Narcissus in Chains
Laurell K. Hamilton
Jove
Not that you'd know it from how infrequently I've been updating this blog, but I've actually been reading quite a bit lately. You might even say that I've been on a bender. In the last few weeks, I've managed to crank through nine Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels. At an average of about 300 pages per read, well, that's a lot of blood.
I'm not so sure what it is about these novels that keep drawing me in. In some ways, they are similar to the Kelley Armstrong books that I read over Christmas -- each series is classified as paranormal/horror and each deals with a world where vampires, werecreatures, witches, warlocks, faeries and other "magical" ilk live alongside you and me. The writing certainly isn't fabulous -- she's repeats text verbatim across the series and the storylines really aren't all that inventive. Part of my interest, I think, is the Scarecrow and Mrs. King effect. Remember that show? You so wanted the two main characters to hook up and they never quite got it right. Anita has that kind of relationship with a few gentlemen, uh, creatures in the series, so maybe that's the draw. In any event, I will probably keep reading for awhile yet. Hamilton started the series in the mid-90s, so I've got at least ten more books to go.
Two sociopaths out of five.
Four on the Floor
Black and Blue
Ian Rankin
Orion
I'm giving some serious thought to shutting down my blog. I haven't been feeling that creative lately and while I've been reading a tonne, I find that I don't have too much new or inspiring to say. You guys can only take so many "wow -- that book was awesome!" or "wow -- that booked totally sucked" reviews, right?
Maybe I just need to shake it up a bit and read something that really knocks my socks off. Ugh. So hard to know what to do. That said, I'm here now and I might as well get down to business and give you the skinny on Rankin's Black & Blue.
I would consider this novel to be Rankin's best that I've read so far. Rebus' professional life is a bit of a wreck -- he's been kicked out of his precinct and assigned a new home, he's under investigation for helping a colleague who is suspected of planting evidence, the media is hounding him about a wrongful conviction, and he's working four cases. Sigh. Yes, he's still the perfect man. Well, aside from the drinking. Since I'm over 40 now, I guess I'm not supposed to be that picky.
With so much going on in Black & Blue, you would almost expect the narrative to be somewhat choppy and episodic. Rankin defies expectation and writes a tight, dark, action-packed story that flows from location to location, case to case, emotion to emotion. Four hard-boiled detectives out of five.
So many books, so little time
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
The Mockingjay
Suzanne Collins
Scholastic
According to Dictionary.com, the word "addict" can be used to describe someone who habituates or abandons him/herself to something compulsively or obsessively. It can also be used in the context of physiological or psychological dependence on a substance or thing. Is this definition ringing bells with anyone else? Apparently, I have a problem.
I came to this deep and penetrating insight late a couple of Fridays ago when I was downloading book two of the Hunger Game trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It was almost three o'clock in the morning and I had just whizzed through the first novel in the series. Even though I could barely keep my head off the pillow, I had to read on. It was that good.
Set in post-apocalyptic America, the novel opens in District 12. We are introduced to a young woman named Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is an aloof girl -- mostly keeping her thoughts to herself and oblivious to her impact on others. Her world completely changes when the government comes to town to pick two "warriors" -- one boy and one girl -- as the District's tribute to the Hunger Games. "Required watching" for everyone in the country, the Hunger Games is a reality show where the tributes (two from each of the country's twelve districts) battle to the death. The tributes are plucked from their regions, made over into heroes (with compelling back stories, of course) and then set in an arena with instructions to kill or be killed. It is all quite gruesome, but happily packaged for TV. Katniss volunteers to be the tribute from District 12 when her younger sister is picked in the lottery. The baker's son, Peeta, is the other "winner" and the two teens head to the Capitol to take part in the games.
I loved the premise of these novels (as disturbing as it was) and can guarantee that I will be reading the entire trilogy again. Katniss is smart, resourceful, naive, and unrelenting. Peeta is kind, focused, loving, and equally as unrelenting. They make a good team, but unfortunately, there can only ever be one winner, or can there? The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay get five fiery manticores out of five.
And Then There Were Two
The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
Harper Collins
My friend Jill loaned me her copy of this book in August of 2009. I adore Neil Gaiman (have you read his blog?) and I had heard nothing but good things about his most recent novel. When I got home from Kemptville, I put the book on my beside table fully intending that it would be the next one on my list. And there it sat. Unread and unloved. Poor, wee book.
Flash forward to the fall of 2010. I was out for a birthday dinner with my mostly best friend and in addition to showering me with love and laughs and decent grub, he brought me gifts. Included in the red paper bag (he's a boy, they don't do pretty with friends) was my Christmas gift from 2009. And yes, it was a copy of the Graveyard book.
That decided it. As soon as I got home, I picked up Jill's copy -- still sitting on my nightstand -- and was immediately lost. The book opens with the mysterious murder of the protagonist's family. Somehow, the toddler (yes, I typed toddler) escapes and wanders into the graveyard that is up the street from him home. Understanding that the baby is still being pursued by his family's attackers, the graveyard occupants -- ghosts from across different centuries -- decide to bend the rules in this place of the dead and raise the baby themselves. The toddler, who is renamed Nobody Owens, grows up in a rather unconventional environment and goes on to do some rather extraordinary things.
Bod (well ... you can't be Nobody forever) is heroic, gentle, loving, funny, sad, kind, wise, naive, and beautiful. He's definitely worth getting to know and I'm glad that I read the book when I did. Thanks for sharing Jilly Bean. I get why you gave it to me when you -- I just wasn't ready.
Five beautiful fairy tales out of five. And oh yeah -- as for the the title of this post, please say hello to the next contender for the DES book of the year.
Friends don't let friends blog drunk ...
Let Me In
John Ajvide Lindqvist
St. Martin's Press
Please accept my heartfelt apologies for my most recent post. I submitted it after having had a few (okay, nine) drinks and well, apparently my proof reading skills aren't exactly up to snuff when I've been into the brew. Honestly, I have no idea why I was so desperate to publish the review of that awful work of fiction, but, I'm sure there was a good reason at the time. One of my drinking companions did happen to suggest the word "vomitous" -- maybe I was just trying to go with the flow.
Moving on ... the subject for this entry is a book called Let Me In. I know I promised that I would lay off the vampire novels, but this one is actually worth reading. Set in a Stockholm suburb, the novel tells the story of Oskar and Eli. Oskar is a schoolboy with a lot of problems -- he's lies, he steals, and he keeps a scrapbook of serial killer newspaper clippings. Eli, his next door neighbour, is a little girl who only comes out at night, is impervious to cold, and has fangs. The two form an unusual, disturbing, and often touching relationship.
There is a great deal to recommend this novel. The writing was spare, the story compelling, and the end surprising. A word of warning, however, this book did manage to give me the creeps. Twice I had to stop reading and put it away for another day -- horror is not my thing. Three dripping fangs out of five.
