Strangers in Paradise Volumes 1-6 by Terry Moore

This is a review two to three years in the making.




I'm not sure when I started reading Strangers in Paradise but I loved them so much, I had to take a break before reading the last in the series. Once I finished volume 6, it would be all over. I knew Terry closed off the series at the end of volume six. I didn't want to live in a world where there was no more SiP left to read. Perhaps it was a holdover from the shock of no more Harry Potter but still, it would have been a sad state.

Strangers in Paradise was a long running comic book brought together in graphic novel form. Mostly it is about love and loss and all our crazy issues that keep ourselves from finding our true happiness. Katchoo is secretly in love with her best friend Francine who is with a horrible guy named Freddie. Katchoo meets art fan, David, and he seems to have a thing for Katchoo to give us a lovely love triangle. Then we find out that Katchoo has a mafia past and in the next six volumes, it all plays out in so many different and surprising ways. It felt a little soap opera in parts but it was written at a time when the mere idea of these complications of love would never have dared been breathed on national television. Not to mention, the story was told in a semi-nonlinear fashion that really appeals to me.

Moore trusts his audience to have a brain and isn't afraid to craft his story around that notion. He drew all the art himself and I love how much he mixes up styles to match the scene. Frantic, intense moments are drawn with a quick lack of detail that hurry you to the next panel. Quiet moments make you want to pause and take in all the detail that he has provided on that single page before moving on. I realize that is likely graphic artist 101 but it never gets tired.  He mixes light and dark and never wastes either to make his statement. The scariest part is his ability to write women so well that everyone should be able to find a character they identify with or wished they were.

So now my beloved SiP is all over. Surprisingly, you can choose to hold onto the last volume for three years and jump right back in as if you read the previous five just last week. As much as I liked having that one volume left to read and hold onto, a person has to move on. I'm sure I'll find something else to love just as much and I can always revisit my books any time I need a Katchoo fix.

Fanny: Being the True History of the Adventures of Fanny Hackabout-Jones by Erica Jong

Review by Red Bonney

Oh, it’s so hard to be subtle while walking out of a bookstore with book explicitly displaying the exposed leg of a woman sporting a red silk garter. One must grit one’s teeth and dare society to look down on one for reading something that clearly possesses smutty subjects. I’m here to say, however that this book is more than your typical romance where girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love (she met many more than just one boy), overcome some piddling adversity and live happily ever after. It’s a tale of epic proportions of one woman’s adventures and struggles in the wide world, who merely wants her fair share of happiness and means to get it. It’s a book of instruction and hard learned lessons.

The story was set in the eighteenth century and penned loosely in the language of the era, which was not as difficult to read as I thought it would, written as it was by a twentieth century woman not unsympathetic to her readers. Once I got into the flow of the story, the language and archaic spelling was easier to overcome. It was handy in a way, as it set it apart from the other books I was reading at the same time.

The tale was narrated by Fanny herself, (based loosely on the character from Cleland’s Fanny) to her daughter whom she wishes to impart her life lessons to prevent her from falling into the same traps life sets. ‘Tis folly, I say, to try and instruct someone when only personal experience will do, but it doesn’t hurt to try, I suppose. Anyway, the heroine, Fanny, was an orphan adopted by the Lord and Lady Bellars, spending her childhood years in relative comfort and ease in the country and isolation from the outside world with her step-brother and step-sister. She grew up without want for anything, a large house, fine clothes and an education, which as the story unfolds, becomes her most valuable possession. Forced to flee her childhood home of comforts, she makes her way to London to seek her fortune. Along the way, she encounters many colourful and memorable characters who influence her future and her fortune which ebbs and flows throughout the book.

The most annoying aspect of this book is that Fanny is a modern woman set in the past. She is a modern feminist in a time when even women generally thought themselves inferior. (I’m currently reading a book about the history of Misogyny - my next book to review- and it’s going to ooze into everything I write from now on). I kept mistaking the book to be a true history of the time, except for this one modern sort of woman. Oh, she had her moments where I just thought ‘what the hell are you thinking?’, but for the most part, I thought she was a very brave, daring girl and I wish I were more like her. Not the part where she was a prostitute for a year, but the rest wasn’t too bad.

This book surprised me, not that I was expecting it to be a crappy book or anything. It was easy to get sucked in just by reading the chapter titles, which were long and descriptive of the chapters they preceded. I hated to put it down because when I saw it sitting there on the table, it looked daunting and heavy, but I couldn’t just stop at the end of the page, I had to keep reading it and it’s one I’ll definitely read again in the future.

Working Stiff by Grant Stoddard

Smirk.

In some ways, I should just leave it at that. But I won’t. I can’t.

Just when you think you’re a mature individual and gotten over any possible embarrassment over buying a book about a guy’s sexual exploits, you get comments from an over friendly sales associate. The ever so kind cashier gave me a little smirk while he was placing it in a bag and then had to comment on my choice of purchase. I make some offhand comment about it looking too funny to pass up but on the inside, I’m feeling like I’ve just bought porn and my mother is the one taking my money. And after reading this fun little book, that seems rather fitting.

Basically, Working Stiff is the autobiography of one man’s experience as a columnist for the webzine, Nerve. His assignment was to go out and perform sexual experiments and report back in the form of a high school lab report. He did this for two and some years. And he did everything. Nothing was too weird, deviant, or gross. And you get some of that is this retelling of his life but not really. He didn’t grow up wanting to be a sex reporter, he just wanted to live in America and jumped at a chance that would pay his rent and keep him in the country. He is the everyman thrown into situations that he stumbles his way through. (My favourite would have to be his time at Leather Camp.) What you didn’t get through his old column is his parent’s reaction to his line of work. Or how assignments affected his dating life.

There were a few very explicit scenes and this is definitely not a book I’d recommend for just anyone. The writing style reminded me more of the stuff I’ve read off of the internet than anything I’d read in book form. If you are not used to that, you might find it a little graphic. And the fact that it was non-fiction added a certain sense of surrealism to the text that you wouldn’t accept from a fictionalized story. But it was undeniably funny and I can’t think of a single thing more amusing than sex.

Smirk.

The Pleasure Slave by Gena Showalter

I can’t believe that the first book I review for 2007 is this one. In some ways, I think I should feel a little embarrassed about it but alas, I don’t… you wanna know why? Cause this was the most awesome book in the world. I have never read something that gave me such joy… Let me explain why.

The story starts out with our hero, Tristan, and his mistress, Zirra. They have just had a rather long session of sex and they are in the lounging about phase. Tristan is a warrior and he has just gotten a call that his kingdom needs him to go fight. This upsets Zirra because she is one insatiable little minx and wants to have a go at round twenty or thirty or whatever. Tristan laughs at her and tells her that he loves his kingdom more than her and that they had just been using each other. You see, he is a mortal and will die, whereas she is Druinn, immortal, with magical powers. Zirra, not taking rejection well, casts a spell on him. He will remain a pleasure slave, trapped in a jewelled box, forced to obey his master for all time or for as long as that master owns the box. He can only be released from the bonds of slavery by his one true love. It is soon discovered what Zirra has done and she is punished for her crime against the mortal (can’t destroy the peace treaty. Yay politics!) The box is thrown into the universe and she is stripped of her powers.

Welcome to present day and we meet Julia, someone's one true love. An antique dealer, she finds an old jewelled box at a flea market and decides to take it home. Much to her surprise, she discovers that she also gets a love slave out of the deal. You know, I've been to a dozen flea markets and never have I come home with anything like that. Not much happens in the way of plot, a lot of talking, shopping montage, porn, porn, porn, and then the end.

Now you must be asking yourself, why? How is all of that all that great? Well, it is all about Tristan. Not only is he a hunk of burning love, expert in the ways of carnal delights, elite warrior, gorgeous specimen of all things male, barely wearing a stitch of clothes but the absolute ultimate note on his resume: he is an alien. Alien! From another planet alien! I mean, OMG! WTF! (Fill in your own freaked out netspeak here)! It is that little detail that makes it perfect.

Also, when you pick up a book with the title The Pleasure Slave it has some expectations it has to live up to. And oh boy, this book lives up to those expectations; it was a couple steps away from porn. But not super graphic so I wouldn’t feel that weird giving it to my aunt to read. The main character Julia wasn’t bad as characters go and she develops as expected. My favourite character had to be Gary, the gay personal shopper, who practically turned into a puddle at Tristan’s feet. Now that was fun.

Anyway, it wasn’t exactly the best genie in a bottle scenario I’ve ever read but it was a lot of fun. Perfect for an afternoon of pure fluff.

My rating: :-D :-D :-D

Forever Fifteen by Kimberly Steele

I am a weak, weak person. There are a million things I should be doing at this very moment, the clock is ticking down, but instead, I sit here and spend the afternoon and evening listening to an audio book… Oh how did I get sucked in?

I’m not even the audio book type of person. I like the feel of the paper and the smell of the pages. Book stores are my most favorite places in the world and sometimes I think that the only reason I go to work everyday is to finance my book collection. My living room feels somewhat like a library. But thanks to my MP3 player, it has lead to the discovery that I can somewhat safely walk and read at the same time. Quite tempting and consequently, I got sucked into this story.

Forever Fifteen is about a girl who was turned into a vampire many, many moons ago at the age of, you guessed it, fifteen. At the time, she was considered an adult, old enough to be married. But nowadays, she isn’t old enough to buy cigarettes and that must really suck. Reminds me of an old Buffy episode where Anya, a many century old demon but newly turned human, was trying to order a beer in a bar. Bartender asks for ID, she spouts off about how old she really is, undaunted he asks for the ID again, she accepts her fate and orders a coke. Just the memory of that scene makes me laugh.

But back to this story. Lucy had entered the foster care system and has spent the last many years ridding the world of lecherous foster parents, child molesters, and other bad people. She had been living with the Beck’s for awhile now and they are good people. No matter how old she really is, she looks fifteen and that means, going to high school, with all the drama that is included. A boy named John likes her and no matter what age you really are, that still brings on the angst. The story jumps back and forth, from current time to the past, where we learn of Lucy’s beginnings as a human, her turning into a vampire, and her life with Sebastian, her vampire sire/lover.

The story is explicit and nicely detailed in parts. It was read by the author, Kimberly Steele, and she does a good job. She kept the characters’ voices distinctive and kept it flowing nicely. I haven’t looked into why she has posted her story in this way but glad that she did. The only problem I had is that I thought that Lucy should have been written as more jaded or cynical. For hundreds of years, she has lived the life of a predator, living on the lowest of humans to survive. She has seen how horrible humans can be to each other but she came off as rather meek and mild. She would make Rory Gilmore look like a foul mouthed trucker. Not that there is anything wrong with being a foul mouthed trucker.

Anyway, the story did suck me in and I had to find out how it ended. Not that the ending was all that surprising or satisfying, but I really did need to know what happened to these characters. I did love the premise and for that alone, it deserves a read or in this case, a listen. Forever Fifteen can be found via the iTunes music store as a free download.

Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl by Anonymous

I’ve been busy, busy, busy, but had no problem finishing this one. This is one I’ve wanted to read for awhile now. Another friend of ours told us all about it and it sounded good in a dirty sort of way. Not to mention, there was a hilarious story of a campaign by her sister to hide this book from her mother and then lie about it. An intro like that can not be ignored. Also, I couldn’t seem to find it in any bookstores so the lack of availability lead to even more want... sort of like that economic supply and demand thing.

Belle is a university educated and unemployed and living in London. Imagine Bridget Jones if she didn’t have that job at the book publishing house and instead decided to work as a high priced prostitute. They both write in the journal format and they both have caring parents. Both are looking for love. We should end the comparisons here. Unlike Bridget, Belle does not try looking for love from the workplace. She has a boyfriend and he knows about her profession and seems okay with it.

She is broke and job prospects are scarce. She contacts an agency to handle the business side of things. Yes, this is where the voice of reason should come in. This isn’t a very good career choice for anyone as I’m pretty sure my guidance counselor didn’t have that pamphlet in her collection of possible futures. But I opted to ignore that voice of reason and just treat this as an interesting character study. She is not in this line of work to support a drug habit, did not have a horrible childhood, and nor is she trying to live with a horrific trauma in her past. She is just a working girl who soon finds out that she can get paid a lot more for one night with a client than most of her other jobs combined.

Most of the entries are about her personal life and her friends. I was really hoping for more on the call girl side of things. There was a lot of that too but those were the parts I looked forward to the most. Not ‘cause I was looking for porn as everyone knows that the good porn is on the internet. And to be honest, I’ve read more explicit stuff elsewhere, just not often in chicklit book form. My favorite client story was the one where she talks about the guys who just want to cuddle. Or about the practical side of the job like how she would buy the regular products at one drug store and then buy all the “job” products (like condoms, lube, etc.) at another.

This was a definitely an interesting book and should be read by everyone who doesn’t have a problem with those type of things. Just fun.

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Just finished Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris. Another Sookie Stackhouse book from her Dead series. Sookie, poor girl, is telepathic and lives in a small characteristic Southern town. This one focuses a lot on Eric, the vampire... now that Sookie has broken up with Bill, the vampire, she is a single woman who finds that she's missing the sex. Eric, found along side the road without any memory of who he is, hides out at Sookie's for protection from the witches who did this to him. Then Sookie's brother goes missing which is another major mystery... is it connected to Eric's brain mishap? I can't tell you! You will have to read it to find out.

That is a horribly written summary of a book I actually enjoyed. For me, it is like brain candy... except the good kind of candy that doesn't add pounds to your butt. But this was a nice read, not too angsty, not too heavy. Sookie isn't like another heroine of vamp books who spends half of the plot justifying her decisions that make her come off as a borderline sociopath while the other half is spent surrounded by the most beautiful men in the universe. (It is the men part that make me feel less sympathetic to that character.) Sookie seems alone most of the time... she is the one who has to go beyond the call of duty but always without crossing the line to superhuman. She doesn't have ever-escalating special powers that make you wonder if putting her out of her misery wouldn't be a gift to humanity. (Maybe I'm too mean.) Sookie seems to have a soul that is bothered by the same things we are all troubled by... except she gets to play with vamps, weres, shifters... etc.

Anyway... I enjoyed and recommend.