The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

***I'm playing catch-up in a major way these days, so these reviews will be shorter than normal. Don't hold it against me. I am still only reviewing books I enjoyed - so the length of the review does not reflect my enjoyment level, just my memory and abhorrence for spoilers.)***

So I already knew I was going to like this, based purely on it being by the same man who brought us Coraline. Here's the premise: the book opens with the murder of the family of Nobody Owens, who manages to escape his crib and house and toddle up the street to the cemetery. Once inside the gates, the occupants of the cemetery (Ghosts and a corporeal guardian) decide to adopt and raise him. This is literally the coming-of-age story of a boy raised by ghosts. It's fascinating. There is sadness and suspense and a thrilling climax, but the overwhelming story is of this boys maturation. It's dark and witty and wise with the perfect amount of creepiness thrown in. A good October Book, I think.

From the NYT book review:

"The Graveyard Book, by turns exciting and witty, sinister and tender, shows Gaiman at the top of his form. In this novel of wonder, Neil Gaiman follows in the footsteps of long-ago storytellers, weaving a tale of unforgettable enchantment."

I agree with that last part. It's been months since I read it and I still find myself musing over bits of it. Well worth the read, I feel.

Enjoy!

The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum

So you'll notice that I tagged this with "instructional" - it's not a how-to manual, per-se, but for those of us with a "how to kill someone and what to do with the body" shelf in their library, this is invaluable.

It's just about as grisly as you'd expect it to be, especially considering every word of it is true. When you stack that up against something like American Psycho (where not even Brett Eason Ellis is sure he's actually torturing those women*,) this proves that truth is often much stranger, much more shudder-inducing than fiction.

This is broken up by year/poison - it starts in 1915 and ends in 1935 - spanning prohibition, alcohols feature heavily in the text. As do things like Arsenic (the "inheritence drug") and Radium (have some Radithor for youthful vitality!) and Carbon Monoxide (still a threat.)  Blum is unapologetically on the side of Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler - the team who created modern forensics in America. They were inexhaustible and determined and enthusiastic about their cause. For the entire span of Prohibition, for example, these two - a doctor and a toxicologist - were the most vocal opponents of the Noble Experiment  due to the fact that it killed more people than it saved. This crusade is broken up by cases that were investigated by the duo: from industrial poisonings to crimes of passion.

Blum made even the chemical compounds enrapturing and I found myself reading "just one more page" despite the fact that I have a list of things to-do that's as long as my arm. I also found myself thinking that Bones and/or House and/or the new Sherlock on BBC need to do a story arc with a serial poisoner - one who's always poisoning, but changing the poison. It makes me dizzy just to think of it.

A note for those who find themselves squeamish about such things: Blum does not pull punches. If you ever wanted graphic (while remaining extremely clinical) details about what things like Arsenic and Carbon Monoxide do to you, this is your book. Just remember that some things can't be unread. You should get over your squeamishness, though. This book is THAT GOOD.

Book trailer:





* I heard that on a Fresh Air interview a million years ago, and I cannot for the life of me find it. Anyone have a source? Or did I hallucinate that?

Pirate King by Laurie R King

This is the promo poster, isn't it divine?

I bought this bad boy in hardcover the week it came out. I'm a library girl, so the fact that I just went and bought it without reading it is high praise, indeed. 

It is the latest installment of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series and I enjoyed every second. King has taken a slight turn with this one - it's almost a comedy. It's certainly humorous (even when the suspense is ratcheting up, the situation is still amusing) and still a page-turner.

I suspect that King has introduced a character we'll see again - one of the actresses in the movie Russell has sought employment with gets a lot of play.

Yes, you read that right. The premise here is that an assistant to a rather popular production company has gone missing and Scotland Yard (via Holmes) would like Russell to investigate - under cover, of course. So she buy fashionable shoes and boards a steamer to suss out what's happened. And it's not quite a comedy of errors from then on out. More like...a comedy of coincidences? A comedy of ironies? At any rate - it's many chapters of suspenseful fun.

This series just keeps getting better and better - after the last pair of novels (one ending with a cliff-hanger and the next wrapping up that adventure) it was nice to read a lighter tale about my favorite sleuthing duo.

The biggest downside that I could see arrived on the very last printed page of the book - the part where it talk about the author. I'll just quote it for you: "She lives in Northern California, where she is at work on her next novel of historical suspense, Garment of Shadows, to be published by Bantam in 2013." I will be quite miffed if this bruhaha about the Mayan calendar winds up being correct and I don't get a chance to read Garment of Shadows. I'll just have to stalk King in the afterlife to find out what happens.


If you haven't read this series, do start at the beginning, with The Beekeeper's Apprentice. It helps to read in order of publication.

Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda

This was amazing. You absolutely have to read the first one first - it's referred to often in this book, part of Billi's personal growth depends on events in the first book. It's nicely done, but you may find yourself thinking "what the heck...?" if you haven't read Devil's Kiss.

Consider yourself warned.

I love this series (so glad it's a series!) Chadda makes Joss Whedon look like he's telling campfire stories to ten year olds, if that makes sense. Don't get me wrong - I drink the Joss Whedon Kool-Aide and watch anything that bears his name. But his darkest moments are nothing compared to what Sarwat Chadda throws at Billi.

To wit: Billi is the only female member of the (still active, if lacking in funds and numbers) Knights Templar. To add a twist that keeps things interesting - in Chadda's version, after the Pope turned his back on the Templars, they turned to fighting the beasts of hell: vampires, werewolves, ghosts, fallen angels, etc. Chadda's done his research - a tiny bit of googling adds credence to his plot lines and characters.

And then his methods of destruction are just this side of "never gonna happen" to keep me up at night.

So it's a great read for this time of year, but reading at Halloween might be a little cliche'd.

I fully recognize that this genre isn't for everything, but if it teenage girls fighting the supernatural is your cup of tea, you'd be remiss not to give these a shot. Trust me.



Book trailer for the first book:

One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde

Read by Emily Gray

I love this series. I know that people don't get it, or get bored halfway through (I don't recommend reading them all together, you will suffer brain fatigue.) But I have read them as they've been released and they remain new and fresh and delightful to me.

This one is different, as it's told from the perspective of the Written Thursday. Of course all of the prior books were written by ghostwriters and there was a sex-and-violence Thursday playing the part before the current Written Thursday, whose job is to be "more true to the way Thursday wants it."

If that didn't make any sense to you - you should go and read The Eyre Affair. Go ahead. I can wait.

So, now that you've read that, and this all makes sense to you...the 6th installment of the Thursday Next series is set mainly in the Book World. It undergoes a remaking at the beginning, to make the landscape a little less clunky, and we get to see what happens with the characters when the book isn't being read. A lot, actually.

Since I was listening to this in the car at the same time I've been reading other books, it is always in the back of my head and it is effecting the way I read. I feel that, somewhere in another dimension is a person who is acting out what I am reading. A full cast, actually. And with the FeedBack Loop...well, let's just say I'm paying more attention to what I read these days.

One of the biggest perks here is that Fforde is clearly a book lover. A literary fan. He would wipe the table and floors with all of us at Trivial Pursuit: Book Lovers Edition. His books are rife with references to scenes, characters, and situations from the classics - all of which inform the narrative.

A bit of a spoiler: in this book, we get to witness a Written character going into the Outland (our Real World) for the first time. It's a fairly unique experience, and there are quite a lot of math jokes. (Only, they're British, so they say "maths.")

All in all, a fun read. I do very much enjoy this series (although I haven't been able to get into anything else he's written) and will likely revisit it someday...the details of the early books are already a little hazy...

Two thumbs way up. If surrealist speculation/speculative fantasy are your thing, you can't go wrong.

Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander

This is the fourth book in this series, but only the second that I have read. The previous one, Tears of Pearl, I read and enjoyed so much that when I saw this on the shelf at the library I snatched it up and dragged my son (and all our stuff) back to the checkout so I could take it home and read it. It took me a matter of hours to devour it (spread in 20-30 minute increments over a few days - I have a toddler) and I'm considering doing something I almost never do: reading the series out of order. (The other series that I've discovered in the middle and then gone back to the start being The Home Repair is Homicide series - mostly if I discover it's a series I either just pick it up in the middle or hold off on the latest installment until I've caught up.) 

One of the blurbs on the back states that Alexander is perfect for fans of Laurie R. King and I agree - she's following the same vein: real people interspersed with her creations, a capable female protagonist who was very "modern" for the times she's living in...but by my math King is writing a full 40-50 years after Lady Emily's adventures. Still, the heroines are intelligent and scrappy (sorry, they are) and constantly proving people wrong by being stronger than their gender suggests. 

This installment takes place in France, opens with a dead body, and follows a twisty tale of madness, misconception  and a WASPy (were there WASPS in Victorian France?) ability to not acknowledge unpleasantness. I had an inkling of where the story was headed and got there just ahead of our heroine, but I won't hold that against Alexander. I'm well read in these Novels of Suspense. 

There are two things I particularly like about the series:

1) her use of real people lend credence to the possibility of these stories actually happening. Monet makes an appearance in this one, for example. She also has a firm grasp on the dress and social niceties that existed at the time. Every now and again, you can almost hear the crinolines rustling through the paragraphs.

2) her subtlety in the romantic scene department. I enjoy a good romp, but after watching people make out at the lunch table in high school (I wish I were kidding) and then a glut of Sex and the City, I have to admit that witnessing serious snogging - even if it's just being described to me - is a huge turnoff. There is obvious romance and intimacy and a healthy relationship happening between Lady Emily and her Husband, but it is alluded to and even then it is mostly for the purposes of illustrating other more pressing plot points. It's well-done, at any rate.

So if historical romantic suspenseful murder mysteries are your thing - pick these up. But maybe start at the beginning so you don't find yourself in my quandary. 

Oh, but maybe I won't go back just yet - there's a new one out at the end of Oct...or maybe I should read the first two *very* quickly so I can have all the backstory I need...decisions, decisions...

A Face in the Window

This - the second to latest installment of the Home Repair is Homicide series - takes a different tack: 3rd person all the way through. And since Graves isn't one to shy from "killing" our favorite characters, the level of suspense is ratcheted up. This one falls squarely into Page Turner territory.

The great thing about a series is that you can invest in the characters - and Graves plays on that by sending Ellie and George on vacation and then having their daughter (in the care of Jake) abducted.

That's as far as I'm going with the plot because holy cow. I'm not sure how to talk about it without giving away too much. It's downright gripping.

If you're a fan of the series, you won't be disappointed.

And if you're a fan of the series you'll be happy to know that there is another...but will there be another? After A Face at the Window....it's really anybody's guess.

The Book of Old Houses by Sarah Graves

If you've read the previous few issues of the Home Repair is Homicide series, then you're familiar with the story of the Book which was found in the foundation of Jake's house. That is the titular book of this installment. The murder in question happens before this book opens, and we are graced with a second viewpoint periodically through the narrative - that of one of the men who was investigating the Book.

The one that may or may not be a hoax. The one that may or may not be written in blood. The one that may or may not be bound in human skin. The one with Jacobia's name in it.

Because of that, I've tagged this with "speculative" because, while some may be satisfied with the answers, some may not. Which you know I love.

There's plenty of humor heaped in - a fight with a bathtub, for instance. And there are lover's quarrels, outsiders poking their noses around, a very uppity old biddy whom Jake is desperately trying to impress.

And of course the usual cast of characters, all of whom bring their own brands of zaniness.

A thoroughly enjoyable installation, as they all are, which is why I keep reading. I think there are only three left and then I have to wait for them to be written and published. I love/hate that.

Even by Andrew Grant

Dude. DUUUUUUDE. I follow Janet Reid's blog and when she suggested this one I threw it on my library queue thinking it would be a nice Bourne/Bond/Ryan* type romp. It was all that I wanted it to be...and more.

It opens with a dead body, so you know I was totally hooked at that point. All in. Also, the main character is British (in my head he sounds like Pierce Brosnan) and Grant took his time subtly developing the character and the plot. It's not only smartly written, but he managed to make me feel smart just reading it. And the fight scenes were amazing. Jason Bourne makes me want to start running; David Trevellyan makes me want to take up mixed martial arts.

It's your basic whodunnit/mistaken identity/special ops-meets-FBI-meets-NYPD in a turf war/action thriller with a dash of Deranged Lunatic** and Evil Plot To Take Over The World thrown in for good measure. The plot bobs and weaves and twists (but not too much and not in any way that I put together until the character did) and dumps you out the way a good roller coaster does: vaguely disoriented and needing a minute to digest what just happened and then gunning for more.

This is Grant's debut novel. He's clearly been honing his craft for a while because: DUDE. That's how good it is. I keep saying Dude.

It's not a quick read but it's WORTH IT. Read it with a beer, but not too many beers or you'll get confused. If it weren't so darn heavy I'd say take it on the plane, but I'm certain that Men everywhere won't be shy about being seen reading it.

So good. It's so good. Note that I tagged it "Wish I were smart enough to have written this." High Praise.

Oh, but I'm going to throw a little spoilery warning down there because I feel it may be necessary. Look for these: **

Read it before it becomes a movie. Starring a 30-something hot British guy.



* Jason Bourne, James Bond, Jack Ryan. Although, if you don't know who those guys are - this might not be your genre.







**spoilers:

The action scenes are well-choreographed and fun to read. But there's a scene with a deranged lunatic involving a scalpel and some poor guy's man-parts. No one will think less of you if you skim/skip those pages. I didn't, but I don't have man-parts so I wasn't feeling it like some of you might.

Raining Cat Sitters and Dogs by Blaize Clement

 

Dixie Hemingway is back!

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I do enjoy this cozy little series...if that isn't so demeaning "little" - but in my defense there are only a handful of titles so far so the word is somewhat accurate. In addition to the quirky animals, the will-they-won't-they love interest (I do so hope they WILL), the endearing leave-it-to-modern-Beaver brother and brother-in-love (don't you love that phrase?), Clement has introduced a sullen teenager, potential gang members from the left coast, a very talkative parrot, and, of course, life on a Florida Key that makes you want to pack up and move.

I really want to write a review worthy of the book, but I'm having a hard time putting sentences together.

So: read this if you like animals, ex-cops with broken hearts who are open to maybe loving someone again, a bit of suspense and intrigue...and reading in the bath (which is where I read most of it.)

But start with the first (Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter) so you're up to speed - even though Clement does the "this is my name, this is my story" update with the best of them.

Enjoy!

God of the Hive by Laurie R. King

Read. This. Book.

Ok. Really, what you need to do is start with the first in the series (Beekeeper's Apprentice) and read in order of publication. At the very least you need to read The Language of Bees because this one starts literally minutes where the prior leaves off.

And it is so so so so good.



I'm not sure how to talk about this book without giving away major series spoilers. MAJOR. So let me say this for those of you who aren't caught up: go read the prior books and then read this one. Trust me.
Laurie King makes Robert Downey's Holmes look like a buffoon. Her adaptation is respectful, well researched, and intelligent. 

"The great marvel of King's series is that she's managed to preserve the integrity of Holmes's character and yet somehow conjure up a woman astute, edgy, and compelling enough to be a partner of his mind as well as his heart." - Washington Post Book World.

There. And at the risk of being redundant: read this.

SPOILERS!





We left with the family split apart - arrest warrants, Mycroft has been questioned and then abducted, Brothers may or may not be dead (depending on who you're asking,) Holmes has fled with Damian in search of medical attention, and Russell is the unlikely care-taker of Holmes's (SURPRISE!) granddaughter. They're in the far reaches of Scotland, headed in different directions and this is a time when phones are hard to find and cell phones are unheard of. They may or may not have murderous madmen on their tails and both are hampered. Over the course of the next few days, plots are created, revealed, and cast aside. There's a funeral, a man who seems to have walked out of a fairy tale, an unlikely surgeon, an equally unlikely confidant, and a mastermind...there's also gunfights, snipers, disguises, and secret messages.

The God of the Hive is King herself.

(Ok, it's not but you couldn't have imagined that I would spoil it THAT MUCH for you, right?)

Confession: 13 Books I Should Have Written Full Reviews For...but Didn't

I have been remiss. I've been reading and not reviewing. Not because what I've been reading sucks (please see sidebar) but because I am so scatterbrained I've let myself fall behind.

So, to wrap up - the 13 books that have been on a sticky on my desk for me to review for MONTHS. Seriously. Since the spring.

I've decided mini-reviews are the way to go. Just to give you a taste. All of these are recommended. Trust me.

In alphabetical order:

 Eoin Colfer (who's first name is pronounce "Owen") has taken it upon himself to fill the Very Large Shoes of Douglas Adams and write another installment to the Hitchhiker's Saga. We return to meet all of our good friends as Earth is -yet again - being exploded. Everyone has gone on to lead their own lives and are very surprised to find themselves back together again. Antic ensue. Colfer has captured Adams' voice nicely and the book didn't disappoint me. Of course, I also think that Mos Def and Zooey Deschanel make the best Ford Prefect and Trillian to date, so that tells you my opinion of the state of things. Enjoy!

Ah...Jenny McCarthy. You either love to hate her or hate to love her...or count her among your guilty pleasures. This little memoir (essays, mostly) about her journey through pregnancy is full of pre-vaccine angst and is quite amusing. I haven't felt as cute as she looks, though, and I think I hold that against her. If you find yourself in the family way, this is a fun read (you can do it in an afternoon). If not, then I wouldn't bother. It just won't resonate unless you, too, experience what she's talking about.

The Gears (yes, they're married) are experts in their subject: paleo-indians living right around the end of the last ice age in what is now Canada. It's Young Adult, but don't let that sway you. It's full of archeological tidbits woven into a compelling plot about a civilization on the brink of destruction. There's even some nice tribal warring to spice things up. I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment.

This one should be titled: "A History of Tectonics and the Settling of the West...and a Few Chapters About The Great California Earthquake of April 1906." Dense, rife with information that you missed in High School Earth Science/Geology, this took me a loooooong time to read. But I did read it - cover to cover. And I now feel like I know a little bit more about the ground upon which I live. Even better that currently that ground houses the San Andreas Fault and I have a better understanding of earthquakes. I also have added a few places to my "must travel" list - places where the earth is so new it hasn't even hardened yet. If you're at all nerdy, this is a book you should at least take a stab at.  Good stuff.

Like all of Green's recent novels, this one is about people who are putting their lives back together the best way they know how. There are also nice sub-plots: romance, intrigue, general life-happenings... She gives back story on every  recurring character and that helps make them all the more real. It's a good beach/pool/bedrest book. More interesting than your basic fluff, but not so taxing that you miss what's going on if your poolside beverage is a little boozy.

Read. This. Series. Start with One For The Money and keep going. You've got LOTS to catch up on. With the exception of number 7 (which was great, but certainly not the best) there are guaranteed laugh out loud moments. Murder, mayhem, an ex-ho, an ex-special ops guy who is now a bounty hunter, a cop who makes everyone drool (in a good way) and generally pathetic criminals...what's not to like? Oh, and did I mention the crazy grandmother whose favorite passtime is going to funerals? It's a recipe for delightful. Trust me.

This one addresses my love of what realtors refer to as "The Handyman Special." The title refers to a family house that has been allowed to fall into disrepair...it also refers to the woman who's going to fix it. She's just been the unwitting pawn in a gigantic financial scandal and she flees home with her tail between her legs. She's got romance trouble, family trouble, financial trouble, and a giant decripit house- complete with a cantankerous old sqautter - buried deep in the South where people want to know who your "people" (relatives) are before they want to know anything else about you. I read this one by the pool in Vegas (ok, in the bath, but by the pool sounds much better) and then I was sad that I read it too quickly. Andrews delivers exactly what you're looking for: a feel good book with just the right amount of suspense, intrigue, and home-repair/antiquing tips.

Ah...the Mommy Memoir. I picked this one up based on a recommendation from my Aunt and the title. Because it's true. As with Belly Laughs, though, if you're not a mom/parent I'm not sure it would resonate with you. If you are, however, it's a fun little afternoon on the couch book. Interesting tidbit: Kogan's son plays young(est) Spock in the new Star Trek. He's very good for the five and a half minutes he's onscreen. Well, done! Also - I love that she whips around town with her kids on her Vespa. She's lived all over the world and she's not afraid of a little traffic. It's inspiring.

When I was seven or so, I was home sick from school one day and my mom brought me this book. Twenty (or so) years later, I still pull it out to read whenever I'm not feeling well. Morning sickness that lasts for months on end counts. It's a fairy tale - but this princess is not one dreamed up by Disney. She's quite plain looking and she has a distinct awkward phase, but she's full of moxie and isn't afraid to stand up to her parents when they decide that a dragon being allowed to lay waste to the countryside is the only way to marry her off. Finally, a princess I could relate to! Obviously this book is awesome because I have it memorized and still read it from time to time. You will, too. Especially if there's a seven year old girl who secretly wants to be a rebellious princess living inside you.

Why this book has been banned I will NEVER understand. It's got math, grammar, moral lessons...AND a talking dog with a clock in his side. I will be reading this one to my kids when the time comes. Assuming they don't mistake it for homework and grow bored with it on principle, that is.

Yes, they keep writing more of these. It's still Christmas, they're still in St bath's, and someone is still trying to off our Heroine. I'll admit that I was shocked at who the culprit was, but I'm not giving it away. The books are significantly better than the lame web-series they put together. Save your five-minutes-at-a-time streaming attention span and READ these instead. You'll be much, much happier. These are for the Seventeen year old girl who secretly wants to be a rebellious princess living inside you.

The last in the Ivy League/Secret Society Girl series. And still very good. Start with Secret Society Girl and work your way through.  They're based at a very poorly disguised Yale (Eli University) and follow the senior year of the first group of girls admitted to the exclusive Rose and Grave Secret Society. Antics, near-death experiences, love-affairs...the stuff good summer reading is made of.

This is not the first in the series. I read it anyway - having read not one word of Alexander's work before. I was not disappointed. A murder mystery set in the late 1800s, told from the perspective of a female amateur detective (in this book she is on her honeymoon, having recently married a professional detective.) They are, of course, wealthy and connected. They are, of course, eventually wanted dead - but that doesn't happen until after they try to solve a murder that has taken place in the Sultan's palace. Yup. There's a Sultan involved. I may have to start at the beginning with these and see where they lead me.

So there you have it. Thirteen VERY late reviews.

Happy Reading!

The Color of Law by Mark Giminez

    It is no secret from the moment you crack the cover on this book that it was inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird. As far as inspiration for a debut novel goes, one could do significantly worse than the illustrious Harper Lee.  Giminez, himself a lawyer, has set this modern-day Lawyer’s tale in Dallas...Murder Mystery + Dallas = Win in my book. Add to that equation fully rounded characters (not all of them likable), a thought-out plot with a nice set of curves, and a working knowledge of the law and you get what appears to be the recipe for a Very Good Read.

    And it is a Very Good Read. A. Scott Fenney (two guesses what the “A” stands for...and his daughter is called Boo…) is a hot shot young attorney working for a snazzy law firm in a downtown Dallas skyscraper. He over bills his clients, eats and works out in exclusive clubs, lives in Highland Park (think Beverly Hills but with really old money and even more of a superiority complex), and regularly trades on the fact that he was - at one point - a football star for Southern Methodist University. He pulled himself up by his bootstraps and never looked back.

    And then...the son of the next Presidential Hopeful candidate is murdered one night. He’s home from Washington for the weekend (he likes to do his whoring in Highland Park where the family’s deep pockets have some sway) and the circumstances surrounding his death could prove fatal to a presidential campaign. He was with a black hooker...and it turns out he has a history of abuse.

    In a case of what can only be Very Bad Timing (or Very Good Timing depending on how you look at it) Fenney is giving a speech on the virtues of being Atticus Finch to a group of lawyers and local judges - one of whom decides that he has finally found a decent lawyer and assigns Fenney to the Defense of the poor (heroin-addicted) black woman who is charged with the murder of the Senator’s Son.

    Yes, Giminez wades through predictable racial (and neighborhood) stereotypes to try and prove his point - that the color of law isn’t black or white anymore: it’s green. He often falls flat, but the growth of the character alone is worth the read. And did I mention the curves? This plot has curves. Because what do you do when you’re abandoned by the very people who forced you into the situation to begin with? You re-examine. And you regroup...and if you’re A. Scott Fenney, you stick to your guns and make your six-year-old daughter (who is a much more interesting character than your wife, by the way) proud, regardless of the outcome of a very stacked trial.