Category: Fiction

Categories
Crime Fiction Mysteries Thrillers

Good Dog, Bad Cop by David Rosenfelt (ARC Review)

As always, thanks so much to Minotaur Books for letting me read another K-Team novel early!  I have read all four of them and do enjoy these fast paced detective stories with at least one K-9 takedown per story 😅

Bookish Quick facts:
  • Title: Good Dog, Bad Cop
  • Series: K Team Novels #4
  • Author: David Rosenfelt
  • Publisher & Release: Minotaur Books, 03/14/23
  • Length: 288 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐✨ for fans of snarky detective stories
Here’s the synopsis from Am*zon:

For the K Team, playing “good dog”, “bad cop” is all fun and games… until there’s a body on the scene, in the next K Team Novel by bestselling author David Rosenfelt.

The K Team enjoys investigating cold cases for the Paterson Police Department. Corey Douglas, his K-9 partner Simon Garfunkel, Laurie Collins, and Marcus Clark even get to choose which cases they’d like to pursue. When Corey sees the latest list of possibilities, there’s no question which one to look into next.

Corey’s former mentor, Jimmy Dietrich, had his whole identity wrapped up in being a cop. When Jimmy retired three years ago, his marriage quickly deteriorated and he tried–and failed―to get back on the force. Jimmy was left to try to adjust to life as a civilian.

Not long after, two bodies were pulled from the Passaic River. A local woman, Susan Avery, and Jimmy Dietrich. With no true evidence available, the deaths went unsolved and the case declared cold. This didn’t stop the whispers: an affair gone wrong… a murder-suicide committed by Jimmy.

Corey never believed it. With this case, the K Team has the opportunity to find the real murderer, and clear Jimmy’s name. Bestselling author David Rosenfelt returns in Good Dog, Bad Cop, where there’s little to go on, but that won’t stop Paterson, New Jersey’s favorite private investigators from sniffing out the truth.

My thoughts:

I do have some mixed feelings about these books but I keep reading! Rosenfelt writes fast paced books with snarky characters that can be read in a few (or fewer 😅) sittings. They’re relatively short but I tend to be thrown off by the lack of chapter headings – that said, the finished copies may be different from the ARCs.

This story once again features the Corey and Dani relationship when they aren’t solving cases. He can’t say the word, but he is thinking about “M…ing” her now and it’s hilarious that he’s thinking about it like that.

I like the case itself. I didn’t see the answers coming at all, except for those that Rosenfelt gives us as foreshadowing.  That said, my least favorite part is his bad guy “foreshadowing” chapters. He just gives us a few of the answers and then lets the detectives work back to that point, or not, but the readers know either way.  I just don’t love that style and he does it in many of his books.

I also didn’t think the “big threat” in Good Dog, Bad Cop was handled well.  It was presented as one big bad guy and then didn’t impact the case at all, nor did it add a lot of threat for me since no one was that worried about it.  The cases that the K Team were working on were fun though and it was interesting to see the clues come together.

So…I don’t *love* these books but I keep reading because I love K9 detectives and they’re quick, fun books.  I still wish Simon got more page time but I’ll always applaud when he gets to take down a bad guy.

Overall: not a perfect read but lots of fun to be had with the K Team, with appearances from Andy Carpenter. Would recommend for fans of fun detective novels with fairly high stakes and cold cases.

Thanks for checking out my book review of Good Dog, Bad Cop by David Rosenfelt. I received my early digital copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review and as always, all opinions are my own ♥️

Categories
Fiction Literary Fiction

Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy (is over my head and that’s ok)

Let’s review the bookish quick facts and synopsis really quick and then I’ll share my thoughts:

Bookish Quick Facts:
  • Title: Stella Maris
  • Series: The Passenger #2
  • Author: Cormac McCarthy
  • Publisher & Release: Knopf, 2022
  • Length: 208 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐ not for me, I don’t know. For someone with different interests
Here’s the synopsis VIA Am*ZON

The second volume of The Passenger series: Stella Maris is an intimate portrait of grief and longing, as a young woman in a psychiatric facility seeks to understand her own existence.

1972, BLACK RIVER FALLS, WISCONSIN: Alicia Western, twenty years old, with forty thousand dollars in a plastic bag, admits herself to the hospital. A doctoral candidate in mathematics at the University of Chicago, Alicia has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and she does not want to talk about her brother, Bobby. Instead, she contemplates the nature of madness, the human insistence on one common experience of the world; she recalls a childhood where, by the age of seven, her own grandmother feared for her; she surveys the intersection of physics and philosophy; and she introduces her cohorts, her chimeras, the hallucinations that only she can see. All the while, she grieves for Bobby, not quite dead, not quite hers. Told entirely through the transcripts of Alicia’s psychiatric sessions, Stella Maris is a searching, rigorous, intellectually challenging coda to The Passenger, a philosophical inquiry that questions our notions of God, truth, and existence.

My thoughts:

Here we go: unfortunately as much as I anticipated and waited and wanted to love these books, they went over my head and that’s fine. I’m not here for deep literary analysis at this point in my life, or at least not like this.  I have no knowledge of math history or abstract physics  and that’s ok too. To me, this added nothing to book one except that Alicia truly needed to be committed and Bobby was equally nuts.

I couldn’t stay awake reading the text. The audiobook only put me to sleep 4-5 times so I did eventually get through it, despite the length these books are A CHORE.  I would stick to reading them in publication order though and if you really want to know more, McCarthy’s The Kekule Problem is an essay that could be additional reading between the two books.

Like any niche topic discussed in any book ever, the long talks about math and it’s history, physics, abstract psychology… who without any knowledge of the fact wants to read these discourses? McCarthy can study all the math he wants in his life but I can’t imagine he’s going to sell any new readers on his older books this way, it’s absolutely tedious for someone like me to read.

My mind doesn’t get that abstract. I don’t know anything about Platonism. I can’t wrap my mind around half of Alicia’s ideas, and I’m willing to let it all slide over my head and not be ashamed.

That said, why did we need two books for this story? I don’t feel like Alicia’s utter lack of humanity added anything to Bobby’s story.   She’s absolutely bonkers and he comes across as even crazier for loving her back.  Most of the “plot points” in Stella Maris were already hit in The Passenger.  There was no further look at the characters mentioned in the asylum either which might have been interesting.

These books are full of the things that interested McCarthy throughout his life and old age. Maybe he wanted to deep dive into an abstract philosophical debate with himself. At least it was more palatable in audio form with the male and female narrators leaving no doubt who was speaking at any time.  Ah yes, the text continues with the dialogue/no punctuation theme so while it flows, it’s an eye full.

And at the end of the day, Alicia can be whatever she wants from a literary standpoint but someone *that* smart should do exactly what the therapist said and realize that disappointment occurs, normal people get on with their lives. No you can’t have your brother’s kid, get over it.  She should have been committed by age 12 and there’s no amount of brilliance related to math and physics that negates that fact.

Long story short I don’t feel much for Bobby in The Passenger or Alicia here in Stella Maris. Even on the basest level it was infuriating to read this discourse with Alicia when every other third sentence out of her mouth was a lie or her trying to bully/manipulate the interviewer.  I deal with too much psych as is at the hospital and that’s enough for me without trying to make sense of this woman’s mind games too.

The whole project of these books is just a no for me. I liked many of his earlier works but this went far over my head and I’m ok with it staying there. I don’t regret putting out the cash for the hardcovers but I’ll pass them on and hope the next reader enjoys them more

Thanks for checking out my book review and thoughts on Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy. I purchased the hardcovers with my own money and all thoughts are as always, my own.  I briefly listened to the audiobook as well which I obtained through my local library via Libby.  Edoardo Ballerini and Julia Whelan are phenomenal narrators in their own right and did help the book but, I’m reviewing my main reading effort (the book)

Categories
Fiction Literary Fiction Science Fiction

The Passenger by [Cormac McCarthy has lost his mind] (Book Thoughts)

Well. Well well well.  You guys know I had this box set preordered as soon as it was announced and this was my most anticipated read of 2023.  I’m completely and utterly dumbfounded by this stupid book.

It’s brilliant, it’s complete nonsense, it’s the stark raving mad ranting of an 89 year old that no editor dared to raise a red pen to. It’s a bait and switch. It’s aggravating.  And I can’t stop thinking about it. (See Bookish Quick Facts & Synopsis at the end)

The thing about The Passenger is that it ties together almost everything else McCarthy ever wrote. He calls out a lot of his prior works. He sets up a great and interesting mystery that he never follows through on, simply drops the plot line as soon as it gets good.

Is the government after the missing passenger from the fallen airplane, are they after hidden Oppenheimer papers, do they think his son has something? See, in the book, the main character is Oppenheimer’s son, and that angle didn’t work for me because I can’t take a real man with a real documented history and insert him into a fictional situation.  He didn’t die in Mexico, his kids weren’t schizophrenic as far as I can tell (although he was wrongly diagnosed) and it’s just a very bizarre conflagration of real and unreal, although the themes of generational guilt are real.

The schizophrenic circus, the thalidomide kid (really, really? So many old people are having flashbacks of that disaster right now 🤦‍♀️) it was one way to give us a background of the sisters life and psyche but frankly it was just weird.  I think these characters make more sense if you read The Kekule Problem but I would say to read it between The Passenger and Stella Maris.  This isn’t the first story where McCarthy wrote incestuous siblings and he actually gave Alicia more of a personality than most of his female characters.  That said, I think it was fu€ked up but they weren’t, like, physically involved.

So we start with a mystery and end up travelling a circus of bizarre characters, with some prophetic insights on life and more than a healthy amount of ranting about the Kennedys. Throw your plot out the window, no one will even notice, right?

McCarthy isn’t known for punctuation and normal presentation (he would get along with Davidson, real well), and this book falls into that category too so maybe stay away if that style bugs you.  I would recommend the audiobook, I did listen to parts of it to see if it sat in my mind better but honestly… Idk, I can’t retain any specifics.  The narration was good.

I think if you really want the most from McCarthy, you need to go back and read his prominent works and end with this big old finale.  Personally… Idk I’m pretty sure that McCarthy is an old perv who has gone and lost his darn mind, and he’s laughing at everyone trying to make prophecy out of his convoluted ramblings about life, psychology, physics, grief, family ties, the deep dark depths of the ocean,  etc etc etc.

I’ll write more after a Kekule reread and then getting through Stella Maris. I hate it but I’m too oddly fascinated not to keep going, plus SM  is much shorter so there’s that.

Bookish quick facts:
  • Title: The Passenger
  • Series: The Passenger, #1
  • Author: Cormac McCarthy
  • Publisher & Release: Knopf, 2022
  • Length: 400 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐ for fans.  I don’t know if I think he’ll make new fans with this
Here’s the synopsis from Am*zon

The Passenger is the story of a salvage diver, haunted by loss, afraid of the watery deep, pursued for a conspiracy beyond his understanding, and longing for a death he cannot reconcile with God.

1980, PASS CHRISTIAN, MISSISSIPPI: It is three in the morning when Bobby Western zips the jacket of his wet suit and plunges from the Coast Guard tender into darkness. His dive light illuminates the sunken jet, nine bodies still buckled in their seats, hair floating, eyes devoid of speculation. Missing from the crash site are the pilot’s flight bag, the plane’s black box, and the tenth passenger. But how? A collateral witness to machinations that can only bring him harm, Western is shadowed in body and spirit—by men with badges; by the ghost of his father, inventor of the bomb that melted glass and flesh in Hiroshima; and by his sister, the love and ruin of his soul.

Traversing the American South, from the garrulous barrooms of New Orleans to an abandoned oil rig off the Florida coast, The Passenger is a breathtaking novel of morality and science, the legacy of sin, and the madness that is human consciousness.

Categories
Fiction Historical Fiction Romance

Pederasts, POV, Priorities: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Book Thoughts)

Let’s share the bookish quick facts first so you guys can have a refresher, then I’ll dive into my wonderfully trollable thoughts 

Bookish Quick Facts:
  • Title: The Song of Achilles
  • Series; n/a
  • Author: Madeline Miller
  • Publisher & Release: Ecco, 2012
  • Length: 384 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐ I mean I disliked the book and I disliked her premise but she’s a phenomenal writer
Here’s the synopsis from the back cover:

The legend begins…

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia to be raised in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles. “The best of all the Greeks”—strong, beautiful, and the child of a goddess—Achilles is everything the shamed Patroclus is not. Yet despite their differences, the boys become steadfast companions. Their bond deepens as they grow into young men and become skilled in the arts of war and medicine—much to the displeasure and the fury of Achilles’ mother, Thetis, a cruel sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.

When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece, bound by blood and oath, must lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause, and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice

My thoughts:

Despite The Song of Achilles being wildly popular and appearing everywhere forever since it’s been published, I held off until I was bored and saw someone stating that they learned “a lot about mythology” from the book

I said good lord it can’t possibly be accurate to the legends, because first and foremost in the Illiad, Achilles and Patroclus were only described as close, and later as pederastic at best. Any ”lovers” interpretations came later on with societal change but will never be true to the Illiad. That to me automatically invalidates the entire premise unless you’re seeking to inject “love stories” into places where they didn’t exist, and are reading it for what it is. (I wouldn’t like the book from that angle either).

Friends or Pederasts?

When one man is described as gangly, ugly, gray, a wet blanket, etc, and the other is described as a golden boy, that’s a very typical Greek description of pederasts with the attractive one being the younger man.  In the legends, Patroclus was older, so Miller had to make them roughly the same age to make it would work and seem less like socially acceptable pedophilia. Seeing as that she was loyal to that description, I think she was acknowledging the multiple ways that things could have been, but then apparently decided to make them gay (more in line with later variations).

At the end of the day, this is a “romance” and these are made up characters from a legend, so Miller can do what she wants with the mythology. I just don’t care for this reimagining of the myth.

If you want to read a more educated article about Achilles (a made up fictional character) and the debate of his sexuality throughout literature, here is a great article on it

Let’s talk about point of view

So more specifically about why I couldn’t get into this book, as soon as I see first person POV, if I can’t relate, I tune out.  I tuned out Patroclus after a few chapters because I’m not a man, I’m not gay, and that’s also about the time I shut the audiobook off and grabbed the text so I could dissociate from his voice a bit. I can’t imagine a woman wanting to write this from first person POV, but to each her own. I do much better with stories in third person than first.

I’ve seen this book recommended for ages as young as 14 and there’s way too much explicit and drawn out sex scenes (m/m, m/f), for that age group.  100% 18+ on this one, which is sad because the rest of the book reads like something to be marketed towards teens, as in, fairly repetitive and basic in structure, plus very character based.  I had to flip at least two pages to clear that first m/m scene. 

That said, the characters are wet blankets

Patroclus has NO personality outside of Achilles, who has NO personality outside of Patroclus and his pride.  I’m not even relating them to their Illiad descriptions. In The Song of Achilles, they have no personality. It’s also fairly clear to me that Thetis helped Patroclus become a hero at the end as not to dishonor Achilles, so I mean yeah he was brave but he just wanted the war to end and Achilles was going to hold everyone there for ever.  I never felt drawn to either character at all except for when Patroclus was interested and practicing medicine.

Oh, there’s another point: Patroclus was obsessed with Achilles and we were told multiple times that he wasn’t interested in women, but he had no problem hauling off without a backwards thought and banging Achilles’ wife. Explain how that fit into Miller’s story or personification of her main character at all? If she had an idea this might eventually be marketed towards teens, I just, don’t get it. Smut sells though so 🤷‍♀️

Ok, let’s say a few positive things

I’m losing my train of thought. I do think Miller had a few good scenes, mostly the brutal ones about human sacrifices. I liked the atmosphere and her descriptions of the local scenery and people, water and waves, weather, food, etc, she has a good overall sense of setting.

I like how we spent some time in the medicine tent and in places other than the battle, but also if you’re going to write a romance, why pick this?  The princes and kings spent an awful lot of time sitting around during the Trojan War (10 years went by awful fast in the book) so it made sense to talk about camp life and such, which is about the only place I was interested in the entire story.  I also liked the old centaur.

To touch quickly on what I said up top about Miller being a phenomenal writer? If this wasn’t in first person POV and was less sexualized, I’d have personally like it a lot more. Miller has a distinctively readable style and handles tricky narrative situations surprisingly well.

I mean I’m somewhat Greek, I love legends and Mythology, but I am just not into Miller’s re-imaginings.  I didn’t *love’ Circe either but I think she was at least more loyal to the myths in that one. If you want action, don’t read a romance, yeah yeah, but I never interpreted the Patroclus and Achilles story (and most don’t) as more than friendship, or based off the descriptions that even Miller was loyal to: pederasts.

Alright come at me, I’m ready to get trolled for this one 🤷‍♀️

Tl/DR: I would not read it again but I’m not going to deny that she’s got tricks

Thanks for checking out my rambling book thoughts on The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I was gifted this book many years ago and finally picked it up. As always, all opinions are my own

Categories
audiobooks Fiction Mysteries Science Fiction

The Avram Davidson Treasury: The Sixties (How I’m Getting the Hang of This)

I’m still reading a story here and a story there, and I’ve now made it through The Sixties! The first thing I’d recommend doing is checking out my intro post that also covered stories from the fifties, as I’m not going to repeat myself about the author and collection in general

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In general

Jumping right in, I think I moderately enjoyed the stories from the Sixties more than the Fifties.  Davidson’s penchant for language and linguistics came out in a more accessible format for someone like me, who’s not a genius and just likes reading good stories.

The Real MVP is Spider Robinson’s intro to Sacheverell, because it’s hilarious and now I want to read everything Spider has written. Anyone recommend where to start?

The magic of a google search

Many more good points were made by the authors introducing the stories, the main one being that most of the time Davidson omits “the point” on purpose, and leaves the reader to connect the dots.  I’m not good at this.  LeGuin pointed out that he throws in a lot of humor and extras, to see if people know what they mean, like the term “freemartin”, and it enhances the stories obviously if you catch his hints. That said, I’m so worried that I’m missing a lot of jokes and insights 🤣

A few of the stories so far have just made no sense to me whatsoever, so I jotted down a few keywords and did a Google search. Walla, boom, like magic, a historical backdrop popped out. (I’m looking at you, The Price of a Charm).

Frankly I’d just love to read these stories with someone who’s a better literary critic, because most of my insights are coming from the author intros and I’d miss the cool things if not for them, but I’m getting the hang of this!

Let’s talk about a few specific stories for kicks:
  • I read The Sources of the Nile twice, a few days apart, and I made more connections the second time around. Davidson had a lot of angst about what publishers & the public are looking for, I think, and he probably got a kick out of  writing this one
  • The Affair at Lahore Cantonment won an Edgar Award for best short story, and was on my reading list anyway for “reading that takes place in, or has meaning in London“. Personally I’m most enjoying the stories influenced by Davidson’s travels.  On the other hand, this is one of the stories that makes me feel like I don’t appreciate good literature enough.
  • I’m probably dumb. I thought Revolver had some good use of irony but I couldn’t see the humor 🤣
  • The Tail-Tied Kings … This was just weird and mildly disturbing, I don’t want to think about it any more LOL
  • The Price of a Charm I already mentioned above: this is the story that could have been read for what it was, until the end, where something happened and cast the rest into a light that made no sense. Well, insert Sarajevo into a search engine and BAM (no pun intended), a little background carries some of these stories a long way!
  • Sacheverell I also mentioned above, frankly I just took the story for it’s surface value (some guy kidnapped a talking monkey) but it’s a layered story. I just listened to a podcast about it prior to writing this. Anyway, the real MVP was Spider Robinson’s intro to the story
  • The House the Blakeney’s Built I also mentioned above, especially about LeGuin’s intro too.  This is a great story about what Davidson thought a colony would look like about 500 years after a family’s ship crashed.  Hint: it’s not Star Trek where everyone is still a genius.  I loved this one and how the language had devolved. Real or fake, he can write language!
  • The Goobers was straightforward and fun, loved the ending
  • The Power of Every Root … I feel like I should have guessed the ending based off the title but I had gotten too lost in Davidson’s depictions of everything.  As I said, the stories influenced by his travels are my favorites and I’m pretty sure he loved Mexico

Give me a couple more weeks and I’ll read the Seventies! I am reading this collection through a hardcover that I bought years ago, and partially through Audible as the book is currently free with membership. That small print gets me after a while! As always, all opinions are my own

Categories
Literary Fiction Science Fiction

The Avram Davidson Treasury: The Fifties

I’ve been following the SFF community for a few years now, four of which I’ve been fairly active online, and I can honestly say that I’ve never once seen Avram Davidson mentioned in any sort of bookish dialogue.  I’ve been trying to read more short stories, sample different American authors, and I’ve been holding onto the Avram Davidson Treasury for years now without reading it too closely. I tend to gravitate towards authors who are eclectic, are known to clash with publishers, and have found another to feature on veterans day as Davidson was a medic with the Navy in WWII.

Anyway, over the past few weeks I’ve read a story here and a story there, and have finally finished the first section: stories from The Fifties.

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This is a cool book though. The cast of science fiction authors who selected and introduced stories are a true who’s who of everyone, sharing fun facts about the author himself and the stories within. I don’t know if I would have picked up on a lot of idiosyncracies and plot points without those comments, and I feel like I’m learning a lot about early SFF in general

Peter S. Beagle calls our attention to the careful language used in ‘Ogre in the Vly‘, a theme that I did notice throughout. Davidson tends to pay a lot of attention to accents and language in general.  The Hugo winning short story “Or All the Seas With Oysters” is introduced by Guy Davenport, saying how the story lives on through plagiarism and it’s tenacity in making everyday objects into something so sinister.

Some I really enjoyed (Help! I am Dr. Morris Goldpepper and The Golem), some were sad (Now Let Us Sleep) and others I had to read a few times before grasping but laughed at the end (Author, Author).  Others just went over my head, like Dagon, Ogre In the Vly and Take Wooden Indians. I can see where Or All the Seas With Oysters won a Hugo but also, some of these are just good reading. Others, uh, not so much.

This post just deleted half of itself somehow and I can’t even think of what is missing, send help… I know I had commented in general that short stories are hard.  Trying to glean meaning and “what I’m supposed to be getting out of them” can be hard, especially when it’s 2023 and these were written in the fifties.  That’s why I liked the author introductions so much.  I always feel dumb reading short stories because I forget them SO quickly too.

If I missed anything I have four more eras to write about here and am curious to see how his writing changes over the years.  I’d also be interested in checking out the episodes of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction that he edited, to see what eclectic types of stories he brought in.

Categories
Fantasy Fiction

Fairy Tale by Stephen King (Book Thoughts)

US Book Cover of Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Happy Friday everyone! The last book I finished in 2022 was Fairy Tale by Stephen King.  Reading a book in December that came out in September is quite an achievement for me… and …well, I found it to be a perfectly average portal fantasy so this will be a pretty short post

I’ll say my only possible original thought first: I read half of the UK and half of the US versions and I’m glad they didn’t try to translate the UK text into Brit-Speak.  The text and art is the same & only the cover changed (darn those pretty UK covers)! I just never think books translate well between the two dialects 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, let’s take a look at the book then I’ll share a few quick thoughts.

Bookish Quick Facts:
  • Title: Fairy Tale
  • Series: N/A
  • Author: Stephen King
  • Publisher & Release: Scribner, 2022
  • Length: 608 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐✨ for fans of King, Fairy Tale retellings, dark fairy tales, and dog lovers
Here’s the synopsis from Am*zon:

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.

Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world

My thoughts:

For once I really do not have strong feelings one way or another about a King novel.  I love stories about stories and the more the better.  While he certainly pulled in a ton of traditional dark fairy tales (not the Disney versions 😅) and wound them all into a solid coming of age story, I just don’t think he did anything new or exciting here.

It’s a steady story with solid King prose. He pulls enough from The Dark Tower to make me wonder if the castle is the same one – probably.  King loves to pull all his stories together and it’s my favorite part of the reading experience now to see what he is going to bring in from his own books and what other authors he’s going to call on. Hello Mr Lovecraft 👋

As I said, it’s 600 pages of solid story that just never really grabbed me except where the old dog was concerned.   I have mixed feelings about portal fantasies at the best of times but King salvaged it with interesting world building and keeping my mind engaged with puzzles.

I like the themes he tackles too, from alcoholism to grieving parental loss, examining your own actions, and seeing how far someone is willing to go.

If you like portal fantasies and coming of age stories, gray heroes, curses and twisted tellings, if you’ve ever felt loyal to a dog and wondered what you would do to turn back the clock… I’d say check out Fairy Tale 

Categories
Biographies, Memoirs, Nonfiction Fiction

Notes of a Dirty Old Man by Charles Bukowski (thoughts)

The reprint cover of Notes of a Dirty Old Man

“Tiny snail assholes” and the savior’s balls, Bukowski had me at hello

One of the many things I’ve been trying to do over the past few years is expand my reading horizons.  I’ve got a fantastic reading list of international writers, past and present, who are brilliant and not necessarily all well known… and then I also just want to read off my shelves.

I compromised by ending 2022 with Notes of a Dirty Old Man, a collection of newspaper stories by Charles Bukowski. Funny enough it was originally compiled by an erotica loving imprint called Essex House, and is now published by beat generation enthusiasts & San Fran publishing gurus, City Lights Publishing.

Ahh I love all the history there, the web of ties between the publishers and beat generation writers, the crazy lifestyles, just something the average person can’t fathom. Bukowski was never to my knowledge grouped with that lot but he was tied up with the same publishers, knew the authors, and he had opinions 😅

About the collection itself, I found the eclectic mix of fiction and nonfiction a little jarring.  I’m spoiled and used to sections and titles in short story collections now, so we know how it’s organized, but this seems like total hodgepodge or possibly chronological by publication date. I‘m not really sure why it was compiled at all (way back in 1969) unless Essex House (who published a lot of erotica) was looking for the vastest spread of sex stories possible.  Now I know that’s a vast  oversimplification but most of the stories are true, or have true elements! Some are pure fantasy (like a guy with wings playing baseball) while many others happened to some extent, and almost all include some kind of graphic sex (I’m not going there to describe it).

A few stories were sad to me, such as a vivid recounting of how years of beatings and other abuse turns someone into a living but kind of mostly dead person.  It’s an extremely personal look at his life. Alcohol, homelessness, bouncing around various places to live and taking menial jobs, abusive relationships that went both ways, these are the real life parts. Probably/hopefully exaggerated a bit but who really knows, people are crazy.

What’s interesting too is just objectively seeing what he chose to write about once he knew the editor gave precisely zero fucks and let him write whatever he wanted! Remember, everything in the book appeared in an underground newspaper.

That said, back to my note about finding the stories sad: most of the collection is pretty funny.  Bukowski said, at one point or another, that he put the comedy into his writing so that people wouldn’t pity him – and the ironic thing is that it attracted quite a few odd admirers, many of which he writes about. Some of the writing went right over my head and I had no idea what he was talking about. Some got a chuckle. Something about tiny snail assholes had me cracking up, like yeah if you eat something whole you’re eating it’s asshole too 🤣

Of the many columns and blurbs here, there is one about a party and the time Bukowski met Neal Cassady. He took a crazy car ride with Neal driving and John Bryan (who published Cassady’s letter to Kerouac in City Lights (and gave Bukowski the platform in his Open City paper to write the segments contained in Notes of a Dirty Old Man).  

P.S. John Bryan and Jesus’ balls, literally.  What a strange and irreverent road to publishing and more than a bit refreshing in today’s PC era to go back and read these old guys writing *what-the-fck-ever*.

I totally sidetracked there. Anyway, in that particular segment about meeting Cassady and his suicide, there’s quite a dig that shows how Bukowski really felt 😅

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Jack had only written the book, he wasn’t Neal’s mother, just his destructor, deliberate or otherwise 

Oyy ok let’s get this wrapping up, I’m rambling which means I had a lot of thoughts and didn’t know how to frame them. A little bit less gay bar action would have been nice for me personally but I don’t think anyone delicate or easily offended would read Bukowski past his introduction. I’m not worried about discussing the writing here. It’s irreverent in every sense of the world and the title is aptly named. I actually started listening to this book on audio because Will Patton’s voice is everything, but without actual chapter breaks it was too hard to follow.

Overall, I think Bukowski is an interesting character in American literature and I enjoy his short stories in small doses.  He’s a decent tie in for those interested in the beat generation and those looking for irreverence in everything.  Barfly (the movie he wrote about his life) wasn’t bad, I watched it after reading, but then I read that he didn’t like his actor’s portrayal.  I guess the takeaway is that you can see a lot of the stories in the film too. Anyway, give him a shot if you are checking out American short story writers

P.s. if anyone wants sources for anything I was writing about, I can find them for you for further reading. Most of the nonfiction type info is general knowledge or came vaguely summarized from a publisher’s information, or something else Bukowski wrote

Categories
Fiction Literary Fiction Mysteries

The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green (ARC & Book Club thoughts)

Hi all, here’s one of my last reviews of the year coming at you from a frozen, absolutely snowed in Christmas Eve somewhere in Western NY.

Ahhh, so that’s why reading balmy southern Gothic seemed so appealing right now.

My lovely partner Celadon Books sent me an ARC of The Kingdoms of Savannah and included their lovely book club packet for the novel.  Seeing as the ARC came in September (the book was released in July) and was unsolicited, I intended to read it this year but didn’t quite prioritize it.

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Anyway, let’s see the read and then I’ll share some thoughts

Bookish Quick Facts:

  • Title: The Kingdoms of Savannah
  • Author: George Dawes Green
  • Publisher & Release: Celadon Books, July 2022
  • Length: 304 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐⭐for those who like mysteries and literary fiction steeped in history

Here’s the synopsis from Am*zon:

Savannah may appear to be “some town out of a fable,” with its vine flowers, turreted mansions, and ghost tours that romanticize the city’s history. But look deeper and you’ll uncover secrets, past and present, that tell a more sinister tale. It’s the story at the heart of George Dawes Green’s chilling new novel, The Kingdoms of Savannah.

It begins quietly on a balmy Southern night as some locals gather at Bo Peep’s, one of the town’s favorite watering holes. Within an hour, however, a man will be murdered and his companion will be “disappeared.” An unlikely detective, Morgana Musgrove, doyenne of Savannah society, is called upon to unravel the mystery of these crimes. Morgana is an imperious, demanding, and conniving woman, whose four grown children are weary of her schemes. But one by one she inveigles them into helping with her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths―truths that will rock Savannah’s power structure to its core.

Moving from the homeless encampments that ring the city to the stately homes of Savannah’s elite, Green’s novel brilliantly depicts the underbelly of a city with a dark history and the strangely mesmerizing dysfunction of a complex family

My thoughts:

So I know there is a lot of literature based in and around Savannah, which is a city in Georgia famous for ghost tours and it’s complicated southern history.  I liked reading the author’s historical and personal notes as he drew much of the book from either personal experiences or those of his friends, and from real events.  The result was a strong feeling of authenticity in setting and environment that sucked me into the story.

The balmy days, the rain, the locales, the iced tea and alcohol, the old ladies from old money maneuvering for social position… I kind of likened the reading experience to something that Wilbur Smith would put out, except maybe a little less exciting. I would love to see that author collaboration though *wink wink*

Ok back to Kingdoms – the mystery was exciting enough, except I thought that it went from zero to solved WAY too quickly and easily.  One minute they had a few leads, and the next Morgana had solved it?  I kind of followed her train of thought but I needed something more linking points A to Z.

As far as the characters… I liked them.  I think Green did a good job with their personalities and interactions and showing how the family tended to ebb and flow in their relationships with each other.  Read that as – the book nails southern Gothic. Is it bad that my favorite character was probably Gracie the dog though?  Ha, no for real though I liked the cast of family, friends, and all the homeless people, there were again just soooo many names.  My last and final thought is to mention that huge open ending! I won’t speculate for want of being spoiler free but I definitely wonder. If anyone wants to chat about it, I’m here for you 😅

Overall, this one was super readable. It was 100% a Celadon book: literary and atmospheric.  There were only 5 chapters though, very long, more like parts of the book that were divided into separate mini sections.  It made the read feel slower. The pacing was a little difficult but I was never bored while reading and did enjoy all the history and culture of Savannah.  The book club materials were awesome too – I’m not in a book club but I liked the map, further history, author interview, drink recipes, and all the discussion questions seemed well curated.

Definitely recommend for fans of family drama, southern literary fiction, mysteries.

Thanks for checking out my arc /  book review of The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green! I was sent a free early copy in exchange for an honest review, and as always all opinions are my own ♥️

Categories
Fiction Historical Fiction

Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash (ARC Review)

I’m back from the trip with an ARC Review for you guys! There will be one more tomorrow before I dig into my UK book impressions post 😅

Endless thanks to my partner Celadon Books for the early print copy of Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash! The packaging and recipe card put me in the mood for this WWII read and the book definitely kept me entertained while travelling. I’ll try to bake the muffins this week and update with how that goes!

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I just love this package! Let’s take a look at the book really quick and then my thoughts on it

Bookish Quick Facts:

  • Title: Beyond That, the Sea
  • Series: N/A
  • Author: Laura Spence-Ash
  • Publisher & Release: Celadon Books, 03/21/2023
  • Length: 368 pages
  • Rate & Recommend: ⭐⭐⭐✨ for fans of character stories in wartime settings

Here’s the synopsis:

A sweeping, tenderhearted love story, Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash tells the story of two families living through World War II on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, and the shy, irresistible young woman who will call them both her own.

As German bombs fall over London in 1940, working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson make an impossible choice: they decide to send their eleven-year-old daughter, Beatrix, to America. There, she’ll live with another family for the duration of the war, where they hope she’ll stay safe.

Scared and angry, feeling lonely and displaced, Bea arrives in Boston to meet the Gregorys. Mr. and Mrs. G, and their sons William and Gerald, fold Bea seamlessly into their world. She becomes part of this lively family, learning their ways and their stories, adjusting to their affluent lifestyle. Bea grows close to both boys, one older and one younger, and fills in the gap between them. Before long, before she even realizes it, life with the Gregorys feels more natural to her than the quiet, spare life with her own parents back in England.

As Bea comes into herself and relaxes into her new life—summers on the coast in Maine, new friends clamoring to hear about life across the sea—the girl she had been begins to fade away, until, abruptly, she is called home to London when the war ends.

Desperate as she is not to leave this life behind, Bea dutifully retraces her trip across the Atlantic back to her new, old world. As she returns to post-war London, the memory of her American family stays with her, never fully letting her go, and always pulling on her heart as she tries to move on and pursue love and a life of her own.

As we follow Bea over time, navigating between her two worlds, Beyond That, the Sea emerges as a beautifully written, absorbing novel, full of grace and heartache, forgiveness and understanding, loss and love

My Thoughts

Celadon tends to publish books that are more literary and atmospheric. Overall I enjoyed the story quite a bit, plus the brief chapters and multiple points of view kept the story rolling along without dragging or becoming boring.

My main issue was that there are sooo many points of view and I never settled into the flow. While it was nice to see the perspectives and opinions of all the different family members and people involved in the story, writing them in the same perspective made it a bit hard to differentiate the voices and tenses at times.  Keeping the people and ancillary characters straight in my head was hard for the first chunk of the book, and ultimately I wish there had been fewer voices.

One wonderfully helpful aspect was the timeline at the bottom of the pages. I always knew what year we were in and how much time was passing, so I hope this makes it into the final edition.

I also liked the character and family arcs, but wanted more historical info alongside them.  I didn’t know that there was a foreign exchange type program for kids whose parents wanted to send them away from the war. I would have liked to know more about it, like how the families and kids were paired up, how many kids went, etc. I think the book was more character story fictional than historical fiction in the sense of, there weren’t a lot of facts given throughout the story as events were happening and mostly glossed over.

I did like the story though and think that most people can relate to being torn between multiple lives, places, and people.  Watching Bea and the boys and the families bloom was a treat. Then there was the reconciliation as they fell apart and found each other again … Yeah, that. That’s how you do family stories.  The author excels at bringing all the feels into the pages.

Overall

There was a good mix of happy & hopeful mixed with tragedy & despair for a wartime story. I would have liked more history related to the exchange program and other lesser explored parts of the book. I also think fewer contributing voices would have streamlined the story a bit more.  Due to the reading speed, I think this will be a good book for those looking for a character driven family story this summer and I mostly enjoyed my time spent in the pages!

Thanks for checking out my early book review of Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash! I received an early copy from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review, and all opinions are my own!