I wasn't too impressed with "Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. It's a rather melodramatic Gothic YA romance set in the deep South. Ethan is smitten with the new girl in town, Lena, who is living with her uncle Mason, the town recluse. Lena is a Castor--a witch, basically. In Lena's family, everyone is Claimed at the age of 16 by either the Dark or the Light. Lena has always been told she's had no choice in which side claims her, and she's terrified of going Dark like her cousin Ridley did the year before. The kids at school are giving her a hard time because they realize she's different, even though they don't realize just how different. When her sixteenth birthday comes, Lena discovers she does actually have some sort of choice in the matter: if she chooses Light, her beloved uncle Mason will die and she won't be able to have a future with Ethan, because Castors and Mortals can't be together. If she chooses Dark, however, she can be with Ethan, although she probably won't want to. Before she can choose, however, the moon disappears. No moon, no claiming. Lena has another year to decide what to do. I'll probably get around to reading the rest of the series, but I'm not clamoring for it.
"Blackberry Winter" by Sarah Jio was pretty good, if a bit unrealistic. Claire is still mourning the loss of her newborn the previous year, and her marriage to wealthy newspaper magnate Ethan is deteriorating. Claire turns to her journalism to help heal the pain, and decides to write a story about a young boy named Daniel Ray who disappeared from Seattle 80 years earlier during a freak spring snowstorm. Claire's story is interwoven with Vera Ray's, young Daniel's distraught mother. It was sad, and totally improvable, but it had a nice, sweet ending.
"The Searchers" by Glenn Frankel was really great, I was impressed by how much I enjoyed it. Frankel starts out by telling the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, who was kidnapped by Comanches when she was nine years old. Her surviving male relatives search for her, but have to give up after awhile. Twenty-four years later, Texas Rangers "rescued" Cynthia Ann from the band of Comanches she was living with and returned her to her white relatives. Heartbroken over the loss of her family and wanting desperately to go back to her Comanche husband and sons, Cynthia died not long afterwards. Frankel then moves on to tell the story of her surviving son, Quanah Parker, who became a famous Indian chief. After Quanah's death in 1911, Frankel moves to the story of Alan LeMay, a novelist who wrote a book based on Cynthia Ann's experience called "The Searchers". John Ford turned it into a famous Western starring John Wayne. Frankel finishes up the book by talking about Quanah's descendants, who still honor him with a festival every year. It was very nicely done and quite fascinating.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
I Hunt Killers; I, Rhoda; Unsinkable; Stranger Here; Game
So, a crop of YA fiction and biographies. Yay!
"I Hunt Killers" by Barry Lyga was a recommendation from a coworker. I went after work last Saturday to B&N, bought it, and spent all morning Sunday unable to put it down. It was terrific, and I can't believe it's classified as YA. It was definitely gross and creepy! Jazz's father is a notorious serial killer named Billy Dent. Billy's in prison, and the entire town avoids Jazz, except for his friend Howie and his girlfriend Connie. The small town of Lobo's Nod is once again rocked by a series of murders, and everyone is looking at Jazz. It doesn't take him long to discover that the new killer is copying his dear old dad. It was great: suspenseful and taunt and had a great, satisfying ending.
I'm not a big fan of Valerie Harper or anything, but I wanted to read her memoir "I, Rhoda", mostly to see what she had to say about the whole Hogan's Family debacle. Not much, as it turns out. The rest of her story is interesting, and probably would have been more so if I'd watched the Mary Tyler Moore Show or Rhoda.
"Unsinkable" by Debbie Reynolds was really heartbreaking. This poor lady has been through so much, and yet she keeps on going. Her first husband left her for Elizabeth Taylor, her second husband gambled through his fortune and then hers, leaving her millions in debt she had to work her butt off to pay for, and then her third husband turned out to be a lying cheat would stole even more of her money. After spending nearly 50 years collecting Hollywood memorabilia like Marilyn Monroe's subway dress from "The Seven Year Itch" and trying to find someone to sponsor a museum and failing, Debbie was finally forced to sell most of her treasures off in order to pay her debts. She was incredibly upbeat and optimistic about the whole thing, which is incredible.
I'm ambivalent about "Stranger Here" by Jen Larsen. At over 300 pounds, she decides to have weight loss surgery, hoping it will magically change her destructive eating habits. Of course it doesn't, and she makes herself sick time and time again by eating more than her new smaller stomach can handle, or eating all the wrong things. But she does lose the weight, and realizes that while it's easier to be skinny than to be fat, being skinny doesn't automatically make you happy like she assumed it would.
And the sequel to "I Hunt Killers", "Game" by Barry Lyga was incredible. The NYPD asks Jazz to come lend his unique insight into their manhunt for a killer they've named Hat Dog, because he either carves a hat or a dog into his victims. Billy is still on the loose, so Jazz is keeping an eye out for him as well. It turns out there are actually two killers, Hat and Dog, playing a sick, twisted game of Monopoly orchestrated by none other than Billy Dent himself, who is rolling the dice and calling the shots. The ending is a huge cliffhanger, so I hope to god Barry Lyga is busy putting the finishing touches on the next book and getting ready to publish it. Like, yesterday. Please hurry! :)
"I Hunt Killers" by Barry Lyga was a recommendation from a coworker. I went after work last Saturday to B&N, bought it, and spent all morning Sunday unable to put it down. It was terrific, and I can't believe it's classified as YA. It was definitely gross and creepy! Jazz's father is a notorious serial killer named Billy Dent. Billy's in prison, and the entire town avoids Jazz, except for his friend Howie and his girlfriend Connie. The small town of Lobo's Nod is once again rocked by a series of murders, and everyone is looking at Jazz. It doesn't take him long to discover that the new killer is copying his dear old dad. It was great: suspenseful and taunt and had a great, satisfying ending.
I'm not a big fan of Valerie Harper or anything, but I wanted to read her memoir "I, Rhoda", mostly to see what she had to say about the whole Hogan's Family debacle. Not much, as it turns out. The rest of her story is interesting, and probably would have been more so if I'd watched the Mary Tyler Moore Show or Rhoda.
"Unsinkable" by Debbie Reynolds was really heartbreaking. This poor lady has been through so much, and yet she keeps on going. Her first husband left her for Elizabeth Taylor, her second husband gambled through his fortune and then hers, leaving her millions in debt she had to work her butt off to pay for, and then her third husband turned out to be a lying cheat would stole even more of her money. After spending nearly 50 years collecting Hollywood memorabilia like Marilyn Monroe's subway dress from "The Seven Year Itch" and trying to find someone to sponsor a museum and failing, Debbie was finally forced to sell most of her treasures off in order to pay her debts. She was incredibly upbeat and optimistic about the whole thing, which is incredible.
I'm ambivalent about "Stranger Here" by Jen Larsen. At over 300 pounds, she decides to have weight loss surgery, hoping it will magically change her destructive eating habits. Of course it doesn't, and she makes herself sick time and time again by eating more than her new smaller stomach can handle, or eating all the wrong things. But she does lose the weight, and realizes that while it's easier to be skinny than to be fat, being skinny doesn't automatically make you happy like she assumed it would.
And the sequel to "I Hunt Killers", "Game" by Barry Lyga was incredible. The NYPD asks Jazz to come lend his unique insight into their manhunt for a killer they've named Hat Dog, because he either carves a hat or a dog into his victims. Billy is still on the loose, so Jazz is keeping an eye out for him as well. It turns out there are actually two killers, Hat and Dog, playing a sick, twisted game of Monopoly orchestrated by none other than Billy Dent himself, who is rolling the dice and calling the shots. The ending is a huge cliffhanger, so I hope to god Barry Lyga is busy putting the finishing touches on the next book and getting ready to publish it. Like, yesterday. Please hurry! :)
Sunday, April 14, 2013
I Am Mary Tudor; Kind One; How Literature Saved My Life; Pitch Perfect
"I am Mary Tudor" by Hilda Lewis was a good fictional account of Mary up until she became Queen. The heartbreak of her early years, how her evil father tossed her sainted mother aside, how she struggled just to survive and maintain her dignity. Poor Mary. I always feel so sorry for her, even if she handled the whole Protestant thing pretty badly. She just wanted to be loved and wanted by her father, wanted a husband and kids. I can totally relate.
"Kind One" by Laird Hunt was a nominee for this year's PEN/Faulkner award. It was pretty good, about a young girl, Ginny, who is tricked into marrying Linus Lancaster with promises of a mansion in paradise. Turns out he just has a cabin and a farm and a bunch of slaves he mistreats and soon Ginny is mistreating them as well. When Cleome and Zinnia reach the end of their rope and kill Linus one day and take Ginny hostage, no one is really surprised. Or blames them. It was very sad.
"How Literature Saved My Life" by David Shields was rambling and a bit hard to read. It was one of those books that makes me feel as if I'm not quite smart enough to understand it (and I'm probably not). Not a big fan of feeling like I'm being left out of an inside joke.
"Pitch Perfect" by Mickey Rapkin was really fun. My sister and I watched the movie based off the book a few weeks ago, and when I found out there was a book of course I had to read it! I really enjoyed it. Who knew collegiate a Capella was so competitive and cutthroat? Wow, these kids take this *seriously*. Rapkin's book was witty and read like a novel.
"Kind One" by Laird Hunt was a nominee for this year's PEN/Faulkner award. It was pretty good, about a young girl, Ginny, who is tricked into marrying Linus Lancaster with promises of a mansion in paradise. Turns out he just has a cabin and a farm and a bunch of slaves he mistreats and soon Ginny is mistreating them as well. When Cleome and Zinnia reach the end of their rope and kill Linus one day and take Ginny hostage, no one is really surprised. Or blames them. It was very sad.
"How Literature Saved My Life" by David Shields was rambling and a bit hard to read. It was one of those books that makes me feel as if I'm not quite smart enough to understand it (and I'm probably not). Not a big fan of feeling like I'm being left out of an inside joke.
"Pitch Perfect" by Mickey Rapkin was really fun. My sister and I watched the movie based off the book a few weeks ago, and when I found out there was a book of course I had to read it! I really enjoyed it. Who knew collegiate a Capella was so competitive and cutthroat? Wow, these kids take this *seriously*. Rapkin's book was witty and read like a novel.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Everything Begins & Ends at the Kentucky Club; Blood Sisters
Benjamin Alire Saenz won the PEN/Faulkner award for fiction this year with his collection of haunting short stories: "Everything Begins & Ends at the Kentucky Club". Saenz uses this fictional bar in Juarez, Mexico as a catalyst for his stories about life, love, loss, and hope. I am normally not a big short story fan but these were exceptionally good.
"Blood Sisters" by Sarah Gristwood was full of interesting if not terribly new information for me about the women behind the Cousin's War, or the War of the Roses. Elizabeth Woodville, her daughter, Elizabeth of York, Margaret of Anjou, Margaret of Burgandy, Margaret Beaufort, Anne Neville: Gristwood showed how they worked behind the scenes of history to influence the men in their lives.
"Blood Sisters" by Sarah Gristwood was full of interesting if not terribly new information for me about the women behind the Cousin's War, or the War of the Roses. Elizabeth Woodville, her daughter, Elizabeth of York, Margaret of Anjou, Margaret of Burgandy, Margaret Beaufort, Anne Neville: Gristwood showed how they worked behind the scenes of history to influence the men in their lives.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Richard the Third
So I finally got around to reading Paul Murray Kendall's biography "Richard the Third". I've had it on my to read list for a long time. It was pretty hard slogging through it. It's very academic and dry, but it really was very good and I'm glad I stuck with it. He points out all the myths that came about during the Tudor reign and documents all the good that Richard did in his short time on the throne, coupled with what his contemporaries said about him at the time.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Hour of Peril; After Visiting Friends; As I Lay Dying; Cross My Heart, Hope to Die; Eleanor and Park; The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen
I really wanted to like "Hour of Peril" by Daniel Staphower. It seemed like an interesting subject, about how Allan Pinkerton thwarted a conspiracy to kill President Elect Lincoln in Baltimore on his way to Washington D.C. for the inauguration. But it just didn't hold my attention and I honestly couldn't get into it. I should have stopped reading it, because it was just a waste of time, but I really wanted it to get better.
"After Visiting Friends" by Michael Hainey was really good. When Michael was six, his uncle came to their house one morning to tell him that his dad was dead. As Michael got older, he asked what happened, but his mother wouldn't talk about it. Following in his dad's footsteps, Michael became a journalist and set about investigating his dad's death. The obituaries gave him his first clue: one paper said he died in the street after "visiting friends". Michael couldn't remember anyone who lived in that neighborhood, and most of the people who would know were long dead or, like his mother, refused to talk about it. Michael finally gets to the truth and realizes that it doesn't really matter, after all.
I was really trying not to reread any old books this year, but a friend of mine at work read "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner for the first time and so we were talking about it and next thing I knew I was pulling one of my copies off my shelf to read again. I hadn't read it in a long time, so I was glad I did. It really is very funny. Now I am totally in the mood to reread the Snopes trilogy. Sigh.
"Cross My Heart, Hope to Die" by Sara Shepard is the fifth Lying Games book. Emma thinks her crazy birth mother Becky might have been responsible for Sutton's death, but eventually she is cleared. Now it looks like Emma's boyfriend, Ethan, might be a good suspect. He's definitely hiding something.
"Eleanor and Park" by Rainbow Rowell was absolutely beautiful. It's a YA book set in 1986. Park is half-Korean and Eleanor is pudgy with flaming red hair. She's so poor she shares a room with three brothers and sisters and her stepdad beats her mom. Forced to share a seat on the bus to school, eventually Park and Eleanor come to realize how much they like each other. It was a lovely portrait of first time love, especially the part about the hours long phone calls where you don't really talk about anything but you somehow talk about everything? Oh, I remember those :)
And finally, a children's book called "The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen" by Susin Nielsen. It was really powerful. Henry's therapist wants him to keep a journal to help him deal with his anger and sadness about his older brother, Jesse. Jesse spent years being bullied by a boy named Scott. Jesse finally can't take it anymore, gets his dad's hunting rifle, goes to school and kills Scott and then himself. Henry's mother has a nervous breakdown and is in a mental hospital. Henry and his dad move to Vancouver to try to rebuild their lives. While the subject matter was really heavy, it was told with such honesty and humor that it wasn't overwhelming.
"After Visiting Friends" by Michael Hainey was really good. When Michael was six, his uncle came to their house one morning to tell him that his dad was dead. As Michael got older, he asked what happened, but his mother wouldn't talk about it. Following in his dad's footsteps, Michael became a journalist and set about investigating his dad's death. The obituaries gave him his first clue: one paper said he died in the street after "visiting friends". Michael couldn't remember anyone who lived in that neighborhood, and most of the people who would know were long dead or, like his mother, refused to talk about it. Michael finally gets to the truth and realizes that it doesn't really matter, after all.
I was really trying not to reread any old books this year, but a friend of mine at work read "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner for the first time and so we were talking about it and next thing I knew I was pulling one of my copies off my shelf to read again. I hadn't read it in a long time, so I was glad I did. It really is very funny. Now I am totally in the mood to reread the Snopes trilogy. Sigh.
"Cross My Heart, Hope to Die" by Sara Shepard is the fifth Lying Games book. Emma thinks her crazy birth mother Becky might have been responsible for Sutton's death, but eventually she is cleared. Now it looks like Emma's boyfriend, Ethan, might be a good suspect. He's definitely hiding something.
"Eleanor and Park" by Rainbow Rowell was absolutely beautiful. It's a YA book set in 1986. Park is half-Korean and Eleanor is pudgy with flaming red hair. She's so poor she shares a room with three brothers and sisters and her stepdad beats her mom. Forced to share a seat on the bus to school, eventually Park and Eleanor come to realize how much they like each other. It was a lovely portrait of first time love, especially the part about the hours long phone calls where you don't really talk about anything but you somehow talk about everything? Oh, I remember those :)
And finally, a children's book called "The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen" by Susin Nielsen. It was really powerful. Henry's therapist wants him to keep a journal to help him deal with his anger and sadness about his older brother, Jesse. Jesse spent years being bullied by a boy named Scott. Jesse finally can't take it anymore, gets his dad's hunting rifle, goes to school and kills Scott and then himself. Henry's mother has a nervous breakdown and is in a mental hospital. Henry and his dad move to Vancouver to try to rebuild their lives. While the subject matter was really heavy, it was told with such honesty and humor that it wasn't overwhelming.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker; Dance with Dragons; Here I Go Again; Hit Me; Fables: Cubs in Toyland; In the Valley of Kings; Insane City
"Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker" by Jennifer Chiaverini reminded me of Elizabeth Keckley herself: understated and dignified. I read Elizabeth Keckley's autobiography some years ago, and this book was basically a fictionalized account of that. Elizabeth Keckley was Mary Lincoln's dressmaker and confidante when President Lincoln was in the White House. She was criticized after publishing her book for exposing Mary's secrets, but I think her intentions were good. It was a nice, simple book.
"Dance with Dragons" by George R.R. Martin is the fifth and for the moment last Song of Ice and Fire series. I enjoyed it immensely. We find Dany marrying to bring peace to Mereen, but it backfires spectacularly. Her new husband is actually trying to kill her, but she escapes on the back of her dragon, Drogon. The Dornish prince who came to marry her arrives too late and is killed when he is trying to capture her other two dragons, accidentally setting them free. Tyrion is okay! He was sold into slavery but his master dies and he sells himself into a sell-sword company. Arya's okay, too, she has regained her sight and is practicing to become a face-changer Cersei was released from prison and suffers a delicious humiliation (ha! Take that!), but she could be executed if her trial goes badly. Varys, the Spider, killed both the Grand Maester and Ser Kevan Lannister, the King's Hand. It turns out Prince Aegon is still alive, Robert Baratheon killed a peasant baby, not knowing the Prince had been spirited away by friends of the Targaryen family. Prince Aegon is all grown up now and ready to claim his rightful throne. The totally evil Ramsay Bolton has captured Winterfell and last we saw of Jon he was raising an army at the Wall to go and deal with him. Exciting!!
"Here I Go Again" by Jen Lancaster was great fun, I really enjoyed it. Lissy Ryder was *that* girl in high school, the most popular, prettiest, thinnest, etc. Twenty years later she's broke, getting divorced, out of work and living with her parents. She goes to her high school reunion, hoping to reclaim some of her former glory. Instead her old classmates are all wealthy and successful and gang up on her. She gets drunk and wakes up at Deva's home. Deva is a girl she made fun of (like all the other girls in high school who weren't in her clique) for being New Age-y. Deva gives her a healing potion to drink that takes Lissy back in time to high school. She spends two weeks trying to correct her past mistakes. She's nice to everyone and even stops one of her good friends from picking on a girl. When she wakes up she's back in the future, and her life is perfect: she's wealthy, successful, happily married. Unfortunately, when she goes to her reunion it turns out that all her classmates lives have been affected in a negative way. Seems like they used her teasing them in high school as motivation to go out and achieve great things. So Lissy has a horrible decision to make. Should she leave things the way they are and live out her perfect life, or should she go back in time once again and be obnoxious again so everyone else will turn out better? It had a great ending, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
"Hit Me" by Lawrence Block is a Keller the Hit Man book. I thought, after the last one, when Keller got married and started rehabbing houses in New Orleans, that that would be the end of the Keller books, but now the economy has tanked and Keller has no rehab work. So he starts taking calls from Dot again, and setting up jobs. Very good fun.
"Fables: Cubs in Toyland" by Bill Willingham is the 18th Fables book. Jealous of her sister Winter, who is picked to be the next North Wind, spoiled Therese is looking for an adventure. When her toy boat starts talking to her, it convinces her to go on a trip and she does. The boat takes her to Toyland: a faraway land where discarded toys go. Everything in Toyland is broken and beat up. The toys make Therese their queen, but she's not happy because there's no food, and she's starving to death. Her brother, Darien, follows her and ends up sacrificing himself to save her.
"In the Valley of Kings" by Daniel Meyerson is the story of how Howard Carter with Lord Carnarvon found King Tut's tomb after searching for 16 years. It was interesting, but Meyerson kind of assumes you know something about Egypt and excavation, which sadly, I don't. I should, but I don't. Still, it was a good start.
And finally, Dave Barry's latest "Insane City". It wasn't nearly as funny as I'd hoped it would be. Normally Dave has me laughing out loud hysterically, but not this time. Seth is marrying the beautiful Tina, daughter of a billionaire, in Key Biscayne Tina is in full bridezilla mode, and of course every crazy thing that could go wrong the weekend of the wedding does. Eh. It's kind of like Janet Evanovich and the Stephanie Plum books: there are only so many times you can blow up the car before it's really not funny anymore.
"Dance with Dragons" by George R.R. Martin is the fifth and for the moment last Song of Ice and Fire series. I enjoyed it immensely. We find Dany marrying to bring peace to Mereen, but it backfires spectacularly. Her new husband is actually trying to kill her, but she escapes on the back of her dragon, Drogon. The Dornish prince who came to marry her arrives too late and is killed when he is trying to capture her other two dragons, accidentally setting them free. Tyrion is okay! He was sold into slavery but his master dies and he sells himself into a sell-sword company. Arya's okay, too, she has regained her sight and is practicing to become a face-changer Cersei was released from prison and suffers a delicious humiliation (ha! Take that!), but she could be executed if her trial goes badly. Varys, the Spider, killed both the Grand Maester and Ser Kevan Lannister, the King's Hand. It turns out Prince Aegon is still alive, Robert Baratheon killed a peasant baby, not knowing the Prince had been spirited away by friends of the Targaryen family. Prince Aegon is all grown up now and ready to claim his rightful throne. The totally evil Ramsay Bolton has captured Winterfell and last we saw of Jon he was raising an army at the Wall to go and deal with him. Exciting!!
"Here I Go Again" by Jen Lancaster was great fun, I really enjoyed it. Lissy Ryder was *that* girl in high school, the most popular, prettiest, thinnest, etc. Twenty years later she's broke, getting divorced, out of work and living with her parents. She goes to her high school reunion, hoping to reclaim some of her former glory. Instead her old classmates are all wealthy and successful and gang up on her. She gets drunk and wakes up at Deva's home. Deva is a girl she made fun of (like all the other girls in high school who weren't in her clique) for being New Age-y. Deva gives her a healing potion to drink that takes Lissy back in time to high school. She spends two weeks trying to correct her past mistakes. She's nice to everyone and even stops one of her good friends from picking on a girl. When she wakes up she's back in the future, and her life is perfect: she's wealthy, successful, happily married. Unfortunately, when she goes to her reunion it turns out that all her classmates lives have been affected in a negative way. Seems like they used her teasing them in high school as motivation to go out and achieve great things. So Lissy has a horrible decision to make. Should she leave things the way they are and live out her perfect life, or should she go back in time once again and be obnoxious again so everyone else will turn out better? It had a great ending, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
"Hit Me" by Lawrence Block is a Keller the Hit Man book. I thought, after the last one, when Keller got married and started rehabbing houses in New Orleans, that that would be the end of the Keller books, but now the economy has tanked and Keller has no rehab work. So he starts taking calls from Dot again, and setting up jobs. Very good fun.
"Fables: Cubs in Toyland" by Bill Willingham is the 18th Fables book. Jealous of her sister Winter, who is picked to be the next North Wind, spoiled Therese is looking for an adventure. When her toy boat starts talking to her, it convinces her to go on a trip and she does. The boat takes her to Toyland: a faraway land where discarded toys go. Everything in Toyland is broken and beat up. The toys make Therese their queen, but she's not happy because there's no food, and she's starving to death. Her brother, Darien, follows her and ends up sacrificing himself to save her.
"In the Valley of Kings" by Daniel Meyerson is the story of how Howard Carter with Lord Carnarvon found King Tut's tomb after searching for 16 years. It was interesting, but Meyerson kind of assumes you know something about Egypt and excavation, which sadly, I don't. I should, but I don't. Still, it was a good start.
And finally, Dave Barry's latest "Insane City". It wasn't nearly as funny as I'd hoped it would be. Normally Dave has me laughing out loud hysterically, but not this time. Seth is marrying the beautiful Tina, daughter of a billionaire, in Key Biscayne Tina is in full bridezilla mode, and of course every crazy thing that could go wrong the weekend of the wedding does. Eh. It's kind of like Janet Evanovich and the Stephanie Plum books: there are only so many times you can blow up the car before it's really not funny anymore.
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