Jane Goes Batty by Michael Thomas Ford

I have tried to read this book several times, but the beginning never caught fire
with me until yesterday. Now it is today, and I've finished reading it, and would
have finished the same day I started if not for the kids!

I don't know why I didn't like it in the past, but having finished the whole thing, I
must admit it was quite an adventure. While I'm not entirely sold on the idea of
Jane Austen as a vampire, I do like Ford's treatment of it, because it shows a
cast of other literary geniuses who have joined her as part of the army of the
undead, including lord Byron and Charlotte Bronte. It is amusing here to see
how Austen's vampire (who calls herself Jane Fairfax, amusingly enough one of
Austen's least likeable characters) is rivals with Charlotte Bronte, whose vampire
name is Violet Grey (and no, I haven't read enough Bronte novels to know if that
character exists in her writing or not.) Even more amusing, Austen and Byron call
Bronte "our gloomy friend," and supposedly Bronte holds a grudge against Byron
because he got her pregnant hundreds of years before. I mean, how much fun
can you have with literary characters?

In this modern incarnation, Jane Fairfax/Austen has written a best-selling novel
called Constance, that is being made into a movie. The film crew wants to do
some interviews with her just as her boyfriend Walter's Jewish mother (Miriam
Ellenberg) comes into town. And unlike most mother-in-law/girlfriend
relationships, this one is even more stressful since Miriam is a vampire hunter,
and knows exactly why Jane is bad for her son. The two make nice by the end of
the book, with Miriam extracting a promise from Jane that she must give her a
grandchild within a year, or Miriam tells her son the big secret (and then stakes
Jane.)

There is a subplot about Jane losing her editor at the publishing house and an
evil harridan taking the man's place. That woman ends up dead during an Austen
a-Go-Go event set up by another pink-wearing literary critic/blogger/tour guide
named Beverly Shrop, and the murder is blamed on Charlotte Bronte. If it all
sounds very confusing and amusing, it is, and is well worth the time it takes to
read this book.

No, it's not a classic work of literature. But it's fun that an author has taken
characters that any English major loves, hates, at least knows of, and jams them
all together in a funny, tooth-baring modern mashup. The hardest part to read is
the croquet match between Jane and her mother-in-law that goes on for too
many pages, but that's really my fault for not remembering the rules to that lawn
game. 

 Submitted by Gerti

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

This is the first Suzanne Collins book in the "Hunger Games" series that I have
read, mainly due to the popularity of the books after the movie was released.
However, despite the fact that my husband told me he couldn't make it through
the first book because he didn't like the writing style, I find Collins' style to be an
easy read, and finished the book in one day.

After seeing the movie, it was nice to see some things in print - namely, how to
spell Katniss and Peeta. I thoroughly enjoyed watching her actions after her
victory in the competition, and while it reads like Young Adult fiction in that part of
her struggle is with her love life, the story is most engaging when she is paired
with Peeta for a victory tour, and then later, for an anniversary version of the
Hunger Games they already endured.

I enjoy how the novel deals with the lifestyle changes Katniss endures, not only
in her romantic life, but how her new found fame brings with it rewards, and new
challenges. Becoming a famous television stare in Panem, this country where
she lives in District 12, does not only bring with it great clothes and food. It also
brings for her the difficulty of dealing with the invasion of privacy, as the current
government under President Snow is able to spy on her, and further to force her
to choose one romantic partner to save the life of another.

I enjoy reading about how Katniss endures each challenge, having only moments
of weakness when she sees those she loves, like her old boyfriend Gale or her
dresser Cinna, being hurt or even killed by the current government. I enjoyed
how she is mainly ignorant of the political movement that is brewing behind her
humanitarian actions, as it is plausible that media would be controlled in a
political state like Collins describes in this book. And I also enjoy how she learns
the secrets through her kindness to others.

In summary, while not a classic work of literature, this is a book to me on the
scale of Brave New World, where a protagonist is forced to deal with forces
larger than herself, but through her own strong character and deep family ties,
she can endure and even triumph through the worst of it. While I find the end
confusing, I'm sure all will be answered in the 3rd book, "Mockingjay," and will be
eager to read it when my time on the waiting list is up! 

Submitted by Gerti

Curtain by Michael Korda

This book was referenced in Martin Gottfried's awesome biography of
Danny Kaye, so I requested it from the library, and despite the fact that it's taken
me something like 6 weeks to read, I'm glad I got it. The biographer Gottfried
came down firmly on the side that the great comedian Danny Kaye was
heterosexual, but in this novelized account of the sometimes rocky friendship
between Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh and Danny Kaye, Michael Korda has his
Kaye analog lead Olivier into a homosexual liaison, which makes the Leigh
character Kaye's lifelong enemy.

In this novel, Korda calls the great Shakespearean actor who represents
Olivier "Robert Vane, n and Leigh gets the moniker "Felicia lisle." Most of the
book is concerned with the tension between these two, caused initially by her
inability to get a divorce from her husband even though they are openly living
together, their joint careers in Hollywood and on the British stage through the
middle, and interwoven with his waning sexual desire for her. The book
chronicles her breakdowns on stage, and looks at how the couple perform well
together, but how in their heart of hearts, they want to out-act the other.

Because my interest lies mostly with the character Randy Brooks, the
early part of the novel is more interesting to me. I'm sure if I knew more about the
careers of Laurence Olivier or Vivien Leigh, more of it would seem relevant to me
and I would understand all the references. But since I'm coming at the story from
the background of knowing more about Danny Kaye than the other two
thespians, there are characters who don't click for me, like showman Marty Quick
with whom Felicia has an affair and then kills near the end of the book. It would
be more interesting if I knew who he was supposed to be in real life.

However, that said, the book is very well written, and even if it does seem
crude at certain points, there is a strong enough storyline here to keep me

. interested through the impossibly long 776 pages. I recognize that Korda throws
a twist into the Danny Kaye narrative when he has his analog, Randy Brooks, die
is a plane crash during 'WWII, a mission he volunteers for rather than have his
homosexuality be revealed to the public by promoter Quick. As Kaye did not die
in a plane crash, I'm not sure how much of the Olivier story mimics their real
lives. As I've stated before, since I haven't read a biography of Laurence or
Vivien, I don't know where Korda's story turns into fiction: with Vivien's affair with
her uncle?; with Vivien murdering Quick?; Or at the heart of the thing, with the
Olivier-Kaye affair?

What I do know, is despite the ordeal it was to read through the mountain
of material here, the Korda novel was almost always entertaining, and read very
much like the juicy insider's story that, to a large extent, it probably is. I would not
mind reading more of what he has written, as well as having someone tell me
how it compares to the Olivier's actual lives.

Submitted by Gerti

Madison Avery Series by Kim Harrison

One of our patrons recommended that I read Kim Harrison's adult series but I wound up reading her young adult series first.  Her adult series sounds really good too but Madison just spoke to me and I ended up reading her first.  Madison's story starts out in Prom Nights from Hell.  I had really nice prom experience.  My prom date was a guy I grew up with and we went with two other couples.  We had an awesome time, unlike Madison Avery.  Madison is new to town.  She was sent to live with her dad after getting caught causing trouble one too many times.  She is at the prom with a boy, Josh, that she finds out is a pity date.  His dad works with her dad and they set the date up.  How humiliating is that?  So when Madison dumps Josh she is swept off her feet by a handsome pirate.  Did I mention the prom had a costume theme?  Anyway the handsome pirate ends up being bad news and Madison ends up dead.  The only thing keeping her somewhat alive is the amulet she steals from around the handsome pirates neck.

What you soon find out is that there are light reapers and dark reapers.  A dark reaper takes a soul before they do something evil while a light reaper tries to save the soul from the dark reaper.  Dark reapers believe in fate and light reapers believe in choice.  Madison didn't get culled by an ordinary dark reaper. She's going to be taking over management.  I really liked these books and the characters.  I am looking forward to Something Deadly This Way Comes coming out May 24th.

Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep

Reading Level: Adult
(4 out of 5)

The first books I read by Ms. Estep were her young adult Mythos Academy series books.  Unfortunately the library does not own them.  If you want to read them I suggest putting in a purchase request.  They were really good.  Anyway after reading them I found out about this series and yeah the library does own them.

The Elemental Assassin series is about Gin Blanco.  She is the most feared assassin in the South and she is known as the Spider.  When shes not busy killing people you can find her at the Pork Pit cooking up the best barbecue in Ashland.  Gin is a Stone elemental.  She can hear everything from the whispers of the gravel beneath her feet to the vibrations of the soaring Appalachian Mountains.  She also has Ice magic which comes in hand to make the occasional lock pick or knife.  But she doesn't use her powers on the job unless she absolutely has to, call it professional pride.

When Gin takes on a job that seems almost to good to be true, it ends up being that way.  She ends up double crossed and her handler, Fletcher Lane, ends up dead.  Since her handler was also like her father having taken her in off the streets at 13 she wants revenge and to find out who is behind everything.  With the help of Finn, Fletcher's son and her adopted brother, and sexy Detective Donovan Caine Gin sets out to get her man or woman as the case may be.

I have really enjoyed this series so far.  I'm on book 4 right now.  Six books have been published so far.  Book 7 is coming out really soon and she will be writing 3 more after that.