Review: Suck It Up

Suck It Up by Brian Meehl

3 stars

Reasons for reading: the cover; wanted to read a boy vampire novel; Young Adult Challenge

Description, from Booklist: "Meehl creates an original and light variation on the current trend in brooding teen vampire protagonists with Morning McCobb, a geeky, 16-year-old, New York orphan doomed to immortality. Morning’s “turning” from mortal to vampire was an accident; usually, only the young and beautiful are selected to join the vampiric community. The leader of the International Vampire League selects Morning to be the first vampire to out himself to humans, or Lifers. Thus begins a mutually manipulative relationship involving Morning, ace publicist Penny Dredful, and her 16-year-old daughter, Portia, a beautiful would-be filmmaker."

First line: "In the end is beginning." Luther Birnam's deep voice rained down from the high platform, charging the air above a wide semicircle of cadets. "In the beginning is end."

My thoughts: Well, I did get a nice change from Twilight-ish vampire romances, so that was good. While I think this book came out before the show, it reminded me a lot of True Blood - vampires "coming out of the casket" thanks to blood substitutes. Because he's non-threatening and has never tasted human blood, Morning is chosen to be the IVLeague's poster boy for Out Day. There are a few "traditional" vampires left who don't want this to happen, so one of them sets out kill Morning. Various attempts fail (it's apparently a 3-step process to kill a vamp), Morning and Portia fall in love, Birnam isn't as kindly as he seems... There are also lots of puns and bad jokes. And shape-shifting!

The verdict: I think this one would be good for younger teens, especially boys, and those not looking for scary stories. Girls could also enjoy it, thanks to cool Portia, but probably not hardcore Twilight fans. I found it a bit long and not a page-turner, but for a different take on vampires, it was worth a read.

Review: Are These My Basoomas I See Before Me?

Are These my Basoomas I See Before Me? by Louise Rennison
Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series, book 10
3 stars

Reasons for reading: enjoyed the rest of the series; Young Adult Challenge

My thoughts: *Spoiler Alert* Well, we come to the end of Georgia's diaries. And, honestly, not a moment too soon. 10 books was quite enough, especially since they only seem to cover about a 2-year time period. After that many books, you'd expect some changes, but there aren't really any. Spectacularly self-centred Georgia does seem to learn a bit of a lesson about friendship but overall the main thing she's learned is that she's not grown up yet. Which is fair, she is only 15. But this book wasn't much different than the previous one(s), right down to the girls having to perform an all-female Shakespeare play. Now, the play provides some of the funniest scenes in the book (the girls have to represent the blood from the fight scenes via interpretive dance and mime and the largest-busted girl in school ends up playing Romeo), but we've seen it before. And we've seen adorable but pyscho preschooler Libby and wild and violent kitty Angus and the ace gang and their disco dancing. (And we've heard, over and over, the lesbian-phobic jokes that were annoying from the start and are really, really old now. This book seems to have more of them than all the others combined.)

But at least the ending we all wanted happens - Georgia ends up with wonderful Dave the Laugh. But even that is a bit...lackluster. The book ends with a kiss, but Georgia is still unsure about everything. Not that thats not normal for a teenager or, indeed, anyone, but I could have used more after hanging in there all this time. I agree with this reviewer from Barnes and Noble: "Georgia did not go out with a bang, she just kind of walked of the stage. Nothing more."

The verdict: Georgia is still funny, Dave the Laugh is someone I'd love to have dated, and the series has been lots of fun. But it's definitely time for it to end.

Review: Homer and Langley

Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow
4 stars

Reasons for reading: this month's book club selection

From the publisher: "Homer and Langley Collyer are brothers–the one blind and deeply intuitive, the other damaged into madness, or perhaps greatness, by mustard gas in the Great War. They live as recluses in their once grand Fifth Avenue mansion, scavenging the city streets for things they think they can use, hoarding the daily newspapers as research for Langley’s proposed dateless newspaper whose reportage will be as prophecy. Yet the epic events of the century play out in the lives of the two brothers–wars, political movements, technological advances–and even though they want nothing more than to shut out the world, history seems to pass through their cluttered house in the persons of immigrants, prostitutes, society women, government agents, gangsters, jazz musicians . . . and their housebound lives are fraught with odyssean peril as they struggle to survive and create meaning for themselves."

First line: "I'm Homer, the blind brother."

My thoughts: This was a very well-written, interesting book. Doctorow immerses the reader in the lives of these eccentric brothers. Their descent into hoarding, their eccentric outlook on life (especially Langley), and, the part that I enjoyed most, their fraternal love for each other. Deserted by every other person in their lives, they had only each other and their house to rely on. Despite their strangeness, it was quite a portrait of brotherly devotion.

The book covers 4 wars and many changes in society and New York City. It's interesting to see them from the brothers' viewpoint - most things don't really affect them, but Langley does get excited about new technology (although he often discards it once the novelty wears off) and their neighbourhood slowly changes from wealthy to poor, ungentrified Harlem.

I have to say, though, that I find the real story of the brothers just as interesting as the book. There are photos and a history of the men here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers
One thing that I found a bit odd about the book was that their lives seemed to be very, very long. When I looked them up online, I saw that they both died in 1947, 20+ years before their demise in the book. (Their dates are mentioned in the book and Doctorow notes that it's a work of fiction, I just hadn't noticed the dates beforehand.) While it's conceivable that a World War I veteran would live that long, I definitely found it a bit odd, especially since Homer is sleeping with a young hippie girl and Langley is still ambulatory enough to roam all over New York to get their food and water. I doubt he would have been able to do this at 89 or so. So that was a bit of a niggle as I was reading it, but not enough to put me off what was otherwise a great story.

The verdict: I've always been daunted by Doctorow, but this shorter book was a good introduction. I may read more of his books and I bet they'll get me interested in looking up the historical figures/events they're based on.

Genre Challenge Wrap-up

I did it, I got through all 10 of the genres I chose! Thanks to Samantha for hosting it. (And for my prize of Abigail's Story, too!)

Here's what I read:

1. Crime - The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz
2. Detective - The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom
3. Mystery - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
4. Thriller - Vodka Neat by Anna Blundy
5. Science Fiction - A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
6. Action/adventure - Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
7. Fantasy - The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
8. Realistic - Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
9. Historical - The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue
10. Western - The Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas

This was a great challenge for introducing me to new books. I don't think I'd ever read a Western before and I hadn't really thought about women writing them, so that was a cool discovery. I was glad to finally read a James Bond novel, even though it wasn't my favourite. And it got me to read the fabulous And Then There Were None, which had been lingering around in the back of my mind under "I really should read that..." Sadly, The Case of the Missing Books was a huge disappointment (apparently to Samantha and to a lesser extent to Raidergirl, too).

Wow, yet another challenge finished! 6 more to go before the end of the year...

Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
4.5 stars

First line: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

My thoughts: What can I say? It's a hoot. It's just really well done. The author integrates Jane Austen's words seamlessly with the zombie content. P&P is one of my favourite books and he weirdly did it justice - Darcy and Elizabeth still get their love story and most of the characters are drawn exactly right. The stupid people are still stupid, the mean are still mean and get their comeuppance, the people we love are still lovable. There's a lot of exaggeration, of course. Lady Catherine de Bourgh is a first-class zombie killer attended by a fleet of ninjas, for example. And Elizabeth and her sisters have all been trained by Shaolin monks in self-defence and have pledged their swords to the King until they die or get married. I was a bit sad that Mr. Bennet was made out to be a real jerk, but his behaviour even in the original isn't always that nice, except to Jane and Elizabeth. Wickham's punishment is hilarious and well-deserved. I loved how the zombies were referred to with such Regency refinement, such as "the sorry stricken" or "the unmentionables."

I don't know if I'll read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, as I don't know it as well as P&P. I might, although the novelty might wear off in the sequel. But, if he writes Emma and Evildoers, I'll be there!

Review: The Crime Writer

The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz
3 stars

Reason for reading: Crime novel for the Genre Challenge

Description: "Drew Danner , an L.A.-based crime novelist, awakens in a hospital bed with a scar on his head, blood under his nails, and a cop by his side. Accused of murdering his ex-fiancée, Drew has no memory of the crime but reconstructs the story the only way he knows how—as a novel. As he searches the dark corridors of his life and the city he loves, another young woman is similarly murdered and Drew must confront the very real possibility of his own guilt."

First line: "I woke up with IVs taped to my arms, a feeding tube shoved through my nose, and my tongue pressed against my teeth, dead and thick as a sock."

My thoughts: The book starts off with a real bang - Drew wakes up from having a brain tumor removed and is accused of murder. It was suspenseful and you really wondered how or if Drew was going to be able to clear his name when all of the evidence was stacked against him. He goes on a reckless quest to find out if someone framed him - so reckless that I found myself telling him several times that he should stop it, he'd only be digging himself in deeper!

L.A. is almost another character in the book. The author has obviously spent a lot of time there and writes eloquently and sometimes humourously about its beauty, superficiality, and cruelty.

The secondary characters are well drawn. Drew's best friend Chic, a former ballplayer famous for dropping a game-losing pop fly, is a great character - wise, calm, and a fiercely loyal and helpful friend. His life with his wife and brood of children is sensitively portrayed, a good contrast to the chaos in Drew's life. Drew also manages to acquire a Little Brother while trying to solve the case - Junior, a wise-cracking, dog-loving, often-in-court graffiti artist.

I think my favourite parts were the pages that replicated Drew's manuscript - basically a book within the book. They had his editor's snarky comments scrawled in the margins, which was an entertaining touch.

By the end the book sort of devolves into more of a typical murder mystery, but there is enough action and enough twists along the way to make it a pretty satisfying book. Not entirely my thing, but it was an interesting read.

Four Month Challenge

Virginie is hosting the Four Month Challenge, Part 2.

It runs from November 1, 2009 - February 28, 2010. There are several different categories (with point levels) to participate in.

I've chosen the 20-point challenge:

Read a book with a wintry theme:
Let it Snow by John Green, et al.

Read a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction:
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stout

Read a book starting with A:
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Read a book starting with Z:
Zombie Blondes by Brian James

Read a book from the Modern Library Top 100:
Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh

Read a book and write a review:
to be determined