Cannonball Read 2 #21: Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

In short, Silence of the Lambs is the story of a young, ambitious FBI agent-in-training who teams up with a dangerous and psychopathic incarcerated genius in order to stop a serial killer. The book is mostly from the perspective of Clarice Starling, a young woman in the Quantico training program who wants to become a profiler with the FBI. She is sent by Jack Crawford--head of Quantico's profiling program--to speak with famed serial killing psychologist Hannibal Lector, ostensibly to try and persuade him to fill out a survey for research purposes. Dr. Lector quickly begins a cat and mouse game with Starling, and hints to her that he knows the identity of the serial killer "Buffalo Bill" who is plaguing the FBI by kidnapping and skinning young women. The story continues as Clarice tries to balance using Dr. Lector with being used by him for his own purposes. It also follows the hunt for "Buffalo Bill" and the struggles of his latest hostage.

The book is quite captivating, and the character of Clarice is very well drawn. However, the star of the novel is definitely "Hannibal the Cannibal," arguably the most fascinating fictional psychopath in literary history. His interactions with Clarice are very much a highlight of the book--in fact, at several points I found myself longing to skip ahead (past the procedural hunt for the at-large killer) to their next meeting. Although Lector is not "on-stage" at all times, his presence is felt at all times. The relationship between the two main characters is much more fascinating than the question of whether or not "Bill" will be captured before he kills his hostage.
I have read Harris's follow-ups (both sequel and prequel) and frankly compared to Silence of the Lambs they are both okay, but nothing particularly special.


It's difficult to read this book without considering the Oscar-sweeping film version starring Jodie Foster and Sir Anthony Hopkins. It is amazing to me how closely the film follows the novel--though some small changes have been made and a few minor things left out, the movie doesn't suffer in the slightest. The performances (particularly Foster and Hopkins) are stunning and deserving of the accolades they received. Foster is excellent as Starling, a hard-nosed young woman desperate to make something more of herself than her white-trash small town past. And Hopkins is stunning as Lector; he is the epitome of courtly menace, of a brilliant mind corrupted yet still sharp. The entire supporting cast are equally good in their parts, particularly Ted Levine as the totally disturbing "Buffalo Bill."

I'd highly recommend both the novel and the film to anyone, though those who are delicate about violence should probably skip them.

Cannonball Read 2 #18 - 20: Sookie Stackhouse books 5 - 7 by Charlaine Harris

(I'm pretty sure this format doesn't really measure up to the true Cannonball rules, but since I didn't qualify to get in, who fucking cares?)

These books are crack. CRACK.

There's werewolves and and shape-shifters and faeries (and Sookie might maybe be partly fairy) and one of the faeries is actually her fairy godmother because she's trying to become and angel and Sookie and Bill break up FOR GOOD THIS TIME and Sookie gets the crap kicked out of her and almost dies like five more times and she dates a were-tiger and meets the Queen and perhaps murders somebody and gets kidnapped and meets up with fellow telepath Barry the Bellboy, and there is intrigue and politics and some witches and a guy who accidentally gets turned into a cat and Jason is a werepanther and he gets married and moves out to weird inbred Hotshot and Arlene joins the fellowship and Sam is still hot in a vague non-threatening way and Sookie's house catches fire and there's an assassin and a pirate and vampire trials and a for-real Ballroom Blitz, and there are trips out of Bon Temps and and hurricane aftermath and a vampire convention and there are MURDERS and EXPLOSIONS and TERRORISM and HOT VIKING VAMPIRE ERIK and IT IS ALL JUST TOO MUCH BUT I LOVE THEM SO!

And I've ordered number 8 but numbers 9 and 10 are on pre-order and they don't come out for a while and I am going to have wait and i'm not sure that i can stand to wait to find out when Sookie and HOT VIKING VAMPIRE ERIK get together because they are so going to get together because how could they NOT....

oh Charlaine Harris, why can't you just write Sookie stories 24-7 instead of writing the, like, 5 other series you also write?

MUST HAVE MORE SOOKIE GODDAMMIT!

*twitch twitch twitch*

*drools*

*faints*

Cannonball Read 2 #17: Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

While I await with baited breath the arrival of my new Sookie books, I got hold of a book from another of Charlaine Harris's series, this time Grave Sight from her Harper Connolly mysteries.

Harper Connolly, like Sookie Stackhouse, has a dubious gift: after being struck by lightning as a teenager, she has the ability to sense dead bodies and see what killed them. She's found a way to use this talent to make a living, travelling the country with her step-brother Tolliver, locating bodies for both law enforcement and private citizens. The trouble in this story begins when she and Tolliver arrive in the small town of Sarne, tasked with locating the body of a wild young girl thought to have been killed by her boyfriend. Harper finds the body, but doing so sets in motion a deadly series of events in Sarne. It seems like everyone in town is involved somehow, and Harper and Tolliver will be lucky to get out of town alive.

I liked the character of Harper, though I think she will likely become better developed as the series goes on--I felt like there was a lot of exposition to this book, a lot of setting up a life that will be explored later on. The mystery was relatively good, though I figured it out about 50 pages before the end. I'll definitely read more of Charlaine Harris's work, since everything I've read so far--while not particularly edifying--has been highly entertaining.

Cannonball Read 2 #16: Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History by Denise Gess

In October of 1871, a variety of circumstances combined in an unforeseen manner to create of of the most deadly quasi-natural disasters in American history. On the same night as the Great Chicago Fire, a small town in Wisconsin just north of Green Bay named Peshtigo (as well as the surrounding small villages, woods, and farmlands) was struck by a five-mile wide wall of fire, containing within it flying balls, waves, and tornadoes of flame. Between 1200 and 2500 people died, and 1.5 million acres of land were laid to waste.

The book tells not only the stories of the survivors of the disaster, but also of the men and women who heroically took charge to help out, the barons of industry whose greed made the conditions needed for the fire possible, and the men of the US's fledgling weather service whose warnings went unheeded.

The book is very well-researched, and includes a great many reference notes in the back which add to its informative nature. Although I found the book slightly less personally-effecting than previous fire books I've read, it was an interesting glimpse into a period and regain of American history that I'm not especially familiar with. The going can be a bit slow, but on the whole I'd recommend it to any history/disaster buff.

Cannonball Read 2 #15: Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie

After that godawful Hercule Poirot novel, I had to put down the Christie for a while. I couldn't quite forgive her for that monstrosity. Then Murder is Easy appeared on my Amazon "recommended" list, and I figured I'd give her another go.

Murder is Easy is the story of Luke Fitzwilliam, a British MP retiring from service and returning to England. During his trip home, he is told a story of serial murder disguised as accidental deaths in an idyllic village. He doesn't believe it, but when the elderly lady who told him the tale turns up dead, he can't resist investigating. He travels to the village, only to be met by a puzzling mystery, eccentric villagers, and a beautiful but contrary young woman. He has to interview everyone, trying to decide whom he suspects--is it the humble country doctor? The occult-obsessed shopkeeper? The shady lawyer? The blustery bull-dog enthusiast? Someone else entirely?--and keep himself from becoming the next victim.

The story moved along quickly and was quite twisty and interesting. The mystery itself wasn't easy to solve--I got almost to the end before I figured out who'd done it--which was great, although the romantic subplot was a little forced. On the whole, it was a quick and engaging read.

Cannonball Read 2 #14: Hearts In Atlantis by Stephen King

Hearts in Atlantis is a collection of five stories, interconnected by characters and events. The first story, "Low Men in Yellow Coats" is the most "King-like" of the group--is is simultaneously nostalgic and creepy, a combination of the wonder of childhood and the darkness that comes with the loss of innocence. King's descriptions are as whimsical and interesting as ever, although the plot would lose something for anyone who hasn't read the "Gunslinger" novels.

The other four stories continue forward from 1960, watching a cast of characters weave in and out of the action, peripheral perhaps in one story, main characters in the next. The events span the course of 40 years, and the structure sometimes reminds me of IT, in that the characters are still being effected by barely-remembered events that happened in their childhoods.

On the whole I enjoyed the book, though it was not exactly what I expected. I would say it most closely resembles Different Seasons, in that the stories contained within run the gamut from extremely good to somewhat clunky and dull. I think in some places King was overreaching in order to fit the stories together. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to someone who prefers his or her books very plot driven, but it might be good for a person who enjoys reading for its own sake.

Cannonball Read 2 #11 - 13: Sookie Stackhouse 2 - 4 by Charlaine Harris

These darned Sookie Stackhouse book are worse than I first thought--they are NOT like pork rinds, they are like CRACK. I gobbled down three of them during the holidays and found myself raving and drooling until I broke down and ordered #5 - 7.

Sookie's life continues to get weirder--she discovers there are many more supernatural creatures besides vampires in the world, including werewolves, shape-shifters, maenads, fairies, and some she can't even identify. She travels around the south meeting the vampire king of Louisiana, a suicidal vampire, a werewolf biker gang, some religious fanatics, a coven of brutal witches, and even another telepath. She finds dead bodies, gets beaten up, dodges killers, has relationship problems, makes new friends, kicks some ass, and gets more entangled with her boyfriend Vampire Bill's sexy boss Eric than she'd like to be.

Each book is a fun, trashy, roller-coaster ride. The character of Sookie is well-defined, and as you continue through the series, the residents of the small town of Bon Temps--as well as the members of the local vampire community--start to become familiar friends. On the whole, these are fun, entertaining books. If it were summer I'd say they're beach reads, but as it is they are a great way to liven up a long bus ride or spend a few hours on the sofa wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket.

Cannonball Read 2 #10: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

When I got this book, knowing it was written by Mel Brooks's son Max, I expected it to be funny. I started reading, and by the time I realized it was not going to be funny, I was already hooked.

The story of World War Z is written 10 years after "The Zombie War," and the character of the author (separate from the actual author) is travelling around the world gathering first-hand experiences from the war's survivors. He interviews people from all walks of life--doctors, politicians, artists, soldiers, members of the media, and ordinary citizens--about what happened to them and how they survived having the dead rise up to devour the living. He begins with a doctor who sees what may have been "patient zero" in China, then continues around the world, tracking the rising plague and the reactions of the world leaders, the "Great Panic" which occurred once the problem became to large to ignore, suppress, or cover up, through the first battles of the "war," and ending with the reconstruction phase as well as predictions for the future.

Max Brooks has done a stellar job with this book--it reads exactly like a non-fiction work, right down to the footnotes regarding films, books, political actions, and technology...despite the fact that none of those things really existed. His characters seem very real, and the actions of both regular people and governments all seem disturbingly plausible. Not all of his characters are great people--one is a doctor who performed black-market organ transplants, one is a businessman who made his fortune on a false "vaccine," one is a cold-blooded mercenary--but each has his or her own viewpoint and opinion to share. The book is incredibly detailed and realistic--after reading alone in the house one afternoon, I strongly expected to walk outside and see the after-effects of the zombie war.

This book is fantastic, but when I heard it had been optioned for a film, I was very disappointed. Hollywood is bound to screw it up because I doubt they actually understand it. Their first inclination will likely be to hand it to someone like Michael Bay and make a 2.5 hour action film out of it. Unfortunately, the Romero treatment--although fantastic in its place--will be exactly the wrong way to go about this. What it really needs to to be given to Ken Burns and made into a mini series (perhaps by Syfy...who despite their stupid name have done several things recently--namely Tinman and Alice--which have been very well done) along the lines of his "Civil War" series. The book is written not as a film but as a documentary, and that's how it would be better presented. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, I highly recommend this book to everyone. It may be a bit gory for those with delicate constitutions, but it's so worth it.

Cannonball Read 2 #9: In the Wake of Madness: The Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon by Joan Druett

In the Wake of Madness is another entry into my beloved maritime disasters series, though this one isn't necessarily a disaster so much as it is the tale of cruelty, mutiny, and murder on a New England whaling ship.

In 1841, the whaleship Sharon left Fairhaven Massachusetts under the control of Captain Howes Norris. A year later, he was murdered by three Pacific Islanders (who had joined the crew after unprecedented desertions throughout the trip) while the rest of the crew were out whaling. The third mate launched a heroic rescue to re-take the ship from the Islanders, and although that dramatic experience was widely publicized, little was said a the time regarding the reasons behind the murder. Racism at the time, as well as the traditional code of silence among sailors, made the easiest answer--the Pacific Islanders just went crazy because that's what "those people" do--the accepted answer. The author attempts to explain the murder by researching journals written by the crew, as well as combining other evidence to build a picture of a power-crazed, violent man who was frustrated by his failure to capture enough whales and haunted by difficulties on previous voyages. She posits that Captain Norris was killed because he terrorized his crew--going so far as to beat a young black steward to death--and because of their race, the Pacific Islanders had feared for their lives during some still unexplained confrontation with Norris. Although the full truth will never be known, since the only men who knew all died without ever confessing, Joan Druett does a very good job at presenting her case along with evidence that supports her theories.

On the whole, a good, well-written, well-researched book, but with nothing particularly spectacular to add to the genre. There is quite a bit of extra information regarding the whaling industry of the mid-nineteenth century, which is fascinating. I'd recommend it only to someone who is already interested in the subject.

Cannonball Read 2 #8: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Dead Until Dark is the first of the Sookie Stackhouse series, better known as the basis for HBO's show True Blood. I started watching the show earlier this year and became absolutely hooked on it. Dead Until Dark introduces the characters and the world (and is the basis for season 1 of the show.)

Sookie is a waitress in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. She is a pretty girl who lives with her grandmother, and is mostly normal except for the fact that she is telepathic. Being able to read the minds of others has made her life especially complicated, keeping her from being able to date or have any real close friends. In Sookie's world, vampires are real, have just come "out of the coffin" and are trying to join mainstream society. Most of them either drink synthetic blood or feed from willing hosts, however many "normal" people are still fearful or distrusting. One day, a vampire named Bill walks into Merlotte's, the bar where Sookie works, and sets in motion a series of events that will change her life forever.

To me, this book is the literary equivalent of pork rinds: They contain absolutely no nutritional value, are mostly air and fat, are embarrassing to be seen eating, but ohhh mmmm delicious...where did that whole bag go? This is a trashy mystery/romance novel with vampires--I'd guess it's like Twilight except there is a bunch of steamy sex and Sookie isn't a wishy-washy dishrag of a human. I enjoyed the characters and the settings, and I found Sookie's voice engaging (benefit over the show: you don't have to hear Anna Paquin trill "Biiiiiiiiiiill" over and over in a tone strangely similar to having a dental drill applied directly to your eardrum.) I am extremely anxious to get hold of the next books in the series and can't wait to read the further adventures of Sookie: Psychic Waitress.