The Misadventures of Super_Librarian
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Saturday, January 31, 2004I started out life as a mystery reader. Back in the old days, young adult novels consisted of Sweet Valley High and updated Nancy Drew books. I couldn't tolerate Sweet Valley (I wasn't pretty or popular), so that left me with Nancy - and I was quickly entranced. Around the time I entered high school I outgrew Nancy and moved on to adult fiction. I discovered new authors by browsing the library bookshelves (which is why I have never believed in separating genres when shelving at work). One such author was Lilian Jackson Braun, who has been publishing her Cat Who series since the late 1960s. In my estimation the series jumped the shark with The Cat Who Saw Stars - and it was around that time I stopped buying my own copy of each new installment. However, possibly due to my sentimentality, I can't seem to let go of this series - so I continue to check out a copy of each new book from work. The latest - The Cat Who Talked Turkey - reaches a new low point in a series that is slowly and not-so-gracefully falling apart. The mystery is treated as an afterthought, Koko doesn't provide any "hints" to his owner outside of howling when a death occurs, and James Qwilleran spends the book writing a play instead of snooping for clues. I won't even go into the deteriotation in writing style. But that's not the worst of it. Oh no. The reader is given no motive! Oh sure, we learn who did the deed, but we can't possibly be troubled with the why. I'm not a happy girl. My first F rated read in almost a year. Thursday, January 29, 2004I wonder, what goes best with shoe? White or red wine? My Detroit Tigers are this close to signing Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez. I know, I didn't think it was going to happen either. When my boyfriend told me the Tigs had made him an offer I literally scoffed. I mean, why would Pudge want to play for the Tigers?! So I flipantly told him, "If Pudge signs with the Tigers I'll eat my shoe." Damn. Don't get me wrong - I'm very happy about this development. Pudge would give the Tigers some credibility (how's that for a novel idea?), and I think he'd do wonders with our pitching staff, which has an average age of about 16. Still I can't help thinking I've landed in Bizarro World. Friday, January 23, 2004Oh No! Captain Kangaroo has died! My childhood is officially over..... Sigh. I have just finished Married to the Viscount by Sabrina Jeffries and I'm glad that it's finally over. I'm fairly conflicted over this book. It has much to recommend it, as I stated in my pevious blogging. Unfortunately the entire conflict of the story hinges on the dreaded "Big Misunderstanding" plot device. The hero thinks one thing, the heroine thinks another, and instead of communicating like adults they go around and around on a drunken merry-go-round schleping the reader along with them. This sort of thing is tolerable for a few pages, but after 370+ pages of it I was more than a little weary. A decidedly mixed bag altogether. My little portion of the midwest is suffering from winter at the moment. Lots of snow and lots of wind means Wendy has a nasty commute to and from work. Getting home this evening should just be oodles of fun considering the wind has just shifted - again. Assuming I can get home tonight I'm going to start reading smut! Smut, smut, smut - I'm positively gleeful about it. Next up? Cooking Up a Storm by Emma Holly. Tuesday, January 20, 2004Every now and then a book comes along that I know I shouldn't be enjoying, but I just can't help myself. Married to the Viscount by Sabrina Jeffries takes place in what I call the post-Regency period (that period when George III is dead and the Regent becomes King George IV) and features the always amusing "marriage of convenience" theme. The American heroine travels to England to meet up with her viscount husband that she married by proxy. Turns out though that the viscount had no clue he was married, and the whole marriage was some sort of scheme cooked up by his younger brother. Worse still? This younger brother made off with the heroine's dowry and she is penniless. Hoping to avoid scandal (the hero is in politics), he proposes a "pretend" marriage until his erstwhile (and missing) brother can be found to straighten out this mess. The trick? Keeping his hormones in check. So why shouldn't I be liking this book? Well for one thing the hero has this annoying habit of being a jerk and is continually saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Instead of telling him to go to hell, the heroine continually strives to find ways to win his affection. This is the sort of behavior that would normally infuriate me - but Jeffries is a grand writer and spins a good yarn. On an entertainment level it's as close to gold as one can get. The heroine's "naive American optimism" makes for some interesting moments when she is confronted with "oh so proper English society" and the secondary characters are all nice additions. And while the hero has descended into jerkdom a couple of times - there's already been one very nice "groveling" scene. I love it when romance heroes grovel - and I selfishly hope there are more. Friday, January 16, 2004The comment section of my blog took a walk into cyberspace the other day. I have since changed formats and have reinstalled the comments option. So hey, drop me a line for all my trouble..... Thursday, January 15, 2004Well it's been over a week since my last blog entry. I wish I had a decent excuse - but I'm afraid it's just me being brain-dead as usual. I'm home early from work today thanks to a sour stomach that set in sometime last night. I'm not sure what it is. Most likely stress, but I think my exhaustion level might have something to do with it too. A couple of e-mails have come in to break up the monotony however - both from romance authors. Pamela Clare was nice enough to send me a cover flat of her upcoming release (which is lovely by the way) after she stumbled upon my web site, and Karen Harbaugh sent a very nice note via TRR's editor thanking me for my review of her December 2003 book. The note from Ms. Harbaugh was especially nice because she really seemed to appreciate the fact that I "got" the underlying themes she was putting across in the book. Being a reviewer isn't always the easiest job - especially in genre fiction. More often than not we're accused of having our heads up our butts. I certainly don't like everything I read, but I hope in my reviews that I convey exactly why a book didn't work for me. So it's nice when someone gives us a little pat on the back. Speaking of reading - I'm in the middle of a January Silhouette Intimate Moments book - Can You Forget? by Melissa James. It's sort of mixed bag I'm afriad. This Australian author sure can write interesting characters, and the sexual tension is oodles of fun - but I'm feeling like I missed the boat and am trying to catch up in a dingy. There's quite a bit of backstory which just isn't explained. This is book 2 in a series, and it reads like a book 2. Heck, even the villain of the story is more concerned with the couple from book 1 than the couple in book 2 (and they're the ones trying to bring him down). But James has me turning the pages, plus she's tossed in two of my favorite themes in romance! Not only is this a best-friends-to-lovers book, but it also features a reunited theme. Wednesday, January 07, 2004So Charlie Hustle has finally come out and said he bet on baseball. Gee thanks for the news flash Pete. Like any baseball fan who can logically think for themselves didn't already know the obvious. For the sake of fair disclosure I should say that I never did like Pete Rose. He's too much of a jack ass for my tastes - but I will not dispute that he was a great ball player. I also don't think it's necessary for a guy to be a decent human being for him to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. If that were a cardinal rule the old guard would have to take down Ty Cobb's plague. So I beg of you Mr. Selig - just let Pete Rose in all already. I'm sick of the talking heads giving him air time.... Monday, January 05, 2004I'm back from my excursion to Ohio - and that better be it. Do you here me Fate? Do you hear me Various Higher Powers? No more news. I'm full up. I'm done. Seriously, it's breaking up my comfortable rut. Various happenings have left me far behind in my reading. It's so bad that it's looking like I'll be lucky to start, let alone finish, The Trouble With Angels by Debbie Macomber which my staff book group is set to discuss on Thursday. I also have 200 more pages to Slightly Tempted by Mary Balogh. Admittedly it took me forever to read the first 75 pages of this book. Slow, slow, slow. The characters were great, and Balogh is a great writer - I just kept waiting for the plot to show up. It finally does around page 75 when the Battle Of Waterloo gets underway. The story? Lady Morgan Bedwyn is enjoying her first Season and coming out in Brussels when she catches the eye of Gervase Ashford, the disgraced and rakish Earl of Rosthorn. Gervase has been in exhile from England for 9 years thanks to a disgrace that Morgan's older brother, the Duke of Bewcastle, played a part in. When Gervase realizes who Morgan is (and more importantly who she is related to), he decides she's the perfect means to his end. Then everything changes thanks to Waterloo. Gervase and Morgan find themselves living history in the making, and they become friends. They both like each other tremendously, although their friendship is raising more than a few society eyebrows. When intimacy occurs, scandal erupts, and decisions must be made. Of course by this point, Gervase is beginning to rethink his revenge plans - for the Earl has fallen for the Lady (even if he doesn't know it yet). The trick will be convincing Lady Morgan. While I wouldn't say she's "ahead of her time," I would say she's exceedingly practical. She knows her mind, speaks it fairly freely, and isn't about to bend to society's will just because "they" think she should to save face. This is my first Mary Balogh novel and the 4th in her series about the Bedwyn family. While this book is so far not a keeper for me (I'm exceedingly picky), it's very good and probably the best written romance I've read in a long, long time. |
