an all around lovely book, and I think I'm going to buy the hardcover, something I so rarely do anymore once I've read a book. But this is one I want to own.
"Maine" by J. Courtney Sullivan told the story of a family with issues like any other, who have a summer home in Maine they visit every year but no longer together. The three children: Patrick, Kathleen, and Clare, divvy it up so they don't have to put up with each other. The story is told from four points of view: their mother, Alice, the owner of the house, Kathleen, Patrick's wife Ann Marie, and Kathleen's daughter Maggie. What Sullivan did beautifully was paint the story from each perspective: when you're in Alice's mind, you like her, you feel sorry for this seemingly sweet, sad little old lady who has nothing in the world except her faith in the Catholic Church to keep her going since her children and grandchildren rarely pay her any mind. Then when you read from Kathleen's perspective, you realize Alice isn't really all that benign but you can't help but think she's not quite as bad as Kathleen thinks she is, either. You feel like you'd hate Ann Marie's goody two shoe-edness, but when you read from Ann Marie's section you find you like her, she's trying so hard to please everyone and is not perfect, not really. Sullivan did a nice job showing how people are more than one dimensional, which really isn't as easy to do as it seems.
And finally, Carolly Erickson's "The Favored Queen". She paints a highly fictionalized but fun account of Jane Seymour. Jane is usually portrayed as very pious and plain and perhaps a big dull, but Erickson re-imagines her as having had a broken engagement, an affair with a married man, and having a part in Anne Boleyn's downfall, which made Jane much more interesting. It was quick read.

American Gods; Like Judgement Day; Still Missing; Size 12 is Not Fat

Okay, I think I'm missing a whole bunch of books because, instead of writing them down immediately after finishing them, I think "oh, I'll remember", and then I never do. Luckily I have a paper back up, I just have to consult it and get caught up. Anyways...
"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman was very good, hard to describe but I really enjoyed it. Shadow is released from prison and takes a job with a sketchy guy called Mr. Wednesday after his wife is killed in a car accident and he realizes he has nothing to go back home to. He kind of wove in ancient mythology and gods with the idea of people bringing their old gods over from the old country but then there also being new gods created or already here? Not sure, I was a little fuzzy on the details. But it held my attention better than most sci fi/fantasy books do, so yay for that!
Moving on. I saw the film "Rosewood" a few weeks ago and wanted to know more about what took place in the small Florida town in 1923. "Like Judgement Day" by Michael D'Orso didn't really tell so much about Rosewood and its residents as it explained the nuances of Florida legislation (fascinating stuff). I guess it's nearly impossible to know what happened nearly a century before for sure, of course eye witness accounts are spotty at best, but what it boiled down to was that an angry mob burned down the town, killing many black residents and displacing the entire remaining citizens. Seventy three years later, the survivors and their descendants were awarded compensation for their loss from the state of Florida. The movie was actually very good, if not sad.
"Still Missing" by Beth Gutcheon took place in 1980, so it felt a bit dated but it was interesting. It was inspired by the Ethan Patz disappearance and there was a movie which I've never seen called "Without a Trace" that was based on the book. Boy, that sounds way more convoluted then it needs to be. At any rate, Susan Selky kisses her six year old son, Alex, goodbye one morning and watches him walk off to school. He doesn't return home that afternoon and she discovers he never made it to school, he simply vanished. At first the police and neighbors and friends are eager and gung ho to help her find him, but after the weeks go by and there's still no trace of him their eagerness starts to wane and Susan finds herself fighting to keep attention focused on finding Alex. When a man who used to clean their house is arrested for homosexual activities, the police try to pin Alex's disappearance on him and wash their hands of the whole deal, but Susan isn't convinced he is guilty.
"Size 12 is Not Fat" by Meg Cabot was light and fluffy fun. I've read a few of her YA novels and found them entertaining. I really liked "Avalon High", I thought it was very clever the way she wove in Arthurian mythology. But anyway, "Size 12" deals with a former pop star who is dropped by her record label and her ex-fiance and forced to take work in a college residence hall (an uppity name for a dorm) after her mother runs off with all her money. Heather is surprising optimistic about the whole thing, at least until girls start turning up dead. Their deaths are ruled accidental, caused by a dangerous hobby known as elevator surfing. Heather doesn't buy it, and it turns out she's right: someone is murdering the girls and now the killer is out to silence her, too. While the mystery bit was pretty predictable (I figured it out way in advance, which almost never happens) it was still a cute read and I couldn't help but like Heather. She was so nice but not in a "gag me, she's too good to be true" kind of a way.

Flash and Bones; Ready Player One

Kathy Reich's latest Temperance Brennan novel "Flash and Bones", has Tempe investigating a murder at the Charlotte speedway during race week. Well, actually, the original murder took place long before, the story starts with a body encased in asphalt trapped in a barrel that has probably been there for over a decade. It was pretty good, shorter than most of her previous stories and without as much convolution so I was able to follow along. Yay me! Unfortunately no detective Andrew Ryan, though, I have high hopes for a reappearance soon.
"Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline was really a lot of fun, one of the best books I've read in awhile. It takes place about 30 years in the future, in a world where most people live out their lives in a virtual world called the OASIS. OASIS's founder, James Halliday, dies, and in his will stipulates that his vast fortune and control of OASIS will go to the first person who is able to solve his puzzles, find three keys, and open three different gates and win the challenges within. For five long years egg hunters (or "gunters") have been searching for the clues and keys with no luck. A dedicated young man named Wade manages to find the first key and the race is on. A group called the sixers are hot on his trail, using all the power of their corporation, IOI, to cheat their way into winning the game. It was a great story with lots of fun action and wonderful characters to root for. I was literally cheering at the end.

Henry VIII, Wolfman; and Impulse

A. E. Moorat wrote a funny spoof about Henry VIII called "Henry VIII, Wolfman" in which he imagines werewolves overrunning England during the time of Henry's reign. Henry is bitten during an attack which kills Queen Katherine and their newborn son, George, and Henry vows revenge. But he turns into a werewolf during every full moon despite his attempts to fight it. He ends up biting Anne Boleyn and turning her as well, and marries her out of guilt. Meanwhile, Malchek, head of the wolfen, is going around building an army of werewolves. It was pretty amusing, and he did a good job of characterizing the people who surrounded Henry during that time period.
"Impulse" by Ellen Hopkins was very dark and very powerful. Taking place in Aspen Springs, a mental hospital for teens, we meet Connor, Vanessa, and Tony, who have all tried to commit suicide. They bond and become friends and help each other out during their dark times, and Tony and Vanessa's parents become more engaged and willing to help their troubled kids out, while Connor's family continues to be cold, so Connor tries again to kill himself and this time he succeeds. I see why teens like Hopkins books so much: her voice is very authentic and never condescending, plus it's interesting and goes very quick.

Wanted; American Heiress

So book 8 of PLL was...interesting. I actually really enjoyed it, as improbable as the whole "Ali and her identical insane twin Courtney switching places" storyline was. I mean, it all fit together nicely enough. I wonder if Sara Shepherd had the ending in mind when she started. If she didn't then just, wow. I'm guessing she did, though.
"American Heiress" by Daisy Goodwin wasn't as good as I hoped. The ending kind of killed it for me. Cora Cash is a wealthy socialite living in New York at the end of the 19th century. She has everything: good looks, lots of money. Her overly ambitious mother wants her to have a title as well, so Cora goes off to England and meets an impoverished Duke. They actually do fall in love and get married, and Cora uses her wealth to restore the Duke's home and lands. But she finds navigating the tricky waters of high class British society quite difficult and everyone seems to be out to laugh at her mistakes. Cora handles it well, though, until she discovers her husband had an affair with one of the ladies she thought was a good friend to her. In the end she ends up staying with her husband, choosing to believe him when he says the affair ended after they wed. I frankly didn't see why Cora was so enamored with the Duke, he seemed like a tool, and I didn't like Cora, either. I really don't feel sympathy for wealthy, thin, gorgeous people. Shocking, I know :)

Artemis Fowl: the Eternity Code; Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident; Wicked; Killer; Heartless; Untold Story

I accidentally read books 3 and 2 of the Artemis Fowl series out of order, but that's okay. Eoin Colfer's series finds Artemis on the hunt to rescue his father in "The Arctic Incident", which he does, while helping the underworld people quell a goblin rebellion staged by the evil Opal Koboi, who is going to reappear in book 4. Using fairy technology he pilfered, Artemis creates a magical box that is light years ahead of any technology on earth. He shows it to wealthy technology mogul Spiro with the thought that Spiro will pay him to keep his invention under wraps in "The Eternity Code". Instead Spiro steals the box and tries to kill Artemis and Butler. Holly has to help him get out of the mess he's gotten himself into, after he swears this is his last shady enterprise. We'll see.
A bunch more of the PLL series by Sara Shepherd. "Wicked", book 5, finds the girls still receiving emails and texts from A, even though Mona is dead. Who is new A? Ian has been arrested and is awaiting trial for Ali's murder, even though he is vehemently protesting his innocence. The books ends with the girls finding Ian's dead body in the wood. Book 6, "Killer", picks up with the girls having to struggle for credibility when Ian's body disappears and all of Rosewood thinks they are making everything up for attention. The books ends with Spencer's barn being lit on fire with everyone but Aria in it. They manage to escape from the flames and find someone--is it Ali?--in the woods. In "Heartless", book 7, more secrets are revealed when we find out Spencer was Ali's half sister. Hanna ends up in a mental hospital after her evil soon to be stepsister convinces her dad she's on the verge of a breakdown. Emily hides out with an Amish family, looking for answers on a seemingly wild goose chase A sends her on. A new suspect, Billy Ford, is arrested for Ali's murder after Jenna is also murdered and it turns out Billy was a construction worker at both girl's homes during the time of their deaths. This series is fun and kind of trashy, but it really is amazing how well she's making these secrets and revelations fit together. I'm impressed, anyway :)
And in a little break from PLL, Monica Ali's "Untold Story" imagines what might have happened if Princess Diana didn't really die back in that car crash in Paris in 1997. Ali has Diana living in a quiet American mid-west town under the name of Lydia, after faking her death to escape the paparazzi that she felt was ruining her life and the lives of her boys. Lydia has a hard time making friends and letting people into her life because of her devastating secret, and she's always looking over her shoulder, paranoid someone might find her out. Then the past catches up with her in the form of a photographer who used to chase her, and she worries her carefully crafted life will blow up in her face. It was an interesting idea about how desperate she might have been to escape the life she was leading and how she could have made it happen.

Travels with Zenobia; Emily of New Moon; Withering Tights; Powder and Patch

In 1926 Rose Wilder Lane and her friend Helen Dore Boylston traveled from Paris to Albania in a car they named Zenobia, and kept a humorous journal of their experience. I enjoyed the quick read, and it was fascinating how, while things have changed so very much, they have also stayed the same. Like the government red tape just for them to buy Zenobia in Paris reminded me of the hoops the DMV made my dad jump through to register a truck he bought salvaged out of state. Every time he gathered up the permits, certificates, signatures, and paperwork they requested and went in, they found ten more things for him to go and get. It was like a scavenger hunt with no end. But I digress.
"Emily of New Moon" by L. M. Montgomery is one I hadn't read as a child, but wanted to now after rereading all the Anne of Green Gables books for the millionth time. Emily, much like Anne, is orphaned and goes to live with maiden aunts on a farm called New Moon. Emily doesn't have as much spunk and fire as Anne, but she is whimsical and charming and it was a sweet book.
Louise Rennison is back! Not with Georgia, sadly, but with her younger cousin Tallulah in "Withering Tights". Tallulah is spending the summer at a college acting workshop in Yorkshire. She's not like Georgia: she's more serious and shy and not as prone to doing zany things just for the sake of it, but she still manages to get herself into some amusing situations. I enjoyed it, but damn, it made me miss Georgia so much.
And finally, a Georgette Heyer novel called "Powder and Patch". It was short, quick read. Philip is in love with Cleone, but she won't have him because he's coarse and countrified, so he goes to London to learn how to be a fop, and succeeds beyond anyone's expectations. Six months later when Cleone sees him again she's angry at him for being a gadabout and frivolous with his affections. Luckily for Philip, Cleone gets herself into a nasty entanglement and when he is able to free her of it they both realize how silly they've been and that they are meant to be together. Ah, happy ending.

Stolen Life

Continuing my quest for not "happy happy" books (I think I'm going to try to incorporate this into my daily vocabulary), I finished Jaycee Dugard's "Stolen Life" today. You knew I would be all over this book, given my proclivity towards true crime. It was really, really sad and I could completely relate to a lot of the things she complained about, not like having control over her own life for so many years and feeling so alone all the time, although, obviously, not to the same degree that she suffered. She tells her story in her own words: straightforward and honest. It was a great read and I hope Phillip and Nancy Girrado enjoy their special place in Hell with Kenneth Parnell someday.

Lady Blue Eyes; The Kid

So reading Barbara Sinatra's biography about her life with Frank, "Lady Blue Eyes" made me a bit jealous, especially when she talked about how lucky she was and how great Frank was to her. They had some tumultuous times, but in the end it sounded wonderful. So yeah. Enough of the happy happy.
"The Kid" by Sapphire killed the "happy happy". A sequel to "Push", "The Kid" finds Precious's son Abdul orphaned at 9 when Precious dies of AIDS. Abdul is sent to a foster home and then a Catholic home for boys where of course the priests molest him. He runs away at 13 to live with his great grandmother, but that doesn't work out and he ends up being taken in by Roman, who uses him as a sex slave pet until he escapes from there at age 17 to try to be straight and live on his own as a dancer. I didn't like this book as well as "Push". It was hard to read because of all the abuse and general awfulness going on around Abdul, but Abdul makes a lot of dumb decisions that lands him where he ends up in his life, so I couldn't feel as sorry for him as I did for his mother, who just seemed to catch it no matter what she did and honestly tried to make a valiant effort to better herself. I think it would have broken her heart to see the boy she struggled for and loved so much turn out the way he did. Plus, Sapphire mentions Abdul using Google in 1997. Um...no, try again. While it was certainly around back then, it wasn't the powerhouse it is today. Plus, 9 year old Abdul had his own computer even though Precious was on welfare and trying to take classes at City College and whatnot. Somehow I think a computer would have been way, way down on her list of things to purchase.

Diverging Roads

I finished Rose Wilder Lane's semi-autobiographical novel "Diverging Roads" this morning. The first half felt very familiar because it was basically Roger Lea MacBride's "Bachelor Girl", just with some of the names changed. Helen (Rose) leaves her poor country farm girl life behind and travels out West to become a telegraph operator. Her sweetheart from back home, Paul, doesn't like the new crowd she's hanging out with, and in an act of defiance she marries the dashing Gilbert Kennedy (Gillette Lane). The second half of the book was new to me and quite interesting, about how Helen, after being deserted by Gilbert, went on to become a real estate salesperson and later a journalist. I need to actually read a biography about Rose (I read "Ghost in the Little House" about 20 years ago and don't remember much) to see how much of it was actually based on her own life. She really did lead an interesting and unconventional life for a woman at the time.

Let the Hurricane Roar; Sing You Home; Before Green Gables; Anne of Windy Poplars; Anne's House of Dreams; Anne of Ingleside; Rainbow Valley; Rilla of Ingleside; Artemis Fowl; Beauty Queens

Rose Wilder Lane's "Let the Hurricane Roar" was a fictionalized account of her grandparent's struggle that she wrote before Laura put pen to paper and told her version of the events. It was an interesting, adult perspective of some of the events of "On the Banks of Plum Creek".
Jodi Picoult does it again in "Sing You Home", setting out to prove that there is never a situation that is completely black and white, there are always shades of grey. Max and Zoe Baxter have been married for ten years and are desperate to have a baby. Zoe is nearly forty and when she becomes pregnant she knows it may be her last chance. Unfortunately, the baby is stillborn. Zoe is determined to try again, but Max is tired and scared Zoe might die. They end up separating and eventually divorcing. Max turns to alcohol to relieve the pain and ends up heading down a bad path, but thanks to the love of his brother he is saved and becomes a born again Christian. Zoe, meanwhile, becomes friends with Vanessa, and they realize that they have more than just a friendship--it's love. They marry, and Vanessa puts forth the idea of her carrying one of the three embryos that Zoe and Max still had frozen. Zoe loves the idea but Max does not. He would rather give the frozen embryos to his brother and sister in law, who are also having fertility issues. Since technically Zoe and Max each contributed 50% of the DNA to the embryos, who gets them? She definitely makes you think about both sides of an issue, that's for sure.
Budge Wilson wrote a prequel to "Anne of Green Gables" with the blessing of L. M. Montgomery's heirs. I didn't really care for "Before Green Gables". She ignored most of the history of the books that Montgomery so lovingly crafted and tried to give Anne a much nicer childhood than I think Montgomery intended. Sure, Anne suffered before going to Green Gables, but not that much, if you believe Wilson's claims. It just rubbed me the wrong way, like she couldn't bear to make Anne go through horrible things.
I finished rereading Montgomery's series: "Anne of Windy Poplars", which is mostly Anne's correspondence to Gilbert during the three years they were separated while he was studying medicine. She was a principal at a high school and boarded with two lovely widows and their maid, Rebecca Dew. I remember not liking this one much when I was a kid, because of course I was just anxious for Anne and Gilbert to get married, but I enjoyed the wonderful cast of characters in it this time around. "Anne's House of Dreams" follows Gilbert and Anne during their first years of marriage when they move to Four Winds Harbor. "Anne of Ingleside" paints a lovely picture of a house full of children and a happy Anne. My bitterness knew no bounds during this one. I remember the last time I reread "Rainbow Valley" being very depressed by it, but this time around I saw the humor and it made me laugh again like it used to when I was a kid. And finally, "Rilla of Ingleside", the saddest one of all. Poor Walter. And Dog Monday. All I have to do is think about Dog Monday and I burst into tears.
I've been wanting to read Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" series for quite a while now, and I finally got around to reading the first one. Artemis is a twelve year old genius, out to get a piece of fairy fortune to fortify his family's dwindling riches. It was funny and clever and I rather like young Artemis. I think I'm going to enjoy the rest.
And finally (finally!) "Beauty Queens" by Libby Bray. It was a hilarious farce about a group of beauty pageant contestants who end up stranding on a seemingly deserted island after their plane crashes. The girls learn to become self sufficient even as evil forces behind the scenes are plotting their demise. Throw in a pirate ship full of hot reality star pirates and an evil Corporation straight out of "The Hunger Games", and you had some funny, irreverent romps.

The Borrower

"The Borrower" by Rebecca Makkai was disappointing. It was just kind of dumb. It had a good premise: a children's librarian named Lucy Hull comes into work one morning and finds ten year old Ian Drake, one of her favorite little readers, camped out in the library after having run away from home. Even though he is only 10, Ian's parents think he might be gay so they have been sending him to an extremist preacher to "fix" him, and it's making Ian unhappy. Rather than take him back to his parents or calling the police, Lucy packs Ian in the car and takes off, letting Ian lead the way by giving her directions. They spend 10 days on the road, not doing much of anything. She lost me after she decided to take off with Ian. Look, I understand if you don't agree with the way someone is raising their kids but really, it's not your call. Call social services to investigate if you think the kid is being injured or abused, but don't kidnap them. Lucy's character just made all librarians look like illogical morons. Moral of the story: much like how not all fiction set in Las Vegas is awesome, I must remember that not all books featuring librarians will be awesome, either.

The Convenient Marriage; Kiss Her Goodbye; Red

Oh Georgette Heyer, how I love your sparkling wittiness. It was really out and on display in "The Convenient Marriage". I liked this one almost as much as "Cotillion". Elizabeth Winwood's mother arranges for her to marry the wealthy Earl of Rule, much to Elizabeth's dismay, as she is in love with another man. Her brother has racked up enormous gambling debts, and they need the Earl's money to pay off creditors. Her younger sister, Horatia, commonly known as "Horry", goes to the Earl and proposes that they marry instead so her sister can be happy. The Earl agrees, and he and Horry marry (that's pretty much the last we see of Elizabeth, too). The Earl's cousin is not pleased with the match because he stands to inherit everything if the Earl doesn't have an heir, now a possibility since he is married. So he sets out to destroy Horry's reputation, and a serious of hilarious misunderstandings ensue, with the requisite happy ending.
Mickey Spillane was the man. Before he died in 2006, he wrote a bunch of great Mike Hammer novels. I guess I should say Mike Hammer is the man. Before he died, Mickey bequeathed his unfinished manuscripts to Max Allan Collins, and he finished "Kiss Her Goodbye". As is typical with Hammer novels, there's a lot of drinking, fighting, beautiful women, and murder. The body count piles up in this book, and I loved all the gun fighting action. Oh, and Velda!! Who doesn't love Velda? It made me want to go back and reread "I, the Jury" (which I will have to borrow from the library since I lent my copy to a friend years ago and never got it back).
And finally, Sammy Hagar's autobiography "Red". I'm not a Van Halen fan (I have family members that will literally kill me for saying that), but it's true. It's not that I don't like Van Halen, I'm just completely indifferent. I wanted to read Sammy's book because he grew up in Fontana, just fifteen minutes away from where I grew up in Alta Loma (hello Inland Empire!!). It was a quick read, and good. Sammy realizes how incredibly lucky he is to have the fame and fortune from doing something he loves and he lives life to the absolute fullest, so good for him.

Fall to Pieces; Nerd Do Well; My Wilder Life

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago I was complaining about Scott Weiland's pseudo-autobiography, and decided to read his ex-wife's to see how it compared. Mary Forsberg Weiland's "Fall to Pieces" was very good, honest and illuminating. While I don't agree with the whole "addiction is a disease" theory I can totally understand that people with mental imbalances like bipolar disorder, which both Mary and Scott suffer from, are more susceptible to addictions. She and Scott went down a crazy path together, but in the end I still found myself envying her because she met a man, fell in love, and *knew* they were going to end up together, and lo and behold they did. It never quite works out the same way for me and I don't think it's fair. But enough whining down that road.
Simon Pegg is a funny guy, and his book "Nerd Do Well" was pretty amusing but I thought he spent way too much time talking about his childhood as opposed to his adult years. Plus, he's way into "Star Wars", and I've never seen any of them, so I was a bit lost at times. Still, it was quirky and original, exactly what I expected from Pegg.
I think if Wendy McClure and I ever met in real life we could be great friends. Reading her book was like reading about my own mind. "My Wilder Life" chronicles her love of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series and how she wanted to go and visit all the places where Laura lived. I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT TOO!!! And she talked about how as a kid she always imagined Laura as a real friend that through the miracle of time travel she would show around the modern world. I DID THAT TOO!!! I found myself gasping a lot while reading it, going "oh, wow, I'm not the *only* one who thinks that way?! Awesome!". It was a great read, highly enjoyable, plus I learned about this awesome blog which is going to keep me entertained for quite a while. Win!

Anne of the Island; Before I Go to Sleep

As a kid I was very frustrated with "Anne of the Island" by L. M. Montgomery. I, like everyone else in Avonlea, thought it was totally *obvious* that Anne belonged with Gilbert Blythe and didn't understand why she was wasting her time with that Roy Gardner guy and running the risk of losing Gilbert. As an adult, rereading it this time around, I sort of wondered why she didn't stick with Roy, he seemed pretty awesome. And hey, how is it the girl racks up marriage proposals every freaking day? I'm honking jealous, I've never even had one. Jeez, way to make a girl feel inadequate over here, Anne :) Anyway, it's actually a pretty good book and I enjoyed the camaraderie between Anne and her friends while living together at Patty's Place.
"Before I Go to Sleep" by S. J. Watson was very good, quite fast paced and hard to put down. Christine Lucas has a severe form of amnesia: every morning when she wakes up she has no idea who she is or where she is at. Every morning her devoted husband, Ben, patiently explains that she had a bad accident nearly 20 years earlier and lost her memory. She has no memories at all of the days before and only sketchy memories of her childhood. After Ben leaves for work every day her doctor, Dr. Nash, calls to tell her to get her journal out of its hiding place and read it so she'll remember the days before. Every day she can't believe Dr. Nash until she finds the journal where he tells her to look and reads it. She gives it to Dr. Nash to read and when he returns it, she goes to read it the next day after he calls to remind her where she's hiding it and sees she has written in the front "Don't trust Ben". Oooh...why not, why not? Of course there is nothing in the journal that explains this. Watson did a great job of capturing how disorientating it must be to wake up every day and not know who you are.

Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can't Lose.

Forgive me for indulging a bit. This has nothing to do with books I'm reading :)


I fell in love with Texas long before “Friday Night Lights”. I remember, vaguely, watching “Dallas” with my mom as a kid. Later, when I was about 18 or so, a country music cable channel started showing “Dallas” every morning at 10 a.m. I saw the whole series from beginning to end over a year or so. I loved the opening credits: everything really was bigger in Texas. I loved the idea of oil rigs and cattle and big glass buildings. I saw “Giant” with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor and was enchanted. When I discovered Larry McMurtry (to this day, one of my favorite authors and “Lonesome Dove” remains my favorite book of all time) I thought I had found my place in life. When I grew up, I was going to move to Texas. Simple as that.
In January of 2005 I got to take a two day trip to Dallas, and it was literally a dream come true. I went with my boyfriend at the time, and he too liked the idea of moving to Texas once we had finished college. Everyone was so friendly and cheerful and it was wide open and flat--you could see forever. The cost of living was so ridiculously high in California, and everything was so cramped. We would have room to sprawl out in Texas, own a big home for a fraction of the cost that a similar home would set us back in California. We saw adorable little condos for sale for $60,000 with financing available. Financing? We laughed. We could buy one right now with what we had saved for a down payment. We even considered doing it, and using it as a rental property to generate some income to speed up our move to Texas. In the end we didn’t do it, but while there I bought a “Texan by Choice” bumper sticker, a Texas flag, and a “Don’t mess with Texas” tee shirt. I saw a license plate frame that said “I wasn’t born in Texas but I got here as quick as I could” and knew that I would buy one once we moved. It summed up how I felt exactly. I started collecting Texas quarters in a jar and still do, to this day. I have over $50 worth. All Texas. Who cares about the other states anyway?
By the end of 2006 the boyfriend was gone, but I was more determined than ever to move to the great state. I was getting my master’s degree and decided once I did I could move. After all, I really didn’t have too many ties to California. Sure, my parents and sister were there, but not *my* family. I wanted to get married, have kids. I saw Texas as the perfect place to raise a family. I dreamed about a small, dusty town, where everyone knew everyone else and it was safe. I would be the town librarian in charge of a little bitty library, and I would close early on Friday nights to go to the football game.
Of course the town would have a high school football team, and a good one. I looked forward to those games, and I would meet a wonderful man there who loved the game and Texas as much as I did, and we would get married and have babies and once our sons were old enough they would play football too. It would all be so, so perfect.
Once I graduated in 2008 I actually did look at jobs in Texas. The logistics of moving didn’t seem too daunting. I didn’t have any major furniture, just books. I would fly out for a job interview, find a little house to rent, move.
In the meantime, I fell in love with “Friday Night Lights”. I saw the movie first because Billy Bob Thornton is in it. Oh it was wonderful. If I could go back in time to be a teenager in Texas I would have done it in a heartbeat. They had the life I’d always wanted, where the football players ruled the halls with cheerleaders on their arms. I wanted it so bad I could taste it.
I knew I couldn’t go back in time, so the next best thing would be to give my kids that perfect life. I watched “Friday Night Lights” when it first premiered on NBC, and I loved that Kyle Chandler was playing Coach Taylor. I had adored him in the short lived but wonderful show “Homefront”, which only lasted for two seasons but was one of my favorites while it was on. The TV show was absolutely perfect and then some. The fictional town of Dillon, Texas was exactly what I wanted. If I’d woken up in the morning and been in the middle of Dillon I would have known exactly where to go. I knew that town. I knew where every thing would be. I would walk down the main street and people would smile and wave and ask me if the new James Patterson had come in yet. And I would follow the lights on Friday night to the game.
Every time I hear the theme song to the show my heart aches with a longing I can’t quite name, a longing of something that should have been but never was and now never might be. I followed the show all around the different times it was aired, but I never did make it to my dusty little town in Texas. But watching the show, and rewatching the show, and watching it again and again, fills me with an odd mixture of profound peace and bitter sorrow. Everything I’ve ever wanted and will never have.
It kills me that vapid, brainless reality television can garner higher ratings and stay on the air longer than an intelligent, moving, beautifully written and acted show like “Friday Night Lights”. I wonder what kind of society I live in that doesn’t value something as amazing as “Friday Night Lights”. It’s more than just television, it’s magic. It takes me to a time and a place that doesn’t really exist except in my head, where I live in that dusty little town with my husband and babies, going to the games on Friday nights. All while I live here by the beach in California, still single, still childless, still hoping someday I can follow the lights and make it home.

My Korean Deli; License to Pawn; Peter and Max

In 2002 Ben Ryder Howe opened up a small convenience store and deli with his wife and mother in law. Howe, an editor for the "Paris Review", is vastly out of his comfort level in "My Korean Deli". He has a nice, easygoing writing style that was funny and charming, but the best parts of the book were when he talked about his iconic boss George Plimpton at the Review, who sadly passed away in 2003. I would actually have enjoyed a book just talking about his experiences with the magazine. The deli storyline seemed to get in the way.
"Pawn Stars" on the History channel is one of the few reality shows I actually watch. I don't even lump it in with reality TV because to me it's not about a group of talentless idiots acting stupid just to be on TV and be famous. "Pawn Stars" is about three generations of the Harrison family, running a pawn shop on the Vegas strip. I like the Harrisons--they're real characters, and come across on the show as being very down to earth, what you see is what you get, kind of guys. That's how they came across in Rick's book "License to Pawn". It was a quick read, like dropping by and having a chat with a friend. He has a million interesting stories about the people and things he's seen in his store over the last twenty some years, and it's incredibly interesting. Like he says on the show, every piece in the store has a story behind it, which is why I enjoy watching the TV show so much.
And finally, a Fables novel in actual novel not graphic form "Peter and Max" by Bill Willingham. It was a great story, although I'm not sure why he chose to tell it in the more traditional prose format rather than comic. Peter and Max Piper are brothers and flute players, and when their father bequeaths his magical flute to younger brother Peter rather than Max, Max becomes insane with jealousy and vows revenge. I love, love, love how Willingham weaves the old fairy tales we're all familiar with into these stories. So brilliant. It was an excellent read.

Anne of Avonlea; Unbelievable; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Continuing with my Anne of Green Gables rereads, I took a lovely stroll through the second book in L.M. Montgomery's series "Anne of Avonlea". Anne is all grown up, sixteen, and teaching school in Avonlea so she can stay home and take care of Marilla, who is having eyesight troubles. She also takes in the orphaned children of a distant relative who have no where else to go; six year old twins named Dora and Davy, who provide much comic relief, along with tales of Anne's little pupils. Of course Anne herself gets into plenty of trouble, like falling through the rotting roof of a shed on a neighbor's property while trying to peer in their pantry window to see if they have a particular type of platter she needs to replace. Oh Anne, how I love your simple and happy little town and the people in it. Someday I'd like to go to Prince Edward Island. I hope it's still as pretty as Montgomery makes it out to be.
Pretty Little Liars book 4, "Unbelievable" by Sara Shepard finally reveals who "A" is. I guessed fairly early on in the book, so I felt vindicated that I was right. Before her death, Mona points the finger at Ian as Ali's killer, which I am a bit skeptical of. For some reason something about Spencer bothers me, the way she's always the last to see people before they die, and her mysterious blackouts. Hmmm...unfortunately there's a bit of a waiting list at the library for book 5, so I might have to go purchase it. Or see if my sister has a copy I can borrow. I'm not very good at waiting!
Steig Larsson's last book in the Millennium trilogy, "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest", easily could have been 200 pages shorter. He had a lot of information about Swedish politics that bored me to tears. It took me 11 days to slog through this one, nearly unheard of for me. But there were very good parts leading up to Salander's trial, which was great. Trials in Sweden are a bit more informal than trials here, but there was still a wonderful "Perry Mason moment" that I enjoyed. I liked the ending, too. He left it open, since he was planning more books before he died, but it was still a good ending. I had been hoping to learn more about Lisbeth's twin Camille, but maybe he was planning that for a later book.

Flawless; Perfect

So my sister's gotten me hooked on these damn Pretty Little Liars series. I finished the second and third. "Flawless" explained the "Jenna Thing", which was that Ali caught Jenna's stepbrother Toby sexually abusing her and accidentally aimed the firework that blinded Jenna. Toby took the blame for the firework in exchange for Ali not telling what he was doing to Jenna. Toby is now back and the girls think he might be the mysterious "A" who is sending them threatening texts and emails. Toby commits suicide near the end, so nope, he wasn't A. "Perfect" kind of throws Spencer's older sister, Melissa, in as a suspect for A, but in a fit of rage Spencer blacks out and nearly kills Melissa, putting her in the hospital, so she's out as a suspect. Hanna seems to have figured it out at the end and calls the other girls and asks them to please meet her at the park so she can tell them what she's found out. The girls gather but before Hanna can reveal who A is a car runs her over, and we are left to assume she has been killed.

Lamb; Anne of Green Gables; The Girl Who Played with Fire

I read Christopher Moore's funny and irrelevant "Lamb: the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal". That subtitle pretty much sums it up. Biff grew up with Joshua (Jesus is the Greek translation of the word) and they spent their formative years together. Joshua knows he is the Messiah but doesn't know how to behave like one, so he and Biff set out on a 17 year adventure traveling to Asia, India, and elsewhere, tracking down the three wise men who were present at his birth in hopes that they can teach Joshua how to be the Messiah. They learn from the older native religions like Buddhism and Hinduism. It was pretty clever and I enjoyed it.
I reread L.M. Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables", which is like visiting with an old friend and sharing a cup of tea on the wraparound front porch. It made me feel safe and comforted and warm. Usually when I reread the Anne books I just read the ones from when she was an adult, so it was nice to go back and visit her when she was still a charming and vivacious girl.
Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy continues in "The Girl Who Played with Fire". He talks a lot about advanced math in this book, which was completely and utterly over my head. I liked that we learned more about Lisbeth in this one, sort of why she is the way she is and how unfairly she's been treated. The ending was a literal cliffhanger--I was so glad I had the third book already loaded and ready to go on my Nook so I could find out right away what happened. I still think these books are way over-hyped, but they're not bad. I can't see myself ever reading them again though.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

So I tried to read Stieg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" a couple of months ago, got 100 pages in, was bored stiff, and gave up. My sister and several coworkers have been encouraging me to try it again ever since, and I finally relented and did. I powered past the beginning (which was still really boring, he spends a good deal of time giving the backstory of the characters, and since we haven't really met them yet I didn't care enough about them to find it interesting) and once I did the book got good and fast paced and I ended up enjoying it. There was a lot going on, and most people who want to read it already have by now (plus nobody reads this anyway, so hey, I can spoil all I want). Mikael Blomkist is a disgraced writer/editor/publisher who is offered an opportunity to redeem himself by a wealthy former CEO of a corporation, Henrik Vanger. Vanger wants Blomkist to investigate the disappearance of his niece, Harriett, back in 1966. Blomkist takes the assignment, knowing he probably won't be able to come up with any new evidence, but he does, and with the help of a slightly mentally unbalanced researcher/hacker named Lisbeth Salander, he solves the mystery and is able to clear his good name. There are of course two sequels, so I'm curious as to what those will be about, since he seemed to have tied up the loose ends in this one.
Ransom Rigg's built his fiction title "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" around a real collection of odd vintage photographs discovered over the years by various scouts who collect that sort of thing. The photographs in and of themselves were absolutely fascinating. Basic trick photography in the early 1900s is vastly different than PhotoShop now, plus some of them weren't trying to be tricky they were just...odd. What a great concept for a book, too! Rigg's brings the strange people in the photographs to life by building them a refuge, a home in a "loop" protected by time and from the Hollows, who like to eat peculiar children. Jacob's grandfather lived at Miss Peregrine's home, and he had the ability to see the evil monsters that were hunting them. Jacob has inherited this talent, and on his deathbed his grandfather asks him to find the home and warn Miss Peregrine about the danger coming after her and her wards. The story was great and the characters so fresh and lively. The ending leaves the way paved for a sequel, so I'm hoping there is more, if for no other reason than wanting to see more neat old time photos!

The Pact; Warm Bodies; Smokin' Seventeen; The Long Journey Home; Not Dead and Not For Sale; Here We Go Again; Keeping Faith; Honey, Baby, Sweetheart; Black Sheep; Pretty Little Liars

Okay, I've been on vacation the last ten days so I've been reading a lot but not posting. So let me try to get caught up here!
"The Pact" by Jodi Picoult was not very good. At least, not as good as some of her others have been. Two high school sweethearts, Chris and Emily, who have literally grown up together as best friends, are found one night with a gun and Emily dead. Chris claims it was a suicide pact, but after Emily shot herself he couldn't go through with it and fainted and the cops showed up before he could kill himself. The detective on the scene convinces the D.A. that Chris actually murdered Emily and they arrest him and charge him and there is a big, emotional trial, very typical of Picoult's books. I didn't like the outcome I think mostly because I didn't like the Emily character. She just didn't seem believable, so I felt no sympathy for her and didn't understand why Chris cared about her so much.
"Warm Bodies" by Isaac Marion was a zombie book with a twist. It wasn't bad, actually. "R" (that's all he remembers of his former name) wants something more out of life than just wandering around eating brains and grunting. During a raid he ends up killing and eating Julie's boyfriend Perry, and his memories of her make R decide to rescue Julie from his zombie friends. R slowly becomes more and more human throughout the course of the book, as do some of his friends. It was an interesting take on the genre.
Janet Evanovich brings Stephanie Plum back in "Smokin' Seventeen" and boy it was hot! Lots of awesome Ranger action yummy yummy! Stephanie's mother tries to get her to date an old high school classmate who is recently divorced and back in town. Dave is nice and good looking and loves to cook, and since things obviously aren't going anywhere with Morelli or Ranger what could it hurt to date Dave? Stephanie resists, and it turns out for good reason. Meanwhile, dead bodies keep turning up in the lot where Vincent Plum's bail bonds office used to be and where they are trying to rebuild. Apparently number 18 is coming out in November, which means we don't have to wait until next June! Awesome, I'll take that.
Margaret Robison was introduced to the world in a most unflattering way in her two son's memoirs, Augusten Burrough's "Running with Scissors" and John Elder Robison's "Look Me In the Eye", so she sets out to tell her side of the story in "The Long Journey Home". I didn't care for it, mostly because I think I have so little patience with the mentally ill. I know it's a terrible thing to say, and working with the general public in a library the way I do I come across a lot of people who have problems and need help. I don't know, she just didn't come across as truthful and I didn't get the pain and sadness she claims she feels about her son's childhoods. It was just "woe is me" tripe.
"Not Dead and Not for Sale" by Scott Weiland was worse, though, a total waste of time. Like Betty White's book from a few weeks ago, it left me feeling cheated, like he didn't even try to tell a story and it only took me an hour and a half to read. It was just basic, dull generalities without details. I've got his ex-wife's book on hold, so we'll see how her's holds up.
"Here We Go Again" by Betty White was the bio I was looking for. This one was great. Betty was charming and classy and very funny in this story about how she and television have grown up together. At one point she was on TV for over 25 hours a week! Can you even imagine? The book was also full of lovely photos which really added to her story. Much better!
"Keeping Faith" by Jodi Picoult was better than "The Pact". Mariah comes home one day and finds her husband in bed with another woman. After their divorce is finalized their seven year old daughter, Faith, starts talking to her imaginary friend. No big deal, until Faith starts referring to Bible verses she's never heard before (her parents aren't religious) and Mariah discovers her imaginary friend's name is God. Faith then starts performing miracles, like bringing her dead grandmother back to life and healing a baby with AIDS. The media and the Catholic and Jewish churches are all out to discredit Faith, and all Mariah wants is for her little girl to be left alone when her ex, Colin, decides to sue her for custody. There was a lot going on in this book, but it wasn't nearly as torturous as some of her others. I enjoyed it.
Deb Caletti's "Honey, Baby, Sweetheart" was another good one. I really do love her books, how authentic and believable her characters are. In this one Ruby falls for bad boy Travis who turns out to be much too bad, a thief, and Ruby realizes she needs to get away from him for good but it's hard when you care about someone. Her mother Ann is going through a similar situation. Ann takes her to a book club that she moderates (Ann is a librarian whoo hoo!) full of seniors who call themselves the Casserole Queens. Both Ruby and Ann start to heal with the help of these fun loving older folks, and although it sounds hokey it really wasn't.
"Black Sheep" by Georgette Heyer was short but very sharp. I so love her witty repartee between the two main characters in this one. Abby's niece and ward, Fanny, who is 17, has fallen in love with a fortune hunter named Stacy Caverleigh. Abby is trying to convince her niece that he is only after the money she will inherit in 8 years without turning Fanny against her. Meanwhile, Stacy's black sheep of the family uncle, Miles, returns from a 20 year exile in India and he and Abby fall for each other. Wonderful dialogue and a happy ending. More please! :)
And finally, finally (whew!) Sara Shepard's first in the series "Pretty Little Liars". At first the book annoyed me because these 16 year old kids were buying and consuming alcohol in public with no problems, and that struck me as utterly false. After awhile though it didn't seem to matter as much and I got into it and must admit, now I'm hooked and want to know what happens next. In junior high five wealthy, stuck up girls who are friends share a terrible secret which is only hinted at in this book. When one of the girls, Alison, mysteriously disappears never to be found the other four girls drift apart. Three years later they're all receiving strange text messages and emails from someone signing off as "A", who knows secrets they only shared with Alison. The book ends when Alison's body is dug up in her old backyard, but the four girls are still getting the cryptic, vaguely threatening messages.

Gone with a Handsomer Man; American Lightening; Fables V. 15: Rose Red; Girl's Guide to Homelessness; A Love that Multiplies; If You Were Here

Oh boy I've been reading a lot lately. That's all just one week! Good grief. Okay, here we go...
"Gone with a Handsomer Man" by Michael Lee West was a decent and amusing murder mystery set in Charleston. Teeny catches her fiance playing naked badminton with two women and calls off their engagement. When the ex, Bing, turns up dead a few days later, Teeny is the obvious suspect. With the help of her first boyfriend who is now a lawyer, Coop, his P.I., Red Butler (no kidding), and Bing's stepmother Dora they turn Charleston upside down trying to figure out who really did Bing in and keep Teeny safe before the killer can come after her. It was fun but not hysterically so. There is obviously going to be a sequel (if not then the ending was WTF times 10) so I'll read it but I'm not chomping at the bit.
So I finally broke down and bought a Nook. I love the idea of having a whole bunch of books available on a light, portable device, and the new Nook is perfect for me. I really do love it, but I haven't bought any e-books for it, I've just borrowed from my library. Love it! I downloaded Harold Blum's "American Lightening", and it is officially the first book I've read on my Nook. It was a fairly interesting true crime story about the 1910 bombing of the Los Angeles Times building. It focused mainly on the detective's hunt for the bombers, since they pled guilty there was no long drawn out trial. It was interesting but he threw a little too much in there all at once for my taste, trying to draw in the water crisis that the movie "Chinatown" made immortal, as well as D.W. Griffith and some other extraneous stuff which I felt bogged down the story.
"Fables V. 15: Rose Red"--Bill Willingham and company return with another marvelous entry into the Fables canon. Rose Red is finally persuaded to get up out of bed and stop her self destructive mourning for Boy Blue, and we get her and Snow's backstory, which was really interesting. Frau Totenkinder has transformed into the young and lovely Bellflower, and it looks like she has found a successful way to trap Mister Dark, until he escapes. The Fables flee the Farm for the Frog Prince's safe Haven and Ozma girds up to be the one to fight Mister Dark as Bellflower retires. Can't wait to see what happens next! I have to wait until December, though, for the next volume. Bah!
Brianna Karp always worked hard, and in 2009 she was another casualty of the Great Recession. She lost her job and her rental house, and her crazy whack job mother threw her out onto the streets. Determined not to lose all hope, Brianna ended up in a trailer in a Walmart parking lot in Brea and started a blog called "The Girl's Guide to Homelessness" detailing her struggles, fears, and optimism in the face of crushing challenges. Her book was well written and charming. I hope she continues to write, because she has a real talent for it, I think. Her bravery and determination is awe inspiring to say the least. I am reminded every day of how precarious my own life is, especially a few months ago when it looked like I might be laid off. Thankfully I have normal (okay, *somewhat* normal) loving parents who would take me back in in a heartbeat, were it ever god forbid necessary. It's just scary to think that you can do everything right: go to school, work hard, earn a degree, get a good job, pay all your bills on time and live within your means and STILL be completely wiped out by having just one bad thing happen to you. Scary stuff.
I love the Duggars. I've been watching them on TV since their first Discovery Channel specials. Jim Bob and Michelle are quite possibly the most awesome people in the world. In their new book "A Love that Multiplies" they talk about their strong faith and love for each other and the challenges with raising such a large family. I literally cried my way through this entire book, because I'm so jealous of them. I know, it's terrible, but all you have to do is watch their TLC show for five minutes and you can see how truly blessed they are. Jim Bob thinks Michelle is the most amazing woman in the world and he's a great husband and father, and dammit, I want a Jim Bob of my own! I want babies. Not 19, of course, but one or two would be nice. Oh, well, I'll try to be content with the life god gave me. Of course, maybe if I actually started capitalizing his name he might be more inclined to look upon me with a bit more favor...oh well :) I think the whole "me being on good speaking terms with god" ship sailed a long time ago.
And finally Jen Lancaster's first foray into fiction "If You Were Here". Like her nonfiction, it was witty and charming and I loved it. Mac and Mia buy a money pit in the suburbs of Chicago (three words: Jake Ryan's house. Yep, I would have bought it, too) and proceed to renovate it to the point of livability without much luck. What a treasure Jen Lancaster is, and for that matter, John Hughes. Rest in peace, good sir. I feel like watching "Sixteen Candles" for the umpteenth time now.

If You Ask Me; Stay; Reading Promise

I was glad I borrowed Betty White's new book "If You Ask Me..." because it felt like a total ripoff. If I'd actually paid for it I probably would have taken it back and gotten a refund. The margins were around two inches on all sides, and the font was huge. It seriously took me an hour to read, and it was all just filler nonsense, nothing really interesting or revealing about her life at all. Just churned out to capitalize on the recent resurgence in her career, which is just sad. Betty's better than that. I have one of her older books on hold, so I hope it's a little more interesting.
"Stay" by Deb Caletti was amazing. It's a YA book about a girl named Clara who is hiding out in a sleepy beach town, avoiding her crazy, jealous ex-boyfriend, Christian. She can't even tell her friends back home where she's at for fear Christian will find out. Clara and her dad (her mother died when she was little) find themselves enjoying their new home away from home, and they both meet potential romantic interests. Caletti alternates between the present and what happened with Christian, so about 2/3 of the way into the book the reader, like Clara, is jumping at every noise and expecting Christian to pop out from every corner. It was really tense, and I just kept waiting for the payoff. I'd like to read more books by her, it was just so nicely written.
Alice Ozma and her dad decided to read for 1,000 nights straight, and in her memoir "The Reading Promise", she details in loving memory their "Streak" as well as her special relationship with her dad, who was a single man trying to raise two daughters. He did an excellent job, in my opinion: Alice is funny and articulate and very charming. Reading her book is like sitting down and chatting with her over lunch: she just comes across as so real and so friendly and pleasant to be around. And her dad is awesome! An elementary school librarian in an impoverished neighborhood, he is a champion of books and readers everywhere. Alice and her dad read together every single night for over 9 years, until she left home to go to college. It was a beautiful book, so sweet, I really loved it. Back when I was a kid I wanted to be part of the Ingalls family because I loved Laura's books so much, and I knew Pa would always look out for me. Now I want to be part of Alice's family :)

Desert Gift

"Desert Gift" by Sally John was a bit of a departure for me. It's Christian fiction, which I usually don't read, but the ones I have read I've liked. I used to read Bodie and Brock Thoene's books when I was a teen and I really enjoyed them. Sometimes it's nice to read something without all the sex and foul language. Not always, mind you, but occasionally. I liked the plot of this book: on the brink of their much anticipated vacation, Jill's husband, Jack, announces that not only is he not going with her, but he wants a divorce. Jill is a radio host with a program on marriage counseling, and the trip was a working vacation where she was going to promote her new book on how to make a marriage last. Whoops. Jill was totally blindsided by Jack's announcement, and is of course a distraught wreck. While in California she visits with her parents and her sister, and wonders about what went wrong.
There were a lot of little side issues in this book that never really panned out, like meeting up with her old boyfriend, Ty, and her relationship with her mother, while other parts of the book were stretched thin. Jack's revelation near the end of the book about his ex girlfriend aborting their baby seemed superfluous to me: it served no real purpose and they didn't even really discuss it. It felt like the author just tossed a whole bunch of things in to see what would stick. The characters were likeable enough and the dialogue felt real, but I couldn't get over the nonsensical plot elements to really say I enjoyed it.

Sound and the Fury; Intruder in the Dust; Sanctuary; Edison's Concrete Piano; The Black Moth; Untied

So I decided to have a bit of a William Faulkner retrospective this weekend and reread "The Sound and the Fury", "Intruder in the Dust", and "Sanctuary". I've reread "The Sound and the Fury" quite a few times now, and every time I find something new to love about it. I hadn't read the other two in quite a while now, so it was almost like reading them brand new. I remembered the basic generalities of the stories but not the specifics. "Intruder in the Dust" is a darkly humorous murder mystery. A black man, Lucas Beauchamp, is accused of shooting a white man in the back. Lawyer Gavin Stevens' nephew Chick is racing against the lynch mob clock to prove Lucas is innocent. The ending is brilliant and dry, and I loved how the murdered man's grave was robbed three separate times in the same night.
"Sanctuary" is grimmer, darker. It's the book that had all of polite society in Oxford asking William's mother why Bill had to go and write such a book. Temple Drake, a pretty young coed, is stranded at a gang's hideaway by her loutish, drunk boyfriend. The leader of the gang, Popeye, kills one of his cohorts in order to kidnap and rape Temple. It's graphic and ugly but so well written. I can imagine how shocking it was, especially for 1931 Mississippi, especially the courtroom scene at the end. I'd love to reread some more of Faulkner. I have a vacation coming up in a few weeks, so I just might do that.
On to new books! "Edison's Concrete Piano" by Judy Wearing was a fun look at inventions patented by famous inventors that never went anywhere. Sometimes it got a bit too technical for me to fully grasp everything she said, but it was interesting.
"The Black Moth" by Georgette Heyer was of course light and fluffy, and a much needed break after the heaviness of Faulkner. Jack has given up his rightful place in society as Earl after taking the fall for his brother's cheating at cards. He becomes an outlaw, a highwayman. But then he falls in love with Diana, and he knows he cannot marry her because of his shameful situation. Diana doesn't care, but Jack won't let her throw away her life on a scoundrel like him. Of course everything works out in the end and Jack gets to play the hero and rescue Diana from peril and the whole truth comes out about how he sacrificed for his brother. She's so much fun.
And finally, Meredith Baxter's memoir "Untied". Like most people my age, I grew up loving "Family Ties" and idolizing Meredith's character, Elyse. I thought she was beautiful and smart and talented and so lucky to have such a wonderful family, and my god was she thin! After having so many kids, too! I figured Meredith, in her own life, was just as perfect. Actually, no, her ex-husbands come out looking especially bad but she also relates her own shortcomings, so instead of sour grapes it seems fair. Like everyone else I was shocked when she came out a few years ago, but she finally seems happy now, so I'm glad for her and her real life family.

Stories I Only Tell My Friends; The Hollywood Sign

A couple of quick reads for today. Rob Lowe's autobiography "Stories I Only Tell My Friends" was interesting but he did not dish any dirt, which was lame. We all know he has really good dirt, too. And he kept talking about how certain people did him wrong without making specific accusations. So, if you're at all curious about how he got his lucky breaks in show business (mostly knowing the right people and being incredibly lucky) then this is the book for you. If you want to know about his infamous sex tape scandal, it's all of one vague paragraph.
"The Hollywood Sign" by Leo Braudy looked at the history of the now iconic sign, how it got its start as a billboard advertisement for "Hollywoodland", a community of new homes, and how it aged and was rescued and refurbished over the years. It was nicely done without excessive padding.

Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me

Supposedly written by family and friends (wink wink) "Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me" was actually pretty funny. I certainly enjoyed it more than her last book "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang". This was a collection of recollections of those closet to her, of pranks she had pulled on them and the fun times they've had. Much nicer than picking on Ted! It's the perfect sort of light summer fun at the beach type of book that I check out that never quite makes it to the ocean :)

Nineteen Minutes; The Onion Field; Every Day by the Sun; Bloody Valentines

I read Jodi Picoult's "Nineteen Minutes", which was great. Her books are so hard to read, though, physically exhausting. There were plenty of twists and turns I didn't see coming a mile away, which is typical of me. It reminded me of Lionel Shriver's "We Need to Talk About Kevin", and I loved that one. Peter and Josie were friends when they were little, but as they enter high school Josie has made her way into the popular crowd while Peter is picked on and bullied on a daily basis. Josie does nothing to stop her new friends from hurting her old one. Peter shows up to school one day with a backpack full of guns and starts shooting, and their small town is rocked to the core. I really loved the way she painted Peter's parents, because of course our inclination is to blame the parents of these kids, but Peter's parents are wonderful and caring and seem to do everything nearly right, whereas Josie's mom really screws things up but Josie still turns out okay. Or sort of okay, at any rate.
I've been meaning to read Joseph Wambaugh's classic true crime "The Onion Field" forever and finally did. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. His style was like Capote's in "In Cold Blood", where he blended fiction and nonfiction into a hybrid type of style. I prefer my true crime straight forward and factual, I don't need to know what the author "thought" the criminal was thinking when he committed his crimes. At any rate, it was a very sad story of how two police officers were kidnapped and one was murdered by a couple of petty thieving scumbags back in 1963. I'd like to see the movie now.
In "Every Day by the Sun" Dean Faulkner Wells reminisced about her uncle, William, who helped raise her after her father, Dean, was killed in an unfortunate plane crash four months before she was born. It was a lovely, moving story of William Faulkner as "Pappy", a man, a breadwinner, the family patriarch, as opposed to just William Faulkner the writer. I'm totally in the mood for some Faulkner now! I missed rereading "The Sound and the Fury" this Easter, so I may have to do that soon.
And Melissa de la Cruz's Blue Bloods series takes an intermission in "Bloody Valentines", which is a short collection of short stories featuring the characters from her series. To be honest, her books are just too complicated for me, I can't keep track of what's going on and all the mythology behind the vampires, but this one wasn't too bad, since it was short bits.

Adrian Mole: the Cappaccino Years; Malled

Sue Townsend continues Adrian Mole's hilarious antics in "Cappuccino Years". The books are published differently here in the U.S. than they are in her native U.K., so I have no idea if I'm reading them in the right order (or if my library even has them all), but I think I'm okay since this one picks up a few years after the last one. Adrian is now 30, and separated from his wife. His parents are raising his three year old son, William, and he basically doesn't have a real, paying job or a home. His stint as a celebrity chef is comical, and then he discovers he has a son from a short lived affair with Sharon Bott as a teenager. Glenn is now twelve and wants to know his dad, so he comes to live with him in the house Adrian inherited from an older man he briefly befriended (taking care of the older man's cat was part of the deal). The book takes place in 1997, and boy did the pop culture references take me back!
I also finished Caitlyn Kelly's "Malled: My Unintentional Career in Retail". I was sadly disappointed by this one. After working full time in retail myself for over 5 years, I was looking forward to hearing battle stories from the front lines and commiserating with a fellow retail warrior over ridiculously rude customers and a corporate office that couldn't care less about its employees. Kelly only worked for two years one day a week for five hours at her job, so it was never a "career". She whined throughout the whole book about how she was way too experienced for the job, based on her years of work as a journalist, the many languages she spoke, the exotic locales she had traveled to. She bragged about what a good employee she was, only calling out sick a few times and only being late five times. What the hell? I was late ONCE in five years due to car trouble. I think I called out sick a total of five times in five years. She talked about how badly her feet would hurt after her shift: I was on my feet five days a week, 8 hours a day, for years, and I couldn't wear sneakers like she could, I had to wear dress shoes. I could go on and on about how I suffered, but I won't :) This is such a great topic for a book, and done correctly it could be hilarious, like "Free for All" by Don Borchet. I was hoping for more personal stories and less critiquing of the system in general.

Idea Man

From an early age I had an unnatural obsession with Bill Gates and Microsoft. I don't know why--I didn't have a computer until I was well into my twenties. But as a teen I would read everything I could get my hands on about him, and thought he was a genius (opinion hasn't changed in twenty years :) I was so mad during the anti-trust suit, I couldn't believe the government was going after *my* beloved Microsoft over something as dumb as IE). Anyway, Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, wrote "Idea Man", which was really great and I enjoyed it. If you're looking for dirt on my main man Bill, it's not here. Paul barely discussed Microsoft, after all, he left the company in 1983, before Windows. Having all that stock, however, allowed him to become fantastically wealthy at an early age and indulge his hobbies, like music and sports, as well become very philanthropic, giving away over $1 billion. Wowza. He seemed like a very laid back, nice guy and his book was very low key.

Crunch Time; Elizabeth I; Most Evil; Sweet Valley Saga: Patmans of Sweet Valley; Dead Reckoning

Diane Mott Davidson's caterer Goldy Schultz is back in "Crunch Time". I admit: I really couldn't get into this one. There was just too much going on, too many new characters I couldn't care about. That's a pattern with her, but I can't seem to stop reading them. I enjoy the recipes, I think. Even those disappointed me this time because throughout the whole book they kept talking about Navajo Tacos, but there wasn't a recipe for them in the back. Lame.
"Elizabeth I" by Margaret George was an excellent fictionalized account of Queen Elizabeth's later years, starting with the first Armada in 1588 and focused mainly on her complicated relationship with Robert Essex. I liked how she switched over to Elizabeth's cousin and Robert's mother, Lettice Knollys', point of view for perspective. It was very nicely done.
"Most Evil" by Steve Hodel had the retired LAPD detective pinning the 1940's Chicago Lipstick murders and the 1970's Zodiac killings on his father, Dr. George Hodel, who he believes killed the Black Dahlia. It was fascinating and compelling, if a bit of a stretch. I was willing to believe the Black Dahlia allegations in his first book, "Black Dahlia Avenger", but for his father to have been that much of a monster is really mind boggling. Anything's possible, I suppose. Creepy stuff.
"Sweet Valley Sage: The Patmans of Sweet Valley" by Francine Pascal was about the history of the Patman family, going back to the 1800s, and it was so awfully dumb but I read it anyway :)
And finally, Charlaine Harris's latest Sookie Stackhouse book "Dead Reckoning". It was a lot of fun if a bit challenging for poor Sookie. She was in danger every which way she turned, I felt sorry for her. It's got me in the mood for the next season of "True Blood", that's for sure!

Gates of Paradise; Web of Dreams; Mad Men Unbuttoned; Ship Breaker; Sweet Valley Confidential

I felt slightly dirty and utterly wasteful spending all that time rereading the rest of those trashy V.C. Andrews Casteel series books, "Gates of Paradise" and "Web of Dreams". "Gates of Paradise" was especially bad. Annie and Luke being in love with each other when they thought they were half brother and sister the whole time was just gross beyond belief. I mean, even though they turned out not to be, still, who falls in love with someone when you're raised as cousins and half-siblings? Besides Christopher Foxworth, I mean, really, who does that? "Web of Dreams" tells how Jillian basically pimped her daughter out to Tony Tatterton so he'd leave her alone to get her beauty rest. That woman was sick. Anyway, it's all over and done with now and I can move on to some new stuff that is hopefully less damaging to the mind. But I really do love it, in a twisted way :)
"Mad Men Unbuttoned" by Natasha Vargas-Cooper was an interesting but all too brief look at what was going on culturally in the United States during the early 1960s, when Mad Men takes place. There were some interesting tidbits about inside jokes on the show and some lovely glossy pictures, but other than that it was a touch over analytical, I thought, and didn't delve deeply enough into the more interesting topics of the day, like fashion. It was quick and fun, though.
"Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi is a YA novel about a dystopian future in which the climate has changed dramatically and all the oil is gone. Nailer works as a ship breaker, climbing through wrecks of all ships to scavenge whatever is left of any value. He dreams of the day when he can escape the life of misery and poverty and go out on the ocean in one of the beautiful clippers he sees off in the distance. It looks like he gets his lucky break when he and his friend Pima discover a wrecked clipper after a hurricane, but when they find one of the passengers on board is still alive their big break becomes more dangerous than they thought. It was a wonderful book, well told and fascinating, full of tension and adventure and action and the characters were engaging.
And some more trash, although in my defense it is new trash, Francine Pascal revisits the world of Sweet Valley ten years later in "Sweet Valley Confidential". I was amazed at how bad it was, and it seemed like she went out of her way to piss off loyal readers by having characters do complete 180s from their former selves. Plus there was NO Lila whatsoever. What the hell?? I miss the scheming, manipulative bad girl Jessica, gossiping with Lila, tearing everyone apart behind their backs. I miss predictable goody two shoes Elizabeth, meddling in everyone else's business, with trusty loyal boring Todd by her side. I miss sneering Bruce Patman, lording his wealth over everyone and acting like he's too good to mix with these low lifes. I understand people change as they grow up and grow older, but listen: I still see some of the people I hung out with fifteen years ago when we were teenagers and they haven't changed *that* much. Yes, they've matured, but their basic personalities are still the same. You can always count on them to behave a certain way, given the situation. Pascal just tossed that out the window. Oh, well, at least I didn't waste too much time on it :)

Adrian Mole: the Lost Years; Heaven; Dark Angel; Fallen Hearts

I eagerly gobbled up Sue Townsend's "Adrian Mole: the Lost Years", which covers 1984 through 1991, roughly, and enjoyed the heck out of it. Funny, charming stuff. Then I moved on to garbage :)
Years and years and years ago, my little sister and I both devoured V.C. Andrews' Casteel family series. Over the weekend, with piles of brand new books waiting, I instead choose to reread the first three in the series. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
"Heaven" introduces us to the Casteel family, the lowest of the hillbilly scum in the mountains of West Virginia known as the Willies. Heaven lives with her father's parents, her father and stepmother, and her four half-siblings in a tiny two room shack. She learns at the age of ten that she's not fully related to her brothers and sisters, that she is instead a product of her father's first marriage to a young Bostonian runaway named Leigh (the fact that her younger brother is only 6 months younger than her might have tipped me off, but hey, she *was* only ten when she found out. Of course the really horrifying part is that Luke was fooling around on his wife who was six months pregnant. That gives you a good idea as to how awesome he is). The Casteel family have it pretty rough in their mountain shack, and when Luke, her dad, gets sick and starts spending less time with the family, his wife and Heaven's stepmom Sarah gets pretty irritated and eventually she takes off, leaving the kids to fend for themselves and look after Grandpa after Granny dies. Dad decides to sell his kids rather than, hmmm, I don't know, take care of them. I actually thought this was a good idea on his part, and the kids should have been grateful. I know I would have been, to escape that awful miserable poverty. And luckily the two little kids go to a great home and live happily ever after (although their relationship seemed like it might go incestuous, but hey, it's V.C. Andrews, and that's par for the course) but Tom, Fanny, and Heaven aren't so lucky. Heaven ends up in the home of one of Luke's ex-girlfriends, Kitty, whom he knocked up before Leigh (good grief, dude). Kitty gave herself an abortion and ended up barren, so she was excited to be able to buy one of Luke's kids. She basically treats Heaven like a live in slave, making her cook, clean, do the laundry, for hours on end before and after school. And her husband seduces her and takes advantage of her. Still, all in all, I think it was a better ending than staying in the shack in the Willies. At least she didn't starve to death.
"Dark Angel" has Heaven going off in search of her mother's Bostonian relatives and finding out they're fabulously rich (there is always a pattern like this in Andrews' books, god love her) but very twisted. Turns out her step-grandfather was the one who got her 13 year old mother pregnant, and that's why Leigh ran away from her wealthy Boston home and ended up with Luke Casteel. Awesome. Of course she found out after she had fallen in love and decided to marry Tony's younger brother Troy, who is her uncle. Whoops. When we were kids my sister and I *adored* Troy. We swooned every time he was mentioned, and rereading it I'm not sure why. He's kind of annoying, all doom and gloom and "oh my god I just know I'm going to die before I'm thirty" blah, blah, blah. Dude! You're fantastically wealthy, a talented artist who gets to spend his whole day doing whatever he wants, and gorgeous. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO BE DEPRESSED ABOUT?? Seriously? Anyway, Heaven graduates from college and returns to Winnerrow, the little town in the valley of the Willies, to teach school there to the poor hill children like she always planned.
In "Fallen Hearts" Heaven marries her high school sweetheart, Logan, and they go to Farthinggale Manor, Tony Tatterton's home, for a reception. Tony offers Logan a substantial part in his company, which Logan eagerly accepts. Heaven has dark reservations about how Tony is trying to control their lives, but Logan is so excited about being a rich businessman that she goes along with the plan. Logan is building a toy factory in Winnerrow and makes frequent trips back there, so frequent he manages to knock up Heaven's sister Fanny. Whoops! Meanwhile, Heaven discovers that Troy faked his own death, and after a night of forbidden passion she too is pregnant. Jesus, doesn't anyone use condoms around here? It's not difficult, people. So Luke and his new wife are killed in an accident and Heaven takes over custody of their little boy, Drake. What really got to me in this book was how she was so eager to return to the Willies and kept waxing poetic about how wonderful it was. Um...no, I read about your childhood and it sucked pretty bad. Give me the big Boston mansion and the servants and the Rolls-Royce any day. But maybe I'm just shallow like that.
Anyway, when Fanny steals Drake with the intention of keeping him just because she's petty and jealous and wants whatever Heaven has, there's an ugly court battle where are their dirty laundry is aired in public and in the end Heaven ends up paying her a ton of money to turn Drake over to her. I don't know why she wanted him so bad, anyway, since she had her own kid on the way plus she wasn't even related to Drake since Tony Tatterton was her biological father, not Luke Casteel. Well, whatever. In the end Fanny and Heaven give birth on the same night, Fanny to Logan's little boy whom she names Luke, and Heaven to Troy's little girl (although Logan doesn't know it) whom she names Annie. At least Heaven wasn't all high and mighty over Logan after he knocked up Fanny, since she'd slept with Troy, after all. Out of all of V.C. Andrews books I think I like this series the best because there is no predictable evil grandmother and the characters are less annoying and more likable than some of the other series. I stopped reading halfway through "Ruby", so the only other series I have to compare it to is the "Flowers in the Attic" (EPICALLY bad, love it) and the Cutler series, which I honestly don't remember that well. There are no excuses ever made for Tony Tatterton, the real villain of the whole story. I think I will be rereading for a bit. Which is not good, because I have a ton of brand new library books. But I've found in the past that when I try to force myself NOT to reread, it just doesn't work out. I need to go with it until it's done.