Upward, Onward, Ho!

Pip & Flinx adventures by Alan Dean Foster

2012-01-26T11:01:00.001-05:00

Alan Dean Foster wrote the original Star Wars novel (although he went uncredited according to wikipedia) and one of the Star Trek movies. I therefore intuit he must be a classic. After picking up the remnants of someone's fandom at the Salvation Army - 14 books of the Pip and Flinx series - I decided to start reading them. The good is that these three are each about 250 pages - so quick to read. I enjoyed the first and the second. The third I didn't care for as much. I'm debating continuing the series for several reasons. One, I like the main character but find his character erratic between the three books. This causes me whiplash as I start to become intrigued about the way his character is developing and then it suddenly stops. I think this is partly because they are written out of order. Second, the back story of the characters changes in contradictory ways. I believe this occurs for the same reason. Third, I've yet to really enjoy the world that Foster has built. Thus far, each book has taken place on a different planet or even on multiple planets resulting in a sketched feel.

Seeing as how I have all the books and they are such quick and easy reads and I want to know if the writing develops I will most likely continue reading them.

5.5 - 6 stars

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

2011-06-29T14:04:00.001-04:00

I had heard so many positive reviews of Martin's series I decided to give it a try. I spent June reading the first four books of the series. I was quickly drawn into "A Game of Thrones" although I found switching characters every chapter to be a bit annoying. I particularly enjoyed Anya, Bran, Tyrion and Jon's storylines. "A Clash of Kings" did not live up to my expectations from the previous novel but I continued to enjoy the series and the development of Danerys. "A Storm of Swords" regained my attention and desire to continue the series but the ever darker tone was beginning to wear on me. "A Feast For Crows" which is really just half of the second book would have ended my reading the series if I was not a) obsessive and b) very interested in Arya's story. At this point I have come to care little for most of the characters. I found the continual maiming of main characters to be a weary plot device. *spoiler* I mean really - Bran, Tyrion, Jaime and Arya! - although I guess it is war. Additionally I have been disappointed in the little role the direwolves, dragons and 'the others' play in the story. By the end of the last book it was a chore to read it and every time I came to the end of a reading session I was sad and angry.

These criticisms come mainly from my own preferences rather than from the quality of writer and storyteller Martin is. I prefer more fantasy than politics and more emotion than intrigue. I hope that the next book, "A Dance with Dragons" which comes out next month will gain my attention and continue on a bit brighter note.

I read both these books and Thud for the 'Once Upon a Time challenge'. And although I was not able to link my reviews to their site because I am a Incomptetent, I am counting this challenge met! I finally accomplished a challenge! Gold star for me, haha:)

And 6ish or 7ish stars for A Song of Ice and Fire thus far.

Thud by Terry Pratchett

2011-06-13T11:12:00.000-04:00

As I enjoy most of Terry Pratchett's books, I also enjoyed this one. I know I said I wasn't going to read any more of the discworld series but I got this one for free so I had to try it out. I feel it was better than the Unseen Academicals. But I do not love Pratchett, I think the tongue and cheek with which he tells his stories puts a distance between me and the characters. It is hard to take them seriously and hard to feel for them. The best Pratchett book I have read (and it is very good!) is Nation which managed to take its characters seriously while opening the door to talk about relevant social issues.

Thud deals in racial themes. In particular, those tensions between the races of darwves and giants, werewolves and vampires, and the main characters mistrust of the vampire race. Fun reading, yes, but as a satire of the many racial issues that face those of the US it fell flat.

7.5 stars

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larsen

2011-03-27T11:23:00.000-04:00

Creative and original are words that spring to mind to describe this novel. The protagonist is a twelve year old boy, TS Spivet, who maps the world around him. The maps that fill the margins of the book- genealogical maps, diagrams, maps of events- stretched my mind as to what a map is. Of course, anyone who knows anything about maps could have told me that! And the originality and creativity I'm talking about is rather in the use of the margins. This includes, not only the beautiful maps and diagrams, but also asides, historical tidbits related to the story.

The story of an amazingly talented boy who wins a Smithsonian Award for adults is set in Montana, very close to my home. The descriptions of the area, town and people rang true for me. I loved reading the historical bits and seeing maps and pictures (drawn) of places I know. But even when TS leaves the area I continued to be enchanted by the margins.

The novel is split into three bits: first, TS at home; second, TS travelling east; third, TS in the east. My favorite part was the middle when TS's mother introduces the story of a woman ancestor scientist and the trials she faced trying to enter a man's world. I believe this novel was making the same claim about the difficulties of a genius child trying to enter the same world.

The third part, set in the east, lost clarity. Perhaps this is because TS himself loses clarity and after Montana, a world of few people and extensive landscapes, the east seems overwhelming. Yet for me, the story also lost its thread a bit. A fantastical edge set in and the ending was abrupt.

Larsen manages to write from the first person of a twelve year old who is closer to a child than an adolescent, yet insanely talented and smart, in a convincing and sweet manner. The propulsion for the character is carefully set and heartbreakingly revealed throughout the novel. Interestingly, the adult male characters of the book are less carefully drawn, the stereotypical western father, the fame whore eastern bureaucrat, and the distracted scientist who treats a child like an adult.

The novel's faults are more than compensated for by the beauty and interest of the storyline, as well as the creativity and originality of the presentation. This is a book that one devours with the eyes and the tummy hurts a little.

8.5 stars!

Once Upon a Time Challenge

2011-03-22T09:53:00.000-04:00

I've decided to join the wonderful Once Upon a Time Challenge created and hosted by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. I know I have done a terrible job on previous challenges and once I failed a couple of times I decided to give up on challenges. BUT this is one I know I can do! First, I can join the Journey level which means that I only need to read one book between now and June that fits within the categories. Yes! I. Can. Do. This! Second, my favorite genre is fantasy so I'm pretty sure I would be reading a couple of fantasy books anyway.

So which books will I maybe read in no specific order?
1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
2. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
3. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
4. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (I'm not sure if this one counts as it is defined as science fiction)
5. Harry Potter e o Calice de Fogo por J.K. Rowling (I need to practice my Portuguese. Since I've already read it in English it should help me understand the story in Portuguese!)

If you have not done so already check out the challenge and the review site. Thanks to Carl for a wonderful and fun challenge!

Candide by Voltair

2011-03-13T18:39:00.000-04:00

This is a great book! Although it was written in 1758, much of our world still resembles that of Candid's (the main character) world. Candide, who is much influenced by the philosopher, Pangloss, wanders the four corners of the world witnessing and experiencing the greatest cruelties, wars and natural disasters. Pangloss says "It is demonstrable that things cannot be other than they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end." He is also the originator of the idea that all is for the best in this "best of all possible worlds". Yet despite his experiences, Candide holds close Pangloss's philosophies, throwing 18th century optimism back into the face of each new horror.

What is one to make of all the horrible happenings, both natural and man-made? Why do they occur? Why do we have wars and murder? Is it for some higher good, some ultimate plan, some application of free will?

Much of the book, whilst cavorting over the planet in one quick but complete adventure after another, ponders these questions. Yet, it never does so too seriously. Voltaire knows when to move on and when to make fun of our cliché questions and answers. One of the reasons that makes this book so enjoyable to read was the quick and engaging manner of the story, which rushes us from one crazy adventure to the next. Inevitably, one expects each adventure to go wrong like it has the time before, but the shallow caricature of the characters allows us to view it from a more global perspective. Unlike Dicken's Oliver Twist, where I felt so sorry for the little orphan and wanted something, anything to go right for him, I was able to enjoy Candide's story without crying over his many tortures. Instead, I could muse on the connections between Voltaire's world and mine.

- spoiler -

The crowning jewel of the story for me was the last chapter. One, where our little troupe of characters, has taken up a country dwelling. They continue to be most unhappy until they have a propitious meeting a stranger "a good old man" who invites them back to his house. When they arrive they are fed wonderful food by the small family, all of whom live on less than 20 acres and dedicate their time and energy to produce simply but well for themselves. Candide reflects on this and says, "I know too that we must cultivate our garden." And so they finally find peace between wanderlust and torture.

The idea here is best summed up by Lester C. Crocker, who edited and wrote the introduction to the Pocket Books 1962 edition.

"This is Voltaire's constructive revolt, against the world, against man, against history. We must give up aiming for the stars, but refuse, too, to join the wolves; we must cultivate our garden. Our garden is our limited realm of virtue, justice and honest labor that is within the compass of our creative powers. We must start at home, in our own little worlds."

10 Stars!

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

2011-03-09T19:46:00.001-05:00

This is my first Lethem book. A friend got it for me. It has been an interesting foray into hipster lit - if there is such a thing. The novel is teeming with name dropping as well as nods and winks to pop culture. I imagine if one was into this sort of thing it would be quite fun to read the novel. I, however, can barely remember my name much less someone I failed to watch on tv, in the movies or read. The book was mostly lost on me.

I found it long winded and a bit dull. The friendship between the two main characters -- Chase Insteadman (or Chase Unperson - as he is called a one point, an unselfaware goof - and Perkus Tooth) was sweet. The questioning, searching for truth set amid an alternate reality version of Manhattan seemed juvenile. At some point in all seriousness Tooth questions the idea of being a part of a simulation. Although Lethem bring this up a bit tongue-in-cheek, it turns out that he is serious about it. That was so 1999, and by that you should know that I am referring to "The Matrix".

It is almost 467 pages and I didn't really get into it until the last 150 pages and that mainly because a dog, Eva, showed up. And I love and wish I had a dog, so I was enchanted by all chapters including Eva. But really that is a pretty poor reason to start liking a novel.

I'm sure that people, much hipper than I, would find much more to complement. I am just a hick from the boonies definitely not Lethem's target audience.

ETA: Chase's fiancée is an astronaut living on a declining space station. Her letters to Chase that appear in the book every so often are really the highlight. Beautifully written, lucid and personable, exactly what every other person in the book is not. I've heard they were even published separately from the novel.

First three hundred or so pages 5 stars
last hundred and fifty or so 6 stars
Astronaut's letters 10
For a total score of 6.5

Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

2011-03-07T10:10:00.000-05:00

As you may have noticed - since neither Chronic City nor Candide have moved off the shelf, I have been blogging my back log of books. I do have quite a long back log of books since I did such a bad job of blogging about them over the past year. It has been fun to revisit them. I may even begin blogging some of the academic books I read, if only for my own ability to remember what they are about. I read Towers of Midnight during the end of December.

The 13th book in the Wheel of Time series! Only one more to go, one more year of waiting. This book seemed similar to a traditional second book of a trilogy. It is setting up the revelations and last battle of the final book. Thereby it does not stand alone as well.

It was certainly readable and enjoyable. I think here I missed Jordan's take on the characters and I got a little lost in Aviendha's small but important story. The emotional weight that Jordan was so capable of installing in his characters and, thus our caring for them, is appreciably weakened in Sanderson's telling. He is able to do this to some extent to the characters he can relate to, like Elayne. But even in the case of Elayne and Egwene, I find them to be much less full and important to me than when Jordan was writing them. They seem less intelligent and complex, as well as being a bit stupid romantically.

He does a much better job with Rand, Perrin, and Mat. Each has transformed into the person they will need to be for the final battle. Of course, Rand is farthest ahead in his transformation and Mat is definitely trailing. In fact, much of Mat's story needs still to be told. In this book he became my favorite character for the first time. I look forward to his and Aviendha's developments in the next and last installment!

So the series Wheel of Time 10 stars
This book 8 stars

Nation and Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

2011-03-05T18:51:00.002-05:00

What a wonderful book! It was written for young adults but I loved it. It questions the idea of savage versus civilized. It demands that the characters think, think, think even when the conclusions are painful. The main characters a boy, Mau, and a girl, Daphne, around 13 or 14 are caring but very stubborn and full of duty.

In the wake of a catastrophe, a tidal wave, that washes Mau's tribe away and washes up Daphne's boat, they forsake the rules and demands of their particular societies and cultures to work toward common solutions to their problems. Together they investigate the science and history of the little island as the small community of survivors grows and together they defeat cannibals and gun carrying English mutineers.

This is a special book because of the caring manner and extent to which Pratchett asks us to question our assumptions and societal constraints. I think it would be a wonderful book for children.

9 stars

I liked the main characters of this book, but like all of the Discworld series I have read I was not blown away. The charming Glenda, a champion baker and very smart woman, and Mr. Nutt, brave and intelligent, were great fun to pass time with. Their inevitable romance was sweet and innocent.

I was interested more in a satirization of academia then football. Since I am not a big football fan (or any sport fan for that matter) this fell flat for me. The academic aspect was to some extent related to my experience but pretty much wholly lacking. Perhaps this is just my interpretation of academia. For these reasons I was not overly enthused about this novel.

In fact, I have not really loved any of the Discworld novels I have read. I have tried the first two and a smattering on those from the naughts. I think I may have to give up on this series unless someone can enlighten me to the reasons why I should love it!!!

7 stars

Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

2011-03-02T20:01:00.001-05:00

Finally I read Kafka! I have to say that it was easy to read and much less easy to interpret. It seems that the variability of interpretations have led to many different theories of 'what this book is about!'.

I was reading from an individualistic psychology orientated framework. I saw the family saddled with a man turned bug, Gregor, completely dependent on them and who would never get better. They felt tied to their house and supporting this child that they were disgusted by. Blaming all their problems on him, since he could no longer support them like a good son, they turned their eyes and hearts away. The son loves his family and wants to support them but he is unable to make it on his own in the world (- what would a 3-4 foot bug do? - where could a 3-4 foot bug go? - how would he even make it out of the city?). How hopeless and helpless he is. As the family grows more callous and resentful of Gregor he comes to resent them to some extent as well. There is no freedom for him and no freedom for his family. When Gregor, or the remains of his humanness, is lured by the music of his sister playing violin into the living room where guests wait, he scares them. His father retaliates chasing him around the table and throwing an apple into Gregor's back, which sticks causing a terrible wound. Oh horrors! Gregor's self-imposed starvation, his last sacrifice plus the families final wound lead to his death.

The family celebrates their freedom, their lightness of being, and quickly begins making plans for all they could not do while Gregor lived under the roof as a large insect.

When I spoke to friends they saw it from an institutional or a structuralist aspect. Gregor is working as a travelling salesman, a job he hates because society expects that of him and his father expects that of him. He is trapped in the institutions of his family and societal role. By turning into a bug he is able to escape one set of structures but becomes trapped in another, only these are much more obvious. Now he is a big bug stuck in a small room, served by his sister. He becomes more and more bug like, quickly coming to the point where he cannot speak with his family anymore. Once again he has no freedom. He cannot help himself or his family. In order to once again escape, he starves himself to death.

It seems there are a million more interpretations as well. I suppose I will just have to read more Kafka to see which or what combination of interpretation/s feels most authentic to me.

The sadness and ugliness of the relationship between Gregor and his family did not endear the book to me although it was very interesting and unique. I very much appreciated the straight forward style of writing since I already felt like I was missing a lot. In particular, I think that I did not understand Kafka's point in regards to Gregor's innocence and prioritizing of his family over himself even as they hurt him. I will try to read more Kafka and more about Kafka in hopes of understanding.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

2011-03-01T00:53:00.000-05:00

This was a wonderful child's/young adult fantasy novel. The characters were interesting, multidimensional, and felt so soft around the edges they could have been cartoons. It may be one factor that led to it's critically acclaimed film adaptation.

It was so great to have the protagonist be a 90 year old woman -- even if she really was 20 -- she has been be-spelled into her 9th decade.

[spoiler alert -- gentle spoiler but don't read beyond here if you don't like spoilers]

It was also nice that the romance of the novel took the back seat to the adventures of the four main characters. Interesting, as well, was a romance between a 20/90 year old woman and a 20 something wizard.

On the other hand, even though this was an original presentation, we are still dealing with quite young demographic all falling in love. It is a love story not only of the two protagonists but of almost everyone with any significant role in the book and that these love stories are the main point of the book becomes obvious by the end. As I have mentioned in other blog posts I am a bit tired of this plot.

I will definitely try some of the other novels by Dianna Wynne Jones. Next I would like to read some of the Chrestomanci Series.

I like the idea of a rating system for myself so from now on I will have a 1-10 scale.

8 stars!

The Magic of Recluse by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

2011-02-21T09:53:00.001-05:00

I read this on my birthday, as a present to myself, and trying to avoid the fact that I had just turned 30.

Positives: It was easy to fall into. I actually quite enjoyed reading from the first person point of view. It contained a new and theoretical approach to magic, that divided magic between that which is order and that which is chaos. Order requires chaos, but chaos feeds upon itself -- so if one creates an ordered country, one increases chaos elsewhere, but increased chaos does not require the balance of order. I think this would be a good read for younger readers, preteen to freshman and sophomores, particularly boys:)

Negatives: When the kid (the main character) explained why he was bored I understood but so much of the first half of the book is him saying, "Oh I'm so bored!" I not only could not relate but I found it very irritating. I also got sick of him being best at everything but swordplay that he put his hand too. The magic, although theoretically based was not explained sufficiently. I was constantly wondering what, why and how. Lastly at best the kid is like 18 by the end of the novel and he has decided who he is going to love for the rest of his life. Really! I'm sick of the youth of all the characters in the fantasy world. Ahh see now you see the difficulties of turning 30, practically ancient in fantasy years.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

2011-02-19T15:04:00.002-05:00

Hip Hip Hurray for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was a wonderful treat to read and quite different from my memories of both movies and the story books of the same that I had as a little girl.

Carroll makes clever jokes throughout the tale, many times through word play. Alice is a very stubborn and endearing creature who tries to reason out the world to the best of her ability always trying to persevere in a very crazy world. Although, she often thinks herself superior, due to her extensive schooling at age 7 and a half:), she does think through the situations she encounters in a very logical manner. Since sometimes her assumptions are faulty, due to forgetting her lessons, her application of logic can have quite funny outcomes.

I enjoyed the description of the King. Since the Queen decides to chop off the majority of her kingdom's heads every day the King spends a good portion of his time pardoning everyone. This tickled my funny bone. I like that it does not wrap up nicely and it seems almost amoralistic. For example, one character - the Duchess finds morals in everything and none of her morals make sense. An entertaining read as an adult (and quick)! I think it is a wonderful story for children as well.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

2010-12-04T11:21:00.000-05:00

Perhaps this post will need to be amended at some future date as I certainly have very little understanding of what makes a classic. I probably would have put off reading this book for the next ten years due to one sentence describing the book as dealing with the aftermath of September 11th. For some knee jerk reaction I avoid anything that has to do with that date, much the same way, I attempt to avoid anything that has to do with politics. Fortunately, I bought this book for a friend who already had it and so I got the chance to read it myself. I loved The Corrections so I was excited about this book as well.

It centers around the Berglund family, particularly the wife and husband, Patty and Walter. It details their adolescence, college years - when they met, young adulthood and middle age. Freedom also narrates from the point of view of Walter's best friend, Richard, and from Patty and Walter's son, Joey; among others.

Franzen does an amazing job with characters psychologies, i.e. character development and exploration. Yet, I found little I could relate to in the characters. The intensely competitive Patty, the incredibly overachieving Walter, the dark, morose and ultimately successful Richard, the conservative and romantic Joey; none of these characters had qualities that I could find in myself and for that reason this book never quite came alive for me. As I've said before I'm a very egotistical reader and the one character I would have enjoyed reading more about was the daughter of Patty and Walter, Jessica. But we never learn much about her.

One of the issues that jumped out at me, was how hard it is to be a mother. In that the obsession of mothers for their children cause their children, upon reaching adolescence, to push away. Common psychology I suppose, but Franzen brought to life the relationship between Joey and Patty, deeply illustrating the strife that occurs in adolescence.

Although I enjoyed reading this book and found the intricately drawn characters to be very interesting, I did not love it. Yet, it must be commended on the interweaving of popular issues and topics seamlessly into the narrative.

It seems that one of the hallmarks of a classic is the way it deals with and describes the "issues" of an age. Freedom does that. It looks at the environmental movement in detail, it looks at the conservative power that erupted out of 9/11 and it even looks at women's sports. It is most probably much more perceptive than I realize.

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

2010-12-02T09:54:00.000-05:00

This book is told from various members of the Cabral family and held together by the coming and going of a narrator apart from the family, Yunior; a roommate of Oscar's and his sister's, Lola's, sometimes boyfriend.

When I picked this book up during the summer, I loved Oscar's nerdiness. I enjoyed the references to The Lord of the Rings among many others. I lost interest as we jumped from family member to family member, particularly when we went back to the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. I just wanted to read about Oscar in all his romantic nerdiness and I was pretty entranced Lola as well, but not so much by their mother, Beli.

I then picked it up early in the fall hoping to finish it and found that I could not put it down. I was interested in Beli, the Trujillo regime, the grandmother. I loved the style that slips into Spanish occasionally, full of slang I didn't know. I loved the footnotes with references to not only fantasy but also history but all in this incredibly informal but meaningful way.

I realize that I am definitely not doing this book Justice! But since I want to get going on actually writing up reviews of books I read it will have to do.

Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

2010-09-21T10:09:00.000-04:00

Now this cover is much better than the art for the three books I have! I love this, it feels much more like the world of the novel than does the more traditional fantasy fare picture. I was introduced to Sanderson through the The Wheel of Time series, and so thought I would pick up some of his earlier work. He has an extensive website here.

I enjoyed this trilogy, Mistborn, The Well of Ascension and The Hero of the Ages. I read the first two books pretty fast. I think I particularly found the first book engaging. I got a little stalled by the last one. Although Sanderson does a good job moving the characters development by the last book there was little I could relate too. And I find that I am a very egotistical reader in that I enjoy books most when there is something of myself I can find in them. As an "older" reader, haha, I found the age of the main characters and their commitment to the most serious of life (and death) decisions to be a bit anticlimactic. Although this was not so much the case in the first book, it became overwhelming by the last book.

One of the most interesting aspects of the trilogy was the uniqueness of the world which Sanderson creates. He has a system of almost scientific "magic" that had physical properties through which it worked. He also handles quite a few characters at a time and they feel well fleshed out and develop over time. The plot of the three books follows an interesting and timely course, revealing bit by bit the mysteries of the first novel. Overall this was a fairly satisfactory fantasy trilogy and better than many I have read recently.

Naive. Super by Erlend Loe

2010-04-07T13:50:00.000-04:00

It turns out that it was not so easy to get a hold of this book. I went to my local library system and had no luck and then through the University library system and again no luck. So I tried out ILL and it looks like it came from Tennessee.

It is a small book. I like how small it is because I imagine it would be easy to carry around with me in a purse. Unfortunately, I finished it without ever having the chance of doing so.

The unnamed main character has just turned 25 and is facing the potential meaninglessness of life for the first time. He is having an existential crisis. I liked the way he faced this crisis and dealt with it in such a simple way. He doesn't think big philosophical thoughts about it or draw dramatic conclusions, apart from the idea that there is no time. The narrator is obsessed with time and watches. While reading a science book that states that time at higher altitudes runs faster than that at lower altitudes, the narrator claims that there is no time - perhaps he means no absolute time. Instead of creating huge philosophical structures he tries to simplify by making lists. Lists of random groups of things, such as things he liked as a child or brands he is loyal to. These lists are about significant things and things that are not significant at all. The lists themselves are constructed in a way where there is no sense of an ordering of importance. These lists underscore the lack of meaning he faces. On a trip to New York City he mentions walking around and being overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds and confessing ignorance as to what criteria his brain is using to decide what to concentrate on, process, and remember.

"The sensory impulses are queuing up. Some of them will naturally pass me by. The brain just can't keep up with the eyes. Or the ears. Or the noes. But I seem to be ranking some of the impressions as more valuable than others. I have no idea how this classification happens. But it's happening."

It was a fun and quick book to read. I liked the style of simple direct sentences written in the first person. Since I seem to be in a permanent existential crisis I quite enjoyed reading about the main character, especially his questions to strangers about meaning. He seems to believe in some meaning but only of the most rudimentary outline; and he believes in love.

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs

2010-04-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

In order to get through the backlog of books I have not blogged about I will be doing some very short posts. I thought about just not posting about the books at all but since this book blog is suppose to be a log of the books I read, it would cease to function and then I would probably completely abandon it. So in order to give it a fighting chance here we go.

I laughed a lot reading this book. It is a quick read, a page turning memoir that is full of shocks and absurdities. It was quite engaging and completely unbelievable making the adage truth is stranger than fiction quite apt. It also made me feel that my life was quite ordinary and revel in the fact. Burroughs is able to take the tragedies of the lives of those around him and make them not only funny but also quite un-pitiable. Quite an enjoyable book that I would recommend.

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

2010-03-19T11:03:00.003-04:00

I started this series when I was about 10 (I think). While visiting my aunt and uncle, my aunt gave me The Eye of the World and Redwall by Brian Jacques. While I have outgrown the inhabitants of Brian Jacques' books, I continue to love Robert Jordan's books. I have reread the majority of the books at least twice. First, in anticipation of the end of the series when the 7th book came out I reread the first 6 books. I was a bit disappointed as it took me several weeks of straight reading to find out that the 7th was not the end of the series. Later, when I was particularly disgruntled with life - four years ago or so, I reread the previous 10 books. That took several months. I was then, selfishly, very sad when I heard that Mr. Jordan had passed away.

I was relieved upon picking up The Gathering Storm; which was written by Brian Sanderson and based on Robert Jordan's notes and still edited by Harriet McDougal, his wife who has edited all of The Wheel of Time; in that it felt fairly true to the characters and the storyline. It still pleased. Since this series has been one of the most addictive and enjoyable parts of my reading life. I read this book tentatively with great forgiveness toward Sanderson, withholding my inner critic and just trying to enjoy. This I was able to do but I have spent little time analyzing the differences between Sanderson and Jordan's writing or interpretation of the characters and I will not analyze because I want the experience to be untarnished. The series was to end with this last book, but as it was quite a large book they have broken it into three books, of which this is the first of the last three (clear as mud?).

So upwards and onwards ho! After the tentative reading I enjoyed this book, a lot! I liked the turns it took with Egwene and especially Rand, as he was becoming an insufferable bore with the same old, same old, thought pattern. It was a relief to see him finally break out of it. Funnily enough, it seems that every time I read the series I have a different favorite character, which I think is a credit to the full development of his characters. Recent rereads have brought a particular appreciation for Egwene. I really like her thirst for knowledge, stubbornness and self possession. She never doubts herself. I am eagerly awaiting the next two books (awaiting the next Jordan, in this case Jordan/Sanderson novel, has been the state of much of my reading life since I was 10).

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie

2010-03-11T21:33:00.002-05:00

OMG, OMG-OMG! I found the library, and I don't mean the university library which has upteenth books on the literariness of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, all of course tilted To the Lighthouse, but only one of which was actually THE To the Lighthouse written BY Virginia Woolf. And THE ONE was held together, more accurately tied together by string, because it was, get this, falling apart! No I found the library that is full of all the books I want to read, aisles and aisles of them. And, almost as exciting, $1 dollar books on the way out. This, folks, is the Town Library. It is incredibly indubitably awesome. Awesome in a way quite unlike the AWESOMENESS of the University library. Where the University Library is like a GOD that provides (almost) any and (almost) all research material in incredibly easy to access and free form the Town Library is full of Everything I might Actually Want to read! I am sooo excited!

On other fronts I finished The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie the other day. I must confess that I would not have picked up this book if I had not devoured the TV series 'House MD' over the last month and a half. I say I would not have picked this up because I generally don't read a lot of crime/detective novels. I leave those for my father (who does our family justice by making it through one a night). I'm thinking of getting him this book just to see what he thinks, since I'm sure I have missed half of everything since it is a bit of a spoof on the genre. And did I mention I don't read crime novels.

The writing is good, if belabored. The story, once revealed, I enjoyed. The character is likable. But somehow the book never came together for me. I was often distracted from the story by the writing, or if I concentrated on the story I missed the writing. And I rather think that the writing more than the story was the point. As a series of sentences strung together it was good, as a story - not so much.

Even I , who have read few crime novels, was quick to see the genre specific clichés. Check, we have the stock main character who drinks too much, is out of work and mostly broke, but generally alright with his state of affairs. Check on the beautiful but betraying beauty as well as the girl next store lover. Actually, one of my favorite part of this book, aside from the writing and the infinitely adorable, if unbelievable main character, was the plot -- which in a mystery seems best not to reveal. BUT there are guns, conspiracies and the CIA and, check, everyone is against our protagonist.

The characters, however, seemed to lack a certain spark. The novel is told from the main character's point of view - Thomas Lang- and even he was strangely reticent. In fact, I really didn't feel like I got to know him at all. Behind all the well turned sentences, phrases and humor, well, I didn't find a whole lot. I didn't mind the difficulty following the story but the problem with a story that is difficult to follow, revealing itself over time, is that there has to be some compensation. Here compensation could have come in the form of a little more character development both in terms of the main character as well as bringing in and exploring some of the secondary characters to a greater extent.

Anywho, perhaps this book is overwritten, perhaps each sentence has just a little too much going on, a little too perfect, perhaps it is just a little too self conscious, perhaps…well perhaps it is too full of itself, or maybe its that English humor, yes with a capital E. Cause on this side of the pond we are just not this funny, self deprecating and insightful - of course that just could be because I don't read crime novels . But, I think that here the novel has been sacrificed for the sentences, the forest has been lost for the trees. On the other hand, did I mention that the book is funny?!

"She kept staring at my face, the way I sometimes do when I've finished shaving, but she didn't seem to get any more answers than I ever have." - And really who doesn't want the mirror to reflect what a deep and soulful person he or she is.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

2010-03-07T15:36:00.009-05:00

I read this for the Time Quartet Read-a-Long organized by Kailana. Of course I'm around a month behind in the read-a-long. Actually, I read this one and A Wind in the Door fairly quickly but actually writing up the reviews seems to take me much more time. In fact, I am so far behind in the books I've read versus posts to write that I have stopped reading until I've written most of them up. This has been infinitely easy since I recently became addicted to the TV show House MD and have made it through almost all five seasons in about a month. Unfortunately, it has not forced me to write up the posts for the books I've been reading. I am looking forward to the end of House (I can't wait to get started reading again) and the beginning of A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Thanks a ton to Kailana for organizing this as I am having so much fun rereading this series!

I read A Wrinkle in Time as a child. Before rereading the book this time as an adult I could remember only the first three chapters. And after rereading the book they are still the most vivid for me. I love, love, love L'Engle's characters and I adore Meg. In fact I love them much more than the story itself. When I read this book as a kid I wanted to be Charles although, I identified with Meg's stubbornness and never getting anything right - apart from the fact that I was completely un-brilliant in math. I think it is a wonderful thing for kids to have an adolescent girl stubborn math genius as the protagonist. It is perhaps the best young adult character I've ever met for getting away from stereotypes. Although, since I don't read much YA lit this is certainly a deduction from a very small sample. The story/plot is alright but it never quite comes alive for me, which is largely beside the point because I would go anywhere with these characters. I certainly did not comprehend the horror of the planet that L'Engle was trying to instill. I could get as far as, yeah that really sucks to be soo confined, but aren't we all confined to some extent within the rules of our society. I remember facing this same confusion as a child. L'Engle had clearly pointed out that IT (the brain) was evil but I was unsure exactly why.

I will now, as an adult (more or less), try to take a stab at understanding why IT was evil and what the darkness was all about. Here, the evil was conformity to an all powerful dictator. Good was love and creativity. It seems that much of the origin of L'Engle's conception of evil came out of Nazi Germany and perhaps a polarized view of communism. This would correspond to the time in which it was published in 1962: memories of WWII were vivid and the Cold War was a constant presence.

The symbolic value of a disembodied brain, as intellect without emotion, was largely lost on me as a kid. Here, what wins the day is not only the positive emotion of love but also some more neutral qualities, such as Meg's stubbornness. When the characters rely solely on their intelligence or pure reason they fail and when they use emotion and love they succeed.

As a child reading this book I was immune to the overt religious message, perhaps because it was couched in good and evil - a theme common enough in my reading. I found it a bit overwhelming this time through, only saved by the wonderful characters and love as religion overtone. I've always been much more tolerant of religion as love than religion as fire and brimstone with healthy dosing of restrictions. I still object to the simplification of the world into good and evil. L'Engle blurs the lines in between deeming the main protagonists as 'good' by showing their struggle with good and evil in their own decisions and actions. But, for all my spiritual handicapidness - in that I have absolutely no religious education -- that does seem to be a prevalent idea within the Christian world.

While I object to this oversimplification of our world through religious morality I continue to enjoy the book because of the characters, most importantly Meg, Charles, and Calvin.

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

2010-02-22T21:36:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty sure I have never read anything else by Anne Lamott but by the end of this book I sure felt like I knew her. She weaves in her own stories beautifully. It keeps a book all about writing from falling into the boring how to category. Lamott tells many anecdotes about the trials and inspirations that she has gone through as a writer and in some ways this books becomes more of an autobiography of her writing process then a manual on how to write a book.

I very much enjoyed reading this. Unfortunately, it will be little help to me as I am not a fiction writer. I write academic papers mainly and in my field these could definitely be better written but fiction just will not do. Several useful ideas I am able to take away from the book: the idea of shitty first drafts and the title. Shitty first drafts take the pressure off of writing. One just hast to get down the ideas on paper without worrying how horrible the whole thing is, because it's suppose to be horrible. It will be revised and improved in the next draft (and I add in a qualifier of the next, next draft and the next, next, next draft and so on). The second idea from the title of bird by bird comes out of a story about her brother, who as a child had put off a big report on birds. The night before it was due he was panicking that he would never be able to get it done. His father sat down with him amidst all the books detailing the different types of birds and basically said, "Just take it one at a time: Bird by bird." This is great advice when one has a huge mountain of work that just seems impossible. Just do one thing at a time and concentrate on that. It can even make a good mantra!

Lamott, when describing writing fiction, puts a lot of emphasis on characters - allowing them to develop, lead the writer and the story, and less on plot. This seems very trusting. I am not sure any characters I came up with would do anything besides watch TV and stare at their toenail fuzz, and think cliché thoughts. This could be why I don't write fiction. I do believe that she makes a good case for full characters. These are who the readers will relate to and if they are not dynamic and/or believable in the story, no matter how interesting the plot it will not compensate for this problem.

I found this to be an Interesting book on writing. It almost makes me wish I was a writer, apart from the huge agony of the whole process from start to finish and the added fact that it is so difficult to support oneself doing it! And she does not skimp on the details describing these facts.

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

2010-01-29T09:34:00.003-05:00

I enjoyed this novel but not nearly as much as Mrs. Dalloway. It left me feeling melancholy and there was much less that I could relate to. Though one wonderful thing about Virginia Woolf for me is that she makes me read her every line. I have a bad habit of skipping lines and paragraphs because I want to know how the story proceeds. Her writing does not allow that as it loses me after skipping just a couple lines. Thus, there is a peacefulness in reading her work. I've been told that this is Woolf's most autobiographical work, and the parents are modeled on her parents. The scene is their summer home. Though I did not read anything supplementary so I don't know much about the autobiographical aspect to the novel.

This book is told in three parts. In the first section we are thrust into the lives of the Ramsay family while they are spending the summer in the country. This part is perhaps the most charming section, as we jump from one person's point of view to another's. In the center we see Mrs. Ramsay and her relationship with Mr. Ramsay. There are plenty of characters as we have not only their eight children but the many friends that come to stay with them including Lily Briscoe, a painter and independent woman before that type of independence was socially condoned.

In the second part we watch, hear, listen as time passes. And as time passes, the Ramsey's leave their summer home and years go by while the cottage stays empty, changes happen to the family, though we only hear what these are in the barest whispers. In the third part some of the Ramsey family return to the cottage along with Lily Briscoe. Mr. Ramsey and two of the children, Cam and James finally make the voyage to the lighthouse that James had been persistently denied in the first part of the book.

In contrast to Mrs. Dalloway, in which the frame for the novel was the day. Here the frame was the summer home. Time runs wild here, years passing in a couple of pages and days expanding to fill the majority of the book. Since the plot or timeline are not typical, the setting serves as a device to frame the story and reading.

To me this novel felt like a great searching. I wanted an aha! moment and although Lily Briscoe is satisfied in what she finally captures in her painting, I continue to be mystified as to the message of the novel. I felt borne along in the passage of these characters lives but I wanted so much more for them. And in extension I guess I wanted the hope that there could be more for me in my life. Of course, we do not learn, except the barest pieces of gossip, about what has actually happened to the characters after time happened. So maybe, Mr. Ramsey was able to make the deductive leap from Q to R and beyond, maybe James would not be so scarred by his father as to move forward and live a full life, maybe Lily Briscoe's modern painting would be recognized as a breakthrough, maybe… when time passes again.

Mrs. Ramsey who is always acting, helping, moving people forward realizes that the world is not intrinsically good. "How could the Lord have made this world? She asked. With her mind she had always seized the fact that there is no reason, order, justice: but suffering, death, the poor. There was no treachery too base for the world to commit; she knew that. No happiness lasted; she knew that." pg 64 She balances out this with the periods of happiness that she has felt and she says that, "It is enough!" pg 65 It seems that much of the happiness she has felt came through her marriage, in giving to her husband and to her children. Thus, to solve others problems or unhappiness, or just to set them up for the future she is always trying to marry everyone.

I also enjoyed Woolf's description of Lily Briscoe giving way to Mrs. Ramsey's requests and being nice to Mr. Tansley. "Lily Briscoe had to renounce the experiment--what happens if one is not nice to that young man there--and be nice. … She had done the usual trick--been nice. She would never know him. He would never know her. Human relations were like that, she thought, and the worst … were between men and women. Inevitably these were extremely insincere she thought." Interesting to think that by being nice we don't get to know the other. But I have to say I'm a little confused about what she is saying because if we are mean and absent don't we just get to know another side of a person; the side that responds to us. In no case do we ever really see the person, get to know the person as they really are. Or as Mrs. Ramsey describes it, "To be silent; to be alone. All the being and the doing, expansive , glittering, vocal, evaporate; and one shrunk, with a sense of solemnity, to being oneself, a wedge-shaped core of darkness, something invisible to others." pg 62 We are unknowable to others.

Of course, almost everything I have mentioned is an aside. It is not the soul of the novel. And perhaps that is what made this work less enjoyable for me than Mrs. Dalloway. I never really got it. I searched and searched for that last painted stroke and I felt empty.

I read this book for the Woolf in Winter challenge. To the Lighthouse is hosted by Emily, who wrote the most amazing and insightful post!

2010 Challenges

2010-01-08T18:50:00.009-05:00

My eyes are bigger than the amount of time I could possibly have. I got a little carried away with the reading challenges BUT I am very excited. Having recently discovered book blogging it seems like such a fun way to read all these books I really want to read anyway! I have listed all of the Challenges, Readalongs, etc. to the right.

First up is the Woolf in Winter challenge. I have already read and loved Mrs. Dalloway but I plan to read it again. I love her language and writing style but I have not read any other books by her so this will be a real treat. It will motivate me to go out get her other books, as well as really pay attention to what is going on. I feel like much of the time when I was reading Mrs. Dalloway and a little part of To the Lighthouse I was missing so much and only absorbing the gist (at least hopefully that was what I was absorbing).

Second, I plan to do the Time Quartet Readalong. I always loved Madeline L'Engle's books growing up but I missed many of them or read them out of order. This was a result of financial constraints (I was partly responsible for procuring my own books), a small library without interlibrary loan (which I read my way through the children's section way before I was ready to move onto the adult section, but moved onto the adult section in desperation, resulting in one confused child) and the fact that there was no internet and thus no easy way for me as a kid to find out how many books there actually were in the series as well as in what order they went. So now I'm doing it over right, I will read the all of the series in chronological order. In that spirit I added the O'Keefe second generation as well as the Austin family series.

Third, is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Since I recently, two months ago, reread The Hobbit, I will join in the discussion but I will start reading with The Fellowship of the Ring. The trilogy is also a reread for me . I read both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings each year for about five years while growing up but those five years have long since elapsed and I am ready to indulge once again.

Fourth, I will read two of Terry Pratchett's books because it is fun!

Fifth, I joined the Rory Gilmore reading challenge. Being a bit of a Gilmore Girls fanatic this seems like a great challenge. This is where most of my new books to read reside, as well as the many classics I hope to read for the very first time. I have no idea how many I will get through and I put up way more than the Rory level of 20 but I don't intend that I will read them all and, in fact, I may only make it to the Emily level of 5.

Furthermore, I intend to read anything that strikes my fancy even if it causes me not to complete the challenges. I want to make sure that reading is my leisure activity. Something I can indulge in and enjoy. If I don't always meet these wonderful goals perhaps that is just fine!

The Magicians

2010-01-04T02:15:00.014-05:00

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Published 2009

Ok so two problems (for me, not the book): one I read this in a day and two it's not fiction. So I broke my two goals on the very first book I am posting about. BUT at least this is like 'serious' fantasy. In fact it is so 'serious' it takes most of the fun out of fantasy. I actually read this a couple of weeks ago, and although I was undecided about which side of the liking it fence I fell on, I now know that I am not a fan. This is more an emotional response to the book than an intellectual one. I am interested in the psychological elements it deals with. Unfortunately, at least for me, the utter reliance on an alternate type Narnia mixed with the remnants of Harry Potter means that the author really didn't have to do a whole lot of his own creating. The creation of new worlds is what I love most about fantasy and this fell short. I also found the writing to be somewhat stilted.

The book is divided into three parts: the first part when the main character, Quentin, goes to Brakebill's College for Magical Pedagogy (basically college for magicians), the second part when Quentin and his friends are graduated and living in London trying to figure out what to do with their lives (or avoiding thinking about it), and the third part where the characters embark on a quest into the world of Fillory (think Narnia).

I talked to several people about the book beforehand and they also seemed to have a gut reaction to the book, rather than a critique. Most fantasy readers seemed to dislike it. I heard several times that they just couldn't sympathize with the main character. I don't know if we are suppose to be able to. They also regarded it as pretty lowly escape material.

In a way, the novel mocks the fantasy world. In the cliché fantasy book the hero/ine is a person whose worth is little recognized by the world at large, one might even call them normal or even sub par. But then, low and behold, something happens, and that which is unrecognized comes to the surface and is found to be just what is needed and is quite superior to normal. Thus, creating a hero/ine. The former sadness and difficulties this person faced as a woman in a male dominated society, or as an outcast, or small instead of big, or ... well you get the idea, recede into new ones but these are not internal angst but rather challenges to be overcome.

In Lev Grossman's novel, the characters are already some of the most extraordinary and special people in our very own world. They are the smartest most talented people you might meet. And they are very unhappy. For many of the characters (Quentin, Alice) their unhappiness can be traced back to their parents. And these parents really are not so bad. They are your parents and my parents, they are not perfect parents. They either love each other too much and forget to spend time on their child or they don't love each other enough and forget to spend enough time on their child. Others are those children that for whatever reason do not belong. They all suffer low self esteem and so they desire to be special. Special like in fantasy novels where all unhappiness and their internal demons are subsumed and transformed by the trials they face as a hero, where they emerge on the other side as victors - victors over their own demons and they are, finally, happy. We see this in the main character's obsession with a world like Narnia - Fillory. Something he recognizes as a substitute for his world and a place where he could be another person, one who is happy.

"Like most people Quentin read the Fillory books in grade school. Unlike most people--unlike James and Julia--he never got over them. They were where he went when he couldn't deal with the real world, which was a lot. …it's like he's opening the covers of a book, but a book that did what books always promised to do and never actually quite did: get you out, really out, of where you were and into somewhere better. … In Fillory you felt the appropriate emotions when things happened. Happiness was real, actual, achievable possibility. It came when you called. Or no, it never left you in the first place." Pg. 6-7

Unfortunately, in Grossman's world, the trials do not banish internal demons but rather give them a larger playground and events rarely unfold perfectly. As much as our characters hope to escape their demons or to transform them; the demons follow them, to their perfect school, to the perfect fantasy world and it seems that no matter how they run they are unable to elude them. Unhappiness is the pervasive element of this book. The characters go to great but futile lengths trying to escape it. There is no resolving of the unhappiness, of creating a place where one can reconcile problems, face the future. There is little hope and instead we see depression and desperation and finally disassociation, repeated through the book.

"It felt very far away. None of it mattered. That was the funny thing-- it was incredible that he hadn't seen it before. He would have to try and explain this to Josh. He had done a terrible stupid thing in the classroom, …, and he would never get over it, but he'd figured out how to live with it. You just had to get some idea of what matters and what doesn't, and how much, and try not to be scared of the stuff that doesn't. Put it in perspective. Something like that. Or otherwise what was the point?" pg 133.

What I liked about the novel: I actually liked the specific critique of the fantasy world that the characters problems and self esteem issues are not so easily resolved. I also liked the idea of starting with the smartest, most talented people who become even more special. Although, it may be difficult to see oneself in these people and thus to sympathize with them, it seemed an interesting idea that could have been taken further. It was also intriguing to see someone write in an escapist genre, where not only to the characters fail to escape, but the reader is also prevented, at least to some extent, from escaping by constantly being stuck with the characters inability to resolve or rise above their issues. I was absorbed enough to read it in a single day, admittedly I was traveling, flying to be exact, and didn't have a whole lot else to do. Lastly, I love, love, love the cover. I'm not even sure what relevance the cover has to the story itself, but this may be the first time I bought a book because the cover was so cool.

On the other hand, if there was a sequel I probably wouldn't read it.

Introducing....

2009-12-11T14:04:00.003-05:00

I gave up fiction when I started grad school because I cannot discipline myself to do my work when the oh so appealing book is waiting. I'm in my third year of who knows how many years of grad school and I just cannot bear to not read fiction anymore. I'm actually pretty poor at engaging with the papers and books in my field on my own time. I find it interesting but not purely pleasurable and it is certainly not an escape. In fact, one might even call it work.

I've decided that I am taking fiction back up! I've always read a lot but I read too fast and for the emotional high. I would like to become a reader who notices the beauty language and the metaphors and ... well I would like to learn to read with a little more depth. I will try not devour books in one day to have forgotten them a week later. I hope that this blog can give me a place to reflect and converse with others about the books I read, to become a better reader.

I read everything except romance. I have a special fondness for fantasy and some science fiction. I spent most of my teenage life with my head in a worlds where the character was - oh so special and the world was - oh so amazing. I want to go back, ha! I also want to read all the classics I missed while immersed in the world of fantasy. I have recently read back over some of the fantasy books I loved and have found several are still as good, but many to be much more poorly written than I remembered. I am ready to move solidly into the land of fiction, although I'm sure my drug of choice will not be so easy to relinquish.

So upward, onward, ho! To read, to read! and hello...

The Future of Books

2009-11-15T15:20:00.000-05:00

http://www.evergreenreview.com/120/electronic-book-burning.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/08/amazon-kindle-licence-orwell