Carry On

Carry On
by Rainbow Rowell
522 Pages

"Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen. That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git , but he's probably right. Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here--it's their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon's infuriating nemesis didn't even bother to show up. Carry On - The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you'd expect from a Rainbow Rowell story - but far, far more monsters."

This is Harry Potter knockoff and in the first 75-100 pages you'll be wondering if you should stop reading.  It does get better but of course never approaches the level of complexity I would like in a magic series.  Recommended with reservations.  

Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite Corpse, by Penelope Bagieu, translated by Alexis Siegel, 124 pages

Zoe is a rather directionless young woman- working at a job she hates and living with a boyfriend who she similarly despises, all the while thinking that there must be more to life.  When she meets Thomas, a reclusive oddball who lets her crash in his life, she thinks that things are turning around.  But Thomas has his secrets, and Zoe has to learn that the most important relationship is the one that we have with ourselves. 

Descriptions of this (and I'll admit- the artwork) made me think that this would be a cutesy little romantic graphic novel; and while there are cute elements, overall, the story is a little darker and a little more adult than it appears.  There is some really thought-provoking stuff in here about relationships that I am glad exists.

Culture We Deserve

The Culture We Deserve by Jacques Barzun, 183 pages

This is a collection of pieces written by Barzun during the late '80s.  Collectively, they are neither a jeremiad over decline, nor do they offer much in the way of concrete recommendations for improvement.  Each is a brief discussion of some aspect of the state of art and life at the end of an age.  Barzun is thoughtful, erudite, and never conventional.  In one essay, he diagnoses a major problem with art today as not a shortage, but a glut, and suggests discouraging rather than encouraging aspiring artists.  In another he cites a profusion of reference works as an indicator of decadence.  There is little in the way of consistency - in one essay Barzun challenges moral absolutists with the strengths of an ethically diverse culture, in another he attacks the grammatical relativism of linguists.  He describes problems with the academy as the arbiter of art, but he also exalts the university as a potentially rich source of a new culture, fresh ground for human cultivation.

The essays are remarkable for their general lack of polemicism.  Throughout, Barzun seems to be proposing rather than insisting.  If it is not always easy to discern what he is about, neither should he be easily dismissed.

Claymore Manga Part 2

Claymore Volumes 6-15 by Norihiro Yagi, (1984 pages in ten books)

Why, oh why does it seem the longer a manga series goes on, the more likely it is to fall onto the circular leveling track? For those that do not know what circular leveling is, it’s where the hero of the story trains and trains to beat people, and despite being at the top of their game they still come across a stronger opponent. This opponent either beats them, or right as they are about to die fighting, they discover this new power they didn’t know they had. Of course this allows them to win, and then they spend more books strengthening this power, until yet again it is not enough.

This cycle can continue indefinitely. It was why I stopped reading One Piece, though I am tempted to return to it. My main reason for disliking this cycle is the series gets kind of stale. Not that the series is bad, but I know what to expect. Every tenth book the hero gets stronger, the next three after that they learn to utilize their power better, by the halfway point they have mostly mastered their power. Around book *7 they can easily beat everyone they come across. *8 build up to the big fight. *9 the big fight where the hero faces death, or losing. *0 the hero wins/survives by gaining some power they never knew they had. Repeat as needed.

Now that my ranting is over, I can talk about the Claymore series itself. I have stated in previous blog posts, the Claymore series is about an origination of women soldiers who are half Yoma (a demon) and half human. This blend allows them to kill the true Yoma that exist in the world. This ability to protect humanity comes at a cost. Eventually a Claymore will be unable to control the demon within them and will lose control and become an Awakened, a super strong Yoma that has special powers. To prevent this most women sacrifice themselves when they feel the change happening.

For the most part the series follows a Claymore named Clare, but there are entire volumes where we don’t see her. In this nine volume run the focus is less on killing Yoma and more on the Awakened and Abyssal Ones. Abyssal Ones are former top ranked Claymores that failed to prevent themselves from awakening. They are extremely hard to kill and sort of act like demigods in the series.

While I can already see this forming into the infinite leveling, I still enjoy this series. Each Awakened being is unique in both form and power, and there is a massive underlying plot that I am quite curious about. I certainly will keep reading this series, though I don’t know for how long.

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque  304 pages

Eighteen-year-old Erich Paul Remark was draft into the German Army to fight in World War I. He was sent to the Western Front in July 1917. There he experienced the horrors of war, as did many thousands of other young men on both sides. On July 31 he was wounded (shrapnel in the left leg, right arm, neck) and sent to an Army hospital where he spent the rest of the war.

Afterward he became a teacher until he took a leave of absence in 1920 to begin a literary life. He changed his name to Erich Maria Remarque. Maria in honor of his mother and Remarque, the traditional German spelling of his name

In 1929, he published his third novel, All Quiet on the Western Front. In the novel, eighteen-year-old Paul Baumer is a young German soldier fighting in the trenches in France. Like the Southerners in Gone With the Wind, Paul and his buddies head for the front with glorious ideas of quickly over-running the French. Instead, they are horrified by the blood-drenched trenches, the constant shelling, the mud, and the general misery of life at the Front.

When Paul returns home on leave, he is disgusted by the inaccuracies that people have of the battle---much like the American troops endured during Vietnam.

I first read this novel over summer break as a teen. Considered the greatest war novel of all time, I have to concur. Remarque takes readers into the trenches with him and, through his eyes, readers can experience the tragedy of war. One of things that make it stand out is that the point of view is from a German solider.

Remarque probably suffered from shell shock, or PTSD, as we know it today. I believe that he wrote to try to exorcize the demons that haunted him. He wrote nine other novels, all concerning war, but All Quiet on the Western Front is the one for which he is most remembered.

6 out of 5 stars.

Artemis Invaded

Artemis Invaded by Jane Lindskold
316 Pages


"In Artemis Invaded, Jane Lindskold returns to the world of Artemis, a pleasure planet that was lost for millennia, a place that holds secrets that could give mankind back unimaginable powers. Stranded archaeologist Griffin is determined to make his way back to his home world with news of the Artemis discovery. He and his gene-modified native companion, the huntress Adara, and her psyche-linked puma Sand Shadow, set out to find another repository of the ancient technology in the hope that somehow Griffin will be able to contact his orbiting ship. In the midst of this, Adara wrestles with her complex feelings for Griffin-and with the consequences of her and Sand Shadow's new bond with the planet Artemis. Focused on his own goals, Griffin is unaware that his arrival on Artemis has created unexpected consequences for those he is coming to hold dear. Unwittingly, he has left a trail-and Artemis is about to be invaded."

It wasn't bad but it wasn't exactly memorable.  The characterization is too light and you don't really connect with any of the main characters.   I kept wanting more detail, especially about the intelligence of the planet but was stuck with bad poetry.  

Weighing Shadows

Weighing Shadows by Lisa Goldstein
328 Pages

Ann Decker is approached by an organization to become a member of a team that travels through time to improve the future.  Transformations Incorporated seems to be on the up and up but Ann soon questions whether her actions are actually making the world better.  Part science fiction, part feminist diatribe, this disappointing book by Goldstein is definitely not recommended.  I had had high hopes since I enjoyed other books by Goldstein in the past.

God in Ruins

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
468 Pages
 
"A God In Ruins tells the dramatic story of the 20th Century through Ursula's beloved younger brother Teddy--would-be poet, heroic pilot, husband, father, and grandfather-as he navigates the perils and progress of a rapidly changing world. After all that Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge is living in a future he never expected to have. An ingenious and moving exploration of one ordinary man's path through extraordinary times, A God In Ruins proves once again that Kate Atkinson is one of the finest novelists of our age."

This was a novel that explores the 20th century through the life of one man and his children and grandchildren.  Featuring the same characters of Life After Life, we jumped back and forth in Teddy's life, reliving WW 2, his marriage, his old age.  What I found interesting is that Atkinson mentions something but we have to wait 50-60 pages before we revisit that moment in Teddy's life to find out more of what happened and get the back story.  Not really like Life After Life but just as good.  

Zeroes

Zeroes by Chuck Wendig
419 Pages

"Five hackers--an Anonymous-style rabble-rouser, an Arab Spring hacktivist, a black-hat hacker, an old-school cipherpunk, and an online troll--are detained by the U.S. government, forced to work as white-hat hackers for Uncle Sam in order to avoid federal prison. At a secret complex known only as "the Lodge," where they will spend the next year working as an elite cyber-espionage team, these misfits dub themselves "the Zeroes." But once the Zeroes begin to work, they uncover secrets that would make even the most dedicated conspiracy theorist's head spin. And soon they're not just trying to serve their time, they're also trying to perform the ultimate hack: burrowing deep into the U.S. government from the inside, and hoping they'll get out alive. "


I enjoyed parts of this book but wish there had been more scenes detailing the hacking rather than the violence ensuing the convoluted plotline. 

Stewie BOOM! Starts School

Stewie BOOM! Starts School by Christine Bronstein and illustrated by Karen l. Young    48 Pages

Starting school, be it preschool or kindergarten, is scary for kids. Especially for those who have stay-at-home moms. Stewie BOOM! is one of those kids.

Stewie is loud, sometimes cranky, and often comical. He has just been told by his Mommy and Daddy that tomorrow he will go to school. He’s anxious because he like structure but has no idea of what structure is during the school day.

His first day is a disaster. His teacher had to call Mommy to come get him, which made the teacher, Mommy, AND Stewie mad.  But as Stewie tosses and turns in his bed, he comes up with an ingenuous plan to help him with learning how school operates.

Designed for kids ages 3-6, the book also has an important section for adult: an interview “with two well-regarded child psychologists who give simple tips and practical advice” for parents.

This is a book that both children and parents can reap benefits. 

I give Stewie BOOM! Starts School 5 out of 5 stars.

Library of Souls

Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
458 Pages

The third and final book of the Peculiar Children has our heroes tracking down their missing friends and facing the foes who kidnapped them.  Everything is wrapped up in this book and readers will be happy that the book is a more solid entry than its predecessor.  

Zero World

Zero World by Jason M Hough
578 Pages

"Technologically enhanced superspy Peter Caswell has been dispatched on a top-secret assignment unlike any he's ever faced. A spaceship that vanished years ago has been found, along with the bodies of its murdered crew--save one. Peter's mission is to find the missing crew member, who fled through what appears to be a tear in the fabric of space. Beyond this mysterious doorway lies an even more confounding reality: a world that seems to be Earth's twin. Peter discovers that this mirrored world is indeed different from his home, and far more dangerous. Cut off from all support, and with only days to complete his operation, Peter must track his quarry alone on an alien world. But he's unprepared for what awaits on the planet's surface, where his skills will be put to the ultimate test--and everything he knows about the universe will be challenged in ways he never could have imagined. " 

 I enjoyed parts of this book but was frustrated by some of the twists and turns in the plotting.  There will definitely be a sequel since there are a lot of loose ends to tie up.

Golden Age

Golden Age by Jane Smilley
443 Pages

"Golden Age, the final installment, of the Langdon Family trilogy opens in 1987. Michael and Richie, the rivalrous twin sons of World War II hero Frank, work in the high-stakes world of government and finance in Washington and New York, but they soon realize that one's fiercest enemies can be closest to home; Charlie, the charming, recently found scion, struggles with whether he wishes to make a mark on the world; and Guthrie, once poised to take over the Langdons' Iowa farm, is instead deployed to Iraq, leaving the land--ever the heart of this compelling saga--in the capable hands of his younger sister. Determined to evade disaster, for the planet and her family, Felicity worries that the farm's once-bountiful soil may be permanently imperiled, by more than the extremes of climate change. And as they enter deeper into the twenty-first century, all the Langdon women--wives, mothers, daughters--find themselves charged with carrying their storied past into an uncertain future."

I was happy to read the final book and was not disappointed with Smiley's writing.  The only detraction from my enjoyment was the difficulty of keeping track of all the characters because as the trilogy evolved the number of characters increased tremendously.  

Fishermen with Ploughs

Fishermen with Ploughs by George MacKay Brown, from The Collected Poems of George MacKay Brown, 58 pages

Fishermen with Ploughs, a collection first published in 1971, is a poetical-historical tour of the Orkney Isles, where the author makes his home.  It begins with the arrival of Norse settlers fleeing trouble at home, drifts through Christianization and Reformation and Modernization, when so many native Orcadians left for greener pastures elsewhere, then concludes in the near future with new refugees fleeing some fresh disaster renewing the cycle.

If not for the introduction, however, only the keenest of readers would have unriddled that plot.  The contents vary greatly in length and style, giving brief glimpses of the isles and their inhabitants in a land where man and nature interpenetrate.  Songs of mothers and widows and graves dug in the sea, the books of the earth and the seas of corn, the plough of the boat's prow and the sea salt on the wind, hearts like stones and stones like men, the year and the week and the days going round, the great ghostly crowds of those who have gone before but are here still in wall and path and churchyard.

Judge Volume 1-5

Judge Volumes 1 -5 by Yoshiki Tonogai 1035 pages in five books

Since I am stuck riding the bus to and from work, about a thirty minute commute, I was looking for a lot more manga or short books to read. This way I could start and finish the book on the bus. I struck out on short stories but found a whole host of different manga series. Judge by Yoshiki Tonogai being one of them.

The Judge series is about a group of strangers who are kidnapped. When they wake up they find themselves in an abandoned courthouse wearing masks. Their initial confusion about what is going on and why they are here is explained by a tape (very much like the movie Saw). In short they have all committed one of the seven deadly sins and to atone for their sins they must be judged. To survive they must vote who gets “sacrificed” or killed each day. The last four people that are alive after the “judgement” has been passed will be released.

The first volume of this series is a lot of set up and explanation so it can be a little tedious to go through. The rest of the volumes have all of the plotting and backstabbing you would expect in this situation. If you enjoyed the first couple Saw movies or the manga series Doubt by this same author, you should give this series a try.  

I debated whether or not I could post these covers or if they would be spoilers, seeing as how they show who dies on the cover.

Beauteous Truth

Beauteous Truth: Faith, Reason, Literature, and Culture by Joseph Pearce, 320 pages

Beauteous Truth  is a collection of blog posts, book reviews, book introductions, interviews, and magazine essays, on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from history to philosophy to aesthetics to autobiography.  Author Pearce has written literary biographies of Solzehnitsyn, Tolkien, Lewis, Belloc, Wilde, Shakespeare, and Chesterton, focusing on the influence of Christianity generally, and Catholicism specifically, upon his subjects, so it is no surprise that questions about the relationship between Truth and Beauty, between faith and art, form the dominant theme.

Pearce directly targets both the modern notion of a war between faith and reason and the academic aversion to matters of morality and religion.  Following Dawson and Eliot he sees these as antithetical to the survival of culture and civilization.  The loftiness of his cause inspires a determination and combativeness that can come across as overly forceful, which is only aggravated by the inevitably somewhat repetitive (but certain things are worth repeating) nature of such a collection.  This is balanced somewhat by the structure of the book, which provides a certain thematic progression despite the components not having been initially conceived as part of a greater whole.  There is an occasional minor misstep (Weston was a renegade spiritualist in Perelandra, not a materialist as he was in Out of the Silent Planet), but on the whole Pearce's passionate arguments are strong. clear, and insightful.

In the Last Analysis

In The Last Analysis by Amanda Cross
187 Pages

I read this mystery since it the author was mentioned in the recent V.I. Warshawski book.  It originally came out in the early 60's and was extremely dated.  When a young patient is found murdered on the therapist's couch, Kate Fansler must solve the crime before her friend the therapist is found guilty. 

John Adams

John Adams by David McCullough, 651 pages

John Adams had long been the forgotten Founder.  Always controversial, never wildly popular, defeated in a landslide in his 1800 Presidential reelection bid, he didn't write the Declaration of Independence, didn't fly a kite in a thunderstorm, didn't chop down a cherry tree.  Intellectuals remembered him as the progenitor of the dynasty that would include his son John Quincy and his great-grandson Henry, and conservatives reimagined him as an American Burke, but it was David McCullough who virtually single-handedly raised the public perception of Adams from a trivia question to his rightful place amongst the Founders.

McCullough writes with novelistic grace.  His focus is on the personalities of his subjects, rather than the interminable business of debate, diplomacy, and government - although this has the drawback of sometimes understating the difficulties and undervaluing the importance of such work.  It is emblematic of his approach that McCullough spends more time on a tour of English gardens undertaken by Jefferson and Adams in 1787 than on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence - the former brilliantly illuminates the characters of these two men and the nature of their highly significant, turbulent relationship, but the latter was obviously far more important as a single historical event, that is, the Declaration was a milestone in American and world history, but the personalities, feuds, and friendships of Jefferson and Adams would shape history in subtler but equally important ways.

Simmer and Smoke: A Southern Tale of Grit and Spice

Simmer and Smoke: A Southern Tale of Grit and Spice by Peggy Lampman  380 pages

I hail from the South---Arkansas to be exact, and Southern Arkansas at that—and I’m always to drawn to stories that take place in that part of the U.S. And to make the pot even sweeter, it’s a story that evolves around food.

Lampman’s debut novel is the story of two women: Shelby Preston and Mallory Lakes. The story evolves over the course of one year,from December 20, 2010, to December 30, 2011.

Shelby is a young mother, living with her mother, with dreams of becoming a chef. Not only does she love to cook, but she knows that she can never make a good life in Coryville. Determined to make a better life for herself and her six-year-old daughter, Shelby takes the four-hour bus ride to Atlanta to apply for a job as a cook for in the downtown deli of Grasso’s, a supermarket chain.

Mallory Lake writes for the Life Style Section of one of Atlanta’s papers, The Sun. Like many newspapers in 2010, The Sun is facing declining advertising and readership. Rumor has it that the paper is about to close its print doors and go strictly digital. Not only does Mallory have to worry about losing her job, but she’s still trying to figure out why her lover unceremoniously dumped her without a hint of warning.

I enjoyed Simmer and Smoke. It’s a story of strong women who aren’t strong because it’s the cool thing to do. They are strong because they have no choice. It’s also a story of family---the one we’re stuck with and the one we choose to make. It’s a story of food. I wish the recipes hadn’t been regulated to the back of the book. The story would have been more effective if they had been listed in the text.  The plot was interesting and entertaining. For half the book, it was a page turner. For the other half, it bogged down.

I give Simmer and Smoke: A Southern Tale of Grit and Spice 3 out of 5 stars.

Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry

Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopaedia, Genealogy, Tradition by Alisdair MacIntyre, 236 pages

In the published edition of Alisdair MacIntyre's Gifford lectures of 1988, he identifies three primary schools of moral enquiry in the twentieth century.  The first is that which he identifies with Adam Gifford and his fellow toilers at the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, representing a model based on that of the natural sciences, emphasizing method above all else, and proceeding out of the Enlightenment.  The second he associates with Nietzsche, particularly his On the Genealogy of Morals, and the postmodern view of morality as a mask for power and privilege.  Finally, he presents the third school, Thomism, especially as renewed after the promulgation of Leo XIII's encyclical Aeterni Patris.  This approach, more broadly representing the classical and medieval understanding of philosophical work, emphasizes that the development of virtue - particularly humility - in the philosopher is necessary for moral understanding.  The traditional mode of enquiry conceives of philosophy as a craft, pursued in and through a community.

MacIntyre attempts to demonstrate that, while the first two schools are each incapable of engaging with the other on the other's terms, it is the particular advantage of tradition that it is able to synthesize and assimilate rival philosophies, and to engage with the world in a meaningful way.  Because of this, the philosophy of the past is also the philosophy of the future.

Mad Catastrophe

A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire by Geoffrey Wawro, 385 pages

In 1847, the Austrian Empire stood as the foundation of the European order and the arbiter of European destiny.  In 1848 that order was shaken, in 1866 Austria was humiliated in the Austro-Prussian War and excluded from wider German affairs, and a year later power within the Habsburg realms was divided between the German Austrians and the Hungarian Magyars.  By the second decade of the twentieth century Austria-Hungary was a dysfunctional state, a patchwork of rival linguistic and ethnic groups theoretically united by their shared allegiance to the Habsburg dynasty and its octogenarian patriarch, Emperor Franz Joseph.  It was this sick man of Europe that would stumble into beginning the First World War. 

Wawro's unrelenting cynicism occasionally becomes tiring - although there is certainly enough here to warrant cynicism - and at times petty, as when he sneers at Archduke Franz Ferdinand's insistence on visiting a man who had been wounded by an attack aimed at the Archduke, a decision that led him directly into the hands of his assassin.  Unfortunately, his constant denigration of his subjects on all sides of the war creates suspicion about the value of his judgement generally, which is a shame, since his Strangelovian tale of the follies of generals on the Eastern Front is otherwise a compelling examination of a largely forgotten part of World War I.

How to Fake a Moon Landing

How to Fake a Moon Landing: Exposing the Myths of Science Denial, by Darryl Cunningham, 176 pages

Cunningham starts this book with a quote that really says it all: "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion; however, everyone is not entitled to their own facts."- Michael Specter

This graphic non-fiction could be really great for those middle-school age readers: it's a series of pieces addressing commonly-challenged scientific theories and how the challenges are flawed or wrong.  Cunningham begins with the moon landing, and takes down each of the theories made by conspiracy theorists; he continues with sections on homeopathy, chiropractic, the vaccination/autism "connection," evolution, fracking, and climate change.  Cunningham really simplifies the ideas enough for anyone to grasp and provides sources for further investigation.  It's just a bit frustrating reading this, because the common threads of political corruption and a general lack of journalistic ethics seem to make the power and inviolate truth of science to be rendered inconsequential.

The Secret Place

The Secret Place, by Tana French, 464 pages

Stephen Moran is trying to get out of Cold Cases and into The Murder Squad- the group of detectives in Dublin who investigate murder cases.  It looks like he has his chance when a girl from an upscale boarding school approaches him with what may be a clue to a previously unsolved murder on the school grounds. This mystery had lots of restating of conversations and situations that had already been explained, and dialogue with teenage girls that featured so many "like"s and italicized emphases and upward inflections that it literally gave me a headache to read.  It felt very padded, and the ending was not much of a surprise.  However, if you really wanted to read a mystery that reminds you of how very mean and cruel teenage girls can be, then this may appeal. Other book club members spoke very highly of the other books by Tana French, so maybe this one was an outlier.  

Wytches

Wytches, vol. 1, by Scott Snyder, 144 pages

The Rooks family has just moved to a new, small town- seemingly to get away from some sort of "incident" that occurred in the old place.  And while it seems like the family is settling in and moving on- the daughter has made a friend at school, and dad's new graphic novel is coming along, there are a few... unsettling things that occur.  Oh, like the bald woman with prosthetic legs who breaks into the house to rave about witches and the egg-sized lump developing on the daughter's neck and the trees that eat people. Clearly, this small town life is not as simple as they thought.  As usual, the writing of Scott Snyder is solid and it reminded me of a Stephen King story (in a good way!).  That said, I am not a scary-story sort of reader, so I may pass on finishing out the series.  

Princess Mermaid

Princess Mermaid, by Junko Mizuno, 144 pages

In the absolute loosest of terms, this is a re-telling of "The Little Mermaid" story.  In less loose terms, it is about a group of mermaids who seek vengeance on humans for having murdered their mother by opening an underwater brothel where they sleep with men in order to have future mermaid babies and then eat the men for sustenance.  Until one of them begins to doubt if this is the best course, and meets a human man and... well, you get the idea.  But however you think a story like that ends, you're wrong.  Like Cinderalla before, this is one of those fairly bizarre, very adult works of graphic fiction where I wasn't totally sure where the story was going or where I was when it got there, but the art is pretty and it was so different that I think I liked it.

The Marvels

The Marvels, by Brian Selznick, 665 pages

From the creator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret comes another book in the same style- half of the story is illustration-only, the other half is prose.  The illustrated part tells a story of a family of actors, dating back to the eighteenth century- but with an ambiguous ending.  The prose part begins in 1990, with the focus being on a young man who has run away from school to find his best friend and stay with his uncle.  Selznick does a great job of bringing the two stories together, in what turns out to be an unexpected manner.  Reality is not always what we think it is, and stories are not always true.  This particular one really resonated with me more than the previous Selznick works, both visually (the pages are gold leafed- beautiful!) and story-wise.

The Hobbit

The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again by JRR Tolkien, 317 pages

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..." named Bilbo Baggins, and he had a magical adventure in which he traveled with dwarves and a wizard, eluded trolls and goblins, riddled with Gollum and Smaug, found a magic ring, dined with elves and a bear-man, and persevered through sheer heroic decency.

Rereading The Hobbit, two things are remembered: the writing is approachable, plain, and unpretentious, and the book is very funny.  Neither of these qualities are possessed by The Lord of the Rings, although the trilogy has other, greater virtues.

Velvet

Velvet: Before the Living End, written by Ed Brubaker, illustrations by Steve Epting, 128 pages

Velvet Templeton is the personal secretary to the director of a super-secret spy agency.  Velvet, however, is no Miss Moneypenny; she's a former operative put on desk duty after some questionable shenanigans and now has been framed for murdering the agency's top spy.

Spy movies are a total guilty favorite of mine. I'll go see whatever the new Bond or Mission Impossible movie is and I'll enjoy it despite its misogyny and failure to pass the Bechtel test. Velvet totally hits all my favorite spy movie tropes and its about a lady spy. A MIDDLE AGED lady spy. (Though, I don't think Velvet actually passed the Bechtel test until issue 5). On top of that wonderful twist to the genre, the art and writing are really solid. Will definitely keep reading this series.

September Totals!

Congrats to Ed W, who read the most books and pages and to Jason S, who earned the most points in September!

We've decided to shake up the way that we award prizes here on the blog, each month we'll be doing one random drawing and award a prize to the winner.  However, since it's the start of a new blog-year and I'm terribly late posting these September totals EVERYBODY who blogged in September wins a prize!  Prizes for everybody!  Keep an eye on your in-boxes for a list of the currently available prizes.  Thanks for blogging!

September Stats:

Blogger	Books	Pages	Points
Ed W	29	10,259	29
Jason S	37	8,135	71
Krista R	21	6,479	22
Dennis M	14	3,294	16
Julie E-C	6	1,942	6
Jeff S	3	1,271	3
Melissa M	3	1,016	3
Karen Y	2	531	2
Molly P	2	208	3
TOTALS	117	33,135	155

Four to Score

Four to Score by Janet Evanovich, 294 pages

It is always a delight to read a Stephanie Plum mystery by Janet Evanovich. Such a delight, in fact, that I was laughing within the first five pages.

Just when you think things can't get any more zany or wonky in Stephanie's life, things such as using a transvestite to help her crack codes or going to Atlantic City where her ride-along grandmother, Grandma Mazur, ends up on top of a poker table to get a better view of a fleeing bounty are found within the pages. Those are just the unusual antics among the usual ones found in this series: wacky family dinners, exploding vehicles, Rex the hamster, and a gun in a cookie jar are the usual suspects.

The Stephanie Plum series is most definitely a page-turner and a satisfying read for avid mystery fans.

We All Looked Up

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach, 370 pages

What would you do if there was a good chance that an asteroid was on target to hit the Earth, probably with devastating results for the population?  This book explores what a group of teens in Seattle do, based on the knowledge that they may only have a couple of months to live.  This story is told from the perspective of four teens, Peter, Eliza, Andy, and Anita.  Peter is the popular athlete, slated to go to Stamford on a scholarship.  Eliza is a loner whose mother left for Hawaii and father is dying of cancer.  Andy is a stoner wannabe rock star whose parents don’t seem to care what he does.  Anita is brilliant but ruled by her parents’ wishes that she go to Princeton and study something they see as lucrative, like medicine or business and have tried to stamp out her dream to study music.  These teens are completely different but end up coming together after the news of the asteroid is released.  I really liked this book although I was disappointed in the ending, but not surprised.  Teens who like realistic fiction or apocalyptic novels may like this.

Tracked

Tracked by Jenny Martin, 389 pages

Phoebe is a racer on a world that is completely controlled by corporations.  She is racing illicitly until she is caught and offered a choice: race for Benroyal Corp or go to a prison labor camp.  Going to the camp means certain death within the year so even though she hates the corporations, she agrees, on the condition that her pacer, Bear, who was also captured, is released and added to her racing team.  Once Phee starts racing she becomes aware that there is a lot more intrigue among the corporations than she realized, and that some people may be working to bring down the corporations.  Phee wants to be involved but is worried about her adoptive family getting hurt in the process.  This was a good story.  I was sucked into it pretty quickly.  This is for teens who like realistic science fiction with a little adventure and mystery thrown in.

Old Wolf

Old Wolf by Avi, 146 pages

Nashoba is the leader of the wolf pack but a younger wolf has started challenging him for leadership.  Nashoba believes he can still lead but he is injured in the challenge.  It's winter and food is hard to come by.  When a raven, Merla, tries to help Nashoba find food, he isn't happy to accept her help but reluctantly agrees.  Casey is a boy who fascinated with bow hunting.  He plays a video game constantly.  He is just turning thirteen and hopes to get a bow for his birthday.  But Casey and Nashoba's worlds are about to collide and it could end up badly for one or both of them.  This book was realistic, except that we don't know how wolves actually communicate.  I didn't like it very much.  The whole book left me unsettled and I like my messages to be a little more subtle.  However it's well written and an elementary reluctant reader might like it for its length.

The Scam

The Scam by Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg, 286 pages

This is more of the usual fare from this team of setting up a scam in order to catch the crook with a few laughs and a lot of sexual tension on the way.  In this book Kate, FBI agent, and Nick, con artist and secretly working with the FBI, are setting up an operation to trap casino mogul Evan Trace in his money laundering schemes.  Along the way, they drag in a Hawaiian gang lord in an effort to take him down also.  There are several close calls along the way, with the worry that their scheme will be uncovered, and Trace setting up a scam of his own that could ruin their plans.  I'm still enjoying this series.  The characters are funny and the stories, even though somewhat predictable, are still fun.  Fans od the romantic comedy adventures should check these out.

Hit Count

Hit Count by Chris Lynch, 362 pages

Arlo is a football player.  He's really good and loves the thrill of the hit.  His older brother played too but quit his senior year because he was still on the junior varsity team.  After that his life seemed to go completely off track.  Arlo is determined that won't happen to him.  Despite his mother's fears for possible brain damage or death from all of his hits, Arlo can't give it up.  Football, especially the hit, is what he lives for.  Even though the rest of his life is pretty good, with a great girlfriend, a good family, and decent grades, Arlo needs the adrenaline rush from the hit.  Even when he starts to have problems with dizziness, double vision, memory, and losing time, Arlo refuses to admit that anything could be wrong.  This was a pretty good book about the possible effects of football head injuries.  I really think that a lot of teen boys would probably like this book.

The Rat With The Human Face

The Rat With The Human Face by Tom Angleberger, 146 pages

There are three members of the Qwikpick Adventure Society; Lyle, Marilla and Dave.  Lyle’s parents work at the Qwikpick and the three friends hang out there all of the time.  After their first adventure with a Poop Fountain they are primed for more adventure.  When they overhear someone talking about seeing a rat that had a human face the three decided they had to see this for themselves.  Despite some obstacles, the three begin to hatch a plan that will enable them to get to the place the rat lived, see and photograph the rat and get home.  But, as they say, the best laid plans…  This was a good adventurous realistic story for elementary kids.

The Sleeper and the Spindle

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, 66 pages

This was an interesting retelling of more than one fairy tale, the main one being Sleeping Beauty.  Although a lot of the major points are the same there are some interesting twists that will be surprising to people familiar with the story (and who isn’t?).  I liked it.  Half of the book is illustrations and it’s short to begin with, making it a good choice for reluctant readers.  Give this to teens who like fairy tale retellings.

Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters

Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters by Shannon Hale, 326 pages

Miri is excited to be able to return home after her year at the palace but just before she leaves she is ordered to go to Lesser Alva and tutor three sisters, cousins of Prince Steffan.  One of them is to be the bride of a rival king as part of a treaty to prevent war.  Miri reluctantly agrees but is dismayed to find three wild girls who are used to trapping caimans and hunting in the swamp who know absolutely nothing about court.  Miri isn't sure that she is capable of making these girls ready to marry anyone, especially a king, but as she gets to know them she isn't sure that she wants them to be ready.  As she becomes friends with Astrid, Felissa, and Sus, she feels it unfair that one of them will be forced into marriage with someone they don't know but if she fails, Miri could lose everything dear to her and be responsible for not preventing war.  I thought this was a good, solid addition to the Princess Academy series.  This could easily be the last book as everything is pretty well wrapped up, but there could be more books also.  Older elementary or younger teens, especially girls, who like fantasy type stories will enjoy it. 

Forty Days of Musa Dagh

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh by Franz Werfel, 817 pages

This is Franz Werfel's fictionalization of the true story of a community of Armenians who, facing deportation and almost certain death, fortified a mountain called Musa Dagh and resisted the Turks for 53 days.  The shortening of the siege to the more evocative forty days is only one of many liberties Werfel takes with history, most notably the transformation of the actual leader of the resistance into a fictional character.

Werfel (best known as the author of The Song of Bernadette) intended neither a history text nor a Tom Clancy-style military thriller, though it is easy to imagine either treatment of this story being effective.  Rather, the author slowly develops themes of loyalty, sacrifice, love, honor, jealousy, pride, hope, and faith, centered around the protagonist, Gabriel Bagradian, a wealthy Armenian recently returned to his people after long years abroad, his French wife Juliette, and their son Stephan, who simultaneously struggles to find his place both as a man and as an Armenian.

The Forty Days of Musa Dagh is a long, slow novel.  Rather than providing a hollow sense of closure when even victory is a kind of defeat, the novel concludes with an anti-climax.  Instead of fast-paced action, Werfel delivers genuine surprises.  

Everybody rise

Everybody Rise by Stephanie Clifford
376 Pages

 "A witty tale about a high-society wannabe...Little is more delicious than watching an ambitious but tragically flawed protagonist brought down - especially in a designer cocktail dress." -The Washington Post Everyone yearns to belong, to be part of the "in crowd," but how far are you willing to go to be accepted? In the case of bright, funny and socially ambitious Evelyn Beegan, the answer is much too far... At 26, Evelyn is determined to carve her own path in life and free herself from the influence of her social-climbing mother, who propelled her through prep school and onto New York's glamorous Upper East Side. Evelyn has long felt like an outsider to her privileged peers, but when she gets a job at a social network aimed at the elite, she's forced to embrace them. Recruiting new members for the site, Evelyn steps into a promised land of Adirondack camps, Newport cottages and Southampton clubs thick with socialites and Wall Streeters. Despite herself, Evelyn finds the lure of belonging intoxicating, and starts trying to pass as old money herself. When her father, a crusading class-action lawyer, is indicted for bribery, Evelyn must contend with her own family's downfall as she keeps up appearances in her new life, grasping with increasing desperation as the ground underneath her begins to give way."

I wish I knew why I ended up with this book,  it definitely wasn't because it was a People magazine pick.  The writing was solid but the storyline hackneyed and the characters unsympathetic.  No surprises here. 

Fates and Furies

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
390 Pages

"At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but with an electric thrill we understand that things are even more complicated and remarkable than they have seemed."

The book is divided into two parts, the relationship from Lotto's POV and then from Mathilde's POV.  It is interesting how their perceptions of events differ and the underlying motivations shaping those perceptions.  While at times slow,  I did enjoy Groff's writing and the love story of Lotto and Mathilde.

House of Evil

House of Evil: The Indiana Torture Slaying by John Dean, 231 pages

In July of 1965, Gertrude Baniszewski, a 37 year old mother of seven living in Indianapolis, agreed to care for 16 year old Sylvia Likens and her 15 year old sister Jenny in exchange for 20 dollars a week.  In October, police responding to an emergency call found Sylvia dead, emaciated, her body covered in bruises, burns, and open sores, the words "I'm a prostitute and proud of it!" carved into her stomach beneath a branded "3".

Horrific as it was, Sylvia's torture and death would blend into the background of child abuse if not for the identity of the perpetrators.  As it came out, not only did Gertrude abuse the girl, her children were also encouraged to join in, and their friends participated, too.  It became a neighborhood game to put out cigarettes on Sylvia's body or push her down the stairs.  Her three oldest children were arrested along with six neighbors, Gertrude was ultimately convicted of first degree murder, her eldest daughter of second degree murder, and three boys of manslaughter.

This book tells the story poorly, although how much of this is due to a failure on Dean's part and how much the result of conflicting stories and foggy details is unclear.   It seems as if, in a case with so many witnesses, a better account could have been constructed despite the obvious difficulties, but Dean seems to have relied almost exclusively on courtroom testimony - House of Evil was originally published soon after the trial and it is unclear how much it has been updated.  The children are portrayed more like preteens than the teenagers they were.  There is a natural reluctance to defame the victim, but Dean loses a great deal of credibility when he seemingly accepts the transparent lie that Sylvia found a set of gym clothes lying in the street - important because it ties in with claims by the tormentors that Sylvia had been caught stealing on other occasions.  Worst of all, the chronology is vague and confused, making it extremely difficult to chart the escalation of abuse and the manner in which the abusers fed off each other, which is the key narrative.  Instead, the story is a catalog of seemingly random horrible things that horrible people did to an almost entirely innocent girl.

The Opposite of Loneliness

The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan, 208 pages

Full of short fiction stories and personal essays, the premise behind this book is absolutely heartbreaking. It is so hard to put aside all knowledge of Keegan's tragic death while reading the stories that I would often find myself crying.

Long story short: Marina Keegan graduated magna cum laude from Yale, about to head into a job at The New Yorker, with a promising writing career ahead of her. Five days after graduation, she died in a car accident at 22-years old.

Her short life serves as a reminder that if a bright, successful, and promising young woman could die in a freak accident in her twenties, it could happen to any of us at any time. Her stories are also a clear illustration of what her death should be remembered as: a reminder that life is too short to be too-mired down in the complexities of the world that we completely miss the little joys that life has to offer.

No matter how cliché, that is what her life, through her writings, should be teaching us.

Troilus and Criseyde

Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer, from The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by John SP Tatlock and Percy MacKaye, 137 pages

Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde is a tragic tale of lovers during wartime.  A Trojan knight, Troilus, is punished for his mockery of love by being smitten with the Criseyde, a Trojan widow whose father has defected to the Greeks.  Even as Troilus gains the assistance of Criseyde's uncle Pandarus to win his lady's love, other forces conspire to tear them apart.

The "Modern Reader's Chaucer" was translated into something approximating modern English prose, with a King James accent to give it an antique feel.  Chaucer's anachronisms have the peculiar charm of a painting of Biblical figures in Renaissance dress, or an Elizabethan play in modern dress.  While this eviscerates the poetry of the piece, it does preserve the distancing effect necessary for a "modern reader" to accept some of the story's more dated conceits.  This clears the way for a deeply moving experience, albeit not quite the one Chaucer intended.

Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

 

Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans by Gary Krist    448 pages

I’ve always been fascinated with New Orleans. It’s such a contradictory city, with a touch of evil hovering over it, and an unsavory feel that often makes me nervous to visit. Yet, the foods that come from that part of the country are unparalleled.

Until I read Gary Krist’s nonfiction piece, Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans, I had come to believe that the debauchery of the 1960s through the ‘70s was at its height there. To me, and what I knew about the city, New Orleans made Las Vegas seem like a night out for nuns and priests.

Krist focuses on a scant thirty years, from 1890 to 1920. When I first realized that the book 448 and that 105 of them were the bibliography, notes, and index, I was a little overwhelmed, afraid that the writing would be too deep for me to sink my teeth into. However, Krist’s has written an easy-to-read narrative that held me attention from the beginning.

I enjoyed reading/learning about such characters and places as Storyville (where the city tried to coral its vice) and Tom Anderson (its unofficial mayor). There were the madams like Lulu White and Josie Arlington. There were the saloons and gambling houses. There was the immigrant population---Italians, whom too seemed to be in the same mess today’s illegals are in. I ws mesmerized by the corruption that ran rampart from the slums to the highest echelons of state government. Old Huey Long was a saint compared to some men back then; they make today’s politicians looks like humble old ladies.

I knew that New Orleans was a port-of-entry for many Italians, and they lived in slums and ghettos that reminded me of New York’s tenements. And I had learned of “Little Sicily” from a PBS special, The Italian-Americans.

There are three areas in the book that I really enjoyed reading: First, of course, are the jazzmen. Guys like Robert Charles, Buddy Bolden, Jellyroll Martin---how they created the music form that we now know as jazz, and how hard it was a musician wanted more than a gig in a whore house.

Second, was the Mafia or the Black-Hand. Krist could have delved into that more in my opinion, but still the rise and fall still fascinated me.

Third, the serial killer, The Axeman, seemed to target the Italians.  Brutality knows no generation.

Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans is an easy read that I highly recommend. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.