I am one of those readers who really waffles on short stories. They are handy, especially for carrying with you, something quick to read and have a complete story to enjoy. Of course, on the other hand, they are short, and I love something I can get my teeth into, get really lost in and only come up for air to eat every few hours. There is one other big problem with short stories, and particularly collections, they tend to be “literature”, the kind of thing assigned in English Lit 101 and that can get distracting. STORIES FOR THE NIGHTTIME AND SOME FOR THE DAY by Ben Loory falls somewhere in the middle.

There are some real gems in this book, those small stories that you treasure like a rich chocolate truffle. Small, but perfectly rich and perfectly smooth. There are stories that I found utterly delightful and made the book a worthwhile whole. Those small pieces, like the best bits in a box of chocolates, the ones you stick your fingers in, hoping to find the treasures—all dark chocolate truffle or cordial cherry. I know, this seems an odd analogy, but this is an odd little book. There is humor, genuine light humor and darkly sad humor, there are moment of irony and moments of strangely un-triumphant triumph.

For me, however, there is a big problem with this book. It is incredibly self aware. In fact, I was beginning to dread that the entire thing was going to turn out like the first offering entitled “The Book” and Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day would be nothing but a set of self important blank pages with a supposed secret meaning. Yes, I did find that first story annoying. It’s been done before in other guises, and I was just not excited. If I had picked up the book for something other than review, I probably would have not gone any further than that first story. I did, though, and like our mythical box of chocolates, I discovered after my first bitter taste, there really were good pieces in the box.

This is a book people will love or hate, or like “The Book” in the collection, people will rave over and others will wonder why. I am on the fence about it. Part of me really just didn’t enjoy much of it, the other part found those secret gems and treasured them, small bits of joy to savor as a special treat. Overall, I remain unsure. I might open it, and try again with those pieces I found less than enjoyable, and see if the pages take on more meaning, or if they remain as they were, self aware, overwritten and empty. Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day is hard to make a recommendation on, it’s a “you’ll love it or hate it” kind of book. I am lukewarm. Still, there are those hidden gems, so, if you have the time, give it a look, and remember there are hidden pieces lurking there, tiny bits of brilliance worth the hunt.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars | Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) | Pages: 224 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

The disillusioned grunge generation, fighting their way through the lackluster gray world, tied to desks like the minions of death in a bad Soviet-era film—sometimes, I get the feeling that’s how the world is, or appears to be for many writers these days. Don’t get me wrong, there have always been the grim views, the writer who takes apart the world as it is and makes it a grim, gruesome and grisly place. And perhaps it is, perhaps I am running around in a pair of rose-colored glasses. Even so, I hope the world is not as bleak as THE GOSPEL OF ANARCHY by Justin Taylor makes it out to be.

The Gospel of Anarchy is set in Gainesville, Florida, a place that seems more like a post-apocalyptic hell-hole than anything else. Our protagonist is David, a lovely character in a dead-end job who spends his off-work hours indulging his porn addiction. Like I said, lovely. Through a series of incidents he ends up in a punk house called Fishgut. O, the enlightenment. The truth that is revealed when he enters into the Anarchristian group! Yea, verily, yea. After all, there is nothing like drugs, alcohol and a little menage a trois to bring one’s life into focus. David, along with the others in the group, await the return of the almost mythical Parker, who wrote the journals form the basis of their beliefs and who’s the owner of an empty tent that stands waiting for his return.

I know this is supposed to be some kind of intellectual exploration of life and existence, of what it is to be alive in the world today and where we are going. At least I hope it is. I really hope there was a message meant at the bottom of this mess. Maybe I am so deeply cynical works like this just don’t move me anymore. From page one I really found no attraction, not even any perverse interest in David and his life. I couldn’t care less about his job, or how he acquired his porn addiction. And that was just the first chapter. Half-way through the book, I was even less interested in his quest and annoyed by the aimlessness of it all. I’m sure the aimlessness had some deep meaning that will be the topic of Lit classes for years to come, but frankly it was just… meh.

Overall, The Gospel of Anarchy was not really worth the time. I will say Taylor writes well. It’s the saving grace of the book. The voices of his characters are strong and well rounded, I’ll give him that. They are real people. Sad, lost, kind of pathetic, but real people. It’s well written aimlessness, bleak self-discovery that in the end goes nowhere.

I’ve compared books to movies before. I’ll do that here. This one is like that indie film that simply everyone is seeing and says you have to see and when you do finally break down and see it, you leave thinking “Did I see the same movie they did?” The Gospel of Anarchy was a little like that, when I was finished I was left feeling underwhelmed by the whole thing.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Harper Perennial | Pages: 256 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

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When you pick up a Christopher Moore book, you are pretty much guaranteed to laugh your butt off, and Bite Me: A Love Story is no exception. Following Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck, it picks up the tale of vampire Jody, her minion turned vampire Tommy, and his minion Abby. But don’t worry if you haven’t read the previous two books—Abby, aka Emergency Backup Mistress of the Greater Bay Area, spends the first chapter bringing everyone up to speed (and when she says, “Pay attention, bitches, there will be a test,” she means it). So basically, Jody and Tommy are encased in bronze, Abby has moved into their former loft with her “manga-haired love monkey” Steve, and San Francisco is being terrorized by a vampire cat named Chet. To rid the city of the bloodsucking kitty, Abby and Steve are going to need help from Jody and Tommy, the Emperor along with his “men” Lazarus and Bummer, as well as the stoner crew from the Safeway night shift, the Animals.

If you like vampires, have a twisted sense of humor, and don’t mind some F-bombs, Bite Me is for you. Much of the story is told through Abby’s journal entries, with hilarious results. She’s a foul-mouthed Goth/Valley girl hopped up on caffeine and sugar that has a major obsession with what she calls the “Nosferatu.” Despite the fact that her two favorite words seem to be “‘kayso” and “whatnot”, she made me laugh out loud whenever the book switched to her point of view.

Besides Abby, my favorite characters like the Animals and the Emperor return in Bite Me. A few new characters are introduced too, but the important thing is that the story that started in Bloodsucking Fiends is wrapped up nicely. I think fans of the trilogy will be pleased. And like I said earlier, Moore spends some time bringing everyone up to speed, so this would be a great book for new readers too.

Here are a few hilarious quotes from Bite Me:

“There’s nefarious shit afoot, Foo,” said Abby. “Bring portable sun and fry these nosferatu kitties before they nom everyone in the ‘hood.”

Abby: “‘Kayso, it turns out that driving an actual car is way harder than it looks in Grand Theft Auto: Zombie Hooker Smackdown.”

Abby: “And an inky-colored despair of rejection enveloped me like the black tortilla of depression around a pain burrito.”

Abby: “It just goes to show you, like Lord Byron says in the poem: “Given enough weed and explosives, even a creature of most sophisticated and ancient dark power can be undone by a few stoners.

I’m paraphrasing. It may have been Shelley.”

Abby: “I was clearly born in the wrong time. I should have been born in Wuthering Heights times. Although if I was Cathy, I would have hunted down that Heathcliff guy and beat him with a riding crop like a sado-hooker with his Black Card on file. Just sayin’.”

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Harper Paperbacks | Pages: 352 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

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SHADOWFEVER winds up Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series, following the adventures of MacKayla Lane and her search for answers in her life. Who is she? Who can she trust? Who haunts her dreams? Where is she going? The book supposedly sets out to answer the questions posed by the others, to finally give readers the long awaited resolution that they have waited for with baited breath as they plowed through the other books in the series.

Well, hmm, you might be waiting a little longer.

Shadowfever is a massive 600 pages, and probably should have been edited down to 400. Actually, I like long books, the page count shouldn’t be a problem, but a great deal of the book is spent meandering through Mac’s somewhat whiny thoughts, and made me want to reach into the pages and smack her a couple of times. She was a different Mac than the lead character from the other books. In fact, several of the characters seem like they took a left turn in the last year and are not quite themselves, leaving me with an oddly bad taste in my mouth.

Several characters are introduced Dickens-style that seem to be there just to be there and never go anywhere, other’s that I have been waiting to find out about are almost forgotten, and Mac has a lot of whining introspection. (Oh, yeah, I mentioned that.)

It got on my nerves. The once-strong Mac is annoying, the motives are obscure and the whole book feels like Moning was told “you need to have five books in this series, get it done!” I’m not sure if it would have been better with one more book or one less. Or maybe just a massive un-whining of this one. To be fair, maybe Mac always was that annoying and I never noticed because the other books had way more action and way less thinking.

I waited for Shadowfever to come out, the book that would supposedly answer all the questions, bring all the worlds together and give me that comfortable feeling in my gut of a story well told. (It doesn’t have to be a happy ending to get that feeling, by the way.) I got Shadowfever, a book that didn’t answer many questions at all, in fact ended with the incredibly annoying “The end… for now” that made me want to pitch the book out the door. I feel utterly cheated by the whole thing.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Delacorte Press | Pages: 608 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

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I was EXTREMELY lucky to read an advance copy of THE WINTER GHOSTS by Kate Mosse. From the second I picked up and started reading The Winter Ghosts I was hooked. Kate Mosse has a way of bringing you into her story and making the world that she’s creating through her words seem so tangible, there were numerous times where something would startle me and I’d be surprised to find myself on my couch – and not inside the world of The Winter Ghosts.

The story follows the journey, both physically and mentally of Freddie, a young man traveling through the France trying to make sense of the horror that was World War I. Freddie’s journey takes us inside his head, through his torment of losing a brother (I’m not spoiling anything, don’t worry!), his skills of coping with a family that he doesn’t quite fit in with, and with finding and healing himself.

On the way to a weekend get away with friends, a wicked snowstorm causes Freddie’s car to careen off of the road. He manages to find a way through the woods to small village; and little does Freddie know that more than shelter is waiting for him at the small inn.

His purpose in the town (and in his own life) are soon revealed, and through the brilliant writing of Mosse, the reader gets the opportunity to experience this first hand.

The title can be a little deceiving – The Winter Ghosts isn’t a scary story. While there are some unnerving parts, it isn’t a book to pick up if you’re in the mood to be scared. The Winter Ghosts is more the tale of finding your place, and realizing what your life is worth, even in the bleakest of situations.

There is a note from the author at the end of the book that revels portions of the story to be based in fact. This makes those events that are depicted through the pages all the more sad and tragic; but at the same time makes the story all the more perfect.

I would recommend The Winter Ghosts to anyone who is in the mood for an AMAZING story. Read this now!!

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons | Pages: 288 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

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I have to admit a little frustration, a tiny seed growing within my heart that many of my favorite authors and shows are going angelic. I don’t know if angels are the vampires of the up-and-coming teens of the 21st Century or everyone is merely bracing for an apocalyspe that I didn’t get the memo about, but whatever it is, angels are everywhere. And Anne Rice is no exception. That’s right, Anne Rice, creator of Lestat has gone angelic and not just once, no, OF LOVE AND EVIL is subtitled Songs of the Seraphim, Book 2. And the way things shape up? Book 3 is a strong possibility.

Of Love and Evil is the story of Toby, an ex-killer removed from the modern world and taken back to the 16th Century Rome by the angel Malchiah where Toby is assigned the task of saving a young man accused of poisoning his master. True to her style, there is a modern storyline and in the modern world Toby grapples with the reappearance of a former girlfriend, a child he never knew about and a faith shaken to its very core.

Rice’s prose is the highlight of the book. The story is nothing to get excited about and pretty stock, story within a story, within a story, within a story and so on ad infinitum Anne Rice. It’s her words, as always, that what make the book worth reading, should you choose to pick it up. One of things that has brought me back to Rice over the years is that no matter what she is writing, even the most gruesome of horror, her words are so beautiful, so magnificently put together the book is worth reading for the prose alone. In point of fact, that’s what kept me going as I plowed through Toby’s story. I found I really couldn’t care less about him, but I was caught up in Rice’s words. Sad, really, when you think about it.

Of Love and Evil is one of those books primarily for hardcore Rice fans or read for the prose alone. There is not much here, and I mean that quite literally, at 192 pages is is a slim volume by any standard, and an Amazon list price of almost $15 (and considerable higher elswhere) some people might feel a little… um… ripped off when it arrives in the mail.

Unless you loved the first of this series or are one of those died-hard fans that just must have every single thing she’s every written, I would say skip this and read one one of her earlier works if you really want an Anne Rice fix. Overall, Of Love and Evil (Songs of the Seraphim, Book 2) can be missed with no regrets.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars | Pages: 192 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

Have you ever had a nagging impulse that just won’t go away? Like making sure the front door is locked? Perhaps you can’t touch a piece of bubble wrap without popping it? Maybe you’ve had the sudden desire to sing the German version of “99 Luftballons” at a karaoke bar? Ok, probably not that last one, but most of us get the occasional urge that’s hard to quash. Now imagine that times a thousand and you start to see why life is pretty difficult for OCD afflicted Milo Slade. The 33-year-old home nurse has spent most of his life feeling like someone else is in control of his brain, and when he gets these strange compulsions, the need to comply with the demands is overwhelming. Feeling pressure to open a jelly jar or bowl a strike in the middle of the night isn’t necessarily rational, but the intense anxiety he suffers until he gives in to the demands is very real.

Even though Milo’s quirks rule his day-to-day life, no one, not even his wife Christine, knows about them. He’s hidden them from everyone, though he begins to suspect maybe he isn’t hiding them as well as he thinks. He and Christine are going through a rough patch and he begins to wonder if his compulsions are at the root of the problem.

While Milo and Christine are going through a trial separation, Milo finds some videotapes left behind in the park. They contain the emotional video diary of a young woman Milo nicknames Freckles. Milo feels a connection with Freckles and decides to track her down so he can return the secret-filled tapes. This leads Milo to break out of his routine and embark on a road trip where he meets a group of fun, quirky characters.

Kind of like Martin in Something Missing, Milo is a lovable, engaging character. Even though he does strange things like keeping jelly jars in his car and singing “99 Luftballons” at karaoke bars, he’s very relatable. The author takes you inside Milo’s head so you can get a feel for what it’s like to be him. Plus, like I said above, we all have our own individual quirks and odd habits, and that’s one of the themes of the book—that even when we don’t realize it, we’ve each done something that seems weird to other people.

The story is really funny too. Milo has an interesting perspective and, as you can imagine, his demands lead to some pretty odd situations. The oddball supporting characters are pretty funny as well, so from Milo rechristening Puggles the beagle as Skywalker to one character’s theory on how geeky guys make better husbands (that’s 100% true, by the way), I was laughing quite a bit.

If you liked Matthew Dicks’ first book, Something Missing, I highly recommend you check out Unexpectedly, Milo. I found both books to be completely charming and I can’t wait to read more from the author.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Broadway | Pages: 352 | Source: Author | Buy on Amazon

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If you’ve ever watched the TV show Monk (with Tony Shaloub), I want you to imagine Mr. Monk using his powers of observation for evil. Hilarious, right? That’s the basic premise for Something Missing, a book about a criminal suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Well, “evil” and “criminal” might be a little harsh. Martin really isn’t a bad person, he just makes his living robbing homes of things the owners will never miss—a third of a bottle of laundry detergent, a few canned vegetables, toilet paper, and the occasional heirloom. In his mind, he’s not “stealing,” just “acquiring” these things from his “clients.” In fact, he considers his clients practically friends, as he knows everything about them since he spends so much time in their homes while they are away at work. It’s this feeling of friendship that will ultimately change his life, and it all begins the day he accidentally knocks Cindy Clayton’s electric toothbrush into the toilet.

Something Missing is a charming story that I absolutely fell in love with. Its unique premise and main character were so refreshingly different than anything else I’ve read recently. Something Missing gives you a peek into Martin’s mind, and there’s a fascinating method to his madness. His rationale for targeting each particular client is brilliant and had me chuckling to myself. But more than that, I actually came to care about Martin and was really rooting for him. I found it impossible not to like what has to be the nicest criminal in history.

There’s also a sense of tension running through the book as you worry that Martin will eventually be caught in someone’s home. This meant that I simply could not put this book down until I found out how Martin’s story would end.

Besides Monk, I would also compare Something Missing to another one of my favorite books, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. If you like either of these, I highly recommend you check out Something Missing.

Quotes from Something Missing:

Martin found the Pearls’ pantry well stocked with vegetables and selected two cans of peas, a can of corn, and two large cans of whole, peeled potatoes. Had the supply of vegetables been low, he would have bypassed this item on his list, adhering to Rule #1:

If the missing item will be noticed, don’t acquire it.

Certain items could be taken from a home without anyone ever noticing, particularly if one is familiar enough with the homeowner’s inventory to determine how long a item has been in stock. A bottle of Liquid Plumber, for example, should never be taken during its first month on the shelf, because the homeowner has likely purchased it for a specific reason.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Broadway | Pages: 304 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

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 Janet Mullany puts her spin on the literary monster mashup trend with Jane and the Damned, which imagines Jane Austen as a vampire (tagline: “It’s more than her wit that’s biting.”). In this version of 18th century England, sophisticated vampires known as “the Damned” live fairly openly amongst humans. Though decent folk are scandalized by the Damned, most are fascinated by the vampires’ beauty. As a preacher’s daughter and country dweller, Jane has never seen a vampire until she attends the Basingstoke assembly with her sister Cassandra and friend Catherine Bigg, and becomes one of the Damned herself.

Abandoned by her creator, Jane is left to figure out the whole vampire thing on her own. The only known cure for vampirism are the waters at Bath, so Jane’s family takes her there with the hope of saving her. In Bath, Jane meets a charming vampire, Luke Venning, who offers to become her mentor and teach her the ways of the Damned. With the French about to invade England and throw the Austens into the middle of a war, Jane decides not to take the cure so that she can fight the French. But will she choose to remain a vampire after the war is over?

It should be no surprise that Jane Austen makes a very witty vampire (“You damned Damned.”). It was fun to see Jane forced to abandon the rigid manners and politeness of her time and embrace her bloodlust. I think Jane and the Damned does everything right—it captures the feel and romance of a Jane Austen novel without being too dry, and the vampires add to the story and spice things up without requiring you to suspend too much disbelief.

I’ve only read a few of these monster mashups, none of them featuring Jane Austen, so I’m certainly no expert. But I will say that I liked Jane and the Damned WAY more than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which I gave up on), but slightly less than Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer (one of my favorite books so far this year).

I recommend Jane and the Damned to any Jane Austen fan with a sense of humor and an appreciation of vampires.

Check out the book trailer for Jane and the Damned.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Avon | Pages: 304 | Source: Publisher | Buy on Amazon

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Here’s a first for me—I think Finny by Justin Kramon is the first book I’ve picked up solely on the basis of the book trailer. The trailer, which you can check out below, is very well done and totally captures what the book is all about, but I’ll describe it anyway. It’s a coming of age story about Delphine “Finny” Short, a spirited fourteen year old girl who likes to push people’s buttons just to see if they’ll push back. Her straight-laced family has old-fashioned expectations of how a young lady should behave and are perplexed by Finny. When she meets a neighbor her age, Earl, and his father, she is instantly taken with them because, with all their eccentricities, they are very different from her uptight family. Finny and Earl begin what will be a lifetime friendship that spans high school, college, and beyond.

Just because Finny is about a teenage girl, don’t mistake it for a Young Adult novel. The story follows Finny from her teen years until she’s in her late thirties, and it’s definitely an adult book. The thing I liked most about Finny was watching her go through the ups and downs of life. I was totally engrossed in the stories about her family, friends, and love life.

During the course of the book, Finny meets lots of interesting people—from a germaphobe to a narcoleptic to a school administrator with a sycophantic assistant—it seems like everyone in the novel has some sort of weird little personality quirk. Sometimes he takes it too far and they seem more like caricatures, but these offbeat characters add something special to the book.

So check out the book trailer and see if you become as captivated by Finny as I did.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars | Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks | Pages: 384 | Source: Purchased | Buy on Amazon

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