Tag Archives: fiction

what would glitz wear

glitz

I’m a little more than halfway through Glitz (Kindle here), my first Elmore Leonard novel. I can see why they make great movies. The dialogue is natural and entertaining, and the characters are interesting–from the off-duty detective to the casino’s lounge singer to the gangster’s bodyguard. I like how the women are equal players. Nancy Donovan is smarter than most–if not all–of the men surrounding her, including her husband. Linda is comfortable in her personality and ready to make her own way as an artist. They may have to play a man’s game, but they rewrite a few rules.

These women are sexy, but they aren’t just there for sex. But I bet no matter what they are doing, they look good doing it.

nancy donovan in glitz

Like Gretchen Wieners, Nancy keeps secrets in her perfectly coiffed hair. She runs a casino with her husband, Tom, and at least one Atlantic City gangster. And she can run circles around them. Nancy is always put together and she is not to be trifled with.

iris

Iris is a young, beautiful girl from Puerto Rico who dreams of being a hostess in the United States. She is spunky and fun but, man, does she have some bad luck.

linda

Linda Moon befriends Iris in Atlantic City. Out of all these women, I’d most like to be friends with her. She has her head on straight and is following her passion for making music. But she’s practical, too, and has figured out a way to make a living by singing in Nancy and Tom’s casino. And, like the rest of the casino, she could be decked out in gold when she performs.

ladonna in glitz

Ladonna is the former Miss Oklahoma. But I’m afraid she’s fallen a bit from when she took the crown. Now we never see her without a drink in her hand, and she’s terrified for her life because of the violence surrounding her. We first meet her drowning in both an oversized sweater and an oversized bloody mary.

I can’t wait to read more about these women, and the rest of the characters. More on Glitz soon!

crazy in love: dangerous behavior from fictional men

A man repeatedly tries to get you to go somewhere after you’ve said no. He holds you against your will, and insists he is in a relationship with you and he’s just trying to take care of you. Just when you think you’ve gotten rid of him, he shows up again, to tell you again how much he loves you.

This isn’t the beginning of a scary story. It’s describing many male fictional characters and how they woo their great loves.

In Under the Dome–the most recent example of this conundrum on my TV screen–Junior kidnaps Angie. He locks her in a storm cellar, tries to get her to dress up in a dress he chooses, and chains her so she can’t escape. Angie gets out, but later she runs into Junior and–surprise, surprise–he attempts to control her again. Junior’s constant refrain is that he’s taking care of Angie, doing it for her own good because he cares about her and the dome is making her sick.

And in the last episode the dome really did make her sick, and Angie had a seizure. So I guess Junior was right after all. And people on Twitter are talking about how cute they are and how attractive Junior is. (For the record, I am talking about the TV show. I think author Stephen King actually does a pretty great job portraying creepy, dangerous people as creepy and dangerous–not cute.)

In real life, this can be an incredibly dangerous situation, but our culture and our fiction keep telling men to not listen to women and to not leave them alone, all in the name of love.

Men are taught that if at first your girl says no, ask her out repeatedly until you wear her down. And then, of course, you’ll fall in love because persistence pays off. And women are taught they are rude ice queens if they say no to someone who tries so hard to show they care.

Edward should probably be arrested for his stalking, but instead Bella thinks it’s endearing. On the Secret Life of the American Teenager (yeah, I’ve seen every episode), Ben refuses to leave Amy alone because he just knows they will end up together, and it’s portrayed as sweet puppy love. Spike stalks and attacks Buffy, but they still hook up.

Look at other great fictional loves and you’ll see similar patterns, even with Cory and Topanga, The Great Love Story Of Our Time. Similarly, Carrie tells Big she never wants to see him again, right before he comes to Paris to save her.

And the worst part about it is that this “love” is celebrated. I can’t look at Twitter without seeing people talk about Junior and Angie, or shipping Spike and Buffy. There are probably more people on Team Edward than who voted in the last election.

Celebrating this is scary. Teaching young women and men that this is how relationships work is scary. Having someone refuse to hear your no is scary.

And we are adding to this culture of steamrolling women’s boundaries when we don’t recognize this behavior for what it is: dangerous, disrespectful, and manipulative.

Having someone ignore your needs isn’t a way to begin a love story. And if the guy who just asked you out on a date sneaks into your house to watch you sleep, for the love of God, call the police.

(The Gift of Fear does a really great job talking about this and how women can be safer in these situations. Everyone should read it–men, too.)

10 books i haven’t read

mockingbird

Sometimes there feels like there is just never enough time to catch up. I could read all day and all night and never read all the things that look interesting. There’s so many classic books I still need to read, I wonder how I’ll ever manage to get to the new fantastic books coming out. And Twitter leads me to a hundred interesting articles before I’ve even had coffee. What’s a girl to do?!

I think I read probably more than the average person. I’m certainly no Stephen King, who reads roughly 70 or 80 books a year according to On Writing, but I generally am always in the middle of a book. But there are some books that have escaped my 20-some-odd years of reading.

  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I know, I know! But I just haven’t gotten to it yet, ok? I also haven’t seen the movie, and I’m not even entirely sure what it’s about. A trial? A guy named Atticus Finch? I’m the worst!
  • Same with 1984 by George Orwell. (I also haven’t read Animal Farm)
  • Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I’ve seen the movie though!
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding. But I’m pretty sure this is about an island of boys, right? Kind of like a terrifying Peter Pan, where there aren’t any grown-ups?
  • Rabbit, Run by John Updike. I have been meaning to read Updike for years–years I tell you!
  • Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. I have read The Rum Diary, so I’m not totally hopeless when it comes to Hunter S. Thompson.
  • Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen. Although I have started this a few times, and I completely love the movie.
  • The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Any of them. I haven’t even read The Hobbit. I’m totally failing at being a nerd.
  • The Stand. I love Stephen King. He’s one of my favorite authors and this is one of his most famous books.
  • And finally, anything by Elmore Leonard. After his death, it has re-come to my attention how much I have messed up by not reading his books. I’ve read his rules, and I’ve seen the movies. But why have I never read any of his books? I am positive I would love them. Anyone have a rec for what I should start with?

Are there any books you haven’t read that you think you should have? Please keep me from being too embarrassed and share some of your own.

where’d you go, bernadette

bernadette

The other day on Twitter, I asked for a recommendation for a quick read. No less than three people recommended Where’d You Go, Bernadette (Kindle here). 

Obviously, I had missed the memo on how great of a book this was. Lucky for me, my friends steered me in the right direction. And I am very glad they did.

Where’d You go, Bernadette follows the written, faxed, and e-mail correspondence of Bernadette, her neighbors, her husband Elgin, and her daughter Bee. After Bernadette’s mysterious disappearance, Bee uses these documents to piece together the truth about her mom and where she might have gone. (It sounds like the structure to our #familybookclub pick House of Leaves, but so far they couldn’t be more different.)Continue reading “where’d you go, bernadette”

the cuckoo’s calling part 3

jk-rowling-the-cuckoos-calling

You know, it’s surprising we didn’t guess it was Rowling right away. She’s got a thing for crazy names. Hermione. Cormoran. In part 3 of The Cuckoo’s Calling (Kindle here), we meet the mysterious Rochelle, have a run in with Lula’s angry racist uncle, and Robin flexes her deception muscles.

Strike is continuing his clue gathering and interviews. He finally met Lula’s friend from rehab, Rochelle, who seems as unreliable as just about everyone else he’s interviewed. Robin finds Rochelle by pretending to be Rochelle when she calls the hospital to ask when her appointment is. Then they stalk the entrance of the hospital until Rochelle arrives. Robin also pretends to be someone she’s not when she and Strike visit the boutique that Lula visited the last day she was alive. Robin has certainly been getting into this detective business. (Speaking of Robin, are her and Strike ever going to get it on?)

Continue reading “the cuckoo’s calling part 3”

the cuckoo’s calling part 2

jk-rowling-the-cuckoos-calling

We enter part 2 of The Cuckoo’s Calling (Kindle here, my thoughts on part 1 here) to follow our heroes while they gather more clues. I actually feel more like I am in the board game clue than in a story. If security guard was in the wash room, and the boyfriend at the club, I propose Mr. Bestigui murdered Lula Landry in the drawing room with the candlestick.

As an editor/journalist/pretend police investigator, I like gathering clues and information. But as a reader, I’d like to get all of this info as the plot moves along or as characters develop. It seems like more talking than showing, more explaining than storytelling.

“Strike would have preferred Bristow not to intervene.”  See what I mean? Telling me what’s in his head is just so boring.

But since we spent all that time interviewing and clue gathering, let’s see what we know.

  • Lula has a friend from rehab named Rochelle who met with Lula on the day of her suicide/murder.
  • Lula had an on-and-off relationship with that dumb guy who wears a wolf mask to avoid the paparazzi because, sure, a wolf mask garners less attention.
  • Mr. Bestigui is mad about 200 roses being spilled in Deeby Mac’s apartment. If those roses don’t mean anything this is the biggest, most annoying red herring ever.
  • Lula’s driver is obsessed with fame and celebs, and he was not her driver the night she died.
  • The apartment security guard was away from his post when Lula fell.
  • Tansy Bestigui heard some yelling in Lula’s apartment. The police don’t believe she could have heard anyone–they clearly don’t live in a place where you can hear things through the vents.

What do you guys think? Have any bets on who the killer is? Are their big clues I’m missing? If you’ve finished, no spoilers please! See my thoughts on part 1 here, and keep reading! I’ll see you back here next week.

(I bought this book on my own and am not being paid to write about it. But I am a part of the Amazon Affiliates program, so if you buy through my links on Amazon, I’ll receive a little bit of money for it.)

the cuckoo’s calling part 1

jk-rowling-the-cuckoos-calling

It is a not so secret desire of mine to become a police detective. It is my back up plan, my alternate universe career, and the subject of quite a few daydreams. I can’t stop watching cop shows or reading murder mysteries. (And yeah, I know that’s not exactly how it works in real life.)

So I like a good detective story. I feel like I am reading about my imaginary colleagues. And though solving a mystery in a book isn’t at all like solving a mystery in real life, I’m pretty good at it. (Well, I’m not the worst at it.)

I have just finished part one of The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith J.K. Rowling (Kindle here). I can’t say I never would have read this book if it didn’t come out that Robert Galbraith was a pseudonym for Rowling (that secret didn’t last long, did it?), but I can say I didn’t hear about the book until that story broke. So I picked it up, along with thousands of others.

Continue reading “the cuckoo’s calling part 1”