Okay, we're going to gloss over the fact that I've been remiss and just catch up. In the last month I've read:
"Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova, of "The Historian" fame. I liked "The Historian" a lot, but this one I didn't care for. I didn't *not* like it, I just feel indifferent about it.
"Frankenstein: Lost Souls" by Dean Koontz I enjoyed a lot. It seems to be the beginning of a new series, and I'm excited about that.
"Fables, Vols. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12" by Bill Willingham. I missed Vol. 10 somehow, but the story has gotten really great. The Fables have gone to war and in Vol. 11 defeated the evil Emperor. There have been some casualties, like Prince Charming and Boy Blue, but I'm eager to find out what happens next. My only complaint is some of the artists have truly sucked.
"Sizzling Sixteen" by Janet Evanovich. Lately the Stephanie Plum series have been kind of mediocre, but this one I really liked, despite the lack of Morelli and Ranger hotness. This one had a lot of Vinnie (he's been kidnapped by the mob and Stephanie and Lulu and Connie have to devise a plan to rescue him) and I like Vinnie.
So then I reread "Seven Up" and "Two for the Dough", which were both fun. I hadn't read the second one in quite a while. I'd like to reread them all, but I have a huge stack of books I need to get to. Someday I'm going to take all that vacation time I have hoarded up and just overindulge on books :)
"Confessions of a Prairie Bitch" by Alison Arngrim, who played the evil Nellie Olsen on TV's "Little House on the Prairie", which was probably one of my all time favorite shows when I was growing up. I loved this memoir. Alison was hilarious and her look at the show and the actors she worked with was great. I'd love if she wrote fiction, I think it would be as quirky and fun as Christopher Moore.
I reread Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind", my all time favorite comfort read. That was the first grown up book I ever read, when I was nine years old. Every time I reread it (and it's been, sadly, many years) it's like visiting an old friend and spending a lazy Sunday afternoon on the veranda, sipping sweet tea and reminiscing. I needed that.
"Aqua Net Diaries" by Jennifer Niven was her look back at her very ordinary teenage years in a small Indiana high school. There wasn't anything crazy or wild about her and her friends, and that's what I liked about it: it's normalcy. Since I didn't go to high school I have none of these fond memories and I enjoyed hers.
"Dead in the Family" by Charlaine Harris is her latest Sookie Stackhouse book. I missed the one right before this, unfortunately, so I was a bit confused in the beginning, but I caught up quickly enough and enjoyed all the Eric hotness :)
And lastly, "Beastly" by Alex Finn, a YA updated version of "Beauty and the Beast". Since I've never seen the Disney film or really any other version of the story I can't attest to its faithfulness, but I enjoyed this version a lot. Even though the ending was predictable, the characters were so likable I was rooting for them and it made me glad when it all worked out.
Whew. Okay, I won't let that happen again, I promise.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Fables Volumes 1-3; The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner; Mouse Guard Winter 1152; Blockade Billy; Van Alen Legacy; Stones Into Schools; Furious Love
I know it looks like a lot, but with the exception of the last three, they were all pretty short.
"Fables Vols. 1-3" by Bill Willingham was great fun, probably the best graphic novels I've read yet. Snarky and full of black humor as the classic characters from childhood stories are thrust into the modern world to live among us regular folk and try to pass themselves off as normal.
Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" novella "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" was, quite honestly, a waste of time. Without Bella and Edward and Jacob, Meyer's writing isn't really that interesting. It's the characters I care about more than her prose or plot, and the characters in this one just didn't hold my interest. At least it was super short, so I didn't waste too much time on it.
"Mouse Guard Winter 1152" by David Petersen was better than the first one I read a last month. There's more meat to the plot and I found myself actually caring about the little woodland critters and what happened to them. "Fables" is still better, though :)
Stephen King's novella, "Blockade Billy", was actually pretty good because it was about baseball but it wasn't so long that it bored me, and it had an interesting twist in the end that, although I saw it coming, King executed masterfully.
"The Van Alen Legacy" by Melissa de la Cruz was the latest in her Blue Bloods series. More action and intrigue kept my interest better than the previous volumes, but of course I'm so lost with the convoluted storyline from having not really paid attention previously that I did find myself going "huh?" a couple of times. It really didn't matter, though, it was still enjoyable.
Greg Mortenson, author of the brilliant "Three Cups of Tea", returns with "Stones Into Schools", about how his nonprofit, The Central Asia Institute, has helped build schools for girls in Afghanistan. Brilliant and inspiring, I sincerely wish there were more people in the world like Mortenson. We should clone him and fill the world with his amazing selflessness and compassion. Now here's a man that should win a Nobel Peace Prize. He deserves it.
And finally, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger's absolutely brilliant and amazing look at Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's marriage in "Furious Love". Wow, what a powerful love story. Taylor gave them access to her private letters from Burton, which they quoted from liberally in the book. Beautiful and heartbreaking how their love was so passionate, so all consuming, that it literally destroyed them both. Now I'm in the mood to rewatch "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".
"Fables Vols. 1-3" by Bill Willingham was great fun, probably the best graphic novels I've read yet. Snarky and full of black humor as the classic characters from childhood stories are thrust into the modern world to live among us regular folk and try to pass themselves off as normal.
Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" novella "The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner" was, quite honestly, a waste of time. Without Bella and Edward and Jacob, Meyer's writing isn't really that interesting. It's the characters I care about more than her prose or plot, and the characters in this one just didn't hold my interest. At least it was super short, so I didn't waste too much time on it.
"Mouse Guard Winter 1152" by David Petersen was better than the first one I read a last month. There's more meat to the plot and I found myself actually caring about the little woodland critters and what happened to them. "Fables" is still better, though :)
Stephen King's novella, "Blockade Billy", was actually pretty good because it was about baseball but it wasn't so long that it bored me, and it had an interesting twist in the end that, although I saw it coming, King executed masterfully.
"The Van Alen Legacy" by Melissa de la Cruz was the latest in her Blue Bloods series. More action and intrigue kept my interest better than the previous volumes, but of course I'm so lost with the convoluted storyline from having not really paid attention previously that I did find myself going "huh?" a couple of times. It really didn't matter, though, it was still enjoyable.
Greg Mortenson, author of the brilliant "Three Cups of Tea", returns with "Stones Into Schools", about how his nonprofit, The Central Asia Institute, has helped build schools for girls in Afghanistan. Brilliant and inspiring, I sincerely wish there were more people in the world like Mortenson. We should clone him and fill the world with his amazing selflessness and compassion. Now here's a man that should win a Nobel Peace Prize. He deserves it.
And finally, Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger's absolutely brilliant and amazing look at Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton's marriage in "Furious Love". Wow, what a powerful love story. Taylor gave them access to her private letters from Burton, which they quoted from liberally in the book. Beautiful and heartbreaking how their love was so passionate, so all consuming, that it literally destroyed them both. Now I'm in the mood to rewatch "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Bitter is the New Black; Such a Pretty Fat; Destination Morgue: L.A. Tales; The Sound and the Fury: William Faulkner and the Lost Cause; Anything Goes; Roses
Oh lordy am I behind. I've sort of been losing a lot of myself lately, I feel like life is coming apart at the seams and I'm scrambling to hold onto the strings. I actually contemplated giving up on this, but I think I might regret it someday if I do, so along I'll plod. Here goes.
Two by Jen Lancaster, which were really funny and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of her books. First was "Bitter is the New Black", about how she and her fiance both lost their high-paying, high-powered jobs and in their poverty discovered the important things in life. It sounds sentimental and sappy, but it really wasn't. "Such a Pretty Fat" was her account of how she set about losing weight and getting into shape. It wasn't quite as funny, because it's a topic that hits entirely close to home for me, but I have to give her major credit for talking so openly about such an intensely painful subject.
"Destination Morgue: L.A. Tales" by James Ellroy was sheer masterpiece. I saw him a few months ago at the L.A. Times of Festival of Books and he is such a dynamic speaker. I've read a few of his books (highly recommend "My Dark Places") and I've wanted to read more. "Destination Morgue" was an intriguing mix of nonfiction and fiction, starting off with a few short stories of unsolved L.A. murders and how they've affected him, and the last half of the book was a collection of short fiction staring an L.A. detective and his lady love. He skillfully wove real life characters into the fiction and his abrasive style and hardcore slang make Ellroy second to none.
"The Sound and the Fury: Faulkner and the Lost Cause" by John T. Matthews was a short little critical interpretation of Faulkner's masterpiece. If I'm not reading Faulkner then I want to read more about him and his brilliance, and this one was very good, highly readable and he had some interesting insights as to the Compson household. Nothing I haven't read before, obviously, since I've read so much about "The Sound and the Fury", but interesting nonetheless.
"Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties" by Lucy Moore was a fun little read about the decade that defined excess and opulence before it all came crashing down. History seems to always repeat itself, even if we do our best to remember it. Her stories about what was going on in the '20s, everything from Jack Dempsey to Charles Lindbergh, drew parallels to what was going on over the last decade before we lost it all.
And finally, "Roses" by Leila Meacham. I've heard really great things about this book: a sweeping, grand epic about love and revenge set in the lush background of my favorite locale: Texas. It was good, but it fell short of my expectations. I was thinking more like "Giant" by Edna Ferber (I should have known better) but it was pale and weak in comparison.
Two by Jen Lancaster, which were really funny and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of her books. First was "Bitter is the New Black", about how she and her fiance both lost their high-paying, high-powered jobs and in their poverty discovered the important things in life. It sounds sentimental and sappy, but it really wasn't. "Such a Pretty Fat" was her account of how she set about losing weight and getting into shape. It wasn't quite as funny, because it's a topic that hits entirely close to home for me, but I have to give her major credit for talking so openly about such an intensely painful subject.
"Destination Morgue: L.A. Tales" by James Ellroy was sheer masterpiece. I saw him a few months ago at the L.A. Times of Festival of Books and he is such a dynamic speaker. I've read a few of his books (highly recommend "My Dark Places") and I've wanted to read more. "Destination Morgue" was an intriguing mix of nonfiction and fiction, starting off with a few short stories of unsolved L.A. murders and how they've affected him, and the last half of the book was a collection of short fiction staring an L.A. detective and his lady love. He skillfully wove real life characters into the fiction and his abrasive style and hardcore slang make Ellroy second to none.
"The Sound and the Fury: Faulkner and the Lost Cause" by John T. Matthews was a short little critical interpretation of Faulkner's masterpiece. If I'm not reading Faulkner then I want to read more about him and his brilliance, and this one was very good, highly readable and he had some interesting insights as to the Compson household. Nothing I haven't read before, obviously, since I've read so much about "The Sound and the Fury", but interesting nonetheless.
"Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties" by Lucy Moore was a fun little read about the decade that defined excess and opulence before it all came crashing down. History seems to always repeat itself, even if we do our best to remember it. Her stories about what was going on in the '20s, everything from Jack Dempsey to Charles Lindbergh, drew parallels to what was going on over the last decade before we lost it all.
And finally, "Roses" by Leila Meacham. I've heard really great things about this book: a sweeping, grand epic about love and revenge set in the lush background of my favorite locale: Texas. It was good, but it fell short of my expectations. I was thinking more like "Giant" by Edna Ferber (I should have known better) but it was pale and weak in comparison.
Friday, May 21, 2010
The King's Rose; Bite Me; The Way I See It; The Bedwetter; Paul and Me
Okay, first up "The King's Rose" by Alisa M. Libby, a tepid YA novel about the life of Henry VIII's fifth wife, Catherine Howard. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't very good or interesting. Sort of forgettable, like little Catherine herself.
"Bite Me" by Christopher Moore was pretty funny: vampires in San Francisco. The characters were funny and well written, and I enjoyed the way he switched voices and perspectives throughout the novel. I was very glad he didn't voice the whole thing in Abby's voice, because that would have made me quit reading the book early on. A little of her slang goes a long way.
Melissa Anderson, otherwise known as Melissa Sue Anderson, who played too-good-to-be-true older sister Mary on TV's "Little House on the Prairie", penned a memoir of her life on the show in "The Way I See It". It wasn't a bad book, just kind of dull and very, very vanilla. The worst trouble Melissa and her teenage friends got into was not pulling over for a cop after running a stop sign. Well, I guess it's good that not every child actor in Hollywood did drugs and slept around, but it sure doesn't make for an interesting story when they didn't!
"The Bedwetter" is Sarah Silverman's autobiography. I've never seen her show, a coworker recommended it to me. It was fairly funny and she seemed very real and self-aware and able to laugh at herself, which are all nice qualities in people. It was entertaining enough to hold my interest.
And lastly, A. E. Hotchner chronicles his lifelong friendship with Paul Newman in "Paul and Me". It was a worthy tribute to a great man, very touching. I teared up more than once, but Hotchner was never sappy or sentimental. He obviously cared very much about Paul and valued their friendship and business collaboration on "Newman's Own", and that came through in a beautiful way.
"Bite Me" by Christopher Moore was pretty funny: vampires in San Francisco. The characters were funny and well written, and I enjoyed the way he switched voices and perspectives throughout the novel. I was very glad he didn't voice the whole thing in Abby's voice, because that would have made me quit reading the book early on. A little of her slang goes a long way.
Melissa Anderson, otherwise known as Melissa Sue Anderson, who played too-good-to-be-true older sister Mary on TV's "Little House on the Prairie", penned a memoir of her life on the show in "The Way I See It". It wasn't a bad book, just kind of dull and very, very vanilla. The worst trouble Melissa and her teenage friends got into was not pulling over for a cop after running a stop sign. Well, I guess it's good that not every child actor in Hollywood did drugs and slept around, but it sure doesn't make for an interesting story when they didn't!
"The Bedwetter" is Sarah Silverman's autobiography. I've never seen her show, a coworker recommended it to me. It was fairly funny and she seemed very real and self-aware and able to laugh at herself, which are all nice qualities in people. It was entertaining enough to hold my interest.
And lastly, A. E. Hotchner chronicles his lifelong friendship with Paul Newman in "Paul and Me". It was a worthy tribute to a great man, very touching. I teared up more than once, but Hotchner was never sappy or sentimental. He obviously cared very much about Paul and valued their friendship and business collaboration on "Newman's Own", and that came through in a beautiful way.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: the Graphic Novel
Graphic adaptation by Tony Lee and Cliff Richards. I thought Lee did a good job of paring the story down while still keeping the fun tongue in cheek elements, but Richards' artwork seemed fuzzy and slapdash. I would have preferred something a bit sharper and of course, color would have been excellent.
Spoken from the Heart; Darkness; Mouse Guard Fall 1152; the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
I'm falling behind again. What can I say? Things happen.
Moving on. "Spoken from the Heart" by former first lady Laura Bush was a very enjoyable autobiography, although I did find her mother bear defending her cubs type of tone when talking about her husband a bit tiresome. I totally understand why she feels the need to defend him, and I think their love for each other is amazing and special, but I also think that most people open minded enough to read her book are not going to be that insanely critical of former president Bush. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but at any rate, I found her to be a warm and personable author and I enjoyed hearing about her perspective on her years in the White House. The time after 9/11 was especially terrifying. I can't imagine how awful it must have been to have been living through that kind of high alert.
"Darkness" was a collection of not very good short stories edited by Ellen Datlow. I'm just not a big short stories person, and none of them were really all that memorable, except for the one by Stephen King, which I of course had read before.
"Mouse Guard Fall 1152" is a graphic novel by David Peterson. I wasn't terribly impressed by this one. The artwork was nice, but the story was so thin and juvenile compared to the other graphic novels I've been reading lately. It only took me 20 minutes to get through it. I know I read fast, but c'mon. I gotta have a little more substance than that. And the little mice as the heroes just didn't cut it with me. Although it was funny to see them battle a snake and some lobsters.
Rebecca Skloot's "Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" was amazing. Henrietta died in 1951 from cervical cancer. Before she died, doctors biopsied and saved a piece of the tumor growing in her, and it began to grow and divided, and her cells haven't stopped growing and dividing since, the first cells scientists were ever able to keep alive for so long. Her cells have been used all over the world to find cures for diseases and study how cells form, grow, change, react to certain toxins and outside influences, etc. It's impossible to calculate just how much advancement has been made in the field of medicine based on Henrietta's cells. Absolutely, utterly fascinating, and not the least bit over my head with the medical jargon, which is usually hard to comprehend.
Moving on. "Spoken from the Heart" by former first lady Laura Bush was a very enjoyable autobiography, although I did find her mother bear defending her cubs type of tone when talking about her husband a bit tiresome. I totally understand why she feels the need to defend him, and I think their love for each other is amazing and special, but I also think that most people open minded enough to read her book are not going to be that insanely critical of former president Bush. Maybe I'm wrong on that, but at any rate, I found her to be a warm and personable author and I enjoyed hearing about her perspective on her years in the White House. The time after 9/11 was especially terrifying. I can't imagine how awful it must have been to have been living through that kind of high alert.
"Darkness" was a collection of not very good short stories edited by Ellen Datlow. I'm just not a big short stories person, and none of them were really all that memorable, except for the one by Stephen King, which I of course had read before.
"Mouse Guard Fall 1152" is a graphic novel by David Peterson. I wasn't terribly impressed by this one. The artwork was nice, but the story was so thin and juvenile compared to the other graphic novels I've been reading lately. It only took me 20 minutes to get through it. I know I read fast, but c'mon. I gotta have a little more substance than that. And the little mice as the heroes just didn't cut it with me. Although it was funny to see them battle a snake and some lobsters.
Rebecca Skloot's "Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" was amazing. Henrietta died in 1951 from cervical cancer. Before she died, doctors biopsied and saved a piece of the tumor growing in her, and it began to grow and divided, and her cells haven't stopped growing and dividing since, the first cells scientists were ever able to keep alive for so long. Her cells have been used all over the world to find cures for diseases and study how cells form, grow, change, react to certain toxins and outside influences, etc. It's impossible to calculate just how much advancement has been made in the field of medicine based on Henrietta's cells. Absolutely, utterly fascinating, and not the least bit over my head with the medical jargon, which is usually hard to comprehend.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Dawn of the Dreadfuls; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; The Sandman Vols. 1 and 2; The Sound and the Fury
Okay, I'm two weeks behind because I suck, what can I say.
"Dawn of the Dreadfuls" by Steve Hockensmith is a prequel to "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame-Smith (which I promptly reread after reading Dreadfuls). Hockensmith told how the Bennet sisters became zombie hunters. He didn't follow what Grahame-Smith had set up in PP&Z, like the girls going to the Orient to get their training, but it was still entertaining. And then I reread PP&Z and caught a lot of the jokes I had missed the first time around.
Then I read volumes one and two of the "Sandman" graphic novels by Neil Gaimen. I didn't care too much for the first one, "Prelude and Nocturnes". It was kind of slow and seemed disjointed. The second one, "The Doll's House", was a bit better. The story seems to be picking up a bit. We'll see how the rest of the series goes. The artwork was nice, it reminded me of the old "Tales from the Crypt" comics I used to read as a kid.
And then I reread William Faulkner's brilliant, shining "The Sound and the Fury". Every time I reread it I love it more. I was tempted to try to go the Faulkner conference in Mississippi this July, but unfortunately I have a work obligation that I can't get out of. Disappointing. I'd love to see Faulkner's typewriter :)
"Dawn of the Dreadfuls" by Steve Hockensmith is a prequel to "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame-Smith (which I promptly reread after reading Dreadfuls). Hockensmith told how the Bennet sisters became zombie hunters. He didn't follow what Grahame-Smith had set up in PP&Z, like the girls going to the Orient to get their training, but it was still entertaining. And then I reread PP&Z and caught a lot of the jokes I had missed the first time around.
Then I read volumes one and two of the "Sandman" graphic novels by Neil Gaimen. I didn't care too much for the first one, "Prelude and Nocturnes". It was kind of slow and seemed disjointed. The second one, "The Doll's House", was a bit better. The story seems to be picking up a bit. We'll see how the rest of the series goes. The artwork was nice, it reminded me of the old "Tales from the Crypt" comics I used to read as a kid.
And then I reread William Faulkner's brilliant, shining "The Sound and the Fury". Every time I reread it I love it more. I was tempted to try to go the Faulkner conference in Mississippi this July, but unfortunately I have a work obligation that I can't get out of. Disappointing. I'd love to see Faulkner's typewriter :)
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