The Passage

This was a GREAT read. So, so good. I can't wait to start The Twelve, which is book 2 in the series. But that will have to wait until after I read Towers of Midnight, which I expect to be waiting for me at my doorstep Tuesday after work.

11/22/63

11/22/63 by Stephen King is the best novel I have read in some time. I devoured this 849 page doorstop in a little over a week. I'd been wanting to read it since it came out, but waited, because I had other things in line to read first, including King's Under The Dome, which was also magnificent in it's own way.

King's storytelling has always been super-duper, but in these last two novels he has really hit a stride. I haven't read all of King's catalog, but I have read lots; we used to read his books and Sly B and I would agree "he does a great middle" but petered out often with his endings for us -- not true for 11/22/63.

The premise of the story is in essence: If you could go back and affect a watershed moment that changed everything in America - think racism, war, poverty - would you do it even if it meant great sacrifice for you? I'm not going to say too much about the plot, but I will tell you that the pace of the novel is lightning-fast, and the characters are wonderful. I think another question that might be batted around a bit in the novel is: Did the assassination of JFK really get us to this point today? Would race relations, foreign relations, and poverty in America be what they are had he lived? Or is that just a nice fairy tale liberals tell ourselves when we don't know what to do or say about the state of our nation?

I don't have a lot of experience with historical fiction, but this one was really fun for me. I've spent some time in Dallas, and the novel spends a lot of time there with our main character stalking Lee Harvey Oswald and his family and circle for a few years. King isn't kind to Dallas, which does not break my heart. Our main character, Jake/George, brings a 21st century yankee liberal sensibility to the late 50s and early 60s America which helps readers understand, I think, what life was really like then and there and how we might have fared.

I can't recommend this novel highly enough. Check it out - you won't be sorry!

Feast Day of Fools

I recently finished the latest novel by one of my top 3 favorite authors. Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke did not disappoint. Burke is such a master of the English language -- it's a joy to read anything he writes. The opening sentence:

Some people said Danny Boy Lorca's visions came from the mescal that had fried his brains, or the horse-quirt whippings he took around the ears when he served time on Sugar Land Farm, or the fact he'd been a middleweight club fighter through a string of dust-blown sinkholes where the locals were given a chance to beat up what was called a tomato can, a fighter who leaked blood every place he was hit, in this case a rumdum Indian who ate his pain and never flinched when his opponents broke their hands on his face.

My very favorite Burke novels are his Dave Robicheaux ones; Feast Day of Fools is one in another of his series, his Hackberry Holland books. Holland, like Robicheaux, is a sober man in the later years of his life who has chosen a life in law enforcement. He is haunted by very specific trauma related to Vietnam, the death of his beloved wife, indignities suffered at the hands of his father, and his past as a violent drunk.

This novel focuses, as the earlier Holland novels do although I have not read them yet, on the mass murderer Preacher Jack Collins, along with many other Federal Governmental bad guys. Hack is the sheriff of a small border town in Texas and the story also winds through border/immigration politics and evangelical nutjobs who mix their horrible bibilical rhetoric with conservative politics and racism.

I don't want to spoil the story, but do want to encourage anyone who still might be reading this blog to check the book out. It was just masterful and superb. I went and picked up a few more of the early Burke Holland novels I haven't read yet immediately upon finishing this book, and can't wait to dive in. Also, the new Robicheaux novel drops in July.

James Lee Burke, may you live forever.

Lord Of Chaos

Perrin is back again, and on the one hand, lots of plot points are moved forward; on the other hand, lots of things are at a standstill and new stuff has been layered on. This book felt a bit like a marathon, and is typically where people who did fall off reading started to fall.

• Dylin tells Rand that Tigrane is his mother. In this story we learn that Galad is Rand's half-brother.
• An emissary from the Tower is sent to Salidar.
• Taim is now in charge of the Black Tower and he has to be a Foresaken, right?
• Morgase is captured by Pedron Niall.
• Rand receives envoys both from the Tower and from Salidar - the Tower group assumes that rumors of a sister with Rand (actually Egwene) is Moraine who faked her death.
• Nynaeve does the impossible in heading Logaine, Siuan, and Leanne
• The whitecloaks culture is so much modeled on the Vatican.
• Egwene is a BADASS. She meets her Ji e-Toh, then travels the same night to Salidar to meet her fate there.
• Rand sends Matt to collect Elaine.
• Instead of punishing Egwene, the rebels make her Amyrlin.
• Sulin is HILARIOUS.
• Rand is captured by the Tower envoy. He is tortured and driven crazy by them.
• Matt, Elaine, and Nynaeve, along with Tom and Julen, head for Ebou Dar to deal with the weather issue by looking for the bowl of the winds.

Next up: Crown of Swords

• Dumai Wells happens and it's a blood bath.

Nordic Noir

One of the benefits of my addictive personality is that sometimes I land on some type of thing that is so interesting that obsession is warranted and rewarding. One such thing is a recent indulgence in a lot of Nordic Noir.

It started with the Stieg Larson Millennium trilogy and is most recently working itself out in my enjoyment of the Danish original The Killing TV series (kiss-kiss, Van). I've recently made a long list of popular Swedish thrillers - many of which are series focused on one detective - and I cannot wait to find the time to read more.

Here are some of the characteristics I love best in this genre:

• A heroine to the story (though not always, as in the mediocre The Hypnotist - more on that later) who kicks ass (Lisbeth Salander, Sarah Lund/Linden, Smilla) and has had absolutely all she can stand of misogyny and bullshit. She has generally gotten the shit end of at least one kind of stick, and she ain't gonna take it any more
• A mystery that needs some serious solving
• Characters who are the very best at what they do, but who are overlooked by most people because they don't comply with social norms
• Some kind of social injustice that the heroine (except in the mediocre, etc, etc) is absolutely livid about

Here are my recommendations if you enjoyed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or the AMC version of The Killing and are interested in more:

• Read Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow. It's the grandmammy of the genre and is outstanding. This book is one of Sly B's all-time favorites and she's been trying to get me to read it for ages. Why did I wait so long?
• There's a Julia Ormond movie called Smilla's Sense of Snow that's also wonderful
• Read all three Stieg Larson books - they are fantastic. Then watch the Swedish films - they are fantastic. Then see the US film - it was pretty damn good.
• Watch the AMC version of The Killing - so great. A Nordic Noir story set in Seattle. Fans FREAKED OUT about the S1 ending because it wasn't all Hollywood-tied-in-a-bow. Haha
• Watch the BBC version (it's Danish, but they dubbed into English) of The Killing - it's the original and the story is so dark and thrilling
• Do not, not matter what, pick up The Hypnotist, even though the cover says it's "methadone for those in withdrawal from Stieg Larson novels." First of all, really marketing people? Classy. Because heroin addiction is EXACTLY like loving some books. Second of all, it was a good mystery, but I hated the main character, his wife, his son, and everyone he knew. Seriously it was a 4 out of 10 nipples and doesn't belong in this class

You have your homework.

The Fires of Heaven

I finished this volume a few weeks ago. A LOT happened in this one, despite Perrin's POV being absent.

• Lews Therin has emerged as the voice in Rand's head. He's a nutter, too, so Rand is stuck listening to his weeping/ranting/homicidal ideas.
• Lanfear had her eyes on the Sun Throne - I missed that on the first read.
• Matt's medallion is proven out as a protection against channeling.
• Min and Elaine come to terms with the fact that they both love Rand. Meanwhile, Rand plays between the sheets with Avienda.
• Forsaken body count: Lanfear (?), Ravin, Asmodean. Moghedien is also captured by Nynaeve.
• The rebel Aes Sedai have set up camp in Salidar, and Nynave, Min, and Elaine are there with them.
• Biggest thing to happen: Moraine is presumed dead after taking Lanfear out through the mysterious doorway.

Next up: Lord of Chaos

The Shadow Rising

Book 4, The Shadow Rising, is (so far) the longest in the series at 1001 pages. This read for me was via audio-book and was 40.5 hours of bookiness. I think that in writing this volume, RJ must have decided: "Fuck it" and gone all in with the detail, scope, and length of the series. This one represents a real turning point in what would happen in the series and how many characters would be integral to the story. Whew, a biggun. Here are my thoughts in no particular order:

• Major plot points in this volume: The Tower is broken; Nynaeve proves that she is strong as hell, and can overcome a Foresaken; Rand is He Who Comes With The Dawn without a doubt; Rand captures Asmodean and now has a teacher and proves that he is unwilling to kill a woman; Egwene begins learning to be a dreamer; Perrin becomes a "lord" and marries Faile

• Min is more important to the plot of the series than I thought and I'm paying more attention to her role

• Siuan and Leane are hilarious

• Is Rand's breaking the Aiel bigger than his telling their historical secret?

Next up, The Fires of Heaven

The Sacred Band

I recently had the pleasure of finishing The Sacred Band, the conclusion to the Acacia trilogy by David Anthony Durham. Book 1 is Acacia; Book 2 is The Other Lands. Rather than do a plot summary here, because I really do believe you should read this one for yourself, I'll just talk about what I loved about this final novel.

First, the entire series is incredibly refreshing. Epic Fantasy is generally "conservative" in metaphor at many levels. The hero (and there usually is just one) is typically male, white, heterosexual, etc, etc, etc; the bad guys are typically of color, not Euro-ish, effeminate even sometimes. In Acacia, the heroes are varied in race, home, sex, motives. It takes many of them a long time, and a lot of mistakes to get to the point of doing "right."

Next, the conclusion of the series isn't a nice, tidy fix by a savior. It's just a hope of something better. I LOVE that.

Finally, Durham knows how to finish a series. Who finishes a trilogy in four years? Who finishes a trilogy in three books? LOVE THAT. Of course, I love the torture that is SOIAF and WOT too . . .

I'm going to read Pride of Carthage just because I know this dude can write. And he's on my must pre-order list from now on. Ten out of ten and the best book I read this year.

The Dragon Reborn

My thoughts on book 3:

• Matt never accepts his fate. He always wants to leave, but he really doesn't want to go back to Emond's Field.

• Nynaeve is driven because she sees herself as the protector of the Emond's Fielders. She is also driven by hatred of Moiraine.

• The Dragon Reborn was very light on Rand; the focus was on moving all the main characters to Tear.

• ALL of Min's viewings come true. Never doubt what she sees.

• Rand always thinks that he's defeated Shai'tan in the early books!

• The Forsaken body count: Aginor, Be'lal, Ishamael/Ba'alzaomon.

• We now know who The People Of The Dragon are. In that, the legends of the various peoples start to bleed together.

• Moiraine's role is really becoming more to remind the ta'veren who they are than to guide them.

• This is among my favorites of the books - a lot of great focus on the "girls" perspective and a lot of fantastic character development. Faile is an annoying character, IMO, and we meet her here, but otherwise this was a fun re-read and a fantastic story.

• Next up, The Shadow Rising

WoT Read, Read, Read

Sly B and I are both re-reading the massive Wheel of Time series in anticipation of the final installment in March. I thought it might be fun to do a series of posts that are just thoughts on each book. Not reviews, just thoughts. My review is this: I fucking love these books.

I've read the first 10 books in the series at least twice - some more than that. The latest books and the prequel I've only read once, so this is very exciting.

So I am currently rounding the corner to the end of book #3 The Dragon Reborn. Sly B is on book #8 already. She may or may not participate in this - I haven't even asked her yet.

Here are my initial thoughts on the first two books: I've read The Eye of the World the most of all of these novels and love the book. It introduces us to our core characters and gives us the messianic tropes, the fantasy usual suspects, and just a short quick peek into how vast this world is going to be. It shows us that not only is Rand critical to this story, but Perrin and Matt and Egwene and Nynaeve are also crucial.

The Great Hunt, I think, is my favorite of the series. I love how this novel pulls in the other crucial pieces of this world - the Whitecloaks, the Aiel, the Seanchan, the Foresaken, Darkfriends. I LOVE this book.

I know a lot of my buddies, and my brother-in-law, also love these books. It's just been SO ENJOYABLE to re-read this series so far. And, I'd better hurry up or I'm not going to finish by March.

Book Review - A Dance With Dragons

I finally finished A Dance With Dragons two or three weeks ago. I'll start by saying that you can find better and more comprehensive reviews and discussions of the book all over the place. My recommendation for the best is at Topless Robot and you should check it out. It's spoilery, as will be what I say below.

A few things I would like to say:

• Really, G.R.R.? Did you really have to do that to us right at the end? I don't believe that Jon Snow is a goner, me.
• I am fascinated and surprised by the directions a few pivotal female characters were taken in the addition to the story: Dani has been a bit muted, and with the addition of Aegon things are totally up in the air now regarding her agency; Arya is just in a weird space - man what is going to happen with her now? My guess: she'll become the assassin she prays for each night and take out her list; Cersei: humbled? Um, not likely.
• The scariest character in a long time in fiction: Ramsay Bolton. The shit he does to people, specifically Theon, is so horrible. The only one scarier than him is his dear old dad Roose. Skin-crawley.
• Even if we have to wait until 2016 for more, I loved it.
  

Five outta five from me.

Randomness

• I have an iPhone and am in the stage of looking at it all the time. I'm annoying even myself.

• I'm still reading Dance With Dragons - only about 350 pages in. Both Sly B and her mama have already finished. I'm usually much quicker through these beloved books, but life has gotten in the way. So far, I'm loving it.

• Evil Inc., bleh, but I realize that it's time to stop caring SO MUCH.
  

• We've seen tons of great TV this year. Standouts (some of which may be repeats but are just THAT good): Nurse Jackie, Treme, The Killing, Torchwood

Squee!

Wowie! 1,016 pages of goodness.

Finales and New Seasons

Two shows that Sly B and I watched religiously for their first seasons ended on Sunday: The Killing and Game of Thrones.

The Killing ended with a twist that's gotten a lot of bad press. I liked it. Holder is one of my favorite characters on the show, and I like that he's not just a recovering addict who doesn't have much agency. It was refreshing to learn that he's more complex than the nice, humble guy we thought he was and that he's up to something. The Salon.com editor argues that these two are the worst police ever -- I don't think I agree. Their investigation was obviously riddled with misinformation, and someone is using them to take down a powerful politician. I love this show. I love how, as B pointed out early on, it focuses on the grief of the family. I also just love the damaged Linden. What a great TV character.

Game of Thrones ended just the way B said it would as we began the episode. Really, she should be a TV writer and we should live in a big house and I shouldn't have to work. She always knows who did it and what will happen. I enjoyed the first season of GoT. I think that HBO did a great job of translating a very detailed universe into an easily digestible show while not losing the complexity of all of the players. I think that the casting of the Dothraki could have been truer to the book, with darker-skinned people -- that was my biggest disappointment. I also think turning a mid-important character into a gay character was puzzling, but I'm all for the gay, so I live with it. What I DO love: the visual of the wall and especially the tunnel through the wall - AMAZING; the casting of Dani; the actress who plays Arya. I'll keep watching, definitely. It's pretty good!

What I'm most excited about now is that the next Song of Ice and Fire comes out in about a month. Of course, I've got it pre-ordered and cannot wait. Also, Nurse Jackie has become one of my favorite shows. It ended last night, I think, but we haven't watched the episode yet.

Summer watching will include: True Blood (the latest Sookie book is out and in the queue for both of us as well), The Big C (love Laura Linney), Torchwood, Falling Skies, Rescue Me if we can tolerate what's become of this beloved show for another season, and a rewatch of Deadwood on our newly acquired bluray DVDs.

Not A Unique Game of Thrones Thought

Note: Topless Robot beat me to this, and as you should know is a much better blog. Even so, I'm going to post this as I've been thinking it for a few days.

Spoilers herein:

I am really enjoying the mass freak-out over Eddard Stark's beheading. Non-readers, welcome to our world. The world of us who've read these books for AGES, waiting impatiently for the next installment; hoping that our favorite character isn't the next one to bite it; realizing that he/she IS the next one to bite it and finding a new favorite character. This is how G.R.R. Martin does it. If you're mad now, JUST WAIT!

Bye-bye, Ned. B-uh-b-uh.

Bwahahahahahaha . . . uh . . . ha . . . cough.

Seriously, the show is good. I'm not ga-ga over it like I am over The Killing or Nurse Jackie or Treme, but it's good. Well done, again, HBO.

Random Dis, Random Dat

• I've finally finished The Pillars of the Earth and LOVED it. Sly B and I are going to check out the mini-series now. It's a great epic story, and great historical fiction. Check it out if you like either.

• Speaking of epic, Game of Thrones premiers next Sunday. ZOMG.

• There has been some excellent TV this season. Among my favorites: Shameless was AMAZING; also amazing, and doing the source material justice, was The Walking Dead. So freaking good.

Random New Year

• I'm watching UHF for Deadpan Winter Palooza. Oh, my . . . how did I miss this one?

• We found a wonderful vet for our aging cat. If you have an old pet, get them a heating pad. It's incredible how much better she is.

• The Pillars of the Earth is just great. I am really loving this book. Thanks, Bunny!

• We saw Black Swan on Saturday. We both really dug the flick, while finding it super disturbing. For me, the film redeemed Natalie Portman. I think that in a lot of eyes (including mine) she had been dismissed because of the Star Wars mess. She was fantastic in Black Swan.

• Tomorrow is my beloved niece's 5th birthday. We've met her twice, and love her +1000.

Random Goodness

• We saw Harry Potter yesterday and loved it!

• We finally have significant snow and love it! (because we don't have to go anywhere)

• I finished Towers of Midnight and WOW. I really wasn't expecting to be blown away, but I really was. This series is so wonderful. Five outta five nipples.

• I just started reading Follett's The Pillars of the Earth, a gift I received from a Deadpan friend last Christmas.

Happy New Year!!

Ah, Friday

It's been a challenging year, work-wise, world-wise. Today really feels like Friday, and I'm offering a big EXHALE.

• Evil, Inc. remains evil, but there are moments. Today wasn't the worst day. I was able to get a little something extra for my peeps, and that makes me happy.

• The Event is so boring. Deleted from my list and my DVR.

• I'm reading Towers of Midnight. I just thought about it, and I've been reading this series for 11 years. Love it, don't care how long it takes.

• I just tried the annual Fade to Black offering from Left Hand. It's just as wonderful as last years, and gets 4 out of 5 nipples from me. I don't love that much smoke, but otherwise, MWAH!

• Sly B and I kill at Beatles Rock Band. You all should see her on the drums, yo, and I can play the bass JUST LIKE Paul. Ish.

Bachelor Night Nonsense

• Holy shit, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West have a new radio show. It is the best thing I've heard in ages. Check it out. Dr. West is the most brilliant mind of this generation, and I feel a lot of hope every time I hear/read him.

• I finished the Millennium trilogy, and loved it. Lisbeth Salander might be the new Buffy.

• We had a GREAT week off last week. Lots of together time, lots of projects accomplished, and lots of DVDs watched. Great: Kick Ass, Crazy Heart, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mystic River; Good: The Runaways, Date Night.

• I am stunned by the general lack of outrage about all the gay teen suicides among my immediate circle of people, except a few wonderful exceptions. This is not my issue - this is a cultural issue that should be affecting all of us. If you are a parent, this should scare the shit out of you. If you are the friend of a parent, this should scare the shit out of you. I am too broken hearted to say much more at this moment, but I think that might change.