Japanese Literature Challenge III

The first Japanese Literature Challenge was an amazing experience for me. I'm not big on reading foreign literature and I had no idea what to expect. I found an adventure well worth my time and Snow Countryby Yasunari Kawabata was an amazingly beautiful book despite the fact that I felt I was lacking the cultural references necessary to completely understand it. The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai was also intriguing but again, I felt hindered by my lack of cultural understanding from getting the full impact. And The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe was bizarre. Sinister, creepy, and bizarre and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I signed up for the second challenge but we won't talk about that. I wasn't able to get on track in spite of my best efforts.

So, we're up to the third Japanese Literature Challenge and this year, the darling Bellezza has made it so simple I have to give it a try. Here are the rules:

This year, all you have to do is read one work of Japanese origin. It can be literature of course, but don’t feel confined to that. You may choose to read poetry, biographies, short stories or even manga. If you are willing to read one such piece, you’ve met the challenge. If you read more, all the better.

I have set the time frame between July 30, 2009 and January 30, 2010.

One book? Between now and January 30? How can I not give it a go, especially with the amazing prizes she has in store?

If you're looking for a reason to expand your horizons, this is the perfect one. Join us, won't you?

Friday Fill-Ins 52

And...here we go!

1. It's time for these stupid weather related migraines to die.

2. The backyard; it's not a bad place for barbecuing.

3. I must be completely crazy at times.

4. My mom is the best thing I have ever known.

5. My life is simply stressful.

6. The last time I laughed really loudly was when the cats were acting goofy.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleeping my migraine away, tomorrow my plans include seeing my niece, hopefully and Sunday, I want to do a whole lot of nothing!

Friday Fill - ins 51

And...here we go!

1. Disappointment is not the end of the world.

2. Sitting here, listening to the sound of rain falling, I curl up with a good book.

3. Watermelon tastes so good!

4. Sometimes, putting others first is the only way to get things done.

5. Lake Superior is breathtaking, really.

6. Well, maybe there is a reason for all this drama. I doubt it, but you never know.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting projects done at work, tomorrow my plans include sleeping late and watching the Tigers and Sunday, I want to sleep more than four hours!

Book Review: Blood Debt by Tanya Huff

Blood Debt by Tanya Huff
DAW Books
310 Pages
Copyright 1997

From the back of the book:

Henry Fitzroy, vampire, writer, and bastard son of Henry VIII, had survived for centuries by obeying the vampire’s code. He did not slaughter needlessly, did not draw attention to himself, and never invaded another vampire’s territory. But now Henry was about to do the unthinkable. He was going to break the code because if he didn’t unsuspecting innocents would die – victims of vengeful ghosts who were invading Henry’s private sanctum, demanding that he help them get revenge on their murderers. Henry could not find the source of these murders on his own, nor could he ignore his unwanted guests. He had only one choice. To call private investigator Vicki Nelson and ask for help. Henry only hoped that he and Vicki would both survive the experience...

This is the last story in the Blood Books. Huff believed she was finished with the publication of Blood Pact but says the characters had other ideas. Blood Debt is the result and it ties up some of the unfinished story lines. They aren’t really loose ends, just unfinished.

Recommendation: I’m sorry to see the stories come to an end, but given the twist involved, it was probably the right decision. Like I said with the first book, if you’re looking for a good vampire series, this one might fit the bill.

Book Reviews: Blood Lines and Blood Pact by Tany Huff

The two books are combined in Volume Two of The Blood Books by Tanya Huff.

Blood Lines by Tanya Huff
DAW Books
268 Pages
Copyright 1993

From the back of the book:

For Henry Fitzroy, 450-year-old vampire, it began with a haunting, inescapable image of the sun, a terrifying symbol of death to one such as he. Fearing for his sanity, he called upon his sometime-lover and comrade in supernatural investigations, ex-cop Vicki Nelson, for help. And even as the two struggled to cope with Henry’s obsession, Vicki’s closest friend and former partner, Police Detective Mike Celluci was following up on two mysterious deaths at the museum, certain he was looking at murders not accidents – and equally convinced that the killer was a mummy brought back from the dead.

I don’t have a lot more to add on this one; the synopsis pretty much says it all. The one thing I can add is that the bad guy in this book was one of those bad guys that makes it hard to read the book.

Blood Pact by Tanya Huff
DAW Books
280 Pages
Copyright 1993

Again, from the back of the book:

It began with the call no daughter ever wants to get, the call that told private investigator Vicki Nelson her mother had died. Mrs. Nelson’s coworker at the Queen’s University Life Science Department told Vicki that the cause of death was a heart attack, and that they’d be waiting for her to arrive in Kingston to make the funeral arrangements. But what started as an all too normal personal tragedy soon became the most terrifying case of Vicki’s career. For when Marjory Nelson’s body mysteriously disappeared from the funeral home, Vicki, vampire Henry Fitzroy, and Detective-Sergeant Mike Celluci realized that there was something unnatural about her mother’s demise. Vicki swore she’d find the culprit, and see that her mother was properly laid to rest. But what she hadn’t counted on was that someone at Queen’s University seemed determined to keep Mrs. Nelson on the job – alive or dead!

It’s not exactly a new story line but Huff handles it very well. And I can honestly say that I didn’t see the ending coming at all.

Recommendation: I’m still enjoying the stories and Huff’s handling of Vicki, Henry, and Mike. Not so sure I liked the way Blood Pact ended but Huff pulled it off well.

On this day...

forty years ago, I got my hair cut for the first time. I was ten years old and my hair was long enough for me to sit on. While I have thin hair, I have a great deal of it and, being only 10, I really couldn't care of it adequately so my mother did it. Once washed and combed, I had to wait for hours for it to dry, sitting in the sun in the summer and in front of the fire in the winter.

It went from butt length to my chin compliments of my aunt. We were in Birmingham, a suburb of Detroit at the time. Once it was cut, we headed for the Detroit Zoo where my sister and brother got locked into the bird house at closing time. I spent the afternoon trying to adjust to my hair. It was a radical change. It was a long, full day.

Oh, yeah. This also happened on this date 40 years ago today:



Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.
That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.

Images and words that forever changed the face of the universe.

Before the landing, kids would look into the night sky and see the benevolent face of The Man in the Moon staring back at them. They pondered about green cheese and 'moon men'.

Forty years ago that all changed. We learned the moon was dusty and there were no 'moon men'. It may just be me but I don't hear kids talk about the man in the moon anymore.

Now we talk about going to Mars, exploring the ever expanding universe. We pay little attention to shuttle launches because they have somehow become routine. We talk cost/benefit ratios and ponder whether or not manned space flight has a future.

We forget that magical moment when man shed the bonds of Earth and touched the unknown.

One giant leap for mankind indeed.

Late night musings

Day shift is over for two months! Yay! I really, truly do hate getting up in the morning.

Night shift two nights a week now (Saturday and Sunday) plus Wednesday, Thursday, Friday afternoons. It's a strange combination because I get off at 11:00 p.m. on Friday and don't come back in to work until 11:00 p.m. on Saturday. It leaves me not knowing when or how to sleep. So far, no matter what I try, I'm up well before noon on Saturday which leads to a marathon day. This week it was 21 hours. I'm getting too old for this.

I love nights, though. I love star gazing and the sounds of the critters. With the weather being on the cool side, once the sun goes down I can smell wood smoke in the air and it makes me think of bonfires and s'mores.

There is one problem, however. I've really got to stop reading books about things that go bump in the night when I'm working nights. Our office is housed in a building that is well over 100 years old. We are located in the west end of the building; the bathrooms in the east end. In between is a hallway with dark offices running the length of it. And, we turn the lights off at the end of the building, leaving only the emergency exit signs for light. I have little problem admitting there have been nights when I've had the creeps while heading for the bathroom. By the time I reach the stairs to the second floor, you couldn't pay me enough money to look up at that landing. Nope. Not happening. And then, I pick up a book about vampires, mummies, and zombies...

Yeah, at times I'm an idiot.

On a side note...

Can anyone tell me why my sidebar has moved itself over so far? And, why are my book lists no longer flush? The numbers are sorta zig-zagging around over there. I haven't done anything... at least not that I'm aware of. Is it blogger? Or am I just imagining things?

I hope everyone has an excellent week!

Forty Years Ago Today...

John F. Kennedy:

We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

Book Review: Blood Trail by Tanya Huff

Blood Trail by Tanya Huff
DAW Books
277 Pages
Copyright 1992

From the back of the book:

For centuries they had coexisted with ordinary humans. But now death had invaded their London, Ontario farm. It was clear that someone had learned they were werewolves and was determined to destroy them. The only one they could turn to for help was vampire Henry Fitzroy. And, forced to hide from the light of day, Henry called upon Vicki Nelson for assistance. Yet, as silver bullets continued to take their ghastly tool, Henry and Vicki begin to fear they might not be able to trace the blood trail of destruction down before it was too late...

First, does anyone else find it strange that the blurb above is in past tense? It seems off to me.

It’s an okay story. I enjoyed Blood Price much more. The werewolf family has some interesting characters but they change from human to wolf as quickly and easily as someone puts on a jacket or takes it off. That bothered me. I can’t picture it being quite so simply or easy to completely alter your form. The bad guy was rather clichéd, too. I knew who it was the minute he was introduced.

But, that said, I still like Vicki, Henry is still gorgeous, and Celluci is still annoying. In other words, all is basically right in the Vicki Nelson universe.

Recommendation: The story wasn’t so much my cup of tea but I enjoyed the continuing development of the main characters and the interaction between them. We’ll see how the third book comes across.

Music Mundays 6

Hey! It's Monday and I'm actually aware that it is Monday. That means it's time for a trip down my Music Boulevard.

Today's stop is on a street known as Jazz...




Dave Brubeck is a jazz pianist. The Dave Brubeck Quartet was composed of Brubeck, Paul Desmond on Sax, Joe Morello on drums, and Eugene Wright on bass. Time Out, a album released in 1959, quickly went platinum. The unusual thing about the album was that most of the songs were in uncommon time. The above song, Take Five, is in 5/4 time. The following song, Blue Rondo A La Turk in in 9/8 time.



Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic. Along with his unusual time signatures, he is know for superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.



Listening to a Dave Brubeck tune is often an adventure and you're never sure where you're going to end up. The one thing you can be certain of, however, is that the trip will be well worth the ride.

Book Review: Blood Price by Tanya Huff

Blood Price by Tanya Huff
DAW Books
272 Pages
Copyright 1991

Once upon a time Vickie Nelson was a police officer in Toronto, Canada. She was a very successful investigator, earning the nickname ‘Victory’ from her colleagues. Then she developed Retinitis Pigmentosa and her career as a police officer was little more than a memory.

Instead of giving in to her handicap, however, Vickie pursues a career as a private investigator. One night, after a bad blind date, she witnesses the first in a string of gruesome murders – the victims literally have their throats torn out. Shortly thereafter, she is approached by the first victim’s girlfriend, Coreen, who hires Vickie to investigate his death.

The Toronto newspapers are quickly trumpeting the news that a vampire is lose in Toronto, which upsets the city’s real vampire – Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of King Henry VIII. Henry and Vickie team up and discover the real truth – there is a demon being set loose on the unsuspecting city and it may only be the warm up for what is waiting in the wings, unless Henry and Vickie can stop it.

The Blood Books by Huff were used as the basis for the canceled Lifetime series “Blood Ties”, which was extremely well done and starred Christina Cox, Kyle Schmid, and Dylan Neal. I enjoyed the show and it lead me to the books. Blood Price is the first in the series.

I like Vickie Nelson. She is a strong, independent female. Henry is charming, suave, and writes romance novels. Mike Cellucci, Vickie’s former partner, also has his charm and he and Vickie are combustible whenever they’re together.

It’s a good introduction and I enjoyed the story line. There was one problem, however. Huff has a habit of switch her point of view, at times from one paragraph to the next. It takes a little getting used to but once you have, the story flows well enough.

Recommendation: If you’re looking for a new vampire novel, give this one a try. It’s got all of the necessary elements for an excellent story – great characters, an interesting storyline, and a gorgeous vampire. What more do you need?

Book Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Penguin Group
198 Pages
Copyright 1999

Melinda Sordino is a freshman in high school. She starts the year out with “...seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate, and a stomachache.” Melinda is the girl who called the police during a drunken party before the start of school. She is ignored by former friends, bullied by other students, and ostracized by everyone. She is an outcast.

What no one understands, however, is the true story of what happened at the party. As Melinda sinks into silence, talking only when she absolutely has to, things go from bad to worse. She skips classes. She skips school. She is failing every class but art. Her parents have no idea what’s going on with her and, quite frankly, they don’t seem to care enough to try to find out.

Speak is a story about teenagers. It is a story about depression and trauma and survival. Anderson crafts her work well, capturing the characters and their voices in a realistic way. She divides the book into marking periods, chronicling Melinda’s slow, painful journey as parts of the school year. It works very well.

Melinda’s anguish is a physical thing in Anderson’s hands:

I know my head isn’t screwed on straight. I want to leave, transfer, warp myself to another galaxy. I want to confess everything, hand over the guilt and mistake and anger to someone else. There is a beast in my gut, I can hear it scraping away at the inside of my ribs. Even if I dump the memory, it will stay with me, staining me. My closet is a good thing, a quiet place that helps me hold these thoughts inside my head where no one can hear them.

Everything is complicated for Melinda because of that beast and the normal, everyday problems that teenagers face are magnified by its presence. Because of her outcast status, she has no one she can talk with – no friends, no teachers, and parents who are too self-absorbed to notice their daughter is disappearing into a silent, gray world.

Recommendation: Speak deals with a tough topic and Anderson deals with it head on, without flinching. Her characters are real and you will find your heart breaking for Melinda. It’s a powerful, moving story and if you haven’t read it, you should. I think you'll be glad you did.

The life of a cop

It wasn't my call but I've had similar ones in the past. It's the kind of call that makes even the sanest amongst the law enforcement crowd wonder why they do such a thankless, impossible job.

Here's a snapshot of what it's like to be a cop:

Central Dispatch contact a city unit and advised them that earlier in the day they had sent officers to a house to deal with two incorrigible children, ages 11 and 13. Now, the 11-year-old was at a neighbor's house and wanted to talk to the police because her mother had told the 13-year-old to beat her up.

This 11-year-old was looking for a champion, someone with the answers to what is clearly a horrendous home situation.

Cops don't have those answers. We just don't. Short of calling in family services, there isn't a whole lot we can offer. It's a no-win situation and it wil break the heart of the hardest officer on the streets. Children do that to you. They're the ones that give you the sleepless nights as you toss and turn and try to figure out how you could've done something... anything.

We can talk to the supposed adult in the situation, of course, but those lectures rarely provide the answer. We can put things in motion to have the kids removed from the home but that is a poor answer, too.

What do you tell an 11-year-old whose mother tells her older sister to beat her up?

People think cops have all the answers but we don't.

We're only human.

Reflections on the Fourth

Two Hundred and Thirty-Three Years.

When the Continental Congress emerged from that earth-shaking vote, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin: What have you given us? Franklin replied: A Republic, if you can keep it.

If we can keep it.

I worked 16 hours today but still managed to watch some of the fireworks. The university where I work is on a hill that overlooks the river, where the fireworks are staged. It's a good vantage point.

As I watched the fireworks and listened to the oohs and ahhs, I found myself thinking about Dr. Franklin.

A Republic, if we can keep it.

God, please, do not let us fail to do so.

Book Review: Surrender All by Joni Lamb

Surrender All by Joni Lamb
WaterBrook Press
206 Pages
Copyright 2008

Joni Lamb is the executive producer and host of the Joni Show, which airs twice daily on the Daystar Network, a Christian broadcasting network. I received a request to review this book from A Larry Ross Communications, a full-service media and public relations agency. Their requirement was a 300 word, honest review. Here it is:

"Surrender All: Your Answer to Living with Peace, Power, and Purpose," is an insightful look at how your life can be made better if you place your trust in God and surrender control to Him.

Joni recounts her story about how she and her husband, Marcus, listened when they were instructed to leave their lives and move to Dallas to build a Christian television network. That network, Daystar, now includes 50 stations and reaches over 75 million homes in the United States and more world-wide. That’s not too bad when you consider they started out with less than nothing. Through their story and the testament of others, Joni illustrates that nothing is too large a problem; no one is too far gone, to be beyond God’s reach.

This is a passage I’m going to try to remember:

I tell my children that you never know what trials and difficulties those around you have faced. I think of that whenever I’m tempted to have a pity party because something hasn’t gone right. If we were to stop and listen to the stories of those around us, we would come back with a thankful heart.

I have a tendency to throw those pity parties at times but, when I’m honest, my life isn’t all that bad. In fact, it’s pretty good and I need to recognize that and be more thankful for it.

I found a great deal to think about while reading this book. I enjoyed the simple, clear style and the fact that Joni includes every part of life when talking about surrendering – marriage, children, career, health, friendships, daily life, loss, and failure. Everything that can and should be turned over to God. I will also admit that I’ve been struggling with questions of my own about my faith and I believe reading this book has helped me with those questions.

Recommendation: To some people, it will seem very simplistic – Turn everything over to God. But, if you’re dissatisfied with your life, if you’re searching for answers you don’t have, I’d encourage you to give this book a try. You may find the answers you’re looking for.

Book Review: Red Knife by William Kent Krueger

Red Knife by William Kent Krueger
Atria Paperbacks (Simon and Schuster)
310 Pages
Copyright 2009

There is trouble in the small town of Aurora, Minnesota. A young girl is dead after getting high and diving into shallow water. Her death alone is a tragedy but added to the problem is the fact that the girl was the daughter of a powerful, vindictive white man and the man responsible for giving her the drugs is an Ojibwe Indian, one with a less than stellar reputation and a penchant for trading drugs for sex and making movies in the process.

Cork O’Connor, part Irish, part Ojibwe, agrees to help the Sheriff’s Department in an attempt to stave off the violence that is brewing that will set white against red in more ways than one. It is a promise that will once again put him at odds with his wife and place his entire family in danger. As his investigation grows, he finds himself in the middle of a variety of secrets, ones that could destroy the people, the town, and the life he loves.

Things slowly become clear and Cork believes that the violence has been short circuited; only to discover that the deepest, ugliest secret of them all has exploded, changing the lives of everyone, forever.

Vague, I know, but this is definitely one book that shouldn’t be spoiled. It is taut, chilling, and heart wrenching. It is also the best of Krueger’s books so far. It raises questions, not only about prejudice, but about love and secrets and how far people are willing to go and what drives them in the first place. It raises questions but they are questions that have no answers; not in the book or in real life.

Here’s one of my favorite passages:

Meloux, too, looked through the window and watched Stevie at play in the meadow. “I have been told, Corcoran O’Connor, that the heart has two chambers. I believe it because I do know that the heart has two sides. One is love and the other is fear. One creates, the other destroys. Not every person kills, but every person could. It is how the Great Spirit created us. I do not pretend to understand why; I only know it is so.”

I can’t say I disagree with any part of that.

Recommendation: The most amazing thing I can say about this book is that I had preconceptions going in; ones that made me reluctant to read it. Krueger, however, did an amazing job and literally had me in tears at one point. I’m thrilled I didn’t pass it by.

June Wrap-Up

Four books for the month. Not terrific, but I'll take it after the slump that hit me mid-month:

47. Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong
46. Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger
45. Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul
44. Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

It's a total of 1439 pages or 48 pages a day. Geez...

So, how was your month?

Book Review: Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong

Made to Be Broken by Kelley Armstrong
Random House Bantam Dell
398 Pages
Copyright 2009

Made to Be Broken is the sequel to Armstrong’s Exit Strategy, which I reviewed here. I had mixed feelings about Exit Strategy and mixed feelings about buying the sequel. A birthday gift certificate to my local bookstore, however, gave me the opportunity to give it a go.

Nadia Stafford is an ex-cop who was forced to resign for shooting a suspect who was ‘reaching for a tissue’. She now owns a wilderness lodge located in Canada and she is also a part time hired killer. Life is about as good as it is going to get for Nadia but there are problems looming on the horizon. Her mentor, Jack, has definitely extracted himself from her life. Her friend Quinn, another cop that moonlights as a hired ‘vengeance killer’, is sending her mixed signals about wanting a relationship. That’s fine with her because she isn’t sure she wants one either. Sammi, the sulky teenager Nadia hired to help with the chores at the lodge has gone missing along with her infant daughter. And finally, Evelyn, Jack’s scheming, irritating mentor calls to tell Nadia that Jack is holed up in a flea-bag motel after breaking his foot during a hit. She wants Nadia to go and get him.

After doing a little investigating by herself into Sammi's disappearance, Nadia quickly realizes that no one in the small town of White Rock really cares about the missing girl or her daughter, Destiny. Most people believe Sammi has run off and it’s ‘good bye to bad rubbish’. The attitude extends even to the cops, officers who view Nadia with nothing but contempt. Nadia takes on the investigation herself, guilty and concern fueling her actions in equal parts.

Once she’s retrieved Jack, they set out to find out the truth. It is an investigation that will take them to Detroit and to a truth that proves to be even worse than the one Nadia had envisioned. As she struggles to put all the pieces together, she also struggles with the memories of a tragedy from her past, and the ever present question of what to do about both Jack, Quinn, and Evelyn.

So... Nadia has grown on me and so, unbelievably, has Jack. His way of talking still bugs me to no end:

“Not suggesting. Saying. You aren’t yourself. Haven’t been since you picked me up. Quiet. Tense. Your mind’s someplace else. I thought it was just me. Us. Then you run off. Come back. Inhale dinner. All you can think about is getting back. Back to her.”

Nadia is a complex woman with a tortured past that makes her human in spite of the path her life has taken. Jack is an intriguing character. He lets bits and pieces of his past trickle out which only makes you want to know more. Quinn, I’m not so crazy about. If Nadia is going to have a romantic interest, it should, in my opinion, be Jack.

Recommendation: It’s shaping up to be a good series. There’s a certain amount of suspense, some decent character development and a plot that catches and keeps your interest. I’m definitely glad I took a chance on it.