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 :)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions; Unprotected Texts; Clara and Mr. Tiffany; Silent Mercy; Dorothea Wilson Sheely; Delirium; Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole 13 3/4; and The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole
I'm so far behind. What can I say, I prefer reading to writing about it :)
"Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions" by G. W. Bernard was an interesting attempt to make Anne out as not quite as innocent as she is usually portrayed. Bernard argued (unsuccessfully, in my estimation, by the way) that she probably did have affairs with a few of the men she was accused of having relationships with. His arguments were a bit of a stretch to be believable, but I admired his research and attempts to humanize King Henry. It amused me.
"Unprotected Texts" by Jennifer Wright Knust was an interesting examination of what exactly the Bible says in regards to sex, marriage, and other hotly debated topics. She makes sound and reasonable arguments that we can't use the Bible out of context to justify our own personal beliefs and opinions, and noted how it had been used in years past to justify things abhorrent to the general public now, like slavery. Very provocative.
"Clara and Mr. Tiffany" by Susan Vreeland was just beautifully written and her characters were so realistic and lifelike. Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of Charles Tiffany, of Tiffany & Co. Jewelry stores, started his glass factory with hopes of eventually upstaging his father. One of his workers, Clara Driscoll, comes up with the idea of stained glass lamps and they run with it. (Side note: I had no idea Tiffany Glass and Tiffany Jewelry were in any way related, or that the jewelry store came first, so I learned a lot from this book). It was a very lovely book, telling of Clara's hard decisions based on Tiffany's practice of never employing married women. Which does she love more: her work, making beautiful art, or the wonderful man in her life?
Linda Fairstein's latest Alex Cooper novel "Silent Mercy" did not disappoint, although the ending was a bit unrealistic. She made it work, though. Women, outcasts in their own religions, are being found murdered, left at significant places of worship in New York. Alex, Mercer, and Mike figure it out, along the way running into circus performers, Hansen's disease, and female priests.
Curious about my library's past, I read an oral biography about Dorothea Wilson Sheely, who was city Librarian for thirty years. She was interviewed by Shirley Stevenson, who put the project together and edited the book of interviews. It was fascinating to me, of course, to read about how the system went from one tiny 2,200 square foot library on the Balboa Peninsula to the multi-branch system we have now, and that was all under Dorothea's leadership. It also amused me that NB used to be thought of as a not too desirable place to live :)
I loved Lauren Oliver's "Before I Fall", and I was a bit disappointed with "Delirium", her dystopian novel set in the near future in Maine. Lena lives in a world were "love" is a disease that must be cured with an operation at age 18, and then she would be paired with an ideal mate and married. Lena is actually looking forward to the cure because she thinks it will bring her peace and she can stop fretting about her mother who committed suicide when she was little because she was infected and multiple attempts at the cure failed to wash the memory of love from her mind. Then Lena meets Alex, who comes from the wilderness where there is no cure and falls in love. Predictability ensued, with no real resolution to any of the questions raised at the end. Meh...not my thing.
Sue Townsend's first two Adrian Mole books, "The Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole, 13 3/4" and the "Growing Pains of Adrian Mole", were hilarious. Full of British slang and dry wit, Adrian lives with his parents, who he disapproves of highly, and his pretentious adolescent snottiness reminded me so much of my own teen years. Ugh, what a twit I was too! I can't wait to read more.
"Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions" by G. W. Bernard was an interesting attempt to make Anne out as not quite as innocent as she is usually portrayed. Bernard argued (unsuccessfully, in my estimation, by the way) that she probably did have affairs with a few of the men she was accused of having relationships with. His arguments were a bit of a stretch to be believable, but I admired his research and attempts to humanize King Henry. It amused me.
"Unprotected Texts" by Jennifer Wright Knust was an interesting examination of what exactly the Bible says in regards to sex, marriage, and other hotly debated topics. She makes sound and reasonable arguments that we can't use the Bible out of context to justify our own personal beliefs and opinions, and noted how it had been used in years past to justify things abhorrent to the general public now, like slavery. Very provocative.
"Clara and Mr. Tiffany" by Susan Vreeland was just beautifully written and her characters were so realistic and lifelike. Louis Comfort Tiffany, son of Charles Tiffany, of Tiffany & Co. Jewelry stores, started his glass factory with hopes of eventually upstaging his father. One of his workers, Clara Driscoll, comes up with the idea of stained glass lamps and they run with it. (Side note: I had no idea Tiffany Glass and Tiffany Jewelry were in any way related, or that the jewelry store came first, so I learned a lot from this book). It was a very lovely book, telling of Clara's hard decisions based on Tiffany's practice of never employing married women. Which does she love more: her work, making beautiful art, or the wonderful man in her life?
Linda Fairstein's latest Alex Cooper novel "Silent Mercy" did not disappoint, although the ending was a bit unrealistic. She made it work, though. Women, outcasts in their own religions, are being found murdered, left at significant places of worship in New York. Alex, Mercer, and Mike figure it out, along the way running into circus performers, Hansen's disease, and female priests.
Curious about my library's past, I read an oral biography about Dorothea Wilson Sheely, who was city Librarian for thirty years. She was interviewed by Shirley Stevenson, who put the project together and edited the book of interviews. It was fascinating to me, of course, to read about how the system went from one tiny 2,200 square foot library on the Balboa Peninsula to the multi-branch system we have now, and that was all under Dorothea's leadership. It also amused me that NB used to be thought of as a not too desirable place to live :)
I loved Lauren Oliver's "Before I Fall", and I was a bit disappointed with "Delirium", her dystopian novel set in the near future in Maine. Lena lives in a world were "love" is a disease that must be cured with an operation at age 18, and then she would be paired with an ideal mate and married. Lena is actually looking forward to the cure because she thinks it will bring her peace and she can stop fretting about her mother who committed suicide when she was little because she was infected and multiple attempts at the cure failed to wash the memory of love from her mind. Then Lena meets Alex, who comes from the wilderness where there is no cure and falls in love. Predictability ensued, with no real resolution to any of the questions raised at the end. Meh...not my thing.
Sue Townsend's first two Adrian Mole books, "The Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole, 13 3/4" and the "Growing Pains of Adrian Mole", were hilarious. Full of British slang and dry wit, Adrian lives with his parents, who he disapproves of highly, and his pretentious adolescent snottiness reminded me so much of my own teen years. Ugh, what a twit I was too! I can't wait to read more.
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