Limitless Ramblings

In January 2010, Harold White, "a freelance literary researcher" who helps defend Hollywood studios against claims of copyright infringement, is inducted into the pre-eminent Sherlockian society, the Baker Street Irregulars, at their annual New York City dinner. During the festivities, scholar Alex Cale plans to present a long-lost diary penned by Arthur Conan Doyle that he's discovered, but someone strangles Cale before he can do so. Doyle's great-grandson hires White to solve the murder and trace the diary, which is missing from Cale's hotel room. Chapters alternate between White's amateur sleuthing in Europe and Doyle's own account of his search for a serial killer, aided by Dracula creator Bram Stoker. -- From Publishers Weekly 

I feel I should start off by saying I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. I've read quite a few of his "penny dreadfuls" and the detective himself is my second favorite fictional person ever. All that having been said, I loved this book!

I don't know how many other books Moore has penned, but I think this may have been his first, and I'm quite impressed by it. The writing style itself is easy to get used to, and the characters are very likeable. As was stated above, the story is told in a Julie&Julia style, alternating between Arthur Conan Doyle himself, and Harold White, a modern day Sherlockian. It is mostly fiction, but it was interesting to learn what bits were actually true... I had no idea Conan Doyle assisted Scotland Yard in any cases, or that he may have been the one to locate Agatha Christie when she went on her little disappearing spell.

The story is predictable in spots and keeps you guessing in others, as well as frustrates you as it yo-yo's back and forth between story lines... but it's a fun story with great characters and troubling plot twists. I found it to be quite an enjoyable read.

It does tend to be on the dark side, however. What starts out as a lighthearted mystery becomes something far more sinister, and even though it isn't real, it gets under your skin. Not so much the Harold White storyline - though that one does get frustrating - but the Conan Doyle storyline gets dark. Very dark. To the point where you almost wish you never found out what happened... which I'm guessing is the point of the story: seeking is the goal, the search is the reward. But once you find what you're looking for, it may not be what you wanted.

An interesting read for Sherlock Holmes fans, an engaging mystery for people who just like to read... I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a few pages to turn, but be warned: it is not for the feint of heart.

Then, on July 6, 2009, with the promise of a third album in the works, the band split up due to Ross and other band member Jon Walker embarking on a musical excursion of their own. The split was amicable, but heartbreaking none the less. The third album would never see the light of day... or so was the mentality. But, on February 8th the tumblr community was alive with buzz about new Panic!, and it seemed to good to be true. Sure enough, however, the band - now composed of Urie and drummer Spencer Smith - released the music video to their new single, "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and while the style was vastly different from that of Pretty. Odd. (and sounded more like a lost track to A Fever You Can't Sweat Out), it was promising. The question remained, however, as to whether or not Panic! at the Disco could survive without the brilliant lyrics of Ross... rumor was, with Ross gone, Urie was penning most of the songs.

The album was officially released on March 22, 2011 (A full three years after the release of Pretty. Odd.) and gave birth to another question: Why wasn't Urie penning the songs all along? There are more hardcore fans that will disagree, and I'm sure your opinion will have to do with what sort of sound you preferred from Panic!, but in my opinion, the album far exceeded my expectations. I adored Pretty. Odd., and I have no qualms about saying Vices & Virtues is better. Ross is a talented individual, and his work on Pretty. Odd. is unmatched, but Urie has more than proven himself on this album.

Unlike Pretty. Odd. - which sounded like a collection of songs by a great band - Vices & Virtues seems to tie together, each song a piece of a larger story (like Daft Punk's Discovery). They've gone back to the pop-like sound, but have established themselves in it, utilizing horns like they did on Pretty. Odd., as well as some magnificent string arrangements. The songs are stories within themselves, boasting some of the most beautiful and poetic lyrics I've come across in my 23 years. But the crown jewel of V&V's presentation is the same thing that made me stick around six years ago: Brendon Urie's vocals.

Urie has this strange ability to convey his every emotion with his voice. If a song is particularly close to his heart or is inspired by some painful memory, you hear that... to the point of actually feeling it. Coupled with the horn/string arrangements and poetic lyrics, Vices & Virtues serves to be a rather moving tale... a book without pages; a movie without pictures. It grabs your heart and invigorates your imagination.

The standard version of the album contains 10 tracks, and can be streamed here, but if you purchase one of many versions of the album (via their webstore, Hot Topic, or iTunes), you can get your hands on a number of the six bonus tracks available, each of which is fun and amazing, but nowhere near as amazing as Vices & Virtues is as a whole.

If you're a fan of Panic! at the Disco, or you're just looking for some new music to kick off your 2011 year, I strongly suggest looking into Vices & Virtues. Again, you can stream it here, or buy it here, here, or here. It is also available at Best Buy for a limited time for only 7.99$.

TRACK LISTING:

1. The Ballad of Mona Lisa
2. Let's Kill Tonight
3. Hurricane
4. Memories
5. Trade Mistakes
6. Ready To Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind)
7. Always
8. The Calendar
9. Sarah Smiles
10. Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met)

"But It's Better If You Do" Official Music Video



"The Ballad of Mona Lisa" Official Music Video

In the beginning, we were a group of nine. Three are gone, dead. There are six of us left. They are hunting us, and they won't stop until they've killed us all. I am Number Four. I know that I am next.

I didn't plan to read I Am Number Four as my fourth 11 in 2011 book... I actually didn't plan on reading it at all. At the year's start, I didn't even know it was a book; I had only seen previews of a (sort of lame?) looking movie. The trailers were short and really didn't do much to tell you what the movie was about but... it showed enough. A bunch of young kids with super powers, some bad guys, and hey teen love, Twilight style.

No thank you.

But then Nonna read it, and seemed to like it, so I figured I'd check it out. After all, I was strapped as for what to read for my fourth book. Nothing else seemed interesting.

WHAT'S BAD: 


THE WRITING STYLE. Oh my heck... there are a few things wrong with this book: the love interest is uninteresting, the characters seem to make really stupid decisions that put them in situations where the only purpose is to add some sort of drama to the story, and no one seems to ever see the obvious... but all of that pales in comparison to the style of writing. It's just... not as great as I'm used to, I guess. And, to be fair, it's a young adult novel, I believe, and I don't read too many of those, so I don't know. It might be good for a YA. But compared to what I'm used to reading, it's not great.. and being a YA shouldn't be an excuse. Coraline, for instance, is a children's book, but is written exquisitely. It also may be a taste thing, because most of the things that bothered me about the writing were little things that I found annoying, and that happened over and over again. I don't know what's considered good writing on Lorien, but I don't think it's the same as here. I find it hard to believe a 10,000 year old Elder couldn't manage to master the craft.

The other larger problem for me was that I couldn't really connect with the main character, Four. I was able to connect with his Cepan, and I was able to bond with Sam, and I am proud to admit I'm a Six fangirl... I even felt for Mark James at some point. But as far as Four went, I just could not get on board. He struck me as whiny, selfish, reckless, and stupid. For someone who's supposed to be far more intelligent than humans, he was very stupid.

WHAT'S GOOD: 


As much as the writing style annoyed me, the story was good. Very good. Basically, the planet of Lorien (a life sustaining planet like Earth, but half the size or something) was attacked by a vicious alien race known as the Mogadoriens, the reasons of which are as of yet to be revealed. A ship with 9 Loric children and their protectors managed to escape before the planet was completely destroyed, and they are now being raised on Earth, until such a time as they can fight the Mogs. Before they left, a Loric charm was put on them, so that they could only be killed in order of their assigned numbers; if any Mog attacked one of the 9 before it was their turn, the attack would be doubled back on them... like a Reflect spell. When the story picks up, Lorics 1-3 have been killed, and the Mogs are after Four. He's at an advantage, because he's begun to develop his legacies (powers that all Garde possess), but at a disadvantage because he's begun to build relationships in the town they're in... and he's not so willing to give them up.

It's just a really good set up, and for the most part it's handled well. There is a lot of secrecy, which is frustrating, but as things are revealed, it's actually quite enthralling. Not all of the mysteries are solved, but enough are that it's not discouraging.

Another thing was, while there were characters I didn't like, there were more characters that I did. My favorite was easily Henri, Four's Cepan. He's an older Loric that lost his family in the Mogadorian attack, and he's a great way to look into the life everyone had on Lorien. And as the story progresses, you learn more and more about him, and it's impossible to not fall completely in love with him... save for one moment where you want to slap him because of his stupidity. He has this air of nobleness about him; there's this loyalty that is just so endearing.

And finally, the ending was quite magnificent. I won't say too much, but just know... it was a pretty good one.

CONCLUSION:


Worth the read, quite honestly... despite its more annoying bits. It triggers your emotions which, in my opinion, is a sign of a good book. And it's just plain fun, especially since it's being played off as "real". It's a cute little escape from reality. Good read, worth your time.

This is the story of Coraline, who was small for her age, and found herself in the darkest danger. Before it was all over Coraline had seen what lay behind mirrors, and had a close call with a bad hand, and had come face to face with her other mother; she had rescued her true parents from a fate worse than death and triumphed against overwhelming odds. This is the story of Coraline, who lost her parents, and found them again, and (more or less) escaped (more or less) unscathed.

~Neil Gaiman

After the emotionally taxing piece of literature that was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I decided it was time for something a little lighter. Something not so... intense.

Instead, I read Coraline. Being the first book on the list of which I saw the movie first, I thought I knew what to expect. I liked Gaiman's writing style, and Coraline was a good movie, as well as a children's book. I figured it would be a relaxing read.

I was wrong. Coraline is not by any means a bad book. It is very well written, and keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. It is also not by any means a relaxing book. It hits the ground running. The first sentence is: Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house, and from there on it just gets more and more intense. So many times I've caught myself holding my breath, curled into a tight ball and seeking comfort from my pillows and stuffed animals.

If I had to sum it up in one word, that word would have to be terrifying. So many times I asked myself, how is this a children's book? I think part of it is because it plays on the fear that we've all had at one point or another over the course of our lives... and yes, I do mean all of us. If you can read this and say that you've never once opened a cabinet door and felt that moment of panic, or opened the door to your room or closet and wondered for that fraction of a second what you would find waiting for you, I would call you a liar. It happens to all of us. We all wonder if there's a snowy world at the back of our wardrobes, or a dark corridor where our closets used to be, or mysterious stairs in the crawl space that weren't there before.

In Coraline's world, there really is something where a brick wall used to be, and that something is dark and sinister and wants to possess her for itself. And the things that happen... some of them made me want to cry out. No joke. I just wanted to scream at some of the things she encountered in that other house.

And while I'm reading it, curled in my little ball, I'm wondering how this could possibly be a book for children, when it was scaring me so completely. But, Gaiman was way ahead of me, and addresses this very question when describing why he wrote the book:

It was a story, I learned when people began to read it, that children experienced as an adventure, but which gave adults nightmares.

 Which actually makes sense. The things Coraline encounters are scary to me, because I've had time to sort through my imagination and interpret some things as good and some things as bad. The other mother was terrifying to me because I expected something to go wrong. Nothing is sunshine and roses all the time and anyone that pretends to be is hiding something. For me, the fear built up and when the bad things happened they were terrifying. But a child... to a child, a kind mother with buttons for eyes that makes you delicious dinners and plays games with you all day would be wonderful, and anything that comes after that is merely an adventure, be it dangerous or otherwise. I almost feel like you have to be an adult to understand the horrors that Coraline went through, or to at least register them as horrors. 

FINAL SAY: Read it. At just over 200 pages, Coraline is Gaiman's finest work. It is poetic, meaningful, terrifying, wonderful, and so worth your time. It is the shortest book on my list (so far, and probably the shortest of them all) and still managed to be the one I like best.

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

 I really don't know what to say about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I can't break it down into a "what's good" and "what's bad" style review, because it's really just this mess inside my brain right now.

I expected this book to be a sort of dark thriller, but I did not expect it to be as gritty and violent as it was. The murders themselves were grotesque; though they weren't focused on/described in a way that was meant to give the book a long-standing gore appeal. They were simply stated as they would be in a newspaper, or police report: the details were important. The same was with the "sex scenes". There were quite a few of them, but not one went into great detail... it did not focus on the sex, simply stated that it was had.

The hardest thing for me to swallow in this book overall was simply the way women were treated. So many of the core, central female characters were subjected to rape in one way or the other. Like the consensual sex scenes, the rape scenes are not described in detail (save for one that has a bit of detail, but not too much)... but they are rather unsettling, and tend to get under your skin. A number of women in this book are subjected time and time again to sexual assault, as a result of someone of authority abusing their power. It bothered me just how sick some of these individuals are.

Initially, I was a bit perturbed about the fact that these events were not real, that they had come from Larsson's mind. It's one thing to read an event like the ones in the book like they had actually happened, it's a complete other to know someone created a character for the soul purpose of going through something that disturbing. But then I stumbled across this little gem:

Larsson, who was disgusted by sexual violence, witnessed the gang rape of a young girl when he was 15. He never forgave himself for failing to help the girl, whose name was Lisbeth – like the young heroine of his books, herself a rape victim, which inspired the theme of sexual violence against women in his books.

 This is a bit understandable. If the books were written - on some level - to raise awareness against sexual violence (something that is far more common than it should be in modern day society), then they'll sit a bit easier. And I do believe that's what he was trying to convey... at the beginning of each portion, there is a small quote, stating what percentage of women endure certain kinds of sexual assault from men each day, how many don't report it, etc. etc. And as a book written to raise awareness against sexual assault, it does a great job. I have never been a fan of rape, but after reading this, I feel I hate it even more than I did before.

It also does a great job as a murder mystery/thriller. The writing is good, the suspense is there, and the characters are solid. The research Salander and Blomkvist do is laid out so plainly that I couldn't help but take my own notes, and the last half of the book became a race to see who could figure things out first: Me or them. And it is a solvable mystery; the clues are there, you just have to find them.

Overall, it is a well written, yet greatly unsettling novel. I think I enjoyed it, but I was also disgusted, skeeved out, and flat out repulsed at times. And a little frightened (it's hard to look at the murders/murderer and ignore the fact that people like that do exist in this world)... but if you can stomach it, it's worth the ride. The pacing is slow at first, but picks up soon enough. If you can wade through the initial sludge that is the Blomkvist vs. Wennerstrom lawsuit, you'll be greatly rewarded.

FINAL WORD: Read at your own risk. Not for anyone under 18, or those with weak stomachs.

I'm not sure, but I don't think I've written up my preview post for the movie PRIEST yet... odd, considering it 1. has Karl Urban, 2. has Paul Bettany, 3. has Christopher Plummer, and 4. is the only movie I want to see in 2011.

It was supposed to be out around August of last year... but it kept getting pushed back further and further, and now it looks like it's pretty set on a May 13th release. Finally. Because I really want to see this movie.

The movie is loosely based on a graphic novel series by the same name. There are certain traits taken from the GNs to the movie - like the villain, the main character, etc. - but the overall concept is vastly different. Which is fine... the appeal of the GNs for me was the fact that they read like a western. They involved vampires and other creatures and warrior priests, but all in all, the PRIEST series was a western, in the style of 3:10 to Yuma, Tombstone, etc. Everything I've been hearing says they've carried that over to the film.

If you haven't heard of PRIEST, and don't get a whole lot from the trailer, the idea is basically this:

Paul Bettany is a warrior priest who rebels from the faith when he is forbidden by the higher ups to track down his niece (who was kidnapped when the supposedly extinct vampires attacked her family). Together with a female priest who is sent to kill him and a sheriff (?) sworn to help him, they uncover a deadly secret: Black Hat (a fellow priest turned God of Vampires in the first war) has helped the vampires replenish their ranks, and they're now stronger than ever.

Words do not express how excited I am... no joke. I just... I can't wait. I can't. I love the GNs and I love every actor in this movie. May cannot come fast enough!

The novel is told from the perspective of three characters: Aibileen Clark, a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson, an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.

I started off my 11 in 2011 with Katheryn Stockett's The Help, and it was simultaneously the worst and best decision.

WHAT'S GOOD.

It's a bit more difficult to break books into categories of what's good and what's bad because they strike me as far more complex than movies, especially if you get a good one. And The Help is absolutely a good one. Mrs. Stockett does a fantastic job of ripping you out of your comfortable post millenia bubble and thrusting you into the Jackson, Mississippi of the 60's. What's more is, she writes each of the three characters so well, it feels like you're reading actual memoirs, as opposed to a work of fiction.

The book speaks to your emotions. It's frustrating to keep quiet as you read about the way Aibileen and the other ladies are treated, how Ms. Skeeter is treated once her "secret" is out. In the back of your mind, you are constantly whispering this is so, so wrong. 

The relationships between characters are also very real. Some make you so angry you could spit, others make you cry with laughter, still others make you weep at how selfless they are... and some just plain rip your heart out. Each man, woman, and child is so real that you can almost touch them... but at the end of the day, you're glad you're only reading about it. Furthermore, they are so easy to relate to, despite the fact that they were living out their lives 40 years before today; before I'm living out mine. They had flaws, fears, critical parents, snotty brothers, peer pressure, unruly children, friends, enemies, flawed marriages, broken hearts... and while it made you connect and thus emmerse yourself in the story, it also makes you realize that all the racism was ridiculous. We aren't that different at all.

I also love that, after reading all of that, you find out that Mrs. Stockett herself grew up with a maid, and that she wrote this partly because she realized she never thanked her own help as a child. It makes everything ring a little sweeter.

WHAT'S BAD.

There isn't a whole lot. Some of the situations can make you quite angry, but honestly, the "worst" thing about it is, once you read it, it's difficult to find another book to follow it with. It is just so good and well written that anything you read will be lacking, simply because it's not this.

I've found it very difficult to get into my second book for my 11 in 2011 challenge...

CONCLUSION.

I recommend The Help to anyone and everyone, regardless of whether or not you like to read. It is a quick read - you will not be able to put it down - but also engaging and thought provoking. It will open your eyes to a lot of things, and at the very least, make you thank the stars we were born today, and not back then... that we are living in a time where people who treat others like lesser beings are the ones frowned upon, not the other way around. And it is a beautiful window to a time when black women were good enough to raise your children, but not to sit and eat with you.

If you haven't read this, pick up your copy today! Also, be sure to check out the movie, due in theaters this coming August.