Books in 2008, #13

#13. The Situation by Jeff VanderMeer

This is, in short, weirdly fascinating. It's also not really a book, but rather a novelette packaged like one so for the sake of my sanity I'm just going to count it here among the others. The Situation is the story of an office's innards and its quirky employees, an account of a place both strikingly different than what we might know and yet all-too-familiar to those that have spent time in a gray-walled cube slaving over market reports and the like. It is the journey of an unnamed protagonist who has just been put in charge of a new project--to create a ginormous fish, from scratch, big enough that it can swallow a child whole. But of course.

Can I admit something here? Yes? Okay, I will then. All of this reminded me somewhat fondly of that scene in Beetlejuice where Adam and Barbara end up finding out that the afterlife is merely a convoluted office setting, brimming with paperwork and monotony. Of course, the characters there were monstrous, sure, but also comical. Here, where our leading worker's fellow employees are shapeshifters, things are less laughable. In fact, they are very much subverted, making them both unclear and interesting. My favorite would have to the Mord, once simply known as Mord, a bird lover who quickly mutates into something more quietly menacing, and all within an office's walls.

Which is really why I think I liked this the most. It's the mix of normalcy and surrealism, the juxtaposition of paperwork and info-seeking beetles, the horror of a manager made completely of ignitable paper, the way isolation creeps in just as hauntingly as it would in any situation. There's a sense of loss, a sense of confusion, an understanding that everyone hates you, and finally for our working friend a chance to break away. It's not exactly how he'd have liked to go (it involves a slug, and for those paying attention earlier on they know exactly what this means--serious business), but it is an end fit for a nobody worker bee.

The Situation is available as a free download from Wired. Click here to check it out.

Books in 2008, #12

#12. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Feeling the urge to get better in touch with nature, Bill Bryson, after spending some twenty plus years in Great Britain, decides to walk what many see as not walkable: the Appalachian Trail. It is a stretch of path that goes on for 2,100 miles, from Maine to Georgia, and is brimming with trees, bears, and history. Joining him on the trek is his pal Katz, a man who at first seems incapable of walking the length of a shopping mall. The two of them quickly discover that the AT is not what they were expecting. It has its ups and downs, its quirks and faults, and its Mary Ellens.

While some of the minute details of A Walk in the Woods had my eyes glazing over, the wit and charm of Bryson and his observations were more than enough to keep me turning the pages. Now, he most certainly does not walk from Maine to Georgia, but he is more than successful in getting himself back to man's roots. And small victories, in the grand scheme of Mother Nature, are much more acceptable.

Parts of the narrative hit home, especially since I have some strangely fond memories of a walk I once took with my parents, father at the ship's wheel, where Sunfish Pond was "only a little further" away. It's easy to see how Bryson and Katz grew quiet or agitated on the AT, how in all that beauty a little madness can still grow.

So yeah, a fun read, though sometimes thick on the details. Especially enjoyable for fans of the outdoors. A final warning: the cover is misleading.

Books in 2008, #11

#11. The Beach by Alex Garland

A very impressive first novel that mixes Lord of the Flies with Heart of Darkness and one seriously bad acid trip. While vacationing in Bangkok, Richard learns of a secret Eden-like island and convinces a French couple to join him in his search of it. Once found he believes he's entered paradise. And he can stay there, forever, that is unless the Thai men with guns on the other side of the island guarding the dope fields decide to exterminate everyone. Or, you know, if that map he left behind becomes problematic.

Mmm I like when characters slowly grow crazy. And Garland does that well to our neurotic leading man. The conversations Richard has with oh-so-dead Daffy (aka Mister Duck) are fascinatingly disturbing. Yet, by the remaining thirty pages, one might guess he was the sanest of the bunch. Observations are nailed perfectly, and the layout of the beach and who is where and when never became too much to absorb. Sure, not everything is exactly clear, but, much like Richard does, you just keep going on until you figure things out for yourself.

I wanted to read this after seeing the movie version starring that blonde kid from Growing Pains, and I have to admit a bit of shock in how different the book turned out. Yet another case for why books are always better than their moving pictures counterpart. But I guess the outright dismembering of dead bodies is frowned upon in a film showcasing sky-blue waters, miles of perfect tan sand, and beautiful people in bathing suits.

Still, good stuff. A lot of tension and suspense kept me turning the pages, and something about the way Garland handled his characters had them standing out very well on the pages. From Bugs to Jed to Sal, they all had jobs and quirks and things that they liked about living on the beach. I myself might never have taken such a journey, but I'm glad that Richard did, just so I now know what to expect if some drunk Scotsman hands me a map and offers me Vietnam. I'll say, "No thanks. What else you got?"

Books in 2008, Not #11

Not #11. Cast in Courtlight by Michelle Sagara

Two hundred pages in and I have to come clean...I'm bored beyond belief. The excitement and intrigue that caught me offguard in Cast in Shadow is so not found in this one. Kaylin is back with her attitude in full swing as she tries to find more answers about things I originally thought were cleared up in her first adventure. She quickly ends up being problematic to a number of courtly people with sooper sekrit names and I guess some characters want to kill her. I don't know. From what I gathered, she mostly spends a good deal of time complaining and being a walking body of angst. I never got what the plot of the book was, and being halfway through it I realized I didn't even care. A shame as I hate not finishing a book I've started, but alas there are others grabbing for my attention.

Sorry, sis. Not a series for me in the long run.

Books in 2008, #10

#10. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

This is actually a re-read. I wanted to revisit the book after seeing the family-friendly film version of Pullman's story, and am glad I did so. As I remembered, the world that Lyra Belacqua lives in is a dark, dark place, filled with violence and gore and wondrous soul-beings called daemons. She eventually finds herself on a mission to deliver the golden compass back to her uncle who has been taken prisoner in the cold, snowy North. A side plot about freeing the children stolen by the Gobblers is also dealt with, and was probably my favorite part of the book. This isn't Harry Potter stuff where adults actually listen to children; Lyra is berated again and again, talked down to, betrayed, you name it. Anyways, a great story with a lot of neat fantastical characters, as well as an elegant mix of science fiction and colleges and gyptians and lions, tigers, and (polar) bears oh my.

I wonder why that heart-eating scene didn't make it into the film. Hmmm...

Second draft done, thunk again

Just finished typing up my line edits for the second draft of the WOTF story, and I'm going to say it is done. That is, of course, unless first readers tell me otherwise. If anyone is interested in offering a critique, please let me know. I'll gladly return the favor.

The only problem is that I'm hoping to mail the story out by this upcoming Saturday to meet the March 31 deadline. So you'd kind of have to be speedy about it. Story is 5,600 words, science fiction, and does not contain a single curse word (I'm impressed about that!).

Let me know.

Okay, I'm going to go finish reading The Golden Compass now. 'Bout time.

Books in 2008, #9

#9. The Fart Party by Julia Wertz

Similar to Jeffrey Brown's work, The Fart Party is a slightly skewed autobiographical account of a young woman living in San Fran at the time and dealing with issues of self-doubt, the monotony of daily life, and, of course, love. The artwork is simple, but the heart of the book lies in the way Wertz does not shy away from being vulgar, rude, crude, and in-your-face-offensive. It's here that she charms the reader, making herself look like a fool and allowing us to enjoy that experience with her. The book also comes packed with sketches, comics not presented online, some interviews, and guest work from her brother.

The only problem that I found was that a lot of the comics, strangely, read differently on paper than via the website/blog. Where her blog entries and comments are often angry and dismissive, here in the book she is presented much more easygoing. The first two-thirds of the book deal with a range of subjects, the best being flashbacks to childhood memories, and the last bit then takes on a relationship and its impending end. Good stuff, and definitely recommended to anyone that enjoys reading autobiographical comics, as well of fans of random spouts of violence.

Books in 2008, #8

#8. Clumsy by Jeffrey Brown

Read this in one sitting. Brown has a way of just sucking a reader in, despite the loose artwork and constant self-obsession, and the story he tells touches on a myriad of relationshippy things. Clumsy is the story of a doomed love, of a deep look into sex, intimacy, and heartache. It is an autobiographical account of Brown's...er, involvement...with a girl named Theresa. Sometimes the narrative is a bit unfollowable, which is to blame for the lack of a solid voice throughout. The back page of the book explains the timeline, but it still can be very unclear. One strip has them in bed together, the next they are miles away talking on the phone.

And boy are they in bed a lot. Brown doesn't shy away from detailing sex, during-sex, and after-sex moments. But I think that's what makes this book more special than any other graphic telling of young love. It doesn't dance around the most intimate of moments; instead, rather bluntly, it shows the world them, and for that Clumsy is a well-recommended read that I'm sure I'll pick up again at some point and immerse myself in fully.

Books in 2008, #7

#7. High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

I can't really go into details about this book. I'm too bloody close to it. Or it to me. There really can be no explaining. Hornby channels through Rob Fleming these sad, wistful things about sex, love, relationships, parents, birthdays, music, heartache, childhood, adulthood, life and everything good and bad in it...and I get it. All of it. Each and every word is written as if plucked from my very brain and I can't help but feel like I just got done going through an unsuccessful stint of rehab. Drained, exasperated, all my energy sucked dry. Fuck. I love this book.

Books in 2008, #6

#6. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

I've noticed something about Picoult's novels, something that I've absolutely grown to hate. The twist endings. Hate, hate, hate them. This is the third book of hers that I've read, and so far she seems to hang every outcome on something that is both jarring and completely out there that it nearly ruins the book for me. Note: I said nearly, not that it does.

Some spoilers right now. In The Tenth Circle, the twist was Trixie's mother had committed the grueling murder of Jason. In Salem Falls, the novel ends on a shocker with a father making out with his daughter. Here, we're spoonfed a story so contumaciously forceful and unbelievable involving Josie, a second gun, and the boy she loved. I know it is meant to surprise, to shock shock shock, but what it really seems to do is undermine everything Picoult built from page one.

Still, I love her characters, the way they think and react and do ordinary things that are heavy on their consciouses. Strangely, Nineteen Minutes features two characters from the only other books of hers that I've read. It was kind of nice to see them again. Much like in Salem Falls, a lot of personalities don't begin to truly shine until the courtroom scenes begin.

But the book is about a school shooting, and it is tough material to absorb completely. There is no happy ending. There is no happy beginning. There is no true finale where everyone gets why what happened and move on with their lives. The action that troubled Peter takes is horrific, but Picoult manages to dance on the edge of calling him a monster versus calling everyone else monsters. No surprise, the book reminded me very much of high school. It made me think a lot about what I saw then, what I heard, what was done to me and how I reacted. There are extremes in this world, terrible ones, and Nineteen Minutes doesn't aim to answer them. Only console those that lived through them...

GoodReads widget

I've added a Flash widget for my GoodReads profile to the right-sided column of Wistful Writings. Scroll down until you see it. If you're on the site, feel free to add me as a friend! If you're not on the site, er, sign up. It's free, fun, and you get to geek out about books with an entire community that are they themselves geeking out just as hard.

I've been using the site for some time now, but am not even close to finishing up cataloging my books. Currently, it says I have 310. Hmm, not bad, not bad. Though this isn't taking into account that some are books I've read but do not own. I think when I hit 500 the floor of my apartment will give out from all the weight and send me crashing into the creepy basement.

I can't wait.

Books in 2008, #5

#5. Lace and Blade edited by Deborah J. Ross

"Lace and blade," as per Vera Nazarian in the publisher's note, is a term meant to cover a softer subform of the subgenre of adventurous sword and sorcery that is synonymous with names such as Michael Moorcock, Fritz Leiber, and Robert E. Howard. Aggression and over-the-top violence is left behind in preference for a more romantic look on the form. She also used the phrase "girl cooties," which is both comical and still appropriate. I will say upfront that this is not the sort of fiction I normally read, but was initially intrigued due to the inclusion of Tanith Lee.

In "Virtue and the Archangel" by Madeline E. Robins, Velliaune meCorse risked being banished from her family and its fortune for one night of fun in bed with Col haVandron at the Bronze Manticore. Unfortunately, amidst all the sweat and lustful desires, she loses the Archangel, a necklace that is precious to her parents. She writes to Nyana, a schoolmate from the past, pleading for her help. From there, the story follows Nyana on a short detective-like search for the missing necklace. Along the way she'll meet the mysterious Col himself, deal with an inn's less-than-helpful staff, and find herself in a brazenly bold swordfight. All in all, a good start to Lace and Blade edited by Deborah J. Ross. It's a strong mix of romance and swordplay though two aspects confused me: the reasoning behind everyone's last name (meCorse, haVandron, and meBarso) and the kiss at the end. It felt somewhat tacked on.

"The Crossroads" by Diana L. Paxson shared many similarities to the previous story, namely ending with a swordfight and a confusing introduction of some character named Exu that came, seemingly, out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure it went right over my head. Anyways, Claude DeLorme has sailed to a colonial Brazil to inquire about the status of a family emerald mine. Once there, he meets the seductively pleasant Corquisa and ultimately finds himself in a card game for the deed of his family's mine and the right to keep the cabaret she works for in safe keeping. Paxson has provided all the right ingredients to "The Crossroads" to make it an enjoyable, fast-paced piece of lyrical lace and blade. Despite a minor quibble with the ending, it's a fine story that builds tension well and delivers on the action.

If you were to guess that "Touch of Moonlight" by Robin Wayne Bailey was a werewolf story just off its title, you'd be absolutely correct. Elena Sanchez y Vega is on her way to deliver the ransom for her brother's life to Joaquin Cortez, the dark sorcerer that made her the beast she is under moonlight. Along the way, her carriage is robbed by a man claiming to be Ramon Estrada, a ghost of lore for their whereabouts. The story then takes leaps and bounds with credibility and the task of behooving the reader any sense of "being in the story." How so? At one point or another, both Elena and Ramon are butt-naked and fighting an inviolable werewolf. I kid thee not. The jump from Ramon the thief to Ramon the loverboy made me frown. It might've worked in a longer piece, but I didn't buy it here. Otherwise, the story goes on very much expected with a buildup to a fight before everyone achieves happiness.

Ah, the story that got me interested in reading Lace and Blade. Oddly enough, I couldn't finish her heavily S&S debut The Birthgrave. But this, yes, this was much more enjoyable. "Lace-Maker, Blade-Taker, Grave-Breaker, Priest" by Tanith Lee tells the story of a shipwreck and three of the travelers it was carrying across the sea. They survive, but a previous promise onboard permits that two of them will duel at once. Well, as soon as they can find some new swords. This multilayered tale is classic Lee: action, intrigue, wonderfully colorful characters, a hint of the unexpected, and well-written. I enjoyed it very much, especially the somewhat silly determination between Vendrei and Zephyrin to hate each other so devoutly despite just surviving a nasty shipwreck. Definitely one of the better stories in the anthology.

The titular queen in "The Beheaded Queen" by Dave Smeds is exactly that: beheaded. However, she is bound to her husband's life, as he is bound to the demon that allowed him to keep her still talking. As it turns out, her son Bredden is to marry a girl from another country and begs for his mother's opinion on the matter. I was surprised to find this piece to be so serious, focusing on politics and lovers' betrayal. Sure, the joke itself is there, that we're reading about a talking head, but strangely the queen is quite sympathetic. Strikingly different from a previous Smeds read, "Bearing Shadows," but still just as rewarding.

One small spell completely shatters Tanzi's life in "The Topaz Desert" by Catherine Asaro. She only did it to calm her owners' screaming baby. She is quickly discovered, bemoaned as a town witch, and sent to the Holding House for punishment. Lucky for her, she narrowly escapes but now must live in fear of those that hate her so. And she soon meets men who may or may not be helpful. Asaro does a good job of capturing Tanzi's innocence, as well as giving us some gray characters that keep us guessing. Rocks and gems seem to be a staple in fantasy stories, yet here they are treated a tiny bit differently, which is appreciated. I'd have liked to see more magic, but what can you do?

Highwaymen are the focus of "Night Wind" by Mary Rosenblum. Alvaro's entourage is ambushed, and he soon learns much about the brigands. They don't care to bargain, only take what they demand. When he arrives at the home of His Lordship Salvaria, Alvaro hears of the legendary Night Wind, the very same highwayman that robbed him of his money and horses earlier. Eh, I feel like this sort of story has been done before. Revealing that a mysterious robber or thief or bandit is a woman is not exactly original. Sure, it rounds things out for the anthology so Alvaro can feel like he's met his soulmate, but for plot purposes it just turned me off. No thanks, even though the worldbuilding and talk of horses were quite enjoyable.

"In the Night Street Baths" by Chaz Brenchley takes two side-characters from his novel Bridge of Dreams and shows us what they've been up to. This would probably be more, uh, neat if I'd read his book. But I haven't, and so I must enter a world already realized and try to figure out just what is going on. Set in a world similar to Arabian Nights, the streets are home to many a people: dwarves, eunuchs, and people that Shine. And Teo and Djago mean to unearth a city secret. Or just have an adventure. I don't really know. Maybe it was just me, but this felt rather pointless, almost aimlessly written for more of the author's enjoyment than that of his readers.

In "The Rule of Engagement" by Sherwood Smith, Ren Desvransa and many other prominent ladies are attending the Blue Moon Masque, a ball of celebration before the king of Duen Lesc went home for the winter. His court is divided and it shows. That's why he's implemented Ren and her brother Yvo into his court with hopes of solidifying everyone. The introduction teases us that this is "a story of choice, about honor, about the transforming power of love" and then goes on to blast a boastful rendition of the Huey Lewis pop song. Okay, maybe not true about that last part. Either way, it's a complex story, one that seems to truly define what Lace and Blade is all about. That is, courtly intrigue, brave deeds, and romantic, subtle fantasy. Plus, dueling. Always with the dueling. It's a good ending to a somewhat decent anthology.

While the entries from Tanith Lee and David Smeds were enjoyable, the remainder of the tales felt far too similar to really impress me. No country felt particularly fresh or different from any other medieval/European locale, every plot seemed to rely on a duel fight at the end to close things up, and too much emphasis was placed on soulmates or true loves upon characters just meeting members of the opposite sex for the first time. Not bad, but not great. Then again, as I mentioned earlier, this is not at all what I normally like to read about and could be way off on all accounts.

Some realizations

I don't read as much in the winter, nor do I have the same passion for reading in the winter as I do in the spring, summer, and fall when I can go to the park, curl up on a patch of grass, and immerse myself in a book for hours.

I need to add a third POV to the Novel. It has to be done because, right now, I feel like some stuff is too hard to explain without it and also I'd like to have a more gray set of villains rather than straight up bad people.

I need to lower my expectations...for everything.

I don't miss eating bread as much as I suspected, but I think I need to work some brown rice or something back into my diet because I cannot go without it, unfortunately.

I have to finish things I start, no matter how much I don't want to.

Books in 2008, #4

#4. Isaac Asimov's Halloween edited by Gardner Dozois and Sheila Williams

Okay, the funny thing about this book is that I started to read it early on in October 2007, hoping to publish a review before the titular holiday arrived. Then, uh, I got busy. Doing something. I think writing shtuff. Oh well, I finally finished up the remaining stories so here's what I thought of them a few months later…

This rather misleading anthology of "tricks and treats" opens with "Words and Music" by William Sanders, a story of the ever-so-old battle between man and the Devil. A flat-toned Cherokee Indian medicine man attends a church gathering on the premise that there's evil afoot. Luckily, he brought his magical guitar with him. Not too long after midnight, a band shows up, and the music they play puts almost everyone under a dangerous spell. It's up to our medicine man to put the Devil in his place via a battle of guitar solos. While the story has its charm and authenticity, I couldn't help but grimace as the guitar solos got more and more dramatic. I liked a lot of the language and characters here, but the plot was a bit too much for me to enjoy…and I play guitar. Oi.

I guess Halloween is all about the Devil doin' y'all wrong. In "Beluthahatchie" by Andy Duncan, a man named John is riding a train to Hell, but refuses to get off at the penultimate stop. Instead, he keeps going until he finds himself in the barren town of Beluthahatchie. He first meets the hounds of Hell, which are hilariously non-Hellish, and then along comes…dum, dum, dum…the Devil. There's no real battle here, but John eventually decides he'd like to be some place else despite his songs being praised by the dead. So he plans to steal the Devil's ride.

Though "Renaissance" by Nancy Kress was published almost ten years before the under-acclaimed Gattaca ever saw SF light, I couldn't help but think of them as one in the same. A few key points differ, but it basically boils down to this: the ability to play God and genetically alter babies before they are born. A famous Hollywood couple decide to do just this while also using it as a publicity stunt to further their popularity. The baby's grandmother watches all this, horrified and ashamed, knowing full well the consequences of her daughter's dreams the moment she sees the child's perfectly programmed face. This was all right even though it relied a little too heavily on a surprise ending. However, I did enjoy the mythological griffin that appears in the grandmother's daughter's dreams.

"Dikduk" by Eliot Fintushel is about a young, Jewish boy who tries to invoke the power of Mephistopheles using an ancient, magical book he recently found. This one didn't hold my attention for too long, though the dialogue worked well enough, but I quickly discovered that there'd been an error in the story's printing. It was incomplete. The remaining half of the piece is available online, but I didn't care enough to finish it. Oh wells…

"Pickman's Modem" by Lawrence Watt-Evans is an interesting short story for all the things that it gets right about online transmissions. In it, a man named Pickman disappears for some time from the message board field only to return later on thanks to a newly purchased used modem. George Polushkin, a fan of reading Pickman's oafish retorts, quickly notice that his posts—and writing skills—have changed dramatically. Fearing that Pickman is merely a hacked account, George takes a trip to visit his friend the next day where he discovers that his still oafish-minded friend is not responsible for the online flamewars. This was a quick, wry, and fun story, despite its dark twist being ruined in the introduction from the mere mention of one word: Eldritch. If you have no idea what that's all about, you'll probably enjoy "Pickman's Modem" on the first go.

"Thorri the Poet's Saga" by S. N. Dyer & Lucy Kemnitzer is a murder-mystery set in old Iceland times. The piece is heavy on names, bloated on poetic clues, and slower than the sea on a calm day. The crime-solving duo were nearly interchangeable to me despite one having clairvoyance and the other having lots of attitude, and I think I can really just chalk this one up to being the sort of story I greatly dislike.

The only part of "He-We-Await" by Howard Waldrop that I actually enjoyed reading was the time devoted to the correct process of embalming. The rest of the novelette focuses on an ancient Egyptian king and his legacy, which was lost to the passing of time. Eh, this felt more like alternative history, and that's just never something I got into. The writing is good, even with the occasional wacky moments, but much like the previous story this just isn't the sort of thing that interests me. Others might find it more rewarding.

"The Shunned Trailer" by Esther M. Friesner is hilariously awesome. Friesner never seems to disappoint me. In this one, a Harvard lad partying it up on Spring Break wakes up after a crazy night to discover himself in a trailer park, cared for by frog-like people that worship the Great Cthuhlu. Sure, the premise is very out there, but Friesner manages to keep things interesting because she 1) writes strong prose and 2) seems to effortlessly channel Lovecraft here. What do Elder Gods and the such have to do with Halloween? Not much, but they make for well-imagined stories.

In "The Country Doctor" by Steven Utley, a man returns to his childhood town of Gardner when he learns the place is on the verge of flooding. Once there, he learns the secrets of dead residents. And one exhumed body reveals something more horrific than just losing a graveyard's worth of history. Utley gives us a slow story that is all about building memories and crushing those warm, remember-when feelings at the end. A very quiet piece, but I enjoyed it. I'd say more, but it might ruin the reveal, which I found to be fascinating and creepy.

The last story in Isaac Asimov's Halloween, "The Golden Keeper" by Ian R. MacLeod, is also the longest. In fact, it might just be a bit too long. We are in Ancient Rome with Lucius Fabius Maximus, an accountant that is on the search for lost artifacts. The story unfolds as journal entries, which never really make me want to fall face-first into the words, but it gets interesting once Lucius and a slave of his begin interacting. Otherwise the novelette is a whole lot of history and memories of Grandmother and times when things were much simpler. The piece goes on like this for some time before reaching an actually satisfying conclusion. So, the payoff is worth the read, but I'm worried many might be daunted at the slow—and I mean slow—start. Still, MacLeod writes very well and the bits pertaining to décor and what people ate back then kept my intrigue.

There you have it. Not the greatest gathering of stories, and certainly not even horror stories. Most were merely atmospheric in tone or place, but leaned more strongly towards fantasy than anything else. The only real reason I'd pass this one along is if someone like humorous tales about Lovecraftian mythos.

One hundred books list

This list has been popping up a bunch of places. I feel like I've done it before, but can't seem to find any confirmation of this. Hmm.

Bold are ones I've read, italicized (and blue!) are ones I want to read, and the rest have just fallen to wayside.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) (high school assignment, but I loved it nonetheless)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (Rebecca Wells)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. [The Bible]
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) (high school assignment, not fun)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) (high school assignment, more fun than the previous one)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) (high school assignment, excellent)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Books in 2008, #3

#3. A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

Phew. Nearly 1,000 pages long, brimming with battles and betrayals and bloody stumps, A Feast for Crows sort of reminds me of the second movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers. A lot is happening the entire time, building and building up to something big yet unknown, everybody is off separated and whatnot and then...the credits roll.

Which is understandable, I guess, considering the book is really only half of what it should be. A Dance with Dragons will cover everything happening in the North, at the Wall, and with Dany.

Yet, the experience is undeniably amazing. I'm not going to try to sum up the story so far, or even just the events in A Feast for Crows, because by this point Martin has made the series impossible to describe in just a few sentences. With a cast of thousands, epic isn't even a word I'd use here. Maybe uber-epic?

As usual, there are POVs that I like and ones that bore me for most of the time. Favorites this round were Samwell, Cersei Lannister, Brienne of Tarth, and Arya Stark. I found the Greyjoy chapters to be less gripping despite the kingsmoot. And well, I can't say that Arianne Martell's part in the book felt needed. We'll see.

One character's death really upset me. In a good way. I think. I'm holding out some hope that nothing in Martin's world is final, and that some things are misleading or often falsely reported. We shall see, I guess. Or maybe we won't...

Anyways, there isn't much for me to talk about here. Doing so would involve a lot of spoilers and I just don't feel up to that. Let me conclude that I'm officially joining the droves of fanboys and fangirls eager for A Dance with Dragons to be released.

And now I can return to books that aren't the size of three or four normal ones.

Becoming less of an addict

I went to the bookstore tonight and did not buy a single thing.

:: beams with pride ::

Books in 2008, #2

#2. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

So, this was pretty good...up to a point. Meaning once I realized the novel wasn't really going to about Valentine Michael Smith, but rather how others around him used his stature and fame to further themselves onward I began growing restless. I wasn't interested in politics, in religion, in deep thoughts. Aliens and First Contact moments, please. I wanted more of Mike and how he interacted with new surroundings. I wanted him to make more bad people to disappear. Less grokking, too, though I now see just how pivotal that term, on a whole, is to the novel's structure. No grok, no God.

The first half of the book deals mainly with the Martian's trip home to Earth where he is "imprisoned" at Bethesda Naval Hospital. There, a somewhat man-disliking nurse by the name of Gillian Boardman finds herself attracted to the mystery that is the Man from Mars and, by the guiding hand of journalist Ben Caxton, steals him away from the scientists that plague him with test after test after test. This was good stuff because it was dramatic. Lots of tension and uncertainty, and then when men come to chase after them the real powers of Mike reveal themselves and people disappear. After that though...there's basically a mountain full of talking.

Not that talking can't be interesting. Jubal Harshaw clearly holds his own, making any scene involving him more readable than not. But heavens above do they go on and on and on about the most minuscule of things. Details are over analyzed. Everything slows down once Jubal realizes he can't keep the Martian forever.

Mike moves away from Jubal with Jill. He gives the traveling circus a shot, trying to pass off as a magician. Once bored with being unsuccessful, Mike aims a little higher: becoming ordained. His church is one that follows the rules of group sex and cannibalism. A good time for all. This is what everything has been leading up to, and truthfully, it doesn't disappoint. Again, there could've been more tension, more action and less gabbing and reiterating of things the reader already knew. But alas, all good things must come to an end, and the Man from Mars goes out with a bang. A messianic bang, that is.

The beginning and ending are Stranger in a Strange Land's strong points. The middle is, well, a middle, muddling about as characters go off on their own. I felt a bit cheated in that we never really got to go into Mike's head and see what he was seeing--and how he was seeing it--but I guess that would've made for an entirely different read. Lots of cool SF aspects too, namely Fair Witnesses and stereo TVs. Things that bothered me were the blatant misogyny that downplayed characters such as Jill and Patricia Paiwonski.

I guess I've read the Cut version. The Uncut version is, not surprising, much longer. I can only imagine myself disliking it because I already feel like the book is lengthier than it needs to be.

This now marks being the seventh Hugo-winning novel I've read so far.

Books in 2008, #1

#1. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 1 by Hayao Miyazaki

Meh. Not a great start to the new year. This was actually my third or fourth time trying to finish this thing. I'd bought it a few years ago when I sought to get to know manga a bit better and well...I always gave up reading after fifty or so pages.

Nausicaä is the story of a girl of the same namesake, a princess in truth, who has the ability to bond telepathically with animals and the dangerous inhabitants of the forest. She lives in the Valley of the Wind, riding amongst the clouds, and doing everything she can to sneak past the ever-encroaching Sea of Corruption that threatens to cover all the land in order to study plants and bugs. Ultimately, she will play a pivotal part in the war over essential resources that is tearing kingdoms apart.

I think one of the biggest walls that Nausicaä builds in deterring me from the get-go is the artwork. I just don't like it. Miyazaki's work is too loose, too hard to navigate (especially when the action is turned up). The black-and-white pictures are often hard to look at for too long, and a few characters even resembled one another, making it even more difficult to know when scenes were being shifted elsewhere. Granted, some sections looks amazing. The mind-fucked Ohmu charging out of the forest to stop those that are hurting their young, the reveal of Nausicaä's secret stash of spore plants, the airborne battles high over the polluted land.

But a graphic novel is a mixed bag, one where every cut needs to be its own while simultaneously working well with others. Here, the writing and art do not mix well. If anything, the writing is a bit...cliché. The world Miyazaki has created is beautifully done, what with all the spores falling down like puffs of snow and the imaginative critters (fox-squirrels!!!) bounding about every corner. Yet, it is a Chosen One story. We've all read them before. They are formulaic no matter how different the surroundings are. And Chosen Ones need to be liked. Nausicaä is a rash, quick-thinking, and compassionate girl. Not terrible, not terribly compelling. I just never warmed to her (or anyone in the book, for that matter).

I wonder how the film version compares to the manga. Considering how much I love Spirited Away, it can't be any worse. Yah? Guess I'll just add it to my list of movies I want to see, but probably never will. Huzzah.

So, in short, I will not be reading Volumes 2 through 7 any time soon. Nor ever, probably.

My latest to-read pile

73-day rejection from Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, personal and with some comments that the ending felt too abrupt. I have a feeling that January is going to be the month where editors everywhere return to handle any and all submissions in their inboxes. Bring on the responses, I say!

And now, my to-read pile:



I'll list them in their appropriate groups since I seem to not understand that using a flash on glossy books means bad business.

For pure, bibliophilish enjoyment
A Feast For Crows by George R.R. Martin
Cast in Courtlight by Michelle Sagara
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (a re-read after seeing the film)
The Beach by Alex Garland (interest sparked after seeing the film)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007 edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant (I'm taking many, many notes on this one)
Isaac Asimov's Halloween edited by Gardner Dozois and Sheila Williams (still reading even though I started back in October, gah)

For the Hugo list
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein

For review
The Servant of the Manthycore by Michael Ehart
Lace and Blade edited by Deborah J. Ross
Killswitch by Joel Shepard

Hmm, that should keep me busy for a bit. Once this stack is done I think I'll go through my shelves and find other unread books and make a new pile. But I will not make that pile now! No! I must wait! WAIT!