Posts Tagged ‘Don’t Bother’

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Posted in Books, Uncategorized on 09/30/2010 08:00 am by Jenn
Today’s post is courtesy of Kricket.  To catch up on what you have missed in The Week of Kricket  you can go here, here  aaaaand here.
  
I have just experienced one of the best weekends of my life. At several points during the “awesomeness” I knew that one day on my death bed, hopefully in the very distant future, this would still be one of my favourite memories. 
 
On Friday I was invited by an old friend Jodi to join her “Super Charged Bookclub”. It was so nice to be able to reconnect with such a great person, I haven’t seen her in a number of years, thanks to the magic of Facebook, we have reconnected. Over coffee beforehand, we talked about Synchronicity  and how people can be connected in the strangest of ways. An example of this would be if my childhood best friend was named Jane, and yours was also named Jane. Strange, little, kismety things. We headed over to her friend Sumba’s house, and instantly I decided that I wanted her to adopt me. Her house was warm and friendly, with three MASSIVE bookcases overflowing with every book known to mankind…all organized by author. This immediately came to mind…

 
 
I met some amazing, brilliant, funny new friends that night after we had a heated discussion regarding the chosen book, “The Slap” by Christos Tsiolkas. 

“The reverberations from the slap are far-reaching, affecting the marriages and friendships of all those who witness it. What unfolds is a powerful, haunting novel about love, sex, marriage, and the fury and intensity that family can arouse. In this remarkable novel, Christos Tsiolkas brilliantly weaves together a maze of complex relationships. Told through the eyes of eight different characters, the slap and the ensuing emotional maelstrom become catalysts for an unflinching and all-seeing journey into the modern family and domestic life. Children come of age, marriages teeter on the brink and midlife crises erupt against a backdrop of lust, jealousy, deception and inadequacy.

In its penetrating and incisive examination of the evergrowing middle class and its fears and aspirations, The Slap is a fiercely intelligent and provocative story about the nature of loyalty and happiness, compromise and truth.”

 Many of us were not impressed with this book, myself included. Parts of it were enjoyable, but it jumped around too much and was brash and gritty in the wrong way…bordering on being lewd. It was an interesting premise; at a neighbourhood barbecue, a man slaps a child that is not his own. This opened up a number of interesting topics ranging from, “should a teacher be able to hug a student?” to the extramarital affairs of celebrities…do they believe that sex does not equal love?

Saturday night I went to hear our friend Shaan DJ for his very first time. He did a fantastic job, I felt so proud…like a momma bear. He played a great mix that got our dancy group of people even dancier than normal. At one point we were in a huge circle, dancing around like crazed monkeys, and I thought, so many people I love are here right now. It was so great to be reunited with my friends, as we all age it can get increasingly difficult to see each other as we once did. 

 Today my aunt and cousin came to visit, which was lovely and not as long as I would have liked. We giggled and chatted and showed the “old ladies” (my mom and aunt) some popular YouTube videos. 

 I look forward to topping this weekend, but it will definitely be a tough to do. 

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I Thought it Kinda Bit (Please Don’t Hate Me!)

Posted in Books on 06/17/2010 02:37 am by Jenn

Moore, Christopher.  Bite Me: A Love Story. William Morrow (2010).

Bite Me By Christopher Moore

The city of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge shaved vampyre cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, emergency backup mistress of the Greater Bay Area night, and my manga-haired love monkey, Foo Dog, stand between the ravenous monster and a bloody massacre of the general public.

Before you can say “OMG! WTF?” Tommy and Jody are sprung from captivity, and join forces with Abby, Steve, the frozen-turkey-bowling Safeway crew, the Emperor of San Francisco and his trusty dogs Lazarus and Bummer, Abby’s gay Goth friend Jared, and SF’s finest Cavuto and Rivera to hunt big cat and save the city. And that’s when the fun really begins.

Whoa. And this is a love story? Yup. ‘Cept there’s no whining. See, while some lovers were born to run, Jody and Tommy were born to bite. Well, reborn, that is, now that they’re vampires. Good thing theirs is an undying love, since their Goth Girl Friday, Abby Normal, imprisoned them in a bronze statue.

Abby wants to be a bloodsucking fiend, too, but right now she’s really busy with other stuff, like breaking in a pair of red vinyl thigh-high Skankenstein® platform boots and wrangling her Ph.D.-candidate boyfriend, Steve (the love monkey). And then there’s that vampire cat Chet, who’s getting bigger and smarter—and thirstier—by the minute. Abby thought she and Steve could handle the kitty cat on their own, mais non . . .

HarperCollins Canada

Okay.  It’s almost official*.  I think I dislike books written from a dog’s perspective; either in full, or in part.  I really  disliked Shakespeare’s Dog, and although this book only had a few snippets from the canine POV, I didn’t really enjoy Bite Me.  I thought it, well…bit.  Granted I have not read the first two books in the series.  I don’t think I missed too much plot-wise.

I had been hearing some pretty awesome things about this novel in the blog world and anything that wasn’t Twilight had to be okay.  Right?  I got this book from the library totally by fluke (it got put on the shelf instead of to the hold line courtesy of the major library renos and the fact the library is now four carousels in the lobby of the community centre).  I started it.  I started it again.  On the third time it took and I managed to make it past the first chapter.

I didn’t find Abby witty and funky.  I didn’t think the book was edgy or cool.  As I was reading it I couldn’t help but draw the parallels between this and a little stinkbomb called .  How the book was playing out in my head is identical to the “artistic direction” taken in that movie.  Both the movie and the book seemed a little contrived.

I really was looking forward to reading it, perhaps my expectations were too high?  I probably would try another Christopher Moore book because, let’s face it, no one wants to be the only one at the party not wearing a scrunchy. If you have already read some of his stuff and loved it then you would probably appreciate this book, it just wasn’t for me.

*It’s almost official because I still have the book “The Art of Racing in the Rain” to read.  Time will tell on that one.

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A Boring Matter

Posted in Books on 04/14/2010 10:05 pm by Jenn

Straub, Peter. A Dark Matter.  Doubleday (2010).

The charismatic and cunning Spenser Mallon is a campus guru in the 1960s, attracting the devotion and demanding sexual favors of his young acolytes. After he invites his most fervent followers to attend a secret ritual in a local meadow, the only thing that remains is a gruesomely dismembered body—and the shattered souls of all who were present.

Years later, one man attempts to understand what happened to his wife and to his friends by writing a book about this horrible night, and it’s through this process that they begin to examine the unspeakable events that have bound them in ways they cannot fathom, but that have haunted every one of them through their lives. As each of the old friends tries to come to grips with the darkness of the past, they find themselves face-to-face with the evil triggered so many years earlier. Unfolding through the individual stories of the fated group’s members, A Dark Matter is an electric, chilling, and unpredictable novel that will satisfy Peter Straub’s many ardent fans, and win him legions more.

From the Publisher

I have read a lot of reviews on this book and was really looking forward to reading it.  As the description says it is being touted as a chilling thriller.  I really wish I could say I agree, but I really can’t.  The story about that fateful night is told by different perspectives, so it really felt like I was reading the same book four times over.  I didn’t find it that suspenseful and I didn’t really feel like there was any unanswered questions about that night.  If I were to guess what really happened I would say it was mass hysteria with a heavy does of mind altering substances, not the evil forces it is made out to be. 

I did like the character’s in the book.  I really got that they were destroyed by what happened and only now are their lives becoming somewhat “normal”.  The inner conflict they faced is apparent and I felt very sympathetic to some unsavory characters.  What I thought was lacking was the storyline itself. 

I really wouldn’t recommend you pick this up if you are looking for a chilling tale.  If that’s what you are looking for I would suggest a classic like Poe or even Stephen King.  All told I really wouldn’t bother.

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