Sisters Who Would Be Queen

Leanda DeLisle tells the story of the three doomed Grey sisters: Jane, Katherine, and Mary, who, under both Henry VIII and his son Edward's wills, were next in line to inherit the Tudor crown, since Henry's daughters Mary and Elizabeth were both considered illegitimate. It's hard to find anything about Jane Grey, and even harder to find anything about her two sisters, which is unfortunate, because their stories are really interesting. It was a great book that cleared up a lot of misconceptions about Jane's doomed nine day reign as Queen as well as the sad fates of her two sisters.

Dracula the Un-Dead

It's that time of year again--oh, wait, I read horror all year long! Anyway, a sequel to Bram Stoker's brilliant vampire masterpiece, "Dracula", written by his great-grand nephew, Dacre Stoker, and Ian Holt, a Dracula enthusiast. All in all it was a worthy sequel and stayed true to the original characters. They wove in some real life horror by having Dracula originally going after the real Jack the Ripper, another vampire named Elizabeth Bathory. The only thing I sort of had a problem with was the romanticizing of Dracula in keeping trend with the current vampire books that are popular, like "Twilight". Stoker and Holt try to take the teeth out of the bad guy, but other than that, it was good.

How to Be a Movie Star

"How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood" by William J. Mann had a narrow focus, since Liz's life could easily fill volumes. He concentrated on just the 1940s-1960s, when she was at the height of her fame. It was a good move on his part, because he was able to delve into great detail about the most interesting portions of her life, like her marriage to Richard Burton, which has always fascinated me. He does however say that she and James Dean weren't really that close during the filming of "Giant", which makes me sad if it's true. At any rate, I enjoy reading about Elizabeth Taylor and this was a nice addition to the others.

Knife of Never Letting Go; You are Here

First up, a YA science fiction novel by Patrick Ness called "The Knife of Never Letting Go". It's the first in a series that I have no interest in finishing after reading this dismal first entry. The premise sounded interesting enough: a young boy named Todd lives in a new world where all the women have died of a mysterious virus and all the men can hear each other's thoughts. That in and of itself is creepy beyond belief. Todd finds a girl in the swamp one day, and his whole world starts to unravel and come crashing down. He learns everything he's been told is pretty much a lie, and he quickly has to go on the run for his life. I know, I know: it sounds pretty cool. That's what I thought, too, but it quickly became unbelievable (even for sci-fi) and really bitterly depressing. I don't mind *some* depression in my books, but jeez, even I have my limits. I reached a point where I was like if I were the main characters I would just throw in the towel and slit my own wrists.
"You Are Here: Why We Can Find Our Way to the Moon but Get Lost in the Mall" by Colin Ellard was one I was really looking forward to. I am quite possibly the most directionally challenged person on the planet (case in point: even though I know I need to go south on PCH in order to get home, I always go north and instantly realize I've screwed up. I get in the car and say "south, south" and when I get to the southbound onramp my brain says no! That's wrong! and I go by it and go north and realize I've screwed up once again. I've done this at least five times in the last six months. And this is with a GPS in the car and I usually have Google Map directions printed out as well. Sigh). I was hoping he would explain why my brain does what it does to get me lost all the time and maybe offer some helpful tips as to what I could do to improve my sense of direction. Sadly, no, this wasn't even really about direction--it was his diatribe against global warming and all sorts of other nonsense. I was extremely disappointed.

Club Dead

I think I'm almost done with Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series. "Club Dead" was an early one--Sookie is still dating Bill. This is the one where she finds out he's cheating on her with Lorena. Bill is kidnapped because of his work on the vampire database for the queen of Louisiana, and Sookie travels to Mississippi to try to find him, which she does, and rescues him. It wasn't bad, there were some good Eric scenes I enjoyed.

Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots

Carolly Erickson's "Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots" was actually a bit disappointing. I've liked her nonfiction books in the past, and her fiction title "The Last Wife of Henry VIII", about Catherine Parr, was very good. This one was just--I don't know, flat, I guess. Mary's life was so interesting and tumultuous that I felt Erickson left most of that out. She hardly touched on the interesting dynamic of Mary and her cousin, rival Queen Elizabeth I of England. I think I'm in a bit of a reading rut right now: I have many great books at home, waiting for me, but I pick them up and none of them look appealing. I'll have to find something to break this trend.

Walking Dead; Long Past Stopping

"Walking Dead Vol. 1" by Robert Kirkman is a black and white graphic novel about--what else?--the zombie apocalypse and how a group of survivors are dealing with it. It was pretty good, nothing to make it really stand out from the all the rest, other than the fact that it had more sex and sentimentality in it.
"Long Past Stopping" by Oran Canfield is a memoir about his strange, unorthodox childhood and how it shaped his strange, unorthodox adulthood. I wanted to read this one because Oran is the son of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books, Jack Canfield, and I'd heard that Oran talked about how his father had abandoned him and pretty much been an absentee father. This surprised me, since Jack is such a well known self-help guru. In reality, Oran doesn't make his father out to be that bad--sure, he was pretty absent from his life while he was growing up, but he seemed to always be there financially when Oran needed it as an adult and really did try to help him through his many trips to rehab. Oran didn't seem to hate his father nearly as much as the reviews made it seem like he did. It was an interesting and well written bio and I enjoyed it. He alternated the chapters between his childhood (he was in a circus as a professional juggler!) and his adulthood rehab stints, which was a format that worked well. It reminded me a bit of Nic Sheff's "Tweak", only Canfield comes across as much more likeable.

Dexter by Design; From Dead to Worse

Newest Dexter book by Jeff Lindsay, "Dexter by Design" was great. While I absolutely love the Showtime series (Michael C. Hall is *amazing*) the show just doesn't capture the perfect black humor snarkiness that is Lindsay's creation. In this one, Dexter and Rita have returned from their honeymoon in Paris to discover someone is trying to bring down the tourist industry in Miami. Deborah is stabbed and unfortunately sits out most of this book, but Doakes is there with his computerized voice, which is always entertaining. Plus Dexter has his two little protegees, Cody and Astor, eager to learn the dark ways.
"From Dead to Worse" by Charlaine Harris is yet another Sookie Stackhouse book. Sookie finds out about some relatives she didn't know she had: a great-grandfather who's a fairy, and her dead cousin Hadley's little boy who is a telepath like her. In between the family reunions there's another were battle and Sookie breaks up with Quinn and gets yet another roommate: Octavia, a witch who was displaced by Katrina and is mentor to her current houseguest, Amelia. While there was a lot going on in this book, it wasn't overwhelming.

You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You

The fourth Rat Pack mystery by Robert J. Randisi finds Sands' pit boss Eddie G. and his faithful sidekick, Jerry Epstein, in Los Angeles to help out Marilyn Monroe, who fears she is being followed. Turns out she was right--and the bodies start piling up. Before it's all over the FBI and RFK are involved. It was great: I really enjoy his mysteries, he really brings the historical characters to life without overdoing it.