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Did you know that author, David Sedaris, has a soft spot for spiders? He took Japanese classes in Tokyo? One of his closest friends used to be an old lady in his apartment building?

When You Are Engulfed in Flames (Little Brown and Company, 2008) by David Sedaris is a series of autobiographical stories, covering Sedaris’ life in Paris, Normandy and New York, his eccentric family and his comedic strategy to quit smoking which included an extended vacation in Tokyo.

This novel is genuine, heartfelt and entertaining to say the least. Readers see Sedaris at his worst, like the time his apartment in Paris had no water and he needed a cup of coffee so badly he used water out of a vase, which was holding flowers his significant other hand picked for him! And at his best, like when he befriends a community of spiders in his apartment, names them, feeds them and even decides he can’t travel without them. His antics are unpredictable and spontaneous. Also, they’re usually quite funny. At times, this novel feels like a comedy routine.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames explores many different eras in Sedaris’ life, from childhood through present time. He spends several chapters of the book explaining his struggles with smoking. Smokers, put down that self help book, buy Sedaris’ novel and read it! He wasn’t always keen on smoking—he hated it when his older sister started. But something happened when he became an adult, and nicotine grabbed a hold of him and he couldn’t stop. What does he do? He goes to Tokyo. No, we can’t all go to Tokyo to quit a bad habit, but his novel is still a great resource for reading about the trials and tribulations one goes through when quitting. If David Sedaris can quit, anyone can.

Extras by Scott Westerfeld is  the fourth book of his series, following Uglies, Pretties and Specials. It is a futuristic, sci fi action/adventure novel for young adult readers.  Although it falls under the YA genre, pre-teens, as well as, fifty somethings will enjoy this book.  Unlike the other three novels, which featured a young girl named Tally Youngblood, Extras is the story of Aya Fuse, a fifteen-year-old Japanese girl.  The world she lives in is called a “reputation economy,” in which how popular you are decides your wealth. Each person has a “face rank,” and has your rank gets higher (meaning you are becoming more popular), you are given more things, such as a larger house, more clothes, invitations to parties, etc… The way you become popular, as it is in today’s society, is based on how much people talk about you.  Hovercams float in the air, constantly filming and recording everyone.

Cliques are one of the foundations of this society. “Tech Heads” (those obsessed with technology), “Surge Monkeys” (those obsessed with plastic surgery) and “Kickers” (those obsessed with posting stories to get famous) are a few of the many cliques. Aya is a kicker and she believes this is her way to get into The Top Thousand, the thousand most popular/famous people.  Aya thinks she’s onto something when she meets The Sly Girls, a mysterious clique of girls who get their thrills from pulling off insane tricks with their hoverboards.   Aya’s mission is to befriend The Sly Girls and “kick” their story.  But the Sly Girls don’t want to be famous. Aya must keep their existence a secret. She does this, until they find something…something dangerous…something they believe could destroy their whole world.  Aya’s inner journalist forces her to kick the story, in order to save the world.  Before she has time to celebreate her new found fame, her story prompts the “bad guys” to come after her.  When it seems like all hope is lost, the most famous person, who has literally dropped off the map, sends  Aya a message and comes to her rescue. Tally Youngblood returns. Tally, who possesses supernatural powers from her many transformations and surgeries, helps  Aya and her friends battle against these unknown people (or are they aliens?) But what is Aya supposed to do when she realizes they may have been wrong?

Extras  is a fantastic novel. Westerfeld’s exaggeration of reality is a bit frightening–a world of hoverboards, floating mansions and constant supervision does not seem far fetched. However eerie, Westefeld’s story is action packed, engrossing and a must read!

Over the last several months, I have read the acclaimed Twilight series (Twilight, New Moon,  Eclipse and Breaking Dawn -Little, Brown  Young Readers).  Many of you know the story….boy meets girl…boy is a vampire, girl is a human…. girl’s friends dislike her “freaky” boyfriend, girl’s dad dislikes him even more…an impossible love story begins to unfold. The first book of the series (reviewed 10/ 27/ 08) is ripe with angst and suspicion as high school students, Bella and Edward,  fall for each other and Bella begins to realize what Edward really is. Spunky and unafriad, Bella pursues Edward and they attempt a normall teenage romance. But a normal love life is impossible for Bella when her boyfriend disappears for days to “feed” (he hunts animals, because he is a vegetarian vampire), her boyfriend is faster, stronger (and older) than anyone she has ever met, and she can’t tell anyone! However, Bella isn’t the only one in town who knows Edward’s secret. Family friend, Jake, knows all about Edward and his nomadic vampire family, for Jake has a secret of his own. And this foreshadowing drew me to book 2.

Like most middle books in a series, the second and third book lost a little of the verve which made book 1 so interesting. Despite that, I enjoyed the introduction of new characters, new relationships and new other worldly phenomenons. For all those readers who swooned over Edward in the first book, you probably aren’t going to like Book 2 as he is absent  for most of it. He decides it is better to leave Bella because it’s too dangerous for her.  Not only could he accidentally kill her at any moment, but her knowledge of the vampire world puts her at great risk. In her months of despair after their break up, she turns to Jake, who provides a shoulder to cry on and a platonic but complicated relationship begins. Jake, member of the Quilette tribe, confides in Bella that the legend of the werewolf runs deep in his tribe. So deep in fact  that he was physically transforming into a werewolf /human . He’s no “full-moon werewolf” but more of a human who transforms into a werewolf in order to fight and protect. As Bella digests this information, Edward sees a distorted vision of Bella and believes she has died. He finds his life meaningless without her and plans to get himself killed by the Volturi, vampire royalty located in Italy.   When she hears about this, Bella races to Italy to save Edward.  Edward and Bella reunite, leaving Jake alone. Book 3 focuses on the strained realtionship between Bella and Jake.  Despite their fighting, they must all work together as an army of newborn vampires are attacking the city. The vampire family and the werewolf pack must stand together in a fight against these relentless vampires.

The fourth installment of this series is probably the best, strictly for the reason that one section is written from Jake’s perspective. Books 1-3 were from Bella’s perspective and in the fourth book, we finally get a different point of view. Edward and Bella  have a child which is half human, half vampire. Their life could not have been more blissful until a vampire friend of theirs, Irina, comes to town and spots their new child. But Irina does not see a beautiful young child; she thinks she sees an “immortal child.”  The creation of  an “immortal child” is against vampire law, punishable only be death. Irina convinces the Volutri to pay Edward and Bella a visit.  With their life on the line, Edward and Bella begin to prepare for  what could be a deathly battle. The confrontation between the two parties was a little anti-climatic but the visual  scene depicted by author, Stephanie Meyer, was mystical and poetic.

Although at times the plotline hitches, I still very much enjoyed reading about her magical, unpredictable characters and I was always eager to know what was going to happen next. The Twilight series is a great summer read for teeangers and adults.

I am not an avid comic book reader, but I found The Watchmen to be an extremely thrilling, dramatic book.  Reading a comic is a completely different experience from reading a novel–the illustrations provide the symbolism, foreshadowing and themes while the dialogue is more specific, relaying “need to know” information. Sometimes I find authors can be too wordy, so it’s interesting to read something in which every word is necessary. But reading is only half of the comic book experience–readers must pay close attention to the illustrations, as there are always elements one may not see at first glance.  Dave Gibbons and John Higgins created explosive depictions of Alan Moore’s story.

The Watchmen starts out with a bang as two NYC detectives are investigating the murder of Eddie Blake, better known as The Comedian, a masked adventurer (superhero). Who would have done such a thing? Political reasons? Afterall, Blake had been working for Nixon for several years and as we later find out Blake is a bit of a hot head. But still, who would want to attempt to kill one of America’s superheros? As the detectives follow their leads, another hero by the name of Rorschach-also known as Walter Kovacs–(named this due to his ever changing ink blot mask) has a bad feeling about this murder and takes it upon himself to solve the mystery. Rorscach’s journal entries become a staple throughout the comic, allowing the readers to get an inside view into Rorscach’s cynical and bitter mind. As Rorscach tries to unravel the meaning of Blake’s murder, we meet other famed heroes: Nite Owl–Dan Drieber–he is the second Nite Owl, replacing the original Nite Owl (Hollis Mason) when he retired; Silk Spectre–Laurie Juspeczyk–daughter of the original Silk Spectre; Dr. Manhatten–John–a scientist who suffered a terrible accident in his 30s, making him the only superhero with actual superpwers.  He can teleport, deconstruct particles with his mind, grow in size, etc.. The final superhero in the bunch is Ozymandias–Adrian Veidt–now a successful business man who was dubbed “the smartest man in America.”

All these heroes have been in active for some time due to political and personal reasons. Rorscach visits all his old superhero buddies to explain his theory on Blake’s death. He believes someone wants to eliminate all the masked adventurers for some bigger cause. Initially, many of them are skeptical but the disapperance of another one of their own, as well as, some influential painters and writers and a frame job that lands Rorscach in jail, opens their eyes and they re-unite to, as corny as it sounds, “save the world.”

Throughout the novel, Moore offers intimate flashbacks on each of the superheroes including the previous generation of heroes. Readers begin to understand each heroes personality and how fitting their superhero alter ego is. Some of the heroes entered the dangerous world of adventuring through their passion to help others, some out of obligation and others out of greed.

Moore also incorporates the cultural phenomenon of 1980s America. Vietnam was over but the Cold War was still raging on, the Russians were talking about nuclear warfar and the city streets were filled with drugs and violence.

The Watchmen offers an exciting plotline, honest and multi dimensional characters and makes for a terrific read, even if you’re not into comic books.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, 2007)  is quite frankly one of the best novels I have ever had the pleasure to read.  In essence, The Kite Runner is about the friendship between two young boys , Amir and Hassan, in Afghanistan. But the novel runs much deeper than that.

The novel begins in the 1970s and ends at present time, following the boys through childhood, adolescence and adult hood. One of the most amazing aspects of this novel is how Amir and Hassan’s friendship parallels with the political and economic turmoil Afhanistan endures during the 20 plus year span of this novel.

Amir’s father is a wealthy man in the city and somewhat famous for his investment in an orphange, while Hasaan’s father is a servant; in fact, he serves Amir’s family. Therefore, Amir and Hasaan’s friendship is somewhat taboo. Other Afghans, especially the wealthy families, find their relationship ridculous. Hasaan unwavers in his loyalty to Amir and his family. So much so, that he is victim to sexual assault all to protect Amir. Although Amir is aware of the situation; he can not find the courage to tell anyone. This guilt eats away at him for years; it even forces him to frame Hassan, thus resulting in Hassan and his father moving out of the house. Amir never sees them again, until he receives a  phone call from an old family friend, begging him to come home, back to Afghanistan. Amir had been living in San Francisco with his wife, pursuing a career in writing. Although hesitant to return home; he decides he must. Once there he discovers that Hasaan has been killed by the Taliban and has left a son behind. He decides he must find this boy and bring him home to America. While back in Afghanistan, Amir is disgusted at what Afghanistan has become and is determined to fulfill his mission out of the loyalty he owed Hassan.

Hosseini writes disturbing and emotionally heavy scenes which left me completey speechless and spellbound. The Kite Runner is one of those novels that haunts you after you put it down. Several times when I was reading this book out in public, a stranger approached me to discuss it. And I think that is the best compliment an author can receive–the absolute need to dialogue about the novel they created.

Anne Frank is amazing–her story, her journey, her wisdom, her everything.  Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl follows Anne, her sister Margot, her parents, another family of three–the Van Daan’s, and a dentist named Mr. Dussell, as they attempt to survive the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. They lived in a place dubbed “The Secret Annex,” which was a series of rooms created in the upstairs area of an office building.  Friends working in the office were so kind and so brave to help hide these eight individuals.  Anne’s family moved to Amsterdam from Germany in anticipation of the Nazi invasion. A few weeks after moving, Hitler invaded The Netherlands and Anne’s family began their life in hiding. They lived in “The Secret Annex” for two years.

Most of us read The Diary of a Young Girl in school, but this book deserves multiple re-reads. New meanings pop up during each read. Anne began her diary on her thirteenth birthday. Initally, she appears to be a normal tween girl–fussing with her looks, fighting with her mom, having crushes on boys, etc…But life in “The Secret Annex” forces her to evolve into a young lady quickly.  She writes about the pitiful food rations, the unfortunate bathroom situation and the frustrations of living with so many other people–people who she doesn’t get along with.  Despite the differences in the house; they are all pulled together by the idea of hope. They are hopeful as they sit around the kitchen table, listening to the radio, hoping for good news…hoping for the invasion to come.  They are all so hopeful, even when it seems impossible for them to have a positive notion in their mind. 

Anne’s tale is bittersweet. Her bravery is excruciatingly astonishing. Her life ended far too early, but her legacy will forever live on through her poignant words.

I’ve just found myself completely engrossed in the Twilight seris by Stephanie Meyer (Little, Brown and Co.)  I just finished it and I’m still letting it all digest before I delve into Book 2 of the series, New Moon.

Twilight is the story of seventeen year old Isabella (Bella). Bella moves from Phoenix, Arizona to a little town called Forks, in Washington State, to live with her father. She’s not all that excited about her move, but after meeting a fellow by the name of Edward, she starts to change her mind.  Edward is gorgeous, intelligent and intriguing. In fact, his whole family is. There’s something about them that Bella just can’t put her finger on. Once she begins a friendship with Edward, she learns that Edward isn’t just an ordinary highschool boy….he’s a vampire.  He’s a good vampire.  He isn’t your stereotypical bloodsucking vampire; he controls his …uh…”hunger” so to speak.  Bella and Edward find themselves in a young love romance (although Edward is actually much older than her); a romance that seems impossible.

First time novelist Stephanie Meyer has accomplished much with this young adult novel. The idea came to her in a dream and she didn’t stop writing until she fulfilled her goals. The story is engrossing, the characters are lovable and genuine and the writing is simply fantastic.

Land O’Goshen  (St. Martin’s, 1994) by Charles McNair is the story of an orphaned boy fighting against the southern evangelical society he lives in.  Buddy, a young boy in Goshen, Alabama has no-one. His family died fighting what can only be called religious warfare. His parents died on “Big Boom Day,” followed by his brother’s death shortly thereafter.  Because of this, Buddy is full of anger…..anger towards the society that killed his brother and anger towards the God he’s supposed to believe in for taking his family away from him. To cope,  Buddy has created an alter ego-a creature named Sack.  Buddy has put together a costume and when he puts it on, when Sack and he are one, he calls himself “The Wild Thing,” and takes extreme pleasure in scaring groups of Bible belters.  In bars, where all the folks are drinking milk, because alcohol has been banned, Buddy and Sack jump out, growl and watch as dozens of people run away.  On one of his scare missions, Buddy meets Cissy, a young orphan herself, trapped in the trunk of a car owned by one of the hotshot boys in town.  Cissy becomes Buddy’s roadside companion, as they plow their way through the dense woods of Alabama.

Buddy knows the way of the woods like he knows the palm of his hand. He teaches Cissy about edible plants, animals to watch out for and how to cook meals.  Buddy may be her nature guide, but Cissy becomes Buddy’s guide to learning there’s more to life than always fighting. Cissy has a similar past to Buddy’s. Her dad died due to a helicopter crash during the war. He initally survived the crash, undergoing severe surgery and suffering for months on end until he finally passed away.

What I love about this book is the contrast in characters-Cissy’s sweetness paired with Buddy’s roughness is charming.  The desciription of the south is impeccable. It feels dirty, grimy and sweaty, and I mean that as a compliment.  Many chapters are chock full of description and sometimes there isn’t much dialogue. Cissy and Buddy are simple, down-to-earth kids.  When they talk, they’ve got something to say and sometims they say some pretty profund, mature things, due to their loneliess and grim situation.  When Cissy became scared of some of the animals in the woods, Buddy responded, ” They ain’t nearly as scarey as people and what people do for no reason at all. See, people can hate you when they never even met you. There’s nothing in these woods, nothing in any hole or holler or up under any log, that hates you like that.”

While in Davis Kidd a few days ago, I stopped by the employees’ pick shelf and saw Charles Bukowski’s Ham on Rye.  Not only did the employee recommend this book, he wrote “This book will change your life” on an index card and placed it in front of the book.  I’m sorry I waited so long to read this novel.

Set during the Depression, Ham on Rye chronicles the life of Henry Chinaski (said to be the alter ego of author Bukowski).  The book begins when Henry is a toddler, crawling under a table during Christmas time and ends when Henry is in his mid twenties.  The novel vividly describes what America was going through at the time, as well as showing how it affected the children of that generation.  Henry grows up in a house with an always angry father and abiding mother.  Thus, Henry becomes an angry teenager and then adult, always feeling the need to stand up for himself by starting fights and acting like a  “tough guy.”  Henry doesn’t seem to mind his hostility, because he considers himself a loner.

Bukowski’s writing style consists of short simple sentences compatible with his characters.  It’s an easy read with profound meaning.

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk is a force to be reckoned with.  It’s a little bit horror, a little bit psychoctic and little bit comedic. 

 The book is Misty Marie’s diary; a diary to her comatose husband, Peter.  Peter attempted suicide, due to is unhappiness. Before attempting suicide, Peter comedically “re-constructed” several houses on Waytansea Island, his hometown and where he works as a contractor.   While preparing the houses for their summer tenants, Peter installed walls, hiding people’s kitchens, linen closets, bathrooms, etc… He proceeded to write what can only be called sermons all over the walls of his concealed rooms. While Peter is in a coma, Misty is left to deal with this insanity and try to decipher why he did all this. Most of his writings are bitter, angry exclamations and warnings about the island.

All the while, Peter’s invasive mother, Grace, is encouraging Misty to start painting again. Everyone always thought Misty would be the next big artist in town.  But Misty doesn’t believe it. 

Events begin to unravel and Misty is sucked into a Waytansea Island legacy that supposedly she needs to fulfill. She learns people aren’t who they say they are and the events in her life were not always real.   I can’t say too much, because if you haven’t read this novel; I don’t want to spoil it. Diary is a whirlwind of a ride. Every few chapters, you’ll be thinking “what in the world just happened?”