Call Me Princess by Sara Blaedel

Category: 50 Books

This is the first of Ms. Blaedel’s Louise Rick series to be translated into English. This is the second Danish crime novel I’ve read in the last couple of months (the other one was The Keeper of Lost Causes by Adler-Olsen) and I have to say, they both have a way with torture. In Call Me Princess the torture is in the form of brutal rapes.

Louise Rick is a detective in Copenhagen and is tasked with finding a serial rapist who preys on women using online dating services.

The mystery was good, the characters were good, I liked Louise. The story as a whole seemed too pat or too glossed over. For example, Louise goes on the online dating site to try to meet the rapist to catch him, and she finds him right off the bat. They meet straight away and it happens so fast that the end seemed really anticlimactic. Especially since the beginning chapters are filled with loads of suspense and terrible rape. The way the book ends seems too fast and easy. Of course, that’s probably how detective work really goes down: There’s a bad guy. Find him so we can be safe again! There he is! Arrest him. Done.

The B story of Louise and her boyfriend seemed kind of clunky. I didn’t mind because I think I was too distracted by the rape. It really got me thinking though, I couldn’t think of a single American crime fiction book I’ve read that was this rape-y.  The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was pretty rape-y as well. There is a social message in these Scandi crime books about how women are perceived/treated/raped and the violence and cruelty is absolutely shocking. I’m not sure what the American equivalent would be. I kind of hope there’s not one, but I’m sure there is.

I have to give the author credit though, the beginning chapters were very suspenseful and had my stomach in knots. She really made me think about the dangers of online dating, as well as the horrors of torture rape, which, is something I’ve never thought about before because why would I?

I’ll definitely keep an eye out for the second book in the series because I am interested to see what happens to Louise.

Afterthought: The title was kind of meh.

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‘nother deer!

Category: dribblings

deer07

We startled each other.

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Deer!

Category: dribblings

deer01

I saw four deer at the park today. Roxie really wanted to go check them out, but wouldn’t let her go after them because

#1. That would be rude.

#2. Those deer were medium to small in size and they were still huge and could probably crush Roxie’s skull in one blow.

#3. They were eating and I would have felt so bad if they had to run on a full stomach.

I watched them eat, and tried to move closer (but not too close!) and, and eventually they wandered into those woods. So I continued my walk, and on the way back (I walk to this local school and back again) and they were out again! (In a different spot.)
deer04

It was AWESOME. They totally saw Roxie and I the whole time, but we stayed back far enough they didn’t run off. And they kind of took forever to go on their way. After a while I thought what am I going to do if they don’t get a move on? I’ve got to get back to my jeep sometime today. Then I thought maybe they were waiting on me to get closer so they could mug me and then crush my skull in with their hooves.

They finally finished their whatever they were eating and went back into the woods. Roxie and I made it back to the jeep with both of our skulls intact.

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The Green River Killer: A True Detective Story by Jeff Jansen, Illustrated by Jonathan Case

Category: 50 Books

 

I was intrigued by the idea of a true crime comic book. The author’s dad was one of the detectives who worked the Green River Killer’s case. So the book is really an homage to his father more than a detailed account of the GRK case. I think that’s really sweet. It makes it more of a story than a true crime book though. Which, is fine, there’s several nonfiction books on the GRK already out there. So I like that this one comes from a different angle. It was refreshing.

However, if you’re not familiar with the GRK case and you’d like to read something about it, this is not really a good starting point. It would probably help to have a bit of background on the case before you read this. I’m not saying read a whole other book before reading this, but maybe cruise the wikipedia entry or something.

The art was great; it was all black and white, and while some people might find that boring I thought it was a good idea. The story itself is so grim and gory, there is no need to add to it with glossy, full-color decay and rot. The story in black and white is plenty chilling.

I don’t normally read comics, but this true crime/comic crossover idea seemed too compelling for me not to try. I’m glad I did. I couldn’t put the book down.

This comic is published by Dark Horse Comics and is out right now! Get it.

 

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Yeh, Jackie.

Category: dribblings, Uncategorized

jackiecollins by fleegan.com
jackiecollins, a photo by fleegan.com on Flickr.
So I was talking to my pal Cookie the other day, and we were discussing the FABULOUS, GLAMOROUS, prolific Jackie Collins and her books. (By the way, she has a new one out, Goddess of Vengeance.) And we came up with WWLD? (That’s What Would Lucky Do? In case you think you’re too good for JC’s books.)
A couple of days later I was at work and thought if we had all the Lucky books I might read them all in a row. It sounded like a fun thing to do. But I didn’t know what order they were in so I looked it up on the googletube.
 
An aside: googletube is what The First Ladies and I call the internet. Sometimes it gets shortened to goobtube.
 
Back to the story: So I goobtube the Lucky books and I’m sent straight to JC’s FAQ page of her website. The first question is “How do I get an autograph?” and I’m all, Jeez, that’s the first question? That stinks. It’s like asking, “How can you give me even more of you?” but whatever, I was in a bad mood.
I find the Lucky List and since some of them are kinda older books we don’t have them at our ‘brary. I was kinda bummed but moved on with my day. But then I thought back to that autograph. So I went back and and read about it and turns out, all you have to do to get an autograph is fill out a form with your address. It’s free. It’s her way of thanking her fans. That just made her all the more fabulous to me.
I didn’t really want an autograph. I mean, I did, but I didn’t know what I’d do with it. I figured it was just a stamped picture or something. But then I noticed there was a field marked “make autograph to” (or something, I forget the wording) and I immediately thought of Cookie. So I put her name down. And BOOSH, four weeks later I got it in the mail.
 
I hope Cookie puts it in her office and all of her coworkers see it and are all, “When did you meet Jackie Collins?!” and she’ll be all, “Oh, that? Jackie and I are like THIS.” and she holds up her crossed fingers.
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hawk53

Category: Uncategorized

hawk53 by fleegan.com
hawk53, a photo by fleegan.com on Flickr.

testing.

oh. like this.

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Mansplain

Category: dribblings

So I kept hearing people (on the internet) use the term mansplaining/mansplain and I didn’t know what it meant. I’m not stupid, mind, I figured it was man + explain. So then I figured it was when you have to explain something to a man maybe you use words like beer and fire so they get it. And trust me, I thought that was rude.

I was scared to google it because mostly when I hear a new word or phrase and google it, it’s something terrible that I wish I’d never heard of (donkey punch) and once you google it, it can never be ungoogled. Curiosity won, and I did google it. And turns out I had it backwards. There were several different definitions, but they all agreed that it’s when a man explains something and treats the explainee in a condescending way.

File this under: Douchebaggery

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23. Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music

Category: 50 Books

23. Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music edited by Nona Willis Aronowitz

This is a collection of Ms. Willis’s articles she wrote for The New Yorker in the late ’60s and ’70s while she was the pop music critic. The articles are some of the best writing I’ve come across. Every idea, comparison, and critique is so well-crafted, so thought out that her intent, meaning, whatever, is crystal clear. There is not a single bloated paragraph. What’s great is she’s a fan of the music, so there’s no condescension, none of that “these kids today and their music.” kind of thing. Best of all though, is that her critiques are honest. So while she was a fangirl of Bob Dylan, she was also quick to point out when one of his albums was weak. I can appreciate that honesty. She never kissed ass and I think that’s so cool.

My only beef with this book is that it’s separated into six different sections: World-class Critic,  The Adoring Fan, The Sixties Child, The Feminist, The Navigator, The Sociologist. And the articles were put into these different sections. The only problem with that is she was all of those things at the same time, so it didn’t seem to matter what section the article was categorized as. I could see maybe you could have broken up the book into two categories, maybe The Adoring Fan and World-class Critic. I don’t know. I would have preferred if the book had been put together chronologically instead. That is just me being picky and has nothing to do with Ellen Willis’s amazing writing.

Since this book is article after article of rock music criticism, it’s not a book you pick up and read from cover to cover (well, maybe you do, but I do not.) I found it best to read an article or two between the books I was reading. Kind of a way to cleanse my reading palate.

 

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Kenk: A Graphic Portrait

Category: 50 Books

I was lucky enough to preview this amazing book. It is a biography meets graphic novel. I would not have thought that would work, but the guys behind this book: Richard Poplak, Alex Jansen, Jason Gilmore, and Nick Marinkovich make it work. They tell the story of Igor Kenk, Toronto’s most prolific bicycle thief.

I know, it sounds boring. A bike thief? Who cares, right?

The thing is, Igor Kenk is such an interesting guy, he becomes so compelling. The more you read the more you want to understand why he does the things he does. The art in this book is great as well. It has a photcopier quality (which reminded me of Tom Goes to the Mayor) and each frame is scratched up and distorted and outlined in such a, I want to say tangible and human way. I love this. I think a lot of non-comic reading people like myself (the only book I kind of keep up with is HellBlazer, and that’s me buying a collection once a year) think of comics as just superhero stories. Slick character, smooth outlines. Seen one seen them all kind of thing.

But this book is great. It’s in black and white, looks like it was made on a photocopier, these two things really bring the story down to a human level. There’s nothing super polished or shiny about it. The way the story is laid out it feels like you’re reading a documentary film, which, you are.

It’s a great concept, great execution, great book. These guys did a masterful job with their subject.
Get it. Read it. You will not be disappointed.

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21. The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo

Category: 50 Books

First things first, I love the Harry Hole series. I love Harry. I love Beate. I love the mysteries and the stuff between the cops that continues from book to book. It’s all just great fun to read. I am a fan. So it pains me to say that there was something off about this book.

The characters are fine. The mystery is fine. There was something about the writing that bothered me. It was very cinematic in the chapter endings and beginnings. At the end of a chapter someone would be doing or saying something, and then the beginning of the next chapter someone would be doing or saying something that seemed to be in response (or continuation) to the person at the end of the previous chapter but it wasn’t. (It reminded me of how they do that in Archer or Frisky Dingo.) The only problem is that that really works well visually, like on a TV show or movie, but when you’re reading it’s a real pain in the ass, because you’ve read two pages thinking that the character (who will not have been named at the beginning of the chapter the author just uses pronouns) is someone else, and then on the next page the name is given and then you’re all, “Oh, I thought this was Harry, it’s the murderer?” Then you have to go back and read the last eight paragraphs again to get back into the story.

There is probably a name for this switcheroo, and if it’s done well, then I’m sure I wouldn’t have even noticed. Plus, I don’t think that is something that should be done with every chapter because then it’s just gimmicky. And honestly I don’t remember this being a thing in the previous Hole books, so maybe it was in the other books and was done in such a way that I didn’t even notice. This one I noticed. So at the start of every new chapter I was pulled out of the book and had a bad attitude about it, and I would skim ahead until I found a proper name.

The mystery in this book centered around the Salvation Army, which apparently is huge in Norway. I’ll not discuss the mystery because I don’t want to give away any spoilers because it too is heavy on the switcheroos.

I would consider this book the weakest of the Hole series (so far, anyway) it’s just too confusing for too much of the time. Challenge the reader? Yes. Confound the reader? Do it. Confuse the reader? There better be a good reason for it. Because the central mystery is good enough, I don’t need to add figure-out-who-is-stirring-the-cup-of-coffee to my readerly tasks.

 

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