Fortune is a Woman

Fortune is a Woman, Elizabeth Adler, 1992, Delacorte Press. Genre: Women’s Pop Fiction. 433 pages. Finished 2/27/10.

LesOpinion: I’m not really sure what genre this book falls into. It’s not a classic bodice-ripping romance, and it isn’t suspenseful in the classic whodunit sense. So I called it Women’s Pop Fiction, because reading it was like watching a made-for-TV mini-series on the Lifetime Network (the men are idiots, scoundrels, or deeply flawed while the women are noble, hot, and long-suffering). It tells a fantastic tale that I suppose aspires to being referred to as “epic” since it covers continents, spans decades, and involves Chinese people. (And while the author makes sure we know Chinese immigrants were treated brutally in the U.S. at the turn of the century, she’s not above referring on more than one occasion to her Chinese characters’ faces as “enigmatic”). It was an easy read, an involving (if implausible) tale, and has a terrific twist at the end you won’t see coming.

Dumbest quote: “He was a man heading for the top and a scandalous divorce would wreck his career. And she was a scandalous woman.”

The Architect

The Architect by Keith Ablow, 2005, St. Martin’s Press. Genre: Suspense. 289 pages. Finished 2/23/10.

LesOpinion: I read this book in one day of lounging on the couch being sick. It’s what my old writing professor would have called a “small book,” meaning it didn’t have anything to say. Which is fine, because it is genre fiction and isn’t meant to do more than tell a tale of suspense. In that respect, it's better than some, worse than others. If this book were a movie, I’d say spare yourself the full ticket price and the DVD rental and wait for it to come to television, where sure, the sex scenes would be edited, but then you need only refer to the “dumbest quote” under my entry for Ablow’s Compulsion to see what you would be missing if they were.

Compulsion

Compulsion by Keith Ablow, 2002, St. Martin’s Press. Genre: Suspense. 321 pages. Finished 2/22/10.

LesOpinion: You ever feel like an author is such an arrogant douche that his hero is probably just the same guy, only people like him and women will sleep with him? Welcome to the wacky world of Keith Ablow/Frank Clevenger: bald, black-turtleneck-wearing, forensic psychiatrists.

Dumbest quote: “Her olive skin, full lips, and deep brown eyes steadied me. Something ugly inside me has always retreated in the face of feminine beauty.”

The Blade Itself

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, 2007, Pyr/Promtheus Books. Genre: Fantasy. 527 pages. Finished 2/21/10.

LesOpinion: While the characters are largely one-dimensional and the prose could use a trim, it tells a good story and builds suspense well. The fight scenes are great fun. It is clearly part one of a three-part (?) series. I’d read the other two for the entertainment.

Best word: gormless. Lacking in vitality or intelligence; stupid, dull, or clumsy.

Best quote: “Once you’ve got a task to do, it’s better to do it than to live with the fear of it.”

Wake Up, LesBlog. We've Got Work to Do.

Today, Friday, February 19, 2010, I embark upon the journey of reading every book on the fiction shelves of the Field Memorial Library, Elm Street, Conway, Massachusetts. A few rules apply:
1. If I’ve already read the book at a different time, I can choose to re-read it or not.
2. I will check books out in chunks, moving alphabetically by author. But I have the freedom to read books written by the same author in chronological order.
3. I do not have to read the books in strict alphabetical order once I have them at home.
4. I have to read the entire book. Even if it sucks.
5. I will go back (to the best of my ability) through the shelves to find books that have been returned or added to the collection since I moved past their slot. I can only do this within reason and should not be expected to obsess over it.