June 9, 2006

BOOKS of the Week

I’ve been on a ship the past week, and for vacation reading I brought along books by authors I’ve enjoyed before. I’ve read Mary Janice Davidson, and Laurell K. Hamilton, and I’ve got Katie MacAllister’s EVEN VAMPIRES GET THE BLUES waiting for me.

My greatest new pleasure was Charlie Huston’s SIX BAD THINGS. I’ve talked about Charlie Huston before, but I have to reiterate the high recommendation I’ve given him. He is one great writer. Huston’s books are short, extremely violent, and full of pain, but he’s writing so close to the bone of truth that it’s worth every bit of mayhem. Henry’s collapsing domino of a life seems inevitable when Huston writes it.

I’ve started C.E. Murphy’s THUNDERBIRD FALLS, and though I’m only maybe a third of the way through it, it seems at least as good as Murphy’s debut, URBAN SHAMAN. Joanne Walker is a beat cop in THUNDERBIRD, and definitely the odd duck on the police force. She’s still resisting her magical nature, but Joanne loves healing people, even their paper cuts; and she can’t hold back when she can do good. Murphy is very clever at making Joanne so admirable in that way, while no girl scout.

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I’ve spent this week on board a ship, which has given me a prime opportunity to observe human nature. Nowhere is this more fascinating than at the karaoke bar, which is packed every night. Normally, I wouldn’t have been within a mile of the place, but one of my relatives does a killer Elvis impersonation, and I just had to see it.

Karaoke bars are like AMERICAN IDOL tryouts, in a lot of ways. People who want to have talent, but usually don’t have talent, pick the métier for its stage exposure. I confess that the urge to do this puzzles me. But I can tell these performers are having a great time, and I can’t fault that. At least in the karaoke bars, the singers are aware they’re not going to be the next Elvis or Celine.

In sharp contrast, a high percentage of AMERICAN IDOL contestants (at least at the tryout level) seem to suffer from serious delusions. I watched the last IDOL round for maybe the first three shows, trying to figure out what friends of mine had found so fascinating about it.

Though some of the contestants knew they were going nowhere, and simply wanted the experience of the tryout (why?), a sizeable group of entrants was terrifyingly serious. Despite all evidence to the contrary, these people seemed convinced they would entrance the judges, though they had little or no talent at all. With the inevitability of a train wreck, the talentless person who’d been turned down was absolutely stunned. Some of them threatened the judges. “When I’m bigger than Britney Spears, I’ll come back and laugh at you, Simon!” Are Americans that prone to self-delusion? Or is it just humanity in general?

I don’t think I’ll watch IDOL again, at least not the first few shows. It’s just sad. Karaoke, now . . . hmmm. Could I do Joan Jett, you think?

---Charlaine Harris