Feb

26

Veronica Mars

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Who would have thought that the writer’s strike would lead to me watching more television instead of less?  Inevitably, my tastes go back and forth from television and movies to books.  I go crazy with one and then gravitate toward the other.  I went on a crazy reading streak a few weeks ago, so it’s not surprising that I’m not in much of a reading mood lately.  (And I haven’t been to the library in a couple weeks.)   And I haven’t been updating much because my time has been basically consumed by just one thing.

I am completely addicted to Veronica Mars on DVD.  It’s a show that was on the WB (now the CW) about a teenage private eye.  Yes, that’s really what it’s about.  Think Nancy Drew in the new millennium.  It was a show I always intended to watch but was too busy for.  And actually I’m glad I’m catching it on DVD because that lets me watch, oh, four episodes in a row.  (Yes, four.  I am a loser and I have absolutely nothing better to do.)  It has just about everything a girl could ask for: snappy dialogue, ever-changing hair styles, and cute guys.  But really I find it intriguing to watch it for its plot: season-long mysteries where clues are dropped bit by bit in each episode.

I am about 3/4 of the way through Season 3 (the last one, sadly) which seems to have a different approach.  They’ve had a few medium mysteries that last for several episodes instead of one big one, though I’m still waiting to see if we get a big wrap-up at the end.

When going through the show, it keeps largely to the same formula, but I do have my criticisms.  Like when they tried to make Veronica’s hair wavy at the beginning of Season 3.  Doesn’t suit her and doesn’t really go with her character.  And when Logan got a girlfriend in Season 2 who probably weighed about 45 pounds and whose acting was about on par with the three girls from America’s Next Top Model who made guest appearances.

My biggest complaint, though, is that they’ve changed the credits in Season 3.  Not only have they decided to go with this weird looking slow noir-ish montage instead of the peppy normal sequence they had before, they’ve taken their totally awesome theme song and made it sound completely lame.  (The song is “We Used to Be Friends” by the Dandy Warhols, a band I already liked and liked even more after the lead singer guested on an episode singing karaoke.)

The only problem with watching a mystery show so obsessively is that you start to pick up on their patterns.  I’ve been pretty good at picking out the bad guy the last few times, although I totally missed the big culprit of Season 2 despite big flashing signs pointing their way all season long.  Fortunately they’ve moved past Season 1, where it was virtually impossible to have guessed the killer in advance.  (And where a cast member in the main credits gave about three lines all season, while another made regular appearances but was only a “guest star.”  Where’s the love for Tina Majorino?)

Overall an excellent show.  Of course, it requires major suspension of disbelief.  (Especially when you’re a criminal lawyer.  Sometimes I just have to shut my eyes.)  And it requires the usual need to get-over-it that tends to go along with shows that feature teenage characters who are all too smart or too rich for their own good.  I suppose I’ll have to start reading again when I finally plow through the few episodes I have left.  Shame.

Update!  So I tried to just slide through Season 3 and wait to see when they were going to blow me away.  Except that it just kept getting worse and worse as the season went by and then ended.  Just ended.  No resolution, no big tie-up, no nothing.  It was like they were interrupted mid-sentence.  Perhaps they realized they’d messed up the season and decided to screw it?  I’d recommend stopping at the end of Season 2.   The cliffhanger there is minor and you’re much better off that way.

Feb

11

Short Update

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I finished Priest, which was okay, and Pyres, which was better but got too violent and ended up not being all that character-driven.  Pyres is my favorite of the debuts I’ve read and Down River is my favorite of the Best Novel category.

Perhaps it isn’t such a good idea to read 4 mystery novels in one weekend.  Last night, after eating something that didn’t agree with me, I had very vivid dreams.  One of which involved Ulrich Muhe, the deceased German actor (he’s one of the non-bad guys in Funny Games), hunting down Eric and I and killing us.  And then doing it again the next day.  And the next.  I’m not sure how we managed to be reanimated each day, but we were.  And then he’d come back for us again.  Finally after several days of this I decided I may need to talk to someone about it, so I told my mother but she didn’t believe me.  I don’t know if it was the food or the books, but I think each one contributed.

Finally, Eric and I saw Salman Rushdie speak yesterday.  He was delightful.  It was a really intelligent conversation about literature, and he was frequently hilarious.  It made me want to go back to college and sit in my literature classes soaking up the words of a really excellent instructor.  Is it sad that this is what I think of as fun?

Feb

9

The Edgar’s So Far

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So I picked up my stack of books from the library on Saturday.  They weren’t all my Edgar requests.  Rather bizarrely, 4 out of the 10 nominees (5 for best novel, 5 for best debut) aren’t available at my library.  In a large urban area.  Go figure.

I read two of the nominees already.  Well, make that one and two-thirds.  I read Christine Falls by Benjamin Black and liked it okay, though I found it generally overpraised.  I have slogged most of the way through The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon, who I normally adore, and just can’t fight my way through it.  Too many twists, too many names to remember, too many random plot pieces.  And I’ve had it put down for so long now that I think it’s a lost cause.

This weekend I’ve read two books in a sitting each, something I always enjoy.  Down River by John Hart, another of the Best Novel nominees.  Interesting, well-written without being overly flowery or trying too hard to impress (I’m looking at you, Mr. Black).  Yes, the main character is one of those classic types in mysteries who interferes and refuses to let the police get involved and must find out everything himself, but I was okay with it.  A great job of constantly switching the possible subjects without beating you over the head with it, just subtly adding facts that changed how you saw everything.

Also did Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell, a nominee for debut novel.  Much more of a legal thriller.  Coming at it from a trial lawyer’s standpoint, there’s nothing here I didn’t learn in Trial Skills 101.  (Perhaps the 10 Commandments of Cross-Examination didn’t exist in the 70’s when this is set?)  And the prosecutor never really makes any sense.  But it had a good trick of a concept and managed to pull it off pretty well.  Again, some cliches–alcoholic, self-destructive defense lawyer, anyone?–but solid courtroom work and I always appreciate that.  Clunky as far as the writing goes, but hopefully he can finesse it with time.

Overall, I’m usually not a big fan of the Edgar list.  I think they overlook really great stuff (Karin Fossum’s stuff is better than everything on this year’s list I’ve read so far) and when they do get the good ones (Out by Natsuo Kirino, one of my all-time favorites) they don’t win.  But I’m very very picky when it comes to my mysteries, so I’m going to be picky with the decisions.

I have two more here (Priest by Ken Bruen which I’ve started, and it isn’t going well, and Pyres by Derek Nikitas which doesn’t really look like my thing but I’ll make an attempt) and after that I may be done.  The rest aren’t available at the library and I’m probably not going to cough up the cash to buy them.  Ah, well.

Feb

6

Some Decent Fluff

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I think most serious readers have their guilty pleasures, or fluff as I call it.  I’m prone to mysteries and thrillers.  I used to read piles of Agatha Christie novels when I was a kid.  These days it’s rough being a mystery reader because most of them are so awful.  I tried one written by a former prosecutor a couple months ago that was so tired and full of cliches.

I read a good piece of fluff yesterday.  Good enough that I would have liked to get it in one good sitting, though I ended up going to bed before I was done.  It was by Laura Lippman, her newest, I think.  I’ve read a couple of hers before, one I liked and one I didn’t really care for, but I always hear other writers speak well of her.  This one was the best so far and she has many others, so I’ll probably go back through her catalog.

Other good fluff is hard to come by these days.  I like Steve Martini, his courtroom stuff is usually right on the money.  But he doesn’t have much out and I can’t remember the last time he put out something new.  I hear Grisham’s new one is okay, more like his older stuff.  (As some may know, I’ve been hugely anti-Grisham since he ditched his old-school legal thrillers.)  And the best mysteries usually don’t count as fluff, like Karin Fossum who’s just too good and makes me want to take it very slow.

Things are looking up, though.  The Edgar list just came out and now I’m going to go to my library list and update accordingly.