Book Review: Wicked

I found Wicked to be a very interesting book. It's definitely not a light read. The first thing I had to do was get rid of all of my candy-coated ideas about the land of Oz from the movie The Wizard of Oz. I should have known a book based on the life story of the Wicked Witch of the West would've been darker than a story about a girl and her dog lost in a mystical land. However, I was not prepared for both the sophisticated writing and complex topics that Maguire dove into. Once I adjusted my mindset, I was pleasantly surprised.

I never read the original story, The Wizard of Oz, or any other novels based on Oz, but based on this book, I think Maguire did a good job fleshing out the land of Oz. I loved the story of the witch's upbringing, childhood, school and early adult life.

However, I didn't quite buy where Elphaba goes from being an extremely smart, but angry woman to wanting to become and be perceived as an evil, wicked person when her whole life she has been looking for a way to save Oz from the evil, wicked wizard.

Still, I really enjoyed the novel and recommend it.

Book Review: The Hunger Games

I have to thank my fourth-grade son for prompting me to read one of the most engaging books I’ve read in a long time. He wanted the book because a couple of his friends really liked it. He took the book to Grandma’s house one day and didn’t bring it home. I asked why and he said his aunt was reading it and wouldn’t give it back until she was done. What kind of book would excite a bunch of fourth grade boys and my son’s middle age aunt? Intrigued, I read the first page at 10 p.m. Monday night while fighting a cold. I set it down at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, physically a mess, but mentally jazzed.

Every time I thought I could go to sleep, there was another twist or added level of depth that drew me deeper into Collins’ novel causing me to break numerous promises of just one more chapter. I’ve read lots of books with believable characters, full of suspense, and great pacing, but it was Collins' well-placed twists and ah-ha moments that kept me going and had me say at least three times, that’s awesome.

Criticism? There were a couple of back stories that seemed inconsequential that I skimmed over and there was one scene I’m sure Collin’s had written, but didn’t make the final draft that I would’ve liked to have read.

The Hunger Games is a fast-paced, suspense-filled novel that I could not put down and highly recommend.

Book Review: American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century

Next to my grandmother's grave at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a large monument dedicated to the employees who were killed during the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing. As a child, I enjoyed looking at the massive stone memorial as I visited the gorgeous cemetery with my grandmother. I also remember her theories about what happened that day. So when I saw American Lightning in the bookstore, I was eager to read the novel.

I really enjoyed the first half of the novel where the story not only centered on the facts of the bombing, but on the labor-versus-capital movements at the time, the rise of Hollywood and the rise of Los Angeles.

The different theories about who committed the bombing at the beginning got me excited, but I felt let down when the author suddenly had Billy Burns latch onto one of many theories without investigating the others-even the most popular and controversial that my grandmother believed.

Still, it is a well-paced book with many interesting facets. I'm not sure how D.W. Griffith and Mary Pickford fit in with the crime of the century, but since I enjoy their movies I also enjoyed everything he included about their rise in the motion picture industry.

Aside from some of Darrow's personal side stories getting a little long, and Burns painted in a very favorable light even when he was knowingly breaking the law, I enjoyed Howard Blum's recreation of a turbelent time in Los Angeles' short history and the crime of the century.

Book Review: Empire of the Blue Water

This was the first book on CD I ever listened to and was thoroughly impressed. Stephan Talty's novel was not only about Captain Morgan, but about Port Royal and the British and Spanish unofficial pirate war for the Carribbean.

I really appreciated the fact that while Talty told many side stories to the conflict, they were brief and almost always were related Morgan and his campaigns. This is important in a book on CD as it's harder to skim pages in audio.

I will say however, Talty did treat Morgan with a very favoralble light. While other pirates were depicted as cruel or ruthless, Morgan's actions were almost always justified and any potential atrocities committed by Morgan's men (never Morgan) seemed to be glossed over. John Mayer's reading with a British accent and changes in cadence kept the book humming along.

I really enjoyed the novel as I drove to and from work.

Book Review: Lonesome Dove

One day, I was at a PTA fundraiser and saw an old grimy VCR tape of Lonesome Dove. Seeing the pictures of Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, I was flooded with warm childhood memories of watching the mini-series with my parents.

To my surprise, I read that it was based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel. So I found a copy of the hefty tome, cracked it open and was immediately swept away by the language and characters that McMurty created. Here’s the opening paragraph:

“When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake — not a very big one. It had probably just been crawling around looking for shade when it ran into the pigs. They were having a fine tug-of-war with it, and its rattling days were over. The sow had it by the neck, and the shoat had the tail.”

Talk about putting an image in one’s head. Throughout the novel, the reader is transported from one great scene to another. Even though there is no serious conflict or identifiable antagonist in the first 150 pages of the novel, McMurty’s seamless transition between multiple perspectives and unique back stories kept me going. I read a review that called the beginning sluggish. I understand that point of view. However, just when I started to wonder what's the plot, the impact of the start of the cattle drive on everyone's lives hit home and I never questioned motives or plot again.

I also enjoyed the way in which McMurty used the river crossings on the way to Montana from Texas as markers of major events in the book. It also gave me the opportunity to pull out a map and follow the cattle drive northwards.

I will say however, that anyone planning on reading Lonesome Dove should be prepared that life on McMurty’s plains, while fascinating, can be brutal.

My principal criticism, Newt cries too damn much.

Book Review: Gorky Park

In my continued effort to read many of the classics and novels that were highly regarded in my writing classes, I read Gorky Park. I wish I could remember why they regarded it so highly. It was probably due Martin Cruz Smith’s extensive use of detail to set-up a scene. While it was thorough, I found it really slowed down the pace of the novel. Perhaps the audience in the West during the Cold War-era thirsted for details of life behind the Iron Curtain and enjoyed that level of detail, for me it was a bit too much.

Aside from the large amount of details, another problem I had was the reader learns the identity of the killer very early on. Once I knew, I wondered why I should read another 300 pages about a dreary investigator with a crappy life.

What turned the novel around was a trio of secondary characters who became more and more important to the investigator as the book plodded along. They really brought him to life. As their roles increased I began to wonder what would happen next to these relationships and finally I was hooked. It took awhile to get there, but it paid off in the end.

A recommended read if you have free time and have an interest in Russia during the Cold War.

Book Review: WorldWar: In The Balance

This is the first book in a four part series by Harry Turtledove. I bought this book for three reasons. First, Harry Turtledove is a well-known author and I have never read any of his books. Second, the premise sounded very interesting: what would have happened if aliens had attacked Earth when the super powers of WWII were at their strongest-1943. Finally, I enjoy books set during World War II.

While I enjoyed the well-written battle scenes and stories and perspectives of three of the protagonists, the German lieutenant, the female Russian pilot and grizzled old American World War I veteran, I'm not going to buy another book in the series.

The stories and perspectives of six other protagonist had me skimming long sections of the novel. So much of the book dealt with the Jewish experience during World War II, it competed with the main story of aliens attacking earth. I didn't expect to get this kind of history lesson from a book about aliens attacking earth.

In conclusion, I can see why Turtledove is a well-known author: his action scenes are solid, his characters are well-developed and the premises of his novels are very interesting.

Unfortunately, there were too many characters in this novel that failed to keep my interest.