Review: Literary Rogues

Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors

Author: Andrew Shaffer
Pages: 320
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Source: Publisher

Description from Goodreads:
In Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, Andrew Shaffer explored the romantic failures of some of the great minds in history. Now, in Literary Rogues, he turns his unflinching eye and wit to explore our love-hate relationship with literature's most contrarian, drunken, vulgar, and just plain rude bad boys (and girls) in this very funny and shockingly true compendium of literary misbehavior.

Vice wasn't always the domain of rock stars, rappers, and actors. There was a time when writers fought both with words and fists, a time when writing was synonymous with drinking and early mortality. The very mad geniuses whose books are studied in schools around the world are the very ones who fell in love repeatedly, and either outright killed themselves or drank or drugged themselves as close to death's door as they could possibly get. Literary Rogues turns back the clock to celebrate historical and living legends of Western literature, such as: Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, Hunter S. Thompson, and Bret Easton Ellis.

Part nostalgia, part serious history of Western literary movements, and Literary Rogues is a wholly raucous celebration of oft-vilified writers and their work, brimming with interviews, research, and personality.

First Sentence: "'As a young child, I wanted to be a writer because writers were rich and famous.'"

Review:

Literary Rogues consists of portraits of the 'bad boys' of literature, though some women, too, merit a place within these pages. These are the authors with wild lifestyles, drug habits, and an endless string of romantic relationships. Though not a history tome by any means, this relatively brief nonfiction book is a delightful light read for those curious about author biographies but not perhaps committed to a full length work on a particular author.

As a reader, I cannot help but be fascinate by authors and the lives that they live. Of course, most authors do not live lives radically different from other people. In our imaginations, though, they take on characteristics of their characters, of their narratives. Shaffer opens by relating a story from his youth, wherein he meets Marvel Comics writer Frank Castle. Shaffer had a number of expectations of what Castle would be like, and none of them came close to the reality. In Literary Rogues, Shaffer peers into the lives of some of the most famously vibrant, dramatic personalities in writing and shows both how exciting their lives were and how sad.

Literary Rogues will appeal to fans of general knowledge. If you love trivia, there are endless tidbits to be garnered from within these pages. For example, William S. Burroughs murdered his wife (in a drunken game of William Tell) and Norman Mailer stabbed his. Fun facts, no? Almost all of the wayward authors struggle with drug or alcohol abuse, often combined with mental disorders, like depression. It's really tragic the way these lives fell apart. I also find it odd that some lived to such old ages, though they partook of terrible life choices just as much as anyone else. The drugs and alcohol become so tied up in the creative process of writing that the habits are hard to shake, for fear of losing talent.

The time period ranges from the Marquis de Sade to James Frey. The earlier authors are covered chapter by chapter, with a brief rundown of their life and some of the wildest stories. As Shaffer moves forward in time, he begins interweaving more authors into each chapter, covering the generations and adding in more history, this seeming to be more where his passion lies. Though I can see why he switched up his style, I preferred the more organized method of tackling one author at a time. I also struggled a bit with the sections on the Beat Generation and Ken Kesey's group, since I took a college course on them and new most of the information already.

Shaffer's writing style is very readable, and he adds quite a bit of humor to subject matter which alternates between depressing and hilariously ridiculous. For an overview of some of the most sensational authors, Literary Rogues is a great choice, and, now that I know a bit more about these authors, I know which ones I want to research more extensively.

Rating: 3/5

Review: Romeo Redeemed

Romeo Redeemed
Juliet Immortal, Book 2

Author: Stacey Jay
Pages: 364
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Won ARC

Description from Goodreads:
Seductive companion to the popular Juliet Immortal, in which former lovers—Romeo and Juliet—meet, not as true lovers, but truly as enemies.

Cursed to live out eternity in his rotted corpse, Romeo, known for his ruthless, cutthroat ways, is given the chance to redeem himself by traveling back in time to save the life of Ariel Dragland. Unbeknownst to her, Ariel is important to both the evil Mercenaries and the love-promoting Ambassadors and holds the fate of the world in her hands. Romeo must win her heart and make her believe in love, turning her away from her darker potential before his work is discovered by the Mercenaries. While his seduction begins as yet another lie, it soon becomes his only truth. Romeo vows to protect Ariel from harm, and do whatever it takes to win her heart and soul. But when Ariel is led to believe his love is a deception, she becomes vulnerable to Mercenary manipulation, and her own inner darkness may ultimately rip them apart.

First Sentence: "We reach the lonely hilltop as the sun sets over Verona."

Review:
Something I love to do but don't get to all that often is read a series pretty much back to back. With a memory like mine, reading the series altogether is the only way that I can guarantee I don't miss key plot lines or internal references. Although Juliet Immortal has apparently not been especially popular with bloggers, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book. Romeo Redeemed struck me as one of the most consistent sequels I have ever encountered. I liked and disliked the very same things about this one as the first, so, if you liked Juliet Immortal, you're in for another crazy, fun ride.

At the opening of Romeo Redeemed, Romeo wanders the earth in his specter form, more disgusting than any zombie. All he feels is pain. He hears the screams of people running away from him. Basically, he's Humperdinck if Westley followed through on his threats. The Nurse offers him a choice, though: perform a trial task for a chance to become an Ambassador or continue living in his refuse heap of a body. Unsurprisingly, he chooses to do anything other than be himself. His task: to make Ariel fall in love with him.

Ariel, the girl whose body Juliet inhabited and died in during Juliet Immortal in an alternate universe, has problems. She's got scars on her face, no self-confidence and she hears voices sometimes, and, when she does, she wets herself. Because of an episode like that, she's been a pariah at school since childhood, with only one friend, Gemma, who isn't necessarily the most supportive BFF all the time, focusing more on her own drama and needs.

Romeo has been put, again, into the body of Dylan. He takes over mid-date, after Ariel's learned Dylan was trying to sleep with her for a bet and before she tries to drive the car off the road. With foreknowledge of what she would do, he manages to prevent the accident. She gets out of the car and runs. He, with the need to woo her, talks her down and convinces her to spend the rest of the night with him.

As with Juliet Immortal, I liked the writing a lot, and the reading of the book was a pleasurable experience, but the romance plot line makes me antsy. My biggest problem is that Ariel, poor, damaged Ariel, would never trust someone so quickly, let alone a guy who bet on her and threatened rape. She has trouble trusting her mom, who loves her even if she's not great about saying so. Why would she trust Dylan/Romeo? In the course of just three days, she falls in love with him. I'm not saying he couldn't have made her fall in love with him over time, but three days? No. Issues with self-worth and trust do not go away that quickly. They just don't.

Romeo, too, inevitably falls for Ariel, which makes more sense, considering that's what he's always done. Romeo's thoughts: "Oooh, a pretty girl. I wonder if she'll sleep with me. Probably not yet. Maybe if we were in love? Oh, sweet torture to love her so but not be able to, you know, love her so." Thus, I can accept this part, and laugh at Romeo's idiocy. He manages to act all jaded for like twenty pages, but very quickly returns to his natural state: obsession with the first pretty girl to cross his path. Some people grow and change, like Juliet did in some ways, and some don't, like Romeo.

I so wanted to be able to give this book a 4, that extra bump up, but I just couldn't do it. What it came down to was the ending, which was just too cheesy. Where I wanted her to go tragedy, she went drama! Romeo and Ariel living happily forever after? I THINK NOT. Also, there's a twist that did not work for me at all.

Though by no means a perfect series, I appreciate these books for taking a fresh, completely unique look at an overdone series. For my tastes, they could have benefited from a couple dashes more cynicism, but at least I got to revel in how much Romeo and Juliet didn't work out.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Never underestimate the allure of the Goodwill.'"

Those to Come - The Shins

The Gathering
Darkness Rising, Book 1

Author: Kelley Armstrong
Pages: 359
Publisher: Harper
Review Copy Acquired From: A friend gave this to me and I do not know where he got it.

Brief Summary:
A year ago, Maya's best friend, Serena, died, drowning in a lake she had been swimming in for most of her life. Maya has trouble accepting that Serena simply drowned, what with her being the best swimmer on the school team. Still, Maya cannot do anything to prove that and is trying to get on with her life. She still has her other best friend, and Serena's boyfriend, Daniel by her side. He can be a bit overprotective, like when the new school hottie and bad boy is hitting on Maya, but his heart is clearly in the right place. Will she give in and date the persistent bad boy, Rafe? Will she turn to the best friend? Does her paw print birthmark mean anything or is it just a neat mark?

Review:
Last year, I read and really enjoyed Armstrong's teen series that begins with The Summoning. Later, I tried her Women of the Otherworld series and was not impressed, but I am planning to at least start book two before giving up on her adult fiction entirely. This new series is set in the same world as the previous, but does not have too much crossover, at least not that I've noticed (and my memory's not great, so I might have missed something). Davidoff is the only character name I recognized from before.

The plot holds few surprises, and those, generally, were not the big ones. Her relationship choices were inevitable, and future relationship drama is emerging along clearly defined lines. The emergence of the fantasy elements of the story was wholly expected as well. If you like to be completely caught off guard by your book, then Armstrong might not be for you. Remember that Armstrong has a strong basis in paranormal romance, so there are certain elements that are just going to happen a particular way.

That does not change the fact that her YA novels are compulsively readable. They go down quick and easy, and leave you wanting more. Her romances, if the previous series is something I can go by, are very cute, take a long time to come to fruition and may involve some missteps along the way (like dating the wrong guy and then realizing your feelings lie elsewhere). Although it would be repetitive, I hope for the latter yet again, as Rafe's little bad guy routine did nothing to make me like him. Bad boys are good only in certain circumstances, as better detailed in my previous post. I am fully rooting for Daniel. Normally, I would not ship her with the best friend, but I really liked him for some reason and think he has some awesomeness hiding beneath the surface.

If you're looking for something fun to read this spring/summer, you can't go wrong with The Gathering. For another review, check out Nori's Closet.

"Quaking leaves and broken light
Shifting skin
The coming night"

Top Ten Bad Boys

This list was inspired by a blog post by Mette Ivie Harrison, an author I really enjoy. She has been doing a series of posts on destructive love myths, one of which was on the desire for bad boys and the hopeless aim of redeeming them. I agreed with what she had to say on this matter and decided that this week I would honor the bad boys that hold appeal, despite them not being my type ordinarily. Mostly, I think the whole bad boy swagger, cockiness bit is a bunch of BS and would tell them to take a flying leap, but sometimes...

10. Connor and Murphy MacManus from The Boondock Saints

They're crazy religious, with an emphasis on the crazy, and they're murderers. They hang out with two bit gangsters and live in squalor. The actors aren't even particularly attractive (not that they're ugly, but they're certainly not droolworthy, as they're a bit old). Even worse, they smoke! And yet, I still adore them. Why? This one's easy to explain in two reasons: 1) the accents and 2) they speak so many languages fluently (melts into a puddle on the floor during that scene every time).

9. Spike from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer

Now, when I say that I really like Spike, I am referring only to the Spike before the scene in the bathroom with Buffy. That whole incident is pretty unforgivable, even if she does forgive him, and, almost worse than that, is his incredible cheesiness afterwards. This vampire is, generally, not a good guy; he loves to fight, enjoys many ladies, is still a little bit obsessed with his insane ex, and occasionally eats people. He's not even super attractive really; he's a bit older than I like them and I don't personally have a Billy Idol. And yet, it's a rare Buffy fan who does not really love Spike, and I am no exception. Reasons for awesomeness: accent, sense of humor, and the fact that he is so capable of love, even if his heart doesn't beat anymore.

8. Pete Dunham from Green Street Hooligans
This guy is super violent and obsessed with sports. Seriously, he's in one of those crazy soccer gangs in London (that's what the movie's about). There is nothing I like about any of that. And yet, Charlie Hunnam is just too attractive for me to not still be really interested in him. So I'm not deep, so what?

7. Michael Guerin from Roswell
There is just something about Michael. He was my favorite right from the beginning. Sure, Jason Behr is more objectively attractive, but Michael, broody and grumpy, is by far more attractive. I never gave a damn about Liz and Max, but shipped Michael and Maria so hard. Broody, easily angered men are not ideal for a long term relationship, but they sure do hold a certain appeal.

6. Logan Echolls from Veronica Mars

I spent most of the first season of Veronica Mars loathing Logan Echolls. He's an overprivileged jerkwad with no consideration for others. Then, all of a sudden, I am absolutely loving him. He grows as a character a lot, and gets a bit more considerate. At heart though, he still is clearly a bad boy, ready to fight and to insult those around him. Somehow though, it totally works. Probably for the same reason Spike does. I think I might be developing a theory.

5. Wolverine from X-Men

This refers only to the Wolverine from the films, not from any of the comics. In the comics, Logan (is this a bad boy name?) is always gigantically muscular (like in those muscle man magazines) and hairy everywhere. No thanks. Hugh Jackman, though? Oh, hell yeah. No more needs to be said on the matter.

4. Charles Brandon from The Tudors

The early episodes of The Tudors come with a good amount of eye candy, whether you like men or women, but there was no question when it came to who I liked the best. Oh, Henry Cavill. He is made of so much pretty, which he is so kind as to share around. You get to see him partially dressed plenty and, oh my, is that okay with me. Not the ideal guy to take home to mom, but there are so many other things you can do...

3. Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop
Another Spike. Apparently, this is another name that only bad boys carry around. Like the other Spike, he kicks some serious ass. He's also sarcastic, tall, thin and loves ladies. The only bad thing about Spike is that he is totally hung up on his ex, who really does not seem all that awesome. Despite being a bad boy and animated, I have a bit of a crush on Spike. My best guess is that it's the sense of humor that gets me.

2. Eric Northman from True Blood/The Sookie Stackhouse Series
To be truthful, I didn't really notice Eric at first. He was just the scary jerk who ran Fangtasia and wanted to steal Sookie away because she has a cool power. I was not very interested. Then he got a haircut and I went "Damn!!!" That was some seriously fine man hiding under that unattractive straight long hair, which would have been ideal if he decided to form a Viking metal band. Ever since then, I have been shipping Sookie and Eric really hard. He's hotter than Bill, stronger than Bill and he's way more charismatic. I would so go to there, even if it might result in my death (whether it was one from which I rose again or not).

1. Jess Mariano from The Gilmore Girls

I never cared for Dean. He's cute, sure, but he lacks spirit. Frankly, he's boring, and not that bright. Jess, though, I loved pretty much immediately, despite his permanent sneer, bad behavior and whininess. Rory went for another bad boy, Logan, toward the end of the show and I hate him, my general reaction to bad boys. My love for Jess isn't hard to explain: he loves books. Hot guy reading classics? Swoon.

So who have I forgotten? Anyone else want to share their favorite bad boys in pop culture?