Wednesday is Library Day!- The dark and depressing

I read two books this last week... And both were extremely dark and depressing. I don't know how I ended up reading them both in the same week, but at least I can say I've read them and will never do so again.
*****

The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde

From the cover: A celebrated playwright and poet, Oscar Wilde also penned incomparable nonviction and fiction- and lovely gemlike fairy tales. Filled with princes and nightingales, mermaids, giants, and kings, his tales carry the mark of his signature iron and subtle eroticism. This volume brings together all the stories found in Wilde's two collections, The Happy Prince and Other Tales and A House of Pomegranates. Published here alongside their evocative original illustrations, these fairy tales, as Wilde himself explained, were written "partly for children, and partly for those who have kept the childlike faculties of wonder and joy."

The Importance of Being Earnest is one of my favorite plays, so when I ran across this little volume of fairy tales I was delighted. I had no idea what I was picking up...
I've read several of these before- The Happy Prince, and The Birthday of The Infanta both stand out as stories I've read before, and a couple of the others felt familiar.
First off, let me say there's no way I'd let my children read this until they are at least 13. They're dark with an over-riding sense of doom, but more than that they paint a very hopeless picture of humanity.
Most of the stories portray selfishness as destruction, and self-lessness as a lost & hopeless cause. A nightingale gives up his life so that a lover can give a red rose to his girl, which she then throws on the ground and tramples...
I'm glad I read them again. The stories are all beautifully written, but I came away from this compilation sad and heart-broken for the author.


Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson
From the Cover: Lia and Cassie are best friends, wintergirls frozen in fragile bodies, competitors in a deadly contest to see who can be the thinnest. But then Cassie suffers the ultimate loss- her life- and Lia is left behind, haunted by her friend's memory and feeling guilty for not being able to help save her.
In her most powerfully moving novel since Speak, award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson explores Lia's struggle, her painful path to recovery, and her desperate attempts to hold on the the most important thing of all - hope.

I knew exactly what I was getting into with this novel- an honest portrayal of anorexia, depression, guilt and an excellent novel.
I hated this story and loved it.
As a teacher & minister, I was struck again with how dark the future is for kids with anorexia- how hard this disease is to overcome. As a mom I was horrified at the thought of what this poor child was doing to her body and how much it messed with her mind.
Anderson is a fantastic author- she allows the reader to experience the deterioration of Lia's thought process and the 'control' that a person with anorexia so desperately seeks through starvation and drugs. The more control she gains over her body and cravings, the less control she actually has...
Well worth the read, beautifully written.

Wednesday is Library Day!- Strangers & Lifelines

I actually haven't read much lately... I've been hiding out in beads, TV, and solitaire. Actually easier to turn my brain off doing something other than reading right now. Weird.
***


Strangers by Dean Koontz

From the cover: They were strangers. A handful of people. From different backgrounds, living in different towns and cities across America, they had nothing in common- except fear.
They were victims. Cold and stark, an unknown terror gripped their dreams and turned their days into living nightmares.
They were chosen. And they could not escape. Deep in the heart of a sprawling desert, a dark memory called out to them, drawing them to the Tranquility Motel- where the terrifying truth was waiting...


I enjoyed Strangers so much that I've read it a total of three times so far. I like the characters, the plot moves quickly, even though it is long (680 pages), and the various situations are compelling. I like the book very much.
The haunting horrible mystery that draws all of the people together. The intriguing memories. The paranormal powers. Friendships, love, a touch of romance. Good guys against bad guys. Yup, good story.



Lifelines by CJ Lyons

From the cover: July 1st- Transition Day. The most dangerous day of the year. The day staff at Pittsburgh's Angels of Mercy Medical Center brace themselves for the arrival of the cocky, untested new interns. It's also the first day for L.A.-transplant Lydia Fire, the new ER attending physician. Not a good day to lose a patient- especially not the chief of surgery's son. Now to save her career, Lydia must discover the truth behind her patient's death, even as it leads her into unfamiliar- and risky- territory.
At least she's not alone. There's med student Amanda, a sweet Southern belle with problems of her own; Gina, a resident with a chip on her shoulder; and Nor, the no-nonsense charge nurse with a cool head but a fiery temper. Not to mention the paramedic who'd like to try out his bedside manner on Lydia. These four women will learn to depend on each other in their fight to save lives- because everyone needs a lifeline...


I was disappointed with this book. Yes, the medical details are exacting and exciting. Yes, the plot moves. Yes, there's tons of stuff going on...
In fact, I thought there was too much going on. Too many characters- I got mixed up on a couple of them (specifically Amanda and Nora) and would have appreciated a little more clarification and differentiation between them- They seemed very similar to me.
Some of the story-line/plot bits got a little jumbled and turned around... There's a riot downtown and a bomb and a gunman and poisonings... And a bad guy, except he's a surgeon. And then the bad guy isn't the surgeon. And then there's two bombs... And one of the characters has tremors, and the other was raped, and one of the others has a bad childhood... Too much!
Anyway, the back of the book claims that it's about these women learning to depend on each other, but they don't. They rarely interact at all. In fact, during the biggest crisis they are all in different places and doing different things and not working together. I don't know that I read a single scene where all of the characters were in the same room...
I'd probably only give the book a C, but lots of other readers have loved it so I must be missing something. http://cjlyons.net/books/reviews/

Wednesday is LIBRARY Day!

Two books to share- both paranormal.
*****

The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

From the cover: Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers. Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him. Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.

Beth loaned me this book, which often means I will hate it. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The Body Finder is a coming-of-age novel, which I generally enjoy. However, this one was particularly interesting because of Violet's struggle to use her abilities to help others. She has always hated her ability, but choosing to use it to find the killer is interesting.I enjoyed the relationship between Violet and Jay. I loved the relationship Violet had with her parents. I enjoyed the mystery, and Violet and Jay's attempts to find the killer. His reaction to her choices is completely believable- my husband would flip out if I put myself in the situations this little naive thing keeps walking into...
Caveat: I would want to talk to my daughter about this book if she chose to read it- the lust/romance tension in the book is pretty high for a teenager and I'd want to talk to her about the wisdom of hanging out alone in your bed-room with your boy-friend for hours on end...

House of Cards by C.E. Murphy (the 2nd book in the Negotiator Trilogy)
From the cover: New York City's only legal counsel to the fabled Old Races, Margrit Knight is levelheaded in all matters extraordinary. But when she's summoned to negotiate a peace treaty among rival factions, her own mortal world threatens to fall apart.
Margrit's been in hot water before, but reentering the underworld brings a new set of problems. And a new set of friends and enemies, including a ruthless vampire mobster, a dragonlord who won't take no for an answer, a band of subversive selkies... oh, and Alban Korund, the sexy gargoyle who got her into this mess- and whose granite-strong touch still haunts her every fantasy...

I love C.E. Murphy's Walker Papers books, and I enjoyed the first one in this series- Heart of Stone. However, this one is SLOW... It is very detail-oriented and political, recording all the machinations of each faction.
I just want something to happen... And it never really does. I have put the book down several times, and moved on to something else. I have a LOT going on with Farmer's Market open again- special orders for customers and stuff to get done. I wish this book held my attention better than it does. Pretty sad.

Wednesday WAS Library Day!

Oh, Wuh-Laa!

I missed library day yesterday! Amidst the writing deadlines & the internet outages & the PT appointments & driving children to and fro & the four hours in the metalsmithing shop it just didn't get done.

So, I will make up for it today! =)

****

Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs

From the cover: Examining a badly decomposed corpse is de rigueur for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. But puzzling damage on the body of a shooting victim, an Orthodox Jewish man, suggests this is no ordinary Montreal murder. When a stranger slips Tempe a photograph of a skeleton unearthed at an archaeological site, Tempe uncovers chilling ties between the dead man and secrets long buried in the dust of Israel. Traveling there with Detective Andrew Ryan, Tempe plunges into an international mystery as old as Jesus, and centered on the contoversial discovery of Christ's tomb. Has a mastermind lured her into an elaborate hoax? If not, Tempe may beon the brink of rewriting two thousand years of history- if she can survive the foes dead set on burying her.

Normally, I thoroughly enjoy Reichs mysteries. I enjoy her characters and the situations and the archeological explorations that span from the U.S. to Canada to Mexico. However, I found this one slow and annoying.

My impression was that she was trying to cash in on the popularity of The Davinci Code by pandering to those who want to de-construct Christianity. But since this was obviously fiction it just didn't cross over into that realm of fact-search.

Heart of Gold by Sharon Shinn

From the Cover: A scientist by nature... he used his rational powers of observation to examine more closely the privileges he was born to enjoy- and the people he was raised to despise.

A rebel at heart... she followed her fiercest passions in the struggle to overthrow a legacy of hate- one that had poisoned her family for generations.

On a planet divided... between rich and poor, strong and weak, intellect and feeling, only one thing could bring these two opposites together: a stricly forbidden desire.

For justice. for equality. For each other...

Sharon Shinn is one of my favorite authors, but this just did not reach her noral caliber of writing. Shinn has created a believable and fascinating world, fraught with racial and gender issues, and I loved the characters. I enjoyed the story and the world.

She created an interesting situation, but it felt like she wasn't given as much time as she needed for the idea to flourish. The first half of the story is rather slow and almost dreamy, while the second half feels too quick, smashed and forced. Also, the touch of romance while definitely necessary in this heavy and stifling world wasn't quite believable and felt formulaic.

Well worth reading and committing the time, but not up to her normal quality of writing.

Dust to Dust by Beverly Connor

From the cover: FBI agent turned private investigator Ross Kingsley comes to Diane Fallon for help after his client's family suffers a double tragedy. Nine years ago the client's son went to prison for rape and murder. Now his daughter is dead under suspicious circumstances, and her father believes she was killed uncovering evidence of her brother's innocence.

Against her better judgment, Diane agrees to help her old FBI friend. Now she is about to discover that crime can have deep roots, and that some bones, like secrets, are deadly to uncover- especially when there are skeletons in the closet.

I've never read any of Connor's mysteries, and put off reading this one till I had almost nothing else. I was surprised at how involved I became with the world and the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this twisty, rich and detailed mystery. Her characters (while a little over-detailed) are interesting and I found myself drawn into the tragedy and needing to find out what had happened.

This is the sixth or seventh in the Diane Fallon mysteries and I look forward to finding the rest in the library.