Stupid "system"

I just found a scrap of paper in my bag with three book titles on it, from when I had found a bunch of books I had read an indefinitely long time ago, realized I had to just get them out of my room, and then forgot to return them until 5:05 p.m. when I had to be somewhere and just dumped them. So I don't know when I read them or exactly when I even returned them, but at some point I enjoyed the smooth literary stylings of Marina Fiorato (Daughter of Siena), Amanda Cross (In the Last Analysis), and Clare Clark (Beautiful Lies). Except not that smooth.

Daughter of Siena was mildly entertaining; set in 18th century Siena, it's a story of love and politics centered on an especially dramatic Palio. It was interesting reading about the Palio, but I have no idea how well the author did her homework, so it just made me want to go get a non-fiction book and learn more about Siena. Although I guess that's good. I wouldn't add this one to my list of historical fiction books that teach you / make you want to learn more, though. It was also SUPER predictable, but there you go. I feel like I've read another book by the same author - maybe set in Murano/Venice? If she's just making a living going around researching and writing novels set in fascinating Italian cities, more power to her, however the books turn out!

The Amanda Cross book was one in an anthology of (theoretically) important / very good mysteries, and maybe it was when it was published, but I could barely keep my eyes open. A female academic solving a murder (which occurred during the victim's last - scheduled - therapy session, ha) should be right up my alley, but the story and protagonist were boring as hell, the language (especially the dialogue) was stilted, and apparently the publishers didn't believe in springing for a copy-editor. That last just irks me.

I had read Clare Clark's The Great Stink, and as I recall I was looking for her next book, Savage Lands, set in colonial Louisiana, which was checked out when I came across Beautiful Lies. I just now read the NYT review, and I think if I had at the time I probably would have still checked the book out - and on purpose, as it were - but maybe liked it better. I think it just wasn't what I was expecting, and by the time I realized what kind of book it was meant to be, I had lost interest. It also opens very, very slowly and I didn't warm up to the main characters for a while. But I did, eventually, and came to appreciate the story more. And I don't think there's any denying that she's a very good writer. And this reminds me to check on Savage Lands again...

Ohhhhh, St. Patrick's Day...

Well.  Been a while since I wrote about my books...life got a little crazy on St. Patrick's Day and is just settling down.  Good, bad, and awkward, but I think we're back to normal, and I am back to compulsively reading & buying books I can't afford. 
Due to the two-day hangover following St. Pat's, and the two smaller ones since, I didn't read as much as normal the last week, so not too much to report.  Finished The Rose Grower by Michelle de Kretser a while ago (maybe last Friday?  MAYBE Thurs., but I think I just came home from work and passed out, after trying not to die all day), and really enjoyed it.  It's about a family (and associated friends, etc.) during the French Revolution, and I really ended up liking it.  The political upheaval was always very present, but not overwhelmingly so, and the characters were nicely drawn.  It was interesting because it's written from the point of view of several characters, and the chapters switch in between with no real headings, so you need to read a bit to figure out who is talking, which is like in that book I started the week before (?), La Salle, but whereas it was annoying in the Vernon, I thought De Kretser used the device in a way that just made me read more carefully, and be more engaged with the story.  I'm not doing a very good job describing it, but I liked it, and would definitely recommend it as a story; as far as the history part of it being historical fiction, I don't know enough about the period to really know if it's any good or not, but it felt right.  It wasn't incredibly exciting or anything, almost Austen-ish in its quiet - but compelling - narrative flow, but I was pulled into it, and sad when it was over.  This is apparently the author's first novel, but I would definitely read more by her.
Also read The Nature of Monsters by Clare Clark, who wrote The Great Stink, which I raved about in this blog last month.  At first I didn't like Monsters as much, but I ended up being completely absorbed.  This one is set in early 18th century London, and centers around the tension between old traditional beliefs and emerging medical "science" - sort of.  Good NYT review has a better summary than I can give, or feel like writing, but I would say the important thing for me was that she has, once again, characters that are written so believeably they manage to feel totally familiar, despite being in a completely foreign setting, and she makes London come alive in all it's grimy foulness - and moments of crystalline beauty that are all the more special for their rarity.  I wonder if she is planning on just writing a series of books of London at different, stinking time periods...?  Neither one of these was really a good hangover book, though - you had to focus - so I didn't read much else.  Tried to read another one of those Sebastian St. Cyr books by C.S. Harris on Sat., but couldn't make my eyes focus (three girls, one 6 month old German Shepherd, 12 bottles of wine and a 70 degree days spent on Boston Common = me walking home, calling D to tell him his gf is fat, calling R to b*tch that Hsin Hsin wouldn't pick up - at midnight! - and then trying, and failing, to read).  I feel like I started to read a couple books this week/end, but gave up, but now I can't think of them.  Stumbled through the Harvard Bookstore yesterday in a total fugue state searching for something to "read me through the hangover" (as I apparently thought it was fine to explain to the checkout girl) and ended up with a used copy of Innocent Blood by P.D. James.  Enjoying it so far, I guess, but a little thrown by the fact I have already come across two references to "slant-eyed" Asian people - not sure if this was ironic or something, or just the author.  Have never really been able to get into James, so I don't know why that was what I went with.  Honestly, I think I was just wandering through the store's basement and suddenly realized I needed sugar and food, and grabbed whatever I had looked at last.  Did something similar on Sunday: met T for coffee and a rundown of my latest antics and poor choices (if you read this, T, thanks for always listening and never judging!), and we - of course - ended up wandering back and forth through Barnes and Noble, where I started a huge list of books in my phone, and then justified buying a paperback Shutter Island because "I had a really rough couple of days, and I need an escape."  Of course now I've gotten another book since, will be grabbing three from deposit today, and am only on page 5.  Oh, well - the one thing I can guarantee is I will get to it!  And I really think I need a non-drinking weekend, so a couple days of curling up with a good book would be idea.  Esp. because I think today I need to tell Flava-flav that I can't see him any more, so I will need to keep myself occupied so I don't break down and holler at him.

The Great Stink

Just finished The Great Stink (2005) - amazing. Descriptions of life in the Crimea & London were amazing, so accurate that I was almost too grossed out to keep reading in some places (with a book that takes place at least half in the sewers, there's a lot of s*** and rats). Really nicely thought out characters, though, and I just can't say enough about how alive - festeringly, stinkingly alive the book is.