Monday Links

*I love reading letters and telegrams from the celebrities of old, so here is a letter from F. Scott Fitzgerald where he responds to hate mail. If only everyone responded to hate mail so scathingly yet eloquently! (Via Brain Pickings)

*New (to me) Tumblr alert! On The Bro'd is Jack Kerouac's seminal novel 'bro'd' up! (Via On The Bro'd)

*Also, while you're in the new-blogs-to-follow frame of mind, here's Joe Hill (author extraordinarie and son of the King himself) blog. Read it, bookmark it, return everyday. (Via Joe Hill)

*These are some of the greatest newspaper corrections you'll ever see. Seriously. (Via The Vine)

*Caleb Crain questions whether the critic is free (The Paris Review)

*Peter Stothard (head judge of the Booker Prize) is not a fan of book bloggers. Apparently we aren't do the future of literature any favours. But John Self took it upon himself to argue in favour of bloggers, and address many of Stothard's concerns. What do you think?  (Via The Guardian - Against - For)

*Character names can make or break a book. Or at least they can for me. Here's an interesting article about literary names, how they impact the writing process and their significance. (Via OUP Blog)

Movie Trailer: Beautiful Creatures (2013)

I haven't read any of the Caster Chronicles books, but I stumbled across this trailer on IMDB and I was intrigued. I'm not sure if the film combines all four books into the one film, or if it's the first in a new series of films but any film that combines Emma Thompson with Jeremy Irons, a Florence and the Machine song and some sort of supernatural countdown tattooed on a wrist will always peak my interest. Will I read the book before I see the film? Probably not, but if you've read them then let me know in the comments if it's something I should be getting from the library or not!

BRB in Shanghai.

GUYS! Right now I'm somewhere in there ^ !! Well, I'll actually be in Hong Kong when you read this, but soon, SOON, I'll be in Shanghai visiting my sister and absorbing as much culture as possible. I've scheduled a few posts for the two weeks I'm away, so there'll be reviews and Monday Links as usual but I'll be unable to comment until I get back. Hope you all have fantastic fortnights full of fun things because I know I will!! Keep an eye on my Twitter (@Murphy_Kayleigh) and Instagram (@kleemurphy) for pictures because there'll probably be an absolute overload!



*Photo credit from here.

Review: Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland
Written by: Gena Showalter

Published: 2012

Synopsis: Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.

Her father was right. The monsters are real….

To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….

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Before I begin my review I need to address two issues that you really should know before going into the book. First, the zombies are not zombies. They're cannibalistic spirits, so they're closer to revanants than zombies. For most people this probably won't matter because they still manage to wreak havoc, but if you're a zombie purist this will probably drive you nuts. Secondly, Alice is Zombieland is just a title, there is very little connection between this book and Alice in Wonderland, which I found really disappointing. There is a white rabbit which pops up from time to time as a cloud, and a very, very minor thematic connection but I was hoping it'd be more of an undead retelling of Alice in Wonderland so it just wasn't enough for me.

Moving on from that though, I'm torn about this book. There are some real issues in terms of characterisation, plot structure and the writing style, but I ended up enjoying myself for most of it. Key to the success was the protagonist, Alice. The book begins while her family is still alive. Her sister is an enthusiastic and glowing 8 year old and her best friend despite the large age gap. Part of the reason for this is the fact that their father is crazy. He believes that monsters walk the Earth and he's gone to great lengths to protect his young family. Alice's mother is stuck somewhere in the middle, she loves her kids dearly, but her complete adoration and trust in her husband puts her at odds with her daughters much of the time. One or two chapters in, a car accident results in the deaths of the entire family, Alice excluded. She moves in with her grandparents and has to transfer to a new school, and all of a sudden her father's safety precautions no longer apply. She can stay out after dark if she wants to and make plans with friends, but she doesn't feel free - the guilt of living while her family died hangs heavily over her head. It isn't a perfect character, but Gena Showalter does a pretty remarkable job of creating a teenage character suffering through the loss of a loved one. In the first section she essentially shuts down, unable to even cry, and puts herself into dangerous situations trying to find answers to her family's deaths. As the book continues though, she finds purpose and slowly begins to heal from her loss.

Aside from Alice and her grandparents (they only feature fairly briefly, but I really enjoyed them) most of the characters are walking clichés  Her new best friend Kat is almost embarrassing, speaking in one-liners and overly obsessed with her appearance. She's the kind of stereotypical teenage girl you'd expect your out of touch mum or grandma to write. Later in the book attempts are made to add depth to her character but they don't work because of the earlier efforts which basically render her a cartoon character. Similarly, all of the boys that feature in this book, bar one, are bad boys. They're covered in piercings and tattoos and frequently show up at school covered in bruises. I know piercings are common enough, but how many 17 year olds do you see decked out in tattoos? Maybe it's more common in America, but it just seemed ridiculous to me. Also, can we move past the 'bad boys are irresistible period' already? It's gone on long enough. Most YA books I read either infantilise the characters or turn them into mini-adults, and this one basically chucks a bunch of college-aged adults (appearance-wise at least) into a high school and acts like it's natural. I'd hazard a guess that the reason Showalter does this is because of the heavy emphasis on sex and romance in this novel. Showalter is best known for writing paranormal and contemporary romances, and all of the characters in this book have a heavy focus on getting into the pants of someone else. I know 16-18 year olds have sex, but at times it felt really creepy reading about the sexual attraction Alice has for the lead bad boy, Cole, (there's a scene in a bar that's especially bad) and felt like it would have been more at home in a Mills and Boon novel.

Which leads me onto my next concern, there are some parallels between this book and Twilight. A new girl to school find herself irresistibly drawn to the 'bad' boy. Trouble seems drawn to her, her new best friend is obnoxious, there is a second guy that doesn't get along with the 'bad' boy, the 'bad' boys close friends are overly protective and hate the new girl...it's not just me right? I suppose you could argue that many YA books follow this general pattern, but considering it has a supernatural element these similarities just seemed glaring and hard to ignore.

The story itself was pretty interesting, although it had problems of its own. Regaining conscious for a brief moment during the car accident, Alice saw what looked like people dive into her father's body and come out eating his flesh. Because this seemed to suggest her dad wasn't so crazy after all it becomes a fixation of Alice's as she tries to find proof that she hasn't just gone crazy herself. As she investigates, she meets a group of zombie hunters and learns a few things about the zombies that help answer some questions but also raises a whole slew of new questions. About two minutes into the book one big question loomed, "if zombies are present why doesn't everyone notice a huge amount of corpses appearing each night?" During her investigation into these undead spirits, Alice learns that because they're in spirit form not everyone can see them, and as a result the deaths that they instigate (which seem relatively small to be honest) are blamed on wild animals. The members of the zombie hunter troop are all able to see the zombies, but are also equipped with another talent. In order to fight the zombies they need to also be in spirit form, which is something they can train themselves to do. This is perhaps one of the more bizarre elements of the story - people who not only can leave their bodies to fight zombies, but whose weapons can also be transferred to spirit form? But it does work, kind of. Along with a few other factors which unfold as Alice grows to know this other zombie-fighting world, it's still bizarre and but makes for a different take on a fairly typical narrative structure.

I know this has probably seemed like a very negative review but these issues were all glaringly clear as I read the book so I feel like it's really important to lay them down for you all lest you pick it up, read it and shake a fist at the sky screaming "damn you Nylon Admiral, damn you!" But I also want to emphasise how much I didn't hate it as I read it. Yes I noticed the awkward or strange narrative, character and style choices, and yes I did occasionally groan or shake my head but I never had to force myself to continue, and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. It's been a hard one to review because it's right down the middle for me, enjoyable enough but technically not great and I could completely relate if someone were to tell me they disliked it. In this instance I think I really have to direct you to the other reviews on Goodreads, hopefully they, in conjunction with this review, can help you decide if you want to give it a shot.

Top 10 Tuesday: Books to remember!

Top Ten "Older" Books You Don't Want People To Forget About... Or 8 Books you need to remember (and read!) and 2 that it's really ok to just forget about. Seriously, just let them go. (Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish)



1. 
The Chrestomanci Series by Diana Wynne Jones
Because of the powerful love people have for Harry Potter (understandably), The Hunger Games (understandably) and Twilight (not so understandably!) I feel like very few people are likely to find this series unless handed to them directly. The first in the series, Charmed Life, was first published in the late 1970s so they're a little older than the examples above, but they're phenomenal YA fantasy novels filled with magic, alternate worlds, dragons, multiple lives and darling characters without being too fantasy.

2. 
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis
Things move fast in the comic world, and it doesn't take long for a phenomenal series to be knocked off it's perch by another fantastic series. Transmetropolitan is outrageous, gratuitous, dangerously honest and kicks complete ass. The protagonist, Spider Jerusalem, is a futuristic and slightly more outrageous (if that's even possible) version of famed writer Hunter S. Thompson and it really celebrates that gonzo style of journalism. It will blow your mind.

3. 
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson
After the failure of a movie I feel like it's important to stand by the book and let you all know that it's fantastic, and interesting, and well-written, and funny and insightful and outrageous and basically everything the movie didn't quite manage to be. The Rum Diary follows journalist Paul Kemp (one of HST's alter-egos) through a debaucherous alcohol fueled adventure in Puerto Rico during the 1950s.

4.
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs
Both Burroughs and Kerouac are (rightly) known for some prolific books, but this collaboration is possibly my favourite book from both of them. Alternating chapters, the book is loosely based on an unfortunate series of events that lead to one of their friends killing another of their friends. This book came before the momentous books they would eventually write and it provides a unique look into two young men as they try and find their writing styles.

5. 
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
This book is, hands down, one of my favourites, and it's possible that if the movie hadn't come out last year I never would have found out that it existed! It's beautiful and sad and tells an impossibly good tale of three friends growing up together. I won't say more for fear of spoiling it (it's the kind of book that is best when you know very little) but I can't emphasise enough how important it is TO READ THIS BOOK!

6. 
April Fool's Day by Bryce Courtenay
I'm not sure how well known Bryce Courtenay is to anyone reading this that isn't from Australia, but he's a hell of a story teller best known for telling epic stories that usually span multiple years, if not generations. April Fool's Day is epic in both in size and scope but unlike his other work this book is non-fiction and focuses on only one life, the life of his young son Damon. Damon was haemophiliac and contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion and died at 24. This book will break your heart, but it's an amazing look into the life of a young man who didn't let his illness define him or hold him back.

7. 
How I became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely
This book seemed to slip under most people's radar when it was released in 2009, but found a resurgence in popularity last year and rightly so. This book is freaking hilarious, which isn't surprising considering Steve Hely is an American TV writer currently writing for The Office. It's also biting satire of the current state of mainstream and uber popular fiction, and while it isn't perfect I'd love to see it have another spike in popularity.

8. 
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
I know what you're thinking, this book is EVERYWHERE but that's for a good reason, it's fantastic! I included it in the list, because I'm meeting more and more people who are deciding to watch the show without reading the book, and you really must read the book! The TV show is fantastic but, and I'm sure most of you will agree, it can't quite reach the heights of the book and I doubt it ever will. READ THE BOOK GUYS!

And now for a couple of books that you can put away and forget about!

9. 
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
I'm sure there are a few of you who would disagree but this is a terrible book and it needs to disappear. Like, right now. It's had its moment in the sun (so to speak!) and it's time to let a decent book get a little bit of the glory. Want to read a love story with vampires? Read Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, it is one of the best books to come out in recent years. Want a YA with heart? Read Harry Potter, The Chrestomanci Series or Looking for Alibrandi. There are so many better options, so why waste your valuable reading time on something that fails to meet the simplest of criteria?

10.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Perhaps I'll be in the minority with this one too, but ugh, yuk this book is terrible. I didn't like the style or story line, but where it meets the most ire from me is with the characters. They're insufferable, horrible people who never show the slightest speck of love for anyone, let alone each other. I was so close to burning down the entire world after reading this, simply because it would be the most effective way of eliminating this book forever.

Monday Links

*Planning a holiday? Why not head to visit the home of a famous (deceased) author! (via NBC News)

*Ever been confused by when to use a semicolon? The delightful Oatmeal webcomic has come up with this handy guide. The best thing? It has dinosaurs! (Via The Outmeal)

*The favourite punctuation marks of writers. (Via The Atlantic Wire)

*Love him or hate him, you've got to respect Salman Rushdie for writing a thank you to independant booksellers (Via Publishers Weekly)

*A thought-provoking and kinda depressing article about women in film and why they aren't 'essential characters'. (Via Daily Life)

*"I know who I am because of the books I've read" A note from writer/editor/columnist Emily Keeler on reading. (Via Toronto Standard)

*Writer Jonah Lehrer has recently been caught for plagiarism in his books and articles, but why did he do it? (Via LA Mag)

*Let's judge books by their covers!! Here are 50 (mostly) awesome book covers. (Via Casual Optomist)