Mailbox Monday (11/24/2008)

This is my first Mailbox Monday. I do not order books that much. I normally get all my books from my local library.

But I do subscribe to www.booksfree.com. I don't plan to keep this subscription for much longer that I now have moved to an area with a decent library.

Today in the mail I got two books in a series by Trisha R. Thomas. I have already read the first book Nappily Ever After: A Novel. Booksfree sent me the next two books in the set.






I really like Nappily Ever After so I am hoping these two are good. I am expecting about 9 books in the mail. Hopefully I will get them before Christmas break, since I am going home to California for about 4 weeks.

The Sunday Salon: East of Eden by John Steinbeck

This Sunday I set aside about an hour and a half to read some of John Steinbeck's "East of Eden. A classmate actually recommended this book to me, after she saw how much I read. She was even nice enough to lend me her couple.

I did not realize that it was such a long book (600 pages). But that is okay, I have read longer books. Even after reading for 90 minutes I have not even but a decent dent in this book, I am only on about page 55. I would like to read more today but I have a paper that is due Monday afternoon and a test on Tuesday. The life of a graduate student, so entertaining.

Sort of, off topic. Yesterday afternoon I went to see "Twilight" the movie. I read the book early this year (it was okay), and was not excited in seeing the movie but my roommate is a fan and was going and I haven't been to the movies in forever so I went. Luckily, I did not have high expectations so I was not disappointed. Personally, I thought the movie sucked (or should I say wasn't for me). It was long (2 hours) and slow (which made it seem longer). The dialogue was awkward and so were some of the scenes. It felt to me that the director was trying to feel time with long, weird camera angles that had nothing to do with the movie. But on a positive note the scenery of the little town was lovely.

That is it for now.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Pages:374
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Synopsis (Inside cover):

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.

I will "sell" my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder. . . .

For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts—of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What's one more?

But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing.

And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang . . . standing outside his window . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting—with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. . .

Review:

I heard about "Heat-Shaped Box" when it first came out and really wanted to read it. But when I went to the library or the box store I could never remember either the name of the book or the author. So, while browsing the library for something to read I am happy that I saw this book and remembered that I been wanting to read it for a long time.

I was not disappointed. "Heart-Shaped Box" was an very entertaining story. It was not bloody, or as violent filled as it could have been. And for that I am happy. It is not that scary either, I had no problem going to sleep after I put it down at night. But it is an entertaining, thrilling story about a ghost out for revenge.

I didn't really care for the characters in the book all that much. But I think that has more to do with the type of story it is rather than the authors ability. I don't fill as connected to characters in ghost (or horror) stories as much as I do with more real life fiction.

I liked Hill's writing style, the way that he was able to transition from the third person narrator to the character's (Judas) thoughts. I also like how Hill closed the story. There were no loose ends. It wrapped it all up and there was no guessing about what happened to all the various characters at the end.