"Wolf Rider" by Avi Book Review

Wolf Rider by Avi

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

On an ordinary evening, just as he's about to leave for a party, 15-year-old Andy Zadinski receives a phone call from a stranger that changes his life. The caller, Zeke, confesses to the murder of a young woman named Nina Klemmer. Andy immediately calls the police, who shrug it off as a gag or a crank call. But Andy persists when he happens to meet Nina, who is just as Zeke described her. She takes his warnings as harassment, however, and everyone now thinks that Andy himself made up the call. His attempts to ferret out Zeke and protect Nina, while compromising his own safety, make for an exciting tale of the terror lurking beneath everyday surroundings and behind ordinary events.

I'm not sure what to think of this book. I know it was meant for a younger audience, so I feel I must give it some leeway.

I'm not convinced that most of what happened wasn't just coming out of Andy's own mind. (view spoiler)[ For one thing, the man who is apparently a vicious murderer, doesn't actually commit any murders. At least, not in this book. He just seems to want to live out horrible fantasies. Which isn't great, but totally better than killing people. There's no mention of past murder victims being found. Lucas could've just wanted to kill to hide from the embarrassment of being found out that he even has them. And I'm not entirely sure that he would've killed Andy. He did tie him up, but he wasn't exactly dressed for murder: he was running the risk of anyone seeing him in his usual clothes. And he had to have been a reasonably well-known personage around the town. Professors don't exactly make enough to have their initials put on their snazzy cufflinks with their salary.

And the ending didn't answer anything. Lucas was never found out and he died, but that part didn't bother me so much as the strained relationship between Andy and his father. Instead of thinking that his son might have been right the whole time with his finding of the fancy cufflink, he could easily assume that Andy might be a killer. For all he knows, he was stalking some woman (which is exactly what he did) and trying to put the blame on someone else. So now, with the finding of the cufflink, he could also think that his son succeeded in killing a beloved professor and making it look like a car crash. The sequel for this would probably have a lot of therapy and 'medicine' for Andy when he gets back from his Aunt's.  (hide spoiler)]

I don't know. It was certainly a fast read. But I'm so used to CSI and thorough investigations on TV, maybe this was a step too far down for me to enjoy.

I read another of Avi's books before, "Blue Heron" (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...), way back in middle school and I loved it. I'm wondering if I would like it now. It's a completely different story from this one, so possibly.

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3 out of 5 stars.

"Beauty" by Robin McKinley Book Review

Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"A strange imprisonment....

"Beauty has never liked her nickname. She is thin and awkward; it is her two sisters who are the beautiful ones. But what she lacks in looks, she can perhaps make up for in courage.

"When her father comes home with the tale of an enchanted castle in the forest and the terrible promise he had to make to the Beast who lives there, Beauty knows she must go to the castle, a prisoner of her own free will. Her father protests that he will not let her go, but she answers, 'Cannot a Beast be tamed?'

"Robin McKinley's beloved telling illuminates the unusual love story of a most unlikely couple: 'Beauty and the Beast.' "

This whole review is full of spoilers. I'm not blocking it out. Read at your own peril.

This is one of the many novels retelling the famous fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast" - in fact, this is only one of two that this author has written - I heard the other one is mostly about roses. I enjoyed this book, it was a very fast-paced read. It kept pretty close to the original story by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont.

But there were a few things that bothered me. For one, when Beauty wants to leave in her father's stead, her family protests at first and then they just let her go. So in short: "NO! NO! NO! NO! Fine." I mean, they are sad, but I expected something a bit more dramatic and realistic to happen. I totally expected her to runaway in the middle of the night and then get rescued from starving and freezing to death by the castle's sudden appearance. At least in the original story it is said that her family is a bunch of vain jerks that don't care that she may be going to her death.

I can rely upon my imagination to add to the details that the author supplies. But this may in fact be the laziest description of a main character that I have ever read. Frankly, I'm confused as to what the Beast was supposed to look like in this version. There are a lot of mentions about gryphons and then there's a mention of a lion's mane, but that's it. Did he have hooves? Was his face a weird bird-like beak thing? In that case, did he have wings? If I had been Beauty and he had had wings, I would have married him in a heartbeat.... And then been promptly disappointed when he turned into a plain non-magical albeit handsome human being.

And the ending made little sense while being anti-climactic. There should have been some drama when she finally said "I love you" to the hideous creature that she was so scared of when she first saw him. Instead it was said and then a few sentences later, it's wedding time! There wasn't any painful transformation, no fireworks, or fairy lights. Nothing! At least they had a chaste kiss, I suppose.

And then, if the magic was gone, how in the hell did her family know to go to the castle then? There's no magical way to send the message, and they would have had a hard time believing that anyway. There was no mention of the Beast sending a human liveried servant to them to let them know of the happy tidings. How did they know to go and what persuaded them to undertake the journey?

And then the townsfolk.... I can imagine how that conversation went down: "Hey, Beauty is getting married to a king we forgot existed for at least two centuries." "Wasn't she with her aunt in the city?" "Oh, about that, it's a terrible lie and a long story. Anywho, let's just walk right into that enchanted forest that we have been making up terrifying stories about that have TURNED OUT TO BE TRUE!!!!" On a scale of one to never ever happening, it's definitely the latter.

Magician? Really? Wouldn't 'witch' have been a more appropriate name for that guy considering the time period of this story? And that was the dumbest reason to curse an entire family. I mean, I've heard of people murdering each other for stupid reasons, but I would never turn my enemy into a literal killing machine. That sounds like a plan that should've backfired instantly. But it was nice of the guy to let the Beast know that he just had to make someone fall in love with him to break the spell, because no one has ever fallen in love with an ugly King/rich guy before. The witch, as I'm calling him, could've just waited until the incestuous relationships in the royal family began to manifest into freakish deformities in the future generations instead of performing a curse that didn't even work right away.

By the way, when was this supposed to be happening? That library really threw me off. I can understand if they were in an alternate reality that they would have future books in it, like the world's most Tardis-like castle ever. But when the magic is gone at the end of the story, did all of those future books just disappear?

And then the Beast forgot his own name, which okay, if no one is saying your name to you for two hundred years you might forget it. But you'd think, being surrounded by all of those books, he would've gotten the idea to write down the most emo of all biographies ever. Even though no one would have read it, being inside a castle that everyone has forgotten existed that is also inside a horrifying enchanted forest that no one enters willingly, it probably wouldn't have an audience. But it would have kept him busy and he might have remembered his name, provided he started with a title page. " 'My Ugly Face by King -', eh, I'll fill that in later."

And then, Beauty. It's not really her fault she didn't know she was pretty. She started off an awkward teenager that has lost everything and happens to have sisters who could double as models if they felt like it. There aren't any mirrors in the castle the whole few months she is there. And when she visits home no one thinks to give the whiny bitch a mirror just to shut her up? In fact the only person who does make her look in a mirror is the Beast who has avoided mirrors out of habit for obvious reasons.

I swear I liked the book before I started this review, I guess I started thinking about it. But I would certainly hand this to a teenager or a tween since this would be right up their alley. Ms. McKinley was very faithful to the original story, perhaps too faithful. But it was an enjoyable read.

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3 out of 5 stars, for the Stockholm Syndrome. 

"A Fatal Likeness" Book Review

A Fatal Likeness by Lynn Shepherd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"A mystery that explores the dark lives and unexplained secrets of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.

"In the dying days of 1850 the young detective Charles Maddox takes on a new case. His client? The only surviving son of the long-dead poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, and his wife Mary, author of Frankenstein.

"Charles soon finds himself being drawn into the bitter battle being waged over the poet’s literary legacy, but then he makes a chance discovery that raises new doubts about the death of Shelley’s first wife, Harriet, and he starts to question whether she did indeed kill herself, or whether what really happened was far more sinister than suicide.

"As he’s drawn deeper into the tangled web of the past, Charles discovers darker and more disturbing secrets, until he comes face to face with the terrible possibility that his own great-uncle is implicated in a conspiracy to conceal the truth that stretches back more than thirty years.

"The story of the Shelleys is one of love and death, of loss and betrayal. In this follow-up to the acclaimed Tom-All-Alone’s, Lynn Shepherd offers her own fictional version of that story, which suggests new and shocking answers to mysteries that still persist to this day, and have never yet been fully explained."

Before I get started, I will say that I found this book enjoyable and the writing well done. Otherwise, I wouldn't have finished it and this review would just be a list of exasperated complaints.

However, I do have some nit-picking to do.

I must say that I do not like when a narrative goes back and forth between time periods. Specifically, some time in the past and then the current state of affairs. Now, if that actually means a damn to the story, like it is a major part of the plot, then fine, do that, so long as it is sensible. What the author did here, and I don't know if she does it in all of her work, was irritating because it reminded me that she existed and it didn't move the story along. It seemed to always give information that wasn't necessary to be read and almost seemed like she was showing off her research skills in odd moments. I know there is a narrator and that guy knows everything because we're reading this story 200 years in the future, but having that show up slows the pacing of the story and must of it doesn't help me if the character doesn't know about it.

Also, the mentioning that we, the reader, probably know what happened to the main character because we may possibly have read the first book (I didn't), is annoying. Particularly when the narrator goes, "He did this (but YOU know that)". I know the author didn't want to repeat themselves, but there must have been a more elegant way of doing that.

I found the accents perfect, because I knew where they were from and could read them. I have read some characters with accents and had to have it translated like it was a different language (Dracula, anyone?).

I said it before in one of my updates, but I'll say it again: "I find it funny that the author of a British detective novel would mock the character of Sherlock Holmes - even though her detective wouldn't be able to hold a candle to him: he's both stupid (or at least among these particular clients - the only reason he is getting ahead is because some other detective has done the work for him by writing it down) and overemotionally involved in his cases." The movie about Holmes came out recently, you're British, you're writing about a detective that is logical and has scientific methods, and has a disdain for his appearance (unless it will help a case). Am I really supposed to think of someone other than Holmes? You brought this upon yourself, Ms. Shepherd!

It is interesting that she should choose such a famed and literary family to slander in this book. I'm sure there are Romantic fans out there getting their pitchforks and torches ready. I did love "Frankenstein" (the book); it is one of my all-time favorites. But even still, I only found it somewhat irksome that Mary Shelley's character is besmirched so much in this book. (view spoiler)[I always thought her to be a young woman in love with odd ideals not suited to her time, but not so much child-killing, murderous bitch. (hide spoiler)] She does mention after the epilogue that she made up most of it to make a more interesting story, but it is still plausible. After reading about Lord Byron, it wouldn't surprise me if any of them were just as bad. He was a monster, if not an outright sociopath.

It was a typical detective novel, you figured things out as you went. I was very satisfied with the ending - (view spoiler)[though what was up with that girl dying? You had to have a sad ending, didn't you? (hide spoiler)] Overall, a decent book. I enjoyed myself, but I'm not sure I would read more of Ms. Shepherd's work.

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I bequeath this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

"Flapper" Book Review

Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern by Joshua Zeitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Blithely flinging aside the Victorian manners that kept her disapproving mother corseted, the New Woman of the 1920s puffed cigarettes, snuck gin, hiked her hemlines, danced the Charleston, and necked in roadsters. More important, she earned her own keep, controlled her own destiny, and secured liberties that modern women take for granted. Her newfound freedom heralded a radical change in American culture.

"Whisking us from the Alabama country club where Zelda Sayre first caught the eye of F. Scott Fitzgerald to Muncie, Indiana, where would-be flappers begged their mothers for silk stockings, to the Manhattan speakeasies where patrons partied till daybreak, historian Joshua Zeitz brings the era to exhilarating life. This is the story of America’s first sexual revolution, its first merchants of cool, its first celebrities, and its most sparkling advertisement for the right to pursue happiness.

"The men and women who made the flapper were a diverse lot. 

"There was Coco Chanel, the French orphan who redefined the feminine form and silhouette, helping to free women from the torturous corsets and crinolines that had served as tools of social control. 

"Three thousand miles away, Lois Long, the daughter of a Connecticut clergyman, christened herself 'Lipstick' and gave New Yorker readers a thrilling entrée into Manhattan’s extravagant Jazz Age nightlife.

"In California, where orange groves gave way to studio lots and fairytale mansions, three of America’s first celebrities—Clara Bow, Colleen Moore, and Louise Brooks, Hollywood’s great flapper triumvirate—fired the imaginations of millions of filmgoers.

"Dallas-born fashion artist Gordon Conway and Utah-born cartoonist John Held crafted magazine covers that captured the electricity of the social revolution sweeping the United States.

"Bruce Barton and Edward Bernays, pioneers of advertising and public relations, taught big business how to harness the dreams and anxieties of a newly industrial America—and a nation of consumers was born.

"Towering above all were Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, whose swift ascent and spectacular fall embodied the glamour and excess of the era that would come to an abrupt end on Black Tuesday, when the stock market collapsed and rendered the age of abundance and frivolity instantly obsolete.

"With its heady cocktail of storytelling and big ideas, Flapper is a dazzling look at the women who launched the first truly modern decade."

I've always liked and had an interest in the flapper and the 1920's. It seemed unusual that in such a short amount of time, not even two decades, the flapper changed the course of women in American society and it was fascinating to read about how and why this occurred. All of these changes happening at once: women entering the workforce, people moving en masse to cities, the proliferation of ready-made clothing, a whole new genre of music being played in the streets, the Feminist Movement, Prohibition and speakeasies, the movie industry and the birth of Hollywood and celebrity, and with that, the new gossip rags. It seems sad that, with the flick of a switch, the flapper was no more. The economy grew so large that it couldn't contain itself and it collapsed. Very like what just so recently happened.

Some of it I already knew about, like how the advertising business started (I have a degree in graphic design and we had to learn about it), I knew most of the authors and the Lost Generation set, the clothing and their designers (although I did not know about Mademoiselle Vionnet and Paul Poiret), and I had heard about the Hollywood starlets, but didn't know much about them so that was interesting.

Lois Long/Lipstick was a fascinating person and I would love to read more about her. Her persona reminded me of the tv series and book series "Gossip Girl". It wouldn't surprise me at all if the original author had been inspired.

I didn't realize how racist everything was, but that shouldn't really be a surprise I guess. Sadly, this book was very white-washed. African American flappers were briefly discussed, but there was no mention of musicians, or how Jazz music started, no Langston Hughes?! Come on now, his poetry is absolutely beautiful and some of the only poetry I ever liked! A Chinese American actress was mentioned, but she wasn't spoken about in depth like the other actresses in the book. I would've liked to have known where she came from and where she ended up. Jazz music was such an important part of this time period and, as an American, I take pride in it because it is one of the few art forms that America came up with and gave to the rest of the world. Think about it, most other popular music forms started elsewhere and is very old and steeped in tradition. In comparison, Jazz is very new to this world.

Also, artists of the time and the Art Deco movement was missing completely. Not even mentioned. Very disappointed with that. Cole Porter and the Ziegfeld Follies were mentioned, but they weren't the only things happening on Broadway.

Even with all that information missing, I enjoyed reading it. It was more of an incomplete summarization of an era, rather than a well thought-out history. It could've used some more psychological assessment of the people of the age. I mean, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung were right there. Overall, I would consider this a good book to start off reading about the 1920s. Just don't expect A LOT of information about the era.

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I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

"Rewrites" Book Review

Rewrites by Neil Simon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, The Goodbye Girl, The Out-of-Towners, The Sunshine Boys -- Neil Simon's plays and movies have kept many millions of people laughing for almost four decades. Today he is recognized not only as the most successful American playwright of all time, but also as one of the greatest. More than the humor, however, it is the humanity of Neil Simon's vision that has made him America's most beloved playwright and earned him such enduring success. Now, in 'Rewrites', he has written a funny, deeply touching memoir, filled with details and anecdotes of the writing life and rich with the personal experiences that underlie his work.

"Since Come Blow Your Horn first opened on Broadway in 1960, few seasons have passed without the appearance of another of his laughter-filled plays, and indeed on numerous occasions two or more of his works have been running simultaneously. But his success was something Neil Simon never took for granted, nor was the talent to create laughter something that he ever treated carelessly: it took too long for him to achieve the kind of acceptance -- both popular and critical -- that he craved, and the path he followed frequently was pitted with hard decisions.

"All of Neil Simon's plays are to some extent a reflection of his life, sometimes autobiographical, other times based on the experiences of those close to him. What the reader of this warm, nostalgic memoir discovers, however, is that the plays, although grounded in Neil Simon's own experience, provide only a glimpse into the mind and soul of this very private man.

"In 'Rewrites', he tells of the painful discord he endured at home as a child, of his struggles to develop his talent as a writer, and of his insecurities when dealing with what proved to be his first great success -- falling in love. Supporting players in the anecdote-filled memoir include Sid Caesar, Jerry Lewis, Walter Matthau, Robert Redford, Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse, Maureen Stapleton, George C. Scott, Peter Sellers, and Mike Nichols. But always at center stage is his first love, his wife Joan, whose death in the early seventies devastated him, and whose love and inspiration illuminate this remarkable and revealing self-portrait. 'Rewrites' is rich in laughter and emotion, and filled with the memories of a sometimes sweet, sometimes bittersweet life."

It's true that this book is quite good. I enjoyed it. I thought it was funny.

Originally, I had picked it up because I thought I would learn something from it. There wasn't much to learn, except for a few things. Mostly that art imitates life and life imitates art. And I can understand why he had to be a writer to make money for his family. His few business endeavors never made any money.

While he's obviously a talented playwright, I felt there was nothing to be learned from his experiences because everything happened so fast for him. He wrote one play, got an agent that wanted to represent him right away, and then got a producer that wanted to produce his work right away. And then afterwards he was with him for most of the rest of his career. That's it, there was almost no struggle whatsoever. Like he was shot out of a cannon.

Now, I have yet to read his work, but I have heard of most of it and the commentary is almost always positive. There were a number of funny anecdotes about his small misadventures vacationing, working with crazy actors and a movie set full of crazy people. He has worked with legends of the stage and a few on the silver screen, but the only one I can remember is Bob Fosse, mostly because of his brilliant work ethic and because Simon mentions him so often in the book.

It gave me an odd chuckle every now and then, and the ending was terribly sad, but I don't think it's something that will stick with me.

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I give his book 3 of 5 stars.

"Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge" Book Review

Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge by Jim Schutze
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Bobby Kent was a bully, —a steroid-pumped 20-year-old who dominated his peers in their comfortable, middle-class Ft. Lauderdale beach community through psychological, physical and sexual abuse. But on a summer night in 1993, Bobby was lured to the edge of the Florida everglades with a promise of sex and drugs. . .and was never seen alive again. The tormentor had become the victim in a bizarre and brutal act of vengeance carried out with ruthless efficiency and cold-blooded premeditation by seven of his high school acquaintances —including his lifelong best friend— and instigated by one overweight, underloved teenager who believed her life would be perfect. . .if only Bobby Kent were dead.

"BULLY is a riveting story of adolescent rage and bloody revenge—all the more harrowing and horrific because its true."

I found this a fast and engaging read, even though it is about a vicious murder. I can't feel entirely sympathetic with the victim, nor his murderers. He seems to have been a sociopath and the rest were not of a sound and reasonable mind. It's obvious from every move they made that they were not responsible adults, instead their parents just let them do whatever they wanted and paid their bills. I am disgusted with the parents a lot more than the actual 'kids' involved in the murder. They should've put their foot down at some point, much earlier than this sad story begins.

*SPOILERS*

I do feel bad, to a certain extent, for what they went through before Bobby's murder. But they could've gone to the police and asked for help. The one girl was raped, but with her past it may have been hard to convince anyone that it was a rape. But then, she could've at least stayed away from him. I think the other girl should've just left Marty and Bobby, and never went back. Marty could've done any number of things - gone back to school somewhere else, joined the army - but he didn't even look into it. Murder should've been the last thing on their minds. Especially with the way they went about it. They told nearly everyone they met on the street that they had killed somebody and that's like the first thing you shouldn't be doing.

I had a bit of a problem concerning the way the author wrote this book. I'm more of a factual person, I read a lot of biographies, histories, and the like. Sometimes I watch true crime shows and that's where my interest in the book stemmed from. In the beginning, there was a pointless part about a teenage prostitution ring, but you didn't really need to know any of the people involved.  It would've been easier to mention that the girl was a part of one at one time and leave it at that. Also, the author acted as if he had been a fly on the wall during the discussions the murderers had before the murder. It was a novelistic speculation of what had happened, which, while good and exciting reading, was a bit irksome to me, because it was speculation and not entirely truthful. Also, I didn't like how the relationship between Marty and Bobby was represented in the beginning. That whole gay-but-not-gay thing that they supposedly did. I'm not sure if it should be in the book or not.

The perspective I wanted to see the most was from Bobby Kent's parents and family. And that was sorely lacking. It was their son who had been murdered and their lives had been changed forever. I also wanted to see how his relationship with his family was and that was barely in there. Those other families, who can't see what idiots they raised, can still see their dumb kids. Most of them are already out on parole.

The ending was rather depressing. These people and their families will seemingly never understand what they did. And after reading a recent interview with one of the murderers, I think I'm right. (The video doesn't work.)

Otherwise, I found it a fascinating and well written read, barely a grammatical or editorial error. The movie is on my to-watch list, although I have doubts that they could make an interesting dialogue between these people, with their "likes" and their "cools" being so much a part of their conversation.

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I give this book 3 out of 5 books.

"The Island of Lost Maps" Book Review

The Island Of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"In 1995, a watchful patron alerted a librarian at Johns Hopkins University that another patron, a middle-aged and well-dressed man, was behaving suspiciously. The librarian called the police, who discovered that the man, a Floridian named Gilbert Bland, had cut four maps from a set of rare books. On investigation, the police were able to attribute dozens of similar thefts to Bland, thefts that had taken place at a score of the country's best-regarded - and, presumably, best-protected--scholarly institutions.

"Like countless other readers, Miles Harvey, a writer for 'Outside' magazine, encountered the news of Bland's arrest as a brief item in the back pages of the morning newspaper. The story stayed with Harvey, who wondered why otherwise law-abiding people behave so badly around antiquities.

"In 'The Island of Lost Maps', a wonderfully rich excursion into the demimonde of what might be called cartographomania, Harvey follows Bland's tracks from library to library, reconstructing the crimes of the man he deems the Al Capone of map theft, following the contours of Bland's complex, sinister character. Along the way, Harvey examines the history of cartography generally, and the ravenous market for old maps - once the quiet province of a few knowing collectors, now invaded by speculators. These maps are just another corner of the overpriced status-symbol commodity market--and one that richly rewarded Bland's nefarious work.

"Harvey's winding narrative, full of learned detours, adds up to a superbly rendered tale of true crime (and, many readers might object, of insufficient punishment), one that will appeal to book lovers and mystery buffs in equal measure."

- Gregory McNamee

*Warning: Use of profanity and, probably, spoilers.*

I originally picked this book up when it had just been published and I was a little girl. I liked it because of the book's size and shape and the cover was pretty without being overdone. I showed it to my mother who made me put it away, laughing "You would never read that." I did eventually get this book, this year actually, at a mini-golf while I was vacationing in Rehoboth Beach. ("Fye upon you, mother!") So, it is finally mine and after having read it I'm not quite sure if I would've enjoyed it at that age. I was always a weird kid though, so maybe.

I enjoyed this book. I found the information regarding cartography, maps and their many contributions to history very interesting. I love reading about those little bits of history. This would've been perfect as a History channel documentary or something. I never realized it before but those maps sounded beautiful and it was such a shame that you could only see bits and pieces of them in the book.

There were only a few problems that I had with this story. I didn't like the bad guy at all and he was the main protagonist. He was a dead-beat, a thief and a lousy business owner. The only reason to have included him in this at all would be to use him as an example of people that librarians and archivists need to watch out for.

I LOVE books and I couldn't stand it that he would cut them up, right in the library, like the useless douche that he is. I mean I can understand doing it for the artwork and stuff, if it's your book or if you have someone else more specialized in books do it so as not to needlessly harm the rest of the book, but to do that to nearly priceless works that you didn't pay for, I hope you loose your dick somehow. That's like cutting up a Monet for one flower.

Anyway, there were about a hundred other more interesting people that the author could've made the book about and still talked about maps and cartography on top of it, but he didn't. I mean, those explorers were far superior in their talents and goals and they were even better at being outright thieves: they got people needlessly killed just so they could look at mountains, steal gold and even steal other maps, off of ships! Gilbert Bland is a pathetic footnote in the history of maps and somehow he's the main protagonist. If he needed someone contemporary, he could've used the map dealer, W. Graham Arader III, he was interesting, colorful and very successful.

The other problem I had was with the author. He inserted himself into it, which is okay, but it is a bit jarring. This same thing happened in "The Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea" by Barbara Sjoholm. They really ought to change the title of that book because it is blatant false advertising. I thought I was going to be reading about O'Malley but it was mainly little stories about Norse sea goddesses, which was interesting and I liked that. But then the author would break in and start talking about what is was it is like braving the Irish Sea today and it was like "no, the only thing that's interesting about you is your name and that was given to you".

I'd rather read about the maps and cartographers than about the author quite frankly. And I realize as a journalist he probably doesn't get to write himself into the story very often, because the editor would cut it out (because it was needless and doesn't help the story progress), so I can understand that he was "finding himself" (usually lost). But because he put himself in the story the book ran on too long. I would say that he could've taken those last two chapters out and it would've been fine, at the very least that last very pointless chapter needed to go.

It was enjoyable, but it could've been better.

Ironically, just came across this list of the "7 Must Read Books on Maps".

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"Byron in Love" Book Review

Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life by Edna O'Brien
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"From one of our greatest novelists comes this luminous portrait of the world’s first literary rock star. 

"Acclaimed biographer of James Joyce, Edna O’Brien has written an intimate biography that suits her fiery and charismatic subject. She follows Byron from the dissipations of Regency London to the wilds of Albania and the Socratic pleasures of Greece and Turkey, culminating in his meteoric rise to fame at the age of twenty-four on the publication of Childe Harold. With her prismatic eye and novelistic style, O’Brien eerily captures the spirit of the man and creates an indelible portrait of Byron that explodes the Romantic myth. From his escapades with John Edleston, the fourteen-year-old Cambridge choir boy, to those with a galaxy of women that included his half-sister, his wife of one year, and the Italian countess who forsook her satyr-like husband for “the peer of England and its greatest poet,” Byron scandalized the world and inspires “Byronmania” to this day. Byron, as brilliantly rendered by O’Brien, is the poet as rebel, imaginative and lawless, and defiantly immortal."

This was an interesting and brief biography. I grabbed it because I have a huge interest in this part of time: authors and the very important people in general are awesome.

I found that I don't like Byron the man at all. He was cowardly, abusive, incestuous, uncaring and unfeeling. He only realized what he should have done with a lot of the people in his life after they died, which makes it look like he really didn't care anyway.

The writer, Edna O'Brien, was kind of annoyingly snobbish with her unexplained French and Italian statements and the way she wrote wasn't very enjoyable. She kept changing tense which was informative at first and then became confusing because I couldn't remember what year it was supposed to be that he was in Italy then Greece. I would've liked more information, but I knew from just looking at the size of the book that there wouldn't be much. She doesn't list any sources at all, which annoys me to no end. Maybe she should just stick with writing fiction.

Ms. O'Brien obviously loved and admired Byron, but after reading this I cannot completely understand why. The only things from him that were any good, were his poetry, which I haven't read so I can't judge it, and his daughter Ada Lovelace (what a beautiful name), one of the first computer programmers I have ever heard of. In fact, "the computer language Ada, created on behalf of the United States Department of Defense, was named after Ada Lovelace. The reference manual for the language was approved on 10 December 1980, and the Department of Defense Military Standard for the language, "MIL-STD-1815", was given the number of the year of her birth. Since 1998, the British Computer Society has awarded a medal in her name[68] and in 2008 initiated an annual competition for women students of computer science." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Love...)

Interesting man, but if I ever read about him again, I'm going to get a better researched and more informed book about him.

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"The Silver Blade" Book Review

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"A stirring tale of magic and revolution- fans of The Red Necklace won't want to miss it. The year is 1794. With his beloved Sido safely in England and the Reign of Terror at its height, mysterious Yann returns to revolutionary France to smuggle out aristocratic refugees who will otherwise face the guillotine. But while the two are apart, Yann's Gypsy origins prejudice Sido's guardian against their marriage, thwarting their longed-for reunion. When Sido is kidnapped under strange circumstances, however, Yann must use all his strength and courage to outwit the evil Count Kalliovski, rescue Sido, and help save all of France.

"As she did in The Red Necklace and the award-winning I, Coriander, Sally Gardner spins an epic tale that combines a vivid sense of history, characters full of Dickensian drama and fascination, and a sizzling adventure with touches of magic and romance."

I liked this part of the series, but I think the first book was better. But I felt as if this book could've used a better editor in some places. I also thought that Anselm's part of the story could've ended differently, more drastically maybe. But otherwise I liked it.

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"Alice in Wonderland and Other Stories" Book Review

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Other Stories by Lewis Carroll

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Everything that Lewis Carroll ever published in book form appears in this volume. In addition, at least ten of the shorter pieces have never appeared in print except in their original editions. Included are: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" "Through the Looking-Glass" "Sylvie and Bruno" "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded" "The Hunting of the Snark" & all of the poetry, essays, phantasmagoria along with a substantial collection of the miscellaneous writings.

"'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Other Stories' is part of Barnes & Noble's series of quality leatherbound volumes. Each title in the series presents a classic work in an attractively designed edition bound in genuine bonded leather, with beautiful illustrations and breathtaking endpapers. These books make elegant additions to any home library."

It's a strange thing, these stories. "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There" are the more popular of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's, better known as Lewis Carroll, writings.

They're definitely written for children but I do not think children of this day and age would enjoy it as much. There's a lot of mention of poetry and song and verse that only a child from 18th century England would get. But it's very fun either way. Probably best to read the stories to the children and act it out. It's meant to be fun, not as a commentary or anything.

A lot of people don't understand this author's work and I think it can be best explained like this: say you're with a group of children and you've asked them to help you come up with a story. Just a silly story where anything can happen. So you come up with a character to follow which the children name. And then you come with a place where he or she can be going and they want the character to ride a tyrannosaurus rex into a river of melted chocolate and then the t-rex becomes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because she's hungry. And then she becomes the Queen of Ice Cream and Marshmallow Land! That's kind of what's going on with these stories. They're utter nonsense and fun and it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn that Mr. Dodgson wrote Alice word for word on a boring afternoon with the help of some children he knew.

The "Sylvie and Bruno" stories are a bit like the "Alice" stories, but the main difference is the narrator. I think he's either dying really slowly (he mentions he has a heart problem at the beginning of the story) or he has narcolepsy. Because he is constantly going to fairyland with Sylvie and Bruno or he's in the present with his mopey doctor friend who can't get the girl of his dreams. It's hard to follow at first but now it's just sort of weird. But I still found those stories interesting for all of their oddities.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get myself to read anymore. It just became too much. Maybe I will finish it another day.

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"The Beach" Movie Review

"The Beach" movie poster.

"Alex Garland's novel centers on a young nicotine-addicted traveler named Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), an avid pop-culture buff with a particular love for video games and Vietnam War movies. While at a hotel in Bangkok, he finds a map left by his strange, whacked-out neighbor, who just committed suicide. The map supposedly leads to a legendary island paradise where some other wayward souls have settled." Written by Mike Arndt (Source below.)

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(From L to R) Virginie Ledoyen,
Leonardo DiCaprio, and Guillaume Canut.

FIRST IMPRESSION (Before Watching): I did a little research on this film because I had heard it was a terrible film. I didn't want to waste any time on a bad film even if Leonardo DiCaprio was in it. But it seems that it's more of a 'love it or hate it' film, there isn't any room for anything in between. Some of the 'love it' part is from director Danny Boyle's diehard fans. Now, I haven't seen any of his work - not even Slumdog Millionaire (it's on the list) or the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games, courtesy of the morons who run NBC. But he has won an Oscar, so I'm thinking it's worth a try. But here's another moment for skepticism - the summary sounds like a bad, run-of-the-mill horror movie! These young, gorgeous kids run off to a beach where they have wild sex and do drugs until the locals get sick of them. That's what it sounds like to me. But I am looking forward to seeing DiCaprio nearly naked for two hours, so there's that!

AFTER WATCHING: It wasn't a horror movie, not by a long shot, but it was kind of weird. It was very picturesque and pretty. I don't know if I would watch it again. It seems one of those movies that would be more enjoyable if you were high while watching it.

None of the characters were really likable and rather selfish - letting a guy slowly die just so they can relax and party. Paterson Joseph's character was likable in his way. No one's acting particularly stood out, although no one was allowed the chance. No one was given a lot of face time except for DiCaprio, everyone else was literally background noise. The island was beautiful and given it's own kind of character in a way.

The deleted scenes on the dvd were interesting, but easy to see why they were deleted. Although Tilda Swinton got a lot more action in those scenes.

All in all, I thought it was an okay film. Interesting. I will probably read the book, hopefully I will find it more sustaining.

Leonardo DiCaprio as Richard.

Favorite Lines:

[first lines]
Richard: My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family, or where I'm from? None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and cut yourself loose, looking for something more beautiful, something more exciting and yes, I admit, something more dangerous. So after eighteen hours in the back of an airplane, three dumb movies, two plastic meals, six beers and absolutely no sleep, I finally touch down; in Bangkok.

Françoise: Richard, this is just the kind of pretentious bullshit that Americans always say to French girls so they can sleep with them.

Richard: Trust me, it's paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.

[last lines]
Richard: And me, I still believe in paradise. But now at least I know it's not some place you can look for, 'cause it's not where you go. It's how you feel for a moment in your life when you're a part of something, and if you find that moment... it lasts forever...

Summary information taken from International Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163978/)

"Body of Lies" Book Review

Body of Lies by David Ignatius
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"A tale of counterterrorism from an author who "ranks with Graham Greene in his knowledge of espionage and the human heart" -Publishers Weekly.

"CIA soldier Roger Ferris has come out of Iraq with a shattered leg and an intense mission—to penetrate the network of a master terrorist known only as "Suleiman." Ferris's plan is inspired by a masterpiece of British intelligence during World War II: He prepares a body of lies, literally the corpse of an imaginary CIA officer who appears to have accomplished the impossible by recruiting an agent within the enemy's ranks.

"This scheme binds friend and foe in a web of extraordinary subtlety and complexity. When it begins to unravel, Ferris finds himself flying blind into a hurricane. His only hope is the urbane head of Jordan's intelligence service. But can Ferris trust him?"

I thought this was well-written. From what I read before I got this book, it made it sound as if it was going to be so terrible that I would be pulling my hair out in frustration. It wasn't that bad. The author certainly knows his way around the Middle East, specifically Jordan. It was very well researched about plots, terrorists and government officials that are off the books.

But I feel as if he could have made his characters a bit less typical. Roger Ferris was almost too goody two shoes for a CIA agent. Alice was downright annoying - I understand the political message but if you treat your readers like they're morons instead of just going with the story, you might upset some people who wanted to read a good CIA novel. Also, she should have been more realistic about Ferris's safety in the Middle East. And then why would those people listen to her anyway? She's a white woman and I don't care how well she's known, that part seemed utterly ridiculous. Gretchen was completely useless. Hani Saleem was the best character. He was very interesting and I would never want to play poker with him.

I must say that the only reason I got this book was because I saw the Ridley Scott movie and I was intrigued by it. I was hoping that the book would let me know more, but it actually didn't, so in that way it was disappointing. But the movie was very different from the book.

If I had to choose, I would pick the movie. It captured the excitement this book should have had for me. And also, the relationship was treated more realistically. Gretchen was completely taken out of the picture, which was perfect. Also, the men in it are fine examples of humanity - Russell Crowe (though a bit chubby, but more to love then), Leonardo DiCaprio, and Mark Strong who is incredibly sexy as Hani Pasha.

To see my movie review of "Body of Lies", click here.

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"The Luxe" Book Review

The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.Irresistible boys with sly smiles and dangerous intentions.

"White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups.

"This is Manhattan, 1899.

"Beautiful sisters Elizabeth and Diana Holland rule Manhattan's social scene. Or so it appears. When the girls discover their status among New York City's elite is far from secure, suddenly everyone - from the backstabbing socialite Penelope Hayes, to the debonair bachelor Henry Schoonmaker, to the spiteful maid Lina Broud - threatens Elizabeth's and Diana's golden future.

"With the fate of the Hollands resting on her shoulders, Elizabeth must choose between family duty and true love. But when her carriage overturns near the East River, the girl whose glittering life lit up the city's gossip pages is swallowed by the rough current. As all of New York grieves, some begin to wonder whether life at the top proved too much for this ethereal beauty, or if, perhaps, someone wanted to see Manhattan's most celebrated daughter disappear....

"In a world of luxury and deception, where appearance matters above everything and breaking the social code means running the risk of being ostracized forever, five teenagers lead dangerously scandalous lives. This thrilling trip to the age of innocence is anything but innocent."

I originally got this book for its cover - you could say pretty dresses are my Achilles heel.

Anyway, I thought it was okay. It was the usual unrequited love story. You know the kind - boy and girl cannot love each other because they don't belong to the same class and the girl has to marry for money to save her stupid, prudish family.

The 'bad guy', if you will, was almost a cartoon version of evil and selfish. She had a small dog that she would pet as she made devious plans and she even had a No. 2 or a gay henchman of sorts. That part was very predictable and now I feel like laughing about it.

But I am kind of interested to finish the series, or at least read the next book, because the ending left a lot open, in terms of the people I cared most about. I'm certainly at least going to try to read the next book.


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"The Wolf Gift" Book Review

The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm actually having trouble writing this review. I really wanted to love this book, because I have loved most of Anne Rice's other work. Her Vampire Chronicles defined my teenage years. Lestat is still one of my all-time favorite characters ever. Her writing inspired me to be a writer.

It was an interesting take on the werewolf legend. Rice might as well go this route - she already changed vampire lore and the way witches look forever, why not do the same to the werewolf? Well....let's just say I prefer Stephanie Meyers werewolves. (I know, I can't believe I said it either.)

I still liked her writing, but it felt stale sometimes and there were some boring parts to the book when there was an information overload over certain things I couldn't help but feel like they were stolen headlines of the past few previous years. I didn't like the use of the 'word' 'man-wolf' - it just doesn't sound or feel like a real word. I would never in a million years say it. The beginnings of the werewolf could be interesting, but let's face it: it'll never stand up to the way she had the vampires begin! That was awesome!

It felt like I was reading the Vampire Chronicles all over again, but with less inspiring characters and cast members. I think Margon is overly emo in here, for instance, and he was supposed to be the new leader of the pack. I just felt like pushing him over and tell him to stop crying. I just felt like saying, shut the hell up and kill people. None of the characters rocked my world like Lestat did or was kindly and wise like Marius or super cool badass like Akasha. I didn't bother remembering their names for this review.

I swear there were moments towards the end of the book, after the climax, which was very short-lived, I forgot who the main character was because his 'voice' was so weak throughout the book. I couldn't like his ex-girlfriend or his mother because they seemed so mentally abusive. It was just weird. His new girlfriend is extra weird because she kept having sex with him as a werewolf and it became awkward after a while. I know there's people out there who like being furries, but I think this took it too far. I also can't help thinking that maybe that the author was putting herself in the book as that character, which freaked me out more.

The main character was also unrealistic: he was 23 and had a porsche in this economy. And I also couldn't tell if he had graduated or if he quit because it sounded like both sometimes. I almost wish she would writing books about rich people that have interesting things happen to them. Couldn't she write one damn story where the main character is an out of work, just graduated out of college with thousands of dollars in debt and they have this beautiful, interesting thing happen to them and they develop with it and then the story is relative and interesting....

I did like him becoming a superhero though and cleaning up Gotham a bit. But I couldn't understand if he actually liked being a werewolf or not, because he seemed just to go with it without thinking. But the science stuff was very interesting, although written in such a way as to demean my level of intelligence.

There was also a lot of religion in this book. And that's a huge pet peeve for me. I don't like theology or other types of bullshit getting into my fun happy reading time goddamnit!

This was obviously meant to be the start of a series of books, but I don't know if I could continue reading this series. Maybe if the next book was incredibly and miraculously better than this one, but it's unlikely. Sadly, I cannot but give this book 3 stars.


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"Loving A. J." Book Review

Loving A.J.: My 6-Year Romance with a Backstreet Boy by Marisa Jackson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"An up close and very personal look at life as a Backstreet GIRL! Marisa Jackson went out with A.J. McLean for six years. She knows him better than anyone!
"Inside you'll find:
- Never-before-seen photos of A.J.
- Love letters and poems from A.J. to Marisa!
- The inside scoop on what it's like to love a Backstreet Boy!"
It was ok. The pictures were the best part though. Love the shirtless pictures of my favorite Boy!


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"The Woman in Black" Book Review

The Woman in Black (Movie Tie-in Edition): A Ghost Story by Susan Hill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

SPOILER ALERT!!! Read at your own transgression.

I enjoyed this book; it was a very fast read. In comparison to Stephen King and others like him, it was scary but not scary enough. Although the incidents that happened in this book are more like an actual haunting. Not a whole lot happened but it was still kind of spooky.

In comparison to the movie version, it was slightly more informative about certain characters but I think the movie was better. There was more heartbreak in the movie. I think the movie's ending was better, because Mr. Arthur Kipps was with his family then. At the end of the book he watched his family get killed.

I still feel the same way about the ghost though: she is a bitch. An unforgivable bitch. You could feel sorry for her a bit but then all those kids died and Kipps lost his family and it was like "no, I don't feel sorry for you anymore."


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