Very Fine Idea

LAB 5 0f 5

2010-04-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Caleb is a fantasy reader. His favorites have been books in a series like Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc. He was looking for a fantasy setting but not necessarily a young adult series. He wanted something a bit darker and more adult but with the magic and wildness of typical fantasy.

I scoured through Fiction Connection and some adult fantasy booklists and found a couple of options of new series to look into.

M. John Harrison's Viriconium collection is somewhere between science fiction and fantasy and features dark themes, crumbling society and an incredible landscape.

Anne Bishop's Black Jewels Trilogy is a fully functional deviation from typical fantasy and features memorable characters, a taut and believable world order and an epic story.

That about covers my 5 advisees. I found that Fiction Connection, Novelist and other databases, while helpful to find a path, were not always as helpful as searching individual library's "librarian suggestion" pages when looking for read-alikes. My advisees seemed to be more interested in similar themes rather than similar styles. So, searching for authors that are similar to Tamora Pierce or books that are similar to Dune was not as fruitful as searching for books about young heroes or books about... universal.... domination? Well, you get the idea, right?

LAB 4 of 5

2010-04-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

Grandma!

Grandma is a fierce reader. She has no genre specific expectations. She will read non-fiction, fantasy, science fiction, westerns, bodice rippers, mysteries and anything else that you put in front of her.

This is not to say that she will like all or any of it, but she will read it.

I remember finding some real literary treasures at Grandma's house when I was young. On the bookshelves of the guest room, I discovered Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Tamora Pierce and many others.

Later in life we have shared a love of YA fiction, especially fantasy.

I asked Grandma to share with me a brief list of the books that most affected her. I then cross referenced this with the list of books that she had told me she would like to read again. The common authors were Elizabeth Moon and Tamora Pierce. Grandma has already devoured everything available by those two authors, so we would be looking for a new author that may provide a similar experience.

Pierce and Moon's defining stories involve young girls who rebel against a patriarchal schema and save the day with heroism and cleverness. Grandma was not attached to the setting, a knights/elves/wizards affair, but more interested in young people growing into heroes.

We looked through Fantastic Fiction and Fiction Connection and came away with Shannon Hale's Princess Academy as a sure-fire winner with magic, an atypical setting, a headstrong young lady main character, an unfair government/patriarchy that needs challenging, and excellent writing.

LAB 3 of 5

2010-04-20T08:27:00.001-07:00

Lucas is my brother. So much for anonymity, sucker!

We pretty much read the same things with one exception. He has a dedicated love of the Wheel of Time series, and I would rather spontaneously combust than read a single page of it.

Throughout our 25 years of siblinghood, he has taken my suggestions on reading almost 100% in the science fiction arena. A few of the works he's professed to have enjoyed thanks to my expert advisory skills: C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy, Frank Herbert's Dune, Philip K. Dick's The Divine Invasion, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Greg Egan's Quarantine, etc.

Now, to approach him and actually ask him what he WANTS to read... that is a wholly different situation. We have grown accustomed to the former model where I walk up to him and hand him a book and tell him to read it unless he is stupid.

So, I asked him what his favorite books have been. He said he has read so many books that that is an idiotic question. But currently he is rereading Dune and has been so impressed by the way Frank Herbert (by all accounts a real human and not a super-engineered clone) is able to write from the perspective of someone who is, in fact, superhuman. Paul Muadib is so far beyond the thinking capacity of normal people, yet Herbert makes him accessible. Lucas also enjoyed this aspect of Ender's Game way back when he read it. Ender is another example of someone whose mind is just more sophisticated than the average human's. Yet Card is able to write it so well.

So, I was unsure how to look for books that featured superhuman protagonists. I was unsure how to look for books that focus on the cognitive processes in general. From recent experience I was able to suggest Nojiri's Usurper of the Sun, as it deals with language/logic/cognitive processes in a delightful way. But I wanted to give him more options that came from outside of myself as well.

We searched www.sfbooklist.co.uk (one of my favorite places) to find what people had to say about Dune and Ender's Game and what we should read next.

Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Ursula K. Lequin's The Left Hand of Darkness and Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash are what we came away with.

LAB 2 of 5

2010-04-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

Natalia is a lover of science fiction. She has read various sci-fi authors and gave me a list of authors that she enjoyed the most. Neil Stephenson and Philip K. Dick topped the list. She remembered Snow Crash by Stephenson and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Dick with particular fondness.

After a long conversation about Philip K. Dick (I am myself a rabid fan), I suggested a few additional Dick titles like Ubik and A Scanner Darkly. I double checked with Novelist and found surprising recommendations for classic science fiction authors like H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury.

I know that Natalia has since read a few of the Dick titles, including Ubik.

LAB 1 0f 5

2010-04-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

The following story is true, though the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

My five victims/patrons will be referred to as DJ, Natalia, Lucas, Grandma and Caleb.

DJ's fondest memories of reading came from the Dragonlance universe of fantasy books that have a huge following among RPG (Role Playing Game) fans. The Dragonlance stories feature a shared universe and sometimes intermingling characters, but are built heavily on fantasy archetypes and the typical "Quest" narrative.

I asked DJ which were his favorite novels in that series and who were his favorite characters. I also asked him what was special about these choices; what made them stick in his mind.

DJ enjoyed the "Legends Trilogy" because it dealt with his favorite character, Raistlin. Raistlin is an interesting hero/anti-hero who is physically very weak but wields incredible magical power. DJ liked this character, because he wasn't typical. He was on the creepy side and easily underestimated.

Investigating Novelist, which has been my go-to read alike connection for this course, didn't turn up much, because this series is so large and the authors so plentiful. I knew from conversations with my brother that the Dragonlance series became the basis for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign (more geeky RPG talk), so I consulted with Dungeons & Dragons sites along with my Fiction Connection searching. I turned up a lot of references to The Wheel of Time series, which didn't seem to be exactly what DJ was looking for. But I also found quite a few references to Brandon Sanderson. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that Sanderson wrote a book called Elantris that DJ and I both thought sounded like it fit well with what he was looking to find.

I gave DJ a list of Sanderson titles and various other recommendations from the D&D universe, and he was excited to get started.

Customers vs. Patrons

2010-04-14T17:33:00.000-07:00

At my job, I do a training for new employees all about customer service. I tell them that perception IS reality for the people you serve. You might have a day full of ups, great productivity, super creativity and good work. But the one customer who comes in and feels ignored for a moment while you gossip with a co-worker will perceive you as an inattentive blabbermouth rather than the kind, swift and accurate person you truly are.

People in the non-profit sector tend to associate "customer service" with sales. It's sort of a dirty word. But we really are a business. We are in the business of information. Whether you are making money or not, the customer service concept matches up with everything we should expect to be able to deliver to our patrons.

Approachability: Use the 10/5 rule. At 10 feet, make eye contact with someone who is approaching you. At 5 feet, smile at them with an open posture.

Understanding: Listening and asking questions to clarify the patron/customer's expectations.

Judgment: Knowing where and how to approach a query or problem.

Accuracy: Giving the correct information the first time every time... or knowing where to find it.

Speed: Don't dilly dally!

Seems like a bunch of stuff librarians should be doing every day if they want their PATRONS to continue to seek their services, right?

In this, libraries are exactly like businesses. If there are no customers, there is no business. If there are no patrons, there is no library.

Secret Shopper Surprise

2010-03-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

I went to a large library in a smallish town west of Indianapolis. The library is relatively new, with large and expensive add-ons being built onto an old Carnegie library building.

As I entered the building, I could go downstairs for the children's area or up a small flight of stairs to the adult and teen spaces. At the top of the wide-open stairway, the information desk was front and center with adult reference off to the left and circulation over to the right.

I went straight to the adult reference desk and was greeted by a very busy young lady while she was bustling away to an office in the back somewhere. She told me she would be right with me. She DID smile, and I WAS reassured, but she was gone for about 5 minutes. In the 5 minutes that I spent standing at the AR desk staring into space, not one other librarian (and I saw at least 5 shuffling about the place) approached me to see if they could help.

When she finally made it back, she sighed dramatically and asked me what I needed, which made me feel like I was really a rock in her shoe. I didn't lie to her. I told her I was attempting to read outside of my comfort genres for class (though I did not tell her which class) and that I knew absolutely nothing about Urban Fiction. Her eyes lit up as she told me she just took a class on urban fiction at another library. So we got pretty lucky there. She said that her library didn't stock much UF because there wasn't much of a demand for it, but that she was sure they had some swimming around.

She took me straight to the adult fiction shelves and started browsing with me. She asked me to help her find Vickie Stringer on the shelf. We found Let that be the Reason. And that appeared to be the end of the conversation. She found the one book she knew she had that fit the bill and once I had it, she was done with me. She said, "... and there you go. If you need anything else, you know where to find me." She had her back to me before I could even say "thank you."

I didn't even check out the book. It doesn't interest me in the slightest. She didn't even attempt to let me know what I was going to find inside, which is a big deal to me when I specifically told her I didn't know ANYTHING about the genre.

Boo!

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2010-03-21T15:28:00.000-07:00

In the distant future, the former North America, having risen above years of natural disasters, famine and plagues, has formed a new nation, Panem. The capitol citizens wallow in luxury, spending their days eating and altering themselves with paint, clothing and surgery. The price of the capitol's decadence comes on the backs of the laborers in the surrounding districts.

There were 13 districts. District 13 was destroyed by the capitol in an attempted revolution that occurred 70+ years ago. The capitol squelched the revolution instantly through this example of their strength and ruthlessness.

Now, the districts serve as slaves to the capitol, starving in their own fields and orchards, forced to give all that they produce to the capitol to be redistributed.

Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old poacher, has learned to live with hunger. She has taken up poaching to feed her family, although hunting in the forest that surrounds her district is an offense punishable by death.

We step into this story on "Reaping Day," a false holiday created by the Capitol. On this day each year, the names of every child between the ages of 12 and 18 are entered into a drawing. One boy and one girl from each district are chosen to compete in the Hunger Games, a nationally televised American-Idol style fight to the death. The last "tribute" living is allowed to go home to their district and take with them fame, a life of ease and certain prizes (mostly food) to the citizens of their district. The capitol forces the districts to send their "tributes" as a reminder that their rebellion failed 70 years ago.

Tragically, the one person Katniss loves, her little sister, is chosen as the female tribute. But Katniss won't allow it. She volunteers in her sister's place without hesitation. She is taken to the capitol to be trained and groomed in order to win the national audience and hopefully win sponsors, who can save her life by sending her gifts in dire situations.

Once Katniss enters the arena, she must tap all of her resources. Her poaching skills, her familiarity with hunger, even her acting ability. Constantly under attack from fellow tributes and bored "gamemakers," Katniss is running to the finish.

This book is a heart-stopper. I was anxiously biting my nails with every twist and turn. I was shouting out loud at the unfairness of it all. I was...well I won't spoil the adventure for you.

This was one of the best books I've read all year. I suggest it to anybody.

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

2010-03-13T14:33:00.000-08:00

This "classic" detective story, set in the 30s, features the now-famous Sam Spade. Though Spade appears in this novel and a handful of Hammett's short stories, he has become the iconic private investigator and the model for a hundred hard-boiled look-alikes.

Spade and his partner, Archer, are hired by a starry-eyed Ms. Wonderly to follow a man she says has her sister trapped in a bad relationship. Spade knows she's lying but the price is right, so he sends his partner to shadow the man in question.

When both the partner and the mark are found murdered in the morning, Spade is sent through a series of wild goose chases and vicious traps.

Ms. Wonderly is actually Brigid O'Shaughnessy, and she's gotten herself mixed up with a high-profile theft of a rare and valuable figurine, the Maltese Falcon.

Spade is suspected by the police for the murder of his partner and the man Archer was tailing. Torn between his survival instinct and a desire to help the deceitful O'Shaungnessy, Spade uses shrewd thinking and smooth talking to keep control of the police investigation, the DA inquisition, the flighty O'Shaughnessy, a cowardly Greek thief and his sometimes partner, the fat Gutman and company.

I am so glad we have left books like this behind. The womanizing Sam Spade is bad enough. But the extreme uselessness of every woman in the story is irritating at best. At the worst, these women are downright offensive.

Archer's wife, Iva, has been having an affair with Spade. Spade doesn't even seem to like her, but she is hopelessly devoted to him. She is overly dramatic, insanely jealous, and completely dependent on Spade to live.

Spade's assistant, Miss Perine, takes care of his EVERY need, no matter what the hour. She sits in his lap and holds him and massages him. She is a sexual harassment nightmare!

Don't even get me started on the lying slut, O'Shaughnessy.

There is not a strong, decent, independent female character to be found in the pages of this novel.

Spade himself is a big ol' grouch. Pompous and superior and absolutely sure that he's the only person who deserves to know any of the answers.

This book, I could take it or leave it. Mostly leave it.

Where my people at?!

2010-03-07T16:55:00.000-08:00

I've made it a point to purchase loads of books from the scholastic book fair that comes through my elementary school every semester. I like to support my school librarian, because she's simply wonderful. The more money she makes, the more books she gets to select for her media center.

I am usually able and willing to overlook Scholastic's significantly limited selection. I mean, even on a bad day I can walk out of there with an armful of decent reads. And many times I have discovered an author or series, new to me and wholly fabulous. I never would have read the quirky and unexpected May Bird series, the adventuresome Fablehaven books or the darkly fantastic Land of Elyon books without Scholastic's fair popping up right under my nose.

And I have noticed from one semester to the next, the "Big Sellers" don't change much. Jeff Kinney can't pump out a Diary of a Wimpy Kid fast enough for there to be a new book with the new semester.

A lot of kids come to the book fair, see there's no new Seekers or 39 Clues and don't know what to do with the $20 their parents gave them.

AND THIS is the beauty of the book fair. What kid is going to say, "Oh. I guess they don't have what I was looking for. I will give this fresh $20 bill back to dear Mother so that she can use it to buy herself a warm pair of mittens." Only a damn crazy kid would say that. They take those bucks and they find some other book to spend them on.

The Scholastic book fair turns kids from searchers into browsers. They are open to the idea that the shelves before them are stacked with opportunity.

Now all of those librarians who stock their shelves with the pedestrian, best-selling slop that kids want because they know in their hearts that when the kids run out of slop, they will be forced to look around on the top shelf... those are good people. And you won't hear me complaining about their selections.

Modoc by Ralph Helfer

2010-02-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

Modoc and Bram are born on the same day. Bram, the son of an elephant trainer, and Modoc, the daughter of a circus elephant. The two are inseparable from birth.

When Bram is a young man, a shrewd businessman from America comes to Germany and buys up the circus, determined to take all of the equipment and livestock to America but leave all of the people, performers and animal trainers, behind. Bram is devastated and refuses to be parted from Modoc. Sneaking aboard the American's trans-Atlantic freighter, Bram attempts stay with his elephant.

When the ship is destroyed at sea and Bram performs a heroic elephant rescue, the handful of survivors cling to Modoc's back for days as they wait for a passing ship. Day after exhausting day passes while the survivors take turns holding Modoc's trunk out of the water, knowing that once her trunk dips, they are all sunk.

Finally, a small tug-boat happens upon the group. They can take the people but must leave the elephant behind. Bram refuses to leave his elephant and softly comforts Modoc as they watch the tug boat leave them behind. Just as Bram and Modoc are too exhausted to go on and Bram allows Modoc to wrap him up in her trunk in their old affectionate greeting, they hear the blast of a giant passing freighter. They are pulled aboard and taken ashore to India.

Miraculously, they end up in an elephant preserve where the local administrator runs an elephant hospital where Modoc is able to recover and Bram is able to learn more about these amazing animals.

Bram and Modoc live long lives full of adventure, heartache and amazing reunions in this beautiful story of love and friendship.

I suggest this book to any animal lover.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

2010-02-28T06:31:00.000-08:00

I was a Stephen King fanatic in another life (high school) and decided to finally dive into his iconic Dark Tower series. The Talisman is probably one of my favorite books ever, and from what I have heard from lovers of the Dark Tower books, I felt I could expect the same sort of storytelling.

My friend Ryan said, "Keep in mind he was 19 when he wrote it." I know now he meant, "Keep in mind 19-year olds think they are badasses when they are really giant nerds."

Yes, I have some issues in the forced and superfluous prose (I even got the re-edited version that King released in 2003), and I cringed at 19-year-old Stephen's painful attempts at building symbolism and metaphor. But every writer has to start somewhere. I mean no offense to 2010 Stephen when I say he was an insufferable twerp when he was 19.

Now, we can really talk about this book.

Roland is the world's last gunslinger. He is on a tiresome journey through the desert, chasing a "man in black" who kick-started the fall of Roland's civilization by seducing his mother and betraying his father.

The man in black is a monster. He draws Roland out across the wasteland for some vague or misunderstood purpose, banking on Roland's unstoppable desire to reach the Dark Tower.

Roland follows him. Follows through scorched desert, delirious with thirst. Follows through a forgotten town where the man in black has left a woman impregnated with a demon, a reanimated corpse, and a lethal trap for Roland.

Along the way, Roland takes charge of a young boy named Jake, who was apparently murdered by the man in black in another world, and so has now come to live in Roland's universe. Roland comes to love Jake as a son and soon understands the man in black is capable of more sinister traps than he ever imagined.

The Gunslinger is a catapult to the rest of the series. It frames all the right questions for leading into a second book. As a jumping-off point for the story, it does its job well. King also does a wonderful job of characterizing Roland's "place" in time or reality. In this point in the story, Roland's relationship with either isn't too clear yet. But Roland's world is brilliantly bleak. The grand waste of the dessicated threads of humanity, the abandoned structures, the sad and terrorized life forms, all paint a desperate, starved backdrop for this epic story.

I would suggest this book to anyone who read Viriconium and loved it. For someone who is looking for a good series to get lost in, this is also a nice suggestion with a small warning that the first book can seem (at times) written by somebody very young.

Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 road-worn Stetsons.

The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington

2010-02-24T16:22:00.000-08:00

I have read books that I did not like. I have read books that made me cringe. I have never ever read a book that made me throw up in my mouth . . . until I read The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart.

In 1364 the plague is vanishing, The Church is crusading, manticores are sucking the flesh from the finger bones of small children, demons are multiplying, and the Grossbarts are on the move.

Manfield and Hegel Grossbart are grave robbers by trade. They come from a long line of Grossbart grave liberators. As the book opens, the brothers are on their way to Egypt to try their hand at pyramid plundering. Before they can set out, they must gather supplies.

Robbing a farmer of everything he possesses, burning his wife and daughters in the farmhouse, and slitting his son's throat while beating the farmer to near death, is all in a night's work for the Grossbarts.

This unhappy first glimpse of the Grossbarts touches off a long journey south. The tiresome journey is comprised of one calamitous conflict after the other, the Grossbarts seeming to always win out no matter how absurdly outmached they may appear.

The novel has an almost episodic structure. As the Grossbarts move toward Egypt, they step from one disaster to the next. From a run-in with a hungry manticore, to an erotic visit with a filthy witch, to the slaughter of a demon that grows itself from the bursting pus bags of its infected victims (that was where I threw up), the Grossbarts bludgeon and shoot and hack their way through every page.

Manfried and Hegel's dumb luck and bullish determination eventually may wear us down to the point of actally cheering for them. Regardless of their horrible, insufferable existence, we may truly admire their courage and their mountain-moving grit.

This book was a chore for me to read. It was unpleasant through and through. I felt ill and I wanted to quit. That being said, it was a completely new experience. I would suggest this book to anybody who is looking for something 'new' in the fantasy genre. I love fantasy works, but I get tired of faeries and elves and dragons. While this book was not for me, some adventurous sorts may enjoy it.

2010-02-11T11:01:00.000-08:00

My School Librarian friend was telling me about this official change for former School Media Specialists.

I guess they used to beg us to call them Media Specialists, but the AASL (it has 'school librarians' right in the damn title) started asking us to change our ways .... back.

Story from ALA

Usurper of the Sun - Housuke Nojiri

2010-02-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

Young astronomy fanatic, Aki Siraishi is a witness to an enormous structure on Mercury. Propelled into fame in the scientific community, Aki maintains a cold and scientific approach to her new passion, "The Ring."

The tower on Mercury is belching raw materials from the swift planet itself into the sun, where nanomachines are collecting it and using it to create a thin solar energy collector shield around the sun. The level of advancement required to keep the ring from falling into the sun's gravity (by expelling a constant blast of recycled solar energy from the sun-side and barely holding it in orbit) is a source of amazement for Earth.

Any fascination Earthlings initially feel for this phenomenon is quickly overshadowed (pun intended) by fear, as humanity discovers what can happen to the Earth's climate when 20% of it's solar light is blocked by a celestial body.

Glaciers and drought plague the planet. Casualties by the millions occur every week due to famine and the elements.

In the years of the ring's growth, Aki has dedicated herself to finding an answer to the ring. She is selected as a crewman aboard humanity's last hope to stop the ring. With some quick thinking and a sad heart she manages to destroy the tower and temporarily stop the ring.

This seems pretty epic, but it's just the beginning of the book. Aki deduces that the aliens who sent the ring to our solar system are not aggressive. They are on the run. They have launched this technology ahead of them as they move their entire civilization on a 600 year journey. The ring is to act as a braking system for their launch. With the ring destroyed, they will be unable to stop, forcing them to sail past their destination and into the void forever. By destroying the ring, Aki has doomed an entire civilization to death.

Through much research, Aki discovers that she can reprogram the nanotechnology within the ring to build itself on an axis perpendicular to its original design, which would not effect the Earth's light in the least.

However, people are furious at the "Builders" for thoughtlessly killing 2 billion people on Earth with their ring. Even if it was accidental, humans feel no love for the coming aliens or guilt for destroying their future.

The remaining drive of the book is full of political intrigue as military personnel attempt to undermine Aki's intentions and push their aggressive agenda on the unknown species.

The book is quite good. It covers complex ideas ranging from artificial intelligence to language compatibility, to space travel.

This author was compared to Haruki Murakami, who is one of my all-time favorites. I did not quite agree with the comparison, but the read was enjoyable nonetheless.

This book was translated by John Wunderley with only minor bumps in the prose. It had a spare style and an uncluttered representation of the characters.

I would suggest this book to readers of hard science fiction any day of the week.

Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

2010-02-04T15:44:00.000-08:00

Synthetically hardwired to code information by pressing it through his mind in a way that leaves even his own brain unknowing of the cipher, the unnamed narrator is caught in the middle of a data war on a global scale. Hired by conflicting companies to code technology secrets, falling in love with an enigmatic and beautifully calm librarian with a bottomless pit of an appetite, the "hero" spends half of his time dodging calamity, researching unicorns and formulating a bemused and deadpan analysis of the modern world. The other half of his time is spent in a dreamy reverie of an achingly beautiful village that is so bold in its fantastic landscape and purpose that it seems real. Murakami artfully divides Hard-boiled wonderland into fantasy and science fiction with page-turning plot hops and soul-stirring imagery.

An impressive, driving story that leaves the reader satisfied and thoughtful long after reading.

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

2010-01-26T16:46:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, thrillers of the psychological and suspense variety do not draw me. I may not have ever read one, now that I think about it. Not having a paragon, go-to author of thrillers at the front of my brain, I relied on genre book lists to pick a title. The Lovely Bones appeared on two of the first lists I checked out. Miraculously, it was also on a list of books suggested by a friend, so it seemed a natural choice, right?

Well, before I bemoan how little suspense or thrill appeared in this book, I do want to say that it WAS very good.

Susie Salmon is 14 years old when she is raped and murdered by the unassuming "guy next door" in a hole in the cold mud. We learn this in the first pages, before the book has even sucked in the breath needed to tell this story.

Susie stands in a heaven of her own design, witness to the unwinding lives of her family, friends and small-town neighbors.

As Susie's sister, Lindsay, charges ahead, determined to carve her own path without the aid of her murdered sister's ghost, her mother begins channeling Virginia Wolfe, leaving her exhausted father the dissolving glue at the center that cannot hold.

Susie is informed in heaven that in order to move into the more magical parts of heaven she has only to stop watching her family, stop watching her killer (unsuspected and free to kill again). Of course, she isn't ready to release her connections to Earth. And the story scrapes through 8 years of a family slowly decaying and falling apart, unable to escape Susie's presence.

Things I loved about this book:

Susie has those literary and appropriately ironic parents...the kind who tell their children, "Don't be petulant."

Alice Sebold is a master imagewright. Her descriptions of the softly changing seasons and clean bones of small animals in her killer's crawlspace are equitably handled with the kind of prose that causes you to mark the page with your finger and close your eyes.

Things that frustrated me:

The characters fell just short of making a connection with the reader. Susie's absurd, obnoxious, elegant, perpetually drunk grandmother comes closest to having a personality that fits a real person. Susie's father is a little too much martyr. Her mother a little too much suppressed hippie. Her sister a little too much tough girl. Even Susie, the narrator, never reveals much of her personality beyond the blow by blow descriptions of the events she is experiencing vicariously through her family members.

For a book that is described as a thriller, there was hardly a thrill to be had. There were a few moments when I felt a brief worry that Susie's murderer was coming back to strike again, erase the rest of her family. But they were brief and really only served to break up the grief parade.

I know; I know. If you read that last bit, it sounds like I didn't like it. But I really truly did. I depended on the audio book I downloaded from i-tunes to finish the last 3rd. It was read by Alice Sebold herself. It was an enjoyable read/listen, and I would suggest it to anyone who was looking for a life-examination, romance, horror, grief counseling, ghost story.

2010-01-19T16:49:00.001-08:00

I am blogging from my phone, because the good people of this nation deserve it.

#1 Fan

2010-01-19T15:33:00.000-08:00

I am a lover of good books and not so much the crappy ones.

Good books can come from any family of literature. Even degenerate parents can produce some pretty good kids...sometimes. So, I'll never shut a book down without giving it a chance just because I haven't had the best of experiences with its ancestors.

I tend to be highly opinionated when it comes to a good book vs. a really terrible one. If I offend anyone in the course of this adventure, I hope you can get over it, because I already have.