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.