Run Fatboy Run

"The only serious relationship I've been in ended in a broken collarbone and a dead meerkat. " - Gordon

I love Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran, even better if they are working with Edgar Wright. Well, Mr. Wright wasn’t in on this one, but Run, Fatboy, Run was funny and sweet. It was a good little movie, and anyone who has ever thought about participating in a long-distance run would get a kick out of it I am sure. I think it could have been leaps and bounds better with Edgar Wright back in there with the team, but Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran do a great job of carrying off the movie. These guys are comedy gold. In fact, I feel compelled to wax poetic on the awesomeness that is Black Books rather than say anything about Run, Fatboy, Run, but I won’t. I’ll just leave it at that.

This time around, Simon Pegg is playing Dennis Doyle, a hapless security guard who made a huge mistake about 5 years ago. He left his pregnant girlfriend at the altar after having a bout of cold feet. Now he wishes he could get her back, but instead Libby (Thandie Newton) is dating a new guy, Whit (Hank Azaria). Whit’s not such a nice guy really, although he treats Libby well. To Whit, everything is a competition, and eventually Whit & Dennis end up competing with each other over Libby, which ultimately leads to Dennis saying he will run the London Marathon. Dennis isn’t exactly physically fit, but he is determined to prove to Libby that he can finish something. Will he make it and will Libby see what kind of man he can become?

This was a sweet movie, and the supporting characters are hilarious, but honestly, it’s not as good as some of Simon Pegg's other work. I'm happy to have rented this but I wouldn't own it and watch it over and over like Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead. David Schwimmer’s directing seemed uneven. Sometimes it seemed like the movie couldn’t decide if it was a comedy or a sticky-sweet romance. The birthday party speech Dennis gives Libby is truly touching. Dylan Moran steals the show as the goofball best friend to Dennis, but that’s no surprise. Dylan Moran is my not-so-secret, over the other side of the ocean crush. He had me at “Popsicle” and I’ll never let go. I'd watch him just sit and eat crackers.

Rating: 4 Purrs for Simon Pegg and Dylan Moran. They carry off the story despite the unevenness of the directing.

The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

I first read Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris several years ago, at the same time I was reading the Anita Blake series. I gave them up after two books because I thought they were way to close to the other series, which had really grabbed me and pulled me in at that time. Later the Anita Blake series got to be too much sex and no plot, so I put those away, and really didn't read the vampire type books at all for a long while. Then I picked up Twilight, and when I was finished with that series, my future sis-in-law said, here read these. So back to Sookie I came, and this time I read every single one as quickly as I could. I couldn't put them down. On the tail end of that came the HBO series True Blood, and the sis-in-law and another fiend started coming over for Sookie Sundays. Now my friend is reading the Sookie books, and we are sufficiently hooked and waiting for the next installment.

The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries, starting with Dead Until Dark, are all about Sookie Stackhouse. She's a telepath, and most of the folks in her small town of Louisiana, Bon Temps, aren't quite sure if they should pity her or fear her, so they do a little bit of both.  In Sookie's universe, vampires are real and they have come out of the coffin, so to speak. There's this synthetic blood developed by the Japanese that allows the vamps to "main stream," so a few try it. Enter Bill the Vampire. One night he walks into Sookie's bar (where she waitresses) and her life will never be the same. Bill's mind is the one she can't read, and so she becomes fascinated. The relationship between those two is at the heart of most of the books, and as the series goes on, more and more supernatural things become a part of Sookie's world. In the process, Sookie realizes her telepathy may not be such a curse, as she can use it to help, sometimes most reluctantly, to aid those in the supernatural community.

I love these books. They are sweet and frothy, not too bad on the violence (except Sookie does seem to get herself into some pickles that can turn bloody), and pretty light even on the mystery. However, Sookie's voice is so refreshing. She's no nonsense, hopeful, sarcastic, and romantic. She's got that Southern thing going on, which on one hand bothers me because we are not all chicken-fried down here, thank you very much, but then again, some of us are. I really detest the clothes. I know that seems weird, but Sookie's fashion sense is appalling, and I wouldn't care except that Charlaine Harris spends a lot of time talking about banana clips, short denim skirts, and big blue bows.  The secondary characters are eccentric and varied, but none are well developed, but you aren't really reading for those guys, you are reading for Sookie and her various cohorts and new loves. 

One thing that I think kept me from reading the books for so long is the fact that my grandmother had a cow named Sookie, and every time (even now) that I read that name I picture my grandmother standing in the back pasture calling, "Soooo-kie! Come 'ere girl!" I would recommend them to anyone who might like a bit of southern-fried mystery, and who doesn't mind the batter a bit thick. You should also watch True Blood, but don't expect the series to follow to closely to the books. Major characters have been changed, but it didn't bother me too much. The series can be a little heavy-handed when trying to use the vampire as a metaphor for racism and gay rights, where the book does it in a way that you could almost miss it.  It seems like it would be better to have a happy medium in there somewhere. 

Rating: 4 Purrs for Sookie and Bill. No matter what, I'll be Team Bill over Team anyone else Charlaine Harris throws in the mix. 

I am committed to Sparkle Motion.

Yes, that's right. It's D-Day. My future sister-in-law bought the "Sookie Sunday" group tickets to see Twilight tonight at midnight. Lord help us, for we may be lost in the screaming hordes of fangirls as they rush the theater to get good seats to see RPattz on the big screen.

We'll be much more dignified of course. We won't scream. At least not until the movie actually starts.

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

I tried very, very hard to not read these books. I looked at them much like I looked at the Harry Potter books when they first came out – I sneered. I said to myself – they are “teen vampire romance novels.” I rolled my eyes. I mocked and said no way. Then I made the mistake of picking one up. (I lay the blame on my brother's girlfriend. It's on her doorstep. She's such an enabler.) I said to myself, okay, fine, fine. I’ll try it out and see what the big deal is. Next thing I know I am voraciously reading Twilight like it’s the next best thing to a full-bodied, aged Cabernet that I can’t get enough of. Honestly though, instead of comparing these books to a Cabernet, I should probably compare them to those iced sugar cookies you can get at the grocery store. You know they aren't good for you, you know there' s nothing good or natural in them, but you can't just eat one. Then, you'll crave them later, like I imagine a crack addict probably craves the rock.

If you haven't been living under a rock, you'll know that there are 4 books in the series, all outlining the ins and outs, the ups and downs of Bella Swann, normal, clumsy (ahem Mary Sue ahem) high school girl and the love of her life Edward Cullen, who also happens to be a vampire who doesn't believe in eating people. That's it in a nutshell. Throw the word teenager in there, think back to when you were one, add a little vampire, and rinse repeat for 4 books. There's drama, there's OMG I want to kiss you/eat you OMG you're so perfect, etc., and there some stalking in there for color.

Twilight starts off with Bella Swann moving from Pheonix, AZ to Forks, WA to live with her dad. Her mom's recently remarried, and Bella wants to give her mom some space, so off she goes to the great rainy Northwest, where the sun hardly shines and Bella is so sure she will be miserable. Here in Forks, Bella meets Edward Cullen. He's a strange boy. He's pale, hangs out only with his family (the equally beautiful Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett), and when she sits next to him in biology he acts like she has the plague. He confuses the heck out of her, and naturally she falls head over heels for him. The rest of the book pretty much runs the gamut of OMG does he like me, no way could he like me, oh wow he does like me, oh wow you sparkle in the sun (yes sparkles. see - silly and yet OMG), oh crap someone wants to kill me, oh yeah he loves me.

Rating: 5 Purrs. Yes, it's totally emo. They are both incredibly silly emo kids mooning over each other but I totally loved every second of it, even the creepy stalker vampire boyfriend parts. The story was totally Mary Sue, but I could relate to some of Bella's sad little emo teen-ness and the story was fun. Like I said - sugar cookie goodness.

New Moon is all about Edward running away because he thinks he has no soul and that he or one of his family members will probably kill Bella. Enter Bella the zombie-girl and Jacob the best friend trying to get into her pants (so to speak. Also *werewolf*). Also, lots of I must keep up appearances, oh wow I am so using you to hide how craptastic I feel, let's go do dangerous stuff so I can try and kill myself but not really, really try to kill myself, oh I shouldn't treat you this way, holy crap will he really go off and kill himself, I can save the day if I don't trip, and BAM oh shit, you love me, really?

Rating: 4 Purrs. Kind of silly, but not too terrible follow up. You can see why he left and why she saves him.

Eclipse is pretty much about the continuing love triangle between Jacob, Bella, and Edward. Edward's decided to stick around, and now Jacob's out to try and convince Bella she wants him instead. In doing so he becomes way too close to a previous relationship of mine for me to like anymore (angry boy, let's say). So it's pretty much: oh somethings up out in Seattle with some mysterious deaths, oh crap could it be a leftover bad guy from the previous books, oh yes it might, oh crap Bella's in danger, grr we will fight over who can protect her best, oh shit I really love both of them but I choose him, can we save the day whoops maybe I shouldn't have done that, awesome new wolf friend Seth high-fiving Eddie, whee we can get married way too young cause of course I don't mind your antiquated sensibilities my dearest sparkly vampire boyfriend.

Rating: The controlling nature of the two boys irritates me here, but I like Seth a lot so I can't give it less that 3.75 stars.

And then there was Breaking Dawn. Oh man. Seriously. Married at 18? Really? Feather biting, bedframe breaking vamp on human sex? Not too bad but woefully under written (of course this is a teen book, so I can forgive that) I'm sorry, did this really include a vamp-human hybrid mommy-killing baby? Yes it did. This one was broken into 3 parts, and I could have done without the second one completely. In fact the whole Nessie storyline could have gone away and I would have been so much happier. So this one was: married! Sex! Uh oh human killing, blood drinking baby on board, whoops - you imprinted on my baby? Whee I'm a vampire (finally I might add. Seriously it took 4 books?) and I am so good add it (ahem Mary Sue ahem again) and I save the day cause I really love my new family grrrr I will protect you with my mind-shield.

Rating: 3 Purrs - Bella the vampire was the awesome. She was fun. Edward became a seriously whiny bitch that ruined him as a character to me and Jacob creeped me out even more. Seth however was a win. Alice - always love her. What I hated the most - that Bella didn't have to really give up *anything.* After 3 whole books of knowing what she would give up to follow the life she wanted, she ended up having it all. It would have been nice for there to have been some consequences to her actions. I know it's fiction and a fairy tale. I wouldn't feel cheated if it hadn't been an underlying theme in all the books previous.

Overall, I loved these books. They were totally silly. They were totally not good fiction and most definitely not the "next Harry Potter," (J.K. Rowling has much better character development and plus, people actually face the repercussions of their actions in Potter books.) but I loved them anyway. My brother's girlfriend and I have midnight tickets to see the film and are debating which t-shirt to buy to wear to the festivities. I am embarassed at my love for these books. Having a devastating crush on Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart doesn't help matters (Ed & Bella in the movie) The books are just.so.bad. and yet I just.can't.stop. In fact, writing about them makes me want to run home and read all four again back to back. I am addicted to Twilight Tuesdays on the MTV blog and cleolinda's livejournal posts about the books.

I am sick. Please send help. (If he's sparkly, a vampire named Edward, and writes music even better.)

See? I'm a lost cause.

Sigh.

Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino

I picked up Natsuo Kirino’s Out on a whim, mostly based on the cover and because it was on the end cap at Barnes & Noble. I loved Out. It was bloody, feminist, thrilling, tightly woven. When I saw that Natsuo Kirino had a new book out, I could barely wait for it to hit paperback (which I didn’t, I waited for it to hit my Quality Paperback Book Club). I was worried it wouldn’t be as good, but I was wrong. Grotesque was different, but still excellent.

Grotesque is a dark, brooding novel, much like Out, in which Kirino continues to peel back the dark corners of modern Japan and the everyday darkness women there face. Her characters, though, face the world in such colorful ways – like slicing up abusive husbands in showers. This time around, Kirino tells the story of two women in their 30s who have been killed almost a year apart in the same way. Yuriko and Kazue knew each other a long time ago, and now both turn tricks (one for fun and one to make the rent).  It may seem like the only things these two women might have in common is their professions and their deaths, but really what ties them together is the narrator – a nameless woman who happens to be the older sister of one and the former classmate of the other who tells the tale is an almost monotone and yet self-protective way.

The narrator slowly tells the histories of these two women, telling her own arrogant, desperately clinging story as well. Yuriko is beautiful; in fact, she is pretty much doomed by her looks, as she soon decides it is the only way to make her way in the world. Kazue, on the other hand, is awkward and unpopular, constantly trying to rise and yet getting nowhere.  The narrator is miserable and spiteful of everyone from the beginning.  These girls grow up in a world where survival of the fittest is evident in every move they make.  In this world, conformity is king; there is a place for everything and everything should be in its place. Yuriko is too beautiful. Kazue’s drive for success and popularity is too evident to be accepted.  They really have no chance – and in the end find freedom in their grotesque and monstrous selves.  To become free – to sell themselves as prostitutes - allows them a freedom most in Japanese society can’t find. In the end, that freedom gives them the chance to be murdered by a foreigner and be envied by the narrator, who wallows in her bitterness and hatred.

It’s a powerful indictment of the world Natuso Kirino lives in, and a very powerful voice to be heard. I think Kirino is an amazing writer. You can enjoy her work on a purely superficial level, reveling in the grotesque and disturbingly bloody images she creates, or you can look and see her deeper message. Either way, it’s a deeply disturbing and yet truly enjoyable read.

Rating: 4 ½ Purrs – just what I was looking for – a truly disconcerting and liberating book. It would be 5 Purrs but it wasn’t quite as good as Out.

Recent Acquisitions to the Library

I love birthdays. I spent the Amazon love from my brother and his girlfriend (who somehow got me shamefully addicted to these ridiculous vampire novels everyone has been raving about...seriously, I am embarrassed to say it. 

Books:

• Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
• Rising Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

DVDs:

• D.E.B.S. - Love this movie. It's so adorable, and it fosters my Jordana Brewster crush.
• Imagine Me & You - So sweet. Plus Piper Perabo and Lena Headly fall in love.
• Commando: Director's Cut - I love this movie. It's one of those that I watch every time it's on. I thought Alyssa Milano was so cool in this movie (I was also, maybe 11 when I first saw it.)

Recent Acquisitions to the Library

Thanks to the pater and mater, I had a nice run at the used DVD store and Barnes & Noble for my birthday (it's Wednesday, if you are curious). Thanks to my brother and his girlfriend, I also have some Amazon love still to spend. 

DVDs

• Catch and Release  - Yes, I know it was silly and sappy and all that, but I just had to have it.
• Bats - Yes, that movie. My Dina Meyer crush knows no bounds.
• The Ruins Unrated - Loved the book, movie was alright
• Nightbreed - Gotta love Clive Barker
• The Shining (BluRay) - I absolutely love this movie. Now I can see it in super crisp definition.
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - As much as I fought it, I love Harry Potter.
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Clash of the Titans - Ray Harryhausen - genius
• DOA: Dead or Alive - Chicks and karate. Need I say more.
• The Cave - Lena Headley. Piper Perabo. Slimy cave creatures. It's not The Descent, but it is too fun to pass up for 5 bucks.
• Vampires - James Woods is such a smart ass. Plus, my pal at work used to date Sheryl Lee's cousin. 
• The Tripper - Slasher killer in a Reagan Mask. Hee!
• Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - I dunno. I couldn't help it.
• A Clockwork Orange (BluRay) - Kubrick. BluRay. How could I not?
• Ghost World - Loved the comic. Loved the movie. Love Scar Jo.
• Mars Attacks! -  I don't know how I never got this on DVD. So funny.
• 30 Days of Night - So bleak. Danny Huston is pretty good, but mostly I just love vampire movies.
• Spaced: The Complete Series - I also love Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Pandabob got this for me. 

Books

• The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore 
• Snow Angels by Stewart O'Nan
• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

Sideways by Rex Pickett

My husband Pandabob picked up a copy of Sideways because of the good reviews about the movie. He read it quickly and hounded me for a while to pick it up and read it too. It was a fun read, and the movie is a good companion to the book. It’s similar enough, but different enough to not be a re-tread.

The best way to describe this book is a buddy movie crossed with a wine instruction manual. Two buddies go off for a bachelor trip through California’s Santa Ynez wine country, only to become entangled in one mess after another. Miles is the wine lover; he’s also divorced, broke, and a failed novelist who somehow friends with Jack. Jack is handsome, about to marry a very rich woman, and is a successful actor. All he wants to do on this trip is drink copious amounts of wine, have a last few days of freedom, and get laid as much as possible. Their adventures are so comical you’ll end up laughing out loud while you read: Jack’s attempts to have sex with any woman he meets, his attempts to set Miles up with his crush, Maya, the boar-hunting episode, and a staged car accident. The scene of Miles sneaking in to get Jack’s forgotten wallet brought tears to my eyes. Don’t forget every event is colored with some sort of wine-snob speech from Miles as they gulp excellent bottles of wine.

I read this book after seeing the movie version, and I admit the casting in the movie fit the characters I read perfectly. Paul Giamatti was cast as Miles, and Thomas Haden Church was cast as Jack. I couldn’t help but see them while I read. Rarely does a book get translated so well onto the screen.

I’ll admit to Sideways inspiring me to learn more about wine. Despite Miles’ very long-winded and snobby speeches about Pinot Noir, there are a few facts to glean. It also gave me a good laugh. I’d definitely recommend checking this book out if you want a fun, buddy trip book to read. There’s even a good moral to this story, if you can get past all the bumbling and drinking.

Rating: 4 Purrs for a good, entertaining read that got me to sign up with our local wine club

Eccentric Circles by Rebecca Lickiss

I picked up the first novel, Eccentric Circles, by Rebecca Lickiss because I loved her second work, Never After. It’s clearly a first novel, but the urban fairy tale is still a very fun read.

Piper inherits her grandmother’s cottage that just happens to have a very large garden in the back, a garden which she eventually finds out that leads to fairyland. Piper knows her family is a bit weird, but when she wakes up one morning and has a weird guy dressed like he was going to a Ren Faire in her kitchen, she’s not quite sure what’s going on. Aerlvarim, the freaky elf, isn’t sure that Grandmother Dickerson’s death was a natural one. Piper takes up the investigation, and in the process learns a bit of magic, meets some very interesting dwarves, fairies, and wizards, and discovers the writer inside of herself.

The characters are comical, and not a whole lot of development is built in to the story, but the story is certainly not entrenched in D&D style characters (you know, shazam, big muscles, silly backgrounds, and adventures). Lickiss doesn’t try to put in a bunch of flowery text to fill out her plot, so I have to give her credit for that.

It’s a very light reading, with a plot that borders on a Mary-Sue, but it is still a fun read. I’d say it was a good beach book or a good afternoon’s bit of reading. I am jealous of such a nice, cozy cottage with a stuffed full library. I must have a library in my next house, but maybe, well definitely, without all of the chintz.

Rating: 4 Purrs, for a fun story, a bit of sarcasm in Piper, and a spunky Grandma that reminds me of how my grandmothers used to be

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman writes beautiful prose, and she writes a lot of it. The trouble is, sometimes that means books tend to feel like repeats of each other. I feel that The Ice Queen is somewhere in the middle. It’s similar to others she has written, but it doesn’t feel like a complete copy.

The Ice Queen tells the story of a solitary librarian who is obsessed with death. When she was eight years old, when it was night and ice was on the ground, she wished her mother dead. Her mother never comes home. She from then on she separated herself from everyone and everything, making up her life story into a fairy tale with a girl whose heart is frozen into a ball of ice. Later on, she loses her grandmother and ends up in Florida with her brother Ned. There she wishes to be struck by lightening, and her wish again comes true. From there she becomes obsessed with a man named Lazarus who was also struck by lightening. He is fire, constantly burning from within, while she is solid ice, constantly frozen. Their affair makes her life interesting for a while, and helps thaw her inner frozen heart. Later, circumstances help her wake up to life and turn her back on death.

The main character is never named, and it is appropriate. She is not a character you really have any sympathy for. The real characters that grab you only really show up at the end. Ned and his wife are those characters, and you only really see into their lives when the main character finally melts enough to see outside of her own self. If that is what Alice Hoffman wanted, then she was effective with her character development. Otherwise, she fails in developing any real characters you care about.

What really grabbed me in this book was a scene towards the end. The scene in California made me cry, and I am not completely sure it was just her writing, or if it was a little too close to home with events in my life lately. I could see the beauty of the scene, and it still makes my heart clench. I’d wade through all of those ice-cold pages to read that scene with fresh eyes again.

Overall, if you are a fan of her work, I’d recommend reading The Ice Queen. Otherwise, I’d point you to some of her better work, like The Probable Future, The River King, or Practical Magic.

Rating: 3 Purrs