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As is his tradition, Chris Cactus sent out an email reminding people that today is Delurking Day. I hate to disappoint Chris, plus you know, I keep meaning to start writing on a more regular basis again. So, instead of some quickie "hey, it's delurking day" post (which I may or may not have done in the past) I decided to try something different this year and create actual content for your enjoyment. It's a little unorthodox I know, but it might be just crazy enough to work.

So, hi! Please feel free to delurk and leave a comment. Or, just read on for the list of my favorite books of 2010. Most of these books were actually published in 2010, but my criteria for selecting them is simply that I read them in 2010, so there are some older ones that made the list.

The God of the Hive, by Laurie R. King. Have I mentioned Laurie R. King here before? I love her books and this series in particular . The premise is that Sherlock Holmes was younger than he was portrayed in the official Sherlock stories because Watson wanted readers to take him seriously. Around the start of WWI, Sherlock retired to Sussex, where he made the acquaintance of Mary Russell, a young woman just as intelligent and observant as the Great Detective himself. She becomes his apprentice, and eventually his wife. The God of the Hive is the latest in the series and is really more of a continuation of book that proceeded it, The Language of Bees, but wraps the story up quite satisfactorily. If you haven't read any of them, I recommend you start with the first book and make your way through the series until you get to this one. My favorites are A Monstrous Regiment of Women, Justice Hall, The Game and Locked Rooms.

Bring on the Night by Jeri Smith-Ready This is also a book in a series - the third after Wicked Game and Bad to the Bone - but you can read it without reading the first two. The main character, Ciara Griffin, is a former grifter who is trying to go straight and be a normal college student. In the first book she takes an internship at a local radio station, only to discover that the DJs are all vampires. She helps save the station by promoting it as the Vampire station (each vampire plays the music from the decade in which they were turned) and ends up working at the station and dating one of the vampire DJs. I like Jeri Smith-Ready's take on the vampire story. The books are fun, Ciara and her boyfriend Shane are likeable characters and the villains sufficiently villain-y (and yet defeatable). This book does have a somewhat shocking twist that I really did not see coming, and I always see the twists coming. It was cool to be surprised. One bonus: the author includes a playlist with each book and she has excellent taste in music. And the story is set in Maryland, which is always fun for me.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer This one was not published in 2010. I just discovered it on a list of "books to read while you wait for Mockingjay to be published." The story of what happens when an asteroid hits the moon and knocks it closer to Earth, this book is a huge downer. I'm not kidding! At the same time, I loved it. I seriously could not stop reading it. It's a YA book, told from the point of view of Miranda, a teenager in a small town in Pennsylvania. After the asteroid hits, her world starts to unravel, slowly at first and then with a terrifying speed. It was fascinating to see how Miranda, her friends and her family all react differently to their new reality.

Feed by Mira Grant. I picked this one up on a whim when rambling through Barnes & Noble one day and I'm so glad I did! It's the story of Georgia and Shaun Mason, a couple of bloggers in the world after the zombie apocalypse. Due to the ongoing problems with zombies, blogs have taken on a whole new role in society. Georgia and Shaun are chosen to shadow a presidential candidate on the campaign trail, and the story takes off from there. Together they battle zombies and shadowy conspiracies and traitors in their own ranks, while watching the popularity of their blog soar. The story is well paced and Georgia and Shaun and the other characters felt so real. Mira Grant really knows how to build a vivid world. I'd almost want to be a part of it, except for the zombies. And I don't want to ruin anything, but there is a scene where a fairly important character dies, and I was practically sobbing while I read it. So well done.

At the end of the book there was a page with a note that said "keep an eye out for the next book in the series." And I thought oh yes please, I'd like more of this. Well it turns out that the next book won't be available until spring, so thanks for the confusing note Orbit books. However, looking for it led me to discover that Mira Grant is actually author Seanan McGuire, so I went out and got her first book, Rosemary and Rue. Rosemary and Rue is the story of Toby Daye, a half human, half faery private detective in San Francisco. At the start of the book she's happily married with a little daughter, but then something goes wrong for her on a case and she ends up enchanted and living as a fish in Golden Gate park for 14 years. The story picks up with her trying to put her life back together and avoid all that is faery. But of course, she gets pulled back in after a former friend from her faery days is murdered. The story is very enjoyable and I have a huge crush on Tybalt, the King of the Cats.

Seanan McGuire actually led me to this next book in a roundabout way. I went to pick up her third book An Artificial Night, and while I was there, one of the bookstore clerks handed me Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and said "Read this, you'll love it." I had seen the book but had been turned off by the description on the back cover, which really does not do a good job of showing you what to expect inside, but I always take the recommendations of book store employees seriously. Well, he was right. The book is great. Kvothe's story, from his years traveling with his parents' theater troupe, to his time alone and a little crazy on the streets, to when he makes it to the university make for a fantastic story that is beautifully told. The sequel comes out in March and I can't wait to read it.

I don't read a ton of romance novels, but there are a few authors I like. Laura Kinsale is not actually one of those authors, but someone, possibly Manda, wrote about her Flowers from the Storm and I was intrigued. The heroine is Maddy, a Quaker woman in 19th century England. Her father is a mathematician, and she meets the Duke of Jerveaux when he co-authors a paper with her father. Months later she stumbles across Jerveaux in an insane asylum. He's had a stroke and they think he is insane. She can tell that he's not though, and takes on the task of helping him to recover. They slowly fall in love, but the whole time Maddy agonizes about being true to her faith and not being seduced away from the values she holds dear. It was nice to read a book that really departed from the traditional romance book formula.

Edited to add: I forgot Sunshine by Robin McKinley! Also not published in 2010, but really very, very good.

If you're wondering what to comment about in honor of delurking day, here's a prompt: What was your favorite book of 2010?

Given my love of Victorian-style boots and filigree, my fascination with Jack the Ripper stories and my enjoyment of alternate history stories, you might suppose that I'd be a big steampunk fan. You would be supposing incorrectly, however. At some point I picked up a steampunkish novel, hated every poorly plotted confusing minute of it, gave up a couple of chapters in, and wandered away from the whole genre - or is it a subgenre? - entirely.

The other day I mentioned I was reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Now, if this had been my first steampunk novel, I might have been more enthusiastic. This book is fun! I ordered it on a whim because I'd stumbled across a mention of it somewhere a couple of weeks ago, and it sounded interesting. I guess I caught an early reference to it, because now I feel like I'm seeing it everywhere I look. Anyway, the story is that an inventor had one of his machines go (possibly) rogue and plow through an underground chunk of downtown Seattle. It hit a vein of toxic gas that started turning people into zombies, and the powers that be ultimately ended up having to wall off the city to contain the gas and the undead. The main characters are the inventor's widow, Briar, and her teenage son Zeke. Zeke gets it into his head that he can clear his father's name by going into the walled-off part of the city, and Briar goes in after him after she learns where he has gone, and the story really gets moving from there. There are dirigibles and mad inventions and adventuring through ruined streets of Seattle, and of course, zombies!

Cherie Priest's writing is crisp and clean. Her descriptions pull you into the setting without being over the top, and the pacing pulls you through the story at breakneck speed. I actually read this book while brushing my teeth because I couldn't stand to put it down. Most of all, it was the characters that really made the story for me. From the main characters down to the minor ones in walk-on roles, I thought each one was well sketched out and multi-dimensional, even the ones who were deliberately mysterious.

Boneshaker was a fast read and very enjoyable too. I definitely recommend it. Now I've got to go check out the rest of Cherie Priest's books and see what else she has to offer.

Someone asked me the other day why I typically only post positive reviews. Am I so uncritical that I like everything I read? No, of course not. It would be impossible for someone who reads as much as I do to like every single book. I generally only choose to write about the ones I like.

Believe it or not, I am picky about what I read. Yes, I'll read just about any genre, but that doesn't mean I'll read any book in any genre. I have standards. If a book sounds interesting, I'll flip through and read a couple of paragraphs at random and see what I think about the writer's style. That doesn't protect me from books that are poorly plotted or disorganized, but it does help me cull most of the books that I won't like right from the start. Sometimes I'll get into a book and realize I just don't like it. Either I won't care about the characters, or I'll find the plot confusing, or the story just isn't pulling me along. In those instances, I usually keep reading for a while, hoping that something will spark my interest, but eventually I get bored and move on to some other book that is more interesting. I can't review a book I didn't bother to finish.

Also, I guess it is more my personality to say nothing at all rather than say something bad. I suppose if I thought an established author who had previously done well had really phoned it in with the job they did on a new book, I might write a negative review. But I find that new authors frequently get better. Jim Butcher who I wrote about recently has gotten better with every single book. I read a book last fall called The Queen's Bastard that I liked. The author, C.E. Murphy had previously written two other series and I've been slowly making my way through them. Her first books aren't as good - the characters show promise, but the stories aren't as well organized, and the plots can be convoluted. But why would I go back and criticize them now when I can see that she's made so much progress?

Sometimes I have mixed feelings about a book, and then I guess maybe I do err on the side of being positive. Take my review of Breaking Dawn, for example. There were parts of that book that I hated, but I didn't want to be spoilery. Hey, if you haven't read that book yet, stop reading this now, because I'm going to try to explain my thought process, and that involves giving away plot details.

Ok. I hated that Bella got pregnant on their honeymoon. Of course, as an infertile, I generally sneer when anyone gets pregnant on their honeymoon, but most particularly when it is a teenager who didn't even want to have kids anyway. I thought the fact that she was desperate to then keep the baby she hadn't wanted and that was probably going to kill her was somewhat unbelievable. But I wanted to know how the story ended so I stuck with it. And then I liked seeing Jacob come into his own, and I liked seeing more of the Cullens and meeting the other vampires. I didn't get what was so great about Renesme, and I thought her name was dumb. Most of all, I really liked seeing Bella and Edward and Jacob all happy at the end of the book. So I walked away feeling generally positive about the book, which meant that I wrote a mostly positive review of it. That's not say that I only like stories with happy endings, but for those particular characters, well, yes, that was what I wanted.

All of which is just a very long winded way of saying no, I don't like everything.

I put my sick time on the couch to good use, reading Staked and Revamped by J.F. Lewis. I'd seen Staked in the store and had it on my mental list but hadn't gotten around to picking it up yet. Then I read an article on Tor.com the other day which mentioned that Lewis had gotten kicked out of his church for writing fiction they found unacceptable. His characters have sex and use swear words and are vampires and werewolves and demons and shapeshifters and magicians.

I clicked through to read the interview with more details, and while it didn't say exactly which church it was - and perhaps it is obvious to people who know more about religion than I do - it did say that he had talked to his priest (or whatever, head religious guy) while he was writing Staked, and the priest seemed to think the book was fine. Then once the book was published, the church freaked out on him and demanded that he not write any more stories like it or do anything to promote the book or he was out of the church. All I could think was here's this poor guy who has actually achieved the dream and gotten a book published, and they told him he had to choose between his work and his church because they didn't like some of the words he used. There is no way that God could be that petty. And seriously, is your religion so flimsy that fictional creatures in a fictional city doing fictional things can somehow threaten it or the purity of your followers? They can't actually run out and become vampires you know. Fiction.

So I picked up a copy of Staked and the sequel, Revamped, the next time I went to the book store. They're actually quite enjoyable. The main character, Eric, is an incredibly powerful vampire who is very hard to kill. He screws up a lot, has very little in the way of social graces, and is terrible at following rules. He kills people pretty regularly, and without much in the way of remorse. Even so, he has a moral code and tries to help plenty of people too. You know me. I'm a sucker for a story featuring a badass rule-breaker with a heart of gold. Lewis's vampires fall into different categories with the lower level ones being fairly standard in their abilities, but the higher level ones being almost impossible to kill, even with stakes and sunlight. In Staked, Eric may or may not have killed the son of an Alpha werewolf, and it has touched off a war with the werewolves. He keeps trying to stop it, but someone he trusts is betraying him, and keeps getting in his way. Plus he's just made his girlfriend Tabitha a vampire and her little sister Rachel is putting the moves on him. And he's got a business to run. Life is complicated for this vampire.

Revamped picks up seconds after the ending of Staked. I don't want to give that ending away, so I won't go into too many details. In Revamped, though, we get to see Tabitha making her way in vampire society and we learn more about how the universe Lewis has created works. Plus, more of Eric's mysterious back story is revealed. There's a great scene where he learns a vampire history that has to do with his family by seeing a series of stained glass panels. I had fun reading these books and watching the story unfold, and I look forward to the next one. And while I'm not a Christian, I can say quite sincerely that I didn't see anything in these books that was even remotely dangerous to church- going folks. I hope that J.F. Lewis's church comes to its senses and lets him back in, if that's something he wants.

I read my first Jim Butcher book about three or four years ago. While on one of my periodic sweeps through the bookstore I picked up a copy of his first Harry Dresden book, Storm Front. A guy walking down the same aisle said "Oh you should get that. The Harry Dresden books are fun, quick reads." As I am never one to ignore the advice of random guys in Borders (hey, he had the sort of geeky, skinny pallor of someone who'd know a good SciFi/Fantasy book), I decided to get Storm Front and the second book in the series, Fool Moon.

And what do you know, Borders Guy was right. They were fun, quick reads. I won't claim to have absolutely loved them, but I liked Harry (misunderstood black sheep wizard with a good heart, of course I did) and his police friend Murphy, I liked that he bribed minor fairies with pizza so they'd help him, and I found the overall hardboiled wizard detective/urban fantasy premise intriguing. The next weekend I was back at the bookstore buying the rest of the series. I think he was up to book five or six by then. What? I read fast. Got to protect the book supply chain at all times.

Well, the stories and the writing kept getting better with each book and I got hooked. The world Harry lives in just kept getting richer and more interesting. Along the way he picked up a massive dog sidekick, found out he had a half brother, and got an apprentice. Then Jim Butcher started publishing his Codex Alera books, which as straight swords and sorcery sort of fantasy are right up my alley. Now I snap up his books every time he puts out a new one.

The latest one, a new Harry Dresden novel, Turn Coat, did not disappoint. The story starts with Harry's one-time nemesis, the rigid, rule-obsessed Warden Morgan turning up on his doorstep, wounded and on the run, accused of murdering one of the leaders of their governing White Council. Harry has no love for Morgan, but he's absolutely sure that there is no way Morgan is a traitor and a murderer. The story unfolds from there, with Harry trying to keep Morgan safe while unraveling the conspiracy behind his frame-up, and at the same time deal with a terrifying monster that seems to have come to Chicago to stalk Harry specifically. There's plenty of action, and the reader gets a more in-depth look at how the White Council functions (even wizards have to deal with bureaucracy), and many old favorite characters from past books put in appearances, including werewolves, vampires, a coroner, and my new favorite wizard, Injun Joe. Well, favorite after Harry, of course.

The book isn't all whiz-bang action though. Harry has to think his way through a lot of his troubles, he has to teach his apprentice Molly lessons along the way, and he still struggles with how to handle the people he loves. There is a scene with Harry and his brother Thomas at the end of the book that is just heartbreaking.

Turn Coat will make sense even if you haven't read the earlier books, so don't let that stop you. Not that the rest of the series isn't worth reading. In fact, why deny yourself the pleasure? Check 'em all out.

After that last post my brother called to check on me, because he is a good brother. Also, he wanted the set the record straight - it was only 10 pounds that he lost in two weeks. Oh, and he said if things get particularly bad, I should give hookers and coke a try. Or maybe it was coke, then hookers. Either way, I have a Plan B now.

I also spent a large chunk of my weekend on me. I did not do any laundry. I barely ran any errands. I didn't clean anything except some dishes and pots and pans. Mostly, I lolled around on the couch making a substantial dent in the Sookie Stackhouse box set that my boss gave me for my birthday. Those are the books the HBO series True Blood is based on, and they are a lot of fun. Sookie is a plucky heroine, and she lives in a world that is populated with very interesting people, including but not limited to vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, fairies and religious zealots. Sometimes she needs rescuing, but most of the time, Sookie charges in and takes care of business her way. I like that in a lead character. There's always a mystery to be solved, and usually some romance too. Sometimes bad things happen, and Charlaine Harris is not afraid to kill off a character if it is necessary, but in the end the bad guys generally get what is coming to them, and the good guys usually triumph. Very satisfying.

While I was watching the show, I was never fully able to get on board with Bill, the vampire who becomes Sookie's boyfriend, and now that I've read some of the books, I think I've developed a wee crush on the vampire Eric instead. Inasmuch as you can have a crush on someone who does not exist. Due to the fact that I'm a suspicious Yankee type, "Southern Gentleman" has always felt just a little bit phony to me - with the exception of Orry Main from North and South, who I thought was just dashing and gallant and dreamy in my early teens. Eric, on the other hand is sarcastic and obnoxious and has a wicked sense of humor, but also a sense of honor. Right up my alley. It probably doesn't hurt that thanks to the TV show, he looks like Alexander Skarsgard in my mind.

Anyway, thanks to my vacation in Sookie's world, I started the week feeling more optimistic and relaxed than I have been lately. If you're looking for some books that are lighthearted, well written, entertaining and a pretty quick read, I highly recommend them.

Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book won the Newberry Medal for children's literature today. Congratulations, Neil!

If you don't know, the Newberry Medal is awarded by the ALA and has gone to such fabulous books as Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and Holes by Louis Sachar in the past, as well as one of my all-time favorite Katherine Paterson books, Jacob Have I Loved, which tells the story of two sisters growing up on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

I thought The Graveyard Book was delightful and highly enjoyable and am thrilled that it will get even more attention and exposure now that it has won an award. It is exactly the sort of book that helped my imagination soar as a child. Also, seeing as how I gave it a positive review here, it is nice to see my opinions backed up by the experts.

Now, if you haven't read The Graveyard Book, go get yourself a copy. You'll be glad you did. Even librarians agree!

Short version: If you liked the book, you'll like the movie.

Long version: First, I owe my boss a huge thanks for being organized and planning ahead. If it were up to me we'd have been lucky to get tickets and probably wouldn't even have been able to sit together. She had this all mapped out. Leave work around 5, find parking, pick up our tickets, head across the street for appetizers and a drink, and be in line by 6:30. You'd think that I would have learned after she was right about needing to buy tickets on Monday, but I didn't. I was pretty sure we'd be standing there alone at 6:30 looking like fools. Fools who were really too old to be seeing Twilight. Well, I was wrong. There was already a very long line at 6:30, and getting in it when we did was the only reason we got decent seats together. A few observations...teenage girls really do talk a LOT, and now they all have cell phones so they can call and text each other constantly. Also, they all wear Uggs. Now, it was ridiculously cold out for November today, and it did snow a little bit this morning, but I do not know what the deal is with all the Uggs. Or how such young girls can afford them.

On to the movie. They stayed very close to the book, which I think is an important factor. Robert Pattinson is perfect (and hot!) as Edward, and Kristen Stewart makes an excellent Bella. They have a nice chemistry between them, which makes the story believable. Well, you know, for a vampire story. Some of the supporting characters aren't quite as I imagined them, but it's really Bella and Edward's story anyway, so it didn't really bother me. I did like the actress who plays Alice quite a bit. Forks is just as I pictured it would be, and I do love the Pacific Northwest. The scenery in the movie is gorgeous.

Overall, I loved it. The movie is a little slow to get started, but so was the book. Once Bella and Edward start interacting, it gets interesting. The movie is two hours long, but the time just flies by. One minute they were just meeting in biology class (and Edward was being so very rude), and then all of the sudden we were at the part with the showdown with James. I suppose it helped that I knew the story.

I usually avoid theaters on opening nights, so I had no idea how much fun it would be. When the lights first went down, people started clapping. When favorite characters first showed up, people cheered. When the bad guys turned up, you could feel the tension in the theater. And just before certain particularly romantic moments, you'd hear people shushing their friends. I had a blast. And I'll say again, if you liked the books, I'm sure you'll like the movie. If you haven't read them, well, it is a good story, if you like romantic vampire stories.

In conclusion, my inner teenager would like to add "Twilight! Squee!"

I have not been reading nearly as much as I usually do lately. I have as many books to be read piled up as usual, but I just haven't been getting to them. One book I did get to was Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. It's technically a kid's book, so it was a nice quick read.

I always enjoy Neil Gaiman's work, and this book was no exception. It's the story of a toddler who escapes the massacre of the rest of his family by a shadowy evil figure named Jack. The boy wanders in to the cemetery up the road from his house and is given sanctuary by the ghosts who live there. Two of the ghosts adopt him and name him Nobody Owens, Bod for short. He's given the Freedom of the Graveyard, which allows him to communicate with all of the ghosts, and keeps him safe from the outside world. They make him a home in a tomb, and rely on the mysterious Silas to bring in food for Bod to eat.

Bod gets an education from a variety of otherworldly sources, encounters a shape shifter, has a run-in with goblins, meets a dead witch, and even manages to attend a real school for a while. Over the years he picks up a number of skills, learns a lot about history, and even finds his way into a mysterious prehistoric tomb guarded by an entity known only as the Sleer. All of this prepares Bod for his inevitable confrontation with Jack once he returns.

As always with Neil Gaiman, it's not just that the story is interesting and well written. It's all the little details that he includes, like the fun names the ghosts have and the inscriptions on the headstones. Thomes Pennyworth (here he lyes in the certainty of the moft glorious refurrection) teaches Bod Slipping and Fading, and Miss Letitia Borrows, Spinster of the Parrish (Who Did No Harm to No Man all the Dais of Her Life, Reader, Can You Say Lykewise?) teaches him Grammar and Composition, to name just a few. Of course, one of my favorite parts of visiting Westminster Abbey was reading the lengthy, florid and over-the-top inscriptions on the tombs there, so I guess I'm predisposed to like that sort of thing in the story.

The American edition of the book has lively illustrations by Dave McKean, which I thought added to the charm of the story. I highly recommend this book! I'm not exactly sure which age group this book is meant for, and the beginning where the family is murdered might be a bit too much for a young child, although the way it is written leaves your imagination to fill in the details. I had to ask for the book at Borders. They had only gotten two copies in and had left them in the back.

John and I watched the Guy Ritchie movie Revolver last night. After the movie ended and the screen faded to black, John brought up Google and typed in "revolver Ritchie what the fuck" That gives you our reaction in a nutshell.

I was pleased when John told me he'd stumbled across a Guy Ritchie movie we'd never heard of before. Little did I know that there is a good reason that this movie wasn't widely promoted. I wonder if it was ever even released in the theaters. Going in, I really expected to like this movie. There are three main reasons why:
Guy Ritchie. I loved Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.
Jason Statham. I admit it, I'm a fan. I even enjoyed the over-the-top piece of ridiculousness that was Crank, but I could not find anything to like about his performance in this movie.
Ray Liotta. We know from Goodfellas that he can do a great job playing a gangster. He just didn't do that in Revolver.

You can probably tell that I didn't like the movie at all. The only nice thing I can say about it is that visually it was very interesting, with a comic-book feel. As for the rest, the plot doesn't go anywhere, and the stuff that does happen doesn't make sense. Jason Statham has lank, stringy long hair and looks awful. Plus, he doesn't get to do what he does best, which is drive fast and kick ass. Ray Liotta was just a plain mess, but I'm guessing it is hard to do a good job when you have no idea what the hell your character is doing or why he is doing it.

I spent the entire movie waiting for something to come along and explain what the hell was going on in the story. It was supposed to be a sort of straightforward revenge tale, perhaps with a side of a good con thrown in for good measure. Except that supernatural-ish stuff happened and no one explained how. At first I thought that Andre from OutKast and the guy who played Big Pussy were magical somehow. Then I thought they were con men who had known Jason Statham's character Jake in prison. Then I thought they were figments of his imagination. Then I just wanted the damn movie to end. There was double-dealing and conning and triple-dealing, but I never figured out what the point of any of it was. Andre and Big Pussy ended up with all of the drugs and all of the money, and they gave some of it away, and some of it back to Ray Liotta at the end...maybe.

The only interesting character in the whole thing was a hit man called Sorter, who could kill anyone. Except, apparently not Jake, and anyway, it was just a small role. You could never be quite sure if you were in the present or in a flashback, and you never got any payoff for why the characters were doing what they did. I generally like stories where the reader or viewer gets to imagine what happens next, but not in the case of this movie! Mostly because I had no idea what I had just watched. Yes, there were events that unfolded in a sequence, and there were flashbacks. Usually the flashbacks add to the narrative and help to move the story along, but in Revolver they just add more questions. I read some of the other reviews online, and there were people saying "oh, if you don't like it, you just don't get it" and "you have to watch the movie several times before you understand it." First of all, I'm smart. I've watched a ton of artsy-fartsy movies in my time, and I've understood and enjoyed many of them. There wasn't anything to "get" about this movie. It was just poorly done. Second, you could not pay me to watch that movie again. Well, you could pay me, but the cost would be prohibitive.

I think Guy Ritchie is a really talented and creative guy, and I hope he gets back on track. If Revolver is what being married to Madonna did for him, he's better off without her. Do yourself a favor - do not watch this movie.

I know the new TV season is barely under way, but I have found two new shows I like so far. The first is True Blood on HBO. I wasn’t sure about this show after the first episode, but it is growing on me. It’s a modern vampire tale. Vampires have revealed their presence to the world after the invention of synthetic blood that they can eat instead of preying on humans. True Blood is set in a small town in Louisiana. It’s all very Southern and tangled and mysterious. Everyone seems to be filled with longings of one sort or another – to fit in, to get out of town, to find love – and my goodness do they have lots and lots of sex. Everyone that is, except for Sookie, the main character who is a waitress at a bar/restaurant in town. She can hear people’s thoughts, which puts her off intimate relationships. But then a vampire named Bill comes to town and she’s intrigued, particularly because she can’t hear his thoughts. He’s a former resident from the mid-1800’s who came back to claim some property after his last living descendant died. I personally prefer her boss, who is totally in love with her and also potentially a werewolf (in my opinion). He’s way cuter than the vampire guy. I’m pretty sure she’ll end up with Bill though.

There’s a serial killer on the loose and anti-Vampire tensions and vampires who’d really rather keep eating human blood stirring up trouble. The characters are interesting and the writing is pretty good. I’m sticking with it for now.

The second show is Sons of Anarchy on FX. I still miss Deadwood, and this show is filling part of the hole it left behind. And it has the guy who played Charlie Udder on Deadwood too! In fact, it is packed with good actors. It’s the story of a motorcycle gang in a small town in California. The main character is a guy named Jax whose dad (now dead) was one of the founders of the gang. The other founder and current leader is married to Jax’s mom, played by Katey Segal clearly relishing her role as a woman who will stop at nothing to protect her family. Jax’s junkie ex-wife just gave birth to their son prematurely, and he’s trying to figure out how to make his way in the world as a dad. Plus, he’s just found a cache of his dad’s old writings about what he hoped to accomplish by founding the Sons of Anarchy, which are leading him to re-evaluate the way he’s living his life. On top of that, his ex-girlfriend, Maggie Siff, who I loved on Mad Men has just come back to town and is one of the doctors treating his son. Oh, and the junkie ex-wife is played by Drea de Mateo. Really good actors all around.

I’m sure this show is not for everyone. It is incredibly violent. The bikers deal drugs and run guns and hijack trucks. They don’t hesitate to start fights with anyone, and are embroiled in nasty feuds with two other gangs. The way they treat women is flat out appalling, although there seem to be plenty of women interested in being with them and being “part of the life.” Even so, I have been totally sucked in to this show. I’m interested in the characters even when I don’t like them or what they are doing. I totally recommend it.

What shows are you excited about this fall?

I “went” three very different places this weekend. First, I visited Gotham by watching the Dark Knight. Then I took a little jaunt to Belgium through In Bruges. And finally, I attended the wedding of Bella and Edward in Forks, WA by reading Breaking Dawn. Three very different stories, but each one really good in its own way.

I’m a Batman fan. Always have been, always will be, so you might wonder if I am biased in favor of the Dark Knight. Not necessarily. I didn’t like Batman Begins all that much. I thought it was way too long, and very slow paced. As I recall, I fell asleep for a bit in the middle, and I can’t even remember exactly how it ended. Wayne Manor blew up or something, which I recall mostly because they reference it in the Dark Knight.

Well, the Dark Knight is much, much better. It’s still too long, but the actors are great and the story works. I definitely prefer Maggie Gyllenhal in the Rachel Dawes role. Gary Oldman is fabulous as per usual, it’s always nice to see Michael Caine and Heath Ledger…he’s the perfect Joker. His portrayal got it just right. The Joker doesn’t really care about anything. Not the money he steals, not the people he terrorizes, nothing. He just likes to stir up trouble and he does plenty of that in the Dark Knight.

Christian Bale is fine, but the movie isn’t really about Batman. The Joker is the star of the story, along with D.A. Harvey Dent. Batman is just the catalyst. In fact, it is the Batman-centric piece of the story where he goes to Hong Kong and does some fancy techno-bat stuff while snatching up a crimelord who has to be returned to Gotham that I thought could have been cut to move the story along faster. I guess it gave them the chance to do a Mission Impossible type action scene, but I felt it was unnecessary. Overall, it was a highly satisfying movie, and it gets the Penguin seal of approval.

In Bruges was a complete change of pace. I owe thanks to the guy I heard review it on the radio a couple of months ago, because I hadn’t heard a peep about it. The studio really fell down on the job promoting it, which is a shame, because it may be my favorite movie I’ve seen this year. Even with the review I was expecting a slightly different story than what I got. I thought it was a British gangster/caper movie. It is a movie about British gangsters, but there is no caper.

It is a movie about consequences and responsibility. Two hit men get sent to Bruges at Christmastime to hide out after a hit gone wrong. Their boss books them in a hotel for two weeks and tells them to wait for his call. Half the cast of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is in this movie, making me wonder if they all got together on set or something, and said wow, look at this kick-ass script. Ralph Fiennes is the gangster boss. Brendan Gleeson (Mad Eye Moody) is one of the hit men, and my former pretend celebrity boyfriend Colin Farrell plays the other hit man. Keep doing movies like this one, Colin, and our non-existent fake romance could be back on. Clemence Poesy (Fleur Delacour) plays Chloe, a local girl Colin’s character hooks up with.

The movie is beautifully shot – moments of quiet and stillness mingling with dreaminess and terror. Seriously, John and I are ready to schedule a stop in Bruges on our next trip to Europe, and I’ve never had any intention of going to Belgium before. It’s a sad story, but also surprisingly funny, and it has just the right ending. Not happy, but right. I cannot recommend this movie highly enough.

And then there was Breaking Dawn. I am not quite so far fallen as to have gone to the midnight release party at Barnes & Noble, but I did pick up a copy of the book on Saturday morning. Not that there's anything wrong with the people who did go! The book got off to a great start, diving right in to Bella and Edward’s wedding, which sounded lovely. The honeymoon sounded awfully spectacular too. Who wouldn’t want to go to a private island off the coast of South America?

And then, well, then I was really worried the story had gone off track. I don’t want to give away details because I hate spoilers, but I was actually pretty disappointed in the direction I thought she was taking there for a while. That probably has something to do with me being a 37 year old at a place in my life that is completely different than where 99.5% of the target audience for these books is.

Then we got to the section narrated by Jacob, and I started feeling better. Edward is romantic and lovely, but Jacob is one of my favorite characters. Anyway, I should have had more faith in Stephenie Meyer, because in the end, it all came together in a way that left me quite happy. If you liked the first three books, I think you’ll like this one too. Edward fans will be happy and Jacob fans will be happy. I read somewhere that this is supposed to be the last book in the series, but a whole bunch of new and interesting characters got introduced, leaving the door open for more, at least in my mind. I’ll remain hopeful, anyway. If you write more, Stephenie, I’ll read ‘em!

A while back I wrote about Torchwood and how much I was enjoying it. Then my life got busy and got very behind on my TV watching. But recently I got my priorities in order and got back to watching TV as is right and proper. Well, I finally saw Torchwood Season 2, and wow, was I disappointed. There were a few good episodes, but some of them just didn’t even make sense. They did have the guy who played Spike on Buffy on for a few episodes. It’s always nice to see him.

There was a good one about Gwen’s wedding, and another good one that showed how Jack, Owen, Ianto and Tosh each came to join Torchwood, but overall, Season 2 was not as good as season 1. And the finale! I actually sat on the couch feeling pissed off about the finale after we finished watching it. They killed off characters I liked, and they tried to have this grandiose plot, but they just didn’t quite pull it off. The writers were trying to build up to it all season, but they left the hints and back story too vague, and then the payoff just wasn’t believable. Supposedly there is going to be a shorter third season. I guess I’ll watch to see how they do without two of the characters, but I’m feeling skeptical. They will definitely have to win back over.

On a brighter note, I watched all of Season 1 of Heroes over the last few weeks, and I totally loved it! I kind of always suspected that I’d like that show, but John never wanted to watch it. He thinks superpowers are stupid. I, on the other hand, spent my childhood longing for special powers and think they are cool, so Heroes is right up my alley. The writing isn’t perfect, but it is pretty darn good, and unlike the plotting on Torchwood recently, they keep many threads going and weave them together seamlessly in the end. I hope Season 2 doesn’t let me down!

The only open question for me is, what sort of super power is best? There are a couple of characters who can absorb other people's powers. One by murdering them, and one just by being near them. That's probably the most useful one, provided you meet people with cool powers. Flying would be cool. I'm not sure how much use I'd get from being a firestarter. Shapeshifter would be awesome. What sort of super power do you think is best?

I’ve been busy lately, but I’m never too busy to read. I really, really enjoyed the two books I read most recently, so review time has rolled around again.

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer is the sequel to Twilight, which I only just discovered and loved. Sequels can be tricky, but I loved New Moon just as much as the first book. The story picks up a little while after the end of Twilight and just flows naturally as an extension of the world she started creating in the first book. The characters (even the supernatural ones) are so well drawn and so believable. You just connect with them. When Bella, the heroine, believes her vampire love Edward has left her, you grieve with her. This time around, Bella has to learn to adjust to life without Edward for a while. A character I particularly liked from the first book, Jacob, gets a front and center role in this story, and is even more interesting than I thought he would be.

Stephenie Meyer also excels at setting the scene. I feel like I’ve been to the town of Forks, where most of the story takes place. The books are written for teens, so the Romeo and Juliet parallels in the plot are perhaps a little more heavy handed than they would be in an adult book, but overall, the story is subtle and well told. I’ve been hopelessly sucked in to the series, and ran out and bought the next book, Eclipse in hardcover, and will no doubt buy the new one in hardcover in August as well.

North River by Pete Hamill is a completely different kind of book. The only other Pete Hamill book I’ve ever read is Forever, which was also a great story. Based on the strength of Forever and now North River, I’d say I’m going to have to take a trip through his catalog. North River is the story of a WWI vet and doctor, James Delaney, living the best life he can in New York City during the Depression. His world is populated with traumatized vets, gangsters, Tammany Hall holdovers who knew his father, bohemians and radicals, recent Italian and Irish immigrants, and the poor of New York City. Dr. Delaney meant to be a surgeon, but was wounded in the hand during the war and had to become a regular doctor instead. His wife has disappeared and no one is sure whether she is alive or dead, his painter daughter deposits his two year old Spanish-speaking grandson on his doorstep and takes off for Europe in pursuit of her husband, who may or may not be a Communist bomber, his patients can’t afford to pay him, and a psychotic gangster may be out to get him. And yet, somehow this is also the quiet story of a man finally putting his life back together and reconnecting with the world after the unexpected arrival of his little grandson.

I loved this book. I loved the people in it, even the bad ones. Pete Hamill is such a colorful writer, and you can feel his love of New York City, of the people who lived there and the city’s history on every page. Two scenes in particular stuck in my mind. First, one little detail, but the details are what make the story, right? James goes in to a store to buy his grandson a book, and when he selects Babar, the clerk says “You know that’s just Colonialist propaganda, right?”

Second, when he takes his grandson’s nanny to the Roseland Ballroom to go dancing (sidenote: watching James and Rose's relationship slowly change over the course of the book is one of the many pleasures of the story) a man gets up and starts to sing “Brother Can You Spare a Dime.” Hamill’s description of the crowd stopping their dancing and singing along, getting more and more into the song and its story of broken promises, failed dreams and hard times, perfectly reflects the anger and hopelessness that characterized American life back then. So much was changing, and so many people felt so powerless and betrayed, and well, it was just a really powerful and well written scene.

Both of these books get my highest recommendation! Two flippers up, or whatever penguin appendage seems most appropriate.

...You've got to be ready.

That's the slogan for my new favorite TV show, Torchwood. Imagine a funnier, sexier, British version of the X-Files, with swearing and a cool black Land Rover. I mean, the X-Files had its funny moments, but it typically took itself more seriously. I heard that Torchwood is a spin-off of Dr. Who, but I don't watch Dr. Who, so I wouldn't know. I do like the Mr. Who theme song though. Basically, Torchwood is about a bunch of alien hunters stationed in Wales. They capture rogue aliens and track down artifacts and deal with supernatural stuff in general. The main character is a sort of civilian, a persistent police officer who stumbles across a Torchwood investigation, and then ends up joining them. Then there is a doctor (guy Scully, I guess, except none of them doubt the existence of the spooky stuff), a computer expert who is sort of a hot girl nerd, an all-around cleanup guy, and their fearless leader, who may or may not be an American human named Captain Jack Harkness.

The rest of the characters have Welsh names like Gwen and Cerys and Owen and Rhys, which are names I've always liked. Now I've kind of fallen in love with the Welsh accent too. It's very pretty. Cardiff, where the show is supposed to be set, looks quite lovely. They are big on aerial shots for some reason. Perhaps that conveys more of an alien feel.

Anyway, the series isn't perfect. The writing can be uneven from episode to episode, and sometimes the acting - usually from a non-regular - is a little over the top. And Captain Jack looks a lot like Tom Cruise from some angles, which can be weird. But as we make our way through the first season, the shows are steadily getting better and better. The stories are inventive and usually come to a satisfying conclusion, and not always the ending that you are expecting. If you like sci-fi type shows, I think you'll enjoy Torchwood.

Professionally, I spend a lot of time looking at websites, rethinking websites, testing new website functionality, writing copy for websites, editing copy for websites and picking content to feature on websites. I do all of this with the ultimate goal of making the websites valuable to our existing customers and attractive to potential customers. In my personal life, however, I end up neglecting this website more than I’d like.

It occurred to me that I should apply some of the same principles that I use in my job every day to this here blog. I mean, I can quote chapter and verse on “tips for driving traffic to your blog/website” and yet I never, ever put any of that information to use for my own benefit. I’m not sure what that says about me, but anyway, here goes. My ultimate goal with this website is to continue to improve my writing skills, to stay connected to my friends (both the ones I had before this site came to be and the ones I’ve made since), to continue the habit I’ve had, off and on over the years, of keeping a journal, and to have a good time doing it.

There are so many topics in my life that are now off limits for one reason or another that recently I’ve struggled, really struggled with what I can and can’t say here. So, I’m going to try some stuff that is new. Some of it may not work, but hopefully some of it will. I figure I’ll make a real effort to write about the heart-healthy, diabetic-friendly, vegetarian recipes that I try to concoct. The problem with recipes is that I’m not a very precise cook. However, that has backfired on me a few times lately in that I haven’t been able to replicate something I’ve made, so I’m trying to measure and document what I’m doing a little more accurately. Naturally, I’ll still sprinkle in plenty of baking recipes too.

I read all the time, so I’m going to try my hand at writing book reviews more regularly. Hey, one of the few I’ve ever written actually got a comment from the author! Talk about positive reinforcement. I’ve got one or two other ideas cooking, but they aren’t quite ready yet, and I’m sure I’ll still do plenty of my usual rambling too. Without further ado, here’s my first book review.

I picked up Look to Windward after Chris had recommended Iain M. Banks a couple of different times. Chris and I seem to have similar taste in books, so I knew I was probably in for a good read, and I was. I’m not bragging when I say that I am a ridiculously fast reader. I can tear through two or three books in a day if I have the time to sit around and read. With Iain Banks though, I really had to sit up, pay attention to the ideas he was presenting, and think about what was happening. Look to Windward is an interesting look at the clash of cultures taken to an alien level and also on the responsibility different cultures bear toward each other.

Half of the story takes place on Masaq’ Orbital, which is a constructed mega planet run by an all-powerful AI called Hub, populated mostly, but not exclusively by humans. And in fact, none of the main characters in the story are humans. Instead, the AI, his drones, and two aliens, an ambassador and a composer are central to the plot. The composer is in a self-imposed exile from his home planet, which is starting to recover from a civil war -- a civil war that the Culture (the civilization that built the Orbital) unfortunately helped start.

The other main character(s)are Major Quilan, a traumatized veteran of the civil war who may or may not be an assassin, and the soul of a former admiral which he carries around hidden in his head. Some of the scenes where Quilan grieves for his wife, who died in the war and also died in a more permanent fashion when the ship carrying her Soulkeeper was destroyed, were really moving. It’s a convoluted and complex story, and I’m not even getting to at least half of what happened because it is so hard to explain properly. He does a wonderful job of weaving together all of the various threads to a satisfying resolution. This may be the first book I’ve ever read that essentially ended, and then had three more chapters. Three very necessary chapters so you didn’t have to wonder about various unresolved plot elements, but still, an interesting way of wrapping up the story, with a twist at the end. A good twist, not a stupid one. It was an excellent book and I highly recommend it. I’m definitely going to be reading more books by Iain Banks.