The Misadventures of Super_Librarian
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Saturday, October 11, 2008Another Hot Friday Night At The Bat CaveMy Man: There is nothing on TV. I mean, nothing. Wendy: Well, we still haven't watched Speed Racer yet. How does a terrible movie sound? My Man: Yeah, go ahead and put it in.  2 hours later....Wendy: Wow, this is bad, but not nearly as craptastic as I thought it was going to be. My Man: It helps when you have absolutely no expectations. Wendy: I see this being the new "acid trip" movie for college students across America. Who needs The Wall or Willy Wonka? Speed Racer is like a technocolor brain aneurysm. Plus it's got a monkey in it. My Man: It's a little boy movie. Your nephew is going to be all over this in another four years. Wendy: Christina Ricci was pretty cute though dontcha think?  My Man: Way hotter in Black Snake Moan.Wendy: Since when do you have a thing for trashy looking girls? My Man: I don't. I have a thing for naked girls. Wendy: Yeah, I guess she's wearing nothing but her underwear for like 95% of that movie... My Man: Yeah, hotter. Wendy: ::eye roll:: Friday, October 10, 2008Blog-A-Palooza Seems I've been nominated with the latest meme making the rounds amongst the romance reading bloggers. Rosie, Jessica and Amy called me out for the I Heart Your Blog award, and it just so happens to tie in perfectly with my post that's up today over at Romancing The Blog.So head on over to RtB to read all about my Four Easy Steps To Reader Blogging. I know, everyone is always talking about Author Blogs and what authors "should" and "should not" do. I thought it might be fun to address reader blogs, mostly because I think too many readers "over think" the whole affair. Seriously, y'all. I just jumped in head first, and almost six years later I'm still going strong. No need to make it scary and complicated. Anywho, on with the meme: 1) Add the logo of the award to your blog - Ok, done. 2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you - Yeah, yeah.... 3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs - See below 4) Add links to those blogs on your blog - See below 5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs! - Um, probably won't do this part. Lots of my favorite blogs have already been tagged, so some of these are undoubtedly duplicates. I did try to stay away from blogs that have been tagged oodles already ::cough, KristieJ, cough:: Avid Book Reader - Besides the whole TBR Day Challenge (which I didn't sign up for because I be lazy), I mainly love Keishon's blog because she reviews suspense on a fairly regular basis. Since I read both romance and mystery, I really appreciate this! Jennie's B(ook)log - Her blogging is sporadic right now because she's in library school (yipee!), but I love everything about her blog. The look, the feel, the fact that she's a sucker for the classics like Mary Stewart and L.M. Montgomery.... Adventures in Katidom - I didn't discover MaryKate until she started commenting on my blog (see, you need to get out there!). I like her book reviews and love, love, love the fact that she's a football girl! (Translation for non-US types: I'm talking American football here) Living In The House of Testosterone - Lori blogs a couple of other places, but this might be my favorite place to visit her now (even though this blog is still really new). I get such a kick out of reading about her life surrounded by Romance Rookie - Jill D. probably has been nominated oodles already but I don't care. I love, love, love the way she writes reviews. At the end of each one? She posts links to other reviews around Blogland! Seriously, why aren't we all doing this? Nobody Asked Me - OK, so I actually "know" Rosie, but I'm nominating her anyway. I love her monthly reading lists, and finding out what romance books she convinces her husband to read. That guy's a keeper, because I can't get My Man to read much of anything....let alone a romance novel! Portia Da Costa - I enjoy Portia's books, she's a reformed librarian, and she tends to post pictures of cute guys on her blog. Cute, clothed guys - which is what does it for me. Half-nekkid guys are all well and good - but I tend to prefer the nekkid-ity live and in person. You know, where it will actually (in theory anyway) do some good. I know, all I think about is me, me, me. Wednesday, October 08, 2008I'm A Slave 4 U I don't read a lot of medievals. Just don't. I suspect it's because I've never been a huge fan of the time period. My interest in history pretty much starts with Henry VIII and goes forward from there. Yet whenever I pick up a medieval I usually find myself enjoying it. Such is the case with Michelle Willingham's latest Harlequin Historical, Her Warrior Slave. One of these days I'm going to get a clue.Kieran O'Brannon wasn't cut out for life as a slave. He's too head strong, too stubborn, and keeps getting the crap kicked out of him by the slave traders. So Davin O'Falvey, the son of a chieftain, buys the man because he doesn't like to watch suffering. He brings him back to his village, and to the woman he's betrothed to, Iseult MacFergus. Iseult is no blushing virgin. Two years ago she succumbed to passion and got pregnant. After the rat bastard unceremoniously leaves her at the altar, her heart is further ripped in two when her son is kidnapped. She is now set to wed Davin, who is hopelessly and mindlessly in love with her. She knows he'll make a good husband, even if he thinks she needs to "forget the past" and give up the search for her son, Aidan. Kieran sold himself into slavery with the hopes of saving his brother's life, and failed in that mission. He doesn't care if he lives or dies, until he meets Iseult. She is beautiful, but there's also a sadness there that causes Kieran's protective instincts to kick up a notch. When Davin finds out that Kieran is an excellent wood carver, he orders Kieran to produce a likeness of Iseult, which means he'll have to spend time with her. With chemistry crackling between them, Kieran's slave status, and Iseult's desire to find her child, it all soon becomes very complicated. I'll admit, I thought I would have a hard time overlooking the fact that Iseult is engaged. I do not like love triangle stories, and when there's another party involved? Yeah, that pretty much means the Other Guy or Other Woman has to be the raging asshole villain. Not so in this case. Davin, despite his unwillingness to help find Aidan (which is pretty scummy), is a fairly decent guy. He's not a total doormat, but he's also not a one-dimensional Grade A asshole either. There were times I wanted Iseult to treat him a little better - but their relationship is fairly complicated. He doesn't really love her - he loves the idea of her. Meanwhile, she's still in mourning over the loss of the child she refuses to give up hope in finding. Chalk it up to two people who don't realize...yet anyway...that they shouldn't be together. Oy, and haven't we all been there? Kieran is a fine, upstanding, Romance Novel Alpha Hero. Even when he wants to roll over and die, he just can't make himself because he's got too much pride. He's the sort of guy who will fight until he bleeds out. He's headstrong, he's determined, and he's got more baggage than Chicago O'Hare the day before Thanksgiving. I'll give some of you a moment to wipe the drool off your chin. Yeah, you know who you are. I thought the Irish setting was particularly well done. There's a nice middle ground here - it's neither wallpaper nor peppered with mind-numbing dialect that is hard to understand. I also enjoyed the palpable chemistry between the romantic couple, which practically leaps off the page. I can't believe these two managed to keep their clothes on for as long as they did. Just saying. It did take me a little while to get into this story. Willingham uses the first half of the novel to set the stage and for her characters to reach their "breaking point." It didn't really start to cook for me until after Iseult realizes that her feelings for Kieran cannot be swept under the rug, and she must make a decision regarding her betrothal. I was also happy that the author tied up all her loose ends, which means even poor hapless Davin gets some resolution. Yippee! As someone who doesn't read medievals all that often, I found myself enjoying this story. Makes me glad I have a couple more of Willingham's Harlequin Historicals keeping company with my copious collection of cowboys. Hope they're all playing nice in my TBR pile when I'm not around to keep an eye on them.... Final Grade = B- Note: This book goes on sale November 1, however it can be purchased now at eHarlequin in both print and electronic formats. Monday, October 06, 2008Top Five: Picking Up Steam Yeah, so I dropped out of blogosphere over the weekend. I don't know about you all, but I have a damn hard time blogging on weekends. Too much real life "stuff" vying for my time. So to kick my butt into gear I thought I'd do another Top Five feature (it's been a while). These are currently the books gaining some ground, and popularity, among our library patrons. It's full steam ahead! Dark Curse by Christine Feehan - OK, I'm going to be blunt here. This one kind of surprises me. Mostly because I know several readers who started out gangbusters for the Carpathians and over the years their interest has waned. My theory on why this book is currently near the top of our holds queue? Feehan might be to romance readers what Patricia Cornwell is for me. She ain't an autobuy anymore, but they just can't cut the cord completely. Which means they don't want to pay hard cover price for it, but they still want to read it because they just can't help themselves. So it's onward and upward to the local library. Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley - Buckley traditionally does fairly well amongst the library reading crowd but I think interest has jumped for his latest for two reasons. 1) The movie version of Thank You For Smoking was well-received and in my opinion, very good and 2) Buckley was recently profiled on CBS Sunday Morning. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - Traditional rule of thumb in the library world: Translations Don't Move. They tend to be shelf-sitters. I don't know why, they just are. This book is proving to be the exception to the rule. Translated from the original Swedish, it received smashing reviews across the board. Also, the author is dead. Same phenomenon that applies to the art world. Artist becomes a big hit after they die - which frankly I think is depressing as hell, but it does give the publisher another promotional "angle." All Things Charlaine Harris - I tried to tell them. Really I did. Over a year ago I told staff that Harris could pick up steam once the HBO series based on her Sookie Stackhouse series hits the airwaves. I find this particularly interesting because while the buzz on the TV show has been decidedly very mixed, it's still enough to generate interest in the books among our library patrons. Go figure. Just Breathe by Susan Wiggs - I tend to whine a lot about Wiggs because damn, I love her historicals and she left me! She left me for the Big Bad World Of Contemporary Women's Fiction! But you know what? It's working out extremely well for her, at least in terms in library statistics. I really started noticing a jump in circulation with her Lakeshore Chronicles series. Demand for Just Breathe now finds her at an "all-time high" for us. So go on with your bad self Susan!Labels: Top Five Friday, October 03, 2008Return To Form The last book in Tess Gerritsen's Jane Rizzoli/Maura Isles series I flat-out loved was number four, Body Double. Vanish was "ok," and The Mephisto Club largely annoyed the crap out of me. However it takes a whole lot for me to stop reading mystery series (I might stop buying, but work continues to feed these unhealthy relationships), and one book annoying me wasn't enough to drop Gerritsen off my autobuy list. Good thing too, because I think The Keepsake is a marvelous return to form.Medical Examiner, Dr. Maura Isles has been invited to witness a CT scan on a mummy recently found at the Crispin Museum. The curator of the museum found the mummy while taking inventory. Unfortunately he couldn't find any records on it. His predecessor was an old man, becoming crippled by Alzheimer's, so the museum's records are in chaos. Still, a mummy is a mummy - and would be a big boon for the struggling museum. So imagine everyone's surprise when the CT scan turns up dental fillings and a bullet wound. Their 2000 year old mummy is a modern day murder victim. Which brings in Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and her partner, Barry Frost, who muses that they "catch all the weird ones." Jane's investigation leads to her spidey sense telling her that the museum's Egypt expert, Dr. Josephine Pulcillo is hiding something. She's naturally right, because it soon becomes apparent that their killer is infatuated with the young doctor. What I enjoy so much about Gerritsen's series is that she has a large cast of characters and isn't afraid to do some exploring. This time out of the gate, readers get to know more about Barry Frost, the Boy Scout who has been Jane's partner for years. Maura plays more of a periphery role in this story, although the author seems to be setting up the "breaking point" for the disastrous romantic relationship she began in The Mephisto Club. What is it with smart women falling for unattainable men? Both of my sisters will be very happy to note that this is a very strong Jane book. I think Gerritsen has softened her over the years (motherhood and marriage will do that to some women), but she's still determined and smart as a whip. In fact, she's the smartest person in the room for pretty much the entire story. There's less Rizzoli family "stuff" in this entry. Her erstwhile father is completely off the page, and her mama makes only a brief appearance during a particularly well done family barbecue scene. The mystery here is compelling. The killer takes women, murders them, and turns them into "keepsakes." The mummy being the first one they uncover, but more emerge, preserved by various means. Creepy, creepy stuff. The suspense winds and twists, getting more involved towards the end. However, Gerritsen ties up every single loose end when it comes to the mystery and all my questions were answered. Unanswered questions regarding Maura's personal life still abound, but I fully expect it to be fodder for later books. All in all, I really enjoyed this entry of the series immensely. I think newcomers could easily pick this up and not feel lost - although Gerritsen employs The Onion Method of series character development. The author has slowly been peeling back the layers of her characters since the first book, with each layer standing as it's own time capsule, but to get the full picture, it helps to have read them all. Heck, which you'll want to do anyway because there are some real dynamite installments. Final Grade = B+ Wednesday, October 01, 2008The Month That Was September 2008 There's a reason I only started doing these monthly reading recaps recently.I hate publicizing what a terribly slow reader I am. Seriously, snails read faster than I do. So distract you all from the dismally, sad month I had I'm putting up the latest naughty librarian picture I stole from my image hosting site. I'm also going to play up the fact that the Super Librarian parents were visiting for a whole week this past month, and I didn't read a single, solitary word while they were here. OK, I did go through the Sunday newspaper with my Mom, but that doesn't count. Here's my sad, pitiful recap: Reckless by Selena Montgomery - The hero is to die for (yummers!), and I did get sucked into the story despite the fact that the heroine is a compulsive liar. Then I got to the "ending." No ending! None! No closure! Wendy mad! Wendy smash! For lack of a better word, I felt "manipulated" into reading the next two books in the trilogy. Won't do it. Final Grade = D. Review over at TGTBTU. The Rebel And The Lady by Kathryn Albright - A western set against the backdrop of the invading Mexican army showing up at a little place called The Alamo. A very hero-centric story, that features a strong-principled heroine. I did feel the ending was a little rushed, which I'm blaming on the word count of the Harlequin Historical line. One of the few times in my life that I wished a book could have been a couple hundred pages longer. I got sucked in, and didn't want it to end. Final Grade = A-. Review over at TGTBTU. As Darkness Falls by Bronwyn Parry - An "only published in Australia right now" publication and the author's debut romantic suspense. Loved the gritty tone of the story, the Australian outback setting (not romanticized in the least - hoorah!), and I found the suspense thread compelling. Also enjoyed the complex characterization of the heroine, and the hero is suitably heroic. Sure do hope it gets picked up by a publisher here in the States. Final Grade = B+. My review can be found here. Oh! And the author giving away a copy of this book, regardless of where you live on the planet Earth. Deadline is October 13. Head over there now! Yep, you read that right. Three books. Three measly books. Here's hoping I have a more productive October. Labels: Month In Review Monday, September 29, 2008Dangerous Ideas I've seen a couple of posts around the blogosphere already about Banned Books Week (September 27 - October 4), and since I'm a librarian - well, I'm thinking I need to address it.I went through a phase in high school where I read a slew of banned books. Why? Because someone, somewhere was telling me they were "bad" books, that I shouldn't be allowed to read them or even have access to them, so naturally, I had to read them. Telling a teenager to not do something is the quickest way to ensure they actually will. Plus, while I wasn't (and still am not), what I would call an intellectually gifted individual, I do think I'm pretty full up in the common sense department. Just because I read about something in a book, does not mean I will run right out and do whatever it is I read about. Please. Why is Banned Books Week important? Because free societies cannot exist without free ideas. For all our faults, human beings have a little thing called free will. Any society that has tried to censor, rein in, or squash free will, sooner or later they end up imploding. Does this happen right away? Well looking at the current world landscape, obviously not. But sooner or later it does happen. You can repress people all you want, but you cannot rob them of their free will unless they willingly surrender it. And although sometimes I do wonder, not everybody is sheep. Just sayin'. Why is Banned Books Week important to genre fiction readers? I happen to like books that have sex, violence and naughty words in them. And looking around at my blog readers - I know I'm not alone here. The first books that would-be, frustrated Nazis like to go after? Yeah, books with sex, violence and naughty words. Also, one of the constant back-handed remarks about the romance genre is that the books give "women unrealistic expectations." Yeah, it all goes back to "I read it in a book, so it must be true!" fallacy. Thanks a lot ass-wipe for implying that I'm too stupid to know the difference between fact and fiction. I appreciate it. But please, won't you think of the children? I never, and I mean never, have bought into the argument that these people are going after these "dangerous" books because they're only thinking of "the children." Look, you don't want your kid to read something? Fine. But don't tell me what my kid can read, or what the kid down the street can read, or the kid 3000 miles away can read. The problem with our society today is the lack of personal responsibility. The complete disregard that every action has a consequence. I lay that blame on a lot of doorsteps, but I do not lay it at an author's feet for writing a book. Life is about choices, and the minute those choices are taken away from us, we start down a slippery slope. Kids need to learn about action and consequence, about right vs. wrong. One way to do that? Read a book. How much children's fiction is based on good vs. evil plot conflict? Yeah, exactly. So in honor of Banned Books Week, I encourage everyone to read something naughty. Either a book that someone, somewhere tried to censor, or a book that has what could be construed as "offensive" content. That shouldn't be hard genre fiction readers. Just find something with sex, violence or naughty words and you're ready for take-off. |
