Read: Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey

 

I picked this up at a recent library book sale. YES, I LIKE FANTASY FICTION THAT BORDERS ON YOUNG-ADULT.  I’ve never quite grown out of that, and I don’t know if I will.

So if you like other stuff by Jacqueline Carey, or supernatural stories about low-tech dystopian towns, or werewolves, or boxing, pick up Santa Olivia. Spoilers in the review that follows.

 

                       

             Loup (pronounced ‘Lou’: from the French for werewolf “loup-garou”) is an orphaned girl born to a mutant-werewolf-vagabond father and a sheltered woman from ‘Outpost’, nickname for the small town of Santa Olivia, cordoned off from both the rest of the United States and Mexico. Her older brother is training to become a master fighter. She grows up simulating miracles by ‘the real’ Santa Olivia with a raggedy crowd of children taken in by the facade of a church. She begins training to box herself once her brother is killed, to avenge him and to hopefully escape Santa Olivia. The most interesting thread, though, is her social interaction: romantic and platonic relationships are puzzling for Loup, until she finds Pilar.

 

 

             This book picks up on, and transforms, a lot of tropes and associations. We have the woman as she-wolf, the woman/girl who is dangerous because she is fearless, the strong female as mutant and unnatural, the “butch lesbian”. But we also have the Saint girl metamorphosed into a fierce rule-breaker, the girl who embraces revolt as her way out of a trapped world, the mutant/werewolf that lives in an all too realistic environment.

(art by justine hourdeau)

 

         It provoked some strong thoughts and questions about women and the portrayal of mutation/the supernatural in literature. If you’re looking for an empowering account, this book might be the place to start. In short, I enjoyed this one a lot, and once I get through my other summer reads I mean to pick up the sequel Saints Astray.

Book Review: Watchman by Ian Rankin

 

 

 Sorry, Inspector Rebus

 

 

 

WATCHMAN

Author: Ian Rankin

Rating: 5/5

 

 

 

 

It’s summer, the time to read non-assigned books, especially light fiction. I’ve been on an Ian Rankin roll lately: the Edinburgh-based writer pens crime fiction that’s a little more literary. His most successful series features a curmudgeonly, jaded, outside-the-law detective named Inspector Rebus. They’re great for a summer read.

 

So, in the pile were a couple of non-Rebus books, and what I particularly sped through was Watchman. Not related to the graphic novel/movie, but about a spy who is used to only watching from the sidelines when he’s suddenly thrown into the middle of an odd cover-up. Miles Flint starts out passive and undergoes some massive changes during the book. I really couldn’t put this one down, and finished it faster and with more vigor than the other books I’ve read this summer.

As always, you can track what I’m reading on Shelfari.

Book Review: SPIN

Last week I did the perhaps unspeakable - venturing into the rows and rows of Canadian novels in the Humanities library.

Title: SPIN




Author: Catherine McKenzie




Rating: 5/5



































This book is more light-hearted than it seems from the cover, but not quite full out 'chick lit' (I despise that term). Our protagonist is a newly-turned-30 aspiring journalist who parties like she's still in college and shows up to the interview for her dream job dead drunk. The result? The music magazine offers to give her a second chance only if she enrolls in rehab and does a gossip article about a current Lohan-esque 'it girl'. This book is fresh and funny, while dealing with the troubles of addiction and lying, but not preachy at all. And best of all, it doesn't devolve into 'chick lit' at any point, though the ending is somewhat happy.



In brief: A great summer read.

Book Review: Audrey Hepburn’s Neck

Title: Audrey Hepburn’s Neck
Author: Alan Brown
Rating: 4/5





This book was a re-read for me. I picked it up several years ago at a library cast-off sale, and when I read it then I liked it. So I was interested to see if I had the same reaction now. The book begins on an annoying point – we read about Toshi and his fascination with American women, and I wondered if it was really just some poorly-disguised soft core porn. But, we soon come to realize that the life Toshi has been indulging in leaves him with dangerous ex-one-night-stands, as he realizes it. By the end of the book, when we find out the secret that Toshi’s mother has been harbouring for years, everything comes together, and the main character is just barely likable.
That being said, this book is worth the read more  than not. If you’ve been to Japan, the descriptions match well. I also think Brown did a great job of describing the conversation troubles of someone learning English in their mid-20s. I give this book 4/5, because it irritated me from the start but redeemed itself towards the end.