Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I am quite possibly the last person on LJ to read this book. Alas.

As you know, Bob, this is about Christopher, who is autistic, and finds his neighbor's dog dead. He decides to solve the mystery, and in the process of doing so, digs up several skeletons in his family's closet.

I was a little scared picking this up, just because it had been recced so often, but the prose is eminently readable and the plot is extremely gripping. I can't say how accurately Haddon captures the autistic mind, given that I know very little about the subject, but it feels pretty believable to me. Also, I like how matter-of-fact Christopher is about some of the things of his existence, such as the badness of the color yellow or the need to groan in a corner now and again.

And now, to the bits that probably only I care about. I felt so bad for Christopher's pet rat Toby! Toby gets lost in an Underground station, and I was wincing the whole time. So, eh, yes, a warning to the few rat-lovers out there. I'm hoping that's not spoiling anything, since obviously it's not the point of the book.

What's very good about the book is that the mystery of the dog's death is actually resolved fairly quickly, but the repercussions of what Christopher discovers affect his family and his neighbors. It's also just heart-breaking seeing his memories of his probably depressed mother trying to deal with an autistic child and his father's efforts to keep the family together.

Haddon also has to show how Christopher affects everyone around him even as Christopher himself doesn't so much notice the emotional effects, and he does so very well. Anyhow, I liked this book a great deal, and it was especially interesting being able to be in Christopher's POV, even for a few hours.

Links:
- tenemet's review

Kinsale, Laura - Seize the Fire

Wow, I didn't even know this Kinsale existed until I saw it in rachelmanija's bag.

It's also very interesting, because I can see bits and pieces of later Kinsale books in this one. The heroine is Olympia St. Leger, the princess of the very small, fictional European country Oriens; she has just found this out and her country wants her back. Of course, there are evil uncles and plotters in the works, and so, she tries to get naval hero Sheridan Drake to protect her. Sheridan is, of course, much more a rogue than a hero, and accepts her proposal with intent of stealing her jewelry. He's also extremely tortured underneath as well (of course), but luckily, he has a sense of humor. Well, at least more than most romance heroes.

From then on, we get Kinsale's trademark absolutely on crack plotting: several ocean voyages, one shipwreck on a desert island (actually technically not a desert island, but still an abandoned island) complete with survival story, encounters with sultans (almost like a sheik, but not), potential mutinies, and a revolution. One would think being stranded on a desert island would be enough plot for a romance novel, but I feel I am not really spoiling anything, as it's only half the book!

So if you're a plot person, you should probably avoid this, unless you want to see just how much stuff Kinsale can pile on.

However, I really liked the characters. I read a few reviews on Amazon, and of course I'm in the minority, since I actually liked Olympia from the start. She's described as plump and really very mousy; she's quiet and is never quite sure when people are joking or not, and she is in no way spunky or spirited, which is why I like her. She says she doesn't have much courage, but I think she is a nice person, and she's one of the rare romance heroines who I would actually want to be friends with. Also, I like that she is described as plump and that Sheridan likes this as well.

Everyone probably likes Sheridan because of the angst; I, however, like Sheridan because of his rogue-ish-ness and his sense of humor, and for the way he falls rather quickly for Olympia.

Another startling bit for a romance is that Sheridan and Olympia genuinely seem to like each other. One would think that this wouldn't be rare in a romance, but it really is. I don't feel like they're only getting together because of the incredible lust between the two, unlike most romances, and even when there are stupid misunderstandings, they aren't actually the main mechanism for keeping the characters apart, which is why I suspect Kinsale had to throw in all the crazy plot. And the one time Olympia decides for sure that she does hate Sheridan, I feel she has a pretty good reason to. And, thank heavens, neither characeter clings to the one shred of whatnot that feeds resentment or who knows what else just so that there is angst and conflict galore.

And I very much like that they fall in love early on. I'm getting rather sick of romances in which the realization of being in love is at the very end of the book, even though I realize that that's probably the definition of a romance. I like watching the relationship develop after people have declared that they're in love with each other, I like seeing them have to work through obstacles Granted, Olympia and Sheridan's obstacles are about a thousand times more insane than other people's, but the principle is still there.

I shall repeat my liking of Olympia here; she isn't stupid. She's a little naive, and she knows this, but she's not one of those heroines who is constantly sure of herself and goes in to right the world of all wrongs while also being beautiful and loved by everyone. Or hated by everyone. Olympia feels more like a wallflower character, and I like her for it. And I think under all her fright, she's very determined about certain things.

Oh, also, I like that there's actually sex ed so that while Olympia starts out as your standard virginal heroine, Sheridan teaches her (and not with stupid things like the Kama Sutra... nothing against the Kama Sutra, just how it's used in romances, ugh) about sex and body parts and etc. so she is educated.

Anyhow, most of all, I just liked the characters a great deal, so I was willing to stick with them through the desert islands and sultans and whatnot. Will be hunting for this in used bookstores now.

Links:
- gwyneira's review