Book Vs Film: Interview With the Vampire

 

Welcome to one of my very favorite segments, Book vs Film. Today we’re looking at the 1976 novel, Interview with the Vampire versus its 1994 film counterpoint, starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

 

Warning: Spoilers for a fifty-year old book and twenty-five year old film. I’m not gonna feel too bad on this one.

1) I had no idea the book was that old until I started writing this article, but now I can totally see it. There’s a timelessness to Rice’s Gothic prose that takes it out of the present day. She also has a penchant for long, descriptive paragraphs that might put off younger readers accustomed to the snappy pace of today’s paranormal novels. But once you sink in to her stories, they sweep you away.

2) Brad Pitt was a great casting choice as Louis. With his long, sexy hair, eerie green eyes, and mouth made for pouting, he was the definition of the hot vampire long before Edward Cullen came along.

In the immortal battle of Can My Face Show Emotion, Brad Pitt wins hands down.

3) I hate Tom Cruise as Lestat. He failed to capture the combination of mischief and anguish that drives the character, and instead just kind of…yells about stuff for awhile and then offers a few moments of fright before “dying”. The movie gets better once he’s gone, which is too bad because he’s actually a very interestingcharacter. Tom Cruise just sucks, and he isn’t nearly as cute as he thinks he is.

All Rights Reserved, Warner Brothers Studio 1994

4) I read this book for the first time when I was in my early teens, and it sparked a lifelong love of New Orleans. The film doesn’t do this justice, as it relies too much on elaborate sets and CGI backdrops. I wanted to feel the music, the culture, the energy of the city, but it just looked like a standard period drama that could have been set anywhere.

5) Still, the film looks amazing. Director Neil Jordan, whose IMDB is surprisingly lackluster, created a rich, visceral canvas. The wardrobe is lavish, as is the makeup. And while he might not have focused on NOLA as much as I would have liked, the set design as a whole is spectacular, especially the Theatre des Vampyres.

All Rights Reserved, Warner Brothers Studio 1994

6) Like I said before, Anne Rice made vampires sexy long before Stephenie Meyers turned them into Mormon propaganda. But Rice  did it in such a strange way that it isn’t really erotica. There aren’t any vivid descriptions of sex, and it’s insinuated that the vampires “discard” their genitalia when they transition from being human. Instead, the novel is permeated by a heady sensuality, much of which is homosexual. The main relationships between Louis and Lestat and Louis and Armand are never romantic by definition, but the novel practically teems with sexual tension.

*Note: If you’re in the market for paranormal erotica, check out The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty series, written under Anne Rice’s penname of A.N. Roquelaure. But be ready for some crazy shit.

7) The film made the wise move of toning down that sexual tension when it came to the relationship between Louis and Claudia. Claudia, played by Kirsten Dunst when she was eleven years old, was meant to be only five or six in the books. She was always one of my favorite characters, and her story is so tragic and haunting that I still wish Rice would give her a follow up book. And again, vampires in Rice’s universe aren’t “sexual” in any real way. However, a person with the appearance of a kindergartener referrring an adult man as her “lover” was always weird, and the film works better with Brad Pitt as more of a Father/Companion/Jailer figure.

All Rights Reserved, Warner Brothers Studio 1994

8) The film also doesn’t spend nearly as much time reflecting on the “nature” of vampires. The books contains a lot of monologuing by Louis as he tries to understand the nature of good and evil, of God and the devil, in a world where monsters such as himself are allowed to exist. This is all very interesting, but there are times when you want to tell him to just shut up and get on with the story. Jones cut out a lot of Louis’ philophizing, which makes for a more tightly paced film.

9) But the whole River Phoenix narration thing still doesn’t work. It was annoying in the books, and it was utterly superfluous in the film.

10) Instead, they should have shown Louis and Claudia’s trip to Eastern Europe. One of Rice’s main themes was the juxtaposition of the “old” vampires, the ones that lived in crypts and practiced dying rituals, versus the “new” vampires that lived in mansions and walked among the people as one of them. This idea is never really explored, which is a shame.

11) Antonio Banderas is…not the best thing about the movie. His accent is weird, and he’s trying too hard to play vampire. But damn if his hair isn’t better than mine. Everyone in this universe has better hair than me. Cause vampires may have changed a lot since this book came out in ’76, but some things never changed. We like hot vampires better than creepy ones.

I’ll give you my blood in exchange for your hair-care regime.

12) I always hated the ending of the book, which more or less mirrors the end of the fim. It just…stops. There is no real conclusion, unless you continue reading Rice’s books.

Overall, its a solid book-to-film adaptation. Jordan and his cast remain true to the spirit of Rice’s books while amending some of the squiffier aspects. I highly recommend the next two books in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned. QOTD in particular is wonderful, kind of like the vampire Avengers, and addresses the vampire mythos in a unique and interesting way. But stop there. Everything from Tale of the Body Thief onward is just fluff.

I would also advise film-lovers to avoid 2002’s Queen of the Damned, staring Aaliyah and Stuart Townsend. It’s bad. Just…really bad.

Really, really bad.

Happy reading and watching everyone!

 

Did I get it totally wrong? Let me know what you think in the comments section below!

And check out more of our book vs film reviews!!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Ready Player One

The Shining

Book Review: The Winter of the Witch (Winternight Trilogy #3) by Katherine Arden (2019)

Review 2.11

 

Note: I highly recommend reading The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower before reading this review.

Following their adventures in The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower, Vasya and Morozko return in this stunning conclusion to the bestselling Winternight Trilogy, battling enemies mortal and magical to save both Russias, the seen and the unseen. [Source]

The Winter of the Witch has all of the ingredients necessarily for a dark, mature fairy tale. There is a twisted villain, a mysterious king, an enchanted forest. There are swordfights, helpful sprites, and magic horses. Front and center of it all is the courageous heroine, Vasilisa Petrovna. Vasya is a marvel, at once vulnerable and indomitable. Her journey from a scared girl in the snow to a crusading warrior-witch has made the Winternight trilogy one of my favorite finds in recent years.

Of course, all these elements would amount to nothing without the beautiful and poetic writing of Katherine Arden. She has constructed a world that feels simultaneously ancient and immediate. The best fairy tales exist in a world of misty morals, and The Winter of the Witch is no exception. No one, no matter how seemingly good or evil, is ever quite what they seem. This comes as a natural development rather than a sudden cheat, and I never felt as though Arden had sacrificed her characters for the sake of a easy ending.

After the climatic events of The Girl in the Tower, Vasya has just risked everything to save Moscow from the flames. Her secrets are now exposed, and the obsessed priest Konstantin has her cornered. After suffering a devastating loss, she flees into the realm of Midnight, a land of eternal darkness. Weakened and grieving, Vasya must search the midnight lands for Morozko, the king of winter.

I won’t say anything more, for fear of spoiling the surprise. I am definitely looking forward to buying the entire Winternight trilogy on hardcover once it’s released. These books swept me away.

My rating: 5/5

You can find The Winter of the Witch here on Amazon or here on Book Depository.

My Favorite Books of 2018

Now that the holidays are winding down, I find myself in that weird limbo period that exists between Christmas and New Years. I’ve had way too more food and wine than was good for me, got to spent Christmas with my family for the first time in seven years, and spent roughly twenty-seven hours in a car in order to do it. Now I’m back in Toronto and enjoying a few more lazy days before returning back to work and the real world.

Before the second official oneyearonehundredbooks challenge kicks off next week, let’s take a look back at some of the best books I read this year. It was so hard to narrow this list down to only twelve novels, but I finally picked my favorites. Beginning with the honorable mentions:

 

Honorable Mention: The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson

 Post-apocalyptic novels are always fun, and this novel really benefits from its strong heroine. I definitely recommend this one for a cold winter’s day.

Honorable Mention: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

This memoir, about a girl growing up with a highly unusual family, is equal parts heartbreaking and uplifting. It will make you see the value of family in a new light.

10) Night Film by Marisha Pessl

This was a very hit-and-miss year for thrillers, but Night Film was one of those novels that kept me turning pages late into the night. The creative formatting and captivating plot line all work together to create a genuinely suspenseful experience.

9) Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

 Horror novels and graphic novels are two of my very favorite genres, so it comes as no surprise that I was blown away by the five short stories presented in Through the Woods. This is a book that I am determined to add to my own library someday.

8) Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar

 The true story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident has fascinated me since I first learned about it more than five years ago. This nonfiction novel fleshes out the final days of the doomed hikers and offers up a new and interesting theory as to what may have caused the deaths of the nine hikers in 1952.

7) You by Caroline Kepnes

 This novel wins this year’s “Creeper” award hands-down. The twisted narrator who becomes obsessed with a young woman could give Patrick Bateman a run for his money. This book grabbed me from page one and didn’t let up for a second.

6) The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

 Kristin Hannah is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. This historical fiction novel, set in the Alaskan wilderness of the 1970’s, deals with the dysfunctional love that often exists in a family. I definitely looked into Alaskan cruises after reading this book.

5) The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

 I lived in China for almost three years, but never managed to visit the tea hills in the southern part of the country. Lisa See has been one of my favorite authors for years. I love her focus on female relationships and the bonds between mothers and daughters.

4) everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too by Jomny Sun

 Earlier this year, I was battling a depression I didn’t even know I felt. This graphic novel, about a aliebn who travels to Earth to learn about its inhabitants, helped me find a release I wasn’t aware I needed. Another book I need to add to my personal library.

3) Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

 I will always drop whatever I’m doing to read the latest novel by Mira Grant. She expertly blends science with fiction with horror and this book, about a research expedition to the bottom of the Marina Trench, was a masterpiece of claustrophobia.

2) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

 This novel, about the Nazi occupation of the British Isles during World War II, deals with some rather bleak subject material. Despite that, or perhaps because of it is, TGLAPPPS has a cheerful tone and a dry sense of humor that left me feeling optimistic and full of hope. I also reviewed the film, which was released earlier this year.

1.) The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

 This dark fairy tale set in medieval Russia is the perfect book to read on a winter’s night. Katherine Arden’s writing style is hypnotic, she paints a version of the Russian forests that is somehow comforting and threatening at the same time. I also reviewed the sequel to this novel, The Girl in the Tower. The third and final installment, The Winter of the Witch, is scheduled for release on January 9, 2019.

The second year of oneyearonehundredbooks will kick off on January 1st.

Happy new year everyone!

 

 

 

Book Review: The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey (2014)

Review #97

Melanie is a very special girl. She is the smartest in her class, and is always trying to please her favorite teacher, Miss Justineau. Melanie is always very careful to follow the rules. Every day when the soldiers come to her cell, she makes sure to sit very carefully as they strap her arms and legs onto a wheelchair and cover her face with a plastic mask. As one soldier aims his gun steadily at her face, she jokes and says she doesn’t bite. No one laughs. No one laughs much anymore; not with the hungries prowling around outside of the army base where Melanie lives.

Then she gets to attend class with Miss Justineau and the other children, all of whom are bound into their own wheelchairs. Miss Justineau says Melanie is a genius. Melanie loves to tell Miss Justineau about all the wonderful things she’ll see and do after she grows up. She doesn’t understand why this always makes her beloved teacher look so very sad.

Of all the ghosts, ghouls, and monsters that can be found in horror novels and movies, zombies tend to be very hit or miss. The majority of zombie fiction is overly gory, with soulless villains that cannot think or feel or be understood and are therefore not terribly interesting. The ones that transcend the genre, novels like Mira Grant’s Feed or Max Brooks’ World War Z, choose to focus less on the walking dead and more on the people who are struggling to survive in a world where they are no longer the apex predators. The Girl With All the Gifts, like the aforementioned books, tells a very human story in the middle of an inhuman world. It combines the hard medical science of Grant with the intensely personal stories of Brooks to create something unique and fantastic.

This is a novel in which each of the characters has their own struggles and victories, flaws and strengths. The young schoolteacher finds herself doubting her own judgement when it comes to the fate of her students. The scarred and surly army sergeant is forced to confront his long-held biases about the world he lives in. Even the mad-scientist, who has sacrificed her own moral compass in her desperate journey to find answers, is relatable. By focusing on a small group of compelling individuals, author M. R. Carey is able to make the zombie apocalypse a more personal story.

As the leading protagonist, Melanie is a triumph. She is young and naive, hopeful and eager and engaging. She is smart and resourceful, but at the same time she’s a scared little girl who is struggling to understand the world around her. Carey walks a tight edge and risks making Melanie a little too perfect, but in the end she is just as fallible as everyone else and her motivations are often alien to the adults around her.

I won’t say too much about the overall plot, as experiencing it for the first time was half the fun. Melanie and the others are living on a protected army base approximately sometime after the majority of the population as succumbed to the “zombie” pandemic. The stumbling, rotting, and forever hungry remnants of the human race aren’t reanimated corpses, but are instead the victims of a type of fungal infection. The scientific explanation behind the hungries was one of my favorite aspects of this novel, as I had heard of this terrifying phenomenon taking place in the animal world and could readily imagine the destruction it could cause if it ever found a way to infect mammals.

I’ve been rather disappointed by thrillers lately, but The Girl With All the Gifts went a long way towards restoring my faith. This novel is exciting, suspenseful, and tightly written. It never lags for a second once the plot is set in motion. And it tells a story about what it truly means to be human, and humane, in a world where humanity has become endangered.

My rating: 4.5/5

You can find The Girl With All the Gifts here on Amazon or here on Book Depository.

Happy reading everyone!

 

Book Review: Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake (2018)

Review #65

Owen and Mara are bonded as only twins can be. They share everything, and have no secrets from one another. So when Owen is accused of rape by Mara’s good friend Hannah, her world and everything she knows to be true is called into question. As lines are drawn between “Team Owen” and “Team Hannah”, Mara must face the choice between supporting the brother she loves or following her conscience.

This book left me feeling devastated. Author Ashley Herring Blake immerses her readers in a state of nearly desperate melancholy. No matter what choices Mara makes, she is turning her back on someone she loves. An eighteen year old girl is not emotionally mature enough to handle the situation that Mara finds herself in. Blake does a fantastic job of treating her characters like real people. Mara’s confusion, anger, and grief are real and visceral. I felt my heart breaking again and again along with hers.

Mara is utterly shattered when her twin brother is accused of raping her friend. Her emotional annihilation continues as Owen defends himself by saying that Hannah was willing at the time but is “crying rape” after an argument. Mara is an outspoken feminist who has been raised by her mother to rebel against gender stereotypes and fight for what she believes is right.Her faith is further weakened as she sees her mother side with Owen and dismiss Hannah’s claims as an “overreaction”.

This novel feels particularly relevant for where we currently are as a society. The #MeToo movement is making great strides at raising awareness of the sexual assault and abuse that women experience throughout their lives. But there are still instances every day where this sexually abusive behavior by men is shrugged off or normalized. There was a particularly crushing scene in Girl Made of Stars where Mara wears an outfit to school that is deemed inappropriate by her male principal, and she is promptly suspended for “not dressing like a lady”. This incident occurs while her brother, who has been accused of rape, enjoys the support and solidarity of his family and friends.

I could go on about the myriad of instances both small and large that Blake illustrates in her novel and how each one resonated with me and my experiences as a woman. Several of her character’s are also dealing with issues of sexuality and gender nonconformity which helps to paint a more inclusive portrait of a modern day teenager’s experience in high school.

By the time I finished the last page and closed the covers on Girl Made of Stars, I felt wrung out. I was equal parts despairing and hopeful, enraged and uplifted. I would absolutely recommend this novel.

My rating: 4.5/5

You can find Girl Made of Stars here on Amazon or here on Book Depository.

 

Top Ten Books to Take on a Camping Trip

I absolutely love camping. Every year I await the chance to get away from all the noise and crowds of the city and just drive into the middle of nowhere for a week. My husband and I are avid campers who are both from “indoor” families. Growing up, my mother’s idea of camping would have been a night at the Motel 8. I think part of that may have been because we already lived in the country, where open space, fresh air, and solitude were readily available. As much as I adore living in the Toronto area, I feel more at home in the country.

My husband and I generally go camping rather early in the season, around the end of June. This means that the temperatures average in the low twenties (70*F). For comparison, today it was 33* (93*F) in my Midwestern hometown.  There are numerous benefits to camping at the start of summer in Canada. First of all, schools are still in session so we don’t have to deal with hoards of families crowding the area. We’re both teachers, so our vacations generally mean trying to avoid small children as much as possible. Also, the insects haven’t had the chance to truly come out in force. And my remarkably Day-Glo pale skin has a better chance of avoiding a blistering sunburn. There are a myriad of benefits to camping in cool weather.

Nevertheless, it does have its drawbacks, mainly in that it isn’t exactly bathing suit season yet. This year we are headed to the Bruce Peninsula, near Lake Huron. If you’ve ever wondered how Jack Dawson felt when he went into the waters with the Titanic, take a quick dip in Lake Huron in June. Due to the cooler temperatures, recreational swimming isn’t really an option. Instead, we spend our time kayaking, naming the squirrels that invade our campsite, drinking beer, and reading.

The reading is what has most likely brought you to this post. As I would hate to become one of those horrid cooking blogs which feel the need to bore you with two thousand words of personal nonsense before giving you what you came for, let’s get to the books!

I’ve put together a list of ten books that would be perfect for reading around a campfire or while relaxing in a tent on a rainy day. The first five are all horror novels, because being scared in the woods is fun for everyone. The next five are more family-friendly, in case you don’t want your children waking up at three in the morning because a stick cracked in the darkness and they’re certain it was a beast from the depths of hell.

1) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King

Nine year old Trisha is separated from her family while hiking in the woods of northern New England. Lost for days, dehydrated and scared, Trisha relies on her small radio for solace, tuning into the Boston Red Sox and her hero, pitcher Tom Gordon. But hunger and insects aren’t Trisha’s only problems. Something is stalking the small girl as she wanders through the forest. Something hungry and unnatural.

No list of horror novels is complete without at least one addition from Stephen King . This book is short (for King), atmospheric, and draws on the readers’ fear of the small noises that seem huge when you’re alone in the dark woods.

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: Keep on the path!

2) The Ritual by Adam Nevill

A group of four middle-aged men reunite for a hiking trip in the wilds of northern Sweden. When they attempt to take a shortcut through a patch of untouched forest, they find more than they bargained for.

This novel was on my list of favorite books that I read last year. It is a masterpiece of suspense and dread as the four men realize that their formerly fit bodies are beginning to betray them, and they are unable to outrun that which is hunting them.

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: If you see a creepy cabin in the middle of the woods, keep walking!

3) The Ruins by Scott Smith

Hoping to find a lost friend in the jungles of Mexico, four friends stumble upon an ancient ruin and a creeping horror instead. As they become increasingly hungry and panicked, paranoia and hysteria begin to set in.

This novel is also a really great horror film by the same name. It is a creepy combination of psychological and physical horror. What is more dangerous, the jungle or each other?

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: Don’t touch unidentified plants! 

4) Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

Five short stories centered around the woods and the horrors within, combined with truly disturbing illustrations.

I wrote a review for this graphic novel just a few weeks ago, and I still can’t get it out of my head. The haunting prose and unsettling drawings come together to create a really creepy reading experience.

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: Curiosity killed the camper!

5) Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

A collection of short folktakes from around the world. This is still a favorite with older and braver children, and continues to send shivers up the spine of many an adult. Make sure you get an edition with the original artwork by Stephen Gammell, as they are an integral part of this reading experience!

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: Close your eyes and hope for the best.

 

6) A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, and is a bucket-list item for any avid hiker. Bill Bryson is not an avid hiker, yet he and an equally unfit companion set off to complete the AT in the course of one summer. Bryson details the ecology and history of the area as well as his encounters with the local people and wildlife.

Not so long ago, the Appalachian Trail was a relatively unknown area of the United States, favored only by experienced backpackers and campers. From what I hear, it is now overridden by idiot hipsters who think a hiking GPS makes them an expert. This book is a fun expedition through the woods from someone who knows the does not belong there.

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: A sense of humor is essential.

7) Hatchet by Gary Paulson

This ever-popular children’s novella centers on a boy named Brian who finds himself stranded in the wilderness of Northern Canada after his bush-plane crashes. Armed with only a small hatchet, Brian must find a way to survive until he can be rescued.

Hatchet has been a hit with people of all ages for more than thirty years because we as readers identify so strongly with Brian. His early cluelessness and mistakes are the results of a boy growing up away from nature, as so many of us do. This would be a fun novel to read with children.

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: Never give up.

8) The Call of the Wild by Jack London

Buck the dog is kidnapped from his easygoing life in Santa Clara and forced into work as a sled dog in the unforgiving winter of the Yukon. Faced with constant danger from the climate, the wildlife, and the cruelty of both his fellow dogs and man, Buck must struggle to survive and reclaim his position as master.

Another book that is very popular with young readers, The Call of the Wild is an enduring story of survival and spirit. Because the main character is a dog, he is easy to root for and we celebrate Buck’s victories as much as we weep for his setbacks.

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: Be kind to animals.

9) Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura Ingalls and her family live in a small wood cabin in the forests of Wisconsin in the mid 18th century. This book describes the struggle and successes of the Ingalls family as they work hard to make a life for themselves in a harsh and unforgiving environment.

Eternally beloved author Laura Ingalls Wilder as captured the imaginations of generations of children with her Little House books. They are a good reminder of how much the world has changed, and yet how many things remain the same.

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: Your family is there to love and protect you.

10) The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

In the dense forests of medieval Russia, a small village is buried in snow for eight months out of the year. Vasilisa Petrovna grows up wild in the woods, giving offerings to the various sprites and spirits that inhabit the wilderness. When a Catholic priest begins to interfere with village life, Vasilisa must make a choice that will affect her entire future.

I reviewed this novel earlier in the year and I absolutely adored it. A dark fairy tale with religious undertones, The Bear and the Nightingale features a wonderful protagonist who never behaves quite as expected.

How To Stay Alive in the Woods: When in doubt, trust your instincts.

Well there you have it, folks! I hope that you enjoy some of these books on your next venture into the forests. Whether you are looking for a scare or for more tame entertainment, you can’t go wrong with a good book! I’ll be on hiatus next week while I am on a camping trip. I hope to return with more recommendations for our readers who love the woods.

Happy reading everyone!

 

 

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (2008)

Review #45

London: 1946. The war is finally over, and Britain is trying to put herself back together after the horrors of the blitz. Journalist Juliet Ashton begins exchanging letters with the residents of Guernsey, who are enjoying communication with the wider world after five years of German occupation. As she learns more about them, she begins to be drawn into their lives. Beginning as a mutual love of books, she soon learns all about their island, their relationships, and the impact that the war has left on each of them.

There are so many historical fiction novels that center on World War II and its aftermath. Most of them focus on the horrors of the time period, and the grimBook Review: The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck (2017) determination of the people who struggled to survive its ravages. Given the scarring that World War II left on the collective consciousness of humanity, this does not come as any surprise. What does surprise is when I stumble across a novel like Guernsey Literary Society, which has the potential to be just another look at the bleak circumstances faced by the residents of the occupied Channel Islands but instead manages to be funny, uplifting, and utterly charming.

Mary Ann Shaffer’s epistolary novel does not shy away from describing in detail the hardships undergone by the people of Guernsey. The constant fear and hunger of German occupation are given full attention, and the reader is never in doubt as to the difficulties that these people have had to overcome during the course of the war. However, Shaffer writes her characters with an irrepressible sense of humor that shines through the pages of the book. Small things, such as discovering how the group chose the highly unusual name for their book club cannot help but bring a chuckle even though the characters are in very real danger at the time.  Shaffer details the small victories, triumphs, and friendships that allowed the residents of Guernsey to survive the presence of the soldiers on their island. In a lesser novel these characters may have been described as “plucky” or “quirky”. But Shaffer fleshes them out and gives them distinct personalities which blend together seamlessly to create the picture of a group of people who banded together during a dark time and are sticking together as they rebuild.

If I had to point out one small flaw in this novel, it would be that Shaffer treats the writing of letters rather like the sending of text messages. I cannot envision that someone would send letters back and forth to friends and colleagues multiple times a day, or that these messages would consist of only one or two sentences. How are these messages winging through London or across the English Channel with such speed?

“That’s what I love about reading: one tiny thing will interest you in a book, and that tiny thing will lead you to another book, and another bit there will lead you onto a third book. It’s geometrically progressive – all with no end in sight, and for no other reason than sheer enjoyment.”

This is a book for book lovers, and as a lifelong book lover I found myself completely delighted and enthralled by The Guernsey Literary Society. The main plot of the story begins as two strangers discuss the works of English poet Charles Lamb. Although I haven’t read any of Lamb’s work, I immediately felt comfortable with the two characters who find themselves drawn to one another in order to discuss their favorite section and passages of a book. I have made lifelong friends in much the same way.

My rating: 4.5/5

You can find The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society here on Amazon or here on Book Depository.

Happy Reading everyone!

 

Book Review: Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant (2017)

Review #18

 

Thalassophobia: an intense fear of the sea and what lurks beneath.

After her older sister is lost at sea while filming a monster-hunting style show on mermaids, Tory Stewart agrees to ship out with the crew of the Melusine as they travel to the oceans around the Mariana trench. The goal is to dive to the depths of the Challenger Deep to seek out the mermaids that legends say still dwell in the waters. Hopefully they’ll be able to solve the mystery of what happened to the first vessel. Once there, the group of scientists finds out that looking for monsters and finding them are two very different things.

Mira Grant is one of my favorite authors. Her Newsflesh trilogy, about the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, is utterly brilliant. The Parasitology trilogy, about sentient tapeworms taking control of their human hosts, is equally well written. So when I found out that Grant was releasing a stand-alone novel, I was thrilled. My excitement grew when I found out that the plot was going to be centered around the deep ocean.

Being in the deep sea makes me intensely uncomfortable. This might be due to the fact that I grew up in a landlocked state and never saw the sea until I was seventeen. I’m great on boats, and I’m perfectly happy in shallow water. I’ve even tried scuba-diving twice. But the moment that I can no longer see the seabed my heart rate instantly goes through the roof. It’s the same with lakes as well, and it’s a pretty straightforward fear. I don’t know what’s down there. Even worse, I understand enough of marine biology to know what’s down there, and I want no part of it. I went into Mira Grant’s Into The Drowning Deep knowing (and hoping) that it might scare me. Boy was I right.

In the year 2022, humans have polluted the Earth to the point of a mass die-off of both land and marine life. Grant does not try to hide her strong environmental message. Leave the orcas alone, stop dumping things into the oceans and the air. Or don’t be surprised when drought, famine, and fires sweep the planet. The hubris of mankind has brought us low in Grant’s novel, and the main characters are scientists who are just trying to mitigate the damage.

This is a science fiction novel with a strong horror theme. There is one amazing scene where Heather, a young scientist, is taking a personal submersible into the chasm of the Challenger Deep. As the blackness and the pressure mounts, the tension rises to a screaming pitch. It is claustrophobic to the point of being physically uncomfortable. What Heather finds at the bottom of her journey sets in motion the rest of the novel’s action.

The basic plot centers around one simple question. What if the mermaids of our mythology looked, not like this:

beautiful, nubile, pageant queens of the sea. And more like this:

 

deep sea nightmare fodder?

Grant’s “mermaids” are carnivorous, intelligent, and, utterly in their element both in and out of the water. The scientists on board the Melusine are so egotistically wrapped up in their new discovery that they never stop to think that the “mermaids” chose to be discovered at the proper moment. Of course, not until it is too late.

One of my favorite things about all of Mira Grant’s books is that she has a very pure idea of science fiction. There is actual science present, but it is accessible to the layman. I always come away from one of her novels feeling as though I’ve learned something; in this case about the Mariana Trench, the Challenger Deep, why the ship is named the Melusine, and more. Her main characters tend to be female, and even better, females in STEM. I love the idea of young women reading this novel and having their imaginations sparked by the pursuit and discovery and danger inherent in the exploration of our world.

I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone who loves suspense, the sea, and the thrill of scientific discovery. I would not, however; recommend it for a trip to the beach. Or on a cruise. Don’t even take it in the bath.

My rating: 4.5/5

You can find Into the Drowning Deep here on Amazon or here on Book Depository.

P.S. there is a short prequel novel entitled Rolling in the Deep, which centers around the crew of the first crew. I haven’t been able to find it at my library yet, but if I ever find it I’ll let you know what I think!

 

I Left a Church for Harry Potter

 

Disclaimer: For the sake of the sanity of various family members I need to state outright that I did not leave THE church for Harry Potter. As in it did not drive me from Christianity.

Now we can proceed.

While I was brainstorming exactly how this site should run over the course of next year , I decided that I shouldn’t include any re-reads. I have a small collection of well-loved books that I like to think of as “comfort novels”. You know the ones. The old favorites that you’ve read and re-read to the point where you can quote them line for line. The ones that are like curling up with an old friend. My personal collection of comfort novels includes Gone With the Wind, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Memoirs of a Geisha, and Pride and Prejudice. And of course, Harry Potter. Once I realized that I was effectively banning myself from reading Harry Potter for an entire year, I was of course overwhelmed with a burning desire to read Harry Potter. So before the new year rolls around, I’ve decided to take a nice relaxing stroll back into Hogwarts and spend the holiday season unwinding with a series that has had a significant impact on my life and the life of millions of others. So grab a cup of hot chocolate, snuggle down in the warm glow of your tablets, and I’ll spin you the tale of how Harry Potter became a book I would have to fight for.

When I was about eleven years old, my language arts teacher decided to spend the first five minutes of every lesson reading aloud to us from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. My parents, who had recently watched a Fox News broadcast which suggested that Harry Potter was leading schoolchildren to form Satanic cults or something, talked about having me pulled out of class. However, they were already too late. Harry had just unleashed a boa constrictor on his cousin and I was hooked. I threatened to purposely fail my classes if they had me removed. Thankfully, once they saw how much the books meant to me they relented. Perhaps they noticed that I had made my way through three of the novels and had yet to sacrifice the family cat to Mephistopheles. In the summer of 2000 my Dad even ended up driving me to Walmart at midnight so I could buy The Goblet of Fire. This was the first time I went to battle over Harry Potter but it was not to be the last.

The summer after my wonderful teacher introduced me to the world of Hogwarts, I went away for a week to a sleep-away Christian Bible Camp. At the time, joining one of the local churches had seemed like a great way to make new friends, as I was still relatively new to a small town. I’d actually lived there for nearly three years at that point, but it was a small enough town that we were still the “new” family. Anyway, I was really excited to spend a week hiking and swimming with the girls from my youth group.

Turns out, the emphasis at this particular summer institution was on “Bible” far more than it was on “camp”. If memory serves, there was a two hour sermon in the morning, another two hour sermon in the afternoon and a group bible discussion every evening. Now this was your proper Southern Baptist sermon. Lots of singing and dancing and praising of the Lord. It’s actually a pretty rousing good time. But that’s still a lot of church for a twelve-year old.

Towards the end of the week, we had a guest pastor. He arrived with a Powerpoint presentation and proceeded to spend the next two hours detailing all the myriad temptations that would befall us and lead us down the dark road to hell. His list included, but was not limited to:

• Dungeons and Dragons
• Madonna
• Looney Tunes
• Yoga
• Video Games
• The Backstreet Boys

and of course, Harry Potter. Now, I think he had written this sermon back in the 1980’s (none of had ever played D&D and Madonna was something my mom danced to after a few glasses of wine) but he had updated it to include a few of the more modern evils. He latched on to Harry Potter with particular vengeance. It was foul and wicked and tempted children away from God. It taught witchcraft to impressionable youth and as we all know from Exodus we “must not suffer a witch to live”.

As I sat there, becoming more and more confused and angry,  a voice piped up from the congregation, asking the pastor if he had ever actually read any of the Harry Potter novels. He, of course, had not. Another girl chimed in, saying that she had read them and that the books embodied such themes as friendship, heroism, maternal strength, and the power of love to triumph over evil. None of which, in her opinion, pointed one down the road to hellfire. Their voices gave me courage, and I found myself on my feet, agreeing and adding my voice to theirs. Honestly I cannot remember for the life of me what exactly I said to this pastor. I was scared out of my mind. This was probably the first time I had ever actively disagreed with an adult that wasn’t a family member.

Now as some of you may know, it is difficult if not impossible to coherently argue with a self-righteous evangelical. The discussion lasted for only a few minutes before he abruptly switched topics. Perhaps to point out that glitter nail polish was an affront to God. Everyone sat back down and the sermon carried on more or less normally from there. But the damage was done. A thin crack appeared in my worldview that day. I had raised doubt with a member of my church. I had dared to object to his teachings. It made absolutely no sense at all at the time. But in hindsight I have always looked back on this week at bible camp as the first time I began standing up for what I believed in. To question and demand real answers to those questions. All thanks to one fictional boy with a lightning shaped scar.

After I got back home, I stopped going to that particular church. It bothered me in a way that I could not express at the time that none of my friends at camp had stood to support me. Instead, I think they were embarrassed that I hadn’t quietly agreed with the pastor. It also bothered me that the man was so eager to judge that which he knew nothing about. So I quietly began seeking out a more tolerant congregation.

Looking back, I realize this story doesn’t seem particularly exciting. I didn’t shout down the guest pastor and storm out in a fury. I didn’t demand that my parents come and rescue me. All I did was stand with others to show my opposition to his teachings.

But isn’t that one of the most important lessons that a child can learn?

So I’m going to snuggle up in my blanket and continue reading Harry Potter while it snows outside. And I’ll give a silent thank-you to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and J. K. Rowlings for helping me to learn some valuable lessons.

Ashley

 

 

My Ten Favorite Books of 2017

Welcome everyone! I am officially kicking off my oneyearonehundred books project! The actual countdown won’t begin until January 1st, but I wanted to get in some practice before beginning this year-long enterprise. What better way to do that than to look all my favorite books that I read this year!

I love end of the year lists! They are such a lovely wrap-up of all the experiences that we’ve had over the course of the last twelve months. It’s also so much fun to think back to where I was at this time last year compared to where I am now.

Last January, I was living with my in-laws while working on collecting an exhaustive amount of background checks for my Canadian residency application. You guys, they needed a background check from every country I’d ever lived in. And that was just the tip of the paperwork iceberg. The entire process took a really long time and resulted in more than one bout of ugly crying while hiding in the bathroom.

Now I look around at my little apartment and I am so happy with everything that has been accomplished this year. I have explored the city a little more. I got to introduce my parents to Toronto. I went camping and kayaking and tried hard to be more active.

And I read a lot of really good books.

To be clear, this is not a list of my favorite books that were released this year. Just the books that I happened to read that stuck with me, opened my mind to new ideas, or that I had a lot of fun reading.

Enjoy!

 

 

10. Parasite (Parasitology #1) by Mira Grant (2013)

Parasite takes place in the near future, where most of mankind has willingly swallowed designer tapeworms that have been genetically engineered to prevent disease and increase lifespan. Sal Mitchell’s life is saved by her tapeworm after a traumatic motor accident. As she struggles to return to normal life, she notices people exhibiting unusual and violent behavior. Turns out that the tapeworms are beginning to test just how much control they have over their hosts.

A few years ago I stumbled across a little trilogy called Newsflesh which I devoured within a week. I fell in love with Mira Grant while reading those three books, and when I found out she had another trilogy called Parasitology I pounced on it like a kitten on a ball of yarn.

Mira Grant’s writing pulls you in from page one. Her characters are well-formed and behave in a believable manner. Parasite is a great example of true science fiction, a well-blended mix of academic science and fiction. I came away from this novel feeling as if I had actually learned something interesting about the field of bio-engineering. And in a more entertaining way than a textbook!

 

9. Fortune’s Pawn (Paradox #1) by Rachel Bach (2013)

Fortune’s Pawn is adventure/science fiction, set in the distant future where mankind has spread out to live on a multitude of planets. Devi Morris is an ambitious, no-nonsense space mercenary who takes a job as a security officer on board a small trade ship with a reputation for getting into trouble. This is the first installment in Bach’s Paradox trilogy and offers an exciting jumping-off point for the adventures of the crew of the Glorious Fool.

A good friend and fellow book-lover bought me this for Christmas and I read it in less than two days.

The setting is very reminiscent of Firefly, with a ragtag group of space explorers who just want to make an honest living and somehow keep getting sidetracked. As the heroine, Devi is fun and relatable. It was hilarious that her solution to every problem seems to lie either in a whiskey bottle, her fists, or under the sheets. And the descriptions of her suit of armor border on love poetry.

 

8. The Ritual by Adam Nevill (2011)

A group of friends hiking in the wilderness near the Arctic Circle encounter more than they bargained for when they go off trail. Exhausted and out of shape, their supposed shortcut quickly becomes a maddening descent into horror. The moral of this story – when you see a dilapidated cabin in the middle of the woods decorated with animal skulls – KEEP HIKING.

Some readers unwind with murder-mysteries. Others relax by reading travelogues. Or the unflatteringly labeled “chick lit”. For this reader, it’s always been horror novels. And this one is a doozy.

The Ritual freaked me out you guys. I love the whole “lost in the woods” vibe. Nevill’s prose creates a creepy feeling of suspense that doesn’t let you go for a second. Also, the characters aren’t completely moronic! They behave in a more or less rational manner. Which is a rarity in the horror genre.

Suspenseful, surprising, and genuinely spooky, The Ritual was a lovely bit of fun. I would not recommend bringing it on a camping trip.

 

7. The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6) by Tana French (2016)

The Trespasser follows Detective Antoinette Conway as she investigates the murder of a woman who is found dead in her home. It deals with the everyday sexism that a woman faces within a male-dominated field. The general armor of toughness that women in these fields feel the need in order to succeed, and the far-reaching consequences of that armor.

If you haven’t read any of the Dublin Murder Squad series, stop reading this and go find In the Woods. I’ll wait.

I generally can’t stand detective novels. They tend to be perfectly predictable, starring the “chain-smoking male that doesn’t play by the rules”. Tana French breaks all of those stereotypes and dances on their ashes. She never tries to trick the reader. Everything that happens in The Trespasser makes logical sense. She also stays away from the oh-so tedious “invincible villain” plot device. And at the end of the day, it’s just a really well written mystery.

 

6. A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses #2) by Sarah J. Maas (2016)

The series follows Feyre, a human girl who lives near the boundary between the mortal realm and the immortal lands of the Fae. After killing a wolf on one winter day, she is visited by one of the Fae and her life changes forever.

I dove into Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses earlier this year and…meh. Honestly the first installment fell a little flat. As if the author had cherry-picked their favorite aspects of The Hunger Games and squished it together with the melodramatic romance of Twilight. I found it to be wildly okay.

The second novel is great. It’s darker, more mature, and stays away from the ewey-gooey teenage romance feeling of the first novel. The heroine, Feyre, grows from a dependent girl who is desperate to be protected into a capable woman who finds her inner strength. Her feelings and intentions are no longer tied solely to her relationships, and she is made to understand the consequences of her decisions. The descriptions of the Seven Fae Courts are gorgeously written and the overall plot moves forward at an exciting pace. And ultimately it is a YA novel, so reading it felt like an uncomplicated escape after a stressful day.

5. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (2011)

This novel centers around Patroclus, a young boy in ancient Greece who is sent to live and train with another youth by the name of Achilles. Achilles is a natural warrior, the son of a water goddess who is destined for greatness. What Patroclus lacks in fighting ability he makes up for in honesty and altruism. As Patroclus grows to love Achilles from afar, the events leading up to the Trojan War have lasting effects on both their lives.

Historical fiction is fun. Greek mythology is fun. Historical fiction based on a few lines of Homer’s Iliad? So much fun.

I had never expected a historical fiction novel set in ancient Greece to deal so sweetly with LGBT characters. Patroclus’ tender love and devotion for his friend is the most endearing part of this book. Simultaneously, the descriptions of early warfare are stunning in their brutality. I’ve always loved adaptations of Homer that continue to treat the Greek pantheon as immortal beings who affect the world around them on a whim. Even if you hate Homer or haven’t read The Iliad, The Song of Achilles will make you hungry to learn more.

 

4. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2013)

Ifemelu is a young Nigerian woman who moves to the United States to complete her university degree. Obinze is her boyfriend who is left behind. What follows is the story of two people trying to balance their perceptions of themselves and the perceptions of the world around them. My absolute favorite part was Ifemelu’s reaction when she is instructed that she needs to have “white” hair if she ever wants to find a job in America.

This is a fictional novel, but for me it almost reads as a series of essays on race in America. On the interactions between African immigrants and African-Americans. The idea that a person never thought of themselves as “black” until coming to America. On white privilege and class privilege and the privilege of being born in a first-world nation. And on top of everything else, it’s also a wonderful love story.

 

3. Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish by John Hargrove (2015)

The only nonfiction book on my favorites list is here for a reason. I watched the documentary Blackfish when it aired in 2013. When I found out that John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld trainer and one of the primary forces behind Blackfish had written a book, I read it as soon as I could.

This book broke my heart. Hargrove never really apologizes for his years of working as an orca trainer at SeaWorld. Instead, he writes with a fond nostalgia,  and the love he feels for the whales shines out of every sentence. We follow him through the early love and hero-worship of SeaWorld, to his work as an international orca trainer as he comes to realize the harm that the company is doing to the orcas. He earned the love and respect of these magnificent animals and learned that in order to help them, he had to stay away. The descriptions of the pain that the killer whales were enforced to endure were very difficult to read. Especially as you realize that this isn’t ancient history; the whales described by Hargrove are still alive and in pain and performing at SeaWorld.

I would love to see an orca whale. I will never go to SeaWorld. And if you read this book, neither will you.

 

2. Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin (1967)

Rosemary’s Baby follows a young woman and her husband who buy a highly sought after apartment in New York City. Rosemary becomes pregnant under mysterious circumstances and the novel details her experiences as she comes to realizes that her unborn child may not be the blessing she had anticipated.

How did it take me so long to read this? I borrowed it on a whim from my local library, went home, and did nothing else that day. I ate my dinner one-handed so I could continue reading. I was completely exhausted for work the next morning because I had to stay up until 2:00 am so I could finish this book. That’s how amazing it was.

 

1. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (2016)

*drumroll please* My favorite book of the year. Similar to the aforementioned Rosemary’s Baby, this was a book that I devoured in a day. Then I was sad that I had finished it because it meant that I could never enjoy it again for the first time.

Jason Dessen leaves his wife and son at home and goes for a seemingly normal drink at his local pub. On his way home, his life changes in ways he could never have anticipated. That’s all I’m going to give you because to give anything away would be a crime.

This book was so much fun. A thoroughly engaging read with relatable characters and a very poignant romantic element that is a rarity in the science fiction genre. I was turning the pages with shaking hands because I needed to get to the end. Definitely recommend for lovers of science fiction and any reader in general.

 

Well that’s it. My top ten favorite reads of 2017. What did you think? Feel free to post your favorite books of the year in the comment section!

Coming up next, my most disappointing reads of 2017. See you then and happy reading everybody!