Introverted Reader

Feeling Buried in the Snow

I know all of you who live farther north than I do are going to laugh at this, but I AM SICK OF SNOW. We had 14 inches dropped on us over Friday and Saturday and we were all but shut down. We used to get decent 3-4" snows pretty regularly here in the mountains of North Carolina, but it's practically stopped over the past several years. Now, if we get half an inch, it's a huge deal--none of us remember how to drive on it, and we're just not equipped to deal with any significant accumulation. My power went off Friday evening and didn't come back on until Sunday night. We were fine, really, but I have to complain a little. Being shut in the weekend before Christmas is no fun. At least I didn't have to work. A few of my co-workers got caught at work and were on the clock for 36 hours! I can't imagine. I'm sick of the place by the time I finish my normal 13-hour shift. So go ahead and tell me to stop whining already! :-) On the other hand, we got all our Christmas gifts wrapped, and I zoomed through a lot of books. You can look for these reviews as soon as I get caught up: Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews, Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George, The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King, Madapple by Christina Meldrum, Un Lun Dun by China Miéville, and Black Mountain Breakdown by Lee Smith. And, as much as I dislike snow and cold (I am a summertime baby), even I have to admit that it was beautiful. My husband took some great shots yesterday. I'll share a couple. The road to my house. Our pine trees are not…

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December 22, 2009

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore: Book Review

I can't even really say what this is about without giving anything away. Let's just say that the stupidest angel's mission to create a Christmas miracle goes horribly, hilariously awry in ways that only Christopher Moore could write about. This wasn't quite as funny as I expected it to be, but I think since reading A Dirty Job as my first Moore novel, my expectations for the rest have been unrealistically high. I still laughed all through the book though, and drove my husband crazy reading him funny quotes from the book that probably in all honesty made no sense out of context. The hubby's a good sport though, and laughed along with me. Here's a sampling that will hopefully make sense without giving anything away. "Dressed in their red suits and fake beards, [the Salvation Army Santas] rang their bells like they were going for dog-spit gold at the Pavlov Olympics." "[A black lab] was crowding Gabe in the doorway, his beefy tail beating against the open door like a Snausage war drum." "'Merry Christmas, you doomed sons a' bitches!' said Santa." I wouldn't be surprised if Moore has spent his entire life waiting to write the book that goes with that last quote. It's just too funny! If you're feeling a little overly-sugar-and-spiced, pick this book up for a nice change of pace. Just don't buy it for your grandmother. Christopher Moore warns you against that himself. Have you read any of Moore's work? What did you think?

Author Spotlight

Charles Vess: Meeting the Author (Illustrator)

Well, meeting the artist/illustrator. Close enough, right? If you read any of the big names in fantasy, chances are you've come across some of Charles Vess's artwork. Listening to him talk last night was like listening to a who's who in the world of fantasy publishing. Names like Neil Gaiman, Charles de Lint, George R.R. Martin, and Susanna Clarke dropped effortlessly from his lips. I would have accused him of name-dropping, except that when you work with the best, who else do you have to talk about? Charles has just published a 200-page retrospective of his artwork. It's called Drawing Down the Moon: The Art of Charles Vess. And it is gorgeous. Just look at this cover. Anyway, he gave a slide presentation at a local bookstore last night and talked about his artwork and a little about what it's like to work with these famous authors. If you get a chance to see him, I encourage you to go. I'm very, very bad to quickly glance at a piece of art, decide if I like it or not, and then move on. Charles took the time to point out some details that have left me poring over each piece in the book to make sure that I'm taking in all the details. If you own the graphic novel Stardust that he did with Neil Gaiman, drag it out. Look at the fairy market. I can't even remember everyone that he said made it into this scene. I know Neil and his daughter are in there, as well as Charles himself and Gandalf. I'm sure there are more, but I'm drawing a big blank right now. Probably the very coolest thing about a very cool evening was the sneak peek we got at another book he's doing with Gaiman, Instructions.…

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December 12, 2009

The Frog Prince by Stephen Mitchell: Book Review

4 Stars. It's been several years since I read this, so I can't say much about it except that I liked it. And I saved this quote from the book: "There are two kinds of women: those who marry princes and those who marry frogs. The frogs never become princes, but it is an acknowledged fact that a prince may very well, in the [...]

The Temptation of the Night Jasmine by Lauren Willig: Book Review

3.5 Stars. Charlotte just isn't quite Henrietta, Letty, or even Mary. She spent much of the book just fantasizing about Robert. While interesting enough, I kept waiting for the comedy of misunderstandings and the adventure of French spies pitted against our faithful British crew to get started. About halfway through, things [...]

Author Spotlight

Sarah Addison Allen: Meeting the Author

Sarah Addison Allen, author of Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen, had a signing at a local bookstore today, so my mom and I braved the cold and the flurries to go see her. We both just love her books, and our reading tastes rarely overlap. She was very sweet, even when we approached her when she'd barely had time to grab a seat and a pen. I was even holding four books because my sister couldn't be there to get hers signed. Sarah teased me a little about how next time my sister had better be there, but she was very gracious about the stack of books I handed her. Of course I forgot my camera in the car, so I don't have any pictures to post. I loved the way she signed the books. For Garden Spells, she wrote, "Magically yours," and for The Sugar Queen, she wrote, "Life is sweet...Eat it up!" Too cute! I asked my mom if she had anything she wanted to add about getting to meet her. She said "I really enjoyed meeting such a talented local author." If you haven't read either of her books, I highly recommend them. I loved them both for different reasons. It's been a while since I read Garden Spells, but in my review I wrote "The story is about Sydney learning to accept herself and her heritage and about Claire learning that sometimes you can't control everything, but taking risks can lead to huge rewards." The Sugar Queen was about the importance of female friendships and self-acceptance. There's one character who has a small bit of magic that I would love to have! If you haven't read both of them, you really should. Sarah Addison Allen has a new book coming out March 16, The Girl…

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December 5, 2009

Mama Makes Up Her Mind by Bailey White: Book Review

4 Stars. You should see my copy of this book. One of my co-workers, who, for various reasons, has only recently seen how much I read, saw all the neon post-it flags sticking out of the side of my book and asked me what on earth I was doing. I blushed and tried to explain how the people in Bailey White's humorous little [...]

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December 1, 2009

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout: Book Review

4 Stars. Olive is obviously at the heart of this collection of stories. It's very easy for fictional characters to be all good or all bad. I had moments where I hated Olive, cheered her on, admired her, pitied her, and even loathed her. But if you look deeply inside all of us, isn't that the way we would really feel about [...]

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder: Book Review

5 Stars. I just loved Yelena. She is so smart, sarcastic, ever-hopeful, and talented in ways that even she doesn't realize. She's the biggest reason I rated this book five stars. So my question is, with all the kick-ass female characters out there for teen girls to read, why is whiny Bella the one that most seem to have latched [...]