Dead Until Dark

Sookie is a small town, southern, cocktail waitress.  She proclaims she is afflicted by a 'disability'...mind reading.  Sookie has been waiting for something to perk up her dull life.  That's when Bill the vampire shows up and Sookie's life goes from dead to deadly.

I adore Bill the vampire. I can get into the mystery. I am not yet totally offended by the graphic nature. The sex was a little explicit. I am totally down with Sookie's 'disability'. But Heaven help her personality. What the heck does Bill want with her? It's okay that she is a little 'old fashion', naive, and unsophisticated....maybe it's the way she speaks. Something about her rubs me the wrong way. I guess I will have to learn to live with it because I plan on continuing the series, at least to the next book.

Rating 3.5 Obviously Sookie drives me to drinking but I did like the rest of the book.
Rating R Graphic violence, graphic sex, murder.

My Horizontal Life

My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler

I'm pretty sure that this is one of those things you shouldn't admit to liking.  I thought it was a book I could keep under wraps and no one would be the wiser.  Then my hubby found it.........and read it before I could. 

Chelsea Handler has no shame when it comes to laying out what she can recall of her wild sex life.  The antecdotes were funny and somewhat surprising what she wasn't willing to do. 
The read, like many loose girls was cheap and easy.  The language was foul.  The alcohol was flowing.  How she didn't spot the gay guy I attribute to Ecstacy blindness.  I feel like I should soon take an oath to get back on the wagon of cleaner entertainment......right after I read Chelsea, Chelsea, Bang! Bang!

Rating 2.5  I can't rate it higher than 'Vodka' which was a better book.  Still docking points for the blatant vulagrity and obvious alcohol and drug abuse......there can be too much of a good thing.
Rating R  Sex, language, drugs, alcohol.

This Perfect Day

This Perfect Day by Ira Levin

     "Christ, Marx, Wood, and Wei
       Led us to this perfect day."

In the spirit of George Orwell's 1984, 'This Perfect Day' gives us a glimpse of life in the future.  There are human outposts on other planets.  The cities of Earth are filled with parks, scanners, government appointed jobs and families, and bracelet wearing, drug numbed Members.

Everything is run by Uni....the unified government made up of a gigantic computer compound.  Uni dictates your schooling, job, living arrangements, names (they've whittled it down to 4 for each sex) attached to numbers (namebers), the sex life of the Members, and freedom of movement throughout the continents.  Big Brother is present in this instance........because the members are drugged monthly, or more often, with drugs that make them 'healthy'.  The drugs cause the Members to rat each other out, be satisfied with once a week sex (which they call f ing), never question Uni, and lead productive lives void of feeling, and then kills them at the age of 62.

Chip begins to 'question' Uni when his grandfather draws attention to the fact that Uni 'appears' to be one thing, but in reality is something much more cold and sinister.  It takes Chip years to even get near breaking away, or having an 'awakening' because every Member is plugged full of drugs that won't let them question the authority of Uni.  And even if they did, all of the other Members would turn them in for being 'sick'.

After many years and life altering set backs, Chip feels that he has successfully escaped the life Uni had planned for him. In a creepy turn of events, he finds that all he has worked for, may in fact be just what Uni wanted him to do.

Fantastic read!  This is one of my favorite genres.  I enjoyed Levin's take on future government control.  By the end it was feeling fragmented, which may have come from Chips break with being sedated....but it didn't seem to flow as well.
Rating 4.5
Rating R Sex, crude language.

Vampire Academy

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Rose is a dhampir.  She is half human, half vampire.  She is the guardian to Lissa, a Moroi or living vampire.  Rose protects royal Lissa from the Strigoi or vampires that are dead and have no magic.  Rose and Lissa have a psychic bond.  They attend an academy hidden in the forests of Montana.  The academy is for dhampir and Moroi. 

Rose and Lissa begin the book as escapees from the academy.  They are found by guardians and and forced to return.  Rose is taken under the wing of Dimitri.  He is a guardian in his early twenties that will also help protect Lissa and train Rose.

Rose and Lissa fled the academy when they realized Lissa had special powers that might endanger her.  Upon their return, they work hard to make their way back into the 'crowd' yet still keep secret their psychic bond and the healing powers that will make Lissa a target.

Rose has a strong personality which is sometimes very immature (which I guess makes sense considering the book is written for teens).  Sometimes I really liked that she didn't take any garbage and then sometimes it became old.  Lissa didn't seem deeply developed as a character. It kind of felt like a void there......she just sort of.......existed. There was back story which if told would have made a stronger book.  The setting and the author's version of vampirism made it worth reading  as pleasant entertainment.

Rating 3.5

Rating R  The book was very sexual for a teen audience, under age drinking, self mutilation, language.

Angel Falling Softly

Angel Falling Softly by Eugene Woodbury

I have been trying to get my mitts on this for a very long time.  I kept seeing scathing reviews and knew that if it were that controversial..........well I had to read it.

The low down is that Rachel is an LDS bishop's wife.  Her young daughter Jennifer is dying of leukemia.  A gorgeous young vampire named Milada moves into the ward.  Rachel figures out what Milada is.  She asks Milada help her save her child's life by infecting her with the virus that makes one a vampire.

While there was an awesome story in there... it derailed.   Milada's high powered job which entailed buying out companies and shallow relationships between mother/daughter and wife/husband left me desperate for the meatier story that never fleshed out.
Now I do appreciate when an LDS author has the courage to write characters that aren't all unattainable, cheesy, do gooders.  On the other hand if you are going to write as an LDS author and not just your general population author.....there have to be some things which you just leave out.  I can take sex between married people, heck I could even deal with an affair, what I struggled with was the lesbian scenes......for sort of no purpose.  There were some snippets of tantalizing writing which would have been great if they were delved into at all.  Such as Rachel having to decide if she wanted to destine her daughter to Hell in order to save her life......which is what I think the book may have been about. 
Rachel kinda seemed not to a have a dying daughter and to be living her religion for the sake of appearance.  I'm pretty sure that isn't how she was supposed to be though. 

The book felt like it wanted to be edgy and then slithered off the cliff by accident.  Yet some how, I still liked what there was to like.  Vampirism caused by a virus.  The vampires could eat and be in the sun (although they sunburn severely when they are unprotected).  The virus causes them to be albino like and their body ages only fractionally over a long time. Plus the author had a great grasp of when to put in scriptures and that part actually turned out pretty cool.

Rating 3  Meh.....I liked it but I know there was a better story in there that didn't get written.
Rating Ugh...probably R.....maaaaaaybe PG 13.  Some swearing, lesbian hook up, talk of sex, alluding to sexual assault.

Crank

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Hopkins writes the whole book in forms of poetry.  I had only heard that the book was a best seller, but nothing else.  When I first began to read I thought the poetry was only part of the opener.  It looked genius!  Then I turned the pages and found that every single one of them had more poetry...........I became skeptical and somewhat put out.  I thought the prose would impede my reading.  It took until about page 20 (which I made it to very quickly) to really get into the rythm.  Thereafter I was hooked.

Kristina goes to meet her estranged father over summer break from high school.  Up to this point she has been an A student.  Kristina has had no boyfriends or even been kissed.  By the time she returns to her mother and siblings three weeks later, Kristina is calling herself Bree, is hooked on meth, and well on her way to lots of sex on speed.

The intensity of the writing made me feel like I was an addict.  It was very powerful.  Kristina's spiral happened so fast that it was unbelievable.......well believable........but crazy.

Rating 4.5  Did I love it??? NO!!!! Was it an eye opener?? YES!!  I hope the Monster never touches my life.
Rating R Rape, sex, drug abuse, addiction, alcohol, teen pregnancy, abortion.

The Templars

The Templars The Secret History Revealed by Barbara Frale

In recent years the mystique surrounding the templars has become popular thanks to author Dan Brown. The Templars is not another fictitious book. Frale is well educated in templar, papacy and crusade history. She works in the Vatican archives. Frale was able to use old and forgotten documents to put together this insightful book.

She explains how and why the templars were formed, to whom they answered, how long they supposedly lasted, their secret rituals, and how they finally came to an end.

The book read like a text book. The information was good and considering this was non fiction it did get dry. I had a hard time following the people and the time. She jumped around on the timeline because her layout was more topic based. Also at times I felt like a needed a diagram to figure out where the people belonged. I am not entirely familiar with far reaching Catholic history so I spent some time confused over what seemed like quick change of papacy and other leaders.

By the time I reached around pg. 150 I was able to keep it all straight but I think that is because the book stayed to mostly one time period and there were fewer historical players.

Rating 3 for the information but I would have to rate it lower for the confusion.

Rating PG Rituals include homosexuality and hazing.

The Angel

The Angel by Carla Neggers

Keira has a deep Irish history. She is an American artist that illustrates Irish folklore. Keira decides to pursue one mysterious legend about an angel statue all of the way to Ireland. As she delves into the legend of fairies, three Irish brothers and a missing angel statue, a chain of events is set off in Boston and Ireland. Ultimately eerie murders and mysterious happenings are soon attributed to the devil himself. Keira's uncle a Boston detective and her new found love interest Simon try to unveil the murderer........

Loved the Irish setting. I've always found Ireland and its folklore intriguing. I also really liked the detectives. I always have a soft spot for the uniforms. It was a hair scary when you began to wonder if the devil really was the one killing everyone.

Rating 3.5 Great summer read. I liked the romantic parts and the mystery. Nothing breath taking or super unique.

Rating R Murder and sex but not overwhelming amounts.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Chiyo was not born to be a geisha. She was sold into what basically seems like prostitution even though that isn't what geisha is supposed to be. Chiyo's mother was dying and her father was aged. A man from a nearby village takes Chiyo and her sister. Chiyo thinks the man will be adopting them. Instead Chiyo is sold to an okiya to be a maid and someday geisha. Her sister is not as lovely and is sold into prostitution.

The story is a lovely one. I am not at all familiar with Eastern history or the life of geisha. I am not sure how truthful this story is. I do wish that it contained more history or maybe the psychology of Eastern tradition because I still don't understand why there are geisha instead of just prostitutes.

Eventually Chiyo is able to begin training to be a geisha though it didn't look promising for quite some time. When she begins her training she receives her new geisha name which is Sayuri. Through most of the book Sayuri is in love with the Chairman. Everything she does is so that one day he may love (I'm not sure that is the right word, but I guess it is.) her in return. Sayuri becomes one of the most successful geisha in Kyoto. She has a danna (sugar daddy) by the time she is eighteen, which is not common.

During WWII all of the geisha are put out and must find some other form of work. Sayuri is lucky enough to have caught the eye of a man that has wanted her for years. He is wealthy and powerful enough to get her into a home in the country where she can live and work. Once the war is over, Nubo (the man that wants to be her new danna) tells her she must return to Kyoto and resume her position as geisha. He tells her if is business is successful enough in the future he will become her danna. This is a huge blow to Sayuri. The Chairman is business partners with Nubo. If Nubo becomes her danna, she and the Chairman can never have a relationship. It would not be honorable.

By the end I am desperate for Sayuri to get the love she desires so much. I do not however like the way she went about trying to achieve that. On one hand I have to give her credit for taking her life into her own hands and not letting other people tell her what she must do. But it was so dishonorable I cringe.

I don't love the lifestyle that Sayuri had to live. I did find the book some how lovely to imagine though. I liked that Sayuri rose to the top despite the odds. I didn't like that geisha seem to be owned by everyone except themselves. I did like that she finally freed herself, or at least saw herself as free because she was willing to make her own choices.

Rating 4 Although I give it a 4, I will probably read it again. I don't want to give it a five because I feel like geisha is beautiful slavery.
Rating R Child abuse, prostitution, sex, violence

Ready or Not

Ready or Not by Meg Cabot

This is the follow up novel to American Girl. Sam is still dating the First Son and being a teen ambassador. This time Sam's conundrum is whether or not to have sex with boyfriend David. She is also publicly supporting the Presidents new Family agenda. The agenda includes ratting out young girls to their parents if they are seeking contraception. Sam mistakenly announces that she has said yes to sex during a televised town meeting held at her high school. Although Sam has not agreed to be sexual with David, everyone including their families think she has.

Sam is called a slut at school. The popular girls try to ostracize her. Sam's popular sister Lucy stands up for her. Many others in the school join in and Sam finds that she has more friends than she thought.

Sam has been invited to Camp David with the First Family for Thanksgiving. She thinks that David has invited her in order to have sex with her for the first time. She decides that she is not ready. She then finds that David truly invited her just to invite her and had no other plans. Let down and a bit angry she then decides she is ready for sex and 'jumps his bones'. She feels that she has come to the realization that sex did not change their relationship. She also learns that her popular sister, although having had a steady boyfriend for a long time......has not had sex.

I was a bit surprised to have this book revolving so much around the choice to be sexually active as a teen. While I am semi glad that someone as broached this subject, I was not thrilled with the outcome. Sorry Sam, but sex changes everything. Also as a book geared toward young teens I was not at all happy about other sexual tips garnered in this read.

Rating 2 I did have fun reading it, but I didn't like the message to the target audience. I know that is a totally personal opinion.......... but that's the whole point of posting.

Rating PG 13 contraception, sex, sexual acts, language

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

In this edition of A Clockwork Orange, the last chapter is added, which was original to the British book, but taken out of the America version.

The language in this book is a mix of Russian, English and invented slang.

Alex is a teen (Nadsat ......or Russian numbers 11-19) hoodlum with a gang of other boys. Society is over run by the likes of these boys. They spend time in bars, getting high, street fighting and committing heinous crimes against society. Alex likes to shoot up and then listen to classical music. He hallucinates and gets all worked up.

Alex is the leader of his small gang. He at times feels threatened by the other members and beats them up.

The boys beat up an old man coming from the library. They go out into the country and break into a house. They knock around the husband and tear up the book he is writing (A Clockwork Orange) and rape his wife. The final act that puts Alex in prison; the boys go to an older, wealthy part of town where they plan a break in. They want to steal goods from the home. They are unable to gain access through the front door so Alex climbs into an upper story window. By now the old person living there has called the police. Alex comes downstairs and eventually knocks the elderly in the head with a statue. She later dies, solidifying Alex's time in prison. As the police arrive, Alex's buddies chain him up and leave him because he beat them up earlier.

Alex spends two years in prison. (He is committed to a fourteen year term.) He plays the music on a stereo in the prison chapel. He is housed with many other men in one cell. Finally he beats up one man for laying on the same bed. The man dies and the government decides they must do something about the over crowding. They use Alex as a guinea pig in their new treatment.

Alex is taken to some new buildings on the prison grounds. They tell him he will be cured of doing evil and returned to society within two weeks. He gets very excited. He is shown to a nice room that he doesn't have to share. He is given good food and what the doctors tell him are vitamin shots because he is malnourished. Then he is taken to watch movies. He is strapped to a chair and his eyelids are held open. Alex is made to watch graphic violence with classical music. The 'vitamin' shots make him ill. He is conditioned by the government to become ill at the mere thought of violence. When he is able to become ill without the medication and only violence, he is returned to society.

Alex goes home and finds his parent's have rented out his room to someone else. He wanders the streets, goes to a bar, gets high. When he comes down from the high he is suicidal. He can't even think of ending his own life without becoming sick from the violent images in his head. He decides to go to the library and find out a way to kill himself without violence. At the library he runs into the old man that he and his friends beat up on the streets years ago. The old man attacks him along with the other old men in the library. The police come. Alex sees that one of his old gang and one of his enemies have become policemen. They take him out to the county and beat the tar out of him and leave him there. Alex wanders until he just happens upon the house where he and his friends beat the husband and raped the wife. He stumbles to the door and is taken in by the man. The man recognizes Alex from the newspaper article about the government's experiment. He gives Alex food and a place to sleep. He does not realize Alex is the person that broke into his home over two years ago. Alex and his friends would wear masks when committing some of their crimes. The man also named Alexander tells Alex that he will call some of his friends and they will use him as an example that the government has gone too far in taking the will of a person away. The friends come and take Alex to an apartment where they lock him in. By now, because of some of the things Alex has said, Alexander has identified him as one of the people that raped his wife which lead to her death. Alex falls asleep on the bed and wakes to some of his favorite music playing in the next apartment. Unfortunately for Alex he is now conditioned to become violently ill at the sound of this music because it was used during the graphic scenes he was forced to watch. He cannot escape the sound and gets sicker and sicker. Finally he throws himself from the window. The fall is not enough to kill him. He ends up in the hospital.

The government sees that they have gone too far with their experiment and 'cure' Alex, or return him to his former state. His parents come and tell him he may come home. He goes back to his old life and forms a new gang.

The final chapter, formerly left out of the American version; Alex is out with his new gang and begins to feel depressed. They want to go out and cause harm and chaos but Alex doesn't feel like it. The other boys go about their business and Alex goes out for some tea and milk. He sees Pete a member of his old band of friends. Pete only nineteen but newly married to a lovely girl. Alex and Pete talk for a minute. Pete and his wife leave to go to a party. Alex begins to realize that he is not depressed, at the ripe old age of eighteen he is just maturing out of his violent stage. Now he thinks he should begin looking for a wife so they can have a baby.

I loved this book. At first the language threw me off, but you figure it out quickly. (There is a Nadsat Glossary if your book doesn't contain one.) The violence is terrible but strikes a chord. I liked the controversy that it put forth about how far to go to 'cure' society of its many ills. I truly thought about this because of the socialism that is ever creeping nearer under the guise of 'government help'. Honestly, even though I know it is wrong to take someones will away........I was really glad that they did it to Alex. He was a beast.

The book became a little far fetched for me towards the end. The fact that Alex just happens to show up at the same location he committed a crime years ago and the victim and he form some kind of relationship....felt a little contrived. Also the fact that he was repaid with violence by just about everyone he crossed was a bit over the top. And finally his turn towards good by growing out of violence? In some sense most people mature and grow out of some of their youthful mistakes but I'm not sure about growing out of violence to the degree.

Rating 5 I totally recommend this book, BUT...........

Rating R violence, rape, language, drug use, murder.

Hunter's Heart

Hunter's Heart by Julia Green

Fourteen year old Simon is new to a small coastal British town. He has moved there with his mother and sister. Simon's father died in a motorcycle accident when Simon was younger. He is pubescent and angry. Simon is very interested in survival literature, living off of the land, hunting, sling shot and air rifles.
Simon and his mother don't communicate well. He is angry at her for being protective. She is protective yet spends little time with him. She begins dating Simon's art teacher from school. This makes Simon even more angry if possible.
Leah is Simon's sixteen year old neighbor. Her mother is an alcoholic and her father seems to be having an affair. She spends a lot of time laying out in the sun. She and Simon strike up a friendship. They swim and walk around together. They find an old burial mound/cave. Leah brings gin. She gets drunk. They have super quick sex.......no joke, he's fourteen.
Simon thinks that he is being followed by a war vet named Mad Ed. Mad Ed is mysterious and seems quite psychologically scarred by Desert Storm.
Leah likes Simon's art teacher.......the one his mother is dating. Matt, the art teacher, hires Leah to clean his house and studio. He has been doing drawing of Simon's mother in the buff. Then he begins drawing Leah this way also. Simon visits the studio and sees the drawings. He becomes jealous. He finally gets the air rifle that he has wanted. He follows Matt and Leah to the art studio. When he sees Leah without her shirt on and Matt drawing her, Simon snaps. He first begins shooting at the art. Then he hits Leah in the leg. Just then Mad Ed shows up.........he always seems to be around. Matt and Leah see Mad Ed, not Simon. Simon dashes home and hopes that no one will be the wiser. He feels awful. Mad Ed drowns himself. Simon's secret is safe.
Weird book. It seems the British drink a lot. Alcohol seemed the norm even for the youngsters.......wine and beer anyway. The book felt mysterious and I can't say it ever cleared up for me. I am disturbed that it is aimed at young teens. The book wasn't so bad, I just didn't like the sex with no consequence.
Rating 3 Not the best......not the worst. Entertaining.
Rating PG 13 Teen sex, drinking, violence.

Speak Softly. She Can Hear

Speak Softly. She Can Hear by Pam Lewis

I can't even give this book a star. I usually never back down from a book but this was such trash that I couldn't spend any more time when there are such great things out there to read. The characters were disgusting, loser, manipulative, nasty freaks. The plot was sick. I thought it sounded intriguing from the blurb, but it didn't really give a good idea about what the book was about.