It seems like I read anywhere. I always have a book with me and now that I have an iTouch, I pretty much whip out a book, physical or otherwise, whenever I have a bit of time: waiting in line at the post office, in a cafe, waiting in line for a flu shot, in the car as it warms up in the morning, as well as in bed or on the couch. ]]>
Thanks for visiting, Laura! ]]>
Hi, everyone! In conjunction with my first author interview, I'm giving away a signed copy of The Man Who Loved Books to Much at my blog, http://misfitsalon.blogspot.com/.
Contest ends November 30, 2009.
Come visit! ]]>
In conjunction with my first author interview, I'm giving away a signed copy of The Man Who Loved Books to Much at my blog, http://misfitsalon.blogspot.com/.
Contest ends November 30, 2009.
Come visit! ]]>
In conjunction with my first author interview, I'm giving away a signed copy of The Man Who Loved Books to Much at my blog, http://misfitsalon.blogspot.com/.
Contest ends November 30, 2009.
Come visit! ]]>
Like Time Traveler's Wife, the aftermath of Her Fearful Symmetry left me wound up, exhausted, and pondering the conclusion.
Short story: Worth reading.
And like its predecessor, Her Fearful Symmetry is about love, with supernatural elements. Some reviewers have mentioned that the story lost them when it came to a certain point which stretched their suspension of disbelief too far. To that, I counter, if you can comfortably suspend your disbelief that a man can be afflicted with involuntary time travel, then you won't be lost reading this story.
The title says exactly what the book is about - symmetry. Three (four if you count Elspeth and Edie) relationships that intertwine in this book are asymmterical and therefore imbalanced; one person's needs and demands have overpowered the other, leading to unhealthy co-dependence and loss of identity.
You have Julia and Valentina as mirror twins, which means that they are mirror opposites of each other. If Julia has a mole on the right side of her face then Valentina would have on her left. Even their organs are mirror opposites. They are both perfectly symmetrical, down to their personalities. Julia dominates Valentina, nicknamed Mouse, and it is she who dictates their lives. The twins' troubled relationship mirrors the one their mother and aunt, themselves twins, had with one another years before, which was disrupted by a mysterious, unspoken rift between them that lasted until Elspeth's death. When the twins go to London to live in their dead aunt's flat, the taste of independence spurs Valentina to want to separate herself from Julia, with disturbing consequences.
Valentina lay in Julia's bed thinking about the inside of Julia's ear, how her own ear was the exact reverse, and if she pressed her ar against Julia's and trapped a sound, would it oscillate back and forth endlessly, confused and forlorn? Would I hear it backwards? What it if was a London sound, like cars driving on the wrong side of the road; then maybe I would hear it forwards and it would be backwards for Julia. Maybe in London everything will be the opposite from here...I'll do what I want, no one will be the boss of me.... Valentina listened to Julia breathing. She tried to imagine what she would do if it was just her, on her own. But she had
never done anything on her own, so she struggled to formulate some kind of plan and then gave up, exhausted.
Martin, the twins' London neighbor, has obsessive-compulsive disorder. He hasn't left his apartment in 20 years and has been utterly dependent on his wife, Marjike, during that time to negotiate the outside world for day-to-day living. His comfortable world falls apart when Marjike leaves him, unable to cope with his disability any longer. Martin longs to follow his wife to Amsterdam and be with her, but his condition has him paralyzed. Will Martin overcome his paralysis and win back Marjike or will he continue his descent into madness?
Robert was Elspeth's younger boyfriend and was with her as she died. Even after a year, he is still grieving for her and unable to finish his book on Highgate Cemetery. Just when he is about to return to a normal life and perhaps find someone else to love, Elspeth's ghost reveals itself to him. If Robert can't let go of Elspeth's memory, neither can Elspeth let go of her life or of Robert; she literally haunts him and the twins, clinging tenaciously to the life she once had.
All of the characters, even the domineering ones like Julia, are drawn sympathetically, but my favorite is sweet and quirky Martin. His wooing of Marjike from his apartment is romantic and old-fashioned. I wanted him to win her back, to be able to find the courage to conquer his demons. As for fragile Valentina, I was so anxious for her to stand up to Julia and grab onto a life of her own. With sensitive Robert there is a sense that he is a ghost himself, that the loss of Elspeth made him insubstantial.
Regarding Elspeth, I had mixed feelings. Even if she hadn't come back as a ghost, she haunted all the lives she touched: her sister, Edie, Edie's husband, Jack, the twins, Robert. It can be said that she is more alive than the living. The secret of her and Edie's rift is not what I at first thought - but shocking, nonetheless.
What drew me to this book, other than the fact that I loved Time Traveler's Wife, was the promise of Highgate Cemetery. I love graveyards and books which prominently feature them. I ate up the true stories about Highgate that Niffenegger wove into the narrative. The cemetery sufficiently lent the book its touch of gothic and constant reminder of death and serves as a necessary plot device. It's definitely on my list of cemeteries to visit.
There is nothing really scary about this book - even the ghost or cemetery part. The scenes with the cemetery volunteers actually seem jolly and fun. Who wouldn't want to volunteer taking care of crypts and graves? I do, I do!
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Mon•strum•ol•o•gy n.
1: the study of life forms generally malevolent to humans and not recognized by science as actual organisms, specifically those considered products of myth and folklore
2: the act of hunting such creatures
These are the secrets I have kept.
This is the trust I never betrayed.
But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets.
The one who saved me...and the one who cursed me.
So begins the journal of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, a man with a most unusual specialty: monstrumology, the study of monsters. In his time with the doctor, Will has met many a mysterious late-night visitor, and seen things he never imagined were real. But when a grave robber comes calling in the middle of the night with a gruesome find, he brings with him their most deadly case yet.
Critically acclaimed author Rick Yancey has written a gothic tour de force that explores the darkest heart of man and monster and asks the question: When does a man become the very thing he hunts?
Booklist Starred Reviews calls The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey the best horror novel of the year – not the best YA horror novel – but the best horror novel period. I would have to agree. First, I must be out of the loop re what qualifies as YA because this is one grisly, gory story. I don’t regularly read horror novels; but from the first time I saw the thrilling trailer for this book and the Frankenstein-esque cover, combined with the intriguing premise, I was in book lust.
They came from the trees; they poured out of Eliza’s grave, dozens of them, scores, sprinting with arms outstretched and mouths agape, their colorless skin radiant in the starlight, as if every tomb and sepulcher had vomited forth their foul contents.
Clearly we were being outpaced. I watched in helpless horror as the swarm of fiends closed the gap.
As the title promises – monsters abound from beginning to end, from large and terrifying ones, the anthropophagi (an even more elegant word than monstrumologist) – headless beasts that devour humans with gigantic fanged maws where their chests should be - to tiny parasites that could alternately drive their human hosts mad with pain or grant them unnaturally long lives. And then there are the maggots. I’ll leave you to find out what Yancey does with them.
The terrors come hard, fast, and plenty, but Yancey balances the action with quiet introspection by Will Henry, the orphan assistant who stoicly accompanies his exacting master. Yancey gives dimension to Dr. Warthrop’s insensitivity and obsession; he could have easily remained the typical mad scientist, but through he and Will’s rather touching relationship, he earns our sympathy.
It was true, of course, as I have heretofore confessed: I did not know him any better than he had known his own father. Perhaps that is our doom, our human curse, to never really know one another. We erect edifices in our minds about the flimsy framework of word and deed, mere totems of the true person, who, like the gods to whom the temples were built, remains hidden.
Warthrop’s harshness softens in comparison with Jack Kearns, the most enigmatic character in the book. As a fellow monster hunter who arrives late in the story to help battle against the anthropophagi ravaging New England, Kearns has a seductiveness of one whose charming façade hides the cold-blooded instincts of a killer. In Kearns’s unethical methods, Yancey alludes to Nietzsche’s warning that those who hunt monsters should take care lest they become monsters themselves. I suspect Yancey will expand on the question of who are the true monsters for the rest of the series. Predatory beasts or those who hunt them, using whatever methods, no matter how depraved ? ]]>
Soulless, by Gail Carriger, is set in an alternate Victorian England where vampires and werewolves are as commonplace as dirigibles and parasols. Carriger's quirky heroine, Alexia, has enough snark and spirit, as well as fashion sense, to be interesting. Her apparent lack of a soul makes her a preternatural, able to render supernatural creatures powerless with a touch. Lord Maccon maybe a werewolf, but he is still an unmistakable alpha male hero of a full-bodied romance novel, which is what this book is essentially. There is a mystery surrounding a man made of wax, an evil scientific club obsessed with octopi, lone werewolves disappearing, and newly made vampires wandering the streets of London uncontrolled. With all of this, I wouldn't qualify this as a horror book (as it is labeled); it's a paranormal romance, with touches of steampunk.
Carriger's inventive spin on the genre (Alexia's soullessness is an intriguing take) and witty style made Soulless a fast, fun read.
And I adore this cover - it has just the right touch of odd. I want a hat like that! ]]>
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