Book Number Two

The King’s Gold by Yxta Maya Murray
Finished Wednesday, Jan 28, 09

Okay, clearly I’m falling behind on the 52 books in 52 weeks idea. It’s nearly the end of January and just yesterday I finished my second book, The King’s Gold by Yxta Maya Murray. It took three weeks for me to get through this book – if this had been a library book, I would have given up on the book, but since I actually paid for the book, I felt compelled to finish it.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I love the idea of the book, but it’s slightly off the mark and is never quite as intriguing or suspenseful as it could be. This is the only the book I have read by this author so I don’t if it’s her style or what. What I did not know when I purchased this book is that it is the second in a series of books. Ms. Murray must have done all her character development in the first book of the series, The Queen’s Jade, because there is none here. This lack of character development was very frustrating in the and because of it my first impression of Lola was that she was very, very stupid.

“Yes, strange man with two enforcers who just walked into my bookstore and told me that you are the psychotic son of a psychotic Guatemalan colonel who recently tried to wipe out my entire family and that you in fact would also like to slit my throat, even though we have just met and you know nothing about me, but because you have waved a old letter in front of my face I will abandon the fiancée that I am going to marry in ten days and follow you to Italy like a happy, trotting, elf [my own random Coupling reference].”

Although, to contradict what I just said, the one thing I did like about Lola is that she didn’t try to claim victim status; she is fully aware that she is making stupid, irrational choices as she makes them. In addition to Lola, I also came to find Marco (psychotic son of a psychotic Guatemalan colonel) and Erik (abandoned fiancée) mildly interesting. I might have even imagined a little chemistry between Lola and Marco.

Late in the book, the rest of Lola’s family is forced into the story and there is not one of them that I found at all interesting. Maybe if I read The Queen’s Jade I won’t mind them so much, but the first book appears to be a central American jungle adventure and that’s not really my thing. According to an interview with the author at the end of The King’s Gold, the third book in the series features Erik’s quest to find Excalibur. I cannot find a title or project release date for this book, and whether or not I actually read the book will depend on my impression of the first chapter or two, which will be read in the bookstore.

First Book Read in 2009!

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
Finished Monday, Jan 5, 09

This is the second of currently eight books in the Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire series. I read the first book shortly after the last episode of True Blood aired on HBO. I LOVED the HBO adaptation, but was a bit disappointed in the first book. My primary issue with the book was that it was entirely from Sookie’s point of view, and Sookie and Bill are my least favorite characters from the television adaptation. I really enjoyed every other character on the screen - especially Eric, Tara, and Lafayette – more than Sookie and Bill. I also found Pam intriguing; if I were a vampire, I think I would want to be Pam.

I decided to continue with the series because I really wanted to learn more about the character of Eric, even though I was a bit torn about ruining possible season two plot details such as whose body was in Detective Bellefleur’s car at the end of season one. Spoiler alert: even though it was expected, I was very sorry to learn that it was in fact LaFayette decaying in the back of Andy’s car. I was really hoping that it would be Eggs, but come on, Eggs was a minor character who rated only one scene near the end of season one so there would be no emotional payout in killing him.

Part of the description on the back cover of the book says “…her coworker is murdered and no one seems to care.” Well, I don’t think the author cared very much either. It seems like she had two interesting ideas: the maenad and sex club in Bon Temps and the Fellowship of the Sun in Dallas, but could not flush out either idea enough to make one book. Instead book-ended the former around the later and in my opinion short-changed both possible stories. This book did have a good set-up for expanding the inclusion of werewolves and shape-shifters in future books and I really liked the exchanges between Sookie and Eric, I think there is great chemistry and potential there.

52 Books in 52 Weeks

Ravelry* member MissJulie created a group for readers who wanted to challenge themselves to read an average of 52 books during the 52 weeks of 2009. I like to read and did so quite a bit when I was younger, but seem to have replaced reading with too much television watching. I’ve decided that I’d like to change that in 2009. I, like many others in the group, I have numerous books in my bookcase that I have bought that I have not read yet, so this will be a great reason to get to them. I am rather a slow reader, so a book a week might be out of my depth, but I’ll try it. I’m going to use this space to list the books I hope to read and track books that I actually read.

Finished Books
3. A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster - Finished Wednesday, Feb 4, 09

2. The King’s Gold by Yxta Maya Murray - Finished Wednesday, Jan 28, 09

1. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris - Finished Monday, Jan 5, 09

Possible Reads

The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Fools by Christopher Moore (scheduled for release on Feb 9th, yay!)

*Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration.