The Iron Ring
by Lloyd Alexander
I picked this one up at Powell's some time in the last year; I was looking in the young adults section, curious if Alexander, who wrote the Prydain Chronicles that I loved so much as a young adult (before that, actually) had written anything else I was curious about. This one caught my eye, and so it has been sitting on the shelf and calling to me ever since. Now I've read it, and I'm glad. It was good.
The concept comes from Hindu mythology, and that was probably the most interesting part for me; it was interesting to read about the concepts of dharma and karma and caste and such in this modern retelling. It was also cool to read about all of the monsters I remember from D&D, like nagas and rakshasas and the Garuda Bird. But the best thing about the book is that it's just a good story: Lloyd Alexander was a good writer, and this is a fun and exciting adventure, with a lot of really interesting (to me) philosophical bits.
The basic storyline is about a young king of a small country, who gets sucked into a bad bet by another king. Tamar bets his life on a roll of the dice, and he loses; so Jaya insists that Tamar come to his distant kingdom to offer his service as payment of the wager. An iron ring appears on Tamar's finger to represent his debt. But then Jaya disappears, along with his retinue, and nobody else remembers seeing them -- although the iron ring is still on Tamar's finger. So he has to make a choice: was it a dream, or not? Does he owe his life, or not? Should he keep his promise, as he is honor bound as a kshatriya to do? Or should he forget the ridiculous wager, which might never have happened anyway and was almost certainly a trap if it did happen, and stay to govern his kingdom?
Tamar decides to go, and on the way, he meets and befriends many, including several magical animals -- the Monkey King (Heil der Affenkonig Cole Grisham!), the Garuda bird, a philosophical bear, a kind-hearted elephant, and a beautiful and intelligent peasant girl named Mirri. He helps a tiger out of a trap, earns the friendship of the Naga king, and falls in love with Mirri, though he won't marry her because he doesn't know if his life is his own to give away to her. He also meets another king who has been overthrown by an evil cousin; Tamar decides to help Ashwara regain his throne from Nahusha, and the rest of the book is the story of the war. It's a little less interesting with that, mainly because it gets a little too military when it should have stuck to the whole-wandering-the-world-and-learning-philosophy theme, which worked much better with the characters. But there is a great section in there when Tamar is captured and turned into an Untouchable, a washer of corpses, and he learns some nice truths about caste and honor and such there. That part was one of my favorites -- though really, how could anything top a bear who lives in a beautiful ashram in the middle of a magical forest and debates philosophical truths? I so want to live there.
Good book, especially for someone young and interested in philosophy and/or mythology. I wish I had read it when I was a kid, but I'm glad I read it now.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Book #43
From Dead to Worse
by Charlaine Harris
Alas and alack, I have read my last Sookie book for another year, at least. I wonder how far this is going to go, this series. Since this is more of a life story than a fantasy epic, it really doesn't have to end until Sookie does -- and thanks to what we learned in this book about her ancestors and their longevity, it could be a very long while before that happens. Not that I think Charlaine Harris should keep writing these books for the rest of her life -- that's a little too You're-a-dirty-bird-bring-back-my-Misery for comfort, if you follow me -- but I do love these books.
This one followed suit. It brings to a close several storylines in Sookie's life, and it opens up several others -- not the least of which is that Sookie is single now, which was sad but necessary. The change in Louisiana's situation is also ripe with possibilities; I do enjoy how Harris refuses to abandon Sookie as the focus in order to go traipsing off into some tangent that shows the actual battles between supernaturals in loving detail, as most fantasy authors (Probably including me) would have done. If Sookie's not in the battle, we don't see it or hear anything but the results. And when she is in the battle -- too often for her own good, really, but that's the problem when you are a valuable commodity to bloodthirsty supernaturals, especially if your value lies in telling the truth from lies -- she is mostly concerned with saving her own skin, not with the gory things that may be happening around her. I must admit I had a great guy moment when Claudine shows up to protect Sookie during the Were fight and starts chucking Weres around. Especially the line, "Bring it on, fur ass!" That's something Toni would say in that circumstance.
Let's see: I still don't like Amelia very much, and I don't like her mentor much more, but I see in Octavia the end of the Amelia housemate situation, which is good. I was glad that Jason dealt Sookie the last straw, because I can't stand him or his trailer trash wife. I have no doubt that the FotS people in Merlotte's are going to come back to attack Sookie; I wonder if she's going to be the poster child for vamp-lovers, who are even worse than the vamps themselves because they are betraying their own kind. You know how that goes. These guys need white sheets and tall hats. I cannot wait until Sandra Pelt pushes it to a confrontation and somebody whacks her, once and for all; I have no doubt that the Pelts won't go away until they are all dead. I hope Tanya can redeem herself in some way, since Sam needs a girlfriend, and I don't think it will ever be Sookie. I can't wait to see how Alcide will try to ruin Sookie's life next. I hope Tara and JB actually last together; I think that is both very sweet and a good choice, for both of them. Oh, and I can't believe that Halleigh Bellefleur (She needs to change the spelling of her first name -- that's way too many l's and e's) actually asked Sookie to be a bridesmaid, and then change clothes and tend bar. Jesus Christ.
I can't wait for the next one.
by Charlaine Harris
Alas and alack, I have read my last Sookie book for another year, at least. I wonder how far this is going to go, this series. Since this is more of a life story than a fantasy epic, it really doesn't have to end until Sookie does -- and thanks to what we learned in this book about her ancestors and their longevity, it could be a very long while before that happens. Not that I think Charlaine Harris should keep writing these books for the rest of her life -- that's a little too You're-a-dirty-bird-bring-back-my-Misery for comfort, if you follow me -- but I do love these books.
This one followed suit. It brings to a close several storylines in Sookie's life, and it opens up several others -- not the least of which is that Sookie is single now, which was sad but necessary. The change in Louisiana's situation is also ripe with possibilities; I do enjoy how Harris refuses to abandon Sookie as the focus in order to go traipsing off into some tangent that shows the actual battles between supernaturals in loving detail, as most fantasy authors (Probably including me) would have done. If Sookie's not in the battle, we don't see it or hear anything but the results. And when she is in the battle -- too often for her own good, really, but that's the problem when you are a valuable commodity to bloodthirsty supernaturals, especially if your value lies in telling the truth from lies -- she is mostly concerned with saving her own skin, not with the gory things that may be happening around her. I must admit I had a great guy moment when Claudine shows up to protect Sookie during the Were fight and starts chucking Weres around. Especially the line, "Bring it on, fur ass!" That's something Toni would say in that circumstance.
Let's see: I still don't like Amelia very much, and I don't like her mentor much more, but I see in Octavia the end of the Amelia housemate situation, which is good. I was glad that Jason dealt Sookie the last straw, because I can't stand him or his trailer trash wife. I have no doubt that the FotS people in Merlotte's are going to come back to attack Sookie; I wonder if she's going to be the poster child for vamp-lovers, who are even worse than the vamps themselves because they are betraying their own kind. You know how that goes. These guys need white sheets and tall hats. I cannot wait until Sandra Pelt pushes it to a confrontation and somebody whacks her, once and for all; I have no doubt that the Pelts won't go away until they are all dead. I hope Tanya can redeem herself in some way, since Sam needs a girlfriend, and I don't think it will ever be Sookie. I can't wait to see how Alcide will try to ruin Sookie's life next. I hope Tara and JB actually last together; I think that is both very sweet and a good choice, for both of them. Oh, and I can't believe that Halleigh Bellefleur (She needs to change the spelling of her first name -- that's way too many l's and e's) actually asked Sookie to be a bridesmaid, and then change clothes and tend bar. Jesus Christ.
I can't wait for the next one.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Book #42
Never Cry Wolf
by Farley Mowat
I'm very glad I finally read this, because I've wanted to read it since I saw the movie when I was a kid and loved it so much -- and I wonder now just how much influence this movie had on me and my feelings about animals. I never saw Old Yeller or Free Willy and I barely remember Bambi; this was the one that made the impression. Maybe it's why I feel such an affinity for wolves. Interesting.
Anyway, I did try to read The Man Who Ate the 747 before this one, but I put it down. The author was relying on weird and gross world records to hold the reader's interest, and those things don't hold mine; I would have preferred it if the characters weren't annoying or scummy, and the love story was touching, and the underlying theme was something other than the achievement of glory through freakery. But none of those things were true. Alas.
So after spending a day or two working on that one, Toni convinced me to dump it -- I was halfway through it and hoping it would get better; I need to stop thinking of my book total when I read, since part of me wanted to finish it and put it on this list -- then I went for Mowat, since I still wanted to read something unlike Sookie but I was finishing up the last week of school with all of its finals and grading and madness, so I didn't want something huge or complex.
This book is great. Not only is Mowat an excellent writer, but it gave me some insight into wolves that I didn't know, about their hunting patterns and their family units and such. If I ever write werewolves, I'm going to make them match this vision of wolf life, with the inclusion of uncles in the family units, mating for life and practicing abstinence when the environment can't sustain another wolf pack, and treating humans as an object of curiosity as much as potential danger. And so on. It was incredibly depressing to read about the destruction of the Canadian caribou herds, just like the Great Plains buffalo, by a bunch of heartless bastards (I was going to say "fuckstains" but I decided that was too uncharacteristically profane for me -- but the sentiment is there) who shot them by the hundreds for small purposes -- like killing a caribou to use as bait to trap foxes. What the hell is that? I hated reading how those same trappers blamed wolves, and the goddamn government backed them and allowed them to continue killing the world while blaming someone else, and then using that as an excuse to kill more. Kind of like drilling in the Alaskan Preserve: since we have destroyed the natural habitat of our country by paving over it, now we should destroy one of the last natural habitats in order to keep driving on our lovely pavement. Man, we suck.
Despite the rage, I loved reading the book. Made me like wolves even more than before.
by Farley Mowat
I'm very glad I finally read this, because I've wanted to read it since I saw the movie when I was a kid and loved it so much -- and I wonder now just how much influence this movie had on me and my feelings about animals. I never saw Old Yeller or Free Willy and I barely remember Bambi; this was the one that made the impression. Maybe it's why I feel such an affinity for wolves. Interesting.
Anyway, I did try to read The Man Who Ate the 747 before this one, but I put it down. The author was relying on weird and gross world records to hold the reader's interest, and those things don't hold mine; I would have preferred it if the characters weren't annoying or scummy, and the love story was touching, and the underlying theme was something other than the achievement of glory through freakery. But none of those things were true. Alas.
So after spending a day or two working on that one, Toni convinced me to dump it -- I was halfway through it and hoping it would get better; I need to stop thinking of my book total when I read, since part of me wanted to finish it and put it on this list -- then I went for Mowat, since I still wanted to read something unlike Sookie but I was finishing up the last week of school with all of its finals and grading and madness, so I didn't want something huge or complex.
This book is great. Not only is Mowat an excellent writer, but it gave me some insight into wolves that I didn't know, about their hunting patterns and their family units and such. If I ever write werewolves, I'm going to make them match this vision of wolf life, with the inclusion of uncles in the family units, mating for life and practicing abstinence when the environment can't sustain another wolf pack, and treating humans as an object of curiosity as much as potential danger. And so on. It was incredibly depressing to read about the destruction of the Canadian caribou herds, just like the Great Plains buffalo, by a bunch of heartless bastards (I was going to say "fuckstains" but I decided that was too uncharacteristically profane for me -- but the sentiment is there) who shot them by the hundreds for small purposes -- like killing a caribou to use as bait to trap foxes. What the hell is that? I hated reading how those same trappers blamed wolves, and the goddamn government backed them and allowed them to continue killing the world while blaming someone else, and then using that as an excuse to kill more. Kind of like drilling in the Alaskan Preserve: since we have destroyed the natural habitat of our country by paving over it, now we should destroy one of the last natural habitats in order to keep driving on our lovely pavement. Man, we suck.
Despite the rage, I loved reading the book. Made me like wolves even more than before.
Book #41
All Together Dead
by Charlaine Harris
Continuing with the Saga of Sookie, this one goes deep into the world of vampires, and also shows why that isn't a good thing. This is an excellent book in this series, because this book makes us think about a number of things: the relationship between the vamps and the humans, the relationship between vamps and Sookie, between Sookie and Quinn, Sookie and Bill, Sookie and Eric -- and even gives us another view of telepathy, in Barry the Bellboy. It's almost like Charlaine Harris took a step back and looked at the big picture of the whole series, and asked herself, "Okay -- what are the questions that need answering here? What are the false impressions that need correcting?" And then she went ahead and answered those questions, and corrected those misconceptions, both for Sookie and for us. Toni's write-up of the next book, the new one, says that Sookie has matured and grown a tetch more cynical; I'd say that's probably because she sees so much nastiness in this one.
So she's already learned that her love is never a true love (And I've only just started the next book as I write this, and I just gotta say: not again! Not again, Quinn, you rotten sucker!) because Bill is a liar and Eric had to be not himself. Now she learns that the gratitude of vampires simply doesn't exist, because as she becomes more useful to Sophie-Anne, Andre immediately takes steps to turn her into a possession rather than an ally, because that's how vampires work. I like that from the author, though of course it makes Andre loathsome. She also learns that the prejudice of humans can go so far as to organize a large scale terrorist attack on the vampire hotel, and that it extends into her own backyard, through Arlene and the Fellowship of the Sun. I also like how Sookie has to make a crappy choice, when she exposes her power to humans in order to help in the crisis; we saw the same thing in the last book when she helps out Andy Bellefleur with Holly's missing son, but at least he was local. Now she and Barry both have a fire chief that knows they can save lives when nobody else can. I had to think about that: does that ability require you to give up your own time and freedom to help people? Of course not all of your time and freedom -- but how would you say no? Let's say she registers as an emergency trapped-person finder; which desperate phone calls could she turn down?
Anyway, I don't like Barry Bellboy but I appreciate seeing a telepath who milks his gift for money, as that shows us why it's better that Sookie doesn't. And I love Quinn's history, though I would think there'd be more bad blood between him and other shifters, since he not only killed so many shifters, but he also worked for the vamps in the killing. But I suppose that only serves as an example of how enamored we are of bloodsports and gladiators. Because, y'know, we suck.
by Charlaine Harris
Continuing with the Saga of Sookie, this one goes deep into the world of vampires, and also shows why that isn't a good thing. This is an excellent book in this series, because this book makes us think about a number of things: the relationship between the vamps and the humans, the relationship between vamps and Sookie, between Sookie and Quinn, Sookie and Bill, Sookie and Eric -- and even gives us another view of telepathy, in Barry the Bellboy. It's almost like Charlaine Harris took a step back and looked at the big picture of the whole series, and asked herself, "Okay -- what are the questions that need answering here? What are the false impressions that need correcting?" And then she went ahead and answered those questions, and corrected those misconceptions, both for Sookie and for us. Toni's write-up of the next book, the new one, says that Sookie has matured and grown a tetch more cynical; I'd say that's probably because she sees so much nastiness in this one.
So she's already learned that her love is never a true love (And I've only just started the next book as I write this, and I just gotta say: not again! Not again, Quinn, you rotten sucker!) because Bill is a liar and Eric had to be not himself. Now she learns that the gratitude of vampires simply doesn't exist, because as she becomes more useful to Sophie-Anne, Andre immediately takes steps to turn her into a possession rather than an ally, because that's how vampires work. I like that from the author, though of course it makes Andre loathsome. She also learns that the prejudice of humans can go so far as to organize a large scale terrorist attack on the vampire hotel, and that it extends into her own backyard, through Arlene and the Fellowship of the Sun. I also like how Sookie has to make a crappy choice, when she exposes her power to humans in order to help in the crisis; we saw the same thing in the last book when she helps out Andy Bellefleur with Holly's missing son, but at least he was local. Now she and Barry both have a fire chief that knows they can save lives when nobody else can. I had to think about that: does that ability require you to give up your own time and freedom to help people? Of course not all of your time and freedom -- but how would you say no? Let's say she registers as an emergency trapped-person finder; which desperate phone calls could she turn down?
Anyway, I don't like Barry Bellboy but I appreciate seeing a telepath who milks his gift for money, as that shows us why it's better that Sookie doesn't. And I love Quinn's history, though I would think there'd be more bad blood between him and other shifters, since he not only killed so many shifters, but he also worked for the vamps in the killing. But I suppose that only serves as an example of how enamored we are of bloodsports and gladiators. Because, y'know, we suck.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Book #40
The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower
by Lisa Graff
Last library review book, I think, until the fall, though this one was just Jaime soliciting an opinion, not a full-on review. Overall I think it's a cute book; there are definitely some flaws in it, many of them related to the genre, but it has a nice feel to it and the writing was quite good.
The basic story is about a twelve-year-old girl with the unlikely name of Bernetta Wallflower (First problem there -- trying for a memorable name is fine, as long as the book isn't trying to be realistic, but this one is. Bernetta is wacky enough; give her a real last name.) who gets framed for a cheating scam at her private school and gets her scholarship yanked. So over the summer, despite being grounded, she tries to earn enough money to pay for her own tuition the following year, because she wants to be like her older sister, who she worships, and who was the valedictorian at the same school. But since she is twelve, she can't find a job, and since the tuition is $9000 a year, there's no way she can earn enough money over three months, anyway. So she takes up a life of crime, joining a young grifter who watches too many con man movies, and they pull change scams and such at all the local stores. Bernetta's ability to grift comes from the fact that her father is a stage magician, and she has learned both quick hands and the art of misdirection.
And that's fine as far as it goes. But the villain is just too villainous, and the amounts of money involved are, to me, unrealistic. These two kids earn over $5000 in a month, grifting at a local mall and a pier where tourists go; I'm not sure I believe that, though I suppose it's possible. But the villain, who framed Bernetta, earned $5000 from blackmailing students for cheating off of papers that she fed them herself, and I do not believe that a 6th grader could find that many people to blackmail without one of them turning her in before she gets up to that number. She gets her comeuppance, of course, but it isn't anywhere near enough; they grift her out of all of her money, but she doesn't get beaten to a bloody pulp, nor arrested. I also don't accept that her parents bought the cover story, that Bernetta was actually babysitting, for a couple who only needed her to amuse their two children while they worked from home (because she's too young to be in charge of kids all by her lonesome) and this was going to earn her $9000 over the summer. I want that fucking job. Plus, as an author, I was vastly disappointed when the author missed a perfect opportunity for a good moment: there's a scene when Bernetta and her older sister are talking, when Bernetta is despondent because the life of crime is not working out, and the sister gives Bernetta her valedictorian speech to read -- and the speech is about Bernetta and how much she means to the sister. But the speech isn't there. It just says something like, "Bernetta read the speech." How could you miss a chance to put in some real writing, a poignant and sophisticated essay in the form of a valedictory speech, in the middle of this simplified YA pablum? Ridiculous.
However, the con stuff was very good; this is actually a credible way for three young kids to get into a life of crime, and a believable end to it, in most ways. I didn't like any of the characters other than Bernetta and her family, but I did like the Wallflowers a lot. And I like the resolution: Bernetta gives up on her attachment to the private school, since that had been the source of her criminal obsession, and just looks forward to what she can learn and experience at the public school. It was nice.
by Lisa Graff
Last library review book, I think, until the fall, though this one was just Jaime soliciting an opinion, not a full-on review. Overall I think it's a cute book; there are definitely some flaws in it, many of them related to the genre, but it has a nice feel to it and the writing was quite good.
The basic story is about a twelve-year-old girl with the unlikely name of Bernetta Wallflower (First problem there -- trying for a memorable name is fine, as long as the book isn't trying to be realistic, but this one is. Bernetta is wacky enough; give her a real last name.) who gets framed for a cheating scam at her private school and gets her scholarship yanked. So over the summer, despite being grounded, she tries to earn enough money to pay for her own tuition the following year, because she wants to be like her older sister, who she worships, and who was the valedictorian at the same school. But since she is twelve, she can't find a job, and since the tuition is $9000 a year, there's no way she can earn enough money over three months, anyway. So she takes up a life of crime, joining a young grifter who watches too many con man movies, and they pull change scams and such at all the local stores. Bernetta's ability to grift comes from the fact that her father is a stage magician, and she has learned both quick hands and the art of misdirection.
And that's fine as far as it goes. But the villain is just too villainous, and the amounts of money involved are, to me, unrealistic. These two kids earn over $5000 in a month, grifting at a local mall and a pier where tourists go; I'm not sure I believe that, though I suppose it's possible. But the villain, who framed Bernetta, earned $5000 from blackmailing students for cheating off of papers that she fed them herself, and I do not believe that a 6th grader could find that many people to blackmail without one of them turning her in before she gets up to that number. She gets her comeuppance, of course, but it isn't anywhere near enough; they grift her out of all of her money, but she doesn't get beaten to a bloody pulp, nor arrested. I also don't accept that her parents bought the cover story, that Bernetta was actually babysitting, for a couple who only needed her to amuse their two children while they worked from home (because she's too young to be in charge of kids all by her lonesome) and this was going to earn her $9000 over the summer. I want that fucking job. Plus, as an author, I was vastly disappointed when the author missed a perfect opportunity for a good moment: there's a scene when Bernetta and her older sister are talking, when Bernetta is despondent because the life of crime is not working out, and the sister gives Bernetta her valedictorian speech to read -- and the speech is about Bernetta and how much she means to the sister. But the speech isn't there. It just says something like, "Bernetta read the speech." How could you miss a chance to put in some real writing, a poignant and sophisticated essay in the form of a valedictory speech, in the middle of this simplified YA pablum? Ridiculous.
However, the con stuff was very good; this is actually a credible way for three young kids to get into a life of crime, and a believable end to it, in most ways. I didn't like any of the characters other than Bernetta and her family, but I did like the Wallflowers a lot. And I like the resolution: Bernetta gives up on her attachment to the private school, since that had been the source of her criminal obsession, and just looks forward to what she can learn and experience at the public school. It was nice.
Book #39
Definitely Dead
by Charlaine Harris
Our new Charlaine Harris book arrived in the mail -- yay Sookie! -- and so I had to start refreshing myself before diving into that one. Actually, that's a good way to describe these books: refreshing. They're light, they're fast, they're fun, and yet there's a real attraction to both the character and the story. Much of the action is taken up just with Sookie's life, so it's hard to say what the focus of the book is, because it's pretty much always -- Sookie. I realized this time through just how much time she spends at work, and us with her; I'm sure this is standard for slice-of-life books, for chick lit and such, but it never is for fantasy and science fiction. I guess that's the good part here: Harris has written a wonderful slice-of-life character, as Sookie searches for love and happiness and her place in the world, and combined it with this nice fantasy world of ghosts and goblins and ghoulies. Or, more accurately, vampires and demons and weretigers, which are the focus of the one I read, Definitely Dead, which is the fifth book in the series (And I had to look over at the shelf and count, because it's hard to remember what happens in which book -- slice of life).
Definitely Dead is a good one. Actually, I'm not even sure I have a favorite among the series; all of the books have elements that I like, all of them have occasions and circumstances that stick with me, like Bubba's character and his attempts to help Sookie out, or when Sam showed up at Sookie's house as a dog and watched her get undressed, or the maenad attack, or the time Sookie had to stay at Sam's rental -- I remember that, but I'm not sure which book it's in. Of course, now that I'm working on my third time through the series in, what, two years? I'm starting to remember what happens when, because I can recall more details.
Anyway, Definitely Dead is when she goes down to New Orleans to clean out her cousin Hadley's apartment and meets Sophie-Anne LeClerq, the Queen of Louisiana. It's also when she finds out the truth about her relationship with Bill, and when she starts dating Quinn. So I like the queen but Andre creeps me out, and I hate that Sookie has to pretend to have sex with him to cover their conversation. I love Quinn but I hate that he calls Sookie "babe." It's just a term, I know, and probably a Southern man thing, but still. It's annoying. I liked that they wrapped up the Debbie Pelt subplot, but I don't really like how it happened -- the Pelts got off too easy, in my opinion. And though I like Claude and Claudine, I'm not crazy about how long that story is being stretched out without giving us more of a lowdown. I get why Claudine is there to help, but why Sookie? How does Claude play into it? What exactly is Claudine trying to help Sookie do, or avoid, or get to? Oh, and Amelia the witch bugs me; I hate really forward people who act as though they are doing you a favor by being honest and giving their opinions. Not because I don't want to hear the truth, but people like that are so often shallow in the formation of their opinions, and yet so proud they managed to successfully form and share the opinion, that they rarely tell the deep truth and yet always act like they do. Like Amelia. And I like the plotting between the king and queen, and how it turns out, except I'm mad that Wybert was killed; I thought the twin Saxons were good characters. It is nice to see Sookie gaining the privileges of being a genuinely nice and friendly person: she is gaining connections, a network of assistance. She can get a doctor to help Crystal with her miscarriage, and she can get a moving van from the Queen of Louisiana, and she can get emergency rescue help from a half a dozen different vampires. I'm happy for her in this book -- other than that heartless bastard Bill, or course, which still gets me steamed -- and that shows why these books are so much fun.
by Charlaine Harris
Our new Charlaine Harris book arrived in the mail -- yay Sookie! -- and so I had to start refreshing myself before diving into that one. Actually, that's a good way to describe these books: refreshing. They're light, they're fast, they're fun, and yet there's a real attraction to both the character and the story. Much of the action is taken up just with Sookie's life, so it's hard to say what the focus of the book is, because it's pretty much always -- Sookie. I realized this time through just how much time she spends at work, and us with her; I'm sure this is standard for slice-of-life books, for chick lit and such, but it never is for fantasy and science fiction. I guess that's the good part here: Harris has written a wonderful slice-of-life character, as Sookie searches for love and happiness and her place in the world, and combined it with this nice fantasy world of ghosts and goblins and ghoulies. Or, more accurately, vampires and demons and weretigers, which are the focus of the one I read, Definitely Dead, which is the fifth book in the series (And I had to look over at the shelf and count, because it's hard to remember what happens in which book -- slice of life).
Definitely Dead is a good one. Actually, I'm not even sure I have a favorite among the series; all of the books have elements that I like, all of them have occasions and circumstances that stick with me, like Bubba's character and his attempts to help Sookie out, or when Sam showed up at Sookie's house as a dog and watched her get undressed, or the maenad attack, or the time Sookie had to stay at Sam's rental -- I remember that, but I'm not sure which book it's in. Of course, now that I'm working on my third time through the series in, what, two years? I'm starting to remember what happens when, because I can recall more details.
Anyway, Definitely Dead is when she goes down to New Orleans to clean out her cousin Hadley's apartment and meets Sophie-Anne LeClerq, the Queen of Louisiana. It's also when she finds out the truth about her relationship with Bill, and when she starts dating Quinn. So I like the queen but Andre creeps me out, and I hate that Sookie has to pretend to have sex with him to cover their conversation. I love Quinn but I hate that he calls Sookie "babe." It's just a term, I know, and probably a Southern man thing, but still. It's annoying. I liked that they wrapped up the Debbie Pelt subplot, but I don't really like how it happened -- the Pelts got off too easy, in my opinion. And though I like Claude and Claudine, I'm not crazy about how long that story is being stretched out without giving us more of a lowdown. I get why Claudine is there to help, but why Sookie? How does Claude play into it? What exactly is Claudine trying to help Sookie do, or avoid, or get to? Oh, and Amelia the witch bugs me; I hate really forward people who act as though they are doing you a favor by being honest and giving their opinions. Not because I don't want to hear the truth, but people like that are so often shallow in the formation of their opinions, and yet so proud they managed to successfully form and share the opinion, that they rarely tell the deep truth and yet always act like they do. Like Amelia. And I like the plotting between the king and queen, and how it turns out, except I'm mad that Wybert was killed; I thought the twin Saxons were good characters. It is nice to see Sookie gaining the privileges of being a genuinely nice and friendly person: she is gaining connections, a network of assistance. She can get a doctor to help Crystal with her miscarriage, and she can get a moving van from the Queen of Louisiana, and she can get emergency rescue help from a half a dozen different vampires. I'm happy for her in this book -- other than that heartless bastard Bill, or course, which still gets me steamed -- and that shows why these books are so much fun.
Book #38
Heloise and Abelard: A New Biography
by James Burge
I was feeling, oh, a bit more scholarly, I suppose, so I read Heloise and Abelard. It was surprisingly good: very well-written, better than most scholarly historical books. It reminded me of How The Irish Saved Civilization, which was also a very well-written and interesting book. Like that one, this one benefits greatly from the fact that the subject matter is fascinating: this is an incredible story.
I love the idea of these two remarkable people finding each other and finding love together. I love that the both of them, despite their Medieval morals, were willing to break the rules to be together, to revel in their unique connection. It was fascinating to read parts of their letters to each other, the endearments they wrote, the things they said about their love; totally changed my opinion of the Middle Ages.
That was another thing I liked about the book: the view it gave of the Middle Ages, which I don't know much about at all. This gave me a lot more respect for the monastic system as well as for the people, the scholars and philosophers of the time. I was utterly inspired by the idea that Abelard, a successful and famous philosopher, was able to forsake the role of dominant male and listen to his wife, and that from her inspiration, he became one of the foremost feminists of the era, right before the zealots turned all of Europe into a misogynistic theocracy that invented chastity belts and the Malleus Maleficarum.
Overall, it's a wonderful story, wonderfully told. Because this was true love, and it's obvious in everything they did and everything they said. I love hearing about lovers that lived a thousand years ago, in a time that seemed so much against true love, when people thought more of alliance and reproduction when they married, and sex was such a meaningless pastime in between (Think "The Tudors"). And how can I not love a couple that is made up of a poet and a songwriting logician? Even if they did end badly -- though I have to say, the best part of reading this book was the suggestion by the author that the last few years of Abelard's life, before he was accused of heresy and his health failed, were spent in a peaceful friendship, living at the monastery he founded and which was run by Heloise, that they had at least a few years when they weren't torn up by passion as well as by danger, when they could walk together and talk together and just live in harmony. That was magic. I hope it's true.
by James Burge
I was feeling, oh, a bit more scholarly, I suppose, so I read Heloise and Abelard. It was surprisingly good: very well-written, better than most scholarly historical books. It reminded me of How The Irish Saved Civilization, which was also a very well-written and interesting book. Like that one, this one benefits greatly from the fact that the subject matter is fascinating: this is an incredible story.
I love the idea of these two remarkable people finding each other and finding love together. I love that the both of them, despite their Medieval morals, were willing to break the rules to be together, to revel in their unique connection. It was fascinating to read parts of their letters to each other, the endearments they wrote, the things they said about their love; totally changed my opinion of the Middle Ages.
That was another thing I liked about the book: the view it gave of the Middle Ages, which I don't know much about at all. This gave me a lot more respect for the monastic system as well as for the people, the scholars and philosophers of the time. I was utterly inspired by the idea that Abelard, a successful and famous philosopher, was able to forsake the role of dominant male and listen to his wife, and that from her inspiration, he became one of the foremost feminists of the era, right before the zealots turned all of Europe into a misogynistic theocracy that invented chastity belts and the Malleus Maleficarum.
Overall, it's a wonderful story, wonderfully told. Because this was true love, and it's obvious in everything they did and everything they said. I love hearing about lovers that lived a thousand years ago, in a time that seemed so much against true love, when people thought more of alliance and reproduction when they married, and sex was such a meaningless pastime in between (Think "The Tudors"). And how can I not love a couple that is made up of a poet and a songwriting logician? Even if they did end badly -- though I have to say, the best part of reading this book was the suggestion by the author that the last few years of Abelard's life, before he was accused of heresy and his health failed, were spent in a peaceful friendship, living at the monastery he founded and which was run by Heloise, that they had at least a few years when they weren't torn up by passion as well as by danger, when they could walk together and talk together and just live in harmony. That was magic. I hope it's true.
Book #37
Kitty Takes a Holiday
by Carrie Vaughn
This one wasn't my favorite of the series. The writing is still excellent, and I love the characters -- I especially liked that I got to see more of Cormac, and learn more of his past, which was both welcome and interesting -- but the plot was a bit lacking. Kitty isn't "taking a holiday," she's running away from her job and her life, hiding out in a small town in Colorado while Ariel, Priestess of the Night tries to build her own supernatural call-in show. Kitty was more than a little annoying with that, I thought -- she keeps calling in to her rival's show and trying to get Ariel to say stupid things, which just makes Kitty seem like an idiot. I like that Kitty is building a pack, but I don't particularly care for Ben as a love interest for Kitty. I think it will work long term, as Ben tries to adjust to life as a lycanthrope, which will give him some depth, but at the moment he's not a terribly interesting character. No, I shouldn't say that, because I think he is interesting, what with the supernatural lawyer and the weird family background and everything, but I didn't like the way he was written in this one. It was painful to watch him try to be his usual lawyerly self while trying to deal with the rage of the wolf inside, but since he isn't the point of view character and I couldn't see his thoughts, it wasn't really something I could relate to, and that made it seem, well, kind of boring and repetitive. I wanted to grab him and yell, "Get a hold of yourself, for Christ's sake! Let's move on, here!" while at the same time trying to imagine how much harder life would be if I literally couldn't control my temper because there was some wild beast inside me trying to claw out and eat people. This is something I can relate to, considering how much I have to hold my temper, but still: watching it from the outside, through Kitty's eyes, when Kitty has already learned to control the wolf, was a bit dull. Part of that might be because we don't know all that much about Ben, so we don't have the personal attachment that makes it interesting to see a character go through that kind of change. It was like having to watch a slide show of your neighbor's kid learning to walk. Vaguely interesting, but you don't care about the outcome, so no more than that.
I also thought more should have been done with the Skinwalkers, and the town's attack on Kitty. I liked those subplots a lot more than the one with Ben and Cormac. I thought it would have been better to have more of a three-way fight between Kitty, the townsfolk, and the Skinwalker, rather than wrap that up so quickly and go to Cormac's trial. But, I still like the series immensely, I love the way she writes werewolves -- I did like that part of Ben's story, the depiction of the slow transformation from man to werewolf -- and I liked how it ended, with Cormac in jail and Kitty back on the air.
by Carrie Vaughn
This one wasn't my favorite of the series. The writing is still excellent, and I love the characters -- I especially liked that I got to see more of Cormac, and learn more of his past, which was both welcome and interesting -- but the plot was a bit lacking. Kitty isn't "taking a holiday," she's running away from her job and her life, hiding out in a small town in Colorado while Ariel, Priestess of the Night tries to build her own supernatural call-in show. Kitty was more than a little annoying with that, I thought -- she keeps calling in to her rival's show and trying to get Ariel to say stupid things, which just makes Kitty seem like an idiot. I like that Kitty is building a pack, but I don't particularly care for Ben as a love interest for Kitty. I think it will work long term, as Ben tries to adjust to life as a lycanthrope, which will give him some depth, but at the moment he's not a terribly interesting character. No, I shouldn't say that, because I think he is interesting, what with the supernatural lawyer and the weird family background and everything, but I didn't like the way he was written in this one. It was painful to watch him try to be his usual lawyerly self while trying to deal with the rage of the wolf inside, but since he isn't the point of view character and I couldn't see his thoughts, it wasn't really something I could relate to, and that made it seem, well, kind of boring and repetitive. I wanted to grab him and yell, "Get a hold of yourself, for Christ's sake! Let's move on, here!" while at the same time trying to imagine how much harder life would be if I literally couldn't control my temper because there was some wild beast inside me trying to claw out and eat people. This is something I can relate to, considering how much I have to hold my temper, but still: watching it from the outside, through Kitty's eyes, when Kitty has already learned to control the wolf, was a bit dull. Part of that might be because we don't know all that much about Ben, so we don't have the personal attachment that makes it interesting to see a character go through that kind of change. It was like having to watch a slide show of your neighbor's kid learning to walk. Vaguely interesting, but you don't care about the outcome, so no more than that.
I also thought more should have been done with the Skinwalkers, and the town's attack on Kitty. I liked those subplots a lot more than the one with Ben and Cormac. I thought it would have been better to have more of a three-way fight between Kitty, the townsfolk, and the Skinwalker, rather than wrap that up so quickly and go to Cormac's trial. But, I still like the series immensely, I love the way she writes werewolves -- I did like that part of Ben's story, the depiction of the slow transformation from man to werewolf -- and I liked how it ended, with Cormac in jail and Kitty back on the air.
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