(no subject)
39. Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott (253 pages, 3/26/07). I love Anne Lamott's books about faith, which is a topic I am spending some time mulling over these days. She is very Christian, but also accessible - she is struggling to quit hating G.W. Bush, marching for peace, and writing about her efforts to avoid strangling her teenage son. She doesn't claim to have the answers, but continues to ask questions and think about her place in the universe. She is the anti-zealot, if that makes sense, and people like her are the ones who keep me from declaring organized religion inherently dangerous.
40. Death Dance by Linda Fairstein (485 pages, 3/29/07). Fairstein is a former sex crimes prosecutor for the district attorney's office in New York City. Her books are realistic and compelling, but she has thus far avoided the Patricia Cornwall trap, in that her characters are amazing without being ridiculously unrealistic (i.e. they seem like actual people, rather than ethically-questionable super-heroes - Lucy, anyone?) and her crime scenes convey the horror of death, without then rubbing the reader's nose in it like a bad puppy (note: Redzils and Kiska do not sanction puppy-nose-rubbing, regardless of the offense committed, however that is the image I am trying to convey). I recommend her, if you are into mysteries, and thought this book was better than the last.
41. Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton (529 pages, 3/30/07). This was a totally ridiculous book. After spending the first however-many books celibate, struggling with the idea of premarital sex, then the next couple books having sex only with people she loves, Anita goes a little crazy in this episode. It is like Laurell was trying to be shocking, so piled Anita into bed with more men simultaneously than she had ever had sex with in her whole life, for an orgy, without bothering to let their bodies belong to beings with feelings. And that particular scene, which seems awfully unlikely in context of the world she had set up, is one of the more reasonable events in the book. I can't help wondering if this disconnect is due in part to the lack of feedback Laurell got before publication - in the acknowledgements section she specifies that her writing group did not get to see the draft, and hopes that "this is the last book that doesn't get to go through the group." Narcissus in Chains made me want to abandon Anita and co. forever, however I already had the next book in hand, so went ahead and read it...
42. Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton (529 pages, 3/31/07). This book was much better than the previous one. It was still smutty, in creative new ways even, but there was character development and/or personal growth (Anita, Asher, Dolph, and Jason, in particular) and plot that hung together over time. Based on this story, I could begin to believe the series might have potential again, if only the author remembers that character and plot are the skeleton of good writing, rather than window dressing for overly detailed erotica.
Current page total: 13,200
40. Death Dance by Linda Fairstein (485 pages, 3/29/07). Fairstein is a former sex crimes prosecutor for the district attorney's office in New York City. Her books are realistic and compelling, but she has thus far avoided the Patricia Cornwall trap, in that her characters are amazing without being ridiculously unrealistic (i.e. they seem like actual people, rather than ethically-questionable super-heroes - Lucy, anyone?) and her crime scenes convey the horror of death, without then rubbing the reader's nose in it like a bad puppy (note: Redzils and Kiska do not sanction puppy-nose-rubbing, regardless of the offense committed, however that is the image I am trying to convey). I recommend her, if you are into mysteries, and thought this book was better than the last.
41. Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton (529 pages, 3/30/07). This was a totally ridiculous book. After spending the first however-many books celibate, struggling with the idea of premarital sex, then the next couple books having sex only with people she loves, Anita goes a little crazy in this episode. It is like Laurell was trying to be shocking, so piled Anita into bed with more men simultaneously than she had ever had sex with in her whole life, for an orgy, without bothering to let their bodies belong to beings with feelings. And that particular scene, which seems awfully unlikely in context of the world she had set up, is one of the more reasonable events in the book. I can't help wondering if this disconnect is due in part to the lack of feedback Laurell got before publication - in the acknowledgements section she specifies that her writing group did not get to see the draft, and hopes that "this is the last book that doesn't get to go through the group." Narcissus in Chains made me want to abandon Anita and co. forever, however I already had the next book in hand, so went ahead and read it...
42. Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton (529 pages, 3/31/07). This book was much better than the previous one. It was still smutty, in creative new ways even, but there was character development and/or personal growth (Anita, Asher, Dolph, and Jason, in particular) and plot that hung together over time. Based on this story, I could begin to believe the series might have potential again, if only the author remembers that character and plot are the skeleton of good writing, rather than window dressing for overly detailed erotica.
Current page total: 13,200