Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts (2006)

Didn't I just say I was going to avoid vampire stories for a while? Well, Roberts' latest series is about vampires and it is more fantasy, magical than most of her books. After reading the short fantasy stories she tried, I thought she was better in other genres, but it looks like this is where she wants to go for a while. One funny aspect is that she tends to work with three couples at once - she will focus on one in a particular book, but the others will be in the background, or ready to happen, and they will be covered in subsequent books. This vampire fighting team consists of six people, but there were only two women, so I was wondering if Roberts would actually dare have a gay couple in one of her books - but no, one of the guys gets killed and sure enough the third woman arrives to fill out the tri-couple formula. She is combining people from different time periods, and I find it a bit unbelievable that they could get along so smoothly.

Face Value by Catherine Johnson (2006)

Free advanced copy from ALA. A so-so story meant for young adults about the modeling industry, where people are taken at face value -literally. There are dangers and exploitation, and parties that draw young models into their strange world. Having just seen the Devil Wears Prada, I just realize how much I dislike that whole world. I did like the London setting.

Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country by Louise Erdrich (2003)

Picked up this summer at Wall Drug in South Dakota. I have always like Erdirch's work. This non-fiction piece was something I read slowly over a few months. I enjoyed her story of going to northern Minnesota, into Canada, looking for Ojibwe rock paintings. There was one moment when she would have needed to do some dangerous climbing to see the rock paintings up close. She thought of the baby waiting for her below and decided she could not risk it. I have had those thoughts. Pre-child I was willing to do a lot of crazy and maybe not so safe things, now I think twice. But my favorite part of this story was all the references to books and libraries. It was fun to find out that she runs a bookstore. One story was of a man who returns to the reservation with an education and tells his people that they need a library: "Books. Why? Because they are wealth, sobriety and hope." (p. 99) Another passage: "I had a strange, covetous, Golum-like feeling as I held the book, my precious. I suppose it was the beginning of the sort of emotional response to books that drives those collectors you hear about, occasionally, to fill their apartments with books until there are only book tunnels to walk through..." (p. 120) And she ends the book with: "Books. Why? So I can talk to other humans without having to meet them. Fear of boredom. So that I will never be alone." (p.141)

Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende (2004)

I needed another book on cassettes instead of CD's, since my player is on the fritz, so I listened to the next adventure of Alex, now 16 years old, his grandmother Kate, and Nadia as they travel to the remote Forbidden Kingdom in the Himalayas. This time we learn of Buddism and mind control and again, protecting a culture from being destroyed by the "developed" world. Again, people who want to steal the treasures of these people and mythical monsters, this time in the form of Yeti or the Abominable Snowman. (I found myself checking the Wikipedia for a take on the Yeti.) Very enjoyable.

How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks (2005)

The title was so silly I just couldn't resist picking up this free book. I don't know much of the Vampire genre, so I can't compare this to anything. I read something by Anne Rice quite a while ago and didn't care for it, so I haven't tried anything recently.
Roman Draganesti has been around for centuries, but is a "good" vampire in today's New York. He has discovered a way to make artifical blood, which satisfies vampire needs without having to use live victims. I liked the concept, that if someone has been around for centuries, awake at nights - they have had plenty of time to study various disciplines - sciences in this case, and plenty of time to work on experiments. Of course, he has become rich with his inventions, like Lazarus Long in Heinlein's books.
Shanna is a dentist, who is almost killed by the mob, but rescued by Roman. They are attracted, but how could she fall in love with a vampire...
I'm not tempted to read more vampire stories any time soon, but I was intrigued by the vampire clans, the interactions between humans and vampires, their virtual sex, but totally unamused by the harems - as if the women vampires couldn't have found ways to become useful and effective in today's world. I'd think they would get bored lounging around and being catty for centuries.

City of the Beasts by Isabel Allende (2002)

Since I love Isabel Allende, I thought I'd listen to some of her young adult books and was not disappointed. In this book, while his mother is being treated for cancer, 15 year old Alex has to go with his grandmother to the Amazon, where she has been sent by the fictional magazine International Geographic. Of course he lands in an adventure involving an egotistical anthropologis, nasty men who are trying to destroy the local Indians so they can exploit the land, Indians who have never had any contact with the outside world, and Nadia, the 12 year old daughter of their guide, who hears with her heart and communicates with animals. Since Alex and Nadia are pure of heart, they are allowed to see more of the Indian life than the adults and they learn to face their fears. Of course the story gets fantastic and they save the day and bring back some treasures that can help the Indians. Great adventure story that also educates.

A Little Fate by Nora Roberts (2004)

This is another one of those three in one Nora Roberts' books, this time with three short fantasy stories.

The Witching Hour (2003) - A pregnant queen escapes her castle during a battle in which her husband dies and evil Lorcan takes over the kingdom. That night she dies in childbirth, giving life to Aurora, who is raised hidden and taught warrior skills to return to revenge her parents and rule fairly again. Her love interest is Thane, who is a lowly stable hand just waiting for the right moment...

Winter Rose (2001) - Deidre rules in a castle under the spell of perpetual winter, like Narnia. Kylar comes riding in through the wintry woods, wounded from battle. She heals him and they fall in love, but must part... The frozen rose in the garden is the indicator for the status of the spell. I liked the details about how she works in a greenhouse to raise food for her household.

A World Apart (2002) - Kadra lives in a primitive world and hunts demons. The demon leader escapes through a portal into present day New York City, where Harper Doyle is a private investigator. Kadra literarily lands on Doyle, who is nursing a hangover. This story was the most fun - I like it when worlds collide like in the Adept series by Piers Anthony. She is wearing Xena leathers and carries a sword. He is good with guns. Again, incredible attraction, when all is done they have to return to their own worlds, but ...

The plots are simple, so they can be told in a 100 pages. I'm sure it was just fun for Roberts to play with a different genre. She has her usual strong women and well developed settings, this time these are alternate worlds with magical power and swordplay.

Gilgamesh (2100 BCE)

A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell
Gilgamesh is an epic poem, considered the oldest story in the world, a thousand years older that the Iliad or the Bible, about the Mesopotamian king Gilgamesh and his friend Endiku, a wild man that grew up in the woods. Endiku is brought into civilization by the erotic arts of a priestess. Then Gilgamesh and Endiku go on to slay monsters and enrage the gods. When Endiku dies, Gilgamesh is grieved, so he goes off on another quest to find immortality.

I was quite amazed, and maybe even bored, to see that hero stories haven't changed that much over the millennium - there is still plenty of ego, violence and sex. What did seem different, that there wasn't a clear sense of good vs. bad. The monster the heroes killed was not necessarily evil, and actually the gods got angry and killed Endiku for his role in it. Sex is also surprisingly explicit and actually a civilizing, healing force, except when Gilgamesh takes his first rights with new brides, but that is an example of his hunger for power. Gilgamesh is an egotistical ruler who really only matures and evolves after his last futile quest for immortality.

I was impressed by the complexity and subtlety of this story from so long ago. The book (and the tape I listened to) consist of both the text of Gilgamesh and an extensive essay by Stephen Mitchell. He explains that the first clay tablets of Gilgamesh were found in 1853 and it took decades before someone could decipher them. Since then numerous fragments and versions have been found throughout the Middle East. Mitchell has not done any translations himself, he has rather adapted numerous versions, using one as the basis, filling in from other versions, and even adding lines of his own to fill gaps or to clarify the story. He has come up with a very readable version.

This book was suggested by one of the audio book store employees, who has been thoroughly fascinated by this epic. I admit my curiosity was piqued and I checked out the library shelves and found many other versions in English including two children's books, plus some versions in German.

Vive la Paris by Esme Raji Codell (2006)

I was amazed by the hard issues discussed in this young adult book (free advance proof from ALA). Paris is the youngest of five, the only girl in a black family, whose father is a musician. She is bright and well liked. Her father sends her to piano lessons with Mrs. Rosen, and old Jewish lady, who teaches her more than music. I'd really like to see what kids get out of this book, but it was written from Paris' viewpoint and it made sense that kids could easily misinterpret things. When Mrs. Rosen shows Paris her the number tatooed on her arm, Paris associates it with what she has just learned about gangs getting tatoos. She hasn't been taught about the Holocaust - probably a hard thing to teach school kids - and she is only in 5th grade. When Paris starts reading about it, she is overwhelmed. Somehow the author manages to weave together Martin Luther King, the Holocaust, bullying, and gay issues - though the latter are not explicitly stated. It reminds me that the blacks and Jews have a lot in common, but as we move further away from WWII, how many people will understand the significance of the Holocaust and how "we need all kinds of people to make a world," as Paris writes in her report. It is scary to read the lists about what our current university students have or have not known in their lives, who have never known the Soviet Union, never mind the horrors of WWII or Viet Nam. They have Iraq, but are we learning tolerance and acceptance of other people's from that?

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (2006)

I really enjoyed listening to this book about Jacob Jankowski, an almost veterinarian, who loses his family and ends up working for a circus in 1931. This rich story gives us a sense of lives during the Depression. This is not a glamorous running away with the circus story, but a nitty-gritty one, mostly about behind the scenes, the caste system, and all the hard work that goes into setting up a circus, taking care of the animals, feeding all the workers, traveling, etc. Apparently Gruen has done quite a bit of research and shares all the terminology, like rubes, roustabouts, redlighting, etc. I always like to see Cornell mentioned - that was the vet school Jacob was attending, before he dropped out right before final exams. Jacob lands in this circus by chance and is kept on because of his vet skills. He falls in love with Marlena, the equestrian performer, who has a paranoid schizophrenic husband. Of course there is an elephant in the story, but my only disappointment was that the reference to watering elephants in the beginning, as if there was a secret to the job, was never explained - or I missed it somewhere.

The other part of the book, which made it so wonderful, was Jacob's story at the end of his life - told by him as a 90 (or is it 93) year old man in a nursing home. It was read in a gravely voice and conveyed all the indignities of the life in a nursing home. Jacob has one nurse who treats him with respect. Having worked with the elderly at one point in my life and having to take care of my dad at 94, I can relate. The narration alternates between the young and elderly Jacob - both of them telling the story very well, and it all comes together in a satisfying ending.