Tuesday, March 6, 2012

The Town and the City by Jack Kerouac

The Town and the City is Jack Kerouac’s first novel and it can truly be described as a great start. The portrayals of characters and places are brilliantly described and the story has all you could hope for in a great novel: it's touching, infuriating, entertaining and heart-wrenching all at once. The Town and the City is written in a more conservative mode than Kerouac’s later works. However, you can start to see his distinctive style coming out in this book.
5 Stars

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac

Big Sur chronicles the domino effect of Jack Kerouac’s fame after the events of On the Road and the Dharmabums. The book itself is brilliant as far as creative writing is concerned; nevertheless it gets very dark and hard to read as the book journals Kerouac’s descent in to insanity and alcoholism. The hardest part to is you know that there is no escape for Jack as he struggles through his despair instead there is just a terrible conclusion.
5 Stars

Friday, March 2, 2012

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood is a brilliantly frightening book that really snatched me from the first page. I'm not typically a big admirer of ghost stories but Kendare Blake puts a new twist on all things ghostly. There is a small community of ghost eradicators that are hidden to the general population. Cass inherited a ritual blade from his father and makes killing ghosts and retaliating against them because they caused his father's death his personal mission. I loved his account because of his wittiness and the developmental growth he shows throughout the novel.
5 Stars

Rape a Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates

I picked up Rape a Love Story at my local Book Warehouse for one dollar simply because the title was so ironic. I was not disappointed. This book was very difficult to read and should come with a rating. Rape a Love Story tells the story of Teena who was gang raped by drunken teenage boys and then blamed by the perpetrators family members for what happened. There were times that I had to put the book down because I just couldn't read any more of it, and it was a difficult book to finish. The love story suggested to in the title is her account is her desperate love for her mother and the adoration that she feels for the police officer who believes Teena's story and supports them. This is definitely a great story that is heart breaking at the same time.
5 Stars

Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs by Levi Johnston

OK so yes I bought the Playgirl Levi Johnston was in just to see what the fuss was about and discovered well to be honest there wasn’t much to talk about and in fact it was very disappointing so when I saw Deer in the Headlights I figured why not pick it up I mean he must have something going for him. Right? Umm no. Johnston comes across as a sympathetic tag along to the Sarah Palin campaign that for all intents and purposes ruined the new Grandma’s bid for election. So I get it he is and will always be famous so should I say infamous for knocking up Bristol and so for that I commend his book as a way to cash in on having to say he is a Palin’s baby daddy.
3 Stars

Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James

I picked this book up because another reviewer stated “FIFTY SHADES OF GREY is a lot like a BDSM version of Twilight” and people who know me know that I LOVE to read and write erotica and I love the Twilight series so I thought that this could possibly be the best of both worlds. Well, I was wrong. I mean the book was interesting in the sense it kept me wondering what could possibly happen next. My problem lies with the substantial amounts of duplication of words and actions during the course of the story. I felt that the needle was stuck on the record. The titillating was excellent so that upped it one star for me.
3 Stars