Staff Picks Blog

Whenever I saw someone reading Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca or saw it sitting on a shelf, I always said to myself, “I need to read that.”  I’ve been told by many that I need to read it.  DuMaurier’s novel is always compared to Jane Eyre, which is one of my favorites.  I’m happy to say that I finally picked it up and I have to ask, “What took me so long?”

One would think our narrator is lucky to marry Maxim de Winter.  She marries above her station, no longer needs to remain as a paid companion to that gossipy rich American woman, and  is now the mistress of the famous Manderley estate. Sure, Mr. de Winter seems a little sad and lonely, but who can blame him?  He lost his wife, Rebecca, in an unfortunate boating accident less than a year ago.  However, it seems to be a little more than that.  It’s as if the bright, beautiful, intelligent Rebecca hasn’t left Manderley after all.  Her things are still in every room.  Her bedroom remains the same as the day she died.  And all the servants seem to be comparing our poor heroine to their former mistress, especially the creepy Mrs. Danvers.

Rebecca is a page-turner, so make sure you pick it up when you know you have the time to devote yourself to this book.  You won’t want to do anything else.

Carl Hiaasen‘s latest largely abandons his usual environmental themes for a look at the culture of celebrity.  If you like Hiaasen, all I need say is that both Skink and Chemo appear.  Skink, former governor of Florida, is now a one-eyed hermit, who lives on road kill.  Chemo’s a 6′ 9″, pockmarked ex-con with a short fuse and a weed whacker attached to the stump of one arm.  Two of my favorite killers.

Mix in a talentless, out-of-control singer of the Britney ilk, and the actress who serves as her body double  for the paparazzi, when the singer’s passed out drunk or otherwise wasted (it’s pretty steady work).  The actress is the smart, funny attractive character Hiassen always includes among the slimeballs, tho it’s usually a guy.  There’s also a paparazzi, into whose ear Charlie Sheen once peed, who kidnaps the actress, thinking she’s the singer.  He wants a series of photos, since she’ll be a hot commodity once she dies, which he figures will be any day now.

Hiaasen delivers his usual over-the-top fun in his first adult novel since 2006′s Nature Girl.