24. Dark Desire by Christine Feehan

Feehan, Christine. Dark Desire. New York: Leisure Book, 2006.

Ok, yeah. *hangs head in shame* They are really hard to put down. This is the second in the Carpathians Dark Series. It's pretty much what you'd expect. You know...lonely vampire meets lonely disaffected doctor with a rare blood disease. Sparks will fly and all that.

However, aside from it being a romance novel, Feehan pulled off something interesting. Her leading man, Jacque, spends over half the book being unsympathetic. There are plenty of reasons for him to be unsympathetic, but usually if the main romantic lead is unsympathetic, the book flops regardless of good reasons. It's just a truism of this kind of fiction that there has to be something approchable to the male lead or the romance reader will put it down.

I think it helps that Feehan introduced Jacques in the previous book and he came across as the good natured puppy dog type. I don't know exactly how it works yet, but....

Bravo, Ms. Feehan.

23. Dark Prince by Christine Feehan

Feehan, Christine. Dark Prince. New York: Leisure Book, 2005.

I've mentioned it before, but it's been a while since I've reviewed this kind of book. I like vampire romance novels. The smuttier the better. Ironically, I'm not an Anne Rice fan. I am a complex creature.

Anyway, I gave up books with a blush-factor of over 2 for the school year. All the Laurel K. Hamilton's went in a box under the bed so I wouldn't be tempted by trashy reading. However, in the middle of the wedding preparations I happened to mention to Ryan's aunt that I had a thing for Laurel K. Hamilton. It was a busy time, I forgot all about it. Christmas comes around and I've got this largish gift bag from said aunt. Inside were a number of fun things including the first two novels in 'The Carpathians (Dark) Series,' of which this is the first.

I had every intention of leaving them on the stack for summer reading. *sigh* Best laid schemes of mice and men, and all that. It went agley. I got stressed out and the next thing I know I'm nose deep in the vampire smut, blush factor 4. Oh well, we all have our guilty pleasures and this is mine.

This is my first exposure to Christine Feehan. She's developed an interesting take on the vampire myths. Particularly that the actual vampire is a degenerate outcast of a separate species called the Carpathians. These Carpathians subsist on human blood and have unlimited lifespans, but are not undead. Over time the males lose their ability feel emotions and eventually suicide or turn vampire. Their only hope for survival is to find their lifemate. This is complicated by the fact that Carpatian women have slowly lost the ability to produce female offspring and most humans are not psychically capable of being lifemates.

However, if they do find their lifemates they regain their feelings and ability to survive. The relationship is...ahem...intense.

In any case, it's a pretty well thought out premise. My only real complaint is a tiny niggling thing. I.e. there are an awful lot of people in and around the Carpathian mountains that seem to speak fluent English. Like I said, it's a small thing, but it was noticable.

This was a fun book. It's not a mind-bender, but it's very good at what it aims to achieve.

22. Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates

Oates, Joyce Carol. Black Water. New York: Plume Contemporary, 1993.

I've never read Joyce Carol Oates before so I didn't really know what to expect. I've heard her name numerous times. I've seen her titles countless times in bookstores both used and new. Oates is what we like to call a prolific writer. Additionally, she's won the National Book Award. Prolific award winning writers present a special challenge. If you don't already read them, where do you start? Even the best authors have the occasional flop, and it's always deflating to accidentally read the flops first. The obvious solution is to go after the award winners. However, I very often don't like the National Book Award winners. (It's awful, I know, I'm so ashamed)

Ultimately, I went to a used book store and read the first five pages of the half dozen titles of hers available. This is not my preferred method of title discovery. It's a little like throwing a dart at a bibliography tacked to corkboard. I walked away with Black Water which seemed interesting for it's oddly looping plot.

From the first page, it is clear what the outcome will be. The story, in fact, starts with a car skidding into a deep marsh. From there the plot loops back and forth through time. It alternately explores the backstory and details Kelly's, the protagonists, struggle to survive until help comes. Back and forth, back and forth, sometimes repeating, and sometimes blurring the reality with dream. It's an odd novel structure, but masterfully done.

I wasn't disappointed by my first Oates experience.

Faliure 1. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 2003.

It doesn't happen often. In fact, it almost never happens. I've encountered a book that I cannot ever see myself finishing. Now, I do not always finish the books that I start for a number of reasons. Usually:

1. I get distracted by something,
2. Life in general gets busy and I have no time for reading, or
   
3. The planets are not aligned for this sort of book and and I put it aside

So I put it down but know that I'm someday going to pick it up again because I can tell someday I'll read it and enjoy it.

Sometimes though, rarely, I run up against a book that I just can't finish and I know from the outset, I'm never going to be able to finish it. Usually there's a combination of reasons, often having to do with the writing and sometimes the story. I've read some wretchedly written books and enjoyed them because of the story. This is the first time when I've run up against a character I can't handle, but can acknowledge that the writing itself is quite good.

The premise of the book revolves around an autistic narrator named Christopher Boone. Christopher discovers his neighbor's dog murdered and then sets out to solve the mystery. The novel is written in journal form from Christopher's point of view. Herein lies the problem. I work with asperger and autistic kids. Now, I don't know how they think. Who could possible know what's going on in the mind of autistic kid? However, I can't buy what Haddon portrays. Everything I do know about these kids says, 'no way.' It's a case of my job interfering with my hobby.

Sorry, Mr. Haddon, I just can't do it.

However, for those of you out there not occupationally crippled, give it a try. The voice is well written and engaging. For as far as I got, it was also consistant. Haddon also created a very real feeling family and world around Christopher. So, good luck. Someone let me know how it goes.

21. Animal Farm by George Orwell

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York: Signet Classic, 1946.

It's a shame that Animal Farm has largely dropped off the mandatory reading lists for high school. I did not have to read it in high school, nor did it come up in college. It has perpetually hovered in the periphery of my awareness as something I ought to read.

Yes. Definitely. Despite the argument that over the years Animal Farm has lost its relevance for the modern world, this book should be read by any adult who likes to consider themselves to be well educated. Yes, it is a satire of Stalinist Russia. Yes, it is also biting political commentary on the shortcomings of communism. Yes, communist Russia is gone. So what?

I say Animal Farm remains relevant for two reasons: 1. Illustration of the insidious ease of idea manipulation and 2. the history of the text itself.

The animals of Animal Farm start out oppressed by human tyranny and, as such things go, revolt. They create for themselves a society of equality governed by seven commandments. However, in the process of educating and formalizing this system it is discovered that not all of the animals were capable of the memory or intellect required. Thus, the pigs are set above the rest as intellectuals. Over time, the pigs corrupt themselves from benevolent dictators to self-serving tyrants, and, taking advantage of the short malleable memory of the masses, first amend the seven commandments and finally erase them all together in favor of a new maxim: "All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others." It's slow, incremental, and insidious. All the animals seem to know something bad is happening but the explanations are so convincing that they stop believing in their memories and surrender their will. By the time they realize what has happened, it is too late. The pigs are indistinguishable from humans and they are in a worse position than they were before.

This highlights two disturbing facts:

1. Just how easy it is to manipulate memory.
2. Slavish belief in one's leaders allows those leaders to deceive without worry of discovery or repercussion.

Beyond the content of Animal Farm as a novel, the text has a moderately interesting history as well. By text, I am referring to the manuscript itself. Orwell conceived of the basic plot for Animal Farm in the mid 30's, but didn't get it written down until 1944. Once written, Orwell couldn't find a publisher for it. In effect, although the government at the time made no official recommendation, Animal Farm was black-balled. It seems odd to us now that an anti-communism book would be blocked. However at the time, England was crushed under events of WWII and Stalin was their strongest ally. It is little wonder then that the general consensus was to ignore some of the more objectionable truths surround such a valuable asset.

It is important to realize as a larger society that official censorship is only the more obvious evil.
Informal censorship, the agreement of people in position of media control to suppress a work for social or political reasons, is just as bad if not worse because of the the difficulty of fighting such an inscrutable system. Orwell wrote a preface to the first addition that did, in fact, attack such a system. It's worth a read.

In conclusion, if you haven't read it, you should. So read it. It's really short.

20. The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde

Wilde, Oscar. Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde. New York: Signet Classic, 1990.

This is actually two books that have been bound together: The Happy Prince and The House of Pomegranates. Both books are collections of short fairy tales that Wilde wrote early in his career.

It's an unfortunate reality of our modern American upbringings that we tend to think fairy tales are bright insipid stories where the guy gets the girl, the girl gets the crown, the bad guys are frustrated but none the worse for wear. I blame Disney.

Fairy tales were not originally meant for child audiences. Until the 19th century, fairy tales appeared in literature aimed at adults. Fairy tales use a simple structure to deal with life issues in miniature. Highly stylized moralistic lessoning, in other words. The fairy tale, before Disney got his mitts on them, was often harsh, often ended badly, and was almost always gruesome. Cinderella, for example, follows the same general outline as the Disney classic. However the stepsisters mutilate their feet (one cuts off a slice of her heel and one cuts off her big toe) in the process of trying to fit their feet in the glass slipper and in the end have their eyes pecked out by sparrows. Not quite the cheery ending displayed by Disney and a much more intense lesson about the distructive effects of envy.

Anyway, Wilde's fairy tales aren't so gruesome, but they are highly moralistic. My favorites are: 'The Remarkable Rocket' which takes on pride, 'The Devoted Friend' which takes on the dangers of being a doormat, and 'The Birthday of the Infanta' which is...complicated. I grew up with a collection that had 'The Selfish Giant' in it and also think highly of it. I love fairy tales, especially when they make me cry.

19. Microserfs by Douglas Coupland

Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs. New York: Reagan Books, 1995.

As a college senior, I thought a class called 'Literature and Digital Media' sounded like fun. I went to the first day, collected the syllabus and ran eagerly to the campus books store where I picked up a variety of novels based on the intersection of computers and literature. They ranged from Gibson's Neuromancer to Stephenson's Snow Crash and down to other much less notable books. It was the worst class I took in my entire college career.

The books, with a couple of exceptions, were poor specimens and the prof couldn't teach his way out of a preschool bathroom. I spent most of my time frothing at the mouth and picking apart the crappy writing. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not always looking for brilliant and elegantly written prose. If that's what I wanted I'd have gone and taken the class that required me beating my head against Faulkner, but I feel that there is a minimum requirement for quality.

In any case, we never got to Microserfs and the book got boxed up and sent to my apartment after graduation. Based on my experience with the majority of the course reading list, I had every intention of tossing it out when I came across it again about a year later. My erstwhile boyfriend fished it out of the trash, however, and subjected me to a 10 minute tirade on the innovative leaps of Mr. Coupland's brilliant mind. So I put it back on the shelf. I kept trying to get rid of it and various people kept convincing me to hold on to it.

So now I've read it. It's good. Really. It would be easy to lump Microserfs into Gen X office dramas, but that doesn't really cover it. It's sort of about being a geek, it's sort of about being a programmer after the first wave of programming hysteria, and it's sort of about people being people. What it's really about, though, is what it was to be a 20-something in the mid-90's tech culture. It's a snapshot. Everything changed and we're still catching up. Microserfs is the candid photo of a whole generation looking over its shoulder looking both exhilarated and terrified.

Technically speaking, Microserfs is written in the form of a journal our techie protagonist is keeping over the course of about two years. Most of it is pretty straight forward, but here and there Coupland blasts out free association pages and meme-like lists. While this isn't terribly distracting, I don't think it adds much. I think Coupland was trying to overlay a philisophical question about the nature of memory over the basic plot. The philosophical overtones don't add much and are pretty ignorable.

The pacing is pretty good, but this is definitely a momentum book. The first 100 pages really get the plot moving and then it slows down gradually all the way to the end. This is fine, as long as the book is read in a reletively short period. Pack it in your bag for your trip to Bermuda. Whatever you do though, don't put it down for more than a couple of days. Trust me. It's hard to pick it back up.