Celtic Thunder Cruise

This is not a book related post. I apologize for the extended absence, and I promise that there is a book post coming, soonish. For now, please enjoy the recap of my experience on the inaugural Celtic Thunder Cruise!

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I had a really great time on the Celtic Thunder Cruise - one of my top 5 vacations of all time. I didn’t go to all the shows, but I did get to the one I really ‘needed’ to see – twice, even! The shore excursions were fantastic We had two shore days, one in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and one in Grand Cayman. The accommodations were fairly comfortable, and, for the most part, I enjoyed spending time with other fans. I was underwhelmed by the food and available merchandise, primarily the selection not the quality – for instance, I had anticipated spending much more money on souvenirs than I did. I suppose that’s a good thing, but I was a little disappointed nonetheless.

This was my first cruise, and I was completely stunned by my first sight of the ships. They’re truly massive! We sailed on Carnival Victory, and all the staff I interacted with were very friendly. I did have trouble getting service at shows in the main theatre, which became a bit uncomfortable considering how much cheering I was doing, but that was the only issue I had with staff. The main ship décor looked very dated and tawdry in the full glare of a Miami afternoon, although the gold and glitter looked alright in the low light of the evenings. The Celtic Thunder specific decorations were fantastic and made me grin every time I noticed them – and they were every where, from full size window decals of the singers as we boarded the ship to CT decals on the glass elevators and the barrel-style tables in the “Thunder Pub”! It was a really wonderful touch.

In Jamaica I took the Dunnes River Falls Jeep Safari tour. It was interesting to drive through the smaller towns, and our driver stopped frequently to show us the different edible plants growing by the road. We saw grapefruit (which we also tasted), banana, pimento (the leaves of which smell like gingerbread!), lemon grass, coconut, ackee, papaya, and coffee trees – it was pretty neat! We also had a stop at a coffee farm, which was highly informative, even though I don’t drink coffee! We drove through St. Anne, where a yard full of adorable school children ran up to the fence and chanted “White People” at us, which was surreal. Then we arrived at the Falls themselves, which were gorgeous! I did not climb them – with my luck, I’d have slipped and re-injured my back – but I did walk the length of them. The water is exceedingly clear, and the terraced rocks are white and pink, surrounded by the deep green and brown of the forest. It’s really one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, it is the definition of a tourist trap, and the local sellers are fairly aggressive in their tactics. I found it especially uncomfortable as they kept asking me who I was traveling with, to which I responded that I was traveling alone. The response was invariably a theme on ‘I can be your boyfriend’ (must control fist of death….)! I tried jerk chicken, as well, because “you have to”! It was very tasty, but I’m a bit squeamish about food – I dislike eating sticky foods with my fingers, and the visible marrow was a bit off-putting. The rice and beans were delicious, though! May be one of my new favourite dishes! The worst part of the Jamaican tour was the rain early on. Because it is an open jeep, those of us sitting in the front seats quickly became soaked. I was the only person on my tour who had bothered to bring a jacket!

Dunnes River Falls

Grand Cayman was as different to Jamaica as night to day! Firstly, the weather was gorgeous the whole day, and secondly the island itself – not only is the terrain completely different (Jamaica is mountainous, Grand Cayman is flat) but the economic differences are highly visible. Even though there is evidence of hurricane damage, and there was a fair amount of flooding from a storm the night before, it’s obvious that GC is far wealthier than Jamaica. Not surprising, in retrospect, but seeing the evidence in such stark relief was a bit jarring. I took the Best of Land and Sea tour, which included a short tour on the semi-submersible Nautilus, a visit to the Tortuga Rum Factory, a stop in Hell, and the turtle farm – which was my second favourite part of the whole week! Unfortunately, due to the storm the night before, visibility on the semi-sub tour was not all that great. We were still able to see lots of Bermuda chub, Sgt. Major Fish, yellow-tailed snapper, and even a sting-ray, but it was pretty murky. The guides were fantastic, though! I thoroughly enjoyed the banter, and felt quite comfortable on board. The rum factory was a little disappointing – it was really just a 15 minute shopping stop. Great for souvenirs, not so great for stories. It’s set-up very prettily, with lots of statues of pirates and antique trucks. I’m sure it’s fun if you have more time. Hell was another very quick stop – 20 minutes, I think. Enough time to rush out and take photos, buy & post a couple nearly blank postcards, and then back on the bus. It was gorgeous, though, a really very interesting formation. I’d heard that it glows red at sunset, but I suspect that was a load of…. Any how, I spotted my first iguana in Hell, so that was neat!

eeeeeee-Iguana!

After Hell, we went to my absolute favourite stop – the turtle farm! They are such beautiful creatures, and it was a thrill to just watch them swimming about, but I was over the moon to get to hold one! They’re absolutely gorgeous, and their skin is super soft. It was amazing, and I will never forget it. Plus, having my picture taken holding a turtle was way cooler than the Celtic Thunder photo-op!

My ‘celebrity sightings’ stories are much tamer than any of the others I’ve heard, and can be counted on one hand, but I know you want to know anyway:

1) Day One, lounging in a deck chair, I was trying to knit (FYI, do not try to knit with a silk/wool blend in +30 degrees – you just felt the yarn as you go) when I thought heard Ryan and turned about to see him and Neil 'people watching' from a couple levels above and behind me, overlooking the Lido deck.

2) Day One, Welcome Party – I found a shady spot against the wall with a couple other ladies, and a group of young men & a young lady came and stood in front of us. I commented to my neighbours that the young men looked out of place amongst the sea of women, but that they appeared to be Irish (sometimes, you can just tell at a glance) so they were probably working. Yeah… it was Goitse. Seem like a nice group of people, but I felt like a dolt for not recognizing them!

3) Day Two, I hadn’t slept well, so I was up for breakfast by 8am. It was a cooler day, so I decided to grab some fruit and dry cereal, head up to a deck chair and see what I could salvage of the previous day’s knitting (turned out to be *nothing*. Totally felted!). As I strolled back towards the chairs I had in mind, Ryan came running toward me. I quickly stepped out of the way (a tiny bit farther than I was stepping out of the way for the other runners) and we both continued on our way. I briefly considered abandoning my deck chair knitting plans, since I didn’t want to appear ‘stalkerish’ but dismissed that as ridiculous. So, I settled myself down, and whenever Ryan came around the corner I just kept my eyes on my knitting.

4) Day Two, I staked out a spot at the bar to watch Neil hosting Karaoke. I was also hoping to catch the NHL scores on the TV at the bar, but apparently no one in the US cares about hockey on Sundays, because it was all NFL, all the time. A bit irritating for me, but Ryan did stop by to have a look at the scores, so not a total loss. ;)

5) Day Five, I was rushing upstairs on my way to something or other, when I saw Colm (surrounded by young women) at the stairs. He had been making his way through the halls signing doors, but I was still a little stunned to run into him. I managed a smile & a quick ‘Hi, Colm!’ as I continued on my way – I got a smile & a ‘Hi’ back for my trouble. Such a nice kid! ;)

And that was it for my ‘non-scripted’ sightings. Tame, I know, but the fact of the matter is I’m a fairly shy person, and hanging out in the more popular areas of the ship by myself would have made me intensely uncomfortable. I was quite disappointed when I found out that the guys were doing photos and signing CD’s for people in the bars in the evenings, but in all honesty, even if I had been there I wouldn’t have gone up to them to ask.

All of which is really beside the point, since I didn’t go on the cruise to ‘hang out’ with any of the performers – I went to see them perform! Every show I saw was fantastic, the sound quality was better than it was for the Mythology performance I saw at the Jack Singer Concert Hall in September, and all the performers seemed to be enjoying the shows as much as the audience did. It was wonderful!

The first evening’s main show was Michael Londra and friends. I’ve only listen to snippets of Mr. Londra’s music online, so the show was entirely new for me. He and the Celtic Fire band were fantastic, and the Irish dancers were a lovely surprise, really amazing. It was a great show, very energetic considering it was the second show and the audience appeared to be pooped! Afterwards, I made my way to the Thunder Pub to catch Goitse’s first show. Wow! Really, truly, a brilliant set! The room was packed and the band was on fire! They are such energetic performers, and Colm and Tadhg in particular seem to be in constant motion. I’ve always love trad, and nothing beats a live show. If you get a chance to see them, please go! You will love it!

Goitse during the deck party

On Sunday, I skipped a lot of the morning events, starting my day’s entertainment at 4 with Neil hosting Karaoke, which was a blast! He’s such a charming guy! He joined a few people in singing their songs, including a very entertaining duet of Margaritaville. Solo, Neil sang “Friends in Low Places”, and wrapped up the afternoon with “Piano Man” – which Colm and Emmet joined him for! The crowd went a bit crazy, and the guys seemed to be having a great time. It was a really fun afternoon!

Colm, Neil, and Emmet singing Piano Man

I ended up skipping the main show that evening, which would have been the Gaelic Rhythm Dance show, because there was already a line forming for Ryan and Neil’s first solo show, which didn’t start for over 3 hours! There had been several announcements throughout the day regarding the earlier solo shows being full hours ahead of their scheduled starting time, and even though this show was in the main lounge, which seats 1000 people, I wasn’t sure whether the upper balcony would be opened for seating and no one could tell me. Since this was the only show I knew I would be absolutely crushed to miss, I chose to skip the main show rather than risk not getting in. The line started out quite civilized, two-people deep against the wall, everyone calm and chatting. About an hour before they opened the doors, I left to use the washroom. When I returned, the “line” had swollen to fill the entire hallway, with everyone pushing forward in an attempt to stop people from cutting in. Shortly after, the group directly behind me in line began ‘singing’ and trying to get the entire line up to sing along with them. It was, quite frankly, a nightmare. I’m literally getting light-headed just recalling it. I don’t do particularly well with crowds in the first place, but to be surrounded by people in a hallway with very low ceilings, and then to have everyone around start yelling and shouting… honestly, I can’t think of a worse situation. I needed to plug my ears and kneel down several times just to keep myself from completely freaking out. It was horrible. I get that everyone else was just ‘having a good time’ but for me, it was the worst possible situation. Once the doors opened, I found myself a seat around the middle of the fourth row on the main level. The sight lines on the main floor weren’t nearly as good as the balcony, but the compensation was that we did get (rather poor) drink service.

The show… my goodness, the show! It was everything I hoped an ABC show would be, and more! It was fantastic that Nicole, Declan and Seamus joined them for the set. I didn’t write down the set-list during the first show, but they sang all the songs from Acoustically Irish, Wagon Wheel, Moon Dance, the first-ever live performance of Ryan’s new song American Dream, Rock n’ Roll Kids (I think?? I may be mis-remembering that!) and an absolutely gorgeous version of Ride On. They started with Wagon Wheel and finished up the set with Saints and Sinners, which was perfect. The banter was very sweet – early on in the show, someone shouted out ‘I love you, Ryan’ to which he responded with ‘Thanks’. Later, someone else screamed out ‘I love you, Neil’ and he said ‘I love you, too’ – then a couple seconds later, Ryan stepped up to the mike and said, super quietly, ‘I love you, too’! It was the cutest thing! It was a bit more awkward toward the end of the show when someone (who I referred to in my journal as a “whack job”) yelled out ‘Ryan, can I have you after the show?’ Neil had some fun with it, but Ryan was visibly flustered. There was talk of getting Sharon’s permission, red tape and paper work to be sorted out – they handled it very well, and it was hilarious, but in a really awful way. Boundaries, people!! Ryan also (repeatedly) referred to the ‘back-seat sessions’ as the ‘back-street sessions’ – hilarity! Also, I’m sure everyone’s seen the photo’s of the two of them hugging at the end of the set! Major ‘awww’ moment! It was, truly, a fantastic show. The whole week was worth it for that 2 hours alone! I was so happy I was light-headed by the end… of course, that might have been exhaustion!

Monday’s main show was Mythology which, of course, was fabulous! They did a terrible job of enforcing the No Photos rule, but I know they were trying their best. There were no musical surprises in the show – if you’ve seen/heard Mythology, you know the show. At the end, however, during Ireland’s Call, someone (and I didn’t see it happen, so don’t ask me who!) put a sign on Emmet’s back.. I didn’t even notice until they were leaving the stage, but the guys were absolutely cracking up on stage! It was so great to watch – they hardly ever let down their guard on stage! At first I thought they were laughing because the entire audience had stood up to sing along (which never happens at the Calgary show!) but apparently that’s not too unusual… It was great, though!

Ryan having a laugh during his Pub Quiz

Tuesday afternoon I went to Ryan’s Pub Quiz. I didn’t get on a team – damn shyness, again! But it was really fun anyhow. None of the group of women I was sitting with wanted to play, but we were all answering amongst ourselves – I think we would have done pretty well as a team! Everyone bullied Ryan into singing the song clues, which was pretty fun. He was supposed to prepare 30 questions, but ended up with 50, which was great – as if anyone would complain about the quiz running too long! It was a fun afternoon with a lot of laughs. 

The evening show was the Friendly Feud, which was hilarious. My favourite question was ‘what do girls pretend to like in order to catch a guy they’re interested in’ – watching the guys try not to give certain answers was very comical! I was laughing so hard I was crying and my abs ached! But, honestly, ladies, if you’re pretending to like his looks, personality, friends, and sex?! Why do you want to date him in the first place! FIND SOMEONE ELSE! Crazy ladies…

Friendly Feud on Formal Night - before things got out of hand!

Immediately after the Friendly Feud, I got in line for Emmet and Colm’s show, which was in the same theatre. I lucked out and was 3rd in line for the balcony. They did a fantastic show, I was so impressed! My personal highlights were when Rebecca Harkin joined them to sing ‘Stuck in the Middle with You’, Colm absolutely owning Coldplay’s ‘Viva la Vida', and the epic cover of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” – again, so funny I was crying! The cast of Gaelic Rhythm surprised the guys while they were singing “When I’m Gone” by coming out to dance behind them, which was really awesome. Rebecca was fantastic, too. I’m disappointed that I missed her solo show, but I’m really looking forward to her new album next year. 

This is the first show I thought to write out the set list for, so I’ll post it for you:

• December 1963 (Oh What a Night) (Colm & Emmet) 
• Mrs Robinson/The Boxer (Colm & Emmet) 
• Will You Go, Lassie, Go (Colm & Emmet) 
• Fall Like Me (Rebecca) 
• Stuck in the Middle (Colm, Emmet & Rebecca) 
• Have I Told You Lately (Emmet) 
• Viva La Vida (Colm) 
• Baby (Colm & Emmet) 
• When I’m Gone (Colm, Emmet & Gaelic Rhythm) 
• The Gambler (Colm & Emmet) 
• Beatles Medley (which, as a Beatles fan, I’m ashamed to say I was so excited about I don’t remember which songs they did!! Can anyone help out on that?)

Giving the Biebs a run for his money!

It was a really fantastic show, and I’m so glad I got to see it! By the time it was over, I was exhausted from so much cheering and laughing, and sooo dehydrated! (Did I mention I didn’t get drink service on the balcony?!) It was over too late for me to get to George’s show, and I didn’t want to steal a seat from anyone else hoping to see Ryan and Neil’s second show (which was also in the main theatre) so I planned to go to bed. Really, I honestly did! I ended up going down to my room, then back up to the Lido deck to fill my water bottle, and back down the stairs again, and... well, since I was passing the entrance to the theatre again anyway, I poked my head in to see if there were any seats left... Come on, I couldn’t not stay! The crowd was much quieter for the second ABC show, which was actually helped make the show more enjoyable for me. I was also in the balcony, which felt a lot calmer to me. The set list was pretty much the same as the first show (except that for some reason I was sure they sang Rock n Roll Kids during the first set...):

• Wagon Wheel (Neil & Ryan) 
• Beautiful Affair (Neil & Ryan) 
• Moon Dance (Ryan) 
• California Dreaming (Neil) 
• Ride On (Ryan – again, this was sublime!) 
• Brown Eyed Girl (Neil & Ryan) 
• Water Is Wide (Neil – absolutely stunning live!! So beautiful!) 
• American Dream (Ryan – if you don’t have Ryan’s new album yet…. What are you waiting for?!) 
• Don’t Go (Neil & Ryan) 
• Raglan Road (Neil & Ryan – one of my favourite tracks from Acoustically Irish, and brilliant live) 
• Captured (Neil – again, just stunning! Love this song!) 
• Back Home in Derry (Ryan) 
• Rose of Allendale (Neil & Ryan) 
• No Man’s Land (Ryan) 
• Fields of Athenry (Neil & Ryan) 
• Saints and Sinners (Neil & Ryan) 

The crowd also sang Ryan ‘Happy Birthday’ (I think right before Moon Dance) even though it was still a bit early, and I seem to recall Neil having us sing it again after midnight, although that may be my faulty memory!

Wednesday afternoon I went to the Celebrity Heads Game with the guys from the CT band – once again, what can I say but ‘it was hilarious’! The guys were brought up on the stage three at a time, a sheet of paper with a person or thing written on it was placed on a music stand behind them and they had to guess “who” they were using yes or no questions. Each set had a theme to get them started. It got a bit naughty ('things you put in your mouth') and a bit silly (like when Declan was trying to guess ‘False Eyelashes’ – he got so far as there are a pair of them on your head, but having guessed eyes, ears, lips, and eyebrows he was at a loss. Poor lad was actually counting bits of himself!) and I wish it could have gone on longer. Some of the audience didn’t seem clear on the Yes or No answers, trying to give them bigger hints, but it was all in good fun. Dave Bakey was quite good at it – to his detriment, since he had to pee and couldn’t leave until he lost a round!

I was sure that between the last 4 shows I had laughed and cheered myself completely out of a voice, but the final show was the Celtic Thunder Best Of and, somehow, I managed to cheer my heart out in that one, too! The guys did some minor harmonic changes from the original recordings, all really gorgeous. It’s one of the best things about seeing a live show, the artist has the ability to try something a bit new and unexpected. It hasn’t been my experience that CT uses that artistic freedom in their live shows, so it was a wonderful surprise. I was a bit worried about the entire cast, because the sea was really rough. The speakers and lights were visibly swaying, and I could see the guys moving with the motion of the ship quite a bit as well. I was afraid someone might lose their balance when moving about, but they are all such pros they took it very well! I don’t think it was my imagination that this was the longest show of the cruise, as you may be able to tell from the set list (and I do apologize for not having the names of the instrumental numbers – I’m terrible at remembering the names of them!):

• Heartland (all) 
• Dutchman (Keith) 
• Ride On (Ryan) 
• Noreen (Neil) 
• Instrumental 
• Kindred Spirits (Emmet) 
• Steal Away (all) 
• Black Velvet Band (Colm) 
• The Old Man (George – absolutely fantastic! There wasn’t one person sitting near me who wasn’t in tears, myself included) 
• Galway Girl (all) 
• Home (Colm) 
• Dulaman (all) 
• Hallelujah (Neil, with Emmet & Ryan) 
• Place in the Choir (all – Ryan and Keith tried to steal Colm’s shoes, and Ryan got him in a headlock and gave him a noogie! Sooooo funny!) 
• Happy Birthday to Ryan (audience) 
• Friends in Low Places (Ryan, with Emmet, Colm, George & Neil) 
• Lauren & I (Keith – stunning! As always) 
• Whisky in the Jar (Keith & Neil) 
• Still Haven’t Found (all – Neil appeared to have forgotten the choreography for this number and entered from the side of the stage instead of the center of the stage with everyone else, which set Colm and Emmet giggling. Then, Emmet forgot the choreography on the first ‘turn’ and stayed facing straight, which started him giggling again) 
• This Is The Moment (Emmet) 
• 500 Miles (George) 
• 7 Drunken Nights (all – so funny, every darn time! During Monday night, David Greene – a member of the CT stage crew – came ‘galloping’ out on stage on a pink hobby horse, and everyone just busted up laughing! It was nearly 30 seconds before they recovered enough to continue. It was so great to see them all smiling and laughing and have a good time on stage!) 
• Instrumental 
• Ireland’s Call (all - In addition to their kilts, the guys were all wearing Captain’s hats, which they threw into the crowd at the end… hope they didn’t get into any trouble for that! The guys were all laughing, George and Keith kept reaching up to check no one had put anything on their backs!)

And then it was the Epic Curtain call, which was incredible. They brought out everyone from all the shows, several brave members of the CT staff, and Sharon came out to thank us all. The ovation went on and on! A complete love fest! It was an amazing end to an epic week. Who's up for going with me next year?

 

The Cheat List

To celebrate the beginning of the Third Year of my One Year blog, I decided to do something a little bit different.  I've gone through the list of Man Booker titles that I've read so far and created some 'Best of' lists to summarize my thoughts on them. If you're new to the blog, you can think of this as a 'cheat list' to get a sense of what sort of literature I enjoy.

Most Likely To Recommend
If you came into my store, you'd probably find at least two of these in my 'Staff Recommendations' shelf at any given time. If we are friends, I've probably tried to give you a copy of at least one of these.

• Troubles - J.G. Farrell
• The Bone People - Keri Hulme
• The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch
• Schindler's Ark (aka Schindler's List) - Thomas Keneally
• How Late It Was, How Late - James Kelman
• Possession - A.S. Byatt
• The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
• Oscar & Lucinda - Peter Carey

Most Likely To Read Other Works From The Same Author
Writer's whose style engaged or intrigued me, even if I didn't necessarily love their prize winning volume.

• Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha)
• J.G. Farrell (Troubles & Siege of Krishnapur)
• Graham Swift (Last Orders)
• Ian McEwan (Amsterdam)

Most Likely To Re-Read
Novels I either loved to pieces, or didn't quite 'get' but want to give another chance.

• Troubles - J.G. Farrell
• Possession - A.S. Byatt
• The Sea, The Sea - Iris Murdoch
• Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
• Saville - David Storey
• The Bone People - Keri Hulme
• Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle
• How Late It Was, How Late - James Kelman

Books That Have 'Grown On Me' Upon Reflection
I didn't necessarily love these titles when I first read them, but I think about them often, which has led to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the work.

• Possession - A.S. Byatt
• Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
• Last Orders - Graham Swift
• The Old Devils - Kingsley Amis
• Saville - David Storey

Novels That Support My "Incest/Sexual Abuse And/Or Insanity = 'Literature'"Theory
Often just a single scene or instance and not the driving theme of the story. In particular I find the sexual abuse or incest disquieting, which mars the remainder of the story.

• The Elected Member - Bernice Rubens
• Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively
• Heat and Dust - Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
• Disgrace - J. M. Coetzee
• The Conservationist - Nadine Gordimer
• The Bone People - Keri Hulme 
• Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey
• Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
• Rites of Passage - William Golding

Least Memorable Novels
I know I read these ones, you know I read these ones, but if you asked me today for more than a basic outline of the plot... I would be hooped.

• Holiday - Stanley Middleton
• The Conservationist - Nadine Gordimer
• Offshore - Penelope Fitzgerald
• Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner
• Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively
• In A Free State - V.S. Naipaul
• Staying On - Paul Scott

Novels I Wouldn't Read Again If You Paid Me
Pretty self explanatory. I don't think there are any surprises here!

• G. - John Berger
• Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee

Favourite Non-Booker Authors
Read them. You can thank me later.

• Kelly Meding
• Caitlin Kittredge
• Rob Thurman
• Daniel Kalla
• Holly Smale

So, that's the past two years of my reading life, in a nut shell.  I owe you a gigantic post in the next week for the past five novels I've read. To be fair, three of them are Harry Potter titles, so they'll probably just get lumped together, but it will still be a fairly large post.

Happy Reading!

Feel Free To Skip This One (I Wish I Had)

Trigger Warning and Spoiler Alert in effect. 

I've been trying for days nearly a week well over two weeks now to think of something nice to say about J.M. Coetzee's "Disgrace" and the nicest thing I can come up with is... I didn't notice any typos.

I truly hated this novel. It wasn't a matter of just not enjoying it, or even of not 'really getting' the deeper themes of the novel (although that is possibly true as well). I hated it. I was so angry reading this novel that whenever I stopped reading I would realize I had been unconsciously scowling at the book and clenching it hard enough to dent the pages. I wish I hadn't read it, because every book we read becomes a part of us, which means a bit of my brain is now dark and disgusting, and I can never get rid of that. Grr. I understand that 'literature' is meant to stretch us as humans, to engage our emotions and our intellects - but I've never been so angry about a book in all my life!

My issue with this novel is that the protagonist is a misogynist who judges all women on their appearance, and has double standards on sexual assault. He is a professor, and before he (repeatedly) assaults a young student he tells her that she "ought to" sleep with him "because a woman's beauty does not belong to her alone. It is part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it." - which was nearly enough to make me puke all on it's own.  Later, he visits his daughter and describes her as "solid", "sturdy", and "ample... letting herself go, as happens when one withdraws from the field of love". Although there is a suggestion of an absent lover, he seems to believe that a female lover is as good as none at all. When he meets one of his daughter's friends he takes an instant dislike to her because "he does not like women who make no effort to be attractive" - because a woman's value to society is wholly determined by her sexual attractiveness, amirite?!  When he later finds himself sleeping with this same woman he thinks to himself, "...this is what I have come to.  This is what I will have to get used to, this and even less than this." He is a truly distasteful character for this alone, but it's even worse when factoring in his attitude toward sexual assault.

In the opening pages of the novel, he stalks an escort he has been seeing before losing track of her and moving on to two other women. In the following chapter he becomes infatuated with the beautiful young student whom he subsequently assaults, prompting an inquiry at the university over what he describes as an "affair" gone wrong. He loses his position because, while he is willing to admit that theoretically it was wrong of him to 'have an affair' with a student, he maintains that resisting his 'impulses' would be as much as castrating himself and living out his life as less than a man. An entirely disgusting argument. When he is later a witness to the gang rape of another woman, he sees absolutely no connection to his own behaviour and is confused and angry that she will not report the crime.  She believes there is no such thing as justice in her situation, so stoically tries to move on with her life (which, in it's own way is stupid and appalling) but he can't let it go, partly because he sees it as an insult to his manhood. He was unable to protect her from the indignity, therefore he was violated. Again, a disgusting and male-centric view.

I thought, when the rape occurred, 'here is his chance for redemption as a human being, to see the error of his ways and repent!' I kept reading on the assumption that the character's journey would bring him to a place where he was no longer a loathsome caricature of a chauvinist pig, but the only real change in his character was that he no longer saw himself as unassailable.  He never changed his attitude, he never accepted that what he did or how he treated the women in his life was in any way wrong, he just seemed to accept that he was no longer impervious, that age was catching up to him. The only real kindness he shows in the entire story is when he cannot stand to see the corpses of euthanized dogs being beaten to fit into an incinerator, and so takes it upon himself to gently feed them into the machine.  Not from any real love for the animals, of course, oh no! It's still an entirely selfish action - he doesn't like to see them treated that way.

It's really just an appalling novel. I was furious and frequently felt sick to my stomach while reading it. Unless you feel that you aren't reaching your Daily Recommended Value of Misogynistic Assholes (and, you're on the Internet, so I'm willing to bet that's not the case) I suggest you skip this book altogether.  There are so many wonderful books in the world, it shouldn't be hard to find one more pleasant than this! As for me, I'm trying to enjoy my non-Booker mini break, listening to the audio book of Anton Strout's "Dead To Me" (very funny, only slightly sexist) and planning a reread of Harry Potter.

Because life is too damn short for shitty books.

Happy reading!

I Swore To Myself I'd Never Review Erotica....

I assume you're all used to me being absent more often than I am present, so I'm going to skip over the apologies and excuses for why this post is 18 days late (it has to do with Internet Explorer, knitting, heat waves, and flooding. It's been a busy month.) and we're going to roll right into the reviews.  That's right, plural! I've not been writing but I have been reading! Three whole novels read, so, let's go!

First up, I read "The Inheritance of Loss" by Kiran Desai, Man Booker Prize winner of 2006, which took me a total of 16 days to read. The scope of the novel is massive, an intersecting web of lives from a small Indian village through a lens of immigration, emigration and colonization,  from the 1920's to 1986, when the majority of the story takes place. The historic details are interesting - for instance, I'd never heard about Gorkaland and it's turbulent history - and the individual character stories are heart-wrenching. Everyone can relate to a story about migration and the conflicts involved in 'claiming' land, so in that regard it was a fascinating study, and a really well written novel.

I did not enjoy it.

This is definitely a case of, 'It's not you, it's me' because the story was really well-written, in it's style. It's just not a style I like. I'm not a fan of 'theme' driven stories, I much prefer a solid plot line, so it was a real struggle for me to get into it.  In fact, I was more than half way through the novel before I even recognized the theme because I kept waiting for the plot to 'click', which of course it never does. I found it meandering, obsessive in it's descriptions of minutia, and disappointing in it's conclusion - but these are all issues that have more to do with Me as the reader, than the Novel itself. I understand why it won the MBP, and I'm sure 'literature' folks will just gobble it up - but it just doesn't do a thing for me!

In the midst of my struggle to read that novel, I picked up and absolutely devoured another one. It wasn't intentional! We had a couple of really quiet weeks at work, mainly due to the aforementioned flooding and heat wave. Now, I hate reading at work - I know I work in a book store, but I think it's rude to be engrossed in a novel when there are customers around, and besides, I'm not being paid to read!! (Also, it's really hard to concentrate when people keep talking to you! I mean, geez, can't you see I'm reading a book?!) However, I really had nothing else to do!

So... long story slightly shorter, I picked up a copy of Megan Hart's "Stranger" and was intrigued by the idea of the heroine, a funeral home director who hires 'escorts' for sexual companionship in order to avoid the mess of emotional attachments. Talk about your kick-ass powerful gender-reversal! I flipped open to the first chapter, and I was hooked! Yes, it's erotica (oh my! oh my! is it ever!!) but it's so much more than that! It's a really great romance, an interesting look at life as a funeral director, and just a great story! Maybe I'm a bit morbid, but I've always thought being a funeral director would be an interesting career (I still don't think I'm wrong!) so that was great, and I love a female character who is in command of her own sexuality. Romance novels and erotica are full of supposedly strong, independent women who are sexual victims - it's nauseating, and it's totally uncool. There is none of that here, and that alone would be enough to make me recommend this novel, but it really is great! I blew through it in 4 days, and I'm definitely going to read Megan Hart again!

So, that's caught us up all the way to July 5th, when I decided to give a book I tried to listen to back in December another shot. Firstly, I love the idea of audio books (knitting and reading at the same time!!) but I've discovered that narrator's are really hit or miss for me. I was spoiled early in life (and as recently as the Harry Potter novels) by having my father read to us. He is a brilliant narrator, and all others suffer in comparison. Except maybe Morgan Freeman... and Tom Selleck. 

Anyway, my point was, I listened to the first 9 chapters of the first novel in Caitlin Kittredge's Black London series back in December, but gave up on it because I found the narrator's choices in voicing Pete and Jack too annoying. I could tell the story had really solid bones, but I couldn't get past how whiny Pete sounded. I was really disappointed, too, because I'd been looking forward to the series since I discovered it back near the beginning of my Booker odyssey. I knew when I finished the Iron Codex earlier this year that I had to revisit this series - Aoife was such a strong character, and Kittredge is just too good a storyteller! So I picked myself up a physical copy of "Street Magic", and

Oh. 

My. 

Goodness.

So fucking good, you guys!! By now you know I love me some Urban Fantasy, and this novel is top-notch! Pete is truly kick-ass, and Jack is...well, he's my new fictional crush. Dark and damaged and punk rock and, um, excuse me while I drool. Seriously, though, it's a high-stakes story with lots of magic, and characters I was really rooting for. I described it to my mother as Dresden Files from Murphy's point of view, only Pete is way cooler and Jack is way more damaged. I literally had to force myself not to binge read this series the same as the last! It has, however, been added to my list of "Palette Cleansers" - books to read after a really bad book to remind me that I love reading!

For now, I'm forcing myself back to the Booker list - I figure if I let myself read two genre novels for every Booker title I finish, I'll be able to get through them much faster! I'm reading J.M. Coetzee's "Disgrace" right now, and I am trying my best to reserve judgement.... but I suspect I'm going to be reading one of those Palette Cleansers next!!

Happy Reading!

A Debatable Comedy

As I had hoped, Ian McEwan's 1998 Man Booker Prize winner, "Amsterdam", was a very quick read, taking me less than six days.  I was actually looking forward to this one since it was described as a 'dark comedy'.  Well. Dark? Yes, very much so. Comedy? That's debatable. The style was certainly comical, at times, but I found it so dry and dark that it wasn't funny to me.  It was more horrific, if anything. I understand where the humour was meant to be coming from, and I think I have a very dark sense of humour, so it was disappointing to find it so unpleasant.

Now, just because I didn't find it enjoy the humour of the story doesn't mean I didn't like the story.  It's very well written, and I think if I had approached it thinking of it as a social horror story I may have even loved it.  It's very short, so I don't want to spoil the plot at all, but I will say that it includes some material that may need a 'trigger warning', and it is very dark, so it's definitely not for everyone.  But, if you're in the mood for something dark and a little disturbing, you may enjoy this one!

I haven't firmly decided what I'm going to read next, although I was thinking of going with another Man Booker title - it felt good to be back to the list! I think I may try Kiran Desai's "The Inheritance of Loss"...

Happy reading!

Fantastic Fantasy!

I finished reading the first novel of Mercedes Lackey's Five Hundred Kingdoms series, "The Fairy Godmother", yesterday, and wow! What a fantastic novel! Breezed through it in 7 days, and even worked out a way that I can knit and read at the same time because I just didn't want to put it down! I've never read any of her novels before, but I've now added four series to my TBR list!

The Five Hundred Kingdoms is a romantic fantasy series which turns traditional fairy tales on their heads.  In this novel a Cinderella, whose Prince is entirely unsuitable for her, decides to hire herself out so that she at least gets paid for slaving away all day.  Instead, thanks to some magical intervention, she becomes the apprentice of a Fairy Godmother. The story is warm, funny, feminist (that's not a bad word!), and incredibly sweet.  Who needs a Prince when there are tragic endings to be subverted, and Tradition to be twisted? This is a fine example of the 'moral' tradition of fantasy stories, something I think we could all use a little more of. 

To be completely fair, it wasn't perfect. There are a few needless repetitions of ideas and story background that probably should have been edited out, making me think 'Hey, I just read that x chapters ago!'. Some of the sentences suffer from an archaic structure, which seems to be a part of the overall fairy tale vibe but isn't consistent enough to blend in.  Also, I read an e-book edition, and there were a number of glaring errors (like missing words) that ought to have been edited better. But, overall, it wasn't enough to really detract from my enjoyment of the story, so I'm willing to let it slide. More than let it slide, I'm really looking forward to reading the next six stories in the series and having to talk myself out of reading them all right now!

Interestingly, this novel solved my personal mystery of why sometimes, even though I'm thoroughly enjoying a novel, I don't breeze through it, usually stretching the last third of the novel out as long as I can.  It's because, even though I know the Good Guys will 'win', I also know I'm not guaranteed a Happy Ending. Sometimes the good guys die in the process of saving the world, sometimes they have to sacrifice their own happiness for the benefit of others, but it's not always Happy. Because this series is romantic fantasy, the consequences are milder. Sure, there is darkness and peril (what good would the story be without that?!) but ultimately there is redemption for the deserving, and Happiness. I'm not gonna lie - I like Happy Endings, they make me... well, happy! If that means it sometimes takes me a little while longer to read a book that has a potentially tragic ending, I'm totally OK with that.

My reader's soul is feeling revived, mostly because I have loved four of the last five novels I've read so much, that I'm feeling strong enough to dip back into the Man Booker winner's list for my next read. I'm still skipping over "Sacred Hunger", "The Ghost Road" and "The God of small Things" (I'm not feeling quite that strong!) so I'm going to give Ian McEwan's "Amsterdam" a try.  It's fairly short, and now that I've figured out how to read and knit at the same time, it may not even be too tedious!

Happy reading!

Vampires, Polygamy, Superheroes, and Possession

Since my last post I finished the nonfiction title I was reading, listened to the second audio book of a paranormal spy series, watched a film adaptation of a Man Booker Prize winning title, and also read an urban fantasy novel and a romance short story. Yikes! Lots of catch-up to do today, so I'll try to keep this brief!

Joe, Alina, Vicki and Val Darger, "Love Times Three" - nonfiction
I've been re-watching the HBO series "Big Love" over the past two months, so I was naturally intrigued when this true story of plural marriage came across my desk. In fact, aspects of the Darger's life were the direct inspiration for events in the TV series, specifically the season one finale, so if you are a fan of the show I definitely suggest checking out this book.  Polygamy has been in the media a lot in the past few years, from news stories about 'compounds' to the reality TV show "Sister Wives", but this is easily the most humanizing account I've come across. The Darger's story really made me look at my own views of marriage, in particular the legality of a marriage between consenting adults. I'm a big supporter of marriage equality, and it's really difficult to see why their marriage shouldn't be legal. So, absolutely worth a read if you're in the mood the expand your world view!

Christopher Farnsworth, "The President's Vampire" - audio book
I love this series! It's a vampire spy story, dark but hilarious, with lots of conspiracy theory 'quotes' which make it feel more realistic.  I listened to the first book last year and I've been really looking forward to listening to this one, and it was everything I could hope for. Terrorist plots and snark abound, and Bronson Pinchot does a fantastic job narrating, really brilliant. His delivery is perfect for secret agent vampire Nathaniel Cade, and just annoying enough to not make me hate sidekick Zach Barrows. I highly recommend this series.

Kelly Meding, "Trance" - urban fantasy
OMG! This novel is fantastic! Set in an alternate near-future, this superhero story has everything! Action, comedy, drama (I cried), suspense, romance - you want it, it's here. I love superhero mythology, but I'm always a bit reluctant to read the Marvel/DC novels because I've never been into comic books, and I'm worried that I'm missing out on part of the story. This is a brand new universe, though, completely unrelated to the established hero lines - and it's delicious! I've had Kelly Meding on my TBR pile for a little over a year now, and she does not disappoint. I can't wait to read more of her books!

Rachael Herron, "Honeymooning" - short story
I adore Rachael Herron's writing, she's brilliant, warm, funny and pretty much everything I'd want in a best friend. This one is a novella in her romance/knitting series 'Cypress Hollow Yarn', taking us along on an unexpected Hawaiian honeymoon, and it's so funny I was giggling out loud on the bus. The driver thinks I'm crazy, but it's totally worth it!

"Possession" - film adaptation
I wasn't entirely enamoured with A.S. Byatt's "Possession" when I read it the first time last year, but it has been on my mind quite a lot recently. I didn't want to take the time to re-read it right now, so I decided to check out the 2002 film adaptation. It didn't suck. Obviously it's not possible to faithfully recreate such a massive and detailed story in a film, much less a film that isn't even two hours long, but they did an O.K. job. It did deepen my overall understanding of the story, but the novel was (of course) much better.  I guess I'm going to have to give in and find time to re-read it anyway....

But, for now, my next novel is going to be the first of Mercedes Lackey's 'Five Hundred Kingdoms' series, "The Fairy Godmother". Looks like it'll be a fun one!

Happy reading!

Life Is Too Short...

Life is too short to dwell on disappointing novels, so I'm going to be brief.  I finished reading Paul Christopher's "Michelangelo's Notebook" on Friday, which took me 15 days total. It wasn't a difficult read, but I didn't care enough to pick it up outside my designated 'reading time', and some of my reading time was spent with other things... like Twitter, and even Facebook.  You know it's bad when Facebook is a more captivating read than your current novel!

Finn Ryan, to me, was barely more than a sex toy in this story. She was right in the middle of all the action, but not really driving any of the story. I have a hard time seeing how a series could be built around a character who is essentially the sexy sidekick, so it was disappointing. Beyond the painfully misogynistic portrayal of the alleged heroine, this book was absolutely littered with product placement. Honestly, I didn't even recognize half the brand names used to describe a character's appearance! As an occasional description it can really make a character, but because it is used so often, it doesn't really add anything to the story, which is why I found it annoying. It tells me more about the author than the individual characters.

So, I'm not going to be rushing to read the rest of the series any time soon, although I won't rule out picking one up someday in the future if I have nothing else to read.  It wasn't horrible, just not as good as I had hoped it would be.  Another customer told me the Andy McDermott "Nina Wilde" series is better, so I may try that out sometime. I'm currently taking a mini-fiction break, reading "Love Times Three" by the Darger's, which is very interesting and quite well written.  I'm nearly finished, though, and my next fiction read is the first book in Kelly Meding's MetaWars series, "Trance" - which I'm really looking forward to!

Happy reading!

The Best and The Worst

Yikes, I'm way behind here! Sorry about that. I'm going to do a quick catch-up post, and hopefully get back on track.

The last book I posted about was the unnamed disaster of self-publishing, which took me about a week to get through. It was short, and it had large print, but there was definitely a lack of motivation to pick it up during down times. It didn't get any better in term of technical editing, and the story actually got worse as it progressed.  The supporting characters were all cliches. It was painful to read it, and I will never read another book by that author.

After that, I wanted to read something good, and I'd heard a lot of positive buzz about the debut novel from Holly Smale, "Geek Girl".  It was as close to perfect as any book I've ever read! It's a 'young adult' novel, but I'm nearly 30 and I loved it. Harriet Manners, a socially awkward teenager whose classmates have literally labelled her 'Geek', is 'spotted' by a modelling agency and becomes swept up in a whirlwind of high fashion and a web of her own lies. Harriet's journey towards self-improvement is tenderhearted and so hilarious that I was laughing out loud on the bus while reading it.  So, so funny. I thought about quoting a few of the one-liners that made me giggle the most, but there were just too many, I couldn't decide! The supporting characters are all wonderfully drawn individuals who I would love to be friends with in real life.  Honestly, I cannot recommend this novel enough, it is simply brilliant.  The next book in the series (squeeeeeee!!) may be out as early as next spring, and I am so looking forward to it!

In all, "Geek Girl" took my just under two weeks (I didn't want it to end!) and last Friday, April 19th, I started reading Paul Christopher's art history thriller "Michelangelo's Notebook", which has frequently been recommended to me by customers. I've really been looking forward to it, as the series was described to me as a female version of Indiana Jones or Robert Langdon.  Fantastic, right? So far, not so much. The introduction to our heroine, Finn Ryan, in the first chapter is a full page physical description of her posing nude for an art class. Throughout the story, every male she meets is entranced by her body, often staring openly at her breasts, and she is not above using her body to get a man to do what she wants him to. It is the worst sort of sexist portrayal of a woman who is supposedly intelligent and ambitious. Really, just appalling, and reading it right after the incredibly female positive "Geek Girl" is making it seem that much worse. I'm about half-way through it now, and I honestly couldn't say whether I will read the other three books in the series. A lot depends on how Finn is portrayed during the remainder of the story. I really hope it gets better!

Happy Reading!

For The Love Of Your Readers

Last week I decided to give myself a mental reading break and re-read an old favourite, Jeff Lindsay's "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" - partly, as I mentioned, because I'd forgotten where I left off in the series! I stretched it to 7 full days... well, 5 plus two days of not reading because I didn't want to finish the book! In case you live under a rock and have never heard of Dexter, he is a blood analyst for the Miami Dade police department who kills other serial killers in his spare time.  It's dark, and funny, and occasionally a teeny bit scary.  Lindsay's writing style is simple and direct, but always manages to feel very lyrical, almost poetic.  He makes a very dark subject feel light and alive.  I often find myself worrying that I find being inside Dexter's head so normal! I suspect most people probably worry that they don't know 'how' to feel, or that their interpersonal relationships are in some way faked.  At least, I hope it's not just me and Dexter!

I've been watching the TV series quite a bit recently, as well, so I wanted to make sure I had the story straight in my head, as they are very different. While I believe it is universally true that 'the book is better than the film', there are a few things I noticed this read-through that I think the show does better than the book, specifically the technical details of how the early bodies of the Tamiami victims were dealt with by the killer.  It's relatively insignificant in terms of the story, though, so I'm willing to let it slide.  I do prefer how the book portrays the individual characters. Deborah, for instance, is much smarter in the book! Also, the book makes the distinction between Dexter and his Dark Passenger, which is less clear in the series. 

Anyway, I highly recommend the book, it's fantastic, in a dark way. 

I was all ready to jump right into the second Dexter title, but heading out the door on Tuesday I changed my mind and grabbed a different book off the shelf. It is a self-published title I've had in the To Be Read pile for a little over a year now, and while it does not fall squarely into my preferred genre it is near enough that I was looking forward to it. I'm only a quarter through it, and I intend to finish it, but I've decided not to name the book here. It basically confirms all my worst fears about the self-publishing industry.

The story itself is intriguing, but the execution is painful. It is poorly formatted, it is poorly (if at all) edited, and it is poorly written.  In the first 20 pages, I found 3 instances where the author had obviously decided to change the wording of a sentence halfway through, but didn't bother to go back and correct the beginning of the sentence so that it would be consistent. I can't see how a reader would miss something like that, so I can only assume the book was published without being read by some one other than the author, which is inexcusable.  If you are publishing your own books, you must put them through some sort of editorial process! One does not simply write a story and publish it unedited, it is folly! You don't have to pay a professional editor - exchange manuscripts with another writer, have your friends read it, get your significant other to give it a browse - but someone other than you must look at your pages before you release your creation on the innocent public!

Not only is an external reader more likely to notice errors, but they are also able to tell you if a part of your story feels a bit flat. Like, perhaps, your main character. Plot is important, character is vital. If you find yourself using enough flashbacks to fill a whole chapter in order to make your protagonist feel human, consider starting with a prologue - it's more direct and allows your reader to emotionally connect with the situation right way. This is especially important if your novel deals with a lot of 'techno babble' that people outside the field may not be familiar with.

I don't want to paint all self-publishing authors with the same brush, that's not my intention here. I'm just beyond frustrated that an author thought this was acceptable.  I know there are many reasons that people choose not to go the traditional route when releasing their books, and I know there are many fine self-published books out there. However, if you are self-publishing because your book was turned down by a publishing house, don't just decide that 'big publishing' is trying to keep you down and your only resource is to self-publish. Please consider that it may just be that your writing sucks. Please, don't give up! Keep writing. But get feedback and try to improve your story telling skills. We are starving for new stories, I'm sure if you spend a little more time polishing yours the world will embrace it!

Happy reading!

I'm a Liar!

Long time no post! Sorry for that - I've been spending my evenings knitting away on a Doctor Who scarf, and I've also been spending less time on the bus, so I've been short-changing myself on reading time.  I'm trying to be better about it! I'm already nearly halfway through my 'next' read - I lied when I said I would post before starting my next book. I felt the need to ruminate a bit before I commited any of my feelings about The Iron Codex to writing, which was a good decision.  I was too emotionally invested in the story to look at it clearly when I first finished it.

It took me 24 days to finish "The Mirrored Shard", wrapping it up late Saturday evening.  I admit, I struggled with my desire not to finish this story. Knowing it was the last in the trilogy, strongly suspecting it would have an unpleasant ending, I simply did not want to finish with Aoife.  I like her.  A little naive at times, but always courageous and supremely gutsy. She reminds me of Frodo Baggins, in that I watch them suffer and hope for a positive outcome, knowing there will never really be a 'happy ending'.  There is too much darkness in their lives for things to ever return to how they were - and in Aoife's case, let's be honest, it certainly wasn't all that good to begin with!

I loved this series, but not as much as I thought I would. The ending was a bit of a let down, although to be fair the story is so large and complex there really wasn't another way to end it.  The Iron Codex is an adventure quest, which by its very nature is a 'coming of age' story, much as I detest that phrase (it just sounds so twee), and by the end of this novel Aoife has embraced her destiny, if you will.  She has grown up. The rest of the story, what happens after "The End", is not a part of this narrative.  I understand that. My disappointment comes from liking the character so much that I want to know what happens next. As problems go, this is a good one for a story to have!

I'm certain that fans of H.P. Lovecraft will enjoy this series on a whole other level, but my lack of Lovecraftian knowledge didn't really effect my overall enjoyment.  There were times when I knew that I was missing a reference to something, and a couple of things I googled, but it wasn't too intrusive. I would definitely recommend it for any Lovecraft fans!

Moving on, I wanted to catch up with Jeff Lindsay's 'Dexter' series, but I couldn't remember which title was the last I'd read, so I've started over again at the beginning.  I probably won't read them back to back, but they are a nice palate cleanser between fantasy series!

Happy reading!

I'm Really Bad At Posting During a Series, Apparently

I managed to stretch my reading of "The Nightmare Garden" to 17 days - I wanted to have book 3 in hand before I finished this one so that I wouldn't have to wait between books! I inadvertently saw a spoiler about this novel, and I knew I didn't want to reach that point in the story without being able to continue right away. I jumped right into "The Mirrored Shard" so I've been spending more time reading than writing!

I really loved this novel, it's a great adventure. Each story in the series features Aoife trying to rescue a loved one, traveling between realms and discovering things about herself and her heritage.  There's wonderful foreshadowing throughout the stories, although the execution doesn't always fulfill my expectations.  For instance, I was a little disappointed with the climax - I felt that the trial wasn't nearly as trying as it could have been.  That may have been an 'adult reading YA' issue, though.  It's hard for me to keep perspective as regards that. I think my problem is that the story is so huge I find myself wishing it were an adult novel, I feel like it would have 'much more muchness'.

I liked Aoife much more in this novel than the first, not that I didn't like her in the first, it's just that by the end of this novel I see her more as a person than just a... well. a brat!  She's very much a know-it-all teenager (as she should be!) but she's obviously grown up a bit, although she is still rushing about half-cocked.

I should have another post up in the next few days, as I'm going to force myself to write and post before I pick up my next read!

Happy reading!

In Which I Am Late (again), And I Ramble (a bit)

For the second time in as many months, I feel the need to issue a Trigger Warning.  Better safe than sorry, right?

I finished reading "The Iron Thorn" by Caitlin Kittredge late last Friday night. It is a great young-adult novel. I loved it so much I jumped right into the second book,which is why this post is so very very late.  My apologies. The bright side is I'm already half-way through "The Nightmare Garden", so that post should be up relatively soon!

This is the first steam punk novel I've ever read (gasp! I hope you aren't too shocked). I adore steam punk music and fashion, but I was struggling to get into the story for about 100 pages and I began to worry that maybe I actually don't like steam punk.  Then, very suddenly, I got hooked by the story and Aoife's world. It reminded me of something Steven Galloway said: the first 1/3 of a novel teaches you the rules of reading that novel. So true! It's a brand new world, which entails a lot of back ground world building. It's not the most intense, sexy part of a story, but it is vital to making the story work. And this story? Works like a well-oiled machine. It's gorgeous.

Another confession: I've never read any Lovecraft, and Kittredge uses a lot of Lovecraftian locations and monsters, so I found my self spending a bit of time on the Google-box to flesh out the back ground.  I'm not really a horror fan in any format, as I am prone to nightmares, but I suspect this series is a  great sort of 'soft-core' introduction to Lovecraft. Horror-lite, if you will.  It's perfect for me, and I'm intrigued enough that I may even try an actual Lovecraft novel later in the year. So, please don't take away my 'geek cred' just yet!

This is where my trigger warning comes into effect. I'm maybe a bit old-fashioned, and definitely very uptight, so there are elements of this story that I feel are not so young adult appropriate.  At the very least, the idea of my niece or nephew reading it and not fully understanding it makes me a bit squeamish. Aoife is a complex character, and in addition to the many problems all heroine's face (absent parents, pressure to fit in, first love, rescue attempts, bringing down Orwellian dictatorships and breaking worlds), she is also dealing with mental illness.  Part of how she copes with her internal pain is by self-harming. It is not a subject I am unfamiliar with, but it was a bit unexpected.  Although it really shouldn't be.  Kittredge's characters do trend toward the dark and damaged, and there is really no reason why her YA characters would be any different.  I haven't been reading much YA recently, but I have noticed that darker themes are becoming more common place, so I'm willing to believe that it's just my naivete that allows me to believe teens aren't already reading these things.  All the same, I think I'll wait another four years before suggesting this one to my own niece.

For now, though, I'm going to get back to reading "The Nightmare Garden" - Aoife is in trouble again...

Happy reading!

I Would Like To Put This Book In The Freezer

This post may be considered a Spoiler and may also require a Trigger Warning.

Please consider yourself warned.


Still with me? OK...

I wasn't 100% sure what book I was going to read next. The bookshelf supplied me with book three in the Sister Fidelma mystery series by Peter Tremayne, "Suffer Little Children", which took me 8 days to read. I was looking forward to reading a relatively light Celtic mystery with murderous monks and nuns, full of neat little historical notes, with a heavy dose of Irish flavour. I was not expecting the medieval equivalent of Sandy Hook. Literally, 20 small children and 4 adults. Just unlucky timing on my part. If I had read the book a year or two ago I would still have been sad, but it probably wouldn't have resulted in me wanting to 'put the book in the freezer', if you know what I mean. I rarely cry over books but, yeah, this one got me bawling. Absolutely heart wrenching. Here's me returning to genre fiction to escape, and Fidelma gives me a sucker punch to the gut. Ugh.

I was already slightly irritated by this novel. This is the first novel in the series that is set in Ireland (book one is in England, book two in Rome) and Tremayne takes advantage of the locale to introduce the use of the Irish language, which is fantastic.  I love Irish, it's a gorgeous language.  My problem with it's use in this novel is that whenever a character uses an Irish term in conversation with another Irish speaker they follow it up with an explanation! I can accept the 'term, definition' style in non-dialogue narrative, but within dialogue it's ridiculous.  No one talks like that! There's a list of character names and descriptions, and a historical note (although my copy seems to have been printed without the noted map, which was also annoying) so there should be no issue with adding footnotes or a glossary if a character uses a non-English word.  I would prefer to be flipping pages than dealing with clunky, fake dialogue. It takes me right out of the story.

I complain, but I did enjoy this novel.  For one thing, the mystery itself did not disappoint. This series is great for political and religious intrigue, in addition to the regular human foibles which can supply motive. I did figure out who the killer was before the reveal, which was cool for me.  I never actually try to 'solve' the mystery, I rather enjoy that 'aha!' moment when the detective reveals the identity of the murderer, but in this case it did pick my spirits up a bit. So it has that going for it.  Also, I really enjoy the historical aspects of the stories.  Fidelma's Ireland is a place of equality for women, and a place of great scholarship.  Tremayne is the pseudonym of Celtic historian Peter Berresford Ellis, so all the historical laws and details are accurate.  It really adds a lovely depth to the story.  I just wish the story didn't include children being hacked to death.

Moving on.  My next read is one I've been looking forward to for nearly a year, Caitlin Kittredge's "The Iron Thorn", the first novel in her Iron Codex young adult / alternative history / steam punk series. The third volume is due out on February 12th, so I think maybe a marathon read is in order! I'm expecting darkness from this series, but hopefully no scenes involve the mass murder of children.  I'm so over that.

Happy reading!

Turn Off Doctor Who Good

The first novel read in 2013, Rob Thurman's "Moonshine", was completely devoured in 5 days! 5 days over a weekend counts as 'devouring' for me, since most of my reading is done on the bus and I spend less time on the bus on the weekend, and I also spend Sunday catching up on TV so it's basically a write off.  This weekend, though, found me thinking, "Another episode of Doctor Who? But... I could read, instead!" I can't think of the last book I read that was 'turn off Doctor Who' good but, seriously, this novel was That Good.  Which is crazy talk, because one can never have enough Doctor Who!

The Leandros stories are very action packed, which means that lots of the 'boring' elements are jumped over with frequent use of 'two days later' or Cal (the half-demon protagonist who makes me feel like a cougar) being unconscious for an extended period of time, and coming to when the action is about to get going again.  It's a teeny bit irritating on occasion, but it does keep the story moving at a quick pace so that's nice. Literally never a dull moment. There are lots of twists and turns in the plot, and every scene matters, which is awesome.  It's a  very economical style of storytelling, almost the complete opposite of so much of the 'literature' I've been reading lately! 

A bit of a tangent here, but one of the things I was interested in exploring when I began my Booker challenge was how my taste in novels would change, if at all, as a result of genre deprivation. Maybe two novels isn't enough for a definitive answer on that one, but I feel pretty confident in saying that it hasn't changed my taste at all, it's just made me appreciate genre stories even more than I did before. I enjoy the adventure/mystery/suspense of these stories more than I could ever appreciate the navel gazing of the literati.  Not that there aren't non-genre novels I enjoy, obviously! I just prefer genre writing.  End tangent.

Working in a used-book store, I see a lot of urban and paranormal fantasy books.  One of the things I love about this series is that Rob goes beyond the current fads in fantasy characters, delving deeper into mythology.  There are werewolves and vampires, yes, but also a plethora of other nasties! I love the level of research that she puts into the non-human elements of the story. I even looked up a few I wasn't familiar with, although Rob does a great job of describing them all in their creepy evilness so it isn't necessary if you don't enjoy doing extracurricular research for a novel! There are also demons of her own device, primarily the Auphe, who are the nastiest of the nasties and thoroughly frightening. The scariest of the monsters for me, so far, was in the first book, "Nightlife", but both novels have moments where I'm so scared I find I'm holding my breath as I read! 

I realize I haven't said really anything about the plot, but it's twisty and turny, and I don't want to spoil any of that for you.  Suffice to say I loved this book, and the ending was OMG heart wrenching! If you like urban fantasy at all, I'm sure you'll love this series!

I'm going to go rifle through my bookshelves and find my next read.  I have a few thoughts on what it may be, but I may surprise myself....

Happy reading!