"The Casual Vacancy" - J.K. Rowling

Published in 2012 by Little Brown

This was a highly anticipated novel obviously and because Harry Potter was so famous worldwide there was much debate whether the press was excited because the new book was good, or just because it was something new.  Well, I have read it, and I can say that it is good on it's own.

Kris can attest to the fact that I am not a big crier, there was one movie that we don't speak of (the puppy was going to DIE!!!!) but other than that, not so much with the waterworks.  So when I finished this novel and burst into tears it was a little confusing to say the least.

Rowling's writing is wonderful and filled with detail.  She is able to get inside the heads of her many characters and unlike Harry Potter, is able to give them honest thoughts for their ages.  The teenagers are horny and unhappy, the adults are. . . well also horny and unhappy, but they are also so much more.  Even though in the US the concept of a Casual Vacancy is not something we are familiar with, she is able to make the book interesting enough for the least politically inclined.

This is a rambling review but I have so many feelings.  All in all, A+ J.K.  Way to get outside of your comfort zone and write an excellent book.

Rating: ****

A New Year of Reading

2012 was a great year for reading! I finished new 44 books, 47 if I include rereading the hunger games, and after a little tallying the facts are in.

Pages read: 15,903

Average pages in a book: 361

Best Books of the Year: "Cutting For Stone" & "Atonement"

Worst Book of the Year: "The Best Ladies Detective Agency"

Favorite Quote:
"We're having an adventure. . . and most people live and die without being as lucky as we are."

As we go into 2013, I don't have a new planned number.  I think this year will be more about re-reading and trying to find books that really call out to me from authors I already know I like.

Now, onwards to the first book of 2013, "Casual Vacancy" by J.K. Rowling!

"How to tell if your cat is plotting to kill you" - the Oatmeal

Published in 2012 by Matthew Inman

I'm counting this as a book even though it was cartoons. Funny pictures of kittens and silly comics, count me in.

The oatmeal is an online cartoon that looks at a wide variety of topics including adorable kittens.

Read this book. It's amazeballs.

Rating: *****

Quotes: every page

"In One Person" - John Irving

Published in 2012 by Garp Enterprises, Inc.

I really like John Irving, I like his repetitive themes about abortion, bears, and dysfunctional sexual relationships.  I like his stories about how families form and interact.  I even love his strange obsession with wrestling. But this was not his best.

The World According to Garp introduced me to his style of writing and I loved it.  The Cider House Rules introduced me to some of the most lovable hated characters I have read and was a beautiful story.  But this? This wandered, weaved, ducked, bobbed and nosedived into the floor.

I read this with no pretense, I received it without a book-jacket and started on page one without looking into it at all.  The writing style wasn't quite there and the way the narration looped around itself was distracting at best and confusing at worst.  While we follow the tale of a young man who is bisexual, his attraction to manly women, women with small breasts, men of all ages, and his best friend, it's easy to get confused as to which part of his life Irving is writing about.  The mother is a strange character who is confusing and never has her problem resolved in the story. The inevitable introduction of AIDS and the 100 pages that follow where every person we have been introduced to dies, is not a pleasant read and (Spoiler) when he finally meets his dad it feels thrown in like the publishers wanted some closure.

Overall, I wanted more, I wanted Irving.  But I did love that the Bears in this novel were far different than in any other.

Rating: **

Quotes:
"Like my grandmother, Aunt Muriel managed to be both arrogant and judemental without saying anything that was either verifiable or interesting: in this respect  both my grandmother and my aunt struck me as superior-sounding bores."

"Yet me infatuation with Miss Frost had certainly shown me that my penis had ideas that seemed entirely separate from my own thoughts. And if penises could have ideas, it was not such a stretch to imagine that breasts could also think for themselves."

"Isn't it perfectly possible that Nils and his wife are too depressed to have kids? The prospect of having kids depressed the shit out of me and I;m neither suicidal nor Norwegian"

"When the Killing's Done" - T.C. Boyle

Published in 2011 by Penguin Books

You know what I have always wondered? What does the C stand for.  Not the T, I assume Tom, Timothy, Toreador, who cares. But the C, oh the C.  And now I know.

T. Coraghessan Boyle

wowsers, that's a name.

I shall name my first born son Coraghessan, and he shall stand up to the ridiculously named youth of his generation (Rykers, things with "X" in them, etc)

Moving on.  I am not usually a fan of Mr. Boyle's work.  I couldn't get through 40 pages of Tortilla Curtain, and The Women was taxing at the best of times.  But this was surprisingly innovative and delightful.  While I wouldn't say that it lived up to the hype that the review on the back cover gave it, it also never dragged or dimmed.

The story is about Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands off the coast, it tells of shipwrecks, endangered species, and non-native animals who threaten the balance of life on the island.  The war waging between two environmental groups (one pro-killing of animals not native to the islands, one a douchey guy who Boyle makes sure you know you should hate) and their increasingly dangerous interactions.

Overall, I was a fan.  Hooray Mr. Boyle!

Rating: ***

Quotes:
nothing particularly memorable. meh!

In Between Books

Room was harsh.  It was really really good, but it has left me in this state where I don't want to read another book yet.  This describes it pretty perfectly.

"Room" - Emma Donoghue

Published in 2010 by Little Brown Books

It's Jack's 5th birthday and this year Ma has given him a drawing of himself, Old Nick comes in the night and leaves a gift for JAck too, but Ma doesn't want him to have it.  Jack and Ma live in room with all of their friends: wardrobe, bed, stove, bath, and plant.  Because Jack is a big boy now his other birthday gift is learning about "Outside," a place they haven't ever been but Ma would like to see again.

This leads to a daring escape and the emotional troubles of being freed from captivity.  Told by Jack, the first 1/3 of the story drudges on a bit (yes, I get it, you are in a room) but boy oh boy does it pick up after that.

Not many books really get at my insides but this one made me tear up and have strange dreams of captivity.  It was fantastic how Donoghue was able to convey a ton of information through the mind of a 5 year old.

Rating: ****

Quotes:
"Scared is what you're feeling.  Brave is what you're doing"