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Books Listed: 34
Recommend a Book

Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead
Publisher: Doubleday; 2009 Genre: Fiction - General Pages: 288 Rating:	Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead is the semi-autobiographical story of a young boy named Benji and his summers spent in the New York summer town of Sag Harbor. Benji is a young African American struggling to fit into a world that he straddles varied sides of. As an African American, he doesn't fit into the white prep school world that populates the school he attends, but he also defies African American expectations that confront him as he spends his summers in Sag Harbor. Benji is an avid player of Dungeons and Dragons, loves Bauhaus and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and reads Fangoria magazine. In short, Benji has GREAT taste. I found a kindred spirit in Benji because of his interests... I love horror movies and The Smiths. Yet, where I saw a similarity between us, I also found a great and important difference. No one ever looked at me strangely for my interests, whereas Benji's were atypical for a young African American male of the time. Sag Harbor is also a coming of age story, the tale of a boy becoming a man and how he copes with all of the new expectations placed upon him and disappointed when he doesn't simple ease into the mold of how a man is supposed to be when he becomes a man. His braces make him feel childish, his skinny frame makes him appear young, and he is not that successful with the ladies. Benji is surrounded by Sag Harbor friends, each with their own distinct personality. To just give a sampling of a few, there's NP, for whom life is a joke and an elaborate story; Randy, who is the top man for a while when he gets his car and lords it over everyone; and Clive, who is that one 'cool' one, the can-do-no-wrong one. The adventures and misadventures of this group of boys is chronicled in the book. We're taken through a series of moments in their lives: when they all went gun fighting and Benji wound up wounded, the group trying to sneak into a concert, and the eventual teenage meeting of girls and getting girlfriends for the first time. These group adventures stand apart from Benji's own singular moments, his own personal experiences that shape him into an awkward but compelling figure. He is the product of a strict father, a bad afro, and one hand holding that was to be his only contact with the opposite sex for a long, long time. I really enjoyed this book because it was a slice-of-life piece. Whitehead put such a humorous spin on the trials and tribulations of being a teenager that I couldn't help but be charmed by the bad and the good. You really can feel Benji's pain, even as you laugh about the unfortunate nature of his life. I think it is also inspirational the way that Benji doesn't become disheartened by all of it. Despite all that has happened to him, all of the flaws he finds in his person, he never retreats. What else is great about Sag Harbor? I like the insight the book gives into race relations in the 80s era in which it is set. The youngsters of Sag Harbor express a mild dislike for the rich white Hamptonites that border their summer areas, more for what they represent than anything related to skin color. The boys watch the whites tour Sag Harbor as reluctant visitors with views as misguided as the views the white's may too hold. This difference shows how a person is the culmination of their environment and experiences, of their influences as much as their own inherent personality. I really did enjoy reading this book and recommend it to anyone looking for a book that isn't overwhelming with adventure, but remains interesting and captivating throughout. You'll laugh, you'll get angry, and you might even get sad from time to time. But you'll definitely never get bored.
Legs Talk: A Modern Girl's Dating Tale, D.E. Boone
Publisher: Global Force Media LLC; 2008 Genre: Fiction- Humor Pages: 112 Rating:	Legs Talk: A Modern Girl's Dating Tale by D.E. Boone is a small book, about 112 pages with full page black and white photographs. It takes the reader through the story of a woman in a relationship with a man who has a special interest in her legs and her legs only. It begins as most of these type stories do: girl meets boy, boy comes on very strong, girl consents, boy turns out to be a big jerk, girl walks away, girl goes back, boy is still a jerk, the end. The book is very charming. It is a short read, though; I read it in about 10 minutes. Each turn of a page brings a blank page with writing and a black and white photograph featuring below the waist leg shots. There are a lot of shoes and stockings, every now and then sprinkled with casual jeans and boots. The point isn't to show the faces of the two characters, only their legs. Legs are the focus, after all! If you could see the rest of the body, it would distract from the imagery of the legs. Since legs are the topic, they should be thrust into the photographic spotlight. Legs Talk takes a humorous look at dating. It's a great book for anyone who has ever broken up, or has gone back to the same man over and over again. True to the nature of relationships, the book is not cut and dry about how they do or don't work out. Within the short phrases and sentiment, you can see how confused the woman is about the relationship she is presently in with her leg fetishist boyfriend. She gives in to him against her better judgment, makes concessions to the man, and wavers in her decision to quit seeing him. I especially like the small piece of their post breakup phone conversation when the women replies to a "have you missed me" type question with, "How can I miss you if you won't go away?" That small bit of wit was enough to make the book. The words are short and simple, but effective.
Matrimony, Joshua Henkin
Publisher: Vintage; 2008 Genre: Fiction - General Pages: 304 Rating:	Matrimony by Joshua Henkin is a novel about people, relationships, and life. The book follows the life of Julian Wainwright, his wife Mia, and a select few of their friends. We first meet the characters in college and follow along as they grow, mature, and face the new challenges of life that inevitably come their way. There's betrayal, love, friendship, and just simply growing up. This book was different from what I normally read, though. It was not a nonfiction book about some historical event or person. There were no vampires, no supernatural forces doing battle, and no complex theories of magic and mysticism. Matrimony is quite simply about people. When I got the book and looked at the quaint and relatively unadorned cover, I gave an audible, "Hm." I wondered if this sort of book would be the right fit for me. Julian begins the story in college, studying to be a writer. He wants to write that great American novel and escape the corporate expectations of his rich family. He and his friend Carter are the stars of the class. The two of them develop a strong friendship and bond even after they meet the women of their dreams. Julian falls in love with a young woman named Mia. After graduating college, the two of them marry, propelled to push their life together forward faster when Mia's mother comes down with breast cancer. Life takes over and people move apart-- Carter moves away to California and Julian and Mia are left to decide what to do with their future. Julian begins his novel and finds it a harder task than he imaged. Mia has to cope with the death of her mother while getting her graduate degree, her interest in psychiatry peaked after she goes to therapy herself. After this, it's just life. Couples talk of kids, divorce, and what middle age means. Friendships are severed and people grow apart, but in the end the characters find that they are in the very same place as they have always been, only stronger for what they have been through. Most of what we see comes through the eyes and experiences of Julian and he becomes an easy to relate to figure because of this. I found that because he was the most central character, he was the one I sympathized with the most. When bad things happened, I was on Julian's side. When he was betrayed by Carter and Mia, I felt wounded in my stomach as if I were him. One thing that I especially liked about the book is how it approached the nature of friendship and how we form and keep strong bonds with other people. For example, Julian and Carter were great friends, but not entirely loyal to one another. People are not perfect and even good people who sincerely care about each other are capable of doing things that are hurtful. Matrimony shows how people cope with betrayal and how friendships can survive very devastating obstacles. No matter how good or fun a friend Carter is, he is always kept back by the fact that he envies Julian. To Carter, everything Julian has is somehow better than what he has; Mia experiences this too through the eyes of her sister Olivia, who fails to see or find her own self worth because she is hung up on how much better Mia supposedly has always had it. Whether Carter or Olivia both have cause for feeling as they do, they do. Henkin doesn't make her characters perfect. I get annoyed very quickly by characters that are created just to be infallible and without any fault whatsoever. Julian is never quite sure enough of himself, Mia has a coldness about her that is hard to accept, and Carter is envious by nature and compensates for what he sees as imperfections in himself. Of course, there are moments of long contemplation, especially from Mia, that sort of drag on. In reality, I doubt many people are so introspective. It isn't insincere or unrealistic, though, for Mia to be this way; I've spent enough time within the walls and atmosphere of a university to know that graduate students really ARE that long winded and pseudo-philosophical... sometimes exhaustibly so. Mia's transcendent self-speeches were a bit haughty and pretentious like she is trying too hard and doesn't even realize it, but that is just the way that some people are. I guess there was really no way for her not to be since her parents were strong liberal advocates. They probably had protest signs stored in their closet for the next opportunity to protest inequality or unfairness of some sort. That brings me to another point. Even though Mia's parents were liberal and modern minded, it was odd and almost hypocritical that her mother had to give her up her dreams and her career to be a mother. Wouldn't that sort of thing be the very thing her parents would reject for being part of the norm? The traditional way of doing things that kept people down? You see? Matrimony doesn't try to create perfect people and situations. People are just who they are. By the end of the book, you will feel as if you 'know' the characters intimately. You've been through all of their trials and tribulations and survived them, too. It is really impressive the way that Henkin delivers such a character driven book that doesn't need exaggerated drama or passion to keep it interesting. Henkin has an admirable ability to describe people's thoughts and actions in a relatable way. He certainly has a way with words and description. This is a great book. If you like the "slice of life" type of book, you'll enjoy this one. And hey, even if you're like me and have only just begun to explore this sort of story, you may still enjoy it. I certainly did.
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, Geraldine Brooks
Publisher: Penguin; 2002 Genre: Fiction - Historical Pages: 336 Rating:	The year is 1665 CE. A traveling tailor named George Viccars finds himself in a small Derbyshire village located in central England. Unknown to him and the village that takes him in, his residence being with a widower named Anna Frith who has two sons, he is carrying the plague. After his death, his goods spread and with them the deadly plague. The town vicar, Michael Mompellion, and his wife Elinor convince the people of the village to contain themselves within their walls in order to keep from spreading the plague to the rest of England. As the author states, this story is based on an actual event that happened in a village aptly known as Plague Village. Though the village people could very well flee and perhaps outrun the disease, they (for the most part) remain in their village to wait out the disease. Convinced that this plague is a trial sent by God, the people come together even as some of them fall apart. Innocent herbal women are beaten as witches, men and women seek to repent with violent means of self-mortification, and anger runs rampant. In the face of oblivion, moral codes and personal virtues are abandoned for pleasure and destructive behavior makes it all the easier for people to forget. The people of the village struggle with each other, their personal connections, and their connection to God. Eventually, they begin to question the nature of their suffering and God's ultimate plan. This story is how people manage. It is about how people stay strong and how they break down. Personally, I liked the story. I think anyone who has read my previous reviews knows how I feel about accuracy in historical fiction: while I enjoy critiquing historical fiction for accuracy, I also don't expect it. I'm realistic and perhaps overly forgiving in that I accept details must be altered or exaggerated for understanding or dramatic effect. After all, we don't want fiction to read as a tedious textbook! Attentions have to be grabbed, held, and kept until the end. Did this book that? Yes and no. Sometimes I felt the story dragging on and on. For the first few chapters, I read very slowly. Eventually, though, as the story moved on, I found it becoming more interesting. About the middle to nearly the end, I couldn't put the book down. Nearly the end. I found myself wondering if Anna were superwoman for all she had managed to do in that time between the plague coming and finally disappearing. She was a simple peasant and servant, yet she could interpret Latin, create herbal remedies, ride a horse like a man, act as a midwife and deliver a breech baby, set a fire to mine iron even though she herself stated that she'd never even seen the inside of a mine... yes, the woman can and does do everything. Even those things well above her station as a servant. I think it was the excessive nature of her talents that started to annoy me and grate on my nerves. If not for Anna's shows of occasional modesty that seemed sincere, she would have been a Mary Sue. After a while, I began to wonder if Anna was going to start to sparkle and cure the plague with her tears. When she began yelling at her former masters and acting well out of her station, I had to wonder if Brooks was paying any attention to realistic social boundaries of the time. Again, this might not have annoyed me had I not grown weary of Anna's super talents. Though I say annoyed above, I mean it in a very amused way. I don't get angry about books, at least not often. I just found myself shaking my head and snorting at certain parts of the books. And why would a rich Muslim doctor marry a widowed infidel from England? There's also much romance to be had. Okay, there is supposed to be romance. Up until Anna and the vicar Mompellion connected eyes over a shave towards the end of the book, there was absolutely no chemistry between them. Yet all of a sudden the two of them were copulating on the floor in a manner totally unlike an Anglican man of God and a modest, holy servant. The romance between them came completely out of nowhere. I guess I should have seen it coming when throughout the book Brooks dedicated countless lines of adjectives and praise for things like the commanding boom of the Mompellion's voice, or his strong arms, or his dominating nature. I thought it a bit odd that he was being described in 'romance book terms,' yet there was absolutely no personal intimate chemistry between him and Anna. And I am still disappointed in the turn Mompellion's character made towards the end. It was so completely out of his character that I had trouble accepting it. Twists are one thing, but making a character into something opposite with no hints to his true nature is just out of the blue and confusing. I know that I sound overly critical, but book readers know that a book can be flawed while still being a very great story. I liked the morbidity of the story; witnessing the breakdown of the people in this town as they battled adversity and death was fascinating. It was unreal to me to submit myself to death in the way the town people did. I had to commend the bravery of Brooks' characters, even as I condemned them for their actions in other regards. Yet, it was understandable how they behaved under certain circumstances. When faced with death, who knows what one would do or how to cope? And yes, Anna had her moments, but I found her a very likable character. This book was like sociology and morbid psychology in action. Year of Wonders is actually a very good book. It is a good and interesting read. You will read the book and find yourself captivated by much. I didn't grow bored with what I read, even as I snorted in mirth. If you like historically based novels with a lot of drama and a fair mixture of people going absolutely crazy, you'll really enjoy this one. I did.
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague, Geraldine Brooks
Publisher: Penguin; 2002 Genre: Fiction - Historical Pages: 336 Rating:	The year is 1665 CE. A traveling tailor named George Viccars finds himself in a small Derbyshire village located in central England. Unknown to him and the village that takes him in, his residence being with a widower named Anna Frith who has two sons, he is carrying the plague. After his death, his goods spread and with them the deadly plague. The town vicar, Michael Mompellion, and his wife Elinor convince the people of the village to contain themselves within their walls in order to keep from spreading the plague to the rest of England. As the author states, this story is based on an actual event that happened in a village aptly known as Plague Village. Though the village people could very well flee and perhaps outrun the disease, they (for the most part) remain in their village to wait out the disease. Convinced that this plague is a trial sent by God, the people come together even as some of them fall apart. Innocent herbal women are beaten as witches, men and women seek to repent with violent means of self-mortification, and anger runs rampant. In the face of oblivion, moral codes and personal virtues are abandoned for pleasure and destructive behavior makes it all the easier for people to forget. The people of the village struggle with each other, their personal connections, and their connection to God. Eventually, they begin to question the nature of their suffering and God's ultimate plan. This story is how people manage. It is about how people stay strong and how they break down. Personally, I liked the story. I think anyone who has read my previous reviews knows how I feel about accuracy in historical fiction: while I enjoy critiquing historical fiction for accuracy, I also don't expect it. I'm realistic and perhaps overly forgiving in that I accept details must be altered or exaggerated for understanding or dramatic effect. After all, we don't want fiction to read as a tedious textbook! Attentions have to be grabbed, held, and kept until the end. Did this book that? Yes and no. Sometimes I felt the story dragging on and on. For the first few chapters, I read very slowly. Eventually, though, as the story moved on, I found it becoming more interesting. About the middle to nearly the end, I couldn't put the book down. Nearly the end. I found myself wondering if Anna were superwoman for all she had managed to do in that time between the plague coming and finally disappearing. She was a simple peasant and servant, yet she could interpret Latin, create herbal remedies, ride a horse like a man, act as a midwife and deliver a breech baby, set a fire to mine iron even though she herself stated that she'd never even seen the inside of a mine… yes, the woman can and does do everything. Even those things well above her station as a servant. I think it was the excessive nature of her talents that started to annoy me and grate on my nerves. If not for Anna's shows of occasional modesty that seemed sincere, she would have been a Mary Sue. After a while, I began to wonder if Anna was going to start to sparkle and cure the plague with her tears. When she began yelling at her former masters and acting well out of her station, I had to wonder if Brooks was paying any attention to realistic social boundaries of the time. Again, this might not have annoyed me had I not grown weary of Anna's super talents. Though I say annoyed above, I mean it in a very amused way. I don't get angry about books, at least not often. I just found myself shaking my head and snorting at certain parts of the books. And why would a rich Muslim doctor marry a widowed infidel from England? There's also much romance to be had. Okay, there is supposed to be romance. Up until Anna and the vicar Mompellion connected eyes over a shave towards the end of the book, there was absolutely no chemistry between them. Yet all of a sudden the two of them were copulating on the floor in a manner totally unlike an Anglican man of God and a modest, holy servant. The romance between them came completely out of nowhere. I guess I should have seen it coming when throughout the book Brooks dedicated countless lines of adjectives and praise for things like the commanding boom of the Mompellion's voice, or his strong arms, or his dominating nature. I thought it a bit odd that he was being described in 'romance book terms,' yet there was absolutely no personal intimate chemistry between him and Anna. And I am still disappointed in the turn Mompellion's character made towards the end. It was so completely out of his character that I had trouble accepting it. Twists are one thing, but making a character into something opposite with no hints to his true nature is just out of the blue and confusing. I know that I sound overly critical, but book readers know that a book can be flawed while still being a very great story. I liked the morbidity of the story; witnessing the breakdown of the people in this town as they battled adversity and death was fascinating. It was unreal to me to submit myself to death in the way the town people did. I had to commend the bravery of Brooks' characters, even as I condemned them for their actions in other regards. Yet, it was understandable how they behaved under certain circumstances. When faced with death, who knows what one would do or how to cope? And yes, Anna had her moments, but I found her a very likable character. This book was like sociology and morbid psychology in action. Year of Wonders is actually a very good book. It is a good and interesting read. You will read the book and find yourself captivated by much. I didn't grow bored with what I read, even as I snorted in mirth. If you like historically based novels with a lot of drama and a fair mixture of people going absolutely crazy, you'll really enjoy this one. I did.
Breathing Out the Ghost, Kirk Curnutt
Publisher: River City Publishing; 2008 Genre: Fiction - Suspense Pages: 300 Rating:	Colin St. Claire lost his son. Kidnapped. There was no resolution for him because there was never a body found. All St. Claire had was a suspect and the ghost of his son. Following his 'whale,' St. Claire goes off on a speed fueled mission to find his son and punish the man he thinks did it. Following him is an ex-detective named Heim who can't seem to let St. Claire go just as much as St. Claire can't let go of his son. Sacrificing his own family and his own career, Heim is determined to save St. Claire even if St. Claire won't save himself. Mixed into this is a woman they both come to know, a woman named Sis Pruitt- paths crossing and connecting by the experience of pure and plain suffering- who too lost her daughter Patty when she was murdered. The subject matter isn't something that can be shaken away or read with a light heart. Curnutt's masterful use of description and language is almost poetic. Yet, instead of beautifying the story and masking the horror of what has happened, it only illuminates the darker context under which every one and everything moves and works. Time and time again I caught myself rereading passages, sometimes just because I like how they sounded and sometimes because I wanted to absorb the words into myself. I wanted to understand what was being said and try to feel every bit of it because it was so plainly written. Underneath the prose is something so harshly true to life that it sinks into you. You realize as you read it, "this is really how we are and think." Only, we don't often delve that deeply into our nature to find out. Breathing Out the Ghost tells us how people cope. Or rather, how unrealistic an expectation it is for us to expect people to move on after tragedy, as well as how people function and react in unique ways. It's about pain and obsession and destruction and failed attempts at redemption. This book exposes how we think and feel about tragedy, both those who experience it and those who witness it as outsiders. I came to see through reading this book that we all are more comfortable assuming that life goes on. Yet, the truth of the matter is that it's not so easy. Time and time again I found myself frustrated with St. Claire. He was selfish to think that his quest was not hurting anyone or that his pain was larger than other people. But isn't it also selfish for people to assume that he should let go and move on? Who was I to judge him? It was all very painful to be a part of, but not in a way that made me want to close the book and avoid picking it back up. This book offers absolutely no resolution. I don't say that to criticize. At the end of the book, no one has found peace. Curnutt doesn't try to create drama so that he can fix it and leave his readers with a warm and fulfilled feeling at the end. The drama is the story itself and reflects the hard truth of reality: sometimes there is no end, there is no peace, there is no happiness or light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes all that there is at the end is just more wandering and wondering, tediously carrying forward for each day.
The Last Wife of Henry VIII, Carolly Erickson
Publisher: St. Martin\'s Press; 2006 Genre: Historical - Fiction Pages: 336 Rating:	I picked up Erickon's The Last Wife of Henry VIII because Barnes and Noble had yet to receive that newest issue of Fangoria Magazine and I did not want to go home. I found myself at a shelf of historical fiction about the wives of kings, a simple endcap with about six books on it. I chose Erickson's after reading the backs of a few-- I went for Erickson because she had a background in history, which I felt the book would benefit from.The Last Wife of Henry VIII is about Catherine Parr, the wife of King Henry VIII. She was the only one to escape death, exile and divorce at his hand. The novel follows Catherine through her life from girlhood to death. It recounts her four marriages, not all true to life, to Ned Burgh, John Neville, King Henry VIII, and finally Tom Seymour. Throughout the book, Catherine experiences much tragedy as she loses family, husbands, children, and homes. Always in the background is the King and his doings, told through the perspective of Catherine and other sources of information. Wives are disposed of one after the other and the King courts Catherine through the entire novel until their marriage. She does emotional battle and engages in struggles for power with relatives and other members of court, which causes her much distress and adds to the drama of the novel. Yes, this book gives Catherine Parr and very full, very exciting, and very dramatic life.I wasn't too long into the book that I had to apply one of the most important historical fiction rules: when reading historical fiction, keep in mind that it's not non-fiction and will therefore be less bound by the responsibility of accuracy and neutrality. Historical fiction may take as many liberties as it pleases to tell an interesting story, which Erickson certainly does in this novel. Historical fiction is usually based on the life of an important figure or on historical events, though not with the promise of total truth. Fiction is fiction, even with you tack on the word 'historical' in front of it. To anyone unfamiliar with Tudor history, the story flows easy. For anyone who knows a little something about the Tudors, some of the inaccuracies or displays of character are a bit unsettling. For example, Catherine did not marry young Ned Burgh, though Erickson writes that he was her one true love. Also, Tom Seymour did not try to usurp the crown through starting his own army and waging a personal war. These things are added for romantic and dramatic effect only. What especially annoyed me was that when married to Henry VIII, the novel Catherine Parr was silly and stupid enough to commit adultery. Clearly she had not been paying enough attention when other wives were executed for that very crime. It seemed out of character that such an intelligent and steady headed woman would give in to something so dangerous and, well, stupid. Was this a good book? Yes. I couldn't put it down. The drama was great, the romances were hot, and the intrigues were very intriguing. I enjoyed the book and hope to find more of Erickson's works. Fortunately, while I enjoy picking through historical fiction and determining its accuracy, I don't get upset or overly bothered when a book is very inaccurate.
Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire, Ruth Downie
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 2007 Genre: Fiction - History Pages: 400 Rating:	Medicus: : A Novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie is about a divorced and female wary Roman doctor named Ruso who quite simply has terrible luck. First, he finds himself the owner of a very expensive and wounded female slave named Tilla who can't cook or obey any orders. Second, a dead prostitute from a local bar that sells poison oysters is found floating in a river and Ruso somehow finds himself in the middle of the investigation. And third, yes, there is also a third, Ruso's family in Gaul is in serious debt with creditors on their back. Ruso can't seem to save let alone keep any money, is behind on his concise guide to medical care, and the hospital administration is constantly on his back. There's no hope of riches or promotion in his future. Or having a decent hot meal. To put it simply, I loved this book. From the moment I picked it up, I didnt want to put it down. Though the mystery wasn't so much a mystery by the middle of the novel (I guessed the culprit, though perhaps Downie intended for us to get hints along the way and work this out), I still found how it unfolded very riveting. Also, Downie inserts a lot of humor into the novel and you end up feeling both sorry and amused by Ruso all in the same breath. Ruso is a very likable character because he is neither too unfortunate nor too impressive. In the end, Ruso comes out as an average man. Because Ruso was such an interesting and likable character, he sustained the story well enough for me when the plot waned. What about historical accuracy? In the end notes, Downie herself admits that information about Roman Britain is hard to come by and scant. She also confesses that some of her information is made up or exaggerated to move the plot along. The few books that Downie listed as sources are secondary sources, which are always to be used critically since their information may not be correct or unbiased. A few primary sources would have made her history more credible, certainly. A lot of the speech and infrastructure in Medicus was inspired by modern practices--characters used words like 'lad' and 'bloody'. Still, I was relieved that this book did not read like a textbook and that it did not focus around big names and big people. Yes, Julius Caesar marching on Rome was an amazing thing, but we should only have so many fiction books about it. It is nice to read about an average Roman. It was refreshing that Downie allowed me to use my own knowledge of Rome to fill in the gaps and set the scene rather than laying it all out for me in a tedious, fact rich way. Like I said, Medicus did not read like a textbook. In a way, it was taken for granted that the reader should know a little something about the Roman way of life. I may be better off than your average reader since I do know a lot about Rome to fill in blanks with. Yet, a non-scholar can still pick out a lot about Roman life such as that slaves were property and frequently abused, Romans wrote on wax covered pages with a stylus, Romans diluted their wine with water, etc. You won't finish this book without some idea of how Romans lived.
Dead as a Doornail (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 5), Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace Books; 2006 Genre: Fiction - Supernatural Pages: 320 Rating:	What's the Southern mystery this time? There is a sniper on the loose who seems to be targeting only shifters (and Sookie, but she has very poor luck). Not only that, but who tried to burn down Sookie's house with her in it? In this book five of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, Dead as a Doornail, Sookie is almost burned to death, attacked by wolves during a ceremony, shot in the shoulder, harassed by Eric who desperately wants to know what happened during his period of amnesia, and faced with Bill reentering the dating world. Her friendship is also on the fritz with Alcide. Oh, and if that's not bad enough, she is a suspect in the death of shifter Debbie Pelt, which is probably the only one thing that happens that she actually deserves. Problems don't belong to only Sookie, though. Jason is a suspect in the shifter shootings (the Stackhouses must be cursed), though he is adapting nicely to his new life as a shifter and, in fact, quite likes it. Tara Thornton, Sookie's best friend, is the unwilling girlfriend to a violent and dominating vampire named Mickey. Alcide has his worries over his father becoming pack leader. I have to say that the plots are becoming predictable. That's not to say that they're not exciting because they are. It's just that you can almost predict who will be the perpetrator by the first few chapters. I had this one pegged. Of course, it didn't have me put down the book. I still find the Southern Vampire Mysteries very fun, very exciting, and very much worth my time to read. I still love them, yes. If you are looking for a shocking twist at the end, you're not going to find it here because the formula is predictable. I am also a bit disappointed in the turn that Sookie's friendship with Alcide took. I don't think it's too much that the two of them could remain friends and get over their little crush from book three. Instead, the two of them are getting to the point where they can scant stand each the company of each other. I mean, Sookie can have a friend she's not making out with... right? You can bet as soon as I can, I am going to pick up book six.
Dead to the World (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 4), Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace Books; 2005 Genre: Fiction - Supernatural Pages: 320 Rating:	I had to dive into this one right after finishing book three. After how much I enjoyed Club Dead, I couldn't wait to read Dead to the World. In this part four of the Southern Vampire Mysteries, Sookie ends up in a whole new mess despite her New Year's Resolution to stay out of trouble. But trouble follows Sookie and is to be expected and enjoyed by now, at least for us the reader.First Sookie's brother Jason goes missing. Then she finds an amnesiac Eric running down the road (shirtless) and discovers out that he has been cursed by a lustful witch/werewolf. Defeated and fearing for her resolution, Sookie is charged to take care of Eric for an ample fee until the vampires find the witch and make her lift the curse. Due to events in Club Dead, Sookie and Bill are still on the outs and he spends most of the book collecting for his vampire directory in Peru.This book was great. I won't give away any more spoilers than my vague summary already has, but I will cheer and say that the moment I've been waiting for DID happen in chapter 6. Now, if only it could have stayed that way. In the end, as a reader, I know that Sookie and Bill will make up and get back together and continue their great love affair.The grand bulk of this story was spent working out the relationship between Sookie and Eric, investigating Jason's disappearance, and searching for the very dangerous coven of witches that cursed Eric. The final battle scene is very tense and well played out, though not in clear drawn out detail since it is from the perspective of Sookie who is understandably out of it. We have new creatures and supernatural elements, too! As I said above, witches are introduced along with fairies. Now those can be added to the growing catalog of creatures and things Sookie has to interact with on a daily (and nightly) basis.I am almost disappointed that Eric's time may be over. I feel that he certainly shines brighter and with more character than Bill. After spending an entire book with Eric, Bill's entrance at the end was bland at best. He just seems monotonous next to the personality that Eric exudes. If Eric could just get over himself, he would be perfect. Still, I cling to hope because surely the Eric that he was when he didn't have a memory is still in him... somewhere.I am completely addicted to this series. Anne Rice might have defined the vampire in my eyes, but Charlaine Harris makes them fun. Gratuitous sex? Give me more of that, please. Some more violence and humor, too. This series is just one big ball of excitement for me.
Club Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 3), Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace Books; 2003 Genre: Fiction - Supernatural Pages: 258 Rating:	Club Dead is my favorite of the series so far. When the book begins, Bill, who has been working on a "secret" project, has been kidnapped and is being held hostage in Mississippi for his secrets. Much to Sookie's dislike, Bill had also been recently shacked up with his maker, who he subsequently planned on leaving Sookie for before he was betrayed by said maker. What a mess, right? But what else could or would a fan of the Southern Vampire Mysteries expect? Despite Bill's betrayal, Sookie, with the help of a werewolf, heads off to Mississippi to find Bill. There's a lot of drama, a lot of arguing, a lot of mystery and a lot passion. Bodies pile up and violence increases as the story goes on. Werewolves and shape shifters are very important in this third book, which is great in making the Southern Vampire Mysteries about more than just vampires. Sookie's world is indeed full of the paranormal and supernatural. It's a wonder a girl can get any peace, which doesn't seem to bless Sookie often. The mystery that enfolds Bill and his kidnapping isn't that intricate or hard to solve. It almost seems to happen too easy, which is forgivable because the book is just so entertaining. In the end, I didn't mind that Sookie was all but able to just ease Bill out from under his captors and rescue him because there was drama and tension everywhere else. The build-up was not in her rescuing Bill, but in her finding him. The climax of tension was in her getting to the house and finding a way to save him, not the rescue. Eric makes a much larger appearance in this third book, which I feel really adds to it. You can't deny that there is some great chemistry between Eric and Sookie. Then again, it just could be because I think the two of them would make an excellent couple and have a more interesting dynamic than other couplings in the books. This book has solidified my respect for Eric. Sure, he comes on strong and hard, often times a bit cold, but he's actually quite charming and funny. If anything in this book made me laugh, it was some of what came out of his mouth.
Battle Royale, Koushun Takami
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; 2003 Genre: Fiction - Dystopia Pages: 624 Rating:	I've been eager to read this book for a while since I own both Battle Royale movies and I read the manga years ago. This book is as troubling as it is insightful- troubling because it shows you the truth depth of human desperation and troubling because it makes the reader enjoy it. This book isn't full of thesaurus words or flowery, flowing descriptions. It's simple and to the point, and every effective. The book shows us how people, normal people, can descend into madness. How many of us would be able to kill someone? I'm sure many people would say 'not I,' yet how do we know until we're put in that position? Each character in the book experiences their own personal reaction to fear, violence and the threat of death, which could come at any moment. How each handles this situation is where the insight comes in. We come to see that fear is more complex than the word describes. Some justify killing with logic, however poor, some do it out of instinct, and some do it to protect others. This isn't a book to pass over lightly because of its subject. I know that the thought of middle school students killing each other off on an island is sour, but Battle Royale is an excellent book about human nature and how humans exist in a world out of their control. There is hope, though! The main characters Shuya and Noriko fight a force far larger than themselves, which gives a glimmer of hope in the madness. Granted, there is no peaceful resolution at the end. The world as the characters know it does not crumble or end. It stays strong and in control, but the resistance of a few is only a minor shine to the possible resistance of many. Even in a world of chaos and death, there is loyalty and friendship.
Living Dead In Dallas (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 2), Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace Books; 2002 Genre: Fiction - Supernatural Pages: 291 Rating:	I enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed the first one. It was more violent and full of more sexiness, but that just made it better! Sometimes you have to wonder how one girl can get into so much mess, but then you have to suspend reality when reading these books anyway because of the whole vampire/shapeshifter/etc thing.
Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Book 1), Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Ace Books; 2001 Genre: Fiction - Supernatural Pages: 304 Rating:	It's been a long time since I've read a good vampire story. In fact, I don't read many vampire stories at all. I have high expectations... to high, I guess. But, I really enjoyed this one. And joy, none of the characters pissed me off or annoyed me. Dead Until Dark was funny, sexy, and interesting. I enjoyed the plot and really liked some of the characters. I overlooked my expectations for vampires to read this book and I found it worth my while. Though the Southern Vampires sort of defied some of what I think vampire should be, I liked the books enough to get past that superficial issue. This book is definitely worth a read and I look forward to the second one.
Savage Kingdom: The True Story of Jamestown, 1607, and the Settlement of America, Benjamin Woolley
Publisher: Harper Perennial; 2008 Genre: Nonfiction - History Pages: 512 Rating:	I was given this book by respected historians, so I felt confident that this book would be good quality, not full of false information or unchecked/invalid sources. It has been a while since I've done any study of American history, so what better new start than to begin at the very beginning. This book read as easy as a novel, which is rare in a history book because they can get rather technical, dry and textbook-like. There were times when it didn't even feel like I was reading a nonfiction book because it was just so interesting and full of adventure and intrigue. You'll get it all in this book: political manipulations, death, disease, mutiny, war, sabotage, desperation and adventure. This book is neither oversimplified nor overly complicated. There are times, I admit, where you may feel that the book drags. I suffered during the parts about British government and technical arrangements, but they were mere pieces in a book that is largely very entertaining while remaining informative. It's a far cry from Disney, though. By the end of it, you'll be well aware of the brutality of America's early founding from both the settlers and the Natives. Additionally, this book includes an international scope. While discussing the founding of the Jamestown colony, the author writes about how other leaders in countries like France and Spain felt. If you love history, nonfiction or a good adventure book, this one is definitely for you.

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