Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

Well, well, well, who’d expect a comedy of manners from this cover? Much to my amusement, Walton has written a clever parody of Victorian romances in this dragon-filled book. Reminds me of Anthony Trollope’s novels, actually.

Ok, this is the story of a family–a dying father, siblings struggling over their inheritance, evil, rotten husbands, and conniving churchmen in a time when a woman’s job is to be well married, and men fight duels of honor. What makes this book so much fun is that the characters are dragons–dragons who eat their weak children, who save the eyeballs of the dead patriarch for the clergyman, whose servants have their wings tied tightly so that they may never fly, and whose pure, virginal daughters instantly turn blushing pink if they fall in love, or, more importantly to the plot, if they are too closely approached by an unwanted suitor (in which case, they are “ruined,” of course.

I found this book in a list of the best Sci-Fi/fantasy books of the decade and I’m glad that I did. (I loved how the dragons felt more comfortable if they were sleeping on a pile of gold). Reading it was, well, simply a lot of fun. Look for more comments on Walton books in the future. I’m sure I’ll be reading more of her work.

TWO THUMBS UP!

Bad Blood by Linda Fairstein

Bad Blood is the 9th book in Fairstein’s Alexandra Cooper legal thriller series, and a listen-while-I-work/walk selection for me.

Cooper is a NYC prosecutor engaged in trying a 30ish businessman for the murder of his wife, but her case is blown almost out of court in the opening days when she learns of a tawdry backstory that her star witness has neglected to share with her. After an explosion damages a NYC water tunnel and kills the defendant’s brother, Cooper discovers the defendant’s hidden relationship to the Sandhogs, the men who for generations have worked underground and under river around Manhattan drilling the tunnels that support city life. The more she learns about his family, the more she searches for information that would prove the defendant’s guilt in his wife’s and earlier murders.

Quite an exciting ride, combining courtroom drama and adrenaline thrills.

I was really intrigued by Fairstein’s description of the tunnels and the work conditions of the Sandhogs, past and present, and of the long closed City Center subway station.  If it weren’t for the rats, I’d love to prowl around in long deserted underground areas of NYC.

While I didn’t much care if the defendant was guilty or not, I really liked the history lessons.

Mount by Carol Emshweiller

First of all, sorry for the poor picture of the cover. Blame my library’s OPAC system. Somebody uploaded a fuzzy.

Mount, by Carol Emshweiller, is an great coming of age story. Smiley, also known as Charlie by his father and other Free humans, is eleven or twelve and is being trained as an amazingly strong runner, like his father and grandmother before him. Not only a runner, Smiley is a Sam, a male human “mount,” who belongs to a Hoot, one member of an alien species that has taken over Smiley’s world. Smiley is being trained as a horse  or steed for his Hoot–he has learned not to speak, to keep his head up as he runs or trots, to follow his Hoot’s commands, to work for the treats hand-fed to him as rewards for his obedience, and to avoid painful punishment for misbehavior.  He is a Tame human. For Smiley, this is all common sense.  When Smiley and, incidentally, his Hoot, are “rescued” by  his silent father and other Free humans, his understanding of the world and his place in it are challenged, his prejudices are exposed, and his loyalties are shredded.

Gosh, I loved this book. Racism, slavery, human/pet relations are all exposed  in this alien world. Smiley’s indoctrination, begun when he was literally an infant,  into the Hoot world makes me think of the Red Guard or Hitler Youth–children  who were carefully taught to deny and/or expose their families for the greater good of those in power.  Charlie’s belief  that that he, as a Seattle (one particularly large  and strong breed of  humans), is superior to the “Tennessees” (bred to be sprinters) and the lowest of the low “nothings,” cross-bred or wild bred humans, exposes his racism and the intentionally created class system  in the Hoot’s human breeding program. His confusion about his role in life–his training versus his true humanity–reads true for a tween as well. What middle school kid wants to give up becoming a famous athlete and his creature comforts (hot and cold running water, heat,  a safe stable to live in, good shoes, etc) to live in simple shelters in the woods, hunt for food, carry water and wear homemade clothes.

So, the real philosophical questions for Charlie are “what does it mean to be a human being?” and “where does he owe his loyalties?”  Who is Charlie and where does he belong?

TWO THUMBS WAY WAY UP!

Grayson by Lynne Cox

Grayson is the story of a teenaged long distance swimmer who finds or is found by an infant gray whale who in turn is lost and separated from this mother. When Cox realized that a baby whale was following her, she continues swimming for hours in the desperate hope that the whales would be reunited.

I found the story, while ultimately redeeming, to be a slow read–which perhaps echoes the length of time that Cox spent in the water swimming back and forth trying to stay with Grayson and encourage him not to give up. Despite the slow pace, Cox does a great job of relating her swimming experience with Grayson, with pods of dolphins and with the mother whale.

Recommended for tweens and young adults as well as adult readers. THUMBS UP

Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt

Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt is another brilliant addition to his YA work.

All his life, Henry has lived a safe life far from trouble in his family’s ancestral home on the north coast of Massachusetts. His life is suddenly blown apart when his older brother and hero, Franklin, is hit by a pick-up truck driven by a young Cambodian student at Franklin’s school. Suddenly the school and the town are awash in racial tension and hatred, and as the school year finishes, Henry decides to hitchhike to Mount Katahdin–a peak that Franklin challenged him to climb. When Henry and his best friend meet Chay, the driver of the pickup that killed Franklin, both learn to talk about the demons in their lives.

A great book. Difficult subject matter leavened with adolescent humor.  Try it. THUMBS UP

War Dances by Sherman Alexie

A collection of Alexie’s poetry and short stories.  I gotta say that I really like his writing–”Bang, bang, bang, bang! It had to be the four/four beat of a Jehovah’s Witness or a Mormon. Bang, cha, chang, cha! It had to be the iambic pentameter of a Sierra Club shill or a magazine sales kid” (7). nice.

“Fearful Symmetry” tells the tale of a young NA’s disillusionment as a screenwriter in Hollywood, while “Salt” tell of a young man assigned to write his first obituary.  His poem “Go, Ghost, Go,” tells of a university professor who romanticizes Native Americans”–”I wonder how he can believe / In a ceremony that requires his death.”

Sadness, humor, insight. Good stuff. Thumbs WAY  UP ↑↑↑

Swan’s Peak: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke

Swan Peak is another book that I listened to while walking, working, vacuuming, and driving.  Fast moving, full of action (lots of people are pummeled or otherwise abused), lots of personality in both the main character (Robicheaux) and his sidekick, Clete Purcell.  A bit too much uncontrolled violence and a lot too much language for me, but what ever.

NOLA cop Robicheaux is vacationing in Montana, taking a break from New Orleans, when trouble finds him.  Two college kids have been murdered (one of whom was found near his vaca place) and a vacationing LA couple are also found tortured and murdered in the vicinity. Robicheaux is deputized (at least temporarily) to help the local cops. In a parallel story, country singer, Jimmy Dale Greenwood, has escaped from prison, is being pursued by his tormentor,  prison gunbull, Troyce Nix, and come to Montana to woo his love, country singer Jamie Sue Stapleton, now married into the very wealthy and somewhat suspect Wellstone family.  Confused yet? It actually works very well–all confusion is entirely my fault.

Bottom line–this is a  violent and rough story–way at the other end of the spectrum from Ellis Peters’ Brother Cadfael mysteries. If you don’t mind rough language and/or lots of violence, this is a great listen.

I’ll certainly try another Burke novel, when it comes across the circ desk. THUMBS UP FOR DAVE ROBICHEAUX       ↑↑↑

The King of Screwups: A Novel by K. L. Going

I read another book, Saint Iggy, by Going about a year and a half ago that I really loved, and now here is The King of Screwups. What a great YA novel. Funny, poignant, right on the mark.

Liam is totally successful socially in high school, but his lackluster grades, hard drinking, and naked trysts anger his father and make Liam feel like a total f**kup.  His father’s abusive disapproval final exiles Liam fromhis home and into the upstate NY trailer of his cross-dressing, gay uncle–a brother despised by Liam’s father, of course. As hard as Liam tries to shed his “Mr Popular” high school persona in his new school, he can’t help being super cool and attracting the most beautiful girls.  As hard as Liam tries to satisfy or even impress his father, he is never good enough.

Ok, teenage angst. A well written, creative, satisfying tale of a young man trying to find himself.  Great Read.

THUMBS WAY UP!!!  ↑↑↑

Wizard’s Daughter by Catherine Coulter

Oh my, sexy romance,  a beautiful orphan adopted by rich folks, a dangerously handsome outcast British lord, instant attraction, love and marriage.  Did I mention the magic?????   a book in code that only the heroine can read, a singing ghost, a magical world, precognitive visions that change the entire personality of a onetime antagonist????? Wow!!!!!! It’s even available in a Kindle edition for less than $3.00.  (I didn’t know that romances were discounted on Kindle–good to know).

Ok, really, this book is drivel.  BUT, if you are interested in magical, paranormal historical romance, this Coulter book might be the one for you. But for me, I had thought that I should read at least one book by Coulter so that I could get a handle on her vast appeal–unfortunately either I picked the wrong book or Coulter is a terrible writer whose big sales assets are her romantic hot sex scenes.

TWO THUMBS WAY WAY DOWN

Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote

Cute dog, yeah? Independent too. Merle lives in a co-equal relationship with his human. Merle is free to roam throughout his town and to decide if he wants to tag along with his human or not. If only life were like that in the rest of the world.

Here in my little rural town, loose dogs pack up and chase and fatally injure and/or kill deer and livestock–I met people who lost their whole small farmer chicken flock to a pair to loose dogs–, are killed by cars, and, if they are small, are favored puma snacks. We’ve watched our neighbor’s “sweet” loose dog snatch a cat off a telephone pole and break its back by smashing it against the pole over and over until we chased the dog off. The cat was picked up by an Animal Control officer and destroyed. There are a couple of loose chihuahuas on my walk route that bite kids and threaten to bite me every time I walk by.

So, as much as I loved reading about Merle, the perfect dog, I wonder what Nirvana he and his human really live in? After all, Merle had been shot (he was carrying a bullet), and one of his doggie buddies was killed by a rancher.

It’s well and good to have a philosophy about living next to animals, but I wonder if this philosophy is relevant in any other location than the little town where Kerasote lives. Oh well, it’s a good read, even if it’s irrelevant to my world.

ONE THUMB UP for enjoyment, ONE THUMB DOWN for practicality