Always Doing

The last thing I want to do is spoil anyone so please excuse any vagueness or odd hand waving. Hopefully those who have read the book will know what I'm getting at.

Like any good mystery we start off with a bunch of intriguing questions - was Ashley's death really a suicide? Who is this reclusive Cordova guy, anyway? And what kind of guy would make such twisted films?

The (non-spoilery) good stuff:

- The backstory. Pessl obviously put a ton of work into Cordova's filmography and it shows. I was worried that with a dozen or so film titles being thrown around I would get confused but there was always ample context.

- How the arc of the book as a whole mirrors... something else. While some might be annoyed with the end I thought it was fitting, especially how it related to... that something else. ~shakes a fist at the spoiler-free sky~

- Cordova's philosophy. I can't say I agree with it, but it's intriguing and made me think about how I'm living my own life. Not to mention that I need to read a certain poem now.

- Most of the characters are on the "unlikeable" side of the scale but they didn't make me want to throw the book across the room. All have their own motivations (however twisted) and it works.

The (zero spoiler) bad stuff:

- In the first half of the book question after question is raised but precious few are answered, and around the 50% mark I started to lose interest. Why should I keep reading if it just digs me deeper into a hole? Near the end things picked up and gave me some stuff to think about but it was a struggle to get there.

- The extras available through the "decoder" app. A couple were neat (a filmography, primary documents) but some were maddening. An interview with a murderer was especially bad, because...

- ...while Pessl does the fiction thing really well the art of the interview is lost on her. The questions sound like they're being read in order, no matter what the subject says. The murderer in particular leaves all these juicy tidbits hanging in the air, begging for follow up, but the interviewer just goes to the next question on her list. Maybe I've been spoiled by Terry Gross but it was beyond annoying.

- The voice acting in the app left much to be desired. It sounded like reading, not acting out a part.

Overall it was an interesting read that left me thinking but sadly it didn't live up to the hype.

Definitely in the "Plot? What Plot?" sub-genre with sex scene followed by change of scene followed by sex scene followed by angst followed by sex scene. The caper near the end of the book left me puzzled but I liked the believable depiction of a threesome and all the conflicting emotions therein.

Mercy Thompson's world is a home for me. I've been looking for a series like this for a long time - a place to return to when other books leave me unsatisfied or I'm stuck in a slump. Reconnecting with this cast is a joy, so much so that I don't let myself read the next book until a couple of months have passed. Why gulp everything down when I can draw out the pleasure?The part I loved most about this book I can't talk about. Er, won't talk about. It blindsided me and I'd like it to blindside you. It gave me a lot to think about and made Iron Kissed a four star read. Now I just need two more months to go by so I can read the next one.

I don't think there is anything new I can say about David Foster Wallace - he is brilliant and funny and manages to both go over my head and stay down to earth at the same time. I'm really glad I read this collection of essays before tackling Infinite Jest, kind of like stretching before a marathon. It also gave me a chance to see how my e-reader would handle DFW's copious endnotes.The verdict - surprisingly well. It was my best foot or endnote experience to date. Each note was on a separate screen so touching ^23 would put endnote 23 right at the top of the page, in full, with no other notes trailing. It prevented me from accidentally "spoiling" myself by seeing content in later notes, which happened quite a lot as I read World War Z. You could chalk it up to my lack of willpower or my wandering eyes, but I'll keep blaming the e-reader. *~nodnod~*Touching (back to text) at the end of the note brought me back to the previous page with the next sentence right at the top. It seems illogical - in a real book you would flip back and the note would still be two thirds of the way down or whatever. But putting the next line at the top meant I never had to hunt or remember where on the page I was, as the next thing to read was always in the same place. Absolutely wonderful.Not perfect, however. The links for endnotes within endnotes could be a little wonky, forcing me get creative with the back button. Also, the end notes are in a font at least two clicks smaller than the main text. Fine for most books with two line notes, I'm sure, but when DFW goes into a three page interpolation it left me squinting. There were also some weird formatting blips, like "3x5" getting rendered as "3￥5". Add in this oddity: "The logic of this (preference [[Right arrow]] suffering) relation may be easiest to see in the negative case." The file format is native to my reader so I'm not sure why they couldn't get a → in there.Like with any essay collection there are awesome pieces and meh pieces. My favorites were Big Red Son about the 1998 Adult Video News (read: porn) Awards, and Up, Simba about being on the trail with the McCain2000 primary campaign. For some reason my edition is missing Host, a report about conservative talk radio... I wonder why that is. I feel jipped now!Up, Simba was written for Rolling Stone and, as explained in a note from Wallace, had to be cut down ruthlessly for the magazine. Quote, "In fact the article's editor pointed out that running the whole thing would take up most of Rolling Stone's text-space and might even cut into the percentage of the advertisements, which obviously would not do." (Full version here, of course.) You can tell the magazine had a no endnote rule and it must have pained the author greatly. A couple of smaller asides survive as parenthetical insertions but it's interesting to see what an EN-less DFW essay looks like. It feels scandalous to say this, but... I kinda liked it. Not that I would want to erase any of his endnotes (or even skip over one - perish the thought) but the change of pace was appreciated.Authority and American Usage nearly killed me. I had just finished a long day of editing prose written by non-native speakers only to be confronted with this essay that opens with the most questionable English imaginable. "On accident. Kustom Kar Kare Autowash. From whence. Could care less. Incumbent upon. Mandate. Plurality. Per anum. Conjunctive adverbs in general." My brain fried right there on the train.While one book cannot make a favorite author I definitely have a new intellectual crush. DFW, it's good to know you.

I thought I knew zombies - the shuffle, the arms out, the groan of "braaaaaaains". Simple, right?Nope. Oh so wrong.Max Brooks, on the other hand, has been doing a lot of thinking about zombies - what makes them tick, what makes them die, and everything inbetween. Through an oral history a la Studs Terkel (if you don't know him get thee to this audio doc! He's a treasure) he relates all the details. They are so rational, so well thought out, that many times I found myself thinking, "That would totally happen. Of course."The arc of the book can be split into three main sections:- What would a zombie apocalypse look like? Where would it start? How would people and governments initially react?- After humans get a grip on what the undead are really like how would they change their fighting tactics? Would it be enough?- What would the fight teach us about our world and ourselves? Would we be better off for the struggle, or forget all the lessons we learned in a generation or two?The interviews hop all over the world in search of answers. I was shocked when one subject was from Kyoto, Japan. I live in Kyoto! The shock was soon followed by dread - Japan is so hard to get right. I prepared to wince at gross generalizations and stereotypes... only to find none. There were unbelievable bits, sure,^1 but they were small and probably only bothered me. Along the way Brooks managed to comment on the Japanese educational system, otaku, hikikomori, and the Shinto religion. Well done.While I have no intention of seeing the movie I would love to listen to the audiobook - there is so much amazing material for actors to work with here. Each character has their own voice, tics, worldview, and of course, amazing story. At the end of the book we get a few paragraphs from people that appeared hundreds of pages prior and I remembered nearly every one.The episodic nature of the interviews could make World War Z easy to put down but the story kept pulling me back in. If you like apocalyptic fiction this is in your wheelhouse. If you like oral histories or epistolary-esque writing you'll be in love. And if you like deeper stuff about what makes humans human you're more than covered. Very nearly five stars.---^1 - The slang word he chose for zeds, saifu, means "wallet" in Japanese. Also, the guy escapes from a 19 story apartment tower but city zoning laws restrict residential buildings to roughly 10 stories. Admittedly nitpicks, but hey.

Claimed starts off with a disclaimer saying that this series of books is "not intended to be an actual portrayal of the BDSM lifestyle; nor [is it] meant to be a real representation of a BDSM club". Kennedy could have just said, "This club is too good to be true and could never exist. Please don't leave your husband and job to find it no matter how bad you want to okay thx bye."Casino president Dmitri is a "true" dominant. Without a fix in the bedroom his professional life goes to hell so he built a mansion with Club Sin in the basement. Membership is free (of course) as Dmitri is looking to help others with a love of dominance and submission while fulfilling his own need. Help is a big theme here - our heroine Presley needs help getting into the lifestyle and breaking free from her controlling ex, Demitri needs help so he can allow himself to love, someone else needs help moving on after her husband dies.BDSM as healing or therapy or whatever isn't new but it always strikes me as... odd. It's like like saying writing is therapy - it can have a therapeutic effect but I'm not sure it replaces someone with a Ph.D and a funky couch. It seems to me that getting into the lifestyle can help you work through things, but maybe not in the "have this powerful/troubling scene, become enlightened, be 'cured'" way Claimed and other BDSM erotica sets forth.Anywho, the story follows Presley's introduction to submission, from a trial period and contracts to finding her perfect dom. I found her journey to be believable - while she's primed to be a sub she still has reasonable doubts and fears that have to be worked through. Sure, she landed in Club Amazing with Mr. Perfect, but the internal challenges are all there.For external difficulties we have Presley's cheating ex-boyfriend with stalker tenancies. Maybe I'm just sensitive because I've read two books with this type of character back to back but the ex as stalker/enemy/evil dude trope is starting to get to me. Perhaps this is why I usually read paranormal - it's so much easier to write evil dudes when they can be devils or vampires or shapeshifters.The oft-covered "submissive does not equal doormat" topic is done well here, with examples of women happy as bedroom submissives and sex slaves both.When it comes down to it Claimed is a light, fun tale of wish/fantasy fulfillment. If you've been neck deep in depressing literary fiction or just want everything to go right for once you'll enjoy this fast read.

I realize that much of the world has gotten over vampires but I haven't. Paranormal escapism with sexy men and creatures humanoid enough not to set off my "ew creepy" gag reflex? Yes, please.But let's face it, a lot of novels are the same - strong guy vamp gets instalove for mortal girl and fights over the fate of the mortal world ensue with lots of hot lovin' on the side. There's nothing wrong with hot lovin' but the rest grows old after a while.Enter Tall, Dark, and Vampire. Here the coven is a group of women headed by Olivia, a 300 year old kick butt vamp. None of her brethren dream but for the past twenty years she has spent her days romping around a dreamscape with Douglas, her human lover several centuries dead.So imagine her shock when he shows up at the door of her New York City club, The Coven, in the form of detective Doug Paxton. Add in some suspicious murders, cute furry creatures, and the fact that Doug has been having the dreams, too, and we're off and running.From the start I knew this wasn't a debut novel - Humphreys' voice is self-assured and the world building early on shows promise. I love the gender role reversal and how strong Olivia can be.As the story moved on a couple of things nagged at me, though. We're both told and shown over and over again that Olivia has a thing for hopeless cases. Most of the vampires she's turned were brutally attacked and near death, and even her two pets are rescues. This isn't a bad thing in and of itself but more subtlety would have been appreciated.Later on Doug makes a rash decision that deeply affects his relationship with Olivia and frankly, his ability to stay alive until the end of the book. Instead of explaining the consequences and helping Doug realize what he's getting into Olivia just shrugs. Being that he's the guy in all her sexy dreams I thought she would be a little more invested in his welfare.I was hoping that this series would follow two main characters so I could watch them develop over time but their happily ever after comes easily enough. I'm guessing that the other characters will get theirs at the series goes on but I'm not as interested in their stories (exceptions - Trixie and Damien).All in all Tall, Dark, and Vampire is interesting for its premise and world building but tapers off into a more usual vampire novel. I won't be continuing this series but I am interested in checking out more of Humphreys' books to see if they're more my thing.

What we have here is a typical heist novel set out in the way you would expect. We meet the characters, see a previous con to see what the baddie can do, set up the Big One, put together a crew, then pull off the whole shebang in spite of complications. While the tried and true formula is a little worn in spots Evanovich and Goldberg handle it well enough.Early on I got the feeling that they're building a world for a long series. Kate and Nick can do all kinds of different heists, characters' back stories can be explored, new crew members can be brought in... in other words, infinite combinations of the same thing. And isn't that what a mystery series is about? All the setting up left some characters a little flat (a moment here for poor movie effect/blood splatter dude) but I'm sure they'll get their due in upcoming books.I love witty banter and Evanovich and Goldberg deliver. Some bits made me laugh out loud, like when Kate's sister Megan asks what her dream is. Kate replies,"Daniel Craig, a tropical island, a quart of Oreo cookie ice cream, and a pair of handcuffs.""Who's wearing the cuffs?" Megan asked.Gender is handled well throughout, which makes sense as the novel was written by a male/female team. Kate, an ex-Navy SEAL, is more likely to come up with ideas using brute force while Nick, the con man, is more likely to come up with a sneaky plan. Both use sex and charm to get their marks. Willie, who can drive anything with a motor, is female. Good signs all.A couple things did bother me, though. Kate is described early on as someone whose stomach is "flat and toned despite her terrible eating habits". A girl who has her cake and eats it too, grah!The cast also contains two potential deus ex machina - Nick, with his smarts and incredible list of contacts, and Kate's father, with a somewhat different set of smarts and an even more incredible list of contacts. I can forgive one know-it-all but two is a bit much. As a result I didn't feel much stress as the big heist goes awry at the end of the book - someone was sure to fix everything somehow.The Heist was a fun escapist read but if you like real thinking mysteries you'll have to go elsewhere. I'm looking forward to picking up the next book in the series but won't be lining up for it on release day.

What we have here is a typical heist novel set out in the way you would expect. We meet the characters, see a previous con to see what the baddie can do, set up the Big One, put together a crew, then pull off the whole shebang in spite of complications. While the tried and true formula is a little worn in spots Evanovich and Goldberg handle it well enough.Early on I got the feeling that they're building a world for a long series. Kate and Nick can do all kinds of different heists, characters' back stories can be explored, new crew members can be brought in... in other words, infinite combinations of the same thing. And isn't that what a mystery series is about? All the setting up left some characters a little flat (a moment here for poor movie effect/blood splatter dude) but I'm sure they'll get their due in upcoming books.I love witty banter and Evanovich and Goldberg deliver. Some bits made me laugh out loud, like when Kate's sister Megan asks what her dream is. Kate replies,"Daniel Craig, a tropical island, a quart of Oreo cookie ice cream, and a pair of handcuffs.""Who's wearing the cuffs?" Megan asked.Gender is handled well throughout, which makes sense as the novel was written by a male/female team. Kate, an ex-Navy SEAL, is more likely to come up with ideas using brute force while Nick, the con man, is more likely to come up with a sneaky plan. Both use sex and charm to get their marks. Willie, who can drive anything with a motor, is female. Good signs all.A couple things did bother me, though. Kate is described early on as someone whose stomach is "flat and toned despite her terrible eating habits". A girl who has her cake and eats it too, grah!The cast also contains two potential deus ex machina - Nick, with his smarts and incredible list of contacts, and Kate's father, with a somewhat different set of smarts and an even more incredible list of contacts. I can forgive one know-it-all but two is a bit much. As a result I didn't feel much stress as the big heist goes awry at the end of the book - someone was sure to fix everything somehow.The Heist was a fun escapist read but if you like real thinking mysteries you'll have to go elsewhere. I'm looking forward to picking up the next book in the series but won't be lining up for it on release day.

I was hoping the second book would be better than the first but I think I liked it less.The hardest thing for me to unpack is whether Dresden is just unlikable, and therefore I'm closed-minded in not respecting him as a character, or if there's something about him that's over a line.Butcher knows his character is in arse. Murphy even says, "You're such a pompous, arrogant, pretentious, chauvinistic, hopelessly old-fashioned, stupidly pigheaded..." So it isn't an unconscious move on Butcher's part, but I don't understand Dresden's motivations or reasons. Is he old-fashioned because he shorts out electronic stuff and is not up with the modern ways of the world? (Not that it would stop him from picking up a newspaper.) Why would his view of women not change, even though he deals with them on a semi-regular basis? Is his hard-headedness enough to explain that all away?What bothered me most, though, was that he sees Murphy as someone who needs to be protected, just because she's a woman. Forget that she's a kick ass detective, that she carries a gun, that she's probably seen and dealt with a whole bunch of crazy stuff Dresden doesn't even know about - if a baddie is nearby he goes into "MUST SAVE THE DAME" mode. Her gender trumps everything else. If Dresden treated Murphy as a true partner and they covered each others' backs that would be fine, but it's not even close to that.Other irks:- Our hero Dresden gets hurt quite badly early and gets even more hurt as the story goes on. Shoulder, leg, all over, and he still manages to claw out of deep holes and go over walls when he needs to.- At one point Dresden states that he has to save the world and that he may die because of that, and that's okay. Later he says hey, I nearly fixed everything and they're going to kill me, how rude. Pick one, dude.- There were times Dresden would tell us something via narration and then a different character would say the exact same thing a few lines later. Grah.- It seemed like women ended up (fully) naked a lot more than the guys.So yeah, I don't see myself revisiting this series.

I waited too long to review this, grah. A lot of things bugged me about this story, which is basically about a top learning that she is "actually" a bottom, ignoring the whole concept of a switch. A decent filler read, but not something I would recommend.

I love what Nancy Madore is setting out to do. From the intro:"It is my belief that to really empower women sexually... we must accept them exactly as they are.... We need to feel safe being sexual without the fear of being exploited, changed, categorized, punished, shamed, or degraded."Amen!She says she wrote these erotic bedtime stories for women, about women, based on the real fantasies of women. "Do not be alarmed if you find a fantasy or two that is not quite 'correct' from every point of view." In other words - your kink may be different from someone else's kink. So true.Some stories are based on honest to goodness fairy tales (The Ugly Duckling, Cinderella) while others are takes on a trope (Cat and Mouse, The Sheep in Wolves' Clothing). All kinds of kink are included, including polyamory/menage (Snow White in the Woods), exhibitionism (The Empress' New Clothes), wife swap (Mr. Fox), and discipline (Bluebeard).My favorite story by far is Beauty and the Beast. It's a more sexy retelling but it brings up an intriguing point - Beauty fell in love with one person, but when she agreed to marry him she was presented with another. In the Disney version it feels like a bonus, as she fell in love with this ugly guy but look, he's actually handsome! Thank goodness! Here, though, Beauty mourns the loss of the Beast she fell in love with. It made me think a lot about the meaning of love, and how many happily ever afters I've seen in film and books may not actually be so.At times Madore is a bit too on the nose in the lessons she's trying to impart. From Mirror on the Wall, about a cruel kingdom: "First, [women] starved themselves almost to death, because this emaciated condition was thought to be more appealing.... Aging was the most detestable of all the natural manifestations.... Although such an existence may seem far-fetched and improbable to many a reader, I assure you, it is quite true". This could have been handled subtly for more impact, but instead I felt assaulted by the implications.Cinderella also left me confused, as she was confined by her pinching glass slippers. Why didn't she take them off? Was she cursed to wear them? Later she is bestowed with another set of footwear she can remove at will so I don't get it.Enchanted is an enjoyable erotic look at old tales. Like any anthology there are bound to be stories you like more or less, and while some got preachy all in all it's a good read.

This book really hit home for me, as I am also a newly married MWF that could use more BFFs in her life. In fact, it may have hit too close to home.Over the course of the book Bertsche goes on 52 "friend dates" in search of a new best friend. I like that she intersperses the dates with all kinds of scientific data about friendship, though it did make me depressed at the beginning. "The average person has 120 good acquaintances and friends? I'm not even close! Oh noes!"Watching the dates happen and friends come and go was more fun than I thought it would be, but the book was a little too "put down-able" for my liking. My favorite part was when she struggled with what a best friend is in mid-life as opposed to in our teenage years, as there was a lot of good stuff to chew on.Interesting book, some motivation if you could use a few friends of your own, but nothing mind-blowing.

Bernadette, mother of Bee, wife of a big wig at Microsoft, goes missing. Who was she, who is she, and where did she go?

 

Trust me, that's all you need to know. With the help of report cards, emails, faxes, and other seemingly random papers Bee documents the events leading up to her mother's disappearance and the subsequent search.

 

Epistolary novels are my weakness and this one is exceptionally good. The range of mediums, as well as writers and recipients, gives us a deep look into people's heads. And what interesting heads! Semple does a great job giving each character a distinct voice and making the whole thing funny to boot.

 

Starting feels a little bit like wading into the weeds but things come together quickly. Even after the narrative settled down Semple kept me on my toes by bringing up something I didn't know (AutoCAD, say) and letting it hang. It gnawed quietly on a corner of my brain for 10, 20, or 50 pages before a subtle explanation was dropped. More than once I found myself smiling and nodding in recognition, "ohhh, that thing!" Now and then there was a reference I did get (...AutoCAD, actually), letting me feel smart for a second.

 

Where'd You Go, Bernadette lives and breathes the axiom "show, don't tell". I don't want to spoil you, so let's just say that a powerpoint presentation is given in front of a large crowd. The speaker's clicker breaks two slides in, though, and he has to resort to explaining everything. It's perfect because it allows the transcript to be a full record while also showing the character's poise under pressure. Add in a live blogger's comments and it's masterful.The only fault I can find in the entire novel is a slightly slow part near the end, but it's so minor it's barely worth mentioning. Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a fun, engaging read just about anyone can enjoy.

I don't think I've read a single play since my theatre classes in college, but it all came back to me - analyzing parts, coming up with different readings for the same line, imagining what this play must have looked like on stage.I bet it was interesting. A one man show, Cul-de-sac slowly takes you through a series of character studies of people who all live on the same dead end street. They're all talking, more or less directly, about an event that happened recently. I'll just leave it there to avoid spoiling anything.There are some downright beautiful lines and interesting insights sprinkled throughout. One of my favorites, from a 14 year old girl:"I wish I could be a lesbian. It would be easier. Girls are easier. I mean girls can be bitchy but so can boys just when boys are bitchy they call it highly motivated."A short read even with the lengthy introduction, this play reminded me that there's a whole world of drama out there waiting for me.

I liked Blood Bound even better than the first Mercy Thompson novel. It has everything - wonderful world building, interesting characters, realistic motivations, a scary bad guy and even a little romance. This book especially reminded me of early Anita Blake novels in the best way. Our heroine has powers of her own, is police-adjacent, attracts men like no other, and does what she wants fully aware of the risks. Very nearly a five star read.And now to get a little spoiler-y:I think the three guys vying for her attention pose interesting problems. Sam "only" wants to have children while she wants to remain childless, so for those two to get together one of them would have to give. And really, with two personalities like that can you see that lasting at all?Through a freak of Alpha-ness, Adam has a hard time letting Mercy exercise free will. He can try but when things get tough that's always going to pop out. She would truly have to surrender to Adam for that relationship to work.And then we have Stefan. He's powerful. He keeps his word (basically). He's smart, not killing those two Renfields 'cause he knew it would piss Mercy off. But he's also a vampire.I can see his love going one of two ways - the guy who has admired from afar finally getting a chance and doing everything to not squander it, or guy who has gone all stalker-y from afar takes things into his own hands.For the record I like Stefan best, but that may be because we know the least about him. Samuel comes in second, and Adam dead last.