May, Or The Month In Which I Do Not Read THE HOST

May 2008

Books Bought:
Enthusiasm - Polly Shulman
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

Books Received Gratis:
A Town Like Paris - Bryce Corbett
Heretic's Daughter - Kathleen Kent
Petite Anglaise - Catherine Sanderson
The Spiritualist - Megan Chance
Tigerheart - Peter David
Lost On Planet China - J. Maarten Troost

Books Read:
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Enthusiasm - Polly Shulman
Evernight - Claudia Gray
Petite Anglaise - Catherine Sanderson


If it weren't for teen books, I would have only read two books this month - the amazing Neverwhere (which I lingered over) and Petite Anglaise. Teen books, or YA as they are also called, are oft looked down upon. Anyone over the age of 12 shouldn't be seen reading one if you want to appear smart and mature, is the conventional wisdom. Well, anyone who takes that snotty attitude is missing out on some very excellent books. Unfortunately, this month I didn't read any excellent ones (teen ones - Neverwhere is excellent), just one good one and one very bad one.

Polly Shulman's Enthusiasm is a sweet, enjoyable little volume. In this Pride & Prejudice-inspired tale of first love, Julie Lefkowitz's best friend Ashleigh's obsession with Jane Austen leads to the girls crashing a dance at the exclusive boys' boarding school in an effort to find their Mr. Darcys. At the dance, the girls meet Grandison Parr and his friend Ned and embark on a series of misunderstandings and suppressed emotions. Both Julie and Ashleigh fall for Parr, the Darcyish hero, only Ashleigh thinks Julie likes Ned and tries to set them up. Enthusiasm suffers only from a lack of complete plot and character development - the groundwork is there, and the story is adorable, but the characters need a little more fleshing out and the plot often gets it's base material confused with Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.

I found Enthusiasm in the teen section of a bookstore in Salem. I bought it on a whim because it's blurbed by Stephenie Meyer, the author of the crack-like Twilight saga. Being the book lover I am, I'm always interested in the books and authors that my favorite authors like. Judging by Enthusiasm and her own books, Ms. Meyer loves chick-lit and romance. (Which is probably why The Host is a love triangle with only two bodies!! Side note: My boss and I were asked about The Host by a customer, and we didn't have much to go on other than the reviews and the first sentence: The healer's name was Fords Deep Waters. After the customer left, L turns to me and asks "What was that guy's name again? Fudge Dreamweaver?" I laughed for hours.)

Sadly, the other teen novel I read did not live up to it's promise, which is extremely disappointing. Evernight, the first in a quartet by Claudia Gray, sounded absolutely delicious from the jacket copy. Bianca, the heroine, begins attending this spooky, Gothic boarding school full of uber-perfect, menacing students and there are all these whispers and hints that soon...dun-dun-DUN!!!....she'll be one of them! Bianca hates it, and attempts to run away. Her attempt is foiled by Lucas, the predictably cute outsider/rebel. They fall for each other, but Lucas tries to stay away from Bianca, enigmatically saying that it's dangerous for her to be with him. And up until about the halfway point, the book is deliciously creepy.

Unfortunately, the Big Plot Twist occurs then, and it ruins the rest of the book. Turns out, Evernight Academy is a school for vampires. And Bianca is one of them. She was born a vampire (both her parents are vampires) and has known all along that one day she'd have to bite someone and become a full grown vampire. While it doesn't entirely come out of left field, the twist left me shaking my head. As did the direction the story took after Bianca bit - but not killed - Lucas. The entire first half is ruined by Gray's decision to have Bianca reveal she's known all along. Then, in what seems like a hasty measure to give her room to write another book, it's revealed that Lucas is descended from a long line of vampire hunters. Yep kids, it's Romeo and Juliet with fangs. After Lucas's reveal, there is a chase and utterly unsuspensful climax, resulting in a non-ending. I am so, so, so disappointed in Claudia Gray. Evernight could have been an amazing book as she clearly has some talent and imagination, but not enough to save the story. It really feels like two very different drafts were hastily edited together, rather than a cohesive book.

Petite Anglaise, my non-fiction read for the month, was an interesting experience. It is a book about a blogger, and having my own blog, where I am currently blogging about it made it kind of narcissistically reflexive and ironically voyeuristic. Catherine Sanderson, the woman behind PetiteAnglaise.com, parlayed her popular blog into a memoir about the start of her blog and the end of her relationship with her daughter's father. Living the French life she'd always wanted, Catherine found herself in Paris with a distant boyfriend and a secretarial job. So she begain a blog about her day to day life. As her alter ego Petite Anglaise rose in popularity, Catherine found herself in a bit of a double life, including an affair with a charming reader. Petite Anglaise the book is definitely real life chick lit, but it is an interesting glimpse into the blogosphere and how much cyberspace can mess with your private life.

And now we get to Neverwhere, the book I wonder why I didn't read a long time ago because it's JUST THAT GOOD. Neil Gaiman's tale of an alternate London is so brilliantly realized and lushly creepy and perfect. Having read Stardust and Good Omens, I knew Gaiman was capable of brilliance, but Neverwhere is just fantastic. Richard Mayhew, an average if a bit wimpy Londoner, finds himself simply erased from his life after helping a mysterious girl named Door. Determined to get his life back, Richard follows Door into the world of London Below where he is totally out of his league. An extremely dark Alice in Wonderland-type story, it will keep you up at night. The evil and gore-happy Messrs Croup and Vandermar are the stuff of nightmares but the Marquis was by far my favorite character, with such an ambiguous moral code and witty repartee that he stole the show, err, book. Simply excellent reading.

So May was a month of highs and lows, lots of advance copies but very little actual book buying (don't worry, I've made up for it with June's employee appreciation sale where we get an extra 10% discount on top of our already excellent discount). I've already read two books, and we're only halfway through June, so it looks very promising reading-wise. But I am working up to a second reading of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which will take me quite some time. Oh, and why didn't I read The Host, you ask? Because there's only so much time to read, and well, she lost me at Fords Deep Waters.