Catching Up: My reviews for the first half of 2012

Though I often neglect my normal blogging duties, it's nothing compared to my book review page.  Looking at this part of my website prior to tonight one might have thought I hadn't read a book in over six months.  I'll admit balancing writing, promoting, and teaching leaves me less time to read, but that would be ridiculous.  The reality is I just never got around to writing reviews for the books I've read, which is a shame because some of the books I've read in that time span were…interesting, let's say.  It wouldn't be fair to the authors or my readers to attempt full reviews of all these works, but I will give a few flash reviews, and two more in-depth reviews of my more recent reads.

December 2011/January 2012

Juliet by Anne Fortier

Over winter break I read this Shakespeare related suspense/romance novel along the lines of the Carrell books that bounces between a modern day and historical setting.  Though the plot and writing may have had a few flaws (certain members of my book club would argue more than few), overall, I enjoyed it. 

Bottom line: It is an entertaining way to spend a few hours in front of the fireplace, or since two seasons have passed, on a warm beach, but probably won't keep you up into the wee hours of the night.

February 

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry 

This was one of those 'interesting' books I mentioned earlier.  Starting out I was excited since I had read the author was a self-published success story.  It's comforting as an author to know other writers have made it without the help of a big publisher–at least until I started reading. Then I was a bit baffled as to how the novel had become a best-seller.  Though the premise of women able to read futures in lace was fascinating, and the local Salem setting attractive, something about the first person narration and the odd story arc didn't work for me.  I won't spoil the ending, but that didn't work for me either.  It wasn't that I disliked The Lace Reader.  It had an excellent opening and there were characters I loved and others I loathed (because I as a reader I was supposed to), but there were too many rough spots for it to resonate with me.

 Bottom line: It is a best-seller, so although I didn't love it, plenty of people must have.  A unique read if you have the time.

April 

The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer 

This one had such great potential.  The premise of a town of woman who all swear off sex due to a production of beingLysistrata, the comedy by Aristophanes, put on by the new drama teacher had me hooked before I read the first page.  This was good, because had I read the first few pages prior to purchasing, I'm not sure I would have.  A few things bothered me about this book.  First there was very little dialogue.  I'm a reader who craves character development, and for me, what I got through the alternating points of view wasn't enough.  I wanted to hear these ladies speak to one another; I didn't want to be told about conversations after the fact.  Another problem I had was that the timeline of events in the book jumped around too much.  It was mid-winter, it was back to early fall, it was…who can keep track?  A clear flashback is one thing, but these weren't clear, they were confusing.  Again, to be fair, other women in my book club really enjoyed the book, or at least parts of it that they felt honestly depicted married life or parenthood.  I enjoyed certain parts myself, just not enough to heartily recommend this as a must-read.

Bottom line: Super idea, mediocre execution.

In Between

In addition to these I read or reread a few classics for my eighth grade reading class, two of which, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend taking a second glance at.  Too many of us had great classics killed for us by high school or college literature classes that analyzed everything to death; it's nice to go back and reread and appreciate them they way they were meant to be read, for pleasure, not instruction.

May

That brings me to late Spring, where my memory is a little less fuzzy, although this next one I started reading just days before I was told the release of my book was in less than a week.  Needless to say the excitement and chaos surrounding that fractured my reading, not ideal when reading a mystery.  Still, it's the debut novel of a local writer, and it was excellent, so despite not clearly remembering the finer details of the plot, I felt this one needed a full review.

Purgatory Chasm by Steve Ulfelder

Flashplot: When Conway Sax, former racecar driver, recovering alcoholic, and lovable badass, agrees to help a 'friend' from AA, he lands himself in the middle of a murder investigation.  Not the type to sit back and let others do the dirty work for him, Sax drives up and down the East coast determined to find out who killed his fellow barnburner and why.

As a reader: Well, I've already publicly announced my weak spot for fictional bad boys (Character Crushes, 4/12), so it's no surprise that I fell in love with Conway Sax just about the same time I realized he was trouble.  That said, this is not chick lit like much of what I read and review here.  Conway Sax is a man's man, and the story, writing style, and characters might actually put the novel in the opposite category (rhymes with chick lit, only crasser). The flawed hero makes for a fascinating first person narrator that pulls the reader along quite willingly. I found the plot pleasing as well, with plenty of twists and the right amount of development.  The local connection added to the fun since I've spent my life in the settings Sax traversed throughout the book.

As a writer: As someone who rewrote her own first lines a dozen or more times (okay, many more), I was in awe of the opening line of the book: "There are drunken assholes, and then there are assholes who are drunks."  It's risky, it's intriguing, and it demonstrates fantastic character development all in one compound sentence.  I was hooked and impressed.  The further I read, the more I wished I had read this book before attempting my own.  I struggled with getting the voice of my male characters to sound like the tough males they were.  This would have been the perfect mentor text.  After half a page there is no doubt left in the readers' mind what kind of guy Conway Sax is.  More than that, Ulfelder has fun with his characterization, inserting bits of humorous internal dialogue in a first person narration, which one could argue is already internal dialogue.  Though the story was enjoyable as a reader, what sold me as a writer were the writing style and character development. 

Bottom line: A terrific debut novel by a local talent.  I downloaded book two, The Whole Lie, as soon as I finished book one and am saving it for my full first beach day.

 

June

Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse, book 12)

Flashplot: Okay, let's forget attempting a flashplot.  Any one who hasn't read another book in this series would likely think I'd been smoking a crackpot if I attempted to do justice to the dozen story lines that finally came together in this newest novel.  For those of who you have read the rest of the series, you can probably guess the overall premise: Our favorite waitress and telepath, Sookie Stackhouse continues to find herself thigh-high in drama due her to bad choice in boyfriends, both past and present, her unfortunate family/fairy heritage, and her 'gift' from her demon godfather.
As a reader: I love Charlaine Harris's characters and thoroughly enjoyed the stories of the first half dozen books in the series, but I have to admit the last book or two had me wondering if it was time to retire Sookie and the Bon Temps vamps. This newest book was a pleasant surprise.  The entire last book seemed like a prologue to this one, leaving many story lines just swinging in the breeze at the end.  This book not only wrapped up many of them, but wove them together into a web that had me entangled for hours.  (I literally read this one in one sitting.)
As a writer:  Undoubtedly, Harris and this series played a crucial role in developing my ideas for my own book.  I tried to emulate what I love about this series: the humor, the strong, yet flawed heroine, and the balance of action with relationships. Deadlocked didn't leave me disappointed, and in fact had even more to teach me as a writer of a fantasy series.  Though I couldn't see it in the last book, which was disappointing, Harris clearly had a set direction towards which she was pushing all of her subplots.  Such forethought led to an intricate plot, which, unlike the last book, left me satisfied, yet wanting more.  A good place for a reader to be.
Bottom line: If you're already a fang fan, make sure the Kindle's fully charged.  If not, you've been in the coffin too long–go pick up the first book!