The Radleys are just like every other family in a small village outside London - a friendly mom and dad, a boy and girl in school, a lovely home and an SUV in the driveway. But the Radleys are hiding a big, bad secret - they are vampires.
This is not your "Twilight" type of vampire story. Matt Haig's The Radleys is a slightly campy and very funny book about the consequences of trying to be "abstainers"- vampires who choose to live their lives as normal humans, without drinking blood. And they do try, very hard, to fit in. Peter Radley is the village doctor and Helen is a typical stay-at-home mom. Their children, 15-year-old Clara and 17-year-old Rowan, are blissfully unaware of what makes them so different until a terrible incident causes Clara's blood lust to appear.
On the surface, the Radleys are just a little quirky. Except for Clara, they eat meat, (lots of it, and rare, please) and can't go out in the sun without wearing 60 SPF sunscreen at all times. They have a terrible time sleeping at night and parents Peter and Helen struggle every day to follow the rules of "The Abstainer's Handbook" so that they can live their lives with humans. But the night Clara is attacked and retaliates by devouring her classmate changes everything. Peter calls in his brother Will, a legendary (and very active) vampire, to help them through the crisis. Peter and Helen must reveal the truth to their children, and Will's appearance triggers a series of events that will change the Radleys forever.
Haig's sly turn of phrase and insight into the lives of a suburban family make this book all the more enjoyable. This is a vampire story the likes of which we haven't seen - Haig focuses not just on the drama of living to drink blood, but about how this can affect a typical dysfunctional family who already has more than enough on their plates.
The Radleys is a fun and fast read, perfect for adults and teens alike. Even if you are not a fan of vampire fiction, take a trip to the dark side with Peter and his family. You might find you like it.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
The Ups and Downs of Women's Fiction
OK, let's call it what it really is - chick lit. And just like anything else, there is good, bad and downright ugly among the many thousands of women's fiction books out there. After a couple of intense books (including the last book of The Hunger Games, which I finally finished over the holidays), I decided it was time to try something lightweight. Within a week, I had finished two books which definitely fall into the chick lit category: Lisa Unger's Fragile and Isabel Wolff's A Vintage Affair.
At first glance, Fragile seemed to be a quick, fun read- small town mystery, girl who goes missing, families torn apart by secrets -with characters that seemed both interesting and believable. But the fun stopped there. The first warning sign came when I kept putting Fragile down and conveniently forgetting to pick it back up. By the time I was halfway through, it was almost painful to try to finish it. Not only was Fragile poorly constructed, jumping back and forth between present day and the past, but there were so many subplots and twists that by the final chapter, I had no idea who half the people were and what crimes they had committed, and nor did I care. Unger's cringe-worthy last line - "... how the connections between them were as terribly fragile as they were indelible." - is the perfect example of how poorly written the book is.
Lisa Unger is a popular writer, with several bestselling books to her credit. I went into Fragile thinking that it might not be Pulitzer prize-winning, but would certainly keep my interest. It was nothing but a disappointment, and despite having a free, dowloaded copy of Beautiful Lies by Unger on my Kindle, I don't think I can bring myself to give her another try.
With some misgivings, I quickly moved on to Isabel Wolff's A Vintage Affair, a novel that was well-reviewed and sounded intriguing. A Vintage Affair is about Phoebe, a young woman who leaves her job at Sotheby's to opens her own vintage clothing store in London. While it is definitely "chick lit," reading this book was a completely different experience. A Vintage Affair contains the best elements of what women's literature offers; there's a little mystery, some romance, quirky characters, and an unresolved crisis, but wrapped in a story that was just delightful.
Wolff's well-researched and beautifully written descriptions of vintage couture, from cupcake dresses to clutch purses, made reading this book a pleasure. It was easy to lose myself in Phoebe and her supporting cast - the mystery surrounding an elderly client with a difficult past, Phoebe's romance with a widowed father, and Phoebe's parents, who have their own challenges- and while the writing was sometimes predictable, the story never grew stale. I finished A Vintage Affair within two days, with that satisfied feeling you get after a good meal or a nice long nap.
Not every book has to be groundbreaking, and it certainly doesn't have to be "literature" to be a good read. But every book should in some way entertain and enrich us, the readers, no matter under what category the book falls.
At first glance, Fragile seemed to be a quick, fun read- small town mystery, girl who goes missing, families torn apart by secrets -with characters that seemed both interesting and believable. But the fun stopped there. The first warning sign came when I kept putting Fragile down and conveniently forgetting to pick it back up. By the time I was halfway through, it was almost painful to try to finish it. Not only was Fragile poorly constructed, jumping back and forth between present day and the past, but there were so many subplots and twists that by the final chapter, I had no idea who half the people were and what crimes they had committed, and nor did I care. Unger's cringe-worthy last line - "... how the connections between them were as terribly fragile as they were indelible." - is the perfect example of how poorly written the book is.
Lisa Unger is a popular writer, with several bestselling books to her credit. I went into Fragile thinking that it might not be Pulitzer prize-winning, but would certainly keep my interest. It was nothing but a disappointment, and despite having a free, dowloaded copy of Beautiful Lies by Unger on my Kindle, I don't think I can bring myself to give her another try.
With some misgivings, I quickly moved on to Isabel Wolff's A Vintage Affair, a novel that was well-reviewed and sounded intriguing. A Vintage Affair is about Phoebe, a young woman who leaves her job at Sotheby's to opens her own vintage clothing store in London. While it is definitely "chick lit," reading this book was a completely different experience. A Vintage Affair contains the best elements of what women's literature offers; there's a little mystery, some romance, quirky characters, and an unresolved crisis, but wrapped in a story that was just delightful.
Wolff's well-researched and beautifully written descriptions of vintage couture, from cupcake dresses to clutch purses, made reading this book a pleasure. It was easy to lose myself in Phoebe and her supporting cast - the mystery surrounding an elderly client with a difficult past, Phoebe's romance with a widowed father, and Phoebe's parents, who have their own challenges- and while the writing was sometimes predictable, the story never grew stale. I finished A Vintage Affair within two days, with that satisfied feeling you get after a good meal or a nice long nap.
Not every book has to be groundbreaking, and it certainly doesn't have to be "literature" to be a good read. But every book should in some way entertain and enrich us, the readers, no matter under what category the book falls.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
To Read or To E-Read: That is the Question
2010 was the year of the e-reader. Everywhere you turned there were ads for the newest, biggest, and fanciest e-readers, with Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Nobles' Nook leading the charge.
I received an Amazon Kindle as a surprise birthday gift this August from my generous brother-in-law. Mine is the Version 3 (not with the 3 G) which features built-in wi-fi and the fabulous pearl e-ink technology. As an e-reader, it is wonderful. It has the ability to organize books into categories (or bookshelves, if you will) and can hold thousands of titles. Amazon's convenient access to the online store on the Kindle screen makes downloading books fast and simple,although not necessarily inexpensive. The screen is crystal clear and offers variable font sizes, making reading a pleasure.
As a true bibliophile, I have conflicting feelings about the Kindle. First, there is the lack of tactile sensation - there's no smell of "new book," and certainly no feel of the page under your hand or the weight of the book on your chest. It's hard to flip back to a section of the book to look for something - Kindle has a search engine but I've found it difficult to use. When you have those "ah ha" moments in a book, you want to rush back to just the right spot when you missed a clue or critical comment. With the Kindle, that is a challenge. And unlike the Nook and most other e-readers, the Kindle does not have the ability to download books from your local library. The cache of "free" books you hear about is somewhat of an urban legend; there are free books out there (particularly if they were written before the Civil War), but unless you are looking for a classic, it requires some work to find them. Most Amazon books for Kindle fall in the $9.99 to $11.99 range - similar in price to the actual book.
But on the other hand...ahhhh, the Kindle. It's lightweight, portable, and can hold as many books as I want and still fit in my bag. With an e-reader, gone are the days of hauling an actual piece of luggage filled with books for a week's vacation. One of the best features is the ability to "sample." It's like being in a virtual bookstore. You can browse and sample almost any book available, and try it for free...all from the comfort of your own home. If there is one drawback to the samples, it's that my list of books to read grows longer every day.
For now, ours is a blended family of physical books and e-books. On my Christmas list was a copy of The Distant Hours by favorite author Kate Morton. Her books are so beautifully written that I knew I wanted the lovely, dense hardback - an electronic copy simply wouldn't do. But the Kindle is loaded with lots of new stuff too, like Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas - because you can never, ever, have too many books. Happy new year!
I received an Amazon Kindle as a surprise birthday gift this August from my generous brother-in-law. Mine is the Version 3 (not with the 3 G) which features built-in wi-fi and the fabulous pearl e-ink technology. As an e-reader, it is wonderful. It has the ability to organize books into categories (or bookshelves, if you will) and can hold thousands of titles. Amazon's convenient access to the online store on the Kindle screen makes downloading books fast and simple,although not necessarily inexpensive. The screen is crystal clear and offers variable font sizes, making reading a pleasure.
As a true bibliophile, I have conflicting feelings about the Kindle. First, there is the lack of tactile sensation - there's no smell of "new book," and certainly no feel of the page under your hand or the weight of the book on your chest. It's hard to flip back to a section of the book to look for something - Kindle has a search engine but I've found it difficult to use. When you have those "ah ha" moments in a book, you want to rush back to just the right spot when you missed a clue or critical comment. With the Kindle, that is a challenge. And unlike the Nook and most other e-readers, the Kindle does not have the ability to download books from your local library. The cache of "free" books you hear about is somewhat of an urban legend; there are free books out there (particularly if they were written before the Civil War), but unless you are looking for a classic, it requires some work to find them. Most Amazon books for Kindle fall in the $9.99 to $11.99 range - similar in price to the actual book.
But on the other hand...ahhhh, the Kindle. It's lightweight, portable, and can hold as many books as I want and still fit in my bag. With an e-reader, gone are the days of hauling an actual piece of luggage filled with books for a week's vacation. One of the best features is the ability to "sample." It's like being in a virtual bookstore. You can browse and sample almost any book available, and try it for free...all from the comfort of your own home. If there is one drawback to the samples, it's that my list of books to read grows longer every day.
For now, ours is a blended family of physical books and e-books. On my Christmas list was a copy of The Distant Hours by favorite author Kate Morton. Her books are so beautifully written that I knew I wanted the lovely, dense hardback - an electronic copy simply wouldn't do. But the Kindle is loaded with lots of new stuff too, like Our Tragic Universe by Scarlett Thomas - because you can never, ever, have too many books. Happy new year!
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