Esther Inglis-Arkell on overused character names in fiction:
Katherine, or one of its derivatives, is what you call your main female character when you realize you can’t call her Main Female Character. It has turned, hydra-like, from a name into a multi-headed monster, with Kate, Kay, Kathleen, Caitlin, Cathy, or Cat as its alternatives. I’ve had it pointed out to me that Meg Ryan has played a Katherine-ish name six different times – once she played three Katherines in a row. I’d have to argue that few actresses will have no Katherines on their resume, especially if they play the main character. It’s ubiquitous, and therefore meaningless.
My real first name is Kate, and it is rather refreshing to hear that someone else (especially someone with as refreshingly uncommon a name as Esther) has noticed how often it’s used as a generic everywoman name. If it’s not the main character, it’s the main character’s wife or romantic interest. I mean, I know it’s a common name – one of my best friends is also named Kate, which leads most of our mutual friends to call me Melydia just to differentiate us. (Which is fine by me; I’ve been using that as my primary netname since about 1993.) Still, it’s a touch troubling to find one’s own name to have become a sign of generic, lazy name-choosing. Pick something else, kids. Please.
P.S. – Male names starting with J should be reduced as well. Once I tried reading a book where the first five characters I met were named Johnny, Jack, Jackie, Jerry, and Jimmy. No, I’m not making that up. I had a terrible time keeping track of them.
by Cristina Alger: This is the story of financial royalty, of insanely wealthy families made up entirely of lawyers, investors, bankers, and their quasi-philanthropic spouses. When a family friend of the Darlings commits suicide, all sorts of dirty laundry is unearthed, turning everyone’s world on its head. This was a fascinating introduction to a world completely foreign to me. I found Merrill and Paul quite sympathetic, and while the ending fell flat, the rest of it was a good time. My only real complaint was how much difficulty I had keeping track of all the characters. I could have used an extra sentence or two at the beginning of each chapter to remind me how this person relates to the other people. But it was a decent piece of fiction all the same.
by Cassandra Clare (unabridged audiobook read by Natalie Moore; 15 hrs on 13 discs): Most of this tale takes place in Idris, which is a nice change of scenery. Otherwise it’s more or less more of the same: Valentine is evil, Jace and Clary are conflicted, Simon is awesome. I did have a couple of “noooo don’t die” moments, even during those times when I knew that particular character could never in a million years get killed off, so that was refreshing. All in all, I really enjoyed this world and these characters. I know there are more books in this series, but this ended in a satisfying place.
by Cassandra Clare (unabridged audiobook read by Natalie Moore; 13 hrs on 11 discs): It’s difficult to give a synopsis of this second book of the Mortal Instruments series without completely giving away the first one, but suffice it to say that Clary remains conflicted about Simon and Jace, Magnus remains fabulous, adults still are generally not to be trusted (gah the Inquisitor made me so angry), and Valentine continues to be awful. The plot is once again very easy to follow and predict, but like the first book, I enjoyed the world and its characters enough that I had a marvelous time all the same. Looking forward to the third installment. I understand the series began as a trilogy, so it should have a good solid ending.
by Keith Taylor: A collection of interconnected short stories about Kamose, archpriest of the Egyptian funerary god Anubis. They more or less follow Kamose’s attempts to discover who tried to frame him in the first story, but if he solves the mystery I missed it. All the same, the stories are interesting and a nice blend of Egyptian history and mythology. My favorite stories involved Si-hotep. His tales strayed a little bit from the main story arc, but the creatures and magic involved were great. If you love ancient Egypt, this is probably a good book for you.
by Dan Chabot: The structure of this novel is quite unusual: most of it is the unbelievably saccharine tale of Derry and Amedee’s storybook romance, interspersed with the occasional chapter describing the funeral of some random person. The plot shows up about halfway through, adding quite a bit of interest to the characters’ journeys. This reads a bit like the author took a bunch of anecdotes about real people, embellished them a little bit, and strung them together into a story. There’s no villain or even much conflict to speak of, but the characters are reasonably memorable and the funeral bit is an interesting touch. If you’re in the mood for a quiet, pleasant read that won’t bring you down, give this a try. If you’re looking for a piece of hard-boiled drama, look elsewhere.
by Laurell K. Hamilton (unabridged audiobook read by Kimberly Alexis; 10 hrs on 8 discs): In this second installment of the adventures of Anita Blake, she spends much of her time not wanting to know things. To be fair, there’s a child-killing zombie on the loose, she’s gotten on the bad side of a powerful voodoo priestess, and the master vampire of the city insists that she be his human servant. So there’s a lot on her plate. Luckily, she’s always ready with a clever comment or snide remark. The ending introduces some darker themes, leading me to believe perhaps the series takes a turn for the serious after this, but this particular story was still a lot of fun. Brutally violent at times, but still a fun bit of horror-comedy.
by Laury A. Egan: American artist Jenny Kidd travels to Venice to pursue painting and escape her tyrannical parents. Shortly after arriving she meets eccentric Britishwoman Randi, who invites her to a masked party at the home of the Barbons. There she meets the alluring Caterina and her brother Sebastiano. Jenny spends much of her time in various kinds of confusion, unsure who she loves and who she can trust. The descriptions of paintings and the Venetian scenery are lovely, and while the amount of sex is somewhat surprising to a prude like myself, it doesn’t detract from the story. I finished this far more quickly than I was expecting, having no problem convincing myself to read “just one more chapter” before turning out the light. Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed myself.
by Koji Suzuki: I’ve seen the movie inspired by this book (both the