Alright, here’s the deal, I resisted reading this book. Not only has it been a best seller for a long time now, I also felt (ok, judged) that this book was a “lady book” much in the way that “Eat, Pray, Love” is. Why? Well, honestly I don’t think I’ve ever seen a male reading it, and I assure you I have seen a ton of people reading this book, all women. So… when my mother and father recently visited me here in San Francisco and brought me a copy of it I was more than a little dubious. But, my dad did confide in me that he read it and actually enjoyed it. Not only that but the copy they brought me is an advanced reading copy (ARC) that does not have the tell tale, obnoxiously bright, yellow cover. Instead it has a much more subtle, and better, cover that is white with debossed (the opposite of embossed) text with shadowing (picture below). It was much easier for me to carry this book around as opposed to the latter.

I’m going to start by giving you my bottom line: I don’t understand the hype. I’ve read my fair share of murder/love stories and honestly this one was no different from the others. Sure, there were some new twists to this “genre,” the financial angle, but I’ve read better and more enjoyable. As far as I can tell, the whole reason behind the hype and the only reason that this book resonates with women readers is that one of the protagonists is a tough woman who doesn’t take sh*t from anyone and abhors any sort of violence, physical or emotional, afflicted on women. I get that, but, this isn’t the first time we’ve ever seen a heroine like her.

I’m going to do my best to avoid spoiling this book for anyone who hasn’t read it so bear with me. While the book is, for the most part, about the life and times of a one Lisbeth Salander, the heroine aka the girl with dragon tattoo, it is also about a journalist named Mikael Blomkvist who it just so happens is the hero in the story. There are several different story lines told in the book but the most relevant and interesting would be that of the case which Mr. Blomkvist is put upon by a Henrik Vanger, an industrialist. Mr. Vanger has asked Mr. Blomkvist, who has just been found guilty of libel, to investigate the 40 year-old disappearance his great-niece Harriet.

One way or another, a separate story line, the heroine of the story gets roped into helping Blomkvist with the mysterious disappearance. With her introduction to this story line the story quickly picks up and the progression of the case quickly spirals into a much larger web than had been perceived. Lisbeth’s involvement in the case however creates waves and therefore some turmoil for Blomkvist and several other characters. This is as a good place as any to stop with the summary, anymore information runs the risk of ruining the book. That’s not the end of my review though.

More, more, more

Blue triangles are a central part of Sigler’s Infected. Blue triangles make me think of magic eight balls. That’s reasonable right? Although I may not have played with one in awhile, since the last question I asked one these “magical” devices was “should I ever ask you a question again?” and the response was “my reply is no.” I can’t help but wonder whether or not the toy, that was invented in 1946, had anything to do with Sigler’s thought process when writing this book. I’d guess that the magic eight-ball would respond with “don’t count on it.”

Now, what we have here is a book that falls nicely into the horror/thriller genre of books. A genre which I usually don’t find myself reading all that often. So, to that affect I must say it was a nice change of pace. Mr. Sigler himself was kind enough to comment on a recent post of mine in which I discussed a signing of his and odds are that, had he not done so, I would not have read this book.

It’s in my nature to compare books I read to others I’ve read. Like I said, this novel falls into a new genre for me and it wasn’t easy for me to think of something to compare it to. In the end though, I think it would be fair to say that there could possibly be some similarities between this work and Scott Smith’s The Ruins. A book which I liked and was unfortunately made into a god awful movie. Suffice it to say, despite the fleeting similarities, Infected is in a class of it’s own when it comes to my personal library.

Gore makes me go “eww,” then I smile…

“Brain Maps” are rad. That is all I will say about that. Except, to give you a little hint, take a look at the cover art for the book (to your right).

The story behind Ned Vinzzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story is one that we have heard before. A young man pushes himself to the brink of self destruction attempting to achieve what he’s been told is the end all be all, a successful career, a life full of money and fame. Although it may sound like a common story, especially these days given the pressure placed on youngsters, Vizzini has done us all a favor and spun it a new and different way.

When dealing with difficult topics such as teen depression and suicide there is a fine line of what can be said and done when it comes to writing a book about the topic. Whether it is fiction or non-fiction it really doesn’t make a difference. When the title character, Craig, in Vizzini’s book is faced with these problems he does what is most likely the hardest thing to do when troubled by his impending doom, he check’s himself in at the hospital.

When Craig walks into the hospital he has no idea that he will end up in a psych ward full of very interesting characters. But, his actions on the ward serve as a catalyst for himself and many on the ward as he helps them open up their eyes. After only five days there he manages to fall for a girl and inspire those around him. Eventually, he does of course realize what he must do to change his own life but I’ll leave how he does that for you to find out on your own.

Keep going, there’s more, but not much

Wow. Holy sh*t. Incredible. All words which would aptly describe my feelings after having finished Cronin’s The Passage.

The first time I heard about this book was when I was doing research for my 7/19 SF book events post. On a whim, I decided to include in the post that Mr. Cronin would be signing copies of his book here in the bay area. Honestly, I was incredibly close to leaving him out. Why? Well, from what I could tell from my brief research of his book I anticipated this novel to be among one of the many silly vampire books that are being published these days. I know, I shouldn’t judge, but these days with all the vampire drivel being published it’s awfully hard not to.

As it turns out I was at a local new & used bookshop, Bibliohead, in Hayes Valley the other day on my way to pick up a cup of coffee at Blue Bottle (quite possibly the best coffee in the world) and there The Passage was. It was shiny and looking so ready to be grabbed by me that I couldn’t resist, it also didn’t hurt that it was miraculously used. It was still a bit pricey but finding it for $10 less than it would be elsewhere sure as hell swayed my decision. On a side note, I also managed to pick up a used copy of Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Licks. A lucky day for me, I know.

At the time of purchase I was reading a truly awful book, which I previously reviewed but prefer not to ever mention again, and was grateful to find such a gem of a used book. Alright, I suppose that’s enough back story and it’s time for me to get to the meat.

The story begins in the not so distant future, 2018, at time where the United States or what is left of it is engrossed in a war on terrorism and is looking for an advantage. The military goes to science to catch that edge and in an attempt to develop a super soldier develops further terror rather than a solution. These super soldiers or “virals” as they will be called will not help the ailing country, instead they will facilitate it’s destruction.

Sure, you could stop reading now, but the only excuse I’d accept is that you’re going out to buy this book…

Ack, what have I done? Oh, that’s right, just wasted my precious (depending on who you ask) time reading this. While “waste” and “reading” really should never be used in the same sentence (as I believe “reading” is never a “waste”) it’s hard for me not say such things when discussing Doyle’s latest piece (I can’t even call it a “work” or a “novel”). Right now, I feel the same sensation as I do when I step in a pile of dog sh*t on the street (yes, some people still don’t clean up after their dogs), basically I want to scream “god dammit, why?”

This book first came up on my radar while I was researching my events post and I saw that Doyle was going to be at one of my favorite local bookshops, The Booksmith. The premise sounded interesting enough and although I noted that I had not read his previous book I Love You, Beth Cooper I decided to give this one a shot. I think I’ve already mentioned that was a mistake.

Where to begin? The story was bad and was somewhat confusing. The writing was nothing spectacular and frankly, I thought the characters were dumb. The progression from beginning to end bored me and when I finished with the book, more than anything, I was relieved. All of those add up to a pretty crappy book in my mind. I guess what can be taken away from this though is that, what it appears Mr. Doyle was trying to accomplish, which was writing a b-movie style book, was indeed accomplished but it utterly failed.

You could stop now, but it’d probably be a mistake

“Superb…Remarkable…Immensely entertaining” are not the words that I would choose to describe this novel. Although some, including Jonathan Yardley of the The Washington Post would. He’s entitled to his review and me, mine.

At the bookstore the other day (Books, Inc., Opera Plaza) I was perusing a table full of paperbacks and stumbled across Vasquez’s Informers. I read the blurb on the back, read a few lines from various pages and decided that it would be coming home with me. One of my main motivations for physically taking it home with me is the fact that Vasquez is a Colombian, a Colombian who now lives in Spain but a Colombian still the same. Prior to my recent trip to Colombia I had contemplated bringing some contemporary Colombian works with me but in the end decided that Márquez, Restrepo and Gamboa weren’t quite what I was looking for. Naturally I’d come across this book once I was back in San Francisco and not before my trip.

This book’s only problem, despite reading the blurb, etc., was that it was not what I was expecting. For whatever reason, I had anticipated a fast paced, mystery/thriller type of novel. Instead what I got was a well written piece of contemporary literature. Now, I’m not saying that “face paced, mystery/thriller” novels are not literature but, typically they are not as well written and evocative as this book is.

Keep on rollin’…