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 A Touch of Dead is a collection of Sookie Stackhouse stories from in between various novels of the series. This means they (and this review) contain spoilers for those who haven’t read the books. Since it’s an incredibly short book at less than 200 pages long, this is definitely going to fall in mini review territory, but I thought it would be appropriate for Halloween!
These are all really short stories. So short that I probably would have felt cheated if I’d bought this in hardcover – there just isn’t very much there, unlike most collections of novellas. The margins and font were both huge, so each story sped by in just a few minutes. It was a great choice for the Read-a-thon, though, because I felt I’d accomplished a lot and the stories were very easy reads.
The introduction fortunately gives us a timeline for the stories, explaining where each fits into the overall canon. I’m almost up to date on the series, so none of them spoiled anything for me, though they may for others who are not quite as far in the series. We get to discover how Sookie discovered her cousin Hadley was dead, for example, which I remember confusing me when I first read that particular book in the series. We also get to see Eric ridiculously excited over the possibility of Dracula coming to Fangtasia, which was a light-hearted change. We even get to witness Sookie’s grandfather’s idea of a Christmas gift.
These stories are a nice way to dip into the Sookie universe without getting involved in a complete book, but I’d probably only recommend them for those who are already fans. Otherwise, you’ll get spoiled for the series, and I find it unlikely that you would enjoy them as much as someone who is already versed in the world would.
 Good morning Saloners! Today finds me trapped at home due to our car breaking down (again) so I’m hoping to get a lot of those irritating practical tasks at home over with. Namely, lots of cleaning and filing are in my future. These things both need to happen, but I’m particularly annoyed because I’d planned to do lots of cooking this weekend, and I really do feel like cooking for once! I have a pumpkin and I really want to make pumpkin pie – hopefully we’ll be able to get the rest of the ingredients tomorrow after the car’s fixed, but it’s not quite as fun to cook after a long day at work.
On the bright side, because we’ve now gone back to standard GMT, I’ve gained an hour today to get my chores done, and I’m awake at the alarming hour of 7 am on a weekend.
Plus, I bought a couple of books yesterday, and I’m now immersed in the Dresden Files series. I really enjoyed the first book (the books I bought were the next two in the series) but I’m reflecting on the difference in the way books of the same type are treated based on whether the main character is male or female. For example, it seems that the Mercy Thompson, Kate Daniels, or October Daye series that I love so much are purely marketed at women (just looking at reviews reveals the differences. All the top reviewers I can identify on Amazon for these three are women, no male names in sight, while the Dresden book has obvious men and women), and they often get placed under “paranormal romance” even when the books themselves contain no overt romance. They were in the bookstore I was just in yesterday. In fact, I don’t think any of the first books of those series have much romance in them beyond a date. I caught the same whiff of romance in this book, if I’m right anyway, and yet they are firmly fantasy, in a different section, even though all of the books are mainly mysteries set in the modern day world with fantasy. If you like one, you’ll probably like the others. So why don’t men seem to be reading them in large numbers too?
We’ll see as the series goes along, as I’m making a quick judgement here – but to me they should be all in the same urban fantasy genre, whether you consider that a subset of paranormal romance or standard fantasy, not classified differently just because a woman is the main character. Don’t get me wrong – I like paranormal romance – it just seems like, as usual, fantastic books are judged differently because of a difference in main character gender. Plus, it’s just wrong; I’d be disappointed if I bought a book in the romance section only to discover I actually got a mystery with very little romance at all. I can’t imagine someone looking for a romance to be happy with Magic Bites unless they stuck around for a good long while – and I suspect Harry will get himself a romance if I stick with the Dresden Files long enough too.
If other differences pop up, I’m happy to revise my opinion, but just seeing them in separate sections raised my ire yesterday. I think I’ll return to this once I’ve read more of the series.
Wishing you all a fantastic Sunday and a start to November!
 On Christmas Eve, 1800, three men conspire to assassinate Napoleon as he rides by on his way to the theatre. The plot is foiled and Napoleon lives to rule another day – but it’s up to Chief Inspector Roch Miquel to find the culprits. Under pressure from his boss, the famous Minister of Police Fouche, Roch has to weed fact from fiction on a heart-stopping deadline even as the lives of the ones he loves the most are at stake.
This was my first Read-a-thon choice, which generally means I sped through it and actually won’t have much long-term memory of the book. Still: a few impressions that will hopefully guide the curious into deciding whether or not they would choose to read it themselves.
First of all, this is actually a perfect historical fiction read for the Read-a-thon. It’s nicely short, so it can be finished in a speedy amount of time, and the story has enough tension and mystery to help keep those pages turning even later at night, I suspect. Roch is under a lot of pressure as the story progresses, and I really do mean a lot, with his loved ones carted off to jail and his professional expertise called into question even when he doesn’t deserve it.
The story is split between several different viewpoints, although they vary when they appear and generally Roch’s search drives the plot. The beginning of the book is brilliant – I felt immediately drawn into Napoleonic Paris’s dirty streets, fully aware of the hustle and bustle around the Emperor’s path as people jostled to see him. Then, the aftermath of the explosion, which didn’t kill him but did affect many others, was an excellent way to draw readers into the story and keep them wondering about these strange men who so clearly want to kill Napoleon. Not that many people didn’t want to kill Napoleon – but it becomes immediately personal.
Surprisingly, the book even manages to squeeze in a little bit of romance amongst all of this investigating, and some treachery too. It’s very well-rounded with quite a lot going on. I’d definitely recommend For the King as a fast yet absorbing and atmospheric historical read.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I bought this book.
 The Bauers are a prosperous, middle class family living in Czechoslovakia. They are patriotic, they celebrate Christmas, and while they’ve suffered their fair share of joys and sorrows, they don’t consider themselves too different from their neighbors. Unfortunately, they are Jews, and even if they haven’t practiced their religion seriously for years, that makes their lives impossibly difficult once the Nazis occupy the Sudetenland. Marta, their son Pepik’s nanny, has no idea what her background is, but her fate is inextricably tied with the Bauers’. It is little Pepik who has far to go, as the family weighs carefully their plan to put him in the Kindertransport system and send him to Great Britain, where they hope he will be free of the Nazi grasp forever.
This novel is presented in three different intertwining parts. The first is the past, the story of the Bauers told through Marta’s voice. The second is in the present, told by an unknown woman seeking a sibling. And the last is a series of letters which are related to the story’s characters and slowly reveal to us their fates as we go along. (The book is about Jews in the area we all know Hitler expanded into in World War II – we know what will happen to at least some of the characters). This was an excellent method for me of telling the story. It added a degree of uncertainty to the past segments, which feels frighteningly straightforward as far as these books go, and had me very curious about the outcome. I did find it a little bit disconcerting to switch around so quickly at the beginning of the book, but I got used to the alternate viewpoints quickly.
One of the most fascinating facets of the book for me was its thoughts on memory. How different was our childhood actually from the way we recall it? How much have we modified history within our own heads? This is so interesting because, as I grow older, I’m often wondering if everything happened as I thought it did. And, in the novel, this of course brings up the question of identity – who are we if we’ve misremembered our past? Without a past, how can we have a future? The book handles this in terms of individuals, but the question works on a much wider scale, especially given the period that this book is about and the essential remembrances we all must take from the Holocaust.
Anyway, I was really surprised by how much I got wrapped up in this book and how much it made me think. Within just a few pages – it’s a short book, roughly 300 pages in my version but with huge font and margins – I grew incredibly attached to some of the characters and interested in their well-being, particularly Marta and Pepik.
In those short chapters, the book conveys so very much – about motherhood, about prejudice, about human nature – that I’d find it impossible not to recommend. Combined with a compelling story, Far to Go is a fantastic choice for anyone interested in the Holocaust. You may start out thinking it’s just another World War II book, but I recommend you let it prove you wrong.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review from Amazon Vine.
 Diminutive Mercy Lavinia Bump, just 32 inches tall, has never been content with her life as a girl in the country. Even when she’s appointed a teacher despite her size, she longs for more. So when her “cousin” arrives offering to put her on display for her singing talents – in reality to exhibit her in a circus – she actually jumps at the chance to escape and see the world. Little does she expect the fame and devastation that will come of her choices when she meets P.T. Barnum and becomes one of the most famous “little people” in the world.
I read a book designed for younger readers about Tom Thumb earlier this year and ever since then I’ve been fascinated by these people, who were clearly exploited but who also seem to have had a role in their own exploitation. After hearing boatloads of praise for Melanie Benjamin after Alice I Have Been, a book I still unfortunately haven’t read, I knew that this was one I really needed to get to. I’m very glad that it lived up to my high hopes and provided the story of a woman who simultaneously takes advantage of her size to get what she wants even as she hates that she is reduced to it; a fascinating practical person who sees the world through very clear eyes, most of the time.
After all, Vinnie, as she’s known to her friends, seems to have very distinctly made her own choices in real life, as she does in this book, and they were at least partly inspired by her desire to see more of the world. She may not have expected to be as exploited as she was, but here she is given a clear opportunity to go home and live out her life, probably as a childless spinster. Is it any surprise that she does take the chance, even if it means exploitation? It’s a fascinating thought process.
I have to admit that I didn’t like Vinnie throughout the entire book. At times, I think she actually makes the same mistake looking at others as she does when others look at her. She looks at her husband and doesn’t see that he’s a person, too; instead she measures his faults and pushes him aside. When she looks at her sister, she can’t see anything but her baby sister, smaller even than she is, even though Minnie is probably one of the strongest characters in the book. Vinnie is a stubborn woman and even as she frustrated me, I appreciated the roundedness of her character, and the fact that she really doesn’t let her size stop her from achieving her dreams.
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb is the perfect choice for those who enjoy historical fiction, particularly about the complicated world of circus-style shows in the nineteenth century, and is certainly recommended by me. I look forward to reading Benjamin’s first book and any others she has planned.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I received this book for free for review from Amazon Vine.
 I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan was my hypothetical first historical fiction subject, and before I went anywhere I thought I’d best read what she herself wrote about her life. After all, there are only gaps to fill if the actual woman herself didn’t write about every last detail, and the best source for someone’s life is themselves. Luckily, I found lots of gaps to fill, but I also was pleased to discover that Consuelo is as fascinating as I’d hoped.
Married off at just eighteen to the duke of Marlborough, Consuelo left everything she knew behind to join the British aristocracy – her American money funding the upkeep of Blenheim Palace and the lifestyle of the wealthy. In exchange, however, Consuelo was desperately unhappy, as her mother had forced her to leave behind the man she loved in order to make her daughter a duchess. A fascinating account of turn-of-the-century life, Consuelo’s struggle to find the happiness she deserved is inspiring and well-worth reading.
While there are certainly emotional gaps here – the author shares very very little about either of her marriages, surely topics she didn’t really want to share, nor does she discuss her children – this is a full picture of a life. Consuelo makes reference to the many famous people she met and hosted, some which are recognizable and others which are not, and gives us a really full account of life that people of her social class lived at the time. The first part of the book, when she is forced to leave New York even though she has an agreement with a certain Mr. X, is by far the most moving and interesting – afterwards she gets swept up in a social swirl and there is much less drama mentioned. I suspect she didn’t want to dwell on an unhappy marriage, so instead moves smoothly past to a world in which she has more control, even if it’s a bit less interesting.
One of my favorite aspects of this book, as with many others set around this time, is the fact that it’s set in an essentially dying world. After World War I, English aristocracy starts to crumble apart, and World War II changed Europe forever. Consuelo lived through both of these and it’s just fascinating to read about the divide in time. Cultures are eternally in flux, but those moments which we can later pick out as defining – a before and an after – are always those which make for the best reading. That is certainly the case here; the book ends just at the start of World War II, so we’re witnessing many changes.
As I expected, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan was a fascinating woman, and her story – so aptly titled The Glitter and the Gold – is one which should certainly be read more widely. Highly recommended.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I bought this book.
 Jacquetta of Luxembourg is a woman who, according to Philippa Gregory, history has neglected, mainly for lack of information; married first to the Duke of Bedford and then rather scandalously to Richard Woodville, a commoner, Jacquetta was an observer of many of the most important events during the Wars of the Roses, indeed outliving most of the primary players. Her daughter Elizabeth married the English king Edward IV, catapulting her family even more into the spotlight than ever before.
We start off with Jacquetta as a young girl, where she meets Joan of Arc and learns first-hand what can happen to a woman in English hands who is accused of being a witch. Joan, obviously, had a lot more behind her death sentence than supposed witchcraft, but if that’s what they used to have her killed, it’s a threat to a girl who was supposedly descended from Melusina as well. At this stage, however, Jacquetta and the Duke of Bedford get married, and as it turns out, Bedford is only interested in her because she is a virgin and is supposed to have magical powers. Meanwhile, while trying desperately to see the future, Jacquetta is also busy falling in love with her husband’s squire.
While I actually liked both Jacquetta and Richard, and I enjoyed the alternate perspective on the Woodvilles, portraying them as not grasping social climbers but people, there were still too many flaws with this book for me to enjoy it thoroughly. Jacquetta’s constant foreboding and feelings about the future hindered the book and made her a much flatter character; she knew what was coming too often to have an authentic reaction when these things actually happened.
This also contributed to the massive slowdown in the middle of the book. Jacquetta alternates between court and having babies, and while I know having children should be a joyful experience, I really got bored here. Nothing else actually happens to Jacquetta, and the entire war happens outside of her purview. Her husband gets sent off, and then her son, and she frets about their safety, what feels like over and over again. Since I knew what happened to Richard Woodville, as will many people who’ve read anything else about the Wars of the Roses, this got old fast.
Honestly, part of the reason for this is that Jacquetta just isn’t a compelling enough character on her own, for me, to have a fantastic novel written about her. She would have worked much better as an alternate narrator paired with someone on the sidelines than having a book all to herself. There is too much telling and not enough first-hand witnessing. The beginning was interesting, especially the witchcraft element with Joan of Arc and Eleanor Cobham, but the book loses speed after that and peters out to an ultimately disappointing, though predictable, ending.
Philippa Gregory fans will probably want to add The Lady of the Rivers to their collection, but personally I much preferred both earlier books in this series and would recommend in particular The White Queen.
All book links to external sites are affiliate links. I received this book for free from the publisher.
Happy Sunday evening, Saloners! I spent half of yesterday and this morning participating in this fall’s Read-a-thon, which I’m happy to say was very much a success for me. I finished 5 full books and a sixth I was already reading, for a total of 1597 pages read in 11 hours and 24 minutes (approximately). I stopped at 11:30 this morning, mainly because I’d finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower and it was good, so I decided I’d best let it settle in my head and go about the ordinary course of my day. I was already pleased that I’d surpassed my goals and I decided that seven outstanding reviews was plenty to weigh me down. It was fun, and while I really participated very little in the blogging side of things – I definitely felt more like reading than doing mini challenges, especially as it seemed a lot of the prizes were US-only – but it worked really well for me anyway.
In other news, I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year for the second time (the first was in 2009 and I did succeed), but since I haven’t written much besides this blog and stuff for work, I thought I’d best get warmed up this week. I also changed my mind and decided to do a “practice” book, saving the good ideas for just afterwards, next month. It’s been too long since I wrote fiction and while I know editing is possible, I think I just want to make sure I’m as in the writing groove as possible before I give it an official, real try.
With this in mind, I discovered a site called 750words.com. Basically, it encourages you to write 750 words every day, as a good starting point for clearing your mind and getting used to writing again. I think it’s a version of morning writing, but it’s private and stores all of your musings on the website. Probably not the place I’ll write my novel, but excellent for a brain-dump before anything else happens. I did my first 750 words today and it was fantastic, so I’ll be continuing with that until Nov 1st and, hopefully, afterwards too.
As a result of all this writing activity, I’m expecting to read a lot less. I stopped accepting review copies temporarily, and I’m going to focus this week on catching up with my reviews and possibly scheduling in some fun posts to fill in the gaps while I’m busy writing – more photos and definitely a trip recap of my latest holiday to Rome.
Are any of you participating in NaNoWriMo? Let me know so I can follow your progress!
 Well, halfway through Hour 9, anyway! How is everyone holding up? It’s 9:30 here, so I’m well into the evening, but I’ve finished my third full book now and I’m just set to choose a fourth. So far I’ve read For the King by Catherine Delors, A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris, and now Just Like Heaven by Julia Quinn. I also finished the book I was reading previously, Miles in Love by Lois McMaster Bujold. The Julia Quinn was probably my least favorite – but with huge words and not-so-many pages, it went by quickly, and kept me amused.
Here are the stats:
Number of Books 4
Pages Read 1062
Time Spent Reading 7:07
Time Spent Blogging 1:05
I will remind you that of the books I’ve read, the pages were small and the font generally large, so I really don’t read THAT fast in real life. But right now it looks like my four book goal is perfectly achievable, as I’m just choosing that one out of my shrinking stack. Mainly I think it’s time for a change of pace with After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn.
Also, because the Read-a-thon is all about the food, here’s something I wish I was eating right now:
 Fresh buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and olive oil on a crispy crust, baked in a wood-fired oven. I’ll be missing Rome’s pizzas for some time to come, and I wish I had one now to keep me going!
How is everyone else doing?
So far so good – I’ve finished the book I was reading first, Miles in Love, and I’ve also finished my first full book, For the King by Catherine Delors. The second was actually a very good choice – historical fiction about a real-life police investigation set in nineteenth-century Paris during Napoleon’s reign. It was very easy to power through it! Also quite a nice change from the science fiction.
Number of Books 2
Pages Read 494
Time Spent Reading 4:02
Time Spent Blogging 0:26
So far I haven’t participated in any mini-challenges aside from the starting one – two were US-only and the last isn’t a giveaway that I’m interested in – but I did have lunch earlier of that pie I mentioned. It’s also nearly time for dinner, but I’m going to start my next book, first. I think it will be another change of pace with the shorter stories in A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris.
How is it going for everyone else?
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