Coming to Theaters

43. The Woman in Black

 

So there is a new trailer out for a movie based on this story and it looked SUPER creepy, so I wanted to read the story before seeing the movie and I am glad that I did.

I would imagine that the movie version will take everything a bit further but this was a good, fast, and spooky read.  A bit formulaic to be sure: old creepy lady dies, she lived in a creepy out of the way house, the new lawyer is sent to straighten out her affairs, everyone warns him about staying in the house, he goes anyway and things are creepy...  But it all worked and it is such a quick read that you just get in to it and let it take you away.  It would be absolutely perfect to read on a rainy day with a cup of tea!

Ka Pow!

42. Moondogs

Wow!  What a book!  So not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved every last inch of it.

The Crew:
Benicio - High school tech support who has decided to visit his father in Manila after a long estrangement.
Howard - Benicio's father and possibly a good guy, but probably a bad guy.
Monique - An ex-pat living in Manila and trying to recapture the wonder of the childhood she spent there, but only succeeding in destroying everything around her.  Literally.
Raynato - The leader of a band of specially selected super-heroes who stand up for the unstandupable.  He supposedly has a special eye for finding people with special talents, but to me he sees talent in everyone he meets, so maybe the truth is that we all have it.
Efrem - The newest member of team Ka-Pow.
Ignacio and Kelog - The Villains

The Ride:
We are privy to all of the story lines of these people over the course of a few days, and to all of the shifts in time and points of view that bring them together for single moments of huge significance.  This is a rare first novel that handles all of these techniques with a masterful hand.The plot clips along at a great pace and even though there is a lot going on the book never tries to lose the reader.  It isn't trying to be something smart and new and different, it is just honestly those things, and you feel it as you read. I can't wait to see what comes next from this young man.

Special K

"A man and his rooster exit a taxi idling on a crowded street.  The man is short and thin, and the rooster is green, and the rooster belongs to him.  He's wearing a fresh shirt, the blood all washed out, and his polyester slacks shine a little in the afternoon light.  He's too young to be balding, but is.  His mouth is a rotten mess, owing to bad hygiene and a shabu habit.  His name is Ignacio.  He and the rooster are villains."

This is the opening paragraph of Moondogs by Alexander Yates, and this is the shit I live for!  Could it be any better? I read it and couldn't stop smiling.  I had to close the book and take a deep breath to calm down the excitement I have to read the rest.  I quite simply can't wait!

Memories

41. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

It is an acclaimed YA book and so I had high expectations and I did like it but I also thought it was a bit over the top.  It felt somewhat unrealistic in the extremes of the highs and the lows.  But I LOVED the artwork and thought it really helped the plot of the story and that it would be a great discussion point for kids.  It is certainly a quick read and there are many parts that I am sure will get it banned but it gave a pretty real portrayal of life on a reservation and the pressure we all feel to break away yet to also conform.

For me it also brought back memories of the road trips my parents and I would take to New Mexico, and one trip particularly when we stopped to watch a chicken pull.  A chicken pull is exactly what it sounds like: two guys on horses, each one takes a wing, and they pull.  The guy with the bigger piece is the winner.  I think I was 15 on this trip and so was all kinds of grossed out, annoyed, and indignant about going to this thing(and everything else).  I remember standing there with my mom and dad and suddenly my mom was hit in the head by some ice.  She ignored it and then it happened again.  Some people behind us were throwing it to show us we were not in the right place.  It was the oddest feeling.  I should have been angry that they hurt my mother right?  Anyone would be.  But I was too embarrassed to be.  Too embarrassed because I knew they were right.  We were white and on the reservation.  The feeling on the reservation is that if this is what the white men gave them then we should let them be.  I can't remember how much longer we stayed, I can remember being scared.  And I can still see clearly the broken bits of ice sparkling in my mom's hair.

Real Life Sherlock

40. Arthur and George

This is another in the new trend of historical novels that are well researched but read more like fiction, and this had many of the same issues that I have found in the others.  The research is great but the endgame is lacking.

It follows the true story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's crusade to clear the name of George Edjali who served three years in prison for the mutilation of a pony. After the death of Arthur's wife he came across a letter and clippings sent to him from Edjali chronicling the crime and asking for his help in clearing his name so that he could go back to work as a solicitor.  Doyle seems to take on the characteristics of his own Holmes to "solve" the crime. 

I was not familiar with the case so all of that information was very interesting to read but the truth is if you are looking for it to all come together in a sort of tidy conclusion, this isn't the story for you.  I also felt that the story took too long to really get to the meat of things; this is an issue I tend to have with a of these books.  Sometimes the research gets in the way of the story.  I also felt that the characters lacked a bit of depth.

Seriously?!?

39. Hunting Season

You are a horrible book!

You are supposed to be a murder mystery but I am still not convinced that a murder took place.  Your heroine is the boss yet she bends to everyone's demands and is constantly scared of what they think of her.  She is in love with a man but you only tell us about his wife.  And your bad guy! COME ON!!!

Seriously, the whole thing was annoying and I MADE myself read you. Screw you bad book. Seriously Karen, why?

Book-A-Day

During my first year of teaching a had a book a day calendar on my desk. Many of the books I had read, but I still have a handful of the entries attached to my TBR list and this is one of them.

Looking back, I am not sure what drew my attention to it but I finally was able to get my hands on a copy of the book and am now about half way through. To say I have trudged is a gross understatement.  Wow, I hate it. The heroine is insufferable. All of the other characters are so similar that she continuously uses their entire names, and there are far too many of them.  The main crime is not really driving the plot at all, I have no sympathy for the victim, and it seems that all that happens is people drive around.