Book Review: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

I had never read anything by Neil Gaiman before, but when he showed up on The Colbert Report to promote his Newberry-winning children's book The Graveyard Book, he was so charming, and the book sounded so cool, that I had to check it out.

The hero of the story is Nobody Owens (Bod for short), an orphan being raised by ghosts and the mysterious Silas in a graveyard after the murder of his parents. What follows is an account of his life in the graveyard, encounters with creatures such as ghouls and the mysterious Sleer, as well as his quest to understand his parents' murder by the man Jack.

The Graveyard Book was thouroughly charming to read as a young adult, and I'm sure I would've adored it just the same if I had read it as a child. I love to walk and read in graveyards, taking pictures and imagining the lives of the people interred there, so Bod was the ideal young hero for me. It was a quick read, but I took my time in order to savor the story and the illustrations that pepper the book.

It was a sweet and engaging read that can be enjoyed by people of any age.

Snippet Review: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

I quite enjoyed Maisie Dobbs. In terms of a mystery it wasn't very complicated, but I really enjoyed Maisie herself and how unique she was. I haven't read of very many sleuths who rely so heavily on intuition, meditation, and being aware of the feelings of others.

The one complaint I had was that the story of her childhood was right on the edge of bad fanfiction. Violet eyes? Check. Dead mom? Check. Unusually clever and compelling young girl? Check and check.

Other than that, though (alliteration!) I liked it a lot. It felt like a hot cup of tea.

A Quick Plug

All you true-crime people: My cousin recently wrote a book about the "Bike Path Rapist" of Buffalo, NY. The case got national attention, I believe, since it was so sensational. Probably the saddest part was the guy who was wrongfully imprisoned for 20+ years. Crazy.I'm about halfway through the book so far. I can't even pretend to give an unbiased review as my cousin wrote it and the case itself is more or less local to me. Several of the crimes took place on a bike path I used to hike on with my grandpa when I was a kid.

If you're interested, check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Bike-Path-Rapist-Firsthand-Terrorized/dp/159921606X

Book Review: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

I just finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and I really enjoyed it. It's a children's book about an orphaned boy in 1930s Paris who has a gift with machines, but it uses gorgeous charcoal drawings to help tell the story. Someone described it as a silent film on paper, which is both a great description and very appropriate as the book deals with early silent films, among other things. Younger kids or non-readers shouldn't be put off by its huge size. With all the pictures, I could've devoured it an an hour, easily.

It's a work of art, and I would recommend it for children and adults alike.

BTT: Movie Potential

What book do you think should be made into a movie? And do you have any
suggestions for the producers?
Or, What book do you think should NEVER be
made into a movie?

Worst is first:
Apparently Alexandre Dumas should never be made into a Hollywood movie. The Man In The Iron Mask was atrocious. I don't even know where to start with that one. The whole charm of the book is that it is the last part of the Musketeers' story. It's not uplifting or just or pat, but it is wonderful. The movie was horrible and distorted the plot and characters beyond salvage.
The Count of Monte Cristo was a tiny bit better, but the book has so much more depth and adventure and purpose. Plus they changed the hell out of the ending.

As to books I'd like to see...I want to see the recent adaptation of Captain Alatriste. Viggo Mortensen, yum.

Snippet Reviews: Captain Alatriste and An Unquiet Mind

I read Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte and An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison in tandem. They really couldn't be more different: the first was an escapist, Dumas-esque swashbuckler, and the latter is a non-fiction memoir about living with bipolar disorder.

Captain Alatriste was really well-written, I thought, and quite diverting. Who doesn't love a rather melancholy hero and a villain who has a voice that sounds like alchohol was poured over his vocal cords and a laugh like splinters? It was rather short, though, which is okay because there are a few sequels. Plus, it has apparently been made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen, and who doesn't want to see that??

I read An Unquiet Mind for my abnormal psych class, and I read it in a day. It's a really compelling and interesting look into one woman's experience of the disease. It was also nice having both a personal and professional viewpoint represented, as Ms. Jamison is a prominent psychologist at Johns Hopkins and one of the world's experts on mood disorders. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who knows someone with bipolar disorder, but even if you don't it's still a very engaging read.

A Bundle of Reviews: Watchmen, My Life With The Saints, and Rebecca

I've been done with these books for days, and I kept waiting for inspiration to hit so I could pour forth an insightful and wholly original review. That has not happened, so y'all get a one-paragraph writeup. Sorry!

Watchmen: To start... I am an idiot. I thought this was published, like, within the last few years. When I started reading and it was set in the '80s, I thought, "Wow, they really managed to capture the time." Well, it was published in the '80s. Silly me. Anyway, this is heralded as the gold standard of graphic novels and one of the best books ever and on and on, and I am glad I can say that it does live up to the hype.

The heroes of Watchmen are masked adventurers and, in one case, a superhuman being. What makes Watchmen different and groundbreaking is that the heroes are at best normal people with normal-people frustrations and folibles, and at worst are the type of men usually found in a cell in solitary confinement. You learn about their backstories, what made them put on a costume to fight crime, and why they chose those costumes. It's a superhero story that focuses much more on character development than on ass-kicking. I dug it.

I'm not a big graphic-novel fan. I appreciate them and absolutely agree that they are a worthwhile form of literature, but they don't resonate with me the way novels do. In some ways I felt the same about Watchmen. It's not a book that is a part of me, but it is a book that I'm glad to have read and would recommend to others.

My Life With the Saints: I just said in my review of a graphic novel that I am not a graphic novel fan, and I'm starting this review of a Catholic book by saying that I am not a Catholic. However, I do have many Catholic family members and I've always felt an affection and interest in Catholicism.

My Life... is about James Martin's spiritual journey from typical college kid and business grad to Jesuit priest as well as aboutt he saints that he feels a special connection to. I enjoyed learning about familiar saints like St. Francis and Mother Theresa as well as less-familiar ones like Pedro Arrupe and Pope John Paul...er...something. What I liked most, however, was reading about the author's journey to being a clergyman, because he's such a regular guy. He grew up in a lukewarm Catholic house. He smoked pot in college and chose his major because he figured it would pay the bills. He chose a life in the Church because he was dissatisfied. He struggles with a lot of questions. It just felt really nice to read about someone who didn't have a life with huge highs and lows, or a dramatic spiritual conversion.

I would recommend this book to any Christian, even non-Catholics. I don't pray to saints but I did find the profiles and spiritual journey of the author interesting and applicable to my own life.

Rebecca: I have many friends who have raved about this book. They were correct to have raved. This was a very suspenseful, atmospheric, creepy story. I have much more to say, but I don't like to talk about details or characters from the book with people who have not read it, so I will refrain. I would highly recommend it.

Book Review: Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas

It's 20 years after the adventures of The Three Musketeers. Our four intrepid heroes have been spending their years achieving glory after glory, victory after victory, and, of course, constantly visiting and supporting one another.

Okay, I'm lying.

In actuality, they haven't seen each other at all from the end of Musketeers to the beginning of Twenty Years. D'Artagnan is stagnating as a lieutenant in the Musketeers. Porthos is fighting a losing battle to be accepted by his old-nobility peers. Aramis, the priestly soldier, is now a soldierly priest who is dissatisfied with his lot. Athos alone seems content, finding a new lease on life through his son.

And this is the magic of Twenty Years After. I won't go into the intricacies of the plot: the adventures, the loyalties, the many prison escapes. The real draw, for me, is watching these beloved characters mature and age. Their strengths and follies are both more noticable when they are away from each other. Their reunion is a thing of beauty as they relearn how to relate to each other and rediscover their strength as a quartet.

Only together are they an unstoppable force, with each member providing their own unique skills and acting as a balance to the others. Athos with his quiet leadership and wisdom is an important check on Aramis's self-interest and cunning. D'Artagnan's drive and imagination spur the others to decisive action. Porthos's brute strength and simple honesty get things done and lets the others experience emotion more freely. Aramis's connections and worldy mind is an important source of protection not provided by the almost naive loyalty of the others, Athos especially.

Reading about their new set of adventures and their struggles as they face the spectres of their past and the threat of the future was highly, highly enjoyable. All the more because the last book in the series, The Man In The Iron Mask, makes me cry like a little girl.

Book Review: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

One of the perks of working in a college bookstore is that in between the Econ textbooks and anatomy charts there are all sorts of wonderful novels being read for English classes, just laying there to be read in my spare time. (It's how I read Watchmen.) So when The Thin Man turned up, it was in my hand as soon as I had a second to breathe.


I picked The Thin Man up for three reasons:

• I had seen the movie* and thoroughly enjoyed it,
• The cover is awesome,

• And these lines were in the first chapter:
  

  We found a table. Nora said: "She's pretty."
  "If you like them like that."
  She grinned at me. "You got types?"
  "Only you, darling--lanky brunettes
  with wicked jaws."

I mean, come on. If those lines don't make you want to go out and buy this book, I'm not sure we can be friends.

*http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025878/

Movie Review: Twilight

I saw Twilight on Friday with my sisters and girl cousins, and it was greatly entertaining without being in any way shape or form a "good" movie. I've read the books, and for me it was a great way to see cool scenes or interesting ideas without having to slog through the million descriptions of Edward's "marble skin" or whatever.

I thought the casting was good, for the most part. Bella was so much less annoying than in the book, and even Edward was a bit more tolerable. I thought the actor did a great job with the American accent. He was an okay actor, too, when they weren't asking him to look constipated. Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie were pretty much perfect, but Jasper spent half the movie looking like a crazy person. Cut his hair and let the man show a few facial expressions. "Wooden" does not equal "tormented". Esmee was good, and I thought Carlisle was perfect. It's hard to have young, impossibly good-looking people play "parents" to other young good-looking people.
The "fast-motion" vampire movements though? Horrible. Like, I'm sure you had a decent budget. Use a little more on the effects and less on the makeup.

To sum up: it was wicked entertaining and funny, both intentionally and unintentionally, and I'm glad I went to see it.

This "Classic" Suuucked

I just finished Wuthering Heights. I know some people really love it, and after reading it I have no idea why. The names and relationships of one character to another were confusing, the plot was pretty lame, and then there are the people. What horrible, hateful, spiteful characters! I spent the whole book wanting someone to kill Heathcliff as slowly and painfully as possible. Scratch that, I wanted 4/5 of the characters to just kill each other off. Why is this a classic? Because it's unremittingly twisted?

Maybe the book's power to elicit strong feeling is some sort of mark of quality, what do I know. Anyway, I do not recommend this book. If you want a good Bronte book, go read Jane Eyre.

The Last Cavalier by Alexandre Dumas

A caveat to this review: A reviewer on Amazon said that one should be familiar with Dumas’s works before picking up The Last Cavalier. I think that advice is sound. The Last Cavalier is far from his best work (understandable, since he died before it could be finished) and being comfortable with Dumas freed me up to just enjoy the ride and be happy that this novel was discovered after being lost for so long.

The Last Cavalier. The long-lost final novel of Alexandre Dumas covering the Napoleonic era. I don’t even know where to start, really. It’s a massive book, longer than The Count of Monte Cristo even unfinished and only about half of it is dedicated to the title hero, Hector de Sainte-Hermine. The first half is mostly about Napoleon, and countless other small digressions. To be honest, that was my favorite part. I loved reading about Diana the super-avenger (and kick-ass woman!), Chateaubriand exploring North America and giving a shout-out to Lake Erie, Cadoudal the honorable royalist, and on and on. One thing that had a more personal meaning to me was the description of the port city of Saint-Malo, as I recently discovered that some ancestors of mine lived there in the 1500s.

The part of the book dedicated to Hector (who assumes a few other names throughout the book) was a little less satisfying. I couldn’t help making comparisons to The Count of Monte Cristo, as both heroes undergo a stint in prison and come out changed men. Obviously the Count will win every time. Hector also suffers a bit from Perfect-Hero Syndrome. I mean, the man should be bad or at least average at something. Still, he is charming and these are pretty small quibbles. And come on, how could you say no to such a wonderful cover!

Besides the gorgeous cover, another great feature is the preface by the man who discovered the novel. He writes in great detail how he found it, when Dumas wrote it, and the history behind the events in the book. It also gives Dumas’s outline of the whole plot, so even though the book is unfinished, the reader knows what happens in the end. As to the unfinished nature of the book, don’t worry about that. The ending is actually very appropriate and I didn’t feel that I was left at an intolerable cliffhanger.

I would recommend this book to people who love Dumas and who want to take a fun ramble through a chunk of a book. Perfect for those cold evenings in!

Book Review: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

I’m not a big fan of ghost stories. The mental images conjured by words don’t even begin to match the fear I feel when watching scary movies. I do, however, feel frightened when reading psychologically twisted stories, like The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Maybe it’s that aspect that made The Turn of the Screw the first “ghost story” that has held my attention and even scared me some.

It's been so gloriously gloomy the last few days that I just had to pick up a ghost story in hopes that I would finally find a creepy one. I think it says a lot for the book that I picked it up around midnight and kept reading until 2, and when I finally did go to bed I prayed I wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to pee or anything because I would be freaked out.

The story is about a governess taking care of two young children. She's there at the house alone because her "master", whom she is infatuated with, doesn't want to be involved in the care of the children at all. Without spoiling the story, she starts seeing what appear to be demonic apparitions. James is tantalizingly ambiguous about much of what happens which, in my opinion, makes for a scarier ghost. Leaving things to the reader's own imagination ensures that the reader will think of the scariest thing he or she can.

Scarier than the ghosts, however, is the psychological aspect of it. Fairly early on in the novel the reader is troubled with doubts about what the governess is seeing, and about her own sanity. This adds more layers to the story by making the reader think about things just as frightening, or perhaps more frightening, than ghosts.

It's autumn. The air is cold, the skies are grey, the leaves and blowing around making a sound like rattling bones. Pick up a ghost story. I'd recommend this one.

Booking Through Thursday: Conditioning

From BTT:

Are you a spine breaker? Or a dog-earer? Do you expect to keep your books in
pristine condition even after you have read them? Does watching other readers
bend the cover all the way round make you flinch or squeal in pain?

I am emphatically not a spine-breaker. No no no. I hate that. I have been known to occasionally dog-ear books to mark a quote or something. That's mostly with non-fiction books or school books, books that I feel were made to get worn in. My fiction books are not handled with gloves on or anything, but I do treat them respectfully. The edges of covers tend to get a bit beaten up from being put in purses or balanced on a table, but nothing gets ripped or bent if I can help it.
I don't like seeing people bend the covers around unless it's a novel or something for school. Since most of us buy used copies anyway, they're already beaten up, wirtten in, etc.

Book Review: Casino Royal by Ian Fleming

Like any American growing up with a father and brother, I am familiar with the James Bond movies. I even had a brief thing for Pierce Brosnan at 14. So this year I figured I should read at least one of the books. Casino Royale happens to be the first in the series and gave rise to an excellent movie adaptation.

I started off really enjoying this book. Fleming is very good at conveying mood, and he has a gift for moving the plot swiftly. I would look back and wonder how so much had happened in just a few pages without me feeling rushed. I could have really like this book and wanted to read more had it not been for the “love interest”.

I wasn’t bothered so much by the woman herself. I read old books, so I’m used to the weak heroine or the useless woman. It sucks, but I’m used to it. What unsettled me was the attitude Bond took towards her. I was expecting sexism (it was written in the 50s, after all) but it was so over-the-top, edging into misogyny. Bond veered between feelings of resentment and severe dislike for this woman trying to do “a man’s job” (his quote, how original) and wanting to fuck her. Pardon my language but that’s what it was. I shouldn’t even say “veered” really, as those feelings were uttered in the same sentence or thought throughout the book. There were referenced to Bond wanting to spank her, but as a form of punishment. He thinks to himself that because he doesn’t fully know her inner thoughts, whenever they have sex it will have “the sweet tang of rape”.

I read the whole book, but it left me feeling a little disturbed, and not wanting to read more if this is what I will get. It’s a real shame, because I wanted to like these books.

BTT: Stories

If you’re anything like me, one of your favorite reasons to read is for the
story. Not for the character development and interaction. Not because of the
descriptive, emotive powers of the writer. Not because of deep, literary meaning
hidden beneath layers of metaphor. (Even though those are all good things.) No …
it’s because you want to know what happens next?
Or, um, is it just me?

Yes and no. I have read books simply for the plot (most of the Twilight books) and I have read books simply for the language (The English Patient). The thing is, while those books were enjoyable enough, I didn't love them. I didn't absorb them and rave about them. A good book, to me, needs a combination of all of these:

Characters: At least one character has to be likable. That's why The English Patient felt hollow, and why I have such a hard time reading Steinbeck books.

Language: Language can be as indispensible as the plot. What would a Wodehouse book be without the appeal of its language? I don't really care if a book is evocative and flowery, as long as it is comprehensible and more-or-less readable. I dislike the very simple and the very embellished.

Plot: There is nothing more frustrating than a good story broken to pieces by philosophical or whale-related digression.

One last note: I have no use for "deep literary meaning", as defined by critics and scholars. Reading books not for enjoyment but for some other hazy academic reason is something I don't have any interest in doing. (I'm looking at you, James Joyce and Mrs Dalloway.)

BTT: Libraries

Whether you usually read off of your own book pile or from the library shelves
NOW, chances are you started off with trips to the library. (There’s no way my
parents could otherwise have kept up with my book habit when I was 10.) So …
What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any
funny/odd memories of the library?

I did go to the library when I was a very young girl. I remember the children's section because it had a cushioned window seat that I loved to sit on. As I got older I didn't really go to the library. I mostly borrowed books from the shelves of my teachers in school.

Now, as a college student, I go to the library usually once a week. My local library is superb, with a wonderful media section and lots of room to sit down and read. They even have a small coffee shop! Last fall I would go down to read the library's copy of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, a book too big to tote back with me. I would sit on a bench by a window on the second story, overlooking a tree and small pavillion. It was heaven.

BTT: Beginnings

What are your favourite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you
liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you
didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?

P.G. Wodehouse's The Luck of the Bodkins is as hilarious at the beginning as it si the rest of the book. Behold:

"Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel
Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty,
hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk
French."

Bleak House, by Charles Dickens

Spoilers for Bleak House.

When I was 13, I read Great Expectations. It left me with lukewarm feelings regarding Charles Dickens. I found the book mildly enjoyable, like every other school book I read and then forgot about. It certainly didn't inspire me to hunt down any other works by Dickens. So five or so years later I was surprised to read a review of the beginning of Bleak House and finding it intriguing. I was even more surprised to find myself buying the book on an impulse

The biggest suprise of all, though, was that I ended up loving it.

There were so many memorable things about the book:

• I loved that all the places and characters had names that suited them (Miss Flite is a crazy old bird lady, Mr Krook is a bad guy, etc.) except for...wait for it...Bleak House, a happy safe haven!
• Krook spontaneously combusted!! Someone spontaneously combusted in a Charles Dickens novel. I can't even wrap my brain around how awesome that is.
• The minor characters were amusing rather than annoying. I especially liked Mr Jellyby with his head perpetually against a wall, Mr and Mrs Bagnet who have the most solid marriage in all of literature, and on and on.

I even liked Esther, who seems to garner a lukewarm reaction from other readers. She was a little more perfect than necessary, but I quite liked her. I also really liked John Jarndyce, even if his proposal to Esther skeeved me out a little bit. Richard was amusing at first, and then just annoying. Of course you would die, you idiot. *rolls eyes*

One cool extra feature of my edition (Penguin Classics) is a timeline of sorts written out by Dickens as he was plotting the book. He wrote just one or two words to tell him what he plot points he needed to bring up, when he needed to bring them up, and which characters would be featured Here's an example:

Jo? Yes. Mr Snagsby? Yes. Mrs Snagsby? Yes. Slightly.

This is my favorite note:

Jo? Yes. Kill him.

I highly recommend this book. It's a chunkster, to be sure, but a book that you can really take your time with and savor.

BTT: Fantasy Worlds

From the awesome Booking Through Thursday:

Are there any particular worlds in books where you’d like to live?
Or where
you certainly would NOT want to live?
What about authors? If you were a
character, who would you trust to write your life?

The first, most obvious thought I had was that I could die happy if I lived in Middle-earth. Middle-earth has gorgeous scenery, loads of history, and is populated by handsome, chivalric men and elves. Maybe I would even be an elf! Sure, it's a little dangerous, but I could count on Tolkien to either see me through tough situations with grace and courage, or at least give me a rockin' death scene.

I think I would like to experience life in the 1800s or early 1900s. It seems like a very cool time to be alive, fictionally speaking. Oh, I almost forgot! The world of Wodehouse. That is my ultimate fantasy world. The old-fashioned feel, without those pesky things like wars and poverty and sufferage and stuff. To live at Blandings would be heaven, especially if Bertie and Jeeves came for a visit. :-)

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I would never choose to live in a dystopian novel, or anything by John Steinbeck. Things just don't end well for his characters.