Nocturnes

It's been a long time since I've read a book of short stories. I used to love the Stephen King short story collections in High School, but haven't read another collection since. After finishing Connolly's The Book of Lost Things, I went and picked up his book of short stories, called Nocturnes. I toyed with the idea of having each short story count as a separate book on my list, but I decided against it. :)

Nocturnes has short stories that are previously unpublished, as well as a novella featuring a character from Connolly's mystery novels (Charlie Parker), and finished with a section titled Nocturnes: Coda that had 5 five stories that had been published elsewhere. The stories are all dark, twisted, and slightly horrific. They become progressively darker and darker as the stories unfold, starting with The Cancer Cowboy Rides. A few of the stories are very short, taking up less than 10 pages of the overall 471 pages, while others take up a lot more. The Charlie Parker Novella, The Reflecting Eye, comes in at over 100 pages.

There is no horror that is left out of Nocturnes. As someone who is both afraid of clowns and spiders, I found myself totally horrified at two stories (Some Children Wander By Mistake and The Wakeford Abyss) and unable to read for a day or two. Other stories are horrifying for different reasons, not having a twinge of the paranormal and instead relying on the horror of human beings themselves and the things they do to each other.

The horror of the book is never cliche, and is always completely believable. That is a fine line when writing dark short stories, you can either make them really cliche and transparent, or you can make them just believable enough that they haunt your thoughts for hours after finishing the story. For Nocturnes, the second half of that is true. I never thought "oh, that's so unbelievable" after any story.

I give this book a 5 out of 5. I will now go to all the used book stores in my area and grab up Connolly's other stories.

High Voltage Tattoo

I just recently received Kat Von D's biography/memoir/portfolio book titled High Voltage Tattoo.  While it was very picture heavy, as I expected, it also had a lot of backstory.  There was the story of how Kat Von D got into tattooing, her philosophy behind it, and the tattoos she has.  There was also stories by the people who's tattoos feature prominently inside the book, from her friends to famous musicians and skaters.  High Voltage Tattoo was a great book to read and look through, with high-quality images and great information from how to best take care of a tattoo to dispelling common tattoo myths.

This book took me a few days to flip through, which was more than I expected.  I am also reading another book at the same time, Nocturnes by John Connolly, as well as all the random things going on in my life.  I thought I could sit down with High Voltage Tattoo and read it cover to cover in an afternoon.  I was pleasantly surprised.  As I said above, there was a lot of story to actually read, where I had thought the book was just pictures.  I enjoyed reading about Kat Von D's life and how she found tattooing.  As a fellow tattoo-fan, artist and woman I understood everything she talked about, from art and love being a way of life to wanting to be an individual in a world where women are easily pigeonholed.  High Voltage Tattoo was more than I bargained for, and I found a lot of inspiration for future tattoos in its pages.

High Voltage Tattoo is broken up into sections: Kat's story and starting her parlor, and then by tattoo style.  There's a section for portraits, lettering, roses and nautical, and then some.  Some pieces are familiar if you watch Kat's show, LA Ink, but there was a lot that was new to me.

Overall, I give this book a 4 out of 5.  I did find a few typos (I am ALWAYS proof-reading), as well as some cheesy typography choices.  Other than that, I was really pleased with this book and I am glad that I have it to add to my library.

The Book of Lost Things

Over the last few weeks, my mother has been telling me over and over to read this book, The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. After checking for it in a few different stores, I finally ordered it from my local bookstore downtown. It was definitely worth the trouble and wait.

The Book of Lost Things is a modern fairy tale, that features fairy tales of old set in a new light. It all takes place in England, during the beginning of World War II. The story starts with David, and the death of his mother. His father remarries and has another child, and the family relocated. David is full of anger and resentment towards his step-mother and his new half-brother. Shortly after the move, David starts experiencing "attacks" and as a result he becomes able to hear the thoughts of books. This is where the Crooked Man enters his life, as well. One night David find himself in a sunken garden next to the house, where a German airplane crashes. David hides in the sunken garden, only to find himself transported to a fairy tale land. He meets a bevvy of characters, including the Woodsman and Roland the Knight, who join David on his quest to return home. The Crooked Man tries to thwart them at every turn, however, as does a series of nefarious beasts and characters.

Many of the fairy tales used in The Book of Lost Things are familiar, where others were brand new to me. Most have been twisted in such a way as to appear more relevant to David's plight. At the end of the edition that I purchased (paper back), there is notes by Connolly about the stories used and why they were important, as well as reprints of the original stories.

I give this book a 5 out of 5, and I think it has definitely found its place among my Top 10 Favorite Books.

Turtle Moon

When I find a new author that I haven't read before, I often find myself immersing in all of their works over a short amount of time. I did it years ago with Jonathan Kellerman and James Patterson, then again a while ago with Jodi Picoult. Last year, I did it with Alice Hoffman, who I started reading because it was Picoult's favorite author. I purchased a lot of her books at once, and am slowly making my way through that cache. I just knocked another Hoffman book off, as well as adding a book to my 2009 list. That book was Turtle Moon.

Turtle Moon tells the interwoven story of two single mothers, a cop with a haunted past, and a boy called the meanest in all of the town. When one of the mothers is murdered, the one left behind, Lucy, takes it upon herself to figure out who this person was, and why she was dead, to clear her son Keith, who was at the scene of the crime and runs away with the now orphaned baby. With the help of the cop, Julian, the past of everyone involved is unraveled, and answers come out of the woodworks.

Initially, I wasn't drawn in by the book like I normally am with her stories. I struggled through the first 50 pages or so. I almost set it down, but I knew that Hoffman always comes through, so I kept going. I was rewarded, and by the end of the book I was connecting with characters and their motives.

I give this book a 3 out of 5. The ending was redeeming, not just for the characters but also the doubt that I felt when I started the book. If I would have been sucked in right away, like I have been with Hoffman's writing in the past, this book would have ranked higher.

Second Glance

I took a detour from what I called the "let's re-read all the novels in your library" spree to read book 7, The Commitment. After I finished the book, I immediately started the spree back up again! I was organizing my bookshelves, and had put my Picoult books in order. As I was doing so, I realized that after The Tenth Circle, Second Glance was my next favorite.

Second Glance tells the story of a number of characters, so it is hard to summarize. The story is about love that is timeless, about ghosts who are so tied to the world that they cannot leave, and the sacrifices that everyone makes for the people that they are tied to. It also spans across decades, taking place in the 1930's, and the current days of the 2000's. There is romance, there is death, there is life, and there is hope. On top of that, there is an unsolved mystery of a murder, a missing baby, the sordid history of eugenics, and the study of the paranormal. I know it sounds like she's grasping at plot-straws and trying too hard, but it all works and comes together.

This is Picoult at her finest. There are so many characters in this story that I worried, the first time I read it, that I would get certain people lost with others, or that there wouldn't be enough character development. Within just a few pages I knew that I had been wrong, and that the story needs all of these characters, and Picoult does not let one of them fall through the cracks and get lost. By the end of the book, you know exactly why each and every character was there, and what their lives and actions mean to all the other characters.

I give this book a 5 out of 5.