Reader's Advisory Service in the Public Library; Death of a King; Suicide Notes

"Reader's Advisory Service in the Public Library" by Joyce G. Saricks was another book for work, but it was pretty good and had a lot of great ideas for creating "readalikes" for when people come in and ask for books like the ones their favorite authors write. I remember being 17 or 18, and finishing all of the books Stephen King had written up to that point, and wondering what I was going to do now. A readalike would have helped me find some new authors, which I did eventually on my own, anyway.
"The Death of a King" was a mystery by P.C. Doherty about King Edward II. There are some scholars who believe Isabella and Mortimer did not have Edward murdered at Berkeley Castle, but rather he escaped and lived in hiding. Doherty has a clerk hired at the behest of King Edward III investigating the murder of his father. The clerk determines the truth and chases Edward II down to his hiding place, an Italian priory. It was an okay book; I felt he could have fleshed it out a little more. It was very short and felt bare bones.
Okay, so I've spent the last two days at the American Libraries Association's Annual Conference in Anaheim, and I've had the best time! Today I got to meet DEAN KOONTZ!!! It was amazing. He was so witty and funny and charming and just all around super nice, and he autographed "Odd Thomas" for me. It was fantastic. I also got to pick up some advance readers' copies of books to be published this fall. When I worked at Barnes & Noble, we used to get these advance copies, but ever since I migrated over to the library world I've missed these. So I got a few today and read one of the teen ones this afternoon while I was waiting for Dean Koontz's speech to start (I got there early; I wanted to make sure I had a good seat). This book is due out in October, and it's called "Suicide Notes" by Michael Thomas Ford. It's about a teenage boy who wakes up and finds himself in the psychiatric ward of the hospital after a suicide attempt. He won't admit, even to himself, why he tried to commit suicide. The author drops some hints along the way, mostly trying to lead the reader off track. The book describes sex very frankly, and had some disturbing scenes. I don't know if it's something I would have wanted to read as a teenager. I was rather depressed and suicidal myself when I was younger, and reading about other people who had similar problems didn't make me feel better. In fact, it ticked me off because I (and I don't think I'm alone on this) felt that my problems were totally unique and no one else could ever understand. So, I don't know about this book. It made me feel sad, and I don't think any teen, whether they have a healthy mental outlook or not, really needs that.

The Vow on the Heron; The Case of the Lucky Legs; Free for All; Adult Programs in the Library

"Vow on the Heron" is the ninth book in the Plantagenet series by Jean Plaidy. Edward II is dead and his son, Edward III, is on the throne, with his mother, Isabella, and her lover, Mortimer, acting as regents since Edward is underage. As soon as he reaches his majority, however, he banishes his mother to a little used castle and executes Mortimer for masterminding the murder of his father. Edward marries the girl he fell in love with at the age of fourteen, Phillipa, and they go on to have a long, happy marriage full of children. This book was actually a little boring, because nothing scandalous happened.
"The Case of the Lucky Legs" by Erle Stanley Gardner finds Perry solving the mystery by chasing (literally) down clues. He doesn't even make an appearance in court in this one (it was an early one). There were some unhappy, tense moments where he and Paul Drake disagreed (I didn't like that at all), but there was one hilarious moment where Perry barges in a young woman's room to question her, and she insists she needs to call her attorney first. Not knowing who Perry is, since she's never met him, while he stands there she dials the phone and pretends to talk to Perry Mason. Perry watches her, amused. When she gets off the phone and tells him that Mr. Mason has advised her against speaking to him, Perry wryly remarks: "I tried to get in touch with Mr. Mason earlier, and his office told me he was unavailable today." The girl responds smugly: "Well, Mr. Mason isn't in for just anyone."
"Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library" by Don Borchet was freakin' hilarious. He's worked as a library assistant for a dozen years, and seen and heard it all. Drug dealers operating out of the bathroom, people running up fines of astronomical amounts, very strange things being left in the book return, etc. I just wished it were twice as long. With any luck he'll write another one.
"Adult Programs in the Library" by Brett W. Lear was a really great guide to starting or expanding adult programs in the public library. It was full of helpful hints and was very easy to read. Even if it was for work, I enjoyed it.

The Case of the Haunted Husband; Fearless Fourteen; The Case of the Calendar Girl

First, the Erle Stanley Gardner's. "The Case of the Haunted Husband" was a new one. It was long, and there was a lot going on, but I understood what was happening and didn't feel lost at the end, like I have with some of his other more complicated ones. Perry defends a woman against a reckless driving charge and ends up solving two murders in the process. There were some surreal scenes in this one, with Perry, Drake, Della, and Tragg (the police officer who is usually loathe to work with Perry for fear of him pulling a fast one) eating dinner and dancing together. In the end, rather than have to try and defend a guilty client, Perry gives her the idea of committing suicide before she's arrested. That was an ending I certainly wasn't expecting.
"The Case of the Calendar Girl" was a reread, but a good one. A strange car accident leaves Perry to defend a man by pinning the rap on a girl. Perry then turns around and defends the girl for the crime. Amazing what that man can do with evidence.
"Fearless Fourteen" was the latest by Janet Evanovich. Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter extraordinaire, has to deal with a preteen who is vaguely related to her on again off again boyfriend, Joe, whose mom is being held hostage by a psychopath who wants the boy's uncle Dom to cough up the nine million he stole years earlier from a bank. Dom buried the keys to the van in Aunt Rose's basement. The same Aunt Rose who Joe inherited the house from. And them cemented the basement over. Hilarity ensues when half of Trenton starts digging in Joe's yard, looking for buried treasure, and the guy holding Mario's mom hostage starts sending body parts in the mail. There were a few variations from norm in this one, which was nice. For once, Stephanie's car didn't blow up, nor was she actually really in too much danger and had to be rescued by Ranger. As usual, it was hilarious.

Lolita; The Case of the Sulky Girl; The Case of the Careless Kitten; The Case of the Fiery Fingers

"Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov is a reread. I watched the movie a few weeks ago, and then wanted to reread the book. I've always loved this book; it's such a beautifully written love story. After I read it for the first time at the age of 19, I started imitating Nabokov's style in my own diary. Anyway, this time I noticed for the first time how sad and helpless little Dolores is. It kind of made me not like the book as much, sadly. It's so beautifully written. If you've never read it, it's not an easy book to read. It's about a middle aged man named Humbert who falls in love with a twelve year old girl. I know; I know: in real life, it would be sick. In fiction it's really not. I can't explain it.
"The Case of the Sulky Girl" by Erle Stanley Gardner was the second Perry Mason book, and his first appearance in court. Sadly, Della didn't have much of a role in this one. I actually guessed the right murderer before the end, even though I'm 99% sure I haven't read it before. Either Gardner hadn't perfected his technique yet, or I've read so many of them that now I'm starting to pick up on his style. I'm guessing the former.
"The Case of the Careless Kitten" has Perry defending Della. The D.A. has, as usual, trumped up charges against Della: this time for hiding a witness and interfering in a police investigation. Turns out the suspect Della was accusing of hiding had, in reality, been dead for ten years, and one of the murderers was in the hospital when the crime was committed. Perry figures out who murdered whom because of the acts of one careless kitten who almost loses all of his nine lives.
"The Case of the Fiery Fingers" featured two courtroom scenes, and so far, my favorite. Perry rips a witness up one side and down the other in both trials. In the first trial he was defending a nurse who took care of the man's injured wife of theft. In the second trial, the wife has been murdered, and her sister is accused of the murder.

Follies of the King

"Follies of the King" is the eighth book in Jean Plaidy's Plantagenet series. I know, I know: what happened to six and seven? No one has them, that's what happened. Oh, well, so I'm missing big chunks of history here...King Edward II has taken the throne after his father, Edward I, dies. He marries Isabella of France, but really, he prefers handsome young boys to his wife. This makes Isabella, daughter to the king of France and a very beautiful young woman, extremely jealous. She manages to have four children by Edward, and when the oldest boy is old enough to take the throne she stages a coup and sweeps the crown away from her husband. Like they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned...

1215: the Year of the Magna Carta

After all that fiction I thought I should feed my brain some more nonfiction, so I read "1215: the Year of the Magna Carta" by Danny Danziger and John Gillingham. It was about King John and how he was so horrendous his barons forced him to sign the Magna Carta, guaranteeing them certain rights. It should have been interesting, but frankly it bored me. I don't know if it was the authors' writing styles or what. The subject matter was certainly interesting: it went into pretty good detail about what England was like in the early 1200s. I think I'm just anxious because of all the books coming out this summer that I'm waiting for: next Tuesday is Janet Evanovich's 14! Yeah!

The Case of the Waylaid Wolf; Wonderful Tonight

"The Case of the Waylaid Wolf" by Erle Stanley Gardner had Perry defending a woman who is accused of murder after she complains that her boss tried to force himself on her. Perry's courtroom skills are so good he gets the real killer to stand up out of the middle of the audience and confess.
"Wonderful Tonight" by Pattie Boyd was a pretty good autobiography. She was married to both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, and she inspired such songs as "Something", "Layla", and "Wonderful Tonight". She was very, very classy about writing this and laid blame at no one's feet and didn't drag dirt in. That being said, it was also very bare bones. When she leaves George for Eric, I wondered why. I didn't feel she explained that very well. And why she stayed with Eric, or married him, I didn't understand, either. Eric Clapton was horrible to her, not like she'd admit it, but you could understand. He may play guitar like nobody's business, but he certainly doesn't know how to treat other people, especially other people he supposedly loves.

The Case of the Glamorous Ghost

This was the longest Perry Mason mystery by Erle Stanley Gardner that I'd ever read. There was quite a bit going on, but it was really good, easy enough to follow, and the ending didn't seem too far-fetched, which is unusual for Gardner (see Screaming Woman post below). A beautiful young heiress is faking amnesia after the man she ran off with to elope in Arizona is found dead, killed with her gun. Perry learns that the man was an informant for the U.S. government regarding smuggled gems, and then finds gems buried in his client's luggage. In the end the real killer is found, but not until Perry actually has to put on a defense in court, something I haven't read him doing before. In all the previous books, he was able to foil the prosecution during their case.

The Case of the Screaming Woman

Well, back to Perry Mason by Erle Stanley Gardner. This one was actually pretty hilarious. A doctor is attacked in his home around eleven o' clock one evening. Not only were there, like, 100 people in this poor doctor's house this late at night, hiding in various rooms, but all his neighbors were at home, sitting by their windows, some with binoculars. What a nosy neighborhood! I'm glad I don't live there.

Eclipse

The last Twilight book until August, "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer, did not disappoint. Edward has agreed to make Bella a vampire if she'll marry him. But, of course, before that can happen, there is drama. Victoria, the vampire mate of James, who was after Bella in "Twilight" and who Edward killed, is after Bella to avenge James. She creates a team of newborn vampires to serve as her army. After they wreck havoc on Seattle, they come after Bella. Edward's family, the Cullenses, team up with Jacob's werewolf pack to kill Victoria and her army. There are some hilarious scenes with Jacob and Edward sparring, both verbally and physically, for Bella.
Most of the time it doesn't bother me that I'm not the type of woman men immortalize in song or poetry, or fight over, but sometimes, after reading books like these, I'm jealous.

The Queen's Handmaiden; Twilight; New Moon

On Saturday I finished Jennifer Ashley's "The Queen's Handmaiden", yet another fictionalized account of Queen Elizabeth I, as told through the eyes of her personal seamstress, Eloise, niece of her governess, Kat Ashley. It was good; the only difference between this one and most of the many others I've read is that Ashley (the author, not the governess) imagines that Elizabeth was in on the many plots to overthrow her sister, Mary, from the throne, and Eloise was a spy who smuggled communications in and out of Elizabeth's household. It doesn't seem likely to me that Elizabeth condoned the conspirators or was in cahoots with them, but then again, I wasn't there, so we'll never know for sure.
Okay, onto the good stuff. And I mean the really good stuff. "Twilight" and "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer. I've been wanting to read these books for a while now, ever since practically everyone I know has read them and gushed. I was a little wary; while I enjoy 99% of the books I read, I rarely gush. For these, I will gush. I totally understand everyone's obsession with them and have joined the ranks of the obsessed most willingly. My friend Shelly lent me "Twilight" (a thousand thank yous!!) and I started reading it Saturday after I finished "The Queen's Handmaiden". I literally could not put it down. It was midnight, and I kept saying just one more chapter and I'll go to bed, just one more chapter. I couldn't even keep my eyes open any longer, but I kept reading. I finally fell asleep and finished it Sunday morning, then raced to Barnes & Noble to buy the second and third one. I spent most of Sunday reading "New Moon", then finished it and dove into "Eclipse". It was very difficult to put it down this morning and come to work.
But enough about me! Let me tell you about Meyer's incredible characters, stories, imagination, insight, etc. She has imagined what every young woman wants (at least, I always have, ever since reading Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" lo those many years ago): to meet an incredibly gorgeous vampire, fall in love, and beg him to make you immortal, too. Alas, Lestat never came for me like I'd hoped. But young Bella meets Edward, and they fall in love. He is a vampire, and she wants to be one as well, only he won't do it. He doesn't want to make her lose her soul. In the sequel, "New Moon", Edward leaves, thinking it will be best for Bella to forget about him and move on with her life (like she could ever forget!). She does grow closer to her old friend, Jacob, who, as it turns out, is a werewolf (this girl can sure pick 'em). Turns out the ancient enemy of the werewolf is...the vampire! Of course. Talk about your jealous boyfriends. In the end Edward comes back, and he and Bella vow never to part again. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, if you haven't read it. And if you haven't...do so! Now! Quickly! :-)
Meyer's characters are amazingly well written and so real. I'm curious to see how the Hollywood version will come out, since last I heard there was a movie in the works. She adds her own special touches to traditional vampire lore (shining like diamonds in the sun rather than burning to a crisp...I like that much better, sun goddess that I am) and really makes you care about what happens to them. Fortunately I don't have too long of a wait before book 4 lands in August, but it will be long enough. I haven't been this excited about a series since Harry Potter, and that's saying something!

A few hours later: well, I checked out the movie on the Internet Movie Database website, and it looks like it will be pretty good. They got the guy who played Cedric in Harry Potter to play Edward, which I think is pretty good casting. I read that Stephenie Meyer wanted Henry Cavill to play Edward, but by the time they got to filming, he looked too old. All I can say is Meyer is a brilliant woman with a good eye for men! Cavill is on Showtime's "The Tudors" series, which I don't love--it's too inaccurate, historically, but I do love the casting. I thought Cavill was in his late twenties until I found out a few weeks ago on the Tudors website that he's only 24! Yikes! He does look much older, though, so I can understand why they chose not to cast him for this role. It calls for a younger looking guy. They better hurry up and make the next two before the leads all get too old and you have the same controversy swirling around these movies as you do with Harry Potter (which I think is silly, but whatever!).