Monday, June 28, 2010

On the Horizon ...

Hello everyone!

I just got back from a long weekend at the theater (Saw A Winter's Tale and The Tempest - the latter with Christopher Plummer - amazing actor and an amazing production! If any of my readers are in Southern Ontario - check out the Stratford Festival! I highly recommend it!), and I am raring to get on with more reading as the next two weekends are looooooong weekends!

As such, here is what is on the horizon for me:

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
The Iron Thorn by Caitlin Kittredge
The Charlatan's Boy by Jonathan Rogers
The Painted Boy by Charles de Lint
Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
The Space Between the Trees by
The Iron Witch by
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Demon's Lexicon and The Demon's Covenant by Sarah Rees Brennan
Heart of Veridon by Tim Akers
Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Girl in the Arena by Lise Hines
Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier
The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
Ash by Malinda Lo
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Slights by Kaaron Warren
Susan Beth Pfeffer's Moon Crush series
The House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski
Bleeding Violet by Dia Reeves
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

And a little closer to the shore are these gems that I took out of my book closet and put on my nighttable for nighttime reading pleasure:

And After that, the Dark by Charlotte Hughes
Mr. Darcy's Great Escape by Marsha Altman
Amanda Grange "Mr. Darcy, Vampyr"
Guy Gavriel Kay "Ysabel"
A.E. Moorat "Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter"
Steig Larsson "The Girl Who Played with Fire"
Steig Larsson "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"
Christina Dodd "Close to You"

Also:
Reading now:

Richelle Mead "Blood Promise" (eBook)
Diane Setterfield "The Thirteenth Tale" (Subway Book)
P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast "Betrayed" (Subway Book 2)
Julie Kenner "Demons are Forever" (Audio)
Dacre Stoker "Dracula The Undead"
Sujit Saraf "The Peacock Throne"

On my Bookshelf for Later:
Audio:

Richelle Mead "Spirit Bound" (CANNOT WAIT!)
Suzanne Collins "Catching Fire'
Maggie Stiefvater "Shiver"
Dan Simmons "Drood"
Matthew Pearl "The Last Dickens"

eBooks:

Lauren Willig "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation"
Lauren Willig "The Masque of the Black Tulip"
Lauren Willig "The Deception of the Emerald Ring"
Lauren Willig "The Seduction of the Crimson Rose"
Lauren Willig "The Temptation of the Night Jasmine"
Lauren WIllig "The Betrayal of the Blood Lily"
Chuck Palahniuk "Pygmy"

So ... a busy weekend ... but that's what I get for a loooong weekend!
Cheers!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Thoughts on "The Good Wife" Season Finale...

... I love that show and I am so happy it has been renewed (I am usually very disappointed with the network renew picks).

Before I get into it, a sad Fare-thee-well to some great shows that got axed to make more room for mind numbing "dramas" like Jersey Shore 2:

Pushing Daisies (yes, I know it was canceled like three years ago, I am still wounded)
Happy Town
Legend of the Seeker (still mostly rumour)
Eastwick
My Own Worst Enemy
Kings
Kyle X/Y
The Cleaner
Valentine
Easy Money
Crusoe
Dirty Sexy Money
Defying Gravity (Okay, I have no idea what this was about because it was canceled too early)
Wolf Lake (a thorn in my side forever.)
Eleventh Hour
Eli Stone
Point Pleasant
Mental (though, the ending they gave season one provided enough closure for me not to lose sleep over it)
Life
The Philanthropist
Privileged
Raising the Bar
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
The Unusuals
And many, many MANY more.

Why do they make watching tv so hard?

Anyways, onto The Good Wife:

*spoilers*
I am really only going to focus on the last scene. The rest was good, too - but what really cinched it as amazingly good television that will always come up in my brain - was the ending.

To set it up for you, the main character, Alicia Floric has two main men in her life (Sidenote: I wonder if they will bring back the ubersexy non-lawyer lawyer from the Orthodox Jew case... rawr): Will Gardner, her best friend and former law school chum; and her husband, the disgraced former DA who cheated on her with a hooker, served time in prison, but is generally a pretty cool guy who we are led to believe was set up, Peter Floric.

Now, Alicia works for Will. As if matters weren't complicated enough, she has also has a thing for him since the first time she met him. But where she chose to give up her career to raise her family and such, he went on to be a partner at Stern, Lockhart and Gardner (Sidenote: Lockhart is awesome! I think she is probably the best character on the show), and it is implied that they lost touch while she was helping her husband's career along. Then he gets convicted of usurping funds from the city of Chicago ... to pay for hookers or something. anyways, the point is that Hubby goes to prison to await appeal and Wifey is back on the job market. Will takes her on as a first year associate, where she has to work hard and compete with someone fresh out of school to be kept on.

Through the season Alicia is found getting closer to both Will and Peter - she even sleeps with Peter, though she keeps him in the guest room and won't let him sleep in the master. She kisses Will and that's when the three or four episode story arc ends in a great scene for a season finale.

Basically, at the last episode, Alicia is left with a choice she has to make: stick with the husband and help him win back the hearts of the Chicago voters in another election campaign; or get with Will. She decides for the husband, and at this point you're like - "Why!? Why must you be the good wife, Alicia!? Why!?" And then Will calls, and your interest suddenly skyrockets and you freak and then you get the most epic ownage ever.

Will tells her, basically, she should be with him.

As he is about to justify this with a mountain of flowery romance, she stops him and goes "Okay. What's the plan?"

And he just stands there looking adorably dumbfounded.

She continues along the lines of having two kids, and a husband and all the romance in the world would have been great twenty years ago in law school, but now she needs more - she needs a plan, and until she has a plan,s he's not budging. And then this slowly (so slowly!) sinks into Will's head and he says "Okay." and then she walks out to hold Peter's hand.

The point is this: It is a mature show. It really is. The woman in me recognized the truth behind this - the core of it. And the woman in me - she rejoiced! It may not be romance, but it is something so distinctly deeper then that, that it works. And I commend the show for portraying a woman strong enough to demand a plan from any man - let alone one who is not hers yet.

I also like the way the show skirted around her complete support of her husband. She walks out on stage with him, to announce his election, but her eyes are hooded and her blackberry (the one she used to talk to Will) is still in her hand. It's a very good balance.

Anyway - check it out, tell me what you think!

Cheers! :)

Monday, June 21, 2010

Teenagers and Voyeurism

This will be my review on "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins.

Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the other districts in line by forcing them to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death on live TV. One boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and sixteen are selected by lottery to play. The winner brings riches and favor to his or her district. But that is nothing compared to what the Capitol wins: one more year of fearful compliance with its rule.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her impoverished district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to death before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
Acclaimed writer Suzanne Collins, author of the New York Times bestselling Underland Chronicles, delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy, adventure and romance, in this stunning novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present.

It is a YA. But it is the most comprehensive, complex YA I have ever read - And I have read a lot of YA. It has deep themes and allegories to our own present media-obsessed culture, and the characters not only develop but they cease to become characters and morph into people. It is an amazing book and I truly think it ought to be on mandatory reading lists for teenagers in highschool henceforth.

Here are some websites to check out if you're interested:

MockingJay.Net - in general, a forum and blog full of information and pictures and such on this trilogy. I like it a lot, though it takes all my concentrated effort not to click on the spoilers ...
http://mockingjay.net/

A Game (kind of weird, but meh - whatever makes money?)
http://westfieldcomics.com/store.cgi?cid=1&SearchString=Hunger%20games&sc=329611511056186172&U=1276255773984&SearchDescs=1

The plot is as outlined - in a dystopian future, there are 13 (technically 12, since the 13th got smashed to smithereens) and a Capitol. Due to a rebellion many years before the book is set, the districts are forced to participate in this tribute game - the Hunger Games - in order to appease the voyearistic Capitol, and you know, to get things like food and such. The winner of the Hunger Games gets made for life - the losers, well they die.

And that's beauty of it - the realness of it that is so unreal to the reader. Who can imagine a culture that avidly watches teenagers fight to the death? And yet it is so well done, every word in exactly the right place that you don't realize it is basically "Death Race 2000" in a literary form. It is a critique on the way we entertain ourselves, the blood and the gore we want to see - what intrigues us and pulls us in. It is, in short - a reminder of why I hate reality tv.

It is more then that, of course - the prose is excellent, the characters are so well developed they all but leap off the page and smash you in the face. And it is such a heartbreaking story - no punches are pulled. People die - young people die, and other young people kill them. There is no reprieve. And even the reprieve that one character is given is not a reprieve at all - since living when other have died, being the catalyst of so much death and having seen such terrors up close - living becomes its own cruel curse.

Peeta is amazing. No, really - read this book and you will suddenly have a bookcrush on Peeta. You really will. He is just so tragic and so damned steadfast, he reminds me of the steadfast tin soldier - he knows the truth, somewhere deep inside, he knows the truth. And yet, he stands there, through all weathers and manners of cruelty to protect that thing which he loves.

He is amazing.

Katniss is also amazing, though in a different way. She's practical and stubborn and such a rational narrator that it emphasizes the insanity around her. The pain and death all around her is only heightened when she talks about it, even though she does it in a way that is cool and collected, rarely breaking this form. She is a strong female character - which I love - and she has deep flaws, which makes her even better. She is intensely loyal - to her mother, her little sister, her best friend and hunting partner, Gale - but she is also very suspicious. And her relationships with other characters throughout the book display the truly tragic parts of this future society.

Her and Gale, for example. Theirs is a relationship that is complicated and yet, refreshingly simple - he likes her, she doesn't notice this. At least, she doesn't give any real indication that she notices it. But there exists a tension between them that goes beyond just friends, but seems too charged to be brother/sisterly. Instead, the reader is left trying to figure out if Gale loves her like a girlfriend - and if she wants to love him that way, too.

Katniss' first love is likely her little sister. And it is a very interesting relationship that transcends sisterly and borders on Motherly. She takes care of her sister in a way that exceeds normal older sister duties, and she delights in her sister's triumphs and strives to make her happy, like a daughter. And it is so tragic because her sister is so young, and is the girl picked as tribute, even though Katniss has fought tooth and nail to get her exempted as much as possible, her last line of defense is rather to go in her sister's place, resigned to her own death.

And that is another interesting feature of this book - the comparison, through Katniss' narration, between her and Peeta and the other tributes from the less well funded districts, and those from the first four districts that are better funded and relish the opportunity to kill each other for the glory of their homelands. Where Katniss and Peeta and a few of the others shrink away from interviews and the glitz of the games, the nicknamed Careers (as in, it is their career to train for this) rush forward, confident in their own superiority. The play between the Careers and everyone else is ingenious - it humanizes them in a way that would otherwise be impossible, though it is a humanization that sneaks up on you. When one fo the Career girls dies from big bites and begins to puss and such, she attains a humanity she would have otherwise been denied. The same is true of Foxface, the non career but also non character really. She never gets a name. But when the Reader realizes she's always been there, just on the periphery, stealing food and watching the others - she had opportunity to kill them, but she didn't - it's a humanization that hits you long after the character is dead and gone.

It is a great edition to the social criticism on voyeuristic tendencies in our society - it is rich in detail and anxiety and it hits all the right spots. It is, essentially a Young Adult that is so much more then a young adult book - it is a thinking book. And this is what I hope to write, so it strikes me as even more important.

So, go pick up this book - it is a 10 - a perfect, rich, amazing 10.

If you like it (and you will) - here are some other interesting takes on the genre:

Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood

Carrie Ryan, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead Tossed Waves

Max Brooks, World War Z

David Wellington, Monster Island, Monster Nation and Monster Planet

And the Movies:

Diary of the Dead
The Condemned Death Race 2000 and to a lesser extent, its remake Death Race

And the new show, Unknown Persons

Anyways, go pick it up - I need to go get the second book, Catching Fire! So excited! :D

Cheers!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Sad, sad news for the Literary World ...

José Saramago

(November 16, 1922 – June 18, 2010)

Now I am not just saying this because he is my countryman, but José Saramago was a great writer. Maybe it came from the sheer thought put into each idea that he expressed, or the fact that he wrote in a speaking-like lilt that made the stories roll forward, but whatever he had it was a gift that was amazing and noteworthy. He penned 29 literary works including the controversial "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ" - a book that in 1992 got him into a fight with the Portuguese government when they refused to put it forward as their submission for the European Literary Awards because of the offense Roman Catholics would take. He also penned "Blindness" - made into a passable movie in 2008 - a tome about how as human beings we are rational, and yet he fail to see rationality.

He was a master of magical realism - a technique used predominantly by South American author and he was not one to shy away from expressing complex and often controversial ideas through his writing.

For more on his life, his work and his death, please visit the following websites, and if you get a chance, I would recommend reading his books - they are difficult to read, but they are well worth the mental olympics.

New York Times Obituary
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/19/books/19saramago.html?src=mv

Associated Press Obituary
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ikq_R-HfkK1eF1T5wt9A1mGLkn9wD9GDNU300

Wikipedia Entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago

"The Unexpected Fantastic" a NYT article by Fernanda Eberstadt
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/magazine/26saramago-t.html

Translated Nobel Lecture
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1998/lecture-e.html

"Societies of Mutual Isolation" essay by Benjamin Kunkel
http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=927

Official Website
http://www.josesaramago.org/

Blog (Saramago Society)
http://caderno.josesaramago.org/

There be changes ...

So how do you like all the new changes to the blog as I learn how to use the internet? I am experimenting still - there are all these "upload this!" and "personalize that!" s that I have yet to truly figure out. It's fun, though, so go figure?

Anyways - 'tis summer!(Almost)

(from http://shoesobsessions.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/summer.jpg)

And with summer every four years comes - World Cup! :D

I, being a European Canadian with immigrant parents and a WASP boyfriend - LOVE World Cup (and soccer, too, I guess). Of course, I have decided Portugal must win this time! (Cry with me if you know anything about World Cup because the last game, they tied with the Ivory Coast - they have an awesome team. Next they are against North Korea - I will refrain from commenting on the North Korean's "soccer" and then they face Brasil. Good Goddess, I am nervous just thinking about it.). You will all vote for Portugal, right? :)

(from http://www.soccerworldcupafrica.co.za/images/teams/portugal/action1.jpg)

I am also cheering on (in no particular order) Argentina, Nigeria, South Africa, Paraguay, South Korea, New Zealand and the US. Personally, I think it is time some country that is not in the EU or South America, ought to win. There are some brilliant teams - brilliant. 4 years ago, Trinidad and Tobago were an excellent team - they had finesse, they were fast - they were an altogether excellent candidate for World Cup. Because of a questionable call by the ref, England beat them, kicking them out of the race (it ended in a depressingly terrible game between Germany and Italy - and the best was my professor was German, they lost, and he kicked out everyone with an Italian jersey - ha ha ha)/

In Ontario, the bars are now open from 10 am to accommodate the time difference in the games! The government is acting like this is some kind of favour they're doing us ... I want to tell them that their alcohol laws are archaic and they reflect the prohibition times we were supposed to have left a long time ago. In Ontario the drinking age is 19 (18 in most of the rest of Canada) which is ridiculous, considering you can vote, get married, hold office, etc. at 18.

Ranting aside, I plan on working this blog alot more - so check back often!
Cheers! :D

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

British Science Fiction

John Wyndham The Midwich Cuckoos

*** Warning: This is a picture heavy post - mostly just because I adore the imagery associated with this book. Seriously - how can you not love this artwork? These covers are great! ***

I am a huge fan of the bizarre. Once, at Niagara, I forwent the romantic spots in the "Honeymoon capital of the world" (my best friend was there with her fiancee that weekend, too funnily enough, and they did all the sappy things) and dragged my bewildered boyfriend who hates spending money to Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum. It was great! Like, really great - I love these odd quirks and collections! There I found lots of things - dominoes made of bones, a dress made out of folded Starburst wrappers, an albino beaver - cool posters that were optical illusions, etc. That is just the type of girl I am.

> For the record, I thought it was a vastly romantic weekend - and so did the Boy, after I insisted he take a picture of me in the stocks that were on display with the plaque about how stocks were common in France up until the 1970s. His exact words were, "Okay, I have to picture - I'm going now!" while I struggled and yelled at him. Oh, he's a funny guy, isn't he? Ha ha ha, no. <

So it is no surprise that I am in for it when it comes to science fiction. This book in particular warms that cynical, jaded part of my sci fi loving heart. Let me explain:

As a child, my parents worked an insane amount of hours in an attempt to make a stable and financially viable living arrangement for me and my sisters. As such, from the age of 5 months, I stayed with my grandparents during the week and with my parents on the weekends. Grandmas, well -most of them, are notorious for being lax and sweet and sleeping a lot. My mother's mother was kind of like that, minus the sleeping. That and she could wield a wooden spoon like no other (Remind me to tell you that story sometime...). Anyways, I am an insomniac - not a severe one, but I don't sleep very much if at all, and I might average about two to four hours of sleep per night in my natural state - missing a few nights every couple of days, where I just lie in bed and meditate, sleep being my elusive friend. So anyway, living in Toronto, my grandma had a three bedroom bungalow with one of the three bedrooms being a living room. That was where I slept. So ... at 1am when I was still very much awake, and yet everyone else was snoring, I would turn on the tv and watch whatever was on. Usually that included Science Fiction black and whites or westerns. I forwent the Westerns most of the time in favour of the Sci Fis. And that was when I first saw the movie "Villageof the Damned" (1960). I fell instantly in love with the creepy children and the low voices of the professor and the narrator (I have realized I have a thing for low, throaty voices, which explains my love of Rex Harrington, William Hutt and Christopher Plummer.).

The film was really good, but it took me awhile to get to the book. And then someone bought it for my 24th birthday and I was able to read it again this past May. And I fell in love all over again.

So this will be a review of the novel - not the movie, but it will include some other tidbits and a kind of general discussion of John Wyndham, British Science Fiction, Cold War literature and my own lunacy.

Enjoy!

The Synopsis (from Amazon):

In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed - except that all the women int he village are discovered to be pregnant.

The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blonde, all are golden eyed. They grow up too fast and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others and brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realization dawns on the world outside ...

Brief, if good, synopsis.

The story opens with a narrator on the outside of this strange event. Richard Gayford, due to his strange position as resident of Midwich and absentee of the event, begins by outlining the scene as the reader first encounters it: Ambulances and police and people who walk or drive towards the village inexplicably get knocked unconscious. When removed, as Gayford and his wife are when they defiantly go through the military blockade towards the village, the people (and a canary) are at once conscious - ignorant as to what happened to them. Gayford also adds a few stories, the most notable about Zellaby - the resident professor and intellectual whose thought experiments and observations are what predominantly drive the story.

A day later, everyone wakes up - cold and confused, no one noting any damage except for the casualties caused due to the unconsciousness itself (ex. seniors dying from pneumonia after being cold for so long). Gayford and his wife return to their little cottage, and though there is a military presence - mostly noted by the reader as the introduction of Gayford's old friend, Westcott - the village more or less, returns to business as normal. Until Zellaby's daughter discovers that she is pregnant, despite the fact that she is a virgin. She is quickly married to her long time boyfriend, a member of the military base a little ways out of town. Soon after it is discovered that nearly all the women of child bearing age are pregnant - including the vicar's teenaged niece who happened to plan an unfortuante visit to Midwich that coincided with the strange incident.

Zellaby's wife becomes the driving force behind the calming of the women, herself also pregnant.

I will leave the rest to your imagination - obviously, children are born. They are strange children - very strange. And there begin to be incidents that make the villagers nervous, the catalyst to action.

Now onto an analysis.

The Midwich Cukoos is a brilliant piece of work - starting with the title itself. A cuckoo is such a bird that it lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, allowing the other birds to nurture and care for the egg until it hatches. Kind of like a sneaky sleeper cell like bird. In this case, the term "cuckoo" applies to both the men and the women of Midwich (in terms of them being the victims of the cuckoos) . The babies that are implanted in the women of Midwich grow within the women and throughout this period it is not known whether the babies are theirs - the women begin to doubt that they are pregnant with their own offspring relatively soon - due to a combination of events, including the strange proximity of pregnancies. Once born - and all the kids look exactly the same with golden hair and eyes - the men come into play, one even threatening his wife with violence. Strangely enough - the man who hits his wife is seen beating himself through a window. Strange events continue to plague the village. But throughout all this, the men and women of the village continue to foster these children - now sure that they are not the offspring of the villagers themselves. This is a brilliant scenario because it serves as a great plank to jump into many different topics - the bond between mothers and children, the necessity of blood relations, the relationships between men and women when children are introduced, etc. Using the analogy to Cuckoos is the brilliant way to cinch it all together completely. The Cuckoos are never explicitly defined or even seen - though Zellaby speculates who they are and what they want, or even if they are the next evolutionary step for humans - there is no visual beyond the silver specter of the first few pages. This is also a well calculated move: leaving them ambiguous allows for the Reader to really speculate at the reasons behind the series of events, rather then the specific people themselves.

But what I think is particularly remarkable about this book - and all of John Wyndham's books - is the lack of compassion for the invaders. This is a story set within the confines of the Cold War - the secrecy and the races and the speculation of what lay on the other side of the Berlin Wall. It was the 1960s - Cold War paranoia was at its height and the book reflects this in an almost tongue-in-cheek manner that flows effortlessly over the words of the plot. The most evident form of this is when the military shuts down Midwich from the rest of the world (there is a ban on publication of anything to do with the Children) and the news Zellaby and Gayford receive from Westcott about what was done to The Children in Russia (kaboom). The treatment of the military and the idea of "sleeper cells" runs throughout as a reminder that the whole world was on edge in a real way at the time. There was actual real concern over Soviet powers and the ability to have spies and agents West of the Iron Curtain. I think that the political messages of the story are intertwined with the plot so well that takes a second to realize this, but it is nothing to swallow it as truth.

Unfortunately, this blogging thing is preventing me from uploading much more, so we'll cut it there. I would love to discuss this more in the Comments, or if popular - by a sceond post.

Thanks and Cheers! :)

For more information on John Wyndham:

Article from the Globe and Mail, I enjoyed it.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/the-b-movie-prophet/article1604856/

Further adaptations and such (thank you Wikipedia!)
The Simpsons, "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken"

The original British Adaptation and its sequel (1960 and 1963, respectively)
Note - there is also an American version with Christopher Reeves - I liked it alright, but it lacks the coolness of the British versions that is more true to the book. Americans - always have to see the humanity in things. :)

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

"Seriously? 14 books in two weeks!?"

That was the response I got when I told friend and fellow traumatized law student J that I had read - nay, consumed - more then 14 books in about two weeks. He Seemed impressed and appalled all at once - like me when I watch a triathlon. Funnily enough, J does triathlons - he has convinced me to do 1/3 of one as part of a team. So, now I need to find a team ....

Anyways, I am going to recap the books thus far:
(thinking of doing this weekly)

Read:

Richelle Mead "Vampire Academy"
Richelle Mead "Frostbite"
Richelle Mead "Shadow Kissed"
Christina Dodd "Just the Way You Are"
Clive Barker "Mister B. Gone"
Steig Larsson "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Marisa de los Santos "Love Walked In"
Marisa de los Santos "Belong to Me"
Stephanie Bond "Body Movers"
Charlaine Harris "Grave Secret"
Charlaine Harris "Real Murders"
Miriam Toews "The Flying Troutmans"
Mary Janice Davidson "UnDead and Unwed"
Carlos Ruis Zafon "The Angel's Game"
Christopher Moore "Bite Me: A Love Story"
Suzanne Collins "The Hunger Games"
Naomi Novik "His Majesty's Dragon"
Brenda Joyce "Dark Seduction"
Carrie Ryan "The Forest of Hands and Teeth"
Gena Showalter "The Darkest Night"
John Wyndam "The Midwich Cuckoos"
Lori Foster "Back in Black"
Paulo Coelho "Brida"
Sophie Kinsella "Twenties Girl"
Carly Phillips "Hot Item"
Chuk Palaniuk "Haunted"
Sunny "Mona Lisa Awakening"
Sunny "Mona Lisa Blossoming"
Sunny "Mona Lisa Craving"
Brenda Joyce "Dark Rival"
Brenda Joyce "Dark Embrace"
Brenda Joyce "Dark Victory"
Jane Austen and Steve Hockensmith "Dawn of the Dreadfuls"
Dean Koontz "Odd Thomas" (Audio book)
Carl Hiaasen "Skinny Dip"
P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast "Marked"
Dean Koontz "Breathless" (Audio)

Reading now:

Richelle Mead "Blood Promise" (eBook)
Diane Setterfield "The Thirteenth Tale" (Subway Book)
P.C. Cast & Kristen Cast "Betrayed" (Subway Book 2)
Julie Kenner "Demons are Forever" (Audio)
Dacre Stoker "Dracula The Undead"

On my Bookshelf for Later:
Audio:

Richelle Mead "Spirit Bound" (CANNOT WAIT!)
Suzanne Collins "Catching Fire'
Maggie Stiefvater "Shiver"
Dan Simmons "Drood"
Matthew Pearl "The Last Dickens"
Guy Gavriel Kay "Ysabel"

eBooks:

Lauren Willig "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation"
Lauren Willig "The Masque of the Black Tulip"
Lauren Willig "The Deception of the Emerald Ring"
Lauren Willig "The Seduction of the Crimson Rose"
Lauren Willig "The Temptation of the Night Jasmine"
Lauren WIllig "The Betrayal of the Blood Lily"
Chuck Palahniuk "Pygmy"

Traditional Books:

Amanda Grange "Mr. Darcy, Vampyr"
Sujit Saraf "The Peacock Throne"
A.E. Moorat "Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter"
Steig Larsson "The Girl Who Played with Fire"
Steig Larsson "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest"
Christina Dodd "Close to You"

And now, as to Reviews ... and a Cover thing!

(1) Reviews.
Okay, I have been lazy - I admit it - really lazy. But I will get back onto that review bandwagon - I have to! I have a lot to say! :)

(2) I will also soon have a post on Covers! (re. Book Smuggler's Cover Matters inspired, my way though).

Until then, Cheerio! :)

Monday, June 14, 2010

As Promised = The Cover Issue.

I mentioned my love of the Book Smuggler's series of posts discussing covers and their place in the literary world. They have done a remarkable job on dissecting the appeal of covers to buyers, the misuse of mostly white characters on covers and the exclusion of People of Colour (PoC).

If you're interested, see:
http://thebooksmugglers.com/2010/02/cover-matters-on-whitewashing.html
http://thebooksmugglers.com/category/smuggler-specialties/cover-matters

Now, for my first homage, I am going lighter - real lighter. I will address a pet peeve of mine that has to do with ... ROMANCE covers. Yes. Romances. And Fabio. The two seem to always go hand-in-hand, particularly those ones from the '80s that I snuck off my Mom's book shelf at the age of 12 to begin reading. Oh what a twisted kid I am ...

Now, here's the thing - I am not a prude. Like, seriously, definitely not a prude. Nudity, sex - simulated, implied, graphic, whatever - scenes, suggestive language or situations - they don't bother me, and in fact I think that in order to demystify sex and more importantly, the way young girls view sexuality, there needs to be an openess about all these things so it is not forever regulated to the adjoining chambers of Shame and Remorse. That being said - I hate the fact that my romance novels have naked torsos on them.

Here are some examples:

I use the above since I liked all those books - regardless of the distaste I have for the covers. Now I have realized that my preference and pet peeve reflect more about me then about what is appropriate maybe, but let's give this a shot, shall we?:

(1) The Sex Scene.
I love Steam Scenes. Love them. I think that half the reason I picked up "So Worthy My Love" when I was 12 was because it promised to have a wicked sex scene for the clandestine pleasure of my adolescent eyes. And hell, when I want to feel that rush - I pick up my favourite romance books and thumb to the sex scene to just sigh wistfully at perfection. Tee. (I recommend these books - for funny, charming and hot scenes: "Random" by Julie Garwood, "Three Fates" by Nora Roberts, "Say No to Joe?" by Lori Foster, and anything -really, anything- by Sunny).
So, it is well established that the sex scene and me are twined about the hips, and I will relish each word as it forms a picture in my mind ... sigh.
But I hate seeing sex scenes.
Even in movies - it really does have to be done so well that I don't either roll my eyes (I do this way too much ... see any movie that has a sex scene with comedy - ugh, I hate romantic comedies) or sigh in frustration (frustration because it's too unrealistic, not because I am suddenly sexually frustrated) . I like the scenes in "Original Sin" for example. It's rawer then Hollywood's usual, and I like that. Also of note are the scenes in "The Notebook" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith".

But on Book Covers ... It just makes me irritated for some reason. Let's explore that. First off, you get the 10 year old boys who sneak glances at your cover on the subway. This doesn't irritate me so much as make me want to start reading out loud and watching their pudgy little faces flame into redness. Being in Canada - even in Toronto which is pretty awesome with the whole libertine thing - I can imagine what kind of Puritan hell on earth would await me when I looked up from my speech to meet the eyes of WASPy mothers and Uber Religious crazies who have condemned me like Socrates - corrupting the youth... sigh. Sometimes I wish those people would focus less on their children's abstinence and more on their children's behavioural issues - like, oh, I don't know - bullying and weapon carrying and gang joining like behaviours? That seems a lot more degenerate and counter cultural then consenting sex, right? (According to the vast opinions of North America, I am wrong. See "Gladiator" - lots of violence, sex only on the borders, rated PG).
So, it's not that people see it so much as ... the actual image makes me uncomfortable -and not in a good way. I don't look at it and think, "Where's that boyfriend of mine? I suddenly feel hot!". I look at it and think "Why do they look half dead?" Like, seriously.
Take this for example:

"Intrigued" Beatrice Small
A great book! But the cover drives me nuts! And he isn't even the Fabio.
Anyways ...
Dissection of a Romance Cover, Version 1.0:
(i) The Heroine's attire: Her boobs are spilling out. Yep. I don't mind so much - I even like the dress. Would wear it myself if it were a costume party. But look at her hair how it flows. Unrealistic much? Maybe. Either way, it's probably drawn like that to make it look more attractive. So, she gets a pass, even if the entire scene makes me a tad icky.
(ii) The Hero: Blegh. First off let me give credit to Smithy for introducing me to the term "Fabio Stunner" - it's reference to books that have seemingly neutral covers and then bam! You turn the page and get a full load of Fabio, buttons undone, chest not so much peeking out but glaring out, challenging anyone looking that they have a bigger, broader chest with less hair on it .... yeah ... moving on ...
This hero is apparently some well to do, posh type (no such thing in romance novels ...) and his hair is driving me nuts. I know, it was penned in a time when bowl cuts and John Lennon were still very much the thing. But ... bleh, I do not understand it. Anyways, it's not so much the hair as the yellow for me. So pale ... anyways.
I also hate the fact that 90% of them (Heroes, I mean) look the same. They do! They all look like steroid pumped chiseled jaw types with longish hair and eyes at half mast. There is nothing wrong with that look. It just sucks that it is on every single cover! (I like my men with lean muscles, shaggy hair and nearly always smiling). How is it supposed to appeal to women in the general sense if they all look the same? I don't get it - and I must admit, this may be one of my biggest problems with the Fabios. That and they usually have long creepy fingers. Yech. Reminds me of this guy at school. We'll call him EK.
(iii) Faces: She's asleep. She looks raptured, but let's face it - girlfriend fell asleep. Or she was drugged ( you can tell I'm a city girl, right?). Dude looks like he's sneering (sorry about the resolution - you can look it up yourself though - this was the only one I found that was just the picture). The "sneering" is actually just him pulling his cheeks in to create the illusion of high cheek bones. Either way it looks like he's either about to mistreat her or he's going to suck her up in one bulemic-like binge session (Mmm, I like me Brunette smoothies?). They aren't even looking at each other - which makes me kind of queasy too - since it is all about the love, right? And throughout the book there will be a million and two references to "Looked into his/her eyes" etc. But on the cover ... only sleepy and hungry people need apply.
(iv) The posture. You knew this was coming! And come on, don't deny it - the fact that like 70% of romance covers have the girl facing you (the better to ogle boobs with, my dear) and the guy behind her (looking posessively hungry - "My three piece meal!") makes me think this is just wrong. Not because sex in this position is wrong (it's not, trust me) but because it looks like he's muscling her into something she's too drugged up for. I won't even complain about other covers that look like the models were strange contortionists! Just this - the obvious strength of the ginormous male and the petit female cowering - back to him, shorter, or even on her knees sometimes.

The Verdict: The cover isn't so bad in terms of sexuality (they are both fully clothed) and yet it still bothers me. I think the reason that this is the case is that the male is generic (with a bad haircut) and the positions of the body and sleepy faces makes me think he's forcing her - and that takes away from the romance of it.

(2) The Naked Male Chest
Ugh. My current pet peeve since one of my favourite authors ever, Lori Foster's books keeping coming out with just a chest as a cover. A chest does not a cover make, people! Yes, I see they have abs. And pecs that could probably pulse to music. But they're indistinguishable and kind of boring, to be honest.
Though, it does have a weird counter-benefit. These covers have essentially reduced men to things - OMG! We're objectifying men! (Anyone - I mean ANYONE - who thinks this is viciously wrong, morally deplorable and unjust - I direct you to Hooters, bikinis, V-neck tops, the rise of Plastic surgery in America, Pamela Anderson and the rising eating disorder rate among young women - "young" as in, children as young as 8 or 9). I personally see nothing terrible about objectification - when it is understood that it is in fact, objectification, and therefore, an incomplete picture of a person. I wear heels, push up bras and do pilates to make my tummy flat and my ass perky like the rest of them. I understand that when I was in highschool and I wore my kilt high, I was essentially allowing the creepy men on the subway to look at my legs and objectify me ("Hey! Boobs!" was once a greeting I got - I kid you not, from the then-boyfriend, now husband of a friend of mine when I was at a wedding (not theirs) wearing a low cut dress). At the same time - I alternatively ignored it or bitched about it, usually using something to objectify back ("Hey! Beergut!"). That may be wrong, it may not be wrong - who knows? (It's wrong, yeah yeah yeah - I know). The point is that I am aware of that.
The male chest, I guess, for me is irritating on Romance covers because it conveys one thing only: There is sex in this book. Read me: Contain sex. And I reached the point (oh, around 15) when I realized that most romance novels have more then just sex - like a plot! And witty dialogue! And to show just the male chest is akin to saying "The novel was a story about a man, a woman ... a bed... oh wait -a counter?" Instead of actually saying "This is a work of literature about the sexual and emotional relationship between a man and a woman in the context of ...".
I love romance. I want to promote it. This is not the way - it just plays into stereotypes.
Again, personal opinion :)

(3) My General dislike of realistic looking people on the cover
Okay, another bias you should all be aware of - I hate realistic people on covers. Hate. Why? Well, I have a great imagination - I like to see my characters int he flesh in my head, without any help from an artist's head. So, when it comes to realistic people on covers - only bios and memoires, please!
I am of course assuming these are realistic .... a giant man and a tiny woman - both impossibly fit and miraculously proportioned ... etc etc etc.

(4) The Alternatives.
THERE ARE SO MANY! Here are a few:

Why not use one of those - subtly imply what may be inside the covers? Creative, no? I think so.

In closing - Covers matter. Do not deny it! I know some of us out there buy a book twice because the cover is prettier in time. And I know some of us will wrap our books into poster paper to get ride of the ugly cover. And I know I at least, judge my impulse buy books based on the cover. I mean - if the company thinks it's a good book, they will pay to have a great cover, right?

Yours,
Cheers!
xo

Saturday, June 12, 2010

UK Giveaway at the Book Smugglers!

Obsessed as I am with books and all things book-y, I read this blog religiously. The two reviewers i.e., the smugglers - are Ana and Thea, and I find their enthusiasm and detail amazing. They truly are an excellent compass by which to navigate the book world! I really like the different things they cover, too - like "Covers Matter", which I intend to start on this, too ... when I find that ever elusive time thing ....

Anyways, there is a contest on their website right now, hosted also by Simon & Schuster UK. I highky recommend going over there and checking it out - it has a load of girly-scream-worthy books to giveaway!

Here's the link: http: http://thebooksmugglers.com/2010/06/simon-schuster-uks-big-fat-ya-giveaway-the-fall-edition.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBookSmugglers+%28The+Book+Smugglers%29

Good luck! (But I kind of hope I win! :P)

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A Book Review!

These things seem to be taking me a long time ... I mean - I think I will have a few days of solitude and then something else comes up. I have to get on this more.

Anyways, I need to decide which book to review first, don't I? I think I will get onto this bandwagon by reveiwing "Breathless" by Dean Koontz.

I listened to the unabridged audio for this one - and my first note is that, knowing Koontz's work as I do, this was much too short. I looked up a few reviews after I finished reading it to see if I was not the only one, and apparently the general sentiment is that Koontz started out promising and strong, but then rushed the ending. And more importantly - left those frayed endings that drive me insane since I have to fill in blanks - I just do. So I have already constructed an elaborate background to this book in my own head that includes secret deals with the Russians, miscommunications and, just because I am a sucker for the Koontz universe, a cameo appearance by favourite character, Christopher Snow.

(Seriously - awesome trilogy ... of two books. The third is supposed to come out ... eventually? I started with the second, I would recommend reading them chronological - they are enjoyable either way, though. Also - on the same vein - I love Latin when it's all about ludicrous sayings!)

Anyways, here is the synopsis from the back cover:

Grady Adams lives a simple, solitary life deep in the Colorado mountains. Here the thirty-five-year-old carpenter works out of a converted barn, crafting exquisite one-of-a-kind furniture. There's little about this strong yet gentle man to suggest the experiences that have alienated him from the contemporary world. But that is about to change.

One day, while hiking, Grady spots a pair of stunningly beautiful furred animals unlike anything he's ever seen. They flee the instant they detect his presence, but the mystery of that brief encounter remains. In the days ahead, Grady will approach the creatures again, gaining their trust but coming no closer to solving their mystery. For this he enlists the help of an old friend, veterinarian Camellia 'Cammy' Rivers, who, in turn, is stunned - and enchanted - by Grady's new 'pets.' But while Grady and Cammy carefully observe these enigmatic animals for clues to their origin, they, too, are being watched.

Soon Grady's home and hundreds of square miles of surrounding wilderness will be placed under quarantine by Homeland Security. And Grady, Cammy, and the two creatures they've come to feel they must protect at all costs find themselves virtual prisoners - and the unwilling focus of an army of biologists, naturalists, and research scientists. But it's a stunning event no one could have foreseen that convinces Grady and Cammy to do the unthinkable: to escape with the two creatures on a riveting race for freedom.

And here are a couple of reviews that shared my general sentiments, or were just good to read after the fact. Again, I require closure.

http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-breathless-by-dean-koontz/
http://www.bscreview.com/2010/02/breathless-by-dean-koontz-review/

And now onto my own thoughts of this book.

Now, I will preface this with the fact that I am an avid Dean Koontz reader and have adored him since I stole my Mom's copy of "Phantoms" back in the sixth grade, and read it all in a one night sleepover with my friend M. He has a knack for dialogue in my opinion. And quite a knack it is. He can deliver the best one liners I have ever had the pleasure of reading - which already endears him to my heart. Added to that, he generally ends with a feel good moment.

This book is not really like that ... well ... not really.

See, the one liners are suspisciously muted in this book. I can recall only a handful of them - but that may be because there are several subplots that are never actually really tied together. See, usually there are a few main characters and their interactions create an atmosphere ripe with one liners which makes me happy. This time, the main characters are arguably, Cammy and Grady. But their interactions are rushed, almost as an afterthought and the main idea - that evolution is not rock solid - is what replaces it.

I am into the theoretical part of this book - I like the different and unique viewpoint that Koontz attempts to project - I just think it misses its mark by about 100 pages or so. If it had been given more page space to develop, I think the idea behind the book would have been more evident and it wouldn't have frustrated me quite so much. As it was, the idea was barely forming when we were already the end. That is not cool, Dean, not cool.

Shorter books seem to be the Koontz trend these days - I just finished "Odd Thomas", too - a shorter book then I am used to in the Koontz universe and one I also had the feeling of being rushed. However, in Thomas' case, it didn't hurt my overall impression of the book - I thought the pace and length worked for the material (even if, and yes I will admit it, I cried a bit at the end ... in the middle of the gym, in front of people).

Obviously, this is not the case for Breathless. Which is too bad - I really liked the idea.

One of my huge problems with it was the storylines and how they never managed to really amount to anything. Questions I have include:
(1) What plot of mass destruction were the Washington senators planning - or was that all in Henry's head?
(2) Was the fact that he went to Harvard/Oxford all in his head, too?
(3) Where the hell did he get grenades?
(4) Why did he let Cammy go?
(5) How does he tie into the Creatures?
(6) What happened the other creatures (MI, Rome)
(7) What does Homeland Security have to do with it?
(8) What explains Lamar's winning streak?
(9) What happened to Homeland Security?
(10) What happened with Cammy and Grady and Merlin and Puzzle and Riddle?
(11) How did they manage to get to a bar?

etc. etc. etc.

Too many for me to reconcile with.

All in all, I can't say I hated it. It was intriguing and I liked the idea and the characters - however, everything remained a little one dimensional for me - And that kind of sucked.

Anyways, next up - Cover Matters probably, but maybe another book review first! :)

Cheers!

Friday, June 4, 2010

More counting ...

I am just devouring books right now (urg, don't want to go back to school ...)
As such, the Count so far:

Richelle Mead "Vampire Academy"
Richelle Mead "Frostbite"
Richelle Mead "Shadow Kissed"
Christina Dodd "Just the Way You Are"
Clive Barker "Mister B. Gone"
Steig Larsson "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
Marisa de los Santos "Love Walked In"
Marisa de los Santos "Belong to Me"
Stephanie Bond "Body Movers"
Charlaine Harris "Grave Secret"
Charlaine Harris "Real Murders"
Miriam Toews "The Flying Troutmans"
Mary Janice Davidson "UnDead and Unwed"
Carlos Ruis Zafon "The Angel's Game"
Christopher Moore "Bite Me: A Love Story"
Suzanne Collins "The Hunger Games"
Naomi Novik "His Majesty's Dragon"
Brenda Joyce "Dark Seduction"
Carrie Ryan "The Forest of Hands and Teeth"
Gena Showalter "The Darkest Night"
John Wyndam "The Midwich Cuckoos"
Lori Foster "Back in Black"
Paulo Coelho "Brida"
Sophie Kinsella "Twenties Girl"
Carly Phillips "Hot Item"
Chuk Palaniuk "Haunted"
Sunny "Mona Lisa Awakening"
Sunny "Mona Lisa Blossoming"
Sunny "Mona Lisa Craving"
Brenda Joyce "Dark Rival"
Brenda Joyce "Dark Embrace"
Brenda Joyce "Dark Victory"
Jane Austen and Steve Hockensmith "Dawn of the Dreadfuls"
Dean Koontz "Odd Thomas" (Audio book)