Vanishing by Candida Lawrence

Vanishing by Candida Lawrence

Copyright 2009

Unbridled Books - Nonfiction/Memoir

275 pages

Hmm. Ever have trouble putting your thoughts together for, like, 4 or 5 days after you finish a book? I feel that way about Vanishing. Candida Lawrence is, from what I gather, a writer who writes only essays about her life experiences. Vanishing is the fourth of her books.

So, why am I having trouble gathering my thoughts? I think because this book ran hot and cold, for me. The first couple of stories . . . I don't know how to put it other than to say that I took an immediate dislike to the writer. But, then as I continued reading I softened toward her a bit. Unlike the most recent memoir I read prior to Vanishing (Don't Shoot! We're Republicans!), I never did get the sensation that, "This is the kind of person I would love to get to know." I think the moment that I began to feel as if I was just tolerating the author might have been during the essay in which she was preparing to leave her California home as a nearby fire threatened. While trying to decide what to take with her, she considered taking her daughter's cat but leaving behind the new kittens because the cat could always have more. Then, she pondered the inevitable tears if the house were to burn with the kittens inside and changed her mind. The house didn't burn, but my opinion of the author was left in ashes.

Second, as I read one of the final essays (it may have been the final story) I realized that all the way through the book I'd thought Jack -- a man who remained in her life, off and on, for decades -- was also her ex-husband. Nope, not so. In fact, I don't believe the ex was named until that final chapter. So, I closed the book feeling as if I had only understood a small portion of it.

Still, I wouldn't say, "Don't read this book." I personally found the author unlikeable, but that's at least in part because her morals and values are so far removed from my own. That's obviously not going to be the case for everyone. I did think her writing was a little too artistic for my taste, as well. In a memoir, I like a straightforward style and a sense of humor. Sometimes I wasn't certain what was going on, but I think it was simply a matter of not quite getting her personal style.

2.5/5 - Disappointing. Didn't like the author's personality or her writing style, although some of the individual essays were very, very interesting. In one case, I wished I could call her up and say, "Did this really happen?" because the tale was so surreal and terrifying that I almost had myself convinced it was fiction. This book has some explicit scenes and is not family friendly.

Interesting sight of the week:

When I arrived at the pool, one day, these fellows had just finished replacing a set of stadium light bulbs and were waiting for their ride, which was attached to a crane. Coolness. They actually made it into the paper, although I didn't see the newspaper photographer.

I am almost finished with The Greatest Knight and already dying to read the further adventures of William Marshal. I think I can safely say I'm a new Elizabeth Chadwick fan.

What are you reading?

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand

Copyright 2008

Back Bay Books - Fiction/Women's

408 pages

Elin Hilderbrand's Nantucket

She turned on Claire with all the fire she could muster. "I'm not like you."'

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I am not a cheat like you. I am not a Madame Bovary in love with someone else!"

"I only asked if you were friends!" Claire said. "I didn't say anything about--"

"You insinuated."

"I did not! I just thought it was strange. You have to admit, it was strange, you and Edward here alone . . . "

"Adultery is a sin, Claire. It's evil. You want to know what I think? There it is. You are committing an evil sin. Against Jason and against your children and against yourself. You are betraying yourself. You are a good person, a person who remembers the mailman's birthday, a person who picks other people's rubbish up off the beach. But now you're different. Look at you--dismembering the crustaceans!"

"You asked me to! You said this was what you needed done . . . "

"It's like all of a sudden you don't care about your soul," Siobhan said.

Claire has a lovely house, a handsome husband, four beautiful children and an au pair. She's a successful artist whose blown glass is displayed in museums. But, she has trouble setting limits. After working too hard during her last pregnancy caused her to collapse and nearly resulted in the baby's death, she gave up her work at her husband's insistence. Claire's certain something is wrong with her baby and she feels guilty about his premature birth but she really wants to resume her glass blowing.

When she's asked to co-chair the committee that puts together Nantucket's annual Summer Gala, she can't say no. And, when the wealthy Lock Dixon insists that the only thing that will possibly do for the auction to benefit the island's poor children is a work of art by Claire, she agrees. Claire even promises to secure her ex-boyfriend, now a world-famous rock star, to sing at the gala.

Claire quickly finds herself in over her head. Yet, she's happier than she's been in a long time. Her work is exhausting but thrilling. And, when she finds herself drawn into an affair with the magnetic Lock, she doesn't know how to stop. Will Claire's marriage and friendships survive her summer affair?

A Summer Affair was my first Elin Hilderbrand book and, boy, it is one juicy summer novel. In a previous post, I referred to A Summer Affair as "a soap opera of adultery" and that's still what stands out, to me. Claire is a weak person in many ways, but adultery is not something anyone who knows her would expect of her. She's nice--almost too nice. She also carries a lot of guilt. Claire and her friends shouldn't have let Daphne Dixon get in her car, the night of her accident. Claire shouldn't have worked in the hot house when she was pregnant. She carries her guilt with her everywhere and in everything she does.

Claire's a little afraid of Lock Dixon, at first. Surely he blames her for the head injury that caused his wife's personality to change. But, when he invites her to sip his favorite wine and talk, what Claire discovers is that Lock actually admires her work. Sparks fly between them and pretty soon they're involved in a torrid affair. Meanwhile, Claire is practically killing herself in her zeal to create the perfect work of blown glass for the gala auction. And, she's deceiving the people she loves. Her co-chair is a snob, the man in charge of incoming funds is skimming, and the thought of her former boyfriend and all they went through reminds her of simpler times.

I don't know what I expected to find in an Elin Hilderbrand novel. Maybe a little less angst? It's hard to remember, now that I've actually read one novel and I'm in the midst of another, but I don't think I expected the kind of character you want to shake. All the way through the book, I kept thinking, "Claire! You've got to stop! Think of your family!" I think half the reason I kept turning the pages was to find out if she'd ever come to her senses.

The scene I quoted made me chuckle and I always love it when there's some witty, smile-inducing moment (that scene also happens to be a pretty revealing and is important to the plot). I'd have liked a few more laughs, but in general I liked the tone of the book.

3.5/5 - Very good, brain-light summer decadence with excellent characterization. I enjoyed this read. Women's fiction is definitely not my favorite genre, but I found the book was well-written, with a lot going on at once. Hilderbrand creates plenty of questions to keep you reading. This one has a touch of graphic sex and some language, as well as talk of drug and alcohol use so I'm giving it a Not Family Friendly warning, although it's no worse than a lot of young adult fiction I've read.

Since aqua seems to be the color of the day and I can finally load photos, it must be time for a polar bear photo from the Memphis Zoo. Doesn't he look like he's having fun?

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

Copyright 2006

Other Press - Fiction/Dystopian

(Originally published in Sweden)

268 pages

That night I dreamed of Jock. We were on the beach. It was autumn and windy. The clouds were sailing across the sky like fluffy ships. Between them the sun stretched out its golden arms to us, glowing, dazzling, warming, suddenly disappearing behind a racing cloud ship, popping out again and just managing to lay its warm hands on my head before disappearing once more. The sea was roaring and hissing. We were running along the beach. I stopped. The wind nipped at my cheeks with ice-cold teeth, tugged at my hair. Jock was capering and dancing around me, barking and looking up at me with those brown eyes. He was happy, playful.

The Unit is a dystopian, possibly futuristic novel (but not far in the future, near as I can tell -- it has a contemporary feel) about a woman named Dorrit who has turned 50 years old and become "dispensable". I assume the novel takes place in author Ninni Holmqvist's home country, Sweden. Wherever Dorrit lives, though, the country enacted laws, years back, which led to classification of citizens as either "needed" or "dispensable". Dorrit has never married, never had a child. Her family is not dependent upon her and her job is not considered significant. She's had an affair with a married man, but he was not interested in leaving his family to save her from becoming dispensable.

Dorrit's birthday marks the end of her life in the outside world. She has given her beloved dog, Jock, to a loving new family and packed her few necessary items. Her house will be sold by the government.

Dorrit is taken to the Second Reserve Bank Unit, a locked, domed environment where she can use the exercise facilities, take classes, paint, shop, enjoy the beautiful winter garden and eat for free. Everything is provided, including health care. What she cannot do is leave. She can't even step outside the dome and will never again see the sky or feel the change of seasons. Her job, like that of the others, is to take part in human experiments and donate various body parts . . . until the final donation takes her life. But, then something happens that might change matters. Can a person declared "dispensable" return to life outside?

I read about 75 pages of The Unit and it made me so gloomy that I set it aside for a while, then flipped toward the end to get an idea of what was going to happen and returned to finish it. The writing is good, very fluid and extremely emotional. It's a translation and I have no complaints about the translation, which I think is well done. But, it's such a horrifying story.

Thought-provoking as the idea is that people might become walking organ banks, it's unfortunately just a little too fathomable and I found it profoundly depressing. Still, The Unit is a good book -- definitely worth discussing. Since I flipped near the end (something I do when I'm concerned that I'll hate an ending), I had an idea about the plot twist without knowing how the ending would turn out. To be honest, the more I ponder the ending, the more it pisses me off. I could understand it, in a way, but it just seemed totally wrong. But, then, the whole concept is morally wrong, isn't it? I think that's part of the point. The rest of the point may be that far too many people are marginalized and their lives considered somehow less valuable by society. The author's particular focus is on single, childless women. Men, in Dorrit's world, are not considered dispensable until they reach the age of 60.

The one thing that really bugged me about this book was the fact that there was not enough description of the outside setting. All through the book I kept wondering if there was any option to escape. Could Dorrit have gone to Canada (where I personally want to go, right about now, since we're under a heat advisory) or some other country to escape her fate? Or, was the entire world locking up people who were considered useless to society? That, I thought, was a critical missing piece in the book. There's really no mention whether there were options to avoid being locked up in the dome in the first place, apart from finding a way to become "needed", although as the book progresses and people in the outer world become frantic, it appears that the situation may eventually change. Once inside the dome, suicide is impossible -- that much is explained.

Still, you have to wonder why anyone at all would pack a bag and willingly climb into a vehicle to be taken such a place. Perhaps that's another good discussion point: Is it truly possible that anyone could feel so undervalued that donating organs to "needed" people might become, in his or her mind, a worthy possibility? Would one have to be suicidal not to try to find a way to avoid entering the domed world? If so, why not just jump off a nice, tall bridge? I'm just thinking with my fingertips, here. I do think this would be an excellent discussion book.

3.5/5 - Above average. Thought-provoking story, nicely translated writing but I needed a little more of a glimmer of hope, deeper description of the world outside and a little more explanation as to why one couldn't or wouldn't run or hide while still in the outside world. It does have a bit of a Logan's Run feel, but at least with Logan's Run, you knew what happened to people who tried to escape. There is some graphic sex, so this one gets a family-unfriendly warning.

What ho! I see there's going to be another Logan's Run movie, coming out in 2010. Here's the question: Can anyone beat that funky 70's version with Michael York and Jenny Agutter? I'm quite fond of the old movie and I love, love, love the final scene, when they emerge into the outside world. That was filmed at a fountain in Fort Worth, Texas, in case you didn't know.

I am not going to complain about the heat. I am not going to complain about the heat. But, I need to think cool, so here's a nice little picture of a friendly fellow kayaking near a glacier in Alaska:

Ah, I feel better now. He has a coat on!! There was ice floating in the water! If he had an ice-cream bar in that empty hand, it wouldn't have instantly melted! Nice thoughts. On that note, I'm off to stick my head in the freezer. Stay cool!

Don't Call Me a Crook by Bob Moore

Don't Call Me a Crook by Bob Moore
Copyright 2009 (Orig. publ'd 1935)
Dissident Books - Nonfiction/Memoir
256 pages, incl. Introduction & Afterword

It is a funny thing about Chinamen, but they do not seem to be able to work without singing. In the towns the coolies call "Yo-he-ho" all the time they pass backwards and forwards with cargo. Even if they work all through the night they make it. You hear it from your hotel or from your ship, if you are tied up close.

"Yo-he-ho," they call, "Yo-he-ho." It is like the voice of China, only you do not like the voice of China when it comes through the window and keeps you awake at night.

--from Advanced Reader Copy -- changes may have been made

Subtitled A Scotsman's Tale of World Travel, Whisky, and Crime, Don't Call Me a Crook is the memoir of a very naughty rogue from Glasgow, Scotland. Originally published in 1935, it describes his years of traveling as a marine engineer and working odd jobs throughout the world while living a life free of morals or obligation, dodging the authorities and avoiding victims in so many locations that he laments his shrinking world, unable to return to the cities in which his crimes occurred. Bob was a rapscallion and, yes, he really was a crook.

But, Don't Call Me a Crook is awfully fun if you just lay aside the swindling, theft, womanizing, irresponsibility, murder, heavy drinking, arrogance, bigotry and such. In general, Bob Moore (most likely a pseudonym) was a man who lived by his own set of rules. He must have been rather good-looking and charming because he was able to con women and finagle his way into employment with surprising ease. The cover photo is not, in fact, a picture of the author but one that the publisher found suitably cheeky and fitting to the time period.

Don't Call Me a Crook is adventurous and wild, a bit like watching a train wreck in that the events are often horrifying but you can't tear yourself away. At least, I couldn't. Fortunately, the delightful Lisa Roe gave me fair warning, so I knew what I was getting into when I opened the book. This book is certainly not for the faint of heart but it's entertaining. I especially enjoyed the peek into the 1920s and the action -- there was seldom a dull moment in Bob Moore's life.

My favorite scene involved a little coffee stand where Bob was employed for a single day. In that brief time, he managed to spill some grease and set the place on fire. Never one to own up to the chaos he caused, Bob promptly left town. The story read like a slapstick anecdote. One minute he's starting a new job and the next minute he's dashing away like a madman.

4/5 - for entertainment value and historical perspective.

Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad

Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival

by Norman Ollestad
Copyright 2009

Ecco - Nonfiction/Memoir

272 pages

My parents subscribed to Reader's Digest for my entire life. I can't remember a time there wasn't a Reader's Digest on the coffee table or a side table in the living room. And, it was the Reader's Digest's "Drama in Real Life" stories that probably led to my lifelong addiction to stories like Crazy for the Storm -- stories of survival, of people who found inner strength to beat the odds.

Norman Ollestad was 11 years old and had just won a skiing championship when he boarded a chartered Cessna plane with his father, his father's girlfriend, Sandra, and a pilot who reassured his father that the weather was not a problem.

Caught in a blizzard, the plane slammed into a mountainside, killing the pilot and Norman's father on impact. Sandra was severely injured but young Norman assessed the situation and decided, after some time sheltering under a wing, that their only chance of survival lay in a dangerous descent down the mountain to a meadow where he'd spotted a cabin. A treacherous chute threatened to send them flying into trees or off a cliff, but Norman had been taught never to give up. He and Sandra began their slow and careful descent, stabbing sticks into the slick ice to keep from losing control.

After 9 hours, Sandra was dead but Norman had reached the meadow, alive. This is his story. But, it's not just a story of survival. It's a story of a relationship between a father and son and how that father kept his son alive by teaching him not to quit. It's also a story of a dysfunctional, divided family living on a California beach in the Seventies and how Norman dealt with his grief after the accident.

What I loved about this book was the tension. Chapters alternate between narrative describing the plane flight, crash and survival story and the tale of a young boy whose charismatic, enthusiastic, pushy father taught him to surf and ski -- cheerfully convincing him to get out of bed early to catch the best waves or to go up a ski lift in a snow storm to ski in the best powder when nobody else was daring enough to even go out on the slopes.

What I disliked about this book was the language and sometimes graphic nature. Young Norman was exposed to a strange, overtly sexual lifestyle (when he eventually moved away from the beach, this caused him some difficulty). He lived on a nude beach where people partied, drank heavily and had noisy sex. He had a filthy mouth for a youngster. And, he had a mother with an abusive boyfriend. His parents were divorced and his father lived nearby. Norman's life was not easy and not pretty but his father was the light of his life.

Surfing and skiing figure heavily into the chapters with his father and a glossary of skiing and surfing lingo would have been helpful, but I got the gist.

The two storylines gradually merge and the theme of learned perseverance pushes its way to the foreground. While young Norman's father was sometimes harsh, he was a pretty amazing man -- athletic, musical, charming, effervescent. It was his optimism and determination that rubbed off on Norman and kept him going, focused on the meadow where he'd spotted a cabin from an 8,600-ft mountain.

****Possible spoiler warning and mild rant!!! Skip this paragraph if you want to be surprised by what Norman discovered many years later, when he returned to the crash site.****

One thing about this book that bugged me was that Norman refused to see his survival as influenced by divine intervention in any way. While freezing on the mountain, he decided he would believe in God if he made it to the bottom. And, then he got to the bottom and decided God had nothing to do with it. Later, his grandmother died a terrible death from cancer that simply reinforced his thought process that we're all on our own, down here -- even after he climbed the mountain, many years later, and realized that there was no way he could have possibly seen the cabin from the crash site. I can't imagine going through such an experience and all the little coincidences that kept him alive without seeing the hand of God as a factor, myself, but laying that aside . . . I enjoyed the book.

****End spoiler warning!!! It's safe now, I promise.****

3.75/5 - A gripping story but not family-friendly (lots of language and naked people doing things naked people do -- I just wouldn't hand it to the kids) and sometimes the sports lingo is a little confusing. However, the pages flew and I absolutely loved the way he tied his own father-son story to his own experience as the father of a little boy who learned to love the same thrills in the same way. I could really relate to the inspiring-father bit.

Many thanks to Ecco Books for the advanced reader!

You'll probably never catch me doing this, but it's sure fun to watch:

Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs by Ellen Kennedy

Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs
by Ellen Kennedy

Copyright 2009

Muumuu House - Poetry/short stories

64 pages

Woody Allen and Ned Vizzini exit an apartment building across from the Trump Building. A Bob's Big Boy restaurant walks by them and stops in the middle of the intersection by the Wall St. train stations. Due to a drop in tourism after 9/11 the state issued the installment of a walking Bob's Big Boy restaurant that can move at different speeds and directions throughout the city. Over time, it has become severely depressed and bored with life, which occasionally leads it to unexpectedly walk into the Hudson River and sit there for days, drowning all customers and employees. Woody Allen and Ned Vizzini like the Bob's Big Boy. They stop to look at it for a moment and then continue down into the Wall St. train station.

--from "Eoody Mobby"

6-word review of Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs: Wacky free verse, sex, hamsters, lemons

Actually, I don't like that 6-word review. I'm leaving it, though, because it's mostly true. There's a bit of repetition when it comes to sex, hamsters and lemons. Interesting.

Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs is a very slim volume of free-verse poetry with a couple of short stories. The Fanzine refers to Woody Allen (in "Eoody Mobby") as "One of Kennedy's puppet sexual voodoo dolls." Oh. Okay, that makes sense. "Eoody Mobby" is a strange opener to the little book, but I was oddly drawn to that description of the walking Bob's Big Boy. From there, the story gets even more bizarre with a bit of kinky sex, some disgusting business with lemons and general weirdness I'd be hard put to describe. I wasn't sure if I'd make it through the book, but then it switched to Kennedy's poetry. I definitely like her poetry better than her short stories.

Now, I'll be honest . . . I don't know the first thing about poetry. I only know what I like and what I don't. And, I like Ellen Kennedy's poetry. I'm making an assumption by calling it "free verse". I think that's correct, but don't quote me on that. What's really exceptional about Kennedy's poetry is that it's a little on the addictive side and very spirited. She has this odd way of making you want to run for a pencil so that you can imitate her style. Absolutely everything suddenly becomes material. Sometimes Kennedy made me smile. Occasionally I felt like "I don't get it," but in general I just didn't want to put the book down.

Here's a random example:

Orange

I wish my life consisted only of
riding my bike with you
down a giant hill that never stopped
while listening to music
with no one else around
in the middle of nothing,
except a few shiny and relaxing lights above in the sky
like stars but a little brighter
and more orange

See what I mean?

Just don't leave this book lying around for the kids to read. It's definitely very adult. I didn't like the sex bits, but I never do like sex scenes in any form so that's nothing unusual. Graphic, gross and detailed are not my thing. I like generalities and I could really wrap my mind around poems like "Orange", "No One Cares About Poetry" and "Poem" (which is almost sad in a funny way). This one's going on the keeper shelf. I'm sure I'll reread my favorites repeatedly.

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
Release date: March 31, 2009
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill - Suspense/Historical Fiction
291 pages

I finished A Reliable Wife about 2 weeks ago and have found it difficult to review. So . . . guess what? Self-interview time!

Me: Tell us a little about A Reliable Wife.

Myself: Must I?

Me: Okay, fine. I can do it, instead.

I: Wahoo! I'm always looking for opportunities. A Reliable Wife is about a very lonely man named Ralph Truitt, a wealthy Wisconsin business owner who desperately desires to live his latter years with a companion. Having placed an advertisement asking for "simple honest woman", Ralph corresponds with Catherine Land, then selects her and sends a train car to pick her up. But, Catherine is not at all what she claimed to be in her letters. Catherine's plan is to gain Truitt's confidence, poison him and then leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow.

Ralph is also a man with a troubled past and an ulterior motive. In a land where people go mad from endless months of frigid winter weather, what will become of two people who already harbor hidden pain and twisted pasts? The story takes place during the winter of 1907/08.

Me: That wasn't bad. Did you cheat and use the cover blurb?

I: I borrowed the "simple honest woman" bit. The rest is mine.

Me: So, what did you like about this book?

I: The first 50 pages and about the last 25-50.

Me: Specifically, what about those sections appealed to you?

I: The first 50 pages were absolutely mesmerizing. The characters were just mysterious enough to yank this reader right into the story and there's some compelling action and character development at the beginning. We'll discuss the ending, later.

Me And, what about the pages in-between?

I: After about page 50, the story pivoted a little and went deeper into characterization, delving into the horrors that caused Ralph and Catherine to become greedy, obsessive, single-minded, yucky people. Really, the characters are just horrid, with one exception: Ralph Truitt's housekeeper. Ralph believes himself to be evil and is sexually obsessed. I think it would give away too much to mention Catherine's past life, although it unfolds rapidly.

Me: Why didn't you give up on the book?

I: I honestly read the entire book on the strength of the first 50 pages. Also, the author plays a little tug-of-war with the reader and I confess . . . I'm gullible enough that he succeeded. One minute, I thought Catherine might not be so bad after all, and the next minute I was convinced that she was a unreformably cold, heartless, evil person. It was partly the desire to know how things would end up that kept me going.

Me: And, what about the ending?

I: The ending was what I'd hoped for, all around. I can't say the book was predictable because it's almost as if the characters couldn't figure out how to be honest, even with themselves. They were so totally bent that their inner thoughts were rambling and complex.

Me: Anything else worth mentioning?

I: Yes, I thought Ralph had the most believable motivation for hating Christianity that I've ever read. I get irritated with characters who are described as having rejected God or their religion (not necessarily Christianity) for no apparent reason.

Me: Recommended?

I: It depends entirely upon the reader. I tend to dislike dark, dreary novels that focus on negative characterization but I think this particular novel is about redemption: specifically, the idea that some people desire redemption and some don't -- and, one must choose to alter his or her inner self to find redemption. The question may very well be, "Is it ever too late to change?" And, I think the author did a pretty good job of answering that question. The problem is that he does a lot of yanking the reader around in the process. A Reliable Wife is at times graphically violent and sexual -- lots and lots and lots of rambling inner monologue and scenes depicting sex. It's not family friendly. But, I think people who like literature and don't mind obsession and dark, haunted characters might enjoy it.

Me: No more questions, Your Honor.

I: May I step down from the bench?

Me: Yes, but be sure not to leave town.

I: ????

Many thanks to Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill for the chance to read this book! Coming up next will be a review of Talk of the Town by Lisa Wingate. Then . . . who knows? I've hardly read a word for the past two weeks. I hate it when that happens, don't you?

Written in Blood by Sheila Lowe

Written in Blood by Sheila Lowe
Copyright 2008
Obsidian - Mystery
306 pages
Author's website

What led you to pick up this book? I'm not a big mystery fan but I like to toss one into the mix, now and then -- the more unique, the better. I thought the idea of a mystery with a forensic handwriting analyst as the heroine sounded fun and the reviews I read were all positive.

Describe the plot without giving anything away. Paige Sorenson runs an exclusive private school and is the widow of a much older man. After his stroke, Paige says her husband, Torg, signed a new will leaving everything to her; but, his children believe she has forged their father's signature. Paige hires Claudia Rose to analyze his signature to prove her case in court and then Claudia becomes personally involved when she meets young Annabelle, a troubled student at Sorenson Academy. When Annabelle and Paige disappear, Claudia jumps in to help. Can she figure out the mysterious disappearance by looking for clues in the handwriting of those who knew Paige?

Describe a favorite scene. I liked anything and everything that had specific information about handwriting analysis. It was absolutely fascinating and made me want to read up or take a class -- and I found myself trying to analyze my own handwriting, which is probably silly but awfully fun.

What did you think about the characters? I was particularly fond of Annabelle and I liked the fact that a lot of the characters surprised me, although I did figure out who was going to cause trouble before it happened, toward the end.

What did you like most about the book? Learning about handwriting analysis as well as some fun action scenes.

Was there anything you didn't like about the book? I didn't like all the sexual references and graphic sex scenes. And, like a lot of mysteries, the writing was good but nothing to rave about or reread. There were no beautiful sentences.

Recommended? Yes, I enjoyed this book and would like to read the first book in the series, Poison Pen, someday. I would say the book is not family friendly, due to some graphic sex scenes and references.

Anything else worth mentioning? I thought the book stood alone very well. There were occasional references to a previous mystery solved by Claudia but there was never any time that I felt lost. The only reason I would read them in order, if you're a series reader, is to find out how Claudia ended up in her current relationship with a policeman.

Cover thoughts: I love the cover, which is a montage of elements from the story (poker chips and dice, Las Vegas, a pen and some writing superimposed on what appears to be a poker table).

If you've read and reviewed this book and would like me to provide a link to your review, just let me know!

Up next: My drawing for a Magnificent Box of History Rocks. I'm quite anxious to get rid of a few more books because I'm keeping a running tally of books coming in and going out of this house . . . and right now I'm on the plus side. Not good.

Finished today: The Feast of Love by Charles Baxter. I hope to review The Feast of Love and the three graphic novels I've recently finished (in brief) very soon. And, then . . .

Oh, dear, a bit over my head. I signed up for a few too many book tours in February. Every single one of the books I've agreed to review looks fabulous and if I could, I'd read them all at once. But when you juggle too many books you tend to get bonked on the head. I'm actually in desperate need of an eye doctor appointment because my eyes are protesting all the reading I've been doing, lately.

This weekend I hope to finish The Coasts of Canada and review it, before diving into my February reads. I'm so excited that tomorrow is our marathon-training rest day. Right now, my muscles are screaming. And, I'm not even walking that far!! On the plus side, I am so happy to be back to walking in the local military park. It is absolutely beautiful. Today, I spotted 4 red-tail hawks while walking. Oh, do I wish I'd had my camera!!!

On that note . . . I'll try to get out with the camera and post some wahoos, soon. It's not my intent to completely abandon wahooing.

Happy, happy Friday!

Very content Bookfool with eyestrain and mega-sore thighs

The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams

The Lost Diary of Don Juan by Douglas Carlton Abrams
Copyright 2007
Washington Square Press - Historical Fiction
307 pages, including glossary & notes
Lost Diary website

In front of us the Arenal spread out like a dirt beach from the city walls to the river. It was a scene of chaos, people jostling with mules and carriages going nowhere.

"Move out of the way!" a driver shouted vainly.

A noble lady daintily held up her billowing skirts as she crossed the dry mud, speaking anxiously to her children. "Careful now. Come quickly." Barefoot commoners swarmed all around them.

"Cold orange ice! Cold orange ice!" shouted a vendor selling drinks from his pushcart that had just come from the ice pits.

Two caballeros even managed to take offense at being shoved and were engaged in a swordfight. "How dare you refuse to yield to your better!"

"I'll show you who is better--with my sword!"

Not even the arrival of the ships restrained these duelers, who were clearly trying hard to take their minds off their fortunes with a show of outraged honor. I pulled Cristobal out of the way just in time to avoid his being gored.

What led you to pick up this book? I was offered a copy of The Lost Diary of Don Juan for a book tour and I really liked the excerpt I read. It was not overly graphic or rude and I love historical fiction.

Confession: The website also grabbed me (mostly the sight of a sword -- if there's one thing I love, it's a bit of swashbuckling adventure). Turn the volume on, if you visit that website. The music is wonderful.

Describe the plot without giving anything away. An infamous lothario falls in love with the one woman with whom he cannot possibly have a physical encounter. Set in Seville during the Spanish Inquisition, Don Juan is known to the dangerous leader of the Inquisition but protected from arrest and torture because of his mentor, the Marquis. But, will the Marquis lead to his downfall?

What did you think of the characters? Honestly, I just found Don Juan disgusting. The book is packed with purple prose, during which he rhapsodizes about a woman's passion over and over and over, again. He's convinced he is doing women a favor by filling in for absentee husbands or supplying hopelessly single women's physical needs. He claims he can never love or marry, but in the long run that turns out to be an unfounded claim, of course, as he falls hopelessly in love. Dona Ana, the woman he adores, is justifiably repulsed by him. She seemed a decent gal; I liked her till close to the end.

Describe your favorite scene: There are several, actually. In spite of the fact that I disliked the protagonist, I thought the author did an excellent job of setting the scene. There were a few fascinating, almost cinematic scenes -- sometimes the author even injected a bit of slapstick humor. One of my favorites is the scene during which Don Juan is headed toward the dock to see if the ship that may be carrying his fortune will arrive (quoted above). You can easily zone in on the writing flaws in that particular excerpt (which I liked, but . . . isn't "dry mud" dirt?) . There are some scenes with swordplay that I enjoyed. And, a lot of leaping over roofs, hiding from various enemies and protectors of the women he seeks to entertain.

Recommended? That's a hard one. I think a lot of people will enjoy the book. It's often overdone, especially on the descriptions of what Don Juan thinks of women and his ability to please them, but there are some exciting action scenes. It's not a family-friendly book, as you'd expect, although it certainly isn't as graphic as it could have been. There are plenty of fun scenes that don't involve se*ual encounters. I don't recommend it to those who want to keep the fiction in their households clean. But, I liked it for the action and would call it an average read. I'd say avoid it if you don't like an arrogant protagonist or overwrought descriptions. Don Juan really did get on my nerves. However, I loved the sense of time and place.

In general: If I hear the word "passion" at all, this week, I will probably slug someone.

It bears mentioning that the action scenes are a little James Bondish in that he is too good at escaping; the sheer quantity of times he manage to squeak by without getting caught stretch believability. But, the time period was fraught with danger -- the Inquisition, a surprising number of widowed or abandoned women, thieves, sanitary hazards, pirates.

On the plus side, I thought it was obvious the author did his research and his notes about the book, why he wrote it and how he studied the time period and the character are fascinating.

Cover thoughts: The cover shown is not the same as that of the book I read. There are three that I know of. The hardback cover shows a man's torso with a cape slung over his shoulder. It's appealing. The copy above . . . I guess that's Seville and I like the night scene. There are plenty of night scenes, since Don Juan sneaks around at night, but it doesn't seem to fit as well, in my humble opinion. And, the one I've got appears to be a painting of a woman in ecstasy, with her boob hanging out of her tunic. You can imagine why I didn't want to put that on my family-friendly blog, but I do think it is the most logical cover choice.

Walking Through Walls by Philip Smith

Walking Through Walls by Philip Smith
Copyright 2008 (Released Sept. 18)
Atria Books/Memoir
332 pages

5-word review: Decorator dad becomes psychic healer

This book is going to be a difficult one to review because it is so far off-the-wall. I was hoping Walking Through Walls would be similar to an Allison DuBois book, although the book is a memoir about growing up with a psychic healer, not life as a psychic. Instead of the sweet book about psychic life that I'd hoped for, the book begins with a young Philip Smith drinking an alcoholic beverage in a sleazy Florida bar -- at the age of 6. To be honest, my initial impression was that Smith was the victim of child abuse. His parents ignored him and allowed him to drink alcohol in a bar with a large picture window into a pool where things you really wouldn't even want your teenager to watch occurred? That's just not right. His family and their lifestyle were so far from normality that I had a great deal of difficulty reading the book.

I set the book aside in disgust and then eventually managed to shift gears and read the whole thing. Smith tells about how his father, a well-known decorator living in Miami, suddenly decided to take up a macrobiotic diet and study spiritualism and psychic healing. Gradually, he began to perform healings (free of charge) and eventually he was able to heal by phone, using a pendulum, maps and the essence of homeopathic medicines, which he projected to the person in need.

"Before I start any work, I say a quick prayer to raise my vibrations so I'll be able to tune in to the proper frequency. I simply say, 'I raise my vibrations to the divine and healing level.' "

p. 217 of Advanced Reader Copy, Walking Through Walls (changes may have been made)

Sound like a stretch? It was a bit too much for me.

Now and then, though, I really enjoyed the sense of time and place:

The big pink Philco regrigerator was humming noisily as she squished meat, eggs and crumbled Saltine crackers in a large Pyrex bowl. Just as I was about to announce my presence, the sirens wailed again. They seemed to be either louder or coming closer. I was now officially scared. Having spent several years in school perfecting my "duck-and-cover" routine that would protect me in the even of nuclear war, I quickly climbed into the cabinet under the sink, huddled next to the Ajax, and waited for the war to start while Mom chopped onions.

--p. 20

One day Mom was wearing some vividly colored Mardi Gras pop beads (so unlike her) that her sister had given to her. They caught my father's eye. Suddenly he had a decorating epiphany that these beads could become a new way to make modern draperies.

--p. 48

So, Philip Smith's father, Les Smith, was not only a psychic healer, but the man who invented those funky bead curtains that went so well with shag rugs and psychedelic posters in the 1960s. Interesting.

The book is very readable, but contains some adult material -- too much for my taste. While Smith seems to defend his parents lifestyle and blames the way they let him run loose to indulge in drugs and sex on the time and place, I found young Philip's exploits sordid, more than enough to earn a Family Unfriendly Warning. I also found that it became more difficult to believe the stories of healing instead of easier, as the book progressed.

Some people may enjoy this memoir, but it was definitely not my cuppa.

Update on The Misery:

Still feeling awful; have called to give the doctor's office a nudge. If someone wants to attempt to heal me psychically or pray me well, feel free. Just let me know, so I can give you proper credit, after I begin bouncing around like a Tigger. At the moment, I'm relying on sleep, fluids and aspirin. But, that doesn't really seem to be doing the trick. Hopefully, I'll be able to stop whining at you, within a few days. Cross your fingers and toes.

Lucky, lucky me:

Yesterday, as I was preparing to back out of my driveway, a FedEx truck drove up and parked right behind me -- which, for one thing, convinced me I should leave a few minutes earlier for the school pick-up. Apart from that minor regret, there was also an "Oh, boy! Oh, boy!" moment, when I saw the return-address label, because I've been anxiously awaiting this particular book, an ARC of Bedlam South by David Donaldson & Mark Grisham. Those who visit regularly undoubtedly know I've recently become a Civil War enthusiast. Bedlam South takes place during the Civil War. Wahoo! I started reading the book practically the moment I opened the parcel (in the doctor's office -- he can just forget borrowing this one, although he did ask me about it and . . . well, I gushed about how much I was already enjoying it). So far, I am absolutely loving this book. I hope to finish it, this weekend. Assuming I'm alive. I figure if I'm still able to sit at the computer, it's a good sign.

Update: Got antibiotics. Took one. Waiting for the miracle of modern medicine to take hold.

Next up: Reviews of Farworld: Water Keep and The Darcys and The Bingleys. You will be happy to hear that I enjoyed both of them. Negative reviews are such a bummer.

Wishing everyone a pleasant, book-filled weekend!

Bookfool, who hopes to quit whining and feel better, soon

The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner

Aging sucks: I've corrected the publisher on this book, which I looked at without bothering to hold the book far enough away to actually focus.

The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner
Copyright 2008
Ballantine Books/Historical Fiction
365 pages, including afterword
Author's website

The scent of jasmine washed over me. Above, a sickle moon hung suspended in a dazzling spangled night. I heard water spill from the stone lions ringing the fountain; my feet soaked in the waterways as I slowly turned about to stare at the Alhambra's curving arches, the intricate pediments and sculpted marble.

The silence was a presence. Everything had changed. This world I loved so much, it would not mourn me. It would not even feel my absence. It would continue on, agelessly indifferent in its beauty, its walls absorbing the echoes of its departed.

I felt Soraya at my side. As her hand enfolded mine, I let my tears fall in furious silence.

What led you to pick up this book? I love historical fiction and jumped at the chance to review the book for a book tour.

Summarize the plot without giving anything away. The Last Queen is the story of Juana of Castile, also known as "Juana the Mad" and the last queen of Spanish blood to inherit the throne of Spain. It tells of her life from adolescence to the time of her death.

What did you like most about the book? The sense of time and place. I thought the author did a beautiful job of describing Spain and other places Juana lived and traveled. One gets not only a sense of what it must have been like living during this time period, but also of the pressures of royalty, the intrigue and danger. It reminded me of one of my favorite memoirs, Autobiography by Benvenuto Cellini. One minute the heroine is living the high life in velvet, eating off a gold plate, and the next minute she's imprisoned in a dark room with guards at the door, without even the option to bathe.

What did you think of the characters? The Last Queen is packed with perfectly crafted characters, believable and often frightening in their vagaries and sinister ways. Juana, her mother Isabel and the women close to Juana were my favorites. I loved the author's descriptions of their strength and resilience. I thought it was perfectly conceivable that Juana's "madness" was simply a ploy to remove her from power.

Describe your favorite scene: I loved the scene in which a pregnant Juana escapes from one of her many imprisonments on horseback.

Recommended? Yes, absolutely. Whether or not you know the time period, the book is accessible and an engrossing, often adventurous read. I enjoyed the emotional tug, as Juana often loved deeply without being truly loved in return. One could not easily leave this book without feeling sympathy for Juana.

In general: I often mention that I'm not knowledgable about history and this is yet another case in which I went into another historical time period with little knowledge or understanding of historical facts. The Last Queen has an ease and flow that made even the political maneuvering readily understandable. There are some graphic sex scenes, so I don't consider the book family friendly, but I thought they all fit within the framework of the novel. The author mentions that some of the most exciting scenes did, in fact, take place.

Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese

Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese
Copyright 2007
WheatMark Fiction/short stories
134 pages
Author's blog

From the cover:

Down to a Sunless Sea plunges the reader into uncomfortable situations and into the minds of troubled characters. Each selection is a different reading experience -- poetic, journalistic, nostalgic, wryly humorous , and even macabre. An award-winning essayist and historical novelist, Mathias B. Freese brings the weight of his twenty-five years as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist into play as he demonstrates a vivid understanding of -- and compassion toward -- the deviant and damaged.

That's one of the most accurate cover blurbs I think I've ever read. Down to a Sunless Sea is a collection of short stories about people who are not whole, either in body, mind or spirit. In "I'll Make It, I think," a young man with cerebral palsy talks about his various deformities. In spite of his sense of humor -- he's named his annoying body parts -- his desire to be just a normal person, accepted and loved, makes for painful reading. I don't see how anyone can read, "I'll Make It, I think" without carrying away an understanding of just how horrible it must be to have the ability to reason and love, but to be trapped in a body that simply doesn't work, stared at and mistreated, unable to express thoughts because a mouth doesn't move right or to simply walk down a street unnoticed.

*Warning: The next few paragraphs may contain spoilers, so please skip them if you intend to read the book, right away.*

The first story that really resonated for me was "The Chatham Bear". "The Chatham Bear" describes the commotion stirred up in Chatham, New York, when a black bear is spotted several times, briefly, by residents. Worried that the bear may be deadly, one man shoots into the woods when he spots the bear. Another hides in his truck, honking madly. Nearby, in neighboring Canaan, a pit bull kills a small terrier in the terrier's own yard and nothing is left of the smaller dog but bones. Yet, the pit bull is returned to its owner. A couple fight in a parking lot, the man openly burning the woman and then tossing her into his truck. But, the protagonist, observing, believes that to interfere would be to invite harm. The author concludes that a bear, terrifying to the people who see it when it briefly emerges from the woods, is harmless by comparison with humans and even their pets, both of which are uncontrolled but whose dangers are overlooked.

Another very powerful story is "Alabaster", the story of a young boy who observes a mother and daughter conversing on a bench. Their regular conversations make little sense to him, till one day the elderly mother asks the boy to sit with her. She tells her story, about how when she was not much older than the 9-year-old boy, she was taken away from her life and broken. On her wrist is a number, tattooed permanently into her now-sagging skin. The reader realizes that the woman's childhood was stolen, her hope shattered during her time in a concentration camp. The most telling sentence, in my view: "It must be wonderful just to grow up."

Another story, "Unanswerable," describes the cruelty of a single German man and ends with this amazing line: "The core puzzle, for all of us, is what ignites a human being to hate feverishly, kill wantonly in huge numbers, revel in genocide and final solutions -- that is unanswerable."

My absolute favorite story is "Little Errands", the story of an obsessive-compulsive who is unsure letters placed in a mailbox have really been mailed and feels obligated to open and close the door of the mailbox repeatedly . . . then is compelled to return to open it a few more times. What if the letter has become stuck in the side of the box? What will happen if the protagonist has simply convinced himself that the letter has been mailed but it really hasn't? This is not his only compulsion. Each little action is so overinflated in its importance that the protagonist's time is spent obsessively repeating movements, then backtracking and doing them all over, again. And, yet, he's convinced that he's saving time because if, perchance, the letter really wasn't mailed because he didn't make absolutely sure that it fell into the box just so, or if the radio wasn't, in fact, turned off all the way and the car's battery was drained, then he'd have to spend a lot more time fixing the problems that could have been avoided.

In a way, "Little Errands" is humorous, at least from the point of view of a person who can't imagine feeling compelled to repeat the same actions, much less to think of such actions as "time-saving". Of course he's not saving time. He's wasting time being compulsive, but to that individual it's impossible to fathom simply sliding a letter into a mailbox and walking away without a second thought. In the end, the reader realizes that the anxiety is real and it's not only troublesome in that repetitive actions consume time, but that his actions are also socially detrimental. Just knowing a bill has arrived is such a relief that when a neighbor asks the protagonist to drop something in the mail, he refuses and is unable to express why.

*End of spoilers*

And, therein lies the heart of Down to a Sunless Sea: the realization that each of us is flawed or broken in our own way. But, it's not necessarily possible for others to understand, even if we're fully able to express our pain. I'd be lying if I said I even understood all of the stories. At least two of them baffled me; I couldn't quite unravel what was happening. And, yet, the vast majority made sense. They're harsh, painful, difficult to read. It's the reality inherent in each of the stories that makes this collection meaningful.

I don't know that I can rate this book with numbers and, in fact, I'm once again considering the idea of ditching the numerical rating system permanently. Instead, I'll just say that I recommend it, but be forewarned: the reading is rough. You may be enlightened, but it's going to hurt. Just don't read this book if you're already blue or you're in the mood for sweetness and light. Read it to try to understand your fellow humans. Because the second story has a lot of sexual references/scenes, I'm going to label this one family-unfriendly; I would not hand it to my teenager.

In other news:

The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. Okay, there haven't been any rumors. You probably just assumed I had a busy week, right? School began, today, so . . . yes. Busy week, a couple of whopper storms and late nights that made me groggy during the daylight hours. It's still too hot to think straight, so I'm hibernating. But, I've been enjoying my reading.

Finished:

Matrimony by Joshua Henkin - review forthcoming but in case you're interested, it's going to be a very positive review.

Almost Finished Reading:

High Altitude Leadership -- haven't even managed to add it to the sidebar, but it's a quick read about applying mountaineering principles to leadership in business.

Still reading:

The Words of War by Donagh Bracken - really enjoying this one, although I was having trouble straightening out who fought for which side and decided to look for an atlas of Civil War battles. Then, the storms hit and we huddled for a couple of days. That was fun, actually. At the height of the big storm on Saturday, kiddo was flopped across our bed, reading with a flashlight. Hubby and I were curled up by the headboard, chatting and listening to the storm. The cat was rolled into a ball on the floor, near the foot of the bed.

Sunday, we attempted to go to the park to look for the atlas but had to turn back and take a different route because a huge, fallen tree blocked the road. The tree was so big, we couldn't see the workers on the far side, although I spotted them from the highway. I found and bought my atlas, yesterday, and hope to make some serious progress on The Words of War, this week. It's really quite a fascinating book and the atlas has already helped me to discover that I understood more than I realized.

The Best of Robert Service - Canadian poetry, eh? Also reading this one slooooowly. I'm finding that Robert Service was, in his way, much like John Muir with a sense of rhythm. Sometimes his poetry actually is laugh-out-loud funny. Some of his poems were obviously written in frustration; he had strong moral standards and loose morals bugged him. Apparently, he was lured to the Yukon with the dream of becoming a cowboy, but was inspired and captivated by its beauty.

Set aside, temporarily:

Travels in Alaska by John Muir - because I want to focus on some other reads, but Muir is still by the bed and I'm not quitting. I absolutely adore his descriptions of the scenery and hope to get back to that book, soon.

In the midst of reading:

When Twilight Burns by Colleen Gleason. Oh, yes, and I'll be doing that drawing in a few hours. I am loving When Twilight Burns every bit as much as the first three books.

News flash about Colleen:

She's having a live webcast Tuesday, August 5 at 8:30 pm, Eastern time, to celebrate the release of When Twilight Burns. All you need is an internet connection and speakers. There will be door prizes, including an ARC of As Shadows Fade. Tune in here and log on early because space is limited!

And, finally . . . a photo! Of course! A lizard! What else would it be? Note that he's brown because, till this weekend's storms, we had quite a lengthy drought going and there wasn't a whole lot of green. So, the lizards have been cloaking their little bodies in lovely, matching speckled browns. Here's my lizard buddy:


I also made my first anole hatchling sighting, last week. He was so tiny! Just an inch long in the body, probably no more than 1/8" wide. Unfortunately, I had my hand on a garbage can and no camera nearby. But, trust me, he was adorable.

Hope everyone had a great week!

Bookfool, still melting but now back to chauffeuring (at least till kiddo gets his athletic pass)

Entropy by Anthony Lawrence Gordon and I've got the I Can't Change My Sidebar Blues

Entropy by Anthony Lawrence Gordon
Copyright 2008, CreateSpace
137 pages, including bonus short story
Author's blog, here

Cover blurb:

When it all seems to be falling apart....
Gradually but irresistibly, events in Nick's life have spun out of control and Nick can only hold on and survive. He finds himself trying to understand the ending of past relationships while becoming involved in new ones, and he finds himself falling in love. As everything seems to be falling apart, Nick tries to piece together the pieces, tries to restore order. Halt the entropy.

What led you to pick up this book? I saw J. Kaye's comment about the author needing additional reviewers and the link to Booking Mama's review of Entropy. It sounded good, so I requested a copy.

Summarize the plot but don't give away the ending. A man who suffers from loss and loneliness gets involved with a couple who are into kinky sex and drugs, leading him into a downward spiral.

What did you like most about the book? It flowed well and was compelling, so I kept reading although what happened in the book really was pretty racy and disgusting. Entropy is definitely different from my typical reading material.

What did you think of the characters? The protagonist is a bit of a wimp, although he occasionally tries to yank himself out of the mess he's gotten himself into. I kept hoping he'd stand up for himself and say, "Nope, I'd rather be in my empty house than hang out with you two weirdos."

Share a favorite scene from the book: Strange but true . . . I liked the tragic ending. Everything in the book led to the ending. It fit; it worked. I won't give away what happens in the end, but I thought it was very well described and perfect for the story.

Iffy on recommendation: Entropy is a pretty good book, but it's about sex and drug addiction. So, it's packed with scene after scene of graphic sex and drug use. I don't enjoy reading sex scenes; I just don't. The description of the book didn't indicate that there would be characters with a sex addiction or I would not have requested the book. However, the book is a very quick read. The "What's going to happen?" question pulls the reader through the book. I would simply caution readers to avoid it if you dislike graphic sex; it's not family friendly. If that doesn't bother you, Entropy is a decent read -- not brilliant or lyrical in any way, but I thought the tone worked for the story. It's just not my thing.

In general, I feel the same as Michele:

"I expected to read about a man's struggle with choices he's made, reactions to things that have happened to him, and his thoughts and actions as he grows or at least moves through the current events in his life. However, that's not what I read. The book focuses on the choices Nick makes, or others makes for him, with a friend from work and his wife. It focuses on drugs and sex, lots of sex that makes him uncomfortable and definitely made me uncomfortable."

Read other complete reviews, here:
Booking Mama
Cheryl's Book Nook
Michele - only one 'L'

Totally unnecessary aside: "Entropy" just happens to be one of my favorite words. I love the sound of it and I'm fascinated by the concept. I'm sure that influenced my decision to request the book.

Yesterday was a good mail day. When the mail truck arrived and the postal worker reversed then pulled into my driveway, I assumed there must be a book or two in the mail. Sure enough, I came inside with a little pile:

The Questory of Root Karbunkulus by Kamilla Reid (fantasy)- I got two copies of this one, so watch for a giveaway
Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese (short stories)
What if . . . ? by Steve N. Lee (eco-thriller, I think)
Legerdemain by James J. Heaphey (history)

I'll be diving into this pile, immediately.

The I Can't Change My Sidebar Blues: For the second time this year, I'm unable to make changes to my sidebar. I can get to the "edit layout" page, but only the top 6 items can be viewed or altered. The scroll bar halts, at that point. So, I'm unable to change photos, add to my links or update my "currently reading" and "recently finished" categories. Grrr, frustrating. Please bear with me while I wait for the situation to resolve itself.

Not a great photo, but here's one of the fun sights I got to view through my mother's window, while I was in Oklahoma -- bunny chase!!! Squeeeee!

Happy Tuesday!

Moonstruck by Susan Grant

Moonstruck by Susan Grant Copyright 2008
Release date: Today!!!
Harlequin Paranormal Romance (I disagree -- My opinion: Sci-fi Romance)
378 pages

[Finn] walked to a comm panel to assemble his team and sat down. The smart chair sank almost to the floor before rising to the height he'd programmed. Blast the damn thing! "Do that again, and out the airlock you go," he muttered. Was it his imagination or did the chair give an extra jolt?

Only a few amused glances veered in his direction. He altered the settings -- again. No matter what he adjusted, the so-called smart chairs did something else.

What led you to pick up this book? The author sent me a copy. One of her previous books, Your Planet or Mine? was on my 2006 list of favorites reads (see my review, here).

Summarize the plot but don't give away the ending. As a young adult, Brit "Stone-Heart" Bandar witnessed mass murder at the hands of the Drakken Horde. Since that day, she has made it her mission to eliminate as many of the Drakken Horde as possible and has become an admiral in the Coalition fleet, fighting the Horde and attempting to catch rogue captain and pirate Finn Rorkken. When the Coalition and the Horde draft a peace accord and become part of the new Triad -- which includes the Coalition, the Horde and Earth, Bandar and Rorkken are thrown together, obligated to share command of a new space ship and forced to fight their unexpected attraction to each other. When mass murder on a remote planet near the Borderlands throws the light of suspicion on the Drakken Horde, peace comes into question and Brit has no choice but to face the fear and anger that have lingered in spite of her determination to move on.

What did you like most about the book? I liked the action, the characters, the raw emotion and the author's unique brand of humor. While this book is much darker than the previous book I read by the same author, she still managed to sneak in plenty of offbeat, funny moments.

What did you think of the characters? The hero and heroine are both strong characters, strict military leaders who are admired and respected by their crews. Brit's nickname indicates the fact that she's known as a cold-hearted leader. But, both Brit and Finn have their soft spots and have a sweet vulnerability when it comes to each other. There's also a secondary romance and I liked the characters involved in that little love triangle, as well. Actually, the secondary storyline was slightly a tiny bit more appealing because the heroine was such an innocent, naive young lady that you couldn't help but root for her to choose the right fellow.

Share a favorite scene from the book: I particularly love all of the action scenes, when Bandar and Rorkken turn completely serious and are focused on nothing but the mission at hand. Susan Grant's military history is no doubt at least partially responsible for her ability to write crisp, fast-paced action. I also enjoyed the tension and urgency when one of the characters fell victim to a booby-trapped space ship.

Thumbs up - Adventure, love and some rocking fine outer-space action, heavy on the romance. Once I became involved with the characters, I had difficulty setting the book down.

In general: This is only my second book by Susan Grant, so I found myself comparing it to Your Planet or Mine? and I prefer a funny, light-hearted action/adventure sci-fi romance to a darker version of the same. But, I still loved the book. I like the author's sly sense of humor, the worlds that she creates (including all the nano-this and nano-that technology), the characters, the action and adventure. There is more emotion in Moonstruck and less humor, but it's still a terrific blend and I enjoyed it. My only quibble would be that some of the more erotic wording (and Moonstruck is quite heavy on sex scenes) is offensive to me. To regular romance readers, it may not be.

Also, it's worth noting that Bandar uses sex as a defense mechanism. So, the book begins with the admiral in the midst of a paid encounter (and there are quite a few graphic sex scenes). I would say it's not family-friendly, for that reason. But, let's face it, I'm a real priss.

Something to think about: In this particular storyline, sex is crucial because the heroine uses it to keep herself from becoming close to men and, thus, avoid vulnerability. Because it's important to plot, I think the sexual tension and relationship firmly entrenches this particular novel in the "romance" category. And, yet, it takes place in outer space. You simply can't deny that the sci-fi aspect is fantastic and I do think a lot of authors who write excellent sci-fi end up finding their books unfairly categorized as romance rather than science fiction. Not long ago, I recall reading an entry to that effect by another blogger (sorry, I did not save a link) who agrees that some tremendous sci-fi is unfairly plunked in the romance section by publishers. In fact, that particular blogger said she goes so far as to move a particular author's books from the romance section to the sci-fi shelves, where the books will presumably get more exposure.

The question for publishers and readers: Does romance negate the impact of setting? I have a friend who believes that romance is often thrown into a novel because it's a common -- possibly even expected -- technique, adding a subplot involving romance and, in effect, watering down a perfectly decent plot line. I don't know his opinion as to whether the romantic storyline should impact categorization.

Personal opinion: I like a little romance (preferably without graphic sex scenes) in just about anything. Sometimes I agree with my friend; there are stories in which the romantic aspect seems contrived and totally out of place -- and I'm referring to both genre and literary novels. But, I think love and attraction are a fact of life. It's nearly impossible to toss more than a few people/characters (real or imagined) together without some sort of romantic tension between at least a few of them. And, in many cases I think the setting should rule the classification. In fact, I would prefer that books by Susan Grant, Linnea Sinclair, and others who add a heavy romantic touch, were shelved in the sci-fi section. If I'm in the mood for sci-fi, that's where I'm going to go. Add the word "romance" to the spine, if you'd like; but remember that it's really the setting that often guides the impulse to read a particular book.

Back to Moonstruck . . .It is definitely recommended by moi and I am totally annoyed with myself for having misplaced my copy of My Favorite Earthling, which continued the story of Reef from Your Planet or Mine? Now, I'm just dying to read My Favorite Earthling.

Monday Malarkey: In Which Bookfool Begins to Describe Her Week of Reading

I managed to squeeze in 4 books, last week--2 awful, 2 fun. As much as I would have loved to set everything else besides blogging aside, that was a "no can do". But, still . . . I'll summarize what I read, starting with the first two books and continuing with the other two in a separate post:

1. When Lightning Strikes by Kristin Hannah - My first book by Hannah and probably not the best choice, but it cost me a mere quarter in the library sale and kept hollering at me till I gave in. Labeled simply "fiction", it's definitely romance with graphic scenes that are not family friendly. Copyrighted 1994/370 pages.

Alaina Costanza ("Lainie" - unfortunately, one of the most overused heroine nicknames in romantic fiction) has grown jaded and no longer assumes someday she'll find the man of her dreams. Lainie ignores the noisy storm outside and types away at her next novel to preoccupy herself while her daughter is away. When lightning strikes her computer, she is thrown 100 years backward in time, into the setting of her own Western novel, where she discovers that the evil villain and setting are not quite right. The villain has a tiny bit of heart, the hero never does quite save the day, and she's not waking up from the very vivid dream that has sucked her back in time (or so she assumes). When Lainie realizes the truth, she must figure out how to return to the future and her child.

First comment: No idea where they came up with that cover. A porch swing and a sunny spring day? Weird. Lainie gets zapped into the desert, kidnapped by her villain, dragged to the hideout, and they fight with each other until he decides to give in to his desire. Oh, geez, not that, again. I skipped the sex scenes and focused on what I liked best. Unfortunately, the book had a decent premise -- that the heroine's novel was based on her previous life, back when she was named Emily and married to Killian (the ranger-turned-bad-guy of Lainie's novel). The idea was that Lainie's heart's desire pulled her back in time. Somehow, Lainie must figure out how to bring Killian to the future in order to return to her daughter and remain with her true love. But, the story never quite came together.

Most of the way through the book I kept thinking the same thing: Why doesn't she ask him for a change of clothing and the opportunity to bathe? I was so bent on that issue (with everyone sweating in the desert) that it overshadowed the romance-- which was weak, at best. Also, there was a wardrobe concern. Lainie just kept on wearing her bright red sweater, all the way through the novel. Nobody gave her a less conspicuous shirt, even after the bank robbery, as they were pursued on horseback by the law. Between that and never asking for a bar of soap? Well, I just didn't buy the story.

Rating: Nyeh

2. Night Train by Martin Amis - Police procedural, copyright 1997

According to a reviewer at Amazon, Night Train was based on a poem, Sunny Prestatyn. I've never read the poem, so I can't comment upon that, other than to say that all of the parallels noted do ring a bell as far as the book's content.

Night Train tells about the investigation of Jennifer Rockwell's suicide. Rockwell was physically perfect, intelligent, happy, apparently a much-loved woman with a charmed life. Her suicide is baffling, but forensic tests prove that there are no other possibilities. Her death is complicated by the fact that Jennifer was the daughter of a police chief. Detective Mike Hoolihan (a female) is assigned the job of clearing Jennifer's case. And, Mike has her own connection to Jennifer, who helped Mike through a rough detoxification from alcohol. Mike tells the story of her investigation into Jennifer's death.

I bought Night Train on a whim when, once again, I couldn't find a copy of London Fields (the one Amis book I'm interested in reading). I read about half of Night Train and set it aside, last year. This week, I decided I needed to finish the book so I can get rid of it. And, that's about how I feel about it. Finished. Glad to get rid of it. Although, I must say that the characters were so vividly drawn that a 3-month gap between reading the first half and the last was no problem at all.

Rating: Uncommonly depressing skipster with some graphic scenes.

But, don't worry . . . things improve, soon!!

Coming up next:
On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson and
The Fabulous Saga of Alexander Botts and the Earthworm Tractor by William Hazlett Upson

Stay tuned!