Whine & Cheese

Always Looking Up (#13)

While I might not have a whole lot of running commentary of what's going on in the world these days, there's always a new... or should I say... and old book to write about.

This next book was a continuation of my "snap out of it"/"get happy" reading, though at this point it was less about my mental health than having just read a series of "darker" books. But after getting some good perspectives from The Geography of Bliss, I hoped to continue that inspiration with Michael J. Fox's Always Looking Up: The Adventure of an Incurable Optimist.  It seemed like a no-lose situation and it's hard to think of someone more likable than Fox or how one couldn't be inspired by his battle with Parkinson's.

My regular readers might know where this is going... going in with high or different expectations and not having them delivered... and that's really tough to admit when it comes to this book, because it is really hard to be critical of Fox, who I do genuinely like... and oddly enough, I did enjoy him on the a television special that was a companion piece to this book.

I had a similar experience several years back when I read Lance Armstrong's memoir.  I certainly respected the guy's athletic accomplishments, even more so coming back from the brink of death... but in the end, I really didn't end up liking the guy very much.  Their was a smugness or bravado, which I think is a requirement to be a world-class athlete, but it still rubbed me the wrong way.  Funny enough, it was Armstrong's appearance in this book that was the initial "expectations" blow in this book.  Fox patterned his own Parkinson's research/charity after Armstrong's own Livestrong program, so they sort of become friends during one of Armstrong's last wins at the Tour de France (way before this year's comeback attempt)... as Fox and family were vacationing in France at the time, with Fox and Robin Williams ending up riding the pace car down the Champs Elysees at Tour's end.

And this is where I had a hard time with the book and it's not Fox's fault, but just my expectations of the book not being met.  What I thought was going to be an inspiring, "how I get through the day" stuff... ultimately it wasn't any different than any other celebrity memoir... but given Fox's likability, not with any dirt or scandal!  So Fox does not emerge as the "every" or common man, but one with a very privileged Hollywood-type lifestyle (though living primarily in NYC).  I suspect it is not so hard to be an "incurable optimist" when your name is a big ole foot in the door and you have millions in your checking account and need not worry about insurance coverage and/or getting the possible best medical care.  Again, I repeat this is not Fox's fault, his success was well-earned and it is admirable what he is now doing with his life... but again, the book was just not terribly relate-able... the only thing to glean, was an appreciation of having a loving family and good friends, which Fox certainly has (again) in spades.  (And again, a bit too "perfect" and only further exacerbated by cloyingly named children: Aquinnah, Schuyler, and Esmé).

Ultimately, the book became a battle between cynic meeting optimist, and the being the former a lot more than the latter, I'll tell you the cynic usually wins... though no regrets having read the book and not to discourage others from doing so, just a caveat that it's more celebrity than inspiration.

The Geography of Bliss (#12)

Still playing catch-up with these book post, but at least with this one we get into books that I read in the month of May!

The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner had pretty much been on my radar ever since it was originally published.  But it just didn't seem like one of those books to buy in hardcover and so I put it on hold until it came out in soft (which it did at the start of this year), but then, of course, I got the Kindle and that's how I ended up reading this one.  

I was pretty sure I was going to like it... and the book subtitle, "One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World," only added to that certainty... plus I seem to be having a little love affair with the travel/memoir sub-genre.  The only thing that I tend to not like about these books is jealousy over all the places the author gets to go under the auspices of "research"... though despite the title, Weiner does go to some places that were... and still are not.. high on my list. 

Also, there was no mistaking why I chose this book to read at this particular time as well.  I have admittedly been in a funk for a while and on my own search for happiness.  It's pretty hard to admit that one is not happy... though "between the lines" it often seems like more than not are unhappy... but admitting it seems to be a whole different thing.  So Weiner goes to places and examines if the lifestyle or situations on the ground in different places lead to happiness... a couple of examples:  the "anything goes" attitude of the Netherlands, the wealth of Qatar, or even the government sanctioned "Gross National Happiness" of Bhutan.  

But even going in to this book optimistically, you kind of know you are not going to find that magic answer... and while the book has fun challenging cliches, one that seems to prove true is that happiness is not a destination.  

There was a whole bunch of "bookmarking" I did with this book... here are some of my favorite passages:

"... instinctively I reach for my notebook and camera.  But I stop myself.  Experience.  You need to experience.  Recording life is a poor substitute for living it."

That one was funny, since Todd would probably tell you I get a little nutso when it comes to me and my camera.  Though even before reading this particular line (one reason it rang so true), was that I have been trying more lately to just sit down and soak something in even if it's not for long.  I remember when we got up to Great Wall for the first time, I let myself take in that first view ... and then photographed it, instead of vice versa... or having my entire experience be from the other side of the lens.  That said, I'm still a work in progress on that front.

"Travel, at its best, transforms up in ways that aren't always apparent until we're back home."

Oddly enough this might have been part of my reason for my recent funk, since 2008 was such an amazingly outrageous travel year for us.  It was an eye-opening and enlightening trip and I looked forward to doing it more and more... the Pandora's Box opened up and not being able to be contained, so with the whole economic situation and a need to be conservative with cash, that kind of got me down.  I want to get back out into the world...  maybe next year! 

Overall, I really did enjoy this book... though I wouldn't go as far to say that it made me blissful, ha!  But it was thought-provoking and I think it provided some of the impetus for me to start emerging from my own recent grump phase (prone to the occasional relapse!).  Like travel, just seeing things from new and different directions / perspectives is enlightening. 

Netherland (#11)

I am writing this the morning after a big celebrity death day.  Less than 24 hours later, I have already reached the saturation points over the the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.  While the former had long been expected, the second was a quite a shock... though I will politically incorrectly add that I doubted Jackson would ever die of old age and/or that he lasted this long.  The 24 hour news cycle + Internet has just created this hysteria that just gets overwhelming... it's like trying to get a bone out of dog that's not willing to let it go... shake, shake, shake it!  I get to a point very quickly where I just need to shut it off and as I status'd yesterday, put the P in the RIP... let these people rest in peace... and quiet.

So now you're wondering how do I make the segue into a book review?  I was wondering that too, but then it kind of made sense as Netherland by Joseph O'Neill is a book with 9/11 - arguably (or not?!) the greatest 24 hour news cycle event to date - at its core, but hardly makes mention of it... which given my above reaction, tells you it is this kind of subtlety and finesse I like/prefer.

Though first a bit how I got to this book.  I always find book selection and interesting thing. Netherland was one of the most critically acclaimed books of 2008, though oddly enough not seeming to make any of those year-end best-of lists, though it did snag the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.  Though it received its biggest endorsement of sorts when President Barack Obama told the NY Times Magazine that he was reading it... though I was almost done with the book before hearing that, so I was a ahead of the curve!

Our protagonist is Hans van den Broek (which gives you the first clue behind the title) who finds himself alone in NYC after his wife and child return to London in the aftermath of 9/11... and befriends the mysterious/shady character Chuck Ramkissoon (that's character as in "he's a real character"... not the character in book way, though that certainly applies as well) at one of the many cricket games played around the NY metro area.  Now there's a plot I am sure you haven't read before!  

The story does take some odd twists and turns and perhaps a bit too convoluted for my taste... and there was a whole lot about cricket, particularly at the beginning of the novel... that had me questioning what I had gotten myself into.  And while I won't say that this was my most favorite book of all-time or the year for that matter, it was still an amazing book that I am glad that I read.

There were many instances where O'Neill just floored me with his beautifully poetic prose... which at times seemingly came out of nowhere...

Perhaps the relevant truth - and it's one whose existence was apparent to my wife, and I'm sure to much of the world, long before it became apparent to me - is that we all find ourselves in temporal currents and that unless you're paying attention you'll discover, often too late, that an undertow of weeks or of years has pulled you deep into trouble.

This one had particular meaning to me...

On our way out we passed through downtown Phoenix.  It was seemingly an uninhabited place given over to multilevel garages that, with their stacked lateral voids, almost duplicated the office blocks and their bands of tinted glass.

So not a book for everyone and I am guessing those passages might tell you if you are or or not one of them... a book you might not love, but it difficult not to admire and respect it.

The House on Fortune Street (#10)

Okay, after a brief detour to Book #14, Dead Until Dark, we now stretch all the way back to April for...

The House on Fortune Street by Margot Livesey.  I think one reason for me taking so long to get to this particular book is that it was my top book of 2009 thus far... and in a bit of foreshadowing, it is still my top book and I am currently on Book #17 for the year (that tells you how far behind I am with these posts!).   But I wanted to do it justice and no suprise that this lead to a a good deal of procrastination on my part.

But now that I am at the keyboard and have decided to do the post for this book post, I realize that there really isn't much I can say about it... you know I like to remain pretty secretive when it comes to plot... but in trying to figure out what to say about this book, it just seems like I don't want to say anything since much of what I loved about this book was how the story unfolded.  This is one thing that I love about the Kindle ... while I mourn the loss of having a cover (as I do judge a book by its cover!), I really have enjoyed having the plot spoiled by an inside flap or back cover.  With the Kindle, I find myself going in with minimal knowledge of plot points and that certainly improves the reading experience.

What I will tell you is that this is a wonderfully crafted novel.  It is broken into four parts... and here is where I enter spoiler territory... told by four different characters and in sort of a jigsaw puzzle-like fashion we get their different perspectives... the times and events sometimes overlap, but other times they do not.  I do recall (remember I read this two months ago!) remember being jarred at the start of Part 2... having really become engrossed in the first part, without warning I was at a different time and place with a different character as a the focal point.  It was fascinating to have an opinion of a character and then learn something new about them or get a different take on them from someone else.

Granted some of the subject matter is not the most uplifting.  After dealing with Dahlia and her brain tumor in my previous read (btw, this book, like Dahlia, was yet another winner from EW's 2008 Best Fiction list), this book didn't get much happier... at all.  But what's that famous opening line from Anna Karenina?  "All happy families are alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."  Happy isn't typically entertaining fodder... and a visit to The House on Fortune Street (simply the home of many of the characters in the suburbs of modern day London, though .. .as expected, there is some irony in the street name) was certainly unique in its own way. 

I will certainly be keeping my eye out for more stuff by Livesey... another good find here, not that I need to add anything more to my cyber-pile of books and authors to read.

True Blood / Dead Until Dark (#14)

Time to kill the proverbial two bird with one stone... been meaning to do a post about one of my favorite TV shows and since I read the book that inspired it... it seems to makes sense to do a combo post, which means jumping ahead a few books in my book queue... scandalous I know, but I think you can probably handle it!

The show that I am talking about is HBO's True Blood.  Yes folks, we're talking vampires!  Again!  And my regular readers by now, well know my obsession with them (though I have yet to see the film version of Twilight ... and have only read the first two books in that series). 

The second series premieres this coming Sunday, but we spent the last week or so re-familiarizing ourselves with Season 1 has HBO had a bit of a 4-day marathon of past episodes.  Didn't watch the entire season, just the first 6 episodes since that was the point that I forced Todd to watch it... vampires are definitely not his thing, but I was enjoying the series so much that I said just watch an episode or two and if you don't like it you don't have to watch it... and he was sucked (ha!) in as much as I was... well, I am a bit more fanatical about it.

But even if I didn't have this things for vampires, there's a good chance that I still would have watched it as it was created by Alan Ball who was the mastermind behind one of my favorite HBO series (and perhaps, favorite shows of all-time) Six Feet Under... and given his other claim to fame, the movie American Beauty, you know he has a unique, dark, satiric way in his approach to the word and that is certainly the case with True Blood.  The show is sexy, funny (often in a wink and nudge way), violent, and usually a good surprise in each episode... and the cast is pretty awesome too...

One of the youngest Academy Award winnersr, the uber-likable/adorable Anna Paquin stars as telepathic cocktail waitress (yes, you read that right) Sookie Stackhouse... with a quite sassy friend Tara (think Rutina Wesley's take on the character as Wanda Sykes' cousin from Louisiana)... but the three selling points that really got me to get Todd try the show were:

Vampire Bill Comptom, Bartender Sam Merlotte, and Sookie's brother Jason Stackhouse

... or actors Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell, and Ryan Kwanten....

And good news for the ladies and gay men (thank goodness Alan Ball is gay), all of them get naked... with Jason Stackhouse perhaps being the biggest himbo in television history... and they treat him as such with skimpy or as little clothing as possible (no complaints!).  But they are all incredibly sexy in different ways... Jason for the obvious reasons... vampire Bill for the forbidden and you can see how he smolders in that pic above... and Sam, your average good guy who just happens to fill out a pair of tight jeans quite nicely, thank you very much!

Oh,on a sidenote, two of them are putting on their Southern accents to hide their true roots... Moyer is British... and Kwanten is Australian (*swoon*).

Anyhow, the TV series is based on the books known as the Sookie Stackhouse or Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris.  The 9th book was just published, so this creation certainly pre-dates the whole Twilight phenomenon.  So after having the first season under my belt, I decided to give the first book in the series, Dead Until Dark, a try... and I am glad I waited as the book was pretty much the entire first season of the show.

That said, it was pretty much impossible for me not to compare the book to the TV series... and of course, I had all the visuals already in my head... typically I try to read the book before it comes out as a movie or TV show to avoid having those pictures in my head, but oh well.

I did enjoy the book.  My expectations were low as I didn't really expect it to be a well-written book, ala Stephenie Meyer and Twilight... though this is written for adults... and the vampires certainly act like adults in this one... no viginity is safe and kissing just ain't gonna cut it with this group!   So the writing was a nice surprise, though definitely "beach" material... light and entertaining.

But unlike a movie translation that would tell the story in approximately 2 hours (or less), the 12 hours of Season 1 allowed them to flesh things out (ha!) quite a bit... and while the main plot is similar between the book and the series, dare I say Ball seems to be more "inspired by" and taking things to his own direction.  The book is told from Sookie's perspective... so that limits things and pretty major storylines from the series were not in the book as folks like Jason and Lafayette (a flamboyant short-order cook at the bar) barely make it onto the page and, to best of my memory, Tara has yet to make an appearance.

So while I enjoyed the book, this is one of the rare instances where I really prefer the TV series/movie to the original material.  I hear that the upcoming season does borrow plot from Book 2 in the series, Living Dead in Dallas, but I am not still unsure whether I will read that one... certainly not before watching the show as I'd rather remain unspoiled... but I kind of wish the book and TV series were two separate entities, which granted they kind of are, but the show stilll seems to borrow enough from the book... and that ain't no fun knowing things in advance either, so it's kind of a conundrum! 

The Book of Dahlia (#9)

We return you to another episode of  My Long Back-log of Book Post... or how I should really get around to all the "Books read in April"!!

The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert was likely not a book I would have read had it not landed on Entertainment Weekly's top fiction books of 2008.  That particular year-end list has been the proverbial gold mine of good finds for me over the years and while I tend to gravitate to books that make multiple "best ofs" there was something intriguing about Albert's debut novel (previously published a short story collection) which only earned an EW mention (to my best knowledge of the dozen or so lists that I typically check out).  

The novel is a bit of hard sell (perhaps another reason why I had never heard of it before)... as I am not sure that many folks would find it appealing to read about a 20-something slacker who gets a brain tumor.  Our protagonist, Dahlia (as you might have guessed) is hardly a charter that engenders much sympathy - stumbling through life with little purpose, sleeping with whatever man catches her fancy, spending most of her days smoking pot and having her credit card bills and a house near Venice Beach all paid for by Daddy... so when she gets a life-altering diagnosis... or more accurately, a death sentence... are we supposed to care?  At least for me, the answer is "yes."

I found Dahlia to be one of the most refreshing characters I have stumbled onto in a long time.  This is not some Lifetime movie of a young life taken too soon, but an unapologetic, f&ck you character that we rarely see in cancer melodramas... though I suspect is much often the case in real world, though probably not the degree of Dahlia.  The chapters of the book are titled after a fictional cancer self-help book that Dahlia stumbles upon... it is one of those optimistic "You can beat this!"/12-step type books and given what I have already said, you know Dahlia is having none of that... as she dismantles each of the mantras along the way.  Again, totally cynical... totally sarcastic... two traits that I particularly embrace, and again just not the road traveled in this type of story. 

Now, it's not all humor and sarcasm ... there are dramatic, serious, philosophical moments along the way as readers hurdle towards the inevitable end.  Here is passage I marked that is a good example of both...

There was no why, there was just the reality, which was that this was encoded in Dahlia's DNA from the moment of conception, like development of polycystic ovaries or acne or premature gray.... It had been lying in wait, like the startling shriek of a set alarm... She had been set spinning like a wobbly top toward this preordained destination of the worst kind of sick you can be, and her life had provided the ten million worm holes to bring her there.  Asking "why" was why, goddamn it all to hell.

Good stuff huh?!   I am not sure why this book didn't get more critical attention, which I keep a pretty good eye/ear on, but I am certainly glad that I stumbled onto it and will be certainly keeping those same eyes and ears out for Albert's next book.

The Uncommon Reader (#8)

Blah, blah, blah... way behind in book posts, you know the drill.... 

But the good thing here is that even nearly 5-6 weeks later is that I still fondly recall The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett.  I am not sure if is my increasing age or my decreasing attention span (or something combination), but I have started to really enjoy novellas.  This is my second one of the year and comes in at a slim-ish 120 pages.  I have admitted to not being a huge fan of the short story format, so the novella gives me a bit more to chomp on.  Also, I think the Kindle is leading me to more novellas... since the lower digital price seems to justify the shorter length.  I know I am a bit contradictory since my book budget is non-existent, but I still like to get a bang for my buck... and when I finish a book quickly I often feel like it wasn't money well spent (though not really, especially if it was a good book... and if I red it that quickly it usually was!)

Another good thing about a novella is that there is little to say about it, though I am never a big fan of just regurgitating plot-lines here... even if it's not spoiler-ific.  The premise of the book asks one to immediately suspend belief... as it involves Queen Elizabeth (yes, that one!) stumbling onto a traveling bookmobile that visits Buckingham Palace (for the employees)... and quickly becoming obsessed with reading to the point where she'd rather be doing that than anything else.  As you can imagine, the Queen really can't get away with putting off that annual speech to Parliament. 

I have to say I have really become a fan of the Queen and the British Monarchy in general.  Sure, I realize it's all a bit silly in a figurehead, purely symbolic way but I love all the pomp of it.  Sure I thought they were evil-incarnate during the Diana days and in the aftermath of her death, but I think they have made quite the PR comeback.  My royal obsession has led us to watch many documentaries/PBS stuff on the Queen and the Royals and I have really a new found appreciate, respect and even affection for Elizabeth II.  And while this book is at time outrageously fictional, I really do think it captures that spirit of Queen that we I have grown to love over the last few years.

Warm, funny, witty.... this was a very enjoyable little gem... one that any avid reader can relate to with a smile.  And what an ending!  Would love to know what others think of it.  I'm guessing it's one of those love it or hate it things.

Express Lane: Issue 64

American Idol's Danny Gokey Sets His Sights on Eyewear - Surprise, surprise! But Gokey states he was doing his "heart" hand gesture long before the recent wave of Lenscrafter ads doing the same thing. (5/15/09)

Derek Hough: Dancing With Footloose? - Seems like both Dancing Houghs are under consideration for roles in the re-make of the Kevin Bacon 80s classic... though very likely only one will get it, since the characters are (ick) love interests. Derek also notes he and Mark Ballas may follow Julianne's lead and take time off from DWTS to pursue a music career (Booo! don't bite the hand that feeds you!) (5/7/09)

The 2009 Kentucky Derby - The Big Picture - Guess that says it all... the always fine TBP pix from this year's Run for the Roses. (5/4/09)

Obama's Book Club Is Back: Netherland - I've pulled off the rare "O" book double ... reading a book just before Oprah (with 'Edgar Sawtelle') and now Obama picked it! (4/29/09)

Human Landscapes From Above - The Big Picture - Been lagging a bit in my TBP postings, but these aerial shots (from the same guy who did the London series) are pretty awesome. (4/29/09)

Julie Chen Is Pregnant - I'm pretty much through with 'Big Brother' but may just have to check in with the Chenbot to see the cylon - errr... baby bump. The Chenbaby is due in October. (4/22/09)

The Women (#7)

TC Boyle's The Women took me nearly the entire month of March to read and now it has taken me another month (where is this year - and time, in general - going?!) to get around to this book post.

T.C. Boyle is one of my favorite authors.  I always think he does interesting things and while they aren't always a raging success, there is always something that keeps me want to keep me coming back for more.  One of his specialties is historical fiction... or perhaps, more accurately fiction surrounding a historical figure.  Arguably his most famous work, The Road To Wellville (which, go figure I haven't read) based on cereal mogul John Kellogg... and the last Boyle I read (and enjoyed) was The Inner Circle (my "review") which focused on sex researcher Alfred Kinsey.  But don't be tricked by the title, Boyle isn't spotlight a woman this time... but architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the many (well, four) women in his life.

I was particularly interested in reading this given FLW's presence here in the Phoenix area.  His home/workshop Taliesin West is on the north edge of town (well, not really the edge anymore given the urban sprawl in the last couple of decades) and we are fortunate enough to have a couple of building inspired (the Arizona Biltmore) or designed by him.  In fact, I am a regular visitor to Wright's last public commission as Gammage Auditorium is home to our Broadway Across America shows.  The building was originally rumored to have been a designed as a Baghdad, Iraq opera house!  And to end the trivia portion of this post, it is interesting to know that TC Boyle and his family live in a FLW-designed house in Santa Barbara!

It seems silly to mention this, but given my Kindle addiction, it seems as if I should note that I read this in "book" form... in fact, an "autographed by the author" real book form!   I didn't quite make it to the book signing, but having seen Boyle in-person two previous times, I was more than glad to be able to pop by the bookstore (local and independent!) and pick up one of the extra copies they usually have authors sign (in fact, it looked like they made Boyle sign every book of his they had in stock!). 

I don't know if it was my return to the physical book, but I really had a difficult time getting into this novel.  It's amazing how quickly the Kindle knocks you out of the habit of page-counting or tuckering out knowing how many pages you've read or how many you have to go... plus there is the sheer exhaustion of holding a book (particularly a hardcover!).  I know this sounds silly to you Kindle non-converts, but it's true (well, I think... where are my Kindle peeps to back me up?!?). 

But anyhow, back to the book... even when I did get into it a bit more (which took a good 100 pages), it still didn't seem to be rolling along at a good clip.  Coincidentally enough, my buddy Jen was reading the book at the same time... and I think it was quite a relief to both of us (it's safe to say we both consider ourselves to be pretty competent readers) that we agreed with each other that it was a bit of a slog. 

Anyhow, I plugged along and was intrigued by the all the stuff that I was learning about FLW along the way.. which apparently was not much.  While I know this is fiction, you do get the sense that Boyle meticulously researched his life... from his quirkiness (those creative geniuses always seem to be a bit off-kilter), his irresponsibility (running up debt), his apparent inability to live without a woman (thus the title)... and most surprisingly for me at least (book reviews I read afterward refer to it as something "everyone knows") a tragic event the occurred quite early in his career, that he was fortunate enough to not be directly involved him, but had that had to have a profound, life-altering affect on the rest of his life. 

Ultimately, it was the handling - or positioning - of this tragedy (which granted, is given away on the inside flap book blurbs... and even lightly addressed early in the novel) that I think put the brakes on me giving this book a huge endorsement.  Since it is the transforming and big event in FLW's life, Boyle wisely saves it for the book's climax... but in order to do so, he tells the story in reverse chronological order...

So while I finished the book with the proverbial good taste in my mouth... with it really kicking into gear, gaining momentum at the end... and certainly shedding light on everything I had read in the preceding hundreds of pages (and perhaps even intentionally meant to be sluggish given what happened!), I just felt it took too long to get there.  

That said, I'd hate to discourage anyone from reading it (on a 5-star scale, I'd rate it 3.5). Granted it's not a book for everyone and I do hold Boyle to a higher standard... and now having read several books by him, it is impossible not to weigh his works against each other.  So while not my favorite Boyle, it's still a good big in the big picture.

UR (#4) - New Moon (#5)

Well, one way to catch up on book posts is to do a two-fer and it kind of makes sense for these two books since either (a) you likely can't read it, or (b) you've likely have read it or have no intention to do so!

First up, UR by Stephen King which falls into the former category. It is allegedly the first literary work written exclusively for the Kindle.  So while I do hear that it will eventually be lumped into a short story (though it's advertised as a novella - I guess-timated 92 pages) collection in physical book form, for now it is only for us Kindle owners.  King is a big fan of the device and this story was "published" to coincide with the release of the Kindle 2.0. 

As you can see by the "cover" of the book (again, kind of funny since the Kindle does not do color), it does revolve around a very mysterious pink Kindle.  I won't give away the plot, but it was a cool little twist... more supernatural, thank violence or horror.  I'll admit I am not the biggest King fan or fan of this genre, though I think King is doing more the eerie / spooky / weird stuff than the gore.  But the story I found quite entertaining and for $2.99 it seemed like something one should give a try as a Kindle owner.

But it was being a Kindle owner that in many, many ways dragged the work down.  King writes the story (sorta kinda) understandably so as if someone has never used / experienced a Kindle.  So at times it feels very instructional (like Kindle 101 class), so it was a bit frustrating and like "ummm, duhhh... I know, I am using one right now!"  I'll admit to some confusion since the protagonist has the new Kindle (2.0), and since I was reading with the original Kindle... some of the button positioning is different, so until that dawned on me I was thinking King didn't even know what he was talking about!  And other times it does stink bad of being a big, long advertisement / product placement.  I am sure I wasn't the only person to guffaw when the main character thought this device would cost a lot of money, but was pleasantly surprised to find out it "only cost less than $400."  Now, I love the Kindle, but even I think it is over-priced... so that line really struck the wrong chord and took awhile to recover from.

So I give the book kudos for its story... and definitely fun that it was Kindle-centric... but just a bit too dumbed down for me re: the Kindle and definitely smacking of a bit of a sell-out from Mr. King.

King likely would not have approved that Stephenie Meyer's New Moon was the next book on my list.  Early this year, King started a bit of a feud with the Twilight series author, differing in the opinion that the latest literary sensation is in the same company as the Harry Potter series, King stating: "The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."  And while given my thoughts about Twilight which leaned very much towards King's opinion, it just kind of smacked of sour grapes and/or general bitchiness (as far as I know, Meyer never responded -- and if that is the case, I think very wisely ... let the book sales and phenomenon do the talking).

Anyhow, I am not really sure why I decided to go onto Book #2 in this series when I was so critical of the first.  But alas, age-appropriate or not the books are a pop culture phenomenon and couple that with my reading guilty pleasure of vampires... and, well, it ended up not being a battle worth fighting.  (On a side note, the vampire-less Harry Potter series is likely the reason I didn't get beyond the first book there... pop culture phenomenon alone is not enough!)   Also contributing was still feeling the need for an easy read after Wuthering Heights... and this certainly qualified.  Funny enough, Todd's sister (just a smidgen younger than myself) was also reading this book at the same time and she mentioned that this books are allegedly written at 4th-grade reading level... ha!   And here I was worried that I was reading something for "tweens"!   

I don't know if I went into this book with lower expectations and/or knew what I was getting myself into that I ended up liking this book a whole lot better than the first.  It even seemed to be a bit better written (though I am one to talk as I am not even sure what I just typed is good grammar!)... and I did like the story better, though Twlight fanatics will likely gasp as I note the reason for that is that Bella and her vampire-love Edward end up being seperated for much of the action in this volume.  One of the most eye-rolling aspects of the first book was the horrificly painful dialogue between the two youngsters in love (well technically, Edward is 100+ years old... but in the body of a 17-year old... so I'll just go with that)... and likely making matters even worse, I found myself finding Jacob, even after his own revelation, to be a preferable love interest for our damsel in distress... and the actor who plays Jacob in the movie is pretty... well, since he is not legal I'll just leave it at... ah, the dangers of age-inappropriate lit!

So, I will likely march on with the series... though have no strong compulsion to do so immediately (my vampire fix will likely next move to the books that inspired the HBO series True Blood).