Another Endless Night

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

As the title says, this great read is a story about an interview freely given by the Vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac. With few interruptions, Louis gives his story from his transformation to immortality to present. He speaks of the struggle of good and evil along with stories of love, hatred, loss and acceptance. The story of Louis is one that many have read and seen. In this story we meet Louis in New Orleans, where the vampire Lestat changes Louis for selfish reasons of money and property. A rocky relationship from the very beginning Louis hated Lestat. That hatred did not change but only accelerated when Lestat changed five year old Claudia. As time continues the three of them do not age, but relationship strains during that time and things change.

Of course, everyone saw Interview with the Vampire in the early 90’s. What with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, I was not the only teenager having a vampire fetish. When Twilight wasn’t even a twinkle in Stephenie Meyer’s eye, Anne Rice was racking in the funds with a top grossing movie and almost 20 years later selling more copies to new vampire lovers. There is something about the immortal blood suckers that brings in a crowd. Of course there were a few points that were very different in the book and the movie (from what I remember about the movie). One item was that Claudia was supposed to be 5 years old. In the movie, a very young Kirsten Dunst was probably around 12 or 13. Which is fine, we still get the point that Claudia is very young in body but growing old in her mind. Also, there were key points that were not discussed in the movie, but were pretty forefront in the book. I know that changing a book into a movie must be incredibly hard, and I do think they did a great job. The main difference is the ending. Where I was expecting Lestat to return with all of his glory, we see him withering away in a broken down house with rotting animals surrounding him with flies and other sick decorations.

Anne Rice has a way with words that I have not read before. She has this detail about her writing that was very impressive. That is probably why she’s a world famous author. There was a sentence that I wanted to share. “It was as if this night were only one of thousands of nights, world without end, night curving into night to make a great arching line of which I couldn’t see the end, a night in which I roamed alone under cold, mindless stars.” To me, this is a great explanation of a miserable vampire. To be forced to live out every night alone and hating what you are and thinking that everything you do is evil. Louis felt trapped in his own existence but was not brave enough to end it himself.

Overall this book was a great read, so vampire friends, have you ventured out of the teen vampire books to an adult series or book? If so, what have you read? I say that you cannot be a true vampire fan without getting to know them all: up next is The Vampire Lestat, then? I hope Dracula! Thanks for reading!

Certain Tattoo's are just a bad idea when you don't want to be noticed

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist that made it big by chance, has been offered the job of a lifetime after being convicted of a crime he committed against one of the power names of Sweden. During this project he is introduced to Lisbeth Salander, an introverted researcher, whose part of the story is only beginning to unfold. With aspects in the story changing and constantly moving, there is a dangerous turn of events and crazy things happen than can only be read in the book itself.

While reading the first part of this trilogy, I couldn’t believe how crazy graphic it was. I’m not one to turn from a novel with some well written… um, scenes… but this book went a little further. It was something that wouldn’t shock you to be in a movie, but to read it with one’s own imagination, I couldn’t get over it. Now saying that, I also completely know that it was necessary to put graphic scenes in this book so that further into the series you read, you understand exactly what is going on and why the characters react to certain situations.

Lisbeth Salander is the girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She is introverted and we learn little about her throughout the book. She bases her morals on her own standards and what she thinks is right and wrong. She is described as a woman of 23, but most people see her and think she is fifteen. She has multiple tattoos on her body and she has been diagnosed by the courts to be incompetent to take care of herself. For this reason she is under guardianship. What used to be a come see your guardian whenever you need him, turns south when said guardian is discovered to have had a stroke and it would more than likely kill him. A new guardian is designated for Salander and she is left searching for answers. Salander is a well written character that only gets more interesting as the story goes along. I wanted to get to know her, but felt that she wouldn’t let me in. She was a mystery not only to the other characters, but the audience as well. Very interesting writing.

Mikael Blomkvist, a reporter that seems to always make the headlines himself. He has the craziest relationships and interpersonal relationships that I have ever read. He has had a 20 year relationship with Erika Berger and the relationship didn’t stop for college, love, or even their marriages to other people. It is old news that they have an ongoing affair that even Berger’s husband knows about and condones. He also meets Vanger and another affair begins. He is definitely a male whore.

This book was a very hard read for me. The first 100 pages or so, I couldn’t get into the story, I didn’t understand what was going on or what the book was even talking about with all of the legal jargon and my lack of knowledge in Swedish history and judicial processes. I knew that I had to keep reading because I had already bought the second book. I finally got to the point of no return within the book and had to keep going, I had invested too much time. It got great at the exciting part of the book and I knew that I wanted to finish it. I can’t remember how long it took me to read this particular book, but it took me 5 months to read the entire series. It usually takes me a week or so to read a book. I even took a break in between book 2 and 3 in order to rest my brain. At the end I was glad that I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and it is just the beginning of a great story and series. Read on my friends, read on. If you have begun, keep reading!

Three are Dead and I am Number Four

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

John Smith has never found a true home. He has been moved by his guardian Henry every few months to keep him safe. John is a fifteen year old alien from the planet Lorien, who has always been running from the enemy race of the Mogadorians. When John was very young he escaped from his home planet with 8 others like him along with their Cepans, or guardians. They make up the Garde. These aliens have special powers that were given to their race from their home planet because of the special care they respected their planet with. The Mogadorians came to Lorien and destroyed it for the planet’s natural resources. They have their eyes set on Earth now. When they left their home planet, John and the others had spells placed on them that only as long as they were not together they could only be killed in their number order. The book opens with the death of number three and John being forced to leave another home because Henry has been charged with keeping him safe. John and Henry move to Paradise, Ohio and start a new life with expectations that they won’t be able to stay long. Of course, this is where the action takes place and John refuses to leave just wanting a normal teenage life. You’ll have to read it to get any more details.

I enjoyed I am Number Four. It was pretty action packed and had all of the qualities of a good book. A little action, a little romance, little alien feuds, everything I look for in a story. I liked the inventiveness of the story. There are so many stories being duplicated in young adult literature that sometimes you pick up a book and think, which book is this going to rip off? But this was a very interesting premise and I enjoyed the story line a lot.

As the audience, I felt so sorry for John. I wanted him to have what he longed for. He just wanted a place to fit in and find a group of friends and the poor guy’s hands start glowing in his first class of his first day at a new school. That’s just the beginning of things going from bad to worse. He has the pressure of knowing that he has been and is still a target for an entire race of aliens that want to kill him. He knows that’s he’s next on the hit list. And there is a predicted 5 more books to follow this one. I fear that poor John is going to run into a lot more trouble as the series continues.

Sadly it’s been too long since I read the book for me to remember any critiques I had. It was a good young adult book and I look forward to the continuation of the series.

So, what did you think? Have you read it, or watched the movie?

The Gift can also be a Curse, read on to see for yourself

The Gift by James Patterson

Whit and Wisty Allgood are still in trouble with “The one who is the one” and the government, The New Order. Since they were taken from their home, imprisoned, and continually on the run for their very lives, the Allgood’s keep learning new things about their abilities and the enemy’s abilities too. They have also found themselves as leaders of a revolution against the government that is trying to take away books, art, and even people’s imaginations. As the hunt for Whit and Wisty continues, they are both having inner struggles that could lead to more than just their capture and death, but the death of the revolt.
The Gift was ok. I read Witch and Wizard a while back, maybe when it first came out and was excited to hear that The Gift was out. While I was reading, this segment in the series ran a little slower than the proceeding book. By the end I was glad that I read it, but during I thought that it moved slower with a little less action than the first. By the end the characters hit some crazy times and it made it better.

The only problem with this series is that they are not memorable. I read it and picked up another book and now I really can’t remember what I liked and disliked about it. That is not usual for me, so I went back and read my blog for Witch and Wizard, and the craziest thing, I couldn’t remember what happened in it by the time I wrote my blog. So I came to the conclusion that it must not be very memorable.

Well if you have read the first, you might as well continue in the journey with Whit and Wisty, but if you haven’t, then no worries, there are other great books out there that you can read and remember later. If you’ve read it, leave me a comment and let me know what you thought!