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Posted on 09.30.05 by Dindrane @ 5:31 pm
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Written by Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse is just your typical poor Louisiana girl...she works as a waitress in a diner, has to get her tomcat brother out of trouble a lot, her ex-boyfriend is a vampire, and she can read minds. Oh, wait a minute. Ok, so she's not completely typical. Having broken up with Sookie, Bill is off to Peru, leaving Sookie to deal with her life alone. Witches have erased Eric's memory, leaving Sookie to babysit and hide him, while she also tries to get over Bill and find her brother Jason, who has gone missing under some very disturbing circumstances. War is brewing, with good witches, shapeshifters, and vampires on one side, and very powerful shapeshifting bad witches who drink vampire blood on the other. Sookie's survival has never been more in doubt. One of the best things about Harris' Southern Vampire series is the tight characterization. Sookie has a unique and distinct voice; her humanity causes what could be a mediocre or even pedestrian series to life and makes readers genuinely care about what happens to her and those she loves. Even the secondary characters have personalities and lives of their own: Sam the were-collie, Eric Northman the Viking vampire, and the rest all have solid identities and definite roles to play in the novel. The only character who doesn't seem to fit at all is the faery, who is frankly annoying, and completely out of place, though perhaps that will become the point somehow. There are some unanswered questions about why things happen the way they do, but the book is so well-written that these minor quibbles are just that--minor. If you are part of the groundswell of dislike for the way Laurell K. Hamilton's latest books are more smut than good story, then you should definitely check out Sookie's adventures. Sookie is no prude (there is some explicit sex in this book), but she can actually be bothered to do something else now and again. Unlike the latest in the Anita Blake books, Sookie's eroticism never distracts from the plot, but rather adds to it and is a natural outgrowth of the characters' personalities and situations. One just hopes that the growing harem of men after Sookie (Bill, Eric, Sam, Alcide, and now werepanther Calvin Norris) will not lead Harris' book down the same deadend alley as the Hamilton books. Fans of vampire or werewolf fiction should give Dead to the World a look, but if possible, read the earlier installments in the series first. Readers new to the series will not find this one confusing, but reading the earlier books will enrich the experience. Those just looking for something light and fun, but not silly or pointless, will also find this rewarding reading. Categorized as: Books and Reviews
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Posted on 09.20.05 by Dindrane @ 3:00 am
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Written by Meg Cabot The Princess series is one of the most charming, endearing series to appear on the young adult scene for several years. The heroine, Mia Thermopolis, is the princess of a small, fictional European country modeled on Monaco, called Genovia. In every other respect, however, Mia is normal, and therein lies the magic of the series. Mia is truly one of the most likable heroines around these days, especially in recent years full of double-crossing divas and the recent cliché of teen witch. As a supposed fictional diary, high school reads just like it really was, only better. In this volume, Mia's beloved Michael has graduated and left Mia to the tender mercies of Lana and high school. He may just be across town, but anyone who has had to step into school the first day after all your friends are gone knows how she feels. Luckily, Mia still has Tina, Lilly, and even Kenny to get her through. Categorized as: Books and Reviews
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Posted on 08.19.05 by Dindrane @ 5:33 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Proving that the French are good-hearted, clever people, they now have vending machines to provide passers-by with classic novels, etc. for a mere $2.50 or so each. To France. Re: Jerry Lewis. All is forgiven. Love, Din. Found via Boing Boing. Categorized as: Books
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Posted on 07.20.05 by Dindrane @ 5:32 pm
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Written by Dean Koontz By the Light of the Moon opens with a pair of traveling brothers: Shep, a 20-year-old autistic man, and his big brother Dylan, a landscape artist. The brothers have stopped at a motel when Dylan is attacked and injected with some mysterious stuff his assailant only refers to as..."stuff." This stuff will change him in psychotropic ways, but the mad scientist inventor is unable to say in what ways. Soon, Dylan and Shep meet up with another victim of the scientist, Jilly, an aspiring stand-up comedian with a severe sarcasm fetish. They set out to escape some mysterious Men in Black, while also struggling to find out the truth of the serum and what they might become. They seem to have the ability to stop and/or predict crimes, but what that will mean for their escape remains to be seen. Categorized as: Books and Reviews
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Posted on 07.13.05 by ScottC @ 3:46 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own. Dindrane's post in the Gabfest and Widge's own list like this got me thinking about the books that meant a lot of me. No, not those kind of books. So here's what I came up with and I thought I'd share the list with my adoring public. But in a pinch, all of you will do.     John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden Of Good and Evil. When I was a small child, I lived in Savannah. But I had no idea of the unique flavor of Southern weirdness that existed there. Ostensibly a story of Jim Williams and his four, yes four, trials for murders, it is really a study of Savannah and the characters that reside in her squares. (Buy it from Amazon) Categorized as: Books
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