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A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore: Book Review

Charlie Asher is your average Beta Male. He owns a second-hand shop in San Francisco and rents out the apartments in the rest of the building to some kooky tenants. He has somehow managed to win the heart of beautiful Rachel and she has just given birth to their daughter Sophie when the book begins. Charlie can't believe his luck, and, with typical Beta Male imagination, believes that Sophie has eleven toes or a tail or something--good things just don't happen for Beta Males. After Sophie's birth, weird things start to happen to Charlie. People drop dead in front of him, objects glow with an eerie red light, and he hears evil voices coming from the sewer drains. Enter Mr. Minty Fresh. He explains what is going on to Charlie. Basically, they are Death Merchants. They collect objects from the dead and dying that are imbued with the dead person's soul. Then they hold onto the object until the soul's next owner comes along and buys it. If they screw up, or if they have contact with other Death Merchants, the Forces of Darkness will rise and the World As We Know It will end. No pressure. I think I had laughed out loud four times in the first four pages of this book. Moore's sense of humor is a perfect match for mine. I've been trying to think of the word to describe it. Not exactly crass or crude, it's more like the not-exactly-for-polite-company jokes that you make with your best friends and maybe even your family, but you probably wouldn't say in front of your in-laws or your boss. I had a few "I can't believe he had the nerve to write that!" moments in some of the funnier parts. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:…

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney: Book Review

Laurent Jammett is a French trapper living in a little Canadian community in 1867. He mostly keeps to himself, so everyone is surprised when his neighbor, Mrs. Ross, finds him murdered. Since he worked for them occasionally, the Hudson Bay Company is called in to investigate. When the Hudson Bay officials find out that Mrs. Ross's teenage son vanished around the same time that Jammett was killed, they're naturally curious and start looking for him. Mrs. Ross is worried too and sets out to find her son first and prove his innocence. There is so much more to this book than I could write in the synopsis without spoiling anything. It's much more than just a murder mystery. In fact, the mystery felt sort of secondary to me. I was more interested in reading what I can only call the mini character studies. The story is told from many shifting points of view, but it works. I was never confused as to who I was following in each chapter. That's probably because the story only follows one character in the first person point of view--Mrs. Ross. So, in addition to furthering the mystery, we get to read a little about many different characters, how they think, what their lives have been like, etc. That was probably the most interesting part. I was left hungry for more backstory. I mostly mean that in a good way. Had every character's backstory been explored, the book would have been impossibly long. As it was, there were only a couple of loose ends that I really wish had been tied up that weren't. Not bad. There is such a strong sense of place in this book that the setting could almost be a character in itself. The Canadian winter is written about so well…

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: Book Review

Elderly Leo Gursky lost his great love when he was young and he has spent the rest of his life living with what-might-have-beens and watching her and her family from afar. Not in any kind of icky way but in a caring way. Fourteen-year-old Alma Singer is named after all the women in a book entitled The History of Love. The book leads her on a quest that takes on more and more layers, as she first searches for happiness for her widowed mother and then she gets more curious about the people she finds. I missed something here. I know so many people love this book, and I kept waiting to love it too, and then I got to the end. And now I'm sitting here watching my cursor blink back at me and I really don't even know what to say. I do have to say that I admire the narrators' voices. They were all very distinct, from the twelve-year-old Jewish boy to his fourteen-year-old sister, to old Leo to the disembodied narrator, I knew who was telling each section with no problem. I have to admire the author's artistry in pulling that off. But everyone was just so sad and so alone. It got a little depressing. Even the twelve-year-old felt sad and alienated. He was faced with the choice of being true to his own nature and alone or burying a part of himself and fitting in and having friends. I guess my problem might be that I tend to like my stories to be a little more linear. I can take some detours as long as I get to see how they're going to tie in pretty quickly. But when there are several distinct plots roaming around a book and I don't understand how they…

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: Book Review

3 Stars. I liked that Jane Austen was a little more barbed and pointed in this book. I can't remember any specific examples, but there were a few times when I mentally thought, "Ouch! I can't believe she wrote that!" It made the book a little more fun. On the other hand, the book was too long and dragged in places. Also, I [...]

Fortune’s Fool by Mercedes Lackey: Book Review

Katya is the Sea King's youngest daughter--and his eyes and ears in trouble spots. Sasha is the seventh son of the King of Led Belarus, which makes him a Fortunate Fool. But his foolery is only an act to gently steer the Tradition in ways that lead to peace and prosperity for his kingdom. The Tradition is made up of all the tropes that are always found in fairy tales. A seventh son meets an old beggar woman on the road? If he's nice to her, she'll help him with his task. If not, she'll curse him in some way. You get the idea. Anyway, something evil has popped up just outside the border of Led Belarus. The Sea King is worried and sends Katya to investigate. Sasha is worried about Katya and this darkness this close to his happy kingdom's borders. Will they defeat whatever's there with the help of some very unlikely allies? First of all, this book starts off with a plot that has very little to do with where the novel is actually going. It sets up an element of the overall story, but it still felt like a hundred pages could have been trimmed off by just quickly explaining where Katya got this magic object. That aside, I did like the book. Sasha and Katya have such big hearts that you can't help but like them and root for them. Katya is very feisty and intelligent, and you know I love those kinds of female characters. Other females in the book might not start off very promising, but even they start to gain some self-confidence by the time everything ends. Sasha is a handsome, unassuming charmer. He loves to tease people, but he's always quietly looking out for everyone's best interest. He's very smart as…

Alice at Heart by Deborah Smith: Book Review

Alice has always been the odd one in her small Appalachian community. She loves water, her hair grows incredibly fast, her feet are slightly webbed, and somehow her personality has just never "fit in." She's done her best all her life to blend into the background, but she gets quite a bit of publicity when she rescues someone. She hates being in the public eye, but ultimately it brings her to the attention of some women who can give her answers about her past and why she's so different. Let me say right up front that I won this book in a GR giveaway. I don't think that's affected my rating and review, but in the interest of full disclosure, there it is. The book started off a little disjointed for me because I wasn't very clear about what to expect. But by the time I was 20-30 pages in, it was all coming together and I was starting to enjoy the book. It only got better all the way through. I liked the characters and the mystery of what happened the night a boat sank, 40 years ago. I liked the family histories and legends of the characters. I particularly liked the way that the fantasy element was woven in like it was no big deal. Just make this one little leap of faith and all of a sudden you've got the real world with a little more magic in it. That's always fun. The book had a feel (but not a plot) a little like the movie Practical Magic and the book Garden Spells, with maybe just a little of the drama and mystery of The Pilot's Wife thrown in. Fans of these books would certainly enjoy this one. Reviewed October 24, 2008 Read an excerpt. Find author…

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer: Book Review

In 1996, Jon Krakauer attempted to climb Mt. Everest as part of a guided group for a writing assignment for Outside magazine. An experienced climber in the hands of a reputable group of guides, he didn't really foresee any problems. Go, climb the mountain, hope conditions allowed them to reach the summit, go home, write the article. But things are rarely that easy. A storm blows up, reminding everyone that nature laughs at our best-laid plans; some questionable decisions are made; and suddenly the entire group is fighting for their lives. I've decided to try reading a non-fiction book in bed at night, thinking that I won't be quite as interested in non-fiction, and so will find it easy to put those books down and get to bed at a decent hour. This is the first book I grabbed from the library with that in mind. Ha! I don't know if I could have picked a worse book for tame, before-bed reading! My poor husband has had to listen to me babble on and on about people he knows nothing about as I've made my way through this page-turner. Even if the climb had been fairly straight-forward, I found it interesting to read about what drove these people, how they acclimated to the altitude, and how exactly one manages to climb the highest peak on Earth. I know nothing about mountain-climbing, and, while I did find all this fascinating, I have to say that I'll be staying in my tame little Appalachians doing easy to moderate hikes. I'm not someone who likes to push myself beyond my limits, but it's always nice to step outside your comfort zone, even if it is through the pages of a book, and see what's going on with others who live differently than you.…

The King’s Mistress by Emma Campion: Book Review

"When had I a choice to be other than I was?" So begins this fictional autobiography of Alice Perrars' life. And that's about where I stopped caring overly much. That's harsher than I mean to be, because the book was okay, but I have very, very little tolerance for excuses. And this was a running theme throughout the book. That's where my biggest problem lay. I have to say that I don't recall ever coming across Alice Perrars before. She was married to a merchant but then became Edward III's consort. Apparently, the people blamed her for a lot of things that the king did and that went wrong in the country, but "what choice had she?" It's been months since I finished reading this, so all I can say is that, aside from the excuses that turned me off, Alice had an interesting life. She rose higher than any commoner should have been able to. In this book, she didn't ask for any of it. She only wanted a quiet life with her children away from the public eye. The other thing that I didn't like was the amount of detail. It took me forever to get through this book! It felt like every little possible meeting with the king and/or queen was detailed here. I quickly lose interest if a book is moving too slow. Historical England is always interesting to me, so the book still gets three stars. Those who don't mind excuses will probably be more interested than I was. Thanks to Crown Publishing for sending me a copy for review via Shelf Awareness. Read an excerpt. Find author Emma Campion on her website and her blog. Buy The King's Mistress on IndieBound | Book Depository | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with…

Huck by Janet Elder: Book Review

When Janet Elder was diagnosed with breast cancer, she and her husband promised their twelve-year-old son Michael that they would get him a puppy as soon as she was better. They realized that life is too short to deny their son something he so desperately wanted, but they also knew that she would be in no condition to care for a puppy for a while. True to their word, they got Michael a red toy poodle, whom he named Huck and whom they all immediately fell in love with. They couldn't imagine a life without Huck in it. Then, while they were on a much-needed vacation and Huck was staying with Janet's sister in New Jersey, the unthinkable happened. Huck ran away. The family immediately returned to start looking for their dog, and they found unexpected help throughout the small town of Ramsey, New Jersey. This was a heart-warming story, but, being honest, I didn't find it very unexpected. I think being from a small town (it's not even technically a town) and living my whole life in a couple of small towns within half an hour of home skewed my perspective a little. I would have been more surprised if the people they came across didn't offer to help. Pretty much every business in the small towns I know have a community board to post lost dog signs and business cards. That said, this was a reminder not to take that for granted. Huck and his family live in New York, and they were amazed that perfect strangers spoke to them, helped them look, and let them post Lost Dog signs. That's really about all I have to say. Huck sounds like a very sweet dog, and animal lovers of all kinds will enjoy this tale of "hope and…

Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin: Book Review

I don't even know where to start with a synopsis for this book, so I'll just skip that. I have a feeling that the reason I'm not giving this book 5 stars shows more about what I'm lacking than about what the book is lacking. I felt myself on the verge of a huge epiphany throughout the book, but I just never got there. That has left me incredibly frustrated. Maybe reading through other reviews will help me see what I'm missing. The language is absolutely gorgeous. It's just one of those books that is so dense and beautiful that you feel like you could eat it. This was partly a love letter to New York. The author doesn't blindly love his city, he loves it warts and all and sees its potential to be something so much more than it is. Mostly this was a book full of beautiful symbolism that I think was trying to tell me something about life, love, justice, time, immortality, and faith in mankind. Maybe. I was tempted to put this on my "mythology" shelf, because it felt like Helprin was creating something of a modern, American mythology. I have notes scribbled here about what I think this means or that means, but something would always happen to show me that I was wrong in my interpretation of something. I finally just gave up and read the book without trying so hard to figure everything out. I hoped that everything would come clear to me in the end, but it didn't. Readers who enjoy lush language, people who love New York, and people who want a book to chew on for a while will probably love this. I truly hate to admit it, but this one defeated me. Reviewed March 30, 2009 Read an…