Aliverse

Considered the best mystery novel ever written by many readers, And Then There Were None is the story of 10 strangers, each lured to Indian Island by a mysterious host. Once his guests have arrived, the host accuses each person of murder. Unable to leave the island, the guests begin to share their darkest secrets–until they begin to die. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Amazon.com Review

~ 5 out of 5 ~

My first introduction to Agatha Christie was actually not “And Then There Were None”. It was “Murder on the Orient Express”. When I was a kid I loved mystery novels. I loved the unknown and the suspense of it all. Knowing this, my awesome Grammy bought me “Murder on the Orient Express”. After all, I was in the fourth grade and had already read Stephen King’s “Cujo” and had long ago finished up all the Apple books mysteries that existed. I had already demolished each and every Encyclopedia Brown book and been through my large collection of Choose Your Own Adventure books multiple times. This seemed like a no-brainer.

Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, I could never get into “Murder on the Orient Express”. I’m pretty sure I still have it in a box in my basement. I could never bring myself to part with it. I figured that I’d get to it…someday.  Fast forward to my adult years…I married a man who loves books just as much as I do. (which is why we have boxes and boxes of books in our basement…ew, alliteration!) So after many conversations with him about how I just can’t seem to relate to the Agatha Christie style of books and I really dislike Hercule Poirot, he suggested giving “And Then There Were None” a try. It apparently used to be called “Ten Little Indians” and before that had a racist title I won’t repeat here. (Google it if you must…) It was a sign of the times, I suppose. That held me back for a while.

Finally, knowing that March was going to be my ‘focus on women authors’ month, I figured I should start with Agatha Christie. She and Margaret Atwood are two authors I have huge amounts of respect for. They have done so much in the literary world and are truly loved and respected for what they do.

I expected another dry, unexciting story with a lot of interviewing from one investigator. Instead, I was delighted to find the novel was much like the books I already enjoy. It was a bit formulaic, but I could get around that…it’s a style and I’m fine with it. It moved quickly and easily captured my imagination. The beginning of the book introduced the characters without going into dull detail and had a great hook of getting them all to this mysterious island where they were to meet a ‘stranger’ they all supposedly already knew. What struck me right away was how similar this book was to the movie Clue!  Now obviously the book came first, so we know where the inspiration came from and where it began. Totally beside the point for me, since I LOVE the movie and game of Clue, so it was another point to further draw me in.

As the book went on and more of the guests met their demise, according to the childhood rhyme, I was delighted to find I was getting sucked in. It was hard not to, when I had an idea of what would happen as things progressed. Just look at the rhyme:

Ten little Indian boys went out to dine;

One choked his little self and then there were nine.

Nine little Indian boys sat up very late;

One overslept himself and then there were eight.

Eight little Indian boys travelling in Devon;

One said he’d stay there and then there were seven.

Seven little Indian boys chopping up sticks;

One chopped himself in half and then there were six.

Six little Indian boys playing with a hive;

A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.

Five little Indian boys going in for law;

One got in Chancery and then there were four.

Four little Indian boys going out to sea;

A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

Three little Indian boys walking in the zoo;

A big bear hugged one and then there were two.

Two Little Indian boys sitting in the sun;

One got frizzled up and then there was one.

One little Indian boy left all alone;

He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

I admit, I peeked at the end, as I tend to when there’s a question of ‘who dunnit’. That in no manner took away from my love and enjoyment of this book.

It’s a quick read and a delight to read something sinister, yet seemingly light at the same time.

Thus begins my tribute to female authors this month. A little later than I’d intended, but I have a lot coming up. I hope you’ll stay tuned to see what else I’m reading this month!

Meanwhile, I hope you’ll consider supporting female authors if you don’t already do so. Sometimes it feels as if they are under-represented in reviews and literary publications. I think that needs to change.

Maybe you can start with “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie.

I give it a 5 out of 5!

I just added a new link to my blogroll and I hope you will all give it a read.

FrontRow Monthly is a fun magazine with lots of fashion tips and juicy articles. This month is a special favorite of mine because of the exclusive interview with Bitchin’ Kitchen’s Nadia G! (I’m a foodie at heart, so it’s definitely an article that spoke to me.)

You also get the added bonus of seeing my book reviews in there. So I admit to a little self-promotion.

The mag’s based in Pittsburgh, so there’s definitely a local flavor going on. But for anyone who enjoys InStyle or Vogue, this is a great magazine for you. (especially some of the handbags in this month’s issue…I seriously need one now!)

Please take a look and enjoy!

http://frontrowmonthly.com/

Ok, I have at least a partial list of books I’ll be reading this month for my March Women Writer’s theme.

I hope to have the first review up tomorrow night, but it’s possible it won’t be up until Saturday. The first book to have the honor this month is…

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Then coming up later are the following (with additions forthcoming)

• The Yellow Wallpaper – by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
• Night Swim – by Jessica Keener
• The Do-Over - by Kathy Dunnehoff
• The Mill River Recluse – by Darcie Chan

I’m really looking forward to this month of women writers. I hope you all are too!

So I know I’ve been busy lately and haven’t been publishing reviews all that much. I’m remedying that now, as I’ve got 3 books I’m reading concurrently. On Twitter (@aliverse) I’m trying to catch up with what’s happening in the literary world and other bloggers. What I came across this morning was just mind-blowing to me. Almost disgusting, really.

Go ahead and take a look at this link:

http://www.vidaweb.org/the-2011-count

Notice anything ridiculously off? Say…maybe the numbers of females versus males who were reviewed, read, written about, etc? That is why March is now my Women Writers month. My aim is to review 2-3 books a week during March, all written by female authors.

Women write and they’re talented at the profession. Why, then, are they ignored? Why would The New Yorker, New York Times, The Atlantic, etc. favor men over women when it comes to their books? I can’t even begin to guess. What I can do, is take part in an effort to give women writers more visibility.

So please get ready for March here at the Aliverse. I don’t ignore female authors. (maybe in part because I am one) I don’t pull punches either. You can expect full and honest reviews, including the good and the bad. A list of all the upcoming books and their authors will be up here by the end of the week.

Stay tuned!

So I’ve been excited about finding a new book to read. I’ve been looking forward to my next review. Problem is, I can’t find anything that is catching my attention at the moment. Mira Grant (also known as Seanan Macguire) has the final book to the Newsflesh trilogy coming out in June. I put it on pre-order today, but that’s months from now.

I don’t know what to read. I do tend to prefer thrillers and suspense. I love John Connolly, so there’s a bit of the supernatural in there as well. I like a well-written memoir, although I admit I’m partial to Jen Lancaster.

I have some freebies downloaded on my Kindle, but I rarely review those as they tend to not be as good as the ones I pay for. (a bit of a bias, I know, but so far it’s been true for me)

If you have a suggestion, please make it! I’m actually keeping myself from BEA this year because I’m not posting and reviewing enough here. It’s sad for me because this is what I truly love, besides writing.

Not only has my muse flown the coop, but my run of great books to read seems to have petered out.

Wish me luck, or if you can, please recommend something for me to read. I’m willing to try almost anything at this point!

Oz. TV show on HBO from 1998-2003. (or was it 1997?)

So how did I get so sucked in that I stopped reading or watching any other TV or doing anything else for a week? Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

So I’m at work, bored because I’m waiting to be able to do some things. I’m talking to my co-worker Cathy and we’re talking about the hotness of Law and Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni. I totally love him and I love the chemistry between him and Mariska Hargitay. So Cathy busts out with ‘you know there’s this movie where he’s all naked?’ Whaaaaaa? Seriously? She tells me there’s full frontal and everything. I’m stunned.

Never ever is one of my favorite, hottest actors naked. Not like that. She couldn’t remember what movie it was, so I had to look it up. I don’t think it was a movie, I tell her. I think it’s Oz. I did a quick Google search and saw a zillion naked pictures of Christopher Meloni. (hello!)

So that led me to download season 1. Then I realized, Christopher Meloni isn’t in season 1. Great. Download season 2. Woah! Now I have to know what happens next. Download season 3. Holy shit. Season 4. Then 5 and 6. I think I started watching last Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest. I finished it a couple of hours ago.

First of all, I cried like a baby. That show was kick-ass and well done.

So I guess you could say this is a little bit of a TV show review instead of a book review. Thing is, I can’t be even remotely objective about it.  I went into it knowing I’d love at least some of it because hello…hot relationship with Christopher Meloni and Lee Tergesen.  Also, I got emotionally invested in this show. I always get a little involved in whatever I watch. I’m just like that (my Myers Briggs personality type is INFP, that’s just what I do.)  When I started to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I had a similar reaction. But that show, as good as it was, never showed James Marsters stark naked. And it certainly never showed him kissing anyone hot. (sorry, I’m not a big Sarah Michelle Gellar fan)

Anyway, Oz had a great, compelling story line that progressed with every season. Unlike my beloved Buffy, there were no ‘off’ seasons that didn’t make sense or that sucked in some way. The entire show was good start to finish. There were tons of good, in-depth characters, and none that made me want to turn the television off.  The show didn’t shy away from the reality of the harshness of prison. And Meloni and Tergesen didn’t shy away from the reality of a fucked up, emotionally twisted, deeply-in-love relationship between two men.

So, like I said, I love it. I got hooked. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I suppose. It’s not a conservative show in the least. It pushed me past a few comfort zones and made me think and wonder and ask questions. I like that in a show.

And…Christopher Meloni. 

The Uncoupling

 

When the elliptical new drama teacher at Stellar Plains High School chooses for the school play “Lysistrata”— the comedy by Aristophanes in which women stop having sex with men in order to end a war — a strange spell seems to be cast over the school. Or, at least, over the women. One by one throughout the high school community, perfectly healthy, normal women and teenage girls turn away from their husbands and boyfriends in the bedroom for reasons they don’t really understand. As the women worry over their loss of passion, and the men become by turns, unhappy, offended, and, above all, confused, both sides are forced to look at their partners, their shared history, and their sexual selves in a new light.

~4 stars out of 5~

After a string of non-fiction junk books, I am relieved to be back in the fiction saddle, reviewing a story that took me to another place for a while and told me a good story. The Uncoupling, by Meg Wolitzer, is that book.  Its characters and setting seduced me, embraced me, and gently released me at the end. Sounds a little dirty, doesn’t it? That is how this book was. Compelling, enjoyable, and a little bit naughty.

The book begins in the way many other novels begin. It is set in an unremarkable town, with unremarkable people, doing unremarkable things. Every day life is mundane and pleasant with the occasional drama thrown in here and there.  Dory and Robby Lang are likable, easy-going folks who teach at the same high school and love their life and each other with passion and wonder. Their daughter Willa was an average student with the average amount of friends, neither sticking out as a student, nor falling through the cracks.

Everyone in the town of Stellar Plains, New Jersey had a pretty average life. People lived, died, loved, ate dinner, had sex; until suddenly, they didn’t.

At the beginning of the school year, a new drama teacher blew into everyone’s life with passion and force. Fran Heller was an odd sort of woman, who painted her normal suburban house a crazy coral and turquoise combination that had the neighbors staring. Her abrupt, forthright nature, made her a bit of a spectacle in Eleanor Roosevelt high school, Elro for short. But what really shocked people in the neighborhood and school was the play the new drama teacher chose for the year. Fran Heller had chosen to have the children perform Lysistrata, and Aristophanes comedy about a woman who leads the women of Greece in a sex strike, intended to end the Peloponnesian War. The play was sexy, funny, and poignant and she felt it was right for the school. More importantly, she felt it was important for the town.

While Fran was settling into her role as drama teacher and ‘cool adult’ to the children in the play, her son Eli was busy in his own way. After having shared dinner and an evening hanging out in Willa Lang’s bedroom, listening to teenaged, angsty music, Eli was falling for the quiet girl. Willa fell for him too, and before long, the two were an item at Elro, much to Dory’s surprise.

While Eli and Willa discovered the wonder of sex, quiet the opposite was happening in Dory and Robby’s bedroom. Things had, in fact, become quite chilly. One night, shortly after the school year began, Dory felt a chill come over her. One not climatic in nature, but more climactic. Quite suddenly, Dory was no longer interested in sex with her husband. Robby, the man she had loved and lusted after during their entire marriage, was no longer an object of Dory’s desire. At first she thought it was temporary, and so did Robby. So they both went on with life as anyone would do. Then the spell fell over the entire town.

Over the next several months, women fell away from their spouses and lovers. They drew away, into their own worlds, and away from the embrace of their loved ones. Teenaged boys were left frustrated and heartbroken when their young objects of affection and lust took off on their own.

Meg Wolitzer drew me into this world, and made me need to know what would happen next. I was drawn to the characters, caring about them and their well-being, as if they were my own loved ones. At the same time I was horrified. The idea of a complete sex drought left me feeling slightly uneasy and tense. Considering the possibility of a long, sexless future is scary. And it’s easy to imagine yourself as part of the story, as The Uncoupling draws you further in.

The closer we get to the performance of the high school play, the more things reach a frustrating peak. Couples argued, men reacted, ranging from anger to sadness to bewilderment.

I won’t spoil the specifics, but I don’t think it’s a huge spoiler to say the spell did eventually end. People and lives were irrevocably changed, but it ended and things got better in Stellar Plains.

In the end, The Uncoupling reminds you to shake things up once in a while. Don’t take things for granted, and don’t stagnate.

This is a great book to read before Valentine’s Day, in my opinion. It’s sort of the anti-Valentine. Not bitter, but a departure from the norm. It isn’t a romance novel, but there is romance and fire and love.

This book is a solid 4 out of 5.

I’m supposed to be writing my NaNo Novel (What? You’ve never heard of National Novel Writing Month? Get over there and start writing! 50 thousand words in 30 days www.nanowrimo.org )

So, like I was saying, I’m supposed to be writing my novel. I have two story ideas. Both sound good to me. Neither is inspiring me. I have characters for one of the story ideas, so that leads to me to believe I should run with that one. Problem is, I don’t really know where to start. And, again, I’m not motivated. I love writing. I love when I’m writing and I get really into the story. I love to see how my stories progress. I love making something out of nothing.

I have had writer’s block for 3 years. (imagine a sad face picture here…sad banana, sad kitty, sad turnip, whatever. I’m bummed.) My reviews even come as a bit of a struggle. I do them because I love to read and I love to write and I want to share that enthusiasm with others.

You may have noticed that I didn’t review in October. What’s up with that? It’s my favorite month. Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. I was taken in and absorbed by awesome scary TV. I had plenty of time to relax and enjoy myself, as I was ‘on the bench’ for 2 weeks and ‘working from home’. (I put that in quotes because there really isn’t anything you can do on the bench except online training….how boring is that?)

Anyway, I had lots of time to myself and beautiful weather to inspire me. I had horror films going all the time and just felt fantastic. I even had my annual Scranton get-together with a group of friends. (Sounds weird, but seriously, we have a blast there every year.)

Yet, here I am, November 3rd already, nothing written. Not a single word has been typed up for my novel.

Granted, my new job did start on the 1st. That has kept me a little bit busy. But I’m not swamped. I’m still learning the new job, so there’s a lot of free time. And there are evenings.

I think part of the problem is that I’m a poster-child for ADD. Video games have probably not helped this. (don’t let anyone else see this…I hate the suggested that TV, computers, or video games may contribute to the lack of attention span, but deep-down, I think it’s probably true at least a little bit.) Anyway, instead of having time to develop ideas in my head…instead of being inspired, I get on my iPhone and play Luxor. It’s mindless, effortless, and repetitive. Ahhhh sweet relief from stress or boredom. One of my worst ADD symptoms is this tendency to get ‘stuck’. I’ve talked to other ADD people and not all of us are like this. But I’ve noticed that more people who have my type (inattentive) are likely to have this ‘stuck’ feature. We have a massive sense of inertia. Once we get out there doing something, it’s great. But getting the forward motion takes massive effort.

So here I sit, not writing. The thing is, in the past I’ve just started writing when I was ready (even if that was halfway through the month) and taken off. My word count catches up because I type really fast, and I’d be fine. But for the past couple of years, that hasn’t happened. Instead of writing a ton the second week in, I’ve quit. I’ve quit without any good reason, except that I couldn’t get motivated. No ideas came, no spark, no inspiration.

I don’t know how to make it happen. In the past it has just ‘come’ to me. Last year’s story started off strong and then petered out into nothing. I feel like either of the ideas I have this year could really take off. I just need to break out of this mind-fog.

Bah.

So, I promise to put up a review soon. I got stuck reading some older books and I feel bad reviewing them. Nobody is rushing out to buy an old, pulp piece of junk. My most recent book was about the Smurl Haunting in Pennsylvania. There was a made for TV movie about it in the 90′s and everything. But the book was written a long time ago and it wasn’t all that compelling, to be honest.  It was interesting and I wanted to know what happened. But that was it.

I finished another John Connolly book. He is phenomenal. I want to write like him…but still being me. I used to feel that way about Stephen King. I still respect him, of course, but I feel like Connolly has more depth. And his style is more subtle…not quite as cliched and not full of ‘busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest’ stuff.

I also finished a free Kindle download called Sleep Tight. It was a thriller and you know, it was pretty good! I was surprised at how good it was for a free download.

Did I mention before that I read the Hunger Games books? Awesome and much better than I dreamed they would be.

Still, with all that reading, I haven’t hit something that I feel needs to be reviewed.

So now you know what I read in my down time…for fun or amusement or just because I can’t not read. I promise to get something new soon. Something that isn’t spooky or ghostly or mindless. Not that any of that is necessarily bad. I just feel like my readers deserve more.

Meanwhile, I should be writing. Add this to another of my shiny objects and distractions. Now I have to get back to my Luxor.

The youngest of four daughters in an old, celebrated St. Louis family of prominent journalists and politicians on one side, debutante balls and equestrian trophies on the other, Jeanne Darst grew up hearing stories of past grandeur. And as a young girl, the message she internalized was clear: while things might be a bit tight for us right now, it’s only temporary. Soon her father would sell the Great American Novel and reclaim the family’s former glory.

4 out of 5 stars

Fiction Ruined My Family is more than a memoir, to me. It’s more than comedy or tragedy. I’m going to go so far as to say that Jeanne Darst is the female David Sedaris. Her story-telling is a bit different, true, but her voice is much the same. She’s charming and likeable, yet blunt and vulgar at times. Which meant, of course, that I loved this book!

As a writer who never seems to write, I could really appreciate Jeanne’s loving, yet frusrated, description of her writer father. His love of good books and ‘the story’ behind everything is something I could relate to. In fact, his willingness to work for his dream, regardless of cost, was something I admired. Yet, nothing more than a few articles ever really materialized for the man. 

Then Darst shows the true story of how the starving artist lifestyle affects a family. The romance of a creative existence dwindles with each painful retelling of poverty and, at times, despair.

Jeanne Darst’s parents both grew up comfortably. Her mother grew up well-off, and expected a similar lifestyle as an adult. The fact that her father’s writing career never flourished could not put a damper on her mother’s desire to live the lavish lifestyle, to which she seemed entitled.  When Darst’s father decided it was time to uproot the family from St. Louis and move them to a ‘farm’ that in reality ended up being more like a commune where artists went to languish.  Her father’s intention was to write his big break-out novel. Then the family would move back to St. Louis and go back to the life they’d always known.

Not only did they never return to St. Louis, but the lifestyle they once knew was never to return. When grandmother (Nonnie) died, Jeanne’s mother inherited some money to keep hersel and the girls afloat, but also seemed to inherit a new personality. One that apparently drank more, cried more, and smiled less. Broke and unsuccessful at his attemp to write a novel, Jeanne’s father took a job at CBS, but never really got his act together enough to write more.

As Jeanne Darst takes us on her life’s journey, she unabashedly shares her stories of partying, careless attempts at jobs, and increasingly, drinking like her mother.

As Jeanne herself wrote, “For a long time I was worried about becoming my father. Then I was worried about becoming my mother. Now I was worried about becoming myself.”

Darst navigates her life, eventually figuring out how to be herself and be successful at the same time. The wild ride to get there is definitely worth a read.

There were a few quirks that I found mildly distracting. Some sentences seemed to fragment in ways that weren’t intuitive to me. In places, the wording seemed either forced or awkward. And sometimes there’s a feel of ‘stream-of-consciousness’ that seems to come out of nowhere. None of those things take away from the overall goodness of the story, however.

I recommend this book. It’s worth a read and is good for a few laughs. Darst is funny and sympathetic and on her way up.

This book gets 4 out of 5 stars.

Hello! First let me apologize for not reviewing anything recently. This is not to indicate that I have not been reading anything recently. I’ve been reading quite a bit. But the past few books have been for personal enrichment rather than stuff to review.

Anyway, the book I’m finishing now is the size of a small textbook and it’s extremely detailed. It’s an archive of what happened during The Manhattan Project. There’s all kinds of first-hand accounts from physicists, other scientists, military folks, and other people involved in the project in the 40′s. Fascinating stuff, but not exactly what I’d call a light read.

So I just wanted to pop on and say, there will be a review soon. My next book to read is Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst. Then The Infamous Burke and Hare.

October is going to be horror/thriller month.

So there is some stuff on the horizon. I just need to finish this Manhattan Project book or I’ll feel all disjointed for not having completed something.

Also, I’ve learned how to knit. (Pictures will come when I actually knit something of substance.)

Hopefully my next review will come sometime next week.

Until then, happy reading, everyone!