8. Sunshine

By Robin McKinley

I think I came across this book when I was in Vancouver.  As always, Olman was on the hunt for books and we were browsing in the used section of Pulp Fiction Books on Main St.   

I had read a few Robin McKinleys when I was a teenager, the three I remember most being The Hero & the Crown, The Blue Sword, and Beauty, her retelling of the well-known fairy tale.  

So when I saw that Sunshine was quite recently published (in 2004), a contemporary fantasy about a young baker who gets kidnapped by a gang of vampires, and it was a used copy in great condition, I couldn’t resist passing up on it.

Sunshine made for a light, charming read, but it was not particularly memorable nor very exciting, especially if compared to her early work.  Perhaps it was due to me being a teenager that made McKinley’s early books so captivating and full of adventure and magic.   

I remember feeling somewhat disappointed in Sunshine for its lack of depth and originality, since I was hoping McKinley would give the tiresome girl + vampire relationship genre her own unique vision, like she did with her retelling of Beauty and the Beast.

One thing I did appreciate was how the protagonist, Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, ends up being close allies with Constantine the Vampire, instead of she & him going all Twilight goo-goo ga-ga.   So that was one small ray of sunshine. That, and it was a waaay more pleasant read than my last book. But since I don’t see my copy of Sunshine next to The Blue Sword in my forever shelf, it was not enough to make this worth keeping.

Now I want to seek out a copy of The Hero and the Crown for a revisit!

7. How To Kill a Rockstar

By Tiffanie Debartolo

When I was on maternity leave, I joined a mom’s book club.  As I suspected and learned firsthand, book clubs for moms are not really about reading books so much as getting together and drinking lots of wine.  Though only a couple of the women had something closely resembling a genuine curiosity or knowledge of good literature, it was nevertheless a pleasant way to hang out with other moms in the neighbourhood. 

One time, a valiant effort was made to vote on a book to read.  Somehow one of the younger and more vocal moms insisted on her recommendation.  Not only was it something she had already read, she also spoke with conviction about how good it was!   Soon after I learned yet another lesson:  books (like all creative media) can be very, very subjective.  A good book is in the eye of the reader.

And another thing I have always known about book clubs, and why I have avoided joining one for so long, is that you usually have to conform with the taste of the majority, which leans towards popular fiction and bestsellers.  

While HTKaR - which was published in 2005 - was not exactly Eat Pray Love, it came very close.  Instead of 30-something divorcees, HTKaR was marketed for twenty-something ‘alternative’ women (I think people were still using that term in the early oughts, right?).   Although the cover and title looked somewhat edgy, it was fairly mainstream dreck in its (lack of) style, characterization and mentality.  Simply put, it was bad and I did not like it.

Since this mom had already read HTKaR (and may have even spent hard-earned money on it), she had a copy she could pass around.  Lucky for me I was next in line after someone had finished it so I didn't have to spend a single dime on this annoying piece of fluff, so I won’t waste any more of my time trying to recall what I wished I had never read in the first place.  

Sadly, this was the only book our 'book club' ever read as a group during that summer.  A few moved away, or moved on, or went back to work (like I did), though I'm sure a few others stayed in touch.