Posts filed under 'Recreational Fiction'
Chill October night
A vampire writes in non-verse
A nip in the air?
How do you like my haiku?
I felt compelled to write it only because it seems appropriate to at least try to use the form when reviewing a book written in haiku. Vampire Haiku by Ryan Mecum, uses the form created in Japan (seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, then seven, then five syllables) to write a book. It’s not really poetry, it’s a narrative, using the short poems to convey the story. Call it poetic license. And it’s pretty fun.
The story starts with twenty-one year-old William Butten, on the deck of the Mayflower as it begins sailing to the New World. William makes a vow to document all his new world adventures into small poems. A young woman on deck a few nights later charms the young man. Once they begin necking, life as he knew it takes a whole new direction. Because he’s now, well, immortal. And the vampire woman he fell in love with? He kind of alienated her by killing her vampire husband. So she disappears from his life, reappearing from time to time as the story progresses. Not that she’s that necessary to keep the story moving forward. But every story needs a love interest, right? So there you go.
American history provides a pretty convenient backdrop on which our poet can sketch his vampiric ways. We move from feasting on Pilgrims in the 1620s (that first winter wasn’t really that harsh) to draining Redcoats in the Revolutionary War, to Davy Crockett, who didn’t so much die at the Alamo as well, you get the idea. Emily Dickinson, P.T. Barnum, Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart, James Dean, J.D. Salinger also make cameos. Pop culture through the ages gets tweaked as well, including Woodstock, Buffy, Count Chocula, goths, and a Facebook “menu” for real dining. The movie version of Twilight gets mocked of course. Oh and he notes that flat-screen monitors will fit inside your coffin when the lid is closed. I tell you, is this a great country or what?
All told, it was a pretty enjoyable read. It’s illustrated with drawings and photographs and occasional drops and splashes of red on the pages. And it’s a pretty quick read so, even though you know you’re wasting your time, you don’t waste that much of it. More story than poem, more humor than horror, this may not be the best example of haiku but it was (I’m just guessing) a lot more fun.
And if you prefer your undead to be of the rotting flesh variety, look for Zombie Haiku.
November 5th, 2009
Dennis - Central
If you like big rambly family stories, Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos is just that. It takes place in Emlyn Springs, Nebraska, a town of people of Welsh descent, where the Jones family lives - a place smack dab in the middle of tornado country. As a matter of fact, the reader learns early in the story that Hope, mother of Larken, Gaelan and Bonnie, “went up” in a tornado and never came down. Bonnie herself was carried away by the tornado, but was deposited in the top of a tree. The storm was the defining moment in the lives of those children, each of them reacting in their unique way which we learn when we meet them 25 years later.
When their dad, Llewelyn, the town physician, is killed by a lightning strike, the family comes together to bury him. They are forced by the town’s Welsh tradition, to spend a week with their community, not speaking, but singing their dad into the next world. The funeral also reunites them with their dad’s mistress of many years, Viney, who had also been Hope’s best friend and the children’s de facto mother.
Larken is the oldest sister, a respected professor of art history in Lincoln, who is overweight and pretty much obsessed with food. She carries on an almost-inappropriate friendship with the married man who lives upstairs from her. She babysits often for his daughter Esme, and eavesdrops on the arguments of Esme’s parents. Gaelan is a very fit and good looking weatherman for the Lincoln television station. But he is not a meteorologist; that presents a problem as a young, pretty and ambitious one gets a job at his station. He pretty much sleeps with any attractive woman he can, which gets him in trouble with said meteorologist. And Bonnie, the youngest daughter - who was with her mother right before the tornado struck - works part time at her smoothie stand, but spends most of her time combing the local area for remnants; odds and ends she finds on the ground. She treats them as treasured objects, going so far as to make scrapbooks and art pieces with them. She lives in a garage.
We hear from all these characters and learn through their voices their back stories and hopes and traumas. Included are excerpts from Hope’s diary so we get to learn a lot about her too. There are many secrets to be discovered here and a wonderfully - maybe predictably - wrapped-up resolution where everyone (but poor Llewelyn) ends up getting what they want, need and love. It was a pleasure to read this charming, witty novel.
November 4th, 2009
Lisa - Central
Holly’s Inbox by Holly Denham looks initially imposing. A chick lit novel at over 600 pages? A reader could be forgiven for thinking they just don’t have the time. Fear not, fans of Bridget Jones, this tome is an epistolary novel written in - mostly short - emails to and from Holly beginning when she starts a new job and ending when she finds the “one”.
Holly Denham (yep, same name as the author) has just taken a job as a receptionist in a busy London banking firm. She shares the desk with Trish who is initially cool towards Holly but eventually warms up. Because of the busyness of their job, Holly and Trish are not allowed to speak with each other and must communicate via email. Intertwined with her chats with Trish are emails to Holly’s best friend Jason, who manages a posh hotel, Aisha, a free and easy friend, and Hollly’s family (meddling mom, a married sister, a brother who is trying to open a fetish club and her snarky grandmother who is chafing at the restrictions at her senior living facility ).
Though this is a fast read, I was initially slow to warm to the novel. The set-up is clever and the author did a great job at showing who her characters are within the space of a few emails, but I think what took some time for me was Holly herself. She’s a bit of a doormat initially and it took a while for the reasons why to manifest. Once I began to get an inkling about the very real reasons for why Holly is the way she is, I was in and turning pages like a crazy person. But getting there took a little time. And with all of the build-up I was a little skeptical about the fast resolve at the end. On this point I’ll give the author a bit of a pass since a sequel is in the works. I’m guessing the ‘everything’s hunky-dory’conclusion will reverse itself to some extent and Holly will have to progress a little more to get her happy ending.
You can definitely count me in when the time comes.
October 22nd, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
After working in the library business for awhile I noticed several types of readers. Avid (first on holds list when books are ordered) Fairweather (everyone is reading this book so I should be too) Picky (I ONLY read romance) and the ones that I’m writing this review for, the Book Groupers. Some Book Groupers may cross over to the other categories, but many are locked into their once a month committement for purely social reasons. A night with a glass of wine and good friends, and oh yeah, that book we were supposed to read for tonite.
Two of my recent reads seem like they would be ideal for this demographic. Both Misconception by Ryan Boudinot and Trouble by Kate Christensen have characters that leap off the page, starting a conversation about any of them would be like gossiping about your favorite film star or ex-high school friend. Both books have plenty of crazy sex scenes, alcohol and drug use, adultery and unhealthy relationships, sorta like a new show on HBO, which makes them perfect for those attending a book group only after their DVR has been set for the evening.
I first read about Misconception at Shelfari and was intrigued by the author’s witty repartee. His short book (just over 200 pages) packed in a lot of story and he employed a unique storytelling style. Misconception, set in the mid-1980’s Pacific Northwest, begins by introducing us to Cedar and Kat, horny eight graders with two unusual sets of parents. Fast forward twenty years and Kat has tracked down Cedar to tell him about the memoir she’s written and to make sure he won’t sue her when it comes out. Boudinot flips back and forth between Kat’s memoir and Cedar’s narrative that fateful summer when life threw them together. Boudinot’s unique storytelling coupled with a dramatic conclusion with a great “one perfect line” ending make this first novel worth the read and very discussable.
Kate Christensen’s book Trouble takes place mainly in Mexico where the main characters are pulling a Thelma and Louise type getaway; tightly wound psychiatrist Josie is escaping a boring marriage in NYC and wild rock musician Raquel is escaping a tabloid style affair in LA. Left behind in NY is their friend Indrani, a trust fund baby turned college professor who can’t find love. Christensen talked about her book at Salon and I was pleased to find out one of my favorite book bloggers CR enjoys Christensen. If I had to choose a few words to describe Trouble, I’d say”high brow chick lit”. Though not a “perfect one liner” ending like Misconception, Trouble ended with a scene I just didn’t see coming.
So if your fun little book group doesn’t want to just read The Help like everyone else, suggest these two off the beaten path titles to them. You won’t regret it.
October 21st, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
There are some books that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, inspired by the goodness of humanity and hopeful for the future. And then there are James M. Cain’s novels. Written in the 1930s and 1940s, Cain’s terse, bleak crime novels portray people as hard as the times in which they live. But for all the darkness at the heart of Cain’s tales, it’s hard to deny the brilliance of his writing and the deep seated humanity it invokes in his people. In a scant paragraph, Cain can sketch out a drifter’s wariness, a housewife’s prejudices or an insurance salesman’s patient plotting. Dialogue takes on a distinctive rhythm, with slang and attitude masking characters’ distrust and vulnerabilities. When the betrayal comes, it is as sharp as a stab.
In his first successful novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain tells a simple story: Frank, a drifter, comes upon a California roadside diner run by a Greek immigrant and his wife. Cora and Frank fall in love, but their efforts to dispatch the Greek prove difficult (for all their cool plotting, the two prove to be rather nervous when it comes to the actual deed). While the murder of an endearing figure (one that even Frank says he liked) is disturbing enough, it is the mix of violence and sexuality in Frank and Cora’s relationship that riled enough critics to have the book tried for obscenity in Boston.
In his later (1943) novel, Double Indemnity, Cain’s narrative feels a little more polished, as does the murder methodology. Insurance salesman Walter Huff pays a sales call on an oilman’s wife. But Phyllis has a special purpose for her husband’s new life insurance policy, and Walter willingly goes against his better judgment in plotting a convenient accident that will allow them to collect a sizeable settlement and run away together. Based on a true story, most people are familiar with Cain’s novel through the classic 1944 Billy Wilder-Raymond Chandler film adaptation. It’s worth reading the book even after seeing the film, as Cain’s ending is more satisfyingly ambigious. Of course, Walter and Phyllis may get exactly what they want, but is it really love when it’s bound up with murder and greed? Cain isn’t read as often today as his comporaries Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, but his style is the sort that continues in today’s books by authors like Walter Mosley and James Ellroy. Just the perfect sort of cozy writing to curl up with before bed.
October 5th, 2009
Katie H.
I laughed out loud eighty-four times over the course of Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys. Some were mere chuckles, but others were loud guffaws of the wake-up-the-person-sleeping-next-to-you type. That’s a lot of of laughs, especially for a guy like me, and by “guy like me” I mean the kind of guy who keeps track of how often he laughs. Eighty-four laughs over three-hundred and sixty pages is a pretty good percentage, so if you actually end up enjoying the book more than I did, I don’t know how you’ll ever finish it. Then again, even if you find this book half as amusing as I did, or a quarter, you will probably still enjoy it.
Wonder Boys follows Grady Tripp through the weekend of Wordfest, a writer’s conference held at the college where he teaches writing. Grady’s wife has just left him, his mistress, the chancellor of the college, is pregnant with his child, and his editor, Terry Crabtree, wants to see the book he’s been working on. The book he’s been working on for seven years. It’s over two-thousand six-hundred pages long and has five alternate endings. Like Grady’s life, it’s a mess.
In spite of this, or because of it, Grady makes for a wonderful picaresque hero and Wonder Boys is a wonderful novel. While the laughs are there, so are well-drawn characters and real pathos. As Grady, Crabree, and Grady’s student, James Leer, stumble through one adventure after another, it begins to appear that the book’s real subject is male friendship. Don Quijote was published in the early seventeenth century, and Wonder Boys in 1995, which makes me wonder why people seem to think Judd Apatow discovered it. Not that there’s anything wrong with Apatow’s films, but if you’re all caught up on the bromance canon, Wonder Boys was also made into a film with Michael Douglas, Robert Downey, Jr, Katie Holmes, Tobey Maguire, and Frances McDormand.
September 14th, 2009
Jon - Central Library
“The thing people seem all too happy to forget is that where there be superheroes, there also be supervillains. It makes one wonder: If the heroes went away, would the villains follow?”
So opens Black and White by Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge and a better opening would be hard to find for this clever, fun, adventurous, complicated novel. The white and black of the title are Callie Bradford, code name Iridium, and Joannie Greene, code name Jet. Callie and Joannie met at the Corp Extrahuman Academy where all superheroes train. And as with all super stories, forces conspire to send Callie, now known as Iridium, on the run as a villain. Once her training is complete Joannie, now Jet’s, mission is to find and defeat her one-time friend.
Jet is determined to be the hero she was trained to be but struggles with her heroic identity and the trappings that go with it. Coupled with the fact that the Corp corp is not all it seems and the academy not the shining beacon she remembers and Jet’s role becomes even more murky. And while Iridium is the one acting illegally her actions take on a more heroic tinge as time passes. Things are certainly not as Black and White as they seem.
The authors play with comic book conventions to great effect in their first joint venture (more adventures to follow). What would Batman be without the Penguin or Superman without Lex Luther? Just nice looking men in tights. Kessler and Kittredge play with that fact while exploring the thin line between good and evil. And tell a darn good story along the way. I look forward to more battles between Jet and Iridium.
September 1st, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
Tired of those attractive, yet angst-filled teenage vampires with whom your daughter seems obsessed? In the mood for a vampire story you can (dare I say it?) sink your teeth into? Get ready to thank me. Blood Groove is the story, and it’s written by novelist Alex Bledsoe.
See, there was this vampire in an English village, Baron Rudolfo Vladimir Zginski. Long story short, he was spiked with a gold cross (it had a sharpened tip) in 1915 and entombed for 60 years, then reanimated when a medical examiner in Memphis, Tennessee, removes the spike/cross during an autopsy requested by a local museum. After feasting on the unfortunate medical examiner, the Baron must come to terms with life (existence is probably a better word) in a very different place and time. The post-Victorian England he last inhabited has been replaced with the new American South, including a resurgent African-American community newly empowered by the civil rights and black power movements after centuries of racial oppression. In addition, it turns out Memphis already has a few local vampires. The Baron, having recognized the telltale signs of one who was photographed in a crowd scene that appeared in the local paper, decides to seek them out. He feels that kindred spirits (of a sort) will be able to help him adjust more readily to the brave new world in which he has awakened.
That stranger in a strange land vibe was what appealed to me the most when I decided to dive into this story. A vampire who’s been out of circulation (ha!) for that long had some potential to flip this particular genre on its head. So I was interested. And 1975 is a year with which I had some familiarity. I”m not particularly proud of that fact, but there you go. Anyway, the local vampires turn out to be a pretty raggedy bunch. Five of them are living in an abandoned (and trashed) warehouse on the edge of town. Held somewhat together by an adult male there are four younger appearing vampires– two male and two female, two of whom happen to be black (one male and one female). But one of the younger vampires has come across a new drug, one that suppresses the need to feed on the blood of victims. Which seems to have some appeal, until that vampire suddenly dies–from no discernible cause. Turns out the drug he was using is poisonous. So, our little group of vampires must become detectives, somewhat reluctantly following the overbearing and condescending Baron, in order to find out what it is that killed their friend, who concocted it, and why.
Fans of traditionalist vampire stories should know in advance that there are some twists on established vampire conventions. Turns out they can go out in daylight, they can change into wolves, they can summon storms, they don’t really have to be invited into your home to come in, and they can even eat garlic. Actually, only the Baron knows all this stuff. He might teach it to the others. Or not. And that power vampires have to make people do their will? It turns out to be an ability to create a strong sexual attraction. Baron Rudy quickly finds an attractive young miss to serve as his minion. (No fly-catching Renfield’s for this vampire!)
Unfortunately, the story isn’t exactly great. That may be due to the main characters being blood-sucking killers. And the Baron isn’t really a sympathetic lead. A couple of the local (white) vampires had flashes of character background that could have been better developed. No such similar effort was spent in giving the younger black vampires much back-story. There’s a bit of an effort to paint the vampires into lonely individuals seeking acceptance in a familial group, after having been ostracized by a xenophobic larger society. But they’re still inhuman blood-sucking killers so that effort is pretty much wasted in my opinion. (Your mileage may vary.)
The racial undertones don’t amount to much either, although there are some racial epithets that some may find offensive. There was a scene when the Baron dragged one of the Memphis vampires into a theater showing the movie Blacula, in an attempt to find out what modern society knew/suspected/feared about vampires. But apart from some resistance to the Baron’s condescending orders to the rest of the vampires from the black male vampire, the racial issue didn’t seem to me to be that pronounced. Maybe I’m colorblind though.
Don’t let the flippant tone of this review lull you. Be aware that that the story is pretty bloody in some spots. More blood-and-guts than belly-laughs. It’s pretty sexplicit in other spots too. And probably not like the supernatural romance/fantasy novels that seem to be popular these days. Consider this fair warning.
So, I was hoping for an inspired addition to the vampire genre, but instead got one that’s only fun in spots. And yet, I read it cover to cover. And I can’t shake the nagging suspicion that a sequel might be in the works. Or that I might want to read such a sequel. Nothing to suggest one on author Bledsoe’s website as of this writing though…
August 25th, 2009
Dennis - Central
Last week the world lost the visionary movie director, John Hughes. Anyone who grew up in the eighties probably has a favorite film of his, though it’s had to say which I love more, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Breakfast Club. The stories were simple, but emotionally complicated like adolescent life can be at times. The success of teen flicks continues today with films like Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and a little movie called Twilight.
My own prediction for the next breakout teen movie is Whip It which is based on a book I just finished called Derby Girl by Shauna Cross. Whip It will be Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut and star Ellen Page (Juno) and also include a cameo by my favorite late night host Jimmy Fallon. I can’t wait to see it. Seeing that the novelist Cross also penned the screenplay, I’m guessing the storyline will remain true to the book.
In Derby Girl, Bliss is the blue-haired daughter of ex-pageant queen Brooke and furniture salesman Earl and is stuck in Bodeen, TX. She works at the Oink Joint with her best friend Pash and both have that teenage “we just don’t fit in” feeling. Bliss promised her mother she’d do one more pageant show and compete for the Miss Bluebonnet title (a family tradition) before letting her little sister Shania handle the tiara circuit. On a torturous shopping trip to Austin one Saturday (Bliss prefers her vintage Stryper t-shirt to the jeans with pink suede fringe her Mom picks out) a lime green flyer catches her eye advertising the Lone Star Roller Derby Girls, and her destiny becomes clear.
Bliss soon becomes “Babe Ruthless” and is sneaking out of the house riding the bingo bus down to Austin twice a week and illegally competing (she’s only 16) in derby league. Derby girl soon falls for band boy Oliver (there’s always a boy dilemma in a teen story) and her world gets turned upside down by first love. There’s a lot of frank sex talk, a little profanity and a few exciting derby scenes in this sarcastically funny YA book. There’s also a dramatic conclusion involving the Bluebonnet pageant and the Roller Derby championship that will make for a great movie ending. Maybe twenty years from now this movie will be someone’s favorite Barrymore film, let’s hope it turns out as good as the book.
August 18th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
Now that vampires are everywhere, there’s a new trendy undead: zombies. They may not be as romantic as vampires, with their sometimes sparkly skin, glamorous fangs, and insatiable thirst for blood, but there’s a lot to be said for the plain old corpse about town. My first encounter with the zombie trend was in Carrie Ryan’s deliciously creepy The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Mary is an orphan, which leaves her only two options in her strict, old-fashioned society: marry and have children, or join the mysterious Sisterhood that watches over the town. When a mysterious outsider breaches the borders that keep the town safe from the Unconsecrated, the vicious, flesh-eating undead that surround them, Mary must fight to keep her loved ones alive. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is fast-paced and filled with action and drama, but there are a few holes in the plot, and the writing didn’t knock my socks off.
Zombie Blondes by Brian James is more my style. 15 year old Hannah is used to being the new girl in school, since she and her father are constantly moving, due his problems with creditors and keeping a job. Hannah usually has no problem spotting the popular group in school, and in Maplegrove, it’s pretty obvious: Maggie and her clan of blonde cheerleaders rule the school. When Hannah is invited to join the group, she learns that the cheerleaders’ seeming perfection is anything but natural.
I liked Zombie Blondes, but Generation Dead by
Daniel Waters is by far my favorite of these three. Phoebe is a goth outsider with a keen interest in a new phenomenon: teenagers across America are dying and coming back to life. Scientists are baffled as to why some teens come back and some don’t; they’ve considered mold spores in the brain, or the consumption of too many fast food preservatives. Regardless of the cause of the undead, they are a fact of life. Phoebe joins a group of students crusading for rights for the “differently biotic” and even meets a special someone with very cold hands. I can’t wait to read the sequel, Kiss of Life.
Teens aren’t the only ones benefiting from the zombie trend. For an adult perspective on the undead, give Breathers: a Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Browne a shot. This darkly funny novel is narrated by a young man who wakes from the dead and finds himself stuck “living” in his parents’ basement, trying to control his hunger for flesh. And of course, you may have heard of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which gives even Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy a chance to get in on the zombie action.
August 6th, 2009
Kylee
The recent swine flu hysteria makes Jacqueline Carey’s newest story very timely. In Santa Olivia a pandemic has panicked the US government into creating a buffer zone between Mexico and Texas. This buffer zone is miles wide (similar to the demilitarized zone in Korea), bordered by massive walls and has engulfed whole towns like Santa Olivia.
When the walls were built, Santa Olivia was just another sleepy Texas town. Given the abrupt choice between staying in their home town and leaving, many of the residents chose to stay (not realizing how bad it could get). Now Santa Olivia is known as Outpost 12 - isolated between concrete walls and policed by American military personnel. The only way out is to win in the sport that the military commander loves. Anyone who can beat the General’s choice in the boxing ring can win the chance for two people to leave Santa Olivia. To date no one has won that opportunity.
Half-siblings Tom and Loup Garon follow different paths in their quest to escape. Tom is determined to train for the boxing ring so that he can eventually win freedom for the two of them. Loup, who was born with a little something extra genetically speaking, takes a different route. What begins as a series of pranks, supposedly perpetrated by the patron saint of their town, soon begins to look like a revolution to the military powers-that-be.
Jacqueline Carey is best known for her minutely detailed, richly drawn, epic fantasy novels. In Santa Olivia the detail and richness are there but the story is more compact. The tightness of the writing made for great pacing; with a a quiet buildup leading to powerful finish. And while the book did wrap things up there is scope for more story. When I asked my Comic Con source, she said she asked Carey that very question and the answer is, yes, a return to the Santa Olivia universe is in the works. Woohoo!
July 31st, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
Imagine a world where you have a pretty good life. You’re moderately successful in the art world, becoming known for large sculptures made with scrap material. You’re living in a small New England community where pretty much everyone knows everyone, and you can still play your weekly game of hockey with friends. You’re in a relationship even though you can’t quite let go of the wife who died 15 years ago in a terrible accident. What if all those memories and that life you lived together is a lie? In Nerve Damage Peter Abrahams imagines just such a scenario to very scary effect.
Roy Valois isn’t sure where to go with his life. He has just finished maybe what is his best piece of work, a sculpture he has named after his deceased wife Delia, and has hopes that maybe now he can move past and forward. Almost on a dare, Roy, with the help of a young friend, hacks into the morgue of the New York Times, interested in his obituary. It doesn’t mention that major hockey goal he made, and it has wrong information about his wife and where she worked. When Roy contacts the reporter responsible for the obit, he sets off a chain of events that has him fighting for his life on two fronts: an unforseen medical condition and a powerful and secret political organization. All of which makes for an involved thriller impossible to put down.
July 21st, 2009
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
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