Put a Stake in it, Already*

Imagine the scene: Mild-mannered book lovers stand in the stacks wondering what to read next. Suddenly from behind every corner jumps a vampire crouched to attack the plots of every genre, sucking out the originality, intrigue, and, when they're very skilled (dare I say it?) writing talent from before our very eyes. Quick! Call Buffy, text Van Helsing, bring on Blade, or Anita Blake, or Jacob and his wolfish clan, but whatever you do, please, please, please: someone needs to stop the vampire takeover!

Not being much of a horror fan (I blame reading Roald Dahl's The Witches as a kid --I was terrified for weeks), I've never had much exposure to vampires. My first intro to the bloodsuckers was because I'm a sucker for humor and I'd heard good things about Christopher Moore's You Suck which was pretty funny. I wouldn't say I instantly became a convert to all things vampiric, but I enjoyed it. A year or two later, all the buzz raised my curiosity and I read the Twilight series and, no, it wasn't really my cup of tea but it seemed, much like the "vegetarian"vampires on its pages, to be relatively harmless. People were lining up in masses to read the tale of Bella, and hey...if it's something that people like to read, it's all to the good....right?

But now, everywhere I look, vampires have taken over. Every genre now seems to have an entire subgenre of vampire-driven stories. As I was looking at a book website the other evening, I noticed a forthcoming book called Wuthering Bites, part of the smash-up lit genre that's emerged (e.g., Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) where Wuthering Heights meets... of course...vampires. I'm not even reading these books and I'm tired of them. I have vampire fatigue by proxy.

If you, too, are a bit tired of the vampiric takeover of all things fiction, but still want a good read for the Halloween season, I highly recommend Audrey Niffenegger's new release, Her Fearful Symmetry, a creepy good ghost story that will haunt me for while. Other books safe for a vampire-free Halloween diet include Ghost Music and Neverwhere, or just about anything by Stephen King.

*Thanks to Scott, also sick of the vampire takeover, who graciously suggested the title of this blog post.

Big Read 2010

My husband and I have an ongoing debate about what to read: he's a strictly non-fiction kind of guy (barring the occasional dare to read fiction) and I'm largely a fiction gal. He says that if he's going to read, he wants to learn something from it. While I don't dislike non-fiction, and do read it, I tend to like the entertainment value of novels that is often (though certainly not always) absent in non-fiction and, depending on the book, I can still learn something from the novels I read. On occasion, my husband will wonder how I have a piece of trivia, knowledge of a different culture, or an understanding of a historical event that I never studied. The answer, I tell him, is fiction. When fiction -- especially historical fiction -- is done well, I leave the book not only satisfied by a good story, but also enriched by new information.

The Big Read selection for 2010 has been made and I, along with thousands of others in our community will be reading Dreamers of the Day , a historical fiction by Mary Doria Russell, an Ohio author. This story is about a teacher who comes into an inheritance that allows her to take her dream trip to Egypt and the Holy Lands just as the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference convenes (it's been so long since I took my History of the Middle East class that I had forgotten there even was such a conference -- see, I'm learning things just from the summary of a novel!). While there she meets notable figures including Lawrence of Arabia and Winston Churchill, as they piece together the boundaries of the modern Middle East, an event that, not to put too fine a point on it, has implications for the entire world every day. I'm eager to test out the knowledge I gain from this book on my husband, who teaches and researches Middle East politics. Maybe, just maybe, I can even get him to read this piece of fiction and be a part of the community discussion that the Big Read was intended to foster -- even if I have to dare him to do it.

I've Read The Lost Symbol...Now What?

What happens after all the hype dies down concerning Dan Brown's newest novel The Lost Symbol? Once you whet your appetite by reading Brown's latest, what will you read next? Don't worry! The library has you covered with more works that build upon some of common elements Brown includes in his stories. For example, check out Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, Michael Jecks' The King of Thieves and Katherine Neville's The Eight if you are interested in the Knights Templar and Freemasons. For other art history mysteries try A Finder End by Iaian Pears, Headlong by Michael Frayn and The Sixteen Pleasures by Robert Hellenga.

If the religious conspiracy aspect of Brown's novels intrigues you try The Assassini by Thomas Gifford, The Genesis Code by John Case and The Book of Q by Jonathan Rabb. The role of women in the early church is another interesting topic that comes up often in Brown's works and is also discussed in The Prophetess by Barbara Wood. Some other titles to consider are The Portrait and An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears, Daniel Silva's The Confessor and Daniel Quinn's The Story of B.

Thurber Awards for Humor

Several years ago, when I worked at Ohio State, I discovered an author whose name I'd never heard before. Maybe it was because I'd not grown up in Ohio, or maybe it was because I'm humor-challenged, or maybe it's just because I'm not the right age, but whatever the reason, I'd never heard of James Thurber. He's considered one of the best humorists of the 20th century, and I'd completely missed the boat on him until I found out that he was a Buckeye, there's a Thurber House museum in Columbus, and OSU has a special collection of rare Thurber materials

What, you're probably asking yourself right about now, is she getting at? I'm glad you asked: Not only is Thurber's work pretty funny, but each year, the Thurber House in Columbus awards the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Past recipients have included the editorial staff of The Onion for Our Dumb Century, David Sedaris for Me Talk Pretty One Day, and Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin, and David Javerbaum for America: The Book (A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction). If you've not read any of these and need a good laugh, I highly recommend all three...although there are some pictures in America that have left a permanent image in my brain I'd like to erase. (I'm just giving you fair warning...if the idea of naked Supreme Court justices is a little off-putting, be careful where you look in that book... )

I just finished reading this year's nominees for the awards and am eagerly awaiting the announcement of the winner on October 5. And the nominees are (drumroll, please...)

Sloane Crosley's I Was Told There'd Be Cake

Ian Frazier's Lamentations of the Father (the title essay is particularly funny)

Don Lee's Wrack and Ruin and

Laurie Notaro's The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal

My vote goes to Notaro's book (the title alone makes me giggle a little every time). If you're looking for a good laugh, check it out.

Oh, the giddiness, the giddiness!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...it's finally here -- the middle of September, my new favorite month! It's always been a great month (the beginning of fall, school, and the football/chili season are all big draws), but this year, a couple of books have put it over the top and I have been waiting for this for months.

First up is Dan Brown's highly anticipated The Lost Symbol, due out in just four days, on Tuesday, September 15. Now, I know that there's a lot of fuss about Dan Brown not being the greatest author to ever touch pen to paper and about his tendency to vicariously romanticize himself in his books through Robert Langdon, since many argue that Dan Brown sees Langdon as himself. I wouldn't put up an argument about that. Still, his stories are consistently interesting, entertaining, and have a fast pace that keep me hooked from the get-go.

I will definitely finish The Lost Symbol in less than a week. How can I say this for certain? Well, first of all, Brown's books are fast reads. More importantly, though, is that I need to be done because of the book that comes out one week after Brown's latest and which, I have to confess, has had me completely giddy since I heard about its release date last year: After four long years of waiting, Diana Gabaldon's seventh book in the Outlander series, An Echo in the Bone will be released. My mom got me hooked on this fascinating fantasy-romance-historical fiction series in the early 1990s. Since then, every four or five years has been punctuated for me with a burst of excitement as each new installment has been released. This book has been a long time coming. I've put my family and friends on notice that I will be taking myself out of commission for a few days so I can immerse myself in the world of Claire and Jamie. I love talking about all kinds of books with patrons who come through the library on a daily basis, but I have noticed a particular enthusiasm for this series by those who have read it. One gentleman even told me a few months ago that his wife and some of his friends were on a trip to Scotland to find Jamie! Since a trip to Scotland is not in my immediate future (it will probably have to wait until after my trip to Prince Edward Island with my daughters to find Anne), I'm going to travel through time and distance vicariously when this book comes out...soon!

Discover Demented Dexter

You may not be familiar with Jeff Lindsay's popular character, Dexter Morgan. Dexter was introduced to us in 2005 in the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Lindsay's story has made its way to television with the popular Dexter series. What is so dark about him? Well, he is a blood splatter specialist for the Miami P.D. A different career choice, but nothing inherently wrong there. He feels cut off from the rest of society to the point where he barely considers himself human. Ok, we're getting closer. He is actually a serial killer. There we go. But he is a serial killer with one rule. He only hurts those who have hurt others. And, surprisingly, he adds a bit of humor along the way.

Dexter's sister is a detective with the Miami P.D. Obviously this can only complicate matters as not only do both of them work for the police department, but they work at the same one. There are other problems such as Sgt. Doakes, who knows that something is seriously wrong with Dexter. We follow Dexter as he tries to fit in to society while fulfilling his darkest desire. Darkly Dreaming Dexter was followed by Dearly Devoted Dexter and Dexter in the Dark.

The fourth book, Dexter by Design, picks up with Dexter taking on the role of family man. His internal struggles aside, Dexter has married the one person who unknowingly acts as his shield to the rest of the world and makes him look normal. He is, of course, called back into action by a new killer who is making a mark in the Miami area. How will Dexter balance his new personal life with his enigmatic desires?

My new crush

It's nothing new to those who know me (or, let's be honest, anybody that's spent more than 10 seconds with me) that I'm a bit of a book dork. I have a hard time not peppering conversations with "Oooh -- I just read this book about..." or "I once read a book about just what you're talking about" or "I demand that you read this book right now so I have someone with whom I can talk about it." So, it should come as no surprise that I occasionally develop slight author crushes. When I grab a book by an author I'm currently in the throes of crush-ness with, I feel a giddy anticipation: Will I like this book enough to stay hooked on this author? Will we have fun together? Will I get it? Does my hair look okay?

I've developed a few of these over the years. Nick Hornby always amuses me with his wit and insights and is probably one of my longest-lasting author crushes. My latest, though, is Geraldine Brooks. When she starts writing, this woman can do no wrong. Our flirtation started with People of the Book, which I read last fall when it was nominated for the Big Read. She lured me in further with A Year of Wonders, a surprisingly uplifting novel about the plague (yes, I did just put the words "uplifting" and "plague" in the same sentence). Of course, there's also the Pulitzer Prize-winning March, the story of the absent father in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. (I'm still waiting to get my hands on that one.)

I will say, though, I'm not jealous about my crushes. I like to spread the word. So, if you've not yet read any Geraldine Brooks, what are you waiting for?