tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49619386027653142792024-03-12T16:51:32.984-07:00Springville Library Book NookSpringville Libraryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04638159623719028137noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-30453985577933997292011-07-15T22:49:00.000-07:002011-07-15T22:50:05.584-07:00Same story, different gods<u>Throne of Fire</u> is the second book in Rick Riordan's The Kane Chronicles. It follows siblings Sadie and Carter Kane as they continue their quest to keep the Egyptian god Set from destroying the world. This time, their task is to find the Book of Ra and use it to awaken the Egyptian sun god, who has 'retired' from the world, before Apophis, an Egyptian monster and the embodiment of chaos escapes from his prison and destroys the world. We get some new characters, as well as reconnecting with a few old ones like Amos, Zia and Desjardins. Students of Sadie and Carter who figure prominently in the story include Walt, a charms maker and Jas, a healer. We also get a new bad guy nicknamed Vlad the Inhaler, and a new god (I won't name him to avoid a spoiler).<br /><br />While I enjoyed it, to be honest it's more of the same from Riordan. He's not doing anything new here. He's found a formula and he's sticking to it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-63495356219913396362011-07-10T15:09:00.000-07:002011-07-10T15:19:05.037-07:00In Sacred Loneliness by Todd ComptonI've recently developed an interest in some of the more 'sticky' spots in LDS history. This book, <span style="font-style: italic;">In Sacred Loneliness</span> discusses each of the plural wives of Joseph Smith in their own chapter. Because of the self-contained nature of the format, it could easily be used as a reference book, a sort of encyclopedia of Joseph's polygamy. It also includes a section of pictures in the center of the book for those who might be wondering what these women looked like. Let me also say that I am not here to debate the historicity of the book, or the validity, doctrinal status or any other religious element of polygamy. I'm not saying I'm for it or against it, just that found the book intriguing.<br /><br />Compton does an excellent job of summarizing the life of each woman, but since so many of the details overlap, reading the book from cover to cover is a bit of a challenge. There are only so many ways an author can say "And then the prophet was assassinated". In some ways, that was the hardest part of each chapter to read. As a believing member of the church, I felt as though I went through his death (and the wives' loss) vicariously over thirty times! I can't imagine losing my husband; for it to be in so public and violent a manner would magnify it one hundred fold.<br /><br />I did learn some interesting facts, like the fact that almost every plural wife of Joseph was then sealed for time to one of the other apostles (often Brigham Young or Heber Kimball). I also thought it was interesting that some marriages were termed 'dynastic', meaning that they were intended to link families considered to be powerful in the early LDS church to Joseph in the eternities. I also learned the term 'practical polygamy' which I found quite interesting (essentially that polygamy was practiced to give women a support system; not for any romantic reason)<br /><br />If you'd like to know more about polygamy as it was practiced in the earliest era of the church, this book is worth a read. Just be prepared to put it down and pick it up several times before you finish it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-84639226135982390692010-08-09T19:18:00.001-07:002010-08-09T19:18:24.312-07:00<span style="font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><div><span style="font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)</span></div> <div><span style="font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>I guarantee that 95% of you will hate this book, and at least 70% of you will hate it enough to not finish it, but I loved it. Guess I was just in the mood for it. Here's how it breaks down:<br /><br />AMAZING THINGS: </span><div><span style="font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">I can literally feel new wrinkles spreading across the surface of my brain when I read this guy. He's so wicked smart that there's no chance he's completely sane. His adjectives and descriptions are 100% PERFECT, and yet entirely nonsensical. After reading three chapters, it starts making sense... and that's when you realize you're probably crazy, too. And you are. We all are.<br /><br />The magical realism style of the book is DELICIOUS. Sure, it's an epic tragedy following a long line of familial insanity, but that doesn't stop the people from eating dirt, coming back from the dead, spreading a plague of contagious insomnia, or enjoying a nice thunderstorm of yellow flowers. It's all presented in such a natural light that you think, "Of course. Of course he grows aquatic plants in his false teeth. Now why wouldn't he?"<br /><br />This guy is the epitome of unique. Give me a single sentence, ANY SENTENCE the man has ever written, and I will recognize it. Nobody writes like him. (Also, his sentences average about 1,438 words each, so pretty much it's either him or Faulkner)<br /><br />REASONS WHY MOST OF YOU WILL HATE THIS BOOK: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">I have to engage every ounce of my mental ability just to understand what the *&#@ is going on! Most people who read for relaxation and entertainment will want to send Marquez hate mail.<br /><br />Also, there are approximately 20 main characters and about 4 names that they all share. I realize that's probably realistic in Latino cultures of the era, but SERIOUSLY, by the time you get to the sixth character named Aureliano, you'll have to draw yourself a diagram. Not even the classic Russians suffer from as much name-confusion as this guy.<br /><br />On an uber-disturbing note, Marquez has once again (as he did in Love in the Time of Cholera) written a grown man having sex with a young girl--this time at the ripe old age of 9... which is pretty much #1 on my list of "Things That Make You Go EWW!!!" He Pretty much makes Lolita look like Polyanna on the virtue chart! (Note to authors: You give ONE of your characters a unique, but disgusting characteristic and it's good writing. Give it to more than one, and we start thinking we're reading your psychological profile, ya creep!)<br /><br />Bottom line - if you feel like pushing your brain to its max, read it. The man did when the Nobel after all, it's amazing. But get ready to work harder to understand something than you ever have before in your life. And may God be with you.<br /><br />FAVORITE QUOTES: (coincidentally also the shortest ones in the book)<br /><br />She had the rare virtue of never existing completely except at the opportune moment.<br /><br />He soon acquired the forlorn look that one sees in vegetarians.<br /><br />Children inherit their parents' madness.<br /><br />He really had been through death, but he had returned because he could not bear the solitude.<br /><br />The air was so damp that fish could have come in through the doors and swum out the windows.<br /><br />He was unable to bear in his soul the crushing weight of so much past.<br /><br />A person doesn't die when he should but when he can.<br /><br />-Meg G.<br /></span></div>Springville Libraryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04638159623719028137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-23948083568114586642010-08-09T19:17:00.002-07:002010-08-09T19:18:03.219-07:00<div><span style="font-family:Calibri;">The Maze Runner by James Dashner (Audio version)</span></div> <div> </div> <div><span style="font-family:Calibri;">A co-worker of my husband's recommended this book to me after learning that I enjoyed "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. He also happens to be friends with the author. Although this book hasn't made my "books I must own" list yet, (as the Hunger Games books have) it was an intriguing read. </span></div> <div> </div> <div><span style="font-family:Calibri;">"The Maze Runner" is like "The Hunger Games" meets "Lord of the Flies" with a little bit of "Lost" mixed in. It's about a group of boys who, one by one, get dropped into the middle of a maze without any memory of who they are, where they come from or what happened to get them here. They just remember a name. The main character, who remembers the name Thomas, shows up one day in "the box" with no memory, surrounded by a group of teenage boys. These boys have created a society in which they survive together by each doing their part. Some boys are cooks, some are farmers, some slaughter the animals, and all of these groups have new terms the boys made up to describe their job occupation like Sloppers. But one elite group of boys are called "Runners". These "Runners" enter the maze daily making it back to their homestead, called "The Glade", before nightfall when the "Doors" close. The "Doors" are huge walls that move into place closing off the maze for the night where disturbing mechanical creatures called "Grievers" roam. The point of the "Runners" is to solve the maze. Each day they go out in hopes to discover the answer, and each day they return to the Glade to map out their findings. As the walls in the maze move every night, they attempt to find patterns to help them solve how to get out of the maze. If they are caught outside the "Doors" at night, they are stuck with the "Grievers" and are considered dead. Coming in contact with the "Grievers" either means death or being "stung". If you're "stung" you go through a painful process called "The Changing" where you regain some of your memories before they fade and you experience some insanity. Of course, no one has ever survived a night outside in the maze and no one has been willing to talk about what they remember after going through the "Changing". No one, until Thomas. He's different somehow and after surviving a night in the maze in hopes of saving one of the other boys who got stuck out there he eventually rises quickly through the ranks to make it as a Runner. One day after Thomas arrives ,a girl arrives in the "box" with a message that everything is about to change. Somehow she triggers "The Ending", and when the sun goes out and the "Doors" stop closing, the "Grievers" begin to pick everyone off one by one. After 2 years of searching the maze before Thomas even arrived, they have to solve the maze now or face the grievers but those who have gone through the "Changing" seem to believe that the real world is much worse than the maze they live in.</span></div> <div> </div> <div><span style="font-family:Calibri;">I listened to the audio version of this book. The speaker was extraordinary with his ability to give each boy, aka "Glader", a voice of his own. The author provided a very descriptive story with a lot of mystery and questions unanswered which works just fine considering "The Maze Runner" is the first of three books to come out. The end of the book leaves you wanting to know more about "what happened to the world Thomas and the other boys came from?" and of course "who built the maze and why?" I'll be looking forward to reading the future books.</span></div> <div> </div><span style="color:#888888;"> <div><span style="font-family:Calibri;">-Erica S.</span></div></span>Springville Libraryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04638159623719028137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-69898389185875825242010-08-09T19:17:00.001-07:002010-08-09T19:17:40.927-07:00I recently read a book called "The Water Seeker" by Kimberly Willis Holt. I chose this book simply because I wanted to read a "NEW" book & the ones I kept choosing from the Adult section all had too many swear words in them. So I went for one in the children's section. <br /><br />I am glad I found this book. "The Water Seeker" is a quaint story about a father & his son. They have the ability to find water with a stick from a tree. The father leaves his son in the care of relatives after his wife dies. He searches for work. The son has many experiences and heartache while his father is away which help him to learn a lot about life. <br /><br />After a time, the father comes back. More adventure and heartache is in store. It's also a story about making a trek west to find a better life & how the boy eventually becomes a man because of the choices he has to make. The book has romance, sickness, triumphs, disappointment & adventure. My favorite theme about the book is that life isn't always the way we think it will turn out. But that each change that happens to us is a growing experience!<br /><br />I really enjoyed the book and recommend it to anyone.<br /><br />- Becky L.Springville Libraryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04638159623719028137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-73947968320679890142010-08-09T19:16:00.002-07:002010-08-09T19:17:04.690-07:00<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This is one of my favorite books that I can read again and again. It is the timeless story of putting too much stock in one's first impressions of someone and gradually being proven wrong. This classic comedy of manners appeals to those who love a good romance without any inappropriate content. It is also fascinating from a historical perspective as one learns about life in the English countryside at the turn of the 19<sup>th</sup> century.<br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">-Julie B.<br /></p>Springville Libraryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04638159623719028137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-58240878279318641492010-08-09T19:16:00.001-07:002010-08-09T19:17:19.056-07:00<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size:large;">Book Review for <a href="http://library.springville.org/TLCScripts/interpac.dll?LabelDisplay&LastResult=Search%26Config=ysm%26FormId=-17511%26Branch=,0,%26LimitsId=0%26StartIndex=0%26SearchField=1%26SearchType=1%26SearchData=blink%26NotAddToHistory=1%26ItemsPerPage=10%26SortField=0%26PeriodLimit=-1%26SearchAvailableOnly=0&DataNumber=76895&RecordNumber=76895&SearchAvailableOnly=0&FormId=-17511&ItemField=1&Config=ysm&Branch=,0," target="_blank">Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking</a></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Book Content:</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">This book examines instantaneous judgments we make daily, both personally and professionally. It explores the curiosity that, though years of experience, individuals can hone their instincts for those judgments, whether it be in judging the authenticity of ancient sculpture, understanding the odds in a new gambling game, articulating what would improve the taste of a new snack food, or reading the intent of an individual facing off with the police.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Sometimes those instincts are powerfully correct, but research (discussed in detail in the book) has shown that unless we spend the time to become aware and understand how and why we make such judgments, when we try to articulate the reasoning for our choices,</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center">1) we describe reasons that would lead to <i>different </i>judgments than the ones we actually made, and</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="center">2) afterward our instinct becomes less accurate, following the "reasons" for choices that we articulated, rather than the (apparently more accurate) standards we had previously used.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;" align="left"><b>My Opinion:</b></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Individuals truly interested in being without racial prejudice should read chapter 3, The Warren Harding Error. It describes the measurement of our subconscious negative preconceptions, sometimes against our own race or gender, and the extraordinary effect of positive cultural role models upon those judgments. <i><b>I loved </b></i><b>learning these lessons from this book, </b>and I am trying to have it impact the way I parent my children and the cultural influences I intentionally expose them to.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Additionally, Mr. Gladwell uses the conclusion of the book to describe how we can circumvent our own instantaneous judgments when they hinder us from the best decisions.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If you have sufficient inclination, read the entire book; otherwise just read chapter 3 and the conclusion. They are well worth your time.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">-Karla H.<br /></p>Springville Libraryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04638159623719028137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-21084022101297993332010-07-31T09:10:00.000-07:002010-07-31T09:11:47.750-07:00BookLook Review "When We Were Romans"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUMxLoIqgM7Xm-P5eBHkbaFWLL9KaY8RwIJpl_uShaFCfUkuEmBLfnoBDuQivM_OQGGEWgqpMQ0GFK2L5W6OIc2t5bhXKq6BCYytoCPjn2aH70AlUUjpC_uP7PvSBSyk48_GetC5pYLop/s1600/romans+pic.html"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 66px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkUMxLoIqgM7Xm-P5eBHkbaFWLL9KaY8RwIJpl_uShaFCfUkuEmBLfnoBDuQivM_OQGGEWgqpMQ0GFK2L5W6OIc2t5bhXKq6BCYytoCPjn2aH70AlUUjpC_uP7PvSBSyk48_GetC5pYLop/s200/romans+pic.html" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500103761251742946" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">“When We Were Romans”</span><br /><br />The novel “When We Were Romans” by Matthew Kneale describes a family in crisis through the eyes of nine year old Lawrence. His family lives in fear that the father will return from Scotland and harm them. Lawrence’s mother hurriedly loads his little sister Jemima and a few belongings including his precious pet and they drive through the underwater chunnel to Rome. <br /><br />Lawrence’s mum used to live in Rome when she was single and still has friends there where they hope to find refuge and start over. Spending a few days with each of them, the little family seems to be getting on their feet with the help of an interesting cast of characters. And then their world unravels again. Despite his efforts, our young narrator cannot save his family from itself.<br /><br />There are similarities to other recent novels including “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” which use a child as narrator. The mysterious adult world described by a precocious child is always an amusing and bewildered perspective. They cannot understand what is really happening around them which causes the reader to be equally confused at times. <br /><br />One of the charming aspects of the novel is that young Lawrence assigns animals to adults as he meets them and uses the phonetic spelling of a young child. A woman who is small with dark hair and gives quick little kisses as greetings reminds him of a squirrel. She is labeled “Chintsier squirrel”. Another is “Crissy chick” since her hair is short, yellow and stands straight up. He is also fascinated by his new book describing past rulers of Rome and sums up their history in his funny misspelled childish style. “One day there was a big fire in Rome, it went on for days, and some people said Nero did it because he was emporer but nobody was sure. Thousands of famous temples and houses got burnt down and Nero went up a tower to watch, he said doesn’t it look beautiful and then he sang a long song.” His version of history is much more entertaining and simplified than a high school history text. <br /><br />I suppose I would only give this book 2 out of 5 stars if I did that sort of rating. I don’t usually since it is too restrictive and often misleading in a book review. There were things I really liked about this book, and things I didn’t. It did have moments of great reading but it also had sections that didn’t quite ring true. I give it a guarded recommendation to those interested in the struggles of children and adolescents dealing with the confusion of living in a dysfunctional family.Book Look Column Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524822457244417934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-12614178553512887192010-06-01T10:41:00.000-07:002010-06-01T10:45:02.178-07:00BookLook Review "On Stranger Tides"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhap5c35MXQUVUxaVuTb11jJEPSrW8Vry7ekBAHSAyTufxC7EXdW3Y0jWkYflTiPl8UtHuiuVrqjFMOqmhzFFSzipqv4UsyCKuRkI9aoQbOQIloa5fUGi3GKe7OM2nLA8JqYj4lHTXHTtl-/s1600/stranger+tides+pic+3.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 128px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhap5c35MXQUVUxaVuTb11jJEPSrW8Vry7ekBAHSAyTufxC7EXdW3Y0jWkYflTiPl8UtHuiuVrqjFMOqmhzFFSzipqv4UsyCKuRkI9aoQbOQIloa5fUGi3GKe7OM2nLA8JqYj4lHTXHTtl-/s200/stranger+tides+pic+3.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477862691537882722" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">BookLook</span><br />Debbie Balzotti<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">“On Stranger Tides”</span><br />Captain Jack Sparrow will soon take to the seas again and the script is based on the 1987 pirate novel, “On Stranger Tides” by award-winning fantasy author Tim Powers. Tim(oddly both writers are named Tim)Elliott, the co-writer of the first three “Pirates” movies said the story of the novel aligned with where they wanted to take the fourth film being filmed in Hawaii this summer. “We wanted to do a story about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth, and Tim Powers wrote a book about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth... it just turns out that to do that story you would need that book," said Elliott. Therefore, we all must read this book now since everyone else will soon be doing it. <br />“On Stranger Tides” is great story-telling. It’s as fast as a pirate ghost ship skimming the tops of turquoise Caribbean waves. It is also just as shallow – don’t expect too much since this is a tall tale after all. An insane British scientist brings his lovely young daughter Elizabeth to meet up with Blackbeard himself on a quest for the Fountain of Youth. John Chandagnac, a handsome young man also headed for Jamaica is forced to join the pirates and is renamed Jack Shandy. We now have another Captain Jack who is more Orlando Bloom than Johnny Depp. And we have another beautiful Elizabeth who also runs around in a white nightgown. Pirate movie images do appear in your mind as you read this book and I would wager a gold doubloon that Tim Elliott read this book before he wrote the first two movie scripts. They are just too similar.<br />Black magic and voodoo dominate the story and the characters. There is an abundance of sorcery and creepy creatures returning from the dead to dance around on ghostly ship decks. The addition of legendary pirates who actually existed makes the book even more interesting. Their true stories are woven into the tall tale with skillful exaggeration. It’s not a book for young readers or book clubs, but those who enjoy historical fantasy writing will be thrilled and chilled by it. <br />We all know the book is better than the movie, so be sure to read “On Stranger Tides” before the movie comes out in May 2011. And thank you Springville super librarian John Averett for searching for the book for months to place it on our shelves. It should be arriving soon. You may want to call the library to see if it has been added to the collection. Now everyone please check it out to prove my prediction of its inevitable popularity!Book Look Column Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524822457244417934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-51964177745810531722010-04-14T08:39:00.000-07:002010-04-14T08:50:25.055-07:00"Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet" Good Choice for Book Clubs<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5VKoUgAvcLRMCOToPMJCCtz2KrYb72LLp3PznCWmzUpc6vptLepa0vVvmUH1ogJgKnsv4JWVW6luM3O_n_0UC9Lc7XMqAp6hmSrf48YVqkTCtvQzjZSY9ezPa4pVuMKvepTfFfBXN1Q74/s1600/hotel+pic.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 63px; height: 94px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5VKoUgAvcLRMCOToPMJCCtz2KrYb72LLp3PznCWmzUpc6vptLepa0vVvmUH1ogJgKnsv4JWVW6luM3O_n_0UC9Lc7XMqAp6hmSrf48YVqkTCtvQzjZSY9ezPa4pVuMKvepTfFfBXN1Q74/s200/hotel+pic.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460019100991800434" /></a><br />BookLook Review <br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Debbie Balzotti</span><br /><br />Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover – and its title. The shimmering cover photo design has two children walking under very different umbrellas. The young girl is carrying a beautiful Japanese parasol and the boy, wearing pants that are a little too short, is hidden under a plain American style green umbrella. The title printed across the top, “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet”, called to me from the library shelf and I’m glad I listened. <br /><br />Author Jamie Ford has written an impressive award winning novel. He is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung who came from China and adopted the Western name “Ford”. It’s a bit confusing to think of Ford as a Chinese American author, but his perspective helps the characters come alive for the reader. The writing is not particularly brilliant but it is so nice to find a book of historical fiction that doesn’t jar the reader with gory violent details, or coarse language that you can overlook his inexperience. It has rapidly become a best seller despite being a debut novel for Ford.<br /><br />The cast of characters is unique for the 1940’s back story. Henry Lee is a 12 year old Chinese boy who befriends a young Japanese American girl Keiko at their otherwise all-white school. His other friend is an adult African American Jazz musician named Sheldon. This unlikely trio provides a unique view of the infamous round up of Japanese Americans in Seattle and their relocation to internment camps during World War II. <br /><br />The story of the present day begins in 1986 as Henry watches the once beautiful Panama Hotel begin its path to renovation with a press announcement. The Panama Hotel stood as a gateway between Chinatown and Japantown in Seattle during the war years. It was boarded up and survived demolition until a buyer decided to return it to its former glory. In the basement she discovered hundreds of boxes and crates hidden by Japanese families as they were suddenly forced to leave everything behind. Henry hopes to find the belongings of his childhood friend Keiko.<br /><br />The title “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” does predict the story inside. The story has a few surprises but is mostly dependable as it takes the reader between two time periods and two cultures. Life is bitter and sweet. Decisions are made which bring heartbreak and joy. Commitments are kept and broken and love and forgiveness are possible along the journey.Book Look Column Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524822457244417934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-21839274942146428782010-04-14T08:29:00.000-07:002010-04-14T08:45:24.359-07:00"Sand Sharks"<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDuD2ecV0-tTPVaaVlD5zOAvWKV70WvL4L1uAoM_Cpm8alr74SLndtm4br1mxi6vNmega3H8bkHnpjM0ej6ZAhs5a3ir30URTy6-6zQhuFHhawH57Hb2GRwDpZCbW6FH0CTxvWzJRsxPAF/s1600/sand+sharks+pic.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 60px; height: 94px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDuD2ecV0-tTPVaaVlD5zOAvWKV70WvL4L1uAoM_Cpm8alr74SLndtm4br1mxi6vNmega3H8bkHnpjM0ej6ZAhs5a3ir30URTy6-6zQhuFHhawH57Hb2GRwDpZCbW6FH0CTxvWzJRsxPAF/s200/sand+sharks+pic.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460017079692283314" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">After so many "creepy book" reviews by Mr. Terry, I thought you'd like a little variety to spice up your life.</span><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Debbie Balzotti</span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">BookLook Review</span><br />I was looking for a recorded book that wouldn’t make me blush if someone heard me listening to it. Well, “Sand Sharks” didn’t have any descriptive shower scenes, or graphic blood and gore but it was embarrassing none-the-less. If I could have put a plain brown paper wrapper around the reader’s irritating voice I would have. Driving to Salt Lake City every week, I like to listen to an audio book in the car. I can’t listen very long to NPR without my blood pressure rising and local chat causes me to talk back to the people on the radio who can’t even hear me. Books pleasantly pass the commute time and help me arrive in a good mood despite the eternal construction delays on I15 - usually.<br /><br />“Sand Sharks” written by Margaret Maron (Maron, not moron) is a novel somewhere in the middle of a mystery series featuring Judge Deborah Knott. She’s an idiot. I don’t like her. And she has my name! I don’t care about her personal life lurking in the background and I really don’t care about her southern friends. Words wasted on the descriptions of everything she eats and drinks are also irritating. What made the story worse was the chirpy narrator’s voice dragging me through the ridiculous plot.<br /><br />Beware the enticing description on the back of the cover. “Margaret Maron (moron) never fails to deliver electrifying tales and well-wrought characters.” I guess there’s always a first time Margaret. The story is littered with meaningless clues and concludes with a surprise killer you could never guess since the author didn’t seem sure herself who was going to be the murderer. I liked the idea of the setting being in a North Carolina beach town but found myself annoyed by the obvious name-dropping of stores and restaurants. I wonder how much advertising cash they paid out to be mentioned. <br /><br />Skip this 8 disc disaster and find something better in the library audio book collection. I really appreciate our library keeping it well stocked with new selections since they are expensive to buy and rarely worth listening to again. I wanted to be fair (and optimistically hoped the book would get better) so I endured to the end. It didn’t improve. I’m sure other people will check out this narration when they read “will leave readers awash in well-laid clues” but I can’t recommend it. It may even qualify as verbal abuse.Book Look Column Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524822457244417934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-38267992226034686052010-03-21T21:25:00.000-07:002010-03-21T21:26:37.682-07:00Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BCGEADzO7C8kWnH3Va9TDkCkwxnjCEzPkQZF8G-NXks5c6bH6sEwoYXyZH4PhDf8Gg_q4wlzINOcKYPxKAaPAyD6xa3c5Y9TBLl1uudvY89gdFfuS_fnMPuMMDeLlGWPhWojSLvfaXCe/s1600-h/Abraham+Lincoln+-+Vampire+Hunter.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 133px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451308085691157554" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BCGEADzO7C8kWnH3Va9TDkCkwxnjCEzPkQZF8G-NXks5c6bH6sEwoYXyZH4PhDf8Gg_q4wlzINOcKYPxKAaPAyD6xa3c5Y9TBLl1uudvY89gdFfuS_fnMPuMMDeLlGWPhWojSLvfaXCe/s200/Abraham+Lincoln+-+Vampire+Hunter.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">by Seth Grahame-Smith</span><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2010)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Hardcover, 337 Pages, Historical Fiction</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ISBN: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-Vampire-Seth-Grahame-Smith/dp/0446563080/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1268703102&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">9780446563086</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, US$21.99</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><em><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? <strong>—Edgar Allan Poe</strong></span></em></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;">FACTS</span></strong></div><ol><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">For over 250 years, between 1607 and 1865, vampires thrived in the shadows of America. Few humans believed in them.</span></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Abraham Lincoln was one of the gifted vampire hunters of his day, and kept a secret journal about his lifelong war against them.</span></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Rumors of the journal’s existence have long been a favorite topic among historians and Lincoln biographers. Most dismiss it as myth.</span></div></li></ol><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>From the Cover:</strong> Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother’s bedside. She’s been stricken with something the old-timers call “Milk Sickness.” <em>“My baby boy…”</em> she whispers. Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother’s fatal affliction was actually the work if a vampire. When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, <em>“Henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose…”</em> Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House. While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving the Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon <em>The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln</em> and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years. Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the <em>true</em> life story of our greatest president for the first time—all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Review:</strong> So, when I learned back in <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/and-title-of-quirk-classics-3-is.html">October</a> that Quirk books would (1) be publishing a <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-dawn-of.html">prequel</a> to their wildly successful <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-classic.html"><em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</em></a> and that (2) it would <em>not</em> be penned by PPZ scribe Seth Grahame-Smith, I was very disappointed. However, I then learned in <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/friday-finds-november-6-2009.html">November</a> that it was because Grahame-Smith was writing his <em>own</em> book: <em>Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter</em>, and I think that Grahame-Smith made the right decision. For, as fun as the <em>PPZ</em> prequel was (and I think Grahame-Smith would have made it better than Hockensmith managed) had Grahame-Smith decided to reenter Austen’s zombified universe, the world would have been denied the raucous history-rewriting adventure that is <em>Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter</em>.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I think that what I enjoyed most about this book was Grahame-Smith’s devotion to the central conceit: chiefly, that vampires have been a part of America’s history, to the point that all of the major events of America’s birth are directly attributable to vampire influence. Grahame-Smith even goes so far as to rewrite his <em>own</em> history to fit the events of the novel, writing himself into the Abraham Lincoln-vampire timeline. My only “complaint” (for lack of a better word) about this total commitment to “historical accuracy” is that I wish Grahame-Smith had taken it the final step and made the whole book look like a work of nonfiction complete with an index and faux-Works Cited/Bibliography page. I think that would have gone a long way further down the road to making this seem even more real than it already does.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">That aside, however, the book is an amazing read: unputdownable even. I blasted through it in about three days and thoroughly enjoyed ever minute of it, which at this point (now that my Winter Quarter is over) is the best thing I could ask of a book. What’s more, though, is this is not a brainless book. In fact, <em>Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter</em> is a surprisingly smart book. There is a lot of interesting things going on in the book with race and class (as represented by the vampires).</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I used the word “raucous” earlier to describe <em>ALVH</em> and I really cannot come up with a better description than that. This is a raucous adventure book that has a lot of fun with its central idea and even manages to serve up some surprises. The ending caught me completely off guard, and there are a number of fun cameos within its pages. When it comes to the strange and weird, Seth Grahame-Smith does it better than anyone I have come across in a very long time … and he certainly enjoys doing it, which translates into a joy for the Reader to pick up.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Make no bones about it, <em>Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter</em> is a page-turner that will keep you up and reading into the early hours of the morning … begging for more. I eagerly await Grahame-Smith’s next project…</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-38961676354540721242010-03-10T03:44:00.000-08:002010-03-10T03:45:18.807-08:00Under the Dome (Audio)<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEumj1Cf85LY6cR32Ha-NcknZLQKF7_lmZLnuzTsw6R39zjH5uMokYMVVEWYPCYGOLF3rfUgH9LPs3JpsL2uG7U1N7a1vMaIe1Tf38YBryyqY91ykoIPwxWTlEOmNWkDs-LygVjD-HhVmI/s1600-h/Under+the+Dome+(Audio).jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 172px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440622981961548850" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEumj1Cf85LY6cR32Ha-NcknZLQKF7_lmZLnuzTsw6R39zjH5uMokYMVVEWYPCYGOLF3rfUgH9LPs3JpsL2uG7U1N7a1vMaIe1Tf38YBryyqY91ykoIPwxWTlEOmNWkDs-LygVjD-HhVmI/s200/Under+the+Dome+(Audio).jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">by </span><a href="http://www.stephenking.com/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Stephen King</span></a><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">read by Raúl Esparza</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">with an Afterword by The Author</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(New York: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2009)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">MP3 Audiobook, 2.88 GB, 34.4 Hours, Fiction</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ISBN: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Under-Dome-Novel-Stephen-King/dp/0743597303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1260614691&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">9780743597302</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, US$75.00</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong></strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>From the Cover:</strong> On an otherwise normal, beautiful day, the town of Chester’s Mill, Maine is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world in <em>Under the Dome</em>, Stephen King’s biggest, most riveting novel since <em>The Stand</em>.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Review:</strong> So, I feel like I am in an abusive relationship with Stephen King.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">When we first started our relationship together, he was wonderful. He never failed to disappoint, he was intriguing, he had interesting things to say, I enjoyed spending time with him, and even lost track of time when we were together. Then, after fifteen or twenty years of being together, the relationship started to get a little stale, and often we had to fall back on the “good times” we used to have together, and I started looking at other people, even enjoyed spending time with other people. Then, things got violent. He would promise me something new and exciting and I would, like a fool, keep coming back in spite of the fact that I kept getting hurt. However, I kept telling myself that maybe this time it would be different. This time would be more like the early days of our relationship. Yet, in spite of all that I was hurt time and time again, some times painfully hurt. Then, just when I was about to give up entirely on our relationship and begin divorce proceedings, he came to me one more time and told me he was sorry about everything he had done over the last decade or so, and that he really <em>had</em> changed, and look … I can make it just like the old days. Without daring to hope for much, I started to believe what he was telling me and I went crawling back; expecting to be hurt at every turn, but daring to hope that he really <em>had</em> changed.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I <em>think</em> he has … but we’ll get to that in a minute.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">After the stinker that was <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/duma-key.html"><em>Duma Key</em></a> and the disappointment that was <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/just-after-sunset-stories.html"><em>Just After Sunset</em></a> I had almost decided that I was going to stick with King’s earlier stuff (i.e. pre-2000) and then the hype surrounding <em>Under the Dome</em> started and I began to believe again … mostly because this was a retooling (and updating) of material that he had started and stopped in the late 70s and early 80s. I got the hardcover from my parents for Christmas and was able to get my hands on the audiobook and decided that that would be a much easier way in which to get through this book (given that I had readings for two classes to do as well as prep and readings for an English 101 class I was teaching and picking up King’s largest book to date (1,074) just didn’t seem feasible).</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">There is a lot to say about this book and I’ll try to get to it all, but we’ll see. I scrupulously (maybe even neurotically) stayed away from any and all reviews of the book in order to experience it on my own and form my own opinions of it (this was hard to do since I subscribe to a number of not just book blogs but also blogs that are concerned with the horror industry) and as of this writing, I still have not read any outside reviews of the book.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">First and foremost, I will unconditionally say that this is the best Stephen King novel in at least the last four or five years (since <em>Cell</em>). Why? Well, since King’s accident in 1999 there has been a change in the tone of King’s novels. <em>Dreamcatcher</em>, <em>From a Buick 8</em>, <em>Lisey’s Story</em>, <em>Duma Key</em> … they’re all much different than, say, <em>The</em> <em>Shining</em>, <em>It</em>, <em>The Stand</em>. They are much more intimate novels, and I don’t know that I can explain it any better than that. They don’t seem as encompassing in their scope as some of King’s prior novels did (the exceptions to that rule are, perhaps, the last three novels in <em>The Dark Tower</em> series). With <em>Under the Dome</em>, though, some of that scope is brought back. This is a much bigger novel than any King has produced recently, not only in length, but also in scope. This is a novel on a par with <em>The Stand</em> and <em>It</em>. (Though as such, it suffers from some of the same problems that those larger novels do) and shows off King’s real talent for creating characters.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Second, this is a <em>long</em> book. That may be the understatement of the year, but I think it still warrants saying. In print it is 1,074 pages long, and in audio it is 34.4 hours long. It takes a major commitment to sit down and read or listen to <em>Under the Dome</em>. It took me 45 days to through it. Often I had to roll back the time on my iPod to remind myself what was going on if it there had been some time between listening sessions. I imagine that reading the book would present some of the same problems, though I would imagine that it would be <strong>(1)</strong> easier to backtrack in the print edition and <strong>(2)</strong> the fact that there is not only a map in the front of the book but also a <em>Dramatis Personae</em> list of a kind. (Though, I will say that when I was done with the audiobook and looked at the map in the front of the book, my vision of the geography of Chester’s Mill was <em>much</em> different than that of the map’s, and I’m not even sure that the map’s conforms entirely to King’s descriptions, in that it seems that on the map things are <em>much</em> closer together than they are in the book.)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Third, and this holds true for many of King’s longer books (especially <em>It</em> and <em>The Stand</em>), the build-up in the book is much more exciting than the denouement and conclusion. The set-up to<em> Under the Dome</em> is absolutely brilliant, and King constructs some very interesting inter-personal dynamics as things start to unravel (Second Selectman “Big Jim” Rennie is a good (if somewhat stereotypical) villain (if there was any sort of cosmic justice, he’d be played by the late-J.T. Walsh in any sort of film adaptation of the book)) but when the novel takes 900 pages to set up and only 100 to get out … it was bound to be <em>somewhat</em> disappointing. When the explanation for the dome arrived, I felt quite let down and it seemed more like an original <em>Star Trek</em> episode-like explanation (with Shatner and Nimoy and the rest) than something from Stephen King. But that kind of <em>deus ex machina</em> is what happens in <em>The Stand</em> and <em>It</em> and so I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything different from a novel of similar length, but I was kind of hoping … I was also a little disappointed in the finale of “Big Jim” Rennie’s character. I was hoping for something a little more dramatic, once again, there is a lot of set up but very little pay-off, though one might be able to read a certain amount of karmic intervention in what happens to Rennie.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Fourth. While I miss having the late-Frank Muller growl his way through <em>Under the Dome</em>, and would have thought that either Campbell Scott or Ron McLarty would have been the choice to narrate this tale. I have to admit though, that Raúl Esparza (a new audio Reader to me) does an excellent job of bringing King’s words to life. My one nitpick with his reading though, is that all the children under the age of ten in the book sound like their noses are stuffed up.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">What it boils down to is that if King’s next books (he has talked about an eighth <em>Dark Tower</em> book <em>The Wind Through the Keyhole</em>, writing a sequel to <em>The Shining</em> titled <em>Doctor Sleep</em>, a collection of novellas (coming out November 2010) <em>Full Dark, no Stars</em>, and a third part to <em>The Talisman</em>-<em>Black House</em> series) are anything like <em>Under the Dome</em>, I think that I’m prepared take him back, even though he’s hurt me in the past. With <em>Under the Dome</em> he’s promised he won’t hurt me any more.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-21075937350779827732010-03-10T03:42:00.000-08:002010-03-10T03:44:05.405-08:00Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6Ap9Uw9HuTSUf0K3ScL0tCTvIwYi7mmli5JpAAcI7ZSghPlM9KcfKYvoSKAPRPcg-e4ugQ-56swosYPA0aCXkl9vkUUyxYahIUpHuHgviT_g5Kk3Jhe2Abv9wTpzDNrLl0gd61b2gfcP/s1600-h/Pride+and+Prejudice+and+Zombies+-+Dawn+of+the+Dreadfuls.jpg"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 131px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444335782898524322" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe6Ap9Uw9HuTSUf0K3ScL0tCTvIwYi7mmli5JpAAcI7ZSghPlM9KcfKYvoSKAPRPcg-e4ugQ-56swosYPA0aCXkl9vkUUyxYahIUpHuHgviT_g5Kk3Jhe2Abv9wTpzDNrLl0gd61b2gfcP/s200/Pride+and+Prejudice+and+Zombies+-+Dawn+of+the+Dreadfuls.jpg" /></span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">by </span><a href="http://www.stevehockensmith.com/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Steve Hockensmith</span></a><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">illustrations by </span><a href="http://www.patrickarrasmith.com/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Patrick Arrasmith</span></a></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2010)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Trade Paperback, 287 Pages, Fiction</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ISBN: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Dreadfuls-Classics/dp/1594744548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1267607983&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">9781594744549</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, US$12.95</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>From the Cover:</strong> Readers will witness the birth of a heroine in <em>Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em>—a thrilling prequel set four years <em>before</em> the horrific events of <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</em>. As our story opens, the Bennet sisters are enjoying a peaceful life in the English countryside. They idle away the days reading, gardening, and daydreaming about future husbands—until a funeral at the local parish goes strangely and horribly awry. Suddenly corpses are springing from the soft earth—and only one family can stop them. As the bodies pile up, we watch Elizabeth Bennet evolve from a naïve young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead. Along the way, two men vie for her affections: Master Hawksworth is the powerful warrior who trains her to kill, while thoughtful Dr. Keckilpenny seeks to conquer the walking dead using science instead of strength. Will either man win the prize of Elizabeth’s heart? Or will their hearts be feasted upon by hordes of marauding zombies? Complete with romance, action, comedy, and an army of shambling corpses, <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em> will have Jane Austen rolling in her grave—and just might inspire her to crawl out of it!</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Review:</strong> Okay, when I first heard about Quirk Books was going to be releasing a prequel to their breakaway success <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</em> (my review is <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-classic.html">HERE</a>) I was of two minds. This is <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/and-title-of-quirk-classics-3-is.html">what I said</a> when I first heard of <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em>:</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><blockquote><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Now, I don’t know how I feel about this one, because up until this point, Quirk Classics has had a winning formula: you take a “stuffy” classic novel and put something unexpected in it, hence <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-classic.html"><em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</em></a> and <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/sense-and-sensibility-and-sea-monsters.html"><em>Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters</em></a>. Now, though, they’re mixing it up and creating a new text out of something that didn’t exist before. To the best of my knowledge, there was no prequel to <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> and so I’m somewhat dubious as to how effective this particular one will be. I would have preferred <em>Wuthering Heights and Werewolves</em> or <em>Mansfield Park and Monsters</em> or <em>Persuasion and Poltergeists</em> personally.</span></blockquote></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">After reading <em>Dawn</em> … I don’t know that I am ready to back away from that statement. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t like <em>Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em>, it just means that I need to reassess my position <em>vis-à-vis</em> what this book is.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">It is not a strict mash-up in the way that <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</em> or <em>Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters</em> (reviewed <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/sense-and-sensibility-and-sea-monsters.html">HERE</a>) were or like what I expect <em>Android Karenina</em> will be. This is a whole new animal and a number of times as I was reading I had to remind myself that this is not a mash-up.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Now, before we go any further, I need to mention that the copy of the book I got was an ARC that Quirk Books sent to me as part of their “All-Out-Worldwide-Zombie-Blog-Explosion-2010” wherein bloggers all over the interwebs are posting advanced reviews of <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em> on March 3, 2010.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">That said and all that legal mumbo-jumbo out of the way … I loved this book for what it was. This is a really fun read. What Hockensmith has done a really good job of recreating Jane Austen’s style as well as recreating the feel of its predecessor. I bring this up because that was one of my chief concerns regarding this book was <em>“Would it </em>sound<em> like an Austen novel?”</em> Because that was the point of both <em>Zombies</em> and <em>Sea Monsters</em>: they simultaneously spoofed and honored Austen’s novels. They amplified Austen’s social comedies, heightening the absurdities of Austen’s time (class differences, social manners, etc.) with the inclusion of zombies or sea serpents.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I was worried that <em>Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em>, as a completely original novel, would not achieve the same level of pastiche and satire. As I said, above, my fears have been laid to rest (no pun intended) on that fact because Hockensmith does manage to do what Grahame-Smith and Winters accomplished before him.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">In fact, <em>Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em> reminds me a lot of Simon Pegg’s 2004 self-described “Rom-Zom-Com” <em>Shaun of the Dead</em>. Much in the way that <em>Shaun</em> employs the conventions of zombie and horror films at the same time that it satirizes them and satirizing the conventions of a comedy of manners, <em>Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em> does that with not just zombie conventions, but the conventions of the Jane Austen-esque social comedy as well. Yes <em>Dreadfuls</em> is a zombie novel. And yes <em>Dreadfuls</em> is, technically speaking, a horror novel, but really, at the heart of it, <em>Dreadfuls</em> is a romantic comedy setting Elizabeth Bennet up in a series of <em>pas de deux</em> relationships (occurring in and amongst beheadings, dismemberings and devourings) that set the stage for her personality and quirks in <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> (<em>and Zombies</em>).</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Now, for as much as I enjoyed the book—and I do always love a good and bloody horror story—I did have some issues with <em>Dreadfuls</em>.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">First and foremost, the story that Hockensmith sets up in <em>Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em> is one that would benefit best from a sense of danger or peril for our main characters, <em>i.e.</em> the Bennet sisters. However, knowing that Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia all show up not just <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> but <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</em> along with their father and mother, and that Mr. Darcy, Mr. Bingley and Mr. Wickham are all in the future of the Bennet sisters … there was no sense of any kind of anxiety when any of the girls are in peril during the final third of the book. This is, admittedly, a problem with <em>any</em> prequel and not just <em>Dreadfuls</em> and one which, for all of Hockensmith’s other accomplishments in the book, he is unable to overcome. There absolutely is no sense of urgency and anxiety surrounding our heroines. Certainly secondary characters are in peril, but since none of them are as strongly created as the Bennets, it is hard to make any kind of connection to Master Hawksworth, Dr. Keckilpenny, Captain Cannon and Lord Lumpley and so when they are imperiled by the hordes of undead, I had a hard time caring about them.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Perhaps this speaks to Hockensmith’s abilities to create believable and sympathetic characters since the best characters in the book are in fact Austen’s creations and everyone else are cardboard cutout characters from various horror stories. And don’t even get me started on the character of Lord Lumpley—one of the most repulsive characters I have ever had the displeasure of running across in literature, to the point that when (at the risk of spoiling) he meets his inevitable end (though from an unexpected source, I <em>will</em> give Hockensmith that) I was just glad that he was out of the way and I didn’t have to endure his presence in the novel any more. He really is an unpleasant and distasteful character, and not even in the good You-Love-to-Hate-Them way … he is repulsive in every sense of the word.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I was also disappointed in the character of Master Hawksworth, but I’m not sure how I could discuss the problems I had with him without giving away any major plot points, so I will leave it in the realm of generalities and say that what I found so objectionable was what Hockensmith considered a tragic flaw in Hawksworth’s character was obviously a convenient way in which to remove the character from the action at a key moment. I felt it was beneath the character and insulting to my intelligence as a Reader.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">However, all of these flaws that I found with the book do not diminish the overall affect of the book and the enjoyment I had in reading it. This is a really fun romp of a book, all things considered, and while I received my copy free of charge, I was ready to shell out the cover price for the book, and at the end of the day, I would not have felt cheated of my $12.95 had I <em>needed</em> to pay, and neither should you. This book is well worth the price of admission. (And be sure to stick around for the great post-credits-esque cameo at the end of the novel. A lot of fun in that Ferris-Bueller-walking-down-the-hall-and-shooing-the-audience-out-of-the-theater-kind-of-way.)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Now, I should mention that the book is not available in stores for another two weeks. <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em> will be available for purchase on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. (The link in the ISBN in the header of this post will take you to Amazon’s page for <em>DoD</em> where you can pre-order.) However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the gooey, bloody zombie goodness in the meantime. First of all, get thee a copy of <em>Pride and Prejudice and Zombies</em> if you haven’t already. This is definitely a situation where a knowledge of the “original” (using that word loosely) adds to the experience of the sequel/prequel.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Second: you can find <em>Dawn of the Dreadfuls</em> online at Quirk’s page for the book <a href="http://www.quirkclassics.com/index.php?q=dawnofthedreadfuls">HERE</a></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(Yes, I’m shilling shamelessly for Quirk Books, but hey, free advance review copies of good books make whores of us all.)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Until next time…</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-77477831113495035662010-03-10T03:40:00.001-08:002010-03-21T21:27:38.846-07:00Watchmen<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo1euB_aySPbTyVsqlAy0IW_xM_KcrUP2v3eRpQmSgsSgwi6bU4PqdDUgxSXfP9mQ35jsFjY7N4RsZR99p9HCMzGDCCniaP7Qv-LIoN9GOtF2wSa0ysN1SxNl702tpnAdZy8CM5mQXYkdx/s1600-h/Watchmen.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 129px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446964303131617522" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo1euB_aySPbTyVsqlAy0IW_xM_KcrUP2v3eRpQmSgsSgwi6bU4PqdDUgxSXfP9mQ35jsFjY7N4RsZR99p9HCMzGDCCniaP7Qv-LIoN9GOtF2wSa0ysN1SxNl702tpnAdZy8CM5mQXYkdx/s200/Watchmen.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">by Alan Moore<br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">illustrated by Dave Gibbons</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(New York: DC Comics, 1987)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Trade Paperback, 416 Pages, Graphic Novel</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ISBN: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/0930289234/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1268206370&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">9780930289232</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, US$19.99</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>From the Cover:</strong> <em>Quis custodiet ipsos custodes.</em> Who watches the Watchmen? Someone does. Someone who’s trying to kill them all, one by one. Time’s running out for the Watchmen…</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Review:</strong> So, I’ve been avoiding doing any actual work the last two days. I have two papers to write and had papers to grade, but I just haven’t been “feelin’ it” lately, so I pulled <em>Watchmen</em> off of the library shelf in the front room Sunday afternoon (I had checked it out on a whim on our Saturday trip to the library) and have been reading to, as I said, avoid doing any real work.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">In my misspent youth, I was into comic books. I was a Marvel reader. I enjoyed the exploits of Gambit, Wolverine, the Punisher and Ghost Rider, little knowing that a lot of what I liked about those characters—their moral ambiguity, their personal character flaws, their equivocation—owed so very much to what Alan Moore penned in the mid-1980s. The Comedian, Rorschach, Nite Owl, Ozymandias are all direct influences on the characters that have come after them (and even some that have come before). Really from what I understand of the comic book/superhero world (of which I only have a casual knowledge of), it was the immense popularity of Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/batman-dark-knight-returns.html"><em>The Dark Knight Returns</em></a> (which, incidentally came out the same year as <em>Watchmen</em>) that changed the way the public viewed their superheroes.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">All this aside though, as a burgeoning literary critic and academic-in-embryo, <em>Watchmen</em> fascinates me on a literary level. This is a plot and story that is easily the equal of the best Cold War-era writers, such as Philip Roth and Don DeLillo. As some one who has been working to make the case that Stephen King is not only worthy of critical inquiry but can sustain it, far be it from me to dismiss <em>Watchmen</em> because it is “just a comic book.” That statement oversimplifies a very snobbish literary world view and causes one to overlook the fact that while, yes, this is “just a comic book” it is a comic book unlike any comic book before it … and after it for that matter. There have been many pretenders to <em>Watchmen</em>’s throne, but all have fallen short (if that doesn’t sound too pretentious). The cultural critique and insightful Cold War commentary that Moore has created in this format is nothing short of amazing. I don’t mean that to sound patronizing either, I’m not saying <em>“Oh, look at what the comic book writer was able to do. You deserve a gold star.”</em> No, what I am saying is that Moore took a format that was relatively simplistic and black-and-white in terms of its politics (as well as being deeply conservative) and turned it into something that was insightful, biting, relevant in its immediacy and even revolutionary (if that’s not too loaded a term for you).</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Add to all of this the fact that Moore does this in the mid- to late-80s and it is nothing short of astounding. That Moore is able to do what he has done in <em>Watchmen</em> from <em>within</em> the Cold War rather than from without (i.e. at a distance of time) in terms of social commentary and critique makes <em>Watchmen</em> worthy of anyone’s attention, setting aside that it has a kick ass story; the story, in my mind is secondary to the critique.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Before I go (it is nearly 3:00 a.m. on the West Coast as I write this and I have to be up and teach English 101 at 8:30) I want to say that I think <em>Watchmen</em> has taken some unfair hits in the last decade (it’s weird to think that 2000 has been a <em>decade</em> ago) as tired and predictable from mainstream critics and especially in the run up to and in the wake of the 2009 film. What one has to remember, especially as the release of <em>Watchmen</em> fades into the fog of the last 24 years, is that <em>Watchmen</em> was existential and morally ambiguous and ambivalent before many of the other comics were. Yes, there was The Punisher, and Wolverine, but they still operated on a level of “good,” “justice” and “right.” In <em>Watchmen</em>, what’s “good” and “just” and “right” isn’t always obvious, and these are concepts that are often contradictory in Moore’s universe, and as such, it all makes for a much more interesting and complex story.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-9082281902163975702010-03-10T03:39:00.000-08:002010-03-10T03:40:37.359-08:00Shutter Island (Audio)<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhudk3qtw8xRpq04EaXpwm5aQ6aDaff1AJFgzfdAH_cR5n6z108MyvEssoUoG0P-a-rBIj14fG-R5Ubvp-iljOIGTBb8aCoTC6SZrfyet7ID34qTIa_Qp-4Zt-Td0q_x8or_5lUpetNFlRl/s1600-h/Shutter+Island+(Audio).jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 198px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446945317191178146" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhudk3qtw8xRpq04EaXpwm5aQ6aDaff1AJFgzfdAH_cR5n6z108MyvEssoUoG0P-a-rBIj14fG-R5Ubvp-iljOIGTBb8aCoTC6SZrfyet7ID34qTIa_Qp-4Zt-Td0q_x8or_5lUpetNFlRl/s200/Shutter+Island+(Audio).jpg" /></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">by </span><a href="http://www.dennislehanebooks.com/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Dennis Lehane</span></a><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">read by Tom Stechshulte</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(Prince Frederick: Recorded Books, LLC, 2003)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">MP3 Audiobook, 881.9 MB, 9.6 Hours, Fiction</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ISBN: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shutter-Island-Low-Price-MTI/dp/006190628X/ref=ed_oe_a"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">9780061906282</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, US$19.99</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>From the Cover:</strong> Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane looms like a fortress on Shutter Island. As a massive hurricane swirls toward the island, U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels arrives with his new partner, Chuck Aule, to track down an escaped patient—a murderess who may hold the key to what really happens in the locked wards and laboratories. But as Teddy digs deeper into the workings of the hospital, nothing is as it seems…</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Review:</strong> I have had this book on my To-Be-Read List for quite some time now, but had never gotten around to it. Then, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio decided to turn Lehane’s book into a film, and I knew I had better get on the horn and read (so to speak) before I had the plot’s twists and turns spoiled for me by some careless movie reviewer or movie goer. It was a rough road, but I scrupulously avoided any and all discussions of the film and potential plot spoilers as I worked my way through <em>Shutter Island</em> and in the end, it was very much worth it because I was genuinely taken along for the twisting ride that Lehane has created and enjoyed every minute of it, trying to work out the mysteries of Ashecliffe for myself.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Now, any real discussion of the plot of <em>Shutter Island</em> is going to run the risk of spoilers, but I will do my level best not to spoil anything for those who have not either already read the book or seen the movie. It will be difficult however, since there are, by my count, four major <em>Sixth Sense­</em>-style rug-pulling plot twists that make the Reader/Listener completely reevaluate their understanding of what has been going on. I hope that that is as plot-spoiler-y as it gets, but no promises.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">As much as I tried to avoid any exposure to the plot, a few things leaked through here and there, so I had a general sense from the beginning that nothing was as it seemed that knew to be wary of any and all characters that waltzed across the page, including that of Teddy Daniels (whose view and perspective frames the story (even though it is not told in the first person)), however, when the revelations started coming it was fast and furious and, as I said above, absolutely enjoyable. Though, I do have one bit of the plot that didn’t work for me, given what the eventual outcome of the plot. Being as vague as possible, I felt that the woman in the cave is never satisfactorily explained by the penultimate twist. What she reveals and what she represents flies doesn’t exactly contradict the end, but neither is it supported by the end, and so I’m left to wonder what the point of including her in the story at all does, other than to deepen the ominous atmosphere and sense of paranoia that Lehane is seeking to create.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I will say that one of the key factors in enjoying this book was the Reader. Tom Stechshulte is one of the best Readers that I have come across, and I will definitely be on the look out for more audiobooks that he reads. His gravelly bass voice is ideal for the <em>noir</em> sensibilities that Lehane injects into <em>Shutter Island</em> and what he does with the text by way of performance is sublime.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I think that Lehane himself summed it up best when he said that he was deliberately channeling the Brontë sisters when he wrote <em>Shutter Island</em>. That Romantic/Victorian influence is quite clear (possibly with a little Poe thrown in for good measure) and all one would have to do is replace Ashecliffe with Bedlam and U.S. Marshalls with … oh … I dunno, a Revolutionary-Era Redcoat, or (if we’re going the Poe route) an ex-Union soldier (though if we are going the Poe route (with a side trip into Ambrose Bierce) Federal Marshalls have been around since the 1780s, so…). Anyway, the point of all of that was that in spite of all of its post-WWII and Cold War-era and film noir/B-movie trappings, <em>Shutter Island</em> is, at its heart, a novel deeply steeped in the tradition of the Romantic and Victorian eras.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">I cannot recommend this audiobook highly enough, and if you haven’t yet had it all spoiled for you, get your hands on <em>Shutter Island</em> right away, and even if you <em>have</em> seen the movie and do know all the twists and turns, I would still say that you will enjoy <em>Shutter Island</em> in much the same way that, say, <em>The Sixth Sense</em> holds up to a second viewing because now, you’re in the <em>know</em> (and, from what I understand, there are some key plot points in the movie that does not get satisfactorily explained (the anagrams, for instance) that are explained in the book’s <em>dénouement</em>, so that ought to be worth the price of admission right there).</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-46026549439889486282010-01-12T18:03:00.000-08:002010-01-12T18:06:38.578-08:00"The Madonnas of Leningrad" - another book club book bag choice<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXmONVyhNLiwg2-n_WtL1ENh2RzzbyyX7z3kP7uVdVMMrnInQ_bGsVNdicg11JIL1ACEw_S-vX-nGP8up6fB41H5T7IATJ4BciYOIdMMfvcJ7zsE0x3f51pj5O-TDr5FiKZWAqQIBf8Bb/s1600-h/madonnas+pic.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 62px; height: 94px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYXmONVyhNLiwg2-n_WtL1ENh2RzzbyyX7z3kP7uVdVMMrnInQ_bGsVNdicg11JIL1ACEw_S-vX-nGP8up6fB41H5T7IATJ4BciYOIdMMfvcJ7zsE0x3f51pj5O-TDr5FiKZWAqQIBf8Bb/s200/madonnas+pic.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426040023920206978" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">This is a big heads up for book clubs. It is a great book BUT there is an explicit "sex scene" so don't choose it for your book club without asking them first, and/or reading it first.<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />BookLook January 21<br />“The Madonnas of Leningrad”<br /></span><br />The painful lament of 82 year old Marina’s husband strikes a chord with all of us who have seen a loved one develop Alzheimer’s disease – also known as the long goodbye. "She is leaving him, not all at once, which would be painful enough, but in a wrenching succession of separations. One moment she is here, and then she is gone again, and each journey takes her a little farther from his reach. He cannot follow her, and he wonders where she goes when she leaves." <br /><br />Marina goes back in her memory to Leningrad during the German siege. As a young woman she was a docent at the Hermitage Museum before the war. She then spent 90 months of cold and hunger in the cellar of the museum during the famous siege of her city. After crating and hiding the famous paintings, statues and thousands of irreplaceable treasures, the museum staff and their families took shelter under the museum – all 2,000 of them. The frames were left on the walls as symbols of hope that the paintings would soon return. But the weeks stretched into months and many died from starvation. One of the elderly attendants at the museum teaches Marina how to build a “memory palace” to keep an accurate catalog of the missing treasures. As she wanders between the empty cavernous galleries, the vacant frames are filled by her memories of title, artist, color and composition. <br /><br />One of the most poignant scenes occurs as spring arrives in Leningrad and Marina takes a group of young military cadets on a tour of the bare, dripping Hermitage Museum. As she passionately describes each glowing painting from her memory palace, a wondrous thing happens to the little tour group. Everyone can see the paintings through her eyes as she sketches on the blank walls. And then we are back to the present, and Marina’s tragic Alzheimer’s locks the door to the museum forever. <br /><br />The author Debra Dean takes the reader between Marina’s present-day confusion at her granddaughter’s wedding in the Northwest, and her clear memories of the terrible winter of 1941 in Russia. It is a love story about Marina and her family and Marina and the art of the Hermitage Museum. My only complaint was that it was a little too short, and I was left wanting more of the story of the Leningrad siege. It is a great debut novel with the caution that there is one scene of intimacy between Marina and her fiancé that is explicit. Skip that passage if you want to and still enjoy a very well-written book.Book Look Column Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524822457244417934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-37190488272895154212009-12-29T09:50:00.000-08:002009-12-29T09:59:52.802-08:00"Peace like a River" A Book From the library Book Club Bag<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzn4IBxcapnWX_92Ck3EKM5knjIc5XTA60bF1TEt8K9GB8IxUCnoHfGibqJUJc7Zvu2HR7p5AVntpD8eMg6oBHOzTzq_dV06SL2IU2VLG-b8vdjqn-8oTzYfX70PVogs3UpxcxdAXjEMv/s1600-h/peace+like+a+river.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 62px; height: 94px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzn4IBxcapnWX_92Ck3EKM5knjIc5XTA60bF1TEt8K9GB8IxUCnoHfGibqJUJc7Zvu2HR7p5AVntpD8eMg6oBHOzTzq_dV06SL2IU2VLG-b8vdjqn-8oTzYfX70PVogs3UpxcxdAXjEMv/s200/peace+like+a+river.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5420719328144627874" /></a><br />BookLook December 31<br /><br />Debbie Balzotti<br /><br />“Peace like a River”<br /><br />The first book of the year for book club is a very important selection. The pressure can be intense but I have a solution – a New Year’s resolution solution. Resolve to use the library’s book club kits. Our book club chose to read “Peace like a River” by Leif Enger from the library’s list of book club kits. Each canvas bag contains several paperback copies of the title and may be checked out for 5 weeks by one of the club members. It is a great gift to the book club community. Just stop by the reference desk or go online to reserve the book your group would like to read without the worry about availability. Maybe that person (every club has one who doesn’t read the book) making the New Year’s resolution to read one book this year will do it if you put the book into their reluctant hands? Now you have two resolutions on track for the New Year!<br /><br />“Peace like a River” was published in 2001 and was a best seller on all the lists including the New York Times. It continues to be a popular novel almost ten years later. Not quite a classic, but getting close to that status. It is a beautifully written novel filled with unforgettable characters. The story is narrated by eleven-year-old Reuben Land. Reuben brought miracles to his little family from the moment of his birth in 1951. When Doctor Nokes gave up trying to get Reuben’s tiny lungs to fill with air, the baby’s father rushed across the room, smacked the doctor to the floor, snatched up the still, grey child and commanded him to breathe. “Mother cried out, Dad turned back to me, a clay child wrapped in a canvas coat, and said in a normal voice, “Reuben Land, in the name of the living god I am telling you to breathe.”<br /><br />When tragedy strikes the small Midwestern family, they begin a journey in an Airstream trailer that reminds the reader of early western cowboy tales. The oldest son Davy at only age sixteen has been convicted of murder. When he escapes from jail his father, brother and little sister head out to find him shadowed by “the putrid fed” who is convinced that the family will find Davy and then he can arrest him. The adventure has a mystical quality since it is described by an eleven-year-old boy who still believes in fairy tale endings and biblical miracles.<br /><br />I hope our book club chooses more titles from the library kits. The books are selected by the librarians to provide good reading and good discussion. “Peace like a River” was the perfect choice to start off twelve months of great literature for 2010.Book Look Column Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524822457244417934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-51105101367918204302009-12-26T14:16:00.000-08:002009-12-26T14:19:44.910-08:00Christmas List - don't put it on your list<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYO3JIduDsrBUhmRWYjjfEZgxZgM3dlgM4aTdk3tCG6Jdq2_UTcFB31810iAFIyYejY9m-u2pdumRYxjKsKSERjBPoo9nHmcQAAtPoDRHhhXTrSHmUahZ-o3JdwtbnlqluOwEBbvPPPS2K/s1600-h/christmas+list.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 66px; height: 94px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYO3JIduDsrBUhmRWYjjfEZgxZgM3dlgM4aTdk3tCG6Jdq2_UTcFB31810iAFIyYejY9m-u2pdumRYxjKsKSERjBPoo9nHmcQAAtPoDRHhhXTrSHmUahZ-o3JdwtbnlqluOwEBbvPPPS2K/s200/christmas+list.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5419673102813569458" /></a><br />BookLook December <br /><br />Debbie Balzotti <br /><br />“The Christmas List”<br /><br />Richard Paul Evans has discovered something very important. There is a recipe for Christmas books. You may think that the recipe you have for your granny’s sugar cookies is priceless, but if you had the recipe for best selling Christmas books you would really have something valuable. Evan’s first sugary treat was delicious. “The Christmas Box” was something new with an inspirational message for all readers. We ate it up. Unfortunately, “The Christmas List” tastes a little too similar to his other books and we were hoping for something more.<br /><br />The main character of this little book, and it is a little book with lots of blank space on the pages, is based on Scrooge. Dickens introduced us to the idea that a pathetic miser could be redeemed and we love his story. In this updated version, James Kier reads his own obituary in the newspaper and is naturally alarmed. I had a similar experience a couple of years ago when my BookLook column was placed on the obit page. With the book title “Left to Tell” and my picture the same size as the gentleman’s obituary printed right next to me, it was a bit unsettling. <br /><br />Now, back to the story. Kier tries to make amends for a life focused on money but discovers that every damaged relationship cannot be mended. Some mistakes can be fixed, but some come with unalterable consequences. It is a sad but true lesson. Fortunately, having lots of money seems to help make things up to people though. Buying someone a house, giving a big pay raise to an employee, or paying for something your son wants will get you some forgiveness. Is this part of the lesson Evans wants us to learn? I think his message of “good will toward men” is a good one and we do need reminders about what is important.<br /><br />We can read “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens every year and enjoy the experience. “The Christmas List” is a once read then re-gifted book. I know there are many fans of Richard Paul Evans (the Utah author with three names) so I can make someone very happy if I put it in a basket with a batch of granny’s delicious sugar cookies to sweeten the read.Book Look Column Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16524822457244417934noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-43530150556218665112009-10-28T11:17:00.000-07:002009-10-28T11:24:19.637-07:00<div align="center">Now is your chance to join a book club! Check out this month's fun, wholesome book club meetings. Sign up and check out now at the reference desk!</div><br /><div align="center">For moms and daughters, this month's selection is "Esperanza Rising" by Pam Munoz Ryan. We will be meeting on Thursday, November 12th at 7PM.</div><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wbpPNZ2_P8k/SuiK-_woGfI/AAAAAAAAC3Y/ysYRHhhXnXg/s1600-h/Esperanza_Rising.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397716968275450354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 223px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wbpPNZ2_P8k/SuiK-_woGfI/AAAAAAAAC3Y/ysYRHhhXnXg/s320/Esperanza_Rising.jpg" border="0" /></a> </div><div align="center">For adults, check out the Books and Bites club on Tuesday, November 17th @ 12Noon. We are reading "The Leanin' Dog" by K.A. Nuzum.<br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wbpPNZ2_P8k/SuiK-aNB6aI/AAAAAAAAC3Q/xZjDIo1rCuM/s1600-h/Leanin_Dog.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5397716958194035106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 212px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_wbpPNZ2_P8k/SuiK-aNB6aI/AAAAAAAAC3Q/xZjDIo1rCuM/s320/Leanin_Dog.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-47289349497340851092009-10-24T14:03:00.000-07:002010-01-07T14:25:07.478-08:00All Creatures Great and Small<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr01Jp4y70fEV-cBa6HKRlA7g6aXYJUA1nNIqEnuvQeCvkehJoyENrjWS8MXI7WSXaYmg_D9H0eJuuVRzaQSiYlWY1-XI2v-mgJfGHSBOFuq6ZfM3h8W96OyFkh4G3-9Fgffa4dSvGpcY/s1600-h/51ZZ3ZJAWCL__SL500_AA240_.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396275606289754706" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr01Jp4y70fEV-cBa6HKRlA7g6aXYJUA1nNIqEnuvQeCvkehJoyENrjWS8MXI7WSXaYmg_D9H0eJuuVRzaQSiYlWY1-XI2v-mgJfGHSBOFuq6ZfM3h8W96OyFkh4G3-9Fgffa4dSvGpcY/s320/51ZZ3ZJAWCL__SL500_AA240_.jpg" /></a> I'd put it off for as long as I could remember. I knew that they all came highly recommended. There was just one major drawback--I don't really like animals much. I have been known to like one here and another there, but in general? No, I can't say that I care to read all about them. But in the back of my mind the books were always waiting for me, waiting for me to give them a chance.<br /><br />From the first sentence I was hooked. I'm always interested where I find extraordinary writing, but I confess I hadn't expected to find in in a country veterinarian from Yorkshire. I was amazed to find myself devouring accounts of bovine obstetrics, canine broken bones, and various disgusting diseases, but devour it I did. The masterful descriptions on the idyllic scenery, the amazing recoveries, and the endearing stories of colorful characters. . .<br /><p>It's often amazed me that the people of whom I have a less than stellar first impression turn out being my very best friends--almost without fail. It shouldn't surprise me that these books are now the main source of entertainment in our home these days. I feel like I've made friends with history.</p><ul><li><div align="left"><em>All Creatures Great and Small</em></div></li><li><div align="left"><em>All Things Bright and Beautiful</em></div></li><li><div align="left"><em>All Things Wise and Wonderful</em></div></li><li><div align="left"><em>The Lord God Made Them All</em></div></li><li><div align="left"><em>Every Living Thing<br /></div></li></ul></em>Rachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05215190791763488983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-49792187150485082352009-10-14T01:54:00.000-07:002009-10-14T01:55:06.807-07:00The Spellman Files<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigt4wuq2e9p-QtGpNV-KjmUl2HBDaRSvCdFh1_ea0LNskpSsywoJ5T4DRPU_bT5nONKckHVVNuCXek0hbD46L7y71duDprynS8fFSpFn-0kPQBiHhXBxBXWNw07vOjmMW_S_lZ2GtloXC/s1600-h/The+Spellman+Files.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392371946167076850" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 132px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgigt4wuq2e9p-QtGpNV-KjmUl2HBDaRSvCdFh1_ea0LNskpSsywoJ5T4DRPU_bT5nONKckHVVNuCXek0hbD46L7y71duDprynS8fFSpFn-0kPQBiHhXBxBXWNw07vOjmMW_S_lZ2GtloXC/s200/The+Spellman+Files.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">by </span><a href="http://lisalutz.com/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Lisa Lutz</span></a><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">-The Spellman Series, Book One-</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Hardcover, 358 Pages, Fiction</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ISBN: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spellman-Files-Novel-Lisa-Lutz/dp/1416532390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1254766422&sr=8-1"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">9781416532392</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, US$25.00</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>From the Cover:</strong> Meet Isabel “Izzy” Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism; she may be addicted to <em>Get Smart</em> reruns and prefer entering homes through windows rather than doors—but the upshot is she’s good at her job as a licensed private investigator with her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people’s privacy comes naturally to Izzy. In fact, it comes naturally to all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office. To be a Spellman is to snoop on a Spellman; tail a Spellman; dig up dirt on, blackmail, and wiretap a Spellman. Part Nancy Drew, part Dirty Harry, Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the bosses, a.k.a. Mom and Dad (preferably without scrutiny); appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother (often under duress); setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who’s become addicted to “recreational surveillance”); and tracking down her uncle (who randomly disappears on benders dubbed “Lost Weekends”). But when Izzy’s parents hire Rae to follow her (for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of Izzy’s new boyfriend), Izzy snaps and decides that the only way she will ever be normal is if she gets out of the family business. But there’s a hitch: she must take one last job before they’ll let her go—a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Review:</strong> So, as I’ve said <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/teaser-tuesdays-ransom-note.html">twice</a> <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/friday-finds-october-9-2009.html">now</a> on <a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/">my blog</a>, I belong to a discussion board book thread where <em>The Spellman Files</em> all of a sudden became all the rage, and rather than get run over by the bandwagon I decided to jump on … and I’m glad I did.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I think I had more fun reading this book than any other book so far this year. What Lutz has done in <em>The Spellman Files</em> is create a cast of some of the quirkiest characters this side of Elmore Leonard and infused it with a tongue-in-cheek sensibility that makes it a pure delight to read.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">If pressed, I’d have to say that my favorite aspect of the novel was either Lutz’s protagonist, Izzy and all of her strangely and simultaneously dysfunctional and completely rational approaches to family and friends and dating and employment; that, or Izzy’s little sister Rae who is easily of the greatest teenage characters not currently enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (though one can only imagine the problems Rae would give Argus Filch and Severus Snape as she prowled the castle’s corridors after hours). Rae’s “this is what ‘normal’ people do” approach to everything from extorting money out of relatives and conducting surveillance on both relatives and complete strangers is so over-the-top and absolutely ridiculous making it a brilliant parody of such beloved childhood literary characters as Harriet the Spy, Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew. I loved every minute of it.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I do have to wonder, though, if Lutz’s approach to Izzy’s character isn’t a little reductive at times. Perhaps it is just the literary grad student in me coming out to strongly but it gave me pause that Lutz constructs such a strong character as Izzy and then reduces her quest for happiness and fulfillment to something as simple as finding a boyfriend to settle down with. That seems counterproductive to me, but perhaps I am over analyzing. Once it’s turned on, the literary critic is hard to turn off.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Over all, though, this was a lot of fun to read, and—as I said at the outset—I am glad I jumped on the bandwagon rather than letting it run me over, because I would have missed out. So, come on, jump on the bandwagon, have some of the Kool Aid (it’s delicious) and check out <em>The Spellman Files</em>, you won’t be disappointed.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-77910870753446442942009-09-08T00:22:00.000-07:002009-09-08T00:23:33.995-07:00Darwinia: A Novel of a Very Different Twentieth Century<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitN5lqqXgM2Ca0O0wBTRf5QSo93jgV3Fia6RkShvejm0XcnfTQQ4Ufy_gKnwCRp_qvHz_EITDAN5dHAZNWDeyaiYZNoFwLV4Mx2zBTl9oSWwQjlWwZ-qMy3r4PVIDJjH4U2Prwtge-DsuC/s1600-h/Darwinia+-+A+Novel+of+a+Very+Different+Twentieth+Century.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378989807894171218" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 136px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitN5lqqXgM2Ca0O0wBTRf5QSo93jgV3Fia6RkShvejm0XcnfTQQ4Ufy_gKnwCRp_qvHz_EITDAN5dHAZNWDeyaiYZNoFwLV4Mx2zBTl9oSWwQjlWwZ-qMy3r4PVIDJjH4U2Prwtge-DsuC/s200/Darwinia+-+A+Novel+of+a+Very+Different+Twentieth+Century.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:130%;">by Robert Charles Wilson</span><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(New York: Tor Books, 1998)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Paperback, 372 Pages, Fiction</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ISBN: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812566629/ref=s9_simz_gw_s1_p14_t1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=14XW84JZS9DKA8X09C7Y&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">9780812566628</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, US$6.99</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>From the Cover:</strong> In 1912, history was changed by the Miracle, when the old world of Europe was replaced by Darwinia, a strange land of nightmarish jungle and antediluvian monsters. To some, the Miracle is an act of divine retribution; to others, it is an opportunity to carve out a new empire. Leaving an America now ruled by religious fundamentalists, young Guilford Law travels to Darwinia on a mission of discovery that will take him further than he can possibly imagine … to a shattering revelation about mankind’s destiny in the universe.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Review:</strong> I’ve had this book on my shelves and in my TBR pile for about two years now, and it was only now, as we were moving from Utah to Washington State so I could attend grad school, that I could find the time to sit down and read it. What first drew me to Wilson’s novel was the synopsis from the back of the book (as transcribed above). I mean, really … who could resist a literary come on like that? I was hooked even before I had read a single page.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">What I found within the pages of <em>Darwinia</em> was a novel that was much deeper and more in the realm of true science fiction than I had expected. Wilson executes a classic (and very subtle) bait-and-switch with the plot, and by the time the Reader realizes what is going on in the story, it is too late and they are drawn deep into the plot and invested heavily in the characters … especially that of Guilford Law.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I’ll try not to say too much about the plot because to do so would be to flirt with spoilers, so rather than do that, I’ll just leave you to discover the plot twists on your own.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I will say, though, that it was not what I expected and that is not necessarily a good thing. I am all for being surprised by a book, but I went into Darwinia with certain expectations, namely a kind of steampunk-ish adventure with strange creatures on a new continent that suddenly appears overnight, and for about half of the novel, that is what I got. Then, however, Wilson throws a hanging left turn into unadulterated science fiction that comes out of nowhere, and while I admire what he did (and I’ll say this: the plot twist he throws is <em>brilliant</em> and unlike anything I have seen in a long time), it took me a while to adjust my expectations to what Wilson had written. It was, to say the least, a hard thing to do.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">That aside, though, Wilson has created an incredible alternate Twentieth-Century in <em>Darwinia</em> and in terms of character, he is an absolute genius. Guilford Law is one of the most believable and realistic fictional characters that I have encountered in a very long time. I was completely captivated by the situation(s) into which Wilson threw Law and then had him work his way out of. It takes quite a bit of effort to keep reminding yourself that this is in fact a fictional book, and that Guilford Law does not exist, and that is just about as high a compliment that I can think to give any one author.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">All in all, <em>Darwinia</em> is a fascinating read, but when you go in, make sure to check your expectations at the door. Otherwise, like me, you may find yourself left high and dry halfway through the book and needing to reassess what you thought the novel was going to be about, because believe you me, no matter what you think <em>Darwinia</em> is about … you’re going to be wrong and Wilson <em>will</em> surprise you.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-68759601522586242562009-08-28T14:18:00.000-07:002009-08-28T14:54:28.755-07:00Shelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05789567410932402832noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4961938602765314279.post-7898974009252220752009-08-28T14:06:00.001-07:002009-08-28T14:06:53.779-07:00'salem's Lot (Audio)<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErZm43ppaNSbpJ3ALmffP-dsRVLD8q3JBRvA6UEt4lAEMzYyuWc7vi0op2xj1_pgV0QBmGxqs4vh6zbHg0tbI-LF4PD_5xYS_kIG-RJLGSSWw_bZF6wk2qBdxVVfvfgq1zd17Z-FdDDAw/s1600-h/'Salem's+Lot+(Audio).jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375119094248704402" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 169px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiErZm43ppaNSbpJ3ALmffP-dsRVLD8q3JBRvA6UEt4lAEMzYyuWc7vi0op2xj1_pgV0QBmGxqs4vh6zbHg0tbI-LF4PD_5xYS_kIG-RJLGSSWw_bZF6wk2qBdxVVfvfgq1zd17Z-FdDDAw/s200/'Salem's+Lot+(Audio).jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">by </span><a href="http://www.stephenking.com/"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">Stephen King</span></a><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:130%;">read by Ron McLarty</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">(New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2004)</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">MP3 Audiobook, 868.2 MB, 17½ Hours, Fiction</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">ISBN: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Salems-Lot-Stephen-King/dp/0743536967/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1214420977&sr=11-1"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">9780743536967</span></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;">, US$59.95</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><div align="justify"><strong><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></strong></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>From the Cover:</strong> A dark wind is blowing into Jerusalem’s Lot, Maine, in the guise of antique furniture dealers R.T. Straker and Kurt Barlow. Novelist Benjamin Mears has returned to the village near Portland to exorcise his childhood demons. Immediately, townspeople begin suffering from strange flu symptoms, or disappearing altogether. Mears and local high school teacher Matt Burke understand the peril the town faces. Soon they’re joined by an artist, a doctor, an alcoholic priest, and an 11-year old boy, forming a modern-day team of vampire hunters.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Original Review:</strong> </span><a href="http://bryansbookblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/salems-lot-audio.html"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">11/22/2005 – 08:50:00 PM</span></a></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><strong>My Redux Review:</strong> Stephen King’s <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> is a story that holds a lot nostalgia and fond memories for me. It was one of the first novels I ever owned, it was the first Stephen King story I ever read at the tender age of eleven (with the blessing of my Mother though—looking back—I have no idea <em>what</em> she was thinking when she okayed that, I don’t think I’d let my son read it when he turns eleven), and it is one that even now never fails to induce chills and thrills. I have even used it to make arguments for my ever-evolving academic paper on passive-sexism in Stephen King’s <em>The Shining</em> (showing how <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> is a kind of “run up” to what he does in <em>The Shining</em>).</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I find so much about <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> to be so very fascinating, that it is difficult to know where to start. Well, perhaps it is best to start with something small. This time through the book I was struck by just how dated <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> is. It really is a relic from the early- to mid-1970s when it was written. So much of the novel is so outdated that I found myself wondering just how well Mssrs. Barlow and Straker would fair if they were to plunk down in Jerusalem’s Lot in an era of cell phones and the internet. This is addressed, somewhat, in the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0355987/">2004 TV miniseries</a> which is, all things considered, not a bad adaptation, given the problems of updating such material. Still, as I said, I am struck at just <em>how</em> dated the book is.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Another “theme” of the novel (for lack of a better word) that I have been dealing with (mostly because it jives with my paper on Stephen King) is just how passively sexist the works of Stephen King are, and <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> is no exception. In fact, it is a pretty good example of what I am talking about. Two characters come to mind as I have run this through my mind: Susan Norton, of course, and Bonnie Sawyer. Susan is, to all appearances, a pretty “liberated” and “strong” female figure, holding her own with man and vampire alike, and yet, looking a little deeper she is a “shackled” character; very one-dimensional when compared to the male characters in the novel. She plays little more than the role of girlfriend and tragic victim. Susan makes some very poor decision in the course of the novel (the kind that would have you shouting <em>DON’T GO DOWN THERE</em> to the screen if this were a movie) and as a result of these decisions (and, I would argue, due to King’s indifference to his female characters) she pays the price.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The same could be said for the character of Bonnie Sawyer, a bit player in the overall drama, but one that King keeps coming back to. She is the “Jezebel” character type; the “wanton woman” who is having an affair with a younger man, but when they are caught by her husband, she is literally beaten into submission and—as King puts it—raped by her husband regularly, until their end comes in the final third of the book. I bring up their characters because they both are women who initially seem liberated and in control of their destinies, but ultimately are brought down by their inability to listen to the male authorities in their lives (in the case of Susan it is Matt Burke and Ben Mears and even the teenage Mark Petrie whom she ignores, and for Bonnie, of course, it is her husband whom she disobeys) and as a result they are brought to ruin.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">This passive-sexism (as I’ve chosen to call it) and assertion of male dominance (culminating in the staking of the vampiric Susan (which Freud would undoubtedly call “phallic” and a violent sexual act in and of itself, a rape of a kind) and the beating and raping of Bonnie Sawyer) really show King’s true colors as a closet-conservative in spite of all his trappings and claims of open-mindedness and liberalism. He falls back on the conservative world view whenever a female comes into the pages of his novels (they are usually either a milquetoast <em>hausfrau</em> or a wanton jezebel) that bucks the male authority structure and have to be either saved or dispatched (in the case of Susan, they come to one and the same). It is true of Susan Norton and Bonnie Sawyer in<em> ‘salem’s Lot</em>, it is true of Wendy Torrance in <em>The Shining</em>, it is true of Rose Daniels in <em>Rose Madder</em>, it is true of Emily in “The Gingerbread Girl” and it is true of Lisey Landon in <em>Lisey’s Story</em>.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">But enough theorizing. In spite of these “flaws” (for lack of a better word) I still think that ‘salem’s Lot is one of Stephen King’s finest, and is certainly in the Top 5 of my favorite King books. King has crafted a very believable world in <em>‘salem’s Lot</em>, one that is described as <em>Peyton Place</em> meets <em>Dracula</em>, and I think that that is a pretty fair assessment. It is hard to imagine which the greater evil in the township is: the external force of Barlow and his vampirism, or the internal forces of the town and its small-town insularism. King has stated in interviews that <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> was written at a time of great social and political upheaval: the Ellsberg break-in, Nixon’s tapes and enemies’ list, Liddy and the CIA, Watergate, the invasive federal investigations of war protestors, Vietnam … and so it is no wonder that these feelings of paranoia bled over (no pun intended) into <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> and informed the novel; paranoia of vampires, paranoia of outsiders, paranoia of the unknown, paranoia of the future … it’s all there in the pages, and makes for one hell of an atmospheric novel.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Atmospheric and arguably one of the scariest of King’s tales (his early ones are so much better than his later). I’ve mentioned it in my prior review of this audiobook, but the scenes with Mike Ryerson in Matt Burke’s house (both times) and then the scene with Marjorie Glick’s body in the mortuary are some of the scariest scenes that have even been penned. They never fail to give me the chills (and this time around, it didn’t help that I was listening to the Marjorie Glick scene as I was taking a late night walk to clear my head after a stressful day and as a thunderstorm passed overhead, I have to admit that I looked over my shoulder more than once as I walked the storm-darkened streets).</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Also, what makes this such a great audiobook is Ron McLarty’s reading. If you have never experienced a book read by Ron McLarty you need to, and <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> is as good a place as any to start. It is amazing how much the story comes to life in McLarty’s capable hands. It really brings an already great book to an even more sublime level.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">You don’t have to be a Stephen King fan to enjoy <em>‘salem’s Lot</em>, and since vampires are very much in vogue right now, take the time to listen to (or read) a real vampire story. Yes, it borrows heavily from <em>Dracula</em> (with Matt Burke playing Van Helsing, Susan playing Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, Dr. Cody as Dr. Seward, Ben Mears playing Arthur Holmwood and Jonathan Harker, Straker as Renfield and, of course, Barlow as the Count) but I would say that that is intentional, since the idea behind <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> was what would happen if Count Dracula came to America and settled not in New York City (where, in King’s words, he’d “be killed by a taxi cab like, Margaret Mitchell in Atlanta”) but in rural, small-town Maine.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;"><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">It is a question that I think King has answered well. As I said, in spite of its “flaws” <em>‘salem’s Lot</em> is a stellar novel and one that every vampire groupie needs to have under their belt, and if you’re going to try it, why not pick up the audio edition, since Ron McLarty’s reading is nothing short of amazing.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0