Nymph by Francesca Lia Block

Nymph by Francesca Lia Block

Rating: R; 3 1/2 stars

Summary: Nymph was simultaneously similar two and completely different from the rest of Francesca Lia Block's work. This short book is a series of connected erotic short stories. These stories are definitely far more explicit than most of the rest of Block's work, but that doesn't mean they don't contain the spark that makes her writing so memorable. As in her other books, Nymph is rife with the rhythm and life of LA. The stories contain that mix of fantasy and reality that Block is known for.

Opinions: So somehow I missed that memo that this book was erotica. That's neither good nor bad, just an oversight on my part. Since most of what I review is suitable for a young adult audience, readers should be aware that this may not be. I say “may,” because I believe that there really isn't an age limit on books.

That being said, I was very pleasantly surprised with the priority that the actual story took in these pieces. In my (admittedly rather limited) experience with erotica, the story and characters often take a backseat to the sex. This definitely isn't the case here. These stories are woven as deftly as any work of Block's, and the language, characters, and plot are quite obviously one of her priorities.

My favorite story is the first one. I love the idea of it, and I think it was executed perfectly. Although I didn't like some of the stories as much as “Mer,” they all had something to them that I enjoyed. I wish they had been a little more connected, since they were advertised as connected, but sometimes the subtleties and unexpected connections were refreshing. I'm thinking specifically of the connection between “Mer” and “Spirit,” which is probably my second favorite story.

Obviously, I've rated this book R for being sexually explicit. There's no violence, as far as I can recall. I also don't recall any explicit language used outside of sex. I gave it a 3.5 because as interesting and well-written as these stories were, I didn't find a lot of reread value in them. I can't say why, but that's unfortunately the way I feel. I also think that in some ways some of the stories were limited by their erotic nature—the stories were all very short, and I think Block could have done some really wonderful things with them had there not been so much sex. However, as erotica, these are by far the best stories I've ever read—who said literature couldn't be sexy? I'm also aware that I may be biased because I didn't realize this book was erotic in the first place.

Readers of erotica will love the quality of writing in these stories. Readers of Block's other books may find their genre preference expanded after reading this book.

I purchased a physical copy of this book for my mother, and I was also given a complimentary ebook by the publisher for review.

Geektastic edited by Holly Black

Geektastic edited by Holly Black

Rating: PG-13; 4 stars

Summary: In short, Geektastic is an anthology about geeks, edited by the lovely Holly Black. There are 29 pieces in the anthology, though only half of those are stories; between each story is a one-page comic. The authors present in this anthology include such YA giants as Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Scott Westerfield, and John Green. Each author only has one story, with the exception of the two editors, Black and Cecil Castellucci, both of whom co-wrote all the comics, as well as the first story in the anthology. The stories are varied, with each author covering a different aspect of geekdom.

Opinions: I didn't expect to like Geektastic as much as I did. I checked it out mostly because of my love of Holly Black. Although I consider myself an academic nerd, I'm not really into geek culture. I don't obsessively game; I tend to not prefer stories set in space (there are exceptions, and I don't hate the space-bound story; I just don't go looking for them). I've never been to any sort of con. I don't watch Dr. Who. But despite my limited knowledge and experience of geek culture, this anthology was incredibly easy to follow. And as a moment of irony: I took a break from writing this review to check out something on an ebook library, and listed on the front page was the link for Conversational Klingon. Weird. But I digress. The stories in this were just really interesting. And there was a really wide variety. I mean, I suppose I should have expected it, since this is an anthology and not just a collection by one author.

There are comics in between each of the stories in this anthology. They didn't do much for me. It's not that I hated them, because many of them were clever and amusing. It's just...ok, here's the thing. It's been so long since I've been able to read for pleasure, that I'm obsessed with quantity. I need to read 5 books this week. I need to finish this book today, or else. And all those comics were was a check mark on the table of contents. They just didn't stick with me. And this is probably a personal thing because I treat reading like a competition, but that's what they were to me.

There was one major issue I had with a lot of these stories: gender of the narrator. There is a stereotype that geeks are guys more often than girls, but a lot of the narrators sounded like girls. There were several times when I had to wait several pages or more to find out the gender of the narrator for sure. And when pretty much the entire anthology is written in the first person, this constant guessing-game can get rather irritating.

The formats of these stories were really interesting: one story is a letter, one an audition monologue, and well, you get the idea. Although the majority of them were written in first person, it didn't feel like just a bunch of stories in the first person. They were all so unique that it balanced out.

A few of my favorites, for those who read this anthology, “Once You're a Jedi, You're a Jedi All the Way,” “Definitional Chaos,” “I Never,” “Quiz Bowl Antichrist,” “The Quiet Knight,” and “Secret Identity.” My top three are definitely “Definitional Chaos,” “Quiz Bowl Antichrist,” and “Secret Identity.”

I think my favorite thing about this anthology is the variety of geekdom explored. Yeah, you have D&D, LARPing, and Star Trek vs. Star Wars. But it also covers quiz bowl/academic challenge competitions, marching band, theatre geeks (you can tell I'm one by how I spell theatre :P), dinosaurs, superheros, author/fan interaction, the list goes on and on. I foolishly came to this anthology expecting not to relate (I am a nerd, not a geek), and came away relating with almost every story in some way, even if it wasn't in the geek aspect.

I gave this book four stars because I did enjoy all the stories. If I had to pick out the weakest piece in the book, it would collectively be the comics. But even those weren't boring or unenjoyable (I think I just invented a word). Not all the stories were so wow-worthy that I'd give this anthology 5 stars, but I did really enjoy it. I gave it a PG-13 for some sexual content (though not explicit), and possibly language. It seems that I always have a hard time recalling whether or not there's swearing in a book. But it wouldn't surprise me if there was some in Geektastic that I just forgot.

This book was really enjoyable. I'd recommend it to anyone who has ever felt left out because of their interests, anyone who considers themselves a geek or a nerd, and really, anyone who likes reading. In my experience, bookworms often are geeks, even if they won't admit it. After reading this anthology, I am proud to consider myself a geek.

Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde

Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velvde

Rating: PG; 3 ½ stars

Summary: Cloaked in Red is a collection of short stories that retell the classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood.” All the stories were written by Vande Velde. There's not much to summarize other than that, without giving too much away. The introduction to the collection goes into a bit of detail about how the collection came about, including examining exactly how ridiculous the original story is, even by fairy tale standards. Other than that, the stories are really all just variations on the original tale.

Opinions: Which isn't to say I didn't like them. As is often the case with short fiction collections, not all the pieces were stand-out amazing. However, I did think that they all twisted the original story very well. I enjoyed the humor in each piece and the variety of characters. I have to say that my two favorite stories in the book are “Granny and the Wolf” and “Deems the Wood Gatherer.” I also enjoyed “Little Red Headache.” I liked that the stories weren't the “typical” retelling which, in my experience, retells the story, but with the same protagonist as the original (example: Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine). Instead, these stories had a variety of protagonists: the grandmother, the wolf, Red, the wood-cutter. Characters from other stories even have a couple of cameos, as well as the Brothers Grimm, themselves.

One of the things that makes this collection so great is its sense of humor. Vande Velde managed to find humor in some really weird places, and it hits the mark pretty much every time (I'd say all the time, but I don't like using definite articles unless I'm 100% certain). And even when the stories aren't outright funny, there's just this tongue-in-cheek tone that makes me believe Vande Velde had a great time writing this.

Now of course, I did only give this book 3 ½ stars, so obviously it wasn't perfect. One of the things that lowered its rating was the fact that not all the stories were enjoyable, at least to me. And in a collection of stories that barely over a hundred pages, every story needs to count for something. The other thing I really didn't like about this book is more of a formatting thing: each story has a little illustration alongside the title. Now, this is a good idea conceptually, but I found that most of the illustrations were really generic, like someone Google searched for stock photos. Some of them are better than others, but in general they were just annoying. The book rated a PG because while there wasn't anything really objectionable, the nature of any sort of closer look at “Little Red Riding Hood” merits more than a G rating.

This book is a really quick read, so if you have an afternoon to spare, it's probably worth your time. Some of the stories weren't to my taste, but that doesn't mean that everyone shares that opinion. The writing is sound, and the characters are well-developed. It just wasn't as much of my cup of tea as I had hoped.