Book Review: Nocturnal
17 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: cults, fiction, horror, monsters, occult, police, san francisco, undergroud
Nocturnal by Scott Sigler (pub date 4/3/12)
“Bryan said what he always said–that killing a man felt awful.”
I feel like I’ve been posting reviews on mostly serious, dramatic books lately. So it’s time to get back to my horror roots and have a little fun! I’ve never read a Scott Sigler novel before, but when I came across the book trailer for Nocturnal on Twitter, I knew I had to read it:
Set in San Francisco, Nocturnal is a book about the battle between monsters and men, and even dares to blur the line between the two. Our protagonist Bryan Clauser is a homicide detective, rough around the edges but still basically a good man. Stuck with the nickname “The Terminator” due to the number of criminals he’s killed, Bryan tends to see right and wrong strictly in black and white. His partner Pookie Chang provides the comedic relief and also serves to keep Bryan grounded.
When Bryan and Pookie begin investigating a series of gruesome murders, Bryan begins to feel as if he’s losing his mind. He starts dreaming about the murders (even as they’re happening), and he begins to wonder if he’s somehow connected to them. Little by little, he and Pookie start uncovering clues to the killings, clues which point to a 200-year-old cult, a strange teenage boy, a vigilante killer, and a legion of monsters living in shadows beneath the city.
With plenty of twists and turns, interesting characters, and a fair share of blood and gore, Nocturnal is an enthralling read for horror fans. Even at almost 600 pages long, the story stays fresh and the writing keeps pulling you back in. It’s definitely not for the squeamish, but still an extremely enjoyable and unique read. Sigler clearly took the time to develop his characters and provide an origin story for his monsters, making them seem even more real.
Overall, Nocturnal is a hard-hitting story for the true horror fan. It’s part crime drama, part creature feature, and altogether a well-written and intelligent book.
Fifty Shades of ‘The Room’
13 Apr 2012 3 Comments
in New Release Reviews Tags: BDSM, erotica, fanfic, female submission, fiction, male dominance, twilight fanfic
Two weeks ago I was in Barnes & Noble, (almost) minding my own business, when I observed a middle-aged woman excitedly approach a store clerk and ask if he had Fifty Shades of Grey in stock. When the clerk explained that it was currently still only available as an e-book, the woman rushed to the front of the store and bought a Nook. It has to be said that what I witnessed was a miracle of modern marketing. Impressed by the fact that this woman was willing to spend over $100 on an e-reader just to read this book rather than wait four days for it to be released in much cheaper paperback, I decided to give in and find out what all the fuss was for. So here goes:
**[NOTE: By now the whole world pretty much knows what the plot is, but if you're not sure, look it up on Amazon or B&N.com. The customer reviews alone are worth reading!]**
I had heard it compared to Twilight before I read it, but it wasn’t until after I started reading Fifty Shades that my friend and fellow book blogger told me that it was actually written as a Twilight fanfic. *sigh* And except for the sex of course (and the fact that Christian Grey is more like Patrick Bateman than Edward Cullen), Fifty Shades is pretty much just like Twilight in terms of characterization: she’s bumbling and awkward, he’s cold and distant, and both are equally annoying. The story is forced at best and the dialogue is atrocious. I rolled my eyes so many times during the first two chapters I thought I would lose a contact lens.
But still, I couldn’t help but notice a certain level of enjoyment that I experienced in reading this book. Every time I tried to tell my husband about how stupid it is, he countered with “Oh yeah, then why are you smiling?” And he was right. As silly as it is, I was enjoying it, and I was looking forward to lunch breaks and coming home from work to read more of it. Sure, the sex is hot, but the rest of it is just ridiculous. So what gives?
Then I realized that perhaps the reason I enjoyed Fifty Shades is because it reminds me of my all-time favorite bad movie The Room. If you’ve never heard of The Room, you need to Netflix it right now! It has to be one of the worst movies ever made, yet I have watched it so many times I have it memorized. I find such exquisite joy in watching this terrible movie that it’s almost criminal. And for me, Fifty Shades has a lot of the same elements as The Room: under developed characters, repetitive and laughable dialogue, sex scenes that come out of nowhere, contradictions, and characters who enter a scene just to leave it again two seconds later. What’s not to love?
I’ll give credit where it’s due: the sex scenes are hot, and it is a remarkable feat that this story started out as a simple online fanfic and achieved so much success in such a short time. But basically, Fifty Shades is just a fun erotic story that perpetuates the cherished but unfortunate myth that the “bad boy” can be changed. “Oh, he told me he doesn’t want a relationship and that he’s had fifteen women before me and that he doesn’t love me, but I can change him!” *sigh* Ana’s inner monologue is just annoying (What 21-year-old says ”holy moses”?!), and all that “inner goddess” and “my sex” (just say vagina!) stuff made me want to scream. But I admit that I enjoyed it for how silly it is, and yeah, ok, I bought the sequel. And I’m sure I’ll have a big dumb grin on my face when I read that too.
Want more Fifty Shades goodness? Check out what my BFF Jenn N. at the Booksellers Without Borders blog had to say about it!
Book Review: Mother’s House Payment
09 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: bipolar, child abuse, depression, fathers and daughters, memoir, mother daughter relationship, neglect, nonfiction
Mother’s House Payment by Ronnie Schiller (Kindle only, 2011)
“Depression follows mania. A manic person falls like Icarus, plummeting away from the sun into the depths of the sea.”
One of my professors recently said something very simple yet very brilliant about the difference between fiction and nonfiction: we want our fiction to be realistic and we want our nonfiction, especially memoirs, to be larger than life. There is some truth to that statement in this short but powerful memoir by the author of the Infernal Stock series.
Mother’s House Payment is the story of Schiller’s own life, and how she struggled to overcome her traumatic childhood. Born to a mother who never wanted her, Schiller’s childhood is marked by abuse, neglect, and being passed around among parents and step-parents. Still fighting deep emotional scars in her teen years, she experiences mental illness which leads to self-harm and eventually hospitalization. As an adult, she finds difficulty in maintaining healthy romantic relationships, and tries to finally break free of her unhappy, co-dependent marriage.
This is not an easy book to read. It’s raw, gritty, and uncomfortable. But it’s also very well written, and a story that deserves to be told. It shows just what happens to victims of abuse when they grow up, the burden they carry with them into adulthood. And the sad fact is that there are many abuse victims who were not as fortunate as Schiller to have gotten help and turned their lives around.
Mother’s House Payment is a sad but hopeful memoir, and I give a lot of credit to the author for finding the strength not only to help herself, but to share her story with the world. The book is currently selling well in the Kindle store, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got picked up by a larger publisher sometime in the future.
Early Review: The Cranes Dance
01 Apr 2012 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: ballet, dance, drug addiction, fiction, psychosis, sisters, swan lake, women's relationships
The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey (pub date 5/15/12)
“Little girls are romantic. We learn quickly though, how to suffer, how to endure differing. By the time a little girl has become a young woman she has learned how dangerous a thing it is to dream.”
I love stories about ballet dancers. Save the Last Dance, Center Stage, Black Swan, I’ve seen and love them all. Maybe it’s because I hung out with a lot of Dance majors when I was an undergrad. There was something about their world that fascinated me. The discipline, the stress, the constant strive to achieve perfection. Even though I was a TV/Film major and therefore an “untouchable” in the hierarchy of my college’s performing arts department, I got to spend time with dancers and learn the lingo and etiquette of the ballet world.
So naturally you can see what I was so psyched to read this book, and I was thrilled that it did not disappoint. The Cranes Dance is a refreshing look at the life of a professional ballerina, written by a former professional dancer.
Kate Crane has always been a talented dancer. As a teenager, she earned a scholarship to a prestigious ballet academy in New York City, earning a position as a soloist in the ballet company shortly thereafter. But while dance comes naturally to Kate, personal relationships do not come as easily. Kate keeps people at a distance: her boyfriend, her friends at the company, and her parents. The only person she has ever been close with is her younger sister Gwen, who is also a ballerina at the same company. But Gwen cannot handle the stress of being a professional dancer, and suffers a mental breakdown which forces her to leave the company indefinitely.
Slowly this book explores the relationship between Kate and Gwen, a relationship marked by love and jealousy. With fascinating insight into the world of professional ballet, The Cranes Dance is a compelling read. Kate is a great character, and it is interesting to see how her guilt over Gwen’s breakdown affects her mentally and physically. What I enjoyed most about the book was Kate’s sarcastic wit, demonstrated in the first chapter when she gives a plot synopsis of Swan Lake:
“This is meant to show us that off at the lake, Odette has a sense that she is being betrayed and is trying to warn the Prince, but of course this doesn’t work. We are in Days of Yore, and it’s not like she can text him or anything: Odile not 4 real. C U at Lake 2nite. xoxo
Odette.”
This is sort of “chick lit” I guess, but not in that saccharine Lifetime Channel sort of way, since this book is more serious than that. If you are interested in dance, or enjoy stories about women’s relationships, you will enjoy this book just as much as I did.
Early Review: A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar
28 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: fiction, missionary women, mother daughter relationship, muslim land, muslims, relationships, sisters, travel, women's relationships
A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson (pub date 5/22/12)
“The tide had moved up the shore at an incredible rate and with the sound of shingle dragging up, and drragging down, taking away with it all the lies she had been told as a child. . .”
Now that summer is fast approaching, this is a great book to read for the season. Full of exotic travel, interesting characters, and excellent writing, it’s a summer read with substance.
A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar is an inter-generational drama about love, loss, and betrayal, peppered with the intrigue and danger of the mysterious Far East. In 1923, sisters Evangeline and Lizzie are on a missionary journey in the Turkish city of Kashgar. Led by the matronly figure Millicent, the ladies are spreading the Gospel in a land mostly populated by Muslims, while Evangeline takes notes for the travel guide she is planning to write. When the trio finds themselves the subjects of a local dispute, their lives quickly change in ways they never thought possible.
The 1923 story alternates with a story set in present-day London. Freida Blakeman is a world-weary young woman about to embark on a journey of self-discovery. She is aided by Tayeb, a Yemeni national living illegally in England, whom she recently befriended. Slowly, the connection between the alternating plots is revealed.
This is a rich book, touched with sadness yet still full of hope. The story sucks you in from the first page, and is well written throughout. I enjoyed the contrast between the two stories, not just in the settings, but in the situation the characters find themselves in. Evangeline, Lizzie, and Millicent are three British women in a foreign and sometimes hostile Muslim land, while Tayeb is a Muslim in England, a land foreign and sometimes hostile to him. And while the three missionary women face mainly external conflict, Freida’s conflict is all within herself. It’s s story about finding your roots, and about making your own destiny.
This is a great book for anyone who enjoys literary fiction, or stories about women’s relationships. A nice debut novel from a promising new writer.
Early Review: Grow Up
24 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: british, british coming of age story, coming of age, drug use, england, fiction, holden caulfield, teen boys, teen drug use
Grow Up by Ben Brooks (pub date 4/24/12)
“Cults are so oppressive. Except for the Manson Family. They got to try lots of exciting things.”
Coming-of-age novels featuring teen boys have always been both interesting and controversial. They tend to be more forceful, more strongly worded, and can sometimes contain more questionable material than feminine coming-of-age stories. From Catcher in the Rye to Lord of the Flies to The Diary of Adrian Mole, these kind of novels have made lasting impressions in the world of literature and have given us memorable characters for generations.
Despite best efforts, however, the protagonist in Grow Up is no Holden Caulfield or Adrian Mole. British teen Jasper Wolf spends his free time getting high with friends (he often resorts to snorting fertilizer) and advancing his sexual prowess. When he isn’t partying, Jasper is writing erotic fiction or speculating on whether his stepfather murdered his ex wife. He also sees a therapist, but subverts his therapy by making up stories about himself and his past. The plot basically meanders until the end, when Jasper achieves a mild form of enlightenment about taking responsibility for his actions.
What frustrated me about this book was that Jasper would have been a more interesting character, and the book as a whole would have been more worthwhile, if the lessons learned at the end would have been more pronounced. The book lacks catharsis and resolution, making the story leading up to the ending pretty much pointless. The writing was actually pretty clever at times, and Jasper had a humorous streak to him, which made it rather disappointing that the plot lacked direction.
Teens may enjoy this book for the sex, drugs, and language, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But more serious readers will likely finish it and think “so what?” I’m not in any way opposed to books that contain crude material (Trainspotting is still one of my favorite novels), but for me there has to be a point to all that debauchery. So while the book caused a minor stir when it was published in England (though it failed to impress some British book critics), I’m not sure what American readers will make of it.
Did you read this book? Tell me what you thought!
Early Review: Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage
20 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in New Release Reviews Tags: 1912, famous titanic passengers, nonfiction, shipwreck, titanic, titanic centennial, wealthy titanic passengers
Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic’s First-Class Passengers and Their World by Hugh Brewster (pub date 3/27/12)
We’re only weeks away from the centennial of the Titanic disaster, and publishers are quickly coming out with new titles on the subject while they still can. And while there are numerous fiction and nonfiction books on the market telling the same story over and over again, here is a book that tries to do it a little differently. Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage focuses on the perspective of the passengers rather than the ship. The book gives extremely detailed accounts of the lives of Titanic’s most famous passengers. It looks at them as real people, rather than just a group of individuals aboard the same ship.
Through painstaking research and a lively writing style, Hugh Brewster recalls the life stories of John Jacob Astor, Margaret Brown, Lucile Duff Gordon, Frank Millet, and many others. The book gives their personal histories, their romances, their triumphs, and their scandalous secrets. Rare photographs and hundreds of quotations help breathe life into these biographies.
While other Titanic books focus mostly on the ship, with the passengers as an accessory to its story, in this book the passengers are the story. The book really gives readers insight and perspective regarding society and culture in the early twentieth century. If you’re looking for a factually accurate yet well-written account of the Titanic disaster, definitely check this book out. It’s a chilling reminder of just how compelling the tragedy is, even after a hundred years.
Can We Learn Ancient History from The Hunger Games?
16 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Commentary
There’s only one week left until the premiere of the first Hunger Games film! Are you ready? Even though YA is not my typical genre, I wrote in a previous post about how much I enjoyed the first book. And now that the movie is coming out, I figured I would read the other two books, since I’m sure they’re going to be adapted into movies as well.
So within the past week, I blasted through Catching Fire and Mockingjay. While I found them enjoyable, overall I thought the first book was by far the strongest. But what I really found clever about the whole trilogy was Suzanne Collins’s use of words, names, and ideas influenced by ancient Roman history. Yup, popular fiction can be entertaining and educational!
The idea of multiple districts under the rule of one capitol is straight out of ancient Rome, with its numerous provinces stretching as far as Africa, Asia, and Great Britain. Provinces were expected to pay tribute to Rome in the form of taxes, hence the “tribute” idea in The Hunger Games. The games themselves are an obvious reference to the infamous Roman gladiator matches, designed entertain and supress the peons of the day. There is even a reference to the “bread and circuses” of ancient Rome made in Catching Fire.
A lot of the names and terms used in the books are derived from Latin terms or from Greco-Roman names:
- Flavius (popular surname from Roman history)
- Plutarch (Greco-Roman historian and philosopher)
- Octavia (wife of Marc Antony)
- Pollux (name from Greek mythology, one of the Gemini twins)
- Cressida (character from Trojan War mythology)
- Dr. Aurelius (as in emperor Marcus Aurelius)
- Castor (son of Emperor Tiberius)
- Avox (‘Vox’ from Latin meaning ‘voice’ and the prefix ‘a’ meaning ‘without’)
- Tesserae (Actually means ’tiles’ in Latin, so it doesn’t have much to do with grain rations, but whatever)
Collins certainly isn’t the first YA author to be inspired by ancient languages or civilizations. . . I certainly retained more Latin from reading Harry Potter than from a whole semester of Latin in college! But I love it when authors (in any genre) go the extra step to do research and add some historical flavor to their stories, and then add their own creativity to make those ideas their own. It adds depth to their books, and makes for much better reading. Plus if you’re a student, you just might end up learning something without even realizing it!
What do you think? Can you think of any books you’ve read with a subtle historical influence? Let me know!
Early Review: Rain Dragon
12 Mar 2012 3 Comments
in New Release Reviews Tags: commune, fiction, living off the grid, organic farming, relationships
Rain Dragon by Jon Raymond (pub date 4/24/12)
“Now that my former life was so definitively behind me, I could see it for all its wonderful comfort and ease.”
Rain Dragon is a short novel about what happens when people get what they are searching for and still find themselves wanting more.
Damon and his longtime girlfriend Amy are young adults looking for a change from the grind of their daily lives. They decide to say goodbye to their jobs, their commutes, and their comforts in Los Angeles and join a commune of organic farmers. Amy seems to find her place in the community pretty quickly, while Damon struggles to fit in and has a difficult time letting go of his former life in Los Angeles. This disparity quickly puts a strain on their relationship. But soon enough, Damon’s luck changes when he is asked to take control of the farm’s marketing and branding efforts.
I’m still not really sure what to make of this book. It had a very promising and interesting premise, but I started losing interest about a third of the way through. The characters are underdeveloped, and the rest of the story was pretty weak. I found it pretty unclear what the true point of the story really was. Damon was a likeable enough character, but the author didn’t flesh him out enough to make him interesting.
Indie books can be really amazing, but in this case there just wasn’t enough to really hold my interest.
What is Obscenity?
05 Apr 2012 2 Comments
by Jen in Commentary Tags: censorship, first amendment, freedom of speech, obscenity
Obscene.
We’re so quick to throw that word around, but how many of us really know what it means? Many of the great classics in literature have been banned or challenged for obscenity (think Lolita and Tropic of Cancer), but what actually made people think they were obscene?
I took a course in publishing law this semester, and it gave me a lot of food for thought. There is actually a legal definition for obscenity, especially in relation to media. To be classified as ‘obscene,’ the piece in question has to meet a three-part standard:
Yup, this really is the standard, and it couldn’t be more vague if it tried. Who is “the community”? A town, a religious group, the whole state? And who sets the standard? And how do you decide if a book has any social importance or not? Maybe those anti-porn crusaders think that porn has no social importance, but there are many others who would beg to differ. And my personal favorite is the “prurient interest” criterion. Basically, it’s ok for books to talk about sex, but it’s not ok to make people horny. Huh?! And there’s nothing in there about violence, so violence is pretty much ok but sex isn’t?
Obscenity first became a legal issue in the US in the late nineteenth century, an offshoot of the Temperance Movement. At that time it became illegal to send obscene material through the mail, and specially appointed officers could actually open other people’s mail looking for obscene items. Think about that the next time you get Playboy or Playgirl in your mailbox! The three-part standard I mentioned before was implemented in the 1950s and is still more or less applied today, even though it is still contradictory and almost impossible to define.
And for those of you who are thinking that none of this really matters because of the First Amendment, think again. The First Amendment actually does not protect obscene material. It also does not protect child pornography (duh) or any speech that incites violence. So the next time you’re curled up with a good erotic story, try to think about whether it could be technically classified as obscene material and censored or banned.
Banned Books Week is still six months away, but any time is a good time to appreciate the freedoms and privileges we do have, especially in terms of publishing and speech!