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The Alienist by Caleb Carr

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I picked up The Alienist by Caleb Carr because I really enjoyed The Italian Secretary, a book I reviewed earlier. I’m glad I did; however, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the further adventure of Sherlock Holmes. The Alienist is a credible mystery, and chocked full of little bits of true history. However, you can tell it is an early work, as the characters and plot are a little heavy on stereotypes.

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Lucky by Alice Sebold

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Lucky is one of the most difficult books I have ever read. The book is difficult, not in its words, but in its subject matter. In Lucky, Alice Sebold, author of The Lovely Bones, writes a memoir detailing her rape when she was a college freshman, her pursuit for justice, and the years of her life spent recovering afterwards. The subject matter is dark, and Alice Sebold pulls no punches. Honestly, this book spent almost two years on my shelf before I worked up the courage to read it. It pulled me in completely, and while I wanted to put it down, close my eyes, and walk away, I just couldn’t.

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Wonderfalls

Starring Caroline Dhavernas, Tyron Leitso, Tracie Thoms
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Wonderfalls is a quirky, witty show that FOX cancelled way before they should have (and is that really a surprise?). I grabbed all of the episodes off of LOGO with my TIVO, since I missed it the first time around. I wish I had watched it the first time around, because it was a really great show. I enjoyed it so much, I’ll probably end up buying the DVDs.

Wonderfalls is the name of the Niagara Falls store where Jaye (Caroline Dhavernas) works. Jaye is your typical Gen Y’er ( a fact that is made fun of in an episode). She graduated from an Ivy League school with a degree in philosophy, lives in a trailer park in an I Dream of Jeannie style trailer, and works a meaningless retail job because she doesn?t want to have any responsibility. (Think Clerks — Just because they serve you, doesn’t mean they like you.) One day, Jaye hears a voice, and realizes that the trinket animals in the Wonderfalls shop are talking to her. Not only that, but they are telling her to do some pretty weird stuff, like break taillights, lick light switches, and not give people their change. Eventually the reasoning behind these strange requests come to light, and the sometimes law breaking requests end up making people’s lives better.

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The Italian Secretary: A Further Adventure of Sherlock Holmes by Caleb Carr

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I picked up The Italian Secretary because it was a highlighted book in my book club, and I have been on a serious mystery kick lately. I love Sherlock Holmes mysteries (another recent purchase has been the complete stories of Sherlock Holmes, in two volumes) and I will watch almost any movie adaptation or TV show of these stories. Young Sherlock Holmes (loved it), TIVO The Sherlock Holmes Mysteries from PBS (check), remember fondly the illustrated collections of The Speckled Band and The Hound of the Baskervilles from my childhood (gotcha). So when I saw this was a “continuing adventure” I worried slightly, but my book club is rare to steer me wrong, so I took a chance. I was pleasantly surprised.

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The Giallo Collection

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Ever since I discovered Dario Argento, I have enjoyed a style of Italian movies called Giallo. Giallo are violent suspense thrillers, usually involving ultra-hip people, at least one English-speaking star, topless women, and overly gory death scenes with bright red blood (think tomato red paint). Recently NetFlix sent me three different Giallos: Short Night of Glass Dolls, The Case of the Bloody Iris, and Who Saw Her Die?.

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America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins

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America’s Women is a collected history of the women in America, from before the colonization to the new feminist movement in the 60’s. It was a National Bestseller, and I can tell why. For a history, it was a very easy read and absorbing. This book tells how women in America shaped the world around them, and what it meant and means to be a woman here. It describes how women’s lives were shaped by the political climate, fashion, medicine, hygiene, social expectations, and theories on education, work, and politics.
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The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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The Beautiful and Damned may be thought of as a sophomore slump for F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I disagree. While it may not be The Great Gatsby, it is certainly a worthy novel that details the heavy excesses and freewheeling of the Roaring 20?s Jazz babies, along with their inevitable downfall and distress.

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Dèjá Dead by Kathy Reichs

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I picked up Dèjá Dead on a whim because I really love the new TV series, Bones. Kathy Reichs writes the books Bones is based on, and Dèjá Dead is the first in the Temperance Brennan series. I liked Dèjá Dead well enough to continue reading the series, however, I must admit, I do like the TV series more than this book.

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Scott Spiegel’s Intruder

Starring Renee Estevez, Elizabeth Cox, Ted Raimi, Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell cameo

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Intruder is one of those highly messy 80’s slasher movies that were recommended to me via NetFlix. I can’t say it was highly stimulating in plot or acting, but if you are looking for lots of blood and gore, this would qualify.

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State of Fear by Michael Crichton

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It has been a little while since I have read any Michael Crichton books, but I remember Jurassic Park and Airframe fondly. So when I saw my brother reading State of Fear the other day, I pried it from his fingers when he was done. I was excited about getting back to Crichton’s part-science, part thriller adventure books. Unfortunately, State of Fear was not the Crichton I remember.

State of Fear is Michael Crichton’s treatise on global warming and environmental organizations. Peter Evans is a lawyer who works jointly for George Morton, a very rich man who likes to give his money away to good causes, and for Nick Drake, the head of a charitable environmental organization. Morton finds something fishy going on, and on the eve of announcing some very disturbing news, he dies in a terrible accident. Peter ends up working with Morton’s assistant Sarah to find out what George really knew about Drake’s organization and why all of a sudden he is being threatened and almost killed. Along with John Kenner, a professor with a CIA type background, these guys fight celebrities with over inflated egos and bad sound bytes, crazed environmental terrorists, and lawyers to bring the truth of global warming to the public.
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