Carla Neggers book signing

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Last night I attended a book signing at Joseph-Beth in the Cleveland area.  Carla Neggers was there signing her new hardcover, The Angel.  I have never read any of her books, but they sound just up my alley.

Carla was charming and warm and talked to us for an hour about her books and the writing process.  She was very encouraging to those of us who are trying to write our own books. She has written over 50 books and her love for writing was evident and contagious.  I came home ready to start writing! 

The Angel, her new novel, is set in Ireland and involves a mysterious Irish legend.  I am looking forward to reading it.  You’ll read about it here when I do. 

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore

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Cover ImageFinished 5-1-08, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2002

This is a book that I would not have picked up on my own.  I don’t think I have a very good sense of humor when it comes to God or Jesus and the title alone might have offended me.  But, my friend Mark recommended it and that alone was enough for me to try it out.  I also felt better about it since Moore is a born and bred Buckeye (although he has left ‘paradise’ to suffer through the hardships of living in Hawaii and San Francisco 🙂 ).  Anyway, on to Levi also called Biff and Joshua who is Jesus.

Biff has been brought back to the land of the living some 2000 years later so that he can set the record straight on Joshua’s childhood and young adulthood.  The gospels of the New Testament leave out Biff and now Biff must write his own gospel about his time as Joshua’s best friend and constant companion from the age of six.  Biff was brought back and watched over by the angel, Raziel, and the interplay between the two is hysterical. 

Biff starts with when he and Joshua met when they were six.  Joshua was bringing a lizard back to life after his brother killed it.  After that they became inseparable.  Mary had told Joshua he was the Son of God, but when you are six what does that mean?  He and Biff spent their childhoods being boys and loving Mary Magdalene called Maggie.  This section of the book really brought to life the landscape, the people, and the politics of the time. 

Joshua decides he needs to travel to find the three wise men of his storied birth and Biff goes with him.  After all who will do all the lying, cheating, and sinning that is necessary?  As Joshua and Biff travel east to find each of the wise men we see where Joshua learns to be the Messiah.  He and Biff’s many adventures will have you laughing and wishing that you too had a best friend as loyal as Biff.

As they make their way back home the story becomes intertwined with the gospels and Biff tries to explain what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John got right and what they missed.  Biff’s story ends and we find out why he was left out of the New Testament altogether.

Moore writes with a light touch that is full of sarcasm and wit.  Given the subject matter I was surprised that Moore was able to bring so much humor and still respect the nature of Jesus. I could have done without Biff trying to explain sex to Joshua (although this may be more of a girl thing) and I didn’t like the swearing, especially in the last third of the book.  Actually, I loved the book up until the point when they return to Nazareth, but at that point it lost some of its heart in my opinion.  It was still worth the read and I’d still recommend it, because you’ll never meet another character like Biff.

I really enjoyed this book, although it probably is not for everyone.  If you think you have a wicked sense of humor or can take a certain amount of irreverence then you should give it a try.  You will laugh out loud, guaranteed.  Thanks for the recommendation, Mark.  You’ve helped add to my must read author list.

Famous First Lines, Part 2

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Here’s how to play…Identify the first lines of these famous novels by telling me what book it’s from. Leave a comment with the # of the first line and the title of the book and I’ll cross it off the list. No Googling, that’s cheating and no fun! If you know them all, please don’t guess every one, maybe five max? Mid week I’ll offer hints if needed.

 1. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. Jason, Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone by Rowling

2. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since. Mark, The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald

3. Amerigo Bonasera sat in New York Criminal Court Number 3 and waited for justice; vengeance on the men who had so cruelly hurt his daughter, who had tried to dishonor her. HINT: This was the beginning of a famous movie trilogy. Amy, The Godfather by Puzo

4. At a village of La Mancha, whose name I do not wish to remember, there lived a little while ago one of those gentlemen who are wont to keep a lance in the rack, an old buckler, a lean horse and a swift greyhound.  DON QUIXOTE by Cervantes

5. The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended.  2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY by Clarke

6. Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood.   THE DIVINE COMEDY, INFERNO by Dante Alighieri

7. Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum’s Grand Gallery. Mark, The DaVinci Code by Brown

8. Call me Ishmael. Jason, Moby Dick by Melville

9. All children, except one, grow up.  PETER PAN by Barrie

10. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Amy, Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

 

Free Books Online

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I came across this site today that claims to have 30,000 free books online.  It looks like the majority of those are classics.  As a test I checked the last book I read (Kafka) and he was there ready to read!  The thought of sitting in front of a computer to read a whole book is not appealing to me, but I can think of better possible uses.  It’d be fine for short stories or to read a few chapters to see if they interested you enough to get the book.  Check it out.

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/

The Metamorphosis & Other Stories by Franz Kafka

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The Metamorphosis - Franz KafkaThe Metamorposis. Finished 4-25-08, rating 2.5/5, fiction short stories, B&N edition 1996

Kafka’s Metamorphosis is a bizarre tale full of dark humor that sometimes had us laughing out loud.  Gregor is turned into an insect and forced to live out his days at the mercy of his horrified family. Jason was hoping for a little more closure I think.  I remember reading it in college and not liking it then and nothing this time changed my opinion.  Jason and I read this and a few of the others out loud to each other and were ambivalent.

There were a few stories in this collection that I enjoyed.  I enjoyed The Stoker, which I understand is the first chapter of his book Amerika.  A sixteen year old, Karl, made his way to Ellis Island and somehow managed to befriend a ship stoker who had grievances with authority.  Karl tried to aid him, but only managed to find himself the beneficiary of some very good luck.  I can see this as the beginning of an interesting novel.

We both enjoyed A Hunger Artist and I thought In the Penal Colony was very good.  These two stories had different things to say about death which I found thought provoking.  Josephine the Singer, or The Mouse People was enjoyable if a bit too long.  Before the Law was also interesting.

The rest of them I would have been happy to have not read at all.  The Judgement neither of us liked, although it was the one that led to the most discussion after.  The Country Doctor, An Old Leaf, and A Message From the Emperor were a waste of my time.

Authors on Books

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If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.  ~Toni Morrison

A house without books is like a room without windows.  ~Heinrich Mann

To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life.  ~W. Somerset Maugham

Famous First Lines

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I’ve posted the answers to Who Am I if you want to check them out.

Here’s how to play…Identify the first lines of these famous novels by telling me what book it’s from.  Leave a comment with the # of the first line and the title of the book and I’ll cross it off the list.  No Googling, that’s cheating and no fun!  If you know them all, please don’t guess every one, maybe five max?

1. It was a pleasure to burn. Jason, Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury

2. Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. Janet, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

3. It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York. The Bell Jar by Plath

4. I am an invisible man. Jason, Invisible Man by Ellison

5. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. Carol, Pride & Prejudice by Austen

6. What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died? Love Story by Segal

7. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. Mark, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by Lewis

8. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. Mark, The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger

9. As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. Mark, The Metamorphosis by Kafka

10. You better not never tell nobody but God. The Color Purple by Walker

Hold Tight, by Harlan Coben

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Cover ImageFinished 4-19-08, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2008

“In the end we’re just their caretakers, Mike.  We get them for a little while and then they live their lives.  I just want him to stay alive and healthy until we let him go.  The rest will be up to him.”  Hold Tight, Chapter 2

I mentioned in an earlier post that Jason and I went to a book signing by Coben in Houston a few years ago.  He was charming and smart and just goofy enough to make him interesting.  I was already a fan, but it was nice to know that I liked the guy whose career I was supporting.  I’ve read all of his books and have liked them all, some more than others.  I generally prefer his novels written in the first person because so few authors really do it well.  This wasn’t in first person, but it was fun and I finished it in one day so that must mean I liked it!

This is a book about parents – the love, the fears, and the lengths they’ll go to to protect their kids.  The Bayes fear that they are losing their teenage son, Adam, so they install a spyware program on his computer to keep tabs on him.  The decision was a hard one for them and one that plays out to reveal the real dilemma parents face today.  The Bayes are not the only parents with problems.  Their next-door neighbors need to find a kidney donor for their son.  Their daughter’s best friend was ridiculed by a teacher, school has become unbearable, and her father wants to move to protect her.  The Hills have just lost a son to suicide and the father needs to move on while the mother needs to know why.  The police chief has a stoner son and is willing to lie and intimidate to protect him. 

Amazingly all of these stories come together in a fast-paced thriller that will leave you hoping for the best until the end.  This is a terrific book, especially if you have a teen in the house.  It wasn’t just about the technology, but also many of the pressures kids face today like drugs and bullying.  Coben manages to hit on current issues while keeping the story compelling and the action swift. 

This is just the lastest installment in Coben’s bestselling library.  Enjoy!