BOOK & BLOG |
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September 1, 2009
I’ve been a fan of Rachel Caine’s ever since I read the first Weather Warden book. CAPE STORM is a continuation of the adventures of Joanna Baldwin and her djinn lover David, and it’s just as harrowing as the other entries in the series. Poor Joanna! Poor David! Caine puts them through hell – a hell with lots of weather. This is the eighth book in an outstanding series, so it’s probably better to go back and start with one of the earlier books (ILL WIND was the first one). This is a very solid entry in a consistently satisfying and inventive series about people who can control the weather and the movements of the earth. I loved Adam-Troy Castro’s first Andrea Cort novel, EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD. His second, THE THIRD CLAW OF GOD, is even better. This is a science fiction novel set in the future. Andrea Cort, child war criminal, has been raised in the ranks of the Diplomatic Corps. She’s also a secret agent of the artificial intelligence that runs the universe. She’s also got a male and female lover who share the same mind, but not the same body. In other words, Andrea has a really interesting life, and she’s a great character: intelligent, quick-thinking, private, aggressive, and lonely. She finds a bit of family in this book, and they’re nothing like she imagined. Robert B. Parker has long been an icon of the mystery world, based on his early Spenser books. Spenser is one of the greatest private eyes ever written. In more recent years, Parker’s books have been what you might call “sparse,” and noticeably based more on Spenser-worship (by his psychologist lover Susan, one of the most irritating characters in modern fiction) than on plot. But anything Parker writes is worth reading, especially if you’re a student of the genre. CHASING THE BEAR is a story of young Spenser, as teenager being raised by his dad and his uncles. It’s a rousing adventure and pleasant visit with an old friend. SHANGHAIED is simply wonderful. This mystery by Eric Stone is the first I’ve read in the series, and I have say you probably shouldn’t start with this one. I’m going to go back to the beginning of the series, THE LIVING ROOM OF THE DEAD. Stone is a wonderful writer, and he lived and worked in modern Asia, so he’s got the goods. Stone’s private eye, Ray Sharp, has an associate: a Chinese-Mexican dwarf named Lei-Yue Wen. Ray and Lei-Yue have a fascinating relationship; their interactions show the deep affection in which they hold each other.
I finished DEAD IN THE FAMILY Sunday, the last possible day I could finish it. My friend Toni is reading it now, and then I’ll send it to my editor, Ginjer. The concept of DITF was originally quite different from the book I ended up writing, but that often happens and doesn’t quite scare me like it used to. At first I thought DITF would be very episodic; it turned out to have a unifying theme and to have a crazy night of resolution. Of course, this may change once my editor has a read! By the time I send a book in to New York, I hate it. Maybe I hate DITF a little less than others. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. Finishing a book is like coming up out of deep water. It’s a relief just to breathe and look around and return to the land of the living. I’ve had a long list of things that needed to be done, and now I have time to do them. Middle Son’s closet needs to be emptied and repacked now that he’s at his chosen college several hours away. Daughter’s room needs a turn-out, too, though she did a pretty good job of emptying it before she went to her own college. Oldest son keeps planning to buy a house, in which case we’ll completely reclaim his closet. Happy day! Why do we need more closet space, when our family is down to two? I’m trying to pin down the reasons myself. For one thing, we’re trying to keep things we often use handier. We don’t want to go up in the attic to fetch them every time we need them. We’d even like to leave some of the Christmas stuff down if we can manage it. Another reason for the closet crunch: I have more clothes and shoes now that I travel more often, and my closet, while large, is not particularly convenient. Another space necessity is (no surprise) books. I give away about forty or fifty books a year. BFF Paula gets what she wants and takes the rest to our county library. And I weed through my shelves, deciding that I will NEVER reread some books and that there’s little point in keeping them around. (My taste in reading changes like my taste in clothes, slowly but decisively.) But still, I accumulate books that I simply don’t want to part with. And the numbers amass. Since my husband and my middle son are readers, too, this is a house with books galore. And they all have to go somewhere. Instead of downsizing, we still need this big house. It’s just housing different things! It’s ridiculous that two people still need as much space as five, but that’s what we’ve concluded. It would be great if we could move walls around at will and rearrange all that space, though. Anyone for walls on rollers? Charlaine Harris |
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© 2009 Charlaine Harris |
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