I last read this book sometime in the late nineties and thought it was time to revisit it. I enjoyed it, but felt after 10+ years I was seeing it with a different perspective. I still love Anne Rice’s writing. The pacing suffered slightly from a little too much inner dialog and the frequent movement between the present and past, but I find her characters, descriptions and writing style beautiful, expressive, and darkly sensual.

My memories that had remained were of strong characters, a well developed and intricate world, and the struggle between humanity and vampire depravation without conscience. However, this time through I saw it less as a book about vampires, and more as a book about how the questions raised and answered apply to everyone. We all feel loss, we all long for something more, and we all constantly fight to balance our desires and compulsions against who we would like to be. We all have complicated relationships. We all choose the people in our lives, then start, continue and end relationships with them for complicated reasons. Sometimes we know our motivations, and sometimes we struggle to find our own explanations. Placing all these questions and emotions in the context of eternal life with interesting and tragically tortured vampires just makes the journey more fun. (Except when you realize Louis has lived over 200 years and is still struggling. I guess time doesn’t heal all wounds, ha ha.)

I remember enjoying the second book in the series more and will probably get to it soon. I also can’t get enough of her decadent description of New Orleans, they are a real treat. I wouldn’t call this book scary, but there are darker themes, hinted sexuality, and depictions of violence and killing.

Interview with the Vampire

Anne Rice. Ballantine Books 1997, Paperback, 352 pages, $6.71

What I liked about the book? This is a hard question for me to answer. I think I liked that there was a love story and that that love story didn’t drown the rest of the book like so often happens in YA fiction. I liked Clary’s complex relationship with Simon (her best friend). I liked Clary, especially since my name is Clarissa. It’s not often I get to read a book with my name in it, much less as the main character (my nickname is Lissy though, didn’t love the name Clary). I totally fell for Jace too, so much so that I went on wikipedia and read all the spoilers.

What I didn’t like? Cassandra Clare, was obviously  borrowing from Star Wars and other authors, and I really didn’t like the love story angle she chose. I think she might have been able to leave that part out. Creepy. Unnecessary. I should clarify, this is a CLEAN romance, just read the book.  At times it also felt as though, just as Eric’s  (a character in the book) poetry, she swallowed a dictionary and spewed up words at random.

I am having a hard time figuring that out why I liked it so much. I read it twice. I flew through it both times. I am baffled. But still super excited for the next installment and even the companion novel coming out in August.

City of Bones (Mortal Instruments)

Cassandra Clare. McElderry 2008, Paperback, 512 pages, $4.00

Wow, I think I may have a hard time trying not to gush about this book. I loved it. It was written in a way that was interesting, the writing style was different and the words were beautiful. You know when someone is telling a story and they sometimes trip over their words? Well there was some tripping in this book. Just a enough to keep it interesting. The style was different from what I am used to, and it took me a while to get into it. Once I was accustomed to the way the story was told, I flew through it. Couldn’t put it down. It was so moving. I guess I should tell you what it’s about.

This is a story narrated by Death. He is telling the story of a young girl in Nazi Germany during the war. Already you should know that this book is not going to be a happy go lucky kind of book. How could a book narrated by Death be anything but depressing? Yet the book is not all grief ridden. It has it’s moments, but there are also moments of fun and humour. It managed to make me laugh and then subsequently, cry. But by the end of the book, I was satisfied.

For your reading pleasure, here is a small excerpt from the book, just to show how beautiful the words are:

When Leisel left that day, she said something with great uneasiness. In translation, two giant words were struggled with, carried on her shoulder, and dropped as a bungling pair at Ilsa Hermann’s feet. They fell off sideways as the girl veered with them and could no longer sustain their weight. Together, they sat on the floor, large and loud and clumsy. I’M SORRY (p. 146).

The Book Thief

Markus Zusak. Alfred A. Knopf 2007, Paperback, 576 pages, $5.67

All slight sarcasm aside I actually liked this book. It was well written, well paced, and draws an interesting and complex new world. I felt the author did a great job of thinking the plot through and eliminating any large plot holes. (A pet peeve of mine with some science fiction.) I enjoyed the character portrayals, most of them torn between love and duty, and driven by love, fear, loyalty, and hate. I found it interesting the powerful women characters in the book were not wives and liked the way that was portrayed. Some of the most interesting plot lines in the book revolved around the planet itself. On a planet with such small amounts of available water it was very interesting to imagine the incredible importance of it and the ways in which your life would revolve around acquiring, retaining and reusing that precious resource. I have been trying to branch out and get my feet wet in science fiction and only wish I had read Dune at the beginning of my foray, and not towards the end as I’m starting to burn out. Did I love it? Not really, but it is the best science fiction book I’ve read in the last five years (I think) and I will get the next one in the series. I said before I read it I would be done science fiction after Dune, but now I guess I have to find out what happens next. Good heavens, what have I done, I think there are about a million and one books in this series. Ahkk, maybe i’m becoming a fan, ha ha. I’m also a little apprehensive to watch the 1984 film by David Lynch (but how can I not?).

As a side note, I noticed on Wikipedia that (unnamed) ‘scholars’ have compared Dune to Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Ummmmm, Wikipedia said the same thing about Foundation by Isaac Asimov. So I’m beginning to think I just need to read Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and imagine it in space.

Dune, 40th Anniversary Edition (Dune Chronicles, Book 1)

Frank Herbert. Ace Trade 2005, Paperback, 544 pages, $8.84

Do these, teen issue driven stories make for good reading? Yes. She keeps the tone in check, so it’s never too emotional. I wouldn’t consider it misery lit or chick lit. It’s somewhere in the middle. There is usually a love story, but that doesn’t dominate. Her stories tend to be about self progress that is facilitated or not (in the case of Dreamland) by a someone. Her leading men are not usually considered super hot either. In This Lullaby, the love interest is funny and kind of cute but not hot. In this novel, the guy is tall, has small dark eyes and blond hair. That’s what we got. I guess my point is, that these stories are not your typical teen drama. There is some substance to them and not a lot of whipping cream.

Just Listen

Sarah Dessen. Speak 2008, Paperback, 400 pages, $2.98

The novel’s main character is a woman named Gus of all things, who after the death of her husband, leaving her a widow with two children to raise, found a way to make money. Gus opened a sandwich shop, or was it a grocery store? Anyway, she eventually serves a Cooking Channel (or in other words, Food Network) executive who gives her a job on his fledgling cable channel. The novel starts after she has been on the Cooking Channel for 12 years and is well known. Gus is approaching a certain age and  finds herself trying to up her ratings to keep her job.

My problems with the novel? All the “incidents” are contrived and convenient. The main character is basically Martha Stewart, even down to her outfit. Two daughters she raised alone, her love of gardening, her large house outside New York City, even down to an incident with money that has her investigated by the FBI. It was unreal. I kept wondering if Jacobs had read all about Martha Stewart and decided to write a fictional version of her or if she just accidentally did it. Anyway, it was painfully obvious that this was a story about Martha Stewart, intentionally or not.

I also found the writing a bit flowery. There were a lot of descriptions of clothing and other mainly non-essential details that didn’t move the plot forward and felt unnecessary. I’m afraid I’m giving this one 2 1/2 stars.

Comfort Food

Kate Jacobs. Berkley Trade 2009, Paperback, 384 pages, $3.97

It was interesting. I liked it because I could read one section and put it down. There were no cliff hanger endings that would make me want to finish it in one sitting. I found that really nice.

The Copper Beech

Maeve Binchy. Dell 2007, Paperback, 400 pages, $7.92