If you've never had your arm stolen as part of a fraternity initiation, you probably wouldn't understand

Breathers by S.G. Browne is my first foray into romantic zombie comedy. While I am not typically a fan of anything zombie, this book is brilliantly written. The humor is ironic and dry, and dark enough to satisfy even the colonial Americans.

Browne researches thoroughly to provide all the gory details of human decomposition, taking some liberties, putting the reader in the position to be sympathetic with the narrator, Andy, as he relates the plights of a reanimated corpse who has been forced to live with his parents. You see, zombies aren't allowed to live alone; they have to have a relative or willing foster parent to keep track of them.

Andy becomes dissatisfied with his life (or un-life, whatever you want to call it) and begins protesting. This results in his arrest, and his confinement at the SPCA where he is kenneled with the dogs or cats, and fed kibble until his parents reluctantly come to get him.

But, as he keeps reminding us, if we haven't been in his shoes, we can't understand.

The book provides an interesting study of how the class of undead is oppressed by all, managing, through all the dark humor and somewhat disturbing scenes, to reveal that it is human nature to discriminate, but it is also human nature to survive, even after death has occurred.

15 Books

Following is a question survey my friend posted on Facebook that I think nicely complements my blog. 

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag however many friends you want, including me because I'm interested in seeing what books my friends choose.

If anyone I haven't tagged does this, tag me so I can see your books!

And the list, in no particular order:

1. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

2. Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett

3. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman (yes, technically a trilogy, but I count it as one)

4. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

5. The Sun Also Rises by by Ernest Hemingway

6. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

7. Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris

8. Holy Fools by Joanne Harris

9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

10. Walden by Henry David Thoreau 

11. Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the 20's by Marion Meade

12. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

13. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins

14. Sunshine by Robin McKinley

15. The Winds Twelve Quarters by Ursula Le Guin

Fairytale, or schizophrenic hallucinations?

Last night I finished reading Carolyn Turgeon's Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story.

Depending on your taste in books, this is a great read. I personally love fairy tale retellings, no matter what form they appear in. Turgeon weaves the fairy tale of Cinderella with a modern-day story, placed in New York, featuring Cinderella's fallen fairy godmother as the first person narrator. 

As the story progresses, Lillian, the godmother, finds it increasingly difficult to separate present day reality from her memories as a fairy godmother, and the ways in which she failed Cinderella.

I won't spoil the story for those of you that might read it; all I will say is that the novel begins with the certainty that it is a fairy tale retelling, and continues that way, but leaves the reader wondering if the fairy tale is the reality in the novel, or if it is living true to its name. 

Now, it's on to Breathers, my first foray into romantic zombie comedy, fondly abbreviated as rom zom com. 

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean

I just finished reading Tam Lin by Pamela Dean. It is part of the Fairy Tale Series, in which different authors are selected to write retellings of fairy tales, in whatever format they choose.

Pamela Dean selected Tam Lin, which is actually a ballad with fairy tale elements. You can find the various versions of Tam Lin  at this website: http://tam-lin.org/

Dean's retelling of the story is quite genius. For the majority of the novel, you will wonder where the fairy tale elements come in. At the start, there is a glimpse of the supernatural, and throughout the main character, Janet, tries to solve the mystery of a girl ghost that haunts her dormitory room in her first year at Blackstock, a fictitious university in Minnesota. 

Janet is an English major, and the characters regularly quote Shakespeare, Keats, and others, and make allusions to mythology and the Classics, creating a rich tapestry that portrays quite accurately the conspiracies and politics, the quirks and anxieties of being part of a Liberal Arts department. 

Elements of the fairy tale appear periodically throughout this novel, but it isn't until the end that the pieces come together. As I read, I kept wondering where the retelling came in, but the series doesn't dictate in what form the fairy tale appears, allowing the authors free reign.

I don't want to say more for anyone who might read it, but Tam Lin is a lovely book and worth the read. 

Sin in the Second City, continued

I finished reading Sin in the Second City and was saddened by the ending.

The Everleigh Sisters, the main focus of the book, were ultimately forced out of business. A little irony, however: they moved to the Upper West Side in New York and posed as the Lester Sisters and formed a literary circle among their high class neighbors.

The Levee District in Chicago was shut down eventually, putting an end to segregated vice districts. The reformers that were so set against white slavery changed their tune and started to regard prostitutes of all types as moral stains on society, rather than victims of circumstances.

The most positive result of all the hullaballoo surrounding red-light districts in cities, namely Chicago, is that wages in department stores, etc., were investigated and several states passed a minimum wage requirement, since many girls who turned to prostitution did so to stave off poverty.

An amusing snatch from the book:

After the Levee was closed, the prostitutes had no where to go and were encouraged by madams and pimps to flood the rest of the city. Here's a quote from one of these episodes: 

"At 35th and Michigan, six prostitutes coordinated the lighting of cigarettes with theatrical aplomb, moving one terrified passerby to call the police" (282).

And, later, Abbott discusses the flood of films and plays that dealt with the topic of white slavery and debauchery, and quotes a journal from 1913, "A wave of sex hysteria and sex discussion seems to have invaded this country. Our former reticence on matters of sex is giving way to a frankness that would even startle Paris" (290).

Considering that my last few months have been spent researching 20th Century American literature, reading Edna St. Vincent Millay, and studying up on the New Woman and female sexuality, all I can say to this 1913 reporter is that he better hang onto his hat because much more frankness is headed his way.

As I consider the place we inhabit now, in regards to openness concerning sexuality, I find it unfortunate that the frankness that began in the early 1900's and continued through the '20's and '30's reverted to the tight-lipped closed-mouthed attitudes that developed after World War II. A return to the reticence that the Victorians practiced resulted from the desire of establishing some kind of stability after yet another major war, yet we are still unable to get away from it. For proof, just say the word "penis" or "vagina" or even "sex" and see how many people are embarrassed or blush out of reflex. 

I'm on a tangent now. I strongly recommend Sin in the Second City. For more on female sexuality and the New Woman Marion Meade's Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties offers a look at the lives of Millay, Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, and Zelda Fitzgerald. I've read the first couple chapters, and plan to finish reading it this summer, so I'll write on it later.

For now, on to the next book.

Wild-Eyed Bibliomaniac

So, I'm still working my way through Sin in the Second City, but I have to take a moment to sing the praises of Halfprice Books.

A store opened today in Oklahoma City, and I went, twice, today to check it out. Earlier in the week, I went there to sell my leather bound books, and saw a couple titles I wanted to buy. So, I went there this morning with the intent to buy a couple titles and instead came out with nearly a couple dozen. 

The authors range from Christopher Moore to Dorothy Parker, Terry Pratchett to Sharon Shinn, Tom Robbins to Robin McKinley. As you may have guessed, I will have quite a few books to blog about as the summer progresses, and beyond. 

Considering that I'm supposed to be reading for my independent study in the fall, and working on my thesis, I don't exactly know when I will read all of these books. I don't really know what I was thinking while I was plucking books from the shelf. All I know is that I walked out of there with a tote bag that says "Wild-Eyed Bibliomaniac" on the side, thinking that the description fits me perfectly.

Sin in the Second City

So, a few months ago, I started reading Karen Abbott's Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. 

It's a history of the brothels and the battle against vice in Chicago at the turn of the 20th Century. It's pretty fantastic and contains little gems such as the following.

Minna and Ada Everleigh, two of Chicago's most notorious madams, discouraged excessive gambling in their house because men became more interested in gambling than the harlots. Karen Abbot provides this quote from Minna:

"I have watched men, embraced in the arms of the most bewitching sirens in our Club, dump their feminine flesh from their laps for a roll of the dice. If it wasn't unmanly to admit it, they'd rather most of the time gamble than screw." 

And, Abbott later details a lecture series that spoke out against vice, with lecture titles such as:

"The Relation Between Modern Social Vice and Ancient Sex Worship"

"How to Elevate the Home Life"

"The Influence of Diet Upon Character"

 And, a quote from Dr. Mary Wood-Allen of Ann Arbor condemning the press for "lowering the tone of the human race by ridiculing the sacred process of wooing."

It is also in the Everleigh Club that the trend of drinking champagne from a slipper started, and where the term, "Getting laid" came from. Men used to say they were "getting Everleighed" that night. 

Abbott presents the factual events regarding Chicago's salacious history in an engaging way. 

More on the book as I continue to read it. 

Terry Pratchett

Some of you know that I read and love Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. 

I have just finished reading the third and final (so far) book in the Tiffany Aching Adventures, which is entitled Wintersmith.  I can't praise this novel, or the other Tiffany Aching Adventures, Wee Free Men, and Hat Full of Sky enough. They are fantastic! 

This trilogy is presented as juvenile fiction, and, while there is nothing wrong with reading juvie fiction (I find novels that I enjoy all the time in juvie section) presenting books as such can often give the impression that they aren't worth the time of adults. While the main character, Tiffany, is a child when the first book starts, and a teenager by the end, the books are great reads for adults and the humor could possibly be lost on younger readers, especially those that aren't familiar with British humor.

All of Pratchett's work is satire at its best; he is British, so if you don't like British humor, these may not be the books for you. 

Also, when foraying into Discworld for the first time, you need to be careful about what you read first. Starting with the wrong book could turn you off of the entire series, and that would be a shame. Don't try to read the books in order. I recommend Hogfather for a first experience, or Reaper Man, as it focuses on Death, one of Pratchett's best characters. 

I don't want to give too much away regarding Tiffany's adventures. However, I think that it suffices to tell you that, accompanying her on her adventures, are the Nac Mac Feegles, also known as the Wee Free Men. They are small blue men, pictsies, to be exact. And no, that isn't a spelling error. They aren't pixies, but pictsies, little blue men in kilts that would rather be fighting or drinking than anything else. 

Happy reading!

First Entry

For quite some time, several of my friends have been teasing me about creating a reading list of books I recommend. These suggestions usually come about when we're walking through bookstores and I stop every two feet, pick up a book and say, "You should read this, it's so great!" Whether these suggestions were made in earnest, or just as a way to get me out of the bookstore, I can't be sure. Nevertheless, I am taking the suggestion seriously. I'm going to blog about the things I have read and am currently reading. 

Comments and feedback will be welcome!