Kids’ books that are cool…(and an adult one too)

Been reading quite a few childrens’ books of late, and some of them are really worth a look-see. There’s an adult book too, down the end for those of you averse to YA fare (in case there are any).

First up, as an antidote to Twilight comes Lili St. Crow’s Strange Angels (if the name rings a bell, this is the young adult offering from Lilith Saintcrow who writes a number of always-enjoyable supernatural series for adults). The story centres around Dru who is (at the start of the book) working alongside her Dad, fighting an unending battle against things that go bump in the night. In the world of this book, the “Real world” lies beneath the world we would recognise as real, it has its own rituals, hangouts and politics, all invisible to those of us who merely skate on the surface of it. Something goes horribly wrong with her Dad’s latest mission, and Dru is left alone, to work out what her Dad was fighting against, and to keep herself alive. There are allies and enemies (and even Dru has trouble deciding which is which, adding to the tension in the book), an extremely believable portrait of grief, dollops of edge-of-your-seat action and a very interesting take on the supernatural. It’s the first book in a series, and I’m looking forward to the next. I should add here that it comes as somewhat of a relief to see a book that has a zits-and-all heroine who is smart and strong and not beyond kicking an ass or two coming into the marketplace crowded as it is with insipid heroines who live to serve their vamp/wolf. On that front Twilight has a lot to answer for. This book is a pretty good place to start for anyone looking for a more-Buffy/less-Bella lead character.

Also with a strong heroine comes the highly-anticipated sequel to The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins’ excellent cross between Series 7 and Battle Royale but, y’know, for kids. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire does not disappoint. We’re back with Katniss et al for more horrors in the land of Panem. There will be a general lack of spoilers here, since even the vaguest plot outline will ruin the first book for those who have not read it, and read it should be, it’s excellent. The sequel is concerned not just with Katniss and life after the Hunger Games but with the repercussions of her actions there, on a personal and a national level. It turns out that staying alive and winning the Games brings with it a whole new set of problems. These problems are drawn in a way that is never patronisingly simplified and always fascinating. It’s a book that is very hard to put down, and I didn’t manage to, gulped it down in a single sitting, and am now hoping book three puts in an appearance soon.

Coming out later this year is the young adult offering from the pen of John Connolly, best known for his Charlie Parker series for adults. This book is called The Gates and deals with the trials faced by young Sam Johnson and his loyal dog Boswell (see what he did there?) when some neighbours open a portal to hell, unknowingly abetted by the scientists at CERN. The book is a grand read, although with 11 year old protagonists and a lot of complex sciency stuff to swallow all the way through, I think its audience will probably need to be older than the protagonists. There’s a lot of stuff in here that adults will enjoy, spotting the references to everything from Gaiman to Lovecraft, Aliens to Pratchett. It’s hard as an adult reader to look at this book through the eyes of a young reader who may not have encountered all these references, and will be coming to the story fresh, and free from influence-spotting. For the preteen encountering all this stuff for the first time, the book will be a cornucopia of wonders. Less so for the more widely-read, but a fun read nonetheless.

And finally, one I missed earlier this year, and one for the adults, John Ajvide Lindqvist’s Handling the Dead. Having loved both the book and the movie of Let the Right One In, I was looking forward to this, his take on a zombie-story. What I hadn’t anticipated was the marvellous twist he puts on the whole concept, producing a story that is nothing short of heart-breaking. There is a large cast of characters, all of them affected by the strange electrical aura over Stockholm that leads to their recently dead relatives coming back to life. Without exception they are believable characters, well-drawn and real-feeling – something which only adds to the emotional impact of the book. There is vein of black comedy running through the book (as befits something written by an ex-comedian), much skewering of the press, science and the bureaucratic machine that is government, which allows for some relief as the story unfolds. It’s a hard read, packing a hefty emotional punch, but it is extremely rewarding, and not to be missed.

Books, I have been reading them…

Round-up time.

I’ve been reading quite a bit lately as the back of evil is not allowing me to do anything other than lie flat on it, hence no gaming, little computer time in general and a need to while the day away in between drug-induced naps.

So here follows a break-down of what I’ve been reading, and what I’ve thought of it. I’m sure I’ll leave stuff out, but these are the ones that stood out in my head.

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters: Hmmm, it’s good, but it’s rather longer than it needs to be, and while it has effective chills in parts it is no The Haunting of Hill House (the book I measure all house-with-a-mind-of-its-own stories against). Also, I really did not like the central protagonist, who has a rather pronounced chip on his shoulder. Parts of the book reminded me of the original Grey Gardens (haven’t seen the recent HBO remake yet, seems weird to remake a documentary…), a house falling down around the ears of an odd family who seem to carry on oblivious, so in summation, good, but not Shirley Jackson good.

The Lovers by John Connolly: massive improvement over The Reapers, I still am not wholly convinced by his somewhat old-fashioned style, but this book has (genuine) scares aplenty and deals with Charlie Parker’s past, mixing in false memory with esoteric mysticism and bringing odd allies out of the woodwork in such a way as to produce a stonking great read. Me like.

Dark Times in the City by Gene Kerrigan: genuine, real-feeling Dublin thriller. Full of grit and tension. His writing is unfussy, never getting in the way of plot or pacing. His characters (even the ones we see least) are fully-drawn and memorable. It’s no fairytale, people are people and their outcomes are not always what you’d expect. A wonderful read.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith: Braaaaaains! Not only does this have an injection of zombies (variously: the sorry stricken, unmentionables etc. etc.) but there’s a lot of puking and ribald punning added for good measure. It really is a lot of fun, and I was only distracted by the confusion over whether Lydia and Wickham were off to Kilkenny or Kirkerry (keeps changing in the text), and in any case neither is in “the northenmost part” of Ireland. This, I assume, is a uniquely Irish quibble.

Soul Circus by George Pelecanos: a re-read, and still every bit as good as the first time. Derek Strange and Terry Quinn are hired to find a woman by the luckless elder brother of a B-more dealer. When the woman turns up dead, they feel bound to bring her killer to justice. Strange is also working for the defense of another dealer who is up on trial (and likely to get the death penalty), and is trying to do his job while witnesses, and even himself, are being intimidated. Nick Stefanos has a cameo, and Pelecanos, as ever, has a way of building a world so complete that it’s almost like you’re there when you’re reading him. For anyone who misses the Wire and hasn’t yet read him, do so, you’re in for a treat. There aren’t many authors I’ll happily re-read over picking up a new book.

All the Dead Voices by Declan Hughes: Hmmm. Val McDermid says in a blurb on the front cover of this “If you don’t love this, don’t you dare call yourself a crime fiction fan”, er, okay, that’s me told then. Declan Hughes is a lovely man, but I really never warmed to Ed Loy. I’ve tried, I’ve failed, and I’m fully aware that this is a personal thing, and that I’m very much in the minority here, so there’s not much point in writing any more, since if you can’t warm to a series protagonist, then you’re going to have a problem with the series. I will say that there’s some great writing in there, the plot is sharp, and the gangsters are interesting, if a bit less credible than the ones in Gene Kerrigan’s book. In short, if you like Ed Loy, you’ll love this, if not, you probably won’t.

And that’s all evil back will allow me to type for now. Back to the couch I go….

Hmmm, interesting…

Two big books coming out this summer (of those I’ve read in the past fortnight) have characters in them with the surname Faraday (Sarah Waters’ The Little Stranger and John Connolly’s The Lovers).

I’d suggest that anyone currently mid-draft (or editing), change out any Faradays they might have for something else.

Besides, the name Faraday always makes me think of Faraday’s Flowers; the original title for that train-wreck of a movie with Madonna and Sean Penn that came out in the end as Shanghai Surprise. I have tried to retrain my brain to think of Faraday cages, but it hasn’t worked.

Bad brain.

Weird the things you notice when you read so many books….

Irish Crime Writers…

..are a lovely bunch of people.

Just home from “Crime Weekend” which spread itself over two days in Dun Laoghaire town hall. It was part of the Sindo Books Festival, and as a crime maven it was all I was interested in, apart from possibly getting myself arrested for throwing eggs at Martin Amis (which seemed like a probable waste of energy (and eggs), there being much better things to be arrested for).

I couldn’t attend last night’s session (and so missed Tana French, which I am still bummed out about) but today’s line-up was unmissable. There was John Connolly (who needs no introduction), the charming Declan Burke (who wrote “The Big O”  among others – and if you haven’t read him you’re missing out!), the quietly witty (well, actually, pretty hilarious) Brian Mc Gilloway (there must be a post here somewhere about the Inspector Devlin books, if not I’ll rectify it), the nice-and-normal-seeming-until-she talks-about-killing-the bad-guys Arlene Hunt, and the smart and funny (and very down to earth) Alex Barclay. 

I caught most of Declan Hughes interviewing John Connolly which was extremely interesting, though I’m sad to say I missed his reading from his next book “The Lovers” (though my colleague Karina assures me it was “listen through your fingers, truly chilling” stuff) (yay!).

The panel discussion with the four mentioned above was about sex and violence in crime books – subtitled “How far is too far?” and started with each of the authors reading an excerpt from their work that was heavy on the violence/sex. Actually, only John Connolly opted to read a sex scene, and bless him, his mammy was in the audience, so he flew through the scene (despite an unempathetic audience member telling him to slow down) with a face that was pure scarlet. I felt for the man, kudos for bravery.  They then went on to discuss the ethics of crime writing, the controversial comments by Ian Rankin last year (controversial, but also kinda true) about women crime writers and the gross-out factor, how hard/easy it is to write violent scenes, or sex scenes etc. All very informative and interesting. 

Nobody asked them to name books that they felt went too far – which may have been fun to hear, instead questions were about the concept of evil (um, I think that was it) and whether writing scenes of depravity affects them physically (I kid you not, there’s always some delicate flower out there…).

Afterwards I had a nice chat with Peter who has a really cool crime blog here (and I will be checking out those Scando writers you told me about, thanks again!) and a few words with Declan Burke (his blog here (it even links to mine *is chuffed*)), who is a lovely bloke. John Connolly signed a book for me and threw in some nice extras, and Alex Barclay and myself had a chat about fortune tellers (of all things) and she promised to send me out a proof of the new book (which is surely above and beyond the call of duty, but I’m not complaining!).

All in all a wonderful afternoon – the festival seems to have been a great success, so I’m already looking forward to next year, but more than that I’m looking forward to reading the new books from all the people on the panel today. Ah, bliss….