So am I completely worthless

Remember (of course you don't. A year without updates is death for any blog.) how I said I couldn't follow through with anything?

Now you have solid proof. Rock-hard.

Anyway, lately I've been missing you blogger!I've had such an exciting year in books, but alas, there is no record apart from my librarything catalog (plus I have a fun new computer!). What I'm saying is: please take me back blogger. I'll do just about anything. Including recommitting myself to blogging. Well, I'll try at least.

Will I or won't I? This is the type of terrifyingly exciting cliffhanger my (nonexistent) readers have come to expect on Death By Novel. I won't let you down.

ARC review: A Constant Heart

Cross posted from LibraryThing, a review of A Constant Heart by Siri Mitchell. Book available October 2008.

I'm somewhat of a Tudor-aficionado, so I was sadly surprised that I was rather indifferent to this tale of love and duty set in the Late-Elizabethan period.

Marget, the daughter of a country knight, is newly come to court as a countess. She is very uncertain when it comes to navigating the waters of court and noble marriage. Her new husband, the Earl of Lytham, has no desire to make things smoother for Marget -- he married the beauty only for her money, as a past marriage has drained him of all feeling when it comes to love.

What transpires is a rather predictable yarn -- Marget and Lytham fall in love! But it isn't easy -- there are complications! I do not mean to be trite here, but I must say that I was wishing for more creative conflict.... I wanted to see these characters struggle, have direction. Instead, the novel is mostly series after series of miscommunication between lovers who quickly forgive. Admirable, yes, but not very interesting.

What was particularly interesting were the hints at Elinor, Lytham's previous wife.... I felt like she was shaping up to be a madwoman in the attic type character. I wish the author would have gone further here, or further with her obvious interests in the beauty rituals of Tudor England (these were by far my favorite sections).... that would have been a nice twist!

After I received this book I learned that the author wrote Christian novels and I was worried I would be unable to fairly review the piece. This novel had very little direct Christianity -- only in little asides such as a narration that Lytham was going to put his future in God's hands -- but I often found myself wishing the novel was more like a traditional Christian novel, because those novels often thrive on conflict (i.e. man struggling against God and himself).

ARC review: The Stories of Devil-Girl

Short, brief review time! Just trying to get caught up here, so here are my Early Reviewer reviews, cross-posted from LibraryThing.

The Stories of Devil-Girl, by Anya Achtenberg, is a densely constructed set of very wordy stories. Each vignette is short but far from easily digestible.

When I learned that the writer's previous works are mostly poetry, this book made much more sense to me, as it reads like wandering prose poetry. I often found myself continuing to read only because I was hoping to find another pretty phrase or metaphor -- not because I was invested in the story.

I like to consider myself a fan of "experimental" fiction or "literary" fiction -- whatever you'd like to call it. But I do think there is a fine line between breaking the rules of the novel for story sake and breaking the rules of the novel for writer sake. I'm not convinced that Achtenberg landed on the story side here, and I'm afraid that is the side I prefer.

That said, her writing is beautiful, and I look forward to checking out some of her poetry -- based upon The Stories of Devil-Girl, I'm pretty certain I'd be a fan.

someone's been a very bad blogger and how ARC descriptions can mislead tender young bloggers

sorry for the long-time-no-post thing I've had going on here. I just have been more of in a "reading" mood than in a "blogging" mood. Plus I've been enjoying the Oregon sunshine... us native Oregonians know that if you snooze you lose when it comes to sun. So summers tend to be an explosion of outdoorsy-ness.

But! This weekend's forecast does not look good and Roommate will be at his parents. These two things are perfect conditions for a blogging marathon. I've got a lot of catching up to do.

I've also excitingly received my second ARC through LibraryThing Early Reviewers, A Constant Heart by Siri Mitchell. I decided to do a couple of googles on the book as I patiently waited for it to arrive, and I learned an important lesson, which I will henceforth refer to as ARC Commandment #1: Thou shalt not request ARCs based upon the Early Reviewer description alone.

Here is the description that was posted on LibraryThing:

Born with the face of an angel, Marget Barnardsen is blessed. Her father is a knight, and now she is to be married to the Earl of Lytham. Her destiny is guaranteed ... at least, it would seem so. But when her introduction to court goes awry and Queen Elizabeth despises her, Marget fears she's lost her husband forever. Desperate to win him back, she'll do whatever it takes to discover how she failed and capture again the love of a man bound to the queen.

This seemed to fit right in with one of my very, very guilty-pleasures: Tudor-romance, a la Philippa Gregory and The Tudors on Showtime. So I was ecstatic when I saw I would be receiving the book -- it was my top choice! Woo!

But then I Googled and found that I was actually going to be reading Christian fiction, which I normally would not have requested -- only because I worry about my ability to give an unbiased review.

I used to be a very prolific reader of Christian fiction and particularly enjoyed novels by Francine Rivers -- who seems to be in the same vein as Siri Mitchell. But, I haven't read any since my fairly recent departure from the faith and I'm not sure how it will read to me now. I truly do not want to let my religious views color a review of a book that I am sure will be excellent for the right crowd. Eek!

I'm just going to try my best to read it as a story... It will be an interesting exercise for atheist-me to read Christian fiction -- a genre once beloved by evangelical-me -- in any case!

local headline of the week

"Captured escapee unsuccessfully tries to escape again." The Oregonian, July 11. Online edition.

Narrowly beats out "Worlds collide in Portland bike fight" in today's print edition of The O.

advanced reader copies = best idea ever? a sunday salon post

Today I received my very, very first advance reader copy (ARC) in the mail. Swoon!

While I will forever be addicted to bookstores and the irreplaceable joy of browsing the stacks for a gem, there is something intoxicating about receiving books in the mail. Even though you know they are coming, it's still like receiving a present... you get all the anticipation of waiting for it to arrive, and then you get to tear open the packaging to get at your "gift." Love it. Even though the post-office is kind of antiquated these days, I'd rather receive something via snail mail than email any day.

Anyway. This ARC is The Stories of Devil-Girl, a piece of "urban fiction," and I received it through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. Technically it went on sale in May, so I'm not sure how "advance" it is. But. I still got it free through LTER, and therefore I am classifying it as an ARC, say what you will.

I'm excited to break into it and see how my first ARC experience goes. Holding it in my hands, I'm pretty sure I never would have picked this book up all by me onesies -- I like to buy used books, almost as a rule. Devil-Girl is so... unblemished. I am also a book cover snob, unfortunately (please don't tell anyone! I try to live with this shame in secret) and the cover does not hold up to my exacting bookstore-browsing standards. I'm glad I'm going to get to read a book that my own prejudices would have kept me from buying.

It's a pretty slim read though, so I'm moving it up to the top of my TBR stack (right after I finish Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates. Twenty pages in and I think I might have to kill myself because Oates is so good.)

Anyone else get ARCs? Any advice on how to approach these books with an open mind?

*Don't worry jessi, I'm still going to write about my high school's brush with literary/drama censorship! It is becoming quite a lengthy post so I'm working on it here and there as I have time.

*In other reading news, I am currently sipping my tea-of-choice. The quote on the tag of this particular bag is from the devastatingly perfect Mae West: "You're never too old to become younger." So true, Delicious Tea, so true. I love it when my beverages go all philosophical on me.

going back on promises and other miscellaneous lies

I've changed my mind on reviewing Unaccostomed Earth and -- though I hate to say it -- On Chesil Beach.

I don't have much to say on either other than fan-girl gushiness and there are plenty of places you can read more insightful reviews of these than mine.

I will say though: On Chesil Beach = ridiculously awesome. I lovah my McEwan. And now I lovah my Jhumpa Lahiri.

Just imagine what a Lahiri/McEwan lovechild could accomplish....

I am currently making my way through The Sadeian Woman by Angela Carter (swoon! I didn't even know she wrote kick-ass feminist theory! Sometimes I feel like such a literature n00b.), which is a surprisingly good companion to the terrifying girls. I don't regret dredging my way through it anymore.

Excitingly though! I did snag my first LibraryThing Early Reviewers book! From the group discussions it looks like it's pretty hit or miss whether the book will actually arrive, though, so I'm trying to temper my hopes. I'm not even going to say what book it is in hopes of not jinxing it.

Also, I read about something in today's paper that really revved me up. It's a pre-blog story made new by a lawsuit (what else?) and involves my high school past! Literary censorship! Teenagers overcoming adult parameters and coming-of-age in the process!

In other words: it's the best kind of story.

So I'm hoping to write about it soon. We'll see if actually I do. I give myself 7-2 odds.

sunday salon: babysitters' club books were my gateway drug

It's almost a new month and for me that means: book stock-up time! I'd finished last month's stash a little early, so I went to Powell's right after work on Friday and blew my monthly book allowance on 2 Joyce Carol Oates, an Antonia Fraser history, an Angela Carter feminist review and a Mark Acito (Portland author!)

Anyway, on my way back home on the bus, some guy started chatting me up, obviously seeing an opening in the load of books I was carrying. He was not a reader (note: total turn-off), and it made me think about how my reading life has evolved.

I don't remember a time of my life when I didn't read -- I was a pretty early reader.

My first reading frenzy, however, began in elementary school, with The Babysitters' Club. Essentially, I was Ann M. Martin's bitch.

I don't know what it is about series, but they seriously suck you in dry. It appeals to this very animal nature within us, I think... that drive to collect. For me it was almost obssessive. I had to own every single Babysitters' Club Book ever written. Soon that wasn't enough and I also had to collect everything Ann Martin had written, including a very PG autobiography.

As one of my friends said, I didn't so much read these books as devour them. I made it all the way to book 35 before I realized one of the character's names was Byron, not Bryan as I had been reading it for three years.

Even if they weren't exactly Anne of Green Gables, these books did instill in me a habit of reading regularly. So thank you Ann M. Martin.... who knows if I would be the reader I am today if I hadn't gotten absolutely hooked on the adventures of Kristi, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, Mary Ann, et al.?

ooh, also! (completely not reading related)

jerryd bayless is my new best friend.

kevin pritchard for president!

and the book buying might slow a little as I save up for a couple of tickets.

books and basketball! yay!

i love love love love LOVE draft night!

girls: easily as disturbing as freddy krueger

I'm kind of egotistical when it comes to stomach-turning images. I don't get squeamish at blood, guts and the like.

In fact, a portion of my college years (in truth, a larger portion than I'd like to admit) were spent cleaning up vomit in the hallways of the freshman dormitory. I was a resident advisor and became so adept at disposing of vomit that the other RAs would call me 'specially in to help with particularly puky situations.

Not a skill I can put on my resume, but one I'm kinda proud of anyway. For me, nausea is only a result of sickness or bad pork: suck it, phobias and odors.

But alas, Nic Kelman has spoiled my perfect record. I had to set his novel girls down numerous times -- the situations he vividly described literally turned my stomach.

WARNING: Young book browsers, do not be fooled by the innocuos cover as I was. This is not a nice book.

The book is written in second person, although the "you" Kelman refers to shifts throughout the book: sometimes it is a businessman, a photographer, a bachelor, a husband, a father, etc. Each "you" is united and linked by their obsessive -- and at times destructive -- attitudes toward girls. Kelman's girls are girls in the truest sense. He does not use the word as a catchall for female humans of all ages. No, these men are irrevocably attracted to girls just beyond childhood, girls still in puberty's grasp.

Certainly, books about a man's infatuation for the teenage form are nothing new. But this book's accusatory tone makes the reader the perpetrator. Kelman tells the reader that s/he cannot look away from this girl's collarbone, that woman's ass. Soon becomes hard to believe that you haven't actually thought those thoughts. I had to take breaks to remind myself I wasn't a successful, predatory, girl-obssessed man.

As a feminist woman, this book was very difficult to read. Every bit of me fought it, the descriptions of girls as little other than sex object literally did turn my stomach. I finished this book about a month ago, but I've had to sit on it, think about it.

I think Kelman did an outstanding job of distilling the psyche of men who have everything they want. His leading men have long discarded their humanity and so they go searching for bits of life elsewhere, moving like vampires from one naive, young girl to the next. I think Girls is a fascinating gender study, but the execution is disturbing and frightening. I'm not convinced that I would read this again. I'm a wimp like that.

WHEN TO READ: Oh geez. This is a sex-laden little paperback. Do not read this at work, where people can read over your shoulder, where children might pick it up, etc. Maybe in the bathroom?

NOT IN THE MOOD? I must recommend The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity and Love as an antidote to Girls. bell hooks is more optimistic than Kelman about the possibility for egalitarian relationships between the sexes. Plus, this book is LIFE-CHANGING, guys.

GOOD FOR: Oh dear. Be ready for introspection and confrontation of disgusting human truths.

PERTINENT INFO: 214 pages. Thin with a large typeface, but a difficult subject matter. You'll know right away whether you can make it through the whole thing or not.

AUTHOR FACT: Nic seems to pursue many, many hobbies, according to his Web site. girls acutally began as his M.F.A. thesis.