Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Oh my oh my oh my! A new favorite author! I don’t remember who recommended this one to me but good job! This book is a good, fun read. So very engrossing that I almost missed my stop on the MAX the other day I was so involved in this book. It’s fun not Deep Literature but it is a very good story with a great main character and just enough magic to make it all work beautifully. The party line is....
Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers. For the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things - and most of them don’t play well with humans. That’s were Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a - well, whatever.
There’s just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry’s seeing dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get...Interesting.
Basically, take your typical Chicago private eye. Low on cash, wiley and street smart, with an eye for the ladies and a quick buck or two. Now, make him a wizard. Oh what fun this book it. Laugh out loud fun. It had demons and vampires and a White Council and love potions, and sexy reporters and tough cops. This is a book I enjoyed from cover to cover. I’m off to pick up the next in the series. Try it. You won’t regret it.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
This book surprised me. This book woke up my brain and shook around my ideas of faith, friendship, and destiny. This book rocked.
I was surprised because I haven’t had much luck with John Irving before. I vaguely remember trying to read the World According to Garp and being bored enough to put it aside unfinished. I saw Cider House Rules and really didn’t like it at all. It seem choppy and ill-fitted somehow. (This could be just because it was cut and adapted to the big screen.) So it was with the smallest amount of enthusiasm that I picked up A Prayer for Owen Meany which was on my reading group’s list.
But by the end of the first chapter, I was riveted. Here’s just the opening sentences....
I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice - not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother’s death, but because he is the reason I believed in God. I am a Christian because of Owen Meany.
Now tell me if this one sentence isn’t fascinating.
“I am doomed to remember...” makes one think the narrator, John, regrets knowing Owen Meany. Doomed is usually a negative thing. You are doomed to die, you are doomed to fail, you are doomed to regret. So to be doomed to remember sounds ominous. Not so. John’s whole life revolves around remembering his best friend in life, Owen Meany. His relationship with Owen is so important, it dwarfs everything that comes after - dooms it in the sense that he is unable to escape his memories which will haunt him for the rest of his life.
This one sentence sums up the most interesting aspects of Owen Meany. His voice and his size will strike you first. Both, however, are necessary as you will see. However that is not all that Johnny is doomed to remember. Lastly, but probably most importantly, Johnny is doomed to remember Owen Meany is an instrument. He doesn’t say he remembers Owen Meany because he killed his mother - he says that Owen was merely the instrument that caused her death- which implies someone or something had to weald that instrument. And Owen is the instrument of so may things in this novel. He is the instrument of numerous deaths, of conversions of faith, of life.
And John believes in God because of Owen Meany. He is a Christian because of Owen Meany. Doesn’t this strike you as odd? I mean, wouldn’t most Christians say, “I am a Christian because I believe in the life of Christ”? But not John. Oh no, John is Christian because he witnessed and participated in the life of Owen Meany. Through Owen Meany, Johnny found God.
And there is so much in the book about faith. What is it, how do you attain it, what is it worth. One message that is repeated over and over is that doubt is better than faith based on false assumptions. It’s better to question the truth than the rely upon a lie.
This book....this book I will have to read again very slowly. I will need a copy with wide margins for my notes and thoughts. There is too much I missed this first time through in my haste to finish it and to understand it. I just barely have my arms around this books. Arms. There’s another strange symbol from the book...
But don’t get me started on arms here. Just read this book. At least read the first chapter. If you aren’t completely sucked in then resell it and try something new. But if it grabs you, call me. I have so many thoughts on this one. I’d love your opinion too.
Water Carry Me by Thomas Moran
This book is currently under discussion in my reading group. It’s a beautiful book about a young woman who falls in love. Of course, there is more to it than that but the best bits of this book are really a very sad love story. The party line is....
Una Moss, the gangly innocent who narrates Thomas Moran’s Water, Carry Me, is a fool for love. Although she shows a brashly confident face to the boys she meets in classrooms and pubs, she is in fact a sitting duck for the first sure-shooting romantic to come her way. Una, who is now a medical student in Ireland, was orphaned as a little girl and raised in a small fishing village by her hard-drinking grandfather, and her youthful dreams of being carried away have left her ill prepared for the hard realities of modern romance. These arrive in the irresistible form of Aidan Ferrel, a charming young draftsman who gradually becomes and obsession in Una’s untested imagination.
This book is all about the crazy loveliness of falling in love for the first time. I believe your first love is always the strongest most impassioned love you’ll ever have because its so new and consuming. You feel like your walking through fire - invincible and sexy all rolled into one. Unfortunately most of us, like Una, end up getting burned.
I loved Una Moss. She was such a wonderful and believable character. The courtship of Una and Aidan was wonderfully romantic. I completely identified with Una as she fell in love. First the fear of opening up to someone who might misuse your trust, then the giddy joy of brutally honest discussions late at night, the strange floating feeling of having a secret that your girlfriends don’t expect, and the simple joy of realizing someone loves you. Una just floated across the page. She was luminous. Every now and then, we saw a hint of things to come and actions that didn’t quite fit the character of Aidan. Even with these hints, I (like Una) refused to believe anything was wrong. I didn’t want to focus on the strange incidents or the quiet secrets because I was enjoying the newly found love story too much. So when the book ended, I was horrified. Shocked even. I suppose I saw it coming but still but I wasn’t ready for the magnitude of it. I don’t want to say more or it will ruin everything. But I was actually angry with the ending for a while. It just seemed so horribly unfair.
So lets just say I loved the everything except the last chapter. But I suppose not everyone lives happily ever after.
Deja Dead and Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs
This series was recommended to me as another mysteries series a la Patricia Cornwall. The main character is single woman who's a coroner for a large city. She cuts up bodies and solves crimes. The twist, which I liked, was that she is an anthropologist which means she specializes in bones. She's called on when someone digs up bones during construction or after a fire when there is no corpse. It's amazing what you can tell from a skeleton. The party line is...
In the year since Tempe left behind a shaky marriage in North Carolina, work has often preempted her weekend plans to explore Quebec. But when an unidentified female corpse is discovered meticulously dismembered and stashed in garbage bags, Tempe detects an alarming pattern within the grisly handiwork - and her professional detachment gives way to a harrowing search for a killer in the city's winding streets. With a little help from the police, Tempe calls on her expertise, honed in the isolated intensity of the autopsy suite, to investigate on her own. But her determined chase is about to place those closest to her - her best friend and her own daughter - in mortal danger...
The author borrows the same formula that made Patricia Cornwall so famous and does a pretty good job. The murders are rather grisly and graphic so it's not for the faint of heart. The heroine, Tempe, is constantly running around on her own, too impatient for back up which gets her into loads of trouble. After the upteenth time, I began to wonder how many close calls before she learned to just wait until help arrives. But, a clear headed heroine isn't much fun and so Tempe plunges head first into danger again and again.
I like this series. While not a polished as Cornwall's mysteries, these are good mysteries with all the right ingredients to keep you turning pages. And I'm a sucker for science so I'll probably keep reading!
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Katherine Hall Page
During the holiday season, I found myself at Powell's about once a week for a month. If you haven't been to Powell's, you'd think I'd be bored visiting the same store over and over. Those of you who have experienced this book store will know that you could return every day and still find something new. Sure enough, each time I was there, I found a couple of interesting books. This book was in the mystery section and was recommended so I thought I'd pick it up. It was a good mystery but not what I'd call great. The party line is.....
There was no question that the body in the church belfry was Cindy Shepherd and that she was very dead. The kitchen knife sticking out of her curvaceous young body left no doubt. Faith Sibley Fairchild, the minister's wife who found poor Cindy, quickly learned that there was no shortage of people who might have been tempted to do Cindy in: childhood enemies, jilted lovers, and angry victims of Cindy's vicious tongue. It seemed a shame to Faith to let the police pin the crime on Cindy's fiancé just because he lacked an alibi...or a better way to break the engagement. But ex-New Yorker Faith had a lot to learn about murder in Massachusetts. Digging up seedy little secrets in a quiet New England village can make the natives a bit nervous...and turn the lady from the big city in to just another small town statistic.
Something about the main character, Faith, really rubbed me wrong. She was this rich New York woman who had a successful business catering to the elite who marries a minister and moves to a quite New England town. She's talented, beautiful, rich, smart, blah blah blah. No flaws, nothing that gives her real character. Sure she has a 5 month old son but he's a perfect angel who spends his time either conveniently sleeping or laughing. I don't know why the author made her a minister's wife as she has almost nothing to do with the church. Maybe to solidify her "good" image? I found her ability to "whip" together gourmet meals, the "admiring" glances from men and her "charming" stubbornness to really annoy me after a while. The plot was nice and moved along but the characters, well, they were pretty shallow and not very interesting at all. This series has a real following so maybe it's just me but lets just say, I'm glad I bought this one used!
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banergee Divakaruni
Oh my, I have read so many books since AT&T destroyed our website, I hardly know where to begin! When I went home for my reunion waaaay back in November, my mother gave me this book to read. She loved the writing style because the author is also a poet so her descriptions and imagery is quite beautiful. The party line is....
Magical, tantalizing, and sensual, The Mistress of Spices is the story of Tilo, a young woman born in another time, in a faraway place, who is trained in the ancient art of spices and ordained as a mistress charged with special powers. Once fully initiated in a rite of fire, the now immortal Tilo - in the gnarled and arthritic body of an old woman - travels through time to Oakland, California, where she opens a shop from which she administers spices as curatives to her customers. An unexpected romance with a handsome stranger eventually forces her to choose between the supernatural life of an immortal and the vicissitudes of modern life. Spellbinding and hypnotizing, The Mistress of Spices is a tale of joy and sorrow and one special woman's magical powers.
This book is definitely magical and mystical. I loved the personification of the spices. The description of their powers and abilities as if they were little gods or deities.
But, oddly enough, it was the setting that appealed to me. Tilo works in a small, dark, and dusty shop wedged between two other nondescript buildings. From the description, it reminds me of my neighborhood. There is a very large Vietnamese population and the main road that passes my neighborhood and it is dotted with small markets that advertise in mandarin, Chinese, and other foreign languages. I've never gone in to one and really never noticed them. And Tilo's shop could, very easily, be nestled there for all I know. In the book, however, she is placed in Oakland and a seedy neighborhood from the events that unfold. From behind her counter she watches her customers as they try to balance their old, traditional, ethnic selves with the draw and the power of America. In almost every sub-story there is a horrific clash of cultures from a daughter dating a non-Indian to a young boy who runs with the wrong crowd in an attempt to fit in. In each, it appears that America will ground out the ethic until Tilo and her herbs step in. But even Tilo's herbs have limits and so, in a fit of compassion, Tilo leaves the safety of her shop, breaks the rules that create her magical powers, and tries to save the people who have transformed from customer to friend. I don't want to ruin the ending but even Tilo finds herself tempted by America and she too must chose between her past and her magical gifts and the temptations of the present and America.
The author walks the reader down a very narrow line. Neither culture is the "right" one. The Indian belief system does not work with the freedoms of America and the western lifestyle throws out the baby with the bath water. Tilo's remedies attempt to find a middle ground. Somehow melding the best of the Indian culture with the strength of the American dream. I would think this book would touch a cord in any "first generation" American. I've had friends, born in America, whose parents immigrated from another country and the strange dual life they lead. This book focuses on that generation gap with a twist of magic. It's a very good read and a definite recommendation.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I am new to the world of romance but have been told there is a whole subsection dedicated to tales of fiery passion set in ancient Scotland. I think it has something to do with the idea of bonny red headed men running around in kilts wearing nothing underneath. But whatever the charm, there are a whole slew of romance novels set around stubborn clansmen and feisty heroines.
Just to make things interesting, this book throws in a time traveling twist as well. The party line is:
Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century and a lover in another. In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach -an "outlander"- in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.
Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire's destiny is soon inextricably entwined with clan MacKenzie and the forbidding castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life....and shatter her heart. For there, James Fraiser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men and two irreconcilable lives.
This is an epic novel well over 700 pages long. Fortunately, it is what I call a plot book. Claire spends very little time worrying about how she was shot into the past and instead is caught up in a whirlwind of events. There are a few main characters and lots of action. Being a romance novel, there is quite a bit of rolling around in the hay and melting in arms but that is to be expected. I was a bit worried when I picked up this book. I didn't think I could make it though hundreds of pages of introspection and description. Luckily, Ms. Gabaldon knows her trade because this book is really all about action, plot twists, clan wars, deep hatred and true love. The star crossed lovers in this book endure an amazing amount of injury as every other page someone is being attacked, beaten, or mauled. Toward the end, it became a bit routine - oh look, they are in trouble again but don't worry, true love will save the day. (I have a sinking feeling I may be too much a cynic to enjoy romance novels.)
The one thought that kept running through my mind, however, was the sad realization that if I were ever shot back through time, I would be completely useless. Claire, our heroine, has just finished working as a nurse in the trenches of WWII. She is able to use her doctoring skills to establish her worth. Were I shot back to the 18th century, I would die within a week I'm sure being able to offer nothing except the ability to argue which, I would assume, would be worthless.
But back to the book, if you are into Scotland and/or romance, this would be a good novel to sink your teeth into. I enjoyed it and it managed to engage me throughout the entire novel which, given it's length, it saying quite a bit.
Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
I realized that, although I had watched the A&E miniseries numerous times, I have never read the novel. Actually, I think I might have read it in high school but if so it has slipped from my memory along with differential equations and the ability to conjugate the verb ir.
So I picked up the classic and began to read. It wasn't long before I discover a problem. The miniseries was taken almost word for word from the book. I found myself following conversations like I was a small child and my mom was trying to skip pages while reading me King Tree or the Scary Green Pants With No One Inside Them. I was acutely aware every time the book differed from the movie and I kept seeing the actors instead of the written characters. It took me quite a few chapters to purge myself of the videos to enjoy the book.
And I did enjoy it. I loved the sharp humor and the sly message. Watching Lizzie preach about the dangerous of pride and then falling herself into the same trap. Realizing how quickly we catagorize people based on exterior factors instead of getting to know someone from the inside out. Blinded by pride reinforced by societal prejudices, Lizzie and Mr. Darcy almost miss out on true love. But circumstanced force each of them to walk outside of the path dictated by society and the result is magical. Even though I knew the ending, I still found myself anxious to make sure everything ends happily. I suppose that's the reason it is considered a classic.
The Black Company by Glen Cook
Ah, one of my favorite series. This is the first is a long line of dark sword and sorcery novels. The story revolves around a band of mercenaries known as the Black Company. Sometimes they fight on the side of right, sometimes on the side of wrong. Once hired, they are loyal to the end.
The story is told through the eyes of the band’s surgeon and historian, Croaker. He isn’t big on descriptions and scene imagery - just jumps straight to the action. It appears that the forces of evil are on the rise. After a hundred years of captivity, the Lady has escaped her grave and returned. She has left behind her husband, the Dominator, still imprisoned and eager to be released. However, the Lady is quite content to rule in his stead. Through various twists and turns, the Black Company finds themselves in Her employ, routing out the Rebels and destroying the campions of good. Of course, these men have a consciences so fighting on the dark side doesn’t sit easily on their backs.
The party line is...
Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead. Until the prophecy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her.... Croaker spoke to the assembled Company. “In olden times the outfit consisted entirely of black soldiers. Thus the name. Its slow drift northward has seen not only its diminution but a shift in its makeup. One-Eye is the only black man with us today. We are the last of the Twelve True Companies. We have out-endured the others by more than a century, but I fear we’re into our twilight days. I fear this may be the Company’s final commission. A page of history is about to turn. Once it does, the great warrior brotherhoods will be gone and forgotten.” But Croaker was wrong...
And so Croaker and his cohorts play a very dangers game. Working for the Lady in order to ensure that the Dominator remains buried in his grave. At the same time, they begin searching for the White Rose to protect her from their mistresses grasp. Should they fail the Lady, the Dominator will be let lose once again. Should they succeed in capturing the White Rose, then they will doom their world to the rule of the Lady. Either way, not a pretty sight.
I have tried passing on these books to others but with little success. I think most people enjoy reading about good triumphing over evil. Maybe it just isn’t as much fun to root for the bad guys. I, however, love these stories. There isn’t a lot of description or pages about clothing and food and culture. No, this book is all about battles and sorcery and deception. Just what you want to be reading on a dark night.
The only drawback is after reading the first book, I’m hooked. Looks like I’m going to be dragged into the whole series again. Ah well, this is the risk of a good book I suppose.
The Thief’s Gamble Juliet McKeen
This book came highly recommended but it just didn’t sit well with me. It suffered from the “Hand of God” syndrome. Main character in a tight spot, looks likes no way out, when a totally random event frees her. You know, a random stranger who helps or finding that ring you picked up for no reason suddenly is the key to unlocking the mystery. Long, overly violent, with lots of loose ends and characters who eat up chapters but do nothing. Sorry but I just can’t recommend this one as a good read.
So last night I went back to the Permanent Shelf to decided which old favorite I was going to re-read to get me back into the saddle again. I think perhaps a little Glen Cook? We’ll see....
Aunt Dimity Beats the Devil Nancy Atherton
Long ago in my college days I took a course call Women in Mystery. It was a lit class that looked at mystery and detective novels written by women and I loved it. One of the class resources was a compilation call Detecting Women. It was a look that had a list of recommended mysteries written by women with a little blurb on each. The best part was the cross-referencing. If you were interest in historical or Southern or PI or pet based it was all broken down by different categories in the Index. In my zest, I decided to start with the A's and work my way through. Unfortunately I petered out somewhere in the F's but not before I had found Aunt Dimity.
I would describe these books as 1/3 ghost story, 1/3 romance, and 1/3 mystery. How can you not love a book where one of the main characters is a stuffed pink bunny??? However, like most good series, you really should start with first book, Aunt Dimity's Death, which pretty much explains who Aunt Dimity is and how everything got started. The book I just finished was number six in the series and the party line is as follows:
Lori Shepherd is on her way to Wyrdhurst Hall to evaluate its owners' rare book collection. The grim, neo-Gothic castle, the books, and the journey to this remote and misty corner of Northumberland are full of surprises - some pleasant and some not. One pleasant surprise is meeting Adam Chase, a handsome, charming stranger. Lori falls under Wyrdhurst's spell - and Adam's - when she unearths a cache of World War I letters that tell of doomed love and hint at a treasure hidden in the hall. It will take all of Dimity's supernatural skills to help Lori solve the puzzle and restore peace to a family haunted by its tragic past.
I love the setting of these books. I think the English countryside must be similar to my little home in Portland with all the cottages, fires, and tea time. These books are just good fun. The mystery isn't too thick and the writing isn't too deep but the stories and the people just make me smile. Any book that makes you feel good it, in my humble opinion, is a good read. Unfortunately I tend to zip through Aunt Dimity books and end up wishing they were longer. I suppose I'll have to find more romantic mysteries to fill my time until the next Aunt Dimity book appears. If you haven't yet found this series, I envy you. You'll have a wonderful time acquainting yourself with Lori and Reginald and the whole cast. Enjoy!
Mockingbird by Sean Stewart
What a great book. This one is going on the permanent to-be-read-again shelf at home. I can't recall who recommended it to me but it was right up my alley. I don't know how I'd categorize it except to say it's a story about family, voodoo and Texas. Somehow I think that description causes more confusion than clarification but it's the best I can do. The other thing that struck me about this book was that it's great woman's point of view written by a man. Usually, I don't think this works but this author nailed it on the head.
The publisher describes this novel as:
Toni Beauchamp never liked her mother's world of magic and visions and six strange gods that took over her body at will. So when her mother dies, Toni and her sister Candy thought it meant a new beginning, a life free of magic. But Elena had one last gift for her daughter - a sip from the Mockingbird Cordial. And from the moment Toni held the drink to her lips, her life would never be the same...
The premise is unusual. Two Hispanic daughters whose mother is the local voodoo woman. Their mother is randomly "mounted" by one of six gods during her life. Each god is a distinct personality. The Mockingbird was many voices and a terrible copycat; the Peacher was hard and smelled of old books and spoke only bitter truths; Sugar was a flirt who loved flattery and sex; Pierrot was a clown who was very funny and very alone; the Widow was cruel and heartless; Mr. Copper was very good with money - a user who knew the price of everything. During times of crisis or even for no apparent reason what so ever, these gods invade the mother and take over her body and rule the girls' lives. I could never figure out if these gods were real or if the mother merely suffered from multiple personalities that took over during time of stress and anxiety. Whether magical or mental, upon the mother's death, the oldest daughter Toni inherits these gods and we watch as she comes to term with her new personalities.
One scene that particularly resonated with me was toward the end of the novel. Toni is offered a chance to start a new business with her friend Angela and she hesitates, afraid to commit, aware of the odds against her business succeeding.
"..ninety-five percent of all independent traders go broke within the first year. I know. I've been reading your books, remember?" Angela shrugged, that same lanky, raw-boned nonchalance Momma always had about the future. "If it doesn't work out, it's not as if my life is over. Do you think I don't know what it's like to fail? – Or maybe it's you who's never failed before," Angela said. She poked at me with the transaction book. "That's it, isn't it? You're scared because you've never taken that first big hit, have you? Never been divorced, gone bankrupt, been struck in hospital with tubes up your nose." She leaned forward and patted my hand. "Honey, don't be scared. It's a rare crash in this life you can't walk away from... You know, I think I was dead right. Your big problem, Toni, is that you've never really failed big, so you can't imagine picking yourself up off the ground afterwards."
It's a rare crash in life you can't walk away from.
I think, in some way, that's my fear too. That fear of crashing, of failing, of trying something new and having it all go horribly wrong. And the part that makes me so fearful is that I haven't had that many crashes in my life. I'm not yet secure in the knowledge that when it all comes crashing down, I can dust myself off and try again. I think I need a little more failures in my life.
But enough about me. This is a book review and let me tell you, this one is getting read again. I loved it and I'd recommend it hands down.
Eyes of Prey by John Sandford
Whenever I finish a book I don’t like, I always pick up an author I know I enjoy to help get the sour taste out of my mouth and renew my love of reading. After a disappointing read, I decided to try another mystery by Mr. Sandford since I enjoyed the first one. And let me tell you, this was a high action book.
Our very flawed hero, Davenport, is faced with finding two brutal killers. One, hideously scarred and the other, dangerously beautiful. The killings are rather graphic and more bloody than the previous book and our hero is fighting against a debilitating wave of depression, but the action is quick and the plot twists are unforseen.
I think I especially like this series because the opening chapter starts with the killers. You watch them commit the crime; you know who they are. Unlike an Agatha Christie novel where you spend much of your time wondering whodunit, in the Prey series, you know who the bad guys are right out of the gate. The tension comes from watching the cat and mouse action between the villains and the hero.
My only complaint with this series is the womanizing. Every book brings a new chick into Davenport’s life and he burns through them like sulphur. From what I’ve read about this series, there’s a new girl every book which is a bit unbelievable. But hey, our hero’s flaws run deep.
I cruised through this book in a day or so and it got my reading juices flowing again. I’m ready to tackle a new author and I’m pretty confident that this Prey series is one to watch.
The Jackal of Nar by John Marco
I didn't like this book. It wasn't necessarily a bad story just not my style. It followed a very predictable pattern with nothing to distinguish it.
Take a young man who is innocent and happy. Insert tragic event like death of family or sweetheart. Watch young man retreat from the world. Insert world shattering event that can only be fixed by young man. Watch young man get drawn back into the world bitter but triumphant. This is the Star Wars plot really. Young Luke starts out fresh faced and ready to take on the world. His optimism is dashed and a much more subdued hero emerges in The Empire Strikes Back. But he reclaims his lost balance and faces his fears and triumphs in the end. This plot line has been used over and over. Since the actions are predictable, it takes good characters to make the story shine.
In this book, I didn't buy it. People acting out of character, unrealistic plot twists, and in the end, everyone dies except the hero who manages to beat the forces of evil even though the odds against him were astronomical. I almost put the book down half way through which is something I rarely do but I decided to stick through to the end. It has gotten great recommendations so maybe this one is just me. But whatever the reason, I couldn't get into the story or the people portrayed. This one is going into the "sell back" pile for sure.
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
We have the best bookstore anywhere here in Portland. It's called Powell's Books and it covers a whole city block with every book imaginable. The best part is it sells used and new books side by side and has a wonderful buy-back program so you can continually feed you addiction. In addition, if you order over $50 online, they ship for free which is great for those of use who are too lazy to drive over there. But, you may ask, what does this have to do with In Cold Blood?
Well, the people who work at Powell's are incredible. Since the store is broken into topics, (mystery, fiction, travel, foreign, etc) each employee is assigned to work a specific area. This means the people who shelve and update the mystery section are big mystery buffs and the people who work in cooking are cooking fiends and so on. So each employee lists their "Staff Picks" of favorite books. As you walk down the isles, you'll see little hand-written notes by certain books with a blurb from the staffer who works the area on why it's a great book. I have found more wonderful books this way then I can remember. Don't know what you want? Just cruise down the isle looking for a Staff Pick that's also used so you're only out a few bucks if it isn't your cup of tea. (And, of course you can always sell it back and try again!)
So In Cold Blood was a staff pick under the True Crime section. I haven't read much true crime except for the cases I studied in school. But Truman Capote was also the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's which is about as far from a true crime novel as you can get. The book runs something like this:
On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues. As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generated both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends it moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.And I must say this blurb does sum up this book. I think the fact that it is a true telling of actually events lends it a sort of morbid curiosity. In addition, Mr. Capote has done an incredible job of looking into the minds of the two young men who committed this horrible crime. He takes you through the murder and you watch in horror while the crime is committed and the whole time, pulsing in the back of your brain, is the question why. Why kill? Why this family? How is such a thing even possible? As the chapters progress, you are shown more about the background of the two killers and by the end of the novel, I actually began to understand who they are and with that comes an understanding of why they killed.
I don't know if I'm going to pick a true crime novel anytime soon but I must say that this book is not one I'm going to soon forget. (Oh yes, as a random side note, NEVER pick up hitch-hikers.) If you want a wonderful and evocative re-telling of a crime that shocked a small Kansas town, then this book is for you.
**Good news! The Staff Picks are also online so you too can pick the brains of people who know their stuff!**
The Black Queen by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
This is book six in the Fey series. The first in the series is called The Sacrifice and is set in another world where one culture has developed magic. They are a warrior culture and over time develop their abilities to slowly conquer their entire continent. Everything is proceeding according to plan until they decided to advance to the next continent. To do this, they need to take over a small island that will be the massing point for the new invasion. What should be an easy battle turns into defeat for reasons which, if I explain here, would ruin the book for you.
I have really liked this series. Good characters, nice plot, not too much hocus-pocus mumbo jumbo and the author has done a good job creating a world that is believable. This isn't a handfull of heros defeat and army of bad guys book Those are fun but can be repetitive. This series is a little different than the rest which I appreciate. My only criticism is that one of the books, The Resistance, is out of print so you miss a whole book of plot which is too bad. The plot line in the Black Queen draws heavily from the action in the missing book. It's frustrating because she moves the plot on assuming you've read the rest of the series. Normally, this is good - not a lot of going over old ground and trying to get new readers up to speed. But with one book out of print, it makes it very hard to put all the pieces together. That's too bad because I really like this series.
Towing Jehovah by James Morrow
This book was highly recommended to me by a dozen sources. It's one of those books where the paperback is extra large and costs $13 so I had been waiting to find a used copy but I finally gave up and bought it new. It was worth full price. I'm now looking for another book by the same author, Only Begotten Daughter, and I think I'm going to have to break down and pay full price again. The good books never seem to get sold back.
I enjoy a good biting satire. There is nothing better than chuckling your way through a book. And while I like to think of myself as a vaguely religious person, I'm not so tightly wound that I can't get a good laugh a religion. And let me tell you, this book is all about poking fun at religion and, more specifically, Christianity. Here's the party line:
God is dead. "Died and fell into the sea." That's what Raphael, a despondent angel with luminous white wings and a blinking halo, telling Anthony Van Horne on his fiftieth birthday. Soon Van Horne is charged with captaining the supertanker Carpco Valparaiso (flying the colors of the Vatican) as it tows the two-mile-long; corpse through the Atlantic toward the Arctic, in order to preserve Him from sharks and decomposition. Van Horne must also contend with ecological guilt, a militant girlfriend, an estranged father, sabotage both natural and spiritual, a crew on (and sometimes past) the brink of mutiny, and greedy hucksters of oil, condoms, and doubtful ideas. As he rings his wild, Vonnegutian changes on everything from male chauvinism to the Catholic Church, James Morrow once again proves himself to be one of the premier satirists of our time while still managing to capture some of the beauty and sorrow of the world. With Towing Jehovah, the Denver Post declared, Morrow"solidifies his position and Christianity's Salman Rushdie, only funnier and more sacrilegious."
I must say that I throughly enjoyed the main character, Van Horne, in this novel. His struggle to tow God's corpse to His final resting place was funny and sad and gallant all rolled together. I'm sure there is a ton of imagery and innuendo I missed being as I was not raised Catholic but anyone with even a slight grounding in Christianity will catch most of the metaphors. And, for those who like to ponder the deep questions, Morrow sets up a very compelling situation. What if you were confronted with the corpse of God? At one moment, it confirms the big question of is there a God while at the same exact moment that knowledge is rendered useless since that God is now dead.
My only complaint was the ending. It just seemed so anti-climactic. But hey, even though the last ten pages were a bit of a let down, the first 300 were great so I think that's a pretty good trade off. A slightly odd book, but I enjoyed it!
Rules of Prey by John Sandford
If I had to pick between Like Skywalker and Han Solo, it would be Han hands down. Luke was too good, too innocent, too predictable. He was too much of a hero. Han, on the other hand, was a good guy with flaws and those flaws made him so much more interesting. I find the same is true with the books I read. I like the flawed hero who isn't all good. I like the ones who have a twisted past and follow their own twisted paths. This probably explains why I liked Rules of Prey.
I know I like a book when I read it in one day. I didn't want to watch the news accounts tonight so instead I plopped Kevin in front of the computer and I went upstairs and curled up with this book. It is a real page turned. Nothing really deep and the writing is very quick and simple but the plot was good and I did enjoy the main character, Lucas Davenport. Didn't get a lot of history on him in this, the first book in the Prey series, but his actions suggest a twisted past.
The killer was mad, but brilliant. He left notes with every woman he killed. Rules of murder. Never have a motive. Never follow a discernible pattern. Never carry a weapon after it has been used... So many rules to his sick, violent games of death.... But Lucas Davenport, the cop who's out to get him, isn't playing by the rules.
Although the book jacket makes the story sound horrifically violent, it isn't that bad. I like the fast pace, not a lot of deep soul searching or pages of minute details. Just a roaring plot line of good guy chasing bad guy. It had a good ending and I'm definitely going to try another in the series. If you need a good commuter book, I'd recommend this one.
The Last Precinct by Patricia Cornwell
Of all the Kay Scarpetta novels, the first one - Post Mortem - is by far my favorite. I remeber reading it so clearly. I was living alone in my little apartment and the plot was about this serial killer who stalked women who lived alone. He'd find a way to break in and then kill them. After staying up late reading all night, I had to get up and run around my house to make sure all the windows and doors were locked and I was still freaked out. That's how good this book is.
The Last Precinct picks up where Black Notice left off. If you haven't read Black Notice things will be confusing. Cornwell has been sending Kay Scarpetta into a slow nose dive. Her personal life and career are both attacked and she spends most of these books in a dazed shock with everyone against her. There wasn't too much mystery involved, mostly character development which tends to be a bit slow. But if you are a fan of the series, it does tie up a lot of loose ends which might make reading it worthwhile. I enjoyed it but wouldn't recommend it over Post Mortem.
The Fencing Master by Arturo Perez-Reverte
I feel in love with this author after reading the Flander's Panel and have continued to enjoy his writing. The party line is....
In Madrid, in 1868, fencing master and man of honor Don Jaime is approached by a mysterious woman who seeks to learn the secret of the unstoppable thrust, an arcane technique known only to him. All too soon he finds himself in the vortex of a plot that includes seduction secret political documents, and more than one murder.
A young woman with violet eyes, an aging gentleman, and a dead marquis - put them together and you have a very wonderful plot line. I think I love the writing and styling almost as much as the plot. For example, the impassioned hero declares...
"Do you know what the problem is? We find ourselves in the last of the three generations history chooses to repeat every now and then. The first generation needs a god, so they invent one. The second generation erects temples to that god and tries to imitate him. And the third generation uses the marble from those temples to build brothels in which to worship their own greed, lust and dishonesty. And that is why gods and heros are always, inevitably, succeeded by mediocrities, cowards and imbeciles."
In the Flanders Panel, I learned about chess. In the Club Dumas, I learned about book collecting. In this novel, it's all about the art of fencing. And, as a good writer can, he makes me want to learn. If I had to recommend just one of his books, it'd have to stick with The Flanders Panel but this one runs neck and neck with The Club Dumas.