Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

It took me a month to finish the eighth book in Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell series, not because the story was anything less than captivating, but because I didn’t want it to end. I read the Mary Russell series books two ways – dragging them out like this by reading half a chapter every night, or devouring them whole in a weekend (or one extremely late night.)

The Language of Bees comes barely the time it takes to travel after the events of Locked Rooms, where mysteries about Russell’’s mind were tangled up with the plot in California, and we were gifted with whole chapters from Holmes’  point of view.  Russell is feeling the strain of the previous trip, but also the inevitable let-down that both she and Holmes suffer at the end of a case, no matter how good it is to be home. They need not worry about being bored for long, though, because they return to find Holmes’ son waiting for them at the house.

This mystery takes us through Bohemia, up into airplanes, through secret passages in Mycroft’s home and into a fascinatingly creepy upstart religious group. Damian, an artist who perhaps walks the thin line between genius and madness, is both like and unlike Holmes, is convincingly written as both a sympathetic figure and a suspect.

The end comes with more loose threads than I wanted, but the implication seems to be that the next book picks up where this one left off.  I can’t wait to see what sort of character Holmes’ granddaughter will turn out to be.  The God Of The Hive will be published June 2010.

For fun (and book updates), you can follow Mary Russell on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mary_russell

The Mounties’ darkest secret

No, this isn’t about Due South. (I wish!) This is a link to Slate’s hilarious Dan Brown Interactive Sequel Generator because we all know The Lost Symbol is going to be a fast (and formulaic!) read.

September means

We’re all back from our summer vacations, with the exception of Dea, who up and moved to Santa Barbara, where she is enjoying things like avocado blossom honey and working with data and its integrity somewhere in a building made of terra cotta and surrounded by palm trees. We miss her already!

You’re probably not ready for books about full-fledged autumn yet, though I did seriously consider a reading list of books on how to cook pumpkins. Instead, I thought I’d go with a more transitional booklist, and give you some suggestions of books that reinvent something old, with a twist. (I promise, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies isn’t on this list, though, I’m pretty sure I’m obligated to talk about New Moon: The Movie eventually.)

The Penelopiad by Margaret AtwoodThe Odyssey, told from Penelope’s point of view, in Atwood’s trademark, pithy style.

Specimen Days by Michael CunninghamWalt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is the leitmotif for this novel about past, present, and future New York City, with a bonus ghostly Whitman appearance.

Drood by Dan Simmons

This novel explores the still-unsolved mysteries of the famous author’s last years and may provide the key to Dickens’s final, unfinished work: The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Blindspot: by a Gentleman in Exile and a Lady in Disguise by Jane Kamensky and Jill Lepore

“Tis a small canvas, this Boston,” muses Stewart Jameson, a Scottish portrait painter who, having fled his debtors in Edinburgh, has washed up on America’s far shores. Eager to begin anew in this new world, he advertises for an apprentice, but the lad who comes knocking is no lad at all. Fanny Easton is a lady in disguise, a young, fallen woman from Boston’s most prominent family. “I must make this Jameson see my artist’s touch, but not my woman’s form,” Fanny writes, in a letter to her best friend. “I would turn my talent into capital, and that capital into liberty.” Liberty is what everyone’s seeking in boisterous, rebellious Boston on the eve of the American Revolution.

Blindspot kept me up reading late last night. Jameson and Fanny are fabulously written characters, and getting lost in the world of pre-Revolution Boston is a great reason to sacrifice sleep.

New Items: Boys & Girls

There were more than the usual number of new books this month, so selecting just a few books for this post was tough. Next time you come in to the library, make sure you take a look at the new books section, or check out the lists of new materials online!

Boys

Brothers by Yu Hua

From PW: “…two boys weather the changes of the Cultural Revolution, reform and globalization, and Yu’s unflinching narrative, by turns tragic and hilarious, shows ordinary lives being broken down and built up again.”

Lowboy by John Wray

From PW: “The story centers on Will Heller, a 16-year-old New Yorker who has stopped taking his antipsychotic medication and wandered away from the mental hospital into the subway tunnels believing that the world will end within a few hours and that only he can save it.”

Bruno, Chief of Police by Martin Walker

From PW: “Policing in Chief Bruno CourrEges’s sun-dappled patch of Perigord involves protecting local fromages from E.U. hygiene inspectors, orchestrating village parades and enjoying the obligatory leisurely lunch-that is, until the brutal murder of an elderly Algerian immigrant…”

Girls

Supergirls Speak Out by Liz Funk

From PW: “First-time author Funk defines the term “supergirl” as an over-achieving young woman with a compulsive need to be the best in all areas: school, extra-curricular activities, social networking and, of course, physical appearance.”

A Proper Education for Girls by Elaine di Rollo

From PW: “…set in 1850s England and colonial India, tells the story of twin sisters Alice and Lilian Talbot, who were born into an aristocratic but eccentric English family and raised by their widowed father among his collected curiosities and creepy acquaintances.”

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

From PW: “Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by writing “about what disturbs you.” The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women on whom the country club sets relies–and mistrusts–enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who’s raised 17 children, and Aibileen’s best friend Minny, who’s found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers.”

Boys & Girls

Mr. and Miss Anonymous by Fern Michaels

From PW: “Peter Kelly and Lily Madison regret choices they made in 1986 as impoverished college students when they first met outside a sperm bank and its adjacent fertility clinic. Years later, Pete’s a software mogul and Lily’s a successful clothing designer, and they happen across one another at an airport, where they see a news broadcast about a massacre at the California Academy of Higher Learning. Featured on the report is Josh, a survivor and dead ringer for Pete.”

Why Him? Why Her? by Helen Fisher

Helen Fisher, conducting research through Chemistry.com, and take into account philosophies from Jung, Keirsey and more, has written a book that aims to deconstruct who you like (or love), and why, based on your personality type.

-Dea

From Book to TV: Witches of Eastwick

You may have heard that ABC is airing a new show in Fall called Eastwick, about 3 women in a small New England town who discover that they have strange new powers. There’s also a hot new addition to the local populace in the form of Paul Gross. But in case you didn’t know, or didn’t realize, this new show is based on the book The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike.

I haven’t read the book, or seen the 1987 movie that was also based on it.  But I’m probably going to watch the show, if only because I love Paul Gross – even if he’s playing bad boy Darryl Can Horne, instead of a mountie… Let’s see how well this novel translates to the year 2009.

-Dea

Zombies

While I’m still waiting for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I decided to make a list of some other recent books about the rapidly disintegrating undead…

Generation Dead by Dan Waters

The Down Home Zombie Blues by Linnea Sinclair

Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

The Boy Who Couldn’t Die by William Sleator

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

Death of a Darklord by Laurell K. Hamilton

Patient Zero by John Maberry

Zombie Blondes by Brian James

Monster Planet by David Wellington

Mind you, I generally prefer my zombies in video games like Oblivion or Resident Evil … or even Fall Out Boy Trail s0 that I can shoot at them, so for hardcore zombie fans, your mileage with these books may vary.

-Dea

New Items This Month: Everything Old is New Again

There are a lot of exciting new items this month, but when I was going through them, I started to notice a trend. A feeling of nostalgia, reinvention, adaptation – updates, if you will, of materials, information and people. Nothing makes me happier then when something I know gets a new coat of polish…

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth  Grahame-Smith

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.” Or, more likely, it’s a universal truth that to make something fresh and cool these days, it doesn’t hurt to add some zombies. Not that I think P&P needed the help, but that doesn’t mean I’m not looking forward to reading it. So, whoever took out our copy, pls bring it back soon. Thx.

Nevermore by Dan Whitehead

This book has collected Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous short stories and transformed them into a graphic novel anthology. You can re-experience classic horror tales like The Raven or The Tell-Tale Heart with fresh, modern settings and sensibilities and edgy illustrations.

BoA

This eponymously titled CD introduces popular Korean singer BoA to a U.S. audience, with new, all English, tracks. Her sound has been reinvented a little, sped up and synthesized into dance music, even though her Korean and Japanese albums have been mostly pop. Still, BoA’s main strength as an artist is her voice, and it definitely shines through.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

Actress and novelist Carrie Fisher shows us a new side of herself in this memoir. To most people, Carrie Fisher begins and ends with Princess Leia, and her famous bun hairdo, but in this book, Carrie Fisher gives us the woman behind the image, with a series of hilarious and sometimes painful (and painfully honest) anecdotes about her life .

Family Ties

Family Ties is on DVD and at our library (or it would be if it wasn’t checked out). When I was growing up, if I missed an episode of Family Ties, I had to wait what was sometimes months for a rerun. But now it’s all in one place, and I’m guessing digitally remastered, etc. How cool is that?

Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James Morrow

While the first book on my list adds zombies to regency romance, this little novel combines WWII with… Godzilla, apparently.  The Navy has created a breed of giant, mutant, fire-breathing iguanas. But whether or not they’ll use them on the small island nation of Japan is up to a B-movie actor. If he and his rubber suit can demonstrate the potential threat and get the Japanese to surrender, there will be peace. If not? Iguana mayhem. (Note: I wouldn’t expect a lot of political or cultural sensitivity from this book, btw.)

Jesus, Interrupted by Bart D. Ehrman

In this book, Bart Ehrman takes a good hard look at the New Testament. He isn’t reinterpretting the text either. Rather, he’s reinventing what we’re expecting from the text. Stripping apart historical influences and philosophies, Ehrman attempts to clear a path to the truth.

Want more? Check out the complete list of new items for May on our website.

-Dea

Non-Fiction for Fiction Readers

I’m not a huge non-fiction fan, but occasionally, when I’ve tired of my escapist fun, I veer into unknown waters. Below is my list of non-fiction books that were entertaining, edifying, and read like fiction:

Longitude, by Dava Sobel

I never thought about how sailors found their way before longitude and latitude: really, they couldn’t tell east from west. This is the story of John Harrison, a clockmaker who figured it all out.

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester

If you’ve seen the OED, you know what an amazing accomplishment it is, and what an incredible amount of work went into it. Simon Winchester draws you into the story and keeps you there.

Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell

Sara Vowell, who also contributes to the This American Life radio show, is a historian who makes history fun. I love all of her books, but this one, about vacationing at all the places where presidents were killed, is my favorite.

Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library, by Don Borchert

The life and times of just your average local public library.

Girl Named Zippy, by Haven Kimmel

A sweet and quirky tale of a girl named Zippy growing up in a small American town.

Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations, by Georgina Howell

Gertrude Bell, diplomat, mapmaker, adventurer, spy (and more), was an amazing woman you don’t hear enough about.

Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, by Julie Powell

(soon to be a movie with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams)

This was funny, and a bit disgusting, and I can’t resist anyone who loves Buffy the Vampire Slayer
as much as I do.

The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, by Sebastian Junger

It’s true that I’m partial, as I went to Gloucester High School and know one of the fishermen who died, but this is a gripping tale and he even makes the science part interesting.

Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants, by Robert Sullivan

Seriously, you don’t mess with rats.

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, by Mary Roach

The author also wrote a book, even more well-received, called Boink, about just what you think it’s about.

Whatever You Do Don’t Run: True Tales of Botswana Safari Guide, by Peter Allison

Hilarious, with good pictures, and if I didn’t already want to go to Botswana after reading The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, I do now!

-Ardis

Review: The Victoria Vanishes

The Victoria Vanishes: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler

I picked up The Victoria Vanishes,  I’ll admit, because of the cover, which had a crow, a bowler hat, a bottle of poison, and a syringe, and the word “peculiar.” I’m not a regular mystery reader, but the peculiar investigations of  Arthur Bryant and John May were madcap, macabre and quite hilarious, and I felt as though I already knew them even though I had not read any of their earlier investigations.

A serial killer is targeting middle-aged women who he injects with a poison, but his attack and their deaths remain hidden in the crowd of the pubs.  The Peculiar Crimes Unit gets the case after Bryant realizes that he observed one of the victims enter the Victoria Cross, a pub that hasn’t existed for almost a century.  Bryant is losing his memory and May is considering retirement in the wake of his failing health, and someone has misplaced the ashes of the co-worker they’ve gathered to honor as the book opens.

The Peculiar Crimes Unit is the sort of place I’d want to work if I were in British Law Enforcement and didn’t really care about having a life or advancing my career.  Bryant and May seem like fascinating if sometimes undependable and workaholic bosses, and the crimes the Unit ends up solving would likely never be solved by normal means. Still, it’s a department that exists on the very edges of the law, and it seems like some bad things historically happen to their coroners.

Be warned: The Victoria Vanishes is apparently the last of the series, so, while it’s very readable even if you haven’t read the others in the series first, there is only one direction to go in after Victoria Vanishes, and that’s backwards. If that means I get to spend more time with Bryant and May, then I’m happy to start over at the beginning.

-Andrea

Twilight: The Movie

I finally watched Twilight this past weekend, and I considered writing a review, since it has been one of the most talked about book-into-movie productions lately. I realized, though, that my review would have been made up of ways in which the movie fixed several of the problems of the book, most notably the pacing  and the introduction of the conflict that wasn’t the romantic one.  I tend to be of the opinion that books are better than the movie that is made of them. Most of the time, it’s not a matter of quality as much as it is a matter of form: you can do things in a book that you can’t do in a movie.

In the case of Twilight, I think the movie benefited from knowing the end of the story – they snuck in James and the bad guy vampires earlier,  in a way that Stephanie Meyer somehow failed to do in her revisions, so they didn’t come as so much of a surprise three quarters of the way through the book.  I found Bella more likeable in the movie than I did in the book. (Don’t hate me, crazy devoted fans, although, really, what are you doing reading this blog? Did you miss our ongoing joke about the horror that is Breaking Dawn?) I think the distance from Bella’s narration – and her inner thoughts and personal observations – helped me to appreciate Bella more as a lead character without getting annoyed with her the way I did in the book (and in New Moon and Eclipse ….)

The biggest triumph of the movie as a successful re-telling of the book was that there was no major plot element left out for the sake of brevity (I’m looking at you, here,  Prisoner of Azkaban) and I could without reservation recommend that a fan of the movie just go ahead and jump into reading New Moon if they wanted more of the series. They’re already planning to turn that one into a movie, as well.

Unfortunately, Twilight: The Movie didn’t address any of my concerns about the weird power dynamic between our leads, or the creepy messages about the dangers of female sexuality, but I’m not sure there was any way to tell the story of Edward and Bella without the creepy.

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-Andrea