The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz

Posted by melydia on March 13, 2010 2 comments

The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz: Koontz books are many things – exciting, amusing, preachy, absurd, creepy, fun – but never boring. This book, alas, is boring. The Koontz staples are there – magical dogs, blameless Catholics, bad people with no motive other than being Pure Evil – but they’re all just a bit too yawn-worthy in this story. The baddies spend too much of their time demonstrating how bad they are, from killing strangers for sport to abusing a child with Down’s Syndrome, and very little time having distinguishable personalities. The only time I felt any emotional connection to the story whatsoever was when a dog died, but I always cry when animals die, so that’s not saying much. I’m starting to think Mr. Koontz and I need to break up. Or maybe I should just stick with his older stuff.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

A Call to Arms

Posted by melydia on March 12, 2010 No comment

A quick post to let you know that you should support Shaggy in the Webcomic Planet’s War 2010. He’s the artist behind Binary Souls / Other Dimensions, one of my favorite webcomics. Read all about it here. Thanks!

Write on Wednesday – Birth-days

Posted by melydia on March 11, 2010 2 comments

Today’s WoW is about birthdays. Coincidentally, I’m staring down the barrel of the big three-one next week. Last year I celebrated surviving my 20s. This year I’m officially a thirty-something. I didn’t used to be old, but now suddenly everybody calls me “ma’am”. When did that happen? But enough about that. Our fearless WoW leader specifically spelled it “birth-day” which makes me think more specifically about the day of my birth. Which of course I don’t remember, but I’ve heard stories. I know I was the easiest birth for a number of reasons: (1) I was the last of four children; (2) I was the smallest baby; and (3) the next youngest child, my sister, was the largest baby. I’m sure you can imagine the requisite jokes about catcher’s mitts. My brothers babysat my sister while I being born; one of their memories is pushing my sister around in a big cardboard box. Apparently she loved it.

I don’t do much for my birthday these days. We go out to eat, maybe do something fun like visit the aquarium or something, but with the exception of my 30th last year I hardly ever throw parties. This year, however, I get Tokyo for my birthday. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to top that.

Site Updates

Posted by melydia on March 10, 2010 No comment

I’ve been doing things to my site! No, really! And because I love lists, you get one:

  • Automatically updated alphabetical (by title) lists of the books and movies I’ve reviewed on this blog.
  • A handy-dandy contact form to the About page. Bracing myself for the influx of spam.
  • I joined Book Blogs, which I’ve discovered is pretty much the biggest book blogger group out there. And since I’ve finally accepted the fact that I am indeed a book blogger, I’ve decided to embrace it.
  • I signed up on Squidoo. Check out my lenses (articles) about Markeroni and Sine Fine Films.
  • I’m also now on Formspring. Ask me questions.

I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies) by Laurie Notaro

Posted by melydia on March 9, 2010 No comment

I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies) by Laurie Notaro: A collection of autobiographical essays from one of the funnier writers I’ve come across. Though in places too acerbic to be truly uproarious, once you get into Notaro’s groove her rants and tangents range are pretty darn funny. There were times I laughed aloud – no mean feat, considering I was reading this on an exercise bike. Her descriptions of the tampon flying out of her purse, the spontaneously exploding pants, and her attempts to “love everybody” while at CostCo on a weekend were particularly memorable. A short book, but good for a quick laugh.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

No Greater Sacrifice by John C. Stipa

Posted by melydia on March 8, 2010 4 comments

No Greater Sacrifice by John C. Stipa: Independently wealthy archaeologist Renee and troubled history professor David are summoned to a small village in France to hear the reading of a will. Though ostensibly strangers, it turns out the pair met a couple years before while vacationing (separately) in Rome, and their pasts intertwine even more. Their romance blooms in fits and starts, which didn’t really interest me all that much but luckily was not a huge chunk of the story. Rather, the plot focuses on a strange artifact, broken into pieces and scattered throughout Europe. Finding and reassembling them becomes an obsession for Renee and David. The flavor is distinctly reminiscent of Dan Brown, except with far superior writing and less exasperating characters.

I think my favorite part was how our heroes pursue the secret of their inheritance purely out of personal interest and thirst for adventure. Yes, they’re being chased by bad guys, but that’s external drama and does not drive their quest. They could have simply forgotten about it and gone home, but of course then we wouldn’t have had a story. Luckily, Renee and David let their curiosity get the better of them, and have some grand adventures in the process. Parts were clearly written with a camera lens in mind, but that actually made the action easier to visualize. Though I was still slightly confused as to what the Big Secret ended up being in the end, I had no problem keeping track of the myriad of players. All in all, a good first novel.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Pet Peeves

Posted by melydia on March 3, 2010 2 comments

Everyone has little things in books that bug them, ranging in reaction from minor irritation to a full-on “if this is there I will stop reading immediately.” Here are some of mine, in no particular order:

  • A man falling in love with a prostitute (a.k.a. the hooker with the heart of gold). It’s been done, people. Done to death.
  • Conflict/drama caused entirely by people not telling each other things. This drives me insane. Yes, I get that people have secrets, but too often characters hold back because (1) they have a martyrdom complex and don’t want to burden anyone with their problems, or (2) they think people just wouldn’t understand, and don’t even give them the chance to decide. It’s dumb, and it’s even worse when it’s the entire reason pretty much everything in the plot happens. If I can read a book and think “if they’d only told each other everything from the start, we could have avoided pretty much the entire story,” it really irritates me, and it’s a sign of weak writing.
  • Large amounts of foreign language. I was going to say it only bugs me when it’s not translated, but it also bothers me when people say things in a foreign language and it’s immediately translated into English. The occasional word is fine, but paragraphs or entire conversations get very tiresome. It’s a great word-padding trick for NaNoWriMo but I’d rather it were left out of published novels.
  • Conversations that are described instead of printed. Jane Austen was particularly bad about this, but she’s far from the only offender. The only exception to this is if the information would be a repeat of what the reader already knows.
  • Stories that don’t end. Now, I don’t need all the loose ends to be tied up, but I do need a story to have a satisfying (though not necessarily happy) ending. When it just stops and it’s left totally up to the reader to decide what happens (such as in The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber), I feel like I’ve completely wasted my time reading it. If I wanted to write my own ending, I would have written my own story. Finish what you start!
  • Authors that don’t do basic research. I’m not talking about little anachronisms in historical fiction; I mean truly basic information that anyone with even a passing acquaintance with the topic would know. James Patterson is a good example. He sets many of his novels in the DC metro area (which happens to be where I live) and then makes such glaring mistakes as inventing a mysterious city in Virginia called Church Falls and asserting that locals refer to the Smithsonian Institution as “The Smithy”. (We don’t. Seriously, nobody says that.) If you want to make up stuff, don’t set it in a real place. All you’re doing is irritating the natives.

I’m sure there are more I’m not thinking of. What are your pet peeves in books?

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

Posted by melydia on March 2, 2010 2 comments

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan: The paths of two teenagers, both named Will Grayson, cross one fateful night. Their stories are told in alternating chapters, and their personalities (and writing styles) are different enough that it’s easy to keep track of who’s narrating. But despite the title and narrators, this book is in many ways more about the larger-than-life Tiny Cooper and his struggles with identity, love, and musical theater. I loved and empathized with all the characters. I was at times horrified and delighted at the various twists and turns in the plot, always wanting more more more. And this is one book I wish came with a soundtrack so I can actually hear all the songs in Tiny Dancer/Hold Me Closer. In short, I was completely and utterly sucked in. This was my gym book – that is, the book that lived in my gym bag to be read while on the exercise bike – and I found that I didn’t want to get off the bike when my thirty minutes were up. Now that, my friend, is the mark of an engrossing book. I’ve already added pretty much the entire combined catalogs of Green and Levithan to my wish list, and I hope fervently that they write another book together. Highly recommended.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Messenger by Lois Lowry

Posted by melydia on February 26, 2010 No comment

Messenger by Lois Lowry: Matty is the messenger for Village, the one who can brave Forest to deliver messages between various settlements. The story begins at a pivotal moment in his life: he’s discovered a wonderful and terrifying ability, he will soon receive his True Name, and Village, founded as a sanctuary for refugees, is considering closing its doors. It is the third of a loose trilogy that began with The Giver (a truly excellent novel) – that is, it takes place in the same universe and has some overlapping characters. I never read the second book, Gathering Blue, but I didn’t feel like I needed to. Truth be told, I wasn’t that impressed with this story. It was too predictable, even for a young adult book. Maybe I’d have liked it better had I read Gathering Blue (or at least more recently read The Giver) but I doubt it. Usually I like dystopian tragedies but this felt forced. All in all, not one of Lowry’s better books.

Also posted on BookCrossing.

Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh

Posted by melydia on February 23, 2010 No comment

Hollywood Moon by Joseph Wambaugh: It’s never a dull moment for the cops of Hollywood Station. The overarching plot is about a master of disguise, a handful of con men, and a handsome teenager just beginning to embrace his inner psychopath. In addition, there are plenty of little asides along the way – funny and/or poignant conversations between the cops, bizarre incidents with criminals, and the like – which keep the action moving. All the characters were great, but I enjoyed the surfer cops the most. Something about the lingo makes me chuckle every time. As far as I can tell, this is the third Hollywood Station book, but I didn’t ever feel like I was missing something. My only real complaint was that the ending felt a touch forced. However, the rest of the story was so good I can overlook that.

I listened to this on audio, read by Christian Rummell, who was absolutely excellent. Not only is he a great narrator, but he is also the man of a thousand voices. Even his female voices are convincing and distinct!

Also posted on BookCrossing.
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