The proliferation of supernatural novels raises the question of why this genre is so popular now. I think there are currents in writing, waxing and waning of popularity. A writing instructor told me once that successful writers told the exact same stories, only different. J.R.R. Tolkien may have been the progenitor of modern fantasy, with his legendary Middle Earth trilogy. He didn't have any vampires or werewolves, but certainly chronicled the societies of hard working dwarves, glittering and dangerous elves, and brooding wizards.
Another example is the tough-gal protagonist, with Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone its prototype. There have been many followers, of various twists, including Sue Dunlap's Jill Smith cop mysteries. Dunlap's creativity also produced a lowly meter reader P.I, as well as an independent female medical examiner with a gorgeous cook/house boy. V.I Warshovski and Carlotta Carlyle are two other tough broads, given life by Sara Paretsky and Linda Barnes respectively.
Movies of that era also began to abandon the female role of helpless female or girl Friday. Ass-kicking women are now the standard stereotype, from Carrie Moss of the Matrix series to any number of Angelina Jolie's roles. The average woman can't really beat up the average man, but this stereotype is much more fun than the fluttery kind.
Maybe in the future the Chinese will colonize Mars, and spacesuits and rockets will appear, but I predict that sexy, spooky Sookie and her friends will rule for now.
Monday, July 19, 2010
DEAD AS A DOORNAIL, Charlaine Harris, a Sookie Stackhouse novel
I was going to swear off the vamps when I saw the cute cover of this grocery store book. Now three chapters in, I'm wondering why I was prejudiced against this series. I think it was the fact that I don't like visual depictions of the supernatural scene (see previous postings). I was put off by my assumptions about the True Blood TV adaptation. This is obviously contempt prior to investigation. The book is a scream, in a good way. I already don't care much about the mystery, but I love the way Harris plays with her creations.
Fairies, the Fae, visit Merlotte's bar, with their usual untouchable glamour, but don't drink iced tea if you want to meet one. Fairies are as allergic to lemon juice as vampires to garlic. What? Is she just making this stuff up or something? And the mind-reading Sookie deflects the unwanted attention of an obnoxious bar patron by solemnly telling him she has x-ray vision and can read his driver's license through his pants. She's leading him on to ask the obvious next question, so he's pretty cocky as he struts back to his friends, sure she's seen what else he has in that area. Then she switches her attention back to Eric the pirate vampire, who may have information on a local shooting. Who cares, when the inventiveness and humor in this are so much fun.
Fairies, the Fae, visit Merlotte's bar, with their usual untouchable glamour, but don't drink iced tea if you want to meet one. Fairies are as allergic to lemon juice as vampires to garlic. What? Is she just making this stuff up or something? And the mind-reading Sookie deflects the unwanted attention of an obnoxious bar patron by solemnly telling him she has x-ray vision and can read his driver's license through his pants. She's leading him on to ask the obvious next question, so he's pretty cocky as he struts back to his friends, sure she's seen what else he has in that area. Then she switches her attention back to Eric the pirate vampire, who may have information on a local shooting. Who cares, when the inventiveness and humor in this are so much fun.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
HOUSE, TV SERIES
After breaking some ribs in a fall, I've been spending time on the couch watching TV shows. I've reinforced my dislike for HOUSE, the long-running series starring Hugh Laurie as a curmudgeonly but supposedly genius MD. It's not the trappings of the TV show which bother me. A glamorous hospital which has all the spiffiest procedures immediately available is much more fun than reality.
What I don't like is House himself. I first got to know Huge Laurie as a British comic actor, playing Bertie Wooster and other roles. The switch from comic roles to dramatic ones is not new; it's been done by Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and Bill Murray, to name several quickly. I miss Wooster, but I'm impressed with Laurie's incarnation as a bitter American. Great work. I still hate HOUSE.
In the first I watched he had his team mislead a surgeon by a procedure which temporarily shrank a tumor to the size acceptable for surgery. You can't even think of such dishonesty, let alone not document anything in the chart. What a danger to patients!
That's not nearly as bad as in the next show, where he intubated a patient who had insisted on DNR orders. The patient thought he was dying of ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. House arrogantly decides that the patient's own doctor, a young attending who was previously House's resident, is wrong, and hijacks the patient. Of course House is right, and gee, even the criminal charges of assault and battery are dropped, but the ethical precedent is unbelievable. He should have been immediately suspended from the hospital, or, preferably, put out to be eaten by predators.
Disruptive physicians such as House are coming under great scrutiny now by hospitals who question the assumption that brilliance overrides everything. Even if this were so, dishonesty and lawlessness are not excused. HOUSE should go.
What I don't like is House himself. I first got to know Huge Laurie as a British comic actor, playing Bertie Wooster and other roles. The switch from comic roles to dramatic ones is not new; it's been done by Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, and Bill Murray, to name several quickly. I miss Wooster, but I'm impressed with Laurie's incarnation as a bitter American. Great work. I still hate HOUSE.
In the first I watched he had his team mislead a surgeon by a procedure which temporarily shrank a tumor to the size acceptable for surgery. You can't even think of such dishonesty, let alone not document anything in the chart. What a danger to patients!
That's not nearly as bad as in the next show, where he intubated a patient who had insisted on DNR orders. The patient thought he was dying of ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. House arrogantly decides that the patient's own doctor, a young attending who was previously House's resident, is wrong, and hijacks the patient. Of course House is right, and gee, even the criminal charges of assault and battery are dropped, but the ethical precedent is unbelievable. He should have been immediately suspended from the hospital, or, preferably, put out to be eaten by predators.
Disruptive physicians such as House are coming under great scrutiny now by hospitals who question the assumption that brilliance overrides everything. Even if this were so, dishonesty and lawlessness are not excused. HOUSE should go.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
COMMENTARY ON TERRY PRATCHETT, by CeeViews
I can't think of many authors who've created a whole universe as diverse yet unified as Terry's Pratchett's DISCWORLD. Larry Niven's KNOWN UNIVERSE, Jane Austen's witty and impoverished England, and Wodehouse's goofy and gentle one, are several which come to mind. The DISCWORLD is a flat circular planet carried on the back of four elephants who stand on the back of the turtle, an Indian legend Pratchhett has taken and run with.
Dozens of books define a DISWORLD of generally medieval technology whose greatest and sleaziest city is ANKH-MORPORK. The growth of the city's police force, mail service, long distance communications, and banking raises the city from medieval to modern, a development which pleases the Patrician, its dictator. The city has a diverse population of many species. The dwarfs and trolls are welcome if they can control their hereditary enmity, and the vampires if they've taken the Black Ribbon Pledge of Temperance.
Ancient guilds include the Thieves, where one can pay a yearly fee not to be robbed, and the Assassins, an elite school with a fine education, and incidentally training in dealing death. Swamp dragons, jingoism, a military regiment of women in disguise, many odd religions, and ANKH-MORPORK's scruffy City Watch flesh out this universe. There are fat, lazy urban wizards and their counterparts, cantankerous rural witches. And then there's DEATH, a character who makes appearances in every book and is the focus of several. DEATH, who speaks only in capital letters, is fascinated by the humans he has to harvest, and tries, in his bizarre and tragic way, to understand them.
The DISCWORLD is one of humor, wit, and wise reflections on our own society without being a fantasy reproduction of it. Terry Pratchett is much more fun than Larry Niven, has as much observation of social situations as Jane Austen, and is much worldlier than Wodehouse. Long may his wit flourish and thrive.
Dozens of books define a DISWORLD of generally medieval technology whose greatest and sleaziest city is ANKH-MORPORK. The growth of the city's police force, mail service, long distance communications, and banking raises the city from medieval to modern, a development which pleases the Patrician, its dictator. The city has a diverse population of many species. The dwarfs and trolls are welcome if they can control their hereditary enmity, and the vampires if they've taken the Black Ribbon Pledge of Temperance.
Ancient guilds include the Thieves, where one can pay a yearly fee not to be robbed, and the Assassins, an elite school with a fine education, and incidentally training in dealing death. Swamp dragons, jingoism, a military regiment of women in disguise, many odd religions, and ANKH-MORPORK's scruffy City Watch flesh out this universe. There are fat, lazy urban wizards and their counterparts, cantankerous rural witches. And then there's DEATH, a character who makes appearances in every book and is the focus of several. DEATH, who speaks only in capital letters, is fascinated by the humans he has to harvest, and tries, in his bizarre and tragic way, to understand them.
The DISCWORLD is one of humor, wit, and wise reflections on our own society without being a fantasy reproduction of it. Terry Pratchett is much more fun than Larry Niven, has as much observation of social situations as Jane Austen, and is much worldlier than Wodehouse. Long may his wit flourish and thrive.
SOUL MUSIC, by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett again shows his unmatchable inventiveness in SOUL MUSIC. A young harpist, a good druid boy, moves to Ankh-Morpork, the biggest and sleaziest town in all the Discworld. His harp is soon broken, forcing him to get a guitar as a replacement. He falls in with Cliff, a rock-eating troll drummer, and with Glod, a dwarf horn blower. Soon they are playing "Music with Rocks In," a intoxicating type of music never heard before. Could it be that the guitar possesses the soul of the player, Imp y Celyn? After all, y Celyn means "of the holly," and "imp" is a small growth, a shoot; one might even say, wait for it, wait for it, a Bud. And it's perfectly good Welsh! One wonders how long Pratchet has waited to play that card.
Almost as long, perhaps, as the scene in The Cavern, a dive owned by the troll thug Chrysophase, where the band gets prepped for their gig. They're served snacks, and another card is played: they get three types of beer, smoked rat sandwiches with the crusts and tails cut off (dwarfs love rats), and for Cliff, a "bowl of the finest anthracite coke with ash on it." Badabing badaboom. The rest of the plot, which has something to do with Buddy's guitar keeping him alive when DEATH's timer runs out, and everyone in Ankh-Morpork, including wizards and barbarians, in love with the new music, really doesn't have to make much sense. It's pure Pratchett fun.
Almost as long, perhaps, as the scene in The Cavern, a dive owned by the troll thug Chrysophase, where the band gets prepped for their gig. They're served snacks, and another card is played: they get three types of beer, smoked rat sandwiches with the crusts and tails cut off (dwarfs love rats), and for Cliff, a "bowl of the finest anthracite coke with ash on it." Badabing badaboom. The rest of the plot, which has something to do with Buddy's guitar keeping him alive when DEATH's timer runs out, and everyone in Ankh-Morpork, including wizards and barbarians, in love with the new music, really doesn't have to make much sense. It's pure Pratchett fun.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
COMMENTARY: Thoughts about Emma and English, by CeeViews
Why should the word "brother-in-law" refer to three different relationships? It refers equally to brother's wife's brother or sister's husband, or sister's husband's brother. I'm re-reading Jane Austen's EMMA (okay, the Wikipedia entry) after a writer mentioned it. At the outset, I thought I remembered that EMMA was going to wind up with Mr. Knightly (do not laugh, I read all the Austens at once and have trouble keeping them straight,) but as he's introduced as her brother-in-law, I thought he was married to her sister. So then, when Harriet confesses that she admires Mr. Knightly I thought, wait, isn't he married? Austen's novels are never like this! Of course, he is John Knightly's brother, and John Knightly is married to Emma's sister Isabella. Got it.
Obviously, I must fit in Austen again between all the vamps and werewolves. Of course, I've already covered PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, the mashup novel "by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith" in my second blog entry.
Obviously, I must fit in Austen again between all the vamps and werewolves. Of course, I've already covered PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, the mashup novel "by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith" in my second blog entry.
COMMENTARY ON TRANSFORMATIONS IN MOVIES AND TV, by CeeViews
About those vampires and werewolves--I've realized that I like them only as literary creations, with my own imagination. Vampire movie and TV depictions are amusing and unconvincing, starting with BUFFY and going on to TRUE BLOOD and Stephenie Meyer. Sparkling Edward, anyone? At least that's a creative, if absurd, change from bursting into flames. And fangs are silly. Who's scared of them anymore? Almost every werewolf transformation filmed is slow and ridiculous, including REMUS LUPIN in HARRY POTTER, and the new Benicio del Toro film, "THE WOLFMAN." The transformation of JACOB in the movie adaptation of NEW MOON, however, shocks with its originality. Taylor Lautner goes from pouty running teen to leaping wolf in fractions of a second. The wolf head and shoulders emerge complete, with the rest of the body coalescing behind from sharp fragments. I think there may be part of one tennis shoe left in the picture as the wolf charges, suggesting the boy left behind. It's the definitive version.
COMMENTARY: COME HERE OFTEN? by CeeViews
Recently rewarding myself with new books, I devoured KITTY IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR (werewolf with her own radio show), by Carrie Vaughn, and KITTY TAKES A VACATION (same). Then I surged through UNKNOWN, by Rachel Caine, (DJINN, genies, but of the malevolent, immortal type). The main course was BITE ME, A LOVE STORY, by the wonderful Christopher Moore (San Francisco vampires, absurd slapstick comedy matching the horror aspect). I was about to end this spree with INHUMAN RESOURCES, by Jes Battis, an Occult Scene Investigation novel set in Vancouver, a nifty change from frequently used California. Then I realized what had happened.
Five books of the same type, all urban fantasy. They includes werewolves, vampires, wizards, and other mythical/magical themes, fine works which take place in the present and don't violate known physics. Conservation of mass applies: a small one hundred twenty pound woman changes into a huge 120 pound wolf. No dragons or elves need apply, although one of the KITTY stories has a fairy. He's human sized, a seductive and evil fae, not a cute little flappy wing type. I've had some lofty pretensions about this blog, wanting people to think my reading varies from genre into sophistication, but what I'm an expert on is what I like.
I do, however, sometimes pick new books in the library area conveniently labeled NEW BOOKS or by browsing books ready to be reshelved. I checked out one this time about a pair of adult daughters whose father moves to Jerusalem and converts to Orthodox Judaism. Interesting premise. Now, back to those vampires and werewolves--see next post.
Five books of the same type, all urban fantasy. They includes werewolves, vampires, wizards, and other mythical/magical themes, fine works which take place in the present and don't violate known physics. Conservation of mass applies: a small one hundred twenty pound woman changes into a huge 120 pound wolf. No dragons or elves need apply, although one of the KITTY stories has a fairy. He's human sized, a seductive and evil fae, not a cute little flappy wing type. I've had some lofty pretensions about this blog, wanting people to think my reading varies from genre into sophistication, but what I'm an expert on is what I like.
I do, however, sometimes pick new books in the library area conveniently labeled NEW BOOKS or by browsing books ready to be reshelved. I checked out one this time about a pair of adult daughters whose father moves to Jerusalem and converts to Orthodox Judaism. Interesting premise. Now, back to those vampires and werewolves--see next post.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
THE ART OF DETECTION, a Kate Martinelli story, by Laurie R. King, audiobook
I've discovered that I'm least as interested in an audiobook's narration as the plot. In this one the female narrator has reasonably created male voices, although distinctions are hard to hear. The book also has a secondary narrator, a male English voice, who's used for the Sherlock Holmes style novella which is the crux of the story.
This is another in the series of Kate Martinelli, a lesbian police detective in San Francisco. (a San Francisco free of vampire elements, but with other strange creatures.) Kate and her detective partner Al Hawkins are called out to a scene on the Marin headlands where a body is found in a remote park area, in an old gun emplacement. As they trace the victim's past, they find he is a Sherlock Holmes book dealer whose whole life revolves around Holmes. He even has the first floor of his house done up in Victorian splendor, with gaslights, tobacco in a Persian slipper, and "VR" in bullet marks on the wallpaper.
Kate's complete ignorance of the obsessions of literary collectors in general, and the whole Sherlock Holmes canon in particular, seems false, although it may well be true for real police officers. It seems odd that Kate has a hard time believing people would pay fabulous prices for what appears to be junk, and seems to discount this as a motive for murder.
Kate's lover Lee, a therapist, knows about Holmes and fills her in. I'm not sure why things ring false here, except for the fact that Kate is a much more complex detective than, say, Jill Smith, Sue Dunlap's Berkeley police officer. Jill, who fights for the last cherry-filled doughnut in the box, does seem the type to be short on literary criticism, even though Jill is very wise about her Berkeley environment. For the purposes of this book, I wish Martinelli had been more than a "just the facts, ma'am" type.
This is another in the series of Kate Martinelli, a lesbian police detective in San Francisco. (a San Francisco free of vampire elements, but with other strange creatures.) Kate and her detective partner Al Hawkins are called out to a scene on the Marin headlands where a body is found in a remote park area, in an old gun emplacement. As they trace the victim's past, they find he is a Sherlock Holmes book dealer whose whole life revolves around Holmes. He even has the first floor of his house done up in Victorian splendor, with gaslights, tobacco in a Persian slipper, and "VR" in bullet marks on the wallpaper.
Kate's complete ignorance of the obsessions of literary collectors in general, and the whole Sherlock Holmes canon in particular, seems false, although it may well be true for real police officers. It seems odd that Kate has a hard time believing people would pay fabulous prices for what appears to be junk, and seems to discount this as a motive for murder.
Kate's lover Lee, a therapist, knows about Holmes and fills her in. I'm not sure why things ring false here, except for the fact that Kate is a much more complex detective than, say, Jill Smith, Sue Dunlap's Berkeley police officer. Jill, who fights for the last cherry-filled doughnut in the box, does seem the type to be short on literary criticism, even though Jill is very wise about her Berkeley environment. For the purposes of this book, I wish Martinelli had been more than a "just the facts, ma'am" type.
BITE ME, Christopher Moore
Christopher Moore's unique blend of horror and insane humor is laugh-out-loud funny in this new book, the third in his series about the vampires of San Francisco. Abby Normal, a teen Goth and the self-styled Emergency Backup Mistress of the Greater Bay Area Night, narrates this book in breathless profanity-laced OMG and WTF style. Abby realizes pretty soon that her vampire Master and Mistress are not thrillingly ancient beings; Tommy Flood is only nineteen, and his sire, Jody, is only 26. Tommy worked the late-night shift at Safeway with his buddies The Animals, until he fell in love with Jody and was turned by her. Abby lives to serve them as their minion, taking care of their daytime business affairs and hoping to become a vampire herself. Unfortunately, she's failing Biology 102, and grounded by her mother.
Abby's boyfriend, Steve "Foo Dog" Wong, is a bio-nerd who's researching the reversal of vampirism. He's also the inventor of portable daylight-spectrum UV light mechanisms as novel vampire killing tools. Another vampire killing device is a vile ancient Chinese tea, concocted by the Animals from a grandmother's recipe, and propelled in Super-Soakers.
Now undead cats terrorize San Francisco, baffling all law enforcement except two goth-scene aware detectives. In Moore's talented hands, the creation of vampire cats seems wholly believable. Abby, Foo Dog, Tommy, the detectives, and the Animals combine strategies to defeat the hundreds of cats, and incidentally, the ancient vampires when they do appear.
Moore's plot succeeds in carrying humor and romance, of the mad monkey love-ninja type, through his horror plot. If you've never tried a Moore story before, dive in now.
Abby's boyfriend, Steve "Foo Dog" Wong, is a bio-nerd who's researching the reversal of vampirism. He's also the inventor of portable daylight-spectrum UV light mechanisms as novel vampire killing tools. Another vampire killing device is a vile ancient Chinese tea, concocted by the Animals from a grandmother's recipe, and propelled in Super-Soakers.
Now undead cats terrorize San Francisco, baffling all law enforcement except two goth-scene aware detectives. In Moore's talented hands, the creation of vampire cats seems wholly believable. Abby, Foo Dog, Tommy, the detectives, and the Animals combine strategies to defeat the hundreds of cats, and incidentally, the ancient vampires when they do appear.
Moore's plot succeeds in carrying humor and romance, of the mad monkey love-ninja type, through his horror plot. If you've never tried a Moore story before, dive in now.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
ROYAL HEIR, by Alice Sharpe, BLACK SHEEP P.I., by Keran Whiddon
I investigated these romance novels to check on my prejudices to them. BLACK SHEEP P.I. has an annoying woman-in-peril plot where the female lead has little action and is very mopey about her marriage to an abuser. She was coerced into breaking off her engagement to the P.I. because her suitor had threatened to hurt her sister. The P.I. was disinherited by his family because he associated with the woman they considered a tramp. When they are thrown back together, they try to resist their passion, but are united again.
In ROYAL HEIR the female lead is much stronger, a pilot who survived a vicious foster care upbringing. The plot has something to do with a kidnapped baby who may be the heir to a fictional island country in the Mediterranean. What's really important to the readers are the sex scenes, in which the abused Julia finally breaks through her old conditioning.
That's not a bad plot point. But it's conveyed in sentences like "...(Her) molten desire, so hot and needy that grasping his head, she pulled his face back to hers and kissed him, wanting to engulf and be engulfed, needing to lose herself inside him." The next sentences describe their sex act, which isn't even as embarrassing as some of those in BLACK SHEEP P.I. “Molten desire” isn't too bad, but I really do not enjoy hearing about “wet centers” and “his tip." Eek!
The best thing about ROYAL HEIR is a gun battle where Will, the baby's father, is hurt and Julia summons the strength to pull him up and shove him up the stairs into a plane. Yeah! Not a superhuman Lara Croft but a regular woman with sudden berserker strength. No heaving loins required.
In ROYAL HEIR the female lead is much stronger, a pilot who survived a vicious foster care upbringing. The plot has something to do with a kidnapped baby who may be the heir to a fictional island country in the Mediterranean. What's really important to the readers are the sex scenes, in which the abused Julia finally breaks through her old conditioning.
That's not a bad plot point. But it's conveyed in sentences like "...(Her) molten desire, so hot and needy that grasping his head, she pulled his face back to hers and kissed him, wanting to engulf and be engulfed, needing to lose herself inside him." The next sentences describe their sex act, which isn't even as embarrassing as some of those in BLACK SHEEP P.I. “Molten desire” isn't too bad, but I really do not enjoy hearing about “wet centers” and “his tip." Eek!
The best thing about ROYAL HEIR is a gun battle where Will, the baby's father, is hurt and Julia summons the strength to pull him up and shove him up the stairs into a plane. Yeah! Not a superhuman Lara Croft but a regular woman with sudden berserker strength. No heaving loins required.
THE CAMEL CLUB Audiobook David Baldacci, action thriller
I'd seen Baldacci's name many times but never read him before.This thriller would perhaps be better appreciated in print rather than in audiobook format.
The murder of an intelligence agency employee kicks off the plot, after an overly long prologue. The multiple viewpoint characters are hard to follow. They include “Oliver Stone,”a conspiracy theorist who lives in a tent in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, Alex Ford, a Secret Service agent hanging on to his career by a thread, and Carter Gray, a sinister cabinet level Secretary of Security. Others are Tom Hemingway, an intelligence agent who has peculiar ideas about creating world peace, Adnaud, a Muslim terrorist, and several others, including a lovely DOJ lawyer who still bartends. The pace is very slow until about eight of 13 discs.
There is a trite nuclear showdown which of course is only aborted at one second til doomsday. The narrator is good, although he has difficulties creating female voices. I'm not inspired to try another book by this author.
The murder of an intelligence agency employee kicks off the plot, after an overly long prologue. The multiple viewpoint characters are hard to follow. They include “Oliver Stone,”a conspiracy theorist who lives in a tent in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, Alex Ford, a Secret Service agent hanging on to his career by a thread, and Carter Gray, a sinister cabinet level Secretary of Security. Others are Tom Hemingway, an intelligence agent who has peculiar ideas about creating world peace, Adnaud, a Muslim terrorist, and several others, including a lovely DOJ lawyer who still bartends. The pace is very slow until about eight of 13 discs.
There is a trite nuclear showdown which of course is only aborted at one second til doomsday. The narrator is good, although he has difficulties creating female voices. I'm not inspired to try another book by this author.
Friday, May 28, 2010
COMMENTARY: BUNNY SALAD RECIPE (as mentioned in review of GOODNIGHT NOBODY)
After reviewing GOODNIGHT NOBODY, I can't resist posting this, because I think it's hysterically described as "easy." These really were brought in batches of twenty-five, to complement orange cream cheese carrots with green shredded marshmallow stalks.
"You have enough on your plate this month with Easter rolling around, pictures needing to be taken and baskets to be assembled. Why not have your little ones help you out this Easter dinner? Below are really easy and simple recipes for you and your little helpers!"
Difficulty: Easy
Things You’ll Need:
Small plate for individual bunnies or couples, platter for bunny family
Lettuce
1 half pear (fresh peeled and halved,(!) or canned halves)
2 raisins
2 almond or cashew halves
1/4 maraschino cherry or red-hot candy
2 toothpicks for whiskers (optional)
1 heaping tablespoon cottage cheese
Lightweight food storage bag to fit plate (optional)
Step1. On a small plate, place a leaf of lettuce as “grass” for your bunny.
Step2. With the narrow end facing you, place pear half cut side down in the grass.
Step3.Press 1/4 maraschino cherry or red-hot candy into the tip of the pear as the nose.
Step4. Break toothpicks in half and poke into pear as whiskers. (The better to have your kids choke on them, I guess).
Step5. Press raisins into pear for eyes. Cut and use half for each eye if whole raisin appears too large.
Step6.With pointed end up, press almond halves into pear for ears. For floppy ears, use cashews. (Nuts, another good thing for kids to choke on).
Step7. Add one heaping tablespoon of cottage cheese as the bunny’s tail. "May substitute a miniature marshmallow for the tail, but if exposed to air too long it won't look good."
Step 8. Run screaming through the house when kids have spilled all ingredients arguing about who gets to eat the maraschino cherries.
"You have enough on your plate this month with Easter rolling around, pictures needing to be taken and baskets to be assembled. Why not have your little ones help you out this Easter dinner? Below are really easy and simple recipes for you and your little helpers!"
Difficulty: Easy
Things You’ll Need:
Small plate for individual bunnies or couples, platter for bunny family
Lettuce
1 half pear (fresh peeled and halved,(!) or canned halves)
2 raisins
2 almond or cashew halves
1/4 maraschino cherry or red-hot candy
2 toothpicks for whiskers (optional)
1 heaping tablespoon cottage cheese
Lightweight food storage bag to fit plate (optional)
Step1. On a small plate, place a leaf of lettuce as “grass” for your bunny.
Step2. With the narrow end facing you, place pear half cut side down in the grass.
Step3.Press 1/4 maraschino cherry or red-hot candy into the tip of the pear as the nose.
Step4. Break toothpicks in half and poke into pear as whiskers. (The better to have your kids choke on them, I guess).
Step5. Press raisins into pear for eyes. Cut and use half for each eye if whole raisin appears too large.
Step6.With pointed end up, press almond halves into pear for ears. For floppy ears, use cashews. (Nuts, another good thing for kids to choke on).
Step7. Add one heaping tablespoon of cottage cheese as the bunny’s tail. "May substitute a miniature marshmallow for the tail, but if exposed to air too long it won't look good."
Step 8. Run screaming through the house when kids have spilled all ingredients arguing about who gets to eat the maraschino cherries.
GOODNIGHT NOBODY, by Jennifer Weiner.(audiobook) Parker, Johanna, Narrator.
I liked the premise of Kate Klein,the writer-turned housewife who gets to use her investigative skills again when she falls over the murdered body of one of her neighbors. She describes her Connecticut neighborhood as making Stepford seem diverse.
I can really relate when she talks about the perfect stay at home mommies with perfect bodies who are always making crafts with their children. I REMEMBER some of these supermoms, who brought cute little pear-half bunny rabbits arranged on lettuce leaves for the Easter party at the preschool. With cute tiny little sliced almond ears, raisin eyes,and marshmallow tails. Unfortunately, the book is dragging on way too long. I no longer care which perfect neighbor has which sordid past. I thought once that Kate's old boyfriend did it, but he didn't. I'm now hoping that it's not Kate's best friend.
Narrators can make or break an audiobook, and Johanna Parker is good, not great. She really differentiates the women characters, and that's good. But she doesn't have the deeper range for the male characters, and I can't tell some of them apart. Parker is not nearly as good as Isabel Keating, who read PLAYING WITH BOYS
I can really relate when she talks about the perfect stay at home mommies with perfect bodies who are always making crafts with their children. I REMEMBER some of these supermoms, who brought cute little pear-half bunny rabbits arranged on lettuce leaves for the Easter party at the preschool. With cute tiny little sliced almond ears, raisin eyes,and marshmallow tails. Unfortunately, the book is dragging on way too long. I no longer care which perfect neighbor has which sordid past. I thought once that Kate's old boyfriend did it, but he didn't. I'm now hoping that it's not Kate's best friend.
Narrators can make or break an audiobook, and Johanna Parker is good, not great. She really differentiates the women characters, and that's good. But she doesn't have the deeper range for the male characters, and I can't tell some of them apart. Parker is not nearly as good as Isabel Keating, who read PLAYING WITH BOYS
Sunday, May 23, 2010
A.D. NEW ORLEANS AFTER THE DELUGE, non-fiction, by John Neufeld
This new graphic (comic book style) novel about the people who faced Katrina propels the reader onward as a nightmare unrolls. The author follows several real people of all colors and ages as they meet the storm. Each decides to go or to stay, and later to return or relocate. No decision is perfect.
Leo and Michelle evacuate to Houston, a nightmarish nine hour drive, leaving behind Leo's beloved fifteen thousand comic books.
Denise, an acerbic social worker, is a sixth generation New Orleanian. She and her family attempt to relocate to Memorial Baptist Hospital, then eventually make it to the convention center. There is little water and no sanitation, but in a departure from what we've all heard, it's the gangsters who provide help by looting stores to bring water, and by keeping order.
Abbas and Darnell are friends who team up to protect Abbas' small grocery and deli. They will finally cling to a rooftop as Darnell's asthma worsens.
Kwame is a pastor's son who's entering his senior year in high school. His father's church will soon drown, and he will finish high school in California.
Dr. Brobson throws a hurricane party in his elegant French quarter home. Later he offers volunteer help for weeks.
Neufeld, who spent three weeks as a volunteer in Biloxi, tracks the storm slowly as the deluge occurs. His drawings are as beautiful as they are dreadful. He follows not only the storm but also the relocation and rebuilding of each life. For Leo, it's getting his comic book collection started again by donations. For Denise, it's being able to return to New Orleans after a bitter time in Baton Rouge. But as she says, it's not over yet, because, “we're not all home.”
Leo and Michelle evacuate to Houston, a nightmarish nine hour drive, leaving behind Leo's beloved fifteen thousand comic books.
Denise, an acerbic social worker, is a sixth generation New Orleanian. She and her family attempt to relocate to Memorial Baptist Hospital, then eventually make it to the convention center. There is little water and no sanitation, but in a departure from what we've all heard, it's the gangsters who provide help by looting stores to bring water, and by keeping order.
Abbas and Darnell are friends who team up to protect Abbas' small grocery and deli. They will finally cling to a rooftop as Darnell's asthma worsens.
Kwame is a pastor's son who's entering his senior year in high school. His father's church will soon drown, and he will finish high school in California.
Dr. Brobson throws a hurricane party in his elegant French quarter home. Later he offers volunteer help for weeks.
Neufeld, who spent three weeks as a volunteer in Biloxi, tracks the storm slowly as the deluge occurs. His drawings are as beautiful as they are dreadful. He follows not only the storm but also the relocation and rebuilding of each life. For Leo, it's getting his comic book collection started again by donations. For Denise, it's being able to return to New Orleans after a bitter time in Baton Rouge. But as she says, it's not over yet, because, “we're not all home.”
Saturday, May 15, 2010
PLAYING WITH BOYS, by Alisa-Valdes Rodriguez, audio recording, read by Isabel Keating
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's trademark style intermingles the struggles and triumphs of several Latina women. Her first book, THE DIRTY GIRLS' CLUB, followed six women, friends from their college years. It was an exhausting but fascinating mix.
This book stirs together three LA-based protagonists: the talent agent Alexis, a transplanted Texan who's stuck managing a tasteless, sexist band; Marcella, a former telenovela star hoping to escape her nude photographs and find better roles in Hollywood, and Olivia, a would-be-screenwriter suffering from PTSD since she witnessed the murder of her father by Salvadoran death squads.
The three support each other with humor and warmth in their professional lives and their tangles with men. I feel that Valdes-Rodriguez could have tightened the action by eliminating a little of Alexis' seething about her chunky body and Marcella's hatred of her never quite perfect one. Stay-at-home mom Olivia is initially so dreary and depressed that I began to skip those segments. When she finally re-invents herself, it's worth the wait.
Isabel Keating's narration is splendid; the different voices are distinct and crisp, a pleasure to hear. This artist is top-notch, and I hope to find more of her work. It would be great with another of Valdes-Rodrigues' tasty combinations.
This book stirs together three LA-based protagonists: the talent agent Alexis, a transplanted Texan who's stuck managing a tasteless, sexist band; Marcella, a former telenovela star hoping to escape her nude photographs and find better roles in Hollywood, and Olivia, a would-be-screenwriter suffering from PTSD since she witnessed the murder of her father by Salvadoran death squads.
The three support each other with humor and warmth in their professional lives and their tangles with men. I feel that Valdes-Rodriguez could have tightened the action by eliminating a little of Alexis' seething about her chunky body and Marcella's hatred of her never quite perfect one. Stay-at-home mom Olivia is initially so dreary and depressed that I began to skip those segments. When she finally re-invents herself, it's worth the wait.
Isabel Keating's narration is splendid; the different voices are distinct and crisp, a pleasure to hear. This artist is top-notch, and I hope to find more of her work. It would be great with another of Valdes-Rodrigues' tasty combinations.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
KITTY GOES TO WASHINGTON, by Carrie Vaughn
New fantasy favorite! Carrie Vaughn's heroine is a werewolf, Kitty Norville, who has her own radio talk show. The Midnight Hour takes on the world where werewolves and vampires have just come out of the closet. Kitty gets subpoenaed to testify before a Senate committee whose vicious chair, Senator Duke, seems more interested in persecution than intelligent discourse.
Two things about this series intrigue me. The werewolf and vampire conditions are caused by infectious diseases. Researchers from the NIH and CDC, some unscrupulous, launch investigations to uncover the biological sources of the rapid healing and immortality of these monsters, as Kitty freely labels herself.
But werewolves are not all ravening creatures. Carrie Vaughn explores actual wolf pack dynamics and concludes that for every snarling alpha, there are twelve whose only desire is to submit to the leader. Kitty is one such beta, whose Wolf interior constantly tells her to be quiet, make herself small. No eye contact, no smiling because she might show her teeth--all these show cooperation and keep her safe within the pack. Unfortunately, she's had to leave her pack, which unsettles her. Living alone, she's in charge only with her talk show, dark in the night. She's coping with a solitary life, but submits to others in authority--such as Alette, the Vampire Mistress of Washington, DC
Psychics, dangerous wild Fae, scandal-mongering reporters, and a sexy Brazilian were-panther fill out the roster for a satisfying read. An entertaining bonus short story about a demon-infested band which visits the talk show ends the tale.
Two things about this series intrigue me. The werewolf and vampire conditions are caused by infectious diseases. Researchers from the NIH and CDC, some unscrupulous, launch investigations to uncover the biological sources of the rapid healing and immortality of these monsters, as Kitty freely labels herself.
But werewolves are not all ravening creatures. Carrie Vaughn explores actual wolf pack dynamics and concludes that for every snarling alpha, there are twelve whose only desire is to submit to the leader. Kitty is one such beta, whose Wolf interior constantly tells her to be quiet, make herself small. No eye contact, no smiling because she might show her teeth--all these show cooperation and keep her safe within the pack. Unfortunately, she's had to leave her pack, which unsettles her. Living alone, she's in charge only with her talk show, dark in the night. She's coping with a solitary life, but submits to others in authority--such as Alette, the Vampire Mistress of Washington, DC
Psychics, dangerous wild Fae, scandal-mongering reporters, and a sexy Brazilian were-panther fill out the roster for a satisfying read. An entertaining bonus short story about a demon-infested band which visits the talk show ends the tale.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Three Roman Mystery Series: comparison, by CeeViews
I found two new Roman mystery series recently and launched myself into them, hoping to find another like the Marcus Didius Falco series, by Lindsey Davis. But the first lines alone tell the difference. From SPQR XIII, THE YEAR OF CONFUSION, by John Maddox Roberts, "There was nothing wrong with our calendar." Steven Saylor, in THE TRIUMPH OF CAESAR, scores better, with "I heard that you were dead." In SILVER PIGS, the first Falco novel, the tone for the series is set: "When the girl came running up the steps, I decided she was wearing far too many clothes."
Roberts' hero is the senator, Metullus, who rarely leaves the upper class world. Saylor's Gordianus is sixty-four, and a retired "Finder." When Gordianus stirs to action, he takes a trip to the "dangerous Subura region," where there are "fewer togas and more tunics." Falco lives in the world of tunics, often wine-stained and moth-eaten. His only toga comes from his dead big brother Festus, a soldier-hero, and Falco hates it. The wool is hot and horrible to drape properly. Besides, Falco has already informed us in the first chapter that togas were whitened with the ammonia from urine.
Davis's detail for Roman life astounds. Where Roberts describes shouting workmen removing the scaffolding from a public building, Davis informs us they are cursing slaves, wearing one-armed red tunics. Falco, looking around for a diversion, notes that the Forum steps are crowded with illegal touts and overpriced market stalls. He considers overturning some melons, but settles for some copperware instead, so as not to lose the melonseller his profits. Davis establishes the scene in three sentences and kicks over the copper stall in the fourth, never losing momentum. Before SILVER PIGS is half-way through, Falco has gone undercover as a slave in a silver mine, and been rescued barely alive by a snooty senator's daughter, Helena, who drives a pony cart like a Maserati.
Lindsey Davis states that she wrote the first Falco book as a spoof, setting loose a classic PI in imperial Rome. I can't believe she's serious, but the forthright face on her website doesn't lie about anything. Fascinating description, fast action, and Falco's trademark sarcastic humor combine in an unforgettable series.
Roberts' hero is the senator, Metullus, who rarely leaves the upper class world. Saylor's Gordianus is sixty-four, and a retired "Finder." When Gordianus stirs to action, he takes a trip to the "dangerous Subura region," where there are "fewer togas and more tunics." Falco lives in the world of tunics, often wine-stained and moth-eaten. His only toga comes from his dead big brother Festus, a soldier-hero, and Falco hates it. The wool is hot and horrible to drape properly. Besides, Falco has already informed us in the first chapter that togas were whitened with the ammonia from urine.
Davis's detail for Roman life astounds. Where Roberts describes shouting workmen removing the scaffolding from a public building, Davis informs us they are cursing slaves, wearing one-armed red tunics. Falco, looking around for a diversion, notes that the Forum steps are crowded with illegal touts and overpriced market stalls. He considers overturning some melons, but settles for some copperware instead, so as not to lose the melonseller his profits. Davis establishes the scene in three sentences and kicks over the copper stall in the fourth, never losing momentum. Before SILVER PIGS is half-way through, Falco has gone undercover as a slave in a silver mine, and been rescued barely alive by a snooty senator's daughter, Helena, who drives a pony cart like a Maserati.
Lindsey Davis states that she wrote the first Falco book as a spoof, setting loose a classic PI in imperial Rome. I can't believe she's serious, but the forthright face on her website doesn't lie about anything. Fascinating description, fast action, and Falco's trademark sarcastic humor combine in an unforgettable series.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
QUICK TAKE: PLAYING FOR PIZZA, John Grisham
In a story that promises fun, Grisham leaves his legal thrillers for this tale of a third-string quarterback who relocates to Italy.
MAGIC STRIKES, by Ilona Andrews
This second outing of Kate Daniels and her magic-afflicted Atlanta has more romance, as Kate teams up with her were-panther friend Jim and the sexy shapeshifter Curran, the Beast Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)