For a minute, I thought I’d already read Stage Fright but no, I hadn’t. And I’m sort of wishing I never picked it up. I used to like Jane Lawless but she was pretty wishy washy in this book.
That’s two dyke mysteries that have left me cold in the last week. Maybe it’s me? I’ll go read another and we’ll find out.
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters was one of the oddest books I have ever read. It was also one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It was also one of the LONG-WINDEDEST books I have ever read (Long-windedest is a great word, I know! It should totally be in the dictionary!).
I finished the book last night and I have absolutely no idea how to describe it to you. Or what it all meant. In that way, it reminds me of House of Leaves which holds a special place in our lives, even though we have no idea what it was about, or what it meant. I believe Glass Books/Dream Eaters is going to be that kind of book for us.
I wandered over to Amazon and read the reviews, to see if those would help. They don’t. The one I agree with most can be para-phrased like this “Somewhere in this 750 page, over-written, novel was an amazing 400 page novel.” That is very, very truet. The writing, was dense. The story-telling, just a little convoluted.
The three heroes, wonderful. The bad guys, ummm there were so many. Too many, I think. The premise, the glass books – excellent idea! Really fabulous. The sex, wonderful! The alchemy and religion, very good too.
Sigh. Someone speak to the author please. Don’t let him do this again. Really, a great story is in there and that’s why I’ve plopped it into my “favorites” category. It’s just too bad it was such a struggle, such a painful struggle. If I could have looked into the blue glass, it might have helped clear the fog a bit. But since I couldn’t, sigh… reading should just not be that painful.
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Is Killer Dreams a sequel or something? It felt like it and that bugged me because I hate reading a sequel before I’ve read the original.
Anyway, as with the odd book or two I’ve read by Iris Johansen, Killer Dreams is nothing to write home about. If you want a drama that doesn’t make you think and you don’t mind some silly dialogue sprinkled throughout the story, then you won’t mind Killer Dreams a bit. If you like to read dramatic thrillers at the beach or on some other vacation, then this will do the job.
If you prefer something substantial – something really GOOD, this isn’t it. Try Dexter instead.
TW was pretty troubled by the idea of her kids reading The Rules of Survival. Not that they’ve read this, they haven’t. It’s just the idea that this book is a young adult book – something RJ might pick up off of the shelf – that idea troubled her. It didn’t trouble me at all.
Some kids do live this way and I think all kids should know this. Life isn’t all peaches and cream and sometimes people who say “I love you” are the ones who are doing their damnedest to hurt you. That. Is. Life. For some kids.
Nicely written book. Good ending, which is often not the case with “problem books”. Possibly triggering for kids who’ve lived with abuse or adults who have survived it.
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Until reading Diary yesterday, I’d never read a book by Chuck Palahniuk. I know, you’re shocked. As much as I read, you’d think… well yea, you would wouldn’t you? I’m not sure why I haven’t read one before. I’ve certainly SEEN Fight Club and I’ve certainly meant to read his books before. I think I went so far as to get Lullaby from the library over the summer but I never managed to read it. (Neither did Michelle, and she’s the one who asked me to get it in the first place!)
Anyway, about Diary. I liked it a lot. Very non-horror Stephen King-like in some ways. Very “Fight Club-like” in other ways. I really liked the art lessons sprinkled into the coma diary. I hope Michelle finds time to read this before it has to go back to the library – or maybe she can borrow it from Jared who is a huge Palahniuk fan. I’d hate for her to miss it – and I think this might make a better movie than Fight Club did.
Sigh. Detective Delafield, you were not at your best in Hancock Park. Are you showing your age? Or is it Katherine Forrest who is showing hers? I can’t decide. All I know is that I don’t like it and I hope we see improvements with the next Kate Delafield mystery.
The good detective is a drinker and should definitely get that under control. I’m all for that. She’s also the kind of dyke who doesn’t wander around the sisterhood with a rainbow bumper sticker attending empowerment seminars and that should not change at all. Leave the woman alone. Let her do her job and go home to a nice g/f at the end of a hard day. Or let her do her job and go home with a screwed up lesbian relationship at the end of the day. But quit beating her up about not being an active participant in the community. That’s BS and Katherine Forrest should really know better, shouldn’t she?
Yes, she should.
Katie blogged about Frangipani and she said the magic words “If you like Precious Ramotswe…” I do, so I reserved one from our library. It is very Precious Ramotswe-like.
Women’s wisdom. Traditional Tahitian values. If Precious’ infant daughter had not died, then this is the type of story Mma Ramotswe would be telling.
Thank goodness! I actually enjoyed The Fourth Bear! OK not as much as I have enjoyed all of the Thursday Next books but I did enjoy it a lot. Tons more than the first Nursery Crimes book.
In the Humpty Dumpty book I didn’t much care for Mary Mary and I found Ashley a ridiculous character entirely. This time around, I liked them both. I also loved Punch & Judy. I’m still not thrilled about Prometheus and that whole storyline but I can overlook that now.
So what do you think – is The Gingerbread Man a cookie or is he cake? It’s important that you know for sure which he is…
From Here to Reality was a nice, easy read. A bit of a mystery, but not much of one. A bit of a love story, but not much of one of those, either. Just a nice NYC/LA book with interesting characters and happy endings all around. Not quite a beach read, but a nice book to read if you’ve just read a ton of really serious books and need something a little light to recover.
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I’ve done it. I’ve finally read all of the books from the Booker Short List. The Emperor’s Children was the last. It was also one that I thought I would like more than most of the others. Now that I’ve finished, I’m finding it difficult to decide just how I felt about it – other than pleased it did not win the Booker. I also find it troubling that this book was on the Booker Short List at all – what got it there? Simply the 9/11 storyline? It feels that way to me, and I don’t like it.
I liked the book, I enjoyed it very much. But it didn’t feel like a Booker nominee to me. It felt like any other nicely written novel I’ve read this year. The characters were incredibly typical, stereotypical even, and predictable. Not a single shocking characteristic, not a single surprise, no unexpected twists. These characters could be dropped into a zillion other books and fit right in.
None of this is bad – it wasn’t a bad book. It was a good book. I liked it. And, I’m glad it didn’t win the Booker. You should read it though, you’ll like it too.
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