Flashback Friday: Coma

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Flashback Friday is a weekly tradition started here at Bookshelf Fantasies, focusing on showing some love for the older books in our lives and on our shelves. If you’d like to join in, just pick a book published at least five years ago, post your Flashback Friday pick on your blog, and let us all know about that special book from your reading past and why it matters to you. Don’t forget to link up!

This week on Flashback Friday:

Coma by Robin Cook
(published 1977)

Synopsis (Goodreads):

They call it “minor surgery,” but Nancy Greenly, Sean Berman, and a dozen others, all admitted to Memorial Hospital for routine procedures, are victims of the same inexplicable, hideous tragedy on the operating table. They never wake up again.

Some traceless error in anesthesia has cased irreversible brain death, leaving each of them in a hopeless coma.

Something is very wrong here. And Susan Wheeler, a beautiful young medical student, hazards her life to uncover the horrifying explanation–a plot so ghastly, so far-reaching, so terrifyingly incredible yet so nightmarishly possible, it will leave you suspended in a state of fear….

I think this was the first medical thriller I’d ever read, and let me tell you: It scared the bejeezus out of me. Robin Cook has written over 20 novels since, but in Coma, his 2nd novel, he introduced popular culture to the terror of medicine gone wrong, and we’ve never quite recovered!

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

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25Jul2014

Flashback Friday: Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This week on Flashback Friday:

Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
(published 2001)

Synopsis (Amazon):

In Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller remembers her African childhood with candor and sensitivity. Though it is a diary of an unruly life in an often inhospitable place, it is suffused with Fuller’s endearing ability to find laughter, even when there is little to celebrate. Fuller’s debut is unsentimental and unflinching but always captivating. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she stares down disaster and looks back with rage and love at the life of an extraordinary family in an extraordinary time.

And from Publishers Weekly:

A classic is born in this tender, intensely moving and even delightful journey through a white African girl’s childhood. Born in England and now living in Wyoming, Fuller was conceived and bred on African soil during the Rhodesian civil war (1971-1979), a world where children over five “learn[ed] how to load an FN rifle magazine, strip and clean all the guns in the house, and ultimately, shoot-to-kill.” With a unique and subtle sensitivity to racial issues, Fuller describes her parents’ racism and the wartime relationships between blacks and whites through a child’s watchful eyes. Curfews and war, mosquitoes, land mines, ambushes and “an abundance of leopards” are the stuff of this childhood. “Dad has to go out into the bush… and find terrorists and fight them”; Mum saves the family from an Egyptian spitting cobra; they both fight “to keep one country in Africa white-run.” The “A” schools (“with the best teachers and facilities”) are for white children; “B” schools serve “children who are neither black nor white”; and “C” schools are for black children. Fuller’s world is marked by sudden, drastic changes: the farm is taken away for “land redistribution”; one term at school, five white students are “left in the boarding house… among two hundred African students”; three of her four siblings die in infancy; the family constantly sets up house in hostile, desolate environments as they move from Rhodesia to Zambia to Malawi and back to Zambia. But Fuller’s remarkable affection for her parents (who are racists) and her homeland (brutal under white and black rule) shines through. This affection, in spite of its subjects’ prominent flaws, reveals their humanity and allows the reader direct entry into her world. Fuller’s book has the promise of being widely read and remaining of interest for years to come.

I read this brutal yet often funny memoir with my eyes hidden behind my hands half the time. It’s terribly straightforward and often hard to take, yet also contains moments of humor and warmth. I couldn’t help being horrified by the truly awful parents and their attitudes about issues from race to child-rearing, as well as the carelessness that constantly imperiled their family. It amazed me that the author actually survived her childhood — a real train-wreck, yet surprisingly hard to look away from. This is a fascinating and memorable book.

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

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18Jul2014

Flashback Friday: Locke & Key

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This week on Flashback Friday:

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
(published 2008)

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Locke & Key tells of Keyhouse, an unlikely New England mansion, with fantastic doors that transform all who dare to walk through them. Home to a hate-filled and relentless creature that will not rest until it forces open the most terrible door of them all…

And from Publishers Weekly:

Novelist Hill, author of Heart-Shaped Box, crafts a gripping account of the shattered Locke family’s attempt to rebuild after the father/husband is murdered by a deranged high school student and the family subsequently moving in with the deceased father’s brother at the family homestead in Maine. But as anyone who has read horror fiction in the past 70-odd years will tell you, it’s a bad idea to try to leave behind the gruesome goings-on in your life by moving to an island named Lovecraft. What begins as a study in coping with grief soon veers into creepy territory as the youngest Locke discovers a doorway with decidedly spectral qualities, along with a well that houses someone or something that desperately wants out and will use any means available to gain freedom, including summoning the teenage murderer who set events in motion in the first place. To say more would give away many of the surprises the creative team provides, but this first of hopefully several volumes delivers on all counts, boasting a solid story bolstered by exceptional work from Chilean artist Rodriguez (Clive Barker’s The Great and Secret Show) that resembles a fusion of Rick Geary and Cully Hamner with just a dash of Frank Quitely.

The sixth and final volume of this amazing series was just published in February, and I hate to admit that I haven’t read it yet… but I have read volumes 1 – 5, and was simply blown away by the storytelling and the illustration. Not for the faint-of-heart, the Locke & Key series is disturbing, brutal, and awful, but also clever, wildly unpredictable, and tightly woven. Using the comics medium to tell a suspenseful horror tale, both the writer and illustrator are in complete control of their story. The story itself is un-put-down-able, and the artwork is intense, creative, mind-boggling, and sometimes almost too much to look at (and I mean that in the best way possible).

I’ve been holding off on reading #6 (Alpha & Omega) until I have time to re-read the first five volumes, since the impact is that much greater when read all in a row. But I really need to do it! Meanwhile, if you’re a horror fan looking for something new, check out the beginning of the Locke & Key series. Chances are, you won’t be able to stop with just one volume.

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

Grab the Flashback Friday button
Post your own Flashback Friday entry on your blog (and mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the host of the meme, if you please!)
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11Jul2014

Flashback Friday: The Good Fairies of New York

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This week on Flashback Friday:

The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar
(published 2006)

Synopsis (Goodreads):

When a pair of fugitive Scottish thistle fairies end up transplanted to Manhattan by mistake, both the Big Apple and the Little People have a lot of adjusting to do. Heather and Morag just want to start the first radical fairy punk rock band, but first they’ll have make a match between two highly unlikely sweethearts, start a street brawl between rival gangs of Italian, Chinese, and African fairies, help the ghost of a dead rocker track down his lost guitar, reclaim a rare triple-bloomed Welsh poppy from a bag lady with delusions of grandeur, disrupt a local community performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and somehow manage to stay sober enough to save all of New York from an invasion of evil Cornish fairies.

If they can stop feuding with each other, that is.

A cute and cuddly fairy story… this is not. But it’s inventive as hell and lots of fun. How could it not be, with an opening like this:

Dinnie, an overweight enemy of humanity, was the worst violinist in New York, but was practicing gamely when two cute little fairies stumbled through his fourth-floor window and vomited on the carpet. . . .

The Good Fairies of New York is a fluffy, entertaining, silly read, but it really suited my mood on the day that I read it way back when. And it left me wanting to check out Lonely Werewolf Girl, Martin Millar’s next novel — which is apparently about a teenage werewolf in the Scottish Highlands. So this Flashback Friday also serves as a note to self: Read that werewolf book already!

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

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4Jul2014

A 4th of July Flashback Friday: The Bastard

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This week on Flashback Friday:

The Bastard (Kent Family Chronicles, book 1) by John Jakes
(published 1974)

Synopsis (Goodreads):

One man’s quest for his destiny leads him to the New World and into the heart of the American Revolution

Meet Phillipe Charboneau: the illegitimate son and unrecognized heir of the Duke of Kentland. Upon the Duke’s death, Phillipe is denied his birthright and left to build a life of his own. Seeking all that the New World promises, he leaves London for America, shedding his past and preparing for the future by changing his name to Philip Kent. He arrives at the brink of the American Revolution, which tests his allegiances in ways he never imagined. The first volume of John Jakes’s wildly successful and highly addictive Kent Family Chronicles, The Bastard is a triumph of historical fiction

Happy 4th of July! In honor of Independence Day, I thought it would be appropriate to choose an historical novel set during the American Revolution — and how can you beat The Bastard, book #1 in John Jakes’s eight-book Kent Family Chronicles?

The books has had several reprintings over the years, but in my mind, you really need this particular cover — with that cheese-tastic 70s feel — to truly grasp the glory of The Bastard. Does it help to know that this was made into an oh-so-popular mini-series as well?

But seriously, beneath the melodrama, The Bastard does what historical fiction does best: Invest historical events with a personal story revolving around compelling fictional characters, drawing readers in and making the real events from the past come alive on the page.

So… Happy 4th, one and all! And tonight, while you’re watching the fireworks, raise a cup to fictional heroes like Philip Kent as well!

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

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26Jun2014

Flashback Friday: Rebecca

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This week on Flashback Friday:

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
(published 1938)

Synopsis (Goodreads):

The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady’s maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives–presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave.

This week, I’m writing about a book that’s fresh in my mind, as I just read Rebecca two weeks ago while on vacation. I first read Rebecca over 20 years ago, and have been meaning to go back to it for quite some time.

The rereading experience can be so interesting! I realized early on that I had only the vaguest of memories about the overall plot, although if you’d asked me before I started reading, I’d have said that I remembered it fairly well. Not true! In fact, I completely misremembered what the climax of the story was. In my mind, the story culminated in an emotional proclamation from Max de Winter (I’m avoiding specifics, so as not to be spoilery for anyone who hasn’t read Rebecca yet) — but in fact, what I had in mind was actually only a midpoint before the mystery/thriller elements that comprise the remainder of the book.

I think part of the problem was that, in my mind, I’d somehow smooshed together the plots of Jane Eyre and Rebecca, and so expected something really different than what I got… not that that’s a bad thing!

I loved rereading Rebecca. Daphne du Maurier is a brilliant writer, I loved the phrasing, the evocative descriptions, the nuanced conversations and social niceties. I was initially quite annoyed by the nameless main character, who spends the first half of the book acting like a complete ninny and living in a fantasy world, never getting a spine or asking important questions. Still, it was interesting to see her evolve and to understand the twisted emotions that finally allowed her to feel confidence in her marriage and her place in the world.

A deeply dark and strange psychological thriller, Rebecca is considered a 20th century classic for good reason! I can’t wait to read more by du Maurier, and plan to start with Jamaica Inn in the near future.

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

Grab the Flashback Friday button
Post your own Flashback Friday entry on your blog (and mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the host of the meme, if you please!)
Leave your link in the comments below
Check out other FF posts… and discover some terrific hidden gems to add to your TBR piles!

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20Jun2014

Flashback Friday REWIND: Nine Princes in Amber

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’ll be traveling for a few weeks during the month of June, so rather than skipping Flashback Friday, I thought I’d dig back into my FF archives and revisit some of my very first flashback books.

Going way back for this week’s Flashback Friday:

Nine Princes In Amber by Roger Zelazny

(published 1970)

Roger Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles simply astounded me when I first encountered them quite a while back (no, I will not disclose just how many decades ago that was or how old I was — suffice it to say that I was vibrant and youthful and wore clothes that my children would mock). These books were among my early forays into the world of science fiction and fantasy, an area of my reading history that was sorely lacking during my childhood and youth. I admit it now: I’d never read Narnia, had read The Hobbit but no other Tolkien (horrors! I’m ashamed of my younger self!), and had only recently been introduced to Dune. And then I met Amber, and it rocked my world.

From Goodreads:

Amber, the one real world, wherein all others, including our own Earth, are but Shadows. Amber burns in Corwin’s blood. Exiled on Shadow Earth for centuries, the prince is about to return to Amber to make a mad and desperate rush upon the throne. From Arden to the blood-slippery Stairway into the Sea, the air is electrified with the powers of Eric, Random, Bleys, Caine, and all the princes of Amber whom Corwin must overcome. Yet, his savage path is blocked and guarded by eerie structures beyond imaging impossible realities forged by demonic assassins and staggering horrors to challenge the might of Corwin’s superhuman fury.

I barely remember the details, but I do know that I loved this book and the ones that followed. The Amber Chronicles consist of ten books in all, although I believe I only made it through 6 or 7 of them. (Hey, it was the 80s — I was busy!). Still, I know I fell in love with the concept of the shadow worlds, the battle for the throne, and the labyrinth-like Pattern that the royal family members must walk in order to gain access to other worlds. It was epic and dramatic high fantasy, and I’d never encountered anything quite like it before.

Last year at a book sale, I picked up an all-in-one volume of the entire Amber Chronicles, and it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since. Maybe it’s time to dust it off and give it a whirl. It’s entirely possible that it will feel incredibly dated at this point — but somehow, I have a feeling that I’ll be drawn into Corwin’s story once again and won’t be able to let go until I reach the end.

If you’re a fan of today’s bestselling fantasy series, such as George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire or Patrick Rothfuss’s The Kingkiller Chronicle, why not go back in time and give Amber a try?

Thanks for sticking with me for three weeks of FLASHBACK FRIDAY REWIND! As of next week, I’ll be back with fresh picks for Flashback Friday.

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

Grab the Flashback Friday button
Post your own Flashback Friday entry on your blog (and mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the host of the meme, if you please!)
Leave your link in the comments below
Check out other FF posts… and discover some terrific hidden gems to add to your TBR piles!

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13Jun2014

Flashback Friday REWIND: Ella Minnow Pea

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’ll be traveling for a few weeks during the month of June, so rather than skipping Flashback Friday, I thought I’d dig back into my FF archives and revisit some of my very first flashback books.

From September 2012, an early Flashback Friday:

My very own copy, fresh from the shelf! Excuse the shaky photography, please. Hey, it’s the book that counts!

Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

(published 2001)

Simply one of the most delicious books I’ve ever read, sure to delight anyone who’s every played with words, laughed at a clever twist of phrase, or admired a quirky anagram.

From Amazon:

Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram, “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

A pangram, by the way, is a sentence containing every letter of the alphabet. This clever, clever book is framed by the famous quick brown fox pangram, and moves into marvelous insanity as the people of Nollop lose the right to use letters of the alphabet as they fall from the statue of their island’s hero. As each letter drops, author Mark Dunn drops it from the novel as well. If you think that’s an easy feat, you clearly haven’t read Ella Minnow Pea yet! The verbal gymnastics are quite magnificent to behold, and yet the story itself is engaging and dynamic, not just second-fiddle to some truly impressive wordplay.

The *uick brown fox *umps over the la*y dog

Looking back through Ella Minnow Pea is so much fun, such a great reminder of how much I loved this book when I first read it, that it may be time to dust it off and read it again. If you’re visiting Bookshelf Fantasies, I’m guessing you’re a booklover, which in my mind equates to wordlover… in which case, pick up a copy of Ella Minnow Pea and give yourself a real treat.

Coming next week, one more “rewind” Flashback Friday post. And then, back to “new” oldies!

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

Grab the Flashback Friday button
Post your own Flashback Friday entry on your blog (and mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the host of the meme, if you please!)
Leave your link in the comments below
Check out other FF posts… and discover some terrific hidden gems to add to your TBR piles!

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6Jun2014

Flashback Friday REWIND: The Sparrow

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I’ll be traveling for a few weeks during the month of June, so rather than skipping Flashback Friday, I thought I’d dig back into my FF archives and revisit some of my very first flashback books.

My premiere Flashback Friday post focused on one of my all-time favorite books, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Here’s what I wrote about it at the time:

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
(published 1996)

From Amazon:

In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being “human.” When the lone survivor of the expedition, Emilio Sandoz, returns to Earth in 2059, he will try to explain what went wrong… Words like “provocative” and “compelling” will come to mind as you read this shocking novel about first contact with a race that creates music akin to both poetry and prayer.

I can’t overstate just how very much I love this book. It has it all: compelling characters, a science fiction slant, discovery of new worlds, fascinating interpersonal dynamics, and a confounding mystery at its core.

Lead character Emilio is so magnetic, so fascinating, and so wounded that I wanted to jump into the story to protect and defend him. Author Mary Doria Russell, an anthropologist by training, creates a world unto itself, with culture, mores, and languages that are unique and yet fully formed.

Whenever I’m asked to name my favorite books, The Sparrow is right there in the top 5. Over the years, I’ve given copies to friends and family members, and I’ve recommended it to dozens more. If you’ve never read The Sparrow, give it a try! You’ll thank me for it — I promise.

For the next two weeks, I’ll feature other “rewind” Flashback Friday posts. Stay tuned!

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

Grab the Flashback Friday button
Post your own Flashback Friday entry on your blog (and mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the host of the meme, if you please!)
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Check out other FF posts… and discover some terrific hidden gems to add to your TBR piles!

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30May2014

Flashback Friday: The Feast of All Saints

Posted in Flashback Friday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

This week on Flashback Friday:

The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice
(published 1979)

Synopsis (Goodreads):

They were New Orleans’ gens de couleur libre – the copper-skinned half-castes who lived recklessly and loved passionately, trapped in a world between black and white.

Marcel – the young, blue-eyed scholar, sensitive, and longing always for Paris. Marie – his breathtakingly beautiful sister, cursed with the ability to pass for white. Cristophe – novelist and teacher, the idol of all the young gens. Anna Bella – light in skin, African in feature, chosen for the white man.

And from Amazon:

In the days before the Civil War, there lived a Louisiana people unique in Southern history. Though descended from African slaves, they were also descended from the French and Spanish who enslaved them. Called the Free People of Color, this dazzling historical novel chronicles the lives of four of them–men and women caught perilously between the worlds of master and slave, privilege and oppression, passion and pain.

Last week, I focused on Cry to Heaven, and heard from several people who were surprised that Anne Rice had written books outside of the vampire/witch/otherworldly realm. And here is another, The Feast of All Saints, which is Anne Rice’s second published novel, released just a few years after her debut novel Interview With The Vampire.

In Feast of All Saints, we get a slice of New Orleans history centered around the “free people of color” the young mixed-race inhabitants of the city who held a special status, at once admired and coveted, and yet manipulated and treated as less than equal.

The historical elements are fascinating, and the drama is rich, filled with emotional depth and tragic twists. When I read Isabel Allende’s Island Beneath the Sea a few years ago, I was immediately reminded of this early work by Anne Rice. If you’re fond of historical fiction and enjoy a New Orleans setting, I recommend tracking down a copy of The Feast of All Saints.

What flashback book is on your mind this week?

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join in the Flashback Friday fun:

Grab the Flashback Friday button
Post your own Flashback Friday entry on your blog (and mention Bookshelf Fantasies as the host of the meme, if you please!)
Leave your link in the comments below
Check out other FF posts… and discover some terrific hidden gems to add to your TBR piles!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥