So I let them pile up. It was my birthday last week.

44. (NTY) Black Magic Sanction by Kim Harrison 6/12

Pick:
Utterly bleak depression, followed by utterly depressing stupidity and shallow egotism -- can I read something nice now?

Thoughts:
This book reiterated why I like the Hollows books, but not as much as I like all of our other paranormal favorites. This one had a little bit less of the good stuff, because there weren't really any new creations in the mystical world, which is Harrison's strongest point -- she has fantastic ideas about demons and witches and elves and gargoyles and pixies, and the world they inhabit, and those are great fun to read about -- but there were some great parts with our favorite characters, which made up for much of the bad parts. The bad parts: I hate many of Rachel's habits and proclivities. I hate her whining and attempts to avoid trouble, all the way up until it crosses her personal moral line, and then she makes a stand even if it kills her and everyone around her -- which I admire, I suppose, but I can't help thinking that she could have prevented the problem from getting that bad if she had handled it better in the first place. I don't know, maybe this is my own self-criticism coming out through Rachel, but it seems like she takes that whole enjoying-danger thing so far that she lets problems come to a head before she tries to deal with them. I don't like that.

Let me be specific. In this one Rachel has to deal with her shunning by the witch world, which happened at the beginning of the last book and which Rachel didn't do anything to try to fix, just resented it and tried to live with it (Yup, sounds like me.), which I could accept if there wasn't a clear path to fix it -- but there is, because this book introduces (It's been mentioned before, but now we meet them) the Coven, the governing body of the witch world and their ultimate police force. Now granted, these people suck, but the worst part is having them come after you, which they do, because Rachel has tried to ignore the problem. And then there's Nick, who she can't trust and shouldn't trust -- but keeps fucking trusting, because she used to have feelings for him and she can't resolve the problem. And then, of course, there's her absolute refusal to cross the line into what she considers black magic -- which again, would be admirable, if she would take enough action in the first place to avoid being pushed into a corner and forced to cross the line. This time when she doesn't cross that line, Matalina dies. Now we were expecting that, but man, it was hard to read.

I liked the witch prison on Alcatraz, I liked the exploration inside Jenks's stump, I actually liked the fairies and I hope they turn into regular characters. Al and Jenks were the best, of course; Trent was interesting but frustrating, as was Rachel; the book started slow and didn't need Ivy really at all. But the ending was great, and hopefully things are looking up in the Hollows world.


45. (15) Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville 6/13

Pick:
I needed something off the shelf, but not too much thinking, please -- school's almost over.

Thoughts:
This book was very sweet.

What's that, you say? You question how a book about a Millennial cult trying to escape Armageddon, and dragging two unwilling teenagers (whose parents are willing cult members) along with them into the wilderness, where they struggle with truth and faith and self-doubt until it all ends in a massacre can be sweet?

That's the interesting part. It's sweet because it's a romance, and the romantic parts are very sweet; I thought Marina fell in love with Jed a little quickly, but I suppose that's par for the course when you're talking fourteen-year-old girls without much experience of boys. I really enjoyed Jed's chapters (the point of view switches between them) because I liked his struggle between trying to do the right thing, and thinking everyone around him is a jackass and a religious nut -- and often being right. I liked the way the preacher/cult leader came off as a reasonable man who just happened to have some unreasonable beliefs, and the way both Jed's father and Marina's mother came off as dangerous crackpots who are trying to escape some larger problem by believing in this hooey about the end of the world, and are obviously wrong to drag their kids into this rather than dealing with their problems (which seems to be a theme in the reading, of late. Heh.). The action at the end is great, though brutal and very surprising. You see, the cult believes the end of the world is at hand, and God will wipe everyone out with a rain of fire, except for his 144 Chosen, who will be preserved on their mountaintop. So the faithful gather until they reach exactly 144 (With a nice bit of theater when the preacher's long-lost son wanders in to be their final member -- staged, maybe?) and then they blockade the road in and string an electric fence around the perimeter. And then a few more members of the church show up, which is a problem because they want to be saved, too; and the father of a kid who is in the compound with her mother shows up, and isn't allowed in to see his daughter, which is a bigger problem, since he calls the police. The book ends when the people outside the gate break in, and the people inside the gate use guns to defend themselves -- thereby proving, once more, that the right to bear arms is the single most useful and civilized and reasonable right, regardless of the changes in society and reality since the Constitution was penned -- and it all goes to shit. Which is funny, because the only place that gets washed in blood and cleansed in fire? The mountaintop where the Chosen were waiting to be saved. And if that isn't a non-subtle message about exclusivist religious extremism, I don't know what is.

Sweet book.

46. (NTY) Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman 6/17

Pick:
I was looking for some sociology, a little non-fiction at Powell's, and I remembered this guy because a student I actually liked read this book, thought it was hilarious, and said I should read it. I picked it up now because -- essays. Short reading good. End of year, brain numb.

Thoughts:
That kid didn't know the half of it, because some of these things would have gone totally over her head. Like the argument Klosterman makes (And this was only one essay in a whole book full of interesting essays) comparing Pamela Anderson to Marilyn Monroe -- not because both were bombshell blondes, and not saying that the plastic Anderson was as attractive as the human Monroe (Though to be honest, if you've seen the pre-surgery Anderson, she was really lovely; and since her post-surgery face and figure simply reflect what Americans men seem to prefer in their women, with her absurdly disproportionate breasts and lips, there's a case to be made that Anderson is indeed just as attractive as Monroe, within her paradigm. Klosterman makes that argument.), but because both had similar acting abilities, with Monroe becoming overrated posthumously because of her attractiveness and her early death, and, more importantly, because both of them represented the sexual ideal of their time, both as individuals and because of who they had sex with. Monroe was unattainable, and so even though she married or slept with the greatest men of her generation (DiMaggio, Miller, Kennedy), she was still too miserable to live; it gives the feeling that nothing on Earth could have kept Marilyn happy, and since she was so overly sexual, it made it seem like no man on Earth could satisfy her, and this was the ideal of sex in the 1950's -- fabulous and unattainable. And Anderson, with her inhuman proportions lathered over a really attractive young woman, and her -- how do I put it -- in your face sexuality considering her sex tape with Tommy Lee (whom Klosterman uses to represent the cult of celebrity in our era, which is entirely fitting because Tommy Lee is famous for -- what? Not really the Crue any more, since they weren't any more than a mediocre hair metal band; no, Tommy is famous for being famous, for being Tommy Lee -- and led to the wonderful statement that Pam Anderson fucked celebrity itself, confirming this with her move from Tommy Lee to Kid Rock), is just as much the epitome of sexuality in the 90's: unrealistic expectations that sex could look like porn, but feel like love. The point Klosterman should have made, but didn't, was that much of this desire to have non-genuine or at least non-emotional sex with plastic people with unrealistic proportions -- and I include Tommy Lee's schlong in that description -- was directly related to fear of AIDS. Seems to me that people were combining the sexual freedom of the 70's with the sexual repression of the 80's and AIDS, and coming up with this: the desire to have appallingly vigorous sex with someone who didn't even seem human, to release all of that pent-up desire in a single encounter, and then leave that person behind entirely so as not to risk a real relationship, which maybe felt too dangerous.

Anyway. I loved the book, which made me bust out laughing several times ("I mean come on -- you just know Rodney Rogers is sitting in the locker room before every game reading Nietzsche, and he's totally thinking to himself, 'If Ron Artest tries to step to me one more time, I'm gonna slap jack his brisket, Philly style.'") and gave me much to think about other times. It's a little sad that Klosterman knows so much more than I do and writes good essays because of it, because once again it makes me feel too much like a generalist and an ignorant duffer to write really well, even though I don't think that's actually true, but I loved the book and I want to read more.


47. (Re-read) Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris 6/19

Pick:
Toni finished reading the Sookie books, and I felt like reading something fun.

Thoughts:
I forgot that this one was a bit less fun than most of the Sookie books. This is the one with the fairy war that spills over into Sookie's life, between her great-grandfather Niall and the fairies led by his son. This one features several bad things, death and torture and sadness. Still great books, though, and fun to read. I'm glad for the end, in a way, because it seems to wrap this fairy storyline up, and I don't like it as much as the vamps or weres.

48. (NTY) Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris 6/23

Pick:
Had to catch up with the series, didn't I? That was the point of reading the last one, so I could read this one. We got this book because my friend Amber Horn very kindly bought it for us as repayment, since I loaned her every book leading up to this one. Which I thought was a good deal.

Thoughts:
This book was not any lighter than the last one; not that I expected it to be, considering where the last one left off. It did have more to do with Sookie's life and less to do with the supernatural struggles, which I thought was good; not that there are no supernatural parts, because of course there are. We are starting to see more conflict over the shifters' public announcement, which comes home for Merlotte's a little; Bill is still trying to recover from the silver poisoning he suffered in the last book -- and Sookie may regret what she did to help with that, but I'm glad for it; I want Sookie's love life to move on, not get stuck on the revolving hamster wheel of past boyfriends and current boyfriends going round and round and round; Claude moves in with Sookie, which is amusing; and Eric's sire shows up with his crazy vampire child. Those two were annoying, but interesting, like most of the powerful vampires we have seen. There is less fighting, and only a little bit of sex (Unlike freaking True Blood -- good lord, that show turned these books into violent vampire porn, which they bloody well aren't, and these books are so much better than that), but Sookie has changed in ways I think I like, and that I would certainly expect considering the trials and travails of the last few books of this series. I am curious about where this book leaves the fairy elements, and I definitely sense a change in Sookie's love life a-coming. I just hope she doesn't go for Sam.


49. (NTY) Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik 6/29

Pick:
I had to get this one so I could read the next one, which I got for Vine.

Thoughts:
I love these books, I loved this book, but it was kinda hard to read; Temeraire and Lawrence are suffering because they did the right thing in a time of war, which of course makes them low-down dirty traitors. That pissed me off. Though I was very impressed that Novik managed to make me see both sides of the issue; sure, their choice to prevent the plague that the English would have unleashed on the French dragons was the right thing, because using germ warfare to wipe out potentially every dragon in Europe and beyond would be the most hideous of crimes, and of course Lawrence and Temeraire had to prevent that -- but then again, maybe they could have done it differently. And more to the point, because they prevented it, Napoleon invades England successfully, and now the entire country has to suffer because of that, which makes it harder to turn up the nose at the accusation of treason. Their country really is worse off because of what Lawrence and Temeraire did.

I really liked the Inglorious Basterds sort of plot element -- or maybe I should reference The Patriot, since I haven't actually seen the Basterds movie yet -- when Lawrence and Temeraire fight dirty for their country, and though I liked the big battle at the end, the final result of that was a total let-down, since the victory was not complete. Though I suppose that's historically accurate. Still an anti-climax. Good book, though, as all of these are.


50. (Vine) Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik 7/2

Pick:
I got all titillated when I saw this one on the Vine, because I LOVE these books -- I love the dragons, I love the alternate history, I love the war and the world that Novik has created. I even went so far as to buy the book before this one, which I had never read, so that I could order this from Vine and read it for free. I love the Vine.

Vine Review:
Assuming that nobody is looking into this book that hasn't yet read the entire series (Which, by the way, is outstanding and I highly recommend -- it starts with "His Majesty's Dragon," then "Throne of Jade," "Black Powder War," "Empire of Ivory," "Victory of Eagles," and then this one), I'll just skip the background. This one came as a bit of a surprise after the last, because this book has nothing to do with the Napoleonic Wars -- well, there is a connection, but it is very tenuous; something to do with the possibility of the French trying to disrupt English trade in Asia.

The series seems to be following this pattern: war book; exploration book; war book; exploration book. First the beginning of the war story, with Temeraire and Lawrence learning to fly and becoming part of the Corps; then we explore China. Then back to the war, with the battles over mainland Europe; then we explore Africa. Then back to the war, with the invasion of England; now we move to Australia. This one is not quite as interesting as the other two exploring books, but it's still good; the journey through the Australian outback tends to drag on, since there's just so much outback to cross, and the traveling companions that Temeraire and Lawrence are stuck with are just unfortunate -- though I am very interested in the new dragons who appear in this, especially the hatchlings -- but the plot twists and the new type of dragon, the Australian natives, are excellent, as always. The book ends with Lawrence and Temeraire seeming to settle into new roles on this new continent, and so I wonder if we are moving away from the final years of the Napoleonic empire; which would be fine, since that would probably be a little anti-climactic. The book has less combat than many of the other books, though there is an outstanding fight scene at the end; frankly, I found the lack of fighting appropriate, since Lawrence and Temeraire have had to suffer so much for the war. I expect them to be tired of it, and to be ready for some peace. Which they probably won't find here, because it probably couldn't be found anywhere in that world at war.

The book reconnects to China, and the next book will probably continue in that vein, simply because of the proximity of Australia and the new plot line that opens here; personally, I'm just bummed that Temeraire and Lawrence didn't go for the whole pirate idea in this book -- but maybe they will in future. I hope so. Because dragon pirates would be sweet.


51. (Vine) The Thin Executioner by Darren Shan 7/6

Pick:
I'm curious about Darren Shan, who wrote the Cirque du Freak books, and this one sounded very interesting -- both the idea of a quest to become the executioner, and the connection to Huck Finn.

Vine Review:
This book was certainly an interesting journey. I picked it because I was curious about Darren Shan, since I have heard much about the Cirque du Freak books but have never read them, and because the description said it was inspired by The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- and since I'm a high school English teacher, I have taught that book to my classes, and it is one of my all-time favorites among the classics.

But it arrived while I was deep in another book, and so by the time I got started reading this one, I had forgotten it was connected to Huck Finn. That turned out to be a good thing, because it helped me to enjoy the beginning: the main character, Jebel Rum, is a young boy who desperately wants to follow in his father's footsteps, but unfortunately he has two older brothers who are much more likely to do so -- and since their father holds the honored place of Executioner for their city, only one of the three can take his place when he retires. The father shames Jebel, leaving him out when speaking in public about which of his sons will take his place as Executioner, so Jebel decides he will take on an impossible quest in the hopes of eliminating the shame of his father's dismissal.

The quest is an interesting idea, and Shan has built a very interesting world, full of disparate groups and varied philosophies and worldviews and ways of living: there are the slavers, the slaves, the Spartan warrior race; there are the people who live deep in a swamp and worship the alligators who surround them, and another race that do the same with vampire bats. There are peaceful people and violent people, religious people and earthy people. Jebel Rum is fairly annoying at first, but he is supposed to be. I didn't think as much of the other main character, Tel Hasani, but he isn't too bad.

The problem came around the middle of the book: first of all, it is too long. Jebel gets sidetracked from his quest and held up by circumstance, which is fine, but the sidetracks take almost as long as the quest itself, and not all of them are interesting. With all of the detail that Shan puts into the various groups that Jebel meets, it feels like the book meanders too much. The second problem was that I happened to remember the connection to Huck Finn. Once I remembered it, I couldn't help but compare the two -- and of course, since I love the original, this book just didn't measure up. I didn't like the way Shan re-created some of my favorite characters and scenes from Huck Finn (The Duke and King were a mistake, especially the names - this is not a political satire, and so they didn't fit at all); I particularly didn't like that he changed the most important elements of the plot, only keeping the idea of a long journey with a young boy and the older slave who takes care of him and misses his family back home. It's not that this book is bad, it's just that any book is going to pale in comparison to a classic that I happen to love.

But then I got to the end, and it was fantastic: there was a great twist, a really great twist, and the message was sound and well-done, since we got to watch Jebel's entire experience along the way. I really loved the way the book played out.

So in the end, the story may drag some in the middle, but the imagination that went into it, and the excellent ending, make it worthwhile. But don't get this book if you loved Huckleberry Finn and you can't forget about the comparison: because this is a good book, but Darren Shan is no Mark Twain.