Review: Infinite Loop by Meghan O'Brien

I know I would have liked this book more if I wasn't just in the middle of getting divorced. It's well written. Has a great, computer nerd, lesbian lead character. Witty banter. Hot sex. But all I could focus on was the fact that these two characters had major issues and were in for a shit load of therapy. The one main character Mel, has major trust issues. The other Regan, has self esteem issues. Put them together along with a road trip and its love conquers all.

I just kept thinking, it's great you are clutching to each other like a life jacket but red flag time...don't get together. Then again my ex-wife-to-be and I got together just after my mother died which all her friends told her was red flag time and we lasted a long time.

If I wasn't so miserable right now, I'd buy more into the story - which again I emphasize is well done, much better than a lot of romances - I think I'll read this one again in a few years to see what I feel about it.

Rating: 4 out of 5
Copy Source: Excellent confition 2nd hand copy from After Stonewall

Review: Mean Little Deaf Queer: A Memoir by Terry Galloway

The author lost her hearing due to an antibiotic her mother was given while pregnant. Young Terry ends up with huge, boxy hearing aids and coke bottle glasses and thinks to herself "The next part of my life is gonna suck. I bet I can milk it for every tear it's worth." That is what I love about this author. She has selfish, petty thoughts and the guts to reveal them. She also has a loving family who love to recount stories about their relatives and she portrays them with a lot of affection.

We learn how Terry finally comes to realize she has just as many prejudices and fears about the disabled or differently abled as a fully abled person would. And on top of all her physical issues, she also has to deal with coming out as a lesbian. This was back in the 70s which was hardly as accepting times can be now - if you are lucky to live in a faily enlightened place.

After a guidance counsellor give her a note which says, typos and all, "Factory work make good job for deaf," she ends up in alternative theatre and becomes a successful actor. And yet she still struggles with resentment of her situation and questions her life finally coming to accept "...mine was a happy life, when I could stand it."

What a delight to read about someone else's fears and failures, their daily struggles to make sense of it all, to see how much better or worse or both someone else has it in this crazy reality show we call life. That is why I love autobiographies but too many of them are almost like publicity blurbs, the overwhelming honesty in this one just blew me away. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Copy Source: Library

Review: Swimming Cat Cove by Lauren Wright Douglas

This was another of my 2nd hand discoveries; in excellent condition for only $4.00. Billed as the 2nd Allison O'Neal novel its also apparently the last as I can't find any mention of the author writing anything else after this one was published in 1997. Too bad because it's an amusing and light enough read in typical Naiad style.

Having inherited a B&B in the first book, our heroine is feeling trapped and stressed by money worries. To keep it or sell it she ponders. Meanwhile a child in distress appears to add to her problems. Sammy the cat and Ossie the child named after a cat (Ocelot) are as endearing as usual. And the appearance of a possible buyer for the B&B, helps make Allison realize she wants to keep what she has. As suspected, It All Works Out In The End.

I really have a bit of a weakness for books in a series. It's my obsessive compulsive nature to finish them all damn it. Trust me a series has to really be god awful before I can break the urge to read on.

Rating: 3 out of 5 for not taking up too much of my life to read it and for a cute kid named Minou.
Source of copy: see above

Review: Steel WItches by Patrick Lennon

I got this one from the library because of the setting; Cambridge UK. It's the place I was born but never lived in until my 20's when I returned from Canada for a year's working holiday. It's a wonderful city, especially for cycling and walking. Lots of pubs and university students. Whenever I read a book set there, I have fun remembering the places and seeing how the author describes them.

Steel Witches has a very clever story mixing the hero's present with the past of two "witches" in a small Norfolk town. It was interesting to see these two elements tie together and each is an interesting story in its own right. The characters all come off a bit obsessive about their individual quests and driven along to the ending which, unfortunately, isn't that great after all the build up.

Not a bad read but one I wouldn't read twice now that I know what really happenned.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Source of copy: library

Review: Death at Lavender Bay by Lauren Wright Douglas

When I was first coming out, I read every lesbian book I could get my hands on at the Vancouver library. Most of those were published by Naiad Press. Fairly formulaic, largish print (to make the books seem longer), mostly romances and mysteries but still, they had lesbian characters and that was the main thing. Actually being able to read about lesbians, women I could finally identify with, was such a relief.

One of my favorite series was the Caitlin Reece detective novels by Lauren Wright Douglas. I hadn't read her Allison O'Neil series until now. I was browsing the used book section in After Stonewall and found the first and second in the series so snapped both of them up.

The first is called Death at Lavender Bay in which our heroine inherits a B&B in Oregon which she doesn't want. I should have such burdens deposited on me! Now we aren't talking great detective story here. If you couldn't figure out what happenned, I'd recommend enrolling in Mysteries 101. Rather the story is about the main character realizing what a carefully maintained rut her life has become and what she does with that realization.

A suspension of disbelief will make most of the story easier to take. If Allison just admitted who she was from the start and asked a few questions, hey presto "mystery" solved. There are many humourous asides. The location is well set and inviting. The sense of community is palpable and part of what awakens the protagonist. If only most lesbian communities were this way.

I read the novel in a couple hours. It was enjoyable escapism. In some ways I could identify with Allison's little personality quirks and so this light weight book actually gave me something to think about.

Rating: 3 out of 5
Source of copy: own it