Hideyuki Kikuchi: Mysterious Journey to the North Sea Part 1

• ISBN-13: 9781595821072
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
• Publication date: 5/2/2007
• Series: Vampire Hunter D Series , #7
• Pages: 280

 A hero, no matter how reluctant, can never refuse the last request of a beautiful girl. 
 When a young woman traveling across the scarred wastelands is murdered over the possession of a strange jewel, she entrusts the gem, with her final breath, to the mysterious Vampire Hunter known as D, and charges him with a desperate mission - to deliver the priceless stone to her sister, far off in a fishing village on the shores of the North Sea.
 D's journey is made ever more perilous by the motley unsavory scoundrels and rogues enlisted by the girl's murderer, who will stop at nothing to claim the jewel. Determined the hunter will not reach his destination, the villains are relentless in their pursuit, one of them harboring a secret, deadly agenda of his own.

 If Dickens in my last review shows the very pinnacle to which humanity can reach, Kikuchi is the master of showing the very depths. Every single novel has a plethora of characters that are the most despicable, low-down, conniving bastards the earth has ever produced. And if that's what you're looking for, this novel doesn't disappoint.
 One of the things that has been bothering me about the progressing adventures of the Vampire Hunter D, is the strangely increasing conversation of the intrepid hero. The author goes on and on and on about the silent and stoic Hunter, but he has been steadily becoming more talkative. If you're going to continue to portray him as the strong silent type, he should remain mostly silent. That's all I'll say about that.
 The adventure in this volume centers around a mysterious pearl that everyone seems to be after without seeming to have any clear idea what it is. The usual number of competitor warriors that think they can defeat D have increased as well. There's at least seven that we know of, and that's just right off the bat. This is a two-parter, so who knows what we'll get next time around.
 In addition, we have a possible Noble on the loose. More remains to be seen on that front, but it does seem like we might get a little more history on D. Exciting.
 And hey, let's give a round of applause for Su-In, the girl he's supposedly helping, who loses her whole family and still manages to keep her head in the game.
 There isn't much more to say since this novel is largely setting up for the next one, when all the mysteries will supposedly be solved. Although I'm sure the mystery of D's origins will be drawn out for the rest of the series so don't hold your breath.
 Oh, and Kikuchi is still creating the most disgusting villains the imagine can come up with. Ew.
 Overall: B+
 Not a whole lot of action, so to speak, and it left more questions than answers. The next one will probably be much better as we can really sink our teeth into the story.

Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities

• ISBN-13: 9781593081386
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 8/1/2004
• Series: Barnes & Noble Classics Series
• Pages: 448

 "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into one of history's most explosive eras - the French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that tumultuous period. At the center is the novel's hero, Sydney Carton, a lazy, alcoholic - but honorable - attorney who is in love with Lucie Manette, a beautiful woman brought up in London. When Lucie marries a man condemned to death for his ties to the aristocratic Evrémonde family, Carton makes the supreme sacrifice on the blood-stained streets of Paris.
 One of Dicken's most exciting novels, A Tale of Two Cities is a stirring classic of love, revenge, and resurrection.
 
This book. Just...ugh. This book
 I suppose I've become jaded, or just have read too many books, but there are very few these days that make me stop and go, "Wow. That was incredible." When I started reading this book, I knew it was going to be well-written, but I didn't think I would like it too much. First of all, it's depressing, we know that from the get-go, and normally books that don't make happy...well, don't make me happy.
 However, this book made me cry, made me hate humanity, and helped me find my faith in them all over again.
 The story centers around the Manette family, Dr. Manette and his daughter, Lucie. They are reunited after nearly twenty years of separation, when the good doctor was wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille. They are at last brought together again by one Mr. Jarvis Lorry. Flash forward to the trial for treason of one Charles Darnay, assisted by one Sydney Carton. Both men in love with Lucie, both looking surprisingly similar; however, one is a French aristocrat who has forsaken his inheritance to make his own way as a tutor in England and the other a wastrel lawyer who has squandered his youth in booze.
 Aside from all these wonderful personal issues, there's a revolution on in France. Ah, yes, that spectacle of liberty, the French Revolution. Started off as a good idea and degenerated into mass violence, betrayal, and madness.
 The novel does a wonderful job of portraying the insanity of the times. I felt genuine terror for what it must have been like to live in those times, never knowing if you were going to be the next one sent to Madame Guillotine for an unknown crime. Along with that terror and disgust of the extravagancies of the uprisen poor, you are also made to feel how very bad their lives actually were, and so you're caught between horror and sympathy. Except for Madame Defarge. She can just go straight to hell and never return.
 Finally, the novel ends in a last act of ultimate sacrifice. A beautiful moment in the face of stark brutality. I don't mind telling you, I cried. It was a beautiful, sad cry.
 Overall: A+
 I am pretty sure that if someone asks, I'm going to say this is my favorite book from here on out. I recommend that everyone read this book. EVERYONE.

Georgette Heyer: Detection Unlimited

• ISBN-13: 9781402218057
• Publisher: Sourcebooks, Incorporated
• Publication date: 9/7/2010
• Series: Inspector Hemingway Mysteries Series , #4
• Pages: 384

 Slumped on a seat under an oak tree is old Sampson Warrenby, with a bullet through his head.
 Everybody in the village is ready to tell Chief Inspector Hemingway who did it. Could the murderer have been the dead man's niece? Or perhaps it was the other town solicitor? The couple at the farm had a guilty secret - what was it? And why is it someone else actually wants to be the prime suspect?
 Add to this the fact that Warrenby was blackmailing someone, and Hemingway has his work cut out for him.
 
 Let's be clear about this title first, because it confused the hell out of me initially: it's called Detection Unlimited because basically every character in the novel is trying to solve the mysterious death of one Mr. Sampson Warrenby. And they all have their theories. Which leads to much hilarity (in my mind at least).
 Mr. Sampson Warrenby, much like a lot of other victims in English murder mysteries, was pretty universally hated, excepting his simpleton niece. Okay, she's not literally a simpleton, but she's just about as annoying as one. She's one of those people that conforms to what society expects and puts a rosy glow on her now-dead uncle. I suppose I have a lot of angst about her since she's obviously still bothering me.
 The mystery, then, lies in who actually had a motive aside from pure dislike, because if we went on that alone, the entire village would be on the suspect list. And they actually are. They lead a merry chase for our hardworking Inspector and his erstwhile companion, who does not have a working appreciation for the cleverness of our little hero.
 Some of the characters are fun and make up for the other busybodies, and the end is a twist that you probably would have seen coming if you'd thought about it enough. The real surprise, though, is more the method of murder than the actual culprit.
 Overall: B
 Not my favorite of Heyer's mysteries, but still a jolly romp nonetheless. And a few of the characters were quite enjoyable and took some of the sting out of the general nosy character of the village.

Chelsea Handler: My Horizontal Life

• ISBN-13: 9781455577514
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 7/16/2013
• Pages: 221

In this raucous collection of true-life stories, Chelsea Handler recounts her time spent in the social trenches with that wild, strange, irresistible, and often gratifying beast: the one-night stand.

 You've either done it or know someone who has: the one-night stand, the familiar outcome of a night spent at a bar, sometimes the sole payoff for your friend's irritating wedding, or the only relief from a disastrous vacation. Often embarrassing and uncomfortable, occasionally outlandish, but most times just a necessary and irresistible evil, the one-night stand is a social rite as old as sex itself and as common as a bar stool.

 Enter Chelsea Handler. Gorgeous, sharp, and anything but shy, Chelsea loves men and lots of them. My Horizontal Life chronicles her romp through the different bedrooms of a variety of suitors, a no-holds-barred account of what can happen between a man and a sometimes very intoxicated, outgoing woman during one night of passion. From her short fling with a Vegas stripper to her even shorter dalliance with a well-endowed little person, from her uncomfortable tryst with a cruise ship performer to her misguided rebound with a man who likes to play leather dress-up, Chelsea recalls the highs and lows of her one-night stands with hilarious honesty.

 Encouraged by her motley collection of friends (aka: her partners in crime) but challenged by her family members (who at times find themselves a surprise part of the encounter), Chelsea hits bottom and bounces back, unafraid to share the gritty details. My Horizontal Life is one guilty pleasure you won't be ashamed to talk about in the morning.

 Before I get into this, I just want to say that I think Chelsea Handler is hilarious. She's one of my favorite comediennes. HOWEVER. This book is way more information than I really wanted. About a lot of things. Mainly, her vagina.
 The book started off hilarious, but somewhere in the middle it lost me. I personally am not a promiscuous or adventurous person. Far from it, in fact. I would say somewhat reserved even. But I acknowledge that other people have fewer scruples and repressed guilt issues than I do, and I don't begrudge them their sexual misadventures. But Chelsea, according to this, takes it to another level. Some of the stories are suitable mortifying and riotous. Some, however, are lessons in what not to do - ever.
 I was continually impressed, however, with Chelsea's stunning ability to act in the moment and improve her way out of awkward situations. I wish I had that presence of mind. Most of the time I just loose my tongue, unless I've already thought up a pliable lie and then BAM Oscar-winning performance. Swear to God.
 I don't feel like there is very much to say about an autobiography aside from one's personal reactions. It is, after all, someone else's life story, not fiction, and there isn't much to say about plot holes or character development. I did appreciate, though, that we visibly moved forward in Chelsea's life, and that there was a life lesson to take away at the end. She showed a level of maturity and self-realization that she had not previously displayed throughout the whole of the book, and I am a huge sucker for development. Four for you, Chelsea.
 Overall: B
 Not super impressed with her sexcapades, but props for the amounts of laugh-out-loud material. The stories, while some required mind-bleach, were told brilliantly.

Oscar Wilde: The Collected Oscar Wilde

• ISBN-13: 9781593083106
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 12/1/2007
• Series: Barnes & Noble Classics Series
• Pages: 640

A renowned eccentric, dandy, and man-about-town, Oscar Wilde was foremost a dazzling wit and dramatic genius whose plays, poems, essays, and fiction contain some of the most frequently quoted quips and passages in the English language. 
 This volume features a wide selection of Wilde's literary output, including the comic masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest, an immensely popular play filled with satiric epigrams that mercilessly expose Victorian hypocrisy; The Portrait of Mr. W. H., a story proposing that Shakespeare's sonnets were inspired by the poet's love for a young man; The House of Pomegranates, the author's collection of fairy tales; lectures Wilde delivered, first in the United States, where he exhorted his audiences to love beauty and art, and then in England, where he presented his impressions of America; his two major literary-theoretical works, "The Decay of Lying" and "The Critic as Artist"; and a selection of verse, including his great poem The Ballad of Reading Goal, in which Wilde famously declared that "each man kills the thing he loves."
 A testament to Wilde's incredible versatility, this collection displays his legendary wit, brilliant use of language, and penetrating insight into the human condition.
 
So Oscar Wilde is pretty much one of my favorite playwrights of all time. I mean, The Importance of Being Earnest? Come on. One of the most hilarious plays of all time. He was also incredibly intelligent, albeit Socialist. And did I mention that he went to jail for being gay? So yeah, A+ life story.
 In Barnes and Nobles' classics edition, they compile a rather stellar display of his many works. Starting off with short stories, they segue into poetry, articles, essays, and finally end with a three act version of Earnest. Therefore, you get a great sampling of the many interests of Wilde and the way in which his brain worked.
 Personally, a lot of what he said really resonated with me and what I feel the political and media situation of today. His essay, Critic as Artist, screamed at me about the faultiness of the media. He also spent a lot of time in The Truth of Masks talking about the importance of period-accurate costuming in drama, referring to Shakespeare's copious notes to his performances, making it easy for reproductions to portray the characters as Shakespeare originally intended.
 Wilde, aside from having a great intellectual mind, was also highly creative and wrote beautifully. The collection starts off with eight short stories, my favorite of which was Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, which is written with the same humor and attention to the ridiculous as Earnest. Which is probably why I was so amused. I cracked up laughing just telling the story to my uncle after I read it.
 Overall: A
 Wilde can sometimes become dry and pedantic, which makes his essays occasionally difficult to muddle through. But this is still a great collection, and I highly recommend it. WARNING The House of Pomegranates is actually not included in this volume, not sure why it's in the blurb.

Janet Evanovich: Wicked Appetite

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; First Edition edition (August 16, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383350

Lizzy Tucker has inherited a historic house in Marblehead, Massachusetts, taken a new job as pastry chef for Dazzle's Bakery in Salem, and set her sights on a comfortable future. The comfortable future and any hope for normalcy evaporates when dark-haired, dark-hearted Gerwulf Grimoire and his nemesis, a blond beach bum named Diesel, enter Dazzle's and change Lizzy's life forever.
 Grimoire has set his sights on the Stones of SALIGIA, rumored to have found their way to Salem. These seven stones, each representing one of the seven deadly sins, can bestow frightening powers upon its owner. Powers that would be dangerous in Grimoire's hands...
 Diesel is a man with a mission: to stop Grimoire at all costs. In order t do so he'll need to convince the baker she alone has the ability to keep Grimoire from the stones. Once Lizzy and Diesel become a team, Diesel will have to guard Lizzy's body...day and night.
 The Seven Deadly Sins pretty much cover everything that's wicked. Diesel thinks they also pretty much cover everything that's fun. And Lizzy thinks Diesel and The Sins cover everything her mother warned her about...
 
 I sometimes forget how short Evanovich novels generally are these days. No less funny, no less ridiculous, no less Evanovich-y, but short.
 In Wicked Appetite, the first of the Lizzy and Diesel series, Lizzy is initiated into the world of the Unmentionables. And no, I'm not talking about your grandmother's underwear. I'm thinking there are going to be at least seven in the series, because I am a fan of complete-ness (not completion, mind you) and I swear to God if she doesn't hit all seven deadly sins...there will be hell to pay. See what I did there?
 Diesel, who we know from the between-the-numbers holiday books of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, is hunting Gerwulf Grimoire, his cousin, who is looking for the stones of the seven sins in order to rule the world. According to Diesel, of course. Lizzy seems to be the only person around who can help him, having the Unmentionable ability of being able to sense Unmentionable objects. Sound convoluted? It's not really. She makes Unmentionable cupcakes.
 Evanovich's humor shines through, as usual, in the completely unrealistic and ridiculous antics her characters get up to and the completely bemused, I-give-up-let's-roll-with-it attitude with which they confront their increasingly complicated lives. Her usual animal sidekicks are present in the forms of the monkey Carl and Cat, the one-eyed guardian of Lizzy's inherited home.
 As far as characterization goes, Evanovich has started to rely on tropes. Her girls are good-natured, awkward ladies confronted with strange circumstances who have breakdowns every once in a while that are easily tempered with baked goods. The men are sweet but occasionally lascivious. There's the crazy sidekick who is also good-natured but constantly causing problems. It's a formula that works, but it's a formula nonetheless.
 Overall: B
 There wasn't much punch to this novel, but it was funny and enjoyable. Hopefully the plot is cleared up a little more in future books. The characters aren't even really certain what they're looking for most of the time.

Diana Gabaldon: Dragonfly in Amber

• Mass Market Paperback: 976 pages
• Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (November 2, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0440215622

For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland's majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones...about a love that transcends the boundaries of time...and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his...
 Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire's spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart...in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising...and in a desperate flight to save both the child and the man she loves...

She even used the book title twice in the book (at least). Label me impressed.
 This book picks up right where the last one left off, once you get into the second part. First, though, you have to suffer through a few chapters of intense confusion. Claire is back in the present for some reason that we cannot at that point fathom, and she's looking for information on the men who died at Culloden, the very battle she was trying to prevent when last we left her. So immediately we know she failed. The question then becomes how and why.
 From there on it's a fairly romping adventure through France and back to Scotland with murder, scandal, and, of course, political intrigue. Jamie and Claire are trying to sabotage James and his Charles' attempt to initiate a revolution in England to gain the throne from George, but they have to appear to be Jacobites in order to farm their information without suspicion. This leads to some pretty uncomfortable circumstances as can be imagined.
 The one complaint I would have to lodge is a pacing issue. There are quite a few times when I was reading and I wondered why I was reading about some minute moment in Claire Randall's life. The book is already pretty massive and packed with action, so I could have done without some example of random domesticity. At the end, when you think it might be time to be close to over, you're wrong. The book continues far beyond what is reasonable. It seemed to be wondering in the last few chapters, skipping huge chunks of time. It was almost as if she was trying to cram everything into the last few sections and it came out kind of a trainwreck, I felt. Finally, the giant "plot twist" at the end seemed random and irrelevant when it came down to it. You didn't see it coming because a) it was almost forgotten and b) there was absolutely no hint of it. Rule #1 of writing a good mystery - don't pull your suspects or your motives completely out of your ass.
 SPOILER ALERT SPOILER SPOILER DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER
Aside from the pacing issues, the characterization was great. I especially enjoyed the development of Jack Randall (yes, he shows back up, are we really all surprised?). She did an excellent job of compromising what you thought of him and letting you see that maybe he had a softer side after all. And I thought Jamie learned a huge lesson in the last scene with Randall as well.
 Overall: B-
 The pacing issues really did bother me.

Thomas Hardy: Tess of the d'Urbervilles

• ISBN-13: 9781593082284
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 6/5/2005
• Pages: 544

Highly controversial because of its frank look at the sexual hypocrisy of Victorian society, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles was nonetheless a great commercial success when it appeared in 1891. It is now considered one of the finest novels in English.
 Using richly poetic language to frame a shattering narrative of love, seduction, betrayal, and murder, Hardy tells the story of Tess Durbeyfield, a beautiful young woman living with her impoverished family in Hardy's fictionalized Wessex, a pastoral community in southwestern England. After the family learns of their connection to the wealthy d'Urbervilles, they send Tess to claim a portion of their fortune. She meets and is seduced by the dissolute Alec d'Urberville and secretly bears a child, Sorrow, who dies in infancy. Angel Clare, a very different man, seems to offer Tess love and salvation, but he rejects her - on their wedding night - after learning of her past. Emotionally bereft, financially impoverished, and victimized by the self-righteous rigidity of English social morality, Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible, desperate act. 
 With its compassionate portrait of a young rural woman, powerful criticism of social convention, and disarming consideration of the role of destiny in human life, Tess of the d'Urbervilles is one of the most moving and memorable of Hardy's novels.
 
 This book should be called Tess of the D'UrberVILES.
 Aha, see what I did there?
 Joking aside, there is nothing funny about this book. It is literally a sad fest from beginning to end. Now that you have that out of the way though, and you know that you will derive no happiness from reading this book, you can sit back and enjoy it. Because it really is beautifully written, and when you're reading it you forget a little bit about how miserable it all is.
 Really, this book is one thumper of a social commentary. The subtitle, not presented in this addition, is actually A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented. You would laugh if you knew the story beforehand and read that subtitle. Thanks to me, you can enjoy the inside joke now. Tess is a poor "farm girl," despite the fact that what I can tell, her father and mother do little to no work. She's beautiful and sweet and pure, until Alec D'Urberville comes into her path. A kindly clergyman alerts her father to his ancestry, coming from the illustrious D'Urberville line going back to William the Conqueror, and so her parents send her off to claim kin with the D'Urberville family living up the road. Except they bought into the name, don't actually come from the line. And Alec is a horny philanderer.
 All of this results in the destruction of Tess' life. It's not her fault - and that's the key. She might be blamed for being weak-willed and succumbing to her parents' wishes too easily, but other than that, her plight is the plight of many women before her and probably many after. What Hardy points out is the hypocrisy of society in blaming and punishing the woman for actions outside her control. Even when she attempts to distance herself from the circumstances of her disgrace, she is still held accountable by those who purport to be more understanding. She can't escape and her weakness leads her into more problems, until, finally, there is no way out.
 Well, that's about as best as I can describe it without giving you the entire story. Although, if you're really, super desperate to know the full tale, Wikipedia is your friend. Now let's talk about some characters.
 Alec is a giant douchenozzle to end all douchenozzles. He's manipulative in the extreme. Angel Clare, the other purported protagonist of the tale, is a sweetheart with some serious identity issues. He's parted from his clergyman father because he disagrees with his extremist religious views, but he still can't escape his roots. It's a common problem. No matter how old you get, it's hard to break old habits and ways of thought. Another lesson to take away.
 Overall: B+
 I enjoyed it, mostly because I didn't expect a lot of happiness to come out of it. There were some dry bits, but even in the amidst of wordy paragraphs celebrating odes to the beauty of the countryside, Hardy's craft is obvious. He was a great writer. So there you have it. Don't read this if you want to be happy and have faith in humanity after.

Melissa Marr: Radiant Shadows

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (February 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0061659249

Hunger for nourishment. Hunger for touch. Hunger to belong.
Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers. Those same cravings also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies - including Devlin, the assassin who is brother to the faeries' High Queen. Ani and Devlin are drawn together, but as they grow closer, a larger threat imperils the whole of Faerie. Will saving the Faery realm mean losing each other?
 Alluring romance, heart-stopping danger, and sinister intrigue combine in the penultimate volume of Melissa Marr's New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series.

AH THIS TITLE MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW. It's really the only one, other than Ink Exchange, but yeah. Side note of excitement for sudden and blinding comprehension.
 With this installment, Melissa Marr draws one step closer to the final novel in her faery series. She keeps building on her world, which is nice, but on the other hand, I sometimes lose track of who's who. There are just so many characters running around, and shifting of allegiances, that I find myself having to go back every once in a while and refresh on what happened previously. That gets a little annoying, but I'll make the sacrifice for such a good series.
 So, in Radiant Shadows, Sorcha's losing her damn mind, the Summer Court and the Winter Court barely make appearances other than to say that hey, nothing's changed, and the Dark Court is still confusing as hell. Mostly, Irial and Niall confuse me. I have no idea why Niall angsting so hard, but he is, and Irial is still largely awesome, so there are, effectively two Dark Kings. Ish.
 The focus of this novel, one of the so-called "in between" novels, is the halfling Ani, who was introduced in the first novel, I believe. She's part Hound and is incredibly antsy to be accepted. Except that's difficult because she's...special. Enter Devlin, the High Queen's Bloody Hand, re: assassin, who was supposed to kill Ani once upon a time, but clearly didn't. Chaos ensues. Doesn't it always? This time, though, I mean literally: Bananach, War and Disorder embodied, is on the warpath and trying to stir up trouble.
 Marr is building on what she's already created, so there's not a lot of character development going on. It's kind of just getting to know already semi-familiar characters. Unless she throws in a new player, which she does (cough RAE cough DREAMWALKER WHO THE HELL ARE YOU WHAT IS GOING ON cough). Further, the plot is interesting and sufficiently twisty, although she could stand with a little less mystery and a little more exposition. For example, can we have a more clear statement regarding where Ani's wolves come from? What's up with Seth? And also are we just dropping the subject of her supposedly precious blood? (I'm sure that will be answered in the last novel, though.)
 Overall: B+
 It was not my favorite of her novels, and I'm getting a little tired of being denied knowledge gratification until the last few chapters of the novel. But it was still good and it definitely built up the suspense for the next, and last, installment.

So apparently Russia loves me.

Patricia Briggs: Silver Borne

• ISBN-13: 9780441019960
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Publication date: 1/25/2011
• Series: Mercy Thompson Series , #5
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 304

 When Mercy Thompson, mechanic and shape-shifter, attempts to return a powerful fae book she previously borrowed in an act of desperation, she finds the bookstore locked up and closed down. 
 It seems the book contains secrets - and the fae will do just about anything to keep it out of the wrong hands. And if that doesn't take enough of Mercy's attention, her friend Samuel is struggling with his wolf side - leaving Mercy to cover for him lest his own father declare Samuel's life forfeit. 
 All in all, Mercy has had better days. And if she isn't careful, she may not have many more... 
 Mercy Thompson is, hands down, one of my favorite heroines of all time. OF ALL TIME. She's badass, she's brave, she's independent. But in this book she learns something else that we haven't really seen from her yet: she learns that it's okay to lean on someone else and be the weak one for a while. Having spent the last four months immersed in Supernatural, I find this message particularly meaningful after watching Dean Winchester struggle to take all the blame and responsibility of the world on his own shoulders and sacrifice himself for others time and again. OKAY that went where it wasn't meant to go, but the point is, I appreciated Mercy's development all the more because of my Supernatural feels.
 In this installment of her saga, Mercy's dealing with pack and fae bullshit. The pack, being a bunch of mostly old-fashioned dogs, essentially, are having a little trouble accepting a coyote shifter as their Alpha's mate. Since Adam and Mercy are still on precarious ground after her rape of two novels ago, they haven't really taken the time to figure out the dynamics of the magical pack bond that Mercy now has to deal with. Prime time for messing with Mercy's head. Throw in Samuel's mental breakdown (he's very old and very lonely) and you have a recipe for oh-man. And a major plot twist for our favorite white wolf toward the end.
 Also, the fae are after her, again. Although it's not the Gray Lords and it's not a group of fae so much as it's one fae in particular throwing a wretch of a wrench into her life, so that's a plus. Zee's son, Tad, asks Mercy to check in on a mutual friend, and hijinks naturally ensue.
 As I've already kind of intimated, the developing relationship between Mercy and Adam is my favorite part of this novel. Every time something happens to Mercy, Adam climbs the walls and has a freak out, and I, damsel at heart that I am, love to see a man lose his cool when his love is in danger. And since he's a wolf, that means a whole lot more. He has a few this novel, mostly because of the issues with the pack bond, but Mercy handles them supremely and actually talks it out with him, which is a major step in any relationship. So rah-rah on that front. AND BRAN AND CHARLES. They show up briefly and basically any chance to see Bran has me cheering from the rafters.
 Overall: A
 It wasn't as completely action packed as the other novels, but it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat with a ton of "will-he-or-won't-he" situations. Or she. There were a lot. The mystery also had an interesting twist.

Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison: The Federalist

• ISBN-13: 9781593082826
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 2/1/2006
• Series: Barnes & Noble Classics Series
• Pages: 560

A classic of American political thought, The Federalist is a series of eighty-five essays by three authors - Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay - written to curry support for the proposed new Constitution of the United States, a document that many considered too radical. Most of the "papers" were published in periodicals as the vote drew near. Without the support of these powerfully persuasive essays, the Constitution most likely would not have been ratified and the United States might not have survived as a nation.
 Beginning with an assault upon the country's first constitution, the Articles of Confederation, the authors of The Federalist present a masterly defense of the new system. They comment brilliantly on the proper size and scope of government, taxation, impeachment, and many other issues of the day.
 Written in haste and during a time of great crisis in the new American government, the articles were not expected to achieve immortality. Today, however, many historians consider The Federalist as the third most important political document in American history, just behind the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself. It has become the benchmark of American political philosophy, and the best explanation of what the Founding Fathers were trying to achieve.

 For those of us unaware of United States history, let me sketch an incredibly rough portrait: following the Revolutionary War, it became increasingly clear that the Articles of Confederation, a proxy constitution thrown together to tie all the different states into an alliance and ensure some form of unity, would not suffice to maintain a stable government among the states. So a convention was called to write a constitution for the new-born country. There were many issues, naturally, but the biggest and most general was whether or not the federal (central) government would be strong or would be fairly weak. This resulted in a divide between the federalists, who wanted a strong central government capable of occasionally overriding states' laws, and the states-rights group, who wanted the power to rest in each individual state - which, if you haven't noticed, isn't really a united anything as much as a group of people who agree with each other, sometimes.
 Into the fray jump three of the times most influential authors/statesmen: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Coming solidly down on the side of the federalists, and defending the Constitution that was at that time being written, reviewed, and voted on, these three published a series of papers under the collective name of "Publius" addressing each of the contentions of their opponents.
  First, I would like to say that I love these three men. Alexander Hamilton, while a conniving, philandering ass at times, was brilliant. John Jay and James Madison, also, were brilliant. So this is a collection of gorgeous minds systematically arguing their point.
 Who would read this collection of papers in the modern day? Very few, I imagine. Still, I think everyone would benefit from reading them, especially in the times in which we live. We need a reminder of the men who fought for our rights in the first place, why they fought, and what they were fighting for. We need a reminder of what the Constitution was originally meant to be and how far we have strayed from the ideals of the men who founded this country. Do I think they had it all right? Absolutely not. They weren't perfect, or seers of the future. They were men of their times. But I think the lessons they have to teach ring true even today, if we could just be bothered to pay attention to them.
 Overall: A
 There wasn't a ton of legal-ese or specialized jargon despite the positions these men occupied. Of course. They wanted to reach as broad an audience as possible. The headings are easy to follow, their arguments make sense and every once in a while they, especially Alexander Hamilton, can be downright sassypants, and I love that.
 SIDE NOTE: Coincidentally, as I was reading this while in Japan, one of my Japanese friends had to read excerpts from The Federalist for her English class. Haha, what?

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment

• ISBN-13: 9781593080815
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 2/1/2007
• Series: Barnes & Noble Classics Series
• Pages: 576

Few authors have been as personally familiar with desperation as Fyodor Dostoevsky, and none have been so adept at describing it. Crime and Punishment - the novel that heralded the author's period of masterworks - tells the story of the poor and talented student Raskolnikov, a character of unparalleled psychological depth and complexity. Raskolnikov reasons that men like himself, by virtue of their intellectual superiority, can and must transcend societal law. To test his theory, he devises the perfect crime - the murder of a spiteful pawnbroker living in St. Petersburg. 
 Raskolnikov soon realizes the folly of his abstractions. Haunted by vivid hallucinations and the torments of his conscience, he seeks relief from his terror and moral isolation - first in Sonia, the pious streetwalker who urges him to confess, then in a tense game of cat and mouse with Porfiry, the brilliant magistrate assigned to the murder investigation. One of the most gripping crime stories of all time, Crime and Punishment delineates the theories and motivations that underlie a bankrupt morality.
 
 I knew I was doomed from reading the first paragraph, simply about Raskolnikov sneaking past his landlady because he didn't want to talk to her, and I related way too much. Like, "Holy shit, this is actually me." Happily, it didn't turn out completely that way, but close enough to be uncomfortable.
 Crime and Punishment is the story of a young college student who has a theory about great men being able/allowed to do things that ordinary men aren't. This leads to him committing a murder pretty much simply to prove his theory and prove himself one of said great men.
 What follows is the slow mental breakdown of Raskolnikov (clearly not the great man he thought he was - aha). He encounters sundry side characters who either contribute to his burden or, in their attempt to understand him, give him hope. There's his mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, and his sister, Dunia. His friend Razumikhin, his (girl)friend, Sonia. Of course, he has his antagonists in the forms of Porfiry and Svidrigailov. Oh, the Russian names. Complicated things, my friends, but these are the easiest to remember, I suppose. They all have interweaving storylines - they all know each other in some capacity.
 What makes this novel so compelling is how utterly human they all are. Especially Raskolnikov. You relate to him, his wanderings, his tortures, his emotions. Even if you never would have come up with his theory, you see how he came to it, and all of his actions and his emotions following the murder are so supremely human, I can't even. I related to him even more than I thought. He lashes out at those who love him most when he's angry and hurt and ashamed because he feels he doesn't deserve it, or he knows they will take the abuse and still love him after. It's something I know I do in my own life. His struggles not to collapse entirely when he realizes that Porfiry expects him. Side note about Porfiry: I started off really being irritated by him and his method of police work, but he really pulled through in the end. In his last scene in the book, I even felt a little fondness for the old fellow.
 One of the best parts of the novel, is its overall happy ending. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that 70% of the characters witness significant improvements to their lives and overall happiness. I'll leave you to guess which ones. Also, the villains of the piece are justly dealt with. I didn't feel that they escaped what they deserved, and I think it was just so refreshing to have a Russian author not crush all my hopes and dreams that I really fell in love with it.
 Overall: A+
 While it dragged in places, as the Russian authors do, I was just so in love with the depiction of raw humanity and the ending that I'll forgive it.

Hideyuki Kikuchi: Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse Books; 1st DH Press Ed edition (December 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-1595821065

The Cruel Desert between the Inner and Outer Frontiers has a mind, and a heart, of its own.
Granny Viper is a "people finder," a searcher for lost souls along the roads of the forbidding wasteland of 12,090 A.D. Her latest mission: the safe return to her family of an "abductee," a young woman named Tae, kidnapped eight years ago by vampire Nobility and held in Castle Gradinia on the far border of the Frontiers. Rescuing Tae was only half the battle - Viper knows she can't make the rest of the journey with the girl across the formidable expanse to the town of Barnabas alone. But the wizened crone makes a fatal mistake in hiring the mercenary Bullow Brothers to help her, and when she turns to the legendary Vampire Hunter D for salvation the two women and D find themselves in a race for their lives across the blinding desert sands.
 
Another adventure of D - and I really liked this one, mostly because it took D to an emotional place that we'd never seen him before.
 D walks into a Frontier town, like he do, and takes a job from a lawyer engaged in sweaty orgy. Yeah, it surprised me, too. Unfortunately, there are a couple of those happy gunslingers (who usually don't even possess actual guns) that abound on the Frontier who of course want to challenge him. Then there's the one who wants his help, and she's pretty sassy. And also bi-polar, apparently.
 Anyway, with this rag tag group of crazy kids they start across an extremely dangerous desert that they discover...oops, I can't tell you that. Because that would spoil the surprise. But I will tell you this - it's a bit of a "what?" moment. But on to the emotional stuff. The girl in the charge of Granny (sassy lady) is one of the hidden, italics not mine. In other words, she was kidnapped by the Nobility, has served them for who knows how long, and now Granny is returning her to her family, which is an iffy prospect to say the least. There's another surprise about this girl that D strangely connects to, and he, despite the author telling us how cold he is pretty much constantly, protects her from everyone and everything. Not because he has to, but because he's noble and good, and I love that nobody thinks he is, but he's the freaking best. Sorry, babble city right there, but I really love D.
 There's a lot of that strange sort of honor going around in this volume. Each character starts out seeming like a deceptive asshole, but by the end of the book you actually care about each of them. And you're even...somewhat proud of them. And I think that's a great and interesting quality in a novel that is essentially about an emotionless, badass swordsman. Delightfully unexpected.
 Overall: A
 I think this was one of the better ones, plot and pacing wise, although Kikuchi does have a serious problem with keeping pretty much everything obscure. If his plan is to leave us hanging as long as possible and draw the series out, it's working.

Plato: Essential Dialogues of Plato

• ISBN-13: 9781593082697
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 10/5/2005
• Series: Barnes & Noble Classics Series
• Pages: 624

Western philosophy starts with Socrates and his student Plato. By way of the dialectic that evolved between master and student, Plato invented the philosophical method of inquiry and analysis, and became the first to use a logical framework to ask - and try to answer - the eternal questions about ethics, politics, art, and life that still haunt humanity: What is virtue? What is justice? What is the ideal form of government? What is the individual's relationship to the state? Do artists have a responsibility to society, or only to their own creative impulse? Plato explores these issues through a series of dialogues, records of supposed conversations between Socrates and other Greek aristocrats.
 What is often ignored in commentaries on Plato's work is its unique literary form. The dialogues are neither dramas nor stories, yet they are skillfully fashioned by means of characters, narrative events, dramatic moments, and perhaps most surprising, a great deal of humor. Along with such exemplar of Plato's thought as Symposium, Apology, and Phaedrus, this volume includes the first three books of Plato's Laws.

 I'm not sure if people realize this...but Plato was one sassy dude. There were multiple times when reading these dialogues that I said, out loud to a room full of people, "Oh, snap!" The best part is, he was being a total asshole but couched his words in super complimentary language. Everybody knew he was being sarcastic, of course. I mean, when you're Socrates and you're renowned for your wisdom and you're expounding on how much smarter than you is your interlocutor, and you simply can't understand what he's saying because you are so much lower than he is (even though you just forced him to contradict himself) - you know you're being out-sassed.
 I should clarify what's going on in these dialogues: they are related as a series of conversations between Socrates and other people. Socrates was Plato's mentor/teacher and Plato is mentioned a grand total of twice in the dialogues presented in this volume, and he never speaks himself. However, since Socrates' philosophy was never written down, they're kind of Plato's tribute to and explanation of Socrates. So when I say that Socrates is speaking - kind of.
 Topics here range from what is righteousness and bravery to what are laws and their purpose and how they're useful.
 I do have some complaints, though. First of all - a lot of the reasoning is kind of...off. As in, one thing does not necessarily follow another. Or Socrates' conclusions are not absolute truths and so, when he takes them for absolute truth and bases the rest of his argument off that point, you can't exactly say that he's right. Often, the arguments also get convoluted as the debaters go on tangents and then circle back when Socrates has somehow disproved their first statements.
 For all that, the dialogues are interesting and sometimes, frankly, downright funny. They are also the basis for philosophical thinking in modern society, so even if you don't agree with the conclusions, it still might be pertinent and even interesting to read through these dialogues. You're not going to win any arguments with them, but...
 Overall: B
 Although again I find myself confronted with the dilemma of how to rate a classic...

Laurell K. Hamilton: Divine Misdemeanors

• ISBN-13: 9780345495976
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication date: 7/27/2010
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 384

 You may know me best as Meredith Nic Essus, princess of faerie. Or perhaps as Merry Gentry, Los Angeles private eye. To protect my unborn children, I have turned my back on the crown, choosing exile in the human world with my beloved Frost and Darkness. Yet I cannot abandon my people. Someone is killing the fey, which has left the LAPD baffled and my guardsmen and me deeply disturbed. I thought I'd left the blood and politics behind in my own turbulent realm. But now I realize that evil knows no borders, and that nobody lives forever - even if they're magical.

 Merry has given up her throne in faerie, rightfully given to her by Goddess herself, in order to live with her many men and raise her babies in peace. But that's not really going to happen because this is Laurell K. Hamilton, first of all, and second, Merry is the only other available ruler for the Unseelie court and Andais has gone off her rocker, officially. So there are factions galore and everyone wants to kill Merry, maybe. Which we pretty much only get because Doyle still has spies at court.
 Now on to the actual "mystery" portion of the novel. We are, for the first time since like the third book,  back in the real world and working for the detective agency again. It's kind of nice to have an actual problem to solve instead of power politics. Namely, someone has been killing the supposedly immortal demi-fey/lesser fey and Merry is called in to give her expert opinion. Of course, she's followed by her massive entourage because she's pregnant and royal and famous and screw the paparazzi. Basically.
 Now we encounter my first complaint, that actually isn't a huge complaint, but enough to get mentioned - there are way too many characters floating around. Several times I found myself wondering if I'd seen that character before and in what context. She talked about them like we already knew them, but for the life of me I couldn't remember why. Also, since there are so many, it's hard to get any good characterization in. I especially miss Doyle and Frost having the foreground after book 4, I think it was. That, for me, was the best of these novels. We had that emotional breakdown from Doyle when he thought Mistral had been chosen as king to Merry's queen - and it was beautiful. There's not a lot of that going on anymore. There is a lot of emotional/sexual healing going on, though, since all of Merry's guards, which now include Cel's female ex-guards, have some serious mental scars from their abuse at court.
 Which brings me to point number 2: for whatever reason, Hamilton has become incredibly heavy-handed i with her development strategies. We'll be rolling merrily along, detecting, advising, etc. when HALT FOR MERRY'S REVELATION ABOUT A GUARD. We have these strange breaks to have a breakdown, or have some crazy powerful sex, or just to have one of the guards reveal a little more of their life story. There was one particular passage that screamed complete lack of fluidity, being that it jumped between the present investigation, to Merry's thoughts on something else, back to the investigation, and back to Merry's thoughts. Usually Hamilton's much more focused. I think it's a symptom of way too many characters to deal with.
 Other than these complaints (and the shockingly short appearance of Mistral) it was an interesting mystery, and sufficiently squick-y at the end. Although I do think Merry was a tad dense on this one - the clues added up a little faster than she realized.
 Overall: B
 The saving factor for this grade was the murder mystery. Otherwise, I felt like the developments in Merry's world were not coherent, connected, or especially well handled. And I miss the fathers of the babies being around more (yes, I said fathers - Doyle, Frost, Mistral, Sholto, Rhys, and Galen, I believe. Which handily solved the problem of me having too many favorites, and Hamilton as well, is my guess).

Philippa Gregory: The Other Queen

• ISBN-13: 9781416549147
• Publisher: Touchstone
• Publication date: 7/14/2009
• Pages: 464

This dazzling novel from bestselling author Philippa Gregory presents a new and unique view of one of history's most intriguing, romantic, and maddening heroines. Mary, Queen of Scots, trusts Queen Elizabeth's promise of sanctuary when she flees from rebels in Scotland and then finds herself imprisoned as the "guest" of George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and his indomitable wife, Bess of Hardwick. The newly married couple welcomes the doomed queen into their home, certain that serving as her hosts and jailers will bring them an advantage in the cutthroat world of the Elizabethan court. To their horror, they find that the task will bankrupt them, and as their home becomes the epicenter of intrigue and rebellion against Elizabeth, their loyalty to each other and to their sovereign comes into question. If Mary succeeds in seducing the earl into her own web of treachery and treason, or if the great spymaster William Cecil links them to the growing conspiracy to free Mary from her illegal imprisonment, they will all face the headsman.

 So here's a fun story for you - apparently my family is related to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots. Yeah. I have a personal connection to this story.
 Gregory here tales the tale of one Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland and France, and perhaps rightful heir to the throne of England. But that's kind of up in the air, considering the fact that Elizabeth Tudor sits on the throne, the Protestant Queen. I believe that Gregory portrays both queens in lights uncommon to the usual history writings about them. Elizabeth is paranoid, easily led by her advisor William Cecil, a character who you would have met before had you read another of her works, The Virgin's Lover. He was quite a fixture at that time, and you can either consider him to have been a wise advisor or a grasping plotter, take your pick. This book chooses the latter view in contrast to her earlier version of him. Much more is made of Elizabeth's reliance on him and fear of rebellion. Mary is portrayed as a cunning, conniving woman, who was not only not silly or easily led by her emotions, but was rather more unfortunate in her allies and her lack of luck. That doesn't make her continued plotting in the face of consistent failure and her unfailing insistence on the divinity of her person any less annoying.
 We also have some side characters in the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife, Bess, one of the few successful female businesswomen of  the time. While he is played for a fool, she is as grasping as the rest of the Protestant upstarts that have snatched wealth from the churches they have thrown down, and just as reluctant to let their stolen wealth go. The more amusing parts of the novel involve her musings on how God obviously favors the Protestants since they have so much wealth, and how she knows that the Protestants are just gold-mongers at heart that really wanted the Church's wealth more than divine approbation, but she doesn't seem to care much.
 The entire story consists of plot after plot after plot to free Mary and send her to Scotland, and all the political maneuverings that abounded in Tudor England. She managed to keep it from getting too tedious, though. The only other critique I really have is the writing style. For some reason, the first person writing seemed really stilted and too self-aware. Most of the time, Gregory doesn't make it feel like the character is aware of creating a story, but this one seemed like each character was writing a journal entry for posterity. At first it was sort of uncomfortable, but you got used to it after a bit.
 Overall: B
 This wasn't among Gregory's best. The writing was a little off in comparison to her previous works, and it was just more of the same going on, although, like I said, it didn't ever stray into boring territory.

Karen Chance: Curse the Dawn

• ISBN-13: 9780451412706
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
• Publication date: 4/7/2009
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 400

 Cassandra Palmer may be the all-powerful Pythia now, but that doesn't mean people have stopped trying to kill her. Most of the supernatural power players don't want independent-minded Cassie as chief clairvoyant - and they'll stop at nothing to see her six feet under. 
 The Vampire Senate does support Cassie in her position, but their protection comes with a price: an alliance with the sexy master vampire Mircea, who has claimed Cassie as his own.
 But even the vampires will have trouble keeping Cassie alive now that the self-styled god Apollo, the source of the Pythia's power, has it in for her in a big way. To save her life - and the world - Cassie's going to have to face down her creator once and for all...  

 This is going to sound absolutely horrible, but it took me to the end of the second chapter to be 100% certain that I hadn't read that book before. I'm going to attribute that to having flipped through at another point in time to find certain plot points so my mind could be at peace. Yes, I do that. I frequently read the end of novels just to make sure that I'm not going to be throwing it at a wall later.
 Cassie's in a pickle. Isn't she always? She really doesn't want to kill anyone from the Silver Circle, since those lives are the ones preventing Apollo from entering this world. On the other hand, those crazy bastards are out to get her, and 90% of them don't care if she's dead or alive, and would, in fact, prefer her dead. So there's a paradox for you. Also, Mircea is being hyper-protective, as usual, and that is growing increasingly frustrating for the new Pythia. To top off all of her other problems, she accidentally manages to swap bodies with her erstwhile companion Pritkin, causing strife and confusion for all.
 All's well that ends well, however, and I'm terribly interested to see where Chance will take Cassie in the next book. I won't tell you why, because that would spoil everything, but I'm pumped.
 I felt that, once again, Chance managed to jam pack her novel full of action. She's really not a fan of letting her heroines rest, but that's more of a symptom of the genre, I think. It certainly makes the novel fly by faster when you don't have time to get bored. I'm also on tenterhooks to see how she's going to deal with the tension between Mircea, Cassie, and Pritkin. I'm Team Mircea all the way, and I can't say I'll be terribly pleased if that relationship goes sour, but I'm willing to ride wherever Chance takes me. Especially with all of the juicy Mircea-Cassie emotional goodness going on. Mm, mm, good.
 The other downside to her fast paced plot is the whiplash-inducing wrap-up. Within two chapters we fight the big bad, solve the world's problems (for the time being), and return life to fairly-normal with some improvements. Because there's so much going on, when we finally confront the major problem, you kind of get a "oh, we're doing this now?" feeling. It's a little disorienting.
 Overall: A-
 I enjoyed it, as I always do, although the ending was a little too speedy for my taste.

Henry Fielding: Tom Jones

• ISBN-13: 9781593080709
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 5/1/2004
• Pages: 848

Reacting against the sentimentality and moralism of the earliest English novels, Henry Fielding chose to create a work whose main character contains all the complexities of a real human being: the foundling Tom Jones. Tom has been raised by the Squire Allworthy to love virtue, and he truly wants to do good. But Tom's inability to control his temper and his hearty appetite for food, drink, and the opposite sex get him kicked out of Allworthy's estate - and separated from his one real love, Sophia Western. So begins Tom's journey from the English countryside to the teeming city of London. Along the way he meets a parade of colorful characters, enjoys a series of bawdy , comic adventures, eventually discovers his true parentage, triumphs over the villainous Blifil, and rejoins the beautiful Sophia.
 Soon after its 1749 publication, Tom Jones was condemned for being "lewd," and even blamed for several earthquakes. But what really riled critics was its supremely funny satirical attack on eighteenth-century British society and its follies and hypocrisies - which, of course, are very much like our own. 

 Good lord, what a long novel. Split into eighteen books, each with numerous chapters, the first of which is a prologue to the chapter that frequently has nothing to do with the goings on of the novel itself. I don't know why, that was just kind of the style.
 Fielding was a master satirist, and took great pleasure in taking pot shots at his contemporaries. Luckily, the Barnes and Noble Classics edition is kind enough to provide footnotes explaining obscure references and personal grudges.
 Tom Jones is a foundling, i.e. a bastard child. In English society, this is not to be borne (hehe, get it?) If you're a bastard, even though that has nothing to do with your own personal character, polite society still attributes the same characteristics to you: profligacy and general vice. So, our dear Tom, despite being the most kind-hearted fellow, albeit with a naturally active sex-drive, is looked down upon and denigrated by pretty much everyone. Except for his neighbor's daughter, the angel-upon-earth, Sophia Western. She is above his station, however, and many misunderstandings and character libel ensue. Although Tom himself does nothing to purposely subvert himself, there are a slew of characters out to get him, for no other reason than that he is a bastard and is his own person, not subservient to their desires. Most of Jones' problems derive from the plots, or, in the case of some, looseness of tongue, of others.
 Unfortunately, it takes eighteen books for  everything to be set straight and for everyone to get their just desserts. Well, not everyone. Western never seems to learn his lesson and is much an ass as always by the end. For some reason, everyone forgives him, despite his frequent bi-polarity. Ridiculous. The weakness of human nature was often irritating as well. Not because Fielding was being unnecessarily dark or unrealistic, but because it was so true. People do base their views of others on appearance and hearsay, and people are easily changeable and self-serving. And while it's disgusting, you can't really complain. Because humanity sucks. And while it's annoying, it's also humorous at times, because Fielding does occasionally create completely over-blown characters for the sake of comedy.
 Overall: B+
 Fielding was frequently long-winded and pedantic, but he did it with such good humor, it didn't bother me as much as it normally would. And, aside from the frequent head-desking at the extremely circuitous route we used to arrive at our happy ending, and the repeated mistakes made by every character, the novel was quite entertaining and at least always had something going on. Except for the prologues.

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol

• ISBN-13: 9781593080334
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 4/1/2004
• Pages: 304

Generations of readers have been enchanted by Dickens's A Christmas Carol - perhaps the most cheerful ghost story ever. Written in just a few weeks, A Christmas Carol famously recounts the plight of Bob Cratchit, whose family finds joy even in poverty, and the moral regeneration of his miserly boss Ebenezer Scrooge as he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. 
 From Scrooge's "Bah!" and "Humbug!" to Tiny Tim's "God bless us every one!" A Christmas Carol shines with warmth, decency, kindness, humility, and the values of the holidays. But beneath its sentimental surface, A Christmas Carol offers another of Dickens's sharply critical portraits of a brutal society, and an inspiring celebration of the possibility of spiritual, psychological, and social change. 
 This new volume collects Dickens's three most renowned "Christmas Books," including The Chimes, a New Year's tale and The Cricket on the Hearth, whose eponymous insect chirps amid happiness. 
 
As I really only have The Muppets Christmas Carol as a reference, I have to say - they did a pretty good job of keeping everything accurate. There was never a moment when I said to myself, "Well, that wasn't in the movie."
 But since this is not a movie review, that's all I'll say as far as that goes. I really just wanted to point out that I already knew Scrooge's story fairly well. And it's still one of my favorite Christmas stories. I love the spirit of Christmas present, and I kind of wish he would show up to me some Christmas Eve and take me around and generally have a rockin' good time. Although I would be terribly sad when he eventually grew old as dawn approached. Since everyone pretty much knows A Christmas Carol, I'm pretty much going to leave that one alone. Go read it!
 The second short story in this collection was entitled, "The Chimes." I'm not going to lie to you - I'm not 100% certain what this story was about, for one simple reason - it was a little confusing and also I was extremely tired when I was reading part of it, and was probably fading in and out of consciousness a bit, I blush to say. Essentially, there's a little package-carrier named Trotty that meets the spirits of some bells and they teach him a lesson. That's the major theme in all these stories - spirits teaching lessons. He spends a lot of time thinking about how people are generally bad and especially other poor people, for some reason. The spirits show him that sometimes circumstances lead otherwise good people into desperate situations, and show him a horrible future, pretty just because he was thinking negative thoughts. Of course, he returns home and is grateful for his meager life for the rest of his days.
 Parte trois de this collection is "The Cricket on the Hearth," which is an absolutely lovely story of pure love between two good people and the extent to which love can carry one. That's a lot of love, guys. There's a bitter old man who changes his ways, a sweet little blind girl whose father hides the reality of their bleak life from her unseeing eyes, and a former lover of a young girl who almost destroys a marriage (unintentionally). Sound confusing and like they might not all belong in the same story? I promise it makes total sense and it's a beautiful story. Kind of made me want to have a cricket in my fire place, although I absolutely loathe bugs.
 Overall: A
 Charles Dickens is always a pleasure, but I was particularly pleased with these short stories. They all involved families gathered around a certain communal living space learning to appreciate what they had. And for Christmas, what other lesson is there, really?

Henry James: The Turn of the Screw, The Aspern Papers, and Two Stories

• ISBN-13: 9781593080433
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 8/1/2003
• Pages: 336

  Rich in his storytelling techniques and psychological insight, Henry James explores human character with an elegant realism. This collection offers four of his most popular shorter works: The Aspern Papers, The Turn of the Screw, "The Jolly Corner," and "The Beast in the Jungle." 
 In The Aspern Papers cultures, generations, and genders clash as a literary historian tries to pry a packet of letters, written by an important American poet, from the woman to whom they were sent many years earlier. The teasingly ambiguous The Turn of the Screw, perhaps the most sophisticated "ghost story" ever written, finds a governess haunted by spirits that seem connected to the children in her care. Are they truly supernatural beings, or projections of her own repressed feelings? As a critique of the popular spiritualism of the 1890's and an exploration of the subjective point of view in narrative, the story remains a fascinating classic of suspense. "The Jolly Corner" and "The Beast in the Jungle" also feature characters who encounter apparitions that may express aspects of their hidden selves. These four texts, published in James's middle and final periods, brilliantly illustrate his thematic concerns and stylistic range.

Whew, what a mouth-full for a title. Well, multiple titles really. This is not the first time I've read James's work, but these short stories are significantly different from The Bostonians, which I read before I went to Korea. (PS - total side note, I just bought my ticket for Japan - egads.) To me, The Bostonians was much less wordy and much more plot driven, but I suppose that makes sense, considering the fact that that was a novel and these are not.
 The first thing I noticed was that James seemed to be saying a whole lot without saying much. Much of the prose was extremely cerebral and rather danced around subjects without explicitly saying what he was talking about. That got a little annoying, and I found myself spacing out a couple of times, and not really missing much. I don't recommend doing that, though, because you might miss something important in the endless prose that might be the key to unlocking the mystery of the plot. What? Yes.
 The first story involved a rather selfish fellow that missed his opportunity at potential happiness. And we see that theme run through all the stories, although the characters manage to save themselves at times and to different degrees. These are The Aspern Papers, Jeffrey Aspern being a fictional poet of little to no importance that has caught the fascination of our protagonist and one of his friends. He goes to Italy to find Aspern's former lover on the assumption that she has papers from Aspern, and he rents out one of her rooms to get closer to her. The adventures ensue from there.
 Following this is The Turn of the Screw, a fairly unusual ghost story. Everything is vague, of course, being James. There is something going on between the children and some ghosts, but who knows what? I certainly don't, even by the end of the story. You have an idea, but I'm not going to tell you so you can revel in the speculation. And there's a lot of speculation.
 The final two stories echo the first two, although to a lesser extent as they are shorter. We have the man facing his own inner demons (i.e. himself) in the form of a ghostly haunting, and a man that is constantly waiting for some big event in his life, to the point where he misses said event. Rather depressing, that.
 James clearly was concerned with a few overriding themes, and I hope for hi sakes he got those issues hashed out.
 Overall: B
 The stories were interesting and had definite ideas to be absorbed, if one is willing to put in the work. If you aren't, though, be advised - this is not super light reading, despite being a collection of short stories.

Rachel Vincent: My Soul to Keep

• ISBN-13: 9780373210053
• Publisher: Harlequin
• Publication date: 6/1/2010
• Pages: 304

 Kaylee has an addiction: her very hot, very popular boyfriend, Nash. A banshee like Kaylee, Nash understands her like no one else. Nothing can come between them.
 Until something does.
 Demon breath. No, not the toothpaste-challenged kind. The Netherworld kind. The kind that really can kill you. Somehow the super-addictive substance has made its way to the human world. But how? Kaylee and Nash have to cut off the source and protect their friends - one of whom is already hooked.
 And so is someone else...

 NAAAAAASH - she screamed in fury.
 Oh, Rachel, you crazy, sadistic wench. Why must you do this to my emotions on a fairly regular basis? My little fangirl heart can't handle the strain. Although the promise of things to come does somewhat alleviate the pain....
 As I'm sure you've already figured out, Nash and our heroine Kaylee are on the rocks, but why? That is the important question. And not even the most important question. Vincent does a wonderful job in this novel of effectively reproducing the virtually unbounded stupidity of teenagers. Especially rich bitch teenagers. So effective, in fact, that I spend the majority of the novel head-desking hard enough to knock books askew.
 Kaylee and her cousin Sophie are still at odds, mostly because Sophie's a raging bitch-head but also because she sort of blames Kaylee for her mother's death. Emma is dating some moronic jock (so is Sophie, but can we really expect any less? Or more?) who is hell bent on snuffing some new drug, street name "Frost." Real name, Demon's Breath, the highly addictive carbon dioxide exhalation of a hellion from the Netherworld. Sounds fun, right? Getting all jumped up on someone else's bad breath, yum.
 But actually, no, it's highly destructive to the human body and mind, and withdrawal is the mother of all psyche-breakers. Doug and his friends apparently didn't get the memo, and now Kaylee and Nash are out to save all their sorry, thrill-seeking butts. Kaylee, for once, is playing the safe card, wanting to take the whole situation to the adults to handle, but Nash is, for some reason, holding her back, supposedly to protect his dumbass friends. I smell something rotten in the state of Denmark, methinks.
 Also, for some strange reason, Kaylee is unable to sleep because she soul-screams herself right into the Netherworld. Yes, you heard that right. While having nightmares of a death, she screams herself straight out of the real world and into the next, a talent that only the female bean sidhe possesses. Which means she's also going to have to get herself out. After one experience of this, she needs constant watching while she sleeps, to have someone there are to wake her should she start screaming. Fascinating, awkward, and hard to deal with, while also reflecting my actual life at the time of reading. It's the perfect storm of awesomeness.
There isn't too much character development in this installment, unless you count that punch Tod threw at Nash's head, in which case I think we have a deep insight into his character. Save that for later. Ruminate on it, savor it. Think back on it later. Other than that...everyone is pretty static. Other than Nash, of course, and I'm not even going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole for fear of spoilers. Honestly, though, that's about as close as I can even get to the matter without giving the whole thing away, willy nilly.
 Overall: B+
 I was genuinely annoyed with the moronic actions of nearly everyone in the novel, but since they're teenagers, this is, then, a highly accurate depiction. Vincent catches some slack from that. Other than that, I feel like My Soul to Sleep only created more questions rather than solving any of them. We didn't get to see much bean sidhe action, and that was disappointing. Nonetheless, it was still a fun ride.