6. Blackout

By Connie Willis (491 pp). I already knew that this is one book split into two. It doesn't end. It stops. Right in the middle of everything. But even with warning it's hard not to be a little annoyed. The story has several threads following different historians in the Oxford time travel program who go back to World War II. Everyone runs into problems. For the most part I enjoyed it but at times it suffered from Passage (#26) syndrome in that we're watching the characters try to solve their problems in tedious detail. Overall recommend. Book #2 is coming out in October.

5. The Keep

By Jennifer Egan (242 pp.) I'm not sure how I heard about this book. I think I'd heard of the author before and then read a review and put it on my list. I inhaled this book in less than 48 hours. I loved it. I'm going to keep my comments brief and vague because the way the story unfolds is a nice surprise. At least I thought so. It's about a guy from New York who has an attitude and is a mess. He goes to Europe to help his cousin turn a crumbling castle into a fancy hotel. Things get weird and creepy fast.

My Mom is always trying to find books for book club and I thought this might be a possibility. Out of curiosity I went to giant online book retailer to read some reviews and see what other people thought. Book reviews on that site are hilarious. People give five stars and write things like, "A sweeping epic tale of romance and danger in prose that alternately sparkles then burns, the author takes you on a journey that you will never forget."

Who talks like that?

This book had an even spread from 1 star to 5 stars with a slight advantage to 5 stars. The people who hated it complained that all the loose ends weren't tied up. And that's a valid complaint but I think the book's structure makes up for that.

I recommend.

4. Just Kids

By Patti Smith (279 pp). I really loved this book but I'm also a Patti fan. Here's the link to Bob's review of when we saw her on this book tour. This memoir focuses on Patti's relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. They lived together in New York City starting in 1969 and focused on becoming artists and hung out with all kinds of musicians and artists. I love the photos. My only beef is that the ending felt rushed but I suspect that was intentional. She wasn't interested in talking about her life once it diverged from Robert's.

3. Heat Wave

By Richard Castle (196 pp.). The only reason I watch Castle is because of Nathan Fillion. Turns out there's a book to go with the series and my mother-in-law, who also watches the show, got it for Christmas. I asked if I could borrow it. It's about as good as you'd expect a tie-in to be. It's a mildly entertaining detective mystery and a fun in-joke if you watch the show. It would have been better if Nathan Fillion came over and read it to me.

2. The Mysterious Benedict Society

By Trenton Lee Stewart (485 pp.). My first boyfriend had a word for in between love and like which was either "loft" or "luft." We're going to go with "luft" because "loft" sounds like a trendy over-priced and spatially stupid apartment/condo where your bed, television, frying pan and living partner are in the same echo-y hard to heat/cool room with you at all times. Huh. "Luft" is in urbandictionary which says it means in between lust and love. Interesting. Maybe I misunderstood the whole thing with the boyfriend.

Now I don't want to use the word to apply to this book. I liked this book a lot but didn't quite love it. I did not lust it whatsoever but I can't think of any moment in time where I lusted after a book. I should just remove the anecdote while I have the chance.

This book is about a group of kids who are recruited for a dangerous mission by a mysterious man: Mr. Benedict. I loved the characters. I loved the drawings. There were puzzles. I laughed out loud a bunch of times. This is exactly the kind of book I would have loved as a kid. I would totally recommend it.

However, I just think it was a bit long, especially for its intended audience. It's not like there wasn't always something happening, I just think it could have been pulled a little tighter. Also the very ending was egregiously cheezy.

According to the back of the book there are two more. Are there any stand-alone books anymore? Every time I see a shelf with a million books with similar covers and words like "Book IX of the [insert grand-sounding name here] Series" I want to lie down and take a nap.

1. The Mortal Instruments Book One: City of Bones

By Cassandra Clare (485 pp.). This book has been in "almost finished" status all week. I had so few pages I didn't want to take it on the bus because I might finish it and I didn't want to carry two books. But then by the time I got in bed at night to read it, I'd be so tired I could only finish a couple of pages. I finally finished this morning. I wish I liked it more than I did. It's about a teenager in NYC who learns of her connection to the Shadowhunters who are people who hunt and kill demons. There's tons of great action and unexpected developments but I grew weary of the angsty teen soap opera stuff.

2010 Posting Will Begin Here

I think I have this thing working good enough for me.

I've always intended to figure out the deal with titling the posts but just got to it this morning.

So now when you look in your feeds there should be titles.

I'm sure this issue was troubling many of you. For this I apologize.

25. Help! A Bear is Eating Me! (129 pp.) by Mykle Hansen. (Dec 10). This book is hilarious. It's about this total jerk-off materialistic guy who takes a group of work people to Alaska for some team-building bear hunting. But ends up pinned under his Range Rover with a bear eating him. That's not a spoiler, that's what's happening on the first page. The voice of the protagonist is brilliant because he's such a self-absorbed weenie and there are several people I'd love to give the book to and say: the protagonist totally reminds me of you. It started losing me a bit at the end but overall fun book.

24. The Faggiest Vampire (99 pp.) by Carlton Mellick III. (Dec 9) This is such a cute story. It's about a well-known vampire named Dargoth Van Gloomfang whose entire self-worth is tied up in his amazing imperial mustache. Then Baron Van Ravengraves comes to town with his pencil mustache and things around the Land of Broodsarrow are turned upside down. Recommended.

23. The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove (304 pp.) by Christopher Moore (Dec 1). I won this book during Clarion West and I finally got around to reading it. I read Practical Demonkeeping way back when it was a brand new book and loved it. I still have it which is saying a lot because I like to pass most of my books on. Too much stuff. I've only read one other one of his books and while I always enjoy them, they're sort of like curry for me. Once I've had some I don't need it again right away.

This is a silly book that made me laugh out-loud even on the bus. It's about this giant horny creature from the sea who causes a lot of problems for a little seaside community. The story includes a stoner police guy, a former B-movie warrior queen, a mean sheriff and a really cool dog named Skinner. Recommended for light fun reading.

22. A Woman Trapped in a Woman's Body (237 pp.) by Lauren Weedman (Nov 22). Wow. I haven't finished a book in two months. I did read a million stories and write a lot of words since then. Not like I've been a total slacker.

Lauren Weedman was at Wordstock, oh, two years ago. This has been sitting on my bookshelf for two years. We liked her on the Daily Show and she was hilarious in person. And the book is funny. It's a memoir that talks about her time on the Daily Show, her divorce and her family.

She comes across as one of those high-strung crazy women that I seemed be friends with in my younger years but not so much any more. Bob has a big crush on her and as I was reading I kept saying, "She's nuts" and he would say, "she's awesome." So use that as a guideline when deciding whether to read it.

21. Doomsday Book (578 pp.) by Connie Willis (Sep 20). I recommend you not start this book unless you know you have a lot of reading time to finish it. Connie Willis was one of my Clarion West instructors and I bought this during her week so she could sign it for me. I put off starting it because it was so fat and I was afraid it would take me forever to read. I picked it up last week thinking I would just peek at the beginning and shortly thereafter reading it was the only thing I would do if I wasn't sleeping or entertaining my parents. And it's not like it's an uplifting story.

It's the same scenario as To Say Nothing of the Dog which I read last year. It's about a group of academics who use a time machine for research. A young historian wants to go back to the Middle Ages which isn't a great idea but she manages to talk the people in charge into sending her only Oops, she ends up right in the middle of the black death. Meanwhile, in present time there's another sort of pandemic going on. This is an awesome book to pick up if you have H1N1 paranoia. Every time I coughed or had the vaguest sense of headache I felt a twinge of panic.

Really good. I recommend.