Tampa by Alissa Nutting

Wow.   Ok.  So.   Uh.   Ick.   - -  Remember  50 Shades of Grey?  If you were at all offended by that one, don't get NEAR this book.  26 year old female sexual predator of 14 year old boys.

If you are able to get past your revulsion of the main character, the author does an excellent job getting us into the mind of a sociopath, who cares nothing - and I mean nothing - about anyone but herself.  Every single move of her life is calculated to provide the best possible result.  Cunning, in a constant state of sexual desire, & armed with anti-aging creams and lacy underwear, she repeatedly takes you beyond unimaginable boundaries.  You think she can't possibly do anything worse, then she proves you wrong.

I can't help thinking that if the genders were reversed, this book would  NEVER have had a chance of being published (a stinging indictment of our culture). Controversial & shockingly graphic. I felt a sticky creepy need to shower when I was finished.

"The Last Girlfriend on Earth: and Other Love Stories" by Simon Rich

This is one of the funniest books I've ever read. If you like satire and offbeat, sarcastic humor, you might enjoy it too. The stories in this collection revolve around the theme of love - finding love, keeping it, and ending it. It grabbed me with the first story, told from the perspective of a condom and his time spent in a teenage boy's wallet. Some of my other favorites included the story of God and his demanding girlfriend and the story of Oog who is in love with Girl. Oog's not really smart, and he might not be able to count as high as some other guys, but he seems like a good guy, if you don't factor in the way he gets rid of his competition. Even some of the more ridiculous stories, such as the one where the main character's ex-girlfriend starts dating Hitler, still made me laugh.

If Simon Rich's other books are as funny as this one, I plan to read them all.

Crap Kingdom by DC Pierson

  I know that a book I've read isn't that great when I can barely muster up the moxie to write a blog about it.  Enter Crap Kingdom (I know, I know - the irony).  As a professional librarian I hate to admit that I bought this book because of it's cover and title.  The SHAME.  I'm telling you I can barely sleep at night.
  Tom Parking is an average American teen with average teenaged problems.  He secretly wishes that he was destined for more, and alas, it turns out that he is.  He is the "Chosen One" for a place he ends up referring to as Crap Kingdom.  Crap Kingdom is aptly named as it's a dirty and backward place, a place Tom has no interest in saving.  That is until he is replaced as the "Chosen One" and then he wants back in.  Tom's indecisiveness leads to otherworldly drama.
  Honestly, the best I could hope for is that the title and cover snare an unsuspecting teen into reading.  Otherwise, there are many more interesting choices that cover the fantasy/romance YA genre.  Bottom line: skip it.
   

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

"There are so many ways it could have all turned out differently".  Ain't it the truth?  Hadley is on her way to her dad's wedding, in London, to watch him marry a woman she has never met.  Suffice it to say - it's a bad day.  Then, just when Hadley thinks her day couldn't get any worse, she misses her flight.  When she is rebooked on the next outgoing plane, she ends up sitting next to Oliver - a mysterious Brit who attends Yale and is ridiculously dodgy about what he is studying. 
  I can say that this book was just alright.  Filled with teenage angst and romance, I honestly expected more out of Jennifer E. Smith.  The characters had dimension, but I saw the ending coming from a mile away.  There was nothing unexpected or really unique about it.  If you're looking for a breezy read, there are certainly better options. 

Winger by Andrew Smith

  Winger is one of the best books I've ever read.  BAM.  There it is.  Ryan Dean West is a fourteen year old junior at a fancy boarding school.  He comes off a little annoying in the beginning while constantly referring to himself as a loser, but, alas, don't be put off.  Ryan Dean really grows on you.
I'm just going to say it. 
  Ryan Dean is required to live in "O Hall", the dorm reserved for the campus troublemakers after he pulls off a genius tech hack.  Not only that, but he's forced to live with the school's biggest bully.  Thankfully, Ryan Dean is a superb rugby player, a little bit of a fighter (natch), a romantic and a comedian.  These attributes save him more than once.
  As Ryan Dean makes his way through junior year friendships are tested, while some are broken, hot chicks are kissed, punches are thrown, and a tragedy occurs that will completely break your heart.  Laughing hysterically one moment and then crying the next, this was my journey through this book.  Whatever your preconceived notions of YA literature are - you are missing out if you don't read this book.  Seriously.
   
 

LPL Book Club Reads Bel Canto

The LPL Book Club met yesterday to discuss Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Overall, the group enjoyed the book and gave it a 4.5 on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being "hated it!" and 5 "loved it!"

This book is based on a true story. Terrorists took over the Japanese embassy and held over 70 men hostage for 4 months. In Bel Canto, the group has gathered in the Vice President's house to celebrate the birthday of Mr. Hosokawa, a businessman from Japan. The guests have a variety of motives for attending the party. The government of the unnamed country where the story is taking place hopes that Mr. Hosokawa will begin doing business there. Mr. Hosokawa, however, has no intention of doing business in this country and is only attending the party because opera singer Roxanne Coss is performing and he is a huge opera fan. During the party, a group of terrorists, 3 older and a group of much younger boys and girls, enter through the air conditioning ducts and take everyone hostage. Many are let go, including all the women except for Roxanne Coss.

Throughout the story of their long imprisonment the relationships between the hostages and their captors change, and the hostages themselves change. It becomes difficult for them to envisage a world and a life outside of their present situation. Mr. Hosokawa and Roxanne Coss develop a relationship, as do Gen, Mr. Hosokawa's translator, and a young girl, one of the terrorists. The story of how these relationships develop keeps the reader interested and wondering how things will turn out in the future.

Opera is a recurring theme throughout the book. Roxanne practices every day and the hostages and terrorists eagerly await her performance. One of the terrorists is found to have an extraordinary talent and she begins training him. She has big plans for his future, after this has ended, with seemingly little thought to the consequences of the kidnapping. Several other hostages and terrorists develop relationships of varying types, and make plans for "after" forgetting that things might not happen as smoothly as they would like.

There are several surprises at the end of the book that are somewhat jarring. Despite that, it's well worth reading.

The LPL Book Club meets on the 4th Thursday of the month at 4:00 PM. The next meeting will be July 25th and we will be discussing Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. This group is open to all.

All That Is by James Salter

Buoyed by the 5 star ratings on Goodreads, I was excited to dive into this one by a respected author. I ususally don't do spoilers but seeing as how NOTHING happins in this book spanning 4 decades, I'm not giving anything away.  We start out on a promising note with a protagonist in the Pacific Fleet during WW2, and find out he was raised by a single mother.  OK, maybe these forces somehow shape his later life?  Nah!!

He ends up in New York, goes into publishing, marries, divorces, has a career and several love affairs, gets hollow revenge. But there's no emotion, no dramatic crescendo, no storyline - just an average white guy and his ordinary life, with ordinary friends and lovers meandering through their ordinary lives.  Salter definitely knows how to turn a phrase, but EXCUUUUSE ME - - I would like a PLOT please!!!    Sexist, with vacuous characters, this book feels like bad B/W movies from the '40s - - no wait! At least they had plots.  

Oh, and by the way, that guy swimming on the front cover?  Has nothing to do with the book.