Books 56 + 57: The Southern Vampire Mysteries

Well I’ve finally caught up with everyone else and read the latest Sookie Stackhouse book. Of course that means I have to wait a frickin age for the next one to come out. What am I going to do? I need my Eric fix! I’m going to cave and watch Trueblood, I just know it, especially since it starts here on normal tv soon. Humph. But I will just want to throw things at Bill the whole time, so is it worth it? Hmmm.

Anyway, the books. In From Dead to Worse the supernatural community is attacking Sookie on all fronts. There are deaths and disappearances within the were community, and since Sookie is a friend of the pack she is of course drawn in to the fight between two warring factions. Then there’s a vampire coup to contend with, as vampires from Las Vegas roll up to take over Louisiana now the queen is injured. There’s also her missing boyfriend, her brother Jason and his relationship dramas, and two witches living in her house. Sookie learns more about her family and her fairy connection, finally meeting relatives, one of whom may share more than just blood. And then there are the men. Quinn’s disappearance has Sookie worried, but there’s another betrayal to come (she just can’t catch a break poor love). Bill is still trying to win her favour, and Eric…well she and Eric share a blood bond and are closer than Sookie would like, especially when Eric starts to remember their time together…

Dead and Gone brings a huge turning point for the were population, as they make themselves known to the world. It seems to go well, until one of their own is found crucified in the parking lot of Sam’s bar. And Sookie has a connection to the poor murdered soul. But this is the least of her problems, as the fairy war heats up, and Sookie is in danger. Her great-grandfather may have a soft spot for humans, but not all fairies do, and some are out to kill her. Poor Sookie has to face torture at the hands of her great-grandfather’s enemies. Will she ever be the same?

I’m still greatly enjoying the series, so much so I bought the last four books instead of getting them from the library. I think this was an excellent decision, god knows how long I’d have been waiting. And these last two have been especially enjoyable, being quick reads as so much is going on you can’t put them down. I love how Sookie and Eric’s relationship is developing, and I like her friendship with Amelia. It’s also nice that there’s an increasing body count here, and not just nameless, faceless vamps, or people we’ve met once. There are deaths, both human and supernatural, that have a big impact on the storyline, and on the characters who survive. I don’t know where the next book is going to go, and I’m ok with that, I just wish I didn’t have to wait for it! And I do worry about Eric (I know, I’m a stuck record), mainly because I can’t imagine Sookie being with him for long. She doesn’t want to be a vampire, she wants a family of her own, and he can’t give her that. I worry he’ll end up being killed off, dying to save Sookie, in a way that finally shows he does love her more than himself. But I guess I’ll have to wait and see about that one. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

I am now waiting for the fourth Harper Connelly book, which is out soon and which will hopefully keep me going a little bit longer. Or maybe I need to find a new series to read.

I Can Dream, Can’t I?

I know I haven’t written anything remotely about my life in ages, and that updating about a dream I had is well boring, but the one I had last night was awesome, so I’m writing about it anyway. It started with Neil Patrick Harris telling me all about hosting the Emmys, which was random but fun, and then the lovely Jeffrey Dean Morgan (my subconscious likes people with three names?) showed up. He’s sooooo beautiful. He has just about the perfect build. He looks so solid and yummy and like he could wrap you up in those big arms and give you the best hug of your life. And in my dream he was stupidly tall. I know he’s tall, but I was tiny in comparison. I was mocking his Irish accent (I guess from when I watched PS I Love You?) and he swore my eyes were green. Thrilling stuff as you can see, but I’ll take it for the JDM cuddles. I was not impressed when I woke up this morning to find I didn’t actually know him. Stupid reality.

I have to console myself with pictures of the pretty:

Sigh

And ugh, I’m getting a cold! I am sneezy and have to keep blowing my nose. And last night I could not get warm at all. I had socks and my dressing gown on, and it’s not even that cold outside. I need JDM to come snuggle me, uh huh. Someone sort that out ok?

But it’s Friday YAY!! Ooh we have biscuits.

Book 55: The Year of the Flood

I recently picked up The Handmaid’s Tale for about the fourth time, and was happily going to make it my number 55, when I saw Margaret Atwood’s new book was on sale. I hadn’t realised she had a new one coming out, and since I had a Border’s gift card and it was half price, I picked up the hardback and made off with it. OK, I did pay. I wasn’t very far in when it all started to seem very familiar. I knew this world, I’d been here before. A quick Google search told me The Year of the Flood takes place in the same future as that of Oryx and Crake. Great, so I wasn’t going crazy. Unfortunately I hadn’t really enjoyed Oryx and Crake. Crap, was I not going to like this either?

The world these two books are set in is some not too distant future, where apparently people are happy to eat endangered species, gene splicing is common and has created pigoons and rakunks and mo’hairs, and the shady Corporations run everything, poisoning the population for their own gains, and using the CorpSeCorps police to make people disappear if they don’t follow the rules. Living outside these rules are The Gardeners, a sect devoted to nature as well as science, trying to preserve their way of life. They create gardens on rooftops and follow the teachings of Adam One, and the other Adams and Eves. They talk of the Waterless Flood, a natural disaster that will end the world as we know it.

The disaster, when it comes, is not strictly natural. It spreads like a plague, infecting people quickly all over the world. If you’ve read Oryx and Crake you’ll know where it came from and what happened to those infected, but there’s not much explanation here. The story focuses on two survivors. Ren, a trapeze dancer at the strip club Scales, is locked up tight in the Sticky Zone, already quarantined before the outbreak. She’s perfectly safe, only the door doesn’t open from the inside, and her food isn’t going to last forever. Toby is waiting it out in the health spa where she works, fighting off the pigs that attack her garden and wondering if she’s going crazy. Through both women we learn about the Gardeners, about their lives before the flood, and their struggle for survival.

The Year of the Flood is similar to Oryx and Crake for me, in that it doesn’t have the same emotional weight as say The Handmaid’s Tale or The Road. It is beautifully written, as all Atwood’s books are, but the impact of the writing isn’t the same. For much of it we’re in the past, and even when we’re living through Ren and Toby’s present, we don’t get a strong sense of just how desperate their situations are, or how awful the world is. I didn’t feel as much fear for them, or at least not until the very end, when I was definitely invested in the characters and what would become of them.

Also, I find it hard to relate to this version of the future. That was the problem I had with Oryx and Crake. I don’t see it going that way, for whatever reason, it’s just not my idea of a possible future. Perhaps I am naive, or too hopeful. It just didn’t feel true enough I guess, and it’s a little too light-hearted a lot of the time. I’m not saying it’s full of jokes and laugh out loud moments, but there’s something about it that makes it difficult to feel moved by their plight. All these people have died, the world as we know it is over, but I never felt that moved by what was lost, not as a spectator, and not from Toby and Ren. It’s not devastating. Maybe I’m just used to end of the world books being traumatic to read, but if you’re looking for a dark and twisted nightmare vision of the future, I don’t think this is it. I wouldn’t want to live there of course, but there’s been worse.

I think maybe it’s just a bit too clever for its own good. The rakunks and pigoons, the pleebs, the names of the saints and those damn Gardeners hymns, Adam One’s sermons…I think if you’d lifted those last two out you wouldn’t miss much to be honest. It gives you more of an idea of the timeline maybe, but that’s about it. I didn’t find them necessary to my understanding of the story. In fact I think they took away from it somehow.

Having said all that, I still enjoyed it. I really did. I couldn’t put it down and it passed my ‘Just one more chapter, oh look it’s 3am, shit I have work tomorrow’ test. I did need to know what happened to the characters, I was desperate to get to the end and see where it crossed over with Oryx and Crake. I don’t think you need to have read that to understand this book (although it will spoil the ending of that if you don’t read them in order). It’s not a sequel, it’s more of a companion, and the events unfold at the same time. I want to read Oryx and Crake again now to see if I like it any better second time around, and also see where the characters in this one turn up, as I really can’t remember. Some of the crossovers here seemed a little convenient at times, but it might make more sense after a re-read.

I would definitely like to see another continuation of the story, as it’s left open-ended enough to do so, but I don’t know if there will be one. Maybe Atwood has explored all she wanted to explore with this addition to the Oryx and Crake world. Maybe her next one could be a little more depressing though. Maybe it could make me want to put a stop to the madness of the world now before we get there.

Book 54: Crossing the Line

Here’s a confession: I’ve put off reading this book for a while. When Brennig kindly offered to send me his book, I happily said yes. And then it came and I started to worry. I’d have to write a review of this. What if I didn’t like it? What if it was terrible? What if it was a bizarre stream of consciousness rant about how cats are really our masters? What if it didn’t have proper spelling and grammar?? So I did what I always do, I put it off. And then finally I put on my big girl shoes and started to read. Not a rant about cats. Has actual sentence structure. Phew.

Chris and Jacki meet at a work do and quickly fall for each other. The relationship progresses at speed as they spend all their time together, Jacki getting wrapped up in Chris’ world of competitive horse events (you can tell right here I have no idea what I’m talking about when it comes to horses, but go with it). But Jacki is a single mother who needs to be wary of falling for the wrong man, and Chris has his own relationship issues. Their relationship is tested somewhat when Vicky comes on the scene looking to improve her chances in Eventing. Chris steps in to help out, and Jacki is a little jealous. Oh, and also pregnant. Oops.

There’s the gist without giving too much away. I liked the relationship between Chris and Jacki, it seemed to grow quite naturally, if rather quickly, and they’re nicely written characters. As are the others who turn up regularly throughout the book. There’s a fair amount of humour that comes through, especially in the dialogue, which feels real and natural, and I found myself smiling at something said on more than one occasion.

I’m not totally sure how I was supposed to feel about Chris. In the beginning I quite liked him, since he is a very likeable guy. He’s smart and funny, affectionate with Jacki and good with her daughter. But when I learned his back story I started to see him in a different light, and his actions towards the end made me rather dislike him. And I’m afraid I didn’t like the ending. There are a few surprises that come quickly in the last few pages, and I felt they were quite manipulative and not really necessary. They didn’t feel true to me.

I hope it doesn’t sound like I thought it was a terrible book, because it’s not and I don’t, and there’s much to like about it, but there are a few things I would have liked to have gone differently.

So thank you Brennig, for sending it to me.

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring and I’m Really Boring

It’s that time of year again. It’s getting darker, and colder, and I don’t like it one bit. I don’t mind winter, I quite like getting all bundled up in jumpers and hats and scarves. I’m just not ready for it quite yet. And I’m really not ready for it to get dark early. There’s nothing more depressing than waking up in the dark, spending all day behind a desk, then leaving work in the dark. My poor body is deprived of sunshine and it just wants to hibernate until it’s over.

Right now it’s an in between stage, so it’s impossible to know what to wear in a morning. Do I wear a coat? Is it time for boots? One thing I won’t leave the house without it my umbrella, since at any moment the heavens can open and ruin your day, which may or may not be what happened to me earlier. I’d been to see Julie and Julia* and already got caught in one downpour on my way to the cinema, and sadly lifting my knees up to the dryer in the loo didn’t help at all. Coming back I forgot that my bus is on diversion and I had to walk in the goddamn rain and even with my precious umbrella I was soaked to my skin. It’s that kind of rain where you sit in the window looking out from your warmth and think ‘Man, am I glad I’m not out in that.’ I finally caved and put the heating on to dry stuff (it’s ok, someone caved before me, I wasn’t the first one!). Then I accidentally ate mouldy bread. And my MP3 player is busted, probably because it’s wet…

What was my point? Oh yeah, I am not fond of of this weather. It sucks.

*It was very lovely. Meryl Streep is just brilliant isn’t she? And I’m a little in love with Stanley Tucci right now. They’re fabulous together. Oh to be loved like that.

Book 53: All Together Dead

No waiting for the library to get my book in this time, no sir. I bought this one at the airport and could read at my leisure. I should just buy them all, it’s much nicer. Anyway, this is Sookie Stackhouse post Hurricane Katrina, and things haven’t gone well for the New Orleans vampires. The queen is about to go on trial for murdering her husband, and the surviving vamps will be attending a conference. The queen wants Sookie with her so she can find out who is plotting against her, and Eric is less than impressed not to have her to himself. Sookie is still seeing Quinn, and things are going well, but they’re both busy with the conference. Sookie meets up with Barry the Bellboy, the only other telepath she’s met, and together they read minds for their employers. Of course, there are people who don’t like the idea of vampires walking among us, and they’ll do anything to stop them. The Fellowship of the Sun appears again, but are they responsible for the vamp murders, or is there something darker going on?

First of all, we have more Eric! Boo-yah! He and Sookie are forced to get closer in an effort to save her from a far more unpleasant ordeal, and neither of them really knows what to do with that. I love their awkwardness, and Eric’s hatred of his own feelings for her.

This one was also interesting as we get to see more of vampire politics at play. We’ve seen kings and queens before, and know most of the hierarchy, but here we have vampire justice (or vengeance) on show, with trials, and an ancient judge. There’s also another new otherworldy presence, in the form of supernatural bodyguards, and I’m not even attempting to spell the name right. One problem I had with the plot was the build up to the big finale, where lots of vampires are killed or injured. It was far too easy to see coming, from the moment the thing is mentioned you know its going to come back into play, and in a big way. It’s not subtle at all, and so it makes me think Sookie and the vampires, who are supposed to have better senses after all, are pretty dumb, that they wouldn’t pick up on it straight away, or in the very least have better bloody security going on, especially after an earlier bomb threat. It felt a bit lazy to me, all in all.

It’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the next book, now so many vampires have been lost, and the queen is injured and her power weakened. I’m sure Sookie’s world is going to be shaken up some. Sadly this time I do have to wait for the library. Grr.

Book 52: Definitely Dead

And we’re back with Sookie Stackhouse in the sixth book in Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series. In this one Sookie gets a new man (another one! Although at least a possible reason for her appeal is given), weretiger Quinn, but of course her love life never runs smoothly and they are attacked by weres on a date. Elsewhere, Sookie’s cousin Hadley has died, leaving all her possessions to Sookie, and so she must go to New Orleans to pack up the apartment. Hadley’s death is unusual, since she was already dead. The vampire lover of the Queen of New Orleans, Hadley lived an interesting afterlife, until she was murdered. Now someone doesn’t want Sookie looking too closely at Hadley’s things, and if she gets in the way, well there just might be war.

I have to say I was a little bit lost at the beginning of this book. I had no memory of Hadley being mentioned (although I assume she was), or of her death, or that she’d been a vampire, but I guess this happened off screen, so to speak. I thought I’d missed one of the books out, but I think some of it may have been in a short story instead. New characters are introduced but Sookie has already met them, so I sort of didn’t know how to take them. I suppose this way we get to the action sooner, but I would have preferred seeing Sookie’s reaction about Hadley’s murder and the rest of it.

But I quite liked the story, and Sookie’s trip to New Orleans. There’s plenty going on as usual and it seemed back on form and with a fast pace that was missing a little in the last one. I liked Quinn but I coud have done with more Eric. I know I know, I always say that. But he’s the best bit! More than that I can’t really say, as I read this on the plane coming back from Atlanta so my brain wasn’t totally in gear.

On Your Feet Solider, On Your Feet!

Yesterday I went to see Othello with Lenny Henry in the lead role. When you first hear ‘Lenny Henry’ and ‘Shakespeare’ in the same sentence, your mind does a weird ‘Ohhhh….what?!’ thing. But it actually wasn’t that bad. Well, he was so so as the lead, but the rest of it was decent. He seemed to find it hard to shake off his accent in the beginning, and I wasn’t sure where he was supposed to be from, but it settled down as the play went on. The guy playing Iago was excellent, although it’s hard not to be, since it’s Iago’s show. I also liked Desdemona, but mostly towards the end when the drama kicks up a notch. When she first comes on she’s very smiley and wide eyed and gushing, and since it’s been a long time since I read Othello I couldn’t remember if that’s what she’s supposed to be like. I know she’s young but that’s all. But when Othello’s jealously takes over, she did a good job with the tears and fear, and in the end as he stands looking at her while she’s in bed, I was thinking ‘Oh don’t do it,’ even though I know how it ends. I’m sure there are far better versions of the play that have been done, but this one was entertaining enough.

Today, in between some cleaning and falling in love with the hoover that actually picks stuff up (I know, what a marvellous invention), I have mostly been a sloth. I watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day this morning, and it was very sweet and lovely and now I’d like to read the book. And then I watched The Terminator to get another Michael Biehn fix, and the film is just as awesome as ever. OK, so the effects haven’t aged that well, mostly with regards to the models, but the story is still brilliant. I love the score too, it’s the perfect music for it. Plus it contains what must be the best pick up line ever in ‘I came across time for you.’ Who could resist that? Good job she doesn’t really, or there’d be no John Connor to save the day.

A little while ago I did a stupid thing, which would be a work out dvd, and now I can’t feel my legs. Most of it was spent cursing the perky little blond woman with freaky abs (I really don’t want mine to look like hers so she can sod off with her ‘Let’s do another set!’ war cry).  I will now ease my pain by making a cup of tea and eating cookies. In your face blonde lady!

I Survived Dragon Con

I thought I should mention it, just in case there’s anyone out there who doesn’t think I’m enough of a geek already.

So yeah, I happened to find myself in Atlanta while Dragon Con was on, and with a bit of persuading got the family to go with me. Saturday morning we made our way into the city, and found parking and boggled at all the people dressed up. And then we went to get in line to buy our passes, which went down the side of one building…and around the other…and the other, and almost back on itself. Oh my god. We queued for two hours and I must say, everyone in line was very lovely and chatty and it didn’t seem so bad until we got inside, where it was hot and the poor people in the credit card line were sandwiched in like sardines. It looked unpleasant. I hate badly organised things! I think two guys were in charge of taking money and giving out passes. Two!! By the time we got there they were basically throwing the passes at people to get them out more quickly.

Anyway, that’s the bad stuff. The good stuff is the costumes, people really go to town. And the walk of fame. James Marsters! BSG peeps! Harry Potter fangirls killing themselves to get to Draco Malfoy. I did not, however, so much as glimpse William Shatner or Leonard Nimoy. I understand keeping them away from the main room, because they’d be mobbed constantly, but if you wanted to meet them and get a photo, you had to pay another $75. EACH!! Hell to the no. I am not playing that game.

Mary McDonnell spoke to me. She said ‘NO PICTURES!’ and looked cross while I slunk off totally embarrassed, but she spoke to me.

The best thing, the utter utter best thing, was meeting Michael Biehn. Yeah yeah ‘Who?’ but this guy is in two of my all time favourite films. It was a big deal. I broke my own rule of not talking to famous people and queued up for an hour to meet him, and forked over 20 bucks for a photo. It was worth it. He is lovely. And I sat next to him for my photo and he put his arm around me. KYLE REESE PUT HIS ARM AROUND ME!!!! Corporal Hicks put HIS ARM AROUND ME!!! I was a total dork, as usual. He was being so nice and talking to me and asking me stuff and I was like a zombie. He asked about London, as Sam said I was going back the next day, and he was talking about how he’d lived in Chelsea when they were filming Aliens. He asked if I was a student. ‘Er….no…no, I’m not…I’m…er….working.’ OH MY GOD! Say something interesting! Say something amusing! Say ANYTHING! Think of all the stuff I could have asked him about, and yet my mind was a total blank. There was nothing going on there, other than ‘Please let me get out of this without embarrassing myself too much. Please. Please!’ I did ok, and I got a photo, which I will kindly share with you even though I look awful:

That there is the face of a shell shocked Carrie. A shell shocked Carrie with humidity ravaged hair.

Anyway, those are the highlights. After the con we went to CNN for a behind the scenes tour, and I managed to stumble onto national tv. As you do. Jenny took us around her work, and then upstairs to the national bit, where some bloke was reading the news. As we were walking back, I forgot about the dude and strolled into his background shot, then realised I had done so and backed up, with a very surprised look on my face. Had I just kept walking I would have been fine, just some nerd in the newsroom. But no. Deer caught in headlights. Awesome. Jenny played it back for us and yep, there’s me, going live across the nation.

Book 51: The Girl in Times Square

Also by Paullina Simons, also one I’ve read a couple of times, and I still enjoy it with each read. We’re back with Spencer Patrick O’Malley, a little older, now living in New York, still on the force, and with his fair share of demons. His path crosses with Lily, a young woman attempting to finish college, deal with her alcoholic mother, her agoraphobic grandmother and two surprising pieces of life changing luck, one good, one very bad. Her flatmate Amy disappears, and Spencer is on the case. Initially frosty with each other, the two form a bond when Lily becomes ill. Spencer is the only one she can lean on, the one who is always there.

Sure, there’s plenty of melodrama in this one, you’ve got lottery wins and cancer; an older man looking after a much younger woman; alcoholism; extra marital affairs; missing persons and a flashback to the Holocaust, and yet it works for me. I’m a sucker for Spencer O’Malley after all. There are some things that don’t ring all that true, especially Lily’s family and how they react to her illness and lottery win. Her sister arguing for Lily to sign a DNR and always coming around for money…I’m sure there are people like that in the world, but it just seemed a bit too obvious and heavy handed. There’s a lot going on, and it’s a long book, but the main characters are so engaging it whizzes by. I guess not only am I a sucker for Spencer, I’m also a sucker for any kind of love story where it takes a while for the two people to get it together. And then they do…it’s a Pacey/Joey moment, you know? I like that neither character is perfect, and their arguments and reasons for not being together are valid, instead of just to keep the plot going.

This book also revisits the crime from Red Leaves, and we see how Spencer’s actions at the end of that book have consequences for him here. I’m not sure about the ending though. There’s a lot of foreshadowing about a significant event, and I can’t decide whether I am meant to be left with a sense of doom, or if I can feel hopeful for their future. Either way, if you’re after a big, romantic page-turner, this is the one. It’s got everything. And Spencer too.