Atlas Shrugged: A Personal Goal Met

I mean it, the damn thing is thousands of pages long. But everyone says Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is phenomenal, and many people who know me are shocked that I haven't read it. So when I got a Nook, I decided to finally read the book I was scared was going to throw out my back from carrying it. I'll give you this book snob friends, it was as good as promised. Can I just say one thing to anyone who has read it? Am I supposed to finish it and go "But what about Eddie?" Of all the slew of characters, only Eddie's fate concerned me, but then I've always been a sucker for the hardworking best friend character. I mean, the characters in this book are so completely black and white, the heroes, the thinkers, the villains those who would take the thinkers work. But Eddie was just a hardworking guy who kept the railroad together while Dagny went around trying to save the world.

OKAY! I know this book has far reaching influence, and the issues raised in it are relevant today. I even understand the philosophy behind the novel, and Ayn Rands Objectivism. But books are about characters for me mostly, and I loved her main characters. The titans of industry go on strike to show the 'looters' that they can't keep stealing peoples work and giving it to others. Dagny Taggart is one of the few women in the book, and she is really Rand's main character, a dedicated smart hard working woman who is the last of the titans to go on strike. She is surrounded by men who want something for nothing, and who take what they can't make themselves.

You know what? I read a 1200 paged book in less than two weeks, and despite some mighty big words and complicated ideas, I understood and enjoyed it. And now I can read crap for a while.

Kings of the Earth

Finally I have read a book that is actually out! Jon Clinch (author of Finn, did you read Finn? I think I told you to read Finn) just came out with Kings of the Earth. His latest novel, only his second, is wonderful. It follows three men who live on a dairy farm in upstate New York (I think, Clinch lets his characters alternate to tell the story, and since I don't know much about farming or Upstate New York, I might be wrong), their neighbors, parents, brother in law, sister, nephew and the local police. All of these characters take turns telling the story of these strange and backwards men. There is a little bit of a mystery to it, but as with Finn, it's the characters that make it interesting. This time, instead of creating one completely fascinating less than honorable character, he has created a whole cast of characters, some honorable, some not so much, all nuanced with their own voice. If you like really great characters, and talented authors who can create completely individual characters, read this. If you have a Nook, I can lend it to you, once I figure out that feature!

I have no excuse

I have no reason why this is my first post in months. None whatsoever. I haven't been more busy than normal, I've been reading great books...

Oh well, let's catch up. During the past few months I have read a few great books, which I'll post later (I mean it this time). Including Juliet by Anne Fortier, Room by Emma Donohue, and Ape House by Sara Gruen. Can I claim that the reason I haven't posted is that the three books I just mentioned aren't actually out yet? I also read the Hanging Tree by Bryan Gruley, again not out, but check it out when it comes out, my friend Dan is mentioned in the back acknowledgments. Also, its' a great mystery.

In May I went to Book Expo, and had a fabulous time. Oh wait, that was because due to their moving the damn thing to the middle of the week I got to see more of New York than I had in previous trips (The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, all of Central Park, and what we called musical overload). Despite having a wonderful time, much of BEA was disappointing. Part of it was the two day format, which they are fixing for next year, but still the excruciatingly bad layout, the lack of good authors and the fact not one vendor handed me a cup of coffee during the entire expo was a disappointment after so many years of great shows. Despite that, there were some great moments, like discovering that Kathryn Stockett was signing the Help, and that they were giving out caramel cake for those in line, seeing Jon Stewart, and the fact Random House (despite some really poor line management) brought some seriously great authors this year. And of course, the well deserved lovefest that followed Justin Cronin around.

And this month I bought a Nook (the Barnes and Noble eReader). Two things to note, I love it, and it might just because I like gadgets and the fact my purse is a lot lighter now, and that being able to download books whenever I think of them is very dangerous. Though I wonder... I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged, because I feel that the Nook is exactly the right format for the over thousand paged book. So I'm sitting on the beach reading today, and I realized, no one knows what I'm reading, they don't know I'm reading something so high brow. I could be reading Nicholas Sparks on the damn thing. Also, because it has a web browser, and online book shopping right at my finger tips, it's making me ADD. Or more ADD...

Look something shinny, time to go!

Fool and King Lear

Book Club this Friday, so I'm rereading Fool by Christopher Moore. A hardship, let me assure you, as I love this book more the second time than I did the first. I'm also rereading King Lear, mostly because it's been years since I've read it, and because I'm scared people are going to ask me tough questions. I managed, in my quest to find a copy of Lear at my school (which we did not have, do you think we should be shut down? Because I think we should be shut down), to recommend Fool to all of the English teachers in the building. Fool is King Lear from the perspective of Pocket, the fool. Except, well, Christopher Moore takes some liberties, so there is a lot more swearing, sex and things I think are hilarious. Can I be a dork and recommend you read Fool and King Lear either together or one after another? It'll make you appreciate Moore's genius all the more. Oh, and I have a copy I can lend out starting Monday, if you want to read it.

Horns

Because I was reading so many romance novels (one of which I just reviewed, the other I'm holding off until I have to reread it for bookclub next month), I grabbed a free copy of Horns by Joe Hill at work. Joe Hill is a writer of his own worth, but despite that, the only way I've ever heard him recommended is "He's Stephen King's son." Now, while this short sentence is accurate and allows us booksellers to sell you curious public on another great horror novelist, it's not really fair. He's not Jonathan Kellerman (wait, is that the son, which one is the son of the two Kellermans?), he's not Carol something Clark. He's going to be just Joe Hill in a decade or so, if he writes books like Horns, or Heart Shaped Box, his first full novel, but for right now, he's Joe Hill, Stephen Kings son. Horns opens with Ig Perrish awakening to find that he has grown horns in the night (as well as a little devil beard, you get the idea). He can't remember what he did, but he does know that these horns make people tell him their deepest darkest secrets. He uses this new power to cause a shenanigans with his family and friends, and to discover the real killer of his high school sweetheart. If you like his father, and wish he would use more Rock and Roll references, this is the book for you. Jesse Kellerman is the son of Jonathan and Faye and is now writing mysteries, for those of you who were wondering, I had to go look it up.

The Girl Who Chased The Moon

Sarah Addison Allen is one of those authors, at least for me, that make me happy without a real definitive reason why. She's Southern, writes romances and has unexplained magical elements to her books, and yet I love them. The Girl who chased the moon is her third book, and the greatest compliment I can pay a book I give to Ms. Allen. I was able to completely drown out everything going on around me while I was reading this. I didn't hear my coworkers complaining about things, I didn't hear the copier in the other room making screeching noises, and I was completely absorbed into her world. The story revolves around Emily, a teenager who moves in with her grandfather after her mother dies. Her grandfather, a giant, doesn't really know how to deal with a teenage girl, so their neighbor Julia helps acclimate the girl, despite a tumultuous past with Emily's mother. Emily meets a strange boy, who let me assure you before you start getting mad at me, is not a werewolf or a vampire. Ms. Allen simply would not put me through that with all the Twilight crap around here. Thought I was honestly a little afraid he would end up being one or the other. Emily tries to figure out his secret, while bonding with Julia. Julia has moved back into town after several years away after her father dies to take over his restaurant, and to do some really awesome sounding baking. She tries to ignore Sawyer, her high school crush with whom she shares more than just a past, and counts down the days until she can leave the town again. It's a romance novel all dressed up in cute, and delightful to the end. It's not the best book of 2010 (see my last post), but it's the first one I was so wrapped up in I was able to ignore all of my coworkers for 30 minutes 3 days straight, and that's a book worth recommending.

The Passage: The Best Book of 2010

I'm not kidding, it's the best book of 2010. And it's not even out yet! Start getting excited people, I mean it. June 2nd I think is the official lay down. You are going to be hearing a lot about this book, and all of the good press is deserved. Justin Cronin has created a fascinating well written epic novel. Imagine... Stephen King's The Stand, but with vampires. But not Charlene Harris or Twilight vampires, I assure you there is nary a fwoppy haired pouter to be found. Two FBI agents start the amazing novel off by convincing a confused death row inmate to participate in a government experiment. This government experiment is creating vampires, and there is one girl, Amy, who is exposed but does not show symptoms of the disease. Now, of course the vampires escape and start taking over the country, and of course the government and army create special areas for the uninfected. The second part of the book shows us one such area decades later. This small group of survivors believe themselves to be the only survivors of the plague that has killed everyone in the world. They have walls and lights to keep the vampires out, as well as an entire culture built on survival, which is grippingly interesting and populated by amazingly vivid characters.

This books is so well written, horrific (in the best possible way), and just plain creepy I couldn't put it down, and it's pretty long. Cronin, genius and destroyer of several nights sleep running, ends pretty much every chapter with a cliffhanger, which seems unfair somehow, because for every character at every moment it's life and death. And you care deeply about this characters. Amy especially is the core character of the story, you want her to be okay, and you understand why everyone around her goes to such lengths to protect her, not just because she might be able to save humanity. I can't talk about this book too much, I'll give something away, I didn't even like telling you about the second part, but I loved it so much ! I know it's late March, and I can't declare a winner in the best book of 2010 yet, but I'm doing it anyway. I may well have to take it back, but the best book of 2009 I had read by this point last year (Fool by Christopher Moore). And Moore's new book didn't put a funny twist on Shakespeare, we aren't getting a new Thursday Next book this year (Thanks Fforde), and I'm hearing nothing in the works for any of my other best bets, so let's call it done, and I'll keep you up to date on the fluff I read the rest of the year. Coming up: Sarah Addison Allen and her strangely gripping romantic novels, Eternal on the Water, my tear jerker of the month, Hotel on the corner of Bitter and Sweet, and an entire posting as to why I went from the Passage with it's Kinglike plot to three girly fluffy romantic books in a row... No worries, I'm reading Joe Hills latest now, I managed to kick my girly sappiness pretty quickly.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

In honor of my bookclub tonight (and to remind myself what the book was about before the really insightful questions start), here is The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker. The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is Truly, a fascinating woman who grows to be much taller than any other woman in Aberdeen, and is taller than all of the men as well. Her mother dies during childbirth (Truly believes because she was an extremely large baby) and her father dies when she and her sister are not very old. Serena Jane, her perfect tiny sister is sent to live with the babysitter who would not watch Truly as a child, and Truly goes to live with the Dyersons, a farming family whose daughter Amelia is Truly's best friend. Truly's life is not easy, but she tries to do her best for her family (both adopted and blood), and finds her place in the world. I'm not doing it justice, but this book was great. Truly is an amazing character, interesting and vivid. Amelia and Marcus, her friends, and Robert Morgan her nemisis/ brother in law are especially well written, and I'm a sucker for a good revenge story. But who isn't, right? You fall in love with a good character, she faces some tough times, is treated badly, and then gets back at those people, while maintaining her goodness? And I didn't find it contrived? That's a hard line to tow, but Baker does it beautifully. It's a wonderful book club pick, full of interesting ideas to talk about, and fun characters to discuss. Next month is Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, which I skimmed the first chapter of while stuck behind a register the other day and looks great, so I'll let you know.

The Postmistress

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake is holding steady on the bestsellers list, and I'm going to tell you a little secret. I read it about a month ago, and didn't post anything, because well... I think it sucked. That's not fair, even as I typed it I thought it was unfair. It didn't suck. It just wasn't very good. In my book pretty much exclusively apparently. Now, the thing is, every single other person I know in the book industry who has read it loved. All of them. A few of which I consider to be infallible sources of good reading material. It's the story of a small town during WWII and three different women. The characters were okay... But just okay. The story line was interesting, I guess, but the ending was completely implausible. I gave this book to a coworker at school, and she didn't like it very much either, but I could have been influencing her opinion by handing it to her and saying something like "it sucked, please read this and tell me why people love it."

Anyway, if you want to read it, I have a copy you can borrow, just ask. And explain to me why it's great...

Blogger Award

So I received this from my friend Meghan Scarsella, of the wonderful

Kitchen Notes blog. I'm not sure I deserve this, since I haven't posted anything in a while, but I'll take it anyway!

Here's how this whole thing works: -Thank the person who nominated you and insert a link to their blog. -Say 10 things about yourself. -Pass on the award to others and let them know. Here are ten things about me... None of them very interesting, sorry. 1. Really great books are better than pretty much anything else for me. Discovering a wonderful new author is like making a new friend, and I am extremely loyal to the authors I love. 2. The reason I am such a devoted reader? Yeah, sure, I'll give some credit to wonderful storytellers, but the real reason is less poetic. I had the worlds worst 1st grade teacher, and as my educator friends know, 1st grade is a pretty important year. I was an extremely shy kid, and I got behind, and was too scared to ask for help, not that Mrs. Isuckatteaching would have been able to help me anyway. My mother was called into a conference and told that I would never read at the level of my peers. Being my Mom, she got me a tutor, started working with me, and by 4th grade I was reading at a 9th grade level. Suck it. 3. The first book I loved was one of those Step into Reading books about the Titanic. I read it by myself, and remembering being so proud that I could do it, and finding the history interesting. I still love good historical books. 4. I'm a super fast typer, so this blog should be easier than it is. I read constantly, but I forget to post books. I keep promising myself I'll be better at it, but obviously I'm not very good at keeping those promises to myself. 5. I'm a character girl. Give me an interesting character and I will follow an alarming number of pages to the end. Great plot with annoying characters? Not so much. 6. I own a lot of Photography books. I mean a lot. I love good photography (especially black and white), and I worship Ansel Adams. Despite that, I am a lazy environmentalist, who is even now thinking about buying a new digital camera. He would be ashamed. But wouldn't it be great to have a new camera for my New York trip? I love new cameras... 7. I love making predictions that have no probability of being true. 2013 there will be a new, crummy J.D. Salinger book. The Passage will be the biggest book of 2010 (it should be, but it won't, stupid James Patterson). 8. I unabashedly love TV. Whatever, it's awesome. 9. I need to read less crap. Seriously, why am I reading the Sookie Stackhouse books? They are okay, but not all that great, though True Blood is a great show. But I am slowly making it through them. I have a stack of what are probably wonderful new books to read, why am I reading something about vampires? I am actually reading the best book of 2010 right now, The Passage, which you will hear more about when I actually finish it this weekend. 10. I get really excited about Cubs baseball, Broadway musicals, gardening, and new free advance reader books, but not really in that order. I came up with 10!

Shades of Grey

So I dorked out about Jasper Fforde weeks ago, and am now getting to reviewing his new book, Shades of Grey. Here is the dilemma folks. I loved this book. But I didn't, throwing books at customers because they dared to mention a book with Eyre in the title love it. Okay, that's a true story, poor customers, poor coworkers, though the coworker it happened to is now reading the series... Shades of Grey follows Eddie Russet as he and his father are banished to the outer fringes of their world after a prank gone bad. The thing about their world is that most people can only see one color, Eddie is a red, pretty low on the social scale, but he can see a lot of red... See? It was easier when the Prince of Denmark was showing up in London lamenting about Ophelia, that was easy for me to understand (Something Rotten), or Jack Sprat and Mary Mary are solving Humpty Dumpty's murder (The Big Over Easy). Well, anyone, Eddie's greatest ambition is to marry some chick who has a long lineage of being high red seers, but then of course he meets Jane, a Grey (Jane Grey, okay, that's a little dorky funny), and figures out that this society based on arbitrary rules and the obsession over seeing colors is ridiculous. I know someone who likes this book better than the Thursday books. To which I believe I called him a moron, but he made a valid point, these are classic Fforde characters, rich, interesting and funny, but this book is more Sci-fi-y than the others. Fforde has created a world completely different from ours in this one (though, you'll have to admit, a land where Ms. Havisham is working for a kind of policing agency is a little different, and AWESOME), and for me, at least, the plot gets lost in creating this world. But Eddie, Jane and the rest of the cast of characters were good enough to make this a good book. Like a solid B+ instead of his consistent A+'s. I think that now that I understand the Grey world, I'll like the next book better (though the next book he's writing is Thurs book, so yeah!). A highly recommended book if you like SciFi, a pretty highly recommended book if you just like interesting novels.

Under the Dome

Oh Stephen King, how I have missed you. I mean, like really really missed you. I'll give you Duma Key, it was a fabulous book, it was almost up to your amazing standards. But not quiet there. And then I start hearing about this new book you have, this time even longer. And then a friend or two read it, and my first question is "Tommyknockers or It?" "No, it's the Stand." I bought it and it sat on a shelf, mocking me throughout the entire Christmas season, during my 70 hour weeks, torturing me. I needed to know if this incredibly long book was as unputdownable as It, or even the Stand. I am not lying to you, dear reader, when I tell you after a very long time away from my new recommendation list, Mr. King has done it again. Under the Dome is fabulous. Creepy, scary, with extremely vivid characters you either completely love or loath. Oh, has he managed a villain as evil as Big Jim since Flagg? And in Flagg's defense, since he did appear in two of my favorite King novels, he gets the upper hand, but like Pennywise in It or insanity (?), or for my money, those moving topiaries (they freaked the hell out of me) in the Shining, he was supernatural. And Barbie is his best hero since Stu in the Stand.

So anyway! In a small Maine town, the residents go about their business until an invisible and completely inpenetrable dome appears surrounding their village. With one doctor, one nurse and a nurse practitioner as their only medical personnel, and 3 village selectmen to run the town, a new Sheriff to replace the one who died the day the Dome came down, and various other concerned citizens King manages to describe a place that is both familiar and terrifying. Big Jim, the town selectman who really runs the show, promotes a yes man to Sheriff, and does all he can to promote chaos in the town. Dale Barbara is the man the Us military would like to take over running the town, but Big Jim stands in his way, and the rest of the people who try to help Barbie restore some sort of reason to the town are slowly dealt with, their standing in town completely destroyed.

Look, it's King, so as a friend pointed out, you read it just to see who will die next, to see what evil will befall these people. But I loved the characters, Barbie, Julia, the teenagers, and everyone who was working against Big Jim, and the pace of the plot was constantly fast (not a small feat considering the page number). It was unputdownable, even when your wrists start to hurt from holding it.

Just... The ending... I won't give it away, but... He explains the Dome, and then it has an ending. Whatever, I'm willing to forgive almost anything because Horace the dog lives happily ever after.

His best book in twenty years. Seriously. I should check out that statistic I keep throwing out. I made it up one day at the bookstore, and now I have several people saying it, and I'm not entire sure that It wasn't late 80's... To Wikipedia!

New York

It occurs to me, as I am planning my trip to New York this year, that I have yet to review Edward Rutherfurd's book about the city. I love Edward Rutherfurd, his insanely long novels make me feel like I've accomplished something when they are done. I usually like his stories and the amazing historical research he must have done to finish a 1000 paged novel, and New York was no different. Perhaps because unlike London, the Forest, and Russia, I've spent some time in New York, and I spent a lot of the early part of the book trying to figure out in my head where that is in relation to places I've been. Or maybe American History is far more familiar to me than the history of other places (shut up, my minor was History, didn't mean I need to retain anything). Whatever the case, New York is not my favorite of his novels, and if you are going to read a couple thousand pages on the history of a city, I would start with London. But if you loved Pillars of the Earth, or just really like historical fiction, Edward Rutherfurd is a great read.

Don't ask just read it.

Tonight I met Jasper Fforde. I know, I'm excited for me too. He's dreamy. Charming, witty, clever and all of it comes out sounding prettier because he's British. He can say works like languid and droll. I don't think I've ever heard an American say languid and not sound pretentious. Jasper did not sound pretentious. He talked for an hour, and it was funny, interesting and no one asked a stupid question (unheard of in my experience of book signings). No, I take that back, one question was stupid, but the guy wanted so badly for it not to be a stupid question, I forgive him. I spent the last two days in a panic that this stupid snow storm would ruin my chance at finally meeting Fforde. But the skies cleared up, he was able to arrive from Michigan (again, I'm not stalking him, I just spent some time ignoring my job to check his website this week), Patricia and I were able to get to Old Orchard (another big worry, Patricia hates snow, I was scared I would have to dork out on my own), have a lovely warm dinner and listen to him talk about his books for an hour! His new book is a departure, so if you are reading this and decided to read him, start with the Eyre affair. But I think it's going to be great. I'll let you know how great when I finish my signed copy (eeeh!). He talked a little bit about how he comes up with stories, basically by coming up with a strange concept, say the murder of Humpty Dumpty, and figuring out how that would work. He wrote the first two Thursday books after the Nursery Crimes books didn't sell, and he wrote them for him, thinking they would never be published. He found an agent, who sold it basically it by copying a bunch of copies and giving it to her staff and then their friends. That's awesome. Because you can't describe these books, even eloquent Jasper can't. So he suggest we just say "Don't ask, just read it." And so, my friends, that is my suggestion to you. The books are amazing, but unexplainable. His next book is going to be another Thursday book! I love Thursday books. This is a writer who writes for readers. Especially the Thursday books, but all of them really. I was surprised to learn he dropped out of school at 18, though his entire family are academics. He's so clever, and his books are so well written and interestingly plotted. I love writers who write for readers. That's something I've heard before from other authors when they are asked about movie deals. Fforde claims his books, at least the Thursday books, will never be made into movies. I hope he sticks with that, and I wouldn't try to put Jack Spratt and Mary Mary on the big screen either. The impression I got, is this is a guy who knows he owes all of his success to 'constant readers' as Stephen King always calls us, and that letting Hollywood take a crack at Thursday and her world would be a mistake.

And he gave out buttons! And postcards! I just love going to author signings! And this means that I have now met all of my favorite living authors. So whatever else 2010 brings, at least I met one great author. BEA, I'm looking at you. Get the good authors to show up, have them sign new books, and don't try to convince me that I will ever care about James Patterson. Now there is an author who can sell the rights to all of his books, written or a movie, his plots will still suck. Christopher Moore, I better see you in New York. And Jasper should come back! I have a feeling his entire rabid following will be there.

I really have to finish Home for tomorrows book club. It's really good, I swear, but unprepared for decently posed questions.