SPEED ROUND: Dawn, The Nao of Brown, No Proper Lady, N0S4A2, The Shining, and The Collector

I'm still here! Don't you. Forget about me. Don't don't don't don't. Stuff your stockings with these lil' reviews.

Dawn by Octavia Butler. Original and thoughtful - if you enjoy your sci-fi devoid of laser guns, you might like it. In many ways it's a meditation on what makes us human. Is it our minds? Our genes? The presence of other humans? Also includes some freaky-deaky alien/human sex-like stuff, if that's your thing...yeah, we've ALL seen your browsing history! J'accuse! 3 gropey tentacles out of 5.

 

The Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon. Another thoughtful one - a graphic novel focused on a young woman named Nao as she struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and explores her Buddhist faith. It's so easy to rip through graphic novels in one sitting; this one made me slow down a bit. The artwork is gorgeous as well. 4 existential appliances out of 5.

No Proper Lady by Isabel Cooper. Thank you, beloved e-reader, for allowing me to read this without sharing that mortifying cover art to the world. Because girl needs a new tattoo artist and a better weave, mmakay? This one is fun, though slightly disorienting - you're about three sentences in before demons! Time travel! Spells! Just roll with it. It's basically the plot of Terminator but with more sexyness (I know, how is that even possible?! And yet). 3 terrible boardwalk henna tattoos out of 5.

N0S4A2 by Joe Hill. Vampires not included. But that's okay - I didn't enjoy this as much as Hill's other works but the creep factor was still out of control. No blood suckers needed. I felt it lost a little momentum, and could have used some editing; especially around the third act. But you will never look at Christmas or vintage gas masks the same way again. Joe Hill, must you creepify everything I hold dear?! 3 vanity license plates guaranteed to get you pulled over out of 5.

The Shining by Stephen King. Since I read Dr.Sleep I decided it was time for a re-read. What more is there to say about this gem - if you've only seen the movie you know NOTHING, Jon Snow. Not in any way my favorite King novel, but the ending especially is so different from Kubrick's film it's absolutely worth reading. Also you will FINALLY understand that creepy scene with the dude in the dog suit. Like his son (↑), King ruins so many wonderful things in his novels. Read this one if you want to be frightened of topiary animals and those concrete tube things at playgrounds. You should probably stay out of those tubes, anyway - you're a grown man, for God's sake! 4 drinks with Lloyd out of 5.

The Collector by John Fowles. If you only read one "Lady kidnapped and kept like a weird pet" novel this year....read another one! Probably Room by Emma Donoghue. This one is ostensibly a classic but it's so detailed and has all these meditations on class differences in Britain that go on, and on - you're the one who will end up feeling trapped! Ba-doom-pssh. 1.5 basement apartments out of 5.






More new reviews coming soon! Won't you buy someone a book this holiday season, and give a librarian their wings? That's right - we can fly. Deal with it. 

The Dog Stars

I am a very, very fidgety & restless person. I burn NikeFuel like you wouldn't believe - a fact that, sadly, hasn't helped me keep a trim figure (sometimes I am fidgeting while eating ice cream), but does make it very annoying to try and sit quietly on the couch with me for any length of time.

So it was a nice change when I read this book and found it had a calming effect on me.

"But, Jane, isn't this a book set in a world devastated by a super-flu where the only people left must defend themselves against bandits, blood disease, and crushing loneliness?"

Yes. Yes it is. But there is also a lot of nature! And an old dog. And hiking, and fly fishing. The sun dapples things and there are descriptions of creeks' burbling. The main character has ended up at an airport with a working plane and some not yet expired fuel, so there are passages where he's flying about the country and looking down on the quiet little patchwork landscape (it's hard to see flu-wrought devastation from 10,000 feet in the air). It's a book you sit down with and spend some quality, non-fidgety time with.

I don't mean to say this is a happy novel; it certainly isn't. But it's not bombastic, or frenetic. The overall tone & pace of the novel actually make the "action sequences" much more unsettling and powerful, and I appreciated not having to wade through a ton of noise as I got to know the protagonist. Also, have I mentioned there is a sweet old dog? Good boy.

4 precious, precious post-apocalypse cans of Coca-Cola out of 5.