posted
I tend to go through books rather rapidly, and I thought I'd share some reactions for the benefits of anyone looking for summer reading (and not being content with the other half-dozen threads about it). So, for anyone who's interested, here's the last few I finished.
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk Say what you will, the man writes a weird stick. This one follows - sort of - the life of a beautiful model who's lower face is shot off. Surrounding her is her best friend (also a model, and may have shot her), her vice cop ex-fiance (who may have shot her), the memories of her dead gay brother, the Rhea sisters, her new Monroe-esque friend Brandy Alexander, and their road trip around the country where they visit Open Houses and steal medications. There's a lot of gender-bending, some surprises, a wedding, and two house fires and plenty of the trademark Palahniuk musings. I enjoyed it, although I don't think it approached the manic weirdness of Fight Club or the determinedly demented sexuality of Choke. It's very like his novel Lullabye, with similarly dim views of humanity and a loose, wandering plot. Good, entertaining, but not great.
The Stephanie Plum mystery series by Janet Evanovich A friend gave me a pile of these and I tried the first one, One for the Money. It took a couple hours and I couldn't stop. I read the next eight of them last week, hitting the library to fill in the ones I was missing. I like Stephanie Plum. A good Jersey girl, with a strong family and community tie. Funny, sexy, and without a clue about how to do what she's doing, which is bounty hunting. Great summer books. While I was eating her books like popcorn I tried the first two of her series with Charlotte Hughes, Full House and Full Tilt. Bleah. Cheesy formulaic romances, did nothing for me. If I had read those first, I would never have touched her mysteries. Instead I'll go back and check out the 10th Plum book, and eagerly await the 11th.
A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett I'm a total Pratchett whore. If his name's on it I'll buy it, so it's a good thing his quality remains high. A Hat Full of Sky is his third Young Adults Discworld book and the second featuring eleven-year-old witch Tiffany Aching. Tiffany is sent away from the Chalk to learn witching with Miss Tick, who isn't really ready for it. Tiffany is growing up and becoming aware of her looks and her powers, and becomes susceptible to peer pressure and pressure from... something else. Foruntately the Nac Mac Feegle are there to... um... well, we'll go with "help." While I enjoyed meeting Tiffany in the last book (The Wee Free Men) in this one I had more time to get to know her. Pratchett does an excellent job protraying a young woman with every sign of growing up to be a very powerful witch. These books aren't nearly as convoluted or satirical as his "regular" Discworld books, but they're well worth the reading. Highly recommended.
On deck: Palahniuk's Fugitives and Refugees, Alice Sebold's Lovely Bones, and John Gregory Betancourt's Chaos and Amber. No promises, though, I get distracted easily and suddenly find myself in the middle of another series with no idea how I got there...
[ May 28, 2004, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: Chris Bridges ]
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I think that Palahniuk sort've writes the same thing over and over again. It's always from the worst fringes of society and the outlook is similarly apoplectic, anarchich, and bleak. It's amusing, but his vision of the world of today gets repetitive.
EDIT: I also saw him on Conan not too long ago. I don't use the word "spaz" very often, but that would be an accurate description of the man. He seemed delighted in telling everyone about how when he read his books to audiences the people would vomit, soil themselves, or burst into tears.
[ May 28, 2004, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: Book ]
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He's got a specific short story he's been reading for that purpose, it was recently reprinted in Playboy and was indeed pretty gross.
Jim-Me - it's a three-part Amber prequel, the story of Oberon and the creation of Amber. Not bad. Not Zelazny, but not bad at all.
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