Mysterious Ladies

“There weren’t many people in this world who would let you be vulnerable and still believe you were strong.” Truth.

8.14 The Thousand Dollar Tan Line

I’m a Veronica Mars fan, I backed the Kickstarter movie, and I read this book in two days.  Clearly, we have a history and I honestly have no idea how people would react to the book without the background I already had going in, but I enjoyed the book a lot as a fan, a lot more than the movie actually.  The mystery here is much more solid, as is the detective work, and thus the Veronica character.  The movie was so busy getting every cameo possible squeezed in that the entire plot failed a bit. 

The book takes up exactly where the movie leaves off, Keith is still recovering and Veronica is still struggling with the decision to do what she feels like she needs to versus what she feels like she should, and, as fans of the show know, a conflicted Veronica is a snarky and sassy Veronica.  She is great when she is a little angry.  The mystery is a bit darker which fits with her more grown up world and there is even a twist I never saw coming.  Overall, it left me excited about where this possible avenue of continuing Veronica’s story can go.

Plus, brilliant move to initially print in paperback.  Why are not all publishers doing this now?  With all the distractions available to people now, are many still willing to pay more now for what you can get for less later?  Maybe it’s just me.

“Look.  There is only one of me, and it’s all I’ve got.” Truth.

6.14 The Haunting of Hill House

I read this book a while ago and decided to include it here because what I really took away from reading this horror story was the female characters.  I was kind of distracted from the plot because I kept remembering the movie version that came out a few years ago, but I was impressed with the quite modern relationships and lifestyles being portrayed without apology being that the book was first printed in 1959.

Bond, Gabriel Bond

“‘Remind me to never get on your bad side.’” Truth.

7.14 The English Girl

I think this is the 13^th book in the Gabriel Allon series, and I have read every one.  I know the characters from descriptions without needing names; I know where they have friend and where they have enemies.  I know that they fight the good fight against very bad guys, and I know that they basically do it the same way every time.  The Allon books are familiar and familiar is good, but sometimes familiar needs a bit of shaking.

As I started The English Girl I was a bit shocked to see things take a bit of a different route.  This is not the typical case that Allon is used for, and he goes it somewhat alone (even getting his hands dirty with an ex-foe).  And I liked that.  I liked him doing the actual work without having everything he needs at his fingertips, it was good to see why he is known for being so good at what he does, but I also wondered why he was doing it. Why did he care?  And when the plot takes a supposed shift – along with reverting back to the tried and true plot structure of books past – I still didn’t get why he would care.  Why would any of them really care?  I still don’t really get it. 

But what I do know is that seeing Allon in new circumstances was exciting, much more exciting than seeing him do again what he has always done before.  I mean, after a while we all know he is going to do it every time right?  Where’s the fun in that?

Bribery

“Before he lost his sight, the maester had loved books as much as Samwell Tarley did. He understood the way that you could sometimes fall right into them, as if each page was a hole into the other.” Truth.

5.14 A Feast for Crows

I came to the A Song of Fire and Ice series late.  I discovered it through a New Yorker article about how impatient George RR Martin’s fans are becoming for him to finish the series, and many fretting over the fact that he may die before he manages it.  I was amazed by the article and asked my brother who is a huge Fantasy fan if he had read the books.  He hadn’t… three weeks later he had and he was hooked.  So I decided to delve in. 

I have made no secret of the fact that I have grown tired of the new trilogy/series fad.  Mostly because I think it leads to over written ideas that really don’t need to be dragged out, and after finishing book four of the series I have hit true fatigue.  As I read, my attention wandered away from the story more often than not and I kept thinking that while I understand that Martin has created a world and characters that he loves, and I can understand why he wants to see where they may go and what they may do, that in the end I bet it was a pretty simple story he intended to tell.  I imagine that when he wrote that first book he knew how it all would end, but then got lost in all the planning and imagining and thus we end up with (supposedly) seven books that will, once complete, still bookend that same simple story line.  Is that a bad thing?  No necessarily.  He is a great writer and people love the books so have at it.  I just hope it finishes up at some point for those fans.

By the way, I had to bribe myself to finish this book with promising myself the purchase of the only book I have been really, really excited about in a long while. Very excited.