The Good Father; In One Person; Zombie Blondes

Diane Chamberlain's latest, "The Good Father", was pretty good until about 3/4 of the way through, and then it got pretty ridiculous. But I was really enjoying it up until then, and wondering how she was going to resolve things. Not the way I would have, but that's okay. Travis is a young dad to Bella, who is his whole life. When their modest home burns down, killing his mom, Travis is left with no money, no home, no job, and no one to watch Bella while he looks for work. Things go downhill for him pretty quickly, and he ends up deciding to take someone up on a shady offer to do something illegal. He leaves Bella with Erin, a lady he met at a coffee shop who is going through some grieving of her own: her own young daughter died recently. As if all this isn't enough, Bella's biological mother Robin is discovering she regrets agreeing to give up her child for adoption and misses her. When Travis doesn't return when he promised Erin he would, she decides to take Bella and try to find Robin. Hmm...okay. That's when the book fell apart for me. But still, it wasn't bad, just not her best.

I've only read one other John Irving book, "Prayer for Owen Meany", and while I liked it, I thought he kind of beat us over the head with his political agenda. In his latest, "In One Person", he basically does the exact same thing and I was irritated by it. I did like the characters well enough, but I thought the whole storyline was kind of exaggerated.  The book is about the main character, Bill, who is raised by his single mom, his domineering grandmother, and his cross dressing grandfather. Bill determines fairly early on in life that he is attracted to both men and women, and while he realizes liking men is wrong he feels powerless to stop it. The majority of the book takes place in Vermont in the 1950s and 60s, at an all male prep school. Bill's first sexual encounter is with a transsexual, and he ends up meeting a lot of other people who are bi or gay in some way. This stretched believability for me just a smidge. It reminded me of a Perry Mason book I read where there were like, 25 different people in this one guy's pool during the course of night. It was just like what? That's not possible. I think Irving is just one of those authors I'm not cut out for.

"Zombie Blondes" by Brian James was an interesting YA take on the zombie phenomenon. Hannah and her dad move a lot, ever since her dad lost his job as a cop he's had a hard time finding decent work and they're always skipping out on bill collectors. They end up in Maplecrest, and it doesn't take Hannah long to discover who the popular kids in school are: the picture perfect blonde clones that make up the cheerleading squad. One of the boys she meets, Lukas, warns her about the girls on the squad. He says they're all zombies who recruit normal girls and change them. Hannah thinks he is exaggerating, and is excited when one of the girls, Meredith, takes a liking to her and suggests she try out for the squad. Hannah makes it and the process of changing her begins: she loses weight from the nonstop practices, they bleach her hair blonde, etc. She then discovers Lukas was right--they really are dead and are using the blood from people they've killed off to keep themselves from rotting. It had an open ending leaving way for a sequel, if he wants, but either way it was definitely different and I liked it.

A Teeny Bit of Trouble

Michael Lee West's sequel to "Gone with a Handsomer Man" did not disappoint, and I think I liked it better than the first one. Teeny returns in "A Teeny Bit of Trouble". When she witnesses the murder of her boyfriend Coop's ex-girlfriend, Barb, she is suddenly in danger. Coop wants to keep her safe, but Teeny is obsessed with discovering the truth and lands herself smack in the middle of a nasty organ harvesting ring. It was fun and I actually figured some things out before the author spelled them out for me (a real rarity!!).

The Princess Bride

I've never seen the movie "The Princess Bride" based on William Goldman's book, but now I want to. The book was very cute and funny. Goldman tells it as if he's abridging it from a longer version by an author named S. Morgenstern, which made for some interesting commentary. It is a story of love and adventure: Buttercup and Westley fall in love, but when Buttercup believes Westley's been killed by a pirate she vows never to love again, and agrees to marry Prince Humperdinck. Westley returns before the wedding to save Buttercup, after learning Humperdinck's evil plan to murder her and blame it on a neighboring country as an excuse to start a war. It was funny and sweet and very charming.

World of Downton Abbey; Vegan Freak

So in addition to loving "Mad Men", I also watch "Downton Abbey" (I actually don't watch much TV, in case you hadn't guessed, I prefer reading ;-) ) and I love the costumes and the characters and the whole society. Jessica Fellowes writes about it in "World of Downton Abbey", which is filled with the most beautiful color photos and behind the scenes look at filming and tidbits from the actors. If you enjoy "Downton Abbey" you really ought to check this book out, it's marvelous.

"Vegan Freak" by Bob and Jenna Torres needs a little backstory about some personal changes. I went vegan three months ago after reading (most of, anyway) Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet" and "Skinny Bitch" by Kim Barnouin. I didn't blog about them because I didn't read every word and I don't think it's fair to include it in the blog unless I read all of it. Plus, I was just deciding whether or not I should try out veganism, and didn't feel like advertising it. At any rate, I couldn't be happier with the way this lifestyle is working for me. My allergies are all but gone, I'm losing weight, and I feel great. I've always been incredibly blessed when it comes to my complexion and hair, but I'm getting more compliments on how I seem to be glowing. The problem with "Vegan Freak" is that the authors are convinced (and they make no bones about telling the reader) that the only legitimate reason to go vegan is because you are against animal cruelty. Now, don't get me wrong. I love the animals. I think testing makeup and whatnot on them is horrible. But I personally have no problems with eating animals if it were still done the way it was done before the rise of meat packing plants. I think the way animals are treated now before being consumed is not only sad for them, but dangerous for us. They are pumped up so full of chemicals and live practically on top of each other. It used to be very expensive to own a cow because you had to have so much land for it to graze on and space. Nowadays the ranchers pack them in so tight and force feed them grain. And the poor chickens never get a chance to run around in the sunshine to peck. So for me going vegan was more for health issues. I want to be aware of what I am putting in my body, and with meat and dairy and other food derived in some way from animals you can never be sure. I've started reading labels at the grocery store, and buying a lot more fresh vegetables and fruit and less packaged and canned items. I'm eating better than I ever have in my life, and so what if I didn't come to veganism the way the Torres's feel is the "only" acceptable way? The end result is the same, right? I'm not eating animal products anymore. I tell everyone who asks how great I feel and I highly recommend at least *trying* to eat less meat, if you can't give it up completely. Instead of making the veggies the side dish of a meal, make them the star, and you'll be amazed at all the great meals you can make. I've been having the most fun trying new recipes and foods these last three months. It really has been amazing. I do feel sorry for some of the people who the authors are trying to help in this book. They discuss how to deal with family and friends who tease and won't accept your lifestyle choice. I have been so fortunate that first of all, I live in a very vegan friendly area here in Southern California. I'm not even the only vegan at my workplace. Secondly, my family and friends have all been wonderfully supportive and curious about my new lifestyle change. I actually got my mom and my sister to try fried tofu, and they both loved it! The main message I got from this book was to be a positive vegan, a role model, so others can look to you and say "It can't be that hard. Look how happy she is!". So if you're thinking of making a lifestyle change like this, do it for whatever reason works for you. And good luck!

Stardust; Deadlocked; Walking Dead Vol. 15; Cave Full of Ghosts

"Stardust" by Carla Stewart is a Christian fiction title but it isn't overly preachy and full of praying like some of the other recent Christian fiction I've read, so that was nice. It just didn't have a lot of bad language, which I sometimes want. Anyway, there was a lot going on in this book, but it didn't feel overdone and ridiculous. Sometimes life throws a whole lot at us and we have to respond even if we're worn out from dealing with other bad things. Georgia is a young mother to two little girls and her husband has run off with another woman. He turns up dead and Georgia worries about how she is going to support her girls. Her aunt Cora, who raised her after her parents dumped her off with Cora and left when she was just a little girl, is dying for Georgia to move in with her, but Georgia is determined to make her own way. A distant relative dies and leaves her the motel he owned, the Stardust, which Georgia has fond memories of because that's the last place she saw her parents before they disappeared from her life. Georgia is determined to fix it up and make a living off of it. The book takes place in Texas in the 1950s, and there is also a polio scare going on, since it's summer. When a heavily pregnant woman shows up at the Stardust with her little girl in tow, delirious from fever, everyone fears the worse, and their fears are justified: the pregnant woman has polio. Just as the Stardust is finally starting to get off the ground and running, fears of catching the disease keep people away and Georgia finds herself caring for the woman's little girl and her newborn son while she's in the hospital fighting the polio. There was a lot of predictable bits, but it didn't diminish from the message of the book. Georgia is a sweet lady, and I'm glad things finally started to work out for her and her family. It was a nice book.

"Deadlocked" by Charlaine Harris it the latest Sookie Stackhouse book. Sookie and Eric are on the rocks, spending too much time apart and not communicating. Sookie has the added problem of having Dermot and Claude, her fairy relatives, staying with her since Niall closed the portal to Faery. Sookie's grandmother left her a bit of fairy magic in the form of a cluviel dor (I think that's how it's spelled, I don't have the book in front of me). All of the supernatural beings in and around Bon Temps seem to know she has it, so they're all after her. I really liked the ending, I think this is the next to the last book, so I'm curious as to how Harris is going to wrap it all up. It seems like Sookie and Sam might end up together while Eric is forced to marry the Queen of Oklahoma, but who knows for sure? Either way, I will miss Sookie and her crazy paranormal love life and adventures.

"Walking Dead Vol. 15: We Find Ourselves" by Robert Kirkman picks off where 14 ended: Carl is recovering from his devastating gun wound to the head and the survivors of the zombie overrun on their community are trying to pick up the pieces and move on. There is a small faction of disgruntled people, led by Nicholas, who are convinced Rick is just going to kill them to take over their homes for his own people. The book builds up the this showdown, which has a nice conclusion, but I'm thinking we haven't seen the last of the disgruntled original residents of their new town. Vol 16 is due out next month, so hopefully I can get my hands on it quicker than I could with this one.

It's no secret how much I adore Billy Bob Thornton. I think he's brilliant and amazing and incredibly, incredibly hot. When he refers to himself as Quasimodo in his new book "Cave Full of Ghosts", it makes me wonder if he owns a mirror. How Angelina Jolie went from him to Brad Pitt is a mystery to me. What a downgrade. But I digress. "Cave Full of Ghosts" is co-written with Kinky Friedman, whom I also adore. Basically Billy Bob sat down and started telling stories of his life and how he thinks and Kinky recorded it and transcribed it. At any rate, it's fun stuff, seeing into the mind of a genius. I wish there would have been more pictures. That would have made me a happy camper, but it was still pretty awesome :)

That Woman

"That Woman" by Anne Sebba was interesting. I didn't know anything about Wallis Simpson before reading this book, other than of course that Edward VIII abdicated for her, which I always thought was incredibly romantic. The reason I was curious to read it was that I bought a huge biography on the Queen Mother a few weeks ago that I'm afraid I'm never going to get to. It's actually very sad, the number of books I own and never read because I always have library books with pending due dates that I'm trying to finish. A few years I made a vow to read at least one book I own that I've never read once a month. Yeah, not so much. At any rate, back to Wallis Simpson. I did wonder how this woman, who wasn't terribly attractive, managed to land not one but three husbands, one of whom was a king. At any rate, Sebba has a theory as to why Wallis was barren, but luckily she didn't belabor the issue. The book was a bit odd towards the end though: for the first 3/4 she is pretty detailed and then it was like she was in a big rush to get through with it. In one paragraph she is talking about a party the Duke and Duchess were attending, and then the next paragraph is 6 years later and Edward is dead. Wait, what? What happened? Still, it was a nice overall look at someone I was unfamiliar with.

Real Mad Men; Midnight Dreary; Why We Broke Up; Honky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyrics

Okay, so I'm obsessed with the TV show "Mad Men". And, I think, for good reasons. It's a fantastic show, the characters are awesome, and I wish I could afford Joan's wardrobe. I read Andrew Cracknell's "Real Mad Men", about the real life men and women of Madison Avenue during the 1960s. It was neat to see all the old advertisements and hear about how they used to work back then. I love thumbing through old magazines to see the old ads. It was an interesting look back at how things used to be. I saw the new John Cusak movie "The Raven" a few weeks ago, about Edgar Allan Poe. It's getting absolutely slaughtered by critics and moviegoers alike, but what can I say? I must have terrible taste because I actually thought it was very good. So I was curious as to what sort of theories were bounding about as to his death, and I read John Evanglist Walsh's "Midnight Dreary". Walsh's theory is that Poe was beaten up and made to drink until he was completely drunk by the three brothers of the woman he was planning on marrying, Elmira Shelton. Apparently her brothers and her own children so disapproved of their relation marrying Poe that drastic measures were taken and the brothers followed him on a trip from Richmond to Philadelphia, waylaying him in Baltimore, where he died from his injuries. It was an interesting theory, but I'm not totally convinced. You know I love a good real life mystery! I'll have to read more on the subject as soon as I have time (hahahaha...) "Why We Broke Up" by Daniel Handler is a YA novel told in note form from Min to her ex-boyfriend Ed. She has put together a box of all the mementos of their relationship and writes him to explain exactly why they broke up. It was very sentimental, and worked about 3/4 of the way through. The ending was disappointing, to say the least. All along Min is saying they broke up because they were so different, etc., but in the end it turns out Ed was cheating on her. Um...okay, well, sure. Side note: this book is super heavy. It's got pretty color illustrations throughout. I think if I were younger I'd probably like it more, but now I'm too far removed from the high emotions of teenagers. "Honky Tonk Girl: My Life in Lyrics" by Loretta Lynn chronicles her life through her song lyrics. It's definitely for the hardcore Loretta fan; while I like most of her greatest hits, a lot of these songs I had never heard. But it was interesting to learn the back story to her lyrics. I must say, of all the songwriters out there, Loretta really stands out as one who pours her heart into her music, and it shows.