September & October

A wee bit late. I've been kinda busy. The sad thing is that I've been reading pretty well for the last two months, but I'm only four books farther along on my Read All My Books quest. Well, six if you count the two I didn't finish. At least they're off the shelf. But I should probably focus more on the shelf, and less on re-reads and Vine books. And then there's those pesky student essays.

10. The Pirate Primer by George Choundas (49) 9/12

Pick:
I wasn't going to read this entire book, just glance through it a bit every now and again. But Talk Like a Pirate Day was coming up, and I wanted something that wasn't too mentally involved, since it's back to school time, as well. So I figured what the heck.

Story:
There's not really a story here, of course, since the Primer is a dictionary. I originally started reading it by scanning the piratey phrases and their definitions -- though most of the definitions re pretty self-explanatory; how do you mistake what's meant by "I come from Hell, and I'll take ye back with me presently." But then I realized that the most interesting part of each entry wasn't the phrase, nor its definition: it was the source. Every entry in here is documented, given in its original context, usually with some background. Most of them came from the Treasure Island movies and a few similar cinematic masterworks -- Blackbeard the Pirate, Captain Blood and so on -- or from a few pirate novels. The largest contributors, by far, were the pirate works of one Jeffery Farnol, which I now intend to find and read, with great gusto.

The Primer is interesting and informative, and, if you can get into the spirit, a lot of fun to read. Made me laugh several times. Of course, you have to really like pirates.

Thoughts:
Luckily, I really like pirates. And words. This was great -- I'll still have to keep referring to it now and again for refreshers, but for now: Let me drown and perish in blood, ye blasted limpet! All hands to rigging -- full canvas, and straight for the Pirate Round!



11. The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman (50) 9/13

Pick:
I was jonesing for a story, but I didn't want to read anything long and involved. So this seemed perfect.

Story:
This installment of The Sandman series focuses on Hell. It starts out with the Endless -- Dream (the Sandman) and his siblings Death, Destiny, Desire, Despair, and Delirium -- all having a family meeting. At the meeting, the Endless accuse Dream of being unfair to his human lover, Nada, whom he had banished to Hell 10,000 years before, because she had spurned his love, choosing to kill herself rather than become his immortal queen in the Dreaming. They point out that this was a terrible and unjust thing to do to her, and he should fix it. Dream finally agrees, and decides to travel to Hell. Unfortunately, he was in Hell not long ago -- in the first book, Preludes and Nocturnes -- to retrieve his Dream-helm from the demon that held it, and while there, Lucifer had taken insult and told Dream not to come back to the Abyss. So it seems we're leading up to a confrontation, and one that won't work out well for Dream, since Lucifer is the second-most-powerful being in the multiverse, and far stronger than some undying embodiment of human dreams.

But then Lucifer decides to quit. He empties Hell, throws out all the demons and the damned, and locks the gates. He then gives the key to -- Dream. To do with as he will. The rest of the book is dedicated to Dream's attempt to decide who, of the many godlings and powers who come to claim it, will receive the key to Hell. Will it be Odin of the Aesir? Anubis, of the gods of Egypt? The embodiment of Chaos? Of Order? (Those last two are hilarious: the Chaos representative is named Shivering Jemmy of the Shallow Brigade; she appears as a small child holding a balloon and in dress-up costume. She tries to threaten Dream, to intimidate him into giving her the key by swelling up into a horrible demon with promises of dire consequences, but when Dream is unimpressed, she goes right back to little girl and gives him her balloon. The Order representative takes the form of the perfect avatar of order: an empty cardboard box. Seems pretty clear where Gaiman's loyalties lie on this continuum.) Or will he give it back to the former Hellions, represented by Azazel -- who dangles the soul of Nada in front of Dream as a carrot, and a stick?

You'll have to read it yourself to find out.

Thoughts:
It's a good story, with the right ending -- if not the most amusing one -- and it all works out well for the Sandman. Though now I really want to know who Dream's missing sibling is, since there are supposed to be seven of the Endless, and this book talks about the one brother that has decided to cut all ties to his family. It isn't Death or Destiny; is it Doom? Darkness? Deep thoughts? I dunno.


12. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (51) 9/15

Pick:
I wanted something more weighty after reading a comic book -- which still doesn't feel completely like reading a book to me, despite my definite stance on the literary merits of The Watchmen, and Maus, and, yes, Neil Gaiman's Sandman -- but I still wasn't up for anything too long or involved. So I picked something literary, but short: only 114 pages.

Story:
This was a little tough for me to follow, but it was still brilliant. Woolf lost me early on when she moved into her imagined persona of Mary Seton -- or was it Beton? -- and began describing life as an author. I thought it was a brief episode in the beginning, given to show the difference between men's colleges and women's, and it was -- but then near the end, she steps back out of the persona into herself, which I thought she had done long before. So I'm not sure how exactly it worked. I also got distracted by life a time or two, since I don't have a room of my own and 500 a year (Not that I'm complaining about what I do have, which is more than most would-be artists), and you really can't read Woolf with anything less than full and complete attention.

But in essence, the idea is this: artists cannot create their art when they have to spend their time working for money, playing office politics, serving the needs and wants of other people. Because those other influences and demands on an artist's time and energy come through in the work. She cited a passage from Emily Bronte, in Jane Eyre, when the character thinks about how awful it is to be trapped, never given the freedom to explore the world, relying only on a single female companion for all of one's friendly interactions; it is pretty clear from this that the author is speaking here, not the character. This is how Emily Bronte felt, and it made her bitter and angry, too bitter and angry to stick to what she should have been saying with her character, what would have best served her story's purpose, and so she lost the thread of the narrative and jarred the reader. And so the art suffers because the artist is not free to pursue it completely.

This, it seems to me, is absolutely true.

Her second point is that women need to take advantage of their newly found freedom (The piece was written in 1928, just after women's enfranchisement in both Britain and America) to write, because there is not a literary tradition of female writers for new women authors to build on. She talks about how the predominant examples of writing in England are (almost) all male writers, all of whom write very male sentences; there is no one for a woman to emulate in creating a feminine fiction. And though I can't relate to it, it makes sense to me; I believe that fantasy and science fiction authors still face this problem today. There are great authors in sci-fi, but not a lot; the preponderance of fantasy lit is still pulp. It makes it harder to tell a good story in a fantastic world. Of course, I may be a pulp author and a fan of the pulp myself, as I can never persist all the way through a literary fantasy novel. The only question is: is that because I am a fantasy Philistine? Or because the authors who want to write great literary fantasy kinda . . . suck?

Since I've read Tolkien, and Gaiman, and Zelazny, and Bradbury, I'm going with the latter.

Thoughts:
I did like it quite a lot; I plan to read it again in the future, see if even more of it makes sense to me. Though I'll probably wait until I am a writer and reader, but no longer a teacher.


**Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay (52) 9/18

Pick:
Bought this at Fred Meyer (Buy two get one sale) because we love the show so much, and I wanted to know if the books would stack up. Just bought it a week or so ago, so it isn't part of the Great Mission. But it is the 52nd book this year -- and only in September! Woo hoo!

Story:
Okay: so the first thing people probably want to know is this: this book is just as good as the show, and in some ways better. As brilliant as Michael C. Hall is in the title role -- and he is brilliant, the single largest reason the show is as good as it is -- you get even more of Dexter's mindset, an even deeper look into the abyss that is Dexter, in Jeff Lindsay's books, and that is both disturbing and fascinating, like everything else about this series.

The second thing people probably want to know is: this book is not the same as the series. It follows the same basic storyline as the first season of Dexter, focusing on Dexter's attempt to track down the Ice Truck Killer while helping his foster sister Deborah move from vice to homicide, dealing with his own demons, and finding new and unusual emotions in his relationship with Rita. But the supporting cast are not quite the same, and the ending of this book is very, very different from the ending of the first season of Dexter. If I have any complaint about this book, it is in the ending, which confused me -- but part of that confusion comes from my knowledge of the TV show; I went into this book with certain expectations, and so wasn't starting from Square One in trying to follow the book's twists and turns.

The book was, if anything, a little too short, but there the show actually helped, because much of the character and plot development was already done for me. It did, as I said, make the ending more confusing, but that only means I very much want to read the second book, which I hope will make everything clear -- and I desperately want to know if the storyline continues to parallel that of the show, and if so, how.

Thoughts:
If you like the show (And how could you not?), you'll like the book. I did. I hope the rest of the books have the same effect on me, and judging just from the writing of this one, they will.


13. Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (53) 9/23

Pick:
I wanted to read a book about pirates, because of Talk Like a Pirate Day. I would have gone for Treasure Island, but we don't have a copy, so I picked up this one instead, because Toni said it had pirates.

Story:
David Balfour sets off to seek his fortune, but he makes a mistake: he goes to see an uncle, who he didn't even know he had. This uncle, it turns out, is such the misanthropic miser that he sees his nephew as a threat to his property -- so he pays to have his nephew kidnapped and transported to the Colonies for a life of indentured servitude. But the ship encounters a boat full of men -- actually, the ship runs it down -- and only one man survives: Alan Breck, Highlander and Jacobite (This takes place in 1750, just after Bonnie Prince Charlie's attempt at the throne of England.). Breck and Balfour unite against their common foes, the captain and crew, and there is a fantastic scene when the two barricade themselves in the ship's cabin and fight off the entire ship's crew.

The ship wrecks, and David is swept to a small island on the coast of Scotland (Another wonderful scene, with a great twist), and then makes it to the mainland. There he is quickly caught up in the tensions between the clans and the oppressive English rulers, and is accused of complicity in the murder of a prominent British official. He is saved by Alan Breck, who also survived the shipwreck, and the two of them begin a long and arduous flight to the lowlands of Scotland, trying to avoid British soldiers and enemy Highlanders along the way.

This is a great adventure story, realistic and genuine and informative as well as entertaining. The original illustrations, by the great N.C. Wyeth, made it all the more real, all the more entertaining. A wonderful book.

Thoughts:
Well, it only had a little piratin' in it, but that was enough. This is a pretty interesting book, though much of the interest relies on the idea that the main character should be a landowner, but he's trapped in the Highlands of Scotland. I didn't really feel like the desire to get back to his estate was enough motivation for me to care about -- I actually would have liked it more if he was trying to get home, to people who loved him. But man, it was cool -- seems like people don't write action scenes like that any more. I wonder why.


**Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem (Unfinished)

Pick:
Mistake. I should have read more of the synopsis. But it was first on the targeted Vine letter, and this is one of those names that I leap at, thinking, "Ooh, Jonathan Lethem! Gun, with Occasional Music was great! I bet this one would be good, too!" But I couldn't finish Motherless Brooklyn, and now I couldn't finish this one. Well, I could have, but it's taking too long, and I have to spend too much effort, and it makes me not want to read, which is no good. Hopefully this will not happen too often with the Vine books -- I'll choose a little more carefully now.

Review:
There's nothing wrong with this book, but it was a mistake for me. I got it because I am an admirer of Jonathan Lethem -- and I still am -- but while I loved "Gun, With Occasional Music" and "The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye," his literary novels are just too post-modern for me to enjoy. I love the way he writes, and there are some wonderful flourishes in this book -- I particularly liked Laird Noteless, the "sculptor" whose works are nothing more than enormous holes in the ground in awkward places, and the moment when the main character, Chase Insteadman, has one of those classic hypochondriacal synaesthetic attacks, when he is overwhelmed by sensation and alienation -- and it turns out he has the flu.

But for the most part, the book felt wrong to me. I need more of a narrative and less self-aware humor. I have also known people like Perkus Tooth, and I don't like them, so sympathy for this guy was hard to drum up. For those who enjoy postmodernist literature, I think this book would probably be a wonderful experience, but I couldn't finish it. Which, of course, makes me feel like a semi-literate buffoon, but there are too many books out there to read, and enjoy reading, for me to spend more time slogging through something that I can't get a handle on.

Thoughts:
I think I'm done with Jonathan Lethem now, unless he writes another short science fiction novel. Maybe I could go for short stories again.


**Crossroads of Twilight: Book 10 of the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan 10/13 (54)

Pick:
The Gathering Storm is coming! October 27 is the release date, and then as soon as Amazon ships it to me, I have to be ready to read. I had been planning on going back one more, to Winter's Heart -- which is where I left off the series last year -- but I had loaned it to Tia, who hadn't been able to return it to me until this past week. So I skipped it for now, going straight to this one.

Story:
This isn't the most eventful of the books: nothing, really, gets resolved, and Rand doesn't even make an appearance, other than one short bit when he sends Bashere and Logain to make a peace treaty with the Seanchan. But there's quite a bit on Elayne, and Egwene, and Perrin, and Mat, which I think was meant to balance out the fact that Rand was predominant in Winter's Heart, when he and Nynaeve cleanse saidin. This one moves the story along, setting up a number of things to happen in the next few books -- not the least of which is Rand's decision to deal with the worst threat other than the Dark One, the Hailene.

Yeah, I know none of this makes sense to anyone who hasn't read the books. Too bad.

Thoughts:
Not the best, but I liked it better than the two before it -- though I need to re-read Winter's Heart to get a clearer grasp on it. But that's going to have to wait, probably until Book 13 comes out. For now, I must move on, read a Vine book, and then Knife of Dreams -- because the Gathering Storm is coming! Woot!


**Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham 10/18 (55)

Pick:
It sounded interesting. I picked it back before I started reading WoT again, and before I spent nearly two weeks trying to slog through Chronic City, so I'm glad that it was a short and easy read.

Amazon Review:
The operative question here is, does this book stand alone, or is it necessary for one to have read the Fables comics in order to understand and enjoy this book?

My answer is: yes.

The book is good all by itself; the concept is extremely clever, and the characters are mostly well-done; the villain, Max, is a the best of the lot, as we get to watch him descend into madness. If anything, the descent was a little too quick; I would have enjoyed more of the backstory there, a better glimpse of the timeline. As it was, Max seemed to fall off the precipice a bit too quickly, though his fall from there, from the moment when he just crosses the line into badness to the end game, when he is a monster, was wonderfully entertaining and disturbing. I wanted a bit more buildup before Max' first truly villainous act.

The flashback sequences were excellent, giving a nice view of a story in a medieval setting, though there was, once again, a difficult transition: the move from that part of the story to the next, when the Fables come over to this world from theirs, seemed a little too quick. It made sense, it just wasn't explored as much as the early parts of the back story were. So in essence, Max's story was too quick and then very well done, and Peter's story was very well done -- and then too quick.

On the other hand, there were so many tantalizing hints about the larger world of the Fables that it made me very much want to explore the comic series that led to this book. Which, after all, might have been the point. But I'd recommend the book for people that don't mind being lured in by the tempting tune of the author's piping, which leads into -- a dark and forbidding place? A great adventure? Certainly a whole new series of books to read. And I say: there's nothing wrong with that.

Thoughts:
Not excellent, but a nice, fun story. Really does make me want to at least check out the Fables, which I will do when we head to Powell's.


**Knife of Dreams: Book Eleven of the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan 10/24 (56)

Pick:
Last one before Gathering Storm gets here. Tomorrow is Release Day! Woot!

Story:
This one is better than I remembered; it was nice that I had forgotten so many of the specifics from the last time I read it, what, three years ago when it was released? I remembered Rand's injury but not how it happened, and I remembered the climax between Mat and Tuon but not everything that led up to it -- or how much she annoyed me in the process. That's funny, actually, because the only reason she annoys me (well, no, there are two) is because she sees herself as the heir of the Seanchan empire, and therefore acts superior to everyone, and also plots against the characters I like. She's a bad guy, so I don't like her; otherwise the character is written just fine, very interesting.

But I definitely don't like the Seanchan, though I recognize the temptation of the people to accept their rule, and even long for it: they're fascists. Absolute law and order, which is nice and peaceful -- as long as you're not one of the unforgivables, which in the case of the Seanchan are people who can use the power, and anyone who doesn't live to serve the Empress. I have no doubt that, if they took over the nations on this side of the ocean, they would find another group to persecute -- most likely the Tinkers and the Sea Folk.

I did remember the end of Perrin's story, and I'm ever so glad that all the bad guys got their comeuppance in that one.

Now I can't wait. What happens to Perrin and Faile? Where does Mat take the Band -- do they defeat the Seanchan, or does Rand's truce hold? What will happen with the Black Tower? Is Egwene finally going to defeat Elaida, and bring her down? Because it's about time. I also realized in this reading that Egwene is probably my favorite character to read. She rocks.

Thoughts:
Tomorrow is release day! Tomorrow!


**Break by Hannah Moskowitz 10/26 (57)

Pick:
Vine Voice; I took this one because I love the concept.

Review:
It's a great concept: Jonah McNab wants to get stronger, so he decides to do something drastic. He starts breaking his bones, knowing that a broken bone grows back stronger than it was before. He breaks his wrist and two ribs "falling" of of his skateboard; he breaks the hand on the end of the wrist; he breaks several more bones with another intentional fall. His count gets above 30 bones broken; not a bad start on the way to his goal of all 206.

But there are other factors. There is his brother, Jesse, who is deathly allergic to most foods, who cannot eat, nor touch, nor even be in the same room as eggs or peanuts or milk -- the last one being the most dangerous for Jesse right now, as Jonah and Jesse have a baby brother, Will, and therefore the house is full of milk. Will brings his own set of problems into Jonah's life, as he is eight months old and has yet to stop crying. Their parents argue all the time, which only adds to the stress in the lives of all three sons -- which only increases the burdens they already carry, in dealing with each other.

It is a great concept, especially once the thought process behind Jonah's breaking is revealed, near the end of the book. The writing doesn't quite come up to the same level, but Moskowitz certainly pulls it off, especially considering her age. There are some moments when the reader raises an eyebrow, wondering at this metaphor or that phrasing; in the beginning the characters' banter seems a bit too witty to me, though perhaps the author is around wittier teenagers than I. Some of the book struck me as overly dramatic, but the climactic scene turned that around: it was very well done, and gave the book a good ending without wrapping everything up in a neat little package -- a possibility that was lost long before the ending. Overall, it's a well-done book, impressive for a debut, and would get my recommendation, especially for teenagers who like drama in their novels.

Thoughts:
I'll have to go through and find some of those metaphors, but mostly, the biggest flaw was that she uses the heavy proclamation style of writing too much: one sentence paragraphs, short chapters that end with heavy thoughts, in order to give things more weight. Not to sound overly snotty, but -- beginner writing stuff. Since she wrote this while in high school -- and it's LEAGUES beyond frickin' Eragon -- I figure she'll turn into a hell of a writer over time.


**Grave Peril: The Dresden Files, Book 3 by Jim Butcher (58) 10/29

Pick:
The book didn't arrive on the day it was released -- something about needing to ship it from the publisher to me. Whatever. They're just trying to hold me back from my Jordan, man. So I read something I wanted to read -- or re-read, rather.

Thoughts:
This one isn't the best Dresden. I love Michael, and this is when he is introduced along with Harry's Faerie godmother Lea, who's a cool villain and a nice mystery, and Thomas Raith, a great idea for a vampire and an excellent character-to-be. But the spirit of the Nightmare is, well, lame, and the final struggle at Bianca's is unsatisfying to me, because I hate what happens to Susan, and to Harry because of his reaction. Fourth book is way better.


14. The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling (59) 10/31

Pick:
The Book still hasn't arrived, and I've been reading as quickly as I can so I can be ready to jump into it when it does get here -- because even for WoT, I won't stop a good book in the middle. Not if I can help it. So I had to pick another book, and I've had this one on the shelf for years. I never read it, I always should have, and it should be quick and easy.

Story:
I had no idea (never having looked into Rudyard Kipling's work other than "Gunga Din," which Dad read to us when I was a kid) that this book was more than one storyline; I always thought it was nothing but Mowgli. And I had heard the story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, but also had no idea where it came from -- now I know! These are all sweet stories, and would have completely fascinated me when I was young; I particularly liked the idea of the elephants' dance, though I was less pleased that it was so centered on the elephant riders, who seem to me secondary characters. Same with the military animals discussing their roles; I liked that they all had a different idea of how to fight a battle and why the other animals have jobs they each would never want -- but I didn't care as much for how subservient they were to their masters. Maybe it's just my dog, but as much as he loves his master and mistress, I feel like he has his own life, sniffing doggie mail, chasing squirrels, barking at passersby. But I liked the book.

Thoughts:
I'm glad I've read this now. One of the better classics I've gone through -- probably because it's a children's book.

15. The Company of Dogs : 21 Short Stories collected by Michael J. Rosen (Unfinished)

I tried reading this once over the summer, as well, but the introduction is so long and drawn out and over-the-top snotty that I couldn't get through it -- but then, do I really need to know how Michael J. Rosen sees the oeuvre of dogs in literature? Not so much. I tried it again while waiting for The Book (I honestly can't remember where in the sequence -- maybe after the first Dresden and before Jungle Book? After Break? I dunno) because I figured hey, short stories -- that I can stop reading when The Book gets here. But after the first two stories nearly put me to sleep, I thought, you know, maybe the stories that Mr. Rosen thinks are worthwhile, maybe those aren't the ones I want to read. So forget it.

Off the shelf.


16. Faithful by Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King (Unfinished)

Once again, I tried to read this right after I found it at the Scappoose Library book sale, and was disappointed to find out that what I thought would be the STORY of two authors following their beloved Red Sox through the 2004 championship season was actually just a collection of random thoughts and memories and e-mails between them. Mainly by the less interesting author. Now I tried to read it again, partly because I could start and stop this one, too (I actually planned to make it a bathroom reader), and partly because I feel a little sad that I couldn't be in the middle of the excitement when the Sox Reversed the Curse. I used to follow the BoSox; I went to games (Two? Or three?); I'm a fan. I wanted to catch a little of the experience, even if it was five years too late. But once I started reading the stories of the games and the players, I realized: I don't want to be a fan any more. I want nothing to do with organized sports, not even accompanied by enjoyable nostalgia. They're boring, and destructive to our culture and the things I actually care about. So, onto the Discard pile this one goes, too, even if it is Stephen King.