Thursday, August 28, 2008 Cruz Review: Dirty-handed-fun! POST A COMMENT Meg Gardiner knocks-it-out-the-park with her American-debut (and here with her sixth novel), The Dirty Secrets Club. I wrote briefly about this author last week, now After finishing the book, I'll offer ya'll my short review below: Book Genre: Like getting ya' hands-dirty with suspense, crime, and danger, leading up to nail biting climax? -- Then The Dirty Secrets clubs right up your alley. Story Blurb: Police call in Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett to sort out a crime; 'the clock is ticking 'cause they have 48 hours before somebody else dies. Page-turner meter, (or the can't-put-it-down factor): On a scale of 1-10, this gets a solid nine. I could almost see a Julia Roberts (or another A-lister) doing twirls in the film version. What I really liked: I'll focus on two things, but there's lots to like here: (1) The villains here could've been flat, but the author smartly went out of her way to make it less of a one noter, which looks at the good and bad inside humanity, as opposed to plain 'ol good guy versus bad guys. (2) Getting back to the suspense level, it's very well plotted. A touch of Alfred Hitchcock mixed with the girls of ABC's short lived legal drama series Women's Murder Club. What I least liked: If I really have to pull something from between my butt cheeks to Pu-pu the fun...'or something that set me off, I got two things (but, I'm nitpicking here): (1) We don't meet our protagonist Jo, until chapter three (around page 14th). Which made my brain work harder to sort out whose story it is, for a brighter person this might be okay...for a slow learner like me I don't like so many obstacles (2) I love those quirky character driven books, but this story's so very very plot by the numbers which never slows down long enough to give me a throw away moment that doesn't tie right into the plot. I know, I know, everything nowadays is story story story, or cut it out...but, I would like to see more small moments for the sake of character in the next book, and nothing to do with moving the plot. For example, for my money the best part of the USA's Monk is less about the crime, and more about the quirkiness of Monk. The Dirty Secrets Club Labels: Critics, Cruz book reviews, The Dirty Secrets Club, what I'm reading posted by Henry Cruz at 4:54 AM Thursday, August 21, 2008 Cho Show not a total train wreck... POST A COMMENT Usually by the time you get to star in a VH1 reality show means it's over -- (cue clips of Whitney and Bobby, or Anna Nicole Smith)... But not so for Margaret Chos' celeb-reality show; there are at least two good things that make it watchable: (1) Margaret, for her quick line liners... (2) and her parents. The rest of it, well, that's why God gave us the fast forward button. The opener premieres Thursday night at 11, on VH1 but, if you can't wait, they loaded the full first episode at their website...'here's the last clip, and will wanna use that fast forward to the funny part, when Margaret finally hits the stage: VH1 TV Shows Music Videos Celebrity Photos News & Gossip Labels: Celebs exposed, Critics, Cruz Reviews, Margaret Cho, Reality Shows, TV Shows, VH1 posted by Henry Cruz at 1:04 AM Sunday, August 10, 2008 Capturing the Hunger on the page POST A COMMENT How's that saying go? -- "Those who can, do. Those who can't..." End up a critic! In today's writing world you need both things -- Firstly, that need to self-critique your own writing with a sharp "editors eye,"... and of course a decent amount of "doing"... I guess, talent can't hurt ya much either.' Enter the talked about "How Fiction Works," a book-length critique by that famous literary critic -- James Wood -- answering the big-critics-question: "Does it work, and why?" More interesting, at least to me, since I haven't yet read the book is how other critic's critique-the-critic-turned-author: * * * 'K, 'Considered by some, our best American book critic -- Wood's the guy "classing up the back end of most high brow magazines..." -- says one book critic, so far, so good...'but, critics love tossing in a few digs... * * * "Wood remains provocatively analog. His pronouncements arrive walnut-paneled, camphor-sprinkled...it’s like he -- (Wood) -- seems “to want to be his own grandfather.” -- HMM, doesn't that suggest Wood's an incestuous mess...'or am I reading too much into it? * * * How about this one: "Wood makes me want to be a better man. Or, at any rate, a better reader, which, in Wood's metaphysics, is practically the same thing. The sense of holy purpose that rises from all his sentences gathers into mission in How Fiction Works..." -- HMM, doesn't using the words like "holy," and that bit about "makes me want to be a better man..." make Wood's sound a little too-uppity-for-his-own-good? The book however is being called "most useful and illuminating for the serious reader who enjoys the fictive ride and wants to take a look under the hood" (Washington Post). Wood sums up by offering the "question of how language can be successfully employed to manage this hunger, to achieve certain effects, some of them quite magical and most of them revolving around articulating, eliciting or manifesting the interior dramas of life." -- HMM, I now understand why 'Ol Grand-Daddy's in all them high-brow magazines... Does any of this make you hungry to put stuff on the page?? Feed on this video, a fiction-101 primer: Source: Washington Post Labels: Books, Critics, How Fiction Works, James Wood, writing posted by Henry Cruz at 6:27 PM     ARCHIVES October 2005 . November 2005 . December 2005 . August 2007 . September 2007 . October 2007 . November 2007 . December 2007 . March 2008 . April 2008 . May 2008 . June 2008 . July 2008 . August 2008 . September 2008 .