Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

( 49 ) A Southern Vampire novel / Sookie Stackhouse book 9

I liked this one. It was, like all the other SV books, a pretty quick read. I don’t have anything deep to say, just a few random comments.  Yay for bulleted lists!

• I appreciated finally getting to learn more about Eric’s past.
• The scene with Quinn just didn’t jibe with the character he has been in previous books in the series. A good guy turning into a real jerk is nothing new, but doing so with little to no warning is irksome.
• The main plot point, the fae war, was resolved in a way that was both too pat and too simplistic for my taste (and kind of made me feel like my time was wasted paying attention to the politics, learning the names, etc).
• I love that Sookie is so real. She argues with herself about the morality of killing to survive, particularly killing someone actively trying to kill you. And I adore that she does it w/o getting all existential or angsty like some other paranormal heroines.
• It was dark.  Characters die in these books, it goes with the genre, but there was a LOT of it in this one. And many of them were unnecessary deaths (did nothing to significantly move the plot forward).WTH is up with introducing us to half a dozen new peeps just to kill em off?
• The torture. Okay, I don’t actually want to read detailed descriptions of torture, but this just rang false. There’s a lot of the character talking to herself about how she’ll never be the same again, but the experience is glossed to the point where suspension of disbelief became impossible, for me.
• Bill?  Come on, now, really? That’s all I have to say about that.

I liked it, I’ll read the next one in the series—from the library.

6/10

Just One Wish by Janette Rallison

( 48 )

I enjoyed this.  It was a quick little read, and I liked the humor.  I was kinda pissed at the ending, but I sort of saw it coming.  The pat religious answer at the end disappointed me, but it tie things up neatly.  That said, I enjoyed the voice and style of the MC and would like to see another book featuring her, though I doubt it will happen.

7/10

We Never Talk About My Brother by Peter S. Beagle

( 47 )

A mixed bag, didn’t like a lot of it, though I wanted to. LOVED the bad poetry battle though, and the lyrical language of chamsail.

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

( 46 ) A Stephanie Plum Between-the-Numbers novel

I enjoy the b-t-n books, but I don’t think this one was as strong as some of the others (loved! the valentine’s one, Plum Lovin’) but it was still a fun, light little vacation read.

6/10

Tithe by Holly Black

( 45 )

After listening to The Spiderwick Chronicles over the last few weeks I went into this a little afraid–I didn’t care for them and was afraid I wouldn’t like Black’s solo projects either.

I was wrong. It got off to a rocky start, but was definitely worth it.  More after book club on Sunday.

8/10

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

( 44 )

This was a re-read for my book club–my choice even.

I have to say, I liked it better the first time.  I realized, when re-reading it, that what I’d enjoyed most about the book was the basic underlying concept. Said concept is outlined in the preface to the book.  Reading the book is like a long, novelized “What-if”. If the concept in the preface is correct, what would it be like…?

It gives meat to the bones laid out in the beginning, but it’s not necessary.  It took me a long time to slog through this second reading–I doubt that there will be a third.

Or it could be that it’s much too deep for vacation reading, who knows?

6/10

Homespun by Nilita Vachani

( 43 )

I wanted to like this, I did, but the jumping through time and perspectives annoyed the hell out of me and made for a less than coherent whole.

5/10

The Spiderwick Chronicles, Vol 1-5 by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black

( 42 )

J & I listened to this over a few weeks. We enjoyed them, though not all of it was a surprise since she saw the movie version last year with her Dad.

For me, had I read these individually they would have annoyed the hell out of me.  These were not five books — it was one ong manuscript teased apart into five shorter books so that the length would appeal to the target audience’s age. Well, maybe not, but that was how they read.

Plotting was good, characters were nice, and Mark Hamill’s reading was pretty good.  We had a little trouble distinguishing a few of the characters (they sounded the same) but there were a lot of characters in these books, too, so it’s understandable.

Not bad, all in all, but glad I didn’t buy it.

Story: 7/10

Reading: 6/10

Joker’s Wild: Call Me by Lena Matthews

( 41 )

Blech. I was gonna say this just kinda sucked, but, considering the subject matter, that might be taken as a compliment.

This was not entertaining. The writing was marginal, the plot outside the sex worse than thin, and all the references to and emphasis on rear-entry intercourse just really turned me off (no inference intended, I just plain didn’t like it.)

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

( 40 )  A Novel of the Dresden Files

I lurve this series.  It’s smart, it’s serious, it’s funny, and the sex, what very little there is, isn’t graphic or the main point of the story.  You know how hard it is to find that in a long-running series about magic in an alternate Earth? nigh impossible.

I enjoyed the hell out of this book and was pleasantly surprised by how many times I thought the story was almost done and would put my bookmark in and discover I had more book left than I thought.

I was, however, severely disappointed by the ham-handed foreshadowing. The minute our bad guy was introduced, I knew it was going to be him. I actually got kinda mad at Harry for taking so long to figure it out. I think it’s because the character was in a position I’ve been in.  I get how overlooked someone like that is, and how they have access to everything.  The convo with McCoy early on was an overdone reminder of this fact.

Minor characters in Dresden novels are kind of like minor characters on Star Trek (the original series)–if you are introduced to them they are likely going to (a) die soon (b) figure more prominently in another book later in the series, or (c) be a bad guy/girl.

Despite this glaring flaw, I lurved it and can’t wait for the next one.

On a side note—I am not a huge swords & horses fantasy reader, outside of a few classics. I want someone who has read them to give me an opinion on Butcher’s Fury series before I pick one up.

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

( 39 )

Can I just say that Alan Moore is, outside of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume 1, an unmitigated plotting and dialogue genius?

I loved this book.  I loved the movie (Hugo Weaving was superb, fantastic chilling yet enthralling delivery of amazing dialogue) and was afraid the book would be too different for my taste. Not so.

The book was less flashy, but with more depth—we got to know more about minor characters who in the end prove to be not so minor at all. I found myself almost glad that none of the major catchphrases from the movie were in the book’s dialogue.

A fantastic story in both mediums (though I thought Portman weak and a poor choice for the movie, even more so after reading the book) and one that should be appreciated in both.

8.5 out of 10; would be higher but I was not as excited by David Lloyd’s art as I was with Moore’s storytelling.

Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West

( 38 )

I’ve got a friend (waves at Candy) who digs Southern lit, so I’ve been reading a little more of it the last few years. I liked this book, I enjoyed the story, but the technical issues drove me mad.

When you are changing from one character’s perspective to another, sometimes a mere chapter change is not enough of an indicator.  I hated having to get a full page into a chapter before being able to readily identify which character was telling the story.  Particularly with not one, not two, but ~four~ semi-interchangeable old Southern women narrators. The addition of the MCs boyfriend as a perspective character at the tail end of the book annoyed the hell out of me, too, as well as the 2 or 3 times the MC’s dad told the story.  Sure, in the dad’s case it was a perspective we needed in order to move the story forward, but the way it was done was untidy.

Which brings me to my other big gripe about this book, and the one that most thoroughly pulled me OUT of the story to notice the technical flaw.  During the storytelling chapters, when a character was telling a story from the past to Renata (the MC), they would refer to her in third person.  It read like Gladys or Honora was speaking to the reader about the MC, not speaking to the MC.  For me, that tore it.  I lost the illusion. Until that started happening (more toward the latter half of the book–sloppy editing?) I could imagine myself as the MC having all these conversations with myself and my family, discovering my past. Until my Great-Aunt started speaking about me like she was talking to a stranger…

See what I mean?

I loved the plot, and the characters, particularly Isabella, and, oddly enough, Louie, but the shifting POV thing left me cold.  I ~might~ recommend it, but would NOT re-read it.

For Candy— say 6 out of 10

White Witch Black Curse by Kim Harrison

( 37 ) Rachel Morgan, book 7

This was SO good.  I don’t know if it had a lot to chew on, or I just had a lot going on this week, since I spent the first couple days this week propping my dad up through his dad’s funeral and was trying to read this at the end of my extremely long days.

No new, major revelations… Unless you count finding the missing killer from book , uh, 5 I think.  That was a rather unsatisfying end to an overlong story arc, IMHO, but it closed down most of what was left hanging and opened the series up to move forward in a new direction, so I guess it will do.  Can’t wait for book 8!

The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison

( 36 ) Rachel Morgan, book 6

Book 7 came out and I couldn’t remember book 6, even though I know I’ve already read it, so I read it again.  Enjoyed it more this time, I think–read it superfast like brain candy the first time.

I love this series.  It’s paranormal, it features a smart female MC, and it’s sexy. It is NOT however chock full of graphic sex scenes with a 100 pages of thin plot thrown in to keep it off the “Adult” shelves (ala Laurell K).

Some surprising revelations about Rachel in this one, that surprised even her, that make it a worthwhile read and an important set-up for book 7, which will make no sense w/o book 6.  Trust me, I tried.

The Song of the Wanderer by Bruce Coville

( 35 ) The Unicorn Chronicles, book 2

Another 2nd in a trilogy that surpassed the first.  I think this is common with kids/J Fic series. Since the first book has to set it all up, the series tend not to get really good til the 2nd one.

Read this one because J is reading it, but I had to finish mine and return it to the library.  She is still slogging through her copy and its killing me ’cause I ~totally~ want to get her take on a the multiple twists/revelations at the end.

Grrr… Read faster me girl!