This is the tale of two cousins, a cadre of superheroes, a war, and sacrifice. In 1939, young Joseph Kavalier employed his Houdini-inspired escape talents to smuggle himself out of Prague and into the United States. His cousin in Brooklyn, Sammy Clay, loves comic books and is awed by Joseph's natural artistic talents. Together the two young Jewish men toil to create the Escapist and Luna Moth, among others, while Joe dreams of saving his family from the devastation of Europe under Hitler. The beautiful Rosa Saks captures his heart, even as Sammy takes a very different path. Then on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack, everything changes.

My feelings on this are mixed. It's beautifully written and captures the spirit of the time period. Joe, Sammy, Rosa, and the rest of the wide cast are alive and vibrant. I can see why Chabon won the Pulitzer for this work. However, sometimes he went into exhaustive detail. In the middle of a scene it will dive into a three page history of the comic book, or a particular setting that never returned. Sometimes the perspective changes were dizzying as well, diving into characters we only see for a few pages. It felt as though the author had so much good material, he had to make sure all of it made it into the finished product. Yes, it was interesting stuff, but an info dump is still an info dump and it detracted from the flow of the story. It's worth reading, but not keeping.

Tags: glbt, historical fiction, holocaust literature, literature, pulitzer winner
Current Mood: curious

Title: Foreigner
Author: C.J. Cherryh
Year: 1994
# of pages: 423
Date read: 10/7/2009
Rating: 3*/5 = good

Description:

"It had been nearly five centuries since the starship Phoenix, lost in space and desperately searching for the nearest G5 star, had encountered the planet of the atevi. On this alien world, law was kept by the use of registed assassination, alliances were defined by individual loyalties not geographical borders, and war became inevitable once humans and one faction of atevi established a working relationship. It was a war that humans had no chance of winning on this planet so many light-years from home.

Now, nearly two hundred years after that conflict, humanity has traded its advanced technology for peace and an island refuge that no atevi will ever visit. Then the sole human the treaty allows into atevi society is marked for an assassin's bullet. The work of an isolated lunatic?. . .The interests of a particular faction?. . .Or the consequence of one human's fondness for a species which has fourteen words for betrayal and not a ingle word for love?

My thoughts:

This was a very good science fiction novel about different cultures interacting. I liked how Bren Cameron has to figure out what's going on without inadvertently offending his atevi hosts. I look forward to learning what happens next in the second book in the series, Invader.

Tags: sci-fi

The Club Dumas

Arturo Pérez-Reverte

The Club Dumas brings together bibliophilia, The Three Musketeers, devil worship, and murder in a brilliant mystery with a definite gothic flavor.

I loved The Club Dumas! Not only am I a sucker for anything with a hint of gothic, but having recently read and whole-heartedly loved The Three Musketeers I especially loved the parallells with that wonderful classic.

The style was very similar to Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Shadow of the Wind. I'm not sure if the similarity is due to the Spanish culture, (both authors are Spanish), language translation, or some other factor. I am sure, though, that if you enjoyed one you would enjoy the other; and if you've never read either, I highly recommend them! You need not be a fan of Dumas or even familiar with his work to enjoy The Club Dumas. It's just a terrific, suspenseful, exciting read as it is.

sixwordstories
Whether you're in the mood for a creative challenge or you're short on time or attention span, this semi-addictive community is perfect for those who find flash fiction way long. Once you get the hang of it, you won't be able to stop. The prince turned into a frog. The girl ran home to mother. Tough to write. Easy to read. It's a double threesome of fun.

Tags: flash fiction, sixwordstories

dailyfoodie
Delicious, ambitious, and occasionally nutritious dishes make for an eclectic, all-you-can-eat feast. Whether you're searching for recipes for your next dinner party or you're jonesing for a late-night brownie fix, your cravings are sure to be well sated. A warm and inclusive community that welcomes all orientations, from carnivores to vegans, from gourmands to junk-food junkies. Guaranteed bias-free, food-positive, and pan-epicurian.

Tags: dailyfoodie, food, photography

#12: John Joseph Adams, editor, The Living Dead, 487 pages, Horror Anthology, Paperback, 2008.

This anthology contains 34 zombie short stories. They are a wide range of zombie stories – some classic, some of the voodoo variety, others that may not seem like zombie stories at first. The author talent is top-notch, and I am impressed enough with this collection that I shall be looking into owning other anthologies by this editor. Detail on the stories and authors can be found at my personal journal.


#13: Joe Hill, Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft: Volume 1 (Issues #1-6), 158 pages, Graphic Novel, Hardback, 2008. With Gabriel Rodriguez, illustrator.

Three kids travel with their mother and uncle to their father’s ancestral home after he was brutally murdered. The house, called Lovecraft, is not a normal house – it has doors and keys that make things happen or take you to other places. The youngest discovers someone or something in the well of a locked outer building after he went through the door that separates one’s body and soul. This story arc sets up the series and deals with the murderer after he escapes and tries to track them down. The story is fascinating (I’d expect nothing less of Joe Hill, given his other works) and the art is very detailed and rich. I look forward to further volumes.


#14: Kathy Reichs, Devil Bones, 382 pages, Crime Fiction, Paperback, 2008.

The eleventh book in the Dr. Temperance Brennan series (inspiration for the TV show Bones), takes place in North Carolina with Tempe preparing her class at the university when called in to help when an altar and human bones are found in a basement. Later, a corpse is found on a beach with satanic markings carved on his chest. Dr. Brennan has to educate herself, and try to work around the ignorance of those who wish to paint other religions as evil, to find the truth. This book uses the info dump to actually move the plot along, explaining the character’s research into the alternative religions, a great improvement from earlier books. I love how easy it is to read her books.

Tags: crime fiction, graphic novel, horror, short stories
Current Location: 85306

Although it was a busy enough day, I was close to finishing some books, and I did.

First was Sahara, by Michael Palin, one of his travelogues. Not bad; not enough background.

Next was the 25th Anniversary release of Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai. Nice work; the artwork especially.

Book 118: Troublesome Things: a History of Fairies and Fairy Stories
Author: Diane Purkiss, 2000.
Genre: Non Fiction. Myth and Folklore. Cultural History.
Other Details: Hardback. 356 pages.

Despite publicity material that describes it as "a rich and diverse account of the part that fairies and fairy stories have played in culture and society and the Introduction by the author that gave the impression that she quite enjoys fairies, fairy stories and folklore, throughout the book there is no real sense of Purkiss' connection with her subject matter. She stretches the boundaries of what constitutes a fairy to include all kinds of beings from ancient mythology and yet is also reductionist in her classifications of more modern tales. There was certainly none of the passion for the subject expressed by folklorist Katherine Briggs or Maureen Duffy, whose work, The Erotic World of Faerie, had its flaws but conveyed its author's enthusiasm for art and literature linked to Faerie.

This coolness may stem from Purkiss' academic background as a social historian but I asked myself quite a few times as I was reading it as to why she was bothering to write on this subject at all. She actually makes faeries and fairy stories boring and that takes some kind of weird negative talent. She also expresses quite openly her contempt for those who view fairies as anything other than imaginary and is extremely dismissive of contemporary fantasy.

Given her limited references to works of fantasy, she obviously had scant exposure to the genre as well as little feeling for it. For example, in mentioning a link between stories of alien abduction and encounters with fairy folk, she acknowledges she is not the first to suggest this. She later mentions the writings of alien abductee Whitley Strieber but gives no acknowledgement to his fantasy novel Catmagic, in which he considered alien encounters in terms of fairy lore. It just underlined for me that despite the academic credentials of the author, that the book as a whole lacked both the objectivity and kind of scope that I had hoped for in a work that described itself as 'a history'.

I had been prepared for Purkiss' bitterness and prejudices due to a couple of on-line reviews that had mentioned it. For this reason I elected to borrow the book rather than buy a copy even though its subject matter is one I'd normally want on my shelves. Still I had thought the book might at least prove informative. It really wasn't. If it had been my property rather than the library's I would have been very tempted to throw it across the room more than once in response to her superior tone and condescending attitudes. A huge disappointment and I certainly would not recommend.

Tags: cultural studies, fairy tales, myth and legend, non-fiction

I'm so slow reading this year!

18. The Monster of Florence, Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi

America isn't the only place with serial killers. But for some reason, the story of the Monster of Florence didn't make it over here until a U.S. writer ended up involved. I'd heard about this story a year or two ago when I saw it on Dateline. Honestly, the judicial system there makes ours look stellar.

Couples on what we would consider lovers' lanes are murdered. The men are shot, the women mutilated. This goes on for decades with no clue as to who the culprit is. Journalist Mario Spezi gets the first case to report on by accident and continues to write about the case with every attack. He's considered an expert. Douglas Preston and his family move temporarily to Florence so he can research a novel. When he meets with Spezi in the course of that research, he discovers that the home he's rented is basically on the site of one of the murders. Preston becomes as obsessed with the case as Spezi, the two of them discovering evidence that disputes what the police have. When a new inspector takes over the case, both Spezi and Preston are arrested. (Not a spoiler--you find this out right away.) An excellent book and a scary one as well.

19. Dopplegangster, Laura Resnick (freelance)

Esther Diamond is an actress. With the play she's starring in closed, she needs to find work. As the case with many NY actresses, she falls back on waitressing. She's done this before, even though the restaurant is a known mob hangout and her new suitor is a cop, who is very unhappy with where she's working. Naturally, weird things start happening. She waits on a customer, then sees him outside acting as if he hasn't eaten yet. Not long after, he claims he's seen his double and that he'll die. This is, of course, the first in a string of mobsters seeing their doubles. With the help of Max the wizard and her cop, Esther tries to figure out what's going on. Fun. (pub date: Jan 2010)

20. Alien Hand Syndrome, Alan Bellows

A LibraryThing win. Stories of strange and unusual things, from medical to natural disasters to weird disasters (molasses flooding Boston) to you name it. I felt that it was a bit heavy on military weirdness, but that's a personal bias. It was strange. In a good way.

21. Sapphire Sirens, John Zakour (freelance)

A new Zachary Nixon Johnson novel is always a happy thing. In this latest installment, Zach is taken to the undersea kingdom of Lantis to discover who killed their queen. Loved it. (pub date: Dec 2009)

22. Tragedy at Two, Ann Purser (freelance)

Lois Meade's daughter's boyfriend Rob is found badly beaten on the side of the road. When he dies, Lois knows she must figure out who's killed him. Local suspicion falls on the band of Gypsies who stay at a farmer's every year. Lois, one of the few who doesn't automatically believe they're the culprits, looks beyond the Gypsies.

This one really brought home how badly Gypsies are still looked at and treated and stereotyped. I won't get on my soapbox about that here. It's really nothing new to me--I follow news about the Rom--but it's another to see it in fiction, thought the author was by no means condoning it--quite the opposite. (pub date: Dec 2009)

23. Sexy as Hell, Susan Johnson (freelance)

I'll state right away that I hate romance novels. I wouldn't have read this had it not been a freelance project. But if you like them, there's a lot of sex in this one. Not much else, but a lot of sex. (pub date: Jan 2010)

24. Haunted and Bewitched Ireland, edited by Bob Curran

Stories of ghosts, wizards, and witches in Ireland. Some of them I'd heard before, especially in the witch category, such as Bridget Cleary and Biddy Early. It's an absolutely beautiful book--the photos are simply amazing.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Not the first time I'd read this science fiction classic, or even the first time I'd read it aloud, but it's an iconic book and it bears rereading very well indeed.

The prose lends itself very well to reading aloud and this time we noted rather more of the structure of it and how the tension and terror are built slowly and gradually through the first part, and the cunning device by which the author places his narrator in a position to observe the Martians unseen while being unaware of events elsewhere, thus allowing the dramatic revelation at the end.

We're now looking for copies of The Invisible Man and The Island of Doctor Moreau to add to our library.

Tags: classic, sci-fi