THIRSTY - Booktalk

THIRSTY
by M.T. Anderson

My parents are worried about me. I can tell from the way they look at me when they think I’m not looking at them. They’re right to be worried. Right now, I can hear them whispering to each other about me. When my father comes up to my room, I’m a little afraid of what he’s going to say. But for the moment, it’s okay. All he wants is a little father-son bonding ritual. It’s time to teach me to shave. I can handle that. I just couldn’t handle it if they knew what was going on with me, if they knew what I’m turning into.

My father takes me into the bathroom and shows me how to put on the shaving cream and wets the razor with hot water for me. “Now take the razor,” my dad says, “and put in right under your nose.” His fingers grab just below my wrist and guide my hand down. “Okay, you can let go now,” I tell him. He pulls away and the razor slips just a fraction. I say, “Ow.” He’s saying, “There, now you’ve cut yourself.” But I’m noticing the obvious thing. The sweet, tangy smell of my blood. I hit the floor. I know what’s going to happen next. I have to get him out of the room before he notices, too. “Get out, Dad. Could you get out? I want to do this alone.” Dad goes. I can hear my parents talking outside the door. They think I’m overreacting. “It was just a little cut,” my dad says. He doesn’t know. He can’t know. I look into the mirror, and I don’t see myself. I’m not surprised. I guess I’ll have to do the rest of the shave blind. Carefully, I drag the razor down my lip again. More red. I start licking. The shaving cream is not as sweet as it smells. The blood is good and salty. There isn’t much from two wounds. So I take another exploratory scrape with my razor. Without the mirror, this is just a joke. I’m cutting the hell out of my face. And I’m loving it. I’m licking and licking, laughing, and licking some more. I have been so thirsty.

It’s spring now, almost time for the annual Sad Festival of Vampires, almost time for the special rites which will keep the Vampire Lord Tch’muchgar locked safely away for another year. Except I think I really blew it. I think maybe I did something I shouldn’t have done. And I think I’m turning into a vampire.

Predator or Prey?

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
3Q 5P J/S

Among the reviews I'm more or less giving up on (see previous post) is one on this book, which I had mixed feelings about. Interesting characters, intriguing setting (a vampire-themed restaurant in the middle of Texas?), a cup of murder, a dash or two of romance, a pinch of humor, and some seasonings you don't find in your typical recipe...I mean book!...those would seem to be the ingredients of a terrific read. It's gotten really good buzz on the blogs I read, but when I finished the book, I wasn't really sure how I felt about it. I'm still not sure. It's not so much a liked it/didn't like it dilemma. It left me feeling...unsettled, I guess, and a little creeped out. I've read other vampire/werewolf books and liked them, even though it's not my favorite genre, so that's not what got to me. This one had an element or two that made me more uncomfortable after I read it than while I was reading it, and I guess that's what's throwing me. Anyhow, I can't wait to hear what my patrons think of it, and if you're reading this and have read it, please tell me what you thought of it.

You can find information and other bloggers' thoughts about Tantalize

on the author's web site

and

on Required Reading (This site has a review of the book and a "Five Lists of Five" interview with Smith that I enjoyed reading. Gotta like her taste in vampires and authors!)

and

on Bookshelves of Doom

and

on Talking Teen Books

Is there a vampire inside you?

Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
4Q 4P S*

What this book is not:

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer - no quipping hero/heroine trying to hunt down all the nasty vampires and stake 'em to death
• Twilight: No girl passionately in love with a vampire and praying he'll bite her
• Dracula: No evil vampire seducing lovely young women, no humans trying desperately to kill him
  

What this book is:

• a whole new take on vampires
• a bit of a mind game (for the reader and the main character)
• told from the vampire's point of view (well, he's not exactly a vampire...) for a change

In the typical vampire story, vampire sees beautiful girl, vampire seduces her, and vampire bites her, generally sucking her dry. She either dies or becomes a vampire herself as a result of the bite. Well...that's not the way it works in the Peeps world, as Cal finds out on his very first night in New York. Cal's a hick from Texas about to start his freshman year of college in NYC. Naturally, he wants to see a bit of the city, so he starts exploring, having absolutely no idea where he's been or where he's going. He eventually winds up in a bar. He eventually winds up getting very drunk in that bar. And he eventually winds up going home with a girl he meets at the bar. Bad move. But he doesn't find that out for a few days, until he starts noticing that he's craving meat and that he's thinking about sex constantly. (Not like "every seventeen seconds" constantly... constantly.) In the meantime, he doesn't exactly try to resist all those urges. He sleeps with several girls before he finds out the truth about that girl in the bar that first night. It seems that she was a vampire, and she passed on the vampire parasite to him. Yup, you read that right. Vampirism is an STD, a sexually transmitted disease, passed on via a parasite. (Can't you just imagine what Abstinence Only programs would do with that news?)

The good thing, as far as Cal's situation is concerned, is that the parasite just turns him into a carrier, not a full-blown vampire. The bad thing is that it does turn everyone he's slept with into a vampire. Eventually, Cal finds himself working for the Night Watch, tracking down all those girls so they can be treated (though not cured). But the one girl he can't find is the girl he must find...the girl who started it all. His search will bring him in touch with rats (lots and lots of rats), mysterious cats, a secret bureaucracy hundreds of years old, and Lace, a journalist who gets a lot more than she bargained for when she lets Cal into her apartment.

Musings:

• Every other chapter is about a different kind of parasite. It's interesting stuff. But...


• I read this on my lunch/dinner breaks. This is not necessarily a good idea. Those chapters on the parasites can make you a little queasy. You definitely don't want to be eating Schezuan noodles when you're reading about how hookworms attach to your intestines and start feeding. Trust me on this one!/em>


• Interesting concept: vampirism is caused by a parasite!

• *That S for "senior high" at the top of the page is because sex is a fairly predominant theme in the book, given that the premise is that vampirism is caused by an STD and that one of the side effects of being a carrier is a preoccupation with sex. But the sex is basically off screen, and many junior high school students and their parents wouldn't be uncomfortable with the book. I'm being conservative with the S, but I do think it's a book that many junior high school students will like very much.