Soon I Will Be Invincible, by Austin Grossman

I frequently wonder about character motivations and backstories. This novel provides this information about superheroes and super villains (as in comic books).

What if Batman and the Joker had actually gone to high school together? In this book, the villain was the kid who was a geek, picked on and pushed around, overlooked by all the popular kids unless they wanted something from him. The heroes were the popular kids, the jocks and the pretty girls, completely unaware of the damage they did to the villains-to-be. This book appealed to the band geek I used to be, still resenting the plastic popular people, happy to go to one of my reunions and see the cheerleaders had become obese. I found myself rooting for the villain.

I loved this book. I read it on a long car trip over a weekend. It isn’t a taxing read, and it is so entertaining! I highly recommend it, even if you don’t read much science fiction. The psychological aspects of the characters are fascinating, and the writing is so vivid it is almost like watching the comic book unfold.

Softspoken, by Lucius Shepard

Some narrators are unreliable. The reader cannot trust everything they tell. In this novel, every character is unreliable. Motivations are unclear. Actions are suspect. Why do characters do what they do? Does the narrator believe what she says, or is this a complicated, albeit entertaining, lie?

The narrator’s name is Sanie, a deliberate play on words. She is living with her husband at his ancestral home in backwoods South Carolina while he studies for the bar exam. Sanie is bored and disillusioned. The weather itself is almost a character. The author uses the drowsy-hot, humid days and the lack of transportation to depict how completely Sanie is removed from the world. For entertainment, Sanie has taken to walking the miles to town, sitting on the porch of the gas station swilling beer, talking to the men who venture in. Meanwhile, back at the mansion, Sanie’s husband has closed himself off in the library while his sister wafts through the house like a shadow and his brother seems to drift in and out of a peyote induced dream. Sanie believes the house to be haunted, and her brother-in-law encourages this idea. He claims he sees the ghosts better when he is under the influence, so he shares his drugs with Sanie. Are the apparitions she sees real, or are they peyote hallucinations? When Sanie finally makes a decision to take care of herself and what she needs, her husband and his family show themselves for who they are. The conclusion is as nebulous as the novel, leaving the reader to decide what did, or did not happen.

I enjoyed this book very much. It is a short novel that drew me in quickly and was a speedy read. It made me think, and would be a good novel to read with someone else so discussion could be had. Some people might be put off by the dreamy tone of the writing.

Validate Me Quick, I'm double Parked! by Toni Sorenson Brown

Follow the heroine Shirley, mother, wife, friend, business owner and daughter as she heads through life feeling loss seeking something that is elusive. Something many women seek but can not put words to... validation. Discover how Shirley gets the validation from the people she thinks she needs it from and how she discovers the one person who she needs validation from isn't a person she ever put on her list.

I found this book to be a quick and fun read. I found myself nodding my head in agreement to many of her revelations as she discovered more about herself then she knew before. It almost read like a self-help book but instead of bullet points it was all narrative. I recommend this to any woman or man who seeks some form of validation out of life and needs some humor along the way.

:)
Tesse
http://www.bookmooch.com/m/inventory/blissful2beme

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If any admin can please delete this post, I tried, but it seems that I cannot.
Thanks!

Inside out

Inside out By:Terry Treuman

Really great book.It is about a young adolescent who is a schizophrenic.You see the world through his eyes.The world in his eye is hurtful and confusing.He is never sure what is real and what is not.

When two teenage brothers attempt to hold up a Spokane coffee shop where Zach, 16, is waiting for his mother to bring his antipsychotic meds, he is among those held hostage. Thus begins this slender, but harrowing novel that depicts the standoff between the desperate pair and the police outside-all narrated by Zach, who is driven by impulsive outbursts, hateful voices in his head, and difficulty with processing reality. Chapters open with a brief passage that illuminates the history of his illness and suicide attempt, and interventions by his mother and psychiatrist. A phone call from the police to the robbers results in freedom for the others, but Zach, now overdue for his medicine, agrees to remain hostage. An odd bonding ensues among the troubled teens, all of whom are portrayed sympathetically. With no ammunition in their guns, the brothers are basically decent boys, scared and worried about their single mother's unemployment and cancer. Tension builds when one of them is wounded by a stray police bullet. They surrender, and Zach is reunited with his mother, his meds, and the simple comfort of a maple bar he had craved. A stark news article three months later imparts word that the unexpected hero of the crisis has committed suicide, the victim of his tragic illness. Trueman uses Zach's narration to challenge readers to feel the confusion and dark struggle of schizophrenia. The effect is disturbing, if somewhat didactic.

Dark Moon by Lori Handeland

This is the third instalment of the Moon series by Lori Handeland.
This time we get the story of the rather cold and aloof Elise, briefly shown in the previous books. She is a hardcore scientist trying to find a cure for the werewolves.
Now we will know more about her, understand her story and her troubled past, as well as her relationship with the boss, who turns out, is more to her than just a boss. And of course, very early on in the novel we understand that she is a werewolf herself. No wonder she is so hell-bent in finding a cure!

Just as she meets after several years her long lost love, NIck, her compound is blown to bits and she has to run for her life. Nick, now an FBI agent, acompanies her to Fairhaven, where her boss and other team members are located currently. Fairhaven is the place where suddenly a lot of people go missing, with no traces at all, except for some blood on the floor, so the Jagersucher team is searching for clues...

If you've read the previous two novels, you will be on very familiar grounds with this novel, as the stories sort of repeat themselves, for the series veterans there are no major surprises. But if you have never read the series, I recommend you pick it up, even starting from this book. Each book is standalone and you don't need to have read the previous ones. However for the sake of continuity in the storyline and to understand better the interaction between the people, I recommend you start from the first book, Blue Moon.

You can find the book at http://bookmooch.com/m/detail/0312991363

My bookmooch inventory

The Burning by Bentley Little

In the distance a trains whistle roars though the night sky. Its song bearing the great agony of a people cruelly wronged and a past seeking revenge. Join the diverse gathering of characters as they each encounter an evil which will leave them forever changed and perhaps even destroyed. A park ranger who faces an evil so beautiful it drives him to the edge. A mother and son on their way to a new beginning with hopes of a bright future ahead of them till they see what is lurking outside their window. A freshman college student discovers the true meaning of separation from friends by facing the darkness that lurks below her apartment. And the young man who longs to journey across America and blaze a trail to a new start discovers that the darkness will find him no matter where he goes.

This book had me sitting on the edge of my seat all day long as I read it. I found it nearly impossible to put down. In fact I was an hour late to work because of it. It does contain graphic violence and sex scenes that may offend some. I nearly did not make it past the first sex scene myself but it was the only book I had with me at the laundry mat. I found the fact that the characters were not the only ones to see the monsters very refreshing. I get tired of everyone thinking the main characters are crazy. For some reason it made the story more plausible. I had the time of my life retelling the story to my friends who would listen . Bentley Little reigns up with Stephen King and Deane Koontz in my books. A must read for horror buffs. This book gets the Tesse Stamp of Approval. :)

I have put my book up for mooching
http://www.bookmooch.com/m/detail/0451219147

Review by Tesse aka blissful2beme
http://www.bookmooch.com/m/inventory/blissful2beme