Thursday, June 28, 2007
BTT #24
Note: scroll down for the ThursdayThirteen.
Categories: BookingThroughThursday
Desperation:
- What’s the most desperate thing you’ve read because it was the only available reading material?
- If it was longer than a cereal box or an advertisement, did it turn out to be worth your while?
- Well, there was the time on vacation when I ran out of books and ended up reading the horror novels I'd packed for my husband. And there was the time I was stuck bookless at my in-laws' (I think we'd intended to go home, but the weather got bad or something) and ended up reading my brother-in-law's erotica. Worst, though, was when I was stuck in a traffic jam with nothing to read. I ended up reading the owner's manual to the car from cover to cover (it was a really long traffic jam!).
- The horror novels were actually much better than I'd expected them to be. So was the erotica, once I got over being creeped out by them belonging to my brother-in-law. The owner's manual... well, I did learn a few things I didn't know about the car, but geez, it was boring.
Categories: BookingThroughThursday
Labels: BTT
TT #59
Part One
*a word that's not in the dictionary, but should be
I'm sure you've heard of the Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future. Here are some more words in the same vein:
- Accordionated (ah kor' de on ay tid) - adj. Being able to drive and refold a road map at the same time.
- Aeropalmics (ayr o palm' iks) - n. The study of wind resistance conducted by holding a cupped hand out the car window.
- Alponium (al PO nee um) - n. (chemical symbol: Ap) Initial blast of odor upon opening a can of dog food.
- Burgacide - n. What you call the desperate action of a hamburger leaping to its death through the holes in the Bar-B-Q grill.
- Coinophony (koin'ŭ-fō'nē)(n.) Annoying pocket concerts that people make when they jingle keys and loose change around.
- Drainchild - n. Not all brainchildren work well so we need a word for a bright idea that drains resources without benefit.
- Eastroturf (ee' stroh terf) n. - The artificial grass in Easter baskets.
- Ellacelleration: The mistaken belief that repeatedly pressing the elevator button will make it go faster
- Expressholes (eks PRES holz) - n. People who try to sneak more than the "eight items or less" into the express checkout line.
- Fetchplex (fech' pleks) - n. State of momentary confusion in a dog whose owner has faked throwing the ball and palmed it behind his back.
- Frisbatarianism - (n.), The belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.
- Greedling (gree' dling) v. - Pretending to read the inscription on the birthday card when you really jus t want to know how much the check is for.
- Hawaska - In an atlas, the rectangular box which contains Hawaii and Alaska and is located just off the coast of Arizona.
from Starrlight: fauxcabulary. I love it!
from Ann: kibblemonoxide- the noxious gas you smell when face to face with a cat who's just eaten.
from Babystepper: Frust: That line of dirt that you can't ever get into the dust pan with the broom.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
- Angela/SciFiChick: best books of the (half)year
- Rhian/Crowwoman: goddesses
- Starrlight: Grosse Pointe Blank
- Lisa Andel: uber-gadgets
- Ann Aguirre loves her husband
- Robin L. Rotham is happy
- Susan Helene Gottfried's Trevor takes over the birthday meme
- Thomma Lyn as a novelist
- Qtpies7 goes to a parade
- Rene Lyons's busy day
- Gabriella Hewitt: aromatherapy
- Tilly Greene: the Summer of Love
- Lisa's TBR list
- Stella Price's hot placeholders
- Ann: games
- Red Garnier is getting ready for National
- R. G. Alexander: pimp fest song
- Samulli's favorites
- Julia's favorite children's books
- ANCSweetNSassyGal: 80s lyrics
- Amy's going on a trip
- Babystepper: Mimisms
- FRIGGA: have you ever...?
- Alyssa Goodnight: summer sensations
- what Frances would rather be doing
- Elle Fredrix forgot
- Wylie Kinson: Canadian actors
- Tink: random
- Doug: foreskins
- You're next!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
...more
Categories: ThursdayThirteen
Labels: TT
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Blues Brothers 2000
*** Blues Brothers 2000. Comedy/musical.
Directed by: John Landis.
Starring: Dan Ackroyd, John Goodman.
Since the kids enjoyed The Blues Brothers so much, I put the sequel in our Netflix queue.
Elwood Blues (Dan Ackroyd) is released from prison only to find that his brother Jake (John Belushi) has died in his absence. And that's not the only thing that's changed. The orphanage where he grew up is closing, and Sister Mary Stigmata asks for his help in raising money for the children's hospital that will be taking its place.
The answer to which is, of course, putting the band back together. Oh, and in the meantime, the good sister wants Elwood to spend a couple of hours with Buster, one of the last kids from the orphanage.
There are the usual hijinks with putting the band back together, and Elwood forgets about taking Buster back. So the cops, including Cab, the illegitimate son of Curtis (Cab Calloway, who also died in the meantime), who's sort of an honorary stepbrother, are after him for kidnapping the boy. And of course there are a bunch of other groups after him, including some of those from the first movie who are after revenge.
Once again, it's a race to get to The One Gig that'll earn them the money they need. This time, it's a battle of the bands in New Orleans.
The problem is, my summary sounds a lot more cohesive than the plot is. Starting with the obvious question of why Elwood was the only one in jail (at the end of the last movie, they were all in jail. Granted, the other band members might have had lesser sentences, but Jake's should have been the same as Elwood's).
The Mission From God wasn't really a mission from God, this time. The orphanage is closing regardless, and Elwood's quest is more along the lines of a charity drive, so there's no urgency there.
Buster and Cab... well, I didn't much see the point. They seemed like tangents to me. Cab's story could have been pretty good--learning about and then eventually embracing his musical heritage--but it's barely touched on.
And then once they get to New Orleans, there's some completely out-of-left-field magical voodoo effect that make no sense and don't have anything to do with the plot. It's almost like a few minutes of footage from another film got spliced into this one by mistake, except that the same actors are in it.
On the other hand, there's the music. It's no surprise that on Amazon, the DVD has 3 stars, while the soundtrack has 4.5. The sheer number--and quality!--of famous musicians who appear in this movie is amazing. In the jam sessions at the end, we made a game of trying to see who could identify more of them.
Mostly, the plot is rushed through to get to the music. Which is, I suppose, understandable, unless you compare it with the original, in which the plot, while simplistic, still made sense, and was funny as hell. It feels like they tried to add too much to make up for the absence of Belushi and Calloway, when a simpler plot would have worked better--it could have been more completely explored, and it wouldn't have been so obvious that the plot was sacrificed to the music.
It was great music, though. So much so that the boys argued with me about giving this 3 stars, saying it deserved more just for the music.
...more
Categories: Movies, 3stars, Comedy
Labels: 3 stars, comedy, Movies
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Eats, Shoots and Leaves
***** Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynn Truss. Nonfiction.
This had been in my TBR pile for quite a while. I was pretty sure I'd like it, but wasn't in a huge hurry to read it.
If you've been living in a cave, the subtitle explains what Eats, Shoots and Leaves is about: "The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation." Since I'm a bit of a grammar geek (albeit an imperfect and occasionally lazy one), I absolutely loved it.
There wasn't much that was news to me. Ones vs. one's was helpful, though I understand that's controversial. I spent far too much time one day googling to chase down which was correct. For the most part, I vastly prefer the practicality of the British usage of such things as putting punctuation inside or outside quotation marks depending on where it makes sense and whether to add an extra S when forming the possessive of words ending in S:
| British | U.S. |
|---|---|
| When did John say "stop"? | When did John say "stop?" |
| Thomas's | Thomas' |
I do, however, much prefer the logic of the terminal comma in a list, since it makes it clear whether or not the last two items are separate or a pair.
More entertaining than the facts, however, was the humor. I laughed every couple of pages, and read so many excerpts aloud that my 12-year-old picked it up to read as soon as I'd finished it.
The bottom line here, though, is that this is a very subjective book. If you're the kind of person who knows the difference between there, they're, and their, cringes at new car's and truck's, and daydreams about taking a Sharpie to the 10 items or less sign, you'll probably love this. If that sounds obsessive to you, and like I should get a life, you'll probably hate it.
...more
Categories: Books, 5stars, NonFiction
Labels: 5 stars, books, nonfiction
Extreme Bachelor
****½ Extreme Bachelor by Julia London. Contemporary romance.
This is the second book in the Thrillseekers Anonymous trilogy, following Wedding Survivor (#14).
Five years ago, Leah was an up-and-coming actress on Broadway, and she and Michael were living together, happy. So when Michael said he had something to tell her, she thought: marriage proposal. Instead, he broke up with her. She spent some time being depressed, then she finally decided to make the move to Hollywood and get on with her life.
Now, Leah's Hollywood career isn't going very well--she's only been in a couple of commercials. Then she lands a part in War of the Soccer Moms. Preparation for filming involves a "boot camp" run by the stunt coordinators, Thrillseekers Anonymous.
Which is fine, until Michael shows up. His reputation as the "extreme bachelor" precedes him. It seems that his T.A. buddies noticed his reaction to seeing Leah in a commercial and decided to play matchmaker. And oh, by the way, wouldn't it be fun if a few of his other ex-flames showed up as well?
Turns out, Michael used to be a CIA agent, and that (along with a general fear of commitment) was behind the break-up. But when he tries to tell Leah this, she doesn't believe him.
This isn't just a light-hearted romantic comedy. It has some very funny parts--a lot of them centered around Michael being rather uncomfortable--but there's too much pain between Leah and Michael for it to be a simple, comfortable read.
Most of that is Michael's personality. He's not the usual romance hero. He screwed up--granted, he'd convinced himself he had good reasons--but he didn't spend those five years berating himself in celibacy. I think it's a romance rule that heroes, once they meet the heroine, and particularly once they've slept with her, must be incapable of performing with another woman. Michael didn't do that. He did realize that he screwed up, but he kept looking for a replacement. And looking. And looking.
But then Leah isn't the usual romance heroine, either. For one thing, she's (if I'm reading it correctly) pear-shaped. At any rate, she has wide-ish hips. But the biggest difference is that after the break-up, she got depressed.
Ever notice how you take some fictional conventions for granted until you read a book that breaks those conventions? That's what happened to me with Extreme Bachelor. I'd recognized (and complained about!) the celibate heroes before, but until I found myself surprised that Leah hadn't picked herself up and become a huge success after the break-up, I didn't realize how much of a cliche that was, or how much more realistic Leah's story was.
Let's face it. In Leah's situation, how many of us would get angry and use that anger to become The Best at whatever? Sure, I'd like to think I would, but realistically? It's damn depressing. I'm all for characters in books behaving in ways I wish I would, but it's refreshing to see one behaving the way I actually would. Setting the story 5 years after the break-up, so that Leah has had time to recover from the depression kept her from being a victim heroine, and made her a heroine I could pull for.
Both Leah and Michael were more appealing for me because they didn't behave ideally. They were more like real people. They learned from their past mistakes, discovered that love requires trust, and learned to trust each other. It's all the more appealing of a love story because it feels authentic.
I'm looking forward to the last book in the trilogy, American Diva, in August.
...more
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
what color car should you drive?
| You Should Drive a Red Car |
 You're the type of driver who isn't afraid to be the fastest on the road. You have a lot of energy built up, and you tend to get your adrenaline fix from driving. Moving at hyper speed, you tend to be annoyed with slow drivers and slow people. Life's too short to be slowed down by someone else! |
Categories: AboutMe
Labels: quiz
Monday, June 25, 2007
TBR Challenge for June
The TBR Challenge For June, and the end of the school year, is to read a book with at least one school-age character in it.
To participate, leave a comment here or on your blog.
I chose:
**½ Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg. Women's fiction.
I'm not sure why I had this book in my TBR pile--it must have been a recommendation, but I'm not sure from whom, or why I took the recommendation.
Maybe they recommended it because the main character is a 12-year-old army brat. I've got one of those in my house, actually, though he's not a girl. And this isn't the 60s (50s?).
But that's also why I got turned off by the book very early on. Have I ranted here yet about every single military father in fiction being an abusive asshole? Don't worry--I won't. It doesn't even surprise me anymore. I just chalk it up to ignorance and a desire to keep that us vs. them separation alive so that perpetual war is okay. (So I lied--it's just a mini-rant, after all.) Oh, and I tend to not want to read the author's books anymore.
Twelve-year-old Katie and her teenage sister Diane live with their abusive army officer father after the death of their mother. Katie mostly hangs out with her 14-year-old friend Cherylanne. There's lots about how Katie and Cherylanne spend their time, and how Katie tries to avoid her father's abuse.
Then he announces they have to move, and ****spoilers****Diane runs away with her boyfriend, taking Katie with them, but then Katie calls her dad and goes back home.****
It's more of a snapshot of a short period in a girl's life than it is a story. Some of the reviews call it a coming-of-age story, but I think that's just because Katie is 12. She doesn't really grow up or change much. It's not a character study, either, because there's not much depth to the characters. The girls are pretty bland--we see them behaving like ordinary adolescents, and there's nothing particularly memorable or illuminating about any of it. The father, too, wasn't very believable, and not just because of the caricature of a military dad. For example, ****spoiler**** his almost nonchalant reaction to the girls running away and to Diane not coming back is completely at odds with his established abuse. **** There's not even an attempt to explain it.
It is a very atmospheric and clear snapshot, but that's not enough to carry a book. I'm not tempted to check out the sequels.
...more
Categories: TBRChallenge, Books, 2.5stars, WomensFiction
To participate, leave a comment here or on your blog.
I chose:
**½ Durable Goods by Elizabeth Berg. Women's fiction.
I'm not sure why I had this book in my TBR pile--it must have been a recommendation, but I'm not sure from whom, or why I took the recommendation.
Maybe they recommended it because the main character is a 12-year-old army brat. I've got one of those in my house, actually, though he's not a girl. And this isn't the 60s (50s?).
But that's also why I got turned off by the book very early on. Have I ranted here yet about every single military father in fiction being an abusive asshole? Don't worry--I won't. It doesn't even surprise me anymore. I just chalk it up to ignorance and a desire to keep that us vs. them separation alive so that perpetual war is okay. (So I lied--it's just a mini-rant, after all.) Oh, and I tend to not want to read the author's books anymore.
Twelve-year-old Katie and her teenage sister Diane live with their abusive army officer father after the death of their mother. Katie mostly hangs out with her 14-year-old friend Cherylanne. There's lots about how Katie and Cherylanne spend their time, and how Katie tries to avoid her father's abuse.
Then he announces they have to move, and ****spoilers****Diane runs away with her boyfriend, taking Katie with them, but then Katie calls her dad and goes back home.****
It's more of a snapshot of a short period in a girl's life than it is a story. Some of the reviews call it a coming-of-age story, but I think that's just because Katie is 12. She doesn't really grow up or change much. It's not a character study, either, because there's not much depth to the characters. The girls are pretty bland--we see them behaving like ordinary adolescents, and there's nothing particularly memorable or illuminating about any of it. The father, too, wasn't very believable, and not just because of the caricature of a military dad. For example, ****spoiler**** his almost nonchalant reaction to the girls running away and to Diane not coming back is completely at odds with his established abuse. **** There's not even an attempt to explain it.
It is a very atmospheric and clear snapshot, but that's not enough to carry a book. I'm not tempted to check out the sequels.
...more
Categories: TBRChallenge, Books, 2.5stars, WomensFiction
Labels: 2.5 stars, books, tbr challenge, WomensFiction
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Link of the Week #39
Found this one from Erica in the comments on Argh Ink. The main page of this site is a dictionary, but there are oodles of online dictionaries. What's really fun about this is the reverse dictionary. For all those times when a word is on the tip of your tongue... something that happens to me far too often. You enter the definition of a word, and get a list of words it might be. I'm still waiting for the software that will just pluck the correct word out of the dusty corner of my brain where it's lurking, but until then, this is a good substitute.
Categories: LOTW
Labels: cool links
Saturday, June 23, 2007
The Frisco Kid
**** The Frisco Kid. Comedy western.
Directed by: Robert Aldrich.
Starring: Gene Wilder, Harrison Ford.
I bought this in a Gene Wilder-movie-buying frenzy. I'm not really sure what triggered it--perhaps watching Blazing Saddles with the kids.
Gene Wilder is Avram, a Polish rabbi. He barely made it through rabbi school--ending up a close 87th out of 88 students in his class. But he's perfect to fill the request for a rabbi in "the village of San Francisco."
Avram is a fish out of water in America, and almost immediately ends up robbed of his money and possessions. Enter Harrison Ford as Tommy Lillard, a bank robber.
The unlikely duo travels cross-country, facing one peril after another, and becoming inseparable friends.
Initially, I was a bit wary. It seemed that Avram was going to be portrayed as a comedic victim, and, in much the same way that I didn't like watching the boxing scenes in Rocky, I didn't want to see him being swindled and taken advantage of at every turn, or having to be rescued, either by Tommy or Divine Providence.
Avram is naive and gullible, but he's also kind and generous and unshakable in his faith. And despite his poor showing in rabbinical school, he's not stupid. And what's really lovely is that he's a character you can really respect. Not because he's otherworldly, or espouses moral values, but because he's genuine, in the way very few people are.
I was struck by how different The Frisco Kid was from current movies with similar themes. It's much slower-paced, for one thing, and the humor isn't quite as over-the-top. The biggest difference, though, was the characters. Maybe I've just been watching the wrong movies, but these characters seemed more three-dimensional and their development more subtle than their contemporary counterparts. I think it's that we're not hit over the head with the changes. I detected a distinct lack of anvils. We know Tommy and Avram have changed through their association with each other, but neither changes his basic self.
I'm glad I bought this one--I'm sure I'll watch it again.
...more
Categories: Movies, 4stars, Comedy
Labels: 4 stars, comedy, Movies
Friday, June 22, 2007
Falling for Rachel
****½ Falling for Rachel by Nora Roberts. Contemporary romance. Re-read.
This is the 3rd book in the Stanislaski series. I'm not sure why Harlequin reissued the 1st and 3rd books together, then waited 3 years to reissue the 2nd and 4th books. Odd.
Rachel Stanislaski is a lawyer and a public defender. She meets Zack Muldoon when she's defending his 19-year-old step-brother Nick LeBeck who'd been arrested for theft. Zack and Nick aren't blood relations, but they bonded when Nick's mother married Zack's father, and now that both parents are dead, they're all each other has.
Well, Nick is all the family that Zack has. Nick has the Cobras, a street gang. Or thinks he does.
The judge allows Nick to go home with Zack, but since his home environment isn't all that squeaky-clean (he owns a bar and lives above it), Rachel is tasked with keeping an eye on them and providing reports to the court.
Aside from a couple of small things that didn't make sense to me--is there really a question of a 19-year-old being tried as a juvenile?--and Rachel's conflict of interest in getting romantically involved when she's a court-appointed watchdog--Falling for Rachel is a wonderfully full story.
Oddly, it's not the romance between Rachel and Zack that pulled me in so much as the story around them. In fact, it's almost more Nick's story than theirs, an impression made stronger by the fact that the story opens with Nick's arrest. He's the one with the character arc, and it's a good one. His gang involvement, his crush on Rachel, and his eventual integration into their family--it's a great story. Rachel and Zack just happen to fall in love during it.
I'm trying to figure out why that doesn't bother me. Sure, Rachel and Zack have their moments, but the best scenes are all about Nick. The piano brought tears to my eyes, and the climactic scene where he chooses between his brother and his gang had those tears rolling down my face. Nick meeting the Stanislaskis was much more compelling to me than Zack meeting them. I guess with such a lovely story, I didn't mind--or even notice, until I sat down to write this--that the romance couple wasn't the center of the book.
Which has me thinking. It seems that the basic definition of a romance novel includes a central love story that's the focus of the book. Does that make this not a romance? Because it still feels like a romance--it begins (well, after the prologue, anyway) with Rachel and Zack meeting, and ends with them together. But they're not the focus, are they? I'm over-thinking this, aren't I?
Maybe I should have gotten more sleep last night.
Anyway, I enjoyed the book and the continuing Stanislaski saga.
...more
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, ContemporaryRomance
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, ContemporaryRomance
Thursday, June 21, 2007
BTT #23
Note: scroll down for the ThursdayThirteen.
Categories: BookingThroughThursday
School Days, Golden Rule Days:
Since school is out for the summer (in most places, at least), here’s a school-themed question for the week:
Since school is out for the summer (in most places, at least), here’s a school-themed question for the week:
- Do you have any old school books? Did you keep yours from college? Old textbooks from garage sales? Old workbooks from classes gone by?
- How about your old notes, exams, papers? Do you save them? Or have they long since gone to the great Locker-in-the-sky?
- I don't think I have any left. No, wait. There may still be some in the closet of the spare room in our house in San Antonio. I seem to recall a logic textbook and an accounting text. I know I intended to get rid of them, but I don't remember if I did or not. For certain, if I didn't, I will when we get back. There are a few non-textbooks from college--paperbacks I had to read for one class or another. Nietzsche, Jung, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, etc.
- Now, those, I got rid of. Finally. I dragged the boxes around for years until I finally realized, move before last, that I just kept dragging the boxes around and they'd never been unpacked once.
Categories: BookingThroughThursday
Labels: BTT
TT #58
- The one I gained when I first started taking birth control pills--to regulate my cycle--in high school. This one is on my thighs somewhere. I thought I was so fat.
- The one I gained in college because of that damned Baskin-Robbins between my dorm and my classes. Mmmmm.... grape ice freezes*.
- The one from Basic Training. All that running, and push-ups. Everybody else lost weight--I gained it. I went home and discovered that all my shirts with tight sleeves were too small. That pound is definitely on my arms.
- The first pregnancy pound. I lost 10 pounds the first few months because of the horrible morning sickness, and overall gained fewer than 20. But at least one of them stuck around. It's on my tummy. Duh.
- The moving-back-to-the-US pound. Back to the land of fast food and 24-hour groceries. Particularly evil was the Taco Bell situated at the entrance to our housing complex.
- The second pregnancy pound. It pretty much echoed the first one--initial weight loss, followed by a net gain of about 20 pounds. But one still stuck with me.
- The tax season pound. If you've ever done taxes, the first two weeks in April is a blur of overwork and grabbing junk food whenever you have a free 20 seconds.
- The moving-back-to-Germany pound. Back to the land of dozens of kinds of wurst, incredibly rich cakes, and fabulous chocolate. (And the beer, but I rarely drink it.)
- The husband-gone-for-three-months pound. At least I learned from this one, and when he was later gone for 9 months, I actually lost weight--none of the pounds listed here, though.
- The third pregnancy pound. Ditto.
- The moving-back-to-the-States pound. Yeah, again. I didn't learn that lesson.
- The CFS pound. By the time I figured out what was wrong and took steps to deal with it, I'd gained weight.
- The last relapse pound. An hour an a half of shoveling snow led to about three months of not being able to do much at all, and, duh, weight gain.
*Apparently, Baskin-Robbins has no such thing as freezes anymore. I guess they've been replaced by smoothies. They were made from sherbets or ices and soda water, as far as I know.
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
- Angela/SciFiChick: artwork
- Ann Aguirre: games
- Susan Helene Gottfried: Mitchell's piercing response
- Red Garnier: ebooks
- Dragonheart does Munich
- Christine d'Abo: TV
- Julia's Netflix queue
- Thomma Lyn cures writing slump
- Tink: Litha
- Spy Scribbler: useless facts
- Alyssa Goodnight: a fantasy literary vacation
- Gabriella Hewitt: an American vacation
- Frances's busy week
- Sophisticated Writer: exercisting at home
- You're next!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
...more
Categories: ThursdayThirteen, AboutMe
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Final Appeal
**** Final Appeal by Lisa Scottoline. Mystery.
Doesn't it just figure? I find a Scottoline that I like pretty well, and it's one her fans in general dislike. At least according to the 19 who rated it on Amazon, anyway. The same thing happened to me with Martha Grimes (details at #16). Ah, well. It suits my self-image to be out-of-step every once in a while.
Grace Rossi is a lawyer and a single mother, working as an assistant to a judge she's attracted to. It seems the attraction is mutual, and he asks for her help on a death sentence appeal, praising her abilities. Then one night they're working late and act on their attraction.
The next morning, the judge is found dead, and his death is ruled a suicide. Grace is understandably reluctant to believe that, and so she begins investigating on her own, and soon finds herself in over her head.
She's assisted by a variety of characters, including an office manager with a big secret, and a deep-undercover FBI agent. The suspects are similarly varied.
Mostly, it's just an entertaining, twisty whodunit. I didn't quite believe the romance between Grace and the judge, but that was a fairly minor point, and more of a plot device to give her a reason to pursue the case in the face of danger and objections.
...more
Categories: Books, 4stars, Mystery
Labels: 4 stars, books, mystery
poetry quiz
Got this one from Becca:
If I knew what the heck that said, I'd know whether to be happy about it or not.
Categories: AboutMe
|
If I knew what the heck that said, I'd know whether to be happy about it or not.
Categories: AboutMe
Labels: quiz
Monday, June 18, 2007
Natural Law
***** Natural Law by Joey W. Hill. Romantic erotica.
Somebody recommended this to me--I wish I could remember who, so I could thank them.
Mac Nighthorse is a cop, investigating a series of murders connected by a BDSM club. He's also a sexual submissive. When he goes undercover at the club, he meets Violet, who's new to the scene, but a natural dominatrix.
Fem-dom is not my kink. However, Natural Law sucked me in, and I had a terrible time trying to put it down, even for a moment. The characters were just so vivid and the emotions so realistic that it didn't even matter that their kink wasn't mine.
The sex scenes are very graphic, but they're also utterly integral to the plot. Each scene marks a change in the relationship between Violet and Mac and shows emotion as well as mechanics.
I think the main reason why Natural Law resonated so strongly with me was that at its core, it wasn't about fem-dom or BDSM, or even sex. It was about emotional surrender, about a relationship of complete trust. On both sides. At that level, it was easy to relate to the story regardless of the inclinations of the characters.
One thing that I found refreshing and a bit surprising was that both Violet and Mac are portrayed as strong, competent individuals. Mac's struggles with sexual submission--he fought it even as he wanted it--echoed the more usual romantic conflict of emotional submission, and didn't make him seem wimpy or damaged.
The murder investigation did take a back seat to the erotica/romance plot, but it didn't get forgotten, and its resolution was satisfying, surprising, and logical.
I'll definitely be looking for more of Joey W. Hill's books.
...more
Categories: Books, 5stars, EroticRomance
Labels: 5 stars, books, EroticRomance
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Link of the Week #38
This site has... unsurprisingly, from its name... random collections of pictures. This is a very small sample.
Another link from the Cherries, and another time-sink. I'm starting to see a connection.
Categories: LOTW
Labels: cool links
Thursday, June 14, 2007
BTT #22
Note: scroll down for the ThursdayThirteen.
Categories: BookingThroughThursday
Dessert first:
- Do you cheat and peek ahead at the end of your books? Or do you resolutely read in sequence, as the author intended?
- And, if you don’t peek, do you ever feel tempted?
- No, I never peek ahead or read ahead. In fact, I don't even read the back-of-the-book blurb, because I don't like to read with preconceived ideas.
- Not at all. I love the feeling of expectation, of not knowing what's going to happen. If a book gets really tense, I might read faster, but I don't want anything to spoil the whole experience of the book.
Categories: BookingThroughThursday
Labels: BTT
Another book meme
I just got tagged by Melody--well, actually a couple of days ago, but this has been The Week From Hell™, so I'm just now getting
161 & 5 Book MemeRules
1. Grab the book closest to you
2. Open it to page 161
3. Find the fifth full sentence
4. Post the text of the sentence to your blog
5. Don't search around for the coolest book you have, use the one that is really next to you
6. Tag five people to do this meme.
Simple enough:
I just finished Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks, and haven't started a new book yet, so that's easy.
I'll tag... Kate and Caryle and Candy Minx and May and Marg.
And of course if anyone is interested to play along, you are welcome to do so. Just leave a comment and I will pay a visit. :)
...more
Categories: AboutMe
161 & 5 Book MemeRules
1. Grab the book closest to you
2. Open it to page 161
3. Find the fifth full sentence
4. Post the text of the sentence to your blog
5. Don't search around for the coolest book you have, use the one that is really next to you
6. Tag five people to do this meme.
Simple enough:
I just finished Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks, and haven't started a new book yet, so that's easy.
Neither Owl nor Hawk could figure out what was going on, but they knew it was something important.Not too dramatic, but it could be worse.
I'll tag... Kate and Caryle and Candy Minx and May and Marg.
And of course if anyone is interested to play along, you are welcome to do so. Just leave a comment and I will pay a visit. :)
...more
Categories: AboutMe
Labels: random memes
TT #57
click or highlight the space after each quote to see where it's from
- "Many things are not as they seem: The worst things in life never are." --White Night by Jim Butcher
- "On the day that his grannie was killed by the English, Sir William Scott the Younger of Buccleuch was at Melrose Abbey, marrying his aunt." --The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett
- "She woke in the body of a dead friend." --Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts
- "Sam Vimes sighed when he heard the scream, but he finished shaving before he did anything about it." --Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
- "If I'm dead, why does it hurt so much?" --Crimson Moon by Rebecca York
- "It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression 'As pretty as an airport.'" --The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams
- "The unbelievable horror began when Fred walked in on her parents making love on the living room coffee table." --Sleeping with the Fishes by MaryJanice Davidson
- "I am haunted by a memory I can't recall." --Living Dead Girl by Tod Goldberg
- "God, how I do love being cold and wet." --Rogue Warrior: Option Delta by Richard Marcinko and John Weisman
- "Lady Rowenna gasped in horror at the sight of Lord Raoul's majestic purple-helmeted warrior of love." --Improper English by Katie MacAlister
- "A piece of advice: If you ever follow someone in my neighborhood, don't wear pink." --Sacred by Dennis Lehane
- "Nobody ever tried to stab me when I did corporate work." --Blondes Have More Felons by Alesia Holliday
- "It wasn't every day you managed to lose your king while on a security mission to an alien planet." --Parallel Attraction by Deidre Knight
Here are a couple of extras, though, just for fun:
- "It rained toads the day the White Council came to town." --Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
- "The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault." --Blood Rites by Jim Butcher
- "Blood leaves no stain on a Warden's grey cloak." --Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
- "On the night he was murdered, Bernardo Baptista dined simply on bread and cheese and a bottle of Chianti." --The Villa by Nora Roberts
- "The monster was back." --River's End by Nora Roberts
- "Being dead didn't make Jack Mercy less of a son of a bitch." --Montana Sky by Nora Roberts
- "The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry." --Undead and Unwed by Maryjanice Davidson
- "It's hard to meet nice guys when you sell sex toys for a living." --Nice Girls Finish First by Alesia Holliday
Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
- Christine: 30-second bunny theater
- Ann Aguirre: up-and-coming authors
- Angela/SciFiChick: Nancy Drew
- Starrlight: women who rock
- Carmen: summer
- Tempest Knight: menopause
- May's plans for Jaynie
- Candy Minx: cabbage
- Tilly Greene: punk turns 30
- Susan Helene Gottfried is stressed
- Red Garnier: Father's Day
- Dragonheart: Spain
- Robin L. Rotham: Rod Stewart
- Joy T is thankful
- Elle Fredrix: visiting countries
- Emma Wayne Porter: potential plots
- Julia bought books!
- Crimson Wife: pre-mom life
- Caryle's kick-butt plans
- Thomma Lyn: elements of a reeeallly good novel
- Jessica Morris: freebies
- Sophisticated Writer: elements of a reeeallly good novel
- Lisa: back from vacation
- Melody: Life's Golden Ticket
- Doug: questions
- ANCSweetNSassyGal: jailing celebs
- Tink: online communities
- Spyscribbler: Perfectly Plum
- You're next!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
...more
Categories: ThursdayThirteen
Labels: TT
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Taltos
***½ Taltos by Anne Rice. Horror.Yes, I know there's a book between The Witching Hour and this one. This one was in my TBR pile, though, and that one's not. Nor will it be.
Hmmm. It's impossible to write about the plot in a coherent manner because there are several intertwining threads:
As the title implies, this book is mainly about the Taltos--a race of beings we were introduced to in The Witching Hour. Ashlar is, or at least believes himself to be, the last of his kind. He's lonely, currently obsessed with dolls (collecting and manufacturing them), and when he discovers another Taltos has been seen, he drops everything to check it out.
And of course there are the Mayfairs, as this is the last book of the Mayfair Witch trilogy. Rowan seems to be following in her mother's footsteps at the beginning of the book, though she's not quite as completely catatonic--she walks, eats, dresses herself, etc., but doesn't speak, communicate, or acknowledge the presence of others.
The family seems to be turning to the 12-year-old designee of the legacy, Mona, who's pregnant with Michael's child.
Then there's the Talamasca. There's corruption within the Talamasca: Aaron Lightner is killed, and his friend and contemporary Stuart Gordon is behind it, motivated by his plan to resurrect the Taltos race. He has a female Taltos, and he plans to find a male so they can mate.
Contrary to the average opinions on Amazon, I enjoyed this more than I did The Witching Hour. The Taltos race was an interesting concept, and we got a lot more detail about them. (This was presumably also present in Lasher, but I haven't read it.) It also lacked a lot of the problems I had with The Witching Hour: it had a coherent plot--even if there were several threads, the story itself held together quite well; and while there were still a few tangential flashbacks, they weren't nearly as numerous or intrusive as those in The Witching Hour.
However. I was completely creeped out by Mona, and not in the way you're creeped out by vampires or spiders, but in a lose-my-lunch kind of way. The nonchalant way an "affair" between a 12-year-old and a man in his 40s was handled pushed my squick buttons hard. The affair was bad enough, but that it was presented as normal.... Added to that is the fact that she's treated as the head of the family, and everyone defers to her. She's 12. T W E L V E. Not 18, not 16, not even 14--12. She's a child. Nope, just could not swallow this. As with the other witches in The Witching Hour, we're told she's very powerful, which might account for some of the attitude, if we ever saw any evidence of that power, which we don't.
And then there was the stylistic choice that was seriously nails-on-the-chalkboard irritating. Mona becomes friends with her teenage cousin Mary Jane. I rather liked Mary Jane, but she talks like this:
I'll get it, you rest there against that tree, that's the tree I told you about, the cypress tree, oldest one in these parts, you see this was the pond out there, the little pond???? You know??? Where the family would go rowing??? Here, take the lantern, the handle doesn't get hot.Grrrrr. Why use 3 and 4 question marks? One would do, really, to show the speech patterns. Just bugged the heck out of me. I'm not even going to mention the comma splices. Of course, if I'd loved the rest of the book, that would be a minor niggle.
Though I liked it better than the first of the trilogy, even if Mona had been 16 or 18, I wasn't more than mildly interested in the story. Mona at 12 just made me disgusted.
I have two more Anne Rice books in my TBR pile. They were, in fact, at the top, since they'd been random picks a while ago, but I'd postponed reading them until I read the earlier books (The Mummy and The Witching Hour). I picked up the next one to read--one of the vampire ones, I can't remember which--and found myself reading very skeptically, expecting to dislike it. So I put them both back on the bottom of the TBR pile until I get my annoyance with this series out of my head.
...more
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, Horror
Labels: 3.5 stars, books, horror
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
morning or night quiz
I found this on Melody's blog:
No surprises here.
Categories: AboutMe
| You Are a Night Person |
 For you, there's nothing worse than having to get up and moving early. In fact, you probably don't hit your peak until well after the sun has set. So if you're struggling to make it on a normal schedule, realize it's not your fault. You just weren't meant to do anything during the day! |
No surprises here.
Categories: AboutMe
Labels: quiz
Monday, June 11, 2007
The Dream Hunter
***** The Dream Hunter by Laura Kinsale. Historical romance.
I'm slowly working my way through Kinsale's backlist. There are so few books that I have to spread them out, and I'm dreading the time when there are no more left for me to discover.
I always feel at a loss when discussing Kinsale's books--there's just so much to them.
The Dream Hunter is the story of Zenia and Lord Winter. She is the illegitimate daughter of an English lord and a powerful Englishwoman who's lived in the north African desert for all of Zenia's life. Lord Winter is an only son who's become an adventurer in reaction to first overprotection and then pressure to settle down.
He was born to wealth and privilege and plenty of loving, if stifling, attention. She was born to a mother who spent wealth as soon as she accrued it with little left for a daughter whose existence she preferred to forget.
They meet when Lord Winter is searching for a fabled horse. Zenia's mother, with whom he'd been acquainted, has just died, and he rescues Zenia, who's disguised as a young Arab boy, from the resulting chaos. He then hires "Selim" as his guide--the cost being to take "him" to England.
Eventually, they're captured, Selim/Zenia's identity is revealed, and... (avoiding spoilers here)... the story moves to England.
This is not your usual romance. In a usual romance, Zenia would be a plucky chit who'd charm everyone, but would retain her desert wildness. If you've read Kinsale before, you know better than to expect the usual. Zenia's much more realistic than that. She's grown up in a culture where women are chattel, and she disguises herself initially, not (like the usual romance heroine) to be marginally more independent, or freer, but to save her life. She fully expects that being discovered to be female would mean being sold into slavery. Her overriding goal, the one thing that keeps her going, is to get to England, find her father, and become an English lady.
Her goal is the exact opposite of Lord Winter's--the kind of life she longs for is exactly what he's trying to escape.
The whole story, the whole conflict between the two of them, stems from their characters, which in turn stem from their histories. It's an amazing piece of characterization, and I'm completely in awe.
The setting is just as vivid--from the hot desert sun (in particular as they're traveling through the most dangerous/arid part of the desert) to the cool greenness of England, I felt I was there.
I just can't rave enough about this book, or Kinsale's writing in general. She's never disappointed me yet.
...more
Categories: Books, 5stars, HistoricalRomance
Labels: 5 stars, books, HistoricalRomance
