The Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs.

The Mercy Thompson books are an urban fantasy series set in Washington State, specifically in the Tri Cities area of Washington state. Since this series is five books long and growing, I'm not going to do a series of entries dedicated to each book. I'll hit on some minor plot points here and described the characters.
It was a little weird for me to start reading this... I'm usually not a fan of "This Kind" of book. I don't read Laurell K. Hamilton (though I have in the past) and I haven't even finished the Sookie Stackhouse books of TrueBlood fame. I don't like chick lit or supernatural romance or lots of gore and sex. I actually rarely read anything that describes much sex at all, if you're gonna be picky. But this series is different. I can relate to the characters more and I really like the way the first couple are written. I've had issues with the second to last book, Bone Crossed, because it struck me as a the most chick lit-y of the series, but Silver Borne made up for it, in my eyes. This series isn't about showing off how well-versed in literature I am or anything but just enjoying a well-crafted storyline and characters you can really get care about, as much as you can for fictional characters. And for me... that's a lot. The names of the books in order are:
Moon Called
Blood Bound
Iron Kissed
Bone Crossed
Silver Borne

Mercedes Thompson, known as Mercy, went to college to study history and literature. Natrually, she's now a Volkswagon mechanic with her own shop. She's sarcastic, kind, fair, logical, open-minded, snarky, poised, responsible and a score of other adjectives that sound like lip service when you make a list like this. She's also a Native American shapeshifter, meaning she can turn into a coyote at will. This kind of shapeshifter is known as a Walker, and differs from werewolves in several important ways: her transformation is painless, voluntary and is not affected by the moon's cycle. She's also presumably not sterile, which is how she catches the eye of Samuel, one of the sons of  Bran, the leader of the North American werewolves. Mercy was raised by werewolves when her mother, who gave birth at the age of sixteen, came home to find a coyote pup in her daughter's crib. Bran agreed to take in her and raise her, giving her protection under the name of The Marrok, which is his title as leader. It's taken from the name of one of King Arthur's knights who was apparently a werewolf. As of the first novel, the werewolves have not yet come forward and revealed their existence although it isn't too far into the series before they feel the need to take that step, as the Fae did before them.

You see, in Mercy's world, the supernatural is fairly commonplace, even if it's not widely accepted. The Fae population of the world came out of hiding sometime in the not-so-distant past, a decision made by the Gray Lords (a sort of Fae ruling class). The term fae is a broad one used to describe a variety of pleasant and unpleasant supernatural creatures of myth, legend and fairy tale that are European in origin--everything from selkies, brownies and actual fairies to ogres, child-eating monsters and  other uncomfortably powerful creatures. It was deemed that the Time of Hiding was at an end when it appeared that the science of DNA and forensics threatened to reveal the supernatural creatures in hiding, whether they wanted to be revealed or not. Mercy actually purchased her garage from Ziebold Adelbertsmiter, known as Zee, a kind of fae known as a metalzauber or metalsmith because he knew that it would be impossible to continue running it once he was revealed to be fae. He's also fairly famous in the myth sense and one of the few fae that can stand iron.
 Most of the fae were driven from Europe by a combination of newly forged iron and in the wake of Christianity. They moved to the new world to escape, slaughtered a whole host of indigenous supernatural creatures on this continent and then iron and Christianity followed them over here anyway.

Since purchasing the garage, Mercy fixes a number of cars free of charge for the local vampire seethe, as she can't afford to pay them the protection fees they usually receive. It's sort of like paying the mob, because what they protect you from is mostly themselves; incidently, the vampires also haven't come out of hiding... there's really no way to put a positive spin on the fact that they drink human blood. Her contact within in the seethe is Stefan, a very pleasant, honorable, chivalrious vampire who almost painted his van black because of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He ended up painting it to match The Mystery Machine because "even the Slayer is no match for Scooby-Doo." He reports directly to the Mistress of the Seethe, Marsilia, who has it in for Mercy for a variety of reasons. (SPOILER ALERT: the vampires are a big part of the reason Mercy is one of or possibly the only remaining Walker left in the United States.)

At the start of the story, Mercy was living a quiet unassuming life, mostly free of interaction with werewolves and any fae or creature who would cause her trouble until a very young werewolf named Mac showed up, ignorant of how to live as a wolf, half starved with a sad story that helped reveal a lot of corruption across the United States. Pack law is naturally brutal and not something to be ignored, so Mercy took it upon herself to help Mac, as her closest neighbor is the local pack Alpha, Adam Hauptman. After Mac is murdered and left dead on her porch, Mercy ends up reconnecting with Bran, Samuel and forming closer bonds with Warren, the only gay werewolf in Adam's pack, his boyfriend Kyle and Jessie, Adam's daughter. Meaning only to help Mac, Mercy ends up becoming more and more involved in the magic, rules and dangers of the world of the Fae, wolves and vampires. As of the fifth book, it's pretty much fair game as to who wants her dead the most.  She's killed or caused the death of both wolves and vampires, been raped, kidnapped, learned too much about the Fae, and eventually even becomes part of the werewolf pack. Like the coyote with the trickster spirit and too much bravado for such a little body, Mercy just can't seem to stay out of trouble.

Like I said, especially during Bone Crossed, the romantic aspect of this got to be a little too much for me. I like the actiony parts of the story much more than I like any of the parts concerning her attraction to Adam. It doesn't ever get explicit or explore the boundaries of sexuality or really even get beyond just general quasi romantic and intensity. It's never overtly Anita Blake-esque. I just don't really much care for mush or sex in my science fiction. It also is awesome but sucky at the same time that Patricia Briggs has gained such notoriety. This guarantees more books, but also means her books now come out in hardcover first, which equals 'spensive. I also fear the possiblity of a Mercy Thompson movie... which would be absolutely awful unless handled perfectly. Yeah. Like THAT happens.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Fat Charlie Nancy isn't fat. All the stories are Anansi's. Don't talk to spiders, unless it's something you really mean.
Oh, and Neil Gaiman's still incredible.


These are the lessons I take away every single time I read this novel. It's probably my favorite of Gaiman's books--including any of the Sandman series. I know, I know, American Gods is incredible, but this is my favorite. And hey, it's in the same storyline anyway. So, shush, naysayers.

The story is about the two sons of Mr. Nancy, Fat Charlie and Spider. Before his father died, you see, Charles Nancy, nicknamed "Fat Charlie" by his father, didn't know he had a brother. And after he finds out, well, he can't wait to believe he's an only again. And that the world is as logical and boring as he'd led himself to believe, and that magic doesn't really exist.

Turns out Mr. Nancy is really the modern incarnation of Anansi, the West African spider god, the trickster. And he's not lost  a bit of his trickster ways though he's become a somewhat modern man. Fat Charlie was subjected through a variety of embarrassments at the hand of his father as a child. Like the time Mr. Nancy told him that for President's Day, all the kids picked their favorite president and dressed up as them for school that day... so Fat Charlie showed up all decked out in his presidential finery. And he was the only one. Then there was his father's habit of taking him "mermaid watching." There weren't any mermaids. Mr. Nancy was also fond of performing what he referred to as the "miracle of the loaves and fishes."


"He loafs and he fishes and it's a miracle that he makes a living."

But the most embarrassing moment was his manner of death. During a particularly fine round of karaoke, singing directly at a group of sunburned tourists, Mr. Nancy had a heart attack, fell gracefully from the stage and managed to pull the top completely off the blondest tourist.

After Mr. Nancy's death, Fat Charlie is told he's got a brother by his neighbor Callyanne Higgler, (who's in fact responsible for the fact that Fat Charlie and Spider were separated to begin with). And all he has to do to meet him is pass a whisper to a spider. But when Spider shows up, he takes over Fat Charlie's life. He steals his fiancee. He impersonates him at his job and blackmails his boss (who's legitimately up to no good). He even turns the tiny spare bedroom of Fat Charlie's apartment into a window into an alternate space with a hot tub, giant TV and tropical scenery. To get rid of him, Charlie ends up making a deal he never should've made with one the god's from his father's world, who is in league withe his father's oldest enemy. In exchange for her word and a feather, he ends up offering her Anansi's bloodline if she makes his brother go away. Turns out though, Anansi's bloodline includes him. So he has to step up and find out how much he really is his father's son to save the day.



As usual I said a lot without saying much at all. What it wraps up to is this: I love Gaiman's odd humor. I like how overtly British everything is.  I also like that it's one of the first non-Southern books I can remember reading where it's made pretty clear that none of the main characters are white. That's something I missed the first few times I read it, honestly. I don't know HOW, but I did. And I love all the stories about Anansi. I love the way he always ends up getting his, in the end. I love how matter of factly the stories are told. I love the descriptions of Tiger, so dark and bloodthirsty. I also like the casual references to American Gods throughout the narrative. And frankly, any book that has people having to flee in the face of hundreds of homicidal flamingos and then later homicidal penguins is pretty worthwhile right there.

Gaiman always seems to deal with unusual family situations, where it becomes abundantly clear that loving your family in spite of what you may view as their faults is infinitely better than losing them to something that wants to kill and/or eat them... or kill and/or eat you, depending on which you're reading. I like that. I like that his characters are often outsiders who can find a place to belong. And who hasn't felt that hope in their heart when they can't help but think there's no where in the whole wide world where they fit in?

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

I'm embarrassed to say this is my first time reading this book.
This is embarrassing because I can vividly remember having at least a couple discussions with friends or customers about this title, recommending it heavily and even debating plot points. Honestly, I have no idea where I got any of what I was saying. Because the minute I started reading it, I realized, oh…. Yeah…. This is entirely new to me. (I had a similar experience with The Secret Garden and another book that I can't yet remember the name of. I'll keep you all updated, since I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat after my few months absence.)
But anyway, back to the book.
I absolutely adore this book. It's perfect for me. I have a very odd sense of humor and I adore picaresque novels, in which the hero of the novel isn't really a hero at all. In fact he's often a rogue or a loner or otherwise morally reprehensible or ambiguous. I may not be giving the most precise definition of picaresque, but it's close enough for government work. It's Spanish in origins, I believe and is more often than not satirical in nature. As a book snob and former English Major, I really should have a better handle on this, but you get the idea.
Anyway. The main character is just that. An anti-hero. And let me just say, I absolutely HATE Ignatius J. Reilly.
The descriptions of his room, his masturbatorial fantasies (that was a little difficult to read, I'll be honest), his habits, the way he speaks to his mother; he's disgusting. Honestly, the only thing I liked was his hat. I must admit that's a mighty fine hat. I do love his utter failure/mastery of his job as a clerk, his solution for the seemingly undignified position of hot dog vendor. Although I know at least a couple people who have been unable to complete the book because of their feelings towards Ignatius, I found his absolutely irredeemable nature to be the reason I became so fond of him in the end. Anyone that self involved, you almost have to root for him. He reminded me of the main character in Miniver Cheevy (a poem linked here), only much less passive in his contempt for the world.
I felt a deep affection for all these flawed characters. Myrna Mirkoff and her ridiculous reading of sexuality into every single act (though she's probably got a bit of a point). Irene Reilly, Ignatius' long-suffering mother, finally finding freedom and love with Mr. Robichaux (here's hoping there's no "communiss" around).
Lana Lee, who I absolutely adore and whose dual role as Madame and pornographer make so many delightful parts of the story possible, including Darlene's ambition to become an "exotic" in the Night of Joy club and parodying Scarlett O'Hara. And you can't forget Burma Jones... I adore him. Honestly, this book is rich with enjoyable moments and characters.
My absolute favorite part of the book, though, is the pornographic photo involving his copy of the Boethius, The Consolations of Philosophy. That has stuck with me stronger than almost any other image in the book. It was so brilliant, it really was.
In conclusion. I'm glad that this didn't end up being a re-read. Reading this book reminded me why I read at all, all the ideas and the hilarity and absurdity. It came at a time when I really needed it and I am so glad that I got to experience it for the first time.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I'm sitting here, listening to Old Flame by The Arcade Fire (one of my favorite bands). And I adore this book, yet I can't think of a single thing to say about it. I've been trying to write this reaction for weeks.

Here's a summary, to begin with:
Perseus Jackson, known as Percy, is a 12 year old boy and strange things always happen to him... things that aren't his fault, but are so inexplicable that he gets blamed for them. As in most modern YA fiction, there's a supernatural reason he's been kept in the dark about. One day, after just such an event occurs, Percy's strange friend Grover tells him the truth:
Percy Jackson is a demigod.

His father is one of Greek gods. The incredibly stinky man his mother married? She choose him to protect her son. Demigods have a distinctive odor which attracts monsters. And the weird attacks and unexplained events and weird people who seem to mess up his life at school? Monsters that nobody can recognise because of the Mist, which disguises all monsters, from the eyes of the mere humans, the mortals. Grover isn't even a kid with a funny walk like he seems. He's a satyr, a half-human, half-goat. And his math teacher? Not a man in a wheelchair, but a centaur (half-man, half horse).
Grover's job is to go around and find demigods, like Percy, and escort them to the one place in the world they'll be safe: Camp Half Blood.

After some interesting misadventures and tons of really awesome, off-hand lessons in the way Greek mythology and history worked, they reach the camp. There are cabins for each of the gods of the Greek pantheon and nobody is aware of who Percy's father is, so he stays in the cabin for Hermes. During a particularly vicious game of Capture the Flag, he uses the power of a river to defend himself against a daughter of Ares and Poseidon's green trident appears above his head.

This causes a bit of a problem and a bit of a stir, as story goes that due to a prophecy that one of their children would make a decision at the age of sixteen that would either save or destroy Olympus, the three head gods, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades have vowed to stop having children... but looks like somebody's betrayed the oath, don't it?

After he moves into the empty cabin for Poseidon's children, his education in the ways of the demigods and Camp Half Blood continues. He finds an animosity and friendship with Annabeth, a daughter of Athena and Luke, a son of Hermes. He learns more and more about what he can expect his life to bel ike and the lives of those like him. Percy finds the camp is at least partially protected by another demigod named Thalia (a daughter of Zeus), who exists in the shape of a tree on the very border of the camp because she died protecting the two demigods who traveled to camp with her. But soon, disaster strikes. Zeus, finding out that Poseidon broke his oath, accuses Percy of stealing his Master Bold, the powerful lightning bolt that is one of the sources of his power. The rest of the book is about the adventures he has while just trying to clear his name and keep himself alive....

This is an EXTREMELY abbreviated summary and hardly any of my favorite moments were mentioned. I've had such a hard time typing this because it's so dense, so good but not at all overwhelming. I don't want to ruin the rest of the story for anyone, so I'm just gonna have to type from the hip, so I mean, let's put this out there.

I cannot say enough good things about this book to prospective readers at my job. It is a smart, fun, funny and engaging series. The movie looks incredible--I've seen the previews only but still.
I know everyone says "for fans of Harry Potter" and all that sort of stuff about this series, but honestly, this is just for fans of anything smart, anyone who appreciates a good metaphor for the awkwardness and insecurity of the early teen years. This is just for anyone who wants a good time.
So. Read it, kids.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

Let me just say, I hated this book for years. I read it when it was not available in paperback, when it was not a musical or a pop culture phenomenon. I read it and inspite of my dear love for The Wizard of Oz, I was not a fan.

I used to (and occasionally still do) have a big problem with adaptations, reimaginings or retellings of stories that I enjoy. I don't even typically enjoy remakes of movies or covers of songs. But maybe six, seven years later, I've reread Wicked and I've gotta say, it's not half bad.

It's the life of Elphaba, The Wicked Witch of the West. You can get that much just from reading the full title, I'm aware, but it's really how it is. There is so much you can say about this book and honestly, there's forty thousand other blogs, blurbs and a whole musical to say the rest and summarise, so I'm going to focus on the part that appealed to me most of all.

So, without further ado or dithering, here's a quote:
"This is why you shouldn't fall in love. It blinds you. Love is wicked distraction."

My basic reaction to this entire book was that Elphaba was betrayed by love, over and over again. The love her parents denied because of her appearance, the love of her real father, the love she felt for Fiyero was strong enough to make her try to confess to his wife, his sisters, anyone and in the end even that instinct ended up working to her detriment. If she had been treated with dignity, if she had been allowed to develop normal feelings towards herself instead of being forced to look at her life through the filter of the prejudices of those around her, maybe she would not have been in so much trouble. Maybe she never would have been the kind of person people felt they needed to defend Dorothy against. Maybe she could've been happy, and not so concerned with her lack of a soul and the need to try to correct some of the wrongs in the world. But then, really, compared to who she was, she would've been nobody.

The issue of love in relation to Elphaba's development was fairly dense. Ain't it always, though, folks? Her appearance, the questionable parentage, her mother's distance, her sister's religious leanings and the 'political' mood of Oz leave you with the feeling that it's really no surprise that the life of this heartbreakingly human character ends up being lost in the legend, propaganda and conjecture of the 'greater' (or simply more aesthetically appealing?) story of Dorothy Gale.

Elphaba was ostracized and marginalised even from birth. The obvious differences such as her green skin, uncertain gender and baby teeth lead her father to either parade her around to potential converts to display the "wrongness" of her existence or deny her as being any part of him, emotionally or biologically. And in spite of her devotion to her sister, Nessarose, the obvious preference shown as well as the issue of faith serves to futher isolate her from her family. Elphaba's disbelief in her own soul and her impatience with fantacism seems to me the only logical reaction to a system of belief that states she is either horribly wrong down to her very soul or is somehow lesser than her non-green, non-deformed counterparts. This also makes her devotion to Animal rights seem the only path her life could take.

I mean, come on. She is reviled for being less than human. So, in a very personal and real way, she understands the difficulty, humiliation and pain that comes from being told over and over, your life is worth less than others' lives. Her love for Fiyero, although immoral by the standards of the day, also seems to me the most realistic option. She does not compromise, does not change her beliefs or behaviour. It seems that a person so devoted to reason, whose personal philosophy is rooted so firmly in logic, could only fall passionately and irrevocably in love, even with someone who is taken. That being said, after his death and what she feels is her hand in it, it is only understandable that she would try to tell his wife, try to do what is right according to her worldview. Like I said before, maybe she would've cherished her son more if love hadn't betrayed her this one last time and led her to think it only leads to pain? I dunno. Maybe I'm missing the point. But this was my whirling point of view when I read this book.

I guess I don't have some great overwhelmingly intellectual response to this novel. It hit me in the gut and the heart. I can't really analyse it very well yet. I can only react to it. So forgive me if this isn't the best reaction I've ever written.

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

I don't read what I consider to be an excessive amount of science fiction or fantasy. I used to, don't get me wrong. Just, these days, I tend to prefer straight fiction or humor, excepting of course Neil Gaiman's body of work which I will continue to devour, reading-wise. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised by this book... though I shouldn't've been. It was a Philip K. Dick award winner, it's about British people and mythology and it had tons of literary references (the guy goes back in time ostensibly to see a Samuel Taylor Coleridge lecture... that's right, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Kahn inspire freakin' time travel, bitches. Oh, pardon me, is my English major showing?)

Either way, the novel was clever. The main character, a historical biographer named Brendan Doyle, goes back in time from 1983 as a part of this group of millionaires (and, unbeknownst to him, evil scientists) going to see an 1810 Coleridge lecture and ends up accidently getting stuck there. It was a lot like Buffy in parts, which made me love it. It didn't take itself too seriously but it was well-thought-out enough that I didn't cringe and say "Really? Really?!" out loud to my faithful but deaf reading companion, my dog Ruby. Doyle ends up living through all these horrors perpetuated by a group of people attempting to control the travel through the streams of time called the Anubis Gates, which are like holes in the ice covering of the river of time. I probably screwed up that metaphor, but still. There's a man called Dog Face Joe who is sort of a werewolf thing who can jump into other peoples bodies, people splitting their spirits, a group of evil disfigured beggers the leader of whom is dressed as a clown on stilts, Doyle realises that he's not the only person from the 20th century when he hears people whistling "Yesterday" by The Beatles--a splendid time is guaranteed for all! Also, there's a woman disguising herself as a tough street boy street urchin. So, see, everything I love pretty much reverts back to drag.

Through hours of strenuous research (ie: idle googling), I discovered that the character of William Ashbless, the poet whose biography Doyle was working on only to discover that he himself IS Ashbless, was actually created as a joke in college with one of his buddies, to kind of poke fun at crappy poets by submitting "nonsensical free verse" to the paper under the Ashbless name.. The link to the wiki is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ashbless

There's a lot of the plot I didn't reveal here, but really, I enjoyed this novel. Good times, two thumbs up.