Elizabeth's Women; Last Sacrifice; Fables Vol. 14; Catching Fire; Katherine the Queen; Among Others; Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer

Okay, I need to seriously get caught up here!
First off, an interesting book about the women who influenced Elizabeth Tudor, "Elizabeth's Women" by Tracey Bowman. She had a lot of complex relationships with women, no doubt caused by her mother's death when she was just a toddler as well as having to be a woman trying to justify her ability to rule in a man's world. It was a good read and I enjoyed it.
"Last Sacrifice" by Richelle Mead is the final Vampire Academy book. That's sad, I've really grown to love and enjoy this series. I liked the way it ended, and there was a lot of suspense and action along the way.
"Fables Vol. 14" by Bill Willingham focused on the fables new enemy, the Dark One, who destroyed their Manhattan hideout. Frau Totenkinder goes in search of a way to defeat him while Ozma tried to take her place in her absence among the witches. Bufkin the winged monkey successfully defeats Baba Yaga (good for him!) and King Ambrose deals with a murder in his new peaceful kingdom.
"Catching Fire" is book two of Suzanne Collin's "Hunger Games" series, and it was great. Katniss is struggling to be convincingly in love with Peeta in the hopes of saving them from the wrath of the Capital in light of the recent uprisings. As a way of punishing them for their defiance, they get sent back to the Hunger Games. There was a shocking surprise at the ending, and I can't wait to find out what happens.
"Katherine the Queen" by Linda Porter was a well done biography about Queen Katherine Parr and highlighted her influence on Queen Elizabeth. Obviously no real new info here for me, but it was nicely laid out and very well written.
"Among Others" by Jo Walton is a new sci fi book that's been getting good buzz on a lot of the blogs I read. Maybe if I was more into sci fi and fantasy books I would have enjoyed it more, but I'm not, so while I could tell it was good I wasn't as enthralled with it as everyone else is. It's good, but not my cup of tea. I can relate to the lead character's deep love of books and her quick reading abilities, but not her choice of reading material.
And finally, a bit of fictional whimsy "The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer" by Lucy Weston. On the eve of her coronation Elizabeth learns she is a descendant of Morgaine on her mother's side. Morgaine was the original vampire slayer and died trying to defeat King Arthur's son, Mordred. Mordred is now battling Elizabeth for her kingdom. It was quite clever and original and fairly accurate, historically, for being fiction.

The Autobiography of Mark Twain Vol. 1; Hunger Games; Annotated Brothers Grimm; Room

I have read some real gems over the last two weeks. First up, "The Autobiography of Mark Twain Vol. 1", edited by Harriet Elinor Smith. I know I've said before that I don't like Twain's work, but really, I don't know what I was thinking. "The Prince and the Pauper" was one of my all time favorite books when I was growing up, my sister's too, so much so that when I moved she told me I could take all of our shared classic books except for that one because she wanted to keep it. I of course let her because honestly do I really need any more books to try to find room for? No, of course not. But anyway, back to Twain. The autobiography was a loose collection of letters, notes, and musings at first and then segued into his failed attempts to write a chronological account of his extraordinary life. It was witty and wry and very funny and I think now I'm ready (if I were to have the time to go back and reread "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn") to finally truly appreciate them.
"Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins is the first in a trilogy. This was quite brilliant, it had a "Battle Royale" feel to it. Katniss Everdeen goes to represent her district in the 74th annual Hunger Games put on by the Capitol in the ruins of what used to be the U.S. The game pits 24 players against each other, and the last one standing gets to return home a wealthy hero. It was clever and well written and I hear they're making a movie about it to be released next year. With any luck I'll have read the second and third by then :)
"The Annotated Brothers Grimm", edited by Maria Tatar, collected some of the brothers more popular fairy tales together but she did leave out some, like the little mermaid and the little match girl. After discussing "Fables" I was eager to read some of the not Disney sanitized versions of the stories that Willingham used for his inspiration.
And finally, a book I literally stayed up all night to read because I could not bear to put it down, was "Room" by Emma Donoghue. Narrated by five year old Jack, it tells the story of a young woman and all she's done to make living in their tiny 11X11 foot room bearable for her young son. It's their prison, and she knows what's on the outside, if they could just escape their captor. To Jack, however, it's all he's ever known and it's home. It was a gripping and powerful story of motherly love and human survival instinct and I would highly recommend it.

His Father's Son; The Queen's Lover

I met Bentley Little years ago, when I was an undergrad at Cal State Fullerton, his own alma mater. He's a good gross out writer, and I liked a lot of his earlier stuff, but some of the things I bought eight or nine years ago didn't impress me much. Every year I would keep buying his latest book and put it on the shelf, swearing to get around to it but never would. I went to Chicago and knew I would need something to read on the plane that would hold my interest and yet not be too demanding of my brain, so I grabbed one of my Bentley backstock "His Father's Son". I was quite impressed with how good it was. It was less crude than some of his previous works and the plot had a really neat twist to it. Plus it was set in this part of Orange County, so he mentions familiar landmarks, which always makes a book more interesting to me, since I can easily see in my mind what he's talking about. In this story a normal editor from Irvine thinks his dad, who has been hospitalized with sudden onset dementia, is confessing a murder to him when he visits. He starts investigating and convinces himself his dad is a closet serial killer when his dad starts describing more murders to him. He ends up becoming the worst kind of monster in his pursuit to learn the truth about his dad. Fun, gruesome stuff.
I was sadly unimpressed with Vanora Bennett's "The Queen's Lover". Catherine, Princess of France, marries King Henry V of England, who dies not long after their little son Henry is born, leaving an infant as King of England and thus a power struggle for control of the throne ensues. It was just dull and the characters, even though they are drawn from some interesting people in British history, were lifeless.

Four to Score; A Little House Primer; Dracula, My Love; Murders of Richard III; Eye of the Crow; Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; Catherine of Aragon; What the Night Knows

A couple of rereads rounded out the year of 2010, "Four to Score" by Janet Evanovich and "A Little House Primer" by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane. Both were good in different ways. Evanovich is of course fun, that's one of my favorite Stephanie Plum books, with the introduction of Sally Sweet and Stephanie and Joe finally getting together. The Little House book is a collection of short articles and stories written by Laura and Rose.
"Dracula, My Love" by Syrie James was a nicely done retelling of Bram Stoker's classic from Mina Harker's point of view. I really enjoyed how well she stayed true to the original story while fleshing out the characters in a way Stoker would never have imagined.
And the last book of 2010, bringing my yearly count to 165, was "The Murders of Richard III" by Elizabeth Peters. I've never read any of her mysteries, but I've wanted to. This one was good, and sort of reminded me of an Agatha Christie type of plot: a group dedicated to restoring Richard III's good name meets for a weekend long house party full of discussions and authentic costumes. One by one the guests start being attacked, not killed but just attacked, in the same order as King Richard's supposed victims. And best of all--a librarian figures the whole thing out! Yay librarians!!
"Eye of the Crow" is a children's mystery by Shane Peacock about the young Sherlock Holmes that my friend Shelly wrote about and I thought it sounded really interesting. I thought Peacock did an excellent job of keeping the character of the famous sleuth and the story was very complex, I really can't imagine a child younger than 12 understanding or enjoying it very much. It put me in the mood for some more Holmes, so I turned to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and reread "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", which contains some of my favorite Holmes stories, like the Speckled Band and the Red Headed League.
Giles Tremlett's new biography on Catherine of Aragon was brilliant and shining and showed just how courageous and brave Queen Catherine was. He sort of made me feel sorry for King Henry for being such a dunce as to just throw away such an amazing woman, proving that men were just as stupid 500 years ago as they are now :)
And finally, "What the Night Knows", Dean Koontz's latest. I really enjoyed this one, it seemed to recall Koontz of his old, golden days, when he wrote books like "Watchers" and "The Bad Place". It was a ghost story featuring a lovely, perfect family who is haunted by the specter brought by their father's guilt for his family's murder when he was 14. The ending was sort of a letdown, and if it had been a Stephen King book at least one of the three perfect kids would have died, but it's Dean Koontz so everyone lived happily ever after, but the ending didn't spoil the rest of the story.

Virgin Queen's Daughter; Little House on the Prairie rereads; Kings of the Earth

"The Virgin Queen's Daughter" by Ella March Chase was a very good fictionalized account of Queen Elizabeth's daughter, Elinor de Lacy. Elinor's nurse, Eppie, was called to the young Princess's bedside and delivered her of a daughter she then whisked away and gave to her mistress to raise as her own. Elinor grows up having no idea who she really is, until she defiantly goes against her mother's wishes and joins Elizabeth's court. Once she gets there she realizes how dangerous court is, and when Eppie seeks her out to tell her the truth of her birth it's more dangerous still. It was good but not amazing and it was historically accurate enough to suit me.
Over the last two weeks I've been rereading some old favorites. I usually want to reread in December and January, and while sometimes I can stop myself this year I just went with it. I reread two of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books, "Little Town on the Prairie" and "These Happy Golden Years". Then I reread Roger Lea MacBride's Rose years: "Little House on Rocky Ridge", "Little Farm in the Ozarks", "In the Land of the Big Red Apple", "On the Other Side of the Hill", "Little Town in the Ozarks", "New Dawn on Rocky Ridge", "On the Banks of the Bayou", and "Bachelor Girl". I wish the publishers would have continued with the Martha and Charlotte years. I enjoyed Rose and Caroline so much. Oh well.
And finally, a fantastic, highly recommended novel by Jon Clinch, author of "Finn", called "Kings of the Earth". It was like a mix of my favorite episode of the "X-Files", "Home", and one of my favorite Faulkner novels, "As I Lay Dying". It told the story of the Proctor brothers, growing up poor and backward and seemingly out of touch with modern era on their dairy farm. When the oldest dies in his sleep the youngest is accused of murdering him, and a whole host of ugly secrets comes out. It was beautifully written and very good. Now I feel like watching "Home" again :)

Secret of Chanel No. 5; Thirsty; Fat Vampire; The Help; True Meaning of Smekday; Before I Fall; American Vampire Vol. 1

I have read a lot of great nonfiction and fiction titles over the last week.
First up was "The Secret of Chanel. No. 5" by Tilar J. Mazzio. This was an interesting biography not really about Coco Chanel but the perfume she created, the number one bestselling perfume for the last 90 years. It was a bit redundant at times, but it was short and a quick read.
"Thirsty" by M.T. Anderson was a witty, dry humor filled YA book about a boy named Chris who is turning into a vampire. He is approached by an odd stranger named Chet, who says he can help change Chris back to human if Chris will help him destroy the vampire god. Chris agrees, but it turns out Chet was just using him. The story was well written and while I normally don't like open endings (I think the authors are being lazy--just tell me what happened, for crying out loud!) in this case it fit.
"Fat Vampire" by Adam Rex was a bit of a disappointment. My two coworkers who also read it had the same complaints I did. It started off great: it was funny and cute, about a teen named Doug who has recently been made a vampire and he's trying to figure out how to cope with it and not kill anybody. He and his buddy Jay are accidentally captured sneaking into the San Diego Zoo while at the Comic Con convention, and a cheesy cable TV show called "Vampire Hunters" is soon on their trail, trying to capture them. Somewhere along the way it stopped being funny and just drug to a sad, predictable ending.
"The Help" by Kahtyrn Stockett was one of those books I could not put down, and spent the whole day reading. It was worth it. Told in three different distinct voices, the story is set in 1960s Jackson, Mississippi. A recent college graduate nicknamed Skeeter is determined to interview a group of maids and write their story, in their words, about what it's like to be African American (only they didn't call it that back then, it was "colored") in that part of the South and wait on white people. It was moving and beautiful without being sticky sweet and sentimental. It reminded me of Michael Cunningham's "The Hours".
"The True Meaning of Smekday" by Adam Rex was much better than "Fat Vampire". In the not so distant future, a young girl named Gratuity Tucci watches her mother get abducted by aliens. The next day the aliens, named Boov, take over Earth and start moving all humans to Florida. Gratuity starts out, driving her mom's car, with her cat Pig, and along the way meets a Boov named J. Lo who helps her out. When an evil race of aliens named Gorg land on Earth, determined to take it away from the Boov, it is up to Gratuity and J. Lo (and Pig, who plays a pivotal role) to save Earth, or Smekland, as it's been renamed. It was really cute and kind of clever.
"Before I Fall" by Lauren Oliver was absolutely shiningly brilliant. It was powerful and moving and touching and makes me catch my breath just to talk about it. Samantha Kingston is an ordinary high school senior: she's popular, and has great friends, and a gorgeous boyfriend. After she dies, she wakes up the next morning and lives her last day over again. At first she doesn't understand what's going on, but gradually it becomes clear: she is being given the chance to right the wrongs, the little mistakes she made that she didn't realize would have such powerful consequences. It was amazing. Too bad it's classified as YA because I think a lot of adults should read it, too.
And finally, a fun graphic novel to round out the bunch (thanks to Allen for lending me his copy!). Scott Snyder and Stephen King teamed up for "American Vampire, Vol. 1". It tells the intertwining stories of Pearl Jones, an aspiring actress in the 1920s, and Skinner Sweet, a no good outlaw in the 1880s, along the likes of Billy the Kid. What do they have in common? They're both vampires, and they're not the kind of vampires to follow the ancient European rules. The artwork was stunning, the storyline was fantastic, the characters are great (Skinner Sweet's grin is so twisted and evil--I love it) and I can't wait for Volume 2.

War for Late Night; Born to Run; Stolen Away; The Phone Book; Don't Vote it Just Encourages the Bastards

Back in the early 90s Bill Carter wrote a book about how NBC screwed up by giving the "Tonight Show" to Jay Leno rather than the obvious heir apparent, David Letterman, called "The Late Shift". I read that book many years ago and loved it, being a big Letterman fan, I felt he got screwed. So did Conan O'Brien, and Carter's back with "The War for Late Night", about how NBC screwed up AGAIN.
A little backstory here: the first late night program I watched was Johnny Carson's final episode of the "Tonight Show" when I was 14. My dad was a big Carson fan, and told me I should stay up and watch history being made, so I did. I remember asking my dad why he was retiring. I liked Carson, he seemed witty and funny and a genuinely nice guy, the kind of guy I wouldn't mind staying up until 11:35 to watch. Dad said he'd been doing it for 30 years and was tired. I could understand that.
My sister and I were probably the only two people in the world who refused to miss "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" when it debuted. We *loved* Conan. We recorded every show (I'm sure my sis still has those VHS tapes somewhere...). I thought everyone loved Conan, and it kind of surprised me when I was discussing this book with my dad last week and he said how glad he was Leno was back because he never found Conan funny. That surprised me, since I always thought my dad had a fairly decent sense of humor. Oh, well, I guess Leno really is a generational thing. I never liked him and when NBC gave Letterman the shaft I followed him to CBS. I haven't watched late night in a dozen years, since I got a real job and was expected to show up early in the mornings :)
The point of all this rambling? Well, Carter does a beautiful job showing how the evil villain in this whole late night mess (and it *is* a mess) is NBC and their greed. They snatched the "Tonight Show" away from Leno before he was ready to give it up just because they thought they were going to lose Conan to a rival network and they realized just how brilliant and funny Conan was and didn't want to lose him. Boy they made a mess out of the whole deal. I feel bad for Conan, but if I'm ever up until 11 o' clock at night (which I very, very rarely am) I'll tune into Letterman.
Climbing off my soapbox now..."Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall was a fascinating look into long distance runners and what motivates them as well as if it's better for you to run barefoot. I like running, although I'm not terribly good at it (my aforementioned sister has convinced me to run in the OC half-marathon this next May. We'll see how that turns out!). These people who run 100 miles in one stretch have such an enviable passion for it. It was a great read.
"Stolen Away" by Max Allan Collins is a fictionalized account of the Lindbergh kidnapping, one of my true crime favorites, up there with Lizzie Borden. I try to read everything I can get my hands on about both subjects. Collins puts forth a very plausible account of how the kidnapping could have gone down, with Al Capone masterminding the whole thing from behind bars in an attempt to get out of prison. I never thought Hauptmann, who was electrocuted for the crime, was guilty, so I liked Collin's premise. It makes me want to reread Scaduto's brilliant "Scapegoat", which is sitting on my bookshelf, beckoning me :)
Ammon Shea wrote the dry and witty history of the phone book in "The Phone Book: the book everyone uses but no one reads". It was one of those books that, when you're done reading it, you go "I could have written that!". I liked it, though, it was short and quick but reminded me that I'm not the only weirdo out there who looks at things like phone books as a trip down memory lane.
And finally, humorist P.J. O'Rourke's look at what's wrong with American politics "Don't Vote it Just Encourages the Bastards". It was funny, but not as funny as I was expecting, based on his previous works I'd read. I enjoyed it, though, and he makes a lot of great points.