The blushing bride after getting hitched!
It’s December 31st, the last day of 2011, and looking back, I realize this has been a really big year for me! I have had a lot more ups than downs in my life this year, and I think it might be hard to top in 2012. Here are some 2011 highlights for me…should I start with the bad or the good? Or should I just create a timeline? I’ll create a timeline like one finds at the beginning of classics books. Then, I’ll follow with all of my 2012 reading stats!
A CHRONOLOGY OF MANDY IN 2011
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Reading Stats
Note: Of books read in 2011, 7 % were Young Adult books.
2011 in Numbers
– I successfully met my reading goal of 100 books read in 2011!
– Total Number of Pages Read in 2011: 35, 359
– Number of Books over 1000 pages: 4
– Number of Books over 750 pages: 7
– Number of Books over 500 pages: 15
2011 Reading Challenges
– Spring Seasonal Reading Challenge–Almost completed
– Summer Seasonal Reading Challenge—Not even close
– RIP Reading Challenge: Complete!
2011 Reading Events
– Dewey’s Read-a-Thon: Read for the full 24 hours!
So, that was my 2011 year! Currently, I am reading my 101st book for 2011, and then I’ll be all amped up tomorrow (if I’m not hungover) to declare my 2012 goals!
The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer by Jennifer Lynch
• Paperback: 184 p
• Publisher: Pocket, 1990
• ISBN: 067173590X
• Genre: Horror; Mystery; TV/Movie Tie-In
• Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys horror AND has already watched and enjoyed Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
Quick Review: For any fan of Twin Peaks, this is a must read! This book serves as a window into poor, tortured Laura Palmer’s soul and truly delivers in all of the quirks and horrors that made Twin Peaks such an amazing series.
How I Got Here: I am a huge fan of the Twin Peaks series and a few years back I found this book on the internet (not sure where) after my 3rd viewing of the series. I loved it, and decided to re-read it again this year. Also, this book satisfies a task for the Fall Reading Challenge, as well as the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) challenge. I read this book during the very wee hours of my participation in Dewey’s 24 hour Read-a-Thon.
The Book: Goodreads’ synopsis:
Based on the explosive TV Series TWIN PEAKS, this shocking diary reveals the sordid double life of Laura Palmer – from adolescence up until the time of her murder.
Short and sweet…but at least there’s no spoilers!
My Analysis and Critique: For any fan of Twin Peaks, this is a must read! This book serves as a window into poor, tortured Laura Palmer’s soul and truly delivers in all of the quirks and horrors that made Twin Peaks such an amazing series.
The diary begins on Laura’s 12th birthday in 1984. She has been given the book as a gift and immediately begins to share her love for her Mom and Dad, as well as her best friend Donna Hayward (a major character on the show). She also begins to reflect on what becomes a running theme in the diary and her life–her sexuality and the power and danger associated with it. According to Laura, she has been dealing with BOB for a long time. BOB is a malevolent spirit who regularly molests her and tortures her both physically and mentally. Laura is scared and yet, being a very strong young woman, is frustrated and tries desperately to gain power over her sexual predator. As the years go on, she finds power in sex, and alternates between joy and fear in who she is becoming- a sexually ravenous teen who likes to dabble in danger. The diary follows her ups and downs, leading ultimately to her last entry on the night that she is murdered.
Obviously, the story of Laura Palmer is a tragic one. She tries so hard in a losing battle. I don’t want to reveal much, as what this book entails may completely spoil the twists of the show. Yet, if you are a fan of Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (the follow-up movie), you will be fascinated with this book as it shows unseen sides of the many beloved characters (and sources of nightmares) that you never got to see on the show. This book is also true horror–BOB is one of my greatest feared characters, and just the thought of him fills me with dread. He makes a lot of appearances in the book (at one point even, gulp, he writes in the book) as do some of the more human evil-doers of the Twin Peaks universe.
Please note, I only recommend the reading of this book to people who have ALREADY seen Twin Peaks and Fire Walk with Me. Also, I would recommend watching the series prior to the film. On a final note, this book was hard to find (I think I found my copy on Ebay), but is definitely worth the search!
Links:
- Goodreads reviews
• Horns by Joe Hill
• Paperback: 416 p
• Publisher: HarperCollins, 2011
• ISBN: 0061147966
• Genre: Horror; Fantasy; Thriller
• Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys horror and the best in characterization.
Quick Review: Despite the disappointing ending, I definitely recommend this book to fans of horror and characterization in general. It’s really not particularly scary, but readers may be horrified by the revelations of some of the characters. Also, the characterization in the novel is top-notch.
How I Got Here: I had read Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill in the past and enjoyed it. Hill is also my favorite author on Twitter (@joe_hill). So, I am already a fan of the author and what really pushed me to read this novel was a recommendation by Amy at Lucy’s Football. Finally, this book satisfies a task for the Fall Reading Challenge, as well as the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) challenge. I read this book during my participation in Dewey’s 24 hour Read-a-Thon.
The Book: Goodreads’ synopsis:
Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples.
At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.
Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more—he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.
But Merrin’s death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside. . . .
Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It’s time for a little revenge. . . . It’s time the devil had his due. . .
My Analysis and Critique:
Ignatius Martin Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke the next morning with a headache, put his hands to his temples, and felt something unfamiliar, a pair of knobby protuberances.
Once I read these opening lines, I was hooked. The protagonist, Ig, wakes up with horns and is horrified to find that every person that he interacts with is compelled to tell their worst, darkest secrets to him, and each desires his permission to commit acts of varying degrees of evil. Very intriguing opening with many questions to be answered: What did Ig do to get his horns? Why do people react in such a way around him? Who killed his girlfriend (whom he immediately mentions as brutally raped and murdered a year prior to the opening)? Is Ig the devil, and if so, will he actually become as evil as everyone thinks he is? What further powers will be gained through the horns themselves? So many possibilities here!
While most of these questions get answered in some way, I don’t think Hill reached his potential with Horns. Such a great premise, but it fell flat for me at the end. I was hoping for some major plot development and twists related to new-found powers gained through the horns, but it didn’t really happen. I was frustrated that, though the horns did give him powers of manipulation with people, they still weren’t much more than a facial characteristic and a device for getting other characters to tell him some very awful truths. Disappointing. About three quarters of the way through the novel, I realized that if this novel had more irony, it would be truly excellent. The ending didn’t satisfy; it felt anti-climactic. Bummer.
However, I would still highly recommend this novel. Hill seems to have mastered the art of characterization, and, for me, that’s the most important element in a story. All of his characters feel very real, which might be due to the flashback technique he utilizes in a similar fashion to his father’s use in IT. The chapters showing the protagonist as a teen were my favorites. In fact, I actually lost myself in them (I truly felt that I was watching the scenes unfold in person), which I haven’t done with a book in a long time. The opening chapters of the novel are also pretty terrific and horrifying as Ig hears the most awful, cringe-worthy confessions from friends, family, and town members (the worst comes from his grandmother).
Overall, despite the disappointing ending (I’m a harsh critic when the set-up is so perfect and fails to deliver at the end), I definitely recommend this book to fans of horror and characterization in general. It’s really not particularly scary, but readers may be horrified by the revelations of some of the characters. The characterization in the novel is top-notch (Hill has now entered my Top 5 of the best character writers, a major feat) and the opening is excellent. I think Hill is probably continuing to hone and improve his craft (this novel was definitely stronger than Heart-Shaped Box), and I will continue to read his novels and stories and look forward to whatever he writes next.
Links:
- Goodreads reviews
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
• Paperback: 146 p
• Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2006
• ISBN: 0143039970
• Genre: Horror; American Classic, Gothic
• Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys classic horror stories and the perfect use of irony.
Quick Review: I found this novel to be a masterpiece of gothic horror–it made me think, I sympathized with very unconventional characters, and my jaw dropped at some points. I highly recommend this, and all of Shirley Jackson’s works.
How I Got Here: I have loved Shirley Jackson ever since I first read “The Lottery.” In recent years, I have been seeking out opportunities to read all of Jackson’s works, and have not yet been disappointed (I read The Haunting of Hill House a few years ago). She is a master, and I want to read everything she wrote. Also, this book satisfies a task for the Fall Reading Challenge, as well as the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) challenge. I read this book for Dewey’s Read-a-Thon.
The Book: Goodreads’ synopsis:
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.
My Synopsis and Critique: Jackson’s novel is narrated by Merricat Blackwood, a teen-aged girl who immediately proves herself to be a strange young lady, professing her likes (her sister Constance and death-cap mushrooms) and dislikes (washing herself and noise) in the opening lines. As the story begins, Merricat tells the reader that she comes from a wealthy family that lives on the outskirts of a small village. She also tells the reader that most of her family is dead.
Right away, readers know something is off. She then shows that everyone in the village hates her family; as she buys groceries and walks back home, she is harangued by both the young and old of the village. One man in a diner asks if she will be moving away soon, and is very disappointed and rude when she replies in the negative. As she walks by, the village children sing a song while they play:
Merricat, said Connie, would you like a cup of tea? Oh no, said Merricat, you’ll poison me. Merricat, said Connie, would you like to go to sleep? Down in the boneyard ten feet deep!
So, I’m wondering, what’s the deal? Merricat is just a teenager, and everyone hates her! It has to be something connected to this morbid children’s rhyme…
Once Merricat gets home, readers learn that her sister Constance never leaves their gated property. She is older, and yet she lets her younger sister deal with the hatred of the village. She seems to be terrified of people, an agoraphobe. Yet, still I don’t know why, though it definitely seems connected to the children’s song.
In the second chapter, it is then made clear: in the recent past, Constance was arrested and acquitted for the murder of her entire family, who were poisoned via sugar sprinkled on their breakfast of blackberries. The only survivors were Constance, Merricat, and their Uncle Julian, who is unwell and so obsessed with the murderous event that he spends all of his days recording notes on the sequence of events leading to the deaths.
More information is revealed as the story moves, and throughout I felt constant pity for the sisters who are locked up in the house to avoid the black mark that society has placed on them. Reporters and villagers are kept away by the large fence, and Merricat sets up her own alarm system to alert her of intruders. Poor Merricat. While Constance manages the house, Merricat is allowed to run wild and lives a fanciful, imaginative life full of superstitions and conversations with her constant companion, Jonas the cat. Merricat is a lot like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, lonely and strange, except for her fixation on death and murder. She hates the world: “What place would be better for us than this? Who wants us, outside? The world is full of terrible people.” Often, I contemplated whether or not her life is similar to that of the children of O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson–constantly surrounded by ill-will towards family members.
The story goes on with shocking plot and character twists, and once their cousin Charles moves in, everything changes and more is revealed about the dark past and present of the Blackwood sisters.
I found this novel to be a masterpiece of gothic horror–it made me think, I sympathized with very unconventional characters, and my jaw dropped at some points. I highly recommend this, and all of Shirley Jackson’s works.
Links:
• Under the Dome by Stephen King
• Hardcover: 1072 p
• Publisher: Scribner, 2009
• ISBN: 1439148503
• Genre: Horror; Science Fiction; Dystopia
• Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys end-of-the-world dystopian fiction; anyone who enjoys classic episodes of The Twilight Zone
Quick Review: A dystopian novel with classic Stephen King wit and characterization.
How I Got Here: My mom recommended it highly. She is a huge fan of Stephen King but, has been rather disappointed in King’s work for the last 10-15 years. So, when she gave high marks to Under the Dome, I had to check it out. Plus, I noticed that it had a map and a list of characters, which I always find encouraging and fun in a book. Finally, this book satisfies a task for the Fall Reading Challenge, as well as the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) challenge.
The Book: Goodreads’ synopsis:
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when — or if — it will go away.
Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens — town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician’s assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing — even murder — to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn’t just short. It’s running out.
My Analysis and Critique: I’m a big fan of The Twilight Zone, and this book 
had Twilight Zone written all over it. An impenetrable, transparent dome drops down over a small town in Maine and chaos reigns supreme. Paranoia, corrupt cops, martial law, fires, suicide, murder…all occur in the span of a week under the dome. It’s the perfect social experiment: shut a town off from the world, no entry, no exit, and watch them destroy themselves. Classic!
The characters are very engaging: the evil politician/used car salesman Jim Rennie, his sadistic, necrophiliac son Junior, the heroic diner cook/decorated soldier Barbie, the persistent local newswoman Julia, the kid genius Joe, the religious zealot/meth head Chef, and the physician’s assistant turned head doctor Rusty. These are only a few of the many characters, but no worries, King provides a character list (as well as a Town Map) at the beginning of the book. Many readers complain that King went overboard with characters and was sparse in development–I disagree. King is a master of characterization and this book is no exception. At points, major characters are imprisoned or die, and then are done. Then, King works with another character. Honestly, in a book like this, it’s not about rounding out characters. In fact, King might have rounded them off more than necessary. This story’s protagonist is the town of Chester’s Mill–all of the individual character stories serve to round out this main, overall character. The antagonist is also Chester’s Mill. It’s a town fighting itself.
My only complaint is that the end felt sudden and almost anticlimactic. Yet, I still really enjoyed this novel as the real story is simply watching the town destroy itself. Once it has done its worst, there really isn’t much more fun to be had. I’m not sure how the ending could have been any better. Actually, I do. If King went ahead and ripped off Rod Serling and ended it as beautifully as Serling did at the end of “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street,” it would have been perfect. But, Serling already did it. Serling did it!
Anyone interested in end-of-the-world dystopian fiction would enjoy this novel. It’s really not about the dome and why it is there, but about the awful things people will do when there is no threat of consequence. There are a lot of frightening peeks at mob mentality in this novel. An interesting social commentary and a fascinating read!
Links:
- Goodreads reviews
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• Paperback: 374 p
• Publisher: Penguin, 2003
• ISBN: 0142001805
• Genre: Fantasy/Mystery/Alternate Reality
• Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys classic British literature and enjoys inside jokes about classic British literature; anyone who enjoys mysteries and alternate reality fiction.
Quick Review: Are you familiar with Shakespeare? Read Jane Eyre? Fairly knowledgeable on Dickens? What about Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones? Do you realize that the Crimean War ended in the 19th century? Have you ever even heard of the Crimean War? If you answered no to any of these questions, you don’t want to read this book. It’s really written for British Literature borks.
How I Got Here: I have been meaning to read this book for years. It satisfies a task for the Fall Reading Challenge so I checked it out from the library. It took me two tries before I actually read it (hard to get into).
The Book: Here is Goodreads’ synopsis:
Welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality, (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem, militant Baconians heckle performances of Hamlet, and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature. When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pages of Brontë’s novel, Thursday must track down the villain and enter the novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide.
My Analysis and Critique: I don’t know how anyone can enjoy this book if they haven’t read the classic works that this novel casually alludes to. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it. Yet, British Literature is my forte. For me, The Eyre Affair was my own personal episode of Family Guy– instead of constant references to ’80s pop culture, it was full of allusions to Shakespeare, Dickens, and Austen. And, of course, the entire second and third acts of Jane Eyre.
In the alternate reality of The Eyre Affair, all pop culture centers around literature. Instead of baseball cards, kids trade bubble gum cards of their favorite characters from Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones: “If you want Sophia you’re going to have to give me an Allworthy plus a Tom Jones, as well as the Amelia!”. In this society, a popular outing on a Saturday night might be to take part in the vocal audience of Richard III, complete with yelling lines with and at the actors in a call and response fashion (think Rocky Horror Picture Show). It’s a bork’s paradise!
Then, there is the mystery aspect of the story. Thursday Next is the protagonist, an investigator of literary crimes. Next is hot on the trail of a man who steals the original manuscripts of classics, steps into the manuscripts (don’t ask), kidnaps a character (still don’t ask), and then kills them outside of the text so that all copies of the book are forever altered (really, don’t ask, I don’t entirely get it either). She hunts him down until she too is in the pages of Jane Eyre, kicking it with Mrs. Poole and comforting the ever melancholy Rochester. You’ll just have to read it to understand.
While the story was fun, I really wasn’t that into it. This has become glaringly clear as I am currently staying up late, reading hundreds of pages of my current book, while I could barely get through 20 pages of The Eyre Affair without snoozing on the text. It really had too much going on. Allusion after allusion…I had to keep checking my memory to see if I was getting all of the references. I didn’t care about any of the characters (except Rochester, of course, my #1 book boyfriend) and really didn’t care for the mystery plot. It was fun, though. Yet, unless you’re a bork for British Literature, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Links:
• The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
• Audiobook: 5 cds; narrated by Nancy Travis
• Publisher: Hatchette Audio; 2005
• ISBN: 1594830657
• Genre: Contemporary Adult Fiction; Magical Realism
• Recommended for: Anyone who likes to be bogged down by sensory details, figurative language, multiple beaten-to-death themes, and false characterization.
Disclaimer: I don’t read too many books that I dislike. When I do, I tend to be very passionate and sardonic in my review. Just a warning on tone…
Quick Review: The Ice Queen was dull and hard to get into with far too much going on, most of which I couldn’t care less about.How I Got Here: In the last year, I have fallen in love with the novels of Sarah Addison Allen and her particular style of magical realism. I have been seeking out other magical realism novels and had previously read Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. I hoped that this book would satisfy my desire for more magical realism. Also, this book satisfies a task for the Fall Reading Challenge.
The Book: Goodreads’ synopsis:
From the bestselling author of Practical Magic, a miraculous, enthralling tale of a woman who is struck by lightning, and finds her frozen heart is suddenly burning.
Be careful what you wish for. A small town librarian lives a quiet life without much excitement. One day, she mutters an idle wish and, while standing in her house, is struck by lightning. But instead of ending her life, this cataclysmic event sparks it into a new beginning.
She goes in search of Lazarus Jones, a fellow survivor who was struck dead, then simply got up and walked away. Perhaps this stranger who has seen death face to face can teach her to live without fear. When she finds him, he is her opposite, a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches. As an obsessive love affair begins between them, both are forced to hide their most dangerous secrets–what turned one to ice and the other to fire.
A magical story of passion, loss, and renewal, The Ice Queen is Alice Hoffman at her electrifying best.
My Analysis and Critique: The Ice Queen was dull and hard to get into with far too much going on, most of which I couldn’t care less about. Hoffman’s writing felt forced and over the top. She overused sensory details and figurative language, her characterization felt false, the themes were numerous and stretched thin, and her protagonist made a huge character judgement that had me yelling at my speakers (audiobook, remember?).
Alice Hoffman, meet Dan Brown. Have a baby. He or she will be an excellent writer!
It is rare that I say this, but Hoffman shows too much! She really took the old adage “Show, don’t tell” to heart. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely appreciate colorful descriptions of setting and characters, and there is really nothing better than a dead-on metaphor. Yet, Hoffman gets carried away! Every tree has to be described, every observation explained through simile. I get it- she’s the ice queen- she’s cold! You don’t have to beat me over the head with a gazillion literary devices to get me to understand! How many ways can you describe the color red? Hoffman has probably utilized each and every one. Everything in this book is shown to the umpteenth degree that I began to despise figurative language! Here is an example from the first paragraph:
Wishes are brutal, unforgiving things. They burn your tongue the moment they’re spoken and you can never take them back. They bruise and bake and come back to haunt you. I’ve made far too many wishes in my lifetime, the first when I was eight years old. Not the sort of wish for ice cream or a party dress or long blond hair; no. The other sort, the kind that rattles your bones, then sits in the back of your throat, a greedy red toad that chokes you until you say it aloud. The kind that could change your life in an instant, before you have time to wish you could take it back.
Rather nice for an opening paragraph, but this goes on and on and on! In the first chapter, more than half of the paragraphs contain some sort of figurative language. Perhaps this is why it was so easy to space out. She told very little, her plot didn’t feel concrete enough. She needs a dose of Dan Brown- he could teach her a thing or two about telling…
I’ve got a few more pages left to write…just enough to squeeze in one more irrelevant theme!
The Ice Queen weighs in at a measly 211 pages. Yet, Hoffman manages to explore at least nine major themes and topics! She explores wishes (as read in above excerpt), the protagonist as “Ice Queen”, lightning strikes, fairy tales, the relevance of colors, death, reading habits, uniqueness as a personality trait, and then, for good measure, she throws in butterflies during the last chapter. I’m not even sure I covered all of the themes here. She does a poor job in writing on all of these themes and topics, either because she beats them to death, or throws them in momentarily and then drops them. Some of these themes she pursues strongly, even seeming to base her entire novel upon them, only to reveal briefly at the end that there was no creedence to them: the narrator was wrong, that wasn’t what it was about at all.
I couldn’t give a damn about you…No wait! I love you! Let’s move in together!
Hoffman’s characters make uncharacteristic choices. Sometimes, they just disappear all together. I would go into more detail, but that would mean spoilers, and even though I believe you will choose NOT to read this book after reading my review, I still try not to do spoilers. I think the above heading illustrates the erroneous ways of Hoffman’s characterization. Perhaps if Hoffman spent less time on sensory details, figurative language, and over/underarching themes, the choices her characters make would make more sense. But, she doesn’t really do much with characterization, so it all feels false and forced.
What?! No! No! That’s not what that means! How can you say that?!
So, as I have illustrated, Alice Hoffman’s The Ice Queen was a rather unmemorable experience as it just seemed to drag on…except when it didn’t. There was one little tiny plot twist that had me arguing with Nancy Travis and her Three Men and a Baby voice. The protagonist, a librarian, snoops into her sister-in-law’s circulation records and discovers that she (the sister-in-law) has just returned a book titled “A Hundred Ways to Die”. This causes our busybody, uniformed librarian to conclude that her sister-in-law wants to kill herself. What?!? Are you kidding me? As a reader of a variety of genres, I was offended by this gross misjudgement. Last year, I bought a book titled Demons and Demonology and The Witch’s Magical Handbook. Am I a witch? A satanist? Heck no! I hope to write a book one day dealing with the paranormal, and books with witches and supernatural creatures always fascinate me. So, I’m doing research! How could a librarian make such a ridiculously based judgement? She goes on to confront her sister-in-law, who reveals it wasn’t for her, but for someone else who might want to kill themself. I still say that’s stupid. Just another illustration on why this book is poor, poor, poor.
Don’t read this book. Just. Don’t.
Links:
- Goodreads reviews
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Paperback: 288 p
• Publisher: Vintage, 2005
• ISBN: 1400078776
• Genre: Contemporary British Literature; Science Fiction/Dystopia
• Recommended for: Anyone interested in flawless writing, questioning what it means to be human, and maybe interested in the ethics of cloning and organ donation.
Quick Review: A beautifully written novel that forces the reader to question what makes him/her human. A must-read for anyone interested in self and societal reflection.
How I Got Here: I heard a review for the recent film version of the novel on NPR which piqued my interest and (of course) had to read the book version before I saw the movie. Also, in the spring, I read Ishiguro’s The Remains of the Day and loved his writing style. This book satisfies a task for the Fall Reading Challenge.
The Book: Goodreads’ synopsis:
From the acclaimed author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, a moving new novel that subtly reimagines our world and time in a haunting story of friendship and love.
As a child, Kathy—now thirty-one years old—lived at Hailsham, a private school in the scenic English countryside where the children were sheltered from the outside world, brought up to believe that they were special and that their well-being was crucial not only for themselves but for the society they would eventually enter. Kathy had long ago put this idyllic past behind her, but when two of her Hailsham friends come back into her life, she stops resisting the pull of memory.
And so, as her friendship with Ruth is rekindled, and as the feelings that long ago fueled her adolescent crush on Tommy begin to deepen into love, Kathy recalls their years at Hailsham. She describes happy scenes of boys and girls growing up together, unperturbed–even comforted–by their isolation. But she describes other scenes as well: of discord and misunderstanding that hint at a dark secret behind Hailsham’s nurturing facade. With the dawning clarity of hindsight, the three friends are compelled to face the truth about their childhood—and about their lives now.
A tale of deceptive simplicity, Never Let Me Go slowly reveals an extraordinary emotional depth and resonance-and takes its place among Kazuo Ishiguro’s finest work.
My Analysis and Critique: First, let me point out that I feel that it behoves me to read Ishiguro’s writing. His books always have a place next to my Austens, Orwells, Fieldings, and Whartons. His writing is lovely and I relish his words as if they were lines from Keats.
In considering plot, this novel tells an alternate reality story of a group of people doomed to a short, seemingly meaningless life as organ donors, who are detached from society because their miserable existence brings pain to the very people they are sacrificing for. And yet, this is NOT what the story is really about. Truly, this is a story about a young woman, Kathy H., as a member of this “untouchable” society, looking back over her years filled with love, art, friendship, and lots of life. It is not by any means a cheerful story, but it is filled with a somewhat melancholy love.
Many might disagree, but I believe that the issues of cloning and organ donation, which lurk behind much of the plot, are simply what Alfred Hitchcock would have called a “MacGuffin”- a gimmick used to provide the true story. Ishiguro really wants the reader to ponder “what makes one human?” Is a life any less lived simply because it is given a socially decreed deadline at birth? This is what Kathy H. is concerned with as she takes the reader through her (too) few years of life. She seems to believe that she has enjoyed a full life.
While her friends and classmates ask “why?” and are desperate for love, significance, and the simple parts of society we take for granted (a job in an office), Kathy H. seems to conclude that while she and her classmates were set off in a detached world from society, they did indeed live normal, productive lives. She finds comfort and meaning in her friends from Hailsham and her career as a “carer”. Is that much different from any of us?
Never Let Me Go is a sad story, and yet it is not. Ishiguro lulled me into acceptance as Kathy H. showed that she and her friends had dealt with many common parts of life- teachers, frenemies, casual sex, music, love, dreams, and ultimately death. While the donors live a very short life, it feels natural, as if Kathy H. is an old woman sharing her life story after seeing her friends continuously buried before her. Her mature reflections deceive the reader into believing that she has lived much longer than her 31 years.
While I was horrified by the notions of human cloning for the purpose of organ donation, I’m surprised to realize that I wasn’t focused on it much as I read, and I probably won’t remember it as a major part of the book. Instead, I will always look back at this book as medium for me to consider what makes me human; what links me with the rest of humanity? Is it because I love? Because I enjoy art in books and writing? Because I hate Mondays? These are they questions I will cling to after reading this book.
The story’s namesake: “Never Let Me Go” by Judy Bridgewater, as imagined by Mark Romanek and Alex Garland’s film adaptation.
Look for my review of the 2010 film version next week!
Links:
- Goodreads reviews
- Margaret Atwood’s review on Slate.com
• Nightmares and Dreamscapes, volumes 1,2, and 3 by Stephen King
• Audio: 23 cds
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio, 2009 (orig. publ. 1994)
• ISBN: 0453008445, 0453008739, 0453008917
• Genre: Horror; Non-fiction
• Recommended for: Anyone interested in an excellent audiobook; some creepy short stories, fun horror stories, a bit of crime fiction, and an essay on little league baseball.
Quick Review: A wide variety of short stories, mostly horror, that provide everything you’re looking for from Stephen King: creepiness, humor, the best characterization, and a good time. The audiobook is read by many celebrity readers who truly accent (or even improve on) the stories. Highly recommend for all, as there is something for everyone.
How I Got Here: This is one of the few Stephen King tomes that I haven’t read, and have been meaning to read it ever since I watched the TNT mini-series in 2006. This book also satisfies a task for the Fall Reading Challenge as well as the RIP challenge.
The Book: Goodreads’ synopsis:
Stephen King’s collection is a virtuoso demonstration of his astonishing narrative talent. Stories of vampires and lurking spirits, of inexplicable evil cloaked in the guise of childish innocence, of ordinary individuals driven to unthinkable extremes by the perversities of fate–they’re all here, told with King’s inimitable blend of dark humor and heart-clenching suspense. This audio edition […] contains several unabridged selections from the book–a profusion of Nightmares and Dreamscapes for an eager listening audience.
My Analysis and Critique: I had forgotten how much I love Stephen King’s short stories. I always think King is tops when it comes to characterization, but I forgot just how talented he is at weaving a top-notch short story. The majority of his short stories here are excellent. Only a few stories fell flat for me, and that might have been because King was experimenting with a genre I’m not into. However, to accent King’s storytelling, there are some amazing celebrity readers who bring a whole new feeling to some of the stories. If you’ve read the book before, I recommend you try it again with the audio version…it’s like a whole new book.
My Favorite Stories to Listen to:
“The End of the Whole Mess” read by Mathew Broderick: Broderick’s voice when reading this story simply gave me chills. I had read this story before, saw the mini-series version of it, but I don’t think the story was ever truly done justice until Broderick read it here. The best of the cd.
“Crouch End” read by Tim Curry: Curry’s use of different accents and tones of voice really brought this extremely scary story to life. Something about Tim Curry tends to make most things creepy.
“Chattery Teeth” read by Kathy Bates: Ms. Bates’ no-nonsense voice feels like a teacher reading a story to you on the carpet. You have to pay attention to each word, or you might get detention!
“You Know They Got a Hell of a Band” read by Grace Slick: Ahhh, the irony. Slick reads this story about Rock n’Roll Heaven, where many of her former colleagues reside and rock on forever. Janis Joplin is particularly terrifying in this tale…
“Introduction” read by Stephen King: I always read King’s introductions because they are usually hilarious! The longer the better. When he reads himself, it feels as if you’re finally having the tete-a-tete with him you always desired. Gotta love Uncle Stevie.
“Dolan’s Cadillac” read by Rob Lowe: Lowe does an excellent job of reading the 1st person narration of a character who is both sensitive and seriously pissed off.
“The Fifth Quarter” read by Gary Sinise: Sinise is the saving grace of this story. I didn’t care for the plot, but I love Sinise’s drawl. If you come across an audiobook read by Sinise, grab it! He (obviously) reads Of Mice and Men perfectly.
“Sorry, Right Number” read by a full cast: This one was just a fun teleplay. It felt like I was listening to one of the old Mercury Theater radio plays.
My Favorite Stories for King’s Writing:
“The End of the Whole Mess”: An end-of-the-world plot told by a man who is slowly losing his mind. He recounts how his genius brother brought the devastation on with a very altruistic plan.
“Crouch End”: An American couple going to visit a colleague in a London neighborhood wind up in a demonic twilight zone. A rip in the fabric between Crouch End and another dimension reveals mutated children and and an evil demon that terrorizes the couple as they try to make their way back to reality.
“Dolan’s Cadillac”: A man is obsessed with vengeance for the powerful criminal who murdered his wife many years back. He concocts a revenge plot that takes years of careful planning and luck.
“You Know They Got a Hell of a Band”: A vacationing couple get lost in the Oregon backcountry and wind up in Rock and Roll Heaven, Oregon. This small, seemingly idyllic town turns out to be dead rock star hell, where the drum solos never end…
“The Night Flier”: A fun read for fans of Dracula and a reappearance by a character from King’s The Dead Zone. A tabloid writer with a pilot’s license is hunting down a serial killer who flies into small airports and massacres the staff, all while wearing a cape.
“Rainy Season”: A fun, slightly creepy read. A couple moves into a house in small-town Maine for the summer. The only problem is that it’s rainy season. The forecast calls for heavy showers of killer frogs.
Links:
- Visit Stephen King’s website
- See Goodreads synopis and reviews
• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
• Hardback: 292 p
• Publisher: Doubleday, 2010
• ISBN: 978-0-385-50112-5
• Genre: Adult Contemporary/Magical Realism
• Recommended for: Anyone interested in adult contemporary fiction with magical realism leanings and/or dysfunctional family fiction.
Quick Review: This story is a tease. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a tease as it doesn’t tell the story it advertises. It is also a tease as it begins plot lines that never feel resolved. It’s a good read when you read it for tone: it demonstrates well the sadness and awkwardness associated with a family that hides its dysfunctions. Yet, if you’re looking for a clean plot, this story isn’t it.
How I Got Here: I was looking for a light read after Outlander (not too many characters, setting, politics, plot twists), and needed to read this for a task in the Fall Reading Challenge. I also really love Magical Realism, especially when it relates to food.
The Book: Here is Goodreads’ synopsis:
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she’s privy to the secret knowledge that most families keep hidden: her father’s detachment, her mother’s transgression, her brother’s increasing retreat from the world. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can’t discern.
My additions to this synopsis: Rose can taste the emotions of anyone who has prepared her food, which upsets her both physically and mentally. Henceforth, she attempts to avoid foods that are not factory-made (not created by humans). She also goes on to learn that the other members of her family also have some otherworldly abilities related to other senses. Overall, Rose (and the reader) learns how to cope with somewhat typical family dysfunctions that are made known through atypical sources.
My Analysis and Critique: I enjoyed this book. It met the needs I had at the time, as a break from epic fantasy and plot twists. However, if you are looking for book that offers a good feeling at the end, this isn’t the book for you. It felt incomplete.
I feel that to understand this book, one really needs to consider what Bender’s purpose was. If it was to tell a story about a dysfunctional family that struggles to find happiness through different mediums (eating processed foods, disappearing, adulterous affairs, running), then Bender has succeeded. However, the book has been marketed as a story about a girl who struggles with this magical ability to taste emotions in the food she eats. This story isn’t told, or at least, it isn’t explored and resolved.
Most reviews of this novel express frustration with the incompleteness of the novel. Why the members of this family have magical abilities is never explained. I’m okay with this. However, it truly did feel as if Bender created some plot lines that are never resolved. She sets up a romantic plot line between the Rose and another main character that just stops. That was a bummer. Also, Bender starts to explore the possibilities of Rose’s food-tasting abilities, but at the end, readers are still never quite sure what those may be. In addition, there is an inordinate amount of time spent on Rose’s brother, Joseph, and his abilities, and the reader is left wondering “What about Rose?”. Joseph gets closure, why not Rose?
In the end, this story may best be summed up as a tease. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a tease as it doesn’t tell the story it advertises. It is also a tease as it begins plot lines that never feel resolved. It’s a good read when you read it for tone: it demonstrates well the sadness and awkwardness associated with a family which hides its dysfunctions. Yet, if you’re looking for a clean plot, this story isn’t it.
Links:
Adventures in Borkdom 