Tying Up Loose Ends

Well, here it is, the end of the year, heck, the end of the decade. What? I know! How did that happen? Wouldn't it be ironic if all of our computers conked out when they rolled over to 2010?

Anyway, I have a few things that I've thought about blogging over the course of the year that I never quite got to, so this will sort of be a wrap-up post of miscellaneous stuff to close out the year.

Miscellaneous Thing #1:

This might be my favorite picture of the year. In May I flew home to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday. My sister picked me up at the airport in Denver, and we drove down to my dad's house. My sister's friend, Big A, came along with us and brought her son, Little A, who is four. Like many four-year-olds, Little A has his security blanket, and he keeps a pretty tight leash on it. We got in late that night, and my dad's party was the next evening. Before the party, Dad decided to take a nap in his chair. Little A decided that my Dad might be cold, so he went to his bed, got his blanket, and covered up my dad. Then he went downstairs where there are various stuffed animals and brought several of them upstairs for my dad to sleep with. After this picture was taken, he topped it all off with a Hacky Sack on my dad's chest. 'Cause you never know when you might wake up and need a Hacky Sack.

Miscellaneous Thing #2:

We went to Oregon this summer for more tree climbing lessons, and I kind of surprised myself by not blogging about it; although I did post a couple of random pictures from our trip. I won't give you as much detail as I did about last year's lessons, but I did want to at least put in one or two pictures! I know, you're thinking, How much can there be to learn about tree climbing? Well, last year, we just learned the basics; this year we learned how to facilitate other people up into the trees and how to do rescues. We also got to play with saws in the trees, learning proper pruning techniques. I'll tell you what, there's nothing like hanging from a rope with a sharp cutting device in your hand to make you pay really close attention to where all your gear is at any given time! Here is a tree all set up for facilitation:

The rescues were hard work, and I really impressed myself by being able to get a line into a tree, get my rope up and tied, get my gear on, climb up, get over to my "victim," attach myself to my victim and get him lowered to the ground and unattached from me in under 17 minutes. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that, but I do have a picture of me relaxing in a tree boat, which was a lot nicer!

I'm not much of a morning person, but see how smiley I am? That's because this was the first time in about a week that I had gotten a decent night's sleep. Seriously. Hotel room=slept like crap. Tree boat=Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

After our class was over, our instructor took my husband climbing in a big Douglas fir. He would have taken me too, but I chickened out. Since it was such a high climb (about 200-250 feet) they were climbing single rope which involves a lot of gear compared to double rope, which is how I am more comfortable climbing. I hadn't done much single rope work, and the few times I had, I always had trouble switching over from ascending to descending devices, and I didn't want to get stuck 200-feet up, so I stayed on the ground and acted like I wasn't bummed about missing out on this climb. That's OK though, tree climbing really gives you a new appreciation for listening to your instincts, and my instincts were telling me not to go that day. So, some other day. Hubby had a great time though-here's a picture of him on the way up.

Miscellaneous Thing #3:

Missing book reviews-I've read a few books that I never got around to reviewing here, so I will do some quick summaries so that they're not hanging over my head come the new year.

The Gardella Vampire Chronicles by Colleen Gleason-I believe it was Chris's review of When Twilight Burns, the fourth book in the Gardella Vampire Chrinocles that piqued my interest in this series. I picked up the first one, The Rest Falls Away, and, if my Kindle history is anything to go by, quickly devoured the next three books in the series. That's the problem with the Kindle, when you get to the end of one book in a series it's so easy to just click, click and get the next book! It's not that the writing is that great, in fact I remember some of the dialogue being pretty bad, but it is quick fun reading with some fairly steamy love scenes, and I just might have to pick up a copy of the last book in the series, As Shadows Fade, now that I'm thinking about it.

Children of God by Mary Doria Russell-I finished reading this a few weeks ago, and I hate to admit it, but I didn't like it as much as The Sparrow. I knew this was a risk-The Sparrow is a hard act to follow. I've been agonizing over reviewing it because I'm actually thinking I might need to read it again to give it a fair review. For right now, I'll leave it at that, but I will come back and do a full review later...so much for tying up loose ends!

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions by Neil Gaiman-This is the first Gaiman book that I have read and finished (couldn't make it through American Gods) and I really liked it. I'm not normally a short-story gal, but I did enjoy most of the stories in here. There were a couple I didn't really care for and one that I didn't even finish because I just had no idea what was going on. A lot of short stories leave me feeling like the author didn't quite have it in him to write a whole novel, so he just sort of wrote down the ideas that he had for a story and then left it to the reader to fill in the missing parts; but with Gaiman I (mostly) felt like his stories were fully-realized stories, crafted with the end reader in mind. Be sure to read the Introduction, which itself includes a story as well as some background on the rest of the stories.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy-It was stark and desolate and depressing and beautiful and concise and I think I hated the ending. I'm not sure; I can't decide. I do think McCarthy did a wonderful job of capturing the minimal survivalist relationship between father and son-there's never much said, but there wouldn't be, would there, if you've been wandering a burned out planet for months? years? It's not like there's much to talk about other than how to stay alive for another day. And you know how much love is there and your heart breaks for the man who's trying to save his son and for the boy who has to live in this world and see the things that he sees. I haven't seen the movie, but I think Viggo Mortensen might be perfect in this role, and the fact that Robert Duvall is in it makes me want to cry! I love Robert Duvall!

The Gunslinger (Dark Tower #1) by Stephen King-I read this on the plane on the way home from my Dad's house, and it was good enough to keep me interested, but not great. It's sort of a western/alternate world/good vs. evil/horror, so I was curious to see where everything was going. I started reading book #2 in the series, The Drawing of the Three, but I just never really got into it. It was taking place more in this world than in the gunslinger world, and I just didn't really care. I feel bad about this because this is one of my husband's favorite series ever, and I'm sure it probably gets better as it goes, but for right now, I'm not ready to delve back in.

Miscellaneous Thing #4

Molokai Day 3-See, I told you I could give you a whole month of Molokai! This is another one that I will have to follow-up on in the new year. For now, suffice it to say that we had a glorious day hiking in the Kamakou Preserve with our guide, Bill, from The Nature Conservancy.

If you can think of any other miscellaneous things for me, let me know. I know 2009 was rough for a lot of people, and if you're one of those people, I hope 2010 is better. If you had a great 2009, well, I still hope 2010 is better for you!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What I'm Reading Now-The Gargoyle

Cover of The Gargoyle

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson-What can I say about The Gargoyle? I'd heard so many good things about it, but I was so disappointed by it. The funny thing is, I don't necessarily think it was a bad book, I think it just suffered some timing issues. Here's a rough breakdown of my reading timeline:

Week 1: Reading The Gargoyle

Week 2-3: Reading The Sparrow (which I loved!) because my conscience finally kicked in and made me return The Gargoyle to the library.

Week 4-5: Slogging through the rest of my re-checked-out copy of The Gargoyle.

During Week 1, I was really enjoying The Gargoyle-I thought it was interesting and that the narrator was funny in a dark, cynical kind of way. He's been badly burned in a car accident, and his ensuing hospital recovery is filled with his wry acceptance of the fact that he will probably not be able to return to his career as a porn star as well as lots of interesting medical facts. For instance, did you know that burn victims go through a period of hypermetabolism when they're healing, thus "...a body that normally requires two thousand calories a day can consume seven thousand after a severe burn."? I didn't either!

So, this book is filled with interesting little tidbits like that along with some pretty gruesome narration about the things that happen to a burned body, both during the actual burning of the flesh as well as during the recovery period. The book is also full of stories told by Marianne Engel, the seemingly crazy woman who comes to visit our narrator in the hospital. She claims that they have known each other in previous lives and proceeds to tell him all of their fateful love stories, trying to convince him that she is, in fact, not crazy and that they do really know each other. I didn't really care one way or the other. It's not that the stories were bad--in fact I rather liked some of them--or that I couldn't suspend my disbelief for this possibility, but I kept thinking how much I liked The Sparrow and how much this paled in comparison. The writing seemed flat and I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, but, oddly enough, there were a lot of things that both books had in common.

-They both had main characters for whom words are their life. In The Sparrow, Father Emilio Sandoz is a linguist and in The Gargolye the narrator is a writer and a smooth-talker of women. At some point in each of their stories, their words, the one thing that they have always been able to count on, fail them miserably.

-In The Gargoyle, Marianne's 14th-century self discovers at an early age that she has a gift for translation, much like The Sparrow's Sandoz for whom languages come easy.

-Both The Gargoyle and The Sparrow address suffering as it pertains to religion. The Sparrow brings up questions of how God can allow so much suffering and The Gargoyle discusses suffering as a way to become closer to God.

-Both books have characters that are described as resembling Raggedy Ann/Andy dolls. That's kind of weird, right?

-Both books have characters who question celibacy and the church-is it right and/or necessary to deny the love of and for another of God's children in order to serve God?

So, while you would think it might be good to have a lot of things in common with something that I enjoyed so much...you'd be wrong. I felt like The Sparrow was what The Gargoyle wanted to be when it grew up; but, as I said earlier, I think this mostly just suffered from timing issues. I think if I'd read it at another time, I might have liked it better. The Gargoyle suffered the fate of many a rebound relationship. No matter how good it is, it's going to suffer strain under the constant comparison to your last relationship. That said, The Gargoyle seems like a perfectly nice guy. He's had a bit of a sordid history, but he's cleaned up his act, and he's got a good sense of humor. He just wasn't right for me. But you might like him!

Random favorite quote that I was too lazy to couldn't fit in anywhere else: "...against stupidity even the gods struggle in vain." See what I mean? Good sense of humor!

Reviews and other stuff:

Ann at Books on the Nightstand (podcast portion starts around 3:29) gives us some interesting background on the book.

Joanne at The Book Zombie tells us about a song that reminds her of The Gargoyle.

Jessica at Both Eyes Book Blog examines some of the historical aspects of the book.

Ali at Worducopia gave us some thoughts during her read as well as a final mini review.

Fond of Snape loved it!

Did you review The Gargoyle? Let me know, and I'll add a link to your review.

What I'm Reading Now-Dracula (The Final Review)

Dracula by Bram Stoker-Well, you may remember that I signed up to read this as part of the Dueling Monsters Read-a-long sponsored by Heather J. and Softdrink. I have to say that not much has changed, overall, since my last review. I still think this was a surprisingly good read, and I am glad I read it. There were a few things that bugged me about the story, but overall they were fairly minor in the grand scheme of things.

I'm not going to go into plot since its mystery was part of the reason I read it; besides, most of you know enough to know if you'd be interested in reading more or not. Since I'm not going to go much into the plot, this post is mostly just going to be a random round-up of my thoughts throughout the novel. Yeah, I know, and that's different from my other reviews...how?

I was, of course, familiar with Dracula and vampire lore in general, but I didn't really know what, specifically, was Dracula's story. So, that was part of the fun for me, seeing what enduring vampire myths and story-lines were Dracula-inspired and what have been added to the mix since then. What? You think I'm going to tell you here? If you want to know what happens, read the book, like I did!

I mentioned in my last Dracula post that one of the things that surprised me was the amount of actual scary stuff, like not implied creepiness lurking in the shadows but actual lopping of heads and feeding on children and staking of hearts and that sort of thing. With this in mind, I was also surprised that Dracula is shelved in the YA section of my library. It's not that I think this is necessarily too hard-core for YA readers, it's just that I'm sure Stoker's intended audience in 1897 was not 13-year-old girls. Did anyone else read a library copy of this? Does your library consider this a YA read as well? What do you think of this categorization?

Heather J. recently put up a post about Literary Connections, where something you read in one book plays into another book that you read shortly after. Well, as you probably know, I recently read (and loved!) The Sparrow. All throughout that book, I was wondering what significance the title had, and if it applied specifically to our hero, Father Emilio Sandoz, who feels as though he has been betrayed by God. Toward the end of the book it is revealed that the quote comes from the Bible (Matthew 10:29): "Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing about it." Some of you who are more familiar with the Bible probably already had this one figured out, but I didn't have any idea. I had never heard this before and was unfamiliar with the reference. In Dracula, one of the characters, Dr. Seward, is trying to figure out what is going on with one of his mental patients whom he suspects is suffering from religious mania. Part of the reason for the suspicion (and something that I found a bit hilarious) is the patient's equal treatment of Dr. Seward and one of the hospital attendants-he treats them both as equals (gasp!), both of whom are unworthy of his attention. Dr. Seward notes in his journal: "His attitude to me was the same as that to the attendant; in his sublime self-feeling the difference between myself and attendant seemed to him as nothing. It looks like religious mania, and he will soon think that he himself is God. These infinitesimal distinctions between man and man are too paltry for an Omnipotent Being. How these madmen give themselves away! The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow."

And, at this point, I was ridiculously happy that I understood that reference. Because I'm a big dork like that.

Within the confines of the story, we really don't get much feel for society in general at the time, not the way you do in many Victorian-era novels, but our heroine, Mina, gives us a good sense of both herself and society at the time in one of her journal entries. She and her dear friend, Lucy, have just taken a walk about town, followed by a "severe tea" at a local inn (whatever that is-do they throw your crumpets at you and insult your dress? Is smiling not allowed?). She says, "I believe we should have shocked the 'New Woman' with our appetites. Men are more tolerant, bless them!" Bless them indeed! Later, as Lucy is sleeping peacefully in their shared room, Mina writes, "Some of the 'New Women' writers will some day start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won't condescend in future to accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make of it, too! There's some consolation in that." Ah, Mina, I suspect 2009 would shock you to pieces!

Interestingly, as I was just looking up information about the New Woman movement, this quote from Winnifred Harper Cooley's The New Womanhood jumped out at me. "The finest achievement of the new woman has been personal liberty. This is the foundation of civilization; and as long as any one class is watched suspiciously, even fondly guarded, and protected, so long will that class not only be weak, and treacherous, individually, but parasitic, and a collective danger to the community." Whoa. Did we see this play out in the book or what? (For those of you who haven't read the book, yes we did).

***THIS PARAGRAPH CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS***Okay, so I mentioned that there were a couple things that bugged me about this book. One of the things is that up to a certain point, Mina is shown to be a pretty independent and capable woman. Then, all of a sudden, all the men in Mina's life decide that they are going to go after Dracula and it would be best not to trouble Mina's delicate femenine sensibilities with the harsh and stressful details of this crusade. They try to protect her and keep her away from all the scariness in the world, and it's not like she's ignorant up to this point; she has been full-on involved and knows exactly what kind of evil they are up against. She's been typing up and collating everyone's scary journal entries, lizard-crawling men, woman-eating wolves, vampire stakings and everything for crying out loud! And what happens? Dracula gets her, and if she follows in poor Lucy's footsteps, she will soon be preying on small children, which, I think, qualifies as a parasitic danger to the community.

Wow, I did not expect for this review to get all deep! I have to say, whether that was an intentional commentary on society or not, I feel a lot better about Bram Stoker now. I was ready to throw the book across the room earlier, but now I'm glad I didn't, especially since it's a nice older copy.

Did any of you Lost fans notice the reference to Jack Sheppard? It was at the very end of Chapter VIII, when Dr. Seward is talking about his restrained patient, Renfield. He says that "Jack Sheppard himself couldn't get free from the strait-waistcoat that keeps him restrained, and he's chained to the wall in the padded room." Well, I had to see if this Jack Sheppard was any relation to Lost's Jack Shephard...turns out probably not. Jack Sheppard was a notorious criminal in England who was known for his escapes...like all the times Jack has tried to escape the Lost island...so maybe there is a connection, hmmmm? Really? You think I'm reading way too much into this? Yeah, probably.

My final thought is that people must have had much better memories back in the old days because the entire novel is told in epistolary format, mostly through journal entries, and the ability that all the characters have to remember things in great detail is very impressive. Take for example, Dr. Seward's account of Mina's account of Dracula's monologue during his visit to her boudoir:

"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would play your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in part already, and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path. They should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, and intrigued for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, [blah blah blah].'" This goes on for about half a page. This is why I have a hard time with epistolary novels. The writing doesn't always ring quite true. I'm just sayin', if it were my journal entry, it would look something like this:

Holy crap! Dracula was in Mina's room last night! I knew we shouldn't have left her all alone with that creepy mist that can sneak through cracks and turn itself into a vampire! I asked her if he said anything important, and she didn't remember too many details-vampire in the room and all-but basically, she said he's pissed that we're hunting him. And that he's kind of uppity and full of himself.

So, in summary, I'm glad I finally read this book, I enjoyed it, and I hope you do too! If you've reviewed Dracula, let me know, and I'll add a link to your review.

Reviews and other stuff:

Softdrink at Fizzy Thoughts

Heather J. at Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books

Mee at Books of Mee

Jackie at Farm Lane Books Blog

Rebecca wonders whose bright idea it was to turn a bloodthirsty creature into a muppet.

Nymeth remembers her encounter with Dracula at an early age

It's Dark in the Dark discusses travel options for monsters

Jessica at Both Eyes Book Blog examines the Lifestyles of the Rich and Undead

The Daily Rant told us when Dracula's castle went on the real estate market. Anyone know the status of that? I've been thinking a vacation home in the mountains would be nice. Also, anyone have several million dollars I could borrow?

And, finally, Cake Wrecks reminds us why vampire lore, classic or contemporary, doesn't go with cake.

The End is Near

End of the Read-a-Thon that is! Everybody who participated this time around is a rock star! I have been trying to visit as many blogs as I can to cheer people on, and that's no easy task-there are a lot of you out there! Great job everyone!

Eva has asked for a wrap-up post for everyone to give their input on the read-a-thon. After visiting lots of blogs and seeing what everyone is eating, I think the only suggestion I would make is that next time someone post a list of healthy snack ideas/recipes ahead of time. LOL! Let's face it people, a case of diet soda, a pound of jerky, and endless varieties of chips all mixed with endless rounds of coffee can't be good for us!

Seriously though, I think this was a great event, and I had a lot of fun visiting everyone's blogs. In fact, I'm gonna go now because I've still got 20 minutes to try to visit everyone on my list!

What I'm Reading Now-The Sparrow

Cover of The Sparrow: A Novel

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell-Two weeks ago, in a bit of a mini review, I said, "Right now, I am about half-way through, and I am dreading finding out what happens because this is one of those books that lets you know right up front that Things Did Not Go Well, and already I love the people involved and I so want things to go well for them, but I know that they don't, and it is heartbreaking." Well, kids, it remains heartbreaking, right through to the very end.

First, let me say, I loved this book. This is one of those books that makes other books pale in comparison, only I didn't realize it at the time (more on this when I post my review of The Gargoyle). I added this title to my TBR list four years (four years!) ago, and I am so glad that I finally decided to read it.

You get a sense of foreboding right from the start. The Prologue reads, in part:

The Jesuit scientists went to learn, not to proselytize. They went so that they might come to know and love God's other children. They went for the reason Jesuits have always gone to the farthest frontiers of human exploration. They went ad majorem Dei gloriam: for the greater glory of God. [That's beautiful. What a noble mission!]

They meant no harm. [Oh dear.]

Like I said, you know up front that Things Did Not Go Well. In 2021, eight people embark on a mission to Rakhat, a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, to investigate the source of the musical broadcasts that have been discovered emanating from that system. The mission is funded by the Jesuit Society and consists of four Jesuits and four civilians.

In 2059, Father Emilio Sandoz, the only surviving member of the party, is released from hospital, still physically and mentally ravaged from his mission, and moved to a Jesuit residence. Here he will be asked to explain what happened during the mission, to tell what happened to the other members of the party, and to explain the reports from the rescue party that paint him as a whore and a murderer.

The story bounces back between the "present day" in 2059/2060, and the time period between 2016 and...2042(?), from the time that the extraterrestrial music is discovered to the time Emilio Sandoz is rescued and taken off of Rakhat.

I don't even know what else to say about this book. I loved it so much. I don't want to say anything to make you not read it, and I want to say everything I can to make you read it, and then I don't want anybody to read it and not love it.

This is sci-fi, but what I would consider sci-fi lite. It's a story about cultural exploration, it just happens to be in another solar system. Yes, there is space travel and crazy, other-worldly creatures, and they have weird names, but it's not over the top, and I never felt overwhelmed by the foreign-ness of it all.

Speaking of foreign-ness, Emilio Sandoz grew up in the slums of Puerto Rico, and is not exactly what you might consider a traditional candidate for the priesthood. He grew up fighting and selling drugs and ended up in parochial school as a way to avoid jail. He surprised himself by liking certain aspects of his religious life and, although faith and prayer were never his strong suits, he entered the novitiate at age seventeen. He acknowledged his weaknesses and continued to pray, taking comfort in the words of his mentor, D.W. Yarbrough, who told him, 'Son, sometimes it's enough just to act less like a shithead.' And by that kindly if inelegant standard, Emilio Sandoz could believe himself to be a man of God.

Emilio is an extremely skilled linguist, and this comes in quite handy when the Jesuits are looking for someone to make contact with our new celestial neighbors. Throughout his life as a priest, Emilio remains agnostic, and as the mission begins to take shape he finally starts to think that perhaps there is something to this God thing. At one point, he sits down to talk to his good friend and shipmate, Anne, about what is going on in his head. There were a million things that had to go just right for everyone to come together as a part of this mission, and beyond all reasonable hope, they did.

So. Things kept happening, just like God was really there, making it all happen. And I heard myself saying Deus vult, [God wills it] like Marc, but it still seemed like some kind of huge joke. And then one night, I just let myself consider the possibility that this is what it seems to be. That something extraordinary is happening. That God has something in mind for me. Besides sewer lines, I mean...And a lot of the time, even now, I think I must be a lunatic and this whole thing is crazy. But sometimes--Anne, there are times when I can let myself believe, and when I do," he said, voice dropping to a whisper and his hands, resting on his knees, opening, as though to reach for something, "it's amazing. Inside me, everything makes sense, everything I've done, everything that ever happened to me--it was all leading up to this, to where we are right now. But, Anne, it's frightening and I don't know why..."

She waited to see if he had more but when he fell silent, she decided to take a shot in the dark. "You know what's the most terrifying thing about admitting that you're in love?" she asked him. "You are just naked. You put yourself in harm's way and you lay down all your defenses. No clothes, no weapons. Nowhere to hide. Completely vulnerable. The only thing that makes it tolerable is to believe the other person loves you back and that you can trust him not to hurt you."

He looked at her, astounded. "Yes. Exactly. That's how it feels, when I let myself believe. Like I am falling in love and like I am naked before God. And it is terrifying, as you say. But it has started to feel like I am being rude and ungrateful, do you understand? To keep on doubting. That God loves me. Personally." He snorted, half in disbelief and half in astonishment, and put his hands over his mouth for a moment and then pulled them away. "Does that sound arrogant? Or just crazy? To think that God loves me."

As the mission unfolds, Emilio begins to see more and more of the proof he has been searching for for so long. He finally believes, he knows that God is out there and that he has a plan for everybody and that his life's work has led him to this place in his life where he can finally fulfill God's plan. This is what he was put on Earth, given life, to do. He has finally, completely, accepted God and God's love. And then things go terribly, terribly wrong. When all the terrible details of the mission have finally been revealed in Emilio's 2060 debriefing, Father John Candotti utters a horrified, "My God," and Emilio responds:

Do you think so, John? Was it your God?" he asked with terrifying gentleness. "You see, that is my dilemma. Because if I was led by God to love God, step by step, as it seemed, if I accept that the beauty and the rapture were real and true, then the rest of it was God's will too, and that, gentlemen, is cause for bitterness. But if I am simply a deluded ape who took a lot of old folktales far too seriously, then I brought all this on myself and my companions and the whole business becomes farcical, doesn't it. The problem with atheism, I find, under these circumstances," he continued with academic exactitude, each word etched on the air with acid, "is that I have no one to despise but myself. If, however, I choose to believe that God is vicious then at least I have the solace of hating God."

Emilio's journey from doubt to belief to shattered faith is both heart-warming and harrowing, and despite all the doom and gloom I did actually feel like this book ended on a hopeful note. A tiny, quiet, whimpering note, but a hopeful one no less. I did have one issue with this book, but I feel like it's a bit of a spoiler to talk about it, not like it will make the book not worth reading or anything, but you know. So, don't read between the stars if you don't want to know what happened.

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Okay, so the thing, THE event that finally totally shattered Emilio's faith. I understand why it had that effect on him, but the fact of the matter is, he's not the only person who's ever been raped. Granted, he's probably the only person to ever experience it in that manner, but people, good, God-fearing people, are raped left and right on Earth every day. Why did it take it happening to Emilio to make him question God so? He's a compassionate man, and, growing up and then working in the area that he did, I'm sure he was no stranger to tales of rape. Why would a God that allows that to happen to His people on Earth be any less deplorable to Emilio than one who allows it to happen to Emilio? Did anyone else have an issue with this? If so, were you able to come to any good resolution?

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Okay, well, I'd love to hear from anyone else who has read this. I'd especially like to hear how it affected people of different beliefs. It's probably no secret to anyone who is familiar with my blog that I'm pretty definitely agnostic. I think it's just as big a leap of faith to claim with 100% certainty that there is no God as it is to declare with 100% certainty that there is a God, and, quite frankly, I just don't know. This book did not help clear things up one little bit, but it did make me feel, deeply, and that's why I loved it.

Other reviews:

Chris at Rude Cactus (It's only a one-liner, but it still gets the point across. Yeah, I know, I could take a lesson.)

Heather J. at Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books

Ann and Michael at Books on the Nightstand talk about The Sparrow in their podcast. Review starts around 4:57.

Jim Mann at New England Science Fiction Association, Inc.

Bart Leahy at National Space Society

Semicolon

Have you reviewed The Sparrow? Let me know and I'll add a link to your review.

What I'm Reading Now-Ella Minnow Pea

-2009Cover of Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn-Ella lives on the island nation of Nollop which was named after Nevin Nollop, the author of the sentence, The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Nollop did something that nobody else has been able to accomplish-he wrote a sentence containing all 26 letters of the alphabet, and the entire sentence was only 35-letters long. Due to his unmatched genius, Nollop is worshiped as a literary genius, a guiding soul for this community who so admires the liberal arts.

A statue memorializing Nollop and his famous sentence was erected years ago in the town square. When the letter Z falls off of the statue, the High Island Council decides that this is a sign from the late Nollop; he, in his infinite wisdom, is telling the people of Nollop to change their ways, and since Nollop was the most intelligent man to ever exist, his word is not to be questioned. Neither, as it turns out, is the High Council's interpretation of Nollop's posthumous message. Any alternate interpretations will be considered heresy and will be cause for punishment. Mmm'kay?

So: Z is no longer an acceptable or necessary letter and is banned from all forms of communication. No one is to speak it, write it, or own anything that contains it. Ella, along with many of the other townsfolk, is not initially worried by this-it's just the letter Z, easy enough to do without-but her country cousin Tassie is able to see the more ominous far-reaching effects of such an order. Text books will likely have to be disposed of as will almost all library books-what are the odds that an entire book will be Z-free? Town records, family histories, all of these will be contraband if they contain the forbidden letter Z, and the punishments for such lawlessness are not slight...unless you consider death or permanent exile slight punishment.

As more and more letters fall from the statue, and the wide-reaching effects of the High Island Council's continual ban on letters continue to make life more and more difficult, we see a society crumble. Sounds a bit heavy, doesn't it? It's really not-it's so silly that you can't ever get too bogged down by the story itself; and although this wasn't my favorite book, I did have some fun with it. I think the author did a great job following the rules of the High Council. Consider the note that Ella sends regarding the unusual death of one of Nollop's citizens, written toward the end of the book, after the ban on B,C,D,F,J,K,Q,U,V,X,Y,and Z:

Please asept mie hartphelt simpathee at this time. [___] passt awae last night phrom let poisoning. She paintet her whole selph phrom het to toe with manee prettee, ornamental hews. She was so resplentent, almost ratiant in repose--the happee, appealing pigments an aesthetit reminter oph her lophlee warm spirit.

She shoot loog smashing 4 the phooneral.

Silliness aside, I do think the author did a good job of illustrating how easily Freedom (capital F) can be lost when little "unimportant" freedoms are given up without a fight. As the title indicates, this is an epistolary novel, and while it was a pretty easy read, the epistolary format didn't really ring true for me-too much exposition had to be done in letters, and the letter writing came across as a bit of a gimmick; I think maybe a few newspaper clippings might have been helpful in this particular tale. I'd like to say thanks to Thomas for his thoughts on epistolary novels; his words about dialogue in letters helped me to put together my thoughts on why I didn't care for the format of this novel.

Other reviews:

Rebecca at Rebecca Reads

Jessi at Casual Dread

Terri at Reading, Writing and Retirement

Have you reviewed this book? Let me know, and I'll add a link to your review.

What I'm Reading Now-84, Charing Cross Road

Cover of 84, Charing Cross Road

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff-This was a quick, charming read which was inspired by Nymeth's review a couple months back (which also inspired some musings on my part). Anne Bancroft's introduction provides some interesting background as to how she came to play Helene in the big screen version of 84 Charing Cross Road as well as a lovely example of how a book can completely and unexpectedly speak to a reader's heart.

This is one of those books that I'd always been aware of but never had any idea what it was about. It is a collection of letters exchanged between the author, who lived in New York City, and the staff at Marks & Co., Booksellers in London. It begins in October, 1949, when Miss Hanff writes to Marks & Co. to inquire about some out-of-print books and continues through to October of 1969. During this time Miss Hanff becomes good friends with many people connected to the bookstore-employees, their family members, even one of their neighbors becomes a correspondent for a short time. While the letters almost always contain at least some small trace of business dealings (and quite a good deal of sarcasm on Helene's part), they also reveal Helene's matter-of-fact kindness, and the genuine appreciation of that kindness from her new friends in London. In a letter dated December 8, 1949, Helene writes:

Now then. Brian [British boyfriend of Helene's upstairs neighbor] told me you are all rationed to 2 ounces of meat per family per week and one egg per person per month and I am simply appalled. He has a catalogue from a British firm here which flies food from Denmark to his mother, so I am sending a small Christmas present to Marks & Co. I hope there will be enough to go round, he says the Charing Cross Road bookshops are "all quite small."

Helene takes care of her bookstore friends in small but thoughtful ways until the rationing ends and they do their best to return the favor in whatever ways they can. Throughout, Helene's love of books is also clear; I am unfamiliar with many of the titles she mentions and so, surely, missed a lot of her references, but I enjoyed her sharp wit as well as the mental image I had of the proper London bookstore employee who first encountered her biting sarcasm in a business correspondence. Heavens! How to respond to such a woman? (Professionally, it turns out, very professionally.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book-it was funny and touching and inspiring, all good things in my book!

Other reviews:

Nymeth at Things Mean a Lot

Jennifer at The Literate Housewife Review

Have you reviewed this book? Let me know, and I'll add a link to your review.

What I'm Reading Now-The Heretic's Daughter

Cover of The Heretic's Daughter: A Novel

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent is another in a long line of belated book reviews. (Does Hallmark have a card for that yet?) Unfortunately, I don't remember much about it, and I didn't like it much, but I'll do my best to answer the questions that people asked me.

Guatami Tripathy said, "I loved The Heretic's Daughter. Why did you pick it up? Which portion of it you liked most? And which was painful to read?" Well, first of all, I'm sorry I didn't like the book as much as you did. I know it can be hard when someone doesn't like a book that you do. I guess I picked it up because I had been hearing a lot of good buzz about it, and, generally speaking, I am interested in the whole Salem witch trial thing. The portion I liked the most was the last part of the book that talked about what it was like in the prisons. I found this to be more interesting than the rest of the book. It's harder to define a portion that was painful to read. I guess it depends on your definition of painful. For me, the first half of the book was painful in an I-don't-know-if-I'll-ever-get-through-this kind of way, but emotionally, I think the parts about the trials themselves were the most painful simply because they were so clearly a big, giant, steaming pile of you know what! Those were extremely frustrating to read about. It's so hard to believe that people actually believed the things that they did and were willing to kill someone simply because she had a wart or could swim or, *gasp* had a wart AND could swim!

Softdrink said, "I loved The Heretic's Daughter, but had to put it down for awhile. How does this compare to other historical fiction novels you've read in evoking a sense of time and place?" Again, sorry for not liking this book. I don't read a lot of historical fiction, but I think it did pretty well in evoking time and place, but the language kept getting in the way for me. I felt like the author was trying too hard to be all ye olde time-y. Otherwise, I think I was able to envision everything pretty easily. I mean, during the courtrooms, I was imagining what I think a Salem witch trial would look like and not something from Ally McBeal, so I guess that's good, right?

The main reason I didn't like this book was because I felt like the author spent too much time giving us background info on our supposed witch, and I just didn't care; it didn't seem relevant to me. I didn't feel like there was any build up of story, it just sort of seemed like all these examples of why people didn't like her, and even then it wasn't anything worthy of note in my mind. And maybe that was the point-this woman was just a woman, not unlike many others, she wasn't popular for various reasons, and that's really all it took for her downfall. So, while I can appreciate this book for its historical significance, I was still bored until everyone got thrown into prison. Sorry. =(

Other reviews:

Guatami Tripathy at Everything Distils into Reading

Softdrink at Fizzy Thoughts

Have you reviewed this book? Let me know, and I'll add a link to your review.

What I'm Reading Now-The Help

Waaaaaay back when, I put out a call for other bloggers to help me get caught up on my book reviews. Several people were kind enough to respond with questions for me, so I figure I will try to tackle a few more of them today.

Cover of The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett-Eva said, "The Help has been getting a lot of hype in the blogosphere. Is it worth it?" I think so-I loved this book. Aibileen and Minny are two black women in 1960's Mississippi, employed as domestic workers for white families. Skeeter Phelan is a friend of Aibileen's employer, and she is looking around at her group of friends and starting to wonder if maybe they aren't all the paragons of virtue they think they are.

Hilly Holbrook has begun campaigning for the Home Help Sanitation Initiative, a bill that would require every white home to have a separate bathroom for the colored help because "Everybody knows they carry different kinds of diseases than we do." Hilly just gets more and more loveable as the book goes on (I'm being sarcastic, in case any of you can't see my eyes rolling all the way back in my skull over here), but Skeeter doesn't quite feel the same way as the rest of her friends and wants to try to do something to change things. She wants to write a book telling the world what it's really like for the black domestic workers in the South, what it's like to be the help. She starts by talking to Aibileen who is, understandably, skeptical of Skeeter and her motives at first and worried about what will happen to her if she speaks out and tells the truth, tells the world that, honestly, being somebody else's maid is not the bees knees, and no, white people aren't always above reproach. Even with Aibileen's contributions, Skeeter still needs to get other stories, and she enlists Aibileen's help to try to convince other maids to tell their stories. It's an uphill battle all-around, for everyone involved, and I loved the characters and what they come together to do and how they do it.

My cousin started reading this book before I did, and she mentioned that one of the characters is a sassy black maid who reminded her a lot of my dad. I thought this was kind of funny since my dad is neither a black woman nor a maid, and, while he is a pretty funny guy, I don't know if he exactly qualifies as "sassy." I totally forgot about this remark until after I'd finished the book and I mentioned that Aibileen reminded me of my (paternal) grandma. The way she talks and the way her speech was written reminded me of the way my grandma talks and writes. My cousin said, "That's so weird because Minny reminded me of your dad!" and, yeah, I can totally see what she means. The following exchange between Minny and her new employer, Miss Celia, is a good example of this. Miss Celia has hired Minny to come work for her, but she hasn't told her husband, and Minny is a little worried about the possible ramifications of this.

"And what's Mister Johnny gone do if he come home and find a colored woman up in his kitchen?"

"I'm sorry, I just can't--"

"I'll tell you what he's gone do, he's gone get that pistol and shoot Minny dead right here on this no-wax floor."

Miss Celia shakes her head. "I'm not telling him."

"Then I got to go," I say. Shit. I knew it. I knew she was crazy when I walked in the door--

"It's not that I'd be fibbing to him. I just need a maid--"

"A course you need a maid. Last one done got shot in the head."

This is totally the type of thing my dad would say!

Softdrink is looking forward to The Help (has just read and reviewed The Help) and wanted to know, "Would you put it in your top 10 for the year? Top 5?" Definitely, on both counts! As I said, I really enjoyed the different characters. With the exception of one chapter, the story is told from Aibileen's, Minny's and Miss Skeeter's points of view, but even the non-narrative characters have great presences (is that really a word? Presences...doesn't sound right...anyway...), at least the women do. There are a few men that make their appearances in this novel, and we don't really get much of a feel for them, but this isn't really their story anyway.

Something of note here: I read this for our book club, and the book club members who were present for the discussion of this book were 3 white girls in their 30s, and one mixed-race gentleman in his 60s who grew up in the South. All of us girls loved the book; he thought it was one of the most depressing things he'd ever read. Now, admittedly, he hadn't finished the book, but I thought it was interesting that we had such different takes on it. Even when I was only part-way through the book, it never struck me that way. For him it was just bringing up all the terrible things that he knew from first-hand experience had actually happened in our history. For us, or at least for me, it was knowing that we had come through those things and were now on the other side of history, not perfect, but at least better than we were. Also, it was about the women who were fighting against those things; trying to make things better; doing what they could, against tremendous odds, to make their voices heard. Unfortunately, I've never been able to get much follow-up from this man on his thoughts on the book after he finished it, but if I ever do, I'll come back here and update.

Sorry, I feel like this review is all over the place. Takeaway: I really enjoyed this book, but now I'm curious if it is a common phenomenon for different people to respond to it differently depending on what their backgrounds are. I mean, I suppose that's the case with almost any book, but this is the first time that I've experienced a divide this extreme, more than the usual, "I really liked it!" "Really? I thought it was boring." Anyone else have any input on this?

Other reviews:

Softdrink at Fizzy Thoughts

Trish at Hey, Lady! Whatcha Readin'? who also listed it as one of her top reads of all-time.

Kari at Five Borough Book Review

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea

Lisa at Books and Cooks

Julie P. at Booking Mama

Care at Care's Online Book Club

I'm sure there are more people out there who have read this! If you have and you've reviewed it, let me know and I'll post a link to your review. If you haven't reviewed it, feel free to let me know what you thought of it here!

What I'm Reading Now-Same Kind of Different as Me

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent-(This is another airport find that I happened to pick up at LAX along with Gang Leader for a Day.) Okay, so, brief review (no, seriously!): Rich white guy (Ron), and his super-religious wife (Deborah), who is into volunteering at the local homeless shelter/mission, make friends at the shelter with an older black man (Denver) who used to pick cotton for The Man and is very distrustful of the husband and wife team and their motives at first. Rich white guy is constantly shocked and amazed by the grace shown him by his wife, his skeptical new friend, and the rest of the homeless shelter's...residents? shelterees? congregation? (I'm not really sure what the correct terminology is here.)

See? I told you it would be brief.

I really loved this book even though I'm not too comfortable with books about How Great God Is! It's not that I dispute it necessarily, I just don't want it shoved down my throat, and this book can be a little shove-y at times; but the husband is right there with you through the whole thing going, "I know, right? I thought my super-religious wife was crazy too!" so it all kind of worked out. Also, there were enough more subtle parts to break down my defenses. The story is told alternately from Ron and Denver's points of view, and I think that Lynn Vincent did a good job of capturing both of their voices.

When word spread at the mission that Deborah (Miss Debbie) had been diagnosed with cancer, Denver talks about how the folks at the mission took it:

There's a lot of folks come down to the mission and volunteer, but most of em was not faithful like Miss Debbie. But that wadn't all. It was the way she treated the homeless that made them accept her as their friend. She never asked em no questions, like how come you is in here? Where you been? How many times you been in jail? How come you done all them bad things in your life? She just loved em, no strings attached.

That's the way she loved me, too. The Word says God don't give us credit for lovin the folks we want to love anyway. No, He gives us credit for loving the unlovable. (...)

You know, if you ain't poor, you might think it's the folks in them big ole fine brick churches that's doin all the givin and the carin and the prayin. I wish you coulda seen all them little circles a' homeless folks with their heads bowed and their eyes closed, whisperin what was on their hearts. Seemed like they didn't have nothin to give, but they was givin what they had, takin the time to knock on God's front door and ask Him to heal this woman that had loved them.

During Deborah's stay in the hospital Ron stops by the mission. He hasn't seen Denver for a while, and he wanted to check in with him.

In the hallway to the kitchen, we ran into Chef Jim. I asked him if he'd seen Denver that day.

"He's probably sleeping." he said.

"Sleeping!" I blurted. Lazy, I thought. It was already midafternoon.

Jim raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Well, when Denver heard about Miss Debbie, he told me she had a lot of friends that would be praying for her all day. But he figured she needed someone to pray all night, and he would be the one to do it."

My eyes widened as he went on. "So he goes outside at midnight, sits down next to the Dumpster, and prays for Miss Debbie and your family. When I get up and come down here at three in the morning to get breakfast going, he comes in for a cup of coffee and we pray here in the kitchen for her until about four. Then he goes back outside and prays till sunup."

Ashamed, I realized again how deep grew the roots of my own prejudice, of my arrogant snap judgments of the poor.

Yikes. How many of us have ever been in those shoes, making a snap judgment of someone because s/he's poor, rich, black, white, clearly a foreigner, clearly a native, employed, unemployed, homeless, living in a mansion, a man, a woman, married with no kids, married with kids, single with no kids, single with lots of kids, young, old, tall, short, fat, thin, in short, not like us? I know I have, and one of the things that I try to take away from a book like this is the inspiration and strength to not do things like that. In an interview at the back of the book, Denver says, "You never know whose eyes God is watchin' you through. It probably ain't gonna be your preacher and it just might be someone who was livin' like I used to." whose eyes God is watchin' you through...I never thought of it like that.

I've mentioned before that I like Anne Lamott's writing because even though she is deeply religious and believes, much like Deborah, that when you are in doubt the best thing to do is pray (which I can't really relate to at all) she still has moments of, "Seriously, God? Are you KIDDING ME???" (which I can totally relate to). That's why this book worked for me as well. Deborah and Denver both had a faith that was unshakeable, but Ron...not so much. He was skeptical, and I can relate to that, but he also witnessed some things that might be classifiable as miracles and really couldn't come up with any other explanations...which makes me willing to question my beliefs more so than anyone telling me, "You just have to have faith. Because it says so in the Bible."

Fore more information about this book, you can check out the website at http://www.samekindofdifferentasme.com/. There's a video, a calendar of Ron and Denver's speaking engagements, and other reviews and comments about the book.

Have you reviewed this book? Let me know and I'll add a link to your review.

What I'm Reading Now-Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets

This is another overdue review that I am now up-to-date on thanks to all the Weekly Geeks who asked me questions about it. I'm glad they did too because a lot of the questions that people asked are probably not the questions I would have thought to address otherwise.

Cover via Amazon

Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir Venkatesh-I thought this book was fascinating. This was another airport find, and it was a good one. Many weekly geeks had similar questions. Eva from A Striped Armchair asked, "Was Gang Leader for a Day intellectual? Or did the author make lots of questionable assumptions/conclusions? (I wasn't a fan of Freakonomics, so if you've read that, do you think I'd enjoy this one?)" I didn't read Freakonomics, so I can't really compare the two, but I felt like the information that was being presented was pretty sound. Mostly it was the author's real-life experiences, but he also presented some background information about the area that he was researching to bring together a bigger picture of how a decision on the city level, to tear down a housing project for example, affected not only the residents of that community on an individual level but also the gang structure within that community and other neighboring communities as well.

Kim of Sophisticated Dorkiness wanted to know if I thought "the author was able to keep his objectivity when writing about his experience? And how well did he balance storytelling with facts and figures to give some context about what his experience meant?" and Jennie at Biblio File wondered, "Is Gang Leader for a Day an overly academic book, or is it written for a more general audience?"

First of all, I don't think this is an overly academic book at all, and it is totally accessible to a general audience. If you're pushing this one aside because it sounds too much like school work, you're missing out. It's not all facts and figures and statistics at all, in fact, I think that was sort of the point of the book. He set out to find people to fill out surveys, to gather the data, to get the facts and figures; what he found out was that that information is useless if you don't understand why. Why are these people poor? Why don't they have jobs? Why don't they just move to a better neighborhood? Why do they put up with gang activity where they live? Why do women sell their bodies? Why don't they just apply for government aid?

...which brings me around to Kim's question. I don't know if the author was able to remain entirely objective; he did a good job of trying to stay neutral and objective, but he was writing largely about his experience hanging out IN A GANG. He was not a gang member; he was a nice boy from California who was in grad school, trying to gather some good information on poverty to impress his professors. Some subjectivity is going to creep in. He did try to assess things objectively, but in order to actually gain any valuable information, he had to get personally involved, not only with the gang leader, JT, but with the tenants of the building that JT's gang lived in, JT's family, the leader of the local Boys & Girls Club. As he found out, walking into the midst of a gang with a questionnaire full of questions like, How does it feel to be black and poor? wasn't really an effective way to gain useful information about people living in poverty. After the author spent an angsty night being held captive in a stairwell by the members of JT's gang, the Black Kings, JT's advice was:

"Go back to where you came from," he told me, "and be more careful when you walk around the city." Then, as I began gathering up my bag and clipboard, he talked to me about the proper way to study people. "You shouldn't go around asking them silly-ass questions," he said. "With people like us, you should hang out, get to know what they do, how they do it. No one is going to answer questions like that. You need to understand how young people live on the streets."

And that's what he did. For about 10 years, Sudhir hung out with JT, getting to know the members of the Black Kings, finding out why people would join a gang, put up with a gang selling drugs in their building, why police officers often showed up to mediate gang disputes rather than throwing as many gang members in jail as they could.

This isn't a book about how many youth are dropping out of high school and joining gangs each year and what percentage get arrested and how that percentage correlates to average yearly income, etc. If you've ever wondered why you can't just take a gang off the street and get them out of a neighborhood read this book. They are so insidiously woven into the neighborhoods that they are involved in, at least big organizations like the Black Kings were. The gangs sell drugs in the lobby of the apartment building, but in return they give money to the building president so that she can buy supplies for the children in the building. They cook crack in the vacant apartments, but they provide protection from abusive boyfriends to the women who live in the building. JT requires all of his gang members to receive a high school diploma or GED, and they are not allowed to use drugs. So, he keeps them in school and off drugs for the privilege of selling drugs, earning money, and rising up the ranks within the gang. Crime is kept to a minimum because if the cops come around, the drug business gets interrupted and people lose money, and people don't want to lose money...

which brings us around to what Trisha at Eclectic/Eccentric wanted to know, "...what did you think of Gang Leader for a Day? Was it an honest look at life in a gang or was it more of a kitchy book - was the author just interested in sensationalism?" I thought that this was a pretty honest look at things. It wasn't overdone with gang shootings and people shooting up on drugs or anything like that. Those elements were present, but they weren't as prominent as you might think, and they were presented as a realistic part of the everyday life, not just as the next sensational thing the author witnessed. The title comes from a day when the author is giving JT a hard time about his role as gang leader. He essentially says, "How hard can it be? You go around, you talk to people, you make arrangements for things; I could do that," and JT gives him the reigns to be in charge for a day, to handle all the things that he has to handle every day, and Sudhir realizes that there's more to being a gang leader than just being a thug. You can watch a clip of the author talking a little more about this here.

I don't want to say that this book glamorizes gang life, but it does present the human side of it, makes you see that just because someone is in a gang doesn't mean they are a bad person. It explores the reality of living in poverty, living in a gang, surrounded by a gang, protected by a gang, threatened by a gang. Also, if you're someone who can't stomach hearing (or reading) the N-word, this book is not for you. It is used with abandon because that's how it is used on the street. It's not pretty but neither is real life sometimes.

Thanks to everyone who asked me questions about this book. I hope I answered all of them. If not, feel free to ask me more. It's been a couple months now since I read it, so I didn't have a lot of quotes or examples top-of-mind, but my overall impression was that this is a book I would definitely recommend.

What I'm Reading Now-Fables Vol.1: Legends in Exile

My next Weekly Geeks catch-up review is:


Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham-This is the first graphic novel that I have ever read, and I had been hearing so many great things about it, I figured it would be a good place to start. Briefly, all the characters that you know and love from your childhood stories like Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Blue Beard, Prince Charming, etc. have been run out of their homelands by an evil adversary and are now living in Fabletown among us normal folk. They have all agreed to set aside their differences, asylum has been granted for past deeds (like giant killing, home destruction, and granny consumption), and they are preparing to celebrate Remembrance Day when the murder of Rose Red sends Fabletown's sheriff, Bigby (The Big Bad Wolf), on a search for the killer.

Quite a few of you had questions about this, so let's get started!

Nymeth of Things Mean a Lot asks Are you planning to continue with the series? I'm not sure that I necessarily "plan" to continue with the series; let's just say, I wouldn't be averse to it. I did enjoy it, but I'm not going crazy wondering what happens next. Although...somebody call me if Snow and Bigby ever get together cuz I'm pretty sure that would be hot! Who was your favourtie character? Why? Speaking of Bigby, I think he might be my favorite character. He's great as the reformed-bad-guy-turned-sheriff, he can still wolf-out in the name of the law, and he looks hot in a towel (and it doesn't look like I'm the only one who thinks so!). I also kind of like Prince Charming though. Well, actually, I found him despicable, but that's exactly what I liked about him. In all the fairy tales he's the hero, the one true love, the savior, and here we see the other side of that. He's a mooch, and a playboy and totally full of himself. No wonder Snow White divorced him! Do you think the concept behind the series was well executed in this book? I do think the concept was well executed. I like some of the ideas that Willingham came up with to make the story workable. For instance, Jack (famous for growing beanstalks and killing giants), is a prime suspect in Rose Red's killing, but all of that giant killer stuff is inadmissible since that happened before the general amnesty. I also liked the little side stories we got like Beauty and the Beast having marital difficulties-she gets mad, he starts turning back into a beast, and it's hard to keep a low profile when you're walking around all half-beasty and all. Pinocchio is pissed because he's over 300 years old and still hasn't gone through puberty. Little things like that make for a fun departure from the main story.

Bart, over at Bart's Bookshelf said, I've heard so many good things about the series, if you had to pick one thing to convince me to go out and find a copy what would it be? Honestly, the fact that it's so short is a big sell for me. My tastes might not be your tastes, what I liked you might not like, I've never read anything else in this genre, so I don't really have anything to compare it to, etc.; but you can always give it a try, and if you don't like it, you haven't wasted days reading it, and if you do, then bonus!

Eva from A Striped Armchair wanted to know-Did you enjoy Fables? What did you think of the illustrations? I did enjoy it, and I liked the illustrations OK. They didn't particularly stand out for me in any way, but, again, I don't really have a lot to compare them to. What I did like was that at the beginning of each issue appears the original series covers by James Jean and Alex Maleev, which are quite different from the artwork within each issue.

Thank you, everyone, for your questions! I enjoyed my foray into the graphic novel set, and I will certainly let you know if I come back for more.

Other reviews:

Eva at A Striped Armchair

Chris at Stuff as Dreams are Made On...

Joanne at The Book Zombie

Fyrefly at Fyrefly's Book Blog

Kim L. at Bold. Blue. Adventure

Sally at Books and Musings from Down Under

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think? Will you be reading the rest of the series? How do you like it compared to other graphic novels? If you've reviewed this book let me know, and I will add a link to your review (Nymeth, did I miss yours?)