Maplecroft; The Devil is Here in These Hills

I tried reading a book by Cherie Priest before, a Steampunk book called "Boneshaker", and I couldn't get into it. I thought I'd give her another try, since she's writing about a subject near and dear to my heart: Lizzie Borden. I finished this one, but I didn't really like it. It was very bizarre, I think the premise was something like Lizzie killed her parents because they were turning into sea monsters and she and her sister were researching it and they found some interesting specimens that Emma sent to a scientist and it ended up turning him into a raving, murdering lunatic who comes to Fall River to kill them. It was just very...odd.

After watching "Justified", I was eager to learn more about coal miners, so I picked up James Green's "The Devil is Here in These Hills", about West Virginia coal miners' struggle for freedom and equality. It was really quite moving, if a bit confusing. There were so many names of people I'd never heard of it was hard to keep everything straight. I still got something out of it, though, I think, about how these hardworking men were fighting against the company and the government at the same time. It's a rough life for sure.

Wilderness of Ruin; Stevie Nicks; Kill Me, Darling

I had high hopes for Roseanne Montillo's "Wilderness of Ruin". It sounded like it might be similar to Erik Larson's "Devil in the White City". I think that was her intention, it just didn't really gel. She took the story of convicted child killer Jesse Pomeroy, who at the age of 14 tortured and murdered several younger children, and tried to connect it to the Great Boston Fire with some of Herman Melville's life thrown in for good measure. The transitions were jarring and didn't make sense, and there wasn't much about Pomeroy at all. "Fiend" by Harold Schechter is a much better book about this young killer.

I really enjoyed Zoe Howe's biography of Stevie Nicks. Howe has a great, quirky sense of humor she incorporates into the story, which made Stevie's already interesting and incredible life even more fun to read about. It was softly done, a real love letter, but that was fine by me because I prefer not to hear anything nasty about Ms. Nicks. I do adore her. I've only seen her perform live about a dozen times now :)

Some of Max Allan Collins' Mickey Spillane Hammer books have been better than others. "Kill Me, Darling" was one of the really good ones. Velda has left Mike, who has spent the last four months she's been gone living in a bottle. Pat convinces Mike to crawl out of in when he tells him that Velda's shacked up with some nasty gangster type named Quinn down in Miami. Since Velda's old undercover boss was recently murdered, Pat and Mike think Velda was doing him a favor and investigating this guy, and now she might very well be in danger but too deep in to get out. Mike sobers up and heads down to Florida to rescue Velda. It was fun, and the descriptions of Miami in the 1950s were great.

Girl in a Band

Kim Gordon is awesome. "Girl in a Band" is a great book detailing her frustrations of being a female in the very male dominated world of rock n' roll. She also had some nice, tender memories of Kurt Cobain, which I always enjoy reading about. She is angry about Thurston's betrayal and breaking up her family, understandably and righteously so, and I'm glad she didn't try to play it off and be meek about it, the rage is authentic and her heartbreak is real. She's led a very unconventional life, and it was interesting.

So That Happened

DUCKY!!!
Deep breath...okay. So, I've always hated the ending to "Pretty in Pink". It was OBVIOUS that Andie should have ended up with Ducky because, duh, he's Ducky. I am apparently not the only one who felt that way, although I would like to find the test audience who booed the original ending and beat some sense into them :) at any rate, Jon Cryer is a funny guy, I loved "Two and a Half Men" (with Charlie Sheen, after Ashton Kutcher came on I think they made Cryer's character more slimy and I stopped watching). I love most of "Pretty in Pink" (I think I've only watched the ending once or twice, I usually turn it off before then and pretend it ended the way it should have). It was a fun and entertaining book, and Jon Cryer seems like a hardworking, classy guy who is still a lot of fun. I'm glad he's found success and enjoying his life.
Ducky forever!

Holy Cow

I have a confession: I had such a *huge* crush on David Duchovny when I was a kid and he was on the "X-Files" (I just dated myself). I tried to watch him on "Californication", but oh my gosh, that show is a little too much for me. At any rate, I read his fiction title "Holy Cow". It was super cute, a quick, fun, light read. Elsie the cow has figured out that the people on the farm are raising her to be food. Which is disgusting! (I agree, Elsie. This is why I am vegan). Elsie makes plans to flee to India, after seeing on the humans' TV that cows are sacred in India. A pig who calls himself Shalom and a turkey named Tom want to join her, Shalom wants to go to Israel, since they don't eat pork, and Tom wants to go to Turkey because hey, come on, they can't possibly eat turkeys in Turkey, right? They do manage to make it overseas, hilariously, and have some fun adventures, but they end up coming back home to America, deciding that because they are animals, they should enjoy the life they have and the part they play in the circle of it. Aww...sweet. But still, don't eat animals. It's sad.

Tinseltown; Finding Jake

Another book claiming to have solved the nearly century old murder of actor and director William Desmond Taylor, "Tinseltown" by William J. Mann was very vividly written and read more like fiction than nonfiction. Mann didn't delve into Taylor's messy private life, his many secrets, instead focusing on three women whose lives circled around his: Mary Miles Minter, the young girl who fancied herself in love with him and thought that if it weren't for her meddling, overprotective mother they'd be married; Mabel Normand, Taylor's good friend and the last person (other than the murderer) who saw Taylor alive; and Margaret Gibson, known as "Gibby", a failing actress who would do anything for fame. Gibby was hooked up with some shady characters in the early 1920s, con men who were caught blackmailing rich, prominent people. Mann believes Gibby knew some of Taylor's secrets and she and her cohorts were blackmailing him. Something went wrong the night he was murdered, and Gibby spent her whole life hanging onto that secret, until she confessed on her deathbed. No one took her seriously, at the time she was a recluse, destitute. It's as good a theory as any other I've heard. It's a shame we'll probably never know the truth.

"Finding Jake" by Bryan Reardon was pretty heartbreaking, I cried at the end. There's been a shooting at Jake's school, and his parents, Simon and Rachel, are frantic with worry. All the kids are eventually accounted for except for Jake. Immediately the police and media jump to the conclusion that Jake was in on the killings, the second shooter, since he was friendly with the first shooter, Doug. Simon and Rachel are frustrated the police aren't doing more to find Jake, treating him like a suspect, when they known damn well he was a good kid who would never do such a thing, although Simon feels guilty for having his nagging doubts. Their neighbors and former friends are calling them horrible things, accusing them of raising a monster. Simon finally finds Jake's body, since the police have completely dropped the ball, and it turns out Jake was actually a hero. He went to Doug's house the morning of the shooting, knowing he was going to do something, trying to talk him out of it. Doug shot him in the back, and in his last painful moments of life Jake grabbed Doug's box of ammunition and ran outside, scattering the bullets, hoping Doug wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. Doug gunned him down for good, left his body at their old childhood fort, and went to school with Jake's blood on his hands, killing thirteen of his classmates before taking his own life. Simon is of course incensed that the same people who called his boy a killer are now trying to pretend like they're sorry and calls some of them out on it, much to his wife's horror. I was with Simon on that, he was actually much nicer than I would have been. At any rate, it was a great reminder of how, as a society, we're quick to pounce on the salacious details without waiting to see what the truth might actually be.

Venetia

I was in the mood for something light and romantic and sparkly, so of course I thought immediately of Georgette Heyer. I love her books. "Venetia" was completely charming. Venetia has been stuck in the country her whole life, her father, an eccentric recluse after the death of her mother, never wanted her out in society. He passed away a few years earlier, and Venetia's brother, Conway, inherited the lands and the title, but he's been in the Army for years and trusts Venetia to look after the estate and their youngest brother, Aubrey, who is a brilliant boy with a lame leg. Venetia has two suitors calling on her, neither of whom she has much affection for, Edward and Oswald. Edward is dull, Oswald is very young and acts like a twit. Then Lord Damerel returns to his neighboring estate. Lord Damerel is a rake, who ran off at twenty-two with a married woman, ruining forever his reputation. When he first meets Venetia, collecting blackberries on his land, he's utterly enchanted by her quick wit and gorgeous looks. Venetia is less charmed by him at first, but after Damerel rescues Aubrey after he falls from his horse, and she sees how kind he is to her younger brother, and how much affection her brother has for him, she softens and the two become friends.  Damerel knows nothing can come of their friendship, he doesn't want her to throw away her chances for a good, respectable marriage. Then one day Conway sends home his pregnant bride and her mother, and without warning Aubrey and Venetia's happy household is thrown into turmoil by the overbearing mother in law. Venetia's aunt and uncle in London implore her to come stay with them, so they can properly introduce her into society, and after securing a place for Aubrey with Damerel, she goes to London. Damerel is torn: sad to see her go and missing her dreadfully, but knowing he can't marry her.
While in London Venetia learns the truth: her mother did not die when she was a little girl, she ran off from her father, divorced him, and married another man, abandoning the children she never wanted in the first place. After seeing how happy her mother is, even after she destroyed her reputation, Venetia makes a bold decision to go after Lord Damerel come hell or high water. Oh, it was such good fun! I thoroughly enjoyed it.