'Dead Until Dark' by Charlaine Harris

I am probably one of the last people on Earth to partake in the True Blood/Sookie Stackhouse phenomenon. It seems like everyone I know has either watched the show or read the books; until a couple weeks ago, I had done neither. In this situation the summary of the book seems a little unnecessary, but I’ll include a brief explanation anyway. Sookie Stackhouse is a mind-reading cocktail waitress in Louisiana. Vampires have come out of hiding and are somewhat commonplace; they are able to drink synthetic rather than human blood to survive. Sookie is very excited when a vampire shows up in her hometown. I’ve only seen one episode of the True Blood television program, but I understand that the first book corresponds pretty accurately to the first season of the show.

I sort of knew that I should be expecting the book to be completely ridiculous, but I didn’t really realize the extent of it. The writing and narration are just cheesy enough for me to really latch onto it, and Sookie is unbelievable enough to be a fun main character.

Should we be creeped out that Bill keeps referring to Sookie as being “his” human? Probably, but Sookie seems a little irritated by it too, which is nice. Their whole relationship is pretty spontaneous, but maybe that’s the point. I think that if you’re looking for depth in character relationships when you read then Sookie Stackhouse probably isn’t for you. But if you’re looking for an outrageous, sex-filled vampire drama, then Dead Until Dark is perfect.

'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy

Around the same time my sister was reading The Road I saw the book listed as on of the top 10 most depressing books ever written. So I expected that it would be good based on what my sister said and I knew it was going to make me really, really sad. The story is set in what appears to be a nuclear winter or some similarly bleak setting (we don’t know much about the history); clouds have completely blocked out the sun, ash covers everything and plants and animals seem to be extinct. In this gray, cold landscape, a man and his child travel together, trying to survive and care for one another. It is heartbreaking, but I also think that it is probably important to read and think about.

Despite the fact that the book is depressing and the world has become something alien to us, it isn’t really so difficult to relate to the things that happen in the story. Shouldn’t we all live to do what’s best for the people we love? The way I see it, the questions in the book are things that we should all be thinking about everyday:

• What are we going to do?



• Is that safe to eat?



• Are you one of the good guys?



• Are you carrying the fire?

Anna’s teen lit weekend of shame

This post should either count as two books or zero books. Two books because I physically read two separate bound volumes of fiction. Zero books because I’m not sure that Sweet Valley High and Gossip Girls actually constitute real reading. At least I can admit to reading them and getting no small amount of pleasure from doing so.

Let’s start with the classic: Secrets by Francine Pascal. I’ll have to start by saying that this isn’t really a classic. When I was checking this book out at the library, I checked the publication date and found that it was originally published in 1983, which is exactly the kind of thing I wanted; if I had looked closer I would have noticed that it was “recreated” by Kate William in 2006. This means that this Sweet Valley High book contains lots of things that never would have been included in 1983: snooping in other peoples’ email accounts, ecstasy, martini tasting parties, photoshopping and writing blogs to name just a few discrepancies. Also, William modernized the story by having characters make references to shows like 24 and Heroes. Needless to say, I’m a little bitter about all this and I really missed my “vintage” Sweet Valley High. Luckily, the story was still pretty good, Jessica was scheming to win the homecoming crown and hopefully win the heart of the dreamy Bruce Patman (at least they didn’t modernize the characters’ names).

Now for Nothing can keep us together by Cecily Von Ziegesar. Before this weekend, I had never before read any Gossip Girl books. I probably should have started with a book from the beginning of the series, but I figured that since characters are just reintroduced at the beginning of every book anyway, it wouldn’t make such a big deal. And it didn’t. I was perfectly capable of following the story and I knew enough about past events for the plot to be easily understood. Most of the story involved preparations for the upcoming high school graduation and Serena and Blair fighting about boys. From what I had heard in the past about Gossip Girl, I was prepared for scheming, unsupervised minors who all have unbelievable amounts of sex and moderate substance abuse problems; I was not disappointed. If this were a real representation of teen life in America, we would be in serious trouble. Since this is fortunately not the case, people like me are able to enjoy knowing that it’s actually not that bad.

'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest' by Stieg Larsson

I’m sure that anyone who has heard anything about the final installment in Stieg Larsson’s trilogy has heard nothing but good. And rightly so. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is a satisfying conclusion that resolves many of the complex issues that Larsson created.

When the Girl Who Played with Fire concluded, Lisbeth Salander was in a dangerous situation, physically and legally. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is the story of Lisbeth’s recovery and the investigation of her supposed crimes/offenses. Of course, Mikael Blomkvist is still Salander’s greatest advocate; he helps to track down and unravel the conspiracy that caused her to be abused and declared legally incompetent.

Stieg Larsson has posthumously proven himself to be one of the most talented suspense writers of our time. Even though Larsson died before the publication of his books, they are certainly not unfinished. All three books were delivered for publication prior to Larsson’s death, and I can’t think of anything that is missing. The trilogy is great for suspense readers, but also for those who simply enjoy a good book.

'Violation: The Life of Luisa Cannoli' by Luisa Cannoli

There are many, many quotes in existence that talk about the power of books and their ability to transport readers to unknown lands and foreign situations. This is certainly the case when it comes to Violation: The Life of Luisa Cannoli. As I read this book, I felt that I was being transported to a dark, scary place inside the mind of a crazy person with no access to a dictionary or spell check. Unfortunately, Luisa Cannoli’s intent probably wasn’t to terrify people with typos; she seems to be genuinely convinced of her soundness of mind and self-importance.

The book tells the long, drawn-out story of Luisa Cannoli’s lawsuit with an insurance company after she receives what sound like minor injuries in a car accident. After the accident, Cannoli is stalked by seemingly normal people who are actually spies from the despicable Freedom Insurance Company. Aside from these unusual, yet on-topic accusations, Cannoli also feels the need to tell the reader endless stories about childhood vacations, family investments and housing choices. She is careful to include all (and I mean ALL) information that is of even marginal importance. For example, (spoiler alert) Luisa wears brown shoes on the day of the automobile accident. Gasp!

It seems to me that the entire book is part personal memoir, part insurance lawsuit documentation. The language sounds like it was meant to be used to illustrate her personal suffering specifically for the purpose of furthering her personal injury lawsuit. Luckily, you don’t have to rely solely on my opinion of this book – it is available in the Dayton branch of library. You have to see it to believe it!

We Were the Mulvaneys (or were we?)

You might wonder why the Dayton library with its limited space owns two copies of Joyce Carol Oates's 1996 Oprah's Book Club selection We Were the Mulvaneys. I don't have an answer to that one, but it's certainly worth being checked out by two people at the same time. Like so much of Oates's best work, We Were the Mulvaneys combines dirty realism (we learn exactly when Burger King and Wendy's move into the tiny town of Mt. Ephraim, New York) with a gothic sensibility (a pivotal scene involves near death by quicksand). It's 454 pages, but I read it in one night.

The plot begins in 1976 with the Mulvaneys--eccentric but responsible parents and four promising children. A few chapters in (and I'm not really giving away everything here--the back cover provides plenty of hints), Marianne, a high school junior, is violently date-raped, and everything goes wrong from there for the whole family. While reading, I often asked myself whose fault it was that the family deteriorated so quickly. The rape is the rapist's fault, of course, and there's evidence in the novel that Marianne is not his only victim. The people of the town are all pretty bad, inexplicably--or maybe not so inexplicably--taking the side of the rapist's well-heeled family over the Mulvaneys. Marianne joins a cult. Revenge is plotted and taken. There were times when I thought, Will this family never get on with its life?

Over the next 15 years, the father behaves very badly, and his life spirals downward more dramatically than anyone else's. At one point one of the sons, a Marine, seems to be on the verge of pouring his heart out to his father about his difficulties adjusting to civilian life. The father is so drunk that he can barely remember the son's name, and the moment passes. I kept asking, Would the father have reached this point anyway if the rape hadn't happened? Or would he have continued with his happy and prosperous life? And later, Is the family heartless or merely practical in moving on with their lives without him?

I'm glad that at the end of the novel, as the back-cover copy suggests, a "miracle" has happened that will "allow the family to bridge the chasms" and "reunite in the spirit of love and healing." I still get the feeling that all of the family members have been stunted in a way that wouldn't have happened had the rape never occurred. But certainly in the case of this family, the bond they've finally rebuilt with each other is a whole lot better than the alternative.

‘Moby Dick’ by Herman Melville

Obviously, Moby Dick is a great American novel. The obsessed captain Ahab has sworn vengeance on the infamous whale Moby Dick. As many already known from the first line of the book, Ishmael tells the story of the best known whaling voyage of all time (albeit a fictional voyage) from the viewpoint of a member of the ship’s crew.

So many people, including many English majors that I have known, haven’t been able to push themselves through Moby Dick, and understandably so. It is a dense and complex book that few feel compelled to read if they aren’t assigned to do so by a professor. I won’t deny that the book is difficult, or imply that I fully comprehend every obscure reference that Melville has made, but on the whole, I’m glad to be familiar with the book. In truth, I may have benefitted from the graphic descriptions of the processes of whaling more than the narrative, and my final opinion of the novel may be that the work is of greater importance as a historical reference than entertainment fiction. Of course, I grew up playing the ‘Save the Whales’ board game, so it’s hard to imagine how Melville would feel about my perspective.

Even though the reader grows attached to some of the characters on the ship, I think my final sympathy lies with Moby Dick. The sailors think of him as a ruthless beast, but he is really just famous for preventing people from murdering him. I don’t think I’d mind having a reputation for not letting people kill me either.