Morbid Romantic

Book Review & Personal Blog

I am getting way in over my head with the number of books I am currently reading. I think the unofficial tally is now seven. Granted, two are my ‘Barnes & Noble’ books: Medicus by Ruth Downie and The Last Wife of Henry VIII by Carolly Erickson. My ‘Barnes & Noble’ books I don’t own and instead use as an excuse to get out of the head, go to a book store, have a coffee and read. I can usually fit one or two days a week aside to do this for a few hours, which gives me a few chapters in one of the two. Whichever one I find first is the one I open. And yes, I even have a small notepad in my purse where I jot down the page I left off on in case I forget. After all, I can’t put a bookmark in and return to it at a later date. I am at chapter 30 of Medicus and only around chapter 7 of The Last Wife because every book store is always out of it.

My problem is that I have a habit of starting another book before finishing some of the others. It has become quite a test of my memory to stay on track with all of the various plots and characters I am encountering. I have to ask myself things like, “Was it Russo the Roman doctor who said this or Sookie the telepathic waitress?” Years of reading for school has birthed in me an insatiable craving to read as many ‘pleasure’ books as possible. I just can’t but consume them without regard to sequence.

Dead to the World I couldn’t help start because I am full on Eric addicted and not at all ashamed to admit it. I am reading A Rumor of War very slowly because it’s my right before bed book and I a read a bit of it before turning out the lights. The Vampire Queen’s Servant and The Other Boleyn Girl are two books I read the occasional one or two chapters from a day. I have an interesting mix of fiction and nonfiction with books about vampires, English royalty, erotic pirates, BDSM, and Roman doctors in Britain.

Fortunately for me, I am about done with two of them and halfway through a third. I think that once I stop those three, I won’t pick up another one and will instead attempt to finish the rest of the ‘currently’ reading pile. I need to start cleaning out the list, too, to make room for some of my challenge books. Naturally, I will end up in this predicament again. Like I said, I can’t help myself.

This week at Thursday’s Thoughts: You are hosting a dinner party and shall be inviting 6 historical/famous people. Who would you invite and why?

1.) Augustus
He is without a doubt my favorite historical figure. I think I would be in awe to meet THE Octavian Augustus Caesar. I would love for him to regal me with stories of Rome. I would very much like to talk to him about life during the Pax Romana. This is the man who boasted that he turned Rome into marble! The Sovereign of Rome. I can imagine how impressive his presence would be, though historical sources indicate that he was quite a serene figure in real life. He could tell me about Rome and that’s what I desire. I want to know about this place I would love to live in and at.

2.) Lyndon B. Johnson
One of my favorite US presidents. I am a hardcore supporter and defender of the legacy of LBJ. I know he got a bad wrap for the disaster that was Vietnam, but I think this unfortunately shadows his many achievements such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. LBJ did a lot of great things for our country. Plus, with his obscene sense of humor, he would tell a lot of fun and dirty jokes.

3.) Marquis de Sade
Pure perversion. A libertine at its finest. There’s something smooth about the nature of the Marquis de Sade, like a quiet but obvious sickness. I think he would have the air of someone always amused, always thinking something positively insane and perverted in his head. I would hope he would share some of that French charm with the guests.

4.) Alexander the Great
Who wouldn’t want a man who conquered the known world in his early 30s? The stories he could tell of his conquests, the things he has seen and done, would leave little for comparison. To have him at the table with Augustus would be a treat.

5.) Anne Rice
She’s my favorite author, first off. For all that she has done in recent years, Mrs. Rice is a very intelligent woman… even if she doesn’t act that way all of the time. I also think that she would have a lot of great questions to ask the historical figures because she is a historian herself.

6.) Vlad Tepes
Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let him choose any of the dinner entertainment. I’m sick, I know, but I think him being there would provide a certain… edge to the dinner. Given his nature, though, I am sure he would very hard to please. Nonetheless, I would love to have a conversation with him about his beliefs and why he chose to do the many disturbing things he did.

I won Alafair Burke’s Angel’s Tip over at Lori’s Reading Corner

It is actually part two in a series, but the reviews that I read said that reading book one isn’t essential to understand book two. Still, I might find a copy and read it just to be prepared. Plus, I’m the type that can’t just cut in a series. I have to know it ALL. I’m excited to read this one because it’s murder/thriller/mystery. I’ve been reading horror books and nonfiction historical books too long that there’s a lot I’m missing out there. This is me returning to the world of pleasure reading and loving it so far.

Oh, and I take my GRE today at 1pm. I’m so nervous.

I just won The Book Thief by Markus Zusak from Debbie’s World. Since the book takes place during and around WWII, I can use this for the War Through the Generations reading challenge. I was hoping to find more ‘fiction’ for the challenge. I have a lot of nonfiction about WWII, but it’s my goal to experience as much historical fiction as I can before I go back to school for my Master’s degree. I will get TONS of historical nonfiction then.

Will review, naturally!

• What songs … either specific songs, or songs in general by a specific group or writer … have words that you love?
• Why?
• And … do the tunes that go with the fantastic lyrics live up to them?

The band Depeche Mode makes songs with lyrics that I love. Their lyrics are a beautiful combination of romance, violence, poetry, blasphemy, seduction, pure eroticism, and intelligence. And sometimes I just feel purely exhilarated by what is being said. But I guess that has something to do with the way the words, the ideas they express, seduce me. I also like their lyrics because they make sense to me; the lyrics speak perfectly of the world in just the way that I see it. I guess you could say that I “get” it beyond the superficial sounds of words strung together to make a phrase.

For example:

Sex jibe husband murders wife
Bomb blast victim fights for life
Girl thirteen attacked with knife
Princess Di is wearing a new dress
…
You can’t change the world
But you can change the facts
And when you change the facts
You change points of view
If you change points of view
You may change a vote
And when you change a vote
You may change the world

- New Dress

This song is taking a stab at the media. You have all of these serious issues of violence and hatred, yet just as important to people is something so superficial as something someone famous is wearing. The media is probably the major influence of people’s thoughts and opinions, and it’s not always for the best. People need to become more informed and less influenced by biased opinions. It’s only through knowing the world can we change it.

Sitting target
Sitting praying
God is saying
Nothing

- Nothing

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. Here a person (man or woman) sits, trying to figure out the world, in faith. Yet, there’s nothing but silence in response.

I look to you
How you carry on
When all hope is gone
Can’t you see
Your optimistic eyes
Seem like paradise
To someone like me

- Black Celebration

At the end of a boring, droll day, a person who has no reason to feel happy finds happiness in someone else. It’s like salvation, like a bright light when everything around is dark. It’s that one thing someone clings to to keep their own sanity.

I don’t want to start
Any blasphemous rumours
But I think that God’s
Got a sick sense of humor
And when I die
I expect to find Him laughing

- Blasphemous Rumours

Yeah, I have felt like this, too. Sometimes I just look up at the sky and go, “really?” I’m convinced I am at the butt of some grand cosmic joke. You can’t make me believe anything other than that I am the source of amusement and nothing more.

The above are just a sampling of Depeche Mode. On my iPod alone I have over 400 songs and remixes. Not only are their lyrics incredible, but I love their complex electronic sound. Music today just isn’t made to the same quality, I tell you. It’s a very heavy, layered sound, and undeniably electronic/new wave. Even without the lyrics, I would still be seduced by the sound of their songs. A Depeche Mode instrumental is still some top quality stuff. The sounds are always tinted with a bit of darkness, too, which is why this band was so popular with the Goth scene. Their music isn’t superficial or silly in lyric or in composition.

Author(s): Charlaine Harris
Genre: Fiction – Paranormal
Tags: vampire, new orleans, telepathy, shape shifting, louisiana, romance, horror, mystery, murder, blood, sookie stackhouse, bill compton, true blood, werewolves
Finished: January 14, 2009
Rating: 5 Stars

Review:

Club Dead is my favorite of the series so far. When the book begins, Bill, who has been working on a ‘secret’ project, has been kidnapped and is being held hostage in Mississippi for his secrets. Much to Sookie’s dislike, Bill had also been recently shacked up with his maker, who he subsequently planned on leaving Sookie for before he was betrayed by said maker. What a mess, right? But what else could or would a fan of the Southern Vampire Mysteries expect?

Despite Bill’s betrayal, Sookie, with the help of a werewolf, heads off to Mississippi to find Bill. There’s a lot of drama, a lot of arguing, a lot of mystery and a lot passion. Bodies pile up and violence increases as the story goes on. Werewolves and shape shifters are very important in this third book, which is great in making the Southern Vampire Mysteries about more than just vampires. Sookie’s world is indeed full of the paranormal and supernatural. It’s a wonder a girl can get any peace, which doesn’t seem to bless Sookie often. The mystery that enfolds Bill and his kidnapping isn’t that intricate or hard to solve. It almost seems to happen too easy, which is forgivable because the book is just so entertaining. In the end, I didn’t mind that Sookie was all but able to just ease Bill out from under his captors and rescue him because there was drama and tension everywhere else. The build-up was not in her rescuing Bill, but in her finding him. The climax of tension was in her getting to the house and finding a way to save him, not the rescue.

Eric makes a much larger appearance in this third book, which I feel really adds to it. You can’t deny that there is some great chemistry between Eric and Sookie. Then again, it just could be because I think the two of them would make an excellent couple and have a more interesting dynamic than other couplings in the books. This book has solidified my respect for Eric. Sure, he comes on strong and hard, often times a bit cold, but he’s actually quite charming and funny. If anything in this book made me laugh, it was some of what came out of his mouth.

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