Book Review

I’m often surprised at what people want. I don’t think this is a bad thing…surprises are good. Keeps me on my toes. My latest heh? was this: people have asked me to review the books that I’ve listed on my blog as ones I’m reading. I suppose that’s no great mystery; people might want to know my opinion, which I never thought about when I plopped the books down in my blog.

I hesitated for a couple of reasons. One, the way I choose books is completely haphazard; my reading materials arrive via friends and family, by a good review, and OK, because of nice cover artwork. (I choose wine that way too sometimes but don’t tell anyone.) So there’s that. I may be missing some really good books, even better than the ones I review since how I obtain them is in no way methodical.

The second reason I shy away from stating my opinion is because it is just that… my opinion. And so what I say is of course colored by what I like, and add to that, I am not a professional reviewer, editor, or publisher.

The third and most important reason for my reluctance is my general abhorrence to be overly critical. This is just me…I know some people like to pick apart what’s wrong or what they don’t like, compare negatively what they read to other books, or believe they are helping folks improve. That’s cool.

But I don’t. For one thing, I think being critical is much like swearing; if you do it all the time no one notices. I rarely do, so when I make a strong statement I have people’s attention. I also would rather focus on the good rather than the bad; there are enough people who are quite happy to blast others so I will let them do that.

Saying all of that, since I myself get ideas of books to try from others, I will note my thoughts about the stories I’m reading. And since more than one person has asked this of me, I’m glad to do it. I also like the idea of promoting other writers. If I believe it’s really really bad I will say so, but mostly you will see what I think the author did well…and where I wanted more, which is not the same as criticism, in my humble opinion.

OK, so starting at the first one I listed, Angel of Darkness by Charles De Lint. Let me state before I go further that this man is one of my favorite authors and that I don’t believe it would be possible for him to write a bad book. He is THE urban fantasy writer, and I think one could make a case that he created the sub genre. This particular book is fabulous; a bit spookier than his usual fare. If you haven’t tried De Lint, I whole-heartedly recommend him. He does anthologies of short stories too, also good. Look for ones with the crow girls.

The next book in the list is Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon. Ms. Gabaldon is the author of the Outlander series, a wonderful set of books recommended to me by a friend (thanks Candy). These historical fiction stories transport you to the beginnings of our nation with a dose of passion and excitement…hard to do, I think, with historical stuff. Lord John and the Hand of Devils is a collection of short stories based around the character of Lord John seen in the Outlander books; a gay man struggling with his orientation in a time when he would not have been accepted for who he was. This angst combined with Lord John’s wit, intellect, and penchant for nosing out trouble makes for a delightful read.

I admit to resisting the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer, partly because everyone was reading them. Why that should be bad was silly of me…I love Harry Potter, after all. But I think there was more to it. I knew it was about a teen romance and…sparkly vampires? However, a friend lent me the first book, (thanks Sandy), and I started it. And could NOT put it down. The lush, sensual setting, the longing between Edward and Belle, the fast paced action kept me up at night wanting to finish. I will be reading the others in this series. What I would have liked to know more about is the vampire world; all we know in this book is a bit about the different kinds of vampires, how one becomes a vampire, and some of their traits. I wanted more more more. Are there kings and queens? Vampire cities? What are their customs? Where did the first vampire come from? Have they always been with us? Do they have plans for the future, or do they just exist? To be fair, maybe the author explores that in the next book…I hope so. What she’s created is unique and riveting. Wow.

The book I just finished, The Passionate Witch by Thorne Smith, I came to in an unusual way; my husband Gary found it in an antique store. He picked it up because of the girly drawing on the cover and the same sort of illustrations…we both are very fond of pin up art. So the book was lying around and one day I flipped through it. I noted the author was the same person who wrote Topper, which I love. This story was hilarious. It starred a kind of a Walter Middy-like man, except this guy deserves what happens to him because he is pompous. The book is funny, but underneath runs a current of his view of the futility of life. Nice contrast. There is also a whiff of women as either dumb or manipulative, probably because of the era rather than the author’s view, but if you can get by that the book is worth reading.

So that’s it for now…I’m always reading something so this will be a regular feature.