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I've been sick since the sixth with a ghastly sinus/laryngitis/bronchitis/wheezing thing that has left me dazed, exhausted and with $150 bucks worth of cough medicine. (Seriously. That's for three bottles.) Every day when I hear how many days of the Olympics are over I cringe as it means the tally for this particular illness is beyond ridiculous. I've watched an awful lot of Olympics this time around, even staring with my mouth open at ski jumping, a sport I have zero interest in, for long periods of time. Mostly I was too tired to watch anything with a plot and was way too tired to read.

But I did manage to get a little reading in during the emergency room, urgent care, two visits to my family doctor and untold waits at the pharmacy this ridiculous infection has so far required. Mostly I read some paranormal romance but I also zipped my way through a book I've been waiting to read for some time – Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire, the sequel to her incredible novel Hunger Games.

Catching Fire takes place in the year following Hunger Games and is about the tightrope Katniss continues to walk as she tries to keep her family and friends safe from the Capitol. As the next edition of the hunger games approaches, President Snow comes to visit Katniss in her home, threatening and frightening her. Her brilliant move that saved her and Peeta's lives at the end of the last competition has become a symbol of the resistance and she is now inadvertently the face of a revolution she didn't know existed. President Snow makes it clear that she must quash the flames of rebellion or everyone she knows and loves will be punished.

Katniss is still torn between her feelings for Gale and Peeta and, just as in Hunger Games, those feelings are exploited by everyone around her. In an unprecedented move she and Peeta are ordered back into the arena, this time to compete against other previous Games winners, and she is determined to do everything she can to help Peeta survive, even though that means her own death.

But this doesn't mean Katniss is going to just sit down and give up; that's not her nature. Instead she's going to fight like an angry mother bear, giving her all to protect Peeta, destroying anything that threatens him. This is going to be just as hard as when she fought in the first hunger games, maybe even harder, because this time she's making alliances before she enters the arena. Killing her enemies will be hard enough but how will she be able to bring herself to dispose of those she's fighting with?

Catching Fire is just as exciting and suspenseful as Hunger Games. One reason I like the series so much is because I can't figure out what's going to happen next. I can often plan out a course of action for a character, which the character then follows, and with some stories I can even predict dialogue, but with this series I'm just a spectator, cheering Katniss and her loved ones on, hoping for a positive outcome while biting my nails and fearing the worst.

You can hear an excerpt read by the author here, at the Scholastic site. You can also see the cover of Mockingjay, the third book in the series, coming out in only six months! Whoohoo! http://www.scholastic.com/thehungergames/about-the-book.htm

One-Paragraph Review

This week's one-paragraph review is from Amy who writes in to say, "I loved the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. Bummer about the torch thing getting stuck but the rest was amazing." Do you have a one-paragraph (or smaller) review you'd like to share? Send it in to me for consideration. You can reach me at feedback@qualitytimeweekly.com.

NOTE: I had a terrible cough and cold this week and unfortunately had to write this column while under the influence of cough medicine with codeine. As a result it's more rambling and disjointed than I'd like, but deadlines wait for no one, sick or well so I finally had to go ahead and publish.

My youngest son won an advance review copy of Joe Hill's newest book Horns. He was nice enough to lend it to me after I spent a lot of time sighing and giving him the sad eyes. I loved Joe's previous novel Heart Shaped Box and thoroughly enjoyed his short story collection 21st Century Ghosts so I had very high expectations for the new book, which were mostly met.

Like Heart Shaped Box, Horns is a horror story that explores the atrocities man commits against man, with a strong paranormal element. Ig, the protagonist, wakes up after a big drunk to discover a set of horns sticking out of his forehead. They're not very big but they're pretty powerful, casting a spell on anyone who sees them and allowing him to discover all sorts of awful things about anyone he runs into, including his own family. Either they are compelled to tell him terrible things they've thought and done or when he touches them he sees the truth (although of course he only sees the bad truth. He never seems to see them giving a few bucks to someone in need, carrying a stranger's groceries or any of the other tiny kindnesses we all engage in.)

It doesn't take long before Ig discovers something so shocking and terrible he must act. He cannot go back to what he has been doing, which is drifting through the life doing little since his beloved girlfriend Merrin was murdered and raped a year ago. Now that he knows more about the crime, which his community believes he committed, he must seek vengeance.

Frankly I hate this trope. It's overdone and it's annoying. There are plenty of reasons people are motivated to make a drastic change in their lives or do the things they've been afraid to do but if you watch a certain kind of action film or read enough of the wrong kind of comic books you'll end up thinking that the death (and often rape) of a girlfriend or wife is the only force in the world. (Bonus motivation if young children are also murdered.)

If you think I'm nuts, just think about the character The Punisher, who becomes a superhero after a terrible murder. The movie Death Wish is another example, starring Charles Bronson as a vigilante driven by the murder of his wife. It's the reason Patrick Jayne on the Mentalist stopped being a conman and started working with the law; because his wife and child were murdered by Red John and he wants to be there when Red John is captured so he can kill the killer. Brandon Lee's The Crow features a dead fiancée and many Jean Claude Van Damme movies are revenge driven including In Hell, Double Impact and Inferno. I've started to watch movies where families, meaning wives and children, are blown up or shot in the first few minutes of the story, leading me to change the channel. Once you notice this plot point you'll see it everywhere. You'll cringe when you see a happy couple declare their love for each other at the beginning of a film because it means one of them is about to die.

In case it's not clear; here are a few reasons I despise this trope. It's cheap, it's easy, it's careless, it’s sloppy writing and it’s usually a copout – something chosen by a beginning or rushed writer because it kind of works and they don't have to come up with something original. I was quite disappointed when I read the cover of Horns and realized the book was being touted as another testosterone and revenge driven story. Ugh. Maybe I could torture myself by watching reruns of Robin Hood on BBC America instead. Then at least I might get a nap out of my "entertainment" experience.

My annoyance with the revenge theme interfered with my enjoyment of the book. I laughed out loud, I worried, I cringed, I cried, but part of me was held back, disappointed in the author's initial choice. But then I realized what a complicated web Mr. Hill had woven when he wrote this story and I decided I was wrong. I had forgotten that a good writer can take the most clichéd of material and turn it into something new and exciting.

Horns is an intricate read that left me with a lot on my mind, questions, concerns, confusion, etc. (The confusion is mostly because I don't think I quite got some of the more supernatural stuff that was going on, which I thought could be interpreted a couple of different ways.) I've seen a tagline for Horns - "the devil is in the details" – most likely because Ig appears to be turning into a devil of some sort, with the horns just the first change in his appearance. Despite the strong demonic theme and the horror genre, I felt this book is ultimately about redemption, not vengeance, and that perhaps the tagline is right. When we get bogged down in details, especially when we only see the bad side of things, we end up in a terrible place, but when we can concentrate on the bigger picture and ignore petty problems we’re much happier. Obviously I'm talking about petty problems like hitting five red lights in a row or missing your train, not being framed for the murder and rape of your beloved girlfriend.

But enough philosophy – if you’re looking for a compelling horror story that might just break your heart, Horns is your book. It's also very funny in places, as all good horror is. It gets a strong recommend from me.

You can get more info and read an excerpt with this cute little widget.

One-Paragraph Review

This week's one-paragraph review is from Fleur-de-lis who writes in to say, "The Super Bowl was totally awesome. The Saints rule. Nobody brings it like the Who Dat Nation." Do you have a one-paragraph (or smaller) review you'd like to share? Send it in to me for consideration. You can reach me at feedback@qualitytimeweekly.com.

The Hurt Locker

When I first started hearing about The Hurt Locker I was very confused. This is partly because of the medium, which was Twitter, which by definition makes for abbreviated messages, but it was partly because I'm easily confused. I had the correct impression that it is a fantastic film, but for some reason I thought it was a horror film, and came up with all kinds of possible plots, some including a haunted locker room at a terrible high school. I really couldn't have been more off base.

The Hurt Locker is a tautly filmed, extremely suspenseful, graphic film about a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team stationed in Iraq. Filmed in Jordan, with some scenes taking place very close to the Iraq border, the film follows the various members of the squad, with a special emphasis on SFC William James (played by Jeremy Renner who was terrific in The Unusuals and 28 Weeks Later), who is somewhat unhinged, if you ask me. The film is both hyper-real and surreal, which sounds impossible, but that's how I felt. There were scenes where I couldn’t tell if what was happening was real and there were scenes that felt extra real, with that special feeling you get when there's danger and time slows down, giving you more time to react, but also the feeling that you aren't moving fast enough.

As the story begins James is just joining the squad, replacing a soldier who has died. James is cocky, which I guess you have to be if you're going to have enough hubris to take apart bombs for a living, and quickly alienates his fellow soldiers with his disdain for safety procedures. For instance he doesn't use the robot that is designed for bomb work, instead walking right up to a suspicious device and diving right in. The film is based on the observations of Mark Boal, a journalist who was embedded with in Iraq as a freelance journalist in 2004. The character of James is not based on one person, but rather a composite of traits and actions he saw in several members of the unit.

Kathryn Bigelow, the director of the film, picked up a Director's Guild Award this past weekend, prompting some comments about how shocking her win was. This reaction was puzzling to me as The Hurt Locker is an incredible film which well deserves any number of awards. Ms. Bigelow's directing is fantastic, taking a subject that I wouldn't ordinarily want to know more about, and making it engrossing and heartbreaking. It really made me aware of why so many returning soldiers have PTSD and have trouble adjusting to civilian life. When danger literally can be found anywhere how do you stop being hyper alert?

Moving Pictures
To change the subject completely, I finally read Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures this week. I'd started it a year or so ago but then lost the book, only now returning to it. The timing was good for me as Moving Pictures is hilarious and was a good antidote to the depressing Hurt Locker.

The book is about what happens when an idea creeps into the Discworld and the alchemists invent film. From there it's a short trip to all the glamour and glitz associated with the film industry. I particularly enjoyed the book because I've worked on more than a dozen films and television shows and Terry absolutely nails the backstage details to great effect. Whether it's the lure of the film industry to those who aren't involved or the amount of time spent waiting between shots or the way films are made completely out of order, he skewers them and shows how funny they can be.

But Moving Pictures is more than just another story about Hollywood (or Holy Wood as it is in this book), it also has a romance, some awesome dogs (one more awesome than the other), danger, some elder gods, or something a lot like an elder god, and plenty of other terrific elements. It's classic Terry Pratchett and tons of fun.

You can read an excerpt here: http://www.harpercollins.com/features/pratchettBooks/excerpt.aspx?isbn=9...

One-Paragraph Review

This week's one-paragraph review is from Jareb who writes in to say, "I'm heartbroken over Frances Reid passing on. She was Alice Horton on Days of Our Lives. She was like my grandma growing up. It's not going to be the same without her." Do you have a one-paragraph (or smaller) review you'd like to share? Send it in to me for consideration. You can reach me at feedback@qualitytimeweekly.com.

I was blown away by the movie Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, when I saw it this past week. I was kind of annoyed before I saw it, because I felt someone presenting at the Golden Globes spoiled the story, by giving away something that was likely meant to be a surprise to viewers. It's hard to enjoy a film when you're in a bad mood, but Precious is so powerful that I completely forgot my trivial complaint and was overwhelmed by the story and emotions unfolding before me.

Precious is the story of a young lady, played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, who has been almost completely silenced by her horrible life. She is inarticulate, illiterate, and unable to express the slightest complaint against her horrible, abusive mother or anyone else that torments her. Nicknamed Precious, she is a sixteen year old teen who is pregnant with her second child. She is good at math but cannot sound out the simplest words when she tries to read. She escapes from her horrific home life by imagining that she is famous and the subject of adoration; whether she's walking the red carpet or just being fabulous.

As the film begins, Precious is in math class in Harlem, thinking about how much she likes her teacher, who treats her with respect. She's daydreaming about him when she's called out of class and told to report to the principal's office. The principal demands to know if it's true that Precious is pregnant again, stating that the teen is only sixteen and still in middle school. Precious is in full defense mode, retreating to a glare, the kind we all remember from when we were teens. When Precious has little to say, the principal expels her, which made me think my head would explode from rage. Is being pregnant a reason to be expelled? If so why? If anything girls who are about to be mothers need more education, not less. How is a teen with a baby and no diploma going to support her family? I would be at that school having a fit if my child was expelled but of course a great many of Precious' problems are precisely because she has a mother who won't fight for her, but instead is her child's enemy.

When the principal makes a home visit Precious is subjected to even more abuse from her mother Mary, played by Mo'nique, who is afraid of social services finding out what really goes on in the home. The principal is refused entry to the home but she manages to leave some information with Precious about a special school called Each One Teach One, which is prepared to give the teen a chance. This is probably the best thing that could happen to Precious as she is finally evaluated and given remedial reading lessons. Her English teacher Ms. Rain (Paula Patton) is determined and passionate and sets the entire class to writing; journaling as a way to communicate and explore who they are and what's holding them back. The teacher writes back to the students and has an excellent opportunity to give the teens advice in a way that is accessible and can be absorbed at their own pace.

Mariah Carey is Precious' social worker, who plays a pivotal, complicated role in the film. I had a hard time figuring her out. Is she bored? Overwhelmed? Just trying not to let her emotions show so she can do her job? I wasn't sure but her own locked down aspect isn't much help to Precious, who is struggling to emerge from the cocoon state she has hidden in as she tries to endure her incessant abuse.

The cast in this film is sensational. Mo'nique has already won some awards for her gritty portrayal of Mary, a woman who is carrying on the long cycle of abuse in the worst way, but hers is not the only award worthy acting in the film. Lenny Kravitz is excellent as the nurse who is kind and supportive to Precious when she gives birth. Paula Patton shines as the dedicated teacher and Ms. Sidibe is simply amazing as Precious. I think her acting isn't getting the accolades it should because so much of it is subtle. She doesn't get to be grandly dramatic and loud as so much of what's happening with her character is deeply internalized.

Precious is a complicated, emotional, painful film. Some scenes are extremely difficult to watch and others are enraging. I opted to watch this on my own. My children are mostly grown but I still thought it would be too upsetting for them. Interestingly someone very close to me was appalled that I watched it and said they would have told me not to if they had known I was planning to see it. They have a good point. If your own childhood was abusive you should think long and hard before you see this film as it will stir up feelings you may think have been resolved.

One-Paragraph Review

This week's one-paragraph review is from Why Me who writes in to say, "The new Jocalat bars from Larabar are horrible. They taste like old cocoa, mashed with orange peel, then dipped in gasoline. They might make a good gift for someone you hate." Do you have a one-paragraph (or smaller) review you'd like to share? Send it in to me for consideration. You can reach me at feedback@qualitytimeweekly.com.

I watched a ton of movies this last week as I prepared to vote in the SAG Awards. One of them that particularly surprised me is Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, a film that was very different from what the trailers had led me to believe. The previews made it look like a completely insane, manic romp of a killing spree, with plenty of melodrama thrown in for good measure. Instead there were long stretches of serious, chilling scenes that could have been made by any filmmaker. The opening focuses on an interrogation between a Nazi officer, Standartenführer Hans Landa, nicknamed the Jew Hunter, and a French dairy farmer. It's surprisingly suspenseful, considering that little is happening on the surface, just chatting and drinking milk while the officer seems to be very relaxed, but there is an underlying sense of doom; a sense the officer is the cat and the farmer is a mouse that thinks he's another cat.

The opening scene is a prologue then we jump ahead a few years to a pivotal event where many of the Nazi high command will be gathered in a public place at the same time. This is a prime opportunity for a band of kind of scary gung ho dudes called the Basterds who take delight in scalping Nazis. (Shown in graphic detail more than once – as usual for a Tarantino film, this one is not for the faint of heart or anyone with a weak stomach.) The leader of the band is Aldo Raine, nicknamed Aldo the Apache and played by Brad Pitt. He's a crazy man who has a scar from a rope around his neck and carries a Bowie knife which he uses to mark Nazis so that everyone will know what they are forever after. (Of course his preference is to kill them but sometimes he has to leave them alive for strategic reasons.) Other members of the team include Donny Donowitz, (played by Eli Roth) who is called The Bear Jew and carries a baseball bat signed by all the Jewish people in his neighborhood, which he uses to wallop the heads of his enemies. He's such a terror that there are rumors he's not a man at all, or even a bear, but rather a wrathful golem summoned by a rabbi to destroy those who commit atrocities against his people. Another face you might recognize is B. J. Novak as Smithson Utivich. B.J. plays Ryan on the Office and is kind of quiet in this film.

All of the actors in this ensemble cast do a fine job (Brad Pitt looks as though he had a lot of fun with his lout of a character) but it's Christoph Walt who steals the show as the Jew Hunter. He brings incredible tension to his scenes, which are all played subtly, with an underlying menace that made me want to run away. His character claims to have an uncanny ability to find hiding Jews and the actor has an uncanny ability to make the simplest statement sound like a terrible threat. Every conversation is essentially an interrogation. I can't imagine what his home life must be like.

While there is less action than I normally expect from a Tarantino film there is plenty to go around, with explosions, fire, gunfire and blood enough to satisfy most everyone. As usual the director lovingly films the faces of characters who are in agony, whether from having a swastika carved into their foreheads or from other forms of physical abuse. It's not as blatant as in say, Kill Bill, where the camera lingers on the Bride's poor face for what seems like an hour, but it's still there. This is the biggest problem I have with Tarantino's films. I understand that his films need violence (they would be totally different without it) but I get the creeps when the scene stops moving forward so we can watch someone endure anguish. Thank goodness we always have the option of hiding our eyes to get us through the ultraviolent bits.

One-Paragraph Review

This week's one-paragraph review is from Gordent Freechman who writes in to say, "For all of you who haven't tried out the Half-Life series, and like FPS's or puzzle games at all... You are missing quite the gem. Made by VALVe, this series is one of the most entertaining and innovative games out there, with excellent physics, control systems, replay value, and storyline, this game will keep you entertained for ages." Do you have a one-paragraph (or smaller) review you'd like to share? Send it in to me for consideration. You can reach me at feedback@qualitytimeweekly.com.

This week we answer two pressing questions – can you read a book and lift weights at the same time and can Stephen King write a decent ending to a very long book? If you read the Dark Tower series you might think the answer to the second question is a resounding no. (After all even Mr. King warned people that reading the final chapter might not be the best idea.) And that's not mentioning the mystery novel that Mr. King wrote that never shed any light on whodunit. Not that I'm bitter. Anyway, I was a little trepidatious about reading Under the Dome because I didn't want to read more than a thousand pages, get attached to various characters (some of whom are guaranteed to die) only to be left with the burning question of WHY unanswered.

Under the Dome takes place in a small town in Maine, near the often doomed towns of Castle Rock and Derry. One fine fall day the inhabitants of Chester's Mill are horrified when a plane falls out of the sky, closely followed by the horrible crash of a big truck. In the ensuing confusion many people think the plane and the truck crashed into each other, but the actual story is considerably more mysterious. The plane was flying along, minding its own business, when it crashed into an invisible barrier and exploded. The truck was barreling along at a good pace and hit the same barrier, with obvious bad results. At the same time a small furry animal, that is also minding its own business, is cut in two by the barrier and other mishaps ensue, although none as dramatic as the plane or truck. By the end of the day the townspeople will discovered they're trapped in the dome, the murders will have started and a wretched, wretched man will have begun a dictatorship.

To make matters even more complicated for the townspeople, the outside world, which is just as baffled by the turn of events as those directly impacted, suspects that the Dome surrounding the town is the result of terrorism and that those responsible may be in the town. So the military is supposed to help them, but is also supposed to treat them as suspects. But that's not all – if the Dome is impenetrable what kind of help can anyone deliver? It's horrifying for everyone to have the barrier there; those on the inside can't get out or get what they need and those on the outside can't do even the simplest thing to help.

Stress starts to take its toll on the townspeople immediately, as the horror of the accidental deaths and murders sink in. At the same time the second selectman starts to manipulate the citizens, pushing and poking them so they fracture faster. His goal is to increase and consolidate his power, as well as cover up something very big that will ruin him if it gets out. Opposing him is Barbie, who was on his way out of town after being jumped in the parking lot of the restaurant where he was working as a cook. The selectman's son Junior was one of the assailants and Barbie knows his continued stay in Chester's Mill would be miserable so he's trying to hitch out of town when the Dome comes smashing down, cutting off all egress.

Life under the Dome would be hard enough if the only thing the inhabitants had to deal with was isolation from the rest of the world but they have many more problems pressing in on them. There are environmental issues, with pollution building up very quickly, especially following things like the fire from the plane and truck disasters. The hospital is grievously understaffed, leaving the injured and ill in dire straits.

Anyone who has read one of the Mr. King's longer works knows what to expect. Loads of characters, lots of death and destructions, sustained suspense and worry over the characters, who worm into our hearts with ease and a little wear and tear on said hearts. Under the Dome is longer than most of Mr. King's books and I was somewhat worried that I would want to try and finish it at one go, which would be tough, especially on a weeknight. Luckily I was able to put it down long enough to get stuff done, at least until I got to the last two hundred or so pages, at which point I pretty much swallowed it in one enormous gulp that might have choked a less determined reader. At the beginning of this column I said I was worried that I was going to be left with a lot of questions about what happened to cause the Dome and why but that fear was unfounded. I came away from this book feeling pretty satisfied.

The only real question I have is what is the message of this book? Of course not every horror books is going to have a message, or at least not one beyond "Don't go in there", but I did feel there was a message in Under the Dome. But the message I took away is disturbing because it seemed to me that message is don't excel. Hide your light under a barrel. Blend in or else. And if someone is cruel to you for being different then you stop being different. I was kind of appalled. I'm curious to see if anyone else has that same interpretation.

You can read an excerpt here: http://simon.worldarcstudio.com/WAS/LandingPage/v1/130/staging/22177_exc....

One-Paragraph Review

This week's one-paragraph review is from Fhtagn who writes in to say, "Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth is awesome. The insanity meter causes panic as soon as anything strange or chilling happens. Your vision blurs and your hands shake. Some thing is charging at you – as it approaches you shoot it rapidly, just as it reaches you it falls to the ground unmoving, your heart rate slowly returns to normal but there are more lurking in the shadows. Madness reigns." Do you have a one-paragraph (or smaller) review you'd like to share? Send it in to me for consideration. You can reach me at feedback@qualitytimeweekly.com.

I had a three day weekend for New Year's which I put to good use by reading some books, two of which have been on my most wanted list for awhile. The first one really annoyed me and never gelled, leaving me saying "Whatever" after five hundred pages but the second one grabbed me and sucked me in halfway down the first page. Liar by Justine Larbalestier is the kind of book that might have easily turned me off. The protagonist is a chronic liar and the most unreliable of narrators. The story is told from her perspective, first person singular, so every single bit of information we get is questionable. This is a bit much for me as I like to think the map I'm following has some resemblance to actual terrain. I thought reading the book was going to be something of a chore as I was going to have to be skeptical instead of just enjoying the ride, but instead it was a breeze and a pleasure, although it did make me say "Really?" often enough to annoy my poor children.

The protagonist is called Micah and she tells us on the first page that both she and her father are liars but she wants to tell her story straight, with no lies and no omissions. That's her promise and this time she really means it. Then she tells a convoluted story that is alinear, twisting back and in on itself, sometimes correcting earlier statements with the new "truth", and sometimes saying the most outrageous things without any hint that they might not be the purest of truths.

The book begins shortly after the murder of Josh, a boy that Micah cares deeply about. They go to the same school and Micah is Josh's after hours girlfriend. He has a regular girlfriend during school, or so Micah says, but can we believe her? We need some sort of baseline so that we can have at least a general idea of who Micah is, beyond being a liar. She says she's of mixed race, a high school senior, a grieving girl, a native New Yorker and that she keeps her hair short enough to be mistaken for a boy. But the cover of the book shows a girl with long hair, using it to hide her face, leading some readers to ask if we can trust even the most basic of biographical facts. (The original American cover featured a white girl, making things even more confusing.) The author has stated in the Liar FAQ that the aforementioned things are true; race, age, gender, neighborhood and that she and Zach had a reciprocal relationship. Her pain is real and vivid.

(Weirdly one of the biggest questions I had while reading the book was whether or not we can trust Micah's science. She has some interesting things to say about DNA and what a DNA test really shows. I wanted to know if what she was saying was valid but I didn't want to put the book down long enough to find out. I've seen some other people's reactions to the book and they all got stuck on something completely different. Perhaps I'm a little too interested in science.)

That's about all I can tell you about the story. I realize it's hardly anything but there's a reason for that. Let's take Hansel and Gretel, a story you probably know. I could tell it from the children's perspective, which is the one you most likely know. I could tell it from the POV of the witch, and focus on how hungry she is, how expensive sugar is, how cloying the smell of gingerbread gets after awhile, and what a little wretch Hansel the murderer is. Or I could tell the story as if I were one of the parents and talk about the grief of watching your children starve in front of you and how putting them out in the forest was the hardest decision in the world. Each of these is the same story, but different. Liar can be interpreted a number of very different ways and anything I say about it can tint the lenses through which you read the story. For the same reason you want to be very careful about reading reviews or comments on the story before you tackle the story itself. Even people who claim they love spoilers agreed that Liar is the exception that proves the rule.

Liar is one of the best books I've read recently. If I'd read it last year it would have to duel with Hunger Games for my favorite of the year. As it is the rest of what I read for the year is going to really work to live up to the bar Liar has set. It's been stuck in my head since I read it, giving me something to think about and puzzle over whenever I have a little quiet time.

You can read an excerpt here: http://justinelarbalestier.com/books/liar/excerpt/

One-Paragraph Review

This week's one-paragraph review is from The Green Thumb who writes in to say, "Please tell the director of Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie that it's all right for a camera shot to last more than seven seconds. I might enjoy the show if it weren't so ADD." Do you have a one-paragraph (or smaller) review you'd like to share? Send it in to me for consideration. You can reach me at feedback@qualitytimeweekly.com.

Since the next two Fridays fall on holidays Quality Time will return after the New Year. But of course we don't want to leave you in the lurch so here is Maureen Johnson's fabulous guide to Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol.

http://maureenjohnson.blogspot.com/2009/09/lost-symbol-readers-guide-par...

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I was at the library a few days ago and I saw a book with the most amazing cover. It's a kind of mosaic of these beautiful paintings in fabulous colors. The subjects in the images are fantastical creatures like a horned man with seven tiny heads branching from the horns. I scooped it up and was astonished to see it was a Clive Barker book I'd somehow totally missed called Abarat and published in 2002. How did I miss it? I don't know. Admittedly 2002 was a very bad year for me, but I did read Cold Heart Canyon, also by Clive Barker, that year so it seems I should have gone straight from that to Abarat. But whatever the reason, I finally have it in my hot little hands and it's fabulous; an amazing adventure story with incredible illustrations.

Candy Quackenbush lives in an awful little town with an awful father and an even more awful teacher. The teacher gives out a simple assignment, find ten facts about the town, called Chickentown. Candy is even more bored than usual when she realizes starts her research. Basically the entire town exists to supply workers to the chicken factory and very little that's not chicken related goes on. Candy's tired and depressed mother suggests Candy may find something interesting if she visits the local hotel, which Candy does.

When Candy presents her report, which is filled with macabre and tragic facts about the last descendent of the founder of the town, who committed suicide in the hotel, her teacher has an absolute freak-out, screaming and throwing Candy's papers on the floor, then demanding Candy clean them up. Oddly the very same thing happened to one of my sons when he was in first grade (except he wasn't writing a report about chickens or suicide) and he did the same sensible thing that Candy does, which is tell the teacher that since the teacher made the mess the teacher should clean it up. Both Candy and my son got into trouble for their actions but their stories veer sharply as my son went to the principle's office while Candy gets so fed up she leaves the school, chased by the teacher.

Candy leaves the school, then the entire town, and ends up in a sea of grass, where she meets the most unusual creature of her life; John Mischief and his seven brothers, who are heads attached to the horns on top of his own head. Mischief is being pursued by a horrible being intent on slaughter and Candy tries to help by racing to the top of an extraordinarily rickety lighthouse and lighting the unusual lamp at the top. When she does something astonishing happens – a sea comes pouring onto the Minnesota plain, enabling Mischief to return home. Candy weighs the thought of going back to her dreary town, filled with even drearier people, against the option of adventure in a new land with Mischief and takes her chances in the sea, beginning a fantastic journey filled with danger and wonders.

I read an article the other day lamenting the lack of originality in publishing. There are too many werewolves, vampires and zombies said the author, completely forgetting that originality doesn't depend on what species a character is but more what a character does and how they react to changing circumstances. For instance the majority of characters in traditional literature are human but I don't think I've ever heard anyone complaining there are too many humans and we need more interesting and rare creatures. Does anyone think The Grapes of Wrath would have been better if the Joads had been gargoyles or banshees instead of humans? I don't think so.

The author of that column should be delighted to read Abarat as Mr. Barker introduces a tremendous variety of species I have never encountered anywhere else. Even the geography of Abarat is very different from other geographies, with various islands each having their own time zone that doesn't change. For instance at the island of Ninnyhammer it's always ten in the evening. (Ninnyhammer is also home to a tribe of orange cats that Mr. Barker has painted for us. This painting is one of my favorites in the book.) While many of the people in the book are unfamiliar in shape, size and ability they're immediately recognizable in their motivations, which are the stuff of great stories; revenge, betrayal, love, jealousy, boredom, petty cruelty, courage and all of the other qualities that make up complex and intriguing characters. I absolutely loved this book from start to finish although I was startled to discover it was book one in a series, something I only figured out when I was about twenty pages from the end and realized there was far too much to wrap up in such a short space. I was hoping that since the book was published in 2002 the entire thing would be out by now but apparently it's still in the works. I'm guessing that's because the paintings, which are such an integral part of the story, take up a lot of time.

You can read an excerpt from Abarat here but to get the full effect of the book you really need to see the glorious pictures. http://www.clivebarker.info/yaabarat1ex.html

One-Paragraph Review

This week's one-paragraph review is from Tina who writes in to say, "EA Sports gives me nice exercise options. My DH is too big to use Wii Fit but he has no troubles with EA Sports. We're getting a head start on our New Year's Resolutions." Do you have a one-paragraph (or smaller) review you'd like to share? Send it in to me for consideration. You can reach me at feedback@qualitytimeweekly.com.