Zee End: American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings

I received American Indian Stories, Legends, and Other Writings (Penguin Classics) as a gift a few summers ago, so I put it on my to-read pile, where it was promptly buried by an avalanche. Lucky for me the A-Z Challenge forced me to retrieve it, as the author, Zitkala-Sa, finished off my challenge nicely.

Zitkala was a Lakata who went to a government Indian school in the late 19th century at the age of eight, and spent the rest of her life mediating between her tribe and white society. When back home she felt isolated and different, but white acceptance came only as she validated their beliefs. The first half of the book is her autobiographical sketches, and the purple prose made them hard to take seriously. They were written to be published in literary magazines, and the style changes of the past century are huge. But the last part are stories from legends and events, and in them I can suspend belief and just enjoy the vivid images and strong portrayals of character and place.  B-

Zippidee-Do-Dah: Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage

Having panicked about the state of my A-Z challenge, I raced to the library and searched for my missing books. For reasons of both inclination and practicality I started in the kids' section, which gave me my missing "U" author: Kaye Umansky. Clover Twig and the Magical Cottage is an old-fashioned story about kids handling magic with aplomb and grace, with little angst or emotional peril. Physical peril is all right, what with the bad witches cottage-napping the flying domicile, and dungeons, and general clumsiness. It was fun an interesting, and I'll see if my nine year old wants a look. 

Second Time More Lucky: Archangel's Kiss

Nalini Singh writes a popular paranormal series about Psy-Changelings, all about emotion-denying telepaths and shape shifters, which I can't get into.  She kept getting recommended to me, so I tried her new series, Archangel's Blood, which I thought was OK.  So when I saw the second book in the "Pick me" display at the library I picked it up.

I liked more; I didn't giggle as much in the wrong places.  With Archangel's Kiss (Guild Hunter, Book 2) Singh figures we all remember the complicated political and chemical connections between archangels, angels, vampires, hunters, and regular people, which I either do remember or don't care about, so the text is much lighter without heavy exposition.  Elena has just woken up as an angel, and most of the plot involves her avoiding assassination by anyone trying to impress the world with how tough they are.  So we learn about life as an angel with Elena, and we also get lots of fun fight scenes with Elena and her tough friends and enemies.  Uber-archangel Raphael gets to skulk about protecting himself and Elena (his new huge weak spot), with bonus UST as he waits for her to get strong enough to move onto actual ST.  There are still blue feathers and sexy wing dandruff.  Then we get a battle with a superpower trying to destroy the world (as one must), and it's all fun and games and popcorn.  B+

He Only Killed Two: Dearly Devoted Dexter

In the second of Jeff Lindsay's Dexter book, Dearly Devoted Dexter, the poor serial killer never seems to catch a break.  Or a killer.  With Doakes shadowing him and his sister calling on him for help tracking the really icky guy chopping up old grudges, and then his accidental engagement on top of that, there just isn't time to track down the second child killer in his sights.

The plot is flimsy, with Dexter's ability to google up information on secret killer squads in Central America, but the book is short enough that it's easy not to notice, or to complain about a certain repetitiveness in Dexter's impatience.  There are funny reactions from Dexter, some of which he notices and some of which he doesn't, and (for me) the interesting game of watching the wider divergence from the TV show.  For example, the TV likes to keep the same actors around, so there is much less attrition from the main cast.  And the entire Doakes plot changes, with the character whittled down in the books (versus blown up in the show).  Also, his potential step children are much more interesting in the text.  Still fun; I'll probably read the next one in a few months.  B

Short and Sweet: Death's Excellent Vacation

Charlaine Harris and and Toni Kelner enjoy picking out the stories for their paranormal/mystery holiday anthologies, with Harris writing a new story to kick them off.  The latest, Death's Excellent Vacation, has a fun story with Sookie and Pam on a gambling vacation, with silly plot stuff to give them an excuse to get blonde and (almost) naked.  The other stories are also on the fluffy side, although not all have happy endings.

It's a fun book for traveling, since the stories are short enough to read while waiting, which is an integral part of any journey.  I enjoyed the Sookie story and A. Lee Martinez's "The Innsmouth Nook" especially.  I think I'll go look for more of Martinez's stuff.  B

Laugh Out Loud: Maybe This Time

Jennifer Crusie is a delight and a joy (most times), and Maybe This Time really delivers on her strengths.  The characters are real and lively, the story is fast and interesting, with a combination of slapstick and real jeopardy, and the writing is literally laugh-out-loud funny.  I attracted some funny looks at the airport while waiting for my kids' plane to take off because I kept chuckling while reading.

The romance itself is mostly foam, since the pair doesn't actually spend much time together, although they spend the first half of the book remembering each other and their brief marriage.  Crusie then packs the haunted house with a large cast of characters pinging off each other in predictable and surprising ways.  Crusie used Henry James's The Turn of the Screw as her inspiration (a book I read decades ago and have only the foggiest memory of), which gives it an extra intellectual spice.  Only Crusie looked at everything she found annoying about James's governess, and started with fixing that. The little girl is a bit too precious, and the brother doesn't get quite enough screen time, but mostly the book is just a fun way to spend some holiday time.  A

The Lost Have Been Found: More Picture Books

Several picture books went missing a month ago during some frantic cleaning.  One kept floating to the top of the flotsam and then sinking again, the other just stayed missing.  But both have finally emerged and been captured in the library bag, which means both that I don't have to pay a huge fine and that I can continue Reading My Library:

• Slugs in Love, by Susan Pearson.  A woman slug woos with poetry, but the man slug's poems can't connect.  Will true love prevail? Will this book be found? Yes!  I particularly liked the pictures with the baseball cap nestle snugly beneath the eye stalks.
• If You Give a Cat a Cupcake, by Laura Numeroff.  Standard pattern, with a bit less logic than usual, but that may be because cats have minds of their own.