46. 
Title: Baby Shark
Author: Robert Fate
Pages: 270
Genre: Fiction
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Free download, recommended by Penn Jillette on Twitter
Date Completed: May 19, 2012
Rating: ****1/2

Baby Shark opens with gut-wrenching violence against the unlucky patrons at a pool house.  The unapologetic violence of the scene captivates, even as the reader wants to look away.  Among the victims are 17-year-old Kristin, who is brutally raped and beaten, and her father, who is murdered.

Kristin doesn't remember getting out of the pool hall when she wakes in the hospital, but she learns that the owner - the only other survivor of the attack by a gang of bikers - dragged her from the building despite his own gunshot wounds, and manages to drive her to the relative safety of the hospital.  She also learns that the police have no intention of investigating the murders and assault.  Kristin and Henry find a new family in each other, drawn together by a need for both safety and revenge.  Together they live, train, and plan. 

Baby Shark is a tale of survival and what it takes for two damaged individuals not only to recover, but to find justice.  Kristin (aka Baby Shark) seeks not only to avenge her father's death, but also to reclaim her dignity and establish herself as a strong, independent figure, regardless of the abuse she suffered and regardless of her gender in a very gender-biased setting.  One reviewer remarks on a lack of morality in Kristin's actions, but my own reading suggests something very different: it is not necessarily a quest for Hammurabian revenge, but justice.  If the police had pursued and prosecuted the bikers responsible for these violent crimes I would suggest that Kristin and Henry would not have have sought out their own form of justice; given the circumstances of their case, they sought punishment that was otherwise denied. 

As I first read of the attack on the pool hall I did not expect to like this book, but the narrative quickly sped away, and before I knew it I was at the novel's end. 

44. 
Title: [Chime]
Author: Franny Billingsley
Pages: 320
Genre: Fantasy
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Library book
Date Completed: May 17, 2012
Rating: ***1/2

I believe it was Faith who recently read this book, but unfortunately my recent memory is failing me...

Chime tells the story of a young witch who is sacrificing her present happiness for her past sins, while keeping her own neck out of a hangman's noose.  Grieving for her stepmother and caring for her (autistic?) sister, Briony leaves little time for herself, and rejects anything that "ordinary" girls may be interested in.  That is, until a young man comes to live with her father, and changes her perception of her own past.

Wait, that sounds like far more of a horrible love story than this actually is.  In truth, Briony is far too self-centered to even consider a romantic interest for much of the story.  Filled with fairy tales and deceit, Chime is largely fascinating for the point of view, which is that of a young woman who believes she's guilty, and says as much before the crimes are even presented. 

Although the plot is fairly predictable, I enjoyed the book primarily for this point of view, and the exploration of memory. 

45.
Title: [Charlotte Collins]
Author: Jennifer Whiteley Becton
Pages: 256
Genre: Fiction
Medium: Kindle
Acquisition: Free download
Date Completed: May 19, 2012
Rating: *****

Charlotte Collins is a Jane Austen continuation that is actually worth reading.  I applaud Becton for selecting a perfect subject for her work - secondary characters from the primary source, as opposed to the protagonists of the original - and argue that this choice is what primarily leads to the success of the text.  Unlike continuations that attempt to rewrite Elizabeth Bennet/Darcy, which consistently fail to develop a character that even resembles Austen's original, Becton has selected a character that is only marginally developed in the original, and as such is ripe for re-imagining.  In Charlotte Collins, the reader finds Elizabeth's dear friend burying her fairly repulsive husband after a fortunate accident has lead him to his ultimate reward.  Now a young widow of very small means, Charlotte finds herself continuing to navigate the neighborhood shadowed by Lady Catherine, and welcomes her sister Maria to her household to relieve their parents of the burden of a coming-out.  Of course, no Austenian novel would be complete without reputations being challenged, true characters being revealed, and a near-perfect love match, and Becton satisfies on all accounts. The mark of a contemporary author is so marginal that it is barely noticed, and I thoroughly enjoyed this Charlotte-Collins-romance.   

31.
Title: Return of the Rose
Author: Theresa Ragan
Pages: 310 pages
Genre: Fiction
Medium: Ebook
Acquisition: Free Download, recommended by RichardDerus
Date Completed: March 31, 2012
Rating: ****

Ragan had me at "kirtle."

Time travel is one literary device which I have always disliked; no matter the amount of research that an author may dedicate to the composition of such a novel, the characters created are nearly always so grossly ignorant that their bumbling ways prove to be a greater frustration than source of entertainment. Return of the Rose, a story that relies on the idea of traveling through time (albeit through magic as opposed to pseudo-science) is not perfect, and does indeed dip into the ludicrous at particular moments (bikinis?!).

Despite her introduction of far-too-liberal fourteenth-century characters, Ragan's own research does come through; as opposed to limiting herself to such vague and useless descriptions as "old fashioned," she does in fact make an attempt to reconstruct a fourteenth-century environment, and her "bumbling" protagonist does make attempts to adapt, even if some of her actions seem careless.

The odds were stacked against this book, and still I found it to be very good fun. And if I, one who does not seek out the genre, enjoyed this book, then I am sure others will love it.


32.
Title: Othello
Author: Shakespeare
Pages: 100 pages
Genre: Drama
Medium: Anthology - Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, & Writing
Acquisition: Work Text
Date Completed: March 31, 2012
Rating: