Book Review: The Lost Tomb by David Gibbons

The Lost Tomb is one of those archaeological/religious mysteries, a la The Da Vinci Code . It is about an archaeologist, Jack Howard, who makes all sorts of exciting discoveries in and around the Mediterranean Sea which lead him on a wild goose chase to London and Southern California etc. to find what might be the actual written words of Jesus Himself. Of course, a shadowy Roman Catholic organization will do anything to bring him down, including MURDER.

David Gibbons is a diver and has dived in the Mediterranean and made interesting finds, which lends ample credence to the parts of the book where Jack and Costos dive in the Mediterranean Sea and try to find stuff on the sea floor that belonged to Paul. It is also evident that he did his research. 

TLT is apparently the third book in the Jack Howard series. In the prior books Jack discovers Atlantis and the lost menorah from the Temple in Jerusalem, and the rest of the series seem to be about similar historical discoveries. Jack is the typical ruggedly handsome archaeologist who is also a dynamite deep sea diver and is very physically fit and fearless and knows about like every type of history, art and architecture. Very Gary Stu-ish. As a result he is not a very well-rounded character, although the book tries to make him interesting by giving him a like star-crossed former lover who maybe is killed because she tried warning him about the danger (signs point to her maybe surviving).

 The other characters in TLT are from his archaeological diving team and/or are contacts in the history/archeology etc. fields who help him out in his travails. I noticed that despite their being experts in their fields, at some point or another they have an oddly out of character blank in their knowledge, something even I know, which is clearly there so that Jack can swoop to the academic rescue and explain it for them and the reader. They also spend a lot of time explaining historical/archaeological facts to each other, which is clearly intended to inform the audience. This wasn't too annoying for me, because I like these topics, but it might annoy other readers. One character, Costas, got very grossed out when having to navigate around dead and rotting bodies (that had been dead for hundreds if not thousands of years), which would be accurate for a lot of people, but I felt like it was written in for comic relief and to showcase how stoic and brave Jack is. My favorite character was the Ethiopian nun who helped them get into the main cathedral in Jerusalem.

Despite the characterization flaws, The Lost Tomb is a very interesting story that pulls you in and makes you want to know what happens next. The flatness of the characters does not diminish the story; the discoveries and chases are the point. I liked the different settings in places I'd like to visit and the subject matter. Obviously, in a genre like this you have to compare the book, main character, and writing to Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code books. I read the latter in high school, so it's been quite a while, but I think David Gibbons' series comes out on top, mostly because it isn't trying to be more than what it is and isn't smugly patting itself on the back at every clever turn. Brown's series also uses sex and murder to be shocking, while Gibbons relies on the twists and turns to keep you reading. I will say that if memory serves, Brown's writing is better than Gibbons', with more character growth. It also has more intrigue, if you're into that. Both books obviously rely on unproven things being true in order to build on them and have more untrue things being true (because A, then B, therefore C, even though A has never been proven and is probably made up). For The Lost Tomb, it was assumed that the shipwreck the Apostle Paul went through when being taken prisoner to Rome happened off a different island than was mentioned in the Bible. 

The Lost Tomb also has the same assumption as The Da Vinci Code that because the Bible has had so many transcribers and translators, the original meaning was lost, and rapacious Christian leaders co-opted Jesus' words to their own means for both profit and power. This is untrue, since great care was taken in both the transcribing and translation of the texts, and it bugs me to hear educated people still parroting that sort of view. The issues within the Church are the same as the issues with humanity in general: we are imperfect and proud and like to be right, and this creates problems when there are large groups of us. No one who began the Christian Church ever set out to profit; they wanted to spread the good news. Also, obviously the Roman Catholic church has done a lot of harm over the ages, and is not great today in terms of women's rights, covering up child abuse, and birth control, but I think we're all over making them the Big Bad. Like, it's so done. Find a new villain, you know? 

While he is not religious, Jack finds religion interesting and thinks certain things about are true, which contrasts him with the evil priest dude who wants to keep the truth about Jesus' gospel a secret in case it dismantles the Catholic church's power. This also did not really ring true to me. What devout Christian wouldn't want to hear what Jesus said? Wouldn't they want to read it even if it demolishes certain beliefs they've always held? I doubt any Christian, including high-up Catholic officials, would be like "screw what Jesus wrote! It will take away my power!" Also, murder is clearly outlined as Wrong in the 10 Commandments. There was also this whole subplot about Boudicca and how Christianity was brought to the British Isles that I thought was unnecessary (as much as I love Boudicca and Gothic architecture). Like, wasn't it just the Romans who brought it to them? I thought that was obvious. A lot of religious weirdness going on here. 

Ultimately I enjoyed this book, even though I had to suspend my disbelief a lot. I'll read the others if I come across them. 

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: mid January
From: free books rack at the library
Format: paperback
Status: put back on the free books rack at the library

Book reviews: The Little Lady Agency and Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne

After all the murder mysteries I decided to read something lighthearted, so I read The Little Lady Agency and Little Lady, Big Apple by Hester Browne. It's typical Brit chick lit, like the Bridget Jones' Diary and Shopaholic series. Melissa gets fired from yet another job and decides to try working for her old teacher as what she believes to be a dinner/parties companion but turns out to be an escort. She then decides to create her own company as a sort of fixer/makeover giver/fake girlfriend/personal shopper to help clueless single rich guys. To keep this a secret from her awful  politician dad and rich family, she wears a blonde wig and goes by Honey. However, things get complicated when she falls for one of her clients, an interesting American businessman who runs her old job.

While I enjoy reading about people who have great organizational skills and are wizards at running social events, this was too weird for me. I hated that Melissa was this naive doormat who couldn't say no to anyone, let her truly horrible family walk all over her, and let her boyfriends steal from and/or control her. Her philandering MP father strong-arms her into planning her younger sister's wedding for free, and continues to berate and insult her throughout. While the American businessman boyfriend tells off Melissa's dad and forces him to publicly thank her at the reception, I hated that it was a man who was in charge of the dad's comeuppance and not Melissa herself. I guess her being easily deflated every time she tries to stand up for herself is an accurate symptom of abuse, though.

This inability to stand up for herself affects her relationships, and she basically lets all the guys she dates call the shots and walk all over her. In Little Lady, Big Apple, Melissa is thrilled when American boyfriend (I forgot his name) flies her to New York City to stay with him and go sightseeing. However, his job and ex-wife (they are still going through the splitting up assets thing) keep him from spending time with Melissa at all, because he has no backbone. Unsurprisingly, Melissa has a hard time standing up for herself when American boyfriend wants her to stop helping guys altogether because he feels threatened like the chump he is and instead wants her to plan parties, which is not really what she does or wants to do. Thankfully she tells him at the end of LL,BA that if he's making her choose between him and her job, she chooses her job, even though it breaks her heart. Luckily he comes to his senses and begs for her to take him back.

I'm also really tired of reading about heroines that just HATE their curves and think they're fat and ugly but all the men around them hit on them and drool and stuff. Melissa is always talking about how fat she is and how wide her hips are and how big her boobs are, and it gets so tiresome, especially when like every male character she is around basically does the BOING cartoon pop-out eyeball thing at her. Despite all her self-deprecation, which I believe a lot of curvy women go through and have in real life, it's obvious that she's this Nigella Lawson retro pinup type chick, and looks super hot in everything. Ugh. Oh, at the beginning of the book, a male coworker slaps Melissa on the ass and she's like "haha oh that Hughy" with no anger at all! Um, that's workplace sexual harassment! Why does she think that's normal??? I also found her naivety (misunderstanding men's sexual entrendes, the escort job, others' objectifying her) annoying, although she also chalks it up to having to deal with her dad's infidelities. Still weird and annoying rather than amusing.

 If I come across the other books in this series I might read them, but I'm not spending more than $1 on them.

I have no real opinions on the book covers, other than that they're cute and girly. I do want to say that I kind of hate the name The Little Lady Agency. I find it difficult to believe that Melissa's business would be wanted or needed in like 2005 or whatever; it seems more a 1950s/60s thing. I know a lot of guys are clueless, but still. Of note: one of Melissa's friends/clients sounds like he's asexual and/or aromantic (she poses as his girlfriend to get his mom off his back, and he says that he's just not interested in dating anyone and is happy alone in the long term).

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: mid January
From: thrift store
Format: paperback
Status: giving away

Book Review: Unexpected Night by Elizabeth Daly

Unexpected Night is a 1930s? mystery by Elizabeth Daly that I bought from the Seattle Mystery Bookshop on the recommendation of one of the employees. This rich young heir with a heart condition is found dead by some sea cliffs, but then more murders keep happening. The acting detective Henry Gamadge is trying to figure out why and trying to protect the dead heir's younger sister from harm.

UN is the first Gamadge book, which I assume are about Henry Gamadge solving mysteries even though he specializes in rare books and handwriting. Obviously the rare books thing is what made me decide to buy it, but it is mentioned like once (the handwriting thing is used in the investigation, obviously). The blurb on the back of the book made it sound like we hear more about his rare books expertise, or that the cases he solves had to do with rare books, but no.

While I like to get into the action pretty soon in the book, I kind of felt like I was thrown into the series without any explanation or introduction. It felt like I had picked up a book in the middle of a series and was expected to know who everyone was and what was going on. I kept forgetting who was who even though I read the book over like two days. That said, the mystery was pretty tightly written and kept me guessing. I didn't have any hypotheses about whodunit, like I usually do with mysteries, and the ending was kind of surprising yet plausible.

I'm not sure how I felt about Gamadge as a character. He was almost a bit Gary Stu-ish, as he's so good at everything and everyone likes and follows him and he gets to conduct all these investigations with the police, but he's humble about it. I thought it pretty implausible that some random semi-friend of the victim's like uncle or something would be allowed by the police to investigate a murder, but if I remember correctly, he already knew the police fairly well. I didn't find him that compelling or interesting, and I didn't really like any of the characters. Despite this book being written by a woman, the female characters were just so-so.

I may try to track down the other books in the series from the library. The cover is more appropriate for a romance or a novel of sparkling humor (I could see it on a Jeeves & Wooster book, almost), but it does capture the era fairly well. I think this cover is way better.

Score: 3.8 out of 5 stars
Read in: mid-ish January
From: Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Format: paperback
Status: tentatively holding on, but may give away in the future because I have limited space available

Book review: The Winter Queen by Boris Akunen

The Winter Queen by Boris Akunen is a mystery that is set in Russia during the Victorian era (or I guess since it's in Russia, the Alexander II era?). Akunen wrote the book in Russian, and it was translated into English by a translator. The story focuses on Fandorin, a young police detective (not the term used in the book; I've updated it) who starts off investigating a showy public suicide and gets sucked into a huge international political conspiracy. You get the usual goodies like beautiful women, faked deaths, thwarted murders, hidden weapons, and a secret society named after demon.

This book was very well-written and exciting and interesting, with lots of twists and turns.  However, it ended on a cliffhanger, and SPOILER Fandorin's bride gets murdered immediately after the wedding!! WTF???? I hate cliffhangers, and fridging female characters (aka killing off the main dude character's wife or girlfriend so he has to have Revenge and Manly Pain to drive the story) is so dumb. I do want to read the rest of the series, though.

If you like Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, you'll like this story and this style of writing. It was also nice to read a Victorian-type mystery that wasn't set in England.

The cover is very interesting and does a good job of capturing the style of the book with its mysterious graphic design and images of a gun, train, silhouette of St. Basil's cathedral, and painted portrait of a beautiful lady, all of which show up in the book. This cover is what drew me to buy the book, especially since I like purple.

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: earlyish January
From: thrift store
Format: paperback
Status: tentatively holding on, but may give away in the future because I have limited space available

Book review: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

The first book I read in January/this year was Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, which was his usual type of awkward and sometimes funny personal essays. The only really funny story in the collection was the one where he talks about the Swedish? version of Santa Claus and how weird it is (to Americans). There were other stories that had funny parts in them, but the secondhand embarrassment or shock I felt reading the stories outweighed any entertainment I got. For example, there was one story where as a child, David stuffed as much Halloween candy in his face as he could in order to not have to share it with the neighbor kids. That is kind of funny to picture, but it's sad because it was selfish. There was also a story where he talked about his experience working cleaning houses as a young man, and a client thought he was from a male maid escort service and sexually harassed him. Again, not funny to me.

Overall, I felt the same "...ok..." indifference that I felt with the last book of his that I read, Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls. I think the reason I'm no longer a big fan of his writing is mostly due to the vastly diminished amount of indulgence I feel towards white cisgender male authors, as well as the cavalier and unexplored racial views a Southern man of his generation has. David also seems to share a lot of embarrassing and personal stories about his family even though they specifically tell him not to, which I didn't like. It's one thing to exorcise your personal demons through highly personal essays, but it's another to air your family's dirty laundry. He even writes one essay where his sister shared a sad story with him, burst into tears, and then told him not to write about it! I would strangle him if he were my brother.

The cover is a close-up photo of a naked Barbie doll's torso. I don't know if it's a reference to an earlier book by David, Naked, but it doesn't have anything to do with any of the stories (that I remember). Because of this cover, I read this book at home and did not bring it to work.

Score: 3.4 out of 5 stars
Read in: early January
From: thrift store
Format: paperback
Status: giving away